11 NOVEMBER 1932

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News of the Week

The Spectator

T HE defeat of President Hoover and the Republicans is the most sensational event in American party history for more than a century. Since the foundation of the party no...

Disarmament Hopes The French Disarmament Plan impresses itself more deeply

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on the public mind the more clearly its outlines shape themselves. Its text is still unpublished and M. Paul Boncour's exposition at Geneva last Friday threw little more light...

The Republican Retribution Shattering though the blow to them is,

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the President and his party could not be surprised. There is no denying the justice of the New York Times' comment that, if ever a rebuke was warranted for any political...

OFFICES; 99 (lower St., London, W.C. 1. 'Tel. : MUSEUM

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1721. Entered as second-class Mail Matter at the New York, N.Y. Post Office, Dec. 23rd, 1896. Postal subscription 308. per annum, to any part of the world. Postage on this issue...

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War in the Air The attitude of Members of Parliament

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in protesting against any suggestion that the British Air Force should be abolished is hard to comprehend. What is under dis- cussion is not the abolition of the British Air...

The Derelict Cunarder The confident announcement made by most newspapers

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on Monday that work on the new Cunarder was to be resumed before Christmas have been denied both by the Prime Minister and by the Cunard Company. Yet some decision must be taken...

Annuities and Tariffs The annuities due from the Irish Free

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State to this country amount to 15,000,000 a year. Mr. Thomas announced in the House of Commons on Tuesday that the yield of the special duties on Free State imports had...

The New Reichstag The result of the German General Election

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has left the situation a little worse than it was before. The Govern- ment itself has, on the face of it, been decisively repu- diated, but with no Government Party before the...

Mr. Gandhi's Visitors While it is satisfactory that the Government

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of India should have allowed Mr. Gandhi to carry on conversations with visitors from outside his gaol on the question of untouchability, it is by no means satisfactory that the...

Conditions in China An important message in Wednesday's Times quotes

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a series of messages received by the North China Daily News from its correspondents all over China going to show tint, at any rate in all the central regions, conditions are...

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The Scottsboro Case It is welcome news that the United

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States Supreme Court has reversed the capital sentence passed by the court at Scottsboro, Alabama, on seven young negroes for assaulting two white girls. Liberal opinion in...

Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : " The general debate

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on Unemployment initiated by the Labour Party has thoroughly justified itself. All parties made a genuine effort to avoid - party controversy, and as a result the debate was a...

* * * * The Equi ty ' Shop It would be

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an excellent thing for the theatrical pro- fession had for the public which it serves if the " Equity Shop " which has 'worked so well in America, could be established in this...

Those who did so, did well. Sir Henry Betterton took

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any amount of trouble to bring the arid figures of the cost of relief works up to date, and is a greatly improved speaker. Major Elliot, however, had the success of the debate....

* * * *

The Spectator

Tariff or Quota ? Artificial restrictions on trade are almost invariably bad, but some of them are worse than others. As between the tariff and quota (on the assumption that at...

Apart from the plan itself, three things emerged from this

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section of the debate—the first, that the authority of a great consuming country in. an age of abundance is immense ; the second, that the Ministry of Agriculture is becoming a...

A Graceful Tribute The donation of some 11,700 which the

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Spectator, thank s to the generosity of its readers, was enabled to forward last year to Brynmawr to assist in the foundation of accessory industries in that all but derelict...

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Workless Millions

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T HE problem of unemployment is twofold—to reduce by any means reasonably possible the numbers of the workless, and to provide maintenance for the residue who, when every effort...

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Franklin D. Roosevelt BY S. K. R ATCLI FFE. T HE

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two most important points about the President- elect of the United States are the two that are most obvious : first that he is a Roosevelt, and secondly that he is a Democrat....

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I was much struck by the contrasting styles of the

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three speakers at the unveiling last Friday of the Oxford Union bust of Lord Birkenhead. There was the simple, almost homely welcome of the President, J. C. Smuts, a cousin of...

Not long ago Governor Roosevelt, in private conversa- tion, said

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that if he were elected he would be quite ready to go to Washington at once and discuss a debt-settlement arrangement with President Hoover on non-party lines. Mr. Hoover, it...

Mr. Roosevelt will be universally described as the thirty-second President

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of the United States. He is the thirty-first. • The mistake is made in the United States by counting Grover Cleveland twice over because there was an interval between his first...

(1) " Mr. Belloc's book on Napoleon will be followed

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this week by his experience in exile." (" An Exile's Autobiography," by H. B.?) (2) " At the age of 20, everyone over 40 appears old." Both from the same page of a Sunday...

The state of British farming was put to me graphically

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a day or two ago by a man who knows the subject through and through. " The estimated value of the farms of the country, with their. stock, ten years ago was somewhere round...

The recipient of a Navy League circular, calling on him

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to demand an adequate Navy " because in the settlement of international disputes it is the right arm of the Foreign Minister," responded by asking how this doctrine was to be...

A Spectator's Notebook

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I NFORMATION that reaches me from various sources regarding the Cabinet's discussions on disarmament is thoroughly depressing. There are unconcealed divisions in the Cabinet....

Rockets and Roman candles banging round me on Saturday prompted

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some reflections on the latest phases of the save-or-spend controversy. For there could be no better lesson in elementary economics than Guy Fawkes Day provides. Let it be...

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India : Nearing the Goal

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BY SIR STANLEY REED. T HE third and last session of the Indian Round Table Conference is to meet on Tuesday. We cannot disguise the fact that it will assemble in a chilly atmo-...

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Reunion : A Free Church View

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.13Y PROFESSOR P. CARNEGIE SIMPSON, D.D. T HE first published declaration from the resumed series of joint-conferences between representatives of the Anglican Episcopate and...

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Francis Thompson By SHANE LESLIE 1 T is ti quarter

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of a century since the delightful child- soul of Francis Thompson left his laudanum-clotted body in the HOspital of SS. John and Elizabeth not far from Lord's Cricket Ground for...

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A Display of Heraldry BY J. E. S.

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" IF there is anything," said the explosive Mr. Meagles, 1 " that represents in coats, waistcoats, and big sticks, our English holding-on by nonsense, after every one has found...

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The Theatre

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As Mr. Maugham sees it, Rambleston, where the Ardsleys live in a faithfully observed atmosphere of Landseers and lawn tennis, is still part of the devastated area. The guns in...

Art

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Mr. Nash and Others TILE water-colours which Mr. Paul Nash is now showing at the Leicester Galleries seem to show that he is going through a period of almost puritanical...

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A SECRET OF TILE HIVE.

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One of the small details that has made enquiry easier is the discovery that the cellulose paint or varnish (such as is used for adding a flourish to our motor-cars) is an ideal...

Country Life

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SX ROTUAMSTED ENQUIRY. Among the many new lines of enquiry which are now being followed at Rothamsted, the oldest and best agri- cultural station in the world, is the life of...

A BENEFICENT GRASS..

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On November 16th, at the Royal Society of Arts, some account is to be given of a beneficent plant possessing an unusual history. It is a variety of the Spartina grass that is...

The process of research is not less interesting than the

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discovery. A comb-ful of bee grubs is removed from the hive and put into an incubator (kept approximately at blood-heat). The young bees when they hatch are singularly docile....

To begin with the essential fact. The bees in every

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hive ..njoy progressive employment. They begin as housemaids, they arc promoted to be nursemaids and conclude as house- keepers or at any rate as caterers. The system works Very...

The early career is singularly uniform. First they hang about

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the comb from which they emerged, and spend their t ime—in rather a lay.. y and desultory manner—in cleaning out the cells and making them fit for further use. As their zeal and...

The Germans have done much original work on this subject

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and Mr. Morland at Rothamsted has been working on their theories, which on the whole, though with qualifications, he corroborates ; and the Rothamsted work should prove of...

NEW ACTIVITIES.

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This enquiry into the ways of bees is one example out of several of the extension of the activities of Rothamsted. It was founded to study soil. It has grown under Sir John...

Now suppose the hive is not big enough to hold

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more comb, more honey, or suppose the season is so unfavourable as to interfere with the storing, the system more or less breaks down. Promotion, as I have said, is blocked. An...

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THE DANES AND OURSELVES

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[To the Editor of the SpEcr.vron.1 Sig,—Would you permit a Dane who knows and admires England and the English to write a line on a very important topic ? I have always found...

Letters to the Editor [Correspondents are requested to keep their

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letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suitable length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs.—Ed. Seccratoa.I SCRAP THE SINKING FUND? - [To the...

BANK PREMISES

The Spectator

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin, - In your issue of October 20th, Mr. Kiddy defends the banks against the attacks to which they arc subject for charging 5 per cent. for...

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THE NEW FOREST PYLONS

The Spectator

. . . [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The Central Electricity Board are pressing for authority to carry the Southampton-Bourne Valley part of their main grid-line of...

AN ECONOMIC THIRD CHAMBER [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—The article of Lord Melchett on this subject is timely and stimulating. He is altogether right when he urges that unnecessary political interference with industry has a...

SIR WILLIAM CLARKE HALL [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SM.—Within a few hours of the sudden and untimely death of Sir William Clarke Hall The Times wrote in its obituary notice : " His views on the merit of the law tended perhaps...

MAJOR YEATS-BROWN IN RUSSIA -[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—Mr. Emrys Hughes, in his letter to the Spectator of October 29th, demands with some asperity why the woman with five children by a drunken husband was not admitted to the...

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GREEK AND MODERN SCULPTURE [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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SIR,—Readers of the Spectator who look to the paper for information of the character of new books must be puzzled by the two references to my book The Meaning of Modern...

The Fowler

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As the poor fowler's cunning net Patiently (lay by day is set To entrap for man's delight the rare Elusive creatures of the air, So too the poet, fired afresh By hope, spreads...

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The programmes for the week represent an unusually high level.

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In every branch of broadcasting Music, Drama, Talks, and Vaudeville-there is something good. In music, particularly, the week is rich. We are to hear Elizabeth Schumann, Elena...

Mr. Vernon Bartlett speaks front Prague next week. If any

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justification were needed for the adventurous notion of sending him touring round Europe to broadcast first-hand impressions of the various countries and capitals, it was amply...

A Radio Review

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NEXT week the B.B.C. celebrates its tenth birthday. The occasion marks a vast and stimulating achievement. Ten years is not a long while when one considers the stride that has...

The development of foreign relays-particularly from America and middle-Europe-has been

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one of the most conspicuous achievements of the B.B.C. engineers. It is good to find, therefore, that foreign relays are liberally represented in the Birthday Programmes. Apart...

knots TO 1VATCII FOE.

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Sunday : Menges - violin recital (Daventry National, 12.30), Romeo and Juliet (Daventry National, 4.15), Orchestral Concert-Ansermet (London and Midland Regional, 9.5). Monday...

The " Spectator " Crossword No. 7

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Br XANTIIIPPE. ACROSS 1. Epithet for the latest thea- trical fashion. 9. Indication of catty content. 10. Gnaw in pram for dry sheets. II. Greek Don Quixote. 12. Part of...

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The Industrial Revolution in Scotland

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The Industrial Revolution in Scotland. By Henry Hamilton (Oxford : Clarendon Press. 15s.) Da. HcUILzON, who published some years ago an important work on the English brass and...

Persia. By Sir Arnold. Wilson, in The Modern World series.

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Edited by A. A. L. Fisher. (Bann. 21s.) Isz a volume of less than four hundred pages, it is a difficult task to give the intelligent general reader an adequate comprehensiVe...

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Full Marx

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The Coming Struggle for Power. By John Strachey. (Gol- lancz. 9s.) THE last three years of depression and crisis have hitherto produced only Sir Arthur Salter's Recovery as a...

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London's Affairs

The Spectator

London for Ever : The Sovereign City. By Colonel Robert J. Blackbam. (Sampson Low. 12s. 6d. ) The London County Council from Within. By Sir Harry Haward. (Chapman and Hall....

The Brontës

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The Bronas : Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence. In four volumes: The Shakespeare Head Bronte. Edited by Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington. (Oxford . :...

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In the Beginning was the Word Tins is a joyful

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book. The author is dealing with eternal stuff. that carries no moral or temporal problem. He is concerned with that which ought to lee the poet's first and last interest ; he...

The Case - Against Einstein

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The Case Against Einstein. By pr. Arthur Lynch. (Philip Allan. 10s. 6d.) SOME twelve years ago, when the Einstein boom was beginni ng. we were asked by a friend to a reception,...

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Philip II

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Philip II of Spain. By David Loth. (Routledge. 15s.) COMMONLY there is no one less to be envied than the son of a great man, for greatness spends so much of its vitality that...

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Sir Edward Elgar

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THIS volume disproves appreciably the forbidding axiom that articles written for a musical journal make unprosperous reading when republished, without amendment, in book form....

Robert Browning

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Browning and the Twentieth Century. A Study of Robert Browning's Influence and Reputation. By A. Allen Brooking: ton. (Oxford University Press. 15s.) IT is doubtful whether...

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Flowering Wilderness

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Flowering Wilderness shows Mr. Galsworthy at the top of his form. The characters grip at once, and one fmds Oneself suffering with them, longing to interfere in their destiny,...

Seasonable Humour

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Rya'. By Maurice Cenevoix. (Putnam. 7s. 6c1.) Nymphs and Satires. By Rachel Ferguson. (Henn. 7s. 6d.) 1.1. is hardly fair to begin talking about Christmas already, yet it is...

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Fiction

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BY L. A. G. SraoNG., 7s. 6d.) A PECULIARITY of The Narrow Corner is that its central character, Dr. Saunders of Fu-chou, does not take part in the action. Strange things...

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GUARANTEEING PEACE.

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Many, no doubt, have been the causes of the failure to re-establish confidence after the Great War, but I think that underneath most of them will be found the cardinal fact that...

BROADCAST MINDS By Ronald Knox

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The principal " broadcast minds " with which Father Knox deals in this often entertaining, and always vivacious, book (Sliced and Ward, 7s. 6d.) are Professor Julian Huxley,...

Finance—Public & Private

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The World Economic Conferenc e IF, as is currently reported, the World Economic ference- is unlikely to meet until the spring of year I should not be inclined to regard that...

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE Edited by Sir A.

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W. Ward and A. R. Waller Originally available only in a large and justifiably expensive edition, The Cambridge History of English Literature can now be purchased, in portable...

THREE ESSENTIALS.

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The problems to be discussed at the Conference will be numerous and varied, and I doubt not there will even be divergence of opinion as to causes of the depression and the need...

ATTITUDE OF THE U.S.

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It is very difficult to determine the right moment and the right conditions for a World Conference, but—and the point serves to show how Party politics may be an imp e di. ment...

WAR DEBTS.

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Human' nature, however, "being what. it is, a genuine desire for peace must be backed by a determination on the part of all the nations to secure as far as may be - possible'...

Current Literature

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BACK TO THE COAL STANDARD By Captain Bernard Acworth Our coal industry would benefit if the drift from coal to oil could be checked. But it may be questioned whether in his...