OUR OWN BOOKSHELF Go She Must, by David Garnett. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927. $2.50. DAVID GARNETT's books represent a special taste for the intellectual epicure, much as caviar or litchi nuts make their special appeal to the palate of the gourmet. Those who enjoyed Lady into Fox, A Man in the Zoo, and The Sailor's Return will derive the same kind of pleasure from this admirably condensed tale. Mr. Garnett sets an example-which, alas, too few follow of wasting no words in fine writing, unnecessary padding, or elaborate description. His style is limpid and direct even where the plot is a bit blurred by fantastic happening or obscured by unexplained causes of remarkable events. This narrative deals with the escape of an intensely alive young woman from the restrictions and deadening narrowness of a country parsonage. In her caged life she is less important to her eccentric old father than are the wild birds which have proved so much easier to tame and to domesticate than a daughter eager for life, love, and freedom. It is Anne's successful effort in 'unwinding the accursed chain' of uneventful life in Dry Coulter that transports the reader with her to the sophistication of Paris and the companionship of two very modern young men. Mr. Garnett does not seem to us quite so happy when he allows the extravagant and bizarre to creep into what began as a singularly realistic picture of the starved life of Anne Dunnock. 'What a chain is to a yard dog a bicycle is to the daughter of a clergyman,' the girl decides, and realizes that in order to gain what her nature demands 'go she must' beyond the radius of a bicycle. As one watches the birds, so beloved by the slightly deranged old clergyman, flutter through the pages of this little book like symbolic figures forced to fulfill their destinies of stretching their wings, starving, mating, flying away, and returning again, one wonders whether Mr. Garnett had in his subconscious mind the memory of Ibsen's Wild Duck, in which the symbolism is much the same. Essays in Popular Science, by Julian Huxley. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927. $4.00. GATHERING together a sheaf of rather unrelated essays and book reviews on such subjects as heredity, environment, Lamarck, birth control, frogs, birds, and psychology, Mr. Huxley makes a bid for a wide audience by inserting the word 'Popular' in his title. Let the neophyte beware, for this is not one of those 'Science Made Easy' books so common nowadays and so easy for ignorant people to decry as superficial. In spite of a winning literary style and frequent flashes of humor, this remains the work of a specialist, and the general reader will have to work hard to discover what it is all about. We learn, for instance, after some thirty pages of intense concentration and partial comprehension, that individual characteristics are a combination of heredity and environment. We then read with interest how biologists will rotate certain unfortunate rats for hours on end to discover whether their children unto the third and fourth generation will inherit a tendency to dizziness only to discover that the whirling induces a disease of the ear, which spoils the whole show. But if we applaud Mr. Huxley for his honesty in drawing aside the veil that usually conceals such scientific ineptitudes from the layman, we cannot but be amazed at his fanatical belief in birth control -a cause that is espoused by just the sort of person who once thought that woman suffrage would be the panacea. Mr. Huxley is surely a good enough scientist to know that experts are at loggerheads regarding the efficacy of various contraceptive methods, and he should be a good enough philosopher to reflect that reforms of this type come in God's good time in other words, when some other more pressing emergency has arisen to distract our attention. Napoleon, by Emil Ludwig. Translated by Eden and Cedar Paul. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1927. $3.00. FOR over a century Napoleon left his visible imprint upon the map and mind of Europe. Scholars and biographers have described his strategy and tactics, his philosophy and personal traits, but Emil Ludwig is the first to give us a complete and detached view of the man himself. Over five hundred pages of this book are pure narrative, in which the author weaves into the story Napoleon's own writings and contemporary documents with a skill that amounts to genius. The last hundred-odd pages are recapitulation of Napoleon's characteristics and description of the years at St. Helena. The author, being German, dwells on the fact that Napoleon was not French at all, but Italian. At times, especially in the earlier chapters, we detect a resemblance to Mussolini that is not flattering to either party. Mr. Ludwig is too good a Nordic not to be bewitched by the Man of Destiny pose, though the reader can easily see, if he wants to, that Napoleon's belief in his star was a form of pure madness. To summarize this biography would be to outline the life of its subject, and to evoke the picture of Napoleon that finally emerges would require far more space than we have here. We can only say that however much or little one knows about Napoleon, the book is enthralling from end to end. The translation is incredibly good — whether or not it is letter-perfect we neither know nor care. Best of all, the publishers are charging only three dollars for the book, in spite of its enormous size. They should be substantially encouraged. George IV, by Shane Leslie. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1926. $4.00. Ir is only natural that this emancipated age should prove its mettle by reversing unfavorable Victorian judgments on George IV. The thesis of Mr. Leslie's book is that George was not only a dashing and gallant lover, but that his public career was brilliant too. Thackeray is chiefly to blame for the unsavory reputation of this genial monarch, under whom literature and art flourished, while England went from strength to strength. How much good the King himself was responsible for it is hard to say, but he certainly wielded more influence in affairs of state than his present namesake does, and his personality cast a lurid and agreeable glow on the life of his time. Most readers will be persuaded by Mr. Leslie's thesis, reflecting that George's defects were the defects of his day, whereas his virtues were neither inconsiderable nor fruitless. The book is agreeably written, and decidedly clever without sinking into smartness. Fully half our attention is rightly focused on George's amours, and the illustrations drawn from contemporary cartoons are in keeping with the spirit of the text. English Medieval Painted Glass, by J. D. Le Couteur. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926. $3.50. THIS volume is a welcome addition to the literature of a subject fascinating both to the lover of art and to the historian, and is quite the equal of Saint and Arnold's recent book, Stained Glass of the Middle Ages in England and France. The new work suffers in comparison only from the point of view of illustration, for it relies solely on black and white, thus losing the richness which characterized the plates of its predecessor. Mr. Le Couteur has confined himself strictly to the glass of England, although in point of time he travels far beyond the mediaval period. As a recognized expert on the subject he writes with authority, and as the possessor of a lucid and interesting style he enlivens what could be a dull subject. One might have wished for a fuller treatment of quarry work and the amazing development of the canopy, but otherwise little fault can be found. There are some excellent chapters on the manufacture of glass, old and new, and sound advice on restoration and preservation, not to mention photographing and description. The illustrations are of typical but lesser-known windows, and are admirably chosen. All Summer in a Day: An Autobiographical Fantasia, by Sacheverell Sitwell. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1926. $3.50. MR. SACHEVERELL SITWELL'S repudiation of the 'conventional autobiography replete with little anecdotes' is as welcome as it is thorough; and he disarms criticism of his new conception by labeling it 'Fantasia,' after which, in these days, nothing can be objected. As a counterpoise to the impersonality of his researches into Southern baroque art, Mr. Sitwell exposes to the public view his 'private mythology,' or store of associations. His purpose is to set down what of the past touched his youth intimately, before aging memory overlaid with experience falsifies first impressions. Whether all who respect the piety of his motive will have patience to make their way through the ensuing catalogue raisonné in which the notes have a tendency to overflow and submerge the items they describe- remains a question. All Summer in a Day is divided into two parts, the first a rigidly selective exhibit from the 'arsenal of memory,' the second an attempt to 'distort the present so as to make it full of anecdote and mythology like the past.' In the first, the Picasso portraits of Miss Morgan and Colonel Fantock, conceived in a sort of shadowy fourth dimension, are unforgettably good; in the second, the reader is baffled by perpetual sidetrackings, by a sensation as of hearing dreams told at breakfast, until the shadows of Mr. Sitwell's pleasure excursion bear no more resemblance to the fact than the vast rabbit on the nursery wall reflects the writhed paternal fingers that produce it. This, however, is no doubt part of the author's artfulness. Both divisions are enlivened by characteristic Sitwellian pyrotechnics of impression and expression, and witness an acute and extremely interesting auditory sensitiveness. BUSINESS ABROAD Retrospect and Prospect TAKEN in the large, economic reviews of 1926 in the transatlantic press were optimistic - at least, they looked hopefully forward to the coming year as an improvement upon the one just passed. British writers could hardly adopt a different attitude in view of the tremendous industrial crisis from which their country is just emerging. But they also see definite omens of better things in the offing- or even nearer, for the export trade in coal has revived remarkably with the ending of the strike, and during December was the best for the last four years. Moreover, British dealers are selling in markets which the Germans and we ourselves have made every effort to capture permanently. Well toward one million tons went to Mediterranean ports, and nearly one quarter of a million to South America. Although the Statist believed that Ambassador Houghton's censorious report to the White House last March was justified by the season's subsequent record, it nevertheless discovered some progress toward better things during the year; and the Economist regarded the three conditions most essential to British business prosperity-industrial peace at home, political peace abroad, and stable monetary conditions throughout the world -as reasonably assured for 1927. Certain papers, notably the Daily Mail and the Westminster Gazette, have started a campaign to boom prosperity. Indeed, the joy which greets the announcement of each new contract obtained by a British firm is almost pathetic when contrasted with England's phlegmatic self-confidence of twenty years ago. Several engineering and shipbuilding companies report important orders for machinery and vessels. The textile trades, particularly worsted and woolen manufacturing and the artificialsilk business, show a distinct revival. Lower cotton prices afford a more hopeful outlook for cotton spinning. But the nation is cautioned against excessive exuberance over these favorable symptoms. The New Statesman is unable to discover signs on the horizon to justify extravagant hopes, although it believes the coming year cannot help being better than the one that has just passed, and may improve on 1925; while the Saturday Review suggests that 'after five or six months of complete inaction it would be an odd thing if they [the iron and steel trades] had not some extra orders to deal with just now.' Nevertheless, the country was able last year to set aside more than two hundred and sixty-four million pounds sterling out of its income to finance new capital expenditures at home, in the colonies, and abroad. This is more than in 1925, particularly in the volume of investments abroad. The British Treasury closed the year by issuing a prospectus of a new government security, to refund some three fourths of a billion dollars' worth of fiveper-cent bonds, and about half that quantity of tax-free four-per-cent national war bonds, all of which mature in 1927. The new consols will bear four per cent interest, and will convert a big block of short-term obligations into a longterm debt, at a slight saving of interest to the taxpayer. During 1926 price movements in Continental Europe were characterized by a steady rise in the cost of food products, and an equally Continental consistent fall in the cost of manuPrice factured goods. In Germany the Movements average price of agricultural produce rose nearly seventeen per cent, while that of manufactures fell more than nine per cent; and similar increases and declines, though somewhat less marked, occurred in Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Hungary. This reflects to some extent the poor harvests of 1926 as compared with the previous year. It also helps to explain the fact that in France retail prices continued to rise up to the end of the year, notwithstanding the ascending value of the franc. Wholesale prices in that country fell, however, from their peak in July, when they were seven hundred and fifty points higher than in July 1910, to only five hundred and ninety points above that level at the end of November. Just before Christmas the Bank of France again took charge of the franc, which had been under the care of the Treasury during France its convalescence from its collapse last summer. The Government has announced that it will not pay doles to its unemployed, but will give them work instead, thus refusing to follow British and German precedent — which there is little temptation to do in any case. Naturally the success of this policy will depend upon how widespread unemployment becomes. This programme may also have a bearing upon the debt problem. L'Opinion predicts that France will be forced to ratify the Bérenger Accord, in order to get funds for the public works proposed. 'While we personally remain of the opinion that large foreign credits are indispensable for the final stabilization of our currency, we must admit that financial experts believe that France can find funds enough at home or in Europe to accomplish this; but even the most optimistic stop there, and it is evident that we shall not be able to obtain from these sources money to undertake the vast public works necessary to solve the problem of unemployment and to provide France and her colonial empire with the improvements they urgently require.' During 1926 France mined four million more tons of coal than she did the previous year, and eight million more tons than in 1913. Her output of iron and steel rose to over nine million tons and eight million tons respectively, an increase of well toward one million tons above the previous season. Her textile industries did not exhibit such marked expansion, but exports of both cotton and silk fabrics were larger in 1926 than in 1925, and in case of the latter reached a record. Relatively to its total tonnage, the French merchant marine was better employed last year than that of any other maritime nation. In round numbers, only one hundred and fifty thousand tons of nearly three and one-half million tons of shipping were idle. Germany's business statisticians have been busy of late with graphs and diagrams showing that the country has turned the Germany curve in the recent depression and Over the is now on the upgrade. We present Top below two cuts confirming this, so far as figures showing unemployment and bankruptcies and receiverships are conclusive. During 1926 the stock market recorded more transactions than it had since the wild inflation period of 1923. This activity is ascribed to various causes, has increased her capital by between fifteen and eighteen billion marks, or, in round figures, by about four billion dollars. This is the increase of domestic capital alone, and does not include foreign loans and other alien investments in Germany. The estimate is based upon a study of deposits in commercial and savings banks, new security issues absorbed within the country, and other bookkeeping evidences of capital growth after eliminating possible duplications. What the author calls 'invisible capital increases' represented, for example, by turning back earnings into a business-are not taken into account, although they are assumed to have been large, in view of the extensive modernization of industrial plants out of income. Neither do the figures include money collected from the taxpayers by national, local, and city governments and used to pay for reproductive or quasi-reproductive undertakings-such as city housing. Last year Germany converted an unfavorable trade balance of 2630 million marks in 1925 into a favorable balance of more than a quarter of a million marks. This was due largely to a curtailment of imports, especially of manufactured goods. Apart from the heavy coal shipments due to the mining strike, the rise in exports was not marked. A there has been an improvement since, which brought this figure up to eighty-four per cent in October, the last month reported. The causes of the crisis were a rapid decline in the prices of important manufactures, especially textiles, and the dumping of goods in the Czechoslovak market by countries, such as France, Belgium, and Italy, having an inflated currency. notable exception to the depression over most of the Danube valley was exhibited by Hungary, where practically every branch of industry except flour milling has been unusually prosperous. Railways have earned exceptionally high returns, and agriculture, while not exactly booming, has been in a sound condition. Yugoslavia, however, has had a hard time of it during the past season. Her peasants have come out of the year more heavily in debt than ever, the timber industry has been depressed, flour milling has shared the stagnation in Hungary, and banks are pursuing an ultraconservative policy in respect to credits. While Italy congratulates herself that the lira finished the year ten per cent higher on the foreign exchanges than twelve months before, and nearly one third higher than in the middle of the summer, business is nevertheless depressed. Even though pessimistic prognostications that the Government's drastic policy of boosting the lira would result in idle factories and famished workmen have not come true, the country has not been immune to deflation troubles. Notwithstanding the rising value of the lira, stock exchange quotations are lower than ever. The Government's five-per-cent bonds have fallen twenty points, half of this loss occurring during the closing month of the year. The decline of industrial shares is attributed to stringent credit restriction, which has forced the business world to raise abroad the money it needed for current expenses at heavy discounts and high rates of interest - and to withdraw the reinsurance deposits it had made in banks outside the country, where reserve funds had been placed as an anchor to windward in case of a crash at home. The Turkish Government has signed a contract with a group of Belgian financiers to In the develop the Port of Samsun on the Black Sea and to build two branch Levant lines of standard gauge, each seventyfive miles long, connecting the Bagdad Railway with important interior towns. These lines are designed to be extended eventually to Black Sea ports. The total amount involved in these contracts is about twenty million dollars, one half payable in cash and the other half in short term Treasury bonds. Rumor has it that a contract for railways and harbor works has also been signed with a group of Swedish financiers. According to the last reports, the action of the Egyptian Government in supporting the price of cotton by purchasing all January contracts offered on the Alexandria market at a fixed price was taken simply in order to keep speculators from unduly depressing quotations. The Government prices of $23.50 per cantar for 'Sakelarides' and $15.50 for 'Ashmuni' are the lowest points that prices have touched this season, and few actual purchases are likely to be made at those figures. Although 1926 was by no means a prosperous year in Japan, new capital investments during the first eleven months amounted to Around the more than $850,000,000 in United Pacific States currency. Over one fourth of this was accounted for by electrical developments, and nearly one sixth by railway and trolley extensions. The expansion of manufactures was by no means marked, although several companies earned high profits. Among dividends recorded in recent corporation reports are fourteen per cent paid to the shareholders of the Dai Nippon Sugar Company, and twelve per cent to those of the Toho Electrical Power Company. Following the American slogan, "The cotton mill to the cotton field,' Australia is taking the woolen mill to the sheep station. The Commonwealth already has fifty-two of these establishments, more than one half of which are in Victoria, and their annual consumption of wool has risen from less than ninety thousand bales before the war to nearly double that quantity last year. They turn out principally tweeds, flannels, blankets, and rugs, the last of which rival those for which New Zealand has long been famous. Australia also has between two and three hundred knitting mills, most of which, however, are relatively small affairs. Business remains quiet in Latin America, except so far as it is in the hands of great corporations like the United Fruit Company and the Chile Copper Company, which serve stable and carefully regulated markets. Peru's exchange continues to fall in response to her unfavorable trade balance, which is due to partial crop failures in 1925 and 1926, and to the low price of cotton and sugar. Treasury and banking efforts to support the Peruvian pound, which at par is equal to the pound sterling but has been at a discount for several years, have proved ineffective, and at the close of December it stood below $3.60. |