The Way of Peace
The Next Chapter the War Against the Moon. By. Andre Maurois. (Regan Paul. To-Day and To-Morrow Series. 2s. 6d.) WE welcome M. Andre Maurois among the prophets. The publishers tell us on the wrapper that his book is bitter, but we disagree. A certain mordancy can hardly be dissociated from brilliance of writing, but this delicate and delightful phantasy of the World War with the Moon'in 1971 is presented to us with consummate art.
The newspapers of the world at that time, M. Maurois writes, were controlled by five men, Lord Frank Douglas of the British News, Ltd., M. Rouvray, J. C. Smack (almost blind, who lived in the great Middle West surrounded by an army of readers and stenographers), Dr. Mack and Baron Tokungawa. From 1943 onwards these men had held a weekly meeting by means of wireless telephotophony. Yet in spite of their desire for world peace, a terrible war broke out in 1947. In a last-minute effort to avoid it, Smack published an appeal to common sense in all the newspapers of the world, but alas I public opinion revolted against its masters for once, and the armies and air fleets of the earth could not be sestrained. After a period of ghastly destruction a treaty of peace was signed at Pekin in 1951. The Directorate of Public Opinion was then reconstructed, the only change being that Dr. Kraft succeeded Dr. Macht in Germany ; the other four were still alive.
In 1962, Professor Ben Tabrit, in Morocco, invented the Wind Accumulator, whereby a. much less expensive form of energy was obtained than that secured from petrol or coal. Certain districts hitherto uninhabited suddenly attained an incredible value. The brokers of Baghdad, for instance, profited by the huge boom in stocks in the Gobi Desert Wind Concern, the shares in British Windmills rocketed sky-high, and dangerous international intrigues centred round the acquisition of Mont Ventoux on the Lyons plain as a factory site. Every- where there was dislocation of -industry and preparation for war to gain the windy spaces of earth which were vital to the well-being of every nation.
On his return from a meeting at Geneva, where these matters were being discussed with little hope of settlement! Lord
Frank Douglas had a " brain-wave." He landed his aeroplane in Paris and suggested to his fellow director, Roux;ray, a war against the Moon. His plan was at once simple and original. Hate and fear between the nations, so destructive in them- selves, might be diverted to an imaginary enemy and thus serve to unite instead of disrupting the planet.
" Suppose to-morrow morning we should tell our readers
throughout the entire world that some village had been mysteriously destroyed by powerful rays from the Moon, would they believe it ? " he asked. Undoubtedly they would, Rouvray agreed. The public even in 1927 would swallow almost anything that was given to it by the Press, and it had lately been accustomed to so many marvels that one more or less would not stick in its great gullet. Besides, journalists and scientists would lend themselves to a laudable deception in the cause of peace. Mankind would believe that the 1113011 had attacked the Earth, if the thing was properly managed. First in some remote part of Australia, then perhaps in China, and so on. Bigger and bigger headlines. Mysterious Foe WHO IS ATTACKING THE EARTH ? General dismay. Soon the squabble over windy territories would " slip over to the second page " in news interest and the whole planet be mad with rage against the Moon.
This audacious scheme succeeded brilliantly. The general
staffs of the world, which lately had been busy with war plans against each other, now thought only of collaboration. Groups paraded Unter den Linden singing a new hymn of hate against the Moon. In Tokio a number of people committed hara- kiri to avenge the insult upon the honour orthe world. In London the war madness took a curious form. In the music halls and in the streets, men, women, and children sang the same refrain, " Oh, stop tickling me, man in the moon !" At Washington one million dollars was voted by Congress to finance hostilities, in spite of the opposition of two pro-Moon senators.
Now Ben Tabrit, the Moroccan scientist at Marrakech, devised a terrific ray that would bring the lunar enemy to his senses. All Smack's newspapers announced in screaming headlines, MOROCCAN SCIENTIST TO FIGHT THE MOON, and Tabrit sent out his death-dealing emanations amidst much popular rejoicing. The world was Moon-war-mad. Every capital had its cheering crowds. Optimism, enthusiasm, energy, the spirit of service and sacrifice, spread like wildfire through the planet. The Churches no doubt composed suitable prayers and preached of a righteous victory.
But there was one uneasy man on earth—Rouvray, the Frenchman. He thought it might be possible that there were really men in the Moon—creatures to resent our (to them) idiotic assaults.
One terrible night the city of Darmstadt was demolished, nothing being left but a glowing mass of calcined rock, and he knew his fears were well founded. Thus began the awful interplanetary struggle (consult The Responsibilities for the Interplanetary IT Jerusalem. Twelve volumes) which entailed miseries as yet unimagined and called forth heroisms of which earth had not believed itself capable.
The last.chapter, entitled, " The First Planetary Coalition,"
is nothing but a row of dots. And it leaves us thinking of how tongues wag at Geneva and elsewhere. M. Maurois points a moral and adorns a delightful tale. His book may do as much towards clearing the tangle of talk that besets the way of peace as many a solemn conclave of diplomatists. F. Y-B.
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