The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-09-25
Title Of Alfred Henry Lewis's
Work, "The President
A Misnon1er.
.TRE MASTERY GOOD STORY
Clever and Entertaining Story
Told by Kate Douglas
Wiggin and Others.

THE PRESIDENT. By Alfred Henry
Lewis, s14 pages. $50. A. S. Barnes
& CO., New York.
One OF the most patent CRITICISMS On
Mr.. Lewis's new book is that the tue IS
n complete nlisnomer 1t is called Inc
& president. for reasons which the author
has concealed from the mere reader. The
canton refers, we assume, to senator
n Hanway, whose only claim to that re-
spectacle title is that he wanted II. vine
q national convention, however. TOOK q Oil
ferent view of the matter. Even II the
senator md got the election the title
would still be misnomer, because ne is
not at ali the dominant figure in the
story. One has beforehand the idea that
this Is a political novel. but after pc
r,1sal OF it this does not appear TO DC an
accurate description. At least the lueu
of politics Is not the idea that ie.'
s,Inpermost in the readers mind after lay
ing the volume down. The central inter-
est In the story from beginning to end
( is the somewhat Titanic struggle, outslue
the realm of politics, between zitlchata
4 and Count Storri.
b Richard happened to be one OF the fSe
wealthiest men in the world. lie was
vo,,nr man Of thirty years, and the for
y tunes that he had in the shape OF IRE
nroachable investment were due, not TO
4 his own exertions, but to the foresight
* of his ancestors. Fearful of the untor
1unate effect that his wealth might nave
upon a public known to be money-Wor
shipping ne appeared TO the world mercy e,. ~
g as a young dependent of the wealthy
and very English Mr. Gwynn. MI.
Va Gwynn, though a parsonage of eminent
respectablity was in reality only Rlcn-
I ards maiordomo, a relationship whlch
4 nobody for an instant suspects.
Storri was a vivid Russian. with a Mac
"a c11iavellian ina gination and a burning de-
r;n In
wanted to marry Dorothy Harley, and
II ~ course. trouble was bound to come
sooner or later. The clash came at the
a club one day, when Storri, to show ms
strength seized the heavy poker mo
I, twisted it into corkserew. Richara, m
stead OF Joining In the chorus o. o., co.,,r,,,
ments. shrugged his shoulder. Inc count
a caught the gesture, found 1t offensive
and challenged him to try at grlPs.
Richard declined the privilege, but TINS
" was not because he was afraid. Inc sto!y
tells us that he had the frame Oh the
Farnese Hercules. door-Wlde shouiders
4 and Pict arms. Thus equipped, of course,
& he did not fear Storri. Later they met
in the Harley drawing-room. and, on
heinr introduced to show what he Gould
IA when he tried took Storris hand
= closed upon 1t till the blood came ooz.
ing in black drops as large as grapes,
and BY an imperceptible twlst nro l,tIl
~
naturally, there could De only Wal -
the knife between them
5s$iiGA fter Richard fell in love with Dorothy
and settled down as a newspaper CORES
e pondent he became less a man OF IRON,
8 ana more like some Of the rest OF US,
III However, he needed all his millions %
overthrow Storri. That astute noblemah
7 had a magnificent plan for a transporta-
tion system, which was to encircle the
globe. The scheme took In railways,
steamship lines and canals, and 1t wouio
cost thirty billions OF dollars to float i;
II A syndicate was formed. which lncluded
Mir. Harley. father to Dorothy. IN me
course Of the preliminaries Storri tricked
Harley senior into something very much
like forgery, and he uses this club to
such good advantage that Richard pres
entity finds himself denied the Harley
residence
The desire to free Dorothy's father from
n Storri's blackmal now gave Richard an
additional incentive for making the Rus.
sian bite the dust. The syndicate had
planned to begin operations by buying
IN the Northern Consolidated Railway;
Z and it is not to be expected that they
wanted to pay any more for 1t than was
E absolutely necessary. Politics now figures
q In the story in tho appointment OF
Senatorial Committee TO investigate tho
affairs Of the road Of which 1t Is ar.
ranged that Senator Harway. member
Of the pool, should be chairman. Need
y less to say the '4lonest..4Senator's report
gives the road ii terrible black eye. Some
{ time before it is made publicly. however
Richard gets hold of a copy, thanks tt
the endeavors Of whskey-bihbing bu
interesting Government printer. whom hi
had befrended. The obligins Mr.. Gwynr
q Is thereupOn dispatched to New York, q
credit OF one hundred millions Is estab
lshed in twenty leading banks. and Rich
q ard begins to busy himself
The result was, of course, a foregont
conclusion. One day there was threa
of war with Germany. Senator Harwa!
4 rushed his report into print, and the mar
ket broke to smithereens. While othe
stocks dropped thirty points or more
Northern Consolidated was allowed t
4 drop only eleven. The syndicate wa
naturally caught extremely short Late
when its members tentatively bought
thousand shares as feeler, The stool
promptly responded by a jump of tifteel
points. 1t was regular killing for Rich
ard.
Poor Storri's funds were swallowed u
in the first onslaught II has been hinte
above, however, that he was q man 0
some resource In financial crisis 0
y this sort he was not at all The sort o
man TO sit still and hold his hands. Find
ing himself sorely In need of funds. h
VOW hit upon the plan Of abstractn
thirty millions OF dollars from the Unite
States Treasury, and sailing away 70
i parts unknown. The account OF how h
set about the execution of this somewha
astounding scheme is convlncingly tolt
and Is perhaps the most interesting par
OF the book he shared success by
IA hairsbreadth, and failed only because c
the interference OF Two people whose il
terference could not be anticipated On
Of these was the shrewd Inspector Va
and the other was the fond lady know
as the San REEVE
This is remarkable story In man
ways, and in some ways a very good on,
Mr. Lewis's style. while not the mos
natural imaginable. is on the whole agree
able. The infusion Of a little moro III
and blood into some Of the character
notably Dorothy Harley, and little g
clsion, would be helpful We do not thin
the use OF such descriptive names
Governor Obstinate. Senators Loot ct
Price and Mr., Foplington adds anythin
10 the interest OF the story; and the san
remark may be made Of Mr.. Lay Han
bridges illustrations.
The most curious thing about the boo