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THE WELSH OUTLOOK The Editor does not necessarily identify himself with the opinions of contributors to The Welsh Outlook." Editorial responsibility is limited to the views expressed in the Notes of the Month," and in the unsigned article immediately following. NOTES OF THE MONTH The Economy Campaign. Although we recognise the enormous need for economy and the obligation of every citizen to insist that an end shall be put to Governmental and depart- mental extravagance, we must say quite frankly that there is a great deal of cant and dishonesty about the campaign in its present form, and still more confusion of thought even when the intention is honest. The country is pledged out and out to the policy of reconstruction on which the present Government embarked in its education, health, and housing measures. The promises were made to men who were asked to be ready to make the greatest sacrifice of all, and the country fully endorsed them. It is obvious, however, that it is these that the greatest screamers for economy desire first of all to be declared null and void in the interests of national economy. Most of the freak anti-waste candidates who have made their appearance in the last few weeks show little enthu- siasm for the economic stabilisation of Europe, for the League of Nations (the most powerful force for economy imaginable), for the cessation of our military adventures, for the pacification of Ireland, for the curtailment of expenditure on armaments, for the application of liberal principles of Government in India and in Egypt, or for the establishment of fa«r and equitable industrial relations. And yet, if the endless drain on our resources is to be effectively stopped, these are the problems to be tackled first of all. Expenditure in connection with public health and education is a sound investment, as the story of the most formidable enemy we ever met ought to have taught us. At the moment, to our mind, there are three policies for us to follow. We can return to the old Manchester Schools' ideal, and drop all social and educational reforms and all Imperialistic aims at the same time. We can, on the other hand, cast all ideas of social improvement to the wind, break all our JULY, 1921. pledges to those who saved us, shew the world that all our idealistic talk during the war was just hypocritical bluster, and by concentrating our expenditure on our Navy and our Army, become, owing to the favourable moment in Europe, one of the three or four great military (and political) powers in Europe. Or we can just try another experiment-hardly ever tried before-trust the nations, and keep our pledges to our own sons and daughters. One thing is clear, we cannot combine the last two alternatives. Religious Unity and Co-operation in Wales. There are many who will remember vividly the depressing effect produced upon them by some of the Noncon- formist evidence before the Royal Commission presided over by Lord Justice Vaughan Williams, on the religious activities of the Church of England and the Nonconformist denominations in Wales. Of course, that inquiry was an incident in the great political con- troversy over Welsh Disestablishment and Disendow- ment, and consequently many earnest Free Church leaders remained silent, although they had in fact been horrified by the accumulation of evidence as to the multiplication of Churches and the overlapping of efforts arising out of sectarian bigotry and personal squabbles. To-day, however, economic conditions by themselves are forcing our religious leaders to face the situation,-and the enfranchisement of the Church in Wales gives a new insistence to the problem. Prin- cipal Prys, at the Welsh Congregational Union meet- ings at Pentre, contemplated a time, apparently not in a very remote future, when a new generation would do away with all our differences, and when, through a process of comprehension and not of absorption, there would be one great Evangelical Church throughout Wales. As practical steps in the diirection of that magnificent end, he suggested the establishment of joint theological colleges, and the formation of a committee