24 AUGUST 1918, Page 16

Linguistic Oppression in the German Empire. By Ernest Barker. (Longman

and Co. 6d. net.)—Mr. Barker has put together the main facts concerning the official persecution of German subjects whose mother-tongue is Polish, Danish, or French, and gives a brief account also of the extraordinary measures taken to compel natives of Flanders to speak Flemish. None but a German Government would go so far as to punish little Polish children for reading Polish books or to forbid Danish children to say their prayers in Danish. The result, of course, has been to stimulate the oppressed peoples' affection for their own languaged. The Poles in particular have thriven on persecution. There need be no fear that the Poles will join hands with the Germans, whom they know too well.