* * Mr. Butler tried to persuade the House of
Commons to vote £2,500 to the British Association for International Under- standing. This excellent body, closely connected with the dis- tinguished name of Mr. G. M. Young (well known to readers of The Spectator) produces a small brochure called the British Survey. The Survey is a carefully written description of foreign countries and as far as these things can be impartial and objective it reaches a high level of achievement. But why should it be subsidised, even if it is useful to soldiers and school-teachers? The Oxford University Press has produced scores of cheap pamphlets on comparable subjects. The Army Education scheme has ample money to develop its own ideas. Most of Mr. Butler's arguments could be riddled, some were frankly specious. Very wisely he withdrew the Estimate. There are great dangers in this sort of piece-meal policy: there are also greater dangers in much of the Ministry of Information's pamphlets and lectures. It is time that the Board of Education and Ministry of Information defined the difference between adult education and " morale " propaganda.
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