BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2647, 18 December 1915, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

THE GERMAN MOLE,

Those far-seeing New Zealanders, inombers of.the various Ohumbers of Commerce, and others specially interested in commercial and industrial matters. ls!st J :ul( i rightly, upon the necessity tor some widespread and efficient organisation by wliioh Germany maynot be allowed' to regain the' powerful commercial position she held before the war with regard to. exports to British 1 possessions, will, lind many powerful \ arguments in.favour- of 'their crusade in a book entitled 1 'Tiio German Mole A. Study of the Art of Peaceful l'ene-jr-ation" (G.' Bell and Sons, per WhitJpmbe and.Tombs). The' author is M. Pules Claes, editor of:the Antwerp daily paper, "La Me'tropole." M. Claes's work is prefaced, by. an introduction by Dr. J. Holland Rose,-.; the eminent liis.torian of tho' Napoleonic wars, who , specially commends.-'a vpurusal of the ■hook as a study of the ingenious and, as results have proved iii' Belgium and the. nortlr of France, dangerous German '■"burrowing.',' Antwerp, as; Dr. Rose says, aud. as M. Claes proves by ohap'ter/and "text, : had' become almost completely Teulonised before the war; and Dr.Koso .reminds, us that "warning ' voices havje also jbeen. raised-as to the danger -of - German-commercial supremacy in cert-Sin'; British• possessions, especially Singapore.'.';, Dr. Koso says: if Germany emerges': victorious, or ends .the. struggle by a . stalemate, a general boycott of her. bo resorted u), but such a measure is attended by very great- difficulties." - -"If she is soundly beaten, and if her political organisation ...becomes _ adapted to peace rather tlia-n to .war, fewer.-precautions will be necessary-than are called for in tins volume." :With this latter expression of opinion 1 am afraid most'readers of; the book itsolf. will join with me in disagreeing. For 31. Claes emphasises ■ f&ct that "ifc is owing, to her econo- , . mic activity that Germany has been able to arm. herself' witlv the mighty forces we have -witnessed. To givo'this activity an opportunity of rebirth, is to forge the very weapons with which, -in tho near future,-we.should be struck'down." M. Claes gives' a most astounding picture of-the results achieved by Germany's "peaceful penetration" polioy. He shows how , the ' German colony in Antwerp .was. initiated, how. it grew in numerical' force, financial power and economic strength generally; and . how insidious: and unscrupulous were the methods .adopted;;. Newspapers were subsidised to 'preach: the superiority of German goods and German business methods j > Germans- clerks ! (always Geiman spiesj : pried out trade 'secrets; German philosophy was i preached' by German professors ;. Antwerp, Brussels, and Liege, and. other, cities had innumerable German "social clubs." When the war ■broke out—and .At. 1 Claes proves . 'by irrefutable documentary evidence that as far back is the middle of June theGermans'had. fully intended,'not , only to force war on France, but to invade and annex Belgium;—every German institution in Belgium provided' spies and guides for. the onemy.' Premeditation . . is. proved up'to'the very hilfc'-a" 'more damning indictment of . -treacherous!; plotted_ crime 'lias riot yet been'pub lished. in connection with the presenwar. :M. Claes'is no believer in a.per petual peace.. 'He foresees, howevei the war ; -fnay end, a renewal: of ;xhf Gerniah effort,, to destroy the. trade ,o: the Allies :of t the Entente, and h< solemnly warns ,us aaginst t-he delusioi that a defeated' Germany will be a Gcrmany which,will not need watching anc watching, very carefully. His bool should De read -by all who desire t< understand the'true inwardness of th< Serman menace, hot only to the peact ,if the world, but to the trade and cominerceof all countries outside the lane sf tlie Huns. (N.Z. price, 3s. 6d.) PORTUGUESE ROYALTY. Mr. Evelaigh Nash, who has published so many interesting volumes.- dealing with the history of European Royalties, has issued an English translation', by . Harriet Ml Capes, of M. Lucien Corpechot's "Memories of Queen Amelie oi Portugal." -'.Queen Amelie was born in exile, in /England, being the • eldest daughter'of'.the Co'mte de Paris. \A clever and witty girl,' 6he grew up into a singularly intellectual w : oman, and proved herself a most devoted wife and mother. M. Corpechot is evidently,an enthusiastic French Royalist, and much of the detail he gives as to the earlier life of. Queen Amelie. makes somewhat tedious reading. The assassination of King Carlos and his oldest son, and the establishment of the present Portuguese Republic, have often been described, but M. Corpechot, adds many new details. a ' No one will question the truth of M. Corpechot's contentions that King Carlos was a w.ell-meaning sovereign, and that-Queen'Amelie, as queeii, was tho author of many most laudable philanthropic enterprises. But the fact re- . mains that the rule of'the last real monarch—for ' King Manuol's socalled reign was merely a semi-farcical interlude—the : Portuguese people had very godd reason for .discontent. The abject clericalism of tho'Court, its extravagance, the gross incompetence of King Carlos as a. constitutional ruler, the widespread, official corruption—all ' ; these matter's M. .Corpechot quietly and . conveniently ignores.' ' The assassination of King Carlos and . the Crown Prince was an act which rightly horri-' fied Europe. But Portugal has not gone back .to monarchical institutionsor clerical domination, and each sucattempt of tho Royalists to restore King Manuel has been a dismal failure. .As a story of tho troubles, • trials,- and sufferings of an - nmiablo, well-intentioned woman, these "Memor'ies of Queen,,Amelie" possess a certain . interest, but regarded as an historical work, tho book has no great value. In his "Rise and Downfall of the House of Braganza," Mr. .Irancis Gribble may have been too severe on King Carlos, and. especially on that' good-natured fribble, ,ex-King Manuel. But Mr. Gribblo's indictment of the House of Braganza; in its later period, was far too well documented for its effect to bo upset by such a piece of Royalist special pleading as Mr .Corpechot puts forward m the, later chapters of his book. (New Zealand price, ,"]os.) Tlie cost of living is becoming a very serious problem with thousands of English families in these times of ivar prices. In Germany, of course, it. is an evon more serious problem than in England,-, and manj' months ago tho Berlin newspapers printed pathetic appeals to their readers to eat less. "Tlie kitolim," writes the "Berliner Tageblatt," "saves the' Fatherland. From .row on _ begins ,the period .of, internal ss*inge in \the' kitchen, and it may bo on Gorman stomachs that so dearly kro i.ood things. ' "But '' still,- bitter u'oough tho pill, may be, we must swal-low-it. We miist eat less." The almvo ■appeal is quoted by Mrs. Eustace Miles hi hor little book, "Economy in War JS'ime. or Health Without Meat" '{Methucn and Co.). Mrs. Miles, who, not like her husband, is an enthusiastic vegetarian, gives 100 recipes of dishes or one sort or another into which meat does-not enter, with full directions for their preparation, together with much useful advice on dietetic matters gener.'«Us\ -.CN.Zi j)rice w _ls. 6d.fc