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*  The  Living  Age  Brings  the  World  to  America* 


V  THE 

LIVING  AGE 


FOUNDED  1844  BY  E.  LITTELL 


Published  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Atlantic  Monthly 


ij 


SATURDAY,  DECEMBER  16,  1922 

CONTENTS         -^'^'/VfBSni^ 

A  Week  of  the  World ^  .615 

Reparations  in  the  French  Chamber — A  Farmers  International  — 
Joffe  at  Peking  —  Fascisti  in  Hungary  and  Bavaria — News  Barriers 
in  Europe  —  An  Unpublished  Grispi  Anecdote 

A  Levy  on  Capital.   Arguments  for  and  against  This  Solution 
of  Europe's  Debt  Problem  621 

Latin -American  Revolutions  ....        MANUEL  ugarte    627 

A  Political  Analysis  and  a  Moral 
From  Dublin  to  Kerry E.  s.  G.    633 

An  Irishwoman's  Experience 
Bulgaria's  Labor  Army NINO  salvaneschi    636 

A  New  Phase  of  Compulsory  Service 
Air  Travel  in  Russia    .  .    GEORG  POPOFF    638 

A  Christian  Refuge  and  Islamic  Ambitions  .  COLIN  ROSS    642 

Glimpses  of  Asia's  Ferment 
Rouget  de  Lisle  and  the  Marseillaise    .  EDOUARD  GACHOT    647 

The  Augustan  Age  of  Science               .   sir  Richard  Gregory    650 
Al  Wasal,  or  The  Merger hilaire  belloc    658 

An  Arabian  Nights  Tale  up-to-date 
In  the  Red  Sea               ...        MAJOR  ARTHUR  W.  HOWLETT     662 
Radha's  Child C.  R.    665 

An  Indian  Anti-Caste  Story 
A  Page  of  Verse 668 

The  Later  Autumn— After  Victor  Hugo— Lover's  Reply  to  Good  Advice 

Life,  Letters,  and  the  Arts 669 

A  Nonsense  Library —  * L'Echo  De  France'— Vergil's  Farm  — The 
Rubaiyat  of  Two  Modem  Omars 

Books  Abroad 673 

THE  LIVING  AGE  COMPANY 

PUBLICATION  OFFICE:  RUMFORD  BUILDING,  CONCORD,  N.H. 

EDITORIAL  OFFICE:  8  ARLINGTON  STREET,  BOSTON  17,  MASS. 

$5.0(raYear  15c  a  Copy 

Entered  as  second-class  mail  matter  at  Concord,  N.  H. 
Foreign  Postage,  $1.50;  Canadian  Postage,  oOc 


PUBLISHED  EVERY  SATURDAY 


'  Strong  as  man  and  tender  as  woman,  books  welcome  you  in  every  mood. '  —  Larigford. 

In  Defence  of  Nonsense 


SINCE     their     ennui     troubles 
them    more    than   their   igno- 
rance,   people    prefer   being 
amused    to    being     informed,'    re- 
marked L'Abbe  Dubois  in  comment- 
ing disapprovingly  upon  the  popu- 
larity of  light  fiction.     Which,  after 
all,  seems  a  rather  uncharitable  view- 
point.    Does  an  appreciation  of,  let 
us   say,   Walter  Pater's  jeweled  passages 
preclude  one's  enjoyment  of  'Gentle  Julia. f^' 
What  is  behind  this  fatal  tendency  which 
makes  for  the  exclusion  of  so  many  factors 
which  enrich  life."^     There  are  people  who 
can    resist    Charlie    Chaplin.     If    Charlie 
Chaplin  is  not  funny  to  you  that  is  your 
misfortune  not  your  fault.     But  if  your 
reason  for  not  reacting  to  this  'humorous 
poet  who  happens  also  to  be  a  great  actor, ' 
as  someone  has  described  him,  is  that  you 
have  persuaded  yourself  that  one  of  your 
dignity,    taste    and   traditions    could   not 
possibly  be  amused  by  a  slapstick  come- 
dian, then  you  are  betraying  lamentable 
symptoms    of    exclusionism    which    may 
eventually  result  in  your  approaching  the 
melancholy    condition  of  that   Bostonian 
who    when    reproached    for    omitting    to 
invite   his    brother   to  his    housewarmuig 
replied  that  'one  must  draw  the  line  some- 
where.' 

Why  exclude  merely  entertaining  books? 
Eddie  Foy  is  not  comparable  to  Forbes 
Robertson  but  each  has  delighted  us.  There 
is  little  relation  between  George  McManus 
and  Frederick  MacMonnies  but  we  accept 
both  gratefully.  Then  whence  this  confu- 
sion of  thought  about  books  ?   

Because  it  is  true,  as  Bar- 
tholin declaimed: 

'Without  books  God  is 
silent,  justice  dormant,  nat- 
ural science  at  a  stand,  phi- 
losophy lame,  letters  dumb 
and  all  things  involved  in 
Cimmerian  darkness, '  there 
exists  in  some  quarters  a  prej- 
udice against  light  reading. 


-^         We  sell         ^ 


Books  advertised  in 

THE 


Which  seems  about  as  logical  as  to 
condemn  a  bit  of  Haviland  china 
because  Rodin's  medium  was  clay. 

Ours  is  a  sprightly,  unpretentious 
age  and  though  its  frankness  some- 
times degenerates  into  flippancy,  who 
would  return  to  that  Victorian  dig- 
nity which  sometimes  perilously  ap- 
proached pomposity.^  It  was  with 
the  completest  understanding  of  how  it 
would  aflPect  the  erudite  that  Dr.  Frank 
Crane  remarked  to  the  writer  that  with 
fifty  years  of  reading  behind  him,  he  felt 
that  in  all  literature  the  volume  from  which 
he  had  gained  most  intense  pleasure  was 
'The  Adventures  of  Sherlock  Holmes.' 
Judged  by  the  test  of  her  contribution  to  the 
common  sum  of  human  happiness,  it  is  alto- 
gether probable  that  the  life  of  Anna 
Katharine  Green  was  more  significant  than 
that  of  William  Dean  Howells.  Nor  is  it 
necessary  to  justify  light  romances  by 
Bernard  Shaw's  ingenious  defence:  that  by 
indulging  vicariously  in  duels,  murders  and 
deeds  of  violence  one  is  relieved,  according 
to  Freud,  of  the  impulse  to  punch  one's 
neighbor's  nose. 

Many  a  t.  b.  m.  has  embarked  upon  an 
expensive  foreign  tour  to  rebuild  shattered 
nerves  when  through  the  medium  of  a  few 
dozen  of  the  less  weighty  novels  advertised 
m  the  Atlantic  columns  he  might  have  set 
sail  ui)on  the  magic  sea  of  the  novelist's 
imagination  to  achieve  exactly  the  same  re- 
sult: a  lift  from  the  workaday  world,  com- 
plete relaxation,  and  resultant  mental 
health,  not  to  mention  englamored  hours 

of  delightful  entertainment. 

When  you  see  a  bookshop 
displaying  the  reproduced 
insignia,  enter.  For  a  two 
dollar  bill  the  proprietor 
will  sell  you  a  ticket  good 
for  an  eventful  voyage  'on 
the  foam,  of  perilous  seas, 
in  faery  lands  forlorn. '  He 
sells  the  titles  advertised 
in  the  Atlantic. 


THERE  IS  A  BOOKSELLER  IN  YOUR  TOWN 


This  Week 


An  air-journey  across  Bolshe- 
vik Russia,  with  a  narrow  escape 
from  death,  is  the  substance  of  an 
experience  that  Georg  Popoff  re- 
lates in  this  issue  of  the  Living 
Age.  The  aeroplane  was  bound 
from  Konigsberg  to  Moscow  and 
carried  a  package  for  Lenin, 
sealed  with  seven  seals.  Polish 
bullets  and  a  crash  to  earth 
failed  to  prevent  its  arrival. 

•  •  • 

Reports  of  actual  conditions  in 
Central  Asia  are  as  rare  as  they 
are  important.  Colin  Ross  was 
lucky  to  emerge  alive  from  that 
part  of  the  world,  and  we  are 
equally  fortunate  in  being  able  to 
hear  about  his  adventures  and 
impressions  of  the  trip.  Bolshe- 
vik boy-scouts  drilling  under  the 
shadow  of  Mount  Ararat,  side  by 
side  with  British  and  American 
units  is  one  of  the  more  pictur- 
esque scenes. 

•  •   • 

From  Dublin  to  Kerry  is  a  less 
sensational  but  a  no  less  interest- 
ing journey.  The  hopeless  dis- 
order of  the  country  and  the 
tragedy,  lying  so  close  behind  the 
mask  of  unconcern,  are  vividly 
brought  out  by  an  Irish  woman 
who  has  just  been  there  herself. 

•  •  • 

The  possibility  of  a  capital  tax 
in  England  has  been  increased  by 
the  large  Labor  vote  in  the  recent 
elections.  The  subject  is  compe- 
tently discussed,  'pro  and  con,  by 
the  New  Statesman  and  the 
Spectator, 

•  •   • 


Business  men  have  fought  a 
little  shy  of  South  America,  by  rea^ 
son  of  the  frequent  and  devastat- 
ing revolutions  that  take  place 
there.  Manuel  Ugarte,  one  of  the 
leading  writers  in  that  continent, 
believes  in  a  great  Latin  American 
Union.  He  is  thoroughly  conver- 
sant with  his  subject  and  his 
opinions  are  soimd  as  well  as 
encouraging. 

•  •   • 

Bulgaria  has  set  about  her  re- 
construction work  with  admira- 
ble energy.  Conscripting  labor, 
rather  than  soldiers,  is  an  exam- 
ple which  has  proved  itself  worthy 
of  serious  attention,  and  Com- 
munists may  regard  it  as  a 
triumph  for  their  doctrine  of 
working  for  the  State. 

•  •   • 

The  Marseillaise  is  generally 
considered  the  finest  of  all  na- 
tional anthems.  The  history  of 
its  author,  which  includes  an 
account  of  how  he  composed  the 
song,  forms  a  vital  part  of  the 
great  tradition  of  French  patriot- 
ism. 

•  •  • 

Readers  of  the  Living  Age 
are  already  acquainted  with  Hil- 
laire  Belloc,  who  is  at  his  best 
in  an  amusing  description  of  a 
merger,  in  the  city  of  the  Caliphs. 
And  Thomas  Hardy  needs  even 
less  introduction.  His  poem,  on 
the  Page  of  Verse,  would  be  read 
if  only  because  it  is  written  by 
the  greatest  living  figure  in 
English  letters. 


^<^i 


<iyf  (jift  ^ook  of  Unusual  beauty 

MEMORIES  OF  A  HOSTESS 

^A  Qhrontcle  of  £minent  Friendships 

DRAWN  CHIEFLY  FROM  THE  DIARIES  OF  MRS.  JAMES  T.  FIELDS 

"By  M.  A.  DeWolfe  Howe 

Turn  these  pages  of  happy  reminiscence  and  you  find  yourself 
in  the  delightful  old-time  Boston  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  ] 


preciation  or  our  longing  for  those 
bygone  days  when  Longfellow  and 
Lowell  and  Holmes  and  the  others 
were  a  part  of  Boston  life,  and  when 
among  its  frequent  distinguished 
visitors  were  Mark  Tw«iin  and  Ed- 
win Booth  and  Joseph  Jefferson. 
These  are  only  a  few  of  the  names 
that  throng  the  pages  of  Mrs. 
Fields's  diaries  as  she  records  the 
comings  and  goings  of  their  pos- 
sessors through  the  hospitable  doors 
of  the  Fields  house. 

Dickens,  Hawthorne,  Charles 
Sumner,  Bret  Harte,  Ellen 
Terry,  Christine  Nilsson,  the  Henry 
Jameses,  father  and  son,  and  a  host 
of  others  cross  Mrs.  Fields's  canvas. 
Many  of  the  pen  portraits  are  suc- 
cinct and  picturesque.  Altogether 
it  is  a  notable  book  of  reminiscent 
literary  biography. 

— Boston  Transcript. 

Illustrated  with  portraits  and  facsimile  letters.     ^4.00 
At  AU  Booksellers,  or  THE  ATLANTIC  MONTHLY  PRESS 

THE  ATLANTIC  MONTHLY  PRESS,  Inc.  ^•^*  "-^^-22 

8  Arlington  Street,  Boston  (17),  Mass. 

Gentlemen:  Enclosed  find and  mail,  postpaid, copies 

MEMORIES  OF  A  HOSTESS 

(If  you  wish  this  book  sent  direct,  with  Christmas  card  bearing  your  name 
as  donor,  kindly  enclose  detailed  instructions.) 

Name Address 


Nothing  could  more  eloquently 
suggest  the  Boston  of  other  days 
than  the  reminiscent  pages  skilfully 
gathered  by  Mr.  Howe  out  of  Mrs. 
Fields's  diaries  and  other  papers. 
The  period  of  their  recollections  is 
mainly  the  sixties  and  the  seventies 
when  Boston  was  a  centre  of  Ameri- 
can culture  and  literary  life.  There 
were  giants  in  those  days,  and  at 
least  half  the  great  figures  of  Ameri- 
can letters  and  the  learned  profes- 
sions either  lived  in  Boston  or  had 
close  association  with  it.  Therefore 
the  diaries  of  the  gracious  lady  who 
was  the  wife  of  a  leading  publisher, 
editor,  lecturer  and  writer  are  neces- 
sarily an  intimate  record  of  the  place 
and  the  time. 

The  times  have  changed,  but 
many  of  us  have  not  changed  with 
them.  Neither  have  we  lost  our  ap- 


m 


THE   LIVING  AGE 

for  NEXT  WEEK 

WILL  CONTAIN  AMONG  OTHER  THINGS 

WHEN  THE  FRANC  COLLAPSED  William  Bolitho 

The  Exchange  Panic  in  Paris 

A  FIVE  YEARS'  LESSON 

Contrasting  Appraisals  of  the  Russian  Revolution 

AN  AUTUMN  VISIT  TO  BAVARIA  Auriol  Barran 

FUNDAMENTALS  OF  POLISH  POLICY        A  Warsaw  Correspondent 
The  Last  Election  Issues 

REMOTER  RUSSIA.  A  Snapshot  of  a  Land  of  Graft  Georg  Cleinow 

A  MEXICAN  LANDSCAPE  Gahriela  Mistral 

THE  LONG  JOURNEY.  A  Vision  of  Pre-human  History 

Johannes  V,  Jensen 

WAGNER  RECONSIDERED  Louis  N.  Parker 

CHRISTMAS  CAKES  AND  CHRISTMAS  PARTIES 

J.  FairfaX'Blakehorough 

ON  CAROLS  R,L.G. 

DULLNESS:  A  LIVELY  DISSERTATION  George  Saintshury 

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12-16-22 


Babbitt 


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Queen  Victoria 

(Popular  Edition) 
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From  the  plates  of  the  $5.00  edition,  $2.50 

Hunters  of  the  Great  North 

By  VILHJALMUR  STEFANSSON 
Author  of  The  Northward  Course  of  Empire 

For  boys  —  and  others  who  love  an  account 
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Rootabaga  Stories 

By  CARL  SANDBURG 

Fantastic  stories  for  young  people  of  all 
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"Sublime  nonsense — America  keeping  abreast 
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Books  and  Characters 

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Lytton  Strachey's  new  book  of  biography 
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By  JACOB  WASSERMANN 

Author  of  The  World's  Illusion 


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Tribune.  477  pages,  $2.50 


HARCOURT,    BRACE    AND    COMPANY 

1  W.  47TH  STREET  NEW  YORK  CITY 


TT     f 


THE  LIVING  AGE 

VOLUME  315  — NUMBER  4093 


DECEMBER  16,  1922 


A  WEEK  OF  THE  WORLD 


REPARATIONS  IN  THE  FRENCH  CHAMBER 

Paul  Reynaud,  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  of  the  younger  members  of  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  and  an  adherent 
of  the  National  Bloc,  delivered  a  nota- 
ble speech  in  the  Chamber  on  October 
20,  which  was  listened  to  with  marked 
attention  by  a  packed  house.  Although 
a  Nationalist  of  the  same  school  as 
President  Millerand,  he  vigorously  as- 
sailed Poincare's  policy,  and  ridiculed 
the  Premier's  practice  of  threatening 
every  month  or  so  to  seize  the  Ruhr, 
and  then  receding  from  his  bold  posi- 
tion and  making  further  concessions  to 
Germany.  He  compared  Poincare  to  a 
threatening  dragon  breathing  forth  fire 
and  flame  but  securely  chained  to  a  wall 
by  the  tail  —  a  simile  that  was  greeted 
with  vociferous  approval  by  the  Dep- 
uties. 

But  the  principal  points  of  the  speech 
related  to  the  more  fundamental  as- 
pects of  the  Reparations  problem.  The 
speaker  argued  that  Germany  was  no 
longer  in  a  position  to  pay  either 
money  or  goods  upon  her  Reparations 
account,  a  statement  that  was  ap- 
plauded on  the  extreme  Left  and  evoked 
no  protest  from  the  Right  and  the 
Centre.  He  also  attacked  the  proposed 
Stinnes  agreement  upon  political 
grounds,  although  he  championed  an 


understanding  between  German  and 
French  industrialists.  He  criticized  any 
policy  that  tended  to  amalgamate  Ger- 
man and  French  industries  as  certain 
to  serve  private  interests  more  than 
they  served  public  interests.  This  por- 
tion of  his  speech  was  applauded  by  the 
Communists  and  Socialists  and  also  by 
the  ultra-Royalist  reactionary,  Leon 
Daudet,  who  found  himself  in  rather 
unusual  company  on  this  occasion.  The 
speaker's  lucid  and  matter-oi-fact  de- 
scription of  the  actual  economic  condi- 
tion of  Germany  was  probably  the  most 
objective  and  unbiased  statement  of 
this  fundamental  economic  factor  in  the 
Reparations  question  that  has  been 
made  in  the  Chamber. 

After  devoting  the  first  part  of  his 
speech  to  this  destructive  criticism, 
Reynaud  proceeded  to  take  up  con- 
structive measures.  His  proposal  was 
in  substance  that  France  should  receive 
thirty  per  cent  of  the  capital  stock  and 
debentures  of  all  industrial  corporations, 
mining  corporations,  and  similar  enter- 
prises in  Germany.  The  proprietors 
should  have  the  option  of  redeeming 
these  stocks  and  debentures  with  gold 
whenever  they  so  desired. 

This  notable  address  was  followed  by 
M.  Loucheur'sbold  and  vigorous  speech 
in  the  Chamber  on  November  8.  The 
sudden  fall  of  the  franc  was  threatening 


Copyright  1922,  by  the  Living  Age  Co. 


616 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


a  political  as  well  as  a  financial  panic. 
Loucheur  is  regarded  as  a  man  whose 
political  career  has  not  yet  reached  its 
zenith.  Dr.  Rathenau  predicted  before 
his  death  that  Loucheur  would  be  mas- 
ter of  France  within  two  years.  The 
speaker  aflSrmed  that  Lloyd  George 
and  his  British  associates  at  Paris  were 
responsible  for  the  grave  error  in  the 
original  estimate  of  what  Germany 
could  pay. 

I  remember  the  tenacity  with  which  Mr. 
Lloyd  George  supported  the  views  of  his 
expert.  That  day  it  was  the  sum  of  200 
milliard  gold  marks  which  was  fixed  as  the 
figure.  We  think  differently  to-day.  I  re- 
called this  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George  at  Che- 
quers, and  he  bore  me  out  loyally. 

Referring  to  the  Interallied  debts,  he 
asserted  that  America  had  not  lent  gold 
to  France,  but  iron  and  explosives;  the 
only  way  to  pay  her  back  was  in  the 
same  materials.  *I  do  not  count  the 
Interallied  debts  in  my  calculations. 
Why?  Because  we  cannot  pay  them.' 
This  statement  elicited  great  applause. 

Turning  then  to  the  future  policy  of 
France,  the  speaker  declared  that  the 
choice  was  *  either  a  strong  exporting 
Germany  that  can  pay,  or  our  security. 
.  .  .  Between  the  two  I  should  not 
hesitate  to  choose.  I  choose  security.* 
He  would  apply  this  programme  by 
seizing  control  of  Germany's  principal 
industrial  territory,  though  without 
political  annexation. 

I  do  not  want  a  protectorate  nor  annexa- 
tion. I  do  not  want  to  separate  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine  from  the  rest  of  Ger- 
many; that  would  be  an  economic  impossi- 
bility. I  simply  want  the  Prussian  func- 
tionaries replaced.  I  desire  simply  that 
Interallied  military  supervision  should  stop 
the  creation  of  military  organizations  in 
that  country  against  us.  M.  Clemenceau 
proposed,  like  myself,  that  an  Interallied 
force,  placed  under  the  control  of  the 
League  of  Nations,  should  occupy  the  left 
bank.  That  would  not  be  hard,  for  it 
would  not  be  at  the  charge  of  the  Reich. 


This  plan  —  which  seems  to  imply 
the  cooperation  of  all  the  Allies,  was 
received  with  respect  but  not  with  un- 
qualified endorsement  by  the  British 
press.  To  be  sure,  the  Nation  and  the 
Athenceum  calls  it  *  the  most  courageous 
and  most  objective  utterance  that 
France  has  listened  to  since  the  war.' 
Loucheur's  taxation  scheme  *  looked  an 
honest  and  —  for  France  —  a  drastic 
endeavor.' 

The  guide-points  of  the  speech  were  (1) 
the  substitution  of  the  ideal  of  political 
security  for  that  of  a  ruinous  economic 
drain  on  Germany;  (2)  its  declaration  that 
the  grand  aim  was  safety  by  way  of  Euro- 
pean reconstruction,  not  by  way  of  a 
separatist  French  policy;  (3)  its  proposal 
to  release  the  stranglehold  on  the  Rhine, 
and  to  substitute  occupation  in  the  name 
of  the  League  of  Nations.  These  are  new 
and  bold  ideas,  and  M.  Loucheur  is  a  bold 
man. 

None  the  less  his  proposals  are  viewed 
with  some  distrust,  even  by  the  Tory 
Morning  Post,  as  verging  too  close, 
perhaps,  to  the  Dariac  Report  policy. 
That  journal  says : 

M.  Loucheur's  programme  is  admirable, 
but,  in  the  face  of  such  difficulties,  is  it  not 
a  trifle  too  ambitious.?  To  our  mind,  the 
supreme  task  of  statesmanship  both  in 
France  and  Great  Britain  at  the  present 
moment  is  to  seek  a  common  understand- 
ing, and  thereby  to  renew  the  Entente.  If 
agreement  were  reached,  then  the  two 
Powers  might  undertake,  as  Lord  Curzon 
suggested  in  his  City  speech,  the  considera- 
tion of  the  European  problem,  step  by  step 
and  country  by  country.  Before  Europe 
can  be  saved,  France  and  Great  Britain 
must  save  one  another.  And  the  way  of 
salvation  is  the  way  of  unity. 

Leon  Daudet,  the  Monarchist  Dep- 
uty, prints  an  alarmist  leader  in 
L* Action  Frangaise  to  the  effect  that 
the  whole  speech  is  a  plot  to  overthrow 
Poincare. 

Loucheur  threw  his  gauntlet  into  the 
ring  day  before  yesterday,  amid  the  ap- 


A  WEEK  OF  THE  WORLD 


617 


plause  of  his  clumsy  mamelukes  of  the  Left 
and  the  extreme  Left,  as  premature  candi- 
date for  the  premiership.  Apparently  this 
was  the  result  of  an  understanding  with 
Millerand  and  Millerand's  principal  finan- 
cial adviser,  M.  Finaly,  director  of  the 
Banque  de  Paris  et  des  Pays-Bos.  What  is 
proposed,  I  repeat,  is  a  petroleum  and 
hydroelectric  Cabinet,  representing  an  alli- 
ance between  the  omnipotent  American  oil 
magnates  and  M.  Loucheur  himself. 

A  FARMERS  INTERNATIONAL 

The  movement  toward  internation- 
alism goes  on  apace  under  the  pressure 
of  post-war  conditions.  We  hear  of 
International  Free  Trade  Congresses  at 
Budapest  and  Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
of  the  International  Labor  Conference 
at  Geneva,  and  now  of  an  International 
Farmers  Conference  at  Spa,  the  Belgian 
health  resort  made  familiar  to  the  whole 
world  as  the  site  of  the  German  head- 
quarters, and  of  important  meetings  be- 
tween the  representatives  of  Germany 
and  the  Allies  after  the  war.  This  con- 
gress was  called  by  the  farmers,  farm 
managers,  and  farm  laborers  of  Belgium, 
and  representatives  from  nine  countries 
were  present.  Among  other  resolutions 
they  adopted  was :  — 

Believing  it  to  be  the  best  means  of 
promoting  a  general  accord  among  nations, 
that  will  foster  progress,  and  the  well-being 
of  individuals  and  communities;  that  will 
guarantee  the  rights  and  interests  of  the 
agricultural  population,  and  raise  agricul- 
tural production  to  the  maximum :  — 

We  declare  that  we  are  firmly  resolved  to 
cultivate  a  spirit  of  peace  among  nations; 
to  secure  the  general  participation  of  the 
farming  population  in  the  guidance  of  inter- 
national policy,  and  directly  to  promote 
closer  relations  between  governments; 

And  we  resolve  to  form  at  once  an  Inter- 
national Farmers  Association,  directly  rep- 
resenting the  desires  of  the  cultivators.  .  .  . 

It  will  be  recalled  that  a  *  Green 
International,'  called  into  life  partic- 
ularly to  resist  the  extension  of  *Iled 


Internationalist'  encroachments  upon 
the  right  of  private  property  as  applied 
to  peasant  holdings,  has  been  agitated, 
and  indeed  is  reported  to  be  already 
functioning  to  some  extent  in  South- 
eastern Europe. 

Mr.  Victor  Baret,  a  leading  promoter 
of  the  Spa  Conference,  believes  that  the 
international  spirit  that  must  precede 
a  true  reconciliation  of  nations  can  be 
propagated  among  farmers  faster,  per- 
haps, than  among  any  other  class. 

Assemble  the  diplomats,  the  financiers, 
the  captains  of  industry,  from  the  rest  of 
Europe  and  the  world.  You  will  at  once 
discover  that  the  views  and  attitudes  of  the 
representatives  of  each  country  are  pro- 
foundly different  from  those  of  their 
neighbors.  The  Germans  will  view  things 
largely  from  the  point  of  view  of  State 
control  and  State  assistance,  in  which  they 
have  been  drilled  from  infancy.  The  French 
and  the  Belgians  will  be  temperamentally 
inclined  to  waive  material  and  immediate 
interests  for  sentimental  objects;  even  the 
Americans,  although  more  realist,  will  also 
be  moved  by  a  certain  idealism.  And  the 
English  will  refuse  to  consider  any  subject 
that  is  not  immediately  important  and 
pertinent  to  the  problems  of  the  hour.  In 
a  meeting  of  so  many  minds,  more  or  less 
rigidly  controlled  by  past  training  and 
prejudices,  it  is  difficult  to  agree  on  a 
common  programme,  no  matter  how  sin- 
cerely each  desires  to  do  so.  Experience 
has  proved  that  all  too  plainly. 

But  we  farmers,  no  matter  whence  we 
come,  have  the  common  sympathies  in- 
herent in  our  calling;  we  have  the  same 
cares  and  the  same  preoccupations,  no 
matter  what  our  country  may  be.  This 
gives  us  a  common  meeting-ground,  irre- 
spective of  nationality. 


JOFFE  AT  PEKING 

We  published  on  November  4  an 
account  of  the  reception  of  Joff'e,  the 
new  Soviet  envoy  at  Peking.  Eric  von 
Salzmann,  the  veteran  China  corres- 
pondent of  Vossische  Zeitung,  gives  a 


618 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


supplementary  version  of  this  incident 
which  is  not  without  interest  to  West- 
ern readers.  The  magnificent  embassy 
buildings  of  the  Tsar's  government  at 
Peking  are  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
foreign  diplomatic  corps  and  adminis- 
tered by  the  Dutch  Ambassador  there. 
Jofi'e  is  living  in  a  private  residence 
rented  from  a  Chinaman. 

It  is  amusing  to  observe  how  fanatically 
the  foreign-language  press  pounced  upon 
Joffe  and  his  mission,  even  before  he  opened 
his  mouth.  Dr.  Joffe  said  to  me  personally 
that  he  had  never  had  such  an  experience 
before,  and  would  not  have  considered  it 
possible.  He  was  particularly  surprised  be- 
cause everyone  at  Genoa,  beginning  with 
Lloyd  George  himself,  had  treated  him  in 
a  friendly  and  confidential  manner*  Here 
in  Peking,  however,  he  encounters  an 
almost  incredible  distrust  and  reserve. 
What  he  remarks  most  is  that  the  impe- 
rialist, capitalist  English-language  and 
French-language  press  of  China  assume  the 
attitude  of  running  the  country  and  pre- 
scribing what  the  Chinese  shall  do. 

'Tell  me,'  said  Joffe,  'what  all  these 
newspapers  want  of  me?  Am  I  really  in 
China?  Is  this  an  independent  country  or 
a  foreign  colony?  Every  little  sheet  is  tell- 
ing me  what  to  do.  My  plans  and  my 
antecedents  are  the  smallest  part  of  their 
tale.  Every  little  editor  presumes  to  notify 
me  with  what  Chinese  I  must  associate  and 
what  Chinese  I  am  forbidden  to  see.  They 
are  in  a  fine  fury  because  I  address  the 
University  of  Peking  and  its  students,  who 
gave  me  such  a  cordial  reception,  and  whose 
President,  Tsai,  referred  to  Russia  as 
China's  teacher.'  .    .    . 

A  person  familiar  with  the  Far  East  will 
experience  no  surprise.  For  twenty-two 
years  foreigners  have  assumed  to  play  the 
same  r61e  in  this  country  as  the  Occupation 
authorities  arrogate  to  themselves  in  our 
Western  provinces.  Twenty-two  years  is  a 
long  time,  almost  a  generation.  They  have 
become  so  accustomed  to  that  attitude  that 
they  cannot  conceive  anything  else. 

But  it  will  be  different.  Joffe  is  merely 
playing  the  overture  for  a  new  drama.  He 
vastly  overestimates  the  China  press. 
Public  opinion  in  this  coimtry  is  made  in  a 


different  way.  It  pursues  invisible  chan- 
nels peculiar  to  the  Orient,  of  which  most 
foreigners  know  nothing.  Reports  of  what 
the  Russian  ambassador  has  said  circulate 
with  the  speed  of  the  wind  from  tea-house 
to  tea-house,  from  mouth  to  mouth.  By 
highway  and  byway,  by  railway  and  river- 
boat,  from  the  centre  to  the  farthest  con- 
fines of  the  Empire,  people  are  saying 
everywhere:  'Liberty  is  dawning,  and  this 
Russian  is  its  herald.'  That  is  precisely 
what  Joffe  intends. 

Joffe's  message  is:  *I  want  no  treaties;  I 
want  no  concessions;  I  am  here  merely  to 
tell  you  that  Russia  is  alive;  I  want  to  show 
you  that  Russia  is  a  great  member  of  the 
family  of  nations.  .  .  .  Russia  wants  to 
live  in  peace  with  everyone.  Russia  has  no 
imperialist  aims,  but  she  wishes  to  bring 
enlightenment  to  the  impoverished  masses 
wherever  the  victims  of  imperialist  and 
capitalist  exploitation  are  to  be  found. 
They  pretend  that  I  am  here  as  a  Bolshevist 
propagandist.  I  have  no  such  design.  If 
the  Chinese  ask  me  to  speak  to  them  I  shall 
merely  state  the  facts.  If  foreigners  call  that 
propaganda  I  cannot  help  it.' 
iP 

FASCISTI  IN  HUNGARY  AND  BAVARIA 

Herr  VON  Rakovsky,  Hungarian 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  in  a  recent 
address  to  the  voters  of  his  district 
said:  'The  Fascisti  movement  in  Hun- 
gary threatens  the  very  existence  of  the 
State,  for  it  seeks  to  undermine  and 
not  to  strengthen  order  and  discipline 
in  the  State.'  Commenting  upon  this. 
Pester  Lloyd,  a  journal  of  unquestioned 
bourgeois  orthodoxy,  says :  — 

The  public  knows  that  an  intensely  ac- 
tive secret  movement  is  going  on  to  form  a 
Mussolini  organization  here.  .  .  .  But 
there  is  a  very  essential  difference  between 
the  Italian  Fascisti  and  the  men  who  are 
imitating  their  methods  and  slogans  in 
Hungary.  .  .  .  The  Italian  Fascisti  have 
a  Mussolini  to  lead  them,  a  man  who  uses 
revolutionary  methods,  it  is  true,  but  only 
for  the  purpose  of  reestablishing  the  shaken 
authority  of  the  Government,  and  to  fight 
a  form  of  revolution  that  would  destroy 
that  authority.    His  whole  conduct,  since 


A  WEEK  OF  THE  WORLD 


619 


his  appointment  as  Premier,  proves  that  he 
merely  sought  to  abolish  a  weak  and  vac- 
illating rule  that  feared  to  take  vigorous 
measures  against  those  who  plotted  to  over- 
throw the  State.  .  .  .But  the  men  who 
are  promoting  the  Hungarian  Fascisti  move- 
ment are  not  of  this  sort,  nor  do  they  seek 
this  object.  .  .  .  They  do  not  aim  to 
strengthen  discipline  in  the  State,  but  to 
demoralize  that  discipline. 

Apparently  the  Government  takes 
this  view  of  the  new  organization  and 
its  aims;  for  the  Home  Office  has  pro- 
hibited the  Society.  Former  Premier 
Stephen  Friedrich,  the  Royalist  leader 
recently  under  trial  as  leader  of  the 
conspirators  who  assassinated  Tiza, 
was  discovered  to  be  at  the  head  of  the 
movement.  The  secret  pledge  of  the 
Hungarian  Fascisti  included  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  Hapsburg  dynasty; 
and  their  confiscated  records  disclose 
the  fact  that  their  aims  were  directed 
against  both  neighboring  States  and  the 
present  Government.  They  tried  to  en- 
list influential  Israelites  in  their  ranks, 
but  at  the  same  time  were  decidedly 
anti-Semite.  Among  their  expressed 
objects  was  the  *  education  of  the  youth 
of  Hungary  in  the  spirit  of  Attila.' 

Meanwhile,  several  of  the  largest 
papers  in  Southern  Germany  are  dis- 
playing suspicious  enthusiasm  for  the 
Fascisti  victory  in  Italy,  and  rumor  has 
it  that  a  similar  organization  is  being 
formed  at  Munich  and  perhaps  else- 
where in  Bavaria.  This  Bavarian  group 
is  led  by  an  Austrian  agitator,  and  is 
primarily  anti-Jewish.  It  professes  not 
to  be  monarchist,  but  presumably  has 
the  secret  support  of  the  Royalists. 
Its  programme,  like  the  original  pro- 
gramme of  the  Fascisti  in  Italy,  is  prin- 
cipally negative  —  to  do  away  with  the 
parties,  politicians,  and  programmes 
that  have  ruled  Germany  since  the 
revolution.  Its  professed  tactics  are 
direct  action;  and  it  repudiates  parlia- 
mentary methods  and  majority  rule. 


NEWS  BARRIERS  IN  EUROPE 

Admirers  of  Pierre  Loti  will  be 
happy  to  know  that  the  report  of  his 
death,  which  was  the  occasion  of  com- 
memorative articles  in  the  European 
press,  is  apparently  erroneous.  Possi- 
bly the  mistake  was  due  to  confusing 
him  with  another  Julien  Viaud  in  the 
French  Naval  Service. 

The  fact  that  a  mistaken  rumor  of 
this  kind  should  stand  uncorrected 
speaks  volumes  for  the  disorganization 
of  European  news  service  since  the  war. 
The  people  are  too  poor  to  pay  for  bet- 
ter news  facilities.  Not  only  railway 
service,  but  postal  and  telegraphic 
communication  have  suffered  to  an  ex- 
tent that  Americans  can  scarcely  realize. 
Not  since  the  invention  of  the  telegraph 
have  the  countries  of  central  and  east- 
ern Europe  known  less  about  what 
goes  on  in  their  neighbors'  territory 
than  to-day.  Not  long  ago  a  coal- 
mine catastrophe  occurred  in  Transyl- 
vania, where  two  hundred  and  twelve 
miners  were  buried  alive.  Not  a  word 
of  this  reached  the  press  for  more  than 
a  week,  because  the  news  boundary 
between  Rumania  and  Hungary,  which 
is  the  usual  route  by  which  such  a  press 
notice  would  travel,  had  become  prac- 
ticallyl  impervious  to  such  reports. 
Vienna  used  to  be  the  news  centre  of 
Austria-Hungary,  the  Balkans,  and  the 
Near  East.  The  Neue  Freie  Presse  and 
other  papers  of  similar  standing  had 
their  own  correspondents  and  news 
collectors  in  every  important  centre 
throughout  this  territory.  Now,  no 
paper,  especially  in  a  country  having  a 
depreciated  currency,  can  afford  such 
facilities.  As  a  result,  the  circulation  of 
news  from  one  country  to  another  is 
left  mainly  to  semi-official  state-sub- 
sidized agencies,  which  send  out  noth- 
ing unfavorable  to  their  own  countries. 

Even  newspapers  like  the  great  Ber- 
lin dailies,  that  can  afford  to  employ 


620 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


foreign  correspondents,  now  have  to 
rely  mainly  on  local  journalists  whose 
messages  are  written  with  an  eye  to 
securing  the  approval  of  the  officials 
where  they  reside.  An  Hungarian 
journalist  who  ventured  to  criticize 
certain  conditions  in  his  own  country, 
in  an  article  in  a  Vienna  news- 
paper, was  recently  tried  for  treason, 
and  condemned  to  two  years'  loss  of 
civil  rights.  In  Bavaria,  what  is  prac- 
tically life-imprisonment  has  been  im- 
posed on  newspaper  writers  for  the 
same  offence.  The  result  is  that  the 
foreign  despatches,  even  in  many  of  the 
larger  Berlin  dailies,  consist  mainly  of 
gleanings  from  the  press  of  adjoining 
countries.  This  news  isolation  natur- 
ally disposes  the  people  of  each  country 
to  become  more  and  more  wrapped  up 
in  their  local  affairs  and  prevents  good 
understanding  between  nations. 

A  very  recent  illustration  of  this 
condition  is  given  in  the  following 
Amsterdam  dispatch  to  the  London 
Times:  — 

The  Telegraaf  states  this  evening  that, 
to  its  great  regret,  it  will  not  be  able  for 
the  present  to  publish  reports  and  letters 
about  the  political  situation  in  Italy  from 
its  correspondent  in  Rome,  the  Italian 
Foreign  Ofl&ce  having  thought  fit  to  inform 
the  Rome  correspondent  of  the  Telegraaf 
that  the  way  in  which  he  is  writing  about 
the  Fascist  movement  in  Italy,  and  about 
the  new  Fascist  regime,  does  not  meet  with 
the  approval  of  the  Government  now  in 
power. 

The  letter  from  the  Italian  Foreign  Office 
to  the  correspondent,  the  text  of  which  has 
not  yet  reached  the  Telegraaf ^  contains  a 
warning  that  the  correspondent  will  have  to 
bear  the  eventual  consequences  should  he 
maintain  his  present  attitude. 

The  Telegraaf  suggests  that  these  *  con- 
sequences '  would  be  expulsion,  and  it  adds 


that  it  is  not  a  proof  of  firmness  that  a 
Government  should  consider  it  necessary  to 
embark  upon  such  a  course  of  intimidation 
and  direct  infringement  of  the  right  of  free 
expression  of  thought.  From  Signor  Mus- 
solini, in  particular,  who  has  had  a  long 
journalistic  career,  and  should  be  well 
aware  of  the  difficulties  with  which  a 
journalist  is  confronted,  such  action  was 
not  to  be  expected. 


AN  UNPUBLISHED  CRISPl  ANECDOTE 

The  article  upon  Crispi  published  in 
the  Living  Age  of  November  18  has 
brought  the  editor  an  interesting  note 
from  a  reader  whose  family  was  in  the 
American  diplomatic  service  in  France, 
Italy,  and  Austria  many  years  ago. 
During  this  prolonged  sojourn  abroad, 
members  of  the  family  became  con- 
nected by  marriage  with  prominent 
families  in  Europe.  A  daughter  by  one 
of  these  alliances  —  more  French  than 
American  by  birth  and  breeding  —  re- 
lated, during  a  visit  to  this  country 
several  years  ago,  the  following  inci- 
dent. During  her  girlhood,  she  had 
made  the  acquaintance  of  young  Count 
Crispi,  and  a  tender  attachment,  ulti- 
mately leading  to  an  engagement,  had 
sprung  up  between  them. 

He  must  have  been  a  veritable  Don  Juan 
to  hold  so  long  the  sentimental  interest  of 
a  woman.  Taking  out  a  box  of  old  love 
letters  and  many  still  treasured  gifts,  among 
them  a  cameo  pin  he  had  had  made  for  her 
with  his  head  on  it,  she  said  the  trouble  was 
all  because  of  their  opposing  religious  be- 
liefs. She,  of  course,  was  strongly  Roman 
Catholic.  Each  thought  the  other  would 
give  in,  until  the  time  for  the  marriage 
drew  near,  when  she  found  there  was  no 
hope  of  converting  him.  So,  she  said:  *I 
rose  and  left  the  room,  and  never  saw  him 
afterwards.* 


A  LEVY  ON  CAPITAL 


[The  proposal  to  impose  a  levy  upon  capital^  especially  upon  fortunes  acquired  during 
the  war,  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  public  debts,  is  widely  mooted  in  Europe.  Switzerland 
defeated  such  a  proposal  by  a  heavy  majority  on  December  3.  The  Labor  Party  in  Great 
Britain  advocates  the  same  measure.  Many  Frenchmen  would  compel  Germany  to  adopt  a 
similar  device  to  pay  her  Reparations  claims.  The  affirmative  argument  which  we  give  below 
is  from  the  Radical  Liberal  New  Statesman  of  November  11;  the  negative  is  from  the  Mod- 
erate Conservative  Spectator  of  the  same  date.] 


There  could  hardly  be  a  worse  sub- 
ject than  the  Capital  Levy  as  the  chief 
issue  in  a  general  election.  It  is  even 
more  intricate  and  technical  than 
tariff  reform.  Probably  it  is  not  exag- 
gerating to  say  that  ninety  per  cent  of 
the  electorate  and  quite  fifty  per  cent 
of  the  politicians  are  incapable  of 
explaining  or  understanding  either  the 
case  for  a  capital  levy  or  the  case 
against  it.  Mr.  Bonar  Law  now  admits 
that  he  was  in  favor  of  it  in  1917.  Cir- 
cumstances have  altered  since  then, 
and  he  is  perfectly  entitled  to  say  that 
he  has  changed  his  mind.  But  to  go 
further  and  denounce  it  as  'absolute 
lunacy/  as  he  did  in  a  recent  speech, 
without  giving  any  substantial  argu- 
ments against  it,  is  merely  throwing 
dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  electorate. 
There  is  still  a  strong  case  for  it,  and 
there  is  also  a  strong  case  against  it. 

The  strongest  argument  in  its  favor 
is,  of  course,  that  the  high  rate  of 
income  tax  which  existing  debt-charges 
render  necessary  is  a  serious  handicap 
to  the  development  of  new  business  by 
enterprising  men  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion. If  industry  is  not  to  stagnate,  it 
is  vital  to  encourage  new  men  with 
little  or  no  capital  behind  them  to  take 
risks  and  seize  any  new  openings  for 
profitable  enterprise  which  may  arise. 
But  it  is  just  these  men  that  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  a  huge  national 
debt  will  most  penalize.  If  there  is  no 
levy,  they  will  have  to  hand  over  every 


year,  perhaps  for  the  rest  of  their 
lives,  an  annual  toll  on  the  fruits  of 
their  enterprise  for  the  benefit  of  hold- 
ers of  war  loans,  many  of  whom  will 
have  retired  from  productive  work.  In 
other  words,  while  under  a  capital  levy 
the  burden  would  fall  on  the  present 
owners  of  wealth,  without  it  a  large 
contribution  will  be  made  by  younger 
men,  who  are  now  poor  —  partly  be- 
cause most  of  them  were  called  upon  to 
fight  during  the  war  instead  of  staying 
behind  to  make  money  and  invest  in 
war  loans.  This  is  not  merely  a  senti- 
mental argument;  it  is  sound  eco- 
nomic argument  as  well. 

But  there  is  another  aspect  of  the 
capital  levy  to  which  little  attention 
has  been  paid,  either  by  its  advocates 
or  by  its  opponents.  That  is  the  mone- 
tary aspect.  What  effect  will  the  de- 
cision, either  for  or  against,  have  upon 
the  level  of  prices  and  the  purchasing 
power  of  money?  Would  a  capital 
levy  involve  inflation  or  deflation? 
Would  it  delay  or  assist  the  stabiliza- 
tion of  currency  and  exchanges  which  is 
so  much  needed  and  is,  indeed,  by  far 
the  most  important  object  which  the 
Government  should  seek  to  achieve? 

Paradoxically  enough,  it  is  some- 
times held,  even  by  experienced  bank- 
ers and  business  men,  that  a  capital 
levy  would  involve  inflation.  The  argu- 
ment apparently  is  that  since  the 
majority  of  people  assessed  would  be 
unable  to  raise  the  necessary  capital  and 

6£1 


622 


THE?  LIVING  AGE 


would  find  it  impossible  to  realize  on 
stocks  and  shares  when  everybody  else 
was  trying  to  do  the  same,  they  would 
have  to  go  to  their  banks  and  obtain  a 
bank  loan  to  enable  them  to  pay  their 
contribution.  This  expansion  of  bank 
loans  would  mean  inflation  and  a  gen- 
eral rise  in  prices. 

This  argument  appears  to  be  radi- 
cally unsound.  In  the  first  place,  the 
number  of  people  who  would  be  unable 
to  find  the  money  at  once  is  not  likely 
to  be  very  great.  If  the  levy  was  for 
only  half  the  amount  of  the  national 
debt,  the  greater  part  would  be  paid 
off  without  difficulty  by  the  majority 
of  contributors,  by  simply  handing  in 
war  stock  to  be  cancelled.  Secondly, 
the  difficulty  of  realizing  on  other  stocks 
and  shares  is  exaggerated,  since  many 
war-debt  holders  would  be  receiving 
cash  from  the  Government  in  excess  of 
their  individual  contribution  to  the 
levy.  Though  the  assistance  of  the 
banks  might  be  required  to  tide  over  an 
awkward  interval,  sellers  on  the  Stock 
Exchange  would  eventually  be  met  by 
an  equal  number  of  buyers  with  new 
cash  in  their  pockets.  Lastly,  people 
who  were  unable  to  raise  money  owing 
to  their  capital  being  locked  up  in 
their  own  business  would  not  be  com- 
pelled to  borrow  from  the  bank.  If 
the  Government  allowed  them  to  pay 
by  instalments  at  a  lower  rate  of  inter- 
est than  they  could  borrow  from  the 
bank,  they  would  certainly  not  ask  for 
a  bank  loan  to  discharge  their  lia- 
bility at  once.  The  view  that  the  levy 
would  mean  inflation  therefore  falls  to 
the  ground. 

The  argument  that  the  levy  would 
involve  deflation  is  far  more  convinc- 
ing. Prima  facie  it  is  the  strongest 
argument  against  it.  Indeed,  in  other 
countries  a  capital  levy  has  generally 
been  imposed  for  this  object  —  in 
Czechoslovakia,  for  example,  where 
the  value  of  the   currency  has  been 


greatly  improved  by  this  expedient. 
Government  stock  is  in  a  sense  merely 
interest-bearing  currency.  It  has  large- 
ly replaced  gold  as  the  backing  for 
notes  and  deposit  liabilities,  and  Treas- 
ury bills  in  the  hands  of  bankers  are 
only  one  stage  removed  from  cash,  for 
they  can  be  turned  into  cash  at  any 
time  on  maturity.  Would  not  a  capital 
levy,  by  reducing  the  total  volume  of 
Government  indebtedness,  have  the 
effect  of  contracting  credit,  or  at  any 
rate  contracting  the  credit-base?  To 
those  people  who  wish  to  see  deflation 
carried  still  further,  this  will  be  an 
argument  in  its  favor;  but  most  of  us 
are  tired  of  falling  prices  and  want  to 
see  trade  recovering.  Anything  that 
reduced  the  credit  resources  of  the 
country  might  check  recovery. 

It  is  difficult  to  pronounce  with  con- 
fidence on  this  issue.  But  another  way 
of  looking  at  the  problem  suggests 
that  the  levy  might  actually  promote 
stabilization.  According  to  this  argu- 
ment the  danger  that  lies  before  us  is  a 
movement  towards  what  is  called 
*  secondary'  inflation.  At  the  present 
level  of  prices  we  cannot  afford  to  carry 
the  burden  of  a  vast  debt  incurred  at  a 
time  when  prices  were  much  higher; 
the  national  income  is  not  large  enough 
to  pay  this  increased  liability  for  pen- 
sions and  war  debt  in  addition  to  other 
necessary  expenditure.  If  there  is  no 
levy,  further  inflation  is  almost  in- 
evitable. As  we  have  seen.  Govern- 
ment debt  can  be  turned  into  cash 
either  directly  by  the  banks,  or  indi- 
rectly by  traders  and  others,  by  pledg- 
ing it  as  collateral  for  bank  advances. 
This  they  will  try  to  do  to  the  fullest 
extent  as  soon  as  trade  begins  to  revive. 
Have  we  not  here  a  case  for  the  levy 
on  the  ground  that  it  will  check  an 
otherwise  inevitable  drift  towards  in- 
flation and  help  to  stabilize  the  existing 
level  of  prices? 

The  underlying  issue  therefore  ap- 


A  LEVY  ON  CAPITAL 


623 


pears  to  be  this.  Can  the  holders  of 
war  loans  expect  to  succeed  in  main- 
taining the  commodity  value  of  the 
debt  at  its  present  level?  Without  an 
enormous  increase  of  production  such 
as  took  place  in  America  after  the  Civil 
War,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  this  is 
possible.  Two  alternatives  are  there- 
fore open.  Either  there  will  be  no 
levy,  in  which  case  prices  will  rise  till 
the  decreased  burden  of  the  debt  bears 
a  tolerable  relation  to  the  national  in- 
come; or  the  levy  will  be  imposed,  and 
prices  will  be  stabilized  round  about 
their  present  level.  In  either  case  the 
commodity  value  of  the  total  national 
indebtedness  will  be  reduced  —  in  the 
first  case  by  inflation,  in  the  second  by 
partial  cancellation.  Since  wages  al- 
ways tend  to  lag  behind  prices  during  a 
period  of  inflation,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  second  alternative  would  be  the 
best  for  the  wage-earning  masses.  It 
would  also  probably  be  the  best  for  the 
majority  of  middle-class  taxpayers, 
and  certainly,  as  we  have  seen,  for  the 
men  who  fought  in  the  war  and  are 
now  starting  in  business. 

We  do  not  think  that  a  Labor  Gov- 
ernment would  find  it  an  easy  task  to 
carry  through  its  proposal  in  the  face 
of  solid  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 


banks.  But  we  are  by  no  means  sure 
that  the  banks  themselves  may  not 
eventually  be  driven  to  recommend  it. 
The  banks  fought  for  a  long  time 
against  the  raising  of  the  bank-rate  in 
1919.  They  did  not  like  dear  money 
any  more  than  they  now  welcome  the 
idea  of  a  capital  levy.  Then,  as  now, 
the  foremost  economists  saw  a  little 
further  ahead  and  warned  them  that 
dear  money  was  a  painful  necessity. 
The  severity  of  the  slump  from  which 
we  are  now  suffering  is  largely  due  to 
the  opposition  of  the  City  to  the  only 
possible  means  by  which  the  post-war 
boom  could  have  been  prevented  from 
getting  out  of  hand.  Dear  money  is 
now  seen  to  have  been  necessary,  and 
most  experts  agree  that  it  was  too 
long  delayed. 

Rightly  regarded,  the  capital  levy 
may  prove  to  be  the  quickest  way  of 
stabilizing  prices  in  this  country  and 
preparing  the  way  for  the  restoration 
of  a  free  gold  market.  We  believe  that 
the  banks  will  sooner  or  later  endorse 
it  as  a  sound  and  necessary  remedy. 
It  will  not  be  imposed  by  a  Labor 
Government,  for  the  probabihty  is  that 
a  Conservative  or  Liberal  Government 
will  have  been  forced  to  adopt  it  before 
a  Labor  Government  comes  into  power. 


II 


The  Capital  Levy  is  the  subject  of 
more  confused  thinking  than  any  other 
subject  now  before  the  public.  That 
being  so,  we  desire  to  examine  without 
heat  and  without  prejudice  the  nature 
of  the  proposal  and  the  consequences 
of  its  adoption. 

We  will  take  the  most  moderate  of 
the  many  suggestions  made  by  the 
Labor  Party  and  not  the  plans  for 
using  the  levy  to  put  an  end  to  private 
property  under  an  *  Instalments  Sys- 
tem.' That  is  to  say,  we  will  take  the 
case  of  a  capital  levy  of  twenty-five 


per  cent  on  a  man's  whole  fortune 
above  £5000  —  the  happy  sum  which 
a  man  may  apparently  own  without 
either  a  qualm  or  a  tax,  a  sum  which 
a  cynic  has  wickedly  declared  shows 
that  the  Chiefs  of  the  Labor  Party  are 
*  fairly  comfortably  off'  after  all.  Let 
us,  as  well  as  we  can,  trace  the  exact 
practical  results  of  the  summons  to 
every  man  over  the  datum  line  to  sur- 
render a  fourth  of  his  total  wealth  of 
all  kinds.  The  first  thing  that  would 
happen  would  be  a  universal  valua- 
tion.   The   biggest  guessing-competi- 


624 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


tion  the  world  has  ever  seen  would  be 
the  order  of  the  day,  for,  remember, 
valuation  is  in  the  last  resort  only 
guessing.  Nothing  but  the  auction- 
room  ascertains  real  values,  and  that 
often  only  on  a  particular  day  in  a 
particular  year. 

The  real  worth  of  anything 
Is  just  as  much  as  it  will  bring, 

and  not  a  sworn  valuer's  shot  at  it, 
however  skilful. 

And  here  we  may  say  parenthetically 
that  this  is  why  we  have  hitherto  al- 
ways taxed  income  rather  than  capital. 
The  reason  for  doing  so  is  a  very  simple 
one.  Income  values  itself.  Capital 
does  not,  and  therefore  you  have  to 
guess  at  its  value.  To  put  it  in  another 
way,  it  is  always  possible,  granted  that 
you  can  defeat  perjury  and  other  forms 
of  dishonesty,  to  find  out  what  is  a 
man's  income,  to  discover  what  he  has 
received,  or  what  has  been  paid  to  his 
banking  account,  within  a  year.  He 
has  got  it,  or  has  had  it,  in  his  hand, 
and  you  can  settle  his  contribution  to 
the  State  in  any  way  you  will.  You 
can  ask  for  a  quarter,  or  a  third,  or  a 
half,  or  three  quarters  of  what  he  has 
received.  The  thing  is  merely  a  ques- 
tion of  law  and  arithmetic  when  you 
are  taxing  income. 

When  you  tax  capital  you  are  in  a 
very  diifferent  position.  You  have  to 
make  an  estimate  of,  that  is  make  a 
guess  at,  the  value  of  a  man's  property. 
Whereas  income,  as  we  have  said, 
values  itself,  it  requires  an  army  of 
guessers  and  counter-guessers  to  arrive 
at  the  money  value  of  capital.  The 
exact  amount  of  income  expressed  in 
terms  of  cash  is  determinate.  The  exact 
amount  of  capital  so  expressed  is  in- 
determinate. 

But  this  difficulty  of  knowing  what 
is  the  value  of  land  which  has  not  been 
put  up  to  auction  or  to  any  kind  of 
sale  for  the  last  fifty  or  sixty  years,  or, 
again,  of  knowing  what  blood-horses. 


or  pearl  necklaces,  or  Leonardo  draw- 
ings, or  pictures  by  Memling  or  Sir 
Joshua  will  fetch,  is  as  nothing  com- 
pared with  some  of  the  other  difficulties 
connected  with  a  capital  levy.  Even 
if  you  entertain  a  blind  belief  in  the 
capacity  of  Levison  and  Golding  (late 
Goldburger),  valuers  for  probate  duty, 
to  guess  what  Mr.  Jones's  property 
will  fetch  at  auction  at  a  particular 
moment,  you  are  by  no  means  out  of 
the  woods.  If  twenty-five  per  cent  of 
everybody's  capital  is  demanded  on 
the  first  of  January  in  one  year,  the 
vast  majority  of  persons  ordered  to 
pay  will  have  to  sell  stock,  or  land,  or 
houses,  or  diamonds,  or  other  valuable 
non-income-producing  possessions,  to 
meet  the  demand.  But  now  comes  in 
the  trouble.  Let  us  take  a  specific 
case. 

Jones  is  a  capitalist.  When  the  val- 
uers have  made  their  valuation,  they 
find  that  the  capital  owned  by  him  of 
all  sorts  amounts  to  £100,000.  The 
levy  on  capital  is  twenty-five  per  cent, 
and  therefore  he  will  have  to  pay 
£25,000.  But  Jones  has  not  got  this 
money  in  bullion  or  banknotes  in  his 
cellar  or  at  the  bank,  and  can  produce 
it  only  in  two  ways  —  either  by  selling 
something  or  by  borrowing  the  money 
from  his  banker  or  from  some  other 
person  whose  function  it  is  to  lend 
money.  Now,  if  Jones  were  the  only 
man  paying  a  capital  tax,  or  if  he  were 
one  of  a  group  which  numbered  only  a 
thirtieth  of  the  capitalists  of  the  coun- 
try (as  in  the  case  of  death  duties), 
there  would  be  little  trouble  about  the 
matter.  Jones  might  feel  himself  an  im- 
poverished man,  but  he  would  be  able 
to  raise  the  necessary  £25,000,  either 
through  his  stockbroker  or  through  his 
banker.  But  if  everybody  had  got  to 
raise  the  money  at  the  same  moment, 
Jones  would  find  himself  in  Queer  Street 
with  a  vengeance.  When  he  went  to 
his  banker  for  a  loan,  the  banker  would 


A  LEVY  ON  CAPITAL 


625 


say :  *  We  are  very  sorry,  but  the  total 
amount  of  money  we  are  now  in  a  po- 
sition to  lend  is  four  millions.  But  by 
this  morning's  post  we  have  had  appli- 
cations amounting  to  four  hundred  mil- 
lions. If  we  lend  to  you,  we  should  be 
obliged  to  ask  seventy  per  cent  inter- 
est; but  that,  we  admit,  is  impossible. 
We  can  only  suggest  that  you  should 
sell  out  stock  —  say,  your  railway  de- 
bentures.' 

Jones  would  then  repair  to  his 
broker,  but  it  would  be  the  same  story 
in  different  words.  The  broker  would 
say:  *  Unfortunately  your  debentures, 
and  indeed  all  stocks,  are  quite  unsal- 
able. The  price  has  dropped  to  such  a 
point  that  the  best  British  railway 
debenture  stock  can  now  be  purchased 
to  pay  eighty  per  cent,  and  yet  there 
are  practically  no  buyers,  but  only 
sellers.  In  fact,  it  is  useless  for  you  to 
think  of  selling  when  everybody  else  is 
trying  to  do  the  same.  For  our  trans- 
actions there  must  be  a  seller  and  a 
buyer,  and  the  buyer  is  for  the  mo- 
ment an  extinct  mammal.' 

What  is  Jones  to  do?  If  he  is  a  man 
of  mental  resource,  he  may  possibly  go 
off  to  the  tax  collector  and  say  to  him: 
*I  cannot  pay  you  that  £25,000  in 
cash,  because  I  cannot  raise  it.  But 
I  '11  tell  you  what  I  will  do.  Here  is  the 
sworn  valuation  that  the  Government 
valuer  made  of  my  possessions  in 
order  to  ascertain  what  I  had  to  pay: 
that  is,  the  list  of  capital  values  which 
you  accepted  as  the  basis  on  which  I 
was  to  be  taxed.  You  will  see  that  in 
the  list  there  is  a  pearl  necklace  valued 
at  £2000,  and  a  diamond  tiara  also  at 
£2000.  That  makes  £4000.  My  col- 
lection of  drawings  from  the  Old  Mas- 
ters is  put  down  at  £2000,  and  my 
Raeburn  of  the  Scots  Judge  at  £6000. 
That  makes  £12,000  in  all.  There  is  a 
block  of  railway  debentures  down  for 
£8000,  and  my  house  in  the  country  is 
valued   at   £15,000,   which,   less   the 


mortgage  of  £10,000,  is  £5000.  In  all, 
these  make  £25,000.  I  propose  to  hand 
them  over  to  the  Government  in  lieu 
of  cash.  They  surely  cannot  refuse. 
To  do  so  would  be  to  deny  that  they 
are  worth  the  sums  which  the  Govern- 
ment valuer  placed  upon  them  only 
six  weeks  ago.' 

What  would  be  the  answer  of  the 
capital-tax  collector?  In  spite  of 
Jones's  logic,  it  would,  we  fear,  be  a 
flat  refusal  to  take  payment  in  kind. 
He  would  tell  the  embarrassed  capi- 
talist that  the  State  did  not  want  dia^ 
monds  or  houses  in  the  country.  It 
wanted,  and  must  have,  money  down. 

To  this  the  capitalist  would  have  to 
reply:  *Very  well,  then,  come  and 
take  it.  Perhaps  you  will  be  able  to 
arrange  a  sale.  All  I  know  is  that  I 
can't.'  And  very  likely  he  would  add: 
*0h,  by  the  way,  I  got  a  letter  this 
very  morning  from  the  man  to  whom 
my  country  house  is  mortgaged.  He 
says  he  must  foreclose  if  he  does  not 
have  his  money  out  of  me  by  Monday, 
as  he  has  got  to  pay  his  capital  levy. 
Thank  Heaven  it  is  you,  not  I,  who'll 
have  to  deal  with  him  now  you  've  got 
Sindercombe.  I  wish  you  joy  of  him. 
He  's  a  perfect  beast! ' 

No  doubt  the  pure  Socialist  would, 
if  he  were  frank,  say  that  all  these 
objections  we  have  raised  are  nothing 
to  him,  that  he  would  be  perfectly 
willing  to  see  the  nation  paid  in  kind, 
and  that  he  would  go  on  taxing  capital 
at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  per  cent  per 
annum  till  the  whole  of  the  capital  of 
the  country  was  taken  out  of  the 
hands  of  individuals  and  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  the  State.  Those,  however, 
who  are  not  of  this  extreme  kind,  and 
who  very  possibly  are  not  Socialists 
though  converted  to  the  idea  of  a 
capital  levy,  will  probably  say  that 
they  have  a  plan  which  will  perfectly 
well  meet  all  these  difficulties.  They 
will,  of  course,  require  a  valuation  of  g, 


626 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


man's  property  to  ascertain  what  he  is 
to  pay,  but  they  do  not  mean  to  force 
all  holders  of  property  to  throw  their 
goods  upon  the  market  at  the  same 
time.  If  a  man  likes  to  sell  his  stock 
and  pay  cash,  they  will  give  him  a  con- 
siderable discount  for  money  down.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  cannot  avail 
himself  of  this  offer,  and  clearly  cannot 
sell  his  goods,  then  they  will  lend  him 
the  money  with  which  to  pay  his  taxes! 
They  will  not  carry  out  this  Utopian 
proposal  directly,  but  by  promising  to 
lend  to  the  bankers  the  money  which 
the  bankers  will  lend  to  the  taxpayers 
for  the  pajTiient  of  the  capital  levy. 

'Stick,  stick,  beat  dog!  Dog,  dog, 
bite  pig!' 

Of  course,  the  individual  subject  of 
the  capital  levy  must  pay  the  bankers 
interest  on  their  loan,  as  the  bank  must 
pay  the  Government. 

But  then,  the  plain  man  may  surely 
ask,  *How  will  things  be  any  better  if 
this  is  done  on  a  big  scale?  The  raison 
d'etre  of  the  capital  levy  as  proposed 
by  responsible  people  is  to  pay  off  a 
large  part  of  the  national  debt.  But 
what  is  the  use  of  paying  off  the  na- 
tional debt  with  one  hand  and  borrow- 
ing money  with  the  other  in  order  to 
accomplish  that  transaction?'  The 
answer,  we  suppose,  to  this  apparent 
absurdity  is  that  the  Government, 
though  they  made  a  loan  to  the  im- 
pecunious capitalist,  would  not  only 
force  him  to  pay  a  higher  rate  of  inter- 
est than  that  at  which  the  Govern- 
ment now  borrow,  but  would  also 
insist  that  the  loan  should  be  only  for 
a  short  time  and  that  the  interest  must 
always  be  accompanied  by  a  good  per- 
centage of  repayment  instalment.  In 
other  words,  the  loan  would  only  run 
for,  say,  at  most  twenty  years. 

Those  who  think  that  they  are  going 
to  get  out  of  the  difficulty  in  this  way 
will  find  themselves  vastly  Mistaken. 
They  will  find  that  they  are  simply 


spreading  ruin  wide  throughout  the 
land.  There  are  literally  thousands  of 
private  persons  and  business  men  who 
could  not  possibly  pay  this  new  tax 
for  the  next  twenty  years  in  addition 
to  the  present  income-tax,  super-tax, 
and  death-duties,  let  alone  the  plan  for 
a  more  steeply  graduated  income-tax 
which  is  part  of  the  financial  pro- 
gramme to  which  capital  levy  belongs. 
It  would  destroy  them. 

The  fact  is  that  if  the  Government- 
loan  scheme  is  examined,  the  only 
possibility  will  be  seen  to  be  a  loan  for 
a  very  long  period,  with  a  very  small 
annual  payment  for  sinking  fund  pur- 
poses, and  a  low  rate  of  interest.  But 
when  all  this  had  been  worked  out, 
plus  the  expense  of  a  huge  new  Govern- 
ment Department  with  a  Capital  Levy 
Minister,  we  should  find  that  all  that 
would  have  happened  would  be  an 
increase  of  the  income-tax  under  the 
alias  of  *  interest  on  capital  levy  loan.' 
If  the  Labor  Party  insist  that  people 
with  over  £5000  a  year  must  pay  more 
than  they  do  at  present  —  which  is  all 
that  a  capital  levy  means  if  scientifi- 
cally considered  and  if  it  is  not  intended 
for  confiscation  —  they  had  far  better 
do  so  by  the  plan  we  have  mentioned 
above,  that  is,  by  an  increase  of  the 
income-tax.  By  that  method  they 
would  get  the  money  without  creating 
a  new  debt  to  take  the  place  of  the  old, 
and  they  would  not  indulge  in  costly 
collections. 

Depend  upon  it,  this  is  the  worst  pos- 
sible method  either  of  raising  money  or 
of  dealing  with  the  national  debt.  If  the 
national  debt  is  to  be  dealt  with,  as  in- 
deed we  think  it  should  be,  we  feel  sure 
that  the  best  way  is  on  some  such  lines 
as  those  which  have  been  advocated 
before  in  these  columns. !  We  mean  the 
conversion  of  the  debt,  voluntarily,  of 
course,  into  very  long  terminable  an- 
nuities —  into  a  ninety-years'  lease 
instead  of  a  freehold.   By  doing  so  we 


LATIN  AMERICAN  REVOLUTIONS 


627 


should  set  a  term  to  our  indebtedness, 
and  we  should  not  ruin  ourselves  by 
some  mock-heroic  effort  at  immediate 
payment. 

After  all,  the  debt  is  a  great  fact,  and 
we  shall  not  alter  that  fact  by  changing 
its  name.  Let  us  assume  you  take 
more  money  than  now  from  the  indi- 
vidual in  order  to  pay  off  debt,  and  then 
follow  the  transaction  out  in  the  con- 
crete. You  will  soon  see  that  you  are 
not  creating  or  saving  extra  wealth, 
but  only  altering  its  ownership.  The 
individual  sells  out  railway  stock  in 
order  to  pay  a  Government  demand  for 
reducing  the  national  debt.  He  next 
receives  a  portion  of  the  sum  —  a 
certain  amount  will  have  been  used 
up  in  the  bureaucratic  machine  —  as 
compensation  for  the  cancellation  of 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  such  govern- 


ment stocks  as  he  holds.  With  this 
somewhat  shrunken  money  he  then 
goes  back  into  the  market  and  buys 
some  more  railway  stock.  Who  on 
earth  is  going  to  be  the  better  for  this 
process? 

Granted  we  are  not  going  to  re- 
pudiate, which  we  certainly  are  not,  it 
is  better  to  leave  the  national  debt  as 
it  is  than  to  indulge  in  any  of  these 
fantastic  schemes.  We  shall  not  fall 
into  the  paradox  of  pretending  that 
the  national  debt  is  an  economic  ad- 
vantage. It  is,  of  course,  a  very  un- 
pleasant record  of  a  loss.  But  it  has 
one  moral  or  political  advantage.  So 
long  as  the  national  debt  remains  as 
it  is,  it  will  prevent  any  Government 
from  borrowing  more,  and  the  less 
Governments  borrow,  whether  in  war 
or  peace,  the  better. 


LATIN  AMERICAN  REVOLUTIONS 

BY  MANUEL  UGARTE 

From  La  Revue  Mondiale,  November  1 
(Current  Affairs  Semimonthly) 


All  nations  have  suffered  violent 
shocks  when  an  inevitable  transforma- 
tion has  been  repressed  by  their  gov- 
ernments until  only  violence  could 
achieve  it.  The  confined  forces  ulti- 
mately rent  asunder  their  restraining 
bonds.  In  this  sense  the  emancipation 
of  the  Spanish  colonies  in  America,  a 
little  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago, 
was  an  inevitable  consequence  of  their 
economic,  political  and  social  evolution, 
which  had  outgrown  the  administrative 
system  and  form  of  government  Spain 
imposed  upon  them.  Deep-lying  causes 
had  prepared  the  ground  for  the  wars  of 

VOL  SIS  ^  NO.  409S 


liberation,  and  these  must  be  inter- 
preted in  history  as  due  to  a  spontane- 
ous and  necessary  instinct  of  the  people, 
and  not  to  mere  popular  caprice,  or  to 
the  ambition  of  individual  leaders. 

Unhappily,  however,  we  cannot  thus 
characterize  the  thousands  of  revolu- 
tions, revolts,  political  overturns,  sedi- 
tions, and  pronunciamientos  since  1810; 
these  have  been  mostly  illogical  and 
causeless,  paralyzing  the  progress  of  the 
continent,  and  discrediting  its  peoples 
and  its  governments.  Therefore  it  is 
well  worth  while  to  consider  seriously 
what  has  produced  this  state  of  chronic 


628 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


revolution  and  endemic  anarchy  in 
countries  exceptionally  favored  by 
nature,  whose  inhabitants  are  able  to 
live  comfortably  with  a  minimum  of 
effort. 

Possibly  this  very  ease  of  existence, 
which  has  prevented  the  people  from 
feeling  the  imperious  need  of  labor,  has 
contributed  to  dissipate  their  creative 
energies,  and  to  make  them  love  doubt- 
ful adventures.  But  we  must  seek 
deeper  causes  for  this  predisposition  to 
unrest,  first  of  all  in  the  ethnic  composi- 
tion of  our  people.  I  do  not  mean  to 
intimate  that  our  racial  mixtures  are  a 
fatal  and  final  handicap.  We  know  that 
when  we  average  its  history  through 
the  centuries,  no  nation  is  constantly 
and  absolutely  inferior  or  superior.  The 
Greeks,  the  Romans,  and  the  Spaniards 
of  to-day  are  far  from  possessing  the  in- 
fluence and  prestige  that  they  enjoyed 
at  certain  epochs  of  history.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  peoples  have  lifted 
themselves  from  a  humble  place  in  the 
world  to  the  rank  of  conquering  and 
ruling  Powers.  Countries  that  have 
been  defeated  and  reduced  to  servitude 
have  regained  their  greatness,  and 
countries  that  have  held  sway  over 
broad  dominions  have  sunk  into  decay 
and  powerlessness.  When  Csesar  con- 
quered the  Gauls  he  did  not  dream  that 
Napoleon  would  one  day  conquer  Italy. 

This  instability  in  the  relative  rank  of 
nations  and  races  justifies  our  regarding 
the  present  condition  of  Latin  America, 
like  that  of  India,  China,  Ireland,  and 
certain  colonial  countries,  as  not  neces- 
sarily permanent  and  possibly  to  be 
reversed  either  by  the  caprice  of  fate, 
or  by  our  own  ambition,  sacrifice  and 
service  to  humanity. 

When  we  review  Latin  America's 
past,  we  find  two  burdens  of  atavistic 
anarchy  weighing  upon  her,  one  derived 
from  her  Indian  blood,  the  other  from 
her  Spanish  blood.  It  is  a  common  error 
to  imagine  that  the  aboriginal  inhabi- 


tants of  America  formed  a  homogeneous 
community.  When  the  New  World  was 
discovered,  it  was  occupied  by  a  great 
number  of  distinct  tribes  and  peoples, 
who  either  knew  nothing  of  each  other, 
or  hated  and  fought  each  other.  Some 
tribes,  on  account  of  their  larger  num- 
bers, their  greater  progress,  or  their 
bravery,  ruled  over  other  subject 
tribes.  The  normal  relations  of  these 
peoples  were  far  from  harmonious.  Ex- 
cept for  two  great  agglomerations,  the 
Aztec  and  the  Inca  empire,  both  of 
which  consisted  of  many  subject  peo- 
ples ruled  by  a  small  dominant  tribe  or 
caste,  the  Indians  lived  in  constant 
enmity  with  each  other,  and  their 
feuds  and  their  tribal  wars  constituted 
the  whole  record  of  their  primitive  his- 
tory. This  explains  why  a  few  thou- 
sand Spaniards  were  able  to  conquer 
millions  of  men  and  vast  empires. 
Pizarro  and  Hernando  Cortes  were  not 
only  bold  and  able  captains,  but  also 
shrewd  politicians.  They  won  their 
conquests  by  turning  to  their  own  ac- 
count the  hatreds,  the  thirst  for  venge- 
ance, the  rivalries,  the  ambitions  of  the 
natives;  by  sowing  the  seed  of  antagon- 
ism and  distrust  among  them;  and  by 
recruiting  from  the  ranks  of  weaker 
tribes  allies  with  whom  they  overthrew 
the  stronger. 

But  this  victory,  won  with  the  weap- 
ons of  anarchy,  did  not  destroy  an- 
archy, which  in  time  turned  against  the 
victors.  The  Indians  who  had  subdued 
America  for  the  Spanish  conquerors  re- 
volted against  their  successors  and 
formed  the  rank  and  file  of  the  revolu- 
tionary armies  that  overthrew  their 
power. 

Upon  this  native  stem  of  mutual 
enmity  and  perpetual  warfare  were 
grafted  the  haughty  individualism  and 
arrogant  jealousies  of  the  newcomers. 
When  we  review  the  history  of  the  dis- 
covery of  America  and  the  three  cen- 
turies of  Spanish  rule  that  followed,  we 


LATIN  AMERICAN  REVOLUTIONS 


629 


are  astounded  at  the  frequency  with 
which  Spanish  captains  turned  aside  in 
the  midst  of  their  most  heroic  exploits 
to  fight  each  other,  and  subordinates 
revolted  against  commanders.  Private 
feuds  and  civil  wars  raged  so  con- 
stantly among  the  commanders  of 
Spain's  conquering  expeditions,  they 
formed  such  an  integral  part  of  the 
deeds  of  valor  and  the  victories  of 
that  period,  that  we  are  forced  to  ask 
whether  the  rude  personal  independ- 
ence of  the  conquistadores,  their  in- 
domitable individualism,  was  not  the 
secret  of  their  triumph.  And  after  a 
settled  colonial  government  had  been 
established,  the  same  spirit  of  haughty 
self-assertion,  the  savage  insistence 
upon  authority,  promoted  the  intermi- 
nable disputes  among  the  military, 
civilian  and  religious  representatives 
of  Spain  in  America,  which  obliged 
the  mother-country  to  send  to  her 
new  possessions  frequent  emissaries, 
whose  decisions,  given  in  the  name  of 
the  King,  were  not  always  obeyed.  The 
qualities  that  aided  the  Conquest,  when 
every  private  soldier  imagined  himself  a 
captain,  and  every  captain  imagined 
himself  a  sovereign,  prepared  the  way 
for  the  faults  and  feebleness  of  the 
colonial  government,  and  degenerated 
in  the  young  republics  that  followed, 
into  unceasing  conspiracies  and  dicta- 
torships. 

Our  Latin  American  revolutions  are 
not  mere  accidents.  Even  if  we  disre- 
gard the  historical  antecedents  I  have 
just  mentioned,  they  obey  well-defined 
general  laws;  for  we  discover  that  these 
revolutions  pursue  the  same  course  and 
have  the  same  features  in  countries 
remote  from  each  other,  and  they  have 
gradually  disappeared  in  certain  zones 
where  the  conditions  that  promoted 
them  have  ceased  to  exist. 

Among  the  indigenous  causes  of 
revolution  in  Latin  America  were  first 
of  all  the  disappointment  of  the  natives 


over  the  failure  of  independence  to 
benefit  them  personally.  Liberation 
from  Spain  proved  to  be  but  a  change  of 
masters.  The  new  republics  were 
governed  by  an  elite  consisting  mainly 
of  the  descendants  of  Europeans;  and 
the  old  Spanish  social  and  economic 
regime,  which  took  no  account  of  the 
interests  of  the  natives,  continued  un- 
changed. So  the  Indians,  finding  them- 
selves excluded  from  the  new  govern- 
ment, formed  a  restive  population  that 
political  adventurers  easily  played  upon 
for  private  ends. 

The  result  was  a  constant  series  of 
revolutions  which,  however,  were  fur- 
ther encouraged  by  other  favoring  cir- 
cumstances. Chief  among  these  was 
the  subdivision  of  the  old  Spanish  Em- 
pire in  America  into  a  host  of  petty 
States  whose  capricious  frontiers,  small 
population,  and  lack  of  organic  national 
unity  and  vigor,  made  them  the  easy 
prey  of  bold  adventurers.  Possessing 
no  regular  armies  to  speak  of,  and  gov- 
erned by  men  of  little  experience  in  the 
art  of  administration,  they  were  the 
ready  victims  of  violence  and  surprise. 
Often  a  mere  handful  of  rebels  was 
able  to  overturn  a  government  in- 
securely seated  in  power  and  unsup- 
ported by  national  precedents  and  tra- 
ditions. 

The  second  condition  that  encour- 
aged revolution  was  the  illegal  status  of 
many  existing  governments,  whose 
authority  was  derived  from  an  armed 
revolt  or  an  electoral  farce.  Such  a 
government  naturally  had  no  moral 
weight  behind  it.  The  very  example 
of  its  success  encouraged  others  to 
employ  identical  means  to  usurp  its 
authority. 

A  third  important  factor  in  Latin 
America's  political  instability  remains 
even  today — the  absence  of  commer- 
cial and  industrial  interests,  powerful 
enough  to  insist  upon  social  equilibrium 
and  an  orderly  political  regime. 


680 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


Undoubtedly  in  every  Latin  Ameri- 
can country,  even  in  those  where  dis- 
cord is  the  most  chronic,  a  majority  of 
the  people  disapprove  of  violence  and 
desire  an  end  to  profitless  agitation. 
This  majority  belongs  to  two  groups: 
a  very  numerous  class  who  simply  ask 
for  personal  security  and  to  be  left 
alone,  and  an  influential  upper  class, 
intelligent  enough  to  understand  the 
evils  of  political  anarchy  and  the  injury 
it  does  the  country.  We  must  explain 
the  inactivity,  the  silence,  the  submis- 
siveness  of  this  majority  of  peace-lov- 
ing or  enlightened  citizens  by  the  fact 
that  the  social  and  political  institutions 
amid  which  they  live  are  still  in  process 
of  formation,  and  this  is  a  stage  of 
development  where  vices  are  apt  to  be 
more  self-assertive  than  virtues. 

In  those  South  American  republics 
where  economic  progress  has  now  made 
considerable  headway,  where  the  labor- 
ing and  thinking  classes  feel  that  they 
have  at  last  got  the  better  of  the  con- 
spiring and  adventuring  elements, 
where  a  real  national  organization  has 
been  achieved,  where  elections  are 
conducted  according  to  law,  it  is  be- 
coming either  difficult  or  impossible  to 
start  revolutions.  As  the  people  have 
become  better  educated  and  prosperity 
has  increased,  the  view  of  the  masses 
has  broadened  and  professional  agita- 
tors are  compelled  to  pursue  their  ob- 
jects according  to  the  rules  of  demo- 
cratic government. 

However,  the  old  spirit  of  rivalry  and 
intrigue  still  survives  in  the  relations 
between  neighboring  countries.  There 
are  no  rational  conflicts  of  interest,  no 
long-standing  historical  traditions  — 
except  in  one  or  two  special  cases  —  to 
justify  this  mutual  hostility.  None  the 
less  we  see  certain  governments  that 
are  still  quite  unable  to  utilize  even  a 
fraction  of  the  natural  resources  they 
already  possess,  inviting  fratricidal 
strife  to  secure  possession  of  border 


zones,  sometimes  of  little  value,  at  the 
expense  of  neighbors  whose  social  in- 
stitutions, language  and  traditions  are 
the  same  as  their  own.  They  are  ready 
to  pour  out  their  energy  and  their 
wealth  to  secure  a  trifling  frontier  ad- 
vantage, just  as  the  disordered  and 
revolutionary  republics  we  have  de- 
scribed spent  their  energy  and  wealth 
in  futile  rivalries  for  the  presidency. 

So  Latin  America,  whose  history  and 
whose  interests  should  ensure  her  unity, 
who  is  exposed,  like  all  feeble  peoples 
possessing  vast  natural  wealth,  to  the 
covetousness  and  ambition  of  stronger 
nations,  has  seen  her  progress  constant- 
ly checked  by  domestic  feuds  either 
within  the  confines  of  each  country,  or 
between  the  republics  that  together 
form  her  larger  whole.  This  has  been 
highly  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  her 
people,  whose  resources  are  fast  falling 
into  the  hands  of  powerful  foreign  com- 
panies, and  whose  freedom  of  action  in 
international  aff'airs  is  subject  to  in- 
fluences that  hamper  or  threaten  auton- 
omous action. 

These  local  hatreds  are  so  bitter  and 
relentless,  that  in  Central  America 
foreign  aid  has  been  solicited  against 
an  enemy  clan  at  home,  or  a  neighbor- 
ing country  of  the  same  blood. 

The  imperialist  nations,  following 
tactics  as  ancient  as  they  are  familiar, 
seize  upon  such  conditions  as  I  have  de- 
scribed, to  increase  their  power  and 
promote  their  material  interests.  I 
shall  not  discuss  the  moral  justification 
of  such  conduct  in  this  purely  objective 
study  of  historical  phenomena.  But  the 
fact  remains  that  the  imperialist  Pow- 
ers have  systematically  promoted  these 
disorders  for  the  past  hundred  years, 
overthrowing  governments  that  were 
hostile  to  them  and  putting  in  authority 
men  who  were  subservient  to  them- 
selves. They  did  this  in  the  guise  of 
natural  allies  and  guardians  of  peace. 
Revolutionists  have  received  financial 


LATIN  AMERICAN  REVOLUTIONS 


631 


support,  war  materials,  and  even  direct 
military  aid  when  there  was  something 
to  gain  by  giving  such  assistance.  At 
the  same  time  diplomats  have  encour- 
aged international  friction,  so  that  a 
powerful  outside  government  might 
play  the  part  of  arbiter.  Such  proceed- 
ings have  created  unrest  and  distrust 
among  the  common  people,  who  have 
not  known  what  course  to  take,  and 
have  prevented  unity  and  cooperation 
among  ourselves.  Continual  revolu- 
tions, that  instead  of  serving  the  cause 
of  liberty  to  which  they  appeal  merely 
serve  to  set  up  dictatorships,  have  be- 
come a  favorite  device  for  ruling  alien 
peoples  and  controlUng  their  domestic 
matters.  This  explains  the  succession 
of  chaotic  events  that  made  Nicaragua, 
Santo  Domingo  and  Haiti  surrender 
control  of  their  own  revenues  and  ac- 
cept the  protectorate  of  a  foreign 
power.  The  same  devices  separated 
Panama  from  Colombia,  and  are  now 
employed  to  accomplish  the  still  more 
difficult  task  of  weakening  Mexico. 

Some  have  tried  to  explain  the  con- 
stant agitation  of  Latin  America  by 
arguing  that  her  republics  are  young 
and  must  sow  their  wild  oats  before 
they  arrive  at  wisdom  and  maturity. 
But  this  theory  is  disproved  by  the  ex- 
ample of  the  United  States,  also  a 
young  nation.  That  country's  domestic 
peace  has  been  broken  but  once,  and 
then  over  the  irreconcilable  issue  of 
slavery.  This  theory  is  also  refuted  by 
the  sound  and  peaceful  development  of 
some  South  American  republics,  that 
for  many  years  have  avoided  revolu- 
tionary disturbances.  A  signal  illustra- 
tion of  this  was  the  recent  election  of 
Senor  Alvear  as  President  of  Argentina, 
at  a  time  when  he  was  absent  from  the 
country. 

Therefore  we  must  conclude  that  the 
evil  is  not  a  necessary  one,  but  a  cur- 
able disease,  that  can  be  relieved  or 
healed  by  appealing  to  an  ideal  —  the 


preservation  of  the  fatherland;  and  by 
two  physical  remedies  —  railways  and 
schools. 

Men  may  be  right  in  attributing  our 
Spanish  American  revolutions  to  in- 
experience; but  that  inexperience  is  not 
due  to  youth,  but  to  lack  of  knowledge; 
and  that  is  perhaps  a  more  hopeful  ex- 
planation, for  nations  cannot  grow  old 
at  will,  but  they  can  always  educate 
themselves. 

We  are  not  assuming  too  much  in 
predicting  that  the  evolution  of  our 
Spanish  American  republics,  hampered 
as  it  has  been  by  difficulties  at  home 
and  by  intervention  from  without,  is 
approaching  a  stage  where  our  political 
leaders  will  cease  to  be  preoccupied 
mainly  with  party  rivalries  and  with 
empty  controversies  with  neighboring 
countries,  and  will  envisage  in  its  full 
amplitude  the  broader  problem  of  liv- 
ing together  in  harmony,  and  of  doing . 
the  things  that  favor,  and  avoiding  the 
things  that  hamper,  the  expansion  of 
Latin  civilization  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 

The  great  problem  of  Spanish  Ameri- 
ca is  not  to  discover  the  particular 
parties  that  are  best  qualified  to  govern 
us  in  an  environment  without  tradi- 
tions, where  men  rise  easily  from  one 
rank  to  another.  Far  less  is  our  problem 
to  contest  with  our  neighbors  the  pos- 
session of  territories  and  natural  re- 
sources, before  we  have  begun  even  to 
scratch  the  wealth  in  our  undisputed 
patrimony.  All  the  parties  that  are 
struggling  for  political  power  either 
have  the  same  platform  or  no  platform 
at  all.  Every  one  of  our  Spanish  Ameri- 
can republics  can  support  a  population 
twenty  times  as  dense  as  at  present. 
Domestic  politics  and  frontier  contro- 
versies are  comparatively  unimportant 
questions  compared  with  the  task  of 
raising  our  economic  standards  and 
guaranteeing  the  development  of  our 
present  resources  by  our  own  people, 


632 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


instead  of  by  powerful  foreign  corpora- 
tions. At  home  our  task  is  to  improve 
the  state  of  our  pubhc  finances  and  to 
organize  our  production.  Abroad  our 
task  is  to  adopt  a  consistent  and  coher- 
ent poHcy,  seeking  particularly  a  closer 
alliance  with  the  Latin  countries  of 
Europe.  In  these  two  directions  lie  our 
future  safety. 

Some  Spanish  Americans,  while  rec- 
ognizing the  logic  of  this  programme, 
object  that  first  of  all  we  must  get  rid  of 
our  present  dictators.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  in  some  Spanish  American 
republics  the  personal  pride  and  the 
mutual  distrust  of  political  rivals  still 
perpetuate  almost  impossible  condi- 
tions. But  here  a  dictum  of  the  French 
revolution  suggests  itself:  *  Tyranny 
does  not  exist  because  there  are  tyrants; 
tyrants  exist  because  there  is  tyranny.' 
So  long  as  the  atmosphere  of  revolution 
and  dictatorship  remains,  one  dictator 
will  be  overthrown  merely  to  give  place 
to  another.  Of  course  the  arbitrary 
governments  that  still  survive  in  some 
parts  of  Latin  America  are  an  obstacle 
to  good  relations  with  their  neighbors. 
We  must  look  to  the  economic  and 
political  evolution  of  the  future  to 
remove  this  blight  from  our  more  back- 
ward peoples.  Popular  government  is 
most  powerful  when  it  is  most  pacific. 
I  do  not  anticipate  that  our  revolutions 
will  cease  all  at  once.  Before  they 
finally  disappear  there  may  be  periods 
of  renewed  reaction  and  disorder.   But 


there  are  encouraging  symptoms.  Our 
younger  generation  is  gradually  learn- 
ing to  form  living,  organic  political 
parties.  European  immigration  is 
bringing  to  the  New  World  the  idea 
that  politics  need  not  involve  force. 
The  common  people  who  have  fur- 
nished the  fuel  for  these  conflagrations 
are  learning  wisdom.  The  partisan 
leaders  —  caudillos  —  who  have  in  the 
past  instigated  our  political  disorders, 
are  beginning  to  be  out  of  date  in  a 
society  increasingly  conversant  with 
cosmopolitan  civilization  and  ideals. 

We  may  look  forward  to  a  similar 
gradual  dying  out  of  discord  between 
the  republics  themselves.  Our  conti- 
nent will  always  be  divided  into  two 
great  camps,  distinct  in  race,  language, 
and  civilization.  In  the  same  way  that 
every  malady  ends  either  in  recovery  or 
death,  our  political  malady  will  end 
either  with  a  vigorous  vital  reaction 
of  our  own  people  against  these  evils, 
or  with  our  national  decadence  and 
eventual  subjugation  by  a  foreign  power. 
Labor,  unity,  peace,  are  the  only  de- 
fence of  the  weak.  The  Latin  republics 
will  survive  only  if  they  obey  the  laws 
of  national  health;  if  they  become  their 
own  healers,  and  if  they  seek  in  Europe, 
particularly  in  France,  Spain  and  Italy, 
an  economic,  intellectual  and  moral 
counterpoise,  to  guarantee  their  future 
and  to  resist  the  undue  pressure  of  in- 
fluences from  which  they  never  can 
entirely  escape. 


FROM  DUBLIN  TO  KERRY 

BY  E.  S.  G. 

From  the  Nation  and  the  Athenoeum^  November  11 
(London  Liberal  Weekly) 


From  Dublin  as  far  as  Limerick 
Junction  our  journey,  if  not  signalized 
by  an  undue  haste,  was,  on  the  other 
hand,  devoid  of  unusual  incident. 
Arriving  an  hour  and  a  half  late,  we 
dallied  for  another  hour  in  the  station, 
while  the  officials  made  up  their  minds 
whether  they  would  proceed  any 
further  or  not. 

Ultimately,  after  changing  into  an- 
other train,  we  set  off  at  a  crawl  for 
Buttevant  over  temporarily  restored 
bridges  and  railway  lines,  which  are 
torn  up  in  the  night,  relaid  every  few 
days,  only  to  be  torn  up  again  on  the 
following  night;  the  damage  perpe- 
trated by  the  Republicans  being  en- 
couraged, if  not  actually  inspired,  by 
enterprising  car-drivers  who  are  mak- 
ing colossal  fortunes  conveying  pas- 
sengers and  their  luggage  from  one 
station  to  the  next,  and  who  at 
Buttevant  were  waiting  in  massed 
formation  to  fall  upon  us.  The  train 
being  unable  to  proceed  further  owing 
to  the  destruction  of  a  bridge,  we  had 
no  choice  but  to  transfer  ourselves  to  a 
jaunting  car,  and  to  drive  the  seven 
miles  to  Mallow  behind  a  decrepit 
horse,  in  a  drenching  mist. 

At  no  time  a  hive  of  activity.  Mallow 
— the  junction  connecting  all  the  lines 
in  the  south  of  Ireland — presents  to- 
day a  lamentable  spectacle  of  decay. 
The  magnificent  ten-arch  bridge  across 
the  Blackwater  has  been  blown  to 
pieces,  a  work  of  malign  ingenuity 
ascribed  to  Erskine  Childers,  assisted 
by  an  engineer  from  Krupps'. 

The  dingy  hotel  where  we  spent  the 


dismal  night  is  situated  in  the  main 
street  of  the  town  amidst  the  crumbling 
ruins  of  such  civilization  as  remained 
after  last  year's  burning  by  the  Black- 
and-Tans,  followed  by  the  bombs  and 
bullets  of  the  Free  Staters  and  Re- 
publicans, whose  favorite  battle-ground 
it  seems  to  have  been  ever  since.  The 
windows  of  the  coffee-room  were  rid- 
dled with  bullet  holes;  the  floor  was  car- 
peted in  crumbs;  two  commercial  trav- 
elers, with  pained  expressions  on  their 
faces,  sprawled  in  profound  slumber 
over  the  only  two  armchairs  in  the 
room;  on  an  ink-stained  writing  table 
a  Strand  Magazine  of  1899  served  as 
literary  link  between  Mallow  and  the 
outer  world. 

After  a  night  of  indescribable  dis- 
comfort, the  next  morning  dawned,  if 
anything,  somewhat  wetter  than  the 
preceding  day.  After  breakfast  we 
started  in  a  hired  motor,  the  driver  of 
which,  we  were  given  in  confidence  to 
understand,  was  an  Ulster  man  who 
had  deserted  from  the  British  Army, 
been  discharged  from  the  Republican, 
and  was  about  to  offer  his  services  to 
the  Free  State  — a  mihtary  record 
which  inspired  us  with  complete  con- 
fidence in  the  resourcefulness  of  his 
character.  Avoiding  the  main  roads, 
which  for  several  weeks  have  been 
completely  blocked,  we  arrived  by  a 
circuitous  route  over  a  mountain  at 
Millstreet,  where  our  inquiries  for  the 
road  to  Killarney  were  met  with 
derisive  shrieks. 

*If  you  can  lepp  and  you  can  swim 
you  may  perhaps  get  there;  not  other- 

688 


l%\ 


634 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


wise,'  we  were  told.  'Every  bridge  is 
down  and  every  road  is  blocked  since 
the  fighting  on  Sunday.* 

Conscious  of  proficiency  in  both 
'lepping'  and  swimming,  we  pushed 
undaunted  on  our  way,  running  almost 
immediately  into  a  flying  column  of 
Free  State  troops,  who  stopped  us  and 
demanded  the  driver's  permit.  They 
were  covered  with  mud,  weary  and  war 
worn,  having  been  fighting  for  two 
days. 

*You  will  meet  Irregulars  further 
on,'  said  the  officer.  *As  you  are  only 
ladies  they  may  not  take  your  car;  if 
you  had  men  with  you  they  would 
certainly  do  so.' 

Bidding  him  good-bye,  we  charged 
with  thrilled  expectancy  into  the  war 
zone,  an  old  man  who  subsequently 
directed  us  adding  to  our  growing  ex- 
citement by  informing  us  that  the 
*Free  Starters'  had  *gone  back'  and 
that  the  *  'Publicans'  were  on  ahead. 

Whether  the  latter  were  engaged  in 
burying  their  dead  —  the  number  of 
which,  according  to  the  Free  Staters, 
was  almost  past  all  calculation  —  or 
whether  we  drove  through  them,  con- 
cealed behind  the  hedges,  we  never 
discovered.  The  disappointing  fact  re- 
mained; we  never  saw  even  one  mem- 
ber of  the  phantom  army  in  whose 
track  we  were  supposed  to  be  following. 

*Are  you  all  mad  here?'  I  inquired 
of  a  group  of  men  we  next  came  upon, 
contemplating  a  gaping  void  in  the 
middle  of  a  village  street,  in  front  of 
which  the  car  suddenly  pulled  up  — 
only  just  in  time  to  prevent  our  taking 
a  wild  leap  into  the  river  swirling  in  the 
precipitous  depths  beneath. 

*More  than  half  of  us,'  was  the  cheer- 
ful reply,  as  a  couple  (presumably  of 
the  sane  section)  advanced  with  advice 
and  directions  to  the  driver,  whom 
they  conducted  down  a  muddy  de- 
clivity leading  to  the  river,  into  which 
the  car  plunged  —  while  we  crawled, 


clinging  to  the  parapet,  over  a  narrow 
footway  on  to  the  other  side. 

When  nearly  across,  the  engine  of 
the  car  —  which  had  been  gradually 
getting  into  deeper  water  —  suddenly 
stopped.  Our  hearts  sank.  Complete 
silence  fell  on  the  spectators  for  a 
moment;  after  which  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  the  village,  sane  and  insane, 
rushed  to  the  rescue,  throwing  down 
stones  and  eventually  hauling  the  car 
into  shallower  water  where  the  engine 
was  restarted. 

Having  regained  the  road,  we  next 
found  ourselves  up  against  a  gigantic 
tree,  prostrate  across  our  path,  its 
branches  sawn  in  such  a  fashion  as  to 
form  snags,  —  between  and  under- 
neath which  it  did  not  seem  possible 
for  any  vehicle  to  pass.  But  our 
motor-driver  came  up  to  our  expecta- 
tions in  the  matter  of  ingenuity,  and 
by  lowering  the  wind-screen  and  keep- 
ing his  head  to  the  level  of  the  steering- 
wheel,  advancing  and  reversing  every 
few  inches,  the  car  emerged  trium- 
phantly, after  a  good  quarter  of  an 
hour's  manoeuvring,  on  the  other  side. 

It  was  the  first  of  many  similar  ob- 
structions, some  of  which  we  struggled 
under,  some  of  which  we  squeezed  our 
way  round,  and  others  which  we  avoid- 
ed altogether  by  turning  in  at  the  gates 
of  private  demesnes  and  bumping  our 
way  through  farmyards,  the  walls  of 
which  had  been  pulled  down  by  cars 
preceding  us:  experiences  so  unnerving 
that  at  Killarney  the  driver  dumped 
our  luggage  down  in  the  middle  of  the 
street  and  bade  us  a  polite  but  firm 
farewell. 

At  the  local  garages  all  requests  for 
a  car  to  continue  our  journey  in  proved 
useless.  Only  by  aeroplane,  we  were 
told,  could  anybody  hope  to  arrive  at 
Killorglin;  *  every  bridge  is  down,  and 
over  a  hundred  trees  and  all  the  tele- 
graph posts  and  the  wires  twisted  in 
and  about  and  around  them.' 


FROM  DUBLIN  TO  KERRY 


635 


After  over  an  hour  spent  in  frantic 
appeals,  the  owner  of  a  horse  and  car 
was  finally  prevailed  upon  to  under- 
take the  eighteen-mile  drive  in  con- 
sideration for  a  sum  exceeding  the 
first-class  railway  fare  to  Dublin. 

For  the  first  few  miles  we  made  our 
way  through  Lord  Kenmare's  demesne, 
over  the  grass,  down  on  the  shore  of  the 
lake,  where  the  horse  had  to  be  led  be- 
tween the  rocks  and  where  the  wheels 
of  the  car  sank  deep  into  the  sand  and 
gravel.  After  being  almost  bogged  in 
a  bohereen  leading  into  another  de- 
mesne, which  we  drove  through,  we 
proceeded  for  about  a  mile  on  a  side 
road,  when  we  encountered  a  broken 
bridge.  A  precipitous  descent  into  a 
wood,  across  the  river,  over  a  field  into 
a  lane,  on  for  a  mile  or  two  over 
trenches,  getting  off  the  car  every  five 
minutes,  occasionally  having  to  take 
the  horse  out  and  drag  it  over  felled 
trees  and  down  into  ditches;  and  then 
the  most  formidable  river  we  had  yet 
met,  with  an  insurmountable  bank  on 
the  opposite  shore,  topped  with  a 
barbed-wire  fence.  Seeing  no  possi- 
bility of  manoeuvring  this,  we  drove  to 
a  cottage,  where  a  young  woman  came 
out  and  directed  us. 

*  Drive  down  the  bank  by  the  bridge 
and  go  under  the  farthest  arch,  and 
then  drive  down  in  the  river  for  a  bit 
till  you  come  to  a  slope  in  the  bank,  and 
you  '11  see  a  way  up  on  the  other  side. ' 

An  old  man  came  out  of  the  cottage 
and  offered  to  come  with  us.  I  walked 
with  him,  while  the  horse  and  the  car 
started  down  the  river.  We  talked  the 
usual  platitudes,  when  suddenly,  seiz- 
ing me  by  the  arm,  he  exclaimed :  '  Oh, 
God!    Are  n't  the  times  terrible?' 

*  Indeed  they  are,'  I  replied  fervently. 
He  broke  into  sobs.    *0h,  God!'  he 

cried,  *0h,  God!  my  only  son,  he  's  on 
the  run,  and  if  they  get  him  they'll 
shoot  him.  ...  I  can't  shtop  talking 


of  it.  .  .  .  That  young  girl  you  saw 
just  now,  she  's  my  daughter.  She  's 
come  all  the  way  from  England  to 
mind  me,  but  sure,  nobody  can  mind 
me  now.  ...  I  can 't  shtop  talking, 
and  to-morrow  they  're  taking  me  to 
the  asylum.  .  .  .' 

Looking  back,  after  I  had  bidden  him 
good-bye  and  climbed  among  the 
broken  masonry  up  the  cliff-like  side 
of  the  tumbled  arch,  I  could  see  him, 
still  standing  by  the  lonely  shore;  his 
rugged,  beautiful  face  distraught  with 
anguish,  his  hands  clasped  in  mental 
torture:  *0h,  God!  oh,  God!'  echoing 
in  my  ears  as  we  drove  on  in  the  fading 
twilight  on  the  deserted  road,  his 
tragic  figure  leaving  in  one's  memory 
an  unforgettable  impression  of  Ire- 
land's madness  and  despair. 

It  was  dark  when  finally  we  arrived 
at  our  destination,  having  taken  five 
hours  to  accomplish  the  last  eighteen 
miles.  When  it  is  realized  that  not  a 
single  obstruction  we  encountered  after 
leaving  Mallow  would  have  presented 
the  slightest  difficulty  to  a  lorryful  of 
soldiers,  armed  with  a  few  planks  and 
a  couple  of  saws,  the  imbecility  of  the 
tactics  of  the  Irregulars,  which  merely 
cause  delay  and  inconvenience  to  civil- 
ians, can  hardly  be  understood.  Yet 
for  months  past,  bands  of  able-bodied 
youths  have  been  engaged  in  destroying 
bridges  and  blocking  roads  all  over  the 
South  with  no  other  result.  As  soon 
as  one  road  is  cleared  by  the  Free  Staters 
another  is  being  obstructed,  a  work  of 
devastation  which  will,  presumably, 
only  cease  when  every  tree  in  the  coun- 
try has  been  felled  and  every  bridge  laid 
low. 

Meanwhile,  we  are  a  philosophical 
and  long-suffering  race,  and  if  on  my 
journey  I  endured  untold  fatigue  and 
discomfort,  on  the  other  hand  I  have 
added  considerably  to  my  knowledge 
of  the  geography  of  my  native  land. 


BULGARIA'S  LABOR  ARMY 


BY  NINO  SALVANESCHI 


From  La  Trihuna,  October  26 
(Rome  Liberal  Daily) 


I  HAVE  been  watching  a  group  of 
*  conscripted  workers'  laboring  on  the 
railway  between  Sofia  and  Rovstchovk. 
They  were  working  away  diligently 
and  cheerfully,  some  twenty  men  under 
a  foreman.  A  little  farther  along  was 
another  gang  of  twenty,  and  in  the 
remoter  distance  still  another  group  of 
the  same  number.  And  thus  it  is  the 
whole  length  of  the  line.  Men  are 
repairing  the  roadbed,  bridges,  and  the 
neighboring  highways.  They  all  wear 
khaki  uniforms  and  bicycle  caps. 

I  have  driven  about  the  country 
here,  in  the  Danube  lowlands  surround- 
ing Rovstchovk,  and  everywhere  I  have 
watched  little  groups  of  twenty  or  twen- 
ty-five men,  belonging  to  Bulgaria's 
labor  army,  working  in  the  fields.  They, 
too,  work  diligently  and  cheerfully  and 
are  in  uniform. 

All  over  the  country  the  same  thing 
may  be  seen.  Companies,  regiments 
and  divisions  of  a  new  labor  army, 
planned  and  organized  two  years  ago 
by  Stambuliski,  are  working  patiently 
and  persistently  to  rebuild  a  new 
Bulgaria. 

England  has  saved  herself  financially 
with  her  income  tax.  Bulgaria  is  sav- 
ing herself  financially  with  her  labor 
army.  Her  regular  army  has  been 
abolished,  reduced  to  a  mere  police 
force  and  frontier  guard.  In  addition, 
it  still  supplies  the  people  with  the 
military  concerts  that  they  must  have 
at  any  cost.  Indeed  the  Bulgarian 
music  is  excellent,  and  throngs  of  peo- 
ple assemble  in  the  parks  and  public 
squares  whenever  a  regimental  band  is 

686 


announced  to  play.  Gypsy  music, 
formerly  so  popular,  has  been  largely 
replaced  by  Russian  balalaika  com- 
panies. 

It  is  not  easy  to  form  an  entirely 
dependable  opinion  of  Bulgaria's  sys- 
tem of  obligatory  labor.  The  Ruma- 
nians and  Serbs  call  it  *  forced  labor.' 
The  Bulgarians,  who  are  unquestiona- 
bly the  most  hard-headed  and  taciturn 
of  the  Balkan  peoples,  never  talk 
freely  about  their  own  affairs.  And 
they  say  less  regarding  this  institution 
than  any  other.  When  the  Supreme 
Council  of  Versailles  tried  to  suppress 
the  labor  army,  because  it  suspected 
Bulgaria's  real  motive  was  to  use  it  as 
a  substitute  for  compulsory  military 
service,  the  Bulgarians  published  a  few 
documents  and  two  or  three  pamphlets 
on  the  subject.  Their  argument  was 
that  this  was  the  only  way  that  Bul- 
garia could  get  back  on  her  feet  eco- 
nomically, and  restore  the  value  of  her 
currency.  Thereupon  Versailles  left 
her  to  do  as  she  pleased. 

This  was  a  wise  decision.  Had  the 
Allies  interfered  they  would  have  de- 
stroyed the  best  example  of  cooperative 
labor  organized  for  social  objects,  since 
the  war.  Little,  defeated  Bulgaria  is 
being  salvaged  from  the  wreckage  often 
years  of  almost  constant  fighting,  by  a 
peasant  Government;  and  her  people 
have  put  their  shoulder  to  the  wheel  in 
a  way  that  might  well  be  envied  by  the 
rest  of  Europe. 

The  obligatory-labor  law  was  en- 
acted on  June  5,  1920,  and  went  into 
effect  twelve  days  later.    Like  every 


BULGARIA'S  LABOR  ARMY 


637 


radical  statute,  such  an  act,  limiting  the 
liberty  of  the  individual  and  compelling 
every  citizen,  no  matter  what  his  social 
rank,  to  engage  in  manual  labor  for  the 
benefit  of  the  State,  was  naturally  vigo- 
rously resisted  by  political  opponents  of 
the  party  in  power. 

So  the  old  army  has  been  abolished 
and  a  volunteer  national  guard  main- 
tains order  at  home,  and  watches  the 
frontiers.  The  real  Bulgarian  army  has 
substituted  the  spade  and  the  pickaxe 
for  the  rifle  and  the  bayonet. 

Every  man  and  woman  is  liable  to 
obligatory  labor.  Compulsory  service 
for  women  has  not  yet  been  worked  out 
in  final  form,  but  it  will  go  into  full 
eff'ect  in  1923.  Women  will  be  liable 
to  labor  duty  from  their  sixteenth  to 
their  fortieth  year  of  age. 

The  period  of  service  for  men  begins 
at  twenty  and  continues  to  their  fiftieth 
year.  During  the  first  year  they  must 
work  for  the  State  for  eight  months, 
during  which  time  they  are  fed,  clothed 
and  lodged,  but  receive  no  wages.  The 
system  of  recruiting  is  regional,  the  men 
being  enlisted  and  performing  their 
service  in  the  districts  where  they  re- 
side. These  workers  are  divided  into 
groups  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  men, 
and  assigned  to  such  employments  as: 
road-building,  bridge-building,  railway- 
building,  harbor  works,  factory  labor, 
stone-quarrying,  timber-cutting,  drain- 
ing and  dyking  swamp-  and  flood-lands, 
fishing,  taking  care  of  animals,  and 
similar  services.  Naturally  since  three 
fourths  of  the  five  million  people  in 
Bulgaria  are  peasants,  actually  engaged 
in  tilling  the  soil,  the  primary  object  of 
the  law  is  to  develop  the  agricultural 
resources  of  the  country.  Prime  Minis- 
ter Stambuliski  says:  *We  shall  hand 
over  the  garden  of  Bulgaria  to  our 
children  better  cultivated.'  Therefore 
some  three  fourths  of  the  labor  army 
are  detailed  to  farm  work. 

And  I  must  say  that  though  Bulgaria 


was  always  an  excellently  tilled  coun- 
try, the  eff'ect  of  this  application  of 
intensive  cooperative  labor  under  scien- 
tific and  skilled  direction  is  already 
producing  notable  results. 

In  addition  to  the  eight  months  of 
compulsory  labor  which  every  man 
must  perform  during  his  twentieth 
year,  he  is  further  liable  to  twenty  days 
of  compulsory  labor  annually  up  to  his 
fiftieth  year.  These  twenty  days  of 
work  are  divided  into  ten  days  for  the 
profit  of  the  Central  Government,  and 
ten  days  for  the  profit  of  the  township. 
After  a  man  has  once  performed  his 
eight-months  service  he  can  commute 
by  a  fixed  payment  in  cash  the  subse- 
quent twenty-days  obligatory  annual 
service.  The  cost  of  commuting  varies 
from  three  hundred  to  seven  hundred 
*  leve '.  However,  the  proportion  of  com- 
mutations cannot  exceed  forty  per  cent 
of  the  labor  recruits  of  Sofia,  and 
thirty  per  cent  in  the  country  districts. 

The  reason  for  permitting  commuta- 
tion is  twofold.  Some  men,  on  account 
of  their  age,  health,  or  profession,  are  of 
very  little  value  as  manual  laborers  in 
the  class  of  work  that  the  Government 
can  furnish.  In  the  second  place,  the 
fees  paid  for  commutation  are  used  by 
the  Government  for  clothing  and  feed- 
ing other  laborers.  In  fact,  these  com- 
mutation fees  will  practically  pay  the 
whole  cost  of  maintaining  the  Gov- 
ernment's labor  force  during  the  year 
1922. 

The  number  of  first-year  service 
men,  who  cannot  commute  their  labor 
by  paying  a  fee,  is  about  thirty  thou- 
sand. In  addition,  there  are  a  great 
number  of  twenty-day  workers  who  do 
not  commute  their  service.  An  appro- 
priation of  eighty-six  million  leve  was 
made  for  organizing  and  maintaining 
the  army  during  the  past  season. 
However,  only  forty-nine  million  leve 
of  this  sum  were  actually  expended. 
The  value  of  the  labor  performed  is 


638 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


estimated  at  seventy-five  million  leve, 
so  a  net  profit  for  the  State  has  resulted. 

The  organization  of  the  compulsory- 
labor  groups  does  not  follow  military 
precedents,  except  that  the  men  are  in 
uniform,  they  are  fed  a  standard  ration, 
and  they  are  subject  to  strict  discipline. 
However,  discipline  is  not  much  of  a 
problem,  for  the  Bulgarians  possess  the 
needed  quality  by  nature.  Each  twenty 
or  twenty-five  workers,  as  I  have  said, 
form  a  *  group';  five  *  groups'  form  a 
*  century';  for  every  three  *  centuries' 
there  is  a  urednik,  or  general  superin- 
tendent, who  in  turn  reports  to  a  higher 
official. 

No  person,  no  matter  what  his  rank 
and  wealth,  is  excused  from  the  eight 


months  compulsory  service.  The  older 
laborers  are  assigned,  for  the  ten  days 
they  must  work  for  the  Central  Govern- 
ment, to  the  service  of  diff'erent  Minis- 
tries —  agriculture,  war,  commerce, 
public  works,  and  railways. 

When  the  law  is  applied  to  women  it 
is  proposed  to  organize  two  categories 
—  country  workers  and  city  workers. 
Their  periods  of  service  will  be  consider- 
ably shorter  than  those  of  the  men, 
probably  three  months.  Part  of  their 
duty  will  be  to  make  the  uniforms  and 
do  the  laundry  work  of  the  male  labor 
army.  During  their  period  of  service 
the  younger  girls  —  those  sixteen  years 
old  —  will  be  given  practical  training 
in  domestic  economy. 


AIR  TRAVEL  IN  RUSSIA 

BY  GEORG  POPOFF 

From  the  Frankfurter  Zettung,  November  5 
(Liberal  Daily) 


*  Eight  hours  by  airplane  from 
Konigsberg  to  Moscow!'  A  morning 
with  the  Prussians  and  an  evening  with 
the  Russians.  That  sounds  worth  while. 
Besides,  it  enables  the  traveler  to  dis- 
pense with  a  Lett  visa,  with  a  teapot, 
with  private  bed-linen  and  with  all  the 
formalities  required  of  a  traveler  on 
the  Russian  railways.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  shake  Tovarish  Provodnik  out  of 
his  sound  slumber  to  get  hot  water. 
Last  of  all,  the  eternal  question  of  food 
is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  In  eight 
hours  you  are  in  Moscow.  Could  any- 
thing be  more  convenient! 

Our  sleeping-car  from  Berlin  brought 
me  to  Konigsberg  just  when  its  citizens 
were  awakening  from  their  morning 


slumber.  There  was  a  light  mist,  and 
frost.  While  waiting  for  the  morning 
fog  to  clear,  so  that  we  could  start  on 
our  journey,  I  contemplated  with 
amazement  the  great  stack  of  courier 
sacks  that  we  were  to  carry  with  us  — 
hundreds  of  kilos. 

*Have  those  got  to  go?' 

'Yes,  certainly.' 

The  next  question  is:  Who  is  the 
pilot  to-day?  A  Ukrainian  name  is 
given.  So,  a  Russian  pilot.  During  the 
war  the  Russians  developed  some 
splendid  aviators.  But  passenger  flying 
is  really  a  German  development.  I  was 
about  to  make  an  observation  to  that 
eff'ect  when  the  propeller  began  to 
hum  and  further  words  were  as  vain  as 


AIR  TRAVEL  IN  RUSSIA 


639 


they  were  superfluous.  A  minute  later 
I  was  half  boosted,  and  half  pulled  my- 
self, into  the  comfortable  coupe  of  the 
flying  vehicle.  Three  crosses!  Kismet! 
Good-bye,  Germany! 

Starting  is  supposed  to  be  the  most 
dangerous  part  of  the  trip.  I  did  not 
know  that  yet.  For  that  reason  I 
studied  with  unconcerned  gratification 
the  little  city  beneath  us  while  I  held 
a  flask  of  cognac  in  my  hand.  Our 
Russian  courier,  Comrade  Schulman, 
was  hastily  buckling  up  a  thick,  sealed 
package  —  Litvinov's  report  to  Lenin 
on  the  Urquhart  agreement  —  secrets 
with  seven  seals.  The  machinist,  who 
sat  also  in  the  cabin,  T'o2;an5^  Soldatkin, 
shouted  in  my  ear  that  Rolls-Royce 
motors  are  much  better  than  all  our 
German  motors  taken  together.  I 
nodded  silently  and  unprotestingly. 

Hosts  of  new  impressions  were  crowd- 
ing their  way  into  my  consciousness. 
There,  below  us,  was  a  long  stretch  of 
gardens.  At  first  beautifully  kept 
grounds  with  flower-beds  and  foun- 
tains, surrounding  pretty  villas.  These 
soon  made  way  for  tiny  square  check- 
ers of  land  —  a  tract  of  workingmen's 
allotments.  These  social  distinctions 
became  remarkably  clear,  when  one 
absorbed  them  from  a  sufficiently  lofty 
vantage  point.  You  can  learn  a  great 
deal  in  the  air. 

At  Kovno,  which  we  reached  in  less 
than  an  hour  and  a  half,  our  airplane 
was  scheduled  to  stop  for  only  half  an 
hour,  for  the  purpose  of  replenishing  oil 
and  fuel.  But  our  luggage  must  be 
examined.  And  if — horrible  thought! 
—  your  Lithuanian  visa  is  not  in  order, 
you  are  likely  to  have  abundant  leisure 
to  ponder  on  Border  State  problems 
and  any  other  questions  that  may 
chance  to  interest  you,  in  the  casemates 
of  Kaunas.  I  am  a  man  who  respects 
the  laws  of  every  country,  and  there- 
fore prided  myself  on  the  possession 
of  an  uncriticizable  Lithuanian  visa. 


Tovarish    Soldatkin*8    official    stamp, 
however,  was  one  day  out  of  date.  No 
one  knew  what  to  do:  imprisonment  for 
Hfe  or   immediate  execution?    There 
was  a  long  whispering  conversation  — 
perhaps  some  money  passed  from  hand 
to  hand.   Two  hours  were  lost.   Great 
clouds  began  to  chase  across  the  heaven 
toward  Moscow.  We  did  not  move.  At 
last  the  sky  cleared.    Soldatkin's  visa 
was  extended.   The  propeller  hummed 
merrily,  sunshine  flooded  our  hearts, 
and  no  one  thought  of  coming  dangers. 
The  airplane  was  again  in  motion. 
For  a  few  seconds  only  I  was  conscious 
that  our  wheels  still  struck  the  earth  at 
intervals.  Then  we  were  up  and  away. 
A   minute   later  —  and   there   was   a 
shattering   detonation.    The  airplane 
kept  on  its  way,  but  a  glance  at  the 
horrified  and  chalk-white  faceof  Soldat- 
kin  told  me  that  something  dreadful 
was  happening.  Another  and  a  louder 
explosion  followed.  There  was  no  time 
for  thinking.  An  invisible  power  seemed 
to  hurl  us  with  a  Titanic  angry  gesture 
toward  the  ground.  Just  a  moment  of 
chilling  terror,  and  then  hopeless,  pas- 
sive resignation  to  inevitable  death. 
No  one  knew  just  what  followed.  The 
airplane  drove  headlong  toward   the 
earth,  and  capsized  like  lightning.    In 
spite  of  that,  the  crashing  of  the  cabin 
walls  and  window  panes  and  propellers 
lasted  for  several  seconds  as  the  air- 
plane settled  down  upon  us.    Unbe- 
lievably heavy  objects  —  trunks,  couri- 
er bags,  and  other  articles,  were  hurled 
violently  against  our  backs  and  necks. 
Our  only  thought  was:  *It's  all  over.* 
Then  there  was  a     sudden    deathly 
silence.  Perhaps  it  lasted  only  a  second 
or  two,  while  we  were  unconscious. 
Some  one  groaned.    An   unpleasant, 
suff'ocating  odor  surrounded  us.    The 
gasoline  was  flowing  over  the  hot  frag- 
ments of  the  motor,  and  the  horrible 
thought  occurred  that  it  might  explode 
and  burn  us  up.  Helpless  efforts  to  rise 


640 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


from  under  the  mass  that  was  crushing 
us.  Hands  and  feet  held  fast.  Pieces  of 
glass  cutting  into  our  flesh. 

I  suddenly  heard  some  one  running 
about  excitedly  over  the  shattered 
wings.  It  was  Tovarish  Soldatkin,  the 
first  to  extricate  himself. 

*The  devil!  Lift  that  accursed  couri- 
er bag  from  my  back.  Quicker,  or  I  '11 
suffocate.'  And  good  Soldatkin  did  his 
best.  All  three  of  us  needed  his  help. 
Finally,  I  was  liberated.  The  pilot  with 
the  Ukrainian  name  hung  head-down- 
ward, his  legs  entangled  with  the 
steering-gear;  his  face  was  one  mass  of 
blood.  Still,  it  was  Comrade  Schulman, 
the  courier,  who  was  injured  worst. 
Fractured  skull,  it  turned  out  later. 
His  face  was  perfectly  yellow;  he  was 
in  a  stupor,  like  a  man  in  a  trance,  and 
could  not  speak  a  word.  He  was  later 
taken  to  the  hospital.  The  airplane 
lay  a  mangled  wreck.  Just  ahead  of  the 
point  where  we  struck  was  an  excava- 
tion twenty-five  feet  deep.  Had  we 
fallen  ten  steps  further  on,  not  a  man 
of  us  would  have  been  left  alive.  When 
I  observed  this,  I  drew  a  little  comfort 
from  the  fact.  Then  I  took  some 
photographs  of  what  remained  of  our 
proud  air-steed.  It  was  an  unrecogniza- 
ble mass  of  fragments.  By  this  time  a 
crowd  had  run  up  to  our  assistance. 
They  could  not  imagine  how  we  es- 
caped alive. 

I  shall  always  remember  this  date, 
October  2,  1922,  unpleasantly.  After 
this  no  one  said  anything  about  reach- 
ing Moscow  in  eight  hours.  What  con- 
cerned us  was  to  find  a  place  to  sleep, 
Kaunas  (Kovno)  is  a  handsome  town. 
The  principal  street  is  called  Liberty 
avenue  and  is  decidedly  dirty.  Further- 
more, there  is  a  hotel  that  belongs  to 
the  Government.  Foreigners  can  live 
here  comfortably  enough  and  at  the 
same  time  have  the  pleasant  feeling  that 
they  are  contributing  to  the  public 
treasury.  A  room  cost  twenty  lits  — it 


does  not  sound  so  bad.  What  is  a  lit? 
It  is  the  new  currency  introduced 
yesterday,  October  1.  Misfortunes 
never  come  singly.  Ten  lits  —  the  first 
syllable  of  *  Lithuania'  —  are  equal 
to  one  dollar.  So  twenty  lits  is  two 
dollars.  At  the  present  rate  of  exchange 
this  means  4000  marks!  A  pretty 
expensive  room,  but  a  fine  kind  of 
money.  Some  one  suggested:  *How 
would  it  be  if  we  folks  in  Germany 
introduced  a  deutf '  However,  we  are  in 
no  mood  for  joking.  We  want  to  sleep, 
sleep,  and  sleep,  and  to  forget  the 
currency,  the  Border  States,  airplanes, 
couriers,  Urquhart,  and  all  the  rest. 

The  next  day  Moscow  was  still  as  far 
away  as  ever.  We  could  not  fly  be- 
cause it  was  cloudy,  and  there  were 
other  obstacles  in  the  way.  'But  to- 
morrow you  '11  surely  reach  Moscow.' 
So  there's  nothing  to  do  but  wait. 
However,  the  eternal  food  question 
kept  presenting  itself.  The  Govern- 
ment hotel  has  a  Government  restau- 
rant. The  menu  card  is  printed  in 
Lithuanian  and  French,  although  most 
of  the  people  here  speak  only  German 
or  Russian.  However,  Germans  have 
not  much  difficulty  with  a  Lithuanian 
menu  card.  I  quote  verbatim  from  the 
one  at  this  hotel:  Snellklopsas,  Roast- 
beefs,  Snitzelas,  Zwiebelklopsas. 

Our  third  morning  from  Konigsberg. 
A  German  pilot  was  on  hand.  The 
propellers  began  to  roar;  we  flew  on, 
naturally  in  another  airplane.  Comrade 
Schulman,  who  was  left  behind  seri- 
ously injured,  was  replaced  by  Com- 
rade Soldatkin.  It  was  he  who  now 
held  the  package  with  seven  seals, 
grasped  tightly  in  his  hands.  Let's  hope 
it  did  not  reach  Moscow  too  late. 
While  we  were  testing  the  toughness  of 
modern  airplanes  and  of  our  own  ribs, 
and  taking  lessons  in  currency  values 
and  menu  linguistics,  Lenin  and  the 
whole  Council  of  People's  Commis- 
saries may  possibly  have  been  waiting 


AIR  TRAVEL  IN  RUSSIA 


641 


in  suspense  for  that  mysterious  pack- 
age. But  patience!  The  package  and 
we  were  flying  on. 

From  Kovno  we  had  to  make  a  wide 
detour  toward  Dvinsk  in  order  not  to 
contaminate  the  atmosphere  of  Poland. 
The  Poles  fire  at  every  German  or 
Russian  airplane  that  crosses  their 
border,  be  it  only  for  half  a  metre. 
They  know  what  they  are  about.  The 
growing  intimacy  between  Russia  and 
Germany  constitutes  a  real  peril  for 
their  country.  And  the  Pole  naturally 
resents  this  —  and  shoots  at  passenger 
airplanes.  Direct  action  is  best!  At 
Drissa  several  bullets  struck  the  wings 
of  our  plane,  but  luckily  missed  the 
motor. 

From  Dvinsk  to  Smolensk  there  is 
an  unbroken  series  of  still  visible 
trenches,  to  remind  one  of  the  bloody 
battles  of  the  last  war.  We  flew  over 
Vitebsk  and  then  over  Polotsk.  De- 
tachments of  the  Red  Army  were 
drilling  on  the  parade  grounds.  Politi- 
cal problems  seem  simpler  from  the  air 
than  down  on  the  solid  grounds.  A  Red 
regiment  drilling  looked  like  a  child's 
toy. 

After  three  hours  and  a  half  of 
steady  flying  we  reached  Smolensk. 
The  red  Soviet  star  was  painted  on  the 
barracks  and  the  airplanes.  Russian 
was  spoken  everywhere.  But  we  were 
to  go  no  farther  that  day.  The  weather 
was  too  thick.  *  To-morrow  you  '11  be  in 
Moscow,  sure.'  This  time  it  was  our 
German  pilot  who  said  it. 

Many  of  our  German  aviators  have 
emigrated  to  Russia  and  are  apparently 
happy  there.  They  keep  the  service 
between  Konigsberg  and  Moscow  go- 
ing, no  matter  what  happens.  World 
sailors!  Hard-knit,  strong-nerved,  but 


at  the  same  time  dreamy  and  visionary 
men.  Heiler,  our  pilot,  performed  some 
of  the  most  daring  air-exploits  re- 
corded in  the  war,  and  has  lighted  on 
one  of  the  highest  peaks  in  Europe. 
When  I  asked  him  why  he  had  tried 
the  latter  feat,  he  merely  shrugged  his 
shoulders  and  said:  *0h,  I  had  always 
intended  to  do  so.'  A  true  world  sailor. 
The  aviators  at  Smolensk  live  in  mis- 
erable barracks  that  they  themselves 
have  painted  and  carpeted.  Evenings 
they  play  on  the  guitar  and  sing. 
Mornings  they  fly  away  into  the  world. 
It  was  an  inspiring  experience  to  spend 
a  few  hours  among  such  men  as  these. 

The  next  morning  I  regretted  leav- 
ing my  companions  of  the  evening 
before.  But  we  were  off"  in  a  straight 
line  from  Moscow.  Half  way  there  we 
flew  over  the  battlefield  of  Borodino. 
A  century  ago  a  hundred  thousand 
men  were  slaughtered  here.  Why  must 
we  have  battlefields  over  the  whole 
world?  On  this  leg  of  our  trip  we  met 
a  number  of  airplanes  going  in  the 
opposite  direction ;  although  they  passed 
us  at  a  distance  of  only  five  hundred  to 
one  thousand  metres,  they  were  out  of 
sight  in  a  few  seconds.  Our  speed  was 
impressively  demonstrated  by  that  fact. 

Finally,  we  could  distinguish  in  the 
distance,  as  though  it  was  floating  in 
the  air,  the  golden  dome  of  the  Church 
of  the  Redeemer.  Moscow  herself  was 
still  invisible,  but  soon  her  outlines  ap- 
peared dimly  through  the  haze.  We 
landed  smoothly  on  the  Khodynskoe 
field.  Although  we  had  been  four  days 
on  the  trip,  we  had  spent  only  eight 
hours  in  the  air.  An  automobile  from 
the  Foreign  Office  was  on  hand  to  take 
the  courier  sack,  including  the  package 
with  the  seven  seals. 


A  CHRISTIAN  REFUGE  AND  ISLAMIC  AMBITIONS 


BY  COLIN  ROSS 


[Colin  Ross,  whose  Persian  sketches  we  recently  published  in  the  Living  Age,  returned 
from  Asia,  Armenia,  and  the  Caucasus  shortly  before  the  Turks  won  their  recent  victory. 
The  accounts  of  the  impressions  he  gathered  in  Armenia  and  Mohammedan  Asia  that  we  pub- 
lish below  are  from  the  Vossische  Zeitung  of  October  26  and  November  5;  and  the  Neue  Freie 
Presse,  of  October  29.] 


The  Archbishop  of  Erivan  said  in 
an  agitated  voice:  *  During  the  early 
days  of  Bolshevist  rule  I  stood  on  this 
terrace  every  night,  and  lifting  my 
arms  to  Heaven  cried  out:  "How  long, 
O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not 
judge  and  avenge  our  blood!"* 

One  side  of  the  archepiscopal  palace 
hangs  over  the  cliff  like  an  eagle's  nest. 
Immediately  below  the  terrace,  which 
is  some  twenty  feet  wide,  the  cliff  is 
perpendicular.  Far  below  a  mountain 
torrent  winds  its  way  with  many  a 
foaming  rapid  through  a  rocky  canon. 
Little  huts  cling  like  swallows'  nests  to 
the  distant  cliffs.  On  the  left,  the  ruins 
of  some  proud  building  of  the  days  of 
Persian  rule  crown  a  lofty  precipice. 

A  road  winds  with  many  tortuous 
turns  and  bends  down  to  the  river. 
Tawny  boys  are  bathing  under  the  high 
arches  of  the  bridge.  Along  the  oppo- 
site bank  stretch  garden  after  garden 
and  orchards  and  vineyards  heavily 
laden  with  fruit.  The  boughs  of  the 
fruit  trees  are  bent  to  the  earth  with 
their  luscious  burden,  as  if  bowing  hum- 
bly for  our  blessing.  And  far  beyond, 
across  the  river  and  gardens  and  the 
remoter  highlands,  there  rises  clear, 
icily  distinct  and  imposing  in  the  dis- 
tance, the  great  mass  of  Mount  Ararat. 
Even  were  it  not  for  the  legend  that 
Noah's  Ark  rested  here  after  the  Del- 
uge —  in  the   treasure  house  of  the 

642 


cloister  Etschmiadsin  authentic  pieces 
of  the  Ark  are  still  exhibited  —  it  is  a. 
mountain  of  impressive  majesty.  In. 
the  clear  atmosphere  the  mountain 
seems  almost  at  hand's  reach  from  us. 
We  are  conscious  of  standing  in  the 
immediate  presence  of  an  impersona- 
tion of  nature's  lonely  grandeur.  This 
is  a  place  that  makes  you  feel  nearer 
the  All  High.  The  Archbishop  appre- 
ciates my  feeling  and  leaves  me  silently 
to  my  thoughts. 

A  little  later  the  chief  of  the  Ameri- 
can Relief  Mission  joins  me  on  the  ter- 
race. During  the  last  few  days  I  have 
been  about  much  with  this  gentleman » 
visiting  refugee  shelters,  work  places,, 
hospitals  and  —  more  numerous  tham 
all  else  —  orphanages. 

It  is  a  mighty  labor  of  self-sacrificing; 
love  for  their  fellow  men  that  the 
Americans  have  performed  in  Armenia.. 
From  every  point  of  the  compass; 
Armenian  refugees  have  fled  to  this; 
little  territory,  that  they  call  their  own 
—  a  territory  that  was  never  able  to- 
feed  even  the  original  population.  In- 
describable misery  and  certain  starva- 
tion would  have  followed  had  not  the 
Americans  promptly  taken  a  hand. 
Their  representatives  receive  the  fugi- 
tives as  soon  as  they  arrive,  provide 
them  with  shelter,  food,  and  clothing, 
and  wherever  possible,  with  productive, 
labor. 


A  CHRISTIAN  REFUGE  AND  ISLAMIC  AMBITIONS        64S 


But  above  all  they  have  gathered 
together  the  deserted  and  famished 
orphans  from  the  streets  —  tens  of 
thousands  of  them  whose  parents  were 
massacred  or  died  of  pest  and  famine. 
All  over  Armenia  these  orphans  are 
being  fed,  clothed  and  educated  by  the 
Americans.  At  Alexandropol  forty 
thousand  of  them  have  been  sheltered 
in  one  old  military  post. 

Most  of  the  boys  are  dressed  in  Boy 
Scout  uniforms.  They  live  with  their 
Scout-masters  and  are  taught  to  take 
€are  of  themselves  so  far  as  possible. 
They  have  heir  own  gardens  that  they 
cultivate,  the  produce  of  which  belongs 
to  them.  They  cook  their  own  food, 
wash  their  own  clothing,  and  perform 
other  services  around  their  quarters. 
They  are  also  drilled  daily  under  the 
folds  of  a  great  American  flag,  to  the 
music  of  a  military  band,  likewise  com- 
posed of  Boy  Scouts.  The  head  of  the 
relief  detachment  in  Erivan  is  person- 
ally the  very  incarnation  of  pacifism 
and  gentleness,  but  he  is  tremendously 
enthusiastic  over  the  military  features 
of  this  education.  He  just  stepped  in 
to  have  me  observe  these  scouts,  who 
were  drilling  in  an  open  field  across  the 
river,  almost  under  the  shadow  of 
Mount  Ararat. 

The  American  formations  were  soon 
joined  by  others.  The  English  Relief 
Mission  also  has  its  Boy  Scouts  and 
Girl  Scouts,  whose  brown  uniforms 
were  soon  visible  on  the  parade  ground 
with  the  white  uniforms  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. The  Union  Jack  was  flying  side 
by  side  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 
Then,  last  of  all,  the  Bolshevist  Boy 
Scouts  arrived,  distinguished  from  the 
others  by  their  bright  red  cravats  and 
their  bright  red  banner.  The  three 
groups  drilled  together  in  good  fellow- 
ship and  good  comradery,  under  the 
command  of  the  *  American'  Scout- 
master. This  *  American'  is  a  Turkish 
Armenian,  who  served  as  a  Lieutenant 

VOL.  316  — NO.  4093 


in  the  Osman  Army  during  the  World 
War. 

I  watched  the  exercises  with  a  feeling 
of  deep  skepticism  in  my  heart.  This 
did  not  seem  to  me  the  way  to  smooth 
over  the  conflicts  that  agitate  Armenia, 
Transcaucasia,  and  all  Western  Asia. 
The  noble  and  unselfish  work  that  the 
Americans  are  doing  here  has  not  been 
spared  hostile  criticism. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  Americans, 
the  Armenians  would  have  starved, 
and  yet  many  view  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  —  which  the  Yankees,  I  must 
confess,  display  on  every  possible  occa- 
sion—  with  mixed  feelings.  The  Ar- 
menian Government  itself  pursues  a 
policy  of  pin-pricks  toward  the  Ameri- 
can Relief  Mission.  It  does  not  for- 
ward the  Mission's  mail  promptly;  it 
makes  difficulty  over  the  passports  of 
the  American  Relief  workers;  it  insists 
on  being  paid  for  the  electric  current  it 
supplies  to  light  the  Mission's  build- 
ings, hospitals,  schools,  and  shelters, 
and  occasionally  cuts  off"  the  current. 

Even  though  we  are  standing  under 
the  shadow  of  Ararat,  where  the  Ark  of 
Noah  landed  and  God  spanned  the 
heavens  with  a  rainbow  in  sign  of  his 
propitiated  wrath,  the  soil  beneath  our 
feet  is  sown  thickly  with  the  seed  of 
bloody  feuds. 

But  just  as  this  thought  strikes  me 
I  feel  a  hand  on  my  arm.  The  Arch- 
bishop's gaze  is  fixed  aloft  on  the  moun- 
tain summit.  Heavy  rain  clouds  have 
clustered  around  the  peak  through 
which  the  sun  is  shooting  its  declining 
shafts.  And  behold,  as  we  watch,  the 
brilliant  bow  springs  from  the  foot  of 
Ararat  and  loses  itself  in  the  breaking 
clouds  above. 

There  is  a  great  waving  of  flags  on 
the  parade  ground  below.  Bands  are 
playing,  and  the  shrill  cheering  of  chil- 
dren's voices  rises  to  our  ears.  The 
American  at  my  side  snatches  off"  his 
hat  in  enthusiasm,  and  waves  it  to  the 


644 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


children  below  with  a  triple  *Hip  hip 
hurrah!*  But  the  Archbishop  on  my 
right  stretches  his  arm  out  toward 
Ararat,  and  murmurs  in  a  low  voice, 
as  if  to  himself,  instead  of  to  me :  — 

*I  do  set  my  bow  in  the  cloud,  and  it 
shall  be  for  a  token  of  a  covenant 
between  me  and  the  earth.' 


II 

I  MET  Ali  Kemal,  the  brother  of 
Djemal  Pasha,  at  Kushka,  a  sun-baked 
city  on  the  Afghan-Russian  frontier. 
Djemal  himself  had  been  a  Turkish 
army  commander  during  the  war,  and 
later  Minister  of  War  in  Afghanistan. 
He  had  left  for  Moscow  where  he  had 
negotiations  in  hand  with  the  Soviet 
Government,  and  his  brother,  who  was 
organizing  a  model  cavalry  regiment  in 
Afghanistan,  had  accompanied  him. 
I  had  letters  of  recommendation  to 
Djemal  himself,  whose  tragic  assassina- 
tion at  Tiflis  was  unknown  to  either  of 
us.  They  served  to  secure  the  con- 
fidence of  his  brother  and  we  speedily 
became  excellent  friends. 

Ali  Kemal  had  been  on  horseback 
for  several  weeks,  accompanying  his 
brother  on  his  journey  from  Kabul. 
Kushka  was  the  first  place  where  he 
had  stopped  to  rest.  The  fact  that 
he  had  a  brief  period  of  leisure,  and 
that  the  desolate  little  frontier  post 
afforded  him  no  other  companionship 
than  my  own,  probably  made  him  more 
communicative  than  he  otherwise 
might  have  been. 

I  had  become  more  or  less  familiar 
with  the  interplay  of  intrigue  and  rival- 
ry that  spreads  like  a  network  through 
the  Islamic  world,  during  my  sojourn 
in  the  Ukraine,  the  Caucasus,  and  Per- 
sia. Defeat  had  not  been  an  unmiti- 
gated misfortune  for  the  Osman  Turks. 
Before  the  war  the  other  Mohammedan 
races  had  resented  their  rule,  and  the 
Arabs,  in  particular,  were  inclined  to 


dispute  their  primacy  even  with  the 
sword.  This  hostility  has  now  van- 
ished. In  the  first  place,  the  Turks  are 
no  longer  political  superiors,  and  with 
the  removal  of  the  resentment  their 
former  supremacy  caused,  the  feeling 
that  they  are  brothers  of  the  same  faith 
has  been  strengthened.  Furthermore, 
the  brilliant  hopes  that  the  Arabs  cher- 
ished after  Turkish  defeat  have  not 
been  realized.  They  have  merely 
exchanged  Turkish  rule  for  British  rule. 
They  regard  the  government  of  Emir 
Feisal,  set  up  over  them  by  English 
bayonets,  a  farce;  and  resent  it  more 
than  outright  British  rule.  Mesopo- 
tamia is  seething  with  suppressed  re- 
volt; and  though  the  Arabs  are  not 
good  soldiers,  their  practically  inde- 
pendent desert  tribes  are  abundantly 
provided  with  rifles,  machine  guns,  and 
even  artillery.  The  Indian  Moham- 
medan troops  that  Great  Britain  had 
on  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  made  no  secret  of  the 
fact  that  they  would  not  fight  their 
fellow  believers,  if  it  came  to  a  new  war. 
The  Turks  now  have  an  understand- 
ing with  the  Arabs  and  also  with  the 
Kurds,  who  are  fighting  to  free  them- 
selves from  the  Persians.  Their  rela- 
tions with  Persia  proper  are  precarious, 
if  not  actually  hostile.  The  antagonism 
of  the  two  peoples  is  due  partly  to  the 
doctrinal  controversy  between  the 
Sunnites  and  the  Shiites,  and  partly  to 
the  Kurdish  question.  Consequently 
the  Angora  government  had  no  repre- 
sentative at  Teheran.  The  only  Turk- 
ish officer  there  at  the  time  of  my  visit 
was  a  charge  d'aff*aires  representing 
the  Sultan's  government  in  Constanti- 
nople. So  Angora's  lines  of  communi- 
cation were  through  the  Caucasus  and 
Turkestan  to  Afghanistan.  All  along 
this  route  Turkish  emissaries  were  wel- 
comed with  great  cordiality,  for  part  of 
the  Afghans,  and  the  Tartars  who  dwell 
in  the  original  home  of  the  Osman 


A  CHRISTIAN  REFUGE  AND  ISLAMIC  AMBITIONS        645 


Turks,  speak  a  dialect  of  their  lan- 
guage. Turkish  coins,  and  even  Turk- 
ish paper  money,  are  in  common  use 
clear  through  to  the  Afghan  border. 

The  resources  of  the  Angora  govern- 
ment were  decidedly  limited.  In  spite 
of  all  the  assistance  and  supplies  they 
received  from  the  Russians  and  from 
the  French,  they  lacked  most  of  the 
things  needed  for  a  campaign.  Kemal 
Pasha  owes  his  later  military  success 
primarily  to  geographical  advantages, 
to  the  extraordinary  endurance  and 
devotion  of  the  Anatolian  soldiers,  and 
to  the  weakness  and  demoralization  of 
his  Greek  opponents. 

Kemal  presumed  for  a  moment  to 
defy  the  power  of  England,  because  he 
believed  he  had  the  whole  Islamic 
world,  as  well  as  Russia  and  the 
Ukraine,  behind  him.  And  Russia  is 
not  an  ally  to  be  despised.  No  matter 
how  powerful  the  Nationalist  move- 
ment is  that  is  sweeping  through  the 
Islamic  nations  to-day,  the  military 
training  of  the  Mohammedan  peoples 
and  their  equipment  for  modern  war- 
fare —  if  we  except  the  Turks  —  are 
totally  inadequate  for  a  successful  ap- 
peal to  battle  against  the  Great  Powers 
of  Europe. 

Soviet  Russia  in  a  certain  sense 
made  possible  the  pan-Islamic  move- 
ment. This  was  not  solely  by  support- 
ing the  Turks.  The  Bolshevist  revolu- 
tion liberated  the  Mohammedans  of 
Central  Asia  from  the  iron  rule  of  the 
Tsars'  government,  and  taught  them 
to  aspire  to  national  independence. 
The  purpose  of  Soviet  Russia  in  en- 
couraging these  new  ideas  was  to  con- 
vert its  Mohammedan  subjects  to  Bol- 
shevism, and  to  spread  the  Bolshevist 
movement  to  the  neighboring  Islamic 
states  of  Turkey,  Persia,  Afghanistan, 
and  even  India,  where  this  could  be 
used  as  a  weapon  against  England.  In 
Turkestan,  the  Soviet  Government 
went  so  far  as  to  prefer  the  natives  to 


the  Russian  settlers  themselves.  The 
officials  in  Turkestan,  Bokhara,  and 
Khiva  are  almost  exclusively  native 
Mohammedans.  Azerbaijan,  in  the 
Eastern  Caucasus,  is  a  Mohammedan 
republic  practically  independent  of 
Moscow.  Everywhere  throughout 
these  countries  Friday  is  the  legal  holi- 
day. The  Arabic  alphabet  is  in  use,  and 
Mohammedan  law  is  in  force. 

The  idea  of  the  Communists  was  to 
exalt  Internationalism  over  National- 
ism, but  it  is  doubtful  if  this  has  been 
the  result.  It  would  take  a  long  article 
even  to  outline  the  relations  between 
Islam  and  Bolshevism.  They  have 
much  in  common,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  much  that  is  irreconcilable.  But 
whatever  the  outcome  of  their  mutual 
contact,  there  is  a  general  awakening 
throughout  Asia.  Afghanistan,  India's 
next-door  neighbor,  is  filled  with  a 
burning  ambition  to  become  a  second 
Japan  in  her  mountain  fastnesses. 

m 

I  looked  forward  with  some  trepida- 
tion to  my  journey  during  the  hot  sea- 
son into  Turkestan,  for  I  was  still  suf- 
fering from  an  attack  of  malaria. 
Further,  the  Bolsheviki  placed  many 
difficulties  in  my  way,  because  Turkes- 
tan was  in  a  state  of  turmoil  and  the 
campaign  against  Enver  Pasha  was  in 
full  swing.  Finally,  however,  all  obsta- 
cles were  overcome.  I  crossed  the 
Caspian  Sea,  and  zigzagged  via  Merv 
through  the  Black  Sand  Desert  to  the 
Afghan  border.  At  Merv  I  was  un- 
expectedly detained  because  a  cholera 
epidemic  was  raging;  and  I  was  not 
permitted  to  proceed  until  I  had  been 
quarantined  and  repeatedly  inoculated. 
I  proceeded  to  Kushka,  Bokhara, 
Samarkand,  the  old  headquarters  of 
Tamerlane,  and  lastly  to  Tashkent, 
from  which  point  I  crossed  the  Aral 
Sea  and  reached  Moscow  via  Orenberg. 


646 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


Even  before  the  war  such  a  trip  was  no 
pleasure  excursion.  After  war  and  revo- 
lution have  left  their  wreckage  every- 
where, the  difficulties  are  immeasur- 
ably greater.  Turkestan  was  in  open 
revolt.  Bandits  were  robbing  and  mur- 
dering throughout  the  Caucasus.  Enver 
Pasha's  supporters  were  fighting  the 
Bolsheviki.  I  traveled  as  a  man  must 
have  traveled  in  the  Middle  Ages,  not 
knowing  what  perilous  adventure  might 
be  awaiting  me  behind  every  strip  of 
forest  and  every  cliff.  Upon  the  whole, 
this  was  the  most  dangerous  journey 
I  have  ever  made. 

It  is  not  easy  to  describe  the  pic- 
turesque variety  and  contrasts  of  such 
a  country,  where  the  bloody  romance 
of  revolution  has  been  imposed  upon 
the  dreamy  reveries  of  the  Orient; 
where  scenes  from  *The  Night  Refuge' 
abruptly  alternate  with  scenes  from  the 
Arabian  Nights;  sleeping  one  night  in  a 
miserable  clay  hut  by  the  side  of  a 
caravan  route,  and  the  next  night  in  an 
Oriental  palace  set  in  the  midst  of  a 
glorious  garden;  and  with  all  this,  never 
knowing  what  the  next  day  would  bring 
forth,  living  in  a  land  of  outlaws,  spec- 
ulating constantly  on  what  was  to 
happen  next.  Such  an  existence  is  ex- 
citing and  stimulating,  but  more  fa- 
tiguing than  the  most  arduous  bodily 
toil. 

All  Central  Asia  is  in  a  ferment.  The 
Bolshevist  revolution  has  swept  away 
every  familiar  dyke  and  barrier  that  con- 
fined its  fluid  peoples.    The  reciprocal 


relations  of  Bolshevism  and  Islamism 
are  still  undefined  and  their  ultimate 
result  is  beyond  present  prediction. 
The  adherents  of  these  two  move- 
ments are  brought  together  mainly  by 
their  common  hatred  of  England.  That 
alone  enables  them  to  tolerate  their 
mutual  differences.  This  is  the  moving 
force  behind  the  rapprochement  of 
Russia  with  the  Turks,  Persians,  and 
Afghans.  It  is  not  unlikely,  however, 
that  in  the  back  of  the  Turkish  and  the 
Afghan  mind  lurks  a  plan  to  dispense 
with  Russia  as  soon  as  England  is 
removed  from  the  field. 

The  peoples  of  Central  Asia  are  de- 
termined to  free  themselves  from  all 
European  tutelage,  whatever  its  source. 
This  explains  why  Moscow,  in  spite  of 
its  conciliatory  policy,  is  now  fighting  a 
serious  insurrection  in  Turkestan  and 
Bokhara.  It  is  sending  courier  after 
courier  across  the  Afghan  mountains 
and  the  Pamir  plateau  to  sow  seed  of 
discontent  in  India. 

The  Indian  situation  seems  far  more 
dangerous  when  viewed  from  Central 
Asia  than  when  viewed  from  Europe. 
We  cannot  tell  when  the  storm  will 
break  in  that  country,  but  all  indica- 
tions point  to  an  early  date.  That 
will  be  the  test.  Then  we  shall  know 
whether  the  latent  differences  between 
Islamism  and  Bolshevism,  between 
Sunnites  and  Shiites,  between  Angora 
and  Teheran,  between  Kemal  Pasha 
and  Enver  Pasha,  will  prove  serious 
enough  to  save  England. 


ROUGET  DE  LISLE  AND  THE  MARSEILLAISE 


BY  EDOUARD  GACHOT 


From  Figaro,  October  29 
(Liberal  Nationalist  Daily) 


What  name  of  poet,  musician,  and 
officer  is  there  to  compare  with  that  of 
Rouget  de  Lisle?  The  soldiers  of  the 
*Year  II,'  who  were  beginning  anew  a 
Roman  epic,  hailed  in  him  the  bard  of 
ancient  times.  Brunswick  had  the 
holy  hymn  translated  at  Verdun.  The 
King  of  Prussia,  halted  before  Mayence, 
said  to  Kalreuth:  *The  Marseillaise  is 
worth  two  armies  to  our  enemies';  for 
it  was  especially  against  the  German 
princes  that  the  French  poet  had 
thundered  in  strophes  flaming  with  his 
anger.  An  aristocrat  and  once  an  ad- 
herent of  the  King,  this  Jurassianhad 
become  a  citizen  at  the  altar  of  a  threat- 
ened fatherland. 

The  true  history  of  his  words  and 
deeds  has  been  distorted.  He  made 
pretension  neither  to  the  glory  of  an 
Anacreon  nor  to  the  fortune  of  a 
Voltaire.  The  son  of  a  lawyer  in  the 
Parliament,  born  at  Lons-le-Saunier 
May  10,  1760,  godson  of  the  famous 
Gertrude  de  la  Tour,  the  sister  of  the 
pastel  painter,  he  was  to  don  at 
twenty-two  the  uniform  of  a  second 
lieutenant,  and  to  serve  the  monarchy 
for  seven  years  as  an  officer  of  pioneers. 
Not  being  a  member  of  any  coterie, 
without  protection  in  high  places, 
Rouget  de  Lisle  was  not  dismayed  at 
the  change  of  regime.  A  poor  man,  he 
turned  to  his  muse  and  to  his  violin  for 
those  distractions  which  so  often  offer 
a  means  of  salvation  from  the  violence 
of  passion. 

Becoming  a  lieutenant  September  7, 
1789,  as  a  member  of  the  garrison  of 
Neuf-Brisach,    he    was    neither    sur- 


prised nor  disturbed  by  the  declara- 
tion of  war,  which  was  transmitted  by 
a  Girondin  minister  on  April  20,  1792. 
The  destiny  of  a  freed  people  was  to  be 
decided  in  the  smoke  of  cannon. 
Alsace  was  to  see  again  the  warlike 
days  of  a  Turenne  and  a  Montecuccoli. 
The  various  French  cohorts  were  to 
take  their  stand  once  more  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine  to  halt  the  on- 
slaughts of  the  Suevi  under  a  new 
Ariovistus.  Such  were  the  circum- 
stances that  called  Rouget  de  Lisle, 
now  promoted  to  a  captaincy,  to 
Strassburg  on  January  3,  1792. 

At  that  time  one  man  was  the  dom- 
inating and  inspiring  force  among  the 
people  of  Strassburg  —  Frederic  Phi- 
lippe, Baron  de  Dietrich,  an  enlightened 
official  who  had  declined  the  ancient 
Teutonic  title  of  Ammeisier  for  that  of 
maire  —  a  mineralogist,  the  author  of 
a  volume  on  Des  forges  et  des  salines 
des  Pyrenees  —  a  man  who  had  given 
himself  entirely  to  the  tasks  of  free- 
dom. His  patriotic  ardor  inevitably 
brought  him  into  the  society  of  the 
army  officers.  Knowing  that  in  June 
the  garrison  was  to  form  a  wing  of 
Luckner's  army,  Dietrich  set  himself 
to  organize  a  farewell  festival.  Here 
gathered  the  centurions  of  the  new 
legions,  contemptuous  of  the  warlike 
to-morrow,  which  might,  perchance, 
be  fatal;  here,  too,  were  those  who  saw 
nothing  before  them  save  new  Champs 
Catalauniques.  These  were  the  men 
who  knew  that  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
King  of  Prussia  lay  the  red  mantle  of 
Attila  the  Hun.    They  grew  quietly 

6«7 


648 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


attentive  as  Dietrich  made  a  sugges- 
tion to  his  guests :  — 

*We  need,  messieurs,  a  war  song 
with  which  to  march  against  the 
enemy.  Who  will  compose  it?' 

Lapiete,  a  lieutenant,  turned  to 
Rouget :  — 

'  Poet,  call  back  the  song  of  Leonidas 
and  his  Spartans.' 

Rouget  de  Lisle  left  the  gathering 
abruptly.  He  walked  straight  to  his 
quarters,  along  streets  half  blocked 
with  cannon,  and  among  the  soldiers 
grouped  in  front  of  the  doors.  When 
he  reached  his  modest  dwelling,  in  the 
rue  de  la  Mesange,  the  captain  lighted 
his  lamp  and  sat  down  at  a  little  desk. 
Under  the  spell  of  an  overmastering 
inspiration  he  wrote  some  couplets,  and 
then,  taking  down  his  violin,  began  to 
play  stirring  music.  When  dawn  broke 
the  immortal  song  was  finished.  The 
composer,  in  the  throes  of  feverish 
emotion,  never  thought  of  rest.  He 
hurried  off  to  read  his  poem  to  Diet- 
rich —  not  to  sing  it  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  a  harpsichord,  as  the  plates 
and  pictures  of  the  time  show  the 
scene.  At  noon  that  day,  before  three 
battalions  drawn  up  on  the  parade 
ground,  Rouget  de  Lisle  sang  the  new 
song,  and  a  wild  enthusiasm  seized  upon 
all  those  who  heard  him.  But  this  Chant 
de  r  armee  du  Rhin,  which  was  printed 
by  the  Journal  de  Strasbourg,  was  for- 
bidden by  some  of  the  generals,  who 
found  its  expressions  a  little  too  daring. 

Carried  to  Marseille  and  sung  there, 
it  was  adopted  —  though  in  modified 
form  —  by  the  people,  and  then  carried 
to  Paris,  where  on  July  30,  1792,  it 
created  excitement  at  an  evening  ban- 
quet given  in  the  Grand  Salon  du 
Couronnement  de  la  Constitution,  the 
principal  restaurant  on  the  Champs 
Elysees.  The  new  refrain  ran:  — 

Nos  armes,  citoyens,  ont  triomphS  des  rois. 
VeillonsI  veillonsl  sans  nous  lasser,  au  maintien 
de  nos  droits. 


At  the  fete  civique  of  October  14  a 
new  stanza  was  added:  — 

Frangais  quun  meme  voeu  r assemble 
Pour  etre  heureux,  soyons  unis, 
Ne  formons  tous  qu'un  grand  ensemble, 
Notre  salut  en  est  le  yrix. 
Que  de  la  Republique  entiere 
Chacun  de  nous  soit  le  soutien, 
Dans  tous  voyons  le  citoyen, 
Et  dans  le  citoyen  un  frere. 

From  Paris  the  song  spread  to  the 
armies,  where  it  was  favored  by  the 
leaders,  and  the  first  version  was  once 
more  adopted.  Rouget,  no  doubt, 
profited  by  the  widespread  popularity 
of  his  work?  No,  his  name  was  placed 
on  the  list  of  suspects.  Dietrich  had 
already  been  arrested  for  protesting 
against  the  crimes  of  August  10.  He 
was  being  dragged  to  trial  when  Rou- 
get, busy  with  his  military  duties,  gave 
a  little  bread  to  a  homeless  woman, 
sixty  years  old,  who  had  fallen  ex- 
hausted near  the  camp.  She  was  the 
mother  of  an  emigre.  Feroul,  the 
people's  commissioner  attached  to  the 
army,  suspended  the  officer  from  serv- 
ice on  August  25.  Restored  to  duty 
September  16  and  serving  with  General 
Vence,  he  distinguished  himself  for 
bravery  at  the  siege  of  Namur.  After 
the  surrender  on  December  2,  he  was 
sent  to  Strassburg. 

On  March  15,  1793,  Carnot  required 
an  oath  of  obedience  to  the  Convention, 
from  the  Army  of  the  Rhine.  Among 
numerous  cases  of  passive  obedience, 
there  were  also  vigorous  refusals. 
Rouget  de  Lisle  declared  that  he  loved 
France  and  served  her  faithfully,  but 
not  the  power  that  had  thrown  Diet- 
rich into  chains.  Carnot  insisted. 

*You  have  recognized  the  national 
colors.  To-day  the  Convention  holds 
them,  and  is  the  State.' 

*  I  am  only  the  enemy  of  our  enemies.' 

*  Will  you  compel  me  to  strip  you  of 
your  rank  for  hostility  to  the  State  — 
you,  the  author  of  the  Marseillaise? ' 


ROUGET  DE  LISLE  AND  THE  MARSEILLAISE 


649 


*I  will  endure  any  trials  that  may 
come  to  me.' 

Carnot  contented  himself  with  de- 
manding his  discharge.  Rouget  went 
back  to  his  lodgings  on  the  rue  de  la  Me- 
sange.  Feraud  prepared  an  accusation 
against  the  *  conspirator.*  Euloge 
Schneider,  the  man  who  had  insisted  on 
covering  the  weather  vane  on  the  Strass- 
burg  cathedral  with  a  red  liberty-cap, 
added  other  charges.  The  poet  was 
taken  under  arrest  to  Paris  and  cast 
into  a  dungeon  at  the  Conciergerie; 
and,  by  the  irony  of  circumstance,  on 
the  very  day  after  his  imprisonment 
one  of  Santerre's  battalions  passed, 
singing  the  Marseillaise. 

Freed  after  the  execution  of  Robes- 
pierre, Rouget  de  Lisle  was  offered  the 
friendship  of  Hoche,  who  had  also 
been  persecuted  by  the  terrorists,  and 
who  enrolled  him  among  his  own  aides- 
de-camp,  August  14,  1893;  and  as  an 
officer  in  the  Cherbourg  army  Rouget 
received  a  wound  at  Quiberon.  His 
health  was  failing,  and  though  given 
command  of  a  battalion  March  2, 
1796,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the 
service  on  May  1,  when  his  song  had 
just  begun  to  resound  beyond  the 
Rhine. 

Suddenly  those  virile  tones  were 
silenced.  The  Consular  regime  had 
given  direction  that  the  song  should  not 
be  heard.  Only  the  old  soldiers  of 
Fleurus  remembered  to  hum  it  under 
their  breath  —  after  they  had  been 
discharged.     At    Moscow,    in    1812, 


among  the  smoking  ruins  of  the  city  of 
the  Tsars,  a  shout  of  Aux  amies,  dtoy- 
ensy  was  heard,  and  in  the  frozen  water 
of  the  Berezina  the  engineers  of  the 
Zabern  company,  who  were  building  a 
bridge  under  the  very  eye  of  Napoleon 
himself,  took  up  the  song:  — 

AUonSf  enfants  de  la  patrie, 
Le  jour  de  gloire  est  arrivi. 

Napoleon  lifted  his  hat  to  the  heroic 
men,  and  when  Berthier  ventured  to 
protest  against  the  forbidden  song,  re- 
marked :  — 

'Let  these  gallant  fellows  recall  our 
days  of  glory  if  they  want  to.* 

Meantime,  in  his  little  house  at 
Choisy-le-Roi,  the  composer  was  con- 
soling himself  for  the  inconstancy  of 
men  and  the  forgetfulness  of  sover- 
eigns by  playing  his  violin  and  writing 
his  lyric  tragedy,  Macbeth.  He  died 
in  1836,  but  his  name  and  his  war 
song  have  endured  the  storms  of  a 
century. 

We  felt  it  fitting,  on  July  14,  to  bear 
his  ashes  to  the  Pantheon.  Why 
should  we  not  insist  on  seeking  out  the 
house  where  Dietrich  dwelt  in  1792, 
and  why  should  we  not  erect  on  the 
Kehl  bridge,  facing  that  Germany 
whose  tyrants  he  assailed,  the  statue 
of  our  modern  Pindar?  The  echoes  of  a 
French  Rhine  would  take  up  the 
voices  of  the  pilgrims,  who  would  come 
on  patriotic  journeys  to  repeat  at  the 
monument's  foot  the  strophes  of  our 
nation's  song. 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  OF  SCIENCE 


BY  SIR  RICHARD  GREGORY 


[Sir  Richard  Gregory  is  editor  of  Nature,  the  most  important  British  scientific  journal. 
He  is  the  son  of  the  poet,  John  Gregory,  who  died  a  few  months  ago.  A  recent  article  of  Sir 
Richard's  which  appeared  in  Nature  finds  an  echo  in  the  concluding  paragraph  of  the 
present  study.  At  that  time  he  suggested  that  scientific  men  must  adopt  means  to  prevent  the 
abuse  and  employment  for  unworthy  ends  of  the  discoveries  thai  they  had  made  —  a  sugges- 
tion which  called  forth  much  comment  in  the  British  press.] 


From  the  Sunday  Times,  October  22 
(Independent  Journal) 


Every  scientific  discovery  is  a  possi- 
ble factor  of  industrial  or  intellectual 
development  —  a  new  tint  which  may 
change  the  color  of  the  whole  landscape, 
but  meaningless  until  on  the  canvas.  A 
chronological  list  of  such  discoveries 
recorded  in  unrelated  succession  would 
be  easy  to  make,  but  would  fail  to  show 
the  points  of  contact  of  Science  with  the 
living  world  —  the  new  social  circum- 
stances and  expansive  thought  created 
by  new  contributions  to  natural  knowl- 
edge. Through  these  revelations  during 
the  past  hundred  years  or  so  conditions 
of  life  and  views  as  to  the  history  of  the 
earth  and  of  man  have  undergone  more 
revolutionary  changes  than  in  all  the 
ages  preceding  them;  and  it  is  mainly 
to  them  that  we  propose  here  to  devote 
attention. 

Beginning  with  the  earth  itself,  a 
century  ago  Archbishop  Ussher's  chro- 
nology, which  assigned  the  creation  of 
the  world  to  the  year  4004  B.C.,  was  still 
generally  accepted,  though  dissatisfac- 
tion with  it  had  been  expressed.  All 
terrestrial  changes  were  attributed  to 
the  Deluge  or  other  catastrophes,  until 
Lyell  produced  evidence  in  his  Prin- 
ciples of  Geology,  published  in  1830,  that 
slow  evolution  rather  than  sudden 
revolution  is  the  process  by  which 
Nature  sculptures  the  surface  of  our 
globe. 

650 


The  final  blow  to  the  old  foundations 
of  belief  as  to  the  age  of  the  earth  and 
of  man  came  with  the  discovery  of  a 
new  world  of  ancient  life  buried  in  the 
rocks,  and  associated  in  some  places 
with  man's  own  handiwork.  Gigantic 
reptilian  creatures  of  former  days,  such 
as  the  ichthyosaurus  and  plesiosaurus, 
were  found  in  1821,  and  in  the  same 
year  the  bones  of  elephants,  rhinocer- 
oses, hippopotami,  hyenas,  and  other 
animals  long  extinct  in  these  islands 
were  identified  from  remains  recovered 
from  beds  under  the  floor  of  a  cave  at 
Kirkdale.  Curiously-shaped  flints  had 
long  before  been  found  with  similar 
relics  of  past  ages,  but  their  origin  was 
not  understood.  Recognition  that  they 
were  tools  and  weapons  of  early  man 
came  shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  as  the  result  of  a  critical  ex- 
amination of  well-made  flint  imple- 
ments found  by  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes 
near  Abbeville  and  Amiens  fifteen  years 
earlier.  The  conviction  was  then  forced 
upon  geologists  that  man  was  a  con- 
temporary of  the  mammoth,  the  wool- 
ly-haired rhinoceros,  cave-bear,  cave- 
hyena,  and  other  extinct  animals  about 
thirty  thousand  years  ago. 
•^  It  thus  became  no  longer  possible  to 
believe  that  man  belonged  only  to  the 
latest  order  of  geological  events,  and 
had  always  been  of  the  present  type. 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  OF  SCIENCE 


651 


He  had  evidently  a  prehistoric  ances- 
try, the  earliest  known  form  of  which 
is  now  believed  to  be  represented  by 
the  remains  of  a  walking  or  *  ground' 
ape  —  as  distinct  from  apes  which  live 
in  trees  —  found  at  Trinil,  in  Java,  to- 
ward the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century 
in  deposits  laid  down  before  the  first 
glacial  age,  probably  about  half  a  mil- 
lion years  ago.  Ape-like  characteristics 
appear  in  the  remains  of  a  skull  found 
at  Piltdown,  Sussex,  in  1912,  and  in  a 
massive  lower  jaw  from  a  deposit  near 
Heidelberg,  and  their  age  may  be  any- 
thing from  100,000  to  500,000  years. 
Types  of  the  direct  progenitor  of  mod- 
ern man  are  represented  by  the  skull 
and  bones  found  in  a  cave  in  the  Nean- 
derthal, near  Diisseldorf,  about  sixty 
years  ago,  and  a  fine  skeleton  from  the 
grotto  of  La-Chapelle-aux-Saints,  in  the 
Dordogne,  France,  secured  in  1908. 
Through  the  fifty  thousand  years  or  so 
from  the  end  of  the  last  glacial  age  to 
the  present  time  there  is  an  unbroken 
chain  of  evidence  of  human  develop- 
ment. 

The  appearance  of  Darwin's  Origin 
of  Species  in  1859,  followed  by  his 
Descent  of  Man  in  1871,  finally  dis- 
posed of  the  doctrine  of  special  creation 
of  man  and  other  living  things  in  their 
existing  structures  and  shapes,  and 
substituted  for  it  the  theory  of  pro- 
gressive development  throughout  suc- 
ceeding ages.  Conceptions  of  evolution 
in  organic  nature  had  been  held  long  be- 
fore, and  what  Darwin  did  was  not  only 
to  marshal  overwhelming  evidence  in 
support  of  the  fact  itself,  but  also  to 
show  how  variations  combined  with  the 
ever-present  struggle  for  existence  al- 
most inevitably  causes  extinction  of  the 
less  improved  forms  of  life  and  leads  to 
diversities  of  character  to  be  trans- 
mitted to  new  generations. 

What  is  true  for  animate  nature 
generally  is  true  also  for  man,  who  had 
thus  to  regard  himself  not  as  shaped 


once  for  all  in  a  mould  broken  six  thou- 
sand years  ago,  but  as  having  branched 
out  from  an  ancestral  stock  through  the 
possession  and  survival  of  the  distinc- 
tive characters  and  capacities  by  which 
he  has  made  himself  lord  of  creation 
and  master  of  his  own  destiny.  By  the 
principles  of  evolution  life  becomes 
dynamic  instead  of  static  —  a  process 
of  movement  onward  and  upward,  in- 
stead of  a  descent  from  a  Golden  Age  or 
a  condition  of  knowledge  which  could 
never  be  regained  in  this  world. 

It  is  not  now  possible  to  doubt  or- 
ganic evolution  as  a  fact,  or  that  natu- 
ral selection  is  the  main  formative 
factor  in  sifting  the  fit  from  the  unfit 
under  any  particular  conditions  of  exist- 
ence. Exactly  how  the  earliest  forms 
of  life  arose,  how  new  types  developed, 
and  how  their  specific  capacities  are 
transmitted  from  one  generation  to  an- 
other are,  however,  still  subjects  of 
acute  discussion  among  biologists,  and 
are  likely  to  be  for  many  years  yet. 
The  principles  of  Mendelism,  upon 
which  so  much  useful  work  has  been 
done  since  1900,  when  they  became 
known,  though  they  were  discovered 
by  Mendel  so  long  ago  as  1866,  provide 
practical  rules  as  to  the  regulation  of 
the  inheritances  of  biological  charac- 
teristics, but  their  interpretation  is  an- 
other matter.  The  ovum  from  which 
a  human  being  develops  after  fertiliza- 
tion does  not  differ  in  any  observable 
characters  from  the  ova  of  other  crea- 
tures, and  in  the  early  stages  of  growth 
the  embryos  of  vertebrate  animals  can- 
not be  distinguished  one  from  another, 
though  one  may  eventually  become 
a  rabbit  and  the  other  a  child. 

A  century  ago  nothing  was  known  of 
the  actual  changes  which  an  ovum  un- 
dergoes when  it  is  fertilized,  for  it  was 
not  until  1843  that  the  effect  of  the 
union  of  spermatozoa  with  ova  was 
observed  in  the  case  of  a  rabbit.  But 
though  the  changes  which  follow  far- 


65^ 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


tilization  of  an  ovum  can  be  seen  and 
traced  through  all  the  stages  of  em- 
bryonic development  to  birth  —  a  mul- 
ticellular vertebrate  animal,  for  ex- 
ample, from  a  minute  fertilized  egg  — 
only  in  a  few  forms  of  life  are  observ- 
able structures  in  the  cell  associated 
with  characters  developed  in  the  future 
organism;  and  even  in  these  cases  the 
evidence  is  not  convincing.  It  is  as- 
sumed that  some  quality  or  structure  of 
the  simple  cell  is  continuous  from  one 
generation  to  another,  and  carries  with 
it  particular  hereditary  characters,  but 
what  this  germplasm,  as  Weismann 
named  it,  actually  is  remains  still  to  be 
determined.  What  we  do  know  is  that 
the  human  ovum  does  not  contain  a 
model  in  miniature  of  the  future  off- 
spring, as  the  *  animalculists '  had  con- 
tended for  centuries  before  von  Baer,  in 
1828,  discovered  and  described  an 
ovum  about  one  two-hundredth  of  an 
inch  in  diameter.  Man,  like  other 
vertebrate  animals,  begins  his  individ- 
ual existence  in  the  form  of  a  single  cell 
or  fertilized  egg,  which  by  repeated 
divisions,  each  giving  rise  to  a  new 
generation  of  cells,  develops  into  the 
adult  organism. 

Embryology  became  a  science 
through  Darwin's  work  on  evolution, 
which  has  indeed  been  the  fertilizing 
principle  of  most  studies  of  organic  life 
during  the  past  sixty  years.  Its  basis 
is  the  cell  or  elementary  vital  unit  upon 
which  all  organic  growth  and  develop- 
ment depend.  As  now  understood  by 
biologists,  a  cell  is  not  a  box  of  a  par- 
ticular shape,  like  the  cells  of  a  honey- 
comb, but  the  substance  in  the  box,  and 
the  problems  it  presents  are  so  compli- 
cated and  important  that  a  new  science 
—  cytology  —  has  marked  them  off  as 
its  concern.  The  semi-transparent  pro- 
toplasm within  a  cell  is  the  actual  living 
substance  of  the  organism,  and  is  the 
common  basis  of  all  animal  and  plant 
tissues.    The  centre  of  activity  govern- 


ing the  vital  functions  of  the  cell  is  the 
nucleus,  discovered  and  named  by  Rob- 
ert Brown  in  1831.  Following  up  this 
observation,  M.  J.  Schleiden  and  T. 
Schwann  in  1839  published  their  epoch- 
making  work  on  the  cell  theory,  which 
has  developed  into  a  most  important 
biological  generalization.  The  speck  of 
protoplasm  with  its  nucleus  has  proved 
to  be  the  physical  basis  of  life. 

It  was  by  a  natural  transition  that 
Schwann  passed  from  microscopic  stud- 
ies of  the  cell  to  observations  of  minute 
organisms  and  their  place  in  the  econ- 
omy of  Nature.  He  reached  the  con- 
clusion, for  example,  that  fermentation 
was  due  to  the  growth  of  the  vegetable 
organisms,  rediscovered  by  him  in  1837, 
which  form  yeast,  and  that  putrefac- 
tion might  be  due  to  a  similar  cause. 
These  views  were,  however,  so  strongly 
opposed  at  the  time  that  they  found 
few  supporters,  and  it  was  not  until 
twenty  years  later  that  Pasteur  proved 
beyond  all  question  that  there  could  be 
neither  alcoholic  fermentation  nor  pu- 
trefying matter  in  the  absence  of  micro- 
organisms. The  significance  of  bacteria 
in  disease  was  established  in  1860  by 
the  recognition  of  a  microscopic  plant 
as  being  the  true  cause  of  anthrax;  and 
since  then  modern  medicine  has  been 
largely  concerned  in  detecting,  isolat- 
ing, and  combating  the  invisible  foes 
associated  with  many  common  diseases 
—  typhoid,  diphtheria,  dysentery,  teta- 
nus, cholera,  plague,  and  others. 

The  science  of  bacteriology  did  not 
exist  a  century  ago.  It  was  then  be- 
lieved that  there  could  be  spontaneous 
generation  of  living  organisms,  but 
Pasteur  showed  conclusively  that  such 
organisms  were  never  actually  created, 
but  grew  from  others;  and  he  further 
proved  that  particular  forms  of  germs 
were  the  causes  of  putrefaction.  Fol- 
lowing up  this  conclusion.  Lister  applied 
it  in  1866  to  the  treatment  of  wounds, 
and  showed  that  the  exclusion  of  the 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  OF  SCIENCE 


653 


microscopic  living  causes  of  decomposi- 
tion meant  the  disappearance  of  hospi- 
tal fevers  such  as  pyaemia,  gangrene, 
and  so  on,  which  previously  exacted 
fearful  toll  from  patients  submitted  to 
surgical  operation.  Antiseptic  and 
aseptic  methods  had  previously  been 
introduced  with  success  by  Semmelweis 
in  the  maternity  wards  of  a  great  hospi- 
tal in  Vienna,  but  it  was  Pasteur  who 
discovered  the  minute  organism  as- 
sociated with  puerperal  fever,  to  which 
so  many  women  succumbed,  and  it  was 
upon  the  sure  foundation  of  Pasteur's 
researches  that  Lister  based  his  meth- 
ods of  preventing  septic  troubles. 
Antiseptic  treatment  and  the  use  of 
ansesthetics,  administered  first  as  sul- 
phuric ether  in  the  United  States  in 
1844,  and  later  in  the  form  of  chloro- 
form in  England,  opened  up  a  greatly 
increased  range  of  surgical  operations, 
and  have  been  the  means  of  avoiding 
untold  suffering  as  well  as  saving  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  human  lives. 

Clearly  associated  with  the  science  of 
bacteriology,  the  founders  of  which 
were  Pasteur,  Koch,  and  Lister,  is  that 
of  parasitology,  which  is  of  relatively 
recent  growth  and  is  concerned  chiefly 
with  diseases  due  to  particular  para- 
sites—  neither  bacteria  nor  bacilli. 
Laveran  discovered  in  1880  that  mala- 
rial fever  is  caused  by  millions  of 
minute  animal  parasites,  and  it  was 
suggested  by  him  and  Koch  that  the 
malarial  germ  is  carried  by  mosquitoes. 
Manson  carried  this  suggestion  further 
about  1894,  but  it  was  left  to  Ronald 
Ross  to  establish  the  theory  by  a  long 
series  of  difficult  experiments.  Both 
malaria  and  yellow  fever  were  banished 
from  Havana  by  destroying  the  breed- 
ing-places of  mosquitoes.  The  construc- 
tion of  the  Panama  Canal  became  pos- 
sible by  the  adoption  of  these  measures, 
and  many  other  places  in  which  these 
diseases  were  formerly  rampant  have 
similarly  been  made  healthy  for  white 


people.  The  Black  Death,  or  plague,  is 
another  insect-borne  disease,  proved  in 
1894  by  two  Japanese  doctors  —  Yersin 
and  Kitasato  —  to  be  caused  by  a 
minute  vegetable  parasite  conveyed  by 
fleas  from  rats  to  men.  Sleeping  sick- 
ness is  conveyed  by  the  tsetse  fly, 
typhus  fever  by  lice,  and  other  diseases 
by  other  insects;  it  is  only  when  the 
true  causative  organisms  and  their 
carrying  agents  have  been  discovered 
that  preventive  measures  can  be  em- 
ployed with  the  assurance  of  success. 

Much  of  modern  scientific  progress  is 
indeed  based  upon  the  study  of  minute 
things  and  their  eff*ects.  In  the  human 
body  disorder  of  a  single  organ  will  dis- 
turb the  working  of  the  whole  mechan- 
ism. Each  organ  is  not  isolated,  but 
correlated  with  others,  and  through  its 
internal  secretions  determines  condi- 
tions of  disease  or  health,  of  growth, 
physical  characteristics,  and  develop- 
ment generally.  Even  in  diet  minute 
amounts  of  substances  known  as  vita- 
mins are  essential  to  nutrition  in  addi- 
tion to  the  proteins,  fats,  carbohydrates, 
and  mineral  salts  which  are  the  common 
constituents  of  foods.  Beri-beri,  for  ex- 
ample, is  a  deficiency  disease  caused  by 
the  consumption  of  rice  from  which  the 
necessary  nutritive  vitamins  have  been 
removed  in  the  polishing  process  of 
milling,  and  rickets  are  associated  with 
the  absence  of  a  vitamin  which  occurs 
in  abundance  in  cod-liver  oil  and  butter. 
Margarine  must  have  this  vitamin 
added  to  it  if  it  is  to  be  a  nutritious 
food. 

In  the  manufacture  of  this  butter- 
substitute  use  is  made  of  the  property 
which  minute  quantities  of  certain  sub- 
stances possess  of  promoting  chemical 
changes  in  other  substances.  At  the 
beginning  of  this  century  it  was  dis- 
covered that  oils  like  olive  oil  could  be 
converted  into  solid  fats  if  sprayed  into 
a  vessel  containing  hydrogen  gas  and 
some  finely  divided  nickel,  which  acts 


654 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


as  a  *  catalyst,'  but  itself  remains  un- 
altered. Any  degree  of  hardening  of  a 
fatty  oil  can  be  obtained  by  lengthen- 
ing the  time  of  this  process  of  hydro- 
genation,  and  the  objectionable  odors 
of  fish  oils  and  other  low-class  fats  can 
be  completely  removed.  Chemical  in- 
dustries depend  largely  upon  facilitat- 
ing the  divorce  of  some  elements  and 
their  reunion  with  others,  and  in  this 
transformation  the  presence  of  the  im- 
passive catalytic  agent  often  plays  an 
essential  part. 

All  substances  —  organic  as  well  as 
inorganic  —  are  made  up  of  chemical 
elements,  of  which  ninety  or  so  are  now 
recognized,  about  thirty  of  which  have 
been  discovered  during  the  past  cen- 
tury. It  was  formerly  supposed  that 
organic  compounds  could  be  procured 
only  through  the  agency  of  *  vital  forces,* 
but  when  Wohler  succeeded  in  1828  in 
synthesizing  carbamide  —  previously 
known  solely  as  the  product  of  vital 
action  —  and  acetic  acid  and  other 
organic  compounds  were  afterwards 
artificially  produced  from  their  consti- 
tuent elements,  the  doctrine  of  vital 
force  in  chemistry  was  broken  down. 
Since  then  thousands  of  similar  pro- 
ducts have  been  produced  for  every- 
day use,  as  dyes,  drugs,  perfumes, 
photographic  chemicals,  and  for  other 
purposes.  The  waste  coal-tar,  which 
was  an  annoying  by-product  of  the 
manufacture  of  illuminating  gas  in  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
proved  to  be  a  mine  of  wealth  to  syn- 
thetic chemistry,  beginning  with  the 
discovery  of  mauve,  the  first  aniline 
dye,  by  Perkin  in  1856,  and  now  pro- 
ducing substances  worth  tens  of  mil- 
lions annually. 

Lighting  by  coal-gas  had  established 
itself  a  century  ago,  but  little  improve- 
ment was  made  in  it  until  the  incandes- 
cent mantle  was  introduced  by  Auer 
von  Welsbach  in  1880.  The  two  ele- 
ments,   thorium   and   cerium,   which 


enter  into  the  constitution  of  these 
mantles  were  discovered  many  years 
earlier,  and  had  no  useful  application 
before  they  entered  into  the  gas  in- 
dustry. Cerium  itself  seems  to  act  as  a 
catalytic  agent  in  facilitating  combus- 
tion,  for  only  about  one  per  cent  is  used 
in  gas  mantles,  and  no  advantage  is 
gained  by  increasing  or  decreasing  this 
small  proportion.  Calcium  carbide, 
from  which  another  illuminant  —  acet- 
ylene gas — was  later  produced,  was 
made  by  Wohler  in  1862,  and  has  be- 
come a  commercial  product  of  prime 
importance. 

The  incandescent  mantle  saved  the 
gas  industry  at  a  time  when  electricity 
had  become  a  serious  competitor  as  a 
means  of  lighting.  Faraday  had  shown 
in  1831  that  a  moving  magnet  produced 
an  electric  current  in  a  coil  of  wire  near 
it,  a  discovery  upon  which  the  con- 
struction of  every  electric  dynamo 
depends.  There  never  was  an  observa- 
tion which  has  had  greater  industrial 
and  social  influence.  Every  electric 
supply  station,  and  every  practical  use 
of  electric  power,  has  its  origin  in 
Faraday's  researches  on  magneto  elec- 
tricity. It  took  nearly  fifty  years  for 
the  discovery  that  mechanical  move- 
ment could  create  an  electric  current 
to  be  applied  to  the  construction  of  an 
efi'ective  dynamo,  and  we  did  not  take 
the  lead  in  this,  as  we  did  with  the 
steam  engine,  but  let  Germany,  the 
United  States,  and  other  countries  oc- 
cupy the  field  which  Faraday,  Wheat- 
stone,  Kelvin,  and  other  British  men  of 
science  had  opened,  and  we  entered  it 
only  after  they  had  shown  its  fertility. 

No  advances  in  electrical  or  other 
machines  and  engineering  structures 
would,  however,  have  been  possible  in 
the  absence  of  the  developments  of  steel 
manufacture  which  began  about  fifty 
years  ago.  Of  particular  importance 
was  the  discovery  and  invention  of  the 
extraordinary   material   and   alloy  — 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  OF  SCIENCE 


655 


manganese  steel  —  by  Sir  Robert  Had- 
field  in  the  'eighties  of  the  last  century, 
followed  up  by  the  production  of  nickel 
steel,  chromium  steel,  aluminium  steel, 
and  others.  Dozens  of  similar  alloy- 
steels  are  now  known,  each  with  specific 
properties,  and  one  or  more  of  them  are 
used  in  the  construction  of  every 
motor-car,  aeroplane,  projectile,  ar- 
mor-plate, tramway  crossing,  ma- 
chine tool  or  other  product  of  modern 
engineering. 

Aluminium,  one  of  the  substances 
used  in  alloy-steel,  was  not  discovered 
until  1828,  though  it  is  the  most  widely 
distributed  element  on  the  earth.  Near- 
ly two  hundred  thousand  tons  of  the 
metal  are  now  produced  annually, 
entirely  by  electrical  methods. 

We  are  indeed  in  the  age  of  steel  and 
electricity,  and  the  greatest  marvels  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  due  to  their 
use,  are  now  accepted  as  matters  of 
everyday  life.  The  metallic  filament 
incandescent  electric  lamp,  slightly 
modified,  has  been  found  to  be  the  most 
sensitive  detector  of  electric  waves  used 
to  transmit  messages  by  wireless  teleg- 
raphy and  telephony.  By  its  use  speech 
can  be  heard  for  a  distance  of  a  couple 
of  thousand  miles  and  signals  detected 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth.  An  electric 
telegraph  line  eight  miles  long  was  laid 
down  by  Ronalds  at  Hammersmith  in 
1816;  twenty  years  later  it  came  into 
general  use  in  England;  and  in  another 
twenty  years  a  cable  had  been  laid 
across  the  Atlantic;  but  all  these  ap- 
plications of  the  electric  current  were 
obvious  in  comparison  with  the  use  of 
electric  waves  for  transmitting  signals 
and  speech.  When  Graham  Bell  pro- 
duced his  telephone  in  1876  the  world 
was  astonished  at  the  wonderful  powers 
of  the  new  instrument;  but  we  are  now 
on  the  threshold  of  a  far  more  marvel- 
ous achievement,  and  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  before  long  it  will 
be  possible  to  converse  between  London 


and  New  York  or  Cape  Town  as  readily 
as  a  conversation  can  now  be  held  by 
ordinary  telephonic  means  between  two 
cities  in  Great  Britain. 

The  effect  of  these  facilities  of  com- 
munication, hke  that  of  improved 
means  of  locomotion,  has  been  to  make 
the  world  smaller  than  it  was  a  century 
ago.  The  Atlantic  was  crossed  in  a 
fortnight  in  1833  by  a  vessel  using 
steam-power  alone,  and  by  one  using  a 
screw  propeller  instead  of  paddles 
twelve  years  later.  Since  then  the  chief 
developments  have  been  in  size  and 
speed,  and  in  the  use  of  turbines  in- 
stead of  reciprocating  engines.  Much 
the  same  is  true  of  steam  traction  on 
railways  since  Stephenson  constructed 
his  engine  for  the  Stockton  and  Darling- 
ton line  in  1821,  the  chief  change  being 
the  introduction  of  electric  traction  for 
tramways  and  railways.  Improvements 
in  the  efficiency  of  these  and  all  other 
uses  of  mechanical  power  are  due  to  the 
establishment  of  the  principle  of  the 
conservation  of  energy  through  the 
labors  of  Mayer  and  Helmholtz  in 
Germany,  and  Joule  and  Kelvin  in 
Great  Britain.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  Lavoisier  had  prov- 
ed that  throughout  all  chemical  trans- 
formations investigated  there  was  never 
the  gain  or  loss  of  a  single  particle  of 
matter;  but  the  fact  that  energy  could 
also  never  be  created  or  destroyed  was 
established  only  by  persistent  experi- 
ment and  against  much  opposition. 
The  principle  lies  at  the  basis  of  the 
construction  of  all  efficient  forms  of 
power  transformation,  including  the 
internal-combustion  engines  which 
have  revolutionized  communication  on 
highways  and  made  dynamic  aviation 
an  everyday  affair.  Flying  machines  of 
much  the  same  type  as  that  of  early 
aeroplanes  were  designed  about  a 
century  ago,  but  it  was  not  until  after 
the  invention  of  the  petrol  motor  that 
the  brothers  Wright  were  able  twenty 


656 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


years  ago  to  make  sustained  mechani- 
cal flight  practicable. 

But  though  aviation  has  enabled 
man  to  enter  into  the  dominion  of  the 
air,  he  cannot  get  very  far  away  from 
the  earth's  surface  on  account  of  the 
attenuated  atmosphere  at  high  alti- 
tudes. The  commercial  production  of 
liquefied  gases  enables  him,  however,  to 
carry  liquid  air  or  oxygen  to  breathe 
when  the  atmosphere  around  him  is  too 
rare  to  sustain  respiration.  It  was  only 
towards  the  end  of  the  last  century  that 
such  gases  as  oxygen,  nitrogen,  and 
hydrogen  were  produced  in  liquid  form, 
and  they  are  now  in  common  use  in 
medicine  as  well  as  in  industry.  Helium 
gas,  which  was  first  liquefied  in  1908  at 
a  temperature  of  about  480  degrees 
Fahrenheit  below  the  freezing  point  of 
water,  has  a  remarkable  history.  It 
was  observed  as  an  unknown  gas  in  the 
sun  by  Sir  Norman  Lockyer  in  1868, 
and  was  then  given  its  name.  Twenty- 
six  years  later  it  was  obtained  by  Sir 
William  Ramsay  from  a  terrestrial 
mineral,  and  was  afterwards  found  to 
occur  in  the  waters  of  many  springs. 

Lockyer  detected  helium  in  the  sun 
by  the  use  of  the  spectroscope,  which 
enables  the  chemical  constitutions  of 
celestial  bodies  to  be  determined  by 
analyzing  their  light.  Auguste  Comte 
had  declared  that  it  was  impossible  for 
anything  definite  to  be  learned  about 
the  real  nature  of  the  stars,  but  spec- 
trum analysis  has  shown  that  in  this,  as 
in  other  cases,  it  is  unwise  to  define  the 
limits  of  human  achievement.  Not  only 
does  the  spectroscope  enable  us  to  dis- 
cover the  elements  in  the  sun  and  stars 
and  other  celestial  bodies,  but  it  also 
provides  a  means  of  determining  with 
remarkable  precision  their  movements 
towards  or  away  from  the  earth;  and  by 
methods  recently  introduced  the  dis- 
tances of  hundreds  of  stars  have  been 
found  by  measurements  of  photographs 
of  stellar  spectra.  It  was  not  until  1838 


that  the  distance  of  a  star  had  been 
determined  with  even  approximate  ac- 
curacy, and  proved  to  be  about  650,000 
times  the  distance  of  the  sun  from  the 
earth.  The  methods  used  for  such  ob- 
servations were  most  laborious,  and 
needed  extremely  accurate  measure- 
ments over  a  period  of  years.  The  same 
amount  of  attention  to  spectrum  photo- 
graphs can  now  determine  the  distances 
of  hundreds  of  stars  instead  of  a  single 
one.  By  another  accessory  to  the 
astronomical  telescope  the  actual  di- 
ameters of  certain  stars  have  been  meas- 
ured at  the  Mount  Wilson  Observatory, 
California,  and  for  the  star  Betelgeuse 
the  value  proved  to  be  215,000,000 
miles.  This  was  predicted  by  Prof. 
Eddington  and  Prof.  Russell  from  pure- 
ly theoretical  considerations,  and  the 
deduction  ranks  with  that  of  the  mathe- 
matical determination  of  the  place 
which  the  planet  Neptune  should  oc- 
cupy in  the  sky,  before  it  was  actually 
discovered  there  in  1846. 

Astronomy  in  recent  years  has,  how- 
ever, been  concerned  not  alone  with  the 
studies  of  the  visible  beams  from  lumi- 
nous celestial  bodies,  but  with  dark 
stars  and  other  obscure  cosmic  matter 
which  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
exceed  in  quantity  what  can  be  seen 
with  even  the  largest  telescopes.  The 
range  of  ether  vibrations  which  affect 
our  sense  of  vision  —  from  darkest  red 
to  deepest  violet  —  is  really  only  one 
octave  out  of  more  than  forty  now 
known.  The  range  was  extended  by 
photography,  the  photographic  plate  or 
film  being  sensitive  to  rays  which 
produce  no  effect  upon  our  retinas.  Fox 
Talbot  became  the  father  of  photog- 
raphy when  he  invented  his  calotype 
process  in  1839. 

When  Rontgen  rays,  which  have 
proved  of  such  wonderful  utility  in 
industry  as  well  as  in  medical  science, 
were  discovered  in  1895,  it  was  not 
realized  that  they,  like  visible  light,  are 


THE  AUGUSTAN  AGE  OF  SCIENCE 


657 


due  to  vibrations  in  the  omnipresent 
ether,  but  far  more  rapid,  and  there- 
fore capable  of  penetrating  structures 
through  which  longer  waves  cannot 
pass.  Invisible  rays  with  the  same 
penetrative  properties  were  soon  after- 
wards found  to  be  emitted  by  uranium 
and  its  compounds,  and  then  Mme. 
Curie  and  her  husband,  after  a  labori- 
ous investigation,  isolated  from  pitch- 
blende —  a  black  ore  of  uranium  —  the 
element  radium,  which  is  a  far  more 
potent  source  of  invisible  radiations 
than  any  other  substance.  It  con- 
tinuously gives  off  gases,  which  are 
themselves  radioactive,  and  the  two 
final  products  of  a  series  of  transfor- 
mations of  these  gases  are  helium  and 
lead. 

Radium  thus  provides  an  example  of 
the  spontaneous  disintegration  of  atoms. 
Sir  Joseph  Thomson,  Sir  Ernest  Ruther- 
ford, and  Professor  Soddy  are  chiefly  re- 
sponsible for  tracing  out  and  interpret- 
ing the  atomic  changes  which  occur  to 
bring  about  these  results.  An  atom  is 
now  regarded  as  a  kind  of  solar  system 
in  miniature,  with  the  main  part  of  its 
mass  concentrated  at  the  centre  on  a 
minute  nucleus  of  positive  electricity, 
while  around  it  circulates  a  certain 
number  of  electrons,  charged  with 
negative  electricity.  By  a  series  of 
brilliant  investigations  H.  G.  J.  Mose- 
ley — who  was  killed  in  the  Dardanelles 
—  showed  that  the  chemical  properties 
of  an  element  are  governed   by  the 


number  of  electrons  revolving  around  a 
nucleus,  and  this  number  is  determined 
by  the  units  of  positive  charge  pos- 
sessed by  the  nucleus.  This  generaliza- 
tion has  proved  even  more  productive 
of  developments  in  chemical  research 
than  the  announcement  by  MendeleefT 
in  1871  of  the  periodic  law  of  the  classi- 
fication of  elements,  which  indicated 
the  probable  existence  and  properties 
of  elements  afterwards  discovered. 

In  the  nucleus  of  an  atom  we  have  an 
intense  source  of  energy,  indicated  by 
the  terrific  velocity  with  which  particles 
are  expelled  in  the  disintegration  of 
radioactive  substances.  By  bombard- 
ing nitrogen  gas  with  these  particles 
Rutherford  has  been  able  to  convert 
some  of  it  into  hydrogen,  thus  trans- 
forming one  element  into  another.  A 
new  and  rich  land  of  promise  has  been 
entered  during  the  past  few  years,  and 
the  time  is  probably  not  far  distant 
when  the  unbounded  energy  of  the 
atoms  found  in  it  will  be  made  available 
for  all  purposes  in  which  power  is  re- 
quired —  constructive  or  destructive. 
Coal  and  other  forms  of  fuel  will  not 
then  be  needed,  and  the  whole  social 
organization  of  the  civilized  world  will 
have  to  be  readjusted  to  meet  the  new 
conditions.  Whether  men  will  prove 
themselves  worthy  of  the  argosies  of 
science  which  will  enter  their  ports  is 
not  for  us  to  predict,  but  upon  the  re- 
sult will  depend  the  future  destiny  of 
the  human  race. 


AL  WASAL,  OR  THE  MERGER 


BY  HILAIRE  BELLOC 


[Poet,  journalist,  novelist,  Mr,  Belloc  is  one  of  the  most  vigorous  figures  in  the  contem- 
"porary  school  of  Catholic  writers  in  England.  He  and  Mr.  Chesterton  do  not  like  modern 
industrial  civilization  —  a  fact  which  they  seize  every  occasion  to  make  abundantly  clear. 
This  satiric  little  tale  is  a  continuation  of  Mr.  Belloc' s  last  novel.  The  Mercy  of  Allah, 
which  dealt  vdth  a  similar  theme  in  a  similar  way.  In  a  recent  reply  to  Dean  Inge,  Mr. 
Belloc  corrected  some  prevalent  impressions  vdth  regard  to  his  nationality:  'I  was  brought 
over  here  when  I  was  three  weeks  old.  English  is  my  mother  tongue.  I  have  learned  French 
as  a  foreign  language,  which  I  cannot  yet  always  write  correctly.  I  have  lived  in  English 
surroundings  from  my  earliest  recollections  of  home  and  school.  As  to  my  blood,  my  father 
was  half  French  and  half  Irish.  .  .  .  I  was  brought  up  here  by  my  mother,  who  is  entirely 
English  —  Warvnckshire  and  Yorkshire.*] 


From  the  New  Statesman,  October  7 
(Liberal  Labor  Weekly) 


*I  HAD  been  in  this  town  not  more 
than  three  days,  my  dear  nephews,* 
said  Mahmoud,  with  a  benevolent 
smile,  *when  I  lit  upon  one  more  happy 
accident  whereby  (as  it  seemed  to  me) 
Providence  might  permit  me  to  advance 
the  welfare  of  my  fellow  beings.  I 
know  not  whether  the  Merciful,  the 
Just,  put  it  in  my  mind;  I  only  know 
that  for  many  years  the  opportunity 
had  lain  there  patent  to  every  eye  (one 
would  think)  yet  never  used.  But  Allah 
has  his  instruments,  and  he  chose  me. 

*The  town  stood,  I  must  tell  you,  up- 
on either  bank  of  a  rapid  river.  This 
came  down  from  the  slopes  of  the  moun- 
tains to  the  north,  and  sprang,  immedi- 
ately above  the  northern  gate,  from 
two  torrents  which  united  their  waters 
to  form  the  main  stream.  Each  of 
these  torrents  ran  with  force  down  a 
gorge  of  its  own,  the  one  on  the  east,  the 
other  on  the  west  of  the  waters-meet. 
On  each  stood,  at  a  distance  of  half-an- 
hour's  slow  walk  from  the  city  walls,  a 
mill  of  ancient  date,  which  ground  the 
corn  of  the  citizens  and  provided  them 
with  flour  for  their  bread. 

*That  called  the  East  Mill  belonged 
to  Hakim,  a  very  worthy  man,  some 

658 


fifty  years  of  age,  who  had  a  plain, 
simple  face,  an  ample  gray  beard,  and 
the  carriage  of  a  man  of  substance, 
neither  very  wealthy  nor  embarrassed. 
All  respected  him.  He  was  at  ease  with 
himself  and  mankind.  He  had  inherited 
the  mill  from  his  father,  and  his  father 
before  him. 

*That  called  the  West  Mill  belonged 
to  Selim,  a  very  worthy  man,  some  fifty 
years  of  age,  who  had  a  plain,  simple 
face,  an  ample  gray  beard,  and  the 
carriage  of  a  man  of  substance,  neither 
very  wealthy  nor  embarrassed.  All  re- 
spected him.  He  was  at  ease  with  him- 
self and  mankind.  He  had  inherited 
the  mill  from  his  father  and  his  father 
before  him. 

/I  had  heard  of  these  two  mills  on 
the  day  of  my  first  arrival;  and  on  the 
third  day  I  heard  more  of  their  owners 
and  of  their  trade  —  how  each  did,  on 
the  whole,  the  same  amount  of  business: 
now  one  more,  now  one  less,  but  year 
in  and  year  out  much  of  a  muchness. 
"The  city  needs"  (said  the  chief  Corn 
Chandler,  of  whom  I  learnt  these  par- 
ticulars) "about  ten  thousand  measures 
of  flour  in  the  year,  and  of  these  Hakim, 
one  way  and  another,  will  grind  about 


AL  WASAL,  OR  THE  MERGER 


659 


five  thousand,  and  Selim,  one  way  and 
another,  about  five  thousand.  Glory 
be  to  the  Provider,  to  the  Bountiful, 
who  nourishes  mankind  with  harvests." 

*Next  day  I  sauntered  to  the  market 
and,  having  had  these  two  pointed  out 
to  me,  I  passed  carelessly  by  them, 
noting  inwardly  with  exactitude  their 
faces  and  their  thoughts  —  for  these 
their  faces  were  very  far  from  conceal- 
ing. They  were  pursuing  their  trade  in 
a  leisurely  but  sufficient  fashion,  taking 
orders  from  clients  for  the  delivery  of 
flour,  purchasing  grain,  and  noting 
lists  of  sacks  which  were  to  be  sent 
them  for  grinding  on  commission. 
Each  seemed  to  have  a  group  of  regular 
customers,  while  a  smaller  body  of  buy- 
ers and  sellers  would  move  from  one  to 
the  other,  comparing  prices  and  ulti- 
mately deciding  to  favor  now  Hakim, 
now  Selim. 

*I  can  hardly  tell  you  (my  dear  little 
nephews)  how  my  heart  swelled  and 
overflowed  with  gratitude  as  I  con- 
sidered their  honest,  straightforward 
gestures,  their  unstrained  lips,  their  in- 
genuous eyes.  I  had  had  so  much  expe- 
rience of  the  wickedness  of  men  that  I 
had  almost  forgotten  such  goodness 
could  be  in  the  world.  I  lost  not  a  mo- 
ment, but  immediately  proceeded  to  a 
neighboring  shrine  and  there  poured 
out  my  thanks  and  implored  the  aid  of 
Heaven  to  decide  which  of  the  pair  I 
should  first  engage,  when  each  was  as 
inviting  as  his  fellow.  But  though  I  re- 
mained in  the  most  earnest  wrestling 
with  God  for  nearly  three  quarters  of  an 
hour,  no  sign  was  vouchsafed  me. 

*I  therefore  rose  with  a  sigh  to  submit 
the  issue  to  chance.  I  purchased  two 
turnips  in  the  market,  named  one  Ha- 
kim, the  other  Selim,  and  tossed  them 
together  into  the  air.  Hakim  first 
reached  the  ground.  To  Hakim,  there- 
fore, did  I  procure  an  introduction,  and, 
at  his  courteous  suggestion,  walked 
back  slowly  with  him  up  the  torrent 

VOL.  315  — NO,  4093 


side,  through  the  cool  of  the  evening, 
toward  the  mountain  and  his  home. 
We  entered  the  Mill  House,  loud  with 
the  sound  of  water  and  delicious  with 
the  scent  of  whole-meal.  He  enter- 
tained me  well.  We  talked  of  my  trav- 
els far  into  the  night,  and  I  think  I 
moved  him  somewhat  by  my  accounts 
of  large  sums  acquired  most  rapidly, 
and  of  gain  without  efi*ort.  Next  day 
he  visited  the  lodging  I  had  hired  in  the 
city.  The  next  I  came  again  to  his  mill. 
We  were  soon  fast  friends. 

*  "Hakim,"  said  I  to  him  one  day 
in  the  next  week,  as  we  stood  at  sunset 
in  his  doorway  overlooking  the  city  be- 
low, "Hakim"  (we  had  been  discussing 
the  inexplicable  prosperity  of  the  Kadi) 
"I  cannot  but  believe  that  a  little  nov- 
elty might  honorably  add  to  your  reve- 
nue." 

*"  Something  of  the  sort  has  lately 
passed  through  my  own  mind,"  he  an- 
swered, "especially  when  you  spoke 
the  other  evening  of  how  the  cofi'ee- 
seller  enlarged  his  trade  by  generously 
presenting  every  buyer  with  an  illumi- 
nated text,  which,  in  turn,  he  was  paid 
by  the  text-illuminator  to  distribute  as 
a  sample  of  his  skill." 

*"Some  few  of  your  clients,"  said  I, 
"visit  your  mill  after  meeting  you  in 
the  market.  Now,  were  these  visits 
rendered  in  some  way  specially  pleas- 
ing, they  would  increase.  New  custom- 
ers would  come  to  you.  Your  sales  of 
flour  would  speedily  grow." 

*  Hakim  was  already  convinced.  He 
spent  no  small  sum  in  putting  up  a  hall, 
where  sweetmeats  and  sherbet  were 
ofi*ered  to  his  guests  by  the  most  charm- 
ing servitors.  Later  he  hired  two  sing- 
ers and  a  fortune-teller.  Soon  a  com- 
pany of  players  appeared,  whose  jests 
were  so  famihar  that  they  drew  a  regu- 
lar audience. 

*The  sales  of  flour  at  Hakim's  mill 
went  up  from  week  to  week  —  and  as 
the  needs  of  the  city  remained  the  same. 


660 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


those  at  Selim's  mill  declined.  It  was 
not  long  before  the  excellent  Hakim 
had  captured  half  of  Selim's  trade. 

*But  the  glories  of  this  world  weary 
me.  The  noise  and  numbers  of  Hakim's 
new  establishment  spoiled  my  repose. 
My  visits  grew  less  frequent;  and  hav- 
ing obtained  from  a  mutual  friend  an 
introduction  to  Selim,  I  made  myself 
familiar  with  his  now  more  humble 
house,  and  was  charmed  to  discover  a 
real  friend.  He  was  disconsolate,  as 
you  may  imagine.  His  income  was  fall- 
ing. The  demand  for  his  flour,  already 
but  a  half  of  its  former  total,  grew  less 
and  less.  My  connection  with  Hakim's 
new-found  prosperity  had  been  whis- 
pered abroad,  and,  one  evening,  Selim 
frankly  asked  me  for  aid.  "Do  not," 
said  he,  "betray  any  secrets;  be  silent  if 
you  will.  But  should  you  deign  to  ad- 
vise me  I  would  be  grateful." 

*"It  is  a  small  matter,'*  I  replied, 
gently,  "and  a  very  simple  one.  Ha- 
kim has  made  his  place  of  business  a 
Desirable  Resort.  His  guests  abound. 
He  naturally  receives  their  orders. 
You  remain  as  you  were  and  are  de- 
serted." 

*"You  mean,"  said  Selim,  anxiously, 
"that  I  should  use  some  part  of  my 
patrimony  to  build  a  Hall  of  Entertain- 
ment, to  purchase  sherbet  and  sweet- 
meats, and  to  hire  a  troupe  of  players! " 

*" Undoubtedly,"  I  answered,  "but 
if  you  only  do  that  you  will  hardly  re- 
dress the  balance;  for  the  custom  of 
haunting  Hakim's  mill  has  grown 
strong.  Come,  furnish  your  place  with 
these  things,  but  add  a  score  of  dancing 
girls,  several  lions  in  cages,  an  elephant 
and  a  tamer  of  serpents! "  "It  will  cost 
me  dear!"  said  Selim,  with  hesitation. 
"You  have  asked  for  my  advice,"  I  re- 
turned, "I  may  be  wrong.  It  is  no 
affair  of  mine.  But  that  is  my  judg- 
ment." 

*I  was  not  surprised  to  remark  that 
Selim's  establishment  within  the  month 


had  increased  by  all  these  things;  and 
one  of  the  lions  having  eaten  its  keeper 
in  full  sight  of  the  crowd,  a  multitude 
nightly  besieged  the  doors  of  the  West- 
ern Mill  in  the  hope  of  further  enter- 
tainment. Selim's  sales  rapidly  caught 
up  with  Hakim's,  passed  them,  and  left 
his  rival  with  but  a  quarter  of  his  form- 
er turnover;  while  in  the  city  men 
pointed  me  out  mysteriously  as  the 
man  whose  touch  turned  all  things  in- 
to gold. 

*  Hakim,  who  had  treated  me  a  little 
coldly  after  my  visits  to  Selim,  swal- 
lowed his  pride,  approached  me  by  night 
and  asked  me  what  he  should  do. 
"Fireworks,"  was  my  natural  reply. 

*"Alas!"  he  answered,  "I  have  not 
the  wherewithal !  These  entertainments 
are  terribly  expensive." 

* "  We  must  throw  minnows  to  catch 
whales,"  I  said.  "Associate  me  for  a 
small  part  in  your  future  gains  —  or,  if 
you  prefer  it,  give  me  a  lien  on  your  mill 
—  and  the  fireworks  are  easily  ar- 
ranged ! " 

*He  preferred  a  lien  on  the  mill,  and 
the  fireworks  were  certainly  magnifi- 
cent. But  when  Selim,  in  his  turn, 
consulted  me,  I  suggested  a  far  nobler 
display,  crowned  by  the  discharge  of 
cannon,  which,  for  a  similar  (but  larger) 
lien  on  his  mill  I  was  happy  to  provide. 
Hakim,  begging  me  to  observe  the  most 
profound  secrecy,  came  to  me  in  dis- 
guise and  implored  my  last  succor,  say- 
ing he  was  a  broken  man.  I  have  never 
been  deaf  to  such  human  appeals. 

*"I  will  not  foreclose,"  said  I,  "but 
let  me  take  over  your  property  in  part- 
nership with  you  and  I  will  see  what 
can  be  done." 

*My  reputation  was  by  this  time 
such  that  the  suggestion  was  like  a  gift 
of  gold.  The  unhappy  Hakim,  with 
sobs  shaking  his  bosom,  signed  an  in- 
strument which  made  me  half  owner 
and  sole  manager  of  his  business,  and 
patiently  awaited  the  miracle. 


AL^- WASAL,  OR  THE  MERGER 


661 


'Meanwhile  Selim*s  mill,  though  now 
doing  four-sixths  of  the  city's  grinding, 
was  in  difficulties.  The  fireworks,  the 
lions,  the  dancing  girls  (to  whom  was 
now  added  a  tank  of  crocodiles)  more 
than  ate  up  the  profits,  and  their  owner, 
in  a  fit  of  despair,  urged  me  to  save  him 
in  his  extremity  —  but  implored  me  to 
keep  the  whole  thing  a  dead  secret,  lest 
his  credit  should  suffer.  I  could  not  re- 
sist his  drawn  face  and  broken  manner 
—  so  different  from  the  placid  counte- 
nance of  old  —  and  I  told  him,  with  the 
ring  of  real  affection  in  my  voice,  that 
he  need  not  fear  any  insistence  on  my 
legal  rights,  but  that,  for  a  half  of  the 
profits  (so  that  we  should  both  be  in- 
terested) I  would  manage  the  failing 
concern. 

*If  Hakim  had  sobbed,  Selim  wept 
unrestrainedly,  and  was  free  to  confess 
that  men  of  my  generosity  were  the 
emissaries  of  heaven. 

*What  followed  was  indeed  extraor- 
dinary! I  am  justly  proud  of  my  busi- 
ness sense.  None  have  denied  my  gen- 
ius in  affairs.  Yet  somehow  or  other 
neither  mill  could  prosper  in  the  months 
that  followed.  I  was  tireless  in  my  ef- 
forts. I  came  daily  to  the  works  of 
each  after  sunrise,  and  spent  the  whole 
day  between  the  two  supervisors,  buy- 
ing corn,  selling  flour,  and  fixing  prices. 
I  shut  down  the  foolish  extravagance 
of  circuses  and  all  that  nonsense  — 
which  I  now  clearly  saw  to  be  super- 
fluous (since  both  mills  were  under  one 
hand) ;  I  ruled  my  servants  with  sever- 
ity; I  allowed  no  waste.  I  kept  rigor- 
ous accounts.  Despite  all  this,  whether 
because  I  bought  my  corn  a  little  too 
dear,  or  sold  my  flour  a  little  too  cheap, 
or  allowed  Hakim  and  Selim  a  little 
too  much  money  for  their  private  es- 
tablishments, loss  followed  loss,  and 
within  a  year  it  was  patent  that  both 
mills  must  cease  their  activities  or  fail 
to  meet  the  sums  owing  to  the  mer- 
chants in  corn. 


*I  consulted  on  the  last  critical  night 
with  my  two  partners,  and  we  agreed 
that  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  sell 
the  two  places  for  what  they  would 
fetch.  I  had  not  been  so  base  as  to  con- 
ceal my  losses.  My  books  were  open  to 
all;  and  the  offers  made  were  so  con- 
temptible that  with  a  sigh  I  braced  my- 
self to  my  duty  and  bought  in  the  dere- 
lict property  with  my  own  remaining 
coin.  They  thus  fetched  not  a  fiftieth 
of  their  original  value,  but  far  more  than 
any  bidder  had  proposed  to  pay;  a 
business  losing  more  and  more  heavily 
with  every  passing  day  is  worthless. 

*  Hakim  and  Selim,  taking  their 
shares  (one-half  of  the  whole,  as  was 
but  justice),  put  each  his  few  silver 
pieces  into  a  dainty  moleskin  (with 
which  I  presented  each  as  a  parting 
gift),  and  in  our  last  meal  together  we 
discoursed  upon  the  Vicissitudes  of 
Human  Life  and  the  Fate  of  the  Soul. 

*"What  is  man,"  said  Hakim,  "that 
he  should  consider  wealth?  There  is 
but  one  air  to  be  breathed,  which  is  that 
of  communion  with  the  Divine.  I  count 
my  worldly  loss  as  nothing.  I  have  here 
enough,  if  I  live  on  dry  bread,  to  take 
me  forty  days'  journey  before  my  coins 
are  exhausted.  I  will  go  into  the  high 
hills;  there  I  will  make  my  hermitage 
and  pray  till  death  finds  me.  Especial- 
ly," said  he,  turning  to  me,  who  sat 
silent,  with  my  face  buried,  "will  I 
pray  for  youy  my  friend,  who  have  so 
stood  by  me  in  good  and  in  ill,  and  have 
suffered  with  me  in  our  last  misfortunes." 

*  Selim  was  no  less  moved.  "I,  for 
my  part,"  said  he,  "will  travel  as  a 
mendicant,  praying  always  as  I  go 
from  shrine  to  shrine,  and  thrice  a  day 
remembering  you,  for  no  other  would 
have  stood  by  us  so  loyally  to  the  end!" 

*They  rose  to  depart  and,  unable  to 
conceal  my  deep  emotion,  I  repUed  in  a 
subdued  tone.  "My  brothers,  I  am 
not  worthy.  I  must  remain  in  the  world, 
to  live  I  know  not  how,  by  some  pur- 


662 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


suit,  for  I  am  incapable  of  contempla- 
tion; but  do  you  go  forth,  and  never  fail 
in  your  prayers  to  weary  heaven  for 
the  ruined  and  unhappy  Mahmoud." 

*We  embraced  and  parted.  From 
that  day  the  tide  of  my  adventure 
turned.  Corn  I  soon  contrived  to  buy 
with  advantage;  flour  I  sold  at  quite 
excellent  prices.  The  accounts  bal- 
anced; soon  they  showed  a  profit.  As 
two  mills  were  superfluous  I  handed 
one  over  to  form  a  delightful  resting 
place  for  the  aged  and  virtuous  of  the 
city;  under  the  proviso,  of  course,  that 
it  should  never  be  used  for  commerce. 
One  mill  had  always  been  enough  for 
the  grinding  of  the  city's  flour;  and  with 
expenses  thus  lessened  I  was  able  to 
lower  the  price  of  bread  by  three  cop- 
per pieces  the  thousand  loaves,  and  yet 
to  leave  myself  a  sufficient,  and  soon 
an  ample,  surplus.  Nor  was  there  any 
place  for  a  rival. 

*See,  my  dear  nephews!'  said  Mah- 


moud, now  raised  to  enthusiasm,  *how 
all  things  work  together  at  last  for 
good !  The  poor  —  or,  at  any  rate,  the 
bakers  —  had  flour  provided  them  a 
trifle  cheaper  than  of  old;  Hakim  and 
Selim  were  serving  God  in  silence  and 
joy,  far  off";  the  social  waste  of  keeping 
up  a  superfluous  mill  was  ended;  and  I 
myself  was  materially  rewarded  by  an 
increasing  fortune. 

*  If  you  ask  me  to  what  we  all  in  com- 
mon owed  these  graces,  I  might  cite  my 
own  sobriety,  clear  thought,  loyalty, 
tenacity,  foresight  and  faith.  I  do  not 
deny  these  gifts  which  have  been 
granted  me.  But  most  of  all  do  I  as- 
cribe such  blessings  to  the  prayers 
poured  out  in  the  distant  hermitage,  on 
the  remote  highways  of  the  world,  by 
Hakim  and  Selim;  for  by  so  much  more 
is  the  soul  stronger  than  any  poor 
cunning  of  the  mind. 

*  And  this  kind  of  commerce  is  called, 
my  sweet  infants,  a  Merger.' 


IN  THE  RED  SEA 

BY  MAJOR  ARTHUR  W.  HOWLETT 

From  the  Manchester  Guardian,  September  5 
(Radical  Liberal  Daily) 


One  must  always  respect  the  Red 
Sea.  Other  seas  may  be  placid,  remote, 
even  ridiculous.  There  is  the  German 
Ocean,  which  is  not  necessarily  Ger- 
man, and  is  certainly  not  an  ocean;  and 
there  is  the  White  Sea,  which  nobody 
troubles  about.  But  half  the  keels  of 
the  world  furrow  the  Red  Sea,  and, 
thanks  to  Pharaoh,  it  has  a  claim  even 
to  antiquity. 

In  these  days,  too,  of  compromise 
and  half-measures,  one  must  admire 


absolutism,  if  only  for  its  rarity;  and 
the  Red  Sea  holds  out  no  hope  of  relent- 
ing, no  relaxation  from  its  immitigable 
barrenness.  It  might  have  been  the 
first  thing  made  before  there  was  such  a 
thing  as  life,  or  the  last  when  all  life 
had  perished,  but  it  refuses  to  meet  the 
earth  halfway.  As  it  was  in  the  days 
of  the  Israelites,  so  it  is  now  —  rocky, 
stony,  arid,  grassless,  treeless,  naught 
but  a  mirror  from  day  to  day,  year  in, 
year  out,  of  the  fiercest  of  suns. 


IN  THE  RED  SEA 


663 


There  are  eleven  hundred  odd  miles 
of  it  from  north  to  south,  from  the  red 
hills  about  Suez  to  the  islanded  Straits 
of  Bab  el  Mandeb.  Eleven  hundred 
miles  of  a  superfluity  of  oceanic  naugh- 
tiness. You  may  be  sure  when  you 
enter  it  it,  will  show  you  some  of  its 
vagaries.  Hence  the  name  of  the  straits 
—  the  Gate  of  Tears.  To  me  it  is  in- 
conceivable how  mortal  men  ever  en- 
dured its  frightfulness  in  slow  and 
often  becalmed  sailing  ships,  devoid  of 
fans  and  ice-machines  and  all  those 
contrivances  which  even  to-day  in  fast 
steamers  often  fail  to  save  the  miserable 
travelers  from  heatstroke. 

It  has  happened,  when  there  has 
been  a  following  wind,  that  steamships 
have  had  to  be  turned  round  in  order 
to  sail  in  the  face  of  the  breeze  and  give 
the  occupants  air  and  a  brief  breathing- 
spell  before  resuming  their  voyage. 
Again,  though  landlocked  and,  to  all 
appearance  on  the  maps,  a  mere  thread 
of  salt  water  between  Asia  and  Africa, 
I  have  known  unaccountable  great  seas 
get  up  in  it,  so  that  the  miserable  pas- 
senger, besides  being  prostrated  by  the 
heat,  is  subject  to  the  added  miseries 
of  seasickness. 

As  if  all  this  were  not  enough,  in  days 
not  very  remote  pirates  in  swift-sailing 
dhows  had  their  lairs  along  its  rocky 
coasts,  and  descended  like  sea  wolves 
on  all  who  were  unable  to  defend  them- 
selves. It  lent  itself  remarkably  well  to 
the  pastime  of  walking  the  plank,  for  its 
hot  waters  teem  with  all  kinds  of  hor- 
rible marine  monsters.  And  if  you  ever 
got  ashore  you  would  infallibly  die  of 
thirst  and  sunstroke,  so  that  on  all 
counts  the  hardihood  of  the  ancient 
voyagers  is  something  to  be  wondered 
at. 

People  who  have  been  in  Palestine 
have  often  expressed  surprise  that  it 
could  ever  have  been  called  the  land  of 
milk  and  honey.  It  was  obviously  a 
matter  of  contrast.  If  they  had  gone  on 


farther  south,  beyond  the  Dead  Sea  to 
the  Sinai  Peninsula,  they  would  have 
understood.  People  who  had  wandered 
long  in  that  region  would  rave  about 
the  fertility  and  verdure  of  an  Ancoats 
recreation  ground  or  a  Wigan  coal-tip. 
I  have  lived  in  the  desert  for  months, 
and  can  speak  feelingly. 

Sinai,  of  course,  forms  one  boundary 
of  the  upper  arm  of  the  Red  Sea. 
Somewhere  there,  on  those  mistless 
mountains,  so  unworn  that  even  yet 
they  stand  in  countless  jagged  pinnacles 
to  catch  the  flaming  gold  of  the  desert 
sunsets,  lies  the  unknown  grave  of 
Moses;  and  day  by  day  the  steamers 
pass,  leaving  their  long  plumes  of  smoke 
adrift  and  dipping  down  in  unconscious 
salutation  to  the  leader  of  long  ago. 

It  is  pitiful  to  see  the  children  wilt 
and  whiten  after  even  one  day  of  the 
Red  Sea.  The  decks  that  were  alive 
with  their  romps  become  still,  and 
crusty  old  Indian  colonels  —  one  has 
to  keep  up  these  time-honored  expres- 
sions of  the  East  —  begin  to  say  that 
there  are  compensations  in  the  Red 
Sea,  after  all.  One  struggles  in  vain 
with  collars  which  turn  limp  and  sod- 
den as  they  are  buttoned.  The  night 
brings  little  respite.  The  sun  literally 
burns.  Every  glancing  wavelet  is  like  a 
burning-glass  focused  on  to  the  eye- 
balls. Men  and  women  loll  about  list- 
lessly, counting  the  days  to  their  es- 
cape. 

Perhaps  the  saddest  thing  of  all  is  the 
number  of  invalids  who  flicker  out  in 
these  three  or  four  days  of  the  voyage 
home.  Many  stay  in  India  just  too 
long,  hoping  for  a  little  increment  of 
pension  to  lighten  the  dull  days  at  home, 
only  to  perish  at  last  in  this  final  fiery 
trial,  and,  like  the  dog  with  the  bone, 
lose  all.  The  whole  steamer-track  of  the 
Red  Sea  is  one  long  grave.  Were  it  pos- 
sible to  erect  memorials  to  them,  one 
would  see  the  long  line  of  gray  stones 
standing  up  above  the  solemn  waters. 


ed4 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


mile  after  mile  to  the  horizon,  the  wit- 
nesses of  those  who  had  given  their 
lives  for  India. 

One  sees  land  but  seldom  most  of  the 
way;  but  north  and  south,  where  the 
land  closes  in,  the  rocks,  like  grim  red 
shadows,  come  down  to  the  sea  and 
anon  throw  off  islands  all  stark  and 
bald  like  the  motherland,  but  a  little 
relief  to  the  eye.  There  are  lighthouses 
perched  on  some  of  them,  and  the  pas- 
senger who  scans  their  bony  framework 
wonders  what  the  lighthousemen  do  all 
day.  Some  have  not  even  an  island  to 
perch  on,  but  rise  straight  up  out  of 
the  sea.  It  is  strange  to  see  them  grow 
up  into  view  and  slide  behind  as  the 
great  steamer  holds  on  its  way  with 
steady  muffled  thrum!  thrum!  of  the 
engines  and  the  oily  waters  feathering 
sluggishly  astern. 

When  it  roughens  a  little  the  small 
silver  flying-fish  spatter  about  in  shoals, 
leaping  from  the  wave  crests  and  glid- 
ing a  hundred  yards  or  so  till  their 
wings  dry  and  they  drop  back  into  the 
sea.  As  you  pace  the  deck  by  night, 
after  dinner,  you  behold  in  the  dark 
mystery  which  encompasses  the  lonely 
vessel  plaques  of  phosphorescence  heav- 
ing up  and  down  and  vanishing  into 
the  gloom. 

The  habit  of  sleeping  on  deck,  which 
used  to  be  universal  a  dozen  years  ago 
and  less,  seems  to  have  lapsed  now  that 
the  stewards  have  refused  to  bring  the 
bales  of  mattresses  and  bedding  up 
from  below.  In  the  old  days  a  man's 
cabin  number  was  chalked  on  the  deck, 
his  bed  was  unrolled  beside  it,  and  he 
there  disposed  himself  for  the  night. 
This  practice  started  at  Suez  and  con- 
tinued all  the  way  to  Bombay;  and  a 
weird  sight  it  was  to  see  those  long 
rows  of  sheeted  figures  lying  out  on  the 
planking  in  the  dim  shadows  of  the 
deck  lights.  A  few  hardy  spirits  do  it 
still,  but  most  people  now  sleep  below 
all  the  way. 


At  the  bottom  end  of  the  Red  Sea, 
where  the  ship  turns  the  corner  to  make 
Aden,  the  Southern  Cross  comes  into 
view  by  night,  for  this  is  the  farthest 
south  point  on  the  voyage  to  India. 
And  here  just  before  emergence  into 
the  Indian  Ocean  lies  the  barren  island 
of  Perim.  I  have  watched  its  fortunes 
intermittently  for  fifteen  years,  and  see 
that  it  has  now  grown  quite  a  big  boy. 
With  its  coal  stacks,  wharves,  and 
cranes,  its  huge  oil-tanks,  and  its  bim- 
galows  and  tin  sheds,  it  has  become  a 
serious  station  on  the  eastward  route. 
Haifa  dozen  vessels  lie  at  anchor  before 
it,  grilling  in  the  hot  sun.  Not  a  blade 
of  grass  is  to  be  seen,  only  rocks,  bare, 
bare  rocks,  all  a-shimmer  in  the  heat. 
Hard  by  are  the  Twelve  Apostles,  rocky 
islets  of  ill  omen  with  small  sandy 
coves  and  beaches,  and  cruel,  iron- 
looking  projections  on  which  the  spray 
goes  flying  heavenward. 

The  Romance  of  the  Red  Sea  might 
well  be  written:  there  is  plenty  of  it, 
most  of  it  rather  grim  and  tragical,  it  is 
true,  but  well  worth  the  recording.  To 
follow  the  course  of  one  of  the  pilgrim 
ships  from  India  to  Mecca,  or  at  least 
to  the  landfall  thereof,  is  an  Odyssey  of 
itself.  Where  in  the  West  do  we  find 
the  ecstatic  spirit  which  can  lead  old 
men  to  devote  the  savings  of  a  lifetime 
and  the  last  hours  of  life  itself  to  so  im- 
material an  enterprise?  The  risks  are 
tremendous  —  cholera,  sunstroke,  heat- 
stroke, shipwreck,  exhaustion,  all  take 
their  toll  of  the  faith-girded  Mussul- 
man; but  he  holds  on,  never  doubting, 
and  dies  there,  to  join  his  bones  with 
those  of  thousands  more  that  lie  awash 
in  the  Red  Sea,  or  else  returns  to  his 
native  land  to  bear  ever  more  the 
honorific  of  *  Pilgrim'  (Hadji),  and  be  a 
sort  of  Coeur  de  Lion  among  his  fellow 
men.  You  are  well  out  of  the  Red  Sea, 
but  all  the  while  you  must  acknowledge 
a  certain  spell  about  it  if  you  have  a 
grain  of  imagination  or  poetry. 


RADHA'S  CHILD 


BY  C.  R. 


[The  modest  literary  merit  of  the  story  we  print  below  is  compensated  by  the  light  it  throws 
upon  one  phase  of  India's  struggle  for  self-redemption  —  the  propaganda  against  caste.  Re- 
cently  three  hundred  leading  citizens  of  Sural,  breaking  through  centuries  of  senseless  prejudice 
against  pariahs  and  lower  castemen,  publicly  repented  for  their  past  injustice  by  volunteering 
to  perform  the  city's  scavenger  service  —  the  most  conspicuous  repudiation  of  caste  possible.] 


From  Young  India,  September  28 
(Gandhi  Weekly) 


*I^  LEFT  my  darling  in  the  yard. 
Apple  of  my  eye!  My  pearl!  I  left  my 
child  in  the  yard.  Who  has  carried  him 
away?  My  pearl!  My  darling!* 

Thus  crying  aloud  and  hurrying 
hither  and  thither,  like  one  mad,  alter- 
nately weeping  and  laughing  wildly, 
Radha  searched  for  her  child.  She  had 
fondly  hoped  the  child  would  soon  grow 
to  be  a  man  and  comfort  her  in  the 
world  which  God  had  made  lonely  for 
her  all  too  early  in  her  young  life. 

*I  told  you  not  to  put  that  ill-omened 
bracelet  round  his  little  wrist.  Was  not 
your  ill-luck  enough  for  us?  Ask  Lak- 
shmi  of  the  next  house  whether  she  has 
been  playing  a  joke  hiding  your  dar- 
ling.' 

*0h,  the  thieves  were  here  yesterday. 
I  suspected  the  gang  even  then.  I  had 
the  child  on  my  arm  and  they  kept  star- 
ing at  the  shining  gold  as  I  put  the  rice 
into  their  begging  bowl.' 

Radha's  mother  was  right.  A  gang 
of  kidnappers  had  stolen  Radha's  child 
for  the  gold  bracelet.  From  that  day 
Radha  was  crazy. 

It  was  the  Scavengers'  Colony. 

*Ponnayya,  come  and  see:  God  has 
sent  us  a  gift,'  said  Lakki.  And  her 
husband  came  and  saw  the  wonder. 
A  shining  little  baby  in  the  dungheap 
near  the  wall,  just  by  the  prickly-pear 


bush,  and  a  great  big  cobra  with  its 
hood  angrily  spread  out  as  if  to  protect 
the  child  from  evildoers. 

*  Don't  disturb  it.  It  is  a  god  come 
with  a  gift  for  us.* 

But  Lakki's  entreaty  was  of  no  avail. 

Ponnayya  the  scavenger  went  into  the 
house  and  brought  a  heavy  bamboo 
stick.  The  serpent  was  just  moving 
away  into  the  bush,  when  a  heavy  blow 
on  its  head  despatched  it. 

*What  have  you  done?'  cried  Lakki 
as  she  picked  up  the  smiling  child  and 
suckled  it.  *The  poor  thing  is  so  hun- 
gry. You  have  killed  the  good  snake. 
Ill  luck  will  surely  come  of  it.  Was  n't 
it  enough  we  lost  our  child?' 

Three  days  afterwards  Ponnayya 
had  the  smallpox.  There  was  an  epi- 
demic in  the  town,  and  it  was  not 
strange  that  he  caught  the  disease;  but 
Lakki  attributed  it  to  the  snake.  She 
made  expiatory  sacrifices  to  the  stone 
snakes  on  the  tank-bund.  But  it  was  of 
no  avail.  Ponnayya  died  and  left  Lakki 
a  widow. 

Ponnayya  left  debts.  He  had  been 
fond  of  drink,  like  the  other  scavengers 
of  the  colony,  and  his  wages  together 
with  his  wife's  could  not  make  both 
ends  meet.  The  money-lender,  a  Tamil 
Mussulman,  came  and  worried  her  and 
took  away  the  brass  pots,  pickaxe, 
shovel  and  other  things  of  value  in  the 

665 


666 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


hut,  not  minding  Lakki's  imprecations 
and  threats. 

However,  her  wages  were  increased  a 
Httle  by  the  Municipal  Chairman,  who 
was  a  kind  soul,  and  indeed  financially 
she  was  better  off  widowed  than  when 
her  drunken  husband  was  alive. 

Little  Ponna,  that  was  the  boy's 
name,  now  grew  up  and  was  attached 
to  the  railway  station  as  a  porter-boy. 
He  would  bring  a  couple  of  annas  every 
day  to  his  mother,  who  though  old  still 
served  the  Municipality  diligently. 
Ponna  was  smart  and  was  a  favorite 
with  the  station  staff.  But  of  course  he 
was  a  pariah  boy  and  could  only  per- 
form duties  permissible  for  an  outcaste. 

One  day  he  went  into  a  first-class 
compartment  as  the  train  arrived, 
along  with  two  other  competing  porter- 
boys.  The  passenger  was  a  Hindu  gen- 
tleman. He  was  apparently  a  high  offi- 
cial who  would  pay  liberally.  He  hand- 
ed his  portmanteau  to  Ponna.  The 
other  boys  grew  jealous  and  one  of 
them  said,  *Swami!  He  is  a  pariah  boy.' 

*  Is  it  so?'  cried  the  Big  One  angrily, 
and  plucked  the  bag  back  from  Ponna 
and  drove  him  out  of  the  compartment. 

Ponna  ran  away  in  terror  and  was  too 
late  to  find  employment  that  day  even 
among  the  European  passengers. 

The  Big  One  stopped  at  the  station 
master's  office  and  said  something 
about  high  caste  passengers  and  Pan- 
chama  porters.  The  station  master  was 
apologetic.  *  Ponna!'  called  the  station 
master  after  the  rush  was  over.  *You 
ought  not  to  touch  a  Brahmin's  lug- 
gage.' 

*Sir,  don't  I  know?  But  the  gentle- 
man handed  the  bag  to  me  himself.' 

*  Young  fellow,  you  are  too  handsome 
and  smart-looking,  and  they  don't  find 
out  your  caste.  Don't  do  it  again.' 
Ponna  went  to  his  mother  that  day 
empty-handed. 

*  No  luck  to-day,  mother,'  he  said,  and 
told  what  had  happened. 


*What  if  we  are  pariahs,  is  not  our 
blood  red?  Have  we  not  the  same  flesh 
and  the  same  bones?  But  why  did  you 
go  into  that  man's  compartment? 
Were  there  no  white  men  in  the  train? ' 

*I  saw  liveried  servants  and  a  great 
crowd  near  that  carriage  and  I  thought 
it  was  a  white  dorai  inside  and  went 
in.' 

*Well,  never  mind,  my  boy;  drink 
your  hanjee,  God  will  protect  us.' 

It  was  a  lucky  day  for  Ponna  —  he 
had  made  double  his  usual  earnings. 
He  ran  along  the  road  to  his  house  when 
he  saw  some  of  his  fellow-porters  stand- 
ing in  front  of  the  coffee  shop  in  the 
bazaar.  He  halted  and  asked  for  rice- 
cakes  for  one  anna. 

*Swami,  he  is  a  pariah  boy,'  said  one 
of  the  boys  to  the  Brahmin  shopkeeper. 
*Get  away,  you  scoundrel.  How  dare 
you?'  cried  the  man  and  Ponna  ran 
away  in  a  fright  while  the  other  porter- 
boys  laughed. 

He  stopped  again  near  a  drinking^ 
shop.  An  old  woman  had  her  little 
basket-stall  of  cakes  and  other  things 
at  the  entrance.  He  bought  an  anna's 
worth  and  was  greedily  eating  them 
while  still  hot.  A  haggard  old  man 
joked  the  boy,  and  told  him  the  cake 
would  taste  better  if  he  had  a  drink. 
The  boy  hesitated,  but  another  tempter 
joined.  And  they  went  into  the  saloon 
together.  Ponna  went  home  that  day 
somewhat  late. 

Lakki  died  one  day,  whereupon  Pon- 
na (who  was  a  young  man  now)  and 
his  wife  had  to  leave  the  Municipal 
Colony.  The  old  woman  had  saved 
more  than  Ponna  thought.  She  spent 
liberally  for  the  marriage;  yet  there 
were  Rs.  120,  all  bright  silver,  carefully 
tied  in  a  little  bag  and  hidden  in  a  pot. 
Ponna  wished  to  open  a  little  grocer's 
shop  with  this  capital.  He  could  not, 
of  course,  find  a  stall  in  the  regular 


RADHA'S  CHILD 


667 


bazaar.  A  pariah  could  not  do  that, 
and  even  if  he  could  get  a  place  for  rent 
there,  no  one  would  buy  of  him.  He 
could  open  a  shop  in  the  pariah  quar- 
ters, but  the  business  being  only  among 
pariahs,  would  not  be  much.  He  finally 
made  up  his  mind  to  try  a  shop  in  the 
Paracheri.  The  problem  of  buying  his 
stock  had  to  be  solved.  There  was  an- 
other pariah  shopkeeper  there,  who 
would  not  give  advice.  He  was  having 
very  little  business  himself  and  he  felt 
the  new  competitor  would  ruin  him 
quite.  Ponna  had  to  buy  his  goods 
through  an  upper  caste  acquaintance; 
and  between  this  agent  and  the  mandi- 
man  his  buying  prices  were  so  high  that 
his  venture  did  not  flourish.  Purchasers 
were  few  and  he  lost  heavily.  Soon  his 
little  enterprise  failed. 

Ponna  and  his  wife  then  worked  in 
the  great  spinning  and  weaving  mill  in 
the  neighboring  city.  The  wife  rose  at 
four  every  morning  to  cook  their  meals 
in  time.  A  neighbor  agreed  to  keep 
their  child  for  them  when  they  were  at 
the  mill.  They  paid  a  part  of  their  earn- 
ings for  this.  They  returned  home  late. 
Ponna's  wife  would  come  earlier  and 
take  the  child  from  her  friend  and  make 
her  house  ready.  But  Ponna  would 
come  home  late,  often  drunk. 


They  led  a  miserable  life.  Ponna 
would  often  think  of  his  mother  Lakki, 
who  earned  less  than  he  was  now  earn- 
ing, yet  they  had  lived  so  happily  and 
in  comfort.  Lakki  had  never  uttered 
one  harsh  word.  But  now  after  the 
day's  toil  when  he  went  home  there  was 
nothing  but  anger  and  complaint  await- 
ing him.  He  drank  more  and  more 
heavily. 

There  was  a  big  meeting  in  the  city. 
Gandhi's  men  had  come  to  address  the 
people.  Ponna  also  was  there  with  some 
other  mill-hands.  They  spoke  words 
which  he,  too,  a  Panchama,  drunken, 
illiterate,  could  understand.  *Do  not 
drink;  spin,'  they  said.  *Do  not  drive 
the  untouchable  away;  he  too  is  a 
brother.' 

The  vision  of  his  little  shop  came 
back  to  Ponna.  *If  I  could  have  had  it 
in  the  regular  bazaar,  and  could  have 
bought  my  stock  myself  and  have  sold 
freely  to  everyone  like  the  others,  my 
mother's  money  would  not  have  been 
lost.'  So  thought  Ponna  as  he  dragged 
himself  away  from  the  liquor  shop  that 
day  without  going  in. 

Ponna  in  fact  was  a  Brahmin  boy, 
Radha's  son,  but  neither  he  nor  any- 
body else  knew  it. 


A  PAGE  OF  VERSE 


THE  LATER  AUTUMN 

BY  THOMAS  HARDY 

[Saturday  Review] 

No  more  lovers  under  the  bush 

Stretched  at  their  ease; 

No  more  bees 
Tanghng  themselves  in  your  hair  as 
they  rush 

On  the  line  of  your  track 

Leg-laden,  back 

With  a  dip  to  their  hive 

In  a  prepossessed  dive. 

Toadsmeat  is  mangy,  frosted,  and  sere; 

Apples  in  grass 

Crunch  as  we  pass, 
And  rot  ere  the  men  who  make  cider 
appear. 

Couch-fires  abound 

On  fallows  around. 

And  shadows  extend 

Like  lives  soon  to  end. 

Spinning  leaves  join  the  remains  shrunk 
and  brown 

Of  last  year's  display 

That  lie  wasting  away. 
On  whose  corpses  they  earlier  as  scorn- 
ers  gazed  down 

From  their  aery  green  height : 

Now  in  the  same  plight 

They  huddle;  while  yon 

A  robin  looks  on. 


AFTER  VICTOR  HUGO 

BY  WILFRID  THORLEY 

[New  Witness] 

Climb,  squirrel,  climb  the  tall  oak  tree 
To  where  the  last  sprays  dizzily 

Lean  out  and  tremble,  reedy-soft! 
Fly,  doting  stork,  that  still  dost  dwell 
Beside  thine  ancient  pinnacle 
From  spire  to  rampart  and  the  fell 

Height  of  the  frowning  keep  aloft! 

668 


Old  eagle,  quit  thy  cleft  and  ride 
Above  thine  ancient  hills  that  hide 

In  raiment  of  eternal  ice! 
Low-nested  bird  whose  songs  begin 
When  dawn  first  brings  the  daylight  in. 
Fly  upward  with  thy  happy  din, 

O  lark,  to  gates  of  paradise! 

Gaze  from  thy  tree,  or  mime  the  moon 
From  topmost  towers  of  marble  hewn. 

High  tor  or  heaven!  Seest  thou  then 
Horizon-far  through  mist  the  pale 
Glint  of  helm-feathers  on  the  mail 
Or  shod-hooves  beating  like  a  flail 

To  bring  my  lover  home  agen? 

LOVER'S  REPLY  TO  GOOD 
ADVICE 

BY  RICHARD  HUGHES 

[Spectator] 

Could  you  bid  an  acorn 

When  in  earth  it  heaves 

On  Time's  backward  wing  be  borne 

To  forgotten  leaves: 

Could  you  quiet  Noah's  Flood 

To  an  essence  rare, 

Or  bid  the  roaring  wind 

Confine  in  his  lair: 

Could  round  iron  shell 
When  the  spark  was  in  it 
Hold  powder  so  well 
That  it  never  split: 
Had  you  reins  for  the  sun. 
And  curb,  and  spur, 
Held  you  God  in  a  net 
So  He  might  not  stir; 

Then  might  you  take  this  thing. 

Then  strangle  it,  kill! 

By  weighing,  considering. 

Conform  it  to  will! 

Like  Christ's  Self  contemn  it. 

Revile,  mock,  betray: 

But  being  Seed  —  Wind  —  God  — 

It  bears  all  away! 


LIFE,  LETTERS,  AND  THE  ARTS 


A  NONSENSE  LIBRARY  AND  OTHER  LIBRARIES 


Every  good  book-collector  has  his 
own  particular  hobby  —  one  kind  of 
book  upon  which  he  dotes  beyond  all 
others.  0*Croesus,  the  paint  million- 
aire, is  given  to  the  assembling  of 
Elizabethan  quartos,  and  Van  Crassus, 
the  noted  dealer  in  pig  iron,  has  a  fond- 
ness for  Elzevirs  and  Aldines,  while 
McMidas  is  no  more  celebrated  for  his 
operations  in  high  finance  than  for  the 
relentless  ferocity  and  the  limitless  ex- 
panse of  purse  wherewith  his  agents 
follow  up  every  really  good  sale  of 
autographed  first  editions  of  modern 
authors.  (McMidas  is  English  in  his 
taste;  modern  authors  are  a  recent 
London  fad.) 

Alas,  these  wealthy  gentlemen,  hav- 
ing first  acquired  most  of  the  paint, 
pig  iron,  and  dollars  in  the  world,  have 
drawn  to  themselves  too  many  of  the 
best  books  as  well;  and  though  even 
book-collecting  millionaires  die  in  time, 
they  have  a  way  of  willing  their 
choicest  acquisitions  to  endowed  libra- 
ries, universities,  and  public  institu- 
tions of  one  kind  and  another  — 
where,  no  doubt,  they  mightily  rejoice 
the  souls  of  the  elaborately  erudite 
custodian  who  dusts  them  and  of  the 
poor  student  who  flattens  his  nose 
against  their  glass  cases,  —  but  whence 
they  emerge  not  again  to  the  salesroom, 
and  where  they  sniff  never  more  the 
dusty  battles  of  the  auction.  Rare 
books  are  no  longer  for  the  impecunious. 

No  sooner  does  some  thoughtful 
bibliophile  invent  a  hobby  and  joy- 
ously bestride  it,  than  he  finds  his 
hobby  become  famous,  and  the  million- 
aires are  upon  him.  Up  go  the  prices! 
Away  go  the  books!  Pass  fifty  years; 
wills  begin  to  go  to  probate,  and  the 
librarians  chuckle  gleefully  as  first  edi- 


tions of  the  Pickwick  Papers  —  in 
parts,  complete  —  Folios  with  the 
Droeshout  plate  in  various  stages, 
Breeches  Bibles,  and  other  books,  with 
rare  and  quaint  and  curious  errors  and 
inscriptions  and  associations,  fall  into 
their  unrelaxing  grasp. 

There  was  a  time  when  First  Folios 
were  to  be  had  by  any  Londoner.  The 
Bodleian  Library  casually  disposed  of 
its  copy,  only  to  buy  it  back  for  thou- 
sands a  century  or  two  later.  The 
Spanish  censor  at  Valladolid  had  no 
scruples  about  tearing  out  a  whole 
play  (it  makes  one  shiver  to  hear  — 
even  with  the  mind's  ear  —  the  rip- 
ping of  those  precious  pages) ;  and  in 
Queen  Bess's  day  the  booksellers  about 
'Powle's'  probably  felt  no  special  emo- 
tion in  the  presence  of  a  quarto  that  is 
rare  and  precious  now.  Charles  Lamb 
—  no  millionaire,  certainly  —  had  his 
fill  of  them,  and  Coleridge  languidly 
waved  ofi"  several  thousand  pounds 
rather  than  forego  the  delights  of 
*lazy  reading  of  old  folios.'  But  into 
this  paradise  of  cheap  collecting  came 
the  serpent  in  the  form  of  the  wealthy 
collector. 

There  was  once  a  happy  time  —  not 
very  long  ago  —  when  the  first  editions 
of  modern  authors,  too,  sold  for  the 
prices  their  publishers  fixed,  never 
dreaming  of  the  struggles  of  dealers  and 
collectors  over  those  selfsame  volumes 
a  few  scant  years  later.  But  first  edi- 
tions of  Wells  and  Moore,  of  Masefield 
and  Conrad,  are  not  for  the  poor  man 
nowadays.  Mr.  Wells  is  probably 
wealthy  enough  to  buy  a  collection  of 
his  own  first  editions,  but  not  every 
famous  English  author  can  indulge 
himself  in  his  own  works.  McMidas 
and  O'Croesus  are  at  it  again. 

660 


670 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


Rare  books  and  first  editions  are  too 
expensive.  What  we  want  is  a  new 
hobby.  We  have  New  Thought,  the 
New  Education,  the  New  Heredity, 
the  New  Psychology  —  why  not  the 
New  Bibliomania?  Why  not  the 
Library  of  Nonsense?  The  Philistines 
aver  that  all  libraries  are  nonsense  — 
let  us  have  one  library  at  least  that  is 
intended  to  be  all  nonsense.  Though 
literature  is  not  nonsense,  some  non- 
sense is  undeniably  literature.  What 
hobby  more  agreeable  than  collecting 
it? 

Let  us  have  our  nonsense  libraries, 
by  all  means,  or  at  least  a  nonsense 
shelf.  Here  the  Bab  Ballads  (an  edi- 
tion without  Gilbert's  own  drawings  is 
worthless)  may  jostle  Alice,  astray  for- 
ever amid  the  quips  and  quiddities  of 
Wonderland.  Here,  too,  the  strange 
plants  and  the  astounding  animals  and 
the  meaningless,  musical  verses  of 
Edward  Lear  shall  stand  close  beside 
them,  for  the  joy  of  all  good  souls  who 
know  better  than  to  look  in  the  dic- 
tionary for  rundble  —  that  admirable 
adjective,  that  worthy  companion  to 
Lewis  Carroll's  immortal  inventions, 
frumious  and  tulgy. 

If  we  admit  Americans  to  the  non- 
sense shelves,  we  shall  have  to  include 
Mr.  Burgess  and  Mr.  Herford,  Mr. 
Tudor  Jenks  and  Miss  Carolyn  Wells. 
Whatever  we  may  choose  from  among 
the  modern  Englishmen,  we  must  have 
all  three  of  those  chuckleful  books  that 
Hilaire  Belloc  writes  when  he  is  neither 
belaboring  a  bogy  labeled  *  Modern 
Thought,'  nor  riding  Pegasus  to  hounds, 
nor  even  quarreling  with  Mr.  Wells. 
We  must  have  Mr.  Belloc  in  the  mood 
of  The  Bad  Child's  Book  of  Beasts, 
More  Beasts  for  Worse  Childreny  and 
Cautionary  Tales. 

These  are  the  nucleus  of  the  Non- 
sense Library;  and  —  as  the  true  col- 
lector is  ready  to  be  off  to  the  ends  of 
the   earth   when   rarities   are   to    be 


picked  up  —  so  we  shall  scan  the  book- 
stalls and  the  publishers'  announce- 
ments for  nonsense.  I  suspect  we  shall 
find  a  good  deal  of  it.  Not  the  kind  of 
nonsense  we  want,  perhaps,  for  non- 
sense books  are  less  frequent  than 
books  in  which  the  sense  is  present  but 
not  very  apparent. 

Absolute  nonsense  is  a  rarity,  rare  as 
absolute  beauty,  absolute  poetry,  abso- 
lute music.  Not  quite  so  precious. 
Not  a  triple  distillation  of  the  human 
spirit  —  no,  no,  of  course  not.  But 
delectable  and  delightful,  all  the  same. 

They  told  me  you  had  been  to  her. 

And  mentioned  me  to  him; 
She  gave  me  a  good  character. 

But  said  I  could  not  swim. 

That  is  quite  perfect  of  its  sort,  though 
it  is  a  perfection  very  different  from 

Charm'd  magic  casements,  opening  on  the  foam 
Of  perilous  seas,  in  faery  lands  forlorn. 

Pure  nonsense,  the  one;  pure  poetry, 
the  other.  And  who,  having  the  capac- 
ity to  appreciate  poetry,  will  despise 
nonsense? 


*l'echo  de  France' 

L'Echo  de  FrancCy  as  befits  its  name, 
is  appearing  in  London  instead  of 
Paris;  for  the  echo  is  intended  to  be 
heard  by  the  ears  of  little  Britishers 
who  are  studying  the  language  of  the 
other  side  of  the  Channel.  What  a 
jolly  time  the  modern  infant  must  have 
in  the  British  Isles.  No  more  dull 
*  texts,'  apparently.  Instead  this  well- 
printed  and  divertingly  illustrated 
little  French  paper,  which  appears 
weekly  —  four  pages  for  a  penny  —  re- 
produces jokes  from  the  French  comic 
papers  (discreetly  selected,  needless  to 
say),  prints  interesting  but  simple 
articles  on  French  life,  and  adds  to  its 
other  attractions  the  adventures  of 
*Hippolyte  and  Hegesippe,'  which  no 
normal  child  is  likely  to  scorn. 


LIFE,  LETTERS,  AND  THE  ARTS 


671 


Hippolyte  and  Hegesippe  are  two 
French  provincials.  They  visit  Paris, 
and  their  predicaments  are  made 
diverting  to  the  extent  of  half  a  column 
every  week,  with  an  amusing  set  of 
drawings  which  have  the  characteristic 
deft  touch  of  the  French  artist  in  black 
and  white.  Hippolyte  and  Hegesippe 
visiting  the  Louvre  and  falling  foul  of 
an  artist,  Hippolyte  and  Hegesippe 
ordering  bouillabaisse  and  monies  au 
lait  to  the  mute  horror  of  a  metropoli- 
tan waiter  —  the  adventures  of  this 
guileless  pair  render  education  as 
nearly  painless  as  it  can  be. 

While  two  French  papers  for  Eng- 
glish  students  are  being  printed  —  for 
VEcho  de  France  is  merely  a  compan- 
ion to  La  France,  a  summary  of  the 
French  press  issued  by  the  same  firm 
of  English  publishers  —  a  group  of 
Englishmen  in  Paris  are  bringing  out  a 
fortnightly  English  paper.  This  is  to 
be  called  The  Briton,  and  will  be 
edited  for  children  and  older  persons 
who  are  studying  the  English  language. 


VERGIL  S  FARM 

Was  the  farm  on  which  P.  Vergilius 
Maro  spent  his  boyhood  at  the  modern 
Pietola  or  at  the  modern  Calvisano? 
The  former  is  the  traditional  site,  but 
archaeological  studies  recently  made 
by  Mr.  G.  E.  K.  Braunholtz,  Senior 
Classical  Lecturer  in  the  University  of 
Manchester,  lead  him  to  favor  the 
latter. 

For  the  first  thirty  years  of  his  life, 
Vergil  dwelt  in  the  village  of  Andes, 
and  it  is  the  simple  life  of  the  Roman 
countryside  there  that  he  describes  in 
the  Eclogues.  The  scholar  Probus,  who 
may  very  likely  have  got  his  informa- 
tion from  Vergil  himself,  says  that  the 
village  lay  thirty  Roman  miles  — 
twenty-two  English  miles  —  from  Man- 
tua. This  is  all  we  really  know  about 


the  location  of  Andes,  which  vanished 
long  ago. 

A  tradition  that  is  at  least  as  old  as 
Dante  placed  the  site  at  Pietola,  a  ham- 
let lying  about  two  miles  south-east  of 
Mantua,  but  its  position  cannot  be 
reconciled  with  Probus's  statement. 
Mommsen  found  this  fact  sufficient 
reason  for  rejecting  Pietola,  but  he  did 
not  attempt  to  suggest  any  new  site. 

Mr.  Braunholtz,  however,  offers 
several  bits  of  evidence  that  seem 
fairly  conclusive  —  which  is,  after  all, 
about  as  close  to  proof  as  one  is  likely 
to  get  in  a  question  of  this  sort.  He 
finds  that  two  inscriptions,  probably 
dating  from  the  first  century  of  the 
Empire,  were  set  up  by  members  of  the 
Vergilian  and  Magian  houses  —  those 
of  the  poet's  father  and  mother 
respectively  —  in  two  villages  near 
Pietola.  One  of  these  villages  is  Cal- 
visano, which  lies  exactly  thirty  Roman 
miles  from  Mantua,  a  little  west  of  the 
road  to  Brescia  in  the  southerly  foot- 
hills of  the  Alps.  The  Calvisano 
inscription  is  due  to  a  lady  whose 
name  was  Vergilia  and  who  belonged 
to  the  poet's  family.  Obviously,  then, 
the  poet's  family  was  established  in  the 
vicinity. 

Armed  with  these  facts,  Mr.  Braun- 
holtz set  about  making  comparisons 
between  the  scenery  at  Calvisano  and 
the  descriptions  of  the  countryside  in 
the  five  local  Eclogues.  The  scenery  at 
Pietola  is  wholly  different.  That  at 
Calvisano  corresponds  closely.  Most 
remarkable  of  all  is  a  low  ridge  which 
bounds  the  eastern  horizon,  and  *  sinks 
gently  into  the  plain,'  precisely  as 
Vergil  describes.  Many  a  ridge  in 
northern  Italy  sinks  gently  into  the 
plain,  to  be  sure,  but  no  other  is  situ- 
ated at  precisely  the  right  distance 
from  Mantua  according  to  Probus's 
description.  From  Pietola  nothing  can 
be  seen  but  fields,  dykes,  and  marshes; 
but  from  Calvisano  the  Alps  are  in  full 


672 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


view.  Mr.  Braunholtz  may  not  have 
proved  his  case,  but  he  has  at  least  made 
it  as  probable  as  any  one  is  likely  to  do. 


THE  EUBAIYAT  OF  TWO  MODERN  OMARS 

Persia,  once  the  home  of  Omar 
Khayyam,  most  bibulous  of  poets,  has 
climbed  unsteadily  on  the  water  wagon. 
Mohammedan  countries  are  nominally 
dry,  for  hquor  of  any  form  is  forbidden 
to  the  good  Moslem.  But  Persia  is  a 
land  dominated  by  the  Shiite  sect, 
whom  the  more  powerful  Sunnites  re- 
gard as  unorthodox;  and  though  the 
most  rigid  followers  of  the  Prophet 
glanced  askance  at  Omar  even  in  his 
own  day,  only  now  have  the  protests  of 
the  TJlema  or  holy  men  compelled  the 
government  to  enforce  the  Prophet's 
teaching  with  regard  to  strong  drink. 

Two  British  voices  are  raised  in  the 
ruhai'y  stanza  that  Edward  Fitzger- 
ald's translation  of  Omar  made  famous 
and  familiar  in  English-speaking  lands, 
to  wail  the  passing  of  the  grape.  Their 
choice  of  form  is  appropriate,  but  it  is 
amusing  to  recall  that  a  strictly  re- 
spectable Persian  family  would  hardly 
regard  Omar's  Ruhaiyat  as  fit  reading. 
It  is  as  a  writer  of  learned  mathemati- 
cal treatises  that  he  is  praised  in  his 
own  land. 

The  Westminster  Gazette  thus  greets 
the  news  from  Teheran :  — 

The  Moving  Finger  writes;  and  on  the  Scroll 
An  awful  Legend  sears  the  Poet's  Soul 

And  spells  his  doom:  'This  Caravanserai 
"Will  be,  henceforward,  under  State  Control.' 

Perchance  with  Pitfall,  but  no  more  with  Gin, 
The  Road's  beset  that  we  may  wander  in. 

And  he  whose  Muse  is  nourished  by  the  Vine 
Will  find  his  Inspiration  growing  thin! 


The  Tavern  Door  no  longer  is  agape, 
And  if  there  should  appear  an  Angel  Shape 

It  can  be  only  that  of  Pussyfoot 
With  Something  substituted  for  the  Grape! 

Come,  then,  Omar,  with  me  into  the  Shade  — 
The  Loaf,  the  Book  of  Verse,  may  be  mislaid. 
But  we  will  seek  what  Solace  may  be  found 
Held  captive  in  a  Jug  of  Lemonade! 

*Lucio,'  of  the  Manchester  Guardian, 
is  likewise  inspired,  and  he,  too,  chooses 
Omar's  rubai'y  stanza,  to  lament  the 
downfall  of  the  wine  he  loved:  — 

Dreaming  when  Dawn's  Left  Hand  was  in  the 

Sky, 
I  heard  a  Voice  within  the  Tavern  cry, 

'  Awake,  my  Little  Ones,  and  fill  the  Cup 
Before  Life's  Liquor  —  and  our  Land  —  be  dry.' 

They  say  the  Sleuth  and  Pussyfoot  now  keep 
The  Courts  where  Jamshyd  gloried  and  drank 

deep: 
And  Bahram,  that  great   Hunter  —  he  now 

stalks 
The  Bootleggers  that  o'er  the  Frontier  creep. 

Iram  indeed  is  gone  with  all  its  Rose, 

And  now  the  Grape  must  follow,  I  suppose: 

Why,  even  Mere  Amusement  gets  the  Bird  — 
My  Hat,  this  is  the  Gloomiest  of  Shows! 

But  come  with  old  Khayyam  and  leave  the  Drys 
To  run  the  Show  as  seems  to  Them  most  wise: 

One  Thing  is  certain  —  there  are  Other  Lands 
In  which  the  Vintner  still  his  Juice  supplies. 

With  me  to  some  more  friendly  Haven  blown 
Retire  to  call  your  Soul   (and  Throat)   your 

Own  — 
Where  Norma  Talmadge  dines  with  London's 

Mayor 
And  Entertainment  claims  its  rightful  Throne. 

Or  stay  behind:  and  when  Thyself  shall  pass 
With   Sobered   Foot   where,   scattered   on  the 
Grass, 
I  kept  my  famous  Loaf  and  Flask  of  Wine, 
Turn  down  that  now  forever  Empty  Glass! 


BOOKS  ABROAD 


Old  Diplomacy  and  New,  1876-1922,  by  A.  L. 
Kennedy.  London:  John  Murray,  1922.   I8s. 

[Daily  Telegraph] 

Mr.  a.  L.  Kennedy,  the  author  of  this  volume, 
is  a  son  and  grandson  of  distinguished  members  of 
the  Diplomatic  Service,  and  he  himself  is  a  stu- 
dent of  foreign  affairs  who  has  traveled  all  over 
Europe  as  a  representative  of  the  Foreign  De- 
partment of  the  Times.  He  is  consequently  in  an 
exceptional  position  to  reveal  the  inner  meaning 
of  the  transition  from  the  late  Lord  Salisbury  to 
Mr.  Lloyd  George,  and  to  judge  between  the 
secret  diplomacy  of  the  past  and  the  'diplomacy 
by  conference'  of  to-day. 

In  his  introduction,  Sir  Valentine  Chirol  points 
out  that  the  Berlin  Congress  was  in  actual 
fact  the  last  great  European  Congress  on  the  old 
model;  but  between  that  congress  and  the  open 
diplomacy  of  this  century  there  has  been  an  intri- 
cate evolution,  which  this  volume  interprets  with 
extreme  lucidity.  The  student  of  international 
politics  wiU  welcome  the  book  as  even  in  tone, 
broad-minded,  and  coldly  sagacious.  The  general 
reader  will  enjoy  it  for  its  many  side  lights  into 
the  calculated  obsciu:ities  of  European  chan- 


The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  by  the  Rev- 
erend H.  T.  F.  Duckworth.  London:  Hodder 
and  Stoughton,  1922.  10».  Qd. 

[Westminster  Gazette] 

By  a  natural  impulse,  there  is  no  end  to  the 
effort  to  restore  at  any  rate  an  approximate 
probability  to  the  ascriptions  of  the  sites.  The 
latest  is  Mr.  Duckworth's  book.  Architecturally, 
all  his  ground  had,  as  he  admits,  been  covered  by 
Mr.  Jeffrey's  published  work,  though  the  latter's 
completed  volume  on  the  Holy  Sepulchre  appar- 
ently had  not  been  separately  published  when  the 
materials  for  Mr.  Duckworth's  book  were  com- 
piled. Topographically,  he  expresses  opinion  and 
adduces  no  proof. 

Indeed,  he  could  not.  The  main  problem  of 
The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  whether  or 
not  the  original  building  of  Constantine,  of 
which  this  is  the  successor,  enclosed  the  veritable 
sites  of  the  Resurrection  and  the  Crucifixion. 
Mr.  Duckworth  urges  the  unlikelihood  of  Chris- 
tian piety  and  tradition  having  forgotten  the 
exact  sites  in  three  hundred  years.  Assuming 
that  he  is  right  in  his  conclusions  as  to  their  posi- 
tion in  relation  to  the  city  walls,  there  is  still,  un- 
fortunately, no  satisfactory  evidence  as  to  their 
exact  correspondence  with  the  events  they  com- 
memorated. .  .  . 


'Somewhere  in  the  area  occupied  by  the  build- 
ings collectively  known  as  "the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,"  the  Crucifixion  and  the  Resur- 
rection took  place.'  That  is  Mr.  Duckworth's 
conclusion.  Whether  or  not  it  is  satisfactory 
each  reader  must  decide,  but  it  is  not  what  the 
Constantinian  Bishop  Macarius  said,  and  in  the 
eyes  of  many  it  will  damage  the  sacred  rocks  far 
more  than  Persian  or  Arab  or  other  infidel  ever 
dared. 

Notable  Londoners.  London:  London  Publish- 
ing Company,  1922. 

[Westminster  Gazette] 

Notable  Londoners,  the  first  edition  of  an  illus- 
trated Who's  Who,  published  by  the  London 
Publishing  Agency,  has  many  claims  to  interest 
and  usefulness.  Particularly  the  publication 
deals  with  the  professional  and  business,  rather 
than  with  the  social,  side  of  London  life. 

The  large  number  of  people  dealt  with  are 
widely  representative  of  the  everyday  profes- 
sional, financial,  commercial,  and  business  life  of 
the  city;  and  the  general  arrangement  of  the 
names  and  the  system  of  grouping  would  make 
reference  an  easy  matter  even  were  the  volume 
not  provided  with  a  good  index. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  particularize  in  re- 
gard to  the  contents.  Short  accounts  of  well- 
known  figures  in  every  branch  of  work  will  be 
found  in  the  pages.  The  biographical  details  of 
this  large  number  of  prominent  men  are  interest- 
ing and  useful  for  purposes  of  reference,  and  the 
choice  has  been  well  made.  There  is  a  photo- 
graphic reproduction  in  each  case. 

A  Hundred  Poems,  by  Sir  William  Watson, 
selected  from  his  various  volumes.  London: 
Hodder  and  Stoughton,  1922.  10*.  6d. 

[Times] 

Here  are  one  hundred  of  Sir  William  Watson's 
poems,  drawn  from  seventeen  volumes,  and  the 
selection  therefore  supersedes  the  earlier  selection, 
which  was  made  from  only  six  separate  books. 

The  longer  narrative  poems  have  been  exclud- 
ed, and  so  have  those  which  in  the  narrower 
sense  are  political;  but  the  hundred  here  undoubt- 
edly include  the  poet's  best  work  in  many  moods. 
Were  there  no  others,  they  would  probably  afford 
posterity  an  all-sufficing  indication  of  his  style, 
gifts,  and  philosophy.  Most  poets  survive  ulti- 
mately in  a  residue,  and  even  if  time  eliminates  a 
good  many  pieces  in  this  volume,  there  ought  still 
to  be  enough  to  reward  the  devotion  of  any  poet's 
lifetime. 

678 


674 


THE  LIVING  AGE 


The  Triumph  of  the  Tramp  Ship,  by  Archibald 
Hurd.  London:  Cassell,  1922.  7*.  6d. 

[Times] 

Just  as  Mr.  Archibald  Hurd  in  The  Sea  Trad- 
ers brought  out  the  romance  of  the  British  mer- 
cantile marine  by  showing  how  it  had  been  de- 
veloped by  the  courage  and  resource  of  individual 
pioneers,  so  now  in  this  companion  volume  he 
traces  the  history  of  the  cargo-tramp  and  its  in- 
fluence in  promoting  the  spread  of  civilization  in 
all  lands  and  in  all  ages.  It  is  a  tremendous 
theme,  but  Mr.  Hurd  accomplishes  his  task  with 
ease. 

Where  facts  are  nonexistent  he  can  be  pictur- 
esque, if  merely  conjectural  —  as,  for  instance: — 

'  When  the  first  hunter,  pricked  by  the  neces- 
sity of  obtaining  food,  or  fired  by  the  chase  and 
his  own  natural  curiosity,  crossed  a  river  on  a 
fallen  tree-limb  or  a  bundle  of  dry  leaves,  pro- 
pelled by  himself,  the  tramp-ship  came  to  birth 
and  entered  the  service  of  man.' 


The  Life  of  Jameson,  by  Ian  Colvin.  London: 
Edward  Arnold,  1922.     2  vols.  32*. 

[Henry  W.  Nevinson  in  the  Manchester  Guardian] 

In  these  two  intensely  interesting  and  well- 
written  volumes  Mr.  Colvin  stirs  up  again  the 
passions  that  set  this  country  ablaze  a  generation 
ago.  I  am  not  sure  whether,  in  Horatian  phrase, 
he  is  treading  a  crust  of  treacherous  ash  which 
skims  over  volcanic  fires;  one  can  only  hope  the 
fires  are  at  last  extinguished.  But  all  who  lived 
through  that  terrible  time  will  feel  once  more  the 
heat  of  the  flames. 

When  the  national  spirit  is  roused  to  the  point 
of  war,  lies  are  always  in  demand.  We  call  them 
propaganda  now.  People  long  to  be  deceived,  and 
deceived  they  are.  But,  until  1914,  I  can  hardly 
suppose  greater  lies  were  ever  accepted,  even 
about  Napoleon,  than  during  the  contest  with 
the  South  African  Republics.  'There  were  girls 
in  the  Gold-reef  City!'  shrieked  the  Poet  Laure- 
ate, glorifying  the  Jameson  Raid.  *We  seek  no 
territory,  we  seek  no  goldmines!'  cried  the  Prime 
Minister.  South  Africans  may  well  have  laughed, 
but  the  British  people  loved  to  believe  it.  Like 
Mr.  Colvin,  they  were  ready  to  place  Jameson  on 
the  same  level  as  Drake  and  Clive  and  Wolfe. 
*Not  once  nor  twice  in  our  rough  island  story!' 

They  saw  nothing  exaggerated  or  unnatural  in 
the  purpose  thus  expressed  by  Cecil  Rhodes: 
*The  furtherance  of  the  British  Empire  for  the 
bringing  of  the  whole  uncivilized  world  under 
British  rule,  for  the  recovery  of  the  United  States, 
for  the  making  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  but  one 
Empire.* 


Jameson's  friend  and  biographer  writes  in  the 
same  spirit;  he  could  not  well  have  written  in  any 
other.  Rhodes  and  Jameson  are,  naturally,  the 
two  gods  of  his  idolatry. 


BOOKS  ANNOUNCED 

Colter,  W.  T.  Americanism,  a  World  Menace. 
London :  Labor  Publishing  Company.  Mr.  Col- 
yer  proposes  a  complete  expos6  of  these  United 
States.  It  is  based  on  seven  years  acquaint- 
ance with  America  —  not  too  long  a  time  for 
the  purpose,  for  the  United  States  is  a  rather 
large  country. 

HousMAN,  Laurence.  False  Premises.  Oxford: 
Basil  Blackwell,  1922.  3*.  6d.  One  of  a  series 
of  plays  to  be  printed  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  B.  H.  Newdigate.  Others  will  be  The  Man 

'  Who  Ate  the  Popomack,  by  W.  J.  Turner,  Up- 
stream, by  Clifford  Bax,  and  Advertising,  or 
the  Girl  Who  Made  the  Sun  Jealous,  by  Herbert 
Farjeon  and  Horace  Horsnell.  A  limited  and 
numbered  edition,  each  signed  by  the  author, 
will  be  published  at  10«.  6d. 

Lane,  Mrs.  Rose  Wilder.  The  Peaks  of  Shala. 
London:  Chapman  and  Dodd,  1922.  For  im- 
mediate publication.  Describes  the  author's 
wanderings  among  the  hill  tribes  of  Albania. 

Rutter,  Frank.  Some  Contemporary  Artists. 
London:  Leonard  Parsons.  Mr.  Rutter  is  a 
well-known  English  critic,  familiar  with  the 
personalities  of  the  artists  he  discusses,  as  well 
as  with  their  work.  Among  the  artists  of  whom 
he  writes  are  Sir  William  Orpen,  Augustus 
John,  Walter  Sickert,  William  Rothenstein, 
Wyndham  Lewis,  C.  R.  W.  Nevinson,  and 
others  of  the  younger  generation. 

BoTTOMLEY,  GoRDON.  A  Vision  of  Giorgione: 
Three  Variations  on  a  Venetian  Theme.  Lon- 
don: Constable.  These  three  eclogues  will 
appear  in  one  volume,  of  which  there  will  be 
fifty  signed  copies.  The  first  has  not  appear- 
ed in  Great  Britain  hitherto;  the  others  are 
revived  from  the  Gate  of  Smaragdv^. 

Gibson,  Ashley.  Cinnamon  and  Frangipani. 
London:  Chapman  and  Dodd.  A  new  book 
on  Ceylon  for  early  publication. 


BOOKS  MENTIONED 

Belloc,  Hilaire.  The  Mercy  of  Allah.  New 
York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1922.  $2.00. 

Belloc,  Hilaire.  More  Beasts  for  Worse  Chil- 
dren. New  York:  Knopf.  $1.25. 


PITTSBURGH  PLATE  GLASS  COMPANY 

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most  carefully  selected  and  most  admirably  edited  for  junior  high 
school  use.  31.25 

THE  LITTLE  GRAMMAR 

By  E.  A.  Cross,  Dean  of  Colorado  State  Teachers  College^  has  in  a  slender 
volume  concentrated  all  the  grammatical  principles  necessary  for  the 
ordinary  demands  of  students.  The  book  is  designed  especially  for 
the  seventh  grade.  30.90 

STORY,  ESSAY,  AND  VERSE 

Edited  by  Charles  Swain  Thomas  and  Harry  G.  Paul 
An  anthology  of  selections  from  the  files  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly ^  de- 
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JANUARY,  1923 

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Wilbur  C.  Abbott 

AND  SO,  I  THINK,  DIOGENES 

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THE  RECALL  TO  THEOLOGY 

Francis  G.  Peabody 

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THE  NEAR  EAST  TANGLE 

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