Evening Star Newspaper, July 17, 1937, Page 14

B—2 NAVY MAN WRITES OF CHINA British Officer Reveals Chicanery of Revolution in Narrative Show- ing the Lighter Side of British Imperialism—F. Theo Rogers Analyzes Spain Today. By Mayy-Carter Roberts YANGTZE SKIPPER. By Thomas Woodrooffe. New York: S8heridan O OREAT or famous writer N has produced a book for re- week, no fledgling genius has turned out a novel of “brilliant so- logieal understanding,” and it seems somehow to be an off time in the House, viewers to exercise upon this eial insight and profound psycho- publishing business. One wonders what that school of criticism which | goes in for weekly “discoveries” (one's private name for it being the chest- thumping school) will make of the @Ap. For one's self one has discovered & highly pleasant little book, not, as aforesaid, claims to’ literary notoriety, but eminently readable and amusing. And what do you want when the weather is the way it has been, anyvhow? The book is “Yangtze Skipper,” the story of the adventures of & young man named Toby on the great and storied Yellow River of China. Toby i an Englishman who belongs to “the generation which knew no male who was of military age and not a cripple, who had not seen France or the war in some shape or form, at sea or abroad.” He had seen it himself ad the age of 17 as & midshipman in the King's navy. After the war he staved in and became an officer, and one finds him in this book on his first eommission, first officer on & gun- boat, the Beetle, patrolling the Yangtze. The story is told in the third per- son but, publishers assure us, is au- tobiographical from beginning to end. It is richly amusing, without any failure in realism. Toby saw & re- vealing slice of that chicanery known a “revolution” in China, he met white and native society, was called on to disperse & mob of several thousand coolies with a force of eight sailors, saved the white population of a city from a “war lord's” invasion (the comic sequel to his heroism being that hae found his ship loaded with 14 kinds of missionaries, all of whom insisted on holding religious services for the crew), was entertained in the home of & “war lord” himself, had flirta- tions, witnessed executions and gen- erally found life on the Yangtze an exciting business. After more than a year of it he was ordered home to go to school, and there he ends his story. 1t is written amusingly, so that for | once a publisher's announcement seems to fit—Sheridan House calls this a narrative of “the lighter side of British imperialism.” Toby, who had eut his teeth on danger as & humble midshipman in War, found about equal delight ap- parently in his new dignity as an officer and the milder excitement of- fered by the uncertainties of Chinese polities. One of the typical epi- sndes of his stopy is the arrest of the oplum smuggler who was re- ported by s$he British customs as & dangerous customer; he had already ahot at one official. Toby crept si- Jently aboard the suspected craft in the dead of the night, placed his tiny party of sailors strategically and sin- gle-handed rushed the captain’s cabin. He found the supposed criminal sit- ting happily at his table with a lightly elad Russian lady on each knee. The ladies screamed consid- erably, but beyond that there were no hostilities and the whole matter end- ed satisfactorily for both sides. Por hot-weather reading you can hardly do better than this book, which will not cloy as “Summer fiction” is #0 likely to do nor yet give you a headache with its seriousness. The suthor, incidentally, remained in the navy until 1933, when he retired with the rank of lieutenant commander. He is now with the British Broadcast- ing Oo, it being his voice which de- scribed the Berlin Olympics and the eoronation over that network. BPAIN: A TRAGIC JOURNEY. By ¥. Theo Rogers. by Sir Willmott Lewis and a pref- ace by Col. Theodore Roosevelt. New York: The Macaulay Co. 'I‘HIS s a book about the current eivil war in Spain. Its author is an American whose background, as| yelates to Spanish matters, is unique. Mr. Rogers enlisted for service in our Army in the Spanish-American War while he was yet under military age, he went out to the Philippines dur- | ing the conflict and has remained in the islands since doing noteworthy work in smoothing relations between the whites and the natives, for which latter group he acquired & strong sympathy, His admiration for Span- ish culture as he saw it in the islands led him to spend his vacation in Spain, and he has followed this practice for & number of years. He speaks Span- feh fluently and has made a loving study of Spanish history and tradi- tion. These facts are attested to in the foreword by Sir Willmott Lewis, Washington correspondent for the London Times, and by Col. Roosevelt in his preface. In 1936 Mr. Rogers landed in Spain, @2 usual, to spend his vacation period there. He was in Barcelona when the brief revolt of the army against the Rgovernment occurred and he saw the fighting there as an eyewitness. Later he traveled extensively through White Spain—the part of the peninsula which is in the hands of the rebels under Gen. Franco. He also took the trouble to gather much data about eonditions in Red Spain—the part which is still under the Popular Front regime. He sets his findings down here, writing with a strong degree of personal emotion, which he makes no effort to conceal. His oconclusions are that the Popu- {ar Pront government has never been @ representative administration of the Bpanish people and that the forces now fighting under Gen. Franco com- bine all the elements which stand for law and justice and Spanish national- jsm. The Popular Front, he frankly eharges, is & Moscow-financed regime; its purpose has been to bring about the sovietization of the Spanish re- public, he says, and its practical effect has been to install & rule by gang berror. %o create the republic have suffered aven as royalists from the Popular Front administration, he says, charg- Ing that since the Popular Front be- eame effective there has been no par- liament and no legal process, but a rule instead by assassination and or- panized terror. The directing body behind this banditry, he says, is the P. A. I or the Federacion Anarquista Kberiea. The purpose of the book seems to be to attack the wi notion that the civil war is & kefisgle between the World | With a foreword | Liberal Spaniards who fought | he the adherents of free democracy and a military clique which has a dic- tatorship for its aim. Nothing, declares this author, could be farther from the truth. The real issue, he says-re- peatedly, is between organized ter- ror vested in s small group of men whose support comes from Communist Russia and whose purpose is to tule Spain by terror, and a combination of all groups who want & liberal but law-maintaining government. This lat- ter combination, he deciares, includes many of the supporters of the repub- lic and the old-time liberals, all of whom, he finds, have been objects of persecution by the F. A. I. They were forced to turn to the army for leacer- ship, Mr. Rogers explains, because the army was the only organized body in Spain which had not been corrupted or dispersed by the anarchists. The book is an assembling of evi- dence to support this contention and also & history of the war and the out- rages which Mr, Rogers declares, made WATr inevitable. Whatever one thinks of the merits of the author's case, one must admit that the body of testi- | mony is substantial. The author’s ob- | vious personal feeling, to be sure, mi | damage his argument to some minds. | However, it will be imposaible to doubt his sincerity. Sir Wilmott Lewis, in | his foreword, says that although he | has not read the book, he imagines | that he should “strongly disagree” with | its conclusions, but he follows this | statement with expressions of com- | Plete belief in Mr. Rogers’ honesty and | of admiration for his character. | There can certainly be no doubt in any reader's mind that what Mr. Rogers saw in Spain shocked him pro- foundly and that he himself believes that his case is a proper presentation of the situation there. Little has been written in behalf of the rebels to date, and it would seem that at least there can be no harm done to any impartial observer's impressions of the conflict by an open-minded perusal of this book. THE BOOK OF BIRDS. Edited by Gilbert Grosvenor and Alexander Wetmore. With 950 color portraits by Maj. Allan Brooks. Narrative by Arthur A. Allan, T. Gilbert Pear- son, Robert Cushman Murphy, Frederick C. Lincoln, Alexander ‘Wetmore, Gilbert Grosvenor, Fran- cis H. Herrick, Henry W. Henshaw and others. In two volumes. Wash- ington: National Geographic So- ciety. "I'HIS is & new National Geographic | Society publication, te be added | to the familiar “Book of Dogs.” “Book | of Flowers” and similar collections. | It is, says its announcement, the first work to present in full color all the major species of birds native to the | United States and Canada. Comment on the obvious thoroughness of the | treatment is hardly necessary. The | distinguished list of contributors, as well as the National Geographic 80- ciety imprint, are enough to assure that. The first volume covers diving hirds, ocean birds, swimmers, wading birds, | wild fowl, birds of prey, game birds, | shore birds, marsh dwellers and birds | of the Northern seas. Volume IT treats of owls, woopeckers, flycatchers, crows, jays, orioles, creepers, thrushes, swal- | lows, tanagers, wrens, warblers, hum- ming birds, finches and sparrows. In addition to the color portraits by Maj. | Brooks, there are innumerable photo- | graphs of birds and nests, all of which come up to the high Geographic standard. |DUET IN DISCORD. By Elisabeth Garner. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. l’I‘HE reviewer is in doubt as to| Whether it is poasible to speak | {of degrees of negation, but, if it is, | | then this book may be characterized | as extremely insignificant. It seems | | better to call 1t that, if allowabie, l:than merely to dub it insignificant without qualification. For it is done with & great air of portentousness; it is one of those novels which the re- viewer calls privately “magnificently maundering.” It tells, in retrospect, how a middle-aged lady, living on a tropical island, fell in love with & young bounder and got her feelings hurt. Some years after the acei- dent, while bathing in & tropical river, she sees a young pig and discovers, in a great burst of enlightenment, that she is at last “free,” whatever that may mean. She sits down then | to write to her quondam lover to tell him the news, and what she writes is this novel—a retelling of her most uninspiring affair. It would seem to the reviewer to be & somewhat dubious testimony as jto her freedom; in real life the lover | who is, as the saying goes, “free” | does not write letters to the former partner announcing it. The device of making the heroine tell her own story in letter form (even though she does not send the missive) seems distifictly to defeat the purpose for which the letter is undertaken. But the chief criticism to be made against the book is that at no point can the reader care about either the uuhappy lady or her most unattractive boy friend, or what happened to them or why. The only places where the text comes alive at all are those Wwhere the author describes the natives of the tropical island on which the lady makes her home—and these bits of local coloring are dragged in so reasonlessly that one concludes that the author (who lives on a tropical island herself) wanted to put them down and simply trumped up her dis- mal heroine and the grubby little amour as & vehicle. 8he could have foupd a better one. If not, she should have gone on keeping house. THE MAKING OF A HERO. By Nicholas Ostrovoski. Translated from the Russian by Alec Brown. New York: E. P. Dutton Co. 'HIS is & book by one of the young novelists of Bolshevik Russia, It is impossible to characterize the au- thor in any other fashion, since he writes as a Bolshevist rather than as & man, and produces propaganda first and & novel incidentally. ' The story is largely autobiographical; it tells of the life of a poor youth through the early days of the revolution up until is able to believe that Bolshevism is finally and permanently established. He is {ll and blinded by that time and turns from active politics to writ- ing, sending his works to the “cultural propaganda” department of the revo- lutionary government for publication. This, substantially, is the history of Nicholas Ostrovaki, who died para- 1lyzed and blind only a short time ago. The book has that curfous and embarrassing mixture of complete sincerity, appalling naivety and as- sumption of flat, eh in English letters probably Ms perfect | the story behind the name of & THE EVENING expression in “Uncle Tom's Oabin.” The writer has material here for an epic. He has seen the rise of the rev- olution and is acquainted with the battles which were fought to install revolutionary dootrines as the accept- ed ones; of these things he writes with realism. -But he 13 as devoid of irony a8 & tract and what he has written turns out to be just that; the story of the Bolshevisis against those who happened to oppose them is in his telling the story of the Good against the Wicked—and there, of course, his realism fails utterly. His book, one is forced to conclude, is dictated by ‘wiahful thinking and blind prejudice which are of course impossible men- tal properties in an artist. ‘The sincerity which informs this book does not help it, either. Pre)- udice 1 often found in company with sincerity; wishful thinking is gen- erally too unconacious for the thinker to be aware of his self-deceit. S8in- cerity in the company of the two, how- ever, is not truth. That about de- scribes this novel, unleas one remem- bers, a bit cynically, that it was to the “cultural propaganda depsartment” which manuscripta had to be sub- mitted for approval before publica- tion. That might, in a capitalist so- clety, have had something to do with the ardor. . HOME 1S WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CHILDHOOD. By Leane Zugsmith., New York: Random House. ’l‘HIB is & collection of short stories, done with that smooth compe- tence which one recognizes as the property of fiction in our smarter magazines and which slickly overlays complete predictabllity of plot, ab- sence of living characaters and men- tal conventionality on the part of the author. S8tory, the New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, the Atlantic Month- ly, the New Republic and the New Masses are the magazines in which these effortsa have had publication. And you can pick them out—story and magazine—so perfectly stand- ardized are they. Miss Zugsmith ap- parently writes for publication on a wide front and seems to be making a very nice thing of it. The general trait in all the selec- tions is that somebody wants some- thing or other, or plans to get some- thing or other, or to do something or other, and then does not succeed in getting or doing his desire. All very portentous, all very profound, all com- pletely mechanical. You lead the hero or the heroine up to & point of sus- pense and—oomp! You push him over backwards and utter sophisticated (fashionable, that is) cries of mock- ery offstage to show how vain are human wishes. If you are writing for & slightly “radical” sheet, then you class-angle your hero, too. A better job was done in Ecclesiastes. But, just as a formula writer, Miss Zugsmith is unquestionably compe- tent. THE STREETS OF MEXICO. By Luis Gonrales Obregon. Translated from the Spanish by Blanche Col- let Wagner. San Prancisco: George Fields. | ’I‘HIS is the first English translation | of & classic collection of Mexican stories. They are the work of an emi- nent scholar, Don Luis Gonzalez Obre- | gon, who wrote them out of his great | knowledge of Mexican history and leg- | end. Each of them purports to tell | treet in Mexico City, where even the byways | are titled with provocative phrases, as the Street of the Woman Who Was Shod, the 8treet of the 8ad Indian, the Flying Plaza, the Street of the Ca- noes, and 30 on. Often there are two distinct stories behind such a name— the one which is history and the one which has become popular legend. The | history will be facts, often romantic facts, and the legend wiil begin where the history ends, adding to the facts | miracles, curses, supernatural visita- tions and ghostly appearances. The prevailing tone of the stories is som- ber, with recurrent references to the Inquisition and autos de fe, but the manner of telling is patient and quiet and the book is easily one which lovers of the curious should acquire. It is attractively printed and illusirated with drawings by Blanche E. Pletsch. THE PRESS AND WORLD AFFAIRS, By Robert W. Desmond. New York: D. Appleton-Century. THLS is a handbook or text covering the operation of the preas through- out the world today. It takes up the manner in which news is gathered in the great centers, it describes the methods of dissemination, the various wire services, radios, cables, news and feature associations and syndicates. It includes a brief history of each organi- zation and names the men who are responsible for its origin and develop- ment. It outlines the growth of the system of foreign correspondence. It ‘would seem to be & valuable book of reference—a sort of jourmalistic ency- clopedia. The reviewer could not dis- cover that it contained any informa- tion not already published on the sub- joct, but heretofore the material has been acatiered through dosens of vol- umes. There is distinct usefulness in the gathering together between a sin- gle set of covers so.much newspaper data, NORTH TO THR RIME-RINGED 8UN. By Isobel W. Hutchinson. New York: Hillman Ourl. is one of those stories of ad- ‘venturous travel which is so per- fect as to be irritating and yet which is vouched for beyond any possible question. The author, an English- woman, was commissioned by Cam- bridge University to go into the back country of Alasks and gather ethno- logical specimens there; she combined with this undertaking s second com- mission to bring back botanical speci- mens to Kew Gardens. Bhe made & difficult and dangerous trip, “by rail to Whitehorse, by river steamboat to Dawson and Nenansa, by airplane to Nome, by schooner to Point Barrow and Martin Point, by dog sled to Her- achel Island, Shingle Point and Alka- vik, by airplane to Waterways and by train to Edmonton.” After that she was awarded the Mungo Park Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Soclety by the Duke of York. She writes rather bubblingly and srtiessly, as is the melancholy habit of many woman acientists who, taking up their pens for self-expression, seem to consider it necessary to become un- naturally kittenish, but she tells her tale and it is & good one. She met queer characters, she traveled long distances alone cept for native guides, she had *rn shaves from danger and wl‘lfl' o be o STAR, WASHIN One of the illustrations from “The Book of Birds” a new National Geo, Grosvenor amf raphic Society publication, edited by Gilbert Alexander Wetmore. Dr. A. A. Allen, shows that a newly-hatche The photograph, taken by ruby-throated hum- £ ming bird barely fills the bowl of a teaspoon. ROBERT W. DESMOND, Author of “The Press and World Aflairs.” (D. Appleton-Century.) Brief Reviews of Books|| VIRGINIA. John Gwathmey, Richmond: The | Dietx Press. | A detailed history of the 12 counties | of Virginia, “where western migration | began"—Albemarle, Augusta, Caroline, Essex, Gloucester, Goochland, Han- over, King William, King and Queen, Louisa, New Kent, and Orange. With | legends of lawyers, court houses, Justice John and the love affairs of | Capt. John Smith. . Interesting. ART IN MEXICO. CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN ART- 1STS. By Agustin Velazquez Chavez. New York: Covici- Friede. Brief biographies of 125 artists, with 100 reproductions of pictures. At- tractively done and informative. MYSTERY. FINGERS OF FEAR. By J. U. Nicol- son. New York: Covici-Friede. ‘What was wrong in Ormesby, the gloomy old house of the gloomy old |'find out. ( family of the Ormes? Why did young | TWELVE VIRGINIA COUNTIES, By Seaverns have few moments of peace | Read and | After he entered its doors? Average good thriller, CHESS. CHESS IN AN HOUR. By Frank J. Marshall. New York: Leisure League of America. ‘The chess champion of the United States from 1909 to 1936 gives th fundamentals of the game in a smal pamphlet. The title is not to be taken too seriously. POETRY. GREAT ADVENTURE. By Frank H. Woodstrike. New York: The ‘World Publishing Co. Very, very manly verses about life on the range and the horrors of war and the class struggle. Grievous stuff. JUVENILES. MR. PUMPS, THE POPSICLE MAN, By Eleanore Hubbard Wilson. Tllustrated by the author. New York: E. P. Dutton Co. Amusing story for the extremely youthful about a popeicle man who did not like popsicles. good sport generally. Her book is readable enough. Its title alone ought to recommend it during. these recent sultry days! PICTURING MIRACLES OF PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE. By Arthur C. Pillsbury. Philadelphia: J. B, Lip- pinoott Co. i A MECHANICAL engineer with an eye to the beauty of nature, Mr. Pillsbury not only has devised his own photographic “techniques but has per- fected his own ;artistic applications of them. This book is an snecdotal account of his life work, with & good deal of popular natural history acat- tered through its pages. He has specialifed in photographing for the screen the behavior of plants. He found the méchanics and art of photography geared to depicting the explosive activity.of animal life. The sedentary, sluggiah life of the plant required a differént technique and a different artistic. ' outlook. This he has supplied —T. R. H. A BAGA OF THE SEAS. By Philip B. McDonald. New York: Wilson- Erickson, Inc. Tx-ns is a biography of Cyrus W. PFlelds and so0 it is also the story of the laying of the Atlantic cable. For, though Mr. Fields had made a fortune by the time he was 33, and might be regarded as having a business career of some interest, his great work was the cable. It was bis insistence on its feasibility and his perseverance in face of repeated failures that brought the project to fulfilment. According to Mr. McDonald’s atory, years might have elapeed after the first unsuccess- ful attempt if Mr. Pields had not kept doggedly on, braving ridicule, financial loss and eveg slander. p The told here plainly shaply, $ribute to those asso- ciates of Mr. Pields who shared his faith and enthusiasm. A number of chapters are given to the actual laying of the cable—how Mr. Fields went aboard the ship and watched the crew at work in the heavy seas and fogs off Newfoundland, of the struggles with inadequate equipment, of the failure of the cable to operate after it finally had been laid—a heroic tale of mind struggling with obstinate matter, Mr. Pields’ efforts to interest Con- gress in a Pacific cable are also de- scribed, as are his public benefactions, ‘which were many. The book is another chapter in the history of America's great mechanical age. For all its sim- plicity it is & worthy document,. THE PRINCESSES' COOK BOOK. From the original Swedish “Prin- sessornas Kokbok.” By Jenny Aker- strom. Translated and edited by Gudrun Carlson. New York: Al- bert Bonnier Publishing House. 'OR those who love Swedish cook- ing, or for those who are ever on the alert for new ideas to try out in their own kitchens, here is a veritable gold mine., The components of the famed Swedish “smorgasbord”—that elaborate course of appetizers that is & whole meal in itself—are given in detail, with clear, easily followed recipes. Scandinavian culinary secrets are laid bare, and dishes that have long been famous among much-trav- eled epicures are now set upon our kitchen doorstep. The book is dedicated to the royal princesses who attended Jenny Aker- strom’s ocooking school to learn the practical side of “keeping house” like other simple maidens. One of these honored students, whose -picture ap- \pears on the dedication page, was:the late of Belgium, the former Orown incess Astrid. Looking through recipes one finds No. 619, Pl GTON, D. C, SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1937. THREE NEW QUARTERLIES OUT Hungarian Quarterly Offers Most Varied Fare With Articles on League of Nations and Soviet Trials—Other Two Are Round Table and Journal of Negro Education. By M.-.C.R. AST week the reviewer an- nounced that two quarterlies had come in sand would be ex- amined in today's issue. They ‘were the Hungarian Quarterly, which 1s published in this country by Celum- bia University Press, and the Round Table, & quarterly review of the poli- tics of the British Commonwealth. Today it is necessary to add the nsme of still another quarterly publi- cation to these two. It is the larg substantial Journal of Negro Educa- tion, & quarterly review of problems incident to the education of Negroes, published by the Bureau of Educa- tional Research of Howard University. The name “Journal” is misleading as applied to this magazine; it is more than 300 pages long and bigger than most books. ’rHE FKungarian Quarterly offers the most varied fare of the three. It contains articles on current affairs in Europe, essays on history and the arts, fiction and blography. It is very well written a8 & rule and eminently read- able. 2 In the present imsue the leading articles sre given over to considera- flon of the need for reform in the | League of Nations. There sre two of these. The first is by Lord Allen of Hurtwood, the second by Count | Stephen Bethlen. Lord Allen devotes | his argument to showing how reform | is needed in the League machinery | for dealing with minorities. Count Bethlen's article discusses the manner in which Hungary, which is one of these minorities, has suffered from the lack of effective League protection. Both articles are informative and per- suasive. Lord Allen brings out the fact, which is rather startling, since the League has frequently been referred | to as a protector of small nations, that 70 per cent of the minority petitions | presented to it have been rejected as | without foundation, with only a small number being deemed worthy of ac- tion by the Council. Count Bethlen comments on the unfairness of exclud- ing the small defeated states from | representation “while the small atates | which belong to the victorious group and which owing to their territorial | aggrandizement rule over millions of alien minorities are always represent- | ed there.” Reforms are proposed. Reforms are proposed in the names of “equality, | justice, fairness and humanity.” How | delightful to meet those old friends in print once again! Yes, how posi- | tively quaint, ] T 18 interesting to learn. of course, that there is 50 much faith in the League's power and influence. One had supposed that developments of | recent months had made its prestige | less than nominal. 1f. however, there | is & reason for excluding any one, it would seem that there must be some | advantage in membership. For surely | only the worthless is freely dispensed. in politics as elsewhere! | Another interesting article in the Hungarian Quarterly is an interpre- tation of the recent Soviet trials by the Countess of Listowel, A Hungarian | who is by marriage a Briton. S)w; | contrasts the treatment of politi-| cal prisoners under the Soviet with that accorded like offenders under the Tsariat regime, pointing out that. in the latter case, the trial was the pris- oner's opportunity to speak and that, | on trial, he was given latitude to ex- | press his political theories liberally, | no matter how opposed to Tsarism | they might be. She quotes several stirring passages from speeches made by Tsarist prisoners on trial for their lives, notably that of Vera Zassulitch, who shot a general in 1878, and Jeliabov, the murderer of Alexander | II. Vera Zassulitch, incidentally, was | | acquitted as the result of the eio- | quence of her counsel in portraying | the wrongs which had led to her crime. | ‘Today, says the Countess Listowel, the feature of the political trial in Russia is not the stirring defense of | the prisoner, but the prisoner's abject | | confession of all manner of guilt. She | ;oflerl as her explanation the theory | (frankly as & theory) that the ac- used Old Bolsheviks were given choice | f freedom or death, freedom to be allowed them if, by confessing such | monstrous misdeeds as would be ab- | horrent to the populace, they would | discredit themselves completely. Only such a bribe, in her opinion, could account for the wierd self-ac- cusations uttered by the veteran com- rades of Trotsky and Lenin in the recent trials. That such men would have yielded to torture, which is popularly regarded as the reason for their “confessions,” she holds un- thinkable. They could not be “dis- posed of so simply,” she remarks. | E Round Table's leading article is, appropriately, given to a dis- cussion of the kingship, for the coro- nation has taken place since the last issue went to press. which is titled simply “Crown Princess Astrid’'s Torte.” It brings s sad re- minder of the young Queen who died just at the begining of her career. The book is nicely illustrated, and all directions are clear and concise. One notices particularly the repeated use of Jerusalem artichokes in every oonceivable way—and is a little over- come by the fact that there are 34 recipes for herring!—B. C. PULPWOOD EDITOR. By Harold B. Hersey. New York: Stokes & Co. AN INTERESTING and informative autoblography of an adventurer in the magazine publishing business. One gets a new slant on the character and ethics (if any) of those luridly decorated 7 by 10 inch magazines which erowd the newsstands and make their biatant appeals for perusal. Among these cheaply manufactured pulpwood magazines there are aspe- cialized types which cater to every type of fiction-minded reader; mag- azines devoted entirely to detective stories, to airplane stories, to ghost stories, to Wild Weat stories, to love storfes and even to love stories with a certain background, as in the case of “Ranch Romances.” ‘There are several interesting chap- ters on the theory and technique of editing pulpwood magasines and some interesting stories about writers for the pulpwoods. Perhaps the most startling thing in the whole book is Hersey's challenge to the publish- ers of the BSaturday Evening Post. He claims that he can turn out & betfer edition of the Post, using only some of his regular pulpwood writers, | own problem of court reorganization. | | Representatives, | Meantime, nearly all legislative work | | studied than the present editors ean with thei hest-priced, featured stars. (One, love to see him get the el R. T. ‘The piece is 17 pages long and writ- ten without apparent deviousness. The reviewer has read it all, and still does not know what it is about. It is an absolute masterpiece. The keynote, one gathers, is optimism. The Round Table's second article deals with the political situation aris- ing in Europe from Germany's recent activities—notably her rearmament and her demand for her ‘“equality” among the powers. This piece puts into grave, well-reasoned words that | must have been evident to every one since the beginning of German re- pudiation of the Versailles treaty— that there can be no “equality” among rivals, Says the Round Table commenta- tor, “There is no doubt that the process of the recovery of ‘equality’ by Germany is now entering its second stage. * * * She is once more asking for her place in the sun. That is & compiex demand. It relates to the position in Eastern Europe; it raises the colonial ques- tion; it has its economic side, and it | concerns more generally Germany's | status and fnfluence in the councils of the nations.” ; | In other words, we have progreased, | like the crab, backward, until we are| almost to the point we had reached in 1914. However, says the Round | Table, “the problem to be solved is more difficult than before the war.” For today Germany has less than she did before 1914 and is conse- quently more determined to add to her possessions. And today “the ar- maments race is already far more intense than it was in 1914." Now, who wishes to comment on history? LESS depressing article is the | Round Table's description of our Writing under a title of unparal- leled frivolity, “The Nine Old Men,” the correspondent further drops into the native argot sufficiently to ob- serve that President Roosevelt is conducting his own sit-down strike against Congress. “He presented his plan,” says the article, “talked it over in a series of | interviews with leading Senators and | and—went fishing. had been held up, pending the out- come of the court fight. Returning to Washington, the President re- the budget situation, made recommendations of economy Con- gress, and—went fishing again ““We are,” continues the article, “in the throes of as profound an inner- political crisis as has riven the Ameri- | cAn scene for many years.” E | dust finished some brilliant analy: That our present eolossal expendi- tures are of interest to our Britlsn cousins may also be noted from tnis issue of the Round Table. It containa this announcement in its section de- voted to American problems: “In the pre-war years the American budget ran at about $1,000.000,000 a year. After the war the stable platea: of expenditures was around $3.000.- 000,000. Now, in the post-depression period, the ‘emergency’ spending of the early New Deal seems fixed at around $7,000,000,000, Year by year, as recovery has come slowly, the Gov- ernments axpeaditures have risan, In 1933 they amounted to $5.100,000 - 000. Next year they were up to $6- 700,000,000, In 1935 they, reached $6.850,000,000. Last year, without counting the soldiers’ bonus, they were at $7,100.000.000. This year thev reach $7,600.000.000, and next years total is § 5.069,000." A little earlier in his article the writer remarks that “* ¢ ¢ in 1233, new taxes will emphatically be in order.” Can he be meaning lower onex, hy any chance? "T"HE Journal of Negro Education i1 chiefly statistics, and so, for thia reviewer at least, it is practically im- possible to review. Statistics, she 13 obliged to confess, have verv Jittie telligibility to her, whether they be charted or printed. One of her vary vivid memories {3 of her first joh when she was assistant editor of a ublic health journal in New York City; the Rockefeller Insiitute had 1 the jour- t R greal the first of something or other, and nal in question considered 5coop to be able to publ report. The Institute furnished the fullect possible text and further embellish- ments in the form of charts. One chart was particularly beautiful. the reviewer (then the assistant editor thought. It had good artistic style, it was a real composition. She pasted it in the dummy with genuine esthe- tic appreciation. When the magazina came out, however, the Rockefeller Institute protested indignantly. Their most revealing illustration, they said, had been printed up side down. So that is how statistics seem tn one not statistical-minded. But if you are not in this humiliating minar- ity, you will find a wealth of infor- mation in this Negro Journal. It is divided into four main seectinnt az follows: The Health Status of Negroas, Health Facilities Available to Negroes, | Health Education of Negroes, A Criti- cal Summary of the Yearbook, and a Bibliography. It has some eminent, contributors, including Dr. Louis I. Dublin, Miss Katherine F. Lenroot and Ray Lyman Wilbur, The Public Library CHINA. HE outbreak of hostilities be- tween Japan and China again | arouses fears for the integritv of the Chinese Republic. Faced by the constant aggression and inter- nal strife, the nation is unable to build up either a governmental system or & war machine which can assure her peoples of protection from recurring attack and revolution. This week the Public Library pre- sents a list of books on contemporary China, with a few recent magazine articles which throw light on her pres- ent status. All books are in the cen- tral library, at Eighth and K streets, and the magazines may be consulted in the central library reading and reference room. Background. THE GREAT WALL CRUMBLES. By Grover Clark. 1935. FE66.C54. “Mr. Clark’s long experience as & Jjournalist characterizes this very ac- ceptable analysis of Chinese civiliza- tion."—G. R. B. R. CHINA'S GEOGRAPHIC FOUNDA- TIONS, a Survey of the Land and Its People. By G. B. Cressey. 1934. G66.C868. | “One puts down the book feeling | that he has been on a journey, so vivid and clear is the writing * * * and the | treatment reflects the most careful and | accurate methods of geographic | scholarship.”"—Ellsworth Faris. TWILIGHT IN THE FORBIDDEN | CITY. By R. F. Johnston. 1934. F66.J64. | Th tutor of the present Emperor | of Manchuria writes of the political | conditions in China during the years between 1900-1934. THE CHINESE, Their History and Culture. By K. C. Latourette. 2 v. 1934. G66.L346. A valuable review of China and the Chinese by & scholar recognized for his mastery of the subject. | SUN YAT-SEN, His Life and Its Meaning; a critical biography. By Lyon Sharman. 1934. E.Suf3s. “The author has attempted to ar- rive at the truth about Sun Yat-Sen.” CHINA CHANGES. By Gerald Yorke. | 1936. G66.Y8. | “To present the Chinese scene— | and behind the scene—as it is today is Mr. Yorke's intention in this interpre- | tive travelog.” MY COUNTRY AND MY PEOPLE. By Lin Yutang. 1935. G#66.L639. Pearl Buck says in the introduction | to this book. “It s, I think, the trueet, the most profound, the most complete, the most important book yet written about China.” Problems. DANGEROUS THOUGHTS ON THE ORIENT. By F. R. Eldridge. 1933. JU60.EL2. “The author believes that we have no real understanding either of China or Japan, that we sentimental role as that Japan, as the only world power in the Far East, wants order, safety and progress for the Orient and that her course of action in Manchuria is wholly Justified.” CHINA AND SILVER. By 8ir Arthur Salter. 1934. HC66.8a3. ‘The author was for & short while adviser to the National Bconomic Council of the Chinese government. This is & condensed version of his re- port on the relation of silver to the Chinese economic problems. ‘THE TINDER BOX OF ASIA. By G. E. Sokolsky. 1933. JU66.8035a. Mr. Sokolsky, who lived in China 13 years and married a Chinese woman, Sino-Tapanese Confliet. CAN CHINA SURVIVE Bv Hallet Abend and A. J. Billingham. 1936, JU66.Ab33c. These two “New York Times eor- respondents in the FAr East tend tn be pessimistic about China’s chances for survival.” MANCHOUKUO. CHILD OF CON- FLICT. By K. K. Kawakami. 1933, F667 K2 ‘This book, by a well-known Japa- nese correspondent “‘states the csse for Japan concerning the eonflict in Manchuria.” THE CASE FOR MANCHOUKUO. By G. B. Rea. 1935, FF67.R22 ‘This book, by the “counselor” of the Ministrv of Foreign Affairs of Man- choukuon, “'serves to give A more aym- pathetic understanding of the view- points of tha Japanese."—G, H. B. Magazine Articles. CHINA'S UNITED FRONT. By P V., Field. Current History. 46 39-44. June, 1937, ‘Though not completed. reconcili- ation between the two large partiex hitherto at odds, is bring strength tn China. CHINA MUST NOT FIGHT NOW Ry Nathaniel Peffer, Asia. 37:405-3, June, 1937, Neither China’s encouragement from recent. political events nor her feelinz of “nothing to lose” should lead her to start a conflict against Japan, for she is not yet ready. Correction! In last Saturday's section of mag- azine reviews the reviewer attempted to give & survey of comparative salrs | of various magazines, as this informa- tion was furnished her by her own neighborhood dealer. It appears that she was badly mistaken on one item. She stated that Life and News-Weerk were not particularly good sellers. The dealer tells her that this is true of News-Week, but that Life is a first- rate seller, one of the best. Other dealers and readers of the mag re- views have written in to protest sim- ilarly. Life, they say, sells like a whirlwind. The reviewer cannot account for the error except on the grounds of wishful thinking. She has always been indig- nant that the magazine known &f present as Life should have taken that name. Life, for her, will always br | the old insouciant weekly. Those who | remember it will probably understand. M. O. R BEST SELLERS FOR WEEK ENDING JULY 10, FICTION. American Dream. Fosier. Mor- row. Bugles Blow No More. Dowdey. Little-Brown. Northwest Passage. Roberts. Dou- bleday Doran. The Years. Woolf. Brace. Wind From the Mountains. Gul- branssen. Putnsm’s. Neighbor to the 8ky. Macmillan. NON-FIOTTON. Lord Bothwell and Mary, Queen of Scots. Gore-Brown. Dou- bieday Doran. Mathematics for Hogben. Norton. Bulwark of the Republic. dricks. Little-Brown. S Integrity. Neuberger and Kahn. Vanguard. T. E. Lawrence. By his friends, Doubleday Dorar. g Orchids on Your Budget, Hillla, Hareourt Carroll. the Million Hen- writes with & deep understanding of Asiatic peoples. Bobbs Merrill.