Animadversions

Ex-Premier George stuck his finger in his mouth and held it up in the air to decide which way the political wind was blowing. He decided that a gentle zephyr was blowing, favorable to Liberalism, so he virtually gave notice to the British public, probably with the counsel of his titular chief, ex-Premier Herbert H. Asquith, that a general election was to be held at the end of the year.

Basing his attack against the Government on the Anglo-Russian Treaty (TIME, Aug. 18), Mr. George said in a speech at Penmaenmawr, Wales: "In so far as it [the treaty] is not a fake, it is folly. In fact, it is both. It was hastily patched up at the end of the session because the Prime Minister had been held up by a number of Socialist gunmen of his own party. Let me emphasize the point that it has nothing to do with the rights or wrongs of the restoration of Russia. It is purely a question of whether out of our depleted till we are to lend scores of millions of pounds to Russian Communists, most of which will be handled and spent by them in their own way.

"We are burdened with heavy debts and are passing through a period of unexampled depression. We need all our surplus cash to finance our own trade and develop our own resources. It is an act of criminal recklessness at such a time to guarantee huge sums of money to be spent in another country by a Government whose principles are predatory and destructive of all legitimate enterprise."