Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-13
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. C.. IN.

The nature oil the ulIeH1fUd Is tItdt
it offers a compulsory choice between
two courses, and only two, either of
which promises az much of dubiety
as the other, as much OF danger as the
other. These courses stand as the
familiar two 'horns of the dilemma
fashioned, apparently, to impale
victims equally upon problems Of per.
picking import, upon conclusions OF
doubtful security.
1.-THE White Mans Dilemma" Is here
reached through a study of the past
hundred years. during which time
Asia, Africa. the islands of the Seven
Seas and other outlying parts of the
earth have, practically, come under
the domination of the white man
men of Western Europe and the
United States. This fact, sheer
physical fact. as undisputable as heat
and light, is imperialism"
The hook In hand il. at bottom,
Therefore, an examination into the
facts of imperialism--its nature, it's
object, it's driving motive, its modes of
operation, its first effects, its later re-
actions, it's ultimate problem. The
later reactions to imperialism become
a vital part of the study, combining
with it's earlier aspects TO force the
dilemma" which constitutes both the
pith and the point Of the matter as
whole.
Never before has the world been in
such deep and widespread turmoil as
since the Great War. The new
contacts created by that event
brought to many an obscure people
fresh ideas of independence. Sub
stantial war service at a time of deep
uncertainty and anguish exalted these
people to a sense of their own impor-
lance. Standardization" became
name to conjure with. Old hatreds of
domination revived, old national pride
broke out anew. So. today, imperial.
ism, both as a fact and in its subtler
effects. is under direct challenge
India, China, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey
are openly in revolt. And protesting
the membership of our own country are
the Philippines and certain parts of
Latin America. The demonstration
simultaneous, widespread, manned by
millions-is not to be ignored. 1t is
not sourced in the imaginings of
scholarly theorist. Daily press reports
verify it in a hundred news items.
This writer, gathering the patent facts.
has gone backward on quest OF the
causes and these lie, he says, in an
imperialism based on economics and
industry, rather than upon the older
and more familiar moral and political
issues.
And along the way to the "dilem-
ma" Itself the author gives the story
of the white man encroaching upon
the domain of the rest of the world,
in a pursuit of the wherewithal for
his own material ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
1t is a. story that pounds facts into
the reader, whether he be receptive
to them or not. A story that is as
splendid as it Is cruel. Then, by
and by, the dilemma is handed out
to readers, to the world. Then, the
question: Is the dominant man. the
white man. going to make another
war, deliberately make another war,
greater and more destructive than
the world has yet known? Or is he.
belatedly, going to realiZe-both as
business and as humanity--the sit
uation of the backward people. deal
ing with them in patience, in Justice.
in cooperation, in general support
until they, too, have learned the les
son of civilization over which the
leading race feels so much of self
glorification? Which? And. right at
this point, the spirit of the writer.
manifest throughout the study.
comes to sharp focus. He has very
little faith in the idealism of man,
or in his good sense either. as mat
ter of fact. Maybe he is right, but
there are many who will dispute this
sentiment with him. Here is a sam
pie of his no faith, which as a
scholar he supports by history: Can
human. beings ever learn anything
from anything? In the light of all
history, of recent history in par
ticular, a degree of optimism is i'm
plicit in the question. They never
did. Yet It is the key question.
And at the end of the study, having
posted the dilemma of the white
man, he is still not very hopeful as
to his making the better choice OF
the two courses open to him.
1--WE of the western empires ap-
pear to be in the position of the
gentleman in the Chinese adage who
is riding a tiger. He does not want
to stay on and he dares not get on
II is not revealed how he took his
mount. No doubt. like ourselves. ne
was constrained by a situation pc
yond his control. More prosaically.
we are caught in dilemma and we
shall have to seize either norm.
Above all, our best hope lies
in making the decision while it Is still
ours to make: either consciously. on.
full elaboration and knowing why,
vigorously to suppress the rebell1ous
subject nationalities, now when the
initiative is ours, and there is more
likelihood that we can, or at once
to get about the business OF 1quida-
ton and cut them loose, now when
there is more likelihood that the sur
gerry viii not be fatal to ourselves"
OUR GREAT EXPERIMENT IN
DEMOCRACY: A History of the
United States. Carl Becker.
Harper & Bros.
Here is an historical study Of most
Illuminating sort-that is. to the gen.
eral readers fair knowledge of the
history of the United States, the
writer offers opportunity for follow
ing an important line of our develop
ment, from the inception of that line
to it's present place and status. Nat
uralIy, the story begins with the
origins of democracy in this country,
with the conditions that particularly
favored ideas of equality, with the
conditions that continued to foster
them, and at the same time served to
draw the country away from the
government of England. And this
drawing away from the mother coun.
try comes to be, in the hands of this
writer, such natural thing to do, so
sourced in the daily life of the New
World, so plausibly and properly re-
sistant to the selfish trade demands
of the money-makers over the sea,
that one reads it as If it were part
of his own immediate concerns and
daily interests, even though it all took
place so long ago. 1t is all. however,
a familiar land to the reader, and the
human nature that 1t portrays is
exactly the same as that which is
operating so energetically at the
moment. The story goes on, too, with
many faces of democracy-to that
one alone whose interest is in govern
ment, and rebellion, and revolution
and, finally, in self-government and