Evening star., 1936-09-19

There is, for example, the episode Of
the strike which ends in pogrom;
the Christian workers, thwarted of
their ends, turn on the Jews--who
are also workers-and massacre num-
bers of them. The strike, of course.
is failure. Nissan, a Jew, had Or
ganized the uprising, only to see 1t
get completely out Of hand. The
emotional possibilities of the event
call for a .Tolstoi. Mr.. Singer has
related the happening briefly and
boredly,. as one who sets down q mere
necessary detail.
1t would not be fair to dismiss his
work. however, without writing that
he has a vivid talent for the use OF
detail, and that the impersonal quail
ity of his book is relieved by brief
brilliant passages descriptive Of con-
ditions and minor characters. But
these passages are superimposed. as
it were, and the fabric of the book
as a whole is of a mechanical gray
ness.
The chief merit of the work would
seem to be an educational value.
America has had immigrants in great
numbers from the district which Mr..
Singer treats, and an understanding
Of these people would undoubtedly be
fostered by some knowledge of the
brutalized existence which-accord-
ing to THE Brothers AshkenaZi''-
they have led.
Coming to Somewhere to the Sea, I"
we have another world and a man
ner of writing as different as If it
actually had derived from a separate
star. For this novel is a work Of the
kind which reviewers delight to call
o nostalgia romance"
As has been said, 1t Is set In Dublin
in the days Of the Sim Fein con-
spiracy, which means a Dublin OF
ambushes, escapes, arrests, searches
and sudden death. Yet 1t is neither
brutally realistic book nor tale
of pure adventure. Instead, it en-
deavors to portray the state Of mind
of a young man who goes up to the
neck into conspiracy and then finds
that he wants his life for himself
after all
1t is all delicately done, in pastel
colors. The hero's struggles are
poetic rather than profound. The
real enjoyment to be derived from
reading the book is in the lively back
ground against which the young man
moves-openings at the Abbey Thea
ter, exhibitions attended by A. E. and
James Stephens, hole-and-corner ma
neuverings with life at stake, but car
ried off with calmneSs born Of des-
perate habit. 1t is impossible to
doubt the verisimilitude of the pic
ture or to feel that Somewhere to
the Sea" is not written from the life.
1t rings true and commands respect
on that count. Yet, the reviewer
prophesies, most readers will find it
hard to care a great deal about the
young man or what comes OF his
divided desires. This, too, may be
called a book about time, rather
than about a man.
Three Bags FulP' is family novel.
It deals with the descendants Of
Hendrix Van Huyten. who settled up
state New York shortly after the Rev.
olution and whose family remained in
the town which he had founded. 1t
is a good sound chronicle, but, like
many family novels, it gives forth the
impression that the author has cared
more for his characters than any one
else is likely to. Generation after
generation they parade before the
reader, having their love affairs and
griefs, and no one will deny that there
is truth to life in the procession. But
truth without driving significance Is
photography, and family albums have
long been a by-word. Then, 30, Mr..
Burlingame has rather naive style.
But Three. Bags Full" is, notwith-
standing these diparagements, an
eminently respectable piece of work.
THE RISE OF LIBERALISM. BY
Harold j. Laski. New York: Har-
per & Bros.
THIS is history Of the philosophy
of liberalism. timely in that its
distinguished author now sees that
philosophy at a crisis. Sketching in
broad strokes the development of lib
eral thought through four centuries,
he comes at last to the conclusion that
today our business men-one-tim
champions Of liberalism-are its op-
posers. ...
1.-The authority of democracy to en-
force its will," he says, "at least SO
far as its elected representatives ex-
press it's will, Is at present thwarted
by the Supreme Court; in Europe the
same end has been served, more bru-
tally, by the advent of men like Hit
Ter and Mussolini. In each case, what
is at stake Is essentially social phil
osophy, a view of the way in which
the national income should be dis
tributed. The President and Con-
gress seek to use the supreme CO.
ercive power Of the State for their
view; but the Constitution stands in
their way. In such dilemma the
stage is set for one of those funda-
mental conflicts Of which no one can
predict the outcome. The period has
arrived in American economic evolu-
ton when the .postulates of its system
are incompatible with political democ-
racy. Either the class relations of
America must be changed or it will
be compelled to change the democratic
basis Of society in order to realize its
fundamental objective Of profit"
That Is his conclusion. In similar
way Prof. Laski discusses liberalism
in relation to fascisn, socialism and
the Russian dictatorship.
AN AMERICAN DOCTOR'S
ODYSSEY. BY Victor Heiser,
MD. New York: w. w. Norton
Co.
THE subtitle of this best-selling book
IS Adventures in As Countries. I"
And therein lies its story.
DR.. Heiser, backed by the Rockefel-
Ter Foundation, Travelled for 80 years
to spread the knowledge Of health and
to study disease, and had his ports Of
call all around the world. He studied
tropical sickness in islands of which
the average reader will hardly have