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Lloyd George: The Man and his Story, by Frank Dilnot. T. Fisher Unwin. 3s. 6d. 192 pp. The author is a London writer who has seen the Prime Minister at close quarters for years," and watched his career from the time when he was a young political free lance fighting furiously for unpopular causes, fighting sometimes from sheer love of battle," until he ascended to his present position of pre- eminence in which he rules England, rules her with an absolute- ness granted to no man, King or Statesman, since the British became a nation." Previous Lives of the Welsh Statesman have dealt fully and vividly with his earlier years, and his prowess in the arena of party politics. Mr. Dilnot, whilst omitting reference to no event of importance in that period of strenuous effort and great achievement, brings the story up to date and delineates with a graphic pen the development of events which metamor- phosed the dare-devil statesman of the Boer War days into the man of iron will who to-day, by common consent, has the destinies of Great Britain placed in his hands. Mr. Dilnot makes no attempt to gloss over the defects and inconsistencies of the complex character of the man, and least of all the crowning Inconsistency which led him to oust Mr. Asquith and take his place as Prime Minister." But the author will not have it that Lloyd George sordidly schemed to become Prime Minister." There are leaders in England, he admits, who will never for- give Lloyd George," but "they are taking a narrow and immediate view of a drama so immense that its proper perspective will only be available many years hence. They are trying to test men's souls under a strain on a small mechanical balance. Forces were at work such as are only met with once or twice in centuries." You cannot," he pleads," bring a puny every-day judgment to bear on issues which may mean misery or happiness to millions of people, and life or death to a great proportion of them. In such circumstances the raw strength of big men comes out, and the spectacle is not always pleasant to the gentleminded." Some of Mr. Lloyd George's countrymen marvel at the company he keeps in these latter days, and are ill at ease at the support given him by the Northcliffe Press. No one remarks Mr. Dilnot would deny that Lloyd George has gone back on many of the opinions he held so firmly. The exhilarating names he called members of the House of Lords have been replaced by invitations to some of them to join him as Ministers in a Cabinet of which he is the head. No doubt he would give good reasons for the change, but the fact remains. His mobile mind is ever adapting itself to what he considers the exigencies of the times, though no one could with less justice be named a time-server. Mr. Dilnot so far from excusing boldly justifies this attitude of mind. Thus-" If at the moment the welfare of the community in his judgment demanded certain courses of action no words of his in the past, no principles that he had held, would prevent him from adapting himself or from using whatever powers lay to his hand. As motive forces in social life are almost invariably to be obtained from individuals, Lloyd George, without shame and without hesitation has proceeded to use individualities whenever he found them suitable for his purpose." Mr. Dilnot gives voice to the fears which exist in many minds that Mr. Lloyd George's recent alliance with Northcliffe was a fatal mistake for him," that there may be a danger that the powerful journalist who helped to place him in the seat of power will presently turn on him without scruple and without mercy." At these suggestions, the author remarks that one can only smile," for­" If Northcliffe attempts any action of the kind indicated he will find that he has gone out for a walk with a tiger. He has no dignified Mr. Asquith to deal with now. If Northcliffe, by any journalistic sensations, inter- feres in what in Lloyd George's opinion is the proper and efficient REVIEWS conduct of the War, Lloyd George will break him like a twig and without a second thought." Great as is his past, powerful and dazzling as is his present, Mr. Dilnot foresees a still more brilliant future for the Prime Minister. From now on until the treaty of peace is signed, Lloyd George will be the personal director of democratic Britain, as grim an autocrat as was Oliver Cromwell." And when the War is over, what then -? The old party shibboleths will be swept away, and Mr. Lloyd George "will undoubtedly be the main figure" in the reconstruction of the national edifice. We shall, we are told, witness a revolu- tion, the net result of which will be a practical abolition of un- employment the extension of the area of labour to great numbers of women increased earning powers for individuals, and still more for the families as a whole: and a greater output of all kinds of products, not only manufactured articles, but also food pro- ducts from the land. Accompanying all this will be higher profits for employers." And, in this revolution which is to lead to this Eldorado, Mr. Dilnot sees Mr. Lloyd George as the engineer- in-chief of the whole operation." But his future destiny is not confined to his work for his own race and nation. The War has lifted him to international prominence. He is now and will be henceforth the most-talked-of British Statesman in all other civilized countries." Mr. Dilnot has given us a fascinating volume full of human interest throughout, inspiring, and stimu- lative, and appreciation of the study" herein presented in no way depends upon the reader's agreement with the author's conclusions. Gwilym Hughes. Our Money and the State," by Hartley Withers. John Murray. 3s. net. 122 pp. Hartley Withers, the present editor of The Economist," is one of the clearest and most broad-minded thinkers on questions of national finance, and this the seventh of a series of most useful volumes from his pen deserves the careful study of all who are interested in the most difficult problem of how the nation is to pay for the War. The book discusses the State's powers and methods of taxation, urges the superiority of direct over indirect taxes, and emphasises the need for a higher sense of public duty in regard to individual contributions to national funds, combined with wiser spending both by individuals and by Government departments. National revenue is obtained in three principal ways-by borrowing, by inflating the currency, and by taxation. The former two methods are strongly but very sanely criticized, and the author contends that the War should be paid for as it goes on out of taxation. The belief that borrowing makes posterity piy, he claims, is delusive, and he also maintains that the inflation of currency by the continuous issue of paper when there is not a proportionate increase in the supply of commodities, simply results in commodities being made dearer and the people worse off. If War expenditure were met out of taxation instead of from loans, the public's spending power would be reduced by the full amount spent on the War, and the reduction of consump- tion by which alone the War need can be met, would be brought about with much less friction and economic disturbance. In the fourth chapter the income tax theory is examined and the objections refuted and the author lays down certain con- ditons with which the ideal tax should comply. The under- lying principle is that unnecessary spending should be discouraged and saving encouraged, so that the national capital should be increased. He, therefore, urges that taxation should be levied only on that portion of a man's income which is spent; the portion which is invested shall be exempt. In effect it is proposed that the present practice of exempting insurance premiums should be extended to other forms of saving The taxes also are to be