THE ROUND TABLE.
THE June number of the Round Table opens with an article on " The Principle of Peace." It is partly historical and retrospective, where it deals with the divergence of the principles of the common. wealth from those of Prussianism and the racial State idea, and the drift to war to which this cleavage led, but it is also prospective and constructive. Europe must bo slave or free. Germany can only attain her avowed end by being able in the last resort to force bee neighbours to comply with her will. On the other hand, the essential condition of peace, as the writer regards it, is that " Germany should be forced to accept such a position that she will no longer bo able to dream of dictating successfully to Europe, and so will have no option but to accept that status of equality with her neighbours which will make possible that international system based upon equal rights for all civilized States of which Mr. Asquith recently spoke. This does not mean the dismemberment of Germany, or the alteration of her system of government by force. It means, in essence, tho liberation of the non-German peoples from the political and military control of Berlin." But this is only half the battle. The greater and more difficult task is the establishment of a new international order—a treaty system guaranteed by all the chief civilized Powers, the creation of which depends mainly upon the Allies and America. The reign of world law will not come about by itself; it cannot be achieved without the assistance of the British peoples ; and this does not simply mean the pursuit of a constructive foreign policy after the war ; it involves Constitutional changes, which are discussed in The Problem of the Commonwealth, an inquiry into the history and nature of the British commonwealth conducted jointly by many of tho staff of the Round Table, though the conclusions are issued on the authority
of Mr. Curtis alone.—The article on " The Labour Movement and the Future of British Industry " is also partly retrospective and partly constructive. The survey of Labour during the war is especially interesting from its comparison of British and French achievement. While pronouncing our record to be on the whole highly creditable, the writer is obliged to admit that France has not only been free from strikes, but has handled her munitions problem more successfully than wo have, and he adds :— "Nor does this greater efficiency of the French munitions supply spring out of the system of compulsory military service : men can be compelled to work, but they cannot be compelled to do good work ; the evidence as to the increasing intensity of production in France shows indisputably that the driving force was not military law but patriotic zeaL" Reviewing the ideals of the British Labour movement in the past, the writer insists on its adherence to moral and social aims and its intensely national character. As compared with the German cult of efficiency and organization we have made our choice ; " it is made for us by our national history, whioh has given us the character we have to-day. We cannot standardize or Prussianize our workers." Hence in outlining an indus- trial policy after the war the writer lays special stress on the need of reciprocal recognition " of Unions by employers and of employers by Unions, as advocated by Mr. Charles Booth, and embodied in a system of permanent Joint Committees.—A third article on " Economio Reconstruction," while by no means inclined to acquit employers of blame for the intense suspicion of bitterness against Capital which pre- vails among the working classes, does not hesitate to condemn the Trade Union policy of restricting output as not only resting on a fallacy, but as disastrous to the community and tho workers as well as to the employers. —We can only briefly mention the article on " The German-American Submarine Controversy," in which, while admitting the indecision of the United States Government during its continuance, the writer affirms that, if the Administration abides by its position, the United States will by its action have aided sea power, and declares that it is, despite some obvious reluctance, upholding the pubLa right of the world.
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