L A N D AND W A T E K 
Uecemoer 23, 1915. 
housinj;, ciothin!;'or amusement. There is a more 
jjositive \v:iy .;f economy : by working harder, if 
\vc arc working at all ; by setting to work if \\c arc- 
not ; by freeing services which we do not in idot 
need, but only think ourselves or have accustomed 
oursfhcs to need, services which onl\' minister 
to our comfort, as distinct from our efficiency. 
A Cabinet Minister may well need his \alet ; a rich 
muldhi' iigcd /iane II r would be admirably employed 
putting the studs in his own shirts. Nor need we 
feel too elated at his heroism. There are. to be 
crudely explicit, countless comfortable middle- 
class homes, where the household services could 
be done b\- the daughters of the hotise so as to free 
the paid domestics for productive work which is 
everywhere waiting ; there are innumerable women 
of the more or less leisured classes, the kind that 
sells in the streets on flag days, that could be 
assisting that work of the manufacture of hospital 
supplies which is still so much understaffed. It is 
credibly reported that while the women of what 
may be called the aristocracv and societv ha\'e 
made \'ery considerable changes in their mode of 
life, those of the still abundantly earning trading 
and manufacturing classes ha\e even increased 
their expenditure. Good evidence may !>e found 
in the fact that a famous drapery house, which 
normally enjoys an aristocratic patronage, has 
altered its business policy to accommodate an 
entirely different type of customer who is freely 
spending while former patrons have almost ceased. 
A nation that has a bill of live millions a day 
simply cannot afford this. Every unneces 
sarv purchase made, every unnecessary service 
used is as definitely jeopardising our victory as is 
the slackening of output on the part of a munition 
worker, which we are read}- enough to denounce 
in round terms as treacher>^ Nothing is more 
difficult to change than an accustomed standard 
of living. The queer paradox would seem to be 
almost established that it is easier to give up hfe 
itself than alter the mode of it. 
It is really important that such necessary pur- 
chases as we make should be whenever possible 
manufactured b}^ ourselves or our Allies ; it is im- 
portant not only in itself as in the aggregate 
effecting a diminution of imports, but as contri- 
buting to that general realisation of the seriousness 
of the outlook which is so vitally necessary. Upon 
each citizen who appreciates the position is laid 
the burden of spreading the realisation of it every 
possible quarter by example. It is to say the least 
as important as \ olunteer corps work. 
That is the real responsibility 'of Ministers in 
the matter of salaries. No one ' seriously thinks 
that they are overpaid considering their responsi- 
bilities. Nothing can well be more vulgar and 
paltry than the constant heckling about clinging 
to the emoluments of ofhce which punctuates our 
peace controversies. But it is unimaginative of 
them not to realise that the uninstructed country 
cannot possibly be convinced that there is this 
imperative need of an heroic change of standard 
of life, if there is this manifest unwillingness on 
their part to lead the way. The workman in 
particular is not going to have much scruple about 
his hire-purchase piano, and there are not wanting 
those who are eager to point the moral of Minis- 
terial reluctances. Even the welcome deductions 
from the law officers' fees recentlv announced 
rather emphasise the splendour of the fees than 
the handsomeness of the reduction. The whole 
question is a matter of the balance of advantages. 
There were obvious difficulties. Some Ministers 
would ha\c been more embarrassed than others. 
It would have been an unbusinesslike piece of 
quixotr\-, but it would have had an immense 
effect in the country. ^' 
One corollarv of the main thesis of the need 
of lessening the balance of consumption over pro- 
duction needs consideration. The insistence on 
the danger of increasing the armies beyond a 
definite but as yet officially undetermined point, 
is not a mere trick of the anti-conscriptionists. 
There is a bitter wa\- of putting this fact- that 
France'and Russia bleed" while we pay, which makes 
a very pleasant, recurring jest for the German 
comic' hate-journals. Waterloo w^as won less on 
the playing fields of Eton than behind the counters 
of a nation of shopkeepers -a deplorably unpic- 
turesquc version, it may be admitted. The nation 
of shopkeepers now has not merely to keep shop 
bravely, but to keep a strict eye on its kitchens, 
wardrobes, w-ine-cellars and cigar cabhiets. 
It may be worth remembering that if we re- 
duced our consumption to the normal German 
peace standard of living, we should save some five 
hundred millions a year. That German standard 
has of course been considerably lowered during the 
war. The tendency to cry out for heroic measures, 
such as the putting of the nation upon siege rations 
before it is absolutely necessary, would be to add 
to the already heavy burdens of administration 
and might very well shock the world, which might 
be led to think that England was coming to the 
end of her tether, while a widespread voluntary 
demand for and practice of self-denial in con- 
sumption is open to no such objection. 
But might not a word be said , in favour of 
some such wholesome interferences as that the 
Government should supply sufficient barrels to 
prevent the netted fish rotting on our coasts for 
lack of packing facilities. We know how indiffer- 
ent our powerful fish-factors are to such infamous 
wastes, which are a frequent deliberate policy in 
times of peace — to keep prices up. An actual 
mere dearth of barrels at the moment is respon- 
sible not only for actual waste of fish already 
caught, but for the fact that much fish is left uii- . 
gathered because the waste from this cause is 
foreseen by the fisher folk. It seems well worth 
while to make some fuller use of this, »the only 
harvest which we reap without the labour of sowing 
and ploughing. Spendthrift habits and apathy 
are apparently not so easily shaken off, even 
at such a time ae this. »• 
The two children's parties which are to take place at the 
Hotel Cecil next Tuesday and on the following Monday in 
aid of the British Women's Hospital building fund for a Home 
for disabled soldiers and sailors, will be most attractive. 
Parties are being organised by I.ady Arran, Lady Tcnterden, 
],ady Dorothy Stanley and Lady Devonport. among others. 
At 3.30 the guests are to arrive "and go at once to the Palm 
Court where ai hour's entertainment is to be given. It 
wdl be changed on both days. A musical comedy clown 
has been engaged, and Mr. Prank \an Hoven, the magician, 
will perform. Those clever small children, Miss Betty Balfour 
and Miss Joan Carroll, will give selections from their repertoires, 
and Little June, pupil of Mme. Pavlova, will dance. 
This entertainment over, the children will form a pro- 
cession headed by a boys' band and the banners of the 
Allies, and march downstairs to tea, and arrangements have 
Ix-en made with Santa Claus to come and distribute presents. 
All this enjoyment is to be had for the modest sum of a 
silver crown, of which two shillings goes to the fund. Tickets 
can be obtained from Room 35, Hotel Cecil, Strand. 
