New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-18

LITERARY CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
Roland C. Usher's challenge of the Future
A Book of Serious and Timely Importance
Colonel Roosevelt in the Open.

setting any lNtCtUdliOIal uloPuN'' 80
which this country was likely 70 be-
come involved. What happened IN
Europe has shown that mere eN-
pansc Of ocean cannot protect us
against invasion. Any first-class power
whose navy is able to dispose OF ours
can, under conditions which OBJ
tanned before the war and which un-
happily still obtain. seize and hold
the richest portion of our Atlantic or
our Pacific coast. International arbi-
tration and the fctions OF international
law have been shown TO be worthless
as shield TO weakness and unpre-
parednoss when some strong nation de-
cides TO enlarge its place IN the sun
and appeals TO the sword to promote IN
terests which il considers vital to its
own welfare and progress.
II is refreshing 10 find an American
publcist breaking as ruth essly as Mr..
Usher does with the pacibst traditions
which have so long dominated Amer.
can opinion. Here is an expounder OF
American foreign policy who is not
ashamed to admit that he is a devotee
Of what the Germans call real poitttk
the politics Of reality" He agrees
with General Won Bernhard in insist
ing on "the imperative necessity Of
force" He holds that the highest
right nation can exercise is the right
10 decide what is essential TO its honor,
its safety and its prosperity, and that
no nation can hope 10 exercise that
RIGHT without fighting for it, since
what il deems essential TO its honor,
safety and prosperity is pretty certain
to be prejudicial to the honor, safety
and prosperity Of some other nation.
-.
Of nationality. can be secured, there
fore, only by thorough preparedness TO
defend or promote national interests,
whenever need be, by force.
A philosophy of this sort has many
rude awakenings in store for American
sentiment. For nearly a generation
we have been cultivating the habit OF
blinking at unpleasant truths. In lit
erature and in politics alike our three
glaring faults have been superhciality.
sentimentalism and unreasoning OPP
timism. We cherish the delusion that
we are entitled 10 be ranked among
the great, independent nations of the
earth. Mr.. Usher brutally demolishes
this false belief. The truth is, he main
tains, that although our political lnde-
pendence is secure enough owing 20
our favored geographical situation, We
have not yet achieved economic inde-
pendence. Economically we are still
a satellite Of Europe.
Nor have we achieved real national
fly. Large elements in our population
are still unassimilated. Ignoring the
sectional .oppositions North against
South. which dominated our politics
for nearly d century and which are now
happily softening, we still have with
us the Negro and the hyphenate. We
have reached no such degree Of unfit
cation as France has. or Germany.
Furthermore, our government is de-
plorably inefficient. It is highly waste
Gu IL operation rs lack Of organ
izing and coordinating power is re-
Elected in our industrial and social sys-
tenn, in which conditions approaching
civil strife are encouraged to exist, and
individuals, as a rule, put their own
welfare unhesitatingly above the well
fare OF the state. Compared again with
France or Germany, we lack efficiency,
and that lack of efficiency, combined
with our historic inability TO appreci-
ate the value of military preparedness,
makes il exceedingly difficult for US 70
attain that measure of power and inde-
pendencc which is the goal Of every ma
ton seeking to secure and improve its
position in the world.
Pursuing the economic interpreta-
ton of history, Professor Usher main
tains that what we call national pros
perity must depend on the extent 20
which an economically developed nation
conducts commerce, under favored con-
ditions and at abnormal profits. with
the still undeveloped nations. Though
not yet equal 20 economic exploitation
on a large scale Of the more undevel-
oped nations, the United States has.
nevertheless. set up certain political
claims and acquired promising IA
cilitles for such exploitation in the