22 JUNE 1929, Page 21

The June number of the Round Table loses nothing by

the fact of its preparation 'before the setting of the political compass in this country. " Great Britain : the Golden Mean " drives home the lesson of the 1929 EleCtion—namelY, that there is a steady movement towards common sense and away from extremism, and hence persistent evidence of a gradual approximation of party programmes to one another. If we mistake not, " Socialism is dead in all except the rank and file of the socialist Partjr." This steadying praxis is well defined as "Mr. Baldwin's political grave and his political Monu- ment." An article on " Unemployment " echoes the sound sense of the interim report, published in March by the Melchett-Turner Conference, and makes out a strong case for that essential modicum of State intervention, which old- fashioned Conservatives (and' Liberals) seem unable to dis-

tinguish from State interference. Credit is given to the re.' juvenating spirit which inspired the Liberal Programme.' ObViously Governments should give moral and material sup.' petit to concerns which are seeking to_ promotethe rationalize. tion of their industries ; but they shOuld also ".promote by wise .eitpieal expenditure the modernization of the national equipment." The obstacles to rationalization are here welt defined; but they will surely yield to the pressure of informed opinion. We aPplaud eapecially the following comment " A career awaits a President of the Board of Trade who hal the energy and imagination to devote himSelf to the task (of organizing that opinion) and the ability to impose his personality on industrial opinion, as Mr. Hoover was able to do in the Secretaryship of Commerce."

An American writes on Hoover at the White House" with rare humour and zest. There is also a closely reasoned article on Naval Disarmament in the light of the Kellogg Pact—in its full implication—which drives home Prof. Mada- riaga's point : " . . . only by setting out to build the world commonwealth will it be possible to secure a general reduction of armaments and to end war as an instrument of policy among men." " Russia : the Awakening Muzhik " also commands

attention, and last but by no means least we have the most judicious examination of the probleins of 'East Africa which we have, yet seen.

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