Evening star., 1939-01-29
SANE. NOTE STRUCK ON TREATY
Wheeler Book Weighs Versailles in Terms of
and Strikes New Note in the Language of World Agreement
An Entertaining Study of Murder and Other Works

| llU1OuS Llld1l x1CI WOlot C1lCIIl1CS All
the past have thought to paint her.
He sees the chief workings OF the
British government as hardly more
than an anti-Semitic conspiracy; to
read him, one must believe that the
main occupation of an English
statesman is planning the abuse and
betrayal Of the Jewish people. A
work of more concentrated bitter
ness has, indeed. seldom come to the
reviewers hand
Yet it is not without its merits.
The reviewer would not call it q
statement of the case for the Jewish
people, because she has not been in
formed that the Jewish people have
authorized 1t in any way. But 1t is,
certainly, statement Of the, case
from pro-Jewish viewpoint and,
as such, it deserves consideration.
Friends of the Jews might wish, per-
haps, that Mr.. ziff had been less
furious in his attack and less sweep
ing in his claims. Furious or not,
however, he has made grave charges
and, in the general airing which
seems due for the whole Palestine
question, these charges should be
considered.
Mr.. ziff bases his argument on the
inalienable right of the Jews to oc-
cupy Palestine-not on the basis of
the Balfour declaration Of 1917, but
on the historic ground of conquest
and occupation. This is Of course
romantic; on the same grounds
America belongs to the Indians and
the descendants of those tribes
which the Jews displaced in their
ancient wars might, If they were
alive today, plead an older right to
Palestine than the Hebrew one, and
so on, ad inf1nitum. But the dead
ly seriousness with which Mr.. Ziff
makes the claim is indicative OF the
general tenor of his book.
He covers in the main the history
Of the Jewish Palestine colony from
the Balfour declaration down to the
present disorders. England is the
consistent villain in the piece, as
said. Coming to the present, Mr..
ziff suggests that, if England fails
to mend her ways, the Jews of the
world should ally themselves with
England's enemies-it makes no diff
ference of what nationality-and Of
| fer to join these peoples in effort
to overthrow the British Empire, for,
he finds, only when the Empire is
reduced to dust will the Jews be
safe. AS England's chief enemies to-
day are the very fascistic powers
who are most actively prosecuting
the Jews this argument seems little
likely to appeal to the intelligent,
but Mr.. Zif makes it and 1t is re-
ported for whatever it may be worth.
The two books, as said, make an
interesting contrast when placed
side by side. Mr.. Farago, using a
light touch, penetrates to subtle
problems now important in the Near
Eastern situation and Mr.. ziff, using
| a terrible seriousness, seems to skim
along on the surface, or sometimes
to go clear off into the air.
GRANDMA CALLED 1T CARNAL.
BY Bertha Damon. Illustrated by
Julian Hazleton. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
This Is the story of the authors
childhood, told chiefly through her
memories of her grandmother. Miss
Damon, 1t seems, went to live with
Grandma" when she was no more
than years of age. Grandma was
a New England lady who had culti-
waited her mind in the gardens Of
Thoreau and Ruskin. The little
girl, coming to the old farmhouse
in the early years Of the Goth CEN
tury, found herself virtually back in
the 18th. For, when there was any
question Of putting in modern i'm
provements, or of adopting modern
ways, Grandma called it carnal. She
disapproved of machinery. She
even disapproved of stoves. She also
was a vegetarian. So Miss Damon
had somewhat Spartan upbringing.
But still she loved the old lady and,
now, in writing of her memory, en-
dows her with considerable charm.
Grandma's great love was nature
and she had it for tenet of her faith
that all weather is beautiful. She
went for walks, therefore, every day,
rain or shine. And, at the age of
SO, she spent a Thanksgiving holi-
day in the following manner, as Miss
Damon quotes her:
II shall never forget it as long as I
live. After a delicious feast of
stewed apples and turnips of our own
raising and while my neighbors were
indulging themselves in the flesh
pots of Egypt and laying founda-
tions for future illnesses, sat we'll
wrapped up on the porch all the
middle of the day heartily enjoying
the first snowstorm of the season."
Grandma certainly was a lady of
character. 1t is tribute to Miss
Damon's perspicacity that she saw
as much, for Grandma could not
have been easy to live with. But
she was unforgettable-that the
book testifies. Miss Damon is prob
ably no worse off than if she had
been reared by human rubber
stamp-indeed, having read her
book, one cannot support the COM
parison.
TRANSACTIONS FROM THE
POETRY OF RAINIER MARIA
RILKE. BY M. D. Herter Norton
New York: w. w. Norton 6S Co.
This is an excellent volume of
translations from the verse of the
distinguished German poet. 1t has
been made on the theory that no
translation of poetry is really pos
sible, and so Mr.. Norton has con-
tented himself with an almost word
for-word and line-by-lin transposi-
ton of the German into the Eng
lish, and has placed the original
verse beside his own version in every
case and left 1t for the reader to
work out his own appreciation of the