Evening star., 1934-04-22


4 Yale University Press
\ AR EDIE, formerly professor Of finance In
IVl the University of Chicago is middle-of-
the-road economist where money is concerned,
neither entirely of the old school of strict gold
views, in favor Of unlimited experimental
ism. Moderation is the word which most often
recurs In his book. No monetary policy Is a
safe one, he considers. unless it has back OF
it public confidence He approves the recent
Federal law granting optional powers to the
President in administering monetary policy.
but says that mandatory measures were i'm
posed on the President. 1T would be establish
ing q precedent of very doubtful wisdom" The
dragging Of money into politics has q triple
significance for the American people. 1T means
that the Republican and Democratic parties
will fight heated political campaigns over the
issue of cheapening the dollar. 1t means, fur
ther that a new sectionalism will flourish in
the United States South and West will be
arrayed against East. 1t means, too that the
great issues of international relations will be
primarily monetary in character" The chap
ter on Politics Enters Monetary Policy" raises
many other questions worth consideration by
both politicians and voters Here again Mr..
Edies moderation Is noticeable He warns that
ultra-conservatives who urge a return to the
"unreformed gold standard" and those at the
opposite extreme who yield to violent expert
ments with the dollar" both face grave risks at
election time.
His concluding advice. addressed to legisla-
tors administrators, and the millions Of the
democracy includes a return to gold standard
but q reconstructed one; a more positive policy
with regard to silver, but not a bimetallic
standard; in returning to an international
standard some method of checking excessive
migratory movements of liquid capital across
national boundaries" and an exchange rate
which represents an equilibrium between its
Chat of the United States) cost of production
and price level and those of other countries;
acknowledgment by central banks of RESPONSE
bility for preventing excessive fluctuations In
the world price level; monetary standard
which provides both internal and external
stability He also advises that for the preserva-
ton Of public confidence it is necessary for the
Federal Government soon possible TO
taper of emergency expenditures and to move
toward completely balanced Federal budget"
SEVEN GOTHIC TALES BY Isak Dinesen.
New York: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas.
THERE are suggestions in these tales Of Old
World fantasy and atmosphere of Boccaccio
at his best. They are long enough, about 20,-
600 words each, to permit the leisurely develop
ment Of plots which are suggestive and elusive
rather than cear-cut and explosive. THE
Deluge of Norderney" shows how a cardinal,
a maiden lady who admits she is little mad.
q maid and her lover face death together when
the floods come. In THE Old Chevalier,"
Baron Won Bracket takes to his room lovely.
mysterious, eighty drunken young woman
whom he meets on the Avenue Montaigne on
the night when the woman he adores has tried
to poison him; IS years later he admires in
friends studio the rarely beautiful skull of
young woman which seems suddenly familiar
to him. "The Monkey makes a monkey the
instrument of fate in complicated intrigue.
1.-THE Roads Round Pisa" tells of Prince Nino
of Tuscany and how the "old prince" managed
to die natural death in spite Of him. and Of
q mysterious heart-shaped smelling-bottle.
THE Supper at Elsinore" takes us to the town
of Hamlets CASTLE where two old ladies meet
ghost only less tragic than that of the Danish
King. that Of their pirate brother long dead.
"The Dreamers," an Arabian Nights tale Of
. beautiful italian singer and her shadow. and
"The Poet" a story Of the murder Of an old
man by girl and the connection Of the mur.
der with q poem, are perhaps the most subtle
In their flowing prose. But all seven Of the
tales are written with a delicate charm and
suggestiveness far removed from any prose
usually chosen to carry a modern tale Doro-
thy Garfield in her introduction to the volume
says Of the characters of the tales: "They
seem endowed with a sort Of legendary inten-
sity Of living almost beyond the possible, but
that may be q result Of the eerie light in
which they are shown" Isak Dinesen belongs
to an old Danish country family, but he has
spent much Of his life in the highlands Of
Africa. as farmer and big-game hunter. His
Gothic tales are thus entirely remote from the
country he knows best The book is the April
choice Of the Book the Month Club.
STRANGE HARVEST. BY Inez Haynes Irwin.
Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Mer Co.
THE family tree of the Hart family of Boston
is appended to this novel which describes
the lives Of seven sisters who live between 1880
and the 1905. Their lives are average lives