MOBILIZING CIVILIAN AMERICA

Professor Tobin's Study of Old and New Plans For Mobilization of Civilians in Another Conflict

By HaroldJ. Tobin '17 and Percy W. Bidwell.Council on Foreign Relations, New York,1940, 276 pp. $2-75.

WHAT WOULD probably happen to our accustomed way of life if our country undertook to wage war? Here is a reliable answer. Dealing with a problem which has now become vitally important, this book is the product of men who know what they are talking about. The authors are specialists in the political and economic aspects of war organization. Professor Tobin, of our Department of Political Science at Dartmouth, has been assisted in his studies by the War Department and by other government departments at Washington, and he has enjoyed close contact with men who served on war boards during the World War. The book discusses, objectively and critically, the organization of America during actual war in 1917-18, and the development of plans for organizing America during a possible future war.

Here are the facts. Unfortunately, they are not merely history. They are also current history. They make it unnecessary, to say the least, to travel afar in search of disquietude. They render inescapable the conclusion that the gap between plans and actual preparedness against imminent danger is still a wide one.