Evening star., 1938-03-20

are arrayed to show that the United
States has no valid reason for involving
herself tn Far Eastern affairs. The
book contends that public opinion in
this country has for long been in
duenced to mako the voter thing that
America has 4 vital stake in the
Orient and that sooner or later we
must come into conflict with Japan
in defending this stake. Actually.
say these authors. our stake is tiny,
and to BACK up their case they give
some rather surprising comparisons.
Our total direct investment in the
Far East" they say, meaning China,
Japan. 'Manchcukuo, Philippines, So
Wet Far East, French Indo-China,
Siam, British Malaga and Neither
lands India, approximates so per cent
of the total dollars and cents the
American people spent for cigarettes
In 1887.
Our cigarette BILL" they continue,
"for 1887 was approximately $l,000,-
600, ,000-our Far Eastern investmen Mt
one halt. billion.
Put another way, We find our total
direct investment in the Far East
amounted to roughly one-sixth OF the
amount spent for liquor by the Amer
lean people in Iceland our liquor
bill was approximately $4,000, ,000, ,0OO."
On the basis of such statistics the
authors conclude that we have no
compelling reason to intervene in
strictly Oriental troubles. They rec
ommend instead a course of waiting
until events which actually concern
us take place-if they ever should
And in the meantime they urge tnat
We stop talking for . change" and
mind our own business.
The main part Of the book is a his
tory Of our conduct in the Far East,
written on the debunking theme, for
the authors hold that most of the
realities in our Oriental diplomacy
Rave been obscured from the general
public Unfortunately. the WORK has a
sensational and fiashy style. The same
facts, presented with more dignity
one feels, might have more weight
with thinking people.
A CHILD IN HER ARMS. BY Louise
Redfleld Peattie. New York: 6. p.
Putnam's Sons.
THIS is an intense little novel about
problem. The problem is not
precisely an unheard-of one, nor does
Mrs. Peattie bring any particularly
new light to 1t. save as she evidently
feels q deep personal conviction that
it is interesting and important It is
the old situation Of the childless wife
bringing home the girl Of the streets
who is about to become a mother
And from it develops the equally old
situation of the husband finding his
love divided. There is much heart
burning and yearning and nobility
among the three principals. all Of
whom are very high-minded people.
Eventually the triangle Is squared by
the mother giving her child to the
married pair with the stipulation that
in later years she is to be known as
its 'best friend" It is all obviously
made-to-order. but within those
limits, well enough.
HOPE OF HEAVEN. BY John oHara.
New York: Harcourt, Brace d. Co.
THIS is one more of John O'Hara's
novelistic interpretations" of
modern youth. It does not have that
rank smell of rottenness which marked
his previous one. "Butterfield g." and
50, one is obliged to say, 1t seems
to lack the only kind Of distinction
which Mr.. OHara has recently been
able to impart to his works of literary
art. 1t is slangy and wise-cracking
and to show that its author sapiently
sees the hollow sham beneath the gilt
ter and knows that rye and soda will
bite back sooner or later, is touched
with machine-made irony here and
there. The scene is Hollywood. The
hero a screen writer The subject. his
loves and dreams. Let the rest be ST.
lence.
UNCOMMON SCOLD: THE STORY
OF ANNE ROYALL. BY George
Stuyvesant jackson. Boston Bruce
Humphries, Inc.
A NNE ROYAL, Washington's pio-
neer newspaper woman. is becom-
ing as much part Of the tradition Of
our Capital City as the Washington
Monument or the White House. The
reviewer has for some time past been
making a photography Of articles or
books in which this woman appears,
and the number of such publications Is
astonishing.
A welcome addition to the literature
on Mrs. Royal is this very readable
study of her life. The treatment deal
ing with her life is less than 100 pages
Of actual reading, so the work may be
read through at sitting by rapid
reader. The author. Mr.. George S..
Jackson, teaches English at Washing
ton and Lee University at Lexington,
Va. He is. a graduate of Bowdoin Col
lege and holds an A. M. degree from
Harvard. where he has also taught.
He is author OF one previous book and
numerous magazine articles and
taught at the University of Tennessee
prior to coming to Washington and
Lee.
For a half century following her
death in 1854, Mrs Royal slept in OBJ
scurity. A biography of her by Sarah
Harvey Porter, published in 1908 and
reissued in 1909, Of about 800 pages,
resurrected the personality of this &C.
centric woman. A marble tombstone
was soon thereafter erected over her
grave in the Congressional Cemetery
and she has been written about and
discussed ever since.
Although Mr.. Jackson's book brings
very little new factual material on
her life. the book achieves, as he in
tended it should, a revised interpreta-
ton" Of her life. Anne Royal, the
wife Of a Revolutionary soldier, was
widowed at the age Of about 40 and,
driven from her home by hostile rela-
tives, took to the pen to earn a liveli-
hood. She Travelled about the United
States for many years, and wrote nine
books Of travel, book Of letters and
. novel. A play which she. wrote