The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-31
Literary Lights and Shadops
BY S. MAYS BALL

by statistics. Given nice, lady-like statis- tics and jugger, just an ordinary one can prove almost anything by their use. So it is with MT. Dixon in his new book. Having finished as he would no doubt say.
 with the negro question: having handled
 it to his satisfaction anyway MT. Dixon
 now takes up the great question of social
 revolution and has treated it, just as he
 did the negro question: to-wit, in yellow
 journalistic way.
 The leading character of the story
 Comrades with scene in California
 time, 1S9S-1901, are Norman Worth, the
 son of a multi-millionaire and an anna
 teur socialist; Colonel Worth, his father;
 Elena Stockton, the coloners ward and Norman's fiancee; Herman Wolf, a social
 ist leader; Catherine, Wolf's affinity wife,
 the woman in red; Barbara Bozenta, a
 new Joan of Arc; Methodist John, a
 pauper, recruit to socialism or anything
 that Is easy-money; Tom Moony, a miner, straight from the shoulder Californian
 John Diggs, truth seeker, an asker of embarrassing questions at inopportune
 times, and Roland Adair, the Bard of
 Ramcot, poet of passion.
 Colonel Worth, who was very rich, a
 civil war veteran, lover of the flag, wish
 ed his son Norman to marry his ward
 Elena Stockton. All seemed well on that
 hoped for line until Norman became in- terested in an amatuerish way in Social ism. This interest in socialism was stimu- lated to a great extent when Norman
 meets the charming young creature, Bar
 bara Bozenta, the new Joan of Are, so-
 called ward of Catherine, the woman ia
 red.
 Norman began to attend the meetings of
 the socialists in San Francisco; he was
 doubtful in his own mind as to casting in his own fortune, which consisted O. iils expectancy from his rich father, until he
 met Barbara, then it was all off with any
 hestancy Another exhibition of woman
 in history.
 These Frisco socialists wished to start
 and operate at some place an organiza-
 tion under the brotherhood of man. Norman Worth raised the money, a mill lion dollars, necessary with which to put this establishment on it's feet. until 1t be- came under socialistic treatment self supporting.
 The island of Ventura, just off the coast of California, was purchased. This island
 was 60 miles from the coast of Santa Barbara, with no regular connection with the outside world. It had been owned by a corporation which had invested moro than million dollars in it's improvement. 1 The enterprise had failed for two reasons;
 the money had been expended recklessly
 in the days of the famous land boom,
 and it had been impossible to induce la borers to isolate themselves on this lonely spot. Norman Worth then said to Herman Wolf and his socialist crowd, Here's an island, away from everybody upon which
 no outside influence can work we will cut off all communication with the out side world, take a couple of thousand socialists there and work out what we have been talking about; namely the practicability of the brotherhood of man; | show the world that we can do what we ] have been preaching for a number Of
 years" or words to that effect.
 So, on a beautiful Sunday morning ir 1 May, 1899 the steamship Comrade slowly 1 swept through the Golden Gate witf l 2O00 enthusiastic socialists crowding her | decks, shouting, cheering, laughing, cry i ing, singing their joy and faith iu the 1 new world of human brotherhood fol 1 which they had set sail.
 | The reader of "Comrdes will not pro l gress very far in his perusal of the bool 1 before he discovers subtitle process. wei | used by the author to prove. while claim
 ing otherwise the impracticablity of th'
 brotherhood of man.
 1 Every real socialist will welcome such l a book as this one, so that he can, in tho
 language of the street. get a lick at 1t , To a socialist or even lay reader wei up in the theories or practices desired
 hoped for and prayed for, the answer t' | Comrades would be easy. But the un | fairness of this book is that the ordinary | lover of novels would believe 1t fai | picture of what would be done under fai ] conditions if the socialists were given