Evening star. [volume], March 20, 1937, Page B-2, Image 16

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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ONE MILLION WORDS ON LOVE
The "Tramp and His Woman,” an Exquisite New Book—Max
Miller Scores Again With the Best Book on "Un
changing” Mexico—Other Recent Works.
__•
By Mary-Carter Roberts.
EAST WIND By Compton Macken
zie. New York: Dodd Mead & Co.
HIS book, its publisher an
nounces. is the first of a series.
The series is to be called, w hen
finished, "The Four Winds of
Love.” One may assume, without too
prolonged speculation, that the other
members of the projected group will
be "West Wind," "South Wind," and
“North Wind." "East Wind" is more
than 500 pages long or something
like 200,000 words. When the compass
has been duly rounded, therefore, the
total w'ill be about 1.000.000 words.
But if Mr. Compton Mackenzie
achieves nothing more interesting in
them than he has in his initial 200.
000, all those words, so far as the re
viewer is concerned, might just as well
be left in the dictionary.
The present work is serious, sincere
and fraught with conviction. At the
same time it is completely without
humor, irony or life. It reads, indeed,
a good bit like "Sandford and Mer
ton " It also puts one in mind of j
that monument to industry, “The
Forsythe Saga." Its characters have
the Sandford-and-Mertonian tendency
to discuss abstract questions in speeches
of page length and they are of that
slightly superior but complete ordina
riness which the world—for some rea
son—accepted admiringly as unique
under the label “Forsythian " But the
trouble is not really with the charac
ters at all, of course. It is with Mr.
Compton Mackenzie, whose mind
shows itself in every line to be the
completely unironical source of his
people's educated triteness. His book
is like a lecture by a merely learned
man. It propounds the obvious in
cultivated terms.
Returning to the promise that the
completed series is to be known as
•'The Four Winds of Love.1’ one
gathers that "East. Wind" is meant
to analyze and demonstrate the
amorous emotion in its vernal stages.
The central character of the book is
17 on the first page and something
short of 19 on the last, and it is his
reactions to the possibilities of love
which occupy the greater part of
this discussion—one finds it impos
sible to call it a novel. This youth
Is one John Ogilvie. son of a prosper
ous Scotch barrister living in Lon
don at the close of the nineteenth
century.
John is a sixth form schoolboy
when the book opens, concerned with
nothing more serious than his Latin
exercises and foot ball. In other
words he is presented as an almost
blank page, emotionally. Mr. Mac
kenzie then industriously puts him
through the conventional paces—ia> ;
puppy love with a young flirt who
uses him as a blind for a more seri
ous affair; (b> what one may term
•physical love" with a cabaret singer
who treats his youth kindly because
providentially—and proverbially—she
has a heart of gold; <c> idealistic love
with a “strawberry and cream" Eng
lish girl of the county family tra
dition, who proves to be weak and
shallow; <d> Freudian love with the
mother of one of his friends, a woman
20 years his senior; 'el and pitying
love for a woman of inferior social
place who obligingly ends his respon- ;
sibility by dying. All these affairs are
subjected to the most deadly serious j
discussion.
In addition, young John cultivates
the friendship of ia) a young Irish
man who provides opportunity for dis
cussion of the Irish question,. ibl a
young Jew who provides opportunity ;
for discussion of the Jewish question,
<c> a Scottish laird who provides op
portunity for discussion of the British j
Empire and (di an elderly barrister ;
who provides opportunity for discus
sion of Christianity. Karl Marx is
incidentally taken up as conversa
tional theme and in the course of the
story John visits Poland, which pro
vides opportunity for discussion of j
the Polish question. The book ends
with him entering on a deep com
panionship with his young stepmother
and feeling in himself a resurgence '
of ancestral memories from which |
the reader may expect that comrade
ly love and race mysticism will come j
to the forefront in the next, volume of j
this not noticeably inspired series. j
Now the reviewer recognizes that i
the emotional experiences and intel- '
lertual questions thus outlined might 1
well have been part of the life
of a boy of young John’s environment :
and time. She cannot see. however,
that Mr. Mackenzie’s treatment of 1
these pre-occupations gives them the :
slightest significance. He throws no I
light on his hero’s development, for !
John at no time is more than a talking j
puppet. Neither does he throw any
light on the questions or emotions '
involved. He fails, in other words, in
hi; author's responsibility. He has
given us a completely conventional
story, as far as simple story goes, and \
he has not invested it with any rele
vance. Conventionality, of course, is a
perfectly legitimate metier, but it
would seem that if an author using it
Is designing his work for enlightened
readers he would perceive the neces
sity of lighting it wdth some reflection
of its contrast to the rest of the world
of art and nature.
Mr. Coinpton Mackenzie has not 1
done this. He has drawn absolutely
no line between himself and his con
ventional characters. There is no dis
tinction between their talk and his
comment. There is not even the me
chanical distinction of a change in
style. Saving the quotation marks,
the reader would not know' when John
ceased speaking and his create began.
John then is not a young man learning
about life and love. He is a phono
graphic record winding off Mr. Comp
ton Mackenzie's opinion on life and
love—and the Polish question. And
the same lamentable thing is true of
the other characters. This in itself is
bad enough, but the case is made
worse by the fact that Mr. Compton
Mackenzie's opinions on life and love
and all other matters taken up in this
book are trite to the point of exhaus- «
tion. His book is a thick compendium
of solemn platitudes.
The verdict on “East Wind.” then, is j
no. It is a pity, for it is obviously a
labor of love and care. But if it satis
fies its author, then he Is no novelist.
And if he recognizes in it that he has
missed a mark, why then the case is
even sadder. There are three more
books to be expected. The English
language, of course, is a sturdy thing.
It has great powers of endurance.
THE TRAMP AND HIS WOMAN. By !
Dorothy Charques. New York. The
Macmillan Co.
'J'HIS exquisite book baffles the re
viewer for words to describe its
quality accurately. It is simple—yes.
It is delicate—yes. It is fraught with
an almost unbearable tragedy. Yes. It
to all of those things^ Still, its in
DOROTHY CHARQUES,
Author of “The Tramp and His
Woman” (Macmillani.
dividuality remains uncaught. The
reader should not group it in his mind
with .other simple, delicate works of
tragedy. The most nearly appropriate
comparison which occurs to the re
viewer is the work of the late Kather
ine Mansfield. It has that same pon
dering sorrow, that same bitter, but
dispassionate grief. Mansfield’s work,
however, has been too famous. There
is something unfair about placing its
shadow over a novel that is complete
in its own integrity. And if "The
Tramp and His Woman" resembles
the earlier writer's work, it is not an
imitative resemblance, nor does this
novel bear the mark of even an admir
able copy.
One can only say, “Read it. It is
worth your while." And that, of course,
is the highest praise. One should add,
however, the warning that it is a book
which will tear your heart to pieces.
It is a perfect piece of tragic writing.
It is the story of a child, the 14
year-old daughter of the "tramp's
woman.” and what happened in her
mind as she followed her mother and
her mother's companion over the roads
of England in a hopeless search for
work. The forlorn little party of three
is marching toward the mother's old
home when the book opens, for the
mother, unlike the child, had known a
home. She had been the daughter of a
respectable tradesman, she had run off
with a man who promised her ad
venture. she had lived in Canada with
him. had been deserted by him and
had availed herself of other casual
men to keep a semblance of comfort
about her. Returning penniless to
England with her daughter, she de
cided to go back to her family and
beg for reinstatement. Jim, th: tramp,
whom she meets in Liverpool, agrees to
take her so far. She regales him and
Annie along the way with stories of
the snug home which she remembers
and the hearthside comforts which she
expects to find there.
But her father, on whose under
standing she relies to bring about her
forgiveness, has been too deeply hurt
by her long absence. He shows her
the family Bible, in which her name
has been blotted out. She is dead to
him, he tells her.
Thus, the vision of the safe fire
side. the humming teakettle, the rides
in the family trap—the bliss of being
sheltered, In short—is brutally shat
tered. With the tramp—whom she
has bidden a confident good-by—she
returns to the roads, this time without
tangible hope. The daughter and the
tramp understand. Their sorrow for
her outweighs their own troubles.
But from this time on the woman
has but one idea—she must regain re
spectability. at whatever cost. And
she does regain it. But the price is
the life of th«*daughter and more than j
the life of the tramp.
The book centers in the child, who ;
at first merely looks at the conduct j
of her elders, without comprehending j
the bitter emotions involved beneath !
their words and acts. Later, seeing ■
that her mother has changed, she '
comes to feel a child's inarticulate
loyalty to Jim. The flickering of feel- j
ing in her between childhood and
maturity is then described with per
ception and beauty which cannot be !
praised too highly. The scenes of her !
games in the fields, her talks with
other children, are incredibly realistic. !
That fantastically delicate period be
tween unawareness and awareness has i
seldom been more finely portrayed. |
This is the heart of the book.
It is recommended to all those who !
love perfect writing. It Is not a [
pretty tale, but it is a beautiful one.
IMMORTAL FRANZ. By Zsolt Har- ;
sanyi. Translated from the Hun- :
garlan by Lynt^r Hudson. New !
York: Frederick A. E'okes Co.
rpHIS book purports to teh in nov
elized form the life of Franz Liszt,
the great musician. It merely tells;
1t does not attempt to interpret. Its
narrative gives some space to Liszt’s
childhood and then proceeds In terms
of the various women who Influenced,
or tried to influence, his career. It
makes a curious book as it works out—
one which bears resemblance to the
; "novels of fashion” of the nineteenth
, century—a large book full of famous
characters and studiedly dramatic
| episodes, but endowed with little life.
! Those who are not critical of this
latter lack will no doubt enjoy it. The
: reviewer found it worthy, but tedious.
PARADISE By Esther Forbes. New
York: Harcourt Brace & Co.
rJ'HIS novel seems in the best tradi
tion of historical fiction. It does
not attempt to follow the life of an
actual individual, but tells its own
story against a historical background.
This seems to be a better type of
novel than the one which builds itself
about an actual personage. One can
not say why, but the novel which
uses the person hardly ever seems to
have life of its own. It is stiff, as if
the author’s imagination had been
hampered by the need for keeping
inside the bounds of facts.
The present story deals with life
in a New England colony, 20 miles
north of Boston in the days preceding
and during King Philip’s War. The
colony’s progress is the real story; the
famil” of Parre, builders of the es
tate of Paradise, is the focus point.
The Parres are turbulent people, lit
tle in sympathy with the narrowness
of Puritanism, bm hearty subscribers
to the Puritanical canons of justice
and strict honesty. They come into
conflict with their more conformable
neighbors, who resent their individ
uality and pride, but maintain lead
ership of their group through vicis
situdes until the Indian war breaks
out, when their courage in battle and j
siege gains back their old prestige for
them.
That Is the story, but it is done
with much fine detail. The customs
of the Colonials, the feudal manner
of their society, the mingled barbarity
and richness, the broad nature of their
talk, the roistering quality of their
entertainments—these are presented
in convincing fashion and are still
refreshingly different from the ordi
nary concept of Puritan existence.
The book Is now on the best-seller
list, but it has more than that to
recommend it.
YOUNG ROBERT. Bv George Albee.
New York: Reynal & Hitchcock.
^J'HIS Is a novel of character, de
voted to the deviations from the
ordinary of its hero, Robert Lime
wright, son of a San Francisco laborer,
in the early part of the century. Rob
ert is imaginative, fiery, tough-mind
ed and brave—a superior person gen
erally. He leads a turbulent life
and meets an appropriately pointless
death.
Books devoted to extolling an au
thor's favorite can easily be banal,
and this one has its moments of ba
nality. As a whole, however, it hangs
together. It deserves mention because
i it goes out of the beaten track in
seeking human values: that Is to say,
: while it Is a conventional type of novel
j in form, it is not in content. It can
not be described here as having any
particular merit beyond that of an
original outlook, but, since it does
have that, it holds a promise. When
j Mr. Albee WTites another book, the
: reviewer will look for it. It might
i be pretty good.
MEXICO AROUND ME. By Max
Miller. Illustrated by Everett Gee
Jaekson. New York: R-eynal &
Hitchcock.
JT IS. of course, always a pleasure to
read a book by Max Miller. For
Max Miller is that kind of writer. His
prose is practically perfect and his
mind is ingenious and shrew'd. There
have, unhappily, been four books on
Mexico so far this year, and there
were 11 last year. Still—it is a pleas
ure to read Max Miller. Even to a
book reviewer—yes, even to a. book re
viewer—his present work is a pleasure.
Mr. Miller, fortunately, seems to be
a man who can take his Mexico or
leave it. and that in itself is a great
help. He is no apostle. He doesn’t
take Mexico to his bosom and cry over
it. He doesn't go native. He does
about what his title suggests. He re
mains himself and looks at Me Vo
around him. After reading the afore
mentioned 14 works on the country to
the south, the reviewer has no hesita
tion whatsoever in saying that Max
Miller's is immeasurably the best. But
then the subject really has nothing to
do with a book's goodness. The point
is that Max Miller knows how to write,
and most of the 14 other writers did
not. They only wanted to tell you
about Mexico. Ardor like that is a
mistake, invariably.
Mr. Miller wandered, with apparent
aimlessness, around cities which have
been publicized so agonizingly that a
sensitive person must have positive
shame at entering them, and also
managed to get into spots that are
off the tourist beat But whether he
is writing about the ruins of Oaxaca,
or the little known village of Ixtepec,
he is equally entertaining. As has
been said, he knows how to write.
Even Mexico cannot be b. nal when a
writer knows that. It is the ‘‘inter
preter” who makes tedium out of rea
sonable human customs.
"Mexico Around Me” is a mingling
of present-day impressions and re
flections on the past. In sum, the
book concludes that the country
changes in essentials about as little
as any country can and that its sur
face upheavals (revolutions to us) are
little more than shifts of dealers in the
old army game—the game of skinning
the Indian. The Indian, he says, has
been made into a national hero by the
present dispensation, but "the catch
is that he is not the one who cashes
in on the lucre. The oratory is for
him and about him, and it sounds
w'ell, but some one else always seems
to get the pay-off. The Indian is really
nothing more than the emblematic
flag, as In our own country, when
politicians get to talking and wav
ing their arms.”
A cynical work, perhaps. But some
how' cynical wrorks carry so much more
conviction!
GOLD OF OPHIR. By Sydney Green
bie and Marjorie Barstow Greenbie.
New York: Wilson-Erickson, Inc.
'J'HIS is not a new book. It was
first published about a dozen years
ago. The present edition is its sec
ond one and is revised. The work is
mentioned here because it seems likely
to be interesting to many people. It
is the story of the trade between
America and China, detailed, humanly
set down, immensely interesting. As
Rufus Rockwell Wilson says in his
introduction, “America began her ex
istence as a trading nation with the
China trade.” Yet fe.< records of this
trade, in Interesting form, are readily
available.
“Gold of Ophir” describes the rise
of the clipper ships, the negotiations
with the mandarins, on the basis of
which trading was carried on long in
advance of any treaty; the hong mer
chants; the development of the direct
route across the Pacific; the problems
of navigation and piracy and many
other richly picturesque aspects of our
dealing with the Orient. It is worth
commending to those with an interest
in our relations with China and the
East.
AMERICAN HURLY-BURLY. By Er
nest Sutherland Bates and Alan
Williams. New York:- Robert M.
McBride & Co.
JN THIS work the alert Mr. Bates
<who hardly misses a week without
publishing some book) descends upon
the late year and, assisted by Mr.
Alan Williams, tears from its vitals the
“news” which it contained and spreads
his takings briskly on fresh pages.
He calls his work in sub-title "The
Dramatic Highlights of Last Year's
Parade of Events," and while there
is some doubt in the reviewer’s mind
as to how a highlight can be dra
matic or how for that matter a high
light can be one of a parade of
events, still such quibbling is quite
beside the point where such a brisk
fellow as Mr. Bates is concerned.
Here is his book, covering the devel
opments at Scottsboro and Windsor
Castle, the peace conference at Buenos
Aires and the bogey of the Supreme
Court, swing music and a year of lit
erary criticism. All very brisk. All
very American. I
*
COMPTON MACKENZIE,
Author of “The East Wind” (Dodd, Mead <fc Co.)
IN THE CURRENT MAGAZINES
English Journals Persist in Reporting That Margaret Mitchell Is an
Invalid or Blind, She Regrets—Pictorial Tells Brides How
to Make Their Husbands’ Friends Friendly.
By M.'C. R.
BULLETIN published by the
Macmillan Co. gives these
pictures of the hardships of
being a best-seller author.
The author in question is Miss Mar
garet Mitchell, who wrote, as every
one knows, “Gone With the Wind.”
Miss Mitchell is reported as making
the following statement:
“There were 50 clippings (in Eng
lish newspapers) which carried the
same story—that I wrote 'Gone With
the Wind’ while in a plaster cast for
three years while suffering from the
effects of a car accident. There is no
truth whatsoever in this item. I had
no car accident at the time I began
my book, nor was I ever in a plaster
cast for three years. As I compose
entirely on the typewriter, it would
have been impossible for me to have
done any writing at all if I had been
bedridden.
“A second item reports that my
eyesight is impaired and that I am
going blind. Fortunately for me,
there is no truth in this story either.
I am not going blind and I hope I
never shall. A third item states that
an operation has averted my blind
. ness. I have had no such operation
and am at a loss to understand how
such a rumor spread abroad.
“I have had many letters from Eng
lish readers about my supposed un
happy condition. While I appreci
ate their interest and their sympathy
I find it most embarrassing. The
truth of the matter is that I am in
perfect health, have enjoyed good
health for many years, am having no
difficulty with my eyes, am able to
use them for 18 to 20 hours a day
taking care of my mall. I have just
returned from a 2,000-mlle automo
bile trip through Florida. I drove the
ESTHER FORBES,
Author of “Paradise" (Harcourt, Brace & Co.)
Brief Reviews of Books
NON-FICTION. ,
COAST GUARD TO THE RESCUE. |
By Karl Baarslag. New York:
Farrar & Rinehart.
The heroic exploits of a little known
branch of the service, very well told.
THEY SOLD THEMSELVES. By
Howard Stephenson and Joseph C.
Kelley. New York: Hillman Curl,
Inc.
The manner in which some success
ful characters made their piles.
THE SCHOOL AT THE CROSS- '
ROADS. By Thurr?i Graymar.
New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
A discussion of public school educa- '
tion today, in terms of the choice be
tween tradition and progressivism. t
FOREIGNERS AREN’T FOOLS. By j
Christopher Hollis. New York: I
Frederick A. Stokes Co.
A contrast of the points of view of
various nations as to the treatment
of foreigners. England, Italy, Ger
many, Japan. Russia, France and
America talk it over.
THE SOUTH AMERICAN HAND
BOOK, 1937. London: Trade and
Travel Publications, Ltd.
The new edition.
A FOREIGNER LOOKS AT THE
T. V. A. By Odette Keun. New
York: Longmans Green & Co.
Highly admiring explanation of the
famous New Deal project.
1 SPELLING BEES. Bv Albert Deane.
Illustrated by Dr. Seuss. New
j York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
Burlesque instructions on the enter
tainment of guests. Funny.
YOUR CITY GARDEN.. By Margaret
McKenny and E. L. D. Seymour.
New York: D. Appleton-Century
Co.
How to have one. Very complete.
THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MAN.
By J. Gresham Machen. New
York: Macmillan Co.
An eminent theologian’s last work.
A study of man's place in the scheme
of the Christian faith.
FICTION.
THE OAKDALE AFFAIR AND THE
RIDER. By Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Tarzana: Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Two favorites by this author now
published in one volume.
MYSTERIES.
THE CAT CLIMBS. By C. A. Tar
rant. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippin
cott Co.
A gentlemanly burglar puts the po
lice through their paces.
DEATH STOPS THE REHEARSAL.
By Richard M. Baker. New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Murder in amateur theatricals. Very
interesting.
DIAMONDS OF DEATH. By Wallace
Jackson. New York: John H. Hop
i^is & Son.
Villians kill an operative of Scotland
Yard and the Yard intrepidly strikes
back.
THE THING IN THE BROOK. By
Peter Storme. New York: Simon
«fc Schuster.
Murder in a village, solved by a
local amateur.
THE FOUR DEAD MEN. By Spencer
Simpson. New York: The Macaulay
Co.
Four men form a league to avenge
themselves on an unjust society.
> MURDER IN THE NEWSPAPER
*
GUILD. By Henry C. Beck. New
York: E. P. Dutton Co.
A newspaper man is killed, and the
Guild makes the headlines.
POETRY.
PHANTOM THOUGHTS Doris
Caesar. New York: G. P. Putnam's
Sons.
Merely acceptable verse.
CERTAIN PATHS By Doris Caesar.
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Ditto.
THE MOTHERS OF THE WORLD. |
Compiled by Marian Leland. New j
York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
A collection of poems on motherhood.
Appropriate for a Mother's day present.
DEATH IN A .ROOM. By Michael
Fraenkel. New York: Carrefour. 1
Arty and pretentious verses.
WHAT MATTER TIME OR TIDE.
By Ivy Lindsley. Dallas: Kaleido
graph Press.
Doggerel.
■ THE LURING FLUTE. By Caroline
Lawrence Dier. Philadelphia: Dor
ranee & Co.
Amateurish verses.
DRAMA.
DAYS TO COME. By Lillian Heilman.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Drama of a strike. By the author of
“The Children's Hour.’’ Has been pro
duced in New York.
AGED 26. By Anne Crawford Flexner.
New York: Oxford University Press.
The play on the life of John Keats,
recently produced In New York.
JUVENILES.
ANOTHER HERE AND NOW STORY
BOOK. By Lucy Sprague Mitchell
and co-authors. Illustrated by Rosa
lie Slocum. New York: E. P. Dut
ton Co.
A second volume to the famous first,
published in 1921.
Evidence of a race of giant warrior
Indians which roamed the hills and
plains of Texas nearly 1,000 years ago
has been discovered by E. F. Pohl,
archaeologist, in excavations at Cold
Spring, Tex.
entire distance myself and could not
have done this had there been any
thing the matter with my sight.”
And Miss Mitchell adds that the
English papers have been publishing
somebody else's picture over her
name. That is insult on injury'.
lie sic sir
ND while on the subject of pub
lishers’ bulletins—Dutton's calls
attention to the fact that the book
"Tsushima,” by A. Novikoff-Priboy.
published by Alfred Knopf (and re
viewed on this page some weeks ago)
is not the first account given by an
eyewitness of the historic battle in
which the Japanese fleet destroyed the
Russian. A Dutton book published in
1906 gave the same story, says the
bulletin, the author of the earlier
work being Capt. Vladimir SemenofT
of the Russian Navy. Capt. SemenofT
told substantially the same story as
that told in "Tsushima.” He was.
oddly, an officer on the same ship as
Mr. Novikoff-Priboy.
J)ALE CARNEGIE, author of the
best-selling and pretentious "How
to Make Friends and Influence People,”
is clearly losing no time in making
his clean-up from incidentals to his
book's popularity. Like many people ,
who have written something that
found a numerous public, he discovers
overnight that he is an authority on I
practically anything, and we have j
him in the April Pictorial Review i
instructing brides “Hc«v to Make Your
Husband’s Friends Like You.”
This, of course, is no more vulgar
than the whole matter of Mr. Car- |
negie's book, and it might be borne
if it were not a probable symptom
of what is to be expected in the
months to come. One remembers that
last Summer was made a sorrow by
a best seller of blatancy similar to Mr.
Carnegie's—that was Mrs. Dorothea
Brande's "Wake Up and Live.” It
was everywhere. Not only were forlorn
little souls putting their money down
over bookstore counters for it, in the
wistful belief that it would teach
them how to be Franklin D. Roose
velts overnight, but serious publica
tions took it up for spoofing. The New
Yorker carried a piece on it. So did
Esquire. When Mr. Carnegie came
out with his patent medicine the
reviewer remarked with customary
astuteness that he was obviously try
ing to catch some of the wind which
A
History of
AMERICAN
POLITICAL
THOUGHT
From the Civil War
to the World War
by Edward R.
Lewis
HERE is an authori
tative study of
the whole stream
of our political thought
from 1865 to 1918. In
cluded is the whole story
of the genesis and de
velopment of every major
issue which occupies such
prominence in today’s
headlines.
All bookstores, $5.00
0
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
60 Fifth Ave„ New York
MAX MILLER,
Author of ‘‘Mexico Around
Me." Sketch by Georges
Schreiber.
Mrs. Brande stirred up. But she did
not anticipate another season given
over to a spiritual cure-all.
It is a curious obsession that people
have which makes them buy such
clear fool-traps, one which the re
viewer cannot understand. Do you
"make friends?” The reviewer cannot
think of a single person, whose friend
ship means anything to her, who gave
that friendship as the result of tactics
on her part. Are friendships not a
development, rather than an article
of manufacture? Well, whatever the
answer to that may be. the reviewer
is sure of this. If friendships are made,
they are not made by acting on a book
of rules. But people who take Mrs.
Brande and Mr. Carnegie seriously
will hardly apprehend the distinction.
As for influencing people—who
wants to do that? You can grow
mushrooms in your spare time, if you
8re bored, or practice scales on the
piano.
* ik * *
/\ DISCUSSION of the motivation
of the recent General Motors
strike is published in the present Amer
ican Mercury, under the title, ' Revolu
tion in Michigan.” The author is Gor
don Carroll. It is pretty devastating.
It makes the same claims, substan
tially, as were made in an article
by George Sokolsky, which was called
‘‘The Industrial Front,” in the March
Atlantic Monthly—that is, that the
C. I. O. is working ardently to get mi
nority rule over the unions which it
influences. Mr. Sokolsky developed his
theme only so far. Mr. Carroll, how
ever, goes beyond that point and
charges thpt not only are the Lewis
cohorts aiming at getting a monopoly
control of labor, but that they have
gathered into their ranks all the cast
off, worn-out remnants of earlier
"radical” movements, and represent,
in effect, an organization of profes
sional malcontents.
* * In addition to organized Labor
and organized Capital.” says Mr. Car
roll, "there is now a self-invited third
party in all major industrial conflicts
—the radical politico-gangster. His
type is new in the arena of trade
unionism; his presence is highly dan
gerous to both Labor and Capital. He
speaks with insistent vehemence as
, the ‘voice of the majority,’ he is a
master of propaganda and promises;
, he is a shrewd, ruthless seeker after
political power; he poses as the one
and only champion of the Downtrod
den. Yet, in actuality, he represents
no one but himself"
The professional cause-monger, in
other svords, now turned labor mes
I siah. The tactics of these people, as
exemplified in Mr. Carroll’s article,
are horrible, and their effrontery in
dishonor absolutely incredible. Not to
deal in anonymous charges, Mr. Car
roll gives a frank list of the late as
sistants in industrial black-jacking.
The reader is apt to conclude, after
reading the piece, that there is no
reason why people should not have
what political beliefs they please, so
long as treason is not intended. But
what have political beliefs to do with
stirring up strikes? That is a query
which is curiously hard to answer.
And there does seem to be a marked
unanimity of political faiths among
these—avowed—mere labor organ
izers. Mr. Carroll's piece is worth
reading.
Olive Oil Short.
NEW trouble has arisen to plague
Italy this year, a shortage in
olive oil, the principal fat consumed
by Italians.
The crop of Italian olives was
greatly reduced last year, running
about 27 per cent below normal. To
make matters worse, many of the
olives were substandard and are pro
ducing an inferior oil.
Ordinarily Italy imports large quan
tities of oil for refinin' and export,
but other olive-producing countries
seem to be as badly situated as Italy.
As a result, Italy has imposed a
heavy export tax. running up to *3 20
a hundred pounds. Domestic prices
have been fixed by the government
to prevent a serious upse* in the
market.
The United States will feel the ef
fects of the shortage and the high
tax because this country is the largest
importer of Italian olive oil. Nearly
90 per cent of the package Imports
of this country come from Italy.
--•- ——
Plenty of Rain.
'J'HE Winter which has just passed
was unusual >n several ways, but
principally as regards precipitation
and temperature
A study of the weather maps finds
the larger part of the country receiv
ing from normal to considerably over
normal rainfall and in the Far West,
where rain was below normal, a huge
reserve of moisture has been built up
in the heavy accumulations of snow
running to a maximum depth of 15
feet.
The Eastern half of the country
found temperatures averaging con
siderably higher than normal, while
the Western half found just the op
posite to be the case.
Roughly, the section marked by a
dividing line from the east end of
Lake Michigan to the western border
of Georgia reported temperatures from
4 to 7 degrees above average From
Lake Superior a curving line extend
ing to the western boundary of Texas
marked out an area running from
normal to 4 degrees above, while from
that point west temperatures dropped
as much as 8 degrees below normal.
BEST SELLERS FOR WEEK
ENDING. MARCH 6.
Fiction.
Theater. Maugham. Double
day-Doran.
The Late George Apley. Mar
quand. Little, Brown <Sc Co.
Drums Along the Monawk.
Edmunds. Little, Brown & Co.
The Street of the Fishing Cat.
Foldes. Farrar & Rinehart.
Gone With the Wind. Mitchell.
Macmillan.
Paradise. Forbes. Hareourt
Brace.
Non-Piction.
How to Win Friends and In
fluence People. Carnegie. Simon
Schuster.
The Nine Old Men. Pearson &
Allen. Doubleday-Doran.
The American Doctor's Odyssey.
Heiser. Norton.
The Hundred Years. Guedalia.
Doubleday-Doran.
The Nile. Ludwig \iking
Press.
PROMINENT MEN IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE
ARE RECOMMENDING THAT YOU READ
The
Return to Religion
By HENRY C. LINK
A book that will point out for you a "way to
happiness" by solving personal problems aris
ing from the complexities of modern living.
JOHN l». "The widespread interest that
HOrKEFELI.ER, JR. has developed in that book—
so powerful, so convincing, so helpful—entitled
The Return to Religion, which should be
universally read, is a gratifying evidence of this
yearning for religion.”
WILLIAM ALLEN "The most significant and so
WHITE eially valuable book that I
have read in many years. The truth in Dr. Link s
book must triumph if one stone stands upon
another in our proud civilization.”
william LTO* "So full of wisdom, so defi
PHELPS nitely based on experience,
so clear and pungent in expression, that I feel
sure every man, woman and child in America
should read it.”
DALE "If you want to develop a
CARNEGIE* more pleasing personality, a
more effective skill in human relations, let me
urge you to read THE RETURN TO RELIGION.”
(•from hi* book, How to Win Friends and Inpluence People)
Twentieth Printing now on press!
$1.75 at all bookstores, or from—
r/„ M actnillatt (^omfjanv
6o nrrn avenue, new York