The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-20

dancer and Mrs. Trippett the three Mangles. including Minnie, the child won der and so on. The book will kill a bad quarter-of-an- hour or two; to be read at odd moments One could hardly stand up under or even sit down to a reading of '"rhe Maison De Shine" all at one time. But taken-in- broken-doses, the book is all right. "Our Wasteful Nation" by Rudolf Cro- nau. CMitehell Kennerley)
 Mir Cronau is one of the foremost Ger
 man authors now living in America, and in May, 1908, he was awarded by the Uni versity of Chicago prize of 5000 for his monograph on "The German Element in
 the United States
 Mir Cronau as an American citizen
 has by his lifelong studies and extensive travels gained such a thorough knowledge
 of our western hemisphere as only few Americans possess.
 This book deals with the American prod gality and the abuse of our national re- sources, which, so President Roosevelt said was the "mightiest problem now before our naton:" and the latter usually knows what he is talking about even if i Congress at the present time is not agree , ing with him thoroughly.
 While the famous governors conference l at the White House in May, 19OS con sidered the waste of our forests, water soil and minerals only MT. Cronau, treats ! also of our game, fur and great marine 1 animals. our birds, fishes, public lands l and privileges, and the frightful waste of l human lives, showing conclusively that | our nation suffers by sheer carelessness
 and wasteful methods, losses amounting 1 to many hundreds of millions annually. l The book is based on cold facts; refer A | &I.z l United State geological survey; United 1 States agricultural department, and | so on.
 l In the address with which President | Roosevelt opened the governors confer l ence. lasting from May B to Is, he ex- | planed the question put before the as | sembIage as
 "The mightiest problem now before the | nation, as nobody can deny the fact that the natural resources of the United States are in danger of exhaustion if the old wasteful methods of exploiting them are permitted longer to continue. The enor- mons consumption of these resources and 1 the threat of imminent exhaustion of l some of them, due to reckless and waste | ful use. once more call far common eff | fort and common action.
 Mr Cronau asks: Was there really any need for such a meeting?" He proves that there was. in his very interesting | authoritative book. handsomely illustrated and produced by the publisher.
 "The spv" the Story of superhuous | Man by Maxim Gorky. (B. w. Huebush.)
 You will recall that not so very long | ago as time flies. our old college chum Maxim Gorky. came to this country to | arouse interest in the Russian revolution | and incidentally collect bunch of the l long green, or what the Mexicans are l pleased to call mazuma or dinero, as the | case may be, for the struggling revolu- | tionists.
 Unfortunately for our friend Gorky, his l cause suffered he was given his-hat- 1 what ts-your- r-hurry simply because in New | York upon his arrival there he did not ] strive to keep within the social conven- | tions established by socfety-not sassiety: | meaning that-but never mind: you recall | what Gorky did and had done to kill in l New York for breaking the eleventh com 1 uandment.
 But now GorlSy has written one of those | superior boons which he can write | whenever he tries
 'The Spy is evidently g piece of Rus | sion life-the actual life of the Russia | of yesterday, of today and unfortunate | ly. probably, also of the Russia for some | tliHe lb colIlp, ana IT IL IS not worth know l ing as Gorky tells it, then it could hard 1 ly be worth knowing at all
 | The book is not intended for the intel | lectual mollycoddles, We are introduced | to strange society, the Russian secret
 service, society more strange perhaps
 than the society of the tramps and re- l sembling them closely except for the in-
 ferior deee3cy of the secret service spies
 It is these political spies that within the
 last few years are said to have bounded | thousands of Russian revoutionists and
 sent them to the prisons, to the Siberian
 mines or to the gallows. They burrow, it
 is said, in all countries where there are | Russian refugees; even in the United | States, and the arrests of the Russians l Pouren and Rudovitz-in New York re-
 gently were the work, it is stated, of these
 same spies in behalf of the Russian gov l ernment
 This is the setting in which the spy,
 Yevsey Klimkov, the central figure of
 Gorkys new story. moves. There are 1 some terrible things to read of in this
 book, and Gorky has not fiinched, on the
 contrary, from the telling. Every now
 and then, however, we are permitted to
 catch glimpse of the beautiful devotion
 of the revolutionsts and We gain a vivid
 picture of that wonderful one day of free