Evening star., 1932-10-04
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
TFE GREAT AMERICAN LAND BUB-
BILE. BY A. M. Sakolski. New
York: Harper a Bros.
/. C. M.

THE GREAT AMERICAN LAND BUB-
BILE. BY A. M. Sakolski. New
York: Harper q Bros.
What u our country coming to?
No day goes by without the ringing
OF this alarm. Between the timorous
looking forward and the elders looking
backward, time runs away IN fears and
lamentations over the decline OF Amer
lea. Over its lost worthiness. over Its
swift down-rushing into An Avernus
more horrible than even the genius OF
Virgil could create. Statesmen, SO the
jeremiad runs, are now but shoddy
politicians, the patriot . blatant self
seeker. Philanthropist and public bene-
factor are spade workers in their own
back yards alone. Even in the home
ti1inRs have gone to smash. Women
lament that girls are not what they used
to be, and men regret that sons no
longer pay heed to dad.
Yet, it is coming to light that, In
spite Of the generally gloomy to-do, the
country Is moving toward the very
points for which It originally set out.
That, upon the whole, this direction has
been q forward one, imperceptible as
such now and then to the pessimist, un-
recognized sometimes by even the more
hopeful. But forward nevertheless. Man
has been o slow grower, but he has
grown.
A new breed has risen. The man OF
science. Or Is 1t merely q resurrection!
Some one Is likely to say at once that
he lived cons before away in the Orient,
maybe upon the Desert Of Cobb, then
blossoming like the rose, when today's s
man of science was part and promoter
of . civilization surprising our own
However, to us this Is q new breed.
distinguished from the rest Of mankind
simply by spirit and method. the
truth at all hazard. with fact finding
tools the only requirement. Every do
main of knowledge Is being pre-empted
by this passionate truth-seeker.
Now and then, as q sort Of side issue,
the scientist does most useful and In
teresting things. Realizing that only
organized knowledge serves a really use
full turn, this man, seemingly In on mo,
ments, goes along gathering up relateo
bits OF fact, asserting them. Creating
an organized whole from certain odos
and ends. And from such exercise
issues many an important fact, many a
vital lesson.
THE Great American Land Bubble
is case in point. Its author is OF the
tribe of truth-trailers. Professor OF
finance In an American university
deeply absorbed in certain aspects OF
this country's development. His alter
tion grew toward the increasing IN
eenuity of "land promoters" by way o.
booms, grabs and CANDLES, all benz
upon exchange of real estate under spe.
cious promises of fortunes to be made
within "a half year at most" No douo'
he had been accosted on the street, q.
we have. with the invitation to Join
party for a ride into the country. fret
lunch and a pleasant day at 500
where, in no time at all, thriving
town would be found. Whether exactly
this or not, naturally his kind OF mlr-
reverted to the recent boom in Florida
"the American Riviera" where for
tunes scared and sunk with incredible
speed. Then he thought OF the Cali
fornia gold rush. BY that time m
was of upon the fortunes, and mis-
fortunes, of America under the greee
of its great land hunger.
It's an old story. Columbus began it
Though for other reasons than tnos'
driving the American himself to III
later excesses in the big game. DO
mains for his King" said Columbus
But, be sure to bring back the 100
of gold and silver said to be buries
over the sea-" replied the monarch
And, to make the adventure worth.
one for the future, take along MOI,
men to implant in the New Woile
the only one and true religion" Ant
SO missionaries and adventures ant
vastrels of every sort came to Americi
in the first stages Of its career.
Then came the Colonial period, tn
War of independence, the organizaLioi
Of a new Government, the rise OF
new democracy under the guidance o
washington. Jefferson and other earl
advocates of government by the peopl'
and for the people. A growing institu
tion IL was plain to see. The marrow
coast line but a landing place for mil
lions vet to come. Spaniards, spawi
Of the Columbus breed and era, stretch
ing up through the Southwest ant
along the Western coast. And In De
tween these two boundaries vast VII
derness to be opened to the homeless
of the wide world itself.
II is upon this groundwork OF un
claimed land that Mr.. Sakolski draw
the pattern Of greedy human nature
worked out by way Of the booms ans
grabs and CANDLES that have IN sucf
large part opened up our vast puone
A story with thrill to it, with adven'
ture rushing it along. A story tnat re-
interprets those Old patriots to wnom
without question, we are deep IN oep
for our national heritage and lts IN
dividual obligations upon us. cam.
men, though, those old advocates o
- cfratnhinU n n0lnG a
a bargain with the best Of US today
cutting in across another mans ad
vantage like Wall Street dictator o.
a king of the world exchange. 70,
recall how we used to say. admiringl!
and reverently. that Washington wa
an "expansionist!" And SO he was
But Washington was business man o
q kidney to make the Morgans, tn
Rockefellers and their tribe look llK'
short-minded, myopic children, playlnl
games with marbles.
Read the story Of the Capital, o
Washington, Americas first boon
town" Lobbying for the site OF tn
Capital rose to height never ap
preached since that time, no matte
what the import Of the issue may hav'
been. Once decided upon, there begai
an orgy OF town-lot selling quite inde
scribable, even in modern terms OF de
scriptive usage. The question OF
national capital and Its location hat
ridden up and down the coast at tol
speed, each commonwealth straininl
every art to secure it. But great Wash
ington was on the ground, bidding to-
a swamp lot on the Potomac, and tn
swamp won out.
Right after the Revolution the wild
land mania" set in. The State Of New
York was at that time parceled out q
Wholesale and then at retail. Th'
"Yazoo" land frauds of Georgia wer'
put through. The Texas fever set In
MAIN streets" led through the woods o
many q boom" town and "Broadways
pointed upon vacant patches OF sand
And so the story runs, with the open
ing up Of the Northwest and its at
tendant claims to patriotic vision
and unselfish building for the future o
this great free land" And SO 1t run
upon many another harum- -scarun
project that tOdaV would be dismiSSeS