Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-27
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
]. C. NJ.

Of the Governor.
Therefore. throughout the Empire
State, in ceTemonials OF one form OF
another, tribute Is being paid 70 great
native son.
Press efficiency and rsdio wixardry
open the way for an actual and general
partaking in the events Of this memo
rial day. Right now men and women
everywhere are giving pause to tht
days occupatio for an instant Of
homage to the fortnight maniinesS OF
one man,
Perhaps all Of these. the New Yorker
away from home stands in the front
line Of these giving due 70 Theodore
Roosevelt. Ground roots Of the indi-
yidual run deep. The scrap OF acreage
that sprouted and grew enc. any one !;
very special spot, different from al
others. Around it the deepest affections
gather. These grow with time and
separation. The old neighborhood is
next OF kin to him. Town, county and
the commonwealth itself are his also
In proud posseSSiveness And so. nc
matter where he may be, he is taking
part in the matters going on up in old
New York today.
Here is a testimonial, offered as part
OF this days celebration of the good
substance of Theodore Roosevelt's serv-
Ice to the world:
ROOSEVELT IN THE ROUGH. BY
Jack Willis. AS told to Horace Smith
Illustrated. Ives Washburn.
Theodore Roosevelt picked his friends
Or MS own choosing, they were natu-
rally of his own kind. This book is q
case In point. It is q straight record
OF young Roosevelt by way of Jack Will
lis, MS friend. "One of my valued friends
in the mountains" One of the
pest hunters "a man of much
shrewdness, great courage and reso-
luticn." He saw facts as they
were, could tell them as they we're =
In word, he had the capacity to tell
skeptical turn of mind" A man OF
broad and genial tolerance" Sounds
interesting. doesn't he? He is. It is BY
virtue OF these very parts and powers,
so Shrewdly appraised by Roosevelt, thai
Jack Willis story of the man is in the
nature of an intimate revelation not
surpassed by more formal and erudite
writers on the Roosevelt theme. I think.
not reached by them.
Roughing 1t in the West with Jack
Willis. hunting both game and adyeu-
ture, toe, here is the same man as the
later Roosevelt. Governor, rough rider,
soldier, President, writer, member by
birth of the ''silk-stocking' group. old
est Of New York's tribal units, and. all
summed, clearly a world man. this
friend of Jack Willis is of the stripe
and pattern to arrive at all of these
points along the way of mans life,
Along the way of this mans life.
most enjoyable chapter Of recol-
lections, without which ofe is not going
to seize upon the whole of Theodore
pnNCaUnIf md 10 80
should not know Jack Willis, and that
would be loss to us.
By the way. what did Roosevelt
chcoSe as his own monuments? There
are two. The disclosure comes in a
jocose reference to the statue stricken
City OF washington. Then. in sudden
gravity, Roosevelt picked the two for
which he chose to be remembered. DO
you knew them?
LEONARD WOOD. A Biography. BY
Hermann Hagedorn. illustrated. New
York: Harper & Brothers.
There was a very interesting DR.
Wood of the Army there" Theodore
Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of
the Navy, writing to his wife of din
ner in Washington. Such, the meeting
OF these men who, thereafter, sustained
the deepest friendship for each other.
Much in common, the two. Direct,
straints that served only to Illustrate
and defeat; ambitious, a shade ruth
less under judgments that often came
too suddenly to be well based. Yet
both, without question, engroSsed in a
general outlook upon the wellbeinr OF
the country as a whole and not In a
small mans self-pushing toward celeb
rity. Probably they were beth con-
WINGED of power and ability, each in
himself, that pointed upon leadership
And why not? They had such powers.
they who possessed them7
Hermann Hagedorn has given two
big volumes of Leonard Wood to read
erS from great mass or original ma
terial, Sifted to its essentials, which he
has arranged to meet the requirements
of a biography that lives and moves
with the vitality and significance
which throughout his career repre-
sented and interpreted Leonard Wood.
Authentic and literal through its deep
searchings of original material, the big
book Is; in effect. sheer drama-a one
man play. whose theme Is defeat and
disappointment. These sustained in a
heroism that, as rule, Is relegated to
romance or to the fables of classic
times. Not so here. In this great play
by Hermann Hagedorn Is portrayed the
heroic figure of one man on his way to
disaster. On his triumphant way to
disaster. For so it seems at the end of
this tragic matter.
The author is clearly an advocate, a
champion, almost a devotee Of Wood
Fiercely, when the time comes, he makes
his accusations, face to face, and in
rNf n ",
justice to Wood at one critical point or
another in the career of highly trained
and gifted soldier and leader. He names
Pershing, openly, as jealous and I'M
grateful. He names Wilson as recreant
to public demand for the most efficient
service at point of world crisis. Later,
he removes this charge from Wilson to
Baker, where, by the latter'S open
avowal, it belongs. But, setting aside
these high moments OF indignant pro-
test on the part of the writer, let us go
back to the beginnings OF this young
Wood. These are set out in opening
chapters of the life of the boy Point
is made of his early resistance to the
time-wasting formalities of school and
college, to the deadening routine of
performance and performance. A bad
trait, you see. Conformity is the very
heart of all public agencies Of procedure
Red tape is the life-blood of public
institutions. But this youngster refused
to accept these red strings as any sort
Of adequate life current. And so he
was in trouble. Dismissed from hos
pitaI training, as recall specific In
stance of a perfectly pestiferous insub-
ordination. And yet. and yet, If there
were not rebels here and there, now and
then, this would be a world too deeply
moSs-grown for any possible penetra-
lions to its genuine content, to its true
promise and possibility.
So all along the way this fighting
man worked for a better Army, If we
are going to have any Army at all.
And the lawmakers found him trouble
some. Armies cost money and, save in
time of actual conflict, this IS not a
popular subject. Stirs no enthusiasm,
evokes no clanor of excitement such as