594 



The Review of Reviews. 



December 1, 1906. 



A LIBERAL • BLOC " IX EUEOPE. 

 ill'. Brailsford considers Sir Edward Grey's foreign 

 policy in relation to the Congo and Pau-Islamic move- 

 ment. He says that "the old combinations sought 

 peace as an interest, or if not peace, then victory, 

 for their members. The new combination seeks peace 

 as a principle," and has for the first item on its 

 European programme the reduction of armaments. 

 As •■ a struggle to do justice to one persecuted Jew 

 was the means of constituting a great Republican bloc 

 in France," so, argues the writer, a concerted effort 

 to liberate Macedonia and the Congo might help to 

 form, with a full consciousness of high ends, a Liberal 

 bloc in Europe. He fears that Sir Edward Grey's 

 trust in the gradual enlightenment of Belgium for a 

 solution of the Congo problem is not likely to be vin- 

 dicated by events. He advocates reform of Turkey as 

 a whole on the death of Abdul Hamid by means of a 

 working agreement with Germany, who should be 

 squared by our support of the Bagdad Railway. 



WHAT IS \\TlONG -mTH OXFORD. 

 Mr. A. E. Zimmern. a junior member of the clas- 

 sical staff, discusses the difficulties of Oxford in the 

 new century. He believes that Oxford is marked out 

 to be the intellectual capital of England, to be the 

 home of ideas in every department of spiritual ac- 

 tivity. To carry out this destiny only those .should 

 be admitted who have capacitj' to absorb ideas. But. 

 alas! "Oxford notoriously contains hundreds of men 

 wlio are, and will remain, totally devoid of ideas." 

 They are only there because they can afford to come. 

 The expense of living at Oxford is the crux of the 

 whole problem. If it were lowered from a minimum 

 of £90 to £60, most of the present difficulties would 

 disappear. The other difficulties are the competition 

 of the younger Universities, the widening breach be- 

 tween Oxford and the professions, the deadness of 

 classical study, and the pressure of examinations. Of 

 the latter he says : — 



The system was not devised, and is not maintained for 

 genuine students at all. It is maintained for the sake of 

 forcing unwilling idlers to work. It is a gigantic engine of 

 compulsion to drive the free Barbarians of England to the 

 waters of knowledge. There is only one way of killing the 

 present examination system. Fill Oxford with real students, 

 and it will automatically disappear. 



THE MOTOR TYRANNY. 

 Under this heading Mr. G. Lowes Dickinson de- 

 clares : — 



Tiie motorists are the chartered tyrants of the road, and 

 they use, or abuse, their privileged position with an incon- 

 siderate insolence which illustrates forcibly the extent to 

 which the wealth of England, during the past half-century, 

 has passed away from the hands of gentlemen. 



By way of remedy he advocates considerable increase 

 in the tax on motors, a minimum fine of £.50 for 

 breach of the law, the reduction of the speed limit to 

 ten miles an hour, antl the i^rohibition of the emis- 

 sion of vapour and smoke. Motor omnibuses and 

 motor vehicles used for trade should not be allowed 

 to ply the streets, as they are not yet perfect enough 

 to appear in public. 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER. 



The contents for October are somewhat below the 

 average. Excepting Professor Yamberys paper on 

 Pan-Islamism, there is nothing that calls for separate 

 mention, 



NEW WORK FOR OUR AGEXTS-GENERAL. 



Mr. R. E, Macnaughten, formerly of Harrow, laments 

 the defective teaching of geography in our pubUc 

 schools. He suggests that it should be made an essen- 

 tial part of the curriculum, and taught by aid of the 

 magic lantern. For lecturers on this subject he says, 

 "It so happens that in the Agents-General for the 

 respective colonies there already exists a body of men 

 who by the very nature of their training and in virtue 

 of their office are ideally qualified for such a task." 

 If they could be persuaded to deliver lectures on their 

 respective colonies at our leading public schools, per- 

 sons better fitted for the task could not be found. He 

 also advocates co-operation between, say, six public 

 schools, whereby an interchange of lecturers could be 

 arranged. 



THE CHILDREN OF FLORENCE. 



A charming paper by Miss Rose Bradley says that 

 through the children one gains a glimpse into the 

 heart of Florence: — 



The type appears to have altered little since the days when 

 those great masters, strolling through the streets of their be- 

 loved city, caught and immortalised the childish forms and 

 faces, on canvas, in stone and in marble, wherewith to adorn 

 her loveliness. It is rare to meet an absolutely plain child 

 in Florence, but it is not only the dark, eloquent eyes, the 

 clear-cut features, the clean line of throat and chin, the 

 graceful proportions of the small limbs to the body, but it is 

 also a certain air of distinction and aloofness in their bear- 

 ing which makes it a pure pleasure to watch these children 

 at tliefr play. I have heard it said that the real living child 

 is almost as important a note in Florentine architecture as 

 those cliarming putti which smile down upon us from all 

 sorts of unexpected places, in churches, and over windows 

 and archways in the street. 



The August number of the New York Critic con- 

 tains an article on the well-known critic, Georg 

 Brandes. Paul Harboe, the writer, t.ells us that 

 though Georg Brandes is the most famous personage in 

 Denmark, he is also the loneliest and the least ap- 

 preciated. In 1805 his "William Shakespeare" was 

 published in Denmark, and his name became known 

 in the -4nglo-Saxon world. Now four-fifths of his en- 

 tire production exists in Eliglish. 



THE WORLD'S WORK AND PLAY. 



The World's Work and Play for October fairly 

 bristles with interesting papers. 



WHAT " THE JTTNGLE " HAS DONTB. 

 Mr. Isaac Marcosson describes the beginning of re- 

 form at Packingtown. He was in Chicago in Feb- 

 ruary, and found in the great packing-houses '• a riot 

 of dirt and disorder, and everywhere an indescribable 

 stench," He adds: — 



I went to Chicago in August, six months later. A hot sun 

 beat fiercely down on the yards. Smoke still hung over tlie 

 pens, and the smell of slaughter and of cattle was still in 

 the air. But in the packing-houses glistened newly cleaned 

 windows; trucks table, sand floors showed signs of recent 

 scrubbing; the inside walls were freshly painted or white- 

 washed; concrete was replacing wood. New and detached 

 toilet-rooms had been put in. The women wore blue uni- 

 forms and many men were in white duck. On all sides, in 

 English and foreign languages, blazed the words "Be 

 Clean." Order was succeeding disorder, for the cleansing of 

 Packingtown had begun. 



AN ENGLISH MECHANIC IN AMERICA. 



Under this title Mr. James Blount describes his 

 experience in English and American workshops. 

 American methods and atmosphere impress him as 

 greatly superior. Yet he believes that the British 

 workman as a mechanic is undoubtedly a .superior all- 

 round man to his American cousin. He recognises 



