Evening star., 1923-11-04
FOUR FAMOUS NEW WORKERS. Bv


De AVA Stanwood Alexander. III.
u, author of "The History and
Procedure of the House of Repre-
sentatives." etc. New York: Henry
Holt & Co.
HE volume in hand offers a
study of Cleveland. Platt
Hill and Roosevelt in their
political careers. In effect
IT is a supplement to THE Political
history of the State of New York"
from 1882 to 1905. which. in three
volumes this author has already pub
uHhe1 a str6.-, this, OF the personal
forces that through a critical period
or New York state politics were
greatly influential not only in the
state Itself. but in national politics
as well. A study that serves to make
allve and objective the purely po-
iitfcal history which 1t accompanies
and illuminates Exceptionally in
teresting and informing discussion Is
given here of Cleveland and Roosevelt
. IN their special purposes and modes
OF achievement, in their general in
i..ieGce and effect Beside the names
listed in the title, innumerabIe other
names crowd this political record OF
the Empire state for a dozen years of
sserenuous see activity and conflicting in
.erestS. one assumes that the first
requirement of a study of this sort Is
tnat 1t be a record of fact, sufficient
~ inclusive to round the political
situation to completeness, sufficiently
anaiytlcal to give these outstanding
men their rightful place in the po-
Iitical complex, and to Judge each
tairly In his contribution to the
wnoIe. one accepts these require
ments as fulfilled at the hands Of this
historian. There Is another quality
eral reader. That is the manner of
the writer. Now. this book is as sp-
tlVating as story. These men are
as alive as today. The movement Is
has color and life and real action.
stimulating. informing. highly useful.
wonderful invigorator of pure his
tory itself.
LORD NORTHCLIFFE, A Memoir. BY
Max Pemberton. New York:
George H. Doran Company.
~ The eiectrifying personality of Lord
Northclfne suggests the dynamic
quality of Theodore Roosevelt. Both
men commanded the deepest feelings,
neither so constituted as to stir luke
warm interests. In respect to Lord
Northcliffe. the general reader is IA
miliar with only the spectacular cli-
i!idA VI d TeTldTRdDle career, bent
throughout to the security of i'm
perial England and to the develop
ment of gigantic scheme of world
communication and influence by way
of the press. Ones curiosity is stir
red tremendously over this man
what of his boyhood and youth, what
of his parents and early influences.
what of all the elements that entered
into the making of so notable a per-
sonality. SO sweeping an influence
like other men, with virtues, too-all,
one may be sure. exceptional and on
the grand scale. One is inclined to
think that nobody else could have
told the story. could have answered
the hundreds of questions better than
SO much by virtue of this long tenure
Of friendship as by the like qualities
of mind and heart. These have be-
gotten the sympathy. the understand
here, have produced-well. have pro-
duced Lord Northcliffe himself No
estimate for posterity and history is
essayed here. That for another. Just
the friendship. Possessed, too, of the
gift of words to match, superbly, the
fine qualities of that friendship.
LUTHER NICHOLS. BY Mary S.
Watts. author Of 1.-The House of
Rimmon." etc. New York: The
Macmillan Company.
We have all seen, any number of
times. the makings of this particular
story. But we are not story-tellers.
Mary S. Watts is. And she has here
told the story. The originating pic
ture, this. Drawn up beside the curb
a rich mans motor car. Within it
the rich mans daughter-young. love-
alluring. Beside it the rich mans
chauffeura youth. who, for bodily
beauty, has no fayors to ask of either
Adonis or Apollo. Smartly uniformed,
correctly posed. competent master of
his machine and capable guardian Of
the we'll being of its fair occupant,
the mobile face and speaking eyes
alight. with differential homage
something like this the picture
stands. The romance Of the rich
mans daughter and the rich mans
man. Not impossible, not even un-
familiar, as the facts run. Youth and
beauty meet here. male and female.
Propinquity does the rest. In per-
feet realism of manner and effect
Mrs. Watts follows the pair. The
girl filled with the new freedom, the
daring, the instinct for exploration
that men alone hitherto have enter
tained, stimulating taste of power
over the masterful male. The youth,
a speechless, mediocre fellow, whose
arms in this one-sided love duel are
but a beautiful body and a pair of
eloquent eyes acting quite indepen-
dent of his average mind HowevAr,
the youth needs no more than these,
for it is the young woman who man
ages, arranges. intrigues, lies, de-
ceives-all in a gay insouciance that
leaves her elders-looklng on here
rather speechless, not to say alarmed,
over the sophistication and finesse OF
this young female pursuer; over her
cruelty, as well. A sad little story,
after all. Brutality is depressing,
whether 1t is exercised by damascened
point or by the bludgeon Of the BUTCH
err. A thoroughly modern story, pick
ed off the current affairs of social
life. Mrs. Watts may have written
a better novel than this one-a more
discerning story. Subtler, more in
touch with the surprises of human
nature. more competent in it's maxi
ing, more interesting. One does not
think so.
THE LAW AND ITS SORROWS. By
James Hannibal Clancy, LII. b.
Detroit: The Bentham Institute.
cause of the earnest desire of sensible
and patriotically inspired people
everywhere to. strike down silly IL
iusions and make of our courts Of
law, courts of justice" All agree
especially do the members of the le-
gal profession agree-that the law
should be administered with more of
dispatch and less of merely technical
involution and complication. that 1t
should administer justice more even
ly, never forgetting that before the
law all men are equal. All agree
that the health of the courts of law
~