New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-31
i literary CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
The Growing Literature of the World War-A
Great American Statesman: John Hay
The High Cost of Living

published before the outbreak Of hos
tilities. when judgment was yet unob-
scured and the vision clear. or these
is the late Professor j. a. Cramb' 3
Germany and England f. T. Dutton
& Coz. already reviewed here. and now
issued in new edition with preface
by the Hon. Joseph II. Choatc, who
warns us Americans that the price OF
cur own peace is the increase of our
navy and the military training OF our
youth. A new edition Of Bernhard !
Germany and ile Next War" (Long-
mans, Green ( - passed into It's
siXticth thousaa, jcfore :he day of its
publication; and we are reminded that
Elmer Roberts's "Monarchica Social
ism in Germany" Charles Scribner''
SOns) is one Of the best studies o.!
what Germany has achieved in peace
by adopting Socialist economic doc
trireS and carrying them TO success
under efficient, honest, thoroughly Of
gained paternalism. Surveying all the
literature issued since the first Of Au-
gust. one perceives that England alone
of all the nations at war has found
time and men TO write and publish
books about it. France is silent; so, i
appears, is Austria. Germany has done
some pamphleteering, but nothing
more. Russia has never been in the
habit of explaining or justifying her
course of action.
Among the latest books published,
first place must be given to the work
Of an American, Mr. Simonds's chron-
icle of and commentary upon the strat-
cgy end major tactics of the first phase
of the war. which, according TO him,
ended with the fall of Antwerp. His
book consists mainly of the articles
contributed by him from day 10 gay I"
the editorial page of an evening news
paper in this city, but he has revised
and amplife1 them and ad0cd consiG-
cradle new material. In dealing with
war of unprecedented magnitude, whose
battle lines lie at opposite ends OF the
continent, whose sklrmisEers circle the
globe, he has managed throughout to
be clear TO the attentive reader. lie
does not neglect what naval warfare
there has been thus far; occasionally
he looks into the future, though never
far he will not prophesy and with II
all he provides an Introductory chap
ter on the immediate causes OF the con-
fict. One is inclined TO believe. how
ever, that the Slav issue in Austria
Hungary is not so sharply drawn as he
makes II out TO be. Ii is certain, for
instance, that the Bohemian Slavs viii
have none of Russia, and that the
Croatians will not make common cause
with the Serbs several factors enter-
ing into the question here and else
where in Austro-Hungarian SlavdOm
which have been ignored thus far.
Again, had Mr.. Simonds kept back his
book a few days longer, he would have
omitted that reference of his to the
"loyalty" of The Beers. England, it Is
likely, must face the fact that in South
Africa she has an Alsace-L Lorraine OF
her own. De Vets rising may be sup
pressed as Maritz's has been for the
moment But the Beers, the descend
ants of free men since the days when
their forefathers drove Spain out o.
the Low Countries, are not likely ever
to be content with liberty without the
independence of which England has de
prived them. They are of the breed
that never forgets. They are brethren
TO the Belgians. to whose heroism,
patriotism and endurance Mr.. Slmonds
pays so glowing tribute in his closing
pages.
tDr. Won Mach, an American Of Ger
man birth and a graduate of Harvard.
seeks to pour oil on the turbulent wave
of American public opinion. He brack-
cts Professor Usher with Bernhard as
representing nothing Of German
thought and inspiration except the eX-
creme pan-German minority, and nitro
duces US TO still another publIclst OF
;he Fatherland hitherto unknown to us,
Paul Rohrbach, the author OF Der
Deutsche Gedanke in der Welt" pub
lished III 1912. Rohrbach, il appears,
sought to bring his countrymen TO a
more hGrposeful realization of their
moral responsibilities; his is "a book
Of peace and moral justice" Still, he
judged England's attitude toward the
empire by the many immoderate
speeches and articles of her public men
and journals, chief among them the
Saturday Reviews" famous Germany
must be destroyed" We are hidden
to observe that England herself has not
lacked her Bernhardis. First among
them Or. Mach names the late General
Homer Lea. author of "The Day of the
Saxon" who, il may be pointed out,
was an American.
As for American public opinion, the
author is convinced that it seeks to be
fair. but is not sufficiently Informed
on the German side. And no wonder,
he adds, quoting Rohrbach: MANY
people possess vivid picture of what
the English and the French people have
done for the culture of the world, while
/ few have any similar feeling toward
( Germany" 1t is TO enlighten US that
DR. Mach has written this book. which
GevoteS chapter to Germany's past,
and another TO Alsace- Lorraine. where
in is emphasized the fact that the coun-
try was German from the times Of
Charlemagne until France took il and
held il. There is also a defence of the
Kaiser as fret in peace, and first in
war only by stress of circumstance; a
consideration Of the New Empire and
all it has come to stand for through
forty-fCur years of peaceful develop
men;; an explanation of its relations
to Continental Europe, a chapter on
Germany and England, quoted from
Rohrbach; and the statement that a
citizen army is far less of militarism
than is, for instance Russia. Germany.
according to DIR. Mach, did not desire
this war. What she wanted was peace
TO develop her commerce and industry,
fair opportunity to continue to grow
and to contribute to the worlds civil
ization And she did not, she does not,
want 30 add TO her territories new
lands Of unwilling peoples. DR.. Mach's
book is an attempt to place the Ger
man case before American public opin-
ion; an attempt, be it added, more
moderate in tone ;han most OF the
statements we have had thus far from
either side