1 NOVEMBER 1924

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There is an excellent prospect now that with a more

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stable Government ahead there will be a real revival of trade. May it come, and may it come quickly ! Con- fidence and a settled feeling can work miracles. We have written in...

The balancing voters who have swung across from Liberalism or

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Labour to Unionism have no doubt been moved by the appalling record of the Government during the past few weeks. We venture to think that two months ago, when the Prime Minister...

We particularly regret the defeat of Mr. Asquith. Among the

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other defeated Liberals were Mr. Masten - Ilan, Mrs. Wintringham, Mr. Pringle, General Seely, and Dr. Macnamara. We regret also the disappearance of Mr. E. D. Simon, whose fresh...

Liberals explain their failure by saying that the issue of

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Free Trade and Protection was not sufficiently emphasized in speeches, or, at all events, was not sufficiently considered by the electors. We fancy, however, that the old...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HERE is no ambiguity about the verdict of the nation at the General Election. It is agreed on all sides that the polling was exceptionally heavy. The overwhelming Unionist...

EDITORIAL AND PUBLISHING OFFICES : 13 York Street, Covent Garden,

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London, W.C. 2. A SUBSCRIPTION to TIIE SPECTATOR costs Thirty Shillings per annum. including postage to any part of the world.

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There is nothing in all this, of course, which is

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not perfectly familiar. It has all been said by Zinovieff and the leaders of the Red International over and over again. The importance of the publication of the letter lay not...

At last, in a speech at Cardiff on Monday, Mr.

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MacDonald made a long statement on the Zinovieff letter, but left everybody more mystified than before. His explanation was indeed so strange, and incidentally so unfair to the...

Yet the draft of the Note followed Mr. MacDonald about

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the country for six days. He could surely have arranged that the documents dealing with such a tremendously important matter should be sent to him immediately at an appointed...

By far the most exciting incident in the Election cam-

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paign has been the publication by the Foreign Office of a letter which contains instructions for revolutionary violence in this country, and which purports to come from...

The writers are most hopeful of Ireland and " the

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Colonies," where nationalism, it is suggested, is so strong that it can be used as a factor of successful revolution without wasting time on prolonged preparations. " From your...

The Foreign Office publication was one of the loudest bombs

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ever dropped in the midst of a General Election. In the comparative silence of amazement which followed everybody looked for enlightenment to the Prime Minister. He, however,...

M. Rakovsky's reply to the Foreign Office was published in

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the papers of Monday. He tried to show by an examination of the forms of the signatories and of the heading of the instructions that they varied from customary usages and that...

And when all has been said, why should any kind

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of lie or craft be regarded as improbable in Zinovieff ? As Lord Lee of Fareham pointed out in a letter to the Times of Monday in a recent speech reported in the Pravda of April...

The Foreign Office protest is quite firm, and is explicit

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in making it clear that foreign revolutionary propaganda will not be tolerated here. Mr. MacDonald might have got some credit for this, but in reality, the demonstration that...

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On Thursday, October 23rd, the Second Annual Meeting of the

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Life Members of the Spectator was held at the Hotel Cecil. Lord Dawson of Penn, who presided, made a most interesting speech. Later Mr. Strachey invited the Life Members to give...

Of course it may be said, as Mr. Asquith has

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said, that the proper course was for Mr. MacDonald to have satisfied himself of the authenticity of the Russian letter before he wrote a reply at all. On the other hand, it is...

On Friday, October 24th, Mr. de Valera was arrested by

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the Ulster Constabulary in the Newry Town Hall. It had been announced that he would speak at a meeting on behalf of Mr. Michael Murney, who had been nominated as a Republican...

An examination of the dates in this affair causes strange

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reflections. Mr. MacDonald received the Zinovieff letter on October 16th, but for a whole week afterwards he was speaking publicly of Russia as a country worthy of trust. On...

On Wednesday, October 22nd, General Feng YiAsiang, who is known

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as the " Christian General," unexpectedly occupied Peking. He announced that he and his troops whom he had withdrawn from the battlefield, did not believe in war, and meant to...

The Viceroy of India and Lord Lytton, not before events

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had compelled them, have taken energetic action towards suppressing conspiracy and assassination in Bengal. More than fifty well-known Swarajists, including Mr. Subhas Bose,...

Bank Rate, 4 per cent., changed from 3 per cent.

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July 5th, 1923. 5 per cent. War Loan was on Thursday, 1024; Thursday week, 1021; a year ago, 10011. 31 per cent. Conversion Loan was on Thursday, 781; Thursday week, 781; a...

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MR. MACDONALD AND THE ZINOVIEFF LETTER.

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T HE world always seems a hard and cruel place to the men of divided allegiances—to the men who would not deliberately play false, and yet to whom the temptation to " falsely...

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE ELECTION AND ITS LESSONS. IT1 HE fight is over. The Unionists have won by a 11 triumphant majority. The Liberal Party has been ground to powder between the millstones of...

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THE GUILD COMPANY.

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T HE most hopeful of optimists cannot say that the industrial system is working smoothly in Great Britain at this moment. Many of the wage-earning class arc out of work, and...

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VOTES FOR THOSE WHO WANT THEM.

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F AR away lies the Happy Land, a country where everything is as well ordered as it can possibly be. Art, literature, science, education, sport, housing, agricul- ture, medicine,...

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THE BLUR OF THE CROWD.

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I T is strange to how great an extent the crowds in London to-day blur the lie of the land. The surging swarm so fixes our attention that we hardly know the shape of the...

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THE THEATRE.

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"THE DUENNA" AND " THE PELICAN." WHEN the curtain goes down on The Duenna, as produced at the Lyric, Hammersmith, we feel that the art of entertainment pure and simple could...

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[ To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sui,—It is difficult

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to imagine what can have induced Sit Arbuthnot Lane to write his article on this subject ; still more difficult is it to imagine how he could start off with the regret that it...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Sin, —It is a pity that Sir Arbuthnot Lane in his article, " The Effect of Alcohol," should state so emphatically that alcohol is a necessity at a dinner in order to take off...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sue—Probably not many of your readers will apply the epithet " superficial " of one of your correspondents to Sir...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

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Sue—After reading the article on " The Effect of Alcohol," by Sir Arbuthnot Lane, I gave his advice to one of my men here, who for the past two months has been in great trouble...

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A WINNING PROGRAMME FOR UNIONISTS.

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[To the Editor- of the SPEervron.] Sta,.—I have follbwed with increasing interest your explana- tion and advocacy of the All-In Insurance, and I would like to endorse the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Will you allow me

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once more to protest forcibly against the adoption and use of the expression " lady-servant" ? It is of course, a contradiction in terms, and an expression likely to give...

MANUAL WORKERS AS DIRECTORS.

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[TO the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In your. last instalment of " A Winning Programme for Unionists." you refer to the need in industry of " co-partnery " by. the...

THE POST OFFICE.

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[To the Editor of the SpnerNron.] Sus,—In reference to your remarks on page 537 of your issue of October 18th you say nothing about the diminished services of the Post Office...

DOMESTIC SCIENCE AS A PROFESSION FOR GENTLEWOMEN.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—May I, as a school-master's wife with nearly twenty years' experience in running a large household, and with practical personal knowledge...

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THE HOMECROFT POLICY.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I am very glad to read that the Spectator will carry out a homecroft trial, to settle just what amount of foodstuff can be raised upon a...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Might I offer a

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suggestion which should commend itself both to the advocates of the idea of a training college for domestic work, and to your other correspondents who contend that domestic...

SILVER AND THE STANDARD OF VALUE.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIRS If " the use and abuse of gold as the standard of value and the base of the media of exchange " are to be re-examined in the light of...

BAMBOO FOR BUILDING.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—Has the suggestion ever been made to you that cottages for one or two families could be built cheaply and quickly of cement reinforced...

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" CORPUS DELICTI."

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—In the review of " Studies in Murder," in your issue of October 4th, the writer, dealing with the case of Russell Colvin, who was alleged...

THE UNCERTAIN VOICE IN EDUCATION.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. A. C. Harwood advises me to study the work of Dr. Rudolph Steiner, claiming that the Doctor " is able to be precise in the matter of...

JENNY LIND AND ENGLAND.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Would you be kind enough to permit me to ask any amongst your readers who heard Jenny Lind sing to be so very good as to write to me here...

JOURNALISM IN INDIA.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The weekly Statesman of Calcutta in its issue of August 21st quotes certain remarks from the Forward (the organ of the Swaraj party) which...

INVALID CHILDREN AND INSANITARY CONDITIONS : A PUZZLE.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] ,SIR,—Can you or any of your readers tell me what is the best and quickest method to ensure that all that may be possible is done towards...

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THE CAT IN HISTORY.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Every cat-lover must be in your debt for your delightful allusion in your book, The River of Life (Hodder and - Stoughton), to the...

LINKS WITH THE PAST—THE '45.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] . SIR,—It may interest your readers to know that there is yet alive one who had the story of the '45 from an eye-witness. My aunt, aged...

KNOW THYSELF.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sus, — In The Best of Matthew Arnold's Prose, edited by Mr. D. C. Somervell, and in the opening essay, Sweetness and Light, on page 24, I find...

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

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TALKING AT CONCERTS.—MP. R. J. BUITOW, Central House,, 48 Kingsway, W.C. 2, writes :—I should like to ascertain through your columns what remedy, if any, there is for the...

POETRY.

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FAT CATTLE IN TRUCKS NEAR THE FAIRFIELD CRANE (GLASGOW). I HOPE the sun will shine to-day To put this dreariness in tune. Shine, Sun, and flash the grey away I hope the sun...

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A BOOK OF THE MOMENT.

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THE HEART OF THE GIRL. [COPYRIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY 'ITLE New York Times.] The Receipt Book of Elizabeth Raper, with Portions of Her Cipher Journal. Edited...

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B 0 0 K S .

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THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. WE had hoped for a little more excitement in reading Mark Twain's Autobiography (Harpers) than we are actually given. It had been dinned into our ears that...

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THE JEWS IN WORLD HISTORY. I.—BEFORE CHRIST.

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Recent Books for Reference :- Israel : Social and Religious Development. By A. W. F. Blunt. (Oxford University Press. 2s. 6d. net.) A Survey of Hebrew Education. By John A....

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FOUR COMICS.

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Tally-Ho, and Other Hunting Noises. By J. B. Morton. (Cecil Palmer. 5s. net.) The Legend of Monte della Sibilla. By Clive Bell. (The Hogarth Press. 4s. 6d. net.) I HAVE two...

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THE COMMANDER OF THE FAITHFUL.

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The Caliphate. By Sir Thomas W. Arnold, C.I.E., Litt.D. (Oxford : at the Clarendon Press. 10s. 6d. net.) Wns;N: the Caliphate, abandoned by the Turks to be a bone of contention...

THREE BOOKS ON AUSTRALIA:

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Thirty Years in Tropical Australia. By the Rt. Rev. Gilbert White, Bishop of Willochra. (S.P.C.K. 58. Cheap edition.) AUSTRALIANS are busy with the historical study of their own...

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A SHORT HISTORY OF RUSSIAN MUSIC.

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My Musical Life. - By - Rimsky Korsakoff. Translated by J. A. Joffe, and edited with an introduction by Carl Van Vechten. (Seeker. 25s.) IT is some time since this volume...

NOTABLE BOOKS.

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EARLY !CHINESE BRONZES. By Albert J. . Koop. (Berm. £5 5s. net.) OVER four thousand years ago, before the Stone Age had come to an end in Europe, a Chinese emperor had the...

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SAINT JOAN. By Bernard Shaw. (Constable. £5 5s. net.) THOUGH

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we recently reviewed Mr. Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan at full length, we cannot resist the temptation to put up a signpost to the folio edition of the play just published by...

FICTION.

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A PROVINCIAL PANORAMA. Married Life. By Conal O'Riordan. (Collins. 7s. 6d.) IN Bly Market Mr. Bernard Gilbert has attempted to recon- struct a day in the life of a West...

READERS of Savage Sudan and of Mr. Chapman's other books

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will remember the feeling of health and exhilaration which his writing gives. He has always sturdily believed that nature can be studied best in the open air, under typical...

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OTHER NOVELS.—Julie Cane. By Harvey O'Higgins. (Jonathan Cape. 7s. 6d.

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net.)—Mr. Harvey O'Higgins' short stories have led British readers to expect a good deal from his writing, and, although his first long novel is not on so original a model as...

Mr. Leland Buxton, his publisher tells us, possesses personal knowledge

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which makes him competent to describe life in a Crown Colony. This is not a particularly reassuring fact to the Imperialist reader, for the author gives us a rather too vivid...

FINANCE-PUBLIC & PRIVATE.

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[BY OUR CITY EDITOR.] AN ECONOMIC STOCK TAKING. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] should like to draw the attention of those of your readers who are interested in a clear and...

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FINANCIAL NOTES.

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Rightly or wrongly, as will have been demonstrated before this note appears in print, the City has taken the view during the past week that a Conservative victory was probable....