Evening star., 1936-02-29
By Mary.Carter Roberts.

AGE BEFORE BOOTY: AN EX-
PLANTATION OF THE TOWN.
SEND PLAN. BY Morgan j. Dor
man. With q Foreword by DR..
Francis E. Townsend. New York:
G. P. Putnam's Sons.
THE TOWNSEND PLAN: TAKING
FOR SIXTY. BY Nicholas Roose-
velt. With all Introduction by
Lewis w. Douglas. Garden City:
Doubleday, Doran 6' Co.
THE first of these books contains
the pros of the famous Town
send plan, stated with approval
L of the plans originator. The
second contains the cons, with an
ominous warning contributed by a
former director of the budget. After
going through the pair Of them the
reader can just take his choice. Or.
If he prefer, he can sit back and revel
in that emotional release which Is
attendant upon beholding any really
ffrst-rate row. Perhaps, on the whole,
the dilettante attitude will prove the
more profitable.
For, surely, the embattled econ
omists have not spared one another.
In the course of the two books the lie
Is passed about as frequently as any
claim is made by either side. There
seems to be just one thing that the
two schools agree upon, and that Is
that DR.. Townsend himself is good
and honest man. Apart from this, the
fur flies freely.
The interested reader will probably
find that the most pertinent point OF
disagreement is in the predictions ad-
vanced by the two claimants as to
the effect on business of the "transac-
tions tax" which is, of course, the 2
per cent tax on all business transac-
tions, of whatever nature, by which
the Townsendites plan to raise the
money needed for their proposed
pensions to the aged.
Mr.. Roosevelt, taking the case of
the harmless necessary shirt, and
tracing the evolution of that garment
from the state of being cotton seed
UP until it covers the human form,
declares that in all II transaction"
will be involved, with, of course, II
tax levies, every one of which will be
passed on to the consumer, who thus
will bear the entire burden. More
over, says Mr.. Roosevelt, each tax will
be added to the previous cost-plus-
tax, so that they will mount in the i'm
pressive manner of compound, rather
than of simple interest. Beware, says
Mr. Roosevelt.
Mr.. Dorman, on the other hand,
ignoring the shirt, takes that more
universally symbolic article, the loaf
of bread. Between the times when it
is farmers wheat and when it is Of
fered for sale at the retail bakers, five
transactions" take place, he says. At
present, he further says, between those
times the cost of the commodity in
creases 500 per cent, which is to say
that the wheat for which the farmer
receives 81 represents SIS in loaves. us
there not room in that wide spread to
take care of 10 cents in taXeS?" he in
quires plaintively.
OF the compound interest aspect,
he makes no mention. Neither does he
believe, as Mr.. Roosevelt does, that
the burden will be shunted along to
the consumer, but implies that each of
the parties to the five transactions will
bear his own 2 per cent.
This difference of Interpretation
would seem to be basic, to the ordinary
citizen, at least. However, it is by no
means the only one which the two
books bring out. Unfortunately,
neither one presents a complete au-
thenticated body of information. Both
quote, to be sure, impressive facts
taken from reports of unimpeachable
bodies. But what, after all, Is stray
fact, more or less? The dispassionate
reader will feel that. both writer's are
honestly, too honestly perhaps, intent
on making case. They do protest too
much.
Summed up, Mr.. Dorman's claims
are that the Townsend plan will pre-
vent all future depressions, keep in
dustry working at peak that will
provide employment for every one,
eliminate private charity or the need
for it and widen the opportunities
open to the young.
Similarly summed up, Mr.. Roose-
velt's views are that the Townsend
plan will induce an immediate de-
preston of tremendous and fatal pro-
portions, that it will cut down the
buying power of consumers by
enormously raising prices, that it will
consequently kill industry, increase
unemployment and demoralize the
populace.
You can take your choice. Neither
book, be it said, is large or expensive.
Both are recommended. quite i'm
partially.
THE HOUSE IN PARIS. BY Elizabeth
Bowen. Alfred H. Knopf. New
York.
RACK in January, there came to the
desks of the Nations book re-
viewers small, compact novel which,
one glance at the name of the author
foretold, was destined to be a
delightful professional experience.
"Ah," they said, their austerity van-
1SIllIlS ike uluSlOnS III one ZUS,
Elizabeth Bowen has written another
book"
A few days later came notice from
the publisher saying that publication
date had been deferred. March 3,
they said it was to be.
"Ah," said the reviewers, Miss
Bowens novel has been snapped up
by the book of -the-month people"
The reviewers were right. Those
who deputize their book selection to
professionals. in the art Cor is it a
science?) will find the postman max
ing one of his most alluring deliveries
this month. "The House in Paris" was
q natural for the book month
judges; one of those choices that
could not have been wrong.
Miss Bowen's book is different.
As Katherine Mansfield's books were
different. Ireland,s most recent and
brightest contribution to the literary
nro ff y,.ovee thot ocfio, is ontiro1v die-