Evening star., 1938-10-23
By Mary.Carfer Roberts

Some time ago the reviewer COM
mented, apropos of the nature of the
leading articles in our leading maga-
zines, that our writers were apparently
regarding the world as gigantic hos
pital ward in which no one had
right to be unless sick, and where
the earnest duty of all those moder-
ately well was to diagnose the illnesses
of their neighbors and hasten to get
these neighbors to bed. For at that time
there was a very great deal indeed
being written along the lines of What
Is Wrong With Everything?" and
what Shall We Do About It?"
The reviewer certainly would not
say that nothing has been wrong, or
that we should do nothing to remedy
the faults in our universe. Her OBJ
lection was, rather, that the concern
for the ill had gotten to be so great
that it was croWding out interest in
the we'll. and that, in the minds OF
our public healers (psychiatrists, psy-
chologists, economists, sociologlsLs.
politicians, and the like) it was rap
Idly becoming a reproach for any one
to declare himself cheerful and healthy,
and that to lay claim TO some sort OF
malady or other had become virtually
obligatory.
The maladieS thus insisted upon, OF
course, were not of the body; they were
of the mind, and were allegedly induced
by cruel conditions that had been be-
yond the sufferers control-though
Just when man has ever been in COM
plete control of his life the reviewer
does not know.
Nonetheless, these past years have
shown a growing tendency on the
part of our interpreters to fix upon us
all the beloved labels of assorted NAL
aajustments-we must have compleXes,
or inhibitions, or tiXationS. Or we
must be victims of economic insecurity.
or economic pressure, or social up
heaval or of something. At any rate,
We must be victims If We cannot
control the outward mechanisms OF
our lives, then we must, by no means,
Law claim or control of our souls either.
or so our vocal leaders have been
saying.
1t is with simple philistinic cheer,
therefore, that the reviewer greets this
book by DR.. Link. For DR.. Link is
rising to champion the individual as
against the badly stove-up collective
man, and DR.. Link says very senslbly
that society is composed OF individuals
and that no barrel of fruit is any
sounder than the apples in it. Or
that, at least, is what he says In erect.
Actually his book is a statement OF
what psychology (not psychiatry, ne
insists has done to reawaken the
sense of individual responsibility in
men and women, and OF what means 1t
can offer men and women for the
STRENGTHENING of their individual per-
sonalities in a world which, unqueS-
tionably, is difficult For some time,
he says, we have accepted those diff
culties as insuperable and have only
treated them in terms OF their sup
posedly inescapable effects upon US.
This has engendered social fatal
ism, as he calls it. And he goes on to
list the popular manifestations" OF
this defeatism by the following mass
beliefs:
The average man can be raised
only by changing the system.
Social security depends on old-age
pensions and unemployment insurance
from benevolent government, and
not on the character and competence
of the individual or his family.
Future depressions and wars can be
avoided only by passing new laws.
Weak characters and personalities
are the result of being underpriv-
ileged
The frontiers of America are gone.
Crime is the result of poverty ="
While DR.. Link does not dispute the
truth which lies back of some of these
claims, as claims, ne does assert that
bad social conditions do not justify in
dividual slackness, but, on the con-
trary, call for a greater degree Of
character than is needed in better
times. He points out that our educa-
tional system has been occupied with
material science to the almost COM
plete exclusion of character training.
But he is psychologist (not psychia-
tristD and he sees in his subject the
means of putting our spines back into
that vertical position which is the
unique story of homo sapiens
He goes on to describe the strength
ening of cnaracter-or personality,
Is ne modernly call its-as it has been
done by psychological instruction un-
der his observation in many cases. His
advice to his patients seems to have
been always to seek for help from
within themselves; he does not be-
lieve that 'cure" for a disorganized
personal life can be imposed on any
one from without. He believes that
people should keep physically fit. first
of all, and then remember that life
was not guaranteed to be picnic in
the first place, and that courage and
personal honor have usually been in
good repute. In other words, he COM
mends self-respect as against self
pity. Basically, he is as simple as that.
Actually, one feels, he has oversimpli-
lieu HldlIeTS OH JuSC 10 meet the
overcomplications which have come
from the defeatist school, But at any
rate, he has written wholesome and
sensible book. Philistinic it may be,
but better so thousand times, than
feeble.
UNTO CAESAR. BY F. A. Voigt. New
York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.
The author of this work is the
foreign affairs editor of the Manchester
Guardian. The book is a study of
contemporary affairs in Europe. 1t is
powerful and impressive piece of
writing.
1t undertakes to do two things, ap-
parently. 1t analyzes first the mentality
of Europe's relationships, chiefly those
Of Russia and Germany. After that,
1t attempts to state England's position
in relation to the present state of
European politics and of possible future
developments. The ground in both