Evening star., 1932-12-13
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
|. G.. N.
OUR TIMES: The United States: 1909

OUR TIMES: The United States; 1909
| 1914. BY Mark Sullivan. Illustrated.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
The World War built a wall, sky high.
Behind It, near and far, effects are OF
about equal obscurity. Before the war"
or before creation" or "the flood" or
''the Christian era" connote about equal
measures Of dimneSS to the average
mind on this side Of it.
That high vail is built Of men, dead
men, chiefly boys; Of broken hearts and
sorrows that will not heal. OF hatreds,
too. and atrocities; of despoiled lands.
degraded and lost. An amazing pattern,
that war wall, Of mans interviewer in
genuity for wickedness under many
names. A dead barricade, this one.
Hardly sound comes through. Hardly
quick memory remains.
On this side, on our side Of 1t, the
narrow Strip clinging to its base Is no
more than a clatter Of words, a tossing
about OF figures. A dozen years. more
or less. about war debts and repara-
tons. These, entangled in delays. re-
auctions, readjustments and other clap
trap OF the money changers. On the
other hand, words and words. Declara-
lions OF League that does not bind,
|
advantage save desired delay, plans for
disarmament that serve finally only to
increase means Of warfare at one point
or another or to hasten q conflict al
ready ptnding. Not really different
from bedlam itself, this side Of the high
wall. Where we are now is just about
that Even this, not the worst OF our
present estate. For really horrifying
thing is emerging from the tremendous
to-oo "A suspicion Is growing that,
alter all, man Is still savage. Indeed,
mat man is not the perfectible thing
tnat he has been preached to be, or
anat ne has assumed himself to be-
inat Savagery is his destiny or that, on
the other hand, the period of growth is
700 endless. the period of emergence
into that envisaged self is too remote
1or man to follow. All wrong. We are
merely discouraged with the temporary
dominance OF war thoughts and every
otner manner OF unrest, apprehension,
fright. And small wonder.
| Let's Jump out Of it! And here is a
| f1ne chance
Ihe study is, primarily, a review OF
the Constitution Of the United States.
reSurvey OF the historic conditions out
oL Wnlcn II rose. A reconsideration of
tne conventions and conferences, of the
revlsions and recastings that attended
us formation. 1t is, besides, an analyt-
lcal study Of each item in the mo-
mentouS document, of its relation to
all the others, of its functioning in
eacn OF the new Commonwealths during
period of time Of incalculable ex-
tension. 1t reviews the vicissitudes
that attended the final adoption of
tnls great instrument. An interesting
section is What A an amendment?"
Here is study Of the nature of an
amendment, the occasion of its rise,
the purpose that underlies it and the
mode OF Its creation. Each of the
amendments Is given close and special
attention, as to its origin, its effect,
immeolate and more remote, both upon
the people and, later. upon the fabric
OF the law of which it became a part.
1t IS at these points of encroachment
and amendment that danger to the
future lies according to these authors.
students OF the book-and there will
be many of these, for it is that sort
OF book-students will not all agree
with the conclusions of these writer's.
Ihat is. after all, not the main point.
The best Of this study is that it brings
into the open subject of immediate
and prime importance to every Ameri-
can. 1t presents its theme in a sim
PIE, straight manner. 1t is an earnest,
analytical exposition. It has no ap-
pearance OF the scarehead about it, yet
1t is serious suggestion that to stop
and look is, right now. the plain com
mon sense of America bent upon the
ultimate safety of its freedom, un-
menaced by dangerous licenses that
gradually creep into the sanctions OF
lawful living, through the easy care
lessness OF overconfident lawmakers and
of hcr A.,
mirably clear and pointed statement of
vital case by professionals in the
study and practice of the law, by stu
dents Of the fundamental law.
JULIUS CAESAR. BY John Buchan.
New York: D. Appleton & Co.
Another biography out of the fine
Appleton serieS-Julius Caesar. "All
Gaul Is Divided Into Three Parts" No.
fellows. it is not that one at ALL Rather
it is he. the warrior, with whom you
struggled SO hopelessly, but it is all kinds
OF man besides. Really a leader
One who naturally takes charge in
whatever Is going on one who knows in
stinctively which Is the best way to 20.
the best things to go after. One who
knows how to band small groups into
bigger ones till communities become
commonwealths, cities and towns. peo-
pies organized for common endeavor
and common strength.
One of the new biographies in the
hands of one Of the new biographers.
In this current sort the man remains
the same. AS he does. Methuselah
would behave today about as we do
Only circumstances change. And even
these, at bottom, possess likeneSses, since
many of them are of mans fashioning
or directing. 60 II the new biographer
holds to fundamentals and reasonables
he is able to evoke from never so dis
tant a past a character that bears
many Of the traits and impulses and ac-
tions of the present itself. All this of
current effect, provided only that the
writer throws away the fal-lals. the
furbelows. and holds only to realities.
little as well as big. And John Buchan
one reads here of the expanding re-
public under Caesar he is reading of
yesterday and today. OF men juggling
for position, Of men greedy for gain, of
men taking advantage of the less fortu-
nate than themselves, of discipline and
order growing out of the melee of in
terests and ambitions. As matter of
fact. reading here, one is in the midst
OF today'S essentials. Great business
organizations graSplng ana emulatlVe,
great money interests selfish and heart
less, ambition overriding decency, a
struggling mass Of men and measures,
stamp that old Roman day as all these
stamp the present. And, above them.
masterful domineering man; not too
scrupulous himself, but at least a trans
cendent note in the growing rumble of
profiteers of place, of money
Traveller, romancer, dramatist, stu
dent, member of Parliament and pub
licist, John Buchan has brought to this
study of Julius Caesar certain blend
of the arts and powers derived from
this changeful career.
A vivid picture Of great historic value
is presented in terms that differ but
little from those needed to describe the
present A living character dominates
this dramatic past The whole takes its
place among the realities around us. A
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