VIEWS AND REVIEWS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1895, 1 November 1913, Page 9

VIEWS AND REVIEWS.

Germany Through American Classes. Mr. Price Collier is an American journalist/ and whose two books, "England and the English, from an American Point of View, and "The West in the East," have rightly attracted much attention. Of the firstnamed work it may bo remembered that Lord Rosebery wrote that it > was "probably the best ever written by an 'American on England," au opinion followed up by the recommendation that "every patriotic Englishman" should promptly procure and read'it, bo as to "appreciate our strength and weakness as set forth by this broad end keen observer." Mr. Collier's third book, "Germany and the Germans" (Duckworth and Co., per Whitcombe and' Tombs), is in every way equal to its predecessors. _ -It is marked by the same shrewd insight, the same frankness, and the same courtesy which were so notably exhibited in tho two previous volumes from his pen. Mr. Collier recognises that between Germany and his own country there has 'ever been a certain community of interest, a sympathy and readiness, and ability to acknowledge what is good in the political systems, the manners and customs, of the 'American and German, peoples which is only a natural outcome of the fact that in the United States there' were in the year. 1910 no fewer.than' eight millions and .more 'persons' of German origin. ■■ But this' fact- does not, so the reader of this, admirable aurvey of modern Germany and: its institutions willsoon discover, as he makes headway through the author's fascinating page's,; induce' Mr. Collier to view either German, political institutions or the German people and their social system ' through' any rose-tinted glasses. He' is fair,, he' is even -generous in his criticisms, but ..where he sees, or thinks he sees; a fault; and adverse criticism is demanded, it is supplied without reserve. .: After .two interesting introductory chapters, bringing German political: history up to the dismissal of the great. Chancellor; the author proceeds'to-deal with the position and. influence.-..-of" /ther muchdiscussed Kaiser, thatimighty .potent tate whom, with characteristic Amen-' can _ audacity—at Potsdam; mayboy -impertinence Would probably be' deemed a more fitting ' expression—he dubs "The Indiscreet.!' . . *"',,

(The Kaiser—A Pen Portrait. As showing how well Mr. Collier can tit off certain outstanding traits in the _, Imperial character, the following brief quotation may be welcome:— When tho final judgment is passed upon the Emperor, we must reca'l , his deep religious feeling that he is inevitably an instrument of God; his ingrained and ineradicable method of reading history as though it were a series of the ipse dixits of Kings; his complacent neglect of' how the work of the-world is .done i by patient labour; of how works of art are only-born of travail and tears; his obsession by that curious' psychology of, Kings . that:, .leads .., them to believe'that they are. somehow different, and under other laws, -as though.:lhey.l.lived ;:in...another..\. dimension of space. In addition,'he;.' is -a man of /unusually rapid mental' machinery, overpowering self-con-fidenco, of great versatility, of-many advantages of training and experience, and, above all, he is unhampered. ' He is answerable directly to no one, to no Parliament, to no Minister, to no people. He is father, guardian, guide,' schoolmaster, and priest, but in no sense a •■servant:.,' responsible to any master, save one of his own choosing. .' _ ■ The only wonder is that ho is not unsupportable.

»'A Land of Damned Professors," After' describing German political parties and'the German bureaucratic .system,- : 'Mr. Collier gives us a .very , interesting account of 'pre-sent-day Berlin, with its blatantly ivulgar capitalism, its frenzied commercial activity, and its all-pervading state of "order!" —order due to a bureaucratio regime, which most Englishmen and Americans would find very irksome, not to say absolutely insufferable. _ Next comes a chapter, specially interesting to bll students of the education problem, ond hoaded by Palmerston's famous phrase: "A Land of Damned Prolessors." A special feature of. the German university system is that few German students reside during their whole course of study at one university. The student year is divided into two socalled semesters. The student remains, say, at '• Heidelberg, two years or perhaps less, and thenmoves on, "let us say, to Berlin, or Gottingen, or Leipsic, or Kiel, to hear lectures by other professors, and to get land to see something' of the best work in law, theology, medicine, history, or belles lettres, along tho line of his chosen work. If education could, by Itself, make a nation great, then should Germany lead the world in everything. «. 'Mr. Coilier 6ays: Germany is gone over with a veritable fine tooth-comb of education. There is, not only nothing like it, there is nothing comparable to it in the world. If training the mincjs of a population were the solution .of- the problems of civilisation, they are on tho way to such solution in. Germany. Unfortunately there is no such easy way out of our-.troubles, for Germany or for any other nation. Some of us will live to see-this-'fetish ..of regimental instruction of everybody disappear, as astrology has disappeared. There . is. a ' Japanese proverb which'; runs:' "The bottom of lighthouses ■is very dark."''. 'I .. We. are only just: discovering that the much-lauded technical education will not make a man an engineer, or a shipbuilder, or an •architect. You may givo him the tools and the elementary rulos, but the rest he must do himself. Ninetenths of the technically educated men of to-day aro working for men who were liberally educated, or ' who educated themselves. Germany is educating a raco of firstrate clerks and skilled mechanics, who are working hard to enrich the Jews. '

Patriotism is a sacred cult, but Mr. Collier evidtaitly thinks that the scholars and students of Germany may havo too much of a good thing; indeed, ho feels "bound 'o say" he found "this pounding in of patriotism on every side distinctly nausct'iig." Ho doubts, too, whether the German educational system _ makes for character-building. Discipline, discipline, discipline, cannot do everything '-hat is required in the making of a na'ibn. flTia Carnun Lesson.. The army and navy naturally come b for detailed study, and Mr. Collier dearly does not under-estimate the ever-increasing importance of tho Socialist movement. His final chapter contains many, thoughtful observations on the lessons to be learnt from the Car-

man system of government.- From the concluding sentences I select tho following : Because a people' is blindfolded, its preachers and pedagogues gagged, its officials subservient, is' all the more reason why they should be easily led, but 'no reason at all for supposing they will lead anybody else. . . . Germany has shown us that the short cut to tho governing of a people by suppression aua strangulation results £x a dreary development of mediocrity.' v Sho has proved again that the only safety in the world for either an individual or a nation is to be loved and respected, and in these days no one respects slavery or loves threats. From an American point of view, any sacrifice, any war.were better than the domination of the Prussian methods _of nationmaking. No nation should be, by its traditions and its ideals, mora ready to arm itself, and to keep itself armed, 'if necessary, for years, against the possibility of the transference of such methods to the American Continent than .the United States of North America. As to the "German danger," so far 'as Great Britain is concerned, I can only recommend those who believe that danger to be a mere bogey, to read Mr. Collier's chapter entitled "From Envy, Hatred, 'Malice, etc.", But the whole book.is,.from;its first to.its last page, not only eminently, readable, but 'provocative of' useful thought.

Heroes of the Further North and Fartlv est South.

The intimate connection which .the Dominion has been privileged to have with more than one famous event in the history of Antarctic exploration has naturally created a very, general interest in the subject of Polar enterprise, and many of my readers should there-fore-.welcome an admirable :little. book just published by "\V. and E. Chambers, of 1 Edinburgh, "Heroes of the Farthest North and Farthest, South." ; Thebook, which is adapted from J. Kennedy Maclean's much larger work, "Heroes of the Polar Seas," provides a well-written and | useful summary of. memorable Polar expeditions. . is re-told of Franklin's ill-fated' venture, of the voyage of the "Alert" and "Discovery" under the command of Captain, afterwards Sir George Nares, of the ill-starred Jranetto expedition, and the terrible sufferings of the members of the Greeley expedition at Cape Sabine. Next come descriptions of the discovery of Josef Land and the North-East: Passage, of successive expeditions under Na.nsen-and Peary, the final chapters' boing devoted to the lure of the South Pole, and the adventures.of Shackleton and Scott. The compiler.'s account of. the second Scott expedition, and of tho tragic end of the', gallant explorer and his companions who ma'do the final dash- for the South Pole, is related with a laudable freedom, from anything like hystoria. Several excellent illustrations and maps of the Arctic and Antojetic regions add much to the interest. ,and valuo of a publication ..which'., should, 'have a largo sale, i sliould like to see' a copy of this book, which is a marvel of.cheapness at a shilling,_ in every school library iii the Dominion.

Liber's Note Book. Added to Hodder and Stoughtoit's "Sevenpenny Library" is a now edition of Rider Haggard's "Allan Qnartermain." For sevenpence a'healthy-mind-ed boy can now be mado happy. Parents .please note, in view of the not far distant holiday season. Notable new novels to bo published in London* this month are ; : ''Notwithstanding,' 1 by Mary Cholmondeley; "Bendish: A Study in Prodigality," by Maurice Hewlett; "Chance," by Joseph Conrad; "The Golden Barrier," by Agnes and Egerton Castle; and "The Proof of the Pudding," by Edwin Pugh. According to the London "Daily. Telegraph," Conan Doyle's latest novel, "The Poison Belt," has given that journal's reviewer "a tremendous thrill of a kind that no.one else has been able to approach since tho days of Wilkie Collins." This is absurd. "The Poison Belt" is a good enough bit of craftsmanship in its way, but the machinery creaks terribly in places, and to compare such a commonplace production with, say, "The Woman in White," "The Moonstone," or even "Armadale," stamps the author.of the .review as a writer who has but a poor idea of relative library values. It was badly wanted, and has corns at good skit, on the old-fashion-ed British schoolboy story. Desmond Coke provides it in his little yam, "The Chaps of Harton" (Chapman and Hall). The story is told by Miss Belinda Blithers, who has,.l think, made a previous appearance in one of Mr. Coke s amusing novels, and judging by the reviews it should be a very entertaining production. Mr. Coke has chosen Harton a3 a typical school for the scene of his burlesque "typical school story. Here is an extract from the opening chapter:— v . ■ HaTton's hideous slang—its' ceremonial court-martials, its constant supply of bully, sneak, and fat boy, its no less unhappy. succession of criminal French masters, its hectic Erow match—how well we know them all, how eagerly we read of them again 1 These are the things 'that- have, mado England what it was. "Hectic Erow" is distinctly "good." "The Chaps of Harton" at half-a-crown should be worth buying.

: There seams to be no end to book? on Robert Louis Stevenson. , It is only a few wcoks ago that I drew attention to a charming' volume, "The Robert Louis Stevenson Originals," written by Miss Eva Blantyre Simpson (a sister of Sir Walter Simpson, Stevenson's com-, panion on the famous - "Inland Vo.v----ago"), and published in a specially handsome form by Foulis of Edinburgh. I now notice in Methuen's autumn list.another work, "R.L.5.," by Francis Watt, which, judging by the list of contents, promises to bo of great interest to all good Stoven6ouians.

It will be good news to admirers of Thomas Hardy, who for the last few years has devoted himself almost entirely to the production of poems, that Macmilluns are announcing a new collection of stories from Mr. Hardy's pen. It will boar tho title "A Changed Man, The Waiting Supper, and Other Tales," concluding with, tho "Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid."

Maurice Hewlett's new story, "Bendish." a study in prodigality, will soon bo due. It is a story of the days of William IV, and is concerned with love and .politics, as was "Mrs. Lancelot," certain characters in which make a reappearance in tho now story. The book will appear in Macmillan'o Colonial Library-