The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-01

 MT. Clement has made a book of much charm. it's value Is like that of the flowers he writes of, imperisna0le. The Common Lot By Robert Herick. The Common Lot must be given high place among the American novels or 1904. It is a work of great Strength
 and of impelling interest. Money is
 it's theme. Money after which all
 America is engaged in a mad rush Money a necessity for all. As much loved by the beggar as by the million | aire, as much sought by the million | aire as by the beggar. To make money | quickly, to spend 1t yet more quickly | is the method of Jackson Hart, the hero. Mrs. Phillips who has married for money, who as a widow enjoys her fortune without incumbrance thus puts "Jade's" case to his earnest young | wife, Helen.
 some men need more food than oth- CTS. They'd nope and grow thin II they dined at home on a chop and l went to bed at ten every night. They must have something to make steam. Your young man was born to be spender." To keep horses, automobiles. country houses needed money and the young architect, Hart. yielded to temp tation and shut his eyes to the criminal methods of the scheming contractor, Graves, to his own material profit. But the prosperity so secured was short lived. The fire and loss of life in the s''Glenmore." built after Hart's de- | signs altered to suit Graves's schemes brought Hart back to the strong ideas that right is right, wrong all wrong, that work is blessed for works sake, that the Common Lot is best. Of how Helen had held always to these ideas. of how husband and wife/ had drifted apart as their ideas diverged, of how they come to that second love. the love | that protects in place of the love
 that adores," is all told with a truth | that is absorbing.
 l The story of Powers Jackson's gift of
 three million, which would as invested double in five years, to found
 a school for the children of working men is one to hold
 the attention of men today. The In- dustrial School was buiIded. but 1t
 was when completed and put into
 working order but ''the travesty of the old mans purpose"
 l Tt seemed that no more complete twisting of his idea in thus bestowing his wealth were possibler'
 l So it is with so many of the immense
 munificences of today. So many fail
 of the purpose for which they were
 intended. So many fail of accomplish ing any purpose at all. It makes the
 heart sick to hear of millions of dol
 lars being given by one hand to orga-
 nized, much be-printed charitable pur- poses, and the same hand shut against
 the appeal of father for funds for
 treatment of a sick child-just one poor baby less in the world. An eager soul spends several thousand to give
 shop-girls a Saturday by the sea when
 the one individual girl who has genius
 enough to be able with a little help
 to life herself, and out of the expe-
 rience of her struggle emerge equip ped to help others, is left to be swal- lowed up, engulfed in the tolls of hope
 less poverty without a hand being held
 to her help. Such contrasts meet the eye at every turn.
 | The author gives an excellent de-
 scription of the dedicatory exercises of the Jackson Industrial Institute. "A
 bust of the founder which fronted the stage, was first unveiled amid great applause. Dr. Everest in the introduc- | tion of the orator turned from time
 to time to apostrophize it's rugged
 marble features. whale he paid his trib-
 ute to the founder of the institution.
 What the old man, who had always
 avoided voluble people like the pest,
 would have thought of the liberal eulo-
 gy scattered on his head, out of the eloquent discourse that followed. on
 the future of education and the work ing-man, no one will ever know. The l rough old face looking inscrutably down on the little bald-neaded figure
 of the director gave no sign. The gist of the plot, the core of the
 purpose of this truly important novel,
 Is found here: Thus the social wa
 ters of the fast-living city are rapidly rolling over the Jackson Hosts. In all probability they will never again in this life como to the surface, and call for comment; for the architect and his wife have already sunk into the insig-
 niflcance of the common lot, so much praised by the poets, so much despfsed | by our good Americans of the 'strenu- ous' school They have had their op- portunities to better themselves in the worldly scale, but there has never been any question between husband and wife of a change in their social or ma- | terial conditions. They even contem- plate with equanimity leaving their children in the universal struggle no
 better equipped than with the posses
 sion of health and a modest education, there to meet their fate as their par ents have done before them"
 | When this common lot is content [
 universal happiness reigns
 This is the present loom of thought:
 Equalization of wealth. equalization of
 work; just pay for just labor.
 | This was the core of MT. Bernard | Shaw's lecture a few nights ago at Holy Trinity parish hall, Sloane Square, | London. The thing to do is to estab-
 fish a minimum of income. That min
 imum of income should be sufficient to
 make a man decent member of so- ciety. The first essential of nor
 ality is having money enough" | Doubtless there are sins of poverty | as well as sins of wealth; doubtless there are souls strong enough to live | out their best impulses in any and all
 environment That there may be a more just adjustment of environment for all. | for each and every human being, Is the
 thought of today.
 This Is the thought that is in this
 book most vivid1y and strongly set
 forth. Under the guise of inter esting fiction new thoughts make | their way into the hearts and minds l of millions; a new cult Is so propelled 1 in a year faster than book of science | could thrust 1t in a decade.
 | The insightNinto an architects work | shop is comparatively new in litera- 1 ture.
 | Robert Herrick is professor in the | University of Chicago. A man of east l ern birth, he has nevertheless given most vivid portrayal of the spirit of l the great city of the lakes. No more 1 important piece of fiction has been done !