CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13858, 22 March 1907, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

The colJapso of the Brilish Soap Trust after a very brief existence nKFEATINO is interestingly discussed in A TRUST, an article ill a recent i.'siio of the Kynocli Journal. The facts as lo tlic formation of'that trust were, briefly, that.tho loading houses in the soap trade, thinking I lie time hail come to consolidate 1 heir interests, formed a powerful trust, consisting of nearly all the large mamifacltirers, capable of an output of 6000 tons a week, representing at least Ihrce-fourllis of the total output of the United Kingdom, and backed by nine million pounds sterling of capital, to be furllier increased to 12 millions by the issue of three million additional share capital for the purpose of a fighting fund. The exact arrangements made were not disclosed, but the policy of the whole was to be decided by a single Board of-Directors,

the ruling spirit in which was Fa.it] to be a gentleman of unusual determination anil courage. Tin; (rust was quick to adopt a price-raising anil weight-cutting policy. It was mercilessly criticised, however, by tho press, anil grocers and independent' manufacturers wore encouraged to resist it, while the public was clearly shown how its interests were involved. The first result of this--to tho Soap Trust-undesirable publicity was the withdrawal of the lightweight. tablets of soap and the restoration of the 16oz pound; the Second result was the lowering of the price to 'the distributors to tho original standard. So. we are told, "the absurd spectacle was then presented of men who had said that the high prices of raw materials made it absolutely necessary for them to raise the price and cut the weight, bogging for orders at the old prices and the old weight at. a time when the prices of raw materials were 15 per cent, higher than they were before." The retail distributors, however. did not respond to the appeals of the Soap Trust. Thoroughly awake to tho danger to their independence from a great monopoly, and strongly backed by their customers, they showed most unusual vigour and interest. They held meetings, passed resolutions, encouraged one another to stand firm, and, above all, while refusing so supply trust soaps, they, bought supplies from free houses unci pressed the use of uon-lrust soaps on their customers; It is said that the independent manufacturers made an unexampled ellort to rise to the situation and fill the enormous gap between supply and demand caused by tho boycott' of the trust brands of soap, and in one busy month increased their average output by 50 per cent. The public's refusal to buy trust soap being supported by such energetic advances on the part of tho independent manufacturers, it' becanio evident that the struggle could have but one of two ondingsr-either the Soap Trust must cease to exist by a voluntary disbaaidmcnt or by reason of having lost its trade. On November 25 it was officially announced that the trust had collapsed, and . that- its late members had resumed their own individuality free from any engagement of any kind whatever. The conclusion the writer deduces from all this is that the British public needs no legislation to protect it from trusts, that in Freetrade England no injurious trust can bo permanently successful, and that it is only in Protectionist countries, where people have bccomo broken to burdens ami restrictions oh trade, Unit- a trust has a fair chance.

New York gets the credit of having just supplied a sensational the sensitive illustration of the innate AMERICAN" repugnauco which EngI'UBLIC. ]ish ; spcaking peoples have for the: rash treatment of sacred themes upon the stage. After 0110 performance Strauss' 6 music drama " Salome" was summarily banished from tho Metropolitan Opera House despite tho fact tho lessee had contracted with the composer for 10 presentations and that from tho financial point of view their success was absolutely assured. 'But, wo read, "the opera was peculiarly offensive to tho deep-seated religious sentiments of the Eastern States, tierce denunciations wore uttered from New York pulpits, and public opinion was shocked at wiiat plainly outraged the conscience and hurt tho feelings of a considerable body of respected citizens. The owners of the Opera House felt constrained to uso tho powers which they reserved to themselves' under the lease. They informed tho lessco that they considered tho performance "objectionable, and detrimental to the best interests of their theatre." The lessee protested, and even offered to modify some of tho 6ceues to which exception had been taken, but in vain.:, Tho owners were obdurate. " Salomewas withdrawn, and tho ticket-holders woro given back their money. The musical and dramatic merits of the o|X'ra wcro unquestionable, but "Salome" did not pleaso in New York because it dealt with a Biblical story in a way tli'at offended the religious sense of the public, which, however it. may revel in tho pleasant details of sensational trials, evidently resents any little attempt to give stago publicity to unauthenticatcd iuoidents in tho career of prominent Biblical characters. In "Salome" the distortion was evidently unpardonable, since "for the straightforward simplicity of the Now Testament story is substituted an appalling and complicated conception of perverted passion." For this conception Strauss was not responsible, but the imagination of Oscar Wildo as evidenced in a play written 11 years ago. According to the Gflspol narrative, Uerodins prompted her daughter to ask for the head of John the Bajitiet on a charger in revenge for his denunciatioii of her marriage with the Tctrarch, but in the opera Salome is made to ask for it on her own initiative because John liad Ecorncd her advances. ! The soene which, above others ( damned the music-drama in American eyes is said to have been that in which Salomo flings herself down on the stage floor and kisses tho dead lips which would not kiss her when living. Yet on tho Continent of Europe "Salome" has been performed many times during tho past year with conspicuous success, and the music is said to be a marvellous " tour de force."

An interesting articlo oii Longfellow's position as a poet appears longfellow in tlio Fortnightly Review. axd HIS The author admits that the CRITICS. • critics lave a case against Longfellow, 'i'licy deride the imagery ot "The Slave's Dream," pointing out that it is not possible to "ride at furious speed along the Niger's banks," which consist of mangrove .swamps, and that even if it wero it would take the rider about two years to reach a point at which he cotijd sec the roofs of Catfre huts. They deride the Latinity of "Excelsior," and especially the author's representation that (he adverbial use of the comparative adjective is justified by the best Latin writers. They also,deride the- mixed metaphors of the " Psalm of Life," insisting that, the sands of tiino are the sands in an hour-glass, and that the spectacle of a footprint in an hourglass is the very last thing that could reasonably bo expected to raise the spirits of a shipwrecked sailor. The general reader, however, the author assures us, is not at alt convinced by such strictures, for they only make him angry. " He cannot see the ridiculous because his eyes are dazzled by the sublime." He claims that each of the three iweins cited contains some metaphor or simile which any poet might be pleased to have imagined. Such are in the first picce, "it passed like a glorious roll of di'ums Through tho triumph of his dream"; in the second, "A'voicc fell like a falling slar"; in tho third, "Our hearis thr.ia'h stout and brave Still like muffled drums' are beating Funeral marches lo the grave." Kor the sake of these beauties the genmal reader claims that the faults shall bo excused. A sense of humour, he feels, is a.i much out of place when one is reading Longfellow nr. it is when one is saying one's prayers, and to laugh at Longfellow, even though rau.-e be given, is profane, like laiighing in church. This writer himself considers Ihat- "Ihe standing marvel to tho student of Longfellow's work i 3 that a man with so commonplace a miiid should occasionally write so well." Wc are informed that nothing irritated tho render of ljongfellow's Diary move than llio rnctirring hebdomadal vcfercncos to tho Sunday's sermon, for "they are nost abject, and anyliody might have wr! .ten them." ,I'cw poets, it is remarked, are church-goers as far as sermons aro concerned. Even Wordsworth was not, but Longfellow, like his village blacksmith, never missed a sermon, ami "his limitations ns a poet aro precisely the limitations of tho man who is perpetually seeking edification from tho pulpit." And it is suggested that it was probably largely,

because the obvious thus bounded his horizon that Longfellow achieved so (|uickly ,llio recognition far which Wordsworth had to wait through many weary years. Tho writer's conclusion that when a)I is raid I<oi]gfcllow is "a. true poet even if his ran); is not with the greatest," is certainly a very judicious summing-up.