Evening star., 1919-12-07
Reviews of New Books

/ NC" oOON0
spirit of humanity-then. out Of the
instinct of MISREPRESENTATION. Russia
must be definitely counted as the le
gitimate business of civilization as a
| whole. That. however. which most
solidly blocks the way to any SUP :
stantial enterprise of succor. is the
bulk of misinformation, the budget OF
false conception. held by the public
concerning the Russian situation.
This writer has put good many
! years. under official authority. into a
| first-hand study of Russia. Out of
this experience he. for the purpose of
the book in hand, selects the salient
points of political fact which, for the
| past fifteen years, has marked the
/ revolutionary course of that country.
| To point the causes, to set the soil OF
! this revolutionary growth. Mr.. Bull
| lard outlines the features and the ef-
fects of the autocratic rule of the last
| Romanov. Face to face with this de-
! velopment he follows the early course
! of the revolt, detecting in its rise and
! spirit the elements of "A democracy in
! which the rural Russian had already
the general discomfort was capitalized
by this leader or that = imperialist,
patriot. demagogue. fanatic. Under
the last of these, Lenin. bolshevism
sprang into being. OF this political
| expedient Lenin himself says that it
is dictatorship by the intelligent.
militant minority'-a thing quite diff
| ferent from its conception by the par
lor reformers and lying agitators out
! side of Russia itself. Two tyrannies
! one of Nicholas II. one of Lenin-,
are clearly portrayed here. with a
/ brief experiment in democratic ma
| jority rule wedged in between them.
Mr. Billiards. book commends itself to
/ general study, both for the authorita-
tive quality of it's facts and for the
reasonableness of its opinions and de,
! ductions.
. INDUSTRIAL MEXICO; 1919 Fact.
and Figures. BY p. Harvey Middle
ton. illustrated. New York: Dodd
Mead & Co.
Mexico is a beggar sitting on a
bag of gold" Mr.. Middleton quotes
Humboldt for this summary. Then he
himself proceeds to open this bag of
gold for the information and direc-
ton of enterprise, for the opening up
OF what appears to be a. superland of
opportunity. Out of the golden bag
are drawn minerals of every variety
! and in remarkable abundance; woods of
| infinitely fine and durable texture
climate of every degree and soil of
every possibility, an agricultural Ell
Dorado; water in abundance of fall
and drive for inexhaustible motive
power 1t Is an amazing panorama
of opportunity. That which sets
! value to this exposition is that it
deals in facts supported by ma he
matical proofs-fgures statistics, : kal-
ances. summaries. And upon this
basis of natural resource Mr.. Middle
ton has drawn the business and eco
stands today. as it is bound to stand
in some immediate tomorrow. The
industrial penetration of Mexico is
set down here. together with the OBJ
stacles standing in the way of
rapid and substantial development.
and administrative incapacity of the
country, in excessive landholdings,
in native sloth. in investment timid-
ity-a formidable surface crust wait
movement of honest reform. The
book belongs in the hand of the en-
terprising business man seeking open
ings for industry 1t is, however, an
invaluable study = condensed. com
prehensive. clear, convincing-for the
general reader interested IN the STATE
of nations and in the progress OF peo-
Piles. :.
AVERAGE AMERICANS. By Theo-
dore Roosevelt, lieutenant colonel,
U. S. A. Illustrated New YORK
". utudAi .
The body of Mr.. Roosevelt's book is
a straightforward account Of the work
done by the officers and men OF the
26th Misunderstanding at Montdidier.
| Scissors st. Mihiel and in the Argonne
region That which gives the story
mark of its own, among innumerable
personal recollections of the war, is its
! rugged straight-ahead character and its
| freedom from any desire either to add
| to or to take from the facts as they
, came along in the business OF war.
Preceding the war story MI. Koosevelt
! goes back to gather up some OF the ex-
periences and Impressions OF his boy
hood, under the companionship and
l tutelage of his great father This, to
many, will constitute the supreme value
Of the whole story since It brings out
again, and in a fresh light. other
aspects of the sound-to-the-core char
acter of our great American. The book
+, contains, as well, certain opinions. IA
/ miIiar to all and indorsed by many, on
| the unpreparedness of America for war,
on the wastefulness of our belated
haste. 1t does pay tribute, too, to the
splendid response Of America to the late
call and to the marvellous achievements
when once the work was set in motion.
Conscious of the inherent grandeur of
! his theme Mr.. Roosevelt has. happily,
| let the story tell itself without much of
| interference on his own part.
AS OTHERS SEE HER. BY A. Bur-
| nett-Smith. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company.
1t is a friendly mirror that. as one
of the results of a six-month stay
in the aUnited States. Mrs. Burnett
Smith aurns upon the American swom-
an il war time-one of those pleas
! ing ref1ectors that sum a fair en-
semble. blurring bit the most premi
nent blemishes. Yet, it is "a very
frank exposure, on the whole. If 1t
strikes one as a trif1e casual this is
because it is, casual. Showing off
| or up, the American woman was not
the business of Mrs. Eurnett-Smith
/ in this country. The impressions are
mere jottings along the way of a mis-
sion to the United States. Selecting
| from as wide a range of individual
| ity as circumstances placed sin ihei
way. this writer aims to arrive i at
ham opinion sufficiently ample stos oscover
| the many attitudes and oehaviors of
! the American woman under the stress
| ofs war;. ON the whole, the impress
sions are much to the credit of Amer
I'ican character, though an occasional
suggestion carries the color of warn
! ing at our youthful oVerconfidence
The writer disciaims any special value
, for this incidental record To the
reader it is an ihtesesting account
OF the woman on this side of tfie
water presented through The medium
of an Englishwo'nan's neighborly
| outlook.
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