Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-07-18

author of The Stakes of the War
etc. New York: Charles Scribner's
| Sons.
| A COMPETENT and important
| ~ study and most arrestins
n one. The title of this book
| gives its substance. At bot
tom the discussion is a mere matter
of arithmetic--a census Of the world.
as it were. In bare figures the au-
thor gives the excess of brown men
and yellow men over the white peo-
point that he adds to this clear emu
mera tion-the most significant point
is the awakening racial self-con-
seriousness of the yellow men and the
brown men. In between these two
points of simple counting and spirit
! ual analysis the writer discusses the
| geographical distribution of these
| colored races; the advanta ges. or dis
advantages of this distribu ton in the
| racial evolution: the ambitions-se-
| cret and open-that animate them:
their feeling toward the dominant
white race: their schooling at the
hands of the white man: the lesson
| of their own power taught by the
great war through it's disqualification
of the disunion and selfshness exist
| ing within this master-race. This is
not a reassuring story-not reassur-
| ing from the viewpoint of the white
race as the ruling factor in civiliZa-
! ton. Indeed. it would be a most ter
rifying outlook if the author did not.
at the last, show the way which. if
recognized promptly and accept ed
with the whole minded intelligence
of the white man. may. by recogniZ-
| ing and meeting just demands, save
4 . Ia Il !.
| sorption and consequent loss of lead
erShip. Racial reforms. on the part
| OF the white man also. an intelligent
and iong-range mending of his racial
ways. this, too. is part of the au
thor's program of salvation for the
white man. as against the man brown
or yellow.
LETTERS FROM CHINA AND ia
PAN. BY John Dewey. Phi. D..
LII. D., and Alice Chapman Dewey.
New York: L. P. Dutton & Co.
at Columbia University. is, in the COM
pany of his wife, spending year in
China and Japan. AS matter of course,
Prof. and Mrs. Dewey are writing fire.
quent letters back to their children.
Equally as matter of course, these
children-upa nd-coming young Ameri
cans-are popping the letters of father
and mother into book for the enter
tainment of the United States in gen.
eral. And the children are making no
mistake. for that the letters are richly
interesting is past any doubt whatever.
First of all. father and mother are hav-
ing perfectly grand time. But. what
is more, they are able to put an aston
fishing lot of this grand time into their
letters. You see, a thousand little things
make topics Of comment in these home
letters-little personal things that hap
pened to the travellers day by day. Gu
riously enough. these simple personal
happenings deliver the spirit of the day
and the place-the look and feeling of
China and Japan-over to the reader. as
no pretentious sitting down to tell us
about it could ever do. Odd. too. One
might expect a school teacher-for one
be a professor of philosophy-to be bit
ponderous and educative in his attitude.
Not a bit of it. here. And out of these
spontaneous jottings the children at
home, and the readers at home. are get
ting any number Of clear and vital no
tions about these far countries of the
east. Let US hope that the letters are
not yet finished, and that the children
will again be generous toward the rest
Of us.
THE STRANGER. By Arthur Bull
lard. author Of "A Mans World"
etc. New York: The Macmillan
Company.
For the purposes Of this novel. Mr..
Billiard transfers to New York a man
who was born in the orient and trained
to that mode Of life. A Moslem in re-
ligfon, also. This is Donald Lane. the
stranger" brought into association
with a group Of New Workers. men and
tuSss and gestures of intelligent and
highly nodernixed individuals in their
social and business relations with one
another and with the world in general.
In the medium of sharp contrasts
black against white-Mr. Billiard sets
against the new. The social drama that
embodies this motive is exceptionally
substantial and arm in its structure.
The people here are intelligent, alert
sensitive, and, above all, genuinely
human. The story is serious but not
heavy. 1t is picturesque story
worked out in the blendings of a deep
! ly colored east and hectic activities Of
| the west. Upon Donald Lane himself
the author has put his most exacting
effort in an effect that should satisfy the
most discriminating judge of character
/ in literary invention. The big thought
| of this romance is that the western
world has no corner on some of the real
| ly essential things of life. The east has
its sircerities. its dignities, its vision
the instrument of this revelation
Mohammedan, a simple philosopher and
| a true poet.
THE GERMAN GENERAL STAFF;
And Its Decisions, l9l4-10l6. BY
Gen. Won Falkenhayp. New York:
Dodd. Mead & Co.
| This account covers several easily
recognized points Of prime value. 1t
gives. first the German point of view
OF the tWo-year war period with
WHICH it deals. 1t is, next, the direct
statement of one who, at the time
was-after the All Highest-supreme
in authority. 1t is narrative that
possesses but a single purpose, that
Of dealing with the war events of the
two years under consideration This
purpose leads to no discussion of the
period from the standpoints Of his
tory or politics. 1t is a frank recital
| 1t is. as mere writing, admirab bly, clear
and impressive. The book deals with
the general military situation at the
| beginning of the war. Then. step by
! step. 1T analyses the plans of the Ger
mans. the issue of these plans. the
establishments involved as new plans
were made to supplant the old, Sober,
| ly, and with that innocence of mind
! that stamps all Germany in it's con-
ception OF the causes of the war. its
righteous Indignation over the de-
lection of renegade Italy" and the
other equally opprobious behayiors of
the aii1es' the narrative proceeds in
| an Intimacy of German outlook thai
gives great Importance to this dis.
cussion by the chief of the German
general staff.
THE TOUR: A story OF Ancient Exy,,.
By Louis Couperus. author of
hSr