Evening star., 1938-07-03

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a. a foreign entanglement might not
crop up more than once in 20 years.
governmental control lis a 24-hour-a-
day proposition.
Mr.. Frank declares that only the
great corporations would feel the pinch
OF his plan. It would not affect the
small businessmen. he reiterates. But
that Is open to question. Under the
measure Of governmental control which
we have today-a greater measure
than ever before seen In this country.
but still long way from complete-it
Is the small men who have suffered
most consistently. 1t was the small
men. for example, who were wiped out
oy the N. r. A. So that, when Mr..
Frank tells us that under complete
governmental regulation small men
Will not be molested in any manner, 1t
seems pardonable to doubt him. Cen
tralization that is complete is only a
vaster monopoly than the most fam
tastically large one yet created In
private hands. If these private ones
nave been too great to be handled ef-
nciently. how are We to be sure that we
will have, at all times, in our yarious
control commissions, men of sufficient
intelligence and honesty to insure the
proper running OF the immensely
greater one represented by centraliza-
ton?
mat Is the glaring weakness in anv
splendid paper plan for governmental
taxing over. as Walter Lippmann so
lncislvely pointed out in his work "The
Good Society" 1t is a strange thing
that the wishful thinking of reformers
makes them ignore it. but apparently
1t seldom fails to do so.
NEWS OF ENGLAND By BEVERLY
Nichols. Garden City: Doubleday
Doran g. Co.
THIS is a difficult book to digest
1t purports to be a survey of the
england OF the moment in all of its
notable aspects. and it is advertised
as being biting" in its temper. And
indeed, it does have some highly d,
verting chapters in it. Mr.. Nichols
writes OF his compatriots in an ag-
gressive mood Of criticism. which
after the liquid sweetness of Sir Philip
Gibbs native wood notes wild, for
example, is altogether refreshing. He
assaults English complacence. English
short-sightedness, English lack of
progress and other English faults as
ne sees them with the heartiest satire
and scorn. But when he comes to his
own conclusions. then he goes clear
on the deep end. or at least he does
so as far as this reviewer can make
out.
For in stating those conclusions he
suddenly becomes so incoherent that
1t is hard to tell what he is writing
about. The best the reviewer can
make OF it Is that Mr.. Nichols believes
That, In spite OF Albion's shortcomings.
there Is an indef1nable quality called
the English spirit" without which
the world would be worse of than it
Is. But-hasn't one heard that some-
where before? And that every Eng
lishman should rally round the Ma
t1onal Playing Fields Association so
that the unemployed may have ade-
quate space in which to play games.
Well, if you collect ti-climaxes,
there is one for your book.
Mr.. Nichols central theme would
seem to be that his nation is now
leaderless. He makes no disrespectful
references to the King. to be sure.
He just does not mention the King
at all. He says that he undertook to
write his book because he had made
search, high and low. among his
people, for a hero-a man with those
heroic qualities which make ether
men trust their lives to him. Pro-
ceeding from this point. he examines
various phases of English life and
concludes that the most nearly heroic
figures to be found are the dress de-
signer. Norman Hartnell; the ballet
dancer Freddie Ashton; typical Eng
lish radio broadcaster and a typical
English policeman Now, you may
make what you can of these selec-
tions. To the reviewer they are only
dizzying.
From that point Mr.. Nichols pro-
ceeds to examine more of his Eng
land and eventually gets around to
the headquarters of Sir Oswald Mos
ley, the British fascist leader. And
there, bless your heart, he finds his
hero. 1t is Sir Oswald himself, no
other.
Not that Mr.. Nichols comes out for
fascism. He does not like anti
Semitism. But apart from that, it is
easy to see that he finds Sir Oswald's
doctrines attractive. So what? Well.
Mr.. Beverly Nichols finds Sir Oswald
Mosley's doctrines attractive. And
there you are.
The book would not be reviewed
thus at length except that, as said,
in those chapters given over to satir-
izing current faults in English life
there are some good points. As a
whole, the work betrays Mr.. Nichols
incurable evangelicism, his longing tor
emotional leadership, his deep hanker-
ing after miracle. 1t is strange
to f1nd good satire combined with
such neurotic feeling. It makes one
feel that its author Is precocious, but
considerably less than half-baked.
THE SKY'S THEIR HIGHWAY. BY
Kenneth Williamson. With wood
cut illustrations by c. F. Tunni-
cliffe. New York: Dood, Mead
& Co.
RIRD lovers will have to have this
book. 1t is one of the things
which only occasionally comes along
a nature book that is not dry with
learning nor wet with too much en-
thusiasm. 1t is a bird gossip book,
if you will. an account of the indi-
vidual birds which Mr.. Williamson
observed In the countryside about his
English home during the course of
year. They have their dramas, ad-
ventures tragedies and comedies. And
Mr.. Williamson reports the happen
ings with sympathy and liveliness. It
makes surprisingly good reading. And
the wood cuts are very handsome, too.