With this background, the situation created by the revival of anti-Japanese agitation in California seemed more or less disquieting, but when a more stringent land law was enacted by the Californians in November negotiations between the two Governments began at once and are still going on at the close of the Administration with good prospect of agreement.
The President's unpopularity had been so violently expressed by the election of November 2 that it was bound to be mitigated soon after, and this natural reaction was aided by the failure of the Republican Congress to accomplish anything in the short session and by President-elect Harding's slowness in deciding among candidates offered for the Cabinet and policies put forward for his attention. As President Wilson prepared to turn over the executive duties to his successor there was already evidence that the American public was returning to a greater appreciation of his services. As a token of the estimation in which he was still held by the more intelligent circles abroad, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him in December, 1920; and European statesmen who had opposed him at the Peace Conference were already expressing surprise at learning that Mr. Harding believed that the League of Nations was dead.
_Published through the courtesy of the New York Times._
In Flanders fields the poppies grow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky The larks still bravely singing, fly, Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe! To you from failing hands we throw The torch. Be yours to lift it high! If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, tho poppies blow In Flanders fields.
Rest ye in peace, ye Flanders dead! The fight that ye so bravely led We've taken up! And we will keep True faith with you who lie asleep, With each a cross to mark his bed, And poppies blowing overhead Where once his own life blood ran red! So let your rest be sweet and deep In Flanders fields!
Fear not that ye have died for naught, The torch ye threw to us we caught! Ten million hands will hold it high, And Freedom's light shall never die! We've learned the lesson that ye taught In Flanders fields!