m an article called, "Name This Child" and another later
article.]

In October another meeting of the central branch was held in Essex
Hall to debate "Have We Lost Liberty?" The Croydon and Birmingham
branches were arranging meetings, G.K. conferred with the members of
the Manchester branch, and Glasgow announced that it was only
awaiting the christening to form a branch. Bath held its first public
meeting, with the Mayor in the chair, and the meeting had to overflow
into a very large hall.

It was decided to reduce the price of the paper to twopence--
Twopenny Trash* was the title of the leading article--in order to
give the League an opportunity of extending the paper's radius of
action as an organ of the League's principles. . . . _"Every reader
who has been buying one copy at sixpence, must take three copies at
twopence_ until his two surplus copies have secured two new
readers. . . . The League would have to make itself responsible for
the success of this experiment and save the paper which gave it
birth, or die of inanition, for it is certainly not yet strong
enough to leave its mother."**

[* This was the name given to Cobbett's _Weekly Register_ by his
enemies.]

[** _G.K.'s Weekly_, November 6, 1926.]

It is clear that Gilbert's hopes at this stage ran high. He had not
dreamed that the initial success of the League would be so great.
Recording a sensational increase in the sale of the paper, he wrote
on November 13, 1926: "It was when we faced defeat that we were
surprised by victory; and we are quite serious in believing that this
is part of a practical philosophy that may yet outlast the philosophy
of bluff."

Recording a meeting of the League: he wrote:

We find it difficult to express the effect the meeting had upon us.
We were astonished, we were overwhelmed. Had we anything to do with
the making of this ardent, eager, indefatigable creature? The answer
is, of course, that though we had something to do with the shaping of
the body, we had nothing to do with the birth of the soul. That was a
miracle, a miracle we had hoped for, and which yet, when it happened,
overwhelmed us. We have the happy feeling that we have helped to
shape something which will go far above and beyond us. . . . There
were well over 100 members present, many of them spoke, and nearly
all the others would have spoken if there had been time to hear them.
It was a great night.*

[* November 13,