Evening Star Newspaper, January 23, 1937, Page 18

B—2 HYPNOTIC QUALITY E MILITARY CASTE IS INVOLVED “Shining Scabbard” by Hutchinson Deserves Popularity as /| Absorbing Work—Separate States in Literature—Reve- lation of Common Humanijz in Genius. of the false faces (real ones lacking) and runs away from his sheltering By Mary Carter Roberts. SHINING SCABBARD. By R. C. Hutchinson. New York: Farrar and Rinehart. HE word “absorbing” has been used so generally to describe any manner of book that is not actually soporific in its effect on the reader that one hesitates to apply it as describing the essential quality of & really fine novel. Yet it is, unquestionably, the most pat word for R. C. Hutchinson's “Shining Scabbard.” The book does “absorb” the reader. He is drawn into it &s water into a sponge, he is taken up and swallowed by it, he may become lost in its mazes and puzzled as to where it is taking him, but that it does take him is undeniable. The reviewgr can think of no recent novel that has had a comparable imperative effect upon the facwties. In addition, as has been said, this is a fine book. That had better be repeated, for literary history has more than one instance in it of works of trash that wese invested, inexplicably, with just such a hypnotic quality, even as there are all too many novels of absolutely admirable intent which simply cannot be read for their in- tolerable dullness. But “Shining Scabbard” seems to be an excellent thing. It is the story of a family—not in its development through successive generations, but in its accumulated characteristics as shown in a comparatively brief time. It is also the story of the pre-war generation, which (apparently in France as well as in America, since this is a French story) now, in perspective, seems to have been in- vested with vague idealism to the point that it became wholly incapable of decisive action, whether mental or physical. The family is the Severins, mem- bers of France's military caste, but distinguished neither for brilliance nor intelligence. ‘The time is the period immediately preceding the World War. The scene is & small French city that lay in the line of the German advance. THE theme is the generally mazed mentality of pre-war adults, as exemplified by the Severins. From the old grandmother to the youngest son, they are shown to be incapable of any realistic understanding of their own existence, or of any detached interpretation of life itself. ‘They live, indeed, in such a pathetic muddle of aspirations and fierce but never realized resolutions as puts one in mind of the Russians portrayed by Tchekov in “The Cherry Orchard.” Between themselves and their lives there seems to be no relation and yet they live with an emotional intensity that far exceeds the normal human outlet of feeling. In other words, they are a group of neurotics and ap- parently are to be taken as character- | istic of their day. ! The novel, however, is not one of those menagerie-like affairs in which the reader sees characters who may be psychologically possible, but whom he cannot conscientiously recognize as plausible. On the contrary, it has a deeply moving quality, and arouses an interest in the fortunes of its people which is almost peinfully inti- mate. This derives largely from the | characters of the younger son and his | wife, Pierre and Renee, who, being less of their fated generation, are | more nearly able to escape its be- setting curse of vagueness. Pierre has been forced into the army in deference to family tradition, but knows himself no soldler. With Renee, his Eurasian wife, he is able to find some degree of happiness. When circumstances force her to go to his family to live, he o fears for their effect upon her that he finally deserts his post in order to join her. As he arrives, war breaks out, and after a brief reunion he sees her killed by a German shell, together with their son. It is a book of which goodness is | so much the very fabric that it is | hard to analyze its merits. Suffice it to say, then, that it is all of one piece—all good. It is tender, pitying, beautiful and strong. It is by no means devoid of humor, of downright comedy, either. As to whether it will achieve popularity or not the reader has no idea but, if expressing an opinion, would incline to think that it will. Strength, generally, is a quality which the public likes and questions of merit aside, will usually read a forceful work for reasons of its force alone. The strength of “Shin- ing Scabbard” is subtly achieved and delicately conveyed, but none the less perceptible. It seems reasonable to hope, therefore, that the book will have a wide reading. It is more than reasonable to say that it deserves it. It is stating a fact. THE BLUE HILLS. By Cornelius Weygandt. New York: Henry Holt & Co. THE vogue for writing about the separate States, as set by Carl Carmer in his “Stars Fell on Ala- bama” and “Listen for a Lonesome Drum,” is taken up here in a pleas- ant volume about Pennsylvania. Its author, to be sure, is following in his own footsteps as well as Mr. Car- mer’s; he has already written one such volume, “The White Hills.” It dealt with New Hampshire. But the interest in what may be called “local America” has been steadily growing through recent publishing seasons, and Mr. Carmer’s works seem to rep- resent its high peak. It seems fair, therefore, to mention him in the general connection. Mr. Weygandt, of course, has & rich field in the Keystone State. Its many racial strains, the enduring quality of its traditions (some of them of pre-Revolutionary vintage) its diverse picturesque religious groups, comprising Quakers, Mennonites, Dunkards and others, its. fertile farm- ing terrain and its contrasting great industrial areas, its magnificent scenery and its not-to-be-forgotten penchant for the practice of witch- craft unabashed under the glare of are lights and the roars of the radio— all these symptoms of folk individuality | ness it. | the biography of Wilde written by give Pennsylvania a richness in copy that equals its famous richness in mineral wealth. It is a mine, indeed, F'po: and Mr., Weygandt makes a very creditable thing of his prospecting. His book is frankly more concerned with the humorous incident revele- atory of folk quality than it is with history. It is episodic throughout, but the episodes seem to be chosen to illustrate historical mmu in the CORNELIUS WEYGANDT, Author of “The Blue Hills.” (Henry Holt.) people. They show a blunt, not-to-in- spired, but very genuine humor. At the same time the book treats of folk observances and customs amazing in their number and not less so in the fact that many of them, while of Colonial standing, are not kept today as pious mementoes of the past but with hearty, realistic participation. In other words, Mr. Weygandt seems to find in Pennsylvania a population that comes as near to & prosperous peasantry as America can produce— sturdy, thrifty, shrewd, superstitious and earth-bound. He makes an agree- able book about them. It ranks well among current works of its kind. PROPHET OF AMERICA. By New- ton Dillaway. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. THIS book is an attempt to inter- pret the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson in terms of America’s de- velopment since his day—or, as the title implies, an attempt to demon- | strate the rightness of his thinking by the subsequent course of human af- fairs. It is done by a man who has given 10 years to preparation, and who, obviously, admires his subject with unquestioning veneration. Yet, while this viewpoint is apparent throughout the work, it does not intrude upon the argument. Emerson, in general, wrote in terms of such broad ap- plicability that his words are in no | danger of losing their pertinence through the passing of mere decades. It is not astonishing to show that truths which he propounded are still true, nor is it particularly arresting t point out that where the course of the country has been the course of | folly, we have not been in agreement with the sage’s teachings. Yet the careful and detailed application of his words to events is by no means lack- | ing in interest. { Mr. Dillaway takes up the subjects of economics, science, education, war and peace, and politics, as they have developed in America, and as Emer- son spoke of them. It would pertaps | be hard to find a wider gap in| our common imagination than that | stretching between our concept of the New England sage and our impression of the political scene today—the scholar immured in his ivory tower turning out classics for future school children, and the uproar, confusion | and vulgarity of public life as we wit- | The achievement of Mr. | Dillaway in relating the two must | commend itself. And his conclusions, while not brilliantly relevant, must | still demand respect. | BERNARD SHAW, PRANK HARRIS AND OSCAR WILDE. By Robert Harborough Sherrard. With a pref- ace by Lord Alfre¢ Douglas. New | York: Greystone Press. 'HIS indignant volume revives once | more the question of Oscar Wilde's | reputation, centering its assault upon Frank Harris. The whole purpose of the present work is to prove that| Harris' work was untruthful, that | its supposed “confessions” were com= plete fabrications and that Harris had no purpose in writing it beyond the mercenary one of turning out a vol- ume sensational enough to sell wide- 1y, so that he might make money—of which he was, at the time, badly in need. The circumstance that George Ber- nard Shaw warmly praised the Harris book draws him into the controversy. The book presents some unquestion= ably impressive evidence to support its charges. However, its tone is ex- tremely personal and bitter and its style exaggerated and precious. These qualities cannot but create a preju- dice against it in the mind of read- ers of taste, though they ought not to affect its documentary value. To those to whom Oscar Wilde's goodness or badness is meaningful to- day the work will carry interest, and certainly, if Wilde has been ma- ligned, there is reason in exposing the slander, as there would be in the case of any man. But to defend the late Oscar on the ground that he has exerted an influence on literature “more profound than that of any other English writer except Shake- speare” is a ludicrous claim. Wilde was a first-rate playwright, a piffing poet and a vulgar novelist. Let hith have a fair hearing, by all means. But, on the basis of his literary achievements, the whole question, pro and con, seems to have been aired | important as it has ever been, but with | much too widely. It is to be hoped now that the subject is laid to rest. MASKS. By Queen Marie of Ru- mania. New York: E. P. Dut- ton Co. AS MIGHT be expected, this work of fiction from the pen of Queen Marie is a romance. As might also be expected, it is a romance of great pur- ity and what eighteenth century writ- ers used to call “sensibility.” It is sim- ply crammed with beauteous sentiment and it ends in a shower of tears. It would have gone over splendidly, one feels, in the days when the inmates of young ladies’ boarding schools wore ympadours. It is a story about a young Ru- manian gir) whose old guardian, to protect her innocence, keeps her away from the world. She lives in a room where there hangs & row of masks. Alas for the kindly old gentleman's well-meant plans! His bird,” llluu.lllhu,hlll(_in with one THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, XERTED BY TALE OF PRE-WAR TIME L] care to see if she can find its counter- part. And she does find it, but un- fortunately it is worn by & scoundrel. From there on her adventures are all too sad, and she eventually ends her life in a river, with romantic gypsies singing and weeping over her demise. It is not a bad little atory. One feels that it might make the plot of a very, very minor opera. The gypsies’ choruses would be so picturesque. THE DIARY OF SELMA LAGERLOF. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co. THIS is a touching little hook—the journal of the great Swedish nov- elist when she was very young. It was written in the Winter of Miss Lager- lof’s 15th year, when she went from her country home in Varmland to have, under the care of her aunt, & season in the capital. It is & record of her reactions to the new environ- ment, given continuity by a very alight, dreamlike little romance which she wove for herself and then wrote down. She met, on the train going to Stockholm, a university student who knew her brother. He was friendly to her and later told her brother that he thought her the most interesting girl he had ever known, an opinion that is perfectly comprehensible, since one cannot imagine that among the young ladles of his acquaintance there were many future Lagerlofs. But she, be- ing at the age when imagination takes & romantic turn, could not dispose of him with a brief mental verdict; she | continued to think of him and to won- der. She decided that he was the child of a certain prince, and again she feared that he was involved in a tragic student suicide. In all her oc- | cupations that Winter she wove her dreams about her friendly fellow | traveler. | And then, just as she was to leave, she saw him again. He was in com- pany of his parents and she realized | with disappointment that his father was more likely to be a grocer than a prince—it was unthinkable that hel should be a romantic royal exile. And | with him was a young lady to whom SATURDAY, J ANUARY 23, 1937. WEATHER DEBATES STARTED Magazines Give Attention to Details of Inauguration Cere- monies—New Ideas in Sports World and in the Develop- ment of the Craze for Trailers. By M.C. R. AIN is pouring down as this is being written, and there is every indication that inaugu- ration day will be depressing weather from the spectators’ angle if not from the farmers'—and you can make what you like out of that. It is mentioned here appropos of an article by Drew Pearson and Rob- SELMA LAGERLOF, Who has published her diary. (Doubleday, Doran.) Brief Reviews of Books NON-FICTION. AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGY. y Calroli Gigliottl. Chicago: Pub- lished by the author. An attempt to analyze our national mentality as exemplified by our be- havior in recent years. — Donell. Books. A thriller about a girl and a burglar. New York: Green Circle | THE ARIZONAN. By Jay Lucas New York: Green Circle Books. Western stuff. ert 8. Allen in the February Red Book, called “Inaugurating the Presi- dent.” Messrs P. and A. therein give a resume of inauguration weather. “Spow,” they write, “has been on the ground during five Iinaugurals. Ulysses 8. Grant was twice sworn into office during devastating weather. The mud was 30 thick when James K. Polk paraded down Pennsylvania svenue he had to detour. When Taft was inducted into office, Secret Serv- jce men laid out top hats and cut- aways the night before and then abandoned them for boots and riding breeches the next morning. Wash- ington was tied up in a raging bliz- zard, forcing the inauguration to be held indoors. “It fell to Benjamin Harrison, how- | ever, to be inaugurated under the most uncomfortable circumstances of | all. Rain poured down upon the line | of march. It was a virtual Summer cloudburst, but jcy cold. Harrison | and Cleveland, whom he had de- | feated, sat in an open carriage, wear- | ing top hats and wrapped in bear- | skin rugs. Cleveland, unable to open | his umbrella, turned to Charles S. Fairchild, the new Secretary of the Treasury, and said: “Lend us your umbrella. We are all honest men and will return it.” Coming to consideration of the new date from the weather angle, the INDIANS AND PIONEERS. By Grant | CONSULTING SPECIALIST. By A.| i0rs offer this information: Foreman. Norman: University of Oklahoma. A new revised edition of the original work published in 1930. ROMANTIC ADVENTURE. By Elinor Glyn. New York: E. P. Dution pyp pyNcH AND JUDY MURDERS. | Co. The perpetual schoolgirl writes her ife. | D. Furman. New York: The | Macaulay Co. | A handsome doctor and his femi- | nine patients. { MYSTERIES. By Carter Dickson. | Wwilliam Morrow & Co. | The group that appeared in “The New York: he had been engaged—only, a5 young | HEALTH HINTS. By F. Homer Cur- | Unicorn Murders” solves another case. Selma Lagerlof learned with satisfac- | tion, the engagement had recently been broken. “Not,” she says, “that | I think he will come to love me (she never saw him again), but Froken von K. (the flancee) does not look kind.” And that was the end of it. She | rode back on the train, possessed by | the idea, she says, that he, too, was | | a passenger—but, if he was, she did | not see him. It is s quaint little tiss. Washington: Curtiss Phi- losophic Book Shop. Advice on physical and mental well- being. HELL OR HEAVEN. By Congress- man Louis Ludlow. Boston: Strat- ford Publishing Co. | THE WHITE COWL. By F. Hewitt | Harrison. Aurora: Burney Bros. i Publishing Co. An upright citizen suddenly em- barks on a life of “humanitarian | crime.” | “only once durihg the past 11| years has the weather on January 20 | been really bad. Furthermore, the | temperature at noon on January 20 | was higher in 4 cases out of 11 than that at noon on March 4 of the same | year and the mean temperature on | January 20 during the last 49 years | | was 33 degrees, or only 6 points| | colder than the average tempentun} on March 4 during the same period.” | UITE another outlook on Wednes- day's show is expressed in a lively piece by Inez Callaway Robb |in the New York Woman for this week. Says Miss Robb, contrasting our induction ceremcnial with the How to keep America out of War. | FIGURE AWAY. By Phoebe At- | English coronation: By the author of a several-times pro- posed peace amendment to the Con- stitution. | wood Taylor. New York: W. W. Norton Co. Another of those wise-cracking work, and a touchingly intimate reve- | THE POLITICAL DOCTRINES OF Down East mysteries, sclved by Asey lation of common humanity in a great | genius. WE CAN DEFEND AMERICA. By Maj. Gen. Hagood. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co. HE recent retirement of Maj. Gen. | SUN YAT-SEN. By Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Being an exposition of the San Min Chu I FICTION. Mayo. THE MISSING MINIATURE. By Erich Kastner. Translated from the German by Cyrus Brooks. New York: Alfred Knopf, Inc. A mystery which has the virtue of Hagood, after the controversy cen- | JUMP FOR GLORY. By Gordon Mc- | humor. tering about his removal and rein-| statement from his command, has | freed him, so his publishers tell us, to | express his opinion on national de- | fense with complete frankness. The t book is that expression. It | F should be read with interest by those who believe the problem of peace or | war to be a governable thing. | The general’s belief inclines along | that line. He considers it quite within the limits of possibility to keep Amer- ica out of future wars, but only, as he | makes plain, if we develop a strong de- | fensive mechanism. The function of armed forces today, as he sees it, is as a different direction. For whereas | formerly a nation maintained a strong military force generally for purposes of aggression, today the reason for such forces is defense—as the general | sees it. He believes emphatically that the service which a strong army and navy renders its country today is to keep it out of war. The fact that all his- tory shows that great armies, where they have been built up, have been used for offense troubles him not at all. He is writing about the future. | He considers that the course of events to come will be different from that of events that have been. In the case of our own country, we have, almost ideally, says the general, a defensive position. From the de- fensive standpoint we are the strong- est nation on earth, as he sees it. We | have only to strengthen our natural | blessings in this regard to render our- selves sécure from attack, he says, and | then proceeds to outline what he feels would be the best methods to follow in arriving at this dsirable end. ‘While other military strategists have in recent months published very dif- ferent views on our position, the opin- ion of Gen. Hagood must be received with respect. When military men be- gin to join pacifists in writing about the maintenance of peace, then it might seem that we are beginning to get somewhere. Idesls are admirable, but expert counsel is none the less efficacious in making them something more than dreams. NAVY BLUE AND GOLD. By George Bruce. New York: William Caslon ELINOR- GLYN, Author of “Romantic Adventure.” (E. P. Dutton.) Senator Lodge (Continued from Page B-1) expressed himself on all these mat- ters. Whether the considerations of the journalist will continue to be the attitude of the Senator remains to be seen, though it seems unlikely that arguments as sound as his book sets forth will be discarded by that “ex- | Co. . ITXB going to be very hard for any one with a mind not preternat- urally correct to read this novel with- out roars of ribald laughter, but, by pediency” the author condemns. ‘This series of informal essays ana- lyzes the peace issue as a symptom of the American attitude toward other great public questions. They are idealistic in trend, but intensely prac- tical in their manner of setting forth the subject. Making no apology for their “Utopianism,” Lodge concludes that some of our problems would be nearer solution if the gap between thinkers and doers were narrowed. In them he urges our rededication to the “American dream,” which, in the words of Walt Whitman, embodies the justification and main purpose of these United States in our “plowing up in earnest the interminable aver- age fallows of humanity.” THE interminable average fallows of humanity can never be plowed under & cult of is harmful, contends Lodge in his book. Such a diversion of income to governmental uses “tends inevitably the spirit of private - seen, lvume. of weakness.” But Lodge believes thajy because PFederal activi- ties are so inextricably intertwined, the bulk of Federal expenses cannot be slashed, “any more than a sharp blade can slash a heap of cement | which has been given time to set.” As a Nation, Lodge states we are “guilty of the inconsistency of being belligerent without being military” and declares that in spite of the ease with which we get into a fight we “find it hard to have the weapons or the training which may save our skins once the fight has started—and which can scarcely make us fight more often.” Because of his fine mind and his training, because of his traditional and actual background, because of his youth and contemporary viewpoints, and because of the defnite appeal of his personality, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, jr., is one of the most arresting figures in the United States Senate today. It is our guess that he is destined to add zest and inspira~ tion to its sessions when, like the new boy in boarding school, he has once found a place for his hat. The Bull Comes Back. BULL MONTANA, former prize fighter, wrestler and menace of the films, was engaged this week to return to the screen in “When's Your Birthday?” the current David L. Loew- comedy, starring Joe E. Brown. Montana, protege of Douglas Fair- banks in the days of silent pictures, and proud claimant to the title of homeliest man in the world, will tray the role of a prize fighter of known as “stumble type bum”—inept, inefficient and not over- bright. 1 “Sure!” said “the Bool” beaming with professional pride. “I am just dumb enough so I can piay diss part finer* . “What this Nation needs is a good five-dollar inauguration. Something neat and as gaudy as possible, with no limit on the red plush and ermine. As a citizen, it grieves me to con- cede that the mother country will |stage a better show in May. The simple life is all right for those who |can afford it, but I think we owe |1t to ourselves to keep up with the Windsors.” | She goes on: “We should look |around for a Zeigfeld and order a ! high-class production with all the props * * * when the British Em- | pire crowns itself a King-Emperor— | ‘ev;n a last-minute substitute, who ‘nndly has time to warm up before going in to pitch—it gives the citi- zens & show that makes Ringling Bros, Barnum and Bailey look like | tuppence.” But, she says: “All around Mr. Roosevelt will be | gentlemen in plug hats and drab du- | plicate garments down to the last |crease. * * * But, after all, what |is & plug hat? A target for snowballs | | in Winter and for brickbats in Sum- | mer. A crown, say I, for the Presi- |dent and coronets for his faithful | followers! “Weave a chaplet of strawberry | leaves . . . for members of the cabinet. | Wrap them in crimson velvet and | | mantle them in ermine. Fashion some- | | thing tasty out of raspberry leaves, | damask and skunk for our Senators. | | “Let's design something nobby in | poison oak and sackcloth and ashes | | for the House minority. Let's have | gold braid for every citizen who voted a straight ticket, and & fur busby for | party workers. “If England, the greatest democ- racy of us all, can afford the biggest show on earth when she inducts a new ruler into office, I say we Americans can’t afford to be caught with our | plust mantles off. We, the people, want a bigger and better show. An inaugural day glimpse of Sistie and Buzzie in their new Winter snow suits isn't enough!” ON SEVERAL occasions in the past | these columns have remarked on articles descriptive of the development of the auto trailer. The present issue of the New York Woman has a piece | by Reta Cowles devoted to the more luxurious aspects of this new mode of travel. Hitherto most writers have stressed the economy of trailing. Miss Cowles, however, calls her article “Lux- uriously We Roll Along” and in it re- marks that “they’re paying such prices | as 10, 20, 25 and even 35 thousand dollars” for the de luxe edition of the new vehicle, now called the “land yacht.” “Such people,” she says, “as Henry L. Doherty, Marquis H. D. Cranston, John L. Senior, Charles A. Munn, Arthur K. Bourne, W. G. Potts, Adam Luke, jr.; E. Steuart Davis, Philip M. Plant, H. 8. Roberts, John 8. Phipps, ‘Theodore Pratt, William Esty, Drayton Cochran, Robert Grant, jr.; A. R. Graustein, Count and Countess Lebe- bur, Mrs. George E. Kent, Michael Strange and Bill Plankington are now owners of treilers, which include i ek Es 3% : HH ski fever in America, as a college sport, as & soclety sport and finally as a popular epidemic. As nearly as | any one can be, he is amusing on a quite preposterous subject. He agrees with the reviewer, you see, in abso- lutely refusing to see skiing as any- thing but a six-day bicycle race on barrel staves in the cold. He doesn't | like it either. | | An article in the January 20 Lib- erty is devoted to telling us what be- comes of movie stars who pass in the night, particularly those who shone in the silent pictures and never made the grade in the talkies. It lists the present careers of some one-time | headliners as follows: | “Mae Marsh is living modestly as the wife of Louis Lee Arms, a writer, | and is raising children and growing | oranges. “Ella Hall sells motion picture cos- tumes in a Hollywood shop. Hallam | Cooley is an aetor's agent. seeml Owen, Bobby Vernon and Ivan Lebe- deff are writing scenarios, Frank Craven is a writer and occasionally a stage director. Helen Ferguson is ‘doing publicity.” Theda Bara ... s living with her husband, Charles Brabin, and is something of a social leader in Beverly Hills. (Well! Well!) Louise Glaum and her husband oper- ate & movie theater in National City, near the Mexican border. “Clara Kimball Young has been promised & character role in & sched- uled picture. Irene Rich is working out s radio contract. Mary Carr sticks strictly to her knitting. Bthel Clayton, unmarried, lives with her mother in Hollywood. She is playing ‘bits.” Betty Blythe is too . . . Ruth Roland is one of the notable excep- tions, It keeps half a dozen men busy caring for her realty interests. “They can all take heart,” says the author, “if they listen to Wallace Beery. ‘I'm discovered every six years,” he says.” Held by 'Police Power of Senate Is Former Secretary Chester W. Jurney, Bearing Sergeant at Arms Title, Has Many Activities—May “Arrest” Members If Needed at Session. AT e, Chesley Jurney, sergeant at arms of the United States Sen- ate, whose office is one of the most historic rooms in the United States Capitol, having been the first home of the United States Supreme Court. By Louis Selding. ] E CAN arrest Senators, bring I | them in under a warrant and actually make them vote. He is in charge of impeachment cases, serves all processes of the Sen- ate. Doorkeepers, pages, Capitol po- lice guides and Senate post office employes are under his jurisdiction He is required to accompany the President and the Inaugural Com- mittee to the stand where the cath of office is taken. He is in charge of all general “storekeeping” on the Senate side of the Capitol. And he has served 40 years continuously in House and Senate. He is Chesley W. Jurney, sergeant at arms of the United States Senate. Mr. Jurney is, in matter of fact, the gentleman who exercises general po- lice power in all things having to do with conduct of affairs of the Upper House. It is his special duty to pre- serve order on the floor of the Sen- ate while it is in session. This en- | tails superivsion over the little pages who run about in their blue serge suits at the snap of a Senator's fingers. It entails supervision of the gentlemen who stand at all entrances to floor | or galleries and gently but firmly de- cide who shall and who shall not pass, With respect to the guides—that lit- tle band of eloquent ladies and gen- tlemen whose duty it is to point out the points of historic interest in the Capitol Building—Mr. Jurney is in control of them jointly with the ser- geant at arms of the House. His unshared domain, however, is the Senate post office, where a staff num- bering approximately 250 employes labors under his direction. WHEN it is necesstary for absentee Senators to be rounded up and brought in to vote, the sergeant at arms must carry out the orders of the Senate in bringing this about. The Vice President signs the necessary warrants; a deputy is delegated to serve them and in the interests of gaining a “quorum” the Senators are arrested under the warrant. This is no vain duty. Once, more | than 49 Senators were “arrested” in this way and hot-footed back to the | Capitol to help break up a filibuster, | by official request. Since the passage | of the lame duck amendment, Mr.| Jurney points out, it seems unlikely that he will be called upon to perform this function, for it is almost impos- sible to conduct a filibuster now, as in the days when Congress had to ad- journ March 4. Not even a second Huey Long could talk for months. Mr. Jurney has conducted two cases of impeachment in his tenure of office as sergeant at arms of the Senate. The first case was that involving Harold Louderback, judge of the United States District Court for the Northern district of California. The Senate sat from Monday, May 13, 1933, to Wednesday, May 24, Mr. Louder- back was acquitted. The second of these involved im- peachment of Judge Halsted L. Ritter, judge of the United States District Court for the Southern district of Plorida. Judge Ritter was removed from office, the United States Senate sitting as Court of Impeachment, from l;l'ond‘y, April 6, 1936, to Friday, April 17. JT FELL to the lot of Mr. Jurney, liam P. McCracken when that gentle- man refused to surrender certain docu- ments and papers he declared belonged to his clients, when the Senate re- quested them. A warrant was issued for Col. McCracken's arrest on the charge that he was in contempt of the Senate. Col. McCracken was secre- tary to the American Bar Association at the time. but was under investiga- tion for certain activities during his office as Assistant Secretary of Com- merce. With the sergeant at arms of the House, Mr. Jurney has joint authority over the police force that guards the Capitol. During the days when the “bonus army” occupied Washington, this became an exciting duty, call- ing for immeasureable tact, but full exercise of authority. The force must be ready at all times to cope with protesting “groups,” or untoward cire cumstances such as occurred on one occasion when a demented college pro- fessor set a bomb in the telephone booth in a room adjoining the Sene ate chamber. Another office of the sergeant at arms of the United Statés Senate is to take charge of the buying and re- placing activities with yespect to those supplies which are necessary for the maintenance of the Senate side of the Capitol Building. Hence he is in charge of the storerooms and ware- houses on this side, of all furnish- ings and furniture and items of sup- ply used within his domain. Mr. Jurney first arrived on Capitol Hill 40 years ago. He was born in Waco, Tex., June 25, 1877, and at- tended the public schools of that city. He studied shorthand, attended Baylor University, and later was grad- uated from the Law Department of George Washington University in ‘Washington, D. C. HEN he first appeared on the legislative pay roll, it was as private secretary to Representative Robert L. Henry of Waco, Tex., from 1897 to 1903. Next he served in a similar capacity for Senator Charles A. Culberson, from 1903 to 1923. Dur- ing Democratic control, from 1913 to 1919, he served as clerk of the Sen- ate Committee on the Judiciary. From | 1923 to 1933, he was private secre- tary to Senator Royal S. Copeland, and in 1932 was an unsuccessful can= didate for the Democratic nomination for Congressman at large from Texas. On March 9, 1933, he was elected ser= geant at arms of the United States Senate. During times of inauguration Mr. Jurney, under directions from the In- augural Committee, has charge at the Capitol in connection with the cere- monies. With the sergeant at arms of the House and members of the committee, he accompanies the Presi« dent to the inaugural stand. Mr. Jurney's office was formerly that of the marshal of the United States Supreme Court and is one of the most historic rooms in the United States Capitol Building, the Supreme Court having met there for 10 years when Chief Justice Marshall presided over the court, from 1801 to 1811. It is not a large room for a court, but large for an office, with high eceil- ing and beautiful fireplace mantel of marble. It also is illuminated by means of a beautiful crystal chande~ lier, and long crimson damask drap- eries hang from the tall windows. From the small office of Mr. Jurney’s secretary, next adjoining, the room opens into the old Supreme Court chamber. 2