Evening star., 1924-12-07


Princeton: Princeton Uniyersit,
Press.
~ IGGING about the roots of a
growth is necessary, benef.
cial to the health of the
0 growth, equally useful often
in revealing conditions of soil
and rootage whose ultimate effect
registers in the quality of the fruit
itself. This process of agriculture is
no less important in respect to i'm
nortant institutional growths rooted
IN history. TO keep fresh the roots
Of these is an essential part of the
rational life. To go back to the oc-
casions that planted them, to the con-
Citions that sustained them. TO the
events that tested them, to the effects
that proved them-this is the single
process capable of keeping them alive
and fully operative. Now and then
happily a now and then becoming
more frequent--some one of special
equipment in training and experience
gives just this expert treatment to
one or another of the pivotal points
in our national development. 1t is
Mr.. Charles Warren who in this case
has performed an act of sound sch9l-
arship and good citizenship in a
study of the Supreme Court of the
United States. The great fuRction
of the Supreme Court of the United
states, in sdjudicatinE CONTROVERSIES
between the sovereign States of the
Union. has its roots in history" .
For an understanding OF this func-
tton Of the Supreme CourH one must
interestingly as one would tell a
story, he recounts thsf work Of that
long, hot Summer i'm Philadelphia,
when 13 incorrigibly Independent SOW
ereignties wrestlfd for personal ad-
vantage, exactly as men wrestle to-
day over the matters of moment that
come before Khem. However, there
were wise and good men then, just as
there are to-day, and out of that Sum
mer camS our great charter of lib
erty. I'VE Americans are so accus-
toned 70 the Supreme Court and it's
peculiar place in our Government that
We, fail to realize what an absolute
novelty the Federal convention
achieved in 1897. Never before in
history had there existed a court with
the powers which this tribunal was
TO exercise" Such court with such
functions Is the most original, the
most distinctively American contribu-
tion to political science to be found
in the Constitution" And the author
goes on with an analysis of the pow
these powers and duties secured away
back in that year 1887, and worked
out OF the actual controversies be-
tween State and State at that time
going on, at that time settled for
them, and for US, in those Summer
months at Philadelphia. Case after
case is brought forward in this con-
crete story of the founding OF the
supreme Court of the United States.
Beyond consideration of these in
terstate suits the author discusses
cases that are justiciable at the hands
of this court with a final analysis of
the enforcement of the DEGREES of the
court. Appendices A, B, c, D and e
still further objectify the matters dis
cussed in the body OF the text. A
most useful book for the student one
equally useful for the general reader.
And to both of these classes II is
bound to be discussion of imme-
diate and vital interest.
"MARSE HENRY,-i An AutobIor-
raphy. BY Henry watterson. New
York: George H. Doran Co.
tr9m the moment, at the beginning
OF this chronicle, when he declares s
hinself TO have been born and soon
thereafter TO have begun to take no.
tice. to the spirited and confident close
OF the big volume, Henry Watterson
does not offer single dull or point
less moment to readers. And that, Of
course, was to be expected. A life
packed with partaking IN most of
the outstanding National events since
the Civil War; a mind deeply inform
ed and speech of peculiar point and
pith; personality dominating and
tctureSque-theSe are the qualities
and facts that drew to 'Marse Henry"
the consideration of notable men, not
only within hts own country, but
from the world itself. 1t is a crowd
ed book. One can hardly make his
way through the press OF people and
events. 1t ie a great and fascinating
pageant from which one gathers
what he can in a haste to move on to
the next and then to the next. Ones
only excuse for this needless race
through the crowd is that those just
ahead are irresistibly appealing, and,
in any event, the book must have a.
second reading. when the excitement
of the first passage has in a measure
died down bit. A truly wonderful
life story by man no less remark
able.
THE OLD LADIES. By Hugh Walpole,
author of The Cathedral" etc.
New York: George H. Doran Co.
1t is more than likely that Hugh
Walpole, enamored of The Cathe-
drap'-as he has every right to be-
found himself, in effect, anchoVed In
fascination to Polchester and the
great church whose spirit worked
such mastery over all the affairs of
the town, as he in the story so know
ingiy portrays. So anchored, 1t is
not unlikely that he began to cast
about for some other emblem OF the
ancient city on the banks of the Pol,
falling away in its age through for
getfulness and neglect. 1t was in
such a quest, maybe, that he hit upon
the idea of these three old women
with whom he undertook-as he did
in the case of the .cathedrad-to OBJ
jectify another aspect of the old
town. Some such elusive and exact
ing task Mr.. Walpole must have set
himself--enthralled by its difficulties.
fred by its appeal to the creative
that of art itself. And, properly, the
story is for the artist, and for the
critics of art. Certainly it is not for
the everyday reader who, as a rule,
turns to his authors for surcease of
sorrow and fright in the face of the
actualities around him. The critics
and what is called the "discriminat-
ing reader" VIII have beautiful
time prasing this finely constructed
work. But, for the one who wants.
through his reading, to get, for the
time being, into a more delectabie
world than the one with which he Is
putting up a daily fight, that one will
give these three old women g. wide
berth. Like Ethan Frome" some
one has said. Yes, something like
that surprising story. though 1t, COM
pletely misses the saving grace of
the former-its austere brevity. IIu-
man nature simply cannot stand that
sort of thing prolonged-any more