Evening Star Newspaper, November 14, 1936, Page 10

THE EVENING STAR! WASHINGTO. i D. C.! SATU'RDAY! NOVEMBER lé 1936. WHITLOCK’S JOURNAL VOLUME IS FINELY WRITTEN Book by American Envoy Who Saw Struggle From Diplomat’s . Perspec tive Is Powerful Indictment of International Con- flict—Other Recent Books Deal With Same Subject. By Mary-Carter Roberts Allan Nevins. Introduction by New York: D, Appleton-Century Co. HE dolorous day of Armistice, which has just passed, is indeed fittingly commemorated in the publication of this work. Of all the books which have been written on war, there have been few which give a more moving and com- prehensive exposition of war's meane ing—its effects on peoples and its machinations in governments. Writ- ten during the conflict, day by day as that miasma of horror unrolled, spread and enveloped civilization, the Journal of Brand Whitlock will read today, for all of us who can remem- ber, almost too grievously to be borne. And to those who are yet too young to have known war, but who have lived in a world of alarms and rumors, it should take its place, tragic and unanswerable, among the already sbundant warnings. For it should be borne in mind that this is not a novel, a fiction composed out of the bitter emotionalism of some remembering artist's imagina- tion. Nor is it a mere recording of an individual experience, in the ordinary sense. It is a broad panorama of war enveloping an entire nation, reported by one whose high position enabled him to see all the aspects of the envel- opment. It was not written to serve as an anti-war document. And yet, no novel from the pen of a soldier home from the front can surpass it in its force as an expose of the pointless- ness of war. A memorable Armistice day publication, indeed. It is finely written. Its editing by Mr. Allan Nevins, moreover, cannot e praised too highly. As it stands in 1t published form, it charts with dra- matically satisfying fullness the rise and fall of public sentiment through the yesrs from 1914 to the end of 1921; it makes & harmonious and stately tragedy of the dominant fac- tors involved—of the violence of war, @8 set forth in the savage occupation of Belgium; of the spontaneous hon- est revulsion of the American people expressed first in their outpouring of help and later in their dream of the League of Nations as a lasting instru- ment for peace, and, finally, it comes to the old stale denouement where the League's author stood discredited and politicians began their survey of the Tuins to see what might be found ‘wherewith to line their pocketbooks. No stage has yet been built which could contain so vast a movement. Yet as one reads this account, that is the thing which, esthetically, im- presses one most—its utter perfection as a formal tragedy. History here followed art, and art has given back significance to history. The first entry of the published Joyrnal is dated August 1, 1914, It is ominously direct. “I was awakened suddenly out of & sound sleep this morning,” wrote the late Minister, “by loud, insistent knocks at my door. I got up; it was 6 o'clock; I opened the door and there stood Omer (his servant) in uniform— the rough blue tunic, linen panta- loons, and the little bonnet de police. He stood at attention, his hand at the salute. “‘C'est 1a guerre, Excellence.'” And thus it began. ‘The narrative is occupied first with the invasion and establishment of the | German troops. The good naivete of minds that had developed in a world that was unconscious or disbelieving of potential realities behind Germany’s saber-rattling through the years, is expressed more than once in Mr. Whitlock's early pages. He tells, for example, of his conversation with Burgomaster Max, after the Germans wére in Brussels. Max told him they had demanded hostages. “. . . the word hostages has such a fmediaeval sound,” he writes, “my hair almost stood on end . ..” He was then only learning, as the world was to learn, how war predicates reversion. He gives a moving picture of the allying of the Belgian people around their King. He writes of patriotism s patriotism was conceived in 1914— & virtuous emotion—not an evidence of selfishness or ignorance. He tells with mingled weariness and humor of the Fivalries involved in the establishment of Belgian relief. And he reports cautiously and as one who would not write such amazing evil without cer- tainty of its truth, the seizure of the Belgian unemployed, the “slave drives,” the long toll of brutalities visited by the Germans on Belgium's eivil population. He was weary of it by 1916, and expressed rather petulantly the hope that Hughes would De elected so he would be freed from his labors. But when the first report brought him the mistaken news that Wilson had been defeated, he wrote, “My poor country! To have deserted her high ideals in this hour . . . is in- describably sad.” Through all this central portion of his journal issues and events are largely in flux, as is proper in the middle acts of a tragedy. There is the right confusion of action here, Sogether with the right clarity of mo- tives. It will be said today, perhaps— ne, certainly—that Mr. Whitlock was & man of simple mind. He saw events end issues in those troubled days as dhe world saw them, however, and so his book admirably reflects the history of world sentiment then, That senti- | ment is summed up in his comment when America joined the Allies. It s as follows: “Early this morning Campbell sent me a synopsis of the President’s mess- oge, and I read it with tears, a kind of joy, to see us at last—much as I hate war—ranged on the side of the right!” Right and wrong—they were BRAND WHITLOCK, Author_of “The Letters and Journal of Brand Whitlock.” (Appleton-Century Co.) almost his country, by his stubbornness and by tactiess biunders that a common ward-heeler would know better than to commit.” As for the French, Mr. Whitlock execrates them with a passion that is surprising. Greed, dishonesty and overweening conceit he sees as their national characteristics. He quotes the Spanish Minister to Belgium as expressing his own sentiments when he said, “The longer 1 live the more I hate the French!” Thus the state of international feeling only a few months after the Armistice. The closing pages of the book are indeed & record of complete disin- tegration. The hatred which sprang up among the Allies, the failure of the Senate to ratify the Versailles treaty, the effort of that body to dis- credit President Wilson with England by offering sympathy fo the Irish separatists, and finally the election of Harding—*“the Ohio politician"—these developments plainly bore upon the writer with a bitterness which colored all his reflections. The days of loyalty and disinterestedness were over. Obligations and gratitude were forgotten. It made a spectacle which, presented to him at close range, as it was, sickened and revolted him. Yet it is obvious that he made a con- acious effort to meet conditions as they were and contrived, in some sort, not to lose hope completely. The perfect ending of such & nar- rative is contained in the manner in which Mr. Whitlock's service in Belgium came to an end, as har- monjous & detail as if planned by the master novelist of all time. He had tendered his resignation to Presi- dent Harding on the latter’s assump- tion of duty. He received an am- biguous written reply but verbal as- surance from a friend of the President that he was to stay. Nothing further was said to him until the following November. On the 25th of that month he makes this simple entry in his journal: “A cablegram from Hughes today brief and formal, saying that my resignation is accepted, that the President wishes to appoint Fletcher to the post, that I am to ask the Belgian government to agree to his appointment . . . and there you are! ++ " The first knowledge that he had of his dismissal was, thus, the request to bespeak favor for his suc- cessor. On the 30th he adds, “This, then, is the end of this diplomatic experi- ence, for I go on leave tomorrow. It is sad, of course; I love Brussels, and am loath to leave it. I have the best, the most interesting years of my life here; I have played a part in the history of this country, I have many friends and many memories to attach me to it, and it's more like home to me now than any other place on earth. But there's nothing to do; it's Johnnie Bowlegs, pack your kit and trek.” Mr. Whitlock reveals himself through all this extraordinary record as a statesman of a type that prob- ably derives only from America. He was an idealist who found even the small routine chicaneries of govern- ment service offensive. He was so impatient of political evils that it was inevitable he should have seen in the League of Nations the rosy dream with which Wilson invested it. He shows himself in his own words incapable of being resigned to what experience tells him will inevitably come about. He is at once the optim« ist and the man of the world, able possible but still painful. Even in his patriotism he declared that the America of his day ofiended him and ocratic government, and hated social- ism. Any of these statements would SETEER ig?gi f £a ; I 8AW THEM DIE. By Shirley Mil- lard. Edited by Adele Comandini, New York: Harcourt Brace & Co. SAGITTARIUS RISING. By Cecil Lewis. New York: Harcourt Brace & Oo. 4 ERE are varying | REASONS FOR ANGER. By Robert o] i i 5g £ i : H 'Y ] i | | | ; : : | I 1 e 1 H i - i i ; } i i f i ] i b gfer ] E : ] : g: fl g H 4 1 3 g i ¥ if it 47 1] 5 13 i 5 k g Y i § 5 i I I8 {E ] i &3 H g E £ E . i ¥ § i i §& d 2 read it i, if tha e k¥ » B 5 v : ¥ £ B i § g& ok E%é 14 i a » Re? §§§55153§ biography. ters. New York: Farrar & Rine- hart. ‘HE rugged poet who contributed such enlivening matter to Poetry II back in 1920, writes here his life story. There is little of the flery revo- lutionary in it, as we were then prone to imagine him, dreaming between lines. On the contrary, Mr. Masters would seem to have had & life of hard work as a lawyer, in which writing, by necesaity, though not by desire, took second place. Much of his book is given over to description of his legal labors and, as he foregathered little with other writers, there 1s a minimum of those bright passages devoted to literary associations, which one expects in any writer's atory. Even with this happy omission, how- ever, the narrative is level and monot« opous. There is in it, one feels, rather a greater preoccupation with love afiairs than the affairs them- selves merit, as none of them are represented as being of lasting influ- ence on the poet’s life. The most appealing part of the book is that which relates to his youth in the little Iliinois town, Lewistown, where he was unhappy with an unhappiness which he conveys realistically. The effect of the volume is rather disheartening—it is that of hope liv- ing in gray places and of illusion fed with somewhat sorry material. Mr. Masters says that poetry has been the one great interest of his life, From this it may not be unkind to say that he has made poetry more Interesting than he has made himself. Briffault. New York: Simon & Schuster. Tflx author of one of the most over- rated novels of last year publishes here a collection of essays explaining why he is angry with humanity. They are an intelligent person’s reasons, to be sure. But they are no newer than they were in the day of Rameses and they are gather dully stated. Mr. Briffault does not realize, apparently, that what is plain to him is plain to any thinking man or woman and that, therefore, to justify offering his opinions for sale he should offer them with a difference—the differ- ence, preferably, of wit. No, he dis- dains wit. He merely shouts. Often he blusters. His book, consequently, is not an intelligent performance, even though, as said, it reflects intel- ligent mental processes. HILAIRE BELLOC. Selected Essays. Compiled by John Edward Dineen. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott. 8 MR. DINEEN remarks in his preface to this volume, Hilaire Belloc is best known in America for his religious and political writings. But that, it is only fair to add, is only because few of his essays have been published in this country. He is, of course, an essayist of great gifts. Mr. Dineen ranks in this opinion many critics fully concur. There seems no with a volume such as nounce it. It is here. That enough. LINCOLN STEFFENS SPEAKING. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co. \TEFFENS’ admirers of course will want this book. PASCAL THE LIFE OF GENIUS. By Morris Bishop. New York: Christ Church, Alexandria, Va., from “Old Historic Churches of America,” by Edward F. Rines. (Macmillan.) r EDGAR LEE MASTERS, Author of “Poems of People.” (D. Appleton-Century Co.) Brief Reviews of Books Non-Fiction. LONDON. By Sidney Dark. With illustrations by Joseph Pennell. New York: The Macillan_Co. Pelicitious combination. There are 35 of the Pennell drawings. Unneces- sary to suggest that this would be an excellent gift book. WANDERER FROM SEA TO SEA. By Maarten Matisse. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co. A religious and philosophical vaga- bond tells of his wandering in search of God. Interestng. WESTWARD FROM RIO. By Heath Bowman and Stirling Dickinson. ‘With 100 block prints. Chicago: ‘Willett Clark & Co. ‘The glad young pair who went to Mexico last year and (quite acci- dentally) wrote & book about it later make what one assumes is an equally unpremeditated forsy into South America. Harmless, chaity stuff. ONCE TO EVERY PILOT. By Capt. PFrank Hawks. Harrisl : Stack- pole Bons. America’s great ace writés true tales of air adventures. Worth having. DEMOCRACY AND THE SUPREME COURT. By ®obert H. Carr. Nor- man: University of Oklahoma Press. A study of the power of the first court of the Nation and what it im- History of the court by the man who last year wrote s like history of particular in achievements as each. But Pascal’s personality as & man seems not to have interested him. The work therefore becomes & his- il ] F 3 i T 'l %Ee?iéfi M4 : CHIATRIST. By Klizabeth I. Ad- amson. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co. Explanation of the modern miracle makers in plain terms for the laity. THE ISLE OF GOOD INTENT. By F. Bernadette Rainsford. Boston: ‘The Christopher Publishing House. Volume of foolish essays. Fietion. LEVEL CROSSING. By Phyllis Bot- | tome. New York: Frederick A.| Stokes Co. ‘The well known lady author writes about a young couple in the hands of | 8 wicked kidnaper. A sort of genteel | thriller, RAINBOW OVBR BROADWAY. By Alma Sioux Scarberry. New York: | John H. Hopkins & Son. Story of girl's rise to fame on the famous street. NO REGRETS? By Vida Hurst. New York: John H. Hopkins & Son. Story of gir! in business and in love. AL COMBAT. By Elliott Arnold. New York: The Greystone | Press. Story of rackets todsy. Mysteries. HOUSE OF TREASON. By Dennis | Allan. New York: The Greystone | ¥ Naziism comes to America but is i 2 ¢ 5 H i st E:sg £ hi 1dy gai S gk ; | | L i3 i B Wi B : H El g i i g | | =0 i i § E i B Ed i i i s ; i i : g | | .i i i i : | . g | £ ] § 55 § l"; E I § ok sd nell | which & child instinctively loves best MMENTARY ON WAR BOOK WEEK AND JUVENILES Latter, Presented in Usual Wide Array, Add Color to Days Set Apart for Contemplation of the Broad Field of Current Literature—Animal Stories Predominant. ply “children’s books.” The reviewer does mot know whether she is & juvenile, or & kiddie, or a child, but suspects ignominously that she has a dash of all three, for —confession—these books seem to her ggzii g §s 3 1| 15 eolor and in biack and white. Some the —particularly IT ‘WOULD be hard to find illustra- tions more imaginative and ap- pealing than those which appear in this little volume. On looking for some moments at the end papers of little Fierce Face himself, the reviewer thoughtfully called Dr. Mann to inquire if there were any way in which a tiger kitten could be properly reared in a small apartment. Dr. Mann said no. Quite as enchanting is Stera Rosa's recent book “The Adventures of Lappy Cushion Tail,” with illustra- tions by Glenna Latimer, also s Dutton Dublication. Lappy Cushion Tail is & baby rabbit who has an adventurous | young life, indeed. The humor of Glenna Latimer’s illustrations is of a @8y, subtle kind which ought to please anybody capable of reflecting it, and the frankly fantastic text should be & delight to any child not an un- conscionably realistic little brute. “Keema of the Monkey People” is another animal story which has first- rate text and {llustrations. The author is Walter J. Wilwerding and he has also made the illustrations. The Mac- millan Co. is the publisher. Mr. Wil- werding brings realism to his numer- ous drawings of jungle beasts—alliga- tors, baboons, tigers, blue monkeys and | such fauna—for he has lived in the | Atrican country about which he writes. His pictures, indeed, have an almost | photographic quality. His test is a little on the conventional side, how- ever; it tells of how Keems, after escaping numerous perils, fought his | way to leadership of the monkey troop | and ome feels somehow that it is a | rather moral tale, a simian Alger, as | it were. But Alger never injured any- | one, it seems fairly safe to say. S'flu. among jungle creatures, but | in a habitat far from the jungle | land, is the story of “Puddle,” a real | baby hippopotamus, who was born in | the Chicago Zoological Park. This book is illustrated by photographs, but they are very fine photographs indeed. They catch all the engaging piggy young innocence of the baby monster admirsbly, and, showing him in con- | trast to his vast mother, make quite | an appealing Httle brute of him. The | story covers the first year of his life. | The suthors are Ruth Ann Waring | and Helen Wells, who also made the photographs. The publisher is Rand McNally & Co. Then, not forgetting that the animal | t is perhaps the bear, we come to “The Story of Preginald,” by Walter R. Brooks, with Nlustrations by Kurt | Weise and published by Alfred A.| Knopf. Freginald is an ingenious young | animal indeed. He joins the circus and | has some extremely good adventures with the other members of the cast, notably with Leo the lion. This text | is more ambitious than is common | among znimal storfes. The book is 250 | pages long and really makes a tale of | some development. Needless to say it | is completely fanciful, s “Wizard of Oz” sort of thing, in terms of the animal kingdom. The {llustrations are satirically amusing. “Billy Butter” is another highly en- gsging anmal, & young goat which stttached himself to the Giovannl and Elmer Hader, who have presented him to their public both in black and white and in color. The work of these collaborators is sufficiently well known | ever made. EDWARD F. RINES, Author of “Old Historic Churches of America.” (Mac- millan.) of the pages seem very good and some the black and white ones—seem overcrowded. next classification of young seems to be foreign lands and children. Among these s is the story of the of the tropics. Its and Gold” and its same Haders who did mentioned above. It trifie factual to the re- then her antipathy to tion dates from many ba The pictures, however, dainty and well done. ‘Bobra of Bali” comes next on the | and is, as far as the reviewer | knows, the first attempt to introduce the latest modern paradise regained to the child in the American home. It is the story of a lad of the island %gggza i i 1 F%E?%i E in his work and play, and seems very like other books of its kind, It 18 written and fllustrated by Mariel Wil- hoite and Elizabeth Horton snd pube lished by Rand McNally. The pictures, in red and gold, are very attractive. For the rest the American Indian assumes his traditional importance in the imaginative world of young read- ers, and we have two books about him—“Lah-Luck and Tuck-She” (say i rapudly), by Melicent Humanson Lee, with illustrations by Don Nel- son, and “Wigwam and Warpath,” by Isabel Juergens, with illustrations by Justin Lichtie. The first is a story about Indian children in pre-Colum- bian days. The second seems to be more serlously intended. It is a book of short stories about famous Indian leaders. Its illustrations are given over to showing Indian faces, weapons, equipment and the like. It is really » history text. Rand McNally pub- lishes “Lah-Luck” and Groset & Dunlap “Wigwam and Warpath.” ANO'!‘EI.'R. book which no doubt should be mentioned here is “Art Stories,” by Wiliam G. Whitford, Edna B. Liek and William 8. Gray, published by Reilly & Lee. This is the third in the series of Art Stories, the purpose of the group being to in- culcate an interest in drawing and an understanding of ils elementary principles in the young. And still another one which seems to have a certain educational valus is “The Covered Bridge,” by Cornelia Meigs, with Ulustrations by Marguerite de Angel, published by Macmillan. This is a tale of children in 8 New England environment back in the early nineteenth century. It is care- fully done and could well be read by modern youngsters as a source of what went on in the world for a good many centuries before the radio. That would seem to round off the list. Taking these to the storeroom leaves a dismal gap in shelves now wholly given over to works about sociology. Farewell, Puddlel We will be missing you. MOTORISTS’ MAPS (Continued Prom Page B-1) types, such as pavements of all kinds, improvements, such as gravel, stone and shell, graded earth roads | and connecting earth roads. In other | words, five separate grades of high- way surface are distinctly shown for| the comfort and convenience of local motorists. Recently completed were some new maps of Minnesota, New Engiand and New York. These, for the most part, are “where to go” maps, enabling the average traveler to study history by motor. Regular road maps have| lately been completed of Texas and, Oklahoma. Several of these were de- vised especially for the visitor to the Texas Centennial, which closed its gates not so long ago. During the last production season (covering the five touring months, | May, June, July, August and Septem- | ber) the cartographers completed a | huge map of the United States. It was a stupendous job. The research pied four months. Here, then, was a six-month job. ‘Was it worth all this time and trou- ble? Apparently s0. This is heraided as being the clearest and easiest to read road map of the United States Originally this map was 103 inches | wide by 66 inches deep. However, for the convenience of motorists it was reduced to 392 by 25 inches. Mile- age scale is 75 miles to the inch. Many | novel features are embedied. All the mountains and valleys are delineated in their correct positions, elevations being shown clearly by means of dif- ferent densities of color. All Federal highways connecting with State roads are shown, along with their route numbers. In addition, all the national parks and principal na- | tional menuments are depicted. Time lines are given for the first time. In other words, as he motors across the | continent, the traveler, by consulting this map, can discover the immediate changes in time, such as Eastern standard, Central, Mountain and Pa- | cific. | ‘The back of this enormous map contains many novel features. All of the United States numbered routes are listed; there's a mileage chart The 100% choice of leadin’ continwously and without ser 1037 Pages showing distances in the United States over the much-traveled routes, along with a brief description of the major national parks and national monuments. High lights of Canadian and Mexican customs regulations are given. In eénnection with the United States map, an unusual kind of map of Long Island has been completed in recent months. One section of this is a historical map. All historieal points are shown in colors, and there actual pictures of points of in- Underneath this section is a eom- plete road map of standard type that shows all the main roads and routes. Incidentally, every road shown on this map was actually traveled by an au- tomobile from New York headquar- ters of the A. A. A. It took two men six months of highway research in the Long Island sector to gather the rough notes needed for preparing this map. The actual making of the map | required about five months. alone required two months, and thel actual work on the map itself occu-| AN ENORMOUS mass of field data was turned in to national head- quarters by the “pathfinders.” They were surprised to find that practically every available map of Long Island was badly out of date and incorrect in many particulars. As a matter of fact, the past 10 years have seen marked changes along the entire Long Island coast line, particularly in the | vicinity of Long Beach and Jones Beach. Fifth member of the “quintuplets of local motordom” is James T. Scott, in charge of the detour section of the Three A's. “Scotty,” as he is affec~ tionately known among his associates, is & venerable gentieman who almost invariably wears a smile. But his work is serious enough. He keeps in close touch at all times with the various State highway departments regarding detours, repair jobs, bridge constructions and changing roadway conditions caused by natural emer- gencies such as floods and storms. Whenever there's an important change in any of these things he wires the affiliated motor clubs most direetly concerned. book stores—at the TOP, ‘s competition, since JULY| MACMILLAN