anged to
get a concession from Russia for the delivery on the part of the
Japanese of China into the war on the side of the Allies.

Well, the Japanese are still at it with the cat out of the bag. It looks
now as if they are getting ready to break up the present government in
Japan. This is interpreted to mean that that breakup will be made to
look as if it were in disapproval of the present mistakes in diplomacy
and of the price of rice; and then they can put in a worse one there and
the world will not know the difference, but will be made to think that
Japan is reforming. Speaking of constitutionality in Japan, I ceased to
worry about that as soon as I learned the older statesmen never troubled
at all about who was elected, but just let the elections go through, as
their business was so assured in other ways that the elections made no
difference anyway, and that the same principle worked equally well in
the matter of passing bills. No bill can ever come up without the
approval of the powers that be and they know how it is coming out in
spite of all discussions. No wonder change comes slowly and maybe it
will have to come all at once in the form of a revolution if it comes in
reality. It is now reported that Tsai, the Chancellor of the University
here, has said he will come back on condition that the students do not
move in future in any political matter without his consent, and I am not
able to guess whether that is a concession or a clever way of seeming to
agree with both sides at once. The announcement of Tsai's return means
that things will soon be back in normal shape and ready for another
upheaval.

We seem to be utterly stumped by the house situation. All the members of
the Rockefeller Foundation get nice new houses built for them, and the
houses are nice new Chinese ones but free from the poor qualities of
those to be rented here. All the houses in Peking are built like our
woodsheds, directly on the ground, raised a few inches from actual
contact with the earth by a stone floor. The courts fill with water when
the rains are hard and then they are moist for days, maybe weeks, and
about two feet of wet seeps up the side of the walls. Yesterday we
called on one of our Chinese friends here, and the whole place was in
that state, but he did not seem to notice it. If he wants baths in the
house it doubles the cost he pays the water wagon, and then after all
the trouble of heating and carrying the water there is no