The New York herald., 1921-05-15
REVIEWS OF NEW FICTION
By PANAME.


people and things familiar to us all.
has given us in Les Condamnes a
Mort (F1ammarion) book in which
realism Yields TO the imaginative i'm
pulse. This volume marks a distinct
stage in the evolution of master
mind. Following a favorite plan of
Wells he places his plot, in the future;
beyond that he is in no sense an imi-
tator Of the English author, though
he admires him, and the two have
some points in common. Like Henri
Barbusse. Farrere is of English eX-
traction on his mothers side.
The story concerns the end of our
century and is supposed to have been
written about 213O.
CONDEMNED 10 Death centres IN
the strife OF rich and poor, of en-
ployers and employees-the most con-
temporary of themes. Moreover the
conflict Of mind and muscle is ex-
pressed here. Mind is naturally vic
torious, because the progress of sci
ence has multiplied infinitely both
creative and destructive power-for
the two go together. The late war was
a startling, a tragic proof of that.
And in this book the Condemned to
Death" are the manual laborers.
| At the end of the twentieth CEN
tury human industry had just arrived
at its highest point of concentration,
single and formidable establish
ment, where all the grain of Amer
lea entered, and whence all the bread
80 tn
400 millions that peopled the two con-
| tinents The mammoth bakery is
placed not far from New Orleans.
! Farrere undertakes to estimate the
future population of North and South
America along the lines of past
growth. Since the forty millions of
| 1890 had risen in 1890 to $50 millions,
400 millions in 1890 is not incredible.
That fantastic factory employed 150.-
600 workmen and occupied many
square miles Of ground (264 kilome-
ters carres). There were two sepa-
rate cities outside the shop. one filled
With the 100000 men, women and
children of the workmens families,
perintendents, engineers and other
1 IldHdSeTS, WHO IluIlDtTeu SOlHe llOu5-
ands of highly trained men.
| Apart from all the rest and domi-
mating everything stood the palace of
the Governor, James +. Mac Head
Vohr, president of the Siturgie Com
pany, commonly called "the man of
wheat"
| "A harlequin palace, with its arches
of the ground floor, its Corinthian col
umns above, the 'pell-melr Franco
Assyrian of the other facade and
the amazing wall of granite which
weighed down the whole. The
effect was not that of good taste. But
such mass Of granite, so much por-
phyry and marble, carven. fretted
with so prpdigal a hand, could not fail
to be impressive: il was too eloquent
of power and of a power too proud
and sovereign to fail. The builders OF
the High Palace-the men of America
had built 1t in their own image. in
the image of their nation; the young
est, therefore the least sophisticated,
the widest Of all perhaps, but the
strongest also. and il may the great
est"
| In that house was an Arabian
Nights luxury, a princely retinue of
| thirty lackeys. the symbols of the CEN
turies of power. No, with all its gro
tesque elements it was not without
harmony. for it was exactly what the
owner had willed himself expressed
in his environment, "the right place
for the right man" These words
are printed in English in the midst Of
the French text, for the author coul 1
find no phrase in his own tongue that
would convey by their crisp mono :
| syllable brevty exactly the effect he
sought.
And the master OF all this was n
man of sc years. of a powerful intel
ligence a mighty will His face had
the keen look Of an axe, his mouth 4
sabre cut. his voice like his visage.
sharply metallic" He was feared by
everybody and hard among the hard.
est" never softened except at the sight
of his child, an only daughter. Eva.
For her his hard nature melted into
the last extreme of tenderness His
millions were for Mac Head Vohr.
only fairy wand in the service of his
daughter"
Nevertheless we shall see in HIM
despotic will overcoming paternal
love. For the drama is near.
The mass of workmen have found
leader in Pietro Ferrati. "an apostle
fanatic" who would deliver them
not from their physical fatigue-that
is nothing: not from any material
poverty. for they are well paid; but
from their poverty of mind born OF
brutalizing toll
\ Pietro had been an engineer in the
service of the company along with
/ his brother Andrea. A great career
] lay before them both, but Pietro the
elder. touched by revolutionary fire
/ had gone over to the opposite camp
/ Although he loved his brother with a
deep affection he had not seen him for
two years. Andrea. sincere in his way
but OF different temperament. had
become the chief adviser Of Mac Head
vohr. who appreciated him and had
even begun to dream Of giving the
young man his daughter.
| Love decided otherwise and threw