Alfred
Henry Lewis was a journalist and novelist who wrote about social issues.
This included The Boss (1903) a story about the corruption
of New York politics. He also wrote about
this subject for Cosmopolitan Magazine.
This included an attack on the International Harvester Company, asserting
that the trust was killing competition and stifling invention.
In June, 1908, Lewis began a series of articles on USA's leading businessmen
called the Owners of America (1908 - 1909). He explained how
these men controlled the political process. For example, he argued
that Thomas F. Ryan had complete political
control over certain cities: "Mayors are his office-boys, governors
come and go at his call. He possesses himself a party and selects
a candidate for the presidency. Tammany Hall is a dog for his hunting,
and he breaks city council to his money-will as folk break horses
to harness".
Other articles by Lewis published in Cosmopolitan
Magazine were A Trust in Agricultural
Implements, April, 1905; The Trail
of the Viper, April, 1911 and The
Viper's Trail of Gold, May, 1911.
Alfred Henry Lewis also took a keen interest in the conservation of
natural resources. In 1909 he wrote a series of articles about what
was taking place in Alaska for Pearson's
Magazine called The Betrayal of a
Nation.
(1)
Alfred Henry Lewis wrote about the Senator Platt of New York in Cosmopolitan
Magazine (April, 1906)
What is he? Nothing! What
has he done? Nothing! Who will remember him? No one! He is a weak,
vain, troubled, unhappy, unrespected man. The country owes him nothing,
for he has given it nothing. One day he will die; and his epitaph
might truthfully be, "He publicly came to nothing, and privately
came to grief."
(2)
Alfred Henry Lewis wrote about
Thomas F. Ryan
in Cosmopolitan
Magazine (April, 1906)
Mayors are his office-boys, governors come and go at his call. He
possesses himself a party and selects a candidate for the presidency.
Tammany Hall is a dog for his hunting, and he breaks city council
to his money-will as folk break horses to harness
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