Book Review: European Steel Trends in the Setting of the World Market
| Author | Frederic E. Dessauer |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070205100600121 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
71
but
less
for
Germany,
or
for
any clearly
defined
principle,
or
for
some
specific
policy,
than
for
Dr.
Schacht,
who
was always
right,
or
had
always
an
alibi.
This
is
the
basic
consistency
of
the
man
who in
1919
founded
a
political
party
together
with a
man
of
Jewish
origin
and
who
in
1934
regarded the
Jews
as
a
group apart
from the German
people.
But
if
his
attacks
on
everybody
lack
charity, they
do
not
lack
the pre-
cision
of
an
excellent
marksman.
His
criticisms
on
German
as
well
as
on
Allied
politics
between
1919
and
1948
are
worth
reading. They
are
full
of
rational
solution's
for
the
difficult
conflicts
of
the
period, but
they
show
little
understanding
for
what
was
actually
possible
in
a
specific
situation. While
Schacht
was
very
often
right
and
seldom completely
wrong,
it
is
hard
to
see
how
a
man
of
his
type
could
work
in
a
team,
and
participate
in
that
patient
process
of
friendly
discussion,
workmanlike
co-operation,
and
loyal
opposition
which
is
the condition
of
good
politics.
Perhaps Dr.
Schacht's picture
on
the frontispiece tells most
of
the
man.
Still more
is
revealed
by
the singular
conceitedness,
emptiness, and
superficiality
of
all
the
passages
of
the
book
in
which
Dr.
Schacht
refers
to
the cultural
traditions
of
Germany
or
to
his
own
religious
beliefs.
One
may
wonder
whether
anywhere
outside Germany
an
isolated
individual,
a
man
without
family
background
or
inherited
wealth,
with-
out
social
ties
and
without
close
friends,
could
rise
so
high
and
accom-
plish
so much
by
the
sheer
strength
of
his
will
and-
intellect.
At
this
point
the
person
of
Dr.
Schacht
becomes
part
of
the
German
tragedy.
Dr.
Schacht
believes
that
man
is
the
maker
of
his
fate,
but
his
own
rise
and
fall,
his
philosophy
and
personality,
have
been
continuously
and
decisively
shaped
by
the irresistible
influence
of
a
politically
im-
mature
society.
Montreal,
Que., May
1950.
F.
E.
Dessauer
EUROPEAN
STEEL
TRENDS
IN
THE
SETTING
OF
THE
WORLD
MARKET.
1950.
(Lake
Success,
N.Y.:
UN Publications.
Toronto:
Ryerson.
vii,
148
pp.
$1.50.)
This
is
an
admirable
report
on
an economic
problem
of
highest
political
importance.
It
asks
the
essential
questions, answers
them
as
far
as
they
can
be
answered,
and
frankly
admits
its
deficiencies.
Even
the
best
report
looks,
however,
after
a
year
almost
like a
historical
document. In
this
case
it
was
the shadow
of
war
which
changed
the
picture.
With
this
change,
the
fear
of
overproduction
vanished;
but
the
inclination
towards
making
new
investments
in a
badly defended
Europe
may
have vanished
too.
It
would
be
an
illusion
to
regard
such
extraneous
facts
which
upset
all
forecasts
merely as
unusual
and
un-
fortunate
accidents;
when
the
interdependence
of
the
whole
world
is
in
everybody's
mind,
something
is
bound
to
happen
somewhere
which
plays
havoc
with the
"natural"
developments.
The
definiteness
and
reliability
of
the
trends
which
research
can
indicate should
therefore
be
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