NOTES 663 



by the private nudgings and winkings of members of Boards 

 and Committees are rife. That is how the expert with the 

 wonderful collars and sleeve-links comes into the expert's 

 office — and it may be imagined what is the result of his advice 

 in connection with highly technical difficulties. Was it for 

 this reason that our all-highest politicians have neglected 

 to provide sufficient defence against aerial attacks, or pooh- 

 poohed submarines, or ridiculed machine guns, or thought 

 that our army was going to fight the Germans without shells ? 

 Probably so ; because for years past we have made Ignorance 

 a god and Pretence a demi-god. But war is a terrible revealer, 

 and we are now finding the clay feet of the one and the sawdust 

 anatomy of the other. 



The Incompetence of Novelists, Poets, Philosophers, and Theologians 



We have another criticism to make of British modes of 

 thought. The Times in its issue of February 17, in rightly con- 

 demning the methods of Government on the question of official 

 publicity in connection with the war, remarked, in connection 

 with the organisation for this purpose, that " The Government 

 have unfortunately regarded it rather as a means of sustenance 

 for out-of-work politicians than a definite weapon in the national 

 armoury. Endless pains have been devoted to propagating 

 the fatuous reflections of popular novelists. The poets, the 

 philosophers, the theologians have all been enlisted in the 

 service. There have been any number of mysterious missions 

 and private political intrigues (disguised as ' secret service '), 

 but there has been no real attempt to organise and co-ordinate 

 the frank distribution of honest news to the people who want 

 it and in the form in which they want it." What a curious 

 fancy this is of ox-brained John Bull, that achievement in 

 any walk of life incapacitates for achievement in the fields 

 of government. We wonder that the Times did not add men 

 of science, men of business, men of commerce, travellers, 

 inventors, and such like despicable people to its list. And 

 indeed it may be said that few men of any real distinction in 

 any walk of life have ever belonged to British Governments or 

 have even sat in Parliament— except perhaps lawyers. We 

 can recall for recent years one serious philosopher and one 

 literary critic. Who are the people then who govern us ? 



