Evening star., 1936-11-07

Is new about him In Its general form
1t abounds with good talk and snec.
dote. however, As healthy tree
ab0unds with fruit. What, essentially
he tells US Is that he was man who
found 1t necessary to interpret life
and that the Interpretation which
pleased him most WAS the one pro-
vided by the Roman Catholic Church
because that seemed TO him 10 conf
prehend all lesser interpretations
which were good-such interpretations
rs lie within the words justice. and
liberty, and fraternity, and equality
and the rights Of men, and the rights
OF property (the poor mans property
he says, as well as the rich man's)
and human dignity and the pursuit
OF happiness.
All these desires Che says) are brief
and transitory isms unless they be
united In the universal desire which
Is satisfied by religion. When that
union occurs. man has q place in the
universe and good becomes possible to
~ thStBht Va 40 y ICuiiJ. soNtCAtiiS
Planning does not bestow this posi-
bility. nor does Social Hygiene or the
Social Conscience, In Mr.. Chestertons IS
view. Sanctity still eludes the stats
ticians. As he sees it.
His life history. however, is by no
means wholly occupied with discus
sion OF his religious choice. He de-
votes chapters to personalities and to
politics. One Of the most interesting
Is the one in which he defends the
course he took during the World
War--when he wrote propaganda for
the English government. Unlike many
writer's, he has not since repented. He
has not needed to turn pacifist, he ex-
plains, because he WAS opposed to
war In the first place. But the World
War, as he saw it. was defensive-and
SO defensible. 1t was not, rs was later
claimed, he says, = war to end war"
1t was = war to save his people
necks He believed at the time that
they had q right to their necks. He
never changed his mind on the sub
ject.
But. as always In his writing, the
good things are not the main things.
but the small fruits by the way. A
paragraph of his was always good,
no matter what his theme. Dizziness
was never In him. He had as little Of
1t as he had Of dishonesty. It is hard
to think that any fine writer has
written his last book.
THE WAR GOES ON. BY sholem
Asch. New York: G. p. Putnam,s s
Sons.
Mr.. ASCH writes here q wrathful
and eloquent novel demonstrat-
ing by the way that old wine may
very well be put into new bottles.
For his theme Is the ancient one Of
his race-its outcry against persecu-
ton. But his scene Is postwar Ger
many and he depicts it with q bril-
liant Journalistic realism.
The book Is . bitter one, plainly
written iii q fever Of emotion, But
II the author lashes the reactionary
forces In Germany which are renew
ing Jewish persecution, he does not
spare such elements in Jewry as he
considers false to their ideals of in
tegrity. The result is q winnowing
out to the point where he shows the
just Christian and the just Jew, dif-
fering In little, opposing together the
forces Of, sayagery and reaction. In
this picture lies the significance Of
the title,
The book Is essentially { panorama
Of postwar Germany. through its
feverish period of imitation up to the
emergence Of Hitlers forces of '1aw
and order" In painting So large 4
scene Mr.. Asch has contented him.
self with . simple plot and . group
of characters who are obviously
types-the opportunist financier, the
Jewish intellectual who admires
Christianity, the artistic Jew, the
warped German youth who sees In