Evening Star Newspaper, September 22, 1929, Page 36

Ten Titanic Silver Bubbles, Each Encompassing 80,000 Cubic Feet of Gas, Will Seek Air Currents to Carr Them Greatest Distance. BY SAMUEL TAYLOR MOORE. Cast. Balloon Section, Army Air Corps Reserve. 3 ATE next Saturday afternoon 10 titanic silver bubbles, each en- compossing 80,000 cubic feet of buoyant gas, will rise at five- minute intervals from a base ball park in St. Louis to float on varying air currents in the eighteenth interna- tional balloon race for the third James Gordon Bennett Trophy . No matter what the weather, gale or calm, tempest or sunshine, 20 men, representing six nations, will soar aloft in crowded wicker baskets, seeking those elusive currents which should carry them farthest from their starting point. ‘That is the only thing that counts—the distance covered between landing place and starting point. Hours spent in the air, altitudes reached, direction. miles traveled other than in a straight line, have no bearing on the result. The winners will be those two who land with their basket and instruments intact at the greatest distance from St. Louis. ‘There should be much public interest the international balloon classic this year lecause of the recent demonstra- tlons of airship reliability by the rigid dirigible Graf Zeppelin. Free ballooning is the primary school of all lighter- than-air navigation-aerostation as dis- tinguished from aviation. Zeppelin Handled as Free Balloon. It is only necessary to rect™ the| difficulties of the Graf Zeppelin oy %s first attempted flight to America las Spring to establish the relation between the clumsy spheroid gas bags and the modern air liner. When all but one of its motors became disabled in midair, the Graf Zeppelin was landed safely be- cause it was handled as a free balloon. Every airship captain must learn his A B C’s of piloting in a free balloon. It was in 1906 that Commodore Ben- nett's trophy to stimulate international interest in aeronautics was first placed in competition. The winners were Americans: Lieut. (now brigadier gen- cral) Frank P. Lahm, pilot, and Maj. H. B. Hersey, ald, flew from Paris to Flying Dales in England, a distance of 402 miles. In the 16 races to follow (because of the war the races were suspended from 1913 to 1920) six other Americans have gained a leg on the beautiful silver cup, E. W. Mix, in 1909, Alan R, Hawley, in 1910; Ralph Upson, in 1913; W. T. Van Orman, in 1926; Edward J. Hill, in 1927, and Capt. Willam E. Kepner, in 1928. Belgians Took Original Cup. Because under the deed of gift it is 1ecessary for a national representative ¢ win the race three years in suc- cession for permanent possession, it was only last year that a trophy came to America permanently. It was not the original James Gordon Bennett Trophy, however. That was won in 1924 by Belgium, represented by a young lieu- tenant, Ernest DeMuyter. Indeed, from 1920 to 1926 Belgian representatives won five of the six races. DeMuyter, who will pilot the Belgian entry this year from St. Louls, has the unparalleled record of having won four r. the seventeen international balloon races. No other individual has won more than one race. The trophy, which now rests in America, was donated by the Royal Aero Club of Belgium. The third trophy, Which goes into competition this year, Is the gift of American aeronauts. Vagaries Governing Force. National representatives in the inter- national race are limited to three to a tountry. Until 1909 American balloon feams were more or less hand-picked. In that year a national elimination race was inaugurated. Winner and finishers In second and third places ordinarily are entitled to represent this country. However, as occurs this year, the win- ner of a preceding international race Is automatically the challenged, the cup defender. As a result only the winner and runner-up of the 1929 national race are represented in the international tlassic. . The vagaries of those invisible air streams sweeping through the heavens, vagaries of speed and direction, in pther words, luck, has much to do with tiefeat or victory in balloon racing. The Interval of time between the take-off of the first and last gas\bag, or indeed, the five-minute interval between the as- tension of one spheroid and the next, may mean the difference between being wept into a thunderstorm and time o hurdle the ominous mass of crack- ling_ lightning. Rare Courage Required. Primary requirements of a racing bal- | loon pilot are: A first-class knowledge | of meterology to take advantage of the most favorable air currents and to avoid Ireacherous weather conditions; con- fidence in one’s ability as a navigator to fight down the doubt which arises when clouds and darkness screen the landscape for hours on end; stamina fo remain mentally and physically alert with little sleep for two days and more. Frequently in the enervating cold, thin atmosphere five miles above the rarth courage is required to fly on when the country below is a wilderness that means days of toll, privation and hard- thip to fight back to civilization after landing. Lost Week in Wilderness. ‘The referee of the current race, Alan R. Hawley,.is the embodiment of cour- tge. In the international race of 1910, which also started from St. Louls. Hawley and Augustus Post were one pf the American teams. Morning of ing the American Army team of Lieuts. Shoptaw and Olmstead. That was a bad year in America, too. In the na- tional race Navy Lieuts. Roth and Null were driven down in Lake Erie and drowned by & line squall, A few months later C. Leroy Meis- inger, a brilliant young Government meteorologist, and Lieut. Neeley of the Army were killed by lightning when they deliberately sailed into a forma- tion of storm clouds in an attempt to solve secrets of air currents in line squalls. Landed on Ship; Disqualified. Low clouds, rain, high winds sweep- ing south and west were the conditions that greeted the racers at Brussels in 1925. Van Orman, with a young veteran balloonist, Carl K. Wollam, as aide, rode a perverse current that sped them through fog and darkness across North- ern Prance. Morning found them far out over the Atlantic. Sixty miles west of Ushant Light, the balloonists sighted the liner Leviathan. They signaled their -distress. The big ship answered, and a few minfites later by means of their drag- rope the balloon was landed intact on deck. They had traveled many miles farther than the next balloon. The Belgian, Ceenstra, had landed on the north coast of Spain. But the racing committee disqualified the Americans. Van Orman filed formal protest, but the ! final decision was against him. Lost Over Baltic in Fog. That aroused Van Orman. He would show them! With W. W. Morton, & veteran parachute jumper of the days of hot air bags at every country fair, as his aide, he took off in 1926 from Antwerp in a raging gale that swept balloons and baskets back and forth over the starting place like a herd of stampeding elephants. _ Two minutes after the balloon took off it disappeared in the low-hanging cloud curtain that brushed the tree tops. All night the two dx;fle:l'{:'lln%lly ::m'l.mh rain and fog and st n blackness. 'Enrly m};rnlnl found them out of sight of land over the Baltic Sea with the wind dying. A study of the weather may indicate that there should be & strong westerly wind above at 20,000 feet. Donning oxygen masks, they heaved ballast overboard and ascended. The expected breeze did not fail them. At 8 o'clock in the morning they landed on the Swedish coast at Solvesburg, the winners. Won National, Lost Cup Race. The following year Van Orman and Morton won the national race handily, although under the rules of the Gordon Bennett they were not obliged to com- pete. Disappointment awaited them in the international race, however. Edward J. Hill of Detroit, with Arthur Schlosser as aide, traveled from Detroit to South- ern Georgia to win the 1927 Gordon Bennett, and Van Orman was obliged to be content with second place by a matter of a few miles. Van Orman and Morton congratu- lated the winners and at once laid plans to win the 1028 race, which would hflnx‘lhe second Gordon Rennett trophy to the United States permanent- ly. But tragedy awaited. The national race that year started from Pittsburgh or Memorial day. Weather had been threatening, but there was no indica- tion in the size of the treacherous line squall that was racing over the Alle- ghanies to suck the 14 racing balloons into its maw. Struck by Lightning. Within two hours of the start the seething cross-currents, accompanied by hail, thunder and lightning, had played havoc with the silver bubbles. Only three balloons survived. three were burned by lightning, the balance bat- tered to earth in wreckage. One of the gas bags struck by light- ning was that of Van Orman and Mor- ton. It was a cruel paradox of fate that “Old Mort,” as we knew him, the hero of hundreds of spectacular jumps, had no opportunity to use the aerial life preserver on the one occasion that it was needed. He was killed outright. Van Orman, with a badly fractured leg, lay helpless in the rain in an open field for hours before searchers, who had seen the plunging spheroid of flame, found him. - Lieut. Paul Evart, an Army pilot. was killed also by light- ning, and J. E. Cooper, a civilian, was severely burned and shocked. Coopar's companion, who escaped in a para- chute, was Wollam, Van Orman’s aide in the 1925 Gordon Bennett. Borne Down by Ice. ‘Undaunted by ‘that disaster, the vet- eran pilot perfected a lightning ar- rester for balloons as soon as he left the hospital. The 1929 national race found Van Orman back among the en- tries with a youthful new aide—Alan L. MacCracken. They took off from Pittsburgh under conditions mnot varying greatly from those of the preceding year. Through the night they rode through hail and snow at high altitude. When daylight broke they started down to verify their position. But they did not know that their bag was incrusted with a half- inch thickness of ice. It was impossible to check descent with all their ballast. They landed on the shores of Lake Champlain, in New York State, early flile next morning. They won second ace. L On such a pilot -the United States may place much faith. Capt. Kepner a Dirigible Pilot. Capt. Willlam E. Kepner has flown every race with the same aide—Lieut. W. O. Eareckson. Like Van Orman, the second day of their flight found fhem leaving the last traces of civiliza- fion in Northern Quebec. They rode ‘he wings of a blinding blizzard further | ito the wilderness to land near Lake 8t. John, 1,173 miles from their start- ng_point. For eight days the combined land forces of Canada and the sea forces of the United States sought them fruit- lessly. As hope of rescue was Hawley and Post, near exhaustion, poled nto the outpost settlement of Chicou- imi, Quebec, on an improvised raft. DeMuyter's Second Race in U. S. It is DeMuyter, the Belgian pilot, whom_every contestant, French, Ger- an, Dane, Argentinian, American, be- ieve they must beat. is his first race in America since his victory in 1920. Nine years ago he piloted his bag from Birmingham, Ala., over the .ppalachian Mountain system, to land a_Burlington, Vt. Two years later he guided the same jalloon from Geneva, Switzerland, cross the Alps to Ocnitza, Rumania. Kepner is a quiet, reserved man, short and husky in physique. He is thor- oughly military in bearing and one of the best lighter-than-air pilots in the Army. He won his distinguished serv- ice cross and Croix de Guerre with the Marine Infantry and did not transfer to the Army Air Service until after the e of the ppe i and has a pilot's rating for such flying. | He was in command of the test flights | of the new metal-clad airship recently | completed at Detroit. Eareckson, a lanky, happy-go-lucky ; youngster, is a post-war graduate of West Point. Neither had flown in a race 1 of Dutch-speaking South Africans who bodies. stuck m hail and snow they landed the following Virginia Cape, th: ers. In the international race that started from Detroit last year they took off under a tremendous handicap. The average racing balloon and basket, com- plete for the international event, weighs from 800 to 1,000 pounds. The only 80,000-cubic-foot balloon owned by the Army was an lntlfi.lud craft thlla weighed 1,400 pounds. At the start Kepner and Eareckson were therefore penalized 400 pounds of potential bal- last, sufficient to keep a balloon in the :‘n 24 hours longer under normal condi- ns. . Through it out and g on the Sailed Without Ballast. througts the s, 'at it sideud skies, af altitudes u which height theg to 20,000 feet, Iay among their sandbags gasping for ey did drifted breath like fish out of water. not save a single bag of sand to ease their landing. Ballast is the brakes of a balloon in descent. When the gas bag had traveled its limit they assom- bled parachutes, instruments, their clothing {tself, to ease the force of their fall. Outer clothes and para- chutes went over the side. They land- ed, after falling at a rate between 800 , Va. Across the State boundary in North Carolina was a French balloon. Near- by was a German balloon, the Barmen, plloted by Hugo Kaulen, who holds the world’s duration record for balloons of 87 hours’ sustained flight. It required experts to decide the contest. When allowance had been made for curvature of the earth's surface and such complicated items of measure- ment, first place was awarded to the American team by less than a mile. ‘The German balloon was second, the French bag in North Carolina third. Such was the exciting finish of the race that brought the second Gordon Bennett trophy to the United States. Because Ea n was {ll last May, Kepner did not enter the national race this year. Hard Luck Pursues Navy. Until the national race ill fortune had pursued Navy entries in balloon racing with grim consistency. It did not entirely desert tradition last May, for one of the two Navy teams caught its dragline on a telegraph pole and was obliged to land at night a few hours after the take-off. But the sur- viving team was blessed with good for- tune, plus headwork, that created two new records for national races. ‘The pilot was a slight, quiet spoken veteran of balloon races. Lieut. Thomas G. W. Seitle. His alde was Ensign Wilfred Bushnell, a pink-cheeked, blue-eyed youngster of a retiring nature, a recent Annapolis graduate. ‘The weather was freakish. I have reported what happened to Van Orman and MacCracken. Hill and Schlosser, winners of the 1927 international race, found themselves only 60 miles from Pittsburgh at 11 o'clock the night of the race. Then they were caught in a le at high altitude. Through snow and sleet they drifted on through the night. They attempted to descend to identify their position at daylight. Landed in Adirondacks. Like Van Orman and MacCracken, they did not realize the weight of ice on their bag and footropes. They barely escaped landing in & swamp when they crashed. It was three days later before they emerged in civiliza- tion after crossing several lakes in a collapsible rubber t. Not until then did they know they had landed in the remote fastness of the Adirondacks. Settle and Bushnell elected to stay low threu:h the night. In rain and fog they drifted in a circle about the environs of Pittsburgh, believing that morning would bring more favorable air currents. At about the time Van Orman and MacCracken, Hill and Schlosser were landing hundreds of miles away, the two Navy men were really just starting to race. They ascended through clouds and fog to above 8,000 feet. Through the day they drifted blindly, their only re- assurance they had not left the main- land and were out ofer the Atlantic being the tolling of church bells and the puffing of trains below. At evening they descended to find themselves over Bennington, in Southern Vermont. Then they reascended. A second night passed, with occa- slonal lightning storms not far distant. Morning found them in Cana Mi day they saw the end of the mainland, but separated by only a few miles of water was ce Edwards Island. They stuck it out. Shattered Two American Records. Late in the afternoon, within a few miles of the Atlantic, entirely out of ballast, they landed. They d trav- eled 952 miles in 44 hours. As the balloons used in national races in recent years are of only 35000 cubic feet capacity, instead of the 80,000-cubic- foot envelopes in international races, they had shattered two American record: uration by 17 hours and distance by more than 300 miles. Such_are the racing representatives of the United States in the James Gor- don Bennett balloon race of 1929, com- t men, brave men. Unless the les of wind and weather play them false, America should at least win place | and show in the great bubble classic. South Africans Seek Autonomous Nation As predicted before the general elec- tion in South Africa, the victory of the Nationalist party has meant a re- vival of the plea of secession from the British Empire among a large number find the tie with Britain irksome. ‘The party leaders are combating this vement, realizing that South Africa mmo ot afford to displease the senior r of the British Empire (Great tain is also South Africa’s largest outside market), but in the backveld and 1,000 feet per minute, at Ken- i dridge, V b (Continued From Third Page.) too, lead back to Montmarte Hill to the Cafe du Croissant and a hundred other sidewalk cafes known intimately in a Bohemian youth. Tod.l{ M. Briand would be far happier there than in the d’Orsay were it not for the fact that the Quai brings wider humen con- tacts and the challenge to bridge the Rhine as it never yet has been bridged—with a spirit of understanding. There are countless incidents 1llus- trative of Briand, the student of men. And countless bon mots ejected from beneath the scraggly Briandian mus- tache for an eager Paris to pick up and chuckle over ., . . all sprung from the wisdom of understanding and a clear vision. Such crisp truisms as this tossed to a group of French journalists during the debate as to whether the new reparations committee should be composed of official or entirely inde- pendent experts, as the Germans de- sired. “Unknown Cabinet” Brings Smiles. “There is no such thing as an inde- pendent expert,” barked Briand, know- ing full well that whatever any group of experts did would have to be approved by the governments concerned. Or his apt remark when the French, without a ministry in early November, were wondering who beside President Doumergue would represent the govern- ment at the Unknown Poilu's tomb, where traditionally all the ministers gather on that day: “The unknown cabinet will pay tribute to the Unknown Soldier,” said M. Briand, and Paris smiled. tinized, you would not enjoy an inter- view with the French foreign minister. As he talks to men and as they talk to him he studies them closely. Men- tally he notes their strong points and their weaknesses. In a 15-minute con- versation he can weigh and evaluate the most suave of European statesmen with rare accuracy. The facts they cite to him he hears but partially, or even ignores completely. He never ignores the man. ‘There are few men who have crossed lances of political shrewdness with Da- vid Lloyd George and won, Briand has done that. There was his noteworthy trip to London in 1920, when the fate of Upper Silesia hung in bal- ance, France wanting it given to Po- land, Lloyd George favoring Germany. When the then British premier saw Briand his decision was already made for cession to Germany, and he said so flatly. M. Briand appeared entirely un- perturbed. - He began discussing other and more trivial matters with Lloyd George, but the keen eyes beneath the bushy eyebrows never left the British statesman’s face. Finally they parted for the evening, M. Briand failing to make even another reference to Upper Silesia. But when they met the follow- ing day M. Briand's plan of attack was | fully laid. He talked Lloyd George into | yielding and got Upper Silesia out of | Germany’s hands. He Is “Roving Center.” Briand is the roving center of the European foot ball line-up. He roves, he observes. And where the opponent’s line is weakest he charges. That is why Briand's speeches are almost never writ- ten in advance. Before making an im- portant address in the Chamber or at Geneva the Prench minister of foreign rs talks things over with his asso- ciates. In his room he muses, doubtless pulls his generous moustache over more | than one knotty problem; puffs count- less cigarettes. Here is a situation. | He creates it in his mind and paper is largely unnecessary. In fact, the written preparation for a Briand speech is frequently but a few notes scribbled on scrap paper or on visiting cards which he sticks in various pockets. One day while discussing the France-Itallan sifuation in the Cham- ber M. Briand had tucked into his pocket such scraps of notes filled with statistics of the Italian army and navy. As he reached that moment in his ad- dress where he wished to use them Briand plunged his hand into one pocket, then another. In none did he find the notes. Without hesitation, HKowever, the veteran orator improvised sentence after sentence, still groping for his notes. M. Briand was still pouring forth sweet generalities when Peycelon finslly noted his embarrassment and slipped another notation of the figures into his hand. There 1s probably no statesman in Europe as gifted as Briand in hitting upon the right and happy phrase at the right moment. It is part of his genius, just as a master cellist strikes the per- fect deep note. At the signing of the Kellogg-Briand treaty renouncing war in Paris last August I remember well the dynamic words with which France’s foreign minister gripped the imagina tion of the representatives of 15 nations. “Gentlemen,” he said in closing, “in a moment the awakening of & great| hope will be signaled to the world along the wires.” There was the inevitable Briandian bon mot—*the awakening of a great! hope.” After that any other speeches | would have been wasted oratory. It was both wise and fortunate that there were none. Only a few weeks later at Ge- neva the same statesman was to lupg:y Europe with the keynote to the opening the Boers are pressing strongly for es- balloon before 1927. They qualified for the in- by capturing third place in the national. But they omitted a detail of equipment for the Gordon Bennett that almost resulted in tragedy —oxygen masks and tank. Cracks Safety Valve. Above 20,000 feet breathing becomes difficult. Lethargy steals over one and Jhe Bext race carried him from Brus- rels across the Baltic to Stockholm. \he following year he rode the breezes from Brussels over the bleak North Sea to land in Edinburgh. ‘Against this marvelous pilot, the United States is fortunate in being represented by three of the strongest balloon teams in the history of its par- u::xp-uaunt hl.n‘ Inc';rnlumnl nou'.‘ nnl: ha) ns eal team represent orptl:e three phases of aerostation in America, Army, Navy and civilian. Van Orman Dean of Americans. The veteran United States represen- tative is Ward T. Van Orman of Akron, Ohio, a ! silent, slender man of middle lf, whose speech reveals some trace of his Dutch antecedents. Although he has won four national races, he is only credited with one in- ternational victory. Actually he has won {wo international races, but his victory of 1925° was disallowed on & technicality. All of the post-war races starting from Europe have been marred by . violent weather. In 1923 five pilots and aldes weré killed b, Nghinirg, Includ: the slightest %flc‘l exertion requires tremendous ical and mental con- eentnuo;‘. 'h‘o:dzr to eonunr::pthc supply wo hytes .'B%-J their bag to carry almost six miles above the earth’s crust. At 27,400 feet “went out like a candle,” unconscious h lack of | t. Kepner, weak and wab- himself, used his last vanishing r:-yervuotnt to crack the valve. Tragicaly. "They outrods 5 out iumg.umudly hnl Their swept throug! | tension wires W] the i i tablishment of a republic. The move- ment is strongest in the Orange Free State, where the Boers have sent an ultimatum to the leaders of their party that unless the notorious srticle IV is restored to the constitution of the Na- tionalist party, they will form a new Republican party. Article IV, nearly 20- years ago the cause of friction between the Boers and British, demanded - autonomy while de- siring ble relations with the , with sovereign inde- pendence s the next step. Movies Reduce IrTsh “Drunks,” Judge Says A remarkable change in the condi- tions of life in Dublin is indicated by the diminution of the number of drunk+ cases in the police courts. A magistrate of long experience to what he attributed the not due merely to the fact oy wes Tarwaly , the rment was the cinemas. The movies , and have drawn saloons. Ml\!llml' pensioned L é : i H £ 2 H 8 arations negotiations. “The liquida- ififn of the w':r" must be faced and won, he sald, and thc phrase leaped : from one nation’s press to another. ! Depth of Meaning in Words. Consider again the great depth of meaning wfl&ynd in Briand's words £poken upon the occasion of Germany's entrance into_the League of Nations. | Opposite the French statesman sat the, delegates of the German republic, for the first time since the war restored into the Old World's family. “The time has now come for us to speak Euro-; said M. Briand, and the words! response in hearts as well ul intellects. Always behind M. Briand's inspira-| tional phrases there exists this marked sense of reality. During the early months of negotiation of the Kellogg pact it was the French statesman who saw. things as they are, who insisted on a treaty adaptable to Europe as it is. T have pever heard it stated, even by M. Briand's critics, that he has ever un- derestimated . the diplomats pitted against him. On the other hand, .there are mnm\gmmble instances of his clear er n. ¥ &w these, perhaps none is more strik- ing or more significant than M. Briand's one characterization of Herr Gustav Stresemann—and, for that matter, like- 's opinion of M. wise Herr S 's d. a speech in the Prench Senate last February 2, M. Briand por- with whom he has been so closely re- lated since the time of Locarno, thus: | If you dislike being searchingly scru- | but M.| BALLOONS ABOUT TO GET UNDER WAY IN ONE OF THE NATIONAL LIMINATION' RACES. Briand, the Bohemian “When he takes a walk in the olive | garden of Locarno, he has the habit of stretching out his hand to receive rather than to give.” Beside this enlightening remark should be placed the reciprocal words of Herr Stresemann, uttered shortly after the signing of the Locarno treaty in London. Speaking of M. Briand, the Reich's minister said: “When he makes a speech he talks like an evangelist. But when he nego- tiates he is as hard as steel.” In these two brief word portraits, painted by the two great peace makers, there exists what a vast amount of illumination and of mutual respect and understanding. Briand and Strese- mann alike recognize that the other is dedicated, like himself, to a dual pur- pose—that of European peace and that of his own nation’s welfare. Neither one has fooled the other and neither one has deceived the other. If there can be such a thing as practical Uto- plans both should receive that distinc- tive nomination. It should be said to M. Briand's credit that, though he realized that in the olive garden of Locarno Herr Strese- mann had the habit of “stretching out his hand to recelve rather than to give,” this did not deter him from the firm determination to find a middle ground between France and Germany. And of Herr Stresemann that, although he recognized behind Briand's evangel- ical phrases a bargainer of steel, he ad- hered to the belief that the two men and the two nations could reach an un- derstanding. Sharp Realism Is Secret, Such a frame of mind would never | have been possible between Stresemann [nnd Poincare, nor with any other French statesman of today. The secret of it lles in the sharp Latin realism which has always tempered the wings of M. Briand’s idealism. And the secret | of the realism? Aristide Briand must have found it first as an innkeeper's son and along the St. Nazaire water front in his boyhood days. Later on in the Bohemia of Paris, to which in his heart he still belongs. For again and again in his long and stormy career (M. Briand is now 66 | years of age). the man of the Boheme | has asserted himself. A world states- | man, the co-molder of post-war Eu- rope, the splendor of the Old World's chancellories have been continually | available to him, yet he shrinks from | crystal-lighted ballrooms. He detests | elaborate ceremonies. Swank and silk top hats mean nothing to him. In- | stead, he loses himself only among a few comrades, in intimate parties where he can sip a good petit van, laugh, poke | and tell stories. Most of all, where he | can lounge in a threadbare old jacket, | letting the smoke curl upward from the | cigarette which droops constantly from | the corner of his mouth. | M. Briand still keeps a tiny apart- ment—garconniere, the French call it, for Briand is a bachelor—in the Avenu- Kleber in Paris. There he can retire whenever official duties do not bind him and relax into the life he loves. For years he lived there in three rooms, without any servants: almost always surrounded, however, by faithful friends —{riends who often came to tidy things up and put them in place . since neither neatness nor order have ever been the master's forte . . . and even, it is said, occasionally to clean his shoes. After that, of course, to gather around his time-worn card table and bury themselves in another test of luck. Story Illustrates Vividness. ‘There is a story that circulates among French journalists which perhaps shouid be told with reserve, yet illustrates with rare vividness a delightful kink in M Briand's character. One day during the Locarno Conference, they say, both Briand and Philip Berthelot, permanent secretary of the foreign office, disap- peared. Excited journalists eventually discovered that they were closeted in their hotel. For a long time they waited outside the door, hoping for an an- nouncement which might stir the world. Finally, one journalist especially close to M. Briand was able to find out what it was all about. He found the three men—for Briand's faithful Boswell, Peycelon, was also there—completely engrossed in a game of cards. Yet who can say how much his unique ability to relax may have contributed to M Briand's success at Locarno. Such is the Briand whom his inti- mates know; the Briand who has never changed and never lost the gypsy touch somehow mysteriously instilled in him from the time of his Brittany youth. The two outstanding men of France to- day are Briand and Poincare. For three years they have worked together in closest collaboration and virtually uninterrupted harmony, each in his own way. But in disposition, in tempera- ment, in method they are as unlike as Calvin Coolidge and Alfred E. Smith. Poincare Rarely Touches Liquor. Raymond Poincare rarely touches wine, brandy or liquors. He has n common touch with men. Aristide Bri- and is a connoisseur of beverages and of men. Poincare prefers to live simply and largely in solitude, whereas his re- cent fore minister, the present pre- mier, as keenly enjoys a simple life— but in company with chosen comrades and old friends. It is not unjust to say that romance has little place in the life of the man from Lorraine, but that romance, in all its phases, has been Briand's. On his farm at Cocherel, M. Briand curiously mingles the Bohemian joys of old Montmartre with the rustic_sim. g}lcuy of the Breton peasant. Boh lanism to him consists of old songs, old loves, old companions, enfiyed by a scraggly moustached and shrewd old philosopher clad in a threadbare old Jjacket and slippers made comfortable by the years. In Summer there is a prized possession of the man of the Boheme, an olive tree from Locarno, which thrives in the garden of his Cocherel homestead. In Winter M. Briand takes it with him into Paris, where ‘it is installed and watered daily in the Quai d'Orsay. EF SR Alien Music School Set Up ‘in Berlin Sixty per cent of the students taking “master courses” in the newly founded Institute of Music for Foreigners in Berlin are Americans. Ten nations are represented. The director is the well known orchestra conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler and the classes are held in what was once the royal palace of Charlottenburg. The institute is per- haps the finest of its kind in the world and ii certainly the most. splendidly A Wide Variety for the Reader—Studies of Men and Women, and the Latest Fiction— Another Mystery Story by Oppenheim. IDA GILBERT MYERS. SAINT PAUL. By Emile Baumann. Translated from the Prench by Kenneth Burke. Frontispiece by Emile Bernard. Decorations by Rene Potuler. New York: Har- court, Brace and Company. « INDS are divided on the mat- ter. Some maintain that any historic consideration of Bible characters is in the na- ture of sacrilege, a menace to religious faith, Others hold that the modern writer is able to bring the great men of the Bible into a living reality with the present. is able to identify the"dlnlvu and ther problems with those of y in 8 manner that is altogether helpful in the spiritual life. Probably the two orders will not come togetier. “Saint Paul” is, however, a life study of competent source that deals with the subject in so clear a reverence of mind, in so positive a faith, in so complete an acceptance of the miracles preached by Paul, and indeed experienced by him, that neither of these two groups could easily support its particular stand to the exclusion of the other. This is history, unequivocally that. It is his- toric research of modern mold bent upon clearing the facts of Paul's life as these facts are matter of records, and of corrected records. With reverent avowal of the mysteries that wait upon the Christian religion, mysteries that appeal to faith as well as to works, this author traces the movements and the work of Paul—first as persecutor of the advocates of the new faith, then as its most _ardent supporter, as its ablest and most constructive Interpreter and disseminator. The clear mind of this French savant has been brought to bear upon that period of history when Paul wrought so splendidly for the spread of the religion of Jesus. To it there is no slant of skepticism, no reach toward disputation. Instead, the pur- pose is clarification, simplicity, unifica- | T tion. The whole is projected in an orderly way, with the lucid mind and the direct speech of a French scholar as its medium. To many this will prove to be an illuminating and an in- spiring story of a singularly gifted man, Saint Paul, who saw further, who dared more greatly, who reasoned more deeply than any of the others who, at that time, were declaring the gospel of Jesus. * x % % LONE VOYAGERS. By Wanda Fraiken Neff, author of “We Sing Diana.” | Boston: Houghton Miffiin Co. SCHOLAR-S, thinkers, searchers in- tellectuals—these are the “lone voyagers” of Mrs. Neff’s new novel. To give her theme room and to avoid in- terference she has chosen Chippewa University in Northern Minnesota, where the college concerns dominate the sparse surrounding community. In complete honesty of design and in a true distincticn of invention Mrs. Neff here projects university life, from the standpoint of the professor himself. We are used to stories of college life, to rec- ords of students indulging their half- baked visions and projects in forecasts | of their real flight out into life. This is different. In effect, this is a tragic story where those others were merely unready to be stories at all. To have deep confidence in either the ability or the sincerity of the great body of the population to pursue the lone paths of pure truth is a tragic enterprise. And here Mrs. Neff surrounds a little group of learned men, absorbed in the search for truth, each along his own desired line, with the student body, with their own families, with their own wives. The distractions, the futilities, the thwart- ings of these make up the substance of this novel. Yet, it reads much like the affairs of other people—these men en- during, their wives fatuously calling themselves helpmates, the social ges- tures that they feel compelled to make. At the end, however, one woman at least _has sense enough to realize that she has, in effect, ruined a scholar through her silly ambition to have him put out work that is a mere catch- penny, not true work at all, not for this man. Carefully and completely de- veloped, the novel is in the nature of an indictment against those who conspire, unintentionally, to divert great workers from their highest endeavor. Oh, yes, and the men conspire inst them- selves, too, no doubt, by the young ar- dors of their own natures. Oh, these wives for those shaped for the “lone voyages"—this near intelligence in women—but without discipline, real un- derstanding or wisdom. omen were too ambitious—the best of them—un- willing to wait—demanded miracles.” Just one of the men of the story tal ing—but he's talking from his heart and from his eyes, too. Well, here you have it. A very strong, unflinching story, admirably constructed in a kind of masculine masonry that stands four- square on its underpinning, that grows brick by brick and wall by wall into this challenge of life as the “lone voy- agers” try to make terms with it. Dif- fused, the matter embraces many be- side these particular “lone” ones—but, most clearly, that is quite another story, another facet of the world-wide loneli- ness of individual life. Splendid work— just truth with no softening of its , shaped into the art form of the novel. * ok ok % A DAUGHTER OF THE SEINE; The Life of Mme. Roland. By Jeanette Eaton. New York: Harper & Brothers. MAKXNG over an old story to lpok, and feel, like a brand-new tale is a more exacting thing to do than cut- ting out romance or adventure from the whole cloth of fancy and imagination. There is the day and date to mind in its particular outlook upon life. There is the place to keep in hand with its special cast of circumstance and ap- pearance. There are all the people in- volved to be taken into account lest one or another of them wander away entirely or behave in a manner to bring doubt ‘and suspicion upon the whole. 1t sounds easy, to retell an old event or occurrence. It is lnythm, but. Here, however, is a clear case of triumph in such an undertaking. The life of Mme. Roland is at least sketchily familiar. Here it changes from a vague impres- sion to an immediate matter that goes on under the reader’s eye. Within the first paragraph one wakes to the stir- ring fact that he is plmfln, in a live adventure. “The wind was lively that March day in Paris.” The opening statement. “Lively,” in , the reader as he joins the little company and goes across the bridge and into the little church to witness the christening of “Marie-Peanne Philipon” just born the day before. Setting off on that windy March day of 1754, the story gradually moves out into the reign of Louis XV and out of that reign into the tempestuous years of the French Revolution—its muttering approach, its stormy arrival, its tremendous and ter- rible climax. A bewildering Ypulue for any human to attempt. ‘et such is the road that opens gradually before | that baby with which the story opens. | The end of the road for her—well, you remember that—the tumbril, the sufl-l lotine, the fine courage, the dauntless heart. Y%eclu“ the story of Mme. | i and uality of this story. ¥ attitude of the clear scholar, gal with the conscience of the intell both the facts and the outstanding implications of the period in which this woman lived. These in mind, then came the manner of telling the story. One pays tribute to the preparation. Then he gives his heart to the tale The gusto of its beginning, the keen sense of story value, the adroit marshaling of words to meet this sense in scenes representative of the day and ive, sudden tragedy and-on again toward the ob- jective set by the sweeping forces of French populace. There are no pauses here. Terrible urges press these people forward, Press the reader for- ward, too. An old story retold with passion and control, with im and restraint with giving and withholding quite extraordinary. “For young people” —s0 the ill-advised legend runs. Noth- ing of the kind—unless, maybe, the writer of these words understands that “young people” do not need, do not desire, diluted stuff. A fine story is for them and for their elders as well —and here is one of that kind. * X ok % SCRAPS OF PAPER. By Marietta Min- nigerode Andrew: Studio Window,” etc. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. OT “scraps” at all—not literally. Diaries, instead, and letters and other intimate personal recordings that, in sum. deal at first hand with the Civil War and then, something like 50 years after, with the World War. A “prologue”—noignant as it is dramatic —projects “A Slave Ship—1860.” Then the Civil War, brought into the open here by way of anxious letters, in which fears become facts, in which, gradually, there comes to light innumerable as- pects of the war as it is endured by the woman folks at home waiting for the outcome, and. meanwhile, comport- ing themselves like the heroes that the most_of them were. Vivid pictures of the South are held in these letters— terror of the “Yankees,” anxiety for their own men, makeshifts of living in place of an accustomed abundance, pathetic gestures toward social gayety 2s & matter of sheer pride and helpful- ness. And so the records unroll throughout the war and its immediate issues. It is not easy to give you an idea of the immediacy of these letters in their effect upon the reader. “Just telling it as it is” is, I assume, the edium of such nearness and clarity. ‘The last of these “scraps” deal with the World War in communications from friends and relatives of Mrs. Andrews. The whole, incidental as its fronting is, stands as a document, true in con- tent and deeply interesting in its effect. But, even this is not the best of this book. Its very highest quality lies in the author—the editor, to be exact— les in the broad understanding and sympathy of Mrs. Andrews herself, a ‘woman of national mind—international. t00, no doubt—though deeply devoted to her own State and locality, looks out upon the whole United States with comprehension, with sympathy and with the saving grace of a beautiful and encompassing sense of humor. I'd like to sense of humor here—but there is not time, nor room. Read this book for its true pictures—that is, true from the standpoint of the various writers, and read it, particularly, for the quali- ties of the present writer, . Andrews. The Bible talks about “leaven.” Here is “leaven” of the true sort. * % x % A DEAD LINE. By Cyrus Kehr. ‘Washington. A LITTLE book of true stories— episode and incident, remindful of the fact that there is “A dead line” in civil life as well as in the prison yard of a military encampment. Cur- rent matter, all of this, drawn from the too familiar breaches of trust in business life, in social life as well. Mr. Kehr lays stress upon embezzlement, setting it off from theft by the added fact that it violates the business con- fidence reposed in the offender. Its immediate eftect is the contrivance of measures of concealment, turning the life of the embezzler into a nightmare of fear, deceit and a gradual let-down of the man-stuff of the person involved in the transaction. The author then turns to the average man and woman who are compelled to put their trust in financial advisers and operators. And here he sets down certain rules that should be imposed upon these public trustees in financial flelds to protect the public against the business inefficiency or the moral laxity of those who stand to it in the roles of advisers and agents. Mr. Kehr defines clearly the slow and gradual approach of a man toward temptation in respect to the use of money that is not his own. This applies both to the idividual de- siring to get ahead as well as to the bank president, also desiring to get ahead. The high point of this excel- lent little book of iness observation is with the small beginnings of ap- propriating that which does not belong to the person so acting. Right here he deals with so small a thing as tip- ping, as accepting rewards, as receiving anything for nothing. It is not the sum in any specific case, it is the effect of such acceptances that shapes mind toward believing that the world owes that which as matter of fact it does not owe. A tribute to the Boy Scouts who serve as their right and not in the hope of reward, rounds this pithy little book of observation and report to a substance far outweighing its own slight body. A clear act of civic usefulness stands out in “A Dead Line,” By Cyrus Kehr. * x % x THE GLENLITTEN MURDER. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. Boston: Lit- tle, Brown and Company. AUTHOR.S are caterers and purvey- ors no less than are other brands of market men. To offer that which the majority likes and desires—that's their job. Looking around in bookshop and upon newsstands, it is plain that the story of crime and mystery is in great demand. The puzzle to be worked out—probably faint counterpart of the tormenting and unsolvable riddle of existence itself—has an early and a lasting charm for readers. So, in his natural role as purveyor to the major- ity, many a writer slips out of the legitimate, so to speak, and into the. underworld of hidden motive and its uence of secret behavior. “The Glenlitten Murder” is a case in point. Here Mr. Oppenheim shifts his base a little and weaves an adroit yarn with the theft of rich jewels as its founda- h the murder of a man— tion, or wit right in a lady's bedroom—as its pos- sibly true origin. The motive of the matter has its rise in Russia, where the revolution brought many an im- poster out to try his powers upon the rest of Europe. This is the influence working here around an English no- leman and his foreign wife. Mr. Op- penheim has little use for the humbler orders in his inventions. He likes the warm colors and easy suavity of cul- tured folks. So do we. Any one likes to read of the embroidered life. So we lean toward the choice of this writer in that respect. The point in this case is, however, to keep suspicion on the move, ranging from this point to an- other. And, of course, that is just what is done here. As in life under such circumstances, more than one be- comes markedly suspect, with the real criminal for a long time above re- proach, and then only faintly sugges- tive of the person so sedulously sought. this, "Wm"%rt‘f "xm' story a very af ive love goes the main business i;x hand Ef:t “The POPE OR MU! . By John Hear- ley. New York: The Co. THE OLD ARMY: Memories, 1872-1918, uote evidence of that deep | By James Parker, U. 8. A, Retired. duction by Ma; 5 Lee Bullard. Illustrated. Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co. CEASE FIRING: And Other Stories. By Winifred Hulbert. Illustrated by Jeanne De Lanux. New York: The Macmillan Co. THE OMNIBUS OF CRIME. Edited by Dorothy L. Sayers. New York: Payson & Clarke, Ltd. EVERYMAN'S LIBR AR Y—THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN. By Mary ‘Wolistonecraft. And The Subjection of Women. By John Stuart Mill. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. rigadier General, y | EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY—UNDER FIRE: The Story of a Squad. By Henrl Barbusse. Translated by Fitzwater Wray. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY—LETTERS OF LORD CHESTERFIELD TO HIS SON. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. . EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY—SHORTER NOVELS. Volume I. Elizabethan . York: E. P. New Dutton & Co. EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY—A LETTER FROM SYDNEY: And Other Writ- ings on_Colonization. By Edward Gibbon Wakefield. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. SHOW 'EM UP IN ANAGRAMS. By John, James and Judith West. New York: Payson & Clarke, Ltd. THE MAUTILUS LIBRARY—SEA WOLVES OF THE MEDITERRA- NEAN. By E. Hamilton Currey. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co. ‘THE POISON OF PRUDERY: An His- torical Survey. By Walter M. Gal- lichan, author of “The Psychology of Ma je.” Boston: The Stratford Co. THE DERUGA TRIAL. By Ricarda gy“c%o m’!‘rllx'l)s‘l:'ud l'}r'om I.;I'e German a8 z. ew York: Macaulay Co. T ADAM'S FIRST WIFE. By Jane and Robert Speller. New York: The Macaulay Co. FROM GENERATION TO GENERA- TION. By Lady Augusta Noel. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co. INFIDELS AND HERETICS: An Ag- g:ntlc's A:tla,okilly By Clarence ITOW an ‘allace Rice. : The Stratford Co. 7 e SENSE AND SENSUALITY. By Sarah ls‘n“!t, New York: Payson aycm;e, WHERE IT ALL COMES TRUE IN FRANCE: The Experlences and Ob- servations of Betty and Mary, as Related by Their Aunt, Clara E. Laughlin. "Illustrated by Decle Mer- m\vln. Boston: Houghton Miffiin Co. E LIGHT OF DAY: An Anthol of 202 Unpublished Poems by g; Cotemporaries. Edited by Henry Harrison. Tllustrated by John Punk. New York: Henry Harrison. ! THE_PRIVATE CORRESPONDEN OF NICOLO MACHIAVELLI. ge Orestes Ferrara, LL.D., Aml lor of Cuba to the United States of America. Baltimore: The Johns | __ Hopkins Press. | FIVE POETS: Isobel Stone, Edith Mirick, Jewell Miller, Norman Mac- Leod and Benjamin Musser. Illus- trated by Herbert E. UNITED STATES. By Chelsa C. Sherlock, author of “Homes of Fa- mous Americans,” etc. Boston: The Stratford Co. AVIATION: Its Commercial and Finan- cial Aspects. By Richard Rea Ben- nett, Assistant Sunday Editor, The Sun, Baltimore. New York: The Ronald Press. EPOCHS IN AMERICAN BANKING. By Noble Foster Hoggson. Illus- trated. New York: The John Day Co. THE STORY OF RELIGIOUS CON- ‘TROVERSY. By Joseph McCabe. troduction, by E. Haldeman-Julius. Boston: The Stratford Co. HUNKY. By Thomas Williamson, au- thor of “Strides of Man,” etc. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc. THE PUBLIC LIBRARY Recent accessions to the Public Li- brary and lists of recommended reading will ‘appear in this column each Sun- day. United States Constitution. Bacon, G. G. The Constitution of the United States. JT83-B138. Baker, N. D. Progress and the Consti- tution. 1925. JT83-B173p. Beck, J. M. The Constitution of the United States, 1787-1927; Foreword by Calvin Coolidge. JT83-B389cd. Greenan, J. T. comp. Readings American Citizenship. 1927. G813r. Long, Breckinridge. Genesis of the Con- America. . -L85. Martin, C. E. An Introduction fo the Study of the American Constitution. 1926. JT83-M364i. United States Constitution. The Con- stitution of the United States as Amended to December 1, 1924. 1924 JT83-Un30a. ‘Warren, Charles. The Making of the Constitution. JT83-W253m. Civics. Brown, A. W. The Improvement of Civics Instruction. JT83-B813i. Kallen, H. M. Freedom in the Modern World. JO-K12. B. Liberty in the Modern ‘World. 2. Sikes, E. R. State and Federal Corrupt- practices Legislation. JM-Si24s. Wells, H. G. The Open Conspiracy. JBA-W46o. Public Finance. Smith, D. H. The General Accounting Office. HT83-Sm53. Willoughby, W. F. The Legal Status and Functions of the General Ac- counting Office of the National Gov- ernment. HT83-W686 1. Morey, Lloyd. Introduction to Govern- mental Accounting. HT83-M81 i. McMichael, S. L., and Bingham, R. F. City Growth Essentials. HX-M226c. Edited, with an in JT83- Evolution. Gregory, W. K Our Face from Fish to Man. MW-G86. James, E. O. The Beginnings of Man. MW-J23. Body of the Future. MW-M166. Peake, H. J. E., and Fleure, H. J. Apes and Men. MW-P312. Building. Dingman, C. F. Buildin Data Book. SEC-D614b. Finger Bros. Clay Co., Sugar Beauty in Brick. WIM-F49. Estimators® { Buil ments. 1926. %-'vnu Fiction. H. T, ed thrt Stories for Rhode, John. The House on Tollard mm"xw. Grim Vengeasice,