24 NOVEMBER 1923

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NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T is no easy -task to follow the ramifications of the I - Election campaign, in so far as it has yet developed. When we wrote last week the position was that Mr. Bald- win's...

With the disgruntled Unionist. Free Traders Mr. Bald- win has

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done better. Lord Robert Cecil and Lord Derby have both made speeches which, if they are not exactly inspiring rallying cries to the banner of Tariff Reform, do commend the...

Since then, the Prime Minister has incontestibly improved his position.

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- He made strenuous efforts to reconcile Lord Birkenhead and -Mr. Austen Chamberlain, and though the negotiations themselves cannot be said to have been conducted on the lines...

Thus, the Conservative Party has certainly been on the whole

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successful in its efforts to preserve unimpaired its unity before the country. This comparatively fortunate result has, undoubtedly, been furthered by the tone of Mr. Baldwin's...

TO OUR READERS.

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sion in trade. (2) Insist on the fitting of the Safeguard of the Referendum to the Constitution.—Then neither a Capital Levy nor a replica of the Fordney- McCumber Tariff can...

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:On Saturday last the Labour Party issued its official programme,

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which was entitled " Appeal to the Nation." Tariffs were declared no remedy for -unemployment. The Droit de Travail was to 'be established and vast public works immediately...

The duty of continuing the work of the inter-Allied Commission,

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however, is on a very different footing. That duty is imposed upon us by the Treaty of 'Versailles, and there is no dispute about its necessity. The German Government also...

On the other hand, the most ardent Tariff Reformer would

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find much, if not all, he wants in Mr. Baldwin's manifesto. We are to raise revenue by taxing the foreigner, protect our home industries, grow rich by excluding foreign imports,...

In contrast with Mr. Lloyd George's fulminations, the official Liberal

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programme is painfully mild. It is, indeed, extraordinary that a great Party can go to the country in an election which is, - for good - or ill, being fought on the issue of...

Meanwhile, the reunited Liberals have been by no means inactive.

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Mr. Churchill is contesting a Leicester division. On Friday, November 16th, he made a some- what stentorian appeal for Free Trade at Manchester, and he is now speaking nightly...

The problem of Germany has yielded yet another crisis during

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the past week. The Conference of .Anibas- sadors has been busily engaged .in drafting warnings to be conveyed to Germany in connexion with the return, of the ex-Crown Prince and...

This policy, it Is declared, will " defend our industries

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in the present -emergency," and "in more normal eon- , ' ditions enable us to work effectively to secure a more real measure of 'Free - Trade, both -Within the Empire and with...

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No Spanish Sovereign has visited Italy since the 'sixties of

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last century, but King Alfonso, with his Prime Minister, is now at Rome. It is a notable event. It is remarkable also that King Alfonso. went straight to the Vatican and...

Great Britain is also a Mediterranean Power, and it seems

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to us that our Government ought to co-operate in a friendly way with countries where our friendship would not be spurned or our advice habitually rejected, rather than squander...

The: Sheffield Corporation. has set a splendid example in road-making:

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As we learn. from a letter to the Times by Mr. T. J. Clark, the average cost per mile of main- taining the Sheffield roads for the five. years before the War was £246. For the....

" We got to have help," is his battle cry,

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and the cry carries because it is true: - " We farmers (said Mr. Magnus Johnson in an interview with the New York Evening Post) bought land-and farm machinery and bor- rowed...

Unfortunately; we cannot quite follow our friends the optimists in

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building great hopes upon this instance of Allied unity, for M. Poineare; instead , of untwisting the screw in connexion with reparations and the occupied territory, . has gone...

Our readers- may perhaps notice that we devote this week

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considerably more space to the annotated lists which. we have for some time published. under the heading. of "'The Recreations of London." So. many readers have been kind enough...

We much. regret to. record the death at the age

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of eighty-seven of Dr. Clifford; the well-known .Nonconformisi. leader. It is hardly too much to say that he was the- soul of nearly every great Nonconformist movement' :for...

Bank Rate, 4 per cent., changed from 8 per cent.

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July 5; 1-923 ; 5 per cent. War Loan was on Thursday, 1001 Thursday week, 100 ; a year ago, 99g.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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VOTE UNIONIST. H OW ought we to vote ? That is a question which we have had put to us by our readers in a hundred different forms. We shall not answer it by an evasion such as...

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THE CAPITAL LEVY. I.—"PRACTICABILITY."

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BY SIR JOSIAH STAMP. A NY student of taxation at home and abroad who has had to ,pore over the evidence given before committees of inquiry, to read old Hansards or Con-...

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OUR RELATIONS WITH FRANCE.

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A CCORDING to the latest diplomatic news when we write this article - there is a tendency in France to be more moderate, to yield a point or two and to try to avoid the...

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THE REFERENDUM IN SWITZERLAND. [By ARNOLD LUN:!:.] S WITZERLAND has carried

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out two experiments which have provided other nations with valuable object-lessons. The attempt of her Socialists to introduce the Capital Levy has caused even Mr. Snowden to...

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BRANSCOMBE. .

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pu t RANSCOMBE, which lies about ten miles along - the coast west from the Dorset border at Lyme Regis, is just such a rustical, old-world village where these unrecorded things...

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THE

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ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD, By EVELYN WRENCIL O N Monday the gratifying announcement was made by the Secretary - of State for the Colonies that during the ... visit of General...

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ART.

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THE ART OP POTTERY. UNTIL recently it has been quite understandable why unuseful pottery has not been seriously considered as belonging to the sphere of art and has been...

THE LITERARY SUBJ ECT.

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HONORk DAUMIER, AT BARBIZON HOUSE, 8 HENRIETTA STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE. WILLIAM ROBERTS, AT THE CHENIL GALLERIES, KING'S ROAD, CHELSEA. SUBJECT interest is generally admitted...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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THE CAPITAL LEVY. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The Capital Levy, whatever the Protectionists on the one side and the Free Traders on the other may say, is going to be...

THE THEATRE.

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TWO ELIZABETHAN PLAYS. "EDWARD II.," BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, AT THE REGENT THEATRE. " A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM," BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, AT THE KINGSWAY THEATRE. MAnr.owE's...

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FOOD AND THE FUTURE OF BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—If we import wheat from abroad we are gaining phos- phates and potash from outside. Why not do so as long as other lands are so...

PROTECTION AND UNEMPLOYMENT.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Mr. Baldwin has watered down his policy of Protection till little of substance remains, and of that little not much is likely to filter...

HOW TO SECURE THE REFERENDUM.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The Referendum which you have so long advocated has, I venture to think and hope, many supporters beyond the Unionist Free Traders to whom...

THE REFERENDUM.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—When I was a young Attache at Berne over fifty years back I was very much struck with what had been to me, previously, an unknown...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Probable political chaos awaits

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the country because of the decision for an election with no provision for a Referendum. Could you organize a powerful body of men and women to press your suggestion forward at...

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AN OMEN ?

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sta,—I have had this parody of Wordsworth's poem running in my head all the week. I hope you can assure me that it is a false omen :— " What is...

TIIE LAITY AND PRAYER-BOOK REVISION.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Stn,—The Bishop of Norwich's lucid and exhaustive " Plea for Caution" in the Times of November 14th leaves little to be said. There is,...

THE DISTRESS IN GERMANY.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I, through your columns, ask your readers to give us a Christmas gift through the Universities Committee, 71 Southwark Bridge Road,...

THE EFFECTS OF PROTECTION IN AMERICA.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—While I have already seen a number of references in the English Press to the experience of America in the matter of Protective Duties, I...

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THE INDIAN QUESTION IN SOUTH AFRICA.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Stu—I see that Sir Tej Saprit, the eloquent and persuasive Indian delegate to the Imperial Conference, has had a parting fling at General...

GERMAN POLITICS.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I was extremely pleased to see that in a recent article you emphasised the importance for all Europeans of an under- standing of the...

THE AUTOMATIC TELEPHONES FOR LONDON.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Stu—Apparently as an inference from an article by an exuberant American journalist, Mr. J. M. - Hogge, M.P., has made the statement in letters...

ARNOLD OF RUGBY.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—I do not think many persons remember Dr. Arnold better than I do, for in my young days the Doctor was greatly interested in electrical...

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AN AIR FORCE ANOMALY.

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[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have learned that an intelligent lad, a member of a Loyalist family in the South of Ireland, has had his application to join the Royal...

The Publisher will be grateful if readers will inform him

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of any difj7cully experienced in buying the paper, or of instances where it is not obtainable on Friday morning. It is only in this way that defects can be discovered in the...

POETRY.

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THE CHANGING HEART. MY thoughts fly to you like the clouds Or like their shadows on the ground, Yet, cloudlike still, my mind enshrouds And dims the form its swiftness found....

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

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THE ANCIENT GRUDGE :—Mr. Pierson W. Banning, President of the Sons of the Revolution in the State of California, requests us, as a matter of fairness, to publish a refutation by...

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BACK TO THE MIDDLE AGES.

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THE most striking feature of the political scene is the intellectual exhaustion of Socialism. Thanks to free speech, and a free Press, it is talking itself out, and although,...

BOOKS.

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THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. THE " gloomy and terrible " Maturin is an excellent subject for biography : he was the last of those notable parson- novelists who were so gravely out of...

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PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX DETERMINATION.* THERE are some subjects which, although

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profoundly scientific, compel attention from most minds, and the determination of sex is one of these. It plays a part in every individual's life, and to a certain extent has...

THE REVOLUTION IN IRELAND.* WHEN last year we reviewed Mr.

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Alison Phillips's long and important contribution to the new volumes of the Encyclo- paedia Britannica, dealing with the recent political history of Ireland, we expressed our...

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AN IMPERIAL PROGRESS.

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EVER since the machine descended on the West, men alike in life and art have hungered to escape. The nineteenth century in its first dismay turned to the past. It lingered over...

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THE LABOUR PARTY'S AIM.*

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Tins is an interesting little book ; for it reflects some of the eddies and cross currents that play across the by no means placid surface of the Labour movement in this...

APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY.*

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THESE two books agree in that view of human nature which is the basic assumption of Freudians and Calvinists alike— that man is a fountain able to send forth simultaneously...

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KNUT HAMSUN.*

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SINCE Knut Hamsun was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1920 more English readers have begun to take notice of him. Yet it is unlikely that the majority are familiar with more than two...

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POETS AND POETRY.

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A BOX OF PAINTS.* THIS book is one of those rare and delightful productions in which collaboration between poet and artist results in a single work of art. Mr. Rutherston's pen...

EAST INDIA TRADE.t

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THERE is considerable importance in the history of the East India trade during the seventeenth century. The great figure of Clive commonly obscures the student's perspective, so...

ISLANDS LURING AND U.NALLURING.*

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" EVERYONE knows about Tobago," writes Mr. Stephen McKenna. But everyone does not know about Tobago, and knows very little about Jamaica, hardly as much of Cuba, and practically...

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FICTION;

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MR. SWINNERTONA " NOCTURNE " was a tour de force of .intensity and com- pression : the emotional experience of a lifetime gathered into the events of a single night. In Young...

A POET'S OPERA.

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MR. DAVIES'S lyrical felicities bind together and bestar the three acts of his new Tramp's Opera. The abundant songs are like birds in a wood, singing now solitary and now all...

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Though we do not now think on the lines of

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the theology of the seventeenth century, for students of Scottish Church history Forbes' Irenicum has a certain documentary interest ; and this translation of the First Book of...

ADVISORY BEN. By E. V. Lucas. (Methuen. 7s. 6d. net.)

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Mr. E. V. Lucas' elaboration of his idea is not as good as the idea itself. His heroine, " Advisory Ben," otherwise Miss Benita Staveley, opens an office, which, like a certain...

It occasionally amuses Mr. E. F. Benson to try to

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make his readers' flesh creep. Such is his aim in thii collection of short stories. The two best, however, are exceedingly amusing, one being a very plain-spoken story about a...

RELIGION.

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The author of this thoughtful and suggestive book is under no delusion as to the present religious situation :— " Christendom is leaving the Church. In some parts of the world...

The ends of the lives of selfish and self-centred people

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are so unpleasant that Mr. Maxwell discounts the interest of his readers by beginning his novel with an account of the senility of his two principal characters. It may, however,...

AS THE WHIRLWIND PASSETH. By Mary Gaunt. (John. Murray. 7s -

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(id. net.) A very interesting story of the founders of the settlement of Australia. It can be recommended to anyone interested in our overseas Dominions.

THOMAS DE COBHAM : Bishop of Worcester, 1317-1327- By E.

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H. Pearce, Litt.D. (S.P.C.K. 15s.) This careful study of a fourteenth-century bishop, by the present occupant of his historical see, while a labour of love on the part of the...

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THE ORIGIN OF MAGIC AND RELIGION. By W. J. Perry.

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(Methuen and Co. 6s. net.) There should be a " Sicherheits-polizei " for people who write learned books, to prevent them from being run away with by their own theories....

PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY.

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This is a saddening book, if we arc to believe what we read in Dr. Fuller's preface :— " . . many American university curricula are faced with the problem of acquainting,...

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PSYCHOLOGY AND PRIMITIVE CULTURE. By F. C. Bartlett, M.A. (Cambridge

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University Press. - 8s. ed. net.) This is an industrious book about the psychological traits at work in early as in advanced society, but it is a saddening one. The savage's...

FINANCE-PUBLIC & PRIVATE.

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[BY OUR CITY EDITOR.] THE CAPITAL LEVY AND THE NATIONAL CREDIT. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — Notwithstanding the rally which occurred in the American Exchange on...

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

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ECHO DE PARIS : a Study from Life. By Laurence Housman. (Cape. 7s. 6d. net.) This little play has been written by Mr. Housman round an incident in real life, of which he was the...

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FINANCIAL NOTES.

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Whenever the American exchange experiences a fresh fall the effect on securities is undoubtedly accentuated by irresponsible talk of an immediate rise in the Bank Rate. This,...