10 MAY 1924

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The election returns are not quite complete when we go

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to press, but so far as is known the Social Democrats are now the strongest party. the figures are :- According to the Times Social Democrats • • 100 Nationalists .. 96...

The State Department at Washington has published papers with reference

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to the diversion of the waters of the Great Lakes for the purposes of drainage and sanita- tion at Chicago. The papers also deal with the project of a canal between Chicago and...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HE German elections are very disappointing because they give no clear guidance. It is impossible to say what will be the policy of the next Government. The only certainty at...

The Nationalist leaders are said to be divided as to

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whether they should join with the Freedom Party (the real Diehards) in uncompromising hostility to the Report or should try, while accepting the Report in substance, to Secure...

EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING OFFICES: 13 York Street, Covent Garden, London,

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W.C.3.

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At least what we have said was the general interpreta-

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tion of the Liberal manoeuvre, though we ought to add that Mr. Asquith, speaking at Chelmsford on Wednesday, declared that nothing in the nature of an ultimatum to the...

Friday, May 2nd, in the House of Commons, when the

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Second Reading of Mr. A. Rendall's Proportional Repre- sentation Bill was taken, had much more than the interest of an ordinary Private Member's day. The debate was, not...

On Friday, May 2nd, Mr. Baldwin, speaking to the Primrose

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League, made an important statement on Unionist policy. The problem, he said, was to reconcile democracy with the management of the Empire. The Empire' must live under democracy...

In the House of Commons on Monday Mr. J. H.

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Thomas was once more closely questioned about the Irish boundary. He stated that in response to the request of the Free State that the Boundary Commission should be constituted,...

All the public statements which have been made in connexion

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with the Irish Boundary problem since we wrote last week confirm us in the belief that the British Government do not intend to force a settlement. They will encourage the two...

Sir James Craig added that he was prepared, on behalf

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of the people of Ulster, to enter again into that agree- ment. Provided that it was understood that the settle- ment was to be by agreement between the two peoples, he was ready...

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We must add a few remarks as to our own

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position with regard to Proportional Representation. For some years we have supported it on the ground that it would secure the representation of minorities, which are now too...

* * * * There might have been a Labour

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majority for Propor- tional Representation in normal circumstances, but there could hardly have been one in circumstances which would have enabled Liberals exultantly to declare...

In Germany the most elaborate form of Proportional Representation yet

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devised was applied, and the results t'kere again are thoroughly disappointing. The elections, though unquestionably giving fair representation to small, and even obscure,...

Mr. Henry Morgenthau, who was formerly American Ambassador at Constantinople,

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and who has been organ- izing the relief of the Greek refugees, has announced that the Greek Government has offered to lend to America the famous statue of Hermes with the...

At Liverpool on Wednesday Mr. Churchill, speaking to a Conservative

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meeting, denounced the Government and proposed that Liberalism should form " a left wing " of Unionism to resist Socialism. We agree with his objection to the removal of the...

Bank Rate, 4 per cent., changed from 3 per cent.

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July 5th. 5 per cent. War Loan, 1001 ; Thursday week, 1001 ; a year ago, 100k. 3} per cent. Conversion Loan, 7711 ; Thursday week. 77 ; o roar ago, 80.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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WANTED—A MEDITERRANEAN POLICY. H AVE we a Mediterranean Policy, and if we have, what is it ? I confess to ignorance on the point, though I have often looked for guidance in the...

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THE PRESS ATTACKS ON MR. BALDWIN.

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E VER since Mr. Baldwin was confirmed in his leader-, ship of the - Unionist Party at the meeting at the Hotel Cecil, he has been subjected to persistent attacks in the-Press....

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THE LAST ATTEMPT.

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T HE result of the German elections is to endanger the renewed attempts at a European settlement. Or, rather, we may say that it endangers the present attempt of the Allies to...

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[The following article is the first of a series which

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Dean Inge will contribute to the "Spectator" from time to time during the remainder of the year.]. T HE notion that civilizations grow old and die like individuals is...

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THE LAST LAUREATE ?

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BY RICHARD JENNINGS. R ECENT rumour asserts that there will be no further, appointment to the Poet Laureateship after its honoured holder, Dr. Robert Bridges, leaves it vacant...

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WEMBLEY : SOME SUGGESTIONS.

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By EVELYN WRENCH. M Y first suggestion is that clear signs should be put up in conspicuous places along the Harrow Road so that motorists may know the correct way of going to...

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ART.

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THE ROYAL ACADEMY, 1924.—I. FUNDAMENTALLY the Academy is the same as it has always been, and probably will continue to repeat itself interminably each year—even to the...

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M USIC.

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" THE RING " AT COVENT GARDEN. A WELCOME RETURN. Ox Monday night Herr Bruno Walter rose in the rostrum to conduct " God Save the King," which might, with equal appropriateness,...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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A COMPARISON OF ARTS. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,-I was much interested in Miss Iris Barry's comparison between the stage and the cinema in last week's Spectator....

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MR. HUDDLESTON'S "POINCARE."

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fro the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—I have greatly enjoyed your reviewer's observations on my book, Poincare : a Biographical Portrait, but I trust you will allow me, in all...

TREATMENT OF PROTESTANT FARMERS IN SOUTHERN IRELAND.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Being a reader of the Spectator, may I ask if you would kindly give me space to let the English people know the truth about how Protestant...

GROW YOUR OWN FOOD.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I read Mr. J. W. Scott's letter, " Grow Your Own Food," with'sympathetic interest. I tried to do this during the War, with my own work, on...

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BOOK COLLECTORS' NOTES.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In the " Book Collectors' Notes " in your issue of May 8rd, Mr. Symons raises an interesting question when he refers to Walton's Compleat...

PRAGMATISM AND THE PROBLEM OF - BELIEF.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, I am truly grateful to Mr. Alan Porter for reviewing my little Problems of Belief so fully and so nicely and with so keen an eye to the...

THE SHEFFIELD PLAYGOERS' SOCIETY. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—In her article on Sheffield which appeared in the Spectator on Saturday, April 26th, Mrs. Willianis-Ellis referred to the Sheffield Playgoers' Society, saying With some...

" FROM HELL, HULL AND HALIFAX." [To the Editor of

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the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In the interesting article, entitled " Stalemate in English Cities," the writer gives to thieves an aesthetic distaste for " muddled, dirty and...

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MAURICE HEWLETT'S LETTERS.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia.,—May I, as literary executor of the late Maurice Hewlett, appeal to any of your readers who may have received letters from him to send...

YOUTH AND POLITICS.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—With much of Mr. Berkeley's article on " Youth and Politics " no one would disagree. The old moulds of political thought are being...

POETRY.

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GARDENER'S SONG. " WIND, come run to help me : Flash your wings, I see you clearly." I waited till he stretched them wide Down sailing through the sparkling tide ; Now he helps...

A NATIONAL GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHS. [To. the Editor of the

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SPECTATOR.] gather from a recent visit to the National Portrait Gallery that at present no recourse is had to photography for preserving the features, &c., of contemporary...

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

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CRUELTY IN SPORT.—Mr. Cecil R. Bates writes :—While waiting for the night train to Scotland, going on a holiday which will be spent in seeking to lure Salmo Saler to attack my...

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A BOOK OF THE MOMENT.

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HOMER THE MAN. The Homer of Aristotle. By D. S. Margoliouth. (Blackwell. 10s. 6c1.) PROFESSOR MARGOLIOUTII'S new book is astounding. To read it is a continuous excitement....

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'TIE CONQUISTADORES.

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The Conquest of the River Plate and a New and Revised Edition of A Vanished Arcadia. By R. B. Cunninghame Craham. (Heinemann. 15s. net each.) TIIESE two books together form the...

BOOKS

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THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. VOLTAIRE'S Philosophical Dictionary is the vade-mecum of the satirist, the ironist, the intellectual revolutionary, and the " man of this world." It should...

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THE FARMER'S GOLDEN RULE.

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Is there then, indeed, such a golden rule ? Is it true, as the advocates of agricultural co-operation assert, that marketing is not merely the other, but the better, half of...

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EVOLUTION KNOWLEDGE AND REVELATION.

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Tim Reverend S. McDowall announces that in this book he is formulating a theory of knowledge, which is to be " con- sonant with the established facts of biology," and that in so...

SPAIN TO-DAY.

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Ma. DEAKIN must be congratulated upon the thoroughness and also the fairness with which he has performed what must have been a labour of duty rather than of love. It is evident...

RODIN.

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Rodin : 60 Photogravure Plates. Notes by Loonie Bénedite. (Ernest Bann. £7 7s. net.) IT is difficult to estimate the real significance of Rodin as a sculptor, for his work is so...

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FICTION.

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MULTIPLICATION IS VEXATION. Race. By William McFee. (Seeker. 7s. exl.) IT is hard to believe that Race is the work of a single mind Rather it seems the joint production of a...

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In the days of the Victorian novelist this book would

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have been the first volume of the life story of its hero. So Mr. Marshall tells us it is now ; but, unfortunately, the modem practice is to publish the introduction to a long...

OTHER NOVELS. Fire Mountain. By Norman Springer. (Fisher Unwin. 7s.

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6d.)—The opening chapters of this novel are as good as they could possibly be. The rest of it, which is very ordinary, is by contrast podtively exasperating. The author, like a...

The latest volume of Messrs. Fisher Urrwin's " First Novel

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Library " possesses in a high degree both the faults and the freshness of a young author's first adventure. There is a very serious ideal at the back of Mr. Ronald Fraser's...

SHORTER NOTICES.

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SCOTTISH POTTERY. By J. Arnold Fleming, O.B.E. (Glasgow : Maclehose, Jackson and Co. 25s. net.) SCOTTISH POTTERY. By J. Arnold Fleming, O.B.E. (Glasgow : Maclehose, Jackson and...

PASSIONS AND PINPRICKS. By Carols Prosperi. (A. M. Philpot. 7s.

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6d.) These little stories may well be described as " pinpricks " —they are so sharply pointed and so painful. They tell of the great misery of middle-class Italian life and...

These stories are excellently written and excellently observed. Like much

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good American fiction, for all their virtues they lack impetus and energy : they exhibit a resolute and even-minded disillusionment. They are likely, therefore, to become...

WOODCUTS, and Some Words. By Edward Gordon Craig. (J. M.

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Dent and Sons. 10s. (3d. net.) WOODCUTS, and Some Words. By Edward Gordon Craig. (J. M. Dent and Sons. 10s. (3d. net.) One of the chief reasons for the charm of this book lies...

This story is concerned with the reincarnation of a woman

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and two men who in the eighteenth century lived in the Castle of Vyerolles in France. It might be argued that the world was not at all improved by this resuscitation, and that...

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FINANCIAL NOTES.

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What may be termed the spirit of anti-bank amalgama- tions is in the air, and I doubt if it would be easy now- adays to get Treasury consent to a banking fusion involv- ing any...

FINANCE-PUBLIC & PRIVATE.

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[BY OUR CITY EDITOR.] GENERAL OPTIMISM. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sni,—Optimism has been the prevailing note in the Markets during the past week. Actual speculative...

SDCIAL STRUGGLES IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By M. Beer. Translated

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by H. J. Stenning and revised by the author. (Parsons. 6e. net.) The nature of this book, the second volume of a series of five to be devoted to " A General History of...

Herr Wiedenfeld was for a year the German representative at

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Moscow, so that he has written his book from personal observation. He takes the view that no class in Russia wants another revolution. It is easy to believe that, and we must...

CROTCHETS. By Percy A: Scholes. (John Lane. 7s. M. nat.)

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Musical criticism may consist of disguised platitudes or fashionable jargon, and the problem of writing for a hetero- geneous public admits no other easy solution. Mr. Percy...