LAND AND WATER 
May 29, 19 1 5 
BOOKS OF THE WEEK 
A LITERARY REVIEW 
We necessarily turn to Mr. Roosevelt's book when con- 
fronted with the pronouncements of President Wilson. Mr. 
Roosevelt has been absolutely frank about his own country 
and about us, and he and other Americans have no wish that 
Englishmen, in their turn, should be unduly reticent. Alluding 
to his own famous speech at the Guildhall, he once said to the 
present writer : " It would be better for all parties if there 
were a more candid interchange of honest opinions upon 
national and international matters." We have appreciated 
American sympathy, and have gained from it moral support, 
but on the other hand, there is no use glossing over the 
prevailing British opinion that official America, early in the 
war, missed a golden opportunity of protesting against the 
German breach of the Hague Conventions. Mr. Roosevelt 
assures us that if he had been at the WTiite House this 
opportunity would not have been lost. 
" America and the World War." By Theodore 
Roosevelt. Murray. 5s. net. 
In part Mr. Roosevelt's book is one mainly for Americans, 
and in part it is a book for aU the world. In so far as his 
general position gives him the opportunity to bludgeon 
President Wilson, it has Uttle concern for us. It is much 
better that we should not discuss his comments on what he 
calls the " milk and water " policy of the President. It is 
better that we should leave Americans to deal with the 
charges he brings against the present administration : that 
it has neglected the navy, that it has not provided a big 
enough army, and that it ought to have insisted on fortifying 
the Panama Canal. 
There is enough to consider in his more general pronounce- 
ments about the rights and wrongs of the present war, and 
the value of treaties and armaments. He is not pessimistic 
about the future. He beUeves that we are very slowly pro- 
gressing toward " a more real feeling of brotherhood among 
the nations." But the time for disarmament is not yet ; 
mere pacificism will retard the ends of " righteousness." 
" Events have clearly demonstrated " — and this is his main 
contention — " that in any serious crisis treaties unbacked by 
force are not worth the paper upon which they are written." 
" Peace treaties and arbitration treaties unbacked by force 
are not merely useless but mischievous in any serious crisis." 
He takes up the standpoint of an impartial American, 
and of one who is on the side of " righteousness " before 
peace. He has no animus against Germany. He simply 
asserts that he would throw his weight against any Power 
which had put itself in the wrong by violating treaty rig:hts 
and common obligations. He does not doubt the patriotism 
of Germans. He merely declares that it was Germany who, 
from whatever motives, actually violated the neutrality of 
Belgium ; that it was Germany who ill-treated French and 
particularly Belgian civilians, contrary to the Hague Con- 
ventions signed by the United States ; that it was Germany 
who dropped bombs on unfortified cities contrary to the same 
conventions. " AU of these offences," he says, after setting 
forth a catalogue of illegalities, " have been committed by 
Germany If I had for one moment supposed that 
signing these Hague Conventions meant Uterally nothing 
whatever beyond the expression of a pious wish which any 
power was at Uberty to disregard with impunity, in accordance 
with the dictation of self-interest, I would certainly not have 
permitted the United States to be a party to such a mis- 
chievous farce." 
He states emphatically his view that America ought to 
have protested, at the very beginning, against these violations 
of treaties and conventions. He goes on to urge that America 
should prepare herself with the armed force without which 
treaties and conventions are valueless. And finally he insists 
that any future agreements on the lines of the Hague Con- 
ventions will prove worthless. 
The one permanent move for obtaining peace, which has yet been 
suggested, with any reasonable chance of attaining its object, is by an 
agreement among the great powers, in which each should pledge itself 
not only to abide by the decisions of a common tribunal, but to back 
with force the decisions of that common tribunal. 
What Mr. Roosevelt says is of importance, not only by 
reason of his personal views and his great influence in America, 
but because he may yet again be a President of the Republic. 
There is much repetition in the book, but this serves to make 
his view unmistakable. We appreciate his friendhness 
towards England all the more because he seeks to be just to 
Germany. We agree with him that it would be very unwise 
to assume that the present war will be the last of all wars ; 
but the general question of big national armaments, to be 
maintained in time of peace, opens more subtle, complicated 
questions which he does not touch upon. We would commend 
to his attention a little book which deserves to be widely 
read : 
" Krupp's and the International Armaments 
Ring." By li. Robertson Murray. Holden and 
Hardingham. 2s. 6d. net. 
Mr. Murray exposes the manner in which Krupp's and 
kindred firms have been built up, and the hold they have 
acquired over modern civilisation. " Kruppism and Modern 
Militarism are interdependent." Most people have a vague, 
general idea as to the vast political and economic power 
which this monster business corporation has brought to 
bear upon Germany. Mr. Murray traces the history 
of the firm from its humble origin, and describes the 
stages of its growth since the Franco-Prussian War. 
The Emperor is one of the largest shareholders. Krupp's 
has been able to infect the Press, and has set itself to 
stimulate Jingoism. But though Germany has been " the 
cradle of Kruppism," and it was a Krupp who produced the 
first gun made of crucible steel, Mr. Murray insists that since 
the formation of the Harvey United Steel Company in 1901 
the armament firms have been in league the world over, 
exploiting for profit the fears and ambitions of nations. 
Even in Great Britain the Government has preferred to place 
orders with private firms rather than use the Royal Arsenal 
at Woolwich. He urges that there can be no possible im- 
munity from militarism and war except by " the sweeping 
away of all chance of private profit to be gained in the arming 
of the nations." There can be no safeguard against war as 
long as there are Krupp's and similar firms — that is to say, as 
long as there are vast vested interests dependent on the 
imminence of war. Mr. Murray's book is important. 
Speaking of Mr. Roosevelt's book, it is of interest to 
mention a slender volume just issued : — 
" When a Man Comes to Himself.' 
Wilson. Harper. 2s. net. 
By Wood row 
This is no more than a short essay on the generalities of 
life and conduct, and has no bearing whatever upon current 
poUtical events. It is a moral application of the maxim 
to " see life steadily and see it whole." We see in this essay 
the same traits which distinguished his Life of George 
Washington. Most statesmen would be primarily concerned 
with the statesmanship of Washington ; President Wilson 
emphasised especially his goodness — and that indeed is the 
traditional schoolroom criticism. An edifying if somewhat 
conventional study in right behaviour and successful morals. 
" The Little Man and Other Satires." By John 
Galsworthy. Heinemann. 
It is almost inevitable that such a writer as Mr. Galsworthy, 
with his pronounced opinions, his special interests, his definite 
technique, should come to be regarded as a sort of fixed star. 
We already speak of a " Galsworthian subject," a " Gals- 
worthian character," a " Galsworthian type of Enghshman " 
— and we could not do so if he had not famiharised us with 
these types in " A Man of Property," " Justice," " Strife " 
and elsewhere. Nevertheless, it is unsafe to label Mr. 
Galsworthy too exactly. In whatever he writes we may be 
sure that there will always be a serious undercurrent. He 
will always mean something as well as observe something. 
And, in technique, he seldom resists that effective device of 
contrasting apparent opposites, sometimes in order to show 
the underlying unity of human nature, sometimes merely to 
throw his subject into relief. 
But in the first sketch in this book he shows us that a 
subject which lends itself both to reflection and to pathos 
can also be treated with the lightest humour and not without 
a touch of genuine farce. The " Galsworthian " feeling is 
there ; but also a good deal which could never be covered 
by that label. In the first scene we have several persons 
talking at the refreshment buffet of an Austrian railway 
station — an Englishman and woman, an American, a German, 
a Dutchman, and a " Little Man." They discuss, each with 
his own national idiosyncrasies, the question of chivalry, 
kindliness, and Quixotism. (It should be mentioned that it 
was written nine months before the war began.) The German 
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