Rei'i^u- of Reviews, ^13/'^. 



Leading Articles. 



263 



THE SECRET OF EMPIRE. 



A Ger-Man Tribute to British Worth. 

 Mr. Gcoffrt-y Drage surveys the progress of Bri- 

 tish Imperialism in the Fortnightly Review, and 

 reviews Dr. von Schulze-Gaevernitz's " Britischer 

 Imperialismus.'' He asks, What are the secrets of 

 the success of Great Britain ? How have we out- 

 lived the Empires of Spain and Holland? How did 

 we overcome France? He finds the answer in the 

 one word, Character. He says: — 



It is true tliat the climate of Great Britain gave her 

 g:reat advantages as the nursery of men pliysically strong 

 and enduring: it is true that her geographical position 

 enabled her to follow the advice of Lord Bacon and apply 

 her whole strength to the development of her sea-power. 

 It is true Uiat the fortuna reipublicw gave her simultaneously 

 a, great statesman in Oliver Cromwell to direct, and a 

 great admiral in Robert Blake to execute a great foreign 

 policy. But ii is not to tlie geograpliical position of the 

 country, nor to the effect of the climate on English physi- 

 (lue. nor to the possession of constellations of great men, 

 that Professor vou Schulze-Gaevemitz, with unerring in- 

 stinct, traces bacli our success in its ultimate analysis. 

 British character is founded on the freedom of the in- 

 dividual, on tJie spirit of self-help and self-reliance, but 

 even more so on tlie idea of duty, on respect for the mar- 

 riage tie, on the sense of the immeasurable difference be- 

 tween right and wrong, good and evil, and on the feeling 

 »if Christian responsibility for. and sympathy with, not 

 unly the poor and weak at home, but also the subject 

 races in our coloniejs and dependencies. Religion, says our 

 .lUthor, is still the backbone, of Anglo-Saxon culture. The 

 thief danger for England lies not in American trusts or 

 the great fleets building or to be built by Germany, but in 

 ■he weakening of the mainspring of her prosperity. Al- 

 ready the Professor fears it is decayins, though tlie works 

 are running on without any outward sign of the inward 

 process. For the purposes of the British Empire, even 

 that! high senise of duty which inspires British soldiers, 

 -.xilors, and civil servants will, without religion, in the 

 long run prove useless. Stress is laid on the great work 

 clone by the religious sects in moulding public policy with 

 legard to the poor and weak amongst us. as well as in 

 'he wider issues such as those connecte<l with the abolition 

 • f slavery, which are tJie peculiar glory of Great Brit.ain. 



MUNICIPAL FARMING ; CAN IT PAY ? 



Yes, says Mr. Richard Higgs, writing in the 

 Westminster Review on "The Refomiers' Attitude 



Towards Agriculture." State farming for profit, he 

 reminds us, has been recommended bv a Committee 



'f the Board of Agriculture under the late Govem- 



:r.ent. He proceeds: — 



I unhesitatingly assert that, in spite of the present con- 

 •ition of agricultuie. municipal, collectivist. or State 

 'arming can he made to pay, and to pay handsomely. 

 The Crown and Ecclesiastical Commissioners alread.v own 

 ■ nd manage about 350,o;0 acres of farm land, and possess 

 I staff of {rained farmers who could well undertake to 

 -upply a large part of the neeils of the Army and Navy 

 in agricultural produce. 



Agriculture is, beyond all question, the one industry 

 v.hich would pay better than any other for the intro- 

 fiuction of collectivist methods on a sound business basis. 

 .Municiral or State farming must be treated as a business. 

 .^nd not as a fad. A municipal farm, as I mean it, is not 

 a penal establishment, a reformatory, a training school. 

 nT a convalescent home: in certain of its aspects it may 

 lie distantly allied to these thinu's. but in reality it is 

 vastly different. It must be etiuitiiied with the best m:-- 

 <binery, the most highly skillerl lubour, the best building 

 and the most scientific skill Unit nionev can buy. it 

 must be prepared to meet and to viiiiquiah in the open 

 market all home or foreign produced goods, and show 

 that intelligence, organisation, and ;i lining wage are able 

 To triumph over sweated labour, and to beat it in cheap- 

 ness of production. 



I notice that the writer says " he has proved that 

 the rural depopulation question is not so difficult of 

 settlement as generally supposed " : — 



Whe,e there is constant work, a decent house, and a 

 living wage ran be paid and also where reasonable amnse- 

 ments are pr'^vided for winter evenings, neither men nor 

 lads show a des.re to leave the land. 



He does not, howe\'er, forget that farming must 

 always be a worrying and hazardous occupation ; 

 that it requires much capital, if it is to be done with 

 up-to-date methods; that the turnover is very slow, 

 usually about once a year, and that agricultural 

 profit and loss accounts are very difficult to make 

 out clearlv. 



DR. EMIL REICH AND MISS GERTRUDE 

 KINGSTON ON WOMAN. 



In the Grand Magazine Dr. Einil Reich discusses 

 rather nebulously woman's education and its faulti- 

 tiess. Miss Gertrude Kingston replies, her paper 

 being far more clearly stated and thought out, as 

 well as much more practical. Dr. Reich's state- 

 ments are, to say the least, questionable. He ob- 

 jects to teaching girls Latin on the ground that 

 Ovid, Catullus and Tibullus are improper. So they 

 are — in parts. But he would teach them Greek, 

 which he is pleased to consider much easier than 

 Latin. Then he says, without giving the slightest 

 notion of how it is to be done : " The whole object 

 of a girl's education should be to give her the one 

 thing in which she might not only rival man but 

 easily excel him — that is, tact.'' Was ever any- 

 thing more wildly unpractical ? To teach girls 

 sciences, ethical, sociological or political, is " sense- 

 le.ss." It depends on the girl's tastes. " In 

 America it is a common thing to hear a woman 

 ask a lecturer questions which no man living could 

 answer." But it is proverbial that a fool can ask 

 questions which the wisest man cannot answer. If 

 they had had a little more teaching, they would 

 know their questions could not be answered. Then 

 he jumps on actions for breach of promise. 



Mi.ss Kingston replies diat the women who bring 

 these actions are those working for a living, who 

 have, through heedlessness or crueltv of someone, 

 lost the power of earning. She also makes the just 

 i-riticisra that Dr. Reich speaks of women as if they 

 were all of the class that has time to go to Clar- 

 idge's in t-he afternoons. Tiie most amazing part of 

 the recent gibbeting of poor Plato to make a Lon-" 

 don holiday, and the most humbling, was " the abso- 

 lute conviction of the jjerfection of English institu- 

 tions " visible throughout the discussions. Dr. 

 Reich, as a travelled man of learning. Miss Kingston 

 thinks, must have marvelled at it. She evidentlv 

 disagrees with him that girls should not ever learn 

 T.atin, higher arithmetic, or mathematics. Dr. Reich 

 has nothing to say for thir^ large cla.ss of women as 

 delicately nurtured as Claridge butterflie.s, but for 

 one reason or another thrown on the worhl to earn 

 a living. .And whoever exhorts the women of ftiit;- 

 land to take themselves seriously, should t)egin hv 

 l\] ing fhrm a little more seriously himself. 



