Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 202, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 November 1935 — Page 21

It Seems to Me HEYWOD BROUN THE Federal theater project to spend $.1,000,000 in support of government productions has caused a good deal o, severe criticism. The New York Evening Journal calls it “stupid boondoggling.” If I may digress for a moment I want to make a criticism of my own against the excessive use of that w’ord “boondoggling.'’ I must have been away somewhere for a couple of days, because when the strange participle first made its appearance I did not see the

definition, and I’m still a little mystified a.s to what it means. Apparently it is being applied to all effort upon the part of the government to aid the artist. Now, it can not be fairly maintained that government support for the theater is a strange and radical doctrine coming out of Moscow. Many highly conservative countries have maintained state theaters. The galleries in other lands have lent generous support to the modern artist. Indeed, it is a little ironic that the chief passion for old masters should exist

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Heywood Broun

in America, which has not had time enough to rear any. And, after all, next centurv s old master may very well be some proficient painter who is alive today, but not very much so because of economic necessity. The Journal complains becau.se the Federal government will spend money for productions “in which aged and back-number actors, whose careers have closed, can tread the boards once more despite unsteady knees and quavering voices.” ana W hg Not Old Actors? I WONDER what the Journal proposes to do with these old actors. Is it a vile thing that, a community should honor men and women who have given their best in the field of entertainment? Is the stage to be given over wholly to young men with patent-leather hair and to platinum flappers? Surely there ought to be a community interested in making it possible for artists to do their stuff. After all, the actor doesn't become inefficient merely because he Is no longer young. Nor is human misery a proper subject for humor in any newspaper. We have been generous with subsidies to shipbuilders and others engaged in commercial projects, and it seems to me no more than fair that there should also be some aid for those w ; ho provided an evanescent thing called entertainment. They shoot hor.ses, but I doubt that anybody will seriously advocate a similar system for oid actors. And you can’t plow them under, either. The very best of the telief projects, in my opinion, are those very activities which are referred to as “boondoggling.” Indeed, we are not even breaking with our own tradition. In the early days of America the painter received a good deal of governmental encouragement. I might point out that George Washington was always sitting for somebody or other. Nobody knows precisely how many portraits Stuart did of the Father of His Country. F assume it didn’t require anew sitting for each poitrait- -he probably painted a good many fiom memory. But, it was obviously the pride of our forefathers to show that, w’e were a nation interested in art even in our pioneer days. a a a Each Accordi nr/ to His Talent 'T'HE same thing goes for writers. It is obviously an economic waste to put a good painter or short story writer or actor on the job of digging ditches. Digging ditches is a perfectly honorable occupation, but for the most part the groups to which I have referred are not well equipped for the task. Again there is criticism because, to quote the Journal, “The project contemplates production of rejected manuscripts—in other words, plays which have not been able to make their way in the normal self-sustaining theater.” I he reply to that is that the so-called self-sus-taining theater has on many occasions rejected plays of great commercial worth. It is entir .’v possible that the government of the United States might find itself a far shrewder producer than A1 Woods or either of the Shuberts. 1 might point out that “Green Pastures,” which now ranks only second to “Abie's Irish Rose” as the most successful play of our time, was practically a rejected manuscript. Indeed, it was turned down by all the managers of “the normal, self-sustaining theater.” Rather by accident it finally gained acceptance by Mr. Stebbans. a Wall Street broker who was wholly unfamiliar with the customs of Broadway. Call it boondoggling if you will. I would rather mark the fact that. America is beginning to get a little of the spirit which made Athens quite a considerable. community. (Copyright, 1935)

Your Health -BY OR. MORRIS FISIIBF.IN-

IF your child has trouble with his sight, you will find hint doing any one or more of the following: Attempt to brush away a blur. Blink continuously when at a task calling for close eye work. Cry frequently. Have frequent, fits of temper. Pay no attention to favorite toys when they are across the room from him. Hold a book close to his eyes whpn reading. Hold his body tense when looking at distant objects. Appear uninterested when other children are enjoying a circus parade or watching other distant moving objects. Seem bored during group discussion of some enjoyable things, such as an airplane in flight. tt tt tt SELECT small playthings and keep his face close to them. Frown and scowl when fitting parts of a toy together. Rub his eyes frequently. Screw up his face when looking at nearby or distant objects. Shut one eye or cover It when looking at nearby objects. Tilt his head when looking at nearby or small objects. Will not try to catch a ball thrown to him. Tend to be cross-eyed when looking at nearby objects. He may have attacks of dizziness, headache, and nausea, and you will notice that the eyes have red rims, swollen eyelids, or that they water constantly. They also are crusted together in the morning and more subject to the formation of sties than are healthful eyes. Appearance of any of these signs should cause the mother or teacher to get the child suitable medical attention.

Today's Science BY DAVID DIET/

NEW YORK, Nov. I.—A study of drug addiction now under way by a committee of eminent scientists is one of the important and vital pieces of research being fostered by the National Research Council in the so-called 1 Borderland Sciences,” the “No Man's Lands” which lie between the recognized fields of the various sciences. This study, one of such vast promise to the human race, illustrates how important present-day scientific problems often call for the co-operation of more than one branch of science. ‘ Half of the work belongs in the field of chemistry.” Dean F. K, Richtmyer of the Cornell University Graduate School, states in a report on behalf of the National Research Council, "the other half comes in the fields of physiology and pharmacology. a a a "cr*HE work of this committee emphasizes the fact JL that one of the greatest needs in biological chemistry at present is the induction into it of thoroughly trained organic chemists who are able to analyze and to synthesize the chemical entities so Intimately concerned with the human bodv. Further advances in this most important field await knowledge of the actual chemical structure of these substances and the development of methods for their synthesis.”

Full Leased 3V!r Service ct the United Pres* Association

Black America's role in the Italian-F.thiopian war is an important one, and Boake Carter, drawing toward the end of his ■ Blark Shirt, Black Skin,” tells in Just what way the United States is affected. Here is another installment of Mr. Carter's book. npHUS the white man has raced a super, brittle civilization to the point where another collision is imminent. And the white man knows it —and so, having raced madly to the edge of the chasm and terrified at what he sees yawning before his feet, he suddenly flings himself upon the savage of Africa and says in effect: “You must get me out of this. I must civilize you. If you object, I shall force It down your throat. But civilize you, I must. If not, I am lost!” So the blackman has now assumed the role of guinea pig. of helpless, unwitting, innocent victim of the white man’s self-com-plicated civilization. tt a a ABYSSINIA has done nothing wrong in the code book of the morals of Life. She is, on the contrary, a victim of the crisis of industrialism created by the Western World. The depression bore mercilessly upon the industrial nations, who can now only live as long as they sell what they produce. But the depression, oddly enough, has borne mercilessly upon Abyssinia, too —because of the very fact she is ancient, feudalistic, and semi-barbaric. Here is virgin ground for the industrial nations to industrialize, to work off that production, that excess of scientific procreation, which they can not work off among themselves because of the barriers, the tariffs and the restrictions they have raised against one another. This is not anew story. It is one that grows clearer and clearer as each year goes by. It is being enacted thus very same minute in the Far East. It is a process of repetition—this civilization budded by the Western World. And with each repetition, it moves one step closer to self-elimination by slow progression. a a a WITH Ethiopia colonized and industrialized where does the world turn in the next crisis—providing the world doesn’t destroy itself before then? Already Africa is parceled up among the nations. China, you say—perhaps. But again only for a short time. Then the next crisis and then where else? India?— owned by the British. Australia? —a vast continent two-thirds unexplored—but already branded with a British hallmark. Take a map and look around the world for yourself and see if you can find the undeveloped lands—free from any nation's brand of ownership, to which some country, driven mad by the pressure of Occidental economic existence, can turn and thereby create a safety valve. You will count them on the fingers of one hand and even then you will not use up all your fingers. Eventually a time will come when there will be no spots left in the world such as undeveloped Abyssinia—and then begins the process of self-elimination of the Occidental world in real earnest. tt a tt SO Abyssinia’s destiny is marked —it is as inevitable as the coming of day and night. She is destined in the future months, and years, to be a sponge for a civilization which, spurred by its own excesses, must find new sources of supply to fill the greedy stomach of its own industrial machine. and undeveloped territories on which to spew the finished goods. And so the nations of the world are eyeing Africa again, each hurrying soldiers and sailors to her desert, jungle and coastline. They aspire to accomplish two things—carve out whatever new pieces they can for themselves, and protect from the grasping fingers of others, what they already may possess. Their aspirations plunge them headlong not only to self-destruc-tion—but into something more menacing—the explosive problem of—color. a a a THE teeming millions which form Africa’s population are ruled by a comparative handful of whites. Mussolini’s intention to wage war on a black race has set the fires of race differences and dislike glowing again, as they have not glowed for decades. The British are fearful that victory for the Abyssinians. or a long drawn-out war. in which the Italian arms actually lose prestige, may be the spark which will inflame the African blacks aaginst their white rulers. If ever such a thing happened, it would mark the end of the British Empire. There are 330 - 000,000 blacks in the Empire, ruled by 70.000.000 whites. 40.000.000 of whom are in England. The feeling through the colored races of the world runs very strong at present. Many Mohammedans and Moslems have declared the utmost willingness and in some cases actual readiness to Join forces with the Abyssinians. Two thousand Somali tribesmen deserted from Italian Eritrea and, at the dead of night, slid over the frontier to give their strength of arms to Emperor Selassie. Although this was bitterly denied by the Italian military authorities, an Austrian officer, en-

The Indianapolis Times

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A massing of Ethiopian troops—in themselves probably no match for their Italian opponents, but, with their brown-skinned brothers all over the world, more than a match for the white races.

gaged in training the Abyssinian troops, confirmed it as a mass desertion he had seen with his own eyes. a a a JAPANESE arms and munitions are being supplied in profuse quantities to Ras Taf?.ri’s soldiers although this, too, is denied. The Japanese have not forgiven Mussolini for his references to color. And Japan is the mast intelligent and the keenest of the colored races of the world. Some day she hopes to be the kingpin of the earth—the creator of the next great empire, stretching through five continents. And she lays the groundwork now, just as the British did years ago. She has colonization rights in Siam. She has the same rights in Brazil, in Abyssinia. Japanese trade expansion in South Africa worries the Dutch and the English. Japanese immigration is forbidden in South Africa, but Tokyo feels that their nationals should be allowed to settle in such places as the Kalahari Desert, although the law bars them. All over the world, you will find Japanese and Japanese traders. a a a 'T'HE cunning yellow men sit in the far east and watch two worlds, the white world and the black world. They watch the white world grdaually throttling itself into oblivion by the intensity of its civilization —and they bide their time. Why should they try to force things, when things are taking care of themselves so neatly, they ask? And so they wait and watch—all the time laying the groundwork for the day when they will be supreme among nations. It is to their obvious advantage to be friendly to Ethiopia. If the black races should suddenly rise against their white rulers, it will be merely helping the Japanese in the final analysis. They do not forget either that Mohammedans and Moslems extend through Asia Minor, to that other vast British colony, India, with its millions of natives again ruled by a small handful of Englishmen, and on through into China. When Mussolini stirs his war stick in the bubbling black cauldron of Africa, he threatens the stability of continents. And America is not escaping the consequences of this reborn Caesar's lust for more territory. When his white soldiers battle the black troops of Ethiopia, there are millions in the United States who are following the fortunes of each side with almost patriotic fervor.

Ernie Comes Across the Soil Conservation Service and He's Got a Pretty Slogan for 'Em —for Royalties

BY ERNIE PYLE WASHINGTON, Nov. I.—“ Old soil. fix old soil. Got any old eroded soil around today, lady? i fix old soil.” That phrase just now came to me. just like that. I shall send it to the United States Soil Conservation Service, and if they want to use it in their business, they'll have to pay me a pretty penny in royalties. I'd hate to have a job •in the Soil Conservation Service. Working in old worn-out dirt all day long. But some people must like it. for the service has more than 21.000 people working for it. It's funny how some government departments you don't hear much about are great big things, and others that are small make a big hullabaloo. Now who would have thought the Soil Conservation Service had 21,000 people at work? a e a THE Soil Erosion Service came into being under the New Deal, which means since 1933. There wasn't any before that. Oh. yes, there was, too, at least there was such a name, but it consisted of just one man’s enthusiasm. That man was Hugh Hammond Bennett, who had been yelling since 1905 that we better do something about .this soil erosion. but nobody paid any attention. Well, the Soil Erosion Service was formed, for some reason, in

INDIANAPOLIS, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1935

'Y\7’AS not that brief battle bein the streets of Newark but a “small cloud” on the horizon, the significance of which can not surely be missed? There are more Negroes in this country —a trifle more than 11,000,000 —than there are people in all Ethiopia. Consider the hundreds of thousands of Italians. There are millions of German and Jewish people. All of them, to be sure, are first and foremost Americans. But when it comes to matters of color. races and religions, passions rule the day. Fighting minorities start trouble in isolated spots here and there. And from minorities the fires of hysteria expand and spread until they are minorities no more. And so the Japanese sit back and watch and wait>—and smile as Hitler and Mussolini go to work for them. a a a EVERY so often through the history of the world, a civilization rises, rests on the laurels of its triumphs, decays and then passes away. And none of the civilizations have ever made a comeback. The Egyptian civilization grew exceedingly intense, as the archeologists and scientists are discovering little by little. But the Egyptians’ dynasty decayed and passed into oblivion. What of the great Grecian period, when the Greek warriors and famous athletes ruled the world? Has It ever come back? What of the Roman era—which Mussolini is trying so hard to emulate and reincarnate? And what of the civilization of the Western World of today? Two hundred years ago, it was strong, virile, in the bloom of its manhood and power. Industrial invention was just beginning. Empire building was the order of the day. Strong men pioneered. Colonists left their motherlands and endured untold hardships to settle and colonize. a a a THROUGH that era there were wars, to be sure—but individual wars. They were not frightful mass slaughters, where half the world was ranged against the other half. And so these small individual wars were not enough to prevent the expansion and gradual intensifying of the Western civilization. But slowly the pace grow so keen, the competition so great—that the first of the great mass slaughters of the Western civilization burst upon a horrified world.

the Interior Department. Interior asked Agriculture who was the best soil man they had, so they sent over Bennett. He's been in charge ever since . Last April, Bennett and his whole outfit were transferred back to Agriculture, the name was changed to Soil Conservation Service, and now Congress has made them a permanent bureau and they will probably go on and on forever. Bennett knows his business, all right. He was born and raised on a cotton plantation in North Carolina, and he still knows how to split rails and make soft lye soap and brew persimmon beer, even if he :s 54 years old and a college graduate and a specialist in the Agriculture Department for 31 years. BBS HE has been all over the globe. making soil surveys for our government and others. He's a big ruddy man, who loves to eat, and every once in a while he arrives back from a trip to New Orleans or some place, and rushes right home to make some new kind'of sauce he ran into on his travels. Well, here’s what Mr. Bennett an# his 21,000 soil-restorers are doing. The theory is tit s more than a theory, it’s a fact) that our tillable soil is washing and blowing away at the rate of $400,000,000 a year.

After five years—ll,ooo.ooo were killed off, and more than 20,000,000 maimed. But this only served to gear the competition to higher speeds than ever. And the higher the speed, the softer has grown the Occidental world. Do you doubt it? Well, look around you for proof. a a a TI7E can not live now without ’ ' the most elaborate comforts. Everything is aimed to save physical labor and undue exertion. Where are the days when the mother of the house raised 10 children, kept her home spotless, washed, ironed and mended their clothes, found time to go out with her husband, cooked all the meals and weeded the cabbage patch? Today, the “help” wants to know if the laundry is to be included in the domestic duties and if it is—well, it doesn't want the job. We have the picture of a man suing his city government to increase his dole of S6O, because it isn’t enough! The more intense grows the civilization, the less physical exertion is offered and the financial return for doing nothing is expected to be doubled. There are so many “isms” that the young generation produced by this super-civilized state, flounder around in pathetic confusion, going from “ism” to “ism” and becoming synthetically old men and women before their twenties. If they had fundamentals to cling to they would gladly fasten to them, but the fundamentals have been smothered under the fancy “isms” of the era. a a a WHY, the intensity of the economy we have builded has becomes so that the children no longer hold life itself in any reverence. Children in their “teens” look around, dash off a note to the effect that “life has nothing to offer me,” and shoot themselves. They have been reared in a super - materialistic atmosphere and it suffocates them before they even know the first meaning of life. Thus we become flabbier and flabbier. The Japanese soldier can exist on a quarter of a pound of rice a day—but try to feed the soldier of the Occidental world the same rations and see what happens! Once the blacks, led by the yellows, have been given the opportunity to throw off the white man’s yoke, they will be the winners. They have not yet the white man's intelligence as measured in terms of the white man's

If all the good soil lost in this country last year were put into freight cars, it would make a train that would reach around the Equator 19 times! Maybe that'll make you sit up. They figure that 50 million acres of our farm soil is already ruined, another 50 million about gone, 100 million on the borderline, and 125 million more starting to go. That's getting serious. Now the idea of the Soil Service is to re-establish the soil by setting an example to farmers, and then helping them carry out the example on their own farms. B B B SO at first they set up eight demonstration areas, each covering about 25.000 acres. Any farmer in this area who wished could have the Soil Service men work on his farm. What they did was this—build dams evert' so often in all the gullies, so the rushing water after rains wouldn't cut away so much earth; plant trees on badly washed slopes, so the roots would help hold the earth; plow crosswise, instead of up and down, on a slope; build terraces on slopes, the way the Japanese do, to hold the soil; use strip crops on slopes, that is, if you have to plant some oats on a slope, plant a strip of clover below it, so the clover roots will hold the soil; and last, teach the farmers what they already know but can’t afford to do, about plant-

civilization, but their physical endurance is greater. And any race which goes physically to seed, and relies on machine substitutes to perform for it, is a race which is its own worst enemy. History time and again has proved it. a a a A ND there is no reason to suppose that the Divine Power has suddenly changed the fundamentals of mankind just to suit our present day convenience and ego. and confound 5000 years of history. If so, then Utopia is here, there’s no use in going to Heaven, and this life is no longer to be considered a period of test and trial. But to think that is to think in terms of defeatism, to admit that we are licked, ready to throw up the sponge and wait for oblivion. There is a solution —but whether it will come through peaceful evolution or a series of devastating wars, such as of the kind that the world once more contemplates —remains entirely up to the intelligence of the Western World. The whole Occidental economy is based on a system of production which called for the parceling up of every" continent on the earth and industrializing it. What is extracted from it goes to supply the demands of the production machine of the West, and in turn the finished goods are resold to the people of the world’s five continents. If it hadn’t been for Africa, Asia and the other outposts on the rim of the world, our economy would have become static many years ago. The Western World long, long ago, reached its own saturation point under the way we run things now. a a a 'T'HE first of the great industrial nations was Great Britain, and only because she reached into the undeveloped territories of the world and exploited them did she become the great empire that she is. True, her. supremacy is not so great nor so secure as it was. But this is because other countries copied her methods and are now competitors. Once England sold a great percentage of her products to America—but when the American economy began running at top speed, the door was clased. England had to go somewhere else—to China. Now Japan is doing the same thing as the United States—closing the door of that market. Tomorrow—Conclusion. (Copyright, 1935, by the Telegraph Press Harrisburg, Pa.i

ing crops in proper yearly rotation to conserve the soil's fertility and keep it from washing away. The Soil Service workers go right in and help a farmer do this if he can’t afford it himself, even buy materials for him. Other farmers are supposed to come and watch, and then go home and do likewise. BUM THE eight demonstration areas had been increased to 47 last summer, and 94 new ones are now being set up with $27,500,000 of WPA money. The Soil Service must hire 21.552 men from the relief rolls for this work; that’s their WPA quota. They’ve already got 18.500 of that quota at work. Furthermore, they're going to have 103,000 CCC boys doing similar work around their own camps before long. Most of the demonstration farms are in the South, the dust storm area of the Midwest and the upper West Coast. Some farmers are hardheads, and won't have these smart guys from Washington monkeying with their land. But most of them are eager to do anything they can to save their land, and are willing pupils of the Soil Service. I asked the Soil Service If there wasn't considerable overlapping between them and the Resettlement Administration. They said no. But it looks that way to me.

Second Section

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Pnsfoffirp, Indianapolis. Ind.

Fair Enough BM MR PARIS, Nov. I.—The favorite hotel of European royalty, exiled and otherwise, in Paris is the Hotel Meurice, which was founded in 1807 by the man who held the concession for the mail and passenger travel on the coach route from Calais and Boulogne and via those ports to London. In those days the hotel was comparatively small, with a large coach yard and stables adjoining. In 1905 it was pulled down -all except the front wall on the Rue De Rivoli, which harmonized with the architecture

of the street and was protected by law. Up to 1907 the Hotel Bristol was the hotel patronized by royalty in Paris. The former Edward Prince of Wales had stopped at the Bristol, and minor platoons of royal rank followed him. Royalty, like ball clubs, actors and shoe salesmen, have preferences In hotels and flock together so they may be able to talk shop. The Meurice was reopened in 1907, and King Alfonso of Spain began to patronize the new place whose plumbing was modern for the time and whose comforts

generally outmoded the Bristol. The present Prince of Wales is now a frequent guest at the Meurice, having begun his patronage during the war, when he would rush in town from the British front for a day or two accompanied by Lord Claude Hamilton, his pal. Wales was Capt. Hamilton's lieutenant. They would toss their bags into an apartment, spend a few days relaxing and then go back to war. n tt a Carol Isn't Among the Select A LFONSO still maintains an apartment at the TN Meurice. but it has been reduced from the seven-room suite which he required for his family when the queen was a member of the troupe and they were both young. Alfonso and the Prince of Wales frequently eat in the dining room, where they are attended by the head waiter, named Edouard Holton, a Swiss with solemn mien. Crown Prince Gustave Adolph of Sw r eden, whose hobby is archeology, has just spent a week in the place. The late King Albert of the Belgians and Queen Elizabeth appeared at the Meurice often, and their son, Leopold, the present king, whose wife was killed in an automobile accident, continues the custom. Carol of Rumania used to drop in occasionally, but Carol’s conduct began giving the place a bad name, and there was no great regret when he decided to rent a little flat where he could play house with his girl friend. After all, a king is as good a.s a prhate citizen only as long as he behaves himself and doesn’t drive respectable people away. a tt a Mr. Pegler's Stgte Is Cramped ALTHOUGH the color line is indefinite, it is customary for those monarchs and exiles whose complexions are darker than a biscuit color to go elsewhere, even though they may have more money than European royalty and spend it more freely. Altogether royal patronage is desirable, as it tends to attract rich Americans, who are by now almost a.s extinct as aristocratic European travelers; but, unlike the late Huey Long, who boasted that he was “favored” by hotels in New York City and elsewhere in turn for ballyhoo, all royal guests at the Meurice are not only asked to pay, but would insist on doing so because they believe that their subjects would prefer to pay their way. It would humiliate a Spanish peasant most painfully to realize that Alfonso placed himself and them under obligation to an innkeeper by accepting free hospitality. Edmond Rostand, the great French poet, wrote “Chanticleer” and other notable works in the Meurice, where he found the atmosphere most helpful, but the same atmosphere cramps your correspondent's style, and he is leaving for Geneva. (Copyright, 1935, by United Feature Syndicate. Inc.)

The Cabinet BY GEN. HUGH S. JOHNSON—

WASHINGTON, Nov. I.—ls ever the country needed the services which the Department of Commerce was set up to render, it is now. What are the essential factors of this depression? How much unemployment do we really have? Where is it? How does it change from year to year? If our export commerce is dwindling, why is it dwindling and what can we do to get it back? These are questions which it is the function of Daniel Roper’s department to answer authoritatively. There are several great private institutions which thrive on groping for answers, and some that are probably used in pressure bureaus. If the Department of Commerce were serving every need, why should there be a Brookings Institution, or a Standard Statistics, or a National Industrial Conference Board. Why is business so frequently “at outs” with government? Why should business continually complain that its voice is not heard in any of the councils of government? a tt tt 'T'HE Administration answer is that business tried f| to coerce or take government into camp, and here has latterly been basis for that charge. But the answer is surely not the sullen and even bitter, revengeful hostility which now unquestionably exists on both sides. The fact that these necessary services have not been performed and, above all, the fact that this hostility exists and is growing worse, is warrant for tha statement that the Department of Commerce is not doing its job. It is fair to say that it is not an easy job to do. But that is an excellent reason for putting a man there who understands and can lead business. There were plenty of such men available on the liberal side of the Democratic Party. Gerard Swope is an outstanding example. He has lost none of his business leadership because he is a principal proponent of unemployment insurance and labor reform. He Ls a geaius in administration and has proved it both in government and private service. But Mr. Swope is also a strong man and a “luminous figure,” and the Administration rule seems to be against that kind. iCoDvrieht, 1935. bv United Feature Syndicate. Inc.)

Times Books

IN “Blood Relations,” Philip Gibbs examines the contrast between Briton and German and emerges, apparently, with the conclusion that it is almost impossible for the two nations to understand each other. < Doubleday, Doran; $2 50.) His book is a novel about a young German aristocrat who goes to Oxford shortly before the World War, marries an English girl, and takes her back to Germany just as the war is getting under way. The gal has to stay there all through the war. while her husband serves in the Germany army and her brothers fight for England; and afterward, tom by two loyalties, she watches Germany struggle to re-estatlish itself in peace, fail, and turn at last to Hitler. m m a THE young German can not begin to understand the English—and. considering the way in which Mr. Gibbs describes the young bloods at Oxford, I don't blame him greatly. His wife, likewise, is befuddled by the Germans. At the end she is utterly unable to see how a cul* tured and intelligent nation, driven to distraction Its troubles, could turn to a Hitler for salvation. Mr. Gibbs’ Englishmen are a far less sympathetic and worthy lot than he seems to have intended. (By Bruce Catton.) _

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Westbrook Peglcr