Mr. Watson's Optimism

Senator James E. Watson, of Indiana, regular Republican, returned to Washington from his home state and informed his comrades : " All would be well if we had dollar-and-a-half wheat and ten-dollar hogs."

Senator Watson stands high in Administration councils. He is not only a member of the Republican Senatorial Committee, but he is next to Senator Lodge for the Republican leadership in the Senate. In 1916 and again in 1920 he defeated Thomas Taggart, Democratic "boss" of Indiana.

He has a straightforward if rather blunt way of dealing with the situation of farmer dissatisfaction which confronts the Republicans in the Middle West. Wheat at $1.50 and $10 hogs are not his entire program. Said he to an interviewer : " The best thing that could happen to this country would be to have Congress not meet for three years, and have no State Legislature meet for four years."

Asked if he were willing to " con--ede that it is all up with the Republican Party now " in the next election, he replied: "No, sir, I am not. What we need now is some old-fashioned party loyalty ! "

It is noteworthy that this optimistic view is not generally shared among Republican leaders. Senator Moses, Chairman of the Republican Senatorial Committee, and Representative Wood, Chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee, view with alarm both the President's World Court proposal and discontent among the farmers. Senator Watson's optimism is not as sweet as the President's. But it is more specific.