A BOOK OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2205, 18 July 1914, Page 9

A BOOK OF THE DAY.

EIGHT YEARS IN GERMANY ■ Within the last three or four years quite a number of books have appeared which deal with Germany's military and naval.'coraniercial and industrial, and social development; It might seem.that . the subject Lad been rather over-work-ed, but the perusal of a. single chapter only of "Bight Years in Germany," by Miss.l. A. B. Wylie (Mills and Boon; , per Whitcombe-and Tombs), will show /that: there was ample room for yet another book descriptive of, German life ' and obaracter. The special feature of . :• Miss Wyh'e's new book is the attention :'■ given to the racial characteristics and ■ everyday life" of the German people; Especially is there a, desire to clear away many misconceptions of Ger- ■ man life and character which are curi. rent in England, and which contribute ~ -not a little, in the author's opinion, to . ; the creation of feelings of international ' .prejudice and distrust. Miss/Wylie has.lived eight years /'in Germany, not in Berlin, which; as she ' rightly points out, is no more typical of : -Germany than Paris is ; of France, but '" in such centres, as Baden and Munich, v In ner first:chapteri "On Errors," she , comments with .some severity, and cer- ' 'tainly, for an English writer, with nri small courage, on. the astonishing ignorance of even the most salient features -.■'•' of German life .and thought which preV ■ yails:in England:-—/ ■ .■' <;■. ■ ,' /One mi<jht. almost suppose that such a thing as German thought did not. exist. Certainly we English know nothing of it., German literature, German', religion; German philosophy, are closed books to us. -, what we do know is'how .many .■ ... (Dreadnoughts Germany': possesses, . andby how muoh her trade-has ini creased this year, as though that were the matter; of fundamental.im■portancel What doee matter is not ■the Dreadnought, but the brain of the man who built, the courage and .' 'skill, of the man who. commands it. ' What does matter is not the in- / crease of trade, but : the;. human have made the in-: v : -creasepossible.' , j'■'•' : ■' • / , ■ Cermany of To-Day. '■/..' ; ;., '. Miss ..\Vylie_ then/.proceeds; to review ...German •'institutions,.. German .life, thought, art, music, and literature'of-to-day to show iis..the'.German'.'.nation ' at " work, , nationally- and indivir dually -or : the : path of .progress.' She' dwells upon , the inoreaeing freedgm of "religious thought,-.gives us an : enlightening .chapter on German educitaon—not .gloseing over its weak.points ,r—combats,the theory that there is any 'degeneracy in' national or individual? morality—outside "Berlin, which 'is semfoosmopolijian and not to be re- . garded as, mirroring the true German •■■life. ' Nest she- .discourses 1 /upon "TKe \'Liberty*of;th'e 'Siibjeot," ,: and' "Classes and Men.", ■ In/no other' country in the possession of wealth xeuntj shevtells' us/ for iso -little, from ;:a sDoial point of view. The, German's d'espect'for noble/birth is explained, and • to ■ il'es.ult;byno. meatisilVom.'a.ny'snobHsh- ■ \.ti^ss:-~ :".;■-•.'■■•. '■■;.-' ''-, •• "i-\ : "'. ••!''- •. i, i/ ;;,iXhe'Jes3 : a:maii;earns in Germany,.'."■ •ft likely'.he isAo bea gentle-' ■ i V 'man. in' the. Germanjreehse of .the s -■■ ?t«nrii - "It" is'indeed-a great.bar to '■' . Ij ' snobbery m;it» worst form-that the ..•'. Gerinaii-has an instinctive arid in-.? ;' : eradicableVcontempt/for wealth as a .■'•test.of recommendation. You can- ■ v not buy your way' into German - society. . ' : ■ .■ In Germany' you ■• , can be poor, and you can live poor'ly, without , reproach... -Ypu can ■I', live: fir a garret, and dress ''<ijs your •'.'. means-will'allow, but'you will'not ■ be.judged by your garret and your . , shabbiness, but. by yourself. An I .'•. honourable name^-or. still more, a "■ spark of genius—and the doors of / •the niost exclusive circles are opened to you. Talent or birth are the • only passports which German society understands, and wealth, un-■ .less its owner is either tactful, or ■himself indifferent to it, is not even welcomed. ■•'.-'.. , • , ;.TheCierman Officer. ' One of Miss Wylie's most interesting , chapters is that entitled "The Army ' and the People." In Germany, the 'Army and the are convertible terme. With . Germany the military tradition is part of her life. It has, says Miss Wylie, "become her chief pride.- That pride is not only the. heritage of the'officer, it belongs equally to ,the common soldier, and therein is its To have served is an honour—not to have served, though it - may bring freedom from an irksome discipline, and a los 3 of business ■ progresav is, somonow,'to.have lost caste. ,. The 'Vail- too , ; common English, idea of the German officer as a pompbiis; 'domineering, fellow, who. spends nis~leisure hours insulting the civilian 'population is dismissed as absurdly incorrect. In the author's cght years' experience of. garrison, towns—there were four regiments in one ot them— eho never once heard, of any conflict between the civilian and military population. Says Miss'.Wylie :— , The conception of a German offi■e'er as a kind of insolent flaneur, •spending an almost unlimited free- . dom in pushing harmless civilians off the pavement and idling in expensive cafes, is about as false a conception as has ever been born of . a national imagination. "The Ger- ' man officer works hard for small . pay; extravagance is severely discouraged. For, all his apparent .swagger, he is a man of very simple to the plain- . est fare, and the simplest surroundings. ;; . ' . • ■ -. ' . • "That there are.certain dissolute, extravagant men here and thero ts inevitable,"'but," according to Miss Wylie', circumstances are heavily, against them. /'Discovered dobta," ebo says, "are a sure road out of the army, and -.a man of notorious habits never attains a hich rank." . The German Soldier. Miss Wylie, denounces the idea .that the German private sbidier is a "cowed and beaten dog" as "a popular English mythi" She refuses to Relieve that "a man who ' can be so cheery on the march, so much the, devil-of-a ; fellowe . on Sundays, so gay on the feast days, can bo downtrodden at any time." .Whatever rough usage the ordinary German soldier endures, comes, she contends, from .the. man of. his own class, "the under officer, who has the subor--dinate's tendency,to bully." Even he, of "the'only type of professional soldier ' Germany produces," is, on tho whole, though a stern disciplinarian, a respectable, decent fellow, intent on getting ■ the" best opt of his men, but intelligent enough to use the most reasonabl means to that end. As to the value of / compulsory military service, she is convinced. .'■''.• Apart from the _ fact ■■ that if a . man must fight, it is better for him to be prepared to give a good ac- ■ '.; count of himself, there is no ques- .. tiori' that two years' hard physical training arid moral discipline at the ','■ critical time of a man's. ' ment forms an inimitable founda-

■ tion for his future. I have seen men go into the German Arniy with ' bow legs .and round shoulders, underfed, slack, . and. useless-looking citizens; and I; have seen them come out of it smart, upright;'with a well-nourished, self-respecting air that must stand them in good stead in whatever career they adopt. Germany and Croat Britain. In the chapter headed "Antagonism of Taste and "Ethics," and again in that entitled "Domestic and Foreign Helations;" Miss Wylie has much to say that is worth thinking over. We talk loosely at times, we English people, about ,the Germans being, if not of exactly the same race as. ourselves, at least our cousins, but when the social life, the art, literature, and music drama of ; the two countries;—and the national and personal''-out-look on these considered, it will 'be found that there is a vast,. 1 almost irreconcilable difference—the difference between the English and the Teuton point of .new. Eminence in the realms of art and literature is in Eng-land-not held in popular esteem, in Germany, art, music, and literature, and an intellectual drama, aT6 part and jwrcol of even the workman's everyday life.--. .■-,''' As to Germany's foreign relations—and- politics—l am not prepared to admit. Miss Wylie as a trustworthy authority. She ignores,'•■• either deliberately or.through lack of historical knowledge, many important ■ factors in-the : building up of tiat distrust of Germany's foreign policy and its real and'-ultimate aim, which, no thoughtful or prudent British statesman can afford to overlook. She is certainly right in blaming the ."yellow" section of the British Press for making international mischief, but she conveniently ignores the fact—and it is a-fact—that the German . Press has ' been equally to blame. And |he German Press works very largely, -it must be remembered, under official inspiration.' It is plain the author is strqngly'Francophobe, and either does not understand, or does not want' to ■ the real reasons which underlv Britain's share in ! tbo Entente Cordiale. She • is' no doubt perfectly correct; when'she says that Germany "ie grimly determined that, late as she hae. come into' the world, there'shall bo'no more .'land-grabbing' in which sho shall not have her. share. But when she calmly informs us that "any reckless longings for English colonies as they- stand is not in keeping with Germany's actions," she is only telling'a half-itrnth. It is. not her actions in the past with iwhich English-men-are concerned, but her desires,and probable actsous in the future. Which is quite a different matter . I am/sorry -that/space limits forbid comment uppn Miss Wylie's intimate and sympathetic study of the women of Germany, and that other excellent ■features of her book must go unnoticed. I can only recommend my readers to make acquaintance with whatoisian exceptionally ■ well and thoughtfully' written- work. There' are, several interesting illustrations. (New • Zealand price, 12s; 6d.) ■' '