FAIR PLAY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."3 SIR,-It is with somewhat of a feeling of dismay that I have read the articles in the Spectator upon the Marconi contract. One had come to depend upon this paper at least as being "on the side of the angels," and here we have scoffing refer- ences to "some ideal . . . conception of what is fair." I think it must strike many readers with surprise that the Spectator should stand up virulently in favour of sharp dealing, and wish the English nation to deprive a great inventor of a large part of the advantage of his genius "because we have him in our power." In all my thirty and odd years of constant reading of your journal I have never come across such doubt- ful ethics as have been set forth in this controversy, and it is with sorrow that I have to emerge from my obscurity to utter this protest.—I am, Sir, &c., A CONSTANT READER AND ADMIRER.
[Is it possible that our correspondent has read the accounts of the evidence given before the Marconi Committee ? We have never suggested that inventors should be robbed. We have not even said that the Marconi Contract was certainly a bad one from the public point of view. What we did do was to insist on the general proposition that public servants, in making bargains with commercial companies, should act as the law compels trustees to act, i.e., not be generous and munificent with other people's money, but act on strict business lines. And for this we are accused of favouring sharp dealing I—En. Spectator.]
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