My Generation. An Autobiographical Interpretation. By William Jewett Tucker. Houghton, Mifflin Company. 464 pp. Ill. The title of this volume by Dartmouth's President Emeritus is peculiarly apt, for throughout the book Dr. Tucker interprets for the reader the motives and movements of his time. His autobiography is anything but controversial in tone, although he himself was for a considerable period of his life an active figure in the controversies involved in the progressive movement of theology that made New England its chief fighting ground. This, however, was succeeded by his presidency at Dartmouth, during which the college entered on a period of remarkable expansion. This portion of Dr. Tucker's book is a distinct contribution to modern educational history. The Life and Letters of James Monroe Taylor. By Elizabeth Hazelton Haight. E. P. Dutton & Company. 391 pp. Ill. One of Dr. Bartlett's contemporaries was the late President James Monroe Taylor, of Vassar College, who died in 1916 after a service of nearly thirty years. This biography has been written by Professor Elizabeth H. Haight, who had colJaborated with Dr. Taylor in the well-known history of Vassar. A feature of the work is the great number of Dr. Taylor's letters which serve in their own way to reveal the writer's spirit and purpose in his work. The Autobiography of A Labrador Doctor. Thousands of Americans have been interested for years in the work of Labrador's famous missionary doctor. Everything that Dr. Grenfell has written about his life with the fishermen of Labrador and Newfoundland has found a host of interested readers in this country. He has felt impelled to write this autobiography in order to pass on certain of his personal experiences that may be helpful to others. Everyone who has read about Dr. Grenfell's work knows the nature of the story that he has to tell-one of adventure and conquest of the elements, mingled with selfsacrifice. The narrative is a cheerful and inspir ing one. FOUR TIMELY VOLUMES The Army Behind the Army. By Major E. Alexander Powell. Charles Scribner's Sons. 470 pp. Ill. At last we have the authentic story of what was done in the war by the men who wear silver chevrons-the men in all branches of the service who helped in the fight from this side of the ocean. In the writing of this book Major Powell has had the cooperation of the chiefs and sub-chiefs of the Army. Every chapter is a revelation. The marvels disclosed by Major Powell's account of "The Gas Makers," "Fighters of the Sky" and "M. I." are hardly less thrilling in their way than the stories that came to us from the European front. No one can claim to have even a passable knowledge of America's part in the war who has not read the disclosures of Major Powell's book. To Kiel in the "Hercules." By Lieut. Lewis R. Freeman. Dodd, Mead and Company. 297 pp. Ill. That there may be no possible misunderstanding we may state here that Lieutenant Freeman, notwithstanding his "R. M. B. R.," is an American -a California Native Son, we believe-and in former years has contributed not a few important articles to this REVIEW. He was a member of the staff of the Allied Naval Armistice Commission which proceeded to Germany immediately after the signing of the armistice, and he was the only correspondent accompanying that expedition. Thus he was one of the first representatives of the Allies to see Northern Germany at the end of the war, and incidentally he obtained German views of the battle of Jutland, and other episodes of the war. Lieutenant Freeman writes in a vivid, nervous style, and makes an entertaining story of his experiences. Aircraft. By Evan John David. Charles Scribner's Sons. 307 pp. Aeronautics develops so rapidly that its students will do well to secure the latest and most authoritative works on the subject. In this class is the new volume by Evan John David, managing editor of Flying. Mr. David traces the subject in a non-technical way from its earliest beginnings down through the military development of aviation during the war and including interesting accounts of the three successful cross-Atlantic flights of this year. His chapters on learning to fly, kinds of flying, the evolution of the Liberty and other airplane motors, the aero mail and aerial navigation and regulation contain much upto-date and important material, while his discussion of the commercial future of flying is pertinent and valuable. Appendices to the volume contain a glossary of aeronautic terms, records of Allied and enemy "Aces," and official reports of airplane and engine production in the United States. Books in the War. By Theodore Wesley Koch. Houghton, Mifflin Company. 388 pp. III. One of the striking and largely unexpected developments of the American war service was the intelligent and well-directed effort to supply books and periodicals to the men at the front, in the camps, and on the ships. One of the men who has had best opportunities to know what this Library War Service really meant to the soldiers and sailors was Mr. Theodore Wesley Koch who contributed a partial account of the work to the REVIEW OF REVIEWS for November, 1918. The present volume is not merely a history or report of results but a real "human interest" story of how books helped to win the war. Sub TERMS:-Issued monthly, 35 cents a number, $4.00 a year in advance in the United States, Porto Rico, Hawaii, Cuba, Canada, Mexico, and the Philippines. Elsewhere $5.00. Entered at New York Post Office as second-class matter. Entered as second-class matter at the Post-office Department, Ottawa, Canada. scribers may remit to us by post-office or express money orders, or by bank checks, drafts, or registered letters. Money in letters is sent at sender's risk. Renew as early as possible in order to avoid a break in the receipt of the numbers. Bookdealers, Postmasters and Newsdealers receive subscriptions. Nov. 1 THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO., 30 Irving Place, New York ALBERT SHAW, Pres. CHAS. D. LANIER, Sec. and Treas. 545 AN AIRPLANE VIEW OF YORKSHIP, THE NEW MODEL INDUSTRIAL TOWN BUILT BY THE GOVERNMENT TO ACCOMMODATE THE WORKERS OF THE NEW YORK SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION, NEAR CAMDEN, IN THE PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT (This interesting experiment is described by the architect, Mr. Litchfield, in this number of the REVIEW-see page 599) VOL. LX. "Let Us THE AMERICAN REVIEW OF REVIEWS NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1919 THE PROGRESS OF THE WORLD When these comments are in the hands of our readers early in Have Peace!" December, Congress will be assembled again at Washington in the opening days of what must prove to be one of the busiest and most important sessions ever held by an American Congress in times of peace. We do not forget that technically these are not times of peace, because for certain legal purposes the war-time status continues until peace has been proclaimed as an official fact. But peace, for ordinary purposes, began with the proclamation of the Armistice on November 11, 1918. Peace in the full legal sense is for many reasons greatly to be desired; and it must seem strange that the United States, having been less directly involved in the issues of the world war than any other great power, should be the only country among those of first or even of second rank to whom the boon of full and complete legal peace has thus far been denied. How to Usher in a Better Year The year 1919 is approaching its end. It has been a year of all kinds of social and political ferment, and, in parts of the world, a year of misery, horror and chaos. No other country has so little excuse as the United States for a continuance of disorder and inefficiency. The one great example should be set by Congress. When Congress gives the appearance of "striking on the job" there is the more excuse for turbulent industrial elements. The first thing needed, in a program to settle matters here at home, is the full adoption of the Peace Treaty. Party maneuvering has gone far enough at Washington, and the country expects and demands treaty ratification with a compromise on the reservations. The party that arrogantly forces a continuation of the present deadlock, with a view to mixing the treaty up in the campaign of 1920, will go down to the defeat that it will thus have merited. There was nothing in the treaty to hurt America; but, NO 6 on the other hand, the treaty is not impaired by moderate reservations. The important thing is to ratify it; to declare peace; to do away with the war time legislation; and to start the year 1920 on the full peace basis. Next Things With the treaty settled, it will be comparatively easy to bring order into the industrial world, and it will be possible, let us hope, to do something with that most difficult of all our problems the question of protecting the solvency of the nation's great transportation system. Let the unfinished business proceed rapidly this month. The approaching Christmas Day should be the best by far that the world has seen for many years. An overwhelming sentiment should demand that both White House and Senate accept the undoubted verdict of America's best opinion and ratify the treaty. This will help to give us a happy Christmas at home, and will contribute much towards the Christmas spirit of peace and good will throughout the earth. Since this question of peace is the overshadowing one, we are giving most of our editorial space this month to its discussion. At this point we may refer to the remarkable analysis of the European situation presented for our readers by Mr. Simonds in this issue of the REVIEW. Its logic is irresistible, and its regard for truth prevents indulgence in shallow optimism. It leads to the conclusion that we must coöperate with Europe, regardless of our natural preference for a policy of isolation. Copyright 1919, THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS Co. 547 constituting not merely an Armistice but a definite Peace Treaty. It has always been our view that the Armistice itself should have been regarded as the treaty which established peace relations. There would have remained an immense amount of work to be done by joint international committees in the detailed execution of the general agreement and understanding of the Armistice document. It will be remembered that the Armistice itself recognized and accepted as the basis of peace terms the fourteen points of President Wilson. They had previously been officially accepted by the Governments of Great Britain, France and the other Allied powers. These conditions of permanent peace, as formulated by President Wilson, accepted by the Allied powers, and definitely adopted by Germany, specified the kind of world order that must exist in the future. They were the foundation stones upon which was set up that fabric of actual peace that emerged before the world's anxious vision, out of the din and smoke of battle, when the guns ceased firing on the 11th of November, 1918, a little more than a year ago. The last of these fourteen points read as follows: XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purprse of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small States alike. Difficulties of the Situation There is such a thing as honor and good faith in the world, and there is a public opinion that rises higher than the tide of merely local patriotism that rallies around the ambitions of a single nationality or race. It was no easy matter to work out the adjustments that were to be made after the war, in the face of so many conflicting interests. Let credit be given, therefore, to those who have held to the larger view. The smashing of the Romanoff Czardom had left a seething chaos all the way from the Baltic and the Black Sea, across Europe and Asia, to the Pacific Ocean. The downfall of the Hapsburg overlordship, and the selfassertion of numerous races and political entities formerly included within the bounds of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had produced political and economic difficulties that for the time being made the new order of things seem far worse than the old. The Balkan questions, and those affecting Turkey in Europe and in Asia-which had disturbed the general peace of all Europe for a long time, and especially for a century past-were all wide open again, with grave consequences sure to follow almost any of the solutions that were being most strenuously demanded. Certainly, the outlook for even a temporary period of peace-much less for that permanent condition of harmony that had been proclaimed as the ideal about to be realized -seemed altogether discouraging. The old imperialism, that had restricted the political liberty of individuals and of groups, had indeed been destroyed with the dissolution of the militaristic structures that ruled in the name of Hohenzollern or Romanoff or Hapsburg. But there had sprung up a new kind of nationalism in intense form that seemed, at least for the present, a more disturbing order of affairs in Europe than that which it had succeeded. It That the new order of things The Break-Up Was was worse than the old, howNecessary ever, was not true. It merely seemed worse for the moment, because of the pains and discomforts of transition. was only in a library, with professional experts sitting around a table supplied with maps, books and statistical data, that the new Europe could be happily reconstructed with justice for everybody in the political and also in the personal sense. When these solutions of age-long boundary questions and kindred problems were taken out of doors and exposed to the actual conditions, it was evident at once that the Armistice could not be applied without creating at least temporary convulsions. The remedies are necessary because the disease for which they were prescribed was fatal. The militaristic empires were a menace to mankind and had to be done away with. Something had fo take their place, and this something under existing conditions could only be a series of national self-governing states like Bohemia (Czecho-Slovakia), Poland, Finland, and so on, or else a series of temporarily protected regions under international guarantee such as parts of the Turkish Empire and parts of the former German colonies. |