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."