Postblogging 1939: May: Full Employment, Rolling Ressies, Rebirth and Debutantes

Flight, understandably, wants to preserve its patrimony. So I ended up taking a picture of the screen.  These were supposedly being built, to the patent of a Mr. Gazda, at the Oerlikon works at Staus, "near Lake Lucerne." Mr. Gazda gets Patent Troll of the Week honours.

My Dear Reggie:

Another month has passed, and as I pause to recapitulate the month, it is conscription and naval building that capture my attention at the expense of the soon-to-be-happy-couple, and golden memories of school days, soon to be entered into by your boy.

Now having said that, I do find my mind cast back to better days. It is the peril of old age, I am told. Or perhaps it is because war so signally interrupted of our first term,to Tokyo's beating drums, not unheard today. Remember two boy volunteers realising the truth behind the romance of naval battles, of shells bursting round one and nowhere to run, even if we could desert our admiral when he needed us? I think that if more people had experienced the flash of the QFs, they would be more reluctant in their rush to war, and certainly moderate their enthusiasm for sending men and boys out in ships that have no business at sea.  Instead they should meditate on the boys who will not live to see weddings or their Grandfather's hundredth birthday. 

Speaking of which, at the rate things are going, expect to put your chop to the deed when I see you in San Francisco next year.

Now here is the press. (As usual, my actual stock purchases are appended. Mostly makers of radio-related contraptions, not to get ahead of myself.)

Flight 4 May 1939

First Leader: Mid-air refueling is delayed getting going, and  there are more intimations of problems with the Empire Air Mail scheme. Art for the leader is an exploded view of a Handley Page Hampden. Flight notes that the Hampden highlights one approach to solving production problems, but the paper calls for others. It is taking too long for new technology to reach the squadrons. Developmental flights are needed, and developmental types.

Article: The Handley Page Hampden is a remarkable plane. For Flight, every plane is remarkable. The end of the article suggests a reason for this, a page and a half listing the hundred or so sub-contractors involved in its production, all of whom advertise in Flight. 

Service Aviation: The Long Range Flight gets its gongs; the Empire Air Day programme is released (a country wide air pageant, if you have not been paying attention, as I am afraid that I have not.) The Westland Lysander II is in service with the RAF; the Air Ministry buys DH 95 Flamingos for a new, Britain-based transport unit to supplement the one in the Middle East; this month’s flying accident fatalities include men named Evetts, Hopper, Hutchinson, Bell, Petrie, and Stacey. I am too lazy to actually bother to look up a list of air marshals, but knock me over with a feather if I do not see a pattern of familiar names emerging here. Totally unrelated: a picture of the new Lord Rector of Aberdeen U, Air Vice-Marshal Sir David Munro, getting out of an Avro Anson.

Commercial Aviation: the first Short G boat is delivered.* I was not paying attention when this 5000hp, 60,000lb monster was announced. I understand that the RAF version will introduce 16" guns to the air service, and that Boeing is readying a response, the Paging-Doctor-Freud Clipper. I speak somewhat facetiously, but this leads into the observation that there have been even more Empire Air Mail mishaps. Yes, because people keep dropping fair size yachts into the water with 70 knots underway. "Flotsam and jetsam" is not just an easy line for a music-hall Jack Tar.

Article: Brent, on "QBI," continuing. You will recall that this is airman argot for night and low visibility flying, so that you can leave London at midnight and arrive in Brussels --a little past midnight, taking time change into account. Oh wonders of the age! This is a pretty technical discussion for a non-technical article on the methods available for radio direction finding a plane, seguing into “Ultra-Short-Wave Technique," whatever that might be. Though mere ignorance does not stop me from opening my chequebook. These are my favourite kinds of companies, the ones that make much-in-demand-bits that go into lots of things. 

The Industry notes that the Tiger IXC, the type mounted on the Ensign, has been rerated at 775/805hp at 2375rpm at 6,250ft, maximum takeoff power is 900/935hp at 2375rpm at sea level. The Dagger III’s overhaul period has been lengthened. Of neither engine have I heard phrases such as "wonder of the age."  It is hard to see where either firm could go from here. Armstrong in particular appears to have decisively lost the race on the aeroengine front, but I shall keep an open mind, if not an open wallet.

Engineering 5 May 1939

Article: the Lysander II. Petter is filibustering this new plane, and the Grey Lady of the technical press takes account of the heavy use of "extruded light alloy" to create simple and rugged structures, notably the fixed, sprung magnesium undercarriage of enormous strength. I gather that "extrusion" is a process whereby semi-molten metal is pushed through a nozzle under great pressure, thereby shaping it and, as we used to say, "forge hardening" it at the same time. I put quotation marks around the phrase, because apparently it is more complicated than that, with equations and X-rays and the like. The point here is that once the technique is successfully applied to steel, we might see significant improvements in turbine blades. Or, indeed, light alloys might come to be used. 

The Engineer, 5 May 1939

Leader: "End of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement;" Hitler's denunciation serves "as further confirmation of the growing conviction that treaties negotiated with the present regime in Germany can only be regarded as scraps of paper, etc." So we should drop out of the London Treaty, too, (I imagine apoplexy in Tokyo, and my heart leaps for joy) and in particular out of the 8" cruiser holiday so that we can build equivalents of the new Hippers. And, in general, "build build build build build. . . ."

The Economist, 6 May 1939

Per the cover, the Leaders: “Issues of Conscription,” “Full Employment,” “The Central Electricity Board,” “Bulgaria and the Balkans,” “Britain’s Exchange Clearings.”

Now, the paper's leaders do not always align with what is announced on the cover, which I can understand. But this week's inserted first leading article is something else, hopelessly misrepresented as “Small Change.” The claim is that Hitler’s supposed  big speech to the Reichstag was, in fact, no change. The denunciations of the Anglo-German Naval Treaty and  of the German-Polish Nonaggression Treaty of 1934 were expected, the overall effect is positive, because the Royal Sovereigns will not now be scrapped. This is a novel definition of "positive," of which I am unaware. Where is the Fleet to get the men for the "Rolling Ressies," much less for a permanent expansion of the battleline to 20 ships? Perhaps the paper has a more advanced position than I had ever suspected, and anticipates lascars returning to the Royal Navy. By means other than stealth and falsified baptismal certificates, I mean.

“Issues of Conscription:” Is the Military Training Bill the culmination of generations of demands on the Right for conscription? No, it is not, notwithstanding coming from the Conservative cabinet. Was it brought on by the lack of vision and foresight of the present Government? Yes, but that does not change its necessity now. Is it necessary? Yes.

 It is true that “in April alone, some 88,000 men enlisted in the Territorial Army, leaving only another 122,000, six weeks supply at this rate of recruitment, to be found. But this is no argument against the Bill; in numbers and in extent of training the Territorial Army is not enough to serve the nation’s immediate needs. Indeed, the 200,000 militiamen to be trained in the first twelve months are themselves not enough to eke out the Territorials’ part time watch and wardover our anti-aircraft defences and furnish the trained core of a reasonably strong expeditionary force.”

The Bill is limited to supplying enough men to wield the current munitions supply. 

Under the extra heading, Agenda for Preparedness, --II comes the promised second Leader on Full Employment.

“In the most widely accepted economic doctrines of the moment, the concept of “full employment is one of peculiar importance. Until “full employment” is reached, any increase in the monetary demand for goods has the effect, not of putting prices up so much as of attracting into employment resources of labour and capital that were previously standing idle. Until “full employment” is reached, so runs the theory, the creation of demand by expansion of credit cannot result in what is commonly called inflation; on the contrary, by increasing national income, gives rise to savings that offset the original creation of credit . . . . In the layman’s language, “full employment” is the point at which the financing of government deficits ceases to be “sound finance” and becomes “unsound finance.” 

So are we at full employment? Admittedly, the shortages  of men and material that were so prominent in the spring of 1937 have not reappeared. There are still 1,727,000 men and women on the unemployment rolls, but many of these are unemployable. The residual is 817,000, much of which will be taken up by the expansion of the armed forces. We estimate an increase in the value of aircraft production over the next year of 45 millions. The total registered unemployed in the aircraft, automobile and railway vehicles sector is currently only 16,500. Current production per head is £612, which has perhaps already risen to £700. Similarly, the projected increase in arms and related manufactures is £24,200,000, and the gross available output for registered unemployed in the general and electrical engineering industries (ie, omitting constructional and marine engineering) is  between £25 and £30 million.

Bottlenecks, therefore, will soon emerge throughout the manufacturing industries. What of global inputs? Current coal production is 228 million tons, 60 million tons below the 1913 peak. There will be no shortage there. Steel production, however, is theoretically 14.5 million tons, and 14 million is probably the practical limit, with 13 million already being produced and consumed. Given that the WWI peak was 9.72 million tons in 1917, there is a real possibility of shortages there. But labour is the key shortage. Full employment will be reached long before next spring and the completion of the current £350 million borrowing programme, and a  new financial policy will  be needed soon.

“Notes of the Week” opens with furious diplomatic activity in eastern Europe and continues by discussing the most obvious way of addressing “future financial difficulties:” swingeing tax increases. a cargo of particular discretion is to be expected in Vancouver shortly. Japan is wavering in policy, and the British Medical Association thinks that current nutritional standards are too low. Our current food policy was established before the value of “protective foods” such as dairy, fruits and vegetables was known, and there is no possibility of bringing domestic production of these up to acceptable levels, so that imports are a vital aspect of any future war effort.

Our New York correspondent writes on “Seeking the Causes of U.S. Depression.” We can all agree that the current depression began in 1937, but the causes are not clear. Could they  be an abrupt curtailment of Federal expenditure combined with a contraction of credit due to a reduction in excess bank reserves and the “sterilization of incoming gold, and, secondly, a punitive tax on undistributed corporate profits?” It is apparently not the policy of this correspondent to draw conclusions on policy, but that conclusions are to be drawn by the reader is apparently the policy of this correspondent.

“To produce a recovery, a programme of lavish deficit spending was authorized; excess reserves were multiplied by a reduction in required reserves; and by the monetarisation of the previously sterilized gold; and the tax on undistributed profits was reduced to a shadow.” A sharp rebound in production ensued, but  before the competing claims to have caused this were decided, the recovery ran out of steam. Then it happened again in the second quarter of 1939. Perhaps when the increase in Federal spending is felt, this will be relieved. But the tenor of the discussion of the last twelve months, in which the whole explanation for the economy’s problems have been laid to the size (or lack of size) of the Federal deficit may have been misplaced."

“French Financial Problems”

Tax receipts are up, but not nearly so much as the estimates require. The chief cause is international tension, which has dampened business. A sales tax has (the old wartime 1%) been introduced, and new bonds issued. An official campaign calling for “increased consumption” is hoped to push up demand. Production and investment are up. Our Paris correspondent continues to pinch his sous in expectation of the most frightful imminent inflation.

“The Central Electricity Board”

The CEB’s report for 1938 was published on April 5. It is doing  very well. How shall it spend its surplus? Not on additional capacity, since electricity demand is not subject to some law of perpetual increase. That is certainly something to know. 

ICI, Marks & Spencers had good years. Morris and Ford did not. There has been a rush of shipbuilding orders: 190 vessels (150 tramps, 40 liners) of 850,000 tons have been announced to the Board of Trade, of which 650,00 have already been ordered. 597,000 is on the stocks and capacity is 2 million per year, so pressure on steel and labour, but not yards, is foreseen. Unfortunately, the details of the aid to shipping include preferential treatment for coal-fired ships 11s/ton subsidy for coal-fired tramps versus 10 for oil-fired. Is the picturesque suffering of South Wales to stand in the way of Burmah oil profits forever?

Also in the news, a scheme, not to be regarded as a wartime  measure, but for the long term improvement of the fertility of the soil, is announced of a £2/acre ploughing subsidy for pasture torn up and ploughed. Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith’s initiative is welcome to this paper, since much second-rate pasture could be greatly improved by  being put under a regular rotation, including of fodder crops. It seems, however, unlikely that the five months between now and September will be enough to find the tractors, seed drills and skilled labour needed, so that the subsidy should be extended into next year. The Minister has, however, announced that reserves of fertilizer and tractors have been built up in the event of war.

There is an upwards trend in wholesale prices. 

Flight 11 May 1939

Leader: The Royal Visit has left for Canada. Say hello to Albert for me, and those sweet little girls, and perhaps try to talk  Elizabeth out of that awful Battenberg marriage. The FAA is formally transferred to the Admiralty; the paper is excited about the imminent RAF Garden Party, which apparently involves planes more than champagne.

Articles: Flight visits No. 16 (Army Cooperation) Squadron to take a look at Lysanders and also ground liaison equipment. Instrument makers Reid & Sigrist have entered the aircraft construction business, with an instrument trainer. Flight is obligatorily excited.

Service Aviation: The Taurus II, which is an improved version of the Taurus I, if you had not guessed, is in service. The Kestrel XXX is in service.  Neither engine, it is pointed out to me, equips an aircraft on the RAF's Open List. The Americans have the very odd Bell XP-39. Did we not conclude that engines mounted behind the pilot were a bad idea in the last war? A new member of the Lockheed Electra family is anticipated. Wait? Is this still "Service Aviation?" I do not know. Neither, I suspect, does our editor. The Secretary of State for Air, Sir Kingsley Wood, opens an airport on Guernsey.That does not seem to be part of "Service Aviation," so I suppose the page has turned on that discussion. The Douglas DC5 is tested. 

Article: Well, more of a picture, really. It isn't an underground factory. That would be impractical. It's just one that  retracts into a bunker! I should just clip the picture out an send it to you for the humour of it.

The Engineer, 12 May 1939

The paper believes that if there is to be conscription, engineering students should be put on special registers, so as to be employed as engineers in the event of war.

The Economist, 13 May 1939

Leaders: “Diplomatic Manoeuvres:” Is Russia defecting from collective security?“Shelter and Exodus:” Will there be a knockout blow against London? No. Will there be heavy civilian casualties? Yes. Perhaps proposed evacuation schemes should be expanded until such time as the shelter programme is complete.“Conscription of Wealth:” It is supposed that in 19818 the Government spent half the national income. Currently, the national income is estimated at roughly £5,000 millions, and might rise as high as 6 in the event of full capacity. How can the Government find its way to spending £3000 millions? Taxes, forced loans, some inflation. Yes, well, it seems like some of that wealth might flee the country first. (Too late, my editorial friend. Try telling it someone who did not learn it on grandfather's knee.) “The Refugee Problem,” there are currently 200,000 Central European refugees, mostly Jewish, of whom only some 20,000 have as yet been accepted into Great Britain. This is shameful. More should be let in. This paper really does have progressive views, Reggie. No, I speak too soon. That's if they are skilled labour. The rest can go to Rhodesia or British Guiana or the Philippines or such. That is closer to what I was expecting.

Notes[? See. It's not just Flight that forgets its section headers.] The American recovery is still pending, and business spending in particular lags. France, on the other hand, has now “Stable Government,” meaning that Daladier has been returned as premier, and there seems to be some willingness to accept inflation. (Apart, to be sure, from Our Paris Correspondent.) There are still bonds needing to be issued against the armaments programme, and the Socialists still want excess profits taxes on arms manufacturers and a check on the rise of prices, but the government is, overall, stable.  Cunard White and Union Castle report a steep fall in annual profits. Bad cess to them, as the Scots would say, were it not that I had the same news. Employment is now only 22,000 below the all-time peak of 11,707,000 reached in September 1937. 

There is a “Whale Oil Strategy.” It is, not, surprisingly enough, to send the Jews of central Europe to South Georgia to farm whales, or whatever it is they do there, but rather to buy out the Norwegian harvest in bulk to prevent Germany from making up its shortfall in edible fats, which cannot be made up by achieving Lebensraum in wheat producing countries. Germany/s own 1937 catch was 90,000t, but it absorbed 107,000t of Norway’s production. Last year’s harvest was down, and Britain has bought the whole of the world supply to build up its essential food reserves. Might I interest you in some margarine?

ICI had a bad year on exports, but domestic consumption increases, especially defence related, made up for it in part. Perhaps this is the reason for the delay in closing the sale? Nylon is an increasingly important part of the company’s business. 

In almost entirely unrelated family news, and with gratitude for your recent discretion in arranging a  "rebirth" in the midnight darkness on the Dominion-Republic border, I report that the soon-to-be-nee-Miss G.C. made her London debute, in advance of which, I think, we visited every high street establishment in London, and we picked out a wonderful yellow dress and some nylon stockings. (See, my segue is not entirelly unmotivated.) She affected a Californian accent with the utmost aplomb, and when it came time for her to enter the floor, the bluebell was swept away effortlessly, pipped out of a race that she was not even aware she was running. 

That being said, her youth made Miss J. C.'s suitability for your son most questionable. I have suggested putting off the wedding to San Francisco next year, but the League of Aunts has shot this down with much disdainful glaring. Apparently, tongues will wag, and our mighty family tower might fall. And, no, you may not jest about how I it is that I have avoided being enrolled in that puissant league myself, lest I rediscover my membership in the near-as-puissant-League-of-Assassins. Give Grandfather my best when you see him, by the way. 

Flight 18 May 1939

Editorial: Imperial still can’t get the Atlantic flying going. Gentlemen, if you have lost Flight . . .

Article: F. A. De. V. Robertson, “Powers of the Air Arm.” This correspondent has been sharing his surfeit of punctuation with Flight for many years, which is why he can pull an article like this out of his files on short notice. It is a history of the RAF, and while it is pretty fascinating stuff (who can ever hear enough of punitive campaigns in the Northwest Frontier Agency?), I have to wonder what was supposed to go in these pages. Article that's a Picture: the new 3.7” AA is appropriately menacing.

Pictorial: “Standard Aircraft of the RAF.” There are 42 types, if  you have not been counting. Page over is a picture of enormous numbers of Spitfires being assembled in a very large hall. So not only are there many types of planes, there are a great many of them, too. .

I enclose a pin-up picture of a Lysander that follows for the boy. Tuition for the boy's first term went directly to the school, instead. I hope that you understand, and would urge you to reconsider the possibility of a midnight rebirth. American citizenship would not be the worst cross that the boy could bear. That would be bastardy.

Article: “The RAF Today: Fighters” We are allowed to note the Hurricane and Spitfire, built to the same general formula, of which the latter is capable of 362mph. Only a few weeks ago, the paper tells us, a French technical journal referred to a British twin-engined fighter fromWestland capable of 420, but we can’t say anything. Which, I think, is rather misleading. Did they not, after all, just say something? The Hurricane, as in service right now, is capable of 335mph at 17,500ft.* Both Spitfire and Hurricane are surprisingly easy to fly due to various innovations in flappers and such. They achieve their performance behind a production Merlin III capable of 1030hp at 3000rpm at 16,250ft at a boost pressure of +6.25lb. The Merlin, the paper notes, gives this performance on 87 octane. (I am rather passionately, it inexplicably, assured by  the gentleman from ICI in regards that this is by no means the last argument in octane ratings. Shell guns are coming, by which might be meant the too-small, too-large, too-complicated, or too-conjectural. The Gauntlet and Gladiator, now in service for several years, are . . . serviceable. The Defiant is entering service. Some more. Armour is being fitted in response to the four-gun power turret, which it is assumed our fighters will face, greatly increasing their need for protection against rifle-calibre bullets. The Blenheim is being used as a twin-engined fighter in the role this periodical has envisaged. That is, as a”fighter trainer.” Is that an implicit suggestion that a multi-seat twin engined fighter is coming?

Article: “The RAF Today: The Bombers.” This is a much less informative article, although the barrage of bad news for Armstrong Siddeley continues, as the Whitley V is to have a Rolls Royce Merlin vice the Tiger.

The Economist, 20 May 1939

“Security and Peace:” There is to be conscription. Have I mentioned this? It's rather important. “No Change in Palestine,” “Collective Security for Trade;” blah blah Romania blah; 

“Land Registration.” Now here is some meat in a leader. Should land be registered for national use? The dreaded moment of land registration in the County of London arrived in 1897, we will recall by the sound of Great-Grandfather's crockery flung against the wall. At that point, all land title transfers in the County became subject to a requirement for central registration, with the intention that the office would slowly be built up into a complete registry. H.M. Land Registry Office is a remarkable institution, and its expansion is inevitable, but it will never get rid of the lawyers and difficult conveyances. No comment.

“Notes of the Week:” The Anglo-Turkish Pact: there’s an Anglo-Turkish pact, but not an Anglo-Russian one. The pay of the conscripted militiamen is now raised from 1  to 1 6. Local boards will have to exercise great discretion to reduce social and industrial disruption as the actual call-ups begin this summer. No-one is clear about evacuation. “Rolls-Royce for Clydeside.” The ever-in-flight Secretary of State for Air was in Glasgow to run for prime minister announce same. France’s finances are “convalescing” under Reynaud. But French production is still low in comparison to peaks reached in previous years.

Imperial and British Airways to merge. The Government announces subsidies for sheep, barley and oats. Unlike the ploughing subsidy,the paper disapproves.

“Poland Under Arms:” Poland has no need for foreign troops (births per thousand: 26.2; deaths, 14.2). compare Germany 19.0/11.8; England and Wales, 14.8/12.1; France, 15/15.3; Italy 22.4/13.7; Rumania 31.5/19.8. It does need guns, for which it cannot pay. Oh, and our species is dwindling from the Earth. Except in Poland and Rumania.

“All-Round Economic Improvement in France.” Never mind production being down from previous peaks: there is record car production this quarter.

“Uncertainty in the United States:” American production has dipped in April compared with March. Gold is flowing into the United States. Why is not clear, and it has not all been monetized, but it is. Someone might be moving money into the US by this means. A lot of money. I affect the most innocent of smiles.

“Is Bank Rate Obsolete?” It is now 7 years since the Rate was reduced to 2%, and there are no signs of it being raised. Sir John Simon has repeatedly said that the Government’s policy of cheap money will continue. Since then, we have had the 1933—37 recovery, the 1937—38 recession, and what looks like another recovery in the beginning of 1939. It would be rash to conclude that because the rate has been steady through all of this that it will continue to be so through all future exigencies. 

Obviously, if money rates are already so low as to be irreducible, that particular stimulus cannot be applied, and so it may be that if money were kept cheap at all stages of the trade cycle, we should be sacrificing some of its potential benefits.

Industry and Trade: steel prices fixed at slightly lower levels; engineer’s wages are up; there is agreement to increase annual vacation pay for textile workers; rise in industrial production; import/export down; price for American cotton up.

Flight 25 May 1939

Leader: Empire Air Day is the event of the week, aviation-wise, but the paper is apparently too late to cover it adequately. The Bristol Beaufort exists. There is your service plane equipped with a Taurus. We await the Kestrel XXX's debute.

Articles: A. Robert Edis, “Blind Approach Systems.” It’s a short-range triangulation system involving three radio broadcasters a few miles away from the airport. C. M. Poulsen, “Fuelling in the Air;” is an explanation of in-air refuelling.  The New Cirrus Major, built by Blackburn is a splendid little engine.

Commercial Aviation: the first commercial flight, all air mail per international agreement to do five air mail flights before the first passenger run, by the Yankee Clipper. Now that is just embarrassing, all excuses aside.

The Engineer, 26 May 1939

Article: "The Co-ordination of Transport;" apparently, if road transport will stop being horrible to the railways, we will be led into the sunny uplands of reliable cargo delivery. Perhaps if the railway companies could just learn where the Land Register is, it will be even before that! Though I should not complain, as one of the reasons why the negotiations still continue is that the proposal now extends to a pipeline. Apparently this hush-hush Imperial plant will be doing something to crude oil that is far more sophisticated than mere "refining." This is a bit of a surprise to me. I should think that our oil interests. Now I wonder if that gentleman at the Admiralty had some serious doubts about Grandfather's grandson's patriotism.

Engineering 26 May 1939

The Leader intimates a discussion of the new Census of Production returns.

The Economist, 27 May 1939

Leaders: “Agreement in Sight:” An Anglo-Russian agreement is in sight. The “Square Deal” Report: relief for railways in their increasing competition with road transport is called for. “The Other India.” Holland’s record as a colonial power in Indonesia is at least no worse than any other’s. High praise indeed! But the problem of imperial defence, which has not raised its head in a century, is abruptly a pressing matter.

Notes of the Week:

 "Recovery and Policy:" we need a policy for the recovery that we now have to admit is going on. The Ministry of Supply is official. There is to be price insurance for sheep. Roads are important. Mr. Keynes said, in a “broadcast plea” last week, that “This is scarcely a time for economics in transport improvements.” The next time I go round to the lawyers, I shall take Mr. Keynes with me. The Minister of Transport Captain Euan Wallace continues to visualize a scheme to improve trunk roads, but the paper is not assured. That £15 million in works have been “put in hand” most definitely does not mean fifteen million in “spades in ground.” Only 517,000 is to be spent this year, which, considering that the total includes work on the St. Albans bypass, which will eventually cost 1.755 million, and the Barnett Bypass, which will require 347,000, is much too little, too late. The new-mechanised Household Cavalry will be kept from the Battle of Dorking by a fatal lack of "cloverleafs." 

“Financial Omens of American Recovery?” I am now visualising Our New York Correspondent, bloody-armed to the elbow, examining the sacrificial livers. Of Californian Republicans, I suspect. At least, the older breed. Some pessimists, Our Correspondent adds, suppose that America has built up an immunity to stimulus. It is not the policy of our correspondent. . .