George Harvey
George Harvey : a Passionate Patriot. By Willis Fletcher Johnson. With an introduction by Calvin Coolidge. - (Houghton Mifflin Co. $5.) EVERY Englishman interested in American polities—which means every Englishman interested in the International situation—will welcome Mr. Willis Fletcher Johnson's Memoir of George Harvey, sometime American Ambassador to this country. The early chapters of the book are excellent, especially the account of Harvey's friendship with 'W. D. Howells and Mark Twain, the anonymous article and letter's of the latter on Roosevelt in 1905 containing most successful fooling. The chapters on the Ambassadorship in England are also of great interest.
But the most remarkable feature of the book is the revela- tion of the dominant influence of Mr. Harvey's- journalistic career on the politics of his country. In the North American Review he possessed an organ which influenced two Presi- dential elections, though in the second one, in which he sup- Ported Mr. Hughes against President Wilson, his policy was not successful. But, after the re-election of President Wilson, Harvey made up his mind that he required an even sharper instrument. Sending for the author of this volume and with the brief introduction, " It is war we are in, not politics," he outlined a supplement to the North American Review to be called The War Weekly. This review was founded for the purpose of rallying the nation to the support of President Wilson in an active prosecution of the War. Very soon, however, the President's attitude towards those statesmen who congratulated the nation on the complete absence of preparation for hostilities, caused Harvey to criticize the Administration with the utmost severity. There is a most curious correspondence with Mr. Roosevelt on President Wilson's suppressed message of January 1st, 1918.
Mr. Calvin Coolidge contributes an introduction to the book, in which he includes a comment throwing a curiously unexpected light on his own character : " Without strong emotions no one could have performed his (Harvey's) work." His appreciation of George Harvey adds further distinction to a noteworthy and absorbing volume.
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