The Henson Journals

[90]

Saturday, January 25th, 1930.

I finished the Westminster Sermon. There came to lunch the Rev. James McGill to whom I had offered nomination to S. Peter's, Stockton. He accepted the offer, then I learned with a chagrin that I hope I concealed that the patronage of St Jude's, South Shields, which he will vacate, is not mine, but the Crown's! Now did you ever?

The papers give great prominence to the conclusion of the Hatry trial. All the knaves agreed to plead 'Guilty' so that the final process was abbreviated. All were sentenced to terms of penal servitude, & the arch–criminal Hatry got the extreme term allowed by the Law, fourteen years. The trial throws a lurid light on modern industrialism. I suspect that the industrial society is doomed to sink under the weight of its own scandals. "Contraceptives" have removed the old obstacle barrier to Socialism which the increase of the population provided.

Murray Butler sends me his Report on Columbia University for 1929. It is lightened by some characteristic observations on 'Manners' and 'Higher lawlessness'. He is still obsessed by the scandals of Prohibition.

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