an end. He thinks that in all probability conditions will be worse before they are better. We quote the following from his readable and well-informed communication:

The difficulty is one that has been long overdue; for the unprecedented expansion of currency and enormous inflation of credit could not go on unrestrained, and the banks have been warned more than once to curb speculation. In spite of a tightening money market, new enterprises were being recklessly floated, and by the end of March last the total figure for new undertakings was as much as 4,445,222,750 yen, or more than that for a whole year in Japan's past economic history. This figure is some 3,000,000,000 more than for the first three months of last year. This has been largely due to the action of the Bank of Japan in issuing notes and advancing credit beyond bounds. The manufacturer goes to the bank for loans to carry on or launch new enterprises. The size of the loan will be influenced by his net assets as compared with his current liabilities. With the proceeds of the loan the borrower can bid up the market for materials and secure workers by offering higher wages. This enhancement of prices enhances the value of his stock on hand when he seeks the next loan. Thus the granting of credit immediately tends to increase prices by putting new power into the hands of the borrower, and by increasing the amount of currency in circulation. Inflation is the cause and not the result of high prices. This has gone on in Japan until the banks can no longer stand the strain and the bubble must burst.

FRENCH COMMENT ON HARDING

EUROPEAN papers comment with interest upon the Republican Convention and the nomination of Mr. Harding. The Radical Democratic daily Dépêche de Toulouse considers the choice of the Chicago Convention satisfactory for France, because Senator Harding is not pro-German. It is evident that he will not insist on the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles as it stands, but no Republican if elected would do that. Europe seems to anticipate that the Republican candidate will win. Continuing its comment this paper says:

The success of the Republican candidate will eal the failure of the policy to which President

Wilson rather imprudently engaged his country, at a time when he was not certain of his ability to impose upon the government at Washington the doctrines he defended so eloquently at Paris. . . . The outcome is most disappointing, for without Mr. Wilson the treaty would have been very different and undoubtedly much harsher for the Germans. Now the United States may sign a separate peace with Germany, in which case the latter country will retain all the advantages it secured at Versailles while France will be deprived of two guaranties: the League of Nations and the defensive pact embracing France England, and America. . None the less it is probable that Senator Harding has a better opinion of France than Mr. Wilson ever had, even in our days of peril, when the friendship of the two nations was closest.

The more conservative Temps, which often acts as a mouthpiece of the government, in an article entitled, 'President Wilson's Succession,' says:

If the Republican candidates win on November 2, the government of the United States may try to substitute 'impartial courts' and a general assembly of all the Powers, to be called immediately whenever international peace is threatened, in place of the Wilson Covenant. This prospect lends great importance to the labor of the International Commission of jurists, which has begun to draft a project at The Hague for a permanent tribunal to deal with controversies between nations.

THE ANGLO-JAPANESE ALLIANCE GREAT BRITAIN is discussing with interest the renewal of the Japanese Alliance a device for which the League of Nations apparently does not offer a satisfactory substitute. Professor Longford, the author of the first of the two articles we publish upon this subject, served in the consular service in Japan for thirty-three years, and subsequently was Professor of Japanese in the School of Oriental Studies in London for thirteen years. He has written many volumes upon Japanese history and institutions and industrial conditions of that country.

Honorable E. G. Theodore, who argues the case against renewing the alliance, was prime minister of Queens

land throughout the war, heading a labor administration. Undoubtedly he accurately voices Australian sentiment upon this subject.

FRANCE, POLAND, AND THE
UKRAINE

We recently referred to the conflict of opinion among that small element of the Ukrainian nation whose voice reaches the ear of Europe, regarding the recent Polish offensive against Kieff. L'Humanité contains an article by Daszynski, a former leader of the Polish Socialist party in the old Austro-Hungarian Parliament, defending Poland's policy, in which he says:

Not a single Polish soldier has set his foot on Russian territory. Vilna, Minsk, Dunaburg, and Kieff are not Russian cities. They are not situated in Russian territory, but in territories subjugated by Russia and held in slavery by that country.

In another issue L'Humanité states that on February 19, 1920, the French military assistance in Poland included 9 general officers, 29 colonels and lieutenant colonels, 63 majors, 196 captains, 435 lieutenants, or altogether 732 officers, with 2120 common soldiers. This mission is costing France 16,000,000 francs, and its presence in Poland is alleged to be one of the main obstacles in the way of peace between that country and Russia.

PETROLEUM AND INTERNATIONAL
POLITICS

PETROLEUM Continues to play an important part in international affairs. In particular, control of the district around Mosul in the valley of the Tigris-whose flaming oil wells are 1 supposed by some archæologists to be symbolized by the angels who guarded the Garden of Eden with flaming Swords has become the subject of newspaper controversy between France and England. Evidently the authori

e

ties at the Peace Conference bear conflicting testimony as to what was really agreed upon; with the result that both France and England now present claims to these supplies. L'Eclair, Mr. Briand's organ, throws the whole blame for this controversy, and the other controversies that have arisen between England and France in connection with the Peace Conference, on the fact that the leaders of the four great Allied Powers insisted on discussing the conditions of peace themselves and altering the map of the world in accordance with their own ideas, instead of leaving these questions to professional experts.

RESUMING DE LUXE TRAVEL

AMONG the more hopeful news items from Europe is the announcement that the great international express trains are beginning to resume operation. The Paris-Prague-Warsaw-Vienna express

and the Ostend-Prague-Warsaw-Vienna express are already in operation. They consist entirely of International Sleeping-Car-Company's sleepers, parlor cars, and restaurants, and run three times a week. Another international express from Ostend and Brussels via Lyons and Paris to Milan and thence to Bucharest has also been announced, to begin running early in July. It is proposed ultimately to have connections with Constantinople and Athens. The Paris papers also announce a South Morocco express between Boulogne, Paris, Madrid, Cordova, and Algeciras.

MUTINIES IN ITALY

JUNE issues of Italian newspapers devote much of their space to the extensive disorders then occurring in that country. Serious trouble broke out in Trieste, on June 11, where hundreds of soldiers mutinied under the suspicion that they would be called upon to serve

in Albania. The mob swept through the streets shouting 'Down with the war!' Some of D'Annunzio's Arditi were prominent in the mob. An attempt to start a counter-demonstration was speedily suppressed. Officers were disarmed and beaten. Bombs were thrown against the Town Hall and other public buildings, and many soldiers deserted from the barracks. For the same reason the railwaymen had gone on a strike throughout Northern Italy. Milan was isolated by a zone about ten miles wide, across which there was no railway traffic whatever. The people mainly blamed for these incidents are Mr. Nitti, the Allies, and President Wilson. Giolitti appears to have suddenly become popular with the discontented class.

Although Italy is thus weakened by internal strife and political instability, there are some hopeful signs of economic recovery. Imports are rapidly increasing and exports decreasing, so that the total improvement in the trade balance for the last six months of 1919, as compared with the corresponding period for 1918, amounts to well toward two and one half billion lire.

RIGHT OF PETITION

THE Glasgow Weekly Herald contains the following amusing account of the experience of a British citizen who tried to exercise the right of petition at a wedding in Surrey at which Lloyd George was a guest. The episode became public when the petitioner sued a local police sergeant for assault, on account of the rough handling he received from that officer:

The applicant felt very strongly about the Russian question. He thought it was a very good opportunity for him to have a word with Mr. Lloyd George. When the latter reached the

one else on earth, as I feel very strongly on the question. I said to the Prime Minister, 'Hands off Russia,' and he replied, 'Mind your own business.'

When the bridal party left the church I said → to the Prime Minister. 'Please raise the blockade. Mr. Lloyd George.' It is very difficult to get hold of these people, and, as a citizen, I claim that on constitutional grounds I was entitled to put that question [sic] to the Prime Minister.

Then Sergeant Harris took hold of me in a most brutal manner, and threw me into the road. The sergeant was most arrogant, and endeavored to tread on my toes and cause a breach of the te peace. That spirit should not be shown by any officer in the police force.

RUSSIA'S GOLD AND IRON

RUSSIA'S gold is apparently becoming a cause of discord in Europe, especially between England and France. The latter country claims that it should be reserved as an asset to pay what Russia owes to its bondholders in other countries. The common English opinion is that the interests of all lands trading with Russia will be best served by using this gold to restore railway equipment and other facilities of trade and commerce. When the war broke out, the Russian Government Bank had more than $800,000,000 worth of t gold in its vaults, and in addition well toward half a billion dollars were in circulation. During the war this quantity fluctuated, and even before the first revolution had considerably declined. By October, 1917, the banks' holdings had fallen below $650,000,000. During the revolution part of this money was withdrawn from Petrograd and nearly a quarter of a billion dollars fell into the hands of the Kolchak government. The Bolsheviki claim that all of this has been recaptured.

Stahl und Fisen contains an informing report upon the metallurgical industries in South Russia in 1919. We quote from an English summary the

'Hands off Russia, please, Mr. Lloyd George.'

I would say the same thing to the King or any

scribing the conditions that followed Denikin's retreat: