The Outlook 1916-09-06

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t Lhe Outlook SEPTEMBER 6, 1916 Offices, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York THE STORY OF THE WAR: RUMANIA JOINS THE ALLIES The long-expected entrance of Rumania into the world war became an actuality on August 27, on which date formal declaration of war against Austria-Hungary was made at the Rumanian capital, Bucharest. It was followed immediately by counter-declarations of war both from Germany and Austria- Hungary. The reasons officially assigned are as follows : First—The Rumanian population in Austrian territories, Transylvania and the Bukowina, is exposed to the hazards of war and of invasion. Second—Rumania beiieves that by interven- ing she can shorten the world war. Third—Rumania places herself on the side of those Powers which she believes can assist her most efficaciously in realizing her national ideals. Fighting of an unimportant character instantly followed—if it did not, as some say, precede—the actual issue of the declara- tion of war. It was well known in advance that Rumania had her forces fully mobilized both along that portion of her border which lies south of Transylvania in Hungary and tht portion which lies directly north from Bulgaria. The clash of arms took place near th. ‘Transylvanian frontier. The importance of Rumania’s final decision is great both from the military and the political point of view. It is a diplomatic victory for the Allies which atones for former blunders in their Balkan diplomacy. A glance at the map on the next page will show how the new sit- uation involves a combined attack by Russia and Rumania in the Bukowina region. Russia already holds Czernowitz, which is all but on the border of Rumania. There are indications that Russia is gathering large forces in this vicinity ; and without difficulty she can here act in unison with Rumania, while the latter nation can push forward an army from the south over the, mountains into Transylvania, thus leaving that province, wiich it is Rumania’s ambition to possess atter the war, in an ...gle between two dan- gerous enemies. fy Rulgaria’s position, again a glance at the map shows how dan- gerous to Bulgaria’s safety is the threatened attack by Rumania from the north, at the very time when the five nations represented in the armies north of Salonika threaten Bulgaria on the south. Austria-Hungary, and particularly Hun- gary, are now in what seems to be almost a precarious state. Austria has to fight ene- mies on several fronts ; Italy’s recent capture of Gorizia and repulse of the Austrian offen- sive from Trent shows that heavy forces must be used to hold that part of the Austrian line ; the Austro-German armies which swept through Servia are facing the impending advance from the Allies now in Greece; on the Rumanian border the third battle-line is of no little importance ; farther north the Rus- sian attack in Galicia and the other Russian attack in the vicinity of Lemberg are still to be stopped or held in check. It is no wonder that great agitation and discontent exist in Hungary, nor that there are again rumors that Bulgaria may withdraw from her alliance with the Central Powers, while the situation of Turkey is hardly less desperate. Onc recent serious blow to Turkey has been the reoccupation of Bitlis, in Asia Minor, by the Russian troops opcrating in that vicinity under the general command of the Grand Duke Nicholas, as also the recapture of Mush ; both of these places have changed hands twice. A general advance of Russia along its Asian front is supposed to be in progress. The political and moral significance of Rumania’s participation in the war, combined with the declaration of war made by Italy on Germany on August 27, are evident. The mere fact that a new body of troops of per- haps half a million men enters the field on the side of the Allies must have an effect on the situation. That Greece, after its long period of hesitation and uncertainty, may declare war is probable, and the more so because of Bulgaria’s recent invasion of Greek territory. Venizelos, speaking in Ath- ens to an enormous demonstration in favor of the Allies at which fifty thousand persons 1

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THE WEEK bo 1 -~\3 were said to be present, outlined resolutions which have since been sent to the King. These resolutions containéd what is* almost equivalent to a threat in the words, “If the people are not keard in these resolutions, we must take counsel what is to be done to mini- mize the ruin which awaits us.”” The resolu- tions plainly tell the King that he has “fallen a victim to evil advisers who have persuaded him that Germany must be victorious.” ‘The people demand the instant dismissal of the present ‘sinister ” advisers; and the whole tone of their remonstrance is in favor of instant action against Bulgaria. Berlin has taken the new situation in the east seriously but with outward confidence, and it is reported that plans had already been made in advance to afford substantial military assistance to Austria and Bulgaria. An im- portant action is the removal by the Kaiser of the former Chief of Staff of the German Army, General von Falkenhayn, and. the ap- pointment in his place of Field Marshal von Hindenburg, the hero and victor of Ger- many’s triumphs last year on the Russian line. ‘ No progress of note was made by either side in the great battle-line on the Somme River or in the eastern war field during the -week ending August 30. Both the Anglo- French and the Russian forces made slight advances. On the west the struggle still centers around Thiepval, Guillemont, and Maurepas. Perhaps the most notable single incident in the war was the capture by the Bulgarians of the forts around the important Greek port of Kavala; but, generally speak- ing, the actual fighting in the Balkans has not been at any one point of much impor- tance. The Zeppelin raid on England of August 24 did more damage than some previous raids had accomplished, but still was not seriously important from the military point of view. The air-ships are said to have dropped about a hundred bombs, which dam- aged an electric power station and engineer- ing works, started a few insignificant fires, and, according to English reports, caused the death of three men, three women, and two children, and injured thirty-six other people. WHY PEACE SEEMS DISTANT Under present conditions, there seem to be insuperable obstacles to an agreement on terms of peace by the nations at war in Europe. It is, of course, at least conceivable that a sudden military collapse or overwhelm- ing victory might force one of the combat- ants to sue for mercy, as France did in 1871. Probably this is what the German General von Kluck had in mind when he said the other day to a correspondent that the war might take years to finish or might end ina few days. It is possible also that, without such a collapse, one combatant might be so convinced of its own ultimate defeat as to make the best terms possible at the moment. But, apart from these possibilities, each com- batant has too much at stake which it thinks essential to its own future safety and to its escape from financial ruin to make an agree- ment on peace terms probable. ‘Those sin- cere but over-optimistic lovers of humanity who are so constantly crying peace when there is no peace are really doing more harm than good. A convincing explanation of this phase of the war has lately been presented by the well- known writer on war topics, Mr. Frank H. Simonds, in the New York “ Tribune.” He: agrees with Lord Kitchener’s forecast of a three years’ war (made, it is said, in the early days of the war), but goes beyond that early forecast, and now thinks that the war will last in all four years, or at least into 1918. The reasons are both military and commercial. As to the first, despite the recent gains of the Allies—and, we may add, the new situation in the Near East—the Germans oc- cupy a great deal of enemy country, and both in the west and in the east have available excel- lent lines of defense many miles back of their present lines and yet still in the enemy coun- try; moreover, if they do so withdraw, their lines become shorter and fewer men are needed to hold them, thus meeting to some extent the ‘“‘ wearing down”’ theory of the Allies. That the Allies are not in anything like immediate danger of military collapse needs no argument at this time. Turning to the exposition this article gives of the commercial and industrial reasons against the. probability of immediate peace, we find that Germany has wrecked industrial regions of vast importance in Belgium, France, and Poland, has “literally burned the factories and transported the machinery to her home provinces ;” thus, if war stopped to-day, Germany could put her factories to work to supply the world’s demand, but France, Belgium, and Poland would have to restore their factories, buy new machinery, and start afresh. But this is not all; the

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4 THE OUTLOOK districts in France, Belgium, and Poland now held by Germany include vast iron-fields, to- gether with immensely valuable coal regions. Now Germany, Mr. Simonds says, will never surrender these districts until she has been overwhelmingly defeated; on the other hand, the countries to which they belonged before the war will never give them up to Germany unless those countries are at the last gasp. Similar arguments may be made as regards shipping. Mr. Simonds contends that Great Britain will insist that Germany make good out of German shipping the losses inflicted by German submarines on British shipping. Again, if war ceased now, Germany might expect a tariff combination by her former enémies, discriminating against Germany. If we look at the relation of Germany and Russia, of Turkey with the other Powers, or of the Balkan situation, other tremendous difficulties and complica- tions present themselves. In short, when Germany or German speak- ers and writers intimate that Germany might accept peace on the basis of “the map of Europe ’’—that is, the status guo, or, in plain English, the actual condition as it is to-day— the proposal is totally unthinkable from the Allies’ point of view. On the other hand, the status quo ante—that is, the map of Europe as it was before the war—is equally unac- ceptable to Germany until she has undergone, or sees that she is on the point of undergoing, a complete and decisive defeat. Prophecies are proverbially dangerous, but those who think that the only obstacle to peace is the hard hearts of men who like war for itself have as little conception of the mag- nitude of the great world problems which must be solved before peace begins as a child has of differential calculus. WARRING AGAINST CHILDREN Charles Reade, in his ‘“ Cloister and the Hearth,” tells of the cruelty of a Duke of Burgundy who “ decanted ” at his sovereign pleasure people from. villages which he deemed too populous into other villages where he deemed that they were needed ; and the author describes movingly the wretch- edness and grief of the poor people torn from their homes and friends and driven along the highway weeping. Germany has gone far beyond that, for the noble Duke did not divide families. She has driven the poor French villagers, and especially the boys and 6 September girls from sixteen to twenty years of age, to distant points, tearing them from their families and forcing them to work on the land wherever Germany sees fit to use them. This is literally treating children like cattle. It will be hard to believe that such a thing could happen were it not for France’s official report and protest against this form of inhu- manity. This. protest is addressed to the governments of neutral Powers—we hope that our State Department will not fail to send a reply and to make that reply public. The protest is in the form of a White Book or Yellow Book—it has been called both—and those who wish to read the story will find it reprinted in full in the New York “ Times ” of August 20. It covers nearly two pages of that paper in solid type, and it marshals as exhibits letter after letter, document after document; among other things a stirring letter from the Bishop of Lille to a German general, to whom he appeals as a Christian and a father, urging that “ the inviolability of God, who institutes it, is in the family,” and saying that “to tear young girls from their homes is no longer war; it is torture, and the worst of tortures—undefined moral torture.” The Premier of France, M. Briand, in transmitting the protest to the neutral Powers, asks for ‘‘the judgment that the universal conscience will render ”’ on the facts stated, and summarizes those facts from the evi- dence gathered by the Minister of War. Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Lille were the ‘chief places outraged in this way, and other smaller places are named. In those three places twenty-five thousand men, women, and chil- dren, without distinction of social conditions and of every age from sixteen up, were taken away. The men, it is said, are employed at farming, road work, munition-making, and digging trenches; the women to cook and wash for the soldiers and “to take the places of officers’ orderlies!’”’ Here is a brief description of one: scene : Toward three o'clock in the morning the streets were barred by troops with fixed bayo- nets and a machine gun set up across the side- walk against unarmed people. The soldiers entered the houses and officers designated the persons who were to go, and half an hour later every one was carried away pellimell to a near- by factory, and from there to the railroad station for departure. Mothers with children under fourteen years were spared, young girls

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1916 THE below twenty years old were carried away only with a person of their family, but this does not lessen the barbarity of the measure. Soldiers of the Landsturm were visibly embarrassed to find themselves employed for such work. In commenting on this stolidly inhumane action, the “Times” entitles its editorial “ As in Cesar’s Time,” but quotes a noted French writer as denying to the Germans the right to be called barbarians because “ the barbarians at least were on a level with the customs and sentiments of their time.” CONGRESS AND POLITICS Outside of the railway situation (dealt with elsewhere in this issue) during the past week the most important subject under considera- tion by the Senate has been the Revenue Bill. In connection with the discussion of this bill, the incident which has excited most interest was the attempt of Senator Underwood to lower the exemption on taxable incomes from three thousand to two thousand dollars. Senator Underwood, declining to be bound by the Democratic caucus, carried his fight to the floor of the Senate. Despite the aid of fourteen Republicans, his amendment was defeated by a vote of 31 to 19. On August 29 President Wilson signed the army and navy appropriation bills and the Philippine measure. It will be remembered that President Wilson vetoed the army bill originally passed by Congress because of a clause in the revised Articles of War exempt- ing retired officers from military discipline. It was speedily amended in the way Presi- dent Wilson desired, and by his signature has now become law. The justice and wisdom of his veto are strikingly attested by this quickly earned victory. In signing the Navy Bill, President Wilson said: ‘The Navy Bill is a very remarkable measure. Never before by a single act of legislation has so much been done for the creation of an adequate navy. ... It isa matter of unusual gratification that we should have been able at this time to do so much and do it so well—as I believe it to be done in this bill— and to do it with such unanimity of support and opinion.” Interest in the. Presidential campaign, aside from Mr. Roosevelt’s speech in Maine, which is discussed in an editorial in this week’s issue of The Outlook, seems to have been lost in the tremendous concern which the country has felt over the railway situa- tion. The most striking event of the week WEEK 5 was, perhaps, the result of the Democratic Senatorial primary in Texas. This was won by Senator Charles A. Culberson (known as the Wilson candidate) over ex-Governor Col- quitt by a vote which is reported to be in the neighborhood of 146,000 to 83,000. Ex- Governor Colquitt, the defeated candidate for the nomination, has been a severe critic of President Wilson’s Mexican policy. The Outlook in its issue of August 23 _re- ported Mr. Hughes’s charge that Mr. O. H. Tittmann had been removed by President Wilson from the head of the Coast and Geo- detic Survey. The Outlook said: ‘“ No ex- planation, either adequate or inadequate, seems to have been made to meet this charge.” Newspaper correspondents have, however, reported Secretary Redfield’s denial that Mr. Tittmann was forced to resign. ‘They also have quoted Mr. Tittmann in confirmation of Secretary Redfield’s denial. SECRETARY DANIELS AND THE HISTORY OF THE NAVY Several times during the past few months Secretary Daniels has indicated his belief that the failure of the United States navy to main- tain its rank of second place among the war fleets of the world was in part due to the indifference of Mr. Roosevelt’s Administra- tion. He recurs to this belief in a recent letter to Representative Butler, ranking Re- publican member of the House Affairs Com- mittee. This letter, which constitutes an exhaustive and in many ways an excellent report on the progress of the navy during President Wilson’s Administration, was made public on August 27. It is in presenting this record that Mr. Daniels again offers the criticism to which we have referred. He says: In 1905 the Secretary of the Navy (Mr. Bona- parte) asked for only one battle-ship, and in his Message to Congress in the same year Presi- dent Roosevelt said, in order to maintain and increase the then standard efficiency of the navy, it did not “ seem necessary, however, that the navy should—at least in the immediate future —be increased beyond the present number of units,” and he advocated adding “a single bat- tle-ship to our navy each year.” In his 1907 Message President Roosevelt wrote to Con- gress: “I cdo not ask that we continue to increase our navy. I merely ask that it be maintained at its present strength.” At that time the General Board was insisting upon two to three new battle-ships each year, but their

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6 THE OUTLOOK recommendation was ‘carefully pigeonholed and not permitted to reach the public. Mr. Daniels in this criticism apparently ignores the statement of the General Board of the Navy (which he himself quotes in his letter to Representative Butler) that in this very year 1907 the navy of the United States advanced from third to second place, judged by number of ships actually built, and in quoting from Mr. Roosevelt’s Message of 1907 he neglects to add any quotation from the special Message which Mr. Roosevelt sent to Congress on April 14, 1908, a Mes- sage which casts no little light upon the con- ditions confronting the country at that time in comparison with the situation to-day. Presi- dent Roosevelt then said : Prior to the recent. Hague Conference it had been my hope that an agreement could be reached between the different nations to limit the increase of naval armaments, and especially to limit the size of war-ships. Under these cir- cumstances I felt that the construction of one battle-ship a vear would keep our navy up to its then positive and relative strength. But actual experience showed not merely that it was impossible to obtain such an agreement for the limitation of armaments among the various leading Powers, but that there was no likelihood whatever of obtaining it in the future within any reasonable time. Coincidentally with this discovery occurred a radical change in the building of battle-ships among the great military nations—a change in accordance with which most modern battle-ships have been or are being constructed of a size and armament which doubles, or more properly trebles, their effectiveness. Every other great naval nation has, or is building, a number of ships of this kind ; we have provided for but two, and there- fore the balance of power is now inclining against us. Under these conditions, to provide for but one or two battle-ships a year is to pro- vide that this Nation, instead of advancing, shall go backward in naval rank and relative power among the great nations. ...1I ear- nestly advise that the Congress now provide four battle-ships of the most advanced type. I cannot too emphatically say that this is a meas- ure of peace and not of war. In 1916 President Wilson in his efforts to build up the navy of the United States has had the stupendous advantage of an aroused public opinion made vocal chiefly through private initiative and endeavor. In 1908 no such condition existed. Mr. Roosevelt’s rec- ommendations, as one man who was then a Member of Congress has recently testified, ‘excited only languid interest among the people of the country—excepting where they aroused sharp condemnation.” WHEN IS A BOS'N NOT A BOS'N? From this consideration of naval history it may be a relief to turn to an incident in a much lighter vein which has recently served to enliven naval circles. During the progress of the Naval Bill through the Senate Senator Tillman intro- duced an amendment of very innocent ap- pearance which fortunately does not appear in the measure which President Wilson has just signed because it did not survive the journey through the legislative mill. In brief, this amendment provided by deft cir- cumlocution “that no officer shall be ad- dressed in orders or official communications by any other title than that of his actual rank.” To the civilian this sounds fair enough, but the civilian is generally unfamiliar with the distinction between the words rank and grade. An officer may have the grade of commander, of assistant civil engineer, of chaplain or naval constructor. The ques- tion of rank is entirely a different thing. Rank means that officers in one grade have the same “official standing” as offi- cers in another grade. Some of the titles of the various grades belong to the line and some to the staff of the navy. It is quite as absurd to call a man “ captain ” or “‘ com- mander ’”’ merely because he “ ranks ” as captain or commander, as it would be to insist that a railway president be called “‘ senator ’”’ because he might have the same social standing in a community as a member of the upper house. That the absurdities of this proposal would have been extended to warrant and petty officers of the navy is made evident in a letter which a naval pharmacist recently ad- dressed to the editor of the “Navy.” He writes in expectation of the passage of the amendment : In the last “ Navy Register” I appear as a “Pharmacist.” In the next I will be known to the world as a “Boatswain.” ... I have already begun to address my Hospital Apprentice as Coxswain, which is the title of his rank. Instead of telling him to get the bandages and lint ready for an operation by the Surgeon, I sing out: “ Coxswain, the Commander comes! Stand by with the gear to marl, parcel, and serve!” I have taught him to answer:

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CARTOONS OF THE WEEK Sykes in the Philadelphia Evening Ledger Lh mi Hi Sterrett in the New York Tribune Mh Mh) walid + dt ui THAT JAPANESE INVASION > “NO NEWS ATALL, EH? THE BEST NEWS THERE IS? A PEACEFUL WARRIOR WATCHFUL WAITING AGAIN From London Opinion res 2 Tommy (during heavy bombardment, to his musical pal): “Chuck it, Nobby! 1 can’t get to sleep while you’re making that awful noise! = THE PETTY ANNOYANCES OF LIFE AT THE FRONT

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CARTOONS OF THE WEEK Prom Reynolds’s Newspaper (London) . ; Prom Le Péle-Méle (Paris) THE OPTIMIST “ Never mind: I’ll push it back presently!” A MEMORY OF THE MEAT RIOTS “Were you wounded at Verdun?” “No; got this while keeping order in front of a sa 9? butcher-shop in Berlin. NOT ALL THE GERMAN LOSSES ARE AT THE FRONT CAN HE DO IT? From Fliegende Blatter (Munich) THE CONSCIENTIOUS HEN Visitor from ‘Town: ** What on earth’s the matter with this hen—she starts attacking me when I try to take the egg | from her nest. . . . Look here, you silly thing, here is my egg-ticket !” A GOOD-NATURED GERMAN JOKE ON GERMANY’S FOOD SHORTAGE

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THE WEEK 9 “ Ay! Ay! Boatswain! Ready! O ready !” The old-fashioned Boatswain in our mess tells me that we haven’t got the terms just right; that seamen never heard of a “ Boatswain ” or a “ Coxswain,” but that the proper pronuncia- tion is “ Bos’n” and “ Coxs’n ;” but it all sounds nautical to us of the Medical Corps, and, any- way, we address each other: by the titles of our ranks, 5". There has been considerable discussion in our mess as to the way the new law will work. Personally, I have always desired the title of “ Boatswain,” and now that, practically, it is legally mine, I have proposed that all of us Fharmacists, Machinists, and Carpenters—now staff Boatswains—should perform some of the more public functions of the line Boatswains. I don’t mean that we should do any of the work with the anchors and chains and such, but we might “pipe the side” when the Secretary of the Navy or the Chairman of the Senate Naval Committee comes aboard. Instead of the piping of one lone line Boatswain there might be ten or a dozen of us staff Boatswains all piping the side together. It would make an appropriate reception for the civil functionaries, who always require the limit in ‘military honors, and for Staff Admirals, even if the line Admirals would not stand for it. . Some of my messmates do not take kindly to the changes required by the new legislation. Theold and philosophic Chief Machinist said: “ Well, I s’pose I'll have to stand for it, to be called ‘ Ensign;’ though I ain’t one an’ don’t look like one an’ don’t want to be one.” ... The Gunner and the Carpenter growled because they did not wish to be addressed as “ Boatswain.” The one line Boatswain in our mess, who is a taciturn and muscular person and an overbear- ing line officer besides, said: “ As all you guys - are going to be called what you ain’t, I’m goin’ to be called ‘Judge’ in this mess, an’ don’t you fergit it.” According to the “* Navy,’’ the blame for this proposal cannot be put uponany legislator from the interior country. It was the work of a very small group of men in the navy itself who have coveted the military titles which ‘belong to the officers of the line. This tempest in a teapot is a good illustra- tion of the pettiness‘which sometimes creeps into the discussion of even large public issues. JAPAN AND RUSSIA It is not remarkable that on a subject of which so little is known as the form and in- tended effect of the recent movement towards a Russian-Japanese Entente there should be a great deal of variety of opinion. This variety of opinion seems to follow no hard and fast racial or national lines. Distin- guished publicists of Japan, Russia, Eng- land, and the United States can be found who will aver in confidence that the Russian- Japanese Treaty is aimed directly at England. And just as distinguished men from all these countries can be found who loudly protest against this view of the convention. This disagreement among experts is the less remarkable when one considers that the final text of the treaty has not yet been made public. But the text of the tentative agree- ment as published in the semi- official Japanese newspapers on July 8 is as follows : The Imperial Government of Japan and the Imperial Gdvernment of Russia, having resolved by united efforts to maintain permanent peace in the Far East, have agreed to the following: ARTICLE I Japan will not be a party to any agreement or political combination directed against Russia. Russia will not be a party to any agreement or political combination directed against Japan. ARTICLE II In case the territorial rights or special inter- ests in the Far East of one of the contracting parties recognized by the other contracting party are menaced, Japan and Russia will con- fer on the measures to be taken in view of the support or co-operation necessary for the pro- tection and the defense of these rights and interests. In faith thereof the undersigned, duly author- ized by their respective governments, have signed this Convention and thereto affixed their seals. Done at Petrograd, the third day of the seventh month of the fifth year of Taisho, cor- responding to the 3d of July (20th June), 1916. Morono. SAZONOFF. We are informed by responsible Japanese in this country that the following arrange- ment has been tentatively agreed upon, the final details to be adjusted within a few weeks, when the Japanese delegates, Prince Kanin and Dr. Adachi, arrive at Petrograd : First, a grant to Japan of the control of the Eastern Chinese Railway between Chang- chun and the Sungari River. Japan had asked for the railway concession from Chang- chun to Harbin. The Sungari River is just about half-way between those two points. The tentative price which Japan is to pay for this concession is $7,000,000. Second, Japan is to have a share with Russia in the naviga- tion rights of the Sungari River. Third, freedom of trade, residence, and travel in

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10 THE OUTLOOK Siberia, Mongolia, and Manchuria to be enjoyed equally by Japanese and Russians. Fourth, Japan to furnish munitions to Russia when to do so does not interfere with her own plans for defense. All these concessions and the considera- tions to be paid for each are to be threshed out in Petrograd when the Japanese dele- gates arrive there. MOTIVES FOR THE TREATY So much for the little that we know of the actual arrangement between the two great Powers who were at war with each other only eleven years ago. When it comes to considering the conditions which have made such a treaty desirable for both Russia and Japan, we are on more solid ground. The desire of both Japan and Russia to keep the influence of any third Power at a minimum in China has been a principal factor in the arrangement of the treaty. Russia’s desire to be protected by a strong ally in her rear while she is facing embattled Germany has been matched by Japan’s desire to have the support of Russia for Japanese policies toward China. But, while military motives have been strong in bringing the two nations together, the entente has been mainly brought about by commercial factors. Japan’s trade with Russia has increased enormously since the beginning of the war. As Mr. Alexander Znamiecki, Russian expert of the National City Bank of New York, has recently said to a representative of The Outlook, “Two very important factors in the Russian- Japanese rapprochement are Russia’s need of foreign markets for her foodstuffs, raw materials, and half-manufactures, and again the value for the growing Japanese industries of the enormous neighboring Russian mar- ket.” In this connection an article in the influential Russian newspaper ‘ Novoe Vremya” recently said: ‘Japanese mer- chants, adapting their merchandise to the demands of the Russian traders, are study- ing the Russian household in every detail. A few days ago, for instance, some boots appeared on sale, of Russian shape, for the use of the populace, accompanied by a bottle of shoe polish.”’ As to the prediction that the Russo- Japanese alliance means the end of the Anglo- Japanese alliance it can only be said that there is no proof that Russia and Japan are at present aiming at such a consummation. 6 September On the other hand, ample reason for the agreement between Russia and Japan is found in the desire of both to be secure from the Far Eastern ambitions of any third Power and in the manifest political and economic advantage which the alliance offers to both Powers in present world conditions. THE CHURCH IN MEXICO Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was the scene of the conferences which ended the Russo-Japanese War, has been assured of additional historical fame through its selection ‘as the meeting-place for the members of the joint American-Mexican Commission ap- pointed to discuss the difficulties between the two countries. By the time this issue of The Outlook reaches our readers the date of the first formal conference will probably have been decided at a preliminary meeting in New York City. Portraits of the six com- missioners appear elsewhere in this issue. The greatest interest in the conferences lies in the possibility that they will be marked by a discussion of more fundamental questions than the withdrawal of our soldiers from Mexico and the patrolling of the border. Cer- tainly it is to be hoped that the deeper ques- tions of the economic and agrarian reconstruc- tion of Mexico will be discussed, as well as the future status of the schools and churches in that country. The religious question in Mexico has been a source of friction throughout the history of that country, and a careful and sane diScus- sion of it by the Commission is to be desired. That this will be accomplished is the more probable in view of the fact that the leading Mexican member of the Commission, Sefior Luis Cabrera, has had a powerful hand in the formation of Carranza’s policy towards the Church. Sefior Cabrera has recently published a pamphlet on this subject which is a highly interesting contribution. In de- fending the Constitutionalists from charges of injustice towards the Church Seftor Cabrera says: ‘ We Constitutionalists are Catholics, the Villistas are Catholics, the Zapatistas are Catholics. Ninety-nine per cent of the Mexi- can population is Catholic, and therefore the Constitutionalist party could not in the pres- ent struggle attempt to deprive the Catholics, who form the totality of the Mexican people, of their right to profess their religion or of their right to take part in political questions.” He goes on to say that the aim of the Con-

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we eo Ft © 1916 THE stitutionalist Government toward the Catholic Church has been merely “to enforce the strict observance of the Jaws known as laws of the Reform .. . because they form an integral part of the Mexican Constitution, ... which [laws] up to the present time have been disregarded.” These laws provide for the separation of the Church and State, the incapacity of the Church to possess landed property, and the abolition of convents. In gist, the aim of the Constitutionalists in enforcing these laws has been to keep the Church out of temporal affairs, in which it has often wielded a most unwholesome influence in Mexico in the past. We Americans who also believe in freedom of worship and in the absence of all Church power in temporal affairs. must sympathize with the Mexicans in so far as they pursue these aims. We ought to congratulate the Catholics of the United States, therefore, for going on record at their recent convention in New York City as demanding in Mexico only “liberty of conscience and freedom of wor- ship as they exist in our United States.” If the Catholics of Mexico want only what the Catholics of the United States profess to want for them, they are asking for only what the Constitutionalists profess to be willing to give them. Any continuance of friction over the religious question in Mexico would mean, therefore, that either the Church authorities or the Constitutionalist leaders are insincere. And if either party should prove to be insin- cere, that party can expect to be condemned by the public opinion of the United States. Unfortunately, there is only too much evi- dence of outrages and injustices committed against Catholics in Mexico, but Sefior Ca- brera says that these are the deeds not of Constitutionalists but of bandits, who have sprung up from the disorganized condition. But he adds that some Catholics in Mexico have so conducted themselves as to produce exasperation and disorder. All this makes it all the more clear that the Church in Mexico should be one of the subjects of considera- _tion by the Commission. A GREAT FRENCH PAINTER To those who are prone to think of Corot, the greatest figure of the Barbizon school, which has reflected such glory on French art, as ‘“‘an ancient ”’ it will be a surprise to learn that one of his colleagues and intimate per- sonal friends lived until only last week. Corot, who was affectionately known by WEEK ll his fellow-artists as ‘ Papa” Corot, died forty years ago, in his eightieth year. His friend and associate, Henri Harpignies, has just died, in his ninety-eighth year. Har- pignies was more than twenty years younger than Corot, but the older man and the younger man were thrown together in the Barbizon colony, and the work of Harpignies shows the influence of that relationship. Corot and Harpignies made a journey to- gether into Italy in 1860. At that time Corot was sixty-four years old and Harpignies about forty. It is easy to imagine how strong must have been the art sympathy be- tween these two in order to bridge the dis- parity of their ages in such a journey to the land in which the art of painting, as we mod- erns understand it, had its birth. The effect of that journey was immediate on Harpignies, for on his return he scored his first great success in the Paris Salon. The group of painters who lived in the little village of Barbizon, near Paris, and who gave birth to what is now known as the Bar- bizon school of painting, were rebels against the sentimental, subjective thecries which then dominated French art. They aban- doned studio compositions, garlands of roses, shepherds and shepherdesses of the Corydon and Phyllis type, and went directly to nature for their inspiration. Rousseau found his in trees ; Corot his in gentle landscapes suffused with light; Frangois Millet found his in the work and family life of the French peasant. The sufferings and privations which this group of disciples of a new art endured are most interestingly exemplified in the life of Millet, who had for most of his career the greatest difficulty in keeping soul and body together. The story is told of Corot— whether it is apocryphal or not we do not know—that when he sold one of his pictures at what seemed to him and his friends to be a most generous price (but which was, in reality, trifling compared with the immense sums that his paintings command to-day), and when he was congratulated on this suc- cess by a colleague, he replied, whimsically : “ Well, I am not sure. It makes the collec- tion of Papa Corot incomplete !” Harpignies was the last survivor of this great band of artists, but it is comparatively recently that his pictures have come to be appreciated at their full value in this coun- try, for his name and work have been over- shadowed by the greater fame of his Barbi- zon colleagues. Harpignies has been espe-

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12 THE OUTLOOK cially admired by artists and connoisseurs for the vigor and beauty of his water-colors. The announcement of his death recalls once more the incalculable debt which the world owes to modern French art. WILLIAM HAYES WARD The death last week of Dr. William Hayes Ward, in his eighty-second year, at his home in Maine, ends a long career of usefulness and accomplishment. Dr. Ward was eminent as scholar, as editor, and as a leader of thought. His connection with the “ Inde- pendent ” extended for forty-eight years, and his influence as an editorial writer and con- troller was always in favor of that which was liberal, progressive, and humane, whether in the realm of religion or social progress. Per- sonally he was a man of marked kindliness and sincerity. Dr. Ward was graduated from Amherst in 1856, and from the Andover Theological Seminary in 1859. He held several honor- ary degrees. A short period of work as pastor in Kansas and as a teacher in Beloit College and elsewhere was followed in 1868 by his entrance into editorial work with the ‘* Independent.’”’ For the last three years he had been honorary editor. As a scholar, and especially as an arche- ologist, Dr. Ward was everywhere recognized as of high rank. His best-known practical work in this field was in connection with the Wolfe Babylonian Expedition of 1884. As a writer on Oriental antiquities and art he put forth many articles and books, and he had the delightful faculty of talking on subjects before an audience with picturesque and almost dramatic effect. He lectured on As- syriology at Yale, was for a time President of the American Oriental Society, had been a trustee of Amherst College, and was active in the American Bible Society and the American Missionary Society. ARCHBISHOP SPALDING The death of Archbishop John Lancaster Spalding, of the Roman Catholic Church, will recall to the general public the very great service rendered by Archbishop Spalding as a member of the Anthracite Commission, which brought together the coal-miners and the coal-owners after the great strike of 1902. Bishop Spalding, as he then was, was selected by President Roosevelt to serve on that Commission, primarily because of his interest in all labor questions and his special 6 September knowledge of such subjects, but probably also because of the great power and influ- ence of his name among those miners who were of his faith. His appointment was accepted as an eminently desirable one by the public at large, and the parties to the dis- pute welcomed it without exception. There is no question that his efforts and personality had great influence in bringing about a satis- factory solution of that difficult problem. As priest and prelate Archbishop Spalding was honored and beloved. Pope Pius X, at the time of the Archbishop’s retirement from active work because of failing health some eight years ago, said of him: ‘“ Few bishops had so great an influence on the life of the people, even outside of religion and outside of the Catholic denomination, as had Bishop Spalding.’”’ He was consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, in 1877, and on his retirement because of ill health thirty- one years later was created titular Archbishop of Scyphopolis. In the earlier part of his career Dr. Spalding was, at his own request, assigned to a parish of Negroes in Louisville, Kentucky, and by his own efforts secured for his colored parishioners a church and garish house. His uplifting work among the Saeiaie at this period was notable and unusual. Archbishop Spalding wrote much upon religious, social, and educational topics, and was the author of several books. He died at the age of seventy-seven. It is interesting to read that he was a descendant of one of the English colonists who first came to Mary- land, and that his family in England‘ were noted for having preserved their allegiance ° to the Catholic faith all through the days troublous to Catholics of the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth. THE SISAL HEMP MONOPOLY We reported last week the Congressional investigation into the alleged Mexican monop- oly of sisal hemp and the somewhat mysteri- ous failure of the Congressional investigating committee, which held its hearings in Febru- ary and April last, to make any report. The Committee of the Senate which has this mat- ter in charge, and which consists of Senator Ransdell, of Louisiana, Senator Gronna, of North Dakota, and Senator Wadsworth, of New York, has made the following statement : A report on our investigations of the sisal hemp industry and its principal manufactured product, binder twine, has been delayed by a variety of causes which are unnecessary to et i ee i ak ee oe (| ae

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or VS = Pry OO OOD 1916 THE WEEK 13 enumerate. Since our hearings closed about four months ago there has been an increase in the price of sisal of from 754 cents per pound at New York to 103% cents—a rise of 2% cents per pound, or over thirty-six per cent. This very material and unexpected increase in the price of a commodity which is so essen- tial to the welfare of the American farmer as sisal impresses the Committee with. the neces- sity of having additional information before rendering any decision. We have therefore asked the Federal Trade Commission to ascer- tain the facts on several points relating to sisal and its substitutes; and have also asked the Secretary of State to approach the Mexican Government with the request to investigate the situation and see if some relief cannot be ob- tained for the users of sisal in this country. We are glad that the Committee has so far taken the public into its confidence. But is it not fair to raise the question whether this brief report may not confirm the feeling which has been expressed by the sisal hemp importers in this country that the Washington Administration desires to hold this whole controversy in abeyance until after elec- tion? The Senatorial Committee says that it is confronted ‘“ with the necessity of having additional information before rendering any decision.” Why could it not have sought this information last April, or have approached the Federal Trade Commission last April, or have asked the Secretary of State to confer with the Mexican Government last April ? We think the importers of sisal have a just basis for their criticism that the Administra- tion has been dilatory in this matter. The original complaints were laid before the Gov- ernment in December, 1915. THE RUSSIAN IMMIGRANT AND HIS SAVINGS The Russian Government has recently established here a virtual extension of the Government savings bank system in Russia in order to permit Russians in this country to make a direct deposit of their savings without resorting to the somewhat tedious and uncer- tain method of sending their money home through the foreign exchange machinery of private banks. At the Russian Consulates in New York City, Chicago, and Pittsburgh a Russian may now turn in his savings in return for a temporary receipt, which in turn is followed by a Government savings bank book sent on from Russia. There is no doubt that one motive of the Russian Government in establishing this con- venience for its subjects in America has been the desire to attract to Russia more gold to meet the exigencies of the war. ‘This is indicated by the fact that the rate of interest paid by the Government savings banks has been raised as an inducement for Russians in America to send home their savings. Another motive has probably been the hope of increasing the exchange value of the ruble by the deposit of a large quantity of gold to Russia’s credit in this country. But certainly a third motive has been to benefit the Russian subjects in this country. Such Russians, in attempting to send money home, have often been cheated by unscrupu- lous bankers who have arbitrarily raised the rate of exchange and used other unfair means to “‘do”’ the ignorant immigrant here. The great Mother Russia now proposes to protect her subjects, and incidentally to take to herself the strength which their massed savings constitute. No fair-minded person ought to object to this. Only the extreme protectionist main- tains that it is wrong for foreign laborers to send home what they save from their wages. No one objects because the Russian dealer in furs or minerals here sends home the product of his sales. And the Russian laborer is as much entitled to do as he pleases with the money which is the price of his labor as is the Russian merchant to dis- pose as he pleases of the money which is the price of his furs or minerals. THE LOSS OF THE MEMPHIS The cruiser Memphis, stationed in the harbor of Santo Domingo City, on Au- gust 29 was driven ashore by sudden and unexpected seas. In the first despatch to the Navy Department from Rear-Admiral Pond the loss of this cruiser is thus described : Memphis driven ashore by heavy sea, Santo Domingo City, west of lighthouse, at 4:30 P.M. She is lying close under bluff, has lines ashore, and is getting crew off. Heavy sea came up suddenly and ship was unable to get up steam in time to save herself. Twenty men of .iberty party drowned on way back to ship. Castine (gunboat) dragged close in, but did not strike, and got out to sea. Memphis will be total loss. In a later despatch from Admiral Pond further details of the disaster are given. It appears that when the storm struck the cruiser Memphis her main steam line burst,

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14 THE OUTLOOK killing one enlisted man and injuring two officers and seventy-seven members of her crew. Several other members of the crew are reported missing in addition to those lost from the liberty party. ‘The rest of the crew were all taken from the ship, the cap- tain of the Memphis being the last to leave. ‘The Memphis is better known to the pub- lic as the cruiser Tennessee. The Tennessee was the ship which was sent to Europe to bring relief to Americans stranded by the outbreak of the war. THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S MAINE SPEECH Mr. Roosevelt’s Maine speech, delivered at Lewiston on August 31, is an appeal to the chivalry and courage of the American people. We hope it will inspire with the wisdom of courage the rather sluggish Re- publican Campaign Committee. It strikes with characteristic vigor the same note which Mr. Root struck in his speech last February before the New York State Republican Con- vention, and which Mr. Bacon struck in his statement to the voters of New York State, reported in last week’s Outlook. If this campaign for a more courageous public pol- icy is to be won at all, it must be won by the wisdom of courage, not by that of prudence. No campaign in such a crisis as the present can arouse an enthusiasm of support which does not provoke an enthusiasm of hostility. Mr. Roosevelt indicts the Democratic poli- cies and condemns the Democratic campaign slogans. “ Mr. Wilson has kept us out of war.” Has he? ‘A greater number of Americans have been killed by Mexicans during these years, when we are officially informed that we have been at peace with them, than were killed by the Spaniards during our entire war with Spain. Moreover, when the war with Spain was through, it was through. But peace still continues to rage as furiously as ever in Mexico.” Moreover, ‘“‘ during these three years of Mr. Wilson’s ‘peace’ the Mexicans themselves have been butchered by their own bandits steadily and without intermission ; and Mexican women and chil- dren have died by thousands—probably by scores of thousands—of starvation, and of the diseases incident to starvation.” ‘* Safety first.” Yes. But whose safety ? That of the protector or that of those whom 6 September he is sworn to protect? Mr. Roosevelt’s illustration will appeal to others than sea- faring folk : I can illustrate what I mean about the use and abuse of the word safety by the life-saving service. This is a service especially designed to secure greater safety for ships’ crews, and generally for persons whose lives are imperiled on the water. It is a service to secure safety. But the safety is secured only because some brave men are willing to risk their own lives in order to save other lives. They do not put “safety first” as far as they themselves are con- cerned. If they did, no lifeboat would ever be launched from a life-saving station. But the men on asinking ship who crowd into the life- boats ahead of the women and children do put “safety first.” I willsay this for them, however: When they get ashore, they do not wear buttons to commemorate the feat—as some of our op- ponents in the present campaign do. Mr. Roosevelt does not outline the future policy of the Republican party; but he sug- gests what would have been its policy during the last four years. A Hughes Administra- tion would not have recognized in our citi- zenship any dual allegiance. It would have prepared itself with strength <‘ so as to guar- antee our own safety, and also to treat every foreign nation, in any given crisis, as its conduct in that crisis demands.” It would couple universal suffrage with “a system of universal obligatory military training in time of peace, and in time of war universal service in whatever capacity the man or woman shall be judged most fit to serve the com- monwealth.” It would either have recog- nized Huerta as the ed facto President of Mexico, and held him responsible to protect life and property, or it would have gone into Mexico with whatever force was necessary for their protection. It would not have sent the fleet to Vera Cruz unless its presence was required to protect Americans, and it would not have recalled the fleet until Amer- icans were protected. It would not have allowed munitions of war to be sent into Mexico with which to carry on a wholesale campaign of anarchy andmassacre. It would not have recognized Carranza as the head of a de facto government, and at the same time indicted him, as President Wilson’s Secretary of State in an official statement indicted him on June 20 last, as responsible for anarchy, plunder, and murder in Mexico and unpro- voked raids upon Americans in Texas. Nor would a Republican administration have stood hesitant and afraid while every

i ee a ee el, el ee i ae

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1916 principle of international law and every right of neutral and non-combatant were violated m land and at sea by tne German policy of terrorism. It would have protested against the invasion of Belgium, against the murder of Miss Cavell and Captain Fryatt, against the torpedoing of merchant vessels and the dropping of bombs on unfortified cities and peaceful women and children. It would have done whatever was necessary to emphasize the condemnation of this unwarlike degrada- tion of war. It would have invited the other neutral nations to join it in such condemna- tion. ‘ America could and should have put itself at the head of all the neutral nations, by its example if not by direct diplomatic agree- ments, in demanding that the war should be conducted in accordance with the usage of civilized nations, that international law should be observed, that the rights of neutrals and non-combatants should be respected. If this spirit had animated our Administration, there would probably have been no invasion of Belgium, no fears of a like fate to terrorize other smaller nations, no torpedoing of mer- chant vessels, no bombarding of churches and hospitals, no massacring of women and children, no murder of Miss Cavell and Cap- tain Fryatt, no attempted extermination of the Armenians.” What the Republican party will do next March, if it is in power, of course, Mr. Roosevelt does not say. He cannot say. No one can say. For no one can tell what will be the world conditions and what the American duties in March, 1917. But he can and does say in what spirit he believes the Nation ought to meet the issues as they arise, and why he believes that Mr. Hughes can meet those issues in that spirit. ‘ We cannot undo what has been done. But we can repudiate what has been done. We can regain our own self-respect and the respect of other nations for this country. We can put in power an administration which will throughout its term of power protect our own citizens and live up to our National obliga- tions.” And he sees in “Mr. Hughes’s rugged and uncompromising straightforward- ness of character and action in every office he has held” the guarantee of such an administration. A correspondent in the New York ‘“ Trib- une” the other day quoted a friend of his as saying that he would rather be a living coward than a dead hero. This cynical re- mark puts before the American people the THE RAILWAY PROBLEM ; 15 real issue of the day. Do they prefer Bel- gium or Greece? Do they believe that a life saved by cowardice is worth saving? Do they put safety first or duty first? For ourselves, we think that the man who would rather be a living coward than a dead hero is dead already and does not know it. He is a peri- patetic corpse, and the sooner he is buried the better for the world. We do not believe that he represents the spirit of America. We believe there is in this Nation a conscience and a courage which will respond to such words as those of Mr. Roosevelt’s Maine speech. If the Republican Campaign Com- mittee will put as clearly and vigorously before the American people as he has done the issue between the courageous fulfillment and the cowardly evasion of the Nation’s duty, we cannot doubt what the answer of the people will be. It will be, as Mr. Roosevelt points out, the same which they have always given to the cry, ‘ Safety first ;” the answer which they gave to the Tories in 1776, to the compromisers in 1860, and to the anti- imperialists in 1900. THE RAILWAY PROBLEM As we go to press Congress is consider- ing the President’s plan, recorded on another page, for dealing with the threatened railway strike. Both the railway trade unions and the railway executives are apparently of the opinion that the issue can now be settled only by war. The railway executives assert that the men are acting in the spirit of highwaymen who threaten a “‘ hold-up.” Whether it is better for the Nation to endure the humiliation of yield- ing to a threatened hold-up or to endure the tragical consequences which the abandonment of its great highways for a season would involve is a question I need not here dis- cuss, since that question will have been deter- mined by Congress, the custodian of the Nation’s honor and welfare, before this issue of The Outlook can reach its readers. I here simply repeat certain fundamental prin- ciples which I believe should govern the Nation in dealing with its railway problem, the principles often affirmed in these pages in times past. The Outlook has long urged the adoption of eight hours as the standard for a day’s work in mines, factories, railways, and all other forms of organized labor. And I

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16 THE OUTLOOK believe that the railway managers might well have accepted the eight-hour day as the standard and trusted to the American people, under the President’s lead, to provide for the inevitable expense by permitting an increase in freight and passenger rates. Neverthe- less, I believe that the country will hold the labor unions, and especially their four chiefs— Messrs. A. B. Garretson, W. S. Stone, W. G. Lee, and W. S. Carter—responsible for the almost tragical results of a general rail- way strike, if one takes place. ‘The world holds Austria and Germany responsible for the present world war, not because it is con- vinced that the Servian Government had no responsibility for the assassination of the Austrian Crown Prince, but because Servia proposed to leave the question of her guilt to an impartial tribunal, a proposal urged upon Austria and Germany by Italy, France, England, and Russia, and by Austria and Ger- many refused. The country will hold the railway unions responsible for the railway strike, if there is one, not because the people are convinced that an eight-hour standard is either unjust or impracticable, but because they deem it is unjust for the railway unions to refuse to submit the justice and practica- bility of an eight-hour standard to the decis- ion of a disinterested and impartial trib- unal. And I hoped that the railway managers would accede to the eight-hour day because I think it is often wiser to submit to an unjust demand than to become the innocent means of inflicting a greater injustice upon others. Some forty or fifty years ago Senator Booth, of California (the grandfather, I be- lieve, of Booth Tarkington), put the railway problem in a sentence: Formerly the means of transportation were poor, but the high- ways were public property; now the means of transportation are admirable, but the high- ways are private property. The railway cor- porations acted on the assumption that the highways were private property which they could control as they pleased. They deter- mined what wages they would pay and what services they would require, and told the workers to accept the terms or leave the em- ployment. Now the conditions are reversed. The railway employees, apparently, have de- termined for what hours and wages they are willing to work, and they say to the owners : You can accept our terms or let your prop- erty stand idle. The one attitude is as unjust as the other. 6 September Formerly the owners recognized no right in the employees to be consulted as to hours and wages ; now the employees recognize no right in the employers to be consulted ; and neither then nor now does either party recog- nize any right of the public to be consulted. It is true that both sides have acceded to the President’s request and consented to con- fer with him. But he was not elected to settle such a controversy ; he has no other legal power in the premises than any other private citizen, and there is no reason to suppose that he possesses the necessary in- formation or the necessary qualifications to represent the public in such an issue between the owners and the employees. If the apparently official figures reported in the daily papers can be trusted, the direct own- ers of the railways are one and a half times as many as the striking employees ; those who are indirectly interested in the property are probably at least as many more; and the entire population, with practically not an ex- ception, are vitally interested in keeping the railways in operation. Under these circum- stances, it is evident that it is neither just nor democratic to allow either the 400,000 strik- ing employees or the 600,000 owners to decide the question. It is clear that both justice and democratic principles require that we should find some method by which the ques- tion, On what terms and conditions shall the railways be operated? can be determined by a body in which owners, employees, and general public all have a representative. The Outlook is very much in sympathy with the workers’ demand for an eight-hour standard day. It is prepared to advocate making it the standard day by legislative enactment, and providing for whatever addi- tional cost that change makes unavoidable by increased freight and passenger charges. But it is neither just nor democratic for the railway employees, or a portion of them—for only a portion of them are in the four railway unions—to determine how many hours the employees should work, and then say to the Nation, You must accept our decision, or get along without any railways. ‘That is the worst kind of bureaucratic government. The European war has put an end to all hope of securing international peace by vol- untary arbitration. Leading statesmen both in Europe and in this country are seriously considering the organization of an interna tional league to enforce upon any warlike nation the submission of its demands to a om saa & o> oo ee Le a a ee le lll rl

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1916 permanent international tribunal. ‘The threat of a great railway war, even if a temporary peace is patched up, should lead American statesmen to study how they may establish an industrial court to which the claims of con- tending parties can be submitted and the decisions of which can be enforced as the decisions of other courts are enforced. The first step—it might prove the final step— we outlined in The Outlook of August 23. This would be the organization of a court whose duty it would be to familiarize itself with industrial conditions, and whose right it would be, on the complaint of any party or without waiting for a complaint, to investi- gate industrial conditions in any corporation on whose peaceful and efficient operation the welfare of the community depends. ‘To this court should be given power to subpoena and examine witnesses and require the pro- duction of books and papers and to prepare and publish the results of its investigation with its judgment thereon. It is possible that such official publication would create a public opinion sufficient to compel acquiescence in its conclusions. When the Supreme Court of the United States decided that an income tax was Constitutional, the citizens began preparations to pay the tax; when the Su- preme Court changed its mind and decided that the income tax was unconstitutional, the citizens stopped paying the tax, and those who had paid received their money back. In this’ country, for the great mass of citizens, public opinion is all the power needed to enforce law. If in the case of railways and other public service corporations public opinion should not be sufficient, the next step should be taken ; the decision of the court should be enforced by the full power of the Nation. It would be easy to enforce the decisions of such a tri- bunal on the corporation, for it could be put into the hands of a receiver exactly as it is put into the hands of a receiver if it refuses or fails to pay its debts. But how, it is asked, could the decisions of such a tribunal be .enforced against a labor union? I reply, by the same process by which the ful- fillment of other contracts is enforced in courts of law. Freedom of contract does not mean that parties are free to keep or to annul their con- tracts as they please. It simply means that they are free to make or not make them. But when they are made they must be kept. A citizen is free to enlist in the navy or THE RAILWAY PROBLEM 17 refuse. There is no press gang in America. But if he enlists and deserts in time of peace, he is imprisoned; if he deserts in time of war, he is liable to be shot. A man may marry or not marry, as he will; but if he marries he cannot. desert his wife when he gets tired of her. The law will compel him to fulfill his contract and give her support, and if he refuses to fulfill his contract and give her support the law will put him in prison. Nor is he left free to decide what support he will give her; the court decides that for him. If a contractor contracts to build a road or put up a building, he cannot, when the work is half done, abandon it be- cause it does not pay; the court will mulct him in damages if he fails to fulfill his con- tract, and in some cases the court will require specific performance of the contract and punish with fine or imprisonment the failure to perform it. Collective bargaining has in organized labor taken the place of individual bargaining. A few leaders acting for thou- sands of workingmen agree for them on what terms the workingmen will do their work. It would be quite in accordance with the princi- ples of Anglo-Saxon justice that those who make such a bargain should be compelled to see it fulfilled, and that if they enter into a conspiracy to prevent the fulfillment of the bargain they should be regarded as criminals and treated accordingly. It would be grossly unjust to prevent or punish a strike if workingmen were left with- out any other means of redress for their wrongs ; but it would not be unjust to pre- vent or punish a strike if an impartial tribunal were established to which they could appeal for justice and which would be clothed with power to compel justice to be done to them. It would be intolerable to give the railway managers autocratic power to determine whether or not they will operate their rail- ways. It is equally intolerable to give that autocratic power to the railway employees. The railways are the public highways of the Nation, the railway managers and the rail- way employees are alike the servants of the Nation, and it is for the Nation to determine by a properly constituted tribunal on what terms and conditions the railways shall be run. I hope that before this issue of The Outlook reaches its readers Congress will have worked out some scheme by which the present threatened railway war may be avoided. Even if that is done, it will still remain the duty of the American people to

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18 THE OUTLOOK work out some scheme by which the peril of such a railway war may be prevented in the future. I see but two alternatives to the plan above outlined : 1. Compulsory profit-sharing ; a law regu- lating the maximum dividend a railway may pay to the owners; a law regulating through a commission the hours and conditions of labor ; and a law compelling a division be- tween the owners and the employees of all profits above a reasonable dividend and a reasonable wage. 2. Government ownership and operation. LyMAN ABBOTT. AN ATTACK ON THE MOON The Outlook in its issue of August 16 published an article on ‘‘ The Moon and the High Cost of Living” from the pen of Mr. Lewis Edwin Theiss. In this article Mr. Theiss attempted to discuss with good-na- tured concern the effect of superstition upon American farming. Apparently many of our readers have curi- ously misinterpreted his article as an attack upon American farming in general and upon the farmers of Pennsylvania in particular. We can answer for Mr. Theiss that nothing was further from his mind nor from the minds of the editors of The Outlook when they published his discourse upon the unregener- ate moon. The criticisms of Mr. Theiss’s article which have come to us can be divided perhaps into three classes. The authors of many of these letters seem to resent Mr. Theiss’s comments as those of the “ superior”’ city man ventur- ing in unfamiliar fields ; others seem to be of the impression that the superior country folk have been frankly pulling Mr. Theiss’s urban legs, doling out to him tales of super- stitious beliefs in a laudable attempt to hoax a newcomer in things agricultural. Still a third class writes in the defense of the un- attacked farmer by declaring that the same kind of superstitions of which Mr. Theiss complains can be found with as great a fre- quency along Broadway as in the byways of the back country. Now the city man who ventures upon a farm is quite as fair game for satire and fun as any other human being who invades a new field of industry. The city man who, when informed that his country neighbor had 6 September bought two expensive new silos, expressed a fervent hope that they would not die, was only one of a legion of well-intentioned blunderers in country districts. The farmer who in- stinctively resents advice from such outsiders can cite many instances to justify his thought and attitude. We confess that, despite all this, we are still persuaded that Mr. Theiss is only too accurate in his belief concerning the preva- lence of superstition upon the farm. We say this without any effort to-contradict those of our correspondents who contend that an equal amount of superstition is prevalent in our towns and cities. And it is extremely probable that the superstitions, both urban and rural, which have endured for at least two thousand years, through all the varying changes of government and religion that have taken place in that interval, will continue to dwell in our land long after Mr. Theiss and his critics have passed beyond the realm of journalistic controversy. Mr. Theiss in his article refers to those who have been unable or unwilling to profit by the so-called new science of agriculture as men with “ granitic mind.” He tells how these men of “granitic mind” borrow their ideas from their fathers, and how these ideas have in each generation set as hard as plaster of paris. We wonder whether in writing this Mr. Theiss realized that this same problem of the ancestral incubus confronted the farm- ers of the Roman Empire as directly as it does our American citizens to-day. *“«T observe a practice which I learned from my father,’ said Agrasius, ‘not only never to shear my sheep, but not even to have my own hair cut, on the decrease of the moon, for fear that I might become bald.’ ” So speaks a character in Varro’s “ Rerum Rusticarum.” We are quoting from “A Virginia Farmer’s ” delightful volume on ** Roman Farm Management ’’—an annotated translation of the agricultural treatises of Cato and of Varro. Now Varro in much of his advice concerning farming is a modern of moderns. In the preparation of seed-beds and the application of the practice of ‘“‘ green manuring ” he could teach much to many of our present-day farmers ; but, like the men of whom Mr. Theiss has complained, he also was subject to the delusions of moon power. He wrote (we are still quoting from the transla- tion by ‘“ A Virginia Farmer ”’): ‘“ The lunar seasons also must be considered. ‘They are divided into two terms, that from the new

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1916 moon to the full, and that from the full moon to the new moon. .. . Some agricultural operations may be undertaken with more ad- vantage during the increase of the moon, others during the decrease, as, for example, the harvest or cutting of wood.” In com- menting upon this passage, ‘‘A Virginia Farmer ” writes : The rural confidence in the influence of the moon upon the life of a farm still persists vigorously ; thus, as Pliny counseled that one wean a colt only when the moon is on the wane, so it will be found that the moon is consulted before a colt is weaned on most American farms to-day; for that may be safely done, says the rural oracle, only when the moon’s sign, as given in the almanack, corresponds with a part of the almanack’s “ moon’s man” or “anato- mie ” at or below the knees, z. ¢., when the moon is in one or the other of the signs Pisces, Capri- cornus, or Aquarius; but never at a time of day when the moon is in its “ Southing.” Surely this is unprejudiced testimony from a writer whose every word betrays a scholarly familiarity with both the theory and the prac- tice of farming. There is another superstition, to desert the moon for a minute, as ancient in lineage as any having reference to the progress of Diana, which Mr. Theiss might have cited in his indictment of the granitic mind. We should not be at all surprised to learn that a belief in this curious survival tentatively exists even among some readers of The Outlook who have been no nearer the country than their corner grocery store. An instance of its very lively existence has been well de- scribed by John Fiske in his ‘“‘ Myths and Myth-Makers :” An elderly man was moving slowly up and down the road, holding with both hands a forked twig of hazel, shaped like the letter Y inverted. With his palms turned upward, he held in each hand a branch of the twig in such a way that the shank pointed upward; but every few moments, as he halted over a certain spot, the twig would gradually bend downwards until it had assumed the likeness of a Y in its natural position, where it would remain pointing to something in the ground beneath. One by one the bystanders proceeded to try the experi- ment, but with no variation in the result. Something in the ground seemed to fascinate the bit of hazel, for it could not pass over that spot without bending down and pointing to it. My thoughts reverted at once to Jacques Aymar and Dousterswivel, as I perceived that these men were engaged in sorcery. During the long drought more than half the wells in the ‘*HIS SUPERFLUOUS EXCELLENCY” 19 village had become dry, and here was an at- tempt to make good the loss by the aid of the god Thor. These men were seeking water with a divining-rod. We wish it could be said that this modern survival of an ancient lightning myth was the only superstitious remnant adhering to our modern civilization. Until the time comes when it is unnecessary for such excellent agricultural papers as the ‘“ Rural New Yorker” or the ‘“ Progressive Farmer” patiently to explain to some of their readers the folly of farming by the moon, and until our city dwellers cease to shiver at the thought of a broken mirror or of thirteen at table, it will be difficult for any part of our country wholly to free itself from the charge of superstition. Such an educational process as Mr. Theiss asked for in his article on “The Moon and the High Cost of Living ” is the only solution that exists for this dis- tinctly superfluous problem. A discussion of the percentage of superstition among farmers is no more invidious criticism than the dis- cussion of the percentage of farmers having blue eyes and brown hair. We have all sinned together in prolonging these curious survivals of a darker faith and an older time. “HIS SUPERFLUOUS EXCEL- LENCY ” James Bryce in his ‘*‘ American Common- wealth” dubs the American Vice-President ‘His Superfluous Excellency.” Perhaps if the office could be made more useful and less ornamental we would have a less dim memory of some Vice-Presidents and of many candidates for the office. How many of our readers, for instance, can offhand say in what year and with what “running mates” the following gen- tlemen ran for Vice-President—they all ran within thirty-six years and on Republican or Democratic tickets: Henry G. Davis, John W. Kern, Nicholas M. Butler, Arthur Sewall, Whitelaw Reid, W. H. English, John A. Logan ? Before the political conventions of this summer The Outlook, under the title ‘‘ Hit or Miss,” gently pointed out that it might be worth while to spend a little time, thought, and care in selecting candidates for the Vice- Presidency, and that it was unwise for a party to stake its political all on the life of one man. This editorial adjuration had just about as

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20 THE OUTLOOK much influence as we expected it to have— none. The conventions may have selected the best “‘ timber ”’ possible, but it is certain that they neither talked nor struggled much over the job. And, with all possible respect for the excellent personal character of the two candidates and hope as to their latent abilities, it is safe to say that only a corporal’s guard would vote for either as President. And yet five elected Vice-Presidents have served as President, and more doubtless will so serve. A newspaper paragrapher, commenting on our remark that the Vice-Presidency is not a joke, says that some Vice-Presidents have made itso. Rather, one feels, the reason lies in the American happy-go-lucky way of looking at things not of instant importance, together with the fact that, as a Vice-President rarely has anything to do except to preside with dig- nity over the urbane Senate, he is usually even more out of the Presidential running when he has served his term than he was before. It has been proposed to make the Vice-Presi- dent a member of the Cabinet or an official representative of the Administration in Con- THE RAILWAY CONTROVERSY : PROGRESS EFORE these lines can reach our read- B ers the country will either be plunged into what we believe will prove to be nearly as serious a condition as that of civil war, or President Wilson will have succeeded in averting that war by persuading the contend- ing parties to yield as to some of their demands and to submit others to arbitration. We re- ported last week how this controversy arose. For at least a year the four great railway trade unions—namely, the engineers, the fire- men, the trainmen and brakemen, and the conductors—have been making demands upon the railway managers for certain increases of pay and certain modifications of conditions of work. The two parties could not agree, and the railway unions threatened to strike. The railway unions are now stronger than they have ever before been in their existence. Formerly the. unions acted -independently although sympathetically in labor controver- sies. ‘The sympathetic affiliation of the four groups of wage-earners employed in oper- ating trains has now been changed into an ‘ gress. Perhaps college debating societies might take up the important question, How shall we make our Vice-Presidents useful as well as ornamental ? One agreeable echo of our ‘“‘ Hit or Miss ” editorial came all the way from Honolulu. Our Hawaiian contemporary, the ‘‘ Commer- cial Advertiser,” prints a sound and vigorous editorial and historical review of the subject, quoting especially from Bryce’s exposition of the insignificance of the Vice-President as compared with the importance of the Speaker of the lower house. We quote the comment of the Hawaiian paper : The true secret of this difference in place between these two presiding officers, it is ven- tured to suggest, lies in the fact that the ablest men, real leaders, such as Carlisle and Tom Reed and Blaine and Roger Q. Mills, are invariably chosen as Speakers, while neither the political leaders nor the ablest men in the parties are invariably chosen as Vice-Presidents. We heartily indorse the conclusion drawn : “There is no politics in this matter; it is above politics, and should interest every one regardless of his politics.” ITS almost organic union. In a general railway strike to-day all conductors, trainmen, engi- neers, or firemen who are members Of their respective unions, whether they run passen- ger trains or freight trains, will be called out. Many people seem to be of the impression that the strike is simply to be a freight strike. This is a mistake. The leader of one of the unions was quite correct in his facts when he said, as reported, that an effective strike would stop every railway wheel in the country. The President originally proposed, as we reported last week, that-the men be paid upon an eight-hour basis instead of a ten- hour basis, and that the other elements of the discussion be submitted to arbitration. The railway managers declined this proposal, asserting that every question at issue should be submitted to arbitration. The men re- plied that, as they had been at work for one year while asking for improved conditions and increased pay, they were not willing to leave the question of pay on an eight-hour day (Continued on page following illustrations)

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PHOTOGRAPHS FROM INTERNATIONAL FILM SERVICE GENERAL SERRAIL, COMMANDER OF THE ALLIED FORCES IN GREECE General Serrail is seen at the left; at the right is General Vambrakakis of the Greek Army

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COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD ROBERT BACON Banker; U.S. Secretary of State, 1909; Ambassador to France, 1909-1912. Now candidate for Republican nomination for Senator from New York

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THE RAILWAY CONTROVERSY: ITS PROGRESS 29 basis to arbitration, but would compromise by leaving the question of pay for overtime to an investigating board. The managers asserted that even this would involve them in such an enormous expenditure that they could not acquiesce. This phase of the controversy can be best illustrated by the table below. Ten hours now constitute a day’s work, and aman is paid pro rata for overtime. The men demanded that eight hours should consti- tute a day’s work, and that a man should be paid time and a half, or price and a half, as it is called, for overtime. The men point out, with considerable reason, that the effect of this demand for price and a half for over- time would be to reduce their hours of labor. Under the pro rata system of paying for overtime there is no inducement to the rail- way employers to reduce the working hours of the individual. If A is paid $4 for eight hours, he would be paid pro rata $8 for six- teen hours’ work. But at price and a half he would receive $10 for sixteen hours. It would therefore be the policy of the railways to hire two men at $4 each to do the sixteen hours’ labor. Thus more men would have jobs at less cost to the railways in money, and less cost to the men in exhausting hours and conditions of labor. ‘The President pro- posed that eight hours a day should con- stitute a day’s work, and that the men should be paid pra rata for qvertime, leaving the question of time and a half, or price and a half, to arbitration. PRESENT BASIS OF PAY If A is paid $4 per day for 10 hours’ work, For 12 hours he gets $4 plus 2 hours over- time pro rata, or 40c. per hour, which equals $4.80. THE MEN’S DEMANDS A must be paid his $4 for 8 hours’ work, and ‘“ price and a half ”* for overtime. For 12 hours he would get $4 plus 4 hours overtime at 75c. per hour, which equals $7.00. THE PRESIDENT’S PROPOSAL A would be paid $4 for 8 hours and pro rata for overtime, leaving ‘ price anda half ” to arbitration. For 12 hours he would get $4 plus 4 hours overtime at 50c. per hour, which equals $6.00. On his failure to persuade both parties to accept his proposal, the President called Congress together in joint session’ on the afternoon of August 29; and addressed to this joint session a special personal Message, announcing that his mediation had failed, that he had no means of compelling the railways and railway managers to refrain from war, and that he desired power so to compel them. He recommended to Congress six proposals, all to be enacted by statute, as follows : 1. A reorganization and enlargement of the Inter-State Commerce Commission, to give it more power and make it more efficient. 2. The creation of eight hours as the legal day of labor for all railway wage-earners . engaged in the operation of trains in inter- State transportation. 3. The creation through appointment by the President of a small body to observe the operation of this eight-hour law, and to report its actual financial and social effects to Con- gress for subsequent Congressional action. 4. An explicit statement by Congress that it will approve the consideration by the Inter- State Commerce Commission of an increase of freight rates, if such an increase is proved to be necessary to pay the additional cost of an eight-hour day. §. A law establishing compulsory arbitra- tion in industrial disputes, and forbidding strikes or lockouts until the dispute has been submitted ta arbitration under such a Jaw. 6. A law empowering the President, in case of military necessity, to take control of railway property and railway workmen, and operate the railwars by drafting the railway work- men into the military service of the United States. The latter proposal was doubtless sug- gested by the experience of France in its great railway strike in which Minister Briand ordered the trainmen to run the trains as soldiers of the Republic under martial law. The necessity for the suggestion at this time, the President says, is found in the fact that “almost the entire military force of the Nation is stationed upon the Mexican border to guard our territory against hostile raids. This military must, of course, be furnished with supplies and be promptly transported to any other part of the country should need arise.”’ It is hardly necessary to add that as we go to press these suggestions apparently meet with the complete approval of neither Con- gress nor the railway unions nor the railway employers. Such suggestions almost never

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30 THE OUTLOOK do satisfy all parties. The grounds for the President’s course of action in this contro- versy are clearly set forth in the following extract from his special Message to Congress : I unhesitatingly offered the friendly services of the Administration to the railway managers to see to it that justice was done the railroads in the outcome. I felt warranted in assuring them that no obstacle of law would be suffered to stand in the way of their increasing their revenues to meet the expenses resulting from the change so far as the development of their business and of their administrative efficiency did not prove adequate to meet them. The public and the representatives of the public, I felt justified in assuring them, were disposed to nothing but justice in such cases and were will- ing to serve those who served them. The representatives of the brotherhoods accepted the plan, but the representatives of the railroads declined to accept it. In the face of what I cannot but regard as the practical certainty that they will be ultimately obliged to accept the eight-hour day by the concerted action of organized labor, backed by the favor- able judgment of society, the representatives of the railway management have felt justified in declining a peaceful settlement which would engage all the forces of justice, public and pri- vate, on their side to take care of the event. They fear the hostile influence of shippers, who would be opposed to an increase of freight rates (for which, however, of course, the public itself would pay); they apparently feel no con- fidence that the Inter-State Commerce Commis- sion could withstand the objections that would be made. They do not care to rely upon the friendly assurances of the Congress or the Presi- dent. They have thought it best that they should be forced to yield, if they must yield, not by counsel, but by the suffering of the country. While my conferences with them were in progress, and when to all outward ap- pearance those conferences had come to a standstill, the representatives of the brother- hoods suddenly acted and set the strike for September 4. The railway managers based their decision to reject my counsel in this matter upon their con- viction that they must at any cost to themselves or to the country stand firm for the principle of arbitration which the men had rejected. I based my counsel upon the indisputable fact that there was no means of obtaining arbitration. The law supplied none ; earnest efforts at media- tion had failed to influence the men in the Jeast. To stand firm for the principle of arbitration and yet not get arbitration seemed to me futile, and something more than futile, because it involved incalculable distress to the country and consequences in some respects worse than those of war, and that in the midst of peace. I yield to no man in firm adherence, alike of conviction and of purpose, to the principle of arbitration in industrial disputes; but matters have come to a sudden crisis in this particular dispute and the country had been caught un- provided with any practicable means of enforc- ing that conviction in practice (by whose fault we will not now stop to inquire). A situation had to be met whose elements and fixed condi- tions were indisputable. The practical and patriotic course to pursue, as it seemed to me, was to secure immediate peace by conceding the one thing in the demands of the men which society itself and any arbitrators who repre- sented public sentiment were most likely to approve, and immediately lay the foundations for securing arbitration with regard to every- thing else involved. The event has confirmed that judgment. I was seeking to compose the present in order to safeguard the future; for I wished an atmos- phere of peace and friendly co-operation in which to take counsel with the representatives of the Nation with regard to the best means for providing, so far as it might prove possible to provide, against the recurrence of such unhappy situations in the future—the best and most practicable means of securing calm and _ fair arbitration of all industrial disputes in the days to come. This is assuredly the best way of vindicating a principle, namely, having failed to make certain of its observance in the present, to make certain of its observance in the future. We are not among those who ascribe to the President political motives in the position and action which he has taken in this grave crisis. His special Message to Congress is dignified, strong, and discloses an earnest desire on his part to avoid the arbitrament of industrial war. Whatever may be said of the practical wisdom of certain features of his plan, its spirit and general purpose should receive the support of the country.

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COMMISSION GOVERNMENT II—PUBLIC UTILITY REGULATION IN CALIFORNIA BY PAUL A. SINSHEIMER* FINANCIAL EXPERT CALIFORNIA,RAILROAD COMMISSION, AND SPECIAL LECTURER ON PUBLIC UTILITY FINANCE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA OR three decades the largest trans- Fk portation interest of California, the Southern Pacific, controlled as a chat- tel the Railroad Commission which had been created solely for its own regulation. An aroused public sentiment had established this Commission in the Constitution of 1879 to write the epitaph of railway rule. But all it wrote was the feeble record of its own sub- serviency. It is told that one of its early members, rebuked for his frequent calls at the office of the Southern Pacific, replied, indignantly, “And where else, please, should one go to regulate the railway ?” To be sure, where else ? “The State had invoked an inalienable right,” said Andrew Furuseth, the sailor- statesman—* the right to abdicate.” Then came the spectacular campaign of Hiram W. Johnson and his election as Gov- ernor in 1910 upon his emphatic and epi- grammatic promise to “ kick William F. Her- rin and the Southern Pacific out of the gov- ernment of the State.”’ And after election he proceeded so to do with full vigor of foot and fist. A railway that could rule could also serve, and the Governor set about to do some long- neglected regulating. Naturally it was assumed by those most intimately concerned that this would take the form of bitter retaliation. To their surprise, however, the Governor conceived and put into execution a policy of benevolent super- vision which rested upon the premise that regulation could be made beneficial alike to the corporations and the people. Strangely enough, he had been in office but two years when his administration, in consonance with this belief, used the same energies that had thrown the Southern Pacific out of the politics of the State, to preserve, in the public interest, thet same Southern Pacific from dismemberment and consequent commercial ruin. 1 This article should be read in connection with that on railway regulation by Mr. Blewett Lee, of the Illinois Central Railroad, which appeared in The Outlook of last week. It required a statesmanlike discernment to distinguish the lines of political and economic cleavage. But this is one of the attributes which has given the present régime in Cali- fornia its peculiar appeal both to radical and conservative. The Governor revitalized the regulative law ; gave it, in the parlance of the moment, ‘a set of full-grown teeth,”’ and extended its scope to all forms of public utilities—railway, gas, water, telegraph, telephone, electric light and power, steamships, warehouses, wharfs, and pipe lines—a variety to which the abundance of companionship brought a sufficient solace. The measure of the Commission’s author- ity was fixed indelibly beyond the power of the courts to impair. Its membership was enlarged from three to five and its personnel rejuvenated with the impress of youth and vision, scholarship and ceaseless energy. At the head of the new board was John M. Eshleman,’ a young and intensely ener- getic attorney of brilliant mentality, who had a few years before attracted attention for his attainments in philosophy and classical literature at the State University. Asso- ciated with him were Max Thelen, also a youthful and scholarly attorney, from the staff of the Western Pacific Railway, who had been a class medalist at the University of California; Edwin O. Edgerton, a lawyer in his middle thirties, distinguished for inci- siveness of mind and breadth of vision, an authority on municipal affairs; Alexander Gordon, a veteran farmer and banker, a post- graduate in the school of experience; and Colonel H. D. Loveland, a well-known busi- ness man and dissenting member of a pre- vious commission. Mr. Eshleman subsequently was elevated to the Lieutenant-Governorship and his place filled by the appointment of Frank R. Devlin, a former Superior Judge, a_ progressive leader of the Legislature, and a widely known attorney. It required but one incident to persuade ! Mr. Eshleman, who had been the guiding spirit of the Commission’s work, died at Indio, California, on Feb- ruary 28, 1916. 31

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32 THE OUTLOOK the railway interests to an acquiescence in the new order. ‘The Commission had issued one of its first findings, reducing certain rates on the Southern Pacific. ‘The president of the company called upon the Commission, stated that the ruling could not be obeyed, and that the equities might be satisfied by the arrest of one of his station agents. ‘‘ Why the station agent ?” he was asked. “Why not the president of the company ?” ‘That was all, but the reduced rates went into effect that night. Governor Johnson had imparted but one word of admonition to his new board. ‘Regulate with a firm hand,” said he, ‘but always remember that California wel- comes and protects legitimate industry.” The Commission found itself with sudden authority over twelve hundred public service corporations, great and small, ranging from the transcontinental carriers to a mountain railway which had been presented to a widow in payment for damages for the loss of her husband. The Commission has, through five years of service, given to the State of California a system of corporation regulation which has appealed keenly to the public mind and has been received with general satisfaction by the corporations themselves. It founded its doctrine upon the conception that the public interest goes primarily to the prices it must pay and the quality of service it receives in return for its outlay. All that contributed to high quality of service at low cost was desirable. Conversely, all that mili- tated against this end was ‘declared undesir- able. ' To attain the highest quality of service at the lowest reasonable cost, the California Commission has refused to encourage the ruthlessly competitive conditions of public utility enterprise, but has somewhat naively brought about a situation that gives all of the benefits that accrue from competition without its disadvantages. This has developed a business philosophy that has been termed ‘‘regulated monopoly with potential com- petition.” The California Commission has announced the policy that all existing utilities will be protected against competition in their present fields of operation as long as they accord to the public a complete, adequate, and satis- factory service at rates as low as could reasonably be offered by any prospective competitor. ‘The complete service and low 6 September rates must be given voluntarily, immediately, continuously, and uninterruptedly, as a pre- requisite to this protection by the State, under the threat of competition. The moment this policy was proclaimed electric-lighting rates throughout the State of California fell without further order from an average of nine cents and ten cents per kilo- watt hour to an average of seven cents. Measured in dollars and cents, this one act returned to the people of the State twice the expense of the Commission during the whole of Governor Johnson’s term. The State had but a few months before been treated to the spectacle of a pitiless warfare between the Northern California Power Company and the Sacramento Valley Power Company. In the endeavor of each to break its competitor’s back, prices were cut until power was actually distributed free of cost. The delight of the patrons at this un- wonted benevolence and tender regard for their welfare was cut short by a truce between the two belligerents under which prices were restored, not to their former levels, but to heights sufficient to enable both companies to exact from the patrons what each had lost during the competitive struggle, with a com- fortable margin besides. This situation had come toa climax just before the California Railroad Board assumed jurisdiction, and offered a striking and effec- tive illustration of the disastrous possibilities of enforced competition carried to its natural limits. The Commission instantly issued a warning against rate wars in the public utility service. In one of the earlier cases it came as a distinct shock to the State when the Board, in a clear-cut decision, barred the Oro Electric Corporation from Stockton. The city was already served adequately and reasonably by the Western States Gas and Electric Company. The Commission held that fruitless duplica- tion would bring eventual injury alike to the old company, the new company, and the cus- tomers of both. Early misgivings yielded to a very general and popular acceptance of the new view. * Economic fallacy” became a pet State phrase for wasteful competition. ‘“« Potential competition ’’ has been no cold- storage theory. When the Newport Beach Company could not or would not give the high standard of service and the low rates to which the Commission believed the people of southern California entitled, the Commission

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1916 shot a competitor into their midst which did. This has been repeated until potential com- petition is a live and throbbing threat. In its policy of permitting consolidation the California Commission has assumed a po- sition at variance with that school of econo- mists which still clings to its hope of efficiency only through unrestricted and free competi- tion. In so doing the Commission has pro- ceeded upon its conception that the public concern lies primarily in adequate, complete, and satisfactory service at the lowest rea- sonable cost. And where this desideratum may be obtained through combination— monopoly, if you please—the California Com- mission permits and encourages the mo- nopoly. But the monopoly so formed is immediately responsible to the Commission. If it does not voluntarily attain to the State’s fixed standards, the Commission, of course, in the exercise of its authority, com- pels it so to do. In most cases this compulsion is not neces- sary, for the reason that the consolidation or monopoly is sanctioned only on the condition that the public utility corporations thus united guarantee a better degree and quality of public service at more favorable rates and on more desirable conditions than either of the parties to the combination was able to render separately. It so happens that this policy is in sharp contrast with that of the present National Administration, and the principles underlying both can best be illustrated by two incidents in which the State of California and the National Government had partial jurisdiction. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company, generally known as the “ telephone trust,” controls the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, which, in turn, controls probably ninety per cent of the telephone business in California. In its endeavor to readjust the affairs of the American Telephone and ‘Telegraph Company ‘to the conditions of competition ” the National Administration, through the instrumentality of its Department of Justice, exacted from the telephone company an agreement by which it bound itself and its subsidiaries to refrain from the acquisition of any competitive system. ‘The thought undoubtedly was that by such a stipulation and agreement a condition of competition would be established and the public benefit there- from. At the same time the Railroad Commission COMMISSION GOVERNMENT 33 of California was endeavoring to adjust a difficult telephone problem in the northern part of the State. The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company occupied this field, in competition at one point with the Glenn County Telephone Company and at another with the Tehama County Telephone Com- pany. These two smaller corporations had been built and financed on local sentiment. They were wholly unable to give service in any degree commensurate with that of the Pacific company. ‘The two smaller companies had lines and equipment which would have been of immense value to the larger company. For a complete service patrons were obliged to subscribe to two systems. The California Commission faced the alter- native of permitting the Pacific company to ruin its two smaller competitors or to buy them out on fair terms. It adopted the latter expedient, and permitted and encour- aged the consolidation which gave the Pacific company a monopoly and at the same time gave to the residents of the northern part of the State a service many times superior, far more extensive, and at a reduced cost, which in some instances amounted to only one-half the former charge. After the practical results of the entire operation were clearly set forth, the Depart- ment of Justice of the National Government acquiesced in the California proposal. The same department of the Federal Gov ernment instituted a suit to dissolve the joint ownership of the Central Pacific and South- ern Pacific Railroads. ‘The California Com- mission found that they had been so inter- woven and intertwined as to constitute a single unified system. It had jurisdiction over related features of the case, and ex- pressed the view that the result of the Gov- ernment’s purpose would not bring about a desirable competitive condition, but, instead, would dismember the Southern Pacific, leav- ing one efficient and strong railway corpora- tion with a weaker one at its mercy; that the severance would seriously impair the railway service ; and that the continuance of the con- solidation under regulation was distinctly in the public interest. This matter is still be- fore the Federal courts. The same policy saved the Tulare County Power Company and its six hundred farmer stockholders from financial ruin by enabling them to sell their properties on an equitable basis to their powerful competitor. Not only

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34 THE OUTLOOK did it save them from great financial loss, but the conditions of the consolidation actually brought them a higher grade of electric serv- ice at a cheaper price. One of the earliest functions of the Com- mission was the adjustment of extortionate charges and practices wherein it found cer- tain railway and express companies earning annually more than one hundred per cent on their investments. After the curtailment of these and similar exactions, reaching some $7,500,000 annually, the Board addressed itself to so regulating the rates and methods of public service companies that the corpora- tion should enjoy a fair and prosperous measure of profit. Although the scope of the law would per- mit that this profit be limited to a mere inter- est rate of return upon the investment, the California Commission has proclaimed and prided itself upon a liberal policy which authorizes the utility corporations to earn not merely that which is theirs by right, but that which should go to them out of a broad sense of equity and fair dealing. This has its purpose not only in a sense of justice to the corporation, but of proper care for the public interest; for the Commission, in effect, says to the corporation : We want you to earn ample profits so that you shall not only pay the interest to your bond- holders and dividends to your stockholders, but shall have a surplus in addition; and in return for this we propose that a portion, at least, of this surplus shall be used in the public interest. This surplus is the index of the company’s credit, and a high credit means an ample and steady flow of investment money into the coffers of the public utility corporations for reinvestment in the public service of the State. ! A typical illustration of this policy was embodied in a decision recently rendered in connection with an irrigation system in the northeastern portion of the State. The sys- tem now irrigates eighteen thousand acres of land. A protest was filed against the rates and a request made for additional service. The Commission found that the company was earning a substantial profit with a gen- erous surplus, and that it had an abundance of unused water. Accordingly, the Commis- sion refused to alter the profitable rate, but instead directed the company to place under irrigation immediately an additional twelve thousand acres of land, to the mutual satis- faction of both the company and its patrons. The California Commission has come to be a board of equitable adjustment as _ be- tween the public service corporations and the public. Each has its right of ready appeal, and both make the most of it. The indi- vidual is not even obliged to go through the formality of an appearance in court. A let- ter or post-card has brought to many a humble complainant the swift remedy for his just grievance. It was interesting, but not unusual, when recently the representative of the largest traction and power interest in southern Cali- fornia announced in a public ‘speech: ‘“ The regulation of utilities by the State Railroad _Commission has been just as beneficial to the corporations as to the public.” The corporations measure this benefit by the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been saved to them by the new State policy which protects their honest investment from the ravages of ruthless competition, by the substitution of supervision for prosecu- tion, and by the policy of intelligent regula- tion in lieu of dissolution. They acknowledge it unwittingly in their flaming announcemeni of the Commission’s approval of the $500,- 000,000 of stocks and bonds they have offered for sale. It is acknowledged also in the in- teresting record which shows in five years three thousand decisions, with less than one half of one per cent on appeal to the courts ; with property appraisals of $250,000,000 with less than one per cent in controversy. And with the single exception of electric railways, which have been affected adversely by automobile competition, it is reflected in their augmented and unprecedented earnings. Of course such a policy as has been pursued by the California Commission could not be satisfactory to the extremists on either side ; neither to the crooked or backward-looking corporation official nor to the demagogue. But it has registered in unmistakable fashion the full measure of its appeal in the hearts of the people of the State. To one who has been in the councils of the Commission, and who has aided and watched in the practical application of these policies, it would appear that here may be found the nucleus and the hope of a new attitude of government in America toward business.

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IDAHO’S TWENTY YEARS OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE BY PEARL TYER PRESIDENT BOISE CHAPTER, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN VOTERS WENTY years of “ votes for women ” in actual practice should be able to give a satisfactory answer to the question of its advisability. Idaho is a State rounding out this experience, and a careful survey of the status of its civic affairs and the effects of its equal suffrage may contain important information. EFFECT DISCERNED IN TREND OF STATE Its effect can best be discerned in the trend of the civic development of the State itself, for Idaho was not established with set institutions nor convictions before suffrage was a factor. Admission as a State was granted in 1890, and six years later, in No- vember, 1896, the suffrage amendment was passed at the general election and the ballot became a reserve power back of the influ- ence of women. In the early years of State- hood Idaho was a rough-and-ready land with The sparse settlements and few railways. first settlers were gold-seekers, prospecting a bit on their way to California ; then, following, came a hardy few who sought new homes because the fire of adventure was in them. ‘The destruction of the Civil War drove others to this almost unknown land. Although the early stories of Idaho do not partake of the reckless disregard of human life incident to some pioneer communities, it was not until the general exodus to the Far West brought hundreds of citizens, ambitious and abounding in energy, that it began its great change in civic ideals. Woman suffrage cannot claim the entire credit for this change from the free and open days of the saloon and gambling tables, but woman suffrage became alive at the time the change began and was one of the factors. ‘Two years after Idaho became a State, at the Republican State Convention, several of the prominent office-holders were intoxicated in public. ‘This was a period in the history of prohibition when the Republican party in some of the older States was passing prohi- bition enactments. The spectacle of drunken- ness was so disgusting to one of the dele- gates, now a distinguished citizen, that he determined upon a woman suffrage policy as the surest remedy. ‘Two years later he was one of the most arduous workers in the campaign for suffrage, which was indorsed at the conventions of all three parties. ‘This citizen claims that this was the turning-point for State-wide prohibition, which reached its goal last January, when every saloon was closed by statutory enactment. INFLUENCE OF WOMEN’S VOTES NOTICEABLE IMMEDIATELY The influence of woman suffrage was noticeable immediately upon the passage of the amendment. H. E. Mc#lroy, a promi- nent attorney and candidate for Governor on the Progressive ticket in 1914, wrote at the time the women cast their first ballot: “It was tacitly understood among politicians that the standard must be raised in order to avoid scratching by the new voters. In fact, the expectation is universal, for some cause or other, that women will make independent voters, and party names will not save unde- serving candidates.” James H. Hawley, afterward Governor of Idaho, said of the first election in which women participated: ‘‘ The ladies turned out very generally on the day of election, and were everywhere treated with the greatest respect, and never in my experience have I seen a more orderly election. ‘The very presence of the ladies at the polls seemed to entirely eliminate many of the objectionable features of former elections.” MEN AND WOMEN COMRADES Naturalness is an expressive word for the manner in which women exercise their citizen- ship in a State which has developed under the suffrage régime. Men and women are comrades in civic endeavor. The condition of sex organization based upon sex, and not upon the general obligation of citizenship borne by all, to which Charles E. Hughes has recently called attention, will be found to be a condition preceding woman suffrage and not accompanying it. ‘The privilege of the ballot for twenty years in Idaho has broad- ened woman’s outlook, and pride in sex accomplishment has correspondingly lessened. 35

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36 THE OUTLOOK To designate an institution or legal enactment as men’s or women’s is as difficult as to dis- sociate the father’s and mother’s influence in a harmonious household. Some measures are mothered especially by a woman’s organ- ization, but all such have their champions among the men, and men and women work together for their adoption. The term, women’s measures, is an anomaly both as to purpose and history. LEGISLATION The catalogue of measures which have been presented to the Legislature under the tutelage of women, either individually or wepresenting women’s clubs, and which were persistently cared for until finally signed by the Governor as a statute, includes a public library commission and library control (there were previously no library provisions), child labor prohibition and juvenile court creation, humane society, equal property rights for men and women, equal custody of children, right of women to make their own wills, the Iowa Infringement and Abatement Law, making wife desertion an extraditable mis- demeanor, pensions for mothers, nine-hour law for women, State Industrial School, Institution for Feeble-Minded, separate dor- mitory for women at State University, placing domestic science in the University, and appro- priation for Children’s Home-Finding Society. The only legislative measure which women have worked for at more than one Legislature and lost is the Civil Service Bill. Yet this phenomenal legislative record has been ac- complished in the Legislatures of twenty years, in which but three women were seated. This illustrates the co-operation of the men and women. In every ‘women’s measure ” the genius of men and women has united. Although to a large extent intuitively and unconsciously, in their legislative methods women have been fulfilling the essential requisites of lawmaking in a democracy. It is fundamentally true under a representative form of government that the power is with the people and not the legislators. The con- ception of legislation in a republic is that the demand should be with the consent of the governed and should come from the people up to the lawmaking body, and not be in- duced from the lawmaking body down to the people. Women’s part in lawmaking has included the education of public sentiment to seek the desired measure. By educating themselves 6 September through the women’s organizations, which are largely the instruments through which such public opinion takes form, and by agi- tating the proposition and keeping it asa reminder in the press, the desired reforms have come in naturally and qu-etly. The statutes providing for a commission form of government for cities, a direct primary law, the discretionary power of judges, and the labor of convicts on State improvements out- side the penitentiary walls are examples of measures which were thoroughly discussed in women’s meetings and reported in the press, but which were not introduced by them in the Legislature. ‘The anti-gambling law was passed shortly after the ballot was granted to women and before the State Federation of Clubs was organized. William Balderston, editor of the Idaho “ Daily Statesman,” at that time wrote : ** The influence of this new voting element was felt in the Legislature in the passage of the law prohibiting gambling. It is uni- versally conceded that such an Act could not have been passed had it not been for the fact that the members felt they would be held to account by that portion of the population which is unalterably opposed to the vice that ruins such large numbers of men. Itisa significant fact that the law was passed with- out any organized movement on the part of the women. It was the silent influence of woman as a voter that carried it through.” The State Federation of Women’s Clubs, which is the most prominent women’s organi- zation legislatively, does not seek the enact- ment of a measure which has not had at least a year of State-wide discussion and propa- ganda. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union also has always depended upon the education of the masses rather than upon * lobbying ” its bills through. WOMEN’S ATTITUDE TO OFFICE-SEEKERS Idaho women, with meager exceptions, are not politicians. They are not to be found where political trickery and trading are in practice. They work by fostering certain measures and by doing their part in the elec- tion of officials who will uphold these meas- ures. Sometimes a mass-meeting is called at the instigation of the women, and candidates for office are called upon before election to state their attitude on certain points. The Boisé Council of Women Voters, in union with the Good Citizenship Club, which had experienced difficulty in securing certain park

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1916 actions in Boisé, before the next city election invited the nominees for mayor and commis- sioners to appear before them and express their views on parks and playgrounds. Not one of the candidates apparently considered the meeting unimportant. Ten were present, and the remaining two, who were unable to be present, sent written statements. The sentiments of the candidates were given to the public through the /press. tive Committee of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs secures the attitude of all candidates for the Legislature before the elec- tion upon the measures which they propose to present at that session. When the legis- lator comes to the capital, he is sometimes confronted by his own written statement of his pre-election views. Should an official fail to keep his promise to a woman’s organization, he is advertised throughout his territory and told that he will not be further supported. These “ clearings up” have been without demonstrations of malice and universally accomplished with dig- nity. The most notable example of the polli- tician disappointing women and then reform- ing is Herman H. Taylor, Lieutenant-Gov- ernor. He came to the Legislature in 1912 as President of the Senate with a plurality of 6,403 votes. During this session he used his influence against the measures offered by the women, to which he had been thought favora- ble. In the election of 1914 his plurality was reduced to 464. At the Susan B. Anthony banquet that year he acknowledged publicly that the women had almost defeated him; during that Legislature he supported the measures which had been defeated largely through him the previous session. Washing- ton County is a strong woman’s club center ; in 1912 it sent a Representative to the Leg- islature pledged to support the Iowa Injunc- tion and Abatement Law for the closing of houses of bad repute ; he became its oppo- nent and was chairman of the committee in which it died. He was defeated for re-elec- tion to the next session, at which the bill was almost unanimously passed. WOMEN IN OFFICE The women themselves are not largely office-seekers. On the ballot the only offices commonly containing their names are those of State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Treasurer, and county superintendents, treasurers, and members of the Legislature. The office of State Superintendent has been The Legisla- | IDAHO'S TWENTY YEARS OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE 37 occupied by women for the past sixteen years, and that of State Librarian since its creation. Three-fourths of the county superintendents are women, and one-third of the treasurers. The clerkships and second deputyships held by women in State offices and the number of women employed in State institutions bring more than half of the State pay-roll to women. The presence of women in caucuses and political gatherings is kindly met by the men. This condition is also true in the neighboring State of Utah, as is illustrated by the following incident : A prominent Utah woman was being told the story of an Idaho woman’s attendance as a delegate at the Republican State Conven- tion, and was told that when the Idaho woman had mentioned this fact to a Far Eastern woman the Eastern woman had exclaimed, enthusiastically, “Oh, and did the women send you?” The Utah resident interrupted the story at this point. ‘No, the men sent her,” she said. A man had placed the Idaho woman’s name in nomination and another had resigned his place in her favor. NON-PARTISANSHIP Party lines are not held as closely by the women as by the men, which may account for the adoption of a State primary law and the commission form of government in Boisé, both of which eliminate the old-time party conven- tions with their trading and machine rule. The women compose part of the membership of the Hughes-Fairbanks Clubs now under State organization, and two years ago there was a woman’s Democratic Club; but the organizations where the women work shoulder to shoulder for civic reforms, as the Good Citizen Club, the Council of Women Voters, and civic departments of literary clubs, are invariably non-partisan. The measures thus launched are generally indorsed by all political parties or their candidates. The recent pro- hibition law, springing from the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti- Saloon League, was placed in the platform of both political parties and passed the Legis- lature with but one dissenting vote. The policy of making a measure an issue in one party and asking the women to vote outside their party to support it has never been followed. Non-partisanship in lawmaking by both men and women is shown in the activity of the Legislative League, which was in session during the last session of the Legislature.

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38 This was organized by men engaged in vari- ous branches of business, and included in its membership by their invitation busi- ness women and representatives of every woman’s civic club. The purpose was to study measures under debate in the Legislature with the aim of encouraging good and hin- dering immature and hasty enactment ; in- surance men, commission merchants, attor- neys, Mothers’ Congress delegates, and Federation Club workers co-operated with the Legislature and gave them the advan- tage of the more extensive view-point. MEN MORE FAMILIAR WITH CIVIL GOVERNMENT Although the Western-trained woman takes her balloting naturally, the race training which for generations has endowed men with this re- sponsibility is noticeable in the greater famil- iarity of the men with statutory technicalities. As yet the conversation and companionships of the average girl do not give her as accu- rate a civic training as her brother’s, although she is intelligently informed. Mrs. Cynthia Mann, a teacher at the time of the adoption of suffrage, and later donor of the Idaho State Children’s Home site, said in a memorandum the year following suffrage : * Another effect that is worthy of notice is the great interest among the pupils of our public schools in the study of political economy. ‘The girls often felt less interest in this science because they would have no voice in polit- ical affairs, while most boys said that they could vote without studying this science. Now the girls, like their mothers, look upon this new responsibility as a grave one. The boys are not to be outdone, and it is de- lightful to see the zeal with which they attack this so-called dull study.”’ The average woman grown to maturity in a non-suffrage State in removing to a suf- frage State accepts her new privilege as a burden, while it is probable that the daugh- ter is abounding in the joy of having a part with her father and brothers in the local affairs. But when a question up for election appeals to the mother as one of right or wrong, the voting ceases to be a burden and becomes a weapon. The training received as clerks and judges of election is valuable to the women. An Illinois judge has made mention of the effi cient clerical work of the women in the elec- tions of Chicago recently, upon which new labor the women of that State are entering. THE OUTLOOK 6 September The greater part of the book work in connec- tion with elections in Idaho, including registra- tion and polling, is done by the women, which gives them a more intimate conception of the machinery of government. The polls are quiet and maintain somewhat the dignity of a formal social function with men and women present. The omens are already in the sky predict- ing that women may become more informed as citizens than the men. The women’s clubs for civic study and the practical ap- plication which is given their balloting are having a broadening and educational effect. Where,is to be found an organization of men with the purpose of perfecting the members for the more efficient performance of the duties of citizenship? The history of edu- cation, which at first in the annals of man- kind was restricted to the masculine sex, may bé considered as a precedent, the number of women completing high school and collegiate courses now exceeding that of the men. IS THE FEMININITY OF WOMEN AFFECTED ? Has the ballot affected the femininity of women? If the charm of womanhood has escaped with the entrance of the ballot, both men and women are so blind to the condition as not to know their loss. Rare indeed would be the person found repining for the good old days when women couldn’t vote. Do the women vote the same as their husbands? Some women vote to the dic- tation of the men, which condition will con- tinue until every woman knows how to express her own self. The point‘is, the woman who is awake to her privilege of expression has it, and it is potentially possible to the unknowing one when she awakens. Some men still sleep. There has not been a record of the percentage of men and women voting, but in some precincts it is said that more women than men vote. THE OLD AND WEW IDEALS OF CITIZENSHIP Twenty years of the ballot in the hands of women with men in Idaho has developed that State along moral and advanced lines, with legislation which has outrun the old Puritanical States of their forefathers. The temptations of the early days—drink, gam- bling, and houses of ill repute—are swept away. But it is claimed by some who have watched the change of the past twenty-five years that Idaho with statutes, granting them enforced, is not as righteous as Idaho with- out statutes, The story of the pack-driver ee ee a ae ee Ll lL

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THE BUYING 1916 with one barrel of whisky more than he could haul up the hill is told to illustrate the former. integrity. Finding it impossible to continue his journey so heavily loaded, the driver deposited the barrel of drink by the roadside with two cups, one for the passing travelers to partake of the contents and the other to receive the pay. Later he returned and took his cup of coin. Nosuch sense of honor isuni- versal to- day, say the story-tellers. Yet even they would hardly want to go back to the old days. SUFFRAGE SANE IN ITS OPERATION The intense attitude of some of the pro- moters of equal suffrage might have led to the belief that when the reform went into opera- tion the commonwealth would be in a state of upheaval and that radical measures would be enacted to the disturbance of the common peace. Its practice, however, has proved that it does not carry a destructive tendency. Eighteen months after its adoption Mrs. Cynthia Mann, quoted above, wrote : ‘‘ When the Supreme Court of Idaho de- cided that the equal suffrage amendment had carried, it was pleasing to note how quickly CLUB MOVEMENT 39 all aggressive opposition ceased. Those who had been zealous opponents refrained from predicting the evil consequences that would be the result of women voting, and at all elections held since, primary, municipal, and school, have vied with the ardent advocates of this reform in politics in securing the presence at the polls of this new element in governmental affairs.” It has continued sane in its operation ; the leaders among the women are of a high type. Its inherent policy of educating the general public to its reforms burns out fanaticism in the long journey of the proposed enactments through committees, local discussions, and press reports. The exaggeration of energy displayed in the fray for suffrage is one of the results of antagonism. When the antag- onism is withdrawn and suffrage is permitted to fill its mission, its course has been found to be orderly and constructive This is the inevitable working of the metaphysical law. For equal suffrage is an expression of the principle of equality, and, as a principle in operation, can produce only harmony and satisfaction in its proper manifestation. THE BUYING CLUB MOVEMENT BY JOHN R. COLTER ’ \WO years and a half ago the num- ber of consumers’ co-operative clubs in this country engaged in buying food products direct from producers and big wholesalers was so small as to deserve merely passing mention. But to-day you will find over two hundred such organizations flourishing in New York, a hundred each in Chicago and Philadelphia, and thousands of others scattered among the larger cities east of the Mississippi—for it is in the Middle West and the East that the need for simplify- ing our present system of distributing farm products is most keenly felt. Community groups of housewives, factory workers, ana employees of banks, department stores, and business offices have banded together by the thousand to develop a practical way of buying their food supplies at lower costs. It is no longer an experiment with these people ; it is a weekly practice and thrifty accomplishment, for the savings of the modern buying club average twenty per cent—to say nothing of improved freshness of quality which the direct-marketing plan affords. The typical buying club in the East pur- chases its eggs from producing sections as far West as Iowa, and brings them on in quan- tities of a hundred dozen. Its butter, packed in easily divisible units of one-pound cartons, comes from any of the large creameries of Indiana or Ohio. Poultry, beef, pork, and lamb in handy lots of fifty or a hundred pounds are obtained from the mail-order de- partments of large packing-houses of the West. And vegetables, honey, fruits, nuts, and dozens of other products of the farm and orchard are bought in quantity, transported in quantity, paid for in advance by the club, and then divided up among its members. The buying club depends for its success upon the elimination of all unnecessary middlemen ; it conducts what in reality is a long-distance mail-order marketing plan, with the whole country for its shopping field. Two things are responsible for the buying

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40 THE OUTLOOK club idea and its growth: the industrial work of the express companies in linking up coun- try producer and city consumer in an effort to recoup traffic losses caused by the parcel post, and the extraordinary sudden eagerness of many large producers of meat, butter, and other foodstuffs to sell direct to the city co-operative club. ‘The transportation com- panies have brought consumer and producer into actual commercial touch by the gather- ing and publishing of specific price quotations, details of quality and packing, and other essen- tials to successful, direct marketing. Reputa- ble farmers and large wholesalers anxious to break into the new market have been sought out and educated to standardize their product and maintain that standard as carefully as the corner grocer does this for the city housewife. Weekly bulletins with definite offers by reli- able producers have become an institution among thousands of consumers’ clubs. The express, with its country agents on the one hand and its city agents on the other, has been able to bring buyer and seller into mutual confidence. Coupled with the sales initiative of producers to go direct to the kitchen of the consumer—an initiative which has meant the invention of new carriers and containers especially adapted to shipping direct ta consumers’ clubs—this industrial work has resulted in the organization of thou- sands of city co-operative clubs, the first real co-operative movement in the country. The buying clubs range in size from twenty to three hundred members. In a fashion- able suburb of New York one large club is operated among more than three hundred families. Its Thanksgiving turkey order runs over nine hundred pounds. In a single winter month its ‘‘ market-basket ”’ amounted to 60 dozen stalks of celery, 1,000 dozen eggs, 700 pounds of poultry, and 2,000 pounds of other products bought direct from farmers and packers and creameries. A large club in Chicago among the employees of a business firm spends nearly $5,000 a month among the producers of Wisconsin, Illinois, lowa, and Missouri. It reckons its savings at twenty-five per cent, and is big enough to retain the exclusive services of a salaried clerk to conduct the affairs of the club. The town of Fort Wayne, Indiana, with 70,000 population, is served by forty- odd buying clubs which embrace a member- ship of several hundred families. In:a single day the local express agent received orders for lake fish to the extent of 2,000 pounds—or- 6 September ders which were transmitted to fish-producing companies and filled d@rect to consumers’ clubs —as well as for 3,000 dozen eggs and large consignments of honey, California dried fruits, and smoked hams and strips of bacon. And the Easter week (1915) order of a large Fifth Avenue, New York, buying clubranas follows: Retail Price Prevalent. 170 pounds bacon 25c. Ib. 20c. Ib. ic. * ham we, * a = 450 dozen eggs......... 40c. doz. 29c. doz. 400 pounds butter Oc. Ib. 32c. Ib. Buying Club Price. Consideration of the detailed*methods of a typical metropolitan buying club in cutting the living costs of its members will make the significance of the movement apparent. In one lower New York Broadway business firm over two hundred employees are organized to buy foodstuffs direct. The secretary of the club gathers orders from the individual mem- bers early in the week, lumps them, selects the names of producers with whom he would prefer to deal from the weekly quotation I'sts supplied to the buying clubs by the food products departments of the express com- panies, and sends in an order. He can ask the transportation company to handle this order for him if he desires, leaving it at a branch office, or can himself mail the order with check. Frequently, after getting in touch with good producers, the buying clubs deal directly with them. ‘The secretary knows that any producers quoted on the weekly bulletin are reliable—that they are better prepared than the average farmer for shipping high- quality goods direct to consumers. The bulk of his ‘‘ grocery list ’*is weekly made up of butter, eggs, and meats, although, in season, vegetables and fruits are popular. Upon ‘stated days the various products arrive for distribution—butter and eggs one day, meats the next, etc. Right here the buying club stands or falls. How much labor is involved in the distribution to mem- bers? Is it too much bother? For if it is, no co-operative scheme will succeed in America. ‘The manufacturers—the country producers—have calculated upon this; they have seen that the way to make a consumers’ co-operative scheme successful is to make the work at the consumers’ end as easy as possthle—something which has never been carefully worked out before. So the lower Broadway club secretary finds the butter, for instance, packed in sanitary, waxed-cardboard cartons of one pound each; the eggs already

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1916 THE BUYING divided into single-dozen boxes ; the chickens wrapped fit for carrying home; fruit and vegetables in convenient-sized hampers ; and hams and bacon strips wrapped neatly enough to lay on your office desk. By snapping up the trifles of packing and shipping the coun- try producer and big wholesaler are finding a solution to the direct-marketing problem. It is an office boy’s job of an hour or two to apportion the various orders to the members, wrap them in paper and twine bought by a three per cent tax levied on members of the club for that purpose, and have them ready for each man to take home with him at night. That the idea does really work out and pay in substantial savings is proved by the rapid growth of the movement and the immense popularity of the plan among city workers. It is particularly interesting to note that sev- eral large Eastern clubs are fostered by the employers of the members to the extent of the firm carrying the club’s bills on its own books, paying the producers itself, and debit- ing each member on pay-day for the amount of foodstuffs charged against his account. One large Eastern club in a suburban town maintains a delivery service to the homes of its members for approximately five cents per package, and, in spite of the added cost, has rapidly increased the amounts of its pur- chases. The margin of saving, even with delivery cost, is enough of an inducement ; for the suburb, like many another town out- side of the conventional system of foodstuffs distribution, pays unusually high prices to its retailers. Co-operation has saved the members between twenty and_ twenty-five per cent in their weekly prevision bills. It is, of course, out of the question to sup- pose that the large cities of the country will ever dispense with the present chain of mid- diemen to take up direct marketing via the buying club route. The examples given above are interesting and sensational in their accomplishment of lowering the cost of food- stuffs for a comparatively minute portion of our population. But practically nowhere near twenty per cent of the city folk will ever try it and continue it. Yet the buying club movement is none the less a movement of real economic importance. It has a regulative effect. Even within the last few months it has proved its capacity for hammering down the exorbitant level of prices which have been imposed upon the public in many centers of the densely populated district east of the Mississippi. Every ton of butter, eggs, meat, CLUB MOVEMENT 41 and vegetables brought into a town through the newly dredged channel of the buying club forces upon the retailer the necessity for a simplification of the distribution system where it is possible to simplify. In some cases it has resulted in the retailers themselves turning to the very supply fields drawn upon by the buying club, and thus getting their stocks direct from producers where before they had been buying from jobbers and other wholesalers. Buying club competition in the town of Nyack, New York, forced the prices of staples down nearly twenty-five per cent for an entire winter, and resulted in the car- rying of fresher and more varied stocks in several retail stores. The consumers’ end of the buying club movement is profitable, both directly when club members save money and _ indirectly when a family profits by a regulated price level. But to the farmer and country manufacturer of food products it has been even more profitable—to many a man it has meant a brand-new sort of market with twenty to one hundred per cent better prices for his goods than he ever got before. The creation of thousands of buying club markets anxious to buy direct from country sources has developed a small class of business farmer whose function is really that of a mail-order house. And, as has been suggested, in addition to the clubs themselves, often city retailers have come direct to the country to do their buying. An egg gatherer in a small New York town, by catering specially to the buying club trade of New York and Buffalo, developed a business of $5,000 a month within six months. ‘Through quotations on the express weekly bulletins he secured the patronage of club after club, until, as is fre- quently the case in industrial work, he was forced to request the transportation company to withdraw his name from the bulletin, be- cause of too many orders received. There are innumerable instances of the creation of wider and more profitable markets for farmers through the buying club move- ment. By standardizing their produce at ‘he source—that is, by carefully grading and neatly packing their foodstuffs for shipment— lettuce-growers, apple-growers, and honey- producers have found new channels for the disposition of their goods at much better prices than they received when marketing in the old way. Sixty thousand pounds of honey were marketed via express in small con- signments during a single season for one

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42 THE OUTLOOK Michigan producer. Buying clubs and small retailers in Eastern cities took the greater part of his output. He had no transportation charges to pay, no sales overhead expense, and, besides, he got fifteen per cent higher prices than ever before. Similar cases of profit to the farmer by this “ cutting across lots ” to market his produce could be cited in regard to the sale of eggs, maple syrup, vegetables, and cheese. For some time the large creameries of Ohio and Indiana have been receiving orders direct from con- sumers’ clubs and small retailers at the rate of forty thousand pounds per month—not an enormous figure, considering the immense quantities of butter eaten, but none of this business existed heretofore. It is a direct trade and has sprung up and increased quickly, due to the buying club movement. ‘The city of 6 Septembe: Paterson, New Jersey, with forty-odd buying clubs, ‘imports ” butter at the rate of ninc thousand pounds per month direct from the creamery. A little over two years ago nm such direct market was available for the but ter manufacturers. It is of significance that the producer has found away to market his stuff direct to con- sumers in the city, even if it be only a.small portion of his crop. For it tends to break him away from the unfortunate notion that he is wholly dependent on the chain of mid- dlemen which looms up between him and what he considers a fair profit. If he chooses to be a business farmer, a manufacturer of country produce with sales relations direct with consumers’ clubs or retailers, he has a fair chance to ‘“‘ do it now’ under the buying club patronage. THE NATIONS AT WAR A TOWN “SHOT DEAD” ON THE AUSTRO- ITALIAN FRONT BY GINO C. SPERANZA SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE OUTLOOK IN ITALY AVE you ever seen a man who had H been shot dead? Or, rather, have you ever entered a house in which a man had been murdered and the body of the victim was still warm? It is an unpleas- ant picture to call up, but it is the only way to give some idea of how it feels when you stealthily enter the town of X. It used to be a flourishing little Austrian city before the war, alive and gay with a civic life and a civic pride of itsown. Thencame the audacious dash of the Italians for the lower Isonzo, and the Austrian soldiers were driven across the river. There they turned around under cover of their mountain for- tresses and shot the little city dead. They might have stopped then, because it is just like a corpse and cannot fight back even if it would ; but they have riddled its body time and again, uselessly, cruelly, wickedly. I say this because I saw it done when I went to “ view the body ” as a sort of neutral coroner, and these are my findings upon an actual inspection. We had driven from Army Headquarters past the rear lines and encampments through that zone I have heretofore described as being within reach of the long-range guns of the enemy, and where civilians still prefer to take the chance of an occasional bombard- ment to the severance of the old home ties. Now we were leaving all that behind us for more exposed highways. Where there was no shelter of wall or cover of trees on the highroad the military chauffeur would put on full power and the machine covered the open stretch on racing time. It is really wonderful how fast an automobile can be made to go when it is a question of dodging shells ; it is a speed test which our automo- bile selling agents might consider. As we drove into the square of the mur- dered city a strange sensation seized one; it was very, very still, with houses which were more impressive because of their look of having been absolutely and hastily untenanted than on account of their dismantled appearance. In all this solitude a lone sentinel presented arms to our colonel as we got out of the car. He was the only fighting man visible, and

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1916 of no military value, but he was guarding the corpse. You looked down deserted streets, with roses blooming on shattered walls ; noble horse-chestnut trees with their white spring blossoms stood majestically still near roofless houses ; you saw the well-laid-out little parks of the town, cool and refreshing, but with the erass of the lawns grown high and ragged. A desperate loneliness was all around the place. Over all this stillness there gripped at your heart a strange, unexplainable feeling that you were not alone in this solitude; that somewhere, perhaps under your feet or in the shelter of those trees, some one was watching. You could see nothing of human life except the shell of its social expression ; there were churches with their carved doors nailed up, there were public buildings with broken panes and awnings in shreds, schools and asylums with doors ajar and shutters thrown open, like corpses of dead men with their glassy, staring eyes turned towards the light. You missed the children at play, you missed the women atthe thresholds of houses, you missed every kind of human lifein that deserted place which was meant to belived in. You missed the horses and the oxen, the rumble of carts, the tread of feet. Hada dog jumped out at you, it would have been like meeting a dear, beloved friend. The cannonading was a welcome break in the silence, because it made you feel that, after all, something zas going on, and that that something was zwar, and not some secret, impenetrable, sinister action behind your back. ‘That furtive sense which gripped us on our arrival had been awful; it seemed so wretched to force this sort of a fate upon a trim, living town like this, a town which had comfortably housed so many peaceful people and had obviously given her citizens so many legitimate pleasures and social advantages. As you walked stealthily by its schools and theaters, past its once busy shops and stores, and gazed at its pleasantly gardened inns, all snugly within its stout medizval walls, the wretchedness of the fate visited upon it seemed a great injustice. A new feeling came upon me, anew realization of the truth : the little town, after all, had not been shot dead ; it had been wounded and then buried alive. It had, I now perceived, some signs of life, however weak, but it couldn’t move ; it did not have a chance to fight back. The Italians complain that this town is an THE NATIONS AT WAR 43 example of how the Austrians make a civic center of no military value uninhabitable when they have to give it up, merely through wantonness and the lust of destruction. I cannot pass on the justice of this complaint, but apparently there was only a handful of soldiers there, doing police duty, and abso- lutely no artillery or defenses of any kind. The place lies on an open plain by a broad river’s edge where nothing can be masked. We walked carefully about the town, with the feeling that some terrible pest had rav- aged its citizens and eaten like a gangrene at its very walls. ‘The havoc made by the mere air suction of the Austrian three-hundred- and-fives is amazing, while some of the enemy’s hits have caused the most bizarre wounds in certain buildings. Half a house would be down, while the household effects of the other half, although it was close to the edge of the ‘‘ smash,” were perfectly all right, even the glass articles uninjured. Most of the house doors were ajar, and through them one could see the furniture thrown about in confusion ; or a wall would be left standing with carefully starched curtains at the windows as a frame for the vista of blue sky through the roofless home. Alas for the loving hands which had labored to make that home bright ! From one of the houses came a few bars of music, a few cracked notes of a piano which had weathered the storm so far, touched by a passing soldier; the notes sounded like a mocking, derisive voice. Where bombs or shells had not struck, the walls bore signs of rifle shots ; and you could gather handfuls of Austrian bullets along the highways. We were ordered to keep close to the left of the streets and hug the walls, so as not to be seen by the enemy on the near-by mountains ; a” few days before the Austrians had caught sight of a group of war correspondents and had poured shrapnel for two hours along their road of retreat, forcing the representatives of the mighty press to lie flat on their stomachs till the fire had ceased. As we drew closer to the end of the town, nearer to the enemy’s lines, the houses were battered into all sorts of strange, dead atti- tudes, like men you see on a battlefield after an assault on a wired intrenchment. ‘The silence, when unpunctuated by the cannon- ading, added to the awful brooding feeling which seemed to hang stealthily and furtively over everything. The scene was so oppress- ive that in the end any sociable thing, even if smashed and in ruins, had a sort of wild

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44 charm and mad attraction. The awkwardly painted signs on the Osterie yielded the pleas- urableness of works of art; a bureau ora pitcher and basin in a dismantled house made you breathe more easily. When I climbed through the débris of the Teatro Sociale and entered one of the few boxes left standing, I felt like clapping my hands; the stage was down, but you could see the dressing-rooms at the back and the sylvan scenery in a heap in the pit. Duse had played here and the Commedia dell’ Arte had found a hospitable home. The theater-goers of this Austrian town had evidently been loyal Venetians ; they had raised a marble tablet to Gallina and a bust to Goldoni, masking their allegiance to Italy under a permissible admiration for Italian comedy. Somehow, after the tense- ness outside, you felt strangely joyous here ; thousands had laughed and enjoyed them- selves right where you stood, and not so very long ago. ‘The sense of their pleasure was still about the place, despite the havoc. I could see the throng of fathers and mothers, of children and youths, gathered here, enjoy- ing the simple, imperishable art of Carlo Goldoni. The wickedness of the Teutonic military castes in disturbing a peaceful Europe never struck me as so criminal, so unneces- sary, as here in this homely playhouse as I looked over the ravaged theater of this little town whose deserted streets bore every index of a laborious, peace-loving community. THE OUTLOOK 6 September I walked back in a melancholy mood towards our starting-point, where our ma- chine was waiting. Yet as I walked the cloud lifted very quickly. Though all was desolation about us and only immovable ghosts seemed to have been left of a past busy life, yet the spell of Italian geniality was somehow making itself felt. Even a cor- poral’s guard on the place sufficed for the miracle. I saw the “geniality ’ walking down a ravaged street in the shape of a young peasant soldier with a flask of ruby- red wine in one hand and a bright rose in the other. Then I became aware that there were many, many birds singing in this desola- tion of man, and that flowers were blooming in profusion and in fragrant loveliness all about us. The tenseness seemed over, and my heart exulted with every crash of the guns on the bloody mountain slopes beyond. I felt cer- tain that, though this poor stricken town had been ‘‘ buried alive,” the good wine of the country, the humble wholesome bread, and the. kindly care of that handful of good guardsmen would keep its poor heart going until the glad day when its hurt body would be lifted gently out of its living tomb and the Italian tricolor run up over those ancient walls which were its historic pride and which the Venetians built against the barbarians centuries ago. From the Italian Front, May, 1916. HOW TO MAKE PLAY OUT OF WORK’ III—CO-OPERATION | BY ELLEN ‘l the period when the tides of lite A rise most rapidly and the social nature of the youth unfolds, team play, at once the most exhilarating and the most developing form of play, makes its most powerful appeal. Now the personal interest sinks to its proper level, and with passionate abandon the player throws his fine young powers into the struggle, not for his own sake, but for the glory of the team. It is ! The first article in this series appeared in The Outlook of August 23, and the second in the issue of August 30. Another article will follow.—Tue Epirors. CHATTLE not the danger nor the touch of brutality that constitutes the fascination of football. It is the rhythmic soul-beat that the players feel as they fight all together as a single man ; it is the absolute soul-satisfaction of a sacrifice play. It is the soul coming into its own, rising to what should be the normal plane of adult life, the plane of co-operation. This spirit of play, culminating as it does during the college period, should pass without a change into the work of life. When it does, the spirit continues to expand and the buoy- ancy of youth lingers. But too often the

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1916 HOW youth organizes his life-work about himself as the center and leaves behind that fine feeling of comradeship which was the best fruit of his school life. When his country is threat- ened, it awakens again in his tumultuous blood, and we call it patriotism ; indeed, it is never quite dead, but is, for the most part, available only for great emergencies. Yet this feeling, of all others, is the one that was meant to sweeten toil the world over. Down in the dark under the earth, in the thronging places of trade, wherever men work shoulder to shoulder, should be the spirit of the team, the spirit of the sacrifice play. Every one, in a measure, realizes this prin- ciple. The workingman bemoans the fact that the capitalist does not practice it; the capitalist laments its absence among the workingmen. All of us in our relations with society decry the selfishness of other folks. What we ought to perceive is that, while no one alone can revolutionize institutions, each one can infuse this spirit into his own daily work. Suppose your desk is next to that of a curmudgeon ; he cares for no one, and, naturally, no one cares for him. His crusty manner costs the firm something occasionally, as crusty ways always do. He makes a mis- take now and then, besides. Now, if you desire to try the co-operative plan, you will, when possible, unobtrusively prevent the consequences to the firm of his mistakes and his disposition. If necessary, make a sacri- fice play of a few extra minutes at your desk and a little time and thought to keep him smoothed down, for the sake of the work. There will be other opportunities, many of them, for you quietly to further the interests of the firm, if you study the people about you and try to work with them. You will not be so sensitive about being imposed upon, since you will get your mind upon the work TO MAKE PLAY OUT OF WORK 45 itself and will not notice many trivial things except where they affect the success of the day’s work. Many of the rest may be pretty poor team players, but that need not spoil your sport. In fact, if you win against odds, it will be only the more stimulating. It is true that this attitude is likely to win appre- ciation and recognition fromemployers. But if you do these things with your mind on the promotion, you may get the promotion just the same, but you will have spoiled the game. It is absolutely forgetting yourself in these larger ideas and interests that exhilarates and refreshes the spirit. Every new study of the life of the Apostle Paul leaves us with fresh wonder at the buoyancy of his spirit. He had tasted toil under trying and discouraging conditions, he bore heavy burdens in loneliness, but nothing aged his soul. Within him something always sang. And when we read his declaration, ‘‘ We are God’s fellow-workers,” we believe we have an echo of the song that never failed him. Nor do we think he was less conscious of working with God when he wove at his loom than when he preached on Mars Hill. Paul loved to use the great games of his time as illustrations of spiritual things, because he felt their spiritual meaning. He would un- derstand the view-point that identifies the great passion that fired his soul with the sim- ple, self-forgetful joy of the child doing his best that his side may win. It was Jesus who set a little child in the midst that the grown- ups might learn from him. Every honest worker has a right to the same conviction that glorified life for Paul. God is doing his utmost for the well-being of this world. Whatever contributes to that end helps him to carry out his great plans, and is therefore full of interest and importance for that reason, if all other reasons should fail.

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BY THE WAY Neither Bethmann Hollweg, German Chan- cellor, nor Lloyd George, English Secretary of War, is to be classed as a “hyphenate,” though many newspapers insist on printing their names Bethmann-Hollweg, Lloyd-George. A recent conspicuous offender as to the German Chancellor’s name is the “ Century Magazine,” which heads an article “ Bethmann-Hollweg and German Policy,” though it also prints a .fac- simile signature by the Chancellor without the offending connective. On August 22 the price of the New York “ Herald ” was reduced from three cents to one cent. The “ Herald” thus returns to its origi- nal price in 1835, when for a few months it was a“ penny” paper. From August, 1835, till 1862 its price was two cents. The war carried it upto four cents. Since 1887 its price has been three cents, though most of its newspaper rivals have sold for only one cent. A recent book about Central Africa gives this remarkable incident as illustrating the native’s absorption in present prosperity. The author was traveling on the Congo River, among can- nibal tribes; with the natives who came down to see him when he stopped at a Fan village was a man who had formerly been his steers- man; he said he was a captive in the village and was destined for the pot. The captain urged him to jump aboard and save himself. To his intense surprise, the native refused! The Fans, it seems, give their intended victims “the time of their lives” preliminary to the feast, and in the midst of his enjoyment the future knife had no terrors for the unimaginative captive ! To avoid that exasperating jolt one gets when going down into the cellar and trying to step down another step when noné is there, or the equally disconcerting mistake of stepping off two steps instead of one, an exchange sug- gests that the bottom step of the cellar stairs be painted white. Then one will always know just when he has reached the bottom. Dr. Foster, President of Reed College, Port- land, Oregon, tells in “ Harper’s Magazine” of his old master in a Boston public school, whose motto in scholarship for his boys was “One hundred per cent, or zero.” The same motto, says Dr. Reed, but with a difference, was ap- parently held to by a boy who came home from school the other day and said to his father, “I got one hundred per cent in school to-day.” “Did you?” exclaimed the proud father; “in what subject?” “ Oh,” was the reply, “I got fifty per cent in arithmetic and fifty per cent in geography.” The old stories about swordfish ramming boats, either by mistake or in malice, are matched by a newspaper account of the experi- ence of the fishing schooner Reita. Twice 46 within a few weeks, it is stated, her hull has been pierced by the weapon of a swordfish. The last time the sword not only penetrated the planking but transfixed a suit-case belong- ing to a member of the crew. He had to go ashore in his sea togs while the boat was sent to the marine railway for repairs. Bird lovers will be glad to read the report that a treaty for the protection of insect-destroying birds on both sides of the Canadian boundary has been entered into between the United States and Great Britain. Its administration will be left to local authorities. It is said that this is the first treaty of its kind. A despatch from London says that a new invention, called a piano typewriter, reproduces in ordinary musical notation whatever the per- former plays. A pianist can make a copy of any piece of music by merely playing it through. The inventor is an Italian. “ The three best American stories ever written by one author,” in the estimation of a writer in the “Christian Register,” are “In His Name,” “The Man Without a Country,” and “My Double.” The author, it need scarcely be said, was the Rev. Edward Everett Hale. Among islands named after animals, says the London “ Chronicle,” there are the Isle of Dogs and Whale Isiand, Pewit Island in Essex, and Crane and Gull Islands off the coast of Corn- wall. Near Lundy Island are Rat Island and the Hen and Chickens. Transatlantic travelers, it may be added, are familiar with the Bull, Cow, and Calf Islands, near the English coast. Elephant Island has lately been associated with Shackleton’s exploring party; Cat Island, in the West Indies, has been regarded as Columbus’s original landing-place. A page advertisement in a New York paper gives one a good idea of the relative rents asked for New York City apartments. It begins with a palace on Fifth Avenue overlook- ing Central Park; apartments here range from 15 rooms and 4 baths at $15,000 a year to 24 rooms and 9 baths for $28,000 a year! From this one can descend at the bottom of the page to an apartment on Ejighty-first Street near Lexington Avenue, consisting of 4 rooms and bath, for $660. Most of the apartments adver- tised rent for $2,000 and over. A subscriber calls attention to an amusingly uninformative headline in his local paper, apropos of the paralysis epidemic. The Asso- ciated Press despatch read: “ The disease is beginning to assume serious proportions zx she eyes of medical authorities,” etc. The headline interpreted this as follows: EYES AFFECTED BY THE PLAGUE OF INFANTILE PARALYSIS AND DOCTORS GROW UNEASY