Evening star., 1933-09-02
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C.. BOWERMAN.
BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN.

BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN.
CONGO SOLO. BY Emily Hahn. In
dianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co.
A dashing, daring member Of the
younger generation, Emily Hahn, after
securing q college degree in mining
engineering and writing few stories
and q couple Of books, decided to 60 te
Africa alone, for whatever adventure
she might pick up and, Of COURSE. to
keep q journal for future literary use
The man she was to marry Tilted hel
because he did not approve Of her 60
ing to Africa. He probably disapproves
even more II he has seen her book. Any
conventional ideas or inhibitions she
may have possessed were left behind
in London and before she had reached
Africa one Of her ship-companions paid
her the sincere compliment: You are
an original One can discuss anything
with you, like a man." Her voyage out
ended at Matadi and from there she
went by various methods OF travel
through Kinshasa, Stanleyville chow
Stanley would have wondered at this
modern womanD, Avakubi and deer
into the Congo jungle to Sanga, which
was her destination, as far as she had
one. There a friend Of hers was sani-
tary agent at a medical post, where ma
tives were treated for infectious dis
eases. Miss Hahn had no especial busi-
ness there and disregarded all the haz-
ards which those on duty took as q
matter of course. For some months she
acted as voluntary, unoficial assistant
to the doctor, as well as self-constituted
diplomat in adjusting native misunder-
ctandings. This part Of the story is by
far the most interesting; it is also the
part which the author herself takes
most seriously Without medical train
ing, because the need was great. abe
administered intramuscular injections
identified symptoms from lecture notes
on hygiene she had taken in London
and in the absence of her friend Den
treated a patient for an illness which
She thought must be either malaria or
blackWater fever. She acquired a pet
monkey. which she named Angelique,
and which, after much nursing and
pampering. finally fell a victim to a
leopard which climbed the zenana wall
at night and got her." Now Miss Hahn
is back in New York. writing, and prob
ably cogitating about some other ven-
turesome exploits. Well. she seems to
be able to take care of herself. Her
flippant style. sometimes rather forced.
indicates that she does not take herself
too seriously, or at least that she does
not wish to appear to do so.
BUSINESS UNDER THE RECOVERY
ACT. BY Lawrence Valerstein and
E. B. Weiss New York: Whittlesey
House McGraw-Hill Book Co.
LABOR RELATIONS UNDER THE
RECOVERY ACT. BY Ordway Tead
York: Whittlescy House. McGraW-
Hill Book Co.
These two books are the advance
guard Of comment on the working OF
the national industrial recovery act
There will be many more. At present
such books must of necessity be theo-
retical. as the act has barely begun to
operate. Opinions about it, like opin-
ions about the success of a marriage,
are the more accurate for a little delay.
The authors of the first book have
drawn for their material in forming
judgments of the probable effect OF
the act on business upon officials Of two
large retail establishments and those of
an advertising service. They are Of the
opinion that when the codes established
at Washington have become standard
lied and generally accepted. then the
Government should extend its supervi-
sion to the checking of other unfair
business practices not covered by present
codes They analyze the recovery act
in its various provisions and test each
one by the measuring rod Of its prob
able effect on merchandising and ad-
vertising. 1t seems to them that adver-
tising will be the gamer. not the loser,
by the noble experiment." and that all
industry has in the act the opportunity
for more and better production and
happier workers and consumers.
The authors of the book on labor re-
lations are lecturers, respectively. at
Columbia University and New York
University. Their stated aim is to offer
AID to trade associations and employers
in connection with the conduct Of labor
relations under the recovery act They
urge for industry professional standards.
involving social responsibility and an
ideal of public service They see the
probability of the development, under
the encouragement of the act. of COM
pany unions and offer suggestions for
procedure in an industrial partnership
between employer and employe. Some
industrial leaders have already seen the
wisdom of admitting employees to some
form of partnership and the spread of
this practice will bring about more gen.
uine cooperation and greater stability
in industry.
Carl Van Doren. in his small book,
American Literature. An Introduc-
ton" ncs Angeles, Calf: United States
Library Association) divides our lit
erary production into five eras, the
Colonial. the national. the continental,
the imperial and the critical The
social life and history of each period
are used, as they should be, as the
groundwork for an understanding of
the literature. which in the earliest
period is. with few exceptions. very
feeble and initiative. Benjamin Frank
lin and Jonathan Edwards dominate
the Colonial period: Washington Irving.
James Fenimore Cooper and Thomas
Paine the national PERIOD when inde-
pendent ideas in literature followed po-
litical independence; Emerson. Haw-
thorne, Thoreau. Poe and Melville the
continental period, when European in
nuence was added to national self
consciousness: Mark Twain. Whitman.
Howells and Henry James the imperial
period, Mark Twain's "gilded age In
the critical period Of our own time,
authors have mu4tiplied and many
strains of influence have appeared. Who
are the leaders in the different fields
OF literature is question open to con-
troversy. Most people will agree with
Mr.. Van Doren's attribution of leader
ship in poetry to Edwin Arlington Rob-
inson. but not all will be willing to
accord supereminence to H. L. Mencken.
Theodore Dresser and Sinclair Lewis.
X
Tired Of the dullness and the DELAYS
OF the law, which he knew through
professional practice in Norway, Helge
Ingstad. In his early thirties. took leave
OF absence and went for four years
a-hunting in Northern Canada. The
result was a fine series of adventures
and good narrative describing them,
The Land Of Feas: and Famine"
(Alfred A. KnopD. In the Barren
Lands he found the least civilization
and the most game and Indians. Among
the Indians, called "Caribo,I Eaters !"