Evening star., 1933-07-22
THE LIBRARY TABLE
.-.:
~ AklH G. BOHERMAM.

y = = Il --+
~ slRlH G. B0HxRMlN.
pU1laC u1uxrzns AND TIN r1o-
~ Wx1iam - Yron6ofGnot.
M York: .. Appletou- Century O..
lsudp utilttsas may - visvsd f5praI
ths stAAdpolnt ce Sths sl.areholdr, ~
emrloys q ~ pshlic. NJ. rrsndas0Ast,
toEmaf euntrell6e q ~ CITY oS lgew
Yotk nn92s - yeass elaaiSnsn of ~
Fpbne 1gstoe 0ommlaaion a Rev YoEk
stats ~ sh0ssn the Mst standpolit- 81
that 9 ~ rlcpls. Als bock = one r
ths mssU bon1n d secnomE adD5sqes
being pahlishsd INT now which havs In
unusual tinsliusss hecauso 7of uew eco
nom1c needs growing out o. the lang
pe91o0 q 0eonne and bocouoe q the
enerqetio po6cies a. clhangs bsing in1-
tlaeeo ~ the TodezNl ndminlGtFakinla.
Drawing on hi1 own contact with utali.
tie 1oe his material, M. pTsnd1ggast
seM ,ssIs.. g y his puspo:e . ..portrsy ths
utilities; a their true Iighf. defen6iu9
their good attributes, but of!erln9
neither apolo6yf nor defense for thSt
which y Wrupg." pnblic service eorpo-
tations have had an important past In
the induS1tAl expon1lon Of the past 70
years. Thru0Gh regulation, utilifies en-
Joy many r1ghts granted 6y the public
and IN return render certain oefvicea
also under roguh&i0, whether iocoi.
State Or national But utilities are
also business and must be conducted
on business principles. Therefore
mdue pressure upon them, ospeciaa.
" when Il takes the form Of poiiti-
ca1 force. = destructive Of good bud.
ne0 practices and eventually has q
dangerous e0ect upon Al business en-.
terpri1e. The power trust" question
y turned out for Inspection. With the
conclusion that There b no power
trust: There are many power mo-
nopoliee. one In each community, but
chiefly In propaganda. Holding conn
panies are discussed at some Zenith.
beceuse Mr.. Prendergast considers the
holding company problem the most
acute problem In connection with the
power industry-more acute than that
OF public ownership. He. believes that
the holding company needs unusually
careful and Strict regulation, but, given
that, IT, "dangers and detriments can
be eliminated" Public ownership he
does not believe In, nor, In general, that
our economic ills viii be cured by Gov
ernment ownership and operation OF
the economic system. But he does be-
iieve IN the strengthenlng Of regulation
BY public service commissions. Vall-
alton. rates and accounting procedure
are shown q important elements In
eetinactory public utility management.
MI: Prendergast's book presents . lib-
erai or moderately conservative, not Q
radical. view Of the subject.
WORLD PANORAMA: lsls.1ss,. By
George eeldes. Boston: Little,
Brown d %.
When the armigtice was signed after
the World War, the European countries
ana the United States Temporarily went
w1d. The world was now afe for
democracy.. There were some, to be
sure, who during the four preceding
years had lost al that made life have
value Tor them. but In most cases even
they tried 70 rejoice over the general
salvation. Then began the awakening,
the return to "normalcy," the farewell
70 Arms. the putting Of domestic houses
IN ofoer. the oyerturn Of old govern
ments and the astounding rise Of new
ones. The old war heroes, political and
military, began to die or to seek or
nave thrust upon them retirement.
Asquith. Lloyd George. Earl Gray, Haig,
Kaiser Wilhelm, Orlando Kerenskv
Woodrow Wilson, all sank below the
horizon, and . new group Of men arose
with what now seems almost mfracu.
lous rapidtty. Ramsay MacDonald
6riand. Stresemann, Muasolini. Lenin.
hoover, Hitler. became the leaders. Even
some o. these have now gone. The
world War As an event has begun 10
sing Into the domain Of pest history.
But not 20 its results. Mr.. seldes has
from TIE Newspaper records Of these
years put together q not oyerco-ordi-
mated account Of what has taken ulace.
HIS book belongs to o type popular In
recent years not requiring great Gre
ative ability to write. but interesting
because its material Is 90 vitality Inn
portant. The Years Of the Locust." !"
Dy his brother. Gilbert Seldes, covers
= Dr1eIer period and has . definite
tnesn Of commercial and financial
Doom ana denatton. Mark Sullivan's
Our Times" tn several volumes. and
Frederick Lewis Aliens "Only Yester-
Gay are similar digests. In Mr.
Seldes book. ~ In these others. there
y often disproportion expleinable bv
the personal interests Of the author. His
INDEX contains names which, In the
oiscuss1on Of . period Of such weight
ma moment, would never have been
missed had they been omitted.
MARRIAo1 IN GOTHAM. By Ishbel
Hoss. New York: Harper q Bros.
Marriage IN Gotham Is very much the
same sort Of thing as marriage ia any
otner part OF the United States, In these
Gays OF hasty marriages, without more
tnan casual thought Is to the question
OF income. Quarrels and "tncompati-
putty In an incredibly short space of
TIME. ana easy divorces. Presumably
1snnei Ross knows something about
marriages IN New York City, for she
PAS been reporter there and has been
behind the stage curtain which is kept
decently dropped before the eyes Of the
public until the time comes for divorce
headlines. Her point Of view ID that
OF an analyst Of human beinas and
their queer ways. not that OF moralist,
nor yet that of Q foreigner (for she Is
2 Scott crtticixtng the faults Of America,
Hector Tulloch, architect Of the old
tradition, is apparently happily mar
ried and devoted husband and father,
His combined success and happiness
are envted by many. But his wife, Hem
r1etta,. has known since the birth Of her
daughter Mary that Hector has . mis-
tress. She has accepted the situation.
proudly concealing her knowledge Of It
and hoping that others do not know.
Il she could have "repressed" (new
style) or controlled" Gold style) her
pent-up emotions, their domestic life
might have continued In whitewashed
But her son brings home
Q friend, who finds that Henrietta looks
as. young Is her daughter. He really
means 1t, for he has had Q childhood
and youth hlled with unfortunate con-
ficts and is ready for some one to be
kind to him. with abandonment Of
dignity. Henrietta undertakes the role:
wife's conduct. Marriage in Gotham
has its senI,el NJ divorce In Gotham At