BOOKS and BOOKMEN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16873, 9 February 1929, Page 10

BOOKS and BOOKMEN

AMERICA TO-DAY

It is a commonplace that the severest critics of American manners and institutions are the Americans themselves. No Englishman would permit himself to be as plain-spoken as, say, Mr. H. L. Mencken or Mr. G. J. Nathan, or, in the medium of fiction, by Sir. Sinclair Lewis, and Mr. Upton Sinclair. Further testimony to this truth is borne by Mr. Charles Merz in “Bigger and Better Murders.” The title is taken from a chapter in which the extraordinary interest aroused in America by murder trials is discussed. The more revolting the crime, and the more sordid its details, the better, apparently, is the public pleased. No sooner is it committed than the' press devotes columns to if. The identity of the culprit is canvassed, and possible motives are suggested. In British communities this would amount to gross contempt of court, but in America it seems to bo within the law. As the date of the hearing approaches tho court is remodelled to make room for the multitude of reporters, telegraphists, and the like. Flash-light equipment is fitted to the judge’s bench to facilitate the work of the photographers. A huge electric switchboard is installed, capable of handling 20,000 wbrds an hour, its .180 separate wires transmitting verbatim accounts of proceed l tags direct to newspapers in every part of' the country. Should the trial bo held in a small town, farogames and' side-shows are prepared for tho entertainment of the army of tourists who may be 1 expected to flock thither for tho event.

At last the great day arrives. The case Jills the press to the virtual exclusion of all other .topics. Is there a revolution,in China, or a disarmament .conference at Geneva? These will be lucky if they secure a few lines in an inconspicuous corner. During tho Hall-Mills trial, lasting 24 days, a total of 12,000,000 words was telegraphed, enough, if printed in one newspaper, to occupy 960 pages of solid reading matter, or if put into book form to make a shelf of novels twenty-two feet long. In addition, movie stars, prominent preachers, and other celebrities arc invited to contribute articles on the subject. And all this, says Mr. Merz, is the literature of the nation. It is the literature of the nation because it does not wait for its patrons in book shops or gather dust in libraries, but is sold out, read and debated within two hours after it comes smoking from the machines. Some proprietaries have attempted to pass a self-denying ordinance in regard to this class of news, but vainly. They had to yield to the popular demand. And Mr. Merz points out that everyone makes something out of these “shows,” except the entrepreneur who stages them. The newspapers, the telegraph companies, the correspondents, the hotels, the lawyers, all reap their profit. But the State which arranges the whole affair, not only receives nothing for its trouble, but is put to considerable expense in maintaining the couTt and, gathering witnesses. Mr. Merz ironically submits that the Government should transfer these spectacles from tho stuffy inadequate court rooms where they are now held to huge amphitheatres, where the public could be charged admission. He estimates that the Treasury would derive an annual revenue of £20,000,000 from every amphitheatre. The history of many an old family is typical of the American character and spirit. The son, dissatisfied with his prospects in the paternal acres, pulls up stakes, and goes westward. The process continues for generations until at length the movement is in the opposite direction. Tho contemporary descendant of the pioneers treks eastward, his vehicle being not an oxcart, but a Pullman, or a high-powered motor car. According to Mr. Merz, this restlessness, this desire to be always “on the go,” explains many American attributes. Why, for instance, do American tourists invade Europe in such hordes? It is not to acquaint themselves with the country and the people, because they habitually frequent cosmopolitan resorts. It is "not really to see the sights, for the American tourist rushes through his itinerary at such a pace that the only impression left on his mind is one of blurred confusion. The reason, says Mr. Merz, is that Europe is to America to-day what Kentucky was to Daniel Boone and the fat lands of tho ’fiddle West were to the stalwarts of the covered-waggon epoch. It is virgin territory to explore. Why then does tho tourist draw between Europe and. America comparisons so unfavorable to the latter? Why is he aggrieved because on the Continent the thermometer registers in centigrade? Why does he complain because the Coliseum is not lit by electricity, and because there is no central heating in Holyrood Palace? It is not a question of an inferiority complex. The American thinks Europe charming, but obsolete. He would dearly love to have Europe for his own to bring it up to date. Since he cannot annex it, he tries persuasion.

Another manifestation of the new American spirit is the passion for education which, admirable in itself, is often misdirected. Thirty years ago tho American universities xvero small, judged by contemporary standards. There were 96,000 students all told, as compared with three-quarters of a million in 1928. Curricula were more utilnrinn than those provided by European seats of learning, but conformed, on the whole., to orthodox academic tradition. Attendance at lectures was compulsory. But now a huge number

of .students receive instruction per medium of correspondence classes. Utilitarianism has run riot. University degrees and diplomas are awarded not only for applied science, but actually l'or trades. This practice' is not confined to the newer Universities and to those of inferior standing. The great University of Columbia gives courses in bee-keeping, poultryraising, elementary millinery, and the care of lawns; Syracuse, in practical tablo service; Southern California, in advanced tailoring; Ohio, in order to save others disappointment and itself the trouble of rejecting applications for enrolment, intimates in its syllabus that it does not supply courses in “book-keeping, telegraphy, oratory, and embalming.” One is reminded of the advertisement, of a certain soap which “will not wash clothes” —the inference being that it does everything else. Are we to construe the announcement, of the University of Ohio to mean that these are the only subjects in which it docs not furnish instructions? The omission should be easy to rectify. Surely a Carnegie of tho undertaking business would endow a chair of “ morticiary,” as it is styled in America. The American is always ready to abandon his vocation for another in which he thinks he will do better. The bunk teller studies Admiralty law and the school-teacher structural drafting. The street-car conductor is going in for .real, estate when he has had six more lessons. The Americans will not “stay pul.” Even so did his ancestors pack up their possessions, and fare further afield whenever they heard of a sun so kind and a soil so fertile that, tho corn grew eight feet high. A BACKWOODS STORY. Baroness Orczv has gone to the backwoods of Canada for the setting of hexnew story, “Blue Eyes and Grey” (Hodder and Stoughton). It is a crude sentimental story of the triumphs of virtue over villainy. It tells how a young Englishman failed in the early chapters to value the love of a Canadian girl, and after descending to degradation and dishonor, fought his way back along the path of atonement, and eventually won again the love he had lightly spurnetj. There is a villain of the conventional type, who is in love with the heroine, and forces her to consent to marry him under the threat of ruining her worthless voung brother; and the story culminates in the usual life and death struggle between the hero and the villain. MODERN ‘SCARLET PIMPERNEL. ’ MUSCLE-AND-BRAIN DETECTIVE. “Stone Blunts Scissors,” by Gerard Fairlie. (Hodder and Stoughton.) Gerard Fairlie'« “Stone Blunts Scissors” is a good thriller. It is not the type of mystery story that depends for.its solution on the hero-detective's power of logical reasoning, with perhaps a spice of brilliant conjecturing thrown in. It is a story of bloodcurdling adventure. Victor Caryll, debonairc, chivalrous, the modern equivalent to Baroness Orcz.v’s “Scarlet Pimpernel,” has to go through some terrifying experiences, to use muscle us well as brain, before getting the better of the crook gang, he is dealing with. The girl he loves is faced with death on almost every page. The story is told with considerable vigor, and, though an ardent student; of detective fiction may find the book lacking in subtlety, those who like swift action and hairbreadth escapes will find it entirely to their liking. THE BRITISH MUSEUM. An English author has just been summoned for failing to deliver a copy of his recently published book to the trustees of the British Museum, in accordance with the Copyright Act. The author said he did not submit a copy as he was displeased with the book and wanted to withdraw it. The magistrate asked wliat the museum did with all the books. It had always been a puzzle to him. It, was explained that the books were catalogued and stored, and are supposed to be kept for ever. If authors are dissatisfied with their books, copies are not available to the public. Their wishes are always respected.