Evening star., 1937-08-14
SIEGE STORY is MAGNIFICENT
English Officer Makes Overwhelmingly Convincing Case for
Spanish Naionalists in Fine Unbiased Account
Madame Butterfly Tale Is Translated

men were or Inc Rentlemen- Off1cer
class, it was situated in a city which
was the stronghold OF religion in sll
Spain. and so it was alta cked with that
appalling SaVsgery which only comes
| from hatred which has It's roots In
envy.
Heavy guns were set up at close
range, planes few low over the court
ward and buildings spraying petrol.
after which they dropped incendiary
bombs; although the beseigers knew
that thousand civilians were within
the walls they dug below the fortress
and exploded three terrible mines. On
Jne day when the first two were set off
the current minister of war for the
loNaiiStS came down with a large
corps OF neNSmen and photographers,
and personally turned the switch.
Mere destruction of the buildings
vas not the aim in these explosions
either, for, previous 10 their setting
oH. the LOvalss subjected the side OF
The fort which was away from the
danger TO heavy bombardment. evil
IDENTIFY in the hope of forcing the in
habluantS to take refuge on the ground
above the waiting mines.
When Nationalist airmen we're forced
down near the city, two OF them
were literally torn 10 pieces by the
girls whom the government had sent
from Madrid to work in the arms
factory. and the other two we're
lied by the hands behind a lorry and
dragged over the rough slopes
until They we've dead These people
fought under the red nag and scrawled
viva huSSla on the walls of the
town, using blood The book conJa ms
photograph OF the inscription.
AS opposed to this mob conduct, the
defenders treated their prisoners as
themselves. When Gen Franco sue
ceeded IN relieving them al last. they
sent out word that their captives
would be released If the Iovalists
would Withdraw with no more harm to
the people OF the city. They were
without medical supplies and sufficient
food, but they did have plenty Of am
munltlon; nevertheless. they engaged
III no Snlping, but only fought to reptl
attacks. In one OF the cha mbers oi
the fortress hung the picture of the
Virgin OF The Alcalar. They ora yea
when they had time
As has been said, il is magnificent
story, and It's telling is msgnifcentlv
effective. The book is a oav-by-d -dav
record of ATTACKS. casualties. ex-
pedients in hunting tood-lt reads. in
deed, almost like a military report 1t
is severely documeu uteG; its staIeme MS
are either verified or marked as I'M
possible 10 be verified. There is no
emotlonallsm, no hearsav The cour-
age of The rank and file of the al
tacSers is highly praised This book
bears all the marks of fairness Blu,
lLs lmphca tionS are as has been noted
The Alca2ar has been DESTROYED, the
Cathedral Of Toledo has been badly
dama eed, The CITY of Ell Greco'S vision
has oeen bombed. mined and burned
Gen. Franco arrived in time TO save
the remains OF the garrison, but that
CITY OF the spirit, as Toledo has SO
often been called, has lost its tlmeIeSs
semb.ance. And mark this The Inn-
The inn of CervanIes was DESTROYED Is
anv governmental regime in the world
worth that" Mai. Mcneil Moss per
haps answers the question best He
saws.
surely the shade Of
Cerva ntes viii not erumole For he
had believed the davs of chlvalrv over.
ND his of ha 10
man of la Mancha he had laughed at
those fancies. and tales of wonderous
fealS of arms which had sci his hero
out upon his travels. Yet. Just above
the inn where CervanCes mad lived
there had been performed feats seem
ing as cranllv impossible as any that
had filled the pate of that poor gentle
man, Don 0ul8ote. The inn is gone
The spirit of the Alcazar remains
The Joke is against Ceramics. But
he. TOO. was himself Spa anish soldier
and be viii make no compsi int
ONE LIFE. ONE kOPECk BY Wal
ter Duranty. New York: Simon &
Schus'er.
Mr.. WALTER DURANl'Y is un-
QueStlonablv an aut norlty on
the Russian revolution and on Rus
sian politics since the revolution He
is also fine, rea da ole journalist This
is his FIRST novel and it confirms
what any experienced reader might
have suSpected-that professional
writing man of Mr. Durantvs skill
cannot do any piece Of work badly,
and that Mr.. Duranty is. nevertheless.
no novelist. He is fine, BILE
journalist. But novelisl--no
his book is the story of the making
OF BOlSheNik and of the part PLAYED
by young BOlshevIk in the Bolshe-
NlSLs rise to power. 1t takes young
Ivan, peaSs ut born foster son of
nobleman. through lively enough Ca
reer-he is railroa ded 10 Siberia in
the daYs before The war, he finds q
copy Of "DsS kapiIal' in the prison
camp, ne sees the light, he Kills the
commando and escapes, he falls into
company with a Bolshevist organizer.
he enliSJs in The army in order to learn
discipline, he serves as factory
worker in order 10 learn technical pro-
cedures. he organizes. fights, suffers
and dies-always a loyal party mem
Der. He also has surprising number
Of love affairs with beautiful young
women who either kiss him so hard
that it hurt him. or kiss away his
strength or kiss him wildly" and
so on. Yet. for sll these enterprises,
young Ivan does not live. He is obvi-
ously a Typical Russian OF The Revo-
mtionary Generation. And the rest Of
the book is similarly put together with
no better than nice mechs nical skill
One has the feeling that Mr. Duranty
dictated it all rapidly after spending
about half hour thinking it through.
Well, that is sil there is 10 say Of
it. 1t is lively mechanics, it is brightly
painted puppets moving on well ma
nipulated strings. Great knowledge of
a inject and an ability TO write in
terpretatively of that subject do not
confer on an author the peculiar pow
- IN 1iet nar