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TALK OF EUROPE

AMERICAN films, which have played so large a share in the Americanizing of the world, will soon have a battle before them. From Land and Water [London] comes this paragraph.

'The attempts of the large American cinematograph film companies to obtain complete control of the industry in this country by building their own theatres to exhibit their films, in case our firms should not care for their conditions, have at length led to concerted action here. Last week a big meeting of those interested in the British film industry, at which Mr. A. E. Newbould, M.P., presided, unanimously decided to give support to any action which the British organization might take in the dispute, the proposal being that a boycott should be established of all the films of the American company in question, unless it should renounce its intention of building theatres here. Apparently, from the speeches made, the American cinematograph magnates share the fault with which Canning reproached the Dutch in his famous lines:

In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch

Is in giving too little and asking too much.

'Whereas, we are told, we are exploited by them to their hearts', and pockets', content, British films are barred in America, in spite of the fact that we have produced many films equal to America's best. Apart from the merits of the dispute, we must confess that we think that the country would be none the worse for fewer American films. We have no love for the stereotyped puppets which they offer us as characters, the still, strong men who grab telephones as a starving man might clutch a ham bone, the wicked women who, originally known as "Vampires," have now become merely "Vamps," so that a lady is described as "America's Premier Vamp Actress." Worst of all are the English dukes in their tiny rooms crowded with " carved oak" furniture on which the varnish can almost be seen

drying, the English undergraduates in clothes which would provoke a riot in any English university town. We speak, perhaps, only for ourselves, but we could also cheerfully spare the microcephalic detective and his mutton-headed victims.'

THE strikes and disturbances in various towns and cities throughout Italy confirm the view lately put forward, that the causes of the political crisis are mainly economic. Shops and not only provision shops, but those devoted to the sale of expensive clothing and 'dry goods'- have been wrecked and plundered, and the contents either distributed among the crowd at greatly reduced prices, or simply appropriated by the plunderers; markets in several towns have been looted, and a plot to this end in Rome was only foiled just in time. Self-appointed commissioners have toured the country in motor cars, ‘requisitioning' produce from the peasantry, and even carrying off the poultry from suburban villas; and the natural result has been to spoil much good food, to cause the peasants to hide their supplies, and to make the scarcity worse. Thus, at Milan, a number of middle-class families, particularly in the suburbs, have been unable to get provisions, and the large class which in all Italian cities takes its meals at restaurants has had to go without them. The government has checked profiteering in necessaries by offering to take over the shops and their stocks at a valuation, and has ordered a reduction of 50 per cent in nearly all retail prices, and the dealers have acquiesced so readily as to suggest that their recent profits have more than covered any prospective loss. The government has also distributed meat, oil, vegetables, boots, and clothing among the coöperative societies at prices enabling them to sell comparatively cheaply, and chilled meat is selling at 5f. 50c. per kilogramme. Fresh meat in 1913 cost about 1f. 60c. per kilogramme retail in most of the great towns; now

it is 6f. to 7f. The rise is attributed to the drought, but a leading Milan paper says, on expert authority, that chilled meat might be sold for 3f. 50c. to 4f. per kilogramme. Apparently, however, any great reduction in the prices of meat, cereals, and sugar must depend on the amount of tonnage available for imports. And, of course, Italy will suffer very heavily, both in production and transport, from the impending rise in the price of British coal. Some millions of tons are due from Germany as reparation under the Treaty of Peace, but it is not easy to see how it can begin to reach Italy in adequate quantities in time to mitigate the present need. But the Prime Minister's recent speech in the Chamber was boldly optimistic. He promised a reduction in the cost of living, a graduated tax on war profits, a luxury tax, the electrification of some 3,750 miles of railway (about a third of the total), development of the mercantile marine, and immediate electoral reform.

ON Peace Day, General Pershing was entertained at luncheon at the Mansion by the Lord Mayor. Mr. Winston Churchill made the following speech:

'We are all delighted to see General Pershing and his gallant Americans over here. We hope that they will carry away very pleasant memories of their all too brief visit to England. We were very much struck after the entry of the United States into the war with a characteristic in their method, of which some of us in this country were not aware. Many of us thought that the Americans, when they undertook anything, went at it with an extraordinary degree of verve, of haste, desirous at all costs of getting a task completed in a minimum of time. But when we saw the American mentality, exposed as the mentality of a great people can only be exposed, under the supreme trials of history, we saw that their conception of a national task of this scale was to make absolutely sure of every step taken and absolutely sure of the final result. And thus restraining every feeling of impatience, which their soldiers and nation felt, they began to lay broad, deep, and wide plans and organization of a victorious campaign, as it certainly would

have been, of 1919 or 1920. Great docks, mighty railways, enormous storehouses of every kind, were set on foot adequate to the scale of the armies they designed to employ, and certainly equal to any strain or any task.

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'However, when March 21 came along, although they were carrying out their plans, their scientific plans, which alone gave an absolute certainty of victory for all, we saw that the passion of the American nation and the American Army broke loose from the scientific policy which they were logically following out, and we have heard read to-day, by the City Chamberlain, that fine contribution to eloquence in the English language, that fine, simple, manly statement which I venture to think will take its place beside the famous words which Abraham Lincoln used on the field of Gettysburg, the statement in which General Pershing offered the whole of his resources, his men, everything that the Ame ican Army could command, to Marshal Foch, to be thrown in anyhow, as the emergency might need, into the struggle of the great battle.

'The mighty strength which was thrown into the struggle terminated, in the mercy of God, last year, and it was inevitable that the struggle should terminate victoriously for freedom from the moment that the United States entered the war. Until then the fearful equipoise of the conflict gave no certainty that even if every effort was made a decisive victory would be attained.

'Almost everything in the world that can be said has been said about Anglo-American friendship. I defy anyone, however ingenious he may be, to think of phrases or sentiments happier than those which have been used, and used so often that they have become the cherished commonplaces of our daily life. "Hands across the seas." "Blood is thicker than water." These are texts from the Anglo-Saxon Bible which we all know as well as we know the most familiar and most reverenced sentiments.

'But here is the duty which lies with everyone of us, whatever station we may occupy, soldiers or sailors, politicians or diplomatists, general or privates, or workingmen. During this war we have all rubbed

up against our opposite members in the United States. We have all come across some American or some few Americans with whom we have had intimate relations in the prosecution of a common struggle. Never let us allow those ties to be broken. It is for us a solemn responsibility that each of us in his own way should keep in individual touch and liaison, to use a military term, with those with whom we have been brought in contact, in the course of this immense struggle, and this great movement of world destiny, which we see carrying our peoples forward together, will be reinforced by our own individual efforts, and will be accelerated and brought nearer to its consummation.'

BRITISH press criticism of the proposal to try the ex-Kaiser in fulfillment of the terms of the Peace Treaty, and the speeches in condemnation of the plan made by public men in England, are freely quoted in the Dutch press, and the opposition there to any possible demand for his surrender is apparently stiffening. Thus the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant (July 11), seizes on a remark of Het Volk (July 10), to the effect that, while of the opinion that the former Emperor will have to be given up, it must be frankly stated that the Entente treatment of Holland is offensive, and 'we only give in to it because we are the weaker of the two.' There can be no question of weakness or of strength on one side or the other. If the extradition of the ex-Kaiser has to be refused, either on the ground of existing international regulations with regard to the law of extradition, or on that of our own national legislation, or even on the ground that the procedure at London offers no guaranty for an impartial investigation of the case or for an honest trial of the fallen Emperor, there will be an end of the matter. It is absurd to be uneasy as to the consequences of such a refusal. Attempts at compulsion or reprisal are alike impossible. The London mob, which will have been done out of a sensational exhibition, will sulk for a few weeks; a few London papers will waste seas of ink in venting their spite against Holland, and eventually the whole thing will be forgotten. There is nothing to be afraid of: on the contrary, the num

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ber of those who refuse to be governed by hate and passion is daily growing, and when once more the world has settled down they will be grateful to the Dutch for upholding their standpoint and saving England the shame down through history of having subjected the grandson of Queen Victoria to a simulacrum of a tribunal and a travesty of a trial devised merely for the satisfaction of thoughtless pledges given for electioneering purposes.

The Haagsche Post, quoted by the Gazette de Hollande (July 14), laments the fact that the presence of the ex-Kaiser and the ex-Crown Prince in Holland has caused that country nothing but trouble and promises to cause her further embarrassment, and states that it would be a great relief if they could be got rid of 'in an honorable manner.' The writer proceeds to explain the meaning he attaches to these words. Were the Dutch Government either to extradite or to expel these refugees, they would have to be satisfied that the trial would be by an impartial court. Every accused, however deeply he may have transgressed either written or unwritten law, has an inalienable right to such a trial, the Kaiser and his son as much as anyone else. No allied and associated judges, however, will ever be able to pronounce a sentence that will be accepted as fair by all mankind and that will not, some day, be repudiated by history, no matter how honest they may be or how impartial they may endeavor to be. No one would object to the public prosecutor being supplied by Great Britain and the defense by Germany, but the judges must be chosen from amomg the neutrals and the trial must take place in a neutral country. It is to be regretted, however, that the Emperor and the Crown Prince have not the courage to leave of their own free will, as they would if they had a vestige of honor or of self-respect left. After ruining their own great nation, they prefer to let a small people with whom they have nothing to do pull the chestnuts out of the fire for them. A more ignominious fall has rarely been chronicled.

Finally, the Gazette de Hollande itself (July 14), whose proprietor and editor, Mr. O. Van Beresteyn, died suddenly a few days

earlier, supplies a vigorous article from a diametrically opposite point of view. Following a review of the situation at the time, the writer says: 'Such is the outcome of the war into which William II of Hohenzollern, with his bombastic Nun wollen wir sie dreschen, plunged us five years ago, supported by his eldest son's vulgar Immer feste d'ruff. These are two of the principal culprits, who by their stupidity, conceit, and ignorance of the world have left a mark upon history which they were only enabled to inflict by reason of the ridiculous tradition according them a right to reign instead of to work in a social position suited to their capacity. And, as if we had not long since had enough of these troublesome creatures, the world is still quarreling about what to do with them. . . . What man with any greatness in his soul would remain skulking in his hiding place as William the Puny is now doing? . . . He told us a while ago that, rather than be exposed to the ignominy of a trial, he would die by his own hand. Bombast and rant! The ignominy of his flight and the ignominy of his concealment are far greater than the ignominy of a trial. . . . In any

...

case, the nations need never fear him any more. We now know his true character. Not only is he no Napoleon; he is not even a Stuart. Pshaw! Let Germany and England and everybody else forget him and his heir! Neither the one nor the other is worth the breath and the ink spent upon them.' The writer proceeds to argue that, while a trial is now unnecessary, an impartial inquiry into the origin and conduct of the war would be of value. By forcing the German Government to admit their country's guilt the Conference thought to produce an unquestionable proof for all time of Germany's responsibility for the war, but in this it overreached itself, as the very methods by which it was obtained invalidate it. In neutral countries and in Germany many who were previously convinced believers in Germany's guilt have been rendered skeptical by the over-anxiety displayed by the Entente. It might be well, therefore, to set up an unbiased court, with every facility for studying the necessary documents, with a view to a clear and complete report; this would do more to reconcile the nations than all the efforts of the Paris Conference.

THE EDITOR'S NOTE-BOOK

Harold Cox is a distinguished economist known for his long and consistent fight against the dogmas of Socialism. He is also the editor of the Edinburgh Review.

E. T. Raymond is the author of the successful book Uncensored Celebrities.

Max Beerbohm, novelist and caricaturist, will be remembered by readers of THE LIVING AGE as the author of Savonarola, the Shakesperean burlesque recently reprinted in these pages.

A. Emil Davies, writer and lecturer on finance, is General Manager of the British, Foreign, and Colonial Corporation.

BY SYLVIA LYND

To-night the sky is like a rose
Above the little town,
A petal fallen from a rose
The chalk-pit on the down.

The ancient vane is gilt again,
And every roof is warm,
And brightly burns a window-pane
In some far distant farm.

The gentle hill, the gentle sky Lie close as close-shut lips, Softly and very secretly

Day toward darkness slips.

And every tree its arms puts out
To clasp the passing light,
And every bud puts up its mouth
To kiss the day good-night-

The elm trees all on tiptoe stand
Day's going to behold,
Like little children hand-in-hand
With hair of misty gold-

So slowly that she seems to stay,
So slowly does she pass!
But trace we may the steps of day
Translucent in the grass.

To-night her going is as kind

As if that she stood still, And we, by climbing, noon should find, Full noon, behind the hill,

The Nation

MIST MIRAGE

BY MAURICE HEWLETT

Summer days, the golden downs
Change as sunlight breaks or frowns;
Dreaming in the night, they lie
Naked to the cold moon's eye.

Winter's grass is starven white,
Stiffen'd by the sheep's close bite;
And the wrinkl'd darks declare
The faltering footfalls of the hare.

Where the rabbits bunch and preen: Softfoot there you walk, and tread On the vanished ocean's bed.

But when the soft wet southeast wind Drives the mist that shrouds them blind,

Then do the antic hills retake
The semblance of their pristine make.

Then they rise in cliff and wall,
Then you may hear the sea-birds call,
Hear far below waves break and crash,
And spending waters run awash;

Hear the shingles, when the wave
Sucks them backward, harshly rave:
Where you walked on loamy sward
The hungry sea is overlord.

The New Statesman

ROSA MYSTICA

O soul of many suns! Quintessent fire Of all the mystic slow-expiring spheres Where through my soul, for long grayshrouded years

Of barren questing, sought its far desire!

Lure of the Syrian Song and Sapphic lyre

Mistress of all the passion-weary tears Of the world's ebbing youth that thinks it hears

The rustle of Thy dusky-gemmed attire

Like golden bells rung in the close of day,

And fades in rapture bid me too draw nigh

With tears and song and laughter like the rest asking doubly blest,

Naught

save

acceptance:

If, when mine own sweet hour be come

to die,

I fall a little nearer Thee than they.

Athenæum

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