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Gun Fodder: The Diary of Four Years of War by A. Hamilton Gibbs; Philip GibbsThe Advocate of Peace (1894-1920), Vol. 81, No. 11 (NOVEMBER, 1919), pp. 339-340Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20668413 .

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1919 ADVOCATE OF PEACE 339

the Eeconstruction Alliance, a new political party. It has in its platform the following planks : Eealization of universal suffrage; abolition of class distinctions; aboli tion of bureaucratic diplomacy ; establishment of a demo cratic political system ; public recognition of labor organ izations; guarantee of the living of the people; reform of the tax system, of formal education and the colonial administrative system ; purification of the imperial house hold department ; reconstruction of political parties ; and freedom of speech and press. Undoubtedly the pressure of world opinion, hostile to Japan's treatment of Korea, China, and her own free thinkers in the realms of politics and economics, will contribute to the growth of convic tion that the time for the nation to clean house within has come. The disclosure as to Japan's tactics at the Paris Peace Conference, the candid discussion of future

American-Japanese relations in the United States Sen ate's debate on th? Peace Treaty, the formal united pro test of all the British trading bodies in China against Japan's commercial policy in China, make it more diffi cult for the old regime at Tokio to last.

Letter Box Terryviixe, Conn.

Advocate of Peace :

Please accept my subscription, $1.00. The paper is a

wonderfully fine magazine and gets down to the roots, where the old trouble has lain and the new remedies must be applied, to prevent the future wholesale murderous wars.

Yours faithfully, Jessica W. Aixen.

2331 6th Avenue-N-West, Calgary, Canada, November 11, 1919.

The Secretary, American Peace Society: For some years I have taken an interest in the so-called

humanitarian schemes that have for their aims the progress of that section of the world inhabitants who come under the head?workers. I have long since come to the conclusion that one of the greatest, if not indeed the greatest, hindrance to that progress is the thralldom of militarism.

Now, that the "War to end War" has ended, I would like to take a more detailed interest in the subject, and if possi ble assist in propagating those principles which I believe your society has stood for these many years.

I am an occasional contributor to a farmers' political paper in these parts, which is, I believe, destined to be a considerable factor in the forming of opinion from now on, and if you could supply me with data and sources from which I could secure reliable information that would assist in writing short, convincing stories, I feel sure that much good could be accomplished.

In the first instance, I intend to attempt to show the money cost of war is the chief cause of our national debt, and, fur ther, the chief hindrance to reforms of our social and educa tional systems, and I would like you to give me the figures showing what has and is intended to be spent in keeping up the military and naval establishments - of the first-class powers.

Further, I would like to get some idea of the number of men who are engaged in the "useless" occupation of making munitions and accoutrements. And, last, the extent to which wars have added to the burdens of the nations through hav

ing to provide pensions and doles to both the participants and their dependents.

From these angles it would appear that some very signifi cant articles might be written, and I feel satisfied that your society will only be too pleased to render what assistance you can.

It has also struck me that the nucleus of a branch of your organization, or some such organization with like aims,

might be formed in this province. Now that the shouting and the fighting is well-nigh dead, all around us are the evi dences of war's ravages, coupled with the incessant calls for money, that are being made not only by governments, but by a multitude or organizations of a semi-charitable nature ; all these things would, I think, probably assist in creating sentiment that would be favorable to anti-war propaganda.

Hoping that this request will meet with your response, I am, just a plain working man,

W. E. Turner.

CHRONOLOGY OF TREATIES* Oct. 25. President Karl Seitz, of the Austrian Republic,

signed the Treaty of St. German with the Allied

and Associated Powers.

Oct. 27. United States Senate defeated amendment spon sored by Senator Johnson, favoring equalization of votes of United States and Great Britain in

League- verdicts.

Oct. 27. Japan's Privy Council gave formal approval to the

Treaty, and on the 30th final action by the Em

peror was taken.

Nov. 1. Chile announced her adhesion to the League. The Allied and Associated Powers, through the

Supreme Council, informed Germany that on No

vember 10 her delegates might join in deposit of

ratifications, providing they also signed a new

protocol. Nov. (3. The last of the textual amendments to the Treaty

reported upon favorably by the Foreign Relations

Committee of the United States Senate was de

bated, and debate began upon the "reservations," sponsored by the same committee.

Nov. 7. The reply of Bulgaria, in response to her appeal for

modifications of terms by the Allies, was given and slight concessions made.

Nov. 7. The United States Senate began voting on the pro

posed new preamble and fourteen reservations. Nov. 7. Brazil's Chamber of Deputies approved the Treaty,

and on the 11th ratification was completed. Nov. 10. Colombia's national legislature gave provisional

assent to the Treaty and Covenant. Nov. 16. Bolivia ratifies the Treaty. Nov. 18. Peru's Assembly approved the Treaty. Nov. 10. Switzerland's National Council, by a vote of 124 to

4.?), aligned that republic with the League. Nov. li). The United States Senate, by a vote of 38 to 53,

defeated the Treaty as it came from Paris with out any reservations, and by ? Vote of 41 to 51 ;is modified with reservations backed by the For

eign Relations Committee.

* Unless otherwise noted, the word Treaty refers to the compact signed at Versailles and known as the German Treaty.

BOOK REVIEWS Gun Fodder: The Diary of Four Years of War. By A. Ham

ilton Gibbs. With an introduction by Philip Gibbs. Little, Brown and Co., Boston. Pp. 313. $2;00 net.

As Philip Gibbs, by . all ?dds the best war correspondent the conflict produced, says of this book by his youngest brother, it is filled with a tragic bitterness that is more than personal, "not peculiar to the temperament of the author, but a general feeling to be found among the demobil

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340 ADVOCATE OF PEACE November

ized officers and men, not only of the British armies, but of the French." "It is," to quote the same judge, "a real book," in which, "truthfully, nakedly, vividly," even as Bar busse has done it for the French poilu, the process is de scribed by which men "were trampled into obedience of soul and discipline" and made to endure "that devastating long-drawn boredom which is the characteristic of war and the cause of much of its suffering." The book also registers ''the sense of futility which sinks into the soldier's mind, tends to sap his mental strength and embitters him, so that the edge is taken off his enthusiasm and he abandons the fervor of the ideal with which he volunteers." But let the fighter, who was such by the admission of all his comrades and superiors in military rank and who rose to be a major in the artillery, disclose his own state of mind as he reviews his

experiences. 'Shall we return to lying, hatred, and all malice and re-crucify Christ? What is the world travail for? . . .

What does the present hold out to us who have been through the Valley of the Shadow? What does it look like to us

who gaze down upon it from the pinnacle of four years upon the edge of eternity? This is what it looks like, this what it holds out : a corpse of what was once the most beau tiful woman fast entering into decomposition." As a young Briton of birth, culture, and high ideals, he serves notice on the old men of the generation that brought on the war and that is muddling the peace that "the era of the young

men has begun. Bent under the Atlas burden loaded upon their shoulders, they have stood daily for five years upon the edge of eternity. They have stared across into the eyes of Truth, some unrecognizing, others with disdain, but many there are in whose returning faces is the dawn of wisdom. . . . They ask that mankind should now concentrate on the art of giving life." Like his brother Philip, Major Gibbs has unusual narrative power, coupled with a reflec tive mind. Hence the story of his experience "lives" and will be rated as one of the best records coming out of the British army's ranks.

History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley. By James Ford Rhodes. The Macmillan Company, New York, Pp. 484.

This volume, supplementing Ms standard history of the nation from 1850 to 1877, which long since gave Mr. Rhodes an assured position in the honorable calling of historian, has not that perfection of form, careful revision, and co ordination of material and weight of judgment noticeable in the earlier volumes. Too much of it is but the redaction of material furnished by one David M. Matteson, an inves tigator and thesis writer employed by the author to "get up*' the facts.

Again, Mr. Rhodes ire this volume has had to deal with issues upon which he as a citizen has taken sides prior to becoming an historian, and he has had to deal with men who either were personal friends or foes. Hence he has not preserved that balance of judgment which was noticeable in his earlier volumes. All the stock phrases of the class to which Mr. Rhodes belongs crop out when he discusses democracy per se, or labor and the masses. Nevertheless, the book is important, because with all its limitations it is the register of the opinion of a man who knows the craft of history writing, who had the advantage of personal ac quaintance with many of the men about whom he writes, and whose judgments on the whole are correct. Admirers of Mr. Blaine will not like Mr. Rhodes* references to his personal character, but they win approve the historian's admissions respecting the statesman's prevision on matters of foreign policy. Mr. Cleveland's virtues, personal and administrative, are made to shine by the rays of the ap praiser ; but that he was quite wrong in his handling of the Venezuela boundary controversy Mr. Rhodes believes now, as he did at the time. Readers of the book will find un

usually profitable at this time the somewhat disproportionate space given to the history of the greatest of the railway strikes of the last century and th? rise and fall of the "Molly Maguires," the first "direct actionists*" in the Penn sylvania coal fields, who, be it noted, were finally eliminated t>y due process of law, not by armed State constabulary or Federal troops.

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