Evening star. [volume], September 25, 1937, Page B-2, Image 16

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

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LIPPMANN SCORES SUCCESS
_ A
Gear Presentment of the Case for Liberalism Is a Document
Pertinent to Our Intimate Troubles and Offers
Suggestions for Correcting Evils.
By Mary'Carter Roberts.
THE GOOD SOCIETY. By Walter
Lippmann. Boston: Little, Brown
* Co.
CHAT large but generally silent
portion of the public which
feels a deep and honest con
cern today for the future of
civilization as the world stands con
fronted by the fact of dictatorships
and war and by the threat of de
struction to democracy, that portion
of the public will read this book of
Walter Lippmann's with sober agree
ment. For it is a profound and at
the same time devastating^ factual
analysis of the time. There is nothing
startling in it, nothing sensational,
save only this—that It states the ob
vious, those truths of which the si
lent and democratic-minded portion
of the populace is perfectly aware,
but which, in the current melee of
new prophets and old tyrants, are
ao generally disregarded that their
very utterance is in Itself sensational.
Mr. Lippmann makes a fine mel
ancholy music with his prose as he
restates them; he writes with the
weary patience of one who explains
to a child for the hundredth time
tha the sun does not really march
across the sky though it may seem
to do so; and, in naming and charac
terizing the ills which have plagued
our generation, he is as levelly accu
rate as death, and as impartial.
Yet it is to be feared that because
his name has been grossly and un
thinkingly associated with '‘conserva
tism” in many minds, these same
minds which could most profit by
h» exposition, will be closed to the
foots which he is here presenting.
The true democrats, however (.and
in spite of some evidence to the
•ontrary we may assume that they
•till make up the body of the Amer
rviii njjpi man itio ticni
delineation of the problems which
confront us.
He has divided his book Into four
parts as follows: The Providential
State, the Collectivist Movement, the
Reconstruction of Liberalism and the
Testament of Liberty. The first two
parts were published in the Atlantic
Monthly, though for book publication
they have undergone some revision.
Mr. Lippmann's purpose is to ex
amine the world today and deter
mine whether it be true, as the col
lectivists cry, that the liberal form
of government which has grown un
in capitalist democracies is, at last,
at the end of its service to mankind,
and if mankind, in turning to collec
tivism (communism, national so
cialism and fascism) is taking the
choice best calculated to serve its
progress, welfare and liberty.
His answer to both questions Is no.
but it is not the dogmatic, instanta
neous and prejudiced no which those
who decry his “conservatism'’ will
declare it to be. It is instead a nega
tion based on the evidence of history,
and the presentment of this evidence
makes up the greater part of the
book, being by far the most de
tailed, the most reasonable, the most
complete statement on the issues con
cerned which the reviewer, in much
contemporary reading on the subject,
has yet encountered. It is indeed a
saddening thing that Mr. Lippmann's
reputation as a “conservative”—
which is in no way just—should
stand between his clear presentment
of the case for liberalism and those
of his possible readers who might
most usefully acquire a little informa
tion on the question of what liberalism
actually is and what It demands of a
government and a people.
According to Mr. Lippmann, liberal
ism is the philosophy of the industrial
revolution, that change in social struc
ture which substituted the interde
pendence of communities for local
self-sufficiency, or which, to use Mr.
Lippmann’s own phrase, brought into
being the Great Society in place of the
autonomous village. Such a society,
he points out, has existed in history
nnlv in conjunction with an exchange
economy based on a free market, for
it Is only people who live unde, an ex- •,
change economy who have ..ny use for ,
liberty, the self-contained community
being concerned with maintaining Its
defenses against its neighbors rather
than with encouraging invention, so- !
cial development and the free move- i
went of men's minds. The autono- j
mous village, in other words, belongs j
to the past. Yet today we have whole j
nations seeking to return to that form j
of life, we have governments struggling j
to create on a nauonai scale tne sen
sufficiency of the medieval community,
arming to the teeth and whipping up a
spirit of frenzied nationalism by every
means known to propaganda. These
are the three dictatorships—the three
collectivist states—Germany, Italy and
Russia. Opposed to them and their
imperialism are the capitalist democ
racies with their tradition of liberalism.
The book examines the merits of these
two regimes successively.
It finds, in the case of the collectiv
ist states, that their real reason for
being is mobilization for war. All other
explanations of collectivism, such as
the establishment of order, the need
for practicing racial purity, the more
benevolent government of the people,
these are incidental or propagandistic.
Collectivism, as this author sees it, is
neither possible nor explicable on any
but militaristic grounds. In the cases
of Italy and Germany the preparation
Is probably for aggressive war. With
Russia it is for defense. But Russia,
as the book mentions, is rapidly de
parting from its collectivism, which,
as it further mentions, has never
borne more than a theoretical resem
blance to Marxian communism any
way.
As against this, the case of the lib
eral states is presented in an
equally critical manner. The pioneer
ltberalists of the eighteenth century,
according to Mr. Lippmann, visualized
exchange economy as a system under
which fair trade would flourish and as
one which would render the increase
of wealth within a nation an advan
tage shared by all the nation's mem
bers, This vision has not been real
ized, as Is all too obvious. While fair
trade does flourish among us, unfair
trade flourishes with equal vigor. X)ue
to the toleration of vast unearned in
comes in the possession of a few, the
growth of national wealth is bv no
mean* a general advantage. Had the
vision of the pioneer liberal philoso
phers been followed up truthfully, this
evil turn of events might have been
avoided. • But the vision was lost in
subscription to the doctrine of iaissez
faire which preoccupied the thinking
of the latter-day liberals, and, says
this work, the result has been the
growth of privilege and the control ox
tha state by privileged groups.
It Is because of these evils today, the
work continues, that many honest but
puzzled liberals are turning to collec
tivism. believing that there can be such
ft
a condition as a planned economy In
a peaceful state, and that under this
condition the faults of liberalism will
not exist. But this, says Mr. Lipp
mann, is only a substitution of an out
moded form of government to deal with
difficulties which have their root in
modern conditions. It is, indeed, he
points out, the very introduction of col
lectivism into our original exchange
economy which has caused much of
our trouble, for he sees the great busi
ness corporation as a collectivist or
ganization, opposed in its operation to
the free market through which all
wealth should circulate to the general
good. To offer more collectivism as a
remedy for evils which grow out of
the collectivism which we already
have becomes, therefore, an absurdity
in theory as well as an impossibility
in fact. Or so he says.
The remedy which this book offers
is to reform liberalism and correct
the evils which have grown up within
its present structure. Such a pro
cedure, it says, would involve “large
social expenditures on eugenics and
on education; the conservation of the
people's patrimony in the land and
natural resources; the development
of the people's estate through public
works which reclaim land, control
floods and droughts, improve rivers
and harbors and highways, develop
water power, and establish the neces
sary facilities for transporting and ex
changing goods and services; provid
ing the organization of markets by
information, inspection and other
services; insurance and indemnifica
tion against the risks and losses of
technological and economic change;
and many other things, such as pro
viding the opportunities for recre
ation w'hich would not otherwise exist
in specialized and congested com
munities.” But the ground on which
all this reform must be planted is the
maintenance of a free and fair mar
ket, operating through the genius and
ingenuity of the people, and not ad
ministered from above, either through
government bureaucrats, as under
collectivism, or through favored mo
nopolies. as under decadent liberalism
Moreover, says Mr. Lippmann gently,
it has to be remembered that the
state of perfection—or the perfect
state, if you prefer—never arrives.
The condition of mortality is change
and at no time in history can men
stop and say that a just equilibrium
of all possessions has been achieved.
A liberal state must therefore be one
adapted to constant activity and
change. A collectivist state, freezing
all the operation of its resources into
conformity with a •plan,” automati
cally puts repression on invention, on
the migration of people and on the
human spirit.
This is a very gross resume of the
book's elaborately demonstrated argu
ment. It is an immensely interesting
work, if viewed only as a skilled and
beautiful presentation of a case. Seen
as a document pertinent to our very
intimate troubles, however, it Is con
siderably more than Interesting.
40 YEARS OF AMERICAN LIFE. By
Thomas Nichols. New York: Stack
pole Sons.
rJ''HIS book is one which was
first published in England in i
1864. It author was a New Hamp- j
shire physician who, when the Civil:
War broke out in this country',
found himself on the unpopular side
of opposing armed invasion of the
Southern States. He fled to England
to escape the pressure of the times in
his native land and there turned to
writing as a means of livelihood. The
subject which he took was America,
its contemporary life and customs. He i
first wrote articles for English mag- ■
azines: then, finding his work popular,
he brought out the first edition of the
present book. A subsequent edition,
revised and considerably changed, re
ceived publication in 1874. And now,
36 years after the author's death, we
have the American edition.
The “40 Years” of the title are
those between 1821 and 1861. The
work is made up of essays on various
aspects of American civilization as it
was during that period—such aspects
as education, religion, traveling, the
conditions of life in various American
towns and cities, recreations, amuse
ments and such phenomena as seemed
to Dr. Nichols likely to illuminate our
national existence for the English
public which read his work. He wrote
as an American always, yielding “noth
ing to English prejudice,” as a con
temporary critic put it. But he is
utterly devoid of Jingoism and freely
criticizes the faults of his countrymen
when he thinks that necessary for a
true presentation of his material.
This honesty, however, is only to be
cApecieu irom a man ot Dr. Nichols
proven characteristics. He seems to
have been all his life a tremendously
earnest idealist, and one who con
sciously ordered his life in terms of
human perfection—spiritual and phys
ical. He was a vegetarian, a feminist,
at times a spiritualist, a believer in
temperance in eating to the point of
asceticism, and a political reformer.
He was founder of a colonv (the
Memnonia Institute at Yellow Springs,
Ohio) which had for its object self
improvement through fasting and
spiritual penance. In this endeavor
he met the usual prejudice from the
uninformed, who claimed that he was
spreading the doctrine of free love.
His wife was, like himself, an earnest
leformer and had for her specialties
women's rights, women's hygiene and
hydrotherapeutics or the so-called
“water cure.” Both in their latter
years became Roman Catholics and
Mrs. Nichols remained a spiritualist
all her life.
It will be seen that from this back
ground. and from the scope of the
subjects treated in the book, ”40 Years
Of American Life” gives a pretty well
rounded picture of our country in the
author s day. For his interests made
him aware of the fads and peculiar
doctrines which were part of that day
and he does not omit them from his
text, although he writes of their merits
with considerable objectivity. A pres
ent day writer on such subjects would
certainly find it difficult to write of
them with a like sincerity, no matter
how well informed his researches may
have made him. But Dr. Nichols,
gravely examining mesmerism, spirit
ualism, slavery and Josiah Warren's
theory of “cost the limit of price,” is a
living voice speaking out of a dead
age. Such authority is not .given to
commentators on the past, be they ever
so learned.
Dr. Nichols met not a few eminent
men of his time. He speaks of Poe,
of Whittier, of Fitz-Greene Halleck
and he wras one of the discoverers of
Herman Melville’s genius. He worked
for Bennett on the New York Tribune.
He was clearly a m%n of a fine, if
somewhat delicately spun intelligence.
He writes with the typical style of his
day, informal but none the less con
sciously elegant and ‘Titerary.” He
has a lively, though dignified sense of
humor, and foibles of his countrymen
call it forth often enough to make
his book genuinely entertaining. Man
ners and customs of America, 70 years
past, from our rudest frontier towns
to our then centers of culture, are
held up to us here in the mirror of the
mind of an Intelligent and truthful
patriot. The work 1* commended un
reservedly.
THESE FOOLISH THINGS. By
Michael Sadleir. New York: G. P.
Putnam’s Sons.
''JpHIS is a tolerable romantic novel,
one of those things in which a
smooth reminiscent style of writing
is used to give a sad glamour to a
little love story. It succeeds in the
endeavor well enough. Jt should make
good light reading for those who
prefer the love story for that variety
of entertainment.
Briefly, it tells of how a man and
woman met in Paris and, out of the
wreck of earlier attachments, dis
covered a true passion. The woman
has scruples about an affair when she
is not free and attempts to run away.
The young man overtakes her Just as
she is about to sail for home (Amer
ica) and persuades her to go with him
on a wander tour of France. For six
weeks she succeeds in downing her
conscience and they are happy. Then,
since a book must end, she tells him
that their love is ‘‘too perfect to be
real" and leaves—this time for good.
The disconsolate young man relives
his life in retrospect after her de
parture, and that is the story.
You have, of course, read it all be
fore, but this will by no means be the
last publishing of it either. So it is as
well to say that this rendition is
tolerable and that it should make
good light reading for those who prefer
the love story for that variety of
entertainment.
MAN IN THE MAKING. By Dr.
Thomas Graves. G. P. Putnam’s
Sons.
^N ARKANSAS druggist—lawyer
and telegraph operator on the
side—expounds some of the cosmic
nhtlAertnVsu nf an i elfnn... ......_
drug store.
Dr. Graves, we are informed, suf
fered a nervous breakdown in 1931.
Presumably this little book is one of
the results. ‘‘The real purpose.'' we
are informed, ‘‘is to try to prove that
man did not descend from the ape
nor from any other branch of the
lower animal kingdom * * * be
cause the proportion of chemical ele
ments in his make-up has always
been different from any other animal
of his time.”
He leans heavily on the great science
of phrenology in his demonstration
that the rest of the world is wrong.
The little volume is a naive reflection
of the mental processes of many a
rural village. T. R. H.
rJ'HE reviewer has Just returned from
a week in the country and finds
that something more than 100 books
have accumulated in her brief ab
sence. Now that, obviously, is too
many. She could only dip around j
among them, picking out for hasty
notice those which, for some reason,
lend themselves to a quick appraisal.
Here are some three or four:
We have, first off, a volume of short
stories by Fannie Hurst. It is called
"We Are Ten,” and is published by !
Harper dc Brothers. There are cri
tics, to be sure, who assert that Miss
Hurst has had moments when she
was not Hurstian, but wrote some
thing closely resembling literature.
The present reviewer somehow has
never seen Miss Hurst in one of those
moods, and so to her this latest col
lection of Hurst short stories seems
just like any other collection of Hurst
stories. If you like Hurst stories, there
fore, you should get these. For, look
you, they are Hurst stories. Miss
Fannie Hurst wrote them. The re
viewer hopes that she is being clear.
Next in the shelves is a novel by
Edgar Lee Masters. It is called "The
Tide of Time” and deals with the
Eivil War, as have so many books
•his year. Mr. Masters, however, has
laken a community and treated of the
? fleet of the war on it as a whole, and
so his book 1s distinguished from
hose which have used the war as the
Dackground for personal romances or
is an influence on single lives. The
work is very long, detailed and
crowded with characters. The re
viewer found it worth having for its
lolld workmanship, but somewhat
ipHp.ct.ri an in stvlA—a ohurontaHefio
vhich seems to plague Mr. Masters
ivhen he turns to prose. The socio
logies’. novel is very apt to be dull,
out this is a good average of the type.
Parrar & Rinehart is the publisher.
Another interesting book just out is
‘The Goncourt Journals.” translated
oy Lewis Galantiere. That this is
worth having is self-evident. It is
one of the remarkable journals of lit
erary history—the private opinions of
Jie two brothers who exercised so
jreat an influence on the letters of
their time, and who are today so
nearly forgotten by every one except
literary historians. In its substance
the journal is a historical resume of
the years between 1850 and 1870 by
the pens of shrewd and wittily mali
cious contemporaries. The publisher
is Doubleday, Doran & Co.
And the last book which the re
viewer found time to examine is Hugh
Walpole's new novel, ‘‘John Cornelius,”
published by Doubieday Doran. The
reviewer fears that her reaction to
this famous fictioneer is very much
the same as the one she receives from
Miss Hurst. That is—a Walpole novel
seems to her just a Walpole novel. If
It is tfue, as was loudly whispered at
the time, that Sir Hugh is the author
whom Somerset Maugham satirized fn
his “Cakes and Ale” a few years back,
then Maugham and this reader are in
perfect agreement. For Mr. Maugham
remarked in the aforementioned work
that his novelist—presumably Sir
Hugh—had never written anything
in bad taste. Beyond that all w'as
pure conventionality. Well, the pres
ent novel deals with the history of a
writer, one who is born in a humble
English cottage and rises to great
eminence. He struggles, goes among
literary circles, meets a rather usual
variety of English social and artistic
types, and dies. Again, if you like
Walpole you should get “John Cor
nelius.” For it is Walpole, all right.
Exactly like any of a dozen of his
previous works of art.
The reviewer grieves that she has
had so little time to write this week
and promises faithfully to do better.
i i————
WALTER LIPPMANN.
Author of “The Good Society.” in ivhich he says that the liberal
form of government is not at the end of its service to mankind,
as the collectivists claim.
I
Brief Reviews of Books
Architecture.
rHF 1938 BOOK OF SMALL HOUSES j
By the editors of the Architectural
Forum. New York: Simon Sc
Schuster.
A large guide book for thoae who
want information about building a
modest or not-so-modest home. All
shout architectural style, financing,
:ost, materials and so on. Profusely
llustrated with photographs. Accom
panied by pamphlets put out by the
P. H. A. Highly informative.
Lives.
rHE GUGGENHEIMS. By Harvey
O'Connor. New York: Covici Friede.
The story of the rise of the famous
family. By the author of "The Mel- ;
on Millions." An impressive document !
md altogether interesting
HE DID NOT DIE AT MEYERLING.
The autobiography of "R,” a Haps
burg prince. In collaboration with
Henry Lanier. Philadelphia: J. B.
Lippincott Co.
A work purporting to prove that Ru
dolph. son of Emperor Frans Josef of
Austria, did not commit suicide with
nis mistress in the hunting lodge at
Vleyerling, as has been supposed, but
that he went into exile after re- \
nouncing the crown. The "Rr" who j
writes is supposed to be his son. A
work obviously intended to be sensa- j
tional and capable of holding interest j
even if you do not accept its premises.
JOHNSON NEWLON CAMDEN. By
Festus P. Summers. New York:
G. P. Putnam’s Sons. The life of
a man prominent in the industrial
development of West Virginia, its oil
production, its railroads and politics.
Bv a professor of history at West Vir
?lnia State University.
\D VENTURES AMONG IMMOR
TALS. By Lowell Thomas. New
York: Dodd. Mead Sc Co.
The man who introduced Lowell
rhomas to the world was, we are told,
Percv Burton, theatrical nroriucer and
mpressario. Mr. Thomas here writes
Mr. Burtoh's biography. Including his
memories of such great stage figures
is Duse. Bernhardt, Barrie, Shaw and
Irving. Typical Lowell Thomas style, !
out applied to good material.
History.
rHE SOD-HOUSE FRONTIER, 1854
1890. By Everett Dick. New York:
D. Appleton-Century.
The social history of the Northern
olains in the period indicated. Excel- I
ent.
rHE CONTRIBUTION OF CHARLES
PINCKNEY TO THE FORMA
TION OF THE AMERICAN
UNION. By Andrew J. Bethea.
Richmond: Garrett At Massie.
A short, but excellent paper on
’inckneys part in framing the Con
stitution.
1 Travel.
^ WANDERER TILL I DIE. By
Leonard Clark. New York: Funk <fc
Wagnalls.
The adventures of a young aviator
vho went out to serve China as a
otlot and then turned explorer in Bor
leo. Also some adventures in Mexico.
3ood, lively reading.
MONACO AND THE FRENCH RIVI
ERA. By Frederick W. Pickard.
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
A guide book to the Mediterranean
tlayground. Conventional.
VERMONT. American Guide Series.
Federal Writers’ Project. Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin Co.
The subsidized penmen of the ad
ministration continue to penetrate the
’astnesses of American life and faith
'uily report to Americans that Amer
ca exists. Highly cheering news,
;hough perhaps a trifle expensive.
Wealth.
MONEY AND BANKING. By John
Thom Holds worth. New York:
D. Appleton-Century.
The sixth edition (revised and en
larged) of this standard text. De
signed to cover the problems raised
oy the recent changes in economic
:heory and practice.
vsvi VI iaiiav>i» •>» aivillCi
rHROUGH THE YEARS WITH OUR
CONSTITUTION. By Henry W.
Elson. Boston: The Stratford Co.
A study and criticism of the Con
stitution by a lecturer in New York
University. Rather superficial.
DEMOCRACY IN TRANSITION. By
a Group of Social Scientists in
Ohio State University. New York:
D. Appleton-Century.
A work devoted to outlining a plan
for saving liberal government. In
teresting.
International Relations.
PEACEFUL CHANGE. By Frederick
Sherwood Dunn. New York:
Council on Foreign Relations.
An examination of the problems
which threaten world peace. Informa
tive.
BRITAIN FACES GERMANY. By
A. L. Kennedy. New York: Ox
ford University Press.
An argument for a peaceful rela
tion between Germany and England
as a means toward preserving the
peace of the world. Based on history
since the treaty of Versailles. Suffi
ciently convincing.
THE ATLANTIC—BOND OR BAR
RIER? By Sir Arthur Willert.
New York: Oxford University
Press.
A pamphlet given over to the argu
ment thit there must be an Anglo
r
American rapport if democracy and
peace are to be preserved, Sufficiently
convincing.
Doctors and Health.
THE HUMAN BODY. By Logan
Clendenning. New York: Alfred
A. Knopf.
A new edition of this best-selling
work, enlarged, rewritten and cor
rected. Even better than before, and
you remember herw it used to be.
CONDITION SATISFACTORY. By :
Sandor Puder. New York: Alfred
A. Knopf.
An account of what goes on while I
the patient is under the anesthetic, !
and also before and after. A new.book !
on operations, in short. Interesting.
Religion.
BEYOND DILEMMAS. Edited by S.
B. Laughlin. Philadelphia: J. B.
Lippincott Co.
A group of Quakers express their
views of life In 12 essays. An excellent
work.
BIBLE PROBLEMS SOLVED. By
George H. Gudebrod. New York;
G. B. Putnam Sons.
Questions as to the Interpretation
of certain obscure passages of the
Bible answered in accordance with
the author's views, which seem to
have won the approval of a number
of ministers and churchmen.
Automobile*.
SIR MALCOLM CAMPBELL’S BOOK
OF FAMOUS MOTORISTS. New
York: Hillman Curl.
The famous racer's personal remi
niscences of men great in the de
velopment of the motor. Should be
interesting to all who aVe concerned j
with the subject.
Ships.
GALES. ICE AND MEN. By Frank i
Wead. New York: Dodd. Mead j
tV Co.
The biography of the Bear, the fa- |
mous barkentine which began as a
Newfoundland sealer, went to the
Arctic to rescue the Grepley expedi
tion and finally carried the Byrd ex
pedition to the great Ice barrier of
.he Antarctic. Highly Interesting.
Pictures.
MORNING, NOON, NIGHT. By Sam
uel Bernard Schaeffer. New York:
Knght Publications.
A large volume of photographs
showing human figures in the poses
of pverv-dav modern life. Designed
says the foreword, to help the “com
mercial artist, fine artist or photog
rapher whose work may require a
knowledge of the human figure dur
ing daily activities.''
DOOS AT PLAY. By Paul Hubner.
New York: E. P. Dutton Co.
A small book of dog photographs.
Amusing.
Short Stories.
THE SHORT STORIES OP KATH
ERINE MANSFIELD. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf. ,
The complete collection. In one
volume.
Casual Novels.
ARMED WITH LIGHT. By Margaret
Lee Crofts. Garden City: Double
day, Doran <fc Co.
The triangle given its individualiz
ing twist by the circumstance that
one of the two men in the woman's
life (as the saying goes) is dead, j
Otherwise usual.
BUSMAN'S HOLIDAY. By Rowland j
Walker. Philadelphia: John C.
Win ton.
Rich man turns bus driver and gets
*nto complications. Very light.
AND POINTS BEYOND. By Percy
Marks. New York: Frederick A.
Stokes Co.
The earnest Mr. Marks writes an
other profound work about a man in
search of reality—or possibly his soul.
It will not ignite the cosmos.
BACK TO THE STONE AGE. By
Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzana:
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
Well, what do you think?
HEARTWOOD. By Tom Gill. New
York: Farrar & Rinehart.
Thriller about love and intrigues in
the tropics. Magazine serial stuff.
MANY PEOPLE PRIZE IT. By J. C.
Furnas. New York: William Mor
row.
Story of rich man and his con
fusion. Obviously made to fit the
market.
RUN FAR, RUN FAST. By Lawrence
Golds tone. New York: Grey stone
Press.
Triangle against Spanish back
ground. Evidently meant to be ro
mantic.
RADIUM. By Rudolf Brunngraber.
New York: Random House.
A story of the search for the fabu
lous element when it was still news.
Good. •
COW THIEF TRAIL. By Bennett
Foster. New York: William Mor
row.
Western stuff.
SIX-GEN CYCLONE. By Amos
Moore. New York: Ives Wash
burn.
Western stuff.
CROSSED TRAILS. By Robert Ames
Bennet. New York: Ives Wash
burn.
Western stuff.
CALAMITY JANE OF DEADWOOD
GULCH. By Ethel Hueston. In
dianapolis: Bobbs Merrill Co.
Yet another romance about the
legendary gun girl.
GREAT NEWT MYSTERY SOLVED
Inner Workings of the "Salamander Syndicate” Revealed at Last as
Time Approaches for Delivery of Strange Shipment and
Trick Printing Explains All.
By M.-C. R.
HE reviewer is able to Inform the
public that the great newt
mystery has been solved at last.
Those who read this page last
Saturday may remember how she
stated on It that she had been receiv
ing strange communications, the bent
of whiah was to assure her that her
newts were being well taken care of
and would without fail be shipped to
her very soon. Well, this had been
going on for some weeks. It actually
was not until the reviewer felt her
mind begin to crack under the strain
that she r^entioned the matter in these
columns.
For there really was something very
insidious about the whole business.
The letters came on a handsome
cream-colored stationery bearing the
letter-head of the “Salamander Syndi
cate,’’ with an office address in Prague
and branch offices in Singapore and
New York. They were neatly typed
personal communications and they
were phrased in such earnest confi
dential terms as might well come from
a genuine, though slightly eccentric,
business'. They referred politely to
the reviewer's "previous communica
tion" and assured her, with practically
passionate earnestness, that nothing
but the unusual weather conditions
and the consequent delicate state of |
the “spawn" had prevented shipment
of her new ts, but begged her not to re
pine—her newts were receiving special
care and would certainly be shipped in
time for her October “opening." There
was absolutely nothing in any of the
letters (they came at intervals of
about 10 days, giving the haple.ss re
viewer time to forget one bv the ar
rival of its successor, so that each was
a bright new shock-, there was nothing
in any of them to suggest anything
but the purest of good faith and the
most honorable of intentions.
There was a good deal, however, to
unset tie the mind. For the reviewer
could not escape the conviction that
this good faith and honesty was seated
in a business concern of the most ex
traordinary sort. Newts? she asked
herself on receiving the first letter.
Salamanders? Vague memories of a
course in freshman biology seethed
feebly in the lower levels of her mind,
and she decided, without more respon
sible cerebration, that newts were un
pleasant little animals that lived in
water and looked a great deal like
tadpoles but had no such future as the
tadpole to Justify their homeliness.
Yet here, unmistakably, was a
world-wide business that was occupied
in marketing these horrid little
beasts. When this aspect of the mat
ter presented itself fully to the re
viewer, she fell a victim to her own
good nature and tolerance. One thing
with which she would never quarrel
is her neighbor's taste in pets, even
though that has very frequently
seemed to her distinctly peculiar. Just
think, for example, of other people's
dogs. They are as unlovable as other
people's children, almost always. And
so. thought the reviewer, although j
with some incredulity, it may well be
that there are people who love newts i
It seemed queer. In fact, it seemed
x:x queer. But if such a love there !
was, then to the reviewer henceforth j
that love was sacred. Love your !
neighbor, love his newts became one j
of the Hems of her philosophy. But.
having no newts of her own! nor yet j
a w ish for any. she still could not see
why she kept getting those propitia
tory letters.
And, as the letters arrived in appar
ently endless succession, this first
vague impression of a hitherto unsus
pected world of newt lovers began to
elaborate itself—for, obviously, if the
newt trade supported a business with
offices in Asia, Europe and America,
then there must be newt lovers in
some abundance. There was prob
ably, thought the reviewer dazedly,
somewhere in the world a whole popu
lace of newt fanciers, old gentlemen
and ladles who specialized in certain
breeds of newts, who hated one an
other bitterly because of differences of
opinion as to the beauties of their
favorites, who wrote scathing letters
to the New York Times about the
superiorities of the long-maned newt
over the short-haired variety, who
exhibited their newts at strange shows
held, no doubt, in submarines; who
sat up all night holding the newt's
little fin when it was sick, who had
newt cemeteries wherein they burled
their dumb, friends when they passed
on, alas, to a better world—and so
on. And a revelation of all this, the
reviewer asserts, would be enough to
unsettled any mind.
For now', apparently, her own un
deserving name had been listed
among those of the authentic newt
lovers of the world. How could that
have happened, she asked herself?
Was there—but of course there was—
a newt literature? Of course. There •
must be, somewhere, a magazine
called the Newt Lovers’ Evening Star
and Breeders’ Companion, and in :
some inscrutable fashion HER name
ana occupation had become entan- j
gled with Its mailing list. Was the I
entanglement necessarily permanent?
The reviewer asked herself that so
berly. The plain course open to her,
naturally, was to write to Prague,
New York or Singapore—or, better, to
all three—and explaiin, regretfully
but firmly, that there had been a
Mistake. But somehow this reason- j
able procedure simply was not pos
sible. The delicate mad courtesy of
the letters, the earnestness of their
insanity, made any objection un
thinkable. The reviewer felt that
to interpose any kind of fact in the j
face of this well-bred but clearly I
maniacal trade was simply out of
the question. She resigned herself to
getting letters and, worse, to getting
a shipment of newts some time in
October.
And so the next question was what
t do with them when they should :
arrive. Now what would you do if ,
your otherwise perfectly ordinary ex- ‘
istence was threatened witji the possi- j
bility—nay. the certainty—of the ad- j
vent of a tank full of newts? How
would you bear up under that? The
reviewer struggled to deal with the j
business reasonably. She divided the
possible courses open to her into two
parts. Either I shall keep these newts,
she said, or I shall not. Well, I shall
not. What then? Let the little crea- ,
tures, which obviously could not have '
heard so much as an unkind tone of
voice up until they came into her !
keeping, die? Yes. said the reviewer j
brutally. I shall let the - -;
things die. Have you no feelings?
her conscience asked her reproach- !
fully. No, she answered harshly, not
a feeling. But at that point she be
gan to waver. She was not sure. She
certainly hoped that she had no feel
ings—feelings for newts, that is. But!
maybe, when the trusting little crea- |
tures arrived, and looked limply j
into her eyes with expressions of afTec- j
tion and love, and began to engage
with innocent merriment in their
newtian games and sports—maybe '
she would develop feelings. Horrible 1
thought! Just try to imagine your- j
self on the way to becoming a newt
lover, and that against your will, and
pou will see why she called this whole
experience unsettling-.'
Well, there you are. Thus the mat
ter stood when the reviewer went for
a short vacation to the mountains a
week ago last Monday. Up to then
the Issue seemed fairly clpar. It was
to have newts or not to have them. It
was—shall we say—exotic? But it
was hardly complicated. During her
trip, however, the reviewer happened
to mention the matter to a friend, and
he replied informatively that the newt
was a variety of the salamander.
Now, the salamander part of tha
business had escaped the reviewer’*
mind up to that moment. On hearing
the word from her friend, however, *h*
had a rapid vision of the fatal cream
colored letter-head. It had said ' Sal
amander Syndicate.” Sure enough.
Newts really must be salamanders.
But salamanders live In Are! Con
sider this complication, if you please.
The issue no longer remained a simple
one of choosing between setting up a
newt tank in the apartment, which,
though it would not be desired, might
in time become accepted, and callously
dumping the tank’s contents down the
sink. No, it was now vastly different.
For. if the promised newts turned out
to be salamanders, why then it meant
that they would have to be domiciled
in the grate, and that reviewer, settling
dow'n before her hearth of an evening
to concentrate upon the latest volume
put out by the Federal writers' project,
would see before her, among her do
mestic Aames. counties* little
tures. leaping and grinning and—who
knows—maybe thumbing their noses
at her from the immunity of red-hot
ashes. Well, that was Just Too Much.
And so, when the reviewer entered
her office Jast Monday and saw, in her
accumulated mail yet one more com
munication from the Salamander Syn
dicate. she Rebelled. She picked tin
card up as if it had. been a serpent
tor a newt) and bore it bitterly into
the outer office, where she deposited
it upon Miss Miller's desk and dis
claimed any further responsibility fot
It. Miss Miller, not unnaturally, picked
It up and read it aloud, lit was not
a letter, but a large card printed on
thick stiff pasteboard.) It announced,
said Miss Miller, that the prevailing
dampness had made it necessary Ini
the managers of the Salamander Syn
dicate to invent a new printing proc
ess in order to handle bills of lading
and such things pertaining to the
shipment of newts, and that, by dip
ping the present card in water, the
card's recipient could see a sample o(
this new printing on the reverse side
At that point, the reviewer admits,
if not before, she ought to have
smelled a rat.
But she did not. There were al
ready too many kinds of animals
mixed up in this nightmare for her
even to think of rats. She only said,
with uncompromising firmness. "I will
not dip it in water. I will not touch
It. Nothing shall Induce me to." And
remained while Miss Miller, bv this
time surrounded by a small group,
dipped the thing in water.
And there emerged on the thereto
fore blank side an advertisement of
a forthcoming book about newts.
Now the reviewer has been a pub
licity woman herself in her day. and
as such has put over a few fairiy fas
ones. But never again can she dwell
on the memory of those fast ones with
complacence. To be taken like that!
To have swallowed such a flagrant
publicity trick whole—hook, line and
sinker! She can only state that the
low. sly, corrupt animal cunning of the
lublishers of. that work seem to her
itterly beneath notice. In the Immor
al words of Sam Goldwyn, it is un
thicaland lousy.
Well, she has one comeback. Anri
hat is this: Nothing in the world
ould induce her to name that book
n this article. It shall remain anony
mous. even as the miscreant whc
urned the temple of Diana at Ephesus
k> there you are, Mr. Publisher! As
he sports reporter remarked, "Newts
o you!”
Best sellers for week ending
September 18:
Fiction.
And So—Victoria. Wilkins, Mac
millan.
Northwest Passage. Robert*.
Doubleday Doran.
The Citadel. Cronin. Little,
Brown.
Seven Who Fled. Prokoech.
Harper's.
American Dream. Foster. Mor
row.
Let Your Mind Alone. Thu riser.
Harper's.
Non-Fiction.
Life and Death of a Spanish
Town. Paul. Random House.
How to Win Friends and In
fluence People. Carnegie. Si
mon <& Schuster.
How to Lose Friends and Alien
ate People. Tressler. Stack
pole.
The Goncourt. Journals. Galan
tiere translation. Doubleday
Doran.
Mathematics for the Millions.
Hogben. Norton.
Ordeal in England. Gibbs. Dou
bleday Doran.
The Public Library i
THE RED CROSS. !
A drive for membership is being ;
conducted by the Red Cross from Sep
tember 26 to October 16.
In connection with this event the
Public Library presents a selected list
of books about the Red Cross, accom
panied by a selection from the publi
cations of the American National Red
Cross. The library has many more
works about, and published by, the Red
Cross. Inquire at the information desk
at the rentral building at Eighth and
K streets or consult your branch li
brarian.
History.
RED CROSS IN PEACE AND WAR.
By Clara Barton. 1912. IGA.B286r.
Achievements in Red Cross work be
fore the period of the World War.
A STORY OF THE AMERICAN RED
CROSS. Glimpses of field work. By
Clara Barton. 1904. IGA.B286S.
The great leader of the American
Red Cross writes of the early history
of the movement.
UNDER THE RED CROSS FLAG AT
HOME AND ABROAD. By Mabel
Boardman. 1915. UCM.B633U. z
“Those portions of the book.which
trace the history of the Red Cross in
Europe, of the parallel relief move
ments in America till they merged,
and of the International Red Cross
. . . are the most original and valua
ble.'’
HISTORY OF AMERICAN RED
CROSS NURSING. By L. L. Dock,
S. E. Pickett and others. 1922.
UCM.R244.
The official history of Red Cross
The World War. <
AMERICAN RED CROSS WORK 1
AMONG THE FRENCH PEOPLE. '
By Fisher Ames, Jr. 1921. F30796.- ,
Am38.
‘ What the scope of this work was
ran be gathered from the fact that
having started with a personnel of
about twenty, the force amounted to
over six thousand men and women by
January, 1919.”
THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN j
ITALY. By C. Bakewell. 1920.
F30796.B173S.
“The emphasis is put less on its
achievements than on its contribution
to a better understanding between our
two peoples.”
THE RED CROSS IN FRANCE. By ■
H. G. Granville-Barker. 1916.
F30796.G766r.
A first-hand account of Red Cross
work in the hospital: of France, in
cluding a chapter on the service of the
Friends.
THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN
THE GREAT WAR. By H. P.
Davison. 1919. F30796.D296.
“A running narrative that is full of
color and life, that thrills with the i
energy and patriotism and purpose of
those great days.”
THE LITTLE CORNER NEVER CON
QUERED; the story of the Amer
ican Red Cross work for Belgium,
By John Van Schaick, Jr. 1922.
F30796.V363L.
“Mr. Van Schaick's terse account
gives the reader an excellent idea of
what was accomplished.”
nursing since tne organization or tne
American Red Cross Nursing Service
in 1909.
THE ORIGIN OP THE RED CROSS
“UN SOUVENIR DE SOLFERI
NO." By Henri Dunant. 1911.
UCM.D912.
The founder’s conception of a Red
Cross organization, conceived during
battle by a Swiss humanitarian who
later shared the award of the first
Nobel Peace Prize.
Leaders.
THE LIFE OF CLARA BARTON.
FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN
RED CROSS. By W. E. Barton.
1922. 2v. E.B285ba.
“A contribution to the social, polit
ical and personal history of the coun
try.”—E. P. Edgett.
PIONEERING WITH THE RED
CROSS. Recollections of an old
Red Crosser. By E. P. Bicknell.
1935. IGA.B473.
“For many years he was in the
Held directing its services during
shocking disasters of varied sorts, and
in this book he tells his own intimate
stary of what happened and how the
Red Cross met the situation at a dozen
or more of these appalling events.”
THTl RED CROSS AND JANE AR
MINDA DELANO. By M. E. Glad
win. 1931. IGA.G45.
“She envisioned the nurses of the
future into whose hands a sacred trust
will be delivered.”
r
Alone
among the new novels in its quality
of SUSTAINED ENTERTAINMENT
ANDSO
VICTORIa
By VAUGHAN WILKINS
"As a romance, it has everything—love,
intrigue, travel, adventure, plots, and
royalty in undress.”—New York Sun.
MACMILLAN
'C---r