World Philosophizing

The husbandman has rent to pay

(Blow, winds, blow)

And seed to purchase every day

(Row, boys, row)

But he who farms the rolling deeps

Though never sowing always reaps;

The ocean's fields are fair and free

There are no rent days on the sea!

After quoting this stout Saxon catch, the Very Reverend William Ralph Dean Inge of St. Paul's goes on to say4 that England, although "less healthy than Scandinavia and Denmark . . . ranks with Holland as a very salubrious country." Prom such a mixture of ballads, statistics and dry humor he has concocted rather than written his thoughts upon: Empire, Industrialism, Democracy, and the Soul of England, each of which receives a thoroughgoing chapter.

Very different, though of a kindred ruminative type, are two books by U. S. commentators upon Europe. They quote no ballads, songs or snatches; but one, a young Columbia University Assistant Professor "on the make" has turned out a very crisp and searing expose5 of the hypocritical process by which the white man shoulders a "burden" of profitable produce which he has made the colonial native extract from soil rightly his. The other U. S. ruminator cited is the Editor of Foreign Affairs.6 He starts with such elementals as that "Balkans" was originally a Turkish word meaning simply "mountains"; and then proceeds to untangle the Balkan post-War skein. His major prophecy is the gradual supplanting of France by Italy as the chief European force in the Balkans. With such heavy fare the reader should take a fluffy, gorgeously illustrated Balkan trave17 book by a U. S. artist who opens with the premise "All travelers are liars!" and proceeds to lie, erotically but suavely, about his adventures on tour.

4 ENGLAND--William Ralph Inge--Scribner ($3).

5 IMPERIALISM AND WORLD POLITICS -- Parker Thomas Moon--Macmillan ($4.50).

6 THE NEW BALKANS--Hamilton Fish Arm- strong--Harper ($3).

7 BALKAN SKETCHES--Lester G. Hornby-- Little, Brown ($5).