F EW of us have failed to realise that a heavy burden of taxation would be among the sacrifices de- manded of us by the war. That it would fall as severely on the direct...

THE conversations that are taking place in Moscow as these lines are written may affect the whole future of the war and the whole face of Eastern Europe. It is idle to predict...

In time of war, when the first necessity is to get things done quickly whatever the cost, rough and ready methods are adopted, inevitably involving much waste of public money....

The fight on the arms embargo question in the United States is joined. An appeal for amendment of the existing Act was made by President Roosevelt in an admirable speech to the...

Mr. Churchill's speech on Tuesday gave just that sense of a firm grip on the situation which will satisfy the public that the control of the Navy is in the right hands. He knows...

After three weeks of incredible heroism, which, as the Warsaw announcer justly claimed, will be written indelibly into history, the defenders of the Polish capital have capitu-...

of the war, has been the way in which Parliament is gradually finding its head. So far, this is confined to Question Time which, for the first time for nearly five years, shows...

of the Exchequer as he made his way to the Treasury Box on Wednesday afternoon. Although the House has been strangely unspeculative as to the Chancellor's proposals it feared...

be congratulated on his quick a ppreciation of the indispensable part which organised Labour must take in war work and especially in connexion with the Ministry of Supply. If...

Our Parliamentary correspondent writes: On Tuesday, the Prime Minister's usual weekly statement on the progress of the war was completely overshadowed by the remarkable oration...

Public sympathy very properly goes out to persons who, under stress of war conditions, are unable to pay their rents, and, were they not protected, would be liable to...

of the Ministry of Information was not lessened by Sir Edward Grigg's state- ment that the total staff of the Ministry consisted of no fewer than 999 persons, of whom only 43...

Fr HERE are many more important questions bearing on the future of the war than the meaning of Herr Hitler's alleged reference to some new weapon to which Germany may resort....

I T is a fortunate fact that the first effect of the war to be acutely felt by the mass of the people is not that arising from enemy attack, but from the dislocation of ordinary...

H AVING read the Blue Book containing the diplomatic documents on the negotiations preceding the war, I am a little inclined to question its title to be a best-seller. It has...

dissensions in Germany, and the temptation to exaggerate scattered rumours may easily inspire false hopes. The state of the country cannot be good, but there is no justification...

Camrose's Daily Telegraph would never let its attitude be affected, or its freedom of criticism restricted, by Lord Camrose's appointment to the Ministry of Information. But the...

that not a single public speech should have been delivered by the Prime Minister, or any of his principal colleagues, since the war began. Perhaps they are just impending. In...

of Poland will mean, among many other changes, the end of the old feudal relation- ship which has lasted on there when it has disappeared from nearly all the rest of Europe. A...

Warsaw what the next day's papers described as " a rain of death." In the evening the English broadcast from the German station at Zeesen closed with the hymn " The day Thou...

of sacrifice in war-time, every attempt must be made to avoid avoidable injustices. One of these affects officers under- going special courses. I use the plural because, though...

By STRATEGICUS F there are many questions as to the Allied attempts to 1 create a diversion on the West when Poland was reeling under the first blows of the German armies, if...

By ERWIN D. CANHAM Washington, September r9th. A S the special session of Congress entrenches itself for a long struggle over American foreign policy, the chances of repealing...

By SIR PERCY HARRIS, M.P. VERYWHERE I go I meet persons who are anxious to rA serve the State at this time of crisis, and yet cannot find an outlet for their energies. Many...

By GRANT DEXTER Ottawa, September 18th. T O those who know us, the first question to be asked about Canada's decision to enter the war will concern Quebec. French Canadians...

By ERNEST JONES. W ITH the death of Freud passes an outstanding figure in the history of science. He was, if not the greatest psychologist of all time—for that is a title that...

By S. K. RATCLIFFE I NDIA will, or should be celebrating on Monday the seventieth birthday of her most famous son, for Mohundas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2nd, 1869....

By PETER BROOKE HREE weeks ago I was in a French village called Les Bordes-les-Celles. You can get to it from Paris by jumping into a taxi and shouting " Cemay-la-Ville!" You...

true aims and position? It must be remembered that the Ameri- cans are morbidly sensitive to anything in the nature of foreign propaganda, and that they have during the past...

them too foolish to deserve serious consideration. The Americans themselves are under no such misapprehension. They know that nobody can fool all the American people all the...

By HAROLD NICOLSON I RECEIVED the other day a number of letters from the .1. United States. Although these letters had been written and posted at various dates between...

lagoon lashed into agitation by the slightest breeze. A man like Dr. Homer Maerz can solemnly assure a Milwaukee audience that President Roosevelt is in fact a descendant of the...

that our reticence should be abso- lute. Even though we should be wise in refraining from any attempts to persuade the American public, there is no reason why we should refrain...

by well-intentioned people living three thousand miles away from the danger zone. Yet the duty of those of us who love, and try to understand, America is to banish irritation...

Many plants act the part of compasses, and point to a particular aspect ; it may be East, North or South. I fancy that I have discovered a strong tendency in that popular hedge...

Ordering a Barrow A charming essay was written by Mr. Richard Church on the subject of ordering a spade, and it gives the title to his latest book. His experience was much in...

In the spring of 1918 I went over to the United States, and in company with one of our representatives arranging for the import of tractors, spent a day with Mr. Henry Ford. He...

While the horses are returning to the roads they are being displaced on the fields. I watched a fine pair of Polish horses (which grow popular on English farms) begin to plough...

This year's Christmas card of that pioneer body, the Nor- folk Naturalists' Trust, is in some sort a memorial to the founder, Dr. Sidney Long, the most efficient bird-preserver...

The Trust adds the following details : This bird has been chosen because it was a favourite of the late Dr. S. H. Long, the founder of the Trust, and its honorary secretary for...

Now that it is too late to grow any vegetable in the open for this year (with the possible exception of colewort) one thinks of the system of the French gardener or maraicher....

The farmer is of the opinion that the day of the old English shire-horse (descendant of the war horses that Henry VIII bred in Cambridgeshire) is coming to an end—at least on...

letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must be accompanied by the name and address of...

Victim" is rather worse than the general run of anonymous complaints. which are usually at least founded on fact ; whereas the implications in this specimen are false from start...

SIR, —Some of the many letters which you published in reply to my original letter are so full of misleading half-truths that I must beg for your further hospitality in an effort...

SIR,—The Spectator has so fine a reputation for allowing both sides of the case to be heard that I should like to make some protest against the attitude of your leading article...

GENERAL VON FRITSCH, formerly Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, was reported killed at the end of last week• in circumstances which point to political assassination at the...

News Reels. At various cinemas. WAR always seems to surprise somebody ; a year after Munich trenches which were begun that autumn are still being dug on the common outside ;...

SIR,—When Bismarck, Matthew Arnold and Mr. Nicolson agree it seems rash not to follow them, and they all say the Germans are lacking in " civil courage." But can we judge? It...

THE GRAND WHIGGERY, Christopher Hobhouse 444 THE SECOND WORLD WAR, R. A. Scott - lames 445 THE PADEREWSKI MEMOIRS, E. H. Carr ... 445 MEMOIRS OF MRS. WOODROW WILSON...

The Paderewski Memoirs. By I. Paderewski and Mary Lawton. (Collins. 21s.) M. PADEREwSm's memoirs, of which this first instalment carries us down to the outbreak of war in 1914,...

T he Second World War. First Phase. By Duff Cooper. (Cape. los. 6d.) From Munich to Danzig. By R. W. Seton-Watson. (Methuen. 6s.) FOR most of us, at just this moment, it seems...

Memoirs of Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. (Putnam. Iss.) No statesman of the twentieth century has been the subject of so many biographies as President Wilson. They range from William...

Marginal Comment. By Harold Nicolson. (Constable. is.) THESE short commentaries, uttered weekly in this paper, cover January to early August of this year; the last months, all...

To Step Aside. By Noel Coward. (Heinemann. 7s. 6d.) To Step Aside is a collection of seven short stories, apparently the first that Mr. Coward has written, and one may as well...

Party Going. By Henry Green. (Hogarth Press. 7s. 6d.) The Red Centaur. By Marjorie Mack. (Faber. 7s. 6d.) WHAT a relief it is for once to open a novel and be immediately...

notify THE SPECTATOR office BEFORE MIDDAY on MONDAY OF EACH WEEK- The name, the previous address to which the paper has been sent and receipt reference number should be quoted.

IN any other circumstances than the present Sir John Simon's first war Budget would justly be described as brutal. True, it makes certain allowances for those caught by the...

It is a sad, but, one must admit, a logical, sequence of events in which the grimmer the aspect of the European situation the greater the speculative enthusiasm on Wall Street....

GOLD SHARE PROSPECTS Those who bought gold shares as a war hedge are some- what disgruntled at the recent turn of events. South Africa, Rhodesia and Australia, in slightly...

BANK SHARE YIELDS It is a striking commentary on the odd condition of the stock markets that the maintenance of gilt-edged prices at the minimum level has had the effect of...

HARRISONS AND CROSFIELD, LTD. TEA AND RUBBER POSITION The Chairman of Harrisons & Crosfield, Limited, Mr. H. Eric Miller, commented on the Balance Sheet as follows at the...

PRIZES of book tokens for Li Is. and los. 6d. were offered for the best letters (of not more than 250 words) to a divisional petroleum officer claiming a supplementary ration of...

ACROSS r. A character of note (two words) (7, 6). 9. A place of eating (5). to. Predatory (9). II. Mother and children (7). 12. A cipher takes wing (7). 13. Little Red...

No. 29 SOLUTION NEXT WEEK The winner of Crossword No. 29 is Mr. Ernest Carr, Church House, Sandhurst, Kent.