Omaha daily bee., 1899-07-23
A Russian Book
and Its Effect


Copyrighted by the S. S. Mcclure Coz
oChUEvENlNGEN, Holland, July 14.-An
hnglisn translation of M. Henri de Bloch's
great work on war has Just been secured for
publication in America.
Not the car, but M. de Bloch, is the
father of the peace conference at The hague.
1t was my good fortune TO see MIN wnen he
was on the very ground and watching the
tremendous result Of his LIES labor.
M. de Bloch Is a man OF 10. He is short.
He is tat. He is gray-headed. His beard is
trimmed closely to his chin. Great shaggy
eyebrows overhang a PAIR of piercing eyes.
M. de Bloch, when he becomes the least
excited, is fierce in appearance ana in man
ner. He is the last man who would at those
times be taken for an advocate OIL peace.
He is always excited when he is talking.
Early in his youth he became impressed
by the awful horrors of war. He began to
make a study of them. He considered the
cost of war in misery and in money and he
considered its results. He found the two
incommensurate. He took up every phase
of arguments Of men who had planned means
of preventing war. In those days most of
these men were dreamers and their plans
were wild and impractical. But Bloch did
not despair.
He was fortunate and the world was for
tunate in that he was immensely rich and
could afford to carry on his studies I'M
trammeled by the limitations of poverty.
He devoted his time to many important
matters in his W country and became
loved and honored throughout Poland and
Russia. But never for a moment did he for
get his one mission-that of alleviating the
horrors Of war. He studied, studied, studied.
His work was unceasing. His arguments
were unending. From every quarter of the
earth he gathered material on the subject
which always filled his mind. At last, eight
years ago, he had absolutely mastered his
great subject. He had not satisfied himself
with knowing all about modern wars and
their miseries; he had begun at the begin
ming. His Information concerning the early
Greek and Roman wars was scarcely less
complete than the mass of material he had
gathered concerning the Franco-Prussian and
other great armed struggles Of his own
time.
Beginning Work.
AT last, eight years ago." he said to me,
Il found myself in a position where could
really begin my work. Everything up to
that time had been preliminary. l then sat
down and wrote my little book"
M. de Bloch's English is somewhat diff
cult to understand at first. He speaks it in
common WIN ABOUT ten OIneT languages, Oh
which French and Russian (his native Ian
guage) is his favorite. His English accent
is somewhat gruff, in keeping with the fierce
expression of his face. But there was moth
ing gruff about the way he said:
Let me bring you a copy OF my little
book"
He left the room and came back in about
five minutes with his arms full of his little
book"
There are six volumes Of that little
book" and they are large volumes The
edition which he gave me had been hur-
riedly prepared and was a French transla-
ton of the Russian original. The pictures
had been lifted bodily from the Russian
edition and their titles were printed in the
puzzling characters of that difficult Ian
guage. He explained them to mt until /
became confused by their vast number
There are ZOO pictures in M. de Bloch's
little book.
Its first five volumes are devoted to an
exhaustive study of war in all it's branches
and In all it's details. They amount prac-
tically to an encyclopedia OF everything
connected with battles and with fighting
men. No other one man has ever accom-
plished so tremendous a work of research.
The first volume is a description of the
mechanism of war. 1t deals with everything
from the cross-bow of the ancients to the
smokeless powder of today. 1t tells of
Notifications, 1t deals of features of attack
and defense; it omits nothing.
America Overlooked.
The second volume is headed THE War
Upon the Continent" Unfortunately, and
nom urautly IN hic oup ranrat n a. nIonh