Evening star., 1938-12-04

thought deserved production, that
would be the parallel to union action
In other fields"
Or, to put 1t more fatty, when Mr..
Very Big announces that he IA
vors the Authors League, the power
Of his name brings in a flock Of
dues-payers. And Mr.. Very Big pro-
ceeds exactly as he did before in his
own negotiations with his publishers.
Hundreds Of thousands Of young
people dream Of becoming writers.
Most Of them have heard that it
takes long years Of hard work, and,
pathetically, most Of them have
been willing to put In these years as
an investment against an eventual
recognition which they never could
receive. Their willingness has made
them very touching. They have
had the appeal of the gallant inno-
cent.
If, however, these young would
be's are to abandon their one faith
faith In themselves as future ge-
niuses-and march boldly en- masse
to the market place demanding rec
ognition as their improved right,
they sacrifice their attractive inno-
cence for a most mattractive ig-
norance. Few things are more irri-
tating than the spectacle of peo-
pie demanding benefits in the name
OF capacities which they do not
have. Few things, indeed, are more
revolving and ridiculous than people
making such demands in the name
of genius.
+ X +
Wildly sensational articles which
have recently appeared concerning
the activities of the Japanese in the
Panama Canal Zone are treated
with contempt in a piece by Wilbur
Burton in the December Current
History. Says Mr.. Burton:
Japanese have recently been
known to be initiating Hollywood.
Fishermen solemnly take soundings
OF the bays at both entrances
thereby obtaining. probably quite
imperfectly, photographic data al
ready publicly available. But the
chances are next to nothing that
any spying can uncover darkly stra-
tegic military secrets. At the most
the location of some batteries might
be revealed, maybe already has been
yet this could only be of minor i'm
portance"
Mr.. Burton continues, however
that the defense of the Canal is ab-
solutely indispensable to the United
States, and adds that it would not
be amiss for our Government tc
secure control Of the Nicaragua
route as well as the Panama. His
article is the first of a series which
is to deal with vital military defense
zones.
4 X X Il
Czechoslovakia is less In the
periodicals now than Palestine; the
latter country seems to be agreed
upon as the theater for the next
disturbance. while Central Europe
is apparently granted a brief period
OF peace. Two December magazines
indeed are giving space to the likeli-
hood of a serious religious war in
the Near East. One is Current His
tory and the other is Asia.
The Current History story is
written by Linton Wells and is
called Holy Terror in Palestine. -
Mr.. Wells surveys the history of the
Holy Land since the World War and
places the blame for the present
disorder squarely on the British
government. He says that Lord
Balfour in 1917 offered the Jews a
national home in Palestine under
British protection in exchange for
their financial aid. At almost the
same time England had held out the
promise Of an independent Arabia
10 the Arabs as in inducement fol
them to support the Allies against
Turkey. Or, in other words, as
Mr.. Wells puts it, England sold the
same pup twice"
Since then British policy has beer,
decided by wish to pacify both
Jews and Arabs, with the end re-
suit of the partitioning of Palestine
into separate zones for" both peoples
At present, however, the natives
seem determined to press their de-
mands that the Jews be removed
and. hardy, fearless. well-armed
Arabs (have) continued to challenge
British authority with such success
that today that authority faces de-
struction,' as Mr.. Wells puts it.
He adds that it is "a reasonable
fear" that these disorders in Pales-
tine will soon find repetition in
other parts of the empire as the
Islamic world takes up the sword
The author of the Asia article is
Albert Viton. His space is called
'Is This the End of Partition?" He
discusses the fierce and determined
nature of the Arab terrorism and
like Mr.. Wells, sees in it threat of
a widespread Moslem revolt. The
movement. he writes, has become
in essence a crusade of Islam
against the heretical Christians and
Jews. They now derisiyely