Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-14


King Of Macedon was hardly
more the master OF statement
IL and invective than is the author
of these philippics against the
modern American lords of industry. A
group of astonishingly swift and Wig
orous exposures of wickedness in high
places. these. given out originally as
lectures or magazine publications. There
is, of course. the story of Standard OIL.
No theme of this sort sets Off rightly
without Mr.. Rockefeller in the van.
Then. there are stories of other kings
sugar and steel. coal and cotton. Jay
Gould and the Vanderbilts objectify the
infamy of railroad manipulations.
Boards of trade and produce exchanges
exist for the sole purpose lifting
food beyond the reach of the common
hand. The legitimate uses of corpora
tions are clearly shown TO have no
chance at all in the weller OF their
abuses. The Involuntary slavery Of
the workingman under the delusion Of
voluntary contract is made definitely
plain. So is the lustful union of bust
ness and politics whereby Congress func-
tionS commonly in a patient waiting on the
wishes of finance. Only one measure
Of constructive aim appears in this de-
mandatory group. This covers a plan
for the national ownership Of coal
mines. Yet every now and then one
reads of the inefficient. wasteful work
where the experiment has been tried of
the government turned business man.
Perversely apart from the authors intent.
one gathers out of this reading
qualities that go into these amazing
organizations. coupled with vague
wonder as to where We should have
been now without these Titans of. toll.
A1,4 1r~n' l. 1,N- No
means the only worker. One wishes
ardently that these men had the leisure.
as the writer's have. and the interest as
well. to tell their own stories of in
long foresight and comprehensive, pre-
cisely adjusted plans; of the swift de-
cisons under need. the immediate
mastering of forces. the lightning
notifications, that so unerrngly project
their visions into the advance field OF
economic demand. The general reader
honestly in search of guido TO worthy
civic conduct wants an average opinion,
one which can only come through a
hearing of the other side Of the case
accusations Of this volume are literally.
unmodifiably true. open to no possible
context, then there would be no lords
of industry. but wayward and lawless
servftude to the government the expi-
alton Of their crimes. The present need
to the common working, voting man is
intelligent. unfanatical instruction In
manhood.
"REMINISCENCES. BY Goodwin Smith.
D. c. L. Edited by Arnold Haultain,
". A. Illustrated. New York: The
Macmillan Company. Washington:
Brentan0's.
A great company Of distinguished
people gather in this big. ripe book.
These are brought together here through
recollectfons seventy-fve years fresh.
and given places through wide-open
opfn1ens Of q late maturing. Engrossing
from cover to cover. the volume shifts
In character from part to part. In it's
earlier stages 1t is desultory, anecdotaI.
Intermittent in way. In a steady ad-
and tone. reaching it's best point in the
wonderfully clear and readable analysis
Of tho Manchester school of politics.
with Bright and Golden as the heart
this remarkable volume is its personal
attitude. giving out 50 freely just those
things that most people wish to know
about this. that and the other one
the queen, Disraeli. Peel. Gladstone.
literature there is Macaulay. who
talked in essays. which to me seemed
exuberance and not assumption. Once,
though. even I thought Macaulay a
the dinners. and Huxley and Tyndall."
Think Of. it. Back as a boy he recalls
Miss Milford. OF their own neighbor-
hood. and, in another field. the Duke
Of Wellington. of whom he crisply tells
went up to him and begged to be al
lowed to take the hand Of the victor
of Waterloo. Don't make damned
fool OF yourself. was the hero's reply"
mid y,ry11
school. the law. journalism. politics. all
his life in the new world, gathering
into strange companionshfp all sorts OF
subjects. from the reform at Oxford
retells with spirit the story of mutual
dislike between himself and Disraeli.
who put him in Lothian as the Ok
ford professor and 1.-The social syco-
plant" The civil war. its conduct both
in bulk and special campaign. its mean
ing tile attitude of England during its
course. with Lincoln as man and Presi-
dent. make a curiously interesting, II
not altogether convincing. chapter. The
life at Cornell, and later that in Canada.
bring to "A close this eminently fresh
and significant body of recollections.
yEAN-CHRISTOPHE. Dawn, Morn
ing, Youth. Revolt. BY Roman
EoIland Translated by Gilbert
cannan. New York: Henry Holt &
60.
Not many times has any literature re-
yealed-as does this story OF jean
Christophe-that deep essence OF life cali
cd for want of a name. the human soul.
That part whose elusive presence, and
vague meanings, and mute messages,
make Of every human being not only an
alien in the world. but. more than that,
also make him complete and bewlder-
ing stranger To himself. This author has
more than another-more Than any other,
ono feels 10 say-watched beside this in
Nor life. marking what ii does TO one, how
il has its will with him whether he con-
sent or not. With infinite patience has
he gone along with il. by year, and day,
and hour. one follows in this record-a
marvel Of minute revelation, and a mas
terry OF drama as well-not only the deep
or life of this German musician-boy, but
his owD and every body's. One critic pro-
nounces it 1.-THE noblest work of fiction
OF the twentieth century" He might
safely have added to this short span the
last quarter. at least, OF the nineteenth.
Another calls il "a sensation in musical
and other circles Its impression will
reach profounder depths than this, and
its influence will pass beyond musical
matters, in which II Is amazingly keen
and true and fearless, to every circle
where the real drama OF life is Of con-
ming OF a story-but one OF a projected
tyflogy-whose end will round out the ca
reer OF -Christophe. Waiting eagerly
for the remaining volumes, one will IT.
resistibly give a part of his reading leis-
ure to a restudy OF this truly great story
The finest thing TO be said for Mr.. Can.
nan. translator-for any translator-is
that he does not, in even a slight degree
stand between.