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Show THE CITIZEN 12 I i . f AMONG THE NEW EOOO' MYSTtRIOUS AND CHINA, THE MARVELLOUS. By Victor Murdock. Fleming H. Revell Company: New York. Fortified with a profound belief in democracy and Christianity as the saving graces of mankind and apparently with no literary background or preconceptions save such as he picked up in California, Victor Murdock made a long journey through Japan and China. Then he wrote a book of his travels entitled China, the Mysterious and Marvelous, which is indeed one of the most original, naive and picturesque accounts of those countries ever set down by an Occidental hand. The apparent lack of preliminary reading as to these countries gives to Mr. Murdocks texa a freshness that is both grateful and novel. He saw things, described them in staccato sentences, moralized a bit about them, and always from the viewpoint of the believer in the great American republic and in Christianity. Since China was the goal of his journey Mr. Murdock did not tarry long in the vestibule to China Japan. In of his fact, he gives only twenty-eigh- t pages to the land of Nippon, but in that limited space he unburdens himself of some very positive opinions about the Japanese and our relations with them. Roy Perviance, Florence Moore and Leon Gordon, in scene from After watching a man of that country the farce, Breakfast in Bed," coming to Salt Lake. Threatre putting on his pajamas "unblushingly for three days, beginning Thursday, December 16. in the aisle of a sleeping car while just tractive in their native costumes that Tell little of what Ive been through, beyond two pretty Japanese girls And what was charmings shoddy. Mr. Gest employed them last summer were sitting on the floor smoking cigin the midnight revue on top of the arettes, this thought struck me like is owners and New that in my My York, plates pride theatre, Century lightning out of the blue that the Reveal "the mud of fourteen states" there they scored success in keen comOrient must either take over Christianbeaumost of the with of. thirty That Im unhappy host petition and democracy ' (and they are the ity tiful show girls and dancers on the And thats his joy, this foolish blat ' same thing) or the west will have to American stage. Now they are on About my mud. Now isnt that make a fight for it. He thinks Japtour with Chu Chin Chow. A heluva thing to boast of? anese labor conditions are unnerving, unWait show eh? E. Coler, in Motor Life. girls, He "Japanese spoke they are lotus see these buds, til you prize commendingly of Japans progress at show. of the says the press agent GLAD TO HELP. Kyoto, and a theretofore quiescent white man erupted with : Dont do it; PLAINT OF A CAR UNWASHER. theyre puffed out of shape already. May I acBoy Scout (to old lady) We fought for our progress . . . company you across the street, mad-ame- ? The Japanese came along and approI once was new and proud of mien, I of cur labor. Old Lady A car of glorious, verdant green, Certainly, sonny. How priated the results would not help them so much as by But now behold this body! long you been waitin here for someraising iny finger. He thinks there The numerous smears of yellow hue body to take you across. Judge. ought to be cooperation between Japan Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiii and America. One of the things he recommends Japan to do to bring this rapprochement about is to call her spies in America home and keep them un-Christia- n. SALT LAKE TMEATOE home. Three days commencing Thursday, December 16 MATINEE SATURDAY A. H. Woods presents the funniest girl in the world FLORENCE MOORE In the sensational farce success E E f E With the original supporting cast as seen at the Eltinge Theatre, New York. PRICES Nights, 50c to $2.00; Matinee, 50c to $1.50 E iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiir7 ' If Japan got Mr. Murdocks back up, China cooled him off. Barring its smells, its beggars, its dirt and the military policy of the country, he had a great time traveling through the Middle Kingdom. He went to a Chinese party, enjoyed it, and describes the function with a baldness of detail that some day may make his host blush if he knows English and reads Mr. Murdocks picture of the dinner. He took part in a Chinese Fourth of July, in which event he found the embodiment of the Chinese republic in Mr. Gurniers Number One Boy, a sort of civilian top sergeant who ran the entertainment just as an efficient runs his American army non-cocom-panHe was a bandy legged Chinese boy, about twenty, with a good head on him. He was Old Business through and through. He didnt talk much, but he made things fly. . . . I saw the Chinese republic in him, because if a Number One Boy could handle a reception like that there is coming out of Chinas four hundred millions some day a Number One in the Presidents chair who will order things in this vast country with precision, decision, vision and success. This traveler went much among the people, the teeming half starved people of the streets. He describes "a beggars hong, referring to but omitting any description of its horrors; he tells how the bandits operate; he tells how Chinese armies fight in the tale of the Saving of a Chinese City by an American missionary. His lesson of the Great Wall is an admirable combination of a realization of military strategy and sound common sense, touched with his unfailing naive humor. Of course he has a chapter on the wrongs of Chinese women. The only thing that would balance the books for them, he says, after centuries of cruelty, would be a big, bloody If this is strong language, revenge. he contends, my indignation of soul is justifiied. There is nothing mealy mouthed about Mr. Murdocks opinions or language. As an American politician of many years experience our traveler finds himself on congenial ground when he discusses Chinese politics under the republic. After a call on the president Mr. Murdock was assailed with doubts as to the permanency of that institution, the mystery of the land coloring his views. But he has a profound admiration for its first president, Dr. Sun Yat Sen, even if that official did ride around China as minister of communications after he ceased to be chief executive, dreaming dreams about railroad construction that never materialized. Nevertheless, he admits, the Chinese republic is getting along in If it c.'in pretty good shape. keep on its feet a few years longer the whole Chinese people will come into a national consciousness 'which will permanency of a republh in m y. . ... re form. In this section of the book one of the best chapters is that describing A Chinese Congress, in which Mr. Lik all is on familiar ground. legislative bodies, he writes, the hi nese congress is a general tarket for . . . Leg da popular criticism. turas and congresses have such a way of doing things that people vc to sit around and condemn them. I was very much impressed with oth houses. The small one is as quit as our United States senate, and tin bi one a lot more orderly than our li use .Yur-doc- - representatives. . . . Non the speeches I heard had tho ap. of- - k op-p- y of oar-- |