As Much As $75,000,000 Worth Of Radiun HIS single x-ray tube produces as much diagnosis and therapy-better tools wi T radiation energy as would radium which to safeguard your health. worth $75,000,000. This tube-one of several developed and built by G-E scien- Other developments in the Research La tists-is helping medical science to make oratory, in Schenectady, also work f further and more rapid gains in the battle better health. There is the inductotherl against disease. which permits medical science to produe at will, curative fevers in the patienl For more than 25 years, General Electric body. There are sources of ultravioJ research scientists have led the steady radiation for the treatment of rickets improvement in x-ray development. From children. And in all these aids to medicio their work-with thousands of volts from the results of years of scientific invesl giant transformers, with tanks of purified gation are being applied to the relief oil-have come better and ever better x-ray suffering, to the treatment of disease, tubes. Physicians and surgeons have gained the improvement of the health and we more compact and more powerful tools for being of millions of people. G-E research has saved the publicfrom ten to one hundred dollars for every dollar it has earnedfor General Electric GENERAL~ELECTRIC Millions need' gum inassage in this age of sofl foods stitute for chewing-massage. If you notrce a weakening in your gums- if a tinge of "pink" appears on your tooth brush·after brushing -go see your dentist. He is the only one who should decide whether some serious gum disorder threatens ODERN oral hygienists declare -or whether your gums are simply M. emphaticallythatbrushing the lazy, under-exercised. teeth is only the first step in proper If he makes the latter diagnosis­ present-day care of the mouth. In if he suggests regular gum massage addition, almost. everyone's gums with Ipana-heed his advice! Ipana ,need regular and systematic atten­ is an excellent medium for massage tion to keep them firm and healthy. of the gums. For 20 years, Ipana has There are several reasons why worked closely with the dental pro­ gums should require this special fession. Doubtless your, own dentist care - why they so often become is familiar with Ipana's many contri­ tender and sensitive. Most promi­ butions to better oral health. nent, perhaps, is the fact that so But don't wait for gum weakness many of the foods we enjoy are too to develop! Get a tube of Ipana to­ soft and fibreless to require more day. Then, morning and night, rub than afew perfunctorychews. Since a little Ipana on your gums after gums are deprived of the exercise of you've brushed your teeth with it. chewing, wemust stimulate them to You'll soon notice a sounder tone to health and hardness by the most your gums-a pleasing new sparkle generally approved mechanical sub- in your smile. FOR SOUNDER TEETH' AND HEALTHIER GUMS MASSAGE AND IPaNa. ~~~~~ THE CHERRY TREE TALE I There were no .wire-photos of the chop­ ping down of that famous cherry.tree. In fact, no reporter was on hand to interview Master George Washington. It all comes down to us as legend. But whether or not it is wholly accurate, the story of George Washington and the cherry tree has set an example for truth. The New York Sun, without attempting to say at this late date whether all of the facts are accurate, does indorse the general moral of the cherry tree story. .The New York Sunirtsists on truth in its reporting, and endeavors to live up to that old saying-·(tIf you see it in The Sun, it's so." A check or money order for $5.00 insures you of The Sun's accurate and complete coverage of all the news for 'the next six months. V1b.e ~" ~un NEW YORK ii THE AMERICAN MERCURY ~~~~4~~il~4~~·~~+~~il~+~~~~4~~il~+~~~~+~~il~ ~ ..... ~ 6 VOLUME TABLE OF CONTENTS NUMBER8 b) ~ XL 15 ~ ~ February Paul Palmer, Editor 1937 ~ ~ TheAmer,ean Future H. L. Mencken 129 b) ~+ Portrait of Walter Winchell Henry F. Pringle 137 ..u::o- @ Abortion: the $100,000,000 Racket, A. J. Rongy 145 @ ('~~ How to Make Flying Safe. , .. , .. , .. ,, .. , Kenneth Brown Collings 151 'r:A "} ~ Russia's Private War in Spain .. , .. ,., .. ,., Lawrence Dennis 158 ~ ~ Oregon's Secret Love Cult ,, .. ,.,, .. , .. Stewart H. Holbrook I 67 ~ ~~ Adventures of a Bookman Alan Devoe r75 ~ ~ Rope. A Story. ,., .. ",, ,.Charles MacArthur 182 W ~+ Steel vs. JohnL. Lewis. , .. '.,,.,,.,,.,.,,., Gordon Carroll 196· ..u::o- @ Horse-and-Buggy Days. "," '" , ., , ., . ", , ., ,"., Della T. Lutes 205 @ ~ ~~:~c~~aa ,~r.o~~s.s~~~ .. " ~ '. '. '. '. " ~ '. " ~ '. " '. " '. '. " '. '. " '. '. '. '. "" '. '. '. '. ~l.e~~~~r. ~~~t~ ~: ~ ~ ~t The Bogus Era of Good Feeling .. ,.,,.,,,.,,,, Albert Jay Nock 222 ~ - Twenty Grand Apiece. Preview Edward Anderson 227 ~ ~ How to Be a Diplomat. ".""" '" , ,. , .. John W. Thomason, Jr. 243 W ~t The Open Forum, , ,., , .. "., , ".,. 250 +~ @ The Contributors , "",.,' , .. , ,." ,. 256 ~ l"~~ Oscar Wilde on the Road , .. , .' , .. ,, .. St. John Ervine iv r:4'":J ~ The Check List '.' .. ,,,,,,,,,, , .. , . x N .~ Recorded Music. .. .. , .. , Irving Kolodin XVlll ~ c. f":J.. Verse by Elizabeth Coatsworth, Howard McKinley Corning, Louise McNeill, ~~.;I 6 Elizabeth Randall, Elisabeth G. Van Tine b) @ Gordon Carroll, Managing Editor ~+~ Associate Editors: ~ Duncan Aikman, Albert Jay Nock, Laurence Stallings, Harold Lord Varney ~ John W. Thomason, Jr., Literary Editor Louis Untermeyer, Poetry Editor ~ ~ . Lawrence E. Spivak, General Manager . .~ ~~~~i~~(~~~~j~~~j~~~i~~~·j~~~·j~)S.~ Published by The American Mercury. Inc,. monthly second-class matter at the post office at Concord, on the 25th of.the month preceding the date. at 25 N. H. under the Act of M'arch 3, 1879. Five weeks' cents a copy.· Annual subscription. $3.00 in U. S. advance notice required for change of subscribers' and Possessions. Canada. Mexico. Cuba. Spain and addresses, Indexed in The Readers' Guide to Peri­ Colonies. and the Republics of Central and South odical Literature. No reproduction of content allowed America. Foreign subscriptions. $4,00, Publication without written permission. The American Mer­ office. Concord, N. H, Editorial office, Ridgefield. Conn. General offices, 570 Lexington avenue, New cury, Inc., accepts no responsibility for submitted York City. Printed in the United States. Copyright. manuscripts. Address all editorial corresPondence 1937. by The American Mercury, Inc. Entered as and mss. to Ridgefield, Connecticut. iii ~~~~~.~~~~~~.~m~~~m~~~~.~m~~~ ~I THE NEW BOOKS I~ ~Z~~{i(?;Z~~~~i(?;Z~~(?;Z~~{~(?;Z~~ Oscar Wilde on the Road By ST. JOHN ERVINE OSCAR WILDE DISCOVERS AMERICA, no one would produce? Gilbert had made 1882, by Lloyd Lewis and Henry Justin him a principal character in Patience. Du Smith. $4.50. Harcourt, Brace. Maurier caricatured him almost weekly in Punch. He was lampooned and mocked T WOULD not, at first sight, seem likely from one end of America to the other. I that any person on earth, and scarcely There can have been few men in the any person in heaven, could write an world who were subjected to so much or­ interesting account of the lecture tour made' ganized insult from the ~ultured and the in America in 1882 by Oscar Wilde. To uncultured as Oscar Wilde. Yet he had try to fill 445 large pages with an account done extraordinarily little to deserve any of that tour would seem likely to baflle attentionat all. He was not even the origi­ even celestial effort. Yet Mr. Lewis and nator of the cult of aestheticism, which the late Mr. Smith have succeeded in per­ he derived from Ruskin, nor was there forming this apparently impossible feat. anything remarkable or profound or shock­ They have not only performed it, but ing in what he said. The matter contained against all human probability have pro­ in his lectures seems the most tepid stuff, duced a most interesting and valuable book. such as any advanced girl at Bryn Mawr It was not until I was well into it that I would now deride as schoolmarm culture. discovered the secret of their success. It Remarks as unoriginal are commonly­ seemed at first to be heavily padded with broadcast these days from the White House. the most irrelevant material. For example, He had, "it is true, carried lilies and sun­ the authors cannot mention the Rev. Henry flowers in public, or so it was said, al­ Ward Beecher without giving a long ac­ though the sunflower is an ugly thing and count of his affair with Mrs. Tilton,' who, difficult to carry in comfort; but that was it may be remembered, was found guilty the sort of prank any young man of in­ of having committed adultery with him, dividual character might perform: His most although he was declared innocent of hav­ widely-quoted epigrams, such as the state­ ing committed adultery with her, a most ment that the Atlantic Ocean was very one-sided affair. I then realized that they disappointing, are the commonplaces of were telling the history of the United our time. States in the 'Eighties in terms of Wilde's The fact is that Oscar Wilde, instead of tour. Wilde, in short, is the thin thread on being a highly complicated and affected which the authors string a really impor­ person, with a tendency to become para­ tant narrative of American social history. doxical on the least, or on no, provocation, But even as an account merely of Wilde's was a simple-minded young man who said, lecture tour, the book has immense value. sincerely and unaffectedly, what he thought What a feat that was! How many persons and felt. It is true, and a vast number of realize that'Oscar Wilde, at the age of ordinary citizens yearly testify to the fact, twenty-seven, was celebrated on two con­ that the Atlantic Ocean is a disappointing tinents, although he had written only one and unduly prolonged sheet of water.