A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10686, 4 September 1920, Page 11

A LITERARY CORNER

("R.A.L.") "THE SOCIALIST ILLUSION." Reginald Tayler. (George Allen and Unwin, Buskin House, 40, Museum- street, London, W.C.1.) Many in our day say. "We are all Socialists now," without having any clear idea of what Socialism really is. •This ignorance is riot surprising seeing that Socialists themselves differ ! about, radical points of the. Socialistic .cult. .To the majority of Socialists the fundamental principle is that the [sole creators of wealth are the worklera. Their. deduction 19-that capital deprives them of part of tho whole wealth ■ created by them. Their prophet, Marx, puts the capitalist robbery at 8d in every dulling, leaving labour to starve on the insufficient remaining fourpenco. The aim of these Socialists naturally'is to secure the large balance owing, the eightpence taken from them. To them capital is the vampire whioh must he suppresse<|, and they want to set up a State in which there is no capital. Other Socialists practically traverse bo{h the fundamental principle and the deduction; for while declaring for a Socialist State, the owner of . all things, they declare that all things must ha. acquired by the State not by confiscation, which is the logical consequence of tho above anti-capitalistic theory, but by purchase, which is a very practical denial of that theory. Both agree that the object of production is use, not profit, and both therefore denounce the surplus value, both denying that surplus vajue is the capital recced for progressive development. ■ With these questions this book deals in. detail, with illuminating force. It begins by resisting strongly the ■■ fundamental principle that the .workers make all the wealth. It goes on to trace the stages of human development from the original tribal communism to the present condition of individualistic organisation. . It ends with the contention, : apparently strongly proved, that the successful establishment of Socialism in paramount control of the world- would inevitably reduce the world back to tie dead level °* t fte original communism which was so decided 1 a failure. Incidentally the author discourses on tho various conditions required for success in. industrial, and.- commercial work, arguing that the apostles of Socialism find it more convenient to igaore- them than to consider . their value as factors. Municipal Socialism, the strong' buttress in the opinion of many, if not most Socialists, he discounts as not Socialism at all, hut an alliance with capital dependent on ite success on the muoh-decried surplus value- . Suoh is the aim of the book. Its line may be briefly summarised thus: The world is "a hen regularly laying golden eggs; the Socialist 'wants to own the said hen. If he succeeds he will kill -the hen and- the.world will perish for want of the eggs. The betok should be widely read. It makes out a very good oase indeed against Socialism, both against the majority extremists and the minority palliators, whose contention it regards aa untenable, and not always honest. At all events no one who reads will ba at the .mercy"-of- those Socialist assertions which figure as axioms of economic law. The hook, without denying that the world under the present system is out of joint, makes it fairly clear that Socialism is not likely to put it right. This semoe # is done with brilliant, luminous brevity. '„ "WILLIAM SXITEnEOaLANI)." (A Biography.) . ,: W. A. CWborne. '■• (Lothian',;Book Publishing Co., 'Melbourne.) " How ■ many men there are in the ! world who deserve a reputation aa wide aa the world, : and get no more than the recognition cf a few local friends! Such a man was William Sutherland, who died in Melbourne in his fifties, having done good pioneer scienifcific work, and contributed in many ways, to the pleasure,-well-being, and instruction of the communibv in which he lived nearly all his life,. enjoying the enthusiastic appreciation of a limited circle of friends. A lovaible man he was, of vast reading; a. graceful writer, as the' columns of the "Age"—not--the political, fox politics be eschewed —attest with end.tess descriptions of the charms of Australian climate, floral and scenic; a gifted worker in science, the chemical side, to which he devoted his time and energies working outside for self-sup-port, content with little; an authority on education, town-planning, electrification, coal mining; a master musician—holding his own wjith' the most distinguished exponents—ho lived a full life, respected for his integrity, his honour, his industry his genial social qualities, and his wonderful usefulness. Science -acknowledges the advanced research work ho did in the fields where Faraday and Kelvin made their names, and his friends are never tired of recalling the memory of hie presence among them. To read this littlo biography, well and reverently dime, ie a genuine pleasure. J "THE MAGDALENE." . (And other verses.) Dolf Wyllarde. (Stanley Paul and Co., 31, Essex street, Strand,. W. 0., 2.) A poet is a seer who moves mankind by describing with charm what 'the majority do not see for themselves. 'When the seer sees right, applause well deserved comes. When the'seer sees wrong, there is the failure, and contetnpt. This one. in handling the story of the Magdalene, sees wrong. The effect is desecration, and as there is neither poetry nor charm, not even originality enough to make a spurious Bocacoio, there is nothing left to say unless it be a regret for such a waste of time. And yet the other poems of the collection show the truth that is in poetry—a Hash scattered here and there of a small company, of deep feeling, of satire, power of musical fancy, arreeting enough for promise rather than holding interest. There _ is a double arresting, astonishing skill, and all the versification flows harmoniously in the fashion that always pleases the cultivated ear. In one poem the use of the hexameter and pentameter is remarkably and very pleasantly successful. "The Constitution," "The So- | cialist," "The Inheritance" are on tho I graver vein side, of high purpose, ex--1 pressed with dignity and point, placI ing wholesome truths before the world I in! ite difficult hour. In the last of

these the knight crowned in the, tourney says to his king--And the honour your liege has'given I will bear it as subject can. gut God gave the first great title When He called mo simply a man! The conclusion, concerning the government of men by the inheritors •of greatness, strikes the same note— * Send them back to probation Back to. thm winning 'of spurs. THE NEW "QUO YADIS." Maria Warrington. (Jarrold'a, London.) . An echo of a good thing may be a good thing, too; but it will always be an echo, and no echo.that- ever was ever came up to the original. But there 13 quite room enough—in the strange period of the dreadful Nero for interesting work by many hands. This book makes fairly good use of it with a strong story, which gives the life history of the "Venus * ' 'THE BLUJSMQQN." David Anderson.'. - (Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, TJ.S.A-) A fine tale of the days eighty years after the great" War of Independence, when the Americans were beginning to open out the central country watered by the Ohio and jta tributary system- In the setting of well-drawn characters that liphoTds an intricate, welktold story, the place of honour' belongs to the pearl punters, a, class of rivermen of strong, rough type, who did the rough of the pioneering of those days—fishermen by oalling, independent, lit ing almost on the verge of the 'law,- of 'wonderful Wfywfcy one to another, and cruel to all .Reside, They are drawn with a .touch, as dep and, strong as the touch whioh nearly halt n century ago gave u$ the.men of Bret Harte's OUiforoian. rowing oawps. Among theoe men. and, the tragedies of what was at the period incidental to a wild country a very strong story is worked out. The "Blue Moon" of the title is * sWI found in the oyster- fisjjery of toe time, a by no means rare fjnq then, though not in..-the....knowl.edge.of any fisherman of our days. ' "THB^WOMAN-HATgR." Ruiby M. Ayres. (Hodder and Btoughton-) The romance of a jilted man.and. his attempt to revenge himself on the wot man of his undoing,: supplies the-hafc dened' novel reader with- a novelty -w sensations', It puJsißles. him,' an<rneroi* lets his attention flag, not only heoauso the plot has attractions, hut also because the. men and women are real enough to be compelling-