292 



The Review of Reviews. 



a melt iij, I'JOQ. 



HOW ENGLISH THEY ARE! 



Admiral Bridge on the .\mericans. 



Admiral Cyprian Bridge contributes lo the X tiu- 

 tcenih Century for February a very remarkable article 

 on '■ Moral Uphea\al in America. ' The title is a 

 misnomer. What the article really apjx-ars to be is 

 a naive expression of surprised delight on finding 

 the Americans " so very English." The Admiral is 

 lost in wonder, love, and praise at the pedeciion of 

 our American kinsfolk. " In no country in the 

 world is mental culture more highly valued or more 

 diligently sought. ' The proportion of men of refine- 

 ment and position entering political life in the 

 United States is as great as it is in any other 

 country : — ■ 



This people, to which English is the one medium of com- 

 iiHiiiK-aLioM. lives iiniler a system of law based oil the oom- 

 liioii law of Eiitilaiid and still lieariii^ a close leseiiililaiice 

 to it. There is not a considerable law library in the United 

 States wliicli does not contain Knglish legal text-books. The 

 de<-isioiis of KnsjiiMb .jnd'j:es often ijovern cases in .\iiierican 

 courts; and .Mncrican decisions, if not binditiK. are referred 

 to and quoteit with respect in courts in Knirland. 



With KiiKlisb as their lanyuau'c. ilassical EnBlisb litera- 

 trre as their possession, and Knulish law as the basis of 

 their own. the .Vmericans live under a polity inherited 

 from and in essentials like that of EiiKland. 



■ Oifferences such as these notwithstaiidins;, American poli- 

 tical life leseiiibles that of the Unitetl KiiiKdom iniuli more 

 closely than it does that of any other country. 



Family life in the Unitcil States is almost identical with 

 family life in the United Kingdom. 



Recent commentators on American affairs have noticed 

 th« advance- if it l:e advaiii'e- towanls aristocratic condi- 

 tions in the country. The evidence of this is multiform. 



The ni'ie liviiiK .justii'cs of the Supreme Court, whose ap- 

 pointments co\er a period 4)f nearly thirty years, all hear 

 Ens:li8h names. Out of twenty-seven .judges of the United 

 States Circuit Courts twenty-three, and out of ninety Uni- 

 ted States District Court jndijet- seventy-nine, are shown 

 by their names to be of hnsilish descent. There have been 

 thirty-four different occupants of the Speaker's chair in 

 the House of Representatives at Washington. Of their 

 Tiamee twenty-six are undoubtedly English. Within the last 

 twenty yeiirs out of nine Secretaries of State <uily one has 

 borne a non-Eiifrlish name. In the present Congress, 

 amongst ninety senators <uily twelve, anil amongst 386 re- 

 presentatives only ae\enty, a[)pear to be of other tlian 

 Enelish origin. 



It mifjht lune been evpec'ed that in the highest academic 

 posts in the United States I'eprt'seiitatives of the English 

 element in the population would le outnumbered by those 

 who descend from n.itiiHis credited witli greater aptitude 

 for scholastic pursuits. It is not so, however. f<n- 316 out 

 of 114 universities and colleges are presided over by 

 sohohirs whose ancestry must be looked for in the United 

 Kiiigdoiii. 



The above tigiires in-ove either that the English jiropor- 

 tion of the population of the American Itepnblii- greatly 

 outnumbers the remainder, which, in view of the varied 

 irmnigration of the last half-century, would indicate suije- 

 rior racial vigour, or that the English jiroportion. if not 

 tmmerically stronger, must be incomparably more influen- 

 tial. That element is becoming more rather than less Eng- 

 lish. The i)hy8ical tvpe. as already hinted, is approximat- 

 ing to that in the " ohl country." The tall, lanky, thin- 

 visuged American of the conventional i>ictnre6 has disap- 

 peared. His successor is at least as stoutly built as the 

 conventional .lohn Hull. Changes in the mode of life of 

 Americans bring it into closer resemblaii'e to our own. 

 Eove of specially English sports is now widespread. 



Considering the •cnninious Kurnpean inunigration 

 that pours every year into the United States, the 

 Admiral's figures are very remarkable. 



. The Scottish Historical Review for January oih-iis 

 with the first instalment of an interesting article, 

 bv Mr. Andrew Tang, on the Portraits and Jewels of 

 Marv Oueen of Scots. 



HOUSING IN LONDON AND MANCHESTER. 



In the Independent Review, Mr. R. C. K, Ensor 

 writes on the workmen's homes in Tondon and 

 Manchester, and protests against the common idea 

 that Tondon is a sample of all great cities. From 

 actual residence amongst the poor in both, he 

 points out their opposite characteristics. Here is a 

 very concise statement: — 



So far as environment goes. <uie may almost exhaustively 

 contrast London and Manihester in a sentence: in Man- 

 chester the crying evils ;iie out-of-doors and in the streets, 

 in London they are indoors and within the houses. 



He maintains that Tondon streets, though b< - 

 hind tht)se in most Continental cities, are much 

 further in front than those of Manchester. " Pro- 

 li.ihiv the air in Poplar is the best in Tondon,! 

 hut in w(jrking-class areas of Manchester and Sal- 

 lurd - 



von see the visible pall of smoke from the thousajids of fac 

 tory chimnevs blotting out the clean sunlight and colour. 

 So.it falls ((Uislantly : the buildings are not merely black- 

 ened, but almost p-tch-biack ; the air is rank with sul- 

 phurous a<id troiii the chimneys and fumes from the 

 ihemual works, before which no plants can live long. 

 Over sipiare mile* of city nothing green grows or can, ex- 

 cept a very few blackened flowers or tormented trees. 



Turning indoors, the contrast is thus put: — 



'II It IS rare among the L<mdon working class for one 

 roof to sheltei- only one family. 



'2) It is usual among the London working class for a 

 family to oc»-ui>y not more than two rooms. 



1) It is r.ire among the Mamhester working class for 

 one roof ti> shelter more than one family. 



i2) It is usual among the Manchester working class for 

 a family to occupy four rooms. 



The .scale of n-nts paid in Manchester for a 

 whole cottage of four rooms is abnost exactly the 

 same as that in I'oplar for half cottages. Block 

 dwellings in central London are a great boon, and 

 attract a good class. In Manchester blocks are not 

 wanted, and attract only the worst classes. 



To the questions of remedy in Tondon, as Mr. 

 Charles Booth has said, the first and indispensable 

 requisite is better transit. In Manchester the pro 

 blem of transit has practically been solved. The 

 smoke nuisance, which is one of the worst of the 

 serious evils in northern cities, will never be stopped 

 until — 



(1) The transfer of the authority over smoke inspectors 

 from the local bodies to the Home Oftice ; i2) the substitu- 

 tion of heavy penalties for trifling fines. 



.Tust as the abolition of the Manchester smoke nuisance 

 would bring within practical range a possibility of clean 

 and beautiful houses in clem and beautiful streets at Man- 

 chester, so the checking of Jerry-built middle-class houses 

 and '• conversion '■ in and around Lond<ni would give us a 

 chance in London of having our working class families 

 once more houseil in a house apiece. 



He pleads for a Tondon Housing Reform Associa- 

 tion, which would do the work of the Manchester 

 and'Salford Citizens' Association. Administrative 

 bodies like City Councils or County Councils can- 

 not do the wcirk of initiative. 



