BOOK REVIEW

"Through the School," by Al Priddy The Pilgrim Press $1.50

"Man or Machine — Which?" by Al Priddy. The Pilgrim Press, 75c. net.

Of interest to Dartmouth alumni are two books by "Al Priddy," Frederick Kenyon Brown '10, whose autobiographical story, "Through the Mill," was first published in the Outlook and has since appeared in book form. A sequel to this is the newly-published "Through the School," while in "Man or Machine — Which?" the author has entered the field of sociological essay-writing.

"Through the School" follows the fortunes of a lad of twenty, whose earlier life has been spent in the grinding monotony of the mill, as he makes a seven-years' struggle for an education, emerging at last with a college degree, besides his professional equipment for the ministry.

The immediate claim of the book upon the attention of Dartmouth men lies in the picturesque delineation of-Dartmouth life which occupies most of the last eight chapters. The author's power in catching the spirit of a scene or situation and reproducing it for the reader in a vivid word picture will be felt especially by those familiar with the Dartmouth of the last few years. The exterior of student life is reproduced, in several amusing phases, and the student's point of view, his aims and ambitions, are touched upon by means of graphic descriptions of individuals, chosen in surprising variety from the writer's own acquaintances. Those best drawn, perhaps, are the picturesque or exceptional figures, — the blind student, who acts the part of Teiresias in the Greek play; the poor Southern lad, who works his way by doing the hardest of housework for an Irish family; but the figures of athlete, orator, and popular leader, better known in fiction based on college life, are also shown, and that by means of well-chosen incidents.

As for special events, — the presentation of the Greek play, and the recent inauguration live here in the glowing words of an enthusiastic observer. In fact, it is the writer's vital and wholehearted enjoyment of the life about him, coupled with his sympathetic perception of "the other fellow's" point of view, that holds our interest in a simple chronicle which attempts! no plot and exhibits no special skill in structural handling.

The earlier scenes are laid in a western "university," which includes all grades of schooling. The bare, unbeautiful character of the outward life there, as well as the intense religious spirit of the place, .are vividly reproduced in these chapters which form the most picturesque portion of the book. Moreover they arouse an interest in the ambitious, hard-working youth, which carries the reader through the tamer episodes of the theological school and leads .to a sense of genuine satisfaction when in the last chapters, the long-coveted collage diploma is won.

"Man or Machine — Which ?" is a tiny volume, suggestive of a poissible origin in lectures or sermon. Its central idea is that the introduction of machinery, which seems to augur ill for the employee by subjecting him to meaningless drudgery, holds in reality, great possibilities for his elevation. The means by which this result may be secured are suggested in the following sentences, selected from successive sections of the essay.

First, "The most convincing way in which man may master the machine is when he invents a 'new and better one or improves an old one." Again, "It is suddenly discovered . . . that the machine has never been properly operated. even by the most skilled operators. It has been proved that there is more science in the most 'unskilled' task than the man who performs it is capable of understanding."

Moreover, "Machinery s success as an economic factor is mainly dependent upon the moral character of its operator. . . . Gather one day's loss of time and waste of power, through defective moral character; mass it from all corners of our world industry; and the economic loss of time and production and wages through a month of strikes becomes incidental."

From this strong suggestion, the author passes to the resulting importance to the employer, of the mental and moral condition of his men, and brings us to his conclusion that "the success of the employer means the success of the employee." While this idea is not novel, the effect of the entire essay is helpful and invigorating.