BOOK NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 175, 25 June 1932, Page 9

BOOK NOTES

PAN IN AMERICA. It is not often that such a widely acceptable novel comes out of America as “The Great Jasper,” by Fulton Oursler. Jasper is that rare creation, a universal character. He would have behaved or misbehaved precisely the same if he had been born a negro in Basutoland or a peasant in Brittany, and what is true of this American Pan is also true of his prototypes in other countries. As it is, wo meet Jasper in early manhood, working as a tramwayman in a southern town, married to Jenny, and possessed of one unpromising son. Jasper loved life abundantly. He liked to “eat hearty, drink hearty, play hearty,” and was invincible in his pursuit of pleasure. Jenny, on the other hand, was afraid of life, and put all her trust in joys hereafter. She tormented her jolly husband with her prayers and beseechings until, when she suspected him of unfaithfulness, Jasper took flight, and began life afresh in Atlantic City. The story of Jasper’s adventures in this Mecca of American pleasure-seekers is delightfully told by Mr Oursler. Jasper had a genius for friendship, and the circle of his acquaintance was as wide as it was ill-assorted. He established himself as a fortune teller, in which occupation he managed to renew and invigorate many tired souls w r ho came to him for enlightenment, while quenching his own thirst for companionship and varied experience. His simplicity was reflected in his code of morality as well as in his amusingly limited vocabulary. Jasper’s morals may not have been impeccable according to accepted standards, but they appear to have fitted Jasper’s joyous and robust temperament like a glove. “People make a lot of fuss over some particulars,” he explains, “but if they didn’t make a lot of fuss over them, and went right on from there, why, there wouldn’t be anything to fuss over.” Jasper could make the plea of Abou Ben Adhem that, in forgetting his Maker, he compensated by loving his fellow men: and Malory’s epitaph for Guenever might with justice be rewritten foi him: “While he lived he was a true lover, and therefore he had a good end.”

LAW AND POLITICS. In his “Studies in Law and Politics,” Professor H. .T. Laski covers a wide field, ranging from the philosophy of the French Encyclopaedists to that of Mr Justice Holmes —perhaps the greatest jurist that America has produced — and from the personnel of the British Cabinet during the past century nnd a quarter to proceedings for constructive contempt of court. One essay is on the problem of a second chamber. The problem, obviously, is to make that chamber function effectively without thwarting the popular will. Professor Laski favours the unicameral system. But surely experience should count for something, and it is significant that, with very few exceptions, the more advanced States prefer the bicameral. He sa.ys that this preference is a relic of conservatism and springs from a desire to fortify the interests of property. Professor Laski is on firm ground in his essay on the technique of judicial appointment. There are, or have been, three methods. Tn France of the “ancien regime” judicial office was hereditary, and although the system produced some remarkable men it is clearly a vicious one. In the American States election either by the voters at large or by the legislature is the rule. Both expedients are thoroughly bad, and the evil is aggravated by the fact that tenure of the Bench is for a term of years. The constituency, whether it be the public or a Parliament, has no qualifications to appraise the credentials of aspirants. Log-rolling and political intrigue decide the issue. In British countries appointments lie with the Executive, but while Professor Laski approves of this procedure, he thinks that it needs amendment. A ; great majority of those who have been elevated have been more or less closely identified with the politics of the i partv in power at the time. His idea is that, when vacancies occur, a panel of Judges should submit a “short list of names to the Executive which would shoulder the final responsibility for the choice. ~ , Professor Laski complains tliat Judges, in general, have no training in economic science and no tion of intimacy or sympathy with the working classes.” As bearing on this, he cites the decisions in the Osborne and the Taff Vale cases, and the construction placed upon various statutes pertaining to industrial matters. But a Judge is not supposed to have sympathies. His duty is to interpret and administer the law as declared by r arliament or established by - precedent. He may not do less: he cannot do more A class-eonsciously sympathetic” Judge would be a. greater enemy to justice than any criminal behind prison bars.