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With exteriors, and what they hid and revealed, he had less than no patience. If there was ever a political realist, it was he. Some were shocked by his "effrontery," others embarrassed by his "bluntness," for "he had made a President and he had done it visibly. It is hard to forgive such realism." He was revered and hated as strong men are. "He appealed to materialists as a materialist; his pragmatism was not draped in virtuous pretenses. He grinned." That grin was the comment of a successful man, not only on the politics of his day but on human nature, and it is easier to admire than to forgive it. Reddish of hair, big of frame, curt and direct of speech, limping (he had hives on his ankles), Hanna worked hard all his life, and believed in work, but only because it gave him power. "Up to his neck," he growled, "a man is worth only the price of a day's labor." The Significance. Mark Hanna used money in politics as a fireman uses water. Author Beer does not stress the point nor go into details, but he does not seek to palliate Hanna's political morality. To him it needs no palliation. "Money does not rule democracy," is Author Beer's thesis, "money is democracy." To Author Beer, men like Hanna, who "get things done," who have power and use it, are the real heroes of the commonwealth. As for their critics—"let the dogs howl." But Mr. Beer has not altogether a clear conscience in his admiration. With such jarring notes as this he startles us once or twice: "Hanna was not McKinley's ruler, but an adoring, diffident friend." The Author. Author Beer has been accused—he repeats the accusation but not the name of the accusers—of being paid by Mrs. Ruth Hanna McCormick. Mark Hanna's daughter, to whitewash her father's memory. Author Beer denies that he has been bribed. Author Beer's father, William C. Beer, figures frequently in these pages as a Hanna henchman. Author Beer, filial son, no Democrat, needed no bribe. He writes potboilers for The Saturday Evening Post, but composes his books slowly. Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa (1889), he went to Yale College, Columbia Law School, served as First Lieutenant on the staff of the Syth division in the A. E. F. A critic in all he looks at, Author Beer is intelligent, impatient, partisan. Other books: The Road to Heaven, Stephen Crane, The Mauve Decade.