St Johns College - Ozanam Yearbook (Toledo, OH)

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54 THE OZANAM Russian revolution discussed but the principles underlying all revolutions. The psychologi- cal effects of the breakdown of law and order are considered. The reversion of cultured people to savagery is only one of the evils resulting from revolution. In the case of Russia, the worst evils of the czarist regime were as nothing compared to the evils after the revolution. Before, no one was put to death merely for having spoken against the Czar or a minor official. Now, however, people are executed merely because someone reports a slight infraction of the law that they had committed. From l88l to 1905 the average number of executions yearly was lif- teen. Between I9l7 and i922 the lowest number of executions was six hundred thou- sand. In order to take care of these whole- sale executions, the new term collective re- tribution was invented. Vague, high-sound- ing words are used to cover up a lack of sub- stance. The book is not against progress but it stands for the right kind of progress, and is a terrible indictment of Bolshevism. Those of the college men who have read his Mustard Seed and Chaff and Wheat will enthusiastically welcome Father Francis P. Donnelly's new book, Little Cords 'g those who have not done so, have a real treat in store. Along the same general lines as the other two, Little Cords wave a gesture of wamingg they do not sting ever so slight- ly. ln a highly pleasing and humorous way they tap home little lessons for the correction of some of our every-day faults. The humor is of the sort that can be read over without monotony. It is a good book: it makes the reader shake with mirth and chuckle to himself. Fr. Donnelly has a unique way of singling out little imperfections, making us laugh at them in ourselves, and then suggesting a rem- edy. He cajols us into seeing ourselves as others see us. His humor is original and gentleg his ideas, fresh and modern: his style, lively and scintillating. Like Stephen Lea- cock he often treats of life in a comical. cheerful way-and in most beautiful English. Anyone who likes short, spicy essays has only to run his finger down the list of contents to suit his likings. The following cannot fail to coax him into reading more: Ceiting Out on the Wrong Side: Wanlezllp A Vocabulary for the Profane: Does Pride Ever Laugh 9: The Canlankerous Cussg Am 1 Like Thal?: Walered Stock: The Waslebaslzel io the Scrapheap. The Ozanam recommends Fr. Donnelly's books to its readers, especially the three mentioned above, his Art of Interest- ing, and his Art Principles in Literature. All except the last are published by P. Kenedy 61 Sons. -Reviewed by Carleton A. Solon, '28,

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THE OZANAM 53 nation which can do us the most harm of anyone, and with her on our side we need not fear the whole world. Witla her. then, we should cherish a. cordial friendship, and nothing would tend more to knit our affections than to be fighting once more side by side in the same cause. It is on the strength of this letter sent by Jefferson to Monroe that Belmont credits Jefferson with the deciding voice in the adoption of this doctrine. While some passages in the book would seem hard to prove yet it cannot be denied that the author has given his readers something to think about. Well! Well! Welll See what is in store for us-about the middle of June a new novel by Donald Ogden Stewart will be pub- lished. The title is The Crazy Fool. The story concerns a crazy fool named Charlie Hatch, who inherited an insane asylum from his uncle. Among the inhabitants were Na- poleon and a lady who was Venus and Martha Washington alternately. The story sounds interesting and if it lives up to its advance notices will no doubt make enjoy- able reading. It is gratifying to note that the Protestant sects are gradually coming to realize the dan- ger of the divorce evil. The Catholic Church early took a determined stand against divorce but Protestantism found no great harm with it. At last, however, Protestantism realizes the danger. The Rev. Walker Gurynne has written a book entitled Divorce in America under Church and State. And the Rt. Rev. W. T. Manning has written the in- troduction. Easy divorce is condemned as an unrnixed evil. The history of divorce is traced and condemned as the greatest social peril. Leg- islation that has been passed in the United States in a vain effort to wipe out the evil is reviewed and its deficiency pointed out. A plea is made for more unified action. The only solution, according to the author, if we must have divorce is to control it by a federal law. Arguments are drawn from the opinion of learned men of ancient and modern times and the opinions of Christ and of the Apos- tles are given. That the danger is great is manifest from the words of the Bishop of New York, who appeals to all Americans who love their country, and care for the fu- ture of the race, to take their stand against this great peril to our life as a nation. If you would read a very interesting arti- cle turn to the World's Work for May and look up the article written by Burton Kline entitled America Discovered Many Times Before Columbus Came. The claim has often been made that Columbus did not dis- cover America, but usually the claims were not supported by evidence. Mr. Kline, how- ever, has gone into philology and takes an argument from the study he has made of the Indian languages. He was greatly surprised to find words in the Indian languages from the French, the Spanish and the Portuguese. The sources used were original reports made by Jesuit missionaries and early traders. It seems that Mr. Kline has a very good argu- ment and he at least deserves credit for try- ing to offer some proof for a claim that is usually made without proof. At last an authoritative work on the Rus- sian Revolution has been published. Pitrim Sorokin, formerly head of the department of sociology in the University of Petrograd, edi- tor of The Will of the People, a member of the all-Russian Peasant's Soviet and of the Constitutional assembly, has called his new work, The Sociology of Revolution. Banished from Russia in 1922 he wrote his book in Czecho-Slovakia. The' Russian rev- olution is heartily condemned. Not only per- sonal experience and observation gave him his material but he also bases his statements on the Bolshevist documents. Not only is the

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mmmmn lmlllllluu mluuunu mlmmIninnmummuunmlIrxrlinrInnnrnIrIIIIIIIIII1IIII1II1II1i1IInIIIriIIIIiniiinnInniniIIIII1muluuuunuuuu mnnmuul ' E sr.. ss 35 1 Cgllege Due to the failure of some de- Spqrtg partment or other to function properly, there was no college basketball tournament at the end of the past season. Therefore, the class that thinks it would have won the trophy is satisfied, there- fore, every class is satisfied. So the question of basketball supremacy was easily settled. In the previous issue, the past basketball sea- son has been reviewedg so we shall speak of Spring athletics. The College has not been represented by a baseball team, since the days of Babe McCormick, whose success as a ball player nearly equaled his other successes. But this Spring, the ice was broken, or the grass was cut, or something like that hap- pened. The Freshman and Sophomore class- es unearthed a couple of baseball teams. Yes, the Sophomores have a pitcher and the Freshmen have a catcher: and there are other incidentals. These two teams played at Willys Park, one nice cloudy afternoon about the first week in May, and when the umpire awoke, Walt Elnen had pitched his way to a 9 to 0 victory for the Sophs. We almost forgot to mention the fact that the Freshmen are the proud possessors of a loving cup received from the Y. M. C. A. for the Class B basketball championship of the city. Urban L. Pilliod is also a proud possessor. In these columns devoted to athletics, we can not afford to overlook such a gruelling, sap- ping contest as a moustache race. There- fore, we hail the victor as the champion of a valiant contest. Last fall we heard rumors of a football team to be started at St. John's College at the beginning of the coming season. The source of these rumors led us to believe that they possessed several grains of salt. Now, when we consider what a hold football has Q uuummu mmnnnnmmummmmuuuumifunmmnumiImmnmmumI1uuuuunmumnnmmunnnmum muumuu: T mmmurmuunuun nm I iIiIiInIIunuuuuuumuunum n1nuunnnmmunumnnnnnmmmnmmuunminnnumuuuuunumuunuummmiummimuuiunu nunumu taken on some schools, a certain number of us may think that school becomes secondary in importance to football. Gentlemen- knowing your school, can you say that there is any danger of such a condition spreading over St. ,Iohn's? Therefore, we give three long and lusty cheers for football-the game that boasts more thrills than any other. If we could only get some sort of a team started this fall, perhaps in a few years we would be ready to present real opposition. Since it is now too late to hope for baseball, start thinking and talking of footballg and in the meanwhile get personally acquainted with a football: and it would be a good idea to get acquainted with the ground also. The ad- vantages of football are many. It places men on an equal footing. No doubt about it: and then it knocks them off their footing. But in all seriousness, let's pull for a college football team next fall, at least a beginning of one. St. John's placed a very capable repre- sentative team on the golf links out at Ottawa Park, to take on the team from the University of Detroit. The visitors came here highly touted, but returned badly defeated. Inci- dentally, next year we shall have to employ a golf editor to solve the scores. Golf is a game that should be restricted for the amuse- ment of honest men only. Being personally familiar with some of the members of our golf team, we are forced to accept their version concerning the outcome of the contest. lVlr. Bernard Holtgrieve almost suc- ceeded in procuring a college tennis team this year, but due to the scarcity of players that play, this new project did not go very far. We might have produced a fairly formidable team with such stars as Messrs. Kenny, Mur- phy, and Yeager in the ranks. Then there is the dependable Howard G. Bruss. St.