Evening star., 1936-07-04

House" fMGCmtlIan.j
can hardly be scrapped because Of
some mystic document to be drawn
up by a council of reiormers. II we
are to have interna nationalism. he seems
to say, we must then have nations.
Most confirmed "internationalists"
overlook this corollary.
Going back to his youth as a diplo-
mat, Count Sforza considers the
causes Of our present troubles. as he
watched them develop around the
does not talk of treaties and events
alone; he discusses. too, the personal
factors which influence happenings
the peculiarities of the various leaders.
their psychologists, their prejudices
Some of this is painful reading; the
pettinesses of the great men are
nothing short of astounding. The book
is written however, without rancor.
Not content with his analysis of the
men of the hour. the count also dis
cusses the peoples. The French ne
esteems we'll, as a peace-loving. solid
nation. crystalized within its borders,
a solid social structure, as in China
where revolutions may snake every
thing except what counts-the con-
ception of life" Germany. on the
other hand, he thinks a divided house
bold in thought. timid in deed a
mixture Of artificial pasteboard ro-
manticism and Of cold blooded i'm
perialism." Similarly, he delveS into
the Balkans and Spain.
Through it all he searches for the
motives which have brought Europe to
her present condition, finding them
not in any one neat formula, as have
so many writer's of history for the
popular consumption, but rather in q
long chain of events. inevitable and
yet largely accidental. Some of his
conclusions are startling.
He says, for example, that If Presi-
dent Wilson's IA points had been re-
tained as the basis of the Versailles
treaty lasting peace could have been
achieved in 1919. 1t was on the basis
Of these points. he reminds US, that
Germany sued for armistice. But, to
satisfy one or another greedy or
frightened power. the important
points were cast out. Freedom of the
seas, the second point. fell through to
appease England The removal of
economic barriers, the third point.
was not attempted, and economic bar
riers are now one of the great causes
of our danger. The reduction of arma =
ments was still another of the points.
And so on. The summing up which
this author makes Is highly thought
provoking.
He closes with the opinion that ma
tions need to strengthen their own in
ternal structures along democratic
and peaceful lines, and then build up
a mechanism for handling interna-
tional matters. But his emphasis is
on cleansing ones own house and not
on reforming ones neighbors.
WATERLOO. BY Manuel Komrofi.
New York: Coward McCann.
THE rather extensively advertised
new novel by Manuel Komrod re-
veas itself to be, in sum, nothing
more than q scenario, but a very lively
and readable one. 1t uses the oldest
literary theme in existence-the con-
flict-in the manner of one of it's
Oldest concepts-the powers of dark.
ness threatening those of sanity and
needing to be cast down. Napoleon
is, concisely, the villain. The allied
powers are, rather vaguely, the angels.
Between these great tides, Mr. Kom-
rolf has scattered some dozen human
beings, unrelated in anything except
that their destinies placed them all
on the Waterloo field. They are
scarcely more than silhouettes, ami
matedly cut. They comprise the ele-
ments of pathos, humor and love; they
are young sweethearts separated by
the battle, boy soldiers who have en-
listed in q fever Of patriotism, comic
fellows in the ranks. heroic veterans.
Each performs his little act, while the
great guns thunder. On the one hill
stands Napoleon, driving his men like
the wind and sea: on the other stands
the solid red WALL of the British.
In so far as An event can be made 4
living entity, Mr.. Kromroff has made
Waterloo live In this book. And that
Is about all there is to be said of It.
PEOPLE ARE FASCINATING. BY
Sally Benson. Garden City: Dou-
bleday, Doran & Co.
THIS Is . book Of short stories,
superior to the Saturday Evening
Post Cosmopolitan standard, but not
exceeding the Dorothy Parker-New
Yorker genre, which was never very
arresting and is now getting thinner
and thinner. They are clever, they
are keen. they are pointed. But,
in the main, they reflect q mental pose
rather than . mental attitude. Dis
illusion Is their theme, and that Is
legitimate enough-taken in itself.
But disillusion Is not negation. It
can be very powerful and heady stun.
However, 1t is no doubt unfair to
criticize Miss Benson's tales according
to standards which she obviously had
no intention of meeting. She Is clever
more than adequately clever. Her
stories run along safely above medi-
ocrity. And, for the most part. they
are so short that the reader has no
time to be bored with the repetition.
That in itself Is clever. too. -. -.
THE FOUNDER OF THE HOUSE.
BY Naomi Jacobs. New York: The
Macmillan Co.
THIS Is one Of those strong worthy
novels which deals with the gene.
aloey OF q great Jewish family. Miss
Jacobs people are the oollAntses, and