Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-28
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. G.. M.

/ -
CATTLE. BY william Macleod Raine
and Will G. Barnes. Doubleday,
Dcran g. Co.,
That early invasion Of the West from
| the East by way of the covered wagon
| is familiar, in outline at least, to every
schoolboy. The later counter invasion
| from South to North, however, by way
CT countless self-perpetuating hordes
] of the Genus Bos is known chiefly in
| the Shreds and patches of official COM
] ment or personal adventurous account
ings. That this stupendous trek up
| country has definitely modified and
! positively changed the color and quality
| Of life throughout the West is not SO
| generally realized, not SO fully taken
| into account.
| To be sure, libraries have been writ
ten about this vast region from many
a point of view. The pioneer, the hun
ter, the Indian fighter, the gold digger
and the pure adventurer have contrib
uted to the common sum Of information
and legend concerning It. The Govern
| ment, also, has given ofncial concern
and attention to many demanding
points in the great West. And, indeed,
| to the matter in hand-cattle.
This book is among the first to give a
| full and adequate survey of that ire
| mendouS movement Of cattle northward
| from Texas to Canada-that Is, Cattle"
| Is clearly one of the first to set this
| epic circumstance to suitable dramatic
| recital. Trailing the vanishing bison
and the retreating Indian, uncounted
| millions of bovineS filled the vast plains,
| foraging northward through valleys and
along hillsides. owners of limited
herds soon became cattle kings. Thieves
of live stock became the fashion. Local
| warfare was a commonplace. Swift
punishment, as lawless as the lifting
itself, was all in the days work. Dis
order and public menace demanded the
! intervention of the Government. And.
right there, the matter stands today.
At the center of this cattle invasion
and expansion is the cowboy, a product
| of the new order. A picturesque figure
, who, whatever shortcomings he may
have possessed, had, unfailingly, never
theleSs. the commanding virtue of cour-
| age and daring. Good here, not so good
| there--lilke the rest Of us--the cowboy
stands to win in the estimation of all
| who secretly long for. touch of ro-
| nance in a world that Is largely. of a
| literal prosiness. In this book you have
| thte cowboy-all there is Of him.
Cattle" is, in substance, a chapter
| in the economic history of this country.
| AS such, it is compound of economic
! fact and the logic Of modern industrial
development.
One of it's authors is an expert in
this field. The other writer, William
Raine, knows the West from ground to
sky-limit. He has written more than
| 80 novels upon that single theme. The
two come together in a keen apprecia-
ton of the tremendously picturesque
! quality of this chapter in the opening
| of the West. 1t is clear that the cow
| boy embodieS in his personality and
experience such romance as fills and
overfiows the subject. So, quite as mat
| ter of course, these Two impose upon
this hero the bushes of delivering the
story of the great cattle movement to-
ward the North. A tale that is packed
| with incident, charged with electric
| flashes. shifting each moment with new
! turns and trends and issues. Under
meath such surface glitter and charm
there is, nevertheless, the slow drive of
an irresistible force, the glacial move
| ment Of economic factors working out
| through invincible laws toward certain
significant industrial ends. A brilliant
! book. A useful one, besides, and great
| ly engrossing one. Odd that a story OF
cattle, of cows and calves and bulls, all
bent to the business of getting some
thing to eat-odd, that such a story
in its full action and effect should turn
out to be of pure epic effect. But so 1T
does. A thing, indeed, to make Trojan
wars and Persian conquests sing sort OF
low away back there in the mists OF
antiquity and incredulity. Alive, ire
mendous, exciting-this Cattle!
X X X X
GIANTS OF THE OLD WEST. BY
Frederick r. Bechdolt. The Cen
tury Co.
Here they arel John Golfer, Stephen
Austin, John Suffer, Brigham Young,
Ashley. Goodnight, Becknell and others
giants of the West, all. Men who, &C
cording to this writer, made the West
in certain of its large and lasting and
productive effects. A group of stirring
tales whose common center Is pioneer
| ing in one or another Of its important
| aspects.
hut a single purpose in this study. And
that is to devote to it his wide expert
ence in that section of the country, his
deep knowledge of it, his patience OF re-
search, his practice in recording events
that have definite influence upon the
subsequent run of historic development.
With no apparent concern about pre-
vious judgments rendered upon one or
another Of these chosen pioneers, Mr..
Bechdolt confines himself to facts and
to their fair Interpretation as influence,
both immediate and more remote, In
the surroundings of each. Money
minded men, each of these leaders, save
one. Brigham Young is the exception.
And the story of Brigham Young Is one
of the most absorbing of them all. One
gets a fresh view of this captain OF
new faith-or of a new Interpretation
of the old faith. And despite the spirit
ual connotation of the man, despite his
absorption in new Zion. Brigham
Young Is, after all, the modern business
man-eficient in the current sense,
practical, go-getting, masterful, not to
be gainsaid, the lord in his own house,
the house of the Mormon Church. He
is an invigorating figure, strenuous to-
ward his goal jealous to make the
desert blossom like the roSe-which Is
exactly what he did, that and many
another useful and progressive thing.
This is not the only vital story here. All
of them are of that quality. And all OF
them are wonderfully worth while to
us who are only today, and yesterday,
beginning to realize even a small part
of the resources of our own country In
history that is surprising both in its
human content and in its surprising
natural grandeur and richness. The
book, this sort of book, is invaluable to
every reader who wants to know, ana
should know, that which devolves upon
him as partaker of so much that sums
both as inheritance and obligation. The
manner of Giants of the Earth" is the
manner of the historian who is more
than half the poet and the story-teller.
x * X j;
WAGONS WEST. BY Elizabeth Page.
Farrar g. Rinehart, Inc.
This is a novel. It is also history, en-
gagged upon the greatly momentous