Evening star., 1933-05-06
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN.

THE A B o OF WAR DEBTS. BY
Frank H. Simonds. New York:
Harper q Bros.
| Mr.. Simonds says that "the war
debts are as dead as Fenian bonds"
He Is rather given to obiter dicta, and
though some Of his prophecies come
true, others do not. The role Of q
prophet u hard one, unless he stands
In with supernatural powers. This
little book contains material already
included in Mr.. Simonds' two. recent
books, Can Europe Keep the Peace?"
and Can America Stay at Homer" 1t
Is compact and specific. The A B C's
are seven, the seven popular delusions
about war debts. They are: That the
money loaned Europe actually went
out of American pockets; that the set
| tlement" was equitable and possible;
that the United States has permitted
payment; that any real payment has
been made and that payment was in
terrupted by the Hoover moratorium:
that war debts are still good and can
be collected; that Europe has deceived
US and that therefore Americans must
be "morons by birth and inheritance;
that"cancellation" cannot be tolerated
Mr.. Simonds admits that II Europe does
not pay the American taxpayer will
have to pay, but he believes that pay
ment, II possible, would destroy Ameri-
can trade. ut Is the judgment Of the
author Of this book that settlement
| of the debts must prove the longest
step toward recovery within the power
Of the Roosevelt administration to
take"
MEN WITHOUT MONEY: The Chal-
| lenge of Barter and Scrip. BY
| Wayne Weishaar and Wayne W.
Parrish. New York: @. p. Putnam's
Sons.
People have got along without
money in many periods Of the worlds
history. Commodities were exchanged
without any intermediate medium, and
when wants were few and nearly every
one produced everything he needed, d.
rect exchange worked very well. But
life today is no such simple matter
with the multiple and elaborate wants
of all classes and all ages of people,
from the infant to the octogenarian.
But In the midst Of our vast indus
trial civilization, within the past two
years there has been in some sections
of the country return to commercial
and financial methods Of barter and
scrip. Two New York journalists have
1
and have here given its results. In
practically every State in the Union
groups of people are helping themselves
| out Of economic chaos by means of bar
ter. Local scrip has been set up as an
exchange medium. based on some staple
Ommodity-sauerkraut in Minneapolis,
! chile con carne at Yellow Springs, Ohio,
and oranges in California. In New
York City barter is going on among the
skyscrapers. The Emergency Exchange
Association Is arranging for the ex-
change of labor for commodities, and
vice versa. The authors of this COM
pact, practical and clearly written little
book say: Barter is evidence of break
down. 1t Is reversion to primitive eco
nomics in the day Of radio advertising,
supersalesmanship and installment buy
| ing. . As a measure Of relief, the
movement has had untold value"
SON OF EARTH. BY Howard Erick-
son. New York: The Dial Press.
The Middle West, with its rich soil,
| the immigrant trying to become Amer
lean and to become rich at the same
time, struggle with the elements Of ma
ture and with the selfishness OF fellow
human beingstthese have all been the
substance of other American novels OF
the soil, some of them more convinc-
ing and impressive than this one
Villa Gather. o: e: Rolvaag (who has
recently died), Ruth Suckow and BeSS
Streeter Aldrich have all done strong
and truthful work in this type of fiction.
Mr.. Erickson takes Iowa for his scene
and Tolf Luvversen, q Danish immi-
grant, as his chief character. Tolf IS
used to hardships, can stand any
amount of cold weather and hard work.
but he wants to get ahead, to learn
English, to associate with English peo-
| pie, as he considers the native Amer
| leans. The Cabling Of his mother and
| his immigrant neighbors about his mar
| rying some nice old-country girl. like
Christine at the Sondergaards, makes
| him tnwardly furious. He wants 70
get acquainted with an English" girl
| He hires out as a farm hand, he saves
money to buy store clothes and buggy
in which to take the American girl
driving. when he finds her. When he
does find her, she is not the kind Of
girl to verify his ideals. She makes
use of him and leaves him embittered.
Failure, not fulfllment, Is his lot. and
he is finally willing to consider the
despised Christine, with her mortgage
| free farm. Mr.. Erickson knows the
farm life and the people he describes,
and writes with style which Is realis-
tic without being stark and overloaded
with sordidness.
DICK WHITTINGTON A Musical Ex-
travaganZa in a Prologue and Three
Acts. BY Isabel Anderson. Music by
Grace Warner Gulesian. Lyrics by
Pierre de Reeder. Boston: Bruce
Humphries.
Dick Wilmington, poor country boy.
whose most cherished possession was a
cat, furnished q favorite tale for school
readers and story books for many gen.
erations. The miraculous rise OF poor
Dick to prosperity which finally made
him Lord Mayor Of London, has ap-
pealed to the imagination Of every boy
who has read this piece OF Anglo-Saxon
folklore. Mrs. LarZ Anderson has used
the story in a delightful way in her ex-
| travaganZa, which is elaborate, fan
tastic and full of the atmosphere of
fifteenth century England. Its gay, frol-
icsome spirit is, however, wholly mod
ern. The popular version of Dicks life
is that his fortune was founded on the
fabulous price which his cat brought
in q Levantine market, and that his
| good fortune was foretold by the Bow
Bells of London. To these episodes Mrs.
Anderson adds voyage to Morocco on
trading venture, the character Of the
charming Alice Fitzwarren, whom Dick
marries after a brilliant comedy Of
love making and Dicks elevation to
knighthood. Mrs. Anderson is already
known to readers through her books Of
travel, children's stories, plays, novels
and short stories, and her operetta
Marina" Mrs. Gulesian Is the COM
poser of 1.-THE House by the Side Of the
Road "The Sea Hath Its Pearls" and
Founders Song." for Boston Univer-
sity.
THE DESERT ISLAND ADVENTURE
BOOK. True Tales Of Famous Cast
aways Told by Themselves. Ed by
| John Grove. illustrated by Bernard
Westmacott. New York: The Mac
milan Co.
Children love desert islands and
castaways, from Robinson Crusoe and