Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-08-15
THE PEACE CONFERENCE DAY BY
DAY. By Charles T. Thomps bn.
Introductory letter by Col. E. NJ.
House. New York: Brentano's.

titles are needed to cover the sub
points to the intellectual and con-
| scientious accounting of the peace
conference day by day. The other
| covers the picturesque drama of the
great international event. The writer
| works with equal effect in both: one
rarely comes across more stirring
pageant than the one portrayed IN
the first chapter of this book. with
the Landing of the Pilgrims in the
quaint old Breton city of Brest, on
| Friday. December 10. 1918. And
flash out in telling colors time and
time over again. The substance OF
the record, however, is as solid and
terse and to the point as the great
occasion itself demands. The no"
historic fourteen points provide the
standard of measurement for the
triumphs and defeats of the re-
spective sides in the contest of pure
idealism on the one hand and prac-
teal nationalism on the other. Some
how, as one after another of these
famous points" falls away under the
very real stresses of actual existence,
one recalls the old days of the gull
lotine-another head gone into the
basket. And it seems as if idealism,
| an international brotherhood. must
| wait day-or million years-be-
fore coming into it's own. Yet this
is a splendid occasion-one to stir
the blood and set the heart a-thump-
| ing with hope. And to this splendor
of fact and implication Mr.. Thomp-
| son does open-handed justice, just
as he also gives weight and serious
ness and authenticity to the daily
proceedings of the peace conference.
LABOR's CHALLENGE TO THE So
CIAt ORDER BY John Graham
Brooke, author of THE Social I'm
rest" etc. New York: The Mac
milan Company.
This book has been long time in
the brew-forty years. That accounts
for the f1avors of mellow wisdom that
it imparts. Forty years of note max
ing, of fastening facts in their fresh
ness, of securing a sufficient perspec-
tive for the testing of those facts and
their effects. One is deeply impressed
by the absence of partisanshlp here.
He IS equally encouraged by the con.
structive quality of the study. The
i writer sees his subject whole. SO
seen, 1abor's challenge to the social
order is but the progress of an his
toric movement that commenced ages
ago when the first comnoner dared
to stand upright before potentates
and powers. Sometimes the challenge
has been exercised in religion, some
times in politics, sometimes in indus
| try-but, in it's essence, it has re-
manned unchanged. This study con-
Germs itself with certain facts-wlth
| things as they are. And out of this
! body of facts, whose central one is
democracy. as the great unavoidable
educator, he builds, or rather points
out, the logical sequences of the great
situation, the inevitable issues that
wise foresight will take into account.
The writer is neither for labor nor
for capital, in the sense of being an
| advocate of either. He is rather the
| expositor-this is true and this is
true. Since these things are true be-
yond dispute, let US all accept the
truth and let US, then, follow the one
road that these truths point out. 10
be sure, this plan jars the present So
cial order but better that it be Jared
into broader order than to be
blasted out of existence. An admira-
bly, wise and helpful study.
JAPAN, Real and Imaginary. By Sgd
ney Greenbie. illustrated from
photographs. New York: Harper
& Bros.
Much more real than imaginary is
the effect of this study of Japan, des-
pite the implication of Mr.. Greenbie's
title to his book. In substance, the
book is an intimate record of two
y
live and in trying to match up the
oriental thought with that of native
Of the west. In a fine spirit of vaga-
bondage. this wanderer deliberately
places himself in the open and free
places of Nipponese hfe-and that is,
classes. Here he makes daily record
Of the hundreds Of little things that
sum the custom and character of the
people around him. The kind of house
they inhabit. it's furnishings, the food,
the work, the recreations. the outlook
of one layer upon another of the social
complex-these are the things that
come out in this perfectly frank and SIM
pie record. Any average reader has
in his mind certain vague terms that
gather up loosely what he knows about
the customs of Japan. In this graphic
account these terms take on definite
ness, slip into their legitimate sur
roundings, expand into new facts and
meanings. and, taken together. provide
an Illuminating and most interesting
experience, which the writer has been
able to pass over to the reader in a
respect the record meets it's purpose
admirably, since it's aim is to make
accurate accounting of what the writer
himself discovered in the course of
his two-year adventure in notable
corners of the island. empire. -
HALF PORTIONS. By Edna Ferber
New York: Doubleday. Page & Co.
The material that goes into these
short stories is lying loose all over the
place for any one to pick up. The point
is, however. that to the average on
| romance. not shred of dramatic in
terest about it. A spinster who turns
out to be the everyday mother and the
overnight mother of her self-absorbed
sisters children-this is no story theme
Nor is the semi-annual orgy of house.
cleaning that. twenty-five years or so
ago, was an essential part of the ritual
of housewifery. Nor. upon it's surface,
does there appear to be any. special in
terest in the prompt termination of a
loving old mothers tyranny over her
| bachelor son by the sudden advent of
monplace themes. in the hands of this
waywise dealer in plain human stuff,
| turn out to be matters Of moment and
charm to those readers who appreciate
what Maeterlinck calls "the tragical in
daily life Miss Ferber is a master of
detail-not of numerical detail that
merely piles item upon item, after the
fashion of some modern realists Rather
is she a master of essential details,
those which, selected and arranged. de-
liver over to the reader a. most lifelike
ensemble of personality and incident
No great heights, no great depths here
but, instead warm and Illuminating
seizure of the meaning and. color of a
thousand commonplace turns of the
human drama.
THE WIND BETWEEN THE WORLDS.
BY Alice Brown. author of 1.-The
Prisoner" etc. New York: The
! Macmillan Company.
! Brought suddenly to the fore by
heart hungers that the war produced,
| g