GERMAN IMPERIALISM.
L'Imperialisme Alleinand. Par Maurice Lair. (Armand Colin, Paris. 3 fr. 60 c.)—M. Lair has given us a typical French book, a com- bination of learning with lucidity, in his able and suggestive essay on German Imperialism. It is a review of German policy from the foundation of the Empire, in which the close relations of indus- trial growth with Imperial aspirs sns are clearly set forth, and ample materials are provided for the study of the probable future.
M. Lair is not free from prejudice—as when he incidentally makes the grotesque blunder of basing a definition of the English as "the extirpating race" (sic) on our oppression of the Indian peasant and the Egyptian fellah—but his analysis of German history during the last thirty years is marked by fairness and knowledge. He is quite willing to recognise the rat ideals which underlie the recent expansion of German trade and indus- trial enterprise, even when he thinks it necessary to emphasise the inherent causes of failure which they seem to contain. The student of affairs will find his book a most convenient and thoughtful summary of the case, even if it can hardly be regarded as per- fectly authoritative. We are glad to have so useful a treatise, and we should like to see it made accessible to English readers in general, for there is no question likely to be more urgent in the twentieth century than that which M. Lair discusses. Is Germany on the high-road to that vast world-Empire which her brilliant ruler envisages and which rises so fair in the "Sunday dreams" of a large majority of her people, or is the remarkable out- burst of energy which has marked her people in the last generation but destined to lead her to an industrial Sedan? M. Lair seems rather to incline to the latter opinion; but he admits that there is much to be said on both aides. The greater part of his book is devoted to explaining the causes of the sudden development which, after the Franco-German War and the establishment of the Empire, converted Germany into one of the chief industrial and commercial countries of the world, and the interrelations of this sudden outburst with Imperial policy, culminating in the " world-policy " of the present Kaiser, and the Pan-German dreams of a Greater Germany which shall stretch from the Baltic to the Adriatic and from the mouth of the Rhine to the month of the Danube. All this is admirably described, with a wealth of illustrative quotation from the writings and speeches of the leaders of the German movement. The whole colonial policy of modern Germany, with the Kaiser's naval policy as one of its consequences, is a necessary outcome of the development of Germany's industrial resources, on which the rest of the world looked with such patronising and improvident interest for twenty years. In itself that development was an excellent thing ; but it is now a menacing question for other nations whether it has not brought about a state of things which may—like the proverbial snowball—lead to dangerous avalanches. M. Lair expounds this in a convincing although succinct fashion. In his later pages he sets himself to discuss the problems of the future. As all are aware who have followed the recent industrial and social history of Germany, it has by no means been a record of unchecked progress. The " boom " was, as is so often the case, followed by a "slump." It was not merely that the young industries went ahead too fast,—faster than markets could be found for their products, which increased in a geometrical pro- gression, while the consumers only increased in arithmetical ratio. There was also an inherent source of weakness in the internecine contest between the new industrial Germany and the old agricultural section of the Empire. "Between the agrarian nobility and the industrial class there exists more than a mere opposition of principles—there is a direct conflict of interests." The social question, too, with its opposition of exploiters and ex- ploited, is steadily coming to a head. M. Lair evidently thinks that the seeds of destruction are mingled with the rich harvest of the last few years. Whether he is right or not only the future can tell, but his book deserves the serious consideration of all students of affairs.
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