[To-Day] A LESSON TO MY GHOST BY JOHN DRINKWATER SHALL it be said that the wind's gone over The hill this night, and no ghost there? Not the shape of an old-time lover Pacing the old road, the high road there? By the peacock tree, the tree that spreads its branches Like a proud peacock's tail (so my lady says), Under a cloudy sky, while the moon launches Scattered beams of light along the dark silences? I will be a ghost there, though I yet am breathing, A living presence still in tight cottage walls, Sitting by the fire whose smoke goes wreathing Over fields and farmyards and farmyard stalls. As a player going to rehearse his faring, I will send my ghost there before my bones are dust, Bid it learn betimes the sock it shall be wearing When it bids the clay good-bye as all ghosts must. Hush, then; upstairs sleep my lady and her mother; The cat curls the night away and will not stir; Beams of lamp and beech-log cross one another, No wind walks in the garden there. Go my ghost, it calls you, the high road, the winding, Written by the moonlight on the sleeping hill; I will watch the ashes, you go finding The way you shall walk for generations still. The window-latch is firm, the curtain does not tremble, The wet grass bends not under your tread, Brushing you shake not the dew from the bramble, They hear no gate who lie abed. THE LIVING AGE Founded by E.LITTELL in 1844 NO. 3996 FEBRUARY 5, 1921 A WEEK OF THE WORLD FINANCE AND POLITICS IN FRANCE CABINET changes and other political uncertainties in France, and the renewed insistence of that country upon a vigorous reparation policy are related closely with the growing financial difficulties of the government. L'Europe Nouvelle takes a very pessimistic view of the treasury's situation. Taxes recently levied are producing far less than estimated. The deficit in the customs receipts was about thirty million francs in November; the gross turnover business tax showing a deficit of two hundred and fifty-five million francs the same month. It has produced less than one half the estimated revenue since it went into effect the middle of the year. The recent domestic loan has also proved a disappointment. M. Ribot, in an open letter to Journal des Débats, explains this on the theory that public credit has already been drawn upon to the limit. Even though the Minister of Finance has applied almost coercive measures, particularly to government contractors and public creditors, in order to induce them to accept government bonds in payment of their claims, the total result has been most disappointing. This constantly darkening financial horizon explains not only the eag erness of the country to have the reparation question settled, but also the strong demand for a radical curtailment of public expenditures, especially for the army. ITALY AND EMIGRATION THE Italian government is endeavoring to regulate emigration by agreements with Brazil and the United States, the two countries which have hitherto received a large share of Italy's outflowing population. The Brazilian agreement is stated to have been signed already. The Italian press apparently favors these efforts. Il Giornale d'Italia comments: The pressing thing is to stimulate emigration— if possible, through government channels, but if that cannot be done, by any other means. We ought to get a million and a half laborers out of the country in two years. It is a sad necessity but an imperative one. We shall derive vast advantage from this. It will do much to restore the value of our currency abroad. This paper estimates that each able-bodied emigrant ought to send back to Italy on an average three thousand lire a year. Half a million Italians have already gone abroad. Two million Italian workers laboring in other countries would send back to Copyright, 1921, by The Living Age Co. FOOD DRAFTS AND DOLLAR VOSSISCHE ZEITUNG prints a letter from a German to his brother in America, describing some of the difficulties of the food draft system, from which we quote the following paragraph: Your food draft of $10 was naturally most welcome, for it enabled me to obtain more provisions than I could possibly have acquired at one time in any other way. When the draft arrived, a dollar was worth 65 marks (the draft 650 marks); and I figured that I could have bought about the same quantity of food from the smugglers for 450 marks. Early in November the dollar reached 80 marks and more. I figured it out again, and regretted the difference of 350 marks (which I lost by your sending a food draft instead of money) because I could have bought things we urgently need with that sum. It would have paid for warm underclothing for me and a sweater for my little boy. . . . It was even worse with your second gift, and I must confess I never received such a magnificent Christmas present with such disappointment as I did the beautiful typewriter which the American Company delivered to me, commenting on the fact that it had cost $140. With a draft in marks for $140, I could have bought a new German typewriter for 5000 marks, two suits of clothes for 2000 marks each, and in addition to all that, an overcoat for myself, a cloak for my wife, and a comforter for my little boy. PROHIBITION IN JAPAN JAPANESE papers report that after protracted discussions and negotiations all the societies fighting the liquor trade in Japan have united in the 'Japanese National Prohibition League.' Jiji says that the pioneer movement in this direction started twenty-five years ago, principally among Christian converts, but that during the war a greater section of the people took up the movement, especially in the great industrial centre of Osaka, whence the new campaign has extended to Tokyo and other cities. According to this paper, the agitation has gained strength from the example of the United States, and measures are being taken to start a large scale propaganda against liquor selling in the Empire. In this connection it may be noted that, during the era of war prosperity, the consumption of foreign liquors and cheap native-made imitations of foreign liquors is reported to have increased greatly in Japan, especially among industrial workers, to the displacement of sake and other traditional native beverages. Drunkenness and chronic alcoholism are not unusual vices in the poorer quarters of Japanese cities. BRITISH REPORTS ON IRELAND MOST of the documentary material upon Ireland published in England naturally appears in the liberal and radical press, which is opposing the policy of the government in that country. The New Statesman publishes extracts from two letters, whose originals its editor claims to have seen. The first is from an Irishman to a friend abroad: They so thoroughly raided my place that they left nothing of value which could be removed in several lorries. The amusing thing is (I have reached the stage of seeing the funny side) that my father's clothes were so much better than mine that they took all his (countless suits left behind when he went to Australia), while I was only deprived of such items as a dress suit, an overcoat, and some underclothes. . . . Pure looting in fact two days following and all 'ex-officers.' The second letter is from a young officer in the regular army stationed with his regiment in Southern Ireland: It's a poor game we're having and we all of us wish we were out of it. We don't get potted at nowadays here, as the people look on us almost as their protectors; but we can't protect them much. The auxiliary Black and Tans seem to contain all the down-and-out scallywags of the |