Novel

It is now no deep dark secret that the late President Harding played poker while some of his pals of the "Ohio gang" and a few oil men were developing nest eggs by big deals arid little black satchels. No doubt, much of this was grimy work. With scarcely any of the attitude of now-it-can-be-told, with a confident feeling of now-it-can-be-sold, an even grimier novel-- has recently been published. Novelist Adams takes as his hero Willis Markham, President of the U. S., a poker-playing, whiskey-drinking, easygoing, good-natured pal who was lifted suddenly to the highest office in the land by his shrewd political friends. "Chief" Markham, as the boys call him, loves his friends, trusts them, lets them run the government. The result is the incubation of corruption in oil and in the so-called Department of Public Health which is so crooked that it even gets graft out of roach powder. Murders, lewd women, drunken revels, coarse dialogue are thrown in to spice the story. The scandals begin to leak out in Washington. Senatorial investigations threaten, but the "Chief" stands by his friends. There is, of course, a woman in the story. A sort of Platonic affection grows up between her and the President. She tries to make him see that his friends are grafters and crooks, but he refuses to believe that they would do anything to harm him. The scandals break into the open; the President's big heart breaks with his pals' dishonor. After one last poker revel with them, he returns to the White House and takes poison, thinking it is a sleeping potion. He dies slowly, mourned by the nation--a martyr and a hero. President Coolidge is reported to be annoyed at the book. And well he might be, on reading such a passage as the following: "There came, too, the Vice President, so soon to be President, who looked inscrutably at the dying man out of his fishy eyes and assured him that the Markham policies would be faithfully adhered to. Vice President Elliot did not know what the Markham policies were. Nor did Markham. Nor anyone else. But it made a hit when sent out over the news association wires."

Significance. The novel is poorly written. Except for its use of the Harding Administration as subject matter, it would be dull-reading. Even as a piece of muckraking, it is unnecessarily exaggerated and crude. However, it stands as one of the few instances in U. S. history where contemporary politics have been used as the basis of a novel. In Europe this type of fiction is no rarity.

The Author. Samuel Hopkins Adams is a successful hack writer who divides his time between advertising, muckraking and novels. He began as a reporter and feature writer on the New York Sun. A series of articles on quack medicines, which drove several manufacturers out of business, first brought him prominence in 1906. Later he conducted a column in the New York Tribune under the name of Ad-Visor, wherein he sought to expose dishonest advertising. Gimbel Brothers, potent Manhattan department store, brought suit against him when he attacked some of their advertisements. Gimbel Brothers won the suit. Mr. Adams's novels often have persuasive titles: The Flying Death; Little Miss Grouch; Wanted, A Husband; Success. He writes for magazines and votes the Democratic ticket.

*REVELRY--Samuel Hopkins Adams--Boni & Liveright ($2).