The Case for Liberty. By E. S. P. Haynes. (Grant
Richards. 6s. net.)—Mr. Haynes's essay is a spirited though somewhat discursive protest against the tendency of the modern State to interfere in what used to be regarded as men's private affairs. He urges, too, that Government action often accords with the wishes of a minority, not of a majority :- " Modern communities have now become so enormous that what we want in politics is something equivalent either to the Co-operative ement or a Consumers' League. The analogy to the Co-operative Movement would be a highly perfected system of local government on the lines of what is known as Devolution, which would thus not only relieve the congestion of the Imperial Parliament but would also clarify local and Imperial issues. The analogy to the Consumers' League would be the establishment of such devices as the Recall and the Referendum."
Mr. Haynes rightly attributes to the Socialists a profound dislike of liberty as Englishmen have conceived it. There would be no wore individual liberty in a Socialist State than there was—
or is—in Prussia. But the avowed Socialists, as he shows, are not the chief menace at present.
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