SOME BOOKS OF THE REEK.
(Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.] The Edinburgh Review for July has several important and timely articles. None of them is more impressive—in- deed, almost terrifying—than Mr. Geoffrey Drage's plain statement of " The Cost of Public Assistance." Does the ordinary citizen realize that in 1919 " 28,000,000 persons out of a total population of at the outside 48,000,000 received public assistance," or that the cost of assisting 58 per cent. of the population amounted to £6 17s. 4d. per head 7 Even if free education is excluded, there was an expenditure of £4 2s. 11d. per head for the benefit of 46 per cent. of the population. The total sum drawn from rates and taxes for public assistance was £25,000,000 in 1891, £69,000,000 in 1911, £173,000,000 in 1919, and apparently £332,000,000 in 1920-21. Mr. Drage had the greatest difficulty in persuading the • Early Tudor Poetry. 1483-1547. By John &Man. London ; Macmillan.
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Government to disclose the facts, and it is now for the public to draw the moral and seek a remedy. He points out that the House of Commons is not very resolute in insisting on thrift, and that the Treasury, once the watchdog, has set an evil example in greatly increasing its staff and the salaries and bonuses paid to them—an example which the whole Civil Service has been quick to follow. Mr. Drage shows that the varied State doles are sapping the traditional sell-reliance of the British workman, though he is bound to suffer most from this prodigal and ever. increasing expenditure. The editor, Mr. Harold Cox, reinforces the lesson of economy in a vigorous article on " The Public Purse," with special reference to the lavish expenditure of the new bureaucracy, whose importance increases hi proportion to the money which they contrive to spend on official salaries. M. Philippe Millet deals very frankly with "Franco-British Relations " in various parts of the world, and urges that the different colonial questions should be discussed and settled locally —as, for example, the New Hebrides question by arrangement with Australia, the Madagascar tariff by negotiation with South Africa, and so on. bf. Millet says that the French policy in the Near East now differs fundamentally from the British policy. " The French have completely given up the idea of keeping a link with the family of King Hussein." It is per• missible, we hope, to regret that when British armies, by immense efforts and stupendous expenditure of blood and treasure, had freed the Arab peoples from the Turk and given Syria to France, our allies should take the earliest opportunity of reversing our policy and returning to " a general agreement with the Turk," involving hostility to the Arabs. However, M. Millet admits that France " must of necessity consolidate her rather hazardous position in Syria by leaning on the British system in the Near East." Sirdar Ikbal All Shah describes the progress of " Bolshe- vism in Central Asia" in gloomy terms. An unnamed writer discusses " The German Indemnity," and advises the Allies not to " expect the impossible of Germany," and to rely rather on their own efforts than on the sums to be paid by Germany in reparation. He contends that the inter-allied debts must be settled as a whole, though this of course depends mainly on the goodwill of America, the chief creditor. The Dean of St. Paul's has a congenial subject in " The Dilemma of Civilization." Mr. Hugh Elliot writes thoughtfully on " The Psychology of Error," but is reduced very much to the same position as " jesting Pilate " in asking " What is Truth ? " without finding an answer. Mr. George Jennison, the proprietor of the well-known Belle Vue Gardens at Manchester, has a scholarly and interesting article on " The Animals of Ancient Rome." He makes us see what a large industry was required to supply the wild animals for the games in the many arenas in Rome and other cities. Thus while all the zoological gardens of the modern world do not require more than 300 lions a year, the Roman promoters of games probably required 2,500 lions, to say nothing of 5,000 leopards, and bears, panthers, and other wild beasts. The cruel sport survived the fall of Rome and was taken over from the Byzantines, with many other Imperial customs, by the Turkish conquerors.
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