Evening star., 1916-09-17

HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL CAP
1TAL. BY Wilhelmus Bogart Bryan.
New York: The Macmillan Company.
~ HIS. the second volume of Mr..
Bryan's history Of Washing
ton, is, conformably with the
first one, a big book of over
800 pages. The period in
cluded here extends from the close of
the war Of 1912 to 1873. At the later
date the city came permanently under
the commission form of government
now in force. The sixty-five years in
cluded here are years Of municipal ex-
pertinent bent to the end of creating a
consistent unity out of the dual char
acter of Washington out of its double
source of support. These. too, are
actively formative years, wherein the
city lays down the spacious outlines
which the present is SO completely
justifying. An indefatigable industry
Of research among records, records
scattered and difficult of approach. lies
behind the astonishing fund of in
teresting and useful information
brought together here. Treated chron-
ologically, the narrative ramifies in all
Of federal and local activities brought
to bear upon the Capital City. The
book contains innumerable landmarks
Of the growing town. Famous quarters
are recreated here. National figures
reappear Social customs and political
SUGGESTIONS characteristic of the period
are evoked vividly and picturesquely.
The book. as a whole, Is invaluable as
a complete. many sided. authentic and
deeply interesting story Of tho earlier
days of Washington.
ENGLAND AND GERMANY 1740-1914.
By Bernadotte Everly Schmitt, NJ. A..
Phi. D. Princeton: Princeton Uni
versity Press.
This is a historical survey Of Eng
lish and German relationships. Scien-
tito In method and appealingly con-
sistent in its findings. 1t is an investi-
cation Of the undercurrents that pro-
duced tho long friendship between Eng
land and Germany, that produced final
ly the breaking of that friendship. In
view Of the continental aggressiveness
OF France. England. at about the middle
Of the eighteenth century. changed
from her former desultory and oppor-
tunistfc championship of Germany to a
settled policy in support of that coun-
try. In concrete detail Mr.. Schmitt
traces the quality Of this united policy
Va thc lWo SouHlTioS anu Ol lie cAcCt
on continental affairs. Early in the
study, however, he reaches the vital
causes OF rupture between England
and Germany. From this point on to
the year 1914 he examines. one by one,
the essentials of their increasing di-
vergence of interest. setting out with
out bias the conditions that finally
swung England over to the side of her
traditional enemy, France, and caused
her to line up with Russia, her suspect
of many years. From the year 1890
Mr.. Schmitt increases the emphasis and
detail of every phase Of what by this
time had come to be an international
rivalry and enmity. BY this time, too,
the story is one Of continental scope,
one of worldwide Implications. 1t is
son that, in so far as this is possible,
it segregates the two countries for an
uninterrupted examination of their
united cause and Of the conditions
leading to q division of this cause. 1t
is a balanced, a reasonable study. 1t
is authoritative. 1t is of a most read
able manner.
GODS PUPPETS. BY william Allen
White, author of "a Certain Rich
Man." etc. New York: The Mac
milan Company.
Going up and down, William Allen
White appears to see things pretty
much as they are. Besides. he never
lodges. II he comes upon = slough Of
human nature. all mud and slime and
water-rotted green things. he goes
right on through. No doubt he would