Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-27
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY the Booklouer

lndlcaCeS-merely q preface. II is IN no
way a system of ethics. It analyses
modern ethical standards in comparison
with those long established through the
ages, and stresses the need for read
justment but what the nature of that
readjustment shall be Is of necessity
parts to the book-Part /, THE DISCO
luton of the Ancestral Order; Part
II, THE Foundations Of Humanism";
Part III, THE Genius of Modernity"
The inscription on the title page of
Part is from Aristophanes-"Whirl is
king, having driven out Zeus." OF the
modern mans discomfort Mr.. Lippmann
says: "At the heart Of it there are
likely to be moments OF blank misgiving
OF which he is a part leaves dusty
taste in his mouth. He may be very
busy with many things, but he dis
covers one day that he. Is no longer
sure they are worth doing. He has been
much preoccupied, but he is no longer
sure he knows why. He has become in
polved in an elaborate routine of pleas
| ureS, and they do not seem to amuse
| him very much. He finds 1t hard to
| believe that doing any one thing is
better than doing any other thing; or,
in fact. that 1t is better than doing
nothing at all. It occurs to him that
| it Is a great deal of trouble to live,
| and that even In the best of lives the
thrills are few and far between. He
begins more or less consciously to seek
satisfactions because he is no longer
| that the pursuit of happiness was al
ways most unhappy quest" This is
| description Of profound state of
pessimism, state such as Carlyle lived
In for much of his long life. A very
constructive philosophy, firmly believed
! in, Is necessary to overcome such pes
| Simism. Mr.. Lippmann does not offer
any new philosophy, though in his con-
Guiding chapter he does suggest what
he calls the religion of the spirit" and
briefly tells his idea of 1t.
| Mr.. Lippmann's discussion OF politics
and economies in "A Preface to Morals
is an interesting part of the book. In
the chapter Government in the Great
| Society he takes account of the decline
Of loyalty to established ideas. Loyalty,
he says, Is a very flexible term las
good way as any to raise the tenn
about loyalty. Everybody regards him
self as loyal and resents any imputation
upon his loyalty. Yet even a cursory
| inspection Of this term will show, I
think, that 1t may mean any number of
different things. When the
citizens loyalty is in question the whole
matter becomes immensely subtle"
Though not considering political science
TT all an exact science, Mr.. Lippmann
admits its influence on life. Nobody
| takes political science very seriously,
for nobody is convinced that it is
science or that it has any important
| bearing on politics" Yet the section
THE Evolution of Loyalty is a small
treatise on q phase of political science
and helps to clarity ideas on the SUBJ
| ject by showing continuous develop
ment. The section Live and Let Live"
is an essay on liberation and the psy-
| chology which either promotes or pre-
vents it. "One Of the inevitable effects
OF being attached to many different,
| somewhat conflicting, interdependent
| groupings Is to blunt the edges Of par
| tisanship. 1t Is possible to be f1erceiy
partisan only as against those who are
| wholly alien. 1t is fair generalization
to say that the fiercest Democrats are
to be found where there are the fewest
| Republicans, the most bloodthirsty pa
triots in the safest swivel chairs. Where
men are personally entangled with the
| groups that are in potential conflict,
where Democrats and Republicans be-
| long to the same country club, and
where Protestants and Catholics marry
each other, 1t is psychologically impos-
sible to be sharply intolerant That is
why astute directors of corporations
adopt the policy Of distributing their
| securities as widely as they can; they
| know quite well that even the modest
shareholder is in some measure inSu-
lated against anti-corporate agitation.
| It Is inherent in the complex pluralism
! of the modern world that men should
behave moderately, and experience am
ply confirms this conclusion"
X
Five hundred times as much money
| Is being spent by Byrd to enter the
Antarctic region as was spent by Co.
lumbus to discover America, according
to F1tzhugh Green, explorer and author
Of a new booklet, THE Romance of
Modern Exploration" just published by
the American Library Association. This
vast difference in no way represents the
relative value of the two expeditions,
he points out, but it does show the
changes which have taken place in the
methods of exploration. THE modern
explorer" he says, "is an expert, and
his. results go to experts. while the
early Seafarer was more Of q rough
and-ready adventurer who took a long
chance, hoping for big gain-and didn't
mind much If he lost" Sketches of the
hardships, sacrifices and victories at
the poles, in Africa, in Asia, under the
sea, and in the thin air are a part of
this fascinating booklet, written by a
man who has been behind the scenes
of many of the great deeds of recent
years. The adventures are continued
in the several books suggested by Mr.
Green, which, he says, are so filled with
human interest that the reader will be
| compelled to feel as If he were one of
| the explorers party. 1.-THE Romance of
Modern Exploration" is one of the
Reading With Purpose" series.
| X 4 r
The cause of prohibition is to have
its Uncle Toms Cabin" If the offer of
Dorrance & Co. is accepted of a prize
of $1,000, plus royalties. for a novel
which shall be to prohibition what
Uncle Toms Cabin" was to slavery
The competition is open to all, but the
novel must deal with prohibition in the
United States The manuscripts must
all be in by June 1, $780, the successful
candidate will be announced very soon,
and the book will be published in the
Autumn of 1880.
The facts of the life of Erich Maria
Remarque, author of "Al Quiet on the
Western Front" are interesting as in
book. He is 81 years old, and belongs
to family which removed from France
during the French Revolution and settled
in the Rhine country. When he left
school he went into the German army,
and during the World War was on the
Western front. During the war most
of his friends were killed and his
mother died. He became a teacher in
a moorland village, where loneliness
and isolation added to the melancholy
which had resulted from the war. Sue
cessively he became an organist IN an