Evening star., 1927-05-08
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

10 lay OUT lIlG uuO1@APANN
spaces Of this entire country
by an extension of the
city-planning principles with
which, nowadays, everybody is more
or less familiar. The condition max
ing this project both feasible and de-
sirable is that of our highly devel-
oped system of communication-rail
ways, highways, waterways, airways,
telephone and telegraph. What more
logical than that the great COM
monwealth of the United States
should be town-planned in respect to
it's resources, in respect to it's wheat
and corn and cotton and rice fields,
to its mines of ore and oil and asphalt
and lime and salt, to its forest regions
and its desert stretches waiting for
the flow that will transform them
into imperial valleys of productivity?
The old towns and villages are the
spawn of the covered wagon" squat
ting casually beside some little
stream, or in the shade of a friendly
group of trees, or before promising
stretches of tillable soil. And these
have made a hit-or-niss pattern of
settlements, many of which have
fallen into ruin because of an original
misplacement. That was the best
that the pioneers could do. Ways Of
communication were rough and rare.
Intercourse was of the scantiest. So
many of the hamlets died in their own
tracks. and many hung on in q thin
and precarious existence, But now
everything is changed, changed by
the wizard of easy communication
over the land and waterways and
through the air, ceaseless and almost
70 ~ tnV4
which used to be much further apart
than heaven and earth. This nation
plan, at first blush, reads like ro-
nance and looks like pure vision. 1t
is a romance. 1t is a vision. But ro-
mances are often truth. And visions
are much more than merely seeing
things" Think of the economy un-
derlying such a plan. Think of the
power to utilize the still untouched
resources of this country by provid-
ing outlets and inlets toward them.
Think of the increased unity of pur-
pose, of understanding, of achieve
ment. Mr.. Kehr appears to have given
experience and study and weighty
consideration to this matter. He
clearly knows the subject of town
planning and the principles that
ought to direct it. He possesses, be-
sides, the ability to organize and CO.
ordinate great aspects of a single
subject. Here he states the basic
principle underlying the tremendous
plan-"Any area. whatever its size,
throughout which easy communica-
ton is desirable and throughout
which there is to be service intended
to reach all the people, and through
out which single governmental ad-
ministration extends, should be taken
as a unit for a general plan indicat-
ing the best physical development of
that whole area" Splendid picture
don't you think? Not impossible. This
achievement is likely to be one of the
commonplaces of the future--as the
airplane is now, or the radio, or any
other of the miracles that would have
frightened our grandfathers into fits
of fear and apprehension.
STATESMANsHIP OR WAR. BY
general. L. S. A. tretired). Intro
duction by James w. Wadsworth,
jr., chairman of Senate committee
on military affairs. 1920-27. New
York: Doubleday. Page & Co.
TT will be remembered that i'm.
mediately following the Great
War a demand for the adoption of a
definite policy arose throughout the
country, much of it emanating from
the returning soldiers. We had no
military policy worthy of the name
prior to the war. We paid heavy
price for our neglect. The public de.
manded that the Congress study the
la ,fnt
ter and translate the result into q
statute that would insure the country
against repetition of the bitter ex-
perience Of 1917 and the early part
OF 1915" This is the chairman of
the Senate committee on military
affairs, James w. Wadsworth, speak.
ing, in an introduction to Statesman
ship or War" wherein he pays high
tribute to the clear vision and patri-
otic spirit of the author. The book,
as a whole, deals with the problem
of war and peace that lies in between
offensive armaments on the one hand
and purely defensive ornaments on
the other. Both militarist and pacif1st,
the first advocating the first, the sec.
ond opposing the other, stand in the
way Of ordered peace" The author
contends that in between the two lies
a possible world organization that is
infinitely better than either. This or.
ganization is exemplif1ed by Switzer-
land, whose military system, in its
essentials. forms the substance of the
study in hand. The basis of this sys-
tenn is voluntary service. 1t is, rela
lively, a system of economy. 1t is
one that makes for stability in the
Of the country. 1t fur.
nishes a plan which, adapted to our
own situation. constitutes step
away from militarism and a step also
that, if continued. would lead inevita-
bly, toward a world organization. so
much needed at the present time.
Gen. Palmer cites Washington as the
advocate of a respectfully defensive
posture" in a form suitable for a
democratic state. His proposal was
not regarded by his countrymen.
Switzerland, however, did adopt this
plan and did develop the very type of
proposed by Washington.
An added Zest is given to the reading
Of the Swiss plan, after learning of its
source. The study itself reveals
sane and competent and unmilitaristic
outlook upon the problem Of national
and the persistent pursuit
Of honorable peace. Some one may
say that Switzerland is one thing, a
very small thing, and this country is
another. This book is, however, an
enunciation Of principles that apply
equally in a development of the prob.
em. whether this problem covers more
Or less within its scope. A chief point
In Gen. Palmer's work is that it is
open to every intelligent reader. to
every citizen Of this country. 1t is
not an exclusive Offering to the mill
tary on the one hand, to the pacifist
on the other. 1t is a problem for
the whole country to study, problem
stated in clear terms by a man of
experience, by a man also
Of wide patriotic vision.
X X X
FROM MYTH TO RELIGION. BY
Woodbridge Riley, author of Amer
lean Thought From Puritanism TO