Public Opinion

READINGS IN PUBLIC OPINION : Its Formation and Control--Edited by W. Brooke Graves, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science in Temple University--Appleton ($6).

This is a colossal work (1,265 pages), and a curious one. It is obviously intended for some sort of advanced university course; but it can be opened at almost any page, by editor or reporter, with stimulating and provoking results.

Under the various chapters--"The Formation of Personal Opinion," "The Nature of Group Opinion and of Public Opinion," "Organized Religion," "The Press," "Music," "The Radio," "Chambers of Commerce," "The Demagogue," "The Political Party," and "Public Opinion," etc.--Professor Graves reprints articles by competent observers. Walter Lippmann, chief editorial writer for the New York World, is the most quoted man in the book. Others are Sigmund Freud, John Broadus Watson, Otto Hermann Kahn, Bruce Barton, Ivy Ledbetter Lee, Abbott Lawrence Lowell, Elihu Root, Charles Evans Hughes, Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Oswald Garrison Villard, Clinton Wallace (Mirrors) Gilbert, William Bennett Munro, and several dozen more.

At the end of each chapter, Professor Graves runs what he calls "topics." These include news items, comments, squabbles, and books recommended for further investigation. Many of the "topics" are taken from TIME and its Letter Page. At one point, Professor Graves says that TIME performs a function of "universal reporter."

There is no conclusion in Professor Graves' fat volume, unless it is the conclusion of a thousand disagreements.

Some day, perhaps, a companion volume will be written. It might be a sort of Who's Who in two parts: 1) sketches of famed U. S. people, according to the opinion of the average U. S. inhabitant, or rather according to the composite opinion of the majority of average U. S. inhabitants; 2) accurate, factual sketches of these same famed U. S. people, written by competent, unbiased observers.