Welsh Journals

Instances of that kind could be multiplied indefinitely. Having been elected to office by a support that held diametrically opposite views on the League issue, the Government faced a serious and troublesome dilemma when it entered office. Would it construe the election as favourable to the League, and open again the question of entrance into it, or would it construe the election as unfavourable to the League and press immedi- ately for legislation on important domestic questions ? If it opened he problem of the League it might endanger party solidarity at the very beginning of its term; if it ignored or side- tracked the League for domestic issues, it could hope to accomplish desirable domestic legislation without endangering party unity-for a while. For one reason or another the final decision was clearly for the latter policy. In any case, the events of the session just ended justify such an inference. It also explains, if it does not justify, the intense silence of such good friends of the League as Ex-President Taft, Secretary of Com- merce Hoover, and even of Secretary of State Hughes, during the past eighteen months. For only upon the supposition that a definite promise and the assurance that international affairs would receive attention in due time can we think of these men watching Europe going to pieces (as they so often predicted it would) without a word of protest. The Congressional Session ending March 4th last spent its time considering a Tariff Bill, measures for promoting agriculture, and a Ship Subsidy Bill. I almost forgot the Washington Naval Conference-the only step taken towards international understanding. During these long months the supporters of an association of nations have been long suffering and patient to a degree. They have just been expecting and waiting, waiting and expecting. Now they are restive. Senator Borah knows the signs of the times." The mid-term elections of last November went very much against the administration. Almost every Senator supported by President Harding was defeated. The legislature majorities in both branches of Congress have been reduced to a dangerously small margin. On top of this such'organisations as Church Councils have been meeting, and becoming for the first time disturbingly vocal. They are petitioning, and almost demanding, action. Their membership is largely Republican. The Pro-League support in many places is claiming its innings. It must be conciliated The Pavement Artist. By P. M. Jones I came upon him suddenly, seated on the pave- ment beside his drawings, with his cap between his knees. He said nothing. He did not move. But his eyes came to meet me out of the dusk, hovered before me a moment before the next election-and will be. The first answer is the suggestion of a World Court. Another potent and influential factor in the present situation should be mentioned. During the past two years the farmers of our great western country have found themselves in a sorry plight. The story is too true that they actually burned their corn for fuel last winter. There was no market for it. Their leaders now realise, and are telling them so, that there can be no relief that is permanent unless the European market is opened to them. This cannot happen till the economic situation in Europe is stabilised. The farmers are beginning to see. They, too, have many votes, and are strongly Republican. The battle is only commencing. It will accumulate with rapidity during the next few months. The inevitable result must be a new attitude towards international affairs, with beneficent results to the whole world. The readers of the Welsh Outlook will be interested to know what attitude the Welsh in America are taking in this crisis. Strange to say, the Welshmen here are by a great majority ardent Republicans. There are whole towns of our fellow countrymen where it would be difficult to find a single member of the Democratic party. I said strange," because the Radical and Liberal of Wales flows directly to the Conserva- tive (Republican) party when he reaches Ameri- can shores. There are many reasons for this, which it is not necessary to recount here. In this crisis they are almost unanimously Pro-League, and voted for President Harding with the expectation, I am sure, that he would put it across," as the slang phrase for achieve- ment goes in America. I have talked with many Welsh friends in the eastern section of the United States during the past four years, and have yet to find a single one opposed to the League. Most of them have been loyal sup- porters, and many of them are deeply disap- pointed with the policy of the Government thus far. The Republican party has been called fre- quently The party of moral ideas." How much truth there may be in that claim I do not care to discuss. But I know that Welshmen have joined it because they thought it was! And thev have always demanded in their respective localities that it should live up to its high repu- tation. They will demand in this crisis that the great moral ideal embodied in an effective association of nations shall not be abandoned nor shipwrecked by their own party leaders. and haunted me after I had passed. They were black, lustrous and vacant like the eyes of an animal. Yet they were strangely human. Per- haps there was a glimmer of expectancy in them, as though my approach had recalled them from infinite vistas of contemplation to the duty of fix- ing those who passed with a look of intelligent appeal. But any expression of that sort had been