Yorkshire Mills

A MODERN TRAGEDY--Phyllis Bentley--Macmillan ($2.50).

From their grimy Midland factory towns, the late Enoch Arnold Bennett and David Herbert Lawrence went on to bigger and brighter themes. Now Authoress Phyllis Bentley, whose background is the textile industry of Yorkshire's West Riding, has taken up the smoky torch. The scene she dimly illuminates is industrial, but its appealingly human inhabitants move in solid outline against the drab shadow of mills.

Walter Haigh, son of an old employe of an old established textile firm, was a little too ambitious and enthusiastic for his own good. Foxy Leonard Tasker, an expert not only in manufacturing but in juggling a balance sheet, thought Walter would make a hard-working cat's-paw. With no trouble he lured Walter away from his job, set him up as figurehead of one of his own mills. For a while Walter thought he was being very successful. His quick rise brought him up the necessary social notches that separated him from the girl of his dreams. Safely married to her, with his own house and car, he thought he ought to be happy. But Walter was no fool. He had not worked for Tasker long before he knew his boss was a crook. But by that time he was an accessory to many a damning irregularity. As he watched Tasker pull himself out of one ticklish position after another, Walter began to hope that everything would eventually be all right. But even Tasker could not beat the Depression. The inevitable rumor started the inevitable investigation. Tasker's companies collapsed. More families went on the dole. Boss Tasker and Cat's-Paw Walter went to jail.

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