The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-14
HhEBOOK. SHELF
By THE BIBLIopHILE

THE POWER OF ToLERANcE''
 "AND OTHER ESSAYS By George
 Harvey. Harper Brothers, New York. REVIEWED FOR THE BOOK SHELF BY MIR. ROY MCCULLOUGH OF THE BIRMINGHAM BARD This volume, dedicated to Joseph Pult-
 ger contains various and sundry ad- | dresses delivered by the editor of Har- per's Weekly The wide range of sub
 jects would lend to the belief that Mir.
 Harvey is equally at home, whether ad- dressing the Press Association of Yer mont, the St Andrews Society of Charles ton. the Equal Franchise Society of New
 York or the guests at a dinner given in honor of M. Witte and Baron Rosen.
 Addresses and lectures are generally dry as dust and promise little entertain
 ment to the average reader of books.
 Those addresses of Colonel Harvey's,
 however, are really worth reading. There is note of optimism when the subject is the authors own country or contract
 ed with others, as note the following:
 Tn America, unprecedented material welfare, constant moral and spiritual up-
 building and, as an inevitable conse- quence, an ever widening, ever deepen- ing influence"
 In discussing the unrest which now dominates the land the author summa- rizes the fears as follows: | |. Apprehension of war.
 ?. Oppression of the poor by the rich. 3 The tariff and trusts.
 1. Common extravaganza. }. The disestablshment of credit 6. Effects of popular agitation. '. The undermining of our political in- stitutions.
 The Colonel then proceeds seriatum to prove that our fears and apprehensions along these lines are wholly without foundation: that the public mind has had
 the same hallucinations before when
 there was no reason behind it; that even Japan would not want to go to war with
 us; that the poor are comparatively free; that the tariff will be fixed and the trusts
 regulated: that extravaganza is being checsed that while corporations will not be permitted to dominate and use the
 state. the state itself must not impair efficiency by possessing the corporations.
 Speaking of the popular agitation, it Is
 observed that intelligent insurgency has succeeded blatant populism In the west. In the address delivered before St. An drews Society of Charleston in 19J4, oc-
 CUTS the following. which is of interest at this time, when Alabama is offering a candidate for the presidency:
 "The west and the east have had their opportunity for 10 years and have failed. , Now. what of the south? Here the dem ocratic party had It's birth; here 1t pro- duced a line of statesmen such as na- ton has ever known. Of the 15 admins trations ending in 1se1 all but two were democratic, and of these 13 terms nine
 were served by southern men and six
 bv the founders of the party-J efferson, Madison and Monroe. While the south, as represented by the great men. was in the saddle. there was no suggestion of
 unfitness to govern. Adherence to prin- ciple. sagacity in statesmanship, conser@ vatism in action, faithful endeavor in the interests of the entire country won and | held the confidence of the people to such | a degree that, through all the vicissi- | tudes of internecine strife and an un- | paralleled succession of reverses at the
 polls that great party survived. still lives,
 and, please God, shall never die. 1 Pretty sound doctrine, eh? | It appears that in an address to the Lotus club of New York. in 1906, the Col
 onel proposed Woodrow Wilson for Pres | ident.
 | On the whole the addresses impress the
 reader that Colonel Harvey has made a deep study of many of the problems that
 now confronts us and that he has his
 conviction concerning the same. | ITO M. l.. G., OR HE WHO PASSED .
 The Frederick A. Stokes Company. New | York
 | Published anonymously, "To M. L. G.. or He Who Passed" presents most thrilling side of theatrical life, which | from the opening chapter of the book to
 the close. holds the interest and enlists
 the attention of the reader in a manner
 which few books of the day are capable | of.
 There is magnetism and sympathy
 about the book that is fascinating, no
 matter how pathetic it is. and the theme of the story. Marie Claire. proved the wisdom of before this was written. "To M. l.. G., Or He Who Passed" may
 or may not be literally true, and the au- thor, whether man or woman, pays 1t the highest of compliments, wishing 1t were. At least it is seems very real and offers
 a striking commentary upon present day
 stage life-particularly the stepping stones
 to success. which involve a very human sort of interest and one that Is most com polling in the telling.
 There will be actresses galore who will resent the implications contained therein. who will doubtless declare it 6 most ruthless and unwarranted attack upon the profession, but that matters little. for you can't pick up the book and put 1t
 down without seeing it through to the end. and that is something in it's favor at least.
 The story is supposed to be written by an actress who is telling her own story. She meets and refuses to marry NJ L.. G., because she cannot tell him certain events that have transpired In her life before he came upon the scene.
 She never tells him and writes this book hoping that he may run across it and read for himself.
 The woman in question was born of theatrical parents who were so engrossed with themselves and their profession, that they had little time for their child. and she is thrown about in boarding houses and passing from hand to hand
 until she is finally adopted by a Beauty Doctor.
 Her life as an actress begins at 16 when she wins the favor of a manager and Is given a leading part.
 That. she explains, is the way young girls on the stage become Heading women' A man with money becomes in terested in girl of the stage and by
 putting up'' gives her "a chance"
 At last as a ''star." the girl becomes well. known and during all her successes never once thinks she is doing wrong in aceepting favors from her benefactor- but sees it only as means to success a road followed by many others and for which there are an abundance of prece- dents. N.
 Of course. all his sounds very strange in woman. but it must be remembered that her viewpoint is distinctly that of a girl who has been brought up in the wrong atmosphere-practical abandoned k, her parents and allowed to run wild
 Her fathers death occurs and she never sees her mother again and into her life come only the sordid things, sordid peo- pie. sordi1 conditions.
 The anfHasity of the theatrical worh