Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-07
POLITICS AND FINANCE
IN TWO NEW NOVELS
Edwin Lefevre's "Plunderers'
and Sam Blythe's "a West
ern Warwick" - Another
Lightning Conductor Tale

The Piunderers'. by Edwin Letevre
(f4arper q Brothers, New Yorf), divagates
from the authors usual locale Of the finan-
claI canyon called wall street in the intro
ductory tale which treats Of the success Of
= brnd OF gem thieves who manage to loot
the show windows of some exclusive 5th
avenue shops. OF course they do not do this
literally, but through the ingenious ex-
pedient OF buying Jewels for a pseudo Gov
ernor General OF Canada. The ingenious
gentry are members OF an organization
called the Plunder Recovery Syndicate
which has as It's design the Robin Hood
project of gaining large sums from Big
Business. In the additional stories Mr.. De-
fevre details the kidnapping of one of the
leaders of American finance and other In
teresting adventures of the Plunder Re-
covery Syndicate. The stories are all eN-
ceedingly well written and plausibly plotted.
An interesting feature Is the thinly disguised
Identity Of number Of the principal figures.
Another a clef novel Is "a Western
Warwick" by Samuel q. Blythe George
Doran & Co., New York;. This, one
of the most popular serials ever published
In the Saturday Evening Post relates In
considerable detail and with an amplitude of
personality illusions the inside stuff' of
the making OF President. 1t is exceedingly
informing though bit cynical at times In
tone. 1t Is not at all difficult to rend the
veil from some OF the personages involved
and they stand out pretty clearly as states
men and 1nanclers whose records are down
In history The book depends little on plot
but much on characterization and clever
phraseology Sometimes the style Is tire
somely brilliant. Probably the author, like
Chesterton and Shaw, cannot help being
clever, coruscatlngly and continuously. But
1t Is strain on the reader Of average In
tellect
G. N. and A. NJ. Williamson have revived
the Lightning Conductor. THE Lightning
Conductor Discovers America" Doubleday,
Page & Co., New York; restores the fig
ures which made the previous book some
10 or 12 years ago the first as well as the
best of the motorcar romances The new
novel is by no means a mere guidebook,
though It is far more interesting and ac-
curate than many of the formal manuals
for travellers. There are sentiment, love-
mystery and villainy compounded in the
plot The route of the romance runs from
New York through New England. The story
makes fine hammock reading. It Is viva
cious and good humored.
AS the saying goes. History repeats IT.
self" And while Mr.. George has not fol-
lowed any of his own old patterns in The
Strangers Wedding" still his problem
seems to be 'age-old, and to the statement
OF ancient facts he has added not one jot
of new thought We are facing the old
class problem. Sue. the daughter Of a
washerwoman, and Roger, of the Hun
cotes" of England. meet, become attached.
marry and separate, even as the Sues and
Rogers OF many generations have done.
Their class differences are not wiped out,
and In this particular instance the lovers
immaturity seems to make each step in
evftable The first call of love ends in tenn
porary satisfaction. Then the selfish young
male, with his background of culture and
refinement unsuccessfully attempts to edu-
cate his inferior Love ends in dlssatis-
faction, gentle reproof, in nagging brutality;
and finally like seeks like, and each goes
where Nature calls-to one OF his own.
Pacing a problem of so little novelty we
are Joyous when we find II presented In
such simple and lucid manner as Mr.
George employs. The mass of details ar
ranged always TO heighten the colors in
the picture never seem wasted or heavy |
and we can even see new light glimmering
through them. Nearer and nearer history
is approaching the turning point; and |
faster and faster the joys and fortunes OF
one class are mingling with those OF the
other. Given circumstances a little differ |
ent from Sues and Rogers, given little
more experience and maturity. we may be-
fore very long see Mr.. Georges problem
solved in another quite as real way. In
the meantime let AS be grateful for such
a genuine contribution TO summer fiction.