TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12827, 11 June 1907, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The prosecution of two Franco's French labour agitators Danger, and anti-militarists, reported in yesterday's cables, is an indication tbat the Government is grappling determinedly with a. serious evil. Bo reliable an

authority as tho Pari* correspondent of "The Times," who is a. supporter of the present overnment, is apprehensive about tho spread" of anti-militarism in the Army and the Navy, and the growth of the strike movement, and 'hint 3 hroadly that firmer moasures are needed. In no country in the world, he says, would the methods of the professional agitator, as practised now in France, be found consistent with the maintenance of -law and order. The claim of Ihe Civil Servants to form trad© unions is causing uneasiness, especially as the personnel, once supposed to b© th© envy of Europe, has deteriorated. But tho more 6orious evil is anti-militarism. Th© French soldier and sailor are said to be splendid men, intelligent, brave, hardy, and imbued with tho great traditions of tho services. But thero havo lately been seme lamentable instances ot insubordination, and the faith of the public lias been shaken. Incendiary literature has been distributed broadcast among tiie soldiers with immunity, and it is pretty well known that tlio arsenals, of all places, aro hot-beds of a-natohisni. Tho recent great lire at Toulon stems to havo been without doubt, the work of incendiaries, ana it was by no moans tho hrst bf its kind. According to the correspondent of tho "Daily Telegraph" tho state ol tilings at Toulon is very grave. The arsenal is dominated by a group ot anti-militarist agitators, with the result that work is slack and discipline faulty. Tho Government is porie__y well awa.ie of tnis serious &tat© of affairs but will not crush the tvil ior .loar of losing the votes of the Radical members from Toulon. Air. Arnold Wiiiite made similar charges against tho French arsenals a couple of years ago. Tho correspondent of 'Tne ''I'inKs" sees tho best hope for the iutur. in a separation between tne majority apd the Socialists, who havo hitherto carried a great deal of weig.fi, in matters of policy. Air Walter Alurdoch, an Enemies of Australian critio of Literature, note, talked interestingly to a Alelbourne aiidienco tho other night about the enemies of literature. Tho deadliest of all enemies is not, in Air Alurdoch's opinion, tho empty-headed butterfly or tho gushing admirer of Miss Alario Corelli, but tho social reformer. Ho is the deadliest because ho is tho noblest and the inobt iv earnest. He is continually donianding indignantly how lovers of art dare, when the ills of humanity are so crying, and its needs 6o vociferous, to spend idlo moments dallying with books and pictures. This, tlie lecturer reminded the audienoo, was the ground of tho celebrated quarrel between Air Frederic Harrison and Matthew Arnold. Tho euro for the world's wounds prescribed by Arnold was sweetness and light, and Air Harrison was stung to fury at what ho regarded as a cruel mockery of a prescription. "We now begin to see, however, that in Arnold tho lovo of his kind burned with as intense a flame as in his opponent, and that he had a deeper insight into man's needs. Culture is tho panacea of all social ills." Tho reformer tries to get a just social system by altering Constitutions; culture endeavours to attain the same object by changing men. Culture -is not an acquaintance with sonnets, but "a- training of the intellect, a vivifying of the imagination, a deepening of tho emotions, a widening of the sympathies." To those who think sometimes that they are wasting timo in pursuit of literature ho gives words of encouragement. Thoy aro not trifling with life. What some people might think a very deadly enemy Air Alurdoch passes over lightly. This is the worshipper of the fetish x of tlie practical in education, to whom a word for literature as a necessary element in the training of the young .6 03 a red rag to a bull. "But lie is not dangeious; tho real gist of his argument is that wo ought to give our children the trend of edueatiqn which turns out men like himself ; the programme is unattractive, and therefore harmless." Air Alurdoch deals with tho Philistine in his various forms and the dilletnnte, but curiously omits to mention the greatest of all enemies in tho eyes of most authors—tho critic. i There is interesting oviCbnghing denco in tho "British in Atedical Journal" of the Church, connection ' between science and the churches in an article on tho question, why do wo cough in church ? Why, it is asked, aro peoplo who can sit out a y play or listen to an interesting conversation ■without coughing, seized with a distressing irritation of th© throat when, they compose themselves to hear a sermon? "Tho affection is contagious, spreading from seat to seat, cough answering unto cough, till the church is as full of noise as Prospero's island." I_> this dv© to 6uddcn changes of tnmperaturo or draughts." The problem of coughing in theatres has been attacked by an American scientist, who comes to tho conclusion that coughing aristw fiorn prolonged attention. Reflex irritation is propagated from the ear to tho throat by th© strain on tho ear eaueed by the effort to hear what the actors aro saying. Tho "British Aledical Journal" is, unfortunately, unable to extend this explanation to churches. It would bo comforting to preachers if they could explain tho disconcerting cough by eager listening, but tho "Aledical Journal" thinks that the solution is to bo found in what Falst.iff calls "tlie disease of not listening, the malady of not marking." It is related that once upon a tjme, when an author was reading a new play before tho members of tho Comedie Francaiee, an actress fell asleep. Afterwards tho author, thinking to score off tho sleepy one, insisted on having her opinion on the play, on tho ground that the attention sho had given to him would mako his opinion particularly valuable. Th© reply was disconcerting: "Sir, sleep is an opinion." Similarly, it may be said that coughing js an opinion. At a first performance of a play by Sardou, the audience coughed in the middle of tbe second act. Tho author exclaimed at once, 'They cough; I always thought that soeno was too long." The 'Journal" thinks that preachers might sometimes draw tho 6ame moral from th© coughing of a congregation.