276 



The Review of Reviews. 



Under liis sway the Times may he expected 

 to develop :i policy of more avowed and 

 thorougli-going Imj)erialism. Meantime 

 it is interesting to note that measures care- 

 fully restricting the licence of the Press are 

 being contemplated or enacted, at once by 

 the Turks in ('onstantino|)le and the Labour 

 (iovernment in Australia. Journalism is a 

 force with which the Governments of the 

 world have not yet completely reckoned. In 

 the interests of peace and order it is to be 

 hoped that the responsibilities attaching to 

 this enormous social force will be duly 

 safeguarded antl enforced by law, tiiat 

 journalism may be a good servant of the 

 community and not the bail master it often 

 threatens to become. Some day, perhaps, 

 the journalist that lies a nation into an 

 unjust war will be given a fair trial and — 

 hanged. 



In the meantime, while we 

 '^^^ are all too largely at the 



Ditrinishing Life-cost . ■ 1 ,r 



of War. mercy or tlie bellicose 



editor, it is gratifying to 

 note tliat gradually progress is making 

 for reduction in human sacrifice. A 

 naval battle, even the most destructive, 

 cannot mean a death-bill a])i)r()aching a 

 great land battle, antl to-day the destiny of 

 the world is decided by sea power. It is 

 true that this has come to pass because the 

 British Navy has command of the sea and 

 because the sea-borne provisions, gathered 

 from all corners of the earth, are essential 

 to all countries but it is none the less the 

 case. And now we see the submarine and 

 the dirigible or the acroj)lane coming to 

 displace the Dreadnouglit. And again 

 there is a great shrinkage oi the human 

 element brought into play and offered on 

 the altar of the God of War. luen the 

 motor Dreadnought will be manned by 



fewer sailors than the battleships of to-day. 

 Also in land warfare the toll of victims will 

 tend to be less — the Russo-Japanese War 

 was no real criterion. Ammunition, pro- 

 visions, great distances, all these are going 

 to play a role in land war of the future, and 

 all tend to diminish the slaughter. 



The Government's an- 



Out of the nouncement at the begin- 



Sugar Convention, ning ot last month, that 



twelve months hence it 

 will withdraw from the Sugar Conven- 

 tion, has been attributed to a desire to 

 influence the North - West Manchester 

 election. In that purpose it failed. It had, 

 of course, far wider ends. The Convention 

 was an agreement to hinder the importation 

 of bounfv-fed sugar. When this attempt is 

 relinquished, the hope is that the people of 

 this country will have the benefit of cheaper 

 sugar; the fear is that the cane-sugar trade of 

 our Colonies will be seriously injured. On 

 the other hand, it is perfectly possible, as 

 Mr. Asquith pointed out, for this country 

 to give a preference to Colonial sugar. 

 though he did not propose to adopt that 

 policy. A serious consideration is the 

 menace in\ olved to the sugar beet industry 

 just introduced into this country. Over 

 three thousand acres in the Eastern Counties 

 have been planted with sugar beet, and 

 factories are being erected. But, as Mr. 

 Asquith pointed out, there is no reason why 

 this nascent industry should not receive 

 assistance from the development fund. The 

 country is now free to adopt such measures 

 as seem desirable. So far forth the advan- 

 tages seem to be on our side. Italy is 

 apparently of the same way of thinking, for 

 she also has given notice of withdrawal from 

 the Convention. 



