THE NOVEMBER MAGAZINES.
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
The Imperial Conference is written about in this number from three different points of view by Mr. St. Loe Strachey, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Mr. Hugh Cookson. Mr. Strachey's suggestion for developing trade in the Empire is that Great Britain should finance production in the Dominions. He sees no hope in any system of Preferences which would tend to reduce the total volume of trade. He appeals to the Government to give most careful considera- tion to the Mediterranean question. It is refreshing to read Mr. Massey's optimistic rehearsal of the articles of his belief in the Empire and in New Zealand. Mr. Cookson deals particularly with the opportunities of trade in Brazil. Lord Raglan defends the foreign policy of the Government alike in the Ruhr, in the Janina crisis and in the Turkish negotia- tions. Those who have heard the Rev. Clement F. Rogers indefatigably answering questions in Hyde Park on behalf of the Christian Evidence Society will be interested in his article on " The Uneducated Mind." Few men can have had more experience of how the uneducated mind works. One symptom of it is the trick of catching at words. As Mr. Rogers says, the uneducated "put words in the place of things" and fly off at a tangent where two meanings coincide in one word. The examples given are amusing. Mr. Ira Bennett, editor of the Washington Post, writes on "America's Air Defence." The problem there is much like the problem here, and Mr. Bennett argues in favour of a separate Air Force. At present he finds neither order nor system in the attitude of his Government towavis aeronautics. Mr. G. H. Bonner is interesting about "Some Unfortunate Words," but like so many people who love and revere words, he errs, we think, on the side of pedantry. On his terms the English language would hardly expand as usefully and as easily as it does. Nevertheless, those like Mr. Bonner who hold the fort and resist dangerous intruders play a very useful part.
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