The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-08


 White. (The Macmillan Col.
 This novel contains the absorbing story
 of the career of a remarkable money
 maker and his associates. The author,
 MT. White, editor of the Emporia (Kan.)
 Gazette, or something like that-one of
 the directors, owners or conductors of
 the American Magazine, made the welkin
 ring or words to that effect, some years
 ago with Whats the Matter With Kan l sas.a As the story goes or went, Speaker l Thomas B. Reed, noting the ringing of 1 the welkin aforesaid, called President
 or was it Candidate Mckinley s?-atten- | tion to the diagnosis made by MT. White l on Kansas and the author discussed has | been deserved success ever since. For l you see everyone had had his suspicious
 as to What's the Matter With Kansas" l just as many of us have now been firm l ly convinced as to the trouble with Ala 1 bama and Georgia-but until MT White became a well<in-ringer, no one had had | the heart, certainly not the necessary
 nerve, to tell the truth regarding Kan | sas
 "A Certain Rich Man" contains 4s4 l pages-a pretty good-sized novel, eh? to | tackle in this summer weather. There | is hardly a page of the 434 before re- ferred to that doesn't contain a delight | to the discriminating even average reader. The book sparlSles here and there; the author looks back over the shoulder | of Old Time to bring in. Do you re- | member?"-in the most artistic manner; the book from beginning to end is sim ply a delight.
 The great mistake, it does seem, that occurs when a really notable American book appears, is the attempt of certain readers, critics and high to discover in 1t, "The Great American Novel, whatever that may specifically mean to any of us. so long as the book-as "A Certain Rich man. is-great
 Leapng forward as MT. White does
 in his book! Do you think that a young
 man. very poor, the son of a great friend of "A Certain Rich Man." loving the daughter of the capitalist, unable to see any way by which he can earn enough money so that he can offer his heart and hand to the daughter! Taken into the confidence, appointed private secretary Of
 the rich man, that he might justify his right to claim his sweetheart by making
 his way in the world! Working three years as the confidential clerk to man not only his benefactor but the father of the girl he loved and intrusted with the
 secrets of the business of the man who had acted honestly incidentally, it is true ito help him succeed With the under standing that when he learned the bus mess he would be given share in it, to- gether with his sweetheart! Now! The federal government begins to in- vestigate "A Certain Rich Mans" busi- ness methods and manipulations. The lover of the latter's daughter, the bene- hciary of his friendship and holder of
 secrets that only he and the rich man
 possessed, had this proposition literally put up to him by his father, who didn't approve of the rich mans methods. The inspector of the United States govern
 ment was to examine Neal Ward,' the
 secretary to the rich man, the next day
 after this conversation between father and son.
 And you know, father, what the world would think of me-a spy, an informer, an ingratev
 Boy boy, you've got a mans load on you nova mans load. Tomor- row you can run away like a coward; you can dodge and lie like thief or you can tell the simple truth, as it Is
 asked of you, like man-the simple
 truth like a man, Neal
 Now, would you have dodged, left
 town the day the United States inspector
 was in your city, that you might not be-
 tray your benefactor or would you have
 done as did Neal Ward, that is, testify,
 not in court, but to an inspector, such things against the man who whatever
 his motives may have been did befriend you in time of need-great need? If we are to designate this as one of
  | to say that the average Neal Ward' | in American life would have declined to bite the hand that fed him. What do | you think?
 1 That one instance in the book, which l is really the turning point in "a certain | rich mans" career. namely the placing in the federal governments hands of the needed evidence to break up the rich mans company by trusted beneficiary, say even of a thief-seems to this re- viewer the only debatable, out-of-lfne DOT ton of this remarkably interesting story In the novel MT. White has simply | traced the growth, showing how it was 1 possible of a young fellow living in Kansas, born just before the Civil war; who became one of the richest and crook edest men in American life. Now John Barclay stamped upon from the begin 1 ming of his career every good thought or motive that came to stop his progress { to what he and his ilk designate as success
 "John Barclay as a young man had loved a girl who died in her youth. He marries another, of course. He bruises the hearts, kills that which stands in
 his way to success. He begins by win ming fights for elections, as to Kansas
 county seats and bonds. He gradually accumulates money which he uses to push himself and himself alone forward to one goal-John Barclays success. He forces, through double dealing, the sis ter of the girl he loved that died to marry man that that mans money might be used for Barcley. In doing this he knowingly breaks the heart of his best friend who was engaged to marry this particular girl.
 The story begins during the talk of abolition in Kansas. John Barclay s IT. other was a widow, whose husband, leaving a rich father in New England, | had come to and died in Kansas for the | cause" The growth of the little village of Sycamore Ridge and the surrounding | country during and after the civil war | to a prosperous section; city of 5000 | people say, contributing to which was a rich wheat belt-all owned or controlled | by John Barclay-all that and much more | is fascinatingly traced.
 l Crushing everything before, behind, to cy cyrrTanT e AKyn NnT r T NT c