Evening star., 1937-07-03

perhaps the most telling praise which
can be given it.
The book devotes only . little apace
to the Senator's early days, but pro-
ceeds in detail when 1t comes to its
subjects entry into politics. His orig
inal detection from the position Of BE-
ing purely & party man is the resi
point Of take-off: that detection oc-
CURED, say the authors, when he VA
q member OF the House, and defled
Speaker Cannon successfully. From
that time on his battles are passed in
review-his opposition to the entry OF
the United States into the World War
his objections to the Versailles treaty
his fight against high tariffs, against
the seating Of Senator Newberry, hi.
famous parody on "Sheridan's Ride
made apropos OF Vice President Dawes
hasty taxi ride from the Willard to
the Capitol in the hope that he might
arrive in time to prevent the rejection
OF Charles B. Warren as Attorney
General; his part in the Teapot Dome
investigations, his presidential boom
the attempt to involve him in the
Hearst Mexican plot" his long Muscle
Shoals battle. the grotesque comedy OF
the plot of Grocer George" his
espousal Of farm relief, his lame duck
amendment. his support of outstand-
ing New Deal policies, his dislike OF
the Presidents court plan-these old
and not-so-old struggles make lively
entertainment, as the reader has placed
before him the Senator's pungent OBJ
servations and scathing attacks. It
bears out more than amply the au-
thorS' comment that To-day, the Con-
gress of the United States consists of
400 Democrats, 106 Republicans,
ProgreSsives, 7 Farmer-Laborites and
l Independent-George w. Norris. u
1t Is unfortunate that these authors
have not seen how well the story would
tell itself. Their adulatory comments
are not needed, nor do they add any
thing to the dramatic facts Of the rec
ord.
MARRIAGE. BY Leon Blum. Trans
lated front the French by w. B.
Wells. Philadelphia: J. B. Lip
pincott Co.
IN THIS book NJ. Blum, former prime
minister of France, develops, by
means Of series of essays. the idea
that marriage ought not to be entered
into until both parties to the con-
tract have had sufficient preliminary
sex experience to have satisfied that
love of adventure which, he feels, Il
innate in the human being and which
is, more than any one thing, the
cause Of the failure Of marriages as
the institution stands today. The
idea, it will be seen, is not original;
neither is M. Blum particularly orig
inal in his development OF it. The
book, however, was written a num-
Der OF years ago-when M. Blum
was a young man, in fact-and at
that time his proposed reforms came
a great deal nearer being revolu-
tionary than they do today He writes
neatly and with Gallo persuasive
ness. His book is entertaining enough,
even though to read it is to 20 over
ground that has been covered-and
fought on-an inflnitude Of times in
recent decades. That in itself is
something.
STUDIES IN HAND-READHG. BY
Charlotte Wolff. With a preface
by Aldous Huxley. New York: Al
fred A. Knopf.
IT WAS, the reviewer thought, bad
enough when last year Aldous Hux-
ley (Aldons Huxley, mind yoU came
out with a novel which seemed to
recommend the adoption of a sort of
large, dim neo-Buddism as a panacea
for all human ills. That book indeed
Gt was "Eyeless in Gaza') consti-
tuted for this critic one of the real
shocks of her reading career, whether
that career be considered privately
Or publicly. If those kindly Wash
lngtonians who read this page will
think back they will remember that
'Eyeless in GAIA" was discussed here
at greater length than any other one
book ever has been. It took the re-
viewer three weeks to get over it;
and she expended several thousand
words in begging the public to believe
that Mr.. Huxley simply was not we'll
and that there must be some explana-
ton. But explanation there was none
(unless one takes the implication of
the title as suchO and now we have
the great, satisfying realist of our
age gravely directing our attention
TO palmistry. Lord, Lord, how these
Idols fail us. It is beyond assimilation.
Mr.. Huxley, to be sure, does not offer
nand-readlng as an infallible guide
TO prosperity and happiness. He
seems not to be mystical convert.
Instead with his customary scien-
tif1c viewpoint, he examines how and
why 1t Is possible to discover much
about an individual from an exam
nation OF his hands, and admits that
the answer to these questions is not
definite. But he afhrms that such
discovery is an assured fact and
finally recommends that broad studies
be made into the whole subject of
What next, one wonders?
Astrology - vegetarianisna - nudism-
tea leaves? There is no prophesying
One can only let the mad future
take care Of its own eventualities.
Beyond the fact that Mr.. Huxley has
written the preface, however, there Is
little In this volume to attract atten-
ton. 1t is not, az the reviewer
had hoped, an exposition Of the meth
ods used by chirologists. 1t is, instead,
a series OF readings. The subjects
are for the most part named and
eminent; they include Mr.. Huxley
himself and his brother Julian; they
also include T. S. Eliot, Bernard Shaw,
Anna May Wong and Maurice Rayel.
Thirty-six similarly prominent people
are read" in the course of the book,
with reproduction Of prints Of their
hands to assist the readers under
standing. Beside these, there Is a
number Of anonymous readings, with
accompanying prints, to demonstrate
certain abnormAlities and tynes of