Evening star. [volume], June 19, 1937, Page B-2, Image 16

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

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HITLER AND GERMAN HOPES
Lucid and Detached Book by Native of Alsace Contributes to
Understanding of Dictator’s Place in World.
America’s Dream Theme of Fine Novel.
By Mary-Carter Roberts.
THE THIRD REICH. By Henri
Llchtenberger. Translated from
the French and edited by Koppel
8. Pinson. With a preface by
Nicholas Murray Butler. New
York: The Greystone Press.
THIS is an examination of Hit
ler's Germany written by a
Frenchman. The author is an
eminent scholar, a professor
at the Sorbonne and director there
of the Institute of Germanic Studies.
His native province is Alsace, which
may perhaps be regarded as signifi
cant. His interest in international
problems has been attested to by his
membership in the European Com
mittee of the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace. His present
book on Germany is thorough, lucid
and studiously detached—perhaps Just
a little too studiously detached. The
reviewer confesses that she found a
certain element of mild drama in
this scholarly Frenchman's scrupulous
avoidance of emotional terms and
in his equally scrupulous determina
tion to be just to Germany at all
costs.
The book is first a skeletomc his
tory of Hitler's rise to power and
then an examination of the various
phases of his program—his insistence
on "rare purity," his anti-Semitism,
his "Wotanired" Christianity, Spar
tanism, his foreign policy, economic
system and so on. Finally, the book '
contains a chapter on French opinion
as to what this new Germany por
tmris for France. It should be said,
perhaps, that the work was published
In France last year under the title
•'L'Allemagne Nouvelle.” The present
edition, however, contains several sec
tions which were not included in
the original French text.
Prof. Liehtenberger's opinion of
Hitler's program, as that program
applies to Germany alone, seems to
be in agreement with that of most
unpartisan observers to date—that is,
that it is well fitted to the tempera
ment and needs of the German peo
ple. That people has ever thrived
under authoritarian rule. Its lack of
national history of long duration has,
In some curious psychological man
ner. affected its national conscious
ness with something akin to in
feriority. The feeding to It of the
race myth gives it a substitute for
national history and assuages its un
happy feeling of newness among its
neighbors. The German people, too,
while accepting rigid authority over
itself, feels the need for trampling
on a still less privileged group; hence
the anti-semitism of national social
ism fits well into the psychological
situation. The German is a prac
tical man; he likes evidence of eco
nomic progress. The four years of
Hitler's regime have produced cer
tain evidences of returning prosper
ity (Prof. Liehtenberger considers the
reality of this debatable but takes nc
sides himself) and these evidences,
kept always before the public mind,
result in public satisfaction. Ger
mans have little care for individual
liberties but prefer always mass move
merits and mass thinking; therefore
the propagandist organizations on
which the Nazi government so largely
rests are in tnemselves gratifying to
the German people. In so far as the
German people alone are concerned,
says this author, national socialism
i« a suitable system. He also feels
that it has a permanent quality.
"There is,” he says, "in National So
cialism a revolutionary element by
means of which it gives satisfaction
to the aspirations of the masses and
allies itself to communism or to so
cialism. But there is also a tendency
toward social conservatism which
comes nearer to the old conservatives
and the German Nationalists. Hitlers
art has been to harmonize these two !
tendencies in such a way as to be
able to rally behind him almost the
entire German nation ...”
As to what Nazi Germany portends
for the rest of Europe, however. Prof, i
Lirhtenberger is not easy in his mind,
and herein he again agrees with many
previous writers on the subject.
"Germany,” he says, “has recon- ,
quered its place among the great free
European powers. But is she 'sated'?
In no way. She has not ceased pro
claiming that she is the 'Volk ohne
Raum,’ that she is stifled within the
limits which have been assigned to
her and that she is not in any posi
tion to insure the subsistence of her
population through her own resources.
She claims her 'place in the sun.’
Who ran tell how far this vital, ani
mating impulse will lead her?”
He refers, in this connection, to
Hitler's assertions in “Mein Kampf”
that Germany's destiny lies in the
east, and mentions the possibility of
an attempt to create a vast Germanic
state out of the present Germany,
Hungary. Austria, Czechoslovakia and
Yugoslavia.
At trt Tl'VlO t +1-0* vninVst —- — t
France (and by inference the rest of
the world) he draws the following
comparisons:
"German power is surpassing French
power every day. Germany numbers
R7 million inhabitants, France 40.
Germany has the advantage over us
not only in numbers, but also in many
other respects, such as the energy of
the tempo of life, the birth rate, the
dynamism, the discipline and apti
tude for organisation, the fanaticism
of the racialist Ideology which it ex
alts, the Spartanism which glorifies
propaganda and the fact that all
power of decision is concentrated in
the hands of one leader, who can will
snd act. The superiority of arma
ments which the Versailles treaty
assured us compensated for these dis
advantages for some time. Oerman
rearmament has already destroyed
that artificial and precarious guar
antee. The balance of power was
definitely broken to our disadvan
tage. This, too, in the face, of a
ration which always had worshiped
the cult of might and which had noth
ing but acorn for the weak. * * *
It is a fact • • • that • * • there
is no more security for France against
Oermany. • • *”
The author aees his own country
M one which values individual free
dom and which has built its govern
ment and institutions on the basis of
Individualism. Germany typifies mass
thinking, mass government; the pro
gram of the Nani party expressly exalts
mass welfare over the welfare of in
dividuals. The enmity between the
two peoples Is not new, of course, but
there is drama in the fact that in
the present time France may be the
defender of those theories of govern
ment which are basic to democracies,
while Germany may apeak (or strike)
for all the forms which oppose democ
racy—communism and fascism alike—
substituting a new glorification of the
masses for care foritfhe individual
freedom of men and women. But. on
second thought, one may perhaps
question the newness of this glorifica
tion. Genghis Kahn, one seems to
have read, conquered by virtue of a
wise use of the masses. So have other
somewhat rugged individuals in times
past. It may be no new phenomenon
after all. It is as old, at least, as
democracy.
As has been said, the book is lucid
and thorough and, in spirit at least,
detached. If the facts which the au
thor presents lead us to suspect that
he himself is not as detached as his
work, that is beside the point. A
highly interesting appendix to the
volume contains the National Socialist
program, the Horst Weasel song, the
law for the reorganisation of the
Reich tits first article Is "The assem
blies of the states are hereby abol
ished"), the law's on cltlaenshlp and
race, the 25 theses of the German
religion, the Pope's encyclical on the
condition of the church in Germany
and many other pertinent documents.
AMERICAN DREAM. By Michael
Foster, New York: William Mor
rnv At Pn
'T'HIS 1* a novel of Individual ex
cellences. but built along a some
what conventional pattern. The pat
tern is that one which has attracted
so many writers in recent years—the
design of showing, through the suc
cessive generations of a single family,
the development of America from its
pioneering days to the present. The
popularity of this scheme for novel
writing has called forth a great many
mediocre books; reviewers have been
forced to the conclusion at times that
any plain or garden variety novelist
who had no compelling inspiration
for the season could fill up his quota
of words to his publisher's and the
public's perfect satisfaction simply
by sitting down and whacking out a
work about an American family, pro
vided only that the work was suffi
ciently thick and solemn. It would
subsequently be offered for sale as a
“saga” or an “epic” of national
growth, and people would be respect
ful, partly because of the memories
Invoked of Mr. Galsworthy and part
ly because thick novels had become
the fashion. But not overmany of
these fortuitous children of the mo
ment are going to be remembered;
that at least is reasonably certain.
Mr. Foster, however, has done a
very different kind of job here. As
was said above, his book is one of
Individual excellence. It rises above
the mere fashionableness of its out
line perilously near to greatness; in
only a few places do the free move
ments of its characters seem to have
been regimented to provide illustra
tions of historical change. Yet that
Mr. Foster has been primarily pre
occupied with historical change is
unmistakable. His title alone an
nounces that. He has act himself to
trace the fleeing away of the young
dream of America, from its early
strength and purity in the lives of
the first colonists down to the pres
ent, when, as he says, it is "lost in
corruption: befouled by the hands of
grabbers and peddled by the shouters
through noisy streets and dirty marble
corridors, and lost. • • •”
.wii* uuvjuuaiy is more man a trac
ing of our national growth, which is
a physical thing. It is vastly more
significant, and, significantly, it is
done here not through the lives of
members of a family of wealth but
through one of those unemment
American families whose concern has
never been with wealth but always
with honor, true culture and per
sonal integrity. Unlike so many works
built along the family pattern, this
novel has no rise to riches in the
80s and 90s; its characters include
no steel magnate, no cattle baron,
no giant of finance. They are, in
stead, congenital adventurers in the
fields of the human mind and spirit.
They ride in shining armor in those
lists—and they just about pay their
bills in the market place. They ate
typical of more of America than is
known to the current generation of
energetic “interpreters” of this land,
for, like Chesterton’s English peo
ple, they do not customarily talk
about themselves.
The work begins with the joining bv
marriage in the 1850s of two traditions
—the Puritan Yankee with the immi
grant Irishman. The Irishman in
question is Jean Francis Thrall, a sea
captain who has adventured, not too
nicely, in the China trade and by his
activities in opium selling has incurred
the displeasure of Great Britain to
such a degree that he finds it neces
sary to sail for America suddenly, and
in disguise. Jean Francis marries the
Puritan maiden, finds Boston too gen
teel for endurance and runs away, go
ing to sea once more, going to India
and the South Sea Islands. He leaves
two children behind him; to his sur
prise he is joined in his flight by a
feminine rebel against that same gen
tility which he so dislikes, a Yankee
poetess. She leaves him at a South
American port and enters an Andean
convent to bear her child there. Jean
Francis then has word sent to his wife
that he is dead, goes off to the islands,
conquers one which pleases him, is
made King, marries a harem of native
wives and lives to see himself father of
14 half-breed eons.
Taon TVa nol. I. ... 1 -1 __ m . •
---**-* » »vuia:ij BWBIC U1 LUC
"American dream.” He li curious about
it. His poetess tells him, in answer to
his question as to what it is, that he is
its personification. This surprises him.
He is a forthright fellow, the greater
part of whose vocabulary is, one
gathers, picturesquely unprintable.
That he should be a dream Is some
whst far removed from hi* calcula
tions. But he Is, in Mr. Foster’s work,
that personification.
The book then follows the life of the
son of the Yankee wife, John Thrall,
He is one of the very fine portraits
which this superior work contains. A
well-educated youth, he goes West te
practice law and run a newspaper; h»
is offered lucrative careers In Boston
and later in Chicago; ha cam only an
swer that there is more space in th«
Dakotas. He defends the poor, h<
takes up the causes of the unpopular
he Is beaten by a mob for hla presenta
tion of the case for a supposed "spy’
during the war hysteria, he remains
poor all his life, obscure, a small-towr
lawyer. He preserves a taste (In Kan
sas) for good literature, a sense ol
humor and intellectual activity. HP
wife leaves him to take up “aocial serv
ice.” his son never appreciates him
until it is too late to matter. Ihc
pathos at this portrait is almost un
bearable, but it is no emotional imag
ining on the part of the author. Tilers
have been more than a few small towns
in America where such men haw lived
out their obscure lives. But our busj
"interpreters” seem ^mehow to mist
them in the rush of getting their copy
to the publisher on time.
The last generation is this man’s
son, Shelby Thrall, who goes through
the evolutions of a newspaper career
until, in his 30s, the American dream
comes to life In him again. He under
stands then what his father has bten;
he resigns his job and buys a weekly
country newspaper and picks up where
his parent left off. As he puts It to his
wife, "We may starve from now on
and you may have to beg In the streets
to support our child. But from now on
we are following that dream. I can’t
explain it to you • • •”
No. it cannot be explained. Again,
like the people of the ballad, it does
not talk. It survives in little-inhabited
places. It joins no isms, pursues no
csuses, reaches for ne power. It is it
self. Hsd exposition of this dream been
attempted by undlscrimlnating hands
It would have been an obacenity. But
Michael Foster has carried his attempt
off. He has undertaken an Infinitely
delicate thing, with success. His book
Is memorable. One hopee that It Will
be remembered.
STAR BBOOTTBN. By H. O. Weill.
New York: The Viking Press.
'J'HIS book has been advertised as a
return to Mr. Welle’ earlier man
ner. One hardly knew what to expect
of that, lor Mr. Wells has hsd several
earlier manners, but one hoped, op
timistically, that there would be no
outer-planetary dallying In a book so
announced, since there was one time
in his career when this popular man
of letters could take his cosmic ravs
or leave them. Alas, the hope mis
leads us. The present work indicates
that the marriage of Wells to Cosmos
is still felicitous. He is occupied here
in visualising a better race, and he
reachet out to Mars to find his source
of inspiration.
Briefly, the book is no more than
Mr. Wells’ description of what he
thinks an Improved species would be.
He has done that before, but appar
ently sees no reason why he should not
do it again. He uses a new device this
time for Introducing hit bettered men:
they are to be produced by interven
tion of the Martians, who, observing
\ life on our planet as we observe the
amoeba beneath the microscope, have
decided to introduce certain changes
In our breed. Acting on this plan, they
send cosmic rays earthward and the
rays so directed act upon the human
genes to produce superior offspring. He
does not present this as something
actually to occur, but as the idea of
a neurasthenic man of letters. It leads
to much discussion among the neu
rasthenic msn of letter s friends, and
In their mouths Mr. Wells put his de
scription of future humanity.
Well, it is not particularly exciting
The vision of a better race it about
what any rational person would en
tertain. It might be a bit of original
thinking if it came from the pen of a
bright college Junior. But it is Just
another volume when you think about
its author. Yes Just another volume.
The reviewer honestly ean think of
nothing more to say of It then that.
And, of course, that H. O. Wells wrote
it. Who says a rose by any other name
i would smell as sweet?
GLITTERING DEATH, By Joseph
Peyre. Translated from the French
by James Whltall. New York:
Random House.
'J'HIB novel, which won the Oon
court Prise for ifS5, is a pur*
romance, refreshingly devoid of prob
lems. It Is the tragedy of a bull
fighter, one who has achieved great
heights in his occupation so that he
is called in Spanish journals "a great
artist," and who falls under the domi
nation of a mercenary woman, enters
the ring when he is unfit to fight and
is killed. It is told with alow, lucid
beauty and genuine tragic feeling.
While the theme is essentially hu
man, so that the Interest of the reader
will be in the emotions of the hero
first of all, the author has drawn in,
with great realism, the world of the
arena. The various hangers-on, the
language of the sport, the promoters
—honest and crooked, and above all
the public emotion as to the fight itself
—all these are vividly alive in his
work. The hero, Ricardo, surprisingly
to American readers perhaps, 1* shown
to be a sensitive man of finely
tempered emotions, so passionately
devoted to perfection in his occupation
that the term "artist” does not seem
an extravagance when applied to
him. It is a strange world, to our
public, very unlike that which sur
rounds any of our sports. But its
strangeness does not come between
the reader and the human theme; on
the contrary, it enhance* It.
The novel is recommended for its
beauty and the technical mastery
which its author uses in developing
the classic tragedy form.
THE STRIKERS. By Ooetse Jeter.
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
TTHE reviewer’s reaction on seeing the
title of this book was to sigh,
"Another one!’’ There is, however, a
certain difference between this book
and any of the recent many which
have been poured out to catch the
public interest in labor troubles while
that interest still is keen. The present
book is neither to the left nor to the
right. The author seems to feel that
strikes are a phenomenon coming from
an unrest that is deeper than dissatis
faction with wages or hours, that they
are a bad business for the workers
economically, but inevitable as an out
let for that same unrest, about which
he is unsatlsfyingly vague, beyond his
assertion that it does exist.
His book makes all these points. It
shows the workers of a shoe factory
in a small eity led out to strike by the
promises extended to them by an op
portunistic labor leader. It shows how
the majority of the men care little
about the "Issues’’ held out to them by
the organiser, but accept, sheep-like,
the idea that something called a
"union” is going to change their hard
existence if they give it unquestioning
loyalty. Those with families are
worried about the future; they dislike
giving up their wages, but fear the
stigma of disloyalty and ao say little,
Those who live with their parents—
the younger men—welcome the work
leas days as a chance to have a good
time. The strike drags on and the
company wins. Then (and this seemi
out of keeping with what the author
has previously shown us of his workers)
the men lynch the organiser. They
go back to work in a chastened mood—
and Immediately a new party start!
agitating for a memorial for the
•’martyr.’* Bo, we are given to under
stand, a new turn of the treadmill ii
under way.
Apart from its absence of bias, the
wnrk his little dttinetion. It is dis
connected In its indents and seems tc
MICHAEL FOSTER,
Author of “American Dream" (William Morrow A Co.)
have been written hastily. But it is
at least a departure from the pas
sionate prejudices which commonly
animate works on this and similar
I themes.
SERVE IT FORTH. By M. F. K.
Fisher. New York: Harper it Bros.
'T'HIS is one of those completely de
! llghtful books which seem to be
I written equally for those whose minds
take pleasure in the curious and those
who revel in a good, accomplished lit
erary style. It is u book about food—
its history, its anecdotes, its great per
sonalities, its Joys. It is gay, but not
too gay. It is clever, but not smart
aleck. It is learned, but not abstruse.
It is. in short, a delightful book. Only
I the dull will find that it has failed
i them.
Oetting under way, Mrs. Fisher an
nounces that there are two kinds of
! books about those who eat. The first.
' she says, "is listed under memoirs in
i book catalogues. Its pa/es totter and
j crumple under a weight of well-known
| names, and from each chapter arises
I a reek, a heady stench of truffles,
i Chateau Yquem, and quails flnanciere.
1 You sit pompously nonchalant, on a
balcony at Monte Carlo, tete-a-tete
; with three princes, a millionaire and
1 the lovely toast of London, God bless
her! Or. in a Georgian dining room
filled with quietly munching cabinet
ministers, you exchange quips which
grow by repetition into fln-de-siecle
epigrams. It Is all very enervating—
and it sells very well, they say."
The other kind of book she finds
even more objectionable. “It shows
pictures of its authors standing beside
a quaint old inn near Oxford or a
quaint old Inn near Cannes . . . the
authors arc young and full of intel
lectual frolic, and they are making a
gastronomic tour on bicycles.''
Mrs. Fisher disclaims any such kind
of authorship. She decided to write,
she says, when she discovered that "no
self-respecting restaurateurs will
pay much more than a tolerant and
patronising half-attention to a wom
an's ideas for a good dinner.” She has
not written a cook book. Do not buy
her book for recipes or menus. She
has written a sparkling volume of
essays on food, as qualified above. Buy
it for your mind. You will probably
find that you pay much more atten
tion to what you eat, after reading,
than you ever have before in your
whole existence.
RIDE ON THE WIND. By Francis
Chichester. New York: Harcourt,
Brace dt Co.
^FTER a somewhat vague and haay
start, due chiefly to an unfor
tunate arrangement of material, Chi
chester swings into a lively, enter
taining account of h solo flight in a
little, cranky Moth, converted into a
seaplane, from Sydney, Australia, to
Katsura, Japan.
i ik nmiuiuons oi ms mirpiane, wn n
its range of only 500 miles and Its
lack of power to get it off the water
unless conditions are better than
favorable, lead him into difficulties
which add much to the excitement
of his atory.
Chichester's flight was part of a
proposed flight around the world.
In an earlier book, “Seaplane Solo,”
he told of his flight from New Zea
land to Australia. This volume has
its climax in the rude termination of
his flight as the result ot a collision
with an unseen cable stretched over
the harbor at Xatsura.
His account of his trip inside the
Great Barrier Reef along the Aus
tralian coast and along the chain
of islands to New Guinea, the Dutch
Indies and the Philippines may not
reveal sound airmanship but It does
make enjoyable reading. It has a
place among the best volumes of
aerial adventure.—J. 8. E.
A HOME IN THE COUNTRY. By
Frederic F. Van de Water. Reynal
* Hitchcock, New York
'T'HIS is a book full of chuckles,
1 particularly for the reader who
has, himself, gone through all the
vicissitudes of attaining a home in
the country- How natural are the
longings of the author for a place
with a "rushing trout brook.” and how
more than natural are his descriptions
of the realtors’ versions of rushing
trout brooks. And how natural are
the realtors—even though among the
crew there was one who wired his
prospect: “May have the place you
want, but you must come at once.
Vermont is a small State and is filling
up fast." it was probably the un*
orthodox wWoeeh of this salesman
as much {^tha house and site that
| Anally determined the purchase of
this particular home In the country.
After the actual purchase, of course,
the fun began. There was all the
excitement of the remodeling, getting
acquainted with the hired man, learn
ing to know the neighbors, the Arst
Winter, and the Inevitable hold that
one's own piece of land and one's
own dwelling takes on one. The sub
title of the book is "An Adventure in
; Serenity.” It is Just that, an essay
, on the joys and blessings of omming a
' home in the country, written with
j humor and in a spirit of good nature
, and thankfulness induced by that
blissful possession. R. R. T.
OLD FUSS AND FEATHERS. By
Arthur D. Howden Smith. New
York: The Ore.vstone Press.
INFIELD SCOTT, one of the most
notable military Agurea the Na
tion has produced, is the subject of
a brilliant biography, in which Smith
illuminates some neglected chapters
of American history.
Although Scott held high command
in three of the country's greatest wars
And in a number of its lesser cam
paigns and is one of the few soldiers
in the history of the world who never
last a battle in which he commanded,
he has been strangely neglected by
historians and biographers.
Scott, as the author makes ouiie
1 clear, was a "bundle of contradtc
| Mona.” The Duke of Wellington, the
i famous “Iron Duke" who smashed
Napoleon, referred to Scott as the
greatest living soldier and yet he ex
I hiblts many undeniably petty traits
of character. Though he was several
times the country’s military savior,
he was throughout his life the victim
i of puny political sharpshooters, who
galled and hampered him. This Scott,
| who infallibly did the right thing in
; campaigns and battles, almost lnvarl
■ ably did the wrong thing politically,
and, as a result, was in hot water a
large part of the time.
The 8cott who took childish delight
in "a splendid uniform." exposed him
self unhesitatingly, even at advanced
age, to campaign rigors which taxed
the endurance of the “young gentle
men” of his staff. He had, as Smith
i observes, “an absurd vanity and hun
ger for glory,” which, in those days,
probably were assets. He also had
many moments of shining greatness.
Moat of 8oott’s officers, the author
says, “admired him. while they
laughed at his infirmities of tempera
ment; the enlisted men adored him
because he was fair in administering
the rigid discipline upon which he
insisted and did his best to see to it
that they were dressed comfortably
and properly fed.”
The author is to be thanked for a
genial and engaging study of one of
the great Americans. J. 8. 8.
i -
MAGAZINE MAKES DEBUT HERE
American Aviation, Published in Washington, Covers Aircraft
Activities From All Angles—Senator Moses Writes o
"Cloak Room Ciceros” in the July Commentator.
By MrC. R.
OLUME 1, No. 1 for this
wfek. or, that la to say, the
week's new periodical, 1*
American Aviation. This is
a magasine which announces Itself as
“the Independent voice of American
aeronautics." It Is to be published
twice monthly, on the first and fif
teenth, and ha* It* editorial offices in
Washington, its editor Is Wayne W.
Parrish and Its news editor, M. Lstane
Lewis, 2d. American Aviation states
that for It* first two Issues no adver
tising was solicited.
The purpose of the new periodical
seems to be to cover the subject of
aviation from all possible angles. It
gives space to new mechanical de
velopments, new schedules and ships,
the political angle, news of pilots,
Army and Navy air items and gener
ally gets around over the field. It
would seem to be a useful publication
for every one who has an interest In
flying—and that of course, is a con
stantly growing section of the popula
tion.
The leading editorial In the first
Issue indicates, however, that the new
magasine is going to be a fighter1 as
well as a news carrier. The1 editorial
is called "Pawns in the Game" and
it take* up the situation surrounding
the McCarran-Lea bill and the new
airmail contracts to be advertised
by the Post Office Department. It Is
heartily for the bill, which, it says,
is distinctly in the best interest* of
the airlines and badly needed. On
the other hand, the editors go on
record as opposing the proposed Mead
legislation on aviation as “the least
constructive and least progressive
• • • since the airmail act of US*.’*
As to the new airmail contracts,
American Aviation states that they
are being used by the Post Office De
partment as ‘‘pawns’’ to force through
the Mead bill, and criticises the low
figure (17 cents a mile) which it de
clares, Is the maximum the Post Office
will accept.
Whatever the merits of the case
may be there would seem to be some
value in bringing all Issues into the
open, and this, at least, appears to
be the purpose of the new magazine.
As has been said, people Interested In
aviation ought to follow it with con
cern.
AN INTELLIGENT, tasteful little
'**• publication la Globe, and, of
course, the reviewer ha* said as much
before. But in a day in which every
thing—be it permanent wave* or
literature—can be relegated to type*,
a magazine which seems to have no
model and no Imitators (as yet) de
serves (conservatively speaking) a
modest second mention. So there you
are. An intelligent and tasteful pub
lication is Globe.
It calls Itself, without particular dis
tinction, an “intimate journal1’ and
goes on to indicate that its special in
timacies are travel, romance, adventure
and world Interest. What it is trying
to say is that it contains articles by
good writers from odd spots in the
world, and some unoffensive fiction,
which is about all you can ask of
fiction in these commercial days. It
isn't smarty, it isn’t stodgy, it isn't
sensational. That sentence alone puts
it in a class by itself. For most maga
zines today are one of the three.
The July Olobe has among its con
! tributors Careton Beals writing about
Peru and the Andes, Langston Hughes
writing about Samarkand, Bradford
Smith writing about Japan. George
Schuyler writing about Monrovia
(which, in case you do.not know, is
the capital of Liberia), Sisley Hud
dleston writing about the Riviera and
Franklin Roudybush writing about
Washington, V. C., and its diplomatic
corps. All these article* are good.
They are individual, having as little
of the typical in them as la humanly
possible today. Olobe is pocket-slued,
but beyond that the reviewer can.
with her best efforts, think of nothing
harsh to say about it. It is a hopeful
sign among current magaaines.
TN CONNECTION with an article
A by H. V. Kaltenbom called “When
Does a President Become a Dictator?”
the July Commentator print* the fol
lowing li*t of powers which, it says,
are in the hands of the President
today.
The President, it says, eould:
“Print and distribute additional bil
lions of paper dollars.
“Raise or lower the dollar’s value
in terms of gold.
“Buy vast quantities of silver from
other countries at better than market
prices. He alone controls half the
world's supply of gold.
“Control bank reserves, deposits,
credits, operations.
“Close all stock exchanges or allow
them to run only on a cash-and
carry basis.
“Subsidise farmers if they do as
they are told, penalizing them if they
refuse.
“Spend many millions on relief and
Ilx compensation rates for 3,000,000 '
clients.’ i
"Control shipping policies and de- <
velopmsnt through subsidies granted
or withheld by the Maritime Com
mission.
"Ignore or recognise a state of war
and then grant or deny to belligerents
access to the world s chief source of
war materials.”
The reviewer read the piece with
considerable interest, hoping to learn
the answer to the question asked In
the title—Just when does a President
become a dictator? Mr. Xaltenborn
does not mention the exact moment,
but happily he feels that we may be
safely past it In this country. He
says:
"Congress at last is champing at
the bit. The leaders on Capitol Hill ,
are tired of being bossed. And bossed
Is the word. Per four years White
House emissaries have told them
‘The Boss says’ or ‘the Boas wants.’
The court-packing proposal, dumped
on the desk of an astounded Congress,
broke the White House spell. Hie
lawmakers resumed their constitu
tional functions. They told the Pres
ident that he cannot have his six new
Judges. And having once refused to
do his bidding, they are much more
likely to continue to go their own
way.”
SENATOR GEORGE H MOAEB also
is a Contributor to the July
Commentator,' writing on the subject
of ‘‘Cloak Room Ciceros.” According
to the Senator, the best of Capitol -
Mir« wit and wisdom is notexpended
>n the floor. He write# affettionately
>f the "old L-shsped rooms and the
:loak room orator# who «rtormed
here, and his article is higdy enter
saining.
Among the Cicero#, he ay#, "was
Senator Claude Swanson of flrglnla—
who has now undergone tanslatlon.
like Elijah. I can well irmglne that
he now illumines councils if war in
the Navy Department with hose sate
apothegms with which he used to
light up the murky atmoeplgre of the
cloak room: ‘When in doufc, tell-the
truth.’ ‘Stick to the ship until the
water rises above the secoxl deck,' ”
Mr. Moses also remembea a Con
gressman who was once dacrlbed as
“ ‘mute, silent and dumb'—o which."
he says “Tom Reed added ii his shrill
voice. And he ain't sayings word.’”
He closes with a somewha nostalgic
paragraph:
"The United States Sente, after
all, is made up of men who save con
victions, which they may tilnk they
must stifle because of phemeral
manifestations, but which, ilthey were
carried out to the extrene, would
make this Government of -urs what
the fathers wanted it to (e—a re
public of representative intituMons.
"If the Ciceros of the rhak room
could move upon the floor inthe same
quality, even if In undress, wtirh they
show in the purlieus of ther retreat,
the country would be lnflnibly better
off.”
Not just a little better iff, mark
you. "Infinitely.”
The Public Library
THE NORTH POLE.
RUSSIA'S successful attempt to
land an expedition at the
North Pole, under the direc
tion of Dr. Schmidt, who a few
years ago was in command of the
voyage of the Chelyuskin through the
Northeast Passage, has turned the
attention of the public to the field
of Arctic exploration.
The Public Library presents a short
list of books passing in review suc
cessful and unsuccessful attempts to
explore the North polar regions in
the past, with emphasis on the ex
ploits undertaken in the present cen
tury.
Material about earlier attempts at
Arctic exploration may be located by
asking at the information desk at
the Central Library at Eighth and
K streets.
Arctic Exploration.
THE POLAR REGIONS, a Physical
and Economic Geography of the
Arctic and Antarctic. By R. N. F.
Brown. 1927. GH.BSlOp
"This book bring* together from
scattered source* most of the facts
known about the polar regions • • •
and the general reader will find it a
convenient reference book when polar
topics arise.”
THE POLAR REOION8 IN THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY; Their
Discovery and Industrial Evolution.
By A. W. Oreelv. 1929. OUOSlp
"A valuable and up-to-date sum
mary of polar discovery made by a
veteran explorer.”
EXPLORING ABOUT THE NORTH
POLE OF THE WINDS. By W. H
Hobbs. 1930X01M.H65.
"The author describes, in order, the
first cruise on the Morrissey in 1926;
the second expedition on the Disko in
S 1927, and the third Greenland ex
pedition in June of that year, whlct
had a dramatic climax in the rescu<
of the Arctic flyers, Hassell ant
Cramer.”
TO THE NORTH! The Story oi
Arctic Exploration From the Earli
est Times to the Present. By
Jeannette Meraky. 1924. G14.M67
“ To the North’ is more exeitlni
reading than a whole pile of novels.”—
Lewis Gannett.
ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA; Nar
rative of the Fifth Thule Expedi
tion. By Knud Rasmussen. 1927
014.R2.
“Not only a work of literary charm
but also one of the deepest and sound
est interpretations of primitive lift
and thought that has ever been pul
into a book."—Vllhjamur Stefansson
THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC, the Story
of Five Years in Polar Regions. By
Vilhjalmur Stefansson. 1921. 014
St24F.
"Is sure to take its place as ont
; of the most fascinating and valuablt
| tales of polar exploration that hat
ever been written.” Ellsworth Hunt
ington.
UNDER THE NORTH POLE; thi
Wilkins-EUsworth Submarine Ex
pedition. By Sir Hubert Wilkins
1921. 014.W65U.
‘The book 1s a rsal novelty be
cause * * * it represents the Aral
effort of an explorer and his associate*
to put out, In advance of the ex
ploration concerned, a dignified
I thorough and well-substantated ar
I count of what they hop® b aceom
! plish, why they hope to weomplish
it and what real need therein for the
job to be done."—Daines Barington.
Explorers.
ROALD AMUNDSEN—My Iff as an
Explorer. By R. E. G. Anundsen.
1927. G14.Am96m.
"Because of the controvrsy with
Nobile, designer and captai of the
Norge, the famous Norwegia, explorer
i devotes a good share of his book
| to the ‘inner story’ of the pear flight,
as It was conceived by dm and
j financed chiefly by Mr. Ellswrth.”
THE LOO OF BOB BARTUTT; the
True Story of 40 Years of Sea
faring and Exploration. }y R. A.
Bsrtlett. 1928. E.B2838
Capt. Bartlett “started fl Arctic
voyaging with Peary, rommading the
Roosevelt on its vovage to be North
Pole.”
SEARCH. By Lincoln Ellswoih. 1932.
E.EL87.
"The modestly written utobiog
raphy of a man whose drejn from
boyhood wax ‘exploration beond the
; uttermost rim of discovery."
PEARY, the Man Who Reused to
Fail. By Fitahugh Ore®. 1928.
B.P318g.
"In this day, when men if many
nations are forcing their "my Into
the Northern lee. It la good to have
such a record of the life o one of
■ America's greatest explorers.—J. M.
| Thorington.
PEARY. By W. H. Hobt. 1937.
i E.PJIBh.
“Dr. Hobbs possesses the .elentiflc
knowledge to judge Peary aaa sclen
| tist and a geographer and t under
stand hi* errors, which som eritlrs,
without such knowledge, hwe sup
posed discredited Peary."—C.’u. Skin
ner.
THE SAGA OF PRIDTJCT NAN
SEN. by Jon Sorensen 1932.
E.N1S7S.
“A full and authoritative account
and Interpretation of the Je and
character” of the Norwegtn ex
plorer.
i ■ ■
BEST SELLERS FOR VEEK
ENDING JVNE It.
Fiction.
The Outward Room. Brant Si
mon A Schuster.
Rile on Rufus R*t. Reilly. Mor
row.
Bugles Blow No More. Dordey.
Little Brown.
Cardinal of the Medici, leach.
Macmillan.
The Years. Woolf. Ha court
Brace.
Wind Prom the Mountains. Oul
branssen. Putnam's.
Non-Firtion.
Mathematics for the MiUons.
Hogben. Norton.
Miracle of England. Mairols.
Harper's.
Orchids on Your Budget, lillla.
Bobbs Merrill.
Flowering of New Eniland.
Brooks. Dutton.
Before I Forget. Rascoe. Dou
bleday Doran.
A Mind Mislaid. Brown. Ditton.
... 1
Brief Reviews of Books
Pictures.
CAMERA AROUND THE WORLD.
Compiled and edited by Heyworth
Campbell. New York: Robert M.
McBride At Co.
Pictures of life all over the globe,
Including work of some of the world's
outstanding photographers. Worth
having.
Architecture.
THE NEW ARCHITECTURE IN
MEXICO. Modern architecture,
painting and sculpture in Mexico,
collected and arranged with photo
graphs by Either Born for the
Architectural Record.
Reproduced here in book form.
Worth having.
Hsrbe.
AN ARTISTS HERBAL. By Louise
Mansfield. New York: The Mac
millan Co.
Pencil drawings of herbs, with text
giving description of growth, color and
use of the plant. Exquisite work.
Beautiful book.
Athletes.
FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES
OF TODAY. By Leroy Atkinson.
Boston: L. C. Page Ac Co.
The fifth of this series, bringing It
up-to-date, with the names and ac
complishments of leaders in our
sports today — Dizzy Dean, Jesse
Owens, Helen Stephens and others.
Business.
TAKE A LETTER, PLEASE. By
John B. opdyeke. New York:
Funk Ac Wagnalls Co.
of business and social
Royalty.
THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH. By
Capt. Erlx Acland. Philadelphia:
John C. Winston Co.
A short and Informal biography of
the little girl who may some day be
empress. The author is he who wrote
"The Houae of Windsor” and "Long
Live the King.”
Religion.
HIGH HERITAGE. By Mary Chapin
White. New Tort: E. P. Dut
ton Co.
Selected reading from the experience
of life from the Old and New Testa
ments and the Apocrypha.
Casnal Navels.
BARBED-WIRE EMPIRE. By Will
Ermine. New York: Green Circle
Books.
Western stuff—ths fight between
the railroad and the range owner.
And the like.
AFRAID TO LOVE. By Marlon White,
New York: M. B. Mill.
Trash about a girl who had an
obaeaslon because her male parent
had been a murderer. She la saved
by love, or so the author tells us.
THE FUZZLE OF THE BLUE BAN
DBRILLA. By Stuart Palmer.
New York: Doubleday, Doran
* Co.
A Hilde garde Withers story, with
the action taking place In Mexico.
Lively. A Crime Club selection.
THE BROTHERS 8ACKVTLLK.. By
O. D. H. and M. Cole. New York:
The Macmillan Co.
Murder in Birmingham. Better
ttea tbCessi—a.
r- ---
"A book and a theory which merits careful reading and thoroigh
digestion. It it full of meat ." Philadelphia Public Ledter
In Defense
of Capitalism
by lames H. R. Cromwell
and Hugo E. Czerwonky
I I ' .
"It is written in the language of the business man and without— '
thank Heaven and the authors—the use of weird mathematical
symbol* and formulae.;:: We predict that the monetary
system advocated in this book will find.
followers in the arena of politics in the near
future. For this reason and because of its
own interesting and valuable nature, it is
worth reading"— Well Street JournalJ
With cherts in color • 373 page* • $3.50
•r all haakilarai
I CHARLES SCRI1NI** SONS
V— ^ ►