Sunday, September 13, 2015

Unsanctioned Voice; World War II, isolationism, wartime price and wage controls, Eugene Lyons, Red Decade, blacklisting, The Pathfinder, David Lawrence, wartime paper rationing

Click these links for discussions of the Writer's Note , Chapters 1 and 2, Chapter 3, Chapters 4-6, Chapters 7-10 , Chapters 11 and 12 , Chapter 13 , Chapter 14 , Chapters 15 and 16 , Chapters 17-19 , Chapter 20 , Chapters 21 and 22, Chapters 23-25 and Chapter 26 of Bruce Ramsey's Unsanctioned Voice.




Chapter 27 discusses Garrett's opposition to the U.S. joining the fight in World War II prior to the Pearl Harbor attack.

Garrett decried [p. 191] the "contrary way" that FDR proceeded toward war - alternating between open advocacy for war and retreating from such advocacy. Despite Garrett's opposition, Garrett praised FDR for his ability to follow that clever strategy (necessitated by America's general opposition to war). What the book does not discuss is the role of the shifting Soviet alliances on American foreign policy. From the mid-1930's through mid-1941, Soviet policy toward Nazi Germany shifted several times (that is an understatement). The American left's attitude toward war and Germany shifted with it. Such shifts influenced FDR's foreign policy (though not completely). Eugene Lyons' definitive book-length study of these parallel shifts appears in Red Decade (1941). [These shifts also influenced Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 and precipitated Orwell's break with leftism.] Any discussion of American attitudes regarding war during the 1930's that ignores the left's parallel shifts with Soviet policy will necessarily be incomplete and misleading.



Ramsey notes that Garrett advocated preparedness despite his anti-war position. [pp. 191-192]. Garrett thus stands in contrast to today's anti-war activists, who oppose the very concept of preparedness.

Garrett viewed Lend-Lease as the real declaration of war, even though it wasn't called by that name. A large part of Garrett's objection to FDR's policies was that FDR was committing the country to war without identifying his objectives. [pp. 193-194]. America was creeping toward war without realizing it.

"Garrett's sympathy was never with the dictatorships." [p. 194]. [Thus providing another contrast with the cold war peace movement.] Garrett attempted to raise money for Finland during this period, as Finland had been invaded by the U.S.S.R.

Garrett reluctantly supported wartime price and wage controls. [p. 195]. I believe that the architects of such controls had more ambitious goals in mind than the justifications that motivated Garrett. Ramsey references a 1943 book that takes the opposite view. While I might agree with Garrett's position as far as it goes, those who proposed and enforced the wartime price controls went much further than was necessary for prosecution of the war. The war was an excuse for further government crackdowns in the economy.

Garrett (and others) were purged from the Saturday Evening Post in March 1942, despite supporting the war after Pearl Harbor (p. 196). (Such support would also contrast Garrett with today's "progressives," many of whom would find any excuse to oppose American war efforts no matter how severely the U.S. was attacked). Page 197 describes Garrett's work as a laborer in a naval shipyard, other manual labor Garrett performed in his later years and cites correspondence with Bernard Baruch.

In chapter 28, we see that Garrett was blacklisted following his termination from the Saturday Evening Post, and that other groups and publications were unfairly labelled as pro-Nazi [p. 201]. As Ramsey writes, "The anti-New Deal newspapers - and there had been a lot of them in the 1930s - were mostly cowed by the government." [p. 201].

Ramsey describes Garrett's plan to buy The Pathfinder in 1943 (because an existing newspaper was permitted a paper allotment by the government, which a new publication would not have). [pp. 201-202]. The plan was thwarted by David Lawrence of U.S. News, who bought The Pathfinder first. As Garrett wrote to Herbert Hoover, Lawrence planned "to strangle The Pathfinder to death and use its paper for his own magazine and charge it all off on his tax sheet." [quoted by Ramsey, pp. 202, 203 n. 8]. How Lawrence's use of the wartime paper allotment in this way helped the war effort has never been explained. This incident helps explain how Garrett's theoretical justification for wartime controls [p. 195] falters in practical application. (Even though Garrett wrote of price and wage controls instead of rationing, all such controls are of a kind).

Labels: , , , , ,

Monday, August 24, 2015

Unsanctioned Voice; Rose Wilder Lane; John L. Lewis, Resettlement Administration

Click these links for discussions of the Writer's Note , Chapters 1 and 2, Chapter 3, Chapters 4-6, Chapters 7-10 , Chapters 11 and 12 , Chapter 13 , Chapter 14 , Chapters 15 and 16 , Chapters 17-19 , Chapter 20 , Chapters 21 and 22 and Chapters 23-25 of Bruce Ramsey's Unsanctioned Voice.




Chapter 26 chronicles the relationship between Garrett and Rose Wilder Lane.

Ramsey describes a trip that Garrett and Lane took through the midwest in 1935. They visited farmers that the New Deal's Resettlement Administration wanted to "resettle" and "rehabilitate." [pp. 183-184] (quoting Garrett, Saturday Evening Post, "Plowing Up Freedom," November 16, 1935).

The trip was the basis of an article by Lane in the Saturday Evening Post which later influenced Lane's book, The Discovery Of Freedom. [p. 184]. Lane's prior books shared subject matters in common with Garrett's writings - Herbert Hoover and Henry Ford. [pp. 181-182].

Chapter 26 relies on a Lane biography, a collection of Lane letters and Lane's own books (in addition to Garrett's writings).



Ramsey reveals that Garrett was missing two fingers [p.184 and note 6] in the course of discussing an apparent brief romantic flirtation between Garrett and Lane [pp. 184-185].

Pages 186 and 187 describe (quoting Garrett's letters to Lane) Garrett's meeting with John L. Lewis of the UMW.

Ramsey also describes their differences of opinion [pp. 187-188].

Click here for a discussion of Chapters 27 and 28, including a discussion of Garrett's writings on World War II and the crackdown against anti-New Deal writers and publications.

Labels: , ,

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Unsanctioned Voice; Fighting back against the New Deal; National Recovery Act (NRA); Frank Fetter; Alf Landon; Rose Wilder Lane

Click these links for discussions of the Writer's Note , Chapters 1 and 2, Chapter 3, Chapters 4-6, Chapters 7-10 , Chapters 11 and 12 , Chapter 13 , Chapter 14 , Chapters 15 and 16 , Chapters 17-19 , Chapter 20 and Chapters 21 and 22 of Bruce Ramsey's Unsanctioned Voice.




Chapter 23 describes Garrett's opposition to the New Deal policy of supporting minimum prices and wages.

On page 162, Ramsey describes the New Deal's NRA (National Recovery Act) as having been run by the general whose previous experience included drafting the conscription act in World War I. Under the NRA, new investment to expand industrial capacity could be accomplished by permission only. It was "sort of" voluntary (Ramsey's quote), but once enough businesses signed up, it became mandatory. Parades and public relations campaigns demonized those who did not comply. Ford was the only major automaker that did not join the NRA [p. 165]. The NRA would eventually be struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court [p. 164]. The blue eagle NRA symbol would later appear on the cover of Ramsey's Salvos Against the New Deal.



Garrett quotes FDR [p. 163] as referring to new industrial plant and machinery as "weeds." Saturday Evening Post, "Fifth Anniversary N.D.", March 5, 1938.

Garrett argued that prices and wages should be allowed to fall to encourage new investment, innovation and full employment. [pp. 162-166].

Ramsey briefly discusses the deepening of the Depression in 1937-1938 and Garrett's response to FDR blaming "economic royalists." [165]. Today, instead of blaming "economic royalists," FDR's intellectual heirs blame the "1%." Slogans change, but the policies remain the same.

Ramsey far too optimistically argues that modern Democrats have abandoned the idea of propping up wages and prices (citing advice by the Clinton administration to South Korea in 1997) [p. 166]. The Obama administration would later enact or advocate a number of programs designed to prop up prices and wages - cash for clunkers, first time home-buyer credits, stimulus bills, minimum wage increases, Obamacare, fossil fuel restrictions, etc. It is today far too common even among "conservative" businessmen to say that "we need a little inflation" in order to stimulate business. All of these programs and the thinking behind them reflect the opposite of what Garrett advocated in Chapter 23.

Chapter 24 is about two concepts. (1) Garrett specifies that his major reason for opposing the New Deal is the loss of liberty that the New Deal brings (as opposed to mere economic arguments). [pp. 167 - 170]. (2) "Fear" brought about by this new loss of liberty prevented long term investment and lengthened the Depression until the start of the war. [pp. 170 - 172].

Garrett wrote to Frank Fetter (p. 167) that arguing about "what works" ignores the basic issue of liberty. Austrian economist Fetter is introduced here and in footnote #1 (p. 173).

Ramsey summarizes the battle over the Commerce Clause, FDR's court packing plan and the agencies that still survive as the New Deal's legacy [pp. 167-169]:

Government power was sudden and threatening, its purpose transformative. And it was new. People read about it in the same newspapers in which they read of Hitler's belligerence and Stalin's show trials. The destination was not clear.


p. 169. Ramsey makes the same mistake as many political commentators when he argues that government power since the New Deal has rarely been "in leftist hands" because "[b]usiness has large influence over it." [p. 169]. As we have seen numerous times, business owners can be and often are leftist.

Ramsey includes a Garrett quote in which Garrett argues that we should not expect the New Deal to make economic sense or to be consistent on economic grounds. All of the New Deal actions (and those of government since that time) are consistent in that they support increased government power (except in those rare cases where some old right winger manages to repeal something). Garrett quotes FDR to the effect that the New Deal would shackle liberty if such power were in someone else's hands. But FDR stressed that the power was held in his own hands. (pp. 169-170).

Garrett concludes prophetically:
. . . conquest of power for purposes of all-doing . . . would involve many inconsistencies of immediate policy, because the peaceable course to the seizure of great political power is a zigzag path.


Saturday Evening Post, "National Hill Notes," February 29, 1936 [quoted by Ramsey, p. 170].

Ramsey concludes the chapter with a discussion of the "fear" that gripped investors over the sudden increase in government power. While short-term investment returned in the mid-1930's, long-term investment did not [pp. 170-171]. The reason that long-term investment did not return was the political instability that the New Deal created. Investors feared their government and viewed long-term investment as unsafe.

Chapter 25 discusses the election of 1936, and the advice Garrett gave to Alf Landon (pp. 175-177). He advised Landon to challenge the very idea that a recovery had taken place:
There has been no recovery . . . Recovery, with ten million unemployed? Recovery, with money at one per cent? The cheapness of money is a sign of disease. It means we have ceased to perform creative works for the future. It means we are creating no new industry.
[p. 176].

Garrett's advice was of little effect, as Landon did not directly challenge the New Deal. Garrett felt that each piece of advice to Landon was being dropped ". . . down a dry well. There is no splash." [p. 177]. H. L. Mencken shares Garrett's concerns. [p. 177].

Ramsey quotes at length from Garrett's correspondence with Rose Wilder Lane, including those letters revealing Garrett's despair after FDR's reelection in 1936. [pp. 177-180].

Garrett understood the stakes and the natural base that each side would rely on:
It is the hardest intelligence test we have ever faced. Roosevelt will get the entire moron vote. Most intelligent Republicans will have to vote the Republican ticket in spite of Landon. I am sick with disappointment. All he has said is that he will go on doing as much for people as they expect the New Deal to do for them, only in a Constitutional manner, and it will cost less. Merdes.
[p. 178.]

The post-election letters are valuable for understanding how socialism wins so many votes, despite such a miserable record [pp. 179-180]. Garrett's explanation ("They want manna and water out of the rock" (pp. 179-180)) is a precursor to certain ideas that would later appear in People's Pottage.

Click here for more detail about Garrett and Lane in Chapter 26.

Labels: , ,

Wednesday, August 05, 2015

Unsanctioned Voice; The New Deal transition; The Driver; Henry Galt; Gold; Austrian Business Cycle theory

Click these links for discussions of the Writer's Note , Chapters 1 and 2, Chapter 3, Chapters 4-6, Chapters 7-10 , Chapters 11 and 12 , Chapter 13 , Chapter 14 , Chapters 15 and 16 , Chapters 17-19 and Chapter 20 of Bruce Ramsey's Unsanctioned Voice.




Chapters 21 and 22 show, through Garrett's writings, the transition from the pre-New Deal depression era to the New Deal itself. The New Deal was the most momentous event in the history of the modern world. Because of the New Deal (and its more consistent counterparts of that era in Europe) millions have died, were never born, were born to different parents in different places and/or lived under tyranny (or the threat of tyranny) over the past 80 + years. Most importantly, the most prosperous and free nation in the history of the world (and western civilization itself) will die a premature death - thus bringing on chaos, tragedy and worldwide misery that will eclipse that associated with the fall of Rome. Garrett had a greater grasp of the significance of these events than most writers of his (or any) day. These chapters (and the articles they cite) give us a glimpse into the world at that transition point.

Chapter 21 features Garrett's articles advocating economic solutions that are based on individual investment and capital accumulation. Without citing The Driver (1922) specifically, Garrett recommended the actions taken by Henry Galt (pp. 148-149). Garrett proclaimed essentially that a downturn is the time to buy. Click here for a discussion of The Driver and its resolutions to the Panic of 1893 (including a lengthy quotation from Henry Galt).

While the idea of "buy low, sell high" is accepted as obvious by today's investors, it is implicitly rejected as a solution on a national scale. Instead, we let the government take actions that keep prices high and then wonder why recovery is slow or nonexistent while industry continues to disappear.

Chapter 21 recounts briefly a meeting with President Hoover where Garrett's ideas were ignored (p. 149).

Ramsey briefly identifies Garrett's theories as most closely (but not completely) associated with the Austrian school of economics (p. 145). Chapter 21 thus reminds one that while Garrett serves an invaluable role as a journalist and historian, only actual economists such as Mises can thoroughly diagnose business cycle theory from an economic perspective. (Garrett's acquiescence to the idea of a central bank (p. 145) came before the Austrian business cycle theory was known in America (see below)). Writers like Garrett, Rand, etc. provide both a philosophical justification for the economic theory of the Austrians and historical context that demonstrates our slide into tyranny.

Austrian Business Cycle theory:



Garrett's explanation of the Panic of 1893:



Ramsey notes on p. 151 that "The people were ready for the New Deal" (based on a Garrett article from October 1932). This point is debatable, as I do not believe that a people can ever be truly "ready" for tyranny until after it is imposed and takes effect. Only through the creation of dependence does a formerly free nation come to accept tyranny. Opposition to tyranny had been softened by economic conditions, but was the country really "ready" for what followed? What would Americans of 1932 say if they could see the U.S. of 2015 (and all that has happened in between)? It depends on what one means by "ready".

Chapter 22 explores briefly Garrett's opposition to the New Deal. The passion of Garrett's opposition comes through (p. 154) without the lengthy discussions that one will find in Ramsey's Salvos Against the New Deal. The discussion in Chapter 22 focuses mainly on the New Deal's seizure of gold and subsequent use and manipulation of fiat money (pp. 155-159).

Garrett foresaw the connection between fiat money and the ultimate loss of trust and character that would plague all human interaction in the United States. If money is not real and does not maintain a stable value, then contracts do not mean what they say and words themselves cannot be trusted:

All our economic undertakings above the level of solitary savage existence come to rest at last upon the security of words. Hence the importance of documents, bonds, statute books and records, lest people should dispute afterward what the words were. Then what if a sense of security in words should fail? What if it were no longer possible to trust the word of a government, that of your own or of any other; or to trust the word of a bond, the word of the law, the word of a contract, the word of a platform? . . . It requires no reflection to be able to say what the effect of this would be upon the sense of economic security.


Garrett, "The Great Moral Disaster," Saturday Evening Post, August 18, 1934 (as cited by Ramsey, p. 157).

Page 155 contains (citing a letter from Garrett to Rose Wilder Lane) Garrett's explanation of the purpose of the "Gold standard." Garrett's explanation is not fully "Austrian," but it is based on the same basic principles.

The discussion on page 157 is an abbreviated explanation of the debt crisis of the 1920's and 1930's as it related to World War I loans and reparations. A more thorough explanation appears in Garrett's Bubble That Broke the World.

Click here for a discussion of Chapters 23-25 and Garrett's opposition to the New Deal.

Labels: , , ,

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Unsanctioned Voice; shooting incident

Click these links for discussions of the Writer's Note , Chapters 1 and 2, Chapter 3, Chapters 4-6, Chapters 7-10 , Chapters 11 and 12 , Chapter 13 , Chapter 14 , Chapters 15 and 16 and Chapters 17-19 of Bruce Ramsey's Unsanctioned Voice.




Chapter 20 is a narrative that describes an incident in which Garrett was shot in a restaurant in Manhattan. Aside from a possible robbery, there was never an explanation.

The address of the shooting was a restaurant at 357 West 15th Street [p. 140]. That location appears now to be near apartment houses, a parking garage and some store fronts under construction.

Ramsey describes this chapter and this incident as an "intermission" in the book and Garrett's life. [p. 139]. This chapter provides an example of how difficult Ramsey's task was. Most of the book was dedicated to Garrett's writings. This chapter was one of the few events that provided material for a narrative. Even then, Ramsey had to rely on newspaper stories and personal correspondence. (That Garrett was shot drew headlines in 1930, yet Garrett's entire life and writings are ignored and unknown today except for the efforts of those few who seek to revive not only Garrett and free market economics, but much of U.S. history as well.)

Ramsey is very transparent about the lack of sources for information about Garrett's life - See "Writer's Note." Examples of biographers in which the source material is more than plentiful are found in Victor Lasky's biographies of John and Robert Kennedy:





The extensive footnotes in those works contain interviews and contemporary newspaper and magazine articles on every aspect of the story. The contrast (and the obvious reasons therefor) is instructive for students of history.

Chapter 20 (and its uniqueness in the book as a narrative) provides an example of why Unsanctioned Voice would be useful in training aspiring writers in biography research and writing. Those who would research and write a biography would learn the limitations that often hamper such efforts. Even those that would merely read biographies would learn from Unsanctioned Voice, as a writer's research and limitations play such a big role in the final product.

Click here for a discussion of Chapters 21 and 22 and the transition to the New Deal.

Labels:

Monday, August 04, 2014

Unsanctioned Voice; Individualism and the Garrett novels; Harangue; Lincoln Steffens; Emma Goldman; Wobblies - IWW; American Omen; Rockefeller Center

Click these links for discussions of the Writer's Note , Chapters 1 and 2, Chapter 3, Chapters 4-6, Chapters 7-10 , Chapters 11 and 12 , Chapter 13 , Chapter 14 and Chapters 15 and 16 of Bruce Ramsey's Unsanctioned Voice.




Chapter 17 focuses on individual self-reliance and its relation to capitalism and Christianity. Ramsey expands on this focus with discussions of three of Garrett's novels - The Driver, Cinder Buggy and Satan's Bushel. Click here for the first part of my 2008 recap/review of The Driver, here for the beginning of my 2004/2005 recap/review of Satan's Bushel and here for part 1 of my recap/review of Cinder Buggy.

Ramsey discusses the Ayn Rand connection with The Driver, including alternative origins for the name "Galt." (p. 121, n. 4). My own belief is that there is enough Garrett material that influenced the Rand novels that the name "Galt" doesn't matter. Even if Rand got the idea for the name "Galt" from The Driver, there is nothing wrong with that. There was no plagiarism. Rand wrote very different books than Garrett, partially by building on some of Garrett's ideas and integrating those ideas into a philosophically-based plot.

Garrett, failing to foresee the plot of Atlas Shrugged, had written in 1913 that "Capital cannot strike." (p. 121, n. 4).

Ramsey writes that "The Driver is not a good novel." (p. 117). I am sure that it does not measure up to the classic fiction works of the past and would not hold the attention of a modern audience. But the story does have merit. The plot of an investor fighting to gain and remain in control of a struggling company despite attacks from all sides is compelling. Gail Wynand's struggle in The Fountainhead is more compelling because Rand was better at integrating philosophical issues into the plot. Modern fiction regarding large companies is spiced with sexual content and/or violence to appease modern audiences. But The Driver serves as an example where the plot turns on a company's value without relying on modern plot devices extraneous to capitalist considerations. Rand's plot elements were definitely based on capitalist issues, but also involved far deeper and more basic philosophical issues.

Ramsey quotes one noncommittal statement about The Driver from Bernard Baruch (p. 117), but Baruch also made a very positive statement here, in which he referred to The Driver as "one of the great novels of the day." Also click here for Time Magazine's review from March 17, 1923.

Ramsey barely mentions Cinder Buggy, except to say that it is similar to The Driver. (p. 117). I think Cinder Buggy showed growth, as the personal stories were more closely integrated into the capitalist message than in The Driver. Garrett did a better job of demonstrating the importance of the underlying industrial activity (iron and steel) and such activity's role in the history of mankind.

Ramsey also quotes Cinder Buggy on the issue of luck as it relates to individualism (p. 119) - a quote that I did not mention in my review. The quote appeared at a point where luck played a role in the advancement of the plot and the characters' fortunes (pp. 201-202 of Cinder Buggy). I had criticized the use of luck as a plot device without realizing that Garrett might have used the concept of luck to help explain individualism.

Ramsey quotes Weaver's speech from Satan's Bushel and compares Dreadwind to Mered from Blue Wound (pp. 117-119).

Ramsey provides clues to the roots of Garrett's economic beliefs (pp. 119-121), citing Herbert Spencer, Simon Newcomb and Francis Amasa Walker.

Garrett understood inflation as confiscatory theft based on his own reporting from post-WWI Germany. (p. 120). This writing shows how far down modern "conservatives" have sunk when they criticize this or that president for "failing to control" or "failing to stop" inflation.

Most importantly, Garrett understood that capitalism was not merely a "system" imposed upon a nation or a people, but was a natural part of life. Capitalism "grew out of life . . . gradually, and is therefore one of the great natural designs." (pp. 119-120). Reading even Ramsey's brief quotation from Garrett's writing is refreshing in light of modern conservatives who fumble in attempting to justify capitalism as merely the best among many "systems."

Chapter 18 begins with the statement that "[a]ll of Garrett's fiction is about work, industry and making a living." [p. 123]. [I made a similar comment in August 2007.]

Most of Chapter 18 is about Garrett's 1927 novel, Harangue and his fictional socialist takeover of North Dakota. Ramsey speculates that the title was conceived by the publisher, and that the subtitle (used as the title in the Saturday Evening Post serialization) was more descriptive. Ramsey identifies this subtitle as having come from the Book of Judges. [p. 123].

Ramsey identifies Harangue as Garrett's best novel. [p. 124]. Ramsey includes a more detailed description of the plot than he does for Garrett's other novels. [pp. 124-127]. Part of the plot overlaps real life events surrounding the Wobblies (IWW) [pp. 125-126].

Ramsey notes that Garrett's condemnation of socialism "lacks the bite" of his later attacks on the New Deal. [p. 127]. I have noted many times before that the New Deal would focus Garrett's writing. In the post-1932 world, Garrett wrote with the understanding that the battle against the New Deal was the only relevant issue.

Ramsey also discusses (and cites sources for) Garrett's association with Emma Goldman and Lincoln Steffens. [pp. 127-129]. Footnote 12 [p. 129] is one example that gives the reader some appreciation for Ramsey's task in ferreting out the various pieces of information that he would string together to create Unsanctioned Voice.

Chapter 19 focuses on American Omen and Garrett's travels around the United States. It begins with the sentence, "The 1920's was the last decade in which Garrett was optimistic about America." [p. 131]. I suspect that this statement applied to many people in addition to Garrett, although many people since the 1920's would display "optimism" about superficial matters far different than what Garrett marvelled at in the passages referenced in Chapter 19.

Ramsey focused on the portions of American Omen (1928) that described innovations in business training and management, the role of profit and the relation of technology to labor. [pp. 131-133].

The rest of Chapter 19 quotes Garrett's first-hand descriptions (in various articles) of American highways, Kansas City rail yards, Birmingham steel plants, California redwood forests and the softening effects of mild climates on the work ethic and ambition of the inhabitants. [pp. 133 - 137]. Much of this chapter has the feel of small portions of the old "Route 66" television series (without the drama). There was much about America that justified optimism at that time. Industry was growing and beginning to show its full potential. The changes in American life were visible and inspiring. Today, "urban explorers" seek out and examine the ruins and rubble that once created so much optimism before the government began its scorched earth policy of destruction known as the New Deal (and all that followed).

The chapter ends with curious quotes about the economic justification for skyscrapers in New York and the entire cities of Los Angeles and Wichita. Garrett speculates that these items were not economically motivated, but were created solely as a showcase for American economic power. The final quotation is from a 1929 Garrett article that applies this theory to Rockefeller center, which was under construction at that time. [p. 137].

Click here for a discussion of Chapter 20 and the shooting incident.

Labels: , , , , , ,

Sunday, August 03, 2014

Garet Garrett sighting; Ebay; Country Gentleman; Satan's Bushel

I do not look at ebay regularly. There are usually many items for sale relating to Garet Garrett - usually recent reprints of his old books. I happened to check ebay today and noticed two separate items that are quite old.

This auction and this auction each contain the December 1, 1923 edition of Country Gentleman - the magazine that serialized Satan's Bushel in 1923. The edition for sale appears to contain Chapter 7 (which I think is a reference to the seventh part of the serialization instead of Chapter 7 of the book).

These are not my auctions and I have no idea about the conditions of the magazines. I mention them only because it is interesting that old copies of Country Gentleman continue to exist and be traded among collectors. I have recounted here how I found (before the modern reprints existed) my first copy of Satan's Bushel in the microfilmed pages of Country Gentleman in the basement of the Pennsylvania State Library.

The auctions are currently listed at $ 4.75 and $ 9.99.

Labels: ,

Locations of visitors to this page