Current Literature
The Periodicals
THE majority of the August Reviews contain an article or two which would make them dangerous documents to carry into Germany. The " distortion, calumny and lies " of which Dr. Goebbels complains in the foreign Press are well repre- sented, and contrive to look remarkably like the truth.
In the Nineteenth Century Mr. Wickham Steed produces further evidence in support of his last month's revelations with regard to the Air Gas Attack department of the German War Office, and deals sharply with those critics who have belittled their importance. If his purpose is to emphasize the horrors inevitable in any future war, no one is likely to quarrel with him ; the only hope, in his view, of avoiding a conflict which will mean the end of civilization, lies in a bold policy of non-neutrality on the part of the great powers, and an effective international organization against war of any and every kind." Mr. George Soloveytchik writes on the successful diplomatic travels of M. Barthou, to whose skill and ability (with Adolf Hitler's help) he attributes the present Franco-British rapprochement. Mr. Soloveytchik blames the vacillating foreign policy of Great Britain since the War for much of the present instability of Europe, and sees in 4France one of the most important bulwarks of peace and of civilization. Two views of Germany after the purge " are given ; one by Sir Arnold Wilson, who is impressed by the fine new spirit of the German people and its unquestioning loyalty to Hitler ; he calls for sympathetic understanding and indulgence in this country, especially to German youth. The second, by Elizabeth Wiskemann, presents a more detailed and less favourable account, and shows that the Reichswehr is the real master of Germany : " the broad popular basis of the Government is gone." Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond cogently argues the case against big battleships ; mere size in ships, absolutely, is not an intrinsic necessity for defence, endurance or attack, except in relation to the size of enemy ships.
In the Quarterly Captain E. Altham writes in a stalwart para-bellic vein on the necessity of strengthening our aerial and naval forces, and of extricating ourselves from the London Treaty restrictions ; an increase in the Air Force is not enough in itself, for the Air Force is no alternative to the Navy. Sir Andrew Macphail analyses and deprecates the sordidness and realism of the modern short story, furnishing depressing examples ; it is a phase which in his opinion will not endure. The Banking system of Canada is the subject of an article by Sir Charles Addis, whose long experience causes him to welcome the creation of a Canadian central bank ; now that the " automatic " gold standard is suspended, some independent authority is necessary to control the supply of credit ; it cannot be safely left to the ten competing corn' mercial banks, nor, in Sir Charles' view, is it expedient that the Government, as the chief borrower, should be also the direct provider of credit. The latter opinion may be questioned by some who do not fear inflation so much as the restrictive policy of Central Banks, but no sound traditional banker would question it. " The Age of Creevey " is always an absorbing topic, and is admirably treated here by Mr. J. L. Hammond ; Mr. Ronald Hart-Synnot brings facts and figures to bear on the question of the tithe-rent charge, and Lord Cranborne contributes a moderate apologia for the National Government, indicating the problems which it will have to face in the next two years, and on which it will stand or fall.
In the Fortnightly Mr. George E. G. Catlin, reviewing the course of events in the last 20 years, finds the will for peace in post-War Europe to have been general, but the efforts to ensure it confused ; the only road to peace is " collective international security," and it is largely in the power and responsibility of the Anglo-Saxon nations to open up this road. Mr. Lancelot Lawton discusses some of the disastrous results of industrial and agricultural planning in Russia, and Mr. George Godwin, writing on the non-British elements in Canada, stresses the need for concentrating on the develop- ment of peasant proprietorship on the land.
The Terror in Germany " is vividly described in the Contemporary by Dr. G. P. Gooch, and Mr. Harold Picton also relates his personal experiences in that country during recent years. Mr. Montgomery Belgian in an article on
" The French View of the New Order " describes the form which the discontent of youth all over the world with the inadequacy of the present economic and political systems has taken in France ; Mr. W. L. Middleton writes of French Colonial Policy and compares it unfavourably on the whole with the principles adopted by Great Britain in relation to her colonial possessions ; and Miss M. E. Walker gives an account of the emancipation of Russian women and the fine work they are doing in the U.S.S.R., particularly in educational and medical fields.
The Quarterly, The Contemporary and The Nineteenth Century have also literary supplements.
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