Evening star., 1932-07-19
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. C.. M.
MONEY FOR TOMORROW. BY w. z.
Woodward, author Of Meet Gen.
Grant" etc. New York: Liverisht,

woodward, author Of Meet Gen.
Grant," etc. New York: Liveright,
Inc.
"I hope to God nobody enjoys read
ing this book"
Not a chance, Mr.. Author; not one
even without that pious foreward Of
caution. The title alone Is warning
enough. For In the full kit OF calami-
ties under which the world is stsgger-
SO devastating as that Of money gone
sick upon its way under attacks of
individual rapacity, ignorance and ulti-
mate self destruction. So II this were
a story it would be one of gloom
throughout. But it is not story. 1t
Is fact piled upon fact pictures snapped
from the camera of truth. 1t is de-
scription, exposition, analysis, all bent
to the task Of delivering business in its
nakedness to a 100 per cent business
world. And the one god Of this world
is money.
Now money is a man made job-a
| botched and bungled job it appears
An idol set up as other heather in other
times set up their gods OF brass and
stone. But the world has moved on a
little, and just maybe this practical age
can render less than utterly disastrous
ever OF repair or renewal Is made must
be made by man himself. So suppose
| We get busy with finding out, somewhat
definitely, where we are today, for to-
morrow is on its way Oh, yes, there
are thousands OF. guides, all eager to
point the path, the right one But
! hardly shall we come upon one whose
eyes are keener than are this mans,
whose thinking is straighter, whose
! words are simpler or more to the point,
whose courage is sturdier. No one with
clearer background for the disclosures
made by him.
We are reminded first of the tre-
mendous fact that We are living in a
new world, an amazing new world.
which We are meeting with stock
+ of old ideas; in most cases out
worn ideas. Hardly conceivable the
extent Of dislocation, of malad-
justment, of delay, OF loss, Of
| possible catastrophe rising from this
situation. Clearly science, selecting a
few men as its agencies. has Cutstripped
the mass; has, in effect, contributed to
the temporary confusion of the whole
to the temporary disaster that broods
upon the world.
America developed, quite naturally
what is known as the money making
! mind" Developed it from Plymouth
| Rock and the Pilgrim Fathers. orig
inally, in their hard contacts with New
England hardships Of climate and soil
and privation. Necessity sourced this
now familiar capacity and gift, spread
ing it gradually outward with the
growth Of the country. A jealous pos
session this, that allowed but scant
room for social sympathies toward the
less gifted in its own line. From il
came the tribe Of self-seekers, hoard
ers, men of avarice Within it lay the
seed OF the money king, of the finan-
cial magnate. waiting for the time
when the earth should ripen to his
harvesting under the magic of scien-
tific discovery and the magic oppor-
tunities Of industry and the trans
formation OF politics to economies as
the instrument Of government.
And government itself became under
this writer's accounting a plutocracy
an oligarchy of rich men-less than a
hundred. l think he counted-as the
| rulers OF America. Are these the Of
| fetal legislators? Oh, no. They are
the silent influence behind the laws, so
silent that audible speech is hardly
heard. So. according to this man, the
demos Of which we boast and are
! vaguely proud as having something TO
do with classic Greece when the world
was young, demos" hardly exists as a
| ghost even. In the place Of the people
| Is a handful OF rulers whose present
ism OF government is capitalism. And
this instrument of actual government
| is here very succinctly set out in a
| true biological treatment of its ances-
| try. its growth. its development in
power-end then!
The present state OF the United
States. the present depression takes an
| adequate share of this writer's time
| In its accounting there is a reorienting
OF economics. This science. if it be a
science, has moved on since Adam
Smith in the year of Bunker Hill
wrote The Wealth of Nations" around
q social system that bears no discerni-
/ bic relation to the present nor to the
conditions existing in this country and
with which the country is so deeply
concerned. Many of Adam Smiths
ideas have been dropped because OF
their obvious senility. Yet his spirit
still fingers over the scene" Not in
| frequently upon this foundation of
obvious senility' have false prophecies
of hope and cheer been made, with
business cycles" figuring happily ss
bespeaking turn for the better, to-
morrow. next month. next wear. Just
about all water. that cycle theory
according to this author. But it has
| served a heavy turn lately. Govern
ment officials. financial magnates. uni
i ersity heads. the whole whatnot OF ac-
accredited KNOWLEDGE and experience
| within the field. these have without
exception forecast a speedy release
from the great depression.
There is a lot here that we. the aver
age, want to know, must know. A deal
about work and wages about values
that are real end values that are spu-
t riouS. lust make-believe values. Ano
| "fictional money"-we must know about
that. since it has a power of effect upon
industry. in which we are partners. SC
they saw with the leaders in industry
And the story of banks-perhaps the
high point. Just now. in this concrete,
| specimen book of case and cause ana
( effect We can remember, easily, when
a bank of standing was rs impregnablf
to forces of evil as we're the gates OF
Heaven itself. But, just now. read this
! chapter on banks. Not for fright, but
! for understanding.
And the whole matter leads by MANY
routes. all direct, to the subject OF
capitalism. Then, just at the topnotch
of interest. news rushes in that capital
ism has had stroke" something like
/ paralysis to its overwrought nervous
system And just the other day We were
reading of an economic conference
wherein capitalism was analyzed ano
defined as the soundest, sturdiest, most
enduring system that had yet beer
, devised by man. Yet, capitalism, II
appears. is itself ailing
After the Depression-What?' "The
| First Thing to Be Done''-these ere the
looking forward chapters after a thor
ough survey of the present situation In
all of its outstanding aspects and fea-
lures by competent man and highly
intelligent expositor. Two chapters Of
| constructive outlook from the ground
work of knowledge set by Mr.. woodward
from a fair estimate of the extent anc
nature of the demand upon the people
all of them. to restore something oi