On Monday Mr. Lynn, the Member for the Woodvalc Division
of Belfast, asked the Home Secretary "whether, in view of the insults repeatedly offered by Sum Feiners in the South and West of Ireland to the American flag and the American uniform, precautions were being taken that ouch insults should not be offered by the Sinn Feiners resident in London on the occasion of the parade and procession.of American troops which was to take place on May 24th." Mr. Shortt replied that "it was not considered that special measures to meet such a contingency were necessary." Another reply might, of course, have been that Mr. Lloyd George has lately purchased respect for the American flag from the Sinn Feiners by allowing Irish-American delegates to visit Mr. de Valera in his self-determined capacity of President of a non-existent Irish Republic, and that in the course of this entente the American flag was flown in conjimotion with that of the Irish Republic. In spite, however, of the official answer, it is very well known that during the war the Stars and Stripes were again and again insulted in Ireland and in the presence of American sailors and soldiers, and that their uniforms were made an excuse for insult and even violence.
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