Evening Star Newspaper, November 30, 1930, Page 106

TEN YEARS OF WORLD CO-OPERATION. Secreturiat of th: League of Nations. Fore- word by €ir Eric Drummond. Boston: World Peace Foundation. ~YWHIS is a r:cord of the League of Nations in its first 10 years of service toward world co-operation. Its aim is to show what has been accomplished by the league and to set out the methods by way of which it has d-alt with the probiems confronting it. One main object of the study has been to so simplify the enormous amount of legitimate and pertinent business undertaken by this alliance during the 10-year period as to provide students with a clear and intelligible survey of the fundamental activities of the league. Emphesis of major interests of in- clusive scope, subordination of relatively minor issues, the prop:r co-ordination of these major and minor points to produce a true and graphic scheme of the great subject in hand has been one of the prime purpcses of the work. In effect, this publication is a picture of the achievements of a decade of strivings toward world accommodetion and co-operation. The book aims to b> marely a saf:ty box for mate- rial of phenomenal va.ue in the future calcu- lations for world movements. Not a book of legal judgments and opinions. Not a summary of historic sequenc:s and views. These things will come later, from many sources and for many uses. Here is offered simply the 10-year gecord of evenis—an ¢mazing deposit for future use of world efforts toward peaceful intercourse. The foundation of lesgue actien, the consider- ation of international justice, financial and eco- nomic co-operation, interrational communica- tions, give title to some of the momentous de- liberations and conclusions. These reach, nat- urally, out into the qu:stions of social and humanitarian activities, into health, into in- tellectual harmonies and other general con- cerns. A foreword by Sir Eric Drummond, secretary genzral, and an introduction of good scope and definite point scrve, -together, to prepare the student for a well-charted course through the unavoidable intricacies and subtle- ties of the greatest scheme yet projected by man in all the history of the world for the genuine civilization of men and nations. A of inestimable value to the student of xmmen&s and of p-oples. A WOMAN WITH WHITE EYES. By Mary Borden, author of “The Forbidden Zone,” etc. New York: Doub’eday, Doran and Co. N uncommonly finc novel steps- out here under the clear handicap of a title that will be generally counted as a foolish one. A title that promises the extravagance of melo- drama where, in fact, the book is both substan- tial and interesting in theme. Some one will say, “But the title is itself symbolic,” which gets no one very far, for if there is one thing more boring to the average than another it is a symbol of this or that. However, let us stop grousing at Mary Borden’s name for her new novel and get down to the business of reading it. It has a heroine, naturally. The point is that this cne is different from even the higher order of these. The first point of departure for her is that she is given to complete self- disclosure—a most rare and uncommon thing in woman. The next noticeable idiesyncrasy is that, given to an easy and pleasurable par- taking of life, this woman has an utterly un- feminine sense of human values as these have been dcled out to womankind since the world began. Almost as if she were, really, somewhere else, somewhere outside the affairs in which she is having part, this young and attractive per- son messes around—yes, messes is the word— in an indiscriminate motley of moods and feel- ings, half-emotions and full behaviors that sometimes join hands, and more often do not. Qfim comes as it docs—sometimes. This girl is ky in knowing one wise man—not a lover, hardly a friend. A wise man, instead, who lets in the little light that finally comes to her in regard to some of the things that life may be about. An elusive matter? Yes, that is right. A complex bit of human subtlety which Mary Borden sees through in what should be a real triumph for her, since it is so clearly an ab- sorption of both story and story art to readers who are sincerely concerned with their own inside impu’ses and behaviors, and, by the same token, are engrossed with the human stage generally and with its actors. This will, prob- ably, be counted, this novel, to the further dis- tinction of Mary Borden, who already has half & dozen first-rank romances to her still young credit. THE GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. .By Elliot Paul, author of “The Amaszon,” etc. New York: Horace Liveright. AN‘ idealist pushed into active politics by the death of his chief. That is the story. What to do about it. That also is the story.” Griffin is a kindly men, living easily with his family, interested in many things that seem far re- moved from the concerns of any politician—as indeed they are—rich and quiet in his tastes, open and still quiet in his friendships and bene- factions. Then. suddenly, by the death of the Governor, Mr. Griffin becomes the head of the Btate in Massachuselts. A fruitful situation, considering the facts of modern politics coupled with the individual quality of the new Governor himself. It is by way of a mastery of this combination, both in its outer aspect and its inver content, that Elliot Paul turns out a siriking novel of American public life. ‘The drift of almnost any writer on the inside ot this theme would be, naturally, toward excess. ‘The vulnerability of politics from so many points of approach on the one hand, the integrity and vision of the outstanding figure on the other, would produce something not far short of melo- drama itself. Not here, however. A New England man, Elliot Paul has discarded the mantle of tradition, of the English tradition, in literature. That is a very unusual attitude, even yet, on the part of novelists along the Atlantic sea- board. Here, in clear devotion to an Ameri- can realism-—of setting, of vision, of action under the impulse of modern American life— THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., NOVEMBER 30, 1930. More Concerning the League of Nations. Several New Novels and a Record of the Andree Adventure in the Northland. Mr. Paul constructs a novel straight from the soil itself. He writes in the spirit of those Western novelists who are booked to produce, ultimately, the genuine brand of native fiction, those who are already in a fair way of secur- ing that end. A finely rocbust story, absorbing from its first word to the last one. Its truest however, seizure of “government by the people.” ANDREE: The Record of a Tragic Adventure. By George Palmer Putnam. New York: Brewer & Warren, Inc. Tmshthestuyolmttndchnoon- sailing toward the North Pole by Salomon August Andree and his two companions in 1897. From then until this year nothing was known of the fate of these men, were found not many mon! them fragments of record, information concerning the three. It is by way of these bits report and by a scrupulous assemblage of collateral fact bearing ration that Mr. Pu which stands, in courage of these Swedis field of enlarged geograp simple story. It had to be. has, without doubt, contribu poignant interest and sympathy. “It was in 1897.” Mr. Putnam talking. “The Klondike rush was in full swing. toria was celebrating her diamond pubilee. The Channel was unswum, the Boer and Spanish- American Wars unfought, the World War un- thinkable. Automcbiles were an experiment, radio undreamed of. No heavier than air ma- . William McKinley was in the White House.” Thus, in dramatic parade, does this writer set out the audacious temerity of Andreeandhiscomp.niomlntnnflngtoa balloon for Polar flight. One reads breathless- ly with the outcome never far away. One can- not fail to call the experiment one of sheer foolhardiness—yet it could not have seemed - this to these men who so recklessly dared them- selves ®against monstrous and unconquerable Today it would have been—but this was not today. More than 30 years ago instead. DEATH VALLEY: The Facts. By W. A. Chal- fant, author of “Outpost of Civilization,” etc. Illustrated. California: Stanford Uni- versity Press. NATURE in some of its moods and perform- ances definitely—deliberately, it appears— subserves the ancient art of Ananias himself. Niagara, the Grand Canyon, the ice fields, the deserts, the jungles within our own hemi- sphere, seem made for verbal exaggerations, for adjectival extravagance. Death Valley has al- ready, more than once, proved itself to be a rank perverter of truth, a foe to moderate consideration. Here, however, is a writer who takes upon himself the burden of giving facts, facts only, on the subject of Death Valley, which has heretofore been mainly the mythic, the apoc- ryphal theme of flamboyant colorists, of ro- mantic scene painters. Like the plain scientist, delving for bare truth, and that alone, Mr, Chalfant plods over Death Valley, digging for its rock foundations, for its chemical combi- nations of soil and metal, for th climate work- ing in age-old conjunction with these basic elements. The human contribution to the valley, Spaniard and Indian, grows clear with the trail of the gold hunters crowding the Pacific Coast in ’49. Plant life and animal come in for description along with the story of the water supply of the region. The perils of the desert draw this writer somewhat near to the earlier painters of the region—realists all of them in this respect. Nearer to the spirit comes a place of death and activity and life. Inter- claim of factual treat- a scientific contribution from their passage through Palen. However, the young been just about everywhere, and each quarter of this everywhere he has drawn an astonishing amount of succulent and picturesque life. A chimney sweep at first, what boy of spunk would not flee such an existence, just as this one did? The sea-world claimed him first, naturally, since all up that way once were Vikings. No other way of es- cape. And so it is first the life of the sea and of the sailor that tumbles out with such rich exuberance in this book of Lewis Palen’s. Then, in the course of time, South Africa and diamonds and gold, railroading, trekking the veldt, hunting lions, getting into the Boer War and then into a prison ship—and finally back home. These but a few of the points of ex- citement and hazard that stood waiting, all round the world, for the fleeting chimney sweep of Sweden. Desperate business a good deal of it—yet what is the human for if not to meet odds and get away with them! So this fellow would say if he were in the way of thinking such thoughts and talking such lingo. Great stuff, if you are looking for something big doing every minute of the day through a l;andtul of years. COLLECTOR'S LUCK IN SPAIN. By Alice Van Leer Carrick. Illustrated. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. EVIRYBODY wants to go somewhere. Every- body possesses the instinct, deep and fore- casting, to gather and hold this, that and the other. The first—God willing—develops the traveler. ' The second, the collector. This book presents the two-in-one. It does more. Through a happy accident of circumstance, it offers ad- venture to the modest purse and purpose. Noth- ing else than to travel up and down Spain after the fashion of the commoner in ways and means. Something to look into, that. And, be- sides, here is a chance to measure the collector’s zeal by simple things, old and beautiful and not too Toney-weighted. Something mere to consider, right here. Then there is the writer herself. A woman of good cheer, of wit, of gayety, who refuses to grow ponderous and tire- some over the wholly joyous to-do of ransack- ing an old land of beauty and romance for interesting and movable bits of its earlier household art. A practical woman, this one. Porto Rico’s Strange Trees. PO_RTO RICO, in spite of its small size, pre- sents to the world some of the strangest trees in use by men. There is a type of tree s0 hard that ordinary nails cannot be driven into its wood. There is a tree which grows 8o rapidly that, in three years, the young trees frequently attain a height of 30 feet and a diameter of 4 inches. There is another, ex- pected to grow in importance, which yields the chaulmoogra oil used as a treatment for leprosy. William P. Kramer, supervisor of the Lu- quillo National Forest and head of the island’s forestry system, has reported during a visit in Washington on the forestry situation in the island, a situation which gives promise of great things, The national forest in Porto Rico covers about 65,000 acres. In addition, the insular forests cover about 43,000 acres. Many of the trees now thriving in Porto Rico are imported. The chaulmoogra, from which " the oil referred to is obtained, is an Asiatic tree, but has been started in the leper colony in Porto Rico. It has found conditions on the island to its liking, and thrives in its new home. So well has the development been attained that as much as $10 apiece is paid for the seedlings, Among the other imported trees is the Aus- tralian pine, known as the “beefwood” tree, which grows so rapidly and which yields about five cords an acre each year. It is a hard tree, as is the bayahonda, which was imported from Santo Domingo, but neither of these can ap- proch the hardness of the native ausubo. Most of the wood used in building is im- ported pine from the Southern States of the United States, the Porto Rican woods being more adapted to cabinet work. The most productive type of tree on the island is the mangrove, which grows in the lowlands. This is used almost entirely for burn- ing tnto charcoal, for fuel use on the island. Going along with her one has only warm ap- proval of her good sense in getting about, in finding what she wants, in gathering up, with- out fail, the scraps of history drifting from one point or another, in pausing for a long look at the landscape—and then on again. Something like a personal satisfaction attends the “picking up” of this or that of the collector’s quarry, for that is the business in hahd. Subordinate to this errand there is, nevertheless, a pretty gen- eral pocketing of Spain itself for the enjoyment of the reader who does not often come upon a traveler able, like this one, to radiate from the immediate purpose into so many lines of information and enjoyable incident. In effect, therefore, around the specific errand of collect- ing old and interesting objects there gathers here a body of Spanish fact—historic, scenic, romantic, cultural. A wise and friendly traveler, back what she went after, bringing back also added evidence of the charm of Anda- lusia, of all Spain itself. A useful recording for the tribe of collectors, an illuminating view of Spain and its people for the general reader who travels, chiefly, by way of books. Books Recetved MEGGY MACINTOSH: A Highland Girl in the Carolina Colony. By Elizabeth Janet Gray. Ilustrated by Marguerite de Angeli. Junior books. Doubleday, Doran & Co. X ONE GIRL'S WAY. By Edith Vezolles Davis, author of “The Magic Fiddle.” Pictures by J::n cgoug Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shep- THE TREASURE HOUSE. .By Emilie Benson Knipe and Alden Arthur Knipe, authors of “The Lucky Sixpence,” etc. Illustrated by Margaret Ayer. New York: The Century Co. THISTLE INN. By Katherine Adams, author of “The Silver Tarn,” etc. Ilustrated by mhn Richards. . New York: The Mamil- Co. MERRIDY ROAD. By Jane Abbott, author of “Black Flower,” etc. Ilustrated by Josephine Reiniger. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co, THE OTHER LITTLE MUSTARD SEED. By Lillian Nicholson Shearon, author of “The Little Mixer.” Indianapolis: The Bobbs~ Merrill Co. THERE WAS MAGIC IN THOSE DAYS. By Norreys Jephson O’Conor. Illustrated by J. Gower Parks. New York: Frederick A, Stokes Co. GRANDMOTHER'S COOKEY JAR. By Helen Fuller Orton, author of “The Little Lost Pigs,” etc. Illustrations by M. L. PFrantz, New York: FPrederick A. Stokes Co. LA MESAVENTURE DE MADAME POPOTTE. Racontee et illustre par Hugh Lofting, Adaptation par Sarah J. Silberstein et Calire Brugell. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co. WHAT MAD PURSUIT? By Jessie Douglas Fox, author of “Rain Before Seven.” New York: Brewer & Warren. WAR LETTERS OF FALLEN ENGLISHMEN. Edited by Laurence Housman. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. PROHIBITION PUNCHES: A Book of Bever- ages. By Roxana B. Doran. Preface by &Mco W. Wiley. Philadelphia: Dorrance THE STAR OF THE ORSINI. By Ludwig Huna. Translated by Madge Pemberton, New York: Brewer & Warren, Inc. THE SEA GIRL. By Ray Cummings. Chi- cago: A. C. McClurg & Co. DANCE ON THE TORTOISE. By Marion Patton. New York: The Dial Press. RIDE THE NIGHTMARE. By Ward Greene, author of “Cora Potts.” New York; Jona- than Cape and Harrison Smith. ALL THE KING'S HORSES. By Margaret Widdemer, author of “Graven Image,” etc. New York: Farrar & Rinehart. THE SUN SETS RED. By Stanley Hart Cauffman, author of “At the Sign of the Silyer Ship,” etc. Philadelphia: The Penn Publishing Co. GET THE WOMAN. By Nell Shipman. New York: The Dial Press. BEYOND HUMAN POWER; A Novel. By the author of “The Call Within.” Edited by Lew Ear] Winburg. New York: Bee De Publishing Co., Inc. The PRAIRIE PRESIDENT Living Through the Years With Lincoln By Raymond Warren A fresh method of approach in a brilliant biographical narrative of Abraham Lincoln, presented mainly in dialogue which is based on the author's immensely popular Lincoln radio series. Hlustrated by the Author $3.00 Reilly & Lee—Publishers—Chicago B ———— ——————— |