Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 7, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 March 1936 — Page 15

Ft Seems to Me HtWOD BROUN NEW YORK, March 19.—N0, I will not make a speech. I won’t be chairman. I wouldn't even take three minutes on a national hookup if it were offered. In other words I’m getting ready to go on my vacation at the end of the week. The destination is unknown to me, but I trust it is possible to find some altitude where toastmasters do not flourish and where nobody says, ‘ Who’ll start us off with $100?” All this Is set down in sorrow and not in bitter-

ness. I could readily write a book entitled, ‘‘Audiences Have Been Kind,” only F. P. A. would certainly amend it and suggest, ‘‘You mean kinda dumb.” And that would be unfair to both listeners and speaker. When the lecture business blew up for everybody save very prominent persons severa' seasons ago, I was prepared to st >mit myself to a life of silence. In tnose days I was naive enough to assume that if you didn’t talk for money you couldn’t talk at all. The vast field open to the. amateur was unknown to me. By now I realize that if

, ■ i

Ileywood Broun

you talk for nothing and play your cards right it is possible to get a date somewhere or other almost every night in the week. tt tt tt ’Turns a Fool’s Paradise IN the days when I used to jump from WilkesBarre, Pa., at 3 in the morning in order to make the Theater Study Club of Madison, Wis., the next night I was living in a fool’s paradise. Being a poor lecturer was no particular handicap, because you never expected to make the same town twice. Why, there are cities in this country which I wouldn't dare revisit again for another six years, and one of them is Easton, Pa. But for all its virtues it was a lonely life. At the end of a couple of years I began to hate that lecture and I imagine it felt the same way about me. The crash and the depression came and it w’as no longer possible to get bookings. In fact, as I remember, the bottom fell out of my bookings at a lime when everything else was going to 300. But talking as we were about speakers, I was interested to come across Variety’s report on the Browder broadcast. Variety tries, and often succeeds, in taking no position whatsoever in the class struggle. It attempts to view all performers and performances from the straight angle of showmanship. In thumbing through this interesting weekly I found, ‘‘Film Canaries Faced With Dearth of Popular Operatic Arias for Pix,” ‘‘Lent in St. L. A. Real Denter, Quins 16 G,” and "then the following caption and description:—‘‘Earl Browder. Talk. 15 Mins. Sustaining.” tt tt tt T an'li/ Looks at Browder "DROWDER,” reports Variety, ‘‘belongs in the files J3 as a radio ‘first.’ He is the first of the Communist Party to get a nation-wide network opportunity. Columbia Broadcasting chose him as a means of dramatizing its own position on ‘free speech.’ To permit a leftist to be heard was CBS’s way of showing that complete verbal liberty is an actuality on its network. It was a well-publicized and controversial ‘first’ that will also probably be a quiet and careful ‘last.’ ‘‘Browder is not a good radio speaker. Probably smart showmanship to studiously follow an excessively mild tone and a cautious line of argument, but otherwise he lacks what it takes in the United States of America to woo votes.” I'm afraid that on this occasion Variety failed to live up to its standards. It is no part of a critic’s function on that magazine to attempt to make political prognostications. Moreover, this is one of the first times I have ever caught Variety propagandizing agamst the social structure in which we live. What does Land mean by putting quotes around ‘‘free speech”? Does he think it's a phrase from a gag? (Copyright. 1936)

Aid Message Should Be Read Carefully BY RAYMOND CLAPPER* WASHINGTON, March 19.—Business men, particularly employers, who complain about the cost of relief, will find the alternative stated in President Roosevelt’s relief message. It should be read in full, for it goes to the heart of our most stubborn domestic problem—the failure of recovery to bring re-employment. Without epithets, tory-baiting or emotion, Mr. Roosevelt put the facts down cold: The trend of re-

employment, while upward, is inadequate. . . . Private business is asked to extend its operations to absorb an increasing number. . . . There is little evidence that employers can do this by individual, unco-ordinated action. . . . Vigorous effort on a national scale is necessary, by voluntary, concerted action of private industry. . . . The Supreme Court forbids the government to assist employers in restraining ehiselers. . . . But anti-trust laws, prohibiting restraint of trade, do not prohibit the reverse, co-operation

in private business to increase production and employment. . . . Therefore, let leaders in each industry organize to increase employment. . . . The success of this will determine how soon the government can get out of relief. The idea is partly Donald R. Richberg’s, drawn out of his experience with NRA and his belief that the solution can be achieved without a constitutional amendment. tt tt tt WHAT are the facts behind this situation? In the Federal Communications Commission's investigation of the American Telephone and Telegraph Cos. this week it was shown that the company, while maintaining dividends during the last six years, reduced employment 32 per cent and pay rolls 26 per cent. While operating revenues dropped only 13 per cent, the number of telephone stations dropped 10 per cent and the average number of daily calls dropped only 8 per cent. Although the A. T. & T. is enlightened in its employe policies, it curtailed employment and the consumer buying power carried in its pay roll to a far greater extent than its revenues had been curtailed. J 9 u tt THE example is not an isolated one by any means. Last year was a rich one for industry. Some 900 of the leading corporations increased profits 46.9 per cent above those of 1934. All-time records weie set in electric power, rayon, wool consumption, shoes, washing machines, oil burners, electric refrigerators, gasoline consumption, plate glass, air transport. cigarets, electric lamps and radios. Highs since 1929 were reached in machine tool orders, automobiles, vacuum cleaners, mail order sales, petroleum production and hosiery production. Highs since 1930 were achieved in steel ingots, pig iron, zinc, fertilizer, shipbuilding, foundry equipment and paint. Yet, in spite of this burst of activity, the A. F. of L. estimates that only 1,024.000 more were at work last January than in January. 1935. Twelve and a half millions were still unemployed, it estimates. Production increased 14 per cent, but workers' buying power increased only 3 per cent. Profits of 120 corportations—Standard Statistics figures—increased 141 per cent during the last half of 1935. Yet those on relief rolls outnumbered all employed in the five largest industries—textiles and clothing, railroads, building, machinery, and iron and steel and its products. Average hours of work per week have increased 5*4 per cent in the last year. The surplus of labor would suggest that the hours of work per week should be shrinking instead of expanding. So we have production about halfway back to 1029 and a relief load still withm three quarters of the peak,

INDIANAPOLIS, THE CITY OF SMOKE

Health of Citizens Affected by Soot, Many Doctors Contend

Hralth i* the topic of Arch Steinel in his article today on Indianapolis smoke conditions, the fourth of hit series. BY ARCH STEINEL JNDIANAPOLIS is one American city with an invisible rain that exposes residents to disease and ill-health. It is the "rain” and "reign” of soot. Soot from home and industrial chimneys contains ash, carbon or tars, sulphurs and gases. Conservative estimates, based on depression years when factories did not operate full time, are that from 77 to 89

tons of soot dropped on,lndianapolis for each square mile during each year from 1933 through 1935. Each ton of coal making that soot gave off from 2 to 5 per cent sulphur fumes. Smoke is visible because of the tar or carbon which gives it its obnoxious character. “Hard” coals contain silica, and it is silica which recently caused nation-wide headlines as an entire town suffered from the rare disease known as “silicosis.” tt a tt YOUR neighbor’s smokestack also is an outlet for numerous gases, ranging from carbon monoxide to nitrous and chloric vapors of certain types of manufacturing plants. For the most part, these gases, because they are lighter than air, are easily dissipated, but one gas —sulphur—because of its heaviness, descends on buildings and people. Sulphur destroys vegetation and affects stone structures. It reached its most drastic stage in Belgium in December, 1930, when 65 lives were taken by fumes from the stacks of the industrial city of Liege. The European catastrophe caused a probe which discovered that the noxious fumes of sulphur anhydride gas had affected the bronchial tubes of residents and caused fatalities. Fog acted as the agent or jailer of the sulphur in that it accumulated the fumes over Liege for a period of four days. A probing commission held that factories producing the fumes were blameless, but declared the combination of the gases coupled with cold and foggy weather caused the mysterious catastrophe. # tt a Fourteen thousand tons of sulphur, or an estimated 76 pounds for each resident of Indianapolis, is the yearly output of chimneys. Dr. W. A. Brend, Englsih physician, says: “A smoky and dusty atmosphere transcends all other influences as a cause of infant mortality.” Dr. Herman G. Morgan, Indianapolis health officer, says: “It has been proved conclusively that cities with the highest percentage of atmospheric density are those which have the highest sick and death rate from respiratory diseases such as common colds, bronchitis, sore throats and pneumonia.”

March - 19. ’ 7 Chairman Jesse Jones of the Reconstruction Finance Corp. has a contagious smile and a fund of good stories which have softened many a political attack. But Senate Progressives say Jesse will have to do a lot of smiling to cover up his latest appointment. Here is the reason; The Frisco Railroad is one of the few companies which has defaulted on its payments to the RFC. It is paying neither principal nor interest. Despite this, Jesse has appointed a director of the Frisco as head of his RFC railway loan division. Among other things, he will pass on the Frisco loan. Frank c. Wright, the new appointee, is unique in two other respects. Although occupying an important government position passing on railway loans, he continues to be an official of the Bangor and Aroostook Railway. a a a Furthermore, while he served as director of the Frisco, Wright represented the banking firm of Lee, Higginson & Cos. Lee, Higginson held a large interest in the bankrupt railroad, and minority bondholders made sensational charges of improper diversion of earnings to the majority holders. The entire question was aired before the Securities-Exchange Commission, which, however, had no power other than to expose the situation publicly. The bondholders then asked Jesse Jones, as a major creditor of the road, to co-operate with them. But he refused. Now Jesse has gone one better. He has placed in charge of railway loans the man who represented Lee, Higginson on the Frisco Railroad board of directors.

Clapper

Washington Merry-Go-Round BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN

BENNY

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The Indianapolis Times

He declares pneumonia is one • of the most important respiratory diseases in which soot and “smog” can make a difference between life and death. Dr. Andrew Hall of the Illinois State Health Board, in tracing the deaths due to pneumonia in Illinois and Chicago in the year of 1929 said Chicago’s death rate from pneumonia was 99 persons for each 100,000 population. Indianapolis, in the same boom year, with manufacturing plants at full blast, had a death rate of 129. or 30 more persons to die in each 100,000 than Chicago. tt tt tt TN 1935 the city’s death rate from pneumonia was 159 persons out of each 100,000, a higher rate even than in 1929. Although an excessively cold winter can be blamed in part for the higher rate, it is shown in a perusal of vital statistics that in the 1932 and 1933 years of the depression that the death rate was down to 100 for each 100,000 population. However, malnutrition, it is pointed out by some physicians, was more prevalent during the depression years. Former Health Commissioner Kegel, of Chicago, said on one occasion: “The highest pneumonia rate is in the smokiest cities.” Pittsburgh, notorious for years as the “Smoky City” until it began a strenuous smoke abatement campaign, had a death rate of 341 persons for each 100,000 persons in 1920, 328 in 1923, 243 in 1931 and 172 deaths in each 100,000 population in 1932. Indianapolis ranged about 70 to 140 deaths less than Pittsburgh in 1931 and 1932. n tt tt 'T'RACING Indiana as a whole, the pneumonia death rate from 1923 remained, with the exception of the comparatively warm year of 1926, at an average of 3100 deaths yearly until the first year of the depression. Then it dropped 15 per cent and remained at around 2800 until 1935. The only exception during depression years was a drop of 606 in the death total in the warm year of 1933. Industry gained ground in 1934. General business conditions improved and, oddly, the pneumonia death rate increased. The year of 1934-1935 showed 3074 deaths against 2831 for the winter of 1933-1934. Some physicians assert that the “carrier,” or person immune from the ravages of pneumonia, but

A VAUDEVILLE act was staged on the floor of the House the other day when Townsendite Congressman Verner W. Main of Michigan protested against allotting $50,000 for the Townsend investigation. Waving his arms wildly, Rep. Main shouted: “The Bell Committee comes seeking a loan of $50,000. The chairman of the committee comes from Missouri, a state that specializes in dogs hound dogs—that howl. The gentleman from the hound-dog state seeks a boon of $50,000. “Mr. Speaker, the proposed appropriation is one of the finest examples of boondoggling that has come to the attention of the American Congress!’ Here the gavel fell. His time had expired. Rep. Main turned from the rostrum, bent over as if calling a dog, and proceeded whistling up the aisle. Between whistles, he called: “Come Boon, Come Boon!” a a a THE Supreme Court’s next major decision—on the constitutionality of the Guffey Coal Act —will determine more than just the future Federal regulation of the coal industry. It will vitally affect the plans of several other key industries—oil, textiles, lumber, steel. Should the Guffey Act be upheld, these industries plan to seek legislation similar to the coal measure. It is entirely possible that the present session of Congress may be prolonged to rush them through. The oil and textile industries already have their bills drafted. On the other hand, negative action by the court will spur the drive to limit the number of working hours per week. a a a CHAIRMAN WILLIAM CONNERY JR. of the House Labor Committee is marking time on

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1936

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Railroads entering Indianapolis have done their share of reducing the ravages from smoke. Daniel J. Welsh, railroad smoke inspector, is responsible for reducing smoke violations. He is shown above talking over stack troubles with an engineer at the Union Station.

who spreads the disease, is responsible for the low ebb of pneumonia in depression years. A return of good times causes the carrier to travel, with the natural result of increased cases of pneumonia, these doctors say. In turn, a second physician offsets the “carrier” theory by pointing to the high death toll of pneumonia among infants, and the fact that children under 1 year old are not normally taken into crowded busses, cars and offices. Pneumonia is the cause of death of one out of every six children who die in Indiana under 1 year of age. Dr. Harvey sees in the infant mortality statistics the possibility that soot may be one of the agencies promoting the dissemination of disease. tt tt tt muggy, smoggy mornings, VJ carbon deposits from the air load the membranes, he said. “Constant use of handkerchiefs is necessary and spitting is prevalent. We want to expectorate more in winter, and maybe soot indirectly spreads disease by causing us to expectorate. A shoe steps in the mucus ejected and it may be carried into the home where infants play on floors,” he says. “We know,” he adds, “that we can’t use sleeping porches, even if we have them, because of the atmosphere. We talk about polluted water. It seems the time has come when we should about polluted air and its possibility for

his 30-hour bill pending the outcome on the Guffey Act. The Senate has voted favorably on a 30-hour measure, and Rep. Ccnnery says he will press immediately for a vote in the House if the Supreme Court throws out the Guffey Act. Government attorneys in the case are hoping that, regardless of what the court rules, it will lay down some definite general rules as a guide to the tangled skein of industrial regulations. The court did not do this in the NR A decision. Assistant Atty. Gen. John Dickinson, in his three-hour argument before the court—during which he was paid the unusual honor of not once being interrupted—pleaded strongly for such a clarification. “It is strongly to be desired,” he urged, “that the powers of the government to permit positive action to prevent industrial chaos be clearly defined. In the past such chaos has necessitated military action to preserve peace. Is our government only a military government?” a a a /CALIFORNIA'S lanky Senator William Gibbs McAdoo was chatting with newspaper men about Roosevelt’s corporation surplus tax plan. “I’ve got a better plan than that,” he said solemnly. “Put an excise tax of one cent a copy on every newspaper sold in the country. That wouldn't be a punitive tax like Huey Long’s but a legitimate tax. It would raise as much money as this corporation tax.” At this moment Senator Carter Glass walked by. “Oh, I forgot,” McAdoo laughed. “My friend Carter is a newspaper publisher. Well, I guess we can't tax newspapers. We’ll have to abandon the idea.” (Copyright. 1936. by United Featur* Syndicate. Inc.)

spreading as well as causing disease.” Smoke, besides making an ugly town and depressing every one in it, has a tendency to obscure Vitamin D rays in sunlight, says Dr. Thurman B. Rice, assistant health director of Indiana. Lack of Vitamin D often results in rickets in children, physicians say. “And that sends us to cod-liver oil for ourselves as well as the children,” Dr. Rice adds. Dr. Rice and other physicians tell how persons who have lived in clean cities and have pink lungs can remain in Indianapolis for five to seven years, after which time their lungs become dark and mottled. % “This Is called anthracosis. It has no immediate serious results but tends to fill the tissues with, inert matter, lessen the elasticity of the lungs, and make breathing harder,” he said. Sulphur fumes he terms as “irritating” to the residents of smoke-filled cities. tt tt tt DR. MORGAN sees an indirect relhtionship between deafness and a sooty and dirty atmosphere. He is borne out in his contention by George C. Calvert, 64, sec-retary-manager of the Indianapolis Clearing House. High in his office in the Merchants Bank Building and surrounded by oil paintings which he keeps under glass to prevent air spoilage, Mr. Calvert wishes for a glass house of his own.

WINS WITH SAFETY PLAY

Today’s Contract Problem South Is playing the contract at four hearts. How would you play this hand for the maximum number of tricks, with a diamond opening? A ? 3 V 75 4 3 ♦AK 9 5 3 A A J ▲ A Q 10 8 BNA K 9 2 V Void W E V Q 10 8 2 ♦ QJIO 7 5 >B6 b|b 86 3 P"' I* 10 ” ” Aj 5 4 yAK J 0 < ♦ 2 AKQ 4 2 E. & W vul. Opener—> Q. Solution in next issue. 12 Solution to Previous Contract Problem BY W. E. M’KENNEY Secretary American Bridge League THE annual western New York tournament, held at Jamestowm, N. Y., March 14 and 15, was in charge of R. E. Needham of Greenville, one of the directors of the American Bridge League. Needham has been active in league affairs since its organization and conducts a number of the league's important master point tournaments during the year. Each year, through his efforts, new communities are given opportunity to hold major tournaments. R. R. Richards of Detroit, founder of the league, sends this interesting hand from one of Needham’s tournaments. Some players opened the ace of clubs and then shifted to a diamond, hoping to get their partners in so they could ruff a club.

With hand cupped to ear, he says, “You know I’m not sensitive like a lot of folk are about being hard-of-hearing but I believe smoke in this city results in catarrhal conditions and affects respiratory passages. “I have lived below Fall Creek and now live at 32d-st, but I find no improvement in either smoke conditions or my hearing. Smoke is over the entire city. “Years ago,” he added, “I was a member of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. 1 tried to interest them in abating the smoke nuisance. They were hostile to it. I resigned from the Chamber. “The whole town burns Indiana soft coal. It isn’t fit to burn. I burn oil, but on damp nights my house is filled with the soot and smoke from other residences and apartments. As long as we have soft coal and burn it as we do, we’ll have coughs, colds, sinus troubles and other ailments,” he -said. Comparing Indianapolis pneumonia death rate to those of other cities, shows that while Oakland, Cal., Fort Worth and Houston, Tex., range from 65 to 75 deaths per 100,000 population from the disease yearly, Indianapolis has not had a death rate less than 100 except once since 1920, and that year was 1933 when the mortality was 96 out of 100,000. Next—Hoosierdom’s Smoke-Chest and What Happens to a Housewife’s Hope-Chest.

A9 8 5 V 19 6 3 > K 10 AKJ 6 5 2 A<3 2 A 7 VAKJB *9752 4 W - b ♦Q7 5 3 ♦J6 4 3 2 A A Dealer A 7 * * A A K Q J 10 V Q . AA 9 8 A Q 10 9 * Duplicate—all vul, South West North East 1 A 2 * Pass Pass 2 A Pass ’ 3 A Pass 4 A Pass Pass Pass Opening lead —* K. 12 This play, however, allowed declarer to make six-odd, while with the king of hearts opening it took skillful play on the part of declarer to make his contract. Here is the play as given by Richards: When West’s king of hearts held the trick, he continued with the ace, which was trumped with the ten of spades. If declarer now made the mistake of trying to ruff out his losing diamonds, his contract would have been defeated. Declarer took two rounds of trump, East showing out on the second round and discarding a diamond. A club was led and won by West w’ith the ace. West continued with the jack of hearts, but declarer did not ruff this trick; otherwise, West would have had command of the trump situation. South made a safety play and discarded the eight of diamonds. Now west was helpless. Declarer had the rest of the tricks. If a heart were continued, this could be ruffed in dummy with the nine of spades, and the outstanding trumps picked up. (Copyright. 1936. by NEA Service. Inc.)

By J. Carver Pusey

Second Section

Entered ns Seernid-Cliun Matter at rostoftice, Indianapolis. Inrt.

Fair Enough WESTBROOK PEGLER TJARIS, March 19.—1 t begins to look as if the •*- British diplomatic service has the correct idea of the only satisfactory way to deal with the Nazi government. The British diplomats are taught to believe that the Nazi government is afflicted with chronic throat trouble, as the baseball players say, and will choke up in the presence of determined resistance. On the theory ihat any one who seeks to intimidate an opponent by roaring will himself be intimidated if the opponent roars back twice as loud, the representatives of His Majesty's government have been ordered to take no foolishness from Der Fuehrer or any of his subordinates. They are instructed to move right in and bull them around whenever

one of His Majesty’s subjects is troubled. The plan has been thoroughly tested and the result is that His Majesty’s little blue passport nowcommands the highest respect everywhere in Germany. It is worth noting also that the one nation which Germany fears and respects most is Great Britain. tt tt it Big Time Methods THE events of the last 10 days have provided a demonstration of the same formula on a much greater scale. It may be

remembered that until quite recently Herr Hitler's government was very tough in its dealings with various other nations. The Nazis assassinated Englebert Dollfuss, the Austrian chancellor, and organized a revolutionary party in Austria through their embassy in Vienna. Inasmuch as the German ambassador is no other than our old friend Capt. Von Papen, who got his early training doing the same thing in Washington 20 years ago, it will be seen that the work of inciting disorder in Austria is in practiced though not necessarily able hands. The count is widely regarded by other diplomats of various nations as the dumbest conspirator that the v/orld has ever known. He always kicks over the goldfish bowl with a loud crash just as he is climbing out of the window with the papers, and once he was so dumb that he almost got himself shot by his own gang in Germany. We used to have an umpire in the American League at home named “Dogface” Guthrie, who may have had Capt. Von Papen in mind when he composed a little poem to quiet the squawk of certain ball players. When a player with a Prussian name would squawk at one “Dogface” Guthrie’s decisions “Dogface” would rock on his heels, peer at the sky and say: “‘Dutch’ and ‘dumb.’ If you wasn't ‘Dutch’ you wouldn’t be ‘dumb’ and if you wasn’t ‘dumb’ you wouldn’t be ‘Dutch’.” It sounds like a personal tribute to Capt. Von Papen. However, this is a digression from the theme of our story, which is that Herr Jlitler’s government was exceedingly tough with the neighbors until he closed his Olympic army maneuvers at Garmisch-Parten-kirchen and moved his army into the Rhine. Herr Hitler threatened the Swiss because they would not lynch a man who had shot one of his conspirators against the Swiss republic. He openly described the Republic of Czechoslovakia as a rebellious province to be conquered by conspiracy and force. tt tt tt Change of Pace FOR two years Herr Hitler and his government had been threatening various small nations in the neighborhood and Der Fuehrer himself had written a book in which he declared that Germany’s great national ambition was to lick France some day. He was constantly inciting and preparing his demigods to lick France. Hundreds of times he reminded them that the Swiss, Austrians and Ccheckoslovakians were either Germans who ought to be taken into the fold or mongrels who would have to be exterminated. But in particular he urged his demigods to prepare to crush France. But when Herr Hitler moved his troops from the winter Olympic maneuvers to the Rhine the French also moved up prepared to meet him in a war. The Belgians stepped up beside them and the British looked the Nazis dead in the eye and began to get ready, too. Ever since then Herr Hitler has been talking of his peaceful intentions. He has had nothing to say about licking France or taking over Austria and Czechoslovakia or biting off' the German-speaking area of Switzerland. It seems that he didn’t want to fight at all. He just wanted to get a count of hands to see who did. Now he knows.

Gen. Johnson Says—

WASHINGTON, March 19.—Perhaps this column has talked too much about NRA. I know it has been criticised for that, but it is my firm conviction that sooner or later this country must coma back to that idea. News reports quote the President as saying that “judicial decisions are creating twilight zone in the regulation of labor relationship where neither the states nor the Federal government have power.” The bets are all against the government side in the Carter case testing the constitutionality of tha Guffey Act, which sets up a “little NRA” for the bituminous coal industry. A a a a I WOULD advise taking a little of that money. The case was ably argued. It left in the lap of the court the task of saying whether or not, between the power of the states and the power of the nation, there is a zone of economic anarchy where great corporations removed from any regulation may ravage as they will. If such is the case, it is a condition that exists in no other system under the sun, and if the court should so declare, it is simply decreeing the necessity for ar. amendment to our Constitution. No judicial casuistry can avoid or fumble that issue. Not since the Dred Scott decision has tha Supreme Court had a bigger bear by the tail. (Copyright, 1936, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)

Times Books

THERE is anew historian abroad in the land and his name is Fletcher Pratt, and he is the father and the uncle of interesting reaiing. He can make the doing of the ancient Romans sound like something out of last night’s newspaper, and if you have never met him you are hereby urged to do so at once. His new book is “Hail Caesar!” (Smith and Haas; $3.50;. It is a fine, exciting and intelligent bit of work. Without departing from the authorities or straining for effects, Mr. Pratt brings Roman history down to date and makes it snap and crackle. Roman politics, in his book, is perfectly familiar and understandable to any one who ever watched American politics; a politician is a politician wherever you find him, and a Senate, evidently, is a Senate. ✓ tt an THESE Romans even had a soldier bonus problem, remarkably like our own. They had their rugged individualists and their new dealers, their hellbreathing radicals and their conniving judges; they had a farm problem and a dole, and a public works scheme to end a depression. Against this background Mr. Pratt tells about Julius Caesar. He departs from the old conception of Caesar as a man of limitless personal ambition, and presents him simply as an immensely able man who tried to bring order and efficiency into a social order-ifeat had neither,—(By. Bruce CattocJ

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Westbrook Pegler