April 27, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
II 
tackle naval construction, show no patriotic inclination 
to throw the same ardour into mercantile work, for 
.the reason that they do not realise its national importance. 
Secondly, the lirms that have contracts with shipowners 
ior the production of steamers, have no inducement to 
raise wages or push on with this work, for the reason that 
any ships they build must be delivered under contracts 
made when economic conditions were totally different 
from those that now prevail. If they complete the ships, 
they do so at a loss. And as over half a million tons 
have been contracted for, the loss would be formidable. 
It is for these two reasons that it is clear that only 
Government action can put the renewal of our merchant 
shipping on the footing which its importance as. a national 
interest now demands. 
Next, it follows from the existing shortage and the 
threatened, greater shortage, that the restriction of 
imports must be made a great deal more rigorous than it 
is. The employment of Sir Guy Granct to supervise this 
guarantees that the Government's policy, whatever it is, 
will be carried out with the greatest possible ability and 
firmness. It is more to the purpose that this policy 
should be as strict as possible, and that once principles 
are laid down, no pressure to allow exceptions should, 
even in a single case, be permitted. 
The Case of the Underwriters 
Finally there is the grave question of insurance, the 
importance of which seems in some quarters to be very 
little realised. In this field the excess profit tax may 
prove to be of questionable wisdom. The business of 
underwriting has been held to be a trade and not a 
profession, and the individuals and firms engaged in it 
have to pay last year's and now the enhanced impost 
on all after war profits. Some of the largest operators 
have already withdrawn from underwriting altogether 
and others threaten to withdraw. ■ To them it simply 
seems to be a case of " Heads you win : tails I lose." 
The Chancellor has, of course, made certain concessions 
to them. The transactions of two years are to be brought 
into account, instead of only one, and the excess tax 
profits is not to be payable till the end of the present 
jinancial year. But is not the application of this tax 
mistaken in this particular case ? At most underwriting 
is half a business and half a profession. In no commercial 
imdertaking does individual experience and judgment so 
affect a man's action. But this, after all, is not the point. 
The point is that we are in a form of sea war in which the 
uncertainties are greater than they have ever been, and 
that never was a free underwriting market more needed. 
Anything which weakens the market is bad policy. 
The underwriters have deserved well of the nation. From 
the first their action has been marked by public spirit. 
But their position is difficult. It is impossible for the 
Admiralty to give them information which will enable 
them to judge the probabilities of any one route being 
safer than any other. With an enemy with the morals of 
the German and armed with a weapon like the submarine, 
it is literally true fo say that at any moment anything 
may happen. This is surely not a situation in which, 
however numerous the thousands that can be drawn 
in taxation, the Exchequer's receipts will compensate 
for a diminution in the confidence of the underwriters 
in their business. For the possession of a great reserve 
fund is of the essence of confidence in this affair. I cannot 
help thinking that anything the Chancellor might lose 
by omitting this tax altogether would be gained fivetimes 
over by the community in lower underwriting rates, and 
the added buoyancy and courage which the prevalence 
of a low underwriting rate gives to the shipping world. 
And if the tax cannot be remitted altogether two changes 
at least might with advantage be made. Let the excess 
profits tax for underwriters be halved on the ground that 
their business is at least in part professional, and let no 
tax be levied at all until after the war is over, so that this 
period of exceptional — and to a great extent incalculable 
— risk should be dealt with as a whole. 
The Submarine War 
I continue this week the daily average curve shewn in 
the last number. It will be seen that during the past 
seven days the losses have dropped below one a day, that 
is below normal. The present fall can hardly be ex- 
plained by the American note. It is more probable that 
tlip fall is due to the usual causes, namely, the necessity 
of all surviving boats to return home for refit, and the 
fact that many boats have not survived. 
Arthur Pollen. 
An Unhumorous Philosopher 
By Desmond MacCarthy 
NOTICING a look of abstraction on the face of my 
companion, I asked him what he was thinking 
about. " I am thinking," he replied smiling, 
" about Herbert Spencer." I looked at him 
in astonishment. But afterwards when we parted my 
thoughts, too, strayed off in that direction, and I found 
them amusing. 
Herbert Spencer's Autobiography is one of the fnost 
transparently honest books ever written. Men have 
often tried to confess themselves, but vanity or the 
desire for sympathy, or the penitent instinct are the 
strongest motives which prompt such attempts, and they 
are distorting influences of the most insidious nature. 
For really truthful self-portraiture some complacency 
and much detachment are necessary ; and these are not 
qualities which generally urge a man to tell all he knows 
about himself. By itself self-complacency may produce 
an amazingly fatuous book ; the hfe of Lord Herbert of 
Chertbury and Benvenuto CelHni's autobiography are 
excellent reading ; but then several pinches of salt must 
be taken with every page, for the authors are out to 
make definite impression.' Absolute detachment again 
prevents a man from writing about himself at all. The 
men then who have written about themselves most 
truthfully are those who have taken their work so seriously 
that it seems natural that the world should want to know 
all about them, and who, at the same time, are so 
satisfied with what they have done, and so convinced of 
its importance, that they do not care a rap what the world 
thinks. This was the case with Herbert Spencer. 
The perfect blend in him of self-complacency with the 
absence of personal vanity has produced a book of unri- 
valled honesty and tepidity. It has been said that Gibbon 
wrote about himself in exactly the same tone as he wrote 
about the Roman Empire ; Herbert Spencer wrote 
about himself in exactly the same tone as he wrote about 
Sovtes Sbahespeaviana^ 
By SIR SIDNEY LEE 
The Reunited Ministry : 
Men shall deal unadvisedly sometimes. 
Which after-hours give leisure to repent, 
Richard III. '\.. iv., 292-3, 
Parliament in Secret Session : 
Seal up your lips, and give no words 
but mum ; 
The business askcth silent secrecy. 
2 Henry VI„ I., ii., S9 90. 
President Wilson's latest pronouncements: 
He is awake. 
He tells thee so himself. 
Troiliis nnd Crcssida I., iri.. 255-6 
