Evening star., 1925-08-18
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. NJ.
TEN YEARS AFTER. By Philip

ZEN 1EAnS ar1En. by Hnlllp
Gibbs. George II. Doran Co.
Inside the past 10 years the great
est and most monstrous of all wars
has been fought-and forgotten. 1t
is of this forgetting that Sir Philip
Gibbs writes chiefly in Ten Years
After" pointing out it's most signifi-
cant consequences-an indeterminate
peace. an imperiled present, a men
acing future.
Sir Philip reviews the World War
not as history, but rather as the
means by way of which certain gains
for the future might have been, still
may be, rescued from the horrible
losses of war itself. Conspicuous
among these points Of promise he
counts the common uplift Of spirit
that greeted the outbreak Of war, the
banishment of self from every mans
soul to make room for a fiery zeal in
the cause of all civilization. A mighty
building force this, provided it could
be sustained even in part beyond the
great occasion of its birth, beyond its
proving by the ordeal of battle. Again
he counts as material for the future
the falling away of class barriers that
so promptly met the common danger
TO home and country and the ordered
ways of life. A denial of class which
the mud and slime of the trenches
served subsequently, to seal with the
stamp of common hardships and equal
powers of endurance. Once more he
cites that larger union which drew
all the parts of imperial England to-
gether to stand. as one, the shock or
war. From all parts Of the empire
the old mother country saw her
homing birds. From Canada, Aus
tralia, New Zealand, South Africa
came bronzed and hardy men. After
them came wave after wave OF young
manhood from the far dominions, and
for the first time in history the British
Empire, so loosely linked, so scattered,
so jealous Of restraint or control from
the British government, was seen TO
be a federation of English-speaking
peoples moro strongly bound by links
of sentiment and kinship in time of
peril than any imperialist OF the old
school could have forged by autocratic
power. They were free peoples en-
listing for service in the cause of
civilization and in the chivalrous de-
fense of peace-loving peoples wanton-
ly attacked by a brutal enemy"
II is this ability Of people every
where to get together, their impulse
under high motives SO TO do-splen-
didly demonstrated by the war-it is
their power to reach common
understanding and to effect mighty
corporations, that Philip Gibbs sums
as the truly potential salvage or the
World War-provided this power be
nynenhP6
in reconstructive measures OF a per
manent peace In a newly based and
a freshly oriented prosperity.
And has the world preserved and
perfected the power of cooperative
effort so dearly won by war? Listen
to Mr.. Gibbs: Ten years after g.
The memory Of the war days is fading
from the mind of the world. The
10, 1000. 900 dead lie in their graves,
but life goes marching on. SELF
preservation, vital interests new ana
exciting problems, the human Whlrh.
gig, are too absorbing for a continual
bark back to the thought of that NOR
tality. Even the men who
fought through those years seldom
speak of their experience. 1t is fading
out OF their own minds, though 1t
seems unforgettable. Ten years
after the classes have fallen apart
again. The old hostilities between
capital and labor have been revived
with increasing bitterness in many
minds. Ten years after the
closing up OF ranks, the surrender of
selfinterest and spiritual union,
England is again seething with
strikes, industrial conflict, political
passion, and class consciousness.
Ten years after the beginning
OF the war there is no sense of Sc
curity in Europe or the world. g.
Looking back upon the years after
the war, one sees that the idealism,
which for a little while might have
changed the face Of the world If there
had been great and noble leadership,
fell with a crash in many hearts be-
cause the interpreters of the peace
treaty were appealing not to the
highest but to the lowest instincts of
humanity; to greed rather than JUS
tice; to vengeance rather than recon-
struction; to lies rather than truth"
X
Mr.. Gibbs reviews the peace treaty
for the sake of showing that to it may
be traced the most of the troubles
Immediately following the war. I'M
possible of fulflllment. this instrument
has. therefore, been the cause of end
less strife, of feelings as bitter as
those engendered by the war itself.
It has given rise to new nations faced
by the old problems, to new schemes
Of finance, to new and false concepts
of economic SoundnesS. In a spirit
of regret the author surveys the
League of Nations, regret that it was
not more fully indorsed and more
heartily supported than it turned out
to be. Idealistic in its origin, it ap-
peals to genuine lovers of peace as
the best that has yet been offered tn
serve the interests of peace. This thS
cause of Sir Philips regret at its half
welcome and its consequent struggling
existence.
The present is filed with peril,
sourced in that imperfect peace. There
is the peril of racial antagonisms-
THE Balkans still a stewpot of racial
passions and rivalrieS-SerbS Bulgars,
Montenegrins, Albanians, Ruman-
ians, Greeks and Turks all snarling at
each other. all waiting until the great
powers get to grips again, or are too
busy to intervene between these
smaller nations" Russia is becoming
race-conscious again. Another source
of trouble. ''I believe that the massa-
ere of the World War and some of it's
lessons and watchwords have aroused
passions and ambitions among the
dark-skinned races which will lead to
many new problems and perils. The
British Empire is face to face with
these in India, Egypt, Asia, Italy and
Spain will have to face them in North
ern Africa. America will have to face
them in her own Southern States and
on the Pacific coast. Meanwhile
the economic struggle between the
white nations is threatening to de-
velop with severity of competition
which is alarming to all students of
international affairs
y X