Evening star., 1938-03-13

IRENE KUHN.
Who is knoUn as fine neUs-
paper "n1dn." Her biography,
assigned to Adventure" has
just been published. Lippin-
cott.)
Under the popping eyes of
his visitors he ratified off nearly SO
amendments in less than hours"
The young lawyers soon got the idea
They rushed off and set to work with
such results that they were able to
bring l25 amendments to the Capitol
the next morning. The story is typical
OF much of the ridiculous and undigni-
| fed conduct which went into the fight
on the court measure.
THE narrative strikes a dramatic
vein, however, when it reaches the
battle which Senator Robinson finally
put up to save his leaders ill-advised
legislation. The Senator had been
treated with the utmost shabbiness by
the man whom he so Loyalty supported,
say the authors, remarking that to-
ward Robinson the President and his
advisers behaved as if they were a
newly rich family, ashamed to allow a
shabby poor relation to dine with them
In public" But when the full force
Of the public indignation at the court
bill finally penetrated the President S
armor of complacence it was to Rob-
inson that he had to turn for practical
assistance. The picture of the i'll man,
fighting savagely for bill in which he
had no confidence. which indeed he
personally loathed fastening his death
by his efforts in the curious endeavor,
is a classic. And nice high light on
that picture lies in the circumstance
that, while the Senator labored like a
very Hercules, the bright young men of
the White House. relieved of RESPONSE
bility, visited constant threats on him
that If he failed to put over the meas
ure which they had so airily brought
forth he would be deprived of his
promised Supreme Court appointment.
Sweet, indeed, are the uses of politics
Senator Robinson comes nearer be-
ing hero than any other character in
the record. When he had died-and
the authors claim directly that he
hastened his death by his labors for
the bill that hot summer-the action
passed to the practical hands of Vice
President Garner. whose only concern
was to save the Democratic party from
complete disruption. He promptly
conceded defeat and told Senator
Wheeler to write his own ticket"
And the court-packing plan became
history. certainly not bright chapter
in the national annals.
The story, as written here. could
hardly be improved. The authors have
set down an immense amount of in
formation and most of it is the off,
the-record sort, such matter as could
not be gathered from any formal re-
porting. There should be more of
these behind-the-scenes accounts,
provided they are done with the same
detachment and absence of deliberate
sensationalism.
ASSIGNED TO ADVENTURE. BY
Irene Kuhn. Philadelphia: j. B.
Lippincott Co.
THE author of this book is news
paper woman who has gotten
around. She has travelled over most
of the world and has been in at a
great many big moments. Now she
writes her autobiography. She is
in excellent tradition in doing it. for
almost every male reporter of any re-
pute has in recent months published
his life story. There is absolutely no
reason why the women should not
write their records, too. But if in
doing so they follow the method
used by Mrs. Kuhn it is to be hoped
that they decide in favor of reticence.
For, though she has good story to
tell and though she is a practiced
writer. in writing her autobiography
she commits an error which seems
almost inescapable by women when
they attempt to put themselves on
paper That is, she tries to write
with charm. The tries to write, in
short, as cutely as she would talk,
forgetting apparently that nobody in
lifetime will ever have to listen to
400 pages of her conversation un-
brokenly, and that what is amusing
for a little while can become des-
perately monotonous when carried to
lengths, and-worse-screamingly OBJ
vious. It Is too bad. The reviewer
is so much believer in women as
equals of men that she has resolutely
refused, all her life, to join any femi-
mist organization. holding such en-
deavors as beneath her dignity as a
human being. But. by that very token,
she maintains that working woman
should do her work impersonally.
Mrs. Kuhn has not done so. She is
simply cutter than bag of tricks.
She is a little Irish gal, and she
tells us so, right of on her second
page. More, she puts it so that we
gather that she Is q swate colleen
wild the loight Of Erin in her oies
and a warm, trustin', lovin' heart
and timper loike a thundershower
at noon. In other words, she lays it
on. The reviewer felt sort of ground
swell sensation right there and
moaned: why will they do it?" But
the whole Of Mrs. Kuhns adventures
seems to be In this-that she did do
it. She got around. as said, and
everywhere she went they thought
she was cutie. So, she must have
been cute. Well. this Is the cute
tale of her cuteness.
She worked on the New York World
Telegram, she worked on the Paris
edition Of the Chicago Tribune, she
went out to China and Japan and
Honolulu, and she worked on papers
there. She saw all the big sights, such
as postwar Europe in its economic
madness and its artistic dadaism, and
the attack on Shanghai and the tidal
wave at Hilo. What she saw she
turned into cOpy, and now she retells