Evening star., 1932-06-21
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. NJ.
THIS HUMAN NATURE: A History,
A Commentary, An Exposition. By
Charles Duff. New York: Cosmo-
politan Book Corporation

THIS HUMAN NATURE: A History,
A Commentary, An Exposition. By
Charles Duff. New York: Cosmo-
politan Book Corporation.
Conceding practical defeat at the out
set, Mr.. Duff contends, nevertheless
that hardly more engrossing pursuit
can be set UP than that Of trailing the
J elusive ways Of human nature from its
beginnings back in the dark, throughout
its generally furtive career on up to
! the present. Indefinitely, also, through
the future. Selfish, at heart, as man
! was, and Is. and will be, concealment
Is his chief protection against moral
codes that are, still, many ages ahead
OF his own actual development. Sell
tishness is deplorable. to be sure. Yet
} it Is the groundwork Of every living
thing. Man. animal, plant, self-urg
) ency an instinct.
However, it Is with man alone that
this author Is concerned. So he goes
back to the accepted beginnings OF the
human in review Of the primal in
Stlncts that set man not at all above
fellow creatures In the animal and plant
world. Hungers Of the individual body.
. food hungers and sex hungers. drove
. man to immediate personal safety and
gradually, by way Of self-perpetuation,
: outlined, rudely, a collective life which.
today, IS represented by peoples and
nations. Which. tomorrow, may clE-
, inmate in world society. A long to-
morrow. but that is the line set.
The use Of fire, the notion Of land
ownership by the individual. these are
, waymarks Of primitive source along the
road upon which We now are travelling
by way of human nature Most inter-
! esting. this story The author, having
, dug and delved into available sources
: OF information. has avoided the appear
, ance Of deep research and heavy learn
ing. On the contrary, in everyday
. tones and words he weaves the absorb
, ing story of ourselves. growing trained
and sophisticate in human nature as
Phenicians, as Egyptians, as Greeks,
hberating the mind as partakers in
the golden age OF reason"
In succeeding study We are Romans,
setting up the materialism which. to-
. day only, has swept the world into the
utter fulfillment Of that creed. And
/. with II. in that day no less than in
this. goes the spiritual challenge of
, Christianity. So. step by STEP often
, by accident or other influence Of un-
reason. human nature advances here
through concrete example Of period or
master-man toward the present and the
; future
Finally in the company of this COM
munlcable writer We come to our own
: DAY. where we are able, within limits,
10 look straight across at ourselves
With thousands Of years to our ac-
count in the business Of being human.
what are We doing? And, righ. here,
Charles Duff takes off his gloves and
goes at the present bare handed. With
so much Of wealth. why poverty? With
SO much Of opportunity, why ignor-
ance? With the doors of truth. scien-
tine truth. open, why frauds and silly
isms ranging the whole gamut of daily
life. collective and individual? Why
is human nature itself static. in effect
though the world around Is changing
incredibly in rate and character
Man will probably become a filter
animal-death rates will be reduced.
the span Of life Heightened" But
and here follows disquieting picture
OF man changing but little in that
human nature" of which this book
Is so keen study
Not sentimentalist, this writer
Not even fair optimist. But forth
right man, who rejects the easy as
sumptions and promises with which
stark facts are too often presented
A thorough investigator and a sturdy
man with his words. This Human
Nature Is not only an unusual piece
OF research, it is also straight even
blunt. avoWal of findings that are of
, moment and interest to average read
ers who are genuinely curious about
: themselves and the rest Of us.
MR.. MILLER OF THE TIMES; the
Story Of an Editor. BY F. Fraser
Bond. New York: Charles Serb
ners Sons.
, In substance this is the biography
OF great newspaper. In addition, ii
!; is the story Of great editors life. its
early years in their influential bearings
, upon subsequent events, upon the ca
reer that created and sustained the
Times. In real sense, too, it is the
biography of every newspaper in its
growth, in its certain policy. In its
definite influence upon affairs, both
local and Of wider range. And. most
common Of commonplaces. what a
mystery, after all, newspaper is. The
head of it. more often than otherwise,
almost never really visible, its inf1l-
entail forces unnamed even its work
ing hand merged into innumerable
hands. Yet, despite such vagueness
of derivative outline. there the daily
press is, bodily in its presence, great
est of educative agencies. specific in
character. definite and positive in per-
sonal force. Such the Times. Such,
in its own measure, every newspaper
in existence.
Speedily the author Of this story
passes over the New England birth of
Charles r. Miller additionally true to
locality, Dartmouth educated the youth.
Native bent turned him toward writing
for the papers" with an occasional out
let by way Of poetry. Having provided
the background of young Miller's ad-
vance in true economy of substance.
the story merges promptly into that of
the young mans identity with the
Times, where by steady growth in ex-
perience and special knowledge he be-
comes, in fact, the true representative
of that organ.
Here, too included within the scope
of this double study is a history OF
American politics for the first 20 years
Of this century. survey, besides, of the
high points in international affairs.
Here is procession of figures cele-
brated in politics, craftsmanship,
finance, in public affairs generally.
Men who at one high point or another
have come close to the editor in chief
of this metropolitan paper. The reader
will meet President Roosevelt here and
Mr.. Taft and Woodrow Wilson, And
most interesting will he find the con-
ference in war time between President
Wilson and Mr.. Miller. An unusually
revealing picture of Mr.. Wilson this
conference permits. Other great edi-
tors come into this biography of the
Times. Charles Dana, James Gordon
Bennett, Henry Watterson and others
appear as picturesque and influential
members Of this Fourth Estate"
Interesting as the story is. the story
Of the man and the paper, its deep in
terest lies in its generally illuminating
study Of the press itself as one of the
great-as probably the greatest-inf1u-
ence OF institutional character that ex-