Evening Star Newspaper, October 16, 1937, Page 16

“CLASS-ANGLING” THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. .C, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1937. LET BOOK READERS BEWARE . BOOKS PAY In His Latest Novel, About a Lawless Fellow, Mr. Hemingway Rebukes Authors for Addressing the Popular Market. Compton Mackenzie Speaks of Love Again. By Mary-Carter Roberts. TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT. By Ernest Hemingway. New York: . Charles Scribner’s Sons. IN 'THIS, his first long work of fic- tion since “A Farewell to Arms,” Mr. Hemingway makes some very severe observations goncerning the practice of our current novelists of writing, for the sake of the popu- lar market, works which supposedly expose the grievous wrongs of the poor. He observes (as the reviewer has many times observed) that few of these writers have any real acquaint- ance with the workers' life about which they write and that most of them, while ostensibly burning for the workers' cause, are quite fervidly desirous of jolning the capitalist class for their own part. He accuses them, in short, of hypoc- risy, expediency in choosing their subjects and bad writing. There is certainly much truth in his allega- tions and the reviewer is in sympathy with them, but, at the same time, she is somewhat puzzled. For Mr. Hem- ingway seems to have joined the ranks of those very authors whom he mocks. He has here taken what might be a fine adventure story and twisted it pointlessly to the theme of “have and have not.” It looks very much as if he were climbing on the very band- ‘wagon of popular sales which he pro- fesses to hold in such contempt, only assuring his readers that his superior craftmanship makes his ascent uniquely authentic. It is cleverly done, but no one would ever say that Mr. Hemingway was not a clever man. His story, in its essence, is that of & lawless man, Harry Morgan, a born adventurer, a fellow who cannot limit himself to routine but must seek ac- tion, & human type which has been found in every age, class and coun- try since the world began. Mr. Hem- ingway puts him down in Key West, Fla., for the purposes of the present story and shows him to us engaging in a number of extra-legal activities, such as alien smuggling and rum- running. Harry loses an arm as a result of a gun battle with Cuban authorities and his boat as the con- sequence of the disapproval of the American Government. Some Cuban revolutionaries rob the local bank to secure funds for their party and Harry agrees to transport them to their na- tive land, provided that they make his assistance look as if it were forced. His plan is to murder his passengers at sea and return to claim the re- ward. He does kill the four men, but is himself fatally wounded in the shooting. And thus he dies. It is a fine, stark story, in its essence, fit to be placed with some of Stevenson. But Mr. Hemingway has twisted it about very curiously. After showing Harry to us as the type he is, a man of courage and force, but utterly lawless, a man who has no compunction about double-crossing & fellow, beating a helpless man or taking human life, yet an engaging brute, he then tells us tenderly that all of his hero's extra-legal enter- prises are carried on because he is at heart a great family man and cannot bear the thought of having his wife and little ones go wanting. And, as if to carry this pathetic concept into greater relief in the reader’s mind, Mr. Hemingway highlights his pic- ture by scenes demonstraiive of the wickedness and corruption of those inhabitants of Key West, Fla., who never have to worry about want—the yachtsmen, the wealthy Winter peo- ple and the visiting literary men. Look, he seems to say, while the poor, hon- est sea captain is out running rum and smuggling aliens and committing incidental murders, in order to keep his home fires burning, these repre- sentatives of a privileged class are wantoning in silken luxury and lead- ing lives of gilded corruption. Oh, is 1t not terrible? Well, the reviewer can only say that, while the activities of both the rich yachtsmen and the poor Harry Morgan may be truthfully drawn, the point of Mr. Hemingway's contrast is badly taken. For it is impossible to hold the yachtsmen in any way responsible for Harry's plight, and it is likewise im- possible to believe that Harry would ‘have conducted his life along different dines under different circumstances. He might have been more successful at Aanother time in history. One can pic- ture him doing very nicely as a cap- tain of freebooters in the sixteenth century or as a lone-hand scout and Indian fighter of the Boone, Kenton, Wetzel type. That the twentieth cen- tury would cramp him one can admit. But that it would make him a law- Jbreaking adventurer is not admissible. When, therefore, Mr. Hemingway _breaks down and, with tears in his eyes, invites us to look at the case of the “haves” and “have-nots,” as exempli- fled by Harry and the aforesaid yachtsmen, one feels that he is giving 8n irrelevant turn to his material. Harry's adventures make a fine story, & story of action, danger and courage, but they do not make a sociological ‘document, and great is the pity that Mr. Hemingway should have yielded %o the popular trend which (since *class-angling” pays) would make such “a document out of an account of light- ning striking a tree—that very trend which he himself ridicules. The re- ‘Viewer herself will take her freebooters straight. Genghis Khan in the guise ©of a yearning pater familias does not, some way or other, strike her as abso- lutely convincing. THE SOUTH WIND OF LOVE. By Compton Mackenzie, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. SOME time last Spring Mr. Macken- zie brought out the first novel of the tretralogy of which the present work is the second. The first work “was called “The East Wind of Love.” It seems reasonable to guess, the com- pass being what it is, that the other two works will be “The West Wind” and “The North Wind"—both, of oourse, of love. The finished series, we are told, will be & million words in Jength. These million words are given aver to describing the life of one man, -.singularly colorless individual named yJohn Ogllvie. John, in the “East Wind” volume, -was shown to us as a youth, a product of an English public school in the year -1900. He had no characteristics at that time except an unquenchable lo- -quacity—he talked. In the present vol- .ume he has achieved the age of 30 and 8 relative control of his tongue. He still talks, but only occasionally do his speeches run to page length. As a re- .sult, this novel is considerably more Zeadable than its predecessor, although the hero, John, remains an author’s dummy, s blank outline into which Mr. Compton Mackensle pours whatever observation on human affairs he hime 8elf desires to impart r his readers. But, as has been said, in spite of this lack of individuality in the hero (which lack, one may say, is equally present in all the characters), the novel is readable. It covers the period from 1912 to 1817, and the activity of that time atones for the lack of human drama. Mr. Mackenzie, indeed, seems to have the gift of a superb journal- ist rather than of a novelist. He gives a splendid picture of events, of man- ners and places; he has a fine eye for picking out the relevant detail in phys- ical description. But when he gets around to character and to psycholog- ical observation, he is theoretical, he writes like a text book, and so he is dull. The result in this case is a novel which alternates btween pages given over to & brilliant recreation of a past era and pages given over lifelessly to explaining the life of John Ogilvie, who, clearly, cannot be explained in terms of life because, clearly, he has no human identity. At one moment the reader will be completely absorbed, at the next bored and impatient. John's adventures in the present book begin with his advent as a suc- cessful playwright. He comes to America to see his work produced here and Mr. Mackenzie gives a fine Journalist’s account of our country in those pre-war days. John next goes to Italy and there is a similar picture of a colony of vacationists and ex- patriots living on the Mediterranean. War ends this episode and John en- ters the British Secret Service. He is assigned to work in the East and this gives Mr. Mackenzie his chance to write of the fiasco of Gallipoli, which he does with extreme bitterness, blaming the stupidity of the com- manding officers for the failure of the British troops to take the place. In th> same vein he attacks the jealousy of military authorities toward the sec- ret service men, which, he says, greatly hampered the latter's usefulness. His mood here is one of outright savagery, an example of his method being his statement that British Army officers were required to wear gloves in order that their fingerprints might not be traced on stolen articles. The greater part of the hero's war service is shown to be a struggle with military mar- tinets, though the young man does find time to fall in love with a beau- tiful Greek girl. They become en- gaged, but the fiancee is drowned in a vessel which is torpedoed by an enemy submarine. Presumably this girl typities John's passion for Greece, and it is the Greeks of all the Agaean peoples whom Mr. Mackenzie finds admirable, seeing in them, curiously, the ancient spirit of Hellas. With her death, we are to suppose, John relinquishes what ideal- ism he has retained, and becomes a coldly reasoning realist. The book ends with his return to Italy, where he has built a lonely tower in which he plans to live and write. The re- viewer repeats, however, that it is im- possible to feel any particular interest in the young man, and that the merit of this novel lies in‘its treatment of recent historical events and not in the character of its hero, who never seems to be more than the mouthpiece for his creator’s social and philosophical opinions. SENTINEL OF THE COASTS. By George R. Putnam. New York: W. ‘W. Norton Co. THIS book, by & man who is well known in Washington both for his long residence in the city and his scientific achievements, is the fasci- nating story, never before told, of the development of our Lighthouse Serv- ice. Mr. Putnam was for 25 years Commissioner of Lighthouses, coming to that position after he had won an international reputation as an ex- plorer and engineer. Such has been his experience that, writing the story of his life, he has virtually written the history of “the sentinels of the coast” at the same time. The result is a veritable saga. Mr. Putnam writes first of his boy- hood, when he had his apprenticeship in navigation in the famous packets of the Mississippi River. He continued his education as an engineer and en- tered the fleld service of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, in which position he engaged in the survey of the Pribilof Islands and the delta of the Yukon and went on a scientific expedition into the wastes of Greenland. Later he served as director of coast surveys in the Philippine Islands, being the first man to be appointed to this posi- tion, and subsequently he prepared a plan for the revision of the charts of the coasts of the United States. In 1910 he was appointed as Commis_ioner of Lighthouses, and the greater part of his present book is given to the story of the Lighthouse Service, to which he brought the vast fund of his previous experience. During his period in that position he brought about the virtual reorganization of the office. His book tells of the development of this work, from the days of the fire beacon to the radio beacon of the present, and it is an enthralling story of scientific achievement. Mr. Put- nam writes it, however, without more technical language than a layman can understand and he has, too, an obvious awareness of the romance which his subject must hold for the layman, al- though he himself is always quite mat- ter of fact. He tells how lighthouses are buiit in difficult locations, how the various types of lights are constructed and kept lighted, how buoys and light= ships are maintained and how the Government works to take care of the vast tenuous web of men and beacons which results. And, with admirable humanity, he writes of the men who spend their lives in the Lighthouse Service, telling in detail what their duties are and in what way they spend their days in their lonely stations. The book is one to appeal to lovers of sea literature, for it has the quali- ties which the good sea story holds— adventure, danger and s life pitted against the elements. But it is also & true record and that of a fight that goes on all the time, and so0 it has an even stronger claim than fiction to the attention. It is recommended without reservation. PROLETARIAN JOURNEY. By Fred E. Beal. New York. Hillman Curl. 'HIS is an unhappy work, indeed— the story of a young man who set out to make America over via the Communist party and then found, when he had inextricably entangled his life with communism, that his comrades were no purer or more hon- orable than the leaders of democracy whom he had attempted to overthrow. His comrades, in fact, being finished with him, gave him the bum’s rush in an unmistakable manner. His heart seems to be broken, but, having formed the habit of wbuorfiunnu while in the ranks of the red crusaders, he can think of nothing better to do than g0 on talking and 50 he here takes the world into his confidence as to what manner of disaster nvertook him. He was an agltator for labor dis- turbances, having it for his profession to go from one industrial city to an- other and persuade the working men and women to strike. He had & hand in bringing about those bloody affrays among the textile workers in Lawrence and New Bedford, as he tells here, and then, covered with those laurels, he invaded the South to see what he might effect there. His chef d'ouevre was the Gastonia strike where his operations were financed by Commu- nist funds. Subsequently tried for sec- ond-degree murder, he with six others, was found guilty and sentenced to the penitentiary. There was ample reason for believing that the trial was con- ducted with prejudice, and liberal thinkers throughout the country raised bail for the seven, They then went to Russia, where six of them, including the writer, were speedily disillusioned as to the beauties of the workers' para- dise there. Mr, Beal for his own part looked Russia over and decided that he would rather be in an American jail. He returned, was repudiated by his former comrades and by the Rus- sians as well, and is now, it seems, nobody’s darling. Living in hiding, between an American prison sentence and Russian vengeance for the unfa- vorable picture of life in the Soviets, which he gave, he has written this book. As has been said, it is an un- happy work. It is, in fact, a wail, an unhappy proclamation, from beginning to end, of that old refrain of the re- former taken in his own net, “But I thought it was going to be so different! After all, I meant so well!” And it is impossible, somehow, to doubt the man’s sincerity. He was an ignorant boy, one who left school when he was 14 to engage in hard work at miserable pay, and with no prospective, it was natural that he should conclude that the “exploitation” of the workers was the only exploitation in the world. He did not know enough of history to be aware that exploitation is the com- mon theme of social growth and or- ganization. So he joined those who made him fine promises, and believed that those promises were reliable, since the promisers were not of the hated “boss” class. They then used his rabble-rousing eloquence for their own purposes, and when they were finished with him, took him for a highly pre- dictable ride. His course is understandable—yes— and quite pardonable, on the grounds of lack of education. The course of those shrewd leaders who directed him, however, is less extenuable. There is little point in recommending *‘Prole- tarian Journey” to the readers whose mind is already closed to communism, but those members of educated classes who tend to consider the efficacy of the new doctrine might well read the work. A political party is always a political party. That is a fact which, perhaps, it would be just as well to remember, MY IRELAND. By Lord Dunsany. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. 'HIS is an utterly delightful book, and the reviewer puts her word behind it when she says that she has got it for her own library—and how often does that happen? Not often at all. But this is Dunsany in a de- liberately provocative mood, not going off to the mountains behind Beth- moora, not club-talking with Jorkens, not spreading himself over space and the universe at all, in fact, but show- ing us instead how neatly he can do acrobatics on a dime if it pleases him, and the dime in question is his own small island. In that little space he has taken some very fancy turns and some very subtle ones. He tells some excellent stories and he casts every- where a cheerful mocking light of madness over the ordinary processes of logic and mental sequence. What he actually writes about (though that is certainly not of first importance) is his Irish friends, the sport of hunt- ing as it is done in Ireland, she his- tory of that land, a legend or two, cricket and running an Irish estate. But, as has been said, these are not of first importance. The reviewer will give one story from the book and then leave you to decide for yourself whether you want it. That story is of Dr. Mahafly, a priest, who, says Lord Dunsany, was a great wit. Dr. Mahafly was ap- proached on the street one day by a member of an exhorting sect, and ade dressed as follows: “‘Sir, you may wear a white tie, but I have to ask you: Are you saved? ” And the doctor's answer, as Lord Dunsany gives it, was: *“‘Yes, but it was a damned near thing, and I don't like to talk about it."” The reviewer does not often hand out samples. But in this case the sample seems to her better than any possible review, TIME OF OUR LIVES. By Orrick Johns. New York: Stackpole Sons. ’I’HIS is another of those autobiog- raphies of a writing man grown older—and what & stream of them has been poured out this year! The pres- ent work is very much of the prevailing pattern; its chief individuality lies in the circumstance that it begins with the career of the author’s father and does not concern itself with the author alone. .The father was George 5. Johns, for many years editor of Pul- litzer's 8t. Louis Post Dispatch, & veteran of the days of the great news- paper battles and crusades, a hero of the muckraking period, s fighting edi- tor, indeed, of the type now seldom to be found. His son, a rather minor poet, does not write his complete biog- raphy, to be sure, but uses the pa- ternal experience and point of view as & means of {llustrating the differences and relationships between the two generations. The book does well enough, if you have not read too many of the same kind already. It proceeds from the father’s career to the successive periods of the author’s own development—his acquaintance with the writers of the Rennaissance of the early teens, his Greenwich Village days, his time as an ex-patriot, his return, his dip into communism, his realization that he was, after all, 40. It is a pattern which has been done almost to death, yet, as most of these books are, taken indi- viduslly, interesting and significant documents, the mention of their num- bers need not be taken as disparage- ment of the present volume. Their ultimate value will of course chapter of & large volume. At the mt.uumun;m COMPTON MACKENZIE, - Whose new novel, “The South Wind of Love,” has just been re- leased by Dodd, Mead & Co. Brief Reviews -of Books : History. WESTERN LANDS AND THE AMER- ICAN REVOLUTION. By Thomas Perkins Abernethy. New York: D. Appleton Century Co. A history of the struggle to obtain land after the Revolution. Scholarly. By an associate rrofessor of history at the University of Virginia. FORTY YEARS OF AMERICAN- JAPANESE RELATIONS. By Fos- ter Rhea Dulles. New York: D. Appleton Century Co. A history of our relations with Japan and alio an attack upon the open door theory as we have practiced that doctrine. Highly revelant in view of present developments. By & journalist of long experience in the East, Currrent Affairs, DICTATORS AND DEMOCRACIES. By Calvin B. Hoover. New York: The Macmillan Co. An analysis of the two forms of government which shows how the totalitarian state inevitably leads its people into war. By a professor of economics at Duke University.« WHAT EVERY YOUNG MAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WAR. By Harold Shapiro. New York: Knight Publications. A question-and-answer treatment of the subject of modern war, dealing with highly practical aspects of the matter, such as wounds, trench life, gas, sex and death. A somewhat dreadful document. Economics. THE ABOLITION OF POVERTY. By James Ford and Katherine Mor- row Ford. New York: The Mac- millan Co. The week's solution. meritorious as any. “How” Books. WHY MEN LIKE US. By Louise Paine Benjamin. New York: Stackpole Sons. ‘The beauty editor of a ladies’ maga- zine blurbs along about charm. To the reviewer's mind there is a some- what more substantial answer to the question posed in the title, but, as has been said, this is a book by a ladies’ mag writer, GIVE YOURSELF A CHANCE! By Gordon Byron. New York: Halcyon House. Success stuff. Out of the same old factory. SPEAK FOR YOURSELF. By Alan Marshall. New York: Hillman Curl. Introduced as a guide to civilized conversation and, for & wonder, really amusing and good. Medicine. PRACTICAL BIRTH CONTROL. By Rita Irwin and Clementina Pao- lone. New York: Robert M. Mc- Bride. g A guide to medically approved measures for the married. About as Biographies. THE TOWERS OF NEW YORK. By Louis J. Horowitz and Boyden Sparkes. New York: Simon & Schuster. ‘The president of a great construc- tion firm tells of putting up famous buildings in the metropolis. Drama. THE BEST PLAYS 1936-1937. By Burns Mantle. New York: Dodd Mead & Co. Mr. Mantle’s annual volume taking in the year's successes. DISCOVERING DRAMA. By Eliza- beth Drew. New York: W. W. Norton. A nice, well-mannered, little book If Critics Would Rather Blame Than Praise It Is Probably Due to the Fact That It Is Safer, Since Publishers Now Use the Sales Methods of Grocers. By M. C. R. HE" newt war,” which was fought out in these columns a couple of weeks ago, has brought the reviewer some interesting cor- respondence. That war, in case you did not witness it, was the reviewer's private revolt against trick publicity as practiced by publishers. It cen- tered about the new book by Karel Capek, which, the reviewer hastens to say, was in nowise implicated; it is a delightful work. Moreover, the particular publicity stunt put over by its publishers, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, was a piece of pure genius. But, just the same, such elaborate tricks seem gratuitous in promoting a really good book, and the reviewer is happy to note that her readers think the same thing. One writes, “After all, can you blame book publishers particularly, when even groceries are sold today on the basis of slogans or—worse—sex &p- peal? No, actually, I remember an ad urging people to drink a certain brand of tea on the ground that it would heighten their lure for the other sex. After all, the publishers are in the selling game, too. They have to keep in step. If they didn't the procession would move on and leave them behind. Couldn't that be why they work such stunts on poor (your pardon) reviewers?” 'HE pardon is granted. The ques- tion raised as to a reviewer’s place in the world,*however, seems to be an interesting one. Is the critic to re- gard the publisher of books as just another merchant, peddling books as grocers sell tea? Or do publishers have & primary interest in presenting works of merit to the public? And if they do have such an interest must they adopt the sales methods of grocers in order to succeed in their endeavor? The reviewer has sometimes given thought to these questions. And, after a somewhat protracted experience with publishers she comes to the conclu- sion that on the evidence the answer to the first and last is yes. The critical part of the book business is a very small one; the mercantile part is im- mense. It is absolutely unthinkable that any publisher cares a rap about any reviewer's estimate of his book, on how to enjoy dramatic literature.{ unless that estimate can be used to For club women especially, gathers, one Literature. A HISTORY OF HISTORICAL WRITING. By Harry Elmer Barnes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. A survey of the development -of the art and science of historical writing from the picture-writers to the pres- ent. Scholarly. The States. THE BOOK OF THE STATES. Chi- cago: The Council of State Govern-~ ments. A reference manual for those in- terested in State problems. Pictures. S. CAMERA 1927. New York: William Morrow & Co. A fine volume of photographs, rep- resenting the best of the year's shots. Worth having. Juveniles. WILD AMERICANS. By E. Orne Ar- nold. Illustrated with photo- graphs. Chicago: Albert Whit- man_Co. A book of animal stories of the not too saccharine variety, illustrated with fairly good photographs. HURRAH'S NEST. By H. A. Calahan. New York: Vanguard Press. A boy's adventure founded on the Harden-Hickey expedition to settle Island of Trinidad. Good enough. KINGS, DONKEYS AND DREAMS. By V. T. Pomeroy. Boston: The Beacon Press. A book of 20 short tales to be told to children between the ages of 5 and 10. On the sweet side, a trifle. HIGH WATER. By Phil Strong. Pic- tures by Kurt Weiss., New York: Dodd Mead & Co. ‘How some boys saved Mexico, & pet burro, from drowning in the Des Moines River when a flood coincided with one of Mexico's immobile moods. Funny and delightfully illustrated. THE STRANGE ADVENTURE OF MYRTLE THE TURTLE. By Rob- ert Ross Parker. Illustrated by Alice Lois Evans. New York: L. P. Dutton Co. Very amusing verses about the life U, GEORGE 8. JOHNS, Pulitzer’s number one crusader, who was for 50 years the pioneer- ing editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. He is the hero of Orrick Johns’ “Ttme of Our Lives: The Story of My Father and Myself,” which Stackpole Sons has just published. forcibly to the reviewer was as to how few of the early intellectuals— the bohemians of the early teens—had done anything of lasting merit. Al- ready, 20 years afterward, the names of the great body of them are dim and hard to remember. The mountain peaks stand, of course—Lowell, Prost, Millay, Robinson—but they are not the ones who are writing their lives. plethors of autobiographies o8 from men who, like Mr. Johns, were of lesser eminence and who, finding their artistic revolt unproductive in themselves, turned to social doctrines and revolutionary politics for their out. It is perhaps fortunate. The social historian, as has been said, will want source material, and they are giving it to him. Mr. Johns, for example, writes eloquently of Polly's and Ro- many l“‘h’l. increase sales. And when it becomes part of s sales campaign, then may the reviewer shudder at the uses to which his carefully weighed words will be put! He will be quoted as though he were the oracle, and his words will be put beside those of individuals whose opinions he has no wish to emulate. In this circumstance may be found the basis of the myth that most critics would rather blame than praise. For blame is so very much safer! THE merry tricks of the “Salaman- der Syndicate” in putting over the Capek book were, as has been said, works of absolute genius. But despite their individual virtuosity they bear a class resemblance to a wide variety of publishers’ dodges commonly used to gain attention for forthcoming works. One of these is the post card series which consists in mailing the reviewer & number of cards, each bearing a flamboyant sentence of selling copy, or a particularly intriguing passage out of the book being promoted. It is the practice of the present reviewer to consign such missives to the waste basket on the instant, and to receive the book when it comes with severe misgivings. Another dodge is to send out bub- bling little tales about the author's “personality.” This is the most loath- some gag which publishers work, and about the commonest. Apparently every book house has a man on its staff whose duty it is to prepare such coyly intimate bits of news as the following: “Mrs. Joy Blurb, author of last sea- son's best-selling romance, ‘How She Lost Her Heart,’ is spending the sea- son in an old, abandoned filling sta- tion just off the Boston Post road, where her sole companions are a tame land turtle and a pet cheetah. Mrs. Blurb writes her publisher in strict confidence that she is getting the of an old mother turtle and her hus- band at the bottom of the sea. Casual Novels. THE PREACHER. By Garett Holmes. New York: Robert Speller. Life story of a minister, sentimen- tally told. CITY DESK. By Hugh V. Haddock. New York: Robert Speller. Triangle story about the career of a newspaperman. Ordinary. AND WHO 80 STRONG. By Paul H. Forman. New York: Robert Speller. Story of & young Russian girl who suffers for (as it were) love. Or- dinary. LOOK AWAY DIXIELAND. By L. F. Harris and F. L. Beals. New York: Robert Speller. Story of Southern family reinstat- ing itself after the Civil War. Con- ventional. “SIN” FOR SHORT. By Vida Hurst. New York: M. 8. Mill Co. Another “girl's search for happiness and love.” Trash. PEGGY OOVERS WASHINGTON. By Emman Bugbee. New York: Dodd Mead & Co. Bubbling stuff about a girl reporter making good in the Nation's Capital. THIS MAN. By Maurice B. Gard- ner. Boston: Meador Publishing Co. Sentimental romance about s her- mit and a radio singer. Trash. THE THREE BLACK LAMBS. By Peter H. Keller. Boston: The Meador Publishing Co. A love story of modern Gresos, sim- ple and unpretentious. THE UNKNOWN VOLUNTEER. By Very romantic stuff about s young American girl in the World War, Mysteries. MAROONED WITH MURDER. By R. A. J. Walling. New York: ‘William Morrow. A mystery on an island off th Scottish coast, with queer mutter- ing Gaels for atmosphere. Average. HOMICIDE. By Leslie T. White. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co. A beautiful night club lady is slain in New York. Average.’ THE CASTLE ISLAND CASE. By Van Wyck Mason. Candid Cem- era Olues by Henry Clay Gipson. A murder in Bermuda, printed with the new wrinkle of camers illustra- tions of eritical places and people. In- greatest inapiration from these little animal friends. ‘I call the turtle Old Crusty,’ she writes, ‘and I think I shall name the cheetah Spots. I just love turtles and I just adore cheetahs.’ Mrs. Blurb’s new romance, ‘How She Found Her Heart,’ is soon to be pub- lished, and no doubt will equal its predecessor in popularity.” Now fancy that. But it is no exag- geration. The mail of every reviewer comes loaded down with such drivel, and somebody, of course, is actually getting paid to produce it, too. Is it really necessary to the business of making literature available to the pub- lic? Do publishers have to struggle to keep step with grocers, cigarette manu- facturers, patent medicine sellers and the like? Since, apparently, they do, the reviewer has a sugestion to make to them. Here it is: Put your advertising in the hands of professionals and give reviewers a rest. Turn it over to real advertising agencies and let them “go to town” on it. That is their business and nobody can do it better. Your Joy Blurb ma- terial is pale gentility beside what they can do. A real advertiser would made incandescent stuff of the dic- tionary. And reviewers would not have to open so many idiotic letters. 'HE reviewer's favorite among the .~ new magazines remains the mod- est little monthly Globe. Globe com- bines the best features of the prevail- ing magazine market. It has a lot of stuff about different far places, but, un- like the average travel article, Globe's can be read. They are not just ah excuse for photographs of the scenery. But Globe also has pictures, and they are as geod as the rule. They are not up to Coronet, but they are not meant to be. Coronet specializes in pictures. Globe just runs them in. And it has excellent features, comments on poli- tics, fiction, calendars of events and each month a projected tour. Above all, there is good taste about it. Of how many of the new magazines can as much be said? You can count them on the fingers of a single hand. 'HE Fall Round Table is out, that calm quarterly given over to ap- praisal of matter in the world which may affect the British Commonwealth, and it gives us the following interest- ing picture of President Roosevelt's rs. ception of the defeat of his court- packing bill. “On the afterncon of July 22,” it says, “‘as the Senate was driving the last coffin nails into the President’s Supreme Court plan, Mr. Roosevelt himself was having an interesting and agreeable time. He was enjoying a visit from the Polish Ambassador, Count Potocki, who came to show him & hand-colored print of Thomas Jef- ferson, done by the great Polish patriot, Gen. Kosciusko. Mr. Roosevelt, an ex- pert in old prints and a disciple of Jefferson, had an unusually pleasant afternoon.” Somehow it would seem to the re- viewer that the Round Table reporter 15 & bit off in his last sentence, or, any- way, unaware of its ironic implications, Is Mr. Roosevelt a disciple of Jeffer- son? Jefferson, who said that the best government was the one which gove erned least? Is he? ... Well, anyway, it is nice to read from so authoritative 8 source that he wasted no regrets over his scuttled legislation and was able to look Jefferson’s portrait in the eye with equanimity. The Round Table writer continues on the subject: “What of the future? ... It is now his (the President’s) problem to heal the wounds in his party in Congress and to restore his personal prestige. These tasks, though great, should not be insuperable. Soon Congress will adjourn. Its members will commune with Nature and their constituents. Nature is a great restorer of tempers and spirits, while the constituents— if the New Deal theory has any valide ity—will indicate that they still supe port President Roosevelt's general pro- gram, however they may have dis- agreed about enlarging the Supreme Court.” Picture, if you will, a large body of Congressmen communing with Nature, Never before, in many months of ap- pallingly conscientious reading of the Round Table, has the reviewer come on so much as a faint glimmer of hu= mor in its pages. The present copy should be bound in gold. The idea that Congressmen, back home, seek balm for their souls in the beneficent face of Nature is just a little more than sobriety can bear. Yes, this copy should be bound in gold, indeed. And decorated with a cap and bells. The Public Library WATCH YOUR HEALTH! T THE turn of the season, when most persons are spending more time indoors and emerg- ing from overheated houses into a relatively cool out-of-doors, colds and respiratory diseases are rife. It is a time to watch one’s health and avoid unnecessary risks, The Public Library presents a short list of recent books on health by outstanding authorities, including two volumes which cover what little is known about the common cold, the most prevalent disease, and forerun- ner of more serious ailments. The library has many books on the various subjects allied to health and hygiene. Ask at the central information desk, or consult your branch librarian. Health Today. HEALTH QUESTIONS ANSWERED. By W. W. Bauer. QF B328h. “In every chapter Dr. Bauer gives people succinctly and satisfactorily information which they really want.” LAYMAN'S HANDBOOK OF MEDI- CINE. WITH SPECIAL REFER- ENCE TO SOCIAL WORKERS. By R. C. Cabot. Revised edition. 1937. QF.C1I13LT. “For this new edition changes have been made on about one page in every three” and much new materisl has been added. HEALTH CHATS. By Logan Clen- dening. 1936. QF.C59. “A clear, simple and readable state- ment for lay reading of medical de- velopments and findings.” BEWILDERED PATIENT. By M. 8. Newcomer. 1936. QF.N43. “Her pyrpose is to give the ‘bewil- dered patient’ enough information about himself to enable him .to co- operate intelligently with his phy- sician.” THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE: the Vitamins, Hormones and Other Minute Essentials for Health. By Barnett Sure. 1937. QH.Su77. “The reader of Dr. Sure's account can rely on the scientific soundness of the information he obtains.”—H. M. Parshley. HEALTHFUL LIVING, BASE" ON THE ESSENTIALS OF PHYSIOL- OGY. By J. F. Williams. 1934, QD.W676h2. A revised edition also has been issued of the author's well known “Hygiene and Sanitation; the Essen- tials of Modern Health Care.” (QH.- ‘W6177h3). Keeping Fit. HEALTHFUL LIVING. By H. S. Diehl. 1935. QH.D54. “A simple guide on the subject of health for all those who are interested in getting the most out of the body with which they began life.” WHY BE TIRED? 1936. QH.J79. “Discussion of the causes of physical and mental fatigue, their effect upon the body, and rules for healthful living with which to combat the fore- runners of fatigue.” THE SECRET OF KEEPING PIT; an Easy and Sure Way to Better Health. By Arthur McGovern. 1935. QH.M176s. “There is something in the book for the average man and woman, no matter what the governing occupation or interest may be.” FOUNDATIONS OF HEALTH. J. L. Rathbone and others. QH.R2. A text book for high school students presenting a program for buflding good health habits on & foundation of scientific knowledge. THE NORMAL DIET AND HEALTH- FUL LIVING. By W. D. Sansum and others. 1936. QN.Sa58n. “A valuable contribution in supply- ing to the public badly needed reliable information on our present knowledge of health and nutrition.” The Common Cold. OUR COMMON ENEMY: COLDS. By the editors of “Fortune” in consultation with eminent phy- sicians. 1934. QFI.Ou7. “Sets forth the few known facts about colds, and the theories about their causes held by various medical men." DIET IN SINUS INFECTIONS AND COLDS. By E. V. Ullmann. Recipes and menus. By Elsa Niez. 1933. QN.ULS. “The value of the approach here is less its conclusions than its note of sanity and freedom from faddism.” —N. W. Kunkel, By D. V., Josselyn. By 1932, BEST SELLERS FOR WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 7. ietion. Northwest Passage. Roberts. Dous bleday-Doran. And So—Victoria. Wilkins. Mac- millan. The Citadel. Brown. Young Henry of Navarre, Mann. Knopf. Europa in Limbo. Briffault. Scrib- ners. John Cornelius. Walpole. Double- day-Doran. Non-Fiction. The Good Society. Little Brown. Andrew Jackson, James. Bobbs- Merrill. The. Arts. Van Loon. Simon & Schuster. The 1938 Book of Small Houses. Simon & Schuster. New Frontiera of the Mind. Rhine, Farrar & Rinehart. Life With Mother. Day. Knopf. Cronin. Little Lippmann. QZ pulse- pounding, beart-throbbing ‘ale!” N —Los Angeles Times AND SO~ VICTORIA THE NATIONAL BEST SELLER from Coast to Coast! $2.50 all bookstoves MACMILLAN