HISTORY MADE TO ORDER

There was a time when our ancestors were charged with not having lived up to the reputation which tradition and the historians had bestowed on them. Then, the burden of proof was on them to show that their place in our school text books was deserved. Now the pendulum has swung the other way. The mayor of New York has appointed his Commissioner of Accounts, Mr. Hirshfield, to conduct an inquiry on historical text-books. It is not now a super-idealization of our ancestors which is supposed to be a corrupt influence, but rather the interpretation of early American history from a violent pro-British or a treasonable pro-German propagandist standpoint.

Mr. Hinshfield's beginning is admirable, and the testimony of his first two witnesses equally so. He starts with the opinion that there is an anti-American taint in all of the text books. He expresses his intention not to call in expert testimony on the grounds that experts have a strong idea of their own infallibility. The first witness was an insurance man "with an historical hobby", and the second an editorial writer, author of charges that history writing for the schools has become is vehicle for British propaganda.

The latter's testimony is interesting. Starting with a condemnation of the Rhodes Scholarship and the Carnegie foundation, he includes a few words on some standard histories and ends with a peroration on what he evidently considers the treason of descendents of certain Revolutionary heroes.

It will be interesting to follow the course of testimony given by these "unprejudiced" business men, and to see what Mr. Hylan will do about it when he receives the "unbiased" report. The logical action for him would be to junk all current histories. Then he should appoint Mr. Hearst to write for the children a standard and unprejudiced history.