Evening star., 1936-02-02
'Bv Mary.Carfer Roberts.

well known to Washingtonians,
for he was chief representative
i Of the London Times in the
United States for. number OF years.
More recently he has been head OF the
press department Of the British for
een office and during the past decade
has been a. member of most OF the
British delegations to the important
international conferences, including
the washington Naval Conference OF
1922, the Dawes Reparations Con-
ference, the London Naval Conference
of 1880. the Geneva Disarmament Con-
ference Of 1e32-1934 and the Lausanne
Financial Conference Of 1882. Frcm
1882 to 1884 he was q member of the
British delegation to the League Of
Nations meetings.
Following his resignation from the
foreign ONCE last year, Sir Arthur
set out to travel In the various
\ trouble spots Of Europe and bring
q trained observers eye unomcially
to bear on the various situations
which, singly or in combination, seem
to threaten the peace of the world.
He visited Germany, Austria and Italy.
He brought a liberal and sympathetic
viewpoint to his inquiry into the
conditions In each country. His con-
clusions are singularly lucid and
understandable as he describes what
he found. He also examines the
trend Of craftsmanship in his own
country and displays no tendency
toward favoritism in stating what
he feels to be England's lapses and
her future duty. His book Is written
With beautiful clarity and If his pur-
pose has really been, as his publisher
declares, to 'give the ordinary reader
an authoritative background for what
he Is told about the European crisis
from day to day." if would seem that
he has successfully achieved 1t.
The chapters which deal with Ger
many are particularly international.
The present regime there, one recalls,
has usually been treated with un-
qualified blame or unconvincingly
lavish praise. The horroriStS being
somewhat in the majority. that ''ordi-
nary reader" to whom Sir Arthur has
dedicated the present work, has more
often than not gathered the i'm
preston that the land was groaning
under an implacable tyranny which
all right thinking Germans longed
TO- see end.
On the contrary, says Sir Arthur,
the Germans approve the Hitler re-
gime and prosper under it substan-
TALLY for the first time since the
World War. Even those who deplore
the undeniable brutality of the Nazis
feel that no other party could govern
80. well for the majority. He found
order and well-being throughout the
country although he notes that the
people were not cheerful or inclined
to talk to foreigners beyond the limits
required by courtesy. This, he says, is
because espionage Is widespread and
because Germans themselves know
that they are gaining national well
fare at the price of the strictest
personal conformity. It is not SO
sad q state for them as it would be
for the English, however, he remarks,
because, as one German said to him,
people and they like being ordered
about. They are not accustomed to
any other treatment.
He examines the Nazi attitude
toward the Jews and the churches
and goes, at some length, into the
mystic racial self-worship which Hit
ler's followers are endeavoring to
infuse into the whole German people.
The latter has an unbearably comic
sound, although Sir Arthur sets 1t
down respectfully and without the
slightest hint of facetiousness. He
observes merely that it is founded
on historical untruths, since the Ger
man race Is by no means the purest
Of the Nordic strains, as the Hitlerites
insist. Accurate or inaccurate, how
ever. 1t has, he finds, furnished q
nation warped by its inferiority COM
pick a banner to wave, and a banner
that was badly needed.
The national attitudes of Austria
and Italy are similarly examined.
The political philosophy of Signor
Mussolini, he says, has been to divide
the powers into two groups, those
who have" and those who have
not"-the latter being Italy, Ger
many and Japan, and the object of
the verb being colonies. Can this
lack, he asks, be settled only by war,
as the Duce seems to think? It is
his own opinion that it is not lack
of colonies, but lack of materials
and q failure of distributing mech
anisms that have to be met, and
this, he feels, could be met without
war, If the powers-have's and have
nots alike, but more particularly Eng
land-supported the League. Through
the League trade agreements of mu-
t,ial benefit could be worked out and
the need for military conquest would
disappear.
ssIt Is when Sir Arthur considers
England's own case that he becomes
most nearly severe. England, he says,
must bear the burden of peaceful
leadership unless some other nation
is to bear that of military leadership
and carry everything into chaos again.
England, he admits, has faltered, but,
at the time his book is completed,
Sir Samuel Hoare has just made his
September speech about sanctions,
and in this Sir Arthur saw hope. It
is, of course, a. fact that conditions
have changed somewhat since that
address was delivered. England has
done little to follow its promise up.
The future Is about as dark as we
ore used to having it.
On the whole the book Is one Of
The best attempts at summing up that
has appeared to date-if for no other
reason than 1t displays conscientious
effort to make clear, without preju-
dice, the points of view Of the various
nations. It can be read, as the saying
goes, with both profit and pleasure.
fa~
THE RAINBOW. BY Donald r. Rich
=. berg. Garden City: Doubleday
- Doran & Go.
NfR. RICHBERG. who needs no in