THESE CHARMING PEOPLE

It is so seldom that an Englishman even a naturalized Englishman, deigns to compliment Americans, especially on intellectual matters, that Michael Arlen's announcement to the effect that Americans are more avid readers than the English is almost in the nature of a departure from national policy. The novelist goes further and implies that the American reading public mingles with its intellectualism an element of philanthropy, in that its cultural activities serve to prevent the death from malnutrition of many British litterateurs.

Such unstinted praise would be welcome if it had not been learned long ago to accept Mr. Arlen's statements with many grains of salt. Nor does the fact that he has come to this country to write conduce to a whole-hearted reliance on the sincerity of the author. There are more ways than one of undermining sales-resistance. But Americans, like all true bibliophiles, should read between the lines. There would probably be seen there a crudely overt attempt by the trimmer of the Green Hat to insure a market for his latest millinery creations among Romantic Ladies.