The March Magazines
THE Round Table devotes two articles to the problem of the " suffocated " Powers who want more trade for their people and put forward colonial claims. It is suggested that this is " the root of our present discontents," and that the restoration of " the open door " in all our subject territories is urgently required. An unnamed French writer explains what he believes to be the general French view of the Abyssinian affair : France is loyal to the League and is suffering from the sanctions that she has imposed, but does not expect the League to work miracles. It is noticeable, on the other hand, that all the Dominion correspondents, in their regular letters to the review, insist on the determination of the Dominions to uphold the Covenant regardless of consequences, and declare that the Hoare-Laval plan had an even chillier recep- tion overseas than it had in Great Britain. tinder the head of " The End of the Washington Treaties," Japan's possible course of action in the Fur East is discussed very frankly. The British Empire, it is urged, would do well to come to terms with her. How severe the tension is becoming in North China is ShoWn in another article, " Japan Moves On." Sir Frederick Leith Ross's tour of inquiry was interpreted by the Japanese Press as a sinister attempt to strengthen British influence at Nanking, while Japanese demands for fuller repre- sentatidn, if not for control Of, the Shanghai Municipal Council raise fresh difficulties for the International Settlement—the one safe haven of refuge in all China. The review's American correspondent throws no new light on the confused political situation, but he insists that the Supreme Court has aroused little ill-feeling by its condemnation of the " New Deal."
Lord Milne, in the Nineteenth Century, outlines a scheme for " The Higher Organisation of National Defence," which is virtually the same as that described by Mr. Baldwin last week. Lord Milne's experience as Chief of the General Staff for seven years lends weight to his paper. Professor Norman Sykes, the historian of the eighteenth-century Church, takes strong exception to the Report of the Archbishop's Commission on Church and State. He quotes the late Archbishop Davidson's private opinion in favour of leaving the Communion Service unaltered as proof that the House of Commons did not mis- represent Churchmen when it twice rejected the Revised Prayer Book. In Professor Sykes' view, the Commission fails to prove that there is " an intolerable abuse," to be remedied by a constitutional revolution. Miss Muriel Currey, fresh from " The Tigre Front," describes the difficulties of On country in which the Italians are operating, and declares that the natives welcome the invaders as saviours. In the centenary year of Pkkwick it is interesting to learn film Mr. Walter Dexter how doubtfully both Press and public -receiN el the first five numbers ; not until Sam Weller was well established in Number Six did the circulation leap from a few hundreds a- month to 40,000 copies.
The Contemporary gives first place to " The German Peril," by Dr. Rudolf Breitseheid, whose view is in brief that you cannot tame a man-eater by kind words. Baron A. Moyen- dorff, in "A New Picture of -Soviet Russia," condemns the Webbs' book as wholly misleading and biassed. Professor G. E. G. Catlin, writing from the Socialist standpoint, inclines to rejoice over " The End of the Liberal Epoch," and urges Opposition Liberals to join Labour. Mr. V. B. Metta gives an encouraging account of " Ten Years of Reza Shah's Rule " in Iran (Persia).
In the National Mr. John Bell discusses " The French Elections and the Franc." He declares that the Left parties, if successful, will devalue the franc still further, and the Right is therefore appealing to the. thrifty and the salaried classes who stand to lose by devaluation. Mr. H. S: Shelton regards the new Education Bill as unnecessary and harmful : he would " regard higher education as a privilege to be worked for, not as an unwanted excrescence to be forced on the parents and children." Mr. J. II. Morgan, in " Secession by Innuendo," argues that General Hertzog and Mr. De Valera in South Africa and the Irish Free State are both trying to get out of. the British Commonwealth. This is a free country, but Mr. Morgan exceeds the bounds of fair criticism in suggesting that General Smuts, as General Hertzog's colleague, will be remem-i bered as " the Empire's great Apostate."
The Empire Review prints a timely article by Mr. W. George Pickering of Western Australia on " The Dwindling Group Settlements," which failed, he says, because neither the lands assigned nor the settlers were suitable. Colonel J. C. Somerville pleads for better relations with Japan, and Sir Gervais Rentoul writes very sensibly on " Some Problems of the Modern Theatre," especially the bad plays and the dear seats.
Chambers' Journal has an instructive article on " The Poultry Industry." It is not generally known that in 1934 the eggs and table poultry produced in Great Britain were valued at 131,500,000, as compared with /28,800,000 for all the cereal crops. Mr. Viekerman, the writer of the article,; describes the rapid development of the industry under scientific control.
Blackwood's, among its usual good articles of travel and adventure, prints " The Stumbling Bear," by Mr. Douglas V. Duff, who describes the experiences of a British naval detach- ment in the civil war in South-East Russia. Like all others who were involved in that affair, he wonders why we inter- vened. Mr. Alfred Noyes pays his tribute in verse to Rudyard Kipling.
The Classical Association's excellent magazine, Greece and Rome, has a thoughtful article, " Decline and Fall," by Mr. R. W. Moore, who protests against the habit of regarding the, long history of the Roman Empire as one of declension from some imagined standard of virtue. Gibbon has much to answer for : he never understood the value of Constantinople as a shield to the Western World in the ages of confusion: Miss Dina Dobson gives an admirable account of " Roman Influence in the North," with illustrations of finds in Scandi- navia ; and Sir P. J. Macdonell elaborates " The Tactics of Odysseus " against the luckless suitors.
Professor Ernest Barker's thoughtful article on " Tie New Reign," in the Fortnightly, should not be missed. The King " has been the comrade of the young, and it is good to think of him going forward with them into a new age.of richer opportunities." An anonymous article on " Rearming the Mind" stresses the isolation_ of the average German under a daily stream of intensive militarist prOpagaada. Colonel de Watteville describes " The Red Army " as enormous and well equipped, but doubts whether its leaders are as competent • as they are orthodox—politically. Mr. H. E. Bates in " The Novelist's Ear " comments usefully on the unreality of the speech of the humbler characters in most modern novels ; on the other hand, an exact rendering of much talk would be
tiresome in the extreme. •
The ilercure de France contains a moving tribute to the late Jacques Bainville, the publicist historian who in politics as in literature typified modern French conservatism and the reaction from the Romantic school.
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