16 SEPTEMBER 1922, Page 3

Mr. Bell might have pointed his moral about the undesirability

of allowing ourselves to be ruffled by what does not matter if he had known of the absurd controversy over statements injurious to America said to have been made in an interview by Mr. Rudyard Kipling. It is useless to recall either what is attri- buted to Mr. Kipling or the passionate things that have been said in America, as Mr. Kipling has informed the Times that he never made the statements at all. If only people on both sides of the Atlantic would conduct themselves in the spirit of Mr. Bell's article there would be no tantrums even if a dis- tinguished author did say what Mr. Kipling is supposed to have said—though, for our part, we know perfectly well that Mr. Kipling is incapable of saying anything of the sort.