M. WITTE, THE RUSSIAN COLOSSUS. DR. DILLON ON THE RUSSIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS. DR. DILLON contributes a very elaborate and important article on M. Witte and the Russian commercial crisis to the Contemporary Review for April. It is a very valuable study, at first hand, of the most powerful personality among Russian statesmen.

M. WITTE'S POSITION.

Dr. Dillon says:

Kaiser Wilhelm, Leo XIII., and M. Witte, the foremost statesmen of to-day, are popularly supposed to have the fate of Europe in their hands, and the Russian Finance Minister is often believed to be much the most powerful of the three. As he presides over the great ganglion, or nerve-centre, of the Muscovite Empire, raising and spending the revenue of a nation of over a hundred and forty million people, it is felt that he must also have a commarding voice in the conduct of the affairs

more than average intelligence, and the lines about the mouth suggest rare will-power, but his general personal appearance is of the kind which provokes negative sentiment rather than appreciative curiosity. Tall of stature, heavy in build, stiff in deportment, cumbersome in gait, cold in manner and unpolished in address, M. Witte seems at first sight one of the least sympathetic men whom one would expect to find at the apex of the social pyramid in Russia. Although a nobleman by birth, he is the opposite pole to the human type labelled by Germans "der Frackmensch" or "man of evening dress." Hard, stiff, angular, slow to speak and prompt to act, devoid alike of physical attractions and of the cheap arts of seeming and pleasing, he is said by those who know him most intimately to be gifted with a mind of large compass and with a keenness of insight bordering upon, prophetic vision.

HIS GENIUS.

But underneath the opaque exterior and the rugged traits lie hidden sparks of genuine fire, which occasionally glisten forth

of every department of State government, domestic and foreign. But I have it on the authority of some of his confrères that the Tsar's confidence amounts merely to a firm belief that M. Witte is endowed with the brains, the will-power, the single-minded-, ness, and the honesty which go to the making of a good financier, but that he is far from suspecting that his Minister's knowledge of political currents and undercurrents, his depth and breadth of view, his inborn psychological tact and his gift of deftly adjusting present means to far-off ends, place him on a level with the first statesmen of the century. Beyond his own domain, therefore, he has no initiative and scant influence. He is seldom consulted except in cases where financial questions are at issue, and his advice, even when it had to do with matters which directly affected his own sphere of action, has been several times set aside and the counsels of other Ministers carried but instead.

HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE.

His is not a countenance which profoundly impresses the casual observer. The forehead and the eyes undoubtedly bespeak

through the eyes during the heat of discussion. Wont to throw his thoughts into deeds, he has few left for mere words, and is therefore a poor speaker. But when he does talk, sincerity and suasion characterise all he says. Devoid of the white heat of enthusiasm, and without the thinnest vein of poetry in his composition, he may be aptly characterised as the embodiment of sturdy common sense raised to its highest Russian power. His temper is naturally uneven, with a pronounced tendency to violent outbursts, which sometimes seem greatly disproportioned to their cause. But he generally manages to keep his anger within the bounds of words which sting; it seldom hurries him into rash action, and never assumes the form of feminine spite or vengeance.

HIS METHODS.

No Russian Minister was ever better equipped for success than is M. Witte. To begin with he has the gift, or it may be the habit, of bringing all the power of his mind and all the force of his will to bear upon his work. He is literally wrapped up in it, and whatever or whoever confronts him is made subservient to

it. It is the element in which he lives. A Dutchman by extraction, and a railway administrator by profession, M. Witte differs from most Russians in character, and from all living statesmen in methods. Russia's financial and industrial affairs were in a woeful tangle when M. Witte was first placed in charge of them, and established facts seem to proclaim that, so far, he has wound more serviceable thread out of the ravelled skein than was or could have been expected.

THE MAIN DRIFT OF HIS POLICY.

M. Witte has already left his indelible mark on the adminis tration and the country, and will be known as the first statesman, Russian or other, who has seriously coped with the task of organising and co-ordinating all the productive forces of the Empire, and of warding off the crises and the acute distress which periodically result from the undue concentration of those forces on certain narrow lines. Much could, and should, be done to bring order into the chaotic state of things which must result from the lack of co-ordination among the productive forces of the Empire, and unless my reading of the signs and symptoms of the day be utterly wrong, the realisation of this is the real tendency and the chief merit of M. Witte's policy. So long as private gain is the sole and unchecked stimulus to production, can any great governing agency of the kind suggested bring order into the general confusion, deaden the effects of crises, and hinder acute distress?

THE CHANCE OF SUCCESS.

The lack of a general plan and of organised effort is more keenly felt, and can be more easily remedied there than in any other country in the world. It is felt more disastrously because Russia is virtually deprived of the relief which a foreign outlet affords to overstocked markets. It can be more easily and successfully treated, because already the State systematically collects and freely communicates information most valuable for trade and industry, which heretofore was guarded and acted upon by private firms competing with each other. Moreover the great organic hindrance to a central organising and controlling agency -individualistic production for markets whose capacities for consumption cannot be estimated in advance-although it exists in Russia, is less widespread, owing to the circumstance that the State there is the great artery which feeds almost all the mining and industrial enterprises. The Russian Government seems fairly well-equipped for solving the greatest economic problem of this or any other age.

THE NEED FOR SUCH A PROVIDENCE.

The present commercial crisis illustrates the need for some such terrestrial providence.

This long series of disasters, the stagnation of commerce, the glutting of the markets, the scarcity of hard cash, the weakening of credit, the fall in securities of every description, the crash of industries, the ruin of individuals, the misery of large numbers of the unemployed, constitute a spectacle unparalleled in the history of the Empire. Within the short space of a twelvemonth there has been a maximum fall in industrial shares from 573 to 247 roubles; in agrarian bank shares from 340 to 175 roubles; metallurgical securities have in one case dropped from 2,340 to 1,025 roubles; naphtha shares have shrunk in value from 13,200 to 10,500 roubles; a number of important works have gone into administration, or declared themselves bankrupt; works which cost 24 million roubles in building have not been opened; others, which seemed to be thriving for years, have been definitely closed; millions of poods of pig-iron are waiting for buyers; 734 million roubles of Belgian capital paid less than 24 per cent. interest last year; and seventeen Belgian companies are paying no dividend whatever; while thousands of workmen have been turned adrift and their families left famishing.

From a report drawn up for the information of the French Embassy at St. Petersburg by a member of their corps, the foreign capital invested in Russian joint-stock companies was subscribed by the different nations as follows:

AUSTRALIANS- "A STERILE RACE."

THIS is the title which Dr. Fitchett, in the Australasian Review of Reviews for January, applies to his own countrymen; and what he says on the subject offers a grim commentary on the rhapsodies of prophecy which have ushered in the new Commonwealth. This is the paragraph :

Official statistics seem to prove the existence of an ominous feature in the family life of Australasia. The birth rate shrinks, and shrinks fast and steadily; and much perplexed debate is being held over the circumstance. Taking the figures for each group of five years in the last forty, the number of births per 1,000 of population has throughout been on the down grade : 41.92, 39.84, 37.34, 36.38, 35.21, 34.43, 31.52, 27.35. The last figure is for the four years 1896-9, and is the most ominous of all. For the year 1899 the rate was only 26.84. In New South Wales, according to Mr. Coghlan, the decline seems worst of all. Comparing the births with the married women of child-bearing ages, the rate had decreased from 30.01 per 100 married women in 1884 and 28.64 per 100 in 1888 to 20.12 per 100 in 1898, or a decline of one-third in fifteen years. The population of the United States has grown in a century from less than 5,000,000 to over 75,000,000; it has doubled during the last thirty years. The enormous immigration in part explains this growth: an immigration which, considering its curiously mixed elements, Australasia certainly does not covet. But if increase of population from without be excluded, the rate by natural increase in Australasia is lower than in the United States. In France the birth rate is barely at the level of the death rate. A little further shrinkage in births, and France would be a dying nation! It is both curious and ominous that Australasia seems to be losing the prolific quality of the great Anglo-Saxon family to which it belongs, and is drifting in the direction of sterile France.

The comparison with France at once suggests the question, What common elements are there in the life of the Anglo-Celt in Australia, and in the life of the Frenchman? Clerical critics may whisper, "In both the schools are Godless." Secular schools are perhaps the most outstanding feature common to both countries. Others may hint at a similarity of climate, or dropping the comparison, the suggestion may be advanced that the land which is giving political franchise to woman is conceding to her greater authority in matters strictly domestic. In any case, it is an interesting problem for the social student.

ONE blunt saying by the Hon. Stafford Bird, of Tasmania, in a recent Humanitarian article on "Democracy and the Commonwealth," deserves to be remembered. Speaking for the Australian colonies, he is showing that. the essential principle in their politics is that they shall be governed by the bare majority of those who can be coaxed or driven, or who out of true patriotism come to the poll to record their votes. He grants that it is the same principle of might as prevailed in earlier days. "He who was the strongest, who could bring the greatest number of clubs and spears in stalwart hands into the field; he who could show the greatest fighting prowess, who could best handle big battalions and big guns, obtained thereby the right to rule.... The gospel of democracy is that those who can run the biggest crowd into the polling booth shall be the governors of the country."

RUSSIA'S HOPES AND FEARS. THE outbreak of the students and workmen of Russia gives a peculiar interest to Mr. Felix Volkhovsky's article in the March number of the Forum. Mr. Volkhovsky writes as a determined opponent of the Russian Government, but he writes also as a reasonable man, and manages to get into his sixteen pages a very strong indictment of Russian governmental policy. His article is entitled "The Hopes and Fears of Russia."

THE NEW REIGN AND THE OLD SYSTEM.

Mr. Volkhovsky begins with the beginning of the reign of the present Tsar. The new reign began with a feeling of hope in those who are dissatisfied with the present system of government. The Tsar was an unknown quantity. But the first official act of his reign, his reply to the representatives of the Zemstvos, in which he announced his intention to uphold autocracy, poured cold water on the hopes of the people. The Zemstvos were really appealing to the sovereign to uphold the interests of the people in opposition to those of the bureaucracy, but the Tsar by his answer threw in his lot with the officials. From that time forward Mr. Volkhovsky sees nothing but a dreary continuation of the old régime of stupid oppres

sion.

THE STUDENTS' RIOTS IN 1899.

During the students' riots the Emperor had another opportunity to show his calibre. But he rejected the recommendations of his own inspector, Vannovsky. With the Hague Conference Mr. Volkhovsky, like 'Count Tolstoy, will have nothing to do. He regards it as a hypocritical pretence :

People in Russia will still eulogize Nicholas II.; they will ascribe to him all kinds of good actions; and they will continue to petition and address him, not, however, because they expect anything of him. All this will be done because under the protection of the Tsar's name the struggle against his irresponsible rule is safer and easier. But the faith in his personality is gone irrevocably, and with it a good deal of the prestige of his position. And this is pure gain. So long as we place with some one else our hopes in the improvement of our conditions, we are not politically mature. But when we have no one to rely upon, we must rely on ourselves, and that is the beginning of political maturity.

Mr. Volkhovsky regards this not as a loss, but as a gain, as it is the system of irresponsible government with which he contends, and the actions of a wise emperor would tend to prolong the system. When he goes on to declare that the Russian Government opposes progress in itself, he overstates the case. It would be more reasonable to say that it encourages progress as long as it can direct and control it, but it is certainly true that it prefers no progress at all to progress inimical to the existing system. In speaking of the conditions of Russian life, Mr. Volkhovsky sees three institutions which give great hope for the future. These are :

(1) The communal tenure of land; (2) the democratic organisation of the village community, not yet altogether crushed by bureaucracy on the one hand, and capitalism on the other; and (3) the principle practised among the peasantry, according to which a stranger admitted into the family, if he has contributed by his constant work to the acquirement of family property, has more right to its heritage than a bloodrelative who has not worked.

SOCIAL PROGRESS.

The advance of the people in social reform is also very great :

People in private life, either individually or organised in all kinds of educational societies, are pushing energetically in the

same direction. They maintain poor pupils, publish good reading matter at cheap prices, start popular theatres, lantern lectures, etc. One of these institutions alone, the Comitet Gramotnosto, has published over 1,000,000 books and pamphlets. True, this institution was forcibly closed by the Government; but its former members continue the work in other ways. The Government is successful in so far only as to manage to waste a lot of the energy of the enlighteners, but it cannot stop their progress. The army itself is a vigorous instrument of primary education, as the Government has to compete with foreign armies in having intelligent soldiers.

Altogether Russia has everything to hope for in the future. But the reform of the present system of Government, Mr. Volkhovsky is sure, must be carried through before any of the good features of Russian life can develop themselves. Perhaps, but why does Mr. Volkshovsky spell Reform Revolution?

SHALL THE HONEYMOON BE ABOLISHED?

THE April Lady's Realm discusses this point in an amusing symposium. "No," says Mrs. Philip Agnew; Yes, very risky," says the Hon. Stuart Erskine ; "On the whole, no," says Mrs. Birch rather doubtfully. Mrs. Agnew urges :

That it is also a-never-to-be- repeated experience is alone a plea for its maintenance. Try as we will to reproduce its outward features, no other period, no other holiday, can give the novelty, the sweet insouciance, of honeymoon days.

The Hon. S. R. Erskine vetoes it unhesitatingly. He says:

That Arabian poet who wisely affirmed that terrestrial happiness consists in mutual understanding deserves the crown of immortality in exchange for his philosophy; but it is apparent that he wrote in complete ignorance of certain flourishing Western institutions and customs. He could hardly have heard of honeymooning, for instance, or he would surely have warned his disciples against that particular form of diversion as being fraught with peril to all such as sincerely desire to live on good terms with their possessions. The honeymoon is a more prolific source of broken marriages than the Divorce Court is of separate establishments."

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"THE REAL LESSONS OF THE WAR."

BY M. DE BLOCH.

M. JEAN DE BLOCH writes in the New Liberal Review for April on "The Real Lessons of the War," dealing with strictures upon his theories published in the first number of that Review. He is quite convinced that the reverses to our arms in South Africa were not so much the result of bad leading as of the altered conditions of war, and he points out that the most remarkable features of the war in showing the effect of modern weapons were noticed also in other recent wars. The failure of reconnaissances which has been so frequent a feature he puts down to smokeless powder, and not to negligence. The British Army has now been eighteen months in South Africa, yet the difficulty of locating the Boers, and the consequent surprises are as frequent as ever. If they had been due to carelessness we should have expected that such experience would have cured our officers. M. Bloch does not believe in the superiority of Continental officers, and points out that the regulations on which they are nourished do not agree among themselves, and that many military men on the Continent see nothing but confusion and uncertainty in modern war.

MANŒUVRES.

overcome an

M. Bloch does not for a moment believe in the utility of manœuvres, and he points out that the only successes we gained during the war were gained by troops who had little training and no experience of manoeuvres, but who, on the other hand, were able to adapt themselves to new conditions. He maintains that he has never altered his views as to the nature of modern war, which in a struggle between equal powers would be almost impossible to wage to a decisive end. In that sense only is war As to the real lesson of the war, it "impossible." is not only that statesmen neglect to make preparations, but that the military men whose advice they rely on are ignorant as to the essential changes which make great preparations necessary to inferior foe. In England the politicians thought that the conquest of the Boers would be an easy task. But they had only military advice to go on; and English military men, whether official or unofficial, showed themselves ignorant of the essential fact that they would require an enormous superiority in numbers to overcome the Boers. So much was this so that the report that Sir William Butler warned the Government that they would even require 100,000 men was regarded as an exceptional example of military foresight. M. Bloch does not regard this shortsightedness as confined to English soldiers. On the Continent he sees the same pig-headed belief that nothing in warfare has changed. He concludes his article as follows :

The military delegates who opposed all reformatory measures at the Hague Conference were just as assured of the adequacy of means to ends as the military advisers of the British Cabinet in October, 1899. Yet worst, and most characteristic of all, we see that the Transvaal War, with all its surprises and delusions, had led to no initiative by military men towards inquiry into the general elements of the art which it is their business to understand. And this leads me to my general conclusion that the real lesson of the struggle in South Africa is that a need exists for a thorough and scientific enquiry into all the complex questions involved in warfare-an enquiry in which not only military men, but statesmen, scholars and economists should participate; for I am convinced that without such an inquiry any war that may break out on the Continent of Europe in the future will bring forth only a long series of those "illusions and disillusions" which were so constant a feature of the South African

War.

A BRITISH OFFICER'S VIEW.

The United Service Magazine for April contains an article by a regimental officer on the lessons of the South African War. The following extract which I quote shows that M. Bloch is by no means alone in his theory of the difficulty of attacking against modern rifles.

It is impossible to advance against and seize an intrenched position held by a determined enemy armed with modern rifles, and given a good field of fire, unless your force is so strong that you can first seize a position threatening the flank or flanks and line of retreat. The defender's guns must be completely not temporarily silenced, and your superiority in artillery and rifle-fire must be so marked that an incessant hail of lyddite, shrapnel and rifle-bullets can be kept on the trenches the attacking infantry are to assault. Even thus I think the result is doubtful-but it should be rendered practically impossible for the enemy to fire, even from behind loopholed walls, before the frontal attack is delivered.

THE WAR AND THE PROPHETS.

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The prophet who predicted evil as the only outcome of the South African War has got very little honour in his own country. Abroad it is different, and naturally so, for it is very easy to condemn the follies of other people. In the Forum for March there is a short but interesting article by Mr. H. W. Horwill, which is entitled "The Boer War; a Study in Comparative Prediction." Mr. Horwill takes a very characteristic prediction of the Pro-Boers" and compares their measure Jingoes and of fulfilment. "A Boer commando will retreat in confusion if two men are killed,” said ́the Daily Mail, and the same journal denounced in advance the infantile strategy of the Boers, and declared that there would be no disasters. The same excellent authorities have declared that the war is over half a dozen times. The "Pro-Boers" were laughed at. Mr. Horwill takes myself as a typical prophet of evil, and quotes my words on the fall of Pretoria :

66

"The morning newspapers, on the strength of Lord Rosslyn's telegram from Pretoria, announced the end of the war. That is nonsense. The war is not ended. The notion that the fall of Pretoria is equivalent to the conquest of the Transvaal is one of the persistent delusions which have deceived our people. We held Pretoria all through the war of 1881, and much good it did us. We may hoist a hundred flags in the capital of the South African Republic without ending the war.. We are not out of the wood by any means. We are, indeed, but entering the wood, with all our real difficulties still before us. We shall be lucky if we are able to declare the country pacified before Christmas."

If I may continue my prophecy, I should say that again, "we shall be lucky if we are able to declare the country pacified before Christmas, 1901." The other Cassandras were equally pessimistic, and, like their prototype, their prophecies were fulfilled. Taking the fulfilment of their predictions as a guide for the future, Mr. Horwill naturally concludes that the other predictions as to the impossibility of governing South Africa after the war is over will prove equally justified.

"THE English Catalogue of Books" (Sampson Low, Marston and Co.) is now in its sixty-third year of issue, and has the rare distinction of being as old as the reign of the late Queen. In the catalogue for 1899 we are told that the Spanish-American war affected the production of books both in 1898 and 1899, the number in both years being considerably less than in 1897. The catalogue has in one way an unique position, as it includes the publications of the various societies, and even privately-printed books. The present volume includes a complete directory of publishers of all kinds and their addresses.

THE PROBLEM OF ARMY REFORM.

THE April number of the Nineteenth Century contains five articles on Army reform, mostly by well-known authorities. The first two are by Mr. Henry Birchenough and Major-General F. S. Russell, and are grouped under the heading " Our Last Effort for a Voluntary Army," the first representing the "Civilian View," and the latter the "Military View." Mr. Birchenough is assured that compulsory service must come sooner or later, but of course he limits it to Home Defence.

COMPULSORY SERVICE AT HOME.

He foresees, however, nothing but a still greater increase of our military needs in the future, and how these are to be met by home-service conscription alone does not appear. He urges that compulsory service in England need not conform to the Continental life, and he does not regard barrack life as an essential feature of military training :

It is perfectly feasible to establish a system which will not withdraw lads from their own localities at all, but will be carried on over a series of years, very much as our elementary education is carried on in the earlier years of life, with the least possible disturbance to local and home life.

In regard to the question of economic waste, Mr. Birchenough points to Germany as an example of success in industry in spite, or as he would say, because of conscription, and he points out quite truly that taking a couple of years from the life of an individual does not necessarily mean a loss in productiveness, if military training should improve his physique and character. That it would do so Mr. Birchenough is convinced. The army should be " a school of physical training and moral discipline." Mr. Birchenough's scheme is vitiated by the fact that he regards our system for foreign service as fairly satisfactory, and therefore makes no provision for its reform. But what of the extra men to garrison South Africa? And what if a war should break out requiring heavy reinforcements for India?

INTRODUCE THE INDIAN SYSTEM.

General Russell begins by declaring that compulsion just at present would be impossible. He criticises Mr. Brodrick's scheme on the whole favourably, but declares it is defective because it makes no provision for the creation of a small compact force of 40,000 men ready for foreign service without mobilisation. Some such provision he regards as absolutely necessary. In regard to organisation he says the Indian system is the best and should be adopted in this country. The Indian Army is inferior to none except perhaps that of Germany :

The Secretary of State would be supreme like the Viceroy. Under him there would be two great military officials: one the Commander-in-Chief, responsible for the inspection, training, discipline, and patronage of the Army; the other charged with the supply, transport, clothing, ordnance and fortification. Of course there would be the subordinate heads of departments, as at present; but above all let these various chiefs be allowed to spend the money allotted to their special branch without immediate interference, in all matters of detail, from the civilian side of the War Office. It is needless to add that there would have to be a financial clerk attached to each department, and also the final audit by the Accountant-General as a wholesome and necessary check on expenditure. It would seem that in this way much unnecessary labour might be saved, friction avoided, and procedure greatly expedited.

DISTRICT TRAINING SCHOOLS.

The other Nineteenth Century articles on Army reform deal more with details than with the general system. Sir Herbert Maxwell contributes a paper on 66 Military

Training Schools for Lads." He explains his scheme, which was really drawn up by Captain Maitland, as follows:

There shall be established in the various regimental districts, and under control of the district commandants, training schools for the reception of lads of fifteen or sixteen. That is the critical period in the youth of the working classes; the statutory school age has been passed, and a very large percentage of lads drift out into the world, acquire the habit of loafing, and too often go to swell the ranks of Hooliganism. Such of these lads as can be persuaded to enter the district training schools-King Edward's Schools, as Captain Maitland suggests they shall be called-will be instructed there for two years in athletics, riding, cycling, elementary drill, musketry, scouting and signalling. Military history may also be taught, and habits of discipline and cleanliness will be acquired. Then, after two years' training, the lads will be drafted either into the district regiment of infantry, or into such other branch of the Service as they may have set their hearts upon. They will enter their battalions not as the raw article, with everything to be drummed into it, but mentally and physically prepared to learn the duties of soldiers, of which they have already mastered the rudiments.

A MILITARY PROVIDENT FUND.

The Earl of Arran suggests the formation of "A Military Provident Fund." He thinks that one of the great evils of Army life is the restriction on marriage, and says that he is convinced from personal experience that marriage has a good effect on soldiers. Under the existing regulations only 7 per cent. of the men are allowed on the strength," and this prevents the enlistment of the best type of men. The wives and children of soldiers should no longer be left to charity. The Government should act as an insurance society and encourage each man to subscribe a monthly item out of his pay :

In the event of death in the King's service a sum of money, according to rate, to be paid to the next of kin; in the event of disablement to the insurer.

Should he survive the insurer would be able to draw the net total of his premium upon his discharge.

Miss Ethel McCaul writes on 66 Army Nursing" and makes several useful suggestions. She recommends the establishment of a separate Nurses Corps with a recognised head and staff. The male nurses should be properly trained, some in the male wards of civil hospitals. Miss McCaul does not agree with the Royal Commission which recommends the employment of female nurses at the front, though she agrees that they should not be in the first line of field hospitals. makes several other useful suggestions as to hospital equipment and the organisation of a nursing reserve.

She

MR. BRODRICK'S ARMY SCHEME UNDER FIRE. The author of "An Absent-minded War," writing in the Fortnightly Review, has not a good word to say for Mr. Brodrick's scheme of Army Reform. He says that "if we accept this windy scheme, we shall deserve another and bloodier lesson than that which we have been taught by the South African War." The fundamental principles on which the scheme is based are unsound. He proposes to create an army of 435,000 men, for home defence, on the off chance that the fleet may fail us; but if the fleet failed us, the last thing in the world which an enemy would do would be to invade us, excepting for the purpose of a sudden raid, for our only chance of victory would lie in our being invaded. It would be much easier for the enemy to cut off our commerce, deprive us of our foodstuffs, and seize our colonies. The scheme is therefore radically unsound, in that it proposes to create an army which is not wanted and neglects to create a fleet which we need. Proceeding to examine Mr. Brodrick's pro