THE STATE OF THE STATE
SELIGMAN, BEN B.
the State of the State Reviewed fcy BEN B. SEUGMAN miS FROM E.A.: THREE INTERNATIONAL EPISODES. By Herbert Feit. New ¦ . Nork: Alfred A. Knopf. 313 pages. $2.75. fX-\%t value of Feis' inside...
...Instead, we are at this point suddenly plunged into rapid, cheap plotting which pushes the characters about in a frenzied rush to reach Priestley's publicist solution...
...I'm Etna Ferguson...
...Reminiscence In Double Time Review by MILTON S. MAUTNER BRIGHT DAY...
...All the direction of the novel, and the urgency of its aesthetic demands (not unaffected by symbolism), point either to its frustrated completion at the 250th page, or its resolution of problem and catharsis of emotion in a development of equal length and slow pace...
...His chosen form and style thus preclude too great a depth, and permit no loose ends...
...They preached, they Scolded, they prodded...
...And so in oil, as in rubber, we muddled through to leave each field in the Middle Fast the next scene for private plot and counterplot...
...The man who had brought evil to Dawson and his youthful world, suddenly seeks him out at a party with a message frrni a "trade-union woman...
...Perhaps Fais will some day tell us what went on in State when Ciiernica burned...
...In both fields of writing, Priestley has a long record entitling him to serious consideration, even if he has failed in this mild effort, his latest novel, Uright Day...
...the creator is set against the publicist...
...By ]. P. Priestley...
...Dawson feels once again "a solemn tenderness for life," and behold, the lady turns out to have been a part of his past, and, the reader can assume, may be a part of his future...
...H OW In make an interesting story of Ihe life, of an uninteresting woman who lived in a fascinating epoch is Harrison Hrent's problem, which he attempts to solve by a fast-moving style, with an occasional nod in the direction of history, and another in that of sex...
...Harper and Brothers...
...Y. 286 pages...
...The British merely sniffed at the idea...
...Whether the limitations bringing about the final chapter in ti.is fashion were subjective or objective, their effect is to leave the impression of ineffectual, second-rate writing...
...they had FDR's blessing and Jesse Jones' Texas ear...
...Is il how ran Inflation be kept in lis place...
...Those in America who still believe that Cuba owes its independence to the intervention of the United Slates will learn that Cuba has been fighting lor its independence intermittently for almost two hundred years since the British, who bail captured Cuba from the Spaniards in I ?<;:.', withdrew in 17fi3 and left I be Cubans ;i taste for relative freedom and particularly freedom of commerce...
...government participation might damage the domestic market...
...I« It what will Ihe Court say In Irwin's rase...
...TO write a novel of values in a contemporary setting poses the problem of novel versus pamphlet...
...That "eager mind in slight body" is, of course, Harry Hopkins, and the government official who showed little desire to loosen the federal purse must have been Jesse Jones...
...in spite of the fact that we had always a large supplyvof rubber, there was the danger that we might be forced to do without this critical material...
...But the latter was worried about risks...
...Nor did they relish the notion that the government itself might plunge into the Middle Eastern oil puddle...
...S. N. QUESTION OF THE HOUH Wn 'II the world at the crossroads, and onward inclined, JuhI what ia Ihe question on everyone's mind...
...Iler brother's rise to power made It possible for her to shine gloriously in |iost-revolutionary society, to compete with Josephine Beauharnals and her own sisters in matters of dress and bejeweled adornment...
...Kor her* in th* quealion thai gives us no pear*: Will Elizabeth marry Prince Philip of <;re*c...
...The story has often been told...
...but unfortunately told in an uninteresting way...
...2.50...
...Is il how about II.N., and whal of ila fat...
...Advocated by Feis and Ickes ("in a fight he could twist and turn without benefit of rule book"), a government corporation to exploit Middle Eastern reserves was established...
...Miss Ferguson's interpretation of historical events is liberal anil broadminded, without ever becoming vituperative, which certainly is a difficult feat in view of the Cubans' past suffering and exploitation by their Spanish masters and later by their native overlords, supported by American "economic royalists...
...He has been too content to lapse into stylistic superficialities, to substitute Dickensian description for probing character development...
...That response might mean socialism...
...Such mallera, jiml now, ve* us hardly al all...
...What Priestley docs is to set a scene, present us with the central character, and with some effectiveness, create the mood he seeks: of a middle-aged man, weary and lost in a world he never made...
...Unless the reader has been schooled to follow closely the vagaries of economic affairs, be may not identify easily some of those who played international blind man's buff during the past decade...
...This was precisely what we did...
...Priestley has managed only rarely (and then barely) to meet the demands of his own theme...
...Richard Armour I'AVIAN E IIONAPARTE...
...The Pearl of the Antilles CI'HA...
...they did not trust the British to help them in their dealings with Arabian potentates...
...it might disturb the rubber price level...
...was right...
...Then the world had not known two world wars, the family was a center of rich living, girls were tantalizingly attractive, and the love of a trade was as central to a man's economic life as bis love of a pound (sterling...
...No, these are bill trivial, minor, and small...
...But the reasonable individual ought not be angry with personalities...
...However, it would be nice to know the 'Administrator who listened to the Economic Advisor's pleas for government stockpiles with "sympathetic but inert caSe...
...Is it how may Ihe atom be turned to food ends...
...The attempt to obtain more oil reserves was obscured by vague imperialist fears, for here we had to go to the Middle East, where American royalty rights on Moslem soil crossed with British, Dutch*, and French interests...
...and Russia I* friends...
...In it how ran Ihe U.S...
...fX-\%t value of Feis' inside story night have been considerably enhanced had the I author described his adventures in the-State Department witlioul diplomatic '•¦•.¦understatement...
...As it is, this tale of America's efforts to secure stockpiles of robber and oil inHhe days between Munich and Pearl Harbor has little of the excitement that a story of international chicanery ought to have...
...It is a revolting one and typical of piewar diplomacy...
...the Federal Loan Administrator was quite willing to let industry do the buying...
...And, by barely covering the outlines of his rather naive plotting, he has failed to tell his story well—a still desirable attribute of the novelist...
...Hut the scheme fell through because the private companies would not sell their rights...
...The Economic Advisor suggested giving Britain cotton in exchange, for more rubber...
...That combine, in the form of the International Kuhlier Regulation Committee, composed largely of British and Dutch interests, fixed not only the number of trees to be planted and tapped, but decided also how much raw rubber might be shipped to this "country...
...In a few pages, the organization financing and staffing of a new film company, in which the middle-aged Dawson is to guide several enthusiastic youths, is settled...
...we ought to have a voice on the committee...
...The major producing areas were controlled by a powerful international combine which secured its strength through government sanction...
...But a much more characteristic chapter would have been the story of the destruction of the Spanish Republic...
...For the author, Pauline's beauty justifies her...
...The search for rubber was at least defensive...
...American companies welcomed the aid of the State Department...
...1.50...
...The Economic Advisor then urged government purchasing...
...Is it who will be I'reHident, come '48...
...Ily Dummm Itirni...
...What passionate query is poised on Ihe tongue Of rich and the poor, of (he old and Ihe young...
...Whatever the outcome, it was better to wait...
...Feis' third international episode is perhaps the most significant...
...Only when war reached Hawaii was there a sudden realization that perhaps E.A...
...Uiuihurt...
...Feis, who saw everything from the Economic Advisor's desk, must have tarried too long in State, for his language js quiet and his( characters anonymous...
...It heightens one's indignation to know things like that...
...If you're interested in that sort of tiling, this Is a readable account thereof...
...He attempts to take us behind the late League of Nations' lukewarm effort to halt the late Duce's march to Addis Ababba...
...I.et^s than the first half of the book are personal observations during her travels through the country, but the larger second part is dedicated to the history of the country, its economy, the national heroes, to its repeated revolts and revolutions for freedom and independence from Spain and later against their own tyrants such us Machudo, who ruled the country from ISI24 to Vi'i'A...
...His essential thesis revolves about the instinct for workmanship in its relationship to the good life, in the development of which, unfortunately, the essence of novel writing is lost...
...Such behavior was frequent enough to exhibit a definite pattern: everyone seemed fearful of the response required to meet (he challenge of rising totalitarianism...
...Dickensian touches of caricature, traditional English concern with nature description, and his own occasional, gentle humor, are placed in the plotted pattern of a magazine serial...
...i.7f>, R.MtKI.Y does a writer on Cuba succeed in combining in one volume so successfully as Miss Ferguson does a charming description of the scenery of the country and its people and customs, its characteristic native art and literature, born from the fusion of Spanish, Indian, Negro and Chinese contributions, which formed the Cuban "race," with a very readable history o( the country from colonial times to the present...
...or, on the other hand, it might create a native fascism...
...Not uninfluenced by his British contemporaries, Priestley has cast his tale of reminiscence on a dual time level, stressing his points by the shifting contrast of customs and people in the life of Gregory Dawson, would-be author at eighteen, and successful weary film-scripter at fifty...
...Dawson constantly seeks to escupe the present of his commercial script, and the presence of his friends and would-be lover Elizabeth Earl, a "glamorous" film star, by recalling the past of three decades ngo...
...But we were ihe largest users of rubber, said Feis and his colleagues...
...However, Feis and some of his enthusiastic colleagues did not want to wait Unconcerned with historical problems, they sought to facilitate American defense...
...By then, it was almost too late...
...The events of the last ten years typified the actions of government officers who, conditioned by questions of financial risk, operated within the framework of a decaying social system.'They wondered if it was really worthwhile to accumulate enough rubber and oil in the face of Hitlerian depredation...
Vol. 30 • February 1947 • No. 7
