Report of the " If I were the Editor of

the ' Spectator ' " Competition

IF I were the Editor of the Spectator I would reduce the price to 3d., have no advertisements, a coloured or a more striking and consistent cover, no serrated edges to the pages ; I would give more foreign news, keep in closer touch with the Colonies, adopt an anti-American policy, work for the friendship of the English-speaking peoples, have a series of religious arti- cles, publish articles stating the case of all political parties, consider more questions which interest women, have a children's page and an animal's page, more frequent gardening articles, a more lenient competition editor, or—" carry on

as at present."

What is the Editor of the Spectator to do in face of such a diversity of opinion ?

On the whole, however, the suggestions, though varied, were useful and practical, particularly those specifying subjects on which interesting• articles might be written. We award the prize of five guineas to Mr. Walter Ashley, who seems to us to have visualized very clearly the public to which the Spectator mostly appeals, and to have given a very good idea of what that public requires. We also quote other suggestions of

interest :-

When the Spectator was founded a hundred years ago, and during the greater part of its life, people of education and culture were a small minority of the community. They were mainly men, and their intellectual interests were almost entirely either political or literary. To-day, such people make up a far larger section of the population. They include nearly as many women as men, and their intellectual interests are many and diverse.

As Editor of the Spectator I should not aim at an enormous heterogeneous constituency, but I should definitely aim at interesting a large number of thoughtful (but not necessarily either politically- minded or bookish) people. There is among such people a con- siderable demand for intellectual and artistic stimulus along the lines of their own special interests—especially among the younger ones. I would seek to meet this demand by regular articles on the cinema, the wireless, sport, and even possibly fashions, and by devoting more space to the drama and to fiction, and less to literature of a limited appeal. I would continue to deal with political questions, but seek to be realistic rather than academic and entirely independent of party predilection.

* * * *

If I were the Editor of the Spectator (holding the view that the Spectator stands for a Christian and cultured idealism) I should :—

(1) Continue the weekly review on the League of Nations and the series of reviews by Miss E. Underhill on books of religion. (2) Arrange for a review (once a quarter) of the best that has been said or written by those advocating the ideals of Socialism.

(3) Provide a yearly resume of the best books in all departments of literature published during the preceding year, as a guide to readers who wish to read or possess the best.

(4) In place of the weekly poem, insert fortnightly, and alter- nately with the English poem, a short extract from a Latin or Greek classic prose or verse, in the interests of ancient culture.

(5) If necessary omit a page of published correspondence.

* * * *

If I were Editor of the Spectator I would :— (1) Use all my influence to strengthen bonds of Empire by (a) a weekly " Empire " page, on lines of present " League " ; (b) frequent longer articles on Empire subjects.

(2) Give more scope to dramatic and film critics—especially the latter, recognizing that film begins to aspire to art and can only attain art with help of intelligent criticism. (3) Inaugurate regular criticism of broadcast programmes, recognizing that they • are the greatest mass cultural force of the day and that their more important items are distinctly worthy of helpful criticism. Here, too, is a new art ! * * *

(1) I should invite articles from men working in remote corners of the world. They would appeal to other readers abroad, to their many friends at home, and enlighten our great ignorance of the work done by our fellow countrymen, who go in increasing numbers every year to work in far places. What does the ordinary reader know of forest work (including fire-fighting) in Canada, Yugo-Slavia, India; of road and railway building in South America or Tanganyika ; of flower and insect research in the tropics ; or a thousand more jobs. Knowing more, he could give a warmer welcome to men home on leave. A prize competition might elicit some.

(2) I would ask my admirable correspondent in the U.S.A. about the Mississippi valley of which we have heard nothing since

the floods. * *

If I were Editor of the Spectator I would arranged a series of articles on the more permanent obsessions of nations or groll1)3, such as fear of Jews, dislike of " niggers," and yellow peril ; also loyalties such as legitimism, nationalism, trade unionism and fables ancient and modem ; -in short, fixed ideas which may be unreasonable but cannot be ignored.