Evening star., 1933-12-23
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C. BOWERMAN.
THE PEOPLES FORESTS. BY Robert
Marshall New York: Harrison
Smith g. Robert Haas.

THE PEOPLES FORESTS. BY Robert
Marshall New York: Harrison
Smith SS Robert Haas.
If American forests are not some day
to be replaced by eroded wastes like
those of China, the American people
must become &c acutely interested in
them that the catastrophe will be pre-
vented. Dr. Marshall, trained forester,
collaborated in 1892 with the United
States Forest Service in the prepara-
tion Of comprehensive report on all
phases Of the forest problem. AS the
result OF living for over a year in a
shack ir settlement near the Arctic
Circle, studying the people of various
races whom he found there, he
wrote the successful book of about a
year ago. Arctic Village" He begins
The Peoples Forests" with graphic
account, none the less true because it
is almost impassioned, of the devasta-
ton which has been cumulatively at
tacking our forests since there was
spread before the Pilgrims "a verdantly
covered continent of natural vegetation
An immense eXpanse of green forest
and green grass lands, of fresh flowers
and iuxuriant herbage, of deep, black
soil rich in all the organic elements
which are the basis of fertility"
Because of the value Of the forests in
national life, for their raw material, for
soil and water conservation, for recrea-
tional purposes, DR.. Marshall believes
that they should be publicly owned. Pri-
Vate ownership, even under Govern
ment regulation, he contends, has not
been successful from the standpoint of
national welfare. The problem is not
simple one. 1t occurs to any intelli-
gent person that public ownership does
not satisfactorily settle everything. In
any forest program there is need of
land planning. protection of the rights
OF labor, regulation of recreational use.
and provision for research The final
cnapter Is something of Utopian pic
ture, showing what protected and organ
lzeo forests would be like, ALWAYS with
the supposition that the management
would be intelligent and free from poll
tics. The death of a forest. saws DIR.
Marshall, is not SO irrevocable as the
death OF man, for it may be built I'D
again, IN time, by the creative force of
nature; but the virgin forests of a
ollllon years from now are of no more
slgnlncance to us who inhabit the world
tooay or tomorrow or a century from
now than are the acacia or magnolia
trees Of Mars"
WITH MY OWN EYES. "a Personal
story OF Battle Years) BY Fred
erlck Palmer. Indianapolis: The
BobbS-Merrin Co.
A veteran war correspondent tells of
the changes he has seen in methoos
OF warfare, from 1897, when he rode
IN sight of the crown of Olympus over
tRe u tran which was old when Philip
OF Macedon and his son AIexandcr
knew 1t, to the ArmiStice at the end
Of the World War. The objective char
acter OF his narrative and the absence
planned by his own comment on him
sell: 1T has never been in me 10
nate my fellow men" So, when he
was told atrocity stories, he never sent
them on without checking up the facts.
he has seen war without the glamour
OF fresh uniforms and civilian speeches
at the Sendoff, "the monster naked and
unmaSked.' AS a young reporter. he
saw the Greco-Turkish comic opera war
OF 1897; he was with the American
troops in pursuit of Aguinaldo in the
Phlllppines; he interviewed Admiral
Dewey on his flagship in Manila Bay;
ne accompanied the allied American.
British and Japanese during the Boxer
uprising; he was an observer with the
Japanese in the so-Japanese War;
he experienced all that a nou-con-
batant may in the Balkan Wars. and
he was everywhere in the World War.
He regrets missing the Spanish A.neri-
can War, on account of his being in
ti1e Klondlke at the time. His story is
full OF incident and shrewd observation.
he noticed, for example, that in the
Boxer horror the white uniforms of
tne japanese were admirable targets,
but that later, in the Russo japanese
war, even their fans were khaki" Dur
ing the World War the censorship
checked his graphic style, SO he became
himself chief censor of the A. E. F.
in 1917. His comments on generals ard
statesmen are illuminating, based on
clcSe-range observation as they are.
Lloyd George he failed to admire and
Foch he considered lucky rather than
great
LEAVE THE SALT EARTH. By Rich
ard Warren Hatch. New York:
Covici-Friede.
The sea was the greatest benefactor
in the beginnings of New England The
fortunes of many an early family were
made by the clipper ship and the China
trade. One of the best novels based on
the history of the clipper-ship period
is Joseph HergeSheimerS Java Head"
In Leave the Salt Earth" Mr.. Hatch
tells a story of the end of the ship
building and Seafaring age and of the
attempt to prolong it by a stubborn old
member of the Bradford family, a sea-
going clan. Grandfather Bradford
cannot accept the passing of shipping
from Ncrth River and Two Mile, that
snug corner Of Marshfield which always
had been the home of the Bradfords. !"
He says bitterly to his grandson, who
dose of salt water would make a man
Of you" One of the grandsonS, with
equal bitterness, says to the others.
Were here just because we've been
kept here"
The story opens with the death of
Grandmother Bradford, whose power Of
working together on the Bradford farm,
since they could no longer go to sea.
For years two generations have lived
together in the Bradford house at Two
Mile, the first and the third. The mid
ole generation, grandfathers three sons,
had been wiped out by the Civil War.
Now, at the death of the grandmother,
the family is about to disintegrate
Grandfather Bradford, with one final
effort of his determined, daring nature,
dreaming of the glorious past, stakes
his remnant of fortune and strength
and builds a schooner, with which to
recapture prosperity and give his
grandSons a worthy .future-a future
which they do not want. The effort
is a failure. Young Thomas, represent
ing the younger generation, breaks
away to liberty, leaving family and ira
ditions, and the woman he has hoped
to marry, who cannot bring herself to
leave home and follow him. The story
is a variation of a universal theme, the
impossibility of harmony between gen
erations divided by the chasm of the
years and the economic and social
changes which they bring. The char