The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-08-04
Betty Adler of Ottumwa, Newspaper
Correspondent and Writer Has
Some Stories of World
Conflict.
AS SHE SAW THE FIGHT
Miss AdIer's Articles Were Published
First as Newspaper Stories and
Later IN Book
Form.

well have been the subtitle of Miss
Betty Adler's book, Within the Year
After" which has just been pub
lished by the M. A. Donahue COM
pany, of Chicago. Miss Adler Is an
Iowa woman, for though she CHANGED
to have been born in Chicago, she
has spent most of her life in Ottumwa
and in Davenport.
So she views the devastation OF
the war from the same angle as an
Iowan would see it, bringing to II
the freshness of viewpoint OF a per-
son utterly unbiased by any pre)u-
dices. Hers is the journalistic style
Of writing, she reports what she saw
breezily, in an interesting manner,
and it rings true.
AS an Iowan would have been, she
is shocked at the horrors left in the
path of the war, but her spirit is not
overweighed by them, for she sees
the devastated countries heroic ef-
forts to restore normal conditions.
within the Year After" is filled
with fascinating glimpses of people
and places one would like to see
more OF and know better, as well as
of vivid pen pictures OF events that
will go down into the history or the
ages. Miss Adler was the only Wo-
man correspondent admitted to the
signing of the Austrian peace at 81:
German, September 10, 1919, ana
was one Of only five women present
at the ceremony.
AS the special correspondent OF
/ the Lee Newspaper syndicate and
registered correspondent OF the
/ American commission to negotiate
! peace in Paris, Miss Adler was given
| the open sesame to many places that
permitted her an exceptional oppor-
tunity to study the conditions IN the
wake of the war at first hand.
| All Europe was still in turmoil
passports were difficult to get, but
this woman correspondent from Iowa
made her way through the mazes o.
official red tape, into France, Bel
GUM, Italy and Germany. Her hur
ried trip into Berlin was at her OWE
risk. for the French governments
washed it's hands of responsibility
for SO reckless a person. MISS Aulel
was requested to sign papers relleV
ing France of any responsibility III
case peril befell her.
4 The overseas sketches, which are
the foundation Of the book, were
written for the Lee Newspaper syn
dictate, but they have been revised
so that they form connected nara
tive. Many requests were received
for the newspaper articles in more
permanent form, and WITHIN 1ne
Year After" is in response TO tnest
requests.
When Miss Adler's articles were
Duhlished some of their most inter
ested readers were returned service
mon and their families. To these the
places mentioned in the sketches were
more than names, and yet the prog
ress of the American eXpeditiona13
forces in France permitted the aver
age individual little opportunity FOL
real study Of places.
There is a chapter which tells OF Inc
work of the Americans. All are sure
to be interested in what their reno"
countrymen and women are doing tt
restore pre-war conditions in france
Another chapter starts out simply
enough "This morning I had III
tie talk with General John J. Persn
ing. COMMANDMENTS chief of the Amer
can army" Miss Adler surely hat
| Interesting experiences, anu iei 'Ii'
ing OF them makes them no less IN
teresting.
She made a tour of the Carso, the
most remarkable battlefield OF the
war. high in the Alps. She visited
the sacred ground Vt Chateau TIMER
nv. Belleau Woods, scissors ane
Rheims.
i She made friends with the people
of ravaged Belgium, and from SOM
,, of them she heard of atroclues
which they and their neighbors MAJ
been the victims. Far away from I'M
:, war. in mid-America, these hldeou
, happenings have seemed unreal, II
, spite of all that has been written
!, hut Betty Adler learned to know 0
their truth.
,, There is a chapter on Paris fash
, ions that will delight every norma
=, woman, but the importance of WITH
8 in the Year After" lies in its ur
q colored presentation of France, BE
;, GUM. Germany and Italy at criuca
time. 1t brings a better UNDERSTAND
! ing Of postbellum conditions.