Evening star., 1923-01-07
INTERNATIONAL

Law and Procedure, etc. "aSn-
ington: John Byrne g. Co.
IN sum, this study denies the ex-
istence of any proper interna-
tional law. 1t grants usage, con-
Vention, custom - inventions TO
promote convenience and economy in
interchanges among nations. But 1t
denies-and argues-that these are
not in any fundamental conception
identical with the content and intent
OF true international la~ To denne.
The real and proper origin OF TINS
law the author goes back to the law
OF the nation. And even here ne Is
compelled to set aside usages OF con-
venience before arriving at the Sfouh-
dation of the law of the natloh.
When once reached, through the op-
scuring and distorting overlappihss
of convention, the fundamental Id"
of the nation is identical with tne
fundamental law that must OBTAIN pe
tween nations-internation law. III
both cases. since both are the Same
this fundamental law is based eNctuc
sively upon the inaAenaole rig ~
man-life liberty. the pursuit OF nap
piness. Its basis is. clearly. right anu
wrong as these apply to indlNidua!s'
TO the nation and to different nations;
A clear. straight, simple conception ol
Fundamental law constituted 70 cover
in Justice. all societies of men. from
any two individuals TO the peoples OF
the various nations OF the word. me
first effect of this treatment Is 10
separate the fundamental from the
external. This separation contributes
10 system. where. without II, there
is the confusion of no system An
other effect is that this conception
sweeps away, without apology Whds
1n i
International law deals with the run
damentalS of right and wrong alone
then, while war may be supject 70
usageS, to methods, it cannot come
under the consideration OF law ltScll.
Here the author points out the met
ficiencies OF international courts as
they are a present organized. Ana,
further. he makes ii plain that
democracy must form Its own law, law oi ooii
nations upon those fundamentai
principles of right and wrong Whlch
. Il recognizes as existing and as ap.
propriate between man and man.
This is an original book ana coui
aEeous one a most convincing booR-
as we'll and one that even laEman
can read with understanding. II Is
developed in a wealth of illustration
and concrete example that chanSes
abstract words to living matter. 1t
is sourced in unimpeachable author
ity and drawn off from many onlclal
experiences of high international I'M,
port. a remarkable study that VIII
and should create an enormous
amount of interest and discussion.
THE CHARM OF THE MIDDLE
KINGDOM. BY James Reid Marsh,
illustrated. Boston: Little, Brown
6; Co.
Mr.. Marsh lived in China. an official
of the Chinese customs. First, he
was up in Manchuria. at Mukden.
Then he was in the extreme south,
at Mengtsz. In between times ms
vacation took him wherever fancy
led him. These official residences
and vacation wanderings stand as
part of the authors equipment Tor
making this book. His business re-
quired a knowledge Of the Chinese
language Another point Mr.. Marsh
is young Now we know nothing
about the date of his birth, which
ilas nothing to do with the clear fact
of his youth. Being young. he has
the eye of innocence and the friendly
heart and the open mind. And all
Of these, taken together provide the
plastic mold into which the charm
of the Middle Kingdom flowed in a
rich stream of impressions and
realizations. Some of the facts are
already well known to the general
reader Many of them are new. All
of them are fresh. with the 4set of
the authors pleasure in them. There
is an uncommon amount of under
standing in this book. Therefore
there is very little OF criticism and
a great deal of liking for the people
of China If you already have a
store of information about China,
leaven il with "rhe Charm of the
Middle Kingdom.
author of Il Have Only Myself to
Blame" New York: George H
Doran Company.
''Who is the man on Chestnut street
With colored toy balloons:
l see him with his airy freight
on sunny Afternoons
A peddler of such lovely goods
The heart leaps to behold
His of bubbles, red aid green
And blue and pink and gold
christopher Morley.
The peddler man is a woman this
time In leash of hand. above her
head a hundred brilliant bobbing
balloons laugh with the sunlight and
chatter with the breeze. Simply the
Princess Bibesco. telling stories. And,
TO be quite literal, there are only six
teen in the bunch-and that is our
single concession. For they are bril-
liant, and they do bob about in err
ratio gayety. and they do laugh. And
they do-chatter? Hardly. One must
take that back also, since, never In
the world, would the keen scalpel-
edge of Princess Bibesco's speech
come under the Gathering vacuity Of
chatter" This writer can make
story. That is, she knows-none bet
ter-that under never so great graces
of speech a story must have point,
and must deliver that point. She
she can make a story out of anything,
since any theme, however trivial,
when opened up proves to be every
thing-just life, which has only a
fmere handful of realities. after all.
Most engaging these snap shots or
life-engagIng III the way of stimnla-
1ion and surprise. and an almost riot
. Gus enjoyment OF the dash and the
courage and the effrontery of, them
GLIMPsEs Of AUTHORS. BY Caro-
line Ticknor. illustrated. Boston:
Houghton Miff1in Company.
ones interest in the intellectual
and spiritual life of an author begers,
0uite naturally. a corresponding in
terest in his personal life as we'll.
TO know one through his writings,
prose or poetry, fact or fiction,
is to desire to know him in his per-
sonal human behaviors. The former
is easier to reach than the latter.
A mans books are accessible. The
man himself is hidden-unless, as
in the case at hand, some one has
gone to the labor and the pains of
gathering and setting forth intimate
glimpses of one and another of these
writing folks. Caroline Ticknor was
born in the atmosphere of books. All
her life writer's have been the com
monplace of a quite uncommon eXis-
tence But there is more than this
influence in the work of this book.
One has the consciousness of choice,
of selection here out of larger back
ground than could possibly be stretch
ed behind any single book. And this
selection, so intelligent and intuitiYe.
fills out and humanizes the authors
with whose works most people are
familiar. No one is likely to read
o., snc In nrIo orIx- u1,