Evening star., 1933-07-08
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH C. BOWERMAN.

dISIORY OF GERMANY. People and
state Through a Thousand Years
by Hermann Pinnow Translated
from the German BY Mabel Rich
mono BrailSford. New York: The
Macmillan Co.
About the year $50 the Alemanri,
barbaric tribes to the north of the
rapidly declining Roman Empire, held
territory along the Rhine and were
overflow ing irto Switzerland and north
ern Italy The German Empire, the
German Republic and the Hitler dicta-
torshlp we're all very far in the future
but the German people had begun. The
emphasis in this brief and we'll de-
veloped history Of Germany is, through
out all periods, on the people-their
daily life and social institutions, their
intellectual and economic growth, their
collective upheavalS and what caused
them. The introduction. long essay.
covers the period previous to 900, dur
ing which the various Germanic tribes
were gathered into the Empire of the
Franks, when for a brief time. from
486, the territory which was to be Ger
many and the territory which was to
be France were united under one gov
ernment. Book describes the empire
of the early Kaisers, chiefly Saxons
the struggle between PopeS and En-
perors, and the evolution of the power
of the common people between 900 and
1900. Book II is devoted to the towns
folk and the rise to dominant in
fluence of the commercial cities, with
their trade and industrial guilds Book
III covers the development of the diff
ferent German principalities after the
Protestant Reformation and the growth
of the fatherland idea. leading toward
unification. Book " discusses the pc
riod from 1900 to the present time, from
the Congress CT Vienna at the close OF
the Napoleonic struggle. through the
unification of Germany under one En-
peror and Parliament, but with individ-
ual states retaining their local gov
ernments. OF the results Of the World
War Mr. Pinnow says: In the recon-
struction of Europe after the war
great number Of new national states
were created by the victors; N this
process the geographical and historical
conditions of the peoples were so dis
regarded that the peace Of the conti-
ncnt is to the highest degree endan-
gered. On the other hand the expert
ences of the war have strengthened
the idea of the community Of nations
But when the German people
abolished sovereign power. they removed
the greatest obstacles to the further
Capitalization of the empire, and placed
the authority of the state in the hands
Of its citizens On this foundation they
hope to build up a new national COM
munitv and to make 1t respected among
The nations" This was written before
recent events brought about the Hitler
dictatorship.
FORESTRY: AN ECONOMIC CHAL-
LENGE. By Arthur Newton Pack.
New York The Ma c,nillan Co.
Motoring along the New York State
Highway which leads through the
beautiful country from Lake George to
Elizabethtown. in the Adirondacks. one
passes the bristling forest of young fir
trees belonging to the Charles Lathrop
Pack Forestry Foundation, where young
men go for Summer camp practical for
estry study. Arthur Newton Pack is
the son of Charles Lathrop Pack and
IS director of this valuable foundation.
He is, like his father. an economist,
specialist in forestry and writer on
forestry subjects There is need, Mr..
Pack cays. for rethinking about for
estrv Earlier forestry crusaoeS were
call to defense based on fear OF a tim
Der famine. We are now realizing that
the per capita consumption of timber
has been reduced almost half by wood
substitutes and that the problem today
is new one 1t is the problem of the
pressing economic ills of regional forest
destruction. the economic waste OF un-
equal distribution. the deadly poison OF
idle, unproductive land unsuitable for
any other use by man" Such sub
marginal land can produce only one
-trees-and though not all this
toti inn fnr fy,,h
production alone there are other factors
which have a bearing. Recreatlonal
use. including the preservation of fish
and game, residential possibilities, and
especially the purpose of soil and wind
prote probably make reforestation
of idle submarginal land economically
sound and often self -liquidating. Mr..
Pack tells how some, OF these things can
be brought about. In addition to his
discussion of forest use, he has chap
tiers on Private Enterprise Public
Forest Administration" "Foresters ana
Forest Education" Regional Planning
and Economic Policy His book is
above all practical. combining view OF
past policies and accomplishments with
the outlook of modern economies adapt
ed to changing conditions.
LETTERS FROM HOLLAND. BY Karel
Capek Translated from the Czech
by Paul Selver. New York: G. r.
Putnam's Sons.
The ordinary traveller finds all coun-
tries more or less alike, says Mr.. Capek-
because he sees only railway stations
and hotels He himself does not care
for travel but when he does visit for
eipu countries he enjoys his impress
sions. however trivial they may be. He
records some Of them concerning Hol-
land in this slender book of fun, IL
lustrated h. scratch drawings. His
first purely Dutch impression (apart
from the green railway engines with
brass helmets on their backs) consists
of bricks. And windows. And bicycles
in particular. And bricks and windows
in particular These bricks form the
local color of Holland: green land
scape containing cottages built OF tiny
red bricks with white seams. cottages
with large bright windows, and land
scape with brick pathways along which
bicycles scorch chow long it is since we
have heard that wordD from one cot
tage to another. and these cottages,
apart from the bricks, consist largely
of windows, just windows, clean ana
large, with white frames, and most
varied subdivisions and dimensions.
Sometimes Mr.. Capek goes beneath the
surface and draws conclusions, not espe-
cially profound and not as interesting
as his mental snapshots. His chapter
on the advantages and values OF small
nation is, however. suggestive. "Hol-
land is a small-scale country but the
level which it reaches is high or, at
any rate, good"
A CASE FOR MIR. PAUL SAVOY. BY
Jackson Gregory. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons.
Paul Savoy belongs to the tribe of
M. Lecoq. M. Dupin and Sherlock
Holmes. He Is bored by the ordinary
criminal case. thinks the average.
standardized detective is adequate for
such Insignificant resistance. When
something really worthy Of his indi-