The Times Great War Letters: Correspondence during the First World War. James Owen
with flashes?
Many of us have a great admiration for our Norfolk Constabulary, who are a fine set of men, and do their duty to the best of their ability. They are usually, however, planted at night in the main streets of our villages, and there is no need for anyone on devilry bent to trespass on their beat. They saw nothing of motor-cars on the night of the raid, and they are not willing to accept evidence that they cannot personally verify. I was so afraid that the Under-Secretary of State for War, relying on their evidence, might give a wrong answer to the question I put to him in the House on Monday last, that I called at the War Office on the previous Saturday and produced certain evidence for his guidance, if necessary. Indeed, a suggestion, which I accepted, was made to me that an officer should call and examine the evidence in my possession. In the meanwhile the Home Secretary has rushed in with a statement which ought not to have been made until that evidence was tested. Had such been the case, I feel sure his answer to Sir William Bull’s question would have been on entirely different lines.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
HOLCOMBE INGLEBY
OVAL OR INTELLIGENT?
17 February 1915
SIR,—A LITTLE LIGHT might be shed, with advantage, upon the high-handed methods of the Passports Department at the Foreign Office. On the form provided for the purpose I described my face as “intelligent.” Instead of finding this characterization entered, I have received a passport on which some official, utterly unknown to me, has taken it upon himself to call my face “oval.”
Yours very truly,
BASSETT DIGBY
HELP FOR ARTISTS
23 February 1915
SIR,—IN WEDNESDAY’S issue of The Times there was printed a report of a public meeting held to consider means for assisting distress in the artistic professions. That art is one of the luxuries of life which cannot at this time expect public support is a view held by most people. But surely if art be in truth the noble and inspiring thing our foremost statesmen annually assure us it is, it should be of service in time of war as well as in time of peace. Your leader writer to-day writes warmly commending the spirit shown by those painters who are giving their works for the benefit of the Red Cross Fund. It must be remembered that only painters whose names are generally known can well offer their services on such an occasion. There are other ways of serving, and throughout the country there are numbers of men and women, not painters only, but followers of every kind of craft, eager to devote their skill and energy to the service of the Empire. In order that their services be employed it is not charity which is needed, but a wider understanding of the fruitful use to which their talents may be put. In past ages the practical value of the artist’s vision has been shrewdly appreciated. To-day we have schools and public buildings of every kind which might bear witness to the constant beauty of men’s vision, hospitals which may be so decorated as to bring renewed hope to the sick and wounded. The war, which brings suffering and distress to so many, also brings added prosperity to many industries. May not some of our industrial leaders be persuaded to employ local craftsmen to decorate workshops and factories, shops and city offices, both outside and within? A few thousand pounds spent in London and our great provincial cities would provide rich opportunities for a great number of eager craftsmen, so many of whom are now unemployed, and would serve to convince people more eloquently than even the passionate appeals of Ruskin and William Morris what skill and beauty live in the hands and hearts of men.
Many of our provincial galleries have funds for the purchase of contemporary paintings, and a part of these, increased by the generosity of public-spirited citizens, might well be used for the decoration of local public buildings. Will not the Trustees of the National Gallery, of the British and Victoria and Albert Museums, set an example to the country by devoting some small portion of their funds, usually dedicated to the purchase of ancient works of art, to some such purpose?
We are already so rich in works of the past, so poor in public expression of our own vision. I believe able and inspiring men could be found who would gladly give their time and experience to such a cause, under whom younger men and women would be proud and willing to work for modest remuneration.
Faithfully yours,
W. ROTHENSTEIN
RACING AND FOOTBALL
4 March 1915
SIR,—LORD ROBERT CECIL, speaking in the House of Commons, asserts that football and horse-racing are on exactly the same footing. I am curious to know how he arrives at this conclusion. Football is played with a ball and 22 strong and sturdy young men. Racing is played with horses, ridden by small men, the majority under 8st., and never more than 9st. A football when its day is over is useless. Racehorses when they can no longer race, if they have proved themselves on a race-course to be sound and good, retire to the stud, where, as stallions or brood mares, they continue the stock of the English thoroughbred, which forms the foundation of horse-breeding in this country, and from which have come those horses that, in the earlier stages of war, rendered such invaluable service. To be a good football player you must be big, strong, courageous, active, and alert, all the qualities you look for in a soldier. To be a good jockey, you require these qualities, except that instead of being big, you must be small—no one can be a jockey who weighs over 9st., and a large majority weigh very much less. Consequently they are not fit to be soldiers.
If there was no racing a great many people who are unfitted for other employment would be thrown out of work; can anyone say that the same result would arise if those professional football matches did not take place? If professional football matches were not allowed, it would not stop football; and there can be no one who wants to stop it when played as a game—but if race-meetings are stopped, the whole machinery comes to a standstill, and needless loss is caused to every one connected with it. The arguments for the continuance of racing are many, there are also arguments against it, and for which we most of us have sympathy, but the former outweigh the latter considerably, and I can say from my own personal knowledge that many owners of racehorses, had they simply studied their own inclinations and convenience, would have shut up their racing establishments at the beginning of the war.
Yours, &c.,
GEORGE LAMBTON
The Football League was shortly to suspend competitive matches. Horse-racing continued for another two years.
FOOLISH OPTIMISM
6 March 1915
SIR,—I HAVE BEEN ASKED to repeat in the form of a letter to you some of the remarks that I made in the City yesterday.
I was dealing with actual and impending strikes, and I said that such action, taken by men so patriotic, could only be explained by the fact that those concerned did not in the least appreciate the extreme gravity of the crisis in which our country still finds itself. They think, or many of them think, that the crisis is past, that all is going well with the Allies, and that the war will very soon be over. How can we wonder that such a deplorable impression should exist? The Press Bureau consistently slurs over bad news and exaggerates good news. The Press lays every emphasis by poster, headline, and paragraph on all that side of the war which is flattering to our pride or soothing to our excited feelings. It keeps further in the background the news which is disagreeable to us, and the result is that our sense of proportion is being destroyed, and that perspective is ceasing to exist. I could multiply instances of what I mean. Frequently lately we have seen a roll of casualties of some battalion