Leaf 4 recto

the whole question, because: Patrick Forde of the
Irish World challenged me upon it in a private letter and wanted to
know why I did not take up politics and make the
League an adjunct to the Irish Parliamentary party.
My answer was perhaps the best paper I ever
wrote. I showed how [if] the bulk of the branches
were run by officers and secretaries who were largely
either National Teachers or Customs and Excise
officers, how these men were precluded by
rigid rules from taking part in anything pol-
-itical, how many of them were full of national
feeling of the best type but could find no outlet
for it. How we provided an outlet and let
loose a lot of energy for the good of Ireland