23 NOVEMBER 1929

Page 3

General Dawes pointed out that in accordance with the agreed

The Spectator

plan Great Britain and the United States had been composing their own naval differences as best they could and already the dispute which concerned an aggregate tonnage of...

General Smuts on Mr. Hoover Naval reduction leads by a

The Spectator

natural sequence to the possibility of revising, or reviving, the rule:: of war and to Mr. Hoover's recent remarks on this subject. Last week we regretfully expressed our doubts...

That, however, he went on to say, postulated that popular

The Spectator

opinion in all the countries should be adequately informed. President Hoover and Mr. MacDonald had recognized that no temporary feeling could develop into a matured and...

EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING OFFICES : 99 Gower Street, London, W.C.1.—A

The Spectator

Subscription to the Srzerherou costs Thirty Shillings per annum, "including postage, to any part of the world. The SPECTATOR is registered as a Newspaper. The Postage on this...

News of the Week

The Spectator

The New Diplomatic Method T HE importance of the American Ambassador's speech at the annual dinner of the London District of the Institute of Journalists last Saturday should...

Page 4

Altogether the effect of the Bill will be to increase

The Spectator

the amount which the Exchequer must find in the coming year by £12,500,000. If Mr. Snowden should be unable to find the money out of the existing sources of revenue there will...

General Smuts said that he had high hopes of genuine

The Spectator

naval reductions, but that military and aerial disarma- ment would be very difficult subjects. Of these two, aerial disarmament was the more urgent, as aerial warfare was a much...

This provision is perhaps an approach to the familiar policy

The Spectator

of the Labour and Liberal parties for making the Treasury responsible for the support of all the able-bodied poor. For our part we dislike an expedient which must lessen rather...

What is that middle way ? General Smuts suggested that

The Spectator

without resorting to force there might be changes in the laws of neutrality. He meant by this, of course, that the United States would certainly not wish to help an aggressor by...

The Unemployment Insurance Bill The most important Bill of the

The Spectator

week is the Unem- ployment Insurance Bill, the text of which was issued last Saturday. The debate on the second reading is , due for Thursday after we have gone to press. The...

The Conversion Loan In the House of Commons on Monday

The Spectator

Mr. Snowden announced that the result of the 5 per cent. Conversion Loan was one of the most successful conversions of recent years. The total applications had amounted to...

For our part we are strongly opposed to tariffs for

The Spectator

quite another reason. They would be a constant source of international friction. The decisive argument used in the House of Lords, however, against Lord Beaverbrook was that the...

Page 5

The Government and the Miners' Federation Delegate conferences of the

The Spectator

miners have disclosed far more support for the Government's Coal Bill than was expected. Mr. Herbert Smith resigned from the Presi- dency of the Miners' Federation on Tuesday,...

General Smuts and Native Policy in Africa General Smuts concluded

The Spectator

his Rhodes Memorial Lectures at Oxford last Saturday. On the same day the honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him. His treatment of " Native Policy in Africa brought...

The Geography of British Industry On Tuesday, some interesting figures

The Spectator

were published as to the numbers of the industrial population insured against unemployment. The 1929 Census covers more than 12 million persons and registers a substantial...

Mr. T. P. O'Connor Mr. T. P. O'Connor, the "

The Spectator

Father of the House of Commons," who died on Monday at the age of eighty-one, will be mourned by men of all parties. He had sat continuously in the House since 1880. He left...

Mr. J. L. Garvin and the Ethics of Journalism On

The Spectator

Thursday, November 14th, the Spectator had the privilege of entertaining Mr. J. L. Garvin to a luncheon on his completion of twenty-one years as editor of the Observer. A...

Bank Rate, 6 per cent., changed from 61 per cent.

The Spectator

on October 31st, 1929. War Loan (5 per cent.) was on Wednesday 99# ; on Wednesday week 99fx.d. ; a year ago, 1011 x.d. ; Funding Loan (4 per cent.) was on Wednesday 85f ; on...

His popularity • as a " character " in this

The Spectator

country was indeed so useful that he is believed to have been instructed by his Party managers never to offend the law suffici- ently to get into prison. He established several...

Page 6

A Better England

The Spectator

I N the place of a Christmas number proper we have decided to publish an expanded special number of the Spectator, the articles in which are intended to fill in the outlines of...

Page 7

Insurance, Unemployment and the Nation

The Spectator

A T the beginning of the session we suggested that there would be an unexampled opportunity for learning how to govern the country under a minority Government. It was obvious...

Page 8

The Neglected Thames

The Spectator

T ONDON RIVER, as seamen call the Thames, made I London what she is ; and London is where she is because of her river. Yet Londoners know amazingly little about their source of...

Page 9

The Week in Parliament

The Spectator

T HE House of Commons has devoted practically the whole of its time during the past week to the Widows Pensions Bill, all stages of which have now been concluded. It is an...

Page 10

[The Bishop of Gloucester is well known as a theologian

The Spectator

and New Testament scholar ; he was Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford from 1918 to 1923. Re speaks with authority on those aspects of the Faith which the present series...

Page 11

Anglo-American Relations

The Spectator

T HE Treaty of Ghent was one of the most successful pieces of diplomacy in history. It brought to an end the Anglo-American War of 1812 on terms which were favourable and even...

Page 12

Animals and Birds : A Stocktaking

The Spectator

S TOCKTAKING is not confined to the sphere of sale and mart. It is useful also to the human mind. There . come moments to all of us when we desire to register the precise state...

Page 13

Machinery, Psychology and Politics

The Spectator

T HAT there is nothing new under the sun is a slight exaggeration. Every few thousand years some- thing radically new does turn up—with startling effects on the organization of...

Page 15

Constructive Birth-Control

The Spectator

TAM too much of a Puritan to welcome the wholesale 1 rejection of taboos which the younger generation has loudly proclaimed since the Great War. The new War bOoks reveal a deep...

Page 16

Constructive Industrial Councils

The Spectator

I N a series of four articles that appeared in the Spectator this summer under the title of " England in 1940 we were told how a Constructive Industrial Council set up for each...

Page 17

" England's Beauty Limited

The Spectator

IL—Proposed Reconstruction [Our readers may be interested to know that Mr. Clough Williams- Ellis's articles on England's Beauty Limited, of which this is the second (the first...

Page 18

Conservatism and Progress

The Spectator

I ET me begin by saying that I dislike the word " Conservatism." It seems to connote the duty of preserving always, at any cost, when the real duty may be that of ruthless...

Page 20

The Public Schools and their Purpose

The Spectator

T HE Public Schools are outwardly so successful that they seem to many to be ripe for some signal stroke from the envious gods. The exclusive are never popular with the excluded...

Page 21

Education To - day I F in some domains a centenary is an

The Spectator

occasion inviting retrospect, education in 1929 is a subject which rather calls the mind forward to 2029 than back to 1829. For, though much has been achieved in English...

Page 22

The Place of the Press

The Spectator

1 ni tendency of the great public utilities—railways, . gas, electricity, to say nothing of bridges, roads, sewers—is to become socialized, to be brought, that is, more and more...

Page 23

The Future of Medical Practice T HAT for one reason and

The Spectator

another the civilized world is becoming a healthier place for men to live in, statistics show beyond dispute. As with other victories, the credit of this partial conquest has...

Page 24

Prisons of the Future

The Spectator

I L y a, poursuivit M. Bergcret, une ferocite par- . -11- ticuliere aux peuples civilises qui passe en cruaute l'imagination des barbares. Un criminaliste est bier plus -...

Page 26

The World Is One THE Oxford Branch of the League

The Spectator

of Nations Union had the happy idea of organizing a Conference on Unemployment and World Economics. The direct con- nexion between a typically national trouble and the world...

Page 27

How to Enjoy Being Uncomfortable

The Spectator

y OUTH knows. It despises comfort. In fact, dis- comfort is a sharp stimulating ingredient of its delight. Ask any youngster who plays football or squash, who rides to hounds,...

Page 28

A Hundred Years Ago

The Spectator

THE " SPECTATOR," NOVEMBER 21ST, 1829. HALF-DsoNit. Four young men, surgeons, were held to bail at the Mansionhouse on Monday, for a riot which they had created at the Mitre...

Herons

The Spectator

[We are indebted to Mr. E. F. Benson for permission to print this hitherto unpublished poem by his father, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. It was written on a reading party...

Page 29

TYPEWRITERS IN KINDERGARTENS, American children may learn to use typewriters

The Spectator

before they learn handwriting, as a consequence of experiments now under way in a number of American schools. The experiments began with the recognition by psychologists that...

SANTA CLAUS.

The Spectator

Should children of five years old be permitted to believe in Santa Claus ? Dr. William' Sadler, of Chicago University, a stern realist, thinks not. Dr. Sadler is a stickler for...

MUSIC IN AGRICULTURE. • Music has come to the aid

The Spectator

of agriculture at Beaver Flats (Nebraska). Potato-growers at Beaver Flats, and indeed throughout the West, have been plagued for years by the potato bug or Colorado beetle,...

A " SPEND MORE " ECONOMIST.

The Spectator

The philosophy of Samuel Smiles and Benjamin Franklin does not commend itself to Dr. Harold F. Clark, Professor of Economics of the Teachers' College, Columbia 'University....

" SAFE DRIVERS' " CARDS.

The Spectator

The Evanston (Illinois) Police Department is trying to reduce traffic accidents by kindness. Hitherto the police have been concerned only with violators of the traffic laws, but...

BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS.

The Spectator

The Publishers' Christmas Lists have conic to hand. They are full of good things. Many more, indeed, than most of us will ever have time to read, much less money to pay for....

American Notes of the Week

The Spectator

(By Cable) TAXATION AND DISARMAMENT. PRESIDENT HOOVER and Secretary Mellon have given American business corporations and other taxpayers a substantial Christmas gift in the...

Page 30

To give a personal experience, I first came into touch

The Spectator

with fur- farming just a generation ago, while - travelling in Canada, where the regular trappers of wild animals had just begun to be jealously afraid of the silver fox farm...

In regard to the whole movement we all owe an

The Spectator

immense debt to the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, which has both pooled and directed vague and general efforts, and has no doubt helped a number of its...

PRECIOUS FURS.

The Spectator

Many animals, to their cost, carry valuable skins ; and a vast number of experiments have been made. Many years ago Mr. Seton Thompson hoped to produce a skunk free from the one...

Country Life

The Spectator

SILVER FOXES. It is now established beyond any reasonable doubt that fur- , farming will soon be extended into a British business of con- siderable dimensions. It is of some...

THE NEW INDUSTRY.

The Spectator

The industry is to be welcomed on many grounds. The foxes on these farms look sleek and contented—indeed, often singularly merry. Cruelty may be altogether elimi- nated ; and it...

RURAL ENGLAND.

The Spectator

It is a most fortunate accident for those who care forEnglish landscape that Sir Hilton Young has won the ballot for his bill in defence of the preservation of rural England....

Page 31

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Does not one short

The Spectator

section of the long letter of the Chairman of the Parks and Open Spaces Committee reveal the true attitude of the L.C.C. towards Hampstead Heath ? He defends the shutting up of...

BUSYBODIES ON HAMPSTEAD HEATH

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIRS I have reread Mr. Joad's original article and have searched the Heath for traces of the vandalism complained of. My general conclusions...

THE WELCOMBE ESTATE

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The letter from the agents of the sale of the Welcombe Estate does not touch the issue. The danger is the destruction of the approach to...

Letters to the Editor

The Spectator

[Letters of the length of one of our "News of the Week" paragraphs are often m9re read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space. They should be...

Page 32

FEAR AND THE VAGRANT [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

The Spectator

SIR,--To what extent should we govern by deterrence ? This question lies at the root of all Law—" every law must have its sanction," says that great lawyer Bentham. Yet the...

FUR FARM SLAUGHTER METHODS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

The Spectator

SIR,—During the past eighteen years many thousands of dogs and cats have been lethalized by chloroform on my premises and I have always had the method under my supervision. As...

-INDIAN PEASANT INDEBTEDNESS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In

The Spectator

view of the recent pronouncement of the Viceroy, I feel that the moment is opportune to say something about an Indian problem which is not much discussed in India or elsewhere....

FUR FARMS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Fur farms

The Spectator

are advocated, apparently, on the supposition that they will enable the furs required by the trade to be supplied without the cruelties of the present methods of trapping and...

Page 33

THE GOAT

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I notice that J. U. C. Desborough writing on " The Goat " in your issue of November 2nd, takes exception to some of my remarks as to...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

The Spectator

Sra,—Those of your readers who know something about shooting must have been both amused and disgusted at the letter you publish on the subject of big shoots. It is evident that...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I hasten to correct

The Spectator

an error that I made, when writing to you the other day on the subject of the holocausts that are made of our finest sporting birds. I wrote from a very failing memory, but I...

THE FUR CRUSADE

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—This is a campaign, started by me, to try to influence public opinion against the horrors of fur-trapping and skinning certain animals...

WOUNDING OF BIRDS IN BIG SHOOTS

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I see in your issue of October 19th another amusing letter about shooting from an anonymous correspondent who calls himself " X." Why a...

Page 34

MOSLEM ASPIRATIONS

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] was much impressed by the temperate expressions of " B." in his letter in the Spectator of September 28th on the subject of Moslem aspirations....

MRS. ALFRED AUSTIN

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—The recent death of the widow of a Poet Laureate, should hardly be allowed to pass without comment, especially when as in this case her...

HOSPITAL ALMONERS

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is somewhat strange at this time of day that there should be a shortage in the supply for any kind of attractive work for women, yet...

Page 35

INDIVIDUALITY IN A SPARROW

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—While at lunch one day in April, 1921, I saw a sparrow running backwards and forwards on the sill of the fanlight above the glass door of...

POINTS FROM LETTERS

The Spectator

" QUID SIT PROLETARII." In your review of Do What You Will in your issue of Nov. 9th, I read, " The proletariat, Mr. Huxley begins, was a word coined by Marx in the 'forties or...

THE RELIGIOUS THOUGHT OF THE DAY.

The Spectator

Extraordinary interest was shown in the " Defence of the Faith " series of articles published in the Spectator early this year. Further articles interpreting the religious...

Page 36

- - A New Competition WE recently asked a contributor to

The Spectator

write an article containing suggestions for a Better World, and - we - received the following refdy Short recipe would be :" Murder half the petrol pumps, three-quarters of the...

Chilvalry and Statistics

The Spectator

LADY SIMON'S book is dedicated to ",Amanda of Tennessee, and to all those who have suffered and still suffer in slavery." At a modest computation four million human beings are...

Page 39

Flora Annie Steel

The Spectator

The Garden of Fidelity ; being the autobiography of Flora Annie Steel. (Macmillan. 128. 6d.) To two, nearly three, generations of Anglo-Indians, so vivid has been the...

The Inaccessible Light

The Spectator

PERHAPS nowhere is that which Huvelin called our " incurable mediocrity " more , constantly apparent than in the domain of spiritual literature. Books on all aspects of...

Page 40

Man's Enemy—The Rat

The Spectator

AT some future time a world-wide effort will be made to exterminate the rat. He is a filthy beast, responsible for much disease amongst men. His chief speciality in this line,....

Achi. Baba to Suvla. Bay

The Spectator

Gallipoli Memories. By Compton MacKenzie. (Cassell. 7s. 6d-) MR. MACKENZIE tells us in his preface that he had planned a novel in seven volumes relating to the War, but that he...

Page 43

The Shrine in Ebury Street

The Spectator

DEAR, malicious, subtle and wise Mr. George Moore invited Mr. Geraint Goodwin into his study at 121 Ebury Street. Did he realize what he was doing ? Was he tired, and had his...

Page 44

Memories of Well-Spent Lives

The Spectator

More Cracks with " We Twa." By the Marquis and Marchionea g of Aberdeen and Temair. (Methuen. 15s.) solid security about it " write Lord '.and Lady Aberdeen, . . " it was part...

Conflict

The Spectator

Goodbye to All That : An Autobiography. By Robert Graves. (Jonathan Cape. 10s.) MR. GRAVES' story is the story of " the exceptional boy." His father is one of a line of poets...

The Birth of the Nation ,

The Spectator

The Monstrous Regiment. - By Christopher Hollis. • (Sheed Queen Elizabeth. By fiatherine Anthony.(Alfred A: 4inopf. - 12.a. ed.) _ . ,. :. _ =.- . ... . , -. BY a curious...

Page 47

Two Books on Dogs

The Spectator

My Dog and Yours. By Joe Walker. (Ward, Lock. 7s. 6c1.) No ONE in the world knows more about training dogs than Colonel Richardson, and we were not surprised to learn that he...

Fiction

The Spectator

Suburbs, Apes and Intrigues THERE is some doubt in Mr. Stowell's mind as to whether a community may rise by suburbs of its dead selves to higher things ; but sceptics, since...

Page 48

No Death

The Spectator

The Last Enemy. By Iris Barry. (Bobbs Merrill. $2.50.), The Last Enemy is a novel of distinction for two reasons : the theme around which it is written is both original and...

BUCCANEER. By Arthur 0. Cooke. (Country Life. 7s. 6d.)—The first

The Spectator

chapter of Mr. Cooke's book is devoted to the birth of Buccaneer, a little bull-calf, and the last one tells of the beast's tragic death. There is little plot, but the author is...

General Knowledge Questions

The Spectator

Ourt weekly prize of one guinea for the best thirteen Question , submitted is awarded this week to Mrs. Moreton Dodd, Coberley Court, Cheltenham, Glos. Questions on " Eyes 1....

Page 51

Some Books of the Week

The Spectator

WHEN' the late Lord Curzon bought Tattershall Castle to save it from destruction, he had it thoroughly restored at his own expense and gave it to the National Trust. But that...

Miss Ruth de Rochemont, in Evolution of Art (Macmillan Cornpany,.25s.

The Spectator

net), aims at supplying a general reading public, intelligent, eager, but much occupied in its own business of living, with a synthesis of the world's accomplishment in the arts...

Mr. Osbert Sitwell contributes a lively. and characteristically provocative, preface

The Spectator

to Thomas Rowlandson in the " Famous Water-Colour Painters " series (Studio, Limited, 5s. net). Rowlandson's mother was French, and in these drawings, especially, Gallic...

We thought that the increasing complexity of scientific research had

The Spectator

made it inadvisable for any modern writer to take all science for his province. The contrary is proved, however, by Mr. W. C. D. Dampier-Whetham's amazingly omniscient History...

Mr. G. K. Chesterton's The Thing (Sheed and Ward, 7s.

The Spectator

6d.) is a controversial book of essays belonging to Mr. Chesterton's particular brand of controversy. He makes, as always, a gallant attempt to prove what some people believe to...

One of the finest things in the Best Short Stories

The Spectator

of 1929 : America (Cape, 7s. Rd.) is the biography of a champion racing caterpillar, Red Peril. He was the fastest caterpillar in seven counties, winning scores of races, and a...

Formerly the essay was the recreation of the learned and

The Spectator

vfas not without its whimsies and oddities of style or thought. To-day the essayist serves a wider public and expresses not to much his own point of view as that of the ordinary...

Elizabethan England hated Spain, and the hatred was con- tinued

The Spectator

all through the reign of Elizabeth's successor. Thus if came about that in 1624 there was produced (to quote a con- temporary account) " a very scandalous Comedic acted pub-...

Owing to the exceptional pressure on our space this week

The Spectator

we have had to hold over our usual Travel Section. Those of our readers who desire travel information are reminded that the " Spectator " endeavours to put them into touch with...

Page 52

Finance—Public and Private

The Spectator

Rake's Progress IF a Committee were to be appointed to-morrow to consider the question of the growth in National Expendi- ture, it is highly probable that the terms of...

Financial Notes

The Spectator

NEW LOAN SOCCESS. • WRITING a fortnight ago in the Spectator I expressed the view that the response to the,new•Loan was likely to be a very large one, and- I am glad to note...

QTJIET MARKETS.

The Spectator

Less business with'a steady to dull tendency in Securities has eharacferized the Stock Markets - during the past week' Following the panicky fall of prices in New York, there...

Page 54

BANK OF ENGLAND GOVERNORSHIP.

The Spectator

The Money Market is well pleased that Mr. Montagu Norman should have consented to accept nomination next April for another year of Governorship of the Bank. For the City has...

After making allowances for the difficulties which must have confronted

The Spectator

all industrial finance companies during the past year, the latest Report of the Charterhouse Investment Trust can be regarded as very satisfactory. There is a profit of...

RECOVERY IN BRAZIL STOCKS.

The Spectator

After a prolonged period of severe depression there has been a distinct recovery during the past week in Brazilian securities, and notably in the stocks of some of the San Paulo...

Page 56

Better Design

The Spectator

T HE arts and crafts of England, and, for that matter, of Europe and the rest. of the civilized world are at the present time at a very low ebb, and possess little artistic...

Page 58

Answers to Questions on " Eyes "

The Spectator

1. Rime's eyes. Green Mansions. W. H. Hudson. Ch. viii. 2. Teresa's. The Constant Nymph. M. Kennedy. Ch. The door of the drawing-room at Todger's. Martin Chuzzleinit Ch. ix....

Page 60

- The Artist in a Better World T O predict the

The Spectator

future of any art is a hazardous adventure, but- so far as painting, is concerned it seems _ tolerably safe to say that the day :Of he large easel-picture - is over.' Nobody...