NEW YORK When writing to adrertiwn please mention The Dial. 320 October 4 THE DIAL There is really no hope of improving the breed of man, apparently, for the dolt never will "get on," as the author informs us. And in a series of questions ending wfth "Is not the perpetual challenge of the breadline good for a man?" we learn that " To find a social response to that situation is simply a question of adroitness." For all issues the author claims that the solution lies in the realm of morals. But the relationship of changing moral standards to modern living conditions is nowhere touched upon. To him, morals are fixed and standardized virtues, not the mores of developing peoples. The last two chapters of the book do not offend; they are trite and harm- less. Nevertheless, if a high-school boy, seeking in- formation on current world topics, were to stumble upon The Tragedy of Labor, one more child would be thrown prematurely into the industrial cauldron. None but a sinner, hardened by the crime of reading, could finish the tragedy and care to read again. Religion and Culture. A Critical Survey of Methods of Approach to Religious Phenomena. By Frederick Schleiter. 206 pages. Columbia University Press. This book is hopelessly mistitled. To be sure it touches the outskirts of its announced subject, but only the outskirts. Actually it is an examination of the concepts and modes of thought which have achieved vogue in the study of the ceremonies and beliefs of primitive peoples—fetishism, animism, totemism, taboo, and so forth—which for some non- consequential reason have been bundled together under the caption Religion, Primitive in the anthropological mind. Within this limited field Dr. Schleiter performs a service, calling attention to the need for critical restatement and indicating what are certainly more cautious, and hence sounder, modes of generalization than are most of those which have the vogue. The book ought to be read by all interested in the study of the paganism of savage- dom, that is, by professed anthropologists and com- parative religionists. It must be added that it ought not to be read fastidiously, for it is styleless—or Tather, it carries to absurdity the styleless style of the Spencerians (lacking, of course, Spencer's mag- niloquent boom) and it is grotesquely ornamented with terms drawn from a certain barbarous modern tongue. For example, the author wishes to say that many drugs still in use were known simply as medicines to primitive men; he says: A considerable part of our pharmacopoeia has developed from administrations utilized by primitive man, without antecedent adventitious genuflections or ideas regarding spiritual beings. Tylor and Frazer and Lang at least know the use of the English language, and until their critics attain their facility the older school will continue to dominate the field. Self-Government In The Philippines. By Maxime M. Kalaw. 210 pages. Century. Under the Jones Law, which wag passed by Con- gress in 1916, the United States is pledged to grant independence to the Filipinos as soon as they have proved their capacity to maintain a " stable " govern- ment. Professor Kalaw presents abundant evidence to show that the Filipinos have fulfilled their part of the bargain; and gently but firmly urges the United States to redeem its pledge. Under the administration of Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison, the Philippines have enjoyed practical autonomy; and Professor Kalaw shows how the economic prosperity of the islands has increased with the development of popular government. He des- cribes the successful administrative work of the Filipino officials, the rapid decrease in the public debt since the inauguration of responsible govern- ment and a budget system, the large appropriations for education, the amelioration of conditions among the Moros and other uncivilized tribes. He scouts the bogey of possible Japanese aggression which is so often raised by the American imperialist. He points out that Korea and Manchuria (he might have added Shantung) are natural fields for the expansion of Japan's surplus population and that the Japanese effort to colonize Formosa, which is located in a colder belt than the Philippines, has ended in a dismal fiasco. Professor Kalaw further reinforces his arguments with some unconsciously ironical references to the high democratic ideals of the late war and with an almost pathetically naive appeaL to President Wilson's repeated expressions of sympathy with the aspirations of the Filipinos for independence. Musings' and Memories of a Musician. By Sir George Henschel. 398 pages. Mac- millan. Perhaps the preservation of the world's opinion of Sir George Henschel, first conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a European com- poser and singer of real merit, has value; but one would hardly have expected the record to have been compiled by Henschel himself. Such an autobiog- raphy the present volume primarily is, and it is difficult indeed for the reader to be generous-minded toward a writer when once the latter stands revealed as one who thrives on adulation and who has care- fully preserved in his mind or on paper a vast amount of material in praise of himself. Many important personages pass across these pages. The pride Sir George felt in being acquainted with them is omnipresent. But one searches in vain for evi- dences of that pleasing personality which must have been his in order to have retained such friends. What he might have written of Joachim, Rubin- stein, Tausig, Von Bulow, Liszt, Leschetitsky, Clara Schumann, Tschaikovsky, Cui, Verdi, Paderewsky. 1919 321 THE DIAL Have you Mastered these new words? vitamine Bolahcviki escadrille see Taube Freudian camouflage fourth arm tank Bocbe Rotarian ukulele Soviet lorry briunce and hundreds of other* are defined and pronounced in Webster's New International Dictionary "The Supreme Authority'' Are you still uncertain, and are you embarrassed when called upon to use these new words, and to pronounce them? Why not overcome this lack of information and class yourself with those who knew; those who win success in all lines of activity; Why not let the New International serve you? 400,000 Vocabulary Terms 30,000 Geographical Subjects 12,000 Biographical Entries 6,000 Illustrations and 2,700 Pages Thousands of Other References Write for Specimen Pages, Illustrations, etc. Free Pocket Maps if you mention The Dial. G. & C. MERRIAM CO. Springfield, Mass. WARNING TO DIAL READERS We are compelled to warn our readers against the activities of fraudulent agents who have lately col- lected subscriptions without forwarding them to us. We will deem it a favor if any reader approached for money in our name will send us a description of the person. Subscriptions should be sent direct, or through an accredited agent or agency known to the subscriber. THE DIAL PUBLISHING CO. 152 West 13th Street New York City LECTURES ON RUSSIA In response to widespread requests, The Dial announces the organiza- tion of a bureau to supply speakers to Open Forums, churches,'women's cluoi^ labor unions, educational institutions, etc., on different phases of the Russian question. Requests received will be transmitted to those known to us as having first-hand knowledge of conditions in Soviet Russia and Siberia—former Red Close officials, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. secretaries, civil snd military government officials, journalists, etc. Available for this service sre men holding different attitudes towarda Russian revolutionary parties, but united in sdvocating aelf-determination lor Russia, lifting of the blockade, and in desiring to spread before the American public the facts as to actual conditions in present-day Russia Address communications to RUSSIAN LECTURE BUREAU The Dial 152 W. 13th Street, New York City .< SOVIET RUSSIA" Official Organ of the Russian Soviet Govern- ment Bureau, New York Published Weekly—Price Ten Cents Prints the Truth About Russia—Answers the Campaign of Lies Waged by the Enemies of the Revolution. Read No. 16 (Sept. 20th), which has a map of the military situation and many other inter- esting features. Read No. 17 (Sept. 27th), which has a gripping story of the Revolution, entitled "The Death of a" Red Regiment," as well as re- cent official Soviet Documents and other interesting matter. At Newsstands, Ten Cents or subscribe direct from "SOVIET RUSSIA" Room 303 110 West 40th St. New York, N. Y. THE NATION Published Weekly THE DIAL Published Fortnightly Joint Offer GOOD UNTIL DEC. 31, 1919 $5.50 Per Year These two famous periodicals are neces- sary supplements to each other. You need them both. After January 1, 1920, the Subscription Price of The Nation will be $5.00, and of The Dial, |4.00 THE DIAL, 152 West 13th Street, New York City. Enter my subscription for one year for The Dial and The Nation. I enclose $5.50. This is a new subscription. When writing to advertiser, plea., mentian T« Dut. 322 October 4 THE DIAL Foote, Elgar, Patti—not to mention those noted friends of his who were important in fields other than music—would have been a significant contribution. Pleasing anecdotes in regard to these persons are, of course, sup- plied; but little is added to our conception of their personalities. Brahms,^ by exception, is treated with sympathetic appreciation ; but Sir George had already given his vivid impres- sions of this artist to the world in the Personal Recollections of Johannes Brahms (Badger; Boston, 1907). A life passed with such friends must have left recollections of great value con- cerning questions of musical principles and esthetics and tendencies; but one finds little in this volume which will reward penetrative study. There are interesting pages concerning the beginnings of the Boston Orchestra and in ap- preciation of Mr. Higginson. An informative picture of the life of an eminently successful musician in the late Nineteenth Century in Germany and England is given. Sir George was born a Prussian. This should occasion no alarm, however, as the book, written previ- ous to the war, has since been made entirely unobnoxious by changing the word St. Petersburg" to "Petrograd"! The volume is written with careful lucidity and with an ab- sence of technical terms. It makes pleasant, light reading for all, and fascinating reading for some. The disappointment lies in what it might have been. French Ways »and Their Meaning. By Edith Wharton. 149 pages. Appleton. Not alone the welcomed-home doughboy and the repatriated Tommy, but nearly every- body Hse ,in the Anglo-Saxon world fails today as always to understand France. If curiosity were only as general as bafflement, Mrs. Wharton's new volume would perhaps be as- sured of the wide reading it deserves. Not that all the questions that puzzle Anglo-Sax- ondom find here a definitive answer; even if other conditions were altogether favorable, the pressure of war emotions would preclude final- ity. But the volume does transcend its self- confessed limitations; it offers more than one expects from "a desultory book, the result of intermittent observation, and often, no doubt, of rash assumption"; it does in fact discover the direction which any study of France should take, and goes some little distance along the road to understanding. First and fundamentally, the society of France is "grown-up"—of all societies "the most completely detached from the lingering 6pell of the ancient shadowy world in which trees and animals talked to each other, and began the education of the fumbling beast ♦hat was to deviate into man." The outstand- -j qualities of this adult and worldly-wise iety are taste, reverence, continuity, and in- lectual honestv. Taste—the expression of symmetry, harmony, and order"—is 'the na- tural inheritance of the heirs of a classical tra- dition refined again by centuries of living under conditions that made order and accom- modation the prerequisites of existence. With the word "reverence" one is inclined to find fault—mainly because this word has an emo- tional quality that is foreign to the French mind, and would necessarily set limits to in- tellectual honesty. "Historical prudence" is perhaps a more accurate denominator for the quality the author has in mind; certainly it is more exactly descriptive of the type of intel- lect that raises no obstacles to investigation, but at the same'time refuses to break the household gods until reason proves them false. It is these adult qualities of proportion, poise, and intellectual fearlessness, rather than any over-emotionality, that make the French doubtful of excesses in vice and virtue, but nevertheless permit them to sample all that is new before the)- abandon anything time-tested of their fathers. The Dickens Circle. By J. W. T. Ley. 352 pages. Dutton. We are so much accustomed to a manner of delicious mockery directed towards any scene plucked from mid-Victoria that J. W. T. Ley's The Dickens Circle appears with all the shock of a novelty. For the author, disclaiming at once the role of a critic, assumes.an attitude of gracious cordiality, and in the manner of a quiet host, with the least possible intrusion of his own personality, introduces us to all of those figures, little and big, unassuming and pretentious, who went to make up the wide circle of the Dickens acquaintanceship. And there emerges from a mass of detail a nine- teenth century that we were wont to believe in before the days of Mr. Strachey and other trumpeters who shattered so effectually the walls of Victorian respectability. The great Charles appears, graphically if not delicately sketched, as essentially democratic, sociable, unintrospective—embodying qualities that en- deared him to all manners and conditions of men. His contemporaries are the agreeable geniuses of men of talent that we have • met before through the pages of kindly histories of literature. In short, here is the warm and tender, the sentimental and self-sufficient Eng- land of the last century. Mr. Ley should not be criticized for failure to have penetrated deeper beneath the surface. Dickens lover that he is, he has seen through rosy glasses all of those who came to join a varied and ever widening circle. To have presupposed a murky situation in a setting of tinsel and then cast upon it the clear white light of truth would have been beyond his role as the cheer- ful host and modest interpreter. The material for this work, we are told in the preface, was overwhelming and the difficulty lay in decid- ing what to omit. The difficulty was not en- tirely nvi>rrnmi> and exists as a. hlemish in the 1919 323 THE DIAL LEO TOLSTOY'S' The Pathway of Life (In Two Volumes). Translated by Archibald J. Wolfe "THE PATHWAY OF LIFE" is Tolstoy's posthumous mes- sage to a war-torn suffering world. It is the Gospel of right living and right thinking and offers the great philosopher's panacea against world wars and misery, helping mankind to erad-cate all those false feelings, desires and doctrines, personal, social, economic and religious, which are responsible for the present plight •( humanity. Price 82.00 each volume. International Book Publishing Co. 5 Keckman Street, New York Whatever book you want has it. or will get it. We buy old, rare books, and sets of books NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA K LOVER FOR THE BOO Rare books—First editions—Books now out of print. „ ___... i"?" Catalogue Sent on Request C. GERHARDT, 25 W. 42d Street, New York ion The New York Bureau of Revis Thirty-eighth Year. Lett... or Cjtrricum, Exnar Rjrraum or MSS. Advice as to publication. Address DR. TITUS M. COAN 414 W. 119th St., N. Y. ANTIQUARIAN BOOK CO. . Ereahain R<»«\ Stratford-on-Avon, England Dealer, .n Rare Book, and Firs, Editions; Dickens. Thackeray ftc. «c!' "* "d- M'KMi- W'"'. No7;., DunLny! Catalogues mailed free ox request The Bookfellows An Association of Bookfolk doing bookly deeds. Annual dues, one dollar. Fall offerings: "In Praise of R. L. S." an anthol- ogy, edited by Vincent Starrett. "In Garland's Country," a set of ten photographs of beautiful Wisconsin scenery illustrating Hamlin Garland's "A Son of the Middle Border." Publications are sold to members only. THE STEP LADDER, bulletin of the Order, out October 1st. Let us send you a copy. Just say you are interested. FLORA WARREN SEYMOUR, Clerk 5320 Kimbark Ave. Chicago, 111. THE NEW YORK POETRY BOOK SHOP Announces LANCELOT by Edwin A. Robinson THE CHILDREN AND JUDAS by Robert Alden Sanborn $1.25 STUDENTS by Haniel Long $0.50 A CHRISTIAN CRIETH UNTO ISRAEL by Harriet S. UcRaberts J1.00 OPAL AND AMETHYST by Vail d'Apromont $1.50 A MUSIC TEACHER'S NOTE by II. H. Bellamann fl.25 THE NEW YORK POETRY BOOK SHOP Largest Collection «/ English Poetry 49 West Eighth Street New York City RIVAL PHILOSOPHIES OF JESUS AND PAUL By Ignatius Singer The author's contention is that there are two dis- tinct and mutually destructive philosophies in the gospels, one by Jesus and one by Paul. He vindi- cates the philosophy of Jesus on scientific grounds, but rejects the Christology of Paul as unhistorical and irrational. Cloth, $2.00. THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 122 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, HI. ISthors romeike operate* a special literary department as complete in crery detail aa an entire PRESS CLIPPING BUREA U Having the use of our international faoilities this department is known and patronized by as many authors and publishers aa make up the entire clientele of an ordinary bureau. With our exceedingly large patronage it ia necessary for as to maintain a atandard of efficiency and I service whdth cannot be approached by bureaux that devote their effors lo the acquiring of new aub- R fl M F T V P scriber. without thought for R U IV1 *" l *■ ^ those they have. An ineffi- 108-110 Seventh Ave. cient preaa clipping .entice N F W V Pi R V will prove irritating, ao don't I U H. ft. experiment. Use the relish!,. ESTABLISHED 1881 When writing to advertiaer. ple.se mention Tm Dial. 324 October 4 THE DIAL Books of the Fortnight The Chronicles of America: The Red Man's Conti- nent, by Ellsworth Hungtington; the Quaker Col- onies, by Sydney G. Fisher; Colonial Folkways, by Charles M. Andrews; John Marshall and the Constitution, by Edward S. Corwin; Pioneers of the Old Southwest, by Constance Lindsay Skin- ner; The Reign of Andrew Jackson, by Fred- erick Austin Ogg; The Sequel of Appomattox, by Walter Lynw«od Fleming; The Cleveland Era, by Henry Jones Ford; The Path of Empire, by Carl Russell Fish; The Hispanic Nations of the New World, by William R. Shepherd (Yale University Press). These issues make available thirty of the complete fifty volumes of the Chronicles of America, of which a number have previously been reviewed in The Dial and two are reviewed by Hamlin Garland on page • 285. Discussions of these and the remaining twenty volumes will appear in The Dial from time to time. The Emancipation of Massachusetts: The Dream and the Reality, by Brooks Adams (534 pages; Houghton Mifflin), first appeared more than thirty years ago. A new edition gives the au- thor the opportunity to embody in a preface of 168 pages his conspectus of universal history— a trenchant criticism in the same vein as Mr. Adams' later Theory of Social Revolutions. A Brief History of Europe: From 1789 to 1815, by Lucius Hudson Holt and Alexander Wheeler Chilton (358 pages; Macmillan), limits itself to the purely political and military aspects of the period. Review later. The Spirit of Russia, by Thomas Garrigue Masaryk (2 vols., 1065 pages; Macmillan), marshals an imposing collection of studies in history, litera- ture, and philosophy. This book promises to take an important place in the literature on Russia. Review later. The Russian Diary of Englishman, (228 pages; McBride), contains some tolerably interesting passages dealing with the overthrow of the Czar and the Kerensky revolution. Its historical value is vitiated by the fact that the identity of the author is not revealed. England and Ireland, In the Past and at Present, by Edward Raymond Turner (504 pages; Cen- tury), ineffectually endeavors to throw the neu- tral light of scholarly investigation upon a darkly controversial subject. Review later. The Holocaust, by A. A. Pons, translated by P. R. Lloyd (329 pages; MdBride), is a description of the Risorgimento movement in Italy, the move- ment that created a national state out of a "geographic expressiort." Lord Bryce's introduc- tion reminds us that the leaders of the Risorgi- mento were "thinking not of territorial exten- sions . . . but of the rule of justice in a world set free for peace in which nationalism was to be subordinated to the common welfare of humanity." Bulgaria: Problems and Politics, by George Clen- ton Logio (285 pages; Doran), has the merit of , discussing a propagandist subject in a not too obviously propagandist way. The author is a lecturer in Bulgarian at the University of Lon- don, and by nationality a Greek. Fields of Victory, by Mrs. Humphry Ward (274 pages; Scribner), is a concise resume of the last year of the Great War, completing the record begun in England's Effort and in Towards the Goal. It has perspective and clear vision. Re- view later. Documents and Statements Relating to Peace Pro- posals and War Aims: December 1916—No- vember 1918 (259 pages; Macmillan), is a valu- able sourcebook to which Lowes Dickinson'? introduction, written in April 1919, when the hope for applying impartially the Wilsonian formulae still nickered feebly, is an invaluable contribution. The Soul of the "C. R. B." by Madame Sainte-Rene Taillandier (233 pages; Scribner), deals with food relief in the days when its object was the preservation of human life in Belgium and northern France—not the restoration of reac- tionary government in Hungary and Russia. My "Little Bit,"by Marie Corelli (218 pages; Dor- an), must be a reprint of almost everything the novelist thought and said about the war, and of some things which she merely said. Review later. The Command Is Forward, by Sergeant Alexander Woollcott (304 pages; Century), collects a series of dispatches and drawings which appeared originally in The Stars and Stripes, the official newspaper of the A. E. F. The chattiness oi the news stories and the cheerfulness of most of the drawings illustrate the commonplace that armies smile at death. The Mud Larks, by Crosbie Garstin (213 pages; Doran). One reads on the cover that these British battling sketches—or some of them— have appeared in Punch. One samples the sketches, and wonders why. Peace and Business, by Isaac F. Marcosson (292 pages; Lane), is the report of the war-time in- vestigations of a man whose mind is entirely at peace with business. Bankers return from Europe with a new vision of society but their acolytes bring back only the promise of busi- ness as usual. The Story of Our Merchant Marine, by Willis J. Abbot (373 pages; Dodd, Mead), is a historical account of the development of American ship- ping, popular in its diction and near-juvenile in its illustrations. J. William White, M.D., by Agnes Repplier (283 pages; Houghton Mifflin), is the biography of a distinguished Philadelphia surgeon who is known to the younger generation as one of the more expressive exponents of the Anglo-French cause prior to our entering the war, as well as a humane organizer of neutral hospital services in France. Enough to say of Dr. White's per- sonality that his portrait has been drawn for us by Thomas Eakins, John Sargent, and Agnes Repplier. Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children, edited by Joseph Bucklin Bishop (240 pages; Scribner). is worth a dozen adulatory biographies in its revelation of the author's character. The father, the human being, throws an interesting sidelight upon the public man, the effigy, because in a sense Father continued to remain an effigy even in the midst of parental diversions. Review later. A Childhood in Brittany Eighty Years Ago, by Anne Douglas Sedgwick (illustrated, 224 pages: Century), is a charming mosaic of childhood recollections of life in an out-of-the-way corner of old France, rich in legends and tenacious of its inherited customs and loyalties. Review later. 1919 325 THE DIAL BACON VERSUS SHAKESPEARE Who Wrote the Plays? A BRILLIANT ANALYSIS BY GEORGE SEIBEL 90 cent* clothbound; 40 cents bound in boards The Leasing Co., Box 383, Pittsburgh, Pa. Send card for list of unusual books on Science, Religion, Philosophy, History, Economics, Sociology, Spiritualism, etc. NATIONAL NONPARTISAN LEAGUE Send for bundle of literature on this militant farmers* organiza- tion. Acquaint yourself with the leading movement of the time. Price, special bundle books and pamphlets, 50 cents. Educational Department N. P. L., Box 495, St. Paul, Minnesota APPROACHES TOWARD CHURCH UNITY By Newman Smyth, Williston Walker, Bishop Brent and Raymond Calkins Deals with the vital principles and historical background necea* sary. for a clear understand.ng of church unity. Cloth, 170 Pages, 11.25 YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, New Haven, Conn. 280 Madison Avenue, New York City thousands have found the Rand Correspondence Courses in Socialism interesting and instructive! Berenbcrg, 7 E. 15th St., N. So may you! Write to David P. Y. C. Ask for Folder 50. THE FLEDGLING By Charles Bernard Nordhoff Experiences of a young American aviator, described with new rest and vividness. $1.25 net. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, Boston ALICE KAUSERKiVr^SS 1402 BROADWAY, NEW YORK (Established 1895) MOTION PICTURE DEPT., R. L. Giffen, Manager DEMOCRACY AND THE Thomas F. EASTERN Millard QUESTION An authoritive repor on China's present economic and political condition, with special reference to Japanese encroachments. (8vo., 350 pages, (3.00.) Published by THE CENTURY CO. New York City THE FERRER MODERN SCHOOL STELTON, - NEW JERSEY Invites the attention of men and women interested in becoming teachers in a genuinely libertarian school, founded nine years ago. Ability to live up to theories of the free development »f the individual more important than academic qualifications. Un- derstanding of libertarian viewpoint essential. Only induce- ments are unique opportunities putting ideals to.a test with children of working people. Write to H. M. Kelly, R. F. D. No. 1, Box 130, New Brunswick. N. J. To visit school: Pa. R. R-, to Stelton, then jitney. 30 miles from N. Y. C. A Story of Modern Society THE SINISTER REVEL By LILLIAN BARRETT A brill-ant, kaleidoscopic picture |1,75 net at all bookshops ALFRED A. KNOPF, 220 W. 42d St., New York BOOKS, AUTOGRAPHS, PRINTS. Catalogs Free R. ATKINSON, 97 Sunderland Road, Forest Hill, LONDON, ENC. Collecting Autographs is a fascinating hobby. Our priced catalogue of over 2,000 names will be sent free on receipt of 2c stamp for postage. GOODSPEED'S BOOK SHOP, Boston, Mass. Being the Book A GENTLE CYNIC BY MORRIS JASTROW, JR., Ph.©., LL.D.. Author of "The War and the Bagdad Railway," etc. Small 4 to. 52.00 net. A delightfully human book on the Omar Khayyam of the Bible with an exact translation of the original text. How it came to be written and who wrote it (and it was not Solo* mon), why additions were mad eto the original text and the whole interesting story is here given. J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, Philadelphia "A WONDERFUL BOOK" Chicago Daily News BLIND ALLEY \%Sbk "'Blind Alley* is. an extraordinary navel. But it's more than that. It is a cry in the night."—Chicago Daily News. 431 pages. SI.75 net. LITTLE, BROWN & CO., Publishers, Boston An unusual novel >. THE UNDEFEATED By J. C. SNAITH Vlth Printing 81.50 net This is an Appleton Book TO BRITISH ADVERTISERS: The Dial's London agent will be glad to submit all details concerning rates, etc. You are invited to com- municate with DAVID H. BOND 407 Bank Chambers, Chancery Lane London, W. G, England THE MODERN LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST BOOKS Sixty-four titles now published—14 new volumes just issued. The Dial says "There ia scarcely a title that fails to awaken interest. The settles ia doubly welcome at this time." —only 70c a volume wherever books are sold. Catalog on request. BONI & LIVERIGHT, 105% W. 40th St., New York When writing to advertisers please mention The Dial. 326 October 4 THE DIAL The Amazing City, by John F. Macdonald (304 pages; Lippincott), has for author the one time Paris dramatic critic for the Fortnightly Re- view. He was, too, "a student of human life"— so the preface says. It is evident that he found life in Paris most amiable, and that in ante- diluvian days he discovered much that the war itself has not revealed to the generality beyond the Channel and the Sea. Review later. California Desert Trails, by J. Smeaton Chase (il- lustrated, 387 pages; Houghton Mifflin), has not the full tone-range of its subject, but is never- theless so well and unpretentiously done that the reading of a chapter or two stirs a longing for wide spaces. Field, Forest and Farm, by Jean-Henri Fabre", (253 pages; Scribner), translated by Florence Con- stable Bicknell, gives young American readers the opportunity to follow the author of Our Humble Helpers into haunts frequented by na- ture-lovers, gardeners, and fruit-growers. A familiarity with these rural fields will breed not contempt but appreciation of Fabre's scientific illuminations. Fishing Tackle and Kits, by Dixie Carroll (334 pages; Stewart and Kidd, Cincinnati), has a salutation, a dedication, a foreword, a preface, an introduction, and some 130 topics—all relat- ing to angling. Much of it is reprinted from magazine and newspaper sources, with the chaff remaining in it; but the book is comprehensive, chatty, and convivial. Angling for readers, Mr. Carroll baits his hook with slang. The Justification of the Good: An Essay on Moral Philosophy, by Vladimir Solovyof, translated by Nathalie A. Duddington (475 pages; Macmillan), is less a contribution to ethical knowledge than to national understanding. The author goes back to Vico in founding his moral-religious system upon shame and fear, to Comte in his consecration of the Eternal Feminine, and to Augustine in his attempt to establish spiritually * the Universal Church. Philosophic Thought and Religion, by D. Ambrose Jones (60 pages; Macmillan), surveys important philosophic systems from Aristotle to Eucken for the sake of proving that Christianity fills the gap which they leave vacant. It is an effort to make a guidebook take the place of an encyclo- pedia. Heartbreak House, Great Catherine, and Playlets of the War, by Bernard Shaw (295 pages; Bren- tano), consists of half a dozen one-acters and prefaces. "Heartbreak House is not merely the name of the play which follows" the first pre- face "It is cultured, leisured Europe before the war." Shaw's criticism of Heartbreak House follows the lines of Misalliance and Get- ting Married; the preface explains how during the war the fools shouted the wise men down, and the Dumb Capables proceeded irresistibly to the conquest of Europe while the Noisy In- capables were making the Empire sick. Review later. Poems, by William Ernest Henley (274 pages; Scribner), gives a sense of the remoteness ot the poet and his period from that nervous, war- ring, introspective world we live in today. Now that speed is a permanent fact of modern ex- istence we can no longer appreciate its ecstatic celebration in Henley's song. Chaos, by "Altair" (56 pages; Douglas C. McMur- trie, New York), is a vision of eternity in verse and pictures. The index of this little essay be- gins with Aeronauts and ends with X-rays, and what lies between is the marriage of the Heaven of William Blake to the Hell of H. G. Wells. Captain Zillner, by Rudolf Jeremais Kreutz, trans- lated by W. J. Alexander Worster (326 pages; Doran), is an Austrian war novel done in the flat realism of Tolstoy's Sebastopol. Review later. Deep Waters, by W. W. Jacobs, (illustrated, 290 pages; Scribner), collects more of his droll tales of seafaring folk unsead. A characteristic vil- lage story, Family Cares, marks high-water for Mr. Jacobs' inimitable combination of delicate extravaganza and authentic humanity. Taking the Count, by Charles E. Van Loan (354 pages; Doran), adds another—unfortunately a posthumous—collection of short stories to the author's series of volumes dedicated to Amer- ican sports. After the race-track, the links, and the diamond it is once more the prize-ring thit engages his close observation and catholic sym- pathy. Honest stories about game men. The Chronicle of an Old Town, by Albert Benja- min Cunningham, (326 pages; Abingdon Press), chronicles a backwater Ohio village through the history of an elderly minister's family. Its un- important love story, leisurely told, lets the min- ister and "two other mellow philosophers talk rustic wisdom that is richly flavored. Mufti, by "Sapper"—Cyril McNeile—(303 pages: Doran), is an example of English best-seller fiction, with an ironic flair for dialogue conspic- uously lacking in the American product, and with an indifference to happy ending which the cisatlantic practitioner does not share. It is an adept piece of catering, well prepared. Sisters, by Kathleen Norris (342 pages; Doubleday Page), rests on the twin pillars of cheap pop- ularity—the maudlin and the sensational. Its author has the satisfaction of knowing that she has done—and can do—infinitely better work. Vive La France, by E. B. and A. A. Knipe (364 pages; Century), is set forth as a narrative founded on a diary, at once a novel and an his- torical record. It retraces the very familiar ground of the invasion of 1914. Rainbow Valley, by L. M Montgomery (341 pages. Stokes), is a story in the gentle jog trot between sprightly and pastoral; it carries on the tradition of the same writer's Anne of Green Gables. Contributors Hamlin Garland, novelist and dramatist, was born in West Salem, Wisconsin, at the begin- ning of the Civil War. His latest book, A Son of the Middle Border, was reviewed by C. K- Trueblood in The Dial for February 28, 1918. Liberalism in Japan is the first of a series of three articles on Japan by John Dewey which The Dial will publish in successive issues. Bolshevism and the Vested Interests begins a new series by Mr. Veblen. A collection ot sociological and economic papers by Thorstein Veblen, entitled The Place of Science m Modern Civilization and Other Essays, is an- nounced by Huebsch for autumn publication. 1919 32 THE DIAL Special Book Offer We offer two of the most notable works of the year together with one year's subscription to THE DIAL. BERNARD SHAW latest work Heartbreak House Great Catherine and Playets of the War (Brentano, 352 pp. $1.75 net) A penetrating criticism of cultured, leisured Europe before the war, illumin- ated by Shaw's brilliant comment and satire. And One year's subscription to THE DIAL $3.70 THE DIAL, 152 West 13th Street, New York. Send me Shaw's Heartbreak House. Enter my subscription to The Dial for one year. Enclosed is check (money order) for $3.70. Oct. 1919. THORSTEIN VEBLEN recent volume The Vested Interests and the State of the Industrial Arts (B. W. Huebsch, 183 pp. $1.10 postpaid) An analysis of the discrepancy between accepted principles of custom and law and the business-like management of in- dustry. And One year's subscription to1 THE DIAL $3.20 THE DIAL, 152 West 13th Street, New York. • Send me Veblen's The Vested Interests. Enter my subscription to The Dial for one year. Enclosed is check (money order) for $3.20. Oct. 1919. When writing to advertisers please mention The Dial. 328 THE DIAL October 4 THE AFTERMATH OF WAR The Manchester Cuardian was founded in 1821, when men of vision, looking beyond the devastation wrought by the Napoleonic wars, determined to improve international relationships. It became at once a bulwark against reaction. For nearly a century it has been recognized as the exponent of that liberalism in Great Britain that is greater than party. The ocean narrows month by month. The real progressives of America are drawn into closer touch with the advanced thinkers of Europe. t Mty Mmxi\mXtx Okrarfrtmt OFFERS A WEEKLY EDITION Problems created by another devastating Its editorials are fearless because it is war make the publication of The Weekly owned by the man who has been editor of as opportune as was the founding of the The Guardian for 48 years. Daily Guardian. It fights privilege and batdes with Americans of the larger patriotism should bureaucracy as the breeders of interna- know the conditions abroad as they are. tional hatreds. The Weekly furnishes the news of Great Its high literary quality, added to its Britain and of Europe, concisely and recognized integrity, should attract truthfully. thousands of American subscribers. Use the Coupon Below To THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, Dept. D3, 220 West 42nd Street, NEW YORK CITY I enclose three dollars for a year's subscription to The Manchester Guardian Weekly, to be mailed to me direct from Manchester, England, commencing with the current issue. Name Address » Specimen copies of the Manchester Guardian Weekly will be gladly sent to you or your friends post free. UUrUIC P.M., NIW TOM »>4I 4jfy^ Issued by Sanction of the S$ N. Y. Printing Trades Unions THE DIAL A FORTNIGHTLY VOL. LXVII NEW YORK NO. 801 , OCTOBER 18, 1919 Miss Lowell Abides Our Question Conrad Aiken 331 Liberalism in Japan John Dewey 333 II. The Economic Factor An Ancient Cynic Winthrop Parkhurst 337 Bolshevism and the Vested Interests Thorstein Veblen 339 II. On the Circumstances Which Make for a Change Maiden and Poet. Verse Bayard Boyesen 346 The Old Order and the New 347 COMMUNICATIONS: The Belgian-Dutch Quarrel.—After Us the Deluge 349 NOTES ON NEW BOOKS: Deadham Hard.—The Old Madhouse.—A Childhood in Brittany 350 Eighty Years Ago.—The Heart's Doinain.—The New Book of Martyrs.—Compagnons.—John Stuyvesant and Others. Books of the Fortnight . 356 The Dial (founded in 1880 by Francis F. Browne) is published every other Saturday by the Dial Publishing Com- pany, Inc.—Martyn Johson, President—Oswald W. Knauth, Secretary-Treasurer—at 152 West Thirteeenth Street, New York, N. Y. Entered as Second Class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., August 3, 1918, under the act of March 3, 1897. Copyright, 1919, by The Dial Publishing Company, Inc. Foreign Postage, 50 cents. $3.00 a Year ($4.00 after Jan. 1, 1920) 15 Cents a Copy 330 October 18 THE DIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FROM HAYS to McKINLEY 1877-1896 By JAMES FORD RHODES, LL.D., Litt. D. This volume carries Mr. Rhodes' brilliant "History of the United States since the com- promise of 1850 through the administrations of Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland and Harrison. Displaying the learning, sound judgment and literary style which have placed him in the front rank of living historians, the author surveys the Railroad Strike of 1877, the Molly Maguires, Civil Service Reform, the Chinese Question, the Southwestern Railroad Strike, the Chicago Riot of 1886, the Financial Depression of 1873 and the Panic of 1893. In devoting so much attention to the life of the people, political questions and party contests have not been ignored. The Tariff Question, for example, is fully considered, and how it came to be a party question is carefully told- Thomas B. Reed's rulings as Speaker are discussed and the several party connections and presidential campaigns receive adequate attention. $2.75. Previous Volumes of the History of the United States, by James Ford Rhodes "There is a kind of greatness in the lucid simplicity with which Mr. Rhodes has handled his vast and complicated material. I was about to say that his history is as absorbing as a play; but I would like to see a play that is half so absorb- ing." —Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Vol. VI Vol. VII 1866-1872 1872-1877 Vol I Vol. II Vol. Ill Vol. IV Vol. V 1850-1854 1854-1860 1860-1862 1862-1864 Each $2.75 1864-1866 OTHER NEW MACMILLAN BOOKS MARY OLIVIER: A Life May Sinclair's Now Novel "A novel about the heart** deep places. . . . MARY OLIVIER is the truth, as yet unacknowledged and probably unguessed about, aay, seven out of ten women in the world."—N. Y. Tribune. $2.00 HANDS OFF! Beulah Marie Dix's New Novel A thrilling tale of adventure and intrigue in Mexico. There is not a dull moment in the book from its exciting beginning to it* happy ending. To be published Oc- tober Twenty-first. $2.00 THE SEA BRIDE Ben Ames Williams' New Novel A thrilling tale of adventure which tells of stirring events that took place on a whaling voyage. "Shows breadth and power. . . . The last wild struggle between the old Captain and the sea is unforgettable."—N. Y. Times. $1.75 REYNARD, THE FOX: OR THE GHOST HEATH RUN John Maseneld's New Narrative Poem Here is Masefield at his best; Ma sen eld delineating in ■harp and beautiful lines, tho characters of an Eaglish countryside; Masefield dramatizing the way of men and beasts under the testing urge of the chase. $1-60 ON THE MAKALOA MAT Jack London's Last Stories Colorful, dramatic tales of men and women and adven- ture told against a tropical background by this master of the short story. $1.60 DR. JONATHAN: A Play Winston Churchill's New Book The coming of industrial democracy into a village set in the beautiful New England hill*—this is Mr. Churchill's theme and he has handled it with all the insight and dramatic skill of which he is capable. $1.25 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers NEW YORK When writing to advertisers please mention Tub Dial. THE DIAL A FORTNIGHTLY Miss Lowell Abides Our Question Nc i O phrase IS COMMONER than that which asserts that the poet is born net made, and certainly while the assertion is not in all respects unimpeachable it is at bottom sound enough. Used by the intelligent the phrase is taken to mean that whatever the poet writes is "inspired"; that he cannot possibly ob- tain any control of the strange instrument which has been given him; that he is himself, indeed, nothing but that instrument, a kind of haunted flute, to which from time to time, whether the flute wishes it or not, a daemon curves his lip. It is easy, too easy, to derive from that hypothesis the conclusion that it is useless for the poet to pay much heed to technique, that it is impudent of the critic to demand of the poet—who, poor devil, merely does desperately what his daemon flogs him forward to do—that he should take into ac- count either principle or taste, since that is equiva- lent to asking his daemon to do so—"and what does a daemon know of dactyl or homophone?" But the intelligent poet and the intelligent critic, though they grant that there must always be at bot- tom this daemon of the subconscious, to set the waters darkly in motion, will insist that the poet should, and can, take his part in the affair. The daemon cannot be created; but he can be sum- moned, more or less at will, by the muttering of a tactful enchantment; with patience, the poet can, as it were, train him. And, generally speaking, if may be said that a poet grows mere or less in pro- portion to his achievement of this control. But that is not to say that the education, of the daemon is either safe or easy. It is first of all necessary to perceive accurately his true nature, and the extent of his abilities; what he is not in the beginning fitted to perform he cannot be driven to perform, either by cajolery or command. Nor is it a simple matter for the poet to understand himself in this regard. Few poets have done so. Keats did, Heine did, Villon did; Dante also, and Shakespeare, and, of a minor sort again, Mallarme and Verlaine. But how many, like Wordsworth and Tennyson and Coleridge, have less often un- derstood than misunderstood themselves! It is, after all, the commonest cause of a poet's failures. And the commonest form which this sort of failure takes is that in which, clearly enough, the poet has mistaken not precisely the character of his daemon —that is not always so likely an error—but rather its strength, and has set for it a task, or. tasks, which it cannot possibly, or at any rate adequately, perform, tasks beneath which it is likely to become deformed or even to die. It may be said that every poet, at some point or other in his career, encounters this disaster, from which he may or may not recover. True, but to know at what point in his career this occurs, and for what reasons, and to what extent, is of great importance it may do much to illuminate for us the case of that poet. It is one among many pos- sible approaches to any such esthetic problem. For some cases it may prove inadequate; for others it may supply the essential, key. The case of Miss Amy Lowell is, I am inclined to think, of the latter sort; and.it is for that reason that these prelim- inary soundings have been taken. For Miss Lowell has in this respect only too freely put herself into our hands. As I have re- marked of her before, she has always emphasized the fact that a great deal of the success of a poet depends on unremitting hard work; she has, in- deed, carried this theory almost to the fetichistic extreme to which Flaubert carried it, with his zeal for the inevitable word, his patience with the file. From the outset of her poetic career she has been aware of the necessity of educating her dae- mon. The question arises therefore wbether she has properly understood her own abilities; and whether, moreover, zeal for the inevitable word or patience with the file are of any value save in hands instinctively sure. Are Miss Lowell's hands instinctively sure? But let us take up the other questi«n first, to which the answer will perhaps be the answer to both. This answer must, I think, be negative. I shall not try to press the point too hard, but I think it is incontestable that the secret of Miss Lowell's 332 October 18 THE DIAL career as a poet has been the fact that from begin- ning to end she has misunderstood, overestimated, and consistently misdirected her abilities. What were, to begin with, her abilities? Not an easy question to answer, certainly, even for Miss Lowell, if she were resolute; but we must attempt a solu- tion, and I think we shall be able to approach it by selecting from her new volume, Pictures of the Floating World (Macmillan), the poem entitled Solitaire, which originally appeared, if I am not mistaken, in the first of the Imagist Anthologies: When night drifts along the streets of the city, And sifts down between the uneven roofs, My mind begins to peek and peer. It plays at ball in old, blue Chinese gardens, And shakes wrought dice-cups in Pagan temples Amid the broken fiutings of white pillars. It dances with purple and yellow crocuses in its hair, And its feet shine as they flutter over drenched grasses. How light and laughing my mind is. When all the good folk have put out their bedroom candles, And the city is still! The tone of that is clear and unforced} it is a mood genuine and delicate, and Miss Lowell has allowed it to find expression through exactly the requisite simplicity of phrase and rhythm. The mood was not only well perceived, it was well felt. Here was Miss Lowell's daemon speaking in its own per- son, not speaking greatly or profoundly, it is true, but speaking at all events with charm and grace, on a minor note of magic. And this perhaps is at bottom, or should have been, if wisely encour- aged, Miss Lowell's true note. For in what other work of Miss Lowell, except sporadically and brokenly, does one find the same magic? In Pat- terns it is now and then perceptible, in the City of Falling Leaves, in Vernal Equinox, at the close of The Hammers in the passage beginning "Marble likeness of an emperor," intermittently in Appul- durcombe Park, in Malnraison. Once in a while among the many ambitious walls of Miss Lowell's later edifices has fallen only for a moment this clear soft light, but with how little encouragement from Miss Lowell, how little perception, appar- ently, of its real value! She is busy again in a moment with the divers energies of her many paraphernalia for building; walls, roofs, towers, kingdoms even, must be erected; and in allthis bewildering and intoxicating clamor she has little time for a visitor so timid and fugitive. Magic perches perhaps on the boom of a derrick for an instant, but the noise is too much for her—she is soon gone. Miss Lowell has therefore, we may say, been too ambitious: she has set her daemon a task out of all proportion to its slender strength. This is not to say that she has by any means been a failure— far from it. No, Miss Lowell has both energy and cleverness; and, her ambition to be a great poet once having been fired, she set these to work with results which one must confess are astonishing and often delightful. Astonishing, yes, and very enter- taining reading, but not great poetry, and in many cases not poetry at all. For the point which must here be made with severe precision is that the work of a poet, if it is to have magic, or be poetry, must originally be suggested by the daemon, must be "inspired" (objectionable word!), must be gen- uinely and obsessively felt, felt through the poet's temperament, not merely discovered by the ambi- tious explorations of the mind. The poet must be the victim of the idea, not the idea the victim of the poet. Miss Lowell seems to think otherwise. She observes: The cat and I Together in the sultry night Waited. He greatly desired a ma use; I, an idea. There you have it! Miss Lowell's mind is restless and energetic, and she is determined to write poetry, come what may. And what is the result? What indeed but that Miss Lowell has set herself the most quixotic of tasks, namely, the simulation of poetry. One is prone to give Miss Lowell so much credit for in- telligence that it is difficult to believe that she does not perceive the impossibility of this; for while it is not impossible to simulate the surfaces of poetry, to imitate its technique, to go, as it were, through the motions, it is impossible to simulate its depths. The mood out of which genuine poetry springs is both inevitable and individual, an un- foreseeable reaction to an unforeseeable situation. Reactions of this sort are reflex, purely instinctive, can perhaps be induced, but cannot be compelled. I do not mean to say that Miss Lowell never reacts in this way. But I do mean to say that her reac- tions are few and slight; and that for want of more reactions, and reactions more acute, she has in- creasingly had recourse to a kind of esthetic falsifi- cation. When she is visited by a genuine mood, she exaggerates it cold-bloodedly to the peint of caricature; when the mood denies her its comfort, she sets before herself something to which she thinks at any rate she should react, painstakingly calling' to her own attention this or that minute aspect of it; with results that are very likely to be excruci- ating. Of this sort of thing Pictures of the Floating World affords manifold evidence: if we except her first venture it is the poorest of Miss Lowell's books, a book in which she seems almost deliber- ately to have paraded her mistakes. Solitaire there is, to be sure, and Vernal Equinox, and Appuldur- 1919 333 THE DIAL combe Park, and To a Certain Critic, and a few others among the Lacquer Prints and Chinoiseries —flute notes clear enough, with a sort of sharp variable sweetness. But for the most part the book is of that sort which'any sensitive judge must pro- nounce clever but dull. These are not poems, but the simulacra of poems. With what desperation Miss Lowell, in her determination to be original, flogs her poor vocabulary, rifles Roget for epithets, chops her lines to a sort of poetic mincemeat, re- sorts to effeminate expletives! And all to achieve only a sterility somewhat oddly freaked and brindled. It is not enough merely to observe bizarre details; it is not enough to sprinkle a page or poem with unfamiliar words. Details must be introduced naturally or not at all; they must be the details on which the mood seizes, not merely details which are scientifically true. Words must be used instinctively or not at all; they must be the words on which the mood seizes, not merely words which, to the calculating cold eye, seem clever. Miss Lowell sins repeatedly in these matters. The note is forced, histrionic; the approach is not poetic so much as scientific; she seeks to overwhelm by an accumulation of minutely accurate details, a crepitating literality. At its best this method produces merely such a freezing harmlessness as the dahlias "meticulously quilled"; at its worst it becomes an unendurable falsetto, as when the stars are compared to languid pulses "squeezed through a mist" This sort of thing is the plainest of char- latanry, inexcusable even if Miss Lowell is herself the dupe of it. The fact therefore becomes clear, in this volume, that Miss Lowell has attempted poetry on a scale for which she is better suited by intellect than by tem- perament, but for which neither is truly adequate. Compelled to become a "conscious artist" by her lack of a rich emotivity, compelled further, as a "conscious artist," by the lack of a fine sensibility, to fall back on sheer cleverness, Miss Lowell has sought one theory after another like so many nostrums—free verse, the unrelated method, poly- phonic prose—all, in the end, to achieve a poetry full no doubt of esthetic shock, but almost totally lacking in the warmth or magic or beauty which is the contribution of the subconscious. The touch is coarse; the technique is clumsy: she descends from a flash of insight to the fatuities of an after- noon tea. She has her good moments, it is true. Her grotesques are sometimes excellent But even these are only too often overwrought to the point of absurdity, end in bathos or on a note of flatness. Perhaps, after all, Miss Lowell came nearest to finding her true level in polyphonic prose: had the polyphonic element in Can Grande's Castle been subdued, or even eliminated, the four narra- tives in that book might have been superb. For a temperament in which energy is the dominant char- acteristic—a temperament adapted to a rich en- vironment, and thereby, through a sort of abrasion, superficially refined, but not by nature finely per- ceptive or exquisitely sensitive—it should, I think, be clear that prose rather than poetry is the suit- able instrument; for the prose writer can more safely and more extensively than the poet set about the self-cultivation which enriches the "conscious artist" It is only the genius—among poets—who knows how to grow. Conrad Aiken. Liberalism in Japan II. The Economic Factor I N my previous article I discusssed the intel- lectual change which is furthering the growth of liberalized institutions in Japan. The word "meta- physical" was ventured upon in describing the change. I can imagine the scorn with which some greet the idea that intellectual changes can lead to political changes. People love to stand on their heads intellectually, and so it is that the Marxians who have given the world its best modern demon- stration of the power of ideas and of intellectual leadership, are the ones who most deny that these things have any efficacy. Even the most hardened upholder of the impotency of intellectual and moral forces might however concede that without certain changes of mental attitude and disposition, there are certain alterations of society which cannot be accomplished, that intellectual changes are at least a negative condition, a sine qua non. And this con- cession will be met not with an admission but an assertion that it is fortunate for the prospects of liberalism in Japan that the intellectual modifica- tions already dealt with are accompanied and rein- forced by active and aggressive economic changes. The war tremendously hastened the industrial transition in Japan. In 1918 alone the number of factories in Tokyo doubled in spite of extraordi- nary increases in prior years. The last five years have practically transformed Japan from an agra- 334 October 18 THE DIAL rian into an industrial state. For there is today ac- tual shortage of farm labor in that country, although the wages of farm hands have more than doubled. The urban factories have been absorbing labor at such a rate that for the time being at least the old plea for territorial expansion to take up the growth of populaton does not hold. In consequence of this expedited development Japan has been plunged into the labor problem—and plunged with exceed- ingly little preparation. The remote and speculative observer is given to supposing that a new country which is undergoing the industrial revolution at this late date will surely learn from the experience of the other countries that passed through it earlier. Why wait for all the evils of child labor, woman's labor, long hours, un- sanitary factores, congested housing, slums, and so forth to show themselves, when experience has demonstrated how surely they follow upon a lais- sez-faire policy, and also how legislation and ad- ministration may at least alleviate their worst evils? Especially would it seem as if a paternalistic gov- ernment like that of Japan would do something, if only because of the general influence exercised by her model, Germany. But practically no foresight was manifested. Certain factory laws on the Western pattern were indeed passed, but their execution was postponed for a term of years—up to twelve—on the plea of giving- capital a chance to adjust itself. As a matter of fact, greed for immediate profits irrespective of ultimate results has taken possession of industrial Japan. This individualistic force has been reinforced by what seems to me the most harmful force at work in Japan—impatient hurry to become a Great Power at once. The Japanese know very well that a modern Great Power requires developed industry and wealth. Consequently they have "drawn the great red-ink overdraft on the future." Its states- men have believed that the interests of the nation coincided with the get-rich-quick desires of indi- viduals, and have not only not tried to regulate them but have encouraged them. The most en- lightening answer received to the question asked by every foreign visitor as to the difference of political parties in Japan was that the party in power was the Mitsui party, while its rival was the Mitsubishi party. Japan has its "big six"—corporations which combine banking, shipping, mining, manufacturing, and continental exploitation in their various activi- ties. Of the six, the Mitsuis and Mitsubishis are the richest and most powerful, the others being grouped about them. By direct intermarriage as well as in countless indirect ways, these big business interests are woven into the administration of the state. In fact, they on one side and the military and naval clans on the other are the State. Perhaps the greatest enlightenment I received as to practical politics in Japan was upon being told that the big business interests did not as such interfere in the Parliamentary elections. They did not care par- ticularly what individuals were elected, for they did business direct with the political over-lords. The story of the alliance of big business and poli- tics in Japan would require a book—not a para- graph. Hence there is not much use in citing isolated illustrative facts. But certain items in their system of taxation may be taken as typical. A pri- vate individual pays a seven per cent income tax when his income reaches seven hundred and fifty dollars. A corporation pays only seven and a half per cent, on an income of half a million. Chapters could not say more as to where control lies in Japan. The theory is that the private individual can do little to make Japan a strong world-power. Big concentrations of capital can really push Japan ahead in building up trade and industry for world competition. And newspapers which devote col- umns to general denunciation of the government rarely condescend to discuss the significance of such facts as this. During the discussions by the Japanese news- papers of the League of Nations, they were wont to say that Japan represented the cause of labor, while the Western nations, especially Great Britain and the United States, represented capitalism. Bat there is no modern state in which capitalism has such unresisted and almost unquestioned power as in Japan today. The fear of the League of Nations as an agency of capitalistic exploitations was in fact a fear of one organization of capital by another— especially with reference to the development of Siberia and China. It was a cynical Japanese—there aren't many— who told me that Japan's factory legislation was solely for the benefit of the Westerner. Being tired of telling curious visiting foreigners that Japan had no labor laws, they put some on the statute-book and suspended their execution for the most part The former fact is advertised—and the latter con- cealed unless the visitor is unusually inquisitive. But the effect of this absence of regulation in con- junction with the rapid development of industry and trade during the past five years has been what every Westerner would have foretold. The labor crisis has arrived and it is unmitigated, acute. The allegedly more liberal Hara government at present in power has not authorized the formation of trade unions, but it has suspended the enforcement of the ban they are under. They now exist in a dim twi- light zone, neither forbidden nor legalized. How numerous they are a visitor like myself has no way 1919 335 THE DIAL of knowing. One young radical Japanese told me that Japan was honeycombed with them, even while they were illegal, that even farm hands were union- izing, and that the police no longer reported them because the police had themselves been infected with "dangerous ideas"—a technical term in Japan as well as in certain respectable circles in the United States. In intellectual circles there is animated discussion of whether Japan must in its economic development pass through the stage of antagonism of capital and labor characteristic of Western development. There is an influential section, representing the old Con- f ucianist oligarchy, which holds that it is not neces- sary. They conceive that the old feudal principle of master and man, of protection and dependence, can be carried over into the modern relation of employer and employee. They do not content them- selves with making appeals to the former to treat their employees better, to assume paternalistic re- sponsibilities. There are countless societies in existence, under the control of employers, for health insurance, sick funds, promoting the welfare of la- borers, and so forth. This is known technically as the principle of "kindness." The liberals who have come most under the influence of Western ideas contend that the principle is only a belated feudal relic and is bound to fail. They hold that it is morally as well as economically necessary for the laborers to assert themselves; that they cannot de- velop unless they organize and win their rights for themselves, instead of accepting concessions from benevolent patrons. This is known as the principle of "rights." But the feudalists of the chosen, unique-nation type counter by saying that it is only the materialism of the West that has made the devel- opment of industry take the form of struggle for liberties and rights; that the superior moral stand- ards of the Orient are capable of applying the prin- ciple of kindness and sympathy to the growth of industrial relations and thus escaping the class war which has disgraced Western civilization. The Bol- sheviks, of course, come in usefully here as well as elsewhere. But for the moment at least the case is going against the upholders of the doctrine of "kindness." The rice riots were the signal of the beginning of labor and class-consciousness. The high cost of living is even a more acute issue in Japan than elsewhere. Japan has to import a considerable part of its food supply, and rice is not, like wheat, a world staple. It is conceivable that the future des- tiny of Japan turns upon this fact, for rice costs twelve times what it cost thirty years ago, and over three times what it did at the beginning of the war. Meantime there are all the usual consequences of change from the relative isolation of rural life to close contacts in cities and factories. On every side there are stories of increasing and active fric- tion in shops and factories between foremen and laborers, and as I write there is a perfect epidemic of strikes. The rise in wages has in no sense kept pace with the increase in the cost of living; and the evidences of millionaires new-made from war profiteering abound on every hand. Japan is plunged suddenly and with practically no prepara- tion, administrative or intellectual, into the most acute labor problem. Socialism is under the ban; a socialistic party is legally a criminal conspiracy and is treated as such. But according to all reports the interest in socialism is growing with remarkable rapidity. In one of the private universities a teacher gave his class in advanced political economy a chance to vote as to whether they would not take up for study Commercial Expansion, Labor Movements, or So- cialism. The vote was a hundred for the last topic, to three for the first. Considering the avidity of the Japanese for practical topics and the zeal for commercial expansion it is safe to say that before the war the figures would have been reversed. The younger generation of students is becoming infected with radical ideas. The Imperial University is often thought to be the home of intellectual conservatism. A group of its students are publishing a journal called Democracy. Some of its professors are the most active members of a society called The Dawn, which is openly carrying on propaganda by public lectures for democratic ideas. Magazines with titles like Reconstruction, The New Society, are born al- most every month. During the time of the previous cabinet, when police supervision was more rigid than now, a judge was convicted of lese majeste, because in attacking the bureaucratic militarists he had said that by coming between the people and the Emperor they tarnished the glory of the Emperor. The suggestion that the Emperor could be tarnished was enough to send him to jail, but his standing and his influence were increased by the episode. A number of like cases could be cited. There have been of late many arrests for possession and circu- lation of "revolutionary" literature. There are even those who prophesy a political revolution on an economic basis in Japan within the next five years. But they seem to me too sanguine. Serious as is the situation with labor, it is even more serious with the middle class. So far the in- dustrial revolution in Japan does not run true to' form. It is not creating a bourgeoisie, but rather undermining that which Japan used to possess. The 336 October 18 THE DIAL Marxian division into the proletariat and the millionaire is rapidly going on. The old hand points out to you as significant that the numerous autos seen on the streets of Tokyo are of the Rolls- Royce and Pierce-Arrow type; Fords are conspicu- ous by their absence. In the country districts, peas- ant proprietorship is on the wane; large and absen- tee landownership is on the increase. The average land holding is about the three acres; this hardly supports a family. Since it leaves no rice to sell, the high price of rice does not help the small farmer. Consequently concentration of land as well as of other forms of capital is rapidly proceeding. Japan has had for some time an educated prole- tariat, which it has characteristically nicknamed the "European-clothes poor." So far as minor offi- cials, police, clerks, and primary school teachers are concerned, this middle class has been the most staunch supporter of bureaucracy and militarism. But it recently tasted the bitterness of being a salaried class when the cost of living was leaping. Wages have increased; salaries hardly at all. The police begin to agitate, and the Government did something for them; their position was too strategic to take chances. The primary school teachers called meetings for discussion in Tokyo and Yokahama; the police, acting under governmental instructions, forbade and then broke up the meetings. A news- paper commenting on the situation asked what would be the effect upon pupils when teachers in school taught conventional ethics, while out of school the teachers went contrary to the ethics they taught? In other words, the burden of what is termed "ethics" in the primary schools is submis- sion to authority, while out of school the teachers were guilty of going contrary to authority in agi- tating to force the authorities to give them a living wage. The middle class does not of course possess the weight in mass of the laboring class, but it is quite likely that, with its greater education, its weaning from the cause of autocracy to which it has been devoted will have the earlier political results. The observer can follow the progress of the cause of democracy in Japan by certain outward signs. The first and in many ways the most superficial will be the extension of universal suffrage. The last Parliament passed a bill about doubling the electo- rate. It was a compromise measure that gave no satis- faction to either the conservatives or the radicals. Unless foreign relations monopolize attention, the struggle will be renewed in the next Parliament. The second sign, and a more significant one, will be a conflict, occasioned either through the extension of suffrage or some similar question, between the lower house and the upper. For the House of Peers was deliberately invented to give the old oligarchy and the new plutocracy power to prevent extrava- gances in the popular direction on the part of the lower house. An even more serious sign will be the determined effort to make the ministers of war and navy real members of the Cabinet, instead of privi- leged appointees of the Army and Navy with inde- pendent and irresponsible jurisdiction. How far their independence goes came out in a way which would have been most embarrassing in any country except Japan in the closing days of the last Par- liament It was necessary to get the approval of the budget of expenditures of the various govern- mental departments. That of the War Department called for extra wages to one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers who had been on service in Si- beria. Yet the Foreign Office had had a distinct un- derstanding with other governments that only -from seven to ten thousand men, a number proportionate to the army of the other Allies, would be sent There was a temporary excitement, the House went into secret session, the money was voted, and a few days later there appeared in the newspapers a semi- official statement mat the number in Siberia had not exceeded seventy thousand. No outsider, and not many insiders, will ever know what the other eighty thousand were paid for. But the meaning of an independent minister of war in a government that is said by propagandists in foreign countries to be constitutional is measured by the fact that he could act in such contravention to the direct pledge of the minister of foreign affairs. Numerous such cases appear, especially in connection with Chinese affairs; and it is of course impossible to tell how much is collusion with a chance to prove an alibi on the part of supposedly liberal ministers, and how much is due to the undoubted power of the Minister of War (in effect the General Staff) to act without the rest of the "Government's" knowing anything about it Other convincing signs of the spread of democratic ideas will be a movement for respon- sibility of the ministry to the Parliament instead of to the Emperor—which means in effect to the Clans- men who constitute Elder Statesmen, and for real legislative initiative on the part of the Parliament For one has to be near the scene to learn that no important bills ever even receive consideration in the Parliament unless they have received a permit from the Privy Council-»-a secret and irresponsible body. The canceling of the power of the policy without judicial action or review, to suppress news- papers will be a most hopeful sign. However, it is not likely that affairs will move in such a logical sequence as has been outlined. It is more likely that something will happen and a gen- 1919 337 THE DIAL eral change in the political structure take place all at once. Yet while in its effect, in its consequence, this happening will be a revolution, it is hard to imagine a happening in Japan such as we usually associate with the word "Revolution." There is some quality in the Japanese inscrutable to a foreigner which makes them at once the most rigid and the most pliable people on earth, the most self-satisfied and the most eager to learn. It is wholly conceiv- able that, with the development of democratic senti- ment, a dramatic change may suddenly take place comparable to the transfer in the sixties of power from the old Tokugawa Shogunate to the Satsuma and Choshu clansmen, and the consequent central- ized unification of Japan and the surrender of the policy of isolation. To the student of history it now looks very much as if Japan in the seventies and eighties had been very much in flux, and as if with slight changes in the course of events Japan might then have become a genuine and not a simulated constitutional state. But unfortunately in the eighties Europe generally entered upon the im- perialistic path, and in the later eighties Japan de- liberately adopted from Germany a militarized state, a constitution which gave the form without the substance of a representative government, and a universal primary education calculated to produce what a young Japanese student of English called "obeyfulness," and a secondary and higher system aiming at specialized efficiency in the service of the state. The development of liberation was put in abeyance for thirty years. John Dewey. An Ancient Cynic X here is a popular parlor-game known in this country as Gossip. It is a harmless little psycho- logical diversion, and it is played approximately as follows: One of the company, usually chosen by lot, whispers a short sentence in his neighbor's ear, such as "All men are liars," or "A rolling stone gathers no moss." This sentence, or as much of it as is audible, is repeated by the person re- ceiving it to the person sitting next to him, who in turn passes it on secretly tq his neighbor. After going the whispered rounds of the assembled com- pany, which is seated in a circle, the original re- mark reaches the ears of the first whisperer. He thereupon announces his own statement and its surprising metamorphosis, which usually has taken some such form as "A barking dog never bites" or "A fool and his money are soon parted"; there is a loud burst of laughter from everyone, a noisy scraping of chairs, and a hasty dash for the lem- onade. In some such way, only on a more magnificent scale, ancient history reaches our ears. We flatter ourselves that we know the secrets which the past has whispered to us, when as a matter of fact we are ignorant of most of its most public matters. When we realize, however, that in the parlor-game Gossip the players not only speak the same lang- uage but refrain from deliberately falsifying what they hear, and when we realize furthermore that their game usually occupies less than one hundred seconds, we are not astonished so much as shocked that another game, occupying two thousand years, conducted in three different languages, and played by a company of ecclesiastical demagogues, should end with even more amazing and divergent results. For playing detective in the back parlor of the Church, Morris Jastrow, Jr., has won, or must eventually win, the gratitude of every man who has a weakness for the truth. In the foreword to his book A Gentle Cynic (Lippincott, Philadel- phia) he states his intention of doing unto the Book of Job and the Song of Songs as he has done unto the so-called Book of Ecclesiastes. If he fulfills this intention he will not have many friends left in the right wing of Christendom. But the left wing, at any rate, will flutter for him proudly. And all the heathen seekers after historic fact will, it is certain, welcome him into their fold and call him Brother. For Mr. Jastrow has not merely acted as dragoman between the ancient Hebrew and the modern Englishman; he has not merely given us a literal, unadorned translation of a work commonly—and wrongly— attributed to King Solomon; he has exhibited the whole twisted policy of Ecclesiastical buncombe which runs like a muddy stream through the green pastures of ancient literatures. He has given us, probably for the first time in 2200 years, die acid, unsweetened philosophy of Koholeth, who styled himself King over Israel in Jerusalem. Some of the blame for the sweetening process which the sayings of this ancient cynic have un- dergone he lays, by implication, at the doors and the dictionaries of the Greek translators. At least Mr. Jastrow points out, with a finger never weary in well-doing, that the second book of the Pentateuch was called, in the Hebrew, Shemoth, meaning "Names," which the Greek pundits, in a free flight of the imagination, passed down to us as Exodus. Again, the book known to us as Lamentations was called, in the original Hebrew, 338 October 18 THE DIAL Echa, meaning "Alas!," which merely was the first ward occurring in that book of tears. Still again, the book which we now know as Ecclesiastes was so baptized by these same pundits, with the excuse that an Ecclesia is an assembly, and that the root of the Hebrew name Koholeth is derived from a verb meaning "to assemble." Now, though Koholeth was undoubtedly a nom-de-plume, the man who had adopted it did so for definite rea- sons. The Book of Ecclesiastes is actually the Book of Koholeth. To bungle that fact in trans- lation is not only to play fast and loose with an historical detail but also to throw doubt on the scientific scrupulousness of the rest of the work in a field of endeavor in which carelessness is as inexcusable as it is in a dynamite plant. Most of his censure, however, Mr. Jastrow levels at the ancient Hebraic moralists themselves. In the ante-Christian era authorship in Israel was practically unheard of. Disciples and followers took the place of typewriters and printing-presses. Jesus Christ, as we know, never wrote down his philosophy of gentleness; it was collated and edited by his Apostles. Indeed, his forerunner by only a hundred-odd years, Jesus Ben Sira, was one of the first men to give the world a work te which he definitely affixed his name. The inevitable was the result—no man's creed was a stable thing. It was mouthed, and in the mouthing often marred, by the men who succeeded him. Even if he af- fixed it to parchment his words were emendated to meet the varying customs of the day. This is what happened to Koholeth. His cyn- icism was out of temper with his times. His doc- trines were dangerous. He was a sans-culotte, and Jacobins were as unpopular then as now. Yet his writings had an undoubted vogue among the Zen- diks of the age. He wielded an influence. People liked the taste of his teachings. They repeated after him, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity"; and the phrase lay pleasantly on their tongues. What was to be done with this heretic who stirred up the people and put dynamite under the temples of their simple faiths? The answer will be found in the additions which were shrewdly added to Koho- leth's original text, and which are found today in every Bible. In brief, the mysterious Koholeth was toe powerful a personage to be suppressed altogether—so he was merely emendated. One sixth of the Book of Ecclesiastes is comprised of these moral additions—ecclesiastical and po- litical demulcents smeared over his work to soften its sting. Two or three examples of such methods of ancient literary prophylaxis are all that may be included here. Koholeth, for example, says: "I set out to experience frivolity and foolishness, though I knew that this, too, was chasing after wind." Whereupon a pious commentator, horri- fied at the idea that a man whom tradition had connected with King Solomon should deliberately set out to experience frivolity and foolishness, modified this cynical teaching by adding the clause "wisdom and knowledge"—and thus mor- ally saved the day. Again, Koholeth remarks: "There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink—a hedonistic idea which occasioned the hurried inclusion of the subsequent- ly-penned, moral maxim (I here follow the King James version and not Mr. Jastrow's) "For God giveth to a man that is good in His sight wis- dom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he giveth travail." There are dozens of these instances, many even more startling in their phil- osophic anachronism. Mr. Jastrow goes after them all. He makes you sit up in your pew. He makes you suddenly aware that all games of gossip are not played in parlors, and that laughter and lemonade are not always appropriate dishes after the denouement. But it is not as a judge so much as an honest workman finishing a hitherto botched job that be deserves unqualified praise. His explanation of how Ecclesiastes came to be included among the sacred writings of the East, his examination of Koholeth's philosophy, his demonstration that Ko- holeth's saying "Cast thy bread upon the face of the waters for after many days thou shalt find it" was less a maxim preaching generosity than a shrewd business slogan urging men into broader fields of trade, his tracing of the belief which attributed Koholeth's writings to King Solomon, his exposure of the fact that Koholeth believed no more in a future existence than did the Psalm- ist who declared that the dead can not praise God in Sheol—these exegetical additions to his original translations, with several dozens like them, make Mr. Jastrow's work a book of unparalleled in- terest in the realm of critico-historical literature. It is Koholeths' text itself, however, that claims our first attention—and our last. Stripped of all ancient and modern meralizings, it gives us for the first time the bare bones of the old cynic— a man who once loved life and accused that love of stupidity; a man to whom, in the end, everything was vanity, and existence a foolish "chasing after wind." WlNTHROP PARKHURST. 1919 339 THE DIAL Bolshevism and the Vested Interests in America II. On the Circumstances Which Make for a Change J. HE STATE of industry, in America and in the other advanced industrial countries, will impose certain exacting conditions on any movement that aims to displace the Vested Interests. These condi- tions lie in the nature of things; that is to say, in the nature of the existing industrial system; and until -they are met in some passable fashion, this industrial system can not be taken over in any effectual or enduring manner. And it is plain that whatever is found to be true in these respects for America will also hold true in much the same degree for the other countries that are dominated by the mechanical industry and the system of ab- sentee ownership. It may also confidently be set down at the outset that such an impartial review of the evidence as is here aimed at will make it appear that there need be no present apprehension of the Vested Interests' being unseated by any popular uprising in America, even if the popular irritation should rise very appreciably above its present pitch, and even if certain advocates of "direct action," here and there, should be so ill-advised as to make some rash gesture of revolt. The only present danger is that a boisterous campaign of repression and inqui- sition on the part of the Guardians of the Vested Interests may stir up some transient flutter of sedi- tious disturbance. To this end, then, it will be necessary to recall, in a summary way, those main facts of the indus- trial system and of the present businesslike control of this system which come immediately into the case. By way of general premise it is to be noted that the established order of business rests on ab- sentee ownership and is managed with an eye single to the largest obtainable net return in terms of price; that is to say, it is a system of businesslike management on a commercial footing. The under- lying population is dependent on the working of this industrial system for its livelihood; and their material interest therefore centers in the output and distribution of consumable goods, not in an increasing volume of earnings for the absentee owners. Hence there is a division of interest be- tween the business community, who do business for the absentee owners, and the underlying popula- tion, who work for a living; and in the nature of the case this division of interest between the ab- sentee owners and the underlying population is growing wider and more evident from day to day; which engenders a certain division of sentiment and a degree of mutual distrust. With it all the underlying population are still in a sufficiently de- ferential frame of mind toward their absentee own- ers and are quite conscientiously delicate about any abatement of the free income which their owners come in for, according to the rules of the game as it is played. The business concerns which so have the man- agement of industry of this plan of absentee own- ership are capitalized on their business capacity, not on their industrial capacity; that is to say. they are capitalized on their capacity to produce earn- ings, not on their capacity to produce goods. Their capitalization has, in effect, been calculated and fixed on the highest ordinary rate of earnings pre- viously obtained; and on pain of insolvency their businesslike managers are now required to meet fixed income-ch#rges on this capitalization. There- fore, as a proposition of safe and sane business management, prices have to be maintained or ad- vanced. From this businesslike requirement of meeting these fixed overhead charges on the capitalization there result certain customary lines of waste and obstruction, which are unavoidable so long as in- dustry is managed by businesslike methods and for* businesslike ends. These ordinary lines of waste and obstruction are necessarily (and blame- lessly) included in the businesslike conduct of pro- duction. They are many and various in detail, but they may for convenience be classed under four heads: (a) Unemployment of material resources, equipment, and manpower, in whole or in part, deliberately or through ignorance; (b) Salesman- ship (includes, e. g., needless multiplication of merchants and shops, wholesale and retail, news- paper advertising and bill-boards, sales-exhibits, sales-agents, fancy packages and labels, adultera- tion, multiplication of brands and proprietary arti- cles); (c) Production (and sales-cost) of superflui- ties and spurious goods; (d) Systematic dislocation, sabotage and duplication, due in part t« businesslike strategy, in part to businesslike ignorance of indus- trial requirements (includes, e.g., such things as cross-freights, monopolization of resources, with- holding of facilities and information from business rivals whom it is thought wise to hinder or defeat). There is, of course, no blame, and no sense of .blame or shame attaching to all this everyday waste 340 October 18 THE DIAL and confusion that goes to make up the workday - total of businesslike management. All of it is a legitimate and necessary part of the established order of business enterprise, within the law and within the ethics of the trade. Salesmanship is the most conspicuous, and per- haps the gravest, of these wasteful and industrially futile practices that are involved in the business- like conduct of industry; it bulks large both in its immediate cost and in its meretricious conse- quences. It also is altogether legitimate and in- dispensable in any industrial business that deals with customers, in buying or selling; which comes near saying, in all business that has to do with the production or distribution of goods or services. Indeed, salesmanship is, in a way, the whole end and substance of business enterprise; and except so far as it is managed with a constant view to profitable bargains, the production of goods is not a business proposition; It is the elimination of profitable transactions of purchase and sale that is hoped for by any current movement looking to an overturn, and it is the same elimination of pro- fitable bargaining that is feared, with a nerve- shattering fear, by the Guardians of.the established order. Salesmanship is also the most indispensable and most meritorious of those qualities that go to make a safe and sane business man. It is doubtless within the mark to say that, at an average, one-half the price paid for goods and services by consumers is to be set down to the ac- count of salesmanship—that is, to sales-cost and to the net gains of salesmanship. But in many notable lines of merchandise the sales-cost will ordinarily foot up to some ten or twenty times the productien-cost proper, and to not less than one hundred times the necessary cost of distribution. All this is not a matter for shame or distaste. In fact, just now more than ever, there is a clamorous and visibly growing insistence on the paramount merit and importance of salesmanship as the main stay of commerce and industry, and a strenuous demand for more extensive and more thorough training in salesmanship of a larger number of young men—at the public expense—to enable a shrewdly limited output of good to be sold at more profitable prices—at the public cost. So also there is a visibly increasing expenditure on all manner of advertising; and the spokesmen of this enterprise in conspicuous waste are "pointing with pride" to the fact that the American business com- munity have already spent upward of $600,000,000 on bill-boards alone within the past year, not to speak of much larger sums spent on newspapers and other printed matter for the same purpose— and the common man pays the cost. At the same time advertising and manoeuvres of salesmanlike spell-binding appear to be the onlj resource to which the country's business men know how to turn for relief from that tangle of difficul- ties into which the outbreak of a businesslike peace has precipitated the commercialized world. In- creased sales-cost is to remedy the evils of under- production. In this connection it may be worth while to recall, without heat or faultfinding, that all the costly publicity that goes into sales-costs is in the nature of prevarication, when it is not good broad mendacity; and quite unnecessarily so. And all the while the proportion of sale6-costs to production-costs goes on increasing, and the cost of living grows continually greater for the underly- ing population, and business necessities continue to enlarge the necessary expenditure on ways and means of salesmanship. It is reasonable to believe that this state of things, which has been coming on gradually for some time past, will in time come to be understood and appreciated by the underlying population, at least in some degree. And it is likewise reason- able to believe that so soon as the underlying pop- ulation come to realize that all this wasteful traffic of salesmanship is using up their productive forces, with nothing better to show for it than an increased cost of living, they will be driven to make some move to abate the nuisance. And just so far as this state of things is now beginning to be under- stood, its logical outcome is a growing distrust of the business men and all their works and words. But the underlying population is still very credu: lous about anything that is said or done in the name of Business, and there need be no apprehen- sion of a mutinous outbreak, just yet But at the same time it is evident that any plan of manage- ment which could contrive to dispense with all this expenditure on salesmanship, or that could materially reduce sales-costs, would have that much of a free margin to go on, and therefore that much of an added chance of success; and so also it is evident that any other than a businesslike management could so contrive, inasmuch as sales- costs are incurred solely for purposes of business, not for purposes of industry; they are incurred for the sake of private gain, not for the sake of pro- ductive work. But there is in fact no present promise of a breakdown of business, due to the continued in- crease of sales-costs; although sales-costs are bound to go on increasing so long as the country's industry continues to be managed on anything like the present plan. In fact, salesmanship is the chief factor in that ever-increasing cost of living, which is in its turn the chief ground of prosperity among 1919 341 THE DIAL the business community and the chief source of perennial hardship and discontent among the un- derlying population. Still it is worth noting that the eventual elimination of salesmanship and sales- cost would lighten the burden of workday produc- tion for the underlying population by some fifty per cent. There is that much of a visible induce- ment to disallow that system of absentee ownership on which modern business enterprise rests; and— for what it may be worth—it is to be admitted that there is therefore that much of a drift in the exist- ing state of things toward a revolutionary overturn looking to the unseating of the Vested Interests. But at the same time the elimination of salesman- ship and all its voluminous apparatus and traffic would also cut down the capitalized income of the business community by something like one-half; and that contingency is not to be contemplated, not to say with equanimity, by the Guardians; and it is after all in the hands of these Guardians that the fortunes of the community rest. Such a move is a moral impossibility, just yet. Closely related to the wasteful practices of sales- manship as commonly understood, if it should not rather be counted in as an extension of salesman- ship, is that persistent unemployment of men, equipment, and material resources, by which the output of goods and services is kept down to the "requirements of the market," with a view to main- taining prices at a "reasonably profitable level." Such unemployment, deliberate and habitual, is one of the ordinary expedients employed in the businesslike management of industry. There is always more or less of it in ordinary times. "Rea- sonable earnings" could not be assured without it; because "what the traffic will bear" in the way of an output of goods is by no means the same as the pro- ductive capacity of the industrial system; still less is it the same as the total consumptive needs of the community; in fact, it does not visibly tend to coincide with either. It is more particularly in times of popular distress, such as the present year, when the current output of goods is not nearly sufficient to cover the consumptive needs of the community, that considerations of business strategy call for a wise unemployment of the country's productive forces. At the same time, such business- like unemployment of equipment and man power b the most obvious cause of popular distress. All this is well known to the Guardians of the Vested Interests, and their knowledge of it is, quite reasonably, a source of uneasiness to them. But they see no help for it; and indeed there is no help for it within the framework of "business as usual," since it is the essence of business as usual. So also, the Guardians are aware that this businesslike sabotage on productive industry is a fruitful source of discontent and distrust among the underlying population who suffer the inconvenience of it all; and they are beset with the abiding fear that the underlying population may shortly be provoked into disallowing those Vested Interests for whose benefit this deliberate and habitual sabotage on production is carried on. It is felt that here again is a sufficient reason why the businesslike management of indus- try should be discontinued; which is the same as saying that here again is a visibly sufficient reason for such a revolutionary overturn as will close out the Old Order of absentee ownership and capitalized income. It is also evident that any plan which shall contrive to dispense with this deliberate and habit- ual unemployment of men and equipment will have that much more of a margin to go on, both in re- spect of practical efficiency and in respect of popu- lar tolerance; and evidently, too, any other than a businesslike management of industry can so con- trive, as a matter of course; inasmuch as any such unbusinesslike administration—as, e.g., the Soviet— will be relieved of the businesslike manager's black- est bug-bear, "a reasonably profitable level of prices." But for all that, those shudderingly sanguine per- sons who are looking for a dissolution of the system of absentee ownership within two years' time are not counting on salesmanlike waste and businesslike sa- botage to bring on the collapse, so much as they count on the item listed under (d) above—the sysi- tematic dislocation and all-round defeat of produc- tive industry which is due in part to shrewd man- oeuvres of businesslike strategy, in part to the habit- ual ignorance of business men touching the sys- tematic requirements of the industrial system as a whole. The shrewd worldly wisdom of the business- like managers, looking consistently to the main chance, works in harmoniously with their trained ignorance on matters of technology, to bring about what amounts to effectual team-work for the defeat of the country's industrial system as a going con- cern. Yet doubtless this sinister hope of a collapse within two years is too sanguine. Doubtless the underlying population can be counted on solidly to put up with what they are so well used to, just yet; more particularly so long as they are not in the habit of -thinking about these things at all. Nor does it seem reasonable to believe that this all-per- vading waste and confusion of industrial forces will of itself bring the business organization to a col- lapse within so short a time. It is true, the industrial system is continually growing, in volume and complication; and with 342 October 18 THE DIAL every new extension of its scope and range, and with every added increment of technological practice that goes into effect, there comes a new and urgent op- portunity for the business men in control to extend and speed up their strategy of mutual obstruction and defeat; it is all in the day's work. As the indus- trial system grows larger and more closely inter- woven it offers continually larger and more enticing opportunities for such businesslike manoeuvres as will effectually derange the system at the same time that they bring the desired tactical defeat on some business rival; whereby the successful business strategist is enabled to get a little something for nothing at a constantly increasing cost to the com- munity at large. With every increment of growth and maturity the country's industrial system be- comes more delicately balanced, more intricately bound in a web of industrial give and take, more sensitive to far-reaching derangement by any local dislocation, more widely and instantly responsive to any failure of the due correlation at any point; and by the same move the captains of industry, to whose care the interests of absentee ownership are en- trusted, are enabled, or rather they are driven by the necessities of competitive business, to plan their strategy of mutual defeat and derangement on larger and more intricate lines, with an ever wider reach and a more massive mobilization of forces. From which follows an ever increasing insecurity of work and output from day to day and an increased as- surance of general loss and disability in the long run; incidentally coupled with increased hardship for the underlying population, which comes in all along as a subsidiary matter of course, unfortunate but unavoidable. It is this visibly growing failure of the present businesslike management to come up to the industrial necessities of the case; its unfitness to take anything like reasonable care of the needed correlation of industrial forces within the system; its continual working at cross purposes in the allo- cation of energy resources, materials, and man power—it is this fact, that any businesslike manage- ment of necessity runs at cross purposes with the larger technical realities of the industrial system, that chiefly g«es to persuade apprehensive persons that the regime of business enterprise is fast ap- proaching the limit of tolerance. So it is held by many that this existing system of absentee owner- ship must presently break down and precipitate the abdication of the Vested Interests, under conviction of total imbecility. The theory on which these apprehensive persons proceed appears to be substantially sound, so far as it goes, but they reach an unguardedly desperate conclusion because they overlook one of the main facts of the case. There is no reasonable exception to be taken to the statement that the country's indus- trial system is forever growing more extensive and more complex; that it is continually taking on more of the character of a close-knit, interwoven, sys- tematic whole; a delicately balanced moving equi- librium of working parts, no one of which can do its work by itself at all, and none of which can do its share of the work well except in close correlation with all the rest. At the same time it is also true that, in the commercialized nature of things, the businesslike management of industry is forever playing fast and loose with this delicately balanced moving equilibrium of forces, on which the liveli- hood of the underlying population depends from day to day; more particularly is this true for that large-scale business enterprise that rests on absentee ownership and makes up the country's greater Vested Interests. But to all this it is to be added, as a corrective and a main factor in the case, that this system of mechanical industry is an extremely efficient contrivance for the production of goods and services, even when, as usual, the business men, for business reasons, will allow it to work only under a large handicap of unemployment and obstructive tactics. Hitherto the margin for error, that is to say for wasteful strategy and obstructive ignorance, has been very wide; so wide that it has saved the life of the Vested Interests; and it is accordingly by no means confidently to be believed that all these amp- ler opportunities for swift and wide-reaching de- rangement will enable the strategy of business enter- prise to bring on a disastrous collapse, just yet. It is true, if the country's productive industry were competently organized as a systematic whole, and were then managed by competent technicians with an eye single to maximum production of goods and services; instead of, as now, being manhandled by ignorant business men with an eye single to maximum profits; the resulting output of goods and services would doubtless exceed the current output by several hundred per cent. But then, none of all that is necessary to save the established order of things. All that is required is a decent modicum of efficiency, very far short of the theoretical maximum production. In effect, the community is in the habit of getting along contentedly on something appreci- ably less than one-half the output which its indus- trial equipment would turn out if it were working uninterruptedly at full capacity; even when, as us- ual, something like one-half of the actual output is consumed in wasteful superfluities. The margin for waste and error is very wide, fortunately; and, in effect, a more patient and more inclusive survey of the facts in the case would suffice to show that the 1919 343 THE DIAL tenure of the Vested Interests is reasonably secure just yet; at least in so far as it turns on considera- tions of this nature. . There is, of course, the chance, and it is by no means a remote chance, that the rapidly increasing volume and complexity of the industrial system may presently bring the country's industry into such a ticklish state of unstable equilibrium that even a reasonable modicum of willful derangement can no longer be tolerated, even for the most urgent and most legitimate reasons of businesslike strategy and vested rights. In time, such an outcome is presum- ably due to be looked for. There is, indeed, no lack of evidence that the advanced industrial countries are approaching such a state of things, America among the rest. The margin for error and wasteful strategy is, in effect, being continually narrowed by the further advance of the industrial arts. With every further advance in the way of specialization and standardization, in point of kind, quantity, qual- ity, and time, the tolerance of the system as a whole under any strategic maladjustment grows continu- ally narrower. How soon the limit of tolerance for willful de- rangement is due to be reached, would be a hazard- ous topic of speculation. There is now a fair' prospect that the coming winter may throw some light on that dark question; but this is not saying that the end is in sight. What is here insisted on is that that sinister eventuality lies yet in the future, although it may be in the calculable future. So also it is well to keep in mind that even a fairly disas- trous collapse of the existing system of businesslike management need by no means prove fatal to the Vested Interests, just yet; not so long as there is no competent organization ready to take their place and administer the country's industry on a more rea- sonable plan. It is necessarily a question of al- ternatives. In all this argument that runs on perennial dis- location and cross purposes, it is assumed that the existing businesslike management of industry is of a competitive nature and necessarily moves on lines of competitive strategy. As a subsidiary premise it is, of course, also assumed that the captains of in- dustry who have the direction of this competitive strategy are ordinarily sufficiently ill informed on technological matters to go wrong, industrially speaking, even with the most pacific and benevolent intentions. They are laymen in all that concerns the technical demands of industrial production. This latter, and minor, assumption therefore need not be argued; it is sufficiently notorious. On the other hand, the first assumption spoken of above, that current business enterprise is of a competitive nature, is likely to be questioned by many who be- lieve themselves to be familiar with the facts in the case. It is argued, by one and another, that the country's business concerns have entered into con- solidations, coalitions, understandings and working arrangements among themselves—syndicates, trusts, pools, combinations, interlocking directorates, gen- tlemen's agreements, employers' unions—to such an extent as virtually to cover the field of that large- scale business that sets the pace and governs the movements of the rest; and that where combination takes effect in this way, competition ceases. So also it will be argued that where there has been no form- al coalition of interests the business men in charge will still commonly act in collusion, with much the same result. The suggestion is also ready to hand that in so far as business like sabotage of this com- petitive order is still to be met with, it can all be corrected by such a further consolidation of inter- ests as will do away with all occasion for competi- tive cross purposes within the industrial system. It is not easy to see just how far that line of argu- ment would lead; but to make it effective and to cover the case it would plainly have to result in so wide a coalition of interests and pooling of man- agement as would, in effect, eliminate all occasion for businesslike management within the system, and leave the underlying population quite unreservedly at the disposal of the resulting coalition of interests —an outcome which is presumably not contem- plated. And even so, the argument takes account of only one strand in that three-ply rope that goes to fashion the fatal noose. The remaining two are stout enough, and they have not been touched. It is true, economists and others who have canvassed this matter of competition have commonly given their attention to this one line of competition alone— between rival commercial interests—because this competition is conceived to be natural and normal and to serve the common good. But there remains (a) the competition between those business men who buy cheap and sell dear and the underlying population from and to whom they buy cheap and sell dear, and (b) the competition between the cap- tains of industry and those absentee owners in whose name and with whose funds the captains do business. In the typical case, modern business en- terprise takes the corporate form, is organized on credit, and therefore rests on absentee ownership; from which it follows that in all large-scale busi- ness the owners are not the same persons as the managers, nor does the interest of the manager com- monly coincide with that of his absentee owners, particularly in the modern "big business." So it follows that even a coalition of Vested 344 October 18 THE DIAL Interests which should be virtually all-inclusive, would still have to make up its account with "what the traffic will bear," that is to say what will bring the largest net income in terms of price; that is to say, the coalition would still be under the competi- tive necessity of buying cheap and selling dear, to the best of its ability and with the use of all the facilities which its dominant position in the market would give. The coalition, therefore, would still be under the necessity of shrewdly limiting the output of goods and services to such a rate and volume as will maintain or advance prices; and also to vary its manipulation of prices and supply from place to place and from time to time, to turn an honest penny; which leaves the case very near the point of beginning. But then, such a remedy for these infelicities of the competitive system will probably be admitted to be chimerical, without argument. But what is more to the point is the fact, known even when it is not avowed, that the consolidations which have been effected hitherto have not elim- inated competition, nor have they changed the char- acter of the competitive strategy employed, al- though they have altered its scale and methods. What can be said is that the underlying corpora- tions of the holding companies, e.g., are no longer competitors among themselves on the ancient foot- ing. But strategic dislocation and cross purposes continue to be the order of the day in the business- like management of industry; and the volume of habitual unemployment, whether of equipment or of man power, continues undiminished and un- ashamed—which is after all a major count in the case. It is well to recognize what the business men among themselves always recognize as a matter of course, that business is in the last analysis always carried on for the private advantage of the individ- ual business men who carry it on. And these enter- prising persons, being business men, will always be competitors for gain among themselves, however much and well they may combine for a common purpose as against the rest of the community. The end and aim of any gainful enterprise carried through in common is always the division of the joint gains, and in this division the joint partici- pants always figure as competitors. The syndi- cates, coalitions, corporations, consolidations of in- terests, so entered into in the pursuit, of gain are, ill effect, in the nature of conspiracies between busi- ness men each seeking his own advantage at the cost of any whom it may concern. There is no ulterior solidarity of interests among the partici- pants in such a joint enterprise. By way of illustration, what is set forth in the voluminous testimony taken in the Colton case, be- fore the California courts, having to do with the affairs of the Southern Pacific and its subsidiaries, will show in what fashion the businesslike incen- tives of associated individuals may be expected to work out in the partition of benefits within a given coalition. And not only is there no abiding solidar- ity of interests between the several participants in such a joint enterprise, so far as regards the final division of the spoils, but it is also true that the business interest of the manager in charge of such a syndicate of absentee ownership will not coincide with the collective interest of the coalition as a going concern. As an illustrative instance may be cited the testimony of the great president of the two Great Northern railways, taken before a Con- gressional commission, wherein it is explained somewhat fully that for something like a quarter- century the two great roads under his management had never come in for reasonable earnings on their invested capital. And it is a matter of common notoriety, although it was charitably not brought out in the hearings of the commission, that during his incumbency as manager of the two great rail- way systems this enterprising railway president had by thrift and management increased his own pri- vate possessions from $20 to something variously estimated at 8150,000,000 to $200,000,000; while his two chief associates in this adventure had re- tired from the management on a similarly comfort- able footing; so notably comfortable, indeed, as to have merited a couple of very decent peerages un- der the British crown. In effect, there still is an open call for shrewd personal strategy at the cost of any whom it may concern; all the while that there is also a very» appreciable measure of collision among the Vested Interests, at the cost of any whom it may concern. Business is still competitive business, competitive pursuit of private gain; as how should it not be? seeing that the incentive to all business is after all private gain at the cost of any whom it may con- cern. By reason of doctrinal consistency and loyalty to tradition, the certified economists have habitu- ally described business enterprise as a rational ar- rangement for administering the country's indus- trial system and assuring a full and equitable dis- tribution of consumable goods to the consumers. There need be no quarrel with that view. But it is only fair to enter the reservation that, considered as an arrangement for administering the country's industrial system, business enterprise based on ab- sentee ownership has the defects of its qualities; and these defects of this good old plan are now 1919 345 THE DIAL calling attention to themselves. Hitherto, and ever since the mechanical industry first came into the dominant place in this industrial system, the de- fects of this businesslike management of industry have continually been encroaching more and more on its qualities. It took its rise as a system of man- agement by the owners of the industrial equipment, and it has in its riper years grown into a system of absentee ownership managed by quasi-responsible financial agents. Having begun as an industrial community which centered about an open market, it has matured into a community of Vested Interests whose vested right it is to keep up prices by a short supply in a closed market. There is no ex- travagance in saying that, by and large, this ar- rangement for controlling the production and dis- tribution of goods and services through the agency of absentee ownership has now come to be, in the main, a blundering muddle of defects. For the purpose in hand, that is to say with a view to the probable chance of any revolutionary overturn, this may serve as a fair characterization of the regime of the Vested Interests; whdse continued rule is now believed by their Guardians to be threatened by a popular uprising in the nature of Bolshevism. Now, as to the country's industrial system which is manhandled on this businesslike plan; it is a comprehensive and balanced scheme of technolog- ical administration. Industry of this modern sort —mechanical, specialized, standardized, running to quantity production, drawn on a large scale—is highly productive; provided always that the neces- sary conditions of its working are met in some passable. fashion. These necessary conditions of productive industry are of a well-defined technical character, and they are growing more and more ex- acting with every farther advance in the industrial arts. This mechanical industry draws always more and more largely and urgently on the natural sources of mechanical power, and it necessarily makes use of an ever increasingly wide and varied range of materials, drawn from all latitudes and all geographical regions, in spite of obstructive national frontiers and patriotic animosities; for the mechanical technology is impersonal and dispas- sionate, and its end is very simply to serve human needs, without fear or favor or respect of persons, prerogatives, or politics. It makes up an indus- trial system of an unexampled character—a me- chanically balanced and interlocking system of work to be done, the prime requisite of whose work- ing is a painstaking and intelligent co-ordination of the processes at work, and an equally painstak- ing allocation of mechanical power and materials. The foundation and driving force of it all is a massive body by technological knowledge, of a highly impersonal and altogether unbusinesslike nature, running in close contact with the material exactingly specialized, endlessly detailed, reaching out into all domains of empirical fact. Such is the system of productive work which has grown out of the Industrial Revolution, and on the full and free run of which the material welfare of all the civilized peoples now depends from day to day. Any defect or hindrance in its technical ad- ministration, any intrusion of non-technical consi- derations, any failure or obstruction at any point, unavoidably results in a disproportionate set-back to the balanced whole and brings a disproportion- ate burden of privation on all these peoples whose sciences, on which it draws freely at every turn— as a going concern. There is no third party quali- fied to make a colorable bid, or able to make good the system. It follows that those gifted, trained, and exper- ienced technicians who now are in possession of the requisite technological information and exper- ience are the first and instantly indispensable fac- tor in the everyday work of carrying on the coun- try's productive industry. They now constitute the General Staff of the industrial system, in fact; whatever law and custom may formally say in pro- test. The "captains of industry" may still vain- gloriously claim that distinction, and law and cus- tom still countenances their claim; but the captains have no technological value, in fact. Therefore any question of a revolutionary over- turn, in America or in any other of the advanced industrial countries, resolves itself in practical fact into a question of what the guild of technicians will do. In effect it is a question whether the dis- cretion and responsibility in the management of technicians, who speak for the industrial system productive industry has come within the sweep of the country's industry shall pass from the finan- ciers, who speak for the Vested Interests, to the its pretensions if it should make a bid. So long as the vested rights of absentee ownership remain in- tact, the financial powers—that is to say the Vested Interests—will continue to dispose of the country's industrial forces for their own profit; and so soon, or so far, as these vested rights give way, the con- trol of the people's material welfare will pass into the hands of the technicians. There is no third party. The chances of anything like a Soviet in Amer- ica, therefore, are the chances of a Soviet of tech- nicians. And, to the due comfort of the Guardians of the Vested Interests and the good citizens who make up their background, it can be shown that 346 October 18 THE DIAL anything like a Soviet of Technicians is at the most a remote contingency in America. It is true, so long as no such change of base is made, what is confidently to be looked for is a regime of contin- ued and increasing shame and confusion, hardship and dissension, unemployment and privation, waste and insecurity of person and property—such as the rule of the Vested Interests in business has already made increasingly familiar to all the civilized peo- ples. But the vested rights of absentee ownership are still embedded in the sentiments of the under- lying population, and still continue to be the Pal- ladium of the Republic; and the assertion is still quite safe that anything like a Soviet of Technicians is not a present menace to the Vested Interests in America. By settled habit the technicians, the engineers and industrial experts, are a harmless and docile sort, well fed on the whole, and somewhat placidly con- tent with the "full dinner-pail" which the lieu- tenants of the Vested Interests habitually allow them. It is true, they constitute the indispensable General Staff of that industrial system which feeds the Vested Interests; but, hitherto at least, they have had nothing to say in the planning and direc- tion of this industrial system, except as employees in- the pay of the financiers. They have, hitherto been quite unreflectingly content to work piece- meal, without much of an understanding among themselves, unreservedly doing job-work for the Vested Interests; and they have without much re- flection lent themselves and their technical powers freely to the obstructive tactics of the captains of industry; all the while that the training which makes them technicians is but a specialized exten- sion of that joint stock of technological knowledge that has been carried forward out of the past by the community at large. But it remains true that they and their dear- bought knowledge of ways and means—dear- bought on the part of the underlying community— are the pillars of that house of industry in which the Vested Interests continue to live. Without their continued and unremitting supervision and direc- tion the industrial system would cease to be a working system at all; whereas it is not easy to see how the elimination of the existing business- like control could bring anything but relief and heightened efficiency to this working system. The technicians are indispensable to productive indus- try of this mechanical sort; the Vested Interests and their absentee owners are not The technicians are indispensable to the Vested Interests and their absentee owners, as a working force without which there would be no industrial output to control or divide; whereas the Vested Interests and their ab- sentee owners are of no material consequence to the technicians and their work, except as an ex- traneous interference and obstruction. It follows that the material welfare of all the advanced industrial peoples rests in the hands of these technicians, if they will only see it that way, take counsel together, constitute themselves the self-directing General Staff of the country's indus- try, and dispense with the interference of the lieu- tenants of the absentee owners. Already they are strategically in a position to take the lead and im- pose their own terms of leadership, so soon as they. or a decisive number of them, shall reach a com- mon understanding to that effect and agree on a plan of action. But there is assuredly no present promise of the technicians' turning their insight and common sense to such a use. There need be no present ap- prehension. The technicians are a "safe and sane" lot, on the whole; and they are pretty well com- mercialized, particularly the older generation, who speak with authority and conviction, and to whom the younger generation of engineers defer, on the whole, with such a degree of filial piety as sheuld go far to reassure all good citizens. And herein lies the present security of the Vested Interests, as well as the fatuity of any present alarm about Bol- shevism and the like; for the whole-hearted co- operation of the technicians would be as indispens- able to any effectual movement of overturn as their unwavering service in the employ of the Vested Interests in indispensable to the maintenance of the established order. Thorstein Veblen. Maiden and Poet On a wharf, a girl with simple eyes construing a sea-gull Wondering why he of the poignant realms, who stories the wind in his flight, Should fly so caressingly here by the river's oily margins, in the factories' shaken smoke. But never, oh never, in the trembling dream of her days, Can she know why the bird of the poignant realms Caresses alike her soul and the factories' soiling smoke. Bayarb Boyesen THE DIAL A FORTNIGHTLY The Old Order and the New lo WHAT EXTENT THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AN EN- vironment and to what extent Marxian working class psychology determines a labor policy is well illustrated in the recent activ.ty of the or- ganized railroad workers of England and the United States. In both cases the railroad men are approximately one hundred per cent organized. In England exists a well-developed working class opinion which has become aggressive since the war and which—in contrast to the United States —is intensive, extensive, and conscious. On ac- count of this opinion it was possible for the rail- road workers to effect a complete tieup. And it was because the opinion was so well developed that the state capitulated. The government played its part in two short acts; the first was a heroic pretense of resistance, the second a boisterous surrender in the person of the British premier. The Brotherhoods will not call a national strike in the United States because they know that there is no organized opinion which would sup- port them. Opinion in the United States is basically middle class. When the socialists of the country admit that fact they will know that the plan of the Railroad Brotherhoods for the adm.nistration of the roads is as revolutionary —or more so—»n its significance as a national strike in any or all industries. The fact that the Amer- ican working man has persistently considered him- self as good a6 anyone else, as belonging to no class, is partly accountable for the emergence of a revolutionary program under the auspices of the most middle class labor group. This pro- gram of the railroad workers is acceptable to middle class American workingmen because it is a recognition that the workers are as good as anybody else, are fit for status and responsibility. Instead of lining up with wage slaves in a strike for wages they line up under the Brotherhood propos tion with industrial management. By a different road the British workers have been more or less consciously approaching this posi- tion. For many years the guild socialists of England have been urging the new union plan; in the past months it has made remarkable gains and the principle back of the plan is understood there as it is not yet understood among the mass of workers here. The year of grace which the government granted the British railroad men may be all the t me British labor will need to trans- form the theory of labor control of industry into a policy of organization. It looks as though a year of agitation of the Plumb Plan League might also convert the organized workers of this country. The common result in both countries is precipitated by industrial necessity. The guild socialists had the keeness to forecast the necessity and have done more than any other group in England to prepare the workers for a policy of industrial control. The syndicalists and the In- dustrial Workers of the World had also before the war aroused a certain recognition the world over of the principle of labor control. It was the war, however, in discrediting bureaucratic manage- ment that was the greater clarifier of industrial issues and is now pressing on the conservative labor forces a new vision and revolutionary drive. JVOLCHAK, THEY SAY, HAS NOT BEEN RECOGNIZED. Lenin, too, remains outside the pale. The ship- ment of food to Soviet Russia would involve us in something like a recognition of the Bolshevist Government, and must therefore be prohibited. The shipment of munitions to Kolchak proceeds, however—with what diplomatic implications the State Department may best testify. Recognition or no recognition—what does it matter? Shortly before Ambassador Morris' visit to Omsk, Paul S. Reinsch, United States Minister to China, transmitted to Washington certain American con- sular reports which pronounced Kolchak a reac- tionary and stated that he was much distrusted by the Siberian population. With some show of uncertainty the press reported that Ambassador Morris' preliminary reports in a general way substantiated those transmitted by Reinsch, and were unfavorable to the recognition of the Si- berian dictator. About this time the Allied diplo- mats at Omsk were addressed to the following ef- fect by Kolchak: i In an hour of trial the Admiral took upon himself the burden of supreme power. He did this with the approval and advice of the Allies, who promised unlimited support in the struggle against the Bolshevist Government. Un- fortunately, the period which has elapsed since then has demonstrated the assistance furnished by the Allies to have been inadequate, to say the least, compared with the scale required for the success of the struggle ... If this lingering and hesitating attitude toward the Government and its activity should continue, the Supreme Ruler will hold that he has no right to bear the heavy responsibility for the outcome and consequences of the struggle which is to decide the fate of Russia, . . . The effect of these words was marvelous, if we 348 October 18 THE DIAL are to believe the journal already quoted, for: The representatives of the United States and Japan, after communicating with their Governments, deemed the decla- rations of the Supreme Ruler to be quite right and meriting full satisfaction. . . . The Allied powers expressed their readiness immediately to increase the volume of all necessary supplies for the army and for the rear to the ex- tent indicated in the Government plan. . . . Accurate or not, the story 'is interesting. Cer- tainly Ambassador Morris reversed his original position and recommended recognition and eco- nomic aid for Kolchak. Certainly, too, the "ne- cessary supplies" have been dispatched regularly from Pacific ports to the reactionary forces that have become our special charge. It has remained for the direct actionists of the Pacific coast to make the first effective effort to stop the murderous busi- ness that has reduced our liberals to wet-eyed im- potence. Two methods of breaking the blockade suggest themselves. The United States Government may buy the war material, handle it with military labor, and float it in army transports; so far as is known, this proceedure has not yet been attempted. Or the munitions trade may- be left in private hands, and military labor and military bottoms may be used to move the goods. Secretary Baker certainly recognizes the possibilities of this type of indirect action, for it is reported that he has recommended that a bill be introduced into Con- gress authorizing the War Department to carry commercial cargoes on army transports. But even if the bill is passed it is possible that shipments of munitions may be tied up by a refusal of the railroad workers to move the material from the factories to the ports. And the Administration will hardly dare to propose the militarization of the railways, even in Kolchak's cause. It is no peculiarity of the steel strike that it lends itself to description in terms of the battle- field. What is alarming in the present situation is the tendency of the government to single out the strikers as the enemy. That tendency unfor- tunately gives support to all the syndicalist doc- trines which Mr. W. Z. Foster affected to repu- diate before the Senate Committee. It is not enough that milltown officials should preserve the kind of law and order favorable to the steel cor- porations' view of the strike, by prohibiting pub- lic meetings and recklessly breaking into private ones, and thus creating a spurious identity be- tween public and private interests. Nor is it enough that the Pennsylvania State Constabulary should deliberately provoke bloodshed on the strictly Prussic ground that peaceable public con- sultations are given inherently to disorder. In order to prove conclusively to the strikers the impartiality of the Federal Government and the lofty neutrality of the state, the Department of Justice arrived on the scene at an early stage and put into operation the machinery whereby the commonplaces of sociology and politics, in the mouth of a foreign leader, become punishable as sedition and incitement to riot. On top of the gratuitous Federal activity in the steel centers, came the announcement from Washing- ton of a new policy of employing the military arm: a War Department order that places the com- mandants of Federal army districts at the immedi- ate call of state governors, without having the re- quest countersigned at Washington. In connection with race rioting such a move would seem sufficient- ly innocent, although this new association of mili- tary and civil authority in a strictly local situattion is sufficiently a departure from the American tradi- tion to tempt the historian to inquire whether every Waterloo brings a Peterloo inevitably in its wake. But the use of the Federal troops in the Gary dis- trict under the same terms that permitted their em- ployment in Omaha is an invidious reflection against the working population. As indicative of the animus of the Federal Government this would be a grave enough indictment of the new method of dealing with "disorder." But this is not alL The direct action of Federal troops divorces the power of the Federal Government from the re- sponsibility of exercising that power prudently: the reckless institution of martial law and military infringements of constitutional guarantees now rest solely in the discretion of local authorities whose infirmity in keeping within constitutional bounds is already notorious. Is there anything to differentiate democratic twentieth century America's way of dealing with industrial disputes ftom that of oligarchic nineteenth century Eng- land? Is Wood an improvement on Wellington? Is public authority in America disinterested and enlightened and humane and above all—neutral? The worker who began the strike as a disciple of Herbert Spencer in the belief that the state was merely a nuisance might well, in the light of these provocations, come out of it as a follower of Sorel in the conviction that the state was an active enemy. This is the deplorable upshot of the steel strike. In comparison with it the in- dustrial results are insignificant. EDITORS Martyn Johnson Oswald W. Knauth Robert Morss Lovett Helen Marot Thorstein Veblen Associates Clarence Britten Lewis Mumford Geroid Robinson . 1919 349 THE DIAL Communications The Belgian-Dutch Quarrel Sm: The publication of the fake dispatch about a Belgian-Dutch rupture has given occasion for all sorts of untrue and insulting comment on the part Holland has played during the war and since the armistice and especially in the course of her present negotiations with Belgium. As a matter of fact, I find upon my return in this coun- try that no European neutral had received such shabby and unfair treatment in the American press as Holland. Every morning, one can find one or two in just "digs at the Hague Government, coupled with silly charges that the Dutch people are "pro-German" and as some witty writer put it the other day "in the pay of Potsdam." It is difficult to discover why such indignities should have been piled on the Dutch, while the other neutrals of Europe, some of whom maintained a most questionable attitude throughout the war, are being treated with every kid-gloved courtesy. The present negotiations which are being con- ducted under the watchful regard of the Big (are they really so big?) Five (are there really five?) with the object of reshuffling the treaties of 1839 can be considered as a case in point. Little is knewn outside Belgium and Holland of these treaties of 1839, little is known in America re- garding the Belgian claims and the Dutch attitude, rnd yet everybody considers that Belgium must be in the right, and Holland in the wrong, without further ado. The matter, roughly, is one in which both parties could reach a satisfactory solution, were it not for the activities of a clique of im- perialists, active both in Holland and Belgium, who cannot be content, so they say, with arbitra- tion and insist on wanting "the whole hog, or none."" What does Belgium watit of Holland? Simply the control over the mouth of the Scheldt, and a frontier rectification along the Meuse. I pur- posely say "Belgium" and not the Belgian ex- tremists, who hope not only that Belgium will rule the waves of both rivers, but that she will an- nex vast portions of Holland, where staunch and patriotic Hollanders live in the hope of dying as Hollanders too. It is quite true—and nobody even in Holland denies it—that the treaties of 1839 should be remodelled, especially as they were based on the understanding that Belgium should re- main "perpetually neutral." The neutrality of Bel- gium is dead. Therefore the treaties which found their origin and their raison d'etre in this neutrality must perforce be adapted to the present novel con- ditions. Under the former treaties, Holland was granted a sort of right of police over the lower Scheldt; the Belgians now claim that Antwerp, their only large harbor, was thereby placed under a serious physical disadvantage. But is this quite true? Had not Antwerp, even under that "seri- ous physical disadvantage," become before the war one of the most important harbors of Europe? Had it not forestalled Rotterdam and Bremen and Marseilles? How could that have been pos- sible if the Dutch had really misused their rights over the lower Scheldt with a selfish view of harming Antwerp to help Rotterdam, their new leading harbor? I lived many years in Belgium before the war and never heard any com- plaint regarding the manner in which the Dutch exercised their sovereignty over the mouth of the Scheldt. These complaints became loud only after the armistice. Why? Simply because it would be easy to persuade the Big Five to au- thorize the annexation by Belgium of the portion of Zeelandish Flanders comprised between the Belgian-Dutch frontier and the lower Scheldt if a case could be made out against the Dutch for misusing their privileges over the mouth of that great river and if it could be proven that Belgium had suffered greatly at the hands of a greedy, self- ish, and inconsiderate neighor. Of course one of these charges against Holland is a by-product of the war itself. Belgium ac- cuses Holland of having kept the Scheldt closed ever since the war began, thereby making it im- possible for the Allies to relieve Antwerp. It is quite true that Holland did that, and truer still that she had to do it, and that this attitude was incumbent upon her as a consequence of her neu- trality. Had Holland's closing of the Scheldt been contrary to the stipulations of existing treat- ies or to international law nobody doubts that the Allies would have found some means of forc- ing her into another attitude. Holland, in acting as she did, simply did her duty as a neutral power. And the fulfilment of that duty, curiously enough, may have handicaped the Belgians during the siege of Antwerp (though every military ex- pert will tell you that it would have been impos- sible for the British fleet steaming up to Ant- werp to prevent the capture of the city), but it handicaped the Germans to a far greater degree, for with the Scheldt closed by neutral Holland, Antwerp could not be made a submarine base. With regard to the Meuse, the situation is dif- ferent. The configuration of the Belgian-Dutch frontier through Limburg is ill-adapted to Bel- gium's military defence. But the Meuse area in dispute includes the city of Maastricht, which is Dutch and wants to remain Dutch, and it also includes Holland's only coal mines, without which Holland cannot maintain an independent indus- trial existence. It is very kind of the Belgians to offer Holland in exchange of the Maastricht enclave a slice of Germany, which Holland does not want. The statesmen at The Hague contend that if Europe is going to rebuild on the basis of self-determination for all nationalities, the annexa- tion of Zeelandish Flanders and of portions of 350 October 18 THE DIAL Dutch Limburg by Belgium on the plea of com- mercial and military necessity would be an act of gross injustice and of unquestioned political im- morality. Therefore, Holland has opposed a absolute non possumus to any proposal for the annexation of Dutch territory, with or without ''compensations." Holland is only too anxious to "speak" with Belgium in a cordial and open way, and there should be many responsible statesmen in Belgium who share Holland's moderate and fair views. But it seems that for some time moderation, which used to be a Belgian quality, had been Hndiscov- erable in Brussels, as a consequence of Belgium's share in a glorious victory. This is not sur- prising, but it is regrettable. If moderation can not induce some of the Belgian annexationists to discuss the whole problem with the Dutch, the rememberance of the exceptional kindness and generosity shown to the Belgians who took refuge in Holland during the war should certainly help in that direction. Holland in that respect certainly did wonders, in spite of the great and painful hardships she herself suffered through the double blockade by England and Germany. In spite of that precarious position "between the hammer and the anvil," Holland oudid all other neutrals in helpfulness and warm-hearted generosity. It is now up to the Belgians to deal with Holland with the greatest fairness, to discuss with her the grave European problems that confront both nations in a spirit of wisdom, moderation, and honesty, if not actually of thankfulness. Holland is ready for that discussion, on condition that Belgium does not demand her to cut her throat to please her neighbors. Belgium has fought magnificently for the highest principles that rule international rela- tionship between civilized peoples. It is up to her to live up to these principles, among which self-determination is the first and foremost, and to find (with the help and even, if need be, with the cordial pressure of the great powers) a solu- tion by which Belgium and Holland can live at peace without the rights of one Dutch citizen hav- ing been violated, and without one frontier mile- stone having been removed. Rene Feibelman. New York City. After Us the Deluge Sir: Can you not forget the Peace Treaty, Wilson, and other inconsequential matters for a day and give a little attention to the more im- portant matter of the weather. We had forty-three rainy days last month and more than •thirty Mar- blehead washerwomen committed suicide. If this thing keeps on every woman will have to do her own washing and the whole order of creation will thereby be set at naught. Walter C. Hunter. Marblehead, Mass. Notes on New Books Deadham Hard. By Lucas Malet. 503 pages. Dodd, Mead. In this novel, mid-Victorian not only in period but in characters and in handling of materials, the reader follows Damaris Verity through three years of her life. The milestones in her development from an over imaginative child of eighteen to a disillusioned woman of twenty-one are dwelt on in detail and at length. The author educates Da- maris by introducing her abruptly to her father's Byronic past in the shape "of a half-brother, whom she learns to love dearly; by bringing into her life, for a social mentor, an old flame of her father's; by the death of her father and finally by a love affair with his old friend. Out of all this Damaris emerges, still a mid-Victorian heroine and one not likely to interest and convince readers much beyond her own age. She has too little of the brave quality demanded by the public of today. Indeed, in many respects, there seems little difference between the Damaris of eighteen who faints and develops a high fever when Darcy Faircloth announces that he is her brother and the Damaris of twenty-one who gives way to fits of jealousy and anger and who cannot face death. When her dying father sends for her and says, "My affairs are in order," Damaris shrinks piteously and expostulates, "Oh! But must we, are we obliged to speak of those things? They grate on me—they are ugly. They hurt." As in Sir Richard Calmady there seems to be a straining after unpleasant incident. In this connection, as in many others, the author states her own philo- sophy: Most of us are so constituted that at a certain put pleasure—of a sort—is to be derived from witnessing tilt anguish of a fellow creature. And when Damaris lies overcome by grief, the lines of her gracious body outlined by the embroidered linen quilt, her father, contemplating her grief, "found indeed a strangely vital, if somewhat cruel satisfaction in looking on at it" The construction, too, has a tendency to lead down blind alleys. Tom Verity, who enters the second chapter with all the attendant circumstance of a hero, holds the scene for fifty pages and then drops out. Once thereafter a letter from him causes Damaris to blush, and he is among those present at a funeral in the last chapter, but that is alL Darcy Faircloth, the brother, sails away to Japan. Still there are vivid touches, the ghostly atmosphere of the old house is well produced and a genuine feeling for nature runs through the book. Much care has gone to the portrayal of character, so that the men and women run true to Victorian type and form in their humorless blending of shocked pro- priety with an easy acceptance of the sowing and reaping of the wild-oat crop. 1919 351 THE DIAL The Open Court Series of Mathematical Books Lectures on the Philosophy of Mathematics. By James Byrnie Shaw. 193 pages. Cloth $1.50 Mr. Shaw has surveyed the whole field of mathematics, its imperishable truth, its utilitarian value, and its success in stimulating the growth of the power of in* vention. Non-Euclidean Geometry. A critical and historical study of its development by Roberto Bonola. Authorized EnglUh translation with additional appendices by H. S. Carslaw, professor at the University of Sydney, N.S.W., and an introduction by Federigo Enriques, professor in the University of Bologna. 12.00. The Works of William Oughtred. 'By Florian Cajori. Cloth, $1.00. William Oughtred was a seventeenth-century divine who followed mathematics as a pastime. He taught mathe- matics to a seleot number of pupils, two of whom were Christopher Wren and Isaac Newton; and he invented a number of mathematical instruments, among them the slide rule. Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers. By George Cantor. Translated and provided with an introduction and notea by Philip E. B. Jourdain, H. A. Cloth. $1.25. The Geometrical Lectures of Isaac Barrow. Translated from a first edition oopy by J. M. Childs, B. A., Cloth, $1.00. The translator claims to have dis* covered in these lectures an absolutely complete ele* mentary treatise on the infinitesimal calculus. Foundations of Mathematics. By Dr. Paul Carus. Cloth, 75c. The enormous significance of the formal sciences makes it desirable that anyone who attempts to philosophize should understand the nature of mathematics. The Algebra of Logic. By Louis Couturat. Cloth, $1.50. The primary significance of a symbolic calculus seems to lie in the economy of mental effort. Essays on Numbers. By Richard Dedekind. 75c Two essays which attempt to supply a scientific founda- tion for arithmetic. Translated by W. W. Beman. On the Study and Difficulty of Mathematics. By A. De Morgan. Cloth, $1.25. This book treats the various points which involve dif- ficulties to beginners, and outlines a course of study for specialists. Elementary Illustrations of the Differential and Integral Calculus. By A. Be Morgan. Cloth, $1.00. The fundamental principles of the calculus and historical illustrations preparatory to the technical reasoning and mechanical process of the science. A Budget of Paradoxes. By A. De Morgan. 2 vols. Cloth, $2.50 each. As a piece of delicious satire upou the efforts of the aquarers of the circle and their kind, there is nothing else in English literature that is quite so good. The Science Absolute of Space. By Janos Bolyai. Cloth,. $1.00. Independent of the truth or falsity of Euclid's Axiom XI. Translated from the Latin by George Bruce Halsted. Archimedes' Method of Geometrical Solutions Derived From Mechanics. Recently discovered and translated from the Creek by Dr. J\ L. Heiberg, professor of classical philosophy, at the University of Copenhagen; with an introduction by Prof. David Eugene Smith. Paper 30c. The Problems of Science. By Federigo Enriques. Authorised translation by Kath- erine Royce, with an introduction by Josiah Royce. Cloth |2.50. The most valuable portion of the work is the masterly analysis of the fundamental ideas used in the mathematical and mechanical sciences. A Brief History of Mathematics. By Carl Fink. Cloth, $1.50. A systematic attempt' to show the gTowth of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry. Translated by W. W. Beman and D. E. Smith. On the Foundation and Technic of Arithmetic, By G. B. Halsted. Cloth, $1.00. An enthusiastic and practical presentation of arithmetic for the use of teachers. The Foundations of Geometry. By David Hilbert. Cloth, $1.00. An attempt to choose for geometry a simpler and com- plete set of independent axioms. Translated by E. J. Townsand. Lectures of Elementary Mathematics. By J. L. Lagrange. Cloth, $1.00. A reading book in mathematics by one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived. Translated by T. J. McCormick. Geometrical Researches on the Theory ef Parallels. By Nicholas Lobatsehewski. Translated from the origi- nal by George Bruce Halsted. Illustrated by numerous geometrical figures. Cloth, $1.25. Space and Geometry. By Ernst Mach. Cloth, $1.00. A discussion of the nature, origin and development of out concepts of space, from the points of view of psychology, physics and history. Translated by T. J. McCormick. Fundamental Conceptions of Modern Mathe- matics. By Robert P. Richardson and Edward H. Landle. Cloth, 91.25. This .work doals not with the technicalities of mathematics or with its application as an art, but with the basis for its scientific development. Geometrical Exercises in Paper-Folding. By T. Sundara Row. Cloth, $1.00. The book is simply a revelation in paper.folding. All aorta of things ace dene with the paper square and a large number of geometric figures are constructed and explained in the simpl*»t way. A History of Japanese Mathematics. By David E. Smith and Yoshio Mikami. $2.00. The book show, the nature of the mathematics in- digenous to Japao and will nerve to strengthen the bends that unite the scholars of the world. The History and Root of the Principle of the Conservation of Energy. By Ernst Mach. Translated by Philip E. B. Jourdain. Cloth, $125. Send for a complete catalog of the works of THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 122 South Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois. When writing to advertisers pleats mention Tax Dial. 352 October 18 THE DIAL The Old Madhouse. By William De Morgan. 565 pages. Holt. This is the last addition which the confirmed De Morganite can ever make to the row of fat blue- and-gold. volumes on his shelves. This fact alone would secure respectful treatment for The Old Madhouse, even if it were inferior to its predeces- sors. But it isn't. Except for the first flow of his genius in Joseph Vance, De Morgan never did bet- ter work than this. It reveals no new characteristics, but the old ones are present in undiminished force. It adds, in the person of Nancy Fraser, one more to that group of young women—second in English literature only to Jane Austen's—who are neither brilliant prodigies like Meredith's, nor convention- ignoring goddesses like Hewlett's, but ordinary, lov- able human girls. Mrs. Carteret must rank with Mrs. Nightingale as her author's most sympathetic portrayal of a middle-aged mother; Lucy Snaith is another Delilah like Judith Arkroyd, drawn with remorseless insight. The story, not quite complete when its author died, was finished from his notes by Mrs. De Mor- gan. Her postscript on her husband's method of composition is worth noting: When my husband started on one of his novels, he did so without making any definite plot. He created his char- acters and then waited for them to act and evolve their own plot. In this way the puppets in the show became real living personalities to him, and he waited, as he expressed it, " to see what they would do next." This suggests a doubt. Is there not a possibility that some contemporary novelists, with their em- phasis on structure, are going wrong—are tending to produce something analogous to the "well-built" plays of Eugene Scribe? The Old Madhouse, as a a matter of fact, has a more closely knit plot than most of De Morgan's novels, but "no one is going to remember it, any more than one remembers the plot—if there is any—of Vanity Fair. But when we contrast the extraordinary vitality of the people created by De Dorgan and the great Victorians with the carefully-painted puppets who so neatly per- form the actions required of them by the plot of the well-built modern novel, we cannot escape at least a momentary suspicion that De Morgan, in placing character first, has chosen the better part. A Childhood in Brittany Eighty Years Ago. By Anne Douglas Sedwick. 224 pages. Cen- tury. In this "little sheaf of childish memories" the author has set down the recollections of an old French friend. There is none of the subtlety of Tante or The Encounter here; only a charming simplicity with the exquisite clearness of a silhou- ette. Not the least of its charm is the personality of the little girl of eighty years ago. One sees in her both the beautiful, high-spirited mother and her gay, imperturbable father. Sophie is sweet and wilful, dainty and democratic. She enjoys the so- ciety—and the black bread and butter—of old Kersiflan, the lodge keeper, quite as much as 6he likes being the pet of the great Marquis de L., who plays his flute for her and teaches her to enter a room gracefully. Her memories of the people of her childhood are very vivid, and her character drawing is delicate and sure. Just as present in her mind are the high-heeled slippers of Tante Rose, the border of golden oak leaves on Grand- father de Rosval's cloak and the orange velvet in which bonne maman looked like an old fairy. She recalls with zest the delicious Breton crepes made of malaga-flavored batter and the roasted sheep's tails on silver spits . No doubt her memory of the grass, which her cousin Jules insisted she learn to eat to be ready in case of famine, is even more vivid. The keen, restrained humor of the telling is quite Gallic. It is not one story but many. It is like an old brocade with the sun shining suddenly and warmly upon it, bringing out the many-colored silk threads and the intricate pattern woven into an exquisite whole. Paul de Leslie's illustrations, delicate of line and with few and salient details, are in sympathy with the text. The Heart's Domain. By Georges Duhamel. Translated by Eleanor Stimson Brooke. 199 pages. Century. The New Book of Martyrs. By Georges Du- hamel. Translated by Florence Simmons. 221 pages. Doran. Compagnons. By Georges Duhamel. 125 pages. Nouvelle Revue Francaise, Paris. Readers of Bertrand Russell may cite Georges Duhamel as a conspicuous example of the recovery of the human soul in the face of a staggering uni- verse. Living four years in a world of intensified malignity, he returns, not with the sap of his soul dried up, but with it flowing richer and freer than ever. He has recoiled with a complete denial from an industrial and scientific civilization to take refuge in the interior life, in the cultivation of the soul. In the midst of nauseating wounds he has pro- claimed anew the will-to-happiness. "Happiness is not only the aim, the reason of life: it is its prov- ince, its expression, its essence. It is life itself. Happiness, you are the aim and reason for my ex- istence. I know that even in my tears." True riches, he decided while his ears were still assaulted by cannon-roars, are the quiet virtues of the soul. And he develops at length the last sentence of his previ- ous book, Civilization—that civilization must be found in the heart of man. Mankind has heard this message many times before, but the force, the fer- vor, the contagious conviction with which Duhamel utters it has not been exemplified for a long time. The New Book of Martyrs, taken as a whole, is even more convincing than the earlier books, but it still falls somewhat short of the possibilities of the subject. To do full justice to so tremendous a 1919 353 THE DIAL The Story of the Effect of the War on One Man's Mind and Spirit LIGHT by the author of UNDER FIRE Henri Barbusse SI.90 net. Over a year ago, Mr. Erneit Poole wrote: "By all odds the moit significant book I have read in the la«t year is UNDER FIRE. That seems to tower above all war stories that have yet been written. And still I feel that the greatest stories of the war will not be written in this vein. . . . Though the author shows again and again that if he cares to he can give the most terribly revealing glimpses into the soul of a man, ... he seems to keep showing us masses. ... I think that a greater novel will be written by an author who will say "the most significant thing of the war is the story of its effect on one man's mind and spirit," and I shall be very greatly surprised if some one of the Russian writers—perhaps one we have never heard of yet—does not write this book for which I am waiting." Meanwhile M. Barbusse himself has written that greater novel FICTION Lad: A Dog By ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE. "How any lover of the collie can let a day go by without securing a copy of this work is beyond us."—Field and Fancy. $2.00 The Street of Adventure By PHILIP GIBBS, based upon his own early adventure into the life of Fleet Street, the newspaper centre of the world. New ed. $1.90 The Man With the Lamp By JANET LAING. Involves interesting char- acters, touched off with rich humor, in a most ingenious and uncommon plot. $1.90 The Betrayers By HAMILTON DRUMMOND. A brilliant historical novel of the 13th century struggle in which Pope Innocent IV. laid the curse of the Church on Freder- ick II., a scene finely described. $1.90 The Homestead By ZEPHINE HUMPHREY. The restraint which an inherited home may exert is indicated with a delicacy and insight that has real charm. $1.90 Little Houses By GEORGE WODEN. "A splendid first novel," says the New York Sun, com- menting on its maturity of observation, interest and admirable handling of inci- dents. $1.90 Silver and Gold By DANE COOLIDGE. Fairly dripping with genuine Western local color and humor. A capital story. $1.75 MISCELLANEOUS Art and the Great War By ALBERT EUGENE GALLATIN. An im- portant record of the vital art of the war years. Illustrated with 100 full-page plates, three of them in color. $15.00 The War in Cartoons Compiled and edited by GEORGE J. HECHT. One hundred cartoons which present the high lights of the war's progress and are representative of America's most prominent cartoonists $2.50 The Little Flowers of St. Francis Translated by THOMAS OKEY, with 30 plates in full color from the famous drawings by EUGENE BURNAND. A work of exquisite beauty. In press. The France I Know By WINIFRED STEPHENS. Contrasts of yesterday and today are here so group- ed as to suggest the France of tomor- row. K00 A Dog Day: or The Angel in the House By WALTER EMANUEL. Illustrated by CECIL ALDIN. To be fully appreciated only by the owners of an energetic pup stuffed with curiosity. $1.00 The Labor Situation in Great Britain and France The report of the "Commission on Foreign Inquiry," sent by the National Civic Federation in 1919, to investigate the labor situation abroad. $2.50 The Anatomy of Society By GILBERT CANNAN. A series of brilliant studies of modern society, its defects and its conservative forces. $2.00 MARE NOSTRUM By vicente blasco ibanez The critics say of.it— The Mediterranean is every bit as fascinating a heroine as one can imagine in a novel.—Chicago Post. Comparable to nothing we have ever read of the sea, and as a novel it is tremendous.—New York Tribune. We like it immensely.—Chicago Daily News. »i°° POSTAGE EXTRA ALL PRICES NET E. P. DUTT0N & COMPANY 681 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK When writing to advertisers please mention The Dial. 354 October 18 THE DIAL sacrifice is beyond the art of man, but M. Duhamel fails to equal even the dubious adequacy of Andre Fribourg's Croire. Still, there is a simple, poignant realism in this collection of sketches of the pano- rama of pain and fortitude witnessed by a French military surgeon that goes far to compensate for the irritating style in which it is written. M. Du- hamel knows the tortured life he portrays, and only those who have gazed upon the same suffering can realize how terribly real it is, this "learning to live in Death's company." He has trodden those gloomy corridors carpeted with pain, between the long rows of cots laden with despair; and the stories he tells of the sufferers, these martyrs of a new age, are not mere fictions: they are genuine, heartrend- ing planges dc vie, of a life terrible to contemplate, told with a rare simplicity and lighted by a splen- did sympathy. They are a new Ave, Caesar, mori- turi te salutant. Nietzsche says that suffering en- nobles: and surely it is no common nobility to which their martyrdom has raised these men. It is a spiritual exaltation that fills their souls and tran- scends the sordidity and the commonplaces of their lives, and imparts to them a higher vision which they feel within them even if they cannot under- stand it. M. Duhamel has seen these things in the dying eyes of his countrymen, and he passes them on to us in The New Book of Martyrs. In contrast to the constructive but gloomy irony of Civilization and the rather patent pathos of La Vie des Martyrs, the simplicity and sympathy with which his little volume of poems, Compagnons, is written are a delightful change. In it he is purely the poet of the people, a sort of French Whitman, free from all the barbarity of the American poet, and imbued with the delicate touch of his late com- rade in arms, Francois Coppee. For that very reason, however, Duhamel is likely to be lost to the American public. Inspired as he is with the doctrines of Whitman, he lacks the latter's verbose strength to hammer his way into recognition; his national characteristic exhibits itself too profoundly in a sort of maladive super-sympathy with his fel- lowmen for his voice to be heard long above the noise and clatter of American industry. Yet his poetry is distinctly the poetry of the laboring man, the poetry of human sympathy; in his own words it is the poetry of "cordiality." It is not the form nor the nuance that Duhamel seeks, it is the naked truth, and that truth, itself, has no significance for him unless it be universal. His book, Compagnons, might be considered as the logical reaction against the estrangement which has developed between modern man and his fallows, as a direct protest against the creation df a human automaton which performs its social functions without any special regard for the other members of its society. Du- hamel attains his purpose through a medium purged of all superfluity, a medium of verse reduced to the fundamentals of grace and simplicity. In the poet- ry of Compagnons suggestion and symbolism are everything, the words themselves have little or no direct connotation. Yet Duhamel is no doctrinaire, he belongs to no fixed school of thought. He is merely a poet of the awakened conscience, preach- ing the doctrines of a regenerate Christianity. John Stuyvesant and Others. By Alvin Johnson. 252 pages. Harcourt, Brace and Howe. This is a group of short stories, shorter stories, and sketches. The longest and most fully developed is the first, John Stuyvesant Ancestor. In this, as in the others, the emphasis is heaviest on character, with a social problem lurking in the background. John Stuyvesant is a most lovable baby, rather too summarily dismissed when the plot no longer needs him. The irritable, doggedly well-doing school principal who resents any intrusion upon his work finds his very foundations overturned at last when his intelligent wife refuses to fit any longer into his preconceived plan of things. Their "circle" with its footless discussions conjures up rare pic- tures—Miss Piatt, for instance, going through the eugenics report "like a bandsaw ripping through a log, knots and all." The plot is slight. Indeed throughout the book, plot is. a negligible factor. Some of the sketches dispense with it altogether, substituting a point in- stead, and driving it home with well-placed blows. The woman question is the theme of a bit of keen satire in Suh-Ho in Praise of Footbinding. The same problem is touched upon sympathetically in several sketches. Its eternal obstacles come in for a good-natured buffeting in Phyllis the Feminist and Ivan the Terrible. Carnegied and The Molting of Alcibiades reveal another phase of natural law—the impossibility of being original about growing old. Alcibiades' revolt over having all his actions pre- determined and labeled as the ones to be expected in a man past his prime is pathetic. Mr. Johnson has evidently been reading humanity for a long time and at close range. He has, be- sides, a trained intuition, the gift of swift, illuminat- ing definition and description. There is no waste diction, no straining after points. He introduces us to a number of people, most of them at outs with the world as they find it, and all of them dealt with from the standpoint of the social re- former, who pigeonholes people as so many social problems. Thus we meet the feminist, the liberal, the mob, the professor, the inventor, and even "the" poor Indian. We are reminded of the Bab Ballad: Come, step it, thirty-eight, And thirty-eight steppad out. Still the people of the stories are not merely stock samples of the human race. They possess indi- viduality in spite of their habit of falling readily into classes. Like his Gustav, Kieselbacher, Mr. Johnson "sees things double, science and life." 1919 355 THE DIAL James Branch Cabell's Newest Book J u r g e n "In the old days lived a pawnbroker named Jurgen: but what his wife called him wot often very much worse than that. She was a hith-spirited woman, with no especial gift for silence." So begins this high-hearted story of Mr. Cabell's. And the tale tells how, through the agency of a certain Black Gentleman, not always well spoken of, this wife of JURCEN'S disappears; and how the pawnbroker went in search of her. JURGEN wanders, clad in a mystic shirt presented lo him by a centaur, throughout his own past and in many coun* tries, searching for justice and rationality, and always find- ing adventure. He outwits sorcerers and gods and devils; he struts imposingly at the Court of Gogyrvan Cawr, the father of Guenevcre; he gets the love of many women; and in the end he gains not that which all men seek, but what the wise attain. JURGEN is an extravaganza, a satire, a Milesian tale— compounded of deft fancy and gaiety and verbal beauty, with not a little of curious innuendo hidden in its pages. To the perceptive reader it will be something more than this—a mocking but not bitter large parable, representing tbe finest work of one of the most highly gifted of living American writers. Price $2.00 net. At All Book Stores Publishers Robert M. McBride & Co. new york Napoleon A Play By Herbert Trench Of this play the London Times remarks: "Quick in action, variegated in scene, punctuated with moments of crisis and expectancy, its eloquence never sinks into rodomontade; its characters never mere puppets. Mr. Trench's Napoleon is, in- deed, a fine achievement, clearly con- ceived, with a moving and heroic story and characters." Net $2.00 Oxford University Press American Branch 35 west 32d street NEW YORK "C2 NEW HARPER BOOKS THE PROMISES OF ALICE By MARGARET DELAND Ad exquisite romance for those who still thrill to the scent of lavender and old lace—for those who would he glad to escape for an hour from this noisy modern world into a quiet corner of an old New England town. $1.40 THE YELLOW TYPHOON By HAROLD MacGRATH The public has learned to expect from Harold MacGrath amusement, thrill and unfailing interest in a novel. This new story lives up to ah expectations. The Yellow Ty- phoon, from whom it takes its name, is a woman, a strangely beautiful, strangely wicked woman who, it de- velops, has a double as good as she herself is wicked. 11.60 THE STORY HISTORY OF FRANCE By JOHN BONNER Mr. Bonner tells the story of France from the earliest days down to tbe signing of the armistice—tells it with an emphasis on the human interest that makes of the usual dry chronicle of events a living narrative with the fascination of well-written fiction. Several hundred illus- trations. 11.75 THE IMMORTAL FLAME By MARIE BJELKJE PETERSEN Miss Petersen, a popular Australian authoress hithero un- known in America, has created a new and fascinating heroine of fiction in lima Folkestone, a delightful Eng- lish woman whose cha,rm was felt in two hemispheres. Frontispiece. Post 8v*. Cloth, 11.60. THE BROKEN SOLDIER AND THE MAID OF FRANCE By HENRY VAN DYKE Out of the beautiful myth that th« soldiers of France have often been led and inspired on the battlefield by tbe vision of Joan of Arc, Dr. Henry vsn Dyke has woven a tale of rare spiritual qual.ty. Illustrated in color. Post 8vo. $1.25. Illustrated. 16mo. 60 cents. THE FIRST PIANO IN CAMP By SAM DAVIS Every one in the West knew Sam Davis, and this story that is now put into book form for the first time has made for itself a place almost like that of Bret Hartc's "Luck of Roaring Camp." It has been translated into many foreign languages, and thousands have laughed and cried over it. Illustrated. 11.75 HOW ANIMALS TALK By WILLIAM J. LONG Do amiuals talk? Dr. William J. Long say* they do, and his assertion is based on long and scieatific observation. He believes in tbe common spiritual inheritance >--f animal and man, and he shows us tbe great affinity between them by showing us the real selves of the animals. Illustrated, 93.00. HARPER & BROTHERS Establi.hed 1817 When writing lo advertiicn plena mention The Dial. 356 October 18 THE DIAL Books of the Fortnight The Troth about China and Japan, by B. L. Putnam Weale (248 pages; Dodd, Mead), throws pro-Chinese reinforcements into the battle of words that rages around Shantung. The diplomatic background of today's discussion is described with some care, and the account is supplemented with reprints of the Lansing-Ishii notes and numerous Skio-Japanese state papers of recent date. Review later. The Awakening of Asia, by H. M. Hyndman (280 pages; Boni & Liveright), was written before the Brit- ish post-war seizures in Asia and Africa marked a new and monstrous development of imperialism. And yet the author warns Europe against the coming of the great revenge, when the tide that threatened for a thousand years to sweep European civilization into the Atlantic will set westward again. Review later. The New Map of Asia, by Herbert Adams Gibbons (571 pages; Century), asks—and answers—the question: Can a man believe in "the white man's burden"— with all that this phrase implies—and at the same time condemn what we fought Germany to destroy? Review later. Nationalities in Hungary, by Andre de Hevesy (247 pages; T. Fisher Unwin, London), draws a not alto- gether sound analogy between the Entente's partition of Hungary and the reconstruction of Poland by these same powers. The author believes that the solution of the Hungarian problem lies not in enforced integra- tion or in wholesale partition, but in the formation of a United States of the Danube. Textually and mechanically the volume bears the marks of a propa- gandist publication. The Powers and Aims of Western Democracy, by William Milligan Sloane (489 pages; Scribner), is a survey of political facts and theories in which the scholarship of Gibbon is used to justify prejudices of Grubb Street. Review later. Municipal Government, by Frank J. Goodnow and Frank G. Bates (453 pages; Century), is the second edition of a book that has held its own in its field for a whole decade. In spite of revision in the chap- ters dealing with finance, home rule, public utilities, and so forth Municipal Government is not up to date in political theory, and it now stands in need of a more searching criticism than it was possible to give the first edition. Review later. The New Spirit in Industry, by F. Ernest Johnson (95 pages; Association Press), is indicative of the new spirit in the churches. It is a breathless, rapid-fire guide to labor and industrial problems—an abridged Baedeker to the new world. In considering Professor Albion Small's plea for a commission to study indus- trial disputes the author takes for granted that the commission would be composed of men "whose chief qualification is not economic training or industrial ex- pertness, but so to say, ethical expertness." A pro- posal which seems to indicate that the Church is innocent enough of scientific method to seek to blow down the walls of capitalism with a trumpet and build Jerusalem out of a prayer. Bolshevism and Social Revolt, by Daniel Dorchester (124 pages; Abingdon Press), supplies an ecclesiastic- al diadem for the new Divine Right of Kings. "Priv- ate property," says the author, "has a divine sanction and is one of the oldest of human institutions." Memoirs of the Russian Revolution, by George V. Lomonossoff (87 pages; Rand School), collects note* set down during the revolution of March 1917, when the author, by reason of his connection with the Revo- lutionary forces, had ample opportunity to observe the earliest activities of the Provisional Government. Treitschke's History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century, Volume VI, translated by Eden and Cedar Paul (670 pages; McBride), rovesi discursively over the period of 1830 to 1845, dealing principally with German home policy in its political aspects. Review later. The Crime, by the author of I Aceuse (Vols. HI and IV, 713 pages; Doran). The first two volumes of this work, previously published, dealt with Germany's war responsibility. The new volume, on War Aims, cen- cerns itself chiefly with the utterances of Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg? and brings the discussion down to the end of September 1917. Volume IV deals with the German propagandist use of Belgian state papers captured in Brussels. What the War Teaches about Education, by Ernest Carroll Moore (334 pages; Macmillan), makes the discovery that only education can make democracy safe for the world. One is surprised at the admission that a victory for the Entente was not in itself suffi- cient for the accomplishment of this high aim. But this surprise vanishes when it is revealed that the ideals set forth by the President in his message to the members of the Students Army Training Corps are to be those of America's after-the-war kultur. Review later. The Life and Letters of James Monroe Taylor: The Biography of an Educator, by Elizabeth Hazelton Haight (391 pages; Button), increases the documenta- tion of the past generation by revealing the more obvi- ous intimacies of one who was President of Vassar College, 1886—1914. From Midshipman to Rear-Admiral, by Rear-Admir- al Bradley A. Fiske (693 pages; Century), recounts the experiences of an official career covering the half- century during which "navies have increased more than a hundredfold ... in the amount of destructive power they can exert." Admiral Fiske admits that he contributed a great deal to this development—con- tributed much more than Secretary Daniels, whose inadequacies the Admiral discusses very frankly. Theodore Roosevelt: An Intimate Biography, by 'Wil- liam Roscoe Thayer (474 pages; Houghton Mifflin), offers little to justify its sub-title but the bare fact of acquaintance. It adds to that stream of Roosevel- tiana which never overflows the conventional banks of his personality. Review later. Bill Sewall's Story of T. R., by William Wingate Sew- all (116 pages; Harper), is an account of the Master, shortly to be canonized by the Memorial Commission, as related by one of the original apostles of his great- ness, a Maine guide. Artemus Ward: A Biography and a Bibliography, by Don. C. Seitz (338 pages; Harper), is the first com- plete biography of the man whose spelling is comically familiar in every American household. There is no evidence however that Charles Farrar Browne would ever, in the event of a longer life, have approached the depths plumbed by Mark Twain. 1919 357 THE DIAL LEO TOLSTOY'S The Pathway of Life (In Two Volume*). Translated by Archibald J. Wolfe "THE PATHWAY OF LIFE" la Tolstoy** posthumous mes- sage to a war-torn Buffering world. It ia the Coapel of right li-ving and right thinking and offera the great philosopher** panacea againit world warn and misery, helping mankind to eradicate all thoae false feelings, desire* and doctrine*, personal, social, economic and religion*, which are reaponaible for the prevent plight of humanity. Price 12.00 each volume. International Book Publishing Co. 5 Beckman Street, New York CHIMNEY-POT PAPERS Essays by Charles S. Brooks Author of "Journey* to Bagdad'* and "There's Pippin* anil Cheese to Come." 12.00 Set of three volumes attractively boxed, 96.00 YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS New Haven, Conn. 280 Madison Atc, N. Y. Whatever book you want has it, or will get it. We buy old, rare books, and sets of books NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA '^^Sy&jL 'P«vs2^^^ * //yryj'l ^*tffr\ /QsV/6*Av i^wl^ i§l§5l22$ mSfosLiii tSw N§^$!/i [—'iZm'SSra/ '-j THE NATION Published Weekly THE DIAL Published Fortnightly Joint Offer GOOD UNTIL DEC. 31, 1919 $5.50 Per Year These two famous periodicals are neces- sary supplements to each other. You heed them both. After January 1, 1920, the Subscription Price of The Nation will be $5.00, and of The Dial, $4.00 THE DIAL, 152 West 13th Street, New York City. Enter my subscription for one year for The Dial and The Nation. I enclose $5.50. This is a new subscription. STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULATION, ETC., REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912. Of The Dial, published fortnightly at New York, N. Y. for October 1, 1919. State of New York, County of New York, as. Before me, a notary public in and for the State and county aforesaid, personally appeared Oswald W. Knauth, who, having been duly sworn arcording to law, deposes and say* that he i* the busino** manager of The Dial, (Dial Publiahing Co., Inc.), and that the following is, to the beat of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management (and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown In the above caption, required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 443, Postal Law* and Regu- lation*, printed on the reverse of this form, to wit: 1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business managers are: Publisher, Martyn Johnson, 27 West 10th St., New York, N. Y.; Editor*, Martyn Johnson, 27 We*t 10th St., New York City; Oswald W. Knauth, 27 West 67th St., New York City; Robert Moras Lovett, University of Chicago, Illinois; Helen Marot, 206 West 13th St., New York City; Thorstein Veblen, Faculty Club, Columbia University, New York City; Managing Editor, none; Business Manager, Oswald W. Knauth, 27 West 67th St., New York City. 2. That the owners are: (Give name* and addresses of individual own- ers, or, if a corporation, give its name and the names and addresses of stockholders owning or holding 1% or more of the total amount of stock) The Dial Publishing Company, Inc., 152 W. 13th St., New York, N. Y.; Martyn Johnson, 27 W. 10th St., New York. N. Y.; Willard C. Kitchell, 1651 Marquette Bldg., Chicago, 111.; Sconcld Thayer, 80 Wash- ington Square. New York, N. Y.; Marion C. Ingcrsoll, 149 S. Oxford St., Brooklyn. N. Y-, Agnea Brown Leach, 25 W. 45th St., New York, N. Y.; Henry Goddard Leach, 25 W. 45th St., New York, N. Y.; Frederick Lynch, 70 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y.; Guatave K. Cam*, La Salle, 111. 3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent, or more of total amount of bond*, mort- gage*, or other securities are (if there are none, so state): Scofield Thayer, 80 Washington Square, New York City; Martyn Johnson, 27 West 10th St., New York City; Edward F. Sanderson, People's Institute, 70 Fifth Ave., New York City; Willard C. Kitchel, 1651 Marquette Bldg., Chicago. 111.; Helen Marot, 206 W. 13th St., New York City. 4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the name* of the owner*, stock holders, and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of *tockholder* and security holders as they appear upon the books of the company but alio, in cases where the stock holder or security hold- er appear* upon tho books of the company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom auch trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two paragraph* contatn state- ment* embracing affiant's full knowledge and belief a* to the cicrumstance* and conditions under which stockholder* aod tecurity holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees, hold stock and securi- ties in a capacity otbei than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no resson to believa that any other person, association, or corporation has any intesest direct or indirect in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than so stated by him. 5. That the average number of copies of each issue of this publication •old or distributed, through the mail* or otherwise, to paid subscriber* during the six months proceding tho date shown above is (this informa- tion is required from daily publications.) OSWALD W. KNAUTH. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 20th day of September, 1919. Charles A. Benedict, Notary Public. New York Country, N. Y. (Seal) My commission expire* March 30, 1921. When writing to adVertison plasM mention The Dial. 358 October 18 THE DIAL The Heart's Domain, by Georges Duhamel, translated by Eleanor Stimson Brooks (199 pages; Century), is reviewed on page 352. Books and Things, by Philip Littell (283 pages; Har- court, Brace & Howe; New York), collects a mis- cellany from the author's urbanely gossipy department in The New Republic, a department the more de- lightful for being rather less bookish than thingy. Re- view later. The Theatre Through its Stage Door,by David Belas- co (246 pages; Harper), admits the reader to a realm of business as usual, where self-made actors and actresses win the rewards of ability, loyalty, and industry; one is surprised to find that Mr. Belasco's vocabulary is so largely that of Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. Carnegie. Plays: Second Series, by Jacinto Benavente, translated by John Garrett Underbill (309 pages; Scribner), adds to the already published first series four more plays by the Spanish dramatist: No Smoking, The Governor's Wife, Princess Bebe, and Autumnal Roses. The translator's preface to this volume, which is de- voted primarily to questions of technique, quotes a generous number of the playwright's "maxims and observations on the stage." The two volumes will be reviewed by Williams Haynes in an early issue. The Gibson Upright, by Booth Tarkington and Harry Leon Wilson (117 pages; Doubleday, Page), a play announced for Broadway production this season, was reviewed on page 115 of The Dial for August 9, fol- lowing its serial appearance in The Saturday Evening Post. Pictures of the Floating World, by Amy Lowell (257 pages; Macmillan), is reviewed by Conrad Aiken on page 331.' Haunts and By-Paths and Other Poems, by J. Thorne Smith, Jr. (138 pages; Stokes), is too early in print. There are a few pieces here—as notably Sea Song— which will remain authentic of their maker's genuine, if not strikingly novel, imagery and lilting cadence; there are many passages in which he is fitfully pres- ent; and there is a great deal that might have been written by any not too clumsy apprentice to the poets. At least, the author of Biltmore Oswald has proved himself capable of something more enduring than war humor. A World of Windows, by Charles Hanson Towne (90 pages; Doran.) If, as the jacket informs us, Mr. Towne "is a poet wherever he goes, and in whatever , medium he writes," he has here given himself a great deal of supererogatory pains in rhythm and rhyme. Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell (368 pages; McBride), another narrative extravaganza by America's master ironist, is as blithely fantastic, as shrewdly pointed, and is launched with as impudent a flourish of spurious erudition as any of its pre- decessors. These were discussed by Wilson Follett in The Dial for April 25, 1918. Jurgen will be re- viewed shortly. The Four Roads, by Sheila Kaye-Smith (320 pages; Doran), concerns itself with Sussex in war time, Half a dozen country folk are shown in their relations to the struggle; some of them are redeemed by it, some engulfed and ruined. Miss Kaye-Smith is truthful without being dogmatically pessimistic. Review later. Deadham Hard, by "Lucas Malet"—Mary St. Leger Harrison—(503 pages; Dodd, Mead), is reviewed on page 356. Iron City, by M. H. Hedges (318 pages; Boni & Liv- eright), follows the parallel battle fronts between the old and the new attitudes in industrial and academic life. A first novel, its unusual merits in irony and sound characterization are obscured by familiar faults in direction and handling. Yellowleaf, by "Sacha Gregory" (319 pages; Lippincott), in an unusual handling of fascinating materials. Had the author carried it through on the plane in which he began, it would rank as an exceptional piece of work; but as he nears the climax his grip relaxes and the conclusion lacks conviction. Mr. Gregory's story is told with imaginative skill and keen insight. The Strongest, by Georges Clemenceau (317 pages; Doubleday, Page), gives a weak impression of the Tiger. Anatole France at his- worst, say in The Red Lily, has limned a better picture of French society. whilst Henri Bordeaux at his beet knows how to pro- vide a swifter plot. Oscar Montague—Paranoiac, by George Lincoln Wal- ton, M. D. (303 pages; Lippincott), carries the hy- phen of the title into the text; it is part novel and part treatise. Dr. Walton is the author of helpful books on Why Worry? and Those Nerves, which doubtless explains why his plunge into fiction is some- what clinical. John Stuyvesant Ancestor and Other People, by Alvin Johnson (252 pages; Harcourt, Brace, & Howe; New York), is reviewed on page 354. Our Casualty and Other Stories, by G. A. Birmingham (280 pages; Doran), in which the author of General John Regan groups some cheerful tales from the outer edges of the war, includes half a dozen choice specimens of Irish and Ulster psychology calculated to show how unsettling to either party would be any Irish settlement that settled anything. The Exploits of Bilge and Ma, by Peter Clark Mac- farlane (300 pages; Little, Brown), form a set of tales in which exposition fences for an equal place with narration. The volume is one of the less em- balmed kind of memorials to the destroyer fleet, and Admiral Sims' foreword is appropriate. Those who know the navy from the inside will find greatest amusement in the euphemisms whereby the author seeks to give the content of navy speech without us- ing the actual and unprintable form. The Doings of Raffles Haw, by A. Conan Doyle (199 pages; Doran), appears to be the product of an idle hour, done perhaps for its author's own amusement, but rather too mechanical in its mystery to yield much fascination. Contributors Winthrop Parkhurst studied the piano in New York and London until 1916 and was organist and choirmaster of the Madison Square Church, New York, until 1918. He has contributed plays, stories and criticism to numerous periodicals. Through an unfortunate oversight Babette Deutsch's essay, Two Solitudes, in The Dial for October 4, reviewed The Solitary, by James Op- penheim, and The Beloved Stranger, by Witter Bynner, without naming their publishers. The former is published by Huebsch and the latter by Knopf. 1919 359 THE DIAL NATIONAL NONPARTISAN LEAGUE Sead for handle of literature on this militant farmers* organiza- tion. Acqmaint yourself with the leading movement of the time. Price, special bundle hooka and pamphlet*. 50 cent*. Educational Department N. P. L., Box 495, St. Paul, Minnesota WHAT IS SOCIALISM? Stnd? the subject through the RAND SCHOOL CORRESPONDENCE COURSES! Address David P. Berrnberf, 7 East 15th St.. N. Y. C. A.k for Folder SO. LEARN TO CONCENTRATE —to think quickly—to remember anything you wlah to remember. First leaaon free. Asking for it implies no obligation. Jack Pansy, 422-D Selden Ave., Detroit, Mich. DEMOCRACY AND THE EASTERN QUESTION Thomas F. Millard An aothoritlre repor on China's present eoonomio and political condition, with special reference to Japanese encroachments. (8.O., J50 paiea, 13.00.) Published by THE CENTURY CO. New York City The Psychology of Nationalism and Internationalism By W. B. PILLSBURY $2.50 net This is an Appleton Book AGAINST THE WINDS By Kate Jordan "'Against the Winds* is an absorbing book . . . completely American, graphic, realistic, yet sympathetic, it reachea a high mark of notional excellence . . . there is romance of an em- phatic variety in the story . . . one qi the best American novels of the season.*'—Chicago Tribune. 34A Paget. $140 Net LITTLE, BROWN & CO., Publishers, Boston LABRADOR DAYS By Dr. Grenfell Tales of the Sea Toilers, by the famous missionary doctor. $1.65 net. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, Boston THE MODERN LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST BOOKS Sixty-four titles now published—14 new volumes just issued. The Dial says "There is scarcely a t tie that fails to awaken interest. The series is doubly welcome at this time.'* —only 70o. a volume wherever books arc sold. Catalog on request. BONI & LIVERIGHT, 105% W. 40th St., New York WARNING TO DIAL READERS We are compelled to warn our readers against the activities of fraudulent agents who have lately col- lected subscriptions without forwarding them to us. We will deem it a favor if any reader approached for money in our name will send us a description of the person. Subscriptions should be sent direct, or through an accredited agent or agency known to the subscriber. THE DIAL PUBLISHING CO. 152 West 13th Street New York City TO BRITISH ADVERTISERS: The Dial's London agent will be glad to submit all details concerning rates, etc. You are invited to com- municate with DAVID H. BOND 407 Bank Chambers, Chancery Lane London, W. C, England ELLIS 29 Now Bond Street, London, W.I., Englsnd The Oldest Bookshop In London. Established 1726. Com mission! executed at London auction sales. Cataloguea of Rare and In- teresting Books, post free. > ANTIQUARIAN BOOK CO. Evesham Road, Stratford-on-Avon, England Dealers in Rare Books and First Editions: Dickens, Thackeray, Stevensvn, KipT-ng, Conrad, Mase6old, Wells, Noyes, Duntany, etc., etc. Catalogues mailed free on requett FOR THE BOOK LOVER Rare book*—First editions—Books now out of print. Latest Catalogae Sent on Request C. GERHARDT, 25 W. 42d Street, New York The New York Bureau of Revision Thirty-eighth Year. Lsttus or Cbiticish, Exwt Revision or MSS. Advice sa to publicstlon. Address DR. TITUS M. COAN 414 W. 119th St., N. Y. BOOKS, AUTOGRAPHS, PRINTS. Catalogs Free R. ATKINSON. 97 Sunderlsod Rosd, Forest Hill, LONDON, ENC. Collecting Autographs is a fsscinating hobby. Our priced catalogue of ovisr 2,000 names will be sent free on receipt of 2c sump for postage. GOODSPEEDS BOOK SHOP, Boston, Mass. Being the Book of Ecclesiastes A GENTLE CYNIC BY MORRIS JASTROW, JR., PhtD., LL.D.. Author of "Thm War and the Bagdad Railway," etc. Small 4 to. 12.00 net, A delightfully human book on the Omar Khayyam of the Bible with an exact translation of the original test. How ft came to be written and who wrote it (and it was not S«l«- Dion), why additions were mad eto the original text and the whole interesting story is here given. J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, Philadelphia When writinc to sdrertisers please mention The Dm.. 360 THE DIAL October 18 Ny - - Ny SCOTT & SELTZER FIRST ANNOUNCEMENTS L E N I N THE MAN and HIS WORK By ALBERT RHYS WILLIAMS and the Impressions of Col. RAYMOND ROBINS and ARTHURRANSOME 12mo. Cloth, $1.35 A LAND- SCAPE PAINTER By HENRY JAMES 12mo. Cleth, $1.75 Four short novels by this master of the art of story telling which have never be- fore appeared in book form in this country." THE BRIDGE OF TIME By william HENRY warner With colored frontispiece by W. B. Dodge 12mo, Cloth. $1.75 net. THE SILVER AGE By TEMPLE SCOTT 12mo. Boards, silver top, $1.75 net A book of short stories and essays in- stinct with life; interesting, thought- stirring and diverting. THE BURNING SECRET By STEPHEN BRANCH 12mo. Cloth. $1.25 net. A boy at the first glimmerings of manhood, A powerful romantic story, with a prince of the house of Rameses of Ancient Egypt as its hero, and a beautiful American girl of today as its heroine. Strange as this blending of the ancient and modern may sound, the author has produc- ed a work of fiction unique in conception and permanent in charm. The ending is a mother, handsome and dissatisfied, a nobleman in pursuit of adventure—these are the three characters in a play of life which is here woven into an exquisitely subtle yet thrilling story. The theme has never before been attempt- ed—a child playing a noble part in an adult drama, and being unconsciously its ingenious and highly satisfying. hero. “A book of such remarkable qualities that none should fail to read it.”—LoNDoN SPHERE. THE FORTUNE A Romance of Friendship By DOUGLAS GOLDRING Romain Rolland, the author of “Jean-Christophe,” writes to the author of this book:— “I have read the book with joy. Your work is all alive—people, dialogue and thoughts. You have great talent and a free spirit, with which I sympathize cordially. I clasp your hand with all my heart.” 12mo. Cloth, $1.75 net. SCOTT & SELTZER - 5 West 50th St., New York == * <>241 Graphic Press When writing to advertisers please mention THE DIAL. TWO SECTIONS—SECTION 1 Coal THE A FORTNIGHTLY VOL. LXVII NEW YORK NO. 802 NOVEMBER 1, 1919 The New Psychology and the Social Problem . . . Virgil Jordan 363 Liberalism in Japan John Dewey 369 ID. The Chief Foe Mr. Masefield Chases a Fox Winthrop Parkhurst 371 A Procrustean Possibility . Arthur Wilson 372 Bolshevism and the Vested Interests in America . Thorstein Veblen 373 III. A Memorandum on a Practical Soviet of Technicians The Old Order and the New 381 NOTES ON NEW BOOKS: The Happy End—A Servant of Reality.—The Secrets of Animal 383 Life.—The Book of a Naturalist.—Fields of Victory.—My "Little Bit."—Folklore in the Old Testament. Books of the Fortnight . 385 Industrial Section The Labor Crisis Coal: A Mismanaged Industry I. Editorial Summary II. Engineer's Report Walter N. PolakoV The Coal Issue in Great Britain W. N. Ewer The British Coal Nationalization Bill The Dial (founded in 1880 by Francis F. Browne) is published every other Saturday by the Dial Publishing Com- pany, Inc.—Martyn Johnson, President—Oswald W. Knauth, Secretary-Treasurer—at 152 West Thirteeenth Street, New York, N. Y. Entered as Second Class matter at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., August 3, 1918, under the act of March 3, 1897. Copyright, 1919, by The Dial Publishing Company, Inc. Foreign Postage, 50 cents. $3.00 a Year ($4.00 after Jan. 1, 1920) 15 Cents a Copy Issued by Sanction of the N. Y. Printing Trades Unions 362 November 1 THE DIAL GOOD BOOKS TT'S time to think about Christmas gifts. A book—especially a good book—is always -■- appropriate and Abingdon books are sure to please. There are new titles and standard favorites—books for old and young—described in THE ABINGDON PRESS catalog. A copy will be sent you on request. The books are for sale near you. GRANVILLE Tales and Tall Spins from a Filer's Diary The literature of the War will contain many records of the achievements of our men over seas, but there will be little told of the brave host of youth who, anxious to sacrifice self to a great ideal, spent months in the training camps of America, drilling, studying, instruct- ing their fellow soldiers, and bending every effort toward taking an active part in the fighting. This unique book tells the story of the making of a soldier in one branch of the service, and gives an uncolored, intimate account of the experiences and thoughts of one of the youth who helped to win the war over here. It is edited from his diary and, in deference to the wishes of the family, is published anonymously. 12mo. lllus. pp.176. Clalh. Net, $1.25 postpaid. STAR DUST FROM THE DUGOUTS A Reconstruction Book By William L. Stidcer The boy in the trenches heralds the boy at home! The author, who on the battlefields of France won the title of The Fighting Parson, has seen a vision; he is fol- lowing the gleam, and turns its light into these pages. A reconstruction book written with sympathy and au- thority. Stidger's latest and best. A challenging interpretation. 12mo. Frontispiece andheadpieces, pp. 240. Cloth. Net, Si.50 postpaid. GERMANY'S MORAL DOWNFALL The Tragedy of Academic Materialism By Alexander W. Crawford The war is over. On with the war! Many of the world's achievements have already been sacrificed to the Moloch of Kultur and its perfidious offspring, and the end is not yet. The military victory of the Allies has ended one phase of the World War, but the com- plete intellectual and moral victory is yet to be won. The menace of materialism, and its denial of morality and its worship of brute force, still hangs over the world and threatens its higher life. The task of the next generation is to uproot this cult of materialism that has insinuated itself into so many channels of national activity. 12m: pp.224. Cloth. Net, Si.00postpaid. BOLSHEVISM AND SOCIAL REVOLT By Daniel Dorchester, Jr. A keen analysis and just appraisal of the social up- risings of today. Clear, concise, discriminating, and constructive, this little book will be of great value to all who would understand the danger and the value of modern social movements. 12m». pp. 122. Cloth. Net, 75cpostpaid. GEORGE WASHINGTON THE CHRISTIAN By William J. Johnson A companion volume to Abraham Lincoln the Christian. The wide interest in Dr. Johnson's first volume created a demand for a similar book about George Washington, and here it is. This compilation of documents from original sources sheds new light on the sterling charac- ter of our first President. It will be welcomed by all students of biography and history. 12mo. Illustrated, pp.300. Cloth. Net,Si-50postpaid. HOW TO TEACH RELIGION Principles and Methods By George Herbert Betts Religious Education Texts—Teacher Training Series From the first to the last page of this new volume the spiritual growth and development of the child is set forth as the great objective. The purpose has been to define the aim of religious instruction so definitely and concretely that every teacher may have a goal set before him. What religious knowledge is of most worth to the child, what religious attitudes to cultivate, what applications to make to the daily life and conduct are problems clearly set forth. What subject-matter we shall teach at different ages, and what we shall omit is discussed with full illustration. How we shall make the lessons carry over to Christian character and church loyalty are problems fully discussed and exemplified. Crown 8vo. pp. 224. Cloth. Net, by mail, Si. 10. new york THE ABINGDON PRESS Cincinnati CHICAGO PITTSBURGH KANSAS CITY SAN FRANCISCO PORTLAND, ORE. When writing to advertiser* please mention Tax DIAL. 1919 THE DIAL 36 , \< THE LABOR SITUATION IN GREAT BRITAIN and FRANCE Report of the Commission on Foreign Inquiry of the NATIONAL CIVIC FEDERATION, 1919 THIS is the report of a Commission of seven members appointed in December, 1918, by the Industrial Economies Department of the National Civic Federation to make a first hand investigation of the labor situation. The members of the Commission consisted of Charles Mayer, a shipping expert; Charles S. Barrett, a farmer; Albert F. Bemis, a textile manufacturer; J. Grant Forbes, a contracting engineer; James W. Sullivan, a typographical trade unionist; An- drew Parker Nevin, an attorney-at-law; E. A. Quarles, the Secretary. The Commission remained abroad for four months, February to June, 1919, paying especial attention te the methods of adjustment of relations between employers and employees, the shop committee system, the outcome of the Whitley recommendations concerning joint industrial councils, and the housing problem. The conclusions of this representative committee, based on observations of conditions which obtain all over the world today, and pointed by specific refer- ence to the situation in the United States, should be studied by every one interested in the peaceful settlement of our present labor troubles. $2,50 Labor in the Changing World By R. M. MACIVER T'-f author discusses the new element! introduced into labor during the past few years and their probable effect on the attitude of labor toward* the whole tocial body. His conclusion is sanely optimistic, and his suggestions as to the permanent status of labor are most fruitful. $2.00 International Commerce and Reconstruction By ELISHA M. FRIEDMAN After some introductory chapters on the economic development of nations, the history of American Commerce, and the effects upon it of the war, the author diasussea clearly the immediate needs of the situation, the reorganisation of international credit and America's foreign trade policy. It is an exceedingly timely and vary valuable work. In press Labor and the Common Welfare By SAMUEL GOMPERS Compiled and edited by HAYES ROBBINS from addresses and writings. The Philosophy of Trade Unionism; Labor's Relation to the Community. Government and Law; Labor's Viewpoint on National and Civic Issues; Political Policy of Organized Labor; Organized Labor's Challenge to Socialism, the I. W. W., and Bolshevism, are among its subject headings. In press Germanism from Within By A. D. McLAREN (New Edition Revised) On the basis of seven years of close and intimate acquaintance with the masses of the German people, the author aaalyaes the psychology of the average German citizen, in peace, and in war, showing his reactions to the events concerning which the outside world has wondered. Particularly valuable is the final chapter added in thia edition on "The Mind and Mood of Germany To- day." Net, $5.00 Modern Germany: Its Rise. Growth, Downfall and Future By J. ELLIS BARKER In this, the sixth edition of his standard history of Germany, the author has rewritten and enlarged one of the most penetrating and accurate studies of the growth of modern Prusaianism that In the days before the war warned the world of what was to come. He has now added seven new chapters on Republican Germany and the future of the German race, concluding with a chapter on "The Problem of Austria."' "In this new volume, adapted to the new situation, the backward and the forward look are again in evidence, and the plain lessons of history seem to justify bath."—Boston Herald. Net, 96.00 Labor and Reconstruction in Europe By ELISHA M. FRIEDMAN "This is a book that will bring Joy to the historian's heart because it contains, within reasonable compass, a fine collection of seurces, together with numerous references and a well-selected bibliography . . . abhors verbiage and padding, advocates no policy, sponsors no scheme, and offers to the reader the delicate flattery of presenting only the facts."— The Review. Net, $2.50 New School* for Old By EVELYN DEWEY The story of the regeneration of the Perter School. "No review can do justice to the story of the book. . . . Every state superintendent and all his rural sshnol inspectors . • . should read the book for the lessons which it contains for them in the line of their professional duties. Every rural teacher will be tSe better for reading it; for what one consecrated rural school teacher has done, every rural school teacher can do in grf*at<*r or less decree."—The American School. 12.00 Towards Racial Health By NORAH H. MARCH A handbook on the training of boys and girls, for parents, teachers and social workers. "Dr. March ably sets forth an array of physiological facts that could Illuminate the path of many a puzzled parent and teacher." —School $2.00 Comparative Education Edited by PETER SANDIFORD A Survey of the Educational System in Each of Six Representative Countries. "The chief lesson taught by all the papers in this volume taken together is to shun the example of Germany In making education an instrument with which to enslave a great nation."—New York Sun. Net, $4.00 Postage Extra. Order f? D nilTTflW JP, fHlWD A W V 681 FIFTH AVENUE From Any Bookstore L. 1. UU 1 1 Ull <X vUIUT All I NEW YORK When writing to advertisers please mention The Dial. 64 November 1 THE DIAL John Masefield's New Narrative Poem "Never, not even in Chancer/was there any- thing like the color and gayety and pictur- esqueness of Mr. Masefield descriptions." REYNARD THE FOX OR THE GHOST HEATH RUN By the author of "The Everlasting Mercy," etc. "A great and amazing poem from the pen of a complete master of his art; full of skill and power—a brilliant picture of English country folk and of England's favorite country sport. . . . Mr. Masefield never did anything better than his 'Reynard'." —Phila. Ledger. "catches all the sweep and exhilaration of an English foxhunt. . . . remark- ably striking imagery. . . . abiding charm and beauty."—New York Tribune. Other Recent Works by John Masefield "Of living poets there are none to match him in either the narrative or the dramatic field." Narrative Poemi THE EVERLASTING MERCY AND THE WIDOW IN THE BYE STREET $1.50 THE STORY OF A ROUND-HOUSE AND OTHER POEMS $1.30 THE DAFFODIL FIELDS $1.25 ROSAS $1.50 Shorter Poem* SALT WATER POEMS AND BALLADS III. $2.50 LOLLINGDON DOWNS AND OTHER POEMS $1.25 Plays and Lyrical Dramas THE FAITHFUL THE TRAGEDY OF NAN AND OTHER PLAYS THE TRAGEDY OF POMPEY THE GREAT THE LOCKED CHEST; and SWEEPS OF NINETY-EIGHT THE GOOD FRIDAY AND OTHER POEMS $1.25 $1.25 $1.25 $1.25 $1.25 All the Above works by Mr. Masefield, excepting "Reynard the Fox," are included in The Collected Poems and Plays of John Masefield Every lover of Masefield's work should own these two beautiful volumes containing all his plays and poems, excepting his latest narrative poem, "Reynard the Fox." Vol. I., Poems, $2.75. Vol. II., Plays, $2.75 The Set, $5.00. John Masefield's Novels and Essays not included in the Collected Poems and Plays Novels MULTITUDE AND SOLITUDE $1.50 CAPTAIN MARGARET $1.50 LOST ENDEAVOR $1.50 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers NEW YORK War Essays and Sketches GALLIPOLI. in. $1.25 THE OLD FRONT LINE. III. $1.00 THE WAR AND THE FUTURE $1.25 A MAINSAIL HAUL $1.25 When writing to advertisers please mention The Dial. THE DIAL A FORTNIGHTLY The New Psychology and the Social Order A HE REVOLUTION IN psychology at the end of the nineteenth century, associated with the name of Freud, has resulted during the past twenty-five years in a great volume of literature in which the point of view of the new psychology has been car- ried into medicine, philosophy, esthetics, and ethics, and some fruitful applications made of it also in cer- tain aspects of anthropology and history. It is true that the name of Freud has often been taken in vain, but such over-enthusiasm has rather emphasized the suggestiveness of the new point of view than de- tracted from the value of his method or of the in- sight it affords into sundry aspects of life. It was evident from the first that the significance of the new psychological point of view which he estab- lished could not be limited to the field of individual physical and mental therapeutics where it was first developed and applied. Though Freud himself has touched only a part of the vast field he opened, and his work has since been pushed farther than he himself would perhaps have ventured, his name has become such a talisman to conjure with because he put into our hands a key to certain chambers of the modern spirit which no injunction or caution could restrain us from opening. Psychology is of central importance in numerous departments of thought, but this revolution has af- fected them so greatly, and will affect them still more deeply, for a special reason. It was the first clear expression in definite human terms of the' fundamental change in conception of life which has grown out of the revolution in the natural sciences during the sixteenth century, and out of the industrial revolution which was the first child of the scientific revolution and which has since set for us the form and mold of our whole lives. It furnished the first clear focus to the general movement of thought upon life that characterized the past five hundred years, and that first began to reflect itself distinctly in the deep-seated spiritual faithlessness and bewilderment of the nineteenth century—reaching at length a world climax in the political and economic chaos of this century-long struggle we call reconstruction. That movement—to indicate it briefly and rough- ly in general terms—from the static, Platonic, dog- matic, idealistic, and deductive point of view of existence to the dynamic, Baconian, pragmatic, re- alistic, inductive, and creative view has touched all the sciences and arts and all aspects of thought and action in varying degrees in the past four hun- dred years, beginning with the physical sciences and extending through the biological sciences much later to the more speculative fields of thought. So far as any period of human history can be com- pressed into one meaning, the development of the creative point of view is the heart of the past four centuries. And so far as the upheaval in which they culminated has any single meaning and pur- pose it is the expression of the creative point of view in the social values and institutions of the race. Through the industrial system and the modern business organization, which are expressions of the creative impulse, no matter how they violate or obscure it practically at present, this renovation in thought has completely altered the conditions of our daily life and work and the bases of our thought without our being to any great degree conscious of it. Though most of our individual and group con- duct and our political, economic, and social insti- tutions either ignore or are directly opposed to it, the character of our modern life is shaped by the creative point of view. The machines which sprang from the pragmatic application of the physical sciences to the practical purposes of life have given us a point of view and a set of values we do not yet consciously understand, much less accept and ap- ply. They have opened up for us new outlooks, but we still fumble at them and try to run them with ideas that were hoary before the first machine was made, and that are fundamentally incompatible with the view of life out of which the machine has grown, for which it stands, and by which alone it can be effectively worked. We have, as yet, no consciousness, no point of view of life which fits the machine and yet dominates it. Instead it still masters us through the senility of the ideas we bring to it. It is in the psychological relation between man and the machine, or in the widest sense between the race, with its mental equipment of ancient philo- 366 November 1 THE DIAL sophies, ethics, politics, economics, and religions, and the modern organization for work, that the heart of our modern problem lies. What we have here is a conflict of whole systems of impulses and ideas, racial, national, class, deeply ingrained in every individual, with a point of view and a new system of values and a new conception of life which the whole organization and daily conditions of modern life have enforced upon him. When we consider that this is a conflict that has arisen, broadly speaking, within the limits of a cen- tury, and has become acute really within a genera- tion, the intensity of the psychic strain involved in it is evident. Men can adjust themselves and their ideas to changes in the conditions of their work and ac- tivity in a few centuries without much psychic dis- turbance; but if a man is called upon to make a revision of his values and faiths and bases of judg- ment, such as was involved in the change from the medieval indoctrination to the creative view of life, in the span of his own working years, it is inevit- able that the mental upheaval will show itself in anomalies and abnormalities of conduct and psychic v traits in himself and to a greater degree, perhaps, in the group to which he belongs. According to his strength, an individual may successfully make the mental revision, but in the group mind are col- lected and intensified all the strains and disturb- ances that take place in the less adaptable individ- uals. The resultant psychic disturbances are us- ually a magnification of the psychic traits which show themselves in an individual compelled to make some severe readjustment to reality, or to recognize some fact or take some view of life which he has ignored or opposed. When we examine these traits of group thought and conduct from this point of view it is clear how the valuations and realities upon which the creative view of life is based have acted like a repressed or ignored unconscious force in the consciousness of various social groups and molded their political and economic conduct. How deeply the thought of the common man has been colored by the creative point of view we shall probably not know until there is found some form of expression for it which he can understand and which brings it clearly to his consciousness. To put that point of view into terras whereby the common man can recognize it and accept it as his own Ls the object of the modern political and economic radical movements, and the heart of the reconstruc- tion agitation. Likewise the inadequacy of most of the attempts made thus far to embody the crea- tive point of view in such terms as will unite the common man for political and economic action is the main reason for the failure of these movements and for the chaos into which the reconstruction movement has dissolved. The new social leaders are confronted with a task somewhat similar to that of the psychoanalytic practitioner in the case of the individual, and they are obliged to have similar qualifications. They must show the group mind what it really wants, what deep forces lie beneath its immediate impulses and goals, what it really thinks about life, and lead it to accept openly the point of view which the new conditions and neces- sities of life impose, as well as the obligations that go with it, carrying them out with clear conscious- ness of their meaning. This applies especially to the so-called radical movements because it is these that the unconscious development of the creative valuation of life has stirred most profoundly. It is possible that some of the opposing conservative movements are in some degree also victims of the same unconscious pressure though they clothe it in opposing ancient ideologies and dogmatisms; we can never be sure what eommon impulse may be discovered at the root of the widest divergences of conduct and systems of ideas. This is a work that requires stripping away as gently as possible the incrustations of old impulses and ideas and values in which the new creative valuation of life is con- cealed and clothed, and it is evident that no one can do this work for a social group who does not him- self stand above or outside of the group and it- system of ideas and valuations, or who himself is under the power and suffering under the strain of the psychic conflict which he is to try to interpret For such social leaders to reveal to the group its underlying creative point of view and impulse and to interpret it with any psychoanalytic subtlety they must have in their hands a philosophy, an ethics, an art, a religious conception—and of course a politics and an economics and a sociology—which have been built upon or at least strongly touched by that new point of view. The lack of this has been in this social revolution as in most others the great handicap of the leaders. Though the crea- tive point of view has found so clear and effective an expression in the natural sciences and in biology and in the whole underlying process of our com- mon life, and had vaguely touched philosophy, ethics, art, religion, and the sociological sciences here and there during the last part of the nineteenth century, it has found practically no clear and defin- ite expression in politics and economics until now. For the most part their structure and approach re- mained pre-Baconian—dogmatic. In trying to ex- press the modern creative point of view in material drawn from this contemporary philosophy, ethics, esthetics, religion, politics, and economics, the 1919 367 THE DIAL modern radical social movements have been built on a quicksand and the whole structure of their thought has been warped and weakened. i The elear expression of that point of view in the cornerstone of these several fields of thought— psychology—has opened new doors in each of them, given every branch of thought a new impetus and direction, and, most of all, equipped the movements for social reorganization with a weapon that will give them new strength. The new psychology brought the creative point of view definitely into philosophy and ethics, through the study of problems of the individual. It is possible that it may bring the creative point of view clearly into economics, politics, and sociol- ogy through a similar application of its method to the social problems which this reconstruction per- iod has brought to a head. The sociological sciences have as yet been least affected by that psychological revolution and the new point of view which it expresses, possibly be- cause economics, politics, and sociology are in turn dependent upon the natural sciences, medicine, philosophy, ethics, religion, art, as these are de- pendent upon psychology. Any change in the view of the human mind reflects itself in them largely at second hand, and after a long time. A change in economic methods and political structure does not mean an immediate corresponding change in eco- nomic and political science, for the sciences are governed more by tradition than by practical neces- sity. Though the structure of our political and economic life has changed many times in the past five hundred years, nevertheless our political ethics, economic philosophy, and social psychology are still largely dogmatic, deductive, and static. Up to the Peace Treaty we might have been for- given for thinking that we were seeing the begin- nings of a creative politics, but the outcome of the Conspiracy of Paris shows how greatly political thought is still paralyzed by the absolutist point of view. Social psychology in general is still marked al- most entirely by the old mechanical conception of the group mind and of the individual mind, and has scarcely outgrown the influence of Tarde and the nineteenth century psychologic anatomists'. There are still traces in it of the Platonic psycho- logical conception that social ideas have an abso- lute, eternal, somewhat divine significance and origin. You have only to look at any textbook of eco- nomics written before 1910 to realize how little its approach has changed since The Wealth of Na- tions, and what a scholastic thing most of the economics taught today still is, especially in its psychologic content, where it indeed has any. The preoccupation of all modern economic theory, since its beginning in the dawn of the industrial revolu- tion, has been with the same Platonic concepts and absolute ideas with which the schoolmen of the middle ages and the philosophers of the Academy of Athens disputatioiisly concerned themselves. Economic laws and processes still have in the mind of the academic professor and the textbook student of the science, as well as in the mind of the average business man, an aura of the absolute and the divine, and to all of them except possibly the modern busi- ness man economic life can be stuffed into certain rigid Platonic pigeonholes. And, more than all this, every sort of man, especially the common man when he is a patriot, is blithely willing to believe that all economics and economic laws are to such a degree abstract that they can all be abolished or ignored completely for the sake of some "big" ab- stract idea—such as "making the world safe," and all that sort of thing. The interest of classical economics in psycho- logical motives was practically confined to the study of the concepts of value, interest, and so forth, and for the most part even the Austrian schools have gone little further than this, using still the old psy- chologic approach. Recently there has been more attention to the psychological factors in economics and in directions that lead away from the old psy- chological point of view. Veblen, Marot, and Tead, in analyzing the psychological factors in industry and in the business system, have come nearer the new point of view and have begun an application t of the new psychology to social problems that promises a revolution in economics. In practical business men and industrial leaders there is already a clear realization of the ineffectiveness of mechan- ical readjustments of industry which do not touch the worker's psychological reaction. It might not be very inaccurate to call Veblen the Freud of economics, for though his work is, like Freud's, one-sided in its emphasis and far from comprehen- sive, it was the first to point out the influence of certain psychological forces in the maladjustments of industry and in the economic attitudes of certain classes, and to glimpse the influence of what might be called an economic libido. His analysis of the economic system has revealed more clearly than any other had done before the existence and work- ings of certain repressed or ignored forces in the functioning of the economic organism, and the part these play in group psychology. To judge how far such a tendency in economic thought has gone you have only to look for some evidence of its popular- ity in the classical academic circles and in the upper level of business Platonists. The new eco- 368 November 1 THE DIAL nomics is being made outside of university circles, the new politics outside of government offices, the new sociology comes out of Butte and Bethlehem and Baxter Street, where the new creative point of view presses hard and relentless against old ab- stractions. The essential difference between the creative view of life and what may be roughly called the mediev- al is that whereas the latter explained natural and human phenomena and human institutions by cer- tain preconceptions and as embodying certain dog- matic absolute principles or abstract ideas, the former looks upon life as a creative process in which all forms and modes and functions of exist- ence are relative to the creative discharge of power in maintaining and increasing life, which is a fun- damental, final thing, unanalyzable, and independ- ent of human preconceptions, constituting the ulti- mate basis of human judgment and action if they have any ultimate basis at all. If there be any divinity in the modern point of view it attaches only to the creative process and the creative impulse, which we identify with life itself as inviolable and sacred. The creative point of view is turned to- ward life, not away from it; looks to the earth. not to heaven; it embraces reality and does not flee from it; it knows only one prayer and that is work. "Its gods dwell in temples builded with the hands, and within the circle of actual experience is its creed made perfect and complete." The difference between the new psychology in which this view of life is so clearly expressed and the old is that the new clearly regards the organ- ism as not only an adaptive but much more as a creative unity, and consciousness as an adaptive and creative instrument whose phenomena are relative to the creative process of life. This "new psycho- logy" includes, of course, all those sterile, bleakly evolutionary points of view which look upon the phenomena of mind and conduct as more or less mechanical adaptive reactions and reduce life to minutely analyzed function or "behavior." The approach of this functional or behavioristic psy- chology is modern, but they represent only the raw transitional links between the whole of modern natural science and psychology, and without the insight of Freud they are a barren futility. In their fetishism of the evolution hypothesis, their evasion of the pragmatic facts of consciousness and their anatomizing of conduct they "obscure the su- preme and essential fact of the indomitable creative flow of life and reveal clearly the drag of their roots in the old medieval soil of categories and dis- sections. The old psychology, nothwithstanding all the refinements of post-Kantian criticism and (he scraping and delving of the nineteenth century physiological psychologists with their ropes and pulleys, did not succeed in breaking away from the medieval or Platonic conception of the organism as a static composite of fixed, distinct parts—body and mind and spirit and the mental faculties—whose structure and functions were based on a priori prin- ciples or ideas. It is inevitable that such a psy- chology should come to a standstill, as it did by the end of the nineteenth century, and reflect itself in, among other things, an equally unprogressive soci- ology, economics, and politics. On the basis of the old psychology society—and social, economic, and political institutions—are more or less absolute things, representing permanent ideas, composed of distinct parts whose structure and functions are founded on certain fundamental abstract prin- ciples or ideals and proceed according to certain immutable laws. Once, however, whether by the influence of the natural sciences since 1500 or by the force of daily thought and action in the modern working world, life is seen as a creative process, and the organism in its growth and functions a vehicle of that process, the relativity and instrumentality of psychic phe- nomena are apparent and the whole view of social problems is changed. This results in a nsw ap- proach to the study of economic, political, and so- cial phases of group conduct, and means the be- ginnings of a creative economics, a creative poli- tics, a creative sociology, as well as a new kind of historical study in all these fields. It is not possible to set down here the bases and justification of the creative point of view nor of its historical evolution so far as we understand them. We are too close to the crest of the wave, and too much immersed in the movement of life of which it is an expression, to estimate its origin and meaning in any degree of fulness. The new valua- tions which that point of view must bring in philo- sophy, ethics, art, religion, and in our social, eco- nomic and political life and the expressions of these new valuations in our institutions—this is the real subject of reconstruction thought and agitation. We can do nothing else than fairly accept it as the more or less consciously realized point of view of the age, an ineluctable movement of the human spirit, the natural fruition, if the evolution of thought has any meaning, of the last five hundred years, a thing that by its place in this century gives it something of the quality of a fin de millennium and makes the year 2000 of uncanny fitness as a turning point of human history. Virgil Jordan. 1919 369 THE DIAL Liberalism in Japan III. The Chief Foe Vjomparisons of Japan with Germany have be- come common, perhaps too common. At all events, they usually fail in my judgment to point out where- in the actual and undeniable likeness lies. The similarity is not so much intrinsic and indigenous as it is imitative and acquired. In the seventies and eighties Japan was busy studying the Western world for models, as one thousand years before she had studied Korea and China. From Great Britain she borrowed the idea of navalism, merchant ma- rine, sea commerce and sea power. From France she took the idea of centralized administration as a cure for the remaining ills of her centrifugal feudalism. From Germany she learned a technique for family law (a most important thing in transition from family organization to an individualistic basis); borrowed the aims and methods of an educational system, and the way of setting up an apparently Western or representative government which should not actually infringe in any way upon the autocratic oligarchy of the Choshu and Satsuma clan-leaders. Nor were the latter actuated wholly, nor possibly even chiefly, by personal ambitions. They were sure that only a high degree of centralized power would permit that development of army, navy, and a strong foreign policy which would save Japan from undergoing the same fate at the hands of Western powers that the rest of Asia was under- going. And in the face, of the imperial Europe of the last generation, it would demand a boldness of idealism not possessed by the present writer to de- clare they were wholly wrong. Moreover the unification of Japan was only a recently accomplished fact. The foreigner is so used to hearing of the unity and community of the life of the Far East, especially Japan, that he is likely to overlook the socially devisive force exer- cised by the family principle. In Japan, isolations and animosities had been acute all through the still recent feudal period. Japan had been held together only by the force of the Tokugawas, and by their skill in playing one clan off against another. In connection with the restoration of Imperial unity and the opening of Japan to the outside world, Japan needed some internal and more spiritual bond of union. This she found in going Germany one better. In her past she had had a theocratic tradition which could be revived and put at the service of centralization. Japan has now had over a generation of education in a religion of state and emperor worship. Hence a new moral and intel- lectual flux can never be as eager, as open to new methods and institutions, as was the Japan of fifty years ago. There is a story told in Japan which does not sound authentic but which has a certain symbolic truth about it. It is said that when Mar- quis Ito and his commission on a constitution were on their way back to Japan—fresh from Germany and Bismarck—they stopped in London. Ito visit- ed Herbert Spencer, whose advice (and this is auth- entic enough) to Japan to keep foreign nations at arm's (and armed) length had given him great influence. And Ito, so goes the story, told the philo- sopher that he was taking home with him plans for a constitution, an educational system, economic de- velopment, and so forth—in fact for everything except religion; and that he was depending upon Spencer to supply Japan with plans for that neces- sity. In reply, Spencer is said to have stated that since Japan had had ancestor worship and since the Emperor had been for ages a religious rather than a secular figure, she did not need to look abroad for plans to construct a national religion. This particular account of the calculated use of Shintoism as political support of militaristic auto- cracy may be doubted. But no student can doubt that the Elder Statesmen who in the later eighties set Japan upon its present track deliberately sur- rounded the Imperial dynasty will all the mystic emotional haloes and sanctions that accompany divinity and divine origin. It is not many centur- ies since Europe had states based on the divine right of kings; but we have to go back to Imperial Rome to find emperors who are themselves divine and the sons of gods. A Japanese scholar told me that till the publication of the Constitution in 1889 the title Son of Heaven had been reserved for dead emperors, and that the deliberate use of religious myth for preventing the growth of democratic ideas was evident in the fact that in this document the title was for the first time applied to the living ruler. Of course I do not know whether his state- ment is correct, but there can be no doubt of the completeness of the fusion in the popular mind of political with religious and theocratic ideas, nor of the support the fusion gives to Japanese nation- alistic sentiment as against other nations, and to the prestige and power of the ruling dynasty. And since as matter of fact the Emperor is still almost as much of a figure-head as when he was in seclu- sion in Kyoto, this permeating religious sanction accrues to the benefit of the bureaucracy that actual- ly runs things. And it is interesting to note that one wing at least of the new liberal group is en- 370 November 1 THE DIAL deavoring to give the religious status of the Im- perial dynasty a democratic turn. They do not , attack the imperial idea; the attack would not only throw them personally into prison but would render them so odious as to discredit their cause. They claim that traditionally the emperor has been the Father of the People, supremely interested in their welfare; that in the sense of government for the people Japan is historically a democracy; and then they attack the oligarchy which has turned Japan aside from its true basis, and which has for its own aggrandizement come between the emperor and his people. Westerners naturally have not taken Shintoism seriously as a political instrument. They have not taken the theocratic idea seriously. They could not; it is too alien to their ways of thinking. Hence they imagine that it is not taken seriously in Japan itself. They think of it as a kind of poetic em- bellishment, an additional romantic touch in a romantic land. And of course it is true fliat edu- cated men in Japan do not believe the political myths in any literal sense. But it is also true that the theocratic point of view governs the consider- ation of all questions, and that emotions connected with it are so pervasive and intense that Japan is a unique country, one whose aims and methods are baffling to any foreigner. Perhaps only the foreigner who makes a study of elementary education, es- pecially of the teaching of history and "ethics," realizes how systematic is the emperor-cult and how completely it becomes a part of the sub-con- scious mental apparatus of all the pupils. Those who throw it off may be compared to the few who in Western countries in earlier days threw off, as they grew up, the theological teachings of child- hood. The emotional after-effect can hardly be thrown off even then without a simultaneous casting off of patriotism and nationalistic feeling, so inti- mately religious has the dynastic sentiment become. Three myths compose the larger myth. First is the motion of complete racial homogeneity, of common blood, common descent, of common re- lationship to the gods who established civilization in Japan and whose descendants still rule the coun- try. This is the doctrine which practically has the most truth in it in spite of its ethnological falsity, for in the course of time the various ethnic ele- ments have got wonderfully fused together i Japan has not b:en an island and an isolated ore for nothing. This is also the myth which it is safest to question, foi all educated people are well aware of the different types that are found in the popu- lation. But it would hardly be safe to draw any political implications or conclusions from the denial of racial unity and common relationship to the emperor. The texts in "ethics" used in the schools teach that citizens of other countries have patriot- ism and that they also have filial and paternal af- fection, but that Japan is the only country in the world where the two things absolutely coincide. And a scientific ethnology which was punctilious enough to deny an objective literal basis for this statement would find itself in trouble. The second myth is that of the unbroken con- tinuity of the imperial dynasty for over twenty- five hundred years—since the first imperial God settled in Japan. As a basis for this statement, children in school are gravely taught a lot of myths about the formation of Japan and its earliest his- tory which intellectually and esthetically are not on a level with the legends of the North American Indians. Then the actual facts of history which prove anything but continuity of blood and unity of dynasty are systematically falsified. The myth of single and pure descent of the imperial house which has existed from time immemorial and which will continue to exist for ages eternal is proclaimed in the very beginning of the German-borrowed constitution of Japan and remains the cornerstone of the Japanese state. The third myth is the con- summation of the other two. All that Japan is and can become she owes to the original virtues of the divine founders and to those of their divine des- cendants. The moral as to what the citizen of Japan owes the imperial dynasty is obvious, and the teach- ing of ethics and history in the common schools takes no chances that it will not be made plain. It is not surprising that the fanatical apostles of these doctrines have more than once allowed their little charges to perish in flame and smoke while they saved the portrait of the divine emperor. University teachers in their classrooms tell the historic truth. They fulfill orally the obligations of historic scholarship. But such higher criticism is confined to the confidence of the classroom. Martyrdom is not wooed by setting forth the facts in printed form for general consumption. Some- times I think that the surest sign of the approach of democracy will be given when we read that a group of intellectuals have braved prison or death by setting forth to the public the truth about such matters. I am afraid I may seem to have got completely away from my subject. I seem to be speaking not of liberalism in Japan but of the most insidious and influential type of reactionarism. But it is worth while to know the difficulties with which the growth of liberalism has to contend. The know- ledge will make us more sympathetic and more pa- tient. The liberalism is there, and it is coming to possess the present generation of university-taught men. Since I began writing, a delegation of Jap- 1919 371 THE DIAL anese University students has been in Peking to express to the Chinese their entire lack of sympathy with the policy of Japan towards China, and to say that their enemy is a common one—Japanese militaristic autocracy. It is impossible for Japan to engage in trade, to exchange commodities and technical science with all the world, to take a part in world politics, and still to remain isolated from the world situation and world currents. The signi- ficance of this fact has been brought home to Japan with increasing acceleration and momentum by the war and its conclusion, and the outcome is the present spread of democracy and liberalism. The imperialistic settlement at Paris has undeniably effected a setback. Every reaction from democracy all over the world will retard the movement in Japan. But unless the world overtly and on a large scale goes back on democracy, Japan will move steadily in that direction. And my own confidence in the resilience, adaptability, and practical intel- ligence of the Japanese people, as well as in a kind of social democracy which is embodied in the man- ners and customs of the people, makes me think the change will come without a bloody and catastro- phic upheaval. John Dewey. R Mr. Masefield Chases a Fox eynard the fox, or The Ghost Heath Run iMacmrllan)—or, as Oscar Wilde would have called it, a tale ef the Unspeakable in pursuit of the Uneatable—is as brilliant a study in rhyme as any that Mr. Masefield has yet done. With a hand long since grown sure and steady in his craft, he has passed across the somewhat faded colors of the Fourteenth Century Dutch fable a cloth dipped in an astonishingly glowing and fluid technique. The result is a picture as vivid as a mirror set in the sunshine. Though the external handling of the poem appears slightly monotonous upon a close examination (the work is entirely in couplets), that monotony is apparent only to those pundits who fletcherize their poetry with their eyes; for beneath the mechanical tramp of the poem ring out always the sharp hoof-beats of high-strung horses sniffing the chase, and across the drab background of a seemingly monotonous verse-form dash con- tinually the bright red coats of country gentlemen, lean hounds with their noses set hungrily to the ground, and a whole army of hunters—men, dogs, and horses—galloping pell-mell over the heaths and hills of North England. The picture is both vigorous and nervous. And barring a lengthy pre- amble to the actual hunt—a preamble whose weight and length entirely overbalance the rest of the canvas—he has conceived an able portrait of Rey- nard the Fox, and executed a lupine epic that is really notable. But the question arises: Is a fox worth so much attention? There is a theory which regularly goes the rounds of ateliers to the effect that the portrait of a boil can be as great as the portrait of Beetho- ven. Certainly manner is esthetically as important as matter. Occasionally it may be more important. To portray the terrors of a harried fox with Mr. Masefield's skill cannot but win the technical ad- miration of both his advocates and his detractors. But beneath the admiration will rankle resentment that a man who can write The Widow in The Bye Street now spends his energies in writing so long and so elaborate a tale about the plucky endurance of a frightened animal—that an artist who is able to hunt down souls in cadences of poignant beauty has wasted probably the best part of a year, in the full ripeness of his powers, chasing a fox around a shire. Some of this same disappointment and resent- ment is raised by his play The Faithful fMac- millan), recently and courageously presented at the Garrick Theatre in New York by the Theatre Guild. According to a note on the program there have already been given to the world no less than 104 dramatic treatments of the ancient Japanese legend on which Mr. Masefield based his play. It is easy to be captious with a man of Mr. Mase- field's ability, because his achievement to date has set a very stiff standard for him to live up to, and success carries its own penalties as well as its own rewards. But, again, is it over-critical to ask: Why the one hundred and fifth? There is a place on our stage for the dramatization of customs and taboos alien to our own; but the Caucasian who can put an authentic note of tragic renunciation into a stage representation of hara-kiri is a rara avis. Mr. Masefield's wings scarcely hold him up in Japanese air. Less pretentious a flight, however, and undoubt- edly more compelling for that very reason, is the collection of his short stories and miniatures of the sea, now grouped under the title A Tarpaulin Muster (Dodd, Mead). So far Mr. Masefield has built his reputation chiefly on land and poetry. A poet he always will be, wherever he walks. But A Tar- paulin Muster generally corroborates the miracu- lous testimony offered some years ago by A Round 372 November 1 THE DIAL House and Salt Water Ballads—to wit, that he can walk as successfully on sea as on land; more than that, that he can walk as vigorously and com- fortably on prose as on poetry. The prose of most poets is so notoriously bad that it does not even call for censure; so if this slightly random col- lection of Mr. Masefield's were flat, stale, and stylistically unprofitable, or if the author had drowned himself in syntax, no one could have been especially surprised. The surprise—Unless you have read Gallipoli Shambles, for example— is distinctly on the other side of your brain. The truth is, Mr. Masefield's prose style is not only very good for a poet—it promises to be very good for his reputation. Slight as most of these sketches are —several of them are merely dashes of salt water— they have, by and large, a quality which can be quickly named only by calling rather tiresomely, if rather inevitably, on Joseph Conrad. Now that Mr. Masefield has rounded the Cape of War, it does not seem too much to expect that the winds of ht imagination will steady and grow, and that ulti- mately we may expect a Typhoon from his quarter. Whether that Typhoon will be in prose or in verse will not matter. For, in either case, unless Mr. Masefield fails both land and sea, and himself, it will be in poetry. WlNTHROP PARKHURST. 0, A Procrustean Possibility "f the New Decameron (McBride) the worst should be admitted at once. The integrating idea is pure diamond, but it is still locked in its matrix. Certainly the clay should have been chubbed off and the idea cut to a form suitable to its weight. The facets are all there in posse; but they are with- out refractive power, and many hunters of the good will step over without dreaming the radiance buried in this book. It would appear useless to expostulate such an inexcusable waste if there were not the promise of more out of the same diggings. The publishers imply a second day of tales, a third, a fourth, and still others. It is time to call a stop. Second nor third nor any more must be issued in the careless phlegm of the first. An idea of unguessed ampli- tude was degraded there. It would be better to kill the idea than to mutilate it like that. The country has long lacked an adequate con- veyance for the better "unavailable" short fiction that goes begging for a home in type. Many thou- sands of short-stories are called by the magazines; but few are chosen, and these only in conformity with a bird's-eye policy which can tell you within one inch what the readers want! The rest—the stories that lack punch in the first ten lines—the love-labors of our great professionals before they sold their birthright of excellence—in what pigeon- hole, in what oubliette or garbage can are they concealed during this long night of best-sellers? At present the editors of our magazines determine precisely what stories the world shall read; and whatever unknown masterpieces have been con- demned by their policies must repose and rot.in the mortuary trunk. If a writer, in ghastly compliance with the edi- torial hunch, should slog a selling idea out of his skull, he must let the editor create a demand for this new commodity by advertising it in the street- cars like cough syrup or depilatory powders. In the first instance it is often as not a work of in- spiration, but in the second, in the third—or soon —it is only a dulled and oxidized repetition of one good idea. In time, too, the reader acquires the taste and expects to get what he pays for. There is no stopping then. The writer is committed to a fashion—a commercial product He is a slave at his type-mill. He cannot escape. Sometimes he would like to jib away and explode a provoca- tive idea he carries at heart; but the law is that he must doll his children in the one and only style of his initial success. Here, then, both for the unsold obliquely-beauti- ful brain-waifs and for the insurgent flashes of the best-selling, was—and, is, and will be—the oppor- tunity of the New Decameron. McBride & Co., in this procrustean series, have conceived an outlet for short-stories that would otherwise never be seen. Only—the sad thing is—they have missed the high privileges of their conception. It was possible to select fine tales instead of these inchoate permutations. It was possible to take the project seriously enough to be above such persiflage as that flip prologue, of doubtful mood and direction. Two courses were open at the outset. One—and incomparably the better—was to salvage material that is frankly unmarketable because its error is on the side of genius. The other was to enter with the magazines and buy popular stuff. The pub- lishers ignored both, and the result is a pathetic abortion. If they continue-—as they should in all conscience, for here is a noble chance—it will be necessary to choose between these two courses. As it stands, the New Decameron is like any- 1919 3?3 THE DIAL thing but its original. No one should take this divergence unkindly, after six hundred years. Anglo-Saxon folk, being sincere hypocrites, invari- ably except against Boccaccio's gusty glee of sex, and that is accordingly left out. Prurient youth will search in vain for the "good ones!" Boccaccio devised a hundred tales—ten apiece for his ten narrators. In this New Decameron the tales are collaborated by different authors in something bet- ter than the ancient monotony of style. The book begins with a gawking prologue and takes a few short, experimental flops in narrative. A diversified group of the humanary appears in a train rushing down through the hop cbuntry of England. It is a tour that they are about, and they reach the coast in panoply. The engine which should propel their yacht across the channel-chops declines the office with a callithumpian jolt. In this dilemma the facile leader of the tour suggests to pass the time by telling tales. Each member of the party has his turn. Boccaccio's merry ladies, sitting by a fountain on the lawn, "untroubled of any fly," concluded their daily sessions with a love- ditty by any one of the company while the others responded. In sort the leader of the modern story- tellers executes a little song, and the first day is done. One tale is as bad as another. All betray stig- mata that would arouse such editorial cholers as to preclude publication in the magazines. Also they lack integration, clarity, salt. Of course the best story a man tells is about himself; and these men and women, as characters in a work of fiction, succeed—without trying, it seems—in getting some- thing intensely personal across, like old Chaucer's pilgrims. On the last page it comes to you—the possibility of strangers in the world, a segregation of human souls, voyaging together in the way men love; and their story-telling b<lt the natural and spontaneous effort to learn what each and other makes out the riddle of life. Incorrigible optim- ism welcomes the New Decameron, in spite of its present fault, to a rich fulfillment of its dazzling possibilities. In days to come these same voices will ravel more tales out of other experiences in other places while the hours blow in the crazy winds. Let them ravel rarely! A. Wilson. Bolshevism and the Vested Interests in America III. A Memorandum on a Practicable Soviet of Technicians i Jt is the purpose of this memorandum to show, in an objective way, that under existing circum- stances there need be no fear, and no hope, of an effectual revolutionary overturn in America, such as would unsettle the established order and unseat those Vested Interests that now control the country's industrial system. In an earlier paper (The Dial, October 4) it has been argued that no effectual move in the direction of such an over- turn can be made except on the initiative and under the direction of the country's technicians, taking action in common and on a concerted plan. Notor- iously, no move of this nature has been made hitherto, nor is there evidence that anything of the kind has been contemplated by the technicians. They still are consistently loyal, with something more than a hired-man's loyalty, to the established order of commercial profit and absentee ownership. And any adequate plan of concerted action, such as would be required for the enterprise in question, is not a small matter that can be arranged between two days. Any plan of action that shall hope to meet the requirements of the case in any passable fashion must necessarily have the benefit of mature delib- eration among the technicians who are competent to initiate such an enterprise; it must engage the intelligent co-operation of several thousand tech- nically trained men scattered over the face of the country, in one industry and another; must carry out a passably complete cadastration of the coun- try's industrial forces; must set up practicable organization tables covering the country's industry in some detail,—energy-resources, materials, and man power; and it must also engage the aggressive support of the trained men at work in transporta- tion, mining, and the greater mechanical industries. These are initial requirements, indispensable to the initiation of any enterprise of the kind in such an industrial country as America; and so soon as this is called to mind it will be realised that any fear of an effectual move in this direction at present is quite chimerical. So that, in fact, it may be set .down without a touch of ambiguity that absentee ownership is secure, just yet. Therefore, to show conclusively and in an objec- tive way how remote any contingency of this nature still is, it is here proposed to set out in a summary fashion the main lines which any such concerted plan of action would have to follow, and what will of necessity be the manner of organization which alone can hope to take over the industrial system, following the eventual abdication or dis- posession of the Vested Interests and their abf 374 November 1 THE DIAL owners. And, by way of parenthesis, it is always the self-made though reluctant abdication of the Vested Interests and their absentee owners, rather than their forcible dispossession, that is to be look- ed for as a reasonably probable event in the cal- culable future. It should, in effect, cause no sur- prise to find that they will, in a sense, eliminate themselves, by letting go quite involuntarily after the industrial situation gets quite beyond their control. In fact, they have, in the present difficult juncture, already sufficiently shown their unfitness to take care of the country's material welfare,— which is after all the only ground on which they can set up a colorable claim to their vested rights. At the same time something like an opening bid for a bargain of abdication has already come in from more than one quarter. So that a discon- tinuance of the existing system of absentee owner- ship, on one plan or another, is no longer to be considered a purely speculative novelty; and an objective canvass of the manner of organization that is to be looked to to take the place of the control now exercised by the Vested Interests—in the event of their prospective abdication—should according- ly have some present interest, even apart from its bearing on the moot question of any forcible disrup- tion of the established system of absentee ownership. As a matter of course, the powers and duties of the incoming directorate will be of a technological nature, in the main if not altogether; inasmuch as the purpose of its coming into control is the care of the community's material welfare by a more competent management of the country's industrial system. It may be added that even in the unexpect- ed event that the contemplated overturn should, in the beginning, meet with armed opposition from the partisans of the old order, it will still be true that the duties of the incoming directorate will be of a technological character, in the main; inasmuch as warlike operations are also now substantially a matter of technology, both in the immediate con- duct of hostilities and in the still more urgent work of material support and supply. The incoming industrial order is designed to correct the shortcomings of the old. The duties and powers of the incoming directorate will accord- ingly converge on those points in the administra- tion of industry where the old order has most signally fallen short; that is to say, on the due allocation of resources and a consequent full and reasonably proportioned employment of the avail- 'e equipment and man power; on the avoidance aste and duplication of work; and on an equit- and sufficient supply of goods and services to consumers. Evidently the most immediate and most urgent work to be taken over by the incom- ing directorate is that for want of which under the old order the industrial system has been work- ing slack and at cross purposes; that is to say the due allocation of available resources, in power, equipment, and materials, among the greater prim- ary industries. For this necessary work of alloca- tion there has been substantially no provision under the old order. To carry on this allocation, the country's trans- portation system must be placed at the disposal of the same staff that has the work of allocation to do; since, under modern conditions, any such allo- cation will take effect only by use of the transporta- tion system. But, by the same token, the effectual control of the distribution of goods to consumers will also necessarily fall into the same hands; since the traffic in consumable goods is also a mat- ter of transportation, in the main. On these considerations, which would only be reenforced by a more detailed inquiry into the work to be done, the central directorate will ap- parently take the shape of a loosely tripartite execu- tive council, with power to act in matters of indus- trial administration; the council to include tech- nicians whose qualifications enable them to be call- ed Resource Engineers, together with similarly com- petent spokesmen of the transportation system and of the distributive traffic in finished products and services. With a view to efficiency and expedition, this executive council will presumably not be a numerous body; although its staff of intelligence and advice may be expected to be fairly large, and it will be guided by current consultation with the accredited spokesmen (deputies, commissioners, executives, or whatever they may be called) of the several main subdivisions of productive industry, transportation, and distributive traffic. ■ Armed with these powers and working in due consultation with a sufficient ramification of sub- centers and local councils, this industrial director- ate should be in a position to avoid virtually all unemployment of serviceable equipment and man power on the one hand, and all local or seasonal scarcity on the other hand. The main line of duties indicated by the character of the work incumbent on the directorate, as well as the main line of quali- fications in its personnel, both executive and ad- visory, is such as will call for the services of Pro- duction Engineers, to use a term which is coming into use. But it is also evident that in its continued work of planning and advisement the directorate will require the services of an appreciable number of consulting economists; men who are qualified to be called Production Economists. 1919 375 THE DIAL The profession now includes men with the requi- site qualifications, although it cannot be said that the gild of economists is made up of such men in the main. Quite blamelessly, the economists have, by , tradition and by force of commercial pressure, habitually gone in for a theoretical inquiry into the ways and means of salesmanship, financial traffic, and the distribution of income and property, rather than a study of the industrial system con- sidered as a ways and means of producing goods and services. Yet there now are, after all, especial- ly among the younger generation, an appreciable number, perhaps an adequate number, of econom- ists who have learned that "business" is not "in- dustry" and that investment is not production. And, here as always, the best is good enough, perforce. "Consulting economists" of this order are a necessary adjunct to the personnel of the central directorate, because the technical training that goes to make a resource engineer, or a production engineer, or indeed a competent industrial expert in any line of specialization, is not of a kind to give him the requisite sure and facile insight into the play of economic forces at large; and as a matter of notorious fact, very few of the technicians have gone at all far afield to acquaint themselves with anything more to the point in this connection than the half-forgotten commonplaces of the old order. The "consulting economist" is accordingly necessary to cover an otherwise uncovered joint in the new articulation of things. His place in the scheme is analogous to the part which legal counsel now plays in the manoeuvers of diplomatists and statesmen; and the discretionary personnel of the incoming directorate are to be, in effect, something in the way of industrial statesmen under the new order. There is also a certain general reservation to be made with regard to personnel, which may conveni- ently be spoken of at this point. To avoid persist- ent confusion and prospective defeat, it will be necessary to exclude from all positions of trust and executive responsibility all persons who have been trained for business or who have had experi- ence in business undertakings of the larger sort. This will apply generally, throughout the adminis- trative scheme, ajthough it will apply more im- peratively as regards the responsible personnel of the directorate, central and subordinate, together with their staff of intelligence and advice, where- ever judgment and insight are essential. What is wanted is training in the ways and means of pro- ductive industry, not in the ways and means of salesmanship and profitable investment. By force of habit, men trained to a businesslike view of what is right and real will be irretrievably biassed against any plan of production and dis- tribution that is not drawn in terms of commercial profit and loss and does not provide a margin of free income to go to absentee owners. The per- sonal exceptions to the rule are apparently very few. But this one point is after all of relatively minor consequence. What is more to the point in the same connection is that the commercial bias induced by their training in businesslike ways of thinking leaves them incapable of anything like an effectual insight into the use of resources or the needs and aims of productive industry, in any other terms than those of commercial profit and loss. Their units and standards of valuation and accountancy are units and standards of price, and of private gain in terms of price; whereas for any scheme of productive industry which runs, not on salesmanship and earnings, but on tangible per- formance and tangible benefit to the community at large, the valuations and accountancy of salesman- ship and earnings are misleading. With the best and,mo8t benevolent intentions, men so trained will unavoidably make their appraisals of production and their disposition of productive forces in the only practical terms with which they are familiar, the terms of commercial accountancy; which is the same as saying, the accountancy of absentee own- ership and free income; all of which it is the abid- ing purpose of the projected plan to displace. For the purposes of this projected new order of produc- tion, therefore, the experienced and capable busi- ness men are at the best to be rated as well-inten- tioned deaf-mute blind men. Their wisest judg- ment and sincerest endeavors become meaningless and misguided so soon as the controlling purpose of industry shifts from the footing of profits on absentee investment to that of a serviceable output of goods. All this abjuration of business principles and businesslike sagacity may appear to be a taking of precautions about a vacant formality; but it is as well to recall that by trained propensity and tradition the business men, great and small, are after all, each in their degree, lieutenants of those Vested Interests which the projected organization of industry is designed to displace,—schooled in their tactics and marching under their banners. The experience of the war administration and its management of industry by help of the business men during the past few years goes to show what manner of industrial wisdom is to be looked for where capable and well-intentioned business men are called in to direct industry with a view to maximum production and economy. For its re- 376 November 1 THE DIAL sponsible personnel the administration has uni- formly drawn on experienced business men, pre- ferably men of successful experience in Big Busi- ness; that is to say, trained men with a shrewd eye to the main chance. And the tale of its adventures, so far as a businesslike reticence has allowed them to become known, is an amazing comedy of errors; which runs to substantially the same issue whether it is told of one or another of the many depart- ments, boards, councils, commissions, and adminis- trations, that have had this work to do. Notoriously, this choice of personnel has with singular uniformity proved to be of doubtful ad- visability, not to choose a harsher epithet. The policies pursued, doubtless with the best and most sagacious intentions of which this businesslike per- sonnel have been capable, have uniformly resulted in the safeguarding of investments and the alloca- tion of commercial profits; all the while that the. avowed aim of it all, and doubtless the conscien- tious purpose of the businesslike administrators, has been quantity production of essential goods. The more that comes to light, the more visible be- comes the difference between the avowed purpose and the tangible performance. Tangible perform- ance in the way of productive industry is precisely what the business men do not know how to pro- pose, but it is also that on which the possible suc- cess of any projected plan of overturn will always rest. Yet it is also to be remarked that even the reluctant and blindfold endeavors of these business- like administrators to break away from their life- long rule of reasonable earnings, appear to have resulted in a very appreciably increased industrial output per unit of man power and equipment em- ployed. That such was the outcome under the war administration is presumably due in great part to the fact that the business men in charge were unable to exercise so strict a control over the working force of technicians and skilled operatives during that period of stress. And here the argument comes in touch with one of the substantial reasons why there need be no present fear of a revolutionary overturn. By set- tled habit, the American population are quite unable to see their way to entrust any appreciable respon- sibility to any other than business men; at the same time that such a move of overturn can hope to succeed only if it excludes the business men from all postions of responsibility. This senti- mental deference of the American people to the sagacity of its business men is massive, profound, and alert. So much so that it will take harsh and protracted experience to remove it, or to divert it sufficiently for the purposes of any revolutionary diversion. And more particularly, popular senti- ment in this country will not tolerate the assump- tion of responsibility by the technicians, who are in the popular apprehension conceived to be a somewhat fantastic brotherhood of over-specializ- ed cranks, not to be trusted out of sight except under the restraining hand of safe and sane busi- ness men. Nor are the technicians themselves in the habit of taking a greatly different view of their own case. They still feel themselves, in the nature of things, to fall into place as employes of those enterprising business men who are, in the nature of things, elected to get something for nothing. Absentee ownership is secure, just yet In time, with sufficient provocation, this popular frame of mind may change, of course; but it is in any case a matter of an appreciable lapse of time. Even such a scant and bare outline of generalities as has been hastily sketched above will serve to show that any effectual overturn of the established order is not a matter to be undertaken out of hand, or to be manoeuvred into shape by makeshifts after the initial move has been made. There is no chance without deliberate preparations from beforehand. There are two main lines of preparations that will have to be taken care of by any body of men who may contemplate such a move: (a) An inquiry into existing conditions and into the available ways and means; and (b) the setting up of practicable organization tables and a survey of the available personnel. And bound up with this work of prep- aration, and conditioning it, provision must also be made for the growth of such a spirit of team- work as wiil be ready to undertake and undergo this critical adventure. All of which will take time. It will be necessary to investigate and to set out in a convincing way what are the various kinds and lines of waste that are necessarily involved in the present businesslike control of industry; what are the abiding causes of these wasteful and ob- structive practices; and what economies of man- agement and production will become practicable on the elimination of the present businesslike con- trol. This will call for diligent team-work on the part of a suitable group of economists and engin- eers, who will have to be drawn together by self- selection on the basis of a common interest in pro- ductive efficiency, economical use of resources, and an equitable distribution of the consumable output. Hitherto no such self-selection of competent per- sons has visibly taken place, and the beginnings of a plan for team-work in carrying on such an inquiry are yet to be made. In the course of this contemplated inquiry and on the basis afforded by its findings there is no 1919 377 THE DIAL less serious work to be done in the way of delibera- tion and advisement, among the members of the group in question and in consultation with out- side technological men ■ who know what can best be done with the means in hand, and whose interest in things drives them to dip into the same gain- less adventure. This will involve the setting up of organization tables to cover the efficient use of the available resources and equipment, as well as to re-organize the traffic involved in the distribu- tion of the output. By way of an illustrative instance, to show by an example something of what the scope and method of this inquiry and advisement will pre- sumably be like, it may be remarked that under the new order the existing competitive commercial traffic engaged in the distribution of goods to con- sumers will presumably fall away, in the main, for want of a commercial incentive. It is well known, in a general way, that the present organiza- tion of this traffic, by wholesale and retail mer- chandising, involves a very large and very costly duplication of work, equipment, stock, and per- sonnel,—several hundred per cent more than would be required by an economically efficient man- agement of the traffic on a reasonable plan. In looking for a way out of the present extremely wasteful merchandising traffic, and in working out organization tables for an equitable and efficient distribution of goods to consumers, the experts in the case will, it is believed, be greatly helped out by detailed information on such existing organiza- tions as, e.g., the distributing system of the Chicago Packers, the chain stores, and the mail-order houses. These are commercial organizations, of course, and as such they are managed with a view to the commercial gain of their owners and man- agers; but they are at the same time designed to avoid the ordinary wastes of the ordinary retail distribution, for the benefit of their absentee own- ers. There are not a few object-lessons of economy of this practical character to be found among the Vested Interests; so much so that the economies which result from them are among the valuable capitalized assets of these business concerns. This contemplated inquiry will, of course, also be useful in the way of publicity; to show, con- cretely and convincingly, what are the inherent de- fects of the present businesslike control of industry, why these defects are inseparable from a business- like control under existing circumstances, and what may fairly be expected of an industrial man- agement which takes no account of absentee owner- ship. The ways and means of publicity to be em- ployed is a question that plainly cannot profitably be discussed beforehand, so long as the whole ques- tion of the contemplated inquiry itself has little more than a speculative interest; and much the same will have to be said as to the scope and detail of the inquiry, which will have to be determined in great part by the interest and qualifications of the men who are to carry it on. Nothing but provision- al generalities could at all confidently be sketched into its program until the work is in hand. The contemplated eventual shift to a new and more practicable system of industrial production and distribution has been here spoken of as a "revolutionary overturn" of the established order. This flagitious form of words is here used chiefly because the Guardians of the established order are plainly apprehensive of something sinister that can be called by no gentler name, rather than with the intention of suggesting that extreme and subversive measures alone can now save the life of the under- lying population from the increasingly disservice- able rule of the Vested Interests. The move which is here discussed in a speculative way under this sinister form of words, as a contingency to be guarded against by fair means and foul, need, in effect, be nothing spectacular; assuredly it need involve no clash of arms or fluttering of banners, unless, as is beginning to seem likely, the Guardians of the old order should find that sort of thing ex- pedient. In its elements, the move will be of the simplest and most matter-of-fact character; al- though there will doubtless be many intricate ad- justments to be made in detail. In principle, all that is necessarily involved is a disallowance of absentee ownership; that is to say, the disestablish- ment of an institution which has, in the course of time and change, proved to be noxious to the com- mon good. The rest will follow quite simply from the cancelment of this outworn and footless vested right. By absentee ownership, as the term applies in this connection, is here to be understood the owner- ship of an industrially useful article by any person or persons who are not habitually employed in the industrial use of it. In this connection, office work of a commercial nature is not rated as industrial employment. A corollary of some breadth follows immediately, although it is so obvious an implica- tion of the main proposition that it should scarcely need explicit statement: An owner who is employed in the industrial use of a given parcel of property owned by him, will still be an "absentee owner," within the meaning of the term, in case he is not the only person habitually employed in its use. A further corollary follows, perhaps less obvious at first sight, but no less convincing on closer atten- 378 November 1 THE DIAL tion to the sense of the terms employed: Collective ownership, of the corporate form, that is to say ownership by a collectivity instituted ad hoc, also falls away as being unavoidably absentee owner- ship, within the meaning of the term. It will be noted that all this does not touch joint ownership of property held in undivided interest by a house- hold group and made use of by the members of the household indiscriminately. It is only in so far as the household is possessed of useful property not made use of by its members, or not made use of without hired help, that its ownership of such property falls within the meaning of the term, ab- sentee ownership. To be sufficiently explicit, it may be added that the cancelment of absentee own- ership as here understood will apply indiscrimin- ately to all industrially useful objects, whether realty or personalty, whether natural resources, equipment, banking capital, or wrought goods in stock. As an immediate consequence of this cancelment of absentee ownership it should seem to be alto- gether probable that industrially useful articles will presently oease to be used for purposes of ownership, that is to say for purposes of private gain; although there might be no administrative interference with such use. Under the existing state of the industrial arts, neither the natural re- sources drawn on for power and materials nor the equipment employed in the great and con- trolling industries are of a nature to lend them- selves to any other than absentee ownership; and these industries control the situation, so that private enterprise for gain on a small scale would scarcely find a suitable market. At the same time the inducement to private ac- cumulation of wealth at the cost of the community would virtually fall away, inasmuch as the induce- ment to such accumulation now is in nearly all cases an ambition to come in for something in the way of absentee ownership. In effect, other incen- tives are a negligible quantity. Evidently, the secondary effects of such cancelment will go far, in more than one direction, but evidently, too, there could be little profit in endeavoring to follow up these ulterior contingencies in extended specula- tions here. As to the formalities, of a legal complexion, that would be involved in such a disallowance of absen- tee ownership, they need also be neither large nor intricate; at least not in their main incidence. It will in all probability take the shape of a cancel- ment of all corporation securities, as an initial love. Articles of partnership, evidences of debt, d other legal instruments which now give title to property not in hand or not in use by the owner, will be voided by the same act. In all probability this will be sufficient for the purpose. This act of disallowance may be called subversive and revolutionary; but while there is no intention here to offer anything in the way of exculpation, it is necessary to an objective appraisal of the con- templated move to note that the effect of such dis- allowance would be subversive or revolutionary only in a figurative sense of the words. It would all of it neither subvert nor derange any substantial mechanical contrivance or relation, nor need it ma- terially disturb the relations, either as workman or as consumer of goods and services, of ,any appre- ciable number of persons now engaged in produc- tive industry. In fact, the disallowance will touch nothing more substantial than a legal make-believe. This would, of course, be' serious enough in its consequences to those classes—called the kept classes—whose livelihood hangs on the mainten- ance of this legal make-believe. So, likewise, it would vacate the occupation of the "middleman," which likewise turns on the maintenance of this legal make-believe; which gives "title" to that to which one stands in no material relation. Doubtless, hardship will follow thick and fast, among those classes who are least inured to priva- tion; and doubtless all men will agree that it is a great pity. But this evil is, after all, a side issue, as regards the present argument, which has to do with nothing else than the practicability of the scheme. So it is necessary to note that, however detrimental to the special interests of the absentee owners this move may be, yet it will not in any degree derange or diminish those material facts that constitute the ways and means of productive industry; nor will it in any degree enfeeble or mutilate that joint stock of technical knowledge and practice that constitutes the intellectual work- ing force of the industrial system. It does not di- rectly touch the material facts of industry, for bet- ter or worse. In this sense it is a completely idle matter, in its immediate incidence, whatever its secondary consequences may be believed to be. But there is no doubt that a proposal to disallow absentee ownership will shock the moral sensi- bilities of many persons; more particularly the sensibilities of the absentee owners. To avoid the appearance of willful neglect, therefore, it is neces- sary to speak also of the "moral aspect." There is no intention here to argue the moral merits of this contemplated disallowance of absentee owner- ship; or to argue for or against such a move, on moral or other grounds. Absentee ownership is legally sound today. Indeed, as is well known, the 1919 379 THE DIAL Constitution includes a clause which specially safe- guards its security. If, and when, the law is chang- ed, in this respect, what so is legal today will of course cease to be legal. There is, in fact, not much more to be said about it; except that, in the last resort, the economic moralities wait on the economic necessities. The economic-moral sense of the American community today runs unequivo- cally to the effect that absentee ownership is funda- mentally and eternally right and good; and it should seem reasonable to believe that it will continue to run to that effect for some time yet. There has lately been some irritation and fault- finding with what is called "profiteering" and there may be more or less uneasy discontent with what is felt to be an unduly disproportionate inequality in the present distribution of income; but appre- hensive persons should not lose sight of the main fact that absentee ownership after all is the idol of every true American heart. It is the substance of things hoped for and the reality of things not seen. To achieve (or to inherit) a competency, that is to say to accumulate such wealth as will assure a "decent" livelihood in industrial absentia, is the universal, and universally laudable, ambition of all who have reached years of discretion; but it all means the same thing—to get something for noth- ing, at any cost. Similarly universal is the awe- struck deference with which the larger absentee owners are looked up to for guidance and example. These substantial citizens are the ones who have "made good," in the popular apprehension. They are the great and good men whose lives "all remind us we can make our lives sublime, etc." This commercialized frame of mind is a sturdy outgrowth of many generations of consistent train- ing in the pursuit of the main chance; it is second nature, and there need be no fear that it will allow the Americans to see workday facts in any other than its own perspective, just yet. The most tenacious factor in any civilization is a settled popular frame of mind, and to this abiding American frame of mind absentee ownership is the controlling cen- ter of all the economic realties. So, having made plain that all this argument on a practicable overturn of the established order has none but a speculative interest, the argument can go on to consider what will be the nature of the initial move of overturn which is to break with the old order of absentee ownership and set up a regime of workmanship governed by the country's tech- nicians. As has already been called to mind, repeatedly, the effective management of the industrial system at large is already in the hands of the technicians, so far as regards the work actually done; but it is all under the control of the Vested Interests, repre- senting absentee owners, so far as regards its failure to work. And the failure is, quite reasonably, attracting much attention lately. In this two-cleft, or bi-cameral, administration of industry, the tech- nicians may be said to represent the community at large in its industrial capacity, or in other words the industrial system as a going concern; whereas the business men speak for the commercial interest of the absentee owners, as a body which holds the industrial community in usufruct. It is the part of the technicians, between them, to know the country's available resources, in mechanical power, and equipment; to know and put in practice the joint stock of technological knowledge which is indispensable to industrial production; as well as to know and take care of the community's habitual need and use of consumable goods. They are, in effect, the general staff of production engineers, under whose surveillance the required output of goods and services is produced and distributed to the consumers. Whereas it is the part of the busi- ness men to know what rate and volume of pro- duction and distribution will best serve the com- mercial interest of the absentee owners, and to put this commercial knowledge in practice by nicely limiting production and distribution of the output to such a rate and volume as their commercial traffic "will bear—that is to say, what will yield the largest net income' to the absentee owners in terms of price. In this work of sagaciously retarding industry the captains of industry necessarily work at cross purposes, among themselves, since the traf- fic is of a competitive nature. Accordingly, in this two-cleft arrangement of administrative functions, it is the duty of the technicians to plan the work and to carry it on; and it is the duty of the captains of industry to see that the work will benefit none but the captains and their associated absentee owners, and that it is not pushed beyond the salutary minimum which their commercial traffic will bear. In all that concerns the planning and execution of the work done, the technicians necessarily take the initiative and exer- cise the necessary creative surveillance and direc- tion; that being what they, and they alone, are good for; whereas the businesslike deputies of the ab- sentee owners sagaciously exercise a running veto power over the technicians and their productive in- dustry. They are able effectually to exercise this commercially sagacious veto power by the fact that the technicians are, in effect, their employes, hired to do their bidding and fired if they do not; and perhaps no less by this other fact, that the techni- cians have hitherto been working piecemeal, as 380 November 1 THE DIAL scattered individuals under their master's eye; they have hitherto not drawn together on their own ground and taken counsel together as a general staff of industry, to determine what had best he done and what not. So that they have hitherto figured in the conduct of the country's industrial enterprise only as a technological extension of the business men's grasp on the commercial main chance. - Yet, immediately and unremittingly, the tech- nicians and their advice and surveillance are es- sential to any work whatever in those great primary industries on which the country's productive sys- tems turns, and which set the pace for all the rest. And it is obvious that so soon as they shall draw together, in a reasonably inclusive way, and take common counsel as to what had best be done, they are in a position to say what work shall be done and to fix the terms on which it is to be done. In short, so far as regards the technical requirements of the case, the situation is ready for a self-selected, but inclusive, Soviet of technicians to take over the economic affairs of the country and to allow and disallow what they may agree on; provided al- ways that they live within the requirements of that state of the industrial arts whose keepers they are, and provided that their pretensions continue to have the support of the industrial rank and file; which comes near saying that their Soviet must consist- ently and effectually take care of the material wel- fare of the underlying population. Now, this revolutionary posture of the present state of the industrial arts may be undesirable, in some respects, but there is nothing to be gained by denying the fact. So soon—but only so soon—as the engineers draw together, take common counsel, work out a plan of action, and decide to disallow absentee ownership out of hand, that move will have been made. The obvious and simple means of doing it is a conscientious withdrawal of efficien- cy; that is to say the general strike, to include so much of the country's staff of technicians as will suffice to incapacitate the industrial system at large J-y their withdrawal, for suoh time as may be re- quired to enforce their argument. In its elements, the project is simple and obvious, but its working out will require much painstaking preparation, much more than appears on the face of this bald statement; for it also follows from the present state of the industrial arts and from the character of the industrial system in which modern technology works out, that even a transient failure to make good in the conduct of productive indus- try will result in a precipitate collapse of the en- rprise. By themselves alone, the technicians can, in a few weeks, effectually incapacitate the country's productive industry sufficiently for the purpose. No one who will dispassionately consider the technical character of this industrial system will fail to rec- ognize that fact. But so long as they have not, at least, the tolerant consent of the population at large, backed by the aggressive support of the trained working force engaged in transportation and in the greater primary industries, they will be sub- stantially helpless to set up a practicable working organization on the new footing; which is the same as saying that they will in that case accomplish nothing more to the purpose than a transient period of hardship and dissension. Accordingly, if it be presumed that the produc- tion engineers are of a mind to play their part, there will be at least two main lines of subsidiary preparation to be taken care of before any overt move can reasonably be undertaken: (a) An ex- tensive campaign of inquiry and publicity, such as will bring the underlying population to a reason- able understanding of what it is all about; and (b) the working-out of a common understanding and a solidarity of sentiment between the techni- cians and the working force engaged in transporta- tion and in the greater underlying industries of the system: to which is to be added as being nearly indispensable from the outset,* an active adherence to this plan on the part of the trained workmen in the great generality of the mechanical industries. Until these prerequisites are taken care of, any project for the overturn of the established order of absentee ownership will be nugatory. By way of conclusion it may be recalled again that, just yet, the production engineers are a scat- tering lot of fairly contented subalterns, working piecemeal under orders from the deputies of the absentee owners; the working force of the great mechanical industries, including transportation, are still nearly out of touch and out of sympathy with the technical men, and are bound in rival trade organizations whose sole and self-seeking interest converges on the full dinner-pail; while the under- lying population are as nearly uninformed on the state of things as the Guardians of the Vested In- terests, including the commercialized newspapers, can manage to keep them, and they are consequently still in a frame of mind to tolerate no substantia! abatement of absentee ownership; and the consti- tuted authorities are competently occupied with maintaining the status quo There is nothing in the situation that should reasonably .flutter the sensi- bilities of the Guardians or of that massive body of well-to-do citizens who make up the rank and file of absentee owners, just yet. Thorstein Veblen. THE DIAL A FORTNIGHTLY The Old Order and die New Perhaps the most notable achievement of the peacemakers of Paris is a new method of making war. Throughout the century and a half that pre- ceded the recent conflict, the framers of constitu- tions were busy with the imposition of legislative checks upon the diplomatic and war-making powers of national executives. These constitutionalists, no less than President Wilson, were the enemies of secret diplomacy and of "every arbitrary power any- where than can separately, secretly, and of its single choice disturb the peace of the world." Although the restrictions imposed in these years of laborious reform were by no means rigorous, yet foreign af- fairs, and matters of war and peace in particular, did **>me to fall somewhat under the influence of public opinion and legislative debate, and in cer- tain instances even became in a measure subject to legislative control. The influence of public opin- ion in these matters actually became so strong that any executive who attempted to organize a nation for war felt compelled to provide the people with war aims that became more and more idealistic as the burden of the war itself became more and more diflkut to bear. Slight as these restrictions are, they still carry us a step in advance of the time when the military force of the nation, like its other powers, was at the disposition of a wholly irre- sponsible executive. This much then had been ac- complished before the dawn of Armistice Day. But from the days of the Bolshevist coup d' etat in Petrograd it had been apparent to the more or less responsible executives of the Allied nations that victory over Germany would leave a more insidious enemy still undefeated—an enemy not of the Allied nations but of their privileged classes. The diplo- mats dared not ask the legislatures and the peoples to essay another passage at arms. In fact it had become necessary to invent a type of warfare that could be entered upon and conducted by executives, without legislative sanction, without the conscrip- tion of soldiers, without money grants or heavy taxation or the wide sale of government securities —in short, without the support of the manhood and money, of the constitutional governments of the Allied countries. Necessity spawned its inven- tion—the "peaceful blockade." Even when the peoples of the Allied countries were most ardent in their desire to crush the Central Powers, the block- ade was regarded in some quarters as an inhuman method of warfare. But now the diplomatic agents of France and England, with the compliance of our own State Department, have turned this weapon against a land with which we are at peace. Mow than this, the Supreme Council is attempting to persuade or intimidate the executives of neutral governments into joining the new alliance, and has threatened Germany with economic *li angula tion, at the hands of the Repartition* Commission, if she refuses to become a party to this crime, If the Senate of the United States and the parliament* of the countries addressed by the Council are con- cerned for the safety of representative government, let them take immediately from the diplomat* the power that enables them, "separately, secretly, anil of their single choice," to declare a war of exterm- ination against any nation that has displeased them. Ihe German Constitution, now ihiiiuhiikii in complete translation, has been praised as a progres- sive document. It is so difficult to find anything In Central Europe today cxecepl anemic mothers and tuberculous children that it is hard to withhold recognition of life and movement where It is even faintly discernible. But the German Constitution is not the place to look for it. Undoubtedly It is a modern constitution in the sense that it was made yesterday: it is not modern however in the sense that it embodies the best political practice adduced from criticism of the actual constitution of the Unit- ed States or the constitutional law* of France. Fur from being progressive, the Cerman Constitution is one of the most static of state document*. Instead of providing simply a mechanism for formulating policies and enacting legislation, and an additional mechanism for replacing its own machinery a* soon as it becomes obsolete, the Constitution lays down specifically the line of legislation which must, ac- cording to organic mandate, be followed. Obvi- ously no constitution can escape the limitations of its period: what is wrong with the German Consti- tution is that it attempts to project its limitation* into the future. The German* have recognized and thoroughly provided in their basic law for evtsry phase of existing society. Unfortunately the very act of definition will crystallize the forms of present day society into a more or less rigid mold, and the inflexibility of the written word is bound to hinder the task of modifying the mold sufficiently to pro* vide for the succeeding staj^e of civilization. The very fact that the f/erman Const ilut'u/n rtftftM faith- fully the facts and ideals of present A»f (iwm*ny is its prime defect For the future will show # dif- ferent image, and the present mirror will distort n. 382 November 1 THE DIAL The breakdown of statesmanship during the past year has had some of the terrific, impersonal grandeur of an earthquake. The catastrophic war which nobody could prevent had its fitting sequel in the catastrophic peace which nobody dared to im- prove. Those of us who are committed to the im- passive role of spectators have been a little slow in sensing the play of these august events upon the personalities chiefly concerned in them. The states- men and labor leaders themselves may have been slow in realizing their ambiguous positions. It seems that they have been the victims of a dilemma which nothing short of a physical breakdown could make manifest. In this sense the plight of President Wilson, on the assumption that it is a functional as well as an organic disturbance, has a universal significance. It throws perhaps a light upon the illnesses of Colonel House and Samuel Gompers, and by reflection upon the amazing health of Mr. Lloyd George. It is with no failing of due respect that we select the case of the President as exemplary. A recapitulation of his history during the past two years discloses evidence of a basic failure of adjustment which was bound to disclose itself eventually in .either a mental or a physical reaction. His was the difficulty of the idealist who had not learned to master his materials, and who in the course of prosecuting a vigorous bellicose action was able to keep his ideal self only by keeping it apart. As a result two Mr. Wil- sons gradually came into existence, and as they de- veloped there arose a dissociation between the world of General Staffs, diplomats, and espionage organizations in which Mr. Wilson had to work, and that private world of hope, faith, and infinite charity into which he retired to think. So far from letting the war change the disciple of pacifism into the legionary of Mars, as in Shaw's fable of Ferro- vius in Androcles and the Lion, Mr. Wilson per- fected himself in each of the parts separately, and in each of them created an apparently firm and con- sistent character. The two Mr. Wilsoas went to Paris: one bowing to the crowds, and the other dining with the diplomats. One made speeches against secret diplomacy, the use of arbitrary power, and the disregard of faith and humanity in dealing with those whose sins increased the difficulty of dis- pensing justice. The other was the "realist" Mr. Wilson who sat in secret conferences, bartered friendly peoples' territories for a scrap of paper, ignored his pledges both to friend and enemy, and transformed the war to make the world safe for democracy into a peace to make the world profit- able for secret treaties. The idealist Mr. Wilson returned from Paris to campaign with sabbatical seriousness for the League and Treaty that the prac- tical Mr. Wilson had all too astutely assisted in -iting. Between these two characters was a sharply wn conflict. On a less urgent and less important ision Mr. Wilson might have found some simple defense mechanism, such as the jest or the trans- fered reproach, to reconcile these opposites in a higher synthesis. But by the time his work was challenged in America these defenses had been insidiously weakened: and the revelations of Lan- sing, Bullitt, and Colcord, backed by the criticisms of Knox, Borah, and Johnson, doubtless jolted to the foundations the hitherto self sufficient com- placencies and assurances. The practical Mr. Wil- son found it more and more difficult to appeal to the idealist for moral sustenance. And at length the contest between the two personalities could not be concealed: it was a public spectacle. For this reason it had either openly to be proclaimed or transferred to other grounds. An integrated character would have renounced in humiliation the League, the Treaty, and all their works, or it would have blown away the nauseous vapors of justice, humanity, and fair play that enveloped its declara- tions, and have proclaimed the folly of its hopes and the futility of its promises. Unfortunately the President could not decide any better than Mr. Gompers whether he was for the old world that had not yet broken up or the new one that was yet to be born. The realist and the idealist were each too mature and resolute to submit to the domination of the other. The President's lament- able illness is possibly a sign that neither of them will give in, and that the difference is being settled, not by the simple mechanism of rationalization and compromomise, but by the deeper and more ultimate mechanism of disease. It is to be regretted that Mr. Wilson has not had the sanguine flexibility of Mr. Lloyd George; for the English Premier has trimphantly demonstrated how stable the constitu- tion and mental equipment of a statesman may remain as long as he does not work deliberately against an automatic adjustment by clinging to a cumbersome body of principles and moral con- victions. If government is to be effected by majori- ties the statesman who leads his constituents by fol- lowing the popular nose is the ideal statesman. The idealist, who can neither master his course of action nor warp his principles, will find that in the art of government all is vanity and vexation of spirit—and that finally the brain lags and the flesh itself is as grass. EDITORS Martyn Johnson Oswald W. Knauth Robert Morss Lovett Helen Marot Thorstein Veblen Associates Clarence Britten Lewis Mumford" Geroid Robtnson 1919 383 THE DIAL Notes on New Books The Happy End. By Joseph Hergesheimer. 315 pages. Knopf. In these studies Hergesheimer discloses a flexibil- ity seldom realized in the short-story. Where most writers are content to give this narrative form a circumscribed burden of emotion—circumscribed, that is, in direction though not in intensity—Herge- sheimer shows it capable of as many facets as a finely cut jewel—each one a contribution to an underlying unity. It is this characteristic of the stories in The Happy End which clothes them with the seeming richness and suggested complexity of full-length novels. Hergesheimer develops his stories with such vivifying technique that they be- come surcharged, and the reader is made tinglingly conscious of a reserve voltage, constantly generated and yet always controlled. There is scant consid- eration for action apart from conflict in these tales; the theme to which he returns again and again is that of a character saddled with an obligation, hew- ing a pathway through the brambles of existence. Hergesheimer's men and women are pivoted upon destiny—not piloted to a destination: the dedica- tion to the volume, in which he affirms his responsi- bility to his grocer, evidently was composed with his tongue in his cheek. The seven stories which comprise this book touch life at many angles. There is, in Rosemary Roselle, a fine study of op- posing temperaments, thrown against a Civil War background. Bread, a story of exquisite artistry, infuses a fresh significance into the war as an ele- ment of fiction. Each tale has some peculiar grace, and a quickening appeal to the imagination. The collection is a real addition to the work of a writer whose utterances grow increasingly significant. A Servant of Reality. By Phyllis Bottome. 454 pages. Century. Those whose function it is to commit literature to the card index may have no space in the cata- logue for a type of novel bearing the designation, "light tragedy," and yet there is occasional need for just this classification. It seems to us that Miss Bottome's newest story is of that type, for it clothes an essentially tragic theme in the gay garments of a style which is continually, sparkling, and not in- frequently heady with epigram. We suspect that the technique of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Do- rian Gray was not far remote from the conscious- ness of this novelist in the fashioning of the ma- terials of A Servant of Reality. The form is a dangerous one to handle, for only a hair line sepa- rates it from a breach of esthetic good taste, but it may be set down to the credit of Miss Bottome that at no point does the mood clash with method. It is a daring thing, for example, right at the tragic peak of the story, to drop back into the deft, slightly ironic, tone of the earlier part of the book, but the transition is accomplished in a manner to heighten rather than to jeopardiie the effect Moreover, A Servant of Reality is one of those rare novels into which the war has been fused—not injected. The war explains the emotions of the central characters, without explaining them out of existence. It is pos- sible to understand the actions of the overwrought surgeon, returning from two years in a German prison camp, and his sudden absorption in the light, frivolous, but basically tragic figure of the story's heroine. These people are made real, not puppets of military necessity. Miss Bottome seems to have an instinctive sense of situation. In the handling of minor incidents there is no overcrowding, no straining for a desired effect. The incidents unfold naturally, and then are re-absorbed in the main current of the narrative. Minor characters—some of them real creations—are so skilfully employed as to contribute measurably to the impression of artistic totality which the book leaves. The dialogue is just remote enough from reality to give it fragrance; it is too sparkling to be spontaneous, but the loss in illusion is compensated for by the polish. After all, what Wells calls "the splash and glitter" of a genuine prose style has its place in novel writing, despite the preponderance of those who blunder through without H. The Secrets of Animal Life. By J. Arthur Thomson. 325 pages. Holt. Professor Thomson always suggests more than he says, and the charm of his style appears no- where better than in these forty papers, collected from a series that appeared over several years in The New Statesman. There is nothing since Ray Lankester's Easy Chair that is so characteristic of the modern scientific "natural history," in distinc- tion from the older writing about the mysteries of * living things. There is the appreciation of the mys- teries joined to a thorough familiarity with the scientific attitude as well as with the scientific rev- elations of our own time. Most of the chanters are really review articles on topics suggested by scien- tific monographs that have appeared in the course of the past ten years, many of them from American laboratories. They summarize significant facts, present outstanding problems, and indicate leading hypotheses and lines of approach to the notations, and frequently the practical bearings or applica- tions. Four main groups of tonics are discussed— the adaptation of the individual animal to his sur- roundings, the interrelations of organisms, develop- ment and behavior, and problems of evolution and heredity. Taken together these collected papers give an excellent survey of the present outlook in the biological sciences, of especial value to the lay- man and to the young student who has not yet ori- ented himself in the bewildering maze of technical literature. 384 November 1 THE DIAL The Book of a Naturalist. W. H. Hudson. 360 pages. Doran. In The Book of a Naturalist Mr. Hudson sur- rounds some of the familiar animals of Great Brit- ain with a volume of humane and edifying gossip, given out in a spirit of admirably benevolent in- telligence. The book glows with that certain gen- tlemanly provincialism that doth hedge about a certified Briton. The tales, or anecdotes, are told with a mannerly reserve, not to say forbearance, which however does not go the length of anywise hampering that abundant run of graceful speech which makes their substance. There is, now and again, a remote promise of whimsicality, and at times also an apparently advised approach to hu- mor. And with all, it is pleasant reading for a dull afternoon, and it shows, or hints at, a much larger and more intimate acquaintance among the commonplace British fauna than the writer has thought best to disclose. A person not familiar with Mr. Hudson's earlier and more artful tales from lower latitudes might even find that this book lives up to the promise of its title page. Fields of Victory. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. 274 pages. Scribner. My "Little Bit." By Marie Corelli. 318 pages. Doran. If it were wise—or even discreet—to attempt a facile classification of all the war books from non- combatant pens, we suspect that the whole harvest might be garnered into two shelves—one to be la- beled The War and the World, the other The War and I. According to the temperament of the writer, all the volumes tend to drift one way or the other; their aura is either international or per- sonal. We find some carrying a flavor of both, of course; but in the main, the reaction is fairly defi- • nite in one direction. These opposed channels are rather strikingly emphasized in two late comers to the martial shelf—Fields of Victory and My Little Bit. It is perhaps characteristic that Mrs. Ward's book, being the third which she has writ- ten dealing with England's part in the war, should be gleaned from sources of high command, and should subtly convey the impression of rubbing shoulders with those personages who held the des- tinies of armies like chessmen on a board. It is equally characteristic that Miss Corelli, eddying about in little gusts of controversy in England, should appear to be far more hotly in the thick of battle than Mrs. Ward, touring the Western front with military escort. While Mrs. Ward is weighing the comparative value of this or that strategic move, and gravely seeking to compute and apportion mili- tary honors among the Allied armies, we find Miss Corelli lashing herself into sarcastic fury over the domestic policy of the Empire regarding food re- strictions and hoarding. Mrs. Ward converses with generals; Miss Corelli flays the cabinet. Mrs. Ward meets President -Wilson, in whose "instinctive and accomplished choice of words and phrases, some- thing reminded me of the talk of George Eliot as I heard it fifty years ago." Miss Corelli is accused of sugar hoarding and writes saucy parodies "cor- dially inscribed" to Sir Thomas Lipton, "the prince o' pickles and o' jam." In this instance, it is the writer with the international point of view who writes the better book. Mrs. Ward's resume of the last year of the war is clear-visioned, scholarly, and concise. Miss Corelli's contribution is merely a scrapbook—possibly in more than one sense of the word. It became a book by the grace of a clipping bureau. Folklore in the Old Testament. By Sir James George Frazer. 3 Vols., 1706 pages. Macmillan. These three tomes contain, in a style of un- usual lucidity, comparative studies of folklore em- bedded in the Old Testament. The -justly famed author of The Golden Bough has again displayed his peculiar genius for exploring the crannies of habit and custom in all human races. Such sub- jects as The Creation of Man, The Great Flood, Cuttings for the Dead, and The Ox that Gored come in for comprehensive studies. In each case he presents the Biblical material and then proceeds to show that the beliefs and practices therein revealed are found embedded in world-wide traditions. For instance, hundreds of races and tribes scattered in Asia, Africa, North and South America, and in the Islands of the seas, have flood .stories in terms indicative of their own environ- ment. These studies abundantly demonstrate that many of the Biblical customs and traditions are sur- vivals of a stage of barbarism through which Israel passed in its journey to a high level of religious development; and that Israel, like other civilized races, emerged from a savage state similar to that in which many present-day backward races still linger. The zeal for heaping up illustrative ma- terial, however, leads the author so far afield as to justify the suspicion that he is more interested in folklore per se than in Biblical folklore. This is especially in evidence in the study of the Heirship of Jacob and Ultimogeniture, wherein he turns aside to prove at considerable length that the no- tion of jus primae noctis in Europe was not a right claimed by the feudal lord or ecclesiastical digni- tary. Near the close of the work Dr. Frazer deftly indicates what will undoubtedly be the next ad- vance in the science of Primitivity, now being forced upon us by the rapidly developing science of Social Psychology: that is, the study of the emo' tional basis of loklore. 1919 385 THE DIAL m ROOSEVELT "was so active a person—not to say so noisy and conspicuous; he so occupied the centre of every stage, that, when he died, it was as though a wind had faflen, a light had gone out, a military band had stopped playing. It was not so much the death of an individual as a general lowering in the vitality of the nation. America was less America, because he was no longer here. He should have lived twenty years more had he been willing to go slow, to loaf and invite his soul, to feed that mind of his in a wise passiveness. But there was no repose about him, and his pleasures were as strenuous as his toils." From FOUR AMERICANS (Just Published) By Henry Augustin Beers, M. A., Professor of English Literature, Yale College Essays on Roosevelt, Hawthorne, Emerson and Whitman, written in a keen, frank, instructive and peculiarly readable style by a well known author and essayist. Decorated Paperboards. 90 pages. $1.00 POLICEMAN AND PUBLIC By Arthur Woods Today the policeman ia a much diacuaaed figure. Thie new book deala with hie relatione to atrikee, atreet meetings, promotion, graft and leaderahip, with incidenta from the author'a personal experience. SVi*7V4. Cloth. ISO pagea. 11.35. AUTHORITY IN THE MODERN STATE By Harold J. Laski "The book it a. admirable ai it la uninaai.—Mr. Laski doe* not repeat what others hare said.—His manner is aca- demic and learned, his appeal very sober and scholarly.'* —Bert ran d Russell in The London Nation. 5*4x8%. Cloth. 398 pages. Appendix, index. $3.00. SOCIETY AND PRISONS By Thomas Mott Osborne "Affords an exposition of an epoch-making experiment in prison management, by the man who brought it about." —New York Times. (Fourth Printing.) 5%x8. Cloth. 246 pages. Index. 11.50. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP By H. L. Gantt "An Important contribution toward the solution of one of the pressing problems of the age."—Boston Transcript. A number of large industrial concerns have distributed this book throughout their factories with marked effect. (Third Printing.) 5x7%. Cloth. 128 pages. 9 charts. 11.25. RURAL RECONSTRUCTION IN IRELAND By Lionel Smith-Gordon and Laurence C. Staples Two vital questions discussed,—Ireland and Co-operative Reconstruction. "For America no book can be more valuable a* a close study of the Irish subject than this one." —Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 6x8%. Cloth. 301 pagea. Appendices. 83.00. WORLD-POWER AND EVOLUTION By Ellsworth Huntincton A convincing statement of the relation between climatic conditions and the health, social oonditions, eventual power and business of a nation. Tremendously significant in the tight of the war and the years which are to follow. 6x9. Cloth. 287 pages. 30 illustrations. Appendices, bibliography, index. $2.50. BOOKS WHICH TOUCH THE QUICK OF PRESENT-DAY PROBLEMS The Hindrances to Good Citizenship ($1.25) James Bryce Ethics in Service ($1.50) William Howard Taft The Citizen's Part in Government ($1.25) Elihu Root The Liberty of Citizenship ($1.25) Samuel W. McCall Undercurrents in American Politics ($1.50) Arthur Twining Hadley (Write for complete catalogue) * YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS New Haven, Connecticut 280 Madison Avenue, New York City When writing to advertiaera pleaae mention The Dial. 386 November 1 THE DIAL Books of the Fortnight The Relation of Executive Power to Legislation, by Henry Campbell Black (191 pages; Princeton Uni- versity Press), examines the increasing subservience of the national legislature since 1865 and calls atten- tion not merely to the domination of the President but to the encroachment of executive departments. It is an attempt to do away with the sham of constitu- tional equality between the several branches of gov- ernment now that the old equilibrium has been upset. The author is editor of The Constitutional Review. Organized Efforts for the Improvement of Methods of Administration in the United States, by Gus- tavus A. Wever (391 pages; Appleton). Students of public affairs who are willing to detour this elephan- tine title will find much valuable material hidden be- hind it. Mr. Wever's volume, published under the auspices of the Institute for Government Research, deals with the history, organization, and activities of agencies for governmental research and control, and supplies the reader with long bibliographies of the material published by these agencies. Review later. The Belgian Congo and the Berlin Act, by Arthur Berriedale Keith (344 pages; Oxford University Press), is concerned chiefly with the political history of the Congo and with an analysis of the international compact which regulates the government of the Free State. The work is elaborately annotated, and the Berlin Act and other state papers of importance are reprinted in the appendix. Review later. League of Nations: Its Principles Examined, VoL II, by Theodore Marburg (149 pages; Macmillan), goes into its third edition, "revised after the triumph of the Allies," without taking into account the consider- able reconstruction of the pure theory of an inter- national league necessitated by contact'with the sullied practices of the Supreme Council. A war book with- out a peace background. Labor in the Changing World, by R. M. Maclver (229 pages; Dutton), examines industrial conditions and outlooks in an effort to appraise the current programs for reconstruction and to formulate at least the mini- mum requirements indicated. Review later. Approaches Toward Church Unity, edited by New- man Smyth and Williston Walker (170 pages; Yale University Press), opens with the announcement that the end of the war leaves the reunion of the churches as the next Christian thing to be done. A World Con- ference on Faith and Order is in preparation, and a League of Churches may grow out of it. With the New State comes now the New Church. Have Faith in Massachusetts, by Governor Coolidge (224 pages; Houghton Mifflin)—addresses, proclama- tions, and obiter dicta from 1914 to the Boston Police Strike of 1919—will give hope and comfert only to those that believe that the daylight of common experi- ence is brightened by the candle of the obvious. The Girl and the Job, by Helene Christene Hoerle and Florence B. Saltzberg (266 pages; Holt), contributes to the literature of vocational guidance a compendious but all too brief summary of business opportunities for women. The range of topics only partially makes up for the sketchiness of the individual description. Should not each industry have its own guidebook? The present sample may point to a "job," but it is hardly the comprehensive treatment that should open up a life's vocation. The Health of the Teacher, by William Estabrook Chancellor (307 pages; Forbes, Chicago), first dis- cusses various aspects of the teacher's physical dis- abilities in chapters that are each illustrated by specif- ic cases, and goes on to outline the upbuilding meas- ures and habits which are indicated. There are of course occupational diseases, and while Dr. Chan cellor's positive advice might well apply to any indi- vidual, this little treatise does well to remind us that there is also room for manuals in occupational adjustment. Danger Signals for Teachers, by A. E. Winship (204 pages; Forbes, Chicago), is a series of vigorous, hor- tatory, up-to-date platitudes addressed to teachers by the editor of the Journal of Education. In an ergani- zation whose rolling stock of ideas is so light the costliness of acquiring this signal system need not alarm the intellectually timid teacher. Yale Talks, by Charles Reynolds Brown (156 pages; Yale University Press), is subdued sermonizing, carrying a burden of uplift neither greater nor less than one ex- pects in a book of that sort. The group of "talks" is not indigenous to Yale; it might just as accurately be called What Every Dean Says. My Generation, by William Jewett Tucker (464 pages; Houghton Mifflin), is a documentation not merely si post-Darwinian America but of pest-Emersonian New England. Following the career of the author from his New York pastorate through his Andever period to his Presidency of Dartmouth, one arrives at Ran- dolph Bourne's conclusion—that there is something wrong with a civilization that "could apparently fiad no other use for such a mind than to put it for the best years of its life into the routine of a New England college." My Generation might in a more bitter mood be called Our Unregeneration. Review later. The Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle, edited by Reginald C. McGrane (359 pages; Houghton Mifflin), deals with national affairs from 1807 to 1844. While many of the letters concern themselves with the United States Bank, of which Biddle was Director and President, there are interesting sidelights in letters to Clay and Webster on the conditions leading up to the Mexican War. Impressions of Theodore Roosevelt, by Lawrence F. Abbott (315 pages; Doubleday, Page), does no more than add to a long list of photographs the occasional literary snapshots which the author, through his as- sociation with The Outlook, was able to make. Neither the lighting nor the composition have that excellence which might place the present work above its equally amateur competitors. The Poet of Science and Other Addresses by Wil- liam North Rice (225 pages; Abingdon Press), would have been a dangerously liberal collection in 1870. At present its only appeal will be to those who think that the conflict between religion and science is tufi- ciently genuine to merit the intercession of a Wesleyan geologist. The Book of a Naturalist, by W. H. Hudson (360 pages; Doran), is reviewed on page 384. Strearacraft, by Dr. George Parker Holden (264 pages; Stewart & Kidd; Cincinnati), is so compact and read- able that it should do more than serve the notice; it should make converts. It treats such topics as the care of the rod, the art of casting, the habits of trout, and the use of flies. 1919 387 THE DIAL The Open Court Series of Philosophical Classics A collection of well-made books in paper bindings. Selected with reference to the needs of students. Primer of Philosophy. Br Paul Can. 30c. Philosophy of Ancient India. By Richard Garbe. 30c. Discourse on the Method of Rightly Con- ducting the Reason and Seeking Truth in the Sciences. By Rene Descartes. Translated by John Witch. Auth. orized reprint. 30c. Enquiry Concerning the Human Under- standing and Selections from a Treatise of Human Nature. Br David Hume, with Home's Autobiography and a letter from Adam Smith. Edited by T. J. McCormack and Mary Whiton Calkins. Paper, 40c. An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. By David Hume. Reprinted from the edition of 1777. 30c. A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. By George Berkeley. Reprint edition. 30c. Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Phil- onous. By George Berkeley. Reprint edition. 30c. The Meditations and Selections from the Principles of Rene Descartes. Translated by John Veitch. With a Preface. Copies ol the Original Title Pages, a Bibliography and an Essay «u Descarte's Philosophy by L. Levy-Brulil. 40c. Leibniz's Discourse of Metaphysics. Correspondence with Aroauld. and Monadology; with an Introduction by Paul Janet. Translated by George R. Montgomery. 60c. Kant's Prolegomena. To any Future Metaphysics. Edited in English by Paul Cam, with an Essay on Kant's Philosophy and other sup* plementary material for the study of Kant, 60c. St. Anselm: Proslogium, Monologium, an Appendix in Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon; and Cur Deus Homo. Translated from the Latin by Sidney Norton Drane. with an Introduction. Bibliography and reprints of lb. opln. ions of Leading Philosophers and Writers on the Onto, logical Argument. 60c. Canon of Reason and Virtue (Lao-Txe's Tao Teh King). Translated from the Chinese by Paul Carus. 30c. The Metaphysical System of Hobbes. As contained in twelve chapters from hie "Elements of Philosophy Concerning Body." and in briefer extracts from his "Human Nature" and "Leviathan." selected by Mary Whiton Calkins. 50c. Locke's Essay Concerning Human Un- derstanding. Books II and IV (with omissions). Selected by Msry Whiton Calkins. 60c. The Principles of Descartes' Philosophy. By Benedictus Do Spinosa. Translated from the Latin with an Introduction by Halbert Hains Britan. 40e. The Vocation of Man. By Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Translated by William Smith, with biographical introduction by E. Ritchie. 30c. Aristotle on His Predecessors. Being the First Book of the Metaphysics. A. E. Taylor, 40e. Clavis Universalis. Translated by By Arthur Collier. An exact and verified copy of ths essay as it appears la Dr. Parr's Metaphyseal Traota of the Eighteenth Century. Edited with introduction and notes by Ethel Bowman, M. A. 50c. Truth on Trial. An Exposition of tbe Nature of Truth. 50c. Man a Machine. By Julian Offray de la Mettrie. 50c. By Paul Carus. Write for particulars of our Philosophical Portrait Series. THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 122 South Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois. Wheat writing to advertisers please motion Tni Dux. 388 November 1 THE DIAL Homing With the Bird*, by Gene Stratton-Porter (381 pages; Doubleday, Page), is a narrative of field work based on a "lifetime of personal contact with the birds." The author's method of observation has been to "insinuate herself into positions of "close inti- macy," and in order to do this she has faced "tramps, vicious domestic animals, and cross dogs," and the "torture of chills, fever, and delirium from incipient sunstroke." There are numerous illustrations and much interesting material; but one wishes that Mrs. Porter were more the naturalist and less the martyr. The Secrets of Animal Life, by J. Arthur Thomson (324 pages; Holt), is reviewed on page 383. Reynard the Fox, or The Ghost Heath Run, by John Masefield (166 pages, Macmillan), is reviewed on page 371. The Army Behind the Army, by Major E. Alexander Powell (469 pages; Scribner), is not very accurately captioned. Services like the Ordnance Department and the Quartermaster Corps, which busied themselves with the preparation of material for the use of the artillery and the infantry, are grouped with other services, like the Engineers, the Signal Corps, and the Air Service, which manufactured their own appliances and used them too—oftener in front of the army than "behind" it. Books in the War, by Theodore Wesley Koch (388 pages; Houghton Mifflin), describes the work of the American Library Association in maintaining, through camp and hospital libraries, the soldier's tenuous con- nection with civilization. Many youthful "veterans" will vouch for it that the Association exhibited less of the Lady Bountiful spirit, and did more solid work, than many other organizations better known to fame. Gun Fodder, by Major A. Hamilton Gibbs (313 pages; Little, Brown; Boston), is fraternally introduced—as a good book by a good soldier—by Philip Gibbs, war correspondent and senior brother of the author. The volume does in fact recount in an extraordinarily pleasing manner the sort of tale that has become familiar through a thousand repetitions in personal narratives of the war. Square Peggy, by Josephine Daskam Bacon (illustrated, 340 pages; Appleton). Ten well-to-do girls regarded as queer fish by the social swim find themselves—and their well-to-do mates—through situations arising from the war. The Bishop and Other Stories, by Anton Chekhov (302 pages; Macmillan), is the seventh volume in Con- stance Garnett's complete translation of the Russian author. Previous volumes were reviewed by Louis S. Friedland in The Dial for January 3, 1918. This vol- ume will be reviewed soon. A Tarpaulin Muster, by John Masefield (217 pages; Dodd, Mead), is reviewed on page 371. The Happy End, by Joseph Hergesheimer (315 pages; Knopf), is reviewed on page 383. The New Decameron, by various hands (225 pages; McBride), is reviewed on page 372. A Servant of Reality, by Phyllis Bottome (454 pages; Century), is reviewed on page 383. The Sea Bride, by Ben Ames Williams (305 pages; Mac- millan), is a narrative of marriage and seafaring which captures interest in the first sentence and holds it consistently throughout a convincing interplay of char- acter and event. A Woman's Man, by Marjorie Pattprson (336 pages; Doran), draws a skilful picture of Parisian life; the materials are handled with vigor and a confident grasp of character. The story traces the sordid ad- ventures of a self-conscious, selfish artist, whose as- pirations never carry him beyond the feverish fringe of creative work; but it had been a better job had the author catered less to the sensation-seeker. Hunkins, by Samuel G. Blythe (365 pages; Doran), mixes its politics and its tenses, evolving—amid a great deal of conversation—a none too robust story of municipal campaigns and corruption. It's all about an altruistic boss, whose favorite philosopher happens to be Hor- War in the Garden of Eden, by Captain Kermit Roose- velt (253 pages; Scribner), is an account of personal experiences in the campaigns that annexed the Gar- den of Eden to John Bull's back yard. The Test of Scarlet, by Coningsby Dawson (313 pages; Lane), is a readable war story that "follows through" to Armistice Day, when Paris and London went mad, while the marching men whose triumph was being so ecstatically celebrated "pulled in to the side of the road, felt cold, and limped back to the nearest town in search of billets." The House of Courage, by Mrs. Victor Rickard (394 pages; Dodd, Mead), is mainly about the experiences of a young Irish officer held a prisoner in Germany during the early days of the/war. A novel garnished with the familiar post-war anamorphosis of German character. When I Come Back, by Henry Sydnor Harrison (69 pages; Houghton Mifflin), describes the work of the unassuming man, over-age for compulsory service, whose war ambition it was "to become an indistin- guishable unit in the fighting army"—an ambition gratified at last, and altogether, in the flame of a German shell. The Sinister Revel, by Lillian Barrett (363 pages; Knopf), beggars fancy and vocabulary in assisting a sensitive and weak heir to spend fifty millions. After the lurid depths and ethereal heights through which the author unfalteringly conducts you, you will feel more reconciled to your humble estate under H. C L.—which is no doubt the author's intention for you. Free Air, by Sinclair Lewis (370 pages; Harcourt, Brace & Howe), defends the new, unconventional Americt against that old America which still holds to family trees and class distinctions. It is a racy tale of a young mechanic and a Brooklyn Heights girl in an automobile trip through the Northwest. Contributors In college Lieut. A. Wilson was an editor of The Harvard Monthly. Since then he has done newspaper work, written fiction, and served in the aviation arm of the A. E. F. The other contributors to this issue have previ- ously written for The Dial. 1919 389 THE DIAL Self Determination for All Peoples League of Oppressed Peoples True to'her tradition America entered the War to overthrow imperialistic aggression and to establish freedom throughout the world. Yet certain politicians, generals, and financiers abroad, without the proper warrant or consent of their own peoples are making a mockery of the principles which were so recently sanctified by American blood. Armies of coercion, defying common law, resorting to extreme violence and cruelty are being maintained in IRELAND, EGYPT, INDIA and KOREA. CHINA'S rights have been shamefully abused; PERSIA'S sovereignty compromised by intrigue and force majeur, preventable massacres of JEWS continue in various places, while' by an illegal starvation blockade hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children in RUSSIA have been brought to agonizing death. All this is being done with money borrowed from liberty-loving America. America has poured out her blood for freedom. Shall she now pour out her dollars for oppression? You can make your protest really effective by joining the League of Oppressed Peoples Hon. Dudley Field Malone, Chairman. Temporary Officers Prof. Herbert E. Cory James H. Maurer Lindsay Crawford, Canada Rev. Dr. James G. Mythen Executive Committee Albert de Silver Prof. Harry A. Overstreet Francis Hackett Lovejoy Elliott Gilbert Roe Allen McCurdy Charles Erwin Amos Pinchot Arthur Upham Pope John Fitzpatrick Rose Schneiderman Lajpat Rai Mrs. Simeon Ford Dr. J. T. Sunderland Gregory Zilboorc Gilson Gardner Rev. Dr. Norman Thomas . Rev. Dr. John Haynes Holmes Sicne Toksvic Sdomom Hon. Frederic C. Howe Major Richard C. Tolman „ r« » B w Huebsch Mrs. Henry Villard Mohammed Abdou Martyn Johnson Oswald Garrison Villard Mrs. Harriet Stanton Blatch Irene Lewisohn B. Charney Vladeck Mrs. William Johns Brown Owen R. Lovejoy Frank Walsh Witter Bynner Prof. Robert Morss Lovett Abraham Cahan Rev. Dr. Judah L Macnes Lincoln Colcord Helen Marot (LUt Incomplete) MILLIONS FOR FREEDOM BUT NOT ONE CENT FOR OPPRESSION Room 410—50 E. 42nd Street, N. Y. C. I am in sympathy with the purposes and principles of the League and wish to be enroll- ed as a member. Enclosed find one dollar for membership and as a subscription. Name Address City & State When writing to advert iters pletie mention The Dial. 390 November THE DIAL Pearson's Book Store PEARSON'S MAGAZINE bat moved to new quarter.. One ol these charming old housea, reminders of a New York al- most passed into oblivion, a New York of seventr-five Tears ago, when people built homes to live in and not apartments de- signed for sleeping quarters exclusively, we havs leased from the Demsrest estate at No. 8 East 15th Street. PEARSON'S MAGAZINE has not ingratiated itself with pub- lishers. We have not followed the trend of the times and of luring advertising eopy, and have not sacrificed our individual opinion, the judgment which is the fruit of forty years of reading, and perchance a certain inborn sense for beauty and art. We have always said what we actually thought. Our liking of books we have proclaimed, though others knew nothing of author, publisher and book. Oht book shop reflects our own attitude towards the written word. Our book shop is net designed to be a distributing place for the products of publishers who cater lo the popularity of ex- tensively advertised authors. But we do wish to create a sanc- tuary for the friends of our solitude, for the writers who have become our intimates, with whom we have lived for years, who have grown Hpon us and whom we wish to introduce as friendi to our friends. Life as it is, beauty, even if the beauty of ugliness, the best that was given us by the authors of all countries and of all languages; quaint books hardly known even to connoisseurs, queer people who remained strangers to the world as long as they lived, objects of curiosity to their contemporaries; books that bring us into intimate contact with the lives of great men and greal women . . . and a congenial, comfortable place where yon are always a welcome guest. Come and see us Eight East Fifteenth Street Whatever book you want has it, or will get it. We buy old, rare books, ana sets of books NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA WARNING TO DIAL READERS We are compelled to warn our readers against the activities of fraudulent agents whe have lately col- lected subscriptions without forwarding them to us. We will deem it a favor if any reader approached for money in our name will send us a description of the person. Subscriptions should be sent direct, or through an accredited agent or agency known to the subscriber. THE DIAL PUBLISHING CO. 152 West 13th Street New York City The Belgian Congo and the Berlin Act By A. Berriedale Keith An able work dealing with the effects of the practical application of the Berlin Act in the Belgian Congo and suggesting the amend- ments which must be made if the benefits of civilization and freedom of trade are to be ex- tended to Central Africa. The controversial parts of the work are based on the original authorities to which Mr. Keith has referred throughout. 'SUVIET RUSSIA"(Weekly) is the Official Organ of the Russian Soviet Government Bureau Resists the Campaign of Lies and Misrepresenta- tions directed against Soviet Russia in the Press. Learn the Truth About Russia- Ten Cents on All News Stands. Special Introductory Offer: Send One Dollar to "Soviet Russia," 110 West 40th St., New York, N_ Y, and get "Soviet Russia" weekly for three months. Wheo writing to advertiser* plcaM mention Thk Dial. 1919 391 THE DIAL LEO TOLSTOY'S The Pathway of Life (In Two Volume*). Translated by Archibald J. Wolfe "THE PATHWAY OF LIFE" U Tolstoy's posthumous mes- sage to a war-torn suffering world. It is the Gospel of right Living and right thinking and offers the great philosopher's panacea against world wars and misery, helping mankind to eradicate all those false feelings, desires and doctrines, personal, social, economic and religious, which are responsible far the present plight of humanity. Price $2.00 each volume. International Book Publishing Co. 5 Beekman Street, New York NATIONAL NONPARTISAN LEAGUE Send lor bundle of literature on tkia militant fanners* organisa- tion. Acquaint yourself with the leading movement of the time. Price, special bundle books and pamphlets, SO cents. Educational Department N. P. L., Box 495, St. Paul, Minnesota WHAT IS SOCIALISM? StnHy the subject through the RAND SCHOOL CORRESPONDENCE COURSES! Address David P. Berraberg, 7 F.a.t 15th St.. N. Y. C. Ask for Folder 50. BELGIUM By BRAND WHITLOCK The most valuable book that the war has produced. Two vols. $7.50 net This is an Appleton Book AGAINST THE WINDS By Kate Jordan "'Against the Winds' is an absorbing book -. . . completely American, graphic, realistic, yet sympathetic, it reaches a high mark of fictional excellence . . . there is romance of an em- phatic variety in the story . . . one of the best American novels of tbe season.'*—Chicago Tribune. 348 Pages, $1.60 Net LITTLE, BROWN & CO., Publishers, Boston LABRADOR DAYS By Dr. Grenfell Tales of the Sea Toilers, by the famous missionary doctor. $1.65 net. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, Boston THE MODERN LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST BOOKS Sixty-four titles now published—14 new volumes just issued. The Dial says "There is scarcely a title that fails to awaken interest. The semes Is doubly welcome at this time." —only 70o. a volume wherever books are sold. Catalog on request. BONI & LIVERIGHT, 105% W. 40th St., New York CALL - PHONE - WRITE for any BOOK McDevitt-Wilson's, Inc., Booksellers 30 Church St. 55 Vesey St. NEW YORK Cortlandt 1779 Cortlandt 498 Send for Bargain Catalog DEMOCRACY AND THE EASTERN QUESTION Thomas F. Millard An authoritiTe repor on China*, present economic and political condition, with apecial reference to Japanese encroachments. (8to., 350 pages, (3.00.) Published by THE CENTURY CO. New York City ALICE KAUSER AGENT-PLAYS 1402 BROADWAY, NEW YORK (E««biubed 1895) MOTION PICTURE DEPT., R. L. Giffen, Manager ET T I C » New Bond Street. L L 1 J London, W.I., England The Oldest Bookshop In London. EstaMiahed 1728. Commleeiona executed at London auction aalea. Catalogues of Rare and In* teresting Books, post free. ANTIQUARIAN BOOK CO. Evesham Road. Stratford-on-Avon. England Dealers in Rare Books and First Editions: Dickens, Thackeray, Stevenson, Kipling, Conrad, Masefield, Wells, Noyes, Dunsany, etc., etc. dialogues moiled free on request FOR THE BOOK LOVER Rare books—First editions—Books now out of print. Latest Catalogue Sent on Request C. GERHARDT. 25 W. 42d Street, New York The New York Bureau of Revision Thirty'eighth Year. Litters or Criticism, Expert Revision or MSS. Advice as to publication. Address DR. TITUS M. COAN 414 W. 119th St., N. Y. BOOKS, AUTOGRAPHS, PRINTS. Catalogs Free R. ATKINSON, 97 Sunderland Road, Forest Hill, LONDON, ENC. Collecting Autographs la a fascinating hobby. Our priced catalogue of over 2,000 names will he. sent free on receipt of 2o stamp for pottage. GOODSPEED'S BOOK SHOP, Boston, Mass. A GENTLE CYNIC TiJX£ BY MORRIS JASTROW, JR., Ph.D., LL.D., Author of tlTko War and the Bagdad Railttay," etc. Small 4 to. 12.00 net. A delightfully human book on the Omar Khayyam of the Bible with an exact translation of the original text. How it came to be written and who wrote it (and it was not Solo- mon), why additions were mad eto the original text and the whole interesting story is here given. J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, Philadelphia When writing M adr.ni.er. please mentUa Tars Dial. 392 November 1 THE DIAL IIIMlllllMllllIlM^ aK-msmmmmmmz ACROSS THE BLOCKADE By HENRY NOEL BRAILSFORD The clearest and most illuminating account yet published of what has happened and which it has been like in Central Europe since the armistice. It records the impres- sions formed during several months in blockaded Europe by one of the ablest liberal British publicists. $1.50 net QUESTIONS OF THE DAY By H. L. Gantt ORGANIZING FOR WORK One of America's leading industrial en- gineers tells how to increase production. "Challenges attention."—Springfield Repub- lican. $1.25 net By Carl Sandburc THE CHICAGO RACE RIOTS With an Introductory Note by Walter Lippman. A first-hand account of the background of the Chicago Race Riots last -■ July. Paper, 60 cents POETRY AND By Philip Littell BOOKS AND THINGS Week by week, in The New Republic, Mr. Littell has been commenting on books and things with humor and grace. "Abid- ing charm of urbane wit and lucid, pene- trating style."—N. Y. Tribune. By T. A. Daly 'McARONI BALLADS Like "Canzoni" and "Madrigal" this is a melodious medley of Italian-American and Irish-American dialect ballads with an infusion of poems in straight English. $1.50 net By Georce Edward Woopberry THE ROAMER and Other Poems A narrative poem of the soul's progress, a group of war lyrics, and other poems by one of America's major poets. In press CRITICISM By Louis Untehmeyer INCLUDING HORACE Paraphrases of the great poet in a strik- ingly original manner, some rendered with Horace's own sparkle and grace, and some as they might have been written by Brown- ing, Synge, Sandburg, and others. $1.60 net. By Louis Untermever MODERN AMERICAN POETRY The best introductory anthology of Amer- ican poetry since Whitman, containing 130 poems by 75 modern poets. $1.25 n«» By M. J. Olciw A GUIDE TO RUSSIAN LITERATURE The first complete guide to the whole range of Russian literature. In press By Margaret Widpemer THE HAUNTED HOUR An anthology of ghost poems. In press FICTION 1 By Alvin Johnson JOHN STUYVESANT ANCESTOR and Other People Stories of many sorts of people, marked by the keenness of their analytic power and by their insight into the secret springs of human action. By an editor of The New Republic. $1-75 net By Sinclair Lewis FREE AIR A romance of an Eastern girl and a West- ern youth, and a motor trip from Minne- apolis to Seattle. "A true romance, as American as corn on the cob."—N. Y. Times. $1-75 net HARC0URT, BRACE AND HOWE One West Forty-Seventh Street NEW YORK CITY Iraphic Prtu ^n"a ""«>■>« "> td'erliien pleti'j menll.n The Diai. ^it THE DIAL Issued by Sanction of N. Y. Printing Trades Unions INDUSTRIAL SECTION Coal VOL. LXVII TWO SECTIONS—SECTION II NO. 802 NOVEMBER 1, 1919 Editorial: The Labor Crisis 393 Coal: A Mismanaged Industry I. Editorial Summary 394 D. Engineer's Report ....... Walter N. Polakov 395 The Coal Issue in Great Britain W.N. Ewer 404 The British Coal Nationalization Bill 407 The Labor Crisis A HE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RESOLUTION WHICH broke up the President's Industrial Conference for industrial peace, was the first section of what may become the final chapter of the American Federa- tion of Labor's unremitting effort to preserve the relation between employers and workers by which the industrial system now operates. The second section in that chapter is the miners' submission to the operators, in accordance with their estab- lished practice of preserving this industrial rela- tion, certain terms of work as a basis for negotia- tion and the refusal of the operators to consider the terms. The third and possibly the last section of the chapter is the action of the Federal gov- ernment in the issuance of the order restraining national trade union officials from strike acton. The accumulated opposition of the employers, the Federal administration, the Federal Courts, Con- gress, State officials and legislatures leaves the Executive Council of the Federation and its na- tional unions without alternatives. It denies them the opportunity to uphold as they con- sistently have in the past a respect for business, for current "law-and-order" with its clear-cut policy of protecting private and disregarding public in- terest. The Federation, being forced to adopt another policy just as the Brotherhoods were forced to bring forward a program of responsibility for transportation, may seek to substitute the policy of agreement with the public to render work- manlike service for the old policy of bargaining with employers for a division of die spoils. This transfer of policy may occur overnight. Literally, this is what occurred when the Brotherhoods adopted the Plumb Plan. And as the policy of the Brotherhoods thereupon changed from one of gain to one of service, so the present opposition to the old policy of the Federation may force the Federation to shift the status of the workers from one of higglers in the wage market to that of men concerned with facts of industrial enterprise and economy. Walter N. Polakov in this supplement opens up the problem of coal production from the point of view of an engineer concerned with the economy of production, conservation of wealth, and its use. He presents the facts of waste and leaves it to the public and the miners to decide whether or not the management of the nation's coal resources shall be left to privateers or pass to technicians and workmen equipped to render service and to con- serve coal. Neither Mr. Polakov nor the miners raise the question of ownership. We understand that the Constitutional provisions would be invoked and that under the provisions of the Constitution the fuel resources would be held as the private property of the exploiters. Such sacred provisions n the past have been overcome; witness the con- fiscation by prohibition. But the immediate mat- ter of importance for public decision is whether or not the present administration of the coal fields shall end; whether or not the alternative shall be adopted of transferring the administration of the coal resources to an organization of men compe- tent to mine coal, together with technicians expert in problems of industrial engineering, chartered for the purpose of operating the mines in the interest of the present and future generations. 394 November 1 THE DIAL Coal: A Mismanaged Industry I I. Editorial Summary n its most superficial aspect the coal ques- tion is one of hour's and wages, amenable to ad- justment by collective bargaining. But the funda- mental issues involved are beyond the compass of the diplomats of capital and labor; they demand for their solution the best efforts of the technicians of production—scientists, engineers, laborers; and every year that leaves these questions unsolved involves the country in losses compared with which the waste involved in a coal strike is as nothing. Everyone is astonished to learn what the miners want because no one knows what they have got. To begin with, they want to rest two days in seven, but they also want to work the other five. This represents a demand for 250 working days a year —3% to 21% more days per year than miners have ever worked in the history of the American coal industry! The miners want a six-hour day. In 1917, when maximum production was essential, and when the mine-labor force had been considerably diluted by the substitution of unskilled men for experi- enced workers withdrawn for military or war- industry service, the length of the working day was reduced 4.8%, the number of days increased 5.6% and the total output of the mines increased 9.8%. The total coal production for the country was actu- ally 12,000,000 tons in excess of what it would have been if the individual workers had produced no more coal per hour than the more experienced force produced in 1916. Within reasonable lim- its, productivity per man per day is inversely pro- portional to the length of the day. The "reason- able limit" for the mining industry is fully discussed in the engineer's report which follows. The miners want a 60% raise in wages. Before the war, in the Pennsylvania field, labor got 66c. of every dollar paid for coal, 28c. went for supplies and general expenses, and 6c. remained as the operator's margin. During the war, labor's share shrank to 84.8% of the pre-war figure, general ex- penses fell off somewhat, and the operator's share increased 400fo. If the operators would be con- tent with only double their pre-war margin, they •could make a 30% raise in wages without trans-" ferring one cent of this burden to the public in the form of an increase in coal prices. But suppose the miners' day, week, and wage demands are granted; and suppose that the opera- tors actually succeed in holding onto their huge profits, and in shifting the new charges to the public—is this threatened price change the first or the greatest burden that the profiteering mis- management of the coal industry has imposed upon the country? The answer of expert testimony is ^at this threatened loss, like the loss incident to a strike, is negligible by comparison with the losses involved in the routine mismanagement of the- coal-business-as-usual. Under the present regime of businesslike bun- gling, it is more profitable to waste nearly 50% of all the coal that is mined than to save it by care- fully standardized methods of operation. If the miners go on digging nearly two tons of coal for every ton made available for consumption, it is probable that the fuel supply of the country will be exhausted in 100 years. By abandoning partly exploited mines, by leaving unreclaimed coal in the mines that are being worked, by failing to utilize coal dust, low-grade coal, and the various by-products of coal, the managers impose upon the resources of the country a loss that amounts to 500,000,000 tons per year. This waste cannot be completely eliminated otherwise than by a thor- ough reformation of mining methods, and by the "manufacture" of coal into its various products— electric power, benzol, tar, and the like—at the pit mouth. A problem more easily controlled, but beyond the reach of the mine operators themselves, is that involved in the wastage of the coal now consumed in scattered industrial plants and in railway loco- motives. Eighty per cent of the annual product of the country is consumed in this way—and one- fourth of this amount—one-fifth of all tonnage delivered to consumers, is wasted because of faulty methods of firing. As business is now organized, the only way to enforce economy in consumption is by raising prices—to the further profit of the prodigals who control the coal resources of the country, and the further exasperation of a hard-driven public. The miners see only the first elements of this problem—they want to work more regularly than they have worked before, and they want more of the necessities and comforts of life than they have been receiving. The public wants coal produced with the minimum expenditure of energy and the minimum waste of material, and it wants this pro- duct used with the maximum of economy in order that it may finally yield the maximum of consump- tion goods. If the operator is interested neither in the econ- omies of production nor in those of consumption, the engineer is interested in both, and a master of both. The workers may find temporary relief in dividing the spoils with the operators. But for labor there is no permanent relief, and for the public no relief at all, except in a permanent alli- ance of knowledge and interest—of technicians and workers—for the production of goods. A careful reading of the expert's report that follows can lead to no other conclusion. 1919 395 THE DIAL II. Engineer's Report H LAVING BEEN COMMISSIONED BY THE DlAL PUB- LISHING Company to report on the outstanding causes of the present grave situation developed in the industry of mining soft coal in the United States, I have the pleasure to submit the following findings: The data upon which the conclusions were based were secured chiefly from the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Mines, the United States Geological Survey, and the Federal Trade Com- mission. The method pursued in the investigation was principally that successfully employed by a large number of progressive manufacturers of this coun- try, and broadly practiced during the war by the United States Shipping Board, by the Ordnance Department in some of their arsenals and in plac- ing outside contracts, and by the Aircraft Produc- tion. Upon the conclusion of this research the convic- tion was formed that the oustanding cause of the present situation, using Cardinal Bourne's expres- sion, is "that the men are subject to irritating mis- management." In the strict sense of the term it cannot be said that the coal operators ever managed their mines. Selling of product: "A substantial portion of the soft coal produced is sold through jobbers" (U. S. Geological Survey 11:4, page 19) so that the operators do not manage this substantial por- tion of the business. The Federal Trade Commis- sion reports that "a very large part of the output of the operator who reported no selling expenses (45%) reached the consumer through the jobbers or sales agencies. Probably also a considerable fraction of the output of the remaining 55% of the operators went through such channels." Also, "marketing has presented to the producer, big or little, no serious problems . . . operators had no direct connection with consumers." (U. S. Geo- logical Survey 11:4, page 17.) Accounting and cost keeping: The Federal Trade Commission and the United States Geologi- cal Survey agree in their references to the fact that often there is "ignorance of the cost" of pro- duction on the part of the operators. Such igno- rance was amply illustrated at the time when prices were first fixed. It wag predicted that the output of the mines would be materially cut down if such prices prevailed, since . . . the operator (was) afforded no incentive to production. As a matter of fact there was actually no decrease in the production . . . Had it been possible for the mines in the Central Field to have been worked . . . ordinary full time with their then existing force, their actual pro- duction would have been increased 21 per cent. (Cost Report, Federal Trade Commission.) Methods of work and training of employees: These functions of management are chiefly left, contrary to the practice in many more advanced industries, to the judgment of workmen—men work- ing on contract, fixing their own tools, keeping their own records. Machine operation is poorly developed; only 56.4% of coal was mined in this way in 1916, while in 1917 the machine-mined out- put dropped to 55.5%. Wastefulness of time, of ma- terials, and of possible output is notorious. "Un- der the present wasteful methods of mining . . . ," says the United States Geological Survey, (11:4,) "the cost of opening the mines is not large." The United Mine Workers of America are aware of the fact that "from 33% to 50% of coal resources . . . are being despoiled under (such) a system of production." (United Mine Workers'Resolution.) The U. S. Geological Survey also figures out the waste in prevailing management of mines to be 50%. As an inevitable consequence of this general ignorance on the part of the mine operators, a desire to safeguard their interests led them to: (a) insist on longer hours in underground work than the conditions and requirements warrant, and (b) limit the wage rate. As opposed to this arbitrary exercise of power by the operators, the miners demand that (a) work- ing time be limited to five days of six hours dura- tion per week, and (b) wages be advanced 60%. Whether or not these demands are likewise ar- bitrary will be discussed later in this report, al- though of necessity in a brief and non-technical manner. Coal Requirements Unlike food, coal, this most fundamental com- modity, is not stored, cornered, or hoarded in any large quantities. Substantially it is produced in the quantities required for immediate ^consump- tion, since its bulk, the danger of spontaneous combustion, deterioration due to weathering, and expensive re-handling have always made unprofit- able the practice of accumulation. Insignificant ex- ceptions occur when coal is kept in cars or when distributors or consumers pile coal in their yards; but this does not apply to the coal operators, who have never solved the problem of storage. The prac- tice at the mines is to keep men idle whenever there are not enough cars to load the day's output. In view of these facts, barring occasions like the collapse of the railroads just before they were taken over by the government, the mines' output may be regarded as equal to the country's consump- tion. The amount of coal produced and consumed (the export was then less than 4%) before and during the war was as follows: Bituminous coal, short tons 1913 478,435,297 1914 422,703,970 1915 442,624,426 1916 502,519,682 1917 551,790,563 I 396 November 1 THE DIAL Figure 1. Why the Mines are Idle Occasionally there ia a shortage of abor, but more of en be whole plant is tied up the day's product. because the managemen has failed to provide can to more DETAILSOF IDLENENESS DUE TO Mines of Central Competitive Field ©17 STATE MONTH PERCENT OFCAPACITY USEDON SECOND HALL YEAR 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 LACK OF WORK (CARS) LACK OF HELP LACK OF AND POOR MATERIAL REPAIRS POOR REMARKS PLANNING 1 June 15 % 2 % 3 •/. 7 % ^HEDAYSA MINE IS IDLE NPTONLY MEANS HO REVENUE SUTANDINOfEASr 1 July I'd % 4 % 2 •/. 6 % JNAVtRASE CBSTOr product;)*" rnou us. Seol. survey ji-*, pac£is. Auq. 5 % 22 'A 4 V. 5 % § Sept 9 % 5 % 6 7. 1 \ 1 Oct 8 '/„ 13 % S V. 7 % NEARL Y 40. OOO, 000 TOSS PKOXT ITEfft LOiTDUE TO ALL CAUSESAtB 5L Nov. 12 */. 3 7. 7 V. 2 % 13,300, OOO DUE TO ALL TRANSPORT. ALONE. Dec. II 'A 4 '/. 9 •/. 2 % 31 PERCENT OF ILLINOIS COAL PRODUCTION LOST Aver.il/inois 10 % =F June. 18 7, 3 '/. 7 7. July. 19.5 '/. 3.5 •/. 9.5 % Auq 20 % 3 '/• 8 % Sept. 19 % 2 % 9 % ALMOST10,000,000 TONS PRODUCTION LOST IN INDIANA DUE TO ALL CAUSES AND S,600,003 TONS DUE TO TRANSPORTATION 5 Oct 15 V. 4 7. 10 % Nov. " % 2 % 10 % ALONE. 1 Dec. IB •/. 2 7. II % Aver Illinois 18 7. -f July 20 % 2 V. 5 % Auq. 19 7. 3 7. 6 % MINE MISMANASEME.YTAHLXUSA0L- 1TY CAUSED PRODUCT/ON LOSS OF Sept. 18 % 5 7. 5 % ABOUT3.600,000 TONS. TRA NSPORTATlQH CAUSED EO Oct. 22 '/. 4 7. 5 % PERCENT LOSS, EQUIVALENT TO 12, OOO, OOO TONS L OST 1- Nov. 25 % 4 7. 6 % PRODUCTION. o Dec 21 7. 55 7. 4.5 % Aver. Ohio 20 % 4 % 6 •/. 1 AllBituminous \ IDLENESS CHART The industrial crisis into which we were rushing headlong in 1914 was reflected in the drop of coal consumption, but the war orders of the following years inflated coal consumption. A safe estimate of 1920 consumption (providing industrial de- pression does not continue) may be placed at 550,- 000,000 tons of bituminous coal and at 130,000,000 tops of anthracite. Labor Supply During these years the number of men employed to produce these quantities of bituminous coal was reported by the government as follows: 1913 571,882 1914 583,506 1915 557,456 1916 561,102 1917 603,0001 From these figures it becomes at once apparent that there is an inconsistency between the numbers of men employed and the amount of coal produced per individual. The lowest production (1914) coincides with the largest number of men; hence we must inquire into the number of days the men were employed. Number of Working Days2 The Department of the Interior published the following data on the number of days work was conducted in the mines: 1913 232 1914 195' 1915 203 1916 230 1917 2433 1 Page 930. Coal in 1917, U. S. Geological Survey, II32. The moat recent estimate, that publiahed in the United Mine Workers' Journal. Novem- ber 1. 1919, givea the number of employees at present employed in bituminous coal mines as 655,000 men. 2 U. S. Geological Survey 11:4, pace 17. 3 Computed on basis of 5.7% increases over preceding year. 1919 397 THE DIAL During the peak year, 1918, the average number of working days, by districts, was as follows: Pittsburgh district 260 Ohio , 224 Indiana 249 Illinois 228 Average number of days per year 242% These conditions do not represent the average pre-war experience, as in the same districts the average number of days worked for the six years (1913-1918) was as follows: Pittsburgh district 233 Ohio .1 181 Indiana 199 Illinois 201 Average number of days per year 206^2 In other words, out of a possible 304 working days per year, productive work was carried on only two-thirds of the time, and even during the greatest rush for maximum production, in the second half of 1917, 30% of the time was wasted at the mines. The reasons for this idleness were analyzed for the fhree representative states and are shown on Figure 1. Almost one-fifth of the production was lost on account of lack of work; that is, the men were not permitted to work because the man- agement did not provide either cars to move coal or storage to hold it. About 6% of the time was- last because of one or another of managerial causes, and about 4% due to "lack of help." It does not seem reasonable to complain of lack of help when the help available is idle under compul- sion one-quarter of the time; yet it is just this unsys- tematic, sporadic management of mines that breeds unsteady industrial habits among the employees. In other words, over 200,000,000 tons are yearly left unmined on account of time lost through the fault of operators and railroads. However, no serious of objections are being made to this state of affairs, for the obvious reason that the country is not using any more coal than is being mined in the remaining 70% of available time. The miners' demand of five working days per week represents, with the omission of two weeks for holidays and vacations, 250 working days during the year. As the governmental statistics show, there was never a call for so large a number of working days in the history of the United States. The highest number of days the work was going on was in the peak year of 1918, when it was 242% days in the central competitive district, while the average for six years was 206*4 days in that district and 221 days for the entire country. It means, therefore, that the miners offer to work from 13% to 21% more days than they were ever called upon to work. Length of Working Day For seven years, from 1910 to 1916 inclusive, the percentage of miners working eight hours per day was steadily decreasing, averaging about 60%. Those working -nine hours had a tendency to increase, rising from 15.5% to 17.5%, while the proportion of men working ten hours per day remained stationary at about 25%. In 1917, when the war industries . demanded increased productivity of labor, when some 80,000 miners went to the colors and some 35,000 men found more attractive and safe employment in munition factories, and so left the mines, a wise move was made which proved to be highly successful in increasing the productivity of labor: The length of the working day was materially reduced. Figure 2 illustrates how the percentage of 10-hour men was reduced from 25% to 8.5%; 9-hour men from 7.5% to 12..5%; and the 8-hour men increased their proportion from 60% to 79%. Figure 2. More Work in Less Time In 1917 the proportion of miners working on ■ short-day schedule was much greater than in 1916. If the average output per man per hour had remained at the 1916 level, the country's cosl production for 1917 would have been about 539,000,000 tons. Actually it was 551,790,563 tons. PER CENT OF MEM WORKIH6 IN BITUMINOUS MINES o.SMO HOURS. Per Cent 0 25 SO TS 100 1 I I I I 'ft'ftieiiitiii X^s^^xwS^ In plain figures it means that in 1917 all the men together worked 46,648,700 hours less than they would have worked with the longer hours the year before. In 1915 and 1916, the country's average coal production per employee per hour was 0.48 ton; other things being equal, the reduction of work- ing hours should have reduced the coal production if working hours were in direct relation to the pro- ductivity. In fact, reduced fatigue, more uniform work, and better pay stimulated the productivity of labor, and the year's production was 42,270,881 tons more than for the previous year, and some 12,000,000 tons in excess of what it would have been if the output per man per hour had not increased. Productivity of Labor Thus the reduction of the length of the working day in this case, as well as in the experience of Lord Leverhulme and others, increased the produc- tivity of labor. In the case of the miners this increase over the straight arithmetical proportion 398 November 1 THE DIAL was very considerable. Taking the total number of tons of bituminous coal produced per year and div- iding it by the number of hours all mine employ- ees worked per year, we get an output ratio per man-hour. It appears thus: 1913 - - - -^1 *on9 1914:::::::::: «;; 1915 ■** „ 1916 f „ 1917 Al 1918 •48 A serious error into which the statisticians of the United States Geological Survey fell was that they adopted "day" as a measure for comparison of man's productivity instead of an hour, and fig- ured out that in 1917 the men's efficiency dropped 3%. The misconception is obvious. It we accept the United Mine Workers' figures of 655,000 * as the number of mine workers in bituminous mines to-day, the output of 550,000,000 tons with a six-hour day and a five-day week will require a productivity per man-hour of .56 tons; that is, there is no question that the country's needs can in that case be supplied without any considerable change in mining methods. Care must however be exercised to move cars on the new production sched- We can not close our analysis here, however, as during 1917 a number of other influential changes took place. First, 11% of experienced mine workers were withdrawn (4% to military service and 7% to other lines of industry), and the industry was thus of necessity diluted by the 101,000 newcomers, whose comparative weakness in skill, training, technical habits, and so forth somewhat reduced the high productive efficiency of the old miners. Second, the total increase in the number of men employed in the bituminous mines was 7.5%. While the correction in the first cause may not be made precisely, the effect of the second cause can be accounted for. Productive labor in the coal industry is that employed underground, and in 1917 it represented 79% of the total. This por- tion was increased only 5%, whereas the surface labor, which only handles the coal already mined, was increased 21%. Now, with the help of simple arithmetic, we may hope to ascertain the average production per underground man per hour. 1917 Total number of employees 2£*X 79% underground 476,370 Average number of hours per day « Total number of days work MB,,™ Total number of man-hours per year 960,81^3 Total tonnage mined 551,7W,bM Tons per man-hour •*'* Now let us compare it with the year before, when longer hours prevailed. 4 See Note 1, p»je 396. 1916 Total number of employees — 561,102 Total number of underground men (about 81%) r ^'™ Average number of hours per day <« Total number of days work ^ Total number of man-hours per year— 907,853, AW Total tonnage mined 502,519,682 Tons per man per hour -553 In other words, with the reduction of the average length of the day, the average man's productivity per hour increased in the same ratio. While the length of the working day was reduced 4.8%, and the number of days increased 5.6%, the total output of the mines increased 9.8%. Factors Increasing Producttvitt It thus appears that with a five-day week instead of a six-day, the management of the mines will have two days per week time to arrange the busi- ness so that the loss of time and idleness due to repairs, car shortage, and so forth may be reduced and a full time of 250 days devoted to work. This means an addition of 44 to 49 days of mining work per year over the past six years' average. With a six-hour net working day (eight hours actu- ally underground, including descent and walking "to face coal" and return) the miners propose 1500 working hours yer year. To meet the esti- mated future demand of 550,000,000 tons of bitu- minous coal, hourly productivity of each of the 502,000 underground miners must be .735 tons as against the past average of .575 tons. In order that the error may be on the side of caution, these computations are based on the latest avail- able government figures, and not on the more recent statistics of the United Mine Workers, which indi- cate that a much smaller increase would be requir- ed. The question now, therefore, is whether a 28fr increase of productivity may be expected. The productivity of labor depends upon four major conditions apart from a score of minor ones: (a) mode of management; (b) fatigue; (c) standard of living; (d) equipment and tech- nique.' (a) The present mode of management in a pre- dominating majority of mines is very primitive, and such as was long ago abandoned in more pro- gressive industries. The men are working on con- tract; that is, they are paid per ton mined a stipu- lated amount, varying from the basic rate of 84 cents, and depending upon the size of the vein an<T other conditions. Men are not trained in the best way of performing the Work; there is no tool room; they take care of their tools themselves; there are no planning departments with their varied and important functions, and the work generally proceeds much as the vim and mood of the indi- 1919 399 THE DIAL vidual miner dictates, acting with greater or less skill. It has been the experience of every industrial engineer that by proper attention on the part of the management to those functions that are beyond the control of individual workers, the productivity of his time and labor can be more than doubled. Longer hours are usually prevalent in industries where the management lets the men attend to vari- ous minor managerial duties, naturally requiring a considerable portion of their time which is thus unavailable for production. When the manage- ment assumes its proper share of responsibility, the men, even with the existing degree of skill and efficiency, produce vastly more per hour. While such practice has not been applied, to my knowledge, to any coal mines, there is no reason to doubt that results similar to those attained in other industries could be secured. To illustrate the typical case of mismanagement of the mines it is enough to quote from the United States Geological Survey Report on Coal in 1917 the following passage: The most certain way to increase capacity is to put on more men, and, as experienced inside men (the only productive men) were more difficult to obtain than day laborers, the outside force was augmented more rapidly (21% against 5%), and out of. proportion to the normal requirements. Under the pressure for increased output, the operators, apparently without regard to its effect in costs, added labor of any description. (Page 931.) (b) Fatigue produced by industrial occupations has been carefully studied lately among other in- dustrial workers, and while, unfortunately, we have no data covering mine work, it is entirely reason- able to admit that work underground, in a hot, damp atmosphere, with poor artificial light, with in- halation of coal dust and injurious gases, and under the great nervous strain created by ever-present dan- ger to life and limb, causes a greater, degree of fatigue than in the more sanitary surroundings of factories, mills, or power plants. Moreover, it must be noted here that the so-called eight-hour day in reality averages ten hours or more, as the miners spend nearly an hour at each end in going down, waiting for elevators or trains, in walking underground to the work place, and so forth, all of this time being outside of the nominal eight hours. Incidentally, one hour for dinner is of neces- sity also spent at work, as the perspiring man does not dare to rest underground at the risk of severe damage to his health. The experiments conducted for years by Lord Leverhulme in his Port Sun- light and other factories in England proved to him the advantage of a six-hour working day. Again, Professor Charles S. Myers, of Cambridge Univer- sity, after a large number of observations on the effect of industrial fatigue on efficiency, number of accidents, and output, shows that productivity rises in proportion as sufficient rest is provided. Dr. Fred W. Taylor, Mr. Babcock of the Frank- lin Motor Company, and a number of other in- dustrial managers, have proved beyond any doubt that production increases with the reduction of working hours. The writer's experience with the effect of shorter hours on stationary firemen (see, Industrial Man- agement, November 1919), similarly indicates that a reduction of hours from twelve to eight and fur- ther to six per day increases attentiveness, quality of work, and efficiency to such an extent as to make possible the employment of an additional shift of men, the raising of hour-wages 33 1/3% to main- tain the weekly wage at the old level, and the pay- ment of a bonus. (c) While the first two factors—mode of man- agement and reduction of fatigue—alone are more than sufficient to offset the proposed reduction of time, the effect of better living conditions' can- not be overlooked. With two more hours to him- self and to his family, a higher type of man can- not fail to develop. (d) Lastly, the equipment used in a large por- tion of mines is not of the character permitting to-day a maximum output and the best conserva- tion of human energy. From the foregoing the conclusion is unescap- able that, with the interest and goodwill of the miners secured, so moderate an increase in produc- tivity as 28% is an assured possibility. Its real- ization requires, however, proper cooperation of the management, as evinced in a willingness to study the conditions of work and to remove such obstacles as stand in the way of securing a full ouput. It might be of interest in connection with the proposal for arbitration to mention that with six days per week and a six-hour day the productivity per man-hour should be only 0.61 tons; that is, 6.3% higher than the present average in'order to secure with the present number of miners the out- put of 550,000,000 tons annually. Again, with a five-day week but a seven-hour day the produc- tivity per inside-man per hour ought to be 0.625 tons, or 8.9% higher than the present. The pos- sibility of achieving either increase is a positive certainty even without any help and co-operation on the part of the management. W'astage at Mines The above analysis is based on the assumption that we need to mine as much coal during the next years as has been consumed during the peak years of feverish war production. It provides also at the same rate for lavish losses incurred under the excuse that "cost is no object" in "making the world 400 November 1 THE DIAL safe for Democracy" and "a better place to live in." Having shown that a reduction of working hours per day tends to increase the coal production, con- serve our human resources, and satisfy our huge demands, we must now inquire whether it is con- sistent with national economy to continue the same mode of production at the rate indicated. It is an established fact that nearly 50% of the coal mined is wasted under the present form of management. It means that a mine must yield almost two tons before one ton is made available for consumption.5 The causes of this wanton destruction of our natural resources are many, but the most glaring and the least excusable are these: 1. A system of mining which leaves a large quantity of coal inside the mines, unreclaimed. 2. Wastage of a considerable amount of coal dust or inferior (impure) fuel. 3. Abandoning partially exploited mines. 4. Neglecting to utilize by-products and mul- tiple products of mines. To visualize the extent of the losses falling under the first three heads, as incurred since 1844, we must picture to ourselves a pile of coal 1540 feet wide, 1540 feet long, and 770 feet high, containing 7,541,550,000 tons of coal that never reached the consumers. Estimates have been made that if our consump- tion of coal and the proportion of its waste con- tinue at the same rapidly increasing rate, the supply will probably not last 100 years. This means it will not outlast even our own grand- children. The toleration of this appalling rate of destruction cannot be justified on technical grounds, for the difficulties of recovery are negli- gible. Indeed, the means are well known and quite simple: mines can be completely scraped of coal, and projects have even been brought forward to burn out the last remains of fuel and transform it locally into electricity without bringing it to the surface. Coal dust, anthracite "culm," and so forth, could be flushed by water through pipes into nearby power plants, or briqueted. The reason why these things are not being done— why mines are abandoned if ash content is found to be high, why various by-products are not derived—are that under the existing mode of financing the mines it is more profitable to the private owners to throw the life and prosperity of our grandchildren away than to incur the ex- penses for reclamation of waste. Indeed, no coal operator can be blamed for not mining coal at a cost of $4 per ton to sell it at a price of $2, or for refusing to clean excessive amount of ash, slate, and bone at a cost exceeding his possible margin. 5 See Professional Paper 100-A, Department of Interior, 1917. Neither can it be expected under the existing econ- omic relations that mine operators will supply the territory, say 300 miles in radius, with electric power made at the mouth of their mines, in addition to such by-products of coal as ammonium sulphate, tar, benzol, and other derivates. True enough, such a scheme at present market prices would realize them on sale from eight to ten times more revenue than does the marketing of the raw coal. Numerous difficulties of a financial, legal, and political nature, however, would stand in the way, and Federal legislation should be in- voked to remove the obstacles and realize for the nation the unappreciable values that our coal re- sources contain. The United States Fuel Adminis- tration has estimated that today coal suitable for coke production is being mined at a rate of 175,000,000 tons annually, yet only a small portion of this amount is thus converted into mul- tiple products. During this process, again, enor- mous losses are tolerated for the sake of imme- diate return at a sacrifice of our future welfare. Not to mention the inefficiency of common coke ovens, the "breeze"—or the by-prodnct of coke, which in itself is a fairly good fuel—is largely thrown away. If 500,000,000 tons of bituminous coal mined yearly was manufactured even crudely at the mines instead of being sold and shipped in its raw state, we would get available the following: 1. 5,000,000 tons ammonium sulphate; the nitro gen available in this quantity is capable of increas ing wheat production by 453,165,000 bushels based on 115 pounds of nitrogen to fertilize one acre. 2. 1,000,000,000 gallons of benzol, which is con- sidered superior to gasoline as motor fuel. The value of this by-product by itself would be over $200,000,000 per year, and would be sufficient to transport 10,000,000 tons an average distance of 10 miles. 3. 4,000,000,000 gallons of tar would be of im- measurable value for the extension and improve- ment of rural highways. The total value of these cumulative products manufactured from raw coal is, in rough figures, about $8,000,000,000. Since tie crude products of the mine is being sold at a probable average of $5 per ton, the loss of value due to the present state of the coal industry is about $5,500,000,000 per year. Losses in the Use of Coal Fully 80% of the coal mined is used as fuel in industries and transportation. Of the remaining 20%, 6% is consumed as domestic fuel, which is chiefly anthracite, and 4% exported. The United States Fuel Administration, as well as all private investigators, agree that not less than 25% of in- 1919 401 THE DIAL Figures 3 and 4. Reducing Consumption Waste These charts represent actual experience in one plant. The vertical lines at the right of each day-column represent a reasonable standard of coal utilisation for the day; the light horizontal lines represent utilisation by shifts, and the heavy lines represent the average for the day; under the old method of firing, the lines are all short of the standard, indicating heavy losses; Figure 4 shows that after the reformation of firing methods, utiliza- tion in almost every case surpassed the standard set. If a similar practice were extended to ail caul-consuming plants, the country's annual saving would approach 100,000,000 tons. dusirial coal is wasted, and this loss can be pre- vented by more careful method of firing, without any investment in improved generating equip- ment. Preventable loss of bituminous coal in the coun- try therefore amounts to at least 100,000,000 tons. Assuming now, together with the expert engineer of the U. S. Fuel Administration, that we have not enough experts to teach all firemen at once how to save coal, we place the amount of immedi- ately preventable coal waste at 50,000,000 tons per year. This amount represents 9% of the total soft coal production. Figures 3 and 4 represent a typical industrial power plant's coal records before and after the management inaugurated systematic training of firemen and the payment of a secondary rate for accomplishing a desired saving in coal. Each day the record for each shift of firemen is figured out and is shown graphically; the length by which the bar is short of the daily space represents the loss that occurred. It will be noted that in the beginning the waste of coal averaged 25% or more—amounting to nearly 150 tons lost every week. On Figure 4 such loss is no longer pres- ent; in fact, more power than was expected is pro- duced by the coal used. This is indicated by the extra length of bar extending over the daily space. The average yearly saving of coal in this actual case was over 7,500 tons. The significance of this typical case is this: Seventy-five hundred tons of coal is equivalent to: (a) 15,000 hours of miners' work saved, (b) 60,000 cars miles' travel saved. (c) $40,000 made available for other purposes. By extending improvements of this nature over a large number of carbo-electric and other steam- 402 November 1 THE DIAL FlCURE 5. HOW THE COAL OPERATORS WON THE WAR During the war, labor's share of the dollar paid for coal shrank to 84.8% of the pre-war figure, while the operator's share increased 460%. If the operators would be content with only double their pre-war margin, they could make a 30% raise in wages without transferring one cent of this bordea to the public in the form of an increase in coal prices. DIVISIONS OF k DOLL&R PAID BY CONSUMER FOR C0A.L Ouring 1916 Apr - Aug 1917 Aj/r-Dec 2 1918 tw„ 1 From entry into War, till price-King. 2 March 31, 1918, most of the old high-priced contracts expire. power plants and railroads of the country, we can readily accomplish a tremendous and far- reaching national economy. A great deal of our car-shortage, long working day at mines, and so forth, is undoubtedly caused by reckless, unscien- tific or merely indifferent methods of plant opera- tion. Yet only the most far-sighted coal mine operators realize that their own interest coincides with the national welfare in fostering and promul- gating the campaign for increased efficiency of power plants, as thereby their own coal, in pro- ducing better economic results, will fetch a higher market price. Coal Prices The average pre-war realized price of coal, as calculated by government agencies, appears to be $1.17 per net ton. It was gradually declining from 1913 to the end of 1915. In the winter of 1916- 17 the prices were about 25% above that average. After our entry into the war, the coal prices in- creased by leaps and bounds, and reached the high- est point in June, 1917 (210%), when the average spot price was $3.77. At that time the margin realized on the sale of coal was 600% higher than in 1916. The Government fixing of prices brought prices temporarily down, but the lowest figure, in October 1917, was still 180% of the pre-war prices. The wage advance in November 1917 was re- flected on the advance of coal prices to an extent of less than 4%, but the Fuel Administration au- thorized a gradual raise of selling prices until a maximum was reached in May 1918, when the average was 235% above pre-war level; in May 1918 a general reduction of ten cents was ordered. From April to December 1918 the division of every dollar paid by the consumer was such that the margin of profit was nearly 400% of the pre- Block Portion represents Margin on Each Dollar realized onSaK of bituminous Coal from Contra: Field, P-a. Authority: Federal TradtCom. Report on Cost of Producing Bituminous Coal in Pennsylvania. war average, while labor's share shrank to 84.8% of its former part. In February 1919 governmental regulation of coal prices was discontinued by executive order, presumably because the war conditions have ceased to exist. Since November 1917, that is, for two years, no wage advance has been allowed. Division of Realized Dollar Our diagram No. 5 illustrates the division of a dollar paid by consumers for coal as reported by the Federal Trade Commission for the Central Field of Pennsylvania. The condensed figures are of interest: Period Before War (1916) From Beginning of War until price-fixing (Apr.-Aug., 1917) From expiration of old contracts till end of Wsr (Apr.-Dec., 1918) It thus appears that should labor be granted a 60% raise, with the same amount for margin and the same expenses, the price of coal is likely to increase 33%. Inasmuch as this increase affects all classes of labor and all rates, still another way of computing the effect may be used to present the possible consequences. If labor, representing about 75% of the total production cost and averaging in typical cases $1.60 per ton, receives an increase of 96c.; if sup- plies and expenses decrease slightly in relative cost, because of increased productivity; and if the margin remains at the 1918 figure—85c.; we get: Labor Increase 60% Supply and Exp. Margin Supplies & Gen. Labor 66c Expenses Margin 6c Total 11.00 28o 43c 21c 30c 1.00 56c 21c 23c 1.00 $1.60 $1.60 .96 — .54 .60 .85 .85 $3.95 $3.05 1919 403 THE DIAL In this case the increase will be about 29.5%. Should the arbitration of the miners' demands accept an equal splitting of the men's demand and the present 400%-increased operator's margin, the figures would appear thus: Labor $1.60 $L60 Increase (30%) .48 Supply and Exp. .54 .60 Margin .43 .85 $3.05 $3.05 showing that no increase in the price of coal to the consumer will be necessary. Effect of Coal Prices The coal in the United States even to-day is ma- terially cheaper than elsewhere in the world. The immediate effects of this fact are important and significant: (a) It is wasted in a far greater degree than elsewhere, inefficiency of power generation in this country being notorious. (b) II creates a new and dangerous tendency of export to South America, England, Italy, and other countries. (c) It represents nearly one-third of our rail- road freight. (d) It retards our development of water power. Higher coal prices will therefore result in: (a) conservation of our national resources; (b) discouragement of foreign industrial com- petition carried on with the help our own coal; (c) relief of railway congestion, better freight service, cheaper railroad maintenance; (d) stimulation of development of water power resources; (e) promotion of remanufacture of coal into multiple by-products; (d) adoption of a plan for development of super-power stations at colleries with a net of elec- tric transmission; (g) extension of electrification of railways espe- cially by hydro-electric power in non-industrial communities; (h) generally increasing abundance of cheap power with corresponding industrial prosperity. The popular belief that low-priced industrial fuel (such as bituminous coal) is a contributing factor in the manufacture of low-priced commodi- ties does not stand the test of facts. During the early stage of our industrial development the abund- ance of coal, its location in proximity to iron ores, thick and exposed veins, and other factors stimu- lated the growth of American industrial activities to an unparalleled extent. The natural resources of the country were almost free for the taking, and the savage sacking of the very foundation of our future national prosperity became customary. Economy in consumption, efficiency in the utilization of ap- parently inexhaustible resources, received no atten- tion. Today, with the end of our coal deposits in sight, the old reckless and wanton destruction becomes a crime against society; yet no other stimuli outside of moral considerations are at work to promote conservation, and by that we mean not limitation of results, but limitation of useless waste. Countries blessed with older civilization and with smaller fuel deposits were forced to develop a notable degree of engineering perfection, and the high cost of fuel was by no means a secondary motive in the thoroughness with which they avoid- ed all non-productive uses. The use of mine refuse, briquetted coal-dust, powdered coal, lig- nite, turf, and so forth, received the fullest atten- tion in Europe, in addition to the development of internal combustion engines with their nearly double fuel economy. Moreover, higher-priced fuel, as in England, made possible the conservation of human resources, and the introduction of the seven-hour day for miners; it stimulated the use of mechanical stokers, and, finally, caused the Re- construction Committee to recommend a compre- hensive plan of interconnected super-power sta- tions nationally operated. Review In concluding this survey we may sum up the characteristics of the coal industry as follows: 1. Abundance of rich veins of high-grade coal caused mining methods to remain primitive and inexpensive. 2. It further resulted in neglect to exploit less profitable coal and other fuel deposits, thus creat- ing congestion of centralized coal traffic. 3. Desire to place on the market low-priced high- grade coal doomed to waste up to 50% of the potential supply of coal in mines. 4. Unscientific mode of management causes 30% lost time, with consequent tendency to keep workers long hours during the remaining time. 5. Quasi-public spirit assumes that increase of fuel price injures industry. 6. Individual operation of coal mines detached from public service prevents utilization of mul- tiple products of coal. The situation therefore resolves itself into an unprecedented conflict of various social forces in two distinct planes. The welfare of our great commonwealth makes it imperative that the natural resources be placed at the service of the society to the fullest extent known to science and engineering; that the plun- dering of our mineral and human resources shall cease and that undeveloped possibilities shall be realized for the benefit of the country. As opposed to this, the present organization for operating our coal mines is unable to render this 404 November 1 THE DIAL enlarged service; for it is equipped merely to do what it does; that is, sell to the public such service as it can at a price. Since this service is inade- quate, perpetuation of this regime means ruin of the country. Satisfaction of the new economic prob- lems of the country means a modification of the present regime. Out of this fundamental conflict between private advantage and public necessity grows a significant contest between the parties engaged in the industry. This conflict is merely a symptom, but at the same time it is a symbol. Labor's demand for regulated employment in- stead of disorganized convulsions between 195 and 260 days per year points to the necessity of organ- ized production for satisfaction of the country's needs—instead of the present muddle. Labor's demand for a higher standard of living signifies the manifest importance of achieving higher standards" in utilizing the fruits of toil and the gifts of nature. We come at last to a vicious circle. If the wages are raised, profits go down or the prices of commodities go up. When the cost of living gets high, those of insufficient income limit consumption. Reduced consumption piles up idle charges and pre- vents reduction of prices. On the other hand, if wages are not raised the acute disproportion be- tween the purchasing capacity of the people and productive capacity of industry breeds revolutions. The answer must be sought on another plane— in organization of production for consumption, not for sale and the subsequent division of revenues between those who had and those who did. The embryo of such a mechanism was tested during the war. We ascertained the needs of our army and of the Allies. We gave the authority to those who, we thought, knew what to do and how to do it. Capable men were selected, not elected. The criterion was not the cost, neither the profit, but service in the promotion of our com- mon aim. This mechanism won the War. Let us use it to win the Peace. Walter N. Polakov. The Coal Issue in Great Britain Within twelve months of the armistice the question of the ownership and the control of the coal mines has become the dominant issue in British industrial politics, and it has been made dominant by the industrial power of the organized miners. That is the really significant fact. It is the in- dustrial not the political pressure that has told. The Labor Party in the House of Commons is far too small in numbers to be able to force an issue upon the unwilling majority; and there are few subjects which the coalition battalions are less anxious to approach than this of nationalization; but if the Labor Party is weak inside Parliament, the labor movement is strong outside, and the Min- ers' Federation of Great Britain is probably the most powerful trade union in the world. Therefore, when once the Federation took the decisive step of including the transference of the mines to public ownership as an essential item in a program of demands which it was prepared to support if necessary by industrial action, na- tionalization—long regarded as a merely academic question—came immediately into the forefront of immediate practical politics. The Government could ignore sixty parliamentary votes; but it dared not ignore 800,000 strike notices. That first step was taken last January at the Southport conference. The executive of the Fed- eration had put in a demand for a 30% increase in wages. The delegates decided to ask in addi- tion for: (a) Full maintenance for demobilized miners while unemployed. (b) The reduction of the statutory eight-hour day to six hours—which would give a real working day of seven hours. (c) The nationalization of all mines and min- erals. The issue was joined. The miners, by their rep- resentative body, had determined on the use of their industrial power for the securing of nationali- zation, and by earlier resolutions they had declared that nationalization must include control by the workers. The Government's reaction was characteristic. Ministers failed entirely to realize that the miners were in earnest. It is their habit never to face economic issues while there seems a pos- sibility of evading or postponing them. They of- fered a wage increase of a shilling a day and a vague Committee of Enquiry. They were brought sharply back to realities. Another miners' conference met and decided to ballot the rank and file upon the question of a strike to enforce the demands. That brought Mr. Lloyd George on the scene with a request for delay and promise of a Royal Commission pledged to re- port by March 3. The ballot was taken. The result was startling. 1919 405 THE DIAL In favor of striking 615,164 votes were cast—only 105,082 against. But even then the miners held their hand. They insisted that the commission should report by March 20, and they laid down strict conditions as to its constitution. Four of the thirteen mem- bers were to be nominated by the Federation; two others by the Government, with the approval of the Federation. That was the genesis of the "Sankey Commis- sion," which carried out that devastating enquiry into the workings of the coal industry and set all England wondering, now at the forensic skill of the miners, now at the revealed administrative in- competence of the owners and controllers of industry. The miners, it is worth noting, chose as their own representatives Robert Smillie and Frank Hodges (their president and secretary), Herbert Smith of the Yorkshire Miners' Association and Sir Leo Chiozza Money. They agreed with the Government upon the appointment of Sidney Webb and R. H. Tawney. This combination of experi- enced miners and sympathetic intellectuals proved a brilliant success. They dominated the whole con- ference and made of it a relentless exposure of the inefficiencies and brutalities of the capitalist sys- tem. They showed how the present organization of the trade brought waste and confusion. They ex- posed the whole system of profiteering. They drew attention to the scandal of royalties. Every day brought its new quota of startling facts. The public realized with a shock that the colliery owners' profits had trebled during the years of war, and that thjs had been rectified only partially by the excess profits tax. It realized that even the Coal Controller had been unable to check profiteering; that he had been compelled, in order to secure for a few weak companies the pre-war profits, to agree to an increase of price that put §125,000,000 into the pockets of the wealthy own- ers. It realized the heavy toll taken by the middle- man, the absurdities of a system which combines all the wastefulness of competition with all the plunder-possibilities of combination, and it real- ized more keenly than ever before the hard lot of the average miner, the risks of his life, the in- adequacy of his remuneration, the scandal of his housing. Two weeks' examination and cross ex- amination left the coal trade a discredited organi- zation plainly inadequate to the country's economic needs. Incidentally it fully vindicated the miners' recourse to direct action to compel an unwilling government to give some consideration to urgent national needs even at the risk of incommoding powerful vested interests. The first report, issued, in accordance with prom- ise, on March 22, clinched the matter. The coal owners' three representatives sought refuge in silence and reported only on hours and wages. But the chairman and mine members agreed that "the present system of ownership and working in the coal industry stands condemned." The miners' three representatives, Mr. Webb, and Mr. Tawney reported that more efficient organiza- tion was essential, that the only alternatives were nationalization and trustification and that, since the latter would be clearly intolerable, "nationaliza- tion" ought to be, in principle, at once decided on. The chairman and the three other Government nominees were a little more cautious. They de- clared a change essential; they laid it down that the workers must have an effective voice in the direction of the mines. But they proposed to take further evidence in order to decide whether the new system should be "nationalization- or a method of unification by national purchase or by joint control." In the matter of hours and wages Mr. Justice Sankey and his colleagues suggested a compromise which gave roughly half what the miners demanded. The same day Mr. Bonar Law announced that the Government would adopt the Sankey report in spirit and in letter. Accepting this statement as a definite pledge of the Government's intention, the miners agreed to accept the Sankey report. Everybody took it that the first big issue was decided; that the ex- isting system would be abolished and that it re- mained only for the Commission to discuss the precise form of the change by which unification, effective public control, and the worker's partici- pation in management could be secured The Commission sat again and examined various proposed schemes for effecting nationalization. It reported on June 20. This second report was a curious document. The coal owners' representatives and two of the Govern- ment nominees put themselves clean out of court. They merely declared "nationalization in any form detrimental to the development of the in- dustry and to the economic life of the country." They recommended a few unimportant reforms, but apparently contemplated the continuance of the existing system virtually without change. In view of the fact that the Government had already com- mitted itself to the Sankey declaration for total reforms, this made their report merely irrelevant. Eight members had seriously devoted themselves to the real issue. And of these seven (The Chair- man, Mr. Webb, Mr. Tawney, and the miners' representatives) declared in favor of nationaliza- tion. One (Sir Arthur Duckham) submitted, in- stead, a scheme for the creation of publicly con- trolled corporations. 406 November 1 THE DIAL AH the commissioners favored the state acquisi- tion (either by purchase or by confiscation) of min- ing royalties, and the placing of the retail dis- tributing trade in the hands of public bodies. It seemed that the contest was won. The Gov- ernment had agreed to carry out the revolutionary changes declared necessary by the interim Sankey report. Of eight commissioners who had given their minds to the problem, seven had declared that such changes were best effected by nationaliza- tion. The miners looked to the Government for the logical next step. But the coal interest is powerful in England, and Mr. Lloyd George has no strong predisposi- tion either to logic or to fidelity. The big capi- talists began to issue warnings. A large number of the Government's followers in the House of Commons declared that they would oppose any nationalization bill. Then the Government made its first move. The disclosures at the Commission had swung public sympathy against the coal owners and in favor of the miners. If nationalization was to be turned down and the Sankey pledge violated in spirit, it was essential to create an atmosphere of preju- dice, to turn opinion once more against the miners. Dramatically Sir Auckland Geddes announced on July 9 that the wage and hour provisions of the Sankey award made it necessary to increase the price of coal by six shillings. The Government press took the cue promptly and burst into violent denunciation of the miners for "profiteering" at the expense of the com- munity. The Miners' Federation replied by a destructive criticism of the calculations on which the six- shilling rise was based. The Government's arith- metic was shown to be faulty, its data inaccurate. It was shown conclusively that, making full allow- ance for the diminution in production, an increase of two shillings and six pence a ton would have been ample. And the Government was forced to ad- mit that the diminution in production was due not to any slackness on the part of the miners—as the capitalist press had freely asserted—but to bad organization of transport. The Government tried another device. They of- fered to withhold the six-shilling rise if the miners would give up the right to strike for three months. Had this been accepted no doubt at the end of the three months the proposal would have been re- peated. But the miners in conference at Keswick declined to bargain away their basic right, repu- diated the suggestion that they were in any way responsible for the fall in output, demanded an inquiry into its causes, and promised full co-opera- tion in increasing production and effecting econ- omies if the Sankey report were carried out. The Government ignored the Keswick resolutions and the press campaign redoubled in violence. The miners and their leaders were virulently at- tacked. Even Mr. Justice Sankey became the tar- get of evidently organized abuse. And then, when it was believed that the ground had been sufficiently prepared by the press, Mr. Lloyd George launched his offensive. In a speech on August 18 he declared definitely against na- tionalization. His plan was to "promote union by amalgamation in defined areas"—in other words, to set up a system of gigantic capitalist combines subject only to the vaguest supervision by the Government It was Sir Arthur Duckham's plans without the safeguards Sir Arthur had pro- posed. The Sankey report had become a scrap of paper. The miners were angry at the betrayal. They had been led by statement after statement to be- lieve that the Government meant to carry out the policy recommended by the Commission. They had been assured that if the "competent and highly expert tribunal" found that nationalization was a good business proposition, its recommendation would be accepted. It was on this assurance that the miners had voted to accept the interim report and to call off the strike. Now they found—a not unusual expe- rience in dealing with governments—that, as Mr. Vernon Hartshorn put it, "it was all a huge game of bluff," and that, for all the influence it had had on the Government's policy, the Commission might as well have made no investigation and no report at all The miners were angry; but they showed a re- straint under intense provocation which contrasted rather strikingly with the Government's reckless and flamboyant methods. A full delegate confer- ence was called at the beginning of September. It regretted that "the Government had no better scheme than the creation of great trusts," and re- iterated its conviction that nationalization was the only solution. But it declined to take immediate industrial action, and instead referred the whole question to the Trade Union Congress at Glasgow. That Congress met on September 10. The miners submitted a resolution pledging the Con- gress to "co-operate to the fullest extent" with the Miners' Federation "with a view to compelling the Government to adopt the scheme of national owner- ship and joint control recommended by the ma- jority of the Sankey Commission." The resolution instructed the Parliamentary Committee to interview the Prime Minister, and decided that in the event of a continued Govern- ment refusal a special congress should be called "to decide the form of action to be taken to com- pel the Government." That resolution, moved by Robert Smillie, the Miners' Federation president, and seconded by J- H. Thomas, the Railwaymen's secretary, was car- ried by 4,478,000 to 77,000. 1919 407 THE DIAL By an almost unanimous vote the trade unions had taken up the challenge thrown down by Mr. Lloyd George to the miners. The interview with the Prime Minister took place on October 9. Mr. Lloyd George was in a characteristic mood. He delivered an oration which lasted an hour. He denied that any pledge had ever been given. Suddenly he discovered that this Parliament had no mandate to deal with nationalization. He declared that in some myste- rious fashion the railway strike made the moment most inopportune for pressing the question. He delivered a little lecture on guild socialism which showed that he had not the slightest knowledge of the subject. Accurate knowledge is not Mr. George's forte, and he made it plain that he knows as little of the miners' problem as he knows about Teschen. "What we were struck with more than anything else," said Mr. Smillie afterwards to a Daily Herald representative, "was that Mr. Lloyd George seemed to be absolutely ignorant with re- gard to the whole principle and importance of nationalization." But the Prime Minister has also the obstinacy which often goes with ignorance. Once his mind has been made up for him, he is tenacious of the view which has been given him and wh'ch he is ill equipped to criticize for himself. And the net result of it all was a flat refusal to consider na- tionalization and a repetition of the trustification proposals. Mr. George's arguments were unimpor- tant; they were merely drawn from a not very clev- erly prepared brief. The essential thing is that the interests of which he is the mouthpiece have deter- mined on an obstinate resistance. There for the moment the matter lies. The call- ing of the special congress has been postponed until the return of the British delegation from Washington. But the issue has been clearly de- fined. Organized labor has declared its solid sup- port of the miners, and is considering ways and means of forcing the Government to carry nation- alization. Organized capital is equally determined to resist it . For the first time in British history the ground is cleared for a straight fight on a clear-cut issue of principle. It is no question of hours and wages but one of the whole structure of industry. It is the first big revolt against the wage-system itself; the first organized and concerted attempt to substitute industrial democracy for industrial oligarchy. For the miners' demand, let me repeat, is not merely for nationalization. It is for national own- ership and for joint control by the workers and the community. The details of the proposal are set out in the draft bill of which the complete text is printed below. They differ in detail from Mr. Justice Sankey's own proposal. They en- visage a more democratic form of organiza- tion. But the basic principle is the same. It is the principle of the Plumb Plan. It is at bottom the principle of Guild Socialism—that industry' should be carried on by democratically organized bodies of workers in co-operation, with, and for the benefit of, the community. It would be foolish to prophecy the events of the next few months—to attempt to predict on what action the special Congress will decide or to fore- tell the immediate result of that action. But this, at any rate, is certain. That British labor has definitely passed from its period of pre- occupation with questions of wages and hours; it has decided to use its economic power for the construction of a new model of industry. This is a fight which, once begun, must inevitably go forward to a decision. W. N. Ewer. The Nationalization of Mines and Minerals A Bill to Nationalise the Mines and Minerals of Great Britain and to Provide for the National Winning, Distribution, and Sale of Coal and Other Minerals, (1919). (2) It shall be lawful for His Majesty, from time to time, to appoint any member of the Privy Council to be President of the Mining Council, under the name of the. Minister of Mines, to hold office during His Majesty's pleasure. (3) The Members of the Mining Council, other than the President, shall be appointed for five years, but shall be eligible for reappointment. Provided that His Majesty or the Association known as the Miners' Federation of Great Britain respectively shall have power to remove any person appointed by them and appoint some other person in his place. On a casual vacancy occurring by reason of the death, resignation, or otherwise of any of such members or otherwise, His Majesty or the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, as the case may be, shall appoint some other person to fill the vacancy, who shall continue in office until the member in whose place he was appointed should have retired, and shall then retire. The members of the Whereas it is expedient that mines and minerals should be taken into the possession of the State. Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament as- sembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:— I. Establishment of Mininc Council (1) For the purpose of winning, distributing, selling, and searching for coal and other minerals, there shall be estab- lished by His Majesty by Warrant under the sign manual, a Mining Council, consisting of a President and 20 mem- bers, ten of whom shall be appointed by His Majesty and ten by the Association known as the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. 408 November 1 THE DIAL Mining Council shall devote the whole of their time to the business of the Mining Council. n. Minister of Mines and Parliamentary Secretary (1) The Minister of Mines and one of the Secretaries of the Mining Council (to be known as the Parliamentary Secretary and to be appointed by His Majesty) shall at the same time be capable of being elected to and of sitting in the Commons House of Parliament. (2) The Minister of Mines shall take the oath of allegi- ance and official oath, and shall be deemed to be included in the First Part of the Schedule to the Promissory Oaths Act, 1868. (3) There shall be paid out of money provided by Parlia- ment to the Minister of Mines a salary at the rate of £2,000 a year, and to the Parliamentary Secretary a salary at the rate of £1,500 a year. (4) The Minister of Mines and the Parliamentary Secre- tary shall be responsible to Parliament for the acts of the Mining Council. III. Officers, etc. (1) The Mining Council shall appoint a Secretary (to be known as the Permanent Secretary), and such assistant secretaries and officers and servants as the Mining Council may, with the sanction of the Treasury, determine. (2) Subject to the provisions of Section 11 (2) of this Act, there shall be paid to the Permanent Secretary, As- sistant Secretaries and ether officers and servants such salar- ies or remuneration as the Treasury shall from time to time determine. (3) There shall be transferred and attached to the Min- ing Council such of the persons employed under any Gov- ernment Department or local authority in or about the exe- cution of the powers and duties transferred by or in pur- suance of this Act to the Mining Council as the Mining Council and the Government Department or local authority may with the sanction of the Treasury determine. (4) Notwithstanding anything in any Act, order or regulation, any society of workers, all or some of whose members are wholly or partly employed in or about mines, or in any other manner employed by the Minister of Mines, or the Mining Council, or a District Mining Council, or Pit Council, or otherwise under this Act, may be registered or constitute themselves to be a Trade Union, and may do anything individually or in combination which the members of a Trade Union or a Trade Union may lawfully do. Pro- vided further that nothwithstanding any Act, order, or regu- lation to the contrary, it shall be lawful for any person em- ployed under this Act to participate in any civil or political action in like manner as if such person were not employed by His Majesty, or by any authority on his behalf. Provided, further, that no such person shall suffer dis- missal or any deprivation of any kind as a consequence of any political or industrial action, not directly forbidden by the terms of his employment, or as a consequence of participation in a strike or trade dispute. IV. Constitution of Mininc Council (1) The Mining Council shall be a'Corporation to be known by the name of the Mining Council and by that name shall have perpetual succession, and may acquire and hold land without licence in mortmain. (2) The Mining Council shall have an official seal, which shall be officially and publicly noticed, and such seal shall be authenticated by the Mining Council or a secretary or ->ne of the assistant secretaries, or some person authorised <"-t on their behalf. (3) The Mining Council may sue and be sued without further description under that title. (4) Every document purporting to be an order, licence, or other instrument issued by the Mining Council, and to be sealed with their seal, authenticated in manner pro- vided by this Act, or to be signed by a secretary or by one of the assistant secretaries, or any person authorised to act, shall be received,in evidence and be deemed to be such order, licence, or other instrument without further proof unless the contrary is shown. (5) Any person having authority in that behalf, either general or special, under the seal of the Mining Council may, on behalf of the Mining Council, give any notice or make any claim, demand, entry, or distress, which the Min- ing Council in its corporate capacity or otherwise might give or make, and every such notice, claim, demand, entry, and distress shall be deemed to have been given and made by the Mining Council. (6) Every deed, instrument, bill, cheque, receipt or other document, made or executed for the purpose of the Mining Council by, to, or with the Mining Council, or any officer of the Mining Council, shall be exempt from any stamp duty- imposed by any Act, past or future, except where that duty is declared by the document, or by some memorandum en- dorsed thereon, to be payable by some person other than the Mining Council, and except so far as any future Act specifically charges the duty. Transference of Mines and Minerals to Mininc Council (1) On and after the appointed day, save as in Sub- Section 3 of this Section, provided— (a) Every colliery and mine (including all mines, quarries and open workings of ironstone, shale, fire- clay and limestone, and every other mine regulated under the Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts, 1872 and 1875, but not including mines, quarries, or open workings of minerals specified in the First Schedule to this Act), whether in actual work, or discontinued, or exhausted, or abandoned, and every shaft, pit, borehole, level, or inclined plane, whether in course of being made or driven for commencing or opening any such colliery or mine, or otherwise, and all associated prop- erties (including .vessels, lighters, railway rolling stock, and all works, including works for the manufacture of bye-products, in the opinion of the Mining Council belonging to any mine undertaking or connected with any colliery or mine, and every house belonging to the owners of any such colliery or mine, which, in the opinion of the Mining Council, is usually occupied by workmen employed at such colliery or mine), (all of which are herein included in the expression "mine"); and (b) all coal, anthracite, lignite, ironstone, shale, fireclay, limestone, or other mineral, excepting the min- erals specified in the First Schedule to this Act, wheth- er at present being worked or not worked, or connected or not connected with any mine, beneath the surface of the ground (all of which are herein included in the expression "minerals"); and (c) all rights and easements arising out of or neces- sary to the working of any mine or the winning of any mineral, including all mineral way-leaves, whether air-leaves or water leaves, or rights to use a shaft, or ventilation or drainage or other royalties, lordships, or rights in connection therewith, whether above or be- low the ground (all of which are herein included in the expression "rights") shall be transferred to, vested in and held by the Mining Council in their corporate capacity in perpetuity, and shall for all purposes be deemed to be royal mines, and the minerals and rights thereof respectively. 1919 409 THE DIAL (2) The Acts contained in the Second Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed. (3) Provided that the Mining Council may at any time before the appointed day give notice in writing to the owner of, or person interested in, any mine or minerals or rights, disclaiming, during the period of such disclaimer, all or part of the property in such mine or minerals or rights to the extent specified in the notice, and thereafter such mine or minerals or right9 shall, until such time as the Mining Council shall otherwise determine, to the extent specified in such notice, not vest in the Mining Council as provided by Sub-Section (1) of this section. Provided that in such case it shall not be lawful for any person other than the Mining Council, without the permission of the Mining Council, to work such mine or minerals in any way. Provided further that on the termination of such dis- claimer by the Mining Council, such mine or minerals or rights shall, to the extent of such notice, as from such date as the notice may prescribe, vest in the Mining Council as if such notice of disclaimer had not been given. VI. ,' Purchase of Mines The Mining Council shall purchase the mines of Great Britain in them vested by this Act (other than those which are the property of the Crown at the time of the passing ef this Act or which have been disclaimed in whole or in part in accordance with Section V (3) of this Act) at the price and in the manner provided by this Act. Provided always that the value of any rights as defined by Section V (1) (c) of this Act shall not be taken into account in computing such price, for all of which no compensation shall be paid. VII. Mines Commissioners ) (1) For the purpose of assessing the purchase price of mines it shall be lawful for His Majesty, by warrants under the sign manual, to appoint ten Commissioners, to be styled the Mines Purchase Commissioners (herein called the Com- missioners) of whom one, appointed by His Majesty, shall be chairman. (2) Three of the said Commissioners shall be nominated by the Association' known as the Miners'. Federation of Great Britain, and three by the Association known as the Mining Association of Great Britain. (3) At the expiration of twelve months from the passing of this Act, in the event of a majority of the Commissioners failing to agree as to the purchase price of a particular mine or of its associated properties, it shall be lawful for the Chairman himself to fix the purchase price of such mine, which price shall then be deemed to be the price fixed by the Commissioners, but, save as herein expressly . provided, the finding of a majority of the Commissioners voting on any question or as to the purchase price of mines shall be final and conclusive and binding on all parties. (4)" It shall be lawful for His Majesty to remove any Commissioner for inability or misbehavior. Every order of removal shall state the reasons for which it is made, and no such order shall come into operation until it has lain before the Houses of Parliament for not less than thirty days while Parliament is sitting. (5) The Commissioners may appoint and employ such assessors, accountants, surveyors, valuers, clerks, messen- gers, and other persons required for the due performance of their duties as the Treasury on the recommendation of the Commissioners may sanction. (6) There shall be paid to the Commissioners and to each of the persons appointed or employed under this sec- tion such salary or remuneration as the Treasury may sanc- tion; and all such salaries and remuneration and the ex- penses of the Commission incurred in the execution of their duties, to such amount as may be sanctioned by the Treas- ury, shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament. VHI. Valuation of Mines (1) The Commissioners shall, as soon as may be after the passing «f this Act, cause a valuation to be made of all mines other than those disclaimed, whether or not developed or working or abandoned or exhausted, in Great Britain, showing what on August 4th, 1914, and what at the date of the passing of this Act was respectively the" total ascertained value of each mine and its associated properties and the rights, as defined by Section V (1) (c) of this Act, therein, and the total ascertained value of such mine and its associated properties respectively exclusive of such rights; and the owner of every mine and any per- son receiving any rents, interest, or profit from any mine or possessed of any rights therein or connected therewith, on being required by notice by the Commissioners, shall furnish to the Commissioners a return containing such particulars as the Commissioners may require as to his property, rent, interest, profits, or rights in such mine. . (2) The Commissioners may likewise cause any mine to be inspected, require the production of documents, or do any other thing which may, in their opinion, be necessary to fix the purchase price of the mine or its associated prop- erties. (3) The Commissioners in making such valuation shall have regard to returns made under any statute imposing duties or taxes or other obligations in respect of mines, or minerals or rights, and to any information given before or to any Commission or Government Department, including the Coal Industry Commission constituted under the Coal Industry Commission Act, 1919. DC. Ascertainment of Purchase Price (1) The purchase price of mines exclusive of associated properties (other than mines in the possession of the Crown at the time of the passing of this Act) shall be computed subject to the provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3) of this section by ascertaining the average annual number of tons of minerals actually raised during the five years pre- ceding August 4th, 1914: Provided that as regards coal-mines in no case shall the maximum purchase price, exclusive of associated properties, be taken to be more than the following: When 100,000 tons or less have been raised s. d. per annum on the average during such five preceding years, a capital sum equal to one such year's output at 12 0 per ton When more than 100,000 tons have been raised per annum on the average dur- ing such five preceding years, a capital sum equal to one such year's output at 10 0 per ton (2) The Commissioners in arriving at such computation shall also have regard to the actual gross and net profits which have been made in the mine during such years or thereafter and to the amounts which may have been set aside from time to time for depreciation, renewals, or de- velopment, and to the probable duration of the life of the mine, and to the nature and condition of such mine, and to the state of repairs thereof, and to the assets and liabilities of any mine undertaking existing at the time of purchase which are transferable to the Mining Council under section XVI of this Act. (3) Provided further that where a coal-mine, in the opinion of the Commissioners, has not been fully developed, the amount which would be raised under full development without any increase of capital expenditure shall be taken as the average annual number of tons raised, and the maxi- 410 November 1 THE DIAL mum purchase price in such case shall be taken to be a capital sum equal to the product of such number of tons and 12s. or 10s. per ton respectively, for the purpose of ascertaining the maximum value per ton under sub-section (1) of this section. X. Issue of State Mines Stock (1) The purchase price of any mine and such of its associated properties as have been purchased, as ascertain- ed under the provisions of this Act, shall be paid by the Mining Council in mines purchase stock to the persons who, in the opinion of the Mining Council, have established their title to such stock. Provided that an appeal shall lie to the High Court under rules to be framed by the High Court from the decision of the Mining Council as to the title of any such persons, but for no other purpose. (2) For the purpose of paying such purchase price the Treasury shall, on the request of the Mining Council, by warrant addressed to the Bank of England, direct the crea- tion of a new capital stock (to be called "Guaranteed State Mines Stock"), and in this Act referred to as "the stock," yielding interest at the rate on the nominal amount of capi- tal equal to that payable at the date on which this Act received Royal Assent on what, in the opinion of the Treas- ury, is the nearest equivalent Government Loan Stock. (3) Interest shall be payable by equal half yearly or quarterly dividends at such times in each year as may be fixed by the warrant first creating the stock. (4) The stock shall be redeemed at the rate of one hun- dred pounds sterling for e