Evening Star Newspaper, November 29, 1925, Page 56

H NOTES OF. ART AND ARTISTS Corcoran Gallery of Art Planning to Reopen Soon — National Callery to Sbow Ear]y American portra.its——Philip A. de Laszlo to Be in Washington During His Exhibition. . BY LEILA MECHLIN. ITH the Corcoran Gallery and the National Gallery of Art hoth closed, there is a distinct cessation in ar- tistic activities, espectall field of exhibitions, at the pres- ent time. This state of affairs, how- ever, will not continue long. The Cor- coran Gallery will reopen, it is confi- dently expected, before the end of this week, the work of reinstalling the painting its permanent collection Drogressing rapidly The Nat Gallery of closed ext Saturday evening, when the private view of the notable ion of early American por- miniatures and silver assem- blea by the Washington loan exhibi tion committee will be held. This ex- hibition will comprise paintings by the foren arly American artists, Cop- les, West and Stuart will be fully rep- vesented. There will be a lurge repre- tation al f paintings by the and Sully, and there will be even earlier painters—John Hesselius, John Wollaston and others The portraits will in many Instances be of weil known personalities. and women famous In the political and sociul history of the new republic To a_great extent these have been lent by local owners, and are old family portraits. A number, however. have been lent by the Corcoran Gal- lery of Art, the Capitol, the Depart- ment of Justice, and other branches of the Government. Besides these, Her- bert tt of York, who has one of th ons of early Amer- fean portra s country, has gen- erously contributed five choice works s value atures in t rt will be Pe works 1 est collec numbering _over from Washington Philadelphia, New nd constitute what collection of vet been as two rare nd quite ert Stuart Malborne, by F others of almost silver is the It. too, ¥ extent largest s been con by out-of- h Maj. Gist My Breckenridge in_ Henry Gibbons valuable contributions. will include over 70 by Paul Revere. the which h: bLeen lent by Thayer of Hoston. It : works by famous s of Boston, New York, Al iadelphia, Baltimore, Annap- Washington, all working be. These pieces have been ted by u member of the Boston Museum of Fine its intrinsic artistic in- rs, althoug najori f Nathanie prise carefully staff of the Arts, each fc tere his exhibition, open lay evening, will be free to the pub- lic from December 6 to January 3. An tllustrated catalogue will be issued ng next Satur- P THE Corcoran Gallery of Art on the same day will place on exhibition a collection of paintings by Philip A le Laszlo of London, one of the lead- ing portrait painters of our day, who, after several years' absence, is again visiting this gountry. Mr. de Laszlo 1s an Austrian by birth, but a natu- ralized citizen of Great Britain. He spent s e litt] time in Washington a few ears ago painting portraits here, a mg them portraits of Presi- nd Mrs. Harding, and at that n exhibition of his portralts was the semi-circular gallery at the Gallery of Art, attracting wide and favorable attention. He is a virile painte but his style is essen- tinlly suave. He discovers the best in Lis sitters and sets it forth with tact .nd skill, and shows in all of his work #n keen sense of the refinement of beauty. Irwin Laughlin, American minister to Greece, owns quite a num- ber of Mr. de Laszlo's works, which are here in his home on Crescent Place. Few have had more distin- guished sitters, and yet none turns to his t with more serious purpose than he. Mr. de Laszlo has had what many in the present day lack—sound nd prolonged training, in addition to which he i< o sincere and very gifted His portraits carry conviction the matter of likeness and are at the same time fra works of art. T v have charm and distinction. The De Laszlo exhibition will be set forth in the south gallery on the main floor of the Corcoran Galler Mr. and Mrs. de Laszlo will Washington for some little time in De- cember, and on the evening of Decem- ist. in Ler 10 will be the special guests of honor at a dinner at the Arts Ciub. * x x x AL Society of Washington Artists will be in possession of the semi circular gallery at the Corcoran Gal- ary of Art from December 6 to Janu- arv 3, holding therein their thirty- fifth annual exhibition. This will con- ~ist of oil paintings and sculpture not lefore publhey exhibited in Washing- ton and selected by a jury consisting of the officers and executive committee of the society. Two prizes will be \warded in the form of a silver and a bronze medal for the two most meri: torious paintings shown. * ox ok ok ()\' December 1 and continuing to January 1 an exhibition of etch- and other prints by the Print kers' Society of California will be view in the Smithsonian Institu . set forth under the auspices of the division of graphic arts. This jromises to be an extremely interest- {ne @isplay and should afford oppor- tunity for lovers of prints to make purchases for Christmas. The Print Makers’ Soclety of Cali- fornia is a unique organization. It was organized by a group of California artlsts, and has now for several years set forth annually a large, important internationzl exhibition of prints, ich has comprehended the works of the best print makers of the leading yations of the world. It also circulates ~ich exhibitions as this which will be “hown here, sending out five ‘or six every Winter and thereby extending the knowledge of this division of the phic arts and encouraging print collecting. The society has not only srtist but lay members, and each year it selects and issues a print to its mem- Vers. For the fortunate print maker whose work is selected this is a very tangible honor, and to the members of the society it becomes a valuable pos- session * % ¥ T the Arts Club during December the annual members’ exhibition will be held. This will consist of small paintings, drawings, prints or works in sculpture, not to exceed 18 inches in the largest dimension, and the selling price not to exceed $25. At this ex- hibition the Arts Club will make three purchases, which will be awarded as prizes for the best costumes at the 3al Boheme to be held at the Willard Hotel on January 11. Here, too, should Le a Christmas opportunity. * K K K HE Art Promoters’ Club will open st its clubroom, 2011 1 street, thts afternoon an exhibition of Arab sketches made in northern Africa by Mrs. Sue May Wescott of Philadelphia. Tr. Gertrude R. Brigham met Mrs. IWescott in Tunis, where she was traveling on a holarship from the Philadelphia Art School, and was iretly impressed by the interest and men | merit of her work. The exhibition will continue through Sunday, December 8, and will be open to the public. On the afternoon of December 6 the guest of honor will be Emil Fuchs, painter. sculptor and etcher, of New York, a collection of whose etchings will at that time be on view In the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The Art Promoters’ Club ganized some years ago among the students and graduates of George Washington University. Dr. Brigham and Viktor Flambeau were organizers and still head its list of officers. The club has recently announced, by the way, a European tour which it will sponsor, to be conducted by Dr. Brig- ham during the Summer of 1925. * X ok K HE American Soclety of Bookplate Collectors and Deslgners, which has its headquarters in this city, (has_lately published its yearbook for 11925, This tells of two traveling ex- , hibitions of bookplates which have | been circulated during the past vear, and of notable additions made to the | soclety’s collection in the Library of Congress. On August 1, 1925, this per- manent collection consisted of 782 | bookplates, 11 items of bookplate |literature and 2 drawings; the Egbert | collection, 1,594 bookplaes. 6 items of | bookplate literature. 1 copper plate and 2 zine plates of Dr. Egbert's book- plates. A portion of the Frank Con- nell collection of bookplates, consist- | ing of upward of 900 plates, has re- cently been acquired by the society by purchase. The new bookplate of the socfety, which is printed as a frontisplece to this report, was designed by Frederick | Charles Blank and bears, interestingly enough, on its face the names of Hurd and Revere, who, it will be re- membered, were exceedingly famous silversmiths, to be represented gen- erously in the loan exhibition opening next week at the Natlonal Gallery of Art, and also, it appears, famous bookplate designers and engravers. The report of the society contains an interesting article on “Design and Bookplates,” by Ralph M. Pearson, the well known American etcher, who is one of the leading exponents of modernism in design and whose book- plates are essentially modernistic, and a delightful account of the history of early American bookplates by Flor- ence Seville Berryman, now a mem- ber of the editortal staff of the Amerf- can Federation of Arts. This article 1s illustrated by portrait drawings by her father, Clifford K. Berryman, the cartoonist of The Star. The third article included in this pamphlet is on “Charles Joseph Rider as a De- signer of Bookplates” and is by Marion Carmichael. * X ok X centennial exhibition of the Academy of Design, d here in October and early November in the Corcoran Gal- lery of Art, Is to reopen on Decem- ber 1 in the Grand Central Art Gal- lerfes, New York. These galleries are, it will be remembered, high up under the roof of the great Grand was or- Central Railroad Station, designed by Warren and Wetmore, architects, of New York, one of the greatest rail- road stations in the world. The Grand Central Art Galleries 1s a co-operative organization form- ed for the purpose of promoting not only interest in, but sales of Ameri- can art, and including both profes- stonal and lay members. In accord- ance with the original plan, a certain number of artists were Invited to contribute one work a year gratu- itously for three years, and a certain number of laymen were requested to give $600 a year for the same period. The works of art contributed by the artists were distributed by lot to the laymen. Through this plan the gal- ries recetved about $300,000 as work- g capital, which amount has estab- lished them now on a self-supporting basis. Total sales to date—that fs, covering the period of three years— approximate $900,000. The galleries are small, but exceedingly well light- ed and beautifully appointed. They are easily reached by elevator from the Vanderbilt avenue entrance, and nowhere can paintings and sculpture be seen to better advantage. x kx OSEPH PENNEL has written his autobiography. It isentitled, “'Ad- ventures of an Illustrator,” and simul- taneous with {ts issuance an exhis bition of the material included there- in will be set forth in a special exhi- bition at the Anderson Galleries, New York. The private view wil be held on the afternoon of December 4, and 1S to be opened formally by Robert Underwood Johnson, permanent sec- retary of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, formerly United States ambassador to Italy. The au- toblography s a monumental volume elaborately illustrated by Mr. Pen- nell's own etchings and is to be issued in two editions, one for the trade, the other a de luxe edition with addi- tional illustrations, and an etching signed by the author. The idea of the exhibition is novel, though along the same line as that of the Whistleriana presented by Mr. and Mrs. Pennell to the Library of Congress and on view there. T ECILIA BEAUX, the foremost living American portrait painter, has been awarded the gold medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters for her distinguished work in painting. This is the first time that this medal has been awarded for work outside of the field of letters. It is a well-merited honor. The award was made at the recent annual meeting of the Academy, held in New York * K ox % HE New York Water Color Club and the American Water Color Society announce their annual joint exhibition to be Jeld in the galleries of the Fine Arts Society, 215 West Fifthy-seventh street, New York, from January 2 to January 17, inciusive. Exhibits will be received December 24. This exhibition will consist exclu sively of water colors and pastels. Various prizes will be awarded. (Continued from Firs happened since the league began, you will see that it has never been able to act against a great power, save in the case of Germany disarmed. It has never been able to speak with author- ity in the case of any dispute between two great powers, or when a situation concerning gne great power seems ob- viously to involve the elements of war or peace. It could not prevent the Ruhr, the Russo-Polish War, the Greco-Turkish War, the seizure of Vilna of Memel, it could not even act in the face of those facts. It wanted to act, it realized that for its own power and prestige it should act. But it realized, too, that it had no means for transforming its will imto action and that if it spoke it would be disclosed as impotent, while perilous division would arise within its membership. It could not compel Poland to retire from Vilna, Italy from Fiume, it could not enlist the physical strength of the member nations to defend either Greece or Po- land menaced by non-member nations. Americans supporting the league idea said, and Europeans echoed, that the failure of the league in these pri- mary affairs was due to the absence of America. But how, had America been a member, could this fact have in- fluenced the Bolshevist advance upon Warsaw or the Turkish eruption to- ward Thrace? Obviously our repre- sentatives at Geneva would not have been able to pledge our fleets or armies to defend either the crossings of the Vistula or the stralts of the Dardenelles. Least of all would our executive and legislative branches of government in Washington have ac- cepted as final any decision of Geneva calling for such contributions. Could Not Act. Tt was not our absence which hampered the League because those who twere present did only what we would have done and what they would have done had we been present. The British people would not fight to pro- tect Greece against Turkey or Poland against Russia. It was in theory the duty of Geneva to caill the member nations to arms; it did not act be- cause it knew the answer. It was the duty of the League to tell Musso- linl to get out of Corfu, but while it consulted it did nothing and left the great powers, through a councii of ambassadors, to resolve the dis- pute by permitting Greece to pay a heavy indemnity to Italy without any international appralsal” of the real merits of the dispute. It tomorrow. in full peace, Bolo armies should come tumbling into Poland, the League could only act after the French, British, Italian and perhaps German governments had de- cided what action would conform to the domestic and national interests in their keeping. If all these powers, or enough of them, agreed that self de- fense necessitated defense of Poland, then the league could speak, but the voice of Geneva would only represent the hand of Paris or of London. When France went over the Rhine and into the Ruhr, the action, what- ever also is to be said of it, consti- tuted a deadly menace to peace. A league, actually guardian of the peace of Europe, was at once charged with intervention. It might in the end decide Germany wrong and con- demn her to pay up her default. But it could not let the situation march to conflict. Yet it did noth- ing, could do nothing; and know its impotence, because had it bade France halt, the order would have been an empty gesture and France and all her friends would have at once re- pudited the authority of the league. Upper Silesia Affair. When Upper Silesia became a bone of contention between France and Britain, not because elther cared about the principles or equities involved, but because France desired to strengthen her ally, Poland, and Britain to pre- vent the expansion of French influ- ence through the expansion of Q Simonds Sees Function of League As the Agent of European Powers Poland’s strength, they avoided a break between themselves by sending the matter to the league. But when the league decided in favor of Poland it was the bayonets of the allled troops which imposed the decision upon a German people, which have never accepted that decision as just and never would have accepted it at all had power to resist existed. The league is steadily represented by its champions in this country as a tremendous and increasingly effective agency for peace in Europe. But the truth is that Europe has been making such progress as it has made toward peace outside of the league, and not only apart from but frequently in dis- agreement with the leagye. The pro- tocol was the league’s idea of peace in Europe, but the protocol was scrapped in favor of Locarno because France and Britain could agree about Locarno and not about the protocol. The evolution of the league in its still brief history has been away from control, leadership. authority. Locarno accentuates and illustrates the process. A reintegration has been taking place in Europe which has lately gone very far. As the process has developed in- dependently of the league, the states- men who have been conducting the operation have taken advantage of the league to make it the instrument of administration of what hae been formulated and agreed upon elsewhete. The men who sit at Geneva repre. senting their countries habitually have as little real influence as the ambas- sadors who perform a similar service in other places. When It Is Effective. Geneva leaps to the headlines when Chamberlain and Briand have agreed in London, Paris or Locarno upon some course and go to Geneva tb explain it. The league becomes ef- fective when machinery for peace has been devised elsewhere, and then the Geneva personnel is employed to op- erate the machinery. Until recently the league has been paralyzed be- cause it could do nothing itself and the statesmen in control of national governments would resign mnone of their duties, responsibilities or pow- ers to the league. Now, as the direct consequence of a development which the league could not bring about, there is growing up a whole body of agreements and the league {s acquiring a reason for ex- istence as it becomes the custodian of the agreements and the executor of the contracts. It was to have been the master; it is by way of becom- ing a servant, not impossibly a highly useful servant, but its whole charac- ter has been changed in the process. It was to have beeh the agent of peace, it is becoming the accessory after the fact. But it is essential for Americans to percelve that in the process it is, despite its Aslatic and South Amer- ican fringes, becoming more and more essentially European. Its concerns, its vital concerns, are becoming more exclusively European. Its attention is being more and more utterly con- centrated upon European problems. What is even more mnotable, and for the American more significant, it is becoming the expression of a steadily mounting European solidarity. . Lost American Character. Thus the league, which in its incep- tion, at least, represented an American effort to evangelize Europe, has al- ready lost almost if not quite all of the American character—which was, to be sure, quite vague—and is as- suming a distinctly European aspect, which is concrete. It has ceased to be even in European conception a superstate, a seat of authority. It is becoming the center of a machinery which, so far from organizing peace, begins to function only when peace is organized, and so far from com- pelling nations to adopt peaceful solu- tions, only becomes avallable when the nations have arrived at such solu- tions. (Copyright. 1925.) j Dr. VEMBER 29, 1925—P. PAN-AMERICA’S ALLIANCE WITH EUROPE ISOLATES U. S. Fact That Seventeen Southern Republics Have Join- ed League of Nations Holds Possible Menace to This Country. BY DR. L. S. ROWE, Director General of the Pan-American Union. There is a distinct tendency at times to regard pan-Americanism as a move- ment of special interest to the Latin American countries, a movement fos- tered by the United States in a spirit of service to her sister republics rather than as a matter of vital in- terest to our country. Viewed in a larger perspective, nothing could be farther from the truth. ‘Whatever may be our individual at- titude toward the League of Nations, it is evident that there is no imme- dlate prospect that the United States will become a member. It is most important for us to bear in mind that 17 Latin American countries are now members of the league and that there has been established at Geneva a special Latin American bureau for the convenience and service of the Latin American republics. We should also not lose sight of the fact that the people of Latin America do not teel anything like the same reluctance to participate in European affairs as is shown by the people of the United States. The chief sources of thefir culture have been in Europe, and they do not have the slightest fear of Buropean aggression or European domination, In these circumstances it is well for us to reflect upon the ultimate working out of the forces that have been set in motion by the new rela- tionship that the Latin American countries occupy to European and American affairs by reason of thelr entry into the League. It is already within the range of possibility that thelr increasingly active participa- tion in the work of the league may, in the course of time, place us in a position in which we will find our- selves isolated from Europe on the one hand and in danger of isolation from Latin America on the other. One cannot contemplate such a po- sition of isolation as anything short of & menace to the normal develop- ment of democratic {nstitutions on the American continent. If at any time we should find ourselves in the posi- tion of so-called “splendid lsolation,” it will inevitably mean that in the national mind there will develop the conviction that we must be prepared to meet any combination of forces that may be arrayed against us. Such a situation means a nation thorough- Iy organized for national defense with all the secondary consequences which this involves. In a nation thus organized for de- fense democratic institutions cannot develop normally. Freedom of thought, freedom of epeech, freedom of the press; in short, the foundations of individual liberty .are certain to be undermined. As a people we have never known what real insecurity means, nor have we ever felt its far- reaching effects on our national in stitutions. The development of pan-American ism thus becomes a matter of vital moment to the United States. Not only is it one of the most important guarantees to the peace and pros perity of this continent, but it is als a factor vital to the full fruition of our democratic institutions. Veteran Prohibition Necessity of Ame (Continued froi our success would remove all regula- tory restrictions upon the traffic, that moonshining, bootlegging and smug. gling would be, enormously increased and that the transfer of police power from the States to the Federal Gov- ernment would tremendously increase the mechanism and expense of enforc- ing all antiliquor laws. All those predictions, at which we | hooted, have come true. The conven- | tion at Chicago was a great wholesale complaint against just those evil re. sults No one present there ventured to deny that moonshine stills and boot- leggers cover the country as the lo- custs did the land of Egypt. While most of the States have adopted en- forcement acts in concurrence \ith the Volstead Act, nevertheless the authorities in charge of them have almost wholly looked to the Federal officers to detect, chase, capture and | convict the violators of the law. When that condition was forecast in the debates over the amendment in Congress, the reply of its friends was that the States, to prevent befng over- run by Federal foreign spies, snoop- | ers and enforcement officers sent out | from Washington, would be foremost in the use of thelr own officers and | in securing to themselves the fines forfeitures and convicts from prohi bition enforcement. But all those local benefits have not | been experienced. On the contrary, the Federal forces have been planted all over the country and have sought for either, honest or dishonest pur- poses to take entire charge of prohi- bition enforcement. The consequence ! has not dnly been a flood of official scandals, evidences of corruption, in- stances of unwarranted outrages upon private rights and the demonstration that the Volstead act is practically unenforcible in its present terms and with_all the machinery possible for the Federal Government to employ. Hence, the silly demands we hear for more drastic legislation and the use of the armed forces of the Nation. My Personal Convictions. I am a 100 per cent prohibition: | was wholeheartedly in the fight years before the present leaders got actively into it—even before some of them were born and elght years before the Anti-Saloon League was founded by Howard Hyde Russell in Ohio. No man can discount or deny my devotion to the cause and I want now what 1 have wanted for those 340 years. That is the abolition of the iiquor saloon, and in nearly all the States that is now accomplished. Secondly, the suppression of the manu- facture and transportation and im- portation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes. Those two objectives constitute the heart and lungs of the eighteenth amendment. Unfortunately, in my judgment, the Anti-Saloon Leaguers have gone far beyond those original objectives and have used their in- fluence to enact laws that are de- signed to control every act relating to liquor, however private, personal and even permissible under the terms of the law. When the eighteenth amendment was being framed it was strenuously urged to use in it the words “alco- hollc liguors” rather than “Intoxi- cating liquors,” but on the com- mittee of Congress who handled the amendment there were able lawyers and ex-judges who saw both the in- Jjustice and the futility of attempting to outlaw every kind of liquor that contained any percentage of alcehol. They said irn plain speech that the chief purpose in setting up national prohibition was and is to delegalize the making of and commerce in liquors that are generally and neces- sarily “intoxicating.” Question of Intoxication. In other words, at that time, the whole avowed purpose of those who were promoting the amendment was to put a rational stamp of illegality upon liquors of any Kkind that are actually “intoxicating.” It was ac knowledged that whether any parti- cular liquor is classifiable as “in- | toxlcating liquor” is a question of fact, dependable upon convincing proof, and is not a matter of opinion —not whether Wayne Wheeler or Sam Small or any other person, thinks it is “intoxicating.” It is an issue to be determined by expert de- finition, by cumulative human ex- perience and by the testimonies com- ing from courts and corrective insti. tutions. For instance, the issue has been presented in the House of Representa- tives by the introduction of 58 separ- ate bills to legalize the manufacture and sale of 2.75 per cent beer in such States as may elect to have fit, on the ground that such beer is not an_“intoxicating liquor. The proponents of those bills say such beer is not “intoxicating,” in fact, and therefore should not be included in the prohibition of the eighteenth amendment. The op- ponents of those sbills contend that such beer is “intoxicating.”” But who knows positively, irrefutably, whether it is so, or not? I have, for § years, sought every available authority and evidence on that question—and yet I do not know whether or not 2.75 per cent beer 1s necessarily and invariably “intoxi- cating.” But I want to know the truth about it and am ready to wel come any investigation that will get that truth and establish it incontest-: ably. 1 find all over the country men who are as pronounced prohibitionists | | standard. {long Advocate Urges nding Volstead Act as myself, who are anxious that question finally settled. They, like myself, do not believe that the Volstead standard that any liquor with more than one-half of 1 per cent alcohol content must be account- ed “Intoxicating” is either true or reasonable. drastic and irreducible minimum of alcoholic content that has caused mil- lions of men in America to pronounce the standard a “palpable lie on its face” and to resist, or condone those vho do resist, such u definition of an ntoxicating liquor. The answer of the Anti-Saloon Lea- guers and dry legislators is that “the law does not say that any liquor with more than one-half of 1 per cent of al- cohol in. in fact, intoxicating,” they hold that there must be a base line of alcoholic content from ihich to project enforcement and that one- half of 1 per ment alcohol content has to been found in State experience to be | the most ascerta le and f standard for enforcement purposes. The reply made to that is the double one, that while one-half of 1 per cent may be feasible for taxation it is not indubitable’ for intoxication, and, sec- ond, what a State establishes tandard for itself is not to be gen ally accepted as an incontestable ible pe What Is the Way Out. There were men who have been in Anti-Saloon League service and are vet, but who will not consent to be personally quoted and so ‘get in bad"” with their league leaders, who are puzzling over “the way out” of the present conditions of law deflance, official derelictions and corruptions, and the broken hopes of those who brought prohibition into the national policy. Incldental benefits to indi- viduals, families, industries and mor- als they publish and emphasize, but the criminal increases, the perjuries murders, moral poisoning of officials, Judiclal truculencies and social de- moralizations they do not attempt to deny and deplore. Unless I have utterly lost all my half-century experiences as a news paper man and evangelist in gauging ublic sentiment, I can say with | surety that the discontented public, | whether for or against prohibition per se, 1s anxious to have a thorough and honest investigation of the pres- ent status of prohibition and how to make it enforcible and ‘satistying. Congress and the friends of the eighteenth amendment should cease to camouflage actual conditions and face | them frankly and fearlessly, seeking | and_applying whatever solution may be found rational and constitution: The Line of Approach. This question of why prohibition is not beine effectively enforced is the most universal and acute issue being discussed by our American people and press. It is up to Congress to find out the answer and legislate upon the facts to the satlsfaction of the people. Congress and the people know that both personal and partisan politics have honeycombed and rotted the na- tional enforcement service from the hour that the ‘“prohibition unit” was formed in the Treasury Department after the enactment of the Volstead law. I have inquired into the oper- ations of the unit in more than 20 States and found in all of them the agreement that lax enforcement and immunities for law-breakers are al- most wholly due to the power of poli- ticlans to nominate and control the enforcement officlals. This is capable of irrefutable proof—but will Congress dare to bring it to the surface and cure the corrupting evil by divorcing prohibition enforcement from all po- litical control? I doubt it! Another thing that persons who want practical prohibition, and whose | Jobs, personal or political, are not de- pendent upon the Anti-Saloon League, would ask of Congress is a full and omprehensive investigation of the 2.75 beer proposition. What they want Congress to find out definitely and finally is whether that sort of beer is, or is not, “intoxicating”; and deal with the subject accordingly. In plain words: If such beer Is intoxicating, keep it under the amendment ban. If it is not intoxicating, let those States have it that want it, but rig- idly prohibit them from exporting it into other States that do not want it. The charge by the anti-saloon leaguers that such action would be “a surrender to the outlaws” is plu- perfect poppycock. The demand for a decision of this widely mooted ques- tlon is not influenced by what brew- ers, beersuckers, bootleggers or booze politiclans want. Their outcries are negligible and taken en bloc would get no attention or response from any type of prohibitionists. Certainly they do not affect me. The demand comes, .in fact, from those who want that truthful and rea- sonable legislation that will make prohibition appeal to the honesty, loyalty and law-abiding spirit of the commonality of our American citizens. Until we can get that popular re- action, prohibition will be a delusion and a failure. (Copyright, 1925.) o Paid $28,000 for a Tree. From the Nature Magazine, An Austrian manufacturer of fine furniture has recently paid, it is said, $28,000 for one fine ash tree which stood on the farm of a poor Bosnian farmer. The farmer and his family have been made rich beyond all their dreams as a result. e have | It is the insertion of that | but | REVIEWS OF AUTUMN BOOKS An Interesting Volume for Air Pilots, Showing How the Geo- graphical Area Takes on a New Importance—-A Few New Novels of the Season and a Story of African Adventures. IDA GILBERT MYERS. AERONAUTICAL - METEOROLOGY. Ry Willis R. Gregg, meteorologlst, United_ States Weather Bureau. ew Yorl The Ronald P S Company. HAT which the ocean has for long centuries been to the mariners, 5o now the air itself has become to the pilot of the sky. These together are pro- viding a medium of intercoursq be tween otherwise perppanently sepa- rated peoples and places. Many ages went into the conquest of the sea. A few vears will suffice for the mastery of the air. For this is the great speeding-up period. Progress nowa- days without intermission or abate- ment keeps its foot on the gas. Scfence itself ix the magician of the present, meeting its marvels of dis- covery with a multitude of inventlons and devices for converting these dis- coveries to the uses of modern life. And in an increasing purpose of gen eral practical understanding science in its various forms is translating it- self into the currency of common speech for the use of an exceedingly lert and receptive public. So today the business of scientific discovery is everybody’s business in a world of ex- citing change and absorbing interest. * Kk kK ¢ A ERONAUTICAL Meteorology striking example of the prompt readiness of science to adapt itself lt'v the practical current Dr()h‘l‘l'] l’u modern life. Here the particular 3 s air-salling weathers pr(A“r‘::r‘xd‘ us the invisible atmosphere | tts to its visible limits—the sky This geographical area (l;;}:f: 0{"@\;)::7 he new o Importance Niith this region tiat the book in hand deals in a direct bearing upon the art of aeronautics. Her find that the atmosphere, though t Visible, has, nevertheless, a definite Structure of its own-——as hoth sea and carth have—a structure susceptible Selzure and analysis and calculation, This a world through which air cur Irents run fairly defined highwuys lof travel, along which are BeOE set the equ! lents of our own ‘fuh’i_ihtix “danger’ and “glo” warnings. ‘,‘f the reglon of clouds, whuse content o wind and storm stands out here in a | pldin reading. no longer the secret | menace of fierce and unaccountable powers. Brought into the open. thes familiar sky ‘forces of frustrat m\. »-‘ come elther agents of co-operation or obstructionists of easy avoldance. From this study certain practics tests emerge weries of pointed 2 “u you Know: and “Do_ you under- itands?” applied to the effects of vary ing weather conditions upon the prac lice of the art of aeronautics, appl to forecastings of the weather, to characteristics and uses of the in struments of meteorological calcy tions and to every other phase of practical understanding of this sub > ( comprehensiv ple. authori- tative study, desig 1 primarily fo ihe use of students desiring to become competent alrni A book W h')\i: quality, howeve: commends to the al reader. ) tnitial volume in the new Romal aeronautic library. Under the editor Ship of C. deF. Chandler, cojonel United States Air SQervice Reser \}t‘— other volumes by speclalists in the | Varfous fields of aeronauties will he jssued. Should these, as a rule, hot to the practical approach and simple treatment of “Aeronautical Meteorol ogy,” the new library will be a re- cource of inestimable vaiue to the growing army of fiyers, to the increas- ing student body in ronautical re arch and practice, and, besides, to | general readers of world progress * % K ¥ SRICAN NEIGHBOR=. M u‘x\rlzl and Beast in Nyasaland. By ! [ans Cordenhove. ~ Illustrated | Boston: Little, Brown & Co. ANS COUDENHOVE is himself a v quite apart from the many Stolrlhltq he : about his rican neighbor vounger. son, upon a regulation future which cer- tainly bore not a shadow of resem- blance to that which actuaily came to pass in his life. Thirty years ago, at the age of 35, Coudenhove went out to Nyasaland, not to s but to look around for a future, after the fashién of European younger sons. That was a good many vears ago, and, save for one short return to Europe, he has been In Africa ever since. Therefore, the neighbors of which he here writes so knowingly are those of a long ac- quaintance, made in circumstances of special intimacy. It is of these that he here tells in a straight simplicity that fits exactly the conditions of that remote life. In addition to this, there is on the part of Coudenhove w curi- ous tendency to rub out the lines com- monly separating the different orders of life—man, bird and beast. This European, away out of the man-crowded areas, has come to see much that is human among what are commodly called the lower animals, some of the lower animals among the humans. This distinction largely ob- literated, these stories of lions and monkeys and ants and snakes and men are one and all records of an amazing art in the adjustment of every form of life to its means of continued existence. A great respect for this lite, however minute in form, a great redpect for these native people, is an outstanding and most pleasing characteristic of Coudenhove's work. The zest and spirit of the man come out in a letter, where he says: “The people who are responsible for my coming to Africa and spending my life in the wilds have all died long ago. Their names are Fenimore Mayne Reid, Jules Verne and R. L. Stevenson.” ' Here one gets the lead of adventure and the influence of read- |ing that so clearly mark these fasci- nating and_informing stories of life as Hans Coudenhove fs living it in the wilds of Africa. Tk ok ok ox THE MADONNA OF THE BARRIL CADES. Being the Memoirs of George, Lord Chertsey, 1847-48-49. By J. St. Loe Strache ew York: Harcourt, Brace & Co. "THE unrest of Continental Europe, culminating in the revolutions of 1848, becomes the general setting of Mr. Strachey’s new novel. Centered upon this background is Italy, strug- gling on the one hand against the domination of Austria and on the other for a united Italian people. Here the secret society of the Car- bonari stands as the controlling and directing force. Within this society one of its most daring and inspired members is the beautiful Carlotta, ardent for the freedom of Italy. The romance carrying this historic novel forward is that _between Carlotta and the English nobleman whose autobi- ography here projects both the ro- mance itself and the events leading to the fighting at the barricades in the streets of Paris, where the general revolutionary activity broke out in definite efforts toward rebellion and revolt. It is the adventures of Carlotta, the refugee, and the young Lord Chertsey, enamored of the girl and greatly be- guiled by the political plans of the Carbonari, that make up this romance. it is MY Cooper, | Mr chey in the @evelopment of this novel merely intensities the bio graphic method with which he is so peculiarly at home, so distinctively successful. The result is that of an autobiography so complete in breadth and depth, in detail and spirit, : produce the effect of the man him telling by word of mouth of the ad- ventures which in that historic period | of revolution eame o him through his {love for Carlotta and his consequent desire to share her political fortunes. A plain account, or so it seems from the simple and convincing manner | vet o story of agventure und danger {and final frustration * x THE POLYGLOTS. By William Ger- hardi, author of “Futility,” ete. New York: Duffield & Co. AFTER all, it is the personality of the writer that finally counts. Tt is the personality back of any human endeavor that matters so conclusively. An author may be loaded down with material and weighted with the laws of literary construction and stecped in the principles of art, yet with all these he may remain a mute of in- communicability. Touch him, how. ever, with the fire of personality and his work flames into power and charm As one follows the amorous younsg man who supplies this kaleidoscopic adventure with its hero, it is the easy and captivating gift of William Ger hardi himself that one smiles over in a clear enjoyment. A gay and incon sequent fellow, this lover of Gerhardi's making, whose personal zest for ad- venture of the pure amatory brand keeps the story to 4 maze of change. like the graceful inweavings of some elaborate dance measure. In a quite literal sense, a moving story, finding ground for action—from Japan to China, from Singapore to Cevlon and back to Europe, where the last love look is cast, the last inviting gesture made, the climax of the great to-do is And after the war romance, mak of the strange combinations le that the effects of war have together in places that are strange. An exciting tale ind witty, discerning and inging and ex se ing of peoj brought nse daring frank : MARRIA 1 Bercovici the World in Ne: York: Boni & Liverigh A CURIOUS sto £ nce is that A story c New York and dren that the come to be. M e real prov- ation n immigrant i ¢ the American chil icceeding generation Bercovici knows New york and the imm! i » 1 nute features of this background are \in and clear, both in his mind and n his portrayal. Bevond this perfect beyond this background for irama, is the drama itself h unfolds in its essential parts as a product of the imagination. Her the story steps out from its immediat ng into a connotation as wide as is human naturs Briefly, this is the story of a voung German girl, who, loving one man, marries another The marriage takes on a double aspect as far as the wife is concerned There is the outer life with the hus- band and the inner life wherein this husband becomes the man whom the girl loves. A subtle thing, but one assumes that it is by no means an un- common situation. And along the of this spiritual marriage, cor ed behind the manifest one, Mr ci works artfully and consis in a psychological projection honest ard fearless people will a cept as realism quite as valid as th which deals with the clothes and the other concealing garments of the in ner and actual a1l lism, : human itself. one. A SON OF HIS FATHER Harold Bell Wright, author of “When a Man's Man.” e New York D. Appleton & Co. HE romance of a man and a gi the man Morgan and the Nora O'Shea. Set in the desert region of Arizona, where the author himself is literally ome, makes use of the picturesque realities of ranch life as the background of a romance of the Wright brand—s nd that rests upon the author's convietion thi there is much more of good than evii in the world, that self-mastery is a possibility and that the way thereto sets up man’s supreme adventure. Sounds like a sermon, doesn't it? And it But here is a preacher that doesn’t preach—not in the regulation way, at any rate. le summons the forces of life, good and ill, and, watching and recording, he makes full notes and fine pictures of the conglict that ends always in the triumph of the right. The outcome may not al- ways ook like a triumph in the popu lar significance of that term, but to serious folk it alwavs does stand as the justification of faith in the better things of life. A story of swift ae- tion that includes every phase of the rough life of the ranchman: a story full of human nature as it manifest; itself in this outregion: a story with color and go and a fitting outcome. In a word, a regular Harold Bell Wright romance. rl girl at * THE GILDED ROSE. tie. New York: G Sons. & YOUNG story, built upon the Cin- derella lines of fable. Great anc sudden wealth to a little Kkitchen worker. This fortune married 1 beautiful young man for whom the wise girl has a passion to love quite unbelievable trust. In a | moment of involuntary eavesdropping | the. girl learns that money was the bride in this untoward marriage. You | know the rest. Through a novel length of active social to-do this young woman grows to such beauty and so- phistication and charm that the | men around about look upon her with |admiration and desire. The beautiful young man, too, comes to see the er ror of his ways—and pretty bad ways they are—but almost too late, though not quite. It is this last-minute sal- vation, this eleventh-hour admission into Paradise for a deeply humiliated and flagellated penitent that brings the young and pleasant romance to its predistined end. May Chi By P. Putnam BOOKS RECEIVED THE HOUSE OF AMERICA. Richard La Guardia, author of New English System for New American Citizens.” Boston: The Christopher Publishing House. THE QUICKENING WORD. Margaret E. Reed. Boston: Christopher Publishing House. THE OLD TYPES PASS. Gullah Sketches of the Carolina Sea Is lands. By Marcellus S. Whale: B., LL.B. Illustrated by na Reed Whaley. Boston: The Chris- topher Publishing House. THE ITALIAN IMMIGRANT AND OUR:COURTS. By John H. Mari- ano, A. M., LL.B., Ph.D., author of “The Itallan Contribution to Amer- ican Democracy.” By By The | | 1l Y al\Wright, C. | ! Member of the Publishers—REILLY & LEE New York Bar. Boston: The Chr topker Publishing House. WHAT MY RELIGION MEANS TO ME. By kdgar A. Gues Chi cago: The Bell & Lee Company CHARLES HERBERT STOCKTON an Eminent Churchman., By Ma cus Benjamin. Washington: P lished by the Board of Publicity Protestant Episcopal Church. ACADEMY PAPERS. Addresses o language problems by members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The Evangeline Wilbou Blashfield Founda New York OF LI Perry Oshorn York: Charles Sz SINS OF IMNTE. Klyee. Boston Company RASFH 12 Year editor Inven member Gy Lucretia ted. New Faer's Sons. By Scudde Marshall Joriex 41+; A Romance of the 660. By Hugo of Radio News, S 1 and The of Americ Boston Compz POSTULATE BILITY; Or, By Philip Da Ph. D., joston: The Stratford Company. THE COOPER 3y Geors The Ch WHO HAD VISIONS w t cont Publi Bigham, Hor isters of Br suppler E-SPi&dpa - Schreine fe of Oliver Sct Daviess, M. T E-D286 Faussett, i3 0 O Forbes-Robertson, Sir ayer Under Three Reign: le, pseud Anatole H Secreta usson His Guerini, V of G Harris, he er Little Churc E-HS14 arthy, Mrs, M « A Nine teenth-Century Childhood. E-M 12 Morgar H. John, Viscount Morle: octal Tr ¥ Cajal mon ¥ Stirling, Day. ret. Out of the Past Lafcadio Hearn's Ame: E-H3a6ti. Van Dyke, Paul. Catherine de Medic v Vernon, of History Walpole, H. Reminiscences E-W 1 Werner. AL E-YS87w. Woolicott, Alexander. Irving Ber votal Figures Telephony and W H. P. Pr matic Telephony. TG Parr, G. Principies and Wireless Transmission P247p, Rothafel, S. 1 Broadcastir hman, J. W.. The tory of the Ameri and Telegraph Co. A Mahoney les of 9 Practic 1923 of TGC G Stel nancial Hi an_Telephone HIT-St34. Telephone Communica tion D-Wa34t. Why Not Give The Book of Washington By Robert Shackleton At all Book Stores, $3.50 The Penn Publishing Company Phila. NORWOOD By Robert E. Pinkerton Author of “The Test of Donald Norton” | Chicago Daily News— “A rousing story of the fight for fur in the Canadian north- land a generation ago. Craft pitted against craft, with no re- straining code of ethics. The author succeeds in giving one the real ‘feel’ of the northland.” -Chieio /