Evening star., 1937-10-23
Br MIC. r.

~ ,4Ff fs-Ns Its
TINE reviewer found a pleasant
note in her mail this week,
i postmarged from London. 1t
reads. In part, as follows:
e. NV sincere thanks for the
very satisfying review of The Return
Of Kai Lung appearing in a recent
issue Of The Star. Words such as
those which your reviewer uses only
make me feel puiltily how much better
the book ought to have been, alas. 10
justify anything like this commenda-
ton. Yours faithfully,
ERNEST BRAMAH."
Now this Is courtesy, indeed. Tor an
accomplished artist such as Mr.. Bra
nah to write from London in praise OF
a review which seemed to its author
at the time she wrote 1t wholly
inadequate statement OF the merits
of his delightful book. And 1t is in
harmony with the distinguished man.
ners of his own Chinese characters
that he should minimize those merit.
himself; he. better than many writer's.
obviously knows how Impossible IL is
to improve perfection. The reviewer
on getting that note. had a feeling
that she had received word from a
very special source; she recalled what
few facts she knew about Mr.. Bramah
as A person-that he writes slowly
taking 10 to 20 years between each OF
his Kai Lung books, that his real
name is not Bramah at all, but Smith;
that he does occasional detective ana
up-to-date farces, but reserves the
finished beauty Of his style for his Kai
Lung masterpieces and that, as MS
publishers put 1t. "he Is very old
but will probably outlive the present
generation"
All these bits Of knowledge indicate
personality quite In ACCORDANCE WIN
the wisdom and humor Of Kai Lung,
and quite as indefinable. The re-
viewer can only say that "Kai Lung
is one of the few books among those
which she has reviewed which she has
also added to her library. 1t and It's
nredecessors-they make an honor
able and very special corner In ner
shelves.
Another piece OF correspondence
which the reviewer is constrained 10
answer through her columns IS tnat
bit OF verse entitled Resume OF
Marv-Carter Roberts Page" which
came to her during the past week.
It was not anonymously sent, but the
photograph of the authors name ex-
ceeded in its intricacy the reviewer ;
ingenuity. And so the unknown
sender must thus publicly be given
thanks for his interest-or her inter-
est. for the reviewer has a feeling
that feminine gender is indicated.
The reviewer is also obliged to answer
that she has no need for an assistant,
AS the members Of The Star stan
customarily give her oil the help sne
REQUIRES. But for the interest, thanks
again, Just the same.
What effect the Governments S
present gold purchase plan is nkeB
to have on your investments Is dis
cussed bv John T. Flynn in Scribners
leading article. the November issue.
Mr.. Flvnn views with distinct alarm.
We have too much gold. he says. we
have much more than is good Tor US.
Noting. however, that the Govern
rent under the present gold purchase
plan stands ready and committed 10
buy more and more, to buy all tnat
is offered. in fact. he questions-wnat
will happen? And the answer. as lar
as he can see, is something terrible
but nobody knows exactly what.
He says that the Secretary of the
Treasury freely confesses his igno-
rance of the overwhelming problems
of his Office" He adds, The most
astute finance experts are at sea-" He
quotes letter from Senator as iol-
lows: I'm the cloak room OF tne
Senate there is endless discussion OF
the great gold mystery. But have you
noticed that no one ever mentions the
subject on the Senate floor? The rea-
son is that the Senators are like my
self-they do not know what 1t is all
about" And, further. says Mr.. Flynn,
when asked what he thought would
happen as result of our present gold
uolicv. a well-known economist who
specializes in money and international