5i- 



//le Review or ixeviews. 



June I. 1906. 



THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW. 



The ]\'-sf minster Bevieu: is an average number. 

 The opening paper, ou " The Age of the Ctetrich," as- 

 serts that England has been passing through a period 

 of make-believe, of which Mr. Cliainberlain is the 

 personification. The pre.ss make-believe as hard as 

 ajiything. witness ignorance about South African 

 affairs, and the systematic boycott by the papers of 

 the Xonconforniist mass meeting in July, 19U3. at the 

 Albert Hall to protest against the Education Bill. 

 Considering the importance and numbers of the Non- 

 conformists, it was carrying the game of make-believe 

 too far to ignore such a meeting, as did some of the 

 Conser\-ative papeiw. Witness also the boycott by 

 the London press of many important meetings of the 

 Labour I'arty and Socialists. 



INCREASING THE DEATH DUTIES. 

 Far the most controver.sial article is on the subject 

 of increasing the Deatli Duties by Mr. W. T. Bell, 

 who would increase these duties to such an extent as 

 to make it practically impossible for any familj' to 

 live on the income derive<l from accumulated capital 

 handed down to it— at least, to live on such income 

 continuously, generation after generation. In short, 

 a tax on idleness is what he advocates. Why should 

 any man idle away hi.s life because his father or 

 grandfather made a huge fortune? But do such men 

 idle away their lives as a rule? Do they not often 

 do most useful work which could hardly be done by 

 any but a leisured class? I'lider the proposed gradu- 

 ated scale of duties (from 10 per cent, on £5000 to 

 £10,000 to 20 per cent, on estates over £100.000) no 

 estate should be reduced to less than £5000. 



CHUfiCH AND POOR LAW REFORM. 



Jlr. F. H. Barrow, who says he has worked for 

 years among the London poor both with Churchmen 

 and Nonconformists, does not seem to have formed, 

 on the whole, the highest opinion of the clergy of the 

 Establishment, who, he sa.vs, are more their own mas- 

 ters than an,v other class of men, and withal often 

 astonishingly irresponsible, even idle. He would not 

 disestablish the Church, which would largely destro.v 

 its value as a national asset, but would turn the 

 Bishops out of the House of Lords, confining the 

 clerg.v to their true sphere of work, and clearly de- 

 fining their duties to the community as agents for 

 caring for the sick and aged poor. L'^ssening some 

 of the Church's privileges, and subjecting them to 

 more control in their secular functions would, he 

 hopes, abate that sacerdotalism and assumption of 

 siiperiority nhich make them often obnoxious to the 

 ordinary citizen. 



There are several other articles, notably one on 

 a ramble in Thessaly. but none requiring special 

 aotice. 



THE PALL MALL MAGAZINR. 



Mr. Thomas Gibson Biiwh^s i> the subject of Mr. 

 Herbert Vivian's ''Study in Personalit.v." in the 

 -April number of the Pull Mull Magazine. 

 ME. GIBSON BOWLES. 



According to every political canon. Mr. Bowle>s con- 

 siders his political life has been a conspicuous failure. 

 He does not seek office, believing that it involves a 

 great sacrific© of independence. To his interviewer 

 he says : — 



OfBce is nothin?. The only thing is power — power to get 

 tilings done and to prevent thins:s from being done. And 

 ife fa on the whole qnestionable wliether an active-minded 

 man, with political knowlerige and convictions, does not 

 exercise more rea.1 power out of office than in it. 



To stand alone with a purpose has great advantages and 

 great delight?. And while I recognise that some members 



of the Government have some powe 7 I env.v none ot' them 

 the mark ot the galling collar. 



My desire in embracing political life has l>eeu Ui I'e the 

 People's Member, ily desire in embracing political life 

 has been to bring about informs which I consider uset'ii or 

 necessary to the oounti.v, still more to prevent revolutions, 

 which I believe would be mischievous. My successes have 

 been few and smuU, mostly- unknown. ... I sai)pose my 

 most useful work on the whole is that which has never 

 been heard of. I mean my ten years' service on the Public 

 Accounts Committee. 



DICKENS AND SHAKESPEARE. 

 -Vdmirers of Charles Dickens will turn with into- 

 itst to the little article, by Mr. Harry Furniss, on a 

 .speech made by Dickens at the Garrick Club in 18-54. 

 The occasion was a .Shake.speare Birthday Dinner, at 

 which Dickens presided, and his speech u as a most 

 brilliant effort, yet it is not referred to in any Life 

 of Dickens. Not only had it been carefully prepared 

 with regard to the matter, hut it was acted in a way 

 which stirprised everyone. He dealt with a number 

 of Shake-speare cliaracters — Hamlet, Ju.stioe Shallow, 

 Macbeth. Benedick, etc. — each time adding quota- 

 tions, and .speaking and acting the lines with consum- 

 mate skill. 



THE SOVEREIGN CITY FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER 

 In another article Mr. C. Lewis Hind takes for his 

 tlieme pictures representing the effect of raiusic upon 

 performers and audience, and Mr. Alvin Langdon 

 Cobuiu, an American, contributes some interesting 

 photographs of London. "London," he says, "is the 

 sovereign city for the artist. Her streets and build- 

 ings are a liberal inspiration, and the man who can- 

 not -ee London's charm from the top of an omnibus 

 lia^ no sense of art in his compasitiou." 



THE YOUNG MAN. 



Mr. C. B. Fry looms largely in the Young Man. 

 The opening paper, unsigned, is an enthusiastic tri- 

 bute to his immense capacity for work as well as for 

 phiv, though he never ^eems to do any work at all. 

 rie even edits a magazine without littering his room 

 with copy and galie.\s. His scholastic attainments are 

 considerable, and one can well imagine that a geneial 

 air of briskness and alertness pervades liis Hamp- 

 shire iK^me. yU\ Fry himself writes an article on 

 " The Sport Instinct." pleading that sport must not 

 be condemned " becau.se miserable follies (such as bet- 

 ting) cline to it. as the parasite clings to the lion." 

 and insisting on the extent to which siii^ of the botly 

 militate again.st succe.-ss iu athletics. 



THE ARENA. 



The .irena for March contains an admirable re- 

 cord of the war against the Standard Oil plutocracy, 

 which is at pre.sent absorbing public attention in 

 America. I quote el.sewhere from the .statement made 

 by Mr. David Graham I'hillips, the American nove- 

 list, on the growth of plutocrac.v in America. There 

 is a brief but interesting paper on the growth of the 

 movement in favour of Direct Legislation bv the 

 people b.v means of the Referendum. Four of the 

 Western States have embedded Direct Legi.slation in 

 their oonstitutions, and Montana will follow suit. 

 Tile principle has I)een embodied in many city char- 

 ters. Another brief but suggestive paper points out 

 that the heart of the race problem is to be found in 

 the fact that the law and custom of whites preserve 

 white wiiineu exclusively for themselves: they leave 

 white men free to prey at will upon coloured women. 

 -A oaper on economv makes the curious calculation 

 that every .American wnstes at least 2'd. a day. This 

 amounts to a sum of C.SOO.OOO.OOO per annum. 



