Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 3, 1925, Winnipeg, Manitoba The design of this Section is to give accurate literary information. To make criticism the Aid of writing. To encourage Canadian literature. To cultivate a taste for Reading and sound books. Literary and Book review Section published on the first monday of every month 5omc Are la be dotted others Strallo ived and some t be chewed and when i get a Little Money i of Cut books and if any is left i of Cut fax and edited by Thomas b. Robe ton Winnipeg monday August 3, 1925 i the King s English in u very interesting Little Book entitled the King s eng it. Fowler and f. G. Fowler Supply the student of English prose with one of the Best possible guides to the practice of this mysterious Art. The great fact about English prose is that the rules which Are supposed to regulate its composition have never been known in anything like their entirety to any body and have never been understood clearly by any writer from tiie humblest to the greatest who Ever with it. The King s English tries to explain the principles of sound construction and Correct composition and does so very Well thing it docs most successfully of All is to show that English writ ing is crawling with grammatical error and that even writers who arc reputed the greatest stylists fall into confusion just As grossly As their lesser Brethren the Book really helps the student by picking the error out of existing work and presenting it to him he can then see it for himself and avoid it when he writes. In their preface the authors of the King s English arc careful to say that the frequent appearance in their lists of errors of any author s or newspaper s name does not mean that that author or newspaper offends More often than others against the rules grammar or style it merely shows that they have been among the necessarily limited number chosen to collect instances consequently the fact that scores of examples arc taken from the London times does not mean that the times stands out for grammatical illiteracy among the English newspapers it Means that if the other newspapers were examined in the same Way they would be found to be As great offenders the times has merely been selected to Jarry a Large part of the Burden of common to them All. The astonishing thing is the scope of the error. In vocabulary syntax punctuation style Euphony meaning etc., error Springs up incorrigible none of these departments is error proof and it becomes an Odd spectacle to see. The Long line of writers who come into this Book like erring schoolboys to have their grammar corrected and their diction taken out of its dislocations. A few typical examples will be of interest. Mistakes in the number of verbs arc extremely say the authors of the King s when a singular noun intervenes Between a plural subject or a plural Noim Between a singular subject and its verb. It. Is Worth while to illustrate the Point and they illustrate As follows f an immense amount of confusion and indifference prevail in these Telegraph. Should he they produced various medicament the lethal Power of which were extolled at times. Should be was the partition which ministers made of the Powers of government were singularly should be was they continue with other examples of errors found in the writings of Walter Bagehot Emerson w. H. Mallock and John. Richard Green and then Point out some other errors of number where the writer has fallen Down on nouns of multitude the Public is naturally much impressed by this evidence and in considering it do not make the necessary should be does As the race Man after centuries of civilization still keeps some traits of their barbarian l. Stevenson. Should be its neither either As always take a Singu Lar much neglected also every the Conception is faulty for two reasons neither of which Are noticed by should be is neither of. Which Are very amiable motives for religious would need to be of which is a these Are infractions of the simplest grammatical rules and we see celebrated and famous writers committing them quite readily they commit other errors in the construction of their sentences which look equally absurd when gathered together As they Are Here. Under the heading of the authors of the King s English list the following repetitions to read his tales is a baptism of optimism. Sensation is the direct effect of the Mode of motion of the sen he served his apprenticeship to Bryce. The projects of m. Witte relative to the regulation of the relations Between capital and under the heading of repeated the follow ing the founders of the study of the origin of human of the mind of the age of devoid of any accurate knowledge of the Mode of development of Many groups or plants and Here Huxley in a phrase of seventeen words uses the same preposition five times. What has been Given scarcely indicates the Field of this remarkable Little Book in All the parts of literary construction error abounds and the whole subject is seen to be a network of Pitfalls into which even the warmest Tumble unconsciously. A close study of the examples Analysed by the authors would purge prose com position of a multitude of mistakes but the Reader is left with a feeling of wonder at the curious nature of a language which can produce a literature so Rich and various and at the same time be so far removed from grammatical rectitude its rules being but Light Bonds on even its most approved . Wild geese in Canada of unusual interest in the Maga Zine Field for August is this Western Home monthly of Winnipeg which Lias obtained the Aerial rights of Martha Story. Wild the first instalment illustrated with the drawings used on the american Side appears in Tho a gust number. Miss Ostenso is a for Mer member of the staff of Tho free press and was educated in the Manitoba schools including Tho univer of Manitoba. She has used this As background of her Ory. Who re won the pictorial to Lew and a picture Price totalling nearly u under stood that her experiences As a Young school teacher in a Pioneer District of the province have been Woven into wild those interested in the Progress literature will find miss style and method of to Carnen worthy of close study. The bread of dependence by Edmund a d Auvergne. Contrary to general belief the charac ters of this novel of Post War Days do not find the bread of dependence As bitter of taste As it should be in an Ideal world. It is sufficiently unpalatable however to make a readable Story out of the relations o a brie Fless barrister with we wife is a musical comedy Star Anc another woman who i marries somebody else just when the web is gelling so tangled that i would take the divorce court i couple at sessions or so to Tarave it. The Rise of the Commonwealth Dominion responsibility for external affairs the theory of Empire government y Means of the Imperial Cabinet As Elf Neil by or. Hughes to the aus Ralian parliament was tested and destroyed by the Chanak episode of september 1922. That incident which seemed so amazing to con temporary British opinion and Vieve d in retrospect has to bizarre an appearance was Tea full dress try out of the new system by its designers or. Lloyd George and or. Churchill of great Britain Mir. Massey in new zealand and or. Hughes in the British members he combination having Given the signal their australasian colleagues came Back with the required Auto Matic reply whereupon they waited or the instantaneous rallying be by John w. Dafoe this procedure was formally approved by the Canadian parliament n accepting the report. But certain questions of moment were not touched by this formal adoption of the Versailles procedure. Should for instance this procedure de in All cases where great Kes a political if Premier King who a leading figure in the Imperial conference of 1823, which re established the consultative feature of the conference. Lind them of All the Peoples of the Empire. Which did not come. In Stead Canada explicitly declined to play up to the Lead Given her South Africa marked time in a mood of masterly inactivity Anglo Indian opinion As expressed by Tho British newspapers of India was hostile and alarmed while in great Britain it needed this further adventure to crystallize the general feeling that he country would be better served by a More sober minded administration. Loyd George fell and Bonar Law came in pledged to a regime of political dissensions in great Bri Tain attendant upon the destruction of the coalition government provided the revelation that the cablegram to the dominions summoning though in form of course the sum Mons bore the Guise of an invitation a new conflict was not the considered policy of the British govern ment still less did the per fervid manifesto Given to the world through the Agency of the press. Bureau in which participation by the dominions in any War that might grow out of the threatening situation along the Straits was accepted As a certainty expound the agreed upon views of the government of great Britain. These were the work of a Section of the government that Section in fact whose members regarded them selves As also members of the Imperial the terms of Lloyd George s definition to the British parliament in the prime minister of the United King Dom and such of his colleagues As Deal specially Imperial when the Call sent out by these members of the Imperial Cabinet in great Britain came to them their colleagues in new zealand and Australia knew what to do. No consideration was. Necessary no consultation anyone was required under the procedure agreed upon the reaction to the Call must be Auto Matic. Therefore or. Massey who got his cablegram at a Public Fune Tion sent his instant acceptance of the while or. Hughes acted with almost equal precipitation not tarrying to ask the consent of parliament which was sitting at the time. Ow4ng to time differences or perhaps to the order in which the cablegram were sent out the Canadian government Learned of the summons and of new zealand s acceptance from the Public press be. Fore its own message was decoded. In a discussion in the australian parliament in the following july there were some state ments As to the reasons for austra Lia s promptitude in accepting the or. Bruce the new prime minister after referring to the Chanak incident As that most unfortunate episode went on to say i do not propose to traverse the history of that incident but i certainly have no hesitation in saying that it was a Rii Ost unfortunate action that was taken by the British prime minister of that Day. That action having been taken by the British prime minister no course was open to Australia but to stand f treaty upon behalf of Canada Rati up to her of location follows approval by Canada. Or. Hughes taking part in the de Bate referred to the trouble that occurred in september of last year when we were pushed Willy Nilly to the very Edge of the. Arena of we he said so nearly engulfed by the maelstrom of War that but for a Miracle we should have been drawn that is to say the action of the British prime minister was most unfortunate but it bound Australia to a parallel course1 of action to be entered upon Willy Nilly even though it engulfed the country in an undesired War. This was the Imperial Cabinet idea in operation decision being made in great Britain and the dominions being bound by the membership of their premiers in the Cabinet. Of course there was the imparting of antecedent though it was beyond question that no Dominion government had received any in formation that in the least prepared it for the alarming cablegram of september 16., this was explicitly stated to parliament by Premier King. When the Canadian government instead of replying ready Aye ready to the cablegram demanded further information and declared that no decision could be reached until parliament was consulted the scheme of government the Empire by an Imperial Cabinet broke Down South Africa contributing to this end judicious marking of time made possible by Gen. Smuts opportune absence in the wilds of Zululand. Nor possible later to revive the theory though some tentative efforts in this direction were made during the next year. The possible mischance of such a system had been too clearly revealed. Had it operated in september 1922, with the precision expected by its Fashio ners the people erf and probably great Britain might would have found themselves involved in a War to which they were opposed with the dominions committed by the act of the prime minister of great Britain to a course of action which would have been repudiated by the. People the moment they could act the Neces sary constitutional machinery in motion. A superficial appearance of political Unity thus obtained done incalculable damage to the moral Unity which is the real strength of the Commonwealth. These dangers were narrowly escaped in retrospect they Are so clearly seen that there is to possibility of further Imperial adventures n the spirit of the Chanak. Episode. Ii. Mackenzie King prime minister of Canada at Markham ont., August 16, 19 24, spoke of the transformation now in of what was. Formerly an Empire in the old sense to a Britannic league or Community of that transform or. King said is practically though not absolutely Complete la Domestic affairs. It has gone far though not so. In foreign affairs but it is going on and must go on in the Field As in the other for eign affairs Are simply an Extension or projection of Domestic affairs. The responsibility for foreign affairs cannot be separate from the responsibility for Domestic that statement fairly sets out the by a of its problem. Self government Dominion involves control., foreign affairs. How is this to be exercised in View of the fact that the dominions Are members of Community of having Large common interests the record at the past seven years has been one of experiments of groupings to find the Road. The Imperial Cabinet idea was an Experiment in a common executive to act in All external relations under test it broke Down. There has also been extensive experimentation in the Field of treaty making Andi Here there has been a definite Advance. Ii we consider in relation to one another the Lausanne treaty the halibut treaty Between Canada and the United states aha the declaration As to treaty making proce Dure by the Imperial conference of 1933, it will be. Seen that out of con fusion has come a fairly definite policy which has a significant Bear ing upon the whole question of Imperial relations. Sir Robert Borden in his report to the Canadian government upon the Washington conference j the procedure which should be Fol Lowed where Imperial treaties Are made to which Canada is to be party. First there is Tion Between the British and can Adian governments before the conclusion of preliminary arrangements. Canada is to be represented by a plenipotentiary Given full from the. King at the request of the Canadian government who in follow Britain a 3reat Britain makes a. Treaty with it consultation with the dominions ire they obligated by the commit ments of the treaty to these questions the controversy which arose Between the Canadian and British governments Over the Lausanne treaty gave answers of a sort. Following the Eudania armistice a conference was called at Lausanne to arrange a new treaty Between Turkey and the allies to replace the abortive treaty of Sevres. Canada n common with the other dominions was a party to the treaty of Sevres. When the turks in september 11332, threatened the Straits the dominions were asked to make common cause great Britain in repelling them. It might reasonably be assumed therefore that the new treaty to re place that of Sevres would be an inter Imperial one to the dominions would be parties. How Ever when the Lausanne conference was called in october 1922, the dominions were not invited to at tend. Canada was advised october 2 2 of the. Constitution of the Confer ence and of the appointments of lord Curzon. And sir Horace Puim bold As British plenipotentiaries. The Dominion governments it was announced were to be kept informed of developments and the Hope As expressed that this procedure will be in accordance the wishes of your Pleni it was added fully acquainted with the Imperial aspect of the Canada was thus confronted by an she had been left out of an International Confer ence dealing with a question which had an Imperial aspect in the opinion of the British government. This exclusion had not been the re sult of preliminary consultation by which Dominion consent to exclusion been obtained. It was an imposed exclusion for reasons set out in an accompanying confidential Des Patch. The reasons in Brief that France objected to representatives of the dominions being pre sent. The Good feeling Between France and great Britain which had. Made possible the representation of the dominions at the Paris Confer ence had passed and France repudiating the to which she then agreed denied the right of the take part in a Confer ence to Deal with the settlement of a War in which they had taken part. When the. Question of the Lau Sanne treaty came before the can Adian parliament in june 1924, or. Meighen took the ground that the Canadian government should not have consented to this exclusion by not insisting upon the Versailles precedent being strictly followed Canada had he suffered a Sharp loss of National slip Ping Back into a state of colonial de Pendency. Or. Meighen s position would be unchallengeable if can Ada had a. Real interest in the questions to be dealt with by the Lau Sanne conference or was to be bound by commitments fixed by the conference but the Canadian government was accept either of those inferences. It. Was undoubtedly quite Well pleased that the British government by its action made it possible for it to hold that the near East situation was not a matter . Concern and that it had no responsibility for a treaty which. It did not help to negotiate. The Canadian government therefore october 31, advised the British government that it took no exception to the course taken by it informing it at the same time that in our opinion the extent to which Canada May be held to be bound by any resulting treaty is necessarily a matter for ment Canada to in de Cember 1922, the Canadian govern ment again formally advised the British government that since Ada had not been invited she could not be expected with respect to the pending treaty to follow the procedure adopted in 1919 a the Case of the War treaties which were for Mally signed on behalf of Canada. The position of the Canadian government is intelligible but the course taken by the British govern ment called for an explanation that has never been Given. Why since it deemed the matters to be dealt with by the conference of concern to the whole Empire and expected the dominions to make themselves parties to the commitments of the settlement did not the British government insist upon their right to representation in the conference was the British government still under the spell of the idea that it was the executive Section of an Imperial Cabinet acting on its own judgment but in. The belief that be Hind it was the massed authority of All the governments of the Empire this is the probable explanation. If Canada had acquiesced without question in the course taken by the British government and had subsequently signed the treaty and for Mally approved its ratification the precedents of Versailles and Washington would have been virtually destroyed. The British government attached no significance to the qualifications Ernest Lapointe. Or. Laplonte. Minister of Justice in or. King s government negotiated the first entirely Canadian treaty under full Powers Froid the King. In the Canadian despatches in octo Ber and december 1922, and when upon the treaty of Lausanne being completed Canada declined to sign it to accept its obligations or to approve its ratification by the King it was mightily astonished. The British press shared in this astonish ment. The Canadian attitude was to them inexplicable. Was it not understood that under the new convention of Empire partnership All continued on next Page a Quartetti of poets the poet has been said to be Harp through which the winds of inspiration blow and Pluck Forth Beautiful melodies. We had asked la there no wind or have we no harps v or were the harps the poets Strum after Reading the four books before poetical works of Albert Durant Robert also by Watson Jasho chooses to spread Jor else her perceptions ire no Loti acute nor 3he distort on the surface of her homely Matei Ial unaware apparel ii of the Rich mine beneath. Her verse is u poetry what the Winnipeg Clov is to architecture. Proof of author s incurable habit of taking themes from Tho mex that. In them in the makers literature series Flower and by John Crichton and Jean Blewett s have to say that the latter two Only served to deepen our melancholy and Harden our Adverse convictions. To Deal with these two first. Jean Blewett has at her command All the Phenomena of Tho common round its Hopes aspirations and illusions but her fingers Jack the Cun Ning to transmute its inherent poignancy into the revealing patterns of poetry. The Man. With a past for instance romanticized in this in stance under the name of Grey offers great opportunities for Pluck no at the More obvious emotions yet Grey Rupert Falls Short even in its wide Appeal. Near approaches the authentic lift of poetry but the note is so Seldom struck throughout the Book. Serious doubt arises to give in example As to whether the Fol lowing is poetry or advice to Young mothers you must not lift the infant up the moment that he cries just let him cry twill give his lungs the proper exercise pay no attention should he ask for something More to and never kiss your upon the perhaps it is unfair to single out that verse for emphasis but it accurately conveys the Quality of a Good Deal of the Book. We cannot conceive the author would quarrel with the selection of we have a cottage neat and trim As any you can see and Best of All the secret s out we have a Nursery a boy a dimpled thing with Janle s eyes of Blue. And Janle s nose up and that is Janie a plainly enough there is diversity in tastes and because such verse causes a mild shudder in one is no reason Why it should in an other. Mount Cavell shows she has a genuine feeling for moods words and. Rhythm that is largely wasted on the canvases on which Iasi selves bused on thematic Distor i Tion lies in the St. Patrick s a aft it we thanked Chr of fathers that Ireland had poets o own. However admitting Oil there remains the indisputable fact that Slio is widely and a. Lauded. To Correct Sny impute Sion therefore that the writer is sniff ish sort of person in his Ute it is recorded Ono of Hli favorite poems is Jabberwocky a you remember the Verso and. As in Offish thought he Sui i the Jab Burdock with of came whiffing through the Tulga i Wood l and buried As it i 1 it is unaccountable that Moore did not include this poem with Andrew Marvell s death of in his slender volume of pure Noah los More John Crichton in his Flower Tut appears to he a fellow Grot by engrossed with Vasi. An3 awful As life death love but unable to communicate with hum degree of intensity his feelings about them As for instance in when skirts were longer Mur years ago she used to dance. Within this very room that we Axi a weary countenance. Weary of us who and go o patient Oak Flint must feel Folly in to and dust dancing in the she died we linger pleasure Calll her round of Ard aches on through Echo ing Halls until the sweeper the Majestic note striven Tot utterly ruined by the opening Votsi when skirts were is none of the grandeur of Al Mil about skirts Long or Short it is tto last thing one is led o expect follow the ideas evoked form an supera to Barrier to the creation the mood desired and the poem in obviously flogged out of a Brilt deadened with its own initial continued on next announcing the Magayne feature of the year in Competition with world wide writers misstated so was awarded first prize for her Norel evil n i Thor to Locatta and i first instalment in August number the Western Home monthly exclusive rift hts Tot Publ Lydia and show a Trot to Loc a copy at All new dealers August Issue on Sale today ;