But whether as makers of National history or of the family history of the Yale brotherhood, they still live in noble characters they helped to mold, in the standards they set, the ideals and the spirit they left enshrined, religious, democratic, patriotic, liberally conservative, a heritage for coming generations.

This genius loci, the atmosphere of such a university, an endowment transcending all that the wealth of Croesus can create to-day, is invaluable for its educational influence. It is such historic institutions as Harvard and Yale with their centuries of continuous corporate life, and their next younger sisters, with the myriad progeny of them all, that we are to count on as factors of continuity in our National development. From their influences, both inspirational and stabilizing, must come the statesmanlike leadership which our democracy needs in these changing and unsettling times. In view of such considerations these volumes, especially as forerunners of those to be looked for from Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and others, are a work of National consequence.

There are a hundred or more drawings and colored plates.

The book confirms and emphasizes the truth of one of Goethe's aphorisms, translated by Huxley, and quoted here as an introduction to the chapter on "The Modes of Animal Behavior." "Nature," says Goethe, "has neither language nor discourse; but she creates tongues and hearts, by which she feels and speaks." And again: "Each of her works has an essence of its own, each of her phenomena a special characterization, and yet their diversity is in unity."

Practical Book of Period Furniture (The). By H. D. Eberlein and Abbot McClure. The J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. $5.

Books about antique furniture with beautiful pictures thereof are both common and fascinating. What is noteworthy about this book is that it is educative and informative in a systematic way as to its subject. The claim of the title in the word "practical" is justified. The right way to study furniture is by period, but it is a difficult way unless a book is well indexed and well arranged. The present work not only has these advantages but has a chronological key with 113 cuts; through this key periods may be compared and articles identified as to period.

The authors make a good point in asserting that all good modern furniture reproduces the old, and that it is right only when it is true to period. The fashionable shop which, to the author's knowledge, showed a piece with Queen

Anne legs, Sheraton top, and William and Mary handles should get a copy of the book. King George of Greece. By Captain Walter Christmas. McBride, Nast & Co., New York. $4. The late King George of Greece has been variously estimated. Many people saw him summer after summer at Aix-les-Bains, and of course saw him on undress parade," when the less serious side of his character was in evidence. Fewer foreigners saw him in his own country, where he was every inch a king. In Captain Christmas's book we have a vivid portrait of the monarch as he appeared in Greece. In connection with it we have a very valuable view of the recent wars undertaken by Greece, as well as of the condition of Greece herself. The Greek nation was fortunate in

finding in King George just the kind of man needed to guide it in its difficult and dangerous time of rebirth.

Famous War Correspondents. By F. Lauriston Bullard. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $2.

The present embargo placed on war correspondents brings out in bold relief the liberty which they formerly enjoyed-their ability to cross frontiers and to send uncensored telegrams. It would seem as if the days of the war correspondent had come to an end as one reflects on what has been and what is. And what a galaxy of brilliant names comes to mind !— Forbes, MacGahan, Millet Villiers, Steevens, Russell, Bennet Burleigh, and the rest. Of these men we have an admirable description in this book.

A LITTLE-KNOWN CHAPTER IN HISTORY Early in 1870 Lord Clarendon, the British Foreign Secretary, was asked by the French Government to endeavor to bring about an agreement between France and Germany for simultaneous disarmament. The reasons for desiring it advanced by France were that she feared Socialism and revolution, and wanted to appease the agricultural class, on whom her existing Government leaned for support, by an abatement of taxes and of the demand for recruits. Moreover, her Government expressed itself as unwilling to assume the responsibility, in the eyes of France and of the world, for the armaments and attendant expenses which even then were regarded as exaggerated.

In transmitting the proposal, February 2, 1870, Lord Clarendon wrote: "But it is in the general interest of Europe, of peace, and of humanity that I desire to invite the attention of Count Bismarck to the enormous standing armies that now afflict Europe by constituting a state of things that is neither peace nor war, but which is so destructive of confidence that men almost desire war, with all its horrors, in order to arrive at some certainty of peace-a state of things that withdraws millions of hands from productive industry and heavily taxes the people for their injury and renders them discontented with their rulers. It is a state of things, in short, that no thoughtful man can contemplate without sorrow and alarm, for this system is cruel, it is out of harmony with the civilization of our age, and it is pregnant with danger." The suggestion was, of course, promptly rejected by Bismarck.

My comment on the episode is: that at that time Louis Napoleon was no longer a menace to anybody, that France made the proposal

through Lord Clarendon, in good faith, and that had it been accepted the world would have been spared much that has since followed in the direction of the race for armaments, and the multiplication of a military class whose presence in the state in large numbers provides an influential group always inclined to war and exerting constant pressure on the government to that end. Above all, it would have been spared the untold miseries of the present conflict, the great area of which is due to the grouping of the Powers, in turn brought about by Prussian militarism, since England would not have laid aside her hereditary friendship for Germany but for this. As we know, Bismarck's dream from very youth was the consolidation of Germany. That was a good thing for Germany, but the Iron Chancellor felt that he had to war on Austria and strike down France in order to accomplish it, and the process was pretty hard on his neighbors.

Just in the same way to-day Germany shows that she regards her own interests as the world's interests, and will stop at no suffering which may come to the outside world as a consequence of her ambitions. THEODORE MARBURG.

The Spectator has another guess coming on the Southern "you-all." In The Outlook for December 16 he made a mountaineer say to the "bachelor friend," "I reckon you-all wouldn't 'a' lived fifty years in these parts without gittin' you a wife." As if any one to the manner born would say you-all" in addressing one person, meaning, as in this case, him alone! "You-all" differentiates the plural of the second person from the singular, which is always "you." A friend of the family may inquire over

have been filched from it by unjust wages, unjust regulations, even unjust laws. But what grievance have Germany and her sister Powers that they should reach out for ever more possessions? None at all. Being already rich and prosperous, they are to take more land, more harbors, more outlets, not because they need them, but so that they may become still more rich and still more prosperous-and because they have the power to do so.

In the jungle we expect to meet hungry tigers, and we expect them to eat us if they get the chance. We may object to being eaten, but we cannot honestly blame them for trying to eat. But what brings these sleek, well-fed tigers glaring across our path with evidently equally malicious intent? Merely that they have a "natural desire" to add to their already excessive supply of fresh meat, and they are stronger than we are. If Professor Münsterberg has really made his point, he has more than justified the philosophy of the Industrial Workers of the World. No one who agrees with him has the slightest right to criticise them or to complain if they deprive him of his property. They have "need of expansion " in his direction and they have the power to expand.

Bethesda, Maryland.

JOHN R. SWANTON.

AMERICAN DIPLOMACY

In "American Criticism of German Statecraft," Dr. Junge, in The Outlook of December 9, presents a paper admirable in diction, and he hits us hard with the facts of our minor practical failures as a democracy, but his logic is puzzling. If American democracy is sometimes a little lofty in its preaching, it is not much given, for one thing, to levying indemnity without due process of law. After the indemnity has been collected it may be handed back again, just as likely as not. There is a "difference in our respective ideals," obviously.

Again, Americans, as well as others, have been known to die for an idea, and not a secondhand idea either. Also, if any American citizen becomes possessed of any virtue of the Roman sort or any virtues of the Christian sort, he does not take them into his moral system as the prescription of any ruler.

In the United States all executive and legislative utterances, whether Presidential procla mation or resolution of town council, impliedly begin with the preamble, "The people of do ordain." Thereafter every citizen periodically has his day in court to ratify or nullify the act. In many and increasing instances he can appoint his own day in court. Not much government can steadfastly proceed contrary to the intelligent popular purpose. Irrevocable power of attorney is not largely bestowed in affairs of government. Oakley, California.

ALFRED BANNISTER.

Maurice Maeterlinck, the poet and dramatist, does not like to speak in public. In a recent letter declining an invitation to lecture in England he says: "After two minutes' speaking in public I lose my voice entirely. It is a painful spectacle, which one ought to spare any audience, however indulgent." In the same letter he thus compliments the English people: "They are indeed a great people, reliable, chivalrous, generous; the type of what European civilization will one day become after this war is ended."

"House and Garden " suggests that the suburbanite make a "Saturday Afternoon Garden," which will give him wholesome outdoor recreation for his half-holiday, and also reduce the cost of living through the cultivation of vegetables. It suggests that the garden should be begun in January, for there are many preliminaries, more or less delightful, in the way of preparation for the work.

Language seems made to be misunderstood when it seeks to convey an unfamiliar idea. An exchange says that a census clerk found that the blank under the heading "Age of father, if living," and "Age of mother, if living," had been filled with the figures 120 and 112. "But your parents were never so old, were they?" asked the astonished clerk. No," was the reply," ," "but they would have been if livin'." The scale on which film plays are produced may be judged from the newspaper item that a big film play company recently moved from New York to Los Angeles in a twelve-car special train, the mileage and Pullman fares of which amounted to about $22,000. Two comedies were to be completed en route, the scenes to be placed in various cities through which the train passed in its transcontinental journey.

A New York tax appraiser recently decided that the good will of a vast brewing business in that State has no pecuniary value, "bec^use the prohibition wave may sweep over New York at any time and wipe out all the breweries."

The country owes Texas for at least three of its citizens who have entered on larger spheres of influence than those found within State boundaries, even when the State is the biggest in the Union: Postmaster-General Burleson; James Stillman, one of the most prominent bankers in the United States, who was born in Brownsville, Texas; and the new President of the College of the City of New York, Dr. Mezes, who comes from a similar position in the University of Texas, and whose portrait will be found on another page.

Automobile accidents not infrequently occur because the driver neglects to see that his clutch is thrown out before he attempts to crank his engine. The result of such carelessness is that

the car starts off without any one at the wheeloften beginning its destructive career by knocking down and running over the chauffeur. There certainly exists an opening for a popularly available device to prevent a driver from cranking his engine while the gears are in mesh.

The above suggestion is prompted by the news that Miss Adelaide W. Smith, a woman whose devoted attention saved the lives of many soldiers during our Civil War, had been killed in Brooklyn by an automobile, the driver of which forgot to throw out the clutch and set the brake before cranking the engine. Among Miss Smith's most treasured possessions was a pass, signed by General Grant, which conferred very special privileges upon her. The record of her work is preserved in her interesting book, "Reminiscences of an Army Nurse."

Samuel Gompers was recently elected to the position of President of the American Federation of Labor for the thirtieth time. The italicized word indicates Mr. Gompers's standing among the members of the Federation.

Nowhere on the globe, says Professor Ross in the "Century," has so much sweat been paid for a foot of soil as in the Urubamba Valley in Peru. A wall twelve feet high has in places been built here, in the vast system of terraces, to gain for cultivation a strip of earth not over a yard wide. The making of these terraces was done under the Incas, and antedated the coming of the Spaniards; it was, Professor Ross says, a work for Titans," and outdoes anything in the way of earth-reclamation seen even in China. Cuzco, the Inca capital, Professor Ross calls the most fascinating spot in the New World " to lovers of the past. Within a few years, he predicts, it will become a place of pilgrimage for 'see-America-first " travelers who will be eager to visit, in automobiles," the greatest monuments and the most impressive mountain scenery in the Western Hemisphere."

66

An English workingman is quoted by Arthur Ruhl as saying, when asked by his employer to enlist for the war, They've done a lot for workingmen over in Germany: accident insurance, old-age pensions, and all that-what do we want to fight the Kaiser for? We'd just about as soon be under Billy as George." The answer was short and to the point: "If you were under Kaiser Billy, you'd enlist right enough, there's no doubt of that!"

On "old newsboys' day" in Detroit many successful men, among whom were aldermen, doctors, and presidents of several of the city's largest industries, sold newspapers for Christmas charity work. No change was given for the papers they sold, and a few of the papers brought $100 each.

PUBLIC LIBRARY

HAMILTON W. MABIE, Associate Editor

In a note bearing the date of January 7, Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Minister, has replied to the protest of the American Government concerning the examination and detention of ships engaged in trade between neutral countries by British warships. The tone of this note is altogether friendly. It is the product of fine diplomatic training, and succeeds in conveying the impression of firmness in forms of expression that are distinctly conciliatory.

The British note expresses concurrence "in the principle enunciated by the Government of the United States that a belligerent, in dealing with trade between neutrals, should not interfere unless such interference is necessary to protect the belligerent's national safety, and then only to the extent to which this is necessary." It is based on the understanding that this principle concedes the right of interfering with trade in contraband destined for the enemy's country. ready," writes Sir Edward Grey, "whenever our action may unintentionally exceed this principle, to make redress."

in the American protest. Another interesting point pertains to the trade in rubber, inasmuch as a large part of that commodity comes from British dominions. This note explains that it is difficult for Great Britain to remove the embargo on the exportation of rubber from British dominions if that rubber is to be shipped by American merchants to countries with which Great Britain is at war.

The figures which the British note cites do not indicate that our trade with neutral countries has suffered on account of the war, but rather the contrary; and certainly we cannot place upon Great Britain responsibility for loss of trade with belligerent countries. The position in which our Government's protest has placed the United States does not seem less humiliating as time goes

on.

Having refused to protest on a matter of honor and the pledged word in the case of Belgium, we have chosen to protest, on a matter of money profits; and now it seems that this protest has no very sure basis. Whatever gain has come to the United States as a result of this protest has been such as is involved in acting as the spokesman of other neutral nations.

This whole question is one that is emphatically subject to treatment by an international tribunal; and if there is any phase of the matter that cannot now be easily adjusted, there is no reason why it cannot be made the subject of friendly negotiations after the war or be submitted to arbitration.