I found a "Thanksgiving sentiment" by Mark Twain published in the
Chicago Tribune that I wasn't aware of. It's from November 1905, when
he also wrote a brief Thanksgiving statement on the Congo that he gave
to the New York World (Nov. 26, 1905). In that, he says "We have
much to be thankful for" in the Congo. In the Chicago Tribune piece he
asks what God would be thankful for in light of Russian oppression of
Jews, political and commercial corruption in the U.S., and the atrocities
in the Congo. I have photocopies of the related manuscript drafts for the
New York World piece that are in the Mark Twain Papers. None of them
take this "Deity's side of it" approach. Has anyone seen this Chicago
Tribune piece in any other form, or published anywhere else? It's not
too long so I'll include the full text below. If anyone not familiar with
the
New York World piece wants to compare the two approaches, that
interview is online at
http://www.boondocksnet.com/congo/congo_twain051126.html
Jim Zwick
-------------------
Chicago Tribune (Nov. 28, 1905), p. 1.
THANKS? O YES! BUT: TWAIN
Some Pearls of Serious Thought by America's Great Humorist.
COULD DEITY BE GRATEFUL?
Author Not So Sure He'd Find Things to His Liking Here Below.
Washington, D.C., Nov. 27. -- [Special.] -- Mark Twain took luncheon
with President Roosevelt today. This afternoon he gave the following
Thanksgiving sentiment:
"Every year every person in America concentrates all his thoughts upon
one thing -- cataloguing his reasons for being thankful to the Deity for
the blessings conferred upon him and upon the human race during the
expiring twelve months.
"This is well and as it should be; but it is too one sided. No one ever
seems to think of the Deity's side of it; apparently no one concerns
himself to inquire how much or how little He has had to be thankful for
during the same period; apparently no one has had good feeling enough
to wish He might have a Thanksgiving day too. There is nothing right
about this.
What'll He Find in Russia?
"We may be unstintedly thankful, but can that really be the case with
Him? If He had a voice how would He regard the year's results in
Russia? What would He be thankful for there? The servants of the
government in patriotic obedience to its commands have lately killed and
wounded 50,000 Jews by unusual and unpleasant methods --
butchering men and women with knife and bayonet, flinging them out of
windows, saturating them with kerosene and setting it on fire, shutting
them up in cellars and smothering them with smoke, drenching the
children with boiling water, and tearing other children asunder by
methods of the middle ages. Doubtless the most that He can be thankful
for is that the carnage and suffering are not as bad as they might be.
"He will have noticed that life insurance in New York has gone tolerably
rotten, and the widow and orphan have had a sorrowful time of it at the
hands of their chosen protectors. Doubtless the most He is thankful for
is that the rottenness and robberies have not been absolutely complete.
Political Stench Less Strong.
"He has noticed the political smell ascending from New York,
Philadelphia, and sixty or seventy other municipalities has been modified
a little temporarily, and, doubtless, is thankful for the transient
reprieve.
"He has observed that King Leopold's destruction of innocent life on the
Congo is not as great this year as it was last by as much as 100,000
victims, because of diminishing material. He also has noticed that
America and other great powers, which, as accessories before the fact,
are responsible for these murders -- especially America -- properly are
thankful on our Thanksgiving day for nineteen previous Thanksgiving
days. Without doubt He Himself is thankful that matters in the Congo are
not as irretrievably bad as they might be, and that some natives still are
left alive."
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