SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.]
The Round Table for June has a very interesting article on" The Growth of American War-Power," in which the difficulties that faced the President last year are clearly explained. The Legis- lature's jealousy of the Executive, the lack of a fully developed Civil Service, the unfriendly relations between employers and employed, and the divergences in the views of the various sections of the great Republic—not as to the war itself but as to the methods of waging War—caused inevitably much confusion and delay. If America had decided, like Canada and Australia, to provide masses of men to be incorporated temporarily in the British Army while others were trained at home, time would have been saved, but a year ago, as the writer of the article admits, it would have seemed hardly possible or necessary for America to postpone the creation of a great national Army. As it is, the American Army has been securely founded, large numbers of men have been brigaded with the Allies, and American troops are playing their part well in the great battle. An article on" Russia, Germany, and Asia discusses the possibilities of German intervention in the vast steppe stretching from the Carpathians to the borders of Mongolia, and of a German threat to India. It goes without saying that only a victorious Germany could undertake such adventures in Asia. In the cautious review of home affairs, headed" A Critical Quarter," it is remarked of the Government that, 'an attitude of reserve is noticeable both in the country and in the House of Commons, which, though undoubtedly to some extent fostered by a spirit of petty intrigue, has its main roots in the feeling that the Prime Minister has not always remembered the full extent of his moral responsibilities or given the country the kind of leadership and inspiration which it deserves and demands."
This feeling, it is added, has been accentuated by "the unsatis- factory and ill-defined character of the relationship between the Government and the Press."
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