Evening star., 1935-03-10

r YENRY VIII of England, Francis
I of France and Charles v Of
Spain and the Holy Roman
i i Empire among them occupied
the headlines of Europe dur
ing the heart of the sixteenth century.
They were born in the same decade,
died almost in the same decade, Henry
and Francis In the same year.
Throughout their reigns they were
trigues against or with each other, and
Charles and Francis INDUCED in four
wars. Francis Hackett has already
written a thorough and striking biog-
raphy of Henry VIII. His Francis the
First" is a literary event long antici-
pated, often postponed. Will he next
turn to Charles v? Early in this
biography of Francis I he calls atten-
tion to the similarity of his problems
and those of Henry VIII-troubles
with neighboring states, their own
mobiles, the church and mistreSSes.
They handled these problems differ
emily, in the French way and the
English way. Mr.. Hackett indicates
that had Francis married his mistreSseS
and then cut off their heads, as Henry
did, he would have had more publicity.
In drawing this life-sized portrait
Of the most gifted of the Kings OF
France, a typical Frenchman, whose
counterpart may be found on the
boulevards today, Mr.. Hackett has
done no hasty or superficial piece OF
work. He has taken years in its prep
aration and the result is a remarkable
Characterization, so vital that Francis
I seems more alive than the French
statesmen who are today struggling
with the problem of national security.
As always, Mr.. Hackett's original style,
full of color and unusual turns OF ex-
preston, combines with his Skilful Sc
lection of the right material and its
dramatic coordination to produce, we
should say, exactly the effect at which
he aims. He begins his study with
description of the background against
which Francis I, a member OF the
minor, or Orleans, branch of the royal
family, played such a prominent part.
It was a background in which the in
trigues of that willy monarch, Louis XII,
we're still influential. Then follows
subtle analysis of the relations OF Francis
and his mother, Louise Of Savoy, for
he was "above everything, the son OF
his mother" She had made herself
central for him, and this dominant
little woman could not let 60" In his
maturity his sister, Marguerite OF Ma
varre, divided this influence. The
accession of Francis to the throne, the
struggle for Italy, his life after Pavia
and his later years form the subjects
of divisions of the book.
Francis was only SO when he died,
two months after he had sadly shaken
his head over the news OF the death OF
Henry VIII. He was not contented
over his heir, his only remaining son,
Henri II, whom he warned, "signifl-
cantly, not to be dominated by
woman" Though his life was not
long. according to modern ideas, he
had lived in his half century through
one of the most important eras IN
history, when the Middle Ages had
ended and the Reformation and the
Renaissance had brought in the
modern age. And he lived the lives
of many men. He was a gallant and
successful soldier, lover of many
women, a patron of the arts, re-
sponsible for some of the finest archl-
lecture in France, diplomat OF no
mediocre talent, and, above all, daz-
zling King. He had lived fully, this
royal rascal as he himself huskily
confessed on his deathbed, and he had
savoured his existence. But tnls
tolerant and practised human being,
this man without iron prejudlces, was
yet a member of an iron caste. His
school was soldering In the last
resort he would prove a friend to no
one, not even to his mignonne."
TEN THOUSAND PUBLIC ENE-
MES. BY Courtney Ryley Cooper.
Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
"A L cAPoNE, Clyde Barrow, Pretty
"a Boy" Floyd, Dillinger, Baby Face"
Nelson, Harvey Bailey, Machine
Gun" George Kelly and all the other
notorious leaders in crookdom have
their day as big news. In this book
by Courtney Cooper they become soci-
ology. j. Edgar Hoover, who writes
the foreWord, speaks warmly OF Mr..
Cooper's fitness for the task of writing
of American crime of the present and
the efforts of the Division of Inves-
tigation of the United States De-
partment of Justice to catch and
punish the criminals whose acts bring
them within its jurisdiction. He says:
Certainly, to my mind, there is no
writing man more thoroughly equipped
for this task. His interest in the
Division of Investigation long ante
dates the spectacular events which,
within the last few years. have
brought this enforcement arm more
fully into public view. = Beyond
this lies a quarter of a century of
studious interest in the crime prob
lem. . A" I look upon him as one
of the best-informed writer's on this
subject in America" Because of its
full description of crime conditions
In this country since the beginning
of the century, with specific exam
pies, and the views expressed on the
crime problem and deductions as to
causes and remedies, which are the
result of the authors long expert
ence, this book by Mr. Cooper should
be included in the collateral reading
for crininology in all sociology
courses. Others than students, who
have become thoroughly alarmed by
the prevalence of crime in the United
States, will find much in the book to
shock them, but also much of hope
In the recent success Of the methods
employed by. the Division of mvesti-
CATION to combat crime.
The stories Of all the chief gang
sters of the past few years are told
in brief by Mr.. Cooper, but those are
already more or less familiar to read
ers of the newspapers. One of the
most interesting parts Of the book is
the detailed description of the work
Of the identification unit of the Di-
vision of Investigation, through its
fingerprint files, now containing
nearly 100000 fingerprints. The
fngerprint method of Identification
of criminals has through its greater
simplicity and accuracy almost entire
ly displaced the old Bertillon system of
&c Tn,