New Age, Vol. 5 No.1, April 29, 1909
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The New Age, Tuesday,April 29th, 1909 ENLARGED MAY-DAY NUMBER THE NEW AGE A WEEKLY REVIEW OF POLITICS, LITERATURE AND ART, No. 764] THURSDAY,APRIL 29, 1909 ONE PENNY CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE -NOTESOF THE WEEK ... ... ... ... ... I Whited SEPULCHRES--Chapter I. BeatriceBy Tina .... 13 IN DEFENCEOF AROBINDAGHOSH .... ... ... 3 A Clump OF RUSHES.By David Lowe ... ... ... 14 SOCIALISTPOLITICS ... ... ... ... ... 4 REVIEWS: Russia’s New Era ... 15 THE INSOLENTHEATHEN ... ... ... 5 DRAMA : “Those Damned Little Clerks” By Cecil AN ETHICALMARRIAGE SERVICE‘” ... ... ... 5 Chesterton ... ... ... ... ... ... 16 AN ENGLISHMAN’SBACK GARDEN. By Edgar Jepson ... 6 MUSIC : Castorand Pollux. ByHerbert Hughes ... ... 19 JOAN OF ARCAND BRITISHOPINION. By Joseph Clayton ... CORRESPONDENCE: Paul Campbell, H. Russell Smart, A SHRIEKOF WARNING-11. By G. K. Chesterton ... 7 Arnold Bennett, Henry C. Devine, Edward Agate, R. W. SYMPATHYAND UNDERSTANDING.By Eden Phillpotts ... 10 Talbot Cox,. Cicely Hamilton, C. H. Norman, F. L. BOOKSAND PERSONS. By Jacob Tonson ... ... I2 Billington-Grieg ... ... ... ... ... 20 ALL BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS should be ad- escapedthem, we can only saythat had he endured dressed to the ‘Manager, 12-14Red Lion Court Fleet St., London. them,he would notnow be where he is.. Thereare ADVERTISEMENTS : The latesttime for receiving Ad- only twothings necessary in modernelementary edu- vertisments is first post Monday for the same week’s issue. cation : to abolish the schoolsand to abolish the SUBSCRIPTION RATES for England and Abroad: teachers. Of thethree factors, the children are the Three months .. IS. 9d. sole uncorrupted. Six months . .. 3s. 3d. ** * Twelve months ... 6s. 6d. All remittances should be made payable to THENEW AGE PRESS, ‘Lord Crewe, the Colonial Secretary, had the audacity LTD.,and sent to 12-14,Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London todeclare in the House of Lordson Wednesday that The Editorial address is 4, Verulam Buildings Gray’s Inn, he had never seen any difficulty in defending the system W.C. of indenturedlabour. Plenty of better people than LordCrewe years ago found no difficulty in defend- ing slavery, and we do not doubt that in the House of NOTES OF THE WEEK. Lordsthe noble earlcan make the worseappear the EITHERthe “Times” has beeneavesdropping, or Mr. betterreason. But a more liberalassembly would Lloyd George has been at his usual game of giving the smile, and notvery indulgently, at hisclumsy sophis- showaway. Anyhow, the“Times ” of Wednesday tries.There is only oneexcuse for indentured labour, appearedwith exclusive information regarding one of and it is the same for forced and underpaid labour of the lacunae of the Budget : there is to be no taxation every kind : the necessity of the labourer. And this is of landvalues. About that nobody,we are sure will invariably exploited to the limit of his endurance. That care a pin,except it be fanatics like Mr.Fels, whose ourown proletariat are notindentured like coolies ideasrun on land as Shylock’sran on ducats. We argues novirtue inLord Crewe and his peers, who havealways ,declared that this particular roost was could as easilyjustify such labour in England as in eitherempty or containedonly pot-eggs, and that no Madagascar,the New Hebrides,theCongo, or Socialistwould spend five minutesfluttering the hen. PrincipéFor English labourers a silverchain hasto Mr. Lloyd Georgehas apparently arrived at the same be invented and labelled-Freedom. conclusion with the aid of the Cabinet ; for we are con- *** vinced that he could nothave done it unaided.About If the English Church in Wales were not one of the the “Times,” we see that Mr. Belloc intends to ask a outposts of the English Church in England, neither Mr. question. Hehad better inquirewhy the Cabinet Balfour nor Lord Hugh Cecil. would lift a finger to save leaks. it. As it is, theWelsh Disestablishment must be sup- ** * * ported as a buttressto the English. Unfortunately The number of promissorynotes issued by the Mr.. Asquith, in introducing his Bill; failedlamentably Governmentexceeds their credit. During the discus- to anticipatethe actual .opposition. On grounds of sionon Continuation Schools, inaugurated on Monday reason,his case wasunanswerable ; but Mr. Balfour by Mr. W. Jones, Mr. Runcimanpromised, or, at ignoredreason and stuck to solid sentiment.This Bill least, hoped, that“in the course of thenext few meant the diversion of money from a higher to a lower years ” the school-leaving agemight be raised. He use ; that is, if you please, fromsaving hypothetical might as well have said the millennium and done with ‘souls tosaying actual bodies. Also itwas due to it. The nation absolutely stands on the three pedestals malevolentNonconformist jealousy (probably true). of women’s,workers’, and children’s -slavery, andto ButMr. Balfour dung sentiment to the windswhen he abolish one would be tomake the gimcrack edifice declared that “it ‘was. a monstrousand extravagant topple-to theglory of God. Of theproposed Con- paradox that you make religion purer by making minis- tinuation Schools we have not, with an intimate know ters of religionpoorer That is not a paradox but a ledge of them, a single good word to say. Theyare fact, which canbe demonstrated by the method of theworst shams in a shameducational system. Mr. reductioabsurdam : not tosay by theauthoritative Gooch, of Camberwell,who would makethem corn- axiom concerning the rich man and heaven. Not a pulsorydeserves himself tobe sent to one. & for soul in Parliament had thecourage to denounce Mr. Mr. Summerbell, who appeared to regret having Balfour as a rank heretic,. 2 THE NEW AGE APRIL29, 1909 Anythingmore childish thanLord Morley’s attempt enterthe Holyof Holies. That should giveanother tocounteract the courageous and attractive propa- impetus to the Women’s Suffrage movement ganda of seditioncarried on amongIndian students ** * in England by ShyamajiKrishnavarma at hisIndia The “Times,” commenting on the recent crisis in the House at Highgatecan scarcely beimagined. Every I.L.P., remarks in asentence as full of inaccuracies youngIndian worth. his salt is, of course, an Indian as of mixed metaphors : “ifthe forward section suc- Nationalist, as every Englishman worth his beef is an ceed in severing the links between the Labour Party and English,Nationalist. LordMorley’s appointment of theTrade Unionists which theformer have been at Mr., Arnold toact as kind English grandmotherto such pains to forge, it is hardly open to doubt that they youngIndians in thiscountry is, therefore, not only will have paved the way to a debacle for their party at doomed tofailure, but doomed to worsethan failure. the General Election. ” The “ forward ” movement has Inthe firstplace, no Englishman of character would no intention of severing the links, but only of adding undertake the invidious task, and, in the second place, fresh links to enable each section to move more freely. no youngIndian of character would submit tothe Our contentioh is that at present the two sections are deliberateprocess of denationalising. The .London running in a three-legged race. Also, we quite expected School of Economics has a betterscheme : the in- that the “ debacle at the GeneralElection ” would be stitution of speciala course of lectures forIndian attributed in advance to the “ forward ” section, though, students on Indianadministration. There is states- in fact, we have long prophesied such a debacle as the manship- in that. consequence of thefailure to move forward.The re- ** * cent awakening of the I.L. p., due wholly to the “for- ward ” section(which, by theway, is not, as. Mr. “ The price we are paying for the finest town-plan- Blatchfordungenerously claims, confined to himself ning in the world is the destruction of the home.” This and Mr. Grayson,and Mr. Hyndman),isthe best is the declaration of one of the housing experts of Ger- guarantee we have had for three years against the once many as reported in the “Times ” of April 22. “ With certaindebacle. The electionprospects of theI.L.P. all their planningand all their machine-like organisa- are already distinctly brighter as a result of Edinburgh. tion, the problem of the housing of the poor has yet to *** be dealtwith.” We commend this to the attention of We are glad that Mr. and Mrs.Sidney Webb have Mr. Burns,whose Bill is now in Committee. For started ontheir campaign on behalf of the Minority neither by his Bill nor by anything short of the State Report. The Labour Party alone has not steam enough provision of freehouses for working men canthe to forcethe pace, and a great deal will be needed. problem be solved. ** * People do not realise what an amount of raging, tear- ingpropaganda is necessary to propelagood Bill We have not the smallest objection to the raising of through Parliament : bad Bills glide through on greased the salary of the President of the Board of Trade from wheels. Thereis considerable danger lest the work of £2,ooo to £5,ooo. Our only condition is that he shall the Commission on the Poor Law be rendered fruitless earn it. At present there is not the smallest doubt that forageneration by theprevailing lassitude of re- Mr. Churchilldoes nothing of the kind.Neither he formers,who will need alltheir beststrength if they nor half adozen otherMinisters we could name, are are to succeed in embodying the Report or Reports in worth anything like the salary they receive. It ,is part Acts that alonematter. Anybodywho can use tongue of the general farce of English politics that a man like or pen should getto workon the subject at once. Mr. Churchill,with absolutely no commercial experi- *** ence, should be regarded as capable of -filling the post, Amongthe less disagreeable of theresults of the and be accepted by commercial men themselves without Naval Panic inaugurated with such folly by Mr. Asquith a grain of salt. £2,000 a year is quite enough for an himself,is theappointment which has beenforced on amateurgentleman politician. £5,ooo ayear is not him of a Commission of Inquiryinto the state of the too much for a trained and capable man.