The San Francisco call., 1910-06-12
"The Man Higher Up.

"The Man Higher Up"
BY Henry Russell Miller. Published by the
Bobbs- Merrill company, Indianapolis. Price
$3.50.
The large number of political novels
appearing lately is a good sign for
the country. People are waking up,
taking more OF an interest in politics
than formerly and can be depended
upon not TO skip any OF the details
which in a novel would formerly have
been considered wearisome.
The title of this book may at first
suggest, especially to San Franciscans,
that 1T deals with a graft situation.
It is not that sort of a book at all,
only in so much as graft comes into
the politics OF the time. The tale is
of the evolution of a street waif, a
course of his life anything which would
solve the mystery of his birth.
Robert McAdoo lives with drunken
Jim Thompson and is beaten and
abused. In the first two pages Is con-
tained the picture Of the Steel City,
where the scene Of the story is set.
It's description is worth quoting, for
even those not well acquainted with
Pittsburg can make it flt that smoky
town.
I'm the heart of the foothills, in
basin where two rivers meet to form a
mighty third, lies the Steel City. 1t
is not a beautiful city. 1t boasts its
ma gnifieent residences, stone and brick
castles OF its many millionaires. Its
citizens proudly point to it's spacious
parks, costly boulevards and stately
public buildings. But withal they ad-
NIT it's lack of beauty, resting its
claim to the worlds consideration
rather upon its wealth. For the Steel
City has laid under tribute the treas
ures Of nature to feed it's furnaces,
which in turn feed the industries of
the world. From the river the fog
rises, from a thousand huge stacks
bituminous smoke belches. and fog and
smoke mingling form a perennial
cloud that coats the city with CRIME
and SCOT. The roar of its factories
never ceases.
ITO see the Steel City you must jour
ney by night along its rivers, whose
yellow, placid waters, rejecting the
lights of a hundred steamers, seem
field of gold incrusted with diamonds,
rubies and emeralds. Mile after mile
you pass by mills, mills, mills-nothing
but mills-magnifcent monuments to
the inventive and adaptive genius of
man. Thousands Of black faced muscu-
lar Titans rush hither and thither,
swift, methodical, earnest, single pur-
posed. But even this powerful army,
levied from the worlds strongest, is
pigmylike beside the marvellous mech
anism which works, seemingly OF it's
own Will. unerring, unfaltering, un-
ceasing, irresistible. Rivers of molten
metal flow beneath your gaze. Massive
ingots of white hot iron, beyond the
strength of men to lift, swing easily
on the cranes from cast to car. Fiery
serpents of steel writhe and plunge as
though obsessed by the spirit of hell
that broods over the scene, but helpless
ia a clutch that never relaxes. An
awful roar shakes the earth to it's
foundations. An awful glare blinds the
unaccustomed eye. These are the great
Gle Of power. the smithy of the world.
This is the Steel City"
Few readers will be surprised at the
tough little boy, born and brought up
in the heart of this dirt and turmoil.
The first words of description and in
PRODUCTION of him give the picture:
HE was standing at the window in
one Of the city's bleakest tenements,
a ragged, dirty faced boy. In the years
he remembered of his 10 he had known
no other surroundings. OF what went
on before, he knew-was to know
nothing. From without came the sound
of shufiing, uncertain footsteps He
turned in an attitude of sullen ex-
pectancy.
L ",
he muttered The faded drudge who
shared the room with him nodded hope
lessly"
And he does run away. And with 10
cents as his capital makes his start in
life. He buys papers and sells them,
and through this wins the friend OF
his lifetime. The bully of the news
les has the most desirable corner and
attempts to throw Bob out when he
starts a business there. They fight
and Bob wins and Policeman Patrick
Finn, who witnessed the fight, takes
him to his heart and home in conse-
quence.
Robert McAdoo rises rapidly. He
is born fighter and he works hard
He enters the steel mills and saves his
money.
A certain Mehafy held a small po-
litical job, but had a difference with
Haggin. a saloon keeper and big boss
who wished to give Mehaffys job to
one Of his own henchmen. McAdoo was
Mehaffy's friend and went in and fought
for him, literally in a bare knuckle
fight in Haggin's own saloon. Haggin
was his best friend forever after, and
as McAdoo rose higher and higher
Haggin was always in the background
to help.
Henry SANGER, the steel king, in
whose factory McAdoo works, is either
posite. The author does not devote
much time to him. for the man of the
people who is fighting his way to the
top is of vastly more interest
McAdoo is not a reformer who has
any notion Of honesty or cleaning up
his city. He is struggling for personal
success at first, and the study of his
character is complex and interesting
He is too honest to remain a moment
with the Films and not pay board. but
he sells to larger boss four wards
which he controls for $4,000.
At that stage of his development he
does not seem TO appreciate the dis
honesty of that transaction The steady
growth Of his moral sense is accom-
plished IN a remarkable manner by the
author. II is so gradual so unob-
trusive that it is all over before the
reader realizes 1t.
The author is a new writer. but
handles his pen with the ease of a
veteran. His story of politics is not of
any particular graft; it is a big pic
ture showing the hills and valleys of
the political landscape and pointing
out the chuckholes to avoid. The book
is well written and the love story is
not the least interesting part of it.
The authors next work will be awaited