Evening star., 1937-06-26

says tHe JOuTnallSJ, L 1elt Lne WnOle
human-laden globe reel by in smother.
ing darkness"
Time to close down. Consider the
phrase. 1t was uttered in 1892, in
Lawrence's 44th year, II years afte,
the end of his great adventure. Of
course, it may have been merely hi,
way Of closing an argument in which
he did not wish to engage. But equally
there is the possibility that 1t wa,
more. Time to close down. Time tc
end the show. Time to give over
breeding little people who cannot live
but may only cling to their existences
warming themselves by the mass
How could any one. save one in q
million-in 10 millions-understa
man who reasoned so relentleSsly?
TIL; book is monument alike to that
inability, and to his power as leader
Certainly he turned an heads as he
went by. And now the people stand
still gaping in the current of his pass
ing, trying to realize what it was that
passed. 1t is to laugh a little. Or
maybe it is to cry.
BLOOD ON THE MOON. BY Linton
Wells. Boston: Houghton Mlffiin
Co.
THIS book has been appearing on
best-selling lists for some weeks
now with regularity which elected
the reviewers curiosity. She knew
that Linton Wells, the author, was a
newspaper man; she assumed there
fore that this book was his autobiog
raphy, this being the year set aside
by astrologers for all newsmen 70
write their life histories. Nor has
Mr.. Wells gone counter to the stars;
he has, in truth, written down his
story. Why, then, should it win special
popularity? Well, the thing which has
lifted it into best-selling prominence
would seem to be that Mr.. Wells sees
his life not as a journalists career but
as an adventurer's. The market has
become fairly glutted with books de-
voted to hoW-I-covered-t -the-Western-
front and Observation-Disclosures beat;
they are all good enough, but when
you have read one you have read the
rest. Blood on the Noon" however,
is not an account of Journalistic en-
terprise. Mr.. Wells went hither and
yon over the world at the behest of
various publications. it is true, but
what he writes about here are the
Things which he saw and experienced
in his goings and comings He men,
tons only briefly the journalistic JUS
tification. Sometimes, even he omits
to mention it at all. But the liveli-
ness OF his adventures very amply
compensates the reader for the alb
sence of such matter of fact detail
He seems to be a man to whom
things happen. He went out at the
age of 19 to China to take a news
paper job which called for thorough
experience, and he had had only a
little. Hardly had he gotten settled
on that position when revolution broke
out, and he was sent to the fighting
front to cover it. He did not preserve
the traditional neutrality OF the fourth
estate on this occasion; he went into
the trenches with the fighters and
took hand. He seemed to have a
grand time. Subsequently he assist
ed at the Anglo-Japanese assault on
Tsingtao in the World War. And
with that behind him. he went off
to Mexico and stopped a bullet with
his ankle while acting as impromptu
gunner's aide in Gen. Obregon's cap
ture of Leon. (For this he was made
major) And with SO promising a
beginning as an adventurer and tray
eler, he continued to get around and
see most of the livelier events in the
history OF our past decades.
He went out to Hawaii as SIR
Veyor and worked on dam there, in
Which interlude he was adopted as a
son by a native chief, subsequently
falling heir to the chieftainship and
not inconsiderable property. He coy-
cred the Kolchak revolt against boil
shevism in Siberia; he covered Holly
wood. He contrived to be in Japan
at the time of the great earthquake:
ne was almost killed when his house
fell on him but survived to organize a
publicity campaign for the feeding
OF nearby leper colony which was
being neglected in the general con-
fusion. He covered the first world
flight from the vantage point of the
decK OF a destroyer in the Arctic.
He also flew on one segment of that
light (acroSs India), for which the
Associated Press brightly fired him.
He crossed the ocean with the Prince
of Wales and visited the royal ranch in
canada. He made stunting trips
around the world and across the con-
lnent to reduce travel records. He
the Venezuela occupation
or part Of it-and was made a colonel.
He got around to the Soviets, he took
shot at Ireland's troubles and he
covered the late invasion of Ethiop;a
conservative writer might make
oook out of any of these experiences.
rhey are all tumbled in together.
however, and the result is a lush]y
volume. 1t deserves its place
IN the best-seller list. One cannot
'ut like the insouciant personality
II the author. One has to read him
With sympathy.
A GOOD WORD FOR DEMOCRACY
BY s. E. Forman. New York:
D. Appleton-Century Co.
THIS book, by Washington author
is a sturdy and eloquent defense
u our traditional form OF Govern
nent-democracy DR.. Frman feels. |
and states, that his occasion for writ
ng on the subject lies In the fact that
democracy today is standing against
, wall, fighting for its life" in coun-
'rles overseas, while in America ut
,an detect the mutterings and threats
u powerful and insidious foes" He
'onfesses an affection" for the sys-
,em bequeathed us by the Founding |
Fathers, however, and he takes up his |
zen in defense of that system as the
oest one yet devised for ordering the
affairs of men.
His book is an examination of the
1ar1OuS aspects of deuocrofio ,a,,.-n