Beview of Reviews, l/lS/l'j. 



943 



The Rev 



EDITED BY 



EVIEWS 



HENRY STEAD. 



DECEMBER, 1913. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. 



Home Rule. 



Mr. Asquith has declared himself 

 ready to exchange views and sugges- 

 tions free, frank and without prejudice 

 with the opponents of Home Rule. The 

 Nationalists have stated that they 

 would be willing to grant any com- 

 promise which preserved the funda- 

 mental principle of a United Ireland 

 tuider a separate Parliament in Dublin. 

 But the anti-Home Rulers sulk in their 

 tents and demand a dissolution on the 

 principle of heads I win, tails you lose! 

 In view of the contention of the 

 Unionists that Home Rule was never a 

 ■question before the electors, it is in- 

 teresting to recall Lord Lansdowne's 

 statement before the December, 1910, 

 -election. He insisted that Mr. Asquith 

 made it perfectly clear that if the 

 Liberals won they would — (i) pass the 

 Parliament Bill, and then (2) use it to 

 l^ass an Irish Home Rule Bill. That is 

 why he urged the electors not to vote 

 Liberal. The large majority Mr. 

 Asquith obtained showed that the elec- 

 tors of England. Scotland and Wales 

 believed in Home Rule for Ireland. The 

 agitation in LTster is somewhat exag- 

 gerated, and the Orangemen of the 

 North, whose business is largely with 



the Catholics of the South, will never 

 risk being ruined in an attempt to avert 

 an hypothetical danger. Let them fight 

 after the scheme is in working order, if 

 they find they are unfairly treated. If 

 their case were just they would find stal- 

 wart supporters everywhere. To fight 

 before the carefully-thought-out safe- 

 guards of the minority provided in the 

 Bill have been proved inadequate is un- 

 thinkable. The door for compromise is 

 still open, and will be for another year, 

 as Home Rule will not be enforced until 

 1915- 



Armament Manufacturers and War. 



There is an immense temptation for 

 armament manufacturers and army con- 

 tractors to induce Governments to em- 

 bark on additional expenditure by every 

 means in their power. This has been 

 well demonstrated by the saving on a 

 solitary item, supplied to the British 

 Army, by the elimination of the middle- 

 man. Owing to some corruption scan- 

 dals in connection with contracts the 

 War Office decided to purchase wheat 

 in bulk from the importers direct in- 

 stead of through the middlemen as 

 hitherto. The result was a saving of 

 ;^6o,ooo this year ! If all the ordinance 



