Evening star., 1930-06-17
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. C. NJ.

\ -
Edgar Chamberlin. Houghton, Mif-
fin Co.
the life story of a person-that is
biography. 80 my schooling in this re-
| gard ran.
Family" Little, Brown & CO.. gave in
good evidence that a group Of indi-
secure legal occupancy Of that particu-
lar literary structure.
And today The Boston Transcript"
! furnishes equal proof that q public in
/ stitution even may also find itself legal
ly at home under the same roof.
1t looks, therefore, much as II it is
not the mere count OF one man, one
woman, that offers opportunity for
| geographic consideration. Rather does
1t appear that the prime essential of
such undertaking is certain unity,
unity of purpose and objective. of ac
complishment and effect, that opens
the door of biography to the explorer
of human activities and values in one
or another of the fields Of mans ad-
venturings.
This year the Boston Transcript Is
celebrating its hundredth birthday. An
! interesting part of these commemora-
tive events Is this book wherein the
! famous centenarian goes back over the
| years, from birth to manhood and ma
| turity, pointing out in pleased reninis-
cence the way marks of its progress
through such change and vicissitude as
have involved not only its own COM
munity but its own country as well.
So used is the public to the press that
the vital Importance Of newspapers as
great civic institutions is obScured by
such familiarity. That the daily paper
| Is the great educator of the country
| fails to register as a rule. That it Is
! for
| lions, that 1t Is extension course for
other millions. that 1t is the greatest
of the Americanization projects of which
We hear so much--that 1t is all Of these
and much more besides we do not stop
! to consider. There is, therefore, a tre-
mendous obligation upon the paper.
Some need this clear responsibility.
Some do not. So, there are good daily
| papers and bad ones-Just as the good
and bad appear to meet and compromise
in pretty much all of mans engage
mentS with life. This, Boston paper
steps over to the count of those dailies
that have ever been on the side of
clean hands and decent feet. Not that
it says this here in the story. Says
nothing about that part of the matter.
Merely sets down the facts OF its life
instead. There is a fairly general i'm
preston that decency and dullness are
likely to keep company with each other,
| that the Puritan is a proSy fellow
| good enough for Sunday, but no sort
of companion for Monday and Tuesday
and Saturday night. A mistake, as you
will find by reading here, though the
! Transcript is unmistakably Of Puritan
blood and breeding.
! Here are embodied the essentials of
journalism in this country. Here is a
record of the small beginnings. the pre-
| carious advances, the marked change
in technic with print-craft inventions,
the multiplication of processes, the
startling increase of output, the grow
ing influence of the press in all col
lective observation-disclosures, politics,
finance, social programs, philanthropy
civic well being. When the Transcript
set out upon its venturesome way the
New England pulpit dominated AFFAIRS
This backward overlooking shows the
division Of this influence among other
public agencies, the press included here
High standards of life are gradually be-
coming the business of leaders who are
not always within the church. Social
behaviors, cultural acceptanceS, educa-
ton, many sorts of civic enterprise are
growing to be Of more widespread in
| tereSt and concern.
Here. among other vital matters, is
the history of advertising in effect. Its
urgent rise, its steady growth, its ulti-
mate tremendous expansion as basic
need to the existence of the paper it
| self, its important part in newspaper
ethics and policy--all this is brought
out in the story Of a single daily. Sem
sationalism comes in for q goodly share
of avoidance on the part of this par
ticular New England member of the
| journalistic brotherhood, with certain
reflections upon the purpose and effect
of this familiar quality OF many press
issues. Indeed, there Is hardly an In
| terest pertaining to this brand of pro-
duction that does not find place in this
communicable story Of the first hun
dred years of great American paper.
High lights in the accounting appear
in the agitation over slavery, In the
Civil War, in reconstruction reports and
on to other wartime periods of the
United States. In its earlier parts there
are items of deep concern over the
modern tendencies in about every di-
rection, amusing to us since we are so
| deeply agitated about actual dangers as
every age in its turn is. The Transcript
| finds it worth while to criticize feminine
manners and why not? The special
grievance at one point is the volumi-
nous flummery of their apparel, so filling
church pews that there Is no room for
the male persuasion to sit. So. in print.
comes the plan to exclude these expan-
| Sive members from evening service IN
order that men may have the beneflt
of divine service. Meanwhile many
interesting things are happening to
Boston. Charles Dickens comes to town.
A woman undertakes to edit the Tran
script, Cornelia Wells Walter, and makes
a most triumphant matter of it. Ter
/, ribly hard on Edgar Allan Poe this lady
was for some suspicious rising against
the true morality Of that genius. A
quite persistent and terrible nemesis
Gid the lady editor prove to be to the
uncertain character of Poe. The paper
gives frequent glimpses of the intellec-
tuals who adorned Boston and its
neighbcrhood with experiments in plain
living and high thinking, philosophers
and tranScendentalistS. And so grad
ually the story moves into the present
century, concerned over big business.
| and its expansions, over war and
| political problems of new cast. Always
a paper of literary connotations, the
| Transcript grows in attention to art
music, literature, setting up book room
| of its own where may be found many
| a writer of prominence and general
| interest A remarkable accounting Is
| here made of this centenarian of the
| newspaper world. 1t Is authentic history
| of special brand 1t reads like adven-
ture, which 1t is. It's personal story OF
growth. influence and success is that
Of few other daily papers in the coun-
try. These along with the Transcript,
are living up to the obligations of the
profession toward public service in its
real meaning. A fine story for anybody
to read. as a chapter in the growth of
this country.
MODERN RELIGION FROM PURI-
| TAN ORIGINSp Henry Hallam
! Saunderscn, D. D. The Beacon
| Press
A rich and seasoned study whose eff
! feet iS To chanoa nne'S outlook unOn