Evening star., 1937-09-11
By NC. r.

| opening. Can 1 come in?' ne asked.
"Yes," said the reviewer, and then
added, mostly from habit, her intro
ductory remark to all strangers who
hunt out her working quarters, You,
of course, have written book"
The man did not deny it. However,
he did want to know why he had been
so accused. That was easy. The
answer. was, Everybody who comes
here has written book. Or-worse-
is going to-
The young man shook his head as
if appalled, (as well he might be- by
the vistas which this statement
opened up. "And they all have selfish
motives in calling on you, too, dare
say" he hazarded.
| The reviewer looked worldly. Il
| customarily receive very handsome
bribes," she stated, with aplomb.
And this. of course. is absolutely
| true. Ambitious authors, looking for
| good notices, arrive hourly at every
critics ofiice loaded down with gifts.
This reviewer has recently taken an
apartment and has found 1T unneces-
sary to purchase any furniture. One
young poet who had just finished his
first slender volume of sonnets ar
rived providentially at her office door,
as she was about to move, carrying
a beautiful overstuffed davenport and
club chair. II just thought maybe you
| would like a little token of my ad-
miration for your splendid page" he
| said. blushing and stammering, as
| he took the articles one by one out
Of his brief case.
| put them in the corner" said the
reviewer, distantly.
| Another author recently left at the
| office the Gutenberg Bible, for he had
| heard that the reviewer is collector
Of first editions. Antique oriental
rugs. hand-wrought Colonial andirons,
Ming vases, Flemish apestries-such
| articles as these have from time to
time found their way to the office
storeroom. A young New Dealer who
had Just written work OF political
essays, came one day with his pockets
I
| had been left over from one OF the
new Government buildings. Another
| left the complete works of the Federal
Writers Project with the Office boy,
with a note saying that he hoped the
reviewer would know what TO do with
them; she happened not to be in when
he called which was, in all truth, an
accident. And so it goes. A critics
life is jolly one, though not devoid
of responsibility.
RUT to get back to the man of the
first paragraph.
| He received the statement that
bribes generally accompanied authors
with look of polite surprise. Well"
he said, unstrapping his brief case,
Il have written book, sure enough.
It's been published. just thought I'd
show YOU what some of the papers
have said about it." And he began
bringing out sheaf after sheaf Of
clippings.
The reviewer thought reminiscent
ly, remembering many other inter-
views which had begun the same
way. "Yes-yes The Podunk Press,
no doubt, of which your uncle is the
editor and looked thoughtfully at
the clock. Habit is hard to conquer.
The young man laid the clippings
on the desk before her. Practically
every paper in the country" he said,
has given my work a notice except
my own home town paper. Would
you like to look?"
The reviewer looked. There were
clippings from the New York Times,
there were Associated Press dis
patches, there were magazine notices.
All were complimentary, or even en-
thusiastic A more impressive COL
lection Of reviews it would be hard TO
imagine. A broadcaster named Hill
Edwin c. had made the book the
subject of his talk over nationwide
hook-up.
Dear me-" said the reviewer family,
"and what is the home town paper
that won't give you notice."
The young man coughed. "Ah," he
said. "The-well-Th Washington
Star"
And, as the saying goes, ne had us
there.
60 ALL this, you gather, is by way of
explanation. Not of apology, for
there was no reason for the delayed
review of this particular work except
the crowding of shelves and reviewers
time. Something always has to be
kept over. The fact that it is held
back, however. does not mean any
lack of worthiness. The book in
question was Dear Mr.. President
which has been published by E. p
Dutton and Co. The author who
introduced his work so modestly was
MIR. Ben Whitehurst, who has been a
Washingtonian long enough to regard
The Star as his home town paper. 1t
did seem TO call for sort of special
explanation.
Dear MIR. President" in case you
have not already read some of those
aforementioned praises, is collection
Of letters and excerpts from letters
written to President Roosevelt by his
admiring or not-so-admiring subjects.
Mr.. Whitehurst was formerly chief of
the correspondence division of the
w. P. A. and the F. E. r. A., and in
this position he had an excellent
opportunity TO gather significant bits
out of the vast volume of presidential
mail
The book is funny, and it also goes
a long way to explain the % million
votes of last November. The writer's,
from beginning to end, want some
thing, want it free and want it at
once. They have been led to believe
that the present administration will
give 1t TO them, and do so on exactly
these terms.
Take few examples from the
letters:
Dear President: I appreciate the
roof and food you dole out to me, but
how would you like to go year after
year without pleasure? No radio, no