Evening star., 1936-04-04
By Mary Carter Roberts

bp wary LUTIef NOOeIIS
YOU AND land ROOSEVELT. BY
Charles p. Taft. New York: Farrar
d Rinehart.
-OR whom will you vote in the
- next election? If you are one
of what Mr.. Taft feels to be
i small minority, you will vote
for the candidate who runs on the
best platform. And what will that
platform be? Taking up in turn the
issues which confront the Nation, the
present book contrasts the course OF
the present administration with that
of wisdom and outlines what a new
group in power ought to do.
Those issues, as Mr.. Taft sees them,
are pretty much what We all are &C
customed to hearing discuSsed-relief,
taxation, currency, government i'll
business, farming, social security and
so on. His treatment of them, how
ever, has the merit Of humor. And
his disparaging comments on the pres
ent trend of government are made
with a dry directness which gives them
An interesting chapter of the book
Is the one which attacks the spoils
system. Under the present admins
tration, says Mr.. Taft, "the hold
which the strictly political has upon
the personnel Of government is more
pervasive than at any time within
the last 80 years" And he adds that
Postmaster General Farley has made
'the biggest dent in civil service in
history"
Summing up. the book offers its
own sample platform. This is some
what disappointing. One feels, some
how, that almost any candidate could
run on it, without committing himself
to anything essential Outside of
that, however, the work is intelligently
informative.
HITLER'S WINGS OF DEATH BY
Otto ann-Russbueldt. With
an introduction by Wickham Steed
New York: The Telegraph Press.
THIS book sets forth, with impress
sive figures to substantiate its
claims, the present status of air arrna-
ments in Germany. They are, says the
author, equal to those of any nation
In the world.
Documenting his statements, he has
proceeded to show how Germany,
pleading inability to meet reparations
payments because of poverty, was
actually spending greater amounts in
building up her air forces. An equal
tod-y with any of the powers, the
author says she plans, according to
Goering's estimates, to be far in ad-
vance of all rivals by 1897. Com
menting on this, he significantly re-
marks that the air weapon is never
for defense, since military authorities
everywhere have admitted that de-
Tense against it is impossible.
1t makes an alarming picture, as it
Is set down. There have been recently
many such predictions of the nature
OF the future which the world is
facing, but few Of them have been
so specific. 1t would seem that few
OF us know what our military leaders
plan for us; such weapons" as bac-
terial warfare, for example, or the
spraying Of deadly germs from the
air, We are apt to think of as chimera,
or impracticalities which cannot be
applied.
According to Herr Lehmann- Russ
bueldt, We delude ourselves. The
charms Of yellow cross. blue cross and
green cross are all discussed In his
book; they are the names of poison
and bacterial gases. Germany, he
says, has been collecting the raw ma
terials needed to manufacture these
weapons" in almost ineXhaustible
quantities"
II it could be demonstrated that
Germany, or any country, needed to
make such preparations in order to
insure itself against attack, such reve-
lations naturally would not demand
the attention Of peaceful countries.
But both the author and Mr.. Steed
are only quoting authority when they
reiterate that air forces cannot be
considered as defensive. It raises &
question. Who, one wonders? Also
when? And (some of us are so per-
verse; even why? But, OF course,
nobody will really feel the need OF
answering that one.
THE RAPE OF AFRICA. BY Lamar
Middleton. New York: Harrison
Smith and Robert Haas.
THIS book purports to be an expose
OF the methods followed by vari-
Gus European powers in acquiring pos
sessions in Africa, which methods the
author terms a gigantic swindle, of |
which MusSolini's invasion of Ethiopia |
is the last phase" 1t displays wide
background of knowledge and re-
search, and is impressive in that the
author relies much on quotations from |
diplomatic correspondence to sustain
his points.
Beginning in 1877 and carrying on
the narrative until the present Mr..
Middleton has shown some of the
silent influences which worked in the
successive acquisition of African ter
ritory by white powers. The scandal
OF the Belgium rubber trade, the gen.
orally unpublicized aspects of STAN
ley's expedition, the conquest carried
out by Rhodes, our own attempt to
establish the republic of Liberia-all |
these maneuvers are set down, with |
scathing emphasis on the hypocritical |
processes of the diplomacy which
executed them.
1t makes revolving tale. One feels,
as one reads it, that the authors per-
sonal indignation is sometimes rather |
heavily expressed, for his story would
seem eloquent enough without much
pointing. However, it is a timely
work, in view of present events. One
suggests that copy be placed beside
the family Bible.
DEEP SEAS AND LONELY SHORES.
BY w. Lavallin Puxley. New York:
E. P. Dutton Co.
THIS is q book Of fish stories. Look