LONDON TOPICS

Evening Star, Issue 21622, 18 January 1934, Page 15

LONDON TOPICS

TARIFF AS BARGAINING WEAPON [From Odr Correspondent.] December 7. It must be rather disappointing for critics of the Government that just at the moment when they have been telling the House of Commons that the country is being led into economic wars by our tariff policy news should come through to the effect that Prance intends to withdraw the 15 per cent. Surtax she has been levying on British goods. The official announcement of this withdrawal may be delayed for some time owing to the. insecurity of the existing French Government. 1 understand, .however, that the decision is one that is likely to stand, whatever group may hold office in France. The fact is that it is realised generally in France that the increased duties which the President of the Board of Trade has threatened to impose would be disastrous to French export trade with this country. The use of our tariff as a bargaining weapon is therefore more than justifying the claims made for it by its creators. The withdrawal of the French surtax will doubtless be made the occasion for further trade negotiations, and if our Government can tend any reciprocal favours to France the incident, instead of'leading to tariff war, should result in a more , friendly trade understanding between the two countries. . PRESSURE ON AN M.P, Lively discussion is taking place in parliamentary circles regarding the case of a Liberal member, whose employer's are said to have asked him to resign because he did not cross the floor with Sir Herbert Samuel. If the facts are as stated they will raise a nice point as to whether they do not constitute a breach of privilege, on the ground that ah attempt is being made to coerce a member in respect of his parliamentary duties. LITVINOFF. Moscow’s Foreign Secretary, who in looks is a cross between a professional pianist and a chess master, is making the grand tour. ' Having seen Sir John Simon on his way-to rope in President Roosevelt, Litvinoff is now'meeting Signor Mussolini in Italy, and before returning to his spiritual home will piost orobably have other interviews with Herr Hitler in Berlin and Marshal Pilsudski in Warsaw. Russian diplomacy has always been on the same high level ns Russian chess, and it might stagger ’ some of the Moscow comrades if they knew exactly what had passed , in alt these confidential talks. Eventually the supreme concern of all statesmen is £ s.d. And Litvinoff at the moment is less a diplomat norhans than a commercial traveller. His chief concern is not Reds, but roubles. • ADMIRABLE CRICHTON. Colonel Arthur Lynch, the former Irish Nationalist M.P.., has undergone a serious operation in a West End nursing home. This remarkable Irishman is a-real modern Admirable Crichton. He is a qualified surgeon, a practical electrical engineer, an expert matheriiatician, an experienced journalist, and an author. His first political venture was as an election opponent of the celebrated Captain O’Shea in .1896. He was a war correspondent in the 'shanti campaign, and in. 1903 was sentenced to death for high treason after having fought against us in the Bncr War with the Irish Brigade. In 1918. however. Colonel Lynch was a British Army colonel, and engaged in a strenuous recruiting campaign in Ireland •Not many men have had such a mnnvsidod life or combined so marvellouslv native adventure and profound studv Colonel Lynch always- struck me as a medievalist horn out of his right century. ,1. THE REAL ASQUITH. Popular impressions of famous people are rarely mute so wide of the mark as in the late Lord Oxford’s" case. He was generally regarded as an austere character: a sort of scholar recluse, as remate as the poles from what is known as a lady’s man Yet be was married twice, had no sporting interests, rarely golfed, and was not a club man His letters to Mrs Harrison, which have caused such » stir, were in much the same vein as those be wrote to Miss Viola Tree, now Mrs Alan Parsons And be was, at the height of her London vogue, a? keen an admirer of Miss Maude Allan, the dancer, as anybody. At the same time he was.- however, expediency eventually changed his attitude, a confirmed anti-feminist. All these symptoms, any sound psychologist might tell ns, belong to the real he - man. Eveh the Iron Duke, who was equally aloof, felt the need of a woman confidant. So did Lord Kitchener. GAMBLING PROBLEM. The manifesto on gambling, by the Council of Christian Ministers, attacks a universal vice. I question whether it is any more prevalent here than in most other countries. That the advent of the female punter, and hard times, have much' increased betting in this country is. however, certainly true So long as human society exists, perhaps, people will try to make money easily and hazardously. If the Capitalist system were abolished there would be •-'ambling in ration tickets or clothes, important though the moral arguments my be, 1 fancy with most people the •st course is to demonstrate the utter Jility of betting: 1 have never for. itten myself,- as an occasional mild miter, wjhat I heard six representative ■ookmakers telling the Betting Commission in camera. Without a solitary exception, they _ agreed, every one of iheir regular clients loses in the end Betting may bo arousing, but never profitable SOLDIER MENTALITY. General Sir Arthur Currie was, in the opinion of competent critics, one of the ablest soldiers amongst our British commanding officers. But nobody could . have looked the part less. He started life as a school teacher, and later became a real estate agent, but manifestly his metier was soldiering. He was a stiff disciplinarian, and his Canadians set an example, on the field, and off it, which some other dominion troops might with advantage have imitated a little more closely. To me Sir Arthur’s mentality and attitude to campaigning closely resembled that of the ablest French and German officers. He was not obsessed by outward show, or mere parade ground eye-wash, but studied war as a professional engineer does his problems. 1 might best describe him by saying be seemed to wear a suit of professional overalls above bis regimental uniform. It is said that Sii Arthur Cum? s heart was broken by the wicked calumny spread broadcast in Canada about his reckless military ambition. It was alleged that, just on the eve of the armistice, and when he was well aware that it was .coming, Sir Arthur deliberately hurled his Canadian troops into attacks in the Mons locality to gain personal kudos, and that many thousands of brave soldiers were needlessly sacrificed. The libel action he 1

brought conclusively demolished tbi cruel invention. The total Canadiai casualties, on armistice morning, whci the huge slaughter was alleged, was om outpost shot* A similar canard, prob ably spread by much the same rnaligi interests, had a big vogue in Australia about the reckless sacrifice of Auzai ’ troops in Gallipoli. I have heard both these inventions repeated by people, who ought to have known better, with every air of complete authority. WHAT CHEAP LABOUR CAN DO. The Yorkshire woollen industry, ac cording to Sir Herbert Austin, will soon encounter the same Japanese competition as Lancashire’s cotton trade. Japan has only recentl- taken to handling wool, but is already turning out cloth.. indistinguishable from the best West of England material, at a cost below what Yorkshire pays for spun wool. The same thing is happening in other industries. A pair of deerskin gloves, sold at 7s 6d in Birmingham, can be purchased in Tokio for Is Id. But Sir Herbert Austin’s evidence is that, thanks to the racial frugality, Japanese workers are both well fed and healthily conditioned. Industrialism is killing the old artistic craftsmanship, but school physical training is adding to the stature as well ase the vigour of the people. British naval boxers at. a recent display failed to score , one win against lighter Japanese expetts, and half a dozen were even knocked right out. EXHIBITION OF BRITISH ART. Art enthusiasts who are, looking forward to the Royal Academy’s winter exhibition of British art may be confident they will not be disappointed. The success of this important and particularly interesting display of home art industry is already assured by the magnificent response made to requests for loan works, From the King downwards private owners have shown the very keenest alacrity in promising their possessions. 1 am told that not 5 per cent, of refusals have been received. The result is that we may look forward to seeing under the most comfortable conditions some thirty-one Gainsboroughs, twenty-nine Reynolds, eighteen Turners, twelve Hogarths, and eighteen Constables. Some of these pictures will be the finest ever painted by the masters, concerned. Amongst those who are landscapes are the Earl of Harewood and, Mr Ramsay MacDonald.DOUBTFUL PSYCHOLOGY. We are having an epidemic qf newspaper correspondence- in which the writers subject to. intensive -psychoanalysis thei rsensations at the moment of various kinds of accident. Mr Churchill set this fashion after being knocked down in New York, and most of the essfiys read rather like plagiarisms of De Quincey. But all have- one characteristic. The heroic psychologist fels ho terror, and takes stock of everything with calm detachment. I wonder whether they unconsciously flatter themselves? Men caught in an artillery barrage dr under machine gun bursts usually confessed, if they survived, to a contraction of heart, arid few people can look down the muzzle of a loaded automatic with complete detachment.. Dr Johnson laid it down as axiomatic that all men fear death, And Napoleon’s military theories were based on the same elemental fact.. VON FALKENHAYN’S SON. ’ Amongst the visitors at the Olympia Cycle Show last .week was Herr'Fritz Von Falkenhayn. This middle-aged German, who looks every inch a soldier. is president of the German Motor Cycle Manufacturers’ Association, and only son of the famous Field-Marshal Veil Falkenhayn. who was for a critical period' Chief of the German General Staff during the war. and whose illhealth is alleged to have had something to do with the Marne defeat! Young Fritz Von Falkenhayn has not been in London before, hut he has been over it. He was one of the German air aces, and took part in the memorable daylight raid on July 7, 1917, when twenty-two Hun planes flew up the Thames and bombed London. That raid cost us fifty-seven deaths and nearly 200 minor casualties, but the German raidders lost four of their number in action with our airmen. Our visitors says he prefers seeing London from the ground! NERVES. Has the horrific unrealism of bestseller war books got on the post-war generation’s nerves? A group of earnest young people with ample means have made all plans for a quick getaway if this country becomes involved m another war. They will flit by air to a private island already stored with supplies for two years, and have everything ready to the last toothbrush. Though it sounds rather Wellsian, such a scheme is quite feasible, even it somewhat repulsive in its egoism. But it has one daunting snag. I once saw two Arms observers, who dropped by parachute tro mtheir sausage balloon when it was attacked, but missed by German airmen. The " young people ” would look very silly if. their flight proved a false alarm. AROMATIC STRAWS. I have a city friend who began smoiVTiig cigars at school and has gone on smoking them evdr since. He would rather wear reach-me-down suits than give up his favourite smokes. Even at the height of the economic blizzard the most he did by way ol concession to business adversity was to change to a cheaper brand. He assures me that, better by far than all the Board ol Trade statistics, is the Havana cigar as a reliable trade indicator. When things are good, up go cigar sales When they are bad. down go the cigar sales. Arid the beauty of it is that these reactions are actually anticipatory, and not merely contonnatory. “A year ago,” confided my friend. " I found people looking askance at my cigar. Now even the choicest Havana arouses no resentment at nil. 'That means we have turned the corner,” THAT’S THAT! The mills ol the gods grind slowly but they grind exceedingly small. An inquest in 1933 lias ust settled responsibility for a double murder in 1483. Even elementary school history primers raise a doubt whether Richard 111. oi Henry VII. was really the instigator of the classic murder of the two little Princes in the Tower. Popular tradition fastened the, crime on Crookback, but a recent critical volume exonerated him and 'accused Henry. The bones of the two tragic Princes were discovered near the Bloody Tower in 1674, and by Charles ll.’s orders placed'in the Abbey within a marble urn deposited in Henry Vll.’s chapel. But they have just been disinterred, m the presence of the Abbey authorities and critically examined by eminent anatomists. The result definitely saddles Crookback with the murder, age at death being determinable, and one skull still bears testimony to death hv suffocation.