The lifting of the blockade, in the light of complaints which have been made against it, is likely to relieve the food situation in Croatia and possibly further north, in Hungary, German Austria, and Bohemia.-N. Y. Times, 27/3. TRADE REOPENED.-By decision of the military authorities of the Allied Governments, the Rhine has been opened for traffic with Switzerland, and shipments from the United States may now be forwarded to Switzerland by that route. The following countries and places with which, by reason of the blockade, trade was prohibited during the war, have since the signing of the armistice been opened for the resumption of trade by order of the War Trade Board: Siberia, Alsace-Lorraine, Palestine and Syria, Mesopotamia, Serbia and Rumania, the territory included in the line estabIlished by Article 3 of the military clause of the armistice protocol of November 3; Czecho-slovakia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Black Sea ports, the German colonies, the occupied territory of Germany, Adriatic ports, Albania and Montenegro, Luxemburg, the territory adjacent to and dependent upon the Adriatic ports, including Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Dalmatia; Poland, Esthonia, and German Austria. REVIEW OF BOOKS ON SUBJECTS OF PROFESSIONAL INTEREST "Naval Power in the War." By Commander C. C. Gill, U. S. Navy. Price $1.50. (Published by George H. Doran Company, New York.) Chapter I. The importance of naval power is shown. While admitting the great importance of naval power in the war, it is nevertheless believed that the author's statement, "Naval strategy was the grand strategy of the war," is an exaggeration. Except for strategy in its purely passive form, there was little real strategy in the war on the sea; Von Spee was really the only one who had an interesting strategical problem to solve. It is true that the naval blockade was possibly the one factor which—all the other factors being equal-gave the Allies the decision, but a decisive factor is not necessarily the most important factor. As an example, had there been unity of command in the Allied armies earlier, the war would in all probability have been decided before the blockade exerted its decisive influence. Chapter II. Sea power, sea control and the plans of the opposing nations are discussed. Again the author claims that "naval power dominated the military situation." Chapter III. The strengths of the opposing navies are accurately given. In the North Sea, the British had 33 vessels of the dreadnought type against 20 for the Germans. In the Mediterranean, France had four dreadnoughts and 18 pre-dreadnoughts against four dreadnoughts and six pre-dreadnoughts for Austria. The opening moves in the North Sea, the escape of the Goeben and Breslau, and the action between the Emden and Sidney are described. Chapter IV. The action in Heligoland Bight is given in concise form and Vice Admiral Beatty's report quoted in full. Chapter V. The salient features of the actions off Coronel and Falkland Islands are given. The author's criticism of Sturdee for sending the Bristol, which had three knots more speed than the German light cruisers, in chase of three merchantmen is very proper, but, as he notes, there may have been some good reason for this, and also, when a quick decision is necessary, it is easy for mistakes to be made, and, once made, it is often a greater disadvantage to make changes than to continue the original orders, even though they may not be the best possible. Chapter VI. The description of the Dardanelles operation is clear and concise. It is one of the best in the book. Chapters VII-VIII. A short description of the battle of the Dogger Bank is given. The battle of Jutland is described in more detail. It is, however, very difficult to describe such a complicated action without sketches. Several sketches, even if only approximately correct, give a better idea of such a battle than many printed pages. The comments on the battle are impartial and excellent. Chapters IX-X. Submarine warfare and anti-submarine tactics are clearly and concisely described. It is believed that the author exaggerates somewhat the submerged speed and radius of the submarine. It is also considered that submarine commanders usually fire at nearer 500 yards than the 1000 yards given by Commander Gill as their normal firing range. Chapter XI. The part played by the United States is shown by quoting at length from the annual report of the Secretary of the Navy. Chapter XII. The author discusses the types of naval vessels necessary for a well-rounded navy. General comment. This book is evidently written for popular consumption. It places before the civilian reader the salient points of the actions in the war and in a general and interesting way shows him the uses of the various types of ships, and the broad outlines of strategy and tactics on the sea. H. H. F. "A Book of the Sea." Selected and Arranged by Lady Sybil Scott. (Dedicated to the memory of the officers and men of the mercantile marine and the auxiliary services who have died at sea in the war.) 7 s. 6 d. net. 450 pages. (Oxford University Press, 1918.) Neatly bound, promising of title, of almost pocket size, this is a book that will be picked up with curiosity by followers of the sea; and it will be an inevitable gift book from kinsfolk and friends. But the nautical reader may be disappointed. It is not a selection of the kind of poetry a sailor is supposed to like; it is not a selection of poems interpreting his feelings, or celebrating the heroic and poetic aspects of his life in peace and war. Rather its main purpose seems to be to illustrate the kind of poetry that, since poetry began, has been inspired by the sea. As the editor says, “favor has been shown to passages descriptive rather of the influence of the wonder and beauty of the sea on the mind of the poet than of the struggles of the sailor with the wind and waves." So much by way of classification. The naval reader may find verse more to his taste in Masefield's "Sailor's Garland" or Stone's "Sea Songs and Ballads." But in the 450 pages of Lady Scott's volume he will probably find better poetry, and he will surely find many a line or poem that is stirring, memorable, expressive of his own unvoiced feeling or thought. It is a commonplace that English poetry is filled with the breath of the sea. This might be better illustrated in some other anthology. From this one, the disappointing impression is gathered that later English poetry, to a greater extent than Greek or early English, is the poetry not so much of a sea-faring people, as of people who live near the sea. The sea is there, but felt and interpreted by a shore-dweller rather than a voyager. One who has come from a winter's vigil in northern waters, for instance, might find a more immediate appeal in the Anglo-Saxon "Sea Farer" than in anything in Shakespeare. This is a part of it, diluted in modern English: .... How I on the ice-cold sea passed the winter in exile, 'Twas the coldest of grain. Yet the thoughts of my heart now are throbbing To test the salt streams, the salt waves in tumultuous play. To seek out the home of the stranger in lands afar off." Another point apparent in the volume is the refusal of poets to recognize that for almost the last hundred years the great instrument in man's mastery of the ocean has been steam. The selections here are of course chiefly from the past; even so, is it not astonishing that in these 450 pages there are but two suggestions of the fact of modern motive power? One is from Masefield: "Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smokestack Butting through the Channel in the mad March days." The other is in one of the two selections from Kipling, who has seen clearly enough that machinery has not banished romance. Admiral Mahan has somewhere noted this poetic blindness or aversion, quoting as the single exception in his memory the following fine lines from Clough: "Come back! Come back! Back flies the foam; the hoisted flag streams back, The strong ship follows her appointed way." The passage just quoted has been overlooked in Lady Scott's collection. There are other possible mistakes of both exclusion and inclusion, needless to mention in criticism of a selection in general so well made for its purpose. But since there is prose as well as verse in the volume, space should surely have been found for something from the famous classic "Two Years Before the Mast." Of a passage in this the poet Rogers used to say that it had "more poetry in it than most modern verse." One is almost tempted to add that the book has more genuine sea poetry in it than there is in most so-called poetry of the sea. A. F. W. A Review of Studies in Map Reading and Field Sketching." By Lieut. Colonel Wilkinson J. Shaw, P. S. C., M. A. 8 vo., pp. 146. (Published by E. P. Dutton & Company, New York.) This little volume will be of interest principally to those officers who are not practiced in outdoor sketching and who feel the necessity of “brushing up" in this subject in order to pass creditably an examination for promotion. Intelligence officers of the navy, unfamiliar with field sketching, whose duties may require of them the preparation of road or position sketches, will find it of no little value. The experienced topographer, however, will find the method of instruction assumed by Colonel Shaw rather tedious. The book is written with a definite purpose, and the author carefully explains that it is not to be considered a text-book for the subject of which it treats. Its aim is to enable an officer to familiarize himself with the problems which confront a military topographer in the field and to give methods by which these difficulties may be overcome. Presupposing that the reader has learned the theory of the use and adjustment of simpler forms of surveying instruments, the author has written a diary covering seven days' field work with traverse board and plane table. Every operation in making road and position sketches is described in minute detail. The terrors of contouring, that bugaboo of the beginner, need excite no fear in the mind of the student who will carefully study the methods employed by Colonel Shaw. The author of this very commendable work writes in such a clear and easy manner that it is to be hoped he will undertake the preparation of a more ambitious treatise on the general subject of "Military Topography." One knows, after reading "Studies in Map Reading and Field Sketching," that Colonel Shaw is an officer of unusual attainments with a peculiarly happy faculty of writing well. Such an engineer should be able to fill a long felt want, for it is an unfortunate fact that most of the obtainable text-books on military engineering and allied sciences are mediocre, both in arrangement and in text. Among subalterns of the army and marine corps, this latest work of Colonel Shaw will find, if it is properly appreciated, a wide field of usefulness. Especially in the preparation for an examination for promotion (for which purpose the book chiefly was written), it cannot fail, when carefully read, to make the student more than usually proficient in map reading and field sketching. " J. M. Steam Engine Troubles." By H. Hawkins, M. E. (Published by The Norman W. Henly Publishing Company, New York.) This book gives in one comparatively small volume a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of many designs of stationary steam engines It also treats fully the troubles to which they are liable and gives instructions for overcoming or minimizing them. These instructions for correcting faults are given in simple language, are easily understood, and where followed will prevent breakdowns and accidents. The author gives directions for lining up engines, and erecting their foundations, for 'lubrication, valve setting and speed regulation, and for making proper adjustments on new engines and maintaining those on old ones. Chapters III, IV, V and XI, which cover piping and separators, throttle and emergency gears, pistons, and governors, having a general application will be found of particular interest to engineers both ashore and afloat. |