Evening star., 1938-10-23

court, Brace.
the racially pure as heroes in a struggle
against the racially impure. Both
Lenin and Hitler, says this author,
must be credited with complete sin
cerity. Both have shown utter dis
respect for human beings as such. Both
were half educated, both shallow, both
animated by hatred. But both have
believed in themselves magnificently.
Mussolini, however, is absolved from
such bloody and ignorant humorless-
ness. He is only politician, says Mr..
Voight. He has no religious fervor in
his debating. He simply follows the
main chance, posturing with histrionic
sincerity.
The argument, in the cases of Russia
and Germany, is lengthily worked out
and set down with great evidence OF
earnest feeling. The author has q
somewhat ponderous style, but he
handles it with effective mobility. The
impression which he conveys is Of the
indignation Of the just and humane
man against those who are destroying
the fruits of centuries Of progress. In
other words, he feels about as we all
do, but he justifles the feeling with
more learned argument than most
would be able to assemble.
When he comes to his discussion OF
England's problems in relation to the
rest of Europe, he advocates strong
ornaments and says that peace will
depend on armed strength IN the
future just as 1t has in past. The
causes of war, he asserts, are not IN
acts of aggression, but IN mems
natures. To suppose world in which
there was no danger of attack would
be to suppose one without sin, and
it is on this point that the paclflsts
are unrealistic England, says MI.
Voigt, must be armed and heavily
armed, and she must maintain an
alliance with other democratic powers.
AS to the League of Nations, he says
that such body is desirable, but that
it cannot function through q hard
and fast set of rules. such as the pres
ent Covenant. 1t must be free, in
stead, to deal with situations as situa-
tions arise. And it must not be ex-
pected to do the impossible. 1t would
function as the organ of international
law but international law is no more
likely to be permanently unbroken than
is municipal law, the violations Of
which are nowhere taken to discredit
legal principle or machinery. Mr..
Voigt's summing up is that such a
body would represent enlightened gov
ernments on the continent Of Europe
and that Englands Ideal foreign
policy" would rest on a triangle whose
points were in London, Geneva and
Washington. For it IS the English
speaking people of the world. he feels,
in alliance with France and her satel-
lite nations, who, in time, will have to
stand off the barbaric forces which
have been inspired by the secular
religions" AS said, the book is power
full and impressive.
IN HAZARD. BY Richard Hughes.
New York: Harper g. Bros.
This is one of those novels which tell
Of the struggles Of ship in bad
weather. To the reviewer, it would
seem fit to go high up in the group.
The ship in question Is the 'Archi-
medes, a single-screw turbine steamer
Of little over 5000 tons" She runs
into an unprotected hurricane in the
West Indies, the velocity of which is
about 200 miles per hour AS ordinary
hurricanes Gf you allow such things)
run about rs miles (according to Mr..
Hughes) you can see, even if you are
the worst sort of land lubber, that this
gale is no mild zephyr. As for the
Archimedes, she has a frightful time.
Her funnel carries away, her steer
ing gear is smashed, her engines stop,
and her hatch covers blow of allowing
her to ship great quantities of water.
Those heroic exploits which were pos
sible to Conrad when he had run a
vessel into a like mess are not, how
ever, to Mr.. Hughes, as he himself
sadly explains. He cannot send a
bucko mate down cable into the
fury of the waters to patch up the
rudder bare-handed; he cannot man
the pumps with a crew of rascals who
must be held at their posts by the chief
officers faithful revolver until that
officer faints from exhaustion. These
noble feats, alas, belong to the days of
sail. The great point of Mr.. Hughes
book is that modern steam vessel
depends so on its mechanism that.
when that mechanism is smashed, the
men can do nothing. And so the Door
Archimedes simply rolls, shipping more
water every second. The reviewer has
seldom been as sorry for any fictional
person or animal as she was for that
ship.
1t is, indeed, that type of sea story
in which the hero-or heroine-is the
ship. The men are more or less stock
characters. There is the infallibly
Scottish engineer who fiercely quarrels
with his subordinate on fine theological
points as they strive to keep the pres
sure up. There is the customary CAP
tain who seems an unremarkable little
chap in fine weather but turns out to
be a magnificent officer when trouble
breaks. There are some bright-faced
young apprentices learning to face
danger becomingly. There is young
officer dreaming of girl. And there
is a coward. One has met the group
before. And indeed the story does not
weaken until Mr.. Hughes, his hurricane
subsiding, attempts to shift the en-
phasis from ship to men. But by that
time you are pretty sure that the Arch
imedes is going to make it to port, and
50 it does not matter.
The book is a first-rate adventure
tale. 1t deserves the landsman's ap-
proval if for no other reason than
that landsman can read 1t without
nautical dictionary ut his elbow. But