THE NEW BOOKS

This department will include descriptive notes, with or without brief comments, about books received by The Outlook. Many of the important books will have more extended and critical treatment later FICTION

Key of the Fields (The), and Boldero. By Henry Milner Rideout. Duffield & Co., New York. $1.35.

In an odd way, these two stories recall the manner and style of Mr. Locke's delightful "The Beloved Vagabond," who certainly had "the key of the fields." In short, both stories have the delight of adventure and wandering and the unexpected. As romances of action and surprise they are capital.

Orkney Maid (An). By Amelia E. Barr. Illustrated. D. Appleton & Co., New York. $1.50. Mrs. Barr returns in this tale to a subject in which she is greatly at home-the islands in which lived the sturdy Scotch race from which she herself descends. In a way the story is a companion piece to Mrs. Barr's "Christine: A Fife Fishergirl." It is at least thirty-five years ago since stories and sketches by Mrs. Barr began to appear in this periodical.

Sunshine Beggars: A Novel. By Sidney McCall. Illustrated. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $1.50.

POETRY

Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (The). The Italian Text with a Translation in English Blank Verse and a Commentary. By Courtney Langdon. Vol. I-Inferno. The Harvard University Press, Cambridge. $2.50.

This latest translation of the immortal "Comedy" differs from the well-known Longfellow and Norton translations in being in blank verse. It is an excellent translation, and the accompanying notes are very valuable.

Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous

Verses. By Thomas Hardy. The Macmillan
Company, New York. $2.

A welcome addition to the collected works of one of the greatest of English novelists, of whom it may also be said that his merit and power as a poet have been rather unfairly overshadowed by his work in fiction.

ESSAYS AND CRITICISM

Hearts of Controversy. By Alice Meynell. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.75. Miss Meynell's talk about books and reading, and more especially about the personal side of the temperament and methods of authors, is always readable and stimulating to thought. In this little volume she talks in this way about Dickens, Thackeray, Swinburne, the Brontës, and others. The volume is just the thing to take up from time to time for half an hour's pleasant reading.

Per Amica Silentia Lunae. By William Butler Yeats. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.50.

In this tastefully printed volume Mr Yeats gives us, both in prose and verse, impressions of life-and also of death, as in "Anima Mundi." Always there are freshness of idea and strikingly original form of expression.

WAR BOOKS

To Arms (La Veillée des Armes). By Marcelle Tinayre. Translated by Lucy H. Humphrey. Preface by John H. Finley. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $1.50.

This volume presents, in the form of fiction or semi-fiction, a moving and animated picture of France at the time immediately preceding the outbreak of the war. It is a fine record of patriotism and willingness to sacrifice everything to save France and the world's liberty.

cessors.

This doubt finds its official recognition in the suggestion that these new bonds will be made to yield 41⁄2 per cent interest.

These are the two problems that confront the Treasury Department to-day: First, how to insure a full and enthusiastic subscription to the new issue to a probable amount of ten billion dollars; and, second, how to prevent the immediate depreciation of these bonds in the open market once "the drive" and its patriotic enthusiasm have passed and the new bondholders meet the acid-test of financial conditions.

Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo has publicly expressed a feeling of confidence in the dependability of the American people in this exigency when he said, "We have created a patriotic army of ten million bond-buyers in this country," evidently meaning to imply that they will again respond to the lure of the Nation's need and 4% per cent interest.

A can call spirits from the vasty deep,"

66

declared Glendower.

"Why, so can I, or so can any man," answered Hotspur. "But will they come when you do call for them?"

It is not that the absorptive power of the country has been exhausted by the assimilation of two Liberty Bond issues together with all of the other demands created by war, but that the rank and file of Secretary McAdoo's bond-buying army is short of ammunition is not to be doubted. Yet, while the conditions are not as favorable to-day for the flotation of another huge bond issue as they were a few months ago, the necessity for a full or over subscription is no less pressing. It is my purpose to suggest a method by which the success of the Third Liberty Bond issue may be assured in advance without resort to any drastic measures or uneconomic rate of interest. Nor do I believe that such a result can safely be left to patriotism plus 4 per cent.

The small wage-earners, who constitute the rank and file of Secretary McAdoo's bond-buying army, the little man who has contributed $1 a week for fifty weeks out of his total income of $20 per week, has found that since he made that investment the remaining $19 have a smaller purchasing power dollar for dollar than before he helped to win the war. He has seen further that each of these dollars loaned to Uncle Sam quickly shrunk in value to only about ninety-four cents. His patriotism may be all right, but, while his ability to invest further has been lessened, he may be pardoned if unacquainted as he is with the ways of finance-he begins to doubt the value of a form of security that so quickly shrivels under the test of open market conditions.

Among the non-commissioned officers of Mr. McAdoo's bond-buying army-those, let us say, enjoying incomes from earnings of from $1,000 to $5.000-a similar condition exists. The cost of war has fallen upon them more heavily proportionately, perhaps, than upon any others. Their obli

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Sanctuary for Savings (Continued) gations are greater, and their earning power is not increased.

Reliance for the successful flotation of the Third Liberty Bond issue must therefore be placed most largely upon those who have a surplus to invest, or other investments that they may be induced-not compelled to transfer to this form of holding The success of the forthcoming issue will depend, not so much on the amount of interest that these bonds will yield, as upon the amount of interest that can be created in them on the part of those who are still able to invest.

It is possible to put behind this Third Liberty Bond issue some one feature that will at once assure a heavy oversubscription and at the same time correct the recognized evil of selling at leisure after buying in haste. Is it possible to create an interest in the new issue that will be so great as to amount almost to compulsion, not only as to purchase, but also as to permanent holding? I believe that to be entirely possible without offering an uneconomic rate of interest, and in spite of the depression consequent upon the coalless holidays.

We have to meet an extraordinary condition that calls for extraordinary treatment. "New times," says Lowell, "demand new measures and new men. The world advances and in time outgrows the things that in our fathers' time were best." The new measure that this time calls for is one that might well have been established long ago by law, even as it has been established by individuals in practice within a somewhat narrow scope.

One of the problems that confronts every man as he begins to acquire something more than is necessary for his immediate needs and those of his family is how to secure some portion of that surplus to those he loves; how safely to put something by for the proverbial "rainy day" that will secure to his dependents at least the bare necessities of existence.

It is no longer a reproach to a man to say that "his house is in his wife's name." Rather is it a reflection upon his forethought and consideration if it is not. The economic wisdom of such an act is recognized by many of our newer States, which provide homestead exemptions covering not only the house but its contents to a reasonable amount. Beyond this there is no recognized legal sanctuary, unless we except life insurance and annuities.

Were the Third Liberty Bond issue to carry with it this principle of sanctuaryproperly guarded from abuse and misuse— it would become the part of wisdom for every man possessed of any property whatever to seek this security for some portion of his possessions. In other words, it is possible to make these bonds a legal sanctuary into which may be placed the reserve that is intended for the protection of the family, and, as such,exempt from attachment and from inheritance taxes. It is quite possible to provide against the abuse of this privilege by stipulating that the purchaser must be solvent at the time of purchase and for two years thereafter. By this provision it would become impossible for these bonds to be improperly used for the sequestration of funds that should belong to creditors, and the burden of solvency at the time of purchase and for the two years thereafter should fall upon the holder.

These bonds would differ in no way from any other Government issue, except that the sanctuary feature could, at any

time, be taken advantage of, should the holder so elect. This feature would be expressed, perhaps, in a coupon attached to the bond, which would be, in effect, an agreement with the Government that the holder sought this sanctuary. When properly executed, the sanctuary would then cover only the original holder under that agreement and would expire with its sale, since it would not be transferable. Thus these bonds could be purchased in the usual way by banks and brokers for sale to their customers with the sanctuary feature intact and unused, but available to the first purchaser who should elect to take advantage of it.

It is easy to imagine a business man of comparatively small means, anxious as to a future that is not yet entirely secured, seeking this form of security in preference to placing real estate in the name of his wife. It is easy to imagine this man meeting some unforeseen financial storm requiring the sacrifice of something in order to weather it. There can be no question but that these exempt sanctuary bonds would be the last to leave his possession.

Many details of such a form of bond must necessarily be worked out by financial experts. The possession of such a bond would be better than the ownership of gold dollars to a like amount. For the gold dollars might be subject to litigation and seizure. There is no legal sanctuary for gold. It is not exempt from attachment, however solvent the holder may have been at the time of acquirement.

To bequeath such exempt sanctuary bonds by will is better than life insurance for a similar amount, for the dual reason that behind them is the full credit of the United States Government, and, further, because their payment and that of their interest could not be, under any circumstances, subject to possible litigation, save to show that their purchaser was solvent at the time of purchase and for two years thereafter. The value of insurance is sometimes affected by questions of the solvency of the company issuing the policy or by contentions that there are flaws in the original application of the insured persons. These questions sometimes have to be settled by litigation. The value of Liberty Bonds is free from all such questions. They are good for their face value as long as the United States Government is solvent. A further exemption which these bonds might carry is freedom from the imposition of inheritance taxes, since the sanctuary thus afforded is primarily for the protection of dependents, with the Federal Government itself as a trustee.

With a Third Liberty Bond issue carrying this exempt sanctuary for savings feature, together with the present exemptions and the possible exemption from inheritance taxes, our bond-buying army of ten million may become a bond-buying army of thirty million, for the sanctuary appeal will not be solely to the man of great means. Again may we arouse the interest of the small-salaried man who has already bought as much as he can afford while keeping a little something by in the proverbial stocking for his wife's protection. Hoardings, under these circumstances, will come out, and Uncle Sam will be made the trustee for the wife's protection. Let these small investors once feel that their savings are safer in sanctuary bonds than in a stocking or in a bank, that the wife's little heritage is secured by the Government of the United States, and their mental attitude to

wards that Government will be greatly influ enced. Theyannot be "agin' the Govern ment," for it will be their Government, protecting their interests and their families, so that this increased army will become not only better investors but better citizens, with a deeper patriotic interest and a warmer feeling of loyalty for their country. For "where your treasure is there your heart is also."

To be fully effective and to insure an over-subscription in this time of stress, this exemption and sanctuary feature should apply to this bond issue and to this only; not to establish a precedent nor to set a new custom. If it be made plainly and clearly understood that these bonds are the first and the last ever to afford this exempt sanc tuary for savings, this issue will be quickly and fully subscribed.

THE APATHIST

BY THOMAS ADDISON, of the VIGILANTES

Apathy! I'm beginning to think that your apathist (to coin a word) is pretty nearly as bad as your pacifist. You can at least pillory the pacifist, plant the red flag over him, and warn straight-out Americans to give him a wide berth. But your apathist! What, in heaven's name, are you going to do with this chap? He isn't a traitor, he isn't a false propagandist, he isn't even a willful obstructionist. He is simply a human invertebrate a dead weight in a war working community that has got to be lugged along because there's nothing else to do with him.

I know Mr. Apathist, and you know him. As a rule he hasn't any one of his imme diate blood in the Army-he and his are all safe, sound, and snug. You seldom see him at a patriotic rally, or on a committee to boost the Red Cross, or in a Y. M. C. A. "over there" drive, or buying smokes for Sammies. But he buys Liberty bondsyou bet! And War Saving Stamps and Thrift Stamps. Good business, that; you can't lose. But these other things they are begging for-there's plenty of time to come across for them when we really begin to fight. And, you know, it's not so sure that we will have to fight. Something is likely to happen before we get to the firing linepeace, or a revolution in Germany, or something. And, anyway, the Government is running this show, and taxing the life out of us to do it. The Government doesn't need my help. I'm just one in a hundred million. Let the fellows who have the money and time to spare do the shouting. I've got all I can attend to keeping up with my growing business.

You've heard Mr. Apathist talk just like that. I have, anyway. He has ten tons of coal in his cellar when the State fuel ad ministrator says the limit is two; there are a hundred pounds of sugar in his pantry when the grocer is allowing but three pounds a week to a family of four burns up gasoline joy riding on Sundays when the Government begs the people to help conserve the supply on hand.

he

What's the matter with this chap? tell you. He is afflicted with mental myopia He is devoid of imagination. He is a mate rialist, a hedonist, an unspiritual clod of clay-self-centered as a turtle buried in the mud. He believes only in what is jammed up to his nose-what he can taste, touch. sinell, and hear. He can't visualize this war; he couldn't do it if he was furnished with a telescope that would give him a

The Apathist (Continued)

close-up of the bloody trenches in Flanders, or an audiphone that would let him hear the roar of the great guns. The moment he the instruments aside he would lapse put into his former sense of aloofness from the scene. Three thousand miles away! What interest could he have in a thing so remote? If the Germans were fighting on the next block why, yes! He'd grab his gun and go out with the neighbors to head 'em off. He'd fight for his home with any man. But across the seas!

That's your apathist! Dear Lord, how I would like to put a pin in every chair he sits in-in every bed he lies in-in every shoe he walks in-in every hat he sticks his head in. If I could only prod him, body and soul, until he was all awake and alive, and would pitch in and do a he-man's work for the holiest cause humanity's sun ever flamed on! If I only could!

THE CONDUCTORETTE

BY G. M. AIRE

An Amsterdam Avenue car stopped at Seventy-ninth Street and three noisy young fellows in civilian dress got on. From the moment of their entrance it was quite evident that they were bent on making the little woman in the conductor's chair feel uncomfortable. An excuse for finding fault with her was taken by one of them immediately when the car started with a sudden lurch that seated all three of them unexpectedly.

"It's a wonder you wouldn't learn something" he flung at her.

"She didn't jerk us," another corrected; "but," he added, "she's no business in a man's place, so she hasn't."

"Of course she hasn't," agreed the third.

Why don't you go back to your own business? You've got no right to be taking a good man's place in here," the one who had first spoken snarled at her.

Not one word in reply had she made; but "a good man's place" roused her. "Did you say that I am taking a good man's place?" she asked, directing herself to the last speaker.

"Yes, I did say just that," he retorted. "You're doing some good man out of his job." He was quite proud of himself.

Her cheeks were flaming, but she answered him, quietly: "All the good men are in khaki."

At Eighty-seventh Street three silent young fellows left the car. A short ride had given them their money's worth.

A GALLANT ENEMY A member of the British force in Mesopotamia, in a letter to an English paper referring to the death of General Maude, says: On the day of the funeral there was an enemy airplane over Bagdad, and the firing of the anti-aircraft guns formed an appropriate requiem for the dead soldier. Whether the Turks were then aware of General Maude's death is unknown, but two days later an enemy airplane again appeared over the city, and, coming unscathed through the gunfire and eluding two attacks in the air, swooped down over the British residency to drop a message of condolence. Of course it was not war, but it was a gallant action, and our acknowledgment of it, I understand, was conveyed in the same way. The Turks admire a good soldier, and had reason to respect General Maude."

This aristocratic Spanish chair is bold of line and interestingly designed. The seat is of rush, the back of woven cane.

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The splendid proportions of this furniture fit it admirably for modern rooms, while the wonderful carving and the wine-dark mellow tone of the wood meet modern ideals of beauty and distinction. But you will find that Span-Umbrian's greatest charm is its homelikeness-that lovable, indefinable quality which makes this furniture a cherished part of your home and of your life.

To learn about this furniture's rich historical background, send 25c for "The Story of SpanUmbrian Furniture." If the best furniture shop near you does not have this furniture, write us and we will gladly tell you where you can find it. Berkey & Gay Furniture Company, 184 Monroe Avenue, Grand Rapids, Michigan.