The New York herald., 1922-07-30

Cannon. Indianapolis: The BobbS-
Merrill Company.
r T is safe to predict that this little
volume of photographed
homilies by the Secretary of
Labor will excite the derision and
scorn of those who are so contemptu-
Gus of American life and American
institutions, which they believe-or
affect TO believe-to be faithfully
portrayed in main Street" 1t
would be hard indeed to imagine a
book more certain to provoke their
contempt than this story of the rise
of the little Welsh boy to the honor
able eminence of his present position
as a member of President Harding's
Cabinet.
Fortunately for the author, and,
let me hasten to add, for the nation.
those qualities of the book which will
evoke the scorn of the supercilious
persons above referred to will be no
less certain to compel the admiration
and grateful approval Of millions of
the authors fellow citizens. They
will follow with keen sympathy the
struggles of the author from poverty
to that condition which he holds, so
that at 40 he was rated as a pros
porous young man. as he tells us.
They will find in this story a con-
firmation of their faith in America,
and will agree with the author that
"a land where boy can enter the
mills at eleven, learn two trades, ac-
quire sound business education and
make a competence in his thirties is
not such a bad country as the hot
headed Reds would have us believe"
The simple good nature, the breezy
optimism, the filial devotion and the
irrepressible, though somewhat paw
ky, humor of the man cannot fail to
command the admiration of those
who believe that this is the most ia
vored nation in the world, that its
opportunities are more widely diff
that thrift and industry will here
command higher degree of material
comfort for the laborer than can be
SO obtained in any other country.
III.
Mr.. Davis is not a trained writer.
His book lacks the literary charm of
the autobiographical sketches of Ed
ward Box. Jacob Riis and Mary An
tin. to name only three Of the many
immigrants who have revealed the
incidents and the manner of their
Americanization. Nevertheless. its
naive. chatty style makes the story
of Mr.. Davis easy and pleasant read
ing. 1t is the approved Chautauqua
platform style set forth in print. The
spirit of the Chautauqua pervades
the book throughout. both in style
and content. The reader who is at
all familiar with our great national
institution can almost hear the
laughter and handclapping at the end
of the short, easy paragraphs with
their rather laborious jokes. the little
oratorical tricks of forced epigram
or paradox, the sententious, insistent
emphasis of the obvious and the in
cessant moralizing. However irri
tating this may be to the oversensi-
tive souls who despise our "bour
geois culture" it is all clean, whole
some and stimulating. Reverence
for God faith in the Bible. love of
the country and respect for its laws,
passionate loyalty to home and fam
lily. high regard for property and
supreme confidence in himself-these
are the qualities that are dominant
in the character of the Secretary of
Labor as they are revealed by these
amiable. discursive and somewhat
slangy sketches. Fortunate is the
land whose citizenry is largely COM
posed of such individuals
AS City Clerk in small Indiana
town while young man the
author saw a man. a steel puddler
like himself by trade. narrowly
escape a prison sentence because he
could not comprehend a simple ques-
ton addressed TO him by the court.
and his helpless silence was accepted
as a sign of guilt. When the City