davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The frontiersman., 1947-07-23
July 23, l947

WERE you THERE?
 Last Monday evening group of less than 50 of seldovia's residents gathered in the and approve a plan for operation of Se1do-: via's light plant which will affect ovory homo and overy r os ident of this ity. Thoso 50 appro oved plan which will require Q co-operative electric associ ati on.
 Tho plan will undoubtedly moan much to all of us in tho ,yoars ahoad, but it doas soom that thore' ought to have boon moro of us therc at that moeting to havo voice in how Soldovia will.. b. given power for the next 35 years. ....
 Tho d,cision they made will stand, but already thcrc arc those who have voiced the not have boon loft to thc few. With that wo agree, but the fact that only tho fow Wore thor is reflection on R3A, as tho crit ics would intimate. Tho mcoting was givon all publ ic tty possible (we tried, Mir. Ander- eon) and tho Alaskan :pr es tive of REA spont much timo in talking with mombers of the community in. ordor to got, as repr os onta- tive an opinion. possible from seldovianss
 The public myoting was ca1lod in order that enyono who mi ght ~hav> boen ov ,rlookod in ersoncl intorvisws would have an oppor- tunity to question and. to cypress an opin- ion. It is unfo tunato that tho powor omcr- goncy occurred whilo many of our woro cy cannot be schedul d for wintcr months ly. md if . r pr es ontctivo fr on overy homo end business summor ing in So1dovia had boon on hand at tho Monday rcoting, thorc would not hcvs beon ovon standing room in the council chambers. ~
 Conspicuous by thoir absenco Wore tho l,edors of thu city gov 3rnmy ynt and civic or
The frontiersman., 1947-07-23
Conspicuous

Conspicuous by thoir absenco wore tho l,ad5rs of thu city gov nmynt and civic or- gcnizations in Soldovia. Only ono council man. and that not yot s5ated, appear cd
Evening star., 1947-11-30
Psychological Plot
Well Developed
THE VICTIM

THE VICTIM
BY Saul Below. Vanguard
Press; $2.75.J
This is a novel of psychological
atmosphere, in which a man wages
what essentially is a fight against
himself. His opponent usually is
disguised as somebody else. The
authors searching insight into his
character lifts the story above the
mans dull mediocrity.
Asa Leventhal, an editor for a
firm that publishes trade papers, is
alone for q few weeks. His wife
is with her mother in the South.
On New York street he encounters
a fellow named Allbee. an acquaint-
ance he has not seen in years. Allbee
is shabby, out of work. He blames
Asa for this plight. 1t seems that
when Asa was looking for job,
Allbee arranged for an interview
with the head of q great news
weekly on which the latter was then
employed. Asa blew up in the face
of a hard turn down and assailed
the executive Allbee was fired for
recommending such man. He
couldn't get another job; his wife
left him, then died; he took to drink.
| Asa feels that the charge Is pre-
posterous and that Allbee is not
altogether sane. Yet, when two
friends to whom Asa appeals, take
Allbee's side of it, Asa wonders. He
is, meanwhile, haunted by Allbee
The fellow drops into Asa's apart
ment. waylays him elsewhere and Is
constantly on Asa's mind. Anbee
taunts Asa with anti-Semitic cliches,
sometimes provoking him to physical
violence, and what Allbee says in
tensifies Asa's chronic sense of in
security and inadequacy. When a
Jewish friend tells him Allbee has
legitimate grievance. Asa's feeling OF
guilt increases; his nerves wear
thin; he lives in q cloud of dread.
Asa1 recollection that his mother
died In q mental institution adds to
his fears.
Mr.. Bellows description Of Asa S
incipient terror, directed more at
himself than at Albee, Is first-rate
psychological writing. Yet the end
ing seems weak. There Is. a climax,
but it Is not quite plausible. The
story levels oil, with Allbee disap-
pearing from Asa's life and Asa
happier and more prosperous. It's as
If the author didn't know what to
do with the theme he had built up
SO skillfully. And the fact remains
that Asa is hardly interesting
enough to be worth the tour de force
Mr.. Below attempted and carried
Oh very well. g. B..
Evening star., 1947-11-30

than most, including Gen. Marshall.
the real nature of the Communist
problem. The villain, if it can be
called one. is Yalta.
Miss Utley claims that the Yalta
decisions which permitted Russia
and her Chinese Communist allies
to dominate Manchuria and North
China made the whole war against
Japan meaningless. AS she says. If
the United States had been pre-
pared to let Japan hold Manchurla
and North China there would have
been no Pearl Harbor, and it is
therefore difficult to understand
why Russia should have been
brought into the war at a price
which meant Russian instead OF
japanese domination.
According to Miss Utley, our
choice in China, as in Greece, is
not one between democrats and die
tators. 1T is choice between those
who could be persuaded and assisted
to transform their countries into
democracies and those who are ir-
revocably committed to the support
of Communist tyranny
Perhaps the recent announcement
py Secretary of State Marshall that
aid for China will be given along
with aid to other parts of the world,
indicates that the American Gov
ernment has decided to grasp the
last chance in China" before it is
too late. In any event reading Of
Miss Utley's book gives the back
ground for judging the size of the
job and the prospects of success.
Evening star., 1947-11-30

There is a Senator, typical of some
whom Southern States have sent to
washington in recent years. Cleve
Pikestaf is suspiciously like one in
particular, 50 much so that the au-
thor has taken care to mention that
particular statesman to show that
he is not the character being dis
sected. Cleve is from the hill coun-
try of an unnamed State. He al
ways has had trouble with the river
people" They haven't been for him.
This time, up for reelection, he is
being hard-pressed by a young vet
eran; Pikestaff needs the river vote.
So he is campaigning along the most
dangerous stretch as one OF the
worst floods in history reaches its
crest. With him is his tough, good
looking daughter, Sudie. Up the
river, living on houseboat, are a
university professor and his pretty
daughter. The professor is talking
to the natives, gathering material
for book.
Portrait Complete.
It's easy for Pikestaff to stir up
the ignorant against the professor.
Sudie, who knows better, helps, be-
cause she is in love with the young
Army engineer officer in command
at the levee, and his romantic in
terest has strayed from Sudie to the
professors daughter. To the Sena-
tor, for political purposes, every
union organizer is Red and every
outsider a suspect. Sudie plots VIC
lence that menaces the good-hearted
professor.
Mr.. Carter takes quite while to
get his story under way, but once 1t
gathers momentum, it moves tensely
to the climax of the flood and Of
the drama woven around the people
in its path. The portrait of Senator
Pikestaff is painted with umsparing
verisimilitude. He is complete, from
underwear to oratory-corrupt cyni-
cal, shrewd; a hypocrite and a lib
ertine.
Evening star., 1947-11-30

ents to disagree with their editors,
only the printed recording OF these
differences seems to give this effort
distinction beyond that due the
innumerable newspaper bull ses-
sions" going on all the time.
All of this is not to say that the
book is without merit. It deserves a
sohd place in any library devoted
to criticism and discussion OF the
press and might be studied profit
ably by publishers. editors and other
reportorial workers. It Is, however,
rather more idealistic than practical
and even contains some question:
able assumptions of what are the
facts behind certain news.
Evening star., 1947-11-30
German Occupation
And Human Stress
SMALL VICTORY
BY Zelda Popkin. (Lippincott, ,
S275.)
Reviewed by
FLETCHER F.. ISBELL.

Randolph Barlow, history pro-
fessor, landed in Frankfurt in 1945
to do his part as an education officer
with American military government
Mrs. Popkin uses him in her novel
to paint a panorama Of American
occupation, filled with authentic de-
tail and vivid characterization. The
main thread of her story has to do
with American policy in backing the
quota system for displaced Jews in
German universities and, in effect,
is an argument against it. But this
theme is counterbalanced by the
human stresses Barlow, decent
family man, encounters with Ger
man femininity and Helen, a trans
planted New England social worker
Mrs. Popkins, former Red Cross
worker, catches the letter and the
spirit Of the occupation army with
authority, and In her creation OF
character and manipulation OF
events is something better than
competent. The book Is that rara
avis, fiction with a racial theme
which can stand on its own feet as
entertainment.
Evening star., 1947-11-30

that the Chinese Communists are
only well-meaning agrarian reform
ers. It is difficult for the reader OF
this book to continue to believe the
Chinese Reds are not real Com
munists and that they don't faith
fully follow the party line. Miss
Utley does not. by any means,
whitewash the Kuomintang and the
national government OF Chang
Kai-shek, but she contends that
under present conditions it is un-
realistic to demand that China be
both strong and democratic in the
American sense.
All Americans who have lived IN
or been concerned with China dur
ing and since the war will be fascl-
mated by the freedom with which
prominent personalities, Chinese
American and European. are quoted
and at times pilloried. The hero Of
the book is Gen. Wedemeyer, whc
is said to have really understood
how to get the best out Of the Chi
nese and to have seen more clearly
Evening star., 1947-11-30

intense boredom of nonneWspaper
people who are sharing their COM
pany-over the months of their
study at Harvard. To supplement
their own thinking, they talked to
other newspaper people and even
some who are not members OF the
so-calied Fourth Estate.
Their conclusions and criticisms
are interesting-at least to the trade
and most of them have great
validity. At the same time, even
the valid ones are little more than
differences of opinion with their
own and other news or managing
editors scattered over the country.
And since 1t is more usual than
otherwise for working correspond
Evening star., 1947-11-30

the accounts of his trial which ap-
peared in the New Yorker have all
the pace and excitement Of good
psychological novel.
Out of her consideration of these
misfits, accused of the crime most
heinous to Englishmen, Miss West
has fashioned a mighty sermon on
the loyalty to God, self, family and
country which preserves the indi-
vidual and society in which JUS
tice,S order and harmony will pre-
vail.
1t should endure as long as people
respond to the such simply stated
profundity as this: N"The trouble
about man is twofold He cannot
learn truths which are too compli-
Gated; he forgets truths which are
too simple"
Evening star., 1947-11-30

n o t Sufnc1ently
recognize. They
h We brought
home to the gen.
eral public and
the courts that
behavior often is
beyond the con-
troll of the in
dividual. tn a t
the criminal may
be the helpless
v c t ] m. the
nature Of the
impelling forces
remains to be
determined and
exnlOred
Evening star., 1947-11-30
Rich Local Color
OF New England
A TREASURY OF
NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE
Edited by B. A. Botkin. (croUn
Reviewed by
GEORGE KORSON,

GEORGE KORSON,
The Library of consress. co-editor Of
The Child's Book Of Folklore"
Several years ago "A Treasury
of American Folklore" by B. A.
Botkin, became landmark in the
publishing world. BY selling about
a half million copies dncluding a
book club distribution) it exploded
the myth that folklore lacked popu-
lar appeal.
This fall the same publishers have
brought out DR.. Botkin's "A Treas
ury of New England Folklore" Al
most as large a book as its predeces-
sor, and following the same pattern,
the new work is the first of series
of projected regional collections.
Once again DR.. Botkin has been
generous in the amount and rich
ness OF his compilation. AS a fin
ished place." to quote Bernard De
voto, New England Is a gold mine
of we'll -documented folklore. More
over, its historical and local color
writings, containing countless items
OF folklore, are the most extensive
of any region in the country. Into
this treasure, DR.. Botkin has bur-
rowed with prodigious industry and
sound scholarship. The distinctive
favor of Yankeeland pervades his
book, filled as it is, with all the
warmth and wealth of the region's
lore.
"A Treasury of New England
Folklore" is of general interest. Its
special appeal, however, is to New
Englanders who will read 1t in a
constant state of pleasurable recog-
milton. It will awaken nostalgia
rot only In them but in those of
us who know the region only as
s1lnmer visitors
Evening star., 1947-11-30
Reading and Writing

The critical shortage OF American
books abroad has forced even pro.
! Western European readers to fall
back on Soviet. writings, according
to Representative Karl E. Mundt
of South Dakota. He is co-chair-
man of the Smith -Mundt Joint Sub
committee of the Herter group
which recently investigated the in
formation aspects of the European
situation.
"It's like sitting in bus station
and with only last weeks newspaper
to read. You'll read it from cover
to cover because it's the only thing
around" said the Republican Rep
resentative.
His tour of % European countries
convinced Mr.. Mundt that "the Rus
slams are playing circles around US
in appealing to the minds and emo.
tions of the people"
As evidence of concentrated So.
Wet propaganda efforts, he pointee
out that there are more Communists
bookshops in Prague alone thar
there are State Department-spon'
sored American information hbrarie!
in all, Europe. These bookshop!
display brightly jacketed American
books and periodicals in their win.
dows "for bait, and are stated
whenever possible, with attractive
local people, often young veterans
Kravchenko on Black Mart.
These supposedly objective shops
do not stock novels which glorify
such American themes as unlimited
opportunity. They prefer either
noncommittal or socially critical fic-
tion like that of Steinbeck. Hem
ingway and Erskine Caldwell.
The two books that are sweep
ling Europe are Animal Farm" a
political fable by George Orwell
leftist British writer, and Il Chose
Freedom" Victor Kravchenko's
story of his break with the Com
munists. The latter Is a black-mar-
ket item in Eastern Europe.
But the real hunger is for tech
nical books in all fields, and the
curiosity about America is so great
that even Sears, Roebuck catalogues
are avidly read by the crowdine
clients of the American information
libraries, who study 2-month-olc
periodicals and newspapers some.
times with the aid OF dictionaries
In an attempt to meet this crying
demand for anything American,
the American information librarie.
which loan, but do not sch, books
wrote home to American publishers
attempting to set up a system o.
taking purchase orders on the book!
on their shelves. The publishers
facing problems of paper shortage
and converting money, did not TAXI
kindly to the idea. For that rea'
son, Mr.. Mundt authored bill, nov
pending in the Senate, which pro-
!, vides for the creation of an offic'
which will lower the hurdles facee
!, oy publishers and others exporting
cultural commodities.
y X X
Fred Hamlin turns out to be jus
as informal as you would expect tn
), author of Land of Liberty" an "1n
formal American history to be. 4
native of Missouri now living II
Maryland he came by The Star tn
other day and did some straigh
talking about how he happened tt
write the book.
In the first place, he's nut OF
Lincoln" because he checks out" a
lust plain great" What bother
Mr. Hamlin is that he thinks if yol
went up on 'xhe Hill" and aske'
!, nine out of ten members of Congress
, about Lincoln, they'd spend an hou
Evening star., 1947-11-30

gives wal
Aptitude for Task.
It is Miss Vests particular apti-
tude for this grave task OF Judgment
that while she can understand all,
she cannot forgive all. She re-
marks the extreme courage with
which William Joyce heard his
death sentence, and Immediately
notes how negligible 1t is in a court
room filled with people who had
lived for six years in common peril
of undeserved death.
The same compassionate dispas-
sion informs the chapters devoted to
John Amery, the Fascist playboy
She shows the most exquisite SYM
pathy for his fine family, but this
does not mitigate her scorn for his
morbid martyrdom. which affronts
her in its denial of life.
No one who followed Miss Vests
mastery unraveling of the age-old
Balkan question in "Black Lamb
and Grey Falcon" will wonder at her
pellucid analyses OF the twists and
turns of jurisprudence. This is evi-
dent especially in the case Of Joyce,
whose prosecution was based on the
17th century maxim that "protec-
ton draws allegiance and allegiance
draws protection" Only by virtue
of possessing a British passport did
Joyce, an American-born, natural
lied German citizen, come under
the jurisdiction of the British
courts. THE courts martial trying
the treacherous prisoners of war, she
found inept and she deplores their
inconsistent sentences, tainted wit
nesses and use of inadmissible evi-
dence. But she understands and
approves their function in asserting
the sacredness of the prisoner of war
and guarding him from molestation
In future wars.
MeticuIous, Witty Detail.
While the total effect OF THE
Meaning of Treason" is heroic, its
details are meticulous, vivid and
often witty. Norman Baillie- Stew
art is described as more inconven-
lent than piteous, like a dray horse
that has fallen to the street" She
muses. on the Nazi passion for the
trench coat, wondering that "a peo-
pile who wanted to drench the earth
in blood could not stir from home
without protection from the rain" )"
The passages in which she recon-
structs the discordant inner life of
Joyce (these extensively supplement
Evening star., 1947-11-30
Christmas Book
Section

The Stars annual Christmas
Book Section will be included
in next Sundays Star. A COM
prehensive summary of both the
domestic and foreign literary
fields, the section will contain
exclusive articles by such we'll
known writer's as Halldor Lax
ness, Francis Ambriere, S. X.
Ratcliffe and Erico Verissimo.
Other contributors cover
science, sports, music, art, his
tory, religion. foreign affairs
in general and the novel in
particular. Readers will find
suggestions on gift books and
an article on child guidance In
booklore.
Evening star., 1947-11-30
Reading and Writing
Amenicon Book Shortage Gives Soviet
Writinq Advantage in Europe, Mundt Says
By Mary McGrory

and a half telling you about his
greatness, carefully overlooking any
of his major contributions that
didn't jibe with their own politics.
They have embalmed him in
their own undertaking parlors," is
Mr.. Hamlin's colorful way Of putting
it.
In the course of his research, Mr..
Hamlin, whose literary heroes are
Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman,
says he discovered lot OF lead
pennies" among the great of the
past, notably some New Englanders
whom he plans to investigate fur
ther. Meanwhile, he Is serving as
correspondent for four trade mag
azines.
Put Edward Weeks down as one
of the few not discouraged about the
state of postwar literature, The
editor of the Atlantic Monthly, in
terviewed at the Carlton the other
day, praised the high quality Of nc
ton he has seen by men out OF
uniform" He was especially i'm
pressed by a novel by Alan Marcus,
an sex combat infantryman, dealing
with the Army Of Occupation in
Germany. Two highly promising
woman writers-and there are COM
paratively few-are Monica Stirling,
young Englishwoman, and Irish
American Mary Deasey.
The peripatetic editor of the much
revered monthly comes to Washing
ton frequently "to be edified," listens
closely to all the people he can see
in three days, and then strategicaly
retreats before everything he hears
can be contradicted. He has just
completed a 6,O00-mile lecture tour
of the Southwest, and his brief
case is bulging with the manu-
scripts which were pressed into his
willing hands, The Atlantic draws
80 per cent of its material from
unsolicited sources.
*
Another recent short-term visitor
to Washington was Barrows Dun
ham, the liberal philosopher and
author of Man Against Myth"
Caught up with him just as he was
about to step onto the platform Of
the Phyllis Wheatley auditorium,
where he spoke under the auspices
of the Washington Cooperative
Bookshop, and he gave me quick
fill-in on philosophy which, 1t seems,
is still under the domination Of the
great thinkers Of the last genera
ton. Mr.. Dunham, husky, blond
and smiling young man, thinks that
"existentialism" will 60 down in his
tory as little more than an aberra-
ton, and that contemporary philoso-
pliers have restricted their influence
by withdrawing from the affairs OF
men. He is, as a matter of fact,
right now working on study OF the
interplay of modern philosophical
and social problems. which illustrate
just this point. It is to be called
Giant in Chains. -
X
Helen Bullock, an, author who
stays here all the time, being en-
ployed in the office of science and
technology at the Library OF Con-
gress, has just completed collecting
the mouth watering Virginia recipes
which she unearthed as archivist
for the Williamsburg restoration. A
Californian who has become self
styled professional Virginian," she
is currently working on a biography
of William Thornton, the architect
of the Capitol. He was closely asso-
ciated with Thomas Jefferson, about
whom Mrs. Bullock wrote so charm
! ingly in MY Head and My Heart"
Evening star., 1947-11-30
Seals Since 1907
CHRISTMAS SEALS


BY Roger w. Sargent. (Tathdm
Stamp & Coin Co.; ST.
This attractive little book, printed
in three colors. gives a history OF the
Christmas seals whose annual sales
since 1907 have supported the Ma
tional tuberculosis Association and
its aflliated chapters. Mr.. Sargent
describes how a postal clerk in
Copenhagen got the idea of issuing
a special stamp to carry on the fight
against tuberculosis, and how King
Christian TX heard of the plan and
set it in motion. There are reproduc-
tions of each seal, all designed by
noted artists, and blank pages for
future seals. &C, B. j.
Evening star., 1947-11-30

the near. They are the products OF
a society which has substituted poll
tics for religion, patriotism for in
ternationalism; which has lost its
sense of material and spiritual
processes and finally replaced fear
of God with a cheerful vulgarity.
"As divorce recalls what a happy
marriage should be, so the treachery
of these men recalled what nation
should be. It was sad to see them,
chilled to the bones Of their souls
because the intellectual leaders OF
their times had professed philos-
Evening star., 1947-11-30
Il Publishing Event

In 1887, at the age of five,
Franklin Roosevelt wrote a letter
to- his mother. She kept it. For the
next fifty-four years she added to
her collections schoolboy letters,
casual notes, happy letters, letters
detailing great events, troubled
letters-until she had in effect the
intimate, revealing autobiography
of her son: the only one that will
ever be published.
The first part of this correspon-
dence now appears, with the con-
sent of the Roosevelt family, in
book form. 1t covers, in nearly
four hundred letters, the boyhood,
boarding-school, and college years
of the late President. No other
record has ever revealed 50 much)
about his growth and character. II
is indeed a publishing event.
Evening star., 1947-11-30

The war did much to destroy psy-
choanalysis. The tawdriness of a
technique adapted to thwarted
ladies in silk -draped Offices was only
too apparent in the face OF the
great realities. This book, which
has been issued in nearly all the
European languages, may 60 far to
complete the destruction.
Evening star., 1947-11-30
Rebecco West, Reporting Treason Trials,
Makes Major Contribution to Literature
THE MEANING OF TREASON
BY Rebecca West. (The Viking Press; $500
Reviewed hy MARY McGRORY

IN the world"
that THE Meaning of Treason remarkable
recording handful
novelist working direct from life historian pac
moralst
majesty
of her verdict
defined genius
examined the failure of these individuals and
appraised the ing and docaed
the victims convulson OF history
the