6 SEPTEMBER 1940

Page 1

SPLENDID BARTER

The Spectator

W HILE dates in themselves matter little, it is of auspicious omen that the agreement between Great Britain and the United States should have been announced on the first day of...

Page 2

NEWS OF THE WEEK

The Spectator

T HE speech Herr Hitler made in Berlin on Wednesday was devoted to preparing the German people for the prospect of a second winter of war. It contained much bombast, many lies,...

Victory in the Air

The Spectator

The R.A.F. has continued its astonishing record of success against the German massed daylight air-raids. The first of these raids was on August 6th, and from then until the end...

More Free French Colonies

The Spectator

The decision of French Equatorial Africa and Gaboon, as well as the mandated territory of the French Cameroons (which adjoins the British Cameroons), to follow the example of...

General Smuts' Victory

The Spectator

The vote cast by the South African House of Assembly en Saturday on General Hertzog's " peace with Germany " motion . shows that General Smuts has not merely maintained his peg'...

Italy's Recoil

The Spectator

The campaign of violent and baseless recrimination which Italy launched against Greece in the month of August, was recognisable as the regular prelude, under the Axis technique,...

The Carving of Rumania

The Spectator

The opportunist neutrality of King Carol has landed Rumania in a lamentable position. For nine months of the war she sat on the fence—guaranteed by the democracies (with the...

Page 3

More Internment Questions

The Spectator

The more the question of interned aliens is examined the more numerous are its unsatisfactory features seen to be. Perhaps the most serious of all mistakes is the lack of any...

Air-Raid Damage

The Spectator

The position of people whose homes are damaged by air raids is thoroughly unsatisfactory, and calls for very early amend- ment. At present, unless there is lack of housing...

800,000 Unemployed

The Spectator

The latest unemployment figures are puzzling, not to say disquieting. At a time when every person's effort is needed there remain about 80o,000 unemployed, including over...

The Army's Part

The Spectator

In his speech on the anniversary of the war Mr. Eden em- broidered with much rhetorical ornament a thesis which had been set forth in a broadcast not many days earlier by...

America and Food for Europe

The Spectator

Overshadowed though it is by the greater satisfaction which the decision regarding the American destroyers provokes, there is a substantial, though a lesser, satisfaction to be...

The Spectator

Page 4

THE SECOND YEAR

The Spectator

W E have this week passed from the first to the second year of war; and in weighing its possibilities it is well to remember always that the Prime Minister is think- ing and...

Page 5

In some London shops, at any rate, Victoria plums are

The Spectator

priced at tenpence a pound ; in a Kentish market forty-six pounds of selected Victorias are sold for eighteenpence. Again in Kent the average price for Czars has been...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

The Spectator

CANADIAN soldier to whom I gave a lift on Sunday re- minded me of something I ought to have commented on ore—the extent of the debt that the whole Commonwealth es to Mr....

We are allowed to know so few details about air-raid

The Spectator

damage in this country that a message by the well-known American journalist, H. R. Knickerbocker, to his New York papers, quoted in Wednesday's Daily Express, is of particular...

Sir J. J. Thomson was undoubtedly Cambridge's greatest scientist since

The Spectator

the death of Lord Rutherford, and he has been verY distinguished Master of Trinity. Wide though his interests were he had in some respects the scientist's one-track r niod. A...

Readers of The Spectator, and in particular of its literary

The Spectator

lumps, have special reason to deplore the death of Christopher obhouse, killed in action at the early age of thirty. The uthor of works of high merit on Charles James Fox and on...

I had meant last week to salute the new daily

The Spectator

paper France, but pressure on space forbade. Nothing is more essential than that the growing French community, military and civilian, in Great Britain should have a paper which...

Page 6

THE WAR SURVEYED : THE MEANING OF THE R2-11)

The Spectator

By STRATEGICUS M R. EDEN warns us that Hitler has not abandoned his intention to seek a quick decision in the only possible way—by invading Britain ; and that timely warning...

Page 7

AMERICANS AND THE ALLIES

The Spectator

By PROF. D. W. BROGAN I N the great debate over American foreign policy that is raging in America, an increasingly prominent role is being played by the Committee for Aid to...

IMPORTANT NOTICE Readers are again reminded of the necessity of

The Spectator

ordering " The Spectator " regularly, since newsagents can no longer be supplied on sale-or-return terms.

Page 8

GENERAL DE GAULLE'S PROGRESS

The Spectator

By RENk CASSIN* y F Britain's victorious resistance to German air attack is the I most important event of the last two months, there is another which fully deserves to be set...

A VOICE FROM INDIA . . It was there that

The Spectator

your letter and wonderful fat bundle of Spectators reached me. I appreciated the Spectators tremendously, and have read them from cover to cover. T".! left behind for other...

Page 9

ARMS AND THE MIND By AN ARMY OFFICER F OR a

The Spectator

war waged in the interests of different ideologies, the present conflict affords those serving in our armed forces surprisingly few opportunities for intellectual exercise. The...

T HE R.A.F. wins an air-battle ; immediately, long before the

The Spectator

facts can have been collected, the Nazi news machine flashes out to the world the fantastic story of another British defeat in the air, British planes destroyed by the hundred,...

Page 10

AIR-RAID FATIGUE

The Spectator

By OUR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT T 0 some extent, varying with physical and temperamental make-up, occupation, age, and of course, local geography, a considerable proportion of...

ART

The Spectator

New War Pictures THE exhibition at the National Gallery of paintings and drawings by official war artists has been re-hung and some additions hare been made to it. It looks...

Page 11

COUNTRY LIFE

The Spectator

THE extreme beauty of our Augustan nights has been enhanced, though disturbed, by the patterns of searchlights. The small units of men who direct these from many a quiet field...

THE CINEMA ,

The Spectator

...Br. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet." A the Warner. — " Tom Brown's Schooldays." At the New Gallery. 15 this column last week certain remarks, which might be r egarded as...

Late Ploughs Seldom has the distinction between Northern and Southern

The Spectator

England been more strongly pronounced. The corn has been cut and carried in the South, and, more than this, a very large amount of ground has been ploughed. The ploughs have...

Experimental Cuttings !

The Spectator

A distinguished man of science is engaged in an endeavour to grow potatoes from cuttings of the haulm and thus not only to save seed, which is always expensive, but prevent...

War and Migration It seems that war years (long famous

The Spectator

among vine-growers) have a special reputation among observers of birds. They seem to promote migration, which incidentally is a better word than evacuation. It is stated in the...

Unwise Pruning Writing to corroborate the heterodox view that it

The Spectator

is a mistake to prune apple trees, a correspondent asks whether other fruits benefit by the neglect of attention. Pruning is of course a nice art. If it is not done very well it...

Page 12

TRANSATLANTIC TRANSFER

The Spectator

Slit,—At the end of May I brought my two-year-old daughter back to safety in my native America, leaving my British husband in London to do what he could toward winning the war....

Snt,—It is odd how the die-hards all over the world

The Spectator

cling to faith and stubbornly refuse to accept changed conditions. This would sound funny if it did not have tragic consequences in po t : In a letter in your columns last week...

THE FUTURE OF INDIA

The Spectator

SIR,—The British Government has again led the Congress horse to the water, but it still refuses to drink. All India, Congress, Moslems and Princes alike, views with detestation...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Spectator

[In view of the paper shortage it is essential that letters on these pages should be brief. We are anxious not to reduce the number of letters, but unless they are shorter they...

Page 13

PACIFICISM AS VOCATION

The Spectator

Sus,—The Archbishop of Canterbury's statement that he believes s ome people may be called to be pacificists raises a difficult moral problem, but I believe there are strong...

Stx,—The division of conviction within the Church, which the Arch-

The Spectator

bishops have recognised in the superficially contradictory statement which Dr. Matthews deplores, is itself a large part of the Christian pacificists' dilemma. It is this...

PACIFICISM OR PACIFISM ?

The Spectator

SIR, After consulting twelve reputable dictionaries, two encyclo- • paedias, the large technical English-French French-English dictionary (Bellows') and the recognised leading...

Sta,--The Dean of St. Paul's is certainly right in saying

The Spectator

that the dictum of the Archbishops, as it stands, is unintelligible. Pacificism, in the ordinary use of that term, means the view that it is always wrong to take the part of a...

Sta,—It seems a pity to bait the Archbishops too much;

The Spectator

they have a difficult job on hand, to square war with the recorded teaching of Jesus, and they do it with real skill. But I think Dr. Major does seri- ously overrate the power...

SIR,—Unless the Dean of St. Paul's claims that the Archbishops,

The Spectator

or the Church, or even the Dean himself, have absolute knowledge of the Nature of God he is bound to admit that the Spirit of God is ever seeking to lead us into fuller...

FARMERS AND INCOME-TAX

The Spectator

Sta,—In your issue dated August 23rd, Dr. Shackleton Bailey drew attention to the privileged position accorded to farmers in the matter of income-tax assessment. He pointed out...

Page 14

THE WAR SURVEYED

The Spectator

Sm,—France must bear the sole responsibility of her surrender. Let us use her—if we must—as " a warning and an example," to quote one of your correspondents, but is it fair—or...

CHILDREN FOR AMERICA •

The Spectator

Stit,—Most of us are agreed that it is desirable to safeguard our children from the danger and horror of war. And all the good reasons for removing English children from the...

SOILLESS GARDENING Sm,—Your reviewer Mr. H. E. Bates' instinctive recoil

The Spectator

from " Soilless Gardening " is shown by Sir Albert Howard in his Agricultural Tes- tament to be well founded. One learns that not only the plant but also the soil must live if...

Sm,—The letter headed " An Income Tax Anomaly " in

The Spectator

your issue of August 23rd ought not to pass unanswered, as it is both unfair to the farmer and most inaccurate. There are two statements which call for a reply. One is that...

THE MEANING OF BILLION

The Spectator

Sm,—In last week's issue of your paper " Janus " states that the popu- lation of the world is about two billion. According to Chambers's dictionary a billion is " a million or...

EVACUATION AND TAXATION

The Spectator

SIR,—Surely, Sir, " Tenby " in your last issue misses the whole point of my letter—which was: How does one meet such a situation as I described? I was not complaining. The...

THREEPENNY-BITS IN SCOTLAND

The Spectator

SIR,—I wonder if you would pass on that remark of Mr. Churchill's administered to a not very distinguished M.P. who was making a nuisance of himself with irrelevant and...

A TENNYSON POEM sm,—more than a century ago Tennyson, in

The Spectator

a poem entitled " Britain " (not to be found in his collected works), wrote a stanza that will, I feel sure, be welcomed by your readers in this hour strife in " the valley of...

Sm,—The circumstance that " Janus " encountered so many three-

The Spectator

penny bits in Edinburgh is explained by the existence of a large Roman Catholic element in the population of that city. He would probably encounter an even larger number in...

Page 15

How We Can Do It

The Spectator

HERE is a really important book, small and readable, that should make layman and expert understand this war better. The record of the Editor of the Economist for enlightening...

Hardy's Verse

The Spectator

IF there is anything to be said against the shorter poems of Hardy it is that they tend to leave the reader dispirited with life. He has been blamed for a monotonous note of...

Books of the Day

The Spectator

India: The Little More Enlist India for Freedom. By Edward Thompson. (Gollancz. 2S. 6d.) No one who thinks—and we have to think harder, more clearly and resolutely than at any...

Page 16

Patchwork

The Spectator

MR. WILLIAM TEELING, trayell-i, journalist and prospective Conservative candidate, has assembled thirteen contributors to give their views on Britain and Europe after the war....

Page 18

Ireland Under the Georges

The Spectator

Country and Town in Ireland Under the Georges. By Con- stantia Maxwell. (Harrap. as.) TRINITY COLLEGE, Dublin, makes full contribution to national purposes. Professor Curtis has...

Signs of Life

The Spectator

as. 6d.) SINCE the beginning of the war, publishers have found the economics of their trade so difficult that most of them have given up the publication of books of verse, and...

Page 20

The First German Revolution

The Spectator

1848: Chapter. of German History. By Veit Valentin. (Allen and Unwin. 12s. 6d.) DR. VEIT VALENTIN'S massive and indispensable history of the German Revolution of 1848 is well...

New Novels

The Spectator

MR. C. S. FORESTER'S novels are based securely on accurate knowledge of his subject-matter, but he stands out from the realist by the imagination with which he interprets his...

Page 22

COMPA I Y MEETING

The Spectator

GREAT UNIVERSAL STORES, LTD. THE twenty-second ordinary general meeting of the Great Universal Stores, Ltd., was held on August 30th last at the Institute of Chartered...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

The Spectator

By CUSTOS ON the investment, as on the military front, the first year of war has been full of surprises. Who would have predicted in September, 1939, that after twelve months...

Page 23

COMPANY MEETING

The Spectator

THE WELLMAN SMITH OWEN ENGINEERING CORPORATION DISTRIBUTION OF 12; PER CENT. MAINTAINED THE twenty-first ordinary general meeting of The Wellman Smith Owen Engineering...

Page 24

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 78 SOLUTION NEXT WEEK

The Spectator

4, THE SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 79

The Spectator

[A prize of a Book Token for one guinea will be given to the sender of the OM correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be marked...