The San Francisco call., 1909-02-14
e'Ranzai"


BY Parabelum. Published nv rb.oaor W.,
cher. Leipzig. Baker TAYLOR company
New York, sales agents. Prize Si5e.
Last year this book, 'Banzai." ap-
peared in Germany and was supposed
10 nave been written by some person
h1gh up in the court. For obvious rea-
son he hides under penname most
appropriately chosen, .'Parabe1luro. ;"
Germany was and is still very sore
over the alliance of England with tho
dangerous little brown man. and hopes
TO stir America to some action by this
book. Though filled with inaccuracies.
especially in the last half, the story is
one of almost breathless interest, and
1t is difficult indeed to believe that it
is an imaginary history of the future
instead of the past. The future. how
ever. which is dealt with is so imme-
diate-May 7-S9 OF this year 1909 be-
ginning it--that it holds the interest
better than If it were fixed at a later
date.
The book purports to tell of the war
between America and Japan. Much
emphasis is laid upon the perfidiousness
of the Jap. Seemingly out of a clear
sky he attacks us at Manila Magda-
lena bay San Francisco and various
small towns along the railroads of the
coast simultaneously. The Japs are
uniformly successful and there are few
weak points in the authors reasoning.
The thing which will surprise the
reader most is the singularly correct
information which the author possesses.
The part of his story dealing with Ma
villa, San Francisco and the Pacific
coast is accurate to a degree. but when
he tries to write OF the country at
large he founders hopelessiy. After
the Japs have been successful in a
number of places the author begins to
undo his work. He raises small en-
thusiastic bands of volunteers, who de-
feat the Japs all along the line. Dur
ing all the previous time the whole
country has apparently been paralyzed
with terror. None of the guns on the
battleships will work; some of them
have only blank shells on board to use
In salute and maneuvers; various con
ditions like that exist, which IL true
would make the navy of no use under
heaven. The army in the east is never
mentioned and the author forgets that
it could be sent to the coast in a
week The English are given sly raps
all through the book and in the most
naive fashion the Germans are con-
stantly being extolled. If any citizen is
picked out for a deed of vaEor or
patriotism he is a German who has
adopted this country or a German
American born.
The best writing in the book is in
the early chapters, which tell of the
surprising and seizing of Manila. 1t
is very graphic and exciting and makes
one want figuratively to go out and
kill Jap at once, just to help the
good cause along
In the foreword to the book the
author says:
'.The graphic recital is not intended
to incite feeling of animosity be-
tween two nations which have every
reason to maintain friendly relations,
but rather to call the attention of the
American people to the present woful
lack of preparedness and at the same
time to assist in developing a spirit of
sound patriotism that prefers silent
action to blatant braggadocio. That
the Pacific ocean may become in truth
the Peaceful ocean. and never resound
to the clash of American arms is the
devout wish of one who believes-im-
plicitly-with Moltke in the old proverb,
Isl Wis pacem. para bellum-If you wish
for peace, prepare for war"
That contains the pith OF the book.
Every page through Its story tells us
to prepare for war and warns us
against the traitorous Jap, and while
we read we forget 1t is fiction.
Arthur Kingsley Porter is spending
the winter I'm Naples, where he is con-
Quoting various lines of investigation
to help him In getting up new volume
of his ''Mediaeval Architecture upon