Evening star., 1948-04-11
Adams SWINGS
New Spotlight
On the Capital
BY Samuel Hopkins Adams
Random House; So
PLUMBER
Reviewed by

turned aside from his recent
historical romances about the
Erie Canal to swing a new spot
light on the Capital.
The author of "Revelry,"
political sizzler, and 1.-THE In
credible Era" an account of the
Harding administration, writes
in "Plunder" of an imaginary
but not entirely imaginary
Washington in 1850. The Presi-
dent is an ultra conservative named
Dennison-good old Charlie! just
one of the boys-elected through
the efforts of the Hands-off League
the Free Enterprise Non-Politica.
Coalition. The Government Il
dominated by a group of big bust.
nessmen, called by irreverent news.
papermen the Giants Circle. Dis.
senting voices are quieted effective.
ly by the congressional Committee
on Dangerous Tendencies headed
by a Southern Senator named Pyke
Knows the Right People.
But the main character is Martin
Strabo, promoter extraordinary
who modestly ascribes his success
to knowing the right people. Al
the moment he is engaged in pro-
noting a substance called tozerite
compounded by scientist gone
psychopathic. It is supposed to pro.
tect people from the radiations o.
atomic bombs. Since Strabo knows
the right general, he had sold it tx
the Army, and he goes about selling
it to the people. He has, Of course
a voltage publicity man and 6
fixer who is less conspicuous. He
also has a glamorous secretary wht
is far more than that. Naturally
he has enemies, but they don't count
with him.
This Strabo is quite a figure. He
has on his payroll several Senators
and Representatives and various
other right people. The President
admires him enough to speak of the
record-so he thinks-at a Strabo
testimonial dinner. There is no rea-
son why Strabo shouldn't go or
piling up fortunes except that he
makes one error which is his un-
doing. To protect some heavy
bets, he tries to arrange some foot
ball scores. He does fix one Army
Navy game, but then there's hell to
pay. AS a columnist remarks, "You
can buy Senators or Representatives
by the yard or pound. You can cor.
rupt' the courts. But lay your i'm.
pious hands on our sports, and you
outrage the most sacred instincts
of American idealists, and you're
damn lucky If you're not lynched.
A Robot of Corruption.
As may be guessed, the story L
more than a shade overdrawn. Bu
parts OF it, in view of certain recent
war contract scandals, are not en-
tirely legend. Strabo is made ou
incredibly crude-a vulgar, unedu'
Gated person whose only charm Ii
money. He's more a robot of cor
ruption than a human being.
The satire of "Plunder" become.
so thick at times that it approache,
burlesque. 1t is, Of course, supposed
to portray how<a Fascist-type Grove
could take control without altering
our form of Government. This NJ
doubt would be fully as great {
calamity as If some of our self
styled liberals and their fellow voy'
ayers took over and placed us al
at the mercy of their sort of Fedora
Government.
"Plunder" is peopled largely BY
caricatures. And the Washington
it portrays is only vaguely recog'
nizable. Nonetheless, the narrative
is interesting, often exciting. Mr.
Adams knows how to tell a story.
BY George R. Stewart (Random
House; $3.)
Fires have roared through forests
ever since groups of trees grew to.
gether. The earliest explorers oi
the New World reported flames anc
smoke on wilderness horizons. Mer
were helpless; they could do little
to stop these fires.
Then, with. the scientific advance
ment of recent years, forest fires al
last were attacked with weapons
that could conquer them. Today
with chains of lookout posts, tele-
phones and radio, waiting crews o1
fighters, planes, even forest para
troopers, our great national ano
State forests are protected almost
as carefully as cities are guarded
by their fire departments. Even so
fires often jump control and de in
calulable damage, but so do town
fires. Although careless motorists
and campers start a lot of fires, ma.
ture still probably wreaks the worsi
damage in the deepest recesses o1
forests in the most primeval way
with lightning.
Mr.. Stewart has built q move
around fire in a forest of the
Northern Sierra Nevada Range II
California. With an intimate knowl.
edge of his theme, he has described
in sharp detail the mountain for.
ests, the men charged with pro.
tecting them and their incessant
fight against the foe. There /.
beauty in his panorama of the
region, its history and the creature.
that live in its fastnesses. There i.
excitement and suspense in his stor,
of the great fire. A romance i.
tucked in, since the lookout who
spots the lightning -kindled fire /.
a girl. But the love interest is in.
cidental and does not slow up the
real story.
Fire" is the April selection Of
the Book-of- the Month Club.
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