Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-08
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
l. G.. NJ.
THE NEW MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA.
Herbert Adams Gibbons. The Gen.

THE NEW NAB OF SOUTH AMERICA.
Herbert Adams Gibbons. The Gen.
fury Co.
! Taken together body and soul, the
| Pan-American Union in Washington is
more than a mere building of extraor-
| binary charm. 1t becomes a deeply
significant thing as well. Under such
| consideration it steps out an embodied
"Reminiscences of true historic content.
| Again, it is a symbol of international
idealism. Once more. it offers fair prom
Use of ultimate national and lnterna-
| tlonal fulflllment.
Set in midcity, the Pan-American
; Union. nevertheless, is possessed of such
exclusions as the capital so notably per-
mits by way of it's many park spaces
| and the leafy Screenage of its 1nnumer-
able great trees. Within such setting
! the beauty of this place-unlque ana
| eXotic-comes out as delight TO tne
| eve as a source of pride to the city
| itself.
| Go down to this spot some night when
! the moon is riding high, true magl-
clan that outlines upon the white walls
the inner purpose, the spirit OF TINS
lovely creation. In shining picture you
will see there that long-gone day When
Spain in her glory walked this way,
traversed the Western world, leaving
behind many hostage to the future In
racial type, in an enriched language, in
the inspiration of art, in some turn OF
the daily way of life, in genius and mi
tiative working out in new field. An
other picture passes-that of expansion
and growth. Latin occupation and set
Element in the New World, states in the
making. neighborhoods of states form
ing everywhere to the south OF our own
country Within these the Latin tenn
permanent. hot and headlong breeds pa
triot and liberatory urging to reoelllon
against old Spain, leading armies into
neighboring states, melting even TO civil
war itself in the ardorS of the new
vision of liberty.
Meanwhile. the world itself had grown
ormouSly-certainly not entirely away
from wars, as no great stretch OF years
was to prove But, without question, 1t
was we'll on its way to settled con-
viction that peoples and nations could
hope for no appreciate measure OF per.
nanency except for the substitution OF
construction for destruction. Industry,
production, exchange. common interests,
these must give to war, to the passions
ard panoply and waste of war, its true
place as the chief agent of unciv1llza-
ton.
Pereft of the moons Witchery, the
Pan-American Union by sunlight Is
plainly a place of great activity, place
Of everyday business. Practical plans
hold possession there, ingenious meas
ures animate it, definite purpose DOM
mates it. And no wonder. It's Stupen-
dous enterprise is nothing less than TO
make a going concern OF a dream, OF
an ideai-nothing less than to round to
mature efficiency that modern lnstru-
ment of the Western Hemisphere, Pan
Americanism.
We all know what Pan AmericaniSm
is. Well, do we! To be sure, the pa
pers give accounts of its various APP
pearances - today a conference OF
Latin American officials, yesterday
commercial congress, the night before
a social TODD, once week the radio
contributing to the good cause OF bet
ter acquaintance through characteristic,
music, now and then goodwill flight,
and once the notable spectacle OF an
incoming President of the united
States off to learn Lessons Of South
America at first hand But 1t is the
office of the newspaper to give the
news, not to round up bodies of knowl-
edge. nor to compare and eyaluate
these, nor to project them into logical
and plausible future. 1t takes the eX-
pert to do this sort of thing. Just as
it takes imagination and a deep sense
of drama to put such knowledge across
for the intelligent use of the general
reader.
*4*
And here is the expert. And here Is
the inspired book about South America
that he has created. Turn to the last
chapter of this book There you will
find Pan-Americanism, its body and
spirit. There your questions are an
sWered Whose the vision that reached
out for this thing? Whose the expert
ence that advanced it into a working
scheme of international relationships!
Whose the patience that fostered it
under encouragement and imminent
failure? Here you will read that, like
every other worthwhile thing under
the sun, this one, too, was in the be-
ginning but seed of inspired thought
scattered here and there by wise men
already convinced of the futility Of
war and then more war. The seed
grew, slowly, yielding season by sea-
son the good fruitage of freer con-
facts among the American peoples, bet
ter knowledge, reader accommodations
and the gradual displacement of the
man on horseback by the man i'll the
field and at the machine. An eco
nomic world was croWding hard the
world of conquest, was growing neg
ligent as well toward the rule of pure
politics and involved diplomacy. Here
you have the heart of Pan-American-
ism by scholar who, happily is the
dramatiSt, too. Here is hiStory-the
rise of this new theory. the agents of
it's growth, the occasions upon which
it has operated beneficently in the
Western Hemisphere, its failures, its
present status and the promise that it
are united by the writer to make 4
living thing of the special ism of Pan
America.
Leading to this subject is chapter
that contributes definitely to it as APP
proach and Interpretation. This is the
doctrine" that made President Monroe
famous, one that has contributed to
something of foreign misunderstanding
and discomfort. Flexible to expanding
international circumstance, however
this centenarian among doctrines there
by demonstrates its still robust vitality
its undiminished efficacy at point of
need. DR.. Gibbons clears up, for the
time being at least, the quality of the
Monroe Doctrine as an instrument of
international limitations.
X i; X x
And now. only now, do we come to
the body of the book itself, THE New
Map of South America" Looks like
plain lettering, doesn't it! Such. how
ever, is not the intent. We've fingered
here. perhaps too long, because this is
in a sense a home matter, ready for
intimate intercourse, for prolonged
companionship. Besides, Dr. Gibbons is
generally recognized as the prince of