Evening star., 1917-05-20
THE SOUL OF GERMANY. ]

THE SOUL OF GERMANY. BY Thomas
A. Smith, late English lecturer In
the University of Erlangen. New
York: George H. Doran Company.
r. SMITH has had exceptional
opportunities to study Ger
man life. For twelve un-
- broken years-from 1902 to
1914-he lived in Germany,
teaching in school and university.
travelling from end to end of the en-
pire, associating freely with all classes
of the people. making use of the Ger
man tongue as his vehicle of express
sion during this time. It is upon such
basis of varied and intimate inter
course that he projects the study in
hand. What the writer really does is
to dig under the superficial aspect of
German life to that common bedrock
Of feelings, aspirations, attitudes and
activities that stand for the soul of
nation or Of an Individual This is
the only way, the author maintains. by
which one may even approach an un-
derstarding of the complete saturation
of Germany in militarism, material
ism, kulturism and pan-Germanisn.
1t is for the sake of arriving at this
essential foundation in German char
acter that the writer gives these first
hand studies of the home. the church,
press and the government of Ger
many. These are the outer aspects of
the inner content of German ideal. 1t
is the special pattern of each of them
and of all of them together-from
which the writer draws the innate bru-
tality of the German character, char
acter that exalts brute force. and
shapes it's institutions in accord with
this will to power. From his position
on the inside Of German life the writer
makes a very revealing summary of
its salient features-of the place of the
university as state-pafd agent or
mi1itarism and pan-Germanism, of the
lower schools to show the exclusively
material aims of these beginnings Of
education in the empire, Of the press
as an irreligious force toward national
omnipotence, of the god of efficiency
that controls from top to bottom of
the national machine. And from this
sum of institutions he points the plain
logic of excessive self-love, of naughty
exclusiveness, of greedy aggressive
ness that. according to this study, SO
clearly characterize the German peo-
pie The sketches are drawn from the
things at hand. and are presented in
the concrete form of their actual work
ings The book is decidedly worth
while as the honest testimony OF a
man in respect to a people that, at the
present hour. is of immense importance
to the United States. The book is q
fair-minded Interpretation OF national
tions and the everyday behaviors OF
the whole people of the German empire.
THE PANGERMAN PLOT UNMAsKED,
"The Drawn War;" By Andre Cher
adame. Introduction by the Earl of
Cromer. New York: Charles Scrib-
nerS Sons.
The plot" is covered by the common
German cry from Hamburg to the
Persian gulf" Away back in 1898,
with William II over in Damascus. as
suring all Islam that the German
kaiser was it's friend forever, the plot
began to open. From that time to
the present there has really been no
other German objective than control
of Turkey in Asia for purposes of ex-
pansion of territory and trade. That
Is the import Of the present war on
it's German side. That is the real in
tent and aim of any overture that may
be made by Germany in the apparent
interests of peace. That is the UNDER
meaning of any seeming concessions
by the kaiser. to the west or in any
other direction. There will be no con-
cessions toward the southeast for the
southeast is the point of the whole
matter to Germany. This appearance
of yielding, of conceding contested
MISUNDERSTANDING. for example
describes here in such precision of
detail and In so straight line of logic.
From Hamburg to the Persian gulf
is the point of departure from which
this writer examines into every aspect
of the war-its cause. it's progress, it's
demand upon the allies, the manifold
mancuVers of the Germans to play
this Persian gulf trick Off as a mini
mum result of the war. A host of in
formation-fresh, new, convincing in
formation-accompan this line of
exposure as the real German intent.
Maps to show the step-by-step effect
of German plans toward the southeast
give vivid quality ITO the words of
this writer's clear reasoning. Not half
dozen books Of the many hundreds
written on one or another phase of the
war stand out as this one does for
knowledge of European politics, for an
insight into German plans, for an ap-
thorough and practical when compared
with the diplomacy of the rest of
Europe, for a selectiye power that
sinks, non-essentials out of sight and
brings salient points into q line of
high illumination. A remarkably use
full study.
PAN-GERMANIsM VERSUS CHRIST
ENDOM. By M. Emile Prum. New
YORK: George II. Doran Company
This book makes record of the con-
version of neutral. rather the con-
version of a friend to Germany into an
enemy and a bitter accuser This fact
constitutes the chief interest of the
book, since 1t is important now to
know as much as may be of the forces
that go to shape opinions. The founda-
tion of the general discussion Is let
ter written by M. Prum, a citizen OF
berger. leader Of the great Catholic
party in Germany. The letter Is q pro-