Skip to main content

Full text of "The World's work"

See other formats


f 


t 

1 

\ 

Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

University  of  Toronto 

http://www.archive.org/details/worldswork05gard 


I 


V     f^ 


I, 


The  WORLD'S  WORK 


^\i\?«?  Sirs 


Volume   V 


<!>i4*r*» 


NOVEMBER,    igo2,   to   APRIL,   1903 


A    HISTORY    OF    OUR    TIME 


Copyright,  tqoz-s,  by 
Doiibleday ,  Page  <5^  Company 


DOUBLEDAY,    PAGE    &    COMPANY 

34   Union   Square,   East,  New   York 


INDEX 


A  CCIDENTS  on    Railroads 2827 

■'»■     Achievements,   The    President's     Summary     of    Our 

"Colonial"   20,52 

Adventure  of  a  Newspaper  Man,  An 2920 

Agriculture,  National  Peculiarities  in 325.5 

America,  Making  Naval  Constructors  in 3 141 

American  Builder  in  England,  An.  . 

An  English  Correspondent  of  The  World's  Work    .  2786 

America,"  "  Europe  versus Andrew  Carnegie.  2797 

America,  One  Effect  of  High  Wages  in 3144 

American  Aim,  A  Statement  of  the.  .  .  .Austin  Bierbower.3227 
American  and  European  Plows,  The  Difference  between.  .  .  .  ,525.5 
American  Character  Declining?  Is.  .  .  .George  Perry  Morris.2775 

American  Corporations,  The  Bonds  of 2830 

American  Education,  The  Shortcomings  of 3269 

American   Feeling  Toward  Germany ....  (See  Venezuela) .  3153 

American  Finance,  The  New  Centre  of Ivy  Lee.  2772 

American  in   Russia,  An 3139 

American  Iron- Worker  in  Central  America,  An 2915 

Americanism   for    British    Trade-Unions.  . 

Alfred  Mosely,  C.  M.  G.3019 

American  Lemons,  Growing W.  S.  Harwood.  3,515 

American   Life,   The   Moral   Soundness  of.  .Julian   Ralph.  2747 

American  Manufactures Edmund  D.  Jones. 301 2 

American  Opportunities  in  Russia 3139 

American  Public  Education,  The  Needs  of.  . 

Charles  W.  Eliot.  2894 
American  Railroad,  The  Continued  Progress  of  a  Great.  .  .  .3367 
American   Residence,   The   Model ....  Katherine  C.   Budd.3344 

American  Schools,  A  Great  English  Educator  on 3268 

American  Society,  Immoral  Literature  and 2714 

Arbitration,  A  Means  to  Effective.  ..  .Frederick  W.  Job.  2856 
Arbitration  in  Labor  Troubles  Be  Effective  ?  Can  (See  Labor)  .2789 
Army,   A   Day  in   the    Regular.  ...  Hamilton   M.    Higday.3007 

Army  and  Its  Future  Commander,  The  Peace 2823 

Army,  The  Character  of  the 5 159 

Art,  The  New  Era  in  Decorative Paul  S.  Reinsch.2779 

Automatic  Machines  to  Order,  Making 2921 

Automobile,  The  Advancing 3252 

Automobile,  The  Coming  of  the Henry  Norman,  M.  P.  3304 

Award,  The  Lessons  of  the  Samoan 2829 


BANKRUPTCY  LAW,  The  National 

■*-'     Barnard — Sculptor,     George     Grey.  . 

Alexander  Blair  Thaw. 

Battle-ship  of   the  Future,  The Lewis   Nixon . 

Betterment,  A  Clearing-House  for  Practical 

Betterment,  A  Force  for  Social 

Birds,  To  Refill  the    Land   with 

Birthday,  A  Word  on  a 

Books,  The  Small  Circulation  of  New 

Books,  Views  of  Readers  on   Recent 2912,   3028, 

Brazil  and  Its  New  President 

Breakdown,  The  Prevention  of  Physical.  . 

Floyd  M.  Crandall,  M.D. 

British  Unionists  Saw,  What  the M.  G.  Cunniff. 

Bronzes,  The  Art  of  Casting 

Builder  in  England,  An  American.  . 

An  English  Correspondent  of  The  World's  Work  . 
Builder  of  the  New  York  Subway,  The  .  Raymond  Stevens . 
Building,  The  Biography  of  An  Office.  .Arthur  Goodrich. 

Business,  A  Nerve  Centre  of 

Business  Failures,  Causes  of 

Business  Methods,  What  We  Can  Learn  from  German.  . 

Louis  J.  Magee. 
Business  of  Saving  Trees,  The 


3264 

2837 
2969 
3050 
3053 
3163 
2695 
3275 
3135 
3052 

3124 
3023 
3370 

2786 
2833 
2955 
3031 
3162 

3114 
3144 

pABLE  SYSTEMS,  Two  Pacific 2932 

^-'     Canada,  Our  Industrial  Invasion  of .  . 

Robert  H.  Montgomery.  2978 

Canada  Forging  Ahead 3164 

Canal  in  Sight,  The  Panama 3149 

Candidate,  Early  Talk  of  a  Democratic  Presidential 3043 

Capital?  Why  So  Much  Uninvested 3268 

Capitalist,  A  Labor- Union  Turned 3140 

Carnegie  Institute  of  Washington,  The.  .Dr.  D.  C.  Oilman. 3166 

Centre  of  Business,  A  Nerve 3031 

Character  and  a  Debauched  City,  A  Model 2825 

Character  ?  Does  Poverty  Help 3274 

Child-Labor  Legislation,  Progress  in 3264 

Churches  Losing  Ground  ?  Are  the 3047 

Cities,  Raising  the  Level  of  Wealth  in 2711 

Citizens  for  the  Republic,  New A.  R.  Dugmore.3323 

City,  A  Model  Character  and  a  Debauched 2825 

City  and  Country  Population,  The  Proportion  of.  . 

Frederic  Austin  Ogg.3003 
City,  The  Human  Atoms  of  a  Steel-Built 2937 


PAGE. 

C^hangcs  in  Public  Thought,  Two  Noteworthy.  (See  Tra<le)  .2814 
Character  Declining?  Is  American .. Geort^c  Perry  Morris.  2775 
Chicago,  The  Municipal  Character  and  Achievements  of.  . 

Frederic  C.  Howe.  3240 

China,  The  Swarming  Millions  of 2830 

Cholera,  The  Eastward  and  Westward  Spread  of 2828 

Church  Work,  Twenty  Milhons  for  Practical .  . 

Edmund  M.  Mills,  Ph.D.,  D.D.3308 

Clearing-House  for  Practical  Betterment,  A 3050 

Coal  Settlement,  The  Bituminous (See  Labor) .  3270 

Coal  Strike,   The   Sum   Total  of  the (See   Labor).  2706 

Co-Education,  New  Controversies  About 2825 

Collector,  The  Story  of  a  Botanical 2920 

College  Drummer,  The 3050 

College  Engineers  at  Work 3144 

College  Men,  Business  Training  for 2922 

College?    What  Is  the   Best Edwin  G.   Dexter. 3302 

Collisions,  The  Prevention  of  Railroad 3162 

Columbia  and  Venezuela  in  Convulsion 2828 

Commander,  The  Peace  Army  aivl  Its  Future 2823 

Commerce  and  Labor,  The  New  Department  of.  . 

Frederic  Emory. 3334 

Commercial  Failures,  The  Instructive  Aspect  of 3273 

Community  Ruled  by  Primitive  Methods,  A  Negro 33^8 

Congress,  The  Large  Work  of 3261 

Confession  of  a  Foreign  Newspaper  Correspondent.  . 

Wolf  von  Schierbrand.  33  5S 

Consumptives,  Out-of-Door  Treatment  of  Poor 3369 

Continents,  Clearing  the  Atmosphere  of  Three.  . 

(See  Venezuela) .  3040 
Control  of  a  Vast  Estate,  The  Quiet .  Henry  Harrison  Lewis  .2750 

Corporation  Investigators,  The 3267 

Corporations,  The  Law  to  Investigate 3267 

Corporations,  The  Bonds  of  American 2830 

Corporations,  The  Head  of  the  International  Shipping.  . 

Lawrence  Perry.  2857 

Cortelyou,  George  Bruce 3337 

Craftsman,  The  Work  of  a  Japanese.  .  .Herbert  G.  Ponting.3118 

Crusade  Against  Tuberculosis,  A 3163 

Cuban  Tobacco  in  the  United  States,  Growing 

Marrion  Wilcox  .3100 
Curry,  Dr.  J.  L.  M 327s 

■p^AY  in  the  Regular  Army,  A Hamilton  M.  Higday.3007 

^-^     Day,  Portrait  of  Mr.  Sargent  and  Justice 3164 

Delaware,  The  Undoing  of 2934 

Delhi,  The  Durbar  at 2940 

Demand,  Meeting  the  Foreign 3254 

Democratic  Presidential  Candidate,  Early  Talk  of  a 3043 

Despots  and  Freebooters,   Financial 3165 

Development,  On  the  Threshold  of  Public  School 3049 

Diplomacy.  Another  Stroke  of   Wise (See  Venezuela)   3038 

Diplomatic  Corps,  The  Way  to  a  Better 2707 

Drummer,  The  College 3050 

■pARTH,  Telephoning  Through  the 2916 

■'-'      Educational  Movement,  A  New 3034 

Education,  The  Needs  of  American  Public .  .  . 

Charles  W.  Eliot.  2894 

Education,  The  Shortcomings  of  American 3269 

Election,  The  November 2819 

Employer  and  Employed,  Right  Relations  of  .  (See  Labor) .  3033 

Employment,  Humane  Conditions  of 2936 

Engineering  Feat  on  Lookout  Mountain,  An 2918 

Engineers  at  Work,  College 3144 

England,  An  American  Builder  in.  . 

An  English  Correspondent  of  The  World's  Work.  2786 

Epic,  A  Neglected Frank     Norris.  2905 

Era  in  Decorative  Art,  A  New Paul  S.  Reinsch.2779 

Estate,  The  Quiet  Control  of  a  Vast.  Henry  Harrison  Lewis.  2750 

Europe,  Facts  of  Our  Trade  with 3255 

"  Europe  versus  America  " Andrew  Carnegie.  2797 

Expenditure,  A  Call  for  Greatly  Increased  School 2825 

pACTORY  METHODS,  A  Lesson  in 3140 

Failures,  The  Causes  of  Business 3162 

Failures,  The  Instructive  Aspect  of  Commercial 3273 

Families,  About  the  Size  of 3273 

Farm,  A  German  Electrical 3366 

Farming,  The  Machinery  of  Modem 3 141 

Finance,   The   New  Centre  of  American Ivy  Lee.  2772 

Finland,  The  Russian  Obliteration  of 2708 

Fires,  Fighting  Harbor 3256 

Fisheries  of  Our  Inland  Seas,  Saving  the  .  W.  S.  Harwood.  2729 
Fiske  as  a  Popular  Historian,  John..H.  Morse  Stephens .  3359 
Flat-Dwellers  of  a  Great  City,  The.  .Albert  Bigelow  Paine.  3281 


I 


u 


INDEX  —  Continued 


PAGE. 

"  Flats. "  The  Smothered  Dwellers  in 2938 

Forestry,  The  Railroads  and John  Gifford.3347 

Forests.  Sa\-ing  the  Southern Overton   W.  Price.  3207 

Freebooters.  Financial  Despots  and 3165 

Fuel,  Another  New  Form  of 3146 

Funds.  The  Great  Methodist  Twentieth-Century 3oS4 

Furnaces,  Measuring  the  Temperature  of 3142 

(^AME  OF  LIFE,  Those  Who  Lose  in  the.  . 

^-'  Alfred  Hodder.2999 

German  Emperor's  Speeches,  A  Book  of  the 30S3 

German  Business  Methods,  What  We  Can  Learn  from .  . 

Louis  J.  Magee.3114 

German  Tariff  Law,  The  Xew 3044 

Germany,  The  American  Feeling  Toward .  (See  Venezuela) .  3153 
German   Interests  and  Tendencies  in  South   America.  . 

Frederic  Austin  Ogg.3169 

Glasgow's  Novels  and  Poems.  Miss 2791 

Gold.  Another  Revolutionary  Increase  of.  .  .Chas.  M.  Harvey. 2737 

Gold  Standard,  Silver  Countries  MoWng  Toward  the 3272 

Goods  for  a  Metropolis,  Handling 3031 

Government  Still,  How  Two  Men  Talked  the 3262 

Government  in  New  York  City,  The  Outlook  for  Permanent 

Decent   2932 

Greene,  General  Francis  V 304s 

Growth,  An  Important  Law  of  Social 2926 

TJ  AXDICRAFTS,  Our  Waste  of  Old  World 2827 

^  ^      Hatred  in  the   Old   World  and  in  the   New,   Inter- 
national  3273 

Hay's  Continued  Triumph,  Secretary 3149 

Health  in  Cities,  Raising  the  Level  of 2  7 1 1 

Health,  The  Teachings  of 3049 

Henderson's  Retirement,  The  Effect  of  Mr 2701 

Hero  Worthy  of  Remembrance,  A 3160 

History  for  the   Masses,  Natural.  .  .    Frank  M.  Chapman.  2761 

Hopldnson  Smith's  "Oliver  Horn,"  Mr 2790 

Hotel,  The  Workings  of  a  Modem.  .Albert  Bigelow  Paine.  3 171 
Hudson,   Harnessing  the ^ 3365 

IMMIGRANTS!  Whence  Come  Our.. 

•'■  Major  W.   Evans  Gordon,   M.P.3276 

Imagination    and    Honesty 3274 

Industries  and  Towns  to  Order 3032 

Industry  Has  Developed,  How  a  Small 2921 

Industries:  A  Novel  Profession,  Reorganizing   . 

Minna  C.   Smith.  2871 

Ingenuity,  Contrasts  in  National 3145 

Interfere  Without  Interfering,"      "To... (See  Venezuela) .  3 1  s  6 

International  Trusts,  The  Era  of  the 2704 

Invasion  of  Canada,  Our  Industrial .  Robert  H.  Montgomery.  2978 

Inventions  in  Naval  Warfare,  Wireless 291 7 

Instruction,  The  Widening  Scope  of 3270 

International  Hatred  in  the  New  and  the  Old  World 3273 

Investigators,  The  Corporation 3267 

Ireland.  How  the  Change  Has  Been  Wrought  in 3270 

Irish  Land  Question,  The  Possible  End  of  the 3270 

Iron-Worker  in  Central  America,  An  American 291 5 


J 


APANESE  CRAFTSMAN,  The  Work  of  a.  . 

Herbert  G .  Ponting  .3118 

IZ  ELLER,  HELEN 3164 

•*^      Krupp,    Friedrich  Alfred 2944 

T   ABOR,  The  New  Department  of    Commerce  and.  .  .  . 

•'-'  Frederic   Emory. 33 34 

Labor (See  At  Full  Tide  Yet) .  3037 

Labor  (See  Can  Arbitration  in  Labor  "Troubles  Be  Effective?)  2789 
Labor.  .  (See  Right  Relations  of  Employer  and  Employed) .  3033 

Labor (See  The  Bituminous  Coal    Settlement)  .3270 

Labor (See  The  Political  Sensitiveness  About  Trusts) .  2703 

Labor (See  The  Sum  Total  of  the  Coal  Strike) .  2706 

Labor  and  Capital  Against  the  Unorganized,  The  Combina- 
tion of  Organized 2705 

Labor  Troubles,  The  Cure  for 293s 

Labor  Troubles  Be  Effective?  Can  Arbitration  in 2789 

Labor-Union  Stories  by  an   Employer 3256 

Labor-Unions,  The  Human  Side  of  the M.  G.  Cunniff .  2742 

Labor-Unions,  The  Deep  Seriousness  of 2821 

Labor-Union  Turned  Capitalist 3140 

Land  (Question,  The  Possible  End  of  the  Irish 3270 

Law,  The  National  Bankruptcy 3264 

Law  to  Investigate  Corporations 3267 

Leadership,  Mr.  Roosevelt's  Party 3261 

Legislation,  Trust -Regulating 3164 

Legislation,  Progress  in  Child-Labor 3264 

Lemons,    Growing    American W.    S.    Harwood.3315 

Lecture  System  VVorks,  How  a  Great  Free.  .  .  .George  lies.  3327 
Libraries,  The  Rapid  Growth  of  Public.  .Helen  F.  Haines. 30S6 

Life-Boat,  A  New 3143 

Life,  Those  Who  Lose  in  the  Game  of Alfred  Hodder.  2999 

Life,  The  Moral  Soundness  of  American Julian  Ralph.  2747 

Literature  and  American  Society,  Immoral 2714 

Lloyds Chalmers  Roberts. 3295 

Locomotives,  Improvements  in 3368 

London,    The    Rebuilding   of Chalmers    Roberts.  2719 


MACHINE  for  Social  Betterment,  A  Vast .  . 
Raymond    Stevens . 

Machinery  of  Modem  Farming,  The 

Machines  to  Order,  Making  Automatic 

Machinery,  One  Use  of 

Man,  A  Moral  Reform  in  the  Industrial 

Man  That  Failed,  The Thomas  R.   Dawley,  Jr. 

Man  Who  Found  Himself  and  His  Work,  The 

Manufactures,  American Edward  D.  Jones . 

Marconi' s  Triumphs  and  Cheaper  Telegraphy 

Masses,  Natural  History  for  the Frank  M.  Chapman. 

Medicine  and  Surgery,  The  Recent  Advances  in .  . 

A.T.  Bristow,  M.  D. 

Men,  Business  Training  for  (College 

Methods,  A  Lesson  in  Factory 

Methodist  Twentieth-Century  Fund,  The  Great 

Metropolis,  Handling  Goods  for  a 

Military  Organization  of  Our  History,  The  Best  Peace 

Mormons:  a  Successful  Cooperative  Society,  The.  . 

Glen  Miller. 

Mountain,  An  Engineering  Feat  on  Lookout 

Movement,  A  New  Educational 

Municipal  Character  and  Achievements  of  Chicago,  The.  . 

Frederic  C.  Howe. 

■M^  AST'S  Immortal  Donkey,  Elephant  and  Tiger,  Mr 

•'•  '      Nations,  The  New  Attitude  of  the 

National  Ingenuity,  Contrasts  in 

Naval  Constructors  in  America,  Making 

Navy  at  Work,  The  New.  . 

Lieutenant -Commander  Albert  Gleaves,  U.S.N. 

Negro  Community  Ruled  by  Primitive  Methods,  A 

Negro-Controversy  Local  in  Its  Political  Effects,  The 

Negro  Himself,  The 

Newspaper  Correspondent,  The  Confessions  of  a  Foreign .  . 

Wolf  von  Schierbrand . 
Newspaper,  Conducting  a  Russian .  Wolf  von  Schierbrand . 

Newspaper  Man.  An  Adventure  of  a 

New  York,  The  Geographical  Readjustment  of 

Nile,  Subduing  the Chalmers   Roberts. 

Norris,  Frank W.  S.  Rainsford. 

Norris,  The  Death  of  Mr.  Frank 

Novels,  Guessing  at  the  Popularity  of 

Novelists  of  Sincerity  and  Charm,  Three 

Nurse,  The  School 


334t 
3141 
2921 
3257 
2826 
300s 
3369 
3012 

3044 
2761 

3202 
2922 
3140 
3054 
3031 
3160 

2881 
2919 

3034 

3240 

2939 
2813 
3145 
3141 

3059 
3368 
3262 
3158 

33SS 
2975 
2920 
3046 
2861 
3276 
2830 

2715 
2790 
3258 


QFFICE  BUILDING,  The  Biography  of  an.. 

^-^  Arthur  Goodrich.  29 55 

Officers,  A  Programme  for  Selecting  Public 2932 

Ohio,  A  Hundred  Years  of Charles  M.  Harvey. 3229 

Opera  in  New  York 3275 

Opportunities,  The  Saving  of  Individual 2926 

Organization  in  Our  History,  The  Best  Peace  Military 3160 

Outlook,  A  Year  That  Has  Brought  a  Wider "2813 

Owen  Wister's  Stories  of  Americanism,  Mr 2792 

pAN.\MA  Canal  in  Sight,  The 3149 

Panics  and  Depressions,  The  Individual  Responsibility 

for 294 1 

Philanthropy,  Definite  Progress  of 3047 

Philanthropy,  Precision  in  Patriotic 304S 

Physical  Breakdown,  The  Prevention  of.  . 

Floyd  M.  Crandall,  M.  D.3124 

Pit — A   Story   of   Chicago,"    "The Owen    Wister.3133 

Plows,  The  Difference  Between  American  and  European.  .  .  .  3253 

Politics,  A  New  Chapter  in  Southern 2820 

Politics,  Larger  Forces  Than  Race 3157 

Politics  Narrows  the  Horizon,  How  Race 3158 

Population,  The  Proportion  of  City  and  Country.  . 

Frederic  Austin  Ogg.  3003 

Postal  Stories  of  Growth  and  Prosperity 2828 

Post-Office,  The  Traveling Forest  Crissey .  2873 

Poverty  Help  Character?  Does 3274 

President,  A  Day's  Work  of  a  Railroad.  .  .  .F.  W.  Barksdale.3313 

President  and  the  Tariff,  The 2702 

President,  Brazil  and  Its  New 3052 

President  Has  Staked  His  Fortunes,  How  the 2931 

President's  Summary  of  Our  "Colonial"  Achievements,  The  .  2932 

President  on  His  Tours,  The Lindsay  Denison.  2754 

Problem,  Deep  Waters  of  the  Race 293s 

Problem,  Sol\"ing  a  Social 3032 

Problems  and  the  New  Year,  Old 2925 

Problem  That  Grows  Under  Discussion,  A 3043 

Professions — Public   School  Teaching,  The   Present  Status 

of    the William    McAndrew.  3187 

Professions — the  Law,  The  Present  Status  of  the.  . 

Harry  D.  Nims.3082 
Profit-Sharing,  What  Employees  Say  of .  Fullerton  L.  Waldo. 2853 

Progress  from  the  Bottom 3271 

Prohibition,  The  Practical  End  of 3160 

Public  Officers,  A  Programme  for  Selecting 2932 

Public  Schools,  Trade  Apprentices  in 3366 

Public  School  Influence,  The  Enormous  Extension  of 3269 

Public  Schools  Do  Their  Work?  How  Well  Do  the 271  i 

Public  School  Development,  On  the  Threshold  of 3049 

Public  Servants,  The  Pay  of 3161 

Public  Works,  Preparing  for  Two  Great 2824 

Pulpit,  Economic  Sermons  from  the 2937 

Pupils  Becoming  Teachers 3034 


INDEX  —  Continued 


ffi 


Q 


UESTION.  Changed  Opinions  on  the  Race. 


PAUB. 

.  .3156 


13  ACIC  Politics  Narrows  tlio  Horizon,  How 31  SH 

^^      Race  Politics,  Larger  Forces  Than 3157 

Race  Problems,  Uoe|)  Waters  of  the 29J5 

Race  Questions,  Changed  Opinions  on  the 315') 

Railroad  Collisions,  The  Prevention  of 3162 

Railroad  President,  A  Day's  Work  of  a.  .  ,  .P.  N.  Barksdale.  331  j 
Railroad  Prosperity  and  a  $43,000,000  Increase  in  Wages.  2930 

Railroad  Rebates,  The  More  Stringent  Laws  Against 3267 

Railroad   System,   Trollev   Lines  in   a.  . Sylvester   Baxter. 30Q3 

Railroad,  The  Continued  Progress  of  a  Great  American 3367 

Railroads,  Accidents  on  American 2827 

Railroads  and  Forestry John  Gifford.3347 

Railroads,  Elevating  and  Straightening 3142 

Railroad's  Provision  for  Its  Employees,  A  .  , 33^7 

Readjustment  of  New  York,  The  Geographical 3046 

Reed,  Mr 293Q 

Reform  in  the  Industrial  Man,  A  Moral 2826 

Relations  of  Employer  and  Employed,  Right. (See  Labor). 3033 

Republic,  New  Citizens  for  the A.  R.  Dugmore.3323 

Residence,   "The   Model  American ....  Katherine  C.   Budd.3344 

Restoration  of  the  White  House,  The 2827 

Results  at  Any  Cost,  Getting 3145 

Retirement,  The  Effect  of  Mr.  Henderson's 2701 

Roosevelt's  Party  Leadership,  Mr 3261 

Rumania,  A  Wholesome  Word  to  the  World — Through 2707 

Russia,  An  American  in 3139 

Russia,  American  Opportunities  in 3139 

Russian  Newspaper,  Conducting  a .  .Wolf  von  Schierbrand.  297  s 
Russian  Obliteration  of  Finland,  The 2708 

C  AMOAN  Award,  The  Lessons  of  the 2829 

"^     Sargent  and  Justice  Day,  Portraits  of  Mr 3164 

Schools,  A  Great  English  Educator  on  American 3268 

Schools  Do  Their  Work  ?  How  Well  Do  the  Public 2711 

School  E.^cpenditure,  A  Call  for  Greatly  Increased 2825 

Schoolhouses,  Widening  the  Use  of  Public .  . 

Sylvester  Baxter. 3247 

School  in  the  Slums,  The 3033 

School  Nurse,  The 3258 

Sea  Power.  Our  Rapidly  Increasing 2929 

Seas,  Saving  the  Fisheries  of  Our  Inland.  .W.  S.  Harwood.2729 

Senator  from  Utah,  The  Apostolic 3159 

Servant,  Governor  Taft  as  an  Example  of    the  Successful 

Public 3150 

Servants,  The  Pay  of  Public 3161 

Shakspere  Is  Not  Understood,  Why 3249 

Ship  Afloat,  Another  Largest 3365 

Shipping  Corporation,  The  Head  of  the  International.  . 

Lawrence   Perry  .2857 
Ships,    Modem    Methods   of    Saving.  .Morgan    Robertson.  2946 

Silver  Countries  Moving  toward  the  Gold  Standard 3272 

Social  Betterment,  A  Force  for 3053 

Social  Betterment.  A  Vast  Machine  for. Raymond  Stevens. 3341 

Social  Growth,  An  Important  Law  of 2926 

Social  Problem,  Solving  a 3032 

Society,  Immoral  Literature  and  American 2714 

Society,  The  Mormons  a  Successful  Cooperative  .Glen  Miller  .2881 
South  America,  German  Interests  and  Tendencies  in 

Frederic   Austin   Ogg.3169 

South  American  States,  The  Future  of 3040 

South  Carohna,  The  Matter  with 3iS3 

Southern  Politics,  A  New  Chapter  in 2821 

Speeches,  A  Book  of  the  German  Emperor's 3053 

Spencer,  Herbert George  lies. 3107 

Station,   A  Talent-Saving 3033 

Steel-Built  City,  The  Human  Atoms  of  a 2937 

Steel  Corporation's  Profit-Sharing  Plan,  The  United  States.  . 

Arthur  Goodrich.305s 

Stories  of  Growth  and  Prosperity,  Postal 2828 

Story  of  a  Botanical  Collector,  The 2920 

Strike,  The  Sum  Total  of  the  Coal (See  Labor).  2  706 

Subway,  The  Builder  of  the  New  York. Raymond  Stevens. 2833 

Success,  The  Little  Things  That  Count  for 3141 

Suffrage,  The  Standstill  of  Woman 2826 

Surgery,  Recent  Advance  in  Medicine  and.  .A.  T.  Bristow.3202 

Survey,  A  One-Man 2919 

Systems,  The  Pacific  Cable 2932 


'TARIFF  Discussion, 


The  Plain,  Large   Facts   about.  .  .  . 

(See  Trade)  .2702 
Taft   as   an    Example    of    the    Successful    Public  Servant, 

Governor 3150 

Tariff  Law,  The  New  German 3044 

Tariflf,  The  President  and  the 2702 

Tasks,  Social — Not   Structural 2925 

Teachers,  Pupils  Becoming 3034 

Telegraphy.  Commercial  Wireless Lawrence   Perry. 3194 

Telegraphy,  Marconi's  Triumph  and  Cheaper 3044 

Telephone,  A  Wireless 2917 

Telephoning  Through  the  Earth 2916 

Thought,  Two  Noteworthy  Changes  in  Public .  .  (See  Trade) .  2814 
Thrift  in  the  Middle  West,  An  Era  of  .Charles  Moreau  Harger309i 

Tide  Yet,  At  Full (See  Labor)  .  3037 

Tours,  The  President  on  His Lindsay  Denison.  2754 

Town  Made  Idle  by  a  Trust,  A Franklin  Matthews. 2972 

Towns  to  Order,  Industries  and 3032 


PAOE. 

Trade  Apprentices  in  Public  Schools 3366 

Trade.  ..  .(See   One    lilTcct   <if    IIi«li    Wages   in    America)  .3143 

Trade (See    The    New    Cicriiian    TanlT    Law) .  3044 

Trade (See  The   President   ami   llic  Tariff). 2702 

Trade.  (See  The  Plain,  Large  Facts  about  Tariff  Discussion)  .2702 
Trade.(See  The  Probable  Programme  for  Trust  Regulation)  .2K23 
Trade.  .(Sec  Two  Noteworthy  Changes  in  Public  Thought) .  2814 
Trade-Unions,    Americanism    for    British.. 

Alfred  Mosely.  C.M.G.3018 

Trade  with  Eur(ii)e,  Facts  <>(  Our 3255 

Trees,  The  Business  of  Saving 3144 

Trolley  Lines  in  a  Railroad  System  ..Sylvester  Baxter. 300} 
Trust,  A  Town   Made   Idle    by  a.  ..  .Franklin   Matthews.  2972 

Trust    Boot   on  the  Other  Foot,  One 2705 

Trust   Regulation,   The   Probable   Programme  for.  . 

(See   Trade).  282  3 

Trust  Regulating  Legislation 3164 

Trust,  The  Era  of  the  International 2704 

Trusts  as  Their  Makers- View  Them.  .  .  .James  H,  Bridge.  2782 
Trusts  in  Agreement,  The  Builders,  the  Regulators  and  the 

Enemies    of (See    Labor) .  2703 

Trusts  or  by  Their  Help?  The  People  Rich  in  Spite  of  the. .  .  .  3268 

Trusts,  The  Political  Sensitiveness  about 2703 

Tuberculosis,  A  Crusade  Against 3163 

I  JNIONISTS  Saw,  What  the  British M.  G.  CunnifT.3023 

'-'      United  States  Steel  Corporation's  Profit-Sharing  Plan, 

The Arthur  Goodrich .  30s  S 

United  States,  Why  Zola  Was  Never  Popular  in  the 2715 

United  States,  Growing  Cuban  Tobacco  in  the.  . 

Marrion  Wilcox. 3100 
Utah,  The  Apostolic  Senator  from 3159 

yANDERLIP'S  Consen,-ative  Warning,  Mr 2819 

'       Venezuelan    Trouble,   Great  Questions   Out  of  the.  . 

John  Callan  O'Laughlin.3223 

Venezuela  in  Convulsion,  Colombia  and 2828 

Venezuela (See  Another  Stroke  of  Wise  Diplomacy)  .3038 

Venezuela. (See  (Clearing  the  Atmosphere  of  Three  Conti- 
nents)   3040 

Venezuela.  .(See  The  American  Feeling  Toward  Germany)  .3153 
Venezuela.  .  (See  The  Future  of  the  South  American  States) .  3040 
Venezuela.  ..  .(See  "To  Interfere  Without  Interfering") .  3156 
Von  Stemburg — the  German  Envoy,  Baron 315s 


■\X7'AGES  in  America,  One  Effect  of  High 

•'       Wages,  Railroad  Prosperity  and   a    $43,000,000    In- 
crease in 

Warfare,  Wireless  Inventions  in  Naval 

Warning,  A  Conservative  Word  of.  .    Frank  A.  Vanderlip. 

Wars,  The  Debauching  After  Costs  of  Our 

Washington,  The  Carnegie  Institute  of.  Dr.  D.  C.  Oilman. 

Waste  of  Old  World  Handicrafts,  Our 

West,  An  Era  of  Thrift  in  the  Middle.  . 

Charles  Moreau  Harger. 

White  House,  The  Restoration  of  the 

Woman's  Suffrage,  The  Standstill  of 

Word  to    the    World — Through   Rumania,  A  Wholesome. 
Workmanship,  An  Example  of  Exact  and  Delicate.  . 

Philip  Prescott  Frost . 

Workman,  The  Weil-Paid  and  Well-Treated 

Works,  Preparing  for  Two  Great  Public 

World  Is,  How  Small  the 

World  Is,  How  Large  the 


3143 


2936 
2917 
2906 
2929 
3166 
2827 

3091 
2827 
2826 
2707 

3129 
3161 
282s 
3051 
3051 


■y  EAR,  Old  Problems  and  the  New 2925 

*  Year  That  Has  Brought  a  Wider  Outlook,  A 2813 

7 OLA  Was  Never  Popular  in  the  United  States,  Why 2715 

INDEX   TO    PORTRAITS. 

Addams,  Miss  Jane 2930 

Arnold,  F  W 2760 

Astor,  John  Jacob 2753 

Barnard,  George  Grey 2843 

Cannon,  Joseph  G 2924 

Cleveland,  Ex-President  Grover 2812 

Conried,  Mr.  Heinrich 3266 

Cortelyou,  Mr.  George  Bruce 3260 

Crane,  Governor  W.  Murray 2709 

Cummings,  Governor  A  B 2698 

Day,  Mr  William  R 31 51 

Duse,  Eleanora 2816 

Fritz,  Mr.  John 2818 

Garfield,  Mr.  James  R 3263 

Glasgow,  Miss  Ellen 2792 

Greene,  General  Francis  V 3041 

Griscom,  Clement  A 2859 

Hanrahan,  J.J 2760 

Hays,  Charles  M 2992 

James,  Dr.  Edmund  J 2817 

Keller,  Miss  Helen 3152 

Krupp,  The  Late  Herr  Friedrich  Alfred 2927 

Leipziger,  Dr.  Henry  M 3329 

Marconi,  -Signor 3198 


iv 


INDEX  —  Continued 


PAGE. 

Mascagni,  Pietro 2700 

McCann,  Mr.  George .3290 

McDonald,  John  B 2835 

Mills,  Rev.  Dr.  Edmund  M .5265 

Moody,  W.  H 3o.?6 

Namikawa,  Y 31 20 

Nash,  Governor  George  K 3234 

Norris,  Frank 2815 

Norman,  Henry    2697 

Parker.  Chief  Justice  Alton  B 3039 

Reed,  The  Late  Thomas  Brackett 2928 

Reader,  Captain 3072 

Russell,  Dr.  James  E 3042 


PAGB. 

Sargent,  Mr.  John  S 3148 

Shaughnessy,  Sir  Thomas  G 2989 

Smith,  F.  Hopkinson 2796 

Smith,  Joseph    F 2887 

Spencer,  Herbert 3109 

Stewart,  James  C 2712 

Tower,  Charlemagne 2710 

Tuttle,  President  Lucius 3099 

Van  Home,  Sir  William  C 2993 

Von  Stemburg,  Baron  Speck 31 54 

Wister,  Owen 279s 

Wright,  Carroll  D 2694 

Whitney,  Henry  M 2988 


CARROLL    D.    WRIGHT 

UNITtD    STATES   COMMISSIONER   OF  LABOR  —  PRESIDENT  OF 
THE     COLLEGIATE     DEPARTMENT     OF     CLARK     VNn'ERSITY 


THE 


World's  Work 


NOVEMBER,    1902 


Volume   V 


Number   i 


a  TOor^  on  a  :i6irtbbai? 


WHILE  we  are  young  it  were  wrong 
not  to  celebrate  a  birthday,  espe- 
cially if  it  fall  in  the  Thanks- 
giving month.  Since  The  World's  Work  is 
now  two  years  old  and  its  dominant  mood  is 
thankfulness,  why  should  it  not  frankly  speak 
its  birthday  gratitude?  For  it  was  luckily 
born — born  of  a  strong  impulse  tempered 
with  not  too  much  deliberation. 

"  We  must  make  a  magazine,"  it  was  said 
two  years  ago — "must  for  the  sheer  love 
of  it";  for  the  owners  and  the  con- 
ductors of  The  World's  Work  (and  its 
owners  are  its  conductors)  had  had  a  con- 
siderable experience,  and  had  for  many  years 
got  growth  and  pleasure  in  the  practice  of  the 
magazine  craft,  or  art,  or  profession  (what- 
ever you  choose  to  call  it,  for  it  is  all  three) ; 
and  men  who  have  pleasantly  spent  the  first 
half  of  their  lives  going  in  one  direction  are 
likely  for  the  second  half  to  travel  the  same 
road. 

"But  is  the  time  opportune?"  we  asked 
one  another.  Since  almost  any  time  is  oppor- 
tune for  doing  anything  if  it  be  done  well 
enough,  there  was  nothing  to  discuss  in  that 
question.  Yet  not  only  must  a  magazine 
serve  the  public,  but  the  public  must  consent 
to  be  served  by  it ;  and  so  much  of  the  public 
as  could  be  found  by  personal  interviews 
showed  no  great  eagerness  for  further  service 
or  for  further  suffering. 

"  Another  magazine  !  "  exclaimed  one  friend. 


"Another  magazine!"  exclaimed  another. 

So  a  third — so  all.  The  late  Mr.  Charles 
Dudley  Warner,  when  he  heard  a  rumor  of  it, 
wrote  in  his  friendly  jocose  way:  "  I  hear  that 
you  are  going  to  put  out  a  new  magazine. 
I  had  just  been  thinking  how  much  we  need 
another — there  are  so  few."  In  fact,  the 
paper  makers  are  the  only  members  of  the 
community  who  showed  a  becoming  eager- 
ness about  it. 

But  the  lack  of  definite  encouragement  in 
no  way  touched  the  root  of  the  matter;  for 
the  purpose  was  not  simply  to  make  a  maga- 
zine, but  a  magazine  that  should  carry  out  a 
particular  idea ;  and  everything  depended  on 
how  well  it  should  be  made.  There  could, 
then,  be  no  intelligent  discussion  of  the  enter- 
prise till  the  magazine  should  appear,  nor  any 
definite  idea  formed  of  its  chance  to  do  a  use- 
ful service.  The  work  of  getting  it  ready, 
therefore,  took  the  place  of  discussion. 

One  thing  was  clearly  settled  in  the  begin- 
ning. If  the  idea  were  a  good  one  it  would 
prove  itself  quickly.  If  it  did  not  prove  itself 
quickly,  it  should  be  abandoned.  A  modest 
sum  of  money  was  set  aside  (enough  to  pay 
for  only  a  few  numbers  of  the  magazine). 
If,  when  that  were  spent,  it  did  not  show 
vitality,  it  should  be  stopped.  If  it  had  to  be 
kept  alive  by  the  sheer  force  of  money,  it  were 
not  worth  keeping  alive.  There  should  be 
no  halting  life.  Of  struggling  magazines 
there  surely  were  already  too  many. 


2696 


A    WORD    OX    A    BIRTHDAY 


It  turned  out  that  there  was  just  at  that 
time  no  well-equipped  printing  house  in  New 
York  Cit)'  that  had  room  to  take  it  in  and  to 
do  the  work  with  the  degree  of  mechanical 
excellence  that  was  demanded.  A  part  of 
the  magazine  was,  therefore,  printed  in 
Massachusetts,  a  part  of  it  at  one  place  in 
New  York,  and  it  was  sewed  (sewed,  mind 
you;  not  wired)  at  still  another  place  in  New 
York — with  some  physical  difficulty  and  with 
a  great  deal  of  trouble,  all  which  has  long 
ago  been  forgotten;  for  presently  a  printing 
establishment  appeared,  as  if  made  for  this 
very  purpose.  And  other  good  and  necessary 
things  began  to  appear — and  they  have 
been  appearing  ever  since. 

But  when  the  first  number  was  published, 
it  made  very  different  impressions  on  different 
men.  "I  cannot  see  any  reason  for  its  exist- 
ence," said  one  of  our  foremost  men  of  letters, 
with  friendly  frankness.  "It  has  no  definite 
idea,  and  it  isn't  literature."  A  year  later 
the  same  man  said:  "I  now  see  what  you 
mean.  You  really  take  our  pushing  American 
life  seriously,  as  a  thing  that  has  a  deep  moral 
meaning,  and  not  as  a  mere  method  of  gain. 
I  now  see  the  tremendous  earnestness  of  the 
magazine  and  its  real  faith  in  our  democracy. 
Other  people  say  that  they  believe  in  all  our 
activity  and  in  what  it  leads  to.  You  really 
do  believe  in  it,  and  you  have  converted  me." 
A  change  of  opinion  like  that  was  w'orth  wait- 
ing a  year  for  surely  ! 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie, 
who  also  is  a  member  of  the  Authors'  Club 
in  New  York,  took  the  trouble  to  write  that 
the  first  number  was  so  good  that  "you  can't 
keep  it  up."  Mark  Twain,  who  is  a  philoso- 
pher as  well  as  a  man  of  letters  and  a  man  of 
experience  in  life,  wished  it  mighty  well  by 
an  apt  story,  but  he  did  not  entangle  himself 
in  prophecy.  There  is  a  copy  of  the  first 
number  on  which  Mr.  Kipling  wrote  illumi- 
nating and  helpful  comments  from  beginning 
to  end — advertising  pages  and  all.  The  con- 
flicting opinions  that  sensible  men  form  about 
the  same  magazine  is  one  of  the  most  astonish- 
ing phenomena  of  human  society. 

But  with  all  respect  to  the  opinions  of 
eminent  men,  and  grateful  as  their  apprecia- 
tion is,  they  are  of  less  value  regarding  a 
magazine  whose  aim  is  to  interpret  the 
activity  of  the  people,  than  the  judgment  of 
great  numbers  of  the  active  people  them- 
selves.    The  soundness  of  the  idea  that  under- 


lies The  World's  Work  began  to  find  proof 
at  once  in  expressions  like  these  from  thou- 
sands of  such  men:  "Its  a  working  maga- 
zine." "It  believes  in  the  American  man 
who  does  things."  "It  gives  new  energy  to 
its  readers."  In  other  words,  the  people  took 
to  reading  it ;  and  their  approval  of  its  serious 
purpose  was  the  final  proof  of  its  service.  The 
great  commercial  public,  too,  quickly  showed 
its  appreciation.  "It's  practical."  they  said; 
whereby,  of  course,  they  usually  meant  that  it 
made  an  appeal  to  their  imagination. 

By  reason  of  its  earnest  sympathy  with  all 
men  who  work  to  some  purpose,  even  the  little 
sum  of  money  that  the  magazine  was  bom 
with  was  not  needed  for  its  rearing;  for  it 
quickly  made  its  own  way.  It  is  amusing  now 
to  look  over  the  carefully  drawn  estimates  of 
its  cost,  for  the  cost  turned  out  to  be  very 
much  greater  than  the  estimates.  Luckily 
the  income,  too.  was  greater  than  the  esti- 
mated income,  else  this  page  would  never 
have  been  printed  to  tell  this  story. 

The  broad  idea  of  the  magazine  is  that 
efficient  activity  by  the  whole  people  is  the 
basis  of  all  sound  and  beautifiil  growths  in  a 
democracy.  It  is  the  basis  of  social  health,  of 
political  sanity,  of  literature — of  everything; 
and  the  efficient  activity  of  men  now  living 
is,  therefore,  the  most  interesting  subject  in 
the  world  to  make  a  helpful  magazine  litera- 
ture about.  Or,  to  say  it  in  another  way,  the 
magazine  that  adds  to  the  well-balanced 
energetic  impulse  of  our  times  is  a  useful  force 
in  American  life. 

But  a  birthday  party  is  not  a  fit  time  for 
a  sermon,  especially  the  birthday  party  of  a 
magazine  that  believes  little  in  sermons  as  a 
means  of  grace,  and  much  in  work.  But  it  is 
an  occasion  to  thank  one's  good  friends. 
From  every  part  of  the  world  they  have  come, 
in  unexpected  numbers,  and  many  of  them 
are  the  foremost  men  in  almost  every  kind 
of  useful  work.  To  say  thanks  to  them  is 
the  purpose  of  this  page  stolen  from  its  usual 
use.  The  contributors  to  The  World's 
Work  have  made  its  conduct  a  constant 
pleasure  by  their  courtesy  and  by  their 
earnestness.  The  managers  of  the  business 
of  the  magazine,  too.  have  met  the  most 
courteous  appreciation  in  the  commercial 
world,  and  its  advertising  patronage  has  out- 
run the  largest  expectations. 

During  these  two  years  the  great  events, 
it    has    so    happened,    have    been    industrial 


HENRY   NORMAN,   M.  P. 

EDITOR   OF  THE   ENGLISH    "  WORLD'S   WORK 


GOVERNOR  A.    B.   CUMMINS 


["  The  Republicans  of  my  State  believe  the  time  has  come  for  certain  changes  in  the  tariff.  .  .  .  We  know  that  there  are  monopolies  which 
could  not  stand  for  a  minute  if  there  were  nothing  but  legitimate  protection  in  the  Dingley  \3v;."—From  an  interviewwith  Governor  Cummint 
in  The  New  York  Times,  September  24th. \ 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


2699 


events;  and  the  emphasis  has  naturally  been 
laid  on  them.  But  the  emphasis  will  be 
changed  as  events  change,  else  it  would  not 
be  emphasis  at  all,  but  only  the  tom-tom  of 
class  periodical  literature ;  and  class  periodical 
literature,  whether  it  be  of  the  industrial  or 
of  the  political  class,  or  of  the  literary  class, 

or  of  the  educational  class  or  what  not 

well,  that  is  another  story. 

And  suggestions  have  not  been  lacking 
for  The  World's  Work  to  become  a  class 
periodical  if  it  had  been  so  minded.  Early 
in  its  career  one  of  the  political  machines 
became  suggestively  cordial.  (The  amusing 
thing  is  that  anybody  should  think  that  a 
political  magazine  could  have  any  political 
influence.)  More  than  once  plans  have  been 
proposed  for  a  great  service  to  literature  by 
the  publication  of  many  critical  articles. 
(The  amusing  thing  is  that  anybody  should 
think  that  "literary"  articles  have  any  effect 
on  literature.)  ]\Iany  propositions  have  been 
made  for  great  "industrial  features,"  for 
"  departments  "  of  all  sorts,  for  more  attention 
to  women's  work — for  many  plans  to  further 
social  progress  by  machine  methods — all  well 
meant,  all  plausible,  all  sound  except  for  the 
fatal  fact  that  the  moment  you  become  a 
special  pleader  you  lose  your  moral  influence ; 
and  the  ossification  of  magazines  begins  in 
their  "Departments."  A  sort  of  melancholy 
gaiety  has  been  given  to  life  also  by  the  offer 
at  low  prices  of  many  other  magazines  which 
need  only  "a  little  pushing"  to  roll  over  the 
line  that  separates  sheer  toil  from  achieve- 
ment.    "Push  a  magazine!"  once  exclaimed 


a  very  successful  editor;  "I  wouldn't  have 
one  that  didn't  i)ull.  Can  you  push  a  horse 
by  the  reins .''" 

In  other  countries  as  well  as  our  own 
The  World's  Work  has  been  most  kindly 
received.  "It  is  accepted  here  as  the  best 
interpreter  of  the  American  spirit" — so  worfl 
has  come  time  and  again  Ijy  personal  report 
or  by  letter  from  almost  every  country  in 
Europe,  from  Japan,  from  South  America, 
from  South  Africa;  and  there  have  been  pro- 
posals to  publish  editions  for  several  foreign 
countries.  Many  such  suggestions  were  re- 
ceived from  England ;  and  the  owners  of  the 
magazine  were  glad  last  summer  to  see  the 
best  possible  plan  take  shape  in  an  English 
World's  Work,  which  begins  a  vigorous 
career  this  month  under  the  editorship  of 
Mr.  Henry  Norman,  the  distinguished  writer 
and  journalist,  with  Mr.  William  Heincmann 
as  publisher,  a  magazine  independent  of  this 
one,  but  with  the  same  name  and  the  same 
aim,  and  on  a  basis  of  practical  cooperation 
with  The  World's  Work. 

And  now,  these  festivities  ended,  let  us  again 
turn  to  work  under  the  pleasing  excitement 
of  the  march  of  events — work  that  from  one 
year's  end  to  another  is  a  high  pleasure, 
because  the  events  of  our  time  are  so  interest- 
ing that  we  do  not  envy  the  past,  and  we  may 
even  be  content  that  the  future  must  belong 
to  others  since  we  may  help  to  shape  it.  So 
interesting  is  our  time  and  our  country  that 
we  are  most  fortunate  who  happen  here  and 
now  to  be  passing  through  the  world. 


Zbc  flDarcb  of  invents 


THERE  has  grown  up  in  the  now  long- 
dominant  party  at  Washington  a 
stolid  solidity  of  comfortable  old- 
party  managers.  They  are  not  what  is  usually 
called  a  political  machine.  But  they  are 
formed  into  an  impregnable  phalanx  of 
privilege.  Most  of  them  are  old,  rich,  com- 
fortable, famous,  each  in  his  own  area  and  in 
his  own  way,  and  they  are  powerful.  They 
control  the  party  machinery  in  many  States. 
By  temperament  they  stand  for  all  vested 
interests.  They  have  so  long  regarded  them- 
selves and  have  been  regarded  by  others  as 


"the  party"  that  they  feel  a  proprietary 
interest  in  it  and  in  the  government.  Most 
of  them  are  past  the  age  of  adaptability  to 
new  conditions  or  of  the  ability  to  see  new 
conditions.  They  prefer  the  comfort  of 
being  let  alone  and  of  letting  everything  else 
alone.  Reciprocity  trade  treaties  ?  Some 
of  their  constituents  are  opposed  to  them. 
The  economic  relief  of  Cuba?  That  disturbs 
a  few  tariff  schedules.  The  tariff?  Are  we 
not  prosperous?  The  trusts?  What  can 
anybody  do  with  the  trusts  ?  Moreover,  the 
great  corporations  and  the  protected  interests 


»^ 


riETRO    MASCAGNI 

COMPOSER    OF    "CAVALLER.IA    RUSTICANA,"    ETC. 


rill<:    EFFECT    OF    MR.    II  EN  UERSON'S    RETIREMENT 


2701 


contribute  to  campaign  funds.  This  stolid 
solidity  of  inaction  is  the  natural  result  of 
long  prosperity  and  power  as  they  affect  the 
Elders  of  any  party  or  sect. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  President  is  an 
exceedingly  active  man,  an  executive  who 
wishes  to  bring  things  to  pass,  independent, 
courageous,  restless.  An  inactive  part  of  the 
government  is  to  him  a  dead  part.  Our 
word  once  given  to  Cuba,  we  must  literally 
and  instantly  make  it  good.  If  the  trusts  are 
dangerous,  they  must  be  regulated.  If  tariff 
schedules  become  in  time  unequal,  as  regarded 
from  a  protectionist  standpoint,  there  must 
be  some  means  of  changing  them.  And, 
above  all,  no  subject  is  too  sacred  for  open 
discussion. 

Here  is  a  clash  of  temperaments  that  can 
never  be  reconciled.  The  Vested  Interests 
made  Mr.  Roosevelt  Vice-President  in  order 
to  take  him  out  of  the  Governor's  chair  at 
Albany.  He  was  too  "indiscreet"  and  ener- 
getic and  independent.  The  Elders  and  the 
Vested  Interests  would  like  to  keep  him  out 
of  the  Presidency,  and  they  will  if  they  can. 
But  they  cannot  wage  an  open  warfare.  He 
is  the  head  of  the  party.  He  is  uncommonly 
popular.  One  Republican  State  convention 
after  another  has  indorsed  him  for  the  next 
nomination.  The  Elders  cannot  be  quite 
frank  with  him  or  they  dare  not  be.  Few 
persons  are  quite  frank  with  any  President 
when  they  think  that  he  is  in  error.  They 
speak  half  truths.  They  soften  criticism  with 
flattery.  A  party  of  Senators  will  confer 
with  the  President  about  his  speech-making 
and  fall  just  short  of  expressing  all  their  fears 
of  disturbance  to  the  party.  But  they  will 
subsequently  meet  and  storm  and  rage 
among  themselves.  The  Speaker  of  the 
House  will  retire  from  the  next  Congress 
because  of  a  divergence  of  opinion  about  the 
tariff  without  conferring  with  the  President. 

In  the  meantime  there  is  evidence  that  the 
President  is  as  popular  among  the  masses  as 
he  is  unpopular  among  the  managers.  Neither 
he  nor  the  Elders  will  make  an  open  rupture. 
The  silent  struggle  will  go  on — sometimes  it 
is  even  an  unconscious  struggle — till  one  side 
or  the  other  succumb ;  and  there  will  never  be 
public  evidence  that  there  ever  was  a  struggle. 
The  most  important  contests  are  often  the 
least  noisy.     Upon  this  silent  struggle  prob- 

iably  hangs  the  fate  of  the  Republican  party 


The  qualities  of  the  President  as  a  success- 
ful party  leader  on  a  national  scale  must  be 
proved.  So  far  he  has  surely  made  a  most 
efficient  executive  and  gained  to  a  remarkable 
degree  the  favor  of  the  people.  The  chance 
that  he  will  win  now  seems  overwhelming. 
As  for  the  Republican  Elders,  if  they  should 
have  their  way,  as  soon  as  the  Democrats  find 
an  able  and  earnest  leader  who  can  command 
the  confidence  of  the  business  world,  the 
Republican  party  would  be  in  grave  danger 
of  defeat.  The  turning  point  is  the  public 
feeling  against  the  trusts  and  the  tariff. 

THE  EFFECT  OF  MR.  HENDERSON'S  RETIREMENT 

MR.  HENDERSON,  of  Iowa,  the  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  has 
refused  to  run  for  Congress  again  (although 
his  election  was  certain  and  his  reelection  to 
the  Speakership  probable),  because  he  is  too 
stalwart  a  Protectionist  to  stand  comfortably 
on  the  Iowa  Republican  platform.  His 
declination  was  the  frank  action  of  an  honor- 
able small  man ;  and  the  political  flurry  caused 
by  it  soon  passed,  for  he  is  not  a  commanding 
personality  in  national  politics. 

But  it  emphasized  the  restlessness  of  the 
Republican  party  under  the  tossing  of  tariff- 
reform  opinion,  especially  of  the  anti-trust 
feeling;  and  this  feeling  is  stronger  in  the 
Western  States  than  in  the  Eastern.  In 
Iowa,  in  particular,  it  will  not  subside.  While 
a  general  protective  policy  seems  assured  for 
a  long  time  to  come,  and  we  are  not  in  sight 
of  anything  like  free  trade,  and  while  even  a 
tariff  solely  for  revenue  is  remote,  yet  the 
rates  of  the  present  Dingley  law  are  not  going 
to  stand  indefinitely.  A  modification  of  them 
is  as  inevitable  as  any  legislation  can  be. 
The  impulsive  action  of  Mr.  Henderson  has 
done  more  to  emphasize  the  strong  demand 
for  tariff  reform  than  his  whole  career  has 
done  to  promote  high  protection. 

Politically,  the  matter  stands  thus:  the 
Republican  organization,  except  in  a  few 
Western  States,  is  firmly  set  against  dis- 
turbing the  tariff  as  it  is — even  against  dis- 
cussing it.  The  Democratic  party  is  in  favor  of 
revision,  but  it  has  in  recent  years  so  aroused 
commercial  distrust  in  its  judgment  that  it 
has  not  yet  regained  the  confidence  that  the 
business  world  gave  it  in  the  days  of  Tilden 
and  of  Cleveland ;  and  it  is  not  likely  to  get  a 
chance  to  revise  the  tariff  till  it  finds  leaders 
who  can  regain  this  confidence. 


2/02 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


In  the  meantime  the  Republican  party  has 
an  admirable  opportunity,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  the  President  and  of  men  like  Senator 
Spooner  and  Governor  Cummins  of  Iowa, 
to  provide  for  reasonable  revision  and  thus  to 
keep  in  power. 

THE   PRESIDENT  AND   THE  TARIFF 

WHEX  the  President  came  to  express 
himself  on  tariff  revision  (in  his 
speech  at  Logansport,  Indiana,  on  his  inter- 
rupted journey  to  the  West),  he  held  to  the 
fixed  policy  of  protection,  "in  which,"  he 
said,  "I  think  the  nation  as  a  whole  has  now 
generally  acquiesced ' ' ;  but  he  recognized  the 
necessity  of  changes  in  rates  of  duty  from  time 
to  time.  He  would  keep  a  "stabilit}^  of 
economic  policy,"  but  he  would  prevent  any 
"tendency  to  fossilization."  As  "our  needs 
shift,"  it  may  be  found  "advisable  to  alter 
rates  and  schedules." 

This  is  not  as  specific  a  declaration  as 
Governor  Cummins,  of  Iowa,  made  when  he 
said  that  "the  practically  unanimous  senti- 
ment "  of  the  Republicans  of  Iowa  is  that  "the 
time  has  come  for  certain  changes  in  the  tariff ;" 
and  that  "there  are  monopolies  which  could 
not  stand  for  a  minute  if  there  was  nothing 
but  legitimate  protection  in  the  Dingley  law — 
we  abhor  the  idea  that  the  Republican  party 
should  stand  as  a  shield  for  monopolies." 
But  it  shows  a  radically  different  temper  from 
Mr.  Henderson's  when  he  declined  a  renomina- 
tion  to  Congress,  saying  that  he  did  not  believe 
that  a  single  item  in  the  Dingley  tariff  could 
be  changed  without  harm. 

The  President's  personal  preference  of 
methods  to  ascertain  what  schedules  need 
change  at  any  time  is  the  method  of  a  com- 
mission of  experts  who  should  get  accxirate 
information  for  Congress.  In  a  word,  he 
regards  the  policy  of  protection  as  fixed;  but 
he  would  readapt  rates  to  changing  condi- 
tions ;  and  he  suggests  that  such  a  plan  might 
be  carried  out  so  as  to  take  the  subject  out  of 
party  politics.  It  ought  to  be  done  scien- 
tifically and  not  by  partisan  action. 

Well,  it  never  will  be  done  scientifically; 
nor  will  it  ever  be  taken  out  of  party  politics. 
There  is  a  Utopian  touch  in  this  part  of  the 
President's  programme.  In  fact,  he  took  up 
the  subject  apparently  only  under  the  pressure 
of  party  division  and  discussion,  and  perhaps 
with  some  reluctance — reluctance  for  two 
reasons:  it  is  not  primarily  an  executive  but 


rather  a  legislative  matter;  and  economic 
discussion  is  not  Mr.  Roosevelt's  strongest 
inclination.  A  remarkable  executive,  he  has 
a  mind  rather  for  action  and  for  events  than 
for  analysis  and  philosophic  discussion. 

But  there  are  common  sense,  open-minded- 
ness  and  good  party  leadership  in  this  atti- 
tude. It  is  the  attitude  that  his  party  must 
take  to  keep  its  hold  on  the  restless  and 
earnest  and  intelligent  part  of  it  that  is  repre- 
sented by  Governor  Cummins.  The  President 
does  not  diverge  from  traditional  party  policy. 
But  in  general  terms  he  refuses  to  be  a  fossil. 

As  regards  tariff  reform  as  a  method  of 
regulating  trusts,  the  President  in  another 
speech  expressed  his  conviction  that  the 
regulation  of  the  trusts  could  not  be  accom- 
plished by  taking  away  tariff  protection  from 
them.  His  reasoning  is  that  some  of  the 
trusts  are  not  helped  by  the  tariff;  that  in 
the  case  of  others  that  do  profit  by  it,  if  the 
duties  that  help  them  were  removed,  their 
removal  would  do  hurt  also  to  independent 
producers;  and  that  such  a  policy  would  do 
harm  to  good  trusts  as  well  as  to  bad  ones. 
In  other  words,  while  many  trusts  profit 
by  the  tariff,  they  cannot  be  regulated  by 
changes  in  the  tariff. 

This  course  of  reasoning,  which  is  true  as 
a  general  proposition,  but  to  which  there  are 
exceptions  (namely,  protected  trusts  that 
enjoy  a  practical  monopoly),  lands  us  at  once 
into  the  endless  complexity  of  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  the  tariff.  The  moment  you  use  it  as 
an  aid  to  producers  (whether  they  be  trusts 
or  private  persons)  you  open  the  way  to  con- 
sideration of  its  repeal  as  a  punitive  measure. 
If  it  be  a  method  of  help,  it  is  also  a  method 
of  punishment.  When  you  begin  to  aid,  you 
aid  more  persons  and  more  kinds  of  produc- 
tion than  you  meant  to ;  and  when  3'ou  begin 
to  punish,  you  will  punish  more  persons  than 
you  mean  to.  The  President's  argument, 
which  is  essentialh"  sound,  would,  if  turned 
around,  be  essentially  sound  also  against  the 
imposition  of  any  protective  tariff. 

The  practical  complexities  of  the  subject 
drive  men  mad  or — into  sweeping  theories, 
and  these  fates  are  much  the  same ! 

THE  PLAIN  LARGE   FACTS  ABOUT  TARIFF 
DISCUSSION 

BUT   two  or  three  general   truths  may  be 
set    down  with  some  certainty.     There 
are  but  two  permanent  states  of  mind  about 


THE    ENEMIES    OF   TRUSTS 


2703 


a  protective  tariff — one  is  a  belief  in  it,  the 
otlier  is  devout  denial  of  it.  A  few  men  (per- 
haps many  men  for  a  short  time)  may  hold 
the  position  that  Governor  Cummins,  of  Iowa, 
now  seems  to  hold:  he  is  a  Protectionist,  but 
he  favors  a  reduction  of  certain  duties.  But 
when  the  decisive  contest  comes,  men  become 
Protectionists  or  Free-Traders  (as  far  as 
fiscal  conditions  will  permit). 

Among  thoughtful  men  this  is  now  the  only 
important  ditference  between  the  two  great 
parties.  They  have  fought  on  this  line  of 
battle  for  many  a  year,  and  for  many  a  year 
they  will  fight  on  this  line  again.  Talk  about 
taking  the  tariff  out  of  politics  is  futile. 
There  would  be  no  politics  left.  As  long  as 
the  Republican  party  keeps  in  power  we 
shall  have  Protection,  and  whatever  tariff 
changes  may  meantime  be  made  (if  any  are 
made)  will  not  satisfy  the  Democrats  nor 
silence  them.  Whenever  the  Democrats  again 
win  control  of  the  National  Government,  they 
will  win  it  as  radical  tariff  reformers;  and 
they  will  never  win  it  in  any  other  way. 

There  may  be  much  marching  to  and  from 
and  endless  talk  between  these  two  camps. 
But  they  are  two  separate  camps,  and  two 
separate  camps  they  will  remain.  But  for 
the  near  future  no  revision  of  the  tariff  need 
be  expected. 

THE  POLITICAL  SENSITIVENESS  ABOUT  TRUSTS 

THERE  is  a  strong  feeling,  very  much 
wider  spread  than  most  conservative 
men  think,  in  favor  of  the  government  owner- 
ship of  mines — coal  mines  in  particular.  It 
is  a  much  stronger  feeling  in  some  Middle- 
Western  than  in  the  Eastern  States.  For  this 
reason  it  caused  very  general  surprise  that 
the  Democratic  State  Convention  of  New 
York  adopted  a  declaration  in  favor  of  the 
government  ow^nership  of  coal  mines 

The  explanation  is  simple.  The  party 
leader  who  was  the  dominant  personality 
in  that  convention  has  always  played  the  game 
of  politics  as  men  play  chess.  If  this  move 
will  catch  votes,  that  is  a  sufficient  reason 
why  it  should  be  made.  There  is  no  moral 
quality  in  chess-men.  The  influence  of  a 
moral  quality  in  a  political  contest  he  has 
never  seen.  This  plank  was  thought  to  be 
a  good  bait  for  a  certain  section  of  the  "labor" 
vote.  Other  men  know  that  it  is  mere 
buncombe,  and  tiiat  there  is  no  more  proba- 
bility of  the   government  ownership  of   coal 


mines  than  there  is  of  the  government  owner- 
ship of  sand  pits. 

The  meaning  of  the  incident,  rightly 
interpreted,  is  that  the  Democratic  party  in 
New  York  needs  leadership,  but  it  also  shows 
the  great  popular  sensitiveness  about  trusts. 

Just  as  the  Democratic  State  Convention 
thought  this  a  good  card  to  play  in  the  present 
public  mood,  the  Republican  Convention 
gave  evidence  of  the  same  sensitiveness  in 
another  way.  Mr.  Sheldon,  who  had  been 
"slated"  for  the  nomination  for  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  was  violently  forced  off  the  slate 
because  he  is  identified  in  the  public  mind 
with  the  promotion  of  trusts.  In  other  words, 
this  subject  is  the  very  centre  of  popular 
excitement  and  suspicion. 

Not  only  in  our  home  politics  is  the  trust 
the  centre  of  sensitiveness,  but  in  European 
discussion  also.  Just  when  this  is  written  the 
news  comes,  for  instance,  that  a  former  Italian 
]\Iinister  of  Finance  "suggests  a  conference 
of  statesmen  and  economists  of  all  industrial 
European  countries  for  the  purpose  of  arriv- 
ing at  an  understanding  concerning  trusts 
and  commercial  treaties."  He  declares  that 
customs  tariffs  and  commercial  treaties  are 
fragile  armor  against  trusts,  which  destroy 
natural  conditions  and  upset  the  economic  life 
of  nations.  He  urges  the  triple  alliance  to 
convoke  a  conference  to  take  common 
measures  to  meet  the  American  danger." 
Such  proposals  are  so  frequent  that  they  now 
hardly  attract  attention.  Nor  are  they  likely 
to  lead  to  any  definite  action. 

THE    BUILDERS,   THE    REGULATORS    AND    THE 
ENEMIES   OF  TRUSTS   IN   AGREEMENT 

THE  interesting  fact  is  made  plain  in  Mr. 
Bridge's  article  in  this  magazine,  that 
the  builders  of  many  of  the  great  "trusts" 
favor  a  national  corporation  law.  On  the 
general  proposition  of  national  supervision, 
then,  Mr.  Bryan,  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  the 
masters  of  the  trusts  themselves  are  of  one 
mind.  But  they  are  hardly  of  one  purpose. 
Mr.  Bryan's  motive  (at  least,  the  motive  of 
most  of  those  for  whom  he  speaks)  is  punitive; 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  motive  is  fair  play;  the  trust- 
builders'  motive  is  to  save  trouble.  The  men 
who  have  guided  the  formation  of  great  aggre- 
gations of  capital  and  of  activity  know  that 
these  aggregations  are  the  inevitable  results 
of  economic  forces.  They  will  survive  any 
law  or  any  regulation  or  supervision  that  is 


704 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


likely  to  be  put  into  effect.  But  the  super- 
vision of  the  Xational  Government  would 
be  V  ry  much  less  troublesome  than  the  pres- 
ent conflicting  supervision  and  interference 
of  the  several  State  Governments. 

The  opposition  to  Federal  supervision  would 
not  come  from  the  big  corporations  so  much 
as  from  the  little  ones  if  the  matter  were  put 
to  a  test.  But  the  strongest  opposition  of  all 
would  come  from  that  large  public  opinion 
which  looks  with  disfavor  on  the  extension  of 
the  power  of  the  Xational  Government — it 
is  a  directly  political  rather  than  an  industrial 
opposition.  The  very  fact  that  many  of  the 
great  trust-builders  would  prefer  a  national 
corporation  law  and  the  supervision  of  the 
National  Government  would  make  the  adop- 
tion of  such  a  law  and  of  such  regulation  the 
more  difficult.  A  large  mass  of  the  people 
are  suspicious  of  the  trusts.  Whatever  the 
trusts  want  they  are  opposed  to  granting. 
Out  of  such  a  temper  scientific  legislation  is 
not  likely  to  come — at  once ;  but  it  may  come 
on  the  rebound. 

As  matters  now  stand,  the  most  interesting 
thing  to  the  student  of  public  opinion  is  the 
curious  fact  that  the  makers  of  trusts,  the 
regulators  of  trusts  and  the  enemies  of  trusts 
all  favor  the  same  method  of  procedure.  The 
trust-builders,  it  may  be  observed,  have  the 
advantage  over  the  other  classes  of  greater 
experience  and,  it  may  be,  of  better  knowledge 
of  how  a  national  corporation  law  would 
work. 

THE  ERA  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  TRUST 

IN  the  meantime,  the  growth  of  trusts  has 
definitely  entered  a  new  era.  The  trans- 
Atlantic  steamship  "combine,"  formed  some 
time  ago,  has  an  American  charter — the 
amendment  of  a  charter  already  existing — 
and  definite  information  about  it  has  been 
given  to  the  public.  It  includes  six  lines — 
the  White  Star,  the  American,  the  Red  Star, 
the  Leyland,  the  Atlantic  Transport  and 
the  Dominion.  Each  compan}^  keeps  (in  a 
way  not  clearly  explained)  its  own  integrity, 
so  that  the  control  of  each  British  line  remains 
in  English  hands;  but  the  general  company, 
which  includes  them  all,  exists  under  this 
New  Jersey  charter,  and  eight  of  the  thirteen 
directors  are  Americans  and  five  are  English- 
men. The  capital  stock  of  the  company  is 
Si 20,000,000,  which  has  all  been  privately 
subscribed.     Agreements  satisfactory  to  "the 


Morgans,"  as  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan  and  his 
American  and  English  partners  are  called  in 
England,  have  been  made  with  the  British 
Government;  and  a  favorable  traffic  arrange- 
ment, it  is  given  out,  has  been  made  with 
the  great  German  trans-Atlantic  lines. 

The  public  had  already  accustomed  itself 
to  the  thought  of  this  international  "trust," 
and  it  has  indulged  in  much  speculation 
about  it.  The  popular  excitement  has  been 
very  much  more  intense  in  England  than  it 
has  been  here,  because  of  the  fear  that  it 
might  mean  the  transfer  of  trans-Atlantic 
shipping  from  English  to  American  control. 
The  combine  seems  to  be  a  step,  but  only 
a  step,  in  that  direction. 

But  another  international  trust — more 
directly  international  and  more  significant — 
is  an  American-British  tobacco  company. 
The  American  Tobacco  Company  and  its 
strongest  rival  in  England  had  for  some  time 
carried  on  a  sharp  and  costly  rivalry  in  the 
English  market.  They  are  now  combined 
into  one  company,  with  the  agreement  that 
the  American  Tobacco  Company  shall  have 
the  American  and  Cuban  market,  that  tlie 
English  branch  shall  have  the  English  market, 
and  that  the  centralized  company  will  work 
for  the  market  in  all  other  countries  except 
those,  of  course,  whose  governments  have 
a  tobacco  monopoly.  In  other  words,  there 
is  now  one  world-wide  tobacco  manufacturing 
and  selling  company.  There  are,  of  course, 
independent  manufacturers,  but  this  great 
company  controls  much  the  larger  part  of  the 
tobacco  trade  in  all  countries  where  there  is 
no  government  monopoly. 

This  last  step  in  its  organization  is  in  all 
essential  respects  a  repetition  of  the  first  step 
that  was  taken  in  the  organization  of  the 
American  Tobacco  Company.  Fifteen  years 
or  more  ago,  Mr.  J.  B.  Duke,  the  president 
of  this  new  international  company,  was  a 
member  of  a  firm  of  manufacturers  in  the 
Southern  "golden  tobacco  belt."  The  rival 
manufacturers  (working  at  first  only  for  the 
American  market)  found  competition  costly — 
so  costly  that  the  remarkable  organizing  and 
executive  powers  of  Mr.  Duke  found  exercise 
in  combining  them — at  first  slowly,  one  at  a 
time.  He  proved  himself  to  be  one  of  the 
great  captains  of  industry  of  our  time,  and 
under  his  presidency  the  American  company 
invaded  all  countries  that  had  no  government 
tobacco   monopoly.     The   combination   with 


ONE  TRUST  BOOT  ON  THE  OTHER  FOOT 


2705 


the  big  English  company  was  an  easier  task 
llian  the  combination  of  the  first  two  factories 
that  went  to  make  the  American  company; 
and  it  was  brought  about  as  naturally  and 
by  precisely  the  same  economic  forces. 

The  international  trust  of  this  kind  is  not 
economically  different  from  the  trust  that 
confines  its  activity  to  one  country — if  there 
be  any  that  now  does  thus  confine  its  activity. 
Hut  great  changes  of  some  sort  may  follow 
the  world-wide  working  of  such  great  combi- 
nations of  capital  and  industry.  Here,  at  any 
rate,  is  a  vast  field  for  speculation.  The 
most  interesting  fact  is  that  both  these  inter- 
national "trusts"  have  been  organized  by 
Americans  and  are  under  American  control. 
They  are  the  products  of  two  strong  con- 
structive minds  working  under  modern 
economic  conditions.  Their  example  is  sure 
to  be  followed  by  others.  We  have  definitely 
entered  the  era  of  the  international  trust. 

THE  COMBINATION   OF  ORGANIZED   LABOR   AND 
CAPITAL  AGAINST  THE  UNORGANIZED 

WHATEVER  else  stands  still,  the  trust 
does  not;  for  Prof.  John  B.  Clark,  of 
Columbia  University,  one  of  the  most  practi- 
cal and  instructive  economists  that  we  have, 
has  pointed  out  the  inevitable  approaching 
alliance  of  consolidated  capital  with  consoli- 
dated labor.  If  a  consolidation  of  manu- 
facturers of  any  given  commodity  can  secure 
a  monopoly  of  the  market  or  an  approach  to 
monopoly,  and  if  the  labor  union  of  that  craft 
can  secure  a  monopoly  of  that  kind  of  labor 
or  an  approach  to  monopoly,  there  is  nothing 
to  hinder  a  combination  of  the  manufacturing 
consolidation  with  the  labor  union.  If  the 
labor  union  demands  an  increase  in  wages, 
it  is  easier  to  add  the  increase  to  the  price  of 
the  commodity  than  it  is  to  suft'er  a  strike. 
Professor   Clark  explains  the  situation  thus: 

What  men  in  a  particular  industry  can  get 
depends  on  what  the  industry  as  a  whole  can  get, 
and  that  depends  on  the  prices  of  its  products;  and 
the  disquieting  fact  in  the  situation  is  that  where  a 
trust  alone  cannot  exact  from  the  public  more  than 
a  moderate  amount,  it  can  get  far  more  when  it  is 
backed  by  a  strong  trade  union.  When  it  comes  to 
taxing  consumers,  the  interests  of  employers  and 
employed  are  at  one.  The  men  may  say,  "  Give  us 
more  pay  and  charge  it  to  the  pubHc.  Put  up  the 
prices  of  your  goods";  and  if  this  can  easily  be 
done,  the  employers  have  no  strong  reason  for  refvis- 
ing  to  do  it. 

He  cites  the  case  of  the  glass-blowers. 
Skilled  men  at  this  trade  are  scarce  and  thev 
are  well  organized.     The  manufacturers  can 


not  get  labor  enough.  Although  the  union 
and  the  employers  have  certain  differences  of 
their  own  to  settle,  it  is  to  their  common 
interest  to  keep  at  work,  and  they  keep  at 
work  on  terms  which  force  the  public  to  pay 
roundly  for  its  glass. 

If  tlie  trusts  succeed  in  securing  monopoly, 
and  the  labor  unions  so  restrict  their  member- 
ship as  also  to  secure  a  monopoly  of  skilled 
labor,  such  a  combination  of  them  against  the 
public  will  be  inevitable.  The  conflict  will 
then  be  less  between  labor  and  capital  than 
between  organized  capital  and  labor  on  one 
side  and  the  unorganized  independent  pro- 
ducers and  unorganized  labor  on  the  other. 
"A  proletariat  such  as  America  has  not  here- 
tofore seen,"  says  Professor  Clark,  "may 
easily  be  created  by  the  joint  effort  of  trade 
unions  that  keep  men  out  of  their  own  fields 
of  labor  and  trusts  that  keep  down  the  output 
of  goods  within  those  fields." 

When  thus  set  forth  in  broad  economic 
terms  this  combination  of  the  organized 
against  the  unorganized  part  of  the  commu- 
nity may  foreshadow  dire  results.  But  how 
natural  it  is  every  man  may  see  for  himself. 
If  he  be  a  skilled  glass-blower,  for  instance,  he 
wishes  to  get  as  high  wages  as  he  can— as 
high  "as  the  traffic  will  bear";  or,  if  he  be  a 
glass  manufacturer,  he  is  willing  that  his  work- 
men shall  receive  higher  wages  than  (we  will 
suppose)  workmen  at  other  such  trades 
receive — provided  his  own  profits  be  large 
and  the  public  will  pay  the  bill.  The  wiiole 
question  is :  How  can  the  public  defend  itself  ? 

A  man  who  thinks  to  solve  either  the  prob- 
lem of  trusts  or  the  problem  of  labor  has  to 
make  a  new  adjustment  of  his  remedies  before 
he  can  fairly  formulate  them — so  swift  are 
the  changes  in  the  problems.  In  fact,  there 
are  no  solutions.  We  are  rushing  forward — 
or  are  rushed  forward — by  great  industrial 
forces  at  so  swift  a  rate  that  we  have  not  3'et 
got  our  bearings. 

ONE  TRUST   BOOT  ON  THE  OTHER   FOOT 

TALKING  about  American  trusts  invad- 
ing Europe  —  in  one  matter  at  least 
the  boot  is  on  the  other  foot.  To  develop 
great  transportation  systems,  to  organize 
industry,  to  shift  the  financial  centre  to  our 
continent — are  tasks  of  sheer  strength  and 
are  easy.  But  to  change  the  centre  of  fashion 
is  an  undertaking  of  such  delicacy  and  diffi- 
culty as    our  industrial    leaders    have  never 


2706 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


attacked.  Yet  the  Association  of  American 
Dressmakers  in  their  recent  convention  had 
the  courage  to  propose  such  a  programme. 

The  Paris  and  Vienna  gowns,  we  are  told, 
do  not  hold  their  supremacy  only  by  their 
beauty,  but  quite  as  much  because  of  a  long- 
established  habit  of  thought.  The  ""  crea- 
tions" of  the  famous  Parisian  "artists"  are 
not  things  of  permanent  aesthetic  value,  and 
the  industry  undergoes  changes  year  after 
year  that  are  suggested  by  purely  commercial 
reasons.  But  the  reputations  of  these  dress- 
makers prevent  the  "artists"  of  other 
nations  from  contributing  an^-thing  to  the 
greater  beauty  of  women's  dress.  The  art, 
therefore,  becomes  stagnant  under  the  mon- 
opoly of  the  industry.  Women  of  fashion  do 
not  receive  the  same  value  in  artistic  results 
as  they  would  receive  if  there  were  competi- 
tion for  their  patronage.  Both  beauty  and 
profit  for  American  dressmakers,  then,  require 
the  breaking  down  of  this  monopoly. 

Granted — yet  how  are  the  American  "art- 
ists" going  about  changing  the  situation? 
If  some  of  them  were  to  open  shops  in  Paris 
and  first  win  great  renown  there,  they  might 
then  convince  their  countrywoman  of  the  value 
and  beauty  of  their  products.  American 
painters  have  done  this ;  why  not  American 
dressmakers  ?  The  way  to  invade  is  to 
invade.  The  American  woman  of  fashion 
must  be  convinced  in  Paris  itself.  Else  the 
French  monopoly  seems  likely  to  continue 
indefinitely. 

But,  after  all  is  said  and  done,  it  is  consoling 
to  reflect  that  the  number  of  American 
women  who  wear  Parisian  gowns  is  smaller 
than — for  instance — the  number  of  American 
men  who  drink  Scotch  whisky.  It  would  be 
an  absurd  narrowness  to  confine  all  our 
pleasures  to  home-made  indulgence. 

COMPULSORY   PUBLICITY   IN    LABOR   TROUBLES 

OXE  great  diflficulty — perhaps  the  greatest 
— in  the  settlement  of  labor  troubles 
tliat  seriously  affect  the  public  is  the  lack 
of  authentic  facts  about  therri.  We  are  con- 
stantly saying  that  the  public  is  the  third 
party  involved  in  such  disputes;  but  the 
public  seldom  knows  the  merits  of  any  case. 
Consequently  public  opinion  seldom  acts  with 
precision  or  force.  Consider  the  coal  strike. 
Millions  of  words  have  been  printed  about  it. 
Many  capable  students  of  social  and  industrial 
subjects  have  studied  it  and  written  about  it. 


Yet  out  of  the  mass  of  conflicting  testimony 
few  men  have  been  able  to  form  a  perfectly 
clear  judgment ;  and  for  months  public  opinion 
exerted  no  pressure  for  its  settlement.  One 
clear-cut  authoritative  statement  made  by  a 
Board  that  had  power  to  subpoena  witnesses 
and  to  compel  the  giving  of  testimony  would 
early  in  the  summer  have  cleared  the  atmos- 
phere and  enabled  public  opinion  to  assert 
itself. 

The  State  of  Illinois  now  has  machinery 
for  just  this  kind  of  enforced  publicity;  and 
there  is  no  more  interesting  experiment  in  all 
our  social  governmental  activity.  The  State 
Board  of  Arbitration,  by  a  recent  amendment 
to  the  arbitration  law.  is  required  to  make  an 
investigation  and  to  publish  the  results  of  it 
wherever  a  labor  trouble  affects  transporta- 
tion or  communication  or  the  supply  of  food 
or  of  fuel,  if  the  parties  to  the  dispute  are  not 
willing  to  submit  the  matter  to  arbitration. 
In  this  way  public  opinion  ought  to  get  a 
chance  to  assert  itself.  Compulsory  publicity 
is  a  most  interesting  experiment. 

THE   SUM   TOTAL  OF  THE  COAL   STRIKE 

IT  seems  safe  to  say  that  everybody  has 
lost  by  the  coal  strike  and  no  good  has 
come  to  anybody.  The  miners  have  not  won 
their  contention;  they  have  taxed  friendly 
organizations  of  labor  great  sums  for  their 
maintenance ;  their  union  is  not  stronger ;  and 
]\Ir.  ^litchell  has  not  gained  prestige  by  the 
long  struggle.  The  operators  have  lost  at 
least  this — that  a  large  section  of  public 
opinion  has  no  confidence  in  their  tact,  nor  is 
there  general  confidence  that  they  can  prevent 
recurrences  of  such  troubles.  The  State  of 
Pennsylvania  has  been  put  to  an  enormous 
expense,  and  Governor  Stone  was  not  prompt 
enough  in  his  efforts  to  suppress  disorder  to 
stand  out  as  the  energetic  master  of  a  great 
emergency,  for  the  feeling  will  always  be  that 
he  waited  for  vigorous  action  until  the  Presi- 
dent had  "  forced  his  hand. "  The  President's 
well-meant  and,  we  think,  well-managed 
efforts  to  end  the  strike  were  not  directly  suc- 
cessful; and  he  did  not  have  the  satisfaction 
of  bringing  the  trouble  to  an  end.  He  went 
to  the  extreme  limit  that  a  very  proper  and 
eager  concern  for  the  public  welfare  suggested 
and  warranted;  and  he  provoked  criticism 
from  many  sources  that  are  friendly  to  him. 
The  public  has  lost  and  lost  and  suffered 
and  suffered,  brought  to  the  very  verge  of  a 


A  WHOLESOMK  WORD  TO  THE  WORLD 


2707 


severe  state  of  a  fuel  famine.  Politics  has 
gained  nothing — Governor  Stone  is  regarded 
as  a  hesitant  executive,  and  Mr.  Hill,  of  New 
York,  committed  the  Democratic  party  of  his 
State  to  a  doctrine  that  weakens  its  moral 
fibre ;  but  the  popular  feeling  in  favor  of  gov- 
ernment ownership  of  the  coal  mines  has 
undoubtedly  been  strengthened.  And  worse 
than  all,  no  assurance  comes  out  of  the  situa- 
tion that  another  such  strike  may  not  occur. 
The  question  of  the  danger  to  the  public  wel- 
fare, both  from  labor  unions  and  from  organ- 
ized capital  that  borders  on  a  monopoly,  have 
been  acutely  raised  in  the  public  mind. 

Is  there  a  moral  weakness  in  our  social 
and  economic  life  that  forebodes  grave  dis- 
aster? Are  we  never  to  find  a  way  to  make 
certain  that  the  regular  supply  of  fuel  for 
millions  of  people  may  be  assured?  If  we 
break  down  at  so  fundamental  a  task  as  this, 
there  must  be  some  inherent  weakness. 

But  despair  is  met  at  last  by  the  fact  that 
we  have  not  yet  broken  down;  for  public 
opinion  did  increase  its  pressure  enormously 
under  the  action  of  the  President  (and  this 
fact  justified  the  President's  action);  and 
the  end  became  visibly  nearer.  And  it  is 
fair  to  remember  that  the  conduct  of  the 
whole  business  of  coal  mining  illustrates  the 
very  worst  relation  of  labor  and  capital.  We 
have  no  other  difficulty  of  the  sort  that  is  so 
grave.  If,  when  the  trouble  is  ended,  our 
practical  economists  can  find  a  way,  during  a 
season  of  peace,  to  quiet  this  constant  menace 
to  our  social  order,  they  will  put  the  nation 
under  permanent  obligations  to  them. 

THE  WAY  TO  A  BETTER  DIPLOMATIC  CORPS 

THE  reproach  of  our  diplomatic  service 
has  long  been  that  men  are  selected 
for  all  but  the  one  or  two  most  important 
posts  chiefly  and  often  only  because  they  have 
rendered  their  party  some  service  in  practical 
politics  or  because  they  are  politicians  out  of 
jobs.  Then,  with  a  change  in  party  power, 
the  whole  service  is  upset.  The  men  who 
have  had  experience  are  recalled,  and  a  new 
group,  without  experience,  are  sent  abroad. 
We  have  not  had  anything  like  a  permanent 
nor  consequently  an  experienced  diplomatic 
corps ;  and  in  this  respect  we  differ  from  every 
other  great  government  in  the  world. 

Very  commendable,  therefore,  was  the 
action  of  the  President  when  he  came  to 
supply  the  place  of  Mr.  Andrew  D.  White, 


whose  resignation  as  Ambassador  to  Germany 
takes  place  this  month.  Instead  of  apjjointing 
a  man  new  to  the  service  to  this  high  place, 
he  appointed  Mr.  Charlemagne  Tower,  now 
Ambassador  to  Russia;  and  in  his  place  he 
appointed  Mr.  Robert  S.  McCormick,  now 
Ambassador  to  Austria-Hungary;  and  in  his 
place  Mr.  Bellamy  Storer,  now  Minister  to 
Spain;  and  in  his  place  Mr.  Arthur  S.  Hardy, 
now  Minister  to  Switzerland ;  and  in  his  place 
Mr.  Charles  Page  Bryan,  now  Minister  to 
Brazil;  and  in  his  place  a  new  man,  Mr.  David 
E.  Thompson,  of  Nebraska. 

This  whole  group  of  ambassadors  and 
ministers  thus  get  a  wider  range  of  experi- 
ence and  become  more  useful  members  of  the 
service;  and  to  every  one  of  these  important 
European  countries  a  man  of  experience  goes. 
Thus  gradually  we  may  build  up  a  diplomatic 
corps  worthily.  The  principle  shown  in  this 
shifting  about  and  in  these  promotions  is 
sound  and  right.  Mr.  Hardy,  for  instance, 
having  already  been  Minister  to  Persia,  to 
Greece,  and  to  Switzerland,  now  goes  to  Spain 
— a  continuity  of  service  that  enables  a  man 
to  bring  a  varied  and  ripe  experience  to  his 
task. 

A   WHOLESOME   WORD   TO   THE  WORLD- 
THROUGH  RUMANIA 

THE  Kingdom  of  Rumania  is  a  govern- 
ment that  was  created  in  1876  by  the 
Treaty  of  Berlin  to  which  the  chief  European 
Powers  (but,  of  course,  not  the  United  States) 
were  signatory.  Rumania  is,  therefore,  the 
creature  of  the  principal  European  Powers 
and  they  are  responsible  for  it. 

The  persecution  of  the  Jews  in  Rumania  is 
more  cruel  and  persistent,  perhaps,  than  in 
any  other  country.  The  testimony  is  uni- 
versal that  they  are  deprived  of  civil  rights, 
debarred  from  the  professions,  from  the 
schools,  from  land-holding,  and  from  most 
gainful  occupations — even  from  peddling; 
and  they  have  been  practically  expelled  from 
the  country.  They  come  to  our  shores  as 
paupers — economically  and  in  ever}'  other 
way  unfit  material  for  making  American 
citizens. 

These  are  the  facts  that  caused  Secretary 
Hay  to  address  a  note  of  courteous  but  strong 
protest  to  every  European  Government  that 
signed  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  and  is  therefore 
responsible  for  Rumania's  conduct.  Mr. 
Hay's  protest  stands  on  two  strong  legs — the 


2708 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


necessity  of  self-defense  by  the  United  States 
against  such  forced  enaigration  to  our  shores 
(which  is  the  main  matter),  and  a  declaration 
against  the  inhumanity  of  such  persecution 
and  expulsion.  It  was  shrewd  and  well-taken 
and  perfectly  proper  to  single  out  Rumania 
for  such  a  protest  instead  of  Russia  or  Austria- 
Hungary,  and  very  much  better  diplomacy, 
because  Russia  and  Austria-Hungary  and  all 
the  other  European  Governments  are  thus  put 
on  the  defensive,  not  only  for  the  conduct  of 
the  country  that  is  in  a  sense  their  ward,  but 
for  their  own  similar  conduct  as  well. 

Mr.  Hay's  note  has  precedents  and  it  has 
warrant  in  international  dealing.  But  it 
created  surprise  at  every  Continental  capital, 
consternation  at  most  of  them,  and  open 
official  approval  only  in  London;  for  the 
English  Government  quickly  addressed  a  note 
to  the  other  signatory  Powers  to  the  Berlin 
Treaty  in  the  general  tone  of  Mr.  Hay's  note. 
So  far  (when  this  is  written)  the  other  Powers 
have  done  nothing,  although  it  has  been 
reported  that  Rumania  has  ceased  to  issue 
passports  to  Jews,  thus  in  one  way  complying 
with  the  American  protest  by  trying  to  stop 
emigration,  but  in  another  way  making  the 
lot  of  the  Jews  in  Rumania  worse  than  ever. 
The  definite  effect  of  the  note  is  yet  to  be  seen. 

But  its  general  influence  has  been  as  whole- 
some as  the  effect  of  any  recent  international 
event.  The  Continental  press  has  cried  out 
loudly  against  American  interference  in  the 
internal  affairs  of  a  European  Government. 
The  editors  and  cartoonists  have  made  quite  a 
hubbub.  But  there  has  sunk  still  deeper 
into  the  consciousness  of  Europe  the  knowl- 
edge that  the  United  States,  at  least  under  the 
Foreign  Secretaryship  of  Mr.  Hay,  is  a  just 
and  active  as  well  as  powerful  Government; 
it  knows  the  game  of  diplomacy  and  it  puts  its 
knowledge  to  the  highest  uses.  In  a  perfectly 
courteous  way  all  Europe  has  been  informed 
of  our  unwillingness  to  receive  undesirable 
immigrants — to  be  a  dumping  ground  for  a 
population  that  nobody  wants — and  the 
public  attention  of  the  world  has  been  called 
to  the  inhuman  treatment  of  the  Jews.  It 
would  be  hard  to  do  more  by  one  polite 
diplomatic  note  or  to  do  better  things,  what- 
ever the  definite  result  may  be. 

Rumania  has  a  population  of  about 
6,000,000,  of  whom  about  400,000  are  Jews. 
The  State  of  New  York  has  about  the  same 
number  of  Jews  in  a  population  of  somewhat 


more  than  7,000,000.  All  the  governments 
of  Europe  are  stirred  up  about  the  "  problem" 
of  no  more  Jews  than  a  single  State  of  our 
Union  peacefully  contains  ! 

The  Rumanian  side  of  the  contention  (for 
there  are  two  sides  even  to  questions  of  perse- 
cution) is  that  the  Jew,  if  left  with  unrestricted 
action,  so  gets  the  better  of  the  peasant  in  all 
economic  ways  as  to  reduce  him  to  poverty 
and  to  keep  him  there.  Rumanians  main- 
tain that  it  is  an  economic  conflict  and  not  pri- 
marily a  religious  or  a  race  conflict. 

THE  RUSSIAN   OBLITERATION  OF  FINLAND 

IT  is  a  tragic  thing  in  this  age  of  the  world 
for  a  people  who  have  enjoyed  a  more 
or  less  free  government  to  be  hopelessly  put 
back  under  tyranny;  but  this  is  what  has 
happened  to  Finland.  The  worst  of  it  is, 
there  seems  to  be  no  help  for  it. 

The  Finns  have  had  an  approximately  free 
government.  The  Czar  was  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Finland,  and  he  made  treaties  and  decided 
war  and  peace  and  had  the  appointment  of 
officials,  who  were  to  be  natives.  But  in  the 
management  of  internal  affairs  it  was  a  prac- 
tically independent  State.  The  Czar  was 
pledged  to  maintain  this  degree  of  indepen- 
dence and  to  preserve  the  language,  the 
religion  and  the  laws.  But  now  the  country 
has  been  made  simply  a  Russian  province. 
The  internal  affairs  and  the  administration  of 
justice  is  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Governor ; 
and  the  autocratic  method  of  Russian  pro- 
vincial administration  prevails.  The  Gov- 
ernor is  reported  to  be  a  peculiarly  tj^rannical 
man  of  low  origin  and  brutal  temper. 

Remonstrance  and  petition  have  had  no 
effect.  Even  the  language  of  the  people  is  to 
be  set  aside  for  Russian  as  far  as  it  is  possible 
forcibly  to  make  such  a  change.  Great 
numbers  of  the  3'oung  men  are  emigrating, 
and  industrial  and  agricultural  disaster  is 
threatened.  The  Czar  breaks  the  solemn 
pledges  made  by  the  throne — at  any  rate, 
they  are  broken ;  for  there  is  always  doubt  to 
what  extent  the  Czar  himself  knows  the  exact 
character  of  the  official  acts  done  by  the 
corrupt  bureaucracy  that  is  the  curse  of 
the  Russian  Government. 

Events  like  this  have  been  common  in  other 
times;  but  the  passing  of  a  patriotic  and 
intelligent  European  people  under  semi- 
Asiatic  tyranny  grates  on  civilizaticm,  all  the 
more  because  there  is  no  help  for  it. 


GOVERNOR  W.    MURRAY  CRANE   OF   MASSACHUSETTS 

WHOSE   QUALirraS    AS   AN    EFFICIENT    PUBLIC   SERVANT   HAVE    MADE   HIM  A  TRUSTED  ADVISER    OF    THE    PRESIDENT 


CHARLEMAGNE   TOWER 

FORMERLY    UNITED    STATES   AMBASSADOR    TO    RUSSIA  ;    NOW   AMBASSADOR   TO   GERMANY 


MOW  WELL    DO  THE  TIMUJC  SCHOOLS   DO    TIIICIR   WORK?    2711 


RAISING  THE  LEVEL  OF  HEALTH  IN    CITIES 

ON  IC  pliysical  ideal  that  civilization  works 
toward  is  the  elimination  of  contagious 
and  infectious  diseases.  Theoretically,  such 
an  ideal  is  attainable.  But  during  the  long 
period  that  will  be  required  properly  to 
educate  the  mass  of  mankind,  we  must  be 
content  with  what  progress  we  can  make.  In 
New  York  City,  where  overcrowding,  and  the 
presence  of  many  ignorant  immigrants  from 
many  lands,  and  the  almost  complete  rebuild- 
ing of  the  city,  overground  and  underground, 
make  against  a  clean  bill  of  health,  there  are 
many  encouraging  facts;  for  the  municipal 
care  of  the  public  health  under  this  admin- 
istration is  greater  and  wider  than  ever  before. 
For  instance,  during  the  first  half  of  this  year 
more  than  51,000  inspections  of  ]jlumbing 
were  made;  6,500,000  pounds  of  bad  food 
were  destroyed;  7,500  inspections  of  mercan- 
tile establishments  were  made;  and  700,000 
free  vaccinations  were  given.  These  preven- 
tive activities  raise  the  level  of  health.  Eight 
years  ago  nearly  3,000  children  died  of  croup 
and  diphtheria;  for  the  first  half  of  this  year 
less  than  600;  and  the  Health  Depart- 
ment examined  16,000  "cultures" — that  is, 
matter  from  the  throats  of  sick  children  to  aid 
the  physicians  in  their  diagnoses.  It  is  even 
estimated  that  there  has  been  such  a  reduction 
in  the  deaths  from  consumption  in  New  York 
during  the  last  fifteen  years  as  to  amount  to  a 
saving  of  3,000  lives  a  year. 

The  head  of  the  Department  of  Health, 
Doctor  Lederle,  has  begun  a  definite  method 
of  popular  education  in  the  prevention  of 
disease.  The  careful  examination  of  school 
children  and  the  exclusion  of  thousands  of 
them  because  of  contagious  ailments  has  led 
to  the  giving  of  instruction  to  parents  about 
the  treatment  of  simple  diseases;  and  it  is 
already  clear  that  courses  of  free  lectures  on 
the  prevention  of  disease  will  be  given  in 
connection  with  the  public  schools.  One  of 
the  best  agencies  for  the  spread  of  such 
information  is  the  school,  especially  in  the 
densely  settled  parts  of  big  cities. 

In  larger  ways,  too,  prevention  is  taking  the 
attention  that  used  to  be  given  to  cure.  The 
reclaiming  of  considerable  areas  about  New 
York  from  mosquitoes — for  this  has  now  been 
proved  practicable — has  lessened  if  not 
eliminated  malaria,  and  it  has  diminished 
other  diseases  as  well. 

Such    work    in    and    about    New    York    is 


tyi)ical  of  what  is  done  in  other  cities  and 
other  communities — preventive  activity  tak- 
ing one  special  ioriu  in  one  i)lace  and  another 
in  another.  But  the  cheerful  fact  is  that 
Boards  of  Health  and  similar  agencies  are 
almost  everywhere  doing  more  than  they 
ever  did  before.  The  complete  success  in 
abolishing  spitting  in  street  cars  in  most  of 
our  cities  shows  how  easy  a  sanitary  reform 
can  be  made  when  the  municipal  authorities 
are  in  earnest  about  it.  That  single  simj)le 
act  of  decency  and  precaution  has  taught  the 
country  a  lesson  of  far-reaching  importance. 

HOW   WELL    DO    THE    PUBLIC    SCHOOLS    DO 
THEIR   WORK? 

HOW  good  is  the  training  given  in  the 
l>ul)lic  schools  and  what  effect  does 
it  have  on  character  ?  To  get  a  volume  of 
evidence  bearing  directly  on  this  subject, 
the  New  York  State  Teachers'  Association 
sent  a  well-prepared  set  of  questions  to 
business  and  professional  men  in  New  York 
City  about  public  school  boys  that  they 
employ.  Four  hundred  and  nine  answers 
were  received,  and  they  contained  not  a  little 
interesting  information. 

Most  of  those  who  answered  these  inquiries 
say  that  public  school  boys  now  spell  better 
than  the  same  class  of  boys  used  to  spell, 
and  that  their  spelling  is  satisfactory  for  most 
practical  uses.  The  school  men  accept  this 
as  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the  present  method 
of  teaching  children  to  spell  the  common 
words  of  the  language  rather  than  the  "hard" 
words,  which  they  seldom  use;  and  they 
think  that  it  shows  that  better  results  are  got 
by  the  omission  of  drills  in  spelling  isolated 
words.  Most  of  those  who  answered  the 
questions  say,  too,  that  the  boys  write  legibly, 
and  that  they  are  quite  as  accurate  in  arith- 
metic as  boys  used  to  be — perhaps  more 
accurate ;  but  there  was  some  criticism  about 
their  speed.  According  to  this  testimony, 
then,  the  three  R's  seem  to  be  satisfactorily 
taught  in  the  New  York  public  schools — 
better,  in  fact,  than  they  once  were. 

There  is  a  significant  preponderance  of 
opinion  in  favor  of  teaching  all  boys  the 
elements  of  bookkeeping.  Nearly  all  the 
ariswers  lay  great  stress  on  the  advantage  of 
learning  at  an  early  age  how  to  keep  accounts 
neatly  and  accurately;  and  a  majority  think 
that  boys  should  be  taught  in  school  some- 
thing   about    actual    business    transactions. 


JAMES  C.    STEWART 

THE     AMERICAN     ENGINEER     WHO     HAS     PI  T     AMERICAN     ENERGY     INTO     ENGLISH  WORKMEN 


li 


IS    AMERICAN    CHARACTER    DECLINING? 


27«3 


I 
I 


There  is  even  a  strong  preponderance  of 
opinion  that  the  public  school  course  should 
aim  directly  at  preparing  pupils  to  earn  a 
livelihood.  But  it  is  not  meant  that  they 
should  become  merely  commercial  schools 
or  "clerk  factories" — only  that  the  studies 
should  be  utilitarian  as  well  as  "cultural." 
The  judgment  evidently  is  that  the  two  kinds 
of  studies  need  not  be  wholly  divorced,  and 
that  by  right  teaching  both  results  can  be 
gained  from  the  same  studies. 

There  is  a  decided  opinion  that  some 
commercial  training  should  be  given  as  a 
preparation  for  the  professions;  and  that  boys 
who  propose  to  enter  commercial  careers 
should  begin  commercial  studies  at  fourteen 
years  of  age.  As  regards  foreign  languages, 
emphasis  is  laid  on  the  desirability,  first  of 
knowing  German,  then  Spanish;  French 
comes  third.  The  longer  a  boy  has  school 
training  the  better  his  chance  of  employ- 
ment, too.  There  is  a  strong  preference  for 
high  school  graduates. 

Concerning  morals  and  manners — a  boy's 
school  record  counts  for  much  in  his  getting 
employment ;  and  most  men  will  not  have 
boys  who  smoke  cigarettes.  The  public 
school  boys  are  satisfactory  as  regards  truth- 
fulness, cleanliness  and  ambition  to  succeed, 
and  less  satisfactory  in  punctuality,  relia- 
bility, manners,  and  ability  to  follow  instruc- 
tions. They  are  deficient  in  economy  of  time 
and  in  economy  of  material.  The  recom- 
mendations that  those  who  answered  these 
questions  made  to  the  Teachers'  Association 
may  be  summarized  as  a  preference  for 
thoroughness  in  a  few  studies  rather  than  a 
smattering  of  many. 

As  things  go  in  this  imperfect  world,  these 
answers  show  that  the  public  schools  of  New 
York  do  fairly  well  with  the  section  of  their 
pupils  that  this  inquiry  touched;  and  it  was  a 
piece  of  good  sense  to  make  such  an  inquiry. 
It  settled  no  important  questions,  but  it 
showed  the  practical  world's  appreciation  of 
the  schools  and  the  school  men's  apprecia- 
tion of  the  point  of  view  of  the  practical 
world. 

IS   AMERICAN   CHARACTER   DECLINING? 

THERE  is  no  other  subject  so  important 
to  us — perhaps  no  other  so  important 
to  the  whole  world — as  the  moral  tendency  of 
American  life.  Is  it  losing  its  sterling  quali- 
ties under  the  influence  of  great  prosperity? 


Is  the  struggle  for  physical  comfort  and  for 
wealth  undermining  it  and  substituting  lower 
ideals  for  the  ideals  of  the  earlier  and  simpler 
days  of  the  Republic  ? 

The  compilation  of  despairing  opinions  that 
appears  in  this  magazine  is  worthy  of  notice, 
because  of  the  high  character  and  the  thought- 
ful nature  of  most  of  the  men  who  expressed 
them.  They  speak  with  seriousness  and  from 
high  motives  and  with  great  sadness.  But  do 
they  speak  well-balanced  judgments  ? 

What  is  the  right  method  to  measure  so 
large  and  so  complex  a  thing  as  the  character 
of  a  whole  people  ?  A  trustworthy  conclusion 
can  be  reached  only  by  the  careful  study  of  an 
almost  endless  series  of  social  phenomena. 
Such  a  study  would  embrace  the  whole  wide 
range  of  facts  that  show  the  physical,  the 
intellectual  and  the  moral  well-being  of  the 
population,  and  no  man  could  make  an 
exhaustive  study  of  it.  But  in  the  census 
reports  (to  go  no  further)  are  so  many  evi- 
dences of  an  orderly  social  development  and 
right-mindedness  that  any  candid  student 
who  masters  their  meaning  is  almost  sure  to 
conclude  that  American  character  is  rising, 
and  not  falling.  Every  such  direct  study 
lifts  higher  the  hope  of  the  man  who  makes 
it.  The  men  who  are  in  American  life,  and 
not  mere  spectators  of  it,  believe  that  an 
accurate  measure  of  the  deeds  done  today  in 
the  homes  and  in  the  institutions,  in  the 
markets  and  in  the  workshops,  in  the  fields 
and  on  the  roads,  by  the  active  millions  of 
men  between  our  two  oceans  would  show 
higher  character  and  sturdier  qualities  than 
were  ever  before  displayed  by  so  large  a  part 
of  mankind  living  in  contiguous  territory. 

The  mistake  that  the  pessimists  make  is  in 
their  failure  to  take  into  account  the  moral 
value  of  successful  every-day  labor.  There 
is  no  other  discipline  so  good,  no  other  force 
that  so  surely  makes  men  strong.  Men  at  a 
distance  from  productive  work  look  upon  it 
too  much  as  a  mere  means  of  getting  a  liveli- 
hood. But  men  whose  work  is  good,  and 
therefore  successful,  grow  by  it;  and  when 
success  is  attained  they  have  had  the  disci- 
pline of  the  struggle.  This  is  essentially  true 
of  the  mass  of  Americans  today ;  for  they  take 
pride  in  what  they  do.  It  is  fair  to  say  that 
most  of  these  despairing  teachers  have  not,  in 
recent  years  at  least,  gone  among  the  masses 
in  many  States,  and  they  are  likely  to  get 
their  impressions   from  books  and  from  the 


2714 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


criminal  and  inaccurate  columns  of  news- 
papers. 

It  is  unfortunate,  too,  that  most  of  them  are 
teachers  of  youth,  as  instructors,  or  preachers, 
or  writers.  If  they  regard  the  rush  and  noise 
of  modern  industry  as  unhallowed  things,  and 
labor  as  a  hard  necessity,  put  upon  men  to 
earn  their  bread,  the  youth  that  catches  their 
spirit  has  a  condescending  attitude  toward 
every  day  life.  He  sees  no  moral  value  in 
achieving  a  practical  success.  For  that  kind 
of  man  the  world  has  already  gone  wrong ;  for 
it  is  he  that  lacks  character.  He  lacks  stom- 
ach for  the  only  thing  that  can  nourish  him. 

The  literature  most  needed  for  youth- 
ful reading  today  is.  not  general  moral  dis- 
sertations —  least  of  all  sermons  on  the 
depravity  of  the  Republic  and  on  the  dangers 
of  wealth — but  a  social  literature  that  shall 
accurately  show  the  spirit  of  the  Americans 
at  work  and  the  value  of  successful  labor  in 
the  building  of  character.  The  great  book 
of  democracy  is  not  in  any  man's  library; 
but  its  generous  pages  open  over  the  wide 
areas  of  our  commonwealths,  and  it  must 
be  studied  by  constructive  effort,  and  with 
that  personal  sympathy  born  of  work  with 
one's  fellows  which  is  the  very  essence  of 
democracy. 

IMMORAL  LITERATURE  AND  AMERICAN  SOCIETY 

THE  most  skilful  playwright  now  at  work 
in  English  keeps  steady  to  his  use  of 
immoral  situations  as  material  for  his  plays. 
Mr.  Pinero  is  perhaps  not  guilty  of  using  such 
material,  as  it  is  used  in  many  French  plays, 
for  the  love  of  it,  but  rather  as  it  is  used  by 
Ibsen  and  the  great  contemporaneous  German 
dramatists,  because  it  is  the  natural  matter  of 
tragedy.  The  only  eternally  tragic  things  are 
the  sacrifice  of  character  and  the  sacrifice  of 
life.  The  loss  of  most  other  things — of 
fortune,  for  instance,  or  of  any  mere  con- 
ventional advantage — is  to  a  modern,  demo- 
cratic audience  a  subject  of  little  concern. 
The  one  central  tragedy  of  life  that  has  always 
appealed  most  strongly  to  pity,  and  appeals 
now  even  more  strongly  than  ever,  is  the 
wreck  of  womanhood.  There  seems  yet  no 
way,  therefore,  if  a  way  will  ever  come,  for 
the  dramatist  and  the  novelist  who  would  use 
the  strongest  material  of  modern  life  for  his 
work  always  to  avoid  this  subject,  even  if  he 
would. 

But  such  plays  as  Mr.  Pinero's  "The  Second 


Mrs.  Tanqueray,"  and  his  newest  play,  "Iris," 
which  turn  on  the  fall  of  women,  whatever 
their  dramatic  excellence,  do  not  commend 
themselves  to  the  large  and  wholesome 
American  public.  The  skill  of  dramatists 
and  of  actors  (or  of  both)  interests  the 
class  that  appreciates  the  art  of  it;  and  the 
subject  itself  doubtless  attracts  a  class  that 
simply  takes  pleasure  in  the  forbidden;  but 
the  mass  of  American  society  belongs  to 
neither  of  these  classes.  The  puritanical 
attitude  toward  evil  is  passed.  The  indul- 
gent attitude  also  is  out  of  fashion.  But  it  is 
probable  that  a  larger  proportion  of  Ameri- 
cans of  this  generation  lead  clean  lives  than 
of  the  people  of  any  other  country.  Now, 
since  immorality  feeds  on  suggestion,  there  is 
a  very  general  disapproval  of  books  and  of 
plays  that  deal  openly  with  immoral  subjects. 
The  fiction  that  finds  the  greatest  favor  is 
morally  clean.  The  popular  magazines  are 
clean.  The  American  home  defends  itself 
resolutely  against  immoral  suggestion. 

It  has  therefore  been  said  that  American 
fiction  and  (to  an  extent,  also)  the  stage  are 
in  danger  of  becoming  pale  and  tame — with 
some  truth — except  that  part  of  them  which 
on  the  rebound  becomes  frankly  gross.  It  is 
the  old  question  whether  good  people  are 
interesting  —  rather  whether  great  masses 
of  good  people  can  permanently  interest  one 
another;  or  whether  the  irregular  and  the 
unrestrained  must  at  times  be  called  in. 

But,  since  conduct  is  so  much  more  impor- 
tant than  literature  or  the  drama,  the  ques- 
tion is  really  an  academic  one — a  thing  of 
little  value.  Moreover,  to  raise  such  a  ques- 
tion with  reference  to  the  future  is  to  judge 
a  new  order  of  society  by  the  standard  of  an 
old  one.  If  our  democracy,  in  its  full  develop- 
ment, does  at  last  lift  the  wide  stretches  of  life 
to  a  very  much  higher  moral  level,  not  by 
suppression  but  by  normal  social  develop- 
ment, literature  and  the  drama  and  all  the 
other  arts  will  take  care  of  themselves.  In 
such  a  society  they  may  find  new  material. 
Since  social  conditions  in  the  United  States 
are  fast  becoming  essentially  difi'crent  from 
the  social  conditions  that  any  great  mass  of 
mankind  ever  before  lived  under,  it  is  fair  to 
suppose  that  its  literature  and  its  art  will 
show  the  change.  You  must  look  for  your 
literature  to  come  out  of  your  social  develop- 
ment, not  your  social  development  to  come 
out    of    your    literature.       The    wholesome 


GUESSING    AT  THE    POTULARITY    OF    NOVELS 


2715 


American  public  will  have  clean  things  even 
at  the  risk  of  tamcncss,  but  it  does  not 
grant  that  tameness  is  a  necessary  result  of 
cleanness. 

WHY   ZOLA   WAS    NEVER   POPULAR   IN   THE 
UNITED    STATES 

THE  death  of  Zola  suggests  the  same 
subject,  from  a  little  different  point 
of  view,  that  is  suggested  by  Mr.  Pinero's 
plays.  His  great  novels  (for  the  best  of  them 
are  great  pictures  of  life)  have  never  found  a 
very  wide  reading  in  the  United  States  because 
the  subjects  are  forbidding  to  a  population 
that  takes  its  chief  pride  in  a  wholesome 
family  life.  Acceptable  realism  among  the 
mass  of  American  readers  is  not  the  work  of 
Zola,  but  the  work  of  Mr.  Howells.  The 
"Silas  Laphams"  and  their  like  are  the 
American  counterparts  to  the  unspeakable 
family  in  "L'Assommoir  "  and  "  Nana.  "  While 
Mr.  Howells  is  no  longer  among  the  most  popu- 
lar novelists  that  we  have,  and  while  his  philos- 
ophy of  fiction  has  not  found  general  accept- 
ance (for  we  read  Scott — tiresome  passages 
and  all — in  spite  of  him),  it  remains  true  that 
he  more  accurately  represents  the  American 
moral  conception  of  fiction  than  any  other 
writer  who  has  produced  a  large  volume  of 
excellent  work.  The  long  shelfful  of  his  books 
are  all  about  good  people — tame  and  pale, 
some  think,  as  they  are  exemplary.  But  these 
books  are  all  written  with  grace  and  literary 
good  breeding  and  an  unfailing  serenity  of 
style,  and  not  a  line  in  any  one  w^ould  bring  a 
blush  to  any  cheek  in  any  company.  They 
are  a  large  part  of  the  literature  of  their  time. 
While  Zola  can  never  be  Americanized, 
Mr.  Howells's  work  will  stand  in  fiction  for  a 
long  time,  as  Longfellow  has  stood  in  verse, 
as  the  best  response  to  the  moral  demands 
for  literature  by  a  democracy  that,  having 
thrown  off  its  Puritanical  mood,  is  yet  unwill- 
ing to  give  free  scope  to  suggestion.  It  prefers 
morality  to  tragedy,  even  at  the  risk  of  getting 
the  commonplace.  And  it  may  get  the  com- 
monplace from  all  except  the  greatest  hands. 
But  the  realism — the  literalism — of  both 
Zola  and  Mr.  Howells  perhaps  belongs  to  a 
literary  mood  that  has  passed. 

GUESSING  AT  THE  POPULARITY  OF  NOVELS 


T 


HE    novel    has    become    two    different 
things  and  serves    two  different    uses. 
It  may  be  a  worthy  and  important  kind  of 


literature,  or  it  may  be  a  mere  means  of  idle 
amusement.  The  novel  that  has  literary 
value  is,  of  course,  also  a  means  of  enjoyment 
and  of  very  keen  enjoyment.  But  a  novel 
that  is  a  mere  diversion  and  nothing  more 
may  achieve  a  great  popular  success,  as  a 
"topical"  song  does  at  a  cheap  theatre;  and 
it  has  no  significance  whatever  except  that  it 
shares  for  a  few  months  the  time  that  might 
otherwise  be  given  to  reading  newspapers  or 
to  playing  ping-pong  or  spent  in  idleness. 
Yet  the  extraordinary  success  of  a  few  such 
novels  has  a  tendency  to  disturb  the  literary 
equanimity  of  serious  writers  and  of  pub- 
lishers. The  disturbance  is  made  the  worse 
when  it  happens  once  in  a  long  while  that  a 
novel  of  real  value  also  achieves  an  enormous 
popularity,  as  it  is  undeniable  that  an  occa- 
sional really  worthy  novel  does. 

But  a  few  great  facts  are  worth  holding  to. 
The  popularity  of  a  novel  means  neither  that 
it  has  or  that  it  lacks  serious  merit;  and  it  is 
a  short-sighted  writer  or  publisher  who  draws 
either  conclusion.  Good  fiction  will  have 
recognition — of  this  there  is  no  doubt;  and 
this  is  the  only  fact  that  it  is  worth  while  or 
profitable  to  remember.  But  a  novel  of  no 
serious  merit  may  or  may  not  become  popular. 
There  is  no  certainty  about  it.  Only  one  in 
a  thousand  has  the  quality  that  carries  it  into 
favor,  and  the  other  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  represent  wasted  labor  and  false  hopes 
of  author  and  publisher  alike. 

The  writer  who  sets  out  deliberately  to  pro- 
duce a  book  that  shall  achieve  an  unusual 
popularity  is  not  as  likely  to  succeed  as  the 
writer  who  goes  forward  and  honestly  does  the 
work  that  is  in  him.  Nor  is  the  publisher  as 
likely  to  succeed  who  works  with  a  set  purpose 
to  force  a  particular  novel  on  the  public.  He 
will  fail  twice  or  thrice  or  a  dozen  times  for 
every  time  that  he  succeeds.  Both  writer  and 
publisher,  too,  will  be  likely  to  forget  real  liter- 
ary values,  and  they  will  soon  find  themselves 
on  the  level  of  the  composers  and  publishers 
of  popular  songs  whose  value  is  of  the 
slightest  and  whose  vogue  is  but  ephemeral. 

But  the  main  point  suggested  by  Zola's 
death  and  the  discussion  of  fiction  that  it 
provoked  is  that  whatever  be  the  silliness  or 
the  wisdom  of  American  novel  writers  and  of 
American  publishers,  and  however  great  be  the 
appetite  of  the  public  for  fiction,  the  stories 
that  are  most  popular  in  our  democracy  are 
morallv  wholesome 


THE    REAL    RULERS   OF    RUSSIA 


AN  EXPLANATION  OF  THE  LIMITATIONS  OF  THE  CZAR'S 
POWER,  APROPOS  OF  THE  ABRIDGMENT  OF  FINLAND'S 
FREEDOM  — AN    ANALYSIS     OF     RUSSIAN      CHARACTER 

BY 

WOLF   VON    SCHIERBRAND 

AUTHOR  OF  " GERMANY  OF  TODAY  " 


WE,  Alexander  III.,  Czar  of  all  the 
Russias,"  is  the  formula  with 
which  the  mighty  Emperor  signs 
his  ukases  to  his  fivescore  millions  of  more  or 
less  obedient  subjects.  But  the  phrase  carries 
an  exaggerated  implication  :  that  the  power 
of  the  nominal  ruler  of  Russia,  although  not 
narrowed  by  any  constitutional  barriers,  is 
in  reality  not  nearly  so  absolute  as  the  phrase 
sounds.  The  limitations  of  his  power  are 
variously  stated  to  be  due  to  nepotism,  cor- 
ruption, nihilism.  This,  however,  is  so  far 
a  mistake  as  to  confuse  causes  and  effects. 

The  whole  world  applauded  when  Alex- 
ander n.  decreed  the  abolition  of  serfdom; 
and  those  not  acquainted  with  Russian  life 
were  amazed  when  the  hoped  for  results  did 
not  follow.  When  Alexander  IIL  declared 
solemnly  after  his  accession  to  the  throne  that 
he  would  reign  strictly  according  to  law,  and 
would  deal  out  his  rewards  and  punishments 
in  the  same  manner,  even  thoughtful  Russians 
hoped  for  better  government.  But  Russia 
remained  as  she  had  been.  None  of  the  time- 
honored  abuses  were  reformed  nor  even  appre- 
ciably lessened. 

The  reasons  are  simple.  The  Czar  is  not 
the  sole  ruler  of  his  people.  Three  other 
autocrats  divide  with  him  the  power,  and  his 
share  of  it  is  not  the  largest.  Despite  all  his 
efforts  to  assert  his  own  as  the  sole  authority, 
he  is  handicapped,  even  almost  paralyzed,  by 
the  greater  power  of  his  co-regents.  Who  are 
these  fellow-despots?  It  may  sound  like  a 
paradox  to  say  that  they  are  three  words  in 
the  Russian  language — Xitshewo,  Wiiion'at, 
Natshai. 

The  first  of  these  tyrants — N'itsheitv — 
means  simply  Nothing:  never  mind.  He  is  the 
real  autocrat  in  the  great  empire.  The  word 
means  many  things,  but  the  meaning  that 
has  direful  importance  for  the  whole  nation 


corresponds  to  our  "What  are  you  going  to 
do  about  it?"  If  3'ou  are  a  foreigner  and  a 
visitor  in  Russia,  you  will  be  amused  by  the 
frequency  with  which  this  word  recurs  in  a 
conversation  carried  on  between  Russians, 
no  matter  of  what  rank  or  status  in  life. 
According  to  the  intonation,  the  gestures  or 
the  facial  expression  of  the  person  using  it, 
it  acquires  constantly  a  different  meaning. 
Two  merchants  meet  in  the  street. 

A. — "How  is  your  health  and  that  of  your 
family,  Xicolai  Ivanovitch?" 

B.  (cordially)— "A'?75/z<?wo"  ("Quite  well"). 

A. — "What  do  you  think  of  the  chances  of 
a  war?" 

B.  (shrugging  his  shoulders) — "  A'itsheu'o" 
("Don't  know"). 

A. — "Do  you  think  our  new  Governor  will 
benefit  trade  in  this  section?" 

B.  (shakes  his  head)— " Nitshewo"  {"I'm 
doubtful  about  it"). 

A. — "  I  understand  you  met  wath  severe 
losses  on  'change  vesterday." 

B.  (sadly)— "A^i/5/r^'o"("Can't  behelped"). 

A. — "Well,  I'll  be  able  to  meet  my  engage- 
ments on  settling  day." 

B.  {oh\igmgh-)—''Nitsheii-o"  ("I'm  quite 
sure  of  that"). 

And  thus  the  conversation  runs  on.  There  is 
no  harm  in  so  useful  a  word,  you'll  say.  But 
there  is.  This  careless  dismissal  of  every 
disquieting  thought  with  a  nitsheivo  is  trans- 
ferred to  the  most  serious  duties  and  enter- 
prises. When,  during  the  last  war  with  the 
Turks,  the  contractors  furnished  the  poorest 
fare  and  the  most  miserable  clothes  for  the 
troops  ;  when,  during  the  passage  of  the 
Balkan  Mountains,  whole  companies  fell  right 
and  left  into  the  bottomless  abysses,  the 
superior  officers  had  for  all  these  woes  and 
wrongs  but  one  answer — an  indifferent  shrug 
and  a  " nitshewo!" — "Can't  help  it — go  on!" 


i 


THE    REAL    RULERS    OF    RUSSIA 


2717 


When  wc  turn  to  nihilism,  we  find  again 
the  reflection  of  our  own  acquaintance — 
nitshcwo.  Not  even  the  Kismet  of  the  Turk, 
which  bids  men  resign  themselves  stoically 
to  the  inevitable,  is  to  be  compared  witli 
nitsheivo.  The  essence  of  it  is  disgust  with 
everything  in  existence,  negation  of  good  and 
evil  alike.  For  the  believer  in  this  word  there 
is  neither  murder  nor  devotion,  love  nor 
hatred.  Russian  youth  is  not  seduced  into 
extreme  but  honest  convictions  by  its  ardent 
love  of  liberty — as  is  the  case  in  other  coun- 
tries— but  is  poisoned  and  stunned  by  the  bale- 
ful influence  of  nitshcwo,  which  honeycombs 
the  body  politic  and  unsettles  society.  And 
it  is  also  nitsheivo  which  makes  the  Russian 
judge  send  the  convicted  nihilists  in  droves 
to  the  wastes  of  Siberia  or  to  the  gallows. 
Why  not  ?  There  will  be  enough  subjects  left 
for  the  Czar.     Nitshcwo. 

The  other  two  despots,  less  tyrannical  in 
appearance,  aid  greatly  to  make  the  power 
of  nitshcwo  so  absolute.  The  first  of  these, 
loinowat,  means  literally,  "I  am  guilty;  I  own 
up  to  it.  "  It  is  another  cancer  in  the  national 
character  of  Russia.  At  first  it  might  seem 
as  if  the  frequent  use  of  this  word  were  a 
proof  of  the  truthfulness  of  the  Russian,  but 
it  is  not  so.  The  Russian  who  has  been  guilty 
of  a  crime  and  says,  when  confronted  with  the 
proofs,  ''Winowat"  ("I  am  guilty") — means 
by  that  merely:  "  What  is  the  use  of  my  deny- 
ing it  ?  If  I  did  so  I  should  be  bothered  all 
the  more;  I  should  have  to  stand  an  elaborate 
trial  and  that's  a  great  deal  too  much  trouble. 
Nitshcwo,  let's  simply  eay:  Winowat.  That 
ends  the  whole  business,  and  I  have  no  further 
bother."  There  is  no  such  thing  as  remorse 
or  grief  in  this  attitude  winowat — that  settles 
it ;  that  is  all  the  satisfaction  you  need  expect. 
No  matter  if  he  has  killed  your  son,  dishonored 
your  family  or  broken  your  choicest  vase, 
winowat  is  the  only  balm  applied;  the  only 
medicine  taken  for  a  troubled  conscience. 

The  injury  this  word  does  is  not,  however, 
to  be  compared  in  extent  to  that  wrought  by 
the  third  one  of  these  despots — Natshai.  No 
matter  where  in  the  boundless  land  of  the 
Czar  you  may  be,  you  will  meet  with  the  same 
keen  appreciation  of  the  beauties  of  natshai. 
Originally  the  word  was  a  compound  and 
meant  "for  tea,"  like  the  French  poiirboire 
(for  drink).  But  its  first  sense  has  been 
broadened  and  extended,  until  its  significance 
is  multiform.     Ordinarilv,  it  is  true,  natshai 


is  used,  as  "for  vodka"  (corn  brandy)  instead 
of  as  "for  tea."  Hut  as  the  word  creeps  into 
higher  and  still  higher  strata  of  the  social 
structure,  it  means  more  and  more.  It  is,  in 
fact,  the  very  essence  and  personification  of 
the  national  (not  merely  official)  corrui)tion. 
There  is  no  better  way  of  illustrating  the  all- 
pervading  influence  of  natshai  than  to  describe 
briefly  a  typical  day  in  the  life  of  an  average 
Russian. 

Gawril  Nicolaievitch,  a  well-to-do  merchant 
from  Kiev,  has  come  up  on  a  business  trip  to 
St.  Petersburg.  With  some  degree  of  irrita- 
tion he  struts  beside  the  burly  porter  whom  he 
has  just  engaged  to  carry  his  small  leather 
trunk  and  valise  to  the  fiacre  stand  outside  the 
railroad  depot.  The  man  allows  every  other 
passenger  and  every  other  porter  to  pass  him 
by.  Perhaps  it  is  his  excessive  modesty; 
perhaps  it  is  a  lack  of  "tea."  Gawril 
Nicolaievitch  becomes  convinced  that  he  will 
hardly  catch  even  the  last  one  of  the  sleighs, 
which  is  always  drawn  by  a  lame  or  otherwise 
incapacitated  horse,  and  thus  spend  an  hour 
on  the  trip  to  the  hotel.  Suddenly  he  dives 
into  his  pocket,  brings  forth  a  coin  and  puts 
it  into  the  hand  of  the  porter  and — watch  the 
result !  The  meek  porter  is  instantly  trans- 
formed into  a  daring  hero.  Brandishing  his 
trunk  high  above  his  head,  he  chases  the 
crowd  before  him.  Gawril  follows  and  has 
obtained  a  moment  later  a  seat  in  a  good 
sleigh. 

For  taking  the  merchant  to  the  hotel  the 
driver  demands  twice  the  usual  fare,  and 
swears  by  all  the  calendar  saints  and  by  the 
grave  of  his  mother  that  this  is  the  lowest 
figure.  Gawril  ofifers  less,  and  a  compromise 
is  finally  made.  The  driver  in  his  long  blue 
coat  has  made  a  poor  bargain,  and  his  style  of 
driving  shows  it.  Although  the  usual  speed 
of  vehicles  in  St.  Petersburg  is  like  a  flash, 
this  man's  horse  crawls  along  at  a  snail's  pace. 
The  weather  is  intensely  cold,  and  Gawril 
soon  becomes  chilled  to  the  bone.  "  Quicker, 
fellow,  and  I'll  give  you  natshai!"  he  says. 
"Good,  little  father!"  replies  the  driver;  he 
whistles  to  his  horse,  and  the  sleigh  shoots 
forward. 

Arrived  at  the  hotel,  he  thaws  out  in  his 
room  and  then  starts  forth  on  business.  Before 
he  leaves  he  says  to  the  doorkeeper:  "Don't 
let  me  wait  to-night  on  my  return.  It  may  be 
late,  but  you  will  get  a  natshai."  The  door- 
keeper bows  low^  and  remarks:     "It  is  very 


27i8 


THE   REAL    RULERS   OF    RUSSIA 


cold,  little  father.  Do  you  wish  to  find  a  good 
cup  of  tea  when  you  come  home?"  Gawril 
nods  assent,  and  then  he  goes  to  find  his 
customers,  with  whom  he  has  business  to 
transact.  The  first  one  is  not  in,  and  his 
clerk  cannot  tell  where  he  is.  All  at  once  a 
rouble  note  lies  before  the  clerk  on  the  desk, 
and  just  as  suddenly  he  remembers  where  his 
employer  is.  He  himself  is  unable  to  leave, 
but  the  errand  boy  might  be  sent  for  the 
merchant.  This  is  done,  and  five  copeck  do 
for  the  boy. 

Soon  the  merchant  appears  and  welcomes 
his  visitor.  After  a  few  introductory  phrases, 
they  go  to  the  Trakfir  (the  "tea-house"),  and 
there  they  may  be  seen  seated  behind  a  steam- 
ing samovar,  flanked  by  several  bottles  of 
vodka.  But  as  yet  business  has  not  been 
mentioned  at  all.  When  a  Russian  intends 
to  buy  a  dog  he  begins  the  proceedings  by 
assuring  the  seller  that  he  has  never  in  his  life 
harbored  the  intention  of  buying  a  cat.  Thus 
it  is  in  this  case,  too.  But  at  last  the  haggling 
begins.  Gawril  asks  20,000  roubles  for  his 
goods;  the  other  bids  12,000.  After  awhile 
the  figures  contended  for  approach  each  other 
more  nearly.  Finally  a  point  is  reached 
where  neither  will  yield  another  rouble  to  the 
other.  The  tea  and  the  vodka  have  both  been 
put  where  they  "  do  the  most  good,  "  and  now 
the  two  merchants  gaze  at  each  other  silently. 
At  last  Gawril  pulls  himself  together  and  says : 
"After  all,  Fll  give  you  five  rouble,  natshai, 
and  that  we  will  drink  up  together.  But 
that's  the  best  I  can  do.  Is  it  a  bargain?" 
The  St.  Petersburg  man,  overpowered  by  so 
much  good  nature  —  and  vodka  —  mutely 
squeezes  Gawril' s  hand  in  token  of  surrender, 
and  thereupon  the  latter  sings  out,  "Another 
couple  of  bottles  and  a  fresh  samovar!"  Thus 
the  business  is  concluded. 

It  has  grown  late  when  Gawril  parts  with 
the  merchant.  Shall  he  now  go  home? 
Never !  But  where  can  he  go  ?  He  looks 
about  for  a  cab.  In  vain;  not  one  is  in  sight. 
But  hold  on;  there  he  sees  a  policeman  strut- 
ting up  and  down  majestically.  But  how 
can  he  get  to  him?  The  vodka  begins  to 
work  its  spell,  and  his  legs  are  none  too  sure. 
Gawril  knows  a  way.  With  stentorian  voice 
he  calls  out:  "Officer!"  That  functionary 
at  once  obeys  the  call,  but  he  does  it  with  a 
mien  that  bodes  no  good  to  the  ruthless  dis- 
turber of  the  public  peace.  As  he  approaches 
Gawril  and,  by  the  dim  glimmer  of  the  lantern. 


sees  the  costly  quality  of  his  fur  coat,  a 
benignant  smile  takes  the  place  of  his  scowl. 
"Why  do  you  let  me  wait  so  long?"  growls 
the  Kiev  merchant.  "Tell  me  where  I  can 
find  a  theatre — where  I  can  laugh  and  have 
some  furi.     I  want  to  enjoy  myself." 

"Ah,  well,  that's  a  long  distance  off,"  says 
the  officer  doubtfully. 

"Nonsense,"  Gawril  exclaims;  "take  me 
to  a  cabman  and  tell  him  the  address  of  the 
theatre!" 

The  officer  feels  a  rouble  note  glide  into  his 
hand,  and  immediately,  with  the  tender 
solicitude  of  a  mother,  he  escorts  the  half- 
tipsy  stranger  to  the  nearest  fiacre  stand  and 
helps  him  into  the  sleigh.  Then  he  calls  out 
a  few  words  in  a  gruff  voice  to  the  driver 
salutes  the  merchant  very  politely,  and  a 
moment  later  Gawril  is  on  his  way  to  the 
temple  of  amusement.  The  ride  is  a  brief 
one,  and  although  on  his  entering  the  theatre 
he  is  told  with  a  profound  bow  that  all  the 
places  are  taken  and  there  is  not  even 
standing  room  left,  we  soon  see  Gawril 
seated  on  a  comfortable  chair  behind  the 
scenes.    Katshai  has  once  more  done  its  work. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  Gawril  returns 
home,  sips  tea  with  the  pleasure  which  all 
Russians  seem  to  feel  in  drinking  it,  fortified 
with  another  stiff  admixture  of  vodka,  and 
then  with  the  assistance  of  the  doorkeeper, 
who  has  been  faithfully  keeping  watch  for  the 
traveler,  he  falls  asleep,  dimly  conscious  of 
the  conviction,  before  closing  his  eyes,  that 
nowhere  else  the  world  over  is  life  half  as 
pleasant  as  in  "  Holy  Russia. " 

The  following  anecdote,  which  passes  cur- 
rent in  Russia,  is  a  neat  bit  of  persiflage  on  the 
natshai  nuisance :  After  the  Lord  had  created 
the  world  and  the  nations  to  people  it,  he 
asked  of  each  of  them  if  they  still  had  an 
unfulfilled  wish.  They  were  all  satisfied 
except  the  Russian,  who,  taking  off  his  cap 
with  a  polite  bow,  said:  "Oh,  good  Lord, 
you  see  you  have  made  such  a  nice,  handsome, 
good-natured  fellow  of  me,  that  I  think  you 
might  start  me  off  with  a  little  natshai,  if  you 
please  !" 

And  this,  the  third  autocrat  in  the  land  of 
the  Czar,  is  perhaps  the  mightiest  of  them 
all.  Without  natshai  you  will  be  unable  to 
accomplish  anything  in  Russia,  all  the  orders 
and  the  decrees  of  the  nominal  Czar  at 
St.  Petersburg  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. 


THE  REBUILDING  OF  LONDON 

HOW  THE  METROPOLIS  OF  THE  WORLD  IS  BECOMING  MODERN— THE  DIFFICULTIES  OF 
REMODELING  THE  CENTURIES-OLD  CITY— THE  PART  AMERICANS  ARE  PLAYING  IN  THE 
CHANGES— RAPID  TRANSIT  AND  "SKY-SCRAPERS"  IN  THE  MIDST  OF  LONDON'S  TRADITIONS 

BY 

CHALMERS  ROBERTS 


I 


WHILE  London  is  not  torn  up  from 
end  to  end  for  a  "quick  change," 
as  New  York  is  today,  the  city  is 
gradually  becoming  modernized.  It  is  merely 
a  new  comparison  of  American  and  English 
methods — the  former  rapid  and  radical,  the 
latter  slow  and  conservative.  When  Queen 
Victoria  came  to  the  throne  the  London  of 
the  Stuart  kings  was  almost  as  they  left  it. 
Her  death  marks  another  period  in  the  life  of 
the  city,  for  with  all  its  progress  during  the 
last  sixty  years  London  remains  perhaps  the 
most  backward  of  civilized  capitals.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  name  many  reasons  for  this  tardy 
rejuvenation.  The  disinclination  to  take 
advantage  of  latest  municipal  inventions  is 
but  a  reflection  of  the  mind  of  the  man  who 
lives  there.  The  enormous  growth  of  London 
has  been  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  means 
or  its  methods  of  government.  And  any- 
thing like  a  general  scheme  for  its  rebuilding 
could  not  be  thought  of  until  some  sort  of 
consolidated  municipal  government  was  ar- 
ranged— an  accomplishment  only  of  the 
most  recent  years. 

It  is  not  fair  to  make  disadvantageous 
comparisons  with  modern  cities  which  have 
been  created  by  municipal  experts.  In  their 
perfection  they  are  apt  to  forget  how  like  to  a 
day  their  lives  are  as  compared  to  the  lives 
of  her  they  mock.  The  population  of  ten 
millions  must  content  itself  with  the  same 
streets  which  served  the  population  of  one 
million.  No  scheme  of  the  many  proposed 
and  the  few  in  execution  has  ever  devised 
substitutes  for  the  Strand  or  Fleet  Street  or 
the  many  tunnel  lanes  of  the  city  proper  or 
for  Bond  Street  or  Piccadilly.  These  thor- 
oughfares may  be  widened  time  and  again 
and  yet  be  far  too  narrow  to  serve  the  multi- 
tudes which  persist  in  traversing  them.  One 
may  compel  the  heavy  traffic  to  take  side 
streets,  but  the  free  people  go  where  they 


will,  and  they  elect  to  go  by  the  route  where 
the  crowd  is.  It  seems  almost  too  much  to 
expect  a  municipality  to  devise  means  of 
extricating  them  from  the  tangles  they  per- 
sist in  getting  themselves  into.  It  is  notorious 
how  much  dwellers  in  slums  resent 
their  clearance  and  the  erection  of  model 
dwellings.  There  is  never  a  public  improve- 
ment projected  but  raises  opposition.  The 
builders  of  that  most  perfect  of  underground 
railways,  the  Central  London  (Tu'penny 
Tube),  had  not  only  to  contest  innumerable 
cases  which  complained  of  the  vibration 
caused  by  the  tube  sixty  feet  underground, 
but  there  are  now  actually  pending  suits  based 
upon  mining  claim  laws  charging  them 
with  the  theft  of  clay  which  they  removed  in 
making  their  tunnel  and  failed  to  pay  for. 
It  is  a  thankless  task  to  provide  town  folk 
with  fresh  air  or  light  or  room  or  means  of 
transportation.  It  is  quite  useless  to  plan 
Utopian  model  cities  in  a  wilderness  of  fresh 
air  until  some  means  are  found  to  make  the 
multitude  forsake  its  grimy  warrens. 

Anything  like  a  general  scheme  for  the 
rebuilding  of  London  was  impossible  so  long 
as  the  antiquated  system  of  government 
struggled  with  its  increasing  burdens.  But 
as  soon  as  what  is  known  now  as  the  "metro- 
politan district"  was  placed  under  the  control 
of  the  London  Count v  Council,  the  breath 
of  invention  and  improvement  was  felt. 
London  began  to  hear  and  to  see  how  far 
behind  it  was  in  comparison  with  other  cities, 
that  it  was  probably  the  most  irregular,  incon- 
venient and  unmethodical  collection  of  houses 
of  them  all.  A  comprehensive  plan  for  the 
transformation  of  Paris  has  been  gradually 
developed  since  1848;  slums  have  disap- 
peared from  Berlin  since  1870;  eighty-eight 
acres  in  the  centre  of  Glasgow  have  been  re- 
modeled; Birmingham  has  transformed  ninety- 
three  acres  of  squalid  slums  into  magnificent 


I. 


2/20 


THE    REBUILDING    OF    LONDON 


streets  flanked  by  architectural  buildings; 
Vienna,  having  completed  her  stately  outer 
ring,  is  about  to  remodel  her  inner  city.  In 
London  alone  there  was  no  organized  scheme 
to  make  it  worthy  its  position  as  the  first  of 
municipalities.  And  there  is  none  now. 
But  the  County  Council  has  speedily  directed 
all  its  energies  to  the  remedy  of  the  most 
crying  needs.  Systematization  and  beauti- 
fication  may  come  later. 

It  would  be  quite  impossible  even  to  name 
the    many    plans    for    the    improvement    of 
London  which  have  recently  been  laid.     Over 
all  the  vast  territory  new  things  are  taking 
the  place  of  worn-out  old.     Much,  for  example 
is  being  done  to  open  up  the  congestion  of 
surface   traffic,   the   condition   of  which   has 
come  to  be  synonymous  with  the  very  name, 
London.     Old  streets  are  widened  and  new 
ones  are  cut  directly  through  long  squares  of 
buildings.     One   of  the   earliest   acts   of  the 
County  Council  was  to  make  provision  for 
the  widening  of  the  Strand.     A  careful  survey 
was  made  both  of  the  ground  and  the  owner- 
ship  of  the   space   needed.     In  many  cases 
long  leases  had  either  to  be  bought  out  or 
waited  for.     Wherever  new  building  permits 
were  issued  the  new  line   of  abutment  was 
insisted  upon.     This  is  the  reason  the  average 
American    visitor    wonders    at   the    irregular 
frontage    of    Strand    buildings.     From    the 
earthquake-like   condition   of  this   most   im- 
portant of  all  London  streets  one  would  have 
imagined  that  the  whole  route  was  soon  to  be 
opened.     Yet  after  a  wait  of  ten  years  and 
untold  expense  the  newly  widened  space  is 
only  about  the  length  of  four  average  blocks 
in  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York.     From  Welling- 
ton Street,  the  entrance  to  Waterloo  Bridge, 
east  to  the  Law  Courts,  there  will  be  a  fine 
Strand,   one   hundred  feet  broad,   extending 
quite  around  both  churches  of  St.  Mary  le 
Strand  and  St.  Clement  Danes.     These  beau- 
tiful examples  of  old  ecclesiastical  architec- 
ture stand  clear  and  free  of  outline  on  islands 
with    scarcely    an    entrance    refuge.      This 
change  has  involved  the  complete  destruction 
of  two  narrow  blocks  of  old  gabled  buildings 
bounded    by    Holywell    and    Wych    Streets. 
Antiquarians  deplore  their  destruction,   and 
no  book  lover  who  ever  visited  London  can 
forget  Holywell,  known  as  Booksellers  Row. 
Springing  here  from  the  Strand  like  a  three- 
pronged  fork  will  run  the  new  avenue  quite 
through  to  Holbom,  the  west  prong  begin- 


ning at  Wellington  Street  and  the  east  at 
St.  Clement  Danes.  Each  of  these,  eighty 
feet  wide,  will  join,  at  a  point  near  the  loca- 
tion of  the  old  Olympic  Theatre,  the  stem  and 
centre  prong  of  the  fork,  which  will  be  one 
hundred  feet  wide,  to  Holbom  and  even 
beyond  by  Southampton  Row  to  Theobald's 
Row,  the  main  thoroughfare  to  Northeast 
London. 

This  beautiful  new  avenue,  with  never  a 
public  house  (saloon)  on  its  length,  will  be 
worth  in  health  alone  much  more  than  it  cost. 
It  offers,  moreover,  a  fine  architectural  oppor- 
tunity— close  supervision  will  be  exercised 
over  buildings  here.  Considering  the  magni- 
tude of  the  improvement,  its  cost  will  be 
very  moderate.  The  first  cost  will  be  about 
;^4, 500,000,  but  it  is  expected  to  recoup  in 
leases  all  but  about  ;;^70o,ooo.  Between  the 
prongs  of  this  fork  will  be  some  of  the  most 
interesting  new  buildings  in  Londt-n.  The 
advantage  of  the  site  did  not  remain  long 
undiscovered.  At  the  point  of  the  west  prong 
stood  the  old  Gaiety  Theatre.  This  was 
bought  and  doomed  to  destruction.  Farther 
on,  directly  opposite  Somerset  House,  it  is 
proposed  to  erect  the  great  steel  shop-and- 
office  building  about  which  so  much  has  been 
said  and  written.  This  will  be  the  first  in 
London  of  a  type  well  known  in  America.  It 
has  been  carefully  designed  in  the  same  style 
of  architecture  as  the  venerable  pile  across  the 
way. 

Farther  east  the  Strand  shows  in  places 
sporadic  attempts  at  widening,  caused  by 
buildings  erected  since  the  new  line  was 
laid  down.  The  next  largest  scheme  for 
street  improvement  is  in  Piccadilly.  Here 
the  block  is  one  of  seasons,  and  not  perpetual 
like  that  in  the  Strand.  One  may  almost 
read  the  fashionable  life  of  London  by  the 
condition  of  traffic  in  Piccadilly.  During 
the  last  year  one  long  stretch  was  made 
broader  by  taking  into  the  roadway  a  slice 
of  the  Green  Park  from  Constitution  Hill  gate 
past  Hamilton  Place,  a  part  almost  impassable 
during  an  afternoon  in  the  season.  At  this 
point  on  an  ordinary  spring  day  more  than 
2,855  vehicles  have  been  counted  during  one 
hour.  The  County  Council  is  seizing  every 
lease  as  it  falls  due  and  promises  in  a  com- 
paratively few  years  to  begin  work  here, 
though  there  was  great  opposition  to  this 
"sacrilege"  to  one  of  the  town's  too  few 
parks,    and   further   plans   for   widening   the 


'A 


a 


■Si 

W 


W     « 


I— 1 


c 


5  "= 

Z 


o 

z 


< 


2/2; 


THE    REBUILDING     OF    LO#NDON 


TEARING  DOWN   OLD    HOLYWELL  STREET 


street    from    the    Green    Park    to    Piccadilly 
Circus  must  wait. 

Another  splendid  street  will  be  opened 
when  the  Thames  embankment  is  com,- 
pleted  between  Chelsea  and  the  Houses  of 
Parliament.  This  beautiful  boulevard  will 
then  run  uninterrupted,  save  by  the  buildings 
at  Westminster,  for  miles  with  a  park  on  one 
side  and  the  Thames  on  the  other.  It  has 
become  the  recognized  site  for  public  build- 
ings, and  every  year  sees  additions  to  the  long 
line.  The  last  decided  upon  is  the  new 
County  Council  Hall,  which  is  to  give  a  home 
to  London's  new  governing  body  on  the 
Adelphi  Terrace,  just  east  of  Charing  Cross. 
This  new  extension  will  give  a  proper  situa- 
tion to  the  Tate  Gallery,  full  of  the  works 
of  modern  painters  and  up  to  now  lest  in 
Chelsea  slums.  It  will  also  show  off  to  great 
advantage  the  model  workingmen's  dwellings 
built  in  this  neighborhood  by  the  County 
Council. 


The  great  English  railways  have  already 
long  ago  reached  the  limit  of  their  ability  to 
cope  with  suburban  traffic  in  and  out  of 
London.  The  greater  part  of  the  toilers 
have  been  dependent  upon  horse-tramways 
and  'busses.  Because  of  the  short-lived 
franchises  granted  them,  no  surface  trams 
can  afford  to  create  suburbs.  They  must 
await  demand.  They  are,  moreover,  so 
subject  to  ordinary  street  difficulties  as  to  be 
slowest  at  the  very  hours  when  they  are  most 
needed — early     morning    and    late    evening. 

The  old  underground  railway  was  designed 
to  be  complete  in  an  inner  and  outer  circle, 
but  the  outer  circle  was  found  to  be  insuffi- 
cient before  it  was  ever  built.  And  the  inner 
circle  nowadays   does  not  even  touch  what 


ALL   TILVT    LS   LEFT   OF    THE   OLD   OPERA   COMIQUE 


THE    DILAPIDATED    SIRAND 

might  be  called  suburbs.  Yet  so  long  as  it 
was  without  competition  the  two  companies 
owning  this  system  drevv^  great  dividends  and 
ignored  the  demands  of  their  dependent 
patrons  for  better  service.  Not  until  com- 
petition arose  in  the  shape  of  the  Central 
London  electric  tube  railway  did  the  directors 
of  the  District  and  Metropolitan  lines  bestir 
themselves.  And  even  then  their  stirring 
took  the  shape  of  a  kind  of  panic  over  lost 
receipts,  with  no  idea  of  the  necessity  of 
spending  money  to  save  trade.  They  did 
not  dare  before  to  suggest  any  expenditure 
without  promising  increased  profits.  Mr. 
Yerkes's  action  in  acquiring  control  of  the 
District  Underground  brought  a  flood  of 
underground  railway  schemes  forward.  Par- 
liamentar}^  committees  have  been  kept  btisy 
deciding  between  rival  schemes.  They  have 
been  careful  to  reserve  all  manner  of  rights 
to  the  Government,  refusing,  for  instance, 
to  grant  any  route  unless  the  proposed  com- 


THE    Rl-:iiUILlJlNG    OF    LONDON 


2723 


pany  agreed  to  i)r()vi(lc  and  maintain  a  sub- 
way for  pi[)es  and  wires  alonj^  its  line.  This 
is  an  etTort  to  unravel  the  tangle  of  sueh 
things  wliieh  the  least  upturning  of  the 
streets  sliows.  These  lines  are  also  refused 
complete  independence  of  each  other,  and 
are  compelled  to  arrange  transfers  and  joint 
time  tables.  There  are  now  fifty-two  miles 
of  deep  railways  running  and  authorized, 
estimated  to  cost  _^5oo,ooo  per  mile.  The 
great  objection  in  London  to  shallow  tram- 
subways,  such  as  are  used  in  Paris  and  build- 
ing in  New  York,  is  the  necessity  of  torn-up 
streets  for  a  long  period,  as  well  as  the  diffi- 
culty of  disposing  of  the  soil  so  near  the  sur- 
face. The  tubes,  after  the  fashion  of  bur- 
rowing animals,  must  necessarily  dispose  of 
their  soil  at  the  end  of  their  tunnel  only. 
It  is  safe  to  predict  that  in  ten  years  it  will 
actiially  be  possible  to  traverse  London  by 
public  conveyance  more  quickly  than  one 
could  walk  or  go  in  a  cab.  Now,  for  lack  of 
means,  or  of  cooperation  when  there  is 
means,  the  task  is  hopeless. 

While  the  tubes  are  burrov/ing  under  the 
river,  new  bridges  are  building,  and  even 
a  foot  passenger  tunnel  has  just  been  opened, 
so  great  is  the  stream  of  workers  which  must 
cross  over  twice  a  day.  New  bridges  are 
building  at  Vauxhall  and  Kew,  while  that 
planned  to  be  built  at  Lambeth  is  said  to  be 
as  notable  a  combination  of  art  and  utility  as 


TUBIi  SIGNAL  STATION 


the  famous  Alexand'T 
III.  bridge  in  Paris. 
And  there  is  in  active 
operation  a  scheme  for 
the  widening  of  famous 
old  London  Bridge 
by  cantilever  cornices 
to  carry  all  of  the  foot 
traffic.  Thus  the  old 
foundation  bridge  of 
the  town  by  the  Thames 
keeps  ])rogress  with 
its  growth.  For  it  is 
known  definitely  that 
both  Roman  and  Saxon  bridges  existed  here, 
and  that  the  first  stone  London  Bridge  was 
built  here  in  11 76.  For  six  and  a  half  cen- 
turies this  old  structure  had  houses  on  either 
side  of  the  roadway,  much  in  demand  for 
shops,  with  a  chapel  on  the  central  pier  for 
saints,  arid  stocks  and  a  cage  at  either  end  for 
sinners.  The  present  beautiful  bridge  was 
opened  by  William  IV.  in  1831.  Experts  in 
the  problems  of  traffic  say  that  the  new 
Strand  to  Holborn  Avenue  will  com.pel  the 
construction  of  another  bridge  between  Black- 
friars  and  Waterloo.  Certainly  something 
must  soon  be  done  to  relieve  Waterloo,  the 
unceasing  stream  which  crosses  here  being 
the  chief  cause  of  the  unending  block  in  the 
Strand  at  its  approach. 

Beyond   the   bridges   comes   that   widening 


HOW   ONE   SIDE   OF   THE  STRAND   IS   BEING   SHAVED  AWAY 
At  St.  Mary's  in  the  Strand 


THE    REBUILDING    OF    LONDON 


THE   XEW   GAIETY'   THEATRE   BUILDING 


of  the  Thames  called  the  Pool  of  London. 
Here  is  where  the  city  of  ships  lies,  and  here 
are  the  great  docks  which  fifty  years  ago  were 
the  wonder  of  their  time.  Xot  so  now;  they 
and  the  system  under  which  they  are  run 
have  been  so  scathingly  condemned  by  a 
committee  of  inquiry,  after  a  year  of  investi- 
gation, that  the  whole  country  is  aroused  to 
their  improvement. 

Parliament  is  busy  also  with  London's  water 
supply,  mainly  concerned  with  the  con- 
solidation of  many  companies,  for  the  quality 
or  quantity  of  the  v.-ater  leaves  little  to  be 
desired.  But  the  gradual  growth  of  the 
rights  of  water  supply  is  a  very  attractive 
story.  Some  of  the  old  companies  run  back 
to  the  days  of  the  Tudors,  and  it  is  needless 
to  say  that  their  shares  are  of  almost  inesti- 
mable value.  It  is  interesting  also  to  follow 
through  old  streets  the  course  of  former 
little  riv^crs  and  rills,  all  of  which  have  been 
turned  into  drink  and  wash  for  the  thirsty, 
dirty  monster  which  has  devoured  them, 
leaving  only  a  corner  or  an  alley  with  their 
name  for  a  monument. 


As  for  the  new  buildings  which  are  planned 
and  in  course  of  construction,  one  can  scarcely 
find  space  to  name  them  all.  The  great 
Roman  Catholic  Cathedral  of  Westminster 
has  risen  within  a  few  squares  of  the  Abbey, 
the  heart  of  the  Church  of  England.  Like 
most  great  London  buildings,  it  seems  hope- 
lessly out  of  place,  fitting  surroundings  hav- 
ing been  sacrificed  for  central  location.  It 
is  quite  hidden  away  out  of  ding\-  Victoria 
Street,  and  would  never  be  found  but  for 
its  mighty  campanile,  three  hundred  feet 
high.  It  is  very  different  froni  recent  Gothic 
and  Renaissance  church  architecture,  being 
one  of  the  few  modern  Byzantine  buildings 
in  the  West.  It  will  soon  be  opened  for  use, 
with  no  attempt  at  first  to  cover  the  rough 
brick  of  the  interior  walls  or  the  cement 
of  the  domes,  all  destined  later  for  mural 
painting  and  mosaics.  The  largest  arch 
over  any  known  church  doorway  will  admit 
ten  thousand  worshipers  to  ample  accom- 
modation under  a  central  dome  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet  high.  The  plan  dispenses 
with  stained  glass  windows — a  wise  arrange- 


THE    RKHUILDING    O I-"    LONDON 


2725 


REBUILDING  VAUXHALL   BRIDGE 


FAMOUS   NEWGATE   PRISON 
The  march  of  improvements  will  wipe  it  out  and  replace  it  with  a    court-house 


I 


2726 


THE    REBUILDING    OF    LOXUOX 


THE    NEW    ROMAN    CATHOLIC   CATHEDRAL 
A  few  blocks  from  Westminster  Abbey 

ment  in  dark  London.  Twenty-nine  marble 
columns  support  aisles,  galleries,  and  arches 
of  transepts,  with  bases  of  Xor^-egian  granite 
and  capitals  of  white  Carrara  elaborately 
carved. 

Another  scheme  of  magnitude  has  just 
come  to  light  in  the  purchase  of  the  Royal 
Aquarium  by  the  "Wesley ans.  The  character 
of  the  place   v.-ill  be   quite  transformed,  and 


even  Mrs.  Langtry,  who  has  built  a  beautiful 
theatre  on  adjoining  leased  ground  belonging 
to  the  plot,  will  either  have  to  sell  or  buv. 
The  Methodists  cannot  see  their  way  clear  as 
theatrical  landlords.  The  new  building,  not 
yet  designed,  will  comprise  a  connectional 
centre  for  the  ^lethodists  at  which  conferences 
and  congresses  will  be  held.  There  will  be  a 
great  hall  holding  3.000  people  available  for 
services  on  Sundays  and  public  meetings,  a 
sm.aller  hall  to  hold  i.ooo  people,  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  Y.  W.  C.  A.  rooms,  numerous  committee 
rooms  and  a  library. 

Famous  Old  Bailey  Prison  has  been 
demolished  to  make  way  for  the  new  palace 
of  justice — the  Sessions  House  of  the  City  of 
London.  Few  visitors  to  London  miss  this 
site  of  many  tragedies,  its  walls  hung  wdth 
rusting  manacles  and  hobbles,  and  its  halls 
complete  with  pillories  and  stocks  and  whip-, 
ping  blocks  and  implements  of  torture.  So 
manv  incidents  are  located  here  that  one  can 
scarcely  choose  for  mention.  For  me,  I 
always  first  remember  that  here  in  1660  the 
com.mon  hangman  burned  Milton's  works. 
In  1783  it  succeeded  Tyburn  as  a  place  of 
execution,  and  in  1868  knew  its  last  gallows. 
Here  the  Lord  Mayor  held  his  quaint  court 
for  the  trial  of  offenders  within  the  city  wards. 

Leaving  unm^entioned  all  the  many  libra- 
ries, baths,  hospitals,  hotels  and  business 
premises  designed  by  the  most  eminent 
architects  and  engineers  of  the  day,  there  is 
left  the  improvements  in  the  great  govern- 
mental space  of  Whitehall.     When  its  new 


I' ImjJ  2)1^:^1  :-j.^j 


THE   FIRST  AMERICAN   STEEL   FRAME  STRUCTURE    IN  LONDON 
Now  building  in  the  Strand 


THE    RKBUILDING    O I "    LUNUON 


2727 


THE   NEW  GOVERNMENT  BUILDINGS 
The  arch  connects  the  new  with  the  old  buildings  to  the  right 


buildings  are  finished  will  stretch  between 
Trafalgar  Square  and  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment almost  every  department  of  the  British 
Government.  Some  one  has  called  this  short 
street  the  shuttle  of  the  Imperial  loom.  It 
will  be  a  court  of  honor  worthy  of  the  Empire's 
capital.     On    the    left    as    one    enters    from 


Parliament  Street  will  rise  the  new  home  of 
the  Education  Department  and  the  Local 
Government  Board,  designed  in  harmony 
with  the  Home  Office  and  connected  thereto 
with  an  archway  bridge.  Farther  on,  op- 
posite the  ancient  Horse  Guards  and  next 
to    Inigo   Jones'    Banqueting    Hall,    the    last 


J 


THE   NEW    WAR   OFFICE 
Opposite  the  Horse  Guards,  in  Whitehall.     To  the  left  is  Inigo  Jones'  Banqueting  Hall,  from  whose  window  Charles  I.  stepped  to  the  scaffold 


2728 


THE    REBUILDING    OF    LONDON 


GALLERY   FOR   PIPES  AND  WIRES  BENEATH   THE 
STRAND 

remnant  of  the  old  palace  of  Whitehall,  rises 
the  new  War  Office,  and  farther  on,  on  the 
opposite  side,  will  be  the  new  Admiralty, 
part  of  which  is  already  occupied. 


of  all,  and  one  which  is  concerned  only  with 
beauty  and  sentiment.  It  is  proposed  to 
open  a  wide  avenue  from  the  square  into 
the  Mall  as  a  fitting  approach  to  the  beautiful 
memorial  which  the  people  of  all  the  Britains 
are  to  erect  to  their  great  Queen.  At  first  in 
their  grief  her  people  seemed  to  think  that 
none  fitting  could  be  erected.  But  their 
gratitude  found  material  expression. 

A  monumental  beneficence  in  a  charitable 
age  might  not  long  be  associated  closely 
enough  with  the  object  for  which  it  was  to  be 
designed.  So  a  purely  artistic  memorial  was 
finally  decided  upon,  long  after  the  funds  con- 
tributed had  reached  more  than  ample  pro- 
portions. 

Whether  this  work,  finished  so  far  as  plans 
are  concerned,  has  realized  the  dear  desire  of 
those  who  wished  it  into  being  must  be  left 
for  future  generations  to  decide.  It  is  not 
easv  with  the  best  of  intent  to  command 
inspiration,  nor  can  the  greatest  wealth  of 
money  succeed  in  buying  what  is  often 
achieved  out  of  the  direst  poverty. 

It  is  only  to  be  wished  that  the  home  built 
for  her  in  her  early  years,  Buckingham  Palace, 
were  a  worthier  background  for  her  monu- 
ment. Perhaps  the  memorial  will  so  accentu- 
ate its  ugliness  that  another  generation  will 
demand  its  reconstruction.  For  it  is  to  be 
honored  with  an  approach  which  competent 
critics  declare  to  be  without  equal  in  any 
recent  efforts  at  memorial  and  municipal 
decoration. 


A   TR.\IX    FROM   THE    TU  PENN^'   TUBE 

All  these  improvements  and  new  buildings 
have  been  those  of  utility,  but  at  the  juncture 
of  Whitehall  with  Trafalgar  Square  we  come 
to  what  is  perhaps  the  most  striking  change 


i 


AN    A.MLRICAN   CAR    FOR    THL    TUBE 


A   STATION   IN   THE    TUBE 


SURK  ON   THK   I.AKK  COAST 
In  otlicr  pl.iccs  the  water  is  joo  feet  deep  at  the  shore  line 


SAVING    THE    FISHERIES    OF    OUR 

INLAND    SEAS 


MORE  THAN  ONE  HUNDRED  MILLION  POUNDS  OF  TROUT  AND  WHITE- 
FISH  TAKEN  FROM  THE  GREAT  LAKES  IN  A  YEAR— GOVERNMENT 
RE-STOCKING  TO  REPAIR  THE  RAVAGES  OF  WANTON  FISHERMEN- 
FRY    KEPT     IN     WATER     AT     32)^     DEGREES— METHODS     OF     FISHING 

BY 

W.    S.    HARWOOD 

(Illustrated  with  photographs  by  tlie  author  and  others) 


I 


TO  re-stock  with  fish  a  trout  stream  or 
a  bass  pond  is  an  easy  task.  To  re- 
stock an  inland  sea  400  miles  long, 
1,500  miles  in  circumference  and  averaging 
1,000  feet  deep,  even  one  such  sea,  is  Hercu- 
lean. And  yet  so  well  does  the  Government 
Fish  Commission  do  its  work  among  the  Great 
Lakes — all  five  of  them — that  the  following 
remark  fell  one  day  from  the  bronzed  captain 
of  a  Canadian  fish-tug  as  we  bowled  along 
the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Superior: 

''Four  years  ago  the  whitefish  in  my  ter- 
ritory were  played  out.  Your  American 
Commission  put  young  fry  in  the  territory. 
This  season  I  have  had  one  of  the  best  white- 
fish  seasons  in  fifteen  years.  They  were  four- 
year-olds.  There  wasn't  no  luck  in  that, 
mister.  " 

The  five  great  lakes  are  of  greater  impor- 
tance than  most  Americans,  whose  knowledge 
of  them  is  confined  to  the  geography  of  child- 
hood,   appreciate. 


Through  the  canals  at  the  Soo,  the  eastern 
outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  passes  a  far  larger 
volume  of  freight — larger  now  by  many  mil- 
lions of  tons  a  year — than  passes  the  Suez, 
formerly  the  world's  standard  of  canal  traffic. 
The  traffic  of  the  Soo  now  exceeds  twenty 
millions  of  tons  a  year. 

But  beyond  their  importance  as  a  vast 
highway  of  traffic,  and  their  value,  which  is 
great,  as  a  conserver  of  national  health, 
through  outings,  lies  their  food  production. 
Like  the  prairies,  these  lakes  are  a  mighty 
food  reservoir.  Millions  of  pounds  of  fish 
have  been  caught  annually  in  these  lakes; 
millions  of  dollars  are  invested  in  securing 
the  catch.  During  1899  the  catch  was  nearly 
one  hundred  and  fourteen  million  pounds. 
The  herring,  a  species  of  whitefish,  now 
leads,  but  the  common  whitefish  and  the 
lake  trout  are  the  most  prized,  and  the  ones 
most  in  danger  of  extinction.     Each  one  has 


SAVING   THE    FISHERIES    OF    OUR    INLAND    SEAS 


2731 


FASTENING   A   NET   AFTER    LIFTING 

its  supporters  as  a  food  fish.  Tlie  whitefish, 
firm  of  flesh  and  eminently  nutritious,  coming 
to  the  table  broiled  or  baked  or  planked,  is  a 
toothsome  fellow,  fit  for  the  plate  of  the 
daintiest  epicure  or  the  hardiest  lake-farer. 
The  trout,  pinker  of  flesh,  is  not  less  nutritious. 
The  fish  are  caught  in  huge  nets  mainly  by 
Americans,  mostly  in  the  open  lake  season, 


thougli  tlicre  is  considerable  fishing  through 
I  lie  ice.  The  fish  find  a  ready  market  at  all 
the  towns  and  cities  bordering  the  Great 
Lakes  and  even  far  inland. 

But  for  the  aid  of  the  National  Government, 
the  Great  Lake  fisheries,  engaging  thousands 
of  men  and  producing  annually  millions  of 
dollars'  worth  of  food,  would  soon  become 
practically  extinct.  The  decrease  in  the 
catch  long  since  reached  the  })oint  of  peril. 

In  Lake  Ontario  the  catch  of  whitefish, 
by  many  esteemed  the  choicest  of  our  lake 
fish,  fell  off  from  1,156,200  pounds  in  1868 
to  126,650  pounds  in  1895,  and  the  catch  of 
trout  for  the  same  period  from  61 2,000  pounds 
to  109,300  pounds.  In  Lake  Erie,  the  white- 
fish,  once  the  principal  catch  of  that  lake, 
exceeding  many  times  over  the  entire  output 
of  other  fish,  fell  away  to  nine  per  cent,  of  the 
entire  catch.  The  reduction  from  1885  to 
1 893  was  sixty-three  per  cent.  In  1 880  white- 
fish  held  first  place  in  the  catch  of  Lake 
Huron,  but  in  ten  years  it  fell  back  to  sixth 
place.     The  trout  of  this  lake  in  1803  yielded 


LIFTING  A   POUND-NET 
The  fish  are  lo  be  scraped  out  and  thrown  into  a  fishing  tug 


2732 


SAVING    THE    FISHERIES    OF    OUR    INLAND    SEAS 


WEIGHING  A   SHORE    FISHERMAN'S   CATCH  ON 
THE   TUG 

over  3.500,000  pounds,  ninety-two  per  cent,  of 
the  entire  catch  of  that  species;  in  1899  the 
catch  had  fallen  to  1.879,400  pounds,  a 
loss  of  over  1,600,000  pounds.  The  catch  of 
whitefish  in  Lake  Superior  has  also  shown  a 
steady  and  discouraging  decrease  from  year 
to  year.  The  main  causes  of  this  falling  off 
are  thoughtlessness,  enterprise  and  greed. 
When  the  rapid  decline  of  the  fisheries  be- 


came apparent  several  years  ago,  so  marked 
that  extinction  w^as  promised,  the  matter  was 
referred  to  a  Joint  Commission  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  which  reported  in  1896. 

From  this  investigation  it  appeared  that 
the  fishermen  were  not  observing  the  close 
season,  when  the  fish  spawn;  that  in  many 
cases  they  were  using  fine-meshed  nets;  that 
the  lakes  were  sadly  over-fished.  Extinction 
was  threatened.  But,  fortunately,  the  United 
States  Commission  of  Fish  and  Fisheries  took 
hold  to  repair  the  ravages. 

Collecting  eggs  is  the  basis  of  the  work. 
Whitefish  and  trout  spaw-n  in  the  late  sum- 
mer and  autumn.  Billions  upon  billions  of 
eggs  are  deposited  each  season.  Billions 
never  become  fish.  Other  billions  do.  An 
average  trout  will  lay  in  a  season  6,000  eggs; 


-.-?  ...-*>.-**>■  i*  /ii* 


AFTER  THE   MORNING  CATCH 
The  troul  woighs  about  20  pounds 


PREPARING   THE   CATCH    FOR   MARKET 

indeed,  trout  have  been  caught  with  15,000, 
while  the  whitefish  are  more  fecund  still. 
Trout  eggs  average  1,000  to  the  pound; 
wiiitefish,  10.000.  Despite  destruction  by 
other  fish,  many  out  of  such  large  numbers 
must  survive.  The  trout  eggs  are  deposited 
on  reefs  ten  to  fifteen  miles  from  shore  and 
from  ten  to  150  feet  below  the  surface,  in 
favorable  spots  revisited  year  after  year.  It 
is  here  that  havoc  is  wrought  by  wanton 
fishermen.  The  whitefish  spawn  at  greater 
depths,  and  comparatively  little  is  known  of 
their  habits. 

According  to  the  natural  process,  the  eggs 


SAVING    THE    MSIIERIES   UE    ULR    INLAND    SEAS 


2/33 


A   TYPICAL    FISH-GATHERIXG   BOAT  WHICH  CARRIES    PASSENGERS   ALSO 


are  laid  upon  a  smooth  bit  of  rock  and  milted. 
Thereafter  they  take  their  chances.  Artificial 
methods    are    surer. 

Penning  the  fish  at  spawning  time  has  been 
tried  successfully.  The  pens  are  frameworks 
or  nets  into  which  the  fish  run  and  from  which 
they  are  taken  at  spawning  time  and  stripped 
of  their  eggs.  The  other  method  is  to  gather 
ihe  eggs  at  the  fishing  banks  during  actual 
fishing  operations. 

Men  in  the  service  of  the  Government  go  out 
with  the  fishing  tugs  in  the  late  autumn,  or 
in  boats,  and  strip  the  ripe  fish  of  their  eggs. 
These  men  are  called  "spawn  takers"  or 
"strippers. "  They  must  be  men  of  strength 
and  courage,  for  there  are  many  dangers 
awaiting  them  in  the  fierce  storms  which  beat 
up  against  the  coasts  of  these  great  lakes  when 
the  late  autumn  winds  are  howling.  After 
the  stripping  into  a  shallow  pan,  the  milt  from 
the  male  fish  is  sprinkled  over  them  and  the 


REELS   FOR  DRYING  GILL   NETS 
The  nets  are  also  often  boiled  in  a  bark  solution  to  "tan" 


I 


2734 


SAVING  THE    FISHERIES    OF    OUR    INLAND    SEAS 


THE   FISH   HATCHERY  AT  DULUTH 


eggs  are  packed  in  moss-protected  trays  for 
transportation  to  the  hatcheries.  Nearly  two 
hundred  thousand  eggs  are  contained  in  each 
case  of  eighteen  trays.  The  trout  are  hatched 
out  in  tanks  or  troughs,  and  when  the  young 
trout  appear  they  are  placed  in  a  rearing 
trough,  or  pond,  to  be  l^ept  until  they  are 
"yearlings,"  or  distributed  direct  from  the 
hatching  boxes.  The  eggs  themselves  may 
be  shipped  great  distances,  instalments  having 
been  successfully  transported  to  Mexico, 
South  America,  Japan  and  Australia. 

The  tiny  fish  are  put  on  a  diet  of  beef  liver, 
chopped  fine,  their  principal  food  as  long  as 
they  remain  at  the  hatchery:  when  they  are 
sent  away  to  the  Great  Lakes  they  are  large 
enough  to  shift  for  themselves. 

The  trout  are  transferred  to  the  lakes  in 
ten-gallon  cans,  two  thousand  tiny  fish  to  the 
can.  In  the  course  of  six  or  eight  years,  the 
fish  in  a  single  can,  should  they  all  live,  should 
weigh  from  ten  to  twelve  tons.  They  are 
returned  when  large  enough  to  ship  from  the 
hatchery,  to  the  reefs  whence  the  eggs  were 
taken. 

The  whitefish  eggs  must  be  treated  differ- 
ently. They  demand  constant  motion  in  cold 
water  during  the  whole  three  months  of  their 
incubation.  The  eggs  are  placed  in  glass  jars 
through  which  is  forced  a  stream  of  water. 
Under  the  natural  conditions  in  the  lake  itself 


but  relatively  few  whitefish  eggs  are  hatclied ; 
in  hatcheries,  as  with  the  trout,  from  seventy- 
five  to  ninety-five  per  cent. 

Of  course,  the  utmost  care  must  be  exer- 
cised at  the  fish  hatcheries  to  see  that  the  small 
fish  are  kept  in  prime  condition  all  through 
the  period  before  they  are  large  enough  to  be 
transferred  to  the  lake  proper.  "When  breed- 
ing for  such  a  lake  as  Superior,  in  which  the 
water,  summer  as  well  as  winter,  is  very  cold, 
the  eggs  before  hatching  must  be  kept  in 
water  clear  and  pure,  and  at  a  temperature 
barely  above  the  freezing  point,  during  the 
entire  period  of  incubation.  The  water  must 
never  be  higher  than  56°  Farenheit,  preferably 
from  48°  to  58°  for  the  lake  trout.  The  tem- 
perature of  the  jars  in  which  the  whitefish  eggs 
are  hatched  is  kept  at  32'^°,  the  slightest  shade 
above  freezing.  "When  the  fish  are  hatched, 
a  slight  rise  is  allowed,  so  that  the  tiny  fry  pass 
out  into  water  having  a  temperature  from  ^^° 
to  34°.  As  soon  as  the  whitefish  eggs  are 
hatched,  the  fish  follow  the  stream  of  water 
out  of  the  jar  into  a  tank  where  the  water 
should  not  be  above  55°.  Sixty-five  degrees 
is  fatal. 

The  Government  maintains  hatcheries,  or 
stations,  as  they  are  called,  for  the  propoga- 
tion  of  fish  for  fresh  and  salt  water,  at  thirty- 
seven  points  in  many  States. 

During  last  season  the  Commission  depos- 


SAVING    THE    FISHERIES    OF    OUR    INLAND    SEAS 


2735 


ited  19,000,000  trout  and  326,000,000  wliite- 
Hsh  in  the  Great  Lakes.  The  average  cost 
per  milHon  for  gathering  the  whiteHsh,  iis 
shown  by  one  of  tlie  princi})al  hatcheries — at 
I'ut-in  Bay,  Ohio — was  $13.95.  Allowing 
this  hgure  for  the  entire  whitefish  collection 
would  bring  the  cost  up  to  $4,500.  I  do  not 
suppose  any  one  can  give  any  accurate  esti- 
mate of  the  number  of  these  healthy  fish — 
for  only  the  strong  and  healthy  ones  are 
distributed — which  will  survive,  but  should 
one-half  of  them  reach  a  six-pound  maturity, 
their  value  at  low  current  prices  will  be 
$100,000,000. 

Lake  Erie  is  an  illustration  of  the  practical 
value  of  the  work.  Several  years  ago  it  was 
one  of  the  greatest  whitefish  reservoirs  on 
the  globe.  The  lake  is  comparatively  shal- 
low, and,  in  the  words  of  the  report  of  the 


IKRTILIZEl)    LAKE   TROUT  EGGS 
Each  egg  is  about  the  size  of  a  French  pea 

Joint  Commission  already  referred  to,  is 
practically  one  continuous  fishing  ground, 
accessible  and  more  or  less  lucrative  to  the 
fishermen  at  all  points.  The  whitefish  in 
the  beginning  were  sought  almost  exclusively. 
The  fish  were  taken  in  nets  close  inshore,  and 
inainly,  if  not  entirely,  during  the  spawning 
run.  The  suicidal  character  of  this  method, 
not  to  call  it  by  a  harsher  term,  is  seen  in  the 
fact  that  for  the  ten-year  period  between 
1885  and  1895  the  whitefish  catch  fell  away 
60  per  cent.  In  1885  the  catch  was  over 
3,500.000  pounds;  in  1893  it  had  fallen  away 
2,240,000  pounds,  through  over-fishing. 

The  catching  of  these  fish  of  the  Great 
Lakes  is  not  effected  without  great  hard- 
ship. No  hardier,  braver  men  are  found  than 
those  who  follow  the  fisheries  of  these  lakes. 


WHITEIISH    EGC.S    KEPT    IN    CON.STANT    MOTION    IN 
ICE-COLD   WATER 


He  who  steams  down  this  magnificent  chain 
of  lakes,  on  a  sunny  summer  day,  when  the 
vast  spread  of  blue-green  water  is  broken 
only  by  the  faint  plume  of  smoke  from  some 
passing  steamer,  when  the  air  is  full  of  a 
fine  tonic  and  the  noisy  earth  is  far  away  and 
day  slowly  succeeds  day  for  a  thousand  miles 
of  delightful  voyaging — such  a  man  sees 
the  smiles  of  the  Great  Lakes ;  he  knows  them 
only  when  they  are  on  their  good  behavior. 
He  who  goes  out  on  a  fishing  smack  or  tug 
in  late  November,  when  the  air  is  full  of 
marrow-penetrating  cold,  when  the  snow 
comes  now  and  then  in  fitful,  spiteful  blasts, 
when  the  wind  is  high  and  the  waves  beat  up* 
over  the  little  craft  as  it  tries  in  vain  to  go 
to  anchor  near  the  nets  and  break  in  harsh 
fury  on  the  low-lying  reefs  and  the  rocky 
coast,  when  the  sky  is  leaden  and  the  short 
day  slips  quickly  into  night — this  man  knows 
the  lakes  in  their  sterner  mood. 

The  nets  which  the  fishermen  set  are 
generally  raised  twice  a  week.  Very  much 
of  the  fishing  is  done  with  the  pound-net,  or, 
as  the  fishermen  persist  in  calling  it,  the 
"pond"  net.  These  nets  have  been  roundly 
condemned.     They    consist    firj:t    of    a    long 


A   FIFTEEN-POUND   TROUT 


I 


2736 


SAVING   THE    FISHERIES    OF    OUR    INLAND    SEAS 


wall  of  mesh  running  out  from  shore,  per- 
haps 200  feet,  extending  from  the  surface  of 
the  water  to  the  bottom  and  held  by  timbers 
driven  into  the  bottom  of  the  lake.  This 
wall  is  called  the  lead  or  guide.  The  fish 
swim  up  against  this  wall,  are  checked,  are 
deflected  in  their  course,  and  then  feel  their 
way  along  the  wall  until  they  are  led  into 
an  opening  known  as  the  heart  or  wing. 
From  this  they  work  their  way  along  until 
they  come  to  a  narrow  opening  called  the 
tunnel.  Through  this  they  enter  into  the 
crib    or    pot — and    once    inside    there    is    no 


mesh.  In  some  instances  as  many  as  thirty 
pound-nets  have  been  set  in  a  single  course 
extending  from  the  shore  in  comparatively 
shallow  water,  from  six  to  eight  miles  out — 
a  continuous  wall  of  net  which  is  botmd  to 
gather  in  practically  all  fish  swimming  in  the 
region. 

Some  of  the  nets  are  raised  by  fishermen 
in  small  sailing  vessels,  others  by  fishing 
tugs.  When  a  good  haul  is  made  by  one  of 
these  tugs  the  side  of  the  boat  will  be  a  mass 
of  squirming,  wriggling  fish,  literally  h\m- 
dreds   of  them,  possibly   2.000   pounds  in  a 


A   GILL  NET  DRYING 


escape.  The  crib  is  about  forty  feet  square 
and  fifty  feet  in  depth,  with  enclosed  bottom 
and  sides.  The  fyke  net  is  somewhat  similar, 
having  wings  but  no  lead  and  several  tunnels 
instead  of  one.  In  the  fyke  net  the  crib  is 
entirely  closed  and  is  wholly  under  water. 
The  gill  net,  which  can  be  used  to  advantage 
in  shallower  water,  and  which  is  used  while 
fishing  through  the  ice,  being  stretched  below 
the  surface  and  drawn  out  through  holes,  is 
a  long  single  net  into  which  the  fish  run 
their    heads,    and    catch    their    gills    in    the 


single  lift.  The  fish  are  cleaned  on  the  tug  as 
it  steams  onward  to  another  net.  and  then 
thrown  into  boxes  of  chopped  ice,  which  hold 
the  catch  until  the  return  to  port.  Here  they 
are  immediately  repacked  in  ice  and  shipped 
out.  In  the  case  of  individual  fishers,  they 
sell  their  catch  at  the  dock  at  from  three 
to  four  cents  a  pound,  depending  upon  the 
market.  In  a  single  catch  there  will  be  a 
good  many  small  trout;  many  from  five  to 
seven  pounds;  while  a  few  may  weigh  ten  to 
fifteen  pounds — though  trout  weighing  over 


ANOTHKR   REVOLUTIONARY    INCRKASl-:   OF    GOLD         2737 

100    pounds    have    been    caught.     Captain  Hfting  of  the  nets  is  done  by  sailboat,  the 

I  Craig,  the  keeper  of  the  hghthouse  at  Thun-  fisherman   puts   out   to    his   nets   alone    and 

der  Cape,  on  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  with  great  labor  raises  the  heavy  load  and 

caught   a  lake  trout  in  a  gill  net  three  years  pitches  it  into  the  hold  of  his  boat.     During 

ago  which  was  four  feet   three   inches   long,  the  present  season — 1902 — a  single  sailboat 

thirty-three  inches  in  girth,  and  weighed  fifty-  fisherman  on  the  north  coast  of  Lake  Superior 

three  pounds.  lifted  a  pound-net  in  which  were  4,400  pounds 

When  the  nets  are  to  be  lifted  by  a  fishing  of  fish.     I  saw  this  same  man  lift  a  net,  on  a 

tug,   the   tug  goes   to   anchor   alongside   the  cold  August  morning,  not  long  after  sunrise, 

stakes,  which  appear  above  the  net,  and  two  in  which  were  1,200  pounds  of  trout,  white- 

or  three  men  put  off  in  a  punt  or  small  boat  fish  and  lake  pike. 

to  the  net.     The  meshes  of  the  net  are  seized         When  the  individual  fisherman  has  cleaned 

and  drawn  up  into  the  boat,  and  with  long-  his  catch  of  fish,  a  tug  calls  for  the  catch, 

handled  scoops,  somewhat  like  landing  nets  the  captain  weighs  it  as  it  comes  on  board; 

for  brook  trout  fishing,  the  fish  are  thrown  the  fish  are  pitched  into  huge  boxes  of  ice  and 

up  from  the  small  boat  upon  the  deck  of  the  carried  into  port,  there  to  be  quickly  sent  out 

tug,  which  rapidly  becomes  a  mass  of  live  either  by  rail  or  fast  express  steamers  to  the 

fish    several    feet    in    depth.      In    case    the  consumers  in  "the  States. " 


ANOTHER   REVOLUTIONARY   INCREASE 

OF    GOLD 

HOW  ACTIVITY  ALL  OVER  THE  WORLD  WILL  BE  STIMULATED  BY  THE  DOUBLING 
OF  THE  GOLD  SUPPLY  WHEN  THE  SOUTH  AFRICAN  MINES  ARE  DEVELOPED  — 
THE  UNITED  STATES  THE  CHIEF  GAINER  — NO  FEAR  OF  FINANCIAL  DISTURB- 
ANCES—THE CERTAINTY  RATHER  OF  ENORMOUS  LEGITIMATE  DEVELOPMENT 

BY 

CHARLES    M.    HARVEY 

ENGLAND  has  the  making  of  a  new  war,  the  output  would  have  been  about  $90,- 
America  in  the  Southern  hemisphere,"  000,000  in  that  year  if  the  conflict  had  been 
says  Lord  Kitchener.  He,  of  course,  averted,  and  more  than  $100,000,000  in  1900. 
has  especially  in  mind  the  accessions  of  terri-  After  mining  has  been  fully  resumed,  which 
tory  which  the  Boer  war  brought.  He  has  will  probably  be  during  the  early  part  of 
in  view  also  the  enormous  output  of  gold  ex-  1903,  the  Rand's  annual  product,  it  is  esti- 
pected  from  a  part  of  this  new  territory  within  mated  by  experts  on  the  ground,  will  soon  go 
the  next  few  years.  With  the  annexation  up  to  $100,000,000,  and  by  1905  or  1906  it 
of  an  area  slightly  larger  than  California  (the  will  be  $125,000,000.  It  is  estimated  that 
Transvaal,  118,000  square  miles;  the  Orange  that  district  will  yield  something  like  $3,000,- 
Free  State,  48,000  square  miles),  England  has  000,000  in  the  next  quarter  of  a  century,  or 
a  domain  of  2,800,000  square  miles  on  the  before  the  reef  already  being  worked  is  ex- 
African  continent — not  much  smaller  than  hausted.  What  effect  will  this  vast  out- 
the  United  States  proper,  though  not  all  pouring  of  new  gold  have  on  the  world's  in- 
contiguous  territory.  dustries,    its    commerce,    and   its   social    and 

•      In  1898,  the  latest  complete  year  before  the  political  development  ? 
Boer  war,  the  Witwatersrand,  or  '  'the  Rand,  " 

the    Transvaal's    principal    mining    district,  consequences  of  the  California  gold 

■  produced  $60,000,000  in  gold.     At  the  rate  of  discovery 

increase  for  the   previous  few  years,   main-  The  California  parallel  here  suggests  itself, 

tained  through  the  part  of  1899  before  the  Between  this  country's  birth  as  a  nation  and 


I 


2738 


ANOTHER   REVOLUTIONARY  INCREASE   OF    GOLD 


the  end  of  1847  the  aggregate  gold  output  of 
the  United  States  was  $24,000,000.  It  was 
$889,000  in  1847.  This  was  the  condition  of 
affairs  when,  on  January  24,  1848,  James  W. 
Marshall  made  his  discovery  of  glittering  dust 
in  the  raceway  of  Sutter's  mill,  on  the  Ameri- 
can fork  of  the  Sacramento.  In  1848  the 
gold  yield  of  California  sprang  from  nothing 
to  $10,000,000.  It  was  $40,000,000  in  1849, 
after  the  inrush  had  fairly  begun.  It  was 
$65,000,000  in  1853,  the  highest  point  ever 
touched  by  the  California  diggings.  Then 
it  gradually  fell  off,  and  its  annual  average  for 
the  past  half-dozen  years  has  been  $15, 000, 000. 
California's  aggregate  gold  product  from 
Marshall's  discovery  to  the  end  of  1902  has 
been  about  $1,500,000,000. 

California's  sudden  doubling  in  a  year  of 
the  amount  of  gold  which  the  entire  United 
States  produced  in  the  sixty  years  preceding 
Marshall's  discovery  had  stupendous  conse- 
quences. The  Western  verge  of  civilization, 
which  had  reached  the  Missouri  in  1848,  after 
two  and  a  third  centuries  of  march  from 
Jamestown  and  Plymouth,  sprang  across  to 
the  Pacific  in  a  single  3^ear.  This  swung  the 
country's  social  and  political  centre  of  gravity 
many  degrees  w^estward;  it  brought  Cali- 
fornia into  the  Union  as  a  free  State  in  1850; 
it  broke  forever  the  balance  between  the  slave 
and  the  free  States  which  Southern  statesmen 
had  persistently  preserved;  it  produced  the 
demand  for  new  slave  territory  which  incited 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise  in  1854, 
and  this  brought  the  conflict  between  the 
North  and  the  South  for  the  possession  of 
Kansas,  which  split  the  Democratic  party 
on  sectional  lines  in  the  Charleston  convention 
of  i860,  and  gave  the  Republicans  the  victory 
in  the  Presidential  contest  of  that  year  which 
precipitated  secession  and  civil  war  and  over- 
threw slavery. 

The  stream  of  new  gold  at  the  same  time 
quickened  all  sorts  of  trade  and  industry 
all  over  the  country;  it  sent  thousands  of 
prospectors  through  the  whole  of  the  Cor- 
dilleran  region  from  Mexico  to  the  Canadian 
line,  who  struck  gold  in  Colorado  in  1858, 
silver  in  Nevada  in  1859,  gold  in  Montana  in 
1863,  and  one  or  the  other,  or  both,  in  other 
locahties  afterward;  it  created  new  needs 
which  it  furnished  the  means  to  supply;  it 
quintupled  the  mileage  of  the  railroads  in  a 
single  decade;  it  increased  the  volume  of  im- 
migration from  Europe ;  it  added  to  the  coun- 


try's resources,  wealth,  power  and  confidence 
in  itself  and  in  its  destiny  among  the  nations ; 
it  broadened  the  mental  horizon  of  our  people 
and  the  circle  of  their  interests  and  activities ; 
it  led  to  the  building  of  a  railroad  across  the 
Panama  isthmus  by  an  American  company 
in  1850  to  facilitate  communication  between 
the  country's  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts 
along  a  line  nearly  parallel  to  that  on  which 
the  inter-oceanic  waterway  is  to  be  con- 
structed; it  sent  Commodore  Perry  to  open 
to  American  commerce  the  ports  of  Japan, 
.  which  xmtil  then  had  been  sealed  to  the  world ; 
it  brought  trade  treaties  with  China,  and 
added  greatly  to  the  prestige  of  the  United 
States  among  the  nations. 

On  the  world  at  large  the  effect  of  Cali- 
fornia's gold  discovery  was  to  put  up  prices 
and  wages  and  to  give  an  immense  stimulus 
to  all  sorts  of  business;  to  send  prospectors 
and  adventurers  all  over  the  continents  and 
islands,  resulting  in  the  gold  find  in  Australia 
by  a  returned  California  miner  named  Har- 
greaves  in  1851,  in  British  Columbia  in  1858, 
in  Nova  Scotia  in  1861,  in  many  parts  of 
Mexico,  Central  and  South  America  before 
and  after  the  last-named  date,  and  in  the 
Rand  in  1868.  And  these  finds,  of  course, 
augmented  the  world  interest  in  gold  hunting 
which  led  to  the  discoveries  in  the  Klondike 
in  1896  and  in  Nome  in  1899. 

An  increased  output,  too,  has  been  in 
progress  in  recent  years  in  many  of  the  older 
localities,  due  as  much  to  improved  processes 
for  extracting  ore  as  to  the  finding  of  new 
fields.  Thus  the  $95,000,000  which  was  the 
w^orld's  product  in  1883,  and  $118,000,000 
in  1890,  went  to  $202,000,000  in  1896,  to 
$307,000,000  in  1899,  to  $225,000,000  in  each 
of  the  years  1900  and  1901  (the  falling  off 
being  due  to  the  closing  of  the  Transvaal's 
mines  by  the  war  which  began  in  the  latter 
part  of  1899),  and  to  $275,000,000  for  1902. 

THE  APPROACHING  DELUGE   OF  NEW  GOLD 

When,  by  1904,  the  complete  resumption 
of  mining  in  Edward  VII. 's  new  domain  in 
the  Transvaal,  and  the  regular  increase  in  the 
rest  of  the  productive  coimtries,  sends  the 
world's  output  up  to  $400,000,000,  as  com- 
pared with  only  a  little  over  a  quarter  of  that 
amount  in  1890,  and  to  $425,000,000  in  1905, 
what  will  be  the  consequence  to  the  world's 
activities?  Forty-five  years  ago  the  annual 
increase  which  California  and  Australia  were 


ANOTHER    REVOLUTIONARY    INCREASE    OF    GOLD 


2739 


making  in  the  world's  gold  sock  seemed  to 
threaten  such  a  fall  in  its  price,  as  compared 
with  silver  and  the  stable  commodities,  that 
Chevalier  recommended  to  the  gold  standard 
countries  to  demonetize  gold  and  substitute 
silver.     A    British    writer,    IMaclarcn,    urged 
the  establishment  in  England  of  life  insurance 
companies  on  the  silver  standard  for  the  pro- 
tection of  depositors  from  loss  by  the  fall  of 
gold.     Cobden  wished   Parliament  to  pass  a 
law  making   the    Bank    of    England   publish 
periodically  a  statement  of  the  relative  values 
of  gold  and  silver,  so  that  prices  of  commodi- 
ties and  the  wages  of  labor  could  adjust  them- 
selves from  time  to  time    to  the   decline  of 
gold.     A   commission    of    experts    appointed 
by    Louis    Napoleon's    government     recom- 
mended   demonetizing    gold  and   prohibiting 
the  exports  of  silver,  which  at  the  prevailing 
coinage  ratio  was  the   preferred  metal,   and 
was  being  shipped  from  the  country  in  large 
amounts.     A   few    years    later    (the    world's 
gold  production  having  heavily  shrunk  in  the 
interval,  and  the  production  of  silver  having 
more  than  doubled  in  a  decade,  largely  owing 
to  the  deluge  poured  out  from  the  bonanza 
mines  of  Mackay,   Fair,   Flood  and  O'Brien 
on  the  Comstock  lode  in  Nevada),  Germany, 
the  United  States,   France,   Ital}^  Denmark, 
Sweden,    Norway,     Belgium,    Spain,    Greece 
and    other    countries,    most    of   which   were 
theoretically      on      the       double      standard, 
demonetized    silver,  absolutely    or   virtually, 
between  187 1  and  1878.     England  went  upon 
the  gold  basis  in    181 6. 

Thus,  the  battle  between  gold  and  silver 
having  been  fought,  and  silver  having  lost, 
this  particular  disturbing  effect  of  increased 
gold  production  can  never  assert  itself  again. 
There  is  no  double  standard  anywhere  to  be 
guarded  now.  All  the  world's  nations  today 
are  on  the  gold  basis  except  China,  Mexico, 
Colombia,  Ecuador,  Bolivia  and  the  five 
little  Central  American  republics.  The  large 
increase  in  gold  production  in  recent  years 
has  been  absorbed  by  the  expansion  of  gold 
in  the  circulation  of  the  United  States  (wdiich 
has  gained  55  per  cent,  since  1896),  by  the 
necessities  of  Japan,  British  India,  and 
several  South  American  republics  that  ex- 
changed the  silver  for  the  gold  standard,  by 
England's  demands  in  the  South  African 
war,  and  by  the  world's  general  increase  in 
population  and  trade. 

The    $400,000,000   gold   production   which 


will  come  in  1904 — and  this  will  doubtless 
progressively  increase  for  years — will,  in  a 
quarter  of  a  century  or  less,  double  the  world's 
present  gold  stock.  Moreover,  by  the  con- 
stant extension  of  the  use  of  checks,  drafts, 
bills  of  exchange  and  other  cash-economizing 
devices,  a  dollar  will  be  able  to  do  a  continu- 
ally increasing  amount  of  duty  in  the  ex- 
changes. But  this  will  have  a  strengthening 
and  steadying  and  not  a  disturbing  effect  on 
the  world's  currencies.  The  increase  in  gold 
already  attained  in  the  United  States,  sup- 
plementing the  monetary  act  of  1900,  has 
placed  this  country's  currency  so  firmly  on 
the  gold  basis  that  the  silver  issue  and  the 
international  bimetalism  cries  have  been 
forever  hushed.  Neither  can  ever  figure 
again  in  a  political  campaign  in  the  United 
States.  The  flood  of  gold  yet  to  come  will 
end  all  necessity  for  the  "scramble"  for 
that  metal  among  the  nations  which  until 
recently  bothered  financiers  in  most  of  the 
countries.  It  will  give  the  silver-standard 
nations,  urged  by  the  necessity  of  the  world's 
trade,  the  opportunity  to  tie  their  currencies 
to  the  gold  anchorage. 

For  the  past  few  years  it  has  been  known 
that  Sefior  Limantour,  the  alert  and  capable 
Mexican  Minister  of  Finance,  has  been  anxious 
to  range  his  country  with  the  nations  with 
which  its  commerce  is  chiefly  carried  on. 
China  is  slow  to  change  its  standard  but  it 
has  recently  felt,  in  an  impressive  way,  the 
embarrassment  of  its  financial  isolation,  and 
it  will  have  a  favorable  chance  to  join  its 
neighbors  and  patrons  on  the  gold  basis. 
The  possible  change  in  these  two  countries 
alone  would  absorb  a  good  many  hundreds 
of  millions  of  the  new  gold.  The  expansion 
in  population  and  commerce  in  all  countries, 
and  the  advance  in  the  standard  of  living  in 
many  of  them,  will  have  the  inevitable  effect 
of  using  up  more  of  it. 

Many  commodities  will  be  advanced  in 
price.  An  advance,  with  some  fluctuations, 
has  been  in  progress  for  several  years.  But 
it  will  be  prevented  from  reaching  harmful 
proportions  by  the  absorption  of  gold  in  the 
countries  which  will  drop  the  silver  standard, 
the  increase  in  population  and  commerce  in 
most  of  the  countries,  the  elevation  in  the 
standard  of  living  which  prosperity  will  bring 
in  many  of  them,  and  by  the  steady  cheapen- 
ing that  is  going  on  in  production  and 
transportation. 


II 


2740 


ANOTHER    REVOLUTIONARY    INCREASE    OF    GOLD 


INCIDENTAL     EVILS     OF     PREVIOUS     MONETARY 
EXPAXSIOX 

President  Fillmore,  in  his  message  to  Con- 
gress in  December,  1851,  in  referring  to  the 
swift  growth  in  California's  gold  output,  said: 
.'  'This  large  annual  increase  of  the  currency 
of  the  world  must  be  attended  with  its  usual 
results.  These  have  been  already  partially 
disclosed  in  the  enhancement  of  prices  and 
in  a  rising  spirit  of  speculation  and  adventure, 
tending  to  overtrading  as  well  at  home  as 
abroad.  "  The  discoveries  made  in  Australia 
about  that  time  added  largely  to  the  gold 
flood  in  the  next  few  years,  and  helped  to 
bring  the  ills  which  Fillmore  predicted.  All 
over  the  world,  but  particularly  in  the  United 
States,  men  were  stimulated  to  overdo. 
Credits  were  dangerously  expanded.  Manu- 
facturers made  more  goods  than  they  could 
sell.  Dealers  purchased  more  than  there 
was  a  market  for.  Consumers  bought  more 
than  they  could  pay  for.  I\Iore  lines  of  rail- 
road were  built,  especially  in  the  West,  than 
the  population  required  for  many  years  to 
come.  In  August,  1857,  the  Ohio  Life  and 
Trust  Company  suspended,  with  liabilities  of 
$7,000,000,  and  a  general  financial  crash  came 
all  over  the  country. 

But  there  w^ere  monetary  convulsions  in 
the  United  States  long  before  Marshall's  dis- 
covery of  gold  created  California.  The  panic 
of  1837  was  more  disastrous  than  that  of 
1857.  Almost  equally  calamitous  was  that 
of  1 81 9.  The  panic  of  1873  came  when  the 
gold  production  of  the  United  States  had 
dropped  to  $33,000,000,  as  compared  with 
$65,000,000  in  1853,  and  when  there  was  a 
large  decline  in  the  world's  output.  That  of 
1893  came  when  the  production  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  world  was  just  half  what  it 
is  in  these  days  of  general  prosperity  in  1902. 

Gold  expansion  has  a  tendency  to  incite 
rash  speculation,  but  the  gold  basis  of  the 
currency  of  the  principal  nations  has  had  a 
steadying  effect.  In  the  United  States  the 
wildcat  banking  of  1837  and  1857  and  the 
silver  dilution  of  1893  have  been  abolished. 
Neither  will  ever  reappear.  The  fundamental 
differences  between  the  situation  in  1902,  on 
the  eve  of  the  reopening  of  the  South  African 
mines,  and  that  which  existed  just  previous 
to  the  gold  deluge  from  California  and 
Australia,  destroys  any  real  parallelism  be- 
tween the  two  epochs. 


The  South  African  mines  will  not  restrict 
their  influence  to  the  Transvaal  or  even  to  the 
British  Empire.  Gold  flows  automatically 
to  the  country'  where  capital  is  organized  best, 
where  enterprise  is  most  active,  where  its 
returns  will  be  the  greatest.  It  is  no  longer 
necessary,  in  the  interest  of  national  solvency, 
to  capture  it  on  the  high  seas,  as  was  done 
some  centuries  ago.  A  large  part  of  the 
gold  from  the  Sierras  in  the  early  days 
went  straight  to  Lombard  Street.  Victorian 
financiers  got  more  gold  from  California  in  a 
single  year  between  1849  and  i860  than  Drake, 
Hawkins  and  the  other  Elizabethan  corsairs 
could  have  stolen  from  Philip  II. 's  galleons 
in  half  a  century.  The  United  States  has  a 
little  of  the  same  sort  of  ascendancy  in  the 
greater  financial  world  of  1902  that  Great 
Britain  had  from  Bonaparte's  overthrow 
onward  till  the  great  house  of  Baring 
Brothers  went  down  in  the  Argentine  cyclone 
of  1890,  and  the  Bank  of  England  was  com- 
pelled to  borrow  $15,000,000  from  the  Bank 
of  France  to  stave  off  disaster. 

THE    GREAT    ENTERPRISES    THAT    WILL    BE 
STIMULATED 

An  immediate  consequence  of  the  reopen- 
ing of  the  Rand  mines  under  British  auspices 
will  be  that  the  population  and  the  business 
of  the  Transvaal  will  materially  expand. 
The  Cape  -  to  -  Cairo  railroad,  which,  when 
completed,  will  be  the  world's  longest  all-rail 
line,  and  which  is  designed  to  make  a  close 
connection  with  England's  Asiatic  Empire, 
will  be  pushed  to  a  finish.  Every  square 
mile  of  British  Africa  territory  will  feel  the 
financial  awakening.  The  mother  country 
herself  will  renew  her  youth.  All  the  nations 
— France,  Germany,  Italy,  Turkey,  Spain  and 
Portugal — which  have  colonies  in  Africa, 
especially  the  first  three,  will  suddenly  feel 
that  their  possessions  have  gained  an  in- 
creased value.  Land-hunger  will  .  awake. 
The  few  unappropriated  spots  still  on  the 
earth's  surface  will  not  long  remain  without  a 
master. 

Germany,  which  has  increased  her  popula- 
tion forty  per  cent,  in  the  past  thirty  years, 
as  compared  with  two  per  cent,  for  France, 
thirty  per  cent,  for  the  United  Kingdom  -and 
nearly  100  per  cent,  for  the  United  States, 
and  which  has  greatly  surpassed  all  the  other 
European  countries  in  coal  and  iron  pro- 
duction and  consumption  in  that  line  (being 


ANOTHER    REVOLUTIONARY    INCREASE    OF    (lOLD 


2741 


left  far  behind  here,  too,  by  the  United  States), 
will  naturally  be  profoundly  affected,  in- 
dustrially and  politically.  The  aspiration 
for  an  enlarged  outlet  on  the  North  Sea,  an 
ambition  which  stands  as  a  perpetual  menace 
to  the  Netherlands,  is  already  finding  frec^uent 
expression  from  German  writers  and  pub- 
licists. 

Russia,  which  grew  from  a  population  of 
30,000,000  in  1800  to  140,000,000  in  1900 
(a  niuch  higher  rate  of  increase  than  that  of 
any  other  great  European  nation,  though 
the  growth  of  our  population  in  that  time, 
from  a  population  of  5,000,000  to  one  of  76,- 
000,000,  has  been  at  a  far  greater  ratio),  will 
also  be  moved  materially.  It  is  a  more  im- 
portant nation,  even  relatively,  in  Nicholas 
II. 's  day,  than  it  was  a  little  less  than  a 
century  ago  when  Bonaparte  proposed  to 
Alexander  I.  that  Russia  and  France  should 
divide  Turkey  and  its  possessions  between 
them,  without  regard  to  the  feelings  of  the 
rest  of  Europe,  and  settle  the  Eastern  ques- 
tion. From  President  Felix  Faure's  time 
to  these  days  of  President  Loubet  the  Repub- 
lic has  invested  $2,000,060,000  in  Nicholas  II. 's 
dominion.  This  is  one  of  the  items  in  the 
bill  which  France  has  paid  in  the  past  seven 
years  for  the  Russian  alliance.  Hundreds 
of  millions  of  dollars  of  the  new  gold  which 
the  Transvaal  will  throw  upon  the  world  will 
flow  into  the  Czar's  realm.  Russia's  people 
lack  inventiveness  and  imagination,  their 
civilization  is  mediaeval,  and  their  indus- 
trial system  is  archaic,  but  their  population, 
which,  it  is  estimated,  will  rise  to  the  colos- 
sal totals  of  200,000,000  in  1940  and  of 
400,000,000  in  the  year  2,000  must  neces- 
sarily be  a  powerful  factor  in  the  world's 
development. 

AMERICA    THE    LARGEST   GAINER 

But  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  the  United 
States  will  be  the  largest  gainer  by  the  gold 
deluge.  Here  is  the  best  field  for  the  in- 
vestment of  money  that  the  world  affords. 
Here  is  centred  the  most  varied,  the  most 
expansive  and  the  most  profitable  of  the 
world's  industrial  and  commercial  activities. 
Here  the  consolidation  of  capital  is  greatest, 
the  organization  and  direction  of  vast  enter- 
prises the  best,  and  the  employment  of  im- 
proved and  economical  financial  appliances 
I  the  most  extensive.  Alreadv  the  United 
:' "■'"" - 


Africa's  new  trade  of  1902  than  has  gone  to 
Great  Britain. 

The  great  wealth  of  the  United  States 
($94,000,000,000  in  1900)  equals  the  com- 
bined wealth  of  England  and  France,  the 
second  and  third  of  the  nations  in  this 
})articular;  and  in  wealth  and  in  population 
this  country's  lead  is  getting  longer  and 
longer. 

The  seat  of  the  world's  financial  empire  has 
passed  to  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  New  York 
leads  London  in  the  amount  of  her  bank  clear- 
ings and  stock  exchange  transactions.  Soon 
the  tonnage  of  the  port  of  New  York  will 
be  greater  than  London's.  More  and  more 
the  larger  enterprises  of  the  world  are  financed 
from  the  United  States.  The  Government 
of  England  and  the  Government  of  Russia 
have  been  recent  borrowers  from  New  York. 
Mr.  Morgan  and  his  associates  have  taken  the 
supremacy  in  the  financial  world  held  by  the 
Rothschilds  from  Waterloo  to  Plevna  and 
down  to  the  eve  of  Manila.  America's 
money  changers  are  the  men  who  today  open 
and  close  the  gates  of  the  temple  of  Janus, 
who  make  declarations  of  war  and  decide 
when  peace  shall  be  made. 

Lord  Kitchener  is  right  in  saying  that  the 
new  territory  in  Africa  will  be  of  great 
benefit  to  England.  But  South  Africa  will 
not  be  another  America.  It  takes  more  than 
gold  mines  to  make  a  United  States,  however 
prolific  these  may  be.  Absolutely  and  pro- 
portionately, the  United  States  has  a  far  larger 
land  area  capable  of  cultivation  than  England 
has  in  the  whole  African  continent.  We  have 
a  better  river  system.  We  are  more  favorably 
situated  with  regard  to  the  great  countries 
possessing  the  highest  civilization.  We  have 
a  larger  range  of  the  useful  minerals — coal, 
iron,  copper,  lead,  zinc,  petroleum,  and  other 
products  essential  to  the  life  and  development 
of  a  great  State,  the  aggregate  value  of  the 
production  of  which  in  the  United  States  in 
1901  was  almost  $1,100,000,000.  In  the  form 
of  our  Government  and  the  character  and 
capabilities  of  our  people  our  country's  ad- 
vantages, of  course,  are  still  m^ore  marked. 
Of  these  there  is  little  need  to  speak. 
South  Africa's  coming  gold  output  will  have 
profound  consequences — consequences  that 
are  universal;  and  greatly  as  it  will  benefi.t 
other  nations,  every  sign  gives  promise  that 
we  shall  profit  more  by  it  than  any  other 
people. 


THE  HUMAN    SIDE  OF  THE  LABOR 

UNIONS 

SUSPICION  THE  MOOD  OF  EMPLOYER  AND  UNION  — LABOR 
WARFARE  IN  MANUFACTURING  —  CONTRASTING  A  UNION 
TOWN  WITH  A  NON-UNION  —  HOW  A  UNION  VIEWS 
RESTRICTION— THE  DRAMATIC  STORY  OF  THE  CIGARMAKERS 

BY 

M.    G.    CUNNIFF 

(The  third  of  a  series  of  first-hand  studies  of  labor  problems) 


OVER  the  coffee  one  night  last  summer 
a  labor  union  leader  told  me  stories 
of  employers  who  never  have  trouble 
with  the  unions — among  them  Senator  Hanna. 
"A  union  hates  a  typewritten  letter,"  said  he, 
"but  it  likes  a  man." 

Then  he  told  an  incident  of  a  street  car 
strike  in  Cleveland,  which  was  threatened  just 
as  Senator  Hanna  was  starting  for  Europe. 
The  Senator  hurried  to  the  scene. 

"Invite  the  grievance  committee  to  meet 
me  at  two  o'clock,"  he  directed.  "At  six  I 
must  start  for  New  York." 

The  committee  came.  They  were  firm. 
Mr.  Hanna's  men,  like  those  on  other  lines, 
would  strike  at  the  signal. 

"Your   demands?"  questioned  Mr.  Hanna. 

He  was  told.     He  thought  a  moment. 

"They're  granted,"  he  suddenly  declared. 
"Now,  can  I  embark  for  Europe  and  know 
that   whatever   happens   my  lines   will   keep 


runnmg : 


"Yes,"  replied  the  committee — and  their 
word  was  kept.  This  was  the  tale  as  the 
union  president  told  it. 

"I  don't  wonder  you  like  such  a  quick  sur- 
render," remarked  the  city  official  across  the 
table. 

"It  isn't  that,"  flashed  the  union  man. 
"What  I  liked  was  the  conference — man  to 
man.  That's  the  way  to  settle  a  labor  dispute. 
No  typewritten  letters  there !  Why,  mis- 
understanding causes  half  the  labor  troubles 
that  fill  the  daily  papers." 

That,  after  all,  is  the  largest  fact  that  mv 
studies  of  the  imions  have  led  me  to.  When 
I  turned  from  the  building  trades,  where 
men  work  within  sound  of  the  cheerful  bang- 
ing of  hammers  and  breathe  the  clean   fra- 


grance of  brick  and  mortar  and  fresh-sawn 
wood,  to  see  a  little  of  tmion  factory  life,  in 
shops  amid  the  whir  of  machines  and  the 
searching  exhalations  of  dye  vats,  and  in  the 
homes  of  union  men  and  manufacturers,  I 
found  misunderstanding  the  normal  relation 
of  employer  and  union.  Its  fruit  was  sus- 
picion— needless  suspicion.  For,  thinking  over 
all  I  saw  and  heard,  I  fail  to  understand  why 
employers,  frankly  telling  the  unions  what 
they  have  explained  to  me,  and  union  men, 
freely  stating  their  point  of  view,  cannot 
arrange  a  modus  vivcndi. 

A  case  in  point  is  this:  Visiting  Danbury, 
Connecticut,  on  the  advice  of  a  union  legis- 
lative agent,  who  pointed  Danbury  out  as 
a  typical  union  town,  I  called  on  a  manufac- 
turer who  bitterly  condemned  the  Hatters' 
Union,  though  he  had  once  belonged  to  it 
himself.  Danbury,  it  should  be  explained, 
produces  more  hats  than  any  other  town  in 
the  United  States,  and  the  owners  of  more 
than  half  the  twenty  factories  there  have 
risen  from  the  operative's  bench.  This 
manufacturer,  among  many  incidents  of  union 
activity — pernicious,  he  now  regards  it — told 
me  that  after  a  recent  strike  in  a  competing 
Philadelphia  hat  factory,  the  union  made  a 
settlement  granting  a  different  scale  of  piece- 
work wages  than  was  granted  him  on  a  cer- 
tain grade  of  hat.  The  harm  was  here:  on 
the  particular  grade  he  produced  he  must 
pay  his  workmen  a  higher  minimum  price 
per  dozen  hats  than  the  Philadelphia  man, 
who  thus  could  sell  more  cheaply. 
I  asked  a  union  leader  to  explain.  " 
"Any  employer  in  town,"  said  he,  "can 
have  just  the  terms  we  made  in  Philadelphia. 
But  no  Danbury  manufacturer  wants  them. 


THE    HUMAN    SIDE    OF   THE   LABOR    UNIONS 


2743 


Our  Danbury  scale  demands  from  seventy- 
cents  to  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  a  dozen  on 
certain  varying  grades.  The  Philadelphia 
price  is  now  one  dollar  a  dozen,  a  lump  price, 
on  all  those  grades.  That's  the  arrangement 
we  prefer.  The  Philadelphia  man  prefers  it. 
If  Danbury  would  rather  have  the  other, 
paying  less  than  Philadelphia  on  some  grades 
and  more  on  others,  I  don't  see  why  they 
object  to  the  Philadelphia  bargain." 

Now  plainly  there  is  a  loose  screw  some- 
where in  that  situation,  due  to  distrustful 
relations.  Variety  in  wage  scales  might 
play  serious  mischief  with  business,  but  no 
reason  exists  why  union  employers  and  the 
union  itself  should  fail  to  understand  each 
other  about  it. 

So  with  arbitration.  I  heard  much  of 
an  arbitration  agreement  the  hatters  of 
Danbury  formerly  had  with  the  manufactur- 
ers— now  no  longer  in  force. 

"They  will  not  arbitrate,"  said  a  manu- 
facturer; "they  prefer  to  dictate." 

"Why  won't  you  arbitrate?"  I  asked  the 
union  leader. 

"Easily  answered,"  said  he;  "we  once  did 
arbitrate — by  agreement." 

"Yes?"  I  assented. 

"Well,  nine  times  out  of  ten  we  lost." 

"Um-m-m,"  I  pondered. 

"One  night,"  he  went  on,  "I  sat  near  the 
door  of  the  conference  room.  The  door  was 
ajar.  In  the  hall  was  a  manufacturer  and 
one  of  the  arbitrators,  and  the  arbitrator  said 
'Don't  bother  to  stay,  Mr.  Blank.  You 
needn't  worry.  I'll  see  they  don't  get  any- 
thing!' Then  he  came  in,  while  the  manu- 
facturer went  home.  The  meeting  was  called 
to  order,  and  I  rose.  'Gentlemen,'  I  said, 
'this  conference  will  stop  right  here.  You,' 
said  I,  'pointing  to  the  arbitrator,  'just  told 
Mr.  Blank  you'd  decided  on  this  case  before 
you  heard  what  we  had  to  say.  We  don't 
want  any  such  arbitration.  If  these  are 
the  methods  we  have  to  meet,  we'd  better 
fight.'  So  we  came  away.  Now  we  fight, 
and  nine  times  out  of  ten  we  win !  That's 
why  we  don't  like  arbitration,  and  perhaps 
that's  why  some  other  unions  don't  like  it." 

Here  were  employers  accusing  the  union 
of  arrogant  dictation,  and  union  men  accusing 
employers  of  underhand  methods.  Each  side 
was  suspicious. 

But  these  two  phases  of  the  union  question 
merely  hint  at  the  Danbury  situation — worth 


dwelling  on  here  because  already  the  town 
epitomizes  what  certain  unions  show  signs  of 
drifting  to,  though  with  anchors  to  windward  : 
namely,  the  reputed  English  condition  of 
industry — though  I  must  say  here  that  union 
men  are  slow  to  admit  that  England's  depres- 
sion is  due  to  the  unions  at  all. 

Danbury  is  a  beautiful  little  Connecticut 
town,  so  cozily  nestled  among  green  hills  that 
all  its  vistas  are  soft-lined  and  verdant. 
Quaint  little  tree-embowered  cottages  snuggle 
up  to  the  hillsides,  fringed  with  fruit  trees 
and  kitchen  gardens.  The  main  street  is 
clean  and  sedate  and  old-fashioned;  and  the 
factories,  all  scattered,  are  tucked  away  one 
by  one  where  they  least  offend  the  eye.  To 
the  outward  sense  the  town  is  the  sweet 
embodiment  of  prosperous  New  England 
homeliness.  For  about  eight  months  in  the 
year,  in  two  seasons,  the  inhabitants,  men  and 
girls,  make  hats  for  the  spring  and  fall  trade; 
the  idle  months  are  devoted  to  the  kitchen 
gardens  and  little  farms.  Savings  are  re- 
ligiously banked  away.  Slums  are  unknown. 
When  the  legislative  agent  sent  me  to  Dan- 
bury he  knew  its  allurements.  One  could  be 
glad  to  live  there. 

But  industrially  the  town  is  far  from 
pastorally  calm.  From  bootblacks  to  manu- 
facturers every  craft  is  organized,  and  the 
stores  sell  union  goods.  The  boycott  is  as 
common  as  trade  itself.  When  I  arrived, 
the  seventeenth  factory  out  of  twenty  was 
being  organized  by  dint  of  a  strike,  and  such 
was  the  diplomatic  atmosphere  produced 
that  the  President  of  the  National  Hatters' 
Union  looked  at  me  askance  because  he  had 
seen  me  with  a  manufacturer's  son.  The 
very  air  was  electrically  charged  wnth  union- 
ism— every  citizen  a  partisan.  In  Danbury 
far  more  than  in  larger  places  unionism  is  a 
human  drama. 

I  went  through  factories.  What  I  saw  was 
this:  briefly,  rabbit  fur  blown,  soaked,  rolled, 
sized,  dyed,  pressed,  baked,  ironed,  curled,  and 
finished  into  derby  hats  by  workers,  who  labor 
ten  hours  a  day — nine  on  Saturdays — for 
about  eighteen  dollars  a  week. 

The  two  grave  charges  brought  against  the 
union  which  controls  these  workers — both 
women  and  men — were  restriction  of  output 
and  boycotting.  The  boycott  is  carried  on 
against  any  Danbury  hat  that  does  not  bear 
inside  its  band  the  label  of  the  National 
Union.     Word  is  sent  to  imions  all  over  the 


2744 


THE    HUMAN    SIDE    OF   THE    LABOR   UNIONS 


country  to  boycott  unlabeled  hats,  and 
whenever  a  strike  is  on,  and  sometimes  when 
an  employer  persists  in  running  a  "fovd"  or 
independent  shop,  special  agents  go  forth  to 
take  personal  charge  of  the  boycott.  The 
hatters  reciprocate  favors  done  by  other 
tmions  by  refusing  to  buy  non-imion  goods 
themselves.  This,  of  course,  is  the  ordinary 
form  of  boycott  carried  on  by  the  manufac- 
turing unions.  Like  the  sympathetic  strike  in 
the  biiilding  trades,  it  is  their  effective  vmion 
weapon.  "  The  label  is  a  godsend  to  us," 
said  a  -union  man  to  me  with  heartfelt  enthusi- 
asm. The  boycott,  however,  is  not  unfamiliar. 
The  restriction  of  output  was  different.  In  two 
months'  stud}'  of  the  unions  it  was  the  first 
confessed  system  of  definite  restriction  I  had 
found  tying  workmen's  hands,  with  no  pos- 
sible  chance  for  "rushing." 

Eight  dozen  a  day:  that  is  the  tmion  limit 
for  a  team  of  two  men — "a  fair  day's  work," 
the  imion  calls  it;  "a  lazy  team's  stint,"  say 
employers. 

'Tn  this  very  shop,"  said  a  manufactiu-er 
who  had  once  been  a  union  man,  "finishers 
have  sat  on  their  benches  and  dangled  their 
legs  from  two  till  four  o'clock  in  idleness,  their 
eight  dozen  finished  at  two  o'clock,  but 
afraid  to  go  imtil  four  for  fear  the  union  wotild 
charge  them  with  rushing.  The  extra  hours 
they  simply  loafed  away." 

"Did  they  object  ?"  I  asked. 

"They  wouldn't  dare,"  said  he.  "But 
that's  not  all.  In  'foul'  shops  in  this  town 
are  machines  called  side-lathes,  on  which  the 
derbies  spin  while  the  finishers  smooth  them 
with  sandpaper.  I  have  a  couple,  too — 
stored — covered  with  cobwebs.  The  union 
says  I  can  use  them  if  I'll  pay  the  hand- work 
piece  price  for  the  hats  turned  out,  though 
the  machines  can  double  the  speed  of  the  hand 
work  or  the  top-lathe  they  permit.  At  that 
rate  we  can't  afford  to  use  them.  And  what's 
queer  besides,  the  tmion  wouldn't  let  a  side- 
lathe  finisher  take  the  double  pay  he'd  get 
at  the  hand-work  scale,  though  I  don't  know 
who  the  extra  pay  would  go  to;  or  else  it 
wotdd  make  him  stop  work  at  noon,  when  his 
stint  of  four  dozen  was  finished.  Indirectly, 
but  conclusively,  they  say  the  side-lathe 
sha'n't  be  used.  We're  as  badly  off  as  Eng- 
land." 

That  night  I  met  a  labor  leader  at  the  union 
meeting  room. 

"Hello, "said  he;  "what  do thevsavof  us?" 


I  asked  him  about  the  eight-dozen  stint  and 
the  side-lathe  wreathed  in  cobwebs. 

"Eight  dozen,"  he  said,  "is  a  fair  day's 
work,  I  know,  for  I've  worked  at  the  bench — 
it's  as  much  as  two  average  men  can  do; 
and  it's  just  about  what  will  give  our  people 
steady  employment  while  the  seasons  are  on. 
You  know,  we  don't  work  all  the  time.  But 
let  rushing  begin !  Men  would  overwork. 
Even  now  I  know  many  a  man  worn  out  at 
thirty-five,  with  a  sj^^stem  full  of  mercviry  from 
the  sizing,  or  lungs  all  soggy  with  breathed- 
in  bits  of  flying  fur.  The  work  wouldn't  go 
rotmd,  and  a  smaller  force  would  work  a 
shorter  season.  Then  the  manufacturers 
would  lower  the  piece  price ;  a  man  wotdd  have 
to  do  five  or  six  dozen  a  day,  or  with  the  side- 
lathe  even  more,  to  make  three  dollars.  The 
restriction's  for  our  good." 

"It  isn't  sound  economics,"  I  said.  "In 
the  long  run,  business  conditions  will  defeat 
vou." 

"Perhaps,"  he  said,  with  full  compre- 
hension. "But  when  the  economic  law  grinds 
away  our  defenses,  if  it  can,  one-fourth  of 
our  members  here  will  be  forced  into  idleness 
and  poverty — at  least,  temporarih\  It  is  my 
affair  as  a  union  man  not  to  stand  and  watch 
the  economic  forces  grind,  but  to  help  protect 
my  neighbors  and  their  families.  Business 
may  be  selfishness;  unionism  isn't.  One 
manufacturer  is  pleased  if  he  can  freeze  out 

another;   it  pleases  me  to  see ,  who  lives 

across  the  street,  in  fair  prosperity.  I  don't 
want  to  see  his  children  barefoot  in  winter, 
as  they  were  in  the  lockout  days,  when  the 
manufacturers  didn't  give  a  d — n  if  they 
starved." 

I  touched  on  the  side-lathe  question.  Here 
the  union  man  was  not  quite  frank.  He  said, 
in  face  of  the  fact  that  the  non-union  factories 
use  them,  that  the  machine  was  of  no  ad- 
vantage :  that  side-lathed  hats  had  also  to  be 
hand-smoothed  and  thus  were  finished  no 
faster.  Among  union  men  I  talked  with  in 
the  shops  and  about  the  town,  opposition  to 
the  machine  was  put  on  traditional  grounds: 
the  side-lathe  forced  expert  workmen  out  of 
work.  Accordingly  the  union  was  putting  on 
a  balancing  drag:  if  union  employers  were 
undersold  by  "foul"  shops  using  the  lathe,  did 
not  the  "foul"  shops  suffer  from  the  boycott  ? 

Here  was  the  crux : 

"Let  them  stop  restricting,"  said  a  manu- 
facturer.    "Let    us    run    the    side-lathe    and 


THE    HUMAN    SIDE    OF   THE    LABOR    UNIONS 


2745 


I 
I 


increase  production  at  cheaper  cost.  A  hat, 
after  all,  is  a  luxury,  to  be  worn  long  or 
speedily  thrown  away  as  the  pocket  dictates. 
So  more  hats  would  be  sold.  Our  export 
trade  would  grow.  Export  trade  in  staple 
styles  would  mean  steady  employment.  The 
factories  would  run  all  the  year.  Every 
hatting  town  in  the  country  would  feel  the 
impetus,  and  we'd  hat  the  world." 

I  explained  this  typically  American  dream 
to  a  union  man. 

"Pretty  !"  he  said,  "but  the  difficulty's  here : 
maybe  the  trade  would  grow,  and  maybe  it 
wouldn't.  There's  plenty  of  chance  for 
growth  now,  and  plenty  of  foreign  export 
from  this  very  town.  What  they  ask  us  is  to 
try  an  experiment  that  will  put  a  number  of  us 
out  of  work — for  a  time,  at  least.  It's  not  our 
business  to  make  experiments  with  the  bread 
and  butter  and  the  homes  and  wives  and 
children  of  our  members.  Even  if  we  were 
sure  the  expanded  trade  would  eventually 
come,  the  adjustment  would  be  slow,  and 
meanwhile  some  of  us  would  suffer.  We 
won't  allow  it.  If  the  manufacturers  will 
show  how  the  change  can  be  made  without 
throwing  us  out  of  work,  we'll  consider  it." 

There  is  restriction,  and  the  theory  of 
restriction  in  a  nutshell.  Economic  laws 
give  place  to  human  needs.  No  set  of  union 
men  will  volunteer  to  be  the  victims  of  the 
change;  and  no  union  will  draft  men  to  be 
the  victims. 

Regard  the  next  unfolding  of  the  situation. 
Like  smoking  menaces  on  the  Danbury  horizon 
are  other  hatting  towns — notably  Fall  River, 
Massachusetts.  Some  of  these  towns  are 
non-union;  their  factories,  like  the  few  "foul" 
shops  in  Danbury,  use  the  side-lathe,  and 
hire  boys  where  the  unions  insist  on  men. 
Also,  unlike  the  Danbury  independent  shops, 
they  employ  women  at  the  dye  vats,  and  at 
the  blowers  and  sizers,  according  to  the 
Danbury  people;  keep  superannuated  help  at 
miserable  wages;  and  thus  cut  down  the  pay 
roll  to  the  lowest  figure.  Where  they  com- 
pete with  the  Danbury  factories  they  can 
undersell.  Slowly,  say  the  Danbury  manu- 
facturers, these  menaces  are  eating  up  the 
industry;  just  as  English  unions  have  allowed 
English  industry  to  decline,  the  hatters' 
union,  they  say,  will  stupidly  allow  these  out- 
side shops  to  steal  away  the  Danbury  trade. 
"They  will  kill  the  goose  that  lays  the  golden 
egg." 


"That's  a  good  theory,"  said  my  ever-ready 
union  man — this  man  is  a  man  who  thinks, 
"  But  the  hard  fact  is  that  the  union  factories 
in  this  town  are  growing — selling  more  hats 
every  year.  We  don't  believe  Fall  River  is 
cutting  in,  and  let  me  tell  you  we  know  the 
middlemen  as  well  as  the  employers  do.  We 
make  it  our  business  to  know  them." 

Incontestably  the  Danbury  manufacturers 
are  shackled,  and  moreover,  they  are  plagued 
with  petty  dictations  that  irritate  them  more 
than  would  a  blunt  demand  for  more  wages. 
They  are  incensed.  On  the  union  side  is 
the  realization  of  a  human  problem  that 
appeals  very  little  to  employers,  and  it  is  to 
solve  this  problem — how  to  get  the  highest 
diffused  prosperity — that  they  shackle,  and 
bind,  and  annoy.  There  ought  to  be  a  com- 
mon understanding  instead. 

"We  must  form  a  trust, "say  manufacturers. 

"We  had  better  eliminate  the  employer  and 
conduct  cooperative  factories,"  say  union  men. 

In  brief,  both  sides  say,  "Let  the  war  go  on." 

Going  from  Danbury  to  non-union  New 
Britain,  for  my  legislative  agent  had  sug- 
gested that  I  compare  the  towns,  I  found  my 
quest  in  a  measure  in  vain.  There  was  no 
sound  basis  of  accurate  comparison.  Con- 
ditions were  different  because  the  industries 
are  different.  An  unsavory  foreign  quarter 
in  New  Britain  had  no  counterpart  in  Dan- 
bury, for  no  Danbury  mills  hired  the  hundreds 
of  immigrant  Poles  who  labor  in  the  colossal 
hardware  factories  of  New  Britain,  as  yet 
too  ignorant  and  unskilled  to  make  good 
union  men. 

When  I  found  that  union  Danbury,  out  of 
20,000  inhabitants,  had  10,000  savings  bank 
deposits,  and  n'on-union  New  Britain,  out  of 
30,000  inhabitants,  11,500  deposits,  I  also 
found  that,  after  all,  such  a  fact  meant  little. 
For  through  the  New  Britain  post-office  last 
year  $500,000  was  sent  by  recent  immigrants 
back  to  their  European  homes.  The  unskilled 
labor  in  the  mills  there,  moreover,  is  paid,  an 
intelligent  New  Britain  labor  leader  told  me, 
fully  as  much  as  it  is  worth.  So  despite  the 
difference  in  the  towns,  the  foreign  squalor 
apparent  in  places  in  New  Britain  as  against 
the  trig  New  England  neatness  of  Danbury, 
the  intended  comparison  fell  through. 

From  what  I  could  learn  from  New  Britain 
manufacturers,  the  industrial  order  in  the  fac- 
tories of  the  town  is  that  old-fashioned  order 
in  which  the  employer  says  to  the  workman. 


2746 


THE    HUMAN   SIDE    OF    THE    LABOR    UNIONS 


"I'll  give  you  work  at  such  wages.  Take  it 
or  leave  it."  He  organizes  his  factory  as  a 
teacher  would  grade  a  class  of  schoolbo5'S. 
With  the  Americans,  who  do  the  more  skilled 
work,  are  Swedes,  who,  in  the  last  generation, 
were  immigrants;  in  yeasty  America  they 
have  risen.  Taking  the  lower  places  they 
have  left  vacant  are  the  South-of-Europe 
people  who  are  the  immigrants  of  to-day. 
The  better  skilled  workers  are  paid,  some 
higher  than  the  union  scale  in  other  towns, 
some  lower;  the  wages  probably  average 
just  as  high,  but  they  are  scaled  according  to 
the  workman's  ability.  The  foreigners  are 
poorly  paid. 

When  I  asked  New  Britain  labor  men 
why  the  factories  were  so  little  organized, 
they  said:  "The  better  men  do  not  care  to 
organize;  they  probably  would  gain  nothing 
if  they  did. " 

"But  if  the  foreigners  are  living  on  an  un- 
American  plane,  why  not   organize  them?" 

"We  don't  want  'em.  They're  too  stupid. 
Thev  couldn't  understand  the  union  idea. 
We're  waiting  for  the  second  generation — 
trained  in  American  schools.  " 

I  asked  a  factory  superintendent  what 
attitude  his  corporation  bore  to  the  unions. 

"  Xo  attitude,  "  said  he.  "  We  place  a  man 
and  pay  him  wages  according  to  his  ability. 
Whether  he  has  a  union  card  we  do  not  in- 
quire. But  treat  with  a  union  we  will  not 
and  would  not. " 

His  is  a  factory  whose  story  is  the  story  of 
American  business  success,  for  its  products 
go  far  afield  and  its  profits  are  high.  It  can 
compete  with  the  world.  An  operative  of 
ability  has  opportunity  to  advance  as  far  as 
his  ability  will  permit ;  the  slower  will  stay 
correspondingly  far  behind.  The  unskilled 
work  is  done  by  foreigners.  This  is  the  New 
Britain  form  of  industry. 

Danbury  is  already  brought  to  the  reputed 
English  condition,  but  it  shows  a  diffused  pros- 
perity. New  Britain,  though  a  strikingly 
American  town  in  the  one  matter  of  inven- 
tions, yet  shows  the  spectacle  of  colossal 
factories  earning  heavy  profits  for  capital, 
and  exporting  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
employing  stupid  foreign  workers  that,  assimi- 
lated, will  no  longer  work  for  the  meager 
wages  they  now  receive.  It  is  past  question 
which  town  best  subserves  "American  indus- 
try" in  the  common  understanding  of  the 
term.     But  the  two-sidedness  of  this  matter 


of  "American  industry,"  the  human  phase 
of  it,  exhibited  in  Danbury,  as  against  the 
purely  business  side,  I  venture  to  emphasize 
by  the  following  story,  the  most  dramatic  I 
have  met  in  my  studies  of  the  labor  problem. 
It  makes  clear  the  union  feeling  on  the  broad 
question. 

Two  match-boxes  lie  on  my  desk,  given 
me  by  officers  of  the  Cigarmakers'  Inter- 
national Union.  The  sides  are  of  celluloid. 
One  side  reads,  "Smoke  no  cigars  that  do 
not  bear  this  label;"  below  is  the  union  label 
in  facsimile.  The  other  side  reads,  "These 
cigars  are  not  union  made;"  below  is  a  list  of 
widely  advertised  cigars.  It  is  a  form  of 
boycott. 

"What  is  the  story?"  I  asked  a  label  agent. 

"The  story,"  he  said,  "is  that  those  cigars 
are  made  by  the  Trust.  They  are  made  by 
machines  that  roll  them  out  at  the  rate  of 
perhaps  a  thousand  a  day.  A  cigarmaker 
can  make  by  hand  perhaps  150." 

"Would  you  stop  the  machines?"  I  asked. 

"No,"  he  thundered,  "we  can't  check 
mechanical  progress — we  don't  want  to. 
We  want  cigarmakers  to  run  the  machines  at  a 
living  wage.  When  the  typesetting  machine 
came  in,  the  typographical  union  insisted  that 
regular  printers  should  run  them  at  the  regu- 
lar wages.  The  machines  moved  printing 
up  a  notch — they  didn't  lower  wages.  But 
cigar-making  machines  are  rtm  by  girls — 
children  !  And  on  starvation  wages  !  That's 
what  we  want  to  stop." 

"Like  child  labor  in  cotton  mills  ?"  I  asked. 

"Just !"  he  snapped.  "Admit  that  a  father 
among  the  unemployed,  with  yoxing  daughters 
earning  from  six  to  eight  dollars  a  week  on  a 
cigar-making  machine,  under  a  coarse  and 
perhaps  vicious  foreman — I  could  tell  you 
tales — is  not  so  pretty  an  American  sight  as 
a  father  earning  eighteen  dollars  a  week  and 
keeping  his  children  at  school.  That  is  what 
we  work  for — to  help  our  children — ^to  give 
them  a  better  start,  please  God,  than  we  had. 
Let  the  machines  come  in,  by  all  means,  but 
let  us  run  them.  Don't  fire  us,  to  turn  our 
fingers  skilled  at  cigar-rolling,  and  good  for 
nothing  else,  to  idleness  or  to  a  new  trade  too 
late — and  put  our  children  in  our  places." 

"Is  that  being  done?"    I  queried. 

"Do  those  cigars  sell?"  he  mocked.  "Do 
people  buy  the  — ,  and  the  — ,  and  the  — ? 
Or  didn't  you  come  by  one  of  those  brilliant 
stores  where  they  sell  a  whole  pocketftil  of 


THE   MORAL    SOUNDNESS  OF    AMERICAN    Lll-E 


2747 


machine-made  cigars  for  a  quarter  and  give 
you  a  ticket  for  a  gold  watch  in  the  bargain  ?" 

I  ask  him  what  he  meant. 

"Within  the  last  three  months,"  he  said, 
"thirty  new  cigar  stores  owned  by  a  single 
company  have  started  in  New  York.  Their 
lights  at  night  make  the  brilliantest  spot  in 
many  a  block  from  Park  Row  to  Harlem. 
They  sell  cigars  —  non-union  Trust-made 
cigars — cheaper  than  any  other  stores  in 
town :  good  cigars  for  six  cents,  ten-cent  cigars 
for  five  cents,  five-cent  cigars  seven  for  a 
quarter,  cigarettes  at  cut  prices.  They  give 
premiums,  too,  and  are  jammed  with  custom. 

"Well,"  he  went  on, "the  Trust  controlsthem 
— not  openly,  but,  you  see,  they  sell  the  scab 
cigars  for  almost  nothing.     How  long  do  you 
think  it  will  take  them  to  drive  independent, 
stores    from  business  ?     How  long  before  one 


company  will  make  all  the  cigars  in  the 
country — by  machines  run  by  children  and 
girls;  and  how  long  before  one  company  will 
sell  them  all  ?  Can't  you  see  a  deadly  force 
squeezing  smaller  the  margin  of  comfort  in 
the  living  of  American  labor?" 

"Won't  the  consumer  gain  ?"  I  asked. 

"A  little,"  he  admitted,  "a  very,  very  little. 
You  know  where  the  gain  will  come.  And 
now  tell  me  if  our  struggle  isn't  one  where 
the  public  swings  against  us  for  the  bribe  of 
an  extra  cigar  in  every  purchase  and  a  coupon 
for  a  nickel-plated  match-box  ?  The  union 
fights  a  righteous  battle  for  a  higher  standard 
of  American  humanity — and  it  fights  alone." 

This  human  matter,  this  vital  problem  of 
the  elevation  of  our  people  as  a  whole,  labor 
and  capital  must  discuss,  and  not  in  type- 
written letters  ten  words  long. 


THE  MORAL  SOUNDNESS  OF  AMERICAN 

LIFE 


OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  HABITS  AND  THE  CHARACTER  OF  LARGE  GROUPS  OF 
PEOPLE  OF  DIFFERENT  CLASSES  OF  SOCIETY  AT  SUMMER  AND  WINTER  RESORTS 
—  ONLY  THE  NEW  YORK  "FASHIONABLES"  INDULGE  IN  DEMORALIZING  PLEASURES 

BY 


JULIAN    RALPH 


OUR  fashionables  of  New  York  and 
Newport  have  kept  so  strictly  to 
themselves  that,  until  last  autumn, 
the  public  was  in  ignorance  of  their  modes  of 
living.  The  people  knew  only  what  they  had 
read  in  the  newspapers,  or  had  learned  by 
hearsay.  But  during  August,  and  then 
merely  for  a  month,  these  heirs  to  many  of  the 
greatest  fortunes,  estates  and  commercial 
enterprises  abandoned  their  fortress-like 
mansions  in  Newport  and  played  their  parts 
freely  side  by  side  with  the  public  during  the 
race  meeting  at  "the  Springs" — that  is,  at 
Saratoga. 

It  was  as  if  the  stout  walls  of  the  houses 
of  the  very  rich  had  melted  away,  leaving 
the  people  free  to  stare  into  the  drawing 
rooms  and  gardens,  the  dining  halls,  the 
card  rooms,  and  even  the  precincts  to  which 
madam  and  her  daughter  retreated  for  an 
afternoon  siesta  over  a  book  or  beside  an  iced 


drink.  For  at  Saratoga  the  porches  of  the 
cottages  rented  by  the  fashionables  were  but 
extensions  of  the  porches  used  by  those  who 
paid  but  six  dollars  a  day  for  board,  and  the 
garden  of  the  millionaires  was  also  the  garden 
of  the  1,500  poorer  tenants  of  the  caravan- 
serai. 

For  nearly  four  weeks  those  who  had 
boasted  the  greatest  privacy  became  the  tar- 
gets of  50,000  pairs  of  eyes  during  every  day- 
light hour.  They  ate  with  the  crowd,  played 
at  what  the  crowd  played,  drove  where  the 
hackmen  ruled  the  road,  sought  shelter 
where  the  crowd  registered  its  names  above 
and  below  their  own.  In  this  they  closely 
copied  their  exemplars,  the  aristocrats  of 
Europe,  who  in  like  manner  disport  them- 
selves publicly  at  Ascot,  at  Hombvirg,  at 
Monte  Carlo  and  elsewhere.  Like  their  Euro- 
pean models,  they  posed  at  Saratoga  as  the 
guardians  of  sport,  the  main  support  of  polo 


2748 


THE   MORAL    SOUNDNESS    OF    AMERICAN    LIFE 


and  the  race  course.  And  yet  the  backbone 
of  the  habits  of  the  foreign  nobles  was  missing 
at  Saratoga,  and  our  rich  fellow-citizens 
proved  but  vain  imitators — like  so  many 
actors  playing  the  written  parts  of  kings  and 
nobles.  For  Europe  has  always  known  a 
separate  upper  class.  People  there  do  not 
stop  to  think  of  the  remote  time  when  there 
were  no  nobles  or  will  be  none.  And  the  part 
of  the  nobles  is  one  to  which  they  were  born. 
The  supporting  of  pleasure  and  excitement 
is  at  once  their  duty,  their  trust  and  their 
heritage.  To  the  masses  all  that  they  do 
seems  becoming  and  natural.  Even  when 
they  are  seen  to  transgress  the  conventions 
of  simpler  folk  the  people  merely  shrug  a 
shoulder  and  say  "they  are  different."  And 
yet,  as  the  years  go  on,  these  transgressions 
are  more  and  more  hidden  behind  the  high 
walls  of  the  aristocrats'  gardens  and  the  thick 
fronts  of  their  mansions.  Such  disregard 
for  the  opinions  of  the  plain  people  as  was 
exhibited  in  public  at  Saratoga  last  August 
was,  I  venture  to  say,  paralleled  nowhere  in 
Europe  during  the  same  season. 

And  here  was  a  public  with  a  young  and 
tender  conscience  largely  of  Puritan  manu- 
facture, with  a  belief  in  the  equality  of  man, 
and  with  the  loud  noise  in  its  ears  of  a  debate 
upon  the  best  method  of  disciplining  the  trusts, 
of  revising  the  tariff,  which  is  the  hothouse 
of  millionairing,  of  settling  a  great  strike 
among  the  producers  of  a  prime  necessity 
of  life.  And  this  was  a  public  with  votes — 
wide-reaching,  deep-probing,  slow  but  very 
powerful  votes. 

What  these  favorites  of  fortune  did  in  Sara- 
toga may  have  seemed  to  the  onlookers  very 
European.  Certainly,  they  knew  it  was  not 
an  American  way  of  spending  a  vacation.  It 
belonged  to  no  part  of  our  population,  our 
country  or  our  history.  I  have  described  the 
Saratogan  scenes  as  constituting  "an  orgy 
of  gambling,"  and  I  cannot  modify  or  better 
the  phrase.  The  men  gambled  all  day  and  far 
into  the  night,  at  stocks  or  poker  in  the  morn- 
ing, at  the  races  in  the  afternoon,  at  faro  in  a 
public  gambling  "hell"  at  night.  Fathers, 
mothers,  sons  and  daughters  "played  the 
races"  together,  fathers  looked  at  their  heirs 
at  cards  in  the  gaming  house,  young  wives, 
young  boys  and  young  ladies,  were  taken  to 
dine  in  the  gambling  house  (in  a  room  com- 
manding a  view  of  the  faro  and  roulette 
tables),  and  occasional  bets  upon  the  roulette 


wheel,  while  all  waited  to  be  served,  were 
made  by  the  men  at  these  dinner  parties  to  add 
piquancy  to  the  evening's  diversions.  I  do 
not  mean  further  to  dwell  upon  this  extra- 
ordinary outbreak  or  exposure  of  moral 
disease.  Suffice  it  that  when,  at  last,  many 
of  our  most  distinguished  leaders  of  high  life 
left  their  Fifth  Avenue  fastnesses  to  take  their 
pleasures  with  the  people,  they  chose  as  their 
comrades  the  jockeys,  the  tipsters  and  the 
bookmakers  of  the  race  track  and  the  black- 
legs of  the  gambling  houses. 

A  stranger  in  America  might  easily  have 
said,  "This,  then,  is  how  Americans  spend 
their  summer  holidays,  and  these  are  the 
morals  of  this  people."  Even  I,  who  had 
been  abroad  for  seven  years,  might  possibly 
have  imagined  that  we  had  become  demoral- 
ized  by  prosperity  and  success  in  war  and  that 
Saratoga  properly  represented  the  American 
watering  place  of  today. 

But  I  was  to  learn  better.  I  had  gone  to 
Saratoga  from  Vermont,  and  I  returned  to  the 
same  enchanted  land  to  finish  the  summer. 
Of  all  places  it  was  the  best  to  see  every  phase 
and  ingredient  of  American  society  taking  its 
leisure.  I  have  called  it  the  Recreation  State, 
but  it  is  equally  truly  the  American  Tyrol. 
Here,  as  in  the  Tyrolean  Alps,  are  the  same 
rounded  breast-like  hills  clad  to  their  tops 
with  soft  rich  cloaks  of  furry  green.  Here 
are  similar  lakes  and  lakelets  (nearly  all  far 
more  beautiful  than  those  of  Austria)  lying 
among  the  green  hills  like  great  turquoises 
tossed  upon  puckered  sheets  of  velvet.  Here 
the  white  roads  wind  in  the  same  errant  way 
along  the  sides  of  these  bosoms  of  Dame 
Nature  and  in  the  same  way  as  in  the  Tyrol 
are  met  by  wood  roads  and  farm  trails.  Here 
are  the  stimmer  hotels  perched  upon  the 
shoulders  of  hills  or  set  beside  the  edges  of  the 
dimpling  lakes.  The  farmers  take  boarders 
and  the  villages  are  the  rendezvous  of  strang- 
ers, so  that  far  better  than  in  the  older  Tyrol 
is  this  place  to  see  a  nation's  people  at  play. 

Here,  from  all  points  west  of  New  England, 
but  principally  from  New  York  and  New  Jer- 
sey, come  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
summer  vacationers.  To  judge  of  my  right 
to  make  them  pose  as  typical  Americans,  I 
may  indicate  their  grades  of  income  and  com- 
fort by  recording  the  fact  that  they  are 
charged  from  ten  dollars  to  fifty  dollars  a 
week — sums  which  comprehend  a  classifica- 
tion wide  enough  to  take  in  the  store  clerk, 


THE    MORAL    SOUNDNESS    OV    AMERICAN    LIFE 


2749 


Ihe  traveling  man,  tlie  partner  in  business, 
the  teacher,  the  professor,  the  shopkeeper,  the 
student  and  the  suburban  leader  of  society. 
There  were  three  hotels  around  me,  housing 
400  persons  at  a  time,  1,000  in  the  entire 
season.  I  knew  many  of  these  and  studied 
all  of  them — at  play,  at  rest,  at  meals,  in  their 
family  circles  and  the  men  when  apart  from 
the  women. 

Proudly  and  delightedly  I  say  that  the 
American  has  not  changed,  and  the  life  of  the 
fashionables  at  "the  Springs"  is  not  to  his 
taste  or  likely  soon  to  become  so.  Here 
were  the  young  of  both  sexes  by  the  score, 
and  beside  them  were  the  men  who  had  made 
their  way  and  retired,  as  well  as  those  who 
were  still  climbing  the  hill  to  success.  It  was 
after  I  had  stayed  at  a  hotel  a  month  and  left 
it,  that  I  heard  it  said,  about  a  former  fellow- 
boarder,  that  "he  liked  to  sit  up  over  a  game 
of  poker  whenever  he  could  make  up  a  party." 
While  I  had  been  there  he  did  not  find  any 
cronies,  and  so  I  never  saw  or  knew  a  single 
gambling  game  being  played  by  any  of  the 
thousand  persons  around  me.  The  young 
people  danced  every  night  and  rowed,  fished, 
drove  or  climbed  the  hills  every  day,  invari- 
ably in  parties  from  six  to  twenty,  excluding 
all  possibility  of  evil.  The  men  walked, 
fished,  swam,  drove,  and  in  the  evening  played 
cards  and  read  newspapers  in  the  public  rooms 
of  the  hotels.  The  card  games  were  whist, 
euchre,  hearts.  The  matrons  read  novels, 
knitted,  visited  one  another,  gave  teas,  went 
out  driving,  climbed  the  smaller  hills — 
reveled  in  the  joy  of  living  without  servants 
and  the  cares  of  their  houses.  Bowling  was 
a  daily  amusement  for  some,  and  at  one  hotel 
baseball  was  often  played — by  regular 
"nines,"  by  the  boarders,  even  by  the  young 
ladies  against  the  young  men,  in  one  instance. 
There  was  not  a  single  theme  for  scandal 
between  June  ist  and  September  15th.  In 
none  of  these  hotels  did  the  thoughtless  be- 
havior or  the  misconduct  of  any  man  or 
woman,  boy  or  girl  (except  in  the  case  of  a 
boat-keeper — and  he  merely  got  drunk),  pro- 
vide gossip  or  arouse  censure  among  this 
thousand  of  Americans.  I  was  astonished  to 
note  that  the  only  persons  suspected  of  love- 
making  and  habituated  to  the  least-lighted 
corners  of  the  porches  in  the  evenings  were 
in  every  case  the  young  widows.  The  rela- 
tions of  the  boys  and  girls  and  of  the  young 
men  and  young  women  were  invariably  those 


of  playmates  and  good  companions.  I  had 
reason  to  watch  this  phase  of  summer  life 
very  anxiously  and  closely,  and  I  write  with 
the  utmost  confidence  and  knowledge.  Out- 
door sports,  co-education,  life  at  large  resorts, 
and  the  strong  and  startling  growth  of  inde- 
pendence among  women,  have  greatly  de- 
veloped this  condition  in  the  seven  years  I 
have  been  absent.  Apjjarently  only  the  men 
of  the  South  now  feel  obliged  to  ])lay  the  cour- 
tier to  every  lady,  and  only  the  ladies  from 
below  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  still  permit  the 
practice. 

Though  I  chronicle  a  grade  and  degree  of 
virtue  nowhere  else  to  be  found  in  such  broad 
simplicity  and  purity  (except  as  the  sexes 
meet  innocently  in  Ireland),  I  saw  much  the 
same  condition  in  Summerville,  S.  C,  last 
winter,  and  also  at  Lakewood,  N.  J.  In 
Vermont  there  was  an  intensification  of  that 
democracy  which  is  the  pride  of  most  Ameri- 
cans. The  visitors  from  the  cities  gave  them- 
selves no  airs  because  of  birth  or  wealth  or 
social  success,  but  tempered  their  democracy 
by  allowing  it  to  bring  together  only  those 
who  were  congenial  to  one  another — except 
in  dancing,  eating,  and  the  arrangement  of 
outdoor  games,  when  all  came  together  in 
equality  and  good-fellowship.  The  natives 
caricatured  democracy  and  made  it  nauseous ; 
in  fact,  they  outraged  it  by  constantly  insist- 
ing upon  their  "rights,"  as  if  they  were  aristo- 
crats at  heart.  This  strange  and  repellant 
feature  of  a  decadent  Americanism  requires 
an  article  for  itself. 

Both  Summerville  and  Lakewood  held 
wealthier  persons  than  any  I  was  with  in 
Vermont.  At  Summerville  there  was  no  gam- 
bling with  cards  and  no  interest  in  the  stock 
market.  In  Vermont  I  do  not  recall  more 
than  three  persons  who  turned  first  to  the 
stock  quotations  on  getting  the  day's  news- 
paper. In  Lakewood  the  rise  and  fall  of 
stocks  was  of  extreme  interest  to  a  few — but 
only  to  a  few.  Lakewood  was  the  only  place 
at  which  I  saw  wom.en  drink,  and  wines  and 
spirits  served  at  meals,  and  there  it  was  not  a 
general  custom.  Thus,  during  eight  months 
of  this  year  of  grace,  I  have  seen  practically 
every  representative  sort  of  American  folks 
who  can  afford  to  take  vacations.  And  the 
New  York  fashionables,  with  a  small  handful 
of  rich  Western  speculators  as  their  imitators, 
are  the  only  ones  who  find  pleasure  in  for- 
bidden fields. 


THE   QUIET   CONTROL   OF   A   VAST 

ESTATE 

A  GLIMPSE  AT  THE  PERSONALITY  AND  THE  WORKING  HABITS 
OF  COL.  JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR— THE  AMERICAN  FAMILY  THAT 
HAS    SHOWN  A    CONSERVING   GENIUS    IN    EVERY   GENERATION 

BY 

HENRY    HARRISON    LEWIS 


OXE  day  not  long  ago  a  marine  engineer 
received  a  polite  letter  asking  him  to 
call  at  the  office  of  the  Astor  Estate. 
Mr.  John  Jacob  Astor  wished  to  consult  him. 

'Til  have  to  go  all  dressed  up,"  he  said  to 
his  wife. 

"I  should  think  so,"  was  the  decisive 
reply.  "Put  on  your  best  things  or  you'll 
look  out  of  place." 

The  mechanic,  painfvdly  arrayed  in  unac- 
customed starch,  arrived  at  the  office,  which 
he  found  to  be  an  unpretentious  two-story 
double  brick  building  on  a  side  street  leading 
from  Broadway.  The  only  indication  of 
possible  wealth  were  a  number  of  massive 
iron  bars  guarding  the  front  windows,  similar 
to  those  sometimes  found  in  front  of  banks 
or  deposit  vaults.  On  the  inside  were  glass 
partitions,  and  counters  with  little  brass- 
barred  windows,  and  several  serious-faced 
clerks  poring  over  account  books.  One  of 
these  asked  his  name,  and  conducted  him 
up  a  short  flight  of  stairs. 

The  mechanic  looked  about  him  and  saw 
a  dingy,  uninteresting  interior  with  a  common- 
place safe.  At  the  head  of  the  stairs  was  a 
small  room  with  several  doors  leading  into 
various  other  rooms.  Into  one  of  these  he 
was  ushered.  The  only  occupant  was  a  tall 
man  with  an  erect  military  bearing.  The 
apartment  was  plainly  furnished  with  a  roll- 
top  desk,  several  bookcases,  a  centre  table, 
and  three  or  four  plainly  framed  pictures.  A 
red  carpet  covered  the  floor.  The  only  out- 
side light  came  from  two  windows  opening 
into  a  very  narrow  court.  Out  in  this  court 
nothing  could  be  seen  but  a  blank,  white  wall. 
Of  the  btisy  street  only  a  few  yards  away 
there  was  no  sign.  Even  the  din  of  traffic 
from  Broadway  was  faint. 

The   tall   man  was   bending  over   a   blue- 


print spread  out  upon  the  table.  He  glanced 
up  as  the  clerk  said : 

"Mr.  Astor,  this  is  Mr.  So  and  So.  He  has 
an  appointment  with  you,  I  believe." 

Mr.  Astor  wished  to  see  him  about  the 
details  of  an  invention  he  was  perfecting. 
The  blue-prints  revealed  a  comprehensive 
plan  for  a  new  marine  steam  turbine  which 
Mr.  Astor  had  made.  The  engineer  listened 
carefully,  but  he  scarcely  could  conceal  his 
amazement  at  the  thorough  knowledge  of 
marine  mechanics  exhibited  by  Mr.  Astor. 
He  was  quick  to  realize  that  the  new  turbine 
promised  to  be  a  radical  improvement  over 
the  one  in  common  use.  When  he  went 
home  that  afternoon  his  wife  awaited  the 
description  of  his  call. 

"Tell  me  about  it,"  she  said.  "What  did 
he  look  like  ?  Was  his  office  full  of  fine 
things?" 

He  shook  his  head. 

"Then  what  did  you  see,  John?" 

"I  saw  a  man,"  came  the  answer  slowly, 
"and  a  mighty  clever  man,  too.  If  he  wasn't 
rich,  the  world  would  be  richer.  I  tell  you, 
Mary,  if  John  Jacob  Astor's  hands  weren't 
tied  by  so  much  wealth  and  so  man)'  social 
obligations,  he'd  make  an  entirely  different 
sort  of  name." 

Col.  John  Jacob  Astor  may  be  described  as 
"traveler,  author,  soldier,  inventor,"  and  he 
has  earned  all  these  titles.  He  has  a  passion- 
ate fondness  for  outdoor  sports,  and  he  keenly 
enjoys  automobiling.  His  palatial  yacht, 
the  well-known  Nourmahal,  is  put  to  good  use 
during  the  summer,  and  her  owner  often 
makes  extensive  cruises,  but  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  very  few  men,  even  of  those  compelled 
to  labor  for  their  living,  work  harder.  He 
has  under  his  care  the  administration  of  an 
estate  valued  at  almost  two  hundred  millions 


THE    QUIET    CONTROL    OE    A   VAST    ESTATE 


2751 


% 


of  dollars.  The  greater  part  of  it  is  in  realty. 
Although  Colonel  Astor  has  a  staff  of  careful 
lieutenants  who  look  after  the  details,  many 
decisions  are  daily  required  of  him.  The 
extent  of  the  Astor  holdings  in  New  York  City 
is  graphically  expressed  in  the  words  of  an 
impressionable  French  visitor,  who  wrote 
home,  apropos  of  American  millionaires: 

There  is  a  fascination  in  his  Qohn  Jacob  Astor's) 
vast  wealth  that  hfts  it  beyond  the  commonplace 
riches  of  other  American  millionaires.  True,  it  is 
real  estate,  but,  voila!  it  is  not  a  single  house,  nor  a 
score,  but  whole  streets  and  avenues  of  houses. 
There  are  blocks  and  half-blocks,  brick  tenenients 
and  marble  palaces,  great  vacant  spaces  worth 
fortunes,  and  buildings  so  clustered  together  that  the 
sight  of  the  blessed  earth  has  passed  forever.  This 
man,  this  individual,  who  has  only  two  arms  and 
two  legs  and  only  one  head,  yes,  and  even  a  limit 
to  his  capacity  of  enjoyment,  could  stroll  down 
Broadway  or  Fifth  Avenue,  and  stretching  his  arms 
hither  and  yon,  say,  "Mine  !  mine,  all  mine!" 

Because  of  his  war  record  Colonel  Astor  is 
nearer  to  the  people  than  any  other  man  of  his 
class.  It  will  not  soon  be  forgotten  that  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain  in  1898 
he  was  one  of  the  first  to  offer  his  services  to 
the  Government  in  many  ways,  placing  his 
splendid  yacht  at  the  disposal  of  the  Navy 
Department,  and  equipping,  at  his  own 
expense,  a  battery  of  artillery  for  service  in 
the  Philippines.  The  equipping  of  the  battery 
(which,  by  the  way,  made  an  enviable  record) 
was  the  tribute  of  his  wealth,  but  the  offering 
of  his  services  on  the  field  of  battle  was  a 
tribute  of  his  manhood.  Apropos  of  Colonel 
Astor's  share  in  the  attack  on  Santiago  is  the 
following  anecdote  told  by  one  of  the  war 
correspondents  in  the  field: 

In  '98,  during  those  hot  sweltering  days  so  preg- 
nant of  import  to  the  American  troops  arrayed  in 
the  jungle  before  Santiago  and  El  Caney,  that  I  saw 
a  number  of  half-naked  soldiers,  crouching  in  the 
tall  grass,  begin  to  move  restlessly,  and  a  whisper 
passed  from  man  to  man  down  the  panting  line. 
There  were  bullets  moving,  and  the  air  seemed  full 
of  the  curious  singing  noises  which  accompany  the 
deadly  Mauser  ball  in  its  flight. 

To  raise  one's  head  was  to  invite  disaster,  but 
above  the  waving  tufts  of  green  appeared  one  and 
then  another  until  at  least  a  score  of  men  were  gaz- 
ing intently  toward  a  little  knoll  on  the  right  flank. 

"That's  not  him,"  I  heard  a  corporal  mutter  in- 
credulously. 

" 'Course  it  is,"  replied  his  next  neighbor.  "I 
guess  I  know  Colonel  Astor.  I  saw  him  in  Tampa 
before  we  left.  Sa3^  did  you  hear  he  has  given  a 
whole  battery,  guns  and  all,  to  the  Government  for 
use  in  the  Philippines?" 

"He'll  give  his  life  too  if  he  don't  get  off  that 
knoll,"  was  the  grim  reply.  "  Fancy  a  man  with  his 
money  fighting  down  here,  and  risking  fever. 
Humph  !     If  I  had " 

"Lie  down,  men!"  sternly  commanded  an 
officer. 


The  line  of  heads  slowly  dropped  from  sight, 
but  each  man,  before  he  vanished  in  the  grass, 
snatched  another  glance  at  the  tall  erect  figure  in 
the  mud-stained  khaki  uniform  which  interested 
them  far  more  at  that  moment  than  did  the  Spanish 
enemy  or  Spanish  bullets. 

It  was  the  human  interest  in  a  man  whose 
patriotism  rested  heavier  in  the  .scale  than  vast 
wealth  or  social  position  or  life  itself. 

It  is  interesting  to  pass  a  day  in  the  little 
two-story  building  in  Twenty-sixth  Street, 
near  Broadway,  the  headquarters  of  the  Astor 
Estate,  and  watch  the  noiseless  revolutions  of 
its  wheels  of  business.  There  is  an  air  of 
repose  strangely  inconsistent  with  the  large 
interests  so  quietly  controlled.  Colonel  Astor's 
day's  work  is  exacting  and  would  be  difficult 
to  a  less  competent  man.  During  the  winter 
he  visits  his  office  five  days  a  week,  generally 
spending  six  or  seven  hours  either  there  or 
in  attendance  at  board  meetings.  Since 
he  is  a  director  in  many  of  the  great  financial 
institutions,  including  such  well-known  con- 
cerns as  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, the  Equitable  Life  Insurance  Society, 
New  York  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Company, 
(Trustee)  Illinois  Central  Railway,  Mercantile 
Trust  Company,  Title  Guarantee  and  Trust 
Company,  Astor  National  Bank,  the  Plaza 
Bank,  National  Park  Bank,  and  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Company,  as  well  as  numerous 
smaller  corporations,  it  will  be  seen  that  his 
duties  as  a  board  member  are  by  no  means  light. 

His  staff  of  lieutenants  consists  principally 
of  a  triumvirate  acting  as  trustees  of  the 
Astor  Estate.  These  three  men,  one  of  whom 
is  a  noted  New  York  real  estate  operator, 
attend  to  all  the  details  of  the  business  under 
Colonel  Astor's  direct  supervision.  Assisted 
by  a  corps  of  minor  officials  they  collect  the 
rentals,  see  after  repairs,  make  investments, 
and  yearly  add  to  the  enormous  wealth  of  the 
estate.  In  addition  to  the  triumvirate,  there 
is  a  private  secretary  who  has  supervision  of 
Colonel  Astor's  personal  affairs.  The  secre- 
tary's principal  task  is  to  attend  to  the  large 
mail  and  to  see  that  certain  instructions 
received  from  his  chief  are  carried  out. 

The  daily  mail  of  a  man  in  John  Jacob 
Astor's  position  offers  a  study  in  human 
nature.  From  sixty  to  seventy-five  letters 
are  received  every  twenty-four  hours,  and  of 
this  number  at  least  one-half  are  begging 
letters  pure  and  simple.  He  is  a  shining  mark 
for  the  shafts  of  every  person  either  too  lazy 
or  too  strong  to  work  honestly  for  his  living. 
The  requests  for  financial  assistance  are  not 


2752 


THE    QUIET    CONTROL    OF    A   VAST   ESTATE 


limited  to  the  United  States,  but  come  from 
all  over  the  world.  One  letter,  which  is  kept 
as  a  curiosity,  is  a  gem.  It  was  dated  at 
Stockholm,  Sweden,  and  ran  as  follows : 

Mr.  John  Jacob  Astor, 

Richest  Man  in  all  the  World, 

New   York,    U.    S.    A. 
Honored  Sir: — 

I  would  like  you  to  send  me  at  once  30.000 
thalers;  a  mere  bagatelle  to  you.  but  a  fortune  to 
me.  Send  the  check  at  once  as  I  need  the  money 
very  bad. 

Y'rs  to  command, 


In  the  same  mail  came  a  long  letter,  evi- 
dently from  one  unaccustomed  to  a  pen, 
describing  in  glowing  terms  the  recent  dis- 
covery of  a  gold  mine  in  Canada.  The  writer 
said  that  he  alone  knew  the  location,  that  he 
had  had  the  quartz  analyzed  and  found  it 
to  be  extremely  rich,  and  that  he  would  let 
Mr.  Astor  in  on  the  grotmd  floor  if  he  would 
advance  the  working  capital.  A  request  for 
an  immediate  advance  of  five  thousand  dollars 
for  preliminary  expenses  formed  the  contents 
of  the  closing  paragraph. 

Another  letter,  written  from  an  uptown 
address,  contained  a  pathetic  appeal  for  money 
to  enable  the  writer  to  send  his  invalid  wife 
to  the  countrv.  The  sum  asked  for  was 
modest — only  twenty-five  dollars;  but  on 
investigation — for  it  was  one  of  the  appeals  to 
which  consideration  was  given — the  address 
was  found  to  be  that  of  a  saloon. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case  very  few  of  these 
letters  reach  Colonel  Astor.  If  he  gave  them 
his  personal  attention  his  time  would  be  fully 
occupied  to  the  exclusion  of  his  business.  If 
he  granted  every  request,  even  his  vast  wealth 
would  not  suffice.  The  legitimate  demands 
upon  his  purse  for  charity  are  very  large,  and 
he  responds  to  them  regularly. 

A  student,  principally  of  scientific  subjects, 
from  his  boyhood.  Colonel  Astor  has  given 
much  time  to  invention.  His  interest  in  good 
roads  led  him  to  construct  and  patent  a 
contrivance  for  removing  the  pulverized 
waste  material  from  macadam  roads  by 
means  of  an  air  blast.  The  invention  was 
exhibited  at  the  Columbian  Exposition  and 
attracted  favorable  comment. 

His  next  venture,  not  so  practicable,  was  a 
device,  based  on  thoroughly  scientific  prin- 
ciples, to  enable  farmers  to  water  their  fields 
at  will.  The  idea  involved  the  removal  to 
the  upper  and  cooler  atmosphere,  through  a 
closed  conduit,  of  a  volume  of  warm,  moist 


air,  which  would  be  condensed  and  precipi- 
tated as  a  rain. 

His  latest  mechanical  invention,  which 
promises  to  be  of  practical  utility,  and 
which  bears  international  patents,  is  his 
marine  turbine  engine,  to  drive  vessels  at 
high  speed.  It  has  no  stationary  parts  other 
than  the  journals  and  foundation  frames 
which  carry  it,  the  casing  of  the  turbine 
revolving  as  well  as  the  shaft,  but  in  an  oppo- 
site direction.  It  is  proved  that  the  extremely 
high  speed  required  in  other  turbines  is  a 
disadvantage  which  the  Astor  device  cor- 
rects. The  speed  is  reduced  one-half  but  the 
same  power  is  retained  at  the  propellers. 

Colonel  Astor  is  an  ardent  sportsman,  too. 
He  is  intensely  interested  in  outdoor  athletics, 
and  is  a  devotee  of  the  automobile.  The 
extensive  breeding  stables  established  by  his 
father  at  "Femcliff"  he  still  maintains, 
although  he  now  raises  high-class  hackneys 
instead  of  racers,  as  formerly.  His  3'acht  is 
an  ocean  steamer  in  miniature,  and  she  is 
placed  in  commission  for  his  use  every  sum- 
mer. He  shows  his  interest  in  yachting  by 
presenting  yearly  for  competition  what  are 
known  as  the  Astor  cups. 

His  latest  innovation  in  athletics  is  the 
building  of  an  extensive  and  costly  athletic 
court  at  "Ferncliflf."  It  is  of  one  story,  but 
it  covers  a  great  deal  of  ground.  Under  the 
one  roof  are  a  swimming  pool  sixty-five  feet 
in  length,  two  squash  courts,  a  tennis  court, 
a  rifle  range,  a  bowling  alley,  a  billiard  room, 
dressing  rooms,  and  a  number  of  bedrooms 
for  guests.  It  is  intended  to  hold  house 
parties  during  the  winter  and  to  enjoy  what 
are  practically  outdoor  sports  under  cover. 

Colonel  Astor  has  written  a  novel,  too, 
entitled  "A  Journey  in  Other  Worlds,"  a  semi- 
scientific  work  of  fiction,  which  attracted  not 
a  little  attention  here  and  abroad. 

This  glimpse  of  the  man  who  is  now  the 
manager  of  the  great  Astor  estate  shows  the 
safe  quality  that  has  distinguished  the  family 
to  a  preeminent  degree.  It  has  been  con- 
spicuously rich  longer  than  any  other  Ameri- 
can family,  and  a  great,  if  not  the  greater 
part,  of  the  Astor  fortune  has  been  kept  in 
real  estate.  It  is  essentially  a  real  estate 
fortune,  for  it  grew  to  its  great  proportions 
by  the  rise  of  land  on  Manhattan  Island. 
The  conserving  genius  of  the  family  is  as 
noteworthy  as  the  accumulating  genius  that 
has  distinguished  so  many  Americans. 


I 


JOHN    JACOB   ASTOR 


THE  PRESIDENT  ON   HIS  TOURS 


HOW  MR.  ROOSEVELT  MEETS  AND  TALKS  WITH  THE  PEOPLE— THE 
CHARACTER  OF  THE  MAN  IX  HIS  SPEECHES— HIS  EARNESTNESS  AND 
HIS  ORATORY— HIS  WHOLE-SOULED  ENJOYMENT  OF  HIS  WEARING  TASK 

BY 


LINDSAY    DEXISOX 


WHO    FOR    FOIR    YEARS   HAS    ACCOMPANIED    MR.    ROOSEVELT   ON    HIS   JOURNEYS 

Illustrated  from  stereoscopic  photographs  copyrighted  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  New  York 


THE  brazen  clamor  of  ''Hail  to  the 
Chief" — usually  the  band  is  more 
remarkable  for  earnest  effort  than 
for  harmony — stops  at  the  signal  of  the 
chairman's    upraised  hand.     The    chairman, 


GREETING  COLONEL  EDGERLEV  ^T  CHATTANOOGA 

PARK 


his  voice  nearly  always  shaking  because  he 
knows  that  the  supreme  moment  of  his  life 
has  come,  casts  aside  the  fervid  oration  of 
introduction  he  has  prepared  and  shouts: 

"Gentlemen!  I  have  the  honor  to  intro- 
duce the  President  of  the  United  States!" 

There  is  instant  uproar.  The  band  revives. 
The  drums  and  the  trumpets  make  many 
noises  and  as  much  as  they  can.  Flags  and  hats 
and  handkerchiefs  wave  above  the  heads  of 
the  people.  The  President  rises  and  stands 
at  the  rail.  The  noise  is  doubled.  He  bows. 
It  is  a  nod  of  greeting  in  all  directions ;  a  man 
might  greet  his  familiar  friends  so.  The  noise 
is  tripled.  He  raises  one  hand  or  both.  Im- 
mediately there  is  silence  in  front  of  him.  Off 
toward  the  edge  of  the  audience  the  noise 
dies  more  slowly.  He  does  not  wait  for  it  to 
die  altogether.  And  so  the  President  begins 
to  speak. 

It  is  easy  for  the  reporter  to  fall  into  the 
way  of  using  the  phrase  "ringing  speech." 
But  the  President's  voice  always  rings  when 
he  speaks.  It  has  a  peculiar  timbre,  especially 
when  he  is  speaking  in  the  open  air,  which 
has  the  effect  of  metallic  vibration.  There 
is  no  sweetness  in  that  ring.  Xor  does  it  aid 
directly  in  making  his  words  distinctly  heard. 
But  it  is  penetrating.  The  sound,  if  not  the 
words,  goes  to  the  farthest  part  of  the  crowd. 
It  catches  the  attention  of  each  man  and 
woman,  and  in  time  even  of  the  small  boy. 
After  that  evervbodv  hears  what  the  President 


IS  savmg. 


ANSWERING  THE  SALUT.\TIONS   AT  LOWELL, 
.M.-\SSACHUStTTS 


In  running  back  over  the  memory  of  four 
\'ears  of  following  Mr.  Roosevelt  on  his  speak- 
ing tours,  as  candidate  for  the  governorship 
of  the  State  of  Xew  York,  as  Governor  and 
candidate  for  the  Yice-Presidency,  and  as 
President,  it  has  been  impossible  not  to  re- 
mark the  most  striking  trait  of  the  man  as  a 
public  speaker — no  matter  what  his  subject 


IIIM    rRi:Sll)KNT    ON    Ills     lOl    KS 


-'755 


or  his  situation.  It  is  liis  intensity.  He 
"goes  at  his  aiulienec  hard."  He  is  uttering 
today  manv  of  the  identieal  expressions  of  liis 
ideals  of  eitizenship  whieh  he  uttered  in  his 
campaign  for  the  governorshi])  in  i89<S.  He 
savs  "tlie  tliree  cardinal,  eoniinon])lace,  old- 
fashioned  virtues  of  common-sense,  connnon 
honesty  and  common  courage"  with  as  much 
earnest,  almost  angry  aggressiveness,  now  as 
then.  He  holds  his  left  elbow  loosely  braced 
against  his  side  and  his  hand  out  horizontally, 
and  pounds  away  in  the  outstretched  ]xdm 
with  a  vehemence  which  it  is  hard  for  a 
stranger  to  his  ways  to  believe  does  not  pro- 
ceed from  a  fresh  discovery  of  the  ideas.  Pie 
drives  his  ideas  home,  almost  roughly. 

It  is  this  earnestness,  this  almost  desperate 
determination  that  he  shall  not  be  misunder- 
stood; that  his  hearers  shall  be  convinced  that 
tlie  other  side  of  the  question  is  untenable, 
and  as  trivial  and  as  wicked  as  he  believes  the 
other  side  of  all  questions  to  be,  that  makes 
him  a  great  campaigner.  People  come  to 
hear  him  out  of  curiosity,  because  he  is  Presi- 
dent, just  as  curiosity  brought  them  to  see 
him  when  he  was  fresh  from  the  Santiago 
campaign  and  was  a  candidate  for  Governor. 
Now,  as  then,  before  he  is  done  talking  to 
them,  their  curiosity  is  satisfied;  to  their 
visual  memory  of  the  man  is  added  the  con- 
viction that  he  is  honest  to  the  backbone. 

Those  who  follow  the  President  hear  com- 
ments that  seem  to  diverge  a  great  deal. 
About  two-thirds  of  those  who  leave  a  mass 
meeting  giving  voice  to  their  opinions  say: 
"  He  is  awful  ordinary  looking,  ain't  he  ?  But 
any  one  can  see  he  is  honest."  The  other 
third  say:  "  How  fine  he  looks  when  he  says 
those  things!"  They  all  mean  the  same 
thing,  though  they  express  it  so  differently. 
While  Theodore  Roosevelt  is  speaking,  the 
one  evident  thing  is  that  a  man  is  speaking 
to  his  fellow-men  with  a  man's  earnestness 
and  a  man's  fearlessness.  Nor  is  it  too  much 
to  say  that  that  impression,  and  the  willing- 
ness and  ability  to  back  it  up  with  deeds, 
are  Mr.  Roosevelt's  political  stock  in  trade. 

The  President  is  not  a  phrase-maker  by 
profession.  Sometimes,  as  much  to  his  own 
surprise  as  to  that  of  his  following,  he  strikes 
a  note  in  his  public  speeches  which  is  epi- 
grammatic— such,  for  instance,  as  in  his  speech 
in  Fitchburg  a  few  weeks  ago,  when  he  said, 
addressing  the  Civil  War  and  Spanish  War 
veterans  before  him: 


HIS  VOICE    ki:.\CHKS   TO   TlIK    KAKTHhST   LI.MITS  OF 
THE   CROWD 


A   DIRECT  APPEAL   AT   RIVER    POINT,  R.  I. 


HE   GOES  AT   HIS  AUDIENCE    HARD 


2756 


THE    PRESIDENT    ON    HIS    TOURS 


DURING   THE    PRAYER  AT  NAHANT 


FACING  THE  VAST  AUDIENCE  Ai    i    .   ^    i^.s^jl 


DELIVERING   HIS  SPEECH   ON   THE  TRUSTS 


"Times  change;  weapons  change;  tactics 
change — the  spirit  of  the  American  soldier 
does  not  change  !  " 

It  is  easy  to  remember  just  how  the  Presi- 
dent said  that  thing.  He  was  leaning  far  out 
over  a  platform  rail,  making  quarter-circle 
gestures  wuth  his  extended  right  forearm, 
looking  straight  into  the  faces  of  the  men  to 
whom  he  was  talking.  They  were  following 
his  words  so  closeh" — when  the  President 
looks  toward  a  man  as  he  speaks  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  that  man  not  to  believe  that 
the  President  is  not  addressing  him  and  him 
alone  —  that  they  neither  applauded  nor 
cheered.  But  the  multitude  behind  them 
cheered.  The  President's  hand  went  up 
with  the  quick  motion  of  one  who  would 
signal  an  approaching  horseman  to  stop 
short . 

"Wait,  W'ait!"  he  cried,  shaking  his  head. 
"  Let  me  finish  !  " 

With  a  laugh  of  sympathy  for  the  impulsive 
sincerity  of  the  man's  desire  to  have  his  say 
out  at  the  expense  of  applause,  they  quieted 
down  again  and  listened  to  him.  Some  such 
incident,  not  always  quite  so  marked  because 
the  President  seldom  says  anything  so  much 
in  the  oratorical  style,  happens  at  almost 
every  public  meeting  that  he  addresses. 

No  man  who  had  a  pride  in  his  oratory 
could  find  it  in  his  heart  to  spoil  a  period  as  the 
President  does  every  time  he  is  applauded 
before  he  has  developed  to  the  full  the  idea 
he  is  expressing.  But  the  trait  is  thoroughly 
consistent  with  the  dogged  grinding  drive 
with  which  Mr.  Roosevelt  hamm.ers  home  his 
homilies;  it  adds  mightily  to  the  conviction 
that  he  is  altogether  sincere. 

Because  Theodore  Roosevelt  made  his 
political  beginnings  in  ways  in  which  no  poli- 
tician had  ever  done  things  before,  we  heard 
a  great  many  people  say  that  he  was  "an 
able  sort  of  man,  but  no  politician."  We 
hear  less  of  that  sort  of  talk  now.  But 
we  hear  even  yet  that  he  is  no  public  speaker. 
In  the  same  sense  that  he  does  not  usually 
utter  musical,  balanced  sentences  that  carry 
his  audience  along  with  them,  oblivious  to  all 
except  the  speaker's  voice,  the  President  is  not 
a  great  public  speaker.  But  in  that  he  con- 
vinces his  audiences  that  he  tells  the  truth  as 
he  sees  the  truth,  and  does  the  right  as  it  is 
given  to  him  to  see  the  right,  he  is  eminently 
successful. 

When  the  President  is  speaking  to  a  great 


Till':   PRESIDENT    ON    HIS    TOURS 


2757 


crowd,  thorctorc,  there  is  seldom  any  pro- 
longed applause.  The  word  "cheers"  and 
"applause"  in  l)rackets  in  the  printed  reports 
of  his  speeches  mean  spontaneous  outbursts 
of  ai)proval  which  have  been  checked  by  the 
desire  to  know  what  the  President  is  going  to 
say  next.  Now  and  then,  when  the  interrup- 
tion comes  at  a  pause  in  both  thought  and 
words,  he  will  take  breath  while  the  audience 
has  its  way.     But  that  is  not  often. 

Those  who  hear  Mr.  Roosevelt  speak  for  the 
first  time  are  apt  to  think  that  he  has  a  sore 
throat  or  that  his  voice  is  exhausted.  He 
has  a  way  of  letting  his  vocal  control  get  away 
from  him  when  he  is  making  a  telling  point: 
of  which  he  is  conscious  as  a  telling  point. 
At  such  times  his  voice  rises  to  something  very 
like  a  falsetto.  In  conversation,  when  he  is 
making  such  points  much  more  freely  than 
in  a  public  speech,  the  same  raising  of  the 
pitch  of  his  voice  is  much  more  frequent. 
Yet  it  is  not  really  a  vocal  defect.  It  is  the 
speaker's  unconscious  signal  of  a  good- 
humored  crisis  in  his  argument.  It  is  his 
chuckle  at  a  joke  which  the  audience  will 
laugh  at  when  its  turn  comes. 

It  must  never  be  forgotten  by  students  of 
the  President's  public  utterances  that  he  is  a 
man  who  must  always,  because  of  the  neces- 
sary dignity  of  his  place,  keep  his  inborn  sense 
of  humor  under  control.  President  Roose- 
velt's humor  is  perhaps  a  more  strongly 
marked  characteristic  in  him  than  the  humor 
of  any  President  since  Abraham  Lincoln, 
though  it  is  of  an  entirely  different  sort  from 
Lincoln's.  In  his  conversation  every  utter- 
ance bristles  with  altogether  original  expres- 
sions, rich  in  irony  and  invective.  It  is  fair 
to  quote  an  example.  In  speaking  of  a  cer- 
tain political  opponent  of  great  ingenuity  he 
said  recently: 

"  Don't  speak  of  him  as  my  enemy.  I  like 
him.  He  is  interesting.  It  is  pleasant  to  see 
how  many  ways  he  has  of  not  doing  the  thing 
he  has  not  exactly  promised  to  do." 

And  again: 

"Oh,  I  think  Brother is  a  sincere 

friend.  But  his  money  nerve  is  very  sensi- 
tive. If  he  acts  peculiarly  when  it  twitches, 
we  must  find  a  way  to  forgive  him." 

A  man  who  talks  with  his  friends,  who 
talks  to  himself,  wdio  thinks,  in  such  a 
strain,  must  keep  a  firm  grip  on  himself  when 
he  speaks  in  high  places.  We  are  pretty  well 
past  speaking  of  Theodore  Roosevelt's  lack  of 


MAKING   AN   EMPHATIC   POINT 


A   CHARACTERISTICALLY  QUICK  THRUST 


A   BURST  OF   ELOQUENCE 


2758 


THE    PRESIDENT    ON    HIS    TOURS 


A   MAN-TO-MAN   EXHORTATION 


HE   DRIVES    HIS    IDEAS    HOME  ALMOST   ROUGHLY' 


AS  MUCH  EARNEST  CONSIDERATION  GIVEN  A  SMALL 
CROWD   AS  A   LARGE  ONE 


self-control;  we  are  beginning  to  realize 
that  he  controls  far,  far  more  than  is  within 
the  comprehension  of  most  of  our  public  men. 
The  break  in  his  speaking  voice  means,  per- 
haps, that  he  has  made  up  his  mind  to  let 
himself  go — just  so  far. 

Roughly  calculating,  the  President  has 
traveled  about  thirty  thousand  miles  in  the 
last  four  years  making  public  speeches.  He 
is  just  as  eager  for  this  sort  of  work  today  as  he 
was  at  the  beginning.  He  is  m.ore  eager.  In 
the  beginning  he  did  not  know  exactly  what 
he  could  do.  He  knows  now  that  he  will  have 
an  attentive  audience  wherever  he  goes. 
And  he  enjoys  himself  on  his  public  tours. 
It  could  be  nothing  but  a  joy  to  any  man  of 
competent  physique  to  find  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  American  people  rising  strong  and  clear  to 
meet  him  wherever  he  goes.  Mr.  Roosevelt 
does  not  like  ever\-body.  There  is  a  certain 
type  of  man,  represented,  perhaps,  by  one  in 
every  thousand,  whom  he  would  like  very 
well  to  see  wiped  off  the  earth.  But  he  likes 
most  folks.  He  likes  the  average  man.  And 
after  all  there  is  no  way  of  striking  the  average 
of  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States 
quite  so  satisfactorily  as  by  going  out  in  a 
special  train  and  having  them  all  come  down 
to  the  railroad  station  to  meet  you.  The  lazy, 
the  indifferent,  the  ostentatiously  c^^nical  stay 
at  home.  But  the  average  natural  man  and 
woman  of  quick  emotions  come  to  the  meet- 
ing and  hear  and  let  themselves  be  heard. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  has  found  that  by  standing 
in  the  presence  of  great  gatlierings  of  such 
people  he  gains  their  confidence.  He  knows 
them  and  they  know  him.  The  more  of 
such  mutual  self-confidence  that  can  be  estab- 
lished, so  he  feels,  the  better  for  the  country. 
For  if  he  makes  mistakes  as  President,  the 
people  will  know  that  the  mistakes  were  made 
in  good  faith,  and  they  will  rather  join  with  him 
in  correcting  the  error  than  devote  themselves 
to  the  throwing  of  stones.  So  it  is  that  after 
a  day  of  many  speeches  and  of  the  utmost 
physical  hardship — heat  and  rain,  and  jostling 
crowds,  and  jolting  rides  in  springless  car- 
riages— the  night  will  find  the  President  keen 
and  merry  and  warm-hearted  toward  all  the 
world :  for  the  simple  reason  that  all  day  long 
he  has  been  face  to  face  and  hand  to  hand 
with  real  Americans.  In  the  highest  sense  of 
the  word  he  has  felt  the  pulse  of  the  people 
and  knows  that  it  is  as  healthy  as  his  own. 

At  the  end  of  such  a  dav  his  voice  rings  more 


Tllli    TRKSIDKNT    ON    HIS    TOURS 


2759 


clearly.  The  slap  of  his  fist  in  his  luiiul  as 
he  marks  the  conclusion  of  an  arj^unicnt  is 
shar{)er.  The  sweep  of  his  arm,  brushing,' 
aside  a  fallacy,  is  more  decisive  and  inclusive. 
The  most  unsympathetic  of  human  l)eings 
(.anudt  help  feeling  that  the  President  likes 
the  people  even  i)ettcr  than  tlie  ])eoplc  like 
tlie  President. 

This  is  true  in  spite  of  the  difficulty  of  the 
ordeal  which  confronts  tlie  President  when  he 
is  called  upon  to  make  a  short  speech — 
a  speech  of  from  three  to  ten  minutes  in 
length.  Mr.  Roosevelt's  one  fear  is  the  fear 
of  being  misunderstood.  This  fear  rises  like 
a  spectre  in  front  of  him  when  he  tries  to  be 
very  brief.  The  five-minutes'  speech,  as  Mr. 
Harrison  and  McKinley  used  it,  was  a  quick, 
genial  collection  of  epigrams  with  a  local  ap- 
plication. Mr.  Roosevelt  would  undoubtedly 
like  to  make  such  speeches,  but  the  moment 
he  starts  on  them  he  finds  that  he  must  first 
come  to  a  common  understanding  with  his 
audience.  In  getting  at  this  understanding 
his  time  is  consumed,  and  the  train  must  move 
on.  This  sort  of  thing  tears  the  nerves,  and 
even  Mr.  Roosevelt  cannot  stand  more  than 
three  or  four  days  of  it  at  a  time  without 
showing  the  strain. 

Fortunately,  however,  closely  crowded  days 
do  not  usually  follow  each  other  continuously 
on  speaking  trips.  There  is  always  a  day  in 
every  three  or  four  when  there  are  but  one  or 
two  speeches  and  an  opportunity  for  a  full 
and  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  subject  in 
hand.  It  is  on  such  days  that  one  realizes  the 
change  that  the  last  four  years  have  worked 
in  Mr.  Roosevelt  as  a  public  speaker.  Such 
a  day,  for  instance,  was  that  in  Boston,  late  in 
August,  when  he  spoke  before  an  audience  in 
Symphony  Hall.  All  things  combined  to  lend 
inspiration.  The  hall  itself,  one  of  the  latest 
built  of  those  beautiful  public  buildings  in  the 
construction  of  which  Boston  is  leading  the 
whole  country;  the  audience,  a  gathering  of 
people  of  higher  average  mental  training  than 
could  have  been  gathered  into  a  public  meet- 
ing anywhere  else  in  the  country;  the  day, 
one  which  had  begun  in  the  intellectual  and 
patriotic, if  frosty-clear, enthusiasm  of  Xahant 
and  had  been  continued  in  the  rougher  and 
less  calculated  approval  of  Lynn's  public 
square.  It  was  the  place  and  time  for  a  sum- 
ming up.  There  was  no  need  for  the  pre- 
liminary step  of  convincing  his  hearers  of  his 
sincerity.     The    President    knew    that    these 


A   JOKE    IS   DKAR   TO    HIM 


NO   ORATORICAL  GRACE    BUT  GRIM   STRAIGHT- 
FORWARDNESS 


HIS  WORDS   COME   AS  OF   OLD    FROM   BETWEEN 
CLENCHED   TEETH 


I 


2760 


THE    PRESIDENT    ON    HIS    TOURS 


AN   EARNEST  DECLARATION   TO   THE  CITIZENS 
OF   MAINE 


AS   THE   TRAIN   BEGINS  TO   MOVE   IN   TENNESSEE 


WITH  J.  J.  HANRAHAN  AND  F.  W.  ARNOLD  OF  THE 
LOCOMOTIVE  ENGINEERS  AND  FIREMEN  AT 
CHATTANOOGA 


people  had  known  him  and  had  approved  of 
him  long  before  they  ever  dreamed  that  he 
would  one  day  hold  high  public  office.  There 
was  no  need  in  an  atmosphere  so  clearly 
sympathetic  as  this  of  an  introductory  clear- 
ing away  of  misconceptions. 

"With  his  hands  behind  his  back  most  of  the 
time,  sometimes  gesturing  by  way  of  setting 
one  situation  or  one  phase  of  his  subject 
more  clearly  against  another,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
talked  to  that  great  audience  as  though  it 
were  one  man  and  that  man  representative  of 
all  that  is  best  in  this  people.  Words  came 
without  calling  or  choosing.  The  high  ability 
of  the  audience  to  appreciate  what  it  was 
receiving  had  its  reflected  eflfect.  There  was 
no  holding  back  for  the  dullard  or  the  ignorant. 
The  higher  the  strain  of  thought,  the  loftier 
the  ideal,  the  higher  mounted  the  power  of 
expression.  The  audience  became  tense  with 
intellectual  delight  and  with  warmth  of  affec- 
tion for  the  man  who  was  proving  himself. 
Time  and  again,  in  one  quarter  of  the  hall  or 
another,  the  irresistible  impulse  to  break  out 
in  cheers  burst  the  tense  strain  of  attention. 
Each  time,  so  well  was  that  attention  concen- 
trated on  the  speaker,  he  held  it,  not  by  throw- 
ing out  his  hand  or  by  breaking  off  to  ask  for 
silence,  but  by  the  slightest  motion  of  the 
head,  the  straightening  of  a  finger.  For  forty 
minutes  was  the  oration  continued  —  forty 
minutes  of  uninterrupted  eloquence.  At  its 
end  there  was  no  man  in  the  place  who  dared 
to  say  to  himself  that  Theodore  Roosevelt 
was  not  an  orator. 

Yet  a  month  later,  in  a  little  Eastern 
Tennessee  village  of  two  houses,  a  store  and 
a  watering  tank,  when  the  President  cut  a 
five-minutes'  opportunity  for  a  speech  to  a 
one-minute  apolog}-  for  not  making  a  speech, 
merelv  because  he  wanted  time  to  exchange 
pleasantries  with  three  tow-headed  young- 
sters who  reminded  him  of  his  own  brood  at 
Ovster  Bay,  he  was  not  one  bit  less  in  sympa- 
thy with  his  crowd  than  he  was  in  Symphony 
Hall  in  Boston. 

The  succession  of  blaring  discordant  bands, 
the  succession  of  gasping  and  overcome  chair- 
men, and  the  succession  of  cheering  multi- 
tudes, may  seem  unendingly  monotonous 
and  wearisome  to  the  newspaper  reader,  but 
to  the  President,  an  American  discovering 
Americans,  and  discovering  himself  to  them, 
there  is  no  monotony  in  them  and  no  weari- 
ness. 


THt   LtCTURli    HALL  SKATING    i,4"o   PtOHLE 
Photograph  taken  by  flaalilight 


NATURAL    HISTORY    FOR    THE 

MASSES 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  AMERICAN  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY— HOW  IT 
ACTS  BOTH  AS  INVESTIGATOR  AND  POPULAR  TEACHER  OF  THE  FACTS 
IT    POSSESSES— THE   ALMOST   LIMITLESS    POSSIBILITIES    OF    ITS    FUTURE 

BY 

FRANK    M.    CHAPMAN 

ASSOCIATE    CUKATOK    AT    THE    MUSEUM 


WHEN  one  day  a  gentleman  from 
Xew  York  was  in  the  natural  his- 
tory department  of  the  British 
Museum,  in  London,  he  was  congratulated, 
to  his  great  astonishment,  by  a  member  of  the 
museum  staff  upon  having  in  his  own  city  the 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

"  Lm  looking  forward,"  went  on  the 
Englishman,  "  with  more  pleasure  than  I 
can  express  to  seeing  your  institution.  In 
fact,  I  intend  going  to  America  shortly  with 
that  end  in  view." 

Soon  after  reaching  home  the  American 
visited  the  handsome  building  on  Seventy- 
seventh  Street  which,  beautiful  as  it  is,  is 
only  a  prophecy  of  the  completed  American 
Museum,  and  he  says  he  understands  now 
the  foreigner's  enthusiasm.  The  mass  of  the 
American  public  know  as  little  of  this  insti- 
tution and  its  varied  and  important  work  as 


he  did.  The  high  scientific  standing  of  the 
museum  is  acknowledged,  but  its  popular 
success  is  not  so  fully  realized. 

On  December  2  2, 1877,  President  Rutherford 
B.  Hayes  declared  open  to  the  public  the 
first  finished  section  of  the  museum.  In  con- 
formance with  the  original  plan,  which  even 
now  surprises  one  by  its  scope,  section  after 
section  has  been  added  until,  in  1900.  one- 
fourth  of  the  projected  structure  was  finished. 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  this  building 
and  its  contents,  or  its  organization,  or  its 
continuous  and  healthy  growth,  but  rather 
to  show  that  the  sums  of  money  spent  have 
brought  a  return  in  educational  influences. 

SCIENCE    AT    THE    MUSEUM 

No  matter  how  popular  the  aims  of  any 
natural  history  museum  may  be,  its  most 
important  equipment  is  the  corps  of  scientists 


2762 


NATURAL    HISTORY    FOR    THE   MASSES 


in  charge.  Exhibits  for  public  instruction, 
where  every  fact  presented  is  accepted  with- 
out question,  must  be  arranged  and  labeled 


with  scrupulous  accuracy.  Knowledge  to 
this  end  can  be  gained  only  through  original 
research.  The  educational  value  of  a  mu- 
seum's collection,  therefore,  depends  primarily 
on  the  collections  which  are  available  for 
study.  Most  of  the  museum's  collections 
are  the  objects  of  original  research.  They  are 
acquired  through  donation,  purchase  or,  more 
frequently,  museum  expeditions  under  direc- 
tion, often  personal,  of  the  scientific  staff. 

Some  idea  of  the  museum's  activity  in  the 
field  is  given  by  the  statement  that  during 
the  year  it  has  had  exploring  parties  or 
collectors  at  work  in  Venezuela,  Colombia, 
Costa  Rica,  Martinique,  Cuba,  Bahamas, 
Mexico,  Texas,  Colorado,  Nebraska,  Xorth 
Carolina,  Virginia,  Xew  Jersey,  Xew  York, 
Massachusetts,  Montana,  Wyoming,  Dakota, 
California  and  Oregon,  British  Columbia, 
Alaska,  Greenland,  Siberia,  Japan  and  China. 

The  results  of  the  study  of  the  collec- 
tions thus  made  are  often  presented  in 
the  museum's  scientific  publications — an 
octavo  '"Bulletin"  containing  some  four 
hundred  pages  annually  and  now  in  its 
sixteenth  volume,  and  quarto  "Memoirs," 
monographing  some  group  or  subject.  Thus 
the  results  of  the  museum's  scientific  work 


}P 


/'*ir 


W  K.\.^LLS    IN"    WIXTLR   .\ND    SU.MMER    COATS 
Groups  illustrating  haunts,  habits,  and  seasonal  adaptation  in  color  to  environment 


NATURAL    HISTORY    FOR    THE    MASSES 


2763 


THE  MUSEUM   BUILDING  IN   1881 


THE   MAIN    ENTRANCE   OF   THE   BUILDING   AT   PRESENT 


2764 


NATURAL    HISTORY    FOR    THE    MASSES 


become  accessible  to  other  students.  These 
investigations  are  then  often  reflected  in  the 
public  halls  of  the  museum  through  the  dis- 
play of  additional  exhibits. 

The  use  of  these  research  collections  is  not 
restricted  to  the  curators  who  have  them  in 
charge,  but  they  are  available  for  study  by 
other  scientists,  who  are  always  welcomed 
to  the  museum's  laboratories.      Indeed,  speci- 


THE  SOUT 
Eventually  the  building  will  also  face  east,  wi 


mens  are  often  loaned  to  investigators  in  other 
parts  of  the  country. 

Without  dwelling  further  on  the  scientific 
side  of  the  museum's  work,  it  may  be  said, 
briefly,  that  its  equipment,  both  as  regards 
the  members  of  its  scientific  staff  and  the 
extent  of  the  material  available  for  investi- 
gation, compares  favorably  with  that  of  the 
other  leading  museums  of  the  world. 

The  recent  Congress  of  Americanists,  held 
at  the  museum  October  20-2 5th,  illustrates 
one  phase  of  the  museum's  cooperation  with 
other  scientific  bodies.  It  is  also  the  regular 
meeting  place  of  several  local  scientific 
organizations,  which  use  its  collections  freely. 
In  return  these  societies  deposit  their  own 
collections  or  libraries  at  the  museum. 


PEARY'S   MUSK-OX 
Secured  by  Lieutenant  Peary  on  Bache  Peninsula 


THE    POPULAR    SIDE    OF    THE    MUSEUM  S   WORK 

The  museum  reaches  the  public  first  through 
its  exhibition  collections.  These  embrace 
mammals,  including  man,  birds,  reptiles, 
fishes,  insects,  shells,  corals,  and  other  marine 
invertebrates,  vertebrate  and  invertebrate 
palaeontology,  geology,  mineralogy,  and  for- 
estry.    In    most    of    these   departments  the 


NATURAL    HISTORY    FOR   THE   MASSES 


2765 


ADE 

iorth  around  Maohattan  Square 

museum's  exhibits  are  not  excelled  by  those 
of  any  other  institution  in  this  country. 
And  everything  possible   has   been   done   to 

I  make  the  exhibits  of  the  greatest  practical 
value  to  the  visitor  not  only  by  showing  the 
natural  relations  of  the  objects  displayed, 
but  by  illustrating  the  facts  for  which  they 

I     stand. 

!  Professor  Huxley's  description  of  a  museum 
as  "a  consultative  library  of  objects,"  admir- 
ably expresses  the  ideal  function  of  a  mu- 
seum  in   its   relations    to    people    who    visit 

.     museums  as  they  turn  to  Professor  Huxley's 

I  works  for  information;  but  it  does  not  include 
a  museum's  relations  to  that  infinitely  greater 
class  who  come  simply  to  wander  idly  through 
its  halls.  A  museum's  exhibits  must,  there- 
fore, catch  the  attention  of  the  objectless 
visitor;  they  must  be  interesting;  they  must 

I  appeal  to  sightseers  as  well  as  to  fact-seekers. 
Each  department  meets  this  problem  of 
making  its  collections  self-explanatory  in  its 
own  way,  but  as  indicative  of  some  of  the 
methods  employed  I  maj'  describe  briefly 
the  exhibition  collections  of  birds,  with 
which,     personally,     I     am     more     familiar. 


I 


These  are  four  in  number,  and  contain  some 
12,000  specimens:  (i)  A  collection  of  the 
birds  of  the  world.  (2)  A  collection  of  the 
birds  of  North  America.  (3)  A  collection  of 
the  birds  found  within  fifty  miles  of  New 
York  City.  (4)  Bird  groups.  No  original 
features  distinguish  the  first  two  exhibits. 
Both  are  general  reference  collections,  but 
the  separation  of  the  birds  of  North  America 
not  only  renders  more  easy  the  identification 
of  any  North  American  bird,  but  serves  to 
illustrate  the  character  and  the  composition  of 
the  American  avifauna.  Similarly,  the  col- 
lection of  birds  found  in  the  vicinity  of  New 
York  City  makes  identification  easy,  and 
shows,  almost  at  one  glance,  the  nature  of 
our  bird  life. 

The  last-named  collection,  however,  is 
placed  under  two  heads:  (a)  systematic  and 
(b)  seasonal.  The  first  contains  all  the 
birds  which  have  been  recorded  from  within 
a  radius  of  fifty  miles  of  New  York  City;  the 
second  contains  only  the  birds  of  the  month. 
It  is  placed  in  two  cases,  one  of  which  is 
devoted  to  what  is  known  as  '"  Permanent 
Residents,"  or  those  species  which  are  repre- 


2/66 


NATURAL    HISTORY    FOR    THE   MASSES 


STONES  CARIBOU 
A  new  specimen  discovered  in  Alaska 

sented  throughout  the  year,  while  in  the 
other  migratory  birds  are  exhibited.  In  the 
month  of  February,  therefore,  this  seasonal 
-collection  is  composed  of  the  ever-present 
■"Permanent  Residents."  and.  in  the  case  for 
migratory  birds,  the  "Winter  Visitants,"  or 
species  which  come  from  the  North  in  the 
fall  and  return  to  their  homes  in  the  spring. 


In  March  we  look  for  the  coming  of  the  first 
spring  birds  from  the  South,  and  these  are 
duly  placed  in  the  case  of  migratory  species 
under  the  head  of  '"March  Migrants."  April 
and  May  migrants  are  exhibited  in  a  similar 
manner,  and  as  the  ""Winter  Visitants"  re- 
treat northward  they  are  removed  from  ex- 
hibition. This  seasonal  collection  reflects  the 
conditions  in  bird-life  prevailing  out-of-doors, 
and  is  an  attempt,  by  narrowing  the  field  of 
possibilities,  to  simplify  the  visitor's  effort 
to  name  some  local  bird.  He  has  only  to 
search  for  the  labeled  representative  of  his 
bird  among  the  birds  of  the  month.  Group 
labels  and  labels  for  each  month  of  the  year 
help  to  make  this  collection  clear,  and  it  is 
accompanied  by  an  exhibit  which  explains 
terms  used  in  descriptive  ornithology  in 
which  are  displayed  a  wide  variety  of  bills, 
feet,  wings,  tails  and  feathers,  each  with  its 
technical  name.  Photographs  from  nature 
of  the  nests  and  eggs  of  local  birds,  and  a 
collection  of  the  nests  and  eggs  themselves, 
are  also  exhibited  in  this  hall. 

The  series  of  bird  groups,  which  is  not 
equaled  elsewhere,  illustrates  the  nesting 
habits  of  the  species  by  facsimile  reproduc- 
tion of  the  surroundings  in  which  the  nest  is 
placed.  Swamp,  meadow,  beach,  cliff  and 
tree-top  are  shown  with  convincing  realism. 
These  exhibits  are  extremely  beautiful  and 
therefore  attractive,  and  the  important  facts 
they  represent  are  thus  brought  to  the  atten- 
tion of  manv  whose  interest   would  not   be 


TEACHERS   AND    PLPILS   STLDVING    FOSSIL   MAMMALS 


NATURAL    HISTORY    FOR    THE    MASSES 


2767 


gaineil  in  any  other  way.  Not  only  the  nest- 
ing habits  of  birds  are  tlms  shown,  but  many 
other  faets  in  their  histories  as  well;  for  ex- 
anipk',  how  the  youiij^  coiu'eal  themselves, 
how  they  are  fed,  their  growth  and  aeeoni- 
panying  changes  of  plumage,  the  relation 
between  climate  and  color,  the  changes  of 
color  with  season;  explaining,  for  instance, 
how  the  bobolink  becomes  the  reed-bird,  or 
the  brown  summer  ptarmigan  becomes 
snowy  white  in  winter.  More  economic  in 
character  are  the  collections  of  building 
stones  and  the  Jesup  collection  of  North 
American  woods,  which  are  often  consulted 
by  architects  and  builders. 

The  museum  also  reaches  the  public  through 
its  lecture  courses,  given  under  the  direction 
of  its  Department  of  Public  Instruction,  by 
its  curators,  through  cooperation  with  the 
Board  of  Education  of  New  York  City  and 
Columbia  University.  The  State  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Instruction  is  an  institution 
in  itself.  At  the  museum  its  work  consists 
mainly  of  the  lectures  to  teachers  delivered 
by  Professor  Bickmore  Saturday  mornings 
during  the  fall  and  spring  terms.  These 
lectures  are  repeated  later  throughout  the 
State,  and  the  stereopticon  slides  by  which 
they  are  illustrated  are  distributed  to  fourteen 
normal     schools     and     seventy-eight  school 


THE   INDUSTRIES  OF  THE   KOSKIMO   INDIANS   OF 
VANCOUVER    ISLAND 

Ethnological  group 

superintendents.  In  the  year  1901,  23,000 
slides  were  thus  delivered  to  educational  cen- 
tres. The  lectures  by  curators  are  usually 
based  on  the  museum  expeditions  or  exhibits, 
and  are  often  descriptive  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  latter  were  collected,  telling,  there- 


I 


HALF    OF   A   GROUP   REPRESENTING   A    SECTION    OF    BIRD    ROCK,  GULF    OF    ST.    LAWRLNCE 

The  group  contains  seventy-three  birds 


2  768 


NATURAL    HISTORY   FOR   THE   MASSES 


TERRA-COTTA   FUNERAL    URNS 
Found  at  Xoxo,  Southern  Mexico,  by  a  museum  expedition 


RED    FOXES  GRAY   FOX 

Specimen  groups  from  a  series  illustrating  the  mammals  of  the  vicinity  of  New  York  in  their  haunts 


NATURAL    HISTORY    !•  O  R    THE    MASSES  2769 

fore,    a   side   of   their   history   which   cannot  guide.     A  trainetl  guide,  who  is  thoroughly 

readily  be  displayed.     Laboratory  work  for  competent  to  conduct  individuals  or  classes, 

nature   study   teachers,    with   the   object   of  explain  the  collections,  and  reply  to  questions 

giving  them  a  practical  knowledge  of  scicn-  concerning   them,    is    the    only    possible   im- 

tific  methods  of  identification,  has  been  in-  provement   on   this    plan.     There   is   such    a 

augurated  with  marked  success.  guide  in  one  department  of  the  museum  and 

To  what  extent  does  the  public  avail  itself  his  work  is  a  marked  success, 

of  these  opportunities  for  instruction  ?     The  The   preparation   of   guide  leaflets   empha- 

museum  is  open  without  charge  of  admission  sizes  the  fact  that  the  curators'  duties  do  not 

every  week-day  but  Monday  and  Tuesday,  on  end  with  the  writing  of  technical  papers  and 

Tuesday  and  Saturday  nights  except   during  placing   on    exhibition    of     properly    labeled 

the  summer,  and  on  Sunday  afternoon.     On  specimens.     The    curator,  in  truth,  becomes 

Mondays  and  Tuesdays,  which  are  reserved  not    alone    the    exponent    of   the   collections 

for  members,  and  students  accompanied  by  under    his    charge,    but    of   the    subjects    to 

teachers,  the  general  public  is  admitted  for  a  which  they  relate,  and  much  of  his  time  is 

small   entrance    fee.     During   last    year    361  devoted  to  answering  requests  for  informa- 

teachers  with  4,959  pupils  visited  the  museum,  tion,    made    both    by    mail    and    in    person, 

and  the  total  number  of  visitors  was  461,026.  These    range    from    questions   regarding   the 

The  attendance  at  lectures  given  during  this  identity    of    specimens    to    explanations    of 

period  was  76,021.  current    natural    phenomena,    or   appeals  for 

One  must   remember,  of    course,  that  the  advice  as  to  the  most  desirable  methods  of 

museum's  exhibits  are  designed  not  only  to  education    in    the    natural    sciences.     Not    a 

interest  but  to  instruct,  and  a  better  idea  of  few  inquiries  come  from  professional  writers 

their  educational   value  is    gained   from   the  who,  when  the  encyclopaedia  fails,  turn  to  the 

character,   rather  than  from   the   extent,  of  museum  for  additional  details.     The  museum 

the  attendance — from  the  students  or  classes  thus  exerts  an  influence  on  both  the  natural 

who,  bringing  their  text -books  and  luncheons,  history    literature    which    is    published    and 

spend  the  day  in  profitable  study.  that  which  is  suppressed. 

Exhibited    collections    and    lectures     how-  In  this  connection  the  museum's  library  of 

ever,   are  not  the  museum's  only  points  of  58,000  scientific  works  should  be  mentioned, 

contact    with    the    public.     In    addition    to  Designed  primarily  to   aid  the   members   of 

the    "Bulletin"    and   "Memoirs"    containing  the  faculty  in  their  investigations,  it  is  prac- 

the   results   of   original   research   on   its   col-  tically  open  to  the  public,  and  the  museum 

lections,  the  museum  publishes  a  "Journal"  reading-room  is  much  frequented  by  students 

containing   popular    news    of    its    work    and  and  writers. 

aims,   letters  from  expeditions  in  the   field,  More  far-reaching  and  important,  however, 

notices     of     installation     of     exhibits,     and  is  the  museum's  influence  on  natural  history 

dates  of  lectures,   and  each  number  of  this  art.     There  is  hardly  a  prominent  American 

"Journal"    is    accompanied    by    a    supple-  animal    artist    who      does     not     habitually 

ment    entitled    "A    Guide    Leaflet."     These  look  to  the  museum   for  assistance.     Seton, 

guide  leaflets  are  devoted  to  some  one  collec-  Knight,  Fuertes,  Carter  Beard,    Bull,  Drake, 

tion.     They    are    very  fully   illustrated,  and  Nugent,  and  a  score  of  others,  have  sought 

are  designed  not  only  to  explain  some  par-  their    models    in    the    museum's    collections, 

ticular  collection,  but  also  to  be  used  in  a  Thousands  of  illustrations  based  wholly  on 

study  of  the  group  of  animals  to  which  they  museum    specimens    illumine    the    pages    of 

relate.     Their  value  is  not  restricted  to  their  dictionaries,  cyclopaedias,  natural  history  and 

use  in  the  museum.     They  may  be  employed  other  books,  to  say  nothing  of  current  maga- 

in    the     class-room,     particularly     by     such  zines.     The  museum  is  willing  at  all  times  to 

classes  as  propose  to  visit  the  museum.     They  aid  publishers  of  works  or  articles  on  natural 

are  sold  at  cost.     Bound  copies  are  placed  history  by  permitting  them  to   photograph 

with  the  exhibits  in  the  museum.     Certain  specimens  in  its  collections.     Indeed,  it  often 

collections,    in    addition    to    the    individual  supplies  them  directly  with  photographs,  not 

labels,  are  further  explained  by  typewritten  only    of    the    specimens,   but    often   of    the 

bound  booklets,  dictated   by  the   curator  in  country  whence  they  came. 

charge,  which  serve  in  place   of  a  personal  Thus  we    have   mentioned  what    seem   to 


2770 


TRANSITION    IN    NAVAL   EFFICIENCY 


be  the  most  effective  methods  by  which  the 
museum  strives  to  bring  to  the  pubHc  that 
knowledge  of  the  world  about  us  which 
"renders  life's  heritage  more  fair,"  and  it  is 
believed  by  those  w^ho  are  well  qualified  to 
judge  that  its  efforts  have  won  a  success 
commensurate  w4th  its  opportunities. 

The  museum,  however,  is  still  young.     It 
has  attained    only  one-fourth    its   projected 


size,  and,  if  the  desire  of  those  in  charge 
be  considered,  not  one-hundredth  part  of 
its  usefulness  to  mankind.  That  which  the 
few  learn  by  arduous  toil  is  made  the  com- 
mon knowledge  of  the  many.  And  in  its 
province  of  encouraging  the  few  to  search 
out  new  truths,  and  of  urging  the  many  to 
hear  them,  the  museum  is  both  scientist 
and  teacher. 


A  TRANSITION    IN    NAVAL  EFFICIENCY 

THE  NEW  CONNECTICUT  IS  FIVE  TIMES  AS  EFFECTIVE  AS 
THE  IOWA,  AND  FAR  SURPASSES  THE  BEST  EUROPEAN  SHIP 
—  OUR    BATTLESHIPS    NOW    THE    STANDARD  OF    EXCELLENCE 

BY 

JOHN    R.   SPEARS 


IN  April,  1898,  as  the  war  with  Spain  was 
beginning,  a  well-known  scientific  peri- 
odical said  truthftdly,  "The  Iowa  has 
the  distinction  of  being  the  first  modem  first- 
class  sea-going  battleship  built  for  the  United 
States  Navy,  and  she  is  also  the  largest  and 
fastest  of  our  fleet  of  ships  of  the  line."  The 
last  battleship  authorized  by  Congress,  the 
Connecticut,  now  in  hand  at  the  Brooklyn 
Navy  Yard,  represents  the  latest  ideas  of  our 
naval  constructors,  and  shows  the  marvelous 
progress  made  in  battleship  building  since  the 
war. 

Take  the  guns.  The  Iowa  carried  in  turrets 
four  guns  of  12-inch  calibre;  the  Connecticut 
will  also  carry  four.  But  if  the  Iowa's  four 
were  fired  in  a  broadside  they  would  develop 
a  muzzle  energy  of  only  104,000  foot  tons; 
the  four  that  could  be  supplied  to  the 
Connecticut  today  would  develop  at  least 
185,000.  If  the  muzzle  energy  of  those  latest 
four  guns  could  be  applied  to  the  Iowa,  it 
would  lift  her  more  than  sixteen  feet,  where 
the  old  guns  would  lift  her  but  nine.  The 
new  guns,  moreover,  although  they  weigh 
seven  tons  more  apiece  than  the  old,  can  be 
fired  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  faster.  In 
five  minutes  of  actual  battle  the  Iowa  could 
fire  two  broadsides,  exerting  a  total  muzzle 
energy  of  208,000  foot  tons.     The  Connecticut 


could  fire  more  than  three  broadsides  with  a 
total  muzzle  energy  of  550,000  foot  tons.  In 
the  same  space  of  time,  the  eight  guns  of  the 
lowas  7 -inch  battery  could  pound  out 
320,500  foot  tons;  the  Connecticut's  eight, 
653,000. 

Added  to  these  larger  guns  the  Iowa  had  six 
of  4-inch  calibre.  The  Connecticut  has  twelve 
of  7 -inch  calibre.  The  weight  of  the  4-inch 
shot  was  thirty-two  pounds;  that  of  the  7-inch 
shot  is  165  pounds.  The  Iowa  could  exert  in 
five  minutes  165,000  foot  tons;  the  Connecticut 
can  exert  1,862,000.  But  this  conveys  no 
adequate  idea  of  the  relative  efficiency.  For 
the  4-inch  guns  could  not  penetrate  at  any 
range  the  six  inches  of  steel  armor  protecting 
the  broadside  guns  of  modem  ships,  while 
the  Connecticut's  7 -inch  guns  can  penetrate 
more  than  eight  inches  of  the  best  armor 
at  3,000  yards. 

But  other  guns  than  these  are  to  be  con- 
sidered. At  Santiago,  the  Spanish  crews 
were  driven  from  their  guns  and  the  wood- 
work of  their  ships  was  set  on  fire  by  the 
pelting  storm  of  six-pounder  projectiles  fired 
from  the  American  ships.  It  was  with  six- 
pounders,  too,  that  Wainwright's  Gloucester 
met  and  sunk  the  two  big  Spanish  torpedo 
boats.  The  Iowa  carried  twenty  of  these 
six-pounders,  each  of  which  struck  a  blow  of 


A   TRANSITION    IN    NAVAL    EFFICIENCY 


2771 


138  foot  tons.  In  place  of  these  tlie  Connecticut 
will  carry  twenty  fourteen-pounders — 3-inch 
rifles — each  of  which  will  strike  a  blow  of  709 
foot  tons  at  every  shot.  The  twenty,  if  fired 
steadily  for  five  minutes  will  exert  an  energy 
amounting  to  462,850  foot  tons.  In  addition  to 
the  fourteen-pounders,  the  ConnccticiU  carries 
twelve  three-pounders, which  would  also  search 
out  the  ports  of  an  enemy's  ships  at  any 
fighting  range,  besides  eigliteen  one-pounders 
and  automatic  guns  that  throw  efficient  pro- 
jectiles in  a  stream,  like  water  from  a  hose. 

To  sum  it  all  up,  it  appears  that  our  latest 
battleship  is  in  gun  power  not  less  than  five 
times  as  efficient  as  the  largest  and  fastest  of 
our  ships  of  the  line  that  went  out  to  meet 
the  Spanish. 

The  Connecticut  will  displace  about  16,500 
tons  of  water,  where  the  Iowa  displaced 
11,410 — an  increase  of  5,000  tons,  or  nearly 
fifty  per  cent.  Where  the  Iowa  showed  a 
speed -of  17.1  knots,  the  Connecticut  will  show 
something  above  18.  Where  the  Iowa  carried 
armor  plate  fifteen  inches  thick  the  Connecti- 
cut will  carry  a  better  equality  no  more  than 
twelve  inches  thick.  In  what  other  depart- 
ment of  modern  industry  has  such  a  devel- 
opment as  this  been  made  ? 

It  is  twenty  years  since  Congress  passed 
the  bill  (Act  of  August  5,  1882)  under  which 
the  construction  of  our  modern  navy  was 
begun.  On  the  day  that  bill  became  a  law 
the  navy  of  the  United  States  was  the  world's 
standard  of  efficiency — the  example  to  which 
men  turned  when  they  talked  of  degeneration 
in  the  fighting  power  of  the  nations.  Not 
only  were  our  ships  in  the  semblance  of  scare- 
crows: we  had  no  yards  where  efficient  ships 
could  be  built,  nor  was  there  a  shop  fit  for 
building  modern  guns,  or  even  a  hammer  that 
could  forge  an  armor  plate.  In  view  of  these 
facts,  let  us  compare  our  latest  ship  with  the 
best  in  hand  under  European  flags. 

The  King  Edward  VII.  is  unquestionably 
the  most  powerful  European  battleship.  The 
muzzle  energy  of  her  four  12 -inch  turret  guns 
in  five  minutes'  firing  would  fall  short  of  the 
Connecticut's  by  over  131,000  foot  tons.  The 
Edward  will  carry  four  guns  of  9. 2 -inch  calibre 
IV  where  the  Connecticut  will  carry  eight  8-inch 
guns ;  but  broadside  to  broadside  the  Connecti- 
cut could  drive  twenty-four  250-pound  pro- 
jectiles through  the  Edward  while  the  latter 
was  returning  but  ten  of  larger  (380-pound) 
shot.     It  does  not  seem  too  much  to  sav  that 


the  Connecticut's  8-inch  battery  is  about  twice 
as  effective  as  the  9.2-inch  battery  of  the 
King  Edward  VII. 

With  the  next  calibre  the  difference  is  still 
more  striking.  In  five  minutes  the  Edward's 
ten  6-inch  guns  will  exert  a  muzzle  energy  of 
847,000  foot  tons;  the  Connecticut's  7-inch 
guns  1,862,000.  As  for  smaller  guns — the 
Connecticut  will  carry  thirty-eight,  the  Ed- 
ward twenty-four. 

In  short,  the  Connecticut  will  have  nearly 
twice  the  striking  power  of  the  best  European 
ship  now  in  hand. 

A  comparison  of  armored  cruisers  is  equally 
interesting.  As  compared  with  the  fire  of  the 
Brooklyn — the  best  of  our  cruisers  in  the  war 
— the  new  Washington  and  the  new  Tennessee 
can  exert,  each,  a  muzzle  energy  of  2,179,000 
foot  tons  against  the  Brooklyn's  760,500.  To 
compete  with  this  the  best  European  ship, 
the  Good  Hope,  is  capable  of  only  1,539,000 
foot  tons. 

The  latest  American  cruiser  is  a  marvel. 
In  speed  and  in  ability  to  keep  the  sea  she  is 
the  equal  of  anything  that  floats.  In  striking 
power  she  is  not  only  superior  to  every  other 
cruiser  that  has  been  provided  for  anywhere, 
but  she  is  superior  to  any  battleship  now 
afloat.  And  if  she  be  compared  with  the  best 
of  the  European  battleships  now  in  hand, 
the  King  Edward,  it  is  seen  that  her  guns  can 
exert  a  muzzle  energy  of  2,178,720  foot  tons 
to  the  Ki)ig  Edward's  1,694,028.  She  will 
carry  but  eight  inches  of  armor  on  her  turrets 
where  the  King  Edward  will  carry  twelve, 
and  six  on  the  broadside  where  the  King 
Edward  will  carry  nine,  but  her  lo-inch  guns 
will  be  able  to  pierce  fifteen  inches  of  armor  at 
a  range  of  3,000  yards,  and  the  American 
idea  is  that  "the  best  protection  from  an 
enemy's  fire  is  an  efficient  fire  of  your  own." 
Neither  the  Tennessee  nor  the  Washington 
will  ever  be  seen  showing  her  screws  in  time  of 
war  to  the  crew  of  any  battleship  now  in  hand. 

Of  Lieut.  Cleland  Davis'  electrical  method 
of  hardening  armor  plate,  which  will  render  it 
at  least  twenty  per  cent,  more  efficient  than 
the  Krupp;  of  the  use  of  wireless  telegraphy 
in  place  of  flags  and  lamps  for  signaling  from 
ship  to  ship;  of  the  turbine  engine,  and  the 
use  of  oil  for  fuel,  nothing  need  be  said  now 
because  these  matters  are  not  yet  fully  de- 
veloped. But  it  is  worth  noting  that  where 
the  muzzle  velocity  of  the  projectiles  of  our 
guns  was  but  2,000  or  2,200  feet  per  second 


I 


2772 


THE   NE.W    CENTRE   OF    AMERICAN   FINANCE 


in  the  loivas  battery,  the  velocity  now  at- 
tained is  up  to  and  above  3,000  feet,  and 
plans  are  now  under  consideration  by  which 
that  velocity  is  to  be  greatly  exceeded.  Thus 
in  comparing  the  striking  power  of  the  Con- 
necticut with  that  of  the  lovja  and  the  best 
of  European  battleships,  the  12-inch  gun  as 
now  built  was  used  in  the  calculations.  This 
gun  is  forty  calibres  long.  But  the  12-inch 
guns  that  are  to  be  built  for  the  Connecticut 
(plans  for  which  are  already  in  hand)  will  be 
forty-five  calibres  long.  With  this  length 
more  powder  can  be  burned  and  space  for  the 
added  powder  will  be  provided  behind  the 
projectile.  Where  the  muzzle  velocity  of  the 
present  gun  is  now  never  less  than  2,800  foot 
seconds,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the 
guns  to  be  built  will  develop  a  muzzle  velocity 
of  not  less  than  3,500  foot  seconds.  A  corre- 
sponding increase  in  the  force  of  the  blow 
delivered  will  follow  necessarily. 

The  officers  of  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance  also 


have  under  consideration  plans  by  which 
the  muzzle  velocity  of  the  projectiles  of  the 
smaller  guns  will  be  raised  to  3,800  or  4,000 
foot  seconds,  with  a  corresponding  increase  in 
striking  power  and  in  margin  for  error  in 
aiming.  It  seems  certain  that  when  this 
improvement  has  been  fully  carried  out  10- 
inch  guns  will  replace  the  12-inch  in  the  tur- 
rets of  battleships.  And  it  is  worth  noting 
that  this  change  would  permit  an  increase  in 
the  number  of  the  broadside  guns,  if  not  an 
increase  in  their  calibre. 

In  speaking  of  certain  features  of  the 
British  warships.  Lord  Brassey,  with  the 
American  ships  in  his  thoughts,  says  in  his 
Naval  Annual  for  1902  (p.  307):  'Tt  is  a 
great  come-down  to  have  to  confess  that  we 
have  lost  our  superiority  and  are  distinctly 
dropping  to  the  rear." 

In  1882  the  American  Naval  ships  excited 
the  scorn  and  derision  of  all  the  world.  To- 
day they  are  the  world's  standard  of  excellence. 


THE    NEW    CENTRE    OF    AMERICAN 

FINANCE 

THE  NEW  STOCK  EXCHANGE  BUILDING  IN  NEW  YORK— SOME  REMARKABLE  FEATURES  OF 
ITS  CONSTRUCTION— HOW  BUSINESS  WILL  BE  TRANSACTED  UNDER  THE  NEW  CONDITIONS 

BY 

IVY    LEE 


BREATHING  and  embodying  every 
development  of  the  life  of  this  rush- 
ing, whirling,  electrical  age,  the  new 
home  of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange 
has  a  distinct  personality.  In  outer  contour 
it  suggests  the  columnar,  monumental  archi- 
tecture of  the  ancient  Greeks.  But  this 
exterior  shelters  the  very  essence  of  the 
strenuous  energy  of  this  twentieth  century. 
In  erecting  it  nothing  has  been  spared  to 
make  this  building  beyond  improvement  for 
its  own  purposes. 

This  remarkable  building  is  to  be  the  home 
of  the  busiest  organization  of  1,100  members 
in  the  world.  For  five  hours  of  the  business 
day  it  will  be  a  perfect  whirlpool  of  trading. 
Securities  aggregating  more  than  $100,000,000 
par  value  will  be  bought  and  sold  in  a  day — 


$20,000,000  an  hour.  A  "seat"  on  its  floor 
now  costs  about  $83,000,  and  the  aggregate 
memberships  of  the  institution  are,  therefore, 
valued  at  $91,300,000.  This  property  is 
untaxable  and  unrecorded.  The  "seat"  is 
purchased  of  the  retiring  member.  It  is  a 
private  transaction,  legally,  and  the  Exchange 
officially  does  not  recognize  that  a  membership 
has  a  money  value.  A  new  member  must 
be  of  exemplary  business  character  or  the 
Exchange  will  not  admit  him,  no  matter  what 
he  should  be  willing  to  pay. 

This  is  the  business  centre  of  the  nation, 
into  which  are  poured  a  vast  proportion  of  the 
securities  of  the  country  which  are  for  sale. 
Upon  this  floor  are  showered  countless  mil- 
lions of  dollars  with  which  investors  through- 
out the  world  desire  to  buy  stocks  and  bonds 


THE    NEW   CENTRE   OF    AMERICAN    FINANCE 


2773 


of  industrial  corporations,  railroads,  etc. 
Through  sales  on  this  iloor  huge  conil)ina- 
tions  may  be  "floated"  in  a  day.  Through 
purchases  here  great  railroads  may  be  bought 
in  a  few  hours.  An  outsider  may  do  all  of 
these  things  through  another  broker,  but 
upon  every  sale  and  every  purchase  the 
broker  must  collect  a  commission — a  com- 
mission which  ordinarily  amounts  to  $12.50 
for  every  hundred  shares.  Members  exe- 
cuting orders  through  other  members  pay 
only  one-half  this  amount.  That  is  why 
about  half  the  members  pay  such  large  sums 
for  their  privilege  and  yet  never  go  on  the 
floor  in  person. 

As  an  institution,  the  New  York  Stock 
Exchange  is  unique.  It  is  not  a  corporation 
— only  a  voluntary  association.  It  resents 
being  sued  for  any  transaction  of  its  mem- 
bers. A  member  who  brings  suit  against  the 
institution  terminates  his  connection  with  it. 
Its  rules  are  inflexible.  Its  transactions  are 
upon  an  absolutely  cash  basis.  What  is 
bought  to-day  must  be  delivered  and  paid 
for  before  ten  o'clock  to-morrow  morning. 
If  not,  the  member  is  suspended,  his  con- 
tracts sold  out,  and  his  membership  held  as 
security  for  the  losses  of  fellow  members,  all 
before  eleven  o'clock.  If  a  member  has  bor- 
rowed money,  and  the  payment  of  the  loan 
is  demanded  at  ten  o'clock,  payment  by 
certified  check  must  be  made  before  one 
o'clock  or  the  member  is  "sold  out." 

There  is  another  feature  of  the  operations 
of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  which  in 
the  eyes  of  many  of  the  public  is  its  most 
important  phase — the  gambling.  One  of  the 
rules  of  the  institution  is  that  "no  bets  or 
offers  to  bet  shall  be  made  on  the  floor,"  yet 
this  is  the  greatest  speculative  mart  in  all 
the  country.  A  very  large  proportion  of 
the  trades  on  the  Exchange  are  made  on 
"margin."  The  customer,  to  secure  the  broker 
against  loss,  supplies  say  t went 3^  per  cent,  of 
the  purchase  price,  and  the  broker  buys  the 
stock,  negotiates  a  loan  with  the  stock  as 
security  in  order  to  carry  it,  and  charges  the 
loan  to  the  customer.  If  the  price  of  the 
stock  goes  up  and  the  customer  sells,  the 
I  broker  deducts  the  commission,  interest  on 
the  loan,  and  other  charges,  and  the  customer 
gets  the  balance.     There  are  endless  varia- 

Itions  of  gambling  on  the  extent  of  these  rises 
or  falls  in  market  prices,  but  it  is  gambling 


Stock  Exchange  is  ab.solutely  essential  to  the 
business  of  the  country.  Spcculat'on  is  an 
inevitable  feature  of  its  transactions. 

The  spectator  visiting  the  Exchange  wit- 
nesses a  most  bewildering  sight.  Here  and 
there  are  little  groups  of  men  shouting  and 
gesticulating  wildly.  They  throw  their  hands 
violently  in  the  air,  jump  and  push,  and  glare 
fiercely  at  one  anotlier.  Then  suddenly  all 
hands  come  down,  some  of  the  men  do  a  little 
scribbling  on  a  pad  and  rush  to  a  telephone. 
That  means  that  a  sale  has  been  made.  In 
the  group  there  is  one  man  representing 
the  telegraph  company.  As  soon  as  the 
sale  is  made,  he  rushes  to  the  "ticker"  and 
sends  the  news  of  the  sale  over  the  telegraph 
printing  apparatus,  which  instantaneously 
prints  it  on  the  "tape"  in  thousands  of 
offices.  Private  wires  flash  the  news  to 
Chicago,  New  Orleans,  San  Francisco,  Boston 
and  other  points.  A  few  moments  later 
telephone  wires  are  heard  all  over  the  place. 
Brokers  run  to  them,  get  from  a  clerk  a  slip  of 
paper — a  commission  to  buy  or  sell — and  rush 
to  a  certain  place  on  the  floor  w^here  there  is  a 
post  with  a  guidon  containing  the  name  of 
some  railroad  or  other  corporation.  Then 
there  is  another  wild  fight,  all  over  in  a 
moment,  and  the  whirl  goes  on.  This  pro- 
ceeds continuously  throughout  the  five  hours. 
The  telephones  are  ringing,  brokers  are  shout- 
ing— it  is  no  wonder  that  nerves  give  out 
under  such  mad  pressure.  Yet  through  all  this 
storm  and  stress  the  world's  great  advances  in 
business  and  finance  are  being  recorded. 

From  1865  to  1900  the  New  York  Stock 
Exchange  was  housed  in  a  building  on  Broad 
street,  but  the  structure  was  antiquated  and 
inadequate.  It  was  decided  to  tear  that 
structure  down  and  rear  a  home  that  would 
be  both  monumental  architecturally  and 
equipped  with  every  device  that  mechanics, 
electricity  or  ingenuity  could  supph',  wath 
every  resource  needed  to  transact  the  se- 
curity trading  for  the  commercial  centre  of 
the  world ! 

One  of  the  most  important  desiderata  was 
light  and  plenty  of  it.  The  building  is  no 
skyscraper.  It  is  small  compared  wdth  the 
great  steel  towers  among  which  it  is  nestled. 
Its  great  monumental  feature  is  a  row  of  six 
huge  columns  on  each  of  the  two  outer  facades 
of  the  building.  Each  of  the  columns  is 
five  feet  six  inches  in  diameter  and  reaches 
up  fifty-two  feet.     Instead  of  having  a  con- 


2774 


THE   NEW  CENTRE    OF    AMERICAN    FINANCE 


siderable  number  of  windows  just  inside  these 
columns,  the  architect  of  this  building  has 
arranged  to  have  a  vast  single  window  just 
behind  each  row  of  them.  Nothing  com- 
parable to  this  has  architecturally  ever  before 
been  done.  Each  of  these  windows  is  about 
112  feet  wide,  fifty-two  feet  high,  and  will 
weigh  thirteen  tons.  The  aggregate  wind 
pressure  on  the  exterior  of  each  window  is 
about  seventy-five  tons.  To  resist  this  enor- 
mous force  and  to  support  the  great  weight 
of  the  immense  glass  screens,  eighteen-inch 
iron  mullions  were  constructed.  These  iron 
columns  stand  in  pairs  directly  behind  the 
stone  columns  and  are  hung  from  girders 
overhead.  To  clean  the  windows  a  kind  of 
painter's  scaffolding  has  been  provided. 
Shades  are  fastened  to  the  vertical  iron  mul- 
lions, and  these  run  right  and  left  instead 
of  up  and  down.  They  are  operated  from 
the  Exchange  floor  by  electric  buttons.  In 
the  freezing  weather  of  winter,  such  great 
surfaces  of  glass  will  certainly  radiate  a  large 
amount  of  cold  air  into  the  room.  At  the 
bases  of  the  windows,  therefore,  steam  radia- 
tors are  placed  for  the  special  purpose  of 
heating  the  interior  surfaces.  For  some  dis- 
tance the  glass  is  to  be  made  double.  The 
space  above  the  radiators,  which  will  be 
located  between  the  two  glasses,  is  to  guide 
the  heat  upward  and  circulate  the  air  over 
the  whole  surface  of  the  great  windows. 

Next  to  the  light,  the  two  features  of  the 
room  which  it  is  of  greatest  importance  should 
be  as  convenient  as  possible  are  the  telephones 
and  the  annunciator.  The  public  at  large 
little  realizes  how  important  a  part  the 
telephone  plays  in  the  work  of  the  Stock 
Exchange.  Before  the  da3^s  of  the  telephone, 
orders  and  commissions  had  to  be  sent  to 
brokers  by  messenger.  Often  messages  were 
lost  or  the  boys  were  delaj'ed.  Under  present 
circumstances,  it  is  possible  to  give  an  order  at 
a  broker's  office  in  Chicago,  telegraph  it  by 
special  private  wire  to  an  office  in  New  York, 
have  it  telephoned  from  there  to  the  broker  on 
the  floor  and  the  commission  executed  within 
two  minutes  from  the  time  it  was  given  in 
Chicago.  The  private  wire,  with  branch 
offices  all  over  the  country,  and  the  telephone 
are  primarily  responsible  for  making  it  pos- 
sible to  do  such  an  enormous  amount  of  busi- 
ness on  the  Stock  Exchange  floor  in  a  day. 

At  the  present  time.  Exchange  members 
liave  about  500  telephones  on  the  floor.     In 


the  old  building  they  were  placed  every- 
where that  room  could  be  found  for  them. 
In  the  new  structure,  however,  the  greatest 
attention  has  been  paid  to  placing  the  tele- 
phones in  the  most  convenient  possible  loca- 
tion on  the  floor.  The  instruments  are  to  be 
placed  against  a  row  of  parallel  partitions  at 
the  New  Street  end  of  the  floor?  They  also 
encircle  the  great  piers  at  that  end  which 
support  the  ceiling  and  floors  above.  An 
extraordinary  amount  of  time  and  ingenuity 
was  expended  in  planning  these  telephones 
so  that  every  inch  of  space  should  be  saved  to 
the  main  floor  and  so  that  the  clerks  who 
operate  the  instruments  should  not  be  in  the 
way  of  the  brokers  on  the  floor.  To  that 
end  it  has  been  arranged  that  these  clerks 
shall  enter  the  Exchange  by  their  own  door. 
They  will  not  come  into  contact  with  floor 
members  except  when  it  is  necessary  to  the 
transaction  of  business. 

Second  in  importance  only  to  the  telephones 
is  the  annunciator.  In  the  old  Exchange 
building  the  annunciator  was  a  huge  checker- 
board contrivance  stretched  across  one 
wall.  There  were  1,200  squares — one  for 
each  member  and  officer — with  a  number  on 
each.  When  a  member  was  wanted  at  the 
telephone,  his  clerk  would  press  a  button,  the 
flap  covering  ^lis  number  would  fall,  and  the 
member  would  run  to  his  telephone  to  get 
the  message.  It  is  obvious  that  on  a  floor 
where  perhaps  1,000  men  are  moving  about 
it  is  not  easy  to  locate  any  one,  so  that  in  the 
expeditious  discharge  of  business  these  annun- 
ciators form  an  essential  factor.  In  the  new 
building  there  is  a  most  ingenious  contriv- 
ance. In  each  of  the  two  side  walls  of  the 
room,  other  than  those  made  by  the  windows, 
there  is  a  great  oblong  checkerboard,  of 
1,200  rectangles,  each  nine  by  twelve  inches 
in  size.  These  rectangles  are  made  of 
opaque  glass  and  upon  each  of  them  a 
member's  number  is  painted  in  distinct 
numerals.  Behind  each  square  is  several 
incandescent  electric  bulbs,  with  bulbs  of 
different  colors.  Any  one  of  the  bulbs  may 
be  operated  by  the  member's  clerk.  If  the 
member  is  wanted  at  the  telephone  a  red 
light  may  be  turned  on.  If  he  is  wanted  at 
his  office  immediately,  a  green  one.  If  some 
one  wants  him  at  the  entrance,  a  blue  globe. 
By  alternating  the  colors,  by  duplicating 
flashes,  and  by  other  variations,  it  is  obvious 
that  an  almost  unlimited  number  of  messages 


IS    AMERICAN    CHARACTER    DECLINING? 


2775 


may  be  flashed  to  a  member  on  the  floor.  In 
a  business  where  seconds  often  count  for 
everything  it  will  be  possible  to  save  a  vast 
amount  of  time  and  money  through  this  form 
of  annunciator.  One  of  them  is  fixed  on  each 
wall  to  save  the  members  from  looking  one 
way  all  the  time.  Under  the  old  system,  the 
eyes  of  many  members  were  injured  from  the 
necessity  of  continually  looking  at  a  single 
flapping  checkerboard. 

The  Board  Room  proper  contains  about 
15,000  square  feet,  an  increase  of  about  sixty 
per  cent,  over  the  old  Exchange  floor.  There 
has  been  an  economy  of  every  possible  square 
inch.  The  chairman's  rostrum  has  been 
placed  in  a  sort  of  gallery,  so  that  members 
may  stand  and  do  business  under  the  rostrum. 
Messenger  boys  and  telegraph  offices  are 
placed  in  other  rooms,  with  instantaneous 
communication  possible  through  pneumatic 
tubes.  Very  little  space  is  given  to  a  visitor's 
gallery,  and  visitors  are  not  to  be  so  welcome 
to  the  new  Exchange.  Cards  of  admission 
will  be  necessary  in  the  future. 

Throughout  the  building  every  possible 
convenience  has  been  installed.     There  is  a 


comfortable  "Bond  Room,"  where  the  trading 
is  in  bonds  only.  This  room  is  in  communi- 
cation with  the  Board  Room  by  pneumatic 
tubes  and  telephones.  There  is  a  restaurant. 
Members  may  take  meals  here  and  have 
messages  shot  to  them  from  the  Board  Room 
through  tubes.  A  member  may  begin  a  meal, 
get  such  a  message,  hurry  to  the  Board  Room 
by  elevator,  execute  his  order,  and  be  back 
at  his  meal  in  five  minutes  or  less.  There  are 
smoking  rooms,  conference  rooms,  committee 
rooms,  club  rooms,  barber  shop,  coat  rooms, 
locker  quarters,  and  all  connected  with  the 
Board  Room.  The  nerves  of  this  Board 
Room  extend  to  every  part  of  the  building, 
just  as  they  do,  for  that  matter,  to  the  whole 
of  Wall  Street  and  to  the  remotest  ends  of 
the  land. 

If  the  great  march  of  American  pros- 
perity continues,  it  is  believed  that  before 
long  seats  on  'Change  will  sell  for  $100,000 
or  more.  Already  a  movement  has  begun 
toward  "listing" — that  is,  sanctioning  the  sale 
of  foreign  securities  on  the  floor.  Before  long 
international  securities  will  be  freely  dealt  in 
here  as  in  London  or  Paris. 


IS  AMERICAN  CHARACTER  DECLINING? 


THE  OPINIONS  OF  SOME  EMINENT  MEN  WHO  FEAR  FOR  THE 
FUTURE  OF  DEMOCRACY  UNDER  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  WEALTH 
AND      POWER— A      GROUP      ALSO      OF      CONTRARY      OPINIONS 

BY 

GEORGE    PERRY   MORRIS 


WHETHER  the  civilization  of  the 
United  States  is  materialistic  in 
its  main  tendencies — whether  it  be 
true  of  the  average  American  that  "his 
counting-house  is  his  temple,  his  desk  his 
altar,  his  ledger  his  Bible,  and  his  money  his 
God" — is  a  fundamental  question,  and  it 
is  interesting  to  put  together  the  conclusions 
of  a  number  of  representative  thoughtful 
men  on  the  subject: 

Dr.  Felix  Adler,  in  an  address  before  the 
Society  of  Ethical  Culture  in  New  York  City, 
1900,  said: 

The  greater  part  of  humanity  does  not  as  yet 
stand  for  light  against  darkness.  .  .  The  trouble 
is  that  nine-tenths  of  our  people  are  solicitous  about 
their  material  prosperity  but  indifferent  to  their 
moral  prosperity. 


E.  L.  Godkin,  late  editor  of  The  Nation, 
wrote  in  April  11,  1901: 

One  of  the  new  things  that  have  come  into  the 
world  of  late  years,  along  with  Expansion,  is  absorp- 
tion in  dinner  pails  and  insensibility  to  moral  shame. 
The  loss  of  shame  among  our  public  men  is  one  of 
the  saddest  features  of  the  time.  Hitherto  the  sense 
of  shame  has  happily  stepped  in  to  restrain  ambition . 
It  has  scared  men  from  doing  things  to  which 
ambition  would  have  prompted  them.  But  we 
have  lost  even  that.  As  long  as  we  have  a  full 
dinner  pail  we  care  not  what  happens. 

Henry  Watterson,  editor  of  the  Louisville 
Courier- Journal,  declared,  in  April,  1902: 

The  idiosyncracy  of  the  century  gone  by  was 
liberty.  .  .  The  idiosyncracy  of  the  century  that 
is  upon  us  is  commerce — trade  and  barter — in  busi- 
ness, in  politics,  at  the  marriage  festival,  and  up  to 
the  very  altars  of  the  Supreme  Being. 


27y6 


IS    AMERICAN    CHARACTER    DECLINING? 


Rev.  John  White  Chadwick,  in  an  address 

before  the  Free  ReHgious  Association,  Boston, 

1 901,  said: 

Since  the  world  began  no  people  ever  believed  in 
wealth  so  much  as  the  American  people  at  the 
present  time.  We  worship  it  as  we  do  not  worship 
God.  The  millionaire  bulks,  in  our  imagination, 
as  the  saint  in  that  of  mediaeval  times.  We  believe 
in  general  in  the  world  and  those  things  of  the 
world  which  were  denounced  by  Jesus;  in  the  lust  of 
the  eyes  and  the  pride  of  life  which  were  denounced 
by  His  disciples.  .  .  We  read  complacently  Jesus' 
praise  of  poverty,  and  the  offense  of  our  commercial 
greed  is  rank;  it  smells  to  heaven. 

WilHam  Lloyd  Garrison,  in  an  address  to 

Boston  negroes,  July,  1899,  said: 

It  is  commercialism  versus  self-government,  party 
control  and  patronage  versus  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  .  .  Trust  the  sheep  with  the 
wolves,  but  trust  not  the  nation  which  has  shown  its 
humanity  in  its  treatment  of  the  Indians,  the  negroes 
and  the  Chinese. 

Prof.  Wm.  James,  of  Harvard  University, 

in   the    Gifford    Lectures,    Edinburgh,    1901, 

said: 

When  one  sees  the  way  in  which  wealth-getting 
enters  as  an  ideal  into  the  very  bone  and  marrow 
of  our  generation,  one  wonders  whether  a  revival 
of  the  belief  that  poverty  is  a  worth}'  religious 
vocation  may  not  be  "the  transformation  of  military 
courage  "  and  the  spiritual  reform  which  our  time 
stands   most   in   need   of.  .     We   have   grown 

literally  afraid  to  be  poor.  We  despise  any  one  who 
elects  to  be  poor  in  order  to  simplify  and  save  his 
inner  life.  .  .  The  prevalent  fear  of  poverty 
among  the  educated  classes  is  the  worst  moral 
disease  from  which  our  civilization  suffers. 

Hon.  J.  C.  Carter,  at  Harvard  Commence- 
ment, 1900,  said: 

Can  a  calm  and  candid  answer  to  this  question 
avoid  the  admission  that  our  society  at  the  present 
time  is  under  the  control,  abject  in  thought  and 
action,  of  an  enormous  pressure  of  material  interests 
and  personal  ambitions  which  disdains  any  appeal 
to  what  is  everlastingly  true  and  right.  Things 
have  come  to  be  a  standing  menace  to  the  high 
ideals  of  men;  and  these  results  have  been  reached, 
not  by  an  appeal  to  histor3^  or  to  science,  or  to 
the  reason,  but  by  the  assertion  that  there  are 
irresistible  tendencies  to  which  we  must  of  necessity 
yield  not  only,  but  which  we  must  urge  forward  and 
support  because  they  are  irresistible. 

Bishop  John  L.  Spalding,  Peoria,  111.,  said, 
in  an  address  at  Chicago,  May,  1899: 

Our  capital  is  fast  becoming  the  most  inhuman, 
the  most  iniquitous  tyrant  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Its  tyranny  is  a  blight  and  curse  to  those 
who  exercise  it  as  well  as  to  the  multitude  who  are 
its  victims.  .  .  We  are  hypnotized  by  the  glare 
and  glitter,  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  wealth, 
and  are  becoming  incapable  of  a  rational  view  of 
life.  We  have  lost  taste  for  simple  things  and 
simple  ways.  .  .  We  are  the  victims  of  com- 
mercialism. We  have  caught  the  contagion  of  the 
insanity  that  the  richest  nations  are  the  worthiest 
and   most   enduring.     We   have   lost   sight   of  the 


eternal  principle  that  riches  are  akin  to  fear  and 
death,  that  by  the  soul  only  can  a  nation  be  great. 

Dr.  Thomas  C.  Hall,  Professor  of  Ethics  in 
Union  Seminary,  New  York  City,  wrote  the 
following  poem: 

GOD    OR   MAMMON. 

Sound  the  loud  trumpet  and  beat  the  big  drum, 
Jehovah  is  conquered,  a  greater  has  come. 
The  wealth  of  the  world  and  the  spoil  of  the  sea, 
These  alone  can  redeem  us,  these  alone  make  us  free  ! 

The  pulpits  proclaim  it,  men  sound  it  abroad. 
Our  God  condones  all  things — oppression  and  fraud, 
The  greed  of  the  market,  the  pride  of  the  priest, 
If  success  sits  enthroned  and  presides  at  the  feast. 

We  still  speak  of  justice,  equality,  love, 
As  blinds  for  the  stupid,  we  rule  from  above, 
Our  own  eyes  are  opened,  ah,  the  glitter  of  gold. 
Is  alone  worth  the  worship  we  gave  God  of  old  ! 

Our  daughters'  fair  bodies,  the  souls  of  our  sons 
Are  the  price  of  a  faith  which  no  sacrifice  shuns; 
Yea,  though  millions  get  crushed  in  the  mud  and  the 

mire, 
To  gold's  bitter  mastery  all  the  strong  must  aspire. 

The  shams  of  religion  but  veil  our  designs, 

When  our  deeds  are  most  dirty,  then  our  "charity" 

shines. 
The  press  we  employ,  and  the  preachers  we  pay — 
So  none  dare  defy  us  or  stand  in  our  way. 

With  but  few  exceptions,  all  those  quoted 
are  men  who  have  differed  radically  from 
their  fellow  countrymen  on  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  wars  of  the  United  States  wi  h 
Spain  and  of  Great  Britain  with  the  South 
African  republics.  Most  of  them  are  radi- 
cals rather  than  meliorists  by  temperament, 
or  rather  they  began  life  as  radicals  but  in 
their  old  age  have  become  conservatives ;  and 
there  is  in  almost  every  public  utterance  of 
some  of  the:n  that  note  of  pessimism  which 
Lowell  had  in  mind  when,  in*  1842,  chastising 
Wordsworth  for  his  pessimistic  judgment  of 
his  fellow  men,  he  said: 

'Tis  the  saddest  sight  to  see 

An  Old  Man  faithless  in  Humanity. 

Proximity  in  time  or  place  to  an  alleged  or 
real  evil  is  not  always  the  best  condition  for 
judging  it. 

The  opinions  just  cited,  it  will  be  noted,  are 
all  b}''  citizens  of  the  United  States.  It  would 
be  easy  to  quote  similar  unfavorable  opinions 
of  the  United  States  from  journals  like  the 
London  Saturday  Reviciu  and  many  of  the 
Continental  newspapers,  and  from  an  occa- 
sional traveler  like  M.  de  Regnier;  and,  of 
course,  by  the  average  European  we  are 
deemed  sordid  to  the  last  degree. 

But  it  is  a  r''"nking  fact  that,  from  the  days 


IS    AMERICAN    CHARACTER    DECLINING? 


2777 


of  De  Tocquevillc  down  to  Prince  Ilcnry  of 

Prussia,    the     more     thoughtful,    intclHgent 

visitors  to  our  shores  who  have  studied  us 

carefully  have  commented  upon  our  strange 

blending  of  realism  and  idealism. 

De  Tocquevillc  said: 

An  American  attends  to  his  private  concerns  as  if 
he  were  alone  in  the  world,  and  the  next  minute  he 
skives  himself  up  to  the  common  weal  as  if  he  had 
forgotten  them.  At  one  time  he  seems  animated 
by  the  most  selfish  cu])idity;  at  another  by  the  most 
lively   patriotism.      (Vol.  2,  p.  171.) 

Now  it  is  precisely  this  blending  of  other- 
selfness  with  self-interest,  this  acquisition  of 
property  for  higher  private  or  public  ends, 
which  has  impressed  some  of  the  more  recent 
visitors  to  this  country,  as  the  following 
quotations  will  show: 

Prof.    Marcus   Dods,  Free  Church  College, 

Glasgow,  Scotland,  once  said: 

That  which  strikes  me  most  forcibly  in  America  is 
the  astonishing  display  of  wealth.  Don't  jump  to 
the  conclusion  that  I  hint  at  vulgar  display.  On 
the  contrary,  my  very  next  sensation  is  admiration 
for  the  way  in  which  America  seems  to  be  using  its 
wealth,  public  as  well  as  private. 

Frederick  Harrison,  after  his  visit  to  the 
United  States,  1901,  declared: 

As  to  the  worship  of  the  "Almighty  Dollar,"  I 
neither  saw  it  nor  heard  of  it  as  we  do  at  home.  I 
may  say  the  same  as  to  the  official  corruption  and 
political  intrigue.  .  .  I  received  a  deep  impres- 
sion that  in  America  the  relations  of  the  sexes  are 
in  a  state  far  more  sound  and  pure  than  they  are 
in  the  Old  World.  .  .  Society  is  in  the  main 
sound  and  wholesome.  .  .  the  zeal  for  learning, 
justice  and  humanity  lies  so  deep  in  the  American 
heart  that  it  will  in  the  end  solve  the  two  great 
problems  which  face  the  future  of  their  citizens — 
the  eternal  struggle  between  capital  and  labor — 
the  gull  between  people  of  color  and  the  people  of 
European  blood. 

Professor  Hoi?,  of  the  University  of  Berlin, 

at  University  of  Chicago,  1901,  declared: 

What  strikes  me  most  about  your  country  is  its 
realism,  founded  as  the  nation  is,  upon  an  ideal. 
There  is  no  more  realistic  country  than  America, 
and  there  is  no  more  idealistic  one. 

Prince  Henry  of  Prussia  said,  after  his  tour 

in  the  United  States,  1902  : 

I  found  in  that  country  not  only  what  is  called 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  "a  dollar-hunting  nation" 
but  a  nation  striving  with  all  its  energy  to  secure 
pure  and  ideal  possessions.  There  prevails  in  the 
United  States  an  intellectual  and  pleasant  family 
life,  and  no  better  life  can  be  found  in  this  countrj-; 
and  where  this  life  does  not  exist,  every  effort  is 
being  made  to  attain  it. 

LM.  Robert  de  Billy,  member  of  a  deputation 
from  France  to  participate  in  the  dedication 
of  the  Rochambeau  statue,  Washington, 
: ■ 


America,  which  to  the  average  Frenchman  is  only 
the  country  where  rapid  fortunes  arc  made,  is  for 
the  well-educated  I'renchman  the  land  of  tmiver- 
sities.  1  mean  the  land  where  knowledge  is  culti- 
vated with  a  real  passion  for  truth  and  an  entirely 
unprejudiced  mind. 

Professor  Munsterberg  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, the  most  brilliant  of  recent  German 
scholars  to  take  up  residence  among  us,  in  his 
book,  "American  Democracy,"  1901,  retorts 
on  those  who  say  that  politics  with  us  has 
reached  its  lowest  ebb  and  that  the  whole 
life  of  the  land  is  sacrificed  to  commercialism : 

This  may  be  cfTective,  Init  it  is  not  true.  The 
stronger  current  of  the  nation  is  at  present  setting 
in  the  op{)osite  direction.  The  nimiler  of  men  who, 
unselfishly  and  with  high  ideals,  serve  the  com- 
munity in  a  thousand  forms  is  undoubtedly  increas- 
ing every  day. 

Of  the  elder  generation  of  captains  of  indus- 
try hving  among  us,  few  arc  so  well  known  or 
speak  with  so  much  weight  as  Hon.  Abram  S. 
Hewitt,  ex-Congressman  and  ex-Mayor  of 
New  York  City,  who  has  recently  said: 

Of  the  future  of  the  nation  I  see  only  ultimate 
good  The  country  is  running  in  the  right  and  safe 
trend. 

Edward  Everett  Hale  always  retorts  on  the 
advocate  of  American  materialism  thus: 

When  you  hear  it  said  that  the  American  people 
loves  the  dollar  and  is  not  faithful  to  the  Ideal,  ask 
in  reply:  What  prince  or  people  but  the  American 
people  ever  gave  up  so  large  a  part  of  the  appanage 
for  the  education  of  the  people  ?  .  .  Talk  of 
princely  liberality  !  Name  to  me  the  prince  from 
the  earliest  Pharaoh  to  the  autocrats  of  today  who 
has  ever  dreamed  of  such  munificence. 

Secretary  of  State  Hay,  in  his  remarks  at 

the    Harvard   Commencement    Dinner,    1902, 

described  the  nation  as 

.  .  .  moving  always  consciously  or  unconsciously 
along  lines  of  beneficent  achievement,  whose  con- 
stant ends  are  peace  and  righteousness. 

Hon.  Wayne  MacVeagh,  ex-Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States,  in  an  address 
at  Harvard,  June,  1901,  an  address  pessi- 
mistic as  a  whole,  admitted  that 

the  human  spirit  has  in  different  ages 
devoted  itself  to  varying  aims  and  objects,  and  that 
it  has  been  found  entirely  compatible  with  the  divine 
order  in  the  education  of  the  world,  and  not  at  all 
disastrous  to  the  welfare  of  the  race,  that  difTerent 
nations  should  cherish  wholly  different  aspirations.' 
Hence,  he  argued,  that  because  this  age  is  devoted  to 
the  making  of  money  as  its  chief  ambition,  this  need 
not  disturb  us,  for  it  is  not  at  all  certain  that  any 
better  ambition  could  have  been  found  at  this  time 
for  the  class  of  men  engaged  in  practical  business. 
It  may,  indeed,  well  happen  that  their  labors  are 
laying  enduring  foundations  for  far  nobler  standards 
of  comfort,  of  effort  and  of  life  than  we  are  now- 
enjoying.  .  .  In  saying  this  I  do  not  forget  that 
Cicero  declared  that  a  general  desire  of  gain  would 


2778 


IS    AMERICAN    CHARACTER    DECLINING? 


ruin  any  wealthy  and  flourishing  nation,  but  I  do 
not  forget  either  that  Mr.  Burke,  a  far  safer  gtiide 
in  the  philosophy  of  politics  than  Cicero,  declared 
that  the  love  of  gain  is  a  grand  cause  of  prosperity 
to  all  States. 

President  Geo.  Harris,  of  Amherst  College, 

is  a  man  given  to  study  of  practical  ethical 

problems  and  of  comparative  history,  and  he 

sees  a  change  for  the  better  rather  than  for 

the  worse  in  our  estimate  of  wealth.     In  his 

last    baccalaureate     sermon,    delivered    last 

summer  at  the  college,  to  Amherst  students, 

he  said: 

The  exaggerated  estimate  which  in  America  has 
been  set  upon  wealth  and  display  is  declining  some- 
what in  favor  of  more  correct  standards.  It  is 
beginning  to  be  seen  that  possession  of  wealth  is  the 
ver}-  cheapest  distinction;  that  devotion  to  money- 
making  marks  the  newness  and  crudeness  of  a 
country  and  should  lead  to  higher  accomplishments. 
The  rich  man  gives  largely  to  colleges  and  libraries, 
identifies  himself  with  great  charities,  is  a  collector 
of  rare  books  and  etchings,  initiates  some  social 
experiment  with  his  workingmen,  finds  his  way  to 
Congress,  does  not  forget  that  his  father  was  a  pro- 
fessor or  clergyman.  Wealth  has  deference,  it  is 
true,  a  servile  and  contemptible  deference,  but  it  is 
not  the  only  value  that  has  deference,  nor  the  value 
that  has  the  greatest  deference. 

President  Tucker,  of  Dartmouth  College, 
addressing  students  at  the  Harvard  Summer 
School  of  Theolog\'  this  year,  spoke  in  part 
as  follows: 

We  shall  have  a  ven,'  inadequate  conception 
of  the  power  which  holds  in  the  modem  world 
if  we  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  idealize  the 
present  situation  as  history  has  idealized  like  situa- 
tions in  the  past.  Work,  when  measured  by  its 
relation  to  thought,  the  ambition  and  the  enthusi- 
asm of  men,  holds  the  same  relative  place  which  the 
revival  of  learning,  for  example,  held  in  its  time, 
or  the  struggle  for  political  liberty  in  its  day.  It 
is  the  absorbing,  controlling,  and  in  its  highest  effect 
the  inspiring  force  of  modem  life.  .  .  The  zest 
for  work  whichjias  taken  possession  of  the  Western 
races,  and  which  has  begun  to  invade  the  East, 
must  be  understood,  if  at  all,  in  the  light  of  its  own 
idealism.  It  does  not  mean  love  of  toil,  nor  does 
it  mean  love  of  money.  Neither  the  show  nor  the 
substance  of  wealth  offer  a  sufficient  explanation. 
Among  the  ends  sought  are  power,  control,  influence. 
.  The  joy  is  in  the  seeking  as  mucla  as  in  the 
sense  of  possession. 

There  is  much  cant  respecting  commercial- 
ism and  materialism,  a  cant  that  Emerson, 
to  go  back  for  a  moment  to  the  work  of  a 
seer  of  the  generation  preceding  our  own, 
had  in  mind  when  he  wrote,  in  his  essay  on 
Nominalist  and  Realist: 

Money,  which  represents  the  prose  of  hfe,  and 
which  is  hardly  spoken  of  in  parlors  without  an 
apology,  is  in  its  effects  and  laws  as  beautiful  as 
roses.  Property  keeps  the  accounts  of  the  world, 
and  is  always  moral.  The  propertv  will  be  found 
where  the  labor,  the  wisdom  and  the  virtues  have 


been  in  nations,  in  classes,  and  (the  whole  lifetime 
considered,  with  the  compensations)  in  the  indi- 
vidual also. 

Wu  Ting  Fang,  Minister  from  China  to  the 
United  States,  in  a  speech  before  the  Carnegie 
Institute,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  1900,  said: 

The  test  of  loftiness  of  character  is  to  possess 
boundless  power  without  abusing  it.  Wealth  is 
power.  Where  can  3-ou  find  such  vast  accumu- 
lations of  wealth  in  private  hands  as  in  America, 
with  so  little  attendant  evil  felt  by  society  ?  I  have 
seen  countries  where  the  rich  oppress  the  poor  and 
the  poor  curse  the  rich.  There  money  is  the  root 
of  all  evil.  The  reverse  seems  to  be  the  case  in 
America. 

In  all  consideration  of  the  matter  with  its 
pros  and  cons,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the 
United  States,  there  are  several  facts  that 
have  a  pertinent  bearing  on  the  question  at 
issue  to  be  borne  in  mind: 

First,  that  historically  considered,  America, 
as  President  Eliot  in  an  address  to  Harvard 
students  in  1898  pointed  out,  has  always 
represented  increasing  well-being  as  well  as 
in  increasing  liberty  for  all  men. 

Second,  that,  as  Senator  G.  F.  Hoar,  in  an 
address  before  the  Massachusetts  Legislature, 
said: 

Plain  living  and  high  thinking  are  doubtless  the 
best  conditions  for  human  life.  But  if  the  living  be 
too  plain,  the  thinking  will  not  be  high.  The  soul 
and  body  will  not  often  hunger  or  thirst  at  the  same 
time.  Mean  and  base  surroundings  without  the 
refinements  of  taste,  are  apt  to  degrade  alike  the 
intellect  and  the  moral  nature. 

Third,  that  with  most  Americans  the 
acquisition  of  property  is  not  for  the  acquisi- 
tion's sake,  but  for  the  power  that  it  gives  its 
possessor  to  do  large  things  for  his  country, 
his  church,  his  family,  himself. 

Finalh%  so  long  as  our  diplomacy  in  the 
far  East  is  avowedly  based  on  the  Golden 
Rule ;  so  long  as  our  treatment  of  our  outlying 
possessions  is  based  on  their  education  for 
self-government;  so  long  as  our  defense  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  has  underlying  it  protec- 
tion of  Latin- American  Republicanism  against 
European  monarchies;  so  long  as  we  give  so 
lavishly  for  popular  education  and  sectarian 
and .  non-sectarian  religious  propaganda ;  so 
long  as  we  deem  labor  honorable  and  recog- 
nize manhood  wherever  found ;  and  so  long  as 
we  continue  to  rear  men  of  vast  fortunes  who 
look  upon  fhemselves  as  stewards,  to  a  degree 
unknown  to  men  of  any  other  land,  we  need 
not  worry  overmuch  if  the  wealth  of  the  nation 
increases  with  leaps  and  bounds. 


A    NEW    ERA    IN    DECORATIVE   ART 

THE  RECENT  INTERNATIONAL  EXHIBITION  AT  TURIN  DEVOTED  TO  THE 
DECORATIVE  ARTS  —  ODD  BUILDINGS —THE  EXCELLENCE  OF  ENGLISH 
ARTISTS  — THE  FAR-REACHING  PRACTICAL  POSSIBILITIES  IN   DECORATION 

BY 

PAUL   S.  REINSCH 

PROFESSOR   OP   POLITICAL   ECONOMY    IN    THE   UNIVERSITY   OP  WISCONSIN 

AN  exposition  devoted  wholly  to  a  individual  laborers.  Through  correlation  of 
novel  movement  in  art — this  was  the  arts  every  laborer,  instead  of  being  a  mere 
the  unique  distinction  of  the  recent  insentient  cog  in  the  machinery  of  industrial- 
exhibition  in  Turin.  The  movement  for  a  ism,  is  again  to  participate  in  the  joy  of  pro- 
new  decorative  art  to  pervade  all  the  activi-  ducing  a  thing  of  beauty.  Each  one  of  the 
ties  and  environments  of  life  for  the  first  time  various  arts  will  thus  derive  inspiration  from 
gave  an  account  of  itself  to  the  world  in  all  the  others  and  work  in  common  with  them, 
general.  The  Turin  Exposition,  therefore,  Inasmuch,  moreover,  as  most  of  the  work  is 
marks  a  new  era  in  decoration.  to  be  done  by  hand,  it  does  not  require  factory 
During  the  half  century  just  past  the  world  life,  but  may  be  carried  on  at  the  home  of 
lacked  fruitful  general  ideas  upon  distinctive  the  laborer.  Though  factory  life  cannot  be 
and  harmonious  decorative  art.  As  a  result,  superseded,  a  revival  of  the  handicrafts  would 
each  separate  branch  of  decoration  developed  certainly  benefit  the  laboring  population, 
independently  without  regard  to  general  Though  of  very  recent  origin,  the  move- 
effects  in  buildings  and  interiors.  Even  in  ment  has  already  made  great  progress  in 
the  homes  of  wealth  the  decorations  were  not  Europe,  as  the  exhibition  at  Turin  clearl}' 
consistently  planned:  Renaissance  reliefs  and  shows.  There  is  no  fully  developed  art — only 
Japanese  vases  dwelt  in  the  same  apartments  beginnings.  But  the  exhibition  did  give 
with  Tukish  rugs,  Dresden  china  and  Louis  evidence  of  a  great  force  seeking  an  outlet 
XV.  furniture.  Thus  the  dwelling  house  and  of  not  a  little  actual  achievement, 
became  an  eclectic  museum — indeed,  often  a  In  the  buildings  of  the  Exposition  an 
curiosity  shop.  If  the  owner  possessed  taste  attempt  was  made  to  give  expression  to  the 
he  might  make  such  a  collection  distinctive,  new  spirit  in  architecture,  and  it  must  be 
like  the  interior  so  brilliantly  described  by  confessed  that,  though  not  always  pleasing 
Bourget  in  his  essay  on  Flaubert,  but  oftener  at  first  sight,  the  structures  were  decidedly 
unity  was  lacking.  Meanwhile,  contem-  original  and  gained  upon  closer  acquaintance, 
porary  decorative  art  went  begging;  the  Their  main  characteristic  is  massiveness; 
production  of  ornaments  and  of  furniture  indeed,  they  often  carry  suggestions  of  the 
was  commercialized  and  reduced  to  dead  heavy  stone  monuments  of  ancient  Egypt, 
imitation,  often  of  the  worst  models ;  or  to  The  sky  lines  are  hardly  ever  straight,  but 
the  horrors  of  a  cheap,  machine-made  "art. "  undulating,  with  sweeping  upward  curves 
With  the  general  revival,  in  the  last  decade,  toward  the  centre  of  the  facades.  Fresco  is 
of  beauty  for  its  own  sake,  '  'as  a  sweet  solace  used  in  the  exterior  walls — convolutions  of  lines 
in  the  melancholy  of  life,"  there  has  also  suggestive  of  movement  and  force,  as  well  as 
come  a  movement  for  beautifying  common  flowers  and  leaves  rising  in  thick  bunches  upon 
objects  and  making  them  more  dignified,  slender  stems,  or  woven  into  graceful  garlands; 
and  distinctive  of  our  own  modern  ideas  and  and  sombre,  and  also  laughing  or  cynical 
civilization.  Not  only  does  this  movement  faces,  gaze  down  from  the  upper  walls, 
demand  artistic  judgment  in  purchasing,  and  The  place  of  honor  in  the  Exposition  was 
scorn  of  the  cheap  and  characterless  and  given  to  the  works  of  Walter  Crane,  and  of 
inartistic,  but  it  also  aims  to  reform  produc-  some  other  decorative  artists  of  Great  Britain, 
tion   and   give   a  wider   and  happier  life  to  placed  there  by  the  Arts  and  Crafts  Society 


2780 


A    NEW    ERA   IN    DECORATIVE   ART 


of  London.  There  was  not  only  "Walter 
Crane's  charming  painting  of  the  Renaissance 
of  Venus,  and  a  great  variety  of  water  colors, 
but  also  the  cartoons  for  the  magnificent 
Earle  window,  tapestry,  majolica  and  tile 
panels,  bronze  utensils,  designs  for  the  most 
varied  ornaments  and  decorations,  as  well 
as  books  printed  and  bound  with  consummate 
workmanship.  There  was,  however,  no  place 
in  the  Exposition  that  so  fully  represented 
the  ideas  of  the  movement  for  a  new  decora- 
tive art  as  the  dignified  and  beautiful  piece 
of  tapestry,  the  Orchard,  designed  by  William 
Morris  and  executed  under  his  care.  There 
was  also  a  noteworthy  exhibit  of  jewelry 
manufactured  by  the  Guild  of  Handicrafts  of 
London,  in  which  the  antique  forms  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Norman  jewelry  have  been  revived 
and  modernized  with  great  effect.  The 
greater  part  of  the  exhibits  were  arranged  in 
"atmosphere,"  a  term  here  applied  to  the 
complete  interior  furnishings  of  a  dwelling  or 
apartment,  suggesting  that  the  furniture  of  a 
house  should  not  be  a  mere  fortuitous  collec- 
tion, but  should  be  pervaded  by  an  atmos- 
phere distinctive  of  purpose   orpersonality. 

On  account  of  a  misunderstanding  the 
French  exhibit  at,  Turin  was  rather  meagre. 
The  most  interesting  exhibit  was  that  of  the 
Hotel  de  I'Art  Xonveaii  Bing,  of  Paris,  an 
establishment  which  acts  as  agent  for  a  large 
number  of  Parisian  artists,  and  executes 
plans  and  designs  for  every  imaginable  article 
of  furniture  or  ornament,  including  jewelry 
and  paintings,  tapestr}',  carved  wood  and 
leather,  stained  glass,  ceramic  wares,  and 
sculpture.  The  idea  of  harmony  and  charac- 
ter in  style  is  thus  carried  even  to  personal 
dress  and  ornament.  The  new  French  style 
of  decoration  has  become  generally  known 
under  the  name  of  fiorcalc.  Here,  as  in  many 
of  the  other  exhibits,  the  rugs  were  specially 
interesting.  The  principles  of  the  new  decora- 
tive art  reject  the  Oriental  rug  because  it  owes 
its  origin  to  the  need  of  one  striking  ornament 
in  the  bare  tent  of  a  nomad,  and  is  ordinarily 
seen  from  a  very  slight  elevation  by  a  person 
seated  upon  it.  In  a  European  house  it  fails 
to  harmonize  with  the  other  furniture;  and 
its  bright  and  variegated  hues  and  small 
pattern,  effective  when  close  to  the  view,  are 
less  pleasing  and  appropriate  when  seen  from 
a  higher  elevation.  Therefore,  instead  of  the 
geometrical  ornamentation  and  the  dazzling 
richness  of  color  in  the  Oriental  rug,  the  new 


art  makes  use  of  a  uniform  base  of  color: 
designs  traced  in  curves  and  flowing  bands 
like  the  ornaments  in  wall  frescoes  and  in 
wood  carving. 

In  Belgium  there  has  been  a  great 
awakening.  Architecture  itself  has  been  trans- 
formed in  the  hands  of  such  men  as  Hanker 
and  Horta,  the  latter  of  whom  also  worked 
out  the  principle  of  making  the  decorating 
of  a  building  entirely  dependent  upon  its 
structure.  The  Belgian  interiors  at  the 
Exposition  showed  great  originality^  in  the 
use  of  new  forms  and  designs  as  well  as  a 
pleasing  harmony  between  structural  and 
ornamental  details.  Greater  public  interest 
in  decorative  art  has  been  aroused  in  Belgium 
than  in  any  other  European  country,  and  a 
number  of  societies  have  been  formed  for  the 
advancement  of  new  ideas  in  the  arts  and 
handicrafts. 

Germany  has  generally  showoi  herself  very 
conservative  in  the  adoption  of  new  forms  of 
art.  Her  artists  have  either  drawn  their 
inspiration  from  the  great  masters  of  the 
antique  and  the  Renaissance  or  have  attempted 
to  develop  the  features  of  the  indigenous 
Germanic  styles.  The  new  movement  has, 
however,  obtained  an  entry,  and  has  already 
borne  some  notable  frxiits.  The  principal  Ger- 
man exhibit  at  Turin  was  that  of  the  colony 
of  artists  at  Darmstadt,  which  has  recently 
been  started  under  the  patronage  of  Ernst 
Louis  of  Hesse.  Of  this  colony  Prof.  Joseph 
M.  Olbrich  is  the  leading  spirit;  it  was  he 
who  designed  the  so-called  Hessian  House 
exhibited  at  Turin.  The  axiom  of  simplicity, 
which  is  one  of  the  main  tenets  of  the  colony, 
is  followed  with  greater  fidelit}^  in  this  house 
than  in  the  most  sumptuous  structures 
erected  at  Darmstadt. 

The  exhibitions  of  Italy  were  naturally 
more  numerous  than  those  of  any  other 
countr}',  but  they  contained  very  much  of  the 
commonplace  and  the  conventional.  Still 
there  were  a  number  of  exhibits  which 
showed  an  intense  effort  to  express  modem 
ideas.  One  of  the  most  interesting  exhibits 
was  that  of  the  Acmilia  Arts,  a  cooperative 
association  founded  in  Bologna  in  1898,  to 
perfect  the  products  of  the  local  decorative 
arts,  to  introduce  sound  methods  and  new 
ideas  among  the  artisans,  and  to  assist  the 
latter  in  improving  their  products,  in  creating 
a  harmonious,  art,  and  in  disposing  of  the 
finished  articles.     An  artistic  commission  of 


A    NEW    KRA   IN    DliCORATIVE    ART 


2781 


the  society  prepares  designs  and  models, 
which  arc  then  executed  by  the  artisans. 
The  society  also  assists  young  men  of  promise 
in  completing  their  artistic  education.  The 
industries  are  mostly  carried  on  at  the  homes 
of  the  artisans,  the  products  being  sold  from 
the  depot  of  the  society  at  Bologna.  The 
society  does  not  make  its  sole  aim  the  creation 
of  new  methods,  but  it  also  favors  the 
reproduction  of  classic  works.  Its  products 
embrace  the  entire  lield  of  decorative  art — 
furniture,  wrought  iron  and  bronze  work, 
ceramic  ware,  terra-cotta,  stained  glass, 
leather  work,  lace  and  embroideries.  Al- 
though it  has  existed  only  for  so  short  a  time, 
the  impetus  it  has  given  to  household  industry 
in  the  region  of  Bologna  is  remarkable,  as  is 
evidenced  by  the  exhibit  at  Turin. 

Although  in  performance  much  remains 
to  be  desired,  the  general  aims  of  the  new 
movement  stood  out  quite  plainly  at  the 
Exposition.  There  is  an  intense  striving 
after  originality  of  form,  a  serious  effort  to 
express  the  thought  and  feeling  of  modern 
life  —  its  aspiration  toward  freedom,  its 
naturalness  and  emancipation  from  conven- 
tionality, its  democratic  sympathy,  the  sur- 
prising sweep  of  newly  discovered  or  newly 
applied  natural  forces,  and  finally  its  new 
and  noble  simplicity  of  ideals.  A  main 
ingredient  of  the  movement  is  democratic 
— not  only  the  aspiration  to  render  art  a 
household  matter,  but  also  the  effort  to  bring 
about  a  more  democratic  industrial  organi- 
zation. But  it  still  remains  doubtful  whether 
the  movement  will  have  a  deep  influence 
upon  the  people  in  general  and  whether  it 
can  permanently  interest  them.  Moreover, 
the  emplo}'ment  of  such  original  and  beautiful 
forms  especially  to  make  interiors  harmoni- 
ous will  remain  for  some  time  a  matter  of 
great  expense.  A  wider  circle  of  influence 
can  be  hoped  for  if  the  efforts  of  such  associa- 
tions as  Acmilia  Arts  are  successful,  and  if,  as 
we  are  beginning  to  do  in  the  public  schools 
of  the  United  States,  the  taste  of  the  people 
is  trained  from  earliest  youth  to  distinguish 
and  to  value  the  beautiful. 

In  the  actual  present  achievement,  there  is 
much  that  falls  short  of  even  less  elevated 
requirements,  much  that  is  evidently  created 
merely  to  arouse  attention,  without  any 
deeper  thought  or  feeling.  The  symbolism 
employed  in  the  forms  of  decoration  is  often 
obscure  and  unmeaning  ;  Oriental  and  mytho- 


logical designs  of  the  vaguest  significance, 
as  well  as  forms  of  invertebrate  life,  are  used 
without  any  relation  to  modern  thought. 
There  is  a  mannered  predilection  for  archaic 
elements  of  decoration  ;  when  the  human 
figure  is  introduced  it  is  too  often  languid 
and  fragile  for  sane  art.  Moreover,  the  new  art 
may  be  criticized  for  a  frequent  disregard  of 
comfort;  the  easy  chair  is  banished,  and  the 
straight-backed  narrow  chairs  are  such  as 
few  elderly  persons  would  find  endurable. 
Usefulness  and  comfort  are  often  overlooked 
when  the  idea  of  a  beautiful  design  has 
captivated  the  artist.  Often,  too,  the  articles 
of  furniture  are  so  huge  that  they  would  be 
entirely  out  of  place  in  any  but  a  regal 
mansion.  The  limits,  too,  between  the 
various  arts  are  often  disregarded;  wood  is 
twisted  like  wrought  iron  into  strange  and 
unnatural  shapes,  or  it  is  given  the  polish  of 
metal  and  the  massiveness  of  stone. 

To  expect  at  the  present  time  a  clear,  con- 
sistent, uniform  style  of  the  new  movement 
in  decorative  art  would  be  to  misunderstand 
its  purpose  and  scope.  It  is  rather  an  ideal, 
an  aspiration,  than  a  style.  In  the  practical 
execution  of  work  it  makes  use  of  forms  and 
suggestions  taken  from  many  sources;  it 
builds  upon  the  foundations  of  national 
traditions ;  it  uses  the  enticing  symbolism  of 
the  Orient,  the  dark  runes  of  Norse  mythology, 
the  Egyptian  pyramids  and  temples,  the  color 
schemes  of  Japanese  art.  It  also  draws  much 
inspiration  from  the  great  works  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  but  it  avoids  as  much  as  possible 
the  forms  of  the  Renaissance  and  of  classical 
antiquity,  which  have  been  rendered  conven- 
tional through  long  imitation.  Tho.ugh 
distinguished  from  naturalism  by  a  deep 
worship  of  beauty,  its  main  tenet  nevertheless 
is  truth  and  simplicity  of  expression,  and  it 
strives  to  look  fully  and  directly  at  the  great 
stream  of  modern  life  and  to  express  its  mean- 
ing through  art  in  all  her  branches.  It  is 
democratic  both  in  calling  attention  to  all 
the  forms  of  artistic  activity  and  also  in  aim- 
ing to  embrace  within  a  great  artistic  commu- 
nity all  the  people,  both  rich  and  poor,  artisans 
and  employers;  thus  it  hopes  to  unite  some 
of  the  harsh  contrasts  of  life.  Among  all  the 
great  efforts  and  activities  of  mankind  at  the 
present  time,  this  movement  challenges 
attention  on  account  of  the  scope  of  its 
aspirations  and  of  the  crying  needs  which  its 
efforts  are  laboring  to  satisfy. 


TRUSTS  AS  THEIR  MAKERS  VIEW  THEM 

THE  VIEWS  OF  IMPORTANT  TRUST  LEADERS  WHICH  COINCIDE  IN  MANY  CASES 
WITH     THE     EXPRESSIONS     OF     PRESIDENT      ROOSEVELT     IN      HIS      SPEECHES 

BY 

JAMES     H.    BRIDGE 

EDITOR    OF  "the  TRUST:   ITS   BOOk" 


IN  a  few  years,  more  than  one-tenth  of 
the  mantifacturing  estabHshments  of 
the  United  States  have  gone  under 
the  control  of  some  so-called  trust.  Already 
some  200  combinations  embrace  over  2,500 
separate  plants,  representing  an  aggregate 
capital  of  $3,500,000,000.  They  employ  over 
400,000  workers  who  annually  receive 
$250,000,000  in  wages  and  their  output  is 
valued  at  $2,000,000,000 a  year.  Fully  half  of 
these  industrial  aggregates  have  been  char- 
tered during  the  last  five  3'ears.  In  every 
other  civilized  community  the  same  economic 
movement  is  taking  place.  It  is  this  mighty 
tendency  which  politicians  of  every  party 
and  journalists  of  every  hue  are  seeking  to 
'  'curb.  "  The  effort  has  been  well  compared 
to  that  of  attempting  to  dam  the  Mississippi. 
From  the  outset  this  cooperative  movement 
has  been  met  by  the  hostility  of  almost  every 
class,  just  as  half  a  century  ago  the  develop- 
ment of  the  factory  system  was  resisted. 
The  evils  and  disorders  incident  to  a  great 
economic  change  have  been  held  so  close  to 
the  public  eye  as  to  shut  out  all  view  of  its 
beneficent  aspects.  Latterly,  however,  there 
has  come  a  disposition  to  recognize  the  evolu- 
tionary and  progressive  character  of  the 
movement,  and  denunciation  is  gradually 
giving  place  to  argument.  The  change  is 
well  exemplified  by  the  cautious  utterances 
of  President  Roosevelt.  "While  Governor  of 
the  State  of  New  York  he  embodied  the 
following  statesmanlike  views  in  one  of  his 
later  messages: — 

"The  machinery  of  modern  business  is  so 
vast  and  complicated  that  great  caution  must 
be  exercised  in  introducing  radical  changes 
for  fear  the  unforeseen  effects  may  take  the 
shape  of  widespread  disaster.  Moreover,  much 
that  is  complained  about  is  not  really  the  abuse 
so  much  as  the  inevitable  development  of  our 
modern  industrial  life.     We  have  moved  far 


away  from  the  old  simple  days  when  each 
community  transacted  almost  all  its  work 
for  itself  and  relied  upon  outsiders  for  but  a 
fraction  of  the  necessaries  and  for  not  a  very 
large  portion  even  of  the  luxuries  of  life. 
Very  many  of  the  anti-trust  laws  which  have 
made  their  appearance  on  the  statute  books 
of  recent  years  have  been  almost  or  absolutely 
ineffective  because  they  have  blinked  the  all- 
important  fact  that  much  of  what  they  thought 
to  do  away  with  was  incidental  to  modern 
industrial  conditions,  and  could  not  be  elimi- 
nated unless  we  were  willing  to  turn  back  the 
wheels  of  modern  progress  by  also  eliminating 
the  forces  which  had  brought  about  these 
industrial  conditions.  .  .  .  What  remains 
for  us  to  do,  as  practical  men,  is  to  look 
the  conditions  squarely  in  the  face  and  not 
permit  the  emotional  side  of  the  question, 
which  has  its  proper  place,  to  blind  us  to  the 
fact  that  there  are  other  sides.  We  must  set 
about  finding  out  what  the  real  abuses  are, 
into  their  causes,  and  to  what  extent  reme- 
dies can  be  applied." 

Since  giving  expression  to  these  views. 
President  Roosevelt's  ideas  have  crystalized 
into  such  definite  shape  as  to  justify  him  in 
proposing  measures  for  remedying  the  defects 
of  the  new  industrialism  without,  as  he  says, 
turning  back  '  'the  wheels  of  modern  progress 
by  also  eliminating  the  forces  which  have 
brought  about  these  industrial  conditions." 
And  curiously  enough  the  remedy  suggested  is 
precisely  that  which  has  been  urged  for  years 
by  the  practical  genius  of  the  very  men  who 
have  built  up  the  trusts — namely,  a  constitu- 
tional amendment  giving  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment control  over  them. 

In  1899  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller,  in  his 
testimony  before  the  United  States  Industrial 
Commission,  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
remedy  for  the  most  conspicuous  abuse  of 
the    power   conferred   by   combinations   was 


TRUSTS    AS    THKIR    MAKERS    VIEW    THEM 


2783 


"Federal  legislation  under  which  corpora- 
tions may  be  created  and  regulated,  if  that 
is  possible ;  or  in  lieu  thereof,  State  legislation 
as  nearly  uniform  as  possible,  encouraging 
combinations  of  persons  and  capital  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  on  industries,  but  per- 
mitting State  supervision,  not  of  a  character 
to  hamper  industries,  but  sufficient  to  pre- 
vent frauds  upon  the  public."  Before  the 
same  commission  Mr.  John  D.  Archbold  testi- 
fied as  follows: 

"If  you  should  ask  me,  gentlemen,  what 
legislation  can  be  imposed  to  improve  the 
present  condition,  I  answer  that  the  next  great 
and,  to  my  mind,  inevitable  step  of  progress 
in  the  direction  of  our  commercial  develop- 
ment lies  in  the  direction  of  national  or 
Federal  corporations.  If  such  corporations 
should  be  made  possible,  under  such  fair  re- 
striction and  provisions  as  should  rightfully 
attach  to  them,  any  branch  of  business  could 
be  freely  entered  upon  by  all  comers,  and  the 
talk  of  monopoly  would  be  forever  done  away 
with.  Our  present  system  of  State  corpora- 
tions, almost  as  varied  in  their  provisions  as 
the  number  of  States,  is  vexatious  alike  to  the 
business  community  and  to  the  authorities 
of  the  various  States.  Such  Federal  action 
need  not  take  away  from  these  States  their 
right  to  taxation  or  police  regulation,  but 
would  make  it  possible  for  business  organiza- 
tions to  know  the  general  terms  on  which 
they  could  conduct  their  business  in  the 
country  at  large.  Lack  of  uniformity  in  the 
laws  of  various  States,  as  affecting  business 
corporations,  is  one  of  the  most  vexatious 
features  attending  the  business  life  of  any 
great  corporation  today,  and  I  suggest  for 
your  most  careful  consideration  the  thought 
of  a  Federal  corporation  law." 

Some  of  President  Roosevelt's  recent 
speeches  are  simply  an  amplification  of  this 
recommendation.  Mr.  H.  H.  Rogers  and 
Mr.  E.  C.  T.  Dodd,  both  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company,  gave  expression  to  similar  opin- 
ions ;  and  that  these  are  still  the  views  of  the 
men  who  have  built  up  the  American  oil  in- 
dustry is  shown  by  the  following  statement, 
prepared  by  Mr.  Dodd  for  use  in  this  article : 

'  'A  corporation  created  by  one  State  of 
our  Federal  Union  has  no  rights  in  other 
States  which  they  are  bound  to  respect,  save 
only  the  right  to  carry  on  inter-State  com- 
merce, which  right  is  controlled  solely  by 
Congress.     All  other  rights  of  so-called  for- 


eign corporations  depend  upon  State  comity, 
and  the  corporation  may  not  even  question 
the  constitutionality  of  a  law  which  deprives 
it  of  the  right  to  do  business  in  a  foreign  State. 

"Business  on  a  large  scale  is  almost  neces- 
sarily conducted  by  corporations  and  it  can- 
not be  limited  by  State  lines.  Corporations 
should,  therefore,  have  a  more  substantial 
right  to  carry  on  business  through  the  Union 
than  the  vague  and  revocable  license  of  State 
comity.  Such  a  right  can  only  be  conferred 
by  an  act  of  Congress  under  which  corpora- 
tions may  be  chartered  with  power  to  do  busi- 
ness in  all  the  States  and  Territories,  subject 
to  such  restrictions  as  Congress  may  deem  it 
wise  to  impose.  Such  a  law  would  be  availed 
of  for  incorporation  if  its  provisions  were  such 
as  reasonably  to  protect  creditors,  stock- 
holders and  the  public,  while  not  unneces- 
sarily impeding  the  carrying  on  of  legitimate 
business  on  a  large  scale.  No  such  law  can  be 
enacted  without  amendment  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.  Such  an  amendment  is,  there- 
fore, demanded  not  only  for  the  better  pro- 
tection of  the  public,  but  also  in  the  interest 
of  our  growing  manufactures  and  commerce.  " 

While  calling  upon  Mr.  John  A.  McCall, 
P  esident  of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance 
Company,  I  found  that  Mr.  McCall  was  at 
work  upon  an  address  to  be  delivered  before 
the  National  Convention  of  State  Insurance 
Officials  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  in  which  he  advo- 
cated exactly  such  a  Federal  corporation 
law  as  that  proposed  by  Mr.  Rockefeller  and 
Mr.  Archbold,  and  for  the  same  reasons. 
"If,"  said  Mr.  McCall,  "a  State  chooses  to 
exercise  its  full  pow.ers  over  foreign  corpora- 
tions (that  is,  corporations  formed  in  other 
States),  it  need  not  stop  short  of  absolute 
exclusion ;  it  may  consequently,  so  far  as  legal 
authority  is  concerned,  impose  conditions 
which  are  unreasonable  and  onerous,  both 
with  regard  to  requirements,  as  well  as  with 
respect  to  license  fee  and  taxation.  The 
corporation  in  such  cases  has  no  remedy  in 
the  courts,  even  if  the  conditions  are  un- 
conscionable; it  can  escape  injustice  only  by 
ceasing  to  expose  itself  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
laws  which,  make  unjust  requirements."  He 
concludes  '  'that  an  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution is  necessary  to  secure  National  super- 
vision and  control  of  insurance  companies." 
And  almost  paraphrasing  Mr.  Rockefeller,  he 
advises  that  "pending  such  an  amendment," 
efforts  be  made  '  'to  secure  uniform  laws  for 


2784 


TRUSTS    AS    THEIR    MAKERS    VIEW   THEM 


taxation  and  other  purposes  in  order  that 
policy  holders  may  be  protected  against  the 
crude  and  oftentimes  destructive  legislation 
proposed  in  some  of  the  States." 

The  disorder,  loss  and  inconvenience  re- 
sulting to  corporations  from  the  wide  differ- 
ences between  State  laws,  the  unending 
litigation  to  which  these  give  rise,  and  the 
inducements  they  offer  to  trust-baiting  and 
blackmailing  suits,  were  repeatedly  men- 
tioned by  the  industrial  leaders  whose  views 
on  the  President's  proposal  were  invited,  as 
the  strongest  possible  argument  in  favor  of  a 
Federal  corporation  law.  Instances  were 
given  of  States  creating  corporations  for  the 
purpose  of  doing  business  which  is  unlawful 
in  the  State  that  confers  the  charter,  and 
even  for  the  purpose  of  working  in  violation 
of  the  laws  of  the  foreign  State  in  which  it 
operates.  A  systematic  canvass  of  the  men 
who  manage  the  principal  industrial  combi- 
nations reveal  with  but  one  exception  a 
striking  unanimity  of  approval  of  President 
Roosevelt's  proposal.  The  single  exception 
is  that  of  the  Sugar  Trust,  which  '  'did  not 
care  what  the  President  thought  or  did.  " 

At  the  same  time  it  is  generally  conceded 
that  without  a  Constitutional  amendment  a 
Federal  corporation  law  is  impossible,  and 
that  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  Constitu- 
tional amendment  are  so  great  that  years 
must  elapse  before  the  proposed  remedy — or 
relief,  as  the  State-badgered  trusts  regard  it — 
will  be  available.  Judge  Gary,  of  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation,  even  thinks  it  im- 
possible. '  'From  the  standpoint  of  our 
corporation,"  he  says,  'T  see  no  objection 
to  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  which 
shall  permit  an  act  of  Congress  providing  for 
Federal  inspection ;  but  it  is  doubtful  at  least 
if  this  is  a  practical  question.  If  such  an 
amendment  is  proposed  it  will  probably  be 
opposed  by  substantially  all  the  Democrats 
and  a  large  percentage  of  Republicans.  Few, 
if  any,  of  the  States  will  be  willing  to  give  to 
the  Federal  Government  control  of  questions 
which  are  now  reserved  to  the  States.  More- 
over," he  adds,  "I  believe  the  laws  now  in 
force  are  amply  sufficient  to  protect  stock- 
holders, and  consumers  or  users  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  corporations,  against  wrong  or  injury. 
In  my  opinion,  the  greatest  danger  to  be 
feared  is  that,  as  a  result  of  hasty  con- 
sideration or  improper  motives,  there  will 
be  enactments  or  prosecutions  calculated  to 


do  very  much  greater  harm  tdtimately  to  the 
masses  than  the  good  which,  ostensibly  at 
least,  is  sought. " 

A  kindred  fear  is  expressed  by  another 
industrial  leader,  who  has  happily  joined 
sociological  research  to  the  practical  experi- 
ence of  a  long  business  career.  '  'The  danger 
is,"  says  this  gentleman,  "that  political  and 
journalistic  rivalries,  sensational  editorials 
and  lying  cartoons  will,  in  a  country  with 
universal  suffrage,  influence  public  sentiment 
until  it  crystalizes  into  unjust  and  confisca- 
tory laws  which  will  hamper  industry  and 
injure  alike  the  interest  of  labor  and  of  capi- 
tal."  At  the  same  time  this  gentleman  says  : 
"President  Roosevelt's  idea  of  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution,  giving  National 
control  of  great  National  forces,  is  a  good  one 
if  practicable.  It  would  bring  order  out  of 
the  political  and  industrial  chaos  which,  so  far 
as  State  laws  are  concerned,  prevails  in  the 
United  States.  They  are  like  the  old  practice 
in  shipping  goods  before  the  days  of  fast 
freight  lines — marking  them  in  care  of  a 
'transfer  agent'^  at  the  State  line,  and 
actually  rehandling  the  goods  at  every 
'transfer  point."  " 

Concerning  the  President's  advocacy  of 
publicity  as  a.  remedy  for  certain  corporate 
abuses,  there  is  considerable  diversity  of 
opinion  among  the  men  who  would  be  most 
affected  by  it.  One  of  the  best-known 
"captains  of  industry"  points  out  that  pub- 
licit}'  is  alread}'  obtained  by  the  periodical 
examination,  under  oath,  of  corporation  man- 
agers by  the  various  industrial  commissioners 
appointed  by  State  and  Federal  governments. 
Another  produces  a  copy  of  Moody's  Manual 
and  reads  out  the  balance  sheet  of  the  great 
corporation  of  which  he  is  president.  "Can 
any  one  desire  greater  publicity  than  this  ? ' 
he  asks.  Still  another  draws  attention  to 
the  injury  which  he  would  sustain  by  the 
publication  of  facts  which  would  reveal  his 
business  secrets — sources  of  supply  of  raw 
material,  methods  of  manufacture,  names  of 
customers,  etc.  Even  a  statement  of  profits 
may  be  prejudicial  to  some  corporations; 
and  these  will  resist  the  passing  of  any  very 
drastic  measure. 

Judge  Gary,  however,  says: 

'  'There  should  be  no  objection  to  pub- 
licity concerning  the  business  of  corporations. 
I  have  always  strongly  advocated  this  doc- 
trine.    The  United  States  Steel  Corporation 


TRUSTS    AS    THEIR    MAKERS    VIEW    ITIEM 


2785 


has  been  frequently  complimented  by  the 
press  because  of  the  public  statements  which 
arc  regularly  made  and  published." 

The  strongest  opposition  is  made  to  the 
President's  proposal  of  government  super- 
vision of  corporations,  which  is  involved  in 
liis  demand  for  enforced  publicity.  "Shall 
an  inspector  be  sent  into  every  industrial 
establishment,"  asks  one  manufacturer  "to 
see  that  its  accounts  are  properly  kept  and 
all  transactions  in  order  as  he  may  construe 
it  ?  If  so,  it  will  be  gravely  resented.  What 
is  possible  in  the  case  of  banking  institutions, 
where  only  one  commodity  is  dealt  in,  where 
transactions  are  simple  and  easily  traced, 
where  methods  remain  unchanged  from  year 
to  year  and  experts  are  common,  is  utterly 
impossible  in  a  manufacturing  establishment. 
There  processes  change  from  day  to  day; 
new  methods  are  constantly  being  adopted; 
and  the  expert  of  last  year  is  a  mere  tyro 
today — so  swift  is  the  movement.  Moreover, 
it  is  government  interference  with  private 
affairs.  The  mere  magnitude  of  the  corpora- 
tion does  not  change  this  fact,  nor  rob  the 
espionage  to  which  it  may  be  subjected  of  its 
vexatious  features  and  still  more  intolerable 
possibilities." 

On  the  other  hand,  some  corporations  have 
nothing  to  conceal,  and  frankly  avow  their 
readiness  to  throw  open  their  books  and  their 
business  to  any  government  inspection  sanc- 
tioned by  law.  The  more  general  feeling, 
however,  is  that  anything  like  close  super- 
vision will  prove  impracticable,  and  that 
publicity  will  be  incomplete,  especially  in  the 
cases  where  it  is  most  needed. 

There  is  one  aspect  of  this  subject  which 
is  deserving  of  emphasis,  and  that  is  the 
tendency  everywhere  visible  among  what  are 
called  trust  magnates  toward  a  more  elevated 
moral  plane.  The  evils  and  abuses  of  cor- 
porate power  are  being  remedied  by  the 
demands  of  the  higher  industrial  life  which 
we  are  reaching.  The  position  of  the  man 
who  directs  an  anny  of  workers  and  controls 
the  collected  savings  of  thousands  of  his 
fellow-men — and    women — is    so    lofty    that 


even  if  liis  natural  inclination  were  to  dis' 
honesty,  he  is  too  cons[)icuous  to  indulge  it- 
A  sensational  rumor  tliat  such  an  industrial 
leader  has  been  seen  at  a  roulette  table  is 
cabled  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  brings  an 
avalanche  of  protest  from  investors.  The 
kings  of  finance  and  the  lords  of  industry  live 
in  as  fierce  a  light  as  that  which  beat  on 
Tranby  Croft.  Moreover,  they  are  subject 
to  the  sleepless  scrutiny  of  each  other.  In 
no  place  is  commercial  integrity  valued  more 
than  in  the  purlieus  of  Wall  Street;  and  there 
is  rarely  room  on  the  directorate  of  any  great 
corporation  for  one  whose  record  is  not  clean. 
The  grosser  forms  of  dishonesty  are  fast 
being  eliminated  from  American  commercial 
life;  and  although  stock-jobbing  presidents 
and  directors  are  not  extinct,  they  are  ever 
growing  less  numerous.  Mr.  James  B.  Dill, 
the  great  legal  authority  on  trusts,  says  that 
at  a  recent  directors'  meeting  of  one  of  these 
great  corporations,  a  resolution  was  passed 
'  'that  it  was  the  consensus  of  opinion  that 
no  director  or  officer  of  the  company  should 
avail  himself  of  this  advance  knowledge  (of 
the  increased  value  of  the  company's  property) 
to  purchase  any  of  the  stock  of  the  company 
on  the  market,  before  the  statement  was  made 
to  the  public."  And  in  further  illustration 
of  the  higher  conception  of  the  duty  of  direc- 
tors now  becoming  general,  he  quotes  the 
following  statement  from  the  recent  report 
of  one  of  the  large  corporations,  published 
and  signed  by  the  executive  officer: 

'  'The  total  number  of  stockholders  of  the 
company,  immediately  after  its  organization, 
was  about  1,300.  The  total  now  is  5,153,  of 
which  1,860  are  women.  Trustees  as  we  are 
for  this  large  and  constantly  increasing  body 
of  stockholders,  many  of  them  women,  some 
of  them  the  widows  and  children  of  former 
associates,  all  of  them  entitled  to  the  best 
service  we  can  give  them,  we  must  and  do 
feel  that  the  administration  of  this  great 
property  is  a  trust  of  the  highest  and  most 
sacred  character,  and  while  it  is  in  our  charge 
we  shall  ever  strive  to  administer  it  in  this 
spirit. " 


AN    AMERICAN    BUILDER    IN    ENGLAND 

THE  WORK  OF  MR.  JAMES  C.  STEWART  WHICH  HAS  BROUGHT  NEW 
RESULTS  WITH  BRITISH  LABOR— THE  ENGLISH  LABORING  MAN 
CAN    BE    TRAINED    TO    SPEED    IF    HE     IS    MANAGED    PROPERLY 

BY 

AN  ENGLISH  CORRESPONDENT  OF  "THE  WORLD'S  WORK" 


THE  experiences  and  achievements  of 
^Ir.  James  C.  Stewart  as  a  supervising 
engineer  and  general  manager  of 
large  construction  undertakings  in  England — 
short  as  his  career  in  England  has  been — are  so 
notable  that  they  may  profitably  be  recounted 
in  detail  in  pages  where  efficiency  is  an  ideal. 
It  has  been  often  a  subject  for  comment 
that  building  and  engineering  operations  in 
England  should  consume  so  much  time  and 
cost  so  much  more  money  than  in  the  United 
States.  When  the  capital  of  Americans 
came  to  be  invested  in  British  construction, 
this  difference  in  methods  attracted  their 
attention.  One  of  the  latest  and  largest 
building  enterprises  in  England  in  which 
American  capital  is  concerned  is  the  plant  of 
the  British Westinghouse  Company  atTrafford 
Park,  near  Manchester.  After  buying  130 
acres  of  land  located  upon  the  Ship  Canal, 
this  company  planned  to  erect  buildings 
covering  sixty-four  acres;  large  oflfice  build- 
ings, iron  and  steel  foundries,  shops  for  foun- 
dry supplies,  pattern  and  storage  shops, 
girder  yards,  box  factories,  drying  and  dip- 
ping rooms,  engine  rooms,  boiler  rooms,  and 
many  smaller  offices  and  workmen's  dwellings. 
The  larger  houses  were  all  to  be  of  the  steel 
construction  so  much  used  in  America,  but 
so  little  seen  here.  Such  structures  are 
wholly  built  of  great  steel  uprights  and  girders, 
the  walls  being  afterward  filled  in  with  bricks 
and  terra-cotta.  Also,  every  known  manner 
of  labor-saving  device  was  to  be  employed, 
such  as  the  automatic  riveter  for  joining 
girders  together,  which  strikes  1,500  blows 
per  minute,  as  against  200  usually  struck  by 
hand.  Bricklayers  were  not  to  be  served  by 
old-fashioned  hodcarriers,  but  by  barrow- 
hoists  which  would  raise  20,000  bricks  each 
per  hour,  besides  loads  of  mortar.  In  spite 
of  all  these  appliances,  the  estimate  of  the 
English  contractors  to  whom  the  work  was 
given  was  that,  following  ordinary  methods  of 


construction,  it  would  take  five  years  to 
complete.  Upon  this  estimate  they  began 
work,  and  for  several  months  were  engaged 
in  laying  foundations. 

It  then  occurred  to  the  American  directors 
of  the  British  Westinghouse  Company  that 
there  was  no  reason  why  an  experiment  in 
American  building  should  not  be  made,  for  if 
it  succeeded  and  the  plant  was  consequently 
ready  even  two  years  earlier  than  expected, 
they  would  be  in  an  advantageous  position  as 
regarded  their  shareholders,  to  whom  excuses 
for  the  delay  in  starting  the  work  had  alread}- 
been  necessary.  Therefore  they  asked  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  James  Stewart  &  Co., 
of  New  York,  Pittsburg  and  St.  Louis,  to 
come  over  and  see  what  could  be  done  in  the 
way  of  "hustling"  with  British  labor.  This 
firm  is  well  known  in  America  for  the  size  of 
its  undertakings  and  the  speed  with  which  it 
has  accomplished  them. 

Such  was  the  reputation  which  caused  the 
British  Westinghouse  Company  to  appeal  to 
Mr.  Stewart  to  help  them  out  at  Tralford 
Park.  The  record  which  he  has  made  for 
himself  there  has  now  filled  his  hands  with 
work  in  all  parts  of  England,  until  it  looks  as  if 
he  will  not  be  permitted  to  return  home.  It 
should  be  clearly  understood,  however,  that  in 
none  of  the  many  enterprises  with  which  he  is 
associated  here  is  he  a  contractor  as  he  is  in 
America.  He  is  engaged  as  a  consulting  and 
supervising  engineer  upon  work  for  the  most 
part  already  in  the  hands  of  British  contrac- 
tors. In  other  words,  he  is  aYankee  "hustler," 
engaged  to  stir  up  the  easy-going  British  con- 
tractor, as  well  as  the  British  laborer.  He 
arrived  at  Trafiford  Park  in  April,  1901,  with 
seven  young  Americans  to  assist  him.  He 
found  236  men  at  work.  Within  a  week  he 
had  under  him  2,600  British  workmen.  At 
times  they  had  as  many  as  3,758  men  under 
them.  They  also  used  British  material  where- 
ever  possible,  15,000  tons  of  steel  at  $90  per 


AN   AMERICAN   BUILDER   IN    ENGLAND 


278; 


obtained    from 


Middlesbrough. 


tort    being 

The  timber — more  than  9,000,000  feet — came 

from  America. 

At  this  date  it  must  be  understood  that 
from  450  to  600  bricks  per  day,  according  to 
the  character  of  the  work,  was  looked  upon 
as  the  usual  nine-hour  day's  work  of  the 
British  bricklayer,  while  in  America  the 
same  artisan  lays  an  average  of  2,000  bricks 
and  has  done  as  much  as  2,700.  Mr.  Stewart 
rightly  concluded  that  here  was  to  be  found 
one  of  the  principal  causes  of  delay,  and  he 
set  out  firmly  to  see  what  could  be  done  to 
encourage  the  British  workman  to  speed. 
Every  known  method  was  tried.  One  day 
there  would  be  a  posse  of  twenty  special 
policemen  on  the  ground  ready  for  emer- 
gencies. The  next  would  see  the  manager 
presenting  a  ten  guinea  suit  of  clothes  to  a 
foreman  for  an  expeditious  achievement. 
In  the  very  beginning  was  instituted  a  system 
of  daily  progress  reports  from  each  of  the 
seventy-five  foremen  or  sub-foremen.  The 
walls  of  ^Ir.  Stewart's  office  were  lined  with 
row  after  row  of  these  files.  They  showed  the 
quantity  of  material  received,  the  amount 
used,  hours  on  the  job,  number  of  men 
engaged,  average  amount  of  work  done  per 
man,  causes  of  delay,  and  material  needed 
for  the  next  day's  work.  These  reports 
came  in  daily,  and  they  showed  at  once  how 
the  work  proceeded.  Also  there  came  a 
special  report  each  morning  from  the  firm's 
representative  at  the  various  steel  foundries, 
announcing  the  daily  output,  tons  tested  and 
despatched,  and  so  forth.  Consequently  the 
supply  always  kept  pace  with  the  demand, 
while  the  grounds  around  the  buildings  were 
not  blocked  with  material  waiting  to  be  used. 
The  first  two  weeks,  while  this  organization 
was  being  built  up,  showed  that  a  great  deal 
too  much  money  was  being  spent  for  the  work 
done.  But  by  this  time  they  had,  as  far  as 
bricklaying  was  concerned,  reached  900  bricks 
per  day  per  man,  and  by  a  constant  process 
of  elimination  this  was  raised  to  the  amazing 
(in  England)  figure  of  1,800  per  nine-hour 
day  per  man,  with  2,500  per  day  per  man  on 
the  plainest  work. 

Of  course,  such  work  brought  trouble  from 
the  trades  unions,  of  which  the  most  pro- 
gressive were  startled  at  such  overturning  of 
rules  for  the  employment  of  the  less  capable 
many  instead  of  the  more  capable  few.  But 
Mr.  Stewart  was  always  ready  to  meet  the 


delegates  and  confer  with  them.  lie  defined 
his  position  very  plainly.  He  was  willing  to 
work  with  union  men,  and  in  every  way 
according  to  union  rules.  To  the  bricklayers, 
for  instance,  he  gave  elevenpence  per  hour, 
instead  of  the  tenpence  for  which  the  Union 
stipulated,  but  he  made  it  as  clear  as  possible 
that  he  was  going  to  have  the  bricks  laid,  that 
he  intended  to  be  the  master  of  his  own  works, 
that  the  delegates  were  not  going  to  "boss" 
the  business,  that  the  slowest  man  was  not  to 
set  the  pace,  and  that  each  man  would  have 
to  do  his  utmost  under  men  who  would  see 
that  the  work  was  carried  out.  The  alterna- 
tive was  that  the  unions  would  be  disre- 
garded entirely  and  other  men  employed  to 
do  the  work.  Ultimately  an  excellent  under- 
standing was  reached,  which  existed  to  the 
last. 

Early  in  the  operations  there  was  some 
trouble  with  the  joiners.  The  manager  asked 
that  the  men  should  curtail  their  time  at 
noon  to  half  an  hour,  and  stop  half  an 
hour  earlier  in  the  evening  instead.  This  was 
so  directly  opposed  to  the  union  rule  for  the 
noonday  pipe  that  the  men  refused,  and 
quitted  work  by  way  of  protest.  As  the  man- 
ager held  that  they  had  been  in  no  way  badly 
treated,  he  refused  to  have  any  conferences 
on  the  subject,  and  475  joiners  were  at  once 
secured  to  take  the  places  of  those  who  had 
struck.  The  wages  paid  on  this  work,  as  on 
the  bricklaying,  were  such  as  to  give  the 
employers  the  choice  of  all  the  workmen  in 
the  Manchester  district,  and  to  enable  them 
quickly  to  eliminate  all  undesirable  or  "  go- 
easy"  artisans.  And  it  was  a  wise  invest- 
ment, this  advance  of  ten  per  cent,  on  the 
local  wage,  for  it  enabled  the  manager  to 
secure  one  hundred  per  cent,  increase  in  the 
value  of  the  work  secured. 

Mr.  Stewart  took  charge  of  the  work  in  April, 
1 90 1,  and  in  the  fir.st  part  of  January,  1902, 
the  whole  of  the  superstructure  was  finished, 
a  record  which  made  him  the  most  talked-of 
man  in  the  British  building  world.  Over 
$500,000  had  been  paid  out  to  British  labor 
(there  were  never  more  than  ten  Americans 
employed  in  the  work),  and  more  than 
10,000,000  bricks  had  been  laid. 

Of  course  a  great  deal  of  discussion  was 
caused  by  this  record  made  by  the  Yankee 
boss  and  British  laborer  working  together, 
and  all  sorts  of  opinions  were  expressed. 
Prominent  trades  union  leaders  said  they  did 


2/88 


AN    AMERICAN   BUILDER    IX    ENGLAND 


not  believe  the  figures  put  forward  as  to  the 
number  of  bricks  laid  (they  could  not  deny 
the  time  in  which  the  work  was  finished),  and 
they  predicted  that  the  work  was  so  badly 
done  that  the  first  shock  of  machinery  in 
operation  would  shake  it  all  down.  Mr. 
Stewart  was  called  upon  to  tell  how  he  had 
done  the  work.  Had  it  been  done,  as  the 
animal  trainers  say,  "  all  by  kindness  "  ?  In  a 
way  it  had  been,  although  there  was  no  hesi- 
tation about  showing  the  iron  hand  when 
necessarj-.  But  Mr.  Stewart  believes  that  the 
secret  of  success  lay  not  so  much  in  this  as  in 
constant  and  kindly  communication  with  the 
individual  men.  He  would  go  among  them 
constantly  with  a  hearty  "Good-morning, 
bo3's!"  and  with  frequent  encouragement  of 
all  kinds  for  good  work  done.  He  fully  proved 
that  the  volume  of  the  work  had  not  been 
exaggerated;  and  finally  in  response  to  fre- 
quent requests  for  an  opinion  on  the  subject, 
he  wrote  down  the  following  maxims  in  con- 
nection with  his  experience  in  the  unusually 
successful  employment  of  British  workmen: 

"First,  the  men  must  satisfy  themselves  that 
thej^  are  to  be  paid  good  wages. 

"Second,  the  man  who  has  general  charge  of  the 
work  must  understand  his  own  business,  and  have 
his  work  done  in  his  own  way,  in  his  own  time,  and 
by  his  own  methods. 

"It  may  seem  strange  to  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try, but  it  is  a  fact,  that  the  British  bricklayers  who 
go  to  America  work  side  by  side  there  with  the  best 
American  bricklajxrs  and  equal  their  average. 

"It  may  be  to  the  point  if  I  add  that  besides 
bricklaying  we  have  achieved  results  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  British  Westinghouse  Company's 
works  at  Manchester  not  less  notable  than  those 
to  which  so  much  reference  has  been  made.  For 
instance,  results  have  been  obtained  here  by  British 
carpenters  just  as  quickly  and  as  cheaply  as  I  have 
ever  accomplished  similar  work  in  America. 

'"To  the  unbiased  mind,  facts  like  these  afford 
conclusive  proof  that  British  workmen,  if  they 
diligently  apph'  themselves,  do  as  much  as  the 
workmen  of  any  other  countr}-. 

"Finally,  I  will  say  with  regard  to  Union  men 
that  if  our  work  has  been  rapidly  executed,  it  has 
been  greatly  due  to  the  interest  that  has  been  taken 
by  the  representative  of  the  Unions  concerned  in 
securing  for  us  the  best  men  that  could  be  obtained." 

Mr.  Stewart  has  further  said:  "There  is 
plenty  of  snap  in  the  British  workman  if  you 
only  let  him  see  there  is  snap  in  you.  "  He  is 
not  lagging  in  the  utilization  of  the  force  he 
has  more  or  less  discovered  and  trained,  for 
he  has  undertaken  to  "hustle"  various  long- 
delayed  jobs  for  the  Midland  Railway,  becom- 
ing in  fact  a  consulting  and  supervising 
engineer  on  special  work.  He  has  already 
made  another  record  in  stack-construction  on 


the  great  chimney  he  has  erected  for  the 
Mersey  Tunnel  Power  Station  at  Birkenhead 
He  also  has  charge  of  the  work  upon  the 
tunnel  itself  under  the  Mersey  River  from 
Liverpool  to  Birkenhead,  and  of  the  Yerkes 
Power  Plant  for  the  electrification  of  the 
Underground  Railway.  Besides  this,  he  is 
flooded  with  offers  to  take  hold  of  other  work 
for  which  he  cannot  yet  find  time.  This,  too, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  has  warned  British 
manufacturers  against  what  he  considers 
their  too  conservative  methods.  They  do 
not,  he  sa^'s,  appreciate  the  value  of  the  scrap 
pile.  Experience  has  taught  the  American  that 
ten  3'ears  is  about  the  life  of  any  mechanical 
appliance,  or  rather  that  there  is  a  revolution 
every  decade  in  methods  of  manufacturing. 
So  Americans  only  build  their  machines  with 
this  time  limit  before  them,  whereas  the 
Englishman  takes  time  to  make  his  machine 
good  enough  to  outlast  its  usefulness. 

This  record  raises  the  question:  "What 
of  the  British  architect  or  contractor  ?  Is  he 
not  first  of  all  a  little  above  his  work,  a  little 
ashamed  of  it,  and  anxious  to  conceal  his 
connection  with  labor?  Does  he  not  leave 
things  too  much  in  the  hands  of  his  foreman  ? 
Is  it  not  again  the  old  trouble  that  labor  is  a 
disgrace  to  a  gentleman  in  England,  whereas 
it  is  an  honor  in  America  ?  Or,  to  go  further 
still,  is  there  not  a  crying  need  in  British  con- 
struction generally  for  a  strenuous  middle 
man,  a  manager,  between  the  architect  and 
the  laborer,  to  see  that  the  one  properly  and 
promptly  carries  out  the  work  of  the  other?" 

Why,  when  the  very  feat  of  bricklaying 
described  here  was  made  public,  some  pro- 
gressive member  of  the  London  County 
Council,  knowing  the  interminable  delays 
attending  all  work  done  by  that  body,  tried 
to  discover  what  was  the  average  of  the  brick- 
layers in  their  employ.  All  that  could  be  got 
out  of  the  committee  in  charge  was  that  they 
laid  something  more  than  330  bricks  per  man 
per  day  of  nine  hours — say  forty  bricks  per 
hour.  The  committee  had  to  confess  that  it 
could  not  obtain  any  reliable  information, 
owing  to  the  absence  of  any  details  as  to  the 
actual  cost  of  brickwork  to  the  department  I 
And  the  public  seemed  to  receive  this  astound- 
ing revelation  with  complete  indifference. 
Truly  the  "Wake  up,  England"  campaign, 
even  with  the  public  support  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  has  yet  need  of  converts  in  other 
quarters  than  in  the  laborer's  cottage. 


CAN  ARBITRATION  IN  LABOR  TROUBLES 

BE  EFFECTIVE? 

AT  the  National  Convention  of  Employer  is  'compromise,'  and  there  is  nothing  more 

and  Employee,  recently  held  in  Min-  mischievous     than     a     compromise     on    any 

neapolis,  the  most  important  of  the  question    of    principle.     Si)eaking    from    the 

many  important  questions  discussed  was  that  point   of  view   of   one   whose   entire   time  is 

of  arbitration.     Strong  and  timely  addresses  occupied    in    adjusting    differences    between 

were  delivered  by  such  men   as   John    Bates  employer  and  employee   in   the  coal  mining 

Clark,   Professor  of    Economics  at  Columbia  industry   of    Illinois,    I    say   that   arbitration 

University;  Herman  Justi,   Commissioner  of  should  never  be  resorted  to  save  in  an  cxtrem- 

the  Illinois  Coal  Operators'  Association,  and  ity,  and  that  the  energy   and    industry   dis- 

Frederick  \V.  Job,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  played    in    advocating    its    general    adoption 

Arbitration  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  could  be  better  applied  to  all  those  simpler 

Professor  Clark  discussed :   "  Is  Compulsory  and  more  practical   methods   of   adjustment 

Arbitration  Inevitable?"    In  part  he  said :  designed    to   render  arbitration    unnecessary. 

"The  existence  of  trusts  puts  many  strikes  "The  coal  operators  and  coal  miners  of 
on  an  entirely  new  footing.  A  motive  for  Illinois  came  together  in  1898  and  adopted 
yielding  to  strikes  is  removed.  When  one  what  is  known  in  the  bituminous  coal  fields 
employer  out  of  a  score  or  a  hundred  in  the  of  the  Central  States  as  the  system  of  'joint 
same  industry  finds  that  his  men  have  gone  agreements,'  or  what  is  called  in  the  school 
on  a  strike,  he  is  tmder  strong  pressure  to  of  economics  a  system  of  'joint  bargaining.' 
make  concessions  to  them.  A  trust  has  no  A  wiser,  fairer,  more  equitable  system  has 
such  rivalry  to  fear  and  can  bide  its  time  never  been  devised.  .  .  .  But  to  me  it  seems 
before  yielding  to  its  men.  On  the  other  that  we  can  never  agree  in  this  country  on 
hand,  the  trust  has  much  to  gain,  first  by  compulsory  arbitration,  though  in  quasi-pub- 
holding  out  till  its  men  are  near  the  end  of  lie  enterprises  there  are  times  when  it  might 
their  resources,  and  then  making  some  small  seem  to  be  desirable.  Some  law  may  be 
concession  that  will  bring  them  back  to  their  needed  to  prevent  strikes  and  lockouts  where, 
work.  It  can  charge  the  cost  of  such  a  con-  by  reason  of  these,  travel  is  stopped  or  ren- 
cession  to  the  public  and  exact  a  large  profit  dered  hazardous,  or  w^here  the  supply  of  light 
besides.  and  water  is    shut  off.      When   such   a   law. 

The  only  compulsory  arbitration  I  am  will-  however,  is  enacted,  it  must  not  be  left  to  the 
ing  to  recognize  as  possible  .  .  .  says  to  a  agents  of  great  corporations,  to  our  labor 
body  of  strikers,  'Continue  at  work  while  we  organizations,  or  to  the  amateurs  now  clamor- 
investigate  your  claims.  If  you  demand  only  ing  for  it,  but  it  must  be  drafted  by  the  most 
that  natural  rate  of  pay  which  represents  experienced,  the  wisest,  the  fairest  and  the 
what  you  produce,  you  shall  be  protected  in  most  far-seeing  students,  not  only  of  political 
your  tenure  of  place.  If  you  ask  more,  we  economy,  but  of  the  existing  conditions." 
will  announce  the  rate  which  is  natural  and  "Arbitration  from  the  Point  of  View  of  an 
fair,  and  give  you  the  first  option  of  accepting  Arbitrator"  was  the  topic  of  Mr.  Frederick 
it.  If  then  you  refuse  to  take  it,  your  tenure  W.  Job.  Among  other  things,  he  said: 
of  place  is  forfeited,  the  employer  may  put  "  At  the  conferences  of  employer,  emplo3'ees 
new  men  in  your  places,  and  they  will  be  pro-  and  our  Board  I  have  always  wondered  why 
tected  by  the  fullest  power  which  the  State  it  was  that  employers  and  emploj'ees  did  not 
can  exercise.'  get  together  the  way  we  did  then,  before  the 

"This    is    the     only    logical     outcome    of  trouble  broke  out,  instead  of  waiting  until  a 

the      present      anomalous     and     intolerable  strike  or  lockout  occurred.     One  of  the  most 

condition."                   '  frequent  causes  of  lockouts  comes  from  the 

Mr.  Herman  Justi,  speaking  on  "  Arbitra-  fact  that  one  side  or  the  other  to  the  disturb- 

tion:   Its  Uses  and  Abuses,"  said:   "Arbitra-  ance  fails  to  recognize  the  fundamental  facts 

tion's   popular,  though    erroneous,   synonym  of  the  relation  which  they  bear  to  each  other. 


2790 


THREE    NOVELISTS    OF    SINCERITY    AND    CHARM 


"The  employer  will  often  fail  to  recognize 
the  fact  that  his  growing  business,  the  changed 
conditions  which  are  attendant  upon  such 
growth,  the  employment  of  new  foremen  and 
bosses  and  the  actual  condition  of  the  laborers 
should  receive  his  careful  attention.  The 
employer,  too,  often  makes  the  mistake  of  not 
getting  closer  to  his  men  and  understanding 
their  situation  and  circumstances.  The  work- 
man, on  the  other  hand,  is  often  too  prone 
to  assume  that  increased  prices,  a  large  estab- 
lishment and  more  material  evidence  of  a 
growing  institution  means  that  all  this  growth 
was  produced  exclusively  as  the  result  of  his 
toil.  He  makes  the  mistake  of  assuming  that 
because  there  are  more  employees  in  the 
factory  than  formerly,  the  manager  or  owner  of 
the  business  has  forgotten  him,  and  that  he 
cannot  see  the  president  or  head  of  the  concern. 

.  .  .  We  coupled  with  our  invitations 
to  combatants  the  guarantees : 

"First — That  a  conference  with  each  other 
and  with  our  Board  would  do  them  no  harm, 
if  it  did  them  no  good,  and  would  at  least 
leave  them  where  we  found  them,  if  it  did  not 
settle  the  trouble. 

"  Second — The  Board  could  be  relied  upon 
to  carry  no  tales  from  one  side  to  another. 

"Third — That  it  would  not  cost  the  con- 
testants one  cent ;  that  the  State  paid  the  bills. 

"We  find  that  when  we  have  reached  the 
point  where  we   can   get   the   employer   and 


employee  to  agree  to  meet  and  reason  to- 
gether, they  are  always  well  on  the  road 
to  reconciliation.  .  .  .  One  of  the  most 
important  features  of  the  present  Illinois 
arbitration  law  provides  that  where  industrial 
disputes  occur  in  which  the  public  is  affected, 
with  reference  to  food,  fuel,  light  or  the 
means  of  communication  or  transportation, 
or  in  any  other  respect,  and  neither  party  to 
such  strike  or  lockout  shall  consent  to  sub- 
mit in  the  matter  of  controversy  to  the  State 
Board  of  Arbitration,  the  Board,  after 
having  first  attempted  to  affect  a  settle- 
ment by  conciliation,  shall  proceed  of  its  own 
motion  to  make  an  investigation  of  all  facts 
bearing  upon  such  disturbance,  and  make 
public  its  findings,  with  such  recommenda- 
tions to  parties  involved  as  in  its  judgment 
will  contribute  to  a  fair  and  equitable  settle- 
ment of  the  differences  which  constitute  the 
cause  of  the  trouble ;  and  in  the  prosecution 
of  such  inquiry  the  Board  has  the  power  to 
issue  subpoenas  and  compel  the  attendance 
and  testimony  of  witnesses,  as  in  other  cases. 
"We  do  not  think  that  there  is  any  short 
cut  to  the  solution  of  all  labor  troubles.  We 
do  not  claim  to  have  a  panacea  for  every  case. 
There  is  one  thing  this  Board  does  find,  how- 
ever, and  that  is  that  a  great  many  employers 
and  employees  who  formerly  were  the  last  to 
consider  the  matter  of  conciliation  or  arbitra- 
tion are  now  the  most  eager  for  it." 


THREE    NOVELISTS    OF    SINCERITY 

AND   CHARM 


MR.  HOPKINSON  SMITH'S  "OLIVER  HORN" 

MR.  F.  HOPKIXSOX  SMITH'S  "Oliver 
Horn  "  is  an  orderly,  well-built,  well- 
bred,  sympathetic  story,  clean  and  lovely; 
and  it  contains  two  pictures  of  life  that  ought 
to  give  it  an  historical  value — a  picture 
of  the  ante-bellum  society  about  "Kennedy 
Square"  in  a  Southern  city,  and  a  picture  of 
the  rollicking  Bohemian  life  in  New  York  in 
the  early  sixties.  It  is  a  book  that  every 
cultivated  reader  will  get  pleasure  from — a 
pleasure,  too,  that  does  not  pass  with  the 
reading. 

The  story  begins  in  a  Southern  city  just 
before  the  Civil  War.  Young  Oliver  Horn, 
well-born  and  intended  by  his  parents  and 


traditions  for  the  law,  must  while  yet  a  bo\ 
earn  his  living,  because  the  family  fortune 
is  waning.  To  work  in  his  native  city  would 
be  to  incur  social  disgrace.  He  therefore 
goes  to  New  York  to  seek  his  fortune,  and  he 
becomes  a  shipping  clerk.  His  ambition  was 
to  become  a  painter,  but  in  his  native  circle 
a  painter  was  regarded  as  a  mere  idler.  The 
story  is  of  Oliver's  toil  to  make  a  living  and 
to  aid  the  mortgage-ridden  family,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  learn  the  art  that  he  must  learn 
for  his  own  development  and  happiness.  His 
long  struggles  in  New  York,  his  happy  love 
experience  and  his  triumph — these  make  the 
perfectly  natural,  smoothly  flowing  story. 
The    tale    takes    the    reader    into    the    New 


THREE    NOVELISTS    OF    SINCERITY    AND    CHARM 


2791 


England  mountains,  too,  where  the  attract- 
ive heroine  Uves;  and  Hfe  there  and  Hfe  at 
the  South  are  brought  into  wide  contrast. 
PoHtical  contrasts,  social  contrasts,  the  con- 
trasts of  occupation,  give  the  book  both 
stability  and  charm. 

But  (as  in  every  novel  that  is  worth  while) 
the  people  in  it  make  it  what  it  is.  Oliver's 
father,  Richard  Horn,  the  old  free  negro 
butler  Malachi,  Oliver's  mother  and  the  inti- 
mate friends  of  the  family — these  all  become 
permanent  additions  to  the  reader's  acquaint- 
ances: charming  ac(|uaintances  every  one  of 
them.  And  there  is  no  other  such  picture 
that  we  recall  of  artist  life  in  New  York  nearly 
half  a  century  ago.  There  are  interesting 
persons,  good  manners,  honest  struggles,  well- 
won  triumph,  good  times  in  the  book,  and  so 
carefully  is  it  all  wrought  out  that  the  inci- 
dental musical  and  artistic  atmosphere  that 
pervades  it  gives  it  an  additional  charm  and 
distinction. 

Mr.  Smith's  "Tom  Grogan"  and  "Caleb 
West,"  to  say  nothing  of  his  shorter  tales, 
were  real  books,  and  not  books  made  to  order; 
but  "Oliver  Horn"  leaves  them  far  behind, 
both  in  its  construction  and  in  its  literary  work- 
manship. It  is  a  tale  to  love  for  its  truth  and 
charm — a  book  to  own  and  to  recall.  Old 
Richard  and  Malachi  will  often  come  to  your 
mind  long  after  you  have  put  in  on  the  shelf, 
and  you  will  find  more  pleasure  in  recalling 
"Oliver  Horn"  than  in  reading  a  long  list 
even  of  the  cleverest  new  stories  that  come  in 
the  flood  of  the  year's  novels.  It  is  the  kind 
of  book  that  would  have  been  written  if  there 
had  never  been  a  flood  of  novels ;  it  is  the  book 
that  Mr.  Smith  has  been  writing  toward  and 
in  preparation  for  since  he  made  his  first  effort 
in  fiction.  The  more  you  think  of  it,  weeks 
after  you  have  read  it,  the  more  grateful  you 
become  for  it,  and  this  notice  of  it  is  meant 
less  as  an  appraisal  than  as  thanks.  It  is 
the  best  product  of  a  very  versatile  man  of 
unusual  gifts  and  grace  and  a  piece  of  fiction 
of  a  very  high  kind  indeed. 

MISS   GLASGOW'S   NOVELS   AND   POEMS 

MISS  GLASGOW  has  now  won  as  enviable 
a  place  as  any  young  writer  of  our 
country  holds ;  for  her  work  has  a  deep  serious- 
ness as  well  as  a  serious  art.  Four  novels  and 
a  book  of  poems  now  stand  to  her  credit,  and 
a  good  measure  can  be  made  from  them  of 
her  achievement  and  of  her  promise. 

Her  earlier  stories,  "The  Descendant"  and 
"Phases  of  an  Inferior  Planet,"  attracted 
attention  because  of  their  remoteness  from 
the  commonplace.  They  were  strongly  indi- 
vidual books.  They  had  nothing  in  common 
ivith  the  mass  of  current  fiction;  they  showed 


a  determination  to  see  life  at  first  hand  and 
to  report  it  frankly.  Miss  Glasgow  revealed 
in  them  the  Southern  love  of  that  ideal  of 
manners  which  is  deferential  and  charming 
to  women  and  resolute  and  commanding  witli 
men;  and  she  showed  courage  and  frankness 
in  the  expression  of  emotion;  but  she  had  a 
wholly  modern  freedom  of  mind,  a  determi- 
nation to  see  life  on  all  sides  and  to  see  it 
with  perfectly  cool  and  clear  vision.  She 
betrayed  a  high  degree  of  femininity,  too,  in 
her  sensitiveness  to  the  charm  of  mature 
social  life,  but  she  showed  also  the  deeper 
insight  which  deals  with  the  formative 
forces  of  character  and  the  courage  which 
does  not  flinch  from  the  darker  facts  of 
existence. 

"The  Descendant"  and  "Phases  of  an 
Inferior  Planet"  were  vigorous,  unconven- 
tional novels,  but  their  material  was  of  that 
kind  of  tragedy  which  lies  aside  from  a  per- 
fectly wholesome  view  of  life.  They  were 
clearly  the  work  of  an  independent  and  vigor- 
ous mind,  more  accustomed  to  study  than  to 
observation.  The  force  of  the  writer  was  in 
advance  of  her  experience;  her  passion  to 
know  life  was  in  excess  of  her  knowledge. 
The  faults  of  the  stories  were  the  kind  of  faults 
that  a  far-sighted  critic  does  not  dwell  on — 
faults  of  a  strong  nature  finding  its  way  to  an 
individual  point  of  view  and  an  individual 
reading  of  experience. 

When  "The  Voice  of  the  People"  appeared 
it  was  clear  that  the  gap  between  vision  and 
knowledge  had  been  closed  and  the  promise 
of  the  earlier  stories  had  been  fulfilled.  This 
novel  happily  illustrates  both  Miss  Glasgow's 
hold  upon  tradition  and  her  open-mindedness. 
It  is  an  admirably  composed  and  shaded 
picture  of  the  old  and  new  South  in  contact 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  conflict.  The 
refinement  and  the  dignity  of  the  old  order, 
expressed  in  the  obsolete  community  that 
it  pictured  and  in  the  bearing  of  its  lovely 
people,  did  not  prevent  her  from  recognizing 
and  placing  as  just  a  value  on  the  dignity  of 
a  strong  character  expressed  in  aspiration  and 
struggle.  The  novel  is  one  of  orderly  develop- 
ment, sane,  wholesome  and  w^ell  balanced. 
Miss  Glasgow  had  passed  from  the  problems 
of  a  very  active  and  vigorous  imagination, 
working  in  surroundings  which  it  had  arbi- 
trarily created,  to  a  simple,  direct  and  deeply 
sympathetic  dealing  with  emotions,  condi- 
tions and  experiences  which  she  knew  at  first 
hand.  The  style  of  the  story  showed  a  sig- 
nificant advance  in  steadiness  and  mastery. 
It  is  well  con  tructed;  the  contrasts  of  ideals 
and  of  conditions  are  striking  but  not  violent ; 
the  action  is  inevitable;  and,  although  it  is 
tragic,  it  is  not  without  a  note  of  hope.     The 


2792 


THREE    NOVELISTS    OF    SINCERITY   AND    CHARM 


background    of    scenery    and    of    history    is 
sketched  accurately,  but  not  too  minutely. 

"The  Battleground"  registered  a  further 
advance  in  her  art.  It  has  the  vigor  of  the 
earlier  stories,  and  it  has  also  a  quality  which 
thev  lacked.  It  is  finely  dispassionate  and, 
in  dealing  with  episodes  and  events  which 
inflame  the  imagination  of  many  writers  in 
the  exact  degree  in  which  they  put  heart  into 
their  work,  it  is  artistically  impersonal.  In 
this,  as  in  the  earlier  stories,  the  reader  feels 
himself  in  contact  with  intellectual  power  of 
a  high  order;  with  a  clear,  cool,  penetrating 
mind  which  works  through  the  imagination, 
but  never  loses  clearness  of  vision  Miss 
Glasgow's  skill  is  evident  in  her  treatment 
of  the  episode  of  the  Civil  War,  which  is 
broadly  presented  by  means  of  significant 
details — details  which,  without  wearying  the 
reader  or  interrupting  the  flow  of  the  narra- 
tive, produce  a  culminative  effect  of  tragic 
significance.  In  "The  Battleground,"  as  in 
"The  Voice  of  the  People,"  the  tragedy  is 
resolved  at  the  end,  as  a  tragedy  in  the  hands 
of  the  greatest  writers  must  be,  in  the  first 
foreshadowing  of  a  new  order. 

In  this  combination  of  sympathy  with  old 
and  comprehension  of  new  conditions,  Miss 
Glasgow,  by  the  way,  holds  a  place  by  herself 
among  the  novelists  of  the  South.  They 
have,  as  a  rule,  felt  the  charm  of  the  older 
social  order  so  keenly  that  they  have  been 
content  to  depict  it  and  to  leave  the  deeply 
interesting  aspects  of  contemporary  life 
unrecorded.  Not  so  she.  Indeed,  she  uses 
her  material,  Southern  or  Northern,  ante- 
bellum or  post-bellum,  as  a  great  writer 
should — for  what  it  is  worth  to  her  purpose 
and  in  her  handling.  She  is  not  a  "  Southern  " 
writer  nor  a  "Northern"  writer,  but  a  writer 
of  human  life  as  it  develops  itself  everywhere 
under  the  conditions  that  her  stories  natur- 
ally find.  She  has  understood  and  practised 
this  law  of  the  best  writing  and  has  escaped 
the  snare  of  provinciality. 

In  this  confidence  in  the  quality  of  her 
material  to  make  its  charm  felt  she  has  shown 
the  independent  vigor  of  her  mind  and  com- 
pelled the  judgment  of  her  work  by  reference 
to  universal  standards.  She  writes  as  a 
woman,  but  with  a  vigorous  masculine  ele- 
ment in  her  work;  a  faculty  of  detachment, 
of  seeing  things  apart  from  her  own  personal 
affiliations,  or  letting  things  speak  for  them- 
selves without  too  much  manipulation  for 
dramatic  effect.  She  has  perhaps  the  richest 
field  that  any  American  novelist  has  taken ;  and 
the  vigor  of  her  mind  and  the  thoroughness  of 
her  methods  make  it  clear  that  she  can  add 
this  great  field  to  the  geography  of  our  per- 
manent American  fiction. 


Miss  Glasgow's  latest  book  is  a  volume  of 
verse,  "The  Freeman  and  Other  Poems":  a 
slender  book,  but  individual  in  thought  and 
expression.  Most  of  these  poems  are  in  the 
mood  of  her  earlier  work.  They  present  some 
of  the  darker  aspects  of  life,  and  present  them 
with  daring  and  vigor.  There  is  an  almost 
uncompromising  effort  to  face  the  worst  and 
to  interpret  it  with  relentless  frankness  and 
with  a  fine  philosophic  courage.  Whether 
this  attitude  represents  a  mood  or  a  convic- 
tion— perhaps  both — it  is  certain  that  in  this 
book,  as  in  her  prose,  there  is  freedom  from 
the  commonplace  and  an  original  power. 
Observe  the  quality  of  the  following: 

The  trumpet  of  the  Judgment  shook  the  night, 
Dust  quickened  and  was  flesh;  grave  clothes 
were  shed; 

With  moaning  of  strong  travail  and  lament, 
The  sea  gave  up  her  dead. 

One,  rising  from  a  rotting  tomb,  beheld 

The  heavens  unfold  beneath  Jehovah's  breath. 

"  Great  God,"  he  cried,  "  with  Thine  etemitj', 
Couldst  Thou  not  leave  me  Death  ?" 

Miss  Glasgow  has  steadily  gained  in  power 
and  in  skill  since  her  first  book.  Her  work 
has  not  yet  reached  her  highest  capacity  She 
has  not  forced  her  growth.  She  has  worked 
without  reference  to  applause  or  to  popu- 
larity, but  in  obedience  to  her  own  high 
standard  as  one  who  works  for  permanent 
distinction.  We  have  no  novelist  who  shows 
a  higher  aim. 

MR.  OWEN  WISTER'S  STORIES  OF  AMERICANISM 

WHAT'S  the  book?"  asked  a  lazy 
voice.  It  was  nearly  midnight  at 
the  Cripple  Creek  Club,  and  the  speaker, 
citizen  of  many  mining  camps,  sprawled 
negligently  in  an  easy  chair. 

The  book  was  "  Lin  McLean.  "  I  explained 
a  little. 

"Author  from  the  East,  3^ou  say  ?"  he  caught 
up.  "Funny  about  these  Eastern  fellers 
chasin'  out  here  to  put  us  in  note-books. 
S'pose  Boston's  forgotten  Bret  Harte — thinks 
this  new  feller's  the  whole  Rocky  Mountain 
shootin'-match,  eh?" 

"No,"  said  I;  "not  yet." 

"  Let  me  see  it, "  he  broke  out  disgustedly. 

When  I  went  to  bed  his  chin  was  resting  on 
his  breast  and  his  eyes  were  galloping  along 
the  lines. 

"Thanks  to  you,"  he  said  next  morning, 
proffering  the  book  as  I  was  climbing  to  a 
dusty  wagon-seat.  "That  feller  knows  his 
business.  He  ain't  Bret  Harte,  but  he's  got 
a  claim,  and  it's  the  real  thing,  sure.  It's  a 
strike.  " 

"I  wish  you'd  keep  it  if  you  like  it,"  I 
ventured. 


MISS    ELLEN    (.1  A.sGOW 

AUTHOR    OF    "THE    BATILEGROUND,"    ETC. 


2/94 


THREE    XU\'ELISTS    OF    SIN'CERITV    AND    CHARIM 


"Wait  a  minute,"  he  jerked  out  to  the 
driver. 

"Say  we  swap."  lie  exclaimed,  returning; 
and  he  handed  me  a  bit  of  blue  rock  all  shiny 
with  pyrites  but  richly  speckled  with  duller 
gold.  I  took  it,  demurring,  for,  commercially, 
it  was  not  a  fair  exchange.  Now,  however,  I 
feel  a  peculiar  fitness  in  the  trade:  my  pros- 
pector's whole-souled  recognition  of  "Lin." 
"the  Governor"  and  the  taciturn  Virginian  as 
living  types  made  his  gold-shot  bit  of  blue 
rock  a  symbol,  in  the  book's  absence,  of  the 
book  itself. 

For  as  Bret  Harte  took  full  measure  of 
Sierran  miners  and  the  full-blooded  life  of 
early  California.  Mr.  Owen  Wister,  not  only 
in  "Lin  .McLean,"  but  in  "Red  Men  and 
"White,  "  "The  Jimmyiohn  Boss"  and  "The 
Virginian,"  has  exploited  the  essential  spirit 
of  frontier  Wyoming  and  Arizona,  "the  Cattle 
people  and  the  Cattle  country,  with  the 
plains  and  mountains  where  they  lived,  all 
wholly  American,  of  our  blood  and  soil." 
And  the  gold  dug  from  Colorado  hills  is  not 
more  precious  than  just  this  large  spirit 
phrased  in  narrative  not  merely  exhilarating 
for  the  graphic  plausibility  of  what  it  tells  but 
inspiring  for  the  deep  suggestiveness  of  what 
it  means.  The  brilliance  of  the  vivid  Western 
background  and  the  tingling  magnetism  radi- 
ated from  the  passionate  frontier  life  in  Mr. 
Wister's  stories  sting  with  the  sort  of  delight 
that  Mr.  Kipling's  narratives  yield.  The 
dramas  develop  with  an  insistency  not  unlike 
the  quality  of  those  tales  that  Bret  Harte 
gave  the  Overland  Moutlily  over  thirty  years 
ago,  and  they  bite  indelibly.  But  there  is 
more.  With  his  quick-pulsed  stories  of 
cowboys  and  Indians  and  soldiers,  hard 
women  of  that  lynch-law  belt  now  gone, 
and  the  gentle  women  "steel-true  and  blade- 
straight"  who  brought  the  refinement  of 
human  sympathy  beyond  the  Missouri  "in 
the  good  old  days  before  the  wire  fence," 
Mr.  Wister's  work  expresses  with  some  success 
what  precious  little  other  American  fiction 
tries  to  express — Americanism. 

Mr.  Wister  is  a  Philadelphian  forty-two 
years  old.  a  Harvard  man  who  went  West 
for  his  health  on  graduation,  and  sixteen 
times  afterward  for  love  of  it.  In  ten  years 
he  has  written  short  stories  of  the  West 
which,  garnered,  make  four  volumes — mathe- 
matically, it  might  be  noted  in  a  slip-shod 
age  of  garrulous,  dictated  fiction,  one  book  in 
each  two  years  and  a  quarter.  Give  credit  for 
loving  artistry  in  that.  Yet  very  slowly  did 
he  enter  his  popular  heritage,  keen  and  quick 
as  some  critics  were  to  see  a  new  force  in  this 
work  that  breathed  so  electricallv  of  a  land 


and  a  people  more  American  than  any  east  of 
them.  But  now  that  "The  Virginian"  has 
come  into  a  blaze  of  popularity,  it  is  well  to 
value  Mr.  Wister's  results. 

Mr.  Kipling  sings  in  a  ballad  "The  East  is 
West  and  the  West  is  East."  In  the  United 
States  the  West  is  Eastern:  the  East  is  verv 
far  from  being  Western.  To  catch  the  deeper 
meaning  of  our  life,  one's  path  must  lie 
toward  that  Western  verge  of  the  continent 
where  all  white  men  are  American-born, 
because  there  only  are  the  culture  and  the 
conservatism  of  the  East,  the  chivalry  and 
the  fire-eating  spirit  of  the  South  and  the 
broad  unhampered  gambler's  view  of  life 
native  to  raw  Western  soil,  all  transmuted 
into  a  Democracy  of  no  distinctions  except 
the  intrinsic.  That  combination,  with  other 
elements  of  course,  is  the  United  States  in 
essence,  found  only  in  the  West,  and  that  is 
what  Mr.  Owen  Wister  expresses. 

In  Wyoming  and  in  Arizona  before  the 
wire-fence  men  played  a  man's  game,  that 
quality  counted  most — in  man  or  woman — 
that  the  Virginian  yielded  to  Queen  Eliza- 
beth when  he  wisely  said  of  her:  "She 
would  have  played  a  good  hand  at  poker." 
Each  man  played  according  to  the  measure 
he  had  taken  of  his  neighbors.  Reticent 
brotherliness  marked  friends:  deference  was 
accorded  all  sincerity :  and  humor,  mainly 
grave  humor,  touched  everv  relation  of 
life. 

All  this  Mr.  Wister  symbolizes  in  the  life 
of  his  boyish,  slightly  limping  Lin  McLean, 
in  the  heroes  of  his  briefer  Iliads,  and  in 
the  romance  of  the  lithe  Virginian  whom 
Mr.  Wister  inscrutably  keeps  nameless.  But 
observe  that  Lin  McLean,  from  Massachusetts, 
after  his  tragic  but  humorous  experience 
with  the  oddly  human  Lusks,  loves  Jessa- 
mine Buckner  from  Kentucky,  and  the 
Virginian — strangely  reminiscent  of  the  Con- 
federate officer — wooes  a  descendant  of  Molly 
Stark  from  Vermont.  And  each  one  carries 
to  the  complex  drama  unraveled  in  raw 
Wyoming  some  motives  traditional  in  each 
provincial  section.  These,  with  passion 
mixed  and  pure,  native  ideals  low  and  high, 
and  the  frankest  and  richest  humor,  is  the 
stuff  of  which  an  American  literature  shall  be 
woven. 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  of  Mr.  Owen  Wister 
that  he  capably  carries  on  the  Bret  Harte 
short  story  tradition,  or  that  "The  Virginian" 
is  a  vivid  narrative  of  exceptional  power, 
especially  moving  in  its  story  of  the  cowboy's 
love.  Mr.  Wister  has  also  sharply  blazed  the 
way  to  that  quite  possible  impossibilit}',  the 
American  novel. 


MR.   OWEN    WISTER 

AUTHOR    <)I     "THE    VIRGINIAN,"    ETC. 


MR.    F.    HOPKINSON    SMITH 

AUTHOR   OF    "  OLIVER    HORN,"  ETC. 


From  a  painting  by  Oliver  Hazard  Perry 


M 


"EUROPE  versus  AMERICA" 

A  REVIEW  OF  THE  WORLD'S  RECENT  INDUSTRIAL  CHANGES  AND  PRESENT  TENDENCIES 
—THE  GREAT  KACTS  MADE  PLAIN  BV  RECENT  DEVELOPMENT:  THE  HOME  MARKET  MOKK 
IMPORTANT  THAN  THE  FOREIGN;  THE  GRAVITATION  OF  POPULATION  AND  CAPITAL  AND 
SKILL  TO  THE  SOURCES  OF  WEALTH  SUPPLY;  THE  PATRIOTISM  OF  INDUSTRY  — THE 
NECESSITY  OF  EUROPEAN  INDUSTRIAL  AND  POLITICAL  ORGANIZATION  TO  OFFSET 
THE    SOLIDITY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  —  A    WORD-WIDE    FORECAST    OF    THE    FUTURE 

Being  the  Rectorial  A  ddress  delivered  at  St.  A  ndre^vs  University,  St  .A  ndrews  ,Scotla?td,  October  22,  1902 

BY 

ANDREW    CARNEGIE 


I  THOUGHT  that  I  might  interest  you 
by  considering  a  subject  now  attract- 
ing wide  attention  —  the  economic 
changes  which  have  come  and  are  impending 
in  the  relative  position  and  power  of  nations, 
since  it  has  been  necessary  for  me  during  my 
business  career  to  watch  and  study  these 
and  to  base  action  upon  them.  The  growth 
of  nations  in  wealth  and  population,  the  social 
conditions  and  aptitudes  of  their  people, 
natural  resources,  prospects,  ambitions, 
national  policy,  all  bore  directly  upon  our 
problem. 

It  was  upon  no  easy  task  that  the  American 
-manufacturer  entered  when  he  determined  to 
struggle  for  place  for  his  country  among  manu- 
facturing nations,  and  it  behooved  those  who 
risked  their  capital,  or  incurred  debt  in  the 
attempt,  to  keep  a  wary  eye  upon  the  doings 
of  their  established  competitors,  and  weigh 
futuie  probabilities  of  development  in  other 
lands. 

In  studying  the  manufacturing  world, 
Britain  claimed  more  attention  than  all  other 
nations  together,  for  here  was  the  seat  and 
throne  of  manufactures.  We  examine  the 
globe  and  note  how  much  is  marked  red  under 
the  Union  Jack,  and  speculate  upon  what 
would  be  left  if  this  were  obliterated.  But  if 
in  viewing  the  world's  material  development 
we  should  consider  what  would  be  left  if  her 
inventions  were  deleted,  a  greater  void  still 
would  be  found  in  this  nobler  field  of  conquest, 
for  this  island  has  also  been  the  seat  and  throne 
of  invention,  the  work  not  of  the  barbarous 
sword,  but  of  the  brain  of  civilized  man.  That 
development  rests  upon  the  steam-engine  of 
Watt,  one  arm  of  which  embraced  the  sea 
through  the  steamship  of  Symington,  another 


covered  the  land  through  the  locomotive  of 
Stephenson.  Here  is  the  great  triad  which 
has  created  the  modern  material  world.  This 
audience  will  not  fail  to  note  with  satisfaction 
that  all  of  these  magicians  were  Scotch  (the 
first  two  native-born,  the  last  by  descent) — 
a  remarkable  fact,  and  not  to  be  readily 
accounted  for  except  upon  a  hypothesis  which 
national  modesty  prevents  a  born  Scot  from 
suggesting  here  in  the  presence  of  so  many 
distinguished  members  of  other  nations. 
Arkwright,  Hargreaves  and  Cartwright, 
through  their  inventions,  brought  economical 
spinning  and  weaving  of  textiles;  those  of 
Nelson  and  Cort,  cheap  iron;  Bessemer,  Sie- 
mens, Martin  and  Thomas,  cheap  steel,  the 
most  important  article  of  all,  since  it  is  the 
basis  of  so  many  other  articles.  It  is  the  in- 
ventions of  these  men  based  upon  steam  that 
have  revolutionized  the  conditions  of  human 
life  upon  the  earth,  and,  in  passing,  will  you 
be  good  enough  to  note  how  many  of  these, 
and  indeed  of  the  supremely  great  in  other 
fields  as  well,  have  at  first  worked  with  their 
hands  1*  Whatever  the  future  may  have  in 
store,  nothing  can  rob  Britain  of  the  credit  of 
having  given  to  the  world  the  means  for  its 
surprising  development.  Material  Progress 
is  Britain's  child.  At  the  time  of  which  I 
speak,  she  was  the  only  important  manufac- 
turing nation,  for  here  naturally  her  inventions 
were  first  utilized.  The  reward  obtained 
from  this  monopoly — for  such  it  was — made 
her  the  richest  of  all  peoples  per  capita.  Her 
realized  wealth  is  still  unequaled.  Forty  odd 
years  ago  she  made  more  iron  and  steel,  man- 
ufactured more  machinery,  mined  more  coal, 
wove  more  cloth,  than  all  the  rest  of  the  world. 
It  was  Britain  in  the  one  scale,  the  world  in  the 


2798 


EUROPE    versus   AMERICA" 


other,  the  world  kicking  the  beam.  In  the 
dawn  of  this  prosperity  came  Cobden  and 
Bright,  who  insured  cheaper  food  for  the 
workers,  which  further  stimulated  manufac- 
turing and  insured  Britain's  preeminence. 
The  theories  of  these  great  men  and  their 
school  were  justified  in  their  day,  one  being 
that  the  various  nations  of  the  world  were 
created  with  different  qualities  and  resources, 
all  so  beautifully  arranged  that  one  was  to 
supplement  the  other.  Britain's  destined  part 
clearly  was  to  manufacture  the  raw  materials 
of  other  lands.  Interchange,  of  raw  and 
finished  and  of  different  products,  was  evi- 
dently Nature's  intention,  thus  uniting  the 
nations  in  the  noble  task  of  supplying  each 
other's  wants.  Nations  were  destined  to  be 
cooperating  parts  in  one  grand  whole,  and 
thus  Commerce  became  the  golden  chain  to 
bind  the  world  in  bonds  of  peace  and  good- 
will. There  was  only  one  flaw  in  the  entranc- 
ing theory,  but  that  was  fatal — the  various 
members  were  not  satisfied  with  the  parts 
assigned  to  them  in  the  beneficent  drama. 
On  the  contrary,  each  evinced  the  strongest 
desire  to  develop  its  resources  and  manufac- 
ture its  own  raw  materials  as  far  as  possible. 
None  relished  being  the  mere  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water  to  another  nation:  all 
wanted  to  play  Hamlet,  and  as  is  usual  in  the 
most  talented  companies  of  performers,  all 
believed  themselves  defined  by  nature  for  the 
great  part.  There  came  to  the  aid  of  the  new 
ambitious  lands,  automatic  machinery  and 
scientific  methods  which  largely  solved  the 
question  of  skilled  labor.  A  few  managing 
Britons,  or  Americans,  can  now  readily  be 
obtained  to  establish  manufactures  in  any 
part  of  the  world,  and  educate  the  natives  to 
become  satisfactory  workers.  In  my  travels 
round  the  world  I  carefully  noted  this  weighty 
fact.  I  saw  the  peons  of  Mexico  weaving 
cloth  in  factories,  and  engaged  in  iron  and 
paper  works,  at  two  and  three  shillings  a  day 
in  silver,  worth  only  one-half  value  in  gold; 
the  people  of  India,  the  Japanese,  and  the 
Chinese,  all  doing  excellent  work  in  cotton  and 
jute  mills;  the  negroes  in  the  United  States 
steadily  rising  in  the  scale  and  becoming  good 
workmen  in  mines  and  in  iron  and  steel  works ; 
the  Russian,  Hungarian  and  Italian,  Swede 
and  Norwegian,  all  making  good  workmen. 
Capital,  management  and  skilled  labor  have 
become  mobile  in  the  extreme.  The  seat  of 
manufacturing  is  now,  and  will  continue  to  be, 


more  and  more  simply  a  question  where  the 
requisite  raw  materials  are  found  under  suita- 
ble conditions.  Capital  and  skilled  labor 
have  lost  the  power  they  once  had  to  attract 
raw  materials;  these  now  attract  labor  and 
capital.  The  conditions  are  reversed.  The 
cotton  industry,  for  instance,  was  attracted 
from  Old  to  New  England,  and  is  now  attracted 
from  it  to  the  Southern  States  alongside 
the  raw  material.  The  jute  industry,  once 
centred  in  Dundee,  is  now  also  established 
in  India,  near  the  jute  supply. 

Another  factor  is  clearly  seen:  the  most 
patriotic  people  of  every  land  consider  it 
a  duty  to  develop  their  resources.  Hence 
Canada  to-day  gives  twelve  shillings  a  ton 
bounty  for  every  ton  of  pig-iron  produced,  and 
Australia  has  a  scale  of  bounties,  and  has  just 
offered  a  large  one  for  the  manufacture  of  steel 
rails.  They  are  not  content  to  be  dependent 
even  upon  the  Motherland  for  manufactured 
articles.  Germany,  Russia  and  America  give 
protection,  and  all  the  colonies  tax  your  pro- 
ductions, thus  giving  their  home  producers 
incidental  protection. 

Another  element  enters.  Business  methods 
have  changed  in  the  past  twenty  years ;  manu- 
facturing especially  has  been  revolutionized 
by  new  inventions,  improved  machinery  and 
new  and  enlarged  demands.  The  old  rule  of 
thumb  has  given  place  to  scientific  precision. 
The  Technical  Schools  furnish  the  young 
foremen  and  superintendents.  Automatic 
machinery  has  developed  a  new  class  of  work- 
men more  intelligent  than  the  old.  The  size 
of  works  has  increased  tenfold,  and  instead  of 
partnerships  devoted  to  one  process,  all  pro- 
cesses, from  the  minerals  in  the  mine  to  the 
finished  articles,  are  combined  in  one.  Rail- 
roads are  constructed  and  fleets  of  steamships 
built  and  worked,  all  the  needed  materials  are 
owned,  the  company  is  its  own  insurer,  and 
everything  entering  into  the  product  or  needed 
to  maintain  the  works  is  made  by  it.  One  by 
one  subsidiary  branches  or  new  departments 
are  added,  and  from  a  score  of  small  streams  of 
profit,  unknown  to  the  small  producer  of  the 
past,  the  main  stream  is  fed.  So  rapidly  does 
one  improvement  follow  another  that  some 
parts  of  the  huge  concerns  are  constantly 
undergoing  reconstruction.  Old-established 
works  are  seriously  disadvantaged  by  the  new 
order  of  things,  especially  if  under  joint  stock 
ownership,  because  it  is  difficult  to  get  from 
numerous  small  owners  the  capital  needed  for 


"EUROPE    versus    AMERICA" 


2799 


modern  improvements.  Hence  the  old  coun- 
tries, and  particularly  Britain  the  pioneer, 
have  been  disadvantaged,  and  the  new 
American  land,  with  a  clean  slate  to  begin 
upon,  much  favored. 

The  causes  specified  have  already  changed 
the  positions  of  Britain  and  America  as  indus- 
trial powers.  America  now  makes  more  steel 
than  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  In  iron  and 
coal  her  production  is  the  greatest,  as  it  is  in 
textiles — cotton,  wool  and  silk.  She  pro- 
produces  three-fourths  of  the  cotton  grown  in 
tlie  world.  The  value  of  her  manufactures 
is  just  about  three  times  that  of  your  own; 
her  exports  are  greater.  The  Clearing  House 
exchanges  of  New  York  are  almost  double 
those  of  London  in  amount.  She  furnishes 
you  with  most  of  the  necessary  food  products 
you  import.  She  has  two-fifths  of  the  railway 
mileage  of  the  world.  Thus  she  has  become 
the  foremost  nation  in  wealth,  manufactures 
and  commerce,  and  promises  soon,  in  some 
branches,  to  occupy  the  position  which  Britain 
occupied  when  it  was  Britain  versus  the  world. 
She  already  does  this  with  steel.  Although 
no  Briton  can  be  expected  to  see  with  satis- 
faction his  country  displaced  from  first  place, 
there  is  yet  cause  for  rejoicing  that  supremacy 
rempins  in  the  family.  It  is  not  altogether 
lost  what  the  race  still  holds.  Macbeth's  fate 
is  not  Britain's.  The  scepter  of  material 
supremacy  has  been  wrenched  by  no  unlineal 
hand.  It  is  her  eldest  son,  the  rightful  heir, 
who  wears  the  crown,  and  he  can  never  forget, 
nor  cease  to  be  proud  of,  the  mother  to  whom 
he  owes  so  much. 

The  relative  position  of  Germany  has  also 
changed.  She  has  forged  ahead,  her  product 
of  steel  being  now  second  to  that  of  the  United 
States.  In  other  departments  her  rate  of 
increase  is  also  great.  She  promises  to  run 
Britain  close,  perhaps  by  the  end  of  the  decade, 
for  second  place  as  a  manufacturing  nation. 
During  the  ten  years  previous  to  1900  she 
added  five  and  a  half  millions  to  her  popula- 
tion, and  almost  doubled  her  production  of 
iron,  and  increased  that  of  iron  ore  from  eleven 
to  nineteen  millions  of  tons. 

In  comparison  with  these  three  countries 
others  are  of  trifling  moment  in  the  production 
of  staple  articles  for  export,  always  excepting 
that  giant  of  the  future,  Russia,  whose  latent 
resources  are  enormous,  and  whose  growth  is 
so  stead^^  not  only  through  increase  of  popu- 
lation, but  through  accretions  of  contiguous 


territory.  She  must  occupy  a  great  position, 
but  not  in  our  day,  nor  perhaps  in  the  next 
generation :  if  she  hold  together,  she  will  be  a 
continent  under  one  government  like  the 
American  Union,  although,  as  far  as  known, 
not  with  comparable  resources  and  conditions. 
She  has  employed  more  than  one  of  my  former 
assistants  to  construct  and  manage  steel- 
works, and  is  vigorously  developing  her 
resources  in  many  lines.  Her  production  of 
iron  has  doubled  in  the  last  twelve  years.  Coal 
mined  in  1880  was  six  million  tons,  and  in 
1900,  ten  years,  sixteen  millions — an  extra- 
ordinary increase.  The  cotton  industry  has 
also  developed  during  the  ten  years.  It  is 
probable  that  she  will  soon  supply  many  of  her 
own  chief  wants,  great  as  these  are  to  be;  but 
as  these  will  be  largely  additions  to  present 
world  needs,  this  will  not  greatly  lessen  the 
trade  now  tributary  to  other  nations. 

Belgium,  for  its  size,  is  the  most  wonderful 
of  all  manufacturing  nations,  but  too  small 
and  fully  developed  to  play  a  greater  part  than 
now  in  the  world's  trade.  One  notes  with  sur- 
prise the  magnitude  of  her  commerce.  Exports 
and  imports  per  capita  much  exceed  those  of 
Britain,  exports  being  as  11.4  per  head  to  6.14 
— almost  double ;  even  her  imports  are  greater. 

France  occupies  a  unique  position.  She 
may  be  said  to  have,  in  the  artistic  quality, 
substantially  a  monopoly  most  difificult  to 
break.  Till  women  reach  the  height  of  wis- 
dom attained  by  man  and  establish  a  uniform 
and  unvarying  style  of  dress,  and  as  long  as 
articles  of  luxury  are  in  demand,  and  till  men 
reach  the  wisdom  shown  by  women  in  regard 
to  French  wines,  so  long  will  France  remain  in 
the  first  class  of  nations,  although  much  fur- 
ther increase  of  her  trade  is  not  probable.  I 
might  also  say  that  as  long  as  the  French 
people  remain  so  industrious,  frugal  and  free 
from  the  vices  of  other  lands,  gam.bling  and 
drinking,  so  long  her  position  is  secure.  It  is 
significant  that  the  silk  trade  of  Britain  has 
passed  entirely  into  her  hands,  and  that  in 
motor  machinery  she  is  preeminent  in 
Europe.  The  Swiss  Republic  may  be  in- 
cluded in  what  has  been  said  of  France.  It 
is  a  wonderful  little  manufacturing  centre 
A  splendid  race  the  Swiss,  who  are  often 
described  as  the  Scots  of  Continental  Europe, 
and  very  highly  valued  in  America. 

In  our  survey  of  the  world  the  efforts  of 
Canada  and  of  Australia  to  manufacture  were 
not  overlooked.     Nothing  ever  found  or  heard 


28oo 


"EUROPE    versus    AMERICA" 


of  in  either  of  these  lands  was  calculated  to 
deter  us  from  going  forward  without  fear.  If 
the  United  States  had  not  transcendent 
resources,  and  an  unequaled  home  market 
that  enables  it  to  sell  its  surplus  to  Canada 
cheaper  than  Canada  can  possibly  produce, 
manufacturing  might  be  established  to  some 
extent  there.  Under  present  conditions  the 
outlook  is  not  favorable.  In  Australia  so 
little  has  been  done,  and,  so  far  as  I  know%  so 
little  has  been  found  of  a  favorable  character, 
that  it  need  not  be  reckoned  with  at  present. 
Xeither  is  ever  likely,  as  far  as  yet  seen,  to  be 
important  factors  as  manufacturers  for  the 
world's  trade. 

In  India,  China  and  Japan  the  textile 
industry  has  taken  firm  root,  and  in  the  latter 
an  attempt  is  being  made  to  build  warships 
from  domestic  products ;  but  in  none  of  these 
countries  did  I  see  much  prospect  of  rapid  or 
extensive  development,  except  in  textiles, 
one  reason  for  this  being  that  while  the  home 
market  for  these  is  great,  it  is  small  for  machin- 
ery, steel,  and  other  branches  of  our  diversified 
industries  of  the  West.  The  absence  of  a  large 
home  demand  is  a  serious,  almost  fatal  bar  to 
the  introduction  of  any  new  article  of  manu- 
facture which  must  be  produced  upon  a  great 
scale. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  will  be  inferred 
that  the  manufacture  of  staple  articles  for  the 
world  is  to  be  chiefly  conducted  in  our  time 
and  in  the  next  generation  by  the  three  coun- 
tries, Britain,  Germany  and  the  United  States, 
France  retaining  her  own  domain,  although 
the  smaller  countries  will  increase  their  indus- 
tries and  supply  a  greater  part  of  their  own 
wants. 

In  the  race  for  the  world's  trade  between 
these  countries  several  considerations  are 
important.  First — let  this  vital  fact  be  noted 
— the  most  powerful  weapon  for  conquering 
foreign  markets  is  a  profitable  home  market. 
It  might  also  be  taken  as  an  axiom  that  the 
nation  fortified  by  the  best  home  demand  for 
any  article  will  finally  conquer  the  world's 
trade  in  that  article  in  neutral  markets.  In 
economic  circles  "the  law  of  the  surplus,"  as 
I  have  ventured  to  call  it,  attracts  increasing 
attention.  Manufacturing  establishments  are 
increased  year  by  year  until  they  become 
gigantic,  simply  because  the  more  made  the 
cheaper  the  product,  there  being  a  score  of  cost 
accounts  divisible  by  product.  By  giving 
men  constant  employment,  and  having  a  repu- 


tation for  never  stopping,  the  best  men  are 
attracted  and  held — an  important  point.  The 
manufacturer  upon  a  large  scale  can  afford  to 
make  many  contracts  in  distant  parts  of  the 
world,  and  even  some  at  home,  at  a  direct  loss 
in  times  of  depression,  knowing  that,  upon  the 
whole,  the  result  will  be  less  unprofitable  by 
running  full  than  running  short  time  or 
stopping.  Hence,  those  possessing  the  most 
profitable  home  market  can  afford  to  supply 
foreign  markets  without  direct  profits,  or  even 
at  a  loss  whenever  necessary.  I  speak  from 
sad  experience  on  this  point,  for  during  most 
of  my  life  we  have  had  to  encounter  Britain's 
surplus  in  our  markets  in  times  of  depression 
here,  to  the  great  disadvantage  of  the  home 
producer  and  advantage  of  the  British  manu- 
facturer. This  position  the  United  States 
now  in  turn  occupies  toward  Britain  and  other 
manufacturing  countries,  since  it  has  the 
greatest  and  most  profitable  home  market, 
not  only  for  steel  but  for  most  articles. 
Invasions  of  Europe,  and  especially  of  Britain, 
by  American  manufacturers  are  not  to  be 
apprehended  to  any  considerable  extent,  ex- 
cept at  rare  intervals.  It  is  not  the  amount 
imported,  however,  that  discourages  the  home 
producers;  the  knowledge  that  he  is  open  to 
serious  competition  from  abroad,  a  small 
amount  of  which  will  break  his  market,  is 
what  makes  him  loath  to  invest  the  great  sums 
sometimes  necessary  to  keep  him  in  the  front, 
and  robs  him  of  the  do-or-die  resolve,  which 
often  is  of  itself  the  secret  of  victory  in  the 
struggles  for  life. 

Second,  the  question  of  population  bears 
directly  upon  the  industrial  development  of 
nations,  since  increased  numbers  expand  the 
home  market.  There  are  today  78,000,000 
of  people  in  the  American  Union.  More 
than  600,000  immigrants  from  Europe  will 
have  landed  on  her  shores  this  year.  Her 
rate  of  increase  between  1880  and  1890 
was  just  about  three  times  that  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  Last  decade  it  was  not 
so  great,  although  more  than  double,  hav- 
ing fallen,  because  of  five  years  of  depres- 
sion caused  by  an  agitation  upon  the  stand- 
ard of  value,  the  most  disturbing  of  all  eco- 
nomic questions.  Nevertheless  she  added 
13,500,000  to  her  population.  This  decade, 
ev^en  at  no  greater  native  rate  of  increase  than 
the  last,  will  add  more  than  15,000,000. 
Every  morning  the  sun  rises  it  greets  more 
than  4,000  new  faces  added  to  the  Union. 


KUROPE    vi-rs/is   AMERICA" 


2801 


Germany's  population  is  56,000,000;  she 
added  5,500,000  last  decade.  The  increase 
of  the  United  Kingdom  was  3,600,000.  It 
is  a  serious  disadvantage  to  Britain  in  the 
contest  that  her  home  market  cannot  expand 
as  rapidly  as  the  American,  or  even  the  Ger- 
man. Size  of  productive  territory,  as  affect- 
ing population,  is  a  prime  factor  in  the  race 
for  the  first  place  among  nations  in  material 
production. 

Third,  we  see  proofs  of  another  important 
law.  Just  as  raw  materials  now  attract 
capital  and  labor  to  any  part  of  the  world, 
so  unfilled  fertile  soil  increases  and  attracts 
population.  We  note  the  rapid  increase  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  that  America  is 
consuming  more  and  more  of  its  own  food 
supplies.  It  already  manufactures  as  much 
of  its  enormous  total  cotton  crop  as  Britain  im- 
ports, and  not  more  than  10  per  cent,  of  all  its 
field  crops,  except  cotton,  are  ever  exported. 
Wherever  food  products  can  be  grown  profit- 
ably people  will  increase  until  the  limit  of 
food  supply  is  reached.  Where  exceptional 
conditions  exist,  such  as  valuable  minerals, 
'  population  may  remain  in  excess  of  the  food 
supply,  as  with  this  favored  island;  but  p.er- 
manently  to  maintain  population  beyond 
food  supply,  a  nation  must  be  able  to  supply 
needed  articles  to  so  much  better  advantage 
than  the  purchasing  nations  can  produce  or 
procure  them  as  to  enable  it  to  endure  the 
disadvantage  of  higher  cost  of  food. 

It  seems  clear  that  the  spread  of  manufac- 
tures will  be  so  general  that  the  leading  nations 
will  finally  supply  most  of  their  principal 
wants — at  least  to  a  much  greater  extent  than 
hitherto.  It  follows  that  exchange  of  articles 
between  nations,  "Foreign  Commerce,"  is  not 
to  increase  as  rapidl}'  as  exchange  of  articles 
within  nations,  "Home  Commerce."  But  the 
unceasing  growth  of  the  world  will  never- 
theless probably  keep  British,  Belgic  and 
French  foreign  commerce  and  manufactur- 
ing at  their  present  figures. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  a  home 
and  a  foreign  market,  which  is  not  much 
dwelt  upon  in  Europe,  to  which  I  invite  your 
attention. 

Exchange  of  products  benefits  both  buyer 
and  seller.  With  British  home  commerce 
both  are  Britons;  with  foreign  commerce  one 
only  is  a  Briton,  the  other  a  foreigner.  Hence 
home  commerce  is  doubly  profitable.  And 
this  is  not  all.   When  the  article  exported,  such 


as  machinery  or  coal,  for  instance,  is  used  for 
developing  the  resources  or  manufactures  of 
the  importing  country,  and  enable  these  to 
compete  with  those  of  the  exporting  country, 
the  disadvantage  of  this  foreign  Commerce 
to  the  seller.  excei)t  the  jjrofit  ui)on  the  sale, 
is  obvious.  How  different  when  the  machin- 
ery is  sold  at  home  and  develops  home 
resources  continually. 

Here  is  another  important  point.  The 
relative  importance  of  the  two  markets  is  often 
lost  sight  of.  The  home  market  of  America 
takes  ninety-six  per  cent,  of  all  manufactured 
articles,  only  four  per  cent,  going  to  foreign 
markets.  Even  Britain's  home  market  takes 
four-fifths  of  her  manufactures,  only  one-fifth 
going  abroad.  Politicians  give  far  too  much 
attention  to  distant  foreign  markets,  which 
can  never  amount  to  much,  and  far  too  little  to 
measures  for  improving  conditions  at  home 
which  would  increase  the  infinitely  more 
important  home  market.  If  the  people  of  the 
United  Kingdom  could  spend  even  one  pound 
per  head  more  per  year  her  home  commerce 
would  be  increased  more  than  the  total  value 
of  her  exports  to  all  of  iVustralasia,  British 
North  America  and  China  combined.  Truly 
foreign  commerce  is  a  braggart  always  in 
evidence,  home  commerce  the  true  king. 

In  studying  the  industrial  positions  of 
nations,  imports  and  exports  are  misleading. 
The  undue  attention  still  generally  bestowed 
upon  these  by  writers  upon  economics  here  is 
surprising.  Arguing  as  they  do  who  judge  of 
a  nation's  prosperity  by  its  foreign  trade, 
America's  prosperity  today  is  lessened  because 
her  manufactured  exports  have  for  the  day 
declined,  which  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  best 
proof  of  extraordinary  prosperity,  for  America 
at  present  needs  all  its  manufactures  in  some 
branches  for  its  own  development.  Happy 
country  whose  steel  builds  railroads,  ships 
and  other  structures  in  its  own  territory.  It 
is  not  what  is  exported,  but  the  amount  pro- 
duced, that  shows  a  country's  condition,  and 
what  is  not  exported  but  put  to  profitable  use 
at  home  is,  as  we  have  seen,  doubly  profitable. 

The  habits,  conditions,  intelligence  and 
spirit  of  the  masses  are  important  elements  in 
the  industrial  race,  and  we  gave  close  atten- 
tion to  these  as  bearing  upon  our  task.  The 
German,  as  we  know  him  at  home  and  in  the 
United  States,  is  a  valuable  man,  steady, 
sober,  methodical,  thorough,  self-respecting, 
of  fine  domestic  tastes,  an  admirable  workman 


u 


2802 


"EUROPE   versus   AMERICA" 


and  superintendent.  Thanks  to  the  con- 
scription of  Germany,  among  other  causes, 
we  had  many  thousand  of  Germans  in  our 
service,  of  whom  at  least  four  whom  I  recall 
became  partners  and  earned  the  millions  of 
dollars  they  obtained.  They  fled  from  the 
conscription  of  their  sons,  and  today  the  son 
of  a  German  who  left  his  country  largely  for 
the  same  reason  is  at  the  head  of  the  greatest 
manufacturing  corporation  in  the  world.  We 
owe  a  valuable  invention  to  one  of  these  men. 
The  value  of  the  German  element  to  America 
can  scarcely  be  believed  except  by  those  who, 
like  myself,  know  it  by  experience.  The  total 
emigration  from  Germany  and  Austria- 
Hungary  has  about  equaled  that  from  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland.  It  may  be  accepted 
that  if  ever  Britain  resorts  to  conscription,  the 
Republic  will  be  still  more  enriched  than  it  has 
yet  been  by  one  class  of  emigrants  who  will 
come  in  greater  numbers  than  ever,  even  more 
valuable  per  man  than  the  German — the  Scot ; 
and  that  many  more  than  ever  of  the  most 
valuable  men  of  England — a  splendid  strain 
when  they  reach  the  "open  mind" — will  leave 
their  shores  for  the  land  which  knows  not 
conscription. 

One  is  not  wrong  in  believing  that  it  is  the 
ablest  and  most  ambitious  who  leave  their  own 
land — men  who  have  saved  enough  to  enable 
them  to  reach  and  to  start  in  the  new;  that 
they  have  saved  being  the  best  possible  proof 
of  their  value.  One  such  emigrant  is  worth  to 
America  a  score  of  inert  stay-at-homes.  One 
census  showed  that  more  than  half  the  total 
number  of  Scotch  emigrants  were  engaged 
in  manufacturing.  The  three  most  celebrated 
pioneer  manufacturers  of  iron  in  the  United 
States  were  Scotch — Burden  of  Trov,  Dickson 
of  Scranton  and  Chisholm  of  Cleveland. 
The  American  is  efficient  beyond  other  men 
because  compounded  of  the  best  of  other 
nations  and  developed  in  a  climate  under 
political  and  social  conditions  all  stimulating 
beyond  any  to  be  found  elsewhere. 

In  comparing  Britain  with  the  Continents  of 
Europe  and  America,  much  is  seen  unfavora- 
ble to  Britain's  industrial  position  and  to  the 
comfort  and  happiness  of  her  people,  both 
employers  and  employed.  The  former  fail  to 
give  business  the  unremitting  attention  and 
to  display  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  the 
founders  of  the  practical  monopoly  of  the  past. 
They  generally  regard  it  as  only  a  means  to 
win    entrance    to    another   rank    of   societv. 


The  employed  think  too  much  of  how  little 
they  need  to  do,  too  little  of  how  much  they 
can  do.  Both  classes  still  take  life  easy  in 
this  day  of  competition  which  only  the  day 
of  established  monopoly  could  support. 
Employers  would  find  it  much  to  their  own 
interests  to  give  to  their  ablest  employees 
shares  in  the  business.  The  more  given  in 
this  form  the  more  would  flow  to  the  employer. 
The  great  secret  of  success  in  business  and  of 
millionaire-making  is  to  make  partners  of 
valuable  managers  of  departments.  The 
contest  between  the  old  and  the  new  lands 
today  resembles  that  between  professionals 
and  amateurs.  It  is  in  their  workmen  that 
the  Continent  has  one  of  its  chief  advantages 
over  Britain,  and  America  over  the  Continent, 
for  even  the  German  has  to  yield  the  palm  to 
the  compound  British-German  which  makes 
the  man  of  the  more  stirring  New  World. 
He  could  not  be  more  thorough  or  methodical 
than  the  German,  but  he  is  more  active  and 
more  versatile.  Wages  of  skilled  labor, 
though  higher  in  Britain  than  in  Germany, 
are  not  so  much  so  as  to  rank  in  importance 
with  the  factors  stated ;  the  difference  between 
the  two  is  trifling  as  compared  vyith  that 
between  Britain  and  America.  It  is  not  the 
lowest,  but  the  highest  paid  labor,  with 
scientific  management  and  machinery,  which 
gives  cheapest  products.  Some  of  the  impor- 
tant staple  articles  made  in  Britain,  Germany 
and  America  are  produced  cheapest  in  the  last, 
with  labor  paid  double. 

The  two  continents  have  another  decided 
advantage  over  Britain  in  the  sobriety  and 
regular  habits  of  their  workmen.  The  broken 
days  of  Britain  both  handicap  the  employer 
and  injure  the  workman. 

In  viewing  the  immediate  future  of  Britain 
without  misgiving,  as  far  as  maintaining  her 
present  trade  is  concerned,  I  count  upon  the 
inherent  qualities  and  capabilities  of  our  race, 
which,  lulled  to  drowsy  inactivity  by  pros- 
perity under  highly  favorable  conditions,  are 
bound  to  be  again  aroused  by  adversity,  more 
or  less  severe,  under  strong  competition. 
There  is  such  wide  scope  for  improvement 
that  the  most  despondent  may  be  encouraged; 
nor  does  the  reform  imply  want  or  suffering, 
or  less  desirable  conditions  of  life  for  either 
employer  or  employed.  Far  otherwise.  That 
the  drink  bill  of  this  country,  now  reaching  the 
incredible  figure  of  ;^  160,000,000,  should  be 
cut  in  half,  or  only  a  quarter  or  less  of  it  left. 


"EUROPE   versus   AMERICA 


2803 


or  better  still,  if  only  ;^20,ooo,ooo  were  left, 
implies  not  the  degradation  but  elevation  of 
the  people.  That  the  sums  risked  by  both 
masters  and  workingmcn  in  gambling,  and  the 
greater  injury  wrought  in  the  waste  of  their 
time  and  thoughts,  should  become  evils  of 
the  past,  would  improve  the  poor  slaves  of 
this  habit.  Tliat  they  should  smoke  less 
would  not  render  life  less  happy  nor  health  less 
robust.  There  are  now  spent  upon  tobacco 
per  year  _£32, 000,000:  better  if  half  or  more 
were  saved.  And  so  with  many  of  the  rude 
sports:  better  if  these  were  abandoned.  From 
these  evils  the  Continent  and  America  are 
comparatively,  and  in  some  cases  almost 
entirely,  free. 

The  peace  expenditure  and  debt  charge  of 
the  four  principal  Powers  stand  thus  per 
capita  ■ 

Expenditure .  Debt  Charge. 
United  Kingdom,          £^,   los.  8s.  6d. 

Germany,      ...      2,   is.  is.   7d. 

Russia,  .       .       .      I,   15s.  5s.   2d. 

United  States,     .       .      i,  8s.  is.   lod. 

Germany's  position  financially  is  remarka- 
l)le ;  that  of  Britain  in  contrast  deserves  care- 
ful attention. 

That  Britain's  present  population,  wealth 
or  trade  in  the  aggregate  are  to  decline  is 
unlikely.  I  believe  these  may  even  increase 
somewhat  in  the  immediate  future.  Her 
wealth,  climate,  geographical  position  and 
resources  are  superior  to  those  of  any  country 
in  Europe,  some  of  which,  because  of  these 
very  advantages,  are  allowed  to  furnish  her 
with  products  which  she  herself  could  produce. 
They  get  the  crumbs  which  fall  from  her  more 
luxurious  table.  That  busy  hive,  Belgium, 
for  instance,  sends  her  articles  to  the  value  of 
;£2i,ooo,ooo  yearly,  ;^3,ooo,ooo  of  this  being 
cloths  and  yarns,  ;^i,5oo,ooo  iron  and  steel. 
Germany  is  permitted  to  send  ;^i,ooo,ooo 
worth  of  cloth  goods  and  £1 ,000,000  worth  of 
butter  and  eggs.  France  sends  silks  and 
woolens  to  the  value  of  £18,000,000; 
leather  goods,  ;£i,75o,ooo.  Little  Denmark, 
with  a  population  not  much  exceeding 
2,000,000,  supplies  Britain  to  the  extent  of 
nearly  ;^i 2, 000,000 — almost  as  much  per 
capita  as  your  total  exports.  Denmark 
receives  ;^7, 000,000  yearly  for  butter  and 
£3.5o°'Ooo  for  bacon  and  eggs.  The  latter 
item  equals  the  total  value  of  all  you 
send  her.  Norway,  Sweden  and  Holland 
send  her  ;^i,5oo,ooo  worth  of  butter,  and 
the    latter    also    sends   gloves  and  glassware 


valued  at  ;^i,ooo,ooo.  Here  are  ;(]6o,ooo,ooo 
worth  ])er  year  of  foreign  supplies,  most  of 
which  Britain  could  herself  produce,  and  will 
produce  if  ever  she  fi»ils  to  find  more  profitable 
occupation  for  her  own  people,  as  she  now  does, 
or  if  ever  her  people  become  as  industrious 
as  those  of  the  Continent,  thus  obtaining  a 
permanent  home  market  almost  equal  in 
amount  to  one-quarter  of  all  her  foreign 
exports. 

Thus  Britain  alone  among  European  nations 
holds  in  reserve  an  imjjortant  home  market 
capable  of  yielding  profit  equal  to  at  least  one- 
third  or  more  of  all  her  present  export  trade, 
since  home  commerce  is  doubly  profitable. 
Here  lies  an  untouched  mine  of  wealth.  She 
has  in  her  unrivaled  supply  of  coal,  as  far 
as  Europe  is  concerned,  another  mine  of  vast 
wealth 

There  is  one  dark  cloud  upon  her  horizon 
which  cannot  be  ignored.  From  the  best  infor- 
mation I  can  obtain,  in  twenty  or  twenty-five 
years  the  supply  of  Cleveland  iron-stone  will 
be  practically  exhausted  at  the  present  rate  of 
production,  except  that  two  concerns  will 
then  still  have  sufficient  for  some  years  longer. 
The  Cumberland  supply  is  already  nearly 
exhausted.  This  will  bring  dearer  iron  and 
steel.  Without  cheap  iron  and  steel  the  con- 
struction of  ships  and  machinery  of  all  kinds, 
and  of  the  thousand-and-one  articles  of  which 
steel  is  the  base,  would  tend  to  decrease;  but 
the  loss  in  this  trade  may  be  compensated  for 
by  increase  in  other  branches,  caused  by  the 
ever-growing  wants  of  the  world.  Britain  is 
not  alone  concerned  in  the  iron-stone  supply, 
for,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  supply  is  soon  to 
become  precarious  in  some  of  the  other  manu- 
facturing nations  before  man}^  decades  pass 
unless  new  sources  of  supply  are  discovered. 
Even  the  United  States  has  a  proved  supply 
of  first-class  ore  only  for  sixty  to  seventy  years, 
and  a  reserve  of  inferior  grades  which  may 
keep  her  supplied  for  thirty  years  longer,  say 
for  a  century  in  all,  unless  the  rate  of  con- 
sumption be  greatly  increased.  The  enor- 
mous extent  of  territory  in  the  Republic  over 
which  ore  can  hopefully  be  looked  for 
encourages  the  belief  that  new  deposits  are 
sure  to  be  found.  It  is  upon  new  discoveries 
that  Britain  depends,  the  outlook  in  her  case 
being  less  hopeful.  Germany  has  today,  as 
far  as  proved,  the  most  enduring  supply, 
although  its  ore  is  not  nearly  so  rich  as  the 
American. 


2804 


"EUROPE   versus   AMERICA" 


Years  of  painful  lessons  may  be,  and  prob- 
ably are,  before  the  people  of  Britain,  but  the 
discipline  will  be  salutary,  leading  to  their 
improvement  and  elevation,  and  hence  to 
make  life  here  truly  happier  because  freer 
from  degrading  tastes  than  ever  before. 

The  evils  of  poverty  receive  unceasing 
recital,  but  there  are  evils  of  long-continued 
prosperity  of  no  mean  order  which  pass  with- 
out the  attention  their  poison  warrants.  The 
decay  of  great  States  is  traced,  not  to  poverty 
and  want,  but  to  the  reign  of  luxury  and  the 
vices  it  breeds.  A  Britain  filled  with  people 
possessed  of  the  valuable  qualities  of  our  race, 
and  becoming  as  temperate  and  industrious  as 
the  French,  German  or  American,  has  nothing 
to  fear  in  the  struggle  for  maintenance  of  a 
place  among  industrial  nations.  She  needs  no 
sympathy  since  her  destiny  is  in  her  own  hands. 
Fortunate,  indeed,  ma}'  be  the  verdict  of  her 
future  historian,  if  sheer  necessity  at  this 
epoch  in  her  history  compelled  her  to  discard 
the  vices  engendered  by  a  long  season  of 
extravagant  gains,  and  consequent  spread  of 
the  evils  which  luxury  brings  in  its  train,  and 
led  her  once  again  to  tread  the  toilsome  path 
of  self -improvement.  A  nation's  position 
often  depends  upon  the  character  and  attain- 
m^ents  of  the  leaders  it  produces — the  excep- 
tional men  who  lift  their  fellows.  May  it  be  the 
part  of  the  historian  to  record  that  in  inaugu- 
rating, and  by  example,  precept  and  exhorta- 
tion, conducting,  this  great  campaign  for  the 
improvement  of  the  habits  of  the  people,  rich 
and  poor,  noble  and  commoner,  rulers  and 
ruled,  there  was  one  body  of  men  distinguished 
above  all  others  for  the  enthusiasm,  labor, 
ability  and  sacrifice  displayed  in  every  part 
of  the  field — the  students,  graduates  and 
alumni  of  Scotland's  oldest  university. 

To  summarize  in  one  paragraph  the  laws 
bearing  upon  the  material  position  of  nations, 
as  described,  may  not  be  amiss: 

(i)  The  chief  nations  of  the  world  have 
greater  capacity  to  supply  their  own  wants 
than  was  supposed. 

(2)  Skilled  labor  has  lost  its  power  to  attract 
capital  and  raw  materials,  which  under  favor- 
able conditions  now  attract  capital  and  labor. 

(3)  Nations  will  d/velop  their  own  resources 
to  the  greatest  possible  extent  as  a  patriotic 
duty,  offering  inducements  to  the  enterprising 
to  risk  time  and  capital  in  the  task. 

(4)  The  country  with  the  largest  and  most 
profitable    home    market    has    an  invincible 


weapon  for  the  conquest  of  foreign  markets, 
as  the  "law  of  surplus''  operates  in  favor 
of  the  largest  producer  in  competing  for  the 
trade  of  the  world. 

(5)  As  nations  are  more  and  more  to  supply 
their  own  wants,  home  commerce  is  to  increase 
much  more  rapidly  than  foreign  commerce. 

(6)  Nations  tend  to  increase  in  population 
according  to  their  capacity  to  produce  cheap 
food. 

The  tendency  to  enlarge  areas  under  one 
government  must  continue,  otherwise  the  small 
nations  become  mere  pygmies  industrially  and 
play  no  part  in  world-wide  affairs. 

These  laws  have  already  given  some  proofs 
of  their  sway,  to  which  I  beg  to  direct  your 
attention. 

We  hear  of  huge  industrial  combinations 
on  land  and  sea,  but  the  combination  of 
forty-five  States,  some  of  them  larger  than 
the  United  Kingdom,  forming  the  American 
Union,  which  promises  soon  to  equal  Europe 
in  the  production  of  many  of  the  staple  articles, 
and  is  already  producing  more  than  the  rest 
of  the  world  of  the  article  of  prime  impor- 
tance, is  a  portent  of  infinitely  more  conse- 
quence to  the  world  than  any  possible  indus- 
trial combinations,  the  latter  being  trifling  in 
comparison.  At  the  present  rate  of  progress 
America  will,  in  the  lifetime  of  many  present, 
have  a  population  equal  to  that  of  Europe 
today,  excluding  Russia. 

The  influence  of  a  united  Continent  upon 
the  separate  smaller  nations  of  the  world  is 
already  felt.  Europe  sees  its  art  treasures  and 
its  shipping  lines  and  the  centre  of  finance 
passing  to  the  new  land  as  primacy  in  manu- 
facturing, in  wealth  and  in  commerce  have 
already  done,  under  the  law  of  gravitation, 
which  operates  in  every  field,  even  in  that  of 
literature.  Eight  copies  of  the  Encyclopccdia 
Britannica  find  their  home  in  the  new  land  for 
every  one  in  the  old  land  of  publication.  The 
manufacturers  of  the  new  land  invade  the  old 
and  compete  in  the  world's  markets.  These 
facts  have  not  escaped  the  attention  of  the 
nations.  Austria's  Premier  was  among  the 
first  to  direct  attention  to  the  situation,  and 
he  has  been  followed  by  others  in  authority. 
Europe  is  alarmed  at  the  threatened  conse- 
quences, and  the  search  is  now  directed  to  the 
discovery  of  countervailing  forces.  The  first 
necessary  step  in  this  task  is  to  compare  the 
two  continents  and  note  the  points  of  dif- 
ference which  create  the  dangers  feared.     We 


EURUTE    versus    AMERICA' 


2805 


have  treated  of  the  positions  of  different 
nations  hitherto;  now  we  must  contrast 
Europe  and  America  as  units — continent 
against  continent. 

There  are  some  portentous  contrasts. 

First,  we  find  Europe  an  armed  camp,  every 
man's  time  and  labor  for  years  taken  for 
miUtary  training,  not  merely  unproductive 
labor,  but  labor  costly  to  the  State.  Nearly 
9,000,000  of  men  are  thus  called  to  military 
duty.  The  American  Union,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  only  an  army  of  66,000  men,  and 
there  is  no  conscription.  Its  men  are  in  the 
industrial,  not  in  the  military  army,  constantly 
adding  to  the  material  wealth  of  the  country. 
She  is  further  enriched  through  the  operation 
of  conscription  in  Europe. 

Europe  has  410  battleships,  cruisers  and 
coast  defense  ships;  America,  35. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  the 
eflfect  of  this  contrast  upon  the  industrial 
development  of  the  two  continents. 

Second,  America  is  one  united  whole  at 
peace  with  itself,  and  enjoys  immunity  from 
attack  by  neighbors,  or  even  by  Europe,  since 
she  supplies  so  many  parts  of  it  with  neces- 
sary food  products  that  non-exportation  of 
American  products  would  produce  not  only 
famine  prices,  but  actual  famine  itself,  and 
compel  peace.  Hence  industrial  development 
has  one  indispensable  condition-— peaceful 
security.  In  Europe  this  is  lacking,  for  it  is 
divided  into  hostile  camps.  That  its  huge 
armaments  cannot  go  on  unceasingly  growing 
is  evident — an  explosion  must  come.  That 
this  is  considered  imminent  is  evident  from  the 
measures  taken  by  the  nations  to  protect  them- 
selves from  its  consequences.  If  rulers  and 
statesmen  did  not  see  the  inevitable  result 
impending  over  their  heads — a  Damocles 
sword — they  would  strain  less  violently  in 
preparation.  It  is  impossible  for  industrial 
development  to  proceed  satisfactorily  under 
the  shadow  of  this  dreaded  catastrophe .  There 
is  nothing  so  timid  as  capital. 

Until  these  contrasts  cease,  anything  ap- 
proaching equality  of  power  between  the 
industrial  armies  of  the  old  and  the  new 
worlds  is  unattainable. 

Third,  since  his  continent  has  less  than 
thirty  people  per  square  mile,  the  American 
has  a  constantly  expanding  home  demand, 
urging  him  to  extensions,  and  justifying  costly 
improvements  and  the  adoption  of  new  pro- 
cesses.    He  has  also  a  continent  under  tDne 


government.  He  establishes  his  several  works 
at  the  centres  of  the  various  markets.  If  a 
needed  ingredient  be  found  in  one  State, 
another  somewhere  else,  if  it  be  desirable  to 
construct  works  for  one  part  of  a  process  here, 
or  there,  or  ply  ships,  or  build  railroads  in 
any  part  of  this  broad  area,  he  proceeds  with- 
out hesitation,  dreading  neither  interference 
with  supplies,  hostile  legislation,  nor  national 
antipathies.  "No  pent-up  Utica  contracts 
his  powers"  :  more  the  boundless  continent 
is  his,  as  are  all  its  markets,  free  from  tariff. 
His  operations  are  free  from  start  to  finish. 

The  result  is  that  every  process  of  manu- 
facture in  the  Union  flows  naturally  to  the 
localities  best  adapted  for  it,  there  being  no 
barriers  to  free  selection.  The  best  places  also 
are  selected  for  assembling  materials,  raw  or 
partially  prepared,  for  their  final  forms.  In 
short,  it  is  free,  unrestricted  trade  in  every- 
thing under  the  same  conditions,  same  laws, 
same  flag,  and  free  markets  everywhere  over 
an  expanding  continent — advantages  which 
only  those  experienced  in  industrial  trade  will 
estimate  at  their  full  value. 

The  European  manufacturer  finds  obstacles 
to  such  varied  expansion  in  a  continent 
divided  into  hostile  and  warring  States,  with 
different  laws  and  exactions  and  tariffs  at 
every  boundary,  the  fear  of  war  overhanging 
all.  He  is  almost  compelled  to  confine  his 
investments  and  works  to  the  small  area  of 
his  own  country  and  its  small  home  market. 

One  of  many  telling  advantages  which 
industrialism  receives  from  political  union  in 
America  is  that  a  great  home  demand  for  any 
article  from  one  united  people  occupying  a 
continent  evolves  standard  forms,  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  best  types,  which  justifies  the  manu- 
facturer in  erecting  special  machinery  and 
running  it  exclusively  upon  each  part  of  the 
type.  Railway,  electric,  harbor,  bridge  — 
engineers  in  these  and  other  branches  adopt 
the  standard  forms:  hence  whenever  a  huge 
bridge,  for  instance,  is  needed  prompt!}'  in  any 
part  of  the  world — Egypt  or  India — America 
is  applied  to:  the  steel-maker  has  his  bridge 
construction  and  bridge  erection  depart- 
ments managed  by  specialists  who  know 
what  is  best  much  better  than  any  general 
engineer  can  possibly  do.  The  proper  plans 
for  the  standard  bridge  required  are  taken 
and  the  work  begins  instantly.  Note  here 
that  the  steel-maker  is  also  the  bridge 
contractor:  a  vital  point.    The  bridge  is  proba- 


28o6 


"EUROPE    versus   AMERICA" 


bly  open  for  traffic  before  the  European 
engineer  could  have  submitted  plans  and  the 
bridgemaker  had  contracted  with  the  steel- 
maker. A  new  bridge  in  Europe  is  a  new 
creation  in  which  several  separate  contractors 
have  participated ;  in  America  it  is  from  stand- 
ard patterns  evolved  from  experience  and 
completed  from  start  to  finish  by  one  con- 
tractor. 

In  greater  or  less  degree  this  exists  in 
the  manufacture  of  the  principal  articles  of 
which  America  is  now  the  greatest  producer. 
Consider  agricultural  machinery.  One  of  the 
leading  English  manufacturers  once  told  me 
that  he  had  been  compelled  to  abandon 
foreign  markets  and  finally  to  cease  business. 
The  American  manufacturer  had  triumphed. 
While  here  three  or  four  hundred  machines 
were  sufficient  for  the  season's  demand,  his 
friend  in  America  put  in  hand  seven  thousand. 
Megalomania  again.  This  output  justified  the 
automatic  machinery  used  in  every  process  of 
manufacture.  If  my  memory  be  correct,  it 
was  twenty-two  men  in  Britain  for  two  men 
in  America  in  one  of  these  processes — that 
is,  the  machinery  did  twenty  men's  work. 
Why,  then,  not  adopt  it  in  Britain?  you  say. 
Small  home  demand  is  the  adequate  reply, 
and  that  demand  itself  open  to  the  American 
competitor. 

Here  is  an  illustration  of  different  character. 
The  republic  has  now  more  than  ten  thousand 
miles  of  connected  river  and  lake  navigation 
which  supplies  the  cheapest  inland  transporta- 
tion of  materials  in  the  world.  Having  one 
government,  these  lakes  and  rivers  were 
easily  improved  and  joined,  harbors  deepened, 
and  rivers  rendered  navigable  by  means  of 
movable  dams  and  locks.  The  work  still  goes 
steadily  on  under  government  naval  and 
military  engineers.  Some  years  ;^i 2,000,000 
have  been  devoted  to  it.  In  one  day  recently 
226  barges,  containing  200,000  tons  of  coal, 
passed  through  the  Ohio  River  lock  at  Pitts- 
burg for  Western  and  Southern  cities.  All 
articles  can  be  thus  floated  or  towed  to  points 
three  and  even  four  thousand  miles  distant 
for  a  few  shillings  per  ton. 

The  iron-stone  from  Lake  Superior  mines  is 
transported  over  part  of  this  water  system  to 
the  coal  of  Pennsylvania  for  nine  hundred 
miles  at  a  cost  of  two  shillings  per  ton — one 
of  several  elements  in  the  making  of  cheap 
steel.  So  much  for  water  transportation 
through  the  action  of  government;  now  con- 


sider land  transportation  by  railroad  through 
private  agency.  There  is  free  trade  in  railroad 
building — five  men  in  Pennsylvania,  for  in- 
stance, can  meet  and  organize  a  company 
under  the  general  railroad  law  by  satisfying 
the  county  court  that  it  is  a  bona  fide  enter- 
prise, and  that  the  capital  is  subscribed  and 
one-tenth  paid  in:  a  charter  issues  costing 
eight  shillings,  and  the  work  begins.  Railway 
traffic  rates  per  mile  do  not  average  over  one- 
half,  sometimes  one-third  those  of  Europe  for 
long  distances  —  often  for  three  thousand 
miles  merchandise  is  carried  by  rail  in  bulk, 
without  transfer,  at  rates  that  would  surprise 
you. 

Pause  to  consider  for  a  moment  what  such 
facilities  by  land  and  water  mean  as  bearing 
upon  the  area  of  the  home  market  which  the 
gigantic  producer  of  any  article  can  reach  and 
supply — and  then  carefully  note  how  impos- 
sible to  acquire  these  except  through  the  action 
of  one  central  government,  disregardful  of  the 
rival  claims  of  its  petty  parts,  and  dealing 
with  the  problem  solely  from  the  national 
point  of  view,  always  intent  upon  developing 
one  unbroken  system  of  transportation. 

Let  us  go  to  Germany  for  another  proof  that 
magnitude  tells.  She  is  supreme  in  speed 
upon  the  Atlantic:  no  steamships  like  hers. 
And  why  ?  Because  these  monster  ships  start 
from  Germany  after  draining  the  passenger 
travel  of  Northern  and  Eastern  Europe.  Not 
content  with  this,  they  touch  at  Southampton 
and  compete  for  British  travel,  and  still  unsat- 
isfied cross  to  Cherbourg  and  drain  France  and 
Southern  Europe.  On  their  homeward  trips 
from  New  York  they  are  filled  with  passengers 
for  all  these  ports.  It  is  not  subsidies  which 
enable  the  Germans  to  conquer  here,  for  their 
lines  are  not  paid  more  than  half  what  British 
lines  on  the  Atlantic  receive.  It  is  magnitude. 
The  250,000,000  people  the  German  lines 
serve  is  equivalent  to  a  great  home  demand. 
This  justifies  their  ocean  greyhounds  as  the 
American  home  market  justifies  unequaled 
manufacturing  establishments.  Since  these 
lines  were  penned  strong  proof  has  come  of 
the  law  of  surplus.  The  Britain,  the  smaller 
market,  has  been  compelled  to  pay  $150,000 
per  year  for  two  Atlantic  greyhounds,  while 
the  greater  market,  Germany,  has  four  of  these 
supported  by  the  greater  demand  of  the 
greater  market. 

Germany,  in  herself,  furnishes  proof  of  the 
necessity  in  this  age  for  consolidation  of  small 


"EUKorK  7rrs//s  amkric:a" 


2807 


areas.  As  long  as  she  was  cut  up  into  petty 
divisions,  with  different  laws  and  tariffs,  she 
had  no  international  position  industrially— 
it  was  impossible  siie  could  have.  United 
into  one  empire,  with  free  trade  over  the  whole 
area,  giving  a  home  market  of  56,000,000 
people,  she  only  needed  to  encourage  the 
development  of  her  resources,  which  was 
wise  statesmanship,  to  become  the  dangerous 
rival  of  Britain,  and  even  to  outstrip  her  in  the 
most  important  article  of  all,  steel. 

One  more  illustration.  Switzerland  was 
the  land  of  watch  manufacture  by  hand. 
America  introduced  machinery,  having  an 
enormous  home  demand — there  being  scarcely 
an  American  adult  without  a  watch.  Now 
one  concern  there  makes  more  watches  than 
all  of  Switzerland,  as  one  American  constructor 
makes  more  locomotives  than  any  European 
country,  and  one  agricultural  implement 
maker  makes  more  machines  than  all  Britain. 

Another  proof  of  the  value  of  home  demand 
can  be  given  from  Britain.     One  important 
department  in  Europe  is  unequaled   by   the 
1  American — shipbuilding,    which     also    obeys 

the  law  of  great  home  demand.  Since  Britain 
has  been  the  great  exporter  and  importer  of 
the  world  and  the  greatest  naval  power, 
naturally  the  building  of  ships  has  taken  firm 
root  there;  and  in  the  world's  market  she 
remains  supreme.  Having  the  enormous 
home  demand,  she  conquers  the  foreign. 

More  and  more  clearly  must  the  truth  be 
realized  that  the  industrial  struggle  among 
the  nations  is  bound  up  with  the  political,  the 
question  of  magnitude  being  at  the  bottom  of 
supremacy  in  both.  A  nation  cannot  be 
small  in  size  and  in  population  and  remain 
great  in  material  products  or  material  power. 
To  maintain  first  rank  industrially,  commer- 
cially or  financialh'  small  nations  must  merge 
with  others  and  become  prosperous  parts  of 
one  greet  federated  power.  Once  the  race 
was  between  separate  nations,  henceforth  it  is 
between  continents. 

Ask  yourself  this  question.  If  America  had 
been  composed  of  petty,  independent,  jealous 
States,  as  Europe  is,  each  afraid  of  the  other, 
and  armed  to  the  teeth  against  expected 
attack,  and  had  erected  tariff  barriers  against 
the  products  of  each  other,  would  Europe  ever 

thave  heard  of  the  American  Industrial 
Invasion?  To  ask  the  question  is  to  answer 
it — never. 


trasts  between  the  two  is  that  the  one 
continent  is  one  harmonious,  peaceful, 
cooperative  whole,  its  power  and  energy 
directed  to  industrial  progress  ;  the  other 
divided  into  hostile  camps — tlie  power  and 
energy  of  each  directed  to  military  protec- 
tion and  commercial  isolation. 

Ask  yourselves  another  question.  Can 
Europe,  as  long  as  she  remains  divided  into 
hostile  camps,  ever  hope  to  conquer  foreign 
markets  or  even  to  repel  the  American 
invasion  ?  That  question  also  answers  itself 
— never. 

Such  are  the  chief  contrasts  between  the 
two  Continents  and  their  effects  bearing  upon 
Industrialism.  What  must  Europe  do  to 
dispel  them  ?  There  is  only  one  answer. 
She  labors  in  vain  until  she  secures  some  form 
of  political  and  industrial  union  and  becomes 
one  united  whole,  as  the  American  Union  is 
in  these  respects,  for  this  is  the  only  founda- 
tion upon  which  she  can  ever  contend  success- 
fully against  America  for  the  trade  of  the 
world,  or  each  of  her  separate  nations  hold  its 
own  home  trade  in  manufactures,  except 
under  a  system  of  protection  which  must 
handicap  her  in  the  race  for  the  trade  of  the 
world.  The  load  of  militarism  would  cease 
to  press  upon  her,  for  a  very  small  per- 
centage of  the  cost  of  the  present  defensive 
armaments  of  the  Powers  would  suffice  to 
protect  her  from  foreign  attack.  Europe  is  a 
body  whose  members  war  against  each  other; 
her  enemies  those  of  her  own  household.  A 
sorry  spectacle. 

The  consolidation  of  Europe  has  proceeded 
apace  within  a  century.  Napoleon  abolished 
more  than  a  hundred  independent  centres  of 
quarrel  in  Germany  alone.  In  our  own  day  we 
have  seen  Germany  emerge,  through  Federa- 
tion, into  one  of  the  strongest  of  powers 
and  reach  the  front  rank  industrially,  Italy 
reconstructed  and  enlarged,  France  adding 
Savoy  and  Nice.  Several  smaller  changes 
in  territory  have  taken  place,  but  no  student 
of  international  affairs  assumes  that  Europe 
has  yet  reached  its  final  forms.  It  is  still  in  a 
state  of  flux.  Hence  the  great  Powers  sleep 
upon  their  arms,  mistrustful  of  each  other, 
and  in  every  successive  budget  devote  huge 
sums  to  increase  their  war  power,  thus  from 
year  to  year  giving  that  fearful  note  of  prepa- 
ration which  keeps  capital  alarmed  and  pre- 
vents rapid  and  thorough  scientific  industrial 
development  and  free  exchange.     No  end  can 


28o8 


"EUROPE   versus   AMERICA" 


be  safely  predicted  to  the  struggle  once  begun. 
Twenty  wars  and  peaces  may  find  Europe  still 
in  flux,  if  its  final  forms  are  to  be  determined 
by  the  sword.  Fortunately  consolidations 
have  reduced  the  centres  of  disturbance  until 
today  there  are  only  five  in  Europe,  and,  as  a 
result,  even  Europeans  are  now  sometimes 
permitted  to  rest  from  the  slaughter  of  each 
other  for  a  generation,  guiltless  of  their  neigh- 
bor's blood,  and  this  although  Europe  is  an 
armed  camp  and  the  Powers  still  busy  increas- 
ing their  destructive  agencies.  We  should 
hail  the  Triple  and  the  Dual  Alliances,  since 
these  are  defensive  agreements,  and  reduce 
war-making  centres  practically  to  two,  a 
contest  between  which  would  be  of  such  stu- 
pendous magnitude  as  to  give  the  most  reck- 
less gamester  pause.  But  the  merely  negative 
influence  of  these  alliances  is  clear.  They 
cause  not  one  moment's  cessation  in  the  race 
for  additional  armaments — proof  that  the 
Powers  still  fear  each  other  in  spite  of  these 
consolidated  agreements,  and  dread  the  com- 
ing of  an  inevitable  struggle,  which  is  to  end 
only  when  the  map  of  Europe  is  greatly 
changed.  Hence  the  military  army  exacts  its 
conscripts  from  the  industrial  army,  and  pro- 
gress halts  in  all  the  fields  of  peaceful  develop- 
ment. Security  is  absent.  Some  have  pre- 
dicted that  no  permanent  peace  is  possible 
until  the  division  among  the  great  Powers  be 
effected  substantially  upon  racial  lines.  Such 
drastic  reconstruction  means  generations  of 
strife,  or  of  preparation  for  strife,  almost 
equally  disastrous  to  industrial  progress,  and 
would  still  leave  three  rival  Powers.  Such  a 
solution  should  not  be  thought  of.  One 
exclaims  instinctively,  "Take  away  the  sword 
— States  may  be  saved  without  it."  The  most 
important  gain  of  all  to  the  cause  of  peace 
among  men  is  to  be  credited  to  the  enlight- 
ened and  peace-loving  Emperor  of  Russia.  The 
Hague  Conference,  called  by  him,  established 
a  permanent  tribunal  composed  of  the  ablest 
and  best  men  of  the  various  nations,  a  selec- 
tion from  which  can  be  made  by  nations  to 
settle  their  differences. 

Its  value  has  not  been  realized.  Wars  in 
South  Africa  and  the  Philippines  arose  and 
absorbed  attention.  In  both  of  these  our  race 
was  offered  bv  its  adversaries  arbitration 
through  this  agency,  which  was  ultimately 
rejected,  but  the  time  comes  when  .we  shall 
begin  to  appreciate  what  the  world  has  gained 
thereby.     Two    international    disputes    have 


alread}^  been  submitted  to  this  high  court  of 
humanity,  and  the  example  once  set  is  bound 
to  be  followed  and  crystallized  into  custom. 
A  thousand  years  from  now  the  historian  will 
probably  cite  as  the  most  important  event  of 
the  century  the  first  creation  of  a  tribunal 
whose  object  was  to  banish  from  the  earth  its 
deepest  stain,  and  from  human  beings  their 
most  inhuman  practice,  the  settlement  of 
international  differences  by  the  killing  of  each 
other.  Such  the  part  played  by  the  present 
Emperor  of  Russia.  Such  his  unimpeacha- 
ble title  to  rank  with  the  few  supreme  bene- 
factors of  men.  It  is  something  gained  that 
Europe  might  relieve  itself  of  internal  wars 
among  its  parts,  as  if  by  magic,  by  simply 
agreeing  to  appeal  to  this  tribunal. 

The  three  leading  powers,  Russia,  France 
and  Germany,  took  joint  action  in  regard  to  a 
question  in  the  far  East,  and  more  recently 
Britain  joined  them  in  joint  action  in  China, 
the  United  States  cooperating  to  some 
extent.  These  are  all  cheering  signs,  indica- 
tions that  perhaps  the  era  of  continuous  joint 
action  is  not  so  far  distant  as  might  be  feared. 
The  Triple  and  Dual  Alliances,  or  a  new  group- 
ing of  parties,  might  guarantee  the  status  quo 
and  agree  to  cease  increase  of  armaments, 
which  would  not  change  the  relative  positions 
of  nations.  Perhaps  a  second  resolve  might 
soon  follow  that  these  should  be  ratably 
decreased,  but  this  being  a  positive,  not  a 
negative  measure,  would  be  more  difficult. 
Still,  much  seems  possible  in  the  direction  of 
peace,  since  there  are  now  only  two  organiza- 
tions to  be  harmonized. 

"A  great  man  has  arisen  in  England,  Sire, 
called  Cromwell,"  said  Richelieu  to  the  King. 
We  might  say  "A  great  man  has  arisen  in 
Germany,  the  Emperor."  It  is  impossible  to 
follow  his  doings  without  feeling  that  here  is  a 
personality,  a  power  potent  for  good  or  evil, 
in  the  world.  So  far  he  has  given  Germany 
a  much-needed  stimulus  to  industrial  action. 
Both  on  sea  and  land  his  influence  has  been 
decisive.  The  German  ships  are  first  in  speed 
upon  the  Atlantic.  The  inland  watercourses 
of  Germany,  according  to  his  plans,  are  soon 
to  play  a  more  important  part  in  her  internal 
development.  She  is  now  second  in  the  world 
as  a  manufacturer  of  steel,  which  means  much, 
since  that  is  the  basic  element  of  a  thousand 
articles,  and  her  product  of  iron  is  soon  also  to 
be  second.  The  Emperor's  head  and  hand  and 
heart,  too,  are  in  all  these  triumphs.     He  is  at 


' '  K  V  R  0 1'  1-:    irrsNs    A  M  K  R 1  C  A  ' ' 


2809 


once  the  Emperor  and  the  vital  force  of  the 
empire.  One  wonders  whether,  after  having 
proved  the  efficiency  of  the  German  Constitu- 
tion, he  may  not  devote  himself  to  its  further 
extension.  All  that  Germany  has  gained  by 
consolidation  into  an  empire  Europe  would 
gain,  and  more,  if  merged  into  one.  A  combi- 
nation of  the  German  and  American  Constitu- 
tions, satisfactory  to  most,  if  not  all,  European 
nations,  seems  not  impracticable,  and  the 
union  only  of  tlie  most  important  is  required 
to  insure  peace.  France,  Germany  and 
Russia  would  suffice,  and  these  have  taken 
joint  action  already  against  Japan,  Why  are 
they  not  to  do  so  hereafter  in  the  greater  issue  ? 
Under  both  the  German  and  American  sys- 
tems small  nationalities  are  sacredly  preserved 
as  in  the  Union  of  Scotland  and  England ;  hence 
the  perfect  welds.  The  Kings  of  Saxony  and 
of  Bavaria  are  German.  Every  State  in  the 
American  Union  is  in  itself  sovereign  with  its 
elected  Governor.  Wherever  suppression  has 
been  tried  trouble  has  arisen.  Imagine  the 
effect  of  an  attempt  to  destroy  Scotland's 
nationality  and  stamp  out  the  sentiment 
which  lies  in  the  core  of  every  Scottish  heart, 
which  no  words  can  ever  express  but  "Scotland 
forever."  With  this  precious  national  patriotic 
sentiment  properly  recognized  and  protected, 
consolidations  of  nations  will  be  easy  and 
wholly   advantageous. 

The  coming  century  is  to  look  back  upon 
the  present  petty  political  divisions  of  Europe 
with  the  feelings  we  of  today  entertain  for  the 
one  hundred  and  fourteen  little  States  of 
Germany  and  their  pygmy  monarchs  of  the 
past  century,  with  their  thirty-four  tariff 
barriers  to  commerce  and  travel  on  the  Rhine, 
resembling  the  Likin  of  China. 

The  Emperor  of  Russia  having  taken  the 
first  step  toward  the  peace  of  the  world  in  the 
Hague  Conference,  the  other  mighty  Emperor 
might  some  day  be  impressed  by  the  thought 
that  it  is  due  to  himself  and  to  Germany  to 
play  a  great  part  upon  the  wider  stage  of 
Europe  as  her  deliverer  from  the  incubus 
which  oppresses  and  weakens  her,  the  appall- 
ing and  paralyzing  fear  of  a  war  of  ruin 
between  the  members  of  her  own  body. 
Seldom  comes  to  the  world  one  who  is  both 
Emperor  and  ruler,  and  the  few  known  to 
history  have  made  their  mark  upon  the  world, 
from  Caesar  and  King  Alfred  to  Charlemagne. 
No  ordinary  task  contented  them.  One 
cannot    help    believing    that    "one    of    the 


supremely  great' '  in  the  Emperor's  position 
could  influence  the  few  men  who  today  control 
Europe  to  take  the  first  step,  not  to  federate, 
but  by  alliance  to  insure  internal  peace,  whicli 
is  all  that  can  be  expected  at  present.  What 
the  separate  nations  of  Europe — Russia 
excepted — have  to  look  forward  to  in  the  not 
distant  future,  if  they  do  not  agree  so  far  as  to 
enjoy  peaceful  security  and  free  trade  among 
themselves,  and  act  in  wars,  military  or 
industrial,  as  one  power,  is  to  revolve  like  so 
many  Liliputians  around  this  giant  Gulliver, 
the  American  Union,  soon  to  embrace  two 
hundred  millions  of  people  of  the  English- 
speaking  race,  capable  of  supplying  most  of 
the  world's  wants,  both  in  manufactures  and 
food  products,  at  lowest  and  yet  to  it  profitable 
prices.  The  most  sanguine  predictions  in 
regard  to  her  advantages  and  coming  triumphs 
industrially  and  commercially  are,  in  my  calm 
judgment,  probably  to  be  exceeded.  Even 
if  European  nations  were  reconciled  to  play 
the  subordinate  role  indicated,  there  remains 
the  impossibility  of  their  enduring  forever 
the  present  military  strain  under  which  some 
already  begin  to  stagger.  The  loan  must 
sooner  or  later  prove  too  great  and  force 
reconstruction. 

Let  us  therefore  assume  that  Continental 
Europe  will  be  finally  compelled,  after  greater 
or  less  sacrifice,  through  ruinous  wars  or  peace- 
ful negotiations,  if  not  to  federalize  in  some 
form,  yet  to  adopt  means  to  insure  peace 
among  themselves  which  would  lead  to  some 
form  of  federation  under  free  trade.  It  would 
then  be  continent  against  continent — Europe 
versus  America:  with  the  former  relieved 
from  militarism  there  would  be  equality  so  far 
and  both  could  prosper  with  a  large  home 
market  and  participate  in  the  ever-increasing 
trade  of  the  world.  There  is  little  room  today 
for  operations  upon  a  small  scale  either 
in  industrialism  or  in  nationalism — nation 
against  nation  was  once  well  enough.  Britain 
and  France,  Italy,  Germany,  Austria-Hungary 
were  each  once  of  sufficient  size  to  rank  as 
great  powers,  but  the  American  Continental 
Union — forty-five  States  in  one,  has  changed 
all  that.  The  solid  mass  of  this  great  body  in 
action  will  by  mere  momentum  force  its  way 
through  small  industrial  warring  units  into 
opposition.  There  is  also  huge  Russia  to  be 
reckoned  with,  which  likewise  threatens  to 
overshadow  the  small  nations. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  Morley's  '"  Life  of 


28lO 


"EUROPE    versus   AMERICA" 


Cobden"  is  most  pertinent  to  today's  condi- 
tions : 

"  Great  economic  and  social  forces  flow  with 
a  tidal  sweep  over  commiinities  that  are  only 
half  conscious  of  that  which  is  befalling  them. 
Wise  statesmen  are  those  who  foresee  what 
time  is  thus  bringing,  and  endeavor  to  shape 
institutions  and  to  mold  men's  thought  and 
purpose  in  accordance  with  the  change  that 
is  silently  surrounding  them," 

The  question  arises,  what  would  Britain  do 
if  Continental  Europe  be  thus  relieved  from 
internal  dangers  and  under  free  trade  possessed 
of  the  indispensable  home  market,  and  were 
finally  to  be  federated  into  one  ZoUverein  or 
great  power?  Would  she  remain  a  small 
separate  island  nation  of  forty-five  or  fifty 
millions,  against  the  hundreds  of  millions  of 
the  Continent  ?  Or,  if  invited,  become  a  mem- 
ber of  the  European  consolidation — our  race 
submerged  by  Slav,  Teutonic  and  Latin 
races?  Or  would  the  mother-heart,  beating 
fast  within  her,  turn  her  gaze  longingly  to 
her  children  across  the  sea,  then  hundreds  of 
millions  strong,  and,  grasping  their  out- 
stretched hand,  murmur,  " '  Whit'hersoe  ver 
thou  goest  I  go;  thy  people  are  my  people": 
the  English-speaking  race  thus  becoming 
again  as  it  was  before — for  offense  never,  for 
defense  ever — one  and  inseparable. 

It  is  for  essays  upon  this  momentous  ques- 
tion that  I  shall  offer  the  usual  Rector's  prizes. 

Students  of  St.  Andrews: — My  subject  has 
been  the  Industrial  Ascendency  of  the  World, 
once  yoiu-s,  and  now  passed  to  your  lineal 
descendant,  who  bears  the  industrial  crown. 
But,  gentlemen,  in  this  audience,  assembled 
in  Scotland's  oldest  university,  the  thought 
that  fills  your  heart  and  appeals  to  mine,  is,  of 
what  value  is  material  compared  with  moral 
and  intellectual  ascendency,  supremacy  not 
in  the  things  of  the  body  but  in  those  of  the 
spirit !  What  the  barbarous  triumphs  of  tTie 
sword  compared  with  those  of  the  pen  I 
Peace  hath  her  victories  much  more  renowned 
than  those  of  war :  the  heroes  of  the  past  have 
been  those  who  most  successfully  injured  or 
slew;  the  heroes  of  the  future  are  to  be  those 
who  most  wisely  benefit  or  save  their  fellow- 
men.  What  the  action  of  the  thews  and 
sinews  against  that  of  the  Godlike  reason,  the 
murdering  savage  armies  of  brutal  force 
against   the   peaceful   armies   of     Literature, 


Poetr}-,  Art,  Science,  Law,  Government, 
Medicine,  and  all  the  agencies  which  refine 
and  civilize  man  and  help  him  onward  and 
upward !  Shakespeare  and  Milton,  Burns 
and  Scott,  Xewton  and  Hume,  Bacon  and 
Locke,  Cromwell,  Hampden,  Pym,  Sidney  and 
Russell,  Burke,  Gladstone,  Bright,  Tennyson, 
Browning,  Arnold,  Carlyle,  Ruskin,  Darwin, 
Watt,  Symington,  Stephenson,  Bessemer, 
Arkwright,  Hargreaves,  and  others  of  the 
past ;  and  all  the  leaders  of  today  who  march 
in  the  train  of  the  white-robed  angel  of  peace 
and  good- will  among  men. 

What  matters  what  part  of  the  world  makes 
the  most  steel,  iron,  cloth  or  ships,  if  you 
produce  the  highest  poets,  historians,  phi- 
losophers, statesmen,  inventors,  teachers  ? 
Let  others  make  more  of  the  food  for  the 
body  of  man,  if  from  you  come  the  best  books 
for  his  soul,  or  the  highest  examples  of  lives 
grandly  lived.  Let  more  of  the  millions  of 
the  people  of  the  world  be  clothed  by  other 
lands  and  other  hands,  as  long  as  you  educate 
and  apparel  the  minds,  leading  men  in  the 
higher  paths. 

There  is  no  ascendency  of  the  world  and 
that  the  highest,  where  neither  unbounded 
fertile  territory,  immense  store  of  minerals, 
nor  numbers,  nor  aught  material,  are  of  value, 
where  megalomania  reigneth  not.  For  the 
crown  of  this  realm  you  have  no  cause  to 
struggle;  it  is  already  yours;  it  has  never 
been  lost;  it  remains  here  in  the  old 
home.  Nor  has  the  blast  yet  blown  of  any 
challenger  from  either  of  the  four  winds  of 
heaven.  The  crown  of  the  material  world 
physical  reasons  prevent  you  wearing, 
although  man  for  man  you  may  remain  the 
equal  or  superior  of  any.  There  is  no  reason 
why  you  should  lose  the  other.  See  to  it  that 
you  do  your  best  to  guard  it  against  all  comers, 
men  of  St.  Andrews,  for  precious  it  is  beyond 
all  others,  and  blessed  among  and  beyond  all 
other  nations  is  she  whose  brow  it  adorns. 

Let  other  nations  therefore  distribute  among 
themselves  as  they  may  the  victories  of  materi- 
alism. Precedence  for  Britain,  the  dear  old 
home  of  our  race,  is  the  thing  of  the  spirit,  the 
modern  Greece,  and  m.ore  than  Greece  ever 
was  to  her  world,  at  whose  shrine  all  that 
highest  and  best  of  the  nations  of  the  world 
will  dutifully  attend  to  testify  their  gratitude, 
admiration,  reverence  and  love. 


URANCH  OF   A   COCOA   TRKE  WITH    I'ODS  OF  COCOA    HEAN   ATTACHED 


CHOCOLATE    MAKING    IN    AMERICA 

BY 

HERBERT  S.    HOUSTON 

HEN  Montezuma  Massachusetts  Bay.  Thus  chocolate  corn- 
raised  a  golden  pleted  a  circle  by  returning  to  the  country 
cup  to  his  lips  for  where  it  was  discovered  by  the  Spaniards 
refreshment  one  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  before.  And  it 
trying  day  after  was  in  this  country  of  its  discovery  that 
the  fall  of  his  king-  chocolate  was  destined  to  reach  its  highest 
d  o  m  ,     he    intro-  estate  as  a  food  and  drink. 


rr'.-'l^ 

^      ■< 

□n 

■1 

w 

w 

^feSi*    "^ 

V        " 

v\ 

IM 

KW%d^JJ-  ^ 

^^&!- 

i 

u^ 

II^  \  ftj""     J 

^^^ 

^  Ji 

^^ 

lUk-Ji^Jq^   -^ 

l^^^iS 

^^ 

m^M 

^^ 

1^- 

^ltt\^^^^Svn!id 

^W^ 

2w^ 

TV'i 

^S| 

31 V 

/kii 

BiHJlB^Bffl 

ii^sl 

SliA 

^r 

Wcp^ 

JjBSI 

v^^ 

m 

it-"^^! 

1 

JUjiii 

^^ 

MONTEZUMA,  WHO     INTRO- 
DUCED    CHOCOLATE 
TO   EUROPE 


duced  a  new  drink 
to  the  world. 
Bernal  Diaz,  one 
of  the  Spanish 
officers  with  Cor- 
tez,  observed  the 
monarch,  and  in 
a  history  he  after- 
ward wrote  of  the 
Mexico   he    described    the   act 


BEGINNINGS  OF  A  GREAT  INDUSTRY 

On  the  Neponset  River,  in  the  old  town  of 
Dorchester,  the  first  chocolate  mill  in  the 
United  States  was  established  in  1765.  Fif- 
teen years  later  this  mill  became  the  property 
of  Dr.  James  Baker,  the  first  in  a  succession 
of  remarkable  men  who  founded  and  devel- 
oped a  great  industry.  It  is  interesting  to 
observe  how  much  of  New  England  conscience 
became  a  base  in  establishing  a  business 
enterprise.  The  principle  was  laid  down  in 
the  beginning  that  there  should  be  unflinching 
honesty  in  every  stage  of  chocolate  making. 


conquest    of 

and   its    effect.      Thus  it  came    about    that 
when    the    Spaniards    took    ship    for     Cadiz 
they    bore   with    them    not    only    a    yellow 
metal  but  a  dark  brown  nut  from  which  choco- 
late was  made.     This  knowledge  of  chocolate 
making  was  kept  a  secret  for  many  years  in     to  the  end   that  the   product   should    be    of 
Spain,  but  it  finally  crossed  the  Pyrenees  into      perfect      purity. 
France  and  spread  throughout  Europe.     The      In  the   hundred 
way  of  this  spread  is  interesting.     In  the  re-      and  twenty-two 
fectories  of  the  Spanish  monasteries  chocolate      years  since,  that 
had  become  such  a  famous  beverage  that  the      principle       has 
monks,  wishing  to  remember  their  brothers      been  deemed  of 


I 


in  France  in  an  especially  friendly  way,  sent 
them  presents  of  the  cocoa  beans.  The 
daughter  of  Philip  III.,  when  she  went  to 
Paris  as  Queen  of  Louis  XIII.,  bore  with  her 
from  Madrid  the  news  of  the  new  drink  from 
America.  And  so  the  cheering  cup  was 
passed  on.  It  reached  England  before  the 
time  of  Charles  II.,  and  some  of  the  Puritans 
took  it  with  them  to  the  thriving  colony  on 

The   World's   Work  Advertiser 


more  importance 
than  any  new 
process  or  ma- 
chine. This  fidel- 
ity to  an  ethical 
idea  has  pro- 
duced an  inheri- 
tance and  a  tra- 
dition similar  to 


THE     PURITANS,    WHO      RE- 

TURNED    CHOCOLATE 

TO  AMERICA 


CHOCOLATE  MAKIXG  IX  AMERICA 


TfH- 


OLD   STONE    MILL   OF  WALTER  BAKER  &   CO.   ABOUT   1850 


those  perpetuated 
in  the  craftsmen's 
guilds  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  And  this 
gro\vth  of  character 
in  an  industry  is 
really  of  more  vital 
significance  after 
all  than  any  me- 
chanical invention 
or  business  svstem. 
It  is  that  funda- 
mental philosophy 
which  President 
Roosevelt  has  re- 
cently been  preaching  as  the  basis  of  good 
citizenship ;  and  it  is  just  as  important  in 
manufactures  as  in  citizenship. 

But  this  article  is  not  a  homily  but  a  history. 
On  the  Neponset  River  the  chocolate  mills 
multiplied.  For  many  years  Walter  Baker, 
a  crrandson  of  tlie  founder,  was  the  head  of 
the  business,  and  it  came  to  bear  his  name. 
For  two  years,  following  his  death  in  1852, 
Sidney  Williams  had  charge  of  the  business, 
and  then,  in  1854,  it  came  under  the  direction 
of  Henry  L.  Pierce.  For  forty-two  years, 
and  until  his  death,  this  able  captain  of  in- 
dustry was  in  control.  It  was  a  period  of 
great  development  and  expansion  in  the 
business  of  the  company.     There  was  little 


r^WWVM  W   /'I'lUft 


tyr 


change  during  these 
progressive  years  in 
the  processes  of 
manufacture,  and 
absolutely  none  in 
the  fixed  principle 
below  those  pro- 
cesses ;  but  there 
was  marvelous 
growth  in  the  con- 
sumption of  choco- 
late. This  was  not 
something  which, 
like  Topsy,  '  'just 
growed  "  but  it  was 
the  result  of  design  and  splendid  general- 
ship. Herein  lay  Mr.  Pierce's  power  as 
a  constructive  business  man.  He  not  only 
made  a  product,  but  he  literally  created  a 
larger  market  for  it.  And  he  did  this  by 
methods  that  were  in  advance  of  his  time. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  American  business 
men  to  perceive  the  creative  force  in  ad- 
vertising. The  chocolate  mills  at  Dorchester, 
as  well  as  nearly  all  other  food  producers, 
sold  their  product  to  grocers  and  they  in  turn 
gained  buyers  after  the  stereotyped  methods 
of  retailing.  But  Mr.  Pierce  changed  all  this 
by  appealing  direct  to  the  consumer  through 
general  advertising.  He  believed  that  here 
was  his  ultimate  market  and  that  it  wotdd  be 


THE  GREAT  MILLS  OF  WALTER   BAKER   &   CO.   AS  THEY  ARE   TODAY 


The  World's  Work  Advertiser 


Photographed  by  J.  C.  Hcmment 

EX-PRESIDENT   GROVER   CLEVELAND 

AS    HE    APPEARED    AT    THE    PRINCETON    INAUGURATION 

"  On  this  issue  [tariff  reform]  I  am  satisfied  that  the  Democracy  is  face  to  face  with  a  great  opportunity.  All  the  signs  of  the  times 
point  to  a  recognition,  far  beyond  all  party  lines,  of  the  benefits  which  would  accrue  to  the  people  by  a  readjustment  of  the  tariff,  and  it 
would  be  worse  than  folly  for  the  party,  under  the  stress  of  any  temptation  or  yielding  to  any  allurement,  to  permit  this  to  be  subordinated 
to  or  overshadowed  by  any  other  issue." — Graver  Cleveland. 


THE 


World's  Work 


DECEMBER,    1902 


Volume   V 


Number  2 


Z\yc  fiDarcb  of  lEvcnts 


As  the  end  of  the  year  draws  nigh  we 
may  congratulate  ourselves  that  it 
will  leave  the  world  in  much  better 
plight  than  it  found  it.  When  it  began  there 
was  war  in  South  Africa  and  there  were 
troublesome  hostilities  in  the  Philippines. 
Now  peace  is  broken,  if  broken  at  all,  only  by 
the  unrest  in  Venezuela  and  Colombia  and 
in  Hayti  that  follows  their  revolutions  and  in 
Africa  where  the  "Mad  Mullah"  has  attacked 
the  British.  And  not  only  is  the  world  at 
peace,  but  the  great  nations  are  more 
securely  linked  together,  perhaps,  than  they 
ever  were  before.  New  forces  for  peace 
are  at  work — especially  two  of  the  strongest 
possible  world  influences :  an  organized  and 
closely  knit  commerce,  which  none  can 
afford  to  disturb  for  fear  of  a  lasting  loss  of 
trade,  and  in  particular  the  overwhelming 
commercial  power  of  the  United  States,  which 
would  gain  a  still  surer  lead  by  the  suspension 
of  industrial  activity  in  any  important 
country.  The  little  periodical  adjustments  of 
power  and  of  privilege  that  the  nations  used 
to  make  by  special  treaties  were  crude  and 
weak  guarantees  of  peace  in  comparison  with 
the  compelling  power  of  modern  commerce 
and  all  that  it  implies.  The  most  recent 
wars  were  really  only  frontier  wars. 

Men  without  historical  knowledge  easily 
believe  that  their  own  era  is  a  new  era  in  the 
world.  But  men  with  historical  knowledge 
now    see    international    conditions    that    are 


radically  different  and  radically  better  for 
peace  than  any  of  the  battered  centuries 
behind  us  knew.  Th'e  unfettering  of  the 
dominant  race  of  men  by  free  institutions 
to  free  opportunity  on  the  most  fruitful  conti- 
nent and  the  industrial  rise  of  the  Republic, 
fortifying  its  political  power,  have  put  all 
nations  in  a  new  relation  to  one  another  and 
in  a  new  relation  to  civilization  This  revolu- 
tionary fact  has  become  plainer  this  year  than 
it  ever  was  before .  Its  far-reaching  significance 
we  do  not  yet  see ;  but  it  looks  like  a  great 
force  that  will  work  for  the  steadying  of 
governments  and  for  the  sane  direction  of 
endeavor  for  centuries  to  come.  For  it  is 
the  natural  result  of  a  great  law  of  human 
development  and  not  an  advantage  won  by 
the  strength  of  armies  or  by  the  skill  of  diplo- 
matists or  by  any  other  power  that  may 
change  with  a  change  of  rulers  and  of  genera- 
tions. The  industrial  man  becomes  stronger, 
the  political  man  weaker;  and  economic  force 
is  beginning  to  rule  the  world  as  military 
force  once  ruled  it. 

A  YEAR  THAT  HAS  BROUGHT  A  WIDER  OUTLOOK 

SOME  of  the  definite  proofs  that  have 
been  given  this  twelvemonth  of  the 
nations'  adjustment  to  a  future  larger  and 
humaner  than  the  past  are  worth  recalling. 
The  Boer  war  ended  with  the  promise  of  a 
more  liberal  reconstruction  of  South  Africa 
than  England  has  been  accustomed  to  make 


2oI4 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


to  a  subjugated  people.  That  this  liberality 
was  wrung  from  the  conquerors  by  the  unex- 
pected endurance  of  the  Boers  may  be  true. 
But  it  fits  in  not  only  with  the  English  policy 
of  our  time  but  with  the  humaner  mood  of 
the  world.  An  even  greater  departure  from 
preceding  methods  of  colonial  warfare  and 
administration  has  been  made  by  our  dealing 
with  the  peoples  of  the  Philippine  Islands. 
Cuba  set  up  her  own  government  in  due  time, 
and  now  that  the  sluggish  politicians  of  that 
voung  republic  know  the  conscience  of  the 
people  the  details  of  our  honorable  programme 
will  unquestionably  be  carried  out. 

Between  the  great  powers  there  has  been 
no  serious  friction.  England  concluded  a 
five-year  treaty  with  Japan  that  makes  peace 
in  Asia  more  stable.  Our  own  diplomatic 
triumphs  for  fair  dealing  have  continued 
under  Mr.  Hay's  management,  for  no  other 
international  statesman  is  writing  so  large  a 
chapter  of  contemporaneous  history.  Germany 
sent  a  royal  prince  to  express  her  good 
will  to  us.  The  change  of  Prime  Ministers 
of  England  did  not  break  the  continuity 
of  policy,  and  under  the  king  the  great 
empire  is  as  stable  and  as  sane  as  it  was  under 
the  great  queen.  The  Australasian  colonies 
have  economic  and  administrative  difficulties, 
and  there  is  some  danger  of  local  disturbance 
elsewhere  in  the  empire,  nor  did  the  conference 
of  colonial  ministers  bring  concrete  results ; 
but  England's  power  is  held  in  bonds  for  peace 
everywhere  by  the  need  of  her  industrial 
awakening;  and  it  is  interesting  to  reflect 
that  the  subject  that  now  profoundly  agitates 
the  kingdom  is  popular  education.  It  was  to 
the  broader  education  of  men  into  an  inter- 
national view  of  life  that  the  most  successful 
of  modern  English  adventurers  gave  his 
thought  when  he  made  his  will,  and  it  is  to 
education  that  the  builders  of  colossal 
American  fortunes  give  with  a  lavishness 
that  marks  a  new  era. 

The  year  would  be  made  memorable,  if 
it  had  no  other  claim  to  distinction,  by  the 
demonstration  that  the  Hague  arbitration 
tribunal  may  settle  international  contentions. 
The  submission  to  it  of  the  long-standing 
case  of  the  "Pious  fund"  by  the  United 
States  and  Mexico  does  not  prove  that  in 
the  future  all  or  many  international  disputes 
may  be  settled  by  it,  but  it  has  definitely 
and  auspiciously  made  an  excellent  beginning 
of  beneficent  activitv. 


TWO   NOTEWORTHY   CHANGES   IN   PUBLIC 
THOUGHT 

AT  home  the  year  so  far  has  been  note- 
worth}'  in  the  best  way  that  a  year 
can  distinguish  itself — by  the  continuation  of 
a  generally  diffused  prosperity.  If  the  foolish 
coal  strike  could  have  been  left  out  of  the 
calendar,  it  might  have  been  said  that  our 
chief  excitement  has  been  caused  by  the  very 
excess  and  ambition  of  prosperity ;  for  we  have 
probably  talked  more  about  trusts,  domestic 
and  international,  than  about  any  other  single 
subject.  Mr.  Morgan  has  held  the  centre  of  the 
stage  more  constantly  and  more  conspicu- 
ously than  any  other  one  private  citizen,  and 
yet  he  is  one  of  the  most  reticent  of  men. 

It  is  in  prosperous  times  that  the  normal 
organization  of  industry  goes  on;  for  in  such 
times  men  are  energetic  and  hopeful  and  ready 
to  bring  things  to  pass.  In  a  sense,  there- 
fore, continued  organization  is  a  wholesome 
sign — up  to  the  limit  of  normal  action;  for 
there  is  a  point  beyond  which  it  becomes 
the  mere  taking  of  a  mortgage  on  the  future. 
Then — if  the  future  does  not  yield  the  big 
returns  on  its  capitalization — a  day  of  reck- 
oning will  come.     It  will  come  sharply,  too. 

No  man  will  dare  predict  early  disaster  in 
specific  terms ;  for  no  such  prediction  is  war- 
ranted from  facts  that  are  now  obvious. 
But  every  thoughtful  man  knows  that 
Attorney-General  Knox  spoke  the  truth 
when  he  said  that  the  chief  evil  of  trusts  is 
their  overcapitalization.  In  this  era  of 
almost  incalculable  prosperity  there  has  been 
an  irresistible  tendency  to  overcapitaliza- 
tion— to  capitalization  on  the  basis  of  the 
earnings  of  an  exceptionally  prosperous  time. 

But  there  has  been  an  enormous  gain  dur- 
ing the  year  from  the  popular  discussion  of 
trusts  and  trade.  Public  opinion  has  asserted 
its  growing  determination  to  protect  the 
public  interest,  but  it  has  asserted  this  deter- 
mination less  in  a  wish  to  make  indiscriminate 
attacks  on  trusts  than  to  deal  with  them 
in  a  just  and  conservative  way.  The  trust- 
smasher  is  less  in  evidence,  and  the  trust- 
regulator  is  more.  The  literature  of  the  sub- 
ject that  has  most  commended  itself  is  such 
treatises  as  the  President's  more  conservative 
speeches,  the  Attorney-General's  address  at 
Pittsburg,  Prof.  James  B.  Clark's  little  book 
on  the  regulation  of  trusts,  and  other  such 
arguments  and  appeals  for  the  strengthening 
of  conservative  laws  against  monopoly  and  in 


FRANK    NORRIS 

DIED    OCTOBER    25,    I902. 


PI  otographed  by  Frederic  Colburn  Claike 


ELEANORA    DUSE 

THE   GREAT    ITALIAN    ACTRESS    NOW    PLAYING    IN    THIS    COUNTRY 


Tl 

■        "  "^'^ 

^ 

Kf 

kA 

.. .  J^^^^^^l 

V^ 

^fl 

^^^H 

r— j 

<  ^^^H 

H 

^B^ 

-^^gdr^^^^^^ 

^  ^^ 

H 

^^^^^ 

■  B 

Photographed  by  Fowler 

DR.    EDMUND    J.    JAMES 

THE    NEW    PRESIDENT    OF    NORTH\YESTERN    UNIVERSITY 


MR.  JOHN    FRITZ,  IRONMASTER 

"  John  Fritz  is  a  living  proof  of  the  results  of  individual  and  industrial  liberty  in  a  country  endowed  with  boundless  resources.  In  vain 
shall  we  seek  for  a  like  career  in  nations  or  in  countries  where  the  indi\idual  initiative  has  been  suppressed.  .  .  .  He  is  an  example  of  the 
free  spirit  of  American  institutions,  a  beacon  light  warning  the  present  and  coming  generations  against  permitting  any  invasion  of  the  principle 
of  the  liberty  of  the  citizen,  which  alone  has  made  our  beloved  country  great  and  free." — Abram  S.  Hnvitt. 


THE    NOVEMBER    ELECTIONS 


2819 


the  encouragement  of  publicity  and  for  per- 
mitting the  common  law  to  work  its  restrain- 
ing and  regulating  influence  according  to  the 
great  principles  that  it  embodies. 

Then,  too,  a  strong  impetus  has  been  given 
by  the  discussion  of  the  trusts  to  the  reduction 
of  the  tariff,  not  only  on  trust-made  articles 
but  on  many  more.  The  rising  tide  of  opinion 
in  favor  of  tariff  reform  must  be  put  down 
as  one  of  the  notable  movements  of  the  year. 
It  did  not  make  itself  felt  in  the  election 
because  of  bad  leadership;  but  the  steady 
growth  of  opinion  has  gone  on.  It  is  the  one 
active  subject  in  our  political  thought  to 
which  the  serious-minded  public  man  will 
give  his  most  earnest  attention.  Most  other 
subjects  are  artificial  or  temporary.  This 
has  a  staying  power  and  it  will  not  be  talked 
down.  The  day  of  action,  however,  is  yet 
at  some  distance  in  the  future,  because  of 
the  very  great  personal  popularity  of  Mr. 
Roosevelt  and  of  the  pitiful  lack  of  Democratic 
leadership. 

The  two  most  important  changes,  then, 
that  have  taken  place  in  the  public  thought 
and  purpose  during  the  year  are  the  steady 
growth  of  a  determination  to  regulate  trusts 
by  conservative  methods,  for  the  public  mind 
has  swung  away  from  a  mere  destructive 
mood ,  and  the  increasing  earnestness  about  a 
reform  of  the  tariff,  when  the  time  for  action 
comes. 

MR.  VANDERLIP'S  CONSERVATIVE  WARNING 

THE  very  fact  that  prosperity  does  con- 
tinue is  putting  far-sighted  men  in  a 
thoughtful  mood ;  for  radical  financial  changes 
are  taking  place  as  the  result  of  the  revel  of 
organization  that  we  have  been  indulging  in. 
When  organization  is  so  effected  or  effected 
so  far  as  to  cause  a  general  inflation  of  values 
or  of  credit,  a  day  of  reckoning  must  come — 
unless  a  return  to  conservative  action  be 
taken  in  time  to  prevent  it. 

Mr.  Vanderlip,  formerly  Assistant-Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  who  is  a  student  of  Old  World 
financial  conditions  as  well  as  of  our  own,  has 
given  what  he  called  a  conservative  note  of 
warning  that  comes  with  great  timeliness 
He  has  pointed  out  that  there  has  been  an 
increase  of  $1,300,000,000  in  the  deposits  of 
the  national  banks  alone  during  the  last 
two  years,  while  the  basis  of  gold  and  legal 
tender  has  slightly  decreased.  This  increase 
of  bank  liabilities  and  of  bank  credits  has  been 


I. 


caused  in  great  measure  by  the  conversion  of 
I  lie  ownership  of  industrial  establishments 
into  shares  and  bonds — that  is,  into  bank 
collateral.  With  the  banks  doing  a  top- 
heavy  business — their  credits  thus  enor- 
mously extended — and  with  so  much  of  the 
formerly  liquid  capital  of  the  country  now 
locked  up  and  "fixed"  in  many  forms  of 
industry,  there  is  great  theoretical  danger. 
And  it  would  quickly  become  an  actual  danger 
if  any  untoward  financial  event  of  large  impor- 
tance were  to  happen.  If  the  banks  were 
forced  by  any  shock  to  the  general  situation 
to  call  their  loans,  we  should  be  in  imminent 
danger  of  such  a  general  and  sudden  curtail- 
ment of  credit  as  would  produce  stagnation  if 
not  panic.  The  best  time  for  conservative 
action  is  while  it  may  prevent  trouble.  It  is 
too  late  after  trouble  has  come. 

Mr.  Vanderlip  does  not  make  a  cry  of  alarm, 
but  only  of  warning.  He  is  a  scientific  and 
not  a  sensational  student  of  financial  condi- 
tions. But  he  did  a  distinct  public  service 
by  his  conservative  explanation  of  danger. 
Every  far-sighted  man  feels  the  truth  and 
opportuneness  of  it. 

THE   NOVEMBER    ELECTIONS 

THE  November  elections  very  emphati- 
cally sustained  the  President  and 
his  party.  The  Republican  majority  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  was  somewhat 
reduced ;  but  at  the  mid-Presidential  election 
the  dominant  party  is  at  a  disadvantage,  and 
some  Republican  loss  was  expected.  The 
gains  of  the  Democrats  were  not  large 
enough  to  show  that  they  are  regaining 
unity  of  purpose,  nor  to  indicate  that  any 
great  tide  of  public  feeling  is  yet  running  in 
their  favor.  The  two  Democratic  strong- 
holds are  New  York  City  and  the  Solid 
South. 

The  most  noteworthy  local  result  was  the 
increased  Democratic  vote  in  New  York 
City.  All  factions  of  the  party  there  are 
again  united.  Tammany  showed  its  full 
strength.  Its  huge  machine  is  in  good  voting 
order  in  spite  of  the  troubles  of  boss-ship 
that  have  come  since  Boss  Croker  nominally 
resigned.  The  machine  is  greater  than  any 
boss,  and  it  showed  a  compactness  of  its  fol- 
lowers that  looks  dangerous  for  the  reform 
party  when  the  next  local  election  comes. 

The  result  of  the  November  elections  throws 
no  new  light  on  the  next  presidential  contest. 


2820 


THE   MARCH    OF   EVENTS 


Mr.  Roosevelt  remains  in  the  centre  of  the 
RepubHcan  stage.  The  Congressional  elec- 
tion signified  the  country's  hearty  approval 
of  his  administration.  No  Democrat  won 
new  distinction  or  prominence  such  as  to 
suggest  his  nomination  for  the  presidency. 
Mr.  Coler  polled  a  very  large  vote  in  New  York, 
but  he  was  defeated,  and  at  best  he  is  hardly 
made  of  presidential  material  even  in  times 
when  few  men  are  wholly  safe  from  accidental 
nomination;  and  Mr.  Hill  is  where  he  was 
before — except  that  he  is  additionally  ham- 
pered now  by  his  platform  in  favor  of  the 
government  ownership  of  coal  mines.  The 
next  presidential  contest  will  be  between  Mr. 
Roosevelt  and  a  yet  unknown  Democrat, 
with  the  chances  more  strongly  in  ^Ir. 
Roosevelt's  favor  than  they  have  seemed 
in  favor  of  any  man  in  our  recent  history 
two  years  before  the  election.  The  one 
thing  he  has  most  to  fear  is  not  any  par 
ticular  Democratic  candidate  now  within 
sight,  but  his  possible  running-mate  known 
by  the  name  of  Hard  Times.  Whenever  ]ie 
comes  into  the  field,  the  present  political  con- 
tentment and  apathy  will  be  rudely  disturbed. 

A  NEW  CHAPTER  IN  SOUTHERN  POLITICS 

THE  movement  begun  a  few  months 
ago  in  North  Carolina  to  exclude 
Negroes  from  Republican  meetings  spread 
to  several  other  Southern  States  almost  instan- 
taneously. Neither  party  in  the  South  wants 
a  solid  mass  of  Negro  followers,  for  with  such 
a  mass  it  cannot  get  the  support — certainly 
not  on  local  questions — of  any  considerable 
number  of  influential  whites.  There  is  noth- 
ing left  for  the  Negroes  to  do  but  to  refrain 
from  political  activity  or  to  make  a  political 
party  of  their  own.  Such  of  them  as  are  not 
disfranchised  may  vote;  but  if  the  white 
Republican  party  succeed  they  will  not  have 
representation  even  in  conventions. 

The  aim  of  the  new  movement  is,  of  course, 
to  split  the  solid  white  Democratic  ranks; 
and  in  several  States,  notably  in  North 
Carolina,  men  of  prominence  who  have 
hitherto  been  Democrats  have  come  into  the 
new  party.  It  is  thought  that  the  new  party 
will  receive  the  support  of  many  such  if  it 
succeed  in  establishing  itself. 

The  most  serious  difficulty  that  it  en- 
counters is  the  necessary  opposition  of  the 
National  Republican  party  and  of  the  Repub- 
lican  administration.     No   National   Repub 


lican  convention  could  give  seats  to  delegates 
who  came  from  organizations  that  openly 
excluded  men  wholly  because  of  their  color — 
provided  there  were  contesting  delegates 
from  other  organizations  that  made  no  such 
discrimination.  Nor  could  any  Republican 
administration  lend  its  approval.  Now,  since 
the  Republican  party  in  most  of  the  Southern 
States  has  for  this  long  generation  lived 
chiefly  on  the  loaves  and  fishes  that  come 
from  these  two  sources  (for  it  has  been  an 
abject  and  mendicant  party),  the  question  is, 
can  the  new  organization  really  supersede 
the  old?  "Will  the  undisfranchised  Negroes 
and  their  leaders  retire  ? 

If  they  do  retire  or  are  so  put  in  the  back- 
ground that  the  white  Republican  party  in 
these  States  wins  recognition  by  the  National 
party,  the  solid  white  South  will  be  divided. 
What  will  become  then  of  the  solid  Negro 
South?  Will  it  be  divided,  too?  Or  will  it 
remain  compact  and  hold  the  balance  of 
power  between  Southern  Democrats  and 
Southern  Republicans  ?     -Here  lies  the  danger. 

But,  since  the  race  feeling  is  stronger  than 
part}^  feeling,  the  probable  outcome  will  be 
the  successful  establishment  of  the  white 
Republican  party  in  those  States,  whether 
few  or  many,  where  it  has  strong  leaders,  the 
practical  retirement  for  a  time  of  the  Negro 
from  political  organization,  and  at  last, 
whenever  either  white  party  needs  the  colored 
vote,  a  rivalry  between  them  for  it.  The 
thing  most  to  be  feared  is  that  this  rivalry 
may  tempt  to  corruption.  But  such  a  result 
need  not  follow.  When  the  Negroes  reappear 
in  politics,  as  their  disfranchisement  is  gradu- 
ally overcome  by  their  education  and  their 
thrift,  they  also  may  divide  and  some  become 
members  of  one  party  and  some  of  the  otlier. 
If  the  political  solidity  of  each  race  be  thus 
broken  Southern  political  life  will  enter  a 
new  era. 

In  the  meantime,  three  facts  have  been 
made  plain.  The  Negro  is  spumed  by  white 
men  of  both  parties ;  there  is  a  growing  division 
of  political  opinion  among  the  Southern 
whites;  and  the  National  Republican  party 
has  an  embarrassing  dilemma  to  face. 

THE  DEEP  SERIOUSNESS  OF  LABOR  UNIONS 

THOUGHTFUL  men  in  the  United  States, 
whatever  their  relation  to  industrial 
life,  are  thinking  more  seriously  about  the 
problems  presented  by  labor  and  its  organiza- 


THE   DEEP   SERIOUSNESS    ABOUT    LABOR    UNIONS         2821 


tion  than  they  have  ever  thought  before.  In 
proof  of  this  increasing  seriousness  only  the 
following  facts,  out  of  many  such,  need  be 
set  down: 


Mr.  Alfred  Mosely  has  brought  to  the 
United  States  members  of  nearly  every 
English  trade — founders,  carpenters,  printers, 
plasterers,  shipbuilders,  cotton  spinners, 
tailors,  weavers  and -perhaps  a  dozen  more — 
and  they  have  been  investigating,  each  in  his 
own  trade,  the  methods  of  work  and  employ- 
ment here.  The  motive  of  this  interesting 
practical  study  of  American  labor  and  of  its 
ways  is,  of  course,  to  discover  how  the 
American  manufacturer  turns  out  a  greater 
volume  of  work  per  man  than  the  English 
manufacturer.  It  has  been  made  plain  by 
a  year's  discussion  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic  that  the  restriction  of  output  by  the 
English  trades  unions  is  one  of  the  important 
causes  of  the  lessened  efifiiciency  of  the  English 
working  system  as  compared  with  the 
system  in  vogue  in  America. 

Simultaneously  with  the  coming  of  this 
party  of  English  workmen,  it  has  become 
obvious  to  every  man  who  knows  anything 
about  the  subject  that  there  is  a  distinct 
tendency  in  some  of  our  trades  unions — 
notably  in  the  building  trades,  but  not  in 
these  only — to  do  precisely  what  the  English 
trades  unions  have  done.  They  limit  the 
amount  of  work  that  a  man  or  a  group  of  men 
may  do.  They  restrict  output.  They  repress 
individual  initiative  and  ambition.  This  is 
not  yet  true  of  all  unions,  but  it  is  already 
true  of  some,  and  others  show  a  tendency  in 
this  same  direction. 

II 

Another  phase  of  the  same  significant 
tendency  is  explained  in  the  following  state- 
ment of  the  owner  of  a  shop,  whose  output  is 
products  of  iron  and  steel:  "My  shop  is  a 
union  shop.  I  have  no  trouble  with  the 
union.  But  I  have  proved  to  my  own  satis- 
faction that  it  makes  men  less  efficient  work- 
IB  men,  that  it  prevents  the  development  and 
the  rise  of  the  best  men,  and  that  it  prevents 
the  normal  gro'^i;h  of  my  business.  In  short 
it  hinders  industry.  I  have  proved  this  by  a 
long  and^  minute  comparison  of  my  shop  with 
a  similar  shop  that  is  non-union  and  that 
pays  its  men  by  the  piece.     In  the  other  shop 


the  men  make  higher  wages — the  best  men 
very  much  higher.  The  shop,  too,  gets  a 
larger  return  for  the  wages  it  pays,  because  the 
work  is  better.  The  men  are  of  a  higher 
average  than  my  men.  They  are  better 
workmen ;  they  are  more  successful ;  they  are 
more  ambitious;  they  are  better  citizens.  I 
do  not  now  turn  my  shop  into  a  non-union 
one  because  I  should  have  a  strike  on  my 
hands  and  all  sorts  of  trouble,  and  my  business 
would  be  seriously  interrupted  at  a  prosper- 
ous time.  I  simply  can't  afford  to  do  it  now. 
Many  of  my  men  feel  as  I  do.  They  would 
like  to  break  away  from  the  union.  But 
their  trade  is  well  organized.  There  are  not 
many  non-union  shops.  They  do  not  dare 
quit  the  union.  But  the  best  of  them  feel 
repressed  bv  it." 

Ill 

A  step  to  make  the  labor  unions  more  ser- 
viceable is  under  discussion  in  Massachusetts. 
A  bill  will  be  introduced  at  this  winter's 
session  of  the  Legislature  to  require  the 
incorporation  of  them.  Massachusetts  has 
an  elaborate  and  rigid  corporation  law. 
The  proposal  now  is  to  bring  labor  unions 
under  the  same  sort  of  responsibility  that 
corporations  must  assume,  so  that  they  may 
sue  and  be  sued,  and  so  that  they  will  be,  as 
other  corporations  are,  within  reach  of  the 
courts  for  their  actions. 

One  union  at  least — perhaps  there  are  more 
— has  for  some  time  been  incorporated;  and 
the  compulsory  incorporation  of  them  has 
many  times  been  discussed.  The  friends  of 
this  definite  movement  in  Massachusetts 
expect  that  such  a  requirement  will  make 
them  more  useful.  It  is  an  efifort  to  help  the 
laborer  by  lifting  the  union  into  responsibility. 
It  is  the  reverse  of  the  destructive  plan  that 
the  manufacturer  just  quoted  would  apply. 
He  would  abolish  them  if  he  could. 

IV 

The  next  significant  fact  is  the  recom- 
mendation by  the  Illinois  State  Federation 
of  Labor  that  all  members  of  labor  unions 
who  are  also  members  of  the  State  militia 
shall  resign  from  the  militia.  This  proposi- 
tion has  been  favorably  regarded  by  some 
other  labor  organizations.  It  has  done  more 
than  any  other  single  recent  declaration  or 
action  to  cause  a  public  distrust  of  such  unions 
as  favor  it.  It  hints  of  a  class  separation 
that  in  turn  hints  of  anarchy. 


2822 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


V 

Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  who  favors  the  organ- 
ization of  labor,  wrote  a  letter  that  was  read 
at  the  recent  celebration  of  the  eightieth 
birthday  of  Mr.  John  Fritz,  the  eminent  iron 
and  steel  maker,  which  admirably  expresses 
the  fear  that  the  unions  are  in  danger  of 
preventing  the  development  of  exceptional 
men.  Mr.  Fritz,  who,  by  his  inventions  and 
improvements  of  processes,  has  conferred  an 
inestimable  benefit  on  mankind,  rose  from 
the  working  ranks.     Mr.  Hewitt  wrote : 

"That  a  bo}'  bom  in  humble  life,  with  no  advan- 
tages of  education -^or  opportunities  for  position, 
without  influential  friends  or  the  favoring  accidents 
of  fortune,  should  be  able  to  advance  steadily  in 
usefulness,  power  and  the  respect  of  his  fellow  men, 
until  bj'  common  consent  he  occupies  the  first  place 
in  the  domain  of  practical  industry  with  which  he 
has  been  connected,  gives  conclusive  evidence  that 
political  institutions  which  afford  free  play  to 
individual  ambition,  industry,  ability"  and  strict 
integrity  are  worthy  of  all  lo3"alty  and  should  be 
cherished  and  preserved  at  all  costs  and  hazards. 

"The  developments  of  the  twentieth  century 
show  that  these  institutions  are  in  great  peril. 
Their  essence  is  to  be  found  in  individual  liberty, 
involving  the  right  of  free  labor  and  the  acquisition 
of  private  property  under  lawful  conditions.  When 
the  right  of  free  action  shall  be  suppressed  the 
possibility  of  a  career  like  that  of  John  Fritz  will  be 
destroyed.  Collectivism,  ending  in  Socialism, 
may  atford  other  advantages,  but  let  it  not  be  over- 
looked that  these  advantages  will  be  obtained  only 
by  the  sacrifice  of  personal  freedom,  and  will  arrest 
the  progress  of  civilization,  due,  during  the  ages  that 
have  passed,  to  the  substitution  of  freedom  for  force. 

"John  Fritz  is  a  living  proof  of  the  results  of 
individual  and  industrial  liberty  in  a  country 
endowed  with  boundless  resotuces.  In  vain  shall 
we  seek  for  a  like  career  in  nations  or  in  countries 
where  the  individual  initiative  has  been  suppressed. 
The  stagnation  of  China,  whose  men  are  physically 
strong  and  whose  resources  are  abundant,  is  in 
marked  contrast  with  otir  own  land,  where  hereto- 
fore everj-  citizen  has  been  free  to  employ  his  labor 
and  his  energies  in  his  own  wa}',  so  long  as  the  rights 
of  others  were  respected. 

"John  Fritz,  therefore,  is  to  us  more  than  a  man 
whom  we  love  and  respect,  more  than  a  friend  to 
whom  we  wish  many  3'ears  of  health  and  happiness: 
he  is  an  example  of  the  free  spirit  of  American 
institutions,  a  beacon  light  warning  the  present 
and  coming  generations  against  permitting  any 
invasion  of  the  principle  of  the  liberty  of  the  citizen, 
which  alone  has  made  our  beloved  country  great 
and  free." 

VI 

Finally,  the  grave  fear  that  a  conservative 
part  of  the  community  felt  lest  President 
Roosevelt  had  put  the  dignity  of  his  great 
office  in  peril  by  having  to  do  with  the  coal 
strike,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  practically 
universal  applause  of  the  persistence  and  of 
the  practical  patriotism  that  caused  him  to 
succeed — these     feelings     have     even     more 


deeply  stirred  the  people  than  the  coal  strike 
itself  did;  for  it  w^as  made  obvious  that  a 
labor  union  and  a  small  group  of  employers 
may  hold  the  public  in  their  grip  as  it  had 
perhaps  never  been  obvious  before  even 
during  our  most  violent  labor  troubles. 
Here  was  a  deadlock  which  had  defied  every 
influence  but  the  personal  effort  of  an  ener- 
getic President  of  the  United  States;  and  he 
could  break  it  only  by  what  many  regarded 
as  a  most  strenuous  and  even  dangerous  use 
of  his  personal  power  as  President. 

There  were  three  scenes  in  the  adjustment 
of  the  coal  strike  that  the  public  will  not  soon 
forget.  The  first  was  the  straightforward 
and  earnest  appeal  that  President  Roosevelt 
made  to  the  operators  and  to  the  strikers  to 
agree  to  arbitrate,  and  the  almost  insulting 
conduct  of  the  operators.  Some  of  the 
operators,  indeed,  showed  a  self-righteous 
pig-headedness  that  was  enough  to  turn  a 
right  contention  into  a  wrong  one. 

The  next  scene  was  the  visit  of  the  greater 
captain  of  industry,  Mr.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan, 
to  the  President,  when  in  five  minutes  the 
President's  request  of  the  operators  was 
agreed  to. 

The  third  scene  was  at  the  convention  of 
the  miners  where  the  plan  for  arbitration  was 
accepted.  Men  who  were  sure  of  reinstate- 
ment at  the  mines  volunteered  to  give  their 
places  to  others  who  might  be  debarred.  A 
spirit  of  loyalty  to  their  organization  and  to 
their  leaders  was  shown  that  was  admirable 
and  true;  and  the  meeting  broke  up  singing 
patriotic  songs.  They  had  stood  together 
for  nearly  half  a  year  for  what  they  regarded 
as  a  right  contention — unselfishly,  for  it  could 
at  best  bring  any  one  of  them  little  profit; 
and  that  is  no  small  thing  for  any  group  of 
men  to  do.  Out  of  such  a  spirit  great 
achievements  can  come  under  able  counsel 
and  wise   leadership. 

All  these  things  and  more  like  them  have 
put  the  whole  people  in  a  most  serious  mood 
regarding  the  rights,  the  duties  and  the 
dangers  of  labor  organizations.  In  the 
uncertainties  that  beset  the  subject-  two 
things  are  plain: 

Labor  unions  have  come  to  stay.  They 
will  grow  rather  than  diminish. 

They  call  for  the  wisest  guidance  if  they  are 
really  to  build  up  the  American  workingman 
and  not  to  destroy  the  great  characteristic  of 


THE    PEACE    ARMY   AND    ITS    FUTURE    COMMANDER        2823 


I 
I 


American  citizenship  while  tliey  are  strug- 
ghng  merely  to  gain  the  strength  of  compact 
organization.  Every  great  movement  in  a 
democracy  must  be  tested  at  last  by  its 
influence  on  the  individual.  The  care  of 
classes  is  the  business  of  older  and  less  efficient 
social  systems.  The  normal  nurture  and  the 
free  development  of  the  individual  is  the 
mark  of  a  democracy. 

There  is  no  more  urgent  demand  for  wise 
leadership  in  the  world  than  the  demand  for 
wise  leadership  of  organized  American  labor 
today. 

THE    PROBABLE    PROGRAMME    FOR    TRUST 
REGULATION 

IT  is  probable  that  the  long  and  varied 
discussion  of  trusts  will  bear  fruit  in  a 
definite  effort  at  legislation  during  the  short 
session  of  Congress ;  and  the  effort  most  likely 
to  succeed  will  be  in  the  general  line  of 
Attorney-General  Knox's  plan  which  he 
explained  in  his  address  to  the  Pittsburg 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  This  plan  proceeds 
on  the  assumption  that  (without  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution)  Congress  has  power 
so  to  supplement  the  Sherman  anti-trust 
law  as  to  compel  publicity  and  to  prevent 
monopoly. 

When  the  Sherman  law  was  passed  in  1890 
it  was  supposed  that  it  would  give  the 
Federal  Government  power,  through  its  regu- 
lation of  interstate  commerce,  to  prevent  the 
existence  of  trusts  that  monopolize  articles 
of  general  consumption.  But  the  Supreme 
Court  by  its  interpretation  of  the  law  made 
it  almost  useless.  It  does  not  enable  the 
Federal  Government  to  interfere  with  a  trust 
because  it  is  a  monopoly,  but  only  with  a  trust 
that  shall  seek  to  monopolize  or  restrain 
interstate  commerce — which  is  a  very  different 
thing.     Attorney-General  Knox  declared  that 

"If  the  Sherman  Act  exhausts  the  power  of 
Congress  over  monopolies,  the  American  people  find 
themselves  hopelessly  impotent,  facing  a  situation 
fraught  with  the  most  alarming  possibilities,  with 
which  neither  the  Federal  nor  State  governments 
can  deal." 

But  with  the  Sherman  law  so  amended  and 
extended  as  to  give  the  Federal  Government, 
through  its  regulation  of  foreign  and  inter- 
state commerce,  some  real  control  over  trusts 
that  strive  for  a  monopoly  of  production,  all 
additional  necessary  power  resides  in  the 
common  law,  and  by  the  common  law  the 
courts  can  decide  each  case  on  its  own  merits 
— whether  it  really  be  in  restraint  of  trade. 


This  ])lan  is  sinqjlc — at  least,  as  simple  as 
so  complex  a  matter  seems  likely  to  be  made. 
It  calls  for  a  single  act  of  Congress  which 
shall  give  the  Federal  Government  the  power 
that  the  Sherman  law  at  the  time  of  its  enact- 
ment was  supposed  to  give  it.  Then  the 
common  law  will  do  the  rest. 

Such  a  programme  docs  not  exclude  the 
reduction  of  duties  on  trust-made  articles, 
which  commends  itself  to  many  thoughtful 
men,  but  which  is  j)romiscuously  punitive  and 
would  not  touch  the  larger  task  of  scientific 
regulation.  It  is  well  to  remember  the  closing 
words  of  Mr.  Knox's  comi)rehensive  address, 
which  is  the  best  piece  of  literature  provoked 
by  the  whole  summer's  discussion : 

"The  conditions  of  our  commercial  life  are  the 
result  in  part  of  an  evolution  of  forces  cf  world-wide 
operation.  They  have  developed  gradually  and 
are  not,  perhaps,  fully  understood.  Laws  regulating 
and  controlling  their  operation,  before  they  ripen 
into  a  complete  system  of  wise  jurisprudence,  will 
be  of  gradual  growth." 

In  other  words,  he  who  has  in  hand  a  com- 
plete or  automatic  remedy  is  a  quack. 

THE    PEACE    ARMY    AND    ITS    FUTURE 
COMMANDER 

THE  promotion,  which  has  been  semi- 
officially announced,  of  Major- 
General  S.  B.  M.  Young  to  be  lieutenant- 
general,  to  succeed  Lieutenant-General  Miles, 
who  will  reach  the  age  of  retirement  next 
August,  will  put  the  command  of  the  army 
into  the  hands  of  a  soldier  who  has  won  every 
step  in  his  military  career  from  the  ranks  of 
the  volunteer  service,  which  he  entered  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Civil  War.  He  became  a 
captain  of  cavalry  as  early  as  1861,  and  he 
took  part,  in  spite  of  successive  wounds, 
in  most  of  the  cavalry  operations  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  was  brevetted 
brigadier-general  of  volunteers;  but,  when 
he  was  mustered  out  in  1865,  he  began 
military  service  again — this  time,  of  course, 
as  a  regular  with  the  rank  of  second- 
lieutenant.  He  was  colonel  of  the  Third 
United  States  Cavalry  when  the  war  with 
Spain  was  begun,  and  since  then  he  has 
risen  to  his  present  rank.  He  saw  service 
both  in  Cuba  and  in  the  Philippines,  and  he 
is  now  President  of  the  War  College. 

The  position  of  lieutenant-general  in 
time  of  peace  is  not  spectacular,  but  it  is 
important  if  the  right  man  holds  it.  General 
Young  is  in  the  heartiest  agreement  with  the 
President  and  Secretary  Root  concerning  the 


2824 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


reorganization  of  the  army  and  the  efficient 
organization  of  the  peace  force.  The  army 
is  now,  by  the  way,  for  the  first  time  since 
1898,  on  a  peace  footing.  The  number  of 
officers  and  men  is  httle  less  than  6o,ooo^as 
nearly  a  "skeleton"  as  the  army  of  so  large 
a  country  can  be  and  keep  a  really  good 
organization. 

It  was  only  the  other  day — it  is  difficult 
now  to  recall  it — that  certain  frightened 
persons  of  prominence  were  sure  that  we  were 
committing  ourselves  to  the  maintenance  of 
a  permanently  great  army ;  that  the  rampant 
spirit  of  "militarism"  had  made  peace  seem 
abnormal ;  and  that  we  should  find  fighting  so 
pleasant  (the  savage  blood  running  red  even 
in  our  children)  as  to  seek  new  lands  to 
conquer,  till  Asia  were  laid  waste  and  the 
Southern  Cape  acknowledged  the  Stars  and 
Stripes;  for  to  such  dread  "imperialism" 
were  we  drifting  that  there  was  no  retreat, 
since  we  had  tasted  Spanish  blood  and  grown 
remorselessly  fond  of  Filipino  slaughter  I 
How  gently  a  little  time  and  silence  bring  us 
to  ourselves  after  a  nightmare  of  feverish 
criticism. 

PREPARING  FOR  TWO  GREAT  PUBLIC  WORKS 

ENERGETIC  preparatory  labor  has  been 
done  looking  toward  the  beginning  of 
two  great  public  works  authorized  by  Congress 
at  its  last  session — the  isthmian  canal  and 
government  irrigation  of  our  arid  region. 
The  Canal  Act  empowered  the  President  to 
buy  the  rights,  franchises,  property,  etc.,  of 
the  French  Panama  Canal  Company  if  they 
could  be  bought  for  $40,000,000  and  if  the 
titles  were  clear.  Attorney-General  Knox 
himself  went  to  Paris  to  examine  the  titles, 
and  he  has  reported  to  the  President  his 
opinion  and  the  opinion  of  the  other  counsel 
of  the  United  States  that  they  are  clear  and 
that  the  Panama  Company  has  the  right  to 
sell  all  its  interests  on  the  isthmus.  In  the 
meantime  the  Colombian  Government  has 
threatened  some  dela}^  in  completing  the 
negotiations;  but  it  is  not  thought  that  any 
insuperable  trouble  will  arise  in  that  quarter. 
It  has  been  given  out  that  Rear-Admiral 
Walker  will  be  appointed  chairman  of  the 
commission  that  will  have  the  completion  of 
the  canal  in  hand,  and  it  is  expected  that  the 
negotiations  with  the  French  company  and 
with  the  Colombian  Government  will  soon  be 
concluded  and  that  work  will  be  begun  during 


the  present  administration — an  event  large 
enough  to  give  historic  distinction  to  any 
presidency. 

Seven  available  sites  for  government  irri- 
gation reservoirs  in  ^lontana,  Colorado, 
Arizona  and  Nevada  have  been  reported  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  by  Mr.  Newell, 
the  chief  hydrographer  of  the  Geological 
Survey.  Thus  preliminary  work  has  been 
done  also  for  this  great  undertaking. 

A   MODEL    CHARTER    AND   A   DEBAUCHED   CITY 

WHEN  the  present  charter  of  St.  Louis 
was  framed  in  1876,  it  was  regarded 
by  students  of  municipal  administration  as 
a  model.  Many  of  them  declared  that  if  the 
plan  that  it  illustrated  should  be  generally 
adopted  we  should  soon  be  fre-e  of  the  reproacla 
of  bad  municipal  government.  The  State 
constitution  of  Missouri  separated  the  city 
of  St.  Louis  from  St.  Louis  County,  and  gave 
the  city,  in  addition  to  its  municipal  powers, 
the  authority  invested  in  the  counties  of  the 
rest  of  the  State.  The  city  charter  pro- 
ceeded upon  the  theory  that  the  great  centres 
of  population  have  conditions  and  needs 
unknown  in  the  sparsely  settled  regions,  and 
that  the  persons  directly  affected  by  these 
needs  and  conditions  should  have  the  sole 
power  to  legislate  concerning  them.  Thus  the 
city  secured — not  as  a  concession  wrung  or 
coaxed  from  the  State  government,  but  as  a 
right — somewhat  the  same  powers  and  inde- 
pendence in  its  own  sphere  with  respect  to  the 
State  government  that  the  States  have  with 
respect  to  the  federal  authority. 

This  theory  of  municipal  independence  was 
not  new,  but  it  received  a  much  broader  appli- 
cation in  this  charter  than  had  previously 
been  given  to  it  in  any  important  city.  St. 
Louis  has  had  home  rule  to  an  extent  not 
enjoyed  by  any  other  city  in  the  United 
States.  Its  public  officers  were  supposed  to 
be  nearer  to  the  people  than  they  were  else- 
where. It  was  thought  that  provision  was 
made  to  remedy  inefficiency,  to  prevent 
extravagance  and  to  detect  and  to  punish 
wrongdoing.  If  any  municipal  system  any- 
where in  the  world  could  be  relied  on  to  work 
with  some  approach  to  automatic  action,  this 
system  would. 

But  a  government  depends  more  upon 
the  officials  who  administer  it  than  upon 
those  who  frame  it.  The  intelligent  and 
respectable    citizens    of    St.    Louis    came    in 


GREATLY    INCREASED    SCHOOL    EXPENDLrURE 


2825 


time  to  neglect  their  civic  duties,  to  refuse  to 
attend  the  primaries,  and  to  permit  incapable 
and  corrupt  men  to  get  into  office.  The 
penalty  is  written  large  in  the  orgy  of  black- 
mail, bribery  and  robbery  which  has  brought 
discredit  and  humiliation  on  the  eve  of  a 
great  international  fair.  There  are  virtues 
in  good  charters  and  in  good  systems;  but 
there  is  no  substitute  in  a  democracy  for 
personal  civic  activity.  Whenever  this 
cease  general  inefficiency  begins  and  corrup- 
tion follows.  There  is  no  short  road  nor 
chartered  way  to  safety. 

NEW  CONTROVERSIES  ABOUT  COEDUCATION 

COEDUCATION  has  come  to  be  regarded 
in  the  Western  State  universities,  where 
it  has  its  principal  home,  as  a  natural  educa- 
tional system  that  has  proved  itself.  But  in 
many  men's  universities  in  the  Eastern  States 
it  is  yet  looked  upon  as  a  Western  experi- 
ment that  must  suffer  many  modifications,  if 
not  ultimate  abolition.  The  discussion  used 
to  turn  on  the  good  or  bad  social  influence, 
sometimes  on  young  men,  but  oftener  on 
young  women,  of  such  association  of  the 
sexes. 

But  now  the  controversy  has  been  shifted 
to  the  influence  of  women  on  the  quality  of 
the  intellectual  work  done  in  these  universi- 
ties. In  some  institutions  they  show  a 
tendency  to  monopolize  certain  groups  of 
studies,  especially  English  literature;  and 
the  question  is  raised  whether  literature  is 
essentially  a  feminine  subject.  One  inference 
is  (whether  it  be  warranted  or  not)  that  many 
young  men  leave  alone  courses  in  English 
literature  because  the  young  women  take 
them,  regarding  the  subject  as  a  girl's  matter. 
A  still  more  interesting  question  is  this — is 
literature  so  taught  as  to  appeal  rather  to 
the  taste  of  girls  than  to  the  taste  of  boys  ? 

But  the  most  interesting  subject  of  recent 
discussion  in  the  coeducational  universities 
is  the  rapid  proportionate  increase  of  young 
women    in    the    academic    departments.     In 

»i9oo,  as  estimated  by  Prof.  James  Rowland 
Angell  in  The  Popular  Science  Monthly,  the 
number  of  women  in  the  department  of  arts 
and  sciences  (not  professional  schools)  at  the 
L  University  of  California  was  55  per  cent,  of 
*  all  the  students;  at  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota 53  per  cent.;  at  Chicago  University  and 
tat  the  University  of  Michigan  47  per  cent. 
7^^ """■ 


number  of  women  that  it  will  admit  to  500, 
Chicago  University  no  longer  permits  the 
two  sexes  together  during  the  freshman  and 
sophomore  years,  and  there  is  discussion  of 
similar  limitations  or  of  limitations  in  number 
elsewhere.  This  restriction  recalls  the  expec- 
tation during  the  early  days  of  coeducation 
that  among  the  students  tnen  would  always 
outnumber  women.  These  institutions  were 
once  regarded  as  men's  colleges  to  which 
women  were  admitted.  The  fear  now  is  that 
some  of  them  may  come  to  be  regarded  as 
women's  colleges  to  which  men  are  admitted. 
This  tendency  recalls  the  economic  fact 
that  played  an  important  part  in  the 
establishment  of  the  coeducational  system. 
In  many  State  universities  women  were  at 
first  admitted  partly  if  not  wholly  because 
the  State  could  not  afford  to  establish  two 
institutions  of  high  grade.  Economy  had 
much  to  do  with  the  movement.  This 
economic  fact  still  has  force,  but  it  has  been 
forgotten  by  many  who  discuss  the  social 
and  educational  aspects  of  the  system. 

A    CALL    FOR     GREATLY    INCREASED     SCHOOL 
EXPENDITURE. 

THE  public  school  system  of  the  United 
States  deserves  the  credit  that  has 
been  given  to  it,  even  perhaps  the  rhetorical 
praise  by  its  patriotic  eulogists,  which,  how- 
ever, is  sometimes  a  tiresome  flow  of  words. 
Statistics  (which  can  never  tell  much  worth 
knowing  about  such  a  subject  as  education) 
betray  us  because  they  present  such  large 
totals  of  achievement  that  the  individual 
child  is  hardly  visible ;  and  the  work  done  on 
the  individual  child  is  the  only  test  of  the 
whole  matter. 

But,  remarkable  as  the  development  of  the 
system  has  been  in  many  of  our  common- 
wealths, it  lags  far  behind  our  needs  and 
opportunities.  How  far  it  lags  President 
Eliot  makes  clear  in  his  stimulating  address 
that  is  published  in  this  magazine.  He 
points  the  way  to  greatly  increased  expendi- 
ture on  the  schools.  It  must  be  a  revolution- 
ary increase  of  expenditure  if  they  are  to  do 
with  excellence  the  task  that  is  committed 
to  them. 

Public  opinion  in  such  a  matter  generally 
moves  by  impulses.  We  go  forward  with 
great  speed ;  we  reach  a  certain  point  in  liber- 
ality and  in  achievement ;  and  then  we  rest  or 
turn  to  other  tasks.      The  time  is  opportune 


2826 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


now  while  the  flood  of  prosperity  continue's 
for  another  long,  forward  movement  made 
both  by  communities  and  by  individuals  for 
the  bringing  of  our  public  educational  work 
to  such  a  standard  of  excellence  as  no  country 
in  the  world  has  yet  reached.  When  the 
history  of  our  great  school  system  is  truly 
written  it  will  probably  appear  that  our  own 
time  was  a  time  of  general  acknowledgment 
of  its  necessity  but  of  somewhat  half-hearted 
support — that  we  had  not  made  full  proof  of 
our  faith  by  our  public  liberality.  So  long  as 
there  are  from  forty  to  sixty  pupils  to  one 
teacher  the  individual  child  is  partly  for- 
gotten or  partly  neglected,  whatever  impress- 
ive totals  school  reports  may  show.  The 
extraordinary  addresses  that  President  Eliot 
has  been  delivering  to  associations  of  teachers 
in  New  England  make  the  most  stimulating 
literature  of  the  subject  that  educational 
agitation  has  provided  for  a  long  time. 

A   MORAL   REFORM   IN   THE   INDUSTRIAL  MAN 

THE  Society  of  Friends  has  invited  the 
other  Christian  sects  to  send  delegates 
to  a  national  conference  for  the  discussion  of 
the  liquor  traffic  which  they  propose  to  hold 
several  years  hence — a  very  proper  and 
characteristic  act.  This  call  will  remind  the 
social  reformer  of  a  long  succession  of  organ- 
ized efforts  in  behalf  of  temperance.'  At  one 
time  societies  were  formed  all  over  the  country 
to  promote  total  abstinence.  In  man}^  States 
almost  every  village  had  its  "lodge."  At 
that  time  the  temperance  lecturer  was  almost 
as  well  recognized  a  person  as  the  evangelist 
of  other  periods.  The  preaching  of  total 
abstinence  became  an  organized  industry.  It 
had  its  well-patronized  press,  and  at  least 
one  publishing  house  laid  the  foundations  of 
its  career  by  the  issue  of  temperance  periodi- 
cals and  books. 

Then  came  the  era  of  prohibition  laws. 
Many  States  passed  such  acts,  and  the 
Prohibition  party  became  a  power  in  politics. 
Following  this  form  of  agitation  came  the 
effort  to  introduce  into  the  public  schools  the 
study  of  the  effect  of  alcohol  on  the  body ;  and 
it  was  only  a  few  years  ago  that  the  Committee 
of  One  Hundred,  men  of  wealth  and  men  of 
sociological  zeal,  conducted  an  investigation 
into  the  drink  evil — the  legislative  efforts  that 
have  been  made  to  suppress  it,  the  results  of 
open  barrooms  and  of  high  license  in  cities, 
the  physiological  results  of  drink,  etc. ;  and  the 


publications  of  this  committee  form  the  best 
practical  literature  of  the  subject.  It  has 
been  a  long  and  earnest  and  many-sided 
agitation. 

A  great  change  has  taken  place  in  American 
habits  during  the  last  generation  or  two. 
Drunkenness  has  not  been  stopped — far  from 
it;  but  it  has  lost  the  toleration  that  it  once 
had.  There  was  a  time  within  the  memory 
of  men  yet  in  middle  life  when  in  many  parts 
of  the  country  it  was  considered  a  pardonable 
weakness  provided  it  were  not  too  often 
yielded  to.  Now  it  is  regarded  as  a  disease — 
often  as  a  criminal  disease.  Its  victims  every- 
where lose  social  standing. 

And  the  strongest  force  of  all  is  what  may 
be  called  the  industrial  condemnation  of 
drunkenness.  No  man  who  gets  drunk  can 
now  expect  to  hold  a  place  of  trust,  whether 
in  professional  or  commercial  or  mechanical 
life.  A  bank  will  not  have  a  drunken  presi- 
dent, nor  a  railroad  a  drunken  brakeman. 
A  man  who  drinks  loses  his  job:  this  has 
become  a  well-nigh  universal  rule  in  working 
life  of  all  grades. 

The  eradication  of  drunkenness  has  by  no 
means  been  accomplished.  Nor  is  it  even  in 
sight.  There  is  work  enough  for  the  Friends, 
in  their  gentle  and  persuasive  way,  and  for  all 
other  sects  and  classes  of  self-restrained  men. 
But  the  strongest  influence  that  has  made  for 
the  temperate  indulgence  in  liquor  has  been 
the  social  influence  of  industrial  life — the 
demand  that  every  man  who  counts  for  any- 
thing in  a  democratic  society  must  be  efflcient. 
This  great  moral  reform  must  be  accredited 
chiefly  to  industry. 

THE  STANDSTILL  OF  WOMAN   SUFFRAGE 

THE  death  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cady 
Stanton  at  a  ripe  age  (and  she  was 
in  many  ways  a  remarkable  woman)  recalls 
the  slow  progress  that  the  cause  of  woman 
suffrage  has  made  during  the  comparatively 
long  period  of  agitation  for  it.  It  has  had  the 
championship  of  many  influential  men  as  well 
as  of  such  remarkable  women  as  Lucy  Stone 
and  Ehzabeth  Cady  Stanton.  Of  course,  too, 
it  has  drawn  to  it,  and  suffered  from,  the  favor 
of  many  shrieking,  unattractive  "reformers," 
as  every  radical  proposition  does.  Four 
Western  States  have  granted  the  ballot  to 
women,  but  the  experiment  has  not  yet  con- 
vinced other  States  of  the  wisdom  of  doing  so. 
In  many  communities  they  vote  at  school  elec- 


OUR    WASTE    OF    OLD    WORLD    II  A  X  DI  C  R  A  I'TS 


2827 


tions  and  for  certain  other  local  purposes. 
There  has  been  a  considerable  and  proper 
change  also,  as  a  side  result  of  the  agitation, 
in  the  laws  of  many  States  regarding  the 
property  rights  of  women.  But  the  main  aim 
of  the  suffragists  has  for  a  good  many  years 
made  little  headway,  and  the  probability  of 
their  further  success  seems  as  remote  as  ever. 

ACCIDENTS  ON  AMERICAN  RAILROADS. 

FOR  the  year  ending  June  30,  1902,  303  pas- 
sengers were  killed  on  American  railroads 
and  6,089  injured — a  very  decided  increase 
over  preceding  years,  for  the  figures  of  1901 
show  but  282  killed  and  4,988  injured,  and 
those  of  1900  but  249  killed  and  4,128  injured. 
This  shows  that  the  number  of  passengers 
has  increased  and  traveling  conditions  have 
not  become  less  dangerous. 

The  diminution  of  one  kind  of  accident 
to  employees  is  cheering,  for  the  means 
whereby  this  accident  rate  was  lowered 
points  the  way  to  securing  greater  safety.  In 
1902  2,819  railroad  employees  were  killed 
and  38,900  injured,  as  against  2,957  and 
46,130  in  1901  and  2,799  ^^^  43-771  i^  1900. 
These  totals  are  deceptive,  since  certain  classes 
of  employees  included  in  the  earlier  years  do 
not  appear  in  last  year's  figures.  Probably, 
*as  with  the  passenger  lists,  just  as  many 
employees  are  killed  or  maimed  now  as 
formerly,  with  one  notable  exception. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
reports  that  68  per  cent,  fewer  brakemen  are 
killed  and  81  per  cent,  fewer  injured  in 
coupling  cars  now  than  in  1893;  and  they 
ascribe  the  improvement  to  the  Safety- 
Appliance  Act  of  1893  requiring  automatic 
couplers.  In  other  words,  the  single  signi- 
ficant gain  in  safety  came  through  legislation. 
Rigid  laws  are  the  best  guarantee  against 
railroad  accidents. 

THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 

THE  White  House  is  to  be  restored,  and 
a  part  of  the  work  has  been  done. 
The  amazing  fact  is,  the  original  plan  of  it 
had  been  forgotten  and  to  an  extent  defaced 
and  changed.  The  house  had  so  been  put  to 
utilitarian  uses  for  a  centurj^  that  its  real 
nobility  of  plan  had  been  forgotten,  and  at 
last  utility  had  defeated  itself,  for  it  was  not 
large  enough.  There  was  not  room  for  many 
■    proper  functions;  at  great  receptions  guests 

t~" 


not  even  enough  living  room  for  a  large 
presidential  family.  Everybody  who  has  had 
occasion  to  go  to  the  White  House  must 
have  felt,  too,  the  insufficiency  and  even  the 
indignity  of  the  President's  offices  and  of  the 
hall  outside,  where  there  was  always  a  group 
of  newspaper  reporters.  The  whole  scene 
reminded  one  of  the  ante-room  of  a  court- 
house in  a  second-rate  country  town. 

The  front  of  the  White  House  is  not  the  side 
facing  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  which  has 
been  used  as  the  approach  to  it,  but  the  side 
facing  the  river.  The  public  has  always  used 
the  back  door.  The  distinguishing  features 
of  the  architecture  are  the  two  long  terraces, 
one  of  which  had  been  put  to  no  use  at  all  and 
the  other  concealed  by  conservatories.  These 
are  noble  and  impressive  parts  of  the  original 
plan  and  give  dignity  to  the  whole  structure 
when  seen  from  the  river  side.  The  proper 
public  entrance  is  on  the  east  side  (next  the 
Treasury  Department)  through  the  east 
terrace.  At  the  end  of  the  west  terrace  the 
new  executive  ofhces  have  been  built. 

Mr.  McKim,  the  architect  who  has  restored 
the  plan  of  Hoban,  the  original  architect,  has 
done  another  national  service  by  making  the 
White  House  as  it  was  meant  to  be.  The 
interior  furnishings,  too,  are  in  keeping  with 
the  period  when  the  house  was  built. 

OUR  WASTE  OF  OLD  WORLD  HANDICRAFTS 

MANY  interesting  things  which  Ameri- 
cans go  abroad  to  see  could  be  had 
in  any  of  our  large  cities  if  we  would  but 
encourage  the  immigrants  who  come  to  our 
shores  to  preserve  the  best  of  their  old- 
country  life."  So  recently  spoke  Miss  Jane 
Addams,of  Chicago, and  she  spoke  with  knowl- 
edge. The  remark  is  suggestive.  Immigrants 
are  made  to  feel  by  our  treatment  of  them 
and  by  their  surroundings  that  their  old  life 
must  be  cast  aside.  The  elders  among  them 
often  feel  regret  at  the  swiftness  with  which 
the  children  become  ashamed  of  their  native 
ways  and  dress,  and  even  of  their  parents 
themselves.  This  rapid  Americanization  in 
many  cases  means  the  abandonment  of  their 
handicrafts.  Miss  Addams  told  the  story  of 
an  Italian  in  Chicago  who,  missing  the  art  of 
his  own  land,  carved  the  doorpost  of  his  rented 
apartments  and  decorated  his  ceiling  with 
stucco;  and  he  was  fined  by  his  landlord  for 
disfiguring  the  property !  There  are  said 
to  be  many  immigrant  workmen  who  have 


2828 


THE    MARCH    OF   EVENTS 


never  let  their  skill  be  known  because  they 
think  that  they  must  literally  begin  life  anew 
in  America.  Woodworkers,  metal-workers, 
potters  and  many  other  skilled  craftsmen 
sometimes  discard  their  native  industries  as 
they  discard  their  native  speech. 

"We  came  near  to  permitting  (for  we  long 
ignorantly  encouraged)  the  Indians  to  lose 
their  native  handicrafts,  as  basket-making 
and  blanket -weaving;  and  the  same  sort  of 
carelessness  loses  to  us,  no  doubt,  many  of  the 
useful  occupations  of  the  European  peasantry. 
We  might  import  them  all;  we  do  import 
them  all  and  fail  to  encourage  them.  Then 
we  go  to  Europe  and  pay  high  prices  for 
objects  that  might  be  made  in  our  own  cities 
by  the  natives  of  all  the  lands  that  we  ran- 
sack. Oior  country  ought  to  be  the  home 
of  as  many  handicrafts  as  it  is  of  different 
peoples. 

POSTAL  STORIES  OF  GROWTH  AND  PROSPERITY 

OXE  of  the  most  interesting  evidences 
of  our  continued  prosperity  is  the 
enormous  increase  of  20  per  cent,  in  the 
postal  business  of  the  fifty  largest  post-ofhces 
in  the  United  States.  This  increase  implies 
chiefly  the  development  of  commercial  cor- 
respondence and  other  commercial  uses  of 
the  mails.  It  means  a  large  increase  in  the 
volume  of  printed  matter,  too.  These  fifty 
post-offices  yield  one-half  of  the  whole  postal 
revenue. 

But  it  is  not  only  a  story  of  commercial 
prosperity  that  may  be  read  in  postal  statis- 
tics. The  increasing  density  of  population 
is  indicated  by  the  rise  in  the  number  of 
post-offices — from  64,000  to  76,000  in  ten 
years,  or  more  than  a  thousand  a  year. 
Within  the  same  period  the  number  of  postage 
stamps  annually  sold  increased  nearlv  two 
billions — that  is,  say,  it  was  very  nearly 
doubled.  Hardly  less  important  than  the 
commercial  story  told  by  the  growth  of  the 
business  of  large  post-offices  is  the  meaning  of 
the  development  of  rural  delivery  systems. 
There  are  now  8,500  routes  and  there  are 
petitions  for  10,000  more. 

THE   EASTWARD  AND  WESTWARD   SPREAD   OF 

CHOLERA 

OXE  of  the  great  sanitary  tasks  of 
civilization  was  done  when,  during 
the  American  occupation  of  Cuba,  yellow 
fever  was  stamped  out  at  Havana.    Another 


and  greater  task  of  a  similar  kind  is  to  rid  the 
world  of  cholera.  In  its  Asiatic  breeding- 
ground  it  always  exists,  and  at  intervals  it 
spreads  eastward  and  westward  and  again 
retreats.  But  it  never  dies  out.  It  has 
made  visits  to  other  continents  in  recent 
times  once  in  about  twelve  years,  and  it  is  now 
by  this  calendar  nearly  due  again  in  Europe 
or  America. 

It  was  reported  on  November  ist  that 
more  than  75,000  cases  had  occurred  this  year 
in  the  Philippine  Islands,  which  are  now  (as 
such  a  disease  travels)  dangerously  near  to 
us.  The  mortality  has  been  as  high  as  75 
per  cent,  of  the  cases,  and  in  some  otwns  and 
provinces  the  population  has  been  decimated. 
But  it  is  now  fast  disappearing,  and  there 
are  no  cases  in  most  of  the  provinces.  But 
in  China  the  disease  has  been  playing  havoc 
— at  Nanking,  where  40,000  persons  had 
died  before  November  ist,  at  Hong  Kong  and 
at  Peking.  It  is  making  its  way  westward, 
too;  for  it  has  this  year  caused  tens  of 
thousands  of  deaths  in  Egypt. 

COLOMBIA  AND  VENEZUELA  IN  CONVULSION 

CIVIL  war  still  wages  in  Venezuela  and 
Colombia,  and  no  one  can  yet  safely 
predict  the  outcome  in  either  country.  Old 
men  are  still  living  who  remember  the  great 
liberator,  Simon  Bolivar,  and  since  his  day 
Venezuela  has  seen  104  revolutions,  her 
longest  period  of  comparative  calm  having 
been  from  1870  to  1889,  when  Guzman  Blanco 
was  dictator  and  governed  the  country, 
either  directly  as  President  himself  or  through 
puppet  presidents  whom  he  named. 

As  he  rode  into  power  at  the  head  of  a 
revolution,  so  did  the  present  President, 
Cipriano  Castro.  A  revolution  broke  out  in 
February,  1899;  it  was  suppressed  and  a  pro- 
visional government  was  formed  under  Castro 
in  September,  1899.  In  the  revolution  which 
began  soon  afterward  the  so-called  Liberals 
of  Venezuela  under  Castro  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  Liberal  rebels  in  Colombia,  and  Colom- 
bian troops  violated  Venezuelan  territory. 
When  the  Colombian  minister  left  Caracas 
in  August,  1 89 1,  the  United  States  offered 
to  mediate  between  the  two  countries,  but 
Venezuela  declined,  and  later  rejected  a 
similar  offer  from  the  Pan-American  Congress 
at  the  City  of  Mexico  and  from  Chile.  At 
present  mediation  is  not  of  \'ital  impor- 
tance, as  the  civil  strife  in  each  country  is  all- 


THE    LESSONS    OF    THE    SAMOAN    AWARD 


2829 


engrossing,  and  neither  has  a  government 
suffieiently  stable  to  cneourage  a  n^ediator 
to  deal  with  it.  It  is  not  improbable,  too, 
that  when  internal  quiet  shall  have  been 
restored  international  irritation  will  disap- 
pear. 

The  revolution  in  Colombia  has  been  of  a 
more  devastating  character  than  tliat  in 
Venezuela  and  is  of  more  interest  to  the 
United  States.  The  whole  country  is  being 
laid  waste;  the  people  are  becoming  poorer 
and  poorer;  the  government  is  hopelessly 
bankrupt.  The  output  of  worthless  paper 
is  so  large  that  it  cannot  be  correctly  calcu- 
lated. The  revolution  has  continued  unre- 
mittingly for  three  years,  having  started  in 
the  autumn  of  1899.  It  followed  a  long 
period  of  oppression  under  Dr.  Rafael  Nuiiez, 
who  came  into  power  as  a  Liberal  in  1884,  but 
promptly  turned  Conservative,  and  by  force, 
fraud  and  corruption  held  the  country  in  his 
grip  until  his  death  in  1895.  The  revolt  is 
against  his  feebler  successors  and  imitators. 

Toward  Colombia  the  United  States  sus- 
tains a  peculiar  obligation.  In  1848,  when 
James  Buchanan  was  Secretary  of  State, 
before  a  railroad  was  built  across  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama  and  when  a  canal  was  hardly 
dreamed  of,  the  United  States  made  a  treaty 
with  what  was  then  New  Granada  and  is  now 
the  republic  of  Colombia,  guarant'^eing  the 
perfect  neutrality  of  the  isthmus  from  sea 
to  sea,  that  transit  should  not  be  interrupted 
or  embarrassed,  and  that  Colombia's  sover- 
eignty should  never  be  disturbed.  In  1855 
the  railroad  was  built,  and  whatever  turn  the 
troubled  aflfairs  of  Colombia  may  take,  this 
road  and  the  land  through  which  it  runs  must 
be  kept  open  by  the  United  States.  To  pro- 
tect it  marines  have  landed  on  several  occa- 
sions, and  in  November  of  last  year  Com- 
mander McCrea  of  the  Machias  ordered  the 
revolutionists  not  to  bombard  Colon,  the 
eastern  terminus,  while  at  the  present  time 
Admiral  Casey  guards  the  strip  with  a  formid- 
able fleet,  and  permits  troops  to  use  the  rail- 
road only  when  there  is  no  danger  of  conflict. 
When  the  present  revolutions  shall  cease 
in  Venezuela  and  Colombia,  if  the  revolu- 
tionists win,  governments  will  be  reorganized 
on  a  liberal  basis.  After  a  time  the  leaders  will 
endeavor  to  entrench  themselves  in  power 
by  the  familiar  methods,  and  new  revolu- 
tions will  follow.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Ifc  re volutionists  are  crushed  they  will  watch  for 


an  opportunity  to  revolt  again.  This,  unfor- 
tunately, is  the  history  of  government  in  the 
southern  republics,  and  tranquillity  seems 
to  come  only  with  a  dictator,  who  is  nominally 
a  president,  in  control.  It  is  fortunate  when 
he  is  bold  and  progressive,  as  in  the  case  of 
Porfirio  Diaz  of  Mexico,  and  unfortunate 
when  he  is  both  corrupt  and  reactionary,  as  was 
the  case  with  Rafael  Nunez  of  Colombia. 

THE  LESSONS   OF   THE   SAMOAN   AWARD 

THE  influence  that  the  Hague  Arbitration 
Tribunal  has  had,  by  reason  of  its 
decision  of  the  Pious  Fund  case,  has  been  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the  case 
itself.  The  fact  that  two  governments  so 
soon  submitted  a  controversy  to  it,  and  that  it 
reached  a  decision  in  a  reasonable  time  and  in 
a  reasonable  and  businesslike  way,  is  a  con- 
vincing demonstration  of  its  utility.  It  has 
proved  that  it  is  a  practical  piece  of  machinery. 
The  press  and  the  public  opinion  of  the  whole 
civilized  world  now  regard  it  seriously  and 
hopefully ;  and  there  is  talk  at  more  than  one 
European  capital  of  submitting  even  more 
important  cases  to  it. 

A  striking  proof  of  the  probable  utility  of 
the  tribunal  is  given,  by  contrast,  by  the 
decision  of  the  King  of  Sweden  as  arbitrator 
of  the  Samoan  dispute.  The  United  States, 
England  and  Germany  submitted  this  case 
to  King  Oscar.  He  has  handed  down  the 
decision  in  the  controversy  about  damages 
done  by  men-of-war  to  Samoan  property 
in  favor  of  Germany  and  against  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain.  The  decision  is  of 
course  accepted  cheerfully  by  all  the  parties 
to  the  contention ;  but  the  method  of  selecting 
one  person  as  an  arbitrator,  in  comparison 
with  the  method  of  the  Hague  Tribunal, 
already  seems  antiquated.  The  King  of 
Sweden  has  other  duties.  He  undertook  this 
arbitration  as  a  favor  to  friendly  nations. 
He  chose  his  own  advisers.  The  whole 
method  is  unscientific  and  it  seems  likely  now 
to  become  obsolete. 

The  Samoan  case  has  almost  gone  out  of  the 
public  mind.  Its  details  are  hardly  worth 
recalling  here — except  to  remark  that  the 
triple  guardianship  of  Samoan  affairs  by  the 
United  States,  Great  Britain  and  Germany 
proved  a  failure,  as  it  is  easy  now  to  see  that 
it  must.  Yet  it  was  often  cited  by  those  who 
were  opposed  to  the  American  occupation  of 
the  Philippine  Islands  as  a  method  whereby 


2830 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


they  might  have  been  managed.  Such  a 
method  would  of  course  have  failed — failed 
probably  with  tragic  results. 

THE   SWARMING   MILLIONS   OF  CHINA. 

THE  population  of  China  has  always  been 
a  subject  of  dispute  by  statisticians. 
The  Chinese  count  has  not  been  regarded  as 
trustworthy,  and  the  estimates  of  foreigners, 
however  carefulh'  made,  were  but  guesses. 
But  the  recent  enumeration  that  the  Chinese 
Government  has  now  published  is  accepted 
as  at  least  better  than  any  preceding  count 
or  estimate. 

It  shows  the  enormous  total  of  426,000,000 
persons  —  a  gain  of  13,000,000  over  the 
Chinese  count  made  in  1842.  Compared  with 
the  growth  of  our  own  population  this  is  a  very 
small  increase.  But  epidemics  and  the  lack 
of  sanitary  knowledge  and  wars  and  the  crowd- 
ing of  the  population  greatly  check  the  natural 
increase.  Of  course  the  provinces  differ 
greatly  in  the  density  of  population.  Thibet, 
^Mongolia,  Turkestan  and  Manchuria  are 
sparsely  peopled;  but  in  the  great  provinces, 
such  as  Shantung  and  Honan,  every  avail- 
able foot  of  soil  is  used  and  occupied.  There 
is  a  considerable  area  so  densely  populated  as 
to  warrant  this  comparison — if  all  the  people 
in  the  United  States  proper  lived  in  Texas, 
40,000,000  more  would  have  to  go  there  before 
the  population  would  be  as  dense  as  it  is  in  this 
part  of  China. 

Since  Chinese  immigration  is  forbidden  by 
the  United  States  and  by  Australia,  these 
swarming  millions  have  no  outlet  that  they 
know  how,  or  are  disposed,  to  take;  and  the 
problem  of  lifting  life  higher  in  such  a  hive, 
or  of  radically  changing  it,  will  be  solved,  if  it 
be  solved  at  all,  by  the  railroad.  Easy  and 
cheap  transportation  may  in  time  change  the 
conditions  of  life  there ;  but  no  other  influence 
that  we  now  know  seems  likely  to  do  so. 


THE  DEATH  OF  MR.  FRANK  NORRIS 

THE  death  of  Mr.  Frank  Norris,  which 
occurred  on  October  25th,  in  San 
Francisco,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  was  a 
definite  and  serious  loss  to  American  literature. 
The  work  that  he  had  already  done  was  con- 
siderable and  important;  for  the  two  books 
that  he  finished  of  the  great  trilogy  of  novels 
that  he  had  planned  are  original  and  vigorous 


contributions  to  the  best  class  of  our  fiction. 
Other  writers,  some  by  choosing  historical 
and  some  by  choosing  social  subjects,  have 
interpreted  various  phases  of  American  life; 
but  he  had  a  larger  conception  of  it — a  con- 
ception that  included  its  vast  economic 
significance — perhaps  than  any  other  writer  of 
fiction.  He  stood  firmly,  too,  at  a  time  of 
sensational  "successes"  in  fiction,  to  his  artis- 
tic convictions.  Many  a  writer  of  real  ability 
has  been  dazzled  and  has  suffered  a  change 
of  ideals  because  of  the  financial  success  of 
cheap  work;  but  he  held  true  with  an  heroic 
persistence  to  the  best  that  was  in  him.  He 
knew  that  he  could  write  a  swashbuckling 
romance,  and  he  was  ambitious  for  success 
and  he  was  eager,  too,  for  the  financial 
rewards  of  his  work.  He  could  at  any  time 
have  made  a  much  larger  income  by  writing 
sensational  books,  but  he  worked  on,  year 
after  year,  unswerving  and  content  with  the 
nobler  aim. 

After  practising  his  art  in  his  earlier  stories, 
which  all  showed  originality,  and  after  out- 
growing certain  obvious  faults  that  marked 
his  youthful  works,  he  had,  while  still  young, 
found  a  great  subject.  The  strong  grasp  of 
his  imagination  and  his  mastery  of  his  art 
were  just  beginning  to  show  themselves. 
Here  was  a  man,  then,  who,  having  done 
most  noteworthy  and,  we  think,  lasting  work 
in  his  3^outh,  died  just  as  he  was  reaching 
the  easy  command  of  his  powers.  The  pity 
of  it  comes  keenly  to  those  who  look  out  over 
American  literature  now  in  the  making  and 
see  so  little  genuinely  original  work. 

To  those  who  knew  Mr.  Norris,  his  death 
brings  a  deeper  loss  than  the  premature  close 
of  a  brilliant  literary  career.  He  was  a  strong 
and  lovely  personality.  His  youthful  and 
beautiful  face,  crowned  with  gray  hair,  wore 
a  smile  for  all  his  friends.  He  was  associated 
with  the  publishers  of  this  magazine  from 
the  beginning  of  their  career  as  publishers  of 
books;  and  he  showed  such  a  rare  genius  for 
friendship  that  to  them  the  loss  to  literature 
is  swallowed  up  in  the  loss  of  a  friend  and 
companion.  He  carried  with  him  always  an 
atmosphere  of  cheerful  earnestness.  He  was 
a  very  noble  man — strong  and  gentle  and 
brave  and  true.  The  memory  of  him  is  so 
precious  a  possession  to  those  who  lived  and 
worked  with  him  that  they  will  carr}'  it  as 
an  uplifting  influence  all  their  lives  long. 


THE    BONDS    OF    AMI-RICAN 
CORPORATIONS 

(The  World's  Work  publishes  every  month  an  article  in  which  some  timely  and  vital  subject  of  the  financial  world 

is  taken  up) 


SEVERAL  years  ago  nearly  all  capital- 
ization issues  on  the  part  of  impor- 
tant corporations  were  in  the  form  of 
stock.  Since  the  summer  of  1901  and 
continuing  with  increasing  volume  the  ten- 
dency has  been  toward  the  issuance  of  bonds 
instead  of  shares  of  stock.  It  is  a  tendency 
all  the  incidences  of  which  cannot  be  felt  in  a 
period  of  great  financial  exaltation  such  as 
the  present.  But  the  tendency  is  a  most 
significant  one. 

That  the  extent  of  this  tendency  may  be 
realized  it  should  be  noted  that  during  the 
current  year  scarcely  an  important  issue 
of  capital  stock  has  been  announced,  with 
the  exception  of  $35,000,000  by  the  New 
York  Central  Railroad.  This  issue  is  explained 
upon  grounds  peculiar  to  this  railroad, 
primarily  the  fact  that  assurances  were  at 
hand  that  much  the  greater  part  of  this  stock 
would  be  subscribed  by  the  present  control- 
ling interests  in  the  property.  Conspicuous 
among  the  large  issues  of  new  capital  in  the 
form  of  bonds  is  the  case  of  the  Brooklyn 
Rapid  Transit  Railroad,  which  announced 
its  intention  to  borrow  Si  50,000,000  on  bonds. 
The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  is  to  obtain  money 
for  the  building  of  its  tunnel  into  New  York 
by  the  issue  of  $50,000,000  in  bonds.  This 
action  of  the  Pennsylvania  is  particularly 
significant,  for  up  to  this  time  this  railroad 
has  relied  on  the  issue  of  new  stock  for  its 
capital,  increasing  the  stock  from  $129,305,000 
on  January  i,  1898,  to  $203,272,100  on 
January  i,  1902.  In  addition  there  might 
be  mentioned  the  following  very  large  bond 
issues:  Atchison  Railroad,  $30,000,000; 
Norfolk  and  Western  Railroad,  $20,000,000; 
American  Telegraph  and  Telephone  Company, 
$10,000,000;  Mexican  Central  Railroad, 
$10,000,000;  and  the  notable  case  of  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation,  which  is  now 
seeking  to  convert  $200,000,000  of  its  seven 
per  cent,  cumulative  preferred  stock  into  five 
per  cent,  bonds  and  to  issue  $50,000,000  bonds 
in   addition    to    provide    necessary   working 


capital.  Further  evidence  of  the  pronounced 
tendency  is  found  in  the  fact  that  in  1901 
the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  "listed" 
$923,010,100  in  bonds  against  $443,713,000 
for  the  previous  year,  while  exclusive  of  the 
$1,018,000,000  of  Steel  stock  listed,  the  stock 
listings  for  1901  were  only  a  few  million  dollars 
in  excess  of  those  for  the  previous  year. 

^lany  of  these  issues  of  bonds  were  deter- 
mined by  circumstances  peculiar  to  the  cor- 
porations concerned,  but  the  general  run  of 
them  were  influenced  by  certain  underlying 
conditions  of  the  American  securities  market, 
and  were  also  affected  by  disastrous  experi- 
ences certain  railroad  interests  had  had  in 
retaining  the  management  of  their  properties. 
When  Mr.  J.  Pierpont  IMorgan  was  on  the 
witness  stand  last  spring  in  a  case  involving 
the  validity  of  the  Northern  Securities 
Company  merger,  he  gave  one  explanation 
for  the  existence  of  that  combination  which 
has  been  oftentimes  quoted  in  Wall  Street 
since.  "I  wanted,"  said  Mr.  Morgan,  "the 
stock  of  railroads  I  had  helped  to  build  up 
and  make  prosperous  to  be  where  I  knew  it 
was  secure — where  it  could  not  be  bought  up 
over  night.  I  felt  that  if  a  corporation  with 
$400,000,000  capital  stock  held  this  stock, 
it  would  be  safe  there,  if  it  would  be  safe 
anywhere  in  the  world." 

In  this  desire  to  have  the  control  of  proper- 
ties in  hands  whose  locality  is  not  a  matter 
for  speculation,  this  anxiety  to  prevent  the 
secret  purchase  of  control  of  properties  in  the 
stock  market — here  is  to  be  found  one  of  the 
directing  reasons  for  these  new  issues  of  bonds. 
For  bonds  confer  no  voting  power  upon  their 
holders.  Possessors  of  stock  may  elect  a 
management.  They  are  partners  in  the  firm, 
so  to  speak.  Bondholders  are  creditors. 
They  can  have  no  voice  in  the  direction  of  the 
properties  until  the  corporations  shall  have 
become  bankrupt.  If  a  corporation,  there- 
fore, issues  ever  so  many  millions  of  bonds, 
the  management  runs  no  risk  of  creating 
possibly  hostile  voting  power.     Managers  of 


2832 


THE   BONDS    OF   AMERICAN    CORPORATIONS 


many  of  the  great  corporations  of  this  country 
have  had  occasion  to  shudder  within  these 
last  few  months  at  the  assaults  made  upon 
them  through  quiet  purchases  of  stock. 
The  cases  of  the  Lotiisville  and  Nashville 
Railroad  and  the  Colorado  Fuel  and  Iron 
Company  are  still  vividly  in  the  minds  of  the 
investing  community. 

This,  then,  is  the  predominant  reason  for 
the  preference  for  bond  issues  over  those  of 
stocks.  There  are  many,  however,  who  feel 
that  the  investment  public  has  absorbed 
about  all  the  "stock"  that  it  will.  It  is  an 
extremely  difficult  matter  at  present  to  float 
a  new  issue  of  stock.  Even  the  great  Steel 
Corporation,  backed  and  guaranteed  by  the 
powerful  house  of  Morgan,  with  its  enormous 
earnings  and  conservative  management,  and 
pa3-ing  seven  per  cent,  dividends  upon  its 
preferred  stock,  has  not  been  able  to  induce 
the  public  to  buy  that  stock  at  a  figure  much 
above  S95  a  share.  With  such  a  conspicuous 
warning,  it  was  but  natural  that  financiers 
should  cast  about  for  a  more  hopeful  method 
of  obtaining  capital.  It  is  freely  predicted 
that  should  the  Steel  Corporation  issue  its 
8250,000,000  in  bonds,  those  five  per  cent, 
promises  to  pay  will  command  a  higher 
market  value  than  the  seven  per  cent,  cumu- 
lative stocks  of  the  same  company.  The 
securities  market  has  come  to  feel  that  there 
is  some  magic  in  the  word  "bond."  It,  at 
least,  is  sure.  Xo  matter  how  bad  times 
may  be,  the  bondholder  will  get  something. 
The  stockholder  may  suffer  an  absolute  loss. 
Since  the  memorable  panic  of  May  9,  1901, 
all  the  machinations  and  allureraents  of 
Wall  Street  have  failed  to  attract  a  large 
public  into  stock  market  speculation.  There 
have  been  various  artificial  bullish  move- 
ments, but  in  every  case  they  have  been 
traced  to  pools  held  within  narrow  limits. 
Corporations  have  been  made  to  realize  that 
their  capital  issues  could  not  be  carried  upon 
the  crest  of  waves  of  wild,  indiscriminate 
speculation.  They  have  been  made  to  feel 
that  the  only  way  to  induce  the  public  to 
allow  its  money  to  be  used  in  their  enterprises 
would  be  to  give  to  that  public  some  security. 

It  must  be  regarded,  at  the  same  time,  as  a 
most  hopeful  indication  that  the  bonds  of 
American  corporations  have  come  to  have 
such  an  assured  value.  If  they  had  not  they 
could  not  be  floated,  in  spite  of  the  charm 
surrounding  the  word  "bond."     The   public 


must  be  led  to  believe  that  there  is  a  reason- 
able probability  that  the  interest  due  on  the 
bonds  will  be  paid.  If  the  public  has  confi- 
dence in  this  fact,  it  will  willingly  sacrifice  a 
seven  per  cent,  cumulative  stock  in  the  most 
prosperous  of  corporations  for  a  five  per  cent, 
bond  of  the  same  institution.  The  public 
realizes  that  the  corporation  will  thus  save 
two  per  cent,  in  dividend  payments,  which 
may  be  utilized  in  improving  the  properties 
and  making  them  more  likely  to  continue 
five  per  cent,  pa^'ments  for  a  long  period 
than  could  be  the  case  with  seven  per  cent. 

But  right  here  occurs  the  chief  danger  of 
this  wholesale  issue  of  bonds,  in  the  opinion 
of  thoughtful  students  of  modem  finance. 
A  bond  constitutes  a  fixed  charge  upon  the 
earnings  of  the  corporation.  In  times  of 
prosperity,  a  heav}'  fixed  charge  is  not  felt  to 
be  burdensome.  If  business  be  depressed, 
however,  the  fixed  charge  becomes  immedi- 
ately a  peril.  Xo  matter  how  much  sales  or 
profits  ma}^  fall  off,  interest  payments  must 
continue  to  be  made  or  the  company  go  into 
a  receiver's  hands.  Bonds  floated,  therefore, 
upon  the  basis  of  earnings  in  times  of  pros- 
perity are  Uable  to  prove  most  disastrous 
when  depression  comes.  N^o  issues  of  securi- 
ties which  have  not  passed  through  a  period 
of  depression  can  be  viewed  with  absolute 
confidence  by  the  investment  world.  The 
establishment  of  rates  of  interest,  the  fixing 
consequently  of  the  exactly  proper  sums  in 
which  issues  of  bonds  should  be  made  to  give 
the  corporation  permanent  safety,  constitute 
one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  with  which 
corporation  managers  have  to  deal. 

Conser\'ative  investors  have  begun  to 
inquire  just  what  possibilities  of  "watering" 
there  are  in  bond  issues.  When  the  general 
public  is  so  kindly  disposed  toward  a  bond, 
there  is  an  extraordinary  temptation  to  capi- 
talize earnings,  as  well  as  properties,  in  this 
form.  The  form  has  so  far  been,  in  most 
cases,  utilized  by  corporations  of  established 
conservatism  and  reliability.  But  even  as 
late  as  October  a  prominent  trust  company 
in  Xew  York  announced  that  it  had  agreed  to 
accept  the  property,  franchises,  patents,  etc.. 
of  a  newly  established  telephone  company,  in 
return  for  which  it  would  guarantee  the  issue 
of  Sioo,ooo,ooo  in  bonds,  to  be  sold  as  needed. 
This  transaction  was  no  doubt  entirely  wise. 
It  illustrates,  however,  the  striking  character 
of  this  tendency. 


THE    BUILDER   OF    THE    NEW    YORK 

SUBWAY 

A  STORY  OF  STEADY  ACHIEVEMENT  SHOWING  THE  QUALITIES 
BY  WHICH  MR.  JOHN  B.  McDONALD  BECAME  CONTRACTOR 
FOR    THE    LARGEST    MUNICIPAL   ENTERPRISES    IN    THE    WORLD 

BY 

RAYMOND     STEVENS 


THE  day  shift  of  workmen  on  the 
New  York  Subway  had  hardly  begun 
their  morning  work  on  a  section  far 
uptown  when  an  automobile  whirled  up  to 
the  edge  of  the  trench  and  a  short,  broad- 
shouldered  man,  brisk  and  businesslike, 
alighted. 

"J.  B.'s  late  this  morning,"  said  a  work- 
man, as  the  visitor,  stepping  quickly  down  a 
ladder,  started  with  alacrity  along  the  tunnel, 
his  keen  gray  eye  glancing  sharply  here  and 
there  with  critical  gleam. 

The  rhythm  of  the  workmen  grew  speedier 
as  the  new  arrival  went  by.  Foremen  listened 
deferentially  to  his  quick,  decisive  comments. 
The  man  was  John  B.  McDonald,  con- 
tractor with  the  City  of  New  York  for  the 
2,000,000,000-gallon  Jerome  Park  Reservoir, 
one  of  the  largest  storage  reservoirs  in  the 
world,  the  Rapid  Transit  Subway,  the  largest 
contract  ever  let,  and,  with  his  company, 
for  the  subway  tunnel  to  Brooklyn — three 
contracts  that  amount  to  nearly  $50,000,000; 
and  early  as  it  was,  not  half -past  seven,  he 
was  later  than  usual  on  his  daily  tour  of 
inspection.  To  a  puzzled  competitor  who 
once  exclaimed  "How  does  McDonald  make 
his  success?"  another,  wiser,  replied:  "He 
gets  up  early  in  the  morning." 

The  northeastern  section  of  the  country  is 
dotted  with  engineering  works  built  by  him 
— railroads,  bridges  and  tunnels  from  Georgian 
Bay  to  Maryland;  and  the  contracts  have 
gone  to  him  and  have  been  successfully  com- 
pleted because  in  every  case  he  has  known 
to  a  hair  beforehand  just  what  the  tasks  would 
call  for.  The  magnitude  of  the  task  involved 
in  building  the  New  York  Subway  appals  an 
observer  who,  visiting  the  mine  100  feet  deep 
at  i8ist  Street,  thinks  of  the  tunnel  already 
begun  at  Post-OflEice  Square  and  the  miles 
upon  miles   of  torn-up   streets  between — all 


L 


part  of  a  single  colossal  undertaking  carried 
on  by  a  single  man.  But  when  Mr.  McDonald 
undertook  the  problem  and  some  one  said 
"Difficult  job!"  he  replied: 

"Difficult?  Not  a  bit.  It's  cellar  digging 
— just  a  lot  of  cellar  digging.  Put  all  the 
cellars  in  New  York  in  a  row  and  they'd  make 
a  tunnel  from  here  to  Philadelphia.  There's 
nothing  hard  about  digging  a  cellar,  and  a 
row  of  cellars  isn't  any  harder.  It  takes 
longer — that's  all." 

This  power  of  simplification — this  refusal 
to  be  worried  by  details — is  the  quality  that 
has  enabled  Mr.  McDonald  to  accomplish 
large  tasks  in  engineering  work  when  his 
preparedness  has  secured  them. 

At  his  office  he  is  the  same  alert  captain  of 
men  as  within  sound  of  the  chugging  of  air- 
drills  and  the  noise  of  labor  underground. 
From  his  morning  inspection  of  the  Subway, 
now  one  section,  now  another,  or  a  half-dozen 
others,  he  hurries  downtown — he  always 
hurries — and,  entering  the  Park  Row  Building 
just  across  from  the  City  Hall  end  of  the 
Subway,  is  carried  up  twenty-six  stories  to  his 
offices.  The  building  is  the  tallest  in  the 
world — in  New  York  all  things  are  superlative 
— and  his  office  floor  is  just  beneath  the  roof. 
From  his  office  windows,  as  far  as  eye  can 
see,  straight  north,  run  the  cany  on -like  streets 
of  Manhattan,  and  in  the  middle  is  the  scar 
of  the  Subway.  It  is  there  all  day  before  his 
windows — an  object  lesson  in  achievement — 
a  thing  to  dream  over.  But  dreaming  about 
it  is  not  for  him.  He  turns  to  his  pile  of  care- 
fully sorted  letters,  plunging  vigorously  back 
to  the  work  that  is  constant  stimulation  to 
him. 

Engineers'  reports,  blue  prints  showing 
the  condition  of  every  foot  of  the  Subway, 
sub-contractors  with  statements  of  work  done 
and  claims  for  payment,  drafts  for  contracts. 


2834 


THE   BUILDER    OF   THE    NEW    YORK    SUBWAY 


plans  for  variations,  conferences  with  the  Rapid 
Transit  engineers,  bills  for  all  kinds  of  expense, 
come  in  quick  succession.  With  a  thorough 
knowledge  gained  by  years  devoted  to  similar 
work,  quick,  decisive,  quiet,  he  gets  through 
the  vast  amount  of  work  with  less  time  and 
trouble  than  many  men  put  into  trivialities. 

Mr.  McDonald  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1844 
and  was  brought,  when  three  years  old,  to 
New  York,  where  his  father  had  already 
located.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  left  the 
public  schools  to  go  to  work — first  in  the 
office  of  the  Registry  of  Deeds,  for  he  had  no 
idea  of  what  he  wished  to  become.  He  must 
be  something,  however,  "something  worth 
while,"  he  declared  to  himself;  and  night 
after  night  he  studied  practical  subjects  in 
the  evening  high  school. 

"  I  want  some  real  work,"  he  told  his  father 
when  he  had  copied  deeds  for  a  year.  And 
when  this  real  work  took  the  form  of  time- 
keeping on  the  Boyd's  Dam  contract,  a  part 
of  the  Croton  Water  system,  he  discovered 
his  vocation.  Speedily  made  foreman,  he 
soon  showed  ability  to  handle  men,  but  all  the 
time  he  was  on  business  of  his  own — learning 
the  details  of  contracting  and  constructing 
— for  his  time  was  coming.  Four  years  he 
served,  and  then,  on  recommendation  of  the 
Chief  Engineer,  who  had  watched  his  work, 
he  became  Inspector  of  Masonry  on  the  New 
York  Central  tunnel.  The  contractors  were 
subletting  sections.  The  young  McDonald 
studied  one  of  them  with  care.  "  I  can  do  it 
myself,"  he  confidently  thought. 

He  put  in  a  bid.  It  was  accepted.  The 
work  was  done — and  well  done.  Now,  as  he 
passes  through  the  tunnel,  he  sees,  supporting 
the  roadway  at  Ninety-sixth  Street,  "The 
Big  Arch,"  his  first  business  venture.  The 
contractors,  liking  the  work,  gave  him  other 
contracts — on  the  Boston  &  Hoosac'  Tunnel 
Railroad,  the  Georgian  Ba}^  branch  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific,  and  the  extension  of  the 
Lackawanna  from  Binghamton  to  Buffalo. 

By  this  time  his  experience  had  widened 
until  no  construction  problem  balked  him. 
He  was  reaching  his  full  business  stature. 
Wherever  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the 
United  States  great  works  or  new  railroads 
were  building  there  were  gangs  of  his  men — 
on  the  West  Shore  Railroad,  the  Potomac 
Valley,  the  extension  of  the  Illinois  Central 
from  Elgin,  Illinois,  to  Dodgeville,  Wisconsin, 
the  Trenton  "cut  off"  on  the  Pennsylvania, 


the  Akron  Junction  in  Ohio,  the  extension  of 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  from  Baltimore  to 
Philadelphia,  and  others. 

But  these  were  ordinary  tasks.  They  did 
not  show  that  the  young  contractor  had 
unusual  ability.  He  could  capably  carry 
plans  through,  but  had  he  any  of  that 
capacity  that  makes  captains  of  industry  ? 

He  was  living  in  Baltimore,  to  be  near  his 
railroad  work.  The  city's  transportation 
facilities  were  wTetched.  The  Baltimore  & 
Ohio  Railroad,  unable  to  get  a  franchise  for. 
tracks  through  the  city  on  grade,  was  ferrying 
its  trains  completely  around  the  city  to  make 
connections  with  Philadelphia.  Tunneling 
had  been  put  aside.  Baltimore  stands  on  low 
gravel  hills  under  which  run  countless  little 
streams,  perhaps  the  most  difficult  of  soils  to 
tunnel.  The  problem  came  to  his  attention.  He 
thought  it  over;  he  computed;  he  estimated; 
and  in  the  end  he  prepared  a  plan  for  a  tunnel. 
He  convinced  the  railroad  officials  that  he 
could  build  one.  Public  opinion  said  an 
attempt  to  build  a  tunnel  under  Baltimore 
would  endanger  property,  would  imperil  life, 
and  would  come  to  naught — the  task  was 
utterly  impossible.  But  a  franchise  was 
obtained  and  the  work  was  begun.  Difficul- 
ties arose.  The  soil  proved  so  full  of  water 
that  buckets  had  to  be  used  in  excavating. 
Quicksands  were  encountered.  A  subterra- 
nean stream  burst  through  the  tunnel  wall  one 
day,  and  laden  with  fine  white  sand,  flooded 
out  the  workmen,  swamped  the  works  and 
stopped  operations.  But  one  after  .another 
the  bucketfuls  of  mud  came  out;  the  quick- 
sands were  pumped  dry,  built  on  and  passed; 
the  subterranean  stream,  led  to  a  brick  con- 
duit beneath  the  tunnel,  was  diverted  to  the 
harbor;  and  the  tunnel  bored  on.  When 
streets  settled  Mr.  McDonald,  with  his  usual 
foresight,  had  material  and  workmen  ready, 
and  the  streets  were  filled  in  and  repaved. 
Day  after  day  with  a  rubber  coat  and  hip 
boots  he  went  down  into  the  tunnel  to  direct 
the  work  himself.  For  five  years  the  struggle 
continued.  Any  visitor  to  Baltimore  knows 
the  outcome.  The  Baltimore  Belt  Railroad, 
as  the  tunnel  is  called,  is  one  of  the  hardest 
bits  of  tunnel  construction  ever  successfully 
accomplished.  It  is  the  work  of  one  man. 
Then,  as  if  one  such  task  were  not  enough,  he 
submitted  a  bid  for  the  Jerome  Park  Reservoir 
in  New  York  City  and  secured  the  contract. 
Besides  all  this,  he  is  head  of  a  company  that 


f  hotographed  bv  E.  Rockwooit 


JOHN  B.  Mcdonald 

WHO    IS   BUILDING  THE    NEW   YORK    SUBWAVS   AND   RESERVOIF 


2836 


THE    BUILDER    OF    THE    NEW    YORK    SUBWAY 


owns  a  manganese  mine  in  Central  America 
that  is  shipping  ore  to  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation. 

But  Mr.  McDonald's  great  work  is  the 
subway.  For  years  he  has  taken  a  special 
interest  in  the  rapid  transit  situation  in  Xew 
York.  Realizing  that  an  extensive  subway 
system  was  certain  to  come,  he  had  long  had 
an  ambition  to  build  it.  He  was  a  bidder  on 
the  so-called  "arcade"'  subway  plan  of  the 
70's;  indeed,  he  lost  much  of  the  property  he 
had  so  arduously  acquired  when  the  plan 
eventually  fell  through.  But  that  had  not 
discouraged  him.  As  an  expert  he  was  fre- 
quently summoned  before  the  Rapid  Transit 
Commission  for  his  advice.  The  present  plan 
called  for  bids  on  a  comprehensive  task — a 
contract  not  only  to  build  the  subway  but  to 
equip  it  with  a  transportation  system  and 
run  the  system  for  fifty  years,  paying  back 
to  the  city  the  first  cost  of  building.  While 
there  were  dozens  of  contracting  firms  eager 
to  do  part  of  the  work,  only  two  submitted 
bids  for  the  whole.  Mr.  McDonald,  after 
spending  a  month  at  his  Jerome  Park  office 
figuring  on  the  estimates,  put  in  the  lower  bid 
by  nearly  $5,000,000.  The  city  required 
cash,  securities  and  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$7,000,000  to  bind  the  contract.  On  account 
of  disagreements  with  the  surety  companies 
as  to  terms,  Mr.  McDonald  asked  for  an  exten- 
sion of  the  time  for  qualifying.  Immediately 
there  w^as  talk  that  no  one  would  back  him 
because  his  bid  was  so  low  as  to  exclude 
profit.  The  other  bidder  was  asked  if  he 
expected  to  get  the  contract  through  default. 
He  replied: 

"  No,  sir.  John  McDonald  has  got  that 
contract  and  he'll  keep  it.  He  is  the  right 
man  to  do  it.  Security  won't  be  lacking. 
Don't  vou  worry  about  that." 

Mr.  McDonald  had  intended  originally  to 
build  the  subway  alone,  but  feeling  that  the 
terms  demanded  by  the  security  companies 
were  exorbitant,  he  interested  other  capital- 
ists, among  them  Mr.  August  Belmont.  He 
convinced  them  that  he  had  a  profitable  con- 
tract; and  a  corporation,  wuth  S6, 000, 000 
capital  and  with  Mr.  Belmont  as  president, 
known  as  the  Rapid  Transit  Construction 
Company,  was  formed  to  finance  the  under- 
taking. The  construction  has  been  pushed 
so  rapidly  and  so  successfully  that  the  subway 
will  be  open  to  the  public  ten  months  before 
the  contract  time. 


Throughout  his  career  ^Ir.  ^IcDonald  has 
had  the  faculty  of  finding  competent  men  to 
assist  him  and  of  interesting  conservative 
capitalists  in  his  projects,  for  his  is  a  person- 
ality that  begets  confidence.  He  has  had 
equal  success  in  dealing  with  labor.  He  has 
had  but  a  single  serious  strike  in  all  his  expe- 
rience. That  occurred  on  the  Jerome  Park 
work.  One  forenoon  in  !May,  while  the  work 
was  going  on  serenely  as  usual,  a  few  Italians 
at  the  dump  ground,  apparently  without  pre- 
conceived plan  and  without  any  notice  save  a 
shout  to  the  surprised  foreman,  "W(?  strike," 
stopped  work  and  started  for  the  reservoir 
two  miles  away.  There  they  were  joined  by 
a  thousand  more.  Greatly  excited,  shouting, 
waving  their  shovels,  accompanied  by  many 
of  their  women  and  children,  who  lived 
near  by.  they  rushed  toward  the  office.  Mr. 
McDonald  stepped  out.  He  saw^  moving 
toward  him  an  excited  mob  evidently  bent 
on  violence. 

■"What  do  you  want?"  he  demanded, 
advancing  to  meet  them. 

"We  strike — more  pay,"  came  the  cry. 
mixed  with  shouts  and  threats  in  Italian. 

"  Strike  ?  If  this  is  the  way  you  strike,  you 
can  keep  on  striking.     Get  out  I" 

A  moment's  pause,  another  step  toward 
them — "Come,  get  out,"  and  the  mob  melted 
away. 

Fearing  that  the  excited  men,  with  so 
much  dynamite  accessible,  might  do  serious 
damage  to  the  works,  he  went  for  a  body  of 
police  to  drive  them  from  the  reservoir. 
Within  a  week  the  men  returned  unsuccessful. 
Mr.  McDonald's  method  in  the  case  of  any 
grievances  has  always  been  to  call  the  men  to 
his  office  and  settle  the  matter  man  to  man, 
or,  when  the  laborers  have  been  organized, 
to  treat  with  the  union's  agents;  but  he  is  not 
the  man  to  be  driven  or  frightened.  Said  an 
engineer  who  had  long  been  connected  with 
him:  "  He  has  had  little  trouble  because  the 
men  get  anything  reasonable  they  demand." 
The  10,000  men  on  the  subway,  though  all 
under  sub-contractors,  are  protected  by  an 
effective  scheme  of  arbitration  devised  by 
Mr.  McDonald. 

He  is  a  member  of  many  clubs — the 
Law  vers'  Club,  the  Manhattan  Club,  the 
Colonial  Club,  the  Maryland  Club,  the  New 
York  Yacht  Club,  and  of  several  golf  clubs 
as  well,  for  he  is  enthusiastically  devoted  to 
that  game  and  is  an  expert  player. 


AN    rNKlM.slll.H    SKI.ICH 
The  imniori.il  to  il>c  soMiers  of  Centre  County.   I'cnnsylvani.i,  and  to  ("lovemor  Ciittin,  W'.ir  Covcrtior  ol   l'cnnr,ylvania 


GEORGE    GREY    BARNARD,    SCULPTOR 


BV 


ALEXANDER    BLAIR    THAW 

Illustrated  from  photographs  by  W.  E.  Cooper  and  G.  C.  Cox  and  a  portrait  by  A.  R.  Dugmore 


NATURE'S  first  appeal,  to  a  child  or  to 
a  young  world,  is  through  the  eyes. 
Before  we  give  much  heed  to  the  spoken 
word, even  before  we  learn  to  listen  to  the  power 
of  sound,  how  we  delight  in  color,  how  eagerlv 
we  try  to  grasp  everything  that  comes  within 
our  vision.  Painters  and  sculptors  give  us 
pleasure  and  delight  by  their  power  in  the 
handling  of  color  and  of  form.  But  not  often 
shall  there  appear  the  man  who  can  do  more 
than  this,  who  shall  fill  our  hearts  with  wonder 
and  our  eyes  with  tears.  To  do  this,  the 
artist  niust  feel.  How  deeply,  how  intimately 
must  he  feel  the  meaning  of  our  life  !  Through 
what  long  and  terrible  struggles  must  he  go 
before  he  can  express  this  meaning  to  the 
world  !  This  story,  of  inward  suffering  and 
of  both  interior  and  external  struggle,  is  in  a 
few  words  the  story  of  the  life  of  George  Grey 
Barnard,  the  sculptor. 

And  now,  with  the  best  of  his  years  still 
before  him,  he  is  given  a  unique  opportunity 
for  expression,  since  he  has  been  awarded  the 
contract  for  the  entire  sculpture  scheme  for 
the  new  capitol  of  Pennsylvania,  the  largest 
contract  ever  given  to  a  single  sculptor  in  the 
country.  The  members  of  the  commission 
and  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  are  to  be  con- 
gratulated both  upon  the  wisdom  shown  in 
giving  the  painting  and  the  sculpture  to  a 
single  painter  and  a  single  sculptor,  and  upon 


their  choice  of  the  men  for  the  work.  With 
Edwin  A.  Abbey  to  do  the  painting  one  can 
rest  assured  that  the  mural  decoration  is  in 
safe  hands.  The  State  of  Pennsylvania  is 
also  to  be  congratulated  upon  being  able 
to  show  to  the  rest  of  the  country,  in 
the  commissioners,  and  in  their  architect, 
Mr.  Joseph  M.  Huston,  an  example  of  artistic 
knowledge  and  of  freedom  from  any  kind 
of  influence  or  partisanship,  either  artistic 
or  political.  And  the  country  at  large,  the 
whole  world  indeed,  as  well  as  Mr.  Barnard 
himself,  are  to  be  congratulated  that  he  is  to 
have  this  opportunity  to  do  the  great  work 
that  is  in  him. 

That  Mr.  Barnard  is  a  man  of  unusual 
powers  and  a  sculptor  of  great  genius  will 
appear  beyond  a  doubt  to  any  one  who  shall 
study  the  man,  his  life  and  his  present  achieve- 
ment. It  is  a  part  of  the  fitness  of  things 
that  Pennsylvania  should  have  chosen  a  son 
of  her  soil  for  this  work;  for  Mr.  Barnard  was 
born  at  Bellefonte,  Pa.,  in  '63.  Like  her,  his 
riches  lay  deep  within  him,  and  like  her  he 
had  to  hew  his  wealth  out  of  the  rocks  and 
stones.  But  it  was  equally  fitting,  and  even 
more  necessary,  that  he  should  have  gone  out 
West  while  still  very  young  and  so  become  a 
son  of  the  greater  America  as  well.  Near 
Chicago,  on  the  shores  of  the  great  lake,  until 
twelve    vears    old,    and    then,    until    sixteen 


MR.    BARNARD   AT    WORK   ON    '-Tlii::    HEWER'  IN    CLAY 


"THE    HEWER"    IN    MARBLE 


2840 


GEORGE    GREY    BARNARD,    SCULPTOR 


THK    FAMOUS   CARVED   OAK   CLOCK   CASE 


i>ETAlL    FROM    THE   CLOCK 

Every  child  in  our  day  inherits  the  precious  "  Life  of  ihe  Past " 
in  a  weahh  of  detail  and  sense  of  growth  of  the  world  that  could  not 
belong  to  Homer  or  Phidias.  From  reading  our  histories  of  "  Man 
and  Earth"  a  vision  in  its  ensemble,  taking  the  form  of  an  evolution, 
becomes  an  ever  present  consciousness.  This  consciousness  and  rela- 
tion of  earth,  its  elements,  wind,  water,  roots,  and  unseen  powers,  witli 
man  struggling  out  from  it  all  like  a  spirit  on  the  waters,  is  what  I 
have  feebly  expressed  in  my  carving  of  oak.  Struggling  against  and 
out  from  the  water  and  roots  gleams  here  and  there  a  serpent  form 
t)-pifying  unseen  power,  Man.  This  struggle  between  the  elements 
and  man  goes  on  up  to  the  foot  of  the  dial,  where  the  water  ends  and 
roots  first  take  bud  and  leaf.  The  two  sources  of  nature  in  the  form  of 
man  and  woman  holding  urns  from  which  water  flows  in  the  depths 
below,  the  maiden  at  the  top  t)'pif>-ing  peace  and  simplicity,  the  true 
rulers  over  all.  — George  Grey  Barimrd. 


years,  in  Iowa,  on  the  Mississippi,  wandering 
through  woods  and  swamps  by  day  and  night 
he  learned  to  know  the  creatures. 

The  son  of  a  clerg}'man  of  broad  sympathies 
and  of  a  mother  through  whom  chiefly  his 
artistic  temperament  was  derived,  he  was 
never  hampered  spiritually  or  intellectually, 
though  in  the  struggle  for  existence  he  was 
always  hard  pressed. 

When  only  nine  years  old,  through  the 
delightful  experience  of  a  boyhood's  intimate 
acquaintance  w^ith  an  old  retired  sea  captain, 
whose  wonderful  collection  of  shells  and 
minerals  became  later  the  nucleus  of  the  col- 
lection of  the  University  of  Chicago,  the  boy 
learned  much  of  geology,  and  grew  to  know 
everv  shell  as  he  later  taught  himself  to  know 
every  bird  and  animal.  By  fifteen  he  was  an 
expert  taxidermist  and  in  the  habit  of  drawing 
each  creature  from  the  life  and  so  mounting 
them.  He  had  as  many  as  1,200  specimens 
in  his  collection  at  this  time.  Then  for 
about   three   years   he   earned    his   living   as 


GKUKCil-:    (;RKY    liARNARU,    SCLLP'IOK 


2841 


an   engraver  and  worker   in  (jjold    and   silver  when  he  refused  the  offer  of  a  situation  which 

ornaments.      But  at  the  same  period  he  had  would  have  "fixed"  him  for  life.      From  that 

already    found    his    vocation    and    begun    to  time  onward  we  find  him  constanth'  refusing 

model    in    clay.      He    was    only    seventeen  to  accej^t  any  and  every  condition  that  would 


MAN'S    STRUGGLE    WITH    NATURE 
An  unfinished  fragment 


FRAGMENTS  FROM  THE  URN  WHICH  IS  TO  HOLD  THE   ASHES    OF   ANTON  SEIDL 

From  this  central  group  twenty-seven  figures  of  life  encircle  the  um 


GEORGE   GREY    BARNARD 


2844 


GEORGE    GREY    BARNARD,    SCULPTOR 


^"^:^%. 


Old  Pan,  past  master  of  the  flute, 
Thou  lusty,  dear,  melodious  brute. 
Sit  on  thy  haunches  by  my  side 
And  blow  my  spring  dream  open  wide. 
PufE  out  thy  shaggy  jowls  and  make 
The  honey  buds  of  nature  break 
Abloom  for  joy:  stir  up  the  juice, 
The  sap,  the  chlorophyl,  and  loose 
Once  more  the  tender,  searching  strain, 
While  all  the  world  goes  wild  again. 
Puff  out  thy   shagg)-  jowls  and  blow, 
Now  high  and  clear,  now  soft  and  low, 
Until  the  music  stirs  my  feet, 
Until  my  veins  the  measure  beat, 
And  that  vague  wonder   masters  me, 
Tlie  panic  of  thy  melody. 
Ah,  Pan,  Pan,  Pan,  one  of  thy  boys 
Still  holds  to  those  Arcadian  joys. 
Those  simple,  deep  bom,  keen  delights 
Of  colors,  perfumes,  sounds  and  sights 
And  love,  love,  love,  when  in  the  Spring 
The  flickers  pipe  and  thrushes  sing. 

—Maurice   Thompson,  in   The  Independent. 


"BROTHERLY    LOVE"    OR    "FRIENDSHIP" 

A  copy  of  a  large  group  on  a  monument  in  Norway.     The  marble  typifies  that  which    separates   all    loved  ones  though   »e   reach 

forth    with    infinite    love 


2846 


GEORGE    GREY    BARNARD,    SCULPTOR 


seem  to  him  to  compromise  his  conscience  or 
bind  his  genius. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  therefore,  upon  the 
sum  of  S89  which  he  had  saved,  he  lived  a 
whole  year  in  Chicago,  a  year  of  unbroken 
toil  and  untold  delight,  drawing  and  modeling 
at  the  Chicago  Art  Institute.  Humanity  had 
become  the  object  of  his  study,  and  the  world 
a  piece  of  clay  for  his  strong  hands  to  model. 
There  was  a  closed  room  in  the  Institute  build- 
ing, closed  and  locked  because  the  students 
of  the  previous  year  had  mutilated  the 
treasures  concealed  behind  that  locked  door. 
This  treasure   v\-as   a  complete   collection  of 


casts  of  the  works  of  Michael  Angelo.  One 
day  the  President  of  the  Art  Institute  gave 
the  key  of  that  door  to  the  boy  Barnard,  and 
there,  for  the  first  time,  the  man  Barnard 
found  himself  face  to  face  with  the  great 
drama  of  humanity  as  expressed  through 
the  human  form.  From  that  day  he  has 
known  his  own  powers  clearly,  and  has  gone 
on  over  obstacles  and  through  privations, 
temptations  and  sacrifices  straight  toward 
his  goal. 

At  the  end  of  his  eighteenth  year  he 
received  an  order  for  a  portrait  bust  of  a  child. 
After  making  his  model  in  clay  he  took  it  to 


■I    FEEL   TWO   N.4TURES  STRUGGLING   WITHIN    ME" 
"This  group  is  intended  to  express  the  battle  «e  all  «Tige  who  open  our  heart  and  mind  to  the  light  '  — George  Grey  Barnard 


GEORGE    GRKV    BARNARD,    SCULI'TUR 


2847 


"I   FEEL  TWO   NATURES' 


IN   ITS   PERMANENT    POSITION   IN   THE  NEW  WING  OF   THE 
METROPOLITAN    MUSEUM 


a  marble  yard,  where  a  piece  of  marble  was 
given  him .  There  was  no  one  in  that  country 
who  could  give  him  a  word  of  help.  There 
was  the  head  in  clay,  and  here  was  the  piece 
of  marble,  which  had  to  be  hammered  till  the 
marble  became  a  copy  of  the  clay.  His  only 
tools  were  a  hammer  and  chisels  !  It  was  an 
impossibility,  but  it  had  to  be  done  !  And  it 
was  done,  the  young  sculptor  receiving  $300 
for  his  work.  And  now  the  road  was  open 
to  Paris  ! 

There,  for  twelve  long  years,  Barnard 
struggled  to  bring  out  the  genius  that  was 
in  him,  and  against  difficulties  of  every  kind; 


for,  besides  all  the  ordinary  trials  and  tempta- 
tions of  Paris,  he  had  at  times  to  bear  the 
extremes  of  hunger  and  of  cold.  But  there 
were  generations  of  strength  in  the  moral 
and  mental  fiber  of  the  young  artist.  Besides 
these,  and  in  an  unusual  degree,  he  possessed 
that  personal  force  of  will  by  which  the 
Young  America  is  so  rapidly  taking  the 
leadership  of  nations:  only,  instead  of  steel 
or  iron,  he  is  hammering  marble  and  bronze 
into  shape  for  her  greater  glory. 

Yet,  though  he  were  all  will,  he  might  still 
have  failed  of  his  purpose,  but  for  a  rare 
perfection  of  physical   health   and   strength, 


I 


284S 


GEORGE  GREY  BARNARD,  SCULPTOR 


without  which  he  could  not  have  endured 
such  extreme  hardships.  For  instance,  there 
was  a  time  when,  for  many  months,  with 
nothing  to  eat  but  a  httle  rice  and  milk,  he 
kept  on  constantly  with  his  work,  drawing 
or  modeling  sixteen  hours  a  day.  And  so 
during  these  twelve  years,  in  the  midst  of 
that  gay  Paris,  he  had  to  struggle  for  his 
very  life. 

There,  during  these  years,  the  boy  of  the 
open  prairie  found  before  him  the  opportunity 


MAIDEN   WITH   THE   ROSES" 

A  marble  in  a  mausoleum  in  Iowa 


•THE    BOY" 

Modeled  in  1884.     This  is  in  the  private  New  York  collection  of 

Alfred  Corning  Clark 


to  train  eyes  and  hands  more  and  more  closely, 
to  follow  the  reality  of  life  and  the  actual 
form  of  things,  and  to  force  that  actuality  into 
harmony  with  the  ideal  image  which  filled  his 
heart  and  mind.  In  the  schools,  and  later,  for 
many  years,  alone,  his  skill  in  handling  clay  and 
charcoal  and  the  development  of  his  powers 
of  visualization  brought  him  many  honors, 
all  culminating  in  the  year  '"94,"  when,  at 


"MAIDENHOOD 


2850 


GEORGE    GREY    BARNARD,    SCULPTOR 


the  age  of  thirty-one,  he  won  his  greatest 
success  up  to  that  time  upon  the  exhibition 
of  his  work  at  the  Salon,  a  triumph  accorded 
him  by  a  jury  of  the  greatest  artists,  by  the 
foremost  critics  and  by  the  people  of  Paris. 
Shortly  after,  against  the  advice  of  his 
friends  and,  as  usual,  following  the  dictates 
of  his  own  will  and  conscience,  he  returned 
to  America;  and  it  is,  after  eight  long  years, 


privations  of  his  condition  of  life.  This  work, 
■"The  Boy,"  made  when  Barnard  was  little 
more  than  a  boy  himself,  was  modeled  in  his 
little  bedroom  under  a.  roof  through  which 
the  rain  and  snow  poured  in,  so  that  the 
sculptor  was  obliged  to  hang  canvas  over  his 
iron  bed;  and  the  clay  in  its  wet  wrappings 
had  to  be  covered  with  part  of  his  bedclothes. 
One  dav  after  his  four-mile  walk  from  the 


i 

L 

■ 

Hk 

^I^^^^^HH^H 

^-j_- — ■..T-ni^                                                                                                                ^^^^^ 

^~  ^Z-^^                                                         "^^^H 

-^                   '^B              iLJ^^^HMMriH 

A    MEMORIAL  TO   MR.   PLANT 
of  the  Plant  System,  given  by  his  employees.     It  is  on  the  grounds  of  the  Tampa  Hotel,  Tampa,  Florida 


a  thing  to  be  thankful  for  that  America  has 
learned  to  appreciate  his  work  and  to  realize 
that  in  George  Grey  Barnard  she  has  produced 
that  man  of  the  ages,  a  really  great  sculptor. 
It  is  a  thing  of  happy  omen,  too,  that  his 
first  work,  made  in  Paris  fifteen  years  ago, 
was  seen  and  appreciated  by  a  fellow  countrv- 
man,  the  late  Mr.  Alfred  Corning  Clark,  and  by 
him  bought,  at  a  critical  time,  when  Barnard 
could  not  have  borne  much  longer  the  extreme 


Beaux  Arts  to  his  room  near  the  Versailles 
Gate,  he  found  a  note  asking  him  to  call  at  the 
hotel  at  which  Mr.  Clark  was  stopping.  The 
next  evening  at  dusk,  in  clothes  that  were 
mere  rags,  he  reached  the  door  of  one  of  the 
great  hotels  near  the  Opera,  only  to  be  stopped 
by  the  doorkeeper.  But  upon  Barnard's 
quiet  insistence  that  a  gentleman  wished  to 
see  him,  inquiries  were  made  and  it  was  found 
that   "the  bov"  should  be  admitted.     And 


GEORGE    GREY    BARNARD,    SCUEl'TOR 


2851 


these  two  Americans  met  in  the  in-ivate  parlor, 
and  the  boy  sat  down  just  as  he  was  to  a 
Parisian  dinner,  his  first  dinner  in  many 
months. 

They  sat  and  talked  for  awhile — and  each 
understood  the  other.  But  when  they  parted 
who  shall  say  which  was  the  happier  or  the 
more  deeply  moved,  the  man  who  had  found 
that  boy  or  the  boy  who  had  found  a  friend. 
With  the  fabulous  sum  of  1,500  francs  as 
partial  payment  for  his  first  statue,  wrapped 
up  in  his  new  friend's  handkerchief  and  put 
in  his  hat  for  safe  keeping  (for  there  was  not 
a  safe  or  secure  pocket  in  his  rags)  Barnard 
ran,  through  the  night,  all  the  way  to  the 
studio  of  an  American  acquaintance  (for  he 
dared  not  return  to  his  home  near  the  haunts 
of  thieves  and  murderers),  and  there  he  lay 
on  a  couch,  dreaming  all  night  of  the  great 
work  that  he  was  to  do. 

Great  work  it  is  and  will  be,  and  therefore 
it  does  not  always  make  an  obvious  appeal. 
But  since  sculpture  is  the  most  direct  of  the 
arts,  the  great  sculptor  is  able  to  show  to  every 
man  something  of  the  divine  in  human  form, 
something  of  the  relation  between  man  and 
the  universe.  As  the  man  develops  with  the 
universe  a  greater  harmony  appears  in  the 
midst  of  the  struggle.  So  in  Barnard's  work 
there  is  evident  a  process  of  evolution.  Yet, 
as  the  bud  contains  the  complete  flower,  so 
in  his  first  work,  "The  Boy,"  there  is  some 
suggestion,  not  only  of  the  struggle  in  "The 
Two  Natures,"  but  of  the  wonderful  sim- 
plicity and  repose  of  "Maidenhood." 

In  the  beautiful  figure  of  "The  Boy"  we 
seem  to  see — for  the  work  of  the  true  artist 
gives  liberty,  not  limits,  to  the  imagination — 

I  we  seem  to  see  not  only  a  half-unconscious 
expression  of  the  sculptor's  boyhood,  dream- 
ing, and  groping  in  the  earth  for  light  and 
truth,  but,  more  than  this,  we  see  in  it  some- 
thing of  our  own  experience  revealed;  and 
then,  in  the  beauty  and  strength  of  this  young 

I  bent  figure,  we  feel  all  the  coming  possibilities 
of  the  man's  power. 
His  next  work  of  importance  was  an  order 
for  the  tomb  of  a  Norwegian  philanthropist, 
a  man  who  gave  not  only  his  money  but  him- 
self to  his  fellow  man.  The  work  is  called 
"Brotherly  Love,"  and  shows  the  nude 
figures  of  two  young  men  with  their  heads 
[^partly  buried  in  the  rough  marble,  through 
which  with  their  hands  they  seem  to  be  grop- 
ing for  each  other.     It  is  a  beautiful  work, 


with  a  rare  charm  and  an  original  quality  of 
attractiveness  of  its  own. 

It  is  in  this  way  that  Barnard  seeks  to  make 
his  appeal,  through  the  simi)le  symbolism  of 
humanity  itself,  with  none  of  the  adventitious 
aids  of  convention  or  traditional  allegory, 
and  free  also  from  their  limitations  which  held 
back  even  the  strong  hand  of  a  Michael 
Angelo.  Therefore,  we  are  not  altogether 
surprised,  when  we  turn  to  look  at  the  great 
group  called  "  I  Feel  Two  Natures  Struggling 
Within  Me,"  to  feel  a  sense  of  doubt,  or 
at  least  of  wonder;  and  we  ask  ourselves 
whether  the  sculptor,  in  this  group,  taken  by 
itself,  has  not  ventured  too  near  the  confines 
of  his  art. 

A  study  of  the  group,  however,  convinces 
one  that  it  is  important  in  itself;  by  its  won- 
derful technical  treatment;  by  the  great  and 
immediate  impression  of  struggle  which  is 
conveyed  in  its  unique  ensemble  as  well  as  in 
the  characterization  and  details  of  the  group ; 
and  more  especially  by  its  expression  of  pure 
vital  force.  More  important  still  was  the 
indirect  value  of  the  "Two  Natures"  to  the 
artist  himself — psychologically  as  a  step  in  his 
development  as  man  and  artist,  and  practi- 
cally as  a  means  of  development  of  his  rare 
powers  of  visualization  and  technique. 

For  one  of  the  most  wonderful  elements  of 
Barnard's  strength  lies  in  the  actual  handling 
of  the  chisel.  To  the  layman  it  is  rather  a 
surprise  to  learn  that  the  modern  sculptor 
seldom  if  ever  takes  a  chisel  in  his  hand,  his 
work  being  done  when  he  finishes  the  model- 
ing. In  Barnard's  hands,  however,  the 
hammer  and  chisel  have  learned  to  hew  and 
to  caress,  as  they  did  in  the  hands  of  the  early 
sculptors. 

A  surprising  expression  of  Barnard's  power 
is  the  next  work,  completed  while  the  sculptor 
was  waiting  to  be  discovered  by  America. 
It  is  a  great  clock,  an  immense  piece  of  wood 
carving.  The  conception,  though  based  upon 
Scandinavian  mythology,  is  the  sculptor's 
most  complete  and  direct  expression  of  the 
whole  of  man's  struggle  in  relation  to  the 
universe.  The  wood  becomes  the  giant  tree 
of  Norse  mythology,  or  life  itself,  with  its  roots 
running  down  into  primal  matter;  while  all 
about  pours  the  ocean  of  chaos.  Struggling 
amidst  the  waves,  winding  in  great  coils,  is 
the  huge  Mitgard  serpent,  representing  the 
force  that  has  grown  out  of  inert  matter ;  and 
now  man  appears,  battling  with  the  serpent, 


2852 


GEORGE  GREY  BARNARD,  SCULPTOR 


or  human  nature  in  its  struggle  with  natural 
forces.  Among  the  many  groups  that  tell  the 
story  of  the  ages  in  this  clock  of  universal  time 
are  the  three  gods  of  creation.  One  reaches 
with  aimless  hand  toward  a  bit  of  drift  carried 
by  the  tide ;  one  takes  it  and  breathes  into  it 
the  breath  of  life;  and  the  third  speaks  to  it 
and  endows  it  with  a  soul.  The  central 
feature-  of  the  scheme,  standing  out  in  relief 
from  the  massive  movement  and  struggle, 
are  the  sculptor's  trinity — man,  woman  and 
child ;  while,  above  all  the  elements  of  struggle, 
at  one  side  of  the  clock-face,  is  a  beautifully 
delicate  figure  of  a  girl,  expressive  of  the 
purity  of  life  at  its  summit — on  the  heights. 
One  looks  and  looks  at  the  work  with  growing 
wonder  at  the  beauty  of  proportion  and  of 
detail,  down  to  the  exquisite  texture  and 
finish  of  the  varying  surfaces. 

This  work,  the  sculptor's  first  and  only 
effort  in  the  handling  of  woods,  is  as  beautiful 
and  interesting  in  technique  as  it  is  in  con- 
ception. The  delicate  and  subtle  handling 
of  some  of  the  human  figures  and  heads  in  the 
midst  of  the  broader  masses  is  curiously 
fascinating;  and  the  decorative  effect  of  the 
whole  work  is  very  fine  and  simple. 

The  great  bronze  "  Pan  "  is,  in  this  country, 
perhaps  the  best  known  of  the  sculptor's 
works,  having  been  seen  for  a  year  at  the 
Metropolitan  ]\Iuseum — where  in  the  new  wing 
"The  Two  Natures"  has  a  permanent  place; 
and  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  City 
of  New  York,  which  received  "Pan"  as  a 
gift  from  Mr.  Clark,  will  soon  find  a  fitting 
place  for  this  great  bronze.  "Pan"  is  an 
original,  unconventional  and  very  lazy  god 
of  the  woods  and  streams,  and  both  in 
treatment  and  conception  a  frankly  decorative 
individual,  with  a  grin  and  a  pair  of  flopping 
ears,  one  up  and  one  down,  all  quite  his  own; 
yet  truly  a  person  of  great  importance,  and 
for  other  reasons  than  those  of  his  being  the 
largest  single  piece  of  bronze  in  the  country, 
and  of  his  having  created  a  very  panic,  as  it 
were,  in  the  New  York  Board  of  Aldermen, 
when  they  failed  to  find  a  fitting  haunt  for 
him  in  Central  Park. 

He  is  a  cheerful  and  a  very  living  Pan,  and, 
with  the  clock,  shows  us  that  the  sculptor 
had  returned,  after  a  long  period  of  storm 
and  stress,  to  that  frank  communion  with 
external  Nature  from  which  his  life  and  work 
in  Paris  had  largely  shut  him  out.  This 
change  came  at  the  period  of  his  return  to 


America,  which  was  marked  also  by  his  mar- 
riage to  a  beautiful  American  wife.  So  that 
he  became,  at  the  same  time,  in  every  sense,  a 
citizen  of  the  world;  and,  entering  fully  into 
the  everyday  life  of  men  and  women,  he 
began  definitely  to  do  the  work  of  humanity 
for  which,  on  the  heights,  and  in  a  remoter 
atmosphere,  he  had  prepared. 

Since  the  "Pan"  and  the  clock  he  has  fin- 
ished two  works,  in  which  this  important  step 
in  his  development  is  well  and  nobly  illus- 
trated. Of  these  two  works,  "The  Hewer," 
a  colossal  figure  in  a  gray-toned  marble  from 
the  same  quarry  as  Michael  Angelo's  "  David," 
and  the  infinitely  and  tenderly  beautiful 
"Maidenhood,"  it  may  be  said  that,  with  all 
the  tremendous  difference  between  them,  each 
is,  as  it  were,  a  complement  to  the  other;  and 
together  they  splendidly  complete  Barnard's 
present  achievement,  and  serve  as  sure 
omens  of  his  success  in  future  creations.  In 
"The  Hewer,"  by  the  simplest  synthesis,  he 
has  brought  together  and  concentrated  in  a 
single  figure  of  primitive  man  the  whole 
gospel  of  labor,  in  its  birth  and  beginning,  in 
its  discipline  and  in  its  dignity. 

In  the  harmoniously  forceful  movement  of 
"The  Hewer,"  as  in  the  very  central  meaning 
of  "Maidenhood,"  there  is  some  suggestion 
of  the  unusual  fertility  of  conception  and 
invention  of  the  artist,  the  "Hewer"  being 
but  a  single  figure  of  a  proposed  colossal 
group  of  "Primitive  Man."  For  Barnard's 
future  promise  consists  not  only  in  these 
works  already  done,  but  in  that  exuberance 
of  imagination,  not  too  often  seen  in  modern 
art,  which,  given  power  of  execution,  is  one 
of  the  marks  of  genius. 

It  is  impossible,  for  this  reason,  to  give 
more  than  a  very  genera,  description  of  his 
work,  a  cinerary  urn  in  memory  of  the  late 
Anton  Seidl  containing,  for  instance,  twenty- 
seven  figures.  Among  other  orders  now  on 
hand,  Barnard  has  an  important  monument 
to  Governor  Curtin  to  be  erected  at  Bellefonte, 
Pa.,  the  birthplace  of  the  sculptor  as  well  as 
that  of  the  great  war  governor. 

In  "Maidenhood"  modern  sculpture  in 
America,  through  Barnard's  heart  and  eyes 
and  hands,  has  achieved  that  rare  and  inde- 
scribable loveliness  of  utter  simplicity,  that 
unconscious  purity  and  beauty  which  is  the 
ultimate  word  of  great  art.  In  this  work,  as 
in  several  others,  the  sculptor  has  taken  his 
model   in   an   almost   accidental   pose.     The 


WHAT    EMTLOYERS    SAY    OF    PROFIT-SHARING 


2R53 


thing  that  we  sec  in  the  marble  as  it  stands 
is  the  inhnite  beauty  which  he  beheld,  as  with 
eyes  half  closed  he  worked  upon  that  mass  of 
clay  until  the  lines  of  the  model  and  of  his 
dream — if  you  will  have  it  so — and  of  the 
plastic  clay,  and  then  the  stubborn  marble, 
became  fused  into  one  beneath  his  hands. 
Who   shall   say   whether   he   created   that 


beauty,  or,  finding  it  there,  copied  what  lie 
saw  ?  Through  him  and  through  his  power 
it  has  become  a  reality  for  us,  with  almost  the 
mobility  of  very  flesh  in  the  texture  of  the 
marble;  with  the  beauty  of  restraining  and 
chastening  power  in  the  pure  lines  of  the 
figure;  and  in  the  young  girl's  face,  with  its 
closed  eyes,  the  vitality  and  eternity  of  love. 


WHAT    EMPLOYERS    SAY    OF    PROFIT- 
SHARING 


THE  VARIED  EXPERIENCES  OF  EMPLOYERS  IN  ALTRUISM, 
ESPECIALLY  IN  THE  GIYING  OF  CHRISTMAS  PRESENTS  — 
(ilFTS  SOMETIMES  MISUNDERSTOOD —THE  SWEDISH  WORK- 
MEN WHO  SAW  THE  PRESIDENT— WHAT  EMPLOYEES  PREFER 

BV 


FULLERTON    L.  WALDO 


SUPPOSE  we  gave  them  each  a  turkey 
at  Christmas  time,"  an  employer 
said  to  me — I  was  trying  to  find 
what  employers  do  in  the  way  of  gifts  at 
Christmas  time  or  any  other  time  to  establish 
cordial  relations  with  employees — "Suppose 
we  gave  them  turkeys.  You  would  hear 
them  muttering  'We  must  have  made  a  good 
deal  of  money  for  the  firm,  first  and  last,  or 
their  consciences  wouldn't  have  pricked 
them  to  give  us  this  sop.  " 

This  was  one  man's  opinion.  Others  had 
different  views.  Some  objected  to  discuss- 
ing the  question  at  all.  "We  fear,"  one 
writes,  "that  articles  on  these  subjects  have 
a  tendency  to  encourage  a  spirit  of  unrest 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  least  entitled 
to  such  recognition."  Certain  conservative 
business  houses  prefer  not  to  exploit  their 
.  policy,  in  some  cases  because  they  desire  that 
IK  the  charity  shall  be  unostentatious.  In  other 
cases  it  may  be  that  employers  are  unwilling 
to  betray  unsuccessful  experiments.  Inquiry 
as  to  the  practice  of  a  number  of  industrial 
concerns  has  elicited  replies  which,  in  some 

I  cases,  touch  upon  the  larger,  but  kindred, 
considerations  of  the  introduction  of  pension 
svstems,  the  division  of  profits,  and  various 


The  president  of  an  important  steel  and 
iron  company  believes  in  some  practicable 
system  of  cooperation,  but  not  in  the  pre- 
mium or  gift -giving  idea.  The  pound  of 
tea  should  stand  on  its  own  merits,  and  the 
cost  of  the  china  pitcher  it  were  better  to  put 
into  improving  the  quality  of  the  tea.  It 
is  not  feasible,  he  holds,  for  railroads  or  large 
industrial  organizations  to  make  small  gifts 
to  their  workmen  because  of  the  large  num- 
ber of  operatives  involved  in  any  general 
distribution.  In  Germany,  he  points  out, 
the  government  pensions  the  vast  horde  of 
agricultural  laborers. 

I  talked  with  a  chief  of  staff  in  a  Sixth 
Avenue,  New  York,  dry  goods  house  employ- 
ing 1,800  people,  where  a  system  of  organized 
beneficence  has  been  in  operation  for  fifty 
years.  It  is  a  scheme  of  adjustment  accord- 
ing to  the  deserts  of  the  individual  and  the 
length  of  his  or  her  term  of  service.  The 
reward  of  merit  frequently  takes  the  form 
of  vacations  of  several  weeks ;  and  frequently 
there  are  opportunities  for  travel  in  Europe, 
with  expenses  paid,  and  perhaps  not  much 
to  do  in  the  way  of  business.  Sometimes 
presents  of  money  are  given;  sometimes 
percentages  of  profits  are  divided.  The 
giving  of  such  percentage  is  the  usual  practice 


2854 


WHAT    EMPLOYERS    SAY    OF    PROFIT-SHARING 


in  the  case  of  managers  of  departments.  In 
any  case,  what  is  given  is  known  only  to 
the  giver  and  the  recipient  of  the  gift.  Were 
a  vote  taken  of  the  employees  the  result 
would  not  be  in  favor  of  a  general  distribu- 
tion of  small  gifts,  such  as  is  the  custom 
in  many  establishments  at  the  Christmas 
season.  This  was  the  house  that  did  not 
favor  the  giving  of  turkeys  at  Christmas. 

A  certain  soap  manufacturing  company, 
employing  i,ioo  hands,  has  made  a  practice 
for  twenty-five  years  of  giving  turkeys  at 
Christmas  to  its  workingmen.  The  boys  are 
given  their  choice  among  small  articles  of 
cutlery;  and  each  of  the  girls  receives  a  tea- 
spoon and  candy  or  some  toilet  article  made 
by  the  house  employing  them.  Foremen 
and  chiefs  of  departments  "receive  more 
substantial  recognition."  With  reference  to 
this  custom  of  giving  turkeys,  an  officer 
of  a  similar — and  world-famous — concern 
remarks :  "  This  was  probably  a  small  matter 
when  the  custom  was  inaugurated,  but  at 
the  present  time  we  bull  the  turkey  markets 
in  one  of  the  counties  of  the  State.  As  our 
man  who  makes  these  purchases  says,  we 
always  have  young  and  tender  turkeys 
because  we  buy  up  the  entire  crop  of  the 
neighborhood  each  year. " 

The  size  of  a  gift  has  little  to  do  with  its 
intrinsic  value;  and  small  courtesies  are 
often  much  appreciated  when  they  betoken 
a  special  thoughtfulness.  This  the  manu- 
facturers of  certain  well-known  cereal  food- 
stuffs realize.  "We  try  to  arrange  our  pay- 
day at  that  season  so  as  to  give  the  employees 
their  money  right  up  to  a  day  or  so  before 
Christmas  in  order  that  they  may  have  it 
for  their  Christmas  shopping.  We  also  give 
them,  a  day  or  so  before  Christmas,  a  half- 
day  off,  for  which  we  give  them  full  pay. 
This  is  done  so  as  to  give  them  ample  time 
for  their  Christmas  shopping.  In  the  way  of 
a  httle  gift,  we  give  the  emploA'ees  a  turkey 
and  supplies  for  their  Christmas  dinner."' 

A  large  manufacturing  firm  in  Worcester, 
Massachusetts,  employing  many  Swedes,  has 
likewise  found  a  managerial  regard  for  local 
sentiment  conducive  to  good  feeling  between 
operatives  and  employers.  "Within  a  year 
or  two  after  we  became  established  here  we 
adopted  the  custom  of  distributing  turkeys 
among  our  employees  (at  Christmas  time), 
giving  everybody,  man,  woman  or  child,  a 
good-sized  turkey.     For  several  years,  also,  a 


Christmas  entertainment  was  given — a  por- 
tion of  the  expenses  being  paid  for  by  us  and 
a  portion  by  the  employees,  through  sub- 
scriptions. These  entertainments  consisted 
of  music  and  acts  from  such  talent  as  was 
found  among  the  employees,  and  sometimes 
outside  talent  was  employed.  Often  we 
had  a  dinner  or  a  lunch  either  before  or 
after  the  entertainment.  These  entertain- 
ments were  always  very  successful  and 
seemed  to  create  a  friendly  feeling.  After 
awhile,  however,  the  number  of  employees 
increased  to  such  an  extent  that  there  was  no 
suitable  place  in  which  to  have  these  enter- 
tainments ;  so  we  adopted  the  plan  of  having 
a  shop  picnic  about  Midsummer's  Day, 
June  24th.  Seventy-five  or  eighty  per  cent. 
of  our  employees  are  Swedish,  and  they  make 
a  great  deal  of  Midsummer's  Day  as  well  as 
Christmas.  It  was,  perhaps,  their  sentiment 
in  regard  to  this,  as  much  as  anything,  that 
led  us,  in  the  first  place,  to  arrange  for  these 
entertainments. 

"The  other  day,  when  President  Roosevelt 
visited  Worcester,  he  landed  at  the  station 
opposite  our  office  entrance.  We  erected 
a  grandstand  on  the  green  in  front  of  our 
office  building  large  enough  to  accommodate 
seven  or  eight  hundred  people,  which  was 
just  about  sufficient  for  our  employees  and 
their  families,  and  gave  them  a  good  oppor- 
tunity to  see  the  President  ...  To  show 
you  the  interest  that  our  men  took  in  the 
visit  of  the  President,  about  eighty  of  them 
went  out  into  the  woods  and  got  greens 
to  help  on  the  decorating,  and  they  worked 
nearly  all  day  Monday,  Labor  Day,  making 
preparations.  Last  Christmas  time  they 
went  out  into  the  woods  and  gathered  greens 
and  trees  and  decorated  the  interior  of  the 
factory  so  that  it  looked  very  pretty.  This 
is  a  Swedish  custom  and  we  think  a  very  nice 
one,  and  we  like  to  encourage  it. " 

"Our  problem,"  said  a  high  official  of  the 
New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad, 
"is  not  like  that  of  a  department  store.  The 
railroad  runs  through  a  great  man}'  towns, 
and  employs  many  thousands  of  men.  No 
system  of  Christmas  giving  on  any  large  scale 
would  be  practicable;  we  would  be  robbing 
the  stockholders.  To  introduce  a  system 
of  pensioning  off  employees  would  likewise 
require  the  expenditure  of  what  must  be 
regarded  as  the  stockholders'  money.  The 
cases  of  employees  temporarily  disabled  or 


WHAT    EMPLOYERS    SAY    OF    PROFIT-SHARING 


2855 


permanently  retired  on  account  of  injuries 
received  in  the  service  are  considered  sepa- 
rately. A  question  has  been  raised,  and  is 
now  mooted  in  the  courts,  as  to  the  legality 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad's  embarking 
on  a  certain  form  of  the  insurance  business, 
with  a  sinking  fund  established  by  contribu- 
tions from  the  employees'  wages." 

The  remarks  of  a  staff  officer  of  the  New 
York  Central  Railroad  were  to  the  same 
eflfect.  "The  Central  has  no  system  of  pen- 
sioning off  veteran  employees.  We  believe 
in  paying  a  fair  business  wage  for  services 
rendered  and  letting  it  go  at  that.  Instances 
of  faithful  and  diligent  service  extending  over 
a  period  of  many  years  would  be  considered 
on  their  individual  merits.  The  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  &  Western  is,  I  believe,  con- 
sidering the  establishment  of  a  pension 
system  of  some  sort.  But  we  have  no  such 
scheme  here.  And  to  give  Christmas  presents 
or  percentages  of  wages  from  the  stockholders' 
money  to  the  vast  number  of  employees  in 
our  service  is  impossible." 

One  of  the  greatest  of  our  great  life 
insurance  companies  has  a  thorough  system 
of  pensioning  oflE  employees  grown  old  in  the 
harness.  But  to  grant  a  percentage  of  profits, 
or  of  yearly  salary  to  the  army  in  the  com- 
pany's pay,  is  declared  to  be  impracticable. 
"The  money  is  locked  up  with  the  policies  of 
the  policy  holders,  and  is  theirs  just  as  much 
as  the  money  of  the  stockholders  in  a  railway 
company  belongs  to  the  stockholders."  The 
beneficence  of  this  company  to  those  in  its 
employ  has  taken  a  very  practical  form  in 
the  establishment  of  a  school  of  instruction  in 
matters  relating  to  the  business  of  life  insur- 
ance. A  school  of  banking  and  finance  has 
similarly  been  established  by  one  of  the  great 
Wall  Street  banking  houses,  under  its  own 
iroof ;  and  a  large  department  store  in  Chicago 
[has  likewise  an  adjunct  of  the  same  sort. 

A    prominent    concern    in    Newark,    New 
'Jersey,  has  tried,  and  abandoned,  the  project 
of    profit-sharing  after  years  of   experience. 
"  I  talked  it  over  with  some  of  the  men,  "  the 
president  says,  "and  we  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion  that   turkeys   given   at    Christmas   and 
[presents,  given  now  and  then  in  the  event  of 
'their  marriage,  or  of  a  funeral  or  something 
of  that  sort,  would  produce  a  better  effect, 
land   so   our   profit-sharing    has   really   been 
(stopped.     ...     I    am     still    in    hope    of 
turning  our  business  into  a  real  cooperative 


concern  in  which  the  men  will  share  not 
only  in  the  profits  but  in  the  management. 
I  think  the  sharing  in  the  profits  without  a 
sharing  in  the  management  does  not  produce 
any  really  great  benefit. " 

A  certain  large  electrical  company  does  not 
believe  in  making  gifts  to  its  operatives.  It 
pays  high  wages  and  cares  for  sick  or  injured 
employees.  It  is  considering,  but  has  not 
yet  adopted,  a  scheme  of  pensioning.  A  car 
manufacturing  company  "has  always  made 
it  a  point  to  remunerate  one  and  all  of  said 
employees  to  the  full  extent  of  what  they 
merited.  .  .  .  We  have  not  made  special 
consideration  for  them  at  Christmas  time.  " 

A  writing  machine  company  gives  a  bonus 
of  $100  annually  to  employees  of  at  least  ten 
years'  standing — $50  at  Christmas,  and  the 
rest  at  vacation  time.  This  bonus,  however, 
is  given  only  to  those  who  have  attained 
the  salary  limit. 

To  the  traveling  men  of  a  Chicago  house, 
a  bonus,  based  on  the  amount  of  each  man's 
sales  for  the  year,  is  paid  at  Christmas  time. 
This  operates  strictly  as  a  reward  of  merit, 
the  amount  each  man  receives  being  deter- 
mined by  the  sum  total  of  the  sales  he  has 
personally  made  during  the  year.  Many  of 
the  200  traveling  men  thus  add  from  a  tenth 
to  a  half  to  their  salaries. 

A  conservative  manufacturing  establish- 
ment in  Rhode  Island  is  also  of  those  that 
do  not  believe  in  specific  Christmas  giving. 
"We  consider  that  ordinary  men  are  better 
satisfied,  in  the  long  run,  to  have  the  best  of 
wages  and  to  know  that  they  can  obtain  such 
wages  steadily." 

What  is  the  general  inference  to  be  drawn 
from  these  various  responses,  indicating  a 
wide  divergence  of  business  policy?  It  is, 
perhaps,  that  indicated  in  the  opinion  last 
quoted.  Adventitious  giving,  unless  the 
nature  and  amount  of  the  gifts  are  carefully 
calculated  according  to  the  relative  deserts 
of  the  recipients,  does  not  in  all  cases  result 
in  the  promotion  of  a  cordial  good  will 
among  the  members  of  an  industrial  estab- 
lishment. The  typical  American  workman 
is  ready  to  enter  into  the  fruit  of  his  labors 
in  the  shape  of  regularly  paid  and  sufficient 
wages,  considering  this  his  just  due,  and 
willing  therefrom  to  supply  his  own  neces- 
sities as  well  as  luxuries.  He  does  not  as 
yet,  on  any  large  scale,  demand  to  be  made 
a  profit-sharer. 


A  R/[EANS  TO  EFFECTIVE  ARBITRATION 


BY 


FREDERICK    W.   JOB 

CHAIRMAN    OF    THE    BOARD    OF    ARBITRATION    OF    ILLINOIS 


TWENTY-FOUR  States  have  already 
enacted  statutes  providing  for  the 
adjustment  of  disputes  between  the 
employer  and  employee.  In  only  a  very  few 
of  these  States,  however,  has  the  desired  end 
been  accomplished. 

In  some  States  only  $2.00  per  day  is 
paid  each  member  of  the  Board  for  every 
day  he  is  helping  to  arbitrate  a  labor  dis- 
turbance. Other  States  provide  $4.00  per 
day  as  a  salary  for  such  work.  Where  the 
salary  is  large  enough  to  attract  men  of 
standing  and  ability  another  drawback  is 
in  the  lack  of  methods  for  carrying  into  effect 
the  findings  of  the  Board. 

It  is  believed  that  the  amendment  to  the 
arbitration  law  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  pro- 
posed by  the  present  Board,  and  passed  by 
the  Legislature  of  1 901 -1902,  has  to  a  great 
extent  solved  this  difficulty.  This  amendment 
says  in  substance  "that  the  duty  of  the 
mayors  and  town  presidents  and  of  the 
executive  officers  of  the  labor  unions,  in  case 
of  a  strike  involving  more  than  twenty-five 
employees,  is  to  communicate  with  the  State 
Board  of  Arbitration,  giving  full  details." 
And  "whenever  there  is  a  strike  or  lockout 
by  which  the  general  public  appears  likely 
to  suffer  injury  or  inconvenience  with  respect 
to  necessities,  and  neither  party  to  the  strike 
consents  to  submit  the  controversy  to  the 
State  Board  of  Arbitration,  the  Board  may 
proceed  of  its  own  motion  to  make  an  investi- 
gation and  to  make  public  its  findings,  with 
recommendations,  and  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  inquiry  the  board  has  power  to  issue 
subpoenas  and  compel  the  attendance  and 
testimony  of  witnesses. " 

Prompt  notification  of  labor  troubles 
to  the  secretary  of  the  Board  by  the  presidents 
of  towns  and  by  mayors  of  cities  throughout 
the  State  resulted,  in  many  instances,  in  a 
quick,  quiet  and  harmonious  settlement  of 
the  difference.  The  presence  of  the  Board 
without  more  than  a  casual  inquiry  and  with 
a  few  recommendations  has  sufficed. 


While  the  amendment  was  designed  to 
cover  principally  the  cases  of  employees  and 
employers  who  conduct  plants  in  which  the 
public  is  interested,  such  as  transportation 
companies  or  telephone,  telegraph  or  light- 
ing plants,  yet  that  part  of  the  amendment 
giving  the  Board  authority  to  make  investiga- 
tions "whenever  there  shall  exist  a  strike 
wherein  in  the  judgment  of  a  majority  of  the 
Board  the  general  public  shall  appear  likely 
to  suffer  injury  or  inconvenience  ...  in 
any  other  respect, "  has  been  of  incalculable 
benefit  to  us  in  our  independent  inquiries. 

The  unwilling  party  is  generally  repre- 
sented as  the  case  proceeds  and  takes  a 
lively  interest.  The  example  of  the  party 
to  a  suit  at  law  who  permits  it  to  go  by 
default  stimulates  the  unwilling  side. 

Immediately  upon  receiving  information 
our  Board  proceeds  to  the  scene  of  the 
dispute,  and  if  attempts  at  conciliation  and 
mediation  by  us  fail,  steps  are  at  once  taken 
to  make  a  searching  inquiry.  Subpoenas 
are  seldom  found  necessary,  for  the  disposi- 
tion to  be  an  involuntary  witness  and  to 
compel  the  Board  to  resort  to  the  use  of  the 
subpoena  is  too  apt  to  be  taken  as  an  indication 
of  weakness.  The  books  of  the  employer  are 
usually  produced  and  comparisons  of  prices 
of  labor  of  manufactured  goods  with  other 
competitors  are  shown ;  the  cost  of  necessaries 
of  life,  comprising  clothing,  rents,  foodstuffs 
and  other  things,  are  made  by  the  employees, 
which  in  turn  are  met  by  the  employer  with 
comparisons  of  freight  rates  of  the  products 
of  the  industry  he  is  engaged  in.  By  this 
careful  sifting  out  of  the  essence  of  the  con- 
troversy and  by  the  elimination  of  the  less 
difficult  features  a  conclusion  is  reached. 

The  decisions  of  the  Board  have  always 
been  characterized  as  fair.  With  a  bi- 
partisan and  non-political  Board  of  one 
employer  of  labor,  one  bona  fide  employee 
and  a  third  neither  employer  nor  employee, 
the  opportunity  for  the  accusation  of  preju- 
dice or  politics  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 


THE    HEAD    OF    THE    INTERNATIONAL 
SHIPPING    CORPORATION 

THE  PERSONALITY  OF  CLEMENT  A.  GRISCOM  — HOW  HE 
PLANNED  AND  ACCOMPLISHED,  WITH  MR.  MORGAN, 
THE   GREAT   COMBINATION  OF  SHIP-OWNING  COMPANIES 

BY 

LAWRENCE    PERRY 


NOT  many  years  ago  King  Leopold  of 
Belgium  was  one  day  holding 
court  in  Brussels.  Among,  those 
waiting  to  be  presented  were  Clement  Acton 
Griscom  and  Mrs.  Griscom  and  the  United 
States  Minister  to  Belgium.  Mrs.  Griscom  had 
never  met  the  queen.  The  minister,  recently 
appointed,  had  just  arrived  in  Brussels,  and 
stood  directly  in  front  of  the  Griscoms. 
When  he  was  presented  the  king  greeted  him 
in  his  hearty  way,  welcomed  him  to  T^elgium, 
and  then,  suddenly  breaking  off,  said: 

"By  the  way,  have  you  ever  met  Griscom, 
Clement  A.  Griscom  ?  No  !  Well,  you  should ; 
he  is  a  rare  good  fellow  and  a  great  friend  of 
mine,"  and  the  king  went  on  with  as  sincere 
and  honest  a  eulogy  as  ever  man  uttered. 
He  had  not  noticed  Mr.  Griscom.  All  at 
once  he  caught  sight  of  him. 

"Why,  hello,  Griscom,"  he  cried,  his  face 
beaming  with  pleasure;  "what  are  you  doing 
here  ? "  And  he  shook  his  hand,  an  act  quite 
beyond  the  pale  of  court  etiquette. 

This  incident  reveals  the  man,  and  fur- 
nishes a  key  to  the  secret  of  his  success :  he  is 
popular  with  his  fellow  men.  He  has  a  way 
of  making  them  like  him ;  not  because  of  any 
vacillating  good  nature,  for  he  is  outspoken 
against  all  shiftlessness,  m.eanness  and  deceit. 
His  ways  are  sharp  and  incisive  and  he  likes 
men  of  those  same  characteristics — men  who 
can  understand  thoroughly  that  the  inch  he 
frequently  gives  may  not  be  construed  into 
a  mile.  But  he  is  a  good  companion;  and 
the  assurance  of  sympathetic,  whole-hearted 
friendship  is  conveyed  to  the  veriest  stranger 
by  a  handshake  and  the  quick  glance  of  his 
eyes.  As  different  from  Mr.  Griscom  as  the 
late  President  McKinley  was,  the  two  men 
may  be  likened  in  this  respect — in  the  winning 
of  men.  Bluff,  energetic,  determined,  force- 
ful, he  is  a  man  who  does  things,  and  does 


them  thoroughly.  He  is  a  fighting  man,  and 
each  victory  has  only  opened  the  road  to 
larger  fields  of  effort  crowded  with  apparently 
unsurmountable  difficulties.  When  the  Inter- 
national Mercantile  Marine  Company,  better 
known  as  the  Morgan  Steamship  Trust,  was 
organized,  Mr.  Griscom 's  selection  for  the 
presidency  was  inevitable.  He  was  the  logical 
man  for  the  place;  for  the  steamship  trust 
was  his  idea,  his  conception  fifteen  years  ago, 
and  his  greatest  ambition.  It  is  attained 
now,  but  there  is  still  much  to  do,  and  no 
one  better  prepared  to  do  it  than  he. 

Mr.  Griscom  was  born  in  Philadelphia  on 
March  15,  1841,  coming  of  good,  substantial 
Quaker  stock  dating  back  to  William  Penn. 
His  father  was  a  leading  physician  in  Phila- 
delphia with  sufficient  means  to  allow  his  son 
to  select  his  own  life  work.  As  a  boy  he  had 
no  special  bent,  and  no  one  seems  to  remember 
any  incident  of  his  boyhood  life  which  might 
have  given  a  hint  of  his  future.  He  had  no 
desire  for  college,  although  he  has  since  been 
heard  to  regret  that  he  did  not  have  a  univer- 
sity training.  Until  his  sixteenth  year  he 
attended  the  Friends'  Central  High  School, 
where  he  showed  such  proficiency  as  a  student 
that  on  the  day  of  his  graduation  Aaron  Ivins, 
the  famous  old  schoolmaster,  offered  him  a 
position  as  partner  in  the  conduct  of  the 
Friends'  school.  Young  Griscom,  whatever 
his  bent  at  that  time,  certainly  had  no  lean- 
ings toward  pedagogy,  and  he  entered  the 
importing  firm  of  Peter  Wright  &  Sons  in 
1857.  At  once  those  traits  which  distin- 
guished him  later  began  to  appear.  He  got 
his  firm  to  purchase  their  own  sailing  ships, 
and  profits  increased  tenfold.  They  admitted 
him  to  partnership  when  he  was  twenty-two 
ye^  -s  old.  The  firm  purchased  more  vessels, 
and  finally  it  put  into  operation  a  scheme 
which  young  Griscom  had  evolved  in  his  nine- 


2858 


THE    HEAD    OF    THE    SHIPPING   CORPORATION 


teenth  year — that  of  carrying  oil  to  Europe 
and  bringing  back  crockery.  It  was  success^ 
ful,  and  when  steam  came  into  general  use 
steamships  were  added  to  the  company.  Thus 
Mr.  Griscom's  idea  became  the  forerunner  of 
the  great  Standard  Oil  trade.  He  had  but 
one  set  plan  for  his  life  work  —  progress. 
But  that  did  not  necessarily  mean  that  he 
must  work  in  a  rut.  He  saw  his  way  clear  to 
a  certain  success  if  he  confined  himself  to  his 
trading  interest,  but  he  began  to  foresee  an 
even  greater  success  in  a  wider  field.  He 
mastered  the  study  of  marine  architecture. 
Soon  the  Society  of  Naval  Architects  and 
Marine  Engineers  was  organized  and  he  was 
its  first  president.  Each  successive  year  he 
has  been  reelected  to  that  office.  But  if  he 
began  to  identify  liimself  with  outside  interests 
he  did  not  allow  that  to  interfere  with  his 
business.  Through  his  efforts  Peter  Wright  & 
Sons  became  the  agents  of  the  old  American 
Line,  then  one  of  the  greatest  lines,  operating 
the  famous  old  steamships  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Pennsylvania  and  Illinois.  This  led  to 
greater  things,  and  in  1871  Mr.  Griscom  went 
to  Belgium,  met  King  Leopold,  won  him  as 
he  did  every  other  man,  and  made  contracts 
for  forming  what  afterward  became  the 
Red  Star  Line.  Combining  their  lines,  Peter 
Wright  &  Sons  became  the  International 
Navigation  Company,  and  Mr.  Griscom  be- 
came one  of  the  founders  of  a  great  power 
in  the  transatlantic  trade.  The  greatest 
steamship  men  of  the  world  came  to  be 
his  rivals  —  and  is  not  a  man's  greatness 
measured  by  the  greatness  of  his  rivals  ? 
They  began  to  watch  him,  to  copy  him, 
but,  as  with  Mr.  Kipling's  Sir  Anthony 
Gloster,  he  left  them  a  year  behind,  because 
they  could  not  copy  his  mental  workings.  In 
1886  his  company  purchased  the  Inman  Line 
at  auction  in  Liverpool,  and  here  Mr. Griscom's 
training  in  marine  construction  came  into 
prominence.  He  wanted  new  vessels,  but  he 
felt  that  new  vessels  with  new  improvements 
were  necessary — something  that  would  mark 
an  epoch  in  shipbuilding  and  bring  prestige  to 
his  company.  And  so  the  City  of  New  York 
and  City  of  Paris  were  built — twin  screws, 
ransverse  bulkheads,  water-tight  compart- 
ments, a  revolution  in  modern  shipbuilding. 
They  all  originated  with  Mr.  Griscom.  Twin 
screws :  no  more  wallowing  helplessly  in  the  sea- 
way with  a  broken  shaft ;  no  more  sinking  hke 
an  anvil  when  the  hull  was  pimctured.    It  was 


without  question  the  biggest  step  made  in 
shipbuilding  since  the  advent  of  steam. 
Through  his  energy  special  congressional  legis- 
lation was  passed  granting  permission  for  the 
two  vessels  to  sail  under  American  registry. 
In  recognition  'Mr.  Griscom  placed  orders  for 
the  construction  of  the  next  two  vessels — the 
St.  Louis  and  St.  Paul — with  an  American 
firm.  The  resiilts  justified  Mr.  Griscom's  con- 
fidence in  American  shipbuilders.  In  these 
two  vessels  Mr.  Griscom  developed  another  of 
his  stirprises — the  construction  of  staterooms 
in  suites.  Incidentally,  all  four  vessels,  the 
Paris,  Xew  York,  St.  Louis  and  St.  Paul, 
were  record  breakers  in  their  days.  In  the 
war  with  Spain  all  these  vessels  played  an 
active  part  as  government  cruisers.  And 
later  came  the  so-called  steamship  trust. 

As  president  of  the  International  Mercantile 
Marine  Company  Mr.  Griscom  directs  vessels 
aggregating  a  tonnage  almost  twice  as  large 
as  that  of  any  other  shipping  corporation  in 
the  world.  The  combined  tonnage  of  the 
North  German  Line  is  1,110,000  tons;  that  of 
the  Mercantile  Marine  1,106,000  tons.  Mr. 
Griscom  believes  that  the  success  of  the 
scheme  rests  upon  the  material  growth  and 
welfare  of  this  country.  The  company,  which 
will  operate  from  every  large  American  port, 
can  thrive,  he  has  said,  only  as  the  grain  belt 
of  the  Northwest,  the  cotton  belt  of  the  South 
and  manufacturing  throughout  the  Eastern 
and  Central  States  shall  increase  in  productive 
capacity.  Transportation  must  be  conducted 
on  a  large  scale.  Exporters  will  be  able  to  con- 
tract with  this  company, which  will  standready 
nearly  every  day  in  the  year  to  take  cargoes 
in  large  quantities  at  any  of  our  large  sea- 
ports and  deliver  them  without  transshipment 
on  a  fixed  date  at  any  of  the  great  seaports  of 
Europe.  The  formation  of  the  steamship 
company  has  not  been  artificial.  It  had 
become  a  necessity.  Mr.  Griscom  regrets  that 
the  American  flag  will  not  fly  over  more  ships 
than  it  does.  He  has  said  that  if  the  President 
and  Congress  will  meet  indisputable  economic 
facts  by  legislation,  some  of  the  new  steam- 
ships may  be  built  in  the  United  States, 
officered  and  manned  by  Americans,  and 
actually  become  a  part  of  our  national 
reserve  strength  at  sea. 

Mr.  Griscom  matured  his  plans  for  the 
steamship  combination  when  everything 
seemed  hopeless,  but  he  clung  to  them  with 
confidence  that  the  right  day  would  come 


From  3  painting  by  Fedor  Encke 

MR.   CLEMENT   A.   GRISCOM 

THE    HEAD   OF   THE    INTERNATIONAL    MERCANTILE    MARINE    COMPANY 


286o 


THE    HEAD   OF   THE    SHIPPING    CORPORATION 


And  it  came  with  J.  Pierpont  ^lorgan. 
Mr.  Morgan  was  the  one  man  needed,  and 
with  the  vital  assistance  of  ^Ir.  Griscom's 
practical  knowledge  and  ability  and  acumen 
the  Morgan  Steamship  Trust  came  to  startle 
the  world. 

But  the  man.  ]Mr.  Griscom  is  essentially 
a  family  man.  He  has  a  town  house  in 
Philadelphia,  but  most  of  the  time  he  lives  in 
his  country  home,  ■"  Dolobron,"  in  Haverford, 
near  Philadelphia.  Here  he  frees  himself  of 
business  cares.  He  keeps  open  house,  and, 
being  a  natural  entertainer,  he  is  never  so 
happy  as  when  his  house  is  filled  with  guests. 
His  office  is  in  Philadelphia,  but  he  spends  two 
davs  of  each  week  in  New  York.  ^Ir.  Griscom 
is  fond  of  pool  and  billiards  and  plays  a  great 
deal  in  his  house,  although  he  is  no  expert 
at  either.  In  art  he  is  something  of  a  con- 
noisseur, and  he  has  gathered  a  splendid  collec- 
tion, the  majority  being  important  examples 
of  the  Barbizon  school  of  painters — Corot 
being  especially  in  evidence.  Two  or  three 
months  each  year  he  spends  in  Europe  and  is 
on  friendly  terms  with  many  emperors  and 
kings.  He  was  recently  a  guest  for  a  day  on 
the  Emperor  "William's  yacht  at  Kiel.  The 
Kaiser  rather  admires  men  who  put  him  on 
his  mettle;  he  is  proud  of  the  two  great 
German  lines,  and  he  likes  to  know  what  kind 
of  Americans  are  competing  evenly  with  them. 
'Sir.  Griscom  owns  a  stock  farm  near  his 
country  place  and  he  knows  a  good  horse 
when  he  sees  one;  he  is  fond  of  shooting  and 
owns  quail  lands  in  Florida,  and  he  is  an 
enthusiastic  yachtsman,  owning  the  large 
steam  yacht  Alvciia. 

Notwithstanding  the  vast  responsibilities  of 
his  steamship  enterprises,  Mr.  Griscom  is 
active  in  many  other  lines.  He  is  a  director  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  the  Bank  of  North 
America,  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation, 
Atlantic  Mutual  Insurance  Company,  Fidelity 
Trust  and  Safe  Deposit  Company,  and  some 
twenty  or  more  other  enterprises.  He  was 
also  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  National 
Transit  Company,  and  its  president  for  several 
years.  In  1889  Mr.  Griscom  was  a  delegate 
to  the  National  Maritime  Conference  for  revis- 
ing the  "  Rules  of  the  Road  at  Sea,"  at  which 
twenty-eight  nations  were  represented.  He 
is  an  honorary  member  of  the  British  Society 
of  Naval  Architects,  an  honor  conferred  on 
but  three  others  at  the  time — the  Grand 
Duke  Constantine  of  Russia,  Lord  Kelvin  of 


England  and  DeLome  of  Spain.  The  Queen 
of  Holland  conferred  the  decoration  of  Knight 
of  the  Order  of  Orange-Nassau  upon  Mr. 
Griscom  in  recognition  of  the  perfect  disci- 
pline established  upon  the  steamships  of  the 
International  Navigation  Company.  The  par- 
ticular occasion  of  this  was  the  rescue  by  the 
crew  of  the  American  Line  steamship  St.  Louis 
of  the  passengers  and  crew  from  a  disabled 
Dutch  transatlantic  steamship,  which  sank 
shortly  after  the  last  boatload  had  left  the 
wreck.  He  has  also  a  Belgium  decoration, 
and  he  received  recently  from  the  French 
government  the  decoration  of  Chevalier  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor.  Mr.  Griscom  is  a 
member  of  many  clubs  in  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia. Chicago  and  London. 

How  he  finds  time  for  all  his  varied  interests 
is  a  problem  indeed.  A  business  associate 
recently  said  that  Mr.  Griscom's  success  is 
due  to  his  immense  capacity  for  work.  In 
the  past  month,  for  instance,  he  has  been  at 
his  desk  eighteen  hours  a  day,  tiring  out  three 
relays  of  clerks. 

And  his  influence  in  politics  is  marked. 
He  is  said  to  know  more  men  and  to  have 
more  influence  with  them  than  any  other  man 
in  the  country.  When  the  last  Republican 
Presidential  Convention  (the  convention 
which  nominated  Mr.  McKinley),  in  session 
at  Philadelphia,  was  torn  with  strife  over  the 
nomination  for  Vice-President,  Mr.  Griscom 
stepped  in  and  invited  the  leaders  to  his  home 
"to  talk  it  over."  When  they  left  there  was 
perfect  amity.  It  is  in  this  mediatory  capac- 
ity that  politicians  think  of  Mr.  Griscom.  "  He 
is  a  real  man!"  some  one  said  not  long  ago; 
"he  tells  a  good  story,  and,  what  is  perhaps 
better,  he  enjoys  hearing  one.  He  gives  good 
dinners,  he  is  a  capital  host,  and  he  makes  a 
rattling  speech." 

His  hair  is  white  now,  and  so  is  his  heavy 
mustache;  his  dark  eyes  gleam  from  under 
heavv  gray  brows,  and  his  cheeks  with  their 
high  color  make  him  conspicuous  anywhere. 
Heavily  built,  with  broad  shoulders,  he  is 
apparently  in  the  prime  of  his  vigor.  You  can 
read  the  whole  story  by  just  seeing  and 
talking  to  him — the  dominant  personality  is 
there;  he  is  genial,  yet  you  take  no  advantage 
of  it ;  he  is  kindly,  but  his  eyes  can  grow 
hard  upon  necessity. 

And  he  is  not  through  surprising  the  world. 
He  is  still  the  personification  of  the  strenuous 
life — the  typical  American  captain  of  industry. 


IIIK    ANCIKNT   TKMPI.K    AT    I'HIl.Al, 
Kf^-ptologists  feared  that  the  daiiiming  of  the  Nile  might  destroy  it 


Photographed  by  J.  P.  Sebah 


SUBDUING    THE    NILE 

THE  CROWNING  WORK  OF  THE  ENGLISH  OCCUPATION  OF  EGYPT— 
BUILDING  THE  ASSOUAN  DAM  IN  A  ROARING  CATARACT  — A  WONDER- 
FUL FEAT  OF  ENGINEERING— HOW  IT  WILL  REGULATE  THE  TRADI- 
TIONAL    FLOOD     AND     THEREBY     INCREASE    THE    WEALTH     OF     EGYPT 

BY 

CHALMERS    ROBERTS 

Illustrated  from  photographs  by  D.  S.  George  nnd  others 


THE  wonderful  success  which  has  so 
far  attended  the  British  occupation 
of  Egypt  in  the  financial,  educa- 
tional, hygienic,  military  and  also  the  general 
political  branches  of  the  government  is  to  be 
extended  to  its  great  engineering  schemes.  The 
new  Egypt,  whose  rise  has  been  so  strange 
and  unexpected,  is  about  to  leave  a  record  as 
monumental  and  material  as  any  for  which 
old  Egypt  is  famous.  And  this  achievement 
in  its  manifold  phases  has  come  under  the 
supervision  and  should  lie  to  the  credit  of 
the  man  who  has  made  modern  Egypt  what 
it  is.  In  a  recent  address  upon  the  great 
dam  at  Assouan,  the  constructing  engineer. 
Sir  Benjamin  Baker,  said,  "When  the  rotten 
rock  in  the  bed  of  the  river  was  first  discov 
ered  I  told  Lord  Cromer  franklv  that  I  could 


not  say  what  the  extra  cost  or  time  involved 
by  this  and  other  unforeseen  conditions  would 
be,  and  that  all  I  could  say  was  that,  however 
bad  the  conditions,  the  job  would  be  done.  He 
replied  that  he  must  be  satisfied  with  this 
assurance  and  would  say  that  the  dam  had 
to  be  completed  whatever  the  time  and  cost. 
With  such  a  strong  man  at  the  head  of  affairs, 
both  engineers  and  contractors — who  are 
often  suffering  more  anxiety  than  they  care 
to  show — are  encouraged,  and  works  however 
difficult  have  a  habit  of  getting  completed, 
and  sometimes,  as  in  the  present  case,  in 
less  than  the  original  contract  time.  " 

The  world,  which  has  always  heard  of  the 
granaries  of  Egypt,  seldom  realizes  that  the 
400,000  square  miles  of  Egypt  are,  all  but 
10,500  square  miles,  arid  desert.     The  narrow 


I 


/^ 


THE   ASSOUAN    1 
The  flow  of  water  is  r 


LF  COMPLETED 
3tes  in  the  apertures 


'm^ 


THE   TRADITIONAL    IRRIGATION    METHOD 

For  centuries  the  Egyptians  have  raised  water  from  the  Nile  with  primitive  wheels 


Pllotographed  by  Bundle 


SUBDUING    TlIK    NILE 


2865 


ribbon-like  strip  of  arable  land  upon  either 
side  of  the  Nile  is  barely  as  larj^e  as  Vermont 
and  Rhode  Island  put  together.  A  visitor 
to  Egypt  can  see  directly  across  the  whole 
of  the  cultivated  land  from  the  edge  of  the 
desert  on  one  side  to  great  opalescent  sand- 
hills on  the  other.  For  years  engineers 
in  the  Khedivial  service,  particularly  the 
engineers  of  the  English  occupation,  have 
urged  the  building  of  reservoirs  that  would 


poses,  or  indeed  for  a  permanent  reservoir, 
had  ever  been  made  on  a  river  tlie  size  of  the 
Nile.  This,  too,  was  to  be  both  a  dam,  a 
bridge  and  a  waterway — a  rare  and  difficult 
combination.  It  would  be  useless  to  try 
to  confine  the  Nile  in  flood,  and  therefore  the 
river  must  have  right  of  way  to  run  unimpeded 
through  the  dam  during  several  months  of 
the  year.  The  dam  is  for  use  when  the  flood 
subsides    but   while   it   is   still   too   high   for 


THE   MODERN   IRRIGATION    METHOD 
English  and  native  workmen  building  the  Assouan  dam 


give  a  system  of  irrigation  to  Egypt  not 
wholly  dependent  upon  the  uncertain  Nile 
floods.  It  was  agreed  that  the  natural 
advantages  of  the  Assouan  site,  six  hundred 
miles  above  Cairo,  with  its  bed  of  granite 
beneath  the  river,  the  high  granite  banks  on 
either  side  and  the  inexhaustible  supply  of 
stone  near  by,  offered  advantages  not  equaled 
elsewdiere.  The  plans  which  were  soon  made 
were   unique.     No    dam    for   irrigation    pur- 


irrigation  purposes.  The  dam  will  hold  the 
water  for  use  in  the  parching  summer. 
Therefore  the  structure  has  been  divided  into 
a  large  number  of  piers,  with  openings  that 
can  be  closed  at  will  by  gates.  Each  pier 
must  be  capable  of  supporting  its  ow'n  w^eight 
and  the  pressure  of  water  against  the  adjoin- 
ing sluice  gates,  and  the  piers  must  be  able 
to  pass  the  torrent  without  damage.  As  the 
velocity  of  the  escaping  flood  water  will    be 


2866 


SUBDUING   THE   NILE 


OXE   OF   THE   MANY   SLUICES 

very  great,  the  piers  are  enormously  massive. 
Locks  for  steamers  and  other  craft  navigating 
the  Nile  are  nearing  completion  on  the  west 
side.  Already  camel  trains  and  desert  cara- 
vans are  marching  over  the  broad  top  of  the 
dam,  and  on  December  pth  the  Duke  of 
Connaught  will  formally  open  the  dam. 
As  the  particles  of  soil  contributed  to  the 
river  by  the  wash  of  the  mountains  and  hills 
in  Abyssinia  enrich  the  fields,  the  dam  is  so 
designed  that  the  water  released  daily  for 
irrigation     will    be    drawn    from    near    the 


bottom  of  the  reservoir.  EgA-ptian  farmers 
ask  always  for  "red  water" — far  richer  as  a 
fertilizer  than  clear  water.  In  the  autumn, 
after  the  silt-laden  water  has  passed,  the 
sluice  gates  w411  be  closed  gradualh^  until 
the  reservoir  is  full.  This  will  be  in  January 
and  February.  From  April  to  the  end  of 
August,  when  the  Xile  runs  low  and  the 
demand  for  water  for  the  crops  is  at  its 
highest,  the  gates  will  be  systematically 
opened  and  the  summer  supply  of  the  river 
supplemented  by  stored  water  from  the  dam. 
It  is  estimated  that  this  irrigation  will  add 
2,500  square  miles  of  arable  land  to  Eg\'pt. 
and  that  the  permanent  benefit  resulting  will 
reach  $100,000,000.  There  will  be  added  to 
the  revenue  from  the  sale  of  water  and  from 
taxation  on  the  irrigated  lands  ;;^2,ooo,ooo. 
The  government  will  further  realize  con- 
siderable sums  from  the  sale  of  reclaimed 
public  lands  and  indirect  revenues  traceable 
to  the  country's  augmented  producing  capac- 
ity. Egypt  is  virtually  rainless,  but  wher- 
ever the  Xile  water  can  be  regularly  supplied 
to  the  soil  the  most  bountiful  crops  follow, 
which  like  cotton  and  sugar  command  high 
prices  because  of  their  excellence.  With  a 
reliable  water  supply,  farming  in  Egypt  can 
be  pursued  with  practically  certain  success. 


THE   DAM    HALF   BUILT 


SUBDUING   THE   NILE 


2867 


I 


Four  or  five  hundredweight  of  long  staple 
cotton  per  acre  may  be  expected,  which, 
owing  to  its  excellence,  easily  sells  for  two 
cents  a  pound  more  than  American  cotton 
sells  for,  which  in  its  turn  does  not  average 
two  hundredweight  to  the  acre.  Even  with 
the  general  depression  of  sugar  in  the  world's 
markets  Egyptian  agriculture  is  confident  of 
obtaining  similar  advantages  for  its  cane 
products. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  bring  to  the  average 
mind  any  comprehension  of  the  magnitude  of 
this  scheme.  It  is  useless  to  tell  most  people 
that  the  reservoir  at  Assouan  will  contain 
1,000,000,000  tons  of  water.  This  reservoir, 
according  to  Sir  Benjamin  Baker,  will  hold 
more  than  enough  water  to  make  one  year's 
full  domestic  supply  to  every  city,  town  and 
village  in  the  United  Kingdom  with  its 
42,000,000  inhabitants.  During  the  three  or 
four  summer  months  when  the  Nile  is  low 
and  the  needs  of  cultivators  are  greatest  the 
flow  from  the  reservoir  will  be  equivalent  to  a 
river  double  the  size  of  the  Thames  in  mean 
annual  flood  condition.  No  one  who  has 
ever  seen  the  century-old  irrigation  machines 
along  the  Nile  by  which  the  water  is  lifted  on 
a  bucket  and  pole  system,  or  by  an  oxen- 
driver  chain  of  buckets,  can  fail  to  recognize 
the  advantage  of  this  increase  in  water  supply. 
The  watering  of  an  acre  of  land  means  rais- 
ing by  manual  power  about  400  tons  of  water 
to  varying  heights  up  to  twenty-five  feet. 
Four  or  five  waterings  are  required  to  raise 
a  summer  crop.  The  great  Nile  reservoir 
and  dam  at  Assouan,  the  Barrage  at  Assiut, 
and  various  supplementary  distributing  canals 
are  designed  to  supply  in  summer  a  larger 
volume  of  water  at  a  higher  level  in  the  canal, 
so  that  not  only  can  more  land  be  irrigated, 
but  labor  in  lifting  water  will  be  saved. 

The  total  length  of  the  dam  at  Assouan  is 
about  one  and  one-quarter  miles;  the  maxi- 
mum height  from  foundation  is  about  130 
feet;  the  difference  of  level  of  water  above 
and  below  is  67  feet;  and  the  total  weight  of 
masonry  over  1,000,000  tons.  Navigation 
is  provided  for  by  a  ladder  of  four  locks,  each 
260  feet  long  by  32  feet  wide.  No  practical 
man  standing  on  the  edge  of  one  of  the 
cataract  channels,  hearing  and  seeing  the 
apparently  irresistible  torrent  of  foaming 
water  thundering  down,  would  regard  the 
putting  in  of  foundations  to  a  depth  of  forty 
feet  below  the  bed  of  the  cataract  in  the  short 


season  available  each  year  as  anything  but 
an  appalling  undertaking.  On  February  12, 
1899,  when  the  foundation  stone  of  the  dam 
was  laid,  it  was  planned  that  the  work  should 
be  completed  by  July  i,  1903.  It  is  greatly 
to  the  credit  of  the  contractors.  Sir  John  Aird 
&  Company,  that  they  have  finished  before 
the  contract  time.  The  dam  is  built  of 
granite  ashlar,  much  of  which  has  been 
quarried  from  the  Assouan  side  of  the  river, 
coming  from  the  same  ledges  that  furnished 
the  obelisks  now  standing  in  London,  New 
York  and  Paris. 

The  government  let  the  contract  for  this 
work  without  advancing  a  single  pound — a 
testimonial  to  the  soundness  of  Egyptian 
finances.  After  the  work  is  completed  they 
are  to  receive  $800,000  a  year  for  thirty  years, 
aggregating  about  $24,000,000.  This  is  a 
long  credit,  and  its  present  actuarial  value 
cannot  be  much  in  excess  of  $10,000,000. 
Indirectly,  the  fact  that  English  capital  has 
furnished  the  money,  and  that  English 
engineers,  surveyors  and  contractors  have 
carried  out  the  work,  points  to  Great  Britain's 
intention  to  retain  indefinitely  her  present 
position  upon  the  banks  of  the  Nile. 

Here  will  be  created  in  the  heart  of  the 
African  desert  a  lake  having  two  or  three 
times  the  superficial  area  of  Lake  Geneva  in 
Switzerland  and  throwing  back  water  for  a 
distance  of  140  miles,  crossing  the  Tropic  of 
Cancer  and  extended  a  goodly  step  on  the 
way  to  Wady  Haifa.  It  will  be  controlled 
by  scientific  precision,  so  that  the  impounded 
flood  may  be  turned  into  distant  channels  at 
will.  The  engineers  have  estimated  the 
exact  cost  of  the  dam,  and  have  computed 
almost  to  the  gallon  the  volume  of  water  that 
will  be  imprisoned  and  the  necessary  resist- 
ance to  be  provided  at  every  point  of  the 
masonry.  In  Cairo  the  experts  of  the 
Ministries  of  Public  Works  and  Finance  have 
calculated  to  a  nicety  the  sum  from  taxation 
that  will  come  into  the  public  treasury 
through  augmented  productiveness. 

Subordinate  to  the  great  dam  a  smaller 
one,  not  unlike  the  Barrage  at  the  apex  of  the 
Delta,  ten  miles  to  the  north  of  Cairo,  is  to 
be  made  at  Assiut,  to  give  a  sufficient  head 
to  force  water  into  the  system  of  irrigation 
canals  that  water  thousands  of  acres  between 
Assiut  and  Cairo.  The  completion  of  the 
old  Barrage  above  Cairo  (it  was  begun  by 
Mehemet    Ali    Pasha    from   the    plans    of    a 


i 


2868 


SUBDUING   THE    NILE 


French  engineer,  but  was  not  made  efifective 
till  England  took  the  country  in  hand)  so 
developed  the  cotton  culture  as  to  add  to 
the  public  revenue  of  the  country  at  least 
$10,000,000  annually.  It  may  be  safely 
concluded,  therefore,  that  the  Assouan  reser- 
voir is  but  one  of  a  series  that  will  be  con- 
structed southw^ard  to  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza. 

Mr.  Frederick  Penfield,  former  United 
States  Consul  General  in  Cairo,  who  has 
become  such  an  authority  upon  Egyptian 
subjects,  says  of  the  enterprise:  "Successful 
in  an  unexpected  degree  in  augmenting  the 
population  of  the  ancient  land  of  the 
Pharaohs  by  enforcing  hygienic  measures, 
the  British  administrators  at  Cairo  are 
recognizing  the  necessity  for  proportionately 
increasing  the  area  of  'practical'  Eg\'pt. 
When  the  British  occupation  began  Egypt's 
population  was  about  7,000,000.  According 
to  an  official  census  just  completed  (1899),  it 
has  risen  to  9,750,000,  as  the  result  of  the 
caring  for  child  life  and  teaching  the  common 
people  to  observe  rational  rules  of  cleanliness 
and  order.  According  to  this  census,  practical 
Egypt  has  a  population  of  928  to  the  square 
mile,  a  density  far  in  excess  of  any  European 
country,  even  Belgium,  and  not  to  be  equaled 
outside  of  Asiatic  communities.  It  will  no 
doubt  surprise  most  readers  to  be  told  that  a 
fair  estimate  of  the  value  of  Egypt's  10,500 
square  miles  of  cultivable  territory  is  $115  an 
acre.  It  is  a  fact  as  well  that  the  foreign 
bonded  indebtedness,  naturally  based  upon 
the  intrinsic  value  of  the  country,  averages 
$75.75  per  acre,  while  the  per  capita  propor- 
tion of  the  external  debt  burden  is  no  less 
than  $52.20.  The  average  land  tax  of  Egypt 
is  something  in  excess  of  $4.00  per  acre. 
These  vital  statistics  are  mentioned  to  reflect 
in  its  fullest  importance  what  the  building  of 
the  great  dam  at  Assouan  means  to  the  people 
of  Eg}-pt  and  their  European  creditors." 

It  cannot  be  definitely  stated  who  first 
planned  this  reservoir.  Mr.  Willcocks,  one 
of  the  ablest  engineers  of  the  Public  Works 
Department  of  Egypt,  who  was  instructed  by 
Sir  William  Garstin  to  survey  various  sug- 
gested sites  for  the  dam  between  Cairo  and 
Wady  Haifa,  unhesitatingly  decided  that  the 
Assouan  site  was  the  best,  and  the  majority 
of  the  International  Commission  who  visited 
the  sites  in  1894  agreed.  But  Sir  Samuel 
Baker,  more  than  forty  years  ago,  had  antici- 
pated their  conclusion.     The  single  dam  pro- 


posed by  him  is  in  effect  the  one  now  on  the 
point  of  completion.  Mr.  Willcocks'  original 
design  consisted  practically  of  a  group  of 
independent  dams,  ciirved  on  plan,  the 
arrangement  differing  considerably  from  that 
of  the  executed  work.  The  single  dam,  one 
and  one-quarter  miles  long,  constitutes  a 
more  imposing  work  than  a  series  of  detached 
dams,  and  could  be  more  easily  built;  and, 
further,  a  straight  dam  is  better  able  to 
resist  temperature  stresses  from  the  extreme 
heat  without  cracking.  There  are  180  open- 
ings, all  twenty-three  feet  high  by  six  inches 
wide,  which  can  let  out  15,000  tons  of  water 
a  second.  Contrary  to  original  reports  of  a 
sound  rock  bottom,  the  rock  proved  very 
unsound,in  many  places,  necessitating  founda- 
tions sometimes  more  than  forty  feet  deeper 
than  was  originally  anticipated.  As  the  thick- 
ness of  the  dam  is  nearly  one  hundred  feet  at 
the  base,  this  misapprehension  involved  a 
very  large  increase  in  the  contract  quantity 
and  cost  of  the  granite  masonry. 

To  put  in  the  foundation  across  the  roaring 
cataract  channels,  temporary  rubble  dams 
were  built  across  the  rear  of  the  channel 
below  the  site  of  the  great  dam,  so  as  to  get  a 
pond  of  comparatively  still  water  to  work  in. 
Stones  from  one  to  twelve  tons  in  weight 
were  tipped  into  the  cataract  until  finally  a 
rubble  mound  appeared  above  the  surface  of 
the  water.  The  first  channel  was  success- 
fully closed  on  May  17,  1899,  the  depth 
being  about  thirty  feet  and  the  velocity 
of  current  nearly  fifteen  miles  an  hour.  In 
the  case  of  another  channel  the  closing  had 
to  be  helped  by  tipping  in  freight  cars,  loaded 
with  heavy  stones  and  bound  together  with 
wire  ropes,  making  a  mass  of  about  fift}^  tons 
to  resist  displacement  by  the  torrent. 

These  rubble  dams  were  well  tested  when 
the  high  flood  ran  over  them ;  and  when  work 
was  resumed  in  the  following  November,  on 
the  fall  of  the  river,  watertight  sand-bag 
dams  or  sudds  were  made  around  the  site  of 
the  dam  foundation  in  the  still  waters  above 
the  rubble  dams,  and  pumps  were  fixed  to 
lay  dry  most  of  the  river.  This  was  the 
exciting  moment,  for  no  one  could  predict 
whether  the  thing  could  be  done.  Twenty- 
four  1 2 -inch  centrifugal  pumps  were  provided 
to  deal  with  one  small  channel;  but  happily 
the  sand-bags  and  gravel  and  sand  embank- 
ments staunched  the  fissures  in  the  rocks 
and  interstices  between  the   great  boulders 


.  A 


"IllOf 

2S 


-^-. 


MAP  SHOWING  THE   ASSOUAN   DAM 


2870 


SUBDUING   THE    NILE 


covering  the  bottom  of  this  channel,  and  a 
couple  of  1 2 -inch  ptimps  stiihced. 

There  was  great  pressure  at  times  to  get  a 
section  completed  before  the  inevitable  rise 
of  the  Xile,  and  as  much  as  3,600  tons  of 
masonr}^  were  executed  in  one  day,  chiefly 
at  one  point  in  the  dam.  The  maximum 
number  of  men  employed  was  11,000,  of 
whom  1 ,000  were  E\iropean  masons  and  other 
skilled  men. 

When  the  International  Commission  in 
1894  recommended  the  construction  of  the 
reservoir,  Sir  Benjamin  Baker  was  desirous 
of  knowing  what  would  be  the  opinion  of  a 
real  old-fashioned  native  land-owner.  He 
was  introduced  to  one — a  descendant  of  the 
prophet,  very  rich,  who  had  been  twice 
warned  by  the  government  that  he  would 
probably  be  hanged  if  the  bodies  of  any  more 
of  his  servants  with  whom  he  had  quarreled 
were  found  floating  in  the  Xile.  He  was  a 
ver}'  stout  old  man,  and  between  paroxysms 
of  bronchial  cougliiAg  he  assured  Sir  Benjamin 
that  there  could  be  nothing  in  the  project  of  a 
Nile  reser\^oir  or  it  would  have  been  built  at 
least  4,000  years  ago.  In  striking  contrast 
to  this.  Sir  Benjamin  quotes  the  most  modem 
and  enlightened  of  all  the  rulers  of  Egj-pt, 
the  present  Khedive,  who,  when  visiting  the 
dam,  said  that  he  was  proud  that  the  great 
work  was  being  carried  out  during  his  reign. 

The  old  system  of  irrigation  was  little  more 
than  a  high  Nile  flooding  of  areas  or  basins 
surrounded  by  embankments.  Less  than 
one  hundred  years  ago  perennial  irrigation 
was  first  attempted  by  cutting  deep  canals 
to  convey  the  water  to  the  land  when  the 
Xile  was  at  its  low  summer  level.  When 
the  Xile  rose  these  canals  had  to  be  blocked 
by  temporary  earthen  dams,  or  the  current 
would  have  wrought  destruction.  As  a 
result,  they  silted  up  and  had  to  be  cleared 
of  many  millions  of  tons  of  mud  each  year 
by  enforced  labor,  resulting  in  misery  and 
extortion.  It  was  only  half  a  century  ago 
that  the  first  serious  attempt  to  improve 
matters  was  made  by  the  construction  of  the 
celebrated  Barrage  at  the  apex  of  the  Delta. 

The  old  sheik  and  his  contemporaries  may 
well  look  with  wonder  upon  the  work  which 
modem  engineers  have  done.  There  is  a 
legend  that  the  yearly  flooding  of  the  Xile 
is  caused  by  the  tears  shed  by  Isis  over  the 
tomb  of  Osiris,  and  the  question  has  for 
uncounted  centuries  been  asked,  as  a  type  of 


impossibilit}^  "Can  man  arrest  the  tears  of 
Isis  as  they  flow?"  One  of  the  last  inci- 
dents told  in  the  life  of  Cecil  Rhodes  pictures 
him  last  Christmas  riding  across  the  hot 
and  dusty  desert  between  Assouan  and  the 
Xile  reser^'-oir  works.  Glancing  round  at  the 
apparently  limitless  desert  on  all  sides,  the 
hills  and  valleys,  beautiful  in  form  but  doomed 
for  all  time  to  remain  of  uniform  burnt -brick 
hue,  bare  of  trees,  and  of  the  many-colored 
growths  that  adorn  a  rainy  country,  he  said: 
"After  all  there  is  no  climate  like  England's; 
and  as  for  the  rain  there,  it  does  its  good 
work  and  it  really  hurts  nobody." 

There  is  in  all  this  triumph  of  utilitarianism 
one  note  of  objection  and  complaint.  Between 
December  and  May,  when  the  reservoir  is  full, 
the  famous  island  of  Philae  will  in  places  be 
slightly  flooded.  Therefore  the  tourist  and  the 
archaeologist  and  the  artist  do  not  celebrate 
the  completion  of  the  dam  with  the  same 
enthusiasm  as  the  workaday  world.  Even 
if  they  acknowledged  it  as  the  greatest 
engineering  feat  of  modem  times,  they  yet 
deplore  the  partial  obliteration  of  what  is 
generally  held  to  be  the  most  beautiful  spot 
on  the  X^'ile.  A  valiant  fight  was  made  for 
Philae  before  the  first  stone  of  the  giant 
wall  which  now  spans  the  river  was  made. 
Engineers  reported  that  Philae  would  be 
swamped  completely;  thereupon  the  archae- 
ologists, the  tourists,  and  the  artists  rose 
to  object.  Monumental  petitions  were  signed 
and  all  manner  of  recommendations  were 
made  for  the  protection  of  these  beautiful 
ruins.  In  compliance  with  the  prayers  of 
these  agitators,  the  contractors  modified  their 
plans  with  a  view  to  keeping  the  chief  monu- 
ments of  Philae  above  the  water.  The  chief 
fear  was  felt  for  "  Pharaoh's  Bed,  "  the  beauti- 
ful pavilion  btiilt  for  Augustus  but  completed 
by  Trajan,  for  it  is  mainly  built  upon  a  terrace 
of  Nile  mud  and  may  crumble.  To  obviate 
this  risk,  all  of  the  important  parts,  including 
this  kiosk,  have  been  carried  on  steel  girders 
or  underpinned  down  to  rock,  or,  failing 
that,  to  the  present  saturation  level.  Archae- 
ologists have  not  at  all  been  reassured  by  the 
precautions  which  the  contractors  have  taken. 
But  even  should  the  cost  be  complete  oblitera- 
tion of  these  famous  monuments,  who  can  say 
that  the  price  is  too  high  or  the  sacrifice, 
unwise?  A  link  with  ancient  Egypt  may 
disappear,  but  a  new  state  will  be  carved 
from  the  wastes  of  the  desert. 


REORGANIZING   INDUSTRIES:   A  NOVEL 

PROFESSION 

GREAT  FACTORIES  STUDIED  BY  A  PRODUCTION  ENGINEER  WHO 
INSTALLS  ECONOMICAL  METHODS  —  A  MILL  WHICH  INCREASED 
PRODUCTION  FORTY  PER  CENT— THE  STORY  OF  THE  PIONEER  EXPERT 

BY 

MINNA    C  SMITH 


AN  important  Pennsylvania  manufac- 
turing firm,  discontented  with  their 
condition,  invited  a  man  from  New 
York  to  inspect  their  plant.  He  went.  He 
had  access  to  the  private  records,  to  the  most 
secret  information  of  the  firm.  He  studied 
the  economy  of  the  mills.  He  watched  the 
men  at  work.  He  asked  questions.  For 
weeks  the  study  went  on.  And  when  it  was 
finished,  he  was  asked  to  suggest  improve- 
ments. He  was  the  first  production  engineer, 
an  expert  industrial  critic,  who  had  given 
the  plant  the  attention  a  trainer  might  give 
an  athlete  preparing  for  a  race.  As  a  result 
of  his  report,  the  methods  of  manufacture  in 
the  plant  were  radically  changed. 

Sixty  tons  of  material  had  been  handled 
daily  fifty-one  times.  By  changing  the 
course  of  the  material  through  its  various 
processes,  the  engineer  cut  down  the  handling 
to  thirty-seven  times,  with  a  resultant  saving 
that  surprised  the  president,  the  directors 
and  the  general  manager.  They  were  men 
who  knew  their  business,  but  they  had  had 
no  idea  that  any  outside  help  could  so  reduce 
their  expenses.  Thus  production  engineering, 
the  youngest  of  the  applied  sciences,  received 
recognition. 

The  production  engineer  was  requested  to 
rearrange  the  schedule  of  wages  at  a  steel 
mill.  When  he  regulated  it,  not  by  tonnage 
alone,  but  by  groups  of  steel  products  accord- 
ing to  quantities  and  shapes,  the  resultant 
rates  increased  the  productive  capacity  of 
the  mills  from  five  to  forty  per  cent.,  decreased 
the  cost  of  production  and  increased  the 
wages  of  the  men. 

He  was  called  to  an  electric  equipment 
factory  which  was  growing  so  fast  that  its 
managers  not  only  did  not  know  the  amount 
of  their  expenses,  either  in  total  or  in  indirect 


costs,  but  could  not  keep  in  touch  with  the 
general  routine  of  the  days.  The  expert 
asked  questions  and  was  given  full  details. 
He  was  introduced  to  every  official,  every 
head  of  department,  every  clerk;  and  he  asked 
each,  one  for  typewritten  suggestions.  He 
found  that  the  huge  physical  growth  of 
the  factory  had  overtopped  its  intellectual 
and  nervous  organization.  The  organization 
needed  a  clear  definition  of  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities in  the  various  offices — a  more  highly 
organized  faculty.  The  specialist  reported  a 
special  system,  unified,  yet  so  flexible  that  the 
work  in  any  department  can  now  be  expanded 
or  contracted  without  affecting  the  general 
plan.  Thirty-one  departments  of  the  execu- 
tive and  operating  force  were  ordered,  instead 
of  fourteen.  There  could  henceforth  be  no 
clashing  of  authority,  no  men  receiving  one 
order  from  one  department  and  another  order 
from  another.  All  communications  about 
the  general  organization  were  authorized  to 
appear  in  executive  orders  from  the  president 
of  the  company,  who  is  also  general  manager. 
The  names  of  all  officers,  or  heads  of  depart- 
ments, were  put  at  the  head  of  every  execu- 
tive order,  and  each  head  of  a  department 
was  made  responsible  for  notifying  his  asso- 
ciates, who  in  turn  were  made  personally 
responsible  to  him.  A  series  of  executive 
notices  was  posted  insuring  order  of  a  high 
degree  and  making  certain  the  prompt  return 
of  all  reports  and  data.  One  man  was  made 
responsible  for  all  the  accounts  of  the  com- 
pany, so  that  uniformity  might  be  developed 
in  recording  all  the  performances  of  the  plant. 
The  authority  for  giving  orders  was  central- 
ized. Provisions  were  made  for  definite 
recording  of  orders  for  material;  and  com- 
plete and  accurate  means  of  communication 
within  the  factory  were  insured.     An  accurate 


2872      REORGANIZING    INDUSTRIES:    A  NOVEL   PROFESSION 


system  of  labor  records  for  all  employees  was 
effected,  insuring  the  charging  of  material 
and  labor  expended  in  the  course  of  produc- 
tion. Centralization  of  authority  stopped 
overstocking.  The  control  of  incoming  and 
outgoing  material  was  given  to  the  same 
central  authority.  The  chart  shows  a  typical 
factory  organization: 


of  the  investor  and  the  laborer.  An  employer, 
knowing  the  productiveness  of  individual 
workmen,  has  a  basis  for  increasing  pay  for 
better  work.  An  absolutely  accurate  system 
of  cost  is  the  only  means  for  showing  accurate 
current  earnings.  ]\Ianufacturers  will  be  able 
to  let  men  earn  more  when  with  increase 
of  output  there  is  no  increase  of  fixed  charges, 


CHART    OF    RESPONSIBILITIES 


c 

EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE 

1                                                                                                                         J 

J 

r 

General 

^ 

I 

) 

S.\LES 

Department 

ACCOUXTIXG 

Production 

Department 

Advertising 

BUSIXESS 

OF  Plant 

Power,  Heat, 
Light  and 
Protective 

Experimental 

Tool 

Department 
Credit 

Department 

A 

Correspondence             Tracing 

Steel  Foundry 

Blacksmiths 

New  York 
Agency 

Filing  and              Purchasing 
Mailing 

Shipping 
Orders 

Receiving 

Commercial 
Accounting 

Factory 
Accounting 

Iron  Foundry 

Core  Making 

Annealing 

Grinding 

Machine  Shop 

Assembling 

Draughting 

Stores 

Tumbling 

Painting 

Pattern 

Chipping 

Packing 
General   Labor 

A  full  chart  would  contain  beneath  each  of    those  departments  the  name  of  the  man  held  responsible  for  the  working  of  that 
department  —  thirty-one  men  besides  the  five  managers  who  make  the  executive  committee. 


The  nervous  system  of  an  industry  is  com- 
posed of  records.  The  nervous  system  of  the 
electric  equipment  factory  was  toned  up. 
The  factory  is  making  its  product  much  more 
rapidly  than  before;  and  despite  the  growth 
of  the  business  the  heads  of  the  concern  can 
now  keep  in  touch  with  all  its  details. 

James  Xe\si;on  Gunn,  the  pioneer  in  this 
novel  profession,  sa^'s  that  the  production 
engineer  conceives  of  a  well-equipped  factory 
as  a  man  trained  for  his  many  duties,  skilled 
in  many  ways,  who  has  each  member  of  his 
body  developed  and  working  in  harmony 
with  the  others — all  controlled  by  the  intel- 
lect. The  factory  intellect  must  have  a 
system  of  records  and  machines  and  men, 
serving  as  the  nerves,  bones  and  muscles. 
Cost-keeping,  which  is  synonymous  with 
maintaining  the  nervous  system,  has  been 
found  to  be  a  function  which  an  outside  man 
of  professional  standing  and  unquestioned 
integrity  can  serviceably  fulfil. 

Mr.  Gunn  is  convinced  that  impartial 
scientific  investigation  of  all  the  facts  of  any 
business  and  the  solving  of  the  problem  of 
cost  must  make  clear  the  economic  relations 


for  both  capital  and  labor  suffer  from  igno- 
rance. Here  the  production  engineer  becomes 
useful.  His  business  is  scientifically  to  make 
a  producing  unit  of  any  business,  whether 
manufacturing,  mining  or  other  productive 
industry. 

Weekly  conferences  of  all  heads  of  depart- 
ments, and  often  in  times  of  rush  daily  meet- 
ings of  foremen,  are  part  of  the  harmonious 
working  of  the  principle  Every  workman  is 
constantly  represented  in  conferences  with 
the  heads  of  the  business.  A  minor  foreman 
has  been  known  to  come  to  five  weekly  con- 
ferences in  succession  before  he  took  his  turn 
to  say  his  say.  It  takes  time  for  such  a  man 
to  realize  that  his  trained  knowledge  is  con- 
sidered of  commercial  value  in  conference. 
The  whole  system  tends  toward  social  ends, 
toward  the  introduction  of  souls  into  cor- 
porations. 

But  who  is  Mr.  Gunn  ?  How  did  he 
become  a  production  engineer  ?  He  was  bom 
in  Ohio.  After  he  was  graduated  from  the 
high  school  at  Springfield  he  went  to  work  in  a 
factory  there  that  made  portable  forges  and 
grinding  machinery.     The   president   of  the 


THE    TRAVELING    POST-OFFICE 


2H73 


company  encouraged  the  young  man  to 
develop  any  ideas  that  came  to  him  in  the 
work  of  the  factory,  lie  worked  over  a  system 
of  piece  rates  on  forges,  he  assembled  costs, 
he  systematized  the  orders  and  gathered  the 
expense  items  of  the  factory  on  cards.  Soon 
the  boy  was  able,  on  the  cards  he  cut  out 
and  wrote  upon,  to  show  the  exact  cost 
of  each  article  manufactured,  collating  all 
the  items  of  indirect  expense.  He  counted 
window-cleaning  and  postage  stamps,  repairs 
and  the  work  of  carrying  material  around  in 
the  shop,  into  the  cost  of  producing  a  forge. 
He  was  at  work  in  the  glimmerings  of  his 
first  great  idea.  He  proved  the  possibility 
of  absolutely  accurate  distribution  of  every 
item  of  indirect  expense.  Next  he  had  an 
opportunity  as  cashier  of  a  Southern  railway 
system  to  formulate  ideas  regarding  the 
workings  of  a  railway  organization.  He  had 
begun  to  mature  ideas  showing  the  scope  of 
the  use  of  cards  of  varying  contours  for 
recording  facts,  the  now  familiar  tab  cards, 
which   he   presently   patented.     In    1893    he 


went  with  his  tab  cards  to  Boston  and  later 
to  London  for  the  Library  Bureau.  This 
gave  him  a  chance  to  study  manufacturing 
methods  in  England  and  France.  When  he 
returned  he  introduced  cards  in  the  assem- 
bling of  labor  and  material  costs  in  large  fac- 
tories, and  thus  came  to  know  more  fully  the 
practices  in  American  factories.  He  was 
soon  able  to  suggest  to  one  factory  an  im- 
provement in  methods  learned  in  some  other 
factory  whose  manufactures  were  entirely 
different,  for  the  solution  of  a  problem  having 
to  do  with  manufacturing  leather  belts  would 
sometimes  suggest  the  solution  of  a  problem 
in  rolling  bars  of  steel ;  the  grouping  of  orders 
by  sizes  which  had  resulted  in  a  twenty-five 
per  cent,  increase  in  the  capacity  of  a  steel 
foundry  suggested  the  solution  of  a  problem 
in  the  distribution  of  work  to  different  looms 
and  the  multitudinous  orders  for  different 
patterns  in  a  silk  mill.  He  came  to  under- 
stand methods  and  management  as  a  whole, 
and  he  was  and  is ,  as  a  production  engineer  must 
be,   an   open-minded   student   of  economics. 


THE    TRAVELING    POST-OFFICE 


THE  SUGGESTION  OF  IT  BY  A  MOUSE'S  NEST— 
THE  REVOLUTION  IT  HAS  CAUSED  IN  THE 
HANDLING  OF  MAIL  MATTER  —  THE  LOYALTY 
AND     PLUCK     OF     THE     MEN     IN    THE     SERVICE 

BY 

FORREST  CRISSEY 

Illustrated  from  photographs  by  Allen  Ayrauet  Green 


GREEN  BAY,  in  the  Lake  Superior 
region,  was  an  important  distribu- 
ting point  on  the  old  postal  route, 
and  its  post-office  was  often  crowded  with 
mail  pouches,  the  contents  of  which  must  be 
rehandled  and  sent  forward  to  the  tributary 
towns  in  the  heart  of  the  wild  northern 
country.  Sometimes  weeks  were  required  to 
repouch  the  glut  of  mail  which  accumulated 
at  the  Green  Bay  office,  and  the  inland  ham- 
lets were  compelled  to  await  the  slow  process 
of  forwarding  which  the  inadequate  method 
of  rehandling  involved.  One  day  the  dog 
team  which  hauled  the  mail  from  Green  Bay 
to  the  little  settlement  of  Ontonagon  was 
unloaded  at   the  latter  destination  and   the 


R 


pouches  unlocked.  Among  the  letters  which 
were  tumbled  out  upon  the  distributing  table 
were  a  mother  mouse  and  a  litter  of  young  ! 

Almost  a  month  later  Maurice  Crean,  route 
agent,  told  this  story  to  George  B.  Armstrong, 
then  assistant  postmaster  of  the  Chicago 
post-office.  Mr.  Armstrong  laughed  heartily 
at  the  incident,  then  grew  suddenly  thought- 
ful and  remarked : 

"Something  must  be  done  to  move  the 
mails  faster — so  fast  that  mice  cannot  make 
their  homes  in  the  pouches  and  raise  their 
families  there  while  in  transit.  It  will  not  do 
to  have  the  mails  turned  into  mouse  nests. 
I  am  going  to  devise  a  plan  which  will  do 
away  with  such  a  possibility," 


2874 


THE   TRAVELING   POST-OFFICE 


As  a  mere  passing  measure,  the  foot  mes- 
sengers with  dog  sleds  were  supplanted  by 
mounted  horsemen;  but  from  the  moment 
when  Mr.  Armstrong  heard  the  story  of  the 
mice  in  the  Ontonagon  mail  pouch,  in  1856, 
until  he  had  devised  and  perfected  the  rail- 
way postal  system,  he  made  its  problems  the 
chief  concern  of  his  life. 

Today  the  famous  Burlington  fast-mail 
train,  the  "greyhound"  of  the  service,  is 
composed  exclusively  of  mail  cars,  generally 
six  in  number,  and  these  sometimes  carry  as 
much  as  150  tons  of  letters,  papers  and  parcels 
— the  equivalent  in  weight  of  2,100  persons, 
or  the  number  of  passengers  ordinarily  carried 
in  forty-two  coaches.  Contrast  this  burden 
with  the  volume  of  mail  which  passed  across 
the  continent  under  the  surveillance  of  the 
route  agent  of  ante-bellum  days  and  the  stride 
of  the  service  is  more  easily  appreciated. 
The  distance  from  Burlington,  Iowa,  to 
Chicago,  205  miles,  has  been  covered  in 
188.5  minutes,  or  an  average  speed  of  65.5 
miles  an  hour.  The  highest  fast-mail  speed 
for  a  short  distance  recognized  by  the  official 
records  is  an  average  of  75  miles  an  hour  for 
32.5  miles,  between  Bristol  and  Meriden, 
Connecticut.  This  run  was  made  May  i ,  1 900. 
For  still  shorter  distances  an  average  of  85.5 
miles  an  hour  has  repeatedly  been  made. 

Resting  in  a  small  iron  box  in  the  office  of 
George  B.  Armstrong,  Jr.,  are  a  score  or  more 
of  precious  documents  from  the  pioneers  of  the 
Railway  Mail  Service.  In  the  lines  of  these 
narratives  may  be  traced  every  step  in  the 
development  of  the  present  highly  perfected 
system  which  gives  employment  to  more  than 
10,000  men  and  is  expanding  at  a  marvelous 
rate  under  our  national  prosperity.  It  is  the 
expectation  of  the  department  that  before 
the  close  of  the  next  five  years  the  payroll 
of  the  Railway  Mail  Service  will  contain  the 
names  of  13,500  employees. 

Both  the  Civil  War  and  the  war  with  Spain 
exerted  a  powerful  influence  on  the  Railway 
Mail  Service  of  the  United  States.  Undoubt- 
edly the  great  blockade  of  soldier  mail  in  the 
sixties  made  the  necessity  so  great  that  not 
only  did  it  move  Mr.  Armstrong  to  focus  his 
ideas  into  a  thoroughly  practical  plan,  but 
also  enforced  upon  the  official  ears  of  those  in 
authority  at  Washington  the  fact  that  radical 
steps  must  be  taken  to  facilitate  the  handling 
of  the  mails,  for  soldiers  in  camp,  and  women 
and  children  waiting  at  home  for  news  from 


the  battlefield,  the  bivouac  and  the  hospital, 
were  equally  impatient  at  delays.  Tons  of 
letters  were  handled  in  the  main  distributing 
offices  every  week,  and  tons  of  papers  were 
heaped  up  never  to  be  redistributed  and  sent 
forward.  A  clerk  employed  in  the  Chicago 
office  at  that  time  has  left  a  written  statement 
that  "the  vast  surplus  of  mail  accumulated 
in  the  distributing  department  of  our  office 
during  the  months  of  December,  1863,  and 
January  and  February,  1864,  was  estimated 
to  be  500,000  letters." 

Mr.  Crean  relates  that  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War  he  was  sent  to  take  charge  of 
the  "western  room"  at  the  Cairo  post-office, 
which  had  been  made  a  "distributing  station," 
because  of  the  great  volume  of  army  and 
navy  mails  centering  there  for  the  western 
military  forces.  During  the  four  weeks  when 
army  movements  made  this  the  most  impor- 
tant office  in  the  State,  Mr.  Armstrong  spent 
all  his  time  in  Cairo  working  out  the 
advance  steps  which  led  him  to  complete 
the  "traveling  post-office."  He  worked  day 
and  night,  but  seemed  never  too  tired  to  be 
enthusiastic,  and  he  "spent  many  a  sleepless 
night  in  his  room  in  the  St.  Charles  Hotel 
elaborating  his  plans."  These  he  perfected 
"so  completely  that  a  letter  mailed  in  Chicago 
for  any  one  of  -  the  western  or  southwestern 
armies  reached  its  terminal  point  as  soon 
as  a  passenger  on  the  fleetest  Pullman  could 
reach  it;  so  that  a  letter  for  Admiral  Porter 
in  the  War  Department  in  Washington  was 
made  up  in  the  Chicago  distributing  post-office 
in  a  separate  pouch  and  reached  his  flagship 
by  way  of  the  Illinois  Central  road  as  soon 
as  the  Admiral's  gunner  himself  could  have 
reached  him  from  this  city."  This  he  did  by 
a  series  of  direct  pouchings,  avoiding  as  much 
as  possible  the  intermediate  services  at 
distributing  post-offices. 

Mr.  George  B.  Armstrong,  Jr.,  his  father's 
first  amanuensis,  in  recounting  the  obstacles 
against  which  the  founder  contended  in 
securing  the  confidence  and  support  of  the 
public  and  the  department,  writes  that  "the 
business  men  of  Chicago,  with  many  of  whom 
my  father  had  frequent  conferences,  could  not 
see  how  the  benefits  of  the  plan  would  offset 
the  risk  of  losing  the  letters  while  in  transit." 
He  also  relates  that  three  letters  written 
under  dates  of  May  loth,  May  14th  and 
June  10,  1864,  and  addressed  to  the  Third 
Assistant  Postmaster-General,  were  the  comer- 


Till':     TRAXI'J.INC    roS  r-()l"I-I(K 


2875 


THROWING  LETTERS   INTO   THE   LETTER   CASE  ON   THE    FAST   MAIL 


stones  of  the  system,  as  they  covered  the 
entire  field  of  postal  reform,  urged  the  aboli- 
tion of  "post  billing'"  and  of  "wrapping,"  and 
so  ably  set  forth  the  advantages  of  the  travel- 
ing post-office  that  the  business  men  and  the 
Department  at  Washington  were  aroused. 
The  energy  with  which  Mr.  Armstrong  pursued 
his  campaign  is  interestingly  attested  in  a 
document  written  by  James  H.  McCausland, 
in  which  this  gentleman  states  that,  although 
a  quarrel  with  men  in  political  power  resulted 
in  deposing  him  from  a  position  of  route 
agent,  Mr.  Armstrong  engaged  him  to  do 
missionary  work  among  railway  presidents 
and  officials  in  behalf  of  the  traveling  post- 
office.  "I  believe  to  this  day,"  writes  Mr. 
McCausland,  "that  he  paid  me  out  of  his 
own  pocket,  for  I  am  quite  sure  that  he  had 
no  authority  from  the  government  to  employ 
me."  One  of  the  most  significant  and  notable 
■orders  ever  issued  by  the  department  was 
that  which  Postmaster-General  Montgomery 
Blair  sent  out,  dated  July  11,  1864,  giving  Mr. 
Armstrong  authority  to  have  an  experimental 
traveling  post-office  equipped  and  operated. 
Mr.  George  L.  Dunlap.  then  General  Manager 
of  the  Chicago  and   Northwestern   Railway, 


was  the  only  railway  man  who  showed  a 
friendlv  interest  in  this  scheme  and  did  not 
condemn  it  without  trial.  Through  his  inter- 
est an  unused  baggage  car  was  equipped  with 
a  rude  table  and  "letter  case."  The  latter, 
as  at  first  designed  by  Mr.  Armstrong,  was 
circular  in  form.  Asa  F.  Bradley,  the  route 
agent  selected  by  the  founder  of  the  service 
as  the  first  chief  clerk  of  a  traveling  post- 
office,  suggested  that  the  case  be  angular 
instead  of  circular,  as  the  eye  could  more 
readilv  locate  the  various  boxes  under  this 
arrangement.  His  experience  as  a  surveyor 
told  him  this.  The  change  was  immediately 
made  in  the  design  and  a  serious  defect 
avoided. 

The  first  traveling  post-office  made  its  initial 
trip  over  the  run  from  Chicago  to  Clinton,  Iowa, 
about  September  i,  1864.  Its  crew  consisted 
of  Asa  F.  Bradley,  Percy  A.  Leonard  and 
James  Converse;  the  first  handled  the  papers 
and  Mr.  Converse  the  letters.  Of  that  historic 
run  Mr.  Leonard  has  left  the  following  record : 

"The  letters  were  stacked  up  in  a  generous 
pile  on  the  case.  The  principal  stations  only 
had  been  put  in  separate  packages.  The 
first  series  of  stations,  Austin,  etc.,  were  put  in 


2876 


THE   TRAVELING    POST-OFFICE 


a  package  numbered  one.  Distribution  began 
about  an  hour  before  the  train  was  due  to 
leave,  but  because  the  arrangement  of  the 
boxes  was  somewhat  strange  to  the  dis- 
tributor, he  carried  a  few  letters  past  some  of 
the  nearer  stations  on  the  first  trip. 

"It  required  but  a  few  trips,  however,  to 
demonstrate  the  immediate  success  of  the 
scheme,  and  soon  arrangements  were  perfected 
for  introducing  the  system  on  all  the  railway 
lines  leading  out  of  Chicago,  more  particularly 
those  running  east  and  west.  It  was,  how- 
ever, the  summer  of  1865  before  the  railway 
post-office  system  received  the  official  sanction 
of  the  department,  and  it  was  introduced  on 
the  Xorthwestem,  Rock  Island,  Burlington, 
Michigan  Southern,  Fort  "Wayne  and  ^Michigan 
Central  railroads  in  the  order  named. 

"In  the  spring  of  1868,  when  the  completion 
of  the  Union  Pacific  made  an  overland  mail 
feasible,  two  sets  of  clerks  were  put  on  the 
Rock  Island  road,  one  of  which  handled  the 
California  and  overland  mails  exclusively  and 
the  other  the  local  mails  between  Chicago  and 
Davenport,  Iowa.  This  required  an  entire 
car,  something  like  the  present  postal  cars, 
and  greatly  enlarged  the  sphere  of  the  railway 
post-office.  From  this  small,  crude  beginning 
has  grown  the  present  gigantic  railway  mail 
service." 

Perhaps  the  first  significant  step  forward, 
after  the  installation  of  the  "traveling  post- 
office,"  was  the  invention  of  the  "express 
mail"  by  Mail  Clerk  S.  F.  Champion. 

The  people  at  Lockport,  Illinois,  had  asked 
him  to  send  their  mail  on  an  accommodation 
train  from  Chicago;  and  Lemont,  eight  miles 
north  of  Lockport,  asked  a  similar  privilege. 
It  could  not  be  granted.  He  arranged  ac- 
cordingly to  have  the  Lemont  mail  sent  in 
the  Lockport  pouch,  and  at  Lockport  trans- 
ferred to  a  train  running  back  to  Lemont, 
thus  putting  a  mail  into  that  town  which 
otherwise  would  not  have  reached  there  until 
the  next  morning.  "A  few  days  later,"  says 
Mr.  Champion,  "Mr.  Armstrong  slapped 
me  heartily  on  the  back  and  exclaimed: 
Champion,  you've  given  me  a  good  idea. 
Make  me  a  list  of  all  the  offices  on  your  run 
where  the  mail  trains  meet  the  express  trains.' 
Within  twenty-four  hours  the  'express  mail' 
was  born  and  continued  until  night  service 
took  its  place." 

For  some  time  after  the  installation  of  the 
Railway  Postal  Service  it  was  the  practice  to 


R^Jjl 

mi  ^"^  -v 

^m 

f  M  ■''* 

READY  TO  SNATCH  A  SACK  WITHOUT  STOPPING 

accompany  each  package  of  letters  with  a 
"post  bill"  or  memorandum  of  its  contents, 
classified  as  paid,  unpaid  and  free  matter. 
These  bills  were  made  out  in  duplicate,  the 
original  accompanying  the  package  to  its 
destination  while  the  duplicate  was  sent  to 
Washington.  This  was  on  the  theory  that 
the    postmaster    or   mail    clerk    opening   the 


POUCHING   THE   LETTERS 


#' 


2878 


THE   TRAVELING    POST-OFFICE 


CATCHING   THE    MAIL   SACKS    FOR   A    uClcK    TRANSFER 


package  would  check  off  the  letters  and  then 
forward  the  bill  to  the  department  at 
Washington  to  be  compared  with  the  dupli- 
cate. Tons  of  these  bills  accumulated  at 
headquarters  and  were  destroyed  without 
any  attempt  at  their  comparison.  This  was 
before  the  days  of  the  prepayment  of  postage. 
Under  the  Act  of  March  3,  1863,  prepayment 
of  postage  was  required  by  means  of  postage 
stamps  affixed,  which  naturally  did  away 
w4th  the  "post  bill." 

Even  more  burdensome  was  the  system  of 
wrapping  each  package  of  letters  in  brown 
paper  and  readdressing  it  to  the  post-office  of 
destination.  If  the  package  consisted  of  one 
letter  only  it  was  not  permitted  to  go  forward 
without  its  wrappings.  Each  car  was  obliged 
to  carry  huge  stacks  of  this  manila  paper, 
and  the  mail  clerks  stood  knee-deep  in  the 
wrappings  from  opened  packages.  Here  was 
another  dead  weight  upon  the  service  which 
I\Ir.  Armstrong  at  once  detected  and  abolished, 
substituting  the  present  system  of  tying 
letters  for  the  same  destination  into  a  neat 
package  with  a  plainly  addressed  envelope 
uppermost. 

In  a  document  written  by  James  E.  Stuart, 
an  inspector  in  the  Post-Office  Department, 
is  an  account  of  how  the  modern  "route 
scheme"  was  introduced  into  the  service. 


"In  those  days,"  writes  Mr.  Stuart,  "no 
schemes  of  distribution  were  furnished  as  at 
present.  Each  clerk  secured  for  himself  an 
alphabetical  list  of  post-offices,  and  opposite 
each  office  he  would  mark  the  route  it  should 
be  'thrown  to'  from  his  own  line.  There  was, 
therefore,  no  systematized  scheme  governing 
the  distribution  of  mail  matter.  Experience 
quickly  demonstrated  the  value  of  the  route 
scheme  and  soon  thereafter  others  were 
prepared  for  the  various  States  and  finally 
the  official  scheme  book  was  adopted  by  the 
department." 

This  volume  is  upon  the  distributing  table 
of  every  railway  mail  clerk  and  may  be 
described  as  his  "city  directory,"  for  it 
enables  him  instantly  to  locate  any  post-office 
in  a  given  State  and  itiforms  him  of  the 
various  routes  by  which  it  may  be  reached. 

"The  facing  slip,"  continues  Mr.  Stuart's 
narrative,  "now  used  to  test  the  efficiency  of 
each  clerk  and  to  enable  a  record  to  be  kept 
of  all  errors  in  distribution,  was  the  out- 
growth of  an  experiment  of  my  own.  While 
I  was  a  postal  clerk  on  the  line  from  Boone  to 
Council  Bluffs  I  conceived  the  idea  of  placing 
a  slip  of  paper  the  size  of  an  envelope  upon 
each  mail  package  which  I  made  up  for  other 
lines,  in  order  that  the  clerks  who  handled 
these  packages  might  note  on  these  slips  the 


lllE   TKAVLLING    rOSl-UMlCh 


2H79 


errors  of  distribution  and  return  tlicin  to  inc. 
By  this  means  1  was  advised  of  my  own  errors 
and  enabled  to  correct  theni  and  also  to 
perfect  my  distribution  scheme.  This  label 
slip  was  similar  to  the  one  now  in  use,  and  I 
had  the  pleasure,  a  few  years  after  my  first 
experiment  with  the  slip,  of  seeing  it  otticially 
adopted  for  the  entire  service." 

It  would  not  be  altogether  an  easy  task, 
perhaps,  to  find  a  country  village  which  has 
not  contributed  at  least  one  young  man  to  the 
Railway  Postal  Service,  and  it  certainly  would 
be  decidedly  difficult  to  name  one  which  has 
not  furnished  a  candidate  for  such  a  position. 
The  number  of  young  men  who  compete 
is  concisely  shown  by  the  following  table : 


Took 

Made 

Civil  Service 

Passed 

"  Regular 

Examination 

Examination 

Substitutes 

i8q6 

5  •0  1.? 

3.127 

655 

1807 

6.431 

4.710 

•     381 

1898 

4.709 

3,828 

698 

1899 

5,220 

4,319 

774 

1900 

5.1 1 5 

3.844 

7.36 

1 90 1 

5,090 

3.593 

933 

This  tells  the  whole  story  with  the  excep- 
tion of  adding  that  between  ninety-eight 
and  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the  "regular 
subs"  are  appointed  to  full  and  regular  clerk- 
ships. There  are  five  grades  of  clerks,  the 
lowest  receiving  $900  a  year,  while  the 
maximum  salary  is  $1,400.  While  the  Second 
Assistant  Postmaster-General  is  really  the 
official  head  of  the  Railwav  Postal  Service, 
the  General  Superintendent  is  the  active 
executive  officer  of  the  system.     In  1901  the 


THROWING  OUT  THE   .MAIL  SACKS  AT  A  TRANSFER 
STATION 

clerks  distributed   more  than    14,181,224,420 
pieces  of  mail. 


TRANSFERRING   THE    MAIL   FROM    ONE   TRAIN    TO  ANOTHER 


288o 


THE   TRAVELING    POST-OFFICE 


That  this  vocation  has  its  pecuhar  perils 
cannot  be  denied,  and  a  constant  effort  is 
being  made  to  diminish  the  habihty  to  acci- 
dent through  the  building  of  stronger  and 
safer  mail  cars,  the  construction  of  which  is 
now  under  government  supervision.  The 
archives  of  the  service  hold  so  many  records 
of  almost  miraculous  escapes  from  sudden 
death  that  the  clerks  are  naturally  inclined 
to  feel  that  in  some  manner  they  will  be 
delivered  from  destruction,  although  the 
position  of  the  mail  car  in  a  train  gives  them 
the  maximum  of  exposure  to  accident. 

One  clerk  was  busy  throwing  mail  in  a 
combination  smoker  and  baggage  car,  when 
suddenly,  without  an  instant's  warning,  he 
felt  the  car  leap  from  the  track  and  heard  a 
terrific  crash.  When  he  regained  conscious- 
ness the  wreck  presented  this  chaotic  condi- 
tion: the  two  forward  cars  had  been  plunged 
down  a  seventy-foot  embankment ;  the  combi- 
nation car  landed  in  an  upright  position  with 
the  rear  trucks  on  the  roof,  every  seat  in  the 
smoking  compartment  being  utterly  demol- 
ished, while  on  the  floor  of  the  mail  compart- 
ment was  a  huge  angular  stone  weighing 
not  less  than  half  a  ton.  How  the  mail 
clerk  escaped  unhurt  will  always  be  a 
mystery. 

There  is  probably  no  department  of  the 
government  service  in  which  a  higher  standard 
of  devotion  to  duty  is  maintained  than 
in  this.  During  a  heavy  freshet  on  the 
Susquehanna  River,  in  1890,  all  bridges  were 
swept   away   and   the   railroad   tracks   along 


the  banks  practically  destroyed.  Four  mail 
clerks  remained  in  their  car  until  the  water 
rising  and  flowing  through  the  doors  com- 
pelled them  to  take  to  an  improvised  raft, 
which  consisted  of  pieces  of  floating  sidewalks 
and  other  debris  of  the  inundation,  lashed 
together.  On  this  frail  craft  they  put  their 
pouches,  and  carefully  propelling  by  poles 
along  with  the  current,  gained  the  post-office, 
a  mile  away.  They  found  this  abandoned, 
with  eight  feet  of  water  in  the  street  at 
that  point.  They  were  almost  exhausted 
and  their  condition  was  precarious.  Finally, 
however,  they  were  rescued  by  boats  and 
taken  into  houses  through  the  second-story 
windows.  The  letter  mail  was  all  intact  and 
in  fairly  good  condition. 

Some  time  ago  the  "run"  on  a  Western 
road  was  "short"  a  clerk  because  of  sickness. 
An  official  of  the  service  happened  to  be  on 
the  train  and  volunteered  his  services.  For 
fifteen  hours  he  stuck  to  his  work  at  the 
letter  case.  In  the  journey  of  more  than 
five  hundred  miles  he  had  only  a  sandwich 
or  two  for  food,  and  stood  on  his  feet  without 
relief.  There  are  other  instances  on  record 
where  entire  crews  have  stood  to  the  work 
without  food  for  twenty-four  hours. 

But  the  last  and  the  best  word  which  may 
be  said  of  the  Railway  Postal  Service  of  the 
United  States  is  that  it  perpetuates  the  spirit 
of  its  founder,  and  maintains  to  a  remark- 
able degree  the  devotion  to  duty,  the  pluck 
and  the  unflagging  perseverance  with  which 
George  B.  Armstrong  endowed  it. 


A    NAP   IN    THF.   STORAGF.   CAR    AFTKR    A    STRENUOUS   DAV 


SAMAlk    PAVILION:     A    FAMOUS   BATHING    RKSORT 

Oiii;  of  the  few  liising  investments  of  the   Mormons 


THE    MORMONS;   A   SUCCESSFUL 
COOPERATIVE  SOCIETY 


BY  PRACTICAL  COOPERATION  THE  VARIED  BUSINESS  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE 
MORMON  PEOPLE  CONTROLLED  BY  THE  CHURCH— "JOSEPH  F.  SMITH,  PRESI- 
DENT," UNIVERSAL  IN  THE  MORMON  COUNTRY— THE  ALMOST  INFINITE 
SCOPE     AND      POWER     OF     THIS      PRACTICAL     RELIGIOUS    PATERNALISM 

BY 

GLEN    MILLER 

FORMERLY    INITED    STATES    MARSHAL    IX    VTAH 

Illustrated  from  photographs  by  The  Johnson  Company,  Salt  Lake  City 


WITH  polygamy  abandoned,  the 
Mormon  Church.  I  presume,  is 
slowly  going  to  pieces." 
That  was  the  gist  of  a  hundred  remarks  I 
heard  during  a  recent  trip  east.  It  repre- 
sents a  very  prevalent  impression  held  out- 
side of  Utah  regarding  the  "  Mormon  question." 
The  Mormon  Church  isn't  slowly  going  to 
pieces,  or  going  to  pieces  in  any  way  at  all 
On  the  contrary,  it  is,  comparatively,  growing 
faster  in  numbers  and  in  power  than  any 
other  church  of  the  land.  It  is  the  widest 
awake,  most   vigorous    and  most   aggressive 


religious  denomination  in  America  today. 
The  chief  source  of  its  strength  can  be  defined 
in  two  words — practical  cooperation.  For  the 
Mormon  people  have  evolved  what  has  so 
long  eluded  economists  and  philanthropists — 
a  successful  cooperative  society. 

Consulting  the  directories  of  a  large  number 
of  the  most  important  corporations  in  the 
State  of  Utah,  you  will  find  at  the  head  of 
each  the  words  "  Joseph  F.  Smith,  President.' ' 
Joseph  F.  Smith  has  been  President  of  the 
Mormon  Church  since  October  17,  1901.  His 
election  to  the   presidency   of  every   one   of 


2882     THE    MORMONS:     A  SUCCESSFUL  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETY 


WEIGHING   SUGAR    BEETS   AT   THE    LEHI    FACTORY 

these  corporations  has  occurred  since  that 
date.  As  a  matter  of  form,  a  separate 
election  takes  place  in  each  company  for 
president;  but  an  election  to  the  presi- 
dency of   the    Mormon  Church   is   equivalent 


to    an    election   to    the    presidency    of   these 
companies. 

Joseph  F.  Smith,  prophet,  seer  and  revealer 
of  the  Mormon  Church,  presides  over  great 
mercantile  institutions,  factories  engaged  in 
producing  the  staples  of  life,  railroads,  power- 
plants,  commercial  and  savings  banks,  imple- 
ment warehouses,  coal  mines,  pleasure  resorts, 
educational  institutions,  book  stores  and  daily 
newspapers  and  magazines.  The  potency  of 
those  words,  "Joseph  F.  Smith,  President," 
is  known  to  every  business  man  in  Utah. 
The  very  least  significance  that  can  be  attached 
to  them  is  that  the  institutions  over  which 
Mr.  Smith  presides  have  the  good-will  and 
friendly  interest  of  the  church.  The  larger 
interpretation  is  that  these  institutions  render 
allegiance  to  the  Mormon  Church  and  in 
return  receive  its  protection  and  patronage. 
The  concerns  of  which  I  speak  are  private 
corporations,  organized  under  the  general 
statutes  of  the  State,  engaging  in  business  for 
profit.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  President  Smith 
personally  gives  but  little  time  to  the  affairs 
of  these  corporations  of  which  he  is  the 
nominal  head.  His  private  ownership  in  any 
of  these  institutions  may  be  taken  to  be  very 
small.     The  institutions  of  which  he  is  presi- 


BOYS   TESTING    MOTHER   BEETS   TO   BE    PLANTED    FOR   SEED 
The  seed  was  formerly  brought  from  Germany  :   now   it   is  raised   in   Utah 


Ixeculive    Direilors. 

j0S£ph;f  smith,  p.«»t 

JOHN  nwiNOCR.  Itl  V<c*  P>«»t 
I    S.   HILLS.  Tr««tuf«' 
T    C   WtBBCB.  2"d  V    P 
JOHN  J   BANIGAN.  W   S   McCGRNICK. 

w  J  CURTIS.  nuoGencLAwsON. 

GCOnCE    ROMNEV 

CCNCRALCOUNSCL. 

LC   r.RAND  VOUNG. 


Installation; 


ELECTRICAL 

SALT  LAKt.  WATER     2400  H    P. 


'OGDCN. 


STEAM   •  1500  H    i 
WAT(ft  -&000  H    I 


GAS: 

SALT  LAKE.  430  M  CU    FT    OAILV. 
OGOCN.  60  M  CU    FT.  DAILY. 


AdminislrjIJvr: 


ROBCftT  tt    CAUPBtLl 

G«n'l  Manager  •»«  bacaiafy 

R    r     HAVWARO, 

Clacl'ical   Cngin««f 


SAVE  YOUR  MONEY 

Zion's  Savinirs  Bank  &  Trust  Co. 

)um    P.  aMITH.  Pmldrnt.  GnOMUk  M   Canmom.  CMblw 

Atrmon  U.  Lvtto.  Vic«  Pkw.  Lewis  m  CtnitQit.  Amt  (.Mbl«r. 


Ubc- 


State 
Banh 


of  latab. 


f  nlanb  Q^cyetal  §aii  ODo. 


,\LT  l-AKK  «1tV.  I'TAII. 


)•   W   C1.AVTO!* 


"IF    YOUJUE  fHQVO  Of  VOUR  HO«!>E  HITCH  HIM  TO  A 
.■AiliON  TftiT  UilL  not  )Eri*flCT  ?m  HIS  VALUE  " 


N»w  If  yon  Ar*  not  prond  of  yoor  honie,  and  yoor  hon« 
is  ■«!  aoro  "toppy"  or  nor«  ahowy  than  thr  above  rqolne. 
mt  alMipl.v  roonot  %*\\  )on  •  vehicle  (bat  will  be  In  bar- 
Bioay  viltb  bin. 

Bat  we  hope  fon  baT«>  a  floe  piece  of  "borae  fle*b."  aad 
that  70a  will  (Ive  «■  ao  opportaalty  to  match  Itwithaflne 
aad  itjlUb  vehicle. 

We  ar«  glTlKg  Mere  for  the  moaey  than  any  other  ve- 
hlct*  eoneera,  as  oar  aaMcroai  patroao  will  attest;  we 
are    aaxloa*    to    caroll     \OV    a>    oae    of    ear   well  Baticfled 


Consolidated  Wagon 
&  Machine  Company 


JOSEPH  F.  SMITH.  Prisilinl 
EEO.  T.  ODELL.  Simfil  Mina|if 


Z.  C.  M.  I. 

,  Importers  and  Wholesale  Dealers  in  General  Me 

SALT  LAKE  CITY.  OGDEN  AND  PROVO.  UTAH,  AND  IDAHO  FALLS,  IDAHO. 


FICEKS  ANO    DIRECTORS: 

JOS.   F.  SniTM.  President. 
OEO.  ROMNEV.   Vkc-Prcsldcnt. 
THOS    O     WEBBER.  Sec'ctary.. 
A.  W    CARLSON.  Treasurer. 

WEBBER.  Oenl.  Superintendent. 


jBuit .fiiiinrirritiiri>|iiTTifii'iffi1if''Vmii''i1''''i'i'''n"''^''"W; 


TOM 


111 


DIRECTORS: 

H.  3.  Grant  John  Henry  Smith 

J.  R.  Winder  F   H.  Lyman 

H.  Dlnwoodey  Anthon  H.  Lund 

P.  T.  Farns«orth    Wm    H.  Hclntyr* 
J.  R.  Bomes  Reed  5moot 

T.  O.  Webber 


Hss^^e^s^^si. 


.    JOSEPH  F.  SMITH, 

k 

v\                                 '^~*"'- 

.Yi;  THOMAS  R.  CUTLER, 
%  HORACE  G.  WHITNEY, 

n 

P 

S«Tttjr>  jDd  Trtisuftr. 

Sugar  Co.^ 

BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS: 

JOSEPH  f.  SMITH.  »M.  B.  PRESTON.  B«R10W  EEROISON. 

T«0\l*S  R.  lUTlER  J4MES  J«K.  GEORGE  H.  T*HOR 

HEBER  J.  GRIM.  W.  S.  McCORMCK.  JOHN  R.  WNDER, 

TH0M4S  I  WEBBER.       »M.  H.  MtlNURE.  JOH'i  HENRI  SMITH. 

JOHN  C.  CUTTER 


A    GROUP    OF   ADVERTISEMENTS    SHOWING   THE    MANY    ENTERPRISES    OF    WHICH 

TOSEPH    F.    SMITH    IS    PRESIDENT 


2884     THE  MORMONS:     A  SUCCESSFUL  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETY 


THE    BEAR    RIVER    DAM    OWNED    BY    THE   UTAH   SUGAR   COMPANY 


A    MORMON    RANCH    HOUSE 


dent  are  really  under  the  direction  of  men 
skilled  in  the  lines  of  trade  represented,  but 
all  under  the  parental  influence  of  the  church. 
Foremost  of  these  great  institutions  or 
corporations  is  Zion's  Cooperative  Mercantile 
Institution.  This  great  department  store, 
doing  a  large  wholesale  and  retail  business 
that  extends  to  every  Mormon  settlement, 
was  established  by  Brigham  Young  in  1868. 
Over  its  main  entrance  on  Main  Street,  Salt 
Lake  City,  is  the  all-seeing  eye,  emblem  of 
Mormon  authority,  and  encircling  it  are  the 
words  "Holiness  to  the  Lord."  Brigham 
Young  was  its  first  president,  and  each 
Mormon  president  in  turn  has  been  elected 
president  of  the  Z.  C.  M.  I.  Every  director 
since  its  establishment,  with  the  exception  of 
one,  whose  family  belongs  to  the  church,  has 
been  a  Mormon,  and  the  bulk  of  its  capital. 
Si. 07 7, 000,  is  in  Mormon  hands.  One-tenth 
of  the  salaries  of  its  employees  is  given  to  the 
church.  The  store  has  steadily  paid  large 
dividends,  and  its  stock  is  quoted  at  sixty  per 
cent,  above  par.  Its  wholesale  business  is 
mostly  with  the  "Coop."  and  other  ]\Iormon 


T 


2886     THE  MORMONS:    A  SUCCESSFUL  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETY 


stores  of  the  smaller  towns  and  settlements. 
The  annual  sales  are  over  $4,000,000.  In 
local  parlance  "The  Coop."  always  refers  to 
Zion's  Cooperative  Mercantile  Institution. 
Strolling  through  its  many  aisles,  the  words 
"brother"  and  "sister"  will  be  heard  oftener 
than  any  others,  being  the  greetings  of  clerks 
to    patrons.     Naturally,    the    institution    is 


capital  stock  of  $2,000,000  sells  in  the  open 
market  at  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  premium. 
This  company  owes  its  existence  directly 
to  the  Mormon  Church.  President  Wilford 
Woodruff  officially  appointed  the  original 
committee  for  tlie  Lehi  sugar  factory,  with 
authority  to  solicit  subscriptions  from  the 
^lormon  people.      This  was  the  first  and  it  is 


THE   COOPKR.ATIVE   SUGAR    FACTORY    AT   I.EHI 
22,000,000  pounds  of  sugar  produced  this  year 


glad  to  get  Gentile  patronage ;  but  the  bulk  of 
its  patronage  is  within  the  church.  Large 
branch  stores  of  the  Z.  C.  M.  I.,  as  it  is  com- 
monly called  for  brevity,  are  located  at  Ogden 
and  Provo — next  to  Salt  Lake  City,  the 
largest  cities  of  Utah;  and  at  Idaho  Falls, 
Idaho. 

President  Joseph  F.  Smith  also  figures  at 
the  head  of  the  Utah  Sugar  Company,  whose 


the  largest  of  the  factories  owned  by  this 
company,  which  controls  the  sugar  output  of 
Utah.  "  Patronize  home  industries"  was  one 
of  Brigham  Young's  favorite  injunctions. 
Obedience  to  it  was  never  more  munificently 
rewarded  than  in  the  sugar  industry.  The 
company  has  returned  to  the  stockholders 
almost  tlieir  original  investment  in  the  way  of 
stock   dividends,   besides   paying   an   annual 


p 


PRESIDENT    JOSEPH    F.    SMITH     OF   THE    MORMON    CHURCH 

THE    HEAD    OF    THE    GREAT    MORMON    COOPERATIVE    ENTERPRISES 


2888     THE  MORMONS:    A  SUCCESSFUL  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETY 


twelve  per  cent,  cash  dividend  for  a  series  of 
years.  The  wonderful  profits  of  the  undertak- 
ing attracted  the  cupidity  of  the  Sugar  Trust, 
to  appease  which  the  stockholders  parted  with 
a  half-interest  in  their  holdings.  The  presi- 
dency continues  to  rest  in  the  hands  of 
Joseph  F.  Smith.  The  sugar  company  has 
been  a  large  dealer  in  irrigated  lands.  It 
owns  at  present  over  thirty  thousand  acres  of 
land  and  the  finest  irrigation  canal  in  the 
State  of  Utah,  taking  water  from  the  Bear 
River  by  means  of  a  dam  constructed  in  the 
Bear  River  cafion.     Every  year  this  company 


Another  of  the  great  industries  to  which 
the  name  of  Joseph  F.  Smith  is  linked  as 
presiding  officer  is  the  manufacture  of  salt. 
The  Inland  Crystal  Salt  Company  has  its 
salt  fields  and  refinery  on  the  shore  of  Great 
Salt  Lake.  Salt  water  is  pumped  from  the 
lake  to  the  flat  alkali  lands  bordering  the 
shore.  The  water  is  confined  by  dykes,  and 
precipitates  the  salt  as  the  water  evaporates 
under  the  rays  of  the  summer  sun.  The  salt 
is  scraped  up  and  piled  in  pyramids  and  then 
carted  to  the  refinery  and  made  ready  for 
the  table.    This  company  furnishes  the  larger 


"^>m^ 


THE   S.ALT   BEDS   OF   THE   INLAND   CRYSTAL   SALT  COMPANY 


contracts  with  farmers — ninety-five  per  cent, 
of  whom  are  Mormons — for  the  beet  output  of 
their  farms.  The  cultivation  of  the  sugar  beet 
has  been  the  means  of  utilizing  the  labor  of 
children  in  summer  time ;  and  as  the  Mormon 
family  is  proverbially  large,  it  can  easily  be 
understood  how  peculiarly  valuable  this 
industry  is  to  Utah.  This  year  22,000,000 
pounds  of  sugar  will  be  produced  by  the 
Lehi  factory  alone.  The  sugar  beet  has 
in  recent  years  done  as  beneficent  a  work  for 
the  Mormon  farmer  as  alfalfa  did  twenty 
years  ago,  the  two  products  today  forming 
the  staple  and  profitable  crops  of  the  Utah 
"ranch." 


portion   of   all   the   salt  used   in   the   Rocky 
Mountain  and  Coast  country. 

Closely  associated  with  the  salt  company 
is  another  corporation  which  is  also  headed 
by  the  Mormon  president.  The  Salt  Lake 
and  Los  Angeles  Railway  is  not  so  great  a 
system  as  its  name  might  indicate.  It  runs 
from  Salt  Lake  City  to  Great  Salt  Lake,  a 
distance  of  fifteen  miles.  Here  are  the  salt 
works  from  which  it  gets  the  bulk  of  its 
freight  traffic.  Probably  none  of  its  com- 
mercial enterprises  are  more  closely  controlled 
by  the  church  than  this  railway,  whose  name 
has  figured  unpleasantly  in  politics  of  the 
State  in  davs  not  remote. 


TIIK    MORMONS:     A  SUCCESSFUL  COOl'KR  A'l' I  \' l'.  SO(Il"rY     2889 


At  the  western  terminus  of  the  Salt  Lake 
and  Los  Angeles  Railway  is  Saltair  Pavilion, 
probably  the  finest  bathing  resort  in  the 
worUl.  This  structure  cost  $350,000  and  is 
as  nearly  under  the  sole  ownership  of  the 
church  as  any  institution  to  which  the  name 
of  "Joseph  F.  Smith.  President,"  is  attached. 
Brigham  \'oung's  old  saying,  "The  people 
must  be  amused,"  has  been  ])erpetuated 
through  theatres,  concerts  and  out-of-door 
resorts  to  which  the  church  has  stood  sponsor. 
By  far  the  most  pretentious  of  these  amuse- 
ment   places  is  Saltair,  the  central   pavilion 


A    MtiRMON  SHEEP   HERDER 

of  which  is  a  duplicate  in  shape  and  dimen- 
sions of  the  famous  Mormon  Tabernacle. 
The  resort  has  been  one  of  the  few  investments 
on  which  the  church  has  lost  money. 

Salt  Lake  is  the  distributing  point  for  most 
of  the  wagons  and  agricultural  implements 
used  in  the  inter-mountain  country.  Over- 
shadowing every  other  institution  of  this 
sort  is  the  "  Consolidated  Wagon  and  Machine 
Company,"  with  a  capital  of  $1,160,700,  of 
which  Joseph  F.  Smith  is  the  president.  The 
vast  quantity  of  implements  handled  by  this 
company  may  be  understood  when  it  is 
stated  that  whole  train  loads  of  one  kind  of 


SAI/r    LAKE   THEATRE 
A  box  is  always  reserved  for  Joseph  F.  Smith 

implement  have  been  sent  from  the  factory 
to  this  house.  As  the  hardware  business 
is  within  the  domain  of  Zion's  Cooperative 
Mercantile  Institution,  the  implement  com- 
pany keeps  out  of  this  department.  The 
Consolidated  Wagon  and  Machine  Company, 
hke  Zion's  Cooperative  Mercantile  Institution, 
has  branches  in  other  cities  in  Utah  and 
Idaho. 

Commercial  banking  finds  Joseph  F.  Smith 
at  the  head  of  the  State  Bank  of  Utah,  and 


THE    TITHING    STORE 
Here  the  faithful  deliver  one-tenth  of  their  produce  to  the  church 


"DEPOSIT    HERE" 
The  statue  of  Brigham  Young  and  the  Mormon  financial  institutions 


THE  MORMONS:  A  SUCCESSFUL  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETY     2891 


savings  banking  finds  him  at  the  head  of 
Zion's  Savings  Hank  and  Trust  Company,  both 
located  in  the  same  buikhng  and  the  same  room. 
Opposite  the  corner  of  this  building,  at  the 
intersection  of  Main  and  "Brigham"  Streets, 
stands  the  bronze  figure  of  Brigham  Young, 
with  outstretched  hand  and  finger  pointing 
in  the  direction  of  these  financial  institutions. 
A  wag,  having  in  mind  actual  conditions,  has 
represented  the  great  prophet  on  his  lofty- 
pedestal  pointing  toward  these  banks  as 
saying,  "Deposit  here."  Be  that  as  it  may, 
Zion's  Savings  Bank  and  Trust  Company  has 
a  larger  deposit  than  all  the  other  savings 
institutions  (twenty-four)  of  Utah  combined. 
The  State  Bank  of  Utah  has  until  recently 
had  the  Governor  of  the  State,  a  Mormon,  as 
its  cashier,  as  well  as  the  president  of  the 
Mormon  Church  as  its  president.  The  advan- 
tage of  church  connection  to  financial  institu- 
tions, not  only  in  securing  deposits,  but  in 
warding  off  danger  in  times  of  panic  is  not 
to  be  hghtly  estimated.  Not  a  Gentile 
figures  in  the  directory  of  either  institution. 
Both  banks  have  assisted  in  financing  numer- 
ous church  propositions. 

The  Consolidated  Light  and  Power 
Company,  whose  main  offices  are  located 
between  Zion's  Savings  Bank  and  Trust 
Company  and  Zion's  Cooperative  Mercantile 
Institution,  also  has  Joseph  F.  Smith  for  its 
president.  It  takes  power  from  the  Weber 
River,  four  miles  north  from  Ogden,  and 
transmits  to  Salt  Lake  City  all  the  power  and 
light  used  in  the  city,  including  that  used  by 
the  street  car  system.  It  also  furnishes  light 
and  power  for  Ogden. 

The  Deserct  Evening  News  is  the  official 
organ  of  the  Mormon  Church.  It  now 
occupies,  opposite  the  Mormon  temple  on 
one  corner  and  the  two  Mormon  banks 
just  mentioned  on  the  other,  the  handsomest 
and  most  costly  business  block  in  Utah. 
It  is  not  necessary,  perhaps,  to  mention  that 
it  has  for  its  president  Joseph  F.  Smith.  It 
is  managed  by  Horace  G.  Whitney,  who  is 
also  secretary  of  the  Utah  Sugar  Company. 
Indeed,  it  is  interesting  to  observe  how  the 
same  directors  weave  in  and  out  through  the 
companies  over  which  the  Mormon  president 
presides.  The  News,  all  editions  considered, 
has  a  larger  circulation  than  any  other 
intermountain  newspaper. 

Scarcely  a  town  in  Utah  or  a  ward  in  any 
of  the  Mormon  towns  but  has  its  cooperative 


stores.  The  "First  Ward  Coop.,"  "Second 
Ward  Cooi).,"and  so  on  through  the  thirty- 
two  wards  of  Salt  Lake,  are  small  outlying 
stores  whose  names  point  with  certainty  to 
the  fact  that  they  are  owned  by  Mormons. 
These  small  "  coop."  stores  are  the  patrons 
of  the  big  "  coop."  stores.  Still  other  names 
indicate  the  -variety  of  directions  that 
cooperation  takes:  "Coop.  Meat  Market," 
"Coop.  Lumber  Company,"  and  many 
others.  In  the  smaller  towns  these  stores 
generally  take  the  name  of  the  place, 
as  "  Loa  Cooperative  Mercantile  Institu- 
tion," "  Monticello  Cooperative  Company," 
"Spanish  Fork  Cooperative  Association," 
"St.  George  Cooperative  Store,"  "  Nephi 
Coop.,"  and  so  on  down  the  list. 

To  appreciate  fully  how  cooperation  in 
Utah  is  practically  born  and  bred  into  its 
"chosen  people,"  it  will  be  well  to  take  a 
peep  into  the  simplest  phases  of  Mormon 
activity.  The  "teacher"  is  one  of  the  lowest 
in  the  scale  of  Mormon  officers.  To  the 
teacher  in  the  city  is  assigned  one-half  of  a 
block,  and  with  the  teacher's  work  begins  the 
first  object  lesson  in  cooperation.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  teacher  to  visit,  meet,  counsel 
with  and  assist  every  member  of  the  church  in 
his  district.  To  the  teacher  each  member 
confides  his  sorrows,  joys,  hopes  and  ambi- 
tions. To  illustrate  briefly  with  suppositious 
personages,  we  will  take  a  block  in  Salt  Lake 
City  assigned  to  Orson  Dunford.  Dunford  is 
a  young  man  of  good  character,  strongly 
imbued  with  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  who 
has  been  selected  by  his  bishop  for  this  work 
because  of  his  natural  leadership.  Among 
his  first  visits  is  his  call  upon  Sister  Anna 
Larsen,  a  domestic  in  a  prominent  Gentile 
family.  Sister  Larsen  has  heard  from  her 
mother,  in  Sweden,  who  wishes  to  join  her 
daughter  in  America.  The  expense  of  the 
trip  will  be  $60,  and  of  this  the  young  servant 
can  furnish  S25  from  a  year's  frugal  savings. 
The  teacher  reports  the  case  to  his  bishop, 
and  it  is  decided  to  send  the  money  through 
the  Copenhagen  mission  for  the  mother's 
expenses  in  coming  to  Utah.  In  due  time  the 
old  lady  arrives,  secures  some  place  in  kitchen 
or  factory,  and  eventually  the  loan  is  repaid 
the  bishop  from  the  combined  savings  of 
mother  and  daughter.  Teacher  Dunford 
learns  on  his  rounds  from  Brother  Nichols 
that  the  irrigation  ditch  running  between 
the   Nichols    and   Katzmeyer  gardens  is   the 


2892      THE  MORMONS:  A  SUCCESSFUL  COOPERATIVE  SOCIETY 


cause  of  acrimonious  dispute.  After  hearing 
Brother  Nichols'  version  of  the  trouble,  the 
teacher  calls  on  Brother  Katzmeyer.  The 
line  of  brotherly  duty  is  then  defined  b}^  the 
teacher  and  each  neighbor  admonished  as  to 
his  obligations.  If  this  is  not  sufficient  to 
heal  the  wound,  the  matter  is  referred  to  the 
Teachers'  Quorum,  presided  over  by  the 
bishop.  The  Quorum  calls  the  disputants 
before  it,  listens  to  the  case  and  renders  its 
opinion.  In  turn,  if  this  is  insufficient,  the 
matter  is  carried  still  higher.  In  certain 
grave  and  far-reaching  differences  the 
Quorum  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  listen 
solemnly  to  the  case  and  pass  on  its  merits. 
Generally,  however,  the  confidence  placed  in 
the  teacher  and  the  Teachers'  Quorum  makes 
their  decision  acceptable  to  both  parties  and 
stops  the  trouble  in  its  incipiency.  Once  a 
month  the  teachers  of  each  ward  assemble 
to  compare  notes  and  listen  to  reports 
from  each  other  upon  visits  made  in  the 
various  districts.  Ordinarily  a  ward  consists 
of  nine  blocks,  so  that  there  are  eighteen 
teachers  in  a  meeting.  As  each  block  is 
called  by  the  bishop  the  teacher  arises  and 
makes  a  report — of  which  the  following, 
taken  verbatim,  except  as  to  names,  is 
typical : 

"  Brother  Brown  and  I  visited  Block  Num- 
ber Seven,  spending  two  evenings  in  making 
the  round.  "We  found  Sister  Hagreen  first- 
rate.  She  has  had  a  bad  cold,  but  is  gradu- 
ally improving.  Brother  and  Sister  Johnson 
we  found  in  good  health.  Brother  Sorenson's 
boy  has  a  broken  leg  and  he  has  been  laid  off 
work  for  two  weeks.  Brother  Sorenson  had  a 
letter  from  his  son  Henry,  who  is  on  a  mission 
in  Australia,  asking  for  $io  to  assist  in  build- 
ing a  meeting  house.  I  think  we  should 
furnish  the  money.  Sister  Knowles  is  getting 
very  feeble.  She  is  nearly  ninety  years  old, 
and  needs  a  sack  of  potatoes  and  flour.  A 
lady  living  in  the  middle  of  the  block — 
recently  moved  in — has  a  baby,  a  little  boy. 
He  should  be  named.  Ever}-thing  on  our 
block  is  in  good  shape  and  the  Saints  in  fine 
spirit,  though  inclined  to  shirk  meetings. '" 

A  very  important  part  of  the  teacher's 
duties  is  to  ascertain  whether  each  member 
in  his  district  obeys  the  law  of  tithing.  The 
faithfulness  and  promptness  with  which 
tithing  is  paid  determines  largely  one's 
standing  in  the  church.  Accordingly,  the 
teacher  expounds  the  law  of  the  church  which 


calls  upon  every  member  to  give  one-tenth 
of  his  "increase"  yearly  for  the  benefit  of 
the  faith.  The  teacher,  coming  into  close 
contact  with  the  individual  and  the  family,  is 
in  position  to  report  to  the  bishop  an}-  short- 
comings in  tithing  contribution  or  in  obedience 
to  "counsel."  The  teacher  looks  carefully 
into  the  conduct  of  the  young  members  of 
his  block,  whom  he  urges  to  marry  young 
and  within  their  own  faith.  If  illness,  suffer- 
ing or  distress  is  discovered,  it  is  immediately 
reported  to  the  bishop,  who  sends  the  Relief 
Society  (an  organization  of  ladies  in  every 
Mormon  ward)  to  attend  to  the  case.  There 
are  no  beggars  among  the  ]\Iormons — 
indeed,  the  spirit  of  mutual  helpfulness  is  so 
general  that  few  ever  reach  a  condition  where 
they  ever  want  for  the  necessities  of  life. 
More  than  this,  there  is  a  regard  for  the  aged 
and  those  incapacitated  for  work  w^hich  is 
sadly  lacking  in  Gentile  communities.  A 
holida}'  is  set  apart  twice  in  each  year  for  the 
aged,  on  which  occasion  the  young  turn  out 
to  assist  in  entertaining  and  comforting  all 
those  who  have  passed  the  sixtieth  milestone 
of  life.  The  teacher  looks  closely  into  all 
the  affairs  of  his  flock,  being  at  once  a  con- 
fessor, counselor  and  family  friend.  He  is 
the  original  sotirce  of  information  for  the 
church,  as  well  as  the  medium  of  communica- 
tion to  the  brethren.  The  ease  and  rapidity 
with  which  "word"  from  the  higher  authori- 
ties can  be  passed  to  the  whole  Mormon 
people  would  surprise  the  uninitiated. 

Another  example  of  the  cooperative  system 
of  the  Mormons,  and  one  of  the  best,  is  found 
in  their  colonization  methods.  The  problem 
of  providing  homes  and  employment  for  the 
new  converts,  and  of  relieving  the  over- 
crowded condition  of  other  settlements,  has 
been  constantly  before  the  Mormon  authorities. 
The  leaders  are  alwavs  on  the  lookout  for 
promising  new  fields  for  colonization.  Lands 
capable  of  irrigation  are  always  in  demand. 
Canada,  Mexico,  Colorado,  Wyoming,  Arizona, 
Idaho  and  New  Mexico  have  all  been  the 
scene  of  Mormon  colonization  at  one  time 
or  another.  Seldom  does  a  Mormon  "ranch- 
man" emigrate  alone  to  a  new  region.  The 
recent  settlement  of  the  Big  Horn  Valley  in 
northern  Wyoming  is  typical  of  Mormon 
methods  of  colonization.  The  locality  having 
been  visited,  examined  and  pronounced 
satisfactory  by  the  Mormon  leaders,  word 
was  passed  through  the  Mormon  settlements 


THE  MORMONS:  A  SUCCESSFUL  CO()PER ATI\"E  SOCIETY     2893 


of  Utah  that  those  seckinj^  new  homes  should 
at  once  report  to  the  autliorities.  One  of  the 
most  practical  farmers  and  able  organizers 
was  "called"  by  the  presidency  to  lead  the 
new  colonv.  Selling  his  attractive  home 
and  quitting  the  neighborhood  of  a  lifetime 
at  call  of  his  church,  this  brother  responded 
promptly  to  the  mission.  At  an  appointed 
time  and  place  the  new  colonists  gathered 
with  teams,  wagons  and  supplies.  With  one 
of  the  Twelve  Apostles  as  a  guide,  and  their 
permanent  leader — the  man  who  had  been 
called  for  the  mission — they  trekked  three 
hundred  miles  northward  to  the  Big  Horn 
Valley.  There  they  have  since  taken  out  a 
cooperative  ditch  (or  canal,  as  it  would  be 
known  in  the  East)  which  was  constructed 
through  the  united  efforts  of  the  entire 
community.  A  cooperative  store  and  a  coop- 
erative live-stock  company  followed  in  rapid 
succession.  The  settlers  are  laying  the  foun- 
dation for  the  same  kind  of  flourishing  com- 
munity as  was  years  ago  established  in  the 
San  Luis  Valley,  Colorado,  the  Snake  River 
Valley,  Idaho,  and  scores  of  other  places. 
The  Mormon  farmer  is  conspicuous  for  his 
industry,  frugality  and  integrity.  He  bor- 
rows sparingly  and  pays  faithfully.  The 
paying  of  debts  is  a  tenet  of  the  Mormon 
religion.  He  is  by  nature  conservative  and 
slow,  seldom  taking  any  important  action 
without  consulting  bishop  or  teacher. 

The  habit  of  cooperation  and  of  taking 
counsel  enters  into  social,  educational  and 
political  life  quite  as  much  as  into  business 
affairs.  From  the  days  of  the  Mormon 
pioneers  the  association  of  members  into 
home  stock  companies  for  dramatic,  operatic, 
concert  and  choir  entertainment  has  been 
of  much  the  same  character  as  the  cooperative 
business  organizations. 

Brigham  Young  was  himself  one  of  the  most 
ardent  patrons  of  amusements.  In  nearly 
every  Mormon  settlement  there  is  some  sort 
of  dramatic  company.  Maude  Adams,  the 
well-known  actress,  had  her  first  schooling 
in  the  old  Salt  Lake  Stock  Company,  of  which 
her  mother,  a  Mormon,  was  a  member.  The 
present  Governor  of  Utah  was  at  one  time 
leading  man  of  the  Home  Dramatic  Company 
of  Salt  Lake  City.  Thus  the  paternalism  of 
the  church  has  attended  amusements  of  all 
kinds.  Presumably  the  Salt  Lake  Theatre 
is  the  only  theatre  in  the  world  where  a 
private  b*ox  is  reserved  every  night  of    the 


year  for  tiie  head  of  tiie  church  and  his 
family;  and  rarely  does  it  go  unoccupied. 
This  box  is  reserved  gratis  (as  provided  in 
every  contract  made  by  the  theatre  with 
visiting  attractions)  for  the  president  of  the 
Mormon  Church — a  relation  of  church  and 
stage  that  would  seem  strange  indeed  in  any 
place  but  Utah.  Another  box  is  reserved 
in  the  same  way  for  the  president's  two 
counselors. 

In  educational  affairs  the  same  general 
systems  of  cooperation  and  paternalism  are 
to  be  noticed.  Church  schools  known  as 
"Brigham  Young  Academies"  and  "Latter 
Day  Saints'  Colleges"  have  been  established 
by  the  Mormons  in  various  cities.  These  are 
supported  from  church  funds  supplemented 
by  tuition  from  students.  A  number  of 
handsome  buildings  are  now  being  erected 
on  the  tithing-house  square,  opposite  the 
temple  in  Salt  Lake  City,  which  promise  to 
be  the  centre  of  Mormon  educational  work. 
Indeed,  the  educational  movement  has 
received  a  remarkable  impetus  in  the  last 
few  years.  Unfriendly  commentators  have 
maintained  this  to  be  an  indication  that  the 
church  wishes  to  educate  its  youth  so  that  it 
can  supply  every  field  from  its  own  ranks  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  Gentile  or  non-Mormon 
element.  This  is  placing  a  strained  and 
unjust  interpretation  upon  a  very  praise- 
worthy movement.  It  is  true  that  the  spirit 
of  cooperation  leads  the  Mormons  to  patron- 
ize their  own  representatives  in  the  profes- 
sions in  preference  to  outsiders.  So  jealous 
is  the  church  of  the  undivided  interest  of  its 
members  that  they  are  forbidden  to  join 
secret  societies,  labor  unions  or  fraternal 
insurance  companies.  At  the  late  October 
General  Conference,  Apostle  Abram  O. 
Woodruff  advised  the  formation  of  a  labor 
organization  within  the  church,  that  the 
work  of  the  Mormons  might  be  reserved 
for   Mormon  laborers. 

In  religious  work  the  cooperative  system 
of  the  Mormons  is  so  well  known  as  to  need 
little  more  than  passing  reference.  At  the 
call  of  the  presidency  every  member  of  the 
church  is  ready  to  go  forth  "without  purse 
or  scrip"  to  preach  the  Mormon  doctrines. 
There  are  no  salaried  preachers  in  the  IMormon 
Church.  As  a  rule,  the  missionaries  travel  in 
pairs.  The  latest  country  to  be  invaded  is 
Japan,  where  one  of  the  Mormon  Twelve 
Apostles,   Heber  J.   Grant,   with  a  corps  of 


Ik 


2894 


THE    NEEDS    OF    AMERICAN    PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


missionary    assistants,    is    vigorously    prose- 
cuting the  religious  work  of  the  church. 

In  politics  the  cooperative  spirit  is  the 
source  of  continual  bitterness.  Both  national 
parties  continually  nominate  prominent 
church  officials  for  no  other  reason  than  the 
expectation  of  winning  votes  through  the 
influence  of  this  cooperative  spirit.  People 
accustomed  to  work  together  in  every  other 
relation  of  life  are  not  likely  to  abandon  the 
habit  when  it  comes  to  the  domain  of  politics, 
and  especially  when  they  are  encouraged  in  it 
by  those  who  do  not  belong  to  their  faith.  A 
few  years  ago  one  of  the  most  prominent 
Mormon  apostles  was  disciplined  and  dropped 
from  his  high  place  in  the  i\Iormon  Church 
because  he  entered  into  a  contest  for  the 
United  States  Senatorship  without  the  per- 
mission of  his  church.  In  an  authorized 
interview  at  that  time  with  the  writer  of  this 
article,  the  three  presidents  of  the  church 
stated  that  it  was  not  thought  compatible 
with  the  requirements  of  religious  duties  that 
members  of  the  Quorum  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles    should    enter   into    a    scramble    for 


political  office — at  least,  not  without  asking 
and  securing  the  permission  of  the  church  to 
which  they  had  dedicated  their  services. 
Inasmuch  as  one  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  is 
at  present  waging  an  open  and  aggressive 
contest  for  Senatorial  honors,  it  may  be 
reasoned  that  "permission"  has  been 
granted,  and  the  apostle  will  be  elected 
United  States  Senator. 

Almost  every  other  attempt  in  the  United 
States  to  establish  cooperative  industries,  even 
where  backed  by  large  wealth,  has  practical) v 
been  a  failure.  Paternalism  alwaj's  implies 
a  partial  surrender  of  individual  liberty.  As 
developed  by  the  Mormon  people,  however, 
the  cooperativ  systera  has  utilized  the  ser- 
vices of  many  who  would  have  succumbed 
to  intense  competitive  effort ;  has  eliminated 
waste,  and  has  at  all  times  presented  a  solid 
front  to  the  enemies  of  the  church  ;  and 
Joseph  F.  Smith,  the  present  head  of  the 
Mormon  Church,  is  conspicuous  for  the 
progressive,  clear-headed  and  fair-minded 
way  in  which  he  is  administering  the  duties 
placed   upon   him. 


THE  NEEDS  OF  AMERICAN    PUBLIC 

EDUCATION 


GREATER  EXPENDITURE  NECESSARY  —  HOW  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  CONDITIONS 
SHOULD  BE  IMPROVED  BY  BETTER  BUILDINGS,  BETTER  TEACHERS,  GREATER 
CARE  FOR  HEALTH,  NEW  METHODS  AND    STUDIES  AND  IN  MANY  OTHER  WAYS 

BY 

CHARLES   W.   ELIOT 

PRESIDENT    OF    H.\RVAKD    UNIVERSITY 

An  address  delivered  before  the  Rhode  Island  Institute  of  Instruction  October  23,  1902 


OX  October  17th  I  advocated  before 
Connecticut  teachers  the  expendi- 
ture of  more  money  for  education 
in  the  United  States  on  the  ground  that 
the  shortcomings  and  failures  in  American 
education,  and  the  disappointments  con- 
cerning its  results,  have  been  many  and 
grievous;  and  on  the  next  day  I  advocated 
before  New  Hampshire  teachers  increase  of 
educational  expenditure  on  the  ground  that 
many  successes  have  been  won  by  American 
schools  and  colleges,  and  that  these  successes, 
though     involving     increased     expenditure, 


have  been  approved  and  rejoiced  in  by 
the  American  public.  The  first  argument 
was  an  incitement  to  greater  exertions, 
because  of  ill  success  or  of  imperfect  attain- 
ment of  ends  wisely  sought ;  the  second  was  an 
encouragement  to  greater  expenditure  because 
of  the  results  achieved  with  the  expenditure 
already  made.  Tonight  I  wish  to  describe 
some  of  the  objects  for  which  increased 
expenditure  should  be  made  in  the  schools 
supported  by  taxation,  and  to  adduce  some 
further  considerations  fitted  to  encourage 
American  communities  to  larger  expenditure. 


THE    NEEDS    OF    AMERICAN    PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


2895 


The  expenditure  on  school  buildings  has 
been  generous  during  the  last  twenty  years; 
but  in  two  respects  most  of  the  buildings 
erected  during  this  period  have  fallen  far 
short  of  the  proper  standard.  First,  in  cities 
and  large  towns  all  school  buildings  should  be 
fire-proof,  and  particularly  all  halls  and 
stairways  should  be  fire-proof.  Wooden 
staircases  should  be  absolutely  prohibited 
in  schools  intended  for  children  under  fifteen 
years  of  age.  Secondly,  the  woodwork  in 
the  interior  of  school  buildings  should  be 
reduced  to  the  lowest  terms,  and  should  be 
carefully  constructed  with  reference  to  the 
facility  of  keeping  it  clean,  just  as  the  wood- 
work in  the  interior  of  a  modern  hospital  is 
constructed;  and  the  materials  of  walls  in 
school  buildings  should  not  be  absorbent, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  should  resist  both 
moisture  and  gases,  and  should  be  capable' 
of  thorough  cleansing.  The  last  remark 
applies  also  to  the  heating  apparatus  for 
school  buildings.  All  flues,  ducts,  and  boxes 
for  the  reception  and  conveyance  of  cold  or 
hot  air  should  be  so  built  and  disposed  that 
their  interiors  can  be  cleaned.  Any  one  who 
has  examined  with  a  lens  the  extraordinary 
amount  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter 
which  accumulates  on  a  sheet  of  "tangle- 
foot" fly  paper  placed  in  a  cold-air  box,  at 
any  season  of  the  year  when  the  ground  is 
not  covered  with  snow,  will  heartily  concur 
in  this  prescription.  The  observance  of  these 
rules  would,  of  course,  demand  additional 
initial  expenditure  on  school  buildings,  but 
would  diminish  the  cost  of  maintenance. 
Again,  whether  in  town  or  country,  a  large 
open  space,  yard  or  garden  should  surround 
every  school  building,  and  should  be  kept 
with  neatness  and  decorated  w'ith  shrubs 
and  flowers.  The  denser  the  population  in 
which  the  school  is  situated  the  greater  the 
need  of  this  open  space;  and  the  larger  the 
school  the  larger  should  be  the  space  sur- 
rounding the  building.  Here  again  is  a  call 
for  a  large  additional  expenditure;  but  it  is 
an  expenditure  which  the  welfare  of  city 
children  urgently  demands.  Every  school 
should  have  the  means  of  turning  at  least  half 
;  its  pupils  into  the  open  air  simultaneously, 
r  and  the  space  about  the  school  should  be  so 
I  arranged  that  hundreds  of  children  can  occupy 
\  it  without  marring  its  decorative  vegetation. 
I  This  means,  of  course,  that  the  greater  part 
I      of    every  schoolyard  should  have  a    surface 


of  gravel  or  asphalt.  Such  grounds  could 
be  made  useful  in  crowded  quarters  to  many 
people  besides  the  school  children.  If  it  be 
urged  that  it  is  impossible  in  American  cities 
to  depend  on  the  permanent  occupation  of 
any  particular  district  by  a  ])opulation  which 
needs  schools,  and  therefore  that  the  con- 
.struction  of  durable  schoolhouses  and  the 
provision  of  grounds  about  them  are  inexpe- 
dient, I  reply  that  if  a  schoolhouse  and  its 
yard,  once  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  dense 
population,  become  unnecessary,  it  must  be 
because  the  district  has  been  abandoned  as  a 
residence  quarter  in  favor  of  factories,  shops, 
or  some  other  sort  of  productive  business; 
and,  therefore,  if  the  city  has  provided  in 
such  a  district  a  large  schoolyard,  it  will  be 
able  to  compensate  itself  for  the  loss  on  its 
building  by  the  rise  in  the  value  of  its  land. 

Next  to  this  improvement  in  schoolhouses 
and  schoolyards  comes  improvement  in  the 
sanitary  control  and  management  of  schools. 
This  control  requires  the  services  of  skilful 
physicians;  and  such  a  physician  should  be 
officially  connected  with  every  large  school. 
It  should  be  his  duty  to  watch  for  contagious 
diseases,  to  prevent  the  too-early  return  to 
school  of  children  who  have  suffered  from 
such  diseases,  to  take  thought  for  the  eyes 
of  the  children,  lest  the}^  be  injured  in  reading 
or  writing  by  bad  postures  or  bad  light,  to 
advise  concerning  the  rectification  of  remedi- 
able bodily  defects  in  any  of  the  children 
under  his  supervision,  to  give  advice  at  the 
homes  about  the  diet  and  sleep  of  the  children 
whose  nutrition  is  visibly  defective,  and,  in 
short,  to  be  the  protector,  counselor  and 
friend  of  the  children  and  their  parents  with 
regard  to  health,  normal  gro\\i;h,  and  the 
preservation  of  all  the  senses  in  good  condi- 
tion. Such  medical  supervision  of  school 
children  would  be  costly,  but  it  would  be 
the  most  rewarding  school  expenditure  that 
a  community  could  make,  even  from  the 
industrial  or  commercial  point  of  view^  since 
nothing  impairs  the  well-being  and  produc- 
tiveness of  a  community  so  much  as  sickness 
and  premature  disability  or  death.  As  in 
an  individual,  so  in  a  nation,  health  and 
strength  are  the  foundations  of  productive- 
ness and  prosperity. 

The  next  object  for  additional  expenditure 
is  better  teachers.  Of  course,  teachers  should 
know  well  the  subjects  which  they  are  to 
teach;  but  that  is  bv  no  means   sufficient. 


2895 


THE    NEEDS    OF    AMERICAN    PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


Every  teacher  should  also  know  the  best 
methods  of  teaching  his  subjects.  College 
professors  heretofore  have  been  apt  to  think 
that  knowledge  of  the  subject  to  be  taught 
was  the  sufficient  qualification  of  a  teacher; 
but  all  colleges,  as  well  as  all  schools,  have 
suffered  immeasurable  losses  as  a  result  of 
this  delusion.  Of  course,  it  is  better  for  a 
teacher  to  know  his  subject  without  know- 
ing the  right  method  of  teaching  it  than  to 
acquire  a  formal  method  without  knowing 
the  subject;  because  a  conscientious  teacher, 
by  experimenting  on  his  pupils,  may  in  years 
acquire  a  good  method  at  their  expense;  but 
teachers  who  are  acquainted  at  the  start 
with  both  subject  and  method  are  what 
schools  and  colleges  urgently  need.  To 
secure  this  double  proficiency  means  a  greater 
expenditure  on  the  training  of  teachers 
Under  the  head  of  better  teachers  may  best 
be  mentioned  certain  specific  desiderata 
such  as  a  larger  proportion  of  male  teachers 
in  urban  school  systems,  a  larger  proportion 
of  women  teachers  who  have  been  educated 
at  college,  and  a  larger  proportion  of  both 
men  and  women  who  have  received  a  genuine 
normal  school  training.  All  these  are  expen 
sive  desiderata. 

With  better  teachers,  numerous  other 
improvements  would  come  in,  as,  for  instance, 
a  better  teaching  of  literature  and  of  history, 
and  better  biological  and  geographical  instruc- 
tion, these  natural-history  studies  being 
pursued  by  the  pupils  in  the  open  air  as  well 
as  in  the  schoolrooms.  I  have  elsewhere 
urged  that  all  public  open  spaces,  whether 
countr}'  parks,  forests,  beaches,  city  squares 
gardens  or  parkways,  should  be  utilized  for 
the  instruction  of  the  children  of  the  public 
schools  by  teachers  capable  of  interesting 
them  in  the  phenomena  of  plant  and  animal 
life.  But  this  means  quite  a  new  breed  of 
common  school  teachers.  ^  The  teaching  of 
geography  in  the  open  air  is  a  delightful  form 
of  instruction ;  but  it  requires  a  teacher  fully 
possessed  of  the  principles  of  physiography, 
and  knowing  how  to  illustrate  these  principles 
on  a  small  scale  in  gutters,  brooks,  gullies, 
ravines,  hillsides  and  hilltops.  Some  nature 
study  of  this  desirable  sort  has  been  already 
introduced  into  American  schools;  but  it  is 
not  persisted  in  through  years  enough  of  the 
school  course.  There  is  needed  much  more 
of  this  sort  of  study,  beginning  in  the  kinder- 
garten and  going  through  the  high  school. 


Vacation  schools  can  give  this  sort  of  instruc- 
tion to  great  advantage.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed that  it  is  an  expensive  kind  of  instruc- 
tion; but  this  is  one  of  the  places  at  which 
more  money  should  be  spent. 

Given  better  teachers,  the  next  additional 
expenditure  should  be  due  to  a  large  reduc- 
tion in  the  number  of  pupils  placed  before  a 
single  teacher.  This  number  may  now  be 
said  to  vary  from  forty  to  sixty  in  the  differ- 
ent school  systems  of  the  United  States. 
The  higher  number  is  monstrous  and  the 
lower  far  too  large.  Twenty  to  twenty-five 
pupils  to  a  teacher  are  quite  enough,  if  there 
is  to  be  secured  an  adequate  degree  of  atten- 
tion to  the  individual  pupil  and  a  proper 
classification  of  each  group  of  pupils  according 
to  their  quality  and  capacity.  This  is  an 
improvement  very  urgently  needed  in  the 
American  schools  of  today.  It  would  doubt- 
less cost  a  good  deal  of  money,  but  it  would 
not  necessarily  double  the  item  of  salaries; 
for  one  competent  teacher,  with  an  intelligent 
though  less  experienced  assistant,  can  take 
good  care  of  forty  pupils.  When  from  forty 
to  sixty  pupils  are  allotted  to  a  single  teacher 
with  no  assistant,  there  is  no  opportunity 
for  individual  instruction;  the  whole  group 
must  move  on  together;  and  it  is  inevitable 
that  the  brighter  pupils  should  be  sacrificed 
to  the  duller,  which  is  the  most  wasteful 
thing  a  school  can  do.  The  improvement  of 
which  I  am  now  speaking  would  lift  American 
education  to  quite  another  plane  of  efficiency, 
and  would  make  the  life  of  the  teacher  vastly 
more  interesting,  more  rewarding  and  hap- 
pier. The  personal  contact  between  teacher 
and  pupil  would  be  more  frequent  and  inti- 
mate, and  the  teacher's  function  would 
change  from  driving  a  flock  to  leading  on 
and  stimulating  individuals. 

In  order  to  keep  good  a  large  staff  of 
teachers  employed  by  a  city  or  town,  a 
system  of  retiring  allowances  for  teachers  is 
indispensable.  It  is  the  American  practice 
to  keep  in  office  superannuated  or  partially 
disabled  teachers  who  have  served  long  and 
well,  and  to  pay  them  their  salaries  until 
death  or  complete  disability  overtakes  them. 
This  practice  is  uneconomical  and  very 
injurious  to  the  children  who  come  under  the 
charge  of  such  partially  disabled  or  senile 
teachers.  It  is  considerate  toward  the  few 
veterans,  but  very  inconsiderate  toward  the 
hundreds    of    children    whose    education    is 


THE    NEEDS    OF    AMERICAN    PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


2897 


impaired.  A  proper  pension  system  gives 
the  managers  of  a  school  system  the  means 
of  retiring  such  teachers,  and  of  replacing 
them  by  fresh,  well-selected  appointees, 
without  causing  any  hardships  or  wounding 
any  feelings.  A  good  pension  system  is  not 
expensive;  for  when  an  old  teacher  retires 
on  an  allowance  the  retirement  will  ordinarily 
give  rise  to  several  shif tings  of  place,  and 
the  vacancy  really  filled  is  one  near  the  foot 
of  the  scale  of  salaries.  There  is  a  pension 
to  pay,  but  there  comes  upon  the  pay-roll  a 
newcomer's  salary  which  is  much  smaller 
than  the  salary  of  the  teacher  of  long  service. 
Pensions,  or  retiring  allowances,  would 
not  therefore  be  the  cause  of  a  large  new 
expenditure,  but  would  instead  bring  about 
a  great  increase  in  the  competency  or  effi- 
ciency of  any  urban  school  system. 

The  universal  employment  of  highly  trained 
superintendents  in  both  urban  and  rural 
systems  is  the  next  improvement  of  which  I 
would  speak.  This  improvement  has  been 
partially  introduced;  but  it  ought  to  become 
universal,  and  the  quality  of  the  superin- 
tendence should  be  always  rising,  until  the 
position  of  superintendent  shall  be  recognized 
as  the  highest  in  a  school  system,  whether  in 
city  or  country.  A  single  superintendent 
can,  of  course,  serve  several  rural  districts  or 
towns ;  and  to  obtain  the  right  kind  of  super- 
intendent such  cooperation  is  necessary. 
In  general,  the  aid  of  the  State  is  also 
necessary  to  provide  rural  communities  with 
competent  superintendents.  Such  superin- 
tendents should  be  entirely  independent  of 
political  influences,  and  should  enjoy  a  large 
measure  of  authority  and  freedom  in  their 
functions.  They  ought,  as  a  rule,  to  be  men 
or  women  of  college  education,  who  have  had 
some  experience  themselves  as  teachers  in 
schools  or  academies.  The  kind  of  superin- 
tendent that  I  have  in  mind  is  one  who  comes 
into  immediate  contact  with  both  teachers 
and  pupils.  The  wide-field  superintendence, 
such  as  a  State  superintendent  may  exercise, 
is  of  course  desirable;  but  such  a  remote 
official  may  not  have  the  immediate  good 
influence  on  the  teaching,  discipline  and 
business  management  of  the  schools  which  a 
rural  superintendent  and  the  inspector  or 
supervisor  in  large  city  systems  may  exercise. 
It  is  the  man  or  woman  who  is  constantly 
going  about  among  the  schools  in  his  or  her 
charge   whose   educational   quality  needs   to 


be  raised.  The  head  of  a  State  system,  or  of  a 
large  city  system,  is  an  administrator.  The 
rural  superintendent  or  city  supervi.sor  is 
primarily  an  inspector,  teacher  and  guide. 

All  business  or  executive  functions  ought 
to  be  withdrawn  from  the  school  committees 
or  boards  and  handed  over  in  part  to  the 
superintendent,  and  in  part  to  a  business 
agent,  who,  like  the  superintendent,  is  a 
permanent  salaried  officer.  Since  the  present 
sub-committees  of  school  committees  or 
boards  serve  without  pay,  the  salaries  of 
these  business  agents  would,  of  course,  be  an 
additional  charge;  but  a  competent  and 
experienced  agent,  by  conducting  school 
business  judiciously,  will  always  save  more 
than  his  salary  and  will,  moreover,  greatly 
increase  the  wholesomeness  and  efficiency  of 
the  schools. 

An  expensive  improvement  in  the  public 
schools,  but  one  urgently  needed,  is  the 
enrichment  of  the  school  programme  for  the 
years  between  nine  and  fourteen,  and  the 
introduction  of  selection  among  studies  as 
early  as  ten  years  of  age.  Unless  this  is  done, 
and  done  soon,  the  public  schools  will  cease 
to  be  resorted  to  by  the  children  of  well-to-do 
Americans.  The  private  and  endowed  schools 
offer  a  choice  of  foreign  languages,  for  instance, 
as  early  as  ten  years  of  age  and  even  earlier; 
and  everybody  knows  that  this  is  the  age  at 
which  to  begin  the  study  of  foreign  lan- 
guages, whether  ancient  or  modern.  In  large 
cities  it  seems  to  be  already  settled  that  the 
private  and  endowed  schools  get  the  children 
of  all  parents  who  can  afford  to  pay  their 
charges.  One  reason  for  this  result  is  that 
the  programmes  of  the  public  schools  are 
distinctly  inferior  to  the  programmes  of  the 
good  private  and  endowed  schools;  and  they 
are  inferior  at  precisely  this  point — they 
have  too  limited  a  range  of  studies  in  the 
years  between  nine  and  fourteen.  It  is,  of 
course,  not  desirable  that  each  individual 
child  should  pursue  a  great  variety  of  studies ; 
but  it  is  essential  that  each  individual  child 
should  have  access  to  a  variety  of  studies. 
The  tendency  in  all  American  school  systems 
has  been  to  segregate  the  foreign  larrguages, 
the  mathematics  beyond  arithmetic,  and  the 
higher  scientific  and  historical  studies  in  the 
high  school  programmes — which  means  that 
only  that  small  proportion  of  children  who 
go  on  to  the  high  school  have  any  access  to 
those  studies.     No    arrangement    could   pos- 


2898 


THE    NEEDS    OF    AMERICAN    PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


A 


sibly  be  more  undemocratic;  although  its 
inventors  did  not  foresee  the  real  working  of 
their  method  in  this  respect.  The  achieve- 
ment of  this  enrichment  of  the  programmes 
would  cause  the  retention  of  children  in 
school  for  a  larger  number  of  years,  and  the 
carrying  forward  of  more  children  into  the 
upper  schools;  and  these  are  effects  greatly 
to  be  desired.  I  am  bound  to  acknowledge, 
however,  that  these  changes  would  be 
decidedly  costly;  the}'  would  require  more 
accomplished  and  more  skilful  teachers  for 
the  years  between  nine  and  fifteen,  and  more 
apparatus  for  teaching;  and  if  they  were 
successful  there  would  be  more  children  to 
teach  in  the  upper  grades  of  the  system. 

An  incidental  effect  of  these  changes  would 
be  the  development  of  departmental  instruc- 
tion— that  is,  skilful  teachers  would  teach  one 
subject  through  several  grades,  instead  of 
teaching  all  subjects  for  one  grade.  It  was 
in  1766  that  Harvard  College — then  no  more 
than  a  good  high  school — abandoned  the 
method  of  teaching  all  subjects  to  one  class 
by  one  man.  The  American  public  school 
system  bids  fair  to  be  nearly  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  behind  Harvard  College  in 
adopting  the  departmental  method — a 
method  which  develops  in  both  teachers  and 
pupils  a  growing  interest  in  their  work  and 
increases  greatly  the  personal  influence  of 
teachers,  because  the  staying  pupils  work 
through  several  successive  years  under  the 
same  teacher.  Another  effect  of  this  enrich- 
ment of  the  programmes  would  be  the  post- 
ponement for  every  individual  pupil  of  the 
grave  decision  between  studies  which  permit 
access  to  the  higher  institutions  of  learning, 
and  studies  which  do  not.  The  later  this 
decision  can  be  made  the  better  for  the 
individual,  and  the  better  for  the  schools; 
because  a  course  of  study  which  is  prepara- 
tory to  all  possible  future  routes  in  education 
is  sure  to  be  a  better  course  than  the  poorer 
of  two  courses,  one  of  which  leads  on  to  the 
higher  institutions  and  the  other  does  not. 

The  election  of  studies  in  secondary  schools 
involves  increased  expenditure  for  two 
reasons:  first,  because  there  are  more  subjects 
to  be  taught;  and,  secondly,  because  each 
subject  will  be  carried  further  than  it  is  under 
a  uniform  prescribed  course.  Moreover,  the 
classes  in  each  subject  will  be  smaller  than 
they  are  under  a  prescribed  system,  because 
the  total  number  of  pupils  will  be  divided 


among  a  larger  number  of  subjects.  The 
election  of  studies  in  secondary  schools  is 
already  introduced  in  many  places,  generallv 
under  the  form  of  several  groups  of  studies 
bearing  different  names;  but  sometimes,  as 
in  Boston,  in  a  frankly  elective  method.  The 
experience  of  the  American  colleges  in  regard 
to  the  elective  system  demonstrates  that  it  is 
much  more  costly  than  the  prescribed;  but 
it  is  also  so  much  more  effective  for  all  educa- 
tional purposes,  whether  mental  or  moral, 
that  it  advances  steadily  in  all  the  faculties 
of  arts  and  sciences,  and  never  takes  a  back- 
ward step.  It  may  be  safely  assumed,  there- 
fore, that  it  will  make  steady  progress  in  the 
secondary  schools  of  the  country,  and  with 
like  results — greater  cost,  but  greater  profit. 

In  many  scattered  places  in  the  United 
States  perfect  demonstration  has  already 
been  given  that  manual  training  and  instruc- 
tion in  the  mechanical  arts  and  trades  are, 
in  the  first  place,  valuable  as  means  of  mental 
and  moral  training,  and,  in  the  second  place, 
useful  for  the  individual  toward  obtaining  a 
livelihood,  and  for  the  nation  toward  develop- 
ing its  industries.  Accordingly,  manual  train- 
ing schools,  mechanic  arts  high  schools  and 
trade  schools  ought  to  become  habitual  parts 
of  the  American  school  system;  and  normal 
schools  and  colleges  ought  to  provide  optional 
instruction  in  these  subjects,  since  all  public 
school  teachers  ought  to  understand  them. 
Such  schools  are  more  expensive  than  schools 
which  do  not  require  mechanical  apparatus 
and  the  service  of  good  mechanics  as  instruc- 
tors ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the}'  will 
repay  promptly  their  cost  to  the  community 
wliich  maintains  them. 

Vacation  schools  have  also  demonstrated 
their  great  usefulness  in  cities  and  large  towns. 
The  best  ones  offer  manual  training  for  both 
boys  and  girls,  as  well  as  book  work,  and 
are  heartily  welcomed  by  both  parents  and 
children.  They  combat  effectively  the  mis- 
taken policy  of  long  vacations  for  children 
who  cannot  escape  from  the  crowded  city 
streets  and  tenements.  Indeed,  the  experi- 
ence recenth'  gained  in  city  vacation  schools 
and  in  the  summer  courses  of  colleges  and 
universities  proves  that  the  long  summer 
vacation  of  nine  to  thirteen  weeks  is  by  no 
means  necessary  to  the  health  of  either 
school  children  or  maturer  students.  The 
best  method  is  to  keep  the  pupil  in  vigor  all 
the  year  by  means  of  frequent  recesses  during 


THE    NEEDS    OF    AMERICAN    PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


2899 


school  hours,  free  half-days  twice  a  week, 
and  occasional  respites  of  a  week.  Then  the 
vacation  school  in  summer  should  offer  a 
distinct  variety  of  work  in  subjects  different 
from  those  pursued  the  rest  of  the  year;  for 
children  and  adults  alike  find  great  refresh- 
ment in  mere  change  of  work.  For  example, 
the  competent  college  professor  may  indeed 
seek  change  of  air  and  scene  during  the  summer 
vacation,  but  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  doing 
under  advantageous  conditions  a  kind  of 
intellectual  work  different  from  that  which 
engrosses  him  in  term-time,  and  not  with  the 
intention  of  keeping  his  mind  vacant  or  inert. 
Furthermore,  vacation  schools  in  the  poor 
quarters  of  closely  built  cities  are  downright 
refuges  from  the  physical  squalor  and  moral 
dangers  of  the  streets.  It  is  obvious  that 
vacation  schools  on  an  adequate  scale  must 
cause  a  serious  addition  to  school  expenditure 
of  a  city  or  large  town ;  for  they  require  the 
services  of  an  additional  corps  of  teachers, 
and  they  need  additional  apparatus,  materials 
and  service.  It  is  equally  obvious  that  these 
schools  are  urgently  needed  by  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  population  on  grounds  which 
are  simultaneously  physical,  mental  and 
moral.  I  say  nothing  here  about  the  kinder- 
garten, because,  as  I  have  twice  pointed  out 
of  late,  the  kindergarten  has  already  been 
somewhat  extensively  adopted  as  part  of  the 
public  school  system,  and  is  winning  more 
and  more  favor. 

Another  additional  expenditure  which 
public  schools  ought  to  incur  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble is  a  development  of  instruction  in  draw- 
ing. Drawing  is  a  mode  of  expression  which 
ought  to  be  as  universal  as  writing.  There  is 
no  art,  trade  or  profession  in  which  it  is  not 
useful,  and  the  enjoyment  of  life  may  be 
greatly  increased  by  the  habitual  use  of  the 
pencil  in  sketching  interesting  objects  of  all 
sorts,  natural  or  artificial.  Time  for  draw- 
ing can  be  obtained  in  school  programmes 
by  diminishing  the  time  given  to  penmanship. 
Instruction  in  one  art  will  help  the  other, 
and  of  the  two  drawing  is  far  the  most  instruc- 
tive, since  it  trains  the  powers  of  observation 
and  helps  to  make  the  retained  impressions 
both  accurate  and  vivid.  It  is  an  incidental 
advantage  of  drawing  that  it  reinforces  the 
teaching  of  geometry,  and  particularly  of 
solid  geometry.  The  comparative  neglect 
of  geometry  is  one  of  the  most  curious  phe- 

...... 


importance  of  that  subject  in  the  mechanical 
and  constructive  arts  in  which  Americans 
excel  is  duly  considered. 

Music  is  another  sul)ject  which  ought  to  be 
made  much  more  of  in  all  American  schools, 
I^ublic,  private  and  endowed,  than  it  now  is. 
The  elementary  schools  do  more  for  music 
than  the  secondary  schools;  so  that  the 
course  of  musical  instruction  is  l^roken  off 
too  early  and  the  skill  gained  before  fourteen 
years  of  age  is  lost  later  through  disuse.  A 
moderate  degree  of  musical  knowledge  and 
skill  adds  greatly  to  the  enjoyment  of  life,  no 
matter  how  the  livelihood  may  be  earned. 
To  increase  rational  joy  is  one  of  the  objects 
which  public  education  should  always  keep 
in  sight.  I  need  not  say  that  music  has 
always  been  a  true  culture  subject,  an  ally 
of  literature,  art  and  religion. 

Lastly,  the  schools  ought  to  be  provided 
liberally  with  all  appliances  which  can 
improve  either  teaching  or  administration, 
and  with  all  service  which  can  relieve  the 
teachers  of  unnecessary  bodily  or  mental 
strains.  Such  appliances  are  books,  maps, 
charts,  models,  diagrams,  lantern-slides  and 
electric  lanterns,  telephones,  collections  of 
specimens,  physical  and  chemical  apparatus, 
casts,  photographs,  pictures,  typewriters  and 
pianos.  To  try  to  teach  without  these  aids  is 
like  trying  to  stop  a  conflagration  with  buckets 
passed  from  hand  to  hand,  or  like  starting 
for  Chicago  in  a  one-horse  chaise  instead 
of  in  the  Empire  State  Express.  The  pre- 
vailing poverty  of  our  schools  in  these  respects 
is  lamentable.  At  every  stage  of  education, 
from  the  kindergarten  through  the  university, 
an  alert  and  progressive  teacher  can  save  his 
or  her  own  time  and  energy  by  transferring 
the  mechanical  or  routine  parts  of  his  or  her 
work  to  an  assistant  who  receives  a  much 
smaller  compensation  than  the  teacher.  To 
save  that  valuable  time  and  energy  for  the 
best  work  is  the  truest  economy,  yet  this 
economy  is  seldom  practiced.  In  both  these 
respects  American  schools  fall  far  below  the 
standards  of  w^ell-conducted  commercial  and 
industrial  establishments. 

I  have  thus  enumerated  various  ways  in 
which  a  -greatly  increased  expenditure  on 
American  schools  ought  to  be  made.  This 
audience  of  teachers  may  perhaps  have 
observed  that  I  have  not  said  a  word  about 
raising  salaries.  That  is  because  I  do  not 
consider    that    direction    the    best    one    for 


2900 


THE    NEEDS    OF   AMERICAN    PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


additional  school  expenditure.  The  teacher 
needs  many  other  things  more  than  higher 
pay — good  light  and  air  to  work  in,  medical 
inspection  and  care  for  the  school,  all  avail- 
able assistance  in  the  schoolroom,  all  useful 
apparatus  for  teaching — particularly  that 
which  appeals  to  the  eyes  and  fingers  of  the 
pupils — relief  from  mechanical  and  clerical 
work,  a  better  tenure,  a  pension  at  disability, 
and  expert  instead  of  amateur  supervision. 
And,  on  the  other  hand,  the  community  needs 
to  have  the  teacher  a  more  intelligent,  better- 
informed,  robuster  and  gayer  person,  that 
children  will  "take  to"  and  wish  to  please, 
and  that  parents  will  be  glad  to  have  visit 
them  in  their  homes. 

With  these  objects  in  view  the  expenditure 
in  those  parts  of  our  country  where  it  is  now 
smallest  ought  to  be  raised  as  rapidh'  as 
possible  to  the  level  of  those  regions  where  it 
is  now  greatest;  and  in  those  regions  where 
the  expenditure  is  now  most  liberal  it  ought 
to  be  doubled  as  soon  as  possible. 

I  know  that  some  people  will  say  that  it  is 
impossible  to  increase  public  expenditure  in 
the  total,  and  therefore  impossible  to  increase 
it  for  schools.  I  deny  both  allegations. 
Public  expenditure  has  been  greatly  increased 
within  the  last  thirty  years,  and  so  has  school 
expenditure.  What  the  country  has  done 
it  can  do  again;  and,  furthermore,  it  can 
better  its  past  record.  Moreover,  school 
expenditure  ought  to  be  increased,  even 
though  the  total  expenditures  of  the  com- 
munity should  not  rise;  because  it  yields  a 
greater  return  than  any  other  expenditure. 
It  is,  indeed,  far  the  most  profitable  of  all 
the  forms  of  public  expenditure;  and  this  is 
true  whether  one  looks  first  to  material 
prosperity,  or  to  mental  and  moral  well- 
being;  whether  one  regards  chiefly  average 
results,  or  the  results  obtained  through 
highly  gifted  individuals. 

But  some  skeptic  may  ask,  How  do  we 
know  that  even  the  expenditure  the  country 
now  makes  for  education  is  worth  making? 
And  again,  how  do  we  know  what  the  results 
of  popular  education  are  ?  What  test  is  there 
for  the  efficiency  of  popular  education  ?  Let 
me  try,  in  conclusion,  to  answer  these  grave 
questions. 

In  the  first  place,  as  I  look  back  on  the 
progress  of  American  education  since  the 
Civil  War,  I  think  I  see  that  education  is  the 
one   agency  for  promoting  intelligence   and 


righteousness  which  has  ever  xmquestionably 
gained  power  in  the  United  States  during 
the  last  half-century,  the  one  agency  which 
has  not  only  retained  its  hold  on  the  demo- 
cratic masses,  but  has  distinctly  gained  more 
and  more  public  confidence,  and  received 
from  the  democracy  greater  and  greater  moral 
and  material  support.  The  democracy  has 
believed  more  and  more  in  the  efficiency  of 
schools  and  colleges ;  and  schools  and  colleges 
have  more  and  more  taught  and  acted  out 
democracy.  This  is  only  saying,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  the  popular  masses  perceive  that 
it  is  in  large  part  the  schools  and  colleges 
which  implant  in  successive  generations 
democratic  ideals  and  make  them  fit  to  be 
free;  and,  on  the  other,  that  the  schools  and 
colleges  believe  in  the  democratic  ideals,  and 
fervently  desire  to  promote  brotherhood, 
unity  and  the  practical  acceptance  of  the 
Pauline  doctrine,  "every  one  members  one  of 
another. "  Can  we  say  of  any  other  of  the 
organized  inspiriting  and  moralizing  forces  in 
American  society  that  it  has  gained  strength 
and  increased  its  influence  dtiring  the  past 
fifty  years  ?  The  efficiency  of  legislatures 
and  the  respect  in  which  they  are  held  have 
unquestionably  declined  since  the  Civil  War. 
American  legislative  assemblies,  whether 
municipal.  State  or  national,  have  repeatedly 
shown  themselves  unable  to  solve,  or  even 
begin  to  solve,  the  new  problems  which  have 
arisen  in  rapid  succession  out  of  the  incredible 
changes  in  industry,  commerce  and  trans- 
portation. In  other  words,  legislatures  have 
not  been  able  to  keep  up  with  American 
progress  in  other  fields.  Some  of  them  have 
ceased  in  large  measure  to  be  deliberative 
assemblies,  and  habitually  transact  important 
parts  of  their  business  in  secret  committee 
meetings.  Others  have  proved  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  one  man,  himself  not  a  public  official; 
so  that  legislation  is  adopted  or  rejected  at 
that  one  man's  will — sometimes  a  purchasable 
will.  Congress  has  repeatedly  disappointed 
the  people  in  respect  both  to  its  intelligence 
and  to  its  magnanimity;  and  with  a  rather 
piteous  recognition  of  its  own  incapacity  it 
has  repeatedly  taken  refuge  in  the  discretion 
of  the  Executive. 

Most  persons  will  also  agree  that  the  courts 
of  our  country  are  as  a  whole  less  efficient 
and  less  respected  today  than  they  were  a 
generation  or  two  generations  ago.  Their 
decline    is    painfully    apparent    in    criminal 


THE    NEKDS    OF    AMERICAN    PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


2901 


matters — and  is  plainly  visible  in  civil  matters 
also.  The  efficacy  of  the  death  penalty 
has  been  well-nigh  destroyed  by  the  delays 
ordered  or  permitted  by  courts.  The  courts 
often  seem  embarrassed  by  conflicting  prece- 
dents or  contradictory  decisions,  and 
paralyzed  by  multiplying  technicalities  and 
ingenuities  of  counsel.  Moreover,  they  not 
infrequently  give  uncertain  sounds.  Hence 
reverence  for  law  is  not  maintained  at  its  old 
level;  and  lawless  violence  against  suspected 
criminals  claims  justification  in  the  delays 
and  uncertainties  of  legal  processes. 

The  church  and  its  ministers  cannot  be  said 
to  have  risen  in  public  estimation  since  the 
Civil  War.  Its  control  over  education  has 
distinctly  diminished.  In  some  of  its  branches 
it  seems  to  cling  to  archaic  metaphysics  and 
morbid  poetic  imaginings ;  in  others  it  appar- 
ently inclines  to  take  refuge  in  decorums, 
pomps,  costumes  and  observances.  On  the 
whole,  it  has  not  been  able  to  keep  up  with 
the  progress  of  either  science  or  democracy — 
those  Atalantas  of  the  nineteenth  century  that 
never  stop  for  golden  apples  dropped  in  their 
path — and  it  has  shown  little  readiness  to 
rely  on  the  intense  reality  of  the  universal 
sentiments  to  which  Jesus  appealed,  or  to  go 
back  to  the  simple  preaching  of  the  gospel  of 
brotherhood  and  unity — of  love  to  God  and 
love  to  man.  So  the  church  as  a  whole  has 
today  no  influence  whatever  on  many  millions 
of  our  fellow  countrymen — called  Jews  or 
Christians,  Protestants  or  Catholics  though 
they  be.  We  still  believe  that  the  voluntary 
church  is  the  best  of  churches;  because  a 
religion  which  is  accepted  under  compulsion 
is  really  no  religion  at  all  for  the  individual 
soul,  though  it  may  be  a  social  embellish- 
ment or  a  prop  for  the  State.  Yet,  believing 
thus,  we  have  to  admit  that  the  voluntary 
church  in  the  United  States  has  no  hold  on 
a  large  and  increasing  part  of  the  population. 

By  no  positive  fault  of  their  own,  but  by  a 
sort  of  negative  incapacity,  legislature,  court 
and  church  seem  to  be  passing  through  some 
transition  which  temporarily  impairs  their 
power;  but  the  schools  and  colleges  in  the 
United  States,  while  changing  and  develop- 
ing rapidly,  have  suffered  no  impairment  of 
vigor  or  influence.  On  the  contrary,  educa- 
tion as  an  uplifting  agency  was  never  so 
effective  with  the  democracy  as  it  is  today. 
To  redeem  and  vivify  legislatures,  courts  and" 
churches,   what    agency   is  so    promising    as 


education  ?  Next  to  steady  productive  labor 
education  is  the  prime  factor  in  social  and 
industrial  progress.  This  jirimacy  of  educa- 
tion among  the  various  civilizing  factors 
aflfords  the  strongest  possible  inducement  to 
spend  every  dollar  on  popular  education 
which  can  be  spent  advantageously.  It  also 
gives  an  answer,  drawn  from  experience,  to 
the  question — Is  the  present  expenditure 
worth  making  ?  A  reasonable  foresight  sup- 
plies another  answer.  We  should  ask  our- 
selves what  better  remedy  than  wise  popular 
education,  what  other  thorough  remedy,  can 
be  imagined  for  the  new  evils  which  threaten 
society  because  of  the  new  facilities  for  mak- 
ing huge  combinations  of  producers,  or  middle- 
men, of  farmers,  or  miners,  or  manufacturers, 
of  rich  or  poor,  of  laborers  or  capitalists. 
Masses  of  men  are  much  more  excitable  than 
average  individuals,  and  will  do  in  gregarious 
passion  things  which  the  individuals  who 
compose  the  masses  would  not  do.  A  crowd 
is  dangerously  liable  to  sudden  rage  or — what 
is  worse — sudden  terror,  and  either  emotion 
may  overpower  the  sense  of  responsibility  and 
annihilate  for  the  moment  both  prudence 
and  mercy.  There  never  was  a  time  when 
common  sentiments  and  desires  could  be  so 
quickly  massed,  never  a  time  when  the  force 
of  multitudes  could  be  so  effectively  concen- 
trated at  a  selected  point  for  a  common  pur- 
pose. Against  this  formidable  danger  there 
is  only  one  trustworthy  defense.  .The  masses 
of  the  people  must  be  taught  to  use  their 
reason,  to  seek  the  truth,  and  to  love  justice 
and  mercy.  There  is  no  safety  for  demo- 
cratic society  in  truth  held,  or  justice  loved, 
by  the  few;  the  millions  must  mean  to  do 
justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with 
their  God.  The  millions  must  be  taught  to 
discuss,  not  fight;  to  trust  publicity,  not 
secrecy;  and  to  take  timely  public  precautions 
against  every  kind  of  selfish  oppression.  To 
give  this  instruction  steadily  and  universally 
society  poss,esses  no  organized  agency  which 
compares  in  present  efficiency  and  future 
promise  with  the  schools.  Therefore,  the 
present  expenditure  on  schools  is  fully  justified 
and  increased  expenditure  urgently  demanded. 
I  can  almost  hear  the  objection — this  expecta- 
tion of  popular  schools  is  extravagant — 
they  are  only  for  teaching  reading,  writing 
and  ciphering.  Not  so,  I  reply.  The  com- 
mon schools  should  impart  the  elements  of 
physical,  mental  and  moral  training,  and  in 


2902 


THE    NEEDS    OF    AMERICAN    PUBLIC    EDUCATION 


morals  the  elements  are  by  far  the  most 
valuable  part. 

Secondly,  let  me  deal  briefly  with  our 
skeptic's  demand  for  a  test  of  the  results  of 
popular  education.  I  think  there  must  be 
some  sure-working  practical  tests  of  the 
efficiency  of  popular  education.  Can  they 
be  stated?  Concerning  an  educated  individ- 
ual, we  ma}^  fairly  ask,  can  he  see  straight  ? 
can  he  recognize  the  fact  ?  Next,  can  he 
draw  a  just  inference  from  established  facts  ? 
Thirdly,  has  he  self-control  ?  or  do  his  passions 
nui  away  with  him  ?  or  untoward  events 
daunt  him  ?  These  are  fair  tests  of  his  mental 
and  moral  capacity.  One  other  test  we  may 
fairly  apply  to  an  educated  individual  — 
does  he  continue  to  grow  in  power  and  in 
wisdom  throughout  his  life  ?  His  body  ceases 
to  grow  at  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of  age — 
does  his  soul  continue  to  grow  ?  It  is  obvious 
that  these  tests  are  difficult  of  application  to 
a  nation;  but  ■jve  are  not  wholly  without 
means  of  applying  them  to  our  own  people  as 
a  mass.  The  people  live  by  agriculture, 
mining  and  manufacturing;  and  these  great 
concerns  cannot  be  successfully  managed 
unless  multitudes  of  men  recognize  essential 
facts,  and  draw  the  right  inferences  from 
the  truths  they  embody. 

The  success  with  which  the  American 
people  get  their  livelihood  shows  that  there  is 
much  soundness  in  their  mental  training. 
Millions  of  them  must  be  able  to  observe 
accurately  and  to  infer  justly.  One  of  the 
most  difficult  tasks  for  a  man  who  thinks 
imperfectly  is  to  get  over  a  delusion.  When- 
ever the  American  people  through  the  reason- 
ing power  of  millions  get  over  a  delusion,  they 
shed  light  on  the  efficiency  of  their  own  educa- 
tion. We  have  had  a  recent  piece  of  evidence 
of  this  sort  in  the  recovery  of  our  people  from 
the  widespread  silver  delusion.  Do  their 
passions  run  away  with  the  people  ?  They 
did  not  after  the  Civil  War,  the  forbearance 
of  the  Confederates  being  as  remarkable  as 
that  of  the  Unionists.  They  did  not  at  the 
close  of  the  fighting  with  the  poor  Spaniards 
in  Cuba.  Never  were  terms  of  surrender 
more  generous,  or,  I  may  add,  more  ingenious. 
The  same  self-control  was  manifested  in  the 
intelligent  withdrawal  of  our  soldiers  from 
China.  Do  untoward  events  daunt  the 
people?  No.  As  a  rule,  our  population 
bears  calamities  and  losses  with  constancy 
and  calmness.     The  country  lately  lost  its 


singularly  beloved  Chief  Magistrate,  and  lost 
him  in  an  intensely  mortifying  way;  but  our 
Government  never  staggered  even  for  a 
moment,  and  the  whole  work  and  life  of  the 
people  went  on  without  a  halt,  or  even  a 
quiver,  excepting  the  momentary  thrill  of 
horror  and  humiliation.  In  the  recent  coal 
strike,  which  doubled  the  price  of  a  necessary 
of  life  and  caused  widespread  injuries  and 
anxieties,  the  attitude  of  the  much-enduring 
public  was  calm  and  discreet.  The  public 
took  sides  with  neither  party,  looked  on 
quietly  at  the  irrational  strife,  accepted  no 
bad  advice,  tried  no  unconstitutional  reme- 
dies— just  bore  the  losses,  and  waited  five 
months  for  the  combatants  to  accept  that 
method  of  inquiry,  discussion  and  mutual 
consideration  which  ought  to  have  been 
adopted  when  the  conflict  first  arose.  The 
strike  has  furnished  a  good  illustration  of 
popular  self-control  under  very  irritating 
conditions.  Such  are  some  of  the  indications 
that  American  education  has  not  wholly 
failed  of  its  high  object. 

Can  we  apply  to  the  education  of  the  nation 
the  ultimate  test  which  we  finally  apply  to  the 
education  of  an  individual?  As  the  national 
life  grows  broad  and  rich  does  the  national 
soul  or  spirit  grow  with  it  ?  Does  mental  and 
spiritual  progress  keep  pace  with  material? 
God  only  knows;  but  mortals  ma}'  discern 
some  facts  which  make  toward  the  conclusion 
we  should  all  like  to  establish.  Thus,  in 
regard  to  the  mental  powers  of  the  popula- 
tion, whenever  new  machines,  be  they 
reapers,  looms,  cranes,  crucibles,  guns  or 
electric  motors,  have  required  more  intelli- 
gent men  behind  them,  the  nation  has  invari- 
ably supplied  on  demand  the  needed  men. 
This  evidence  is  furnished  incessantly  on  an 
immense  scale,  and  it  signifies  that  the  people 
rise  to  their  higher  work.  When  a  quiet 
villager,  who  has  been  just  caring  for  his  farm 
and  his  sawmill,  is  made  school  agent  or 
chairman  of  the  Board  of  Health,  and  is 
forced  to  think  of  all  the  children  in  the  town, 
or  of  all  the  sick  in  it,  if  he  does  his  work  well, 
grasps  ideas  novel  to  him,  and  by  energetic 
and  judicious  action  spreads  them  through 
the  town,  we  say  that  he  has  grown  to  his 
enlarging  work.  On  a  higher  plane — that  is 
just  what  we  do  say  of  Benjamin  Franklin 
and  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  like  manner 
the  American  people  has  grown  to  its  expand- 
ing and  novel  industries,  arts  and  commerce, 


THE    NEEDS    OF    AMERICAN    TUHLIC    EDUCATION 


2903 


and  has  clearly  done  its  daily  work  better 
than  the  competint^  nations.  Hence,  the 
total  training  of  its  youth,  an  important  part 
of  which  has  been  given  by  the  schools  and 
colleges,  must  have  been  measurably  suc- 
cessful. 

The  extraordinary  sale  of  dictionaries  and 
encyclopedias  in  the  United  States  demon- 
strates the  existence  in  innumerable  house- 
holds of  the  habit  of  looking  up  the  meaning 
of  words  and  the  facts  about  unfamiliar 
topics  encountered  in  conversation  or  in 
reading.  This  habit  implies  a  lifelong  desire 
to  learn.  The  reading  habits  of  the  people 
prolong  mental  activity  and  growth,  widen 
interests  and  quicken  sympathies;  for  the 
great  mass  of  the  people's  reading  matter 
is  pure  and  instructive,  in  spite  of  the 
mortifying  fact  that  parts  of  most  daily 
newspapers  are  given  over  to  Cloacina  and 
the  Furies. 

But  all  this  refers  to  the  national  mind 
applied  to  things  material,  or  to  the  ordinary 
plane  of  commonplace  life.  How  about 
things  spiritual,  the  great  moral  movements, 
and  the  refinements  and  adornments  of  life  ? 
Is  there  any  better  test  of  unselfish  and  gentle 
feeling  in  a  multitudinous  people  than  their 
habitual  treatment  of  women  and  children? 
Now,  on  the  whole,  Americans  of  all  classes 
treat  their  women  in  large  things  and  small 
better  than  any  other  people  treat  theirs. 
American  men  are  laughed  at  by  foreigners 
for  making  their  wives  and  daughters  extrava- 
gant and  self-indulgent.  On  farms  the 
women  do  not  work  in  the  fields  as  all  foreign 
peasant  women  do.  For  factories  we  have 
in  many  States  protective  legislation  in 
regard  to  the  employment  of  women  and 
children.  There  is  a  very  significant  differ- 
ence between  the  expectation  on  the  part  of 
the  American  people  of  personal  purity  and 
domestic  honor  in  their  public  men,  and  the 
expectation  in  those  regards  on  the  part  of 
any  European  people  concerning  their  kings, 
princes  and  nigh  officials.  The  politician 
who  disappoints  the  American  people  in  that 
respect  is  lost,  be  he  ever  so  serviceable  a 
person.  As  to  the  treatment  of  children, 
it  is  certain  that  the  discipline  in  American 
families  and  schools  is  gentler  and  more  con- 
siderate than  in  other  countries.  Moreover, 
there  has  been  a  great  advance  in  this  respect 
within  thirty  years,  an  advance  which  has 
made  the  whole  people  happier  and  better. 


This  is  a  widespread  gain,  made  in  millions 
of  homes  and  schools;  and  it  not  only  tells 
on  the  present  moral  condition  of  our  people, 
but  is  of  the  highest  j)romise  for  the  future. 
Somehow  slavery  is  gone  and  intemperance 
has  been  checked  and  made  disgraceful. 
The  results  testify  to  the  moral  forces  which 
produce  them. 

If  one  would  estimate  the  progress  of  a 
people  in  the  fine  arts  and  in  science,  one 
must  go  to  the  works  of  the  few  men  who  best 
illustrate  the  national  art  and  science.  In 
the  whole  history  of  sculpture  can  any  one 
point  to  a  more  informing,  inspiring  and 
touching  military  monument  than  the  Shaw 
monument  on  Boston  Common  ?  There  are 
bigger  and  costlier;  but  none  more  expressive, 
juster  or  more  uplifting.  Look  through 
the  whole  list  of  astronomical  observatories 
since  such  establishments  existed  and  you 
will  not  find  one  which,  in  proportion  to  its 
resources,  has  produced  so  much  routine 
work  and  made  so  many  new  discoveries  as 
the  Harvard  College  observatory  under  its 
present  director.  In  the  prompt  and  general 
application  of  scientific  discovery  to  the 
service  of  humanity  Americans  certainly 
excel  other  nations.  It  is  enough  to  mention 
anaesthesia,  the  telegraph,  the  telephone,  and 
the  innumerable  inventions  of  labor-saving 
machinery.  The  use  made  of  riches  is 
another  test  of  the  moral  condition  and 
standards  of  a  people.  Now  the  stream  of 
gifts  from  private  persons  to  schools,  colleges, 
universities,  libraries,  art  galleries,  museums 
and  laboratories  in  the  United  States  flows 
in  a  volume  which  has  never  been  approached 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  is  said  that 
there  are  only  six  towns  in  all  Massachusetts 
the  inhabitants  of  which  have  no  access  to 
free  books.  It  is  not  only  the  few  very  rich 
men  who  provide  educational  endowments. 
Every  year  thousands  of  Americans  take  part 
in  this  most  intelligent  beneficence,  wiser 
than  any  endowment  of  hospitals,  asylums 
or  infirmaries,  because  a  work  of  construction 
instead  of  palliation.  Truly  there  are  some 
encouraging  evidences  that  the  soul  of  the 
people  keeps  growing. 

So,  in  good  heart  and  hope,  learning  from 
failures  what  not  to  do,  and  from  successes 
what  next  to  attempt,  we  may  all  press  on 
together  toward  our  national  goal — the  per- 
fecting of  an  intelligent  individual  citizenship 
in  a  Christian  democracy 


A    NEGLECTED    EPIC 

HOW  THE    REAL  HERO    OF  THE  AMERICAN   WESTWARD 
MOVEMENT     HAS     BEEN     FORGOTTEN    IN    LITERATURE 

BY 

FRANK    NORRIS 


AS  I  have  tried  to  point  out  once  before 
in  these  pages,  the  Frontier  has 
disappeared.  The  westward-moving 
course  of  empire  has  at  last  crossed  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  Civihzation  has  circled  the 
globe  and  has  come  back  to  its  starting  point , 
the  vague  and  mysterious  East. 

The  thing  has  not  been  accomplished 
peacefully.  From  the  very  first  it  has  been 
an  affair  of  wars — of  invasions.  Invasions 
of  the  East  by  the  West,  and  of  raids  north 
and  south — raids  accomplished  by  flying 
columns  that  dashed  out  from  both  sides  of 
the  main  army.  Sometimes  even  the  invaders 
have  fought  among  themselves,  as  for  instance 
the  Trojan  War,  or  the  civil  wars  of  Italy, 
England  and  America;  sometimes  they  have 
turned  back  on  their  tracks  and,  upon  one 
pretext  or  another,  reconquered  the  races 
behind  them,  as  for  instance  Alexander's 
wars  to  the  eastward,  the  Crusades,  and 
Napoleon's  EgA'ptian  campaigns. 

Retarded  by  all  these  obstacles,  the  march 
has  been  painfull}'  slow.  To  move  from 
Egypt  to  Greece  took  centuries  of  time, 
^lore  centuries  were  consumed  in  the  campaign 
that  brought  empire  from  Greece  to  Rome, 
and  still  more  centuries  passed  before  it 
crossed  the  Alps  and  invaded  northern  and 
western  Europe. 

But  observe.  Once  across  the  Mississippi, 
the  West — our  Far  West — was  conquered  in 
about  forty  years.  In  all  the  vast  campaign 
from  east  to  west  here  is  the  most  signal 
victory,  the  swiftest,  the  completest,  the 
most  brilliant  achievement — the  wilderness 
subdued  at  a  single  stroke. 

Now  all  these  various  fightings  to  the 
westward,  these  mysterious  race-movements, 
migrations,  wars  and  wanderings  have  pro- 
duced their  literature,  distinctive,  peculiar, 
excellent.  And  this  literature  we  call  epic. 
The  Trojan  War  gave  us  the  "Iliad,"  the 
"Odyssey"  and  the  "^neid";  the  campaign 


of  the  Greeks  in  Asia  Minor  produced  the 
"Anabasis"  ;  a  whole  cycle  of  literature  grew 
from  the  conquest  of  Europe  after  the  fall 
of  Rome— "The  Song  of  Roland,"  "The 
Nibelungenlied, "  "The  Romance  of  the 
Rose,"  "Beowulf,"  "Magnusson,"  "The 
Scotch  Border  Ballads,"  "The  Poem  of  the 
Cid,' '  "  The  Hemskringla,' '  "  Orlando  Furioso," 
"Jerusalem  Delivered,"  and  the  like. 

On  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  in  his  clumsy, 
artificial  way,  but  yet  recognized  as  a  pro- 
ducer of  literature,  Cooper  has  tried  to 
chronicle  the  conquest  of  the  eastern  part  of 
our  country.  Absurd  he  may  be  in  his  ideas 
of  life  and  character,  the  art  in  him  veneered 
over  with  charlatanism;  yet  the  man  was 
solemn  enough  and  took  his  work  seriously, 
and  his  work  is  literature. 

Also  a  cycle  of  romance  has  grown  up 
around  the  Civil  War.  The  theme  has  had 
its  poets  to  whom  the  public  have  been  glad 
to  listen.  The  subject  is  vast,  noble;  is  in 
a  word  epic,  just  as  the  Trojan  War  and  the 
Retreat  of  the  Ten  Thousand  were  epic. 

But  when  at  last  one  comes  to  look  for  the 
literature  that  sprang  from  and  has  grown 
up  around  the  last  great  epic  event  in  the 
history  of  civilization,  the  event  which  in 
spite  of  stupendous  difficulties  was  consum- 
mated more  swiftly,  more  completely,  more 
satisfactorily  than  any  like  event  since  the 
westward  migration  began — I  mean  the  con- 
quering of  the  West,  the  subduing  of  the 
wilderness  beyond  the  Mississippi — What  has 
this  produced  in  the  way  of  literature  ?  The 
dime  novel !  The  dime  novel  and  nothing 
else.     The  dime  novel  and  nothing  better. 

The  Trojan  War  left  to  posterity  the  charac- 
ter of  Hector;  the  wars  with  the  Saracens 
gave  us  Roland;  the  folklore  of  Iceland  pro- 
duced Grettir;  the  Scotch  border  poetry 
brought  forth  the  Douglas;  the  Spanish  epic 
the  Cid.  But  the  American  epic,  just  as 
heroic,  just  as  elemental,  just  as  important 


A    NEGLECTED    EPIC 


2905 


I 


and  as  picturesque,  will  fade  into  history 
leaving  behind  no  finer  type,  no  nobler  hero 
than  Buffalo  Bill. 

The  young  Greeks  sat  on  marble  terraces 
overlooking  the  /Egean  Sea  and  listened  to 
the  thunderous  roll  of  Homer's  hexameter. 
In  the  feudal  castles  the  minstrel  sang  to 
the  young  boys,  of  Roland.  The  farm  folk 
of  Iceland  to  this  very  day  treasure  up  and 
read  to  their  little  ones  hand-written  copies 
of  the  Gretla  Saga  chronicling  the  deeds  and 
death  of  Grettir  the  Strong.  But  the  youth 
of  the  United  States  learn  of  their  epic  by 
paying  a  dollar  to  see  the  "  Wild  West  Show. " 

The  plain  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  we 
have  neglected  our  epic — the  black  shame  of 
it  be  on  us — and  no  contemporaneous  poet 
or  chronicler  thought  it  worth  his  while  to 
sing  the  song  or  tell  the  tale  of  the  West, 
because  literature  in  the  day  when  the  West 
was  being  won  was  a  cult  indulged  in  by  cer- 
tain well-bred  gentlemen  in  New  England 
who  looked  eastward  to  the  Old  World,  to  the 
legends  of  England  and  Norway  and  Germany 
and  Italy  for  their  inspiration,  and  left  the 
great,  strong,  honest,  fearless,  resolute  deeds 
of  their  own  countrymen  to  be  defamed  and 
defaced  by  the  nameless  hacks  of  the  "yellow 
back"  libraries. 

One  man, — who  wrote  "How  Santa  Claus 
Came  to  Simpson's  Bar," — one  poet,  one 
chronicler  did,  in  fact,  arise  for  the  moment, 
who  understood  that  wild,  brave  life  and  who 
for  a  time  gave  promise  of  bearing  record  of 
things  seen. 

One  of  the  requirements  of  an  epic — a  true 
epic^is  that  its  action  must  devolve  upon 
some  great  national  event.  There  was  no 
lack  of  such  in  those  fierce  years  after  '49. 
Just  that  long  and  terrible  journey  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  ocean  is  an  epic  in  itself. 
Yet  no  serious  attempt  has  ever  been  made 
by  an  American  author  to  render  into  prose 
or  verse  this  event  in  our  history  as  "national" 
in  scope,  in  origin  and  in  results  as  the 
Revolution  itself.  The  prairie  schooner  is  as 
large  a  figure  in  the  legends  as  the  black  ship 
that  bore  Ulysses  homeward  from  Troy.  The 
sea  meant  as  much  to  the  Argonauts  of  the 
fifties  as  it  did  to  the  ten  thousand. 

And  the  Alamo  !  There  is  a  trumpet-call  in 
the  word ;  and  only  the  look  of  it  on  the  printed 
page  is  a  flash  of  fire.  But  the  very  histories 
slight  the  deed,  and  to  many  an  American, 
bom  under  the  same  flag  that  the  Mexican 


rifles  shot  to  ribbons  on  that  splendid  day, 
the  word  is  meaningless.  Yet  Thermopylae 
was  less  glorious,  and  in  comparison  with 
that  siege  the  investment  of  Troy  was  mere 
wanton  riot.  At  the  very  least  the  Texans 
in  that  battered  adobe  church  fought  for  the 
honor  of  their  flag  and  the  greater  glory  of 
their  country,  not  for  loot  or  the  possession 
of  the  person  of  an  adulteress.  Young  men 
are  taught  to  consider  the  Iliad,  with  its 
butcheries,  its  glorification  of  inordinate 
selfishness  and  vanity,  as  a  classic.  Achilles, 
murderer,  egoi.st,  ruffian  and  liar,  is  a  hero. 
But  the  name  of  Bowie,  the  name  of  the  man 
who  gave  his  life  to  his  flag  at  the  Alamo,  is 
perpetuated  only  in  the  designation  of  a  knife. 
Crockett  is  the  hero  only  of  a  "funny  story" 
about  a  sagacious  coon;  while  Travis,  the  boy 
commander  who  did  what  Gordon  with  an 
empire  back  of  him  failed  to  do,  is  quietly 
and  definitely  ignored. 

Because  we  have  done  nothing  to  get  at 
the  truth  about  the  West,  because  our  best 
writers  have  turned  to  the  old  country  folk-- 
lore  and  legends  for  their  inspiration,  because 
"melancholy  harlequins"  strut  in  fringed 
leggings  upon  the  street  corners,  one  hand 
held  out  for  pennies,  we  have  come  to  believe 
that  our  West,  our  epic,  was  an  affair  of 
Indians,  road  agents  and  desperadoes,  and 
have  taken  no  account  of  the  brave  men  who 
stood  for  law  and  justice  and  liberty,  and  for 
those  great  ideas  died  by  the  hundreds, 
unknown  and  unsung;  died  that  the  West 
might  be  subdued,  that  the  last  stage  of  the 
march  should  be  accomplished,  that  the 
Anglo-Saxon  should  fulfil  his  destiny  and 
complete  the  cycle  of  the  world. 

The  great  figure  of  our  neglected  epic,  the 
Hector  of  our  ignored  Iliad,  is  not,  as  the  dime 
novels  would  have  us  believe,  a  lawbreaker, 
but  a  lawmaker;  a  fighter,  it  is  true,  as  is 
always  the  case  with  epic  figures,  but  a 
fighter  for  peace,  a  calm,  grave,  strong  man 
who  hated  the  lawbreaker  as  the  hound  hates 
the  wolf. 

He  did  not  lounge  in  barrooms ;  he  did  not 
cheat  at  cards ;  he  did  not  drink  himself  to 
maudlin  fury ;  he  did  not  '  'shoot  at  the  drop 
of  the -hat."  But  he  loved  his  horse,  he  loved 
his  friend,  he  was  kind  to  little  children;  he 
was  always  ready  to  side  with  the  weak 
against  the  strong,  with  the  poor  against  the 
rich.  For  hypocrisy  and  pretence,  for  shams 
and  subterfuges,  he  had  no  mercy,  no  toler- 


2906 


A   CONSERVATIVE   WORD    OF   WARNING 


ance.  He  was  too  brave  to  lie  and  too  strong 
to  steal.  The  odds  in  that  lawless  day  were 
ever  against  him;  his  enemies  were  many  and 
his  friends  were  few;  but  his  face  was  always 
set  bravely  against  evil,  and  fear  w^as  not  in 
him  even  at  the  end.  For  such  a  man  as  this 
could  die  no  quiet  death  in  a  land  where  law 
went  no  further  than  the  statute  books  and 
life  lay  in  the  crook  of  my  neighbor's  fore- 
finger. 

He  died  in  defense  of  an  ideal,  an  epic 
hero,  a  legendary  figiire,  formidable,  sad.  He 
died  facing  down  injustice,  dishonesty  and 
crime;    died  "in  his  boots";   and   the  same 


world  that  has  glorified  Achilles  and  for- 
gotten Travis  finds  none  so  poor  to  do  him 
reverence.  No  literature  has  sprimg  up 
around  him — this  great  character  native  to 
America.  He  is  of  all  the  world-types  the 
one  distinctive  to  us — peculiar,  particular 
and  unique.  He  is  dead  and  even  his  work 
is  misinterpreted  and  misunderstood.  His 
very  memory  will  soon  be  gone,  and  the 
American  epic,  which  on  the  shelves  of 
posterity  should  have  stood  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  the  "  Hemskringla "  and  the 
"Tales  of  the  Nibelungen"  and  the  "Song  of 
Roland,"  will  never  be  written. 


A  CONSERVATIVE   WORD   OF  WARNING 

THE  DANGER  THAT  OUR  PRESENT  RATE  OF  EXPANDING 
CREDITS  MAY  HAVE  IN  STORE  FOR  US— A  THOROUGH 
REVIEW    OF    OUR    FINANCIAL   SITUATION — IS    IT    SOUND. > 

BY 

FRANK    A.    VANDERLIP 

VICE-PRESIDENT   OF   THK    NATIONAL    CITY    BANK    OF    NEW   YORK    CITY 

An  address  delivered  before  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Wihnington,  North  Carolina 


WE  are  all  aware  that  we  are  in  a 
unique  period  of  commercial,  finan- 
cial and  industrial  development.  It 
is  undoubtedly  the  most  important,  the  most 
remarkable  and  the  most  interesting  period 
of  industrial  and  financial  evolution  in  the 
history  of  the  nation.  We  have  witnessed  in 
the  last  half-dozen  years  a  commercial  expan- 
sion and  a  financial  movement  alike  unparal- 
leled in  the  achievements  of  our  own  country 
or  in  the  growth  of  other  lands — of  which 
I  shall  emphasize  a  few  noteworthy  facts. 
In  the  domestic  field  we  have  had  both  a 
series  of  extraordinary  crop  years  and  a  period 
of  extraordinary  industrial  activity.  On  the 
agricultural  side  we  have  seen  the  annual 
value  of  far.Ti  products  increase  far  over 
$1,000,033,030  in  the  last  half-dozen  years, 
and  we  have  seea  the  value  of  the  farms  them- 
selves ad/ance  more  than  $4,000,000,000  in 
the  same  time.  In  the  industrial  field  we 
have  had  a  period  of  the  fullest  employment 
of  labor  (except  where  labor  has  chosen  to 
refrain  from  work)  and  of  the  highest  general 
level  of  wages  which  has  ever  been  known. 


either  with  us  or  with  any  other  people.  The 
definite  evidence  of  this  prosperity  we  have 
seen  in  a  doubling  of  the  individual  deposits  in 
national  banks,  the  total  going  up  from  roundly 
$1,600,000000  in  1896  to  $3,200,000,000  this 
year.  In  the  same  time  the  deposits  of  sav- 
ings banks  have  increased  $700,000,000,  the 
deposits  of  State  banks  $1,000,000,000 — con- 
siderably more  than  doubling  the  total  of 
six  years  ago — and  the  deposits  in  trust 
companies  also  more  than  doubling,  the 
increase  there  being  $600,000,000.  In  these 
half-dozen  years  the  credits  represented  by 
individual  deposits  in  banks  of  all  classes 
have  increased  roundly  $4,000,000,000,  an 
increase  nearly  equal  to  the  total  deposits 
of  all  kinds  half  a  dozen  years  ago. 

Bank  clearings — an  excellent  measure  of 
general  trade — increased  in  these  half-dozen 
years  150  per  cent.,  and  it  is  estimated  that 
the  total  wealth  of  the  country  has  had  more 
than  $20,000,000,000  added  to  it  in  that 
period. 

We  have  increased  our  coal  production 
100,000,000   tons,  and   passed   easily  to  the 


A    CONSERVATIVE    WORD    OE    WARNING 


2907 


l)osition  of  the  greatest  of  coal-producing 
nations.  Wc  liave  almost  trebled  our  pro- 
duction of  steel,  leaving  our  competitors  far 
behind  in  any  comparison 'of  volume  of  busi- 
ness. We  have  added  $400,000,000  to  the 
annual  product  of  our  mining  industries. 

Whichever  way  we  turn  we  find  that  the 
figures  measuring  the  volume  of  business,  the 
extent  of  industry,  the  growth  of  financial 
importance,  have  in  these  last  half-dozen 
years  made  an  apparent  gain  equal  to  the 
entire  total  six  years  ago.  It  is  hardly  too 
much  to  say  that  in  six  years  we  have  doubled 
the  figures  measuring  the  apparent  extent  of 
our  annual  domestic  business. 

Now,  for  a  moment,  to  turn  from  the 
domestic  side  of  the  account  to  the  foreign 
situation.  Here  we  have  recorded  gains 
which  have  given  deep  concern  to  the  whole 
commercial  world.  In  1896  we  passed  the 
$1,000,000,000  mark  with  our  exports, 
and  in  five  years  more  the  total  stood  just 
under  $1,500,000,000.  At  the  same  time  our 
imports  were  declining,  so  that  we  were  not 
only  making  wonderful  inroads  upon  foreign 
markets,  but  we  were  more  than  holding  our 
own  in  our  own  markets  in  competition  with 
foreign  manufacturers.  Our  foreign  trade 
balances  began  to  show  incredible  totals  in 
our  favor,  running  up  well  over  $600,000,000 
a  year,  and  causing  the  gravest  apprehen- 
sion in  the  minds  of  our  commercial  rivals 
in  regard  to  the  industrial  readjustment 
which  the  world  must  look  forward  to  if  such 
totals  were  to  be  maintained.  In  a  single 
year  we  imported  $105,000,000  of  gold.  The 
world  suddenly  discovered  that  we  were  not 
alone  its  granary,  but  we  were  likely  to  become 
its  workshop.  We  pushed  into  the  foreign 
markets  with  the  handiwork  of  our  mechanics 
and  the  products  of  our  machines,  month 
by  month  increasing  our  sales,  until  from  a 
total  of  less  than  $200,000,000  of  exports 
of  manufactures  we  had  soon  far  exceeded 
$400,000,000,  making  increases  so  rapid  that 
Europe  was  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
problem  of  reorganization  of  her  industries 
to  meet  this  new-born  competition,  and  a 
readjustment  of  her  finances  to  pay  for  her 
increased  purchases,  which  she  seemed  unable 
to  offset  by  increased  sales. 

I  had  the  privilege  a  year  ago  of  meeting 
many  of  the  foremost  statesmen  and  financiers 
of  Europe,  and  of  discussing  with  them  the 
pommercial  questions  which  had  been  raised 


by  our  rapid  industrial  development  and  by 
our  wholesale  invasion  of  their  markets.  I 
found  everywhere  the  problem  receiving 
most  serious  attention.  Everywhere  it  was 
regarded  as  the  most  vital  of  economic 
questions,  and  nowhere  did  I  find  anything 
but  wonder  over  the  development  which  we 
were  showing  and  apprehension  in  regard  to 
the  effect  of  its  continuance.  Where  it  was 
to  lead  in  its  effect  upon  European  industries 
and  European  finances,  if  it  were  to  continue, 
was  the  unsolvable  problem  of  finance  min- 
isters, bankers  and  industrial  captains.  I 
had  the  privilege  of  a  conversation  at  that 
time  with  Germany's  most  distinguished 
financier  and  industrial  upbuilder,  the  late 
Georg  von  Siemens — the  creator  of  the 
Deutsche  Bank,  the  adviser  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  originator  of  vast  industrial  enter- 
prises. I  asked  him  what  was  the  future  of 
the  Old  World  in  respect  to  this  new  industrial 
development  and  this  sudden  show  of  financial 
strength  in  America.  I  asked  him  what  was 
to  be  the  result,  if  we  were  to  go  on  selling  to 
Europe  $600,000,000  of  goods  a  year  more 
than  we  bought,  increasing  our  exports, 
decreasing  our  imports,  building  up  a  theoreti- 
cal trade  balance  of  such  totals  as  were  new 
in  international  finance. 

Herr  von  Siemens  was  a  wise  and  an  experi- 
enced man.  He  had  passed  through  crises 
and  through  periods  of  inflation,  and  he 
viewed  the  outlook  with   calmness. 

"  I  am  not  concerned  about  what  will  happen  to 
Europe  if  you  are  to  go  on  in  this  triumphal  way," 
he  told  me,  "  because  you  will  not  go  on.  There  will 
be  something  which  will  stop  you.  Something 
always  does  happen  in  such  a  situation  as  this,  and 
something  will  happen  now.  I  do  not  know  what 
it  is  ;  my  vision  is  not  broad  enough  or  clear  enough 
to  foresee  it,  but  you  will  make  mistakes  and  a  halt 
will  be  called." 

It  is  my  purpose  to  examine  somewhat 
critically  the  present  industrial  and  financial 
conditions,  with  a  view  to  seeing  if  this  shrewd 
German  observer  was  right,  with  a  view  to 
determining  if  something  has  happened  to  call 
a  halt  in  our  progress  toward  a  command  of 
the  world's  markets,  and  then  to  offer,  if  I 
can,  some  suggestions  as  to  why  it  is  that  we 
have  failed  to  keep  up  the  pace  and  as  to  what 
can  be  done  to  remove  the  obstacles  that  are 
retarding  our  progress. 

I  am  just  back  from  another  European  trip, 
and  have  again  met  many  of  the  most  distin- 
guished of  European  statesmen  and  financiers. 


2908 


A    CONSERVATIVE   WORD    OF    WARNING 


The  change  that  the  year  has  made  in  their 
point  of  view  is  extremely  interesting.  They 
are  no  longer  fascinated  by  our  progress. 
Instead  of  that,  I  found  in  every  capital  I 
visited,  and  in  the  mind  of  almost  every  keen 
observer  of  international  affairs  with  whom  I 
conversed,  a  belief  that  we  have  for  the 
present  marked  the  high-water  point  of  our 
overflow  of  exports  into  the  European  indus- 
trial field.  And  instead  of  credulous  belief  in 
the  unlimited  possibilities  of  our  develop- 
ment, which  seemed  to  be  the  average  state 
of  mind  a  3-ear  ago,  there  is  today  a  feeling  of 
grave  conservatism  and  anxious  interest  in 
our  future. 

The}-  note  that  the  rapid  increase  of  our 
exports  came  to  a  halt  two  years  ago.  They 
note  that  our  imports  in  the  last  two  3'ears 
have  been  rapidly  rising,  the  record  for  the 
fiscal  3'ear  just  closed  being  more  than 
$900,000,000,  against  only  a  little  over 
$600,000,000  in  1898.  They  note,  too,  that 
in  spite  of  that  tremendous  balance  of  trade 
which  government  reports  showed  in  our 
favor,  a  balance  running,  as  I  have  said,  up  to 
an  average  of  almost  $600,000,000  a  year, 
we  do  not  seem  to  have  any  unusual  com 
mand  upon  international  credits,  but  we  are 
as  a  matter  of  fact  a  considerable  debtor  in 
the  world's  exchanges,  and  that  now,  in  the 
midst  of  extraordinarily  bountiful  harvests, 
and  at  the  season  when  a  movement  of  gold 
in  this  direction  might  normally  be  expected, 
we  are  concerned  lest  a  high  rate  of  sterling 
shall  lead  to  gold  exports. 

If  we  are  honest  with  ourselves,  we  must 
admit  that  the  edge  is  off  our  invasion  of 
foreign  markets.  Our  totals  are  still  colossal, 
but  the  rate  of  increase  which  they  were  mak- 
ing has  been  checked,  and  decreases  have 
been  recorded.  Our  exports  of  manufactures 
for  the  fiscal  year  just  closed  are  $30,000,000 
less  than  the  point  they  reached  two  3-ears 
ago.  Our  total  exports  of  domestic  mer 
chandise  fell  off  more  than  $100,000,000  in 
the  year.  Instead  of  decreasing  exports  we 
have  made  some  large  increases  in  our  pur- 
chases of  foreign  goods,  and  the  total  for  this 
fiscal  year  stands  more  than  $300,000,000 
above  1899. 

If  we  chose  to  examine  critically  our 
domestic  condition  we  might  find  there,  too, 
developments  not  in  every  respect  satisfactory. 
It  must  be  with  the  keenest  regret  that  we 
recognize  unfavorable  conditions  that  threaten 


a  break  in  the  unparalleled  magnificence  of 
this  story  of  industrial  growth.  Nothing 
will  better  repay  thought  and  study  than 
inquiry  into  those  causes,  which  seem  to 
imperil  a  continuance  of  this  wonderful  period 
of  prosperity.  Nor  can  any  investigation  be 
of  more  vital  importance  than  a  considera- 
tion of  what  safeguards  it  is  possible  for  us  to 
provide,  against  the  recuirence  of  these  cycles 
of  depression  which  seem  always  to  follow 
periods  of  prosperity. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  however,  to  dwell 
upon  some  of  the  evidences  of  inflation,  upon 
a  too  free  issue  of  securities  larger  than  the 
value  of  properties  warrant  and  more  rapid 
in  creation  than  investors  can  absorb,  nor 
upon  labor  conditions  fraught  with  serious 
menace  which  already  mark  their  eff'ect  upon 
industrial  totals.  Instead  of  a  broad  survey 
of  the  whole  situation,  I  wish  to  take  up  a 
single  phase  of  it,  a  phase  which  has  been  well 
illustrated  by  a  recent  episode  in  financial 
affairs. 

The  Comptroller  of  the  Currency,  a  few 
days  ago,  completed  his  report  showing  the 
condition  of  all  national  banks  last  month. 
That  report,  it  seems  to  me,  is  one  of  the 
most  significant  that  has  in  a  long  time  come 
from  the  Comptroller's  office,  and  it  will  well 
bear  some  analysis  and  comparison.  If  we 
are  merely  looking  for  large  totals,  we  may 
again  find  them  here,  figures  in  some 
respects  surpassing  all  previous  records. 
The  total  deposits,  individual,  bank  and 
government,  in  all  national  banks,  foot  up 
$4,527,000,000.  Now,  if  we  turn  back  to 
a  similar  report  for  the  beginning  of  1899, 
we  will  find  the  total  of  the  same  items 
$3,226,000,000.  Now,  for  a  moment,  bear 
these  figures  in  mind.  Roughly, $4,500,000,000 
deposits  now,  against  $3,200,000,000  in  1899 
— and  with  that  increase  in  the  liabilities 
of  national  banks  in  mind,  let  us  look  at 
the  figures  representing  the  reserve  basis. 
The  total  of  specie  and  legal  tenders  held 
by  the  national  banks  last  month  was 
$508,000,000.  The  total  at  the  beginning  of 
1899  was  $509,000,000.  Here  we  have  had 
an  expansion  of  $1,300,000,000  in  deposits, 
while  the  basis  of  gold  and  legal  tenders 
upon  which  that  inverted  pyramid  stands  is 
actually  slightly  smaller  than  it  was  at  the 
beginning  of  the  period.  Now,  in  that  same 
time  the  deposits  of  other  banks — State  banks, 
trust  companies,  savings  banks,  and  private 


A  CONSERVATIVE  WORD  OF  WARNING 


2909 


banks — have  probably  incrciised  not  tar  from 
$3,000,000,000,  and  there  is  httlc  hkchhood 
tliat  their  gold  and  legal  tender  reserve  is 
materially  larger  than — if  it  is  as  large  as — at 
the  beginning  of  1899.  We  have  had,  tlicn, 
in  less  than  four  years,  an  increase  in  the 
total  bank  deposits  of  the  country  of  over 
$4,000,000,000,  accompanied  by  no  increase 
in  the  specie  and  legal  tender  holdings  of 
those  banks. 

What  has  brought  about  this  remarkable 
development  of  bank  credit  ?  The  answer 
must  at  once  come  to  the  mind  of  any  observer 
of  finance,  that  the  principal  reason  for  the 
expansion  of  deposits  and  the  accompanying 
expansion  of  loans  is  to  be  found  in  the  great 
movement  which  has  been  the  significant 
feature  in  financial  affairs  of  the  last  half- 
dozen  years — the  movement  to  aggregate 
industrial  establishments  into  single  great 
corporate  units,  and  to  convert  the  evidence 
of  ownership  into  corporate  securities 'which 
have  entered  actively  into  the  stream  of  finan- 
cial operations.  Vast  amountsof  new  securities 
have  been  created  in  these  half-dozen  years, 
based  in  large  measure  upon  properties  which 
were  before  held  as  fixed  investments  by  indi- 
viduals, or  if  standing  in  the  form  of  corporate 
property  the  securities  of  those  corporations 
were  more  closely  held,  and  in  but  small 
measure  entered  into  the  financial  operations 
of  the  day.  This  movement — tending  to 
convert  the  evidence  of  ownership  of  a  great 
amount  of  fixed  property  into  a  form  which 
has  been  considered  a  bank  collateral,  and 
which  has  been  made  the  basis  of  loans  and 
of  corresponding  increases  of  deposits — is 
undoubtedly  the  most  important  single  cause 
for  this  increase  of  more  than  $4,000,000,000 
in  bank  deposits  and  bank  loans  of  the 
country  in  the  space  of  three  or  four  years. 

Another  important  contributing  influence 
has  been  the  vast  expenditures  of  corpora- 
tions— railroad  companies  particularly — for 
the  improvement,  betterment  and  extension 
of  their  properties.  New  securities  have  been 
created,  and  the  capital  which  was  obtained 
by  their  sale  has  been  converted  into  a  fixed 
form  of  investment.  When  our  railroads 
were  first  built  economy  in  construction  was 
the  prime  consideration.  Now  it  has  come 
to  be  that  economy  in  operation  is  demanded. 
At  first  it  was  economy  in  the  use  of  capital; 
now  it  is  economy  in  the  use  of  labor.  And 
so  we  have  seen,  not  onlv  with  the  railroads, 


but  in  every  department  of  industry,  a  lavish 
investment  of  capital  in  order  that  the  cost 
of  production  might  be  cheapened. 

Now  let  us  sui)i)ose  that  all  this  great 
expenditure  has  been  wisely  made,  and  in 
the  main  I  believe  that  it  has,  that  every 
dollar  which  has  been  expended  in  the  im- 
provement and  betterment  of  railroads, 
in  the  extension  and  better  equipment  of 
industries,  will  effect  economies  which  will 
result  in  a  saving  equal  to  a  fair  interest 
return  on  the  capital  so  invested.  But, 
granting  that  the  investment,  from  that 
point  of  view,  has  been  wise,  a  consideration 
which  we  have  perhaps  in  some  measure  lost 
sight  of  is  that  this  whole  great  movement  of 
improvements  and  betterments  has  been 
drawing  from  the  fund  such  liquid  capital  and 
converting  it  into  a  fixed  form,  so  that  such 
capital  cannot  be  fully  returned  into  liquid 
shape,  from  the  result  of  increased  earnings, 
before  the  next  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

If  a  farmer  were  to  ask  a  country  bank 
to  loan  him  $10,000  to  put  up  new  buildings 
and  generally  improve  his  property,  the 
banker,  while  admitting  that  the  expendi- 
ture might  be  a  profitable  one  in  the  added 
return  which  the  farm  would  give,  would 
say  that  the  proposal  was  not  a  good  bank- 
ing proposition — that  bank  funds  could 
not  properly  be  tied  up  in  an  investment  of 
that  character,  but  must  be  loaned  for  objects 
which,  in  the  natural  order  of  the  commercial 
season's  progress,  would  liquidate  the  debt  in 
a  much  shorter  time  than  would  be  possible 
were  the  capital  to  be  converted  into  such  a 
fixed  form  of  investment.  Recognizing  this 
principle,  the  National  Banking  Act  very 
wisely  prohibits  loaning  upon  real  estate. 
Sound  as  the  security  is,  it  is  not  within  the 
lines  of  the  banking  principle  which  embodies 
the  practice  of  making  only  such  loans  as  will 
in  the  natural  order  of  business  liquidate  them- 
selves within  a  few  months. 

If  a  railway  manager  were  to  ask  from 
his  larger  bankers  a  $1,000,000  loan  to  put 
into  better  bridges  and  heavier  track,  the 
same  answer  would  be  made.  It  would  be 
unwise  for  a  bank  so  to  tie  up  active  capital 
by  converting  it  into  a  fixed  form  of  invest- 
ment. Profitable  as  the  banker  might  be 
convinced  the  investment  would  be  in  the 
greater  economies  which  it  would  bring  to  the 
operation  of  the  railroad,  he  would  see  that 
it  would  be  unwise  financiering  for  him  to 


2910 


A   CONSERVATIVE   WORD    OF   WARNING 


loan  his  deposits  for  conversion  into  a  fixed 
form  of  investment  which  could  not  be  liqui- 
dated should  his  depositors  begin  to  reduce 
their  deposit  lines.  Securities  issued  for 
just  such  purposes,  however,  form  much  of 
the  basis  of  this  increase  of  $4,000,000,000  of 
loans.  The  loans  are  excellent  so  long  as  A. 
can  sell  his  collateral  to  B.  should  A.  be 
called  upon  to  repay,  but  if  A.  and  B.  should 
both  be  called  upon  to  pay,  there  is  nothing 
in  the  nature  of  these  loans  which  will  permit 
them  rapidly  to  work  out  toward  liquidation 
in  the  natural  order  of  things.  It  is,  in  effect, 
a  loaning  of  bank  credit  for  conversion  into 
a  fixed  form  of  property. 

If,  say,  two-thirds  of  the  total  income  from 
industrial  investments  were  to  be  returned 
to  the  betterment  of  properties,  and  there 
should  be  issued  in  place  of  the  capital  so 
spent  additional  securities,  the  process  wotfld 
be  wise  and  beneficial.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  should  be  converted  into  the  form  of 
fixed  property  by  expenditures  for  improve- 
ments and  betterments  a  total  amount  of 
capital  considerably  exceeding  the  total 
annual  income  from  such  investments,  the 
result  in  the  end  could  lead  only  to  disaster, 
no  matter  how  wisely  these  expenditures  for 
betterments  and  improvements  might  be 
made — because  in  the  process  there  would  be 
absorbed  a  larger  and  larger  amount  of  liquid 
capital  into  the  form  of  fixed  investment, 
banking  reserves  would  be  reduced,  and  when 
bank  deposits  were  demanded,  though  there 
might  be  the  soundest  of  security  back  of 
them,  it  would  be  in  a  fixed  form  unavailable 
for  liquidating  the  debts  due  to  depositors. 

It  must  be  admitted,  I  believe,  that  we  have 
been  converting  too  great  an  amount  of  liquid 
capital  into  fixed  forms  of  investment.  What 
is  the  cure  ?  The  cure  is,  of  course,  to  reduce 
the  expenditures  of  that  character  so  that  they 
will  come  within  the  line  of  safety.  What 
is  the  line  of  safety?  It  is,  it  seems  to  me, 
something  well  within  the  total  income  from 
such  investments.  If  we  go  beyond  it — if  we 
convert  into  fixed  forms  of  property  more 
than  the  total  income  from  the  property — 
we  have  gone  beyond  the  line  of  safety  and 
are  borrowing  from  the  future  temporarily 
to  bury  the  capital.  We  have  the  choice  of 
one  of  two  things:  Either  to  practise  wise 
discretion  or  to  go  on  borrowing  of  the  future 
until  we  are  brought  up  against  a  wall.  The 
first  course  is  consistent  with  continued  pros- 


perity, even  if  we  do,  to  some  extent,  reduce 
the  expenditure  of  capital  for  new  construc- 
tion, extensions  and  betterments.  The 
second  course,  if  persisted  in,  will  bring  con- 
fusion, disorder  and  paralysis  on  the  whole 
constructive    investment. 

Another  phase  of  this  situation,  and  one 
which  has  aggravated  the  causes  leading  to 
an  expansion  of  loans,  and  which  has  cut  off 
from  us  the  relief  which  we  hoped  for  in  the 
way  of  a  foreign  trade  balance  made  tangible 
by  gold  imports,  has  been  the  rapidity  and 
extent  of  the  advance  in  prices.  Back  in 
1895  and  1896  we  were  on  a  low  level  of 
prices,  and  we  were  imbued  with  economical 
ideas  of  administration.  It  was  then  that  we 
began  making  great  inroads  into  foreign 
markets  and  our  exports  had  passed  the 
$1,000,000,000  mark.  In  1898  our  exports 
had  so  increased  and  our  imports  so  decreased 
that  we  had  a  balance  in  our  favor  of  more 
than  $600,000,000,  and  that  balance  was 
tangibly  reflected  that  year  in  a  net  importa- 
tion of  $105,000,000  of  gold.  Then  prices 
began  to  rise,  the  total  of  our  exports  did  not 
hold  up  the  next  year,  while  our  imports 
began  to  show  a  marked  increase.  In  the 
subsequent  years  we  were  fortunate  in 
exceptionally  favorable  agricultural  condi- 
tions, of  bountiful  harvests  at  home  and 
scantily  filled  granaries  abroad,  so  that  our 
exports  showed  some  further  increases;  but 
our  imports  went  up  more  rapidly  than  did 
our  exports  until,  in  the  fiscal  year  just 
closed,  we  showed  a  total  of  imports  nearly 
$300,000,000  more  than  in  1898. 

The  whole  general  level  of  prices  has 
advanced,  and  some  of  these  advances,  from 
the  extreme  low  level  of  1897  or  1898  to  the 
high  level  which  has  been  reached  within  the 
last  two  years,  are  the  sharpest  in  our  com- 
mercial history.  Pig  iron,  for  instance, 
advanced  from  less  than  Si 2  a  ton  in  October. 

1898,  to  $2 5  at  the  beginning  of  1900.  Steel 
rails  doubled  in  the  same  period,  the  price 
going  up  from  $17.50  to  $35.  Bar  iron  scored 
even  a  greater  percentage  of  gain  within  a 
shorter  time,  the  price  advancing  from  95c. 
a  hundred  in  July,  1897,  to  $2.60  in  October. 

1899.  The  quotation  for  clear  pine  boards 
has  advanced  from  S45  to  $73  a  thousand;  for 
brick,  from  $4.50  to  $6;  rope,  from  5/ic.  to 
13c.;  and  salt,  from  21c.  to  $1.  Take  the 
advance  of  some  of  the  Southern  products  in 
that  same  period.    We  see  linseed  oil  marked 


A    CONSERVATIVE    WURU    OE    WARNING 


291  r 


up  from  29c.  to  68c.;  turpentine  from  26c.  to 
50c.;  molasses  from  28c.  to  550. 

These  extreme  advances  in  prices  have  not 
been  fully  maintained,  but  the  present  level 
of  market  cjuotations  is  still  50  to  80  per  cent, 
above  prices  in  1897  and  1898  for  many 
commodities. 

So  the  list  might  be  continued.  These 
examples  are  extreme,  and  the  low  level  was 
probably  unduly  depressed.  But  they  tell 
the  story  of  why  our  exports  have  failed  to 
go  on  increasing,  and  they  have  been  an 
important  influence  in  the  inflation  of  bank 
credits. 

When  a  railroad  company  had  to  pay  $35 
a  ton,  as  against  $17.50,  for  steel  rails,  its 
improvements  become  relatively  very  costly 
and  its  issues  of  securities  against  permanent 
betterments  must  be  on  a  much  more  liberal 
scale.  The  cost  of  production  in  every 
direction  has  been  increased  until  we  find 
ourselves  actually  importing  from  some  of 
the  identical  markets  that  two  or  three  years 
ago  were  in  a  panic  over  our  invasion. 

Prices  of  securities  advanced  along  with 
other  prices,  and  attracted  the  holdings  of 
foreign  investors,  until  we  swept  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe  almost  clean  of  our  stocks 
and  bonds,  and  greatly  reduced  the  holdings 
of  English  investors. 

We  still  had  an  ample  total  of  excess  of 
exports,  however,  and  out  of  our  favorable 
trade  balance  we  could  pay  for  reams  of 
securities  and  still  have  something  left.  We 
did  not  stop  at  buying  our  own  securities, 
but  began  making  great  foreign  investments, 
to  the  astonishment  of  the  financial  world, 
turning  the  tables  upon  Europe  and  sending 
a  great  stream  of  credit  for  investment  there. 
The  result  was  that  by  the  year  1900,  in 
spite  of  a  nominal  foreign  trade  balance  of 
nearly  $550,000,000  in  our  favor,  the  net 
result  of  the  gold  movement  that  year  was  an 
export  of  about  $4,000,000.  The  next  year 
we  brought  in  a  few  more  millions  of  gold 
than  we  sent  out,  and  we  did  the  same  last 
year,  but  since  1898  there  has  been,  in 
spite  of  the  theoretical  trade  balance,  no 
significant  shipment  of  gold  in  our  direction . 

There  has,  however,  been  a  movement  in 
international  finance  which  is  not  reflected  in 
the  customs  statements.  We  have  been  build- 
ing up  a  floating  debt  to  Europe,  made  up  of 
borrowings  in  the  fonn  of  short -time  bills. 
The  exact  total  of  that  floating  indebtedness 


at  the  present  time  is  one  of  the  difficult  prob- 
lems of  finance,  but  it  must  be  very  large.  I 
have  heard  it  estimated  by  financiers  in 
foreign  capitals  as  high  as  $200,000,000  to 
$300,000,000.  That  estimate,  I  believe,  is  far 
too  high;  but,  even  so,  the  total  we  must 
admit  is  important. 

Particularly  is  it  imjjortant  in  view  of  the 
statistics  of  bank  reserves,  to  which  I  have 
before  referred.  In  1899  the  national  banks 
held  7,7,  per  cent,  of  reserve.  In  their  vaults 
was  a  good  part  of  the  $105,000,000  of  gold 
which  had  come  in  from  abroad  the  ])receding 
year.  It  was  this  excess  of  reserve  which  per- 
mitted loans  to  expand  $1,300,000,000  since 
that  date  without  adding  a  dollar  to  the 
stock  in  the  bank  vaults  of  specie  and  legal 
tenders.  But  now  we  have  gone  to  the  limit 
in  that  respect.  This  last  report  shows  less 
than  21  per  cent,  of  reserve  for  all  the  national 
banks  of  the  country.  Not  one  of  the  three 
central  reserve  cities  was  up  to  the  legal 
limit.  Twenty-two  of  thirty  other  reserve 
cities  were  below  the  legal  limit. 

We  have  seen  what  a  great  expansion  of 
deposits  and  loans,  both,  remember,  almost 
wholly  but  evidences  of  bank  credit,  could 
follow  the  increase  in  the  reserve  basis  that 
came  with  the  gold  importations  of  1897  and 
1898.  We  see  from  this  last  statement  of  the 
Comptroller  that  the  expansion  has  reached 
the  utmost  limit  possible  with  the  present 
basis  of  specie  and  legal  tenders.  Is  it  not 
well  to  ask.  What  of  the  future?  If  a 
$100,000,000  importation  of  gold  can  serve 
as  a  basis  for  an  expansion  of  so  many 
millions  of  deposits  and  loans,  what  will  an 
exportation  of  $100,000,000  mean?  Will  not 
the  answer  lead  us  to  ponder  on  the  probable 
effect  of  future  gold  movements  ?  Does  our 
foreign  commerce  give  promise  of  a  trade 
balance  great  enough  again  to  induce  gold  to 
flow  in  this  direction  ?  Let  us  examine  recent 
records.  For  the  first  nine  months  of  this 
year  our  imports  increased  over  last  year 
$56,000,000,  and  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  total  imports  for  last  year  were 
$300,000,000  more  than  in  1898.  On  the 
other  side  of  the  book,  our  exports  for 
the  nine  months  of  this  year  decreased 
$108,000,000,  so  that  the  record  for  the 
nine  inonths  shows  a  net  balance  of 
$164,000,000  more  unfavorable  than  the 
corresponding  nine  months  of  the  previous 
vear.       In    the     same    time    we    have     lost 


2912 


VIEWS    OF    READERS    ON    RECENT    BOOKS 


$8,000,000  of  gold.  For  the  twelve  months 
ending  with  September  our  favorable 
trade  balance  was  $420,000,000,  against 
$641,000,000  for  the  previous  twelve  months, 
a  decrease  of  $221,000,000. 

The  evidences,  then,  of  advancing  prices 
that  check  exportation  and  increase  importa- 
tion, the  absorption  of  our  favorable  trade 
balance  in  foreign  investments  and  in  the 
repurchase  of  securities,  the  uncertain  totals 
of  our  floating  indebtedness  represented  by 
short -time  finance  bills,  all  taken  in  connec- 
tion with  the  fact  that  any  reduction  of  the 
specie  reserve  held  by  banks  must  be  followed 
by  liquidation  which  will  again  establish  the 
proper  relation  between  reserve  and  deposit 
liability,  would  seem  at  least  to  point  to  the 
conclusion  that  this  is  not  a  time  favorable 
for  the  expansion  of  bank  credits. 

I  wish  by  no  means  to  present  an  alarming 
view  of  the  outlook.  What  I  do  wish  to  do 
is  merely  to  sound  a  conservative  note  of 
warning.  I  believe  there  are  in  the  situation 
tendencies  in  which  are  elements  of  possible 
danger.  On  the  other  hand,  I  by  no  means 
forget  the  long  list  of  favorable  conditions 
upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  account.  I 
have  the  most  absolute  faith  in  our  ultimate 


commercial  ascendency.  I  believe  no  one 
who  has  carefully  studied  industrial  con- 
ditions in  this  country  and  in  Europe  can 
reach  a  conclusion  unfavorable  to  the  prospect 
of  our  own  progress.  We  have  the  cheapest 
and  most  nearly  inexhaustible  supply  of  raw 
material,  the  greatest  genius  in  the  handling 
of  machinery  for  its  conversion  into  manu- 
factured products,  the  broadest  single  homo- 
geneous market  in  the  world  upon  which  to 
base  substantial  domestic  business,  which  will 
serve  as  a  foundation  for  foreign  commercial 
conquest.  We  have  numerous  advantages 
over  our  competitors,  and  in  the  end  the  com- 
bined effect  of  these  advantages  is  absolutely 
certain  to  place  us  foremost  in  the  world's 
commercial  ranks.  It  is  in  no  wise  opposed 
to  this  view  of  ultimate  commercial  suprem- 
acy— a  view  which  no  one  more  strongly  holds 
than  I  do — that  I  have  pointed  out  conditions 
which  I  believe,  if  not  guarded  against,  will 
threaten  for  the  time  being  our  continued 
progress  toward  that  goal.  A  judicious  recog- 
nition of  the  restricting  conditions  now  visible 
in  our  financial  situation  may  save  us  from 
disaster  and  humiliation  later  on — a  humilia- 
tion from  which  recovery  will  be  slow  and 
painful. 


VIEWS    OF    READERS   ON    RECENT 

BOOKS     . 


THE  World's  Work  sent  a  letter  to 
some  of  its  literary  friends  asking 
them  what  recent  books  they  had 
read  with  the  greatest  pleasure  and  profit, 
and  requesting  that  their  replies  be  after  the 
manner  of  a  personal  letter.  Some  of  these 
replies  are  as  follows: 

HENRY   D.    SEDGWICK,    JR.: 

Of  all  the  books  I  have  read  latelv, 
neither  a  very  large  nor  a  very  miscellaneous 
company,  the  one  which  makes  me  most 
glad  that  it  has  been  written  is  Mr. 
William  James's  "The  Varieties  of  Religioiis 
Experiences."  In  the  first  place,  Mr.  James 
is  the  only  master  of  prose  whom  we  have 
in  America,  where  the  lack  of  early  Greek 
training  leaves  most  of  us  at  the  mercy 
of  the  commercial  idiom;  and,  in  the  second 


place,  his  is  the  voice  which  gives  utterance 
to  ideas  that,  however  vaguely  apprehended 
and  crudely  held,  are  yet  widespread  and 
serious.  Our  religious  beliefs,  our  religious 
life,  if  they  are  destined  to  any  quickening, 
must  receive  fresh  vitality  and  health  from 
these  or  similar  ideas;  but  so  long  as  the 
people  who  held  them  were  both  dumb  and 
also  outside  the  pale  of  scientific  sympathy, 
and,  one  might  add,  of  scientific  politeness, 
their  ideas  were  useless  to  anybody  except 
themselves.  Today  in  Mr.  James  those 
people  and  that  body  of  thought  have  a 
spokesman  whose  scientific  reputation  is 
unassailable,  whose  prose  will  travel  farther 
and  quicker  than  that  of  their  adversaries, 
whose  personality,  so  conspicuous  in  his  pages, 
is  a  most  persuasive  argument.  It  is  an  odd 
turn  of  fortune's  wheel  that  brings  once  more 
out  of  Harvard  University,  for  so  long  a  time 


VIEWS    OF    READERS    ON    RECENT   HOOKS 


2913 


a  hotbed  of  anti-religious  thought,  a  leader, 
perhaps  the  chief  leader  of  enlightened 
religious  thought  in  America. 

Mr.  Scudder"s"  Life  of  James  Russell  Lowell" 
is  the  most  interesting  American  biography 
1  have  read.  Its  goodness  is  due  in  part  to 
Mr.  Scudder's  skill  and  tact,  and  in  part  to 
the  exceptional  position  which  Lowell  held 
among  distinguished  Americans.  He  lived 
at  a  time  when  Massachusetts  was  the  leading 
State  in  the  Union,  and  he  was  an  excellent 
representative  of  her  morality,  lier  intelligence 
and  her  conservatism.  In  the  period  which 
ended  with  Emerson's  death,  Massachusetts 
embodied  an  American  edition,  as  it  were,  of 
English  ideas  and  traditions,  of  English 
civilization  in  short,  with  modifications  of 
course,  but  not  such  marked  modifications 
as  were  at  one  time  thought,  and  Lowell  is  a 
characteristic  Massachusetts  Yankee.  Now 
America  has  become  American,  whether  that 
be  a  gain  or  a  loss,  and  her  leading  common- 
wealths are  no  longer  under  the  direct 
influence  of  English  tradition,  and  Mr.  Lowell 
has  stepped  into  his  historical  niche  as  a 
figure  of  a  past  epoch.  Mr.  Scudder  wrote 
with  admiration,  wnth  sympathy,  with  justice, 
and  described  the  romantic  period  of  Lowell's 
fervent  youth,  the  time  in  any  man's  life 
most  worth  the  reading,  with  the  grace  and 
refinement  habitual  to  him.  The  best  praise 
I  can  give  the  book  is  to  say  that  it  awakened 
my  first  feelings  of  admiration  and  liking  for 
Lowell. 

ALBERT  BIGELOW  PAINE: 

As  usual  I  am  a  belated  reader  of  certain 
books  that  for  a  year  or  more  a  goodly  num- 
ber of  worthy  persons  have  been  insisting 
are  quite  worth  while.  As  usual  I  have 
become  convinced  that  these  worthy  readers 
have  reason  for  their  complimentary  conclu- 
sions. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  "Cabbage  Patch." 
The  humanity  of  Mrs.  Wiggs  goes  straight 
from  her  heart  to  the  reader's,  and  the  matter 
of  a  little  artistic  crudity,  more  or  less,  counts 
but  poorly  against  tears  that  creep  out 
unaw^ares  and  laughter  that  rings  true. 

Then  there  is  that  great — that  almost  pon- 
derous— book,  the  "Octopus."  Long  it  cer- 
tainly is — filled  with  careful,  almost  minute 
descriptive  passages  that  the  author  w^orks 
out  with  a  lavish  w^ealth  of  word  and  color, 
and  is  prone  to  repeat  later,  either  in  sentence 
or  paragraph ;  but  above  and  beyond  all  that 
is  the  glory  of  its  wonderful  picture  of 
California  with  the  wealth  and  mightiness 
of  its  product,  with  the  play  and  passion  of 
its  struggle  and  its  upbuilding — the  struggle 
and  the  upbuilding  of  the  West .   Artistic  faults 


h 


are  here,  too,  but  rather  from  an  overabun- 
dance of  art  than  from  any  lack  of  it.  Mighty 
in  conception.  Titanic  in  execution,  no  other 
such  book  has  been  produced  in  a  generation. 

I  have  likewise  read  "Kim."  There  are 
no  flaws  in  Kij)ling's  art.  He  is  the  great 
master  of  technique,  and  for  the  writer  there 
is  strong  literary  stimulant  on  every  page. 
As  the  "Octopus"  is  a  great  canvas  of 
California,  so  is  "  Kim  "  of  India — a  wonderful 
panorama  of  the  under  side  of  Hind.  If  it  be 
not  true,  if  it  be  only  an  illusion  that  this  great 
Yogi  of  letters  has  prepared  for  our  entertain- 
ment, then  at  least  it  is  perfect  in  its  decep- 
tion, which,  from  the  literary  point  of  view, 
is  equally  to  the  purfjose.  The  ending  ?  Yes, 
I  had  expected  that  it  w'ould  end  with  the 
death  of  the  Lama,  and  Kim  going  forth  into 
the  world  alone.  But  Kipling,  the  great 
master,  did  not  do  this,  and  he  must  have 
known  why. 

Remembering  "Kim,"  recalls  a  book  for 
those  who,  as  Kipling's  Lama  would  say,  are 
"bound  on  the  Wheel — of  Things"  and  who 
"seek  the  Way."  The  "Kingdom  of  the 
Invisible,"  by  Mary  Piatt  Parmele,  is  a  very 
small  book — a  short  paper,  in  fact,  read  before 
the  Wednesday  Afternoon  Club,  but  it  con- 
tains the  vital  gist  of  whatever  has  resulted 
from  investigation  and  progress  along  the 
paths  of  new  science,  pointed  out  by  such 
pioneers  as  Spencer  and  Tyndall  and  illumi- 
nated by  the  Roentgen  ray.  The  union  of 
science  and  religion  is  the  ideal  consummation. 
The  sorest  of  human  needs  is  analytical  proof 
of  immortality.  Perhaps  w^e  have  not  achieved 
these  greater  triumphs,  but  the  way  to  them 
grows  plainer,  and  to  those  still  groping  this 
little  book  may  prove  such  a  chela  as  was 
Kim,  who  led  the  holy  lama  to  the  little 
River  of  Peace  that  flowed  through  the 
gardens  behind  Saharunpore. 

SARAH  BEAUMONT  KENNEDY: 

There  are  certain  books  with  so  human  a 
touch  that  in  the  reading  they  become  as  per- 
sonal friends.  Four  such  volumes  lie  on  the 
comer  of  my  table  w^aiting  to  be  transferred 
to  the  bookshelves,  and  with  each  of  them  I 
am  loath  to  part. 

"The  Misdemeanors  of  Nancy,"  by  Eleanor 
Hoyt,  made  of  life  a  bubbling  spring  of 
laughter  for  an  entire  morning.  This  girl 
"with  the  Kentucky  impulses  and  the  New 
Hampshire  conscience,"  telling  her  misde- 
meanors or  flirtations  to  "the  man  wdio  came 
often,"  is  so  deliciously  entertaining  that  at 
the  last  page  I  bade  her  good-by  reluctantly, 
saying,  as  one  says  to  a  delightful  visitor, 
"Good-by,  Nancy;  come  again." 

The  second  book  in  my  pile  is  also  by  a 


2914 


VIEWS    OF    READERS    ON    RECENT    BOOKS 


"woman.  In  "Amos  Holmes,"  the  old  miller 
who  says  that  "he  and  the  old  century  came 
in  together  on  an  ox-cart  and  are  going  out 
together  on  a  streak  of  lightning,"  Annie 
Fellows  Johnston  has  drawn  an  indelible 
picture.  .  .  .  From  the  fine,  well-seasoned 
character  of  Amos,  through  the  coterie  of 
rural  philosophers  in  jean  trousers  and  raw- 
hide boots  who  congregate  in  the  cross- 
roads store,  down  to  "Perkins'  oldest"  trying 
vainly  to  establish  a  connection  between  the 
signs  of  the  zodiac  and  the  disemboweled 
gentleman  they  surround — in  all  the  little 
company  there  is  not  a  character  that  does 
not  bear  the  stamp  of  nature. 

In  Ellen  Thorneycroft  Fowler's  "Fuel  of 
Fire"  there  is  no  one  who  equals  the  Lady 
Silverhampton  of  her  other  stories.  To  my 
way  of  thinking.  Lady  Silverhampton  is  the 
brightest  and  most  vivacious  woman  who 
flashes  through  the  pages  of  recent  fiction,  and 
it  is  a  disappointment  not  to  meet  her  again 
in  this  new  story.  As  a  novel,  'Tuel  of  Fire" 
is  scarcely  up  to  the  author's  standard;  but 
Miss  Fowler  can  never  be  anything  but  delight- 
ful in  her  characterizations  and  dialogues ;  and 
with  Nancy  Burton  dropping  epigrams  as 
that  fabled  princess  dropped  diamonds  and 
pearls  when  she  spoke,  and  with  Lady  Alicia 
setting  up  her  cheap  sentimentalities  in  such 
serious  form  and  patronizing  "dear  Shake- 
speare" and  "dear  St.  Paul,"  I  did  not  lack 
for  entertainment  from  cover  to  cover  of  the 
book.  Miss  Fowler  is  one  of  the  few  authors 
who  bear  reading  twice. 

And  now  I  have  come  to  the  last  of  my 
four  printed  friends — and  the  last  is  by  no 
means  the  least.  In  "The  Right  of  Way" 
Gilbert  Parker  satisfies  the  reader's  thirst  for 
originality  of  conception  and  boldness  of 
execution.  Full  of  dramatic  sit.iations,  the 
most  dramatic  of  them  all — probably  the 
most  dramatic  touch  in  all  modern  literature 
— is  in  the  death  scene,  where  the  hero,  with 
his  old  daredevil  spirit  triumphing  to  the  end, 
says  to  the  wavering  death-shadow  he  sees  in 
his  fevered  fancy:  "I  beg  your  pardon — 
but — have  I  ever  been — introduced  to  you?" 
The  book  had  two  other  logical  endings,  but 
it  was  well  worth  the  sacrifice  of  the  logical 
to  secure  that  thrilling  scene.  Gilbert  Parker 
is  a  master  of  situations. 

JOEL   CHANDLER   HARRIS: 

In  trying  to  remember  the  recent  books 
that  have  made  an  impression  upon  me,  it 
will  be  best  to  confess  that  every  book  I  read 
makes  an  impression  more  or  less  lasting. 
But  one  of  the  most  recent  books,  and  one  the 
effects  of  which  are  the  most  vivid,  is  "The 
Fortunes  of  OUver  Horn"  by  Mr.  F.  Hopkinson 


Smith.  The  narrative  is  the  least  impor- 
tant thing,  but  the  characters  stand  out  as  do 
the  figures  in  a  painting,  strong,  clear,  power- 
ful. Another  book  on  parallel  lines  is  the 
story  of  "Aladdin  O'Brien,"  which  is  vigor- 
ously wrought  out,  and  in  which  the  dramatic 
effects  are  complete.  It  is  in  order  for  the 
older  hands,  who  never  had  any  vigor  or  who 
have  lost  it  if  they  had,  to  pout  a  little  when 
they  are  confronted  by  things  done  by  those 
who  have  youth  at  their  elbows. 

Another  book  that  has  given  me  great 
pleasure,  and  that  has  been  a  treat  to  some 
little  girls  of  my  acquaintance,  is  the  story 
of  Emmy  Lou.  I  don't  recall  the  title,  and 
the  book  is  not  at  hand,  but  it  is  a  very 
beautiful  study  of  childhood,  and  not  less 
beautiful  for  its  realism.  The  man  who 
knows  childhood  completely  knows  every- 
thing that  is  worth  knowing. 

Along  with  this  should  be  mentioned 
Mr.  Mowbray's  "Journey  to  Nature,"  where 
the  boy  is  pictured  forth  with  such  exquisite 
ease,  and  where  the  young  woman  is  made  to 
shine  in  all  her  native  simplicity.  I  don't 
know  why,  but  Mr.  Mowbray's  method  of 
handling  his  material  reminds  me  of  a 
series  of  acute  social  studies  which 
appeared  in  the  New  York  World  when 
Manton  Marble  was  editor. 

I  must  not  forget  Booker  Washington's 
autobiography,  which  is  a  very  strong  book. 
I  could  wish  that  everybody  at  the  North 
could  read  everything  Booker  Washington 
writes  or  says.  There  is  great  need  of 
education  in  that  section  with  respect  to 
the  real  relations  between  the  men  that 
represent  the  Negroes  and  the  men  that 
represent  the  South. 

Then  there  is  "The  Quiet  Life,"  by  Charles 
Wagner,  which  interested  me  very  much. 
But  something  in  it  (I  have  never  been  able 
to  decide  what  it  is)  jarred  on  me  and  left  a 
bitter  taste  in  my  mouth.  Yet  it  is  a  book 
full  of  the  largest  and  most  important  tniths. 

In  "The  Heroines  of  Fiction,"  Mr.  Howells 
gives  some  delightful  pictures  in  the  way  of 
comment  or  criticism.  You  may  not  agree  witli 
everything  he  says,  but  you  are  certain  to 
agree  with  the  way  he  says  it,  and  you  are  cer- 
tain to  admire  his  catholicity  of  taste.  I  coni« 
mend  his  book  to  young  women  who  have  not 
the  opportunity  to  read  all  the  books  in  which 
the  heroines  are  embalmed.  In  introducing 
them  to  modem  readers,  he  covers  the  whole 
ground  of  English  fiction,  and  presents  the 
young  women  in  a  way  that  is  delightful. 

And  now,  if  you  please,  I  will  return  to  the 
works  of  the  late  Mr.  Charles  Reade.  I  was 
deep  in  "The  Cloister  and  the  Hearth"  when 
you  interrupted  me. 


AA\OMG 

TAE  WORLD'S 

WORKERS 


:^:u^:-M 


AN  AMERICAN  IRON-WORKER  IN  CENTRAL 
AMERICA 

ON  the  wave  of  American  activity  that 
pulsed  round  the  world  in  the  Spring  of 
last  year  went  an  iron-worker  from  New  York 
to  a  Central  American  republic.  His  task 
was  to  superintend  the  iron  work  of  an  Ameri- 
can building  going  up  b}'  no  plans  more 
definite,  he  asserted  afterward,  than  a  wash 
drawing  of  how  the  structure  would  look 
when  completed,  and  under  the  direction  of 
an  engineer  whose  books  said  a  foot  of  con- 
crete would  support  30  tons,  without  telling 
what  would  support  the  concrete.  Thus  it 
came  about  that  the  concrete  foundation  was 
set  on  the  top  of  the  ground — and  made 
ground  at  that.  The  iron  frame-work  had 
not  twisted  very  far  out  of  plumb,  as  the  con- 
crete sank,  when  the  engineer  resigned  and 
the  iron-worker  foreman  was  made  construc- 
tion boss,  inheriting  the  prophetic  wash  draw- 
ing, by  this  time  somewhat  soiled,  and  a  very 
pretty  problem. 

"I  am  a  housesmith  and  bridge  builder," 
said  he  to  the  company's  superintendent, 
"but  if  you  say  'Tackle  the  whole  thing,' 
why,   I'll  tackle^  it." 

And  he  did.  He  was  then  but  thirty,  w^th 
the  blackest  of  hair :  he  is  thirty-one  now,  and 
his  hair  is  gray. 

"Hot!"  said  he,  "the  sun  is  onlv  about 
a  foot  above  your  head  down  there  !  And 
in  the  rainy  season  the  water  comes  up  to 
your  chin  !  And  trouble — there  is  nothing 
but   trouble." 

His  first  task  was  to  jack  the  building  up 
and  put  in  new  foundations  fifteen  feet  deep. 
He  discharged  the  other  American  foremen, 
chiefly  because  they  were  poor  workmen  and 
incidentally  because  they  fought  one  day. 
Then  he  turned  architect  and  engineer,  mak- 
ing his  own  plans  as  he  went  along.  Later 
by  turns  he  became  boss  mason,  boss  carpen- 
ter, boss  plumber,  boss  blacksmith,  forced  by 
inefficient  native  foremen  to  oversee  every 
petty  detail. 

Two  hundred  negroes  and  fifty  peons  were 


his  workmen — the  peons  from  the  interior 
dying  like  flies  of  the  fevers  in  that  swampy 
coast-land :  yellow  fever  and  black  water  fever, 
with  malaria  as  the  normal  state  of  health 
between  the  attacks.  He  took  the  yellow 
fever  himself,  and  after  walking  four  miles  to 
hospital  under  a  broiling  sun,  with  his  tem- 
perature at  103,  returned  to  work  in  a  week, 
just  in  time  to  see  a  peon  holding  the  guy  rope 
of  a  gin-pole  drop  the  rope  to  light  a  cigarette, 
while  the  gin-pole  majestically  toppled  over 
and  broke. 

"I'se  a  carpentah,  boss,"  would  plead  one 
of  the  itinerant  negroes  that  voyage  about  the 
Indies  and  through  the  Isthmus  in  search  of 
work. 

"I  don't  need  a  carpenter." 

"Well,  sah,  I'se  served  mah  time  as  a  black- 
smith in  the  Barbadoes." 

"Nor  a  blacksmith." 

"But  I'se  a  mason,  too." 

"I  don't  need  a  mason;  I  want  an  electrical 
engineer." 

"Well,  sah,  I  learned  that  profession  in 
Jamaica." 

"All  right.  Take  that  hod  and  go  to  work. 
You'll  find  the  mortar  over  there." 

This  was  the  formula.  No  negro  lacked 
verbal  education;  no  negro  was  ignorant  of 
any  trade  or  profession  nameable ;  and  all  were 
lazy  and  unteachable.  All  of  them  claimed 
to  be  "English  gentlemen,  5 ah,"  and  "mis- 
tahed"  one  another.  If  back  pay  was  forth- 
coming, they  considered  discharge  a  joke. 
It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  foremen  to 
coerce  them  with  revolvers;  one  foreman,  a 
little  cold-blooded  man  from  Alabama,  had 
moved  from  the  west  coast  of  the  Isthmus 
clear  around  South  America  to  the  east  coast. 
"leaving,"  his  reputation  ran,  "a  trail  of  dead 
niggers  behind  him."  But  the  iron-worker 
kept  his  revolver  dumb,  and  discharged  the 
workmen  in  squads.  In  the  year  and  four 
months  the  work  lasted  the  gang  of  250  rep- 
resented between  4,000  and  5,000  different 
men. 

To  add  to  fever  and  heat  and  exasperat- 


2916 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S    WORKERS 


ing  workmen  came  revolutions.  In  one  the 
President  called  for  volunteers.  Away  from  a 
nearby  ranch  marched  forty  peons  headed  by 
the  overseer,  who  carried  this  note:  "I  send 
forty  volunteers.  Please  return  the  rope." 
A  few  days  later  the  alcalde  of  the  town  sent 
a  file  of  his  barefooted  soldiers,  armed  with 
old  Remington  rifles  longer  than  the  men, 
and  long-barreled  pistols  himg  so  low  in  the 
middle  of  the  back  that  they  gave  a  ludicrous 
suggestion  of  tails,  and  arrested  all  the  iron- 
worker's peons.  Building  stopped.  All  that 
day  came  official  reports  of  a  battle  at  the 
capital:  first  "150  dead  and  400  wounded;" 
later  "800  dead  and  impossible  to  count  the 
wotmded."  Xext  day's  more  accurate  report 
showed  two  killed  and  none  wounded.  The 
battle  had  consisted  of  penning  a  handful  of 
insurgents  in  a  building  and  shooting  all  day 
at  the  stone  walls  with  an  old  Spanish  bronze 
cannon  loaded  with  American  wire  nails.  At 
six  the  insurgents  surrendered  on  the  plea  that 
they  were  willing  to  die  for  liberty,  but  that 
going  without  supper  was  not  nominated  in 
the  bond.  Thus  ended  the  revolution.  The 
following  day  the  peons  returned  to  work. 

And  so  it  went.  The  framework  proved 
to  be  too  slight  and  when  the  building  was  all 
up  the  beams  began  to  give  and  bend  under 
the  w^eight.  That  meant  a  thorough  strength- 
ening of  the  frame  with  patches  and  new 
beams — not  an  easy  problem  at  that  stage  of 
the  construction.  Then  at  the  very  last  the 
iron-worker  received  notice  for  the  first  time 
that  the  company  had  "planned"  to  have 
three  large  water  tanks  in  the  top  of  the  build- 
ing— there  was  more  tearing  up  of  old  work 
and  more  strengthening  of  the  frame. 

But  it  was  finished  at  last.  "  It  took,"  said 
he,  "250  men  sixteen  months.  Properly 
planned,  100  American  workmen  could  have 
done  it  in  three." 

TELEPHONING   THROUGH   THE   EARTH 

FOLLOWING  directly  on  Marconi's  wire- 
less experiments  and  success  come 
with  peculiar  interest  the  achievements  of 
Mr.  James  Tarbotton  Armstrong,  a  well- 
known  London  engineer. 

The  man  who  shares  the  credit  of  these 
developments  of  wireless  telegraphy  and  the 
discovery  of  the  wireless  telephone  with 
Mr.  Armstrong,  is  Mr.  Axel  Orling,  a  young 
Swedish  electrician.  He  is  two  years  younger 
than  Marconi,  to  whom,  inevitably,  he  has 
b  en  described  as  a  rival.  ^Ir.  Armstrong  is 
a  Devon  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  energetic, 
enthusiastic,  full  of  schemes.  Messrs.  Arm- 
strong and  Orling  appear  to  have  stumbled 
across   their   system    of   wireless   telegraphy 


while  at  work  on  something  else.  They  met 
first  about  five  3-ears  ago.  Mr.  Orling's  fame 
as  the  "Edison  of  Sweden"  had  reached 
Mr.  Armstrong,  who  secured  him  to  work 
upon  certain  experiments.  One  Saturday 
afternoon  three  years  ago  they  were  busy 
experimenting  w^ith  electric  light,  when  Mr. 
Armstrong  suggested  that,  with  the  extra- 
ordinary power  they  were  getting,  it  would  be 
well  to  try  whether  they  could  not  send  elec- 
trical impulses  through  the  ground  for  tele- 
graphic purposes.  The  success  of  the  experi- 
ment marked  the  beginning  of  what  are  known 
as  the  "  Armorl"  discoveries — this  word  being 
derived,  of  course,  from  the  first  syllable  of 
each  of  the  inventors'  names. 

A  familiar  illustration  will  explain  the 
theory  of  the  discoveries.  Cast  a  stone  into 
a  pond,  and  you  start  circles  which  grow  ever 
wider  till  they  reach  the  bank.  As  a  pond  is 
full  of  water,  so  is  the  earth  full  of  electricity.. 
Messrs.  Armstrong  and  Orling  found  it  pos- 
sible to  start  the  electricity  in  the  earth  into 
waves  by  a  slight  impulse.  Briefly  put, 
therefore,  their  system  consists  of  tapping 
the  ground  and  sending  electrical  impulses 
by  means  of  a  specially  constructed  trans- 
mitter to  a  very  sensitive  receiver.  In  the 
transmitter  and  receiver  lie  the  secrets  of  their 
invention. 

The  Armorl  system  of  wireless  telegraphy 
was  publicly  exhibited  last  autumn  at  Des- 
burga,  Mr.  Armstrong's  residence  on  the  north- 
east confines  of  Highenden  parish.  Besides 
utilizing  the  earth  as  a  conductor,  the  system 
is  distinguished  from  others  by  the  fact  that 
the  currents  discharged  are  of  very  low  poten- 
tial. A  current  of  eight  volts  is  more  than 
sufficient  to  transmit  a  message  twenty  miles; 
it  has  actually  been  done  with  a  current  of 
only  four  volts.  Another  advantage  the 
Armorl  system  claims  over  the  Marconi  is  that 
an  elaborate  apparatus  is  not  necessary; 
there  are  no  induction  coils,  coherers,  or  high 
masts.  The  whole  apparatus  weighs  five  or 
six  pounds,  and  can  be  put  into  a  little  box. 
It  comprises  a  receiver  and  a  small  battery 
packed  in  a  case,  having  two  contact  screws 
on  the  outside.  Two  pointed  iron  stakes  are 
driven  into  the  ground  to  a  depth  of  about 
eighteen  inches  and  about  twelve  feet  apart. 
To  each  of  these  is  attached  a  wire  connect- 
ing respe  tively  the  negative  and  po  itive 
poles  of  th  ■  instrument.  A  small  key  similar 
to  that  used  for  dispatching  Morse  code  signals 
is  attached,  together  with  a  telephone  receiver. 
The  current  thus  set  up  flows  through  these 
wires  and  stakes  into  the  ground.  The  oper- 
ator holds  a  telephone  receiver  to  his  ear  with 
one  hand,  while  with  the  other  he  transmits 


AMONG    'nil':   WORLDS    WORKERS 


2917 


the  message  in  the  ordinary  dots  and  dashes. 
At  the  opposite  station  similar  iron  stakes  are 
phiccd  to  receive  the  impulses,  and  here,  if 
necessary,  the  receiver  can  be  connected  to 
a  Morse  tape-printing  machine,  and  the  mes- 
sages printed  as  they  are  received. 

The  important  thing  is  the  receiver,  which 
supplants  the  "coherer."  It  is  an  electro- 
capillary  relay,  by  means  of  which  the 
most  feeble  impulses  are  able  to  operate  a 
receiving  apparatus,  the  operation  depending 
upon  the  electro-capillary  force  exerted  at 
the  surfaces  in  contact  of  certain  dissimilar 
fluid  conductors  when  an  electric  current 
passes  from  one  to  the  other. 

For  long-distance  telegraphy — that  is  to 
say,  beyond  twenty  miles — the  air  is  used  as 
a  conductor,  but  here  again  superiority  is 
claimed  for  the  Armstrong-Orling  system. 
"Whereas  the  best  relay  in  the  market  with 
eight  volts  is  equal  to  a  transmission  of  1,699 
miles,"  says  Mr.  Armstrong,  "ours  is  equal 
to  one  of  12,990."  It  has  not  actually  been 
tested  over  that  distance,  but  it  has  been 
tested  by  opposing  to  it  a  resistance  equal  to 
that  distance.  There  are,  therefore,  the  two 
systems  of  wireless  telegraphy — a  ground 
system  for  short  distances,  and  the  ordinary 
pole  system  of  spark  telegraphy  for  long  dis- 
tances. But  the  poles  in  this  case  are  only 
one-tenth  the  height  of  those  employed  by 
Marconi;  and  it  is  also  claimed  that  a  hundred 
letters  can  be  sent  in  the  time  needed  by 
Signor  Marconi  for  sending  thirty-six.  "Our 
'coherers'  are  so  much  more  sensitive  than 
his,"  says  Mr.  Armstrong;  "and  where  he  can 
send  a  message  a  hundred  miles,  we  can  send 
one  a  thousand.  We  are  able  to  take  up 
impulses,  through  the  sensitiveness  of  our 
apparatus,  that  no  other  system  can  take  up." 
Marconi  uses  the  Hertzian  waves,  and  Hertz's 
apparatus  for  receiving  them.  Messrs.  Orling 
and  Armstrong  receive  the  Hertzian  waves 
by  a  receiver  designed  by  themselves. 

A  WIRELESS   TELEPHONE 

THE  wireless  telephone — perhaps  of  all  the 
Armstrong-Orling  inventions  the  one 
most  likely  to  affect  the  general  public — is  a 
later  adaptation  of  the  same  system,  and  repre- 
sents a  great  addition  which  the  inventors 
made  in  the  interval  tc  the  power  of  their 
transmitter  and  the  sensitiveness  of  their 
receiver.  Compared  with  present-day  tele- 
phones, it  recommends  itself  on  the  ground 
of  cheapness  and  simplicity.  The  transmitter 
[consists  of  a  wooden  pedestal  twelve  inches 
high,  surmounted  by  a  dial  of  thin  wood, 
behind  which  are  microphones.  Under  the 
edestal  is  a  network  of  switches,  screws  and 


wires.  In  addition,  tlicre  is  a  small  bar  with 
four  brass  screws  and  four  wires;  the  screws 
are  marked  Ei,  b,  B,  and  K2 — the  letter  E 
denoting  "earth,"  and  B  "battery."  Two 
wires  are  connected  to  B  and  then  to  the  bat- 
tery— an  ordinary  ])rimary  battery — and  two 
wires  to  Ex  and  E2;  and  the  latter  are  then 
run  a  foot  or  so  into  the  earth.  Five  miles 
away  the  other  man  does  exactly  the  same 
thing,  with  a  precisely  similar  apparatus. 
You  press  a  button,  a  bell  rings  at  the  othei 
end,  and  the  conversation  begins.  The 
instruments  are  sent  out  in  pairs,  each  instru- 
ment having  its  affinity.  "It  is,"  Mr.  Arm- 
strong explains,  "solely  a  question  of  vibra- 
tions." A  tuning  fork  pitched  to  C  will,  if 
set  vibrating,  vibrate  another  tuning  fork 
pitched  to  C,  but  will  leave  one  pitched  to  D 
unaffected. 

I  asked  Mr.  Armstrong  how  the  presence  of 
many  instruments  together  in  a  city  will  affect 
the  ef!iciency  of  the  system.  "Suppose,"  he 
replied,  "an  exchange  as  the  centre  for  hun- 
dreds of  instruments.  They  are  all  varied  in 
their  vibrations.  Suppose  you  want  to  call 
me  up,  and  I  vibrate  at  10,000,  you  at  5,000. 
You  call  up  the  exchange,  and  either  you  are 
raised  to  10,000  vibrations  or  I  am  brought 
down  to  5,000,  and  we  are  at  once  in  sympathy 
with  each  other  and  can  speak.  Even  a  private 
installation  is  capable  of,  say , half  a  dozen  vari- 
ations of  vibrations ;  thus  six  places  may  be  at 
your  call.  But  beyond  that,  the  mechanism 
might  be  too  complicated  for  a  private  installa- 
tion, and  you  would  have  to  speak  through 
the  exchange."  The  capacity  of  the  telephone 
is  not  determined  by  the  intervening  space; 
a  greater  distance  can  be  covered  according 
as  the  transmitter  is  made  more  powerful 
and  the  receiver  more  sensitive. 

WIRELESS    INVENTIONS    IN    NAVAL   WARFARE 

AS  factors  to  be  reckoned  with  in  the  naval 
warfare  of  the  future,  the  Armstrong- 
Orling  inventions  have  won  great  praise  from 
an  authority  so  high  as  Sir  William  Laird 
Clowes,  the  historian  of  the  British  Navy. 
"Cheap  and  simple  in  application,"  says  this 
expert,  "requiring  no  expensive  or  permanent 
installation,  being  independent  of  atmospheric 
conditions  and  material  instructions,  and 
working  through  earth  and  water  instead  of 
through  air,  they  should  revolutionize  naval 
signaling,  especially  in  fleets  They  should 
also  open  a  new  era  in  submarine  mining  and 
countermining,  and  lead  to  the  displacement 
both  of  the  Whitehead  and  other  automobile 
torpedoes,  and  of  submarine  boats  in  favor 
of  controllable  weapons  manipulated  from  a 
distance  without  the  intervention  of  wires." 


2918 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S    WORKERS 


They  furnish,  for  example,  among  other 
things,  an  improved  means  of  propagating 
electrical  impulses  and  of  giving  them  a  defi- 
nite character;  an  efficacious  means  of  restor- 
ing the  detectors  to  their  normal  condition 
after  the  reception  of  such  impulses;  and 
means  by  which  a  torpedo  or  other  craft  may 
be  caused  automatically  to  follow  the  course 
of  a  beam  of  rays. 

A  practical  demonstration  of  controlling  a 
torpedo  by  these  means  took  place  at  Stock- 
holm four  years  ago,  in  the  presence  of  King 
Oscar,  and  in  1900  an  "actinaut" — a  vessel 
so  propelled  and  steered — was  run  successfully 
at  Portsmouth  over  a  distance  of  three  miles. 
The  name  "actinaut"  seems  to  have  been 
applied  first  by  Sir  William  Laird  Clowes, 
who  derives  it  from  the  circumstance  "that 
the  actinaut  is  to  the  dianemic  torpedo  what 
wireless  telegraphy  is  to  the  older  telegraphy." 
The  actinaut  is  very  small,  containing  only  her 
engine,  power  chamber,  steering  mechanism 
and  explosive  head;  she  is  shaped  for  great 
speed;  the  depth  at  which  she  is  to  strike  a 
doomed  vessel  is  about  ten  feet,  and  that 
is  her  constant  depth  when  running.  Mr. 
Armstrong  described  as  follows  the  best  means 
of  installing  a  system  of  coast  defense,  and 
the  same,  he  says,  will  apply  with  ver}^  small 
modification  if  worked  from  a  ship. 

(It  is  suggested  that  the  actinaut  is  even 
capable  of  being  controlled  from  a  balloon.) 
It  should  be  explained  that  the  apparatus 
worked  by  the  controller  measures  only  nine- 
teen inches  long,  by  seven  inches  broad,  by 
eight  high. 

"Supposing,"  says  'Mr.  Armstrong,  "that 
at  the  Coast  Guard  station,  say  for  instance 
at  the  top  of  the  cliffs  at  Dover,  there  is  placed 
the  apparatus  necessary  to  guide  the  actinaut. 
Out  at  sea  or  in  the  harbor  are  anchored 
several  actinauts.  An  enemy's  ship  is  seen 
advancing,  say  from  the  French  coast,  and  as 
soon  as  the  operator  (who  is  well  trained) 
thinks  fit,  a  button  is  touched  and  this  imme- 
diately releases  an  actinaut,  and  at  the  same 
time  starts  her  machinery.  The  operator 
simply  guides  her  by  means  of  invisible  radia- 
tion, entirely  under  his  control  till  she  strikes 
the  vessel,  but  another  operator  can  at  the 
same  time  be  working  another  actinaut  having 
the  same  object  in  view,  without  in  any  way 
interfering  with  the  first  one,  or  a  third  ope- 
rator can  be  directing  still  another  actinaut 
to  another  vessel,  if  one  is  seen  approaching. 
Supposing  now  it  is  thought  best  not  to  allow 
the  actinaut  to  follow  the  ship — she  can  be 
brought  back  to  any  station  or  ship."  Need- 
less to  say,  the  actinaut  has  been  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  British  Admiraltv      At  the 


time  of  writing,  also,  the  Navy  Department 
of  the  United  States  is  engaged  in  testing  the 
Armstrong-Orling  inventions. 

Another  and  vastly  important  application 
of  the  system  enables  ships  to  learn  automati- 
cally whether  they  are  near  to  the  coast,  and 
if  so,  to  what  coast.  The  value  of  this  during 
foggy  weather  or  on  dark  nights  needs  no 
emphasizing ;  it  would  also  obviate  the  danger 
peculiar  to  small  vessels  where  no  special 
watch  is  kept.  A  ship  is  supplied  (at  the  cost 
of  a  few  dollars)  with  a  transmitter  and  a 
receiver;  a  similar  apparatus  is  placed  on  the 
shore  (or  on  a  lighthouse  or  a  lightship) ;  both 
can  be  set  for  one,  two,  three  or  more  miles, 
as  may  be  required  by  the  coast  authorities. 
Immediately  the  ship  comes  within  this  radius 
it  is  made  aware  of  the  fact  by  its  instrument, 
and  can  communicate  with  the  shore.  This 
can  also  be  applied  to  "ships  that  pass  in 
the  night"  in  midocean,  enabling  them  to 
"speak"  each  other.  Other  uses  of  the 
system  embrace  railway  and  fire-alarm  sig- 
naling— it  is  capable  of  lighting  and  extin- 
guishing a  light  from  a  distance  of  several 
miles;  and  the  explosion  of  mines. 

It  is,  however,  in  the  private  and  commer- 
cial spheres  of  life  that  these  inventions  will 
doubtless  find  their  widest  scope  for  the 
present.  Inquiries  have  come  to  the  makers 
from  all  parts  with  regard  to  installations. 
It  will  indeed  be  a  revolution  when  the 
unsightly  overhead  wires  disappear,  and  when 
one  is  no  longer  confronted  with  the  "no 
passing"  for  telephone  repairs. 

Suppose — from  the  point  of  view  of  diver- 
sion, if  you  like — 3"ou  have  one  of  these  tele- 
phones in  your  dining-room.  Your  neighbor, 
accompanied  by  a  boy  carrying  two  crowbars 
and  a  sledgehammer,  walks  into  his  garden; 
the  two  crowbars  are  driven  into  the  ground 
to  a  depth  of  a  few  inches,  about  twelve  feet 
apart,  and  the  wires  are  fastened  to  them. 
Without  further  ado,  he  converses  with  you 
with  the  greatest  ease  This  at  least  will 
convey  an  idea  of  how  convenient,  how 
matter-of-course,  how  much  a  part  of  every 
one's  daily  home  life — to  say  nothing  of  how 
important  a  part  in  army  signaling  in  the 
field — the  telephone  of  the  future  may 
become. 

AN  ENGINEERING  FEAT  ON  LOOKOUT  MOUNTAIN 

TOURISTS,  from  President  Roosevelt 
and  Prince  Henry  to  the  humblest, 
include  Lookout  Mountain  in  their  itinerary- 
It  possesses  historic  interest,  for  here  Hooker's 
famous  "Battle  Above  the  Clouds"  was 
fought  Low  in  the  northern  slope  of  the 
mountain,  not  much  above  the  level  of  the 


AMONG    Till':    WORI.D'S    WOK  KICKS 


2919 


river,  is  the  entrance  to  a  cave.  Some  years 
since  a  party  explored  this  cave.  They  met 
the  usual  obstacles  of  the  cave  explorer, 
and  after  climbing  and  crawling,  pulling 
themselves  through  small  holes,  squeezing 
themselves  flat  in  tight  places,  wading  and 
scrambling,  they  at  last  reached  an  immense 
vaulted  chamber.  A  beautiful  room  it  was, 
with  stalagmites  and  stalactites  to  adorn  it; 
but  its  striking  feature  was  a  stream,  spark- 
ling and  cold,  which  dashed  roaring  from  the 
roof,  far  above  them.  The  scarcity  of  water 
on  the  mountain  had  always  been  remark- 
able. Indians  had  roamed  the  slope,  war- 
riors had  scaled  the  heights,  countrymen 
had  lived  out  their  lives  there,  summer 
residents  had  come  and  gone,  sightseers  had 
gazed,  and  wondered,  and  pursued  their 
vvav,  while  here  below  them,  all  unsus- 
pected, old  Lookout  had  held  his  deep  stores. 

There  was  found  no  possible  way  of  scaling 
the  walls  of  the  lofty  room,  to  follow  the 
stream  to  its  source,  and  the  party  retraced 
their  way.  Then  the  active  brain  of  one 
young  man  fathered  a  daring  plan.  Born 
under  the  shadow  of  the  "  Point,"  and  grown 
to  a  manhood  full  of  energy,  he  proposed  to 
bring  this  deep-lying  water  and  give  it  to 
drink  to  the  people  in  Chattanooga.  He  was 
laughed  to  scorn.  "Wild  idea;  utterly  im- 
practicable; visionary,"  met  him  on  every 
side.  His  friends  did  not  encourage  him,  and 
capital  was  hard  to  interest.  With  engineers 
he  again  sought  the  cave.  It  was  not  possible 
to  measure  the  height  of  the  fall.  Original 
experiments  with  lighted  balloons  were  in- 
vented, and  its  height  estimated.  This, 
then,  was  the  perpendicular  of  a  right-angled 
triangle;  the  way  they  had  come,  from  the 
entrance  to  the  cave,  was  its  base;  the  rough, 
uneven  slope  of  the  mountain  side  was  its 
hypotenuse.  If  they  could  find  exactly  the 
point  at  which  the  hypotenuse  met  the  per- 
pendicular (extended)  they  would  reach  the 
water.  The  chances  of  failure  did  not  daunt 
Mr.  Anderson.  A  shaft  was  sunk.  Into  solid 
limestone  it  went,  daily  a  little  deeper,  until, 
at  a  depth  of  forty  feet,  it  reached  the  spot 
where  the  mountain  stream  began  its  plunge 
into  the  cavern  they  had  visited,  three  hundred 
feet  below.  It  was  found  to  be  of  greater 
volume  than  they  had  anticipated,  flowing 
one  and  one-half  million  gallons  in  twenty- 
four  hours. 

Some  plan  for  bringing  the  w^ater  to  the  sur- 
face must  now  be  adopted.  It  was  decided 
(to  tunnel  in  a  straight  line  from  the  stream 
to  the  surface.  This  interesting  tunnel 
is  200  feet  long,  six  feet  high,  and  from  five 
to  eight  feet  in  width.      Its  walls,  its   floor, 


its  roof,  arc  the  everlasting  rock  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  scarcely  a  break  or  a  fissure  mars 
them.  The  stream  was  turned  into  this  tun- 
nel, and  now  no  longer  thunders  down  into 
the  lower  cave.  Once  at  the  surface,  only  the 
ordinary  problems  of  the  water-works  man 
were  to  be  solved.  A  reservoir  was  built, 
and  the  water  piped  to  Chattanooga,  two 
miles  away  and  three  hundred  feet  below. 
And  now  it  is  also  pumped  to  the  top  of  the 
mountain. 

A   ONE-MAN   SURVEY 

THE  United  States  Geodetic  Survey, 
among  many  other  things,  has  charge 
of  the  charting  of  the  coast  and  river  lines 
of  the  country.  This  branch  of  surveying 
is  done  usually  by  means  of  preliminary 
triangulation,  followed  by  actual  plotting  in 
the  field  with  plane-table  and  alidade. 

On  one  of  these  survey  parties  a  certain 
young  college  graduate  from  the  South  se- 
cured a  position  as  temporary  aid,  taking  the 
trip,  which  was  along  the  shores  of  the  Chop 
Tank  River  in  Maryland,  more  for  his  health 
than  anything  else.  He  had  some  knowledge 
of  surveying,  and  was  able  to  be  of  enough 
assistance  to  his  chief  to  be  allowed  to  do 
much  of  the  real  work  of  the  plotting,  re- 
lieving in  no  inconsiderable  degree  the  failing 
sight  of  the  supposed  surveyor.  It  thus 
happened  that  when  the  captain  in  charge 
of  the  party  was  taken  ill  and  had  to  leave 
for  home,  Franklin  was  ordered  to  complete 
the  remaining  unfinished  thirty  miles  of 
coast  line  as  best  he  could. 

Everything  went  well  for  the  first  twenty 
miles,  and  he  was  calculating  on  finishing  up 
two  days  before  his  expected  time,  when  his 
table  man  and  one  of  his  rodmen  left  him  in 
the  lurch,  one  from  malaria  and  the  other  for 
reasons  unknown.  Nothing  daunted,  the 
young  aid  secured  the  services  of  two  young 
negroes  for  rodmen,  and  although  their 
stupidity  retarded  work  a  good  deal,  seven 
more  miles  were  done  when  the  remaining 
rodman,  promoted  to  table  man  vice  the 
deserter,  sprained  his  wrist.  Still  not  dis- 
couraged, Franklin  continued  work  with  his 
two  colored  helpers,  until  only  the  south- 
western part  of  a  small  island  near  the  mouth 
of  the  larger  Chop  Tank  remained  to  be 
plotted. 

Arriving  there  on  the  last  morning  of  his 
time,  he  set  up  his  table,  and  as  soon  as  it 
was  light  enough,  started  his  boys  to  work, 
doing  the  sight  taking,  measuring  and  plotting 
himself,  besides  signaling  his  own  rodmen.  This 
continued  for  half  an  hour,  and  he  was  about 
to  move  his  table  to  a  new  station,  when  both 


2920 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S   WORKERS 


boys  returned  on  the  run,  dropping  their  rods 
and  informing  their  indignant  employer  that 
"dey's  a  house  ovah  dar  wut's  got  de  small- 
pox, Boss,  and  we'uns  ca^m't  do  no  more  wuk 
hyer — no  sah  !     Deed'n  we  cayn't !  " 

Threats  and  entreaties  were  alike  useless. 
The  negroes  refused  to  move,  and  finally 
slouched  down  the  beach  to  an  old  boat  and 
paddled  to  the  mainland. 

His  first  thought  was  to  give  up,  but  re- 
membering that  only  two  miles  remained  to 
plot,  he  set  about  the  unheard-of  task  of  sur- 
veying it  by  himself ! 

Procuring  the  two  discarded  rods,  he  set 
them  up  in  the  sand  at  the  proper  points. 
Returning  to  his  table,  the  rods  were  sighted, 
the  distance  measured  and  the  angles  plotted, 
after  which  another  tramp  was  made,  the 
rods  replaced  in  new  stations,  his  steps  re- 
traced to  the  table  and  the  process  repeated. 
It  was  very  slow  and  very  hard  work,  par- 
ticularly discouraging,  when,  as  happened 
once,  both  rods  fell  over  in  a  sudden  gust  of 
breeze,  just  as  the  first  sight  was  being  taken. 
That,  of  course,  meant  another  quarter-mile 
tramp  and  return.  Every  three-quarters  of  a 
mile,  and  sometimes  oftener,  the  heavy  table 
had  to  be  moved  and  a  return  made  to  the 
base  for  the  instruments  and  accessories. 

It  was  nearly  dark  when  the  last  line  was 
drawn,  and  the  stars  were  out  when  a  very 
tired  and  hungry  one-man  surveying  party 
got  his  traps  to  his  launch.  A  ten-mile  ride 
up  the  river  to  his  farmhouse  quarters  re- 
mained, and  he  found  that  running  a  forty- 
foot  gasoline  launch  and  being  engineer  and 
pilot,  too,  was  rather  hard  work. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  chronicle  a  real 
reward  for  such  pluck  and  stick-to-it-ive-ness, 
but  the  only  meed  of  appreciation  out  of  the 
ordinary  which  he  received  was  a  cordial 
letter  from  his  chief,  praising  his  effort  and 
faithfulness,  and  carefully  omitting  mention 
of  the  fact  that  a  week  or  two  of  delay  in  that 
particular  chart  would  have  made  no  vital 
difference. 

AN  ADVENTURE   OF  A   NEWSPAPER   MAN 

NEWS  of  the  blowing  up  and  sinking 
of  a  steamboat  on  the  Ohio  River 
some  distance  from  Pittsburg  reached  the 
office  of  a  Pittsburg  paper  one  evening  some 
vears  ago.  A  supply  of  money  was  hastily 
thrust  in  a  young  reporter's  hands — a  re- 
porter who  has  since  risen  to  journalistic 
prominence — and  he  was  instructed  to  get  to 
the  scene  as  rapidly  as  possible.  A  hurried 
trip  to  the  station,  without  stop  for  any- 
thing, enabled  him  to  leap  on  the  first  express 


bound  westward.  Once  on  board,  he  was 
informed  that  the  train  did  not  make  a  stop, 
after  Allegheny,  until  about  sixty  miles  be- 
yond his  destination.  A  cautious  hint  from 
a  Pullman  porter  apprised  him  of  the  presence 
of  a  division  superintendent  on  the  train,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  he  secured  an  order  on  the 
conductor  to  have  the  train  stopped  for  him. 
Reaching  the  little  station  late  at  night,  he 
asked  the  telegraph  operator  to  remain  until  he 
returned.  Walking  several  miles  to  secure  his 
"story,"  he  returned  as  quickly  as  possible, 
only  to  find  that  the  operator  had  disregarded 
his  request  and  had  closed  the  office. 

With  time  creeping  into  morning  hours, 
and  the  prospect  of  his  work  going  for  naught 
unless  he  secured  an  operator  to  get  the  storv 
to  his  office,  he  desperately  tramped  about 
the  unlighted  village,  only  to  find  that  the 
man  he  wanted  lived  several  miles  distant. 
Unsympathizing  country  folk  who  vouched 
that  information  through  closed  doors  cotdd 
not  be  induced  to  exert  themselves  further. 

The  young  fellow,  thinking  hard,  walked 
back  and  forth  on  the  railroad  platform. 
Suddenly  he  noticed  the  sleeping  form  of  a 
tramp  huddled  against  the  station.  Dis- 
turbing the  latter  with  a  vigorous  foot,  he 
offered  the  prostrate  man  five  dollars  to  make 
a  hurried  trip  for  the  operator. 

The  man  quickly  got  to  his  feet. 

"Do  you  want  an  operator.'"  he  asked. 

"Certainly,"  with  some  emphasis. 

"Well,  I'm  a  'bum,'  but  I  was  an  operator. 
If  you  can  get  into  that  station,  I'll  send  your 
stuff,  but  I  won't  touch  a  door  or  a  window 
myself." 

Without  talking  fvirther,  the  reporter  found 
a  cudgel,  broke  the  window,  clambered  in 
and  cleared  all  obstacles.  The  tramp  made 
good  his  claim  and  the  reporter's  last  diffi- 
culty was  dissipated.  The  tramp  clicked  off 
the  story,  and  the  copy  reached  the  office  in 
time  to  go  to  press.  The  reporter  told  the 
story  once — many  years  later — as  an  exam- 
ple of  what  "luck"  will  do  for  a  man. 

THE  STORY  OF  A  BOTANICAL  COLLECTOR 

FATE  had  placed  me  in  the  far  South- 
west, on  a  ranch,  removed  from  town, 
and  in  a  sparsely  settled  community.  I  had 
had  only  the  ordinary  high  school  training 
in  an  educational  way,  and  as  most  of  my  life 
had  been  spent  in  the  city,  the  usual  avoca- 
tions of  the  farmer's  daughter — butter  making 
or  poultry  raising — did  not  appeal  to  me. 

I  had  always  been  fond  of  the  study  of 
botany  in  my  school  days,  and  I  had  made 
some  very  creditable  collections  at  one  time 


AMONG    TIIK    WORLDS    VVORKKRS 


3921 


and  another.  I  began  analyzing  the  flowers 
about  me,  and  noting  those  which  might  be 
most  achaptaljlc  to  floriculture.  Then,  as  the 
seasons  came  on,  I  made  several  sets  of  dried 
plants,  carefully  selected  for  study,  and  one 
hundred  varieties  in  a  set.  In  the  meantime, 
from  catalogues  and  from  magazines,  I  had 
secured  the  addresses  of  leading  seedsmen  and 
florists.  I  wrote  these  people,  and  fully  ten 
per  cent,  of  them  replied  encouragingly  with 
small  orders  for  seeds.  Many  of  them  con- 
gratulated me  on  my  new  enterprise  and 
promised  larger  orders  for  the  future,  and  a 
half-dozen  volunteered  information  about 
varieties  desirable  for  the  European  market 
and  best  methods  of  gathering  and  saving. 
Two  men  sent  me  the  addresses  of  other  firms 
that  would  have  patronage  for  me,  and 
among  them  some  large  European  dealers. 
Through  the  Academy  of  Science  in  the  largest 
city  of  my  State,  I  secured  the  addresses  of 
leading  curators  in  such  institutions  as  the 
Arnold  Arboretum  at  Harvard  and  like 
institutions  East  and  West.  I  easily  secured 
orders  for  herbarium  specimens  unmounted, 
and  within  a  year  I  had  a  considerable  busi- 
ness, conducted  entirely  by  mail. 

My  correspondents  were  most  of  them 
college  men,  and  the  letters  of  instruction  I 
received  from  notable  botanists  for  whom  I 
eventually  made  collections  for  study  pur- 
poses were  as  good  as  a  course  of  lectures  at 
college  for  me.  I  never  filled  an  order  with  an 
inferior  specimen.  I  always  carried  out  to 
the  minutest  detail  all  instructions.  Very 
frequently  I  was  detailed  to  make  special  field 
notes  concerning  trees  and  plants  for  busy 
men  who  could  not  leave  their  classes  and 
home  w^ork.  At  the  end  of  three  years  I 
calculated  thus:  Net  gain:  perfect  health; 
a  horse  and  buggy ;  a  small  house  that  served 
as  the  herbarium;  a  business  which  was 
equivalent  to  about  eight  hundred  a  year, 
with  the  best  of  prospects  for  increase;  new 
and  valuable  friends;  and  much  training  in  a 
delightful  branch  of  natural  science. 

HOW  A   SMALL  INDUSTRY  HAS   DEVELOPED 

RAISING  watermelons  solely  for  their  seed, 
to  supply  the  Eastern  seed  firms,  has 
become  a  profitable  industry  in  Kansas. 
Most  of  the  watermelon  seeds  used  in  the 
United  States  are  now  produced  in  the  semi- 
arid  region  of  this  State.  Melons  are  grown 
by  hundreds  of  acres,  on  the  same  large  scale 
that  corn  is  raised,  and  are  harvested  and 
threshed  after  the  manner  of  other  crops. 
No  account  is  taken  of  the  fruit,  which  is 
treated  as  the  chaff  of  the  product. 

Two  years  ago  an  Eastern  seed  firm  sent  a 


representative  to  western  Kansas  to  interest 
the  farmers  in  the  experiment  of  raising 
melons  for  the  seed,  with  the  guarantee  of 
a  market  for  their  product ;  farmers  were  taken 
with  the  idea,  and  the  venture  has  proved 
profitable  to  them  and  to  the  seed  firms. 
From  a  small  beginning  the  industry  has 
grown  until  many  farms  are  now  devoted 
exclusively  to  watermelon  raising.  Some 
farmers  in  the  dry  portions  of  the  State  have 
abandoned  even  such  a  staple  crop  as  corn, 
preferring  to  take  chances  with  melons,  which 
thrive  in  dry  weather,  while  corn  often  fails 
for  lapk  of  rain.  Land  which  in  dry  weather 
will  not  produce  an  average  of  a  thousand 
pounds  of  corn  to  an  acre  will  produce  from 
thirty  to  fifty  tons  of  melons  to  an  acre,  even 
under  the  most  unfavorable- conditions.  The 
fact  that  melons  can  draw  sustenance  from 
dry  soil  makes  them  a  desirable  crop  in  the 
extreme  western  part  of  the  State.  Another 
important  consideration  is,  that  the  cost  of 
producing  an  acre  of  melons  is  but  little  more 
than  the  cost  of  producing  an  acre  of  corn, 
and  the  profits  are  from  three  to  five  times 
greater  than  could  be  realized  from  any  other 
crop  which  would  grow  in  that  climate. 

Home-made  threshing  machines,  constructed 
especially  to  meet  the  requirements,  are 
used  for  separating  the  seeds  from  the 
melons.  At  the  bottom  of  a  huge  hopper  is 
a  cylinder  armed  with  long,  sharp  spikes, 
which  is  run  at  high  speed  by  horse  power. 
The  melons  are  thrown  into  the  hopper,  and 
the  teeth  of  the  cylinder  quickly  separate  the 
seed-bearing  pulp  from  the  rinds.  The  hop- 
per discharges  into  a  great  cylindrical  screen, 
set  on  a  slight  angle,  in  which  long  arms 
revolve  on  an  axis,  constantly  stirring  the 
mass  of  pulp  and  pushing  the  seeds  through 
the  screen.  By  the  time  the  mass  reaches 
the  waste  pile  all  the  seeds  have  been  sepa- 
rated from  the  rinds.  The  seeds  are  stored  in 
a  vat  with  a  portion  of  the  pulp  which  comes 
through  the  screen.  Water  is  turned  in,  and 
when  fomentation  begins  the  seeds  float  to 
the  surface.  They  are  skimmed  ofl  and  dried, 
and  are  then  ready  for  market. 

MAKING  AUTOMATIC   MACHINES  TO  ORDER 

A  LITTLE  New  England  factory  makes, 
among  other  things,  a  useful  kitchen 
utensil  which  is  sold  yearly  by  the  hundreds 
of  thousands.  Small  as  the  article  is,  it  is 
somewhat  complicated,  and  requires  a  large 
number  of  different  "operations,"  to  use  the 
factory  term,  before  the  completed  utensil  is 
ready  to  be  packed  for  the  market.  That  is 
to  say.  the  material  went  down  line  after  line 
of  laborious  foot  and  hand  presses  to  be  cut 


2922 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


and  punched  and  shaped  and  fitted.  With 
an  idea  that  many  of  these  slow,  costly  and 
wearing  processes  might  be  done  away  with, 
one  of  the  officers  of  the  company  talked 
one  day  with  a  concern  near  by  who  make 
automatic  machinery.  He  showed  them  the 
article  in  the  various  stages  of  its  develop- 
ment. 

"Now,  gentlemen,"  he  said  at  last,  "can 
you  simplify,  cheapen  and  quicken  our  pro- 
ductive power,  and  if  so,  what  will  it  cost?" 

The  men  figured  for  a  few  minutes. 

"Yes,"  they  said,  "you  can  do  practically 
all  of  the  detail  work  with  two  machines,  which 
will  require  only  sliding  on  the  belts  and  a 
fraction  of  one  man's  time  to  watch  them. 
These  machines  will  do  as  much  in  an  hour 
and  a  half  as  a  dozen  workmen  and  presses 
are  doing  now  in  a  day.     They  will  cost  you 

and  you  can  have  them  in  two  months. 

You  can  figure  your  own  costs,  and  if  the 
change  is  worth  your  w^hile  we'll  go  to  work 
immediately." 

In  two  months  that  part  of  the  work  was 
entirely  changed;  men  w^ere  put  at  other 
tasks  where  they  had  long  been  needed,  money 
was  saved  daily,  and  the  output  of  this  par- 
ticular article  has  been  larger  and  much  more 
simply  obtained,  and  people  are  buying  the 
utensil  more  cheaply  all  over  the  world. 

The  concern  that  made  these  machines  does 
nothing  else  but  fill  orders  of  this  sort,  and 
with  other  similar  companies  it  is  helping  to 
conserve  to  New  England  by  ingenuity  the 
first  place  in  American  manufacture,  while 
great  factories  are  being  built  and  run  near 
the  supply  of  raw  material. 

BUSINESS  TRAINING  FOR  COLLEGE  MEN. 

THE  just  graduated  college  man  who  has 
no  further  plans  for  the  future  than 
that  he  is  "going  into  business,"  has  con- 
siderable difficulty  in  finding  an  opportunity. 
The  employer  everywhere  is  looking  for  young 
men  of  education  and  ambition.  Employ- 
ment committees  and  bureaus  of  information 
at  the  colleges  try  to  find  places  for  their  gradu- 
ates, but  the  problem  of  bringing  the  two  men 
together,  the  one  wanting  work,  the  other 
wanting  men,  has  perhaps  never  been  so 
practically  solved  as  it  was  last  summer 
by  Mr.  Gage  E.  Tarbell,  of  the  Equitable 
Life  Assurance  Company.  Mr.  Tarbell  had 
worked  his  way  up  from  small  beginnings ;  he 
had  indeed  written  insurance  to  pay  his  way 
while  he  was  studying  law,  and  he  was  inter- 
ested in  the  possibilities  of  young  men  who 
get  started  properly.  As  an  officer  of  his 
company  he  saw,  furthermore,  that  the 
colleges  every  year  were  turning  out  men 
who    were    potentially    splendid    agents    for 


insurance.  The  problem  was  to  get  them 
interested,  to  teach  them  the  business  and 
to  set  them  to  work. 

Last  spring,  therefore,  almost  too  late  to 
get  the  best  results,  he  wrote  to  a  large 
number  of  colleges,  telling  them  that  he  was 
planning  to  run  a  post  graduate  course  in 
insurance  during  the  summer;  that  he  was 
ready  to  pay  the  boys'  living  expenses  during 
the  course,  and  that  he  would  guarantee  every 
fellow  who  took  the  course  a  living  salary 
when  the  short  study  period  was  over.  He 
invited  their  cooperation  and  he  got  it  to  a 
surprising  degree. 

On  July  ist,  when  the  classes  began, 
1 20  college  graduates  entered  to  learn  the 
insurance  business.  All  w^ent  to  work  imme- 
diately, the  boys,  dignified  heads  of  depart- 
ments, who  told  them  in  concise,  business- 
like fashion  the  important  things  they 
needed  to  know,  and  Mr.  Tarbell  himself,  who 
plunged  with  inspiring  earnestness  into  this 
plan  he  had  developed.  A  good  share  of  his 
teaching  was  in  practical  demonstration  of  how 
to  write  insurance.  He  set  the  men  at -work 
in  the  city  and  held  every  day  testimony  meet- 
ings of  their  experiences.  He  had  the  different 
men  in  the  class  insure  each  other  before  the 
rest  of  the  120.  And  he  did  not  forget  that 
the  boys  needed  recreation.  He  sent  them 
to  the  theatre  and  out  for  other  pleasant 
evenings.  The  result  was  that  these  college 
men  had  a  busy  and  enjoyable  month  in 
which  they  learned  the  elements  of  practical 
insurance  work  from  the  men  who  could  most 
directly  and  most  quickly  teach  them.  At 
the  end  of  the  course  most  of  the  men  took 
two  weeks'  vacation,  and  were  then  assigned 
to  definite  territory  at  a  guaranteed  salary  of 
$75.00  a  month  and  an  opportunity  to  make 
much  more  in  commissions.  They  were 
enthusiastic  about  their  work  and  about  the 
man  who  had  given  them  their  opportunity. 
And  the  reports  of  their  achievements  so  far 
show  that  the  experiment  has  succeeded 
beyond  even  Mr.  Tarbell 's  hopes.  Plans  are 
now  being  made  for  next  summer's  session. 

The  importance  of  this  successfully  carried 
out  plan  is  many  sided.  It  not  only  gives  a 
large  number  of  educated  young  men  free 
practical  schooling  in  insurance,  and  then 
offers  them  a  splendid  business  opportunity, 
but  it  may  very  possibly  be  the  beginning  of 
a  generally  accepted  scheme  by  which  college- 
bred  men  can  quickly  find  their  places  in 
whatever  business  they  care  to  choose,  and 
by  which,  as  well,  employers  can  immediately 
reach  and  train  well-equipped  employees. 
It  shows  a  new  and  higher  appreciation 
of  the  value  of  college  men  in  business, 
and  is  replacing  old-time  prejudice. 


REPRESENTATIVE    JOSEPH    G.    CANNON,    OF    ILLINOIS 

WHO    WII.T,    PROBABLY    BE    SPEAKER    OF    THE    HOUSE 


Photographed  by  Clinedinst 


THE 


World's  Work 


JANUARY,    1903 


Volume   V 


Number   3 


ZTbe  fIDarcb  of  lEvcnte 


WE  start  the  new  year  with  the  same 
group  of  domestic  problems  with 
which  we  started  the  old  year. 
In  our  foreign  relations  and  in  the  tasks  pre- 
sented by  our  island  ward>  we  have  made 
headway,  to  the  steady  upbuilding  of  our 
national  character  and  of  our  influence  in 
the  world.  The  year  just  gone  was  note- 
worthy for  the  ending  of  wars,  for  the  sub- 
sidence of  national  jealousies,  and  for  the 
increasing  prosperity  and  strength  of  the 
Repubhc.  But  our  familiar  home-problems 
are  with  us  yet — the  trusts,  labor-unions, 
the  tariff,  the  currency,  municipal  adminis- 
tration, and  race  feehng  in  politics. 

These  involve  tasks  that  cannot  be  done 
by  sheer  energy,  however  well  directed.  Such 
problems  are  in  fact  symptoms  of  defects 
that  yet  exist  in  our  national  character.  In 
a  perfectly  developed  public  opinion  they 
would  dissolve  as  fog  dissolves  in  sunlight; 
and  we  move  toward  their  solution  as  we 
move  toward  the  building-up  of  the  character 
and  the  intelligence  of  the  people.  They  are 
important  matters  of  economic,  fiscal  and 
political    education. 

There  are  many  problems  of  a  different  and 
more  difficult  sort.  Such  were  the  tasks  of 
the  Civil  War  and  of  the  Reconstruction 
period.  Such  were  the  tasks  presented  at 
first  by  the  Philippine  Islands.  These  were 
structural.  In  doing  them  we  were  making 
new    experiments    with    republican    govern- 


ment itself.  We  were  putting  it  to  new 
tests.  But  even  the  trusts,  and  surely 
labor-unions  and  the  tariff  and  the  currency 
and  city  government,  involve  no  such  funda- 
mental activities.  Grave  and  stubborn 
as  these  are,  they  are  problems  rather  of 
regulation,  of  administration,  of  social  growth, 
of  education.  For  the  solution  of  them  we 
need  long  tuition.  We  shall  bungle  through 
many  experiments;  we  shall  have  many  a 
year  of  discussion.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  such 
thing  as  a  solution  of  them.  We  shall  simply 
grow  toward  their  settlement;  and  as  we 
grow  they  will  naturally  and  gradually 
eliminate    themselves. 

SOCIAL,  NOT  STRUCTURAL,  TASKS 

AS  the  public  mind  releases  itself  from 
holiday  recreations  and  again  takes  on 
a  thoughtful  mood,  we  may  fairly  claim  that 
we  have  at  least  learned  more  than  we  knew 
a  year  ago  about  some  of  these  familiar 
political  and  fiscal  ailments. 

About  trusts,  for  instance,  there  is  less 
vague  discussion.  Thanks  chiefly  to  the 
energy  of  the  President  and  to  the  clear 
thinking  of  the  Attorney  General,  public 
attention  is  now  concentrating  itself  on  a 
definite  plan  of  experiment  at  wholesome 
regulation.  The  Federal  Government  will 
try,  if  not  at  the  hands  of  this  Congress  then 
at  the  hands  of  some  subsequent  one,  to  hold 
them  to   responsibility  and   to   some   degree 


w 


2926 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


of  publicity.  This  may  be  done — at  least, 
an  effort  may  be  made  to  do  it — by  the 
Federal  Government's  power  to  regulate 
interstate  commerce.  We  may  try  to  make 
an  ineffectual  trust-regulating  law  effective. 
It  is  a  great  gain  to  get  so  definite  a  plan 
instead  of  the  vague  discussion  of  a  3'ear  ago. 
But  even  with  a  clear  plan  there  is  a  stubborn 
and  perhaps  an  ineffectual  struggle  ahead. 

It  may  even  be  said  that  we  have  made  at 
least  a  negative  kind  of  progress  with  the 
social  problem  of  organized  labor.  Some  of 
the  unions  have  tried  the  public  patience  too 
far  by  ill-advised  boycotts  and  by  an  unpatri- 
otic attitude  toward  the  militia,  and  there 
has  been  a  reaction  of  public  opinion  against 
them.  The  kindly  and  indulgent  and  the 
generally  sympathetic  attitude  of  a  large  part 
of  the  public  has  given  place  to  a  critical 
mood.  The  harm  that  ill-led  unions  may 
do  themselves  has  again  become  obvious; 
and  such  a  public  attitude  is  the  first  step 
toward  a  return  to  conservative  leadership. 

And  so  with  the  rest.  We  slowly  educate 
ourselves  by  experiment,  by  mistakes,  by 
discussion,  by  collision,  and  by  more  dis- 
cussion. We  are  safe  so  long  as  there  are 
unmistakable  signs  of  social  gro"wi;h.  And 
the  main  matter  of  clear  thinking  about  all 
these  problems  is  to  know  that  we  shall 
get  rid  of  them  only  by  outgrowing  them. 
Statutes  may  help,  good  theories  may  be 
useful,  constant  effort  is  indispensable.  But 
all  these  fall  short  except  as  they  help  toward 
a  better-developed  public  opinion. 

THE  SAVING  OF  INDIVIDUAL  OPPORTUNITY 

IX  all  our  thought  of  trusts  and  labor  and 
such  things  we  shall  avoid  confusion  and 
be  the  more  likely  to  steer  our  thinking  true 
if  we  keep  a  firm  hold  on  the  one  great  aim  of 
our  social  structure.  The  very  comer-stone 
of  a  democracy  is  the  preservation  of  indi- 
vidual opportunity.  It  is  for  the  best  gro'v\i:h 
of  the  individual  that  our  whole  system  of 
society  and  of  government  was  wrought  out 
and  fought  for.  This  is  fundamental.  With- 
out this  we  fail.  Old  World  societies  and 
systems  have  nurtured  classes.  It  is  the 
peculiar  distinction  and  the  everlasting  glory 
of  a  democracy — the  sole  hope,  in  fact,  of 
any  continuous  advancement  of  human 
society — that  ever\'  man  shall  have,  so  far 
as  society  can  give  it  to  him,  a  free  oppor- 
tunity for  his  own  development.     If  we  keep 


this  fundamental  fact  in  mind  many  tangled 
problems  will  become  straight  in  our  thinking. 
It  is  as  true  this  new  year  as  it  was  in  the 
year  when  men  first  dreamed  of  a  democratic 
society  that  the  saving  fact  of  it  is  that  there 
shall  be  no  fixed  class.  The  worst  of  these 
domestic  problems  that  are  always  with  us 
turn  on  this  pivotal  truth.  If  any  tendency 
appear  that  looks  toward  permanent  class- 
distinctions  and  toward  making  men  fast  in 
certain  classes,  forthwith  we  have  a  social 
problem;  whether  it  come  in  the  form  of 
trusts,  or  of  a  tariff,  or  of  labor-unions,  or 
whatever  form  it  take.  The  mobility  of  our 
society  is  its  salvation.  It  is  from  this  point 
of  view  that  we  are  likely  to  get  the  most 
helpful  conception  of  our  uneven  develop- 
ment and  of  our  social  and  public  duties. 

AN  IMPORTANT  LAW  OF  SOCIAL  GROWTH 

AX  important  and  interesting  social  law 
is  illustrated  by  the  growth  of  the 
postal  service.  The  business  of  the  depart- 
ment has  responded  wonderfully  to  every 
increase  of  postal  facilities.  For  instance, 
when  free  city  delivery  was  established  in 
1857  the  receipts  were  $8,000,000.  A 
little  more  than  ten  years  later  they  reached 
$20,000,000.  There  has  been  a  similar 
increase  because  of  the  establishment  of 
rural  free  deliver^-.  "The  experience  of  the 
Department,"  says  the  Postmaster  General, 
"in  counties  where  the  service  has  been  fully 
established  for  a  period  of  two  years,  justi- 
fies the  belief  that  the  revenues  in  the 
rural  districts  will  increase  fivefold."  He 
incidentally  shows  another  interesting  result 
of  the  rural  delivery  system: 

"  It  was  claimed  that  rural  delivery  ■would 
increase  the  value  of  farm  lands.  Official  reports 
indicate  that  in  communities  served  by  rural  free 
delivery  isolated  farms  have  been  enhanced  in  value 
because  of  that  service  at  an  average  rate  of  at  least 
5  per  cent .  in  the  older  settled  States :  and  in  the 
more  remote  States  and  Territories,  -where  postal 
facilities  have  heretofore  been  few  and  far  between, 
the  increase  of  value  has  been  much  greater." 

The  incalculable  value  of  these  extensions 
of  the  postal  service — the  increase  in  the 
worth  of  property  and  the  even  greater 
stimulus  to  the  social  and  commercial  activity 
of  the  people — emphasizes  this  great  social 
law;  the  masses  seldom  see  beforehand  the 
value  of  new  forces  for  their  development, 
but  they  eagerly  profit  by  them  when  they  are 
set  going.     To  wait  till  the  people  demand 


THE    LATE    HERR    FRIEDRICH    ALFRED    KRUPP 

THE   GREAT   GERMAN    IRON-MASTER 


Copyright,  1902,  by  Aim6  Dupont 

THE    LATE    EX-SPEAKER   THOMAS    BRACKETT    REED 


J 


OUR    RAl'IDLV    INCREASING    SKA    TOWKR 


2929 


an  ini])rovement  of  service  or  of  conditions 
is  to  lioUl  social  |)rogress  back.  Real 
statesmanship  or  wise  leadershij)  foresees 
that  every  facihty  for  advancement  will  be 
welcomed  and  will  be  used.  The  growth 
of  periodical  literature  ha'=  proved  this.  Cheaj) 
railway  fares  have  proved  it.  The  extension 
of  library  service  has  proved  it.  This  broad 
and  practically  universal  law  has  been  proved 
by  every  facility  for  social  improvement  that 
the  people  of  a  democracy  have  profited  by. 
The  cheapening  of  every  public  service  enor- 
mously increases  its  utilization. 

Moral:  a  parcels  post — that  is,  cheaper 
postage  on  merchandise  and  the  admission 
to  the  mails  of  heavier  packages  than  four 
pounds — would  pay.  It  would  pay  in  money 
because  of  the  increase  in  business,  and  it 
would  pay  enormously  in  convenience;  for 
it  would  make  life  easier  by  that  much. 

Another  moral:  a  great  reduction  in  tele- 
graph tolls  would  pay — pay  in  the  same 
fashion ;  and  one  of  the  crimes  of  our  time  is 
the  successful  prevention  of  such  an  increase 
in  telegraphic  convenience  as  we  yet  suflfer. 
It  costs  twenty-five  cents  to  send  a  ten-word 
telegram  from  one  town  to  the  next,  but  a 
letter  can  be  sent  to  inland  Alaska  and  drawn 
hundreds  of  miles  on  a  dog-sled  for  two  cents. 

The  people  are  slow  to  foresee  and  to 
demand  new  conveniences,  but  they  eagerly 
use  every  convenience  for  their  general  social 
advancement  when  it  is  provided. 

THE   DEBAUCHING  AFTER-COST  OF   OUR   WARS 

IF  there  were  no  other  reasons  why  peace 
at  any  honorable  cost  is  desirable  to 
a  democratic  government,  there  is  reason 
enough  in  the  long  after-cost  of  w^ar.  We 
have  paid  more  than  two  and  three-quarter 
billions  of  dollars  (if  anybody  can  compre- 
hend such  a  sum)  in  pensions  on  account  of 
the  Civil  War,  and  the  expenditure  goes  on 
at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
millions  a  year.  But  the  cost  of  pensions  is 
not  the  worst  fact.  The  worst  fact  is  the 
demoralization  of  a  large  part  of  the  public. 
All  these  years  systematic  and  organized 
fraud  has  been  practised  in  the  name  of 
patriotism,  and  thousands  of  men  and  families 
have  come  to  regard  the  Government  simply 
as  a  dispenser  of  incomes.  The  administra- 
tion of  the  pension  bureau  now  prevents  all 
the  palpable  frauds  that  it  can,  but  under  the 
ioose  laws  that  exist  there  is  no  way  to  sup- 


l)ress  the  activity  of  the  j^cnsion  attorneys, 
who  continue  to  debauch  the  character  of 
veterans  and  the  kinsmen  of  veterans.  There 
are  even  at  this  late  day  about  a  million 
names  on  the  pension  roll 

The  pension  after-cost  to  July  i,  1902,  oi 
each  of  our  wars  was : 

War  of  the  Revolution $70,000,000 

War  of  181  2 45,025,297 

Indian  wars 5,814,206 

Mexican   War 3  i  ,86 1 ,337 

War  with  S])ain 3,275,184 

Civil  War 2,728,878,276 

How  large  a  part  of  this  sum  has  gone  to 
the  degradation  of  character  and  how  large  a 
part  to  veterans  whose  pensions  are  properly 
badges  of  honor  no  man  will  ever  know.  All 
that  we  know  is  that  the  granting  of  pensions 
has  revealed  the  weakest  place  in  our  sy.stem 
of  government.  No  political  party  has  shown 
itself  strong  enough  to  withstand  the  threats 
and  the  criticisms  of  the  "old  soldier"  vote, 
nor  has  the  private  virtue  of  vast  multitudes 
of  men  and  women  withstood  the  organized 
seduction  of  pension  attorneys. 

We  have  very  nearly  got  rid  of  the  scandal 
of  the  spoils  system,  to  which  the  demoraliza- 
tion that  followed  the  Civil  War  gave  a  strong 
inipulse ;  but  we  shall  yet  have  to  endure  the 
twin-scandal  of  pensions  till  by  the  sheer 
lapse  of  time  most  of  the  children  and  the 
wives  and  the  connections  of  the  soldiers  of 
forty  years  ago  are  dead.  In  the  meantime 
we  shall  for  a  considerable  period  continue 
to  disburse  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  a  year,  much  of  it  to  the  degradation 
of  citizenship  and  manhood.  The  shame  of 
it  is  not  that  so  much  money  is  wrongly  spent 
by  the  Government  (though  this  were 
shame  enough),  but  that  it  is  so  spent  as 
to  encourage  a  debasing  conception  of  the 
function  of  governmen":. 

OUR  RAPIDLY  INCREASING  SEA  POWER 

THE  fighting  strength  of  the  navy,  when 
the  vessels  that  are  building  and  those 
authorized  by  Congress  have  been  finished, 
wall  be  four  times  as  great  as  it  was  during 
the  war  with  Spain.  We  then  had  armored 
cruisers,  but  only  four  first-class  battle-ships 
— the  Iowa,  the  Indiana,  the  Massachusetts 
and  the  Oregon — and  one  second-class  battle- 
ship, the  Texas.  We  have  built  or  author- 
ized the  addition  of  fifteen  more  first-class 
battle-ships — the  Kentucky,  the  Kearsarge, 
the  Alabama,  the  Wisconsin,  the  Illinois,  the 


MISS    JANE   ADDAMS 

FOUNDER   AND   HEAD    OF    HULL    HOUSE,    CHICAGO 


Copyright,  1902.  by  Elizabeth  B.  Brownell.  Chicago 


HOW    THE    PRESIDENT    HAS    STAKED    HIS    FORTUNES      2931 


I 


Maine,  the  Georgia,  the  Pennsylvania,  the 
Rhode  Island,  the  Ohio,  the  Virginia,  the 
Missouri,  the  A^^w  Jersey,  the  Louisiana,  and 
the  Connecticut — and  two  armored  cruisers, 
the  Tennessee  and  the  Washington.  The 
Louisiana  (whicli  will  cost  nearly  four  mil- 
lions) and  the  Con}iccticHtv!\\\  be  better  ships 
than  the  navy  has  ever  had.  The  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  recommends  "a  continuance 
without  interruption  of  the  increase  of  ships  " 
— at  least  two  more  battle-ships  in  addition  to 
cruisers. 

"The  country  approves,"  Secretary  Moody 
says,  "with  hardly  a  dissenting  voice,  of  the 
policy  of  strengthening  our  power  upon  the 
sea,"  since  we  now  have  large  interests  in  the 
Pacific  as  well  as  in  the  Atlantic,  to  both 
of  which  the  cutting  of  the  canal  will  add. 
Dissent  to  this  policy  is  heard,  but  it  is 
ineffectual;  and  we  seem  sure  to  continue  to 
increase  the  navy  till  we  become  at  last — a 
long  time  hence — a  great  naval  power,  second, 
perhaps,  only  to  England,  which  now  has 
forty-seven  first-class  battle-ships.  Germany 
has  thirteen,  France  twenty-four,  and  Russia 
twenty-two. 

But  we  already  lack  officers  for  the  ships 
that  we  have.  The  present  navy  requires 
1,600  officers,  and  we  have  only  about  1,000; 
and  four  years  hence  (in  spite  of  the  cadets 
that  will  be  graduated  at  Annapolis  in  the 
meantime)  we  shall  require  at  least  i  ,300  more 
than  we  shall  have.  The  wish  of  the  service 
is  that  the  number  of  cadets  be  greatly 
increased. 

The  navy  offers  a  career  that  is  attractive 
to  a  large  number  of  youth  of  the  best 
qualities,  and  graduates  of  the  Academy  are 
practically  and  properly  the  only  men  who 
now  become  offixers.  They  constitute  a  body 
that  any  country  may  .  be  very  proud  of — 
these  alert  and  capable  specimens  of  the  best 
American  manhood  and  patriotism ;  and  there 
will  never  be  an  insufficiency  of  them  if  the 
number  of  youth  admitted  to  the  Academy 
is  large  enough. 

There  are  now  less  than  22,000  enlisted 
men  in  the  navy,  nine-tenths  of  whom  are 
citizens  of  the  United  States  (all  who  enlist 
must  now  become  so),  and  more  than  three- 
fourths  are  native  Americans. 

The  conclusion  of  Secretary  Moody's  report 
is  a  graceful  paragraph  about  Admiral  Dewey : 

"  I  cannot  close  this  report  without  acknowledging 
the  sympathy,  cooperation  and  aid  which   I   have 


received  from  the  Admiral  <>f  llu-  .\a\y.  ^^s 
President  of  the  General  Board  of  the  Navy  his 
services  have  been  of  great  value  to  the  deiiartmcnt 
and  the  fleet.  The  security  of  his  own  fame  has  not 
lessened  his  interest  in  the  service  or  diminished  his 
effort  for  its  improvement.  His  zealous  earnestness 
in  the  cause  is  the  good  fortune  of  the  department, 
and  gives  him  an  added  title  to  the  favor  (jf  the 
nation." 

HOW  THE  PRESIDENT  HAS  STAKED  HIS 
FORTUNES 

REFERRING  again  to  the  effort  to  regu- 
late trusts — and  the  public  mind  will 
not  get  away  from  it  for  some  time  to  come 
— the  political  aspects  of  the  situation  are 
interesting,  even  if  the  immediate  outlook  be 
not  hopeful.  The  Republican  party  in  a 
general  way  has  been  the  friend  of  trusts  and 
other  vested  interests.  The  tendency  has 
been  for  them  to  feel  reasonably  safe  from 
objectionable  interference  under  Republican 
administrations.  But  Mr.  Roosevelt  has, 
in  a  way,  staked  his  political  fortunes  on 
calling  them  to  account — has,  in  a  sense, 
stolen  the  Democratic  position.  He  would 
do  in  a  conservative  way  what  many  Demo- 
crats would  do  radically. 

Now,  the  Republican  leaders  may  do  any 
one  of  these  things: 

They  may  follow  the  President's  wishes  and 
suggestions  with  earnestness  and  try  to  bring  the 
great  corporations  practicallv  under  the  National 
government's  supervision.  But  this  course  seems 
unlikely  at  this  session  of  Congress.  Perhaps  it  is 
unlikely  at  any  time. 

They  may  frankly  do  nothing  and  thus  try  to 
force  Mr.  Roosevelt  to  give  up  his  party  programme. 
This  effort  is  probable — its  success  very  improbable. 

They  may  feign  earnestness  about  the  matter 
and  thus  try  to  get  credit  for  an  efTort,  but  still  do 
nothing.      This  course  is  the  most  probable  of  all. 

If  the  Republican  leaders  do  nothing  the 
next  year  and  a  half  to  carry  out  the  President's 
programme,  he  or  they  will  have  to  surrender. 
If  they  find  his  personal  popularity  too  great 
for  them,  they  will  make  a  virtue  of  necessity 
and  be  his  ostentatious  friends,  and  the  party 
may  show  under  his  leadership  a  renewal  of 
vigor.  This  is  the  party's  best  chance  for  an 
indefinite  continuation  of  power.  But  it  is 
not  likely  to  take  this  course  willingly. 

If  the  President  finds  his  party  in  Congress 
unwilling  to  follow  him,  he  may  appeal  suc- 
cessfully to  the  country;  or  the  Democrats 
may  persuade  the  country  that  nothing  can 
be  hoped  for  from  a  Republican  Congress. 

Thus  we  have  a  most  interesting  set  of 
forces  at  play — 


2932 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


The  President  is  in  earnest  about  calling 
the  trusts  to  responsibility. 

The  Republican  leaders  are  not  in  earnest 
about  it. 

The  Democrats  would  like  to  do  it,  but 
they  lack  initiative  and  leadership. 

But  a  large  part  of  the  people  are  in  earnest 
about  it ;  and  whenever  hard  times  come  they 
are  likely  to  become   still  more  in   earnest 
unless  some  positive  action  be  taken  in  the 
meantime. 

With  all  these  forces,  there  are  chances  for 
many  interesting  things  to  happen.  The 
most  probable  event  will  be  an  unwilling 
concession  of  leadership  to  the  President 
because  of  his  personal  popularity.  Then 
the  task  will  be  his  to  put  his  programme  into 
execution — against  enormous  pressure.  He 
will  have  created  an  unparalleled  opportunity. 

THE  PRESIDENT'S   SUMMARY  OF  OUR 
"COLONIAL"   ACHIEVEMENTS 

WHEN  one  recalls  all  the  grave  trouble 
and  loss  both  of  life  and  treasure 
and  the  great  political  difficulties  that  we 
have  been  through  these  four  years  of  our 
"colonial"  responsibility,  these  sentences 
are  the  most  gratifying  utterance  in  the 
President's  Message  to  Congress,  and  they 
tell  a  story  that  we  may  well  be  proud  of: 

"Of  Porto  Rico  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  the 
prosperity  of  the  island  and  the  wisdom  with  which 
it  has  been  governed  have  been  such  as  to  make  it 
serve  as  an  example  of  all  that  is  best  in  insular 
administration. 

"On  Jul}^  4th  last,  on  the  126th  anniversary  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  peace  and  amnesty 
were  promulgated  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  Some 
trouble  has  since  from  time  to  time  threatened  with 
the  Mohammedan  Moros,  but  with  the  late  insur- 
rectionary Filipinos  the  war  has  entirely  ceased. 
Civil  government  has  now  been  introduced.  Not 
only  does  each  Filipino  enjoy  such  rights  to  life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  as  he  has  never 
before  known  during  the  recorded  history  of  the 
islands,  but  the  people  taken  as  a  whole  now  enjoy 
a  measure  of  self-government  greater  than  that 
granted  to  any  other  Orientals  by  any  foreign  power, 
and  greater  than  that  enjoyed  by  any  other  Orientals 
under  their  own  governments,  save  the  Japanese 
alone." 

TWO  PACIFIC   CABLE  SYSTEMS 

THE  last  link  of  the  British  Pacific  cable 
v/as  laid  a  few  months  ago  and  within 
a  few  months  the  American  Pacific  cable  w'ill 
be  finished.  A  man  in  London  may  now 
send  a  message  around  the  world  to  himself 
both  westward  and  eastward,  and  each  may 
circle    the    globe   by    British    wires    and    be 


delivered  in  thirty  minutes.  The  American 
Pacific  cable  will  touch  only  American  land- 
ings till  it  reaches  China;  for  its  intermediate 
stations  will  be  Honolulu,  Guam  and  Manila. 
Although  it  is  the  private  enterprise  of  the 
Pacific  Cable  Company,  our  Government  has 
a  guarantee  of  priority  of  service  for  its  own 
messages,  and  of  reasonable  tolls  for  the  public 
and  the  right  in  time  of  war  to  assume  control 
of  it.  It  has  even  the  right  at  any  time  that 
Congress  may  so  direct  to  purchase  the  cable 
at  a  price  set  by  a  board  of  appraisal.  Thus 
our  Government  has  secured  Pacific  cable 
facilities  without  the  expenditure  of  public 
money. 

The  new  epoch  in  commerce  and  politics 
that  was  begun  when  the  Atlantic  cable  was 
laid  will  have  no  parallel ;  but  a  second  stage 
in  that  same  wonderful  change  begins  with 
these  Pacific  cables.  They  will  unite  the 
Orient  and  the  Western  world  as  these  could 
not  be  drawn  together  in  any  other  way. 
The  tolls  from  China  and  Australia  westward 
to  the  United  States  have  been  practically 
prohibitory  of  private  use.  They  will  now 
gradually  become  cheap  enough  to  have  a 
quick  influence  on  trade. 

A  PROGRAMME  FOR  SELECTING  PUBLIC 
OFFICERS 

A  GOOD  working  theory  for  the  selec- 
tion of  candidates  for  important 
offices  may  be  constructed  from  the  truthful 
remarks  of  District  Attorney  Jerome  of  New 
York  and  of  Circuit  Attorney  Folk  of  St.  Louis. 
Mr.  Jerome,  who  is  not  afraid  of  those  tasks 
which  none  of  his  recent  predecessors  dreamed 
of  undertaking,  said  just  after  his  election, 
quoting  a  wise  public  man  of  a  generation  ago: 

"  The  only  kind  of  man  to  fill  a  public  office  is  the 
man  who  does  not  want  the  ofnce  and  does  not 
wish  to  be  reelected." 

Mr.  Folk,  who  has  sent  to  the  penitentiary 

for  giving  or  taking  bribes  some  of  the  very 

men  who  nominated  him,  recently  declared: 

"  I  told  the  men  who  nominated  me  that  I  didn't 
want  the  office.  I  don't  think  that  I  could  be  elected 
for  another  term." 

THE  OUTLOOK  FOR  PERMANENTLY  DECENT 
GOVERNMENT  IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 

A  YEAR  of  the  Reform  Administration 
of  New  York  City  under  Mayor  Low 
has  passed  and  half  his  term  of  office  is  gone. 
In  November,  1900,  Mr.  Low  defeated  Mr. 
Shepard,  the  Democratic  candidate,  by  31.500 


DECENT    GOVERNMENT    IN    NEW    YORK    CITY 


2933 


votes.  In  November,  1902,  Mr.  Coler,  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor,  and  a 
far  less  attractive  personality  than  Mr. 
Shepard,  received  122,000  more  votes  in  New 
York  City  than  Mr.  Odell,  the  Republican 
candidate.  The  politicians  and  the  friends 
of  non-partisan  municipal  government  have, 
therefore,  naturally  been  taking  stock  of  the 
political  assets  and  opportunities  of  Mr.  Low's 
Administration.  Wliat  has  the  Administra- 
tion done,  and  what  is  the  outlook  for  perma- 
nently decent  government  of  the  metropolis  ? 

This  single  year  of  Mr.  Low's  mayoralty 
has  brouglit  great  gains — very  much  greater 
than  the  superficial  observer  is  likely  to  know. 
In  the  first  place,  the  personnel  of  the  city 
government — at  least,  of  most  of  its  impor- 
tant departments — is  dignified  and  well-bred. 
Dignity  and  good-breeding  are  not  govern- 
ment, but  they  are  very  important  qualities  of 
good  officials.  The  city  has  had  in  its  chief 
executive  office  a  man  of  whose  personal 
character  and  civic  qualities  it  may  be 
proud,  a  representative  of  its  best  citizenship. 
And  he  has  no  entangling  obligations.  This 
is  much. 

In  the  next  place,  those  great  departments 
of  the  city  government  wliich  are  practically 
scientific  offices,  and  which  clean  the  city  and 
look  after  its  sanitary  welfare,  have  done  their 
work  well.  Some  of  them  have  done  it  better 
than  it  was  ever  done  before.  And  this  is 
what  was  to  be  expected.  Politics  have  been 
eliminated  from  these  departments.  They  are 
under  the  direction  of  competent  men ;  they 
are  well  conducted,  and  the  city  and  the 
whole  country  have  gained  much  by  their 
demonstration  of  the  practicability  of  attack- 
ing these  difficult  problems  of  city  life  scien- 
tifically. And  surely  this  is  a  great  deal. 
Even  in  so  short  a  time  as  one  year  some 
remarkable  changes  have  been  wrought — 
enough  to  convince  anybody  that  the  work  of 
cleaning  the  streets,  of  doing  sanitary  inspec- 
tion, of  caring  for  the  health  of  the  city  and 
l_  all  such  functions  ought  never  to  be  at  the 
tW  mercy  of  politicians.  The  heads  of  these 
great  departments  ought  to  serve  during 
good  behavior  and  competent  work. 

Yet  this  is  not  all  that  the  year  has  revealed. 

•  While  it  has  shown  these  enormous  gains,  it 
has  shown  also  certain  unfortunate  weak- 
nesses of  the  Reform  Administration.  In 
the  more  directly  political  parts  of  his  work 
Mayor  Low  has  been  hindered  by  the  holding- 


over  of  incompetent  officials  and  by  the  low 
character  of  other  departments  than  the 
executive.  In  these  directions  he  has  not 
had  a  fair  field  nor  sufficient  time  to  work  a 
revolution  by  slow  methods.  Every  fair- 
minded  man  will  remember  these  facts  before 
he  pronounces  judgment. 

But  it  cannot  be  forgotten  that  a  year  ago 
the  police  work  in  New  York  was  a  world- 
wide scandal.  There  was  organized  vice,  for 
there  was  organized  protection  of  vice.  It 
was  the  most  diabolical  condition  that  existed 
anvwhere  in  Anglo-Saxon  Christendom.  The 
worst  of  it  was,  not  that  vice  and  all  manner 
of  uncleanness  flourished,  but  that  large 
masses  of  the  American  people  came  to  regard 
municipal  government  (and  hence  all  govern- 
ment) as  a  power  in  league  with  vice — as  a 
thing  necessarily  and  always  corrupt.  It  was 
as  low  a  plane  of  political  life  as  any  American 
community  has  ever  touched.  And  it  was 
the  moral  indignation  that  this  state  of  things 
provoked  which  made  Mr.  Low's  election 
possible.  It  was  this  degrading  condition 
that  he  was  elected  to  change. 

To  change  it  meant  a  revolution;  and  to 
work  such  a  revolution  some  quick,  energetic 
and  even  dramatic  method  was  necessary. 
This  is  not  a  task  like  the  others.  It  is  a 
task  in  which  millions  of  people  are  directly 
involved,  and  they  must  be  convinced  that  a 
change  has  come.  They  must  see  that  the  old 
order  of  things  has  passed  forever.  Such  a 
change  can  hardly  be  wrought  gradually,  for  if 
it  is  not  wrought  quickly  the  old  forces  of  evil 
easily  renew  their  activity.  Half  the  battle 
is  an  early  demonstration  of  earnestness. 

Mr.  Low  is  a  good  type  of  the  reformer. 
But  he  is  not  a  revolutionist;  and  a  revolu- 
tionist is  what  is  called  for. 

It  is  the  old  trouble  of  most  efforts  at  reform 
politics.  The  reformers  are  too  gentle;  they 
rely  too  much  on  moral  suasion;  they  shrink 
from  the  rougher  work  of  dealing  energetically 
with  men;  they  are  too  likely  to  assume  that 
good  intentions  and  good  moral  principles 
win  by  mere  formulation.  They  talk,  but 
they  are  too  slow  to  fight.  They  shrink  from 
rough  action  for  fear  of  criticism. 

The  grave  danger,  therefore,  is  that  the 
Reform  Administration  in  New  York  City  will 
be  followed  by  a  Tammany  Administration, 
and  that  much  of  the  most  excellent  work 
done  under  Mayor  Low  will  be  undone  and 
have  to  be  done  over  again.     But  there  are 


2934 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


yet  ten  months;  and  in  ten  months  even  a 
New  York  poHce  force  could  be  remade  and 
the  city  and  the  country  and  the  world  made 
to  confess  that  the  metropolis  had  a  police 
army  above  suspicion.  It  is  a  Napoleonic 
task,  and  it  requires  Napoleonic  qualities — 
certainly  a  Napoleonic  vigor  of  action.  The 
conservative  temper  is  the  best  temper  'to 
bring  to  all  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life;  but 
there  are  occasions  in  war  and  in  politics 
when  nothing  but  dash,  akin  to  recklessness, 
wins. 

THE  UNDOING  OF  DELAWARE 

WHEN  a  witness  from  Delaware  in  the 
impeachment  trial  of  Andrew  Johnson 
said  to  the  United  States  Senate,  without 
the  faintest  trace  of  humor,  "The  eyes  of 
Delaware  are  upon  you, "  a  ripple  of  laughter 
ran  over  the  country-.  The  conditions  are 
now  reversed,  and  the  eyes  of  all  good  men 
are  turned  on  Delaware;  but  nobody  laughs. 
After  having  long  been  unrepresented  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  that  State  is  about  to 
try  again  to  elect  two  Senators.  The  question 
is  not  whether  Delaware  shall  be  represented 
by  Republicans  or  by  Democrats,  but  whether 
the  long-vacant  seats  shall  be  filled  by  a 
man  whose  sole  claim  to  political  distinc- 
tion is  his  wealth  and  by  an  associate  of  his 
choosing,  or  by  two  men  who  represent  the 
majority  as  expressed  at  the  recent  election. 
The  history  of  the  contest  for  the  senator- 
ship  in  Delaware  is  a  shameful  thing.  Four- 
teen years  ago,  when,  for  the  first  time  since 
the  Civil  War,  Delaware  had  a  Republican 
majority  in  the  Legislature,  a  brazen  stranger, 
who  had  recently  by  accident,  it  is  said, 
acquired  a  technical  residence  in  the  State, 
presented  himself  at  the  capital  declaring 
his  willingness  to  aid  the  Republicans  with 
money,  and  to  accept  as  compensation  a  seat 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  J.  Edward 
Addicks,  whose  effrontery  then  astonished 
all  who  met  him,  was  not  elected,  but  by  his 
large  contributions  to  the  campaign  fund 
he  became  a  perpetual  candidate.  And  then 
began  a  most  "liberal"  use  of  money  in 
politics.  There  was  money  for  the  leaders 
of  counties  and  of  "hundreds";  there  was 
money  for  newspapers;  there  was  money  to 
pay  off  mortgages  of  farmers;  there  was 
money  to  aid  embarrassed  business  men ;  there 
was  money  for  local  poli^"icians  who  chose  to 
speculate  in  Addicks'  gas  stock;   above   all. 


on  election  day  there  was  money  for  voters, 
black  and  white,  such  as  the  Delaware  elec- 
torate never  before  had  known. 

Two  successive  Legislatures  had  Republican 
majorities,  but  in  each  there  were  enough 
anti-Addicks  Republicans  to  prevent  this 
adventurer's  election.  Addicks,  in  turn,  held 
his  men  together  to  prevent  the  election  of 
anybody  else,  so  that  for  a  time  Delaware 
had  but  one  Senator,  and  at  length  none  at 
all.  Then  Addicks,  angered  at  the  resistance, 
declared  that  he  or  nobody  should  be  Senator. 
The  more  frank  of  his  supporters  said,  "He 
has  paid  for  it  and  ought  to  have  it." 
Undismayed  by  defeat,  Addicks  in  the  last 
political  campaign  put  forth  greater  efforts 
than  ever.  The  members  of  the  new 
Legislature,  together  with  a  few  Senators 
that  hold  over,  make  a  majority  nominally 
Republican,  but  not  a  majority  favorable 
to  Addicks. 

Mr.  Addicks  is  quoted  as  saying  that  he  has 
expended  thus  far  only  $250,000.  How  much 
more  he  will  spend  nobody  can  guess ;  but  he 
has  discovered,  he  hopes,  a  money-saving 
device  in  the  use  of  Federal  patronage. 
Although  the  Republican  National  Convention 
of  1896  heard  Mr.  Addicks  denounced  as  a 
"moral  idiot,"  the  Convention  of  1900 
recognized  him  as  the  Republican  leader  in 
Delaware,  and  he  is  now  claiming  control  of 
Federal  patronage  in  the  State,  with  the  hope 
that  the  countenance  of  the  Administration 
at  Washington  may  coerce  the  so-called 
"regular"  Republicans  of  the  Legislature  to 
support  him  and  such  an  associate  as  he  may 
designate.  Such  aid  as  this  every  friend  of 
the  National  Administration  expects  to  see 
withheld  from  him.  The  recent  unfortunate 
reappointment  of  Mr.  Byrne,  an  Addicks 
Republican,  as  the  United  States  District 
Attorney  in  Delaware,  was  made  by  the 
President  for  purely  personal  reasons.  If  the 
country  has  reluctantly  accepted  that  expla- 
nation it  would  not  accept  the  recognition 
of  Addicks  without  grievous  disappoint- 
ment. 

This  era  of  political  debauchery  has  had 
its  effect  also  on  Democratic  politics  in 
Delaware.  The  little  State  is  a  sad  example 
of  the  baleful  effects  of  the  persistent 
ambition  of  a  single  unworthy  man  to  reduce 
it  by  the  use  of  money  to  his  political  control. 
It  were  better  to  remain  unrepresented  in  the 
United  States  Senate  for  an  indefinite  time 


THE    CUKE    FUR    EABOR     IRUUIU.ES 


2935 


than  to  yield  to  hini.  It  is  an  anomalous  and 
shamiful  situation  that  hardly  has  a  parallel 
in  our  political  history. 

DEEP   WATERS  OF  THE  RACE  PROBLEM 

PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT  has  again  got 
himself  into  the  deep  waters  of  the 
race  conflict  in  the  South.  The  proposal 
to  appoint  a  colored  man,  who  is  said  to  be 
personally  capable  and  thoroughly  fit,  as 
Collector  of  the  Port  of  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  raised  two  questions. 

The  first  question  is,  whether  in  making 
Federal  appointments  a  man  should  be 
excluded  simply  because  he  is  a  colored  man. 
White  public  sentiment  in  the  South  almost 
unanim  usly  declares  that  a  man's  black  skin 
should  debar  him,  that  such  an  elevation  of 
a  Negro  disturbs  the  whole  social  and  political 
status  of  Southern  society,  that  it  encourages 
"Negro  supremacy,"  and  that  it  gives  the 
support  of  the  Federal  Government  to  a 
principle  that  Southern  society  will  never 
admit.  Very  determined  is  the  Southern 
whites'  opinion  on  this  subject. 

Equally  frank  and  clear  is  the  President's 
attitude — that  he  cannot  and  will  not  make 
a  distinction  between  men  on  account  of  their 
race  or  color.  Assuming  individual  fitness, 
a  colored  man  stands  in  the  same  relation 
to  American  citizenship  and  to  the  Federal 
Government  as  a  white  man.  There  is  even 
an  incidental  theoretical  difference,  if  there 
be  a  difference  at  all,  in  favor  of  the  colored 
man;  for  the  recognition  of  the  ability  and 
the  character  of  worthy  colored  men  is  the 
more  necessary  for  the  encouragement  of 
colored  youth  to  develop  character. 

When  the  matter  is  once  brought  to  argu- 
ment the  President  clearly  has  the  humane 
and  fair  side  of  this  contention. 

But  the  other  question  raised  is  a  question 
of  expediency  rather  than  of  principle.  If  a 
man  is  for  any  reason  objectionable  to  prac- 
tically all  the  persons  who  have  to  deal  with 
him  as  a  public  officer,  ought  he  to  be  made 
a  public  officer  ?  Ought  not  the  appointing 
[power  to  have  due  regard  for  the  public  senti- 
ment of  the  community  ?  Isthe  main  matter  in 
making  a  political  appointment  the  acceptable 

1  service  of  the  community  or  the  insistence  on 
a  humane  and  fair  principle  in  regard  to  race 
relations  ?  Or,  for  that  matter,  are  the  race 
relations  made  better  by  such  an  insistence, 
or  may  they  rather  not  be  made  worse  ? 
i 


The  Negro  is  now  practically  disfranchised 
in  the  South  and  made  as  unwelcome  in 
several  States  in  the  councils  of  one  political 
party  as  of  the  other.  From  his  point  of 
view  what  is  the  outlook  ?  If  the  Federal 
Administration  were  to  follow  the  Southern 
political  example  and  were  to  yield  to 
the  Southern  white  feeling,  such  an  attitude 
would  mean  that  the  Negro,  however  capable 
and  personally  worthy,  cannot  hope  for 
political  recognition  from  any  quarter  until 
by  the  general  development  of  the  race  and 
the  slow  work  of  time  a  humaner  and  more 
tolerant  public  opinion  prevails  among  the 
Southern  whites.  No  National  Administra- 
tion, certainly  no  Republican  Administration, 
can  take  such  a  position. 

There  is  no  more  pathetic  figure  in  modern 
life  than  the  educated  and  capable  Negro  of 
high  character.  He  has  the  white  man's 
civilization,  and  he  has  the  white  man's 
responsibilities  as  a  citizen;  but  he  may  not, 
in  the  dominant  Southern  opinion,  indulge 
in  the  white  man's  aspirations  nor  open  doors 
of  opportunity  that  to  the  white  man  are 
flung  wide.  The  National  Government  is  his 
only  political  hope. 


T 


THE  CURE  FOR  LABOR   TROUBLES 

HE  ease  with  which  industrial  disputes 
can  now  be  peacefully  adjusted  re- 
ceived its  annual  emphasis  at  the  conference 
of  the  Civic  Federation  early  in  December. 
True,  nothing  was  finally  proved,  but  the 
mere  concentration  of  a  roomful  of  representa- 
tive capitalists  and  labor-union  leaders  on 
the  varying  phases  of  a  single  problem  was 
bound  to  afford  illumination.  It  became 
clear,  for  example,  that  the  unions  are  com- 
mitted to  a  demand  for  the  eight -hour  day. 
Restriction  of  output  was  talked  of.  But  it 
took  a  meeting  of  this  sort  to  set  forth  the 
practicability  of  a  union's  foregoing  restric- 
tion in  exchange  for  the  eight-hour  day. 
Mr.  Marcus  M.  Marks,  President  of  the 
National  Association  of  Clothing  Manufac- 
turers, told  of  a  case  in  which  the  exchange 
had  been  made.  Compulsory  arbitration 
was  frowned  upon  by  every  one.  Incorpora- 
tion of  unions  could  get  no  serious  considera- 
tion; it  remains,  as  it  has  always  been,  an 
academic  theory.  Unanimously  the  members 
of  the  conference — none  more  strenuously 
than  Mr.  Gompers  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor — deprecated  strikes ;  and  at  the  last 


2936 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


meeting  of  the  conference  the  consensus  of 
opinion  became  crystallized  on  the  panacea 
for  labor  troubles.  In  cases  of  industrial 
disagreement,  it  was  felt,  both  sides  should 
discuss  the  points  at  issue  in  face-to-face 
sittings,  then  come  to  a  decision  either  by 
mutual  consent  or  by  arbitration,  and  then 
make  agreements  binding  the  parties  for  a 
definite  period.  Concrete  examples  were 
given  by  actual  parties  to  such  agreements 
to  show  their  complete  success. 

If  industrial  difficulties  are  ever  to  be 
solved  by  diplomacy  rather  than  by  war,  the 
result  will  come  only  through  such  frank  dis- 
cussion as  marked  this  conference.  The  value 
of  such  conferences,  however,  lies  in  the 
rapid-fire  of  questions  and  answers — as  in  the 
tilt  between  Archbishop  Ireland  and  President 
Gompers  regarding  non-union  men — and  not 
in  academic  papers.  If  future  conferences 
are  to  have  their  greatest  value — and  their 
value  is  great — there  should  be  more  cross- 
examination  and  fewer  lectures. 

HUMANE  CONDITIONS   OF  EMPLOYMENT 

PRESIDENT  ELIOT  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity pointed  out  with  instructive 
clearness,  in  a  recent  address  delivered  in 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  five  prime  con- 
ditions of  humane  employment;  and  they 
make  a  trustworthy  chart  to  sail  by  in  our 
thinking  over  this  whole  sea  of  troubles. 
These  conditions  are : 

(i)    A  rising  wage  for  efficient  work. 

(2)  Steady  emplojTnent  after  adequate  probation. 

(3)  Encouragement  for  the  making  of  a  perma- 
nent home. 

(4)  The  opportunity  to  serve  generously  and 
proudly  the  interest  with  which  the  laborer  is  con- 
nected: and 

(5)  A  pension  on  disability. 

Mr.  Eliot  declared  that  all  these  conditions 
of  humane  employment  have  been  realized  in 
Harvard  University.  A  college  professor  is 
a  hired  man — hired  generally  under  excep- 
tionally satisfactory  conditions.  Yet  it  may 
be  said  in  parenthesis  that  these  very  condi- 
tions present  a  somewhat  notorious  difficulty 
— the  difficulty  of  getting  rid  of  incompetent 
men  in  college  faculties.  It  is  a  difficulty, 
however,  that  is  not  peculiar  to  this  kind  of 
employment;  and  it  can  always  be  overcome 
by  vigorous  and  frank  administration. 

As  a  system — so  to  call  it — Mr.  Eliot's  out- 
line is  as  nearly  ideal  as  any  system  that  has 
been  reduced  to  practice.     He  is,  as  the  long- 


time president  of  our  largest  university,  an 
experienced  employer  of  skilled  labor;  and 
this  system  has  been  wrought  out  tmder  his 
administration. 

"These  five  conditions  of  humane  employ- 
ment, "  he  says,  "  I  believe  to  be  not  theoretical 
or  fanciful,  but  perfectly  capable  of  realiza- 
tion. I  venture  to  say  that  ten  years  ago  no 
large  American  industry  recognized  these 
principles  throughout  its  service.  That  is, 
no  large  American  industry  recognized  all  of 
them,  or  even  a  majority  of  them,  and  yet  all 
these  humane  conditions  of  employment  are 
founded  on  perfectly  well  known  and  moral 
qualities,  physical  habits,  normal  desires  of 
mankind.  Today  the  large  services  in  which 
these  principles  are  adopted  are  few  in  number 
in  our  country. " 

Most  of  these  conditions,  it  will  be  observed, 
are  not  directly  encouraged  by  most  labor- 
unions.  That  is  to  say,  the  organization  and 
the  methods  of  most  unions  do  not,  as  a  rule, 
encourage  indefinitely  continuous  service. 
So  long  as  a  man  may  be  commanded  to  quit 
his  job  because  of  a  wrong  done  by  an  employer 
of  whom  he  never  heard  to  an  employee  of 
whom  he  never  heard,  there  is  small  chance  of 
such  permanent  employment,  or  expectation 
of  it,  as  underlies  these  humane  conditions. 

There  is  needed,  therefore,  such  a  modi- 
fication of  labor-unions  as  will  enable 
employers  and  employees  to  establish  per- 
manent personal  relations.  Social  reformers 
who  have  the  ability  to  manage  men  and 
to  shape  organizations  and  institutions 
may  find  a  large  field  of  usefulness  in 
the  guidance  of  unions.  Many  of  them 
are  now  chiefly  fighting  organizations.  But 
this  is  only  the  first  step  in  their  development. 
What  is  the  next  step  and  the  next  ?  Here  is 
a  chance  for  constructive  work  of  a  very  high 
kind,  for  leadership  that  may  rise  to  the 
level  of  statesmanship. 

RAILROAD    PROSPERITY   AND   A   $43,000,000 
INCREASE  IN  WAGES. 

WITHIN  a  few  months  the  wages  of  rail- 
way employees  have  been  increased 
about  ten  per  cent,  on  roads  that  comprise 
about  three-fourths  of  the  mileage  of  the 
country.  Almost  every  important  system 
has  voluntarily  increased  the  pay  of  its  men 
except  those  who  receive  large  salaries.  Some 
made  the  increase  by  a  single  order,  as  the 
Pennsylvania  system  did;  others  by  a  more 


THE    HUMAN    ATOMS    OF    A    STEEL-BUILT    CriY 


2937 


gradual  method,  taking  one  department 
after  another.  This  increase  of  wages  is 
equivalent  to  about  one  and  three-quarter 
per  cent,  of  the  net  earnings  of  the  roads.  It 
will  cost  the  Pennsylvania  system,  for  ex- 
ample, nearly  $4,000,000  a  year ;  the  New  York 
Central  nearly  $3,000,000;  the  Burlington, 
the  Atchison  and  the  Southern  Pacific  each 
more  than  $2 ,000,000 ;  and  it  is  a  total  addition 
of  about  $43,000,000  a  year  to  wages. 

This  increase  was  made,  not  in  answer  to 
definite  demands  of  the  employees,  but  as  a 
far-sighted  and  just  method  of  fair-dealing 
and  of  forestalling  discontent.  Railroad 
employees  are,  as  a  rule,  among  the  best  paid 
men  in  the  ranks  of  labor.  They  have  the 
advantage,  too,  of  permanent  employment ; 
and  on  a  few  roads  there  is  a  pension  system. 
The  railroads,  in  fact,  come  nearer  to  carrying 
out  the  conditions  of  humane  employment 
laid  down  by  President  Eliot  than  any  other 
employers  of  large  numbers  of  men. 

The  railroad  companies  use  this  increase  of 
wages  as  an  occasion  to  increase  rates.  Thus 
the  public  will  pay  the  increase — properly 
enough,  provided  the  rates  are  not  increased 
unduly;  for  that  they  shall  remain  as  low  as 
possible  is  a  prime  condition  of  prosperity  and 
progress.  But  the  only  way  in  which  men 
who  work  for  wages  or  salaries  can  share  in 
the  general  prosperity  is  by  an  increase  of 
wages  or  salary;  for  the  cost  of  living  is 
increasing  rather  than  diminishing.  Farmers, 
merchants,  manufacturers — all  other  classes 
except  wage  earners — earn  more  by  an 
increase  of  business  even  when  the  price  of 
what  they  sell  does  not  rise.  Not  so  with  men 
on  salaries. 

But  the  great  railroads  have  been  prosper- 
ous enough  to  raise  wages  to  some  extent  at 
least,  even  without  increasing  their  rates 
appreciably.  Their  gross  earnings  were 
$540,000,000  more  in  1902  than  in  1892;  their 
net  income  was  $113,000,000  more;  and  they 
paid  $48,000,000  more  in  dividends.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  this  ten  per  cent,  increase  in 
wages  is  almost  as  great  as  the  increase  in 
dividends  paid  in  1902  over  those  paid  in  1892. 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  at  no  pre- 
ceding time  in  our  history  have  our  great 
railroad  systems  been  in  so  good  a  condition 
or  have  made  so  good  a  showing  as  now,  nor 
has  their  great  army  of  employees  fared  so 
well.  This  is  much  to  say  when  it  is  remem- 
bered how  enormous  these  great  interests  are, 


how  large  the  army  of  railroad  employees  is, 
and  how  intimately  the  service  touches  every 
part  of  the  population.  There  were,  for 
instance,  607,000,000  passengers  carried  by 
railroads  in  1902 — which  means  that,  on  an 
average,  every  man,  woman  and  child  rode 
about  eight  times  during  the  year. 

ECONOMIC  SERMONS   FROM  THE  PULPIT 

BISHOP  LAWRENCE,  of  the  Episcopal 
diocese  of  eastern  Massachusetts, 
wearied  perhaps  by  the  frequent  and  some- 
times unfortunate  use  of  the  coal  strike  in 
sermons,  maintained  in  a  recent  article  that 
the  preacher  as  a  citizen  has  the  right,  and  it 
may  be  his  duty,  to  talk  about  current  events ; 
but  that  in  the  pulpit  it  is  his  duty  to  preach 
the  gospel.  Yes,  and  the  pulpit  would  gain 
much  if  there  were  fewer  sermons  on  economic 
tendencies  and  social  and  political  events;  for 
the  gospel  has  these  advantages  over  such 
subjects — it  is  easier  to  preach,  it  is  easier  to 
listen  to,  it  is  safer  to  expound ;  and  it  is  more 
edifying. 

Yet  throughout  the  history  of  Christianity 
many  of  the  greatest  preachers  have  preached 
about  current  subjects.  They  have  fulmi- 
nated against  thrones;  they  have  rebuked 
social  crimes ;  they  have  denounced  entrenched 
wrong.  But  there  is  a  difference.  A  great 
preacher  may  do  what  a  little  preacher  cannot 
do;  and  most  of  the  contemporaneous  preach- 
ing on  "current  events,"  especially  on 
political  and  economic  subjects,  has  the 
sound  of  the  amateur  even  when  it  has  not  the 
sound  of  the  sentimentalist.  The  safest  rule 
for  all  preachers,  except  those  who  know  that 
they  are  great,  is  to  stick  to  the  gospel.  Even 
platitudes  are  preferable  to  economic  theories 
that  are  not  sound  and  to  political  discourses 
that  are  transcendental. 

THE  HUMAN  ATOMS  OF  A  STEEL-BUILT  CITY 

FEW  things  in  this  wonder-age  in  which 
we  live  are  more  astonishing  than 
the  passenger  traffic  in  New  York  City. 
When  the  elevated  railroads  were  built  in 
Manhattan  and  in  Brooklyn  the  prediction  of 
many  sensible  men  was  that  the  street-car 
travel  would  suffer  greatly.  But  the  street- 
car travel  increased  and  has  kept  on  increasing 
to  a  point  of  unbearable  discomfort  in  the 
busiest  hours.  The  increase  has  been  at  so 
rapid  a  rate  that  a  man  who  only  read  the 
statistics  would  never  guess  that  any  other 


2938 


THE    MARCH    OF   EVENTS 


means  of  travel  was  needed.  Yet  the  elevated 
trains  also  during  the  busy  hours  are  always 
so  crowded  as  to  provoke  wonder  both  at  the 
number  of  passengers  and  at  the  willingness 
of  thousands  of  men  and  women  to  stand  in 
packed  cars  (packed  as  sardines  are),  and  to 
go  and  come  swinging  to  straps.  One 
wonders  at  this  till  one  sees  the  still  greater 
rush  and  crush  at  the  Brooklyn  Bridge. 
There  is  no  other  such  spectacle  under  the 
wide  heavens — men  and  women  struggling 
not  for  seats  but  for  standing-room.  They 
literally  push  and  are  pushed,  more  densely 
crowded  than  cattle  on  cattle-boats,  to  and 
from  their  daily  work.  The  wonder  grows 
why  civilized  human  beings  wilt  submit  to 
such  an  experience  twice  every  working  day. 

Well,  street  cars,  ferries,  sidewalks,  cabs, 
elevated  roads,  and  the  Bridge — all  these  do 
not  accommodate  the  throng.  New  bridges 
are  building,  and  they,  too,  will  be  as  crowded 
as  the  old  one  almost  as  soon  as  they  are 
open.  The  great  underground  subway  now 
under  rapid  construction  will  become  the 
greatest  thoroughfare  on  the  globe.  Yet  it 
is  already  obvious  that  all  the  other  means  of 
travel  will  then  be  as  crowded  as  they  now 
are;  for  the  Interborough  Railroad  Company, 
which  will  operate  the  subway,  has  made 
a  perpetual  lease  of  the  elevated  roads  in 
Manhattan,  guaranteeing  to  pay  a  seven  per 
cent,  dividend  on  their  stock.  The  elevated 
roads  in  ^Manhattan  alone  carry  nearly 
200,000,000   passengers   a   year ! 

This  urban  travel  gives  a  hint  of  the  devel- 
opment of  the  great  office  buildings  down- 
town and  of  the  apartment  houses  uptown — 
of  the  working  and  living  in  high  structures. 
of  urban  groui;h  upward.  The  steel  building 
and  electricity  as  a  motive  power  are  fast 
changing  the  character  and  the  habits  of  the 
swarming  millions  in  New  York.  The  rapid 
transition  from  the  old  kind  of  city  to  the  new 
gives  the  social  philosopher  such  a  field  of 
study  as  was  never  before  presented — at  least, 
the  social  philosopher  who  is  not  a  part  of  it ; 
for  not  the  least  remarkable  thing  about  this 
change  is  the  apparent  unconsciousness  of  it 
on  the  part  of  the  people  who  are  pushed  and 
jammed  and  shot  up  and  down  and  who  live 
and  work  in  such  an  intimate  compression  of 
population  as  Chinamen  never  dreamed  of — 
many  of  them,  alas  !  at  the  same  time  in  such 
isolation  as  no  country  folk  except  shepherds 
ever  knew. 


THE  SMOTHERED  DWELLERS  IN  "FLATS" 

THE  man  died  in  Xew  York  the  other  day 
— a  Mr.  Kilpatrick — who  is  said  to 
have  built  the  first  "  flat,"  or  apartment  house. 
The  necessity  that  families  should  live  one 
above  another  was  inherent  in  the  growth  of 
the  modem  city,  and  it  is  not  just  to  hold  any 
individual  responsible  for  such  a  degradation 
of  urban  humanity.  It  was  bound  to  come; 
and,  if  one  man  had  not  had  the  ignominious 
distinction  of  first  building  such  a  dwelling, 
another  man  would  have  had  it.  But  it  was 
an  evil  era  that  was  then  begun. 

For,  although  it  has  been  only  fifty  years 
since  the  "  fiat  "  began  to  dwarf  the  dwellers  in 
cities,  it  has  already  so  distorted  the  character 
of  thousands  of  families  that  they  consider 
apartment  life  normal.  There  are  men  who 
have  so  far  fallen  from  nature  as  to  put  gas- 
logs  in  country  houses ;  and  nothing  but  death 
in  childhood  is  so  pathetic  as  this  revelation 
of  the  abnormal.  Now  a  certain  proportion 
of  unfortunate  mankind  will  perhaps  always 
have  to  live  in  sunless  cells  out  of  sight  of  all 
things  that  grow;  but  as  long  as  living  under 
such  conditions  is  frankly  regarded  as  a 
misfortune  of  poverty — as  life  in  the  slums — 
all  is  not  lost.  Tenement  dwellers  may  keep 
some  memory  of  green  fields  and  dream  of  the 
joy  of  stepping  on  the  unpaved  ground ;  there 
is  still  hope  of  normal  life  for  them.  But, 
when  men  and  women  pay  large  sums  of 
money  for  fashionable  "apartments"  and  by 
choice  live  under  conditions  that  dry  up  the 
sap  of  individuality,  a  hopeless  social  condi- 
tion follows .  Such  persons  regard  the  count^^' 
as  a  thing  that  they  have  discarded  except  for 
condescending  summer  uses.  Caged  life  has 
become  the  natural  life  to  them,  and  they 
have  forgotten  that  they  are  a  sort  of  zoo- 
logical specimen  rather  than  healthy  indi- 
viduals. 

Our  grandfathers  regarded  it  as  a  misfortune 
that  they  were  obliged  to  live  in  tunnels  for 
houses — that  is.  in  city  houses  built  in  blocks, 
which  could  have  sunlight  only  from  the  front 
and  the  rear.  They  could  not  foresee  the 
contentment  of  well-to-do  people  of  our  gen- 
eration with  the  still  greater  surrender  of  indi- 
vidual freedom  which  has  come  with  the 
"  fiat."  The  hived  and  smotheredmillions  that 
from  necessity  or  from  choice  know  only  a 
contracted  indoor  existence  and  have  become 
reconciled  to  it  or  even  content  with  it — these 
are  our  real  paupers,  whether  they  be  rich  or 


MR.    NAST'S    IMMORTAL    DONKEY,    ELEPHANT    AND    TIGER       2939 


I 


I 


poor.  It  is  not  easy  for  a  man  to  dwell  in  a 
"flat"  and  to  be  a  generous-natured  gentle- 
man, nor  can  a  natural  womanhood  flower 
out  of  reach  of  sunlight  and  the  soil.  The 
convenient  artificiality  of  apartment  life  is 
the  more  dangerous  the  more  comfortable  it 
is  made,  for  the  more  persons  it  then  seduces 
from  the  fundamental  virtue  of  a  natural 
individuality. 

MR.    REED 

IT  has  been  long  since  the  death  of 
any  public  man,  except  President 
McKinley,  -caused  keener  regret  than  the 
death  of  ex-Speaker  Thomas  B.  Reed. 
Although  he  had  not  been  in  public  life  for 
three  years,  he  was  called  "Mr.  Speaker" 
oftener  than  he  was  called  Mr.  Reed;  for 
it  was  as  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives that  he  impressed  his  strong  personality 
on  the  country.  The  act  by  which  he  will 
longest  be  remembered  was  his  revolutionary 
change  of  the  custom  of  the  House  whereby 
members  who  were  present  but  chose  not  to 
answer  to  a  yea-and-nay  roll-call  were  counted 
as  present.  By  this  ruling  an  end  was  put 
to  the  obstructive  tactics  of  the  minority, 
who,  by  simply  refusing  to  answer  the  roll- 
call,  had  prevented  a  quorum  from  appearing 
to  be  present.  For  this  revolutionary  change 
in  the  rules  of  the  House  he  was  denounced 
as  perhaps  no  other  public  man  has  been  in 
recent  years.  Yet  the  Democrats  subse- 
quently adopted  the  same  rule,  and  thus  one 
method  by  which  a  minority  used  to  thwart 
a  majority  in  the  House  is  gone  forever;  and 
its  going  was  a  great  gain.  It  will  be  by  this 
achievement  more  than  by  any  other  in  his 
public  life  that  Mr.  Reed  will  be  remembered. 
But  he  has  other  claims  to  remembrance,  for 
distinguished  service  on  the  floor  as  well  as  in 
the  chair. 

He  enlivened  the  public  life  of  his  period 
of  service  by  a  keener  wit  than  any  of  his 
contemporaries  had.  In  private  life,  too, 
this  made  him  attractive ;  but  it  was  a  quality 
that  probably  cost  him  a  general  popularity 
among  politicians.  During  his  long  service 
few  prominent  men  or  important  measures 
escaped  his  sharp  sallies ;  and  sometimes  they 
stung  and  stuck.  The  irresistible  impulse  to 
prick  a  humbug  doubtless  cost  him  many 
political  friends — such  friends,  at  least,  as 
a  man  finds  useful  when  he  becomes  a  candi- 
date for  a  presidential  nomination. 


But  il  was  not  .Mr.  Reed's  wit  only  that 
made  him  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the 
Republican  nomination  for  the  presidency; 
for  he  did  not  know  how  to  set  about  a  task 
of  this  sort.  He  had  to  a  remarkable  degree 
.he  quality  of  good  companionship  with  those 
whom  he  knew  and  really  cared  for,  but  not 
with  the  crowd.  He  was  at  once  too  shy  and 
too  critical  to  become  a  popular  idol.  Nor 
did  he  know  how  to  cultivate  the  masses  nor 
to  impress  himself  upon  them.  This  was  not 
all ;  he  did  not  know  the  masses  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  as  Mr.  McKinley,  for  instance, 
knew  them.  In  thought  and  temperament 
he  kept  too  close  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 
To  the  rank  and  file  of  the  voters  in  the 
middle  Western  States  he  was  merely  a  name, 
not  a  personality;  and,  as  they  saw  him,  he 
was  oftener  criticizing  policies  than  making 
them.  Indeed,  his  mind  was  critical  rather 
than  constructive.  He  retired  from  public 
life  because  he  could  not  approve  of  the  war 
with  Spain,  nor  of  the  Republican  policies 
that  grew  out  of  it.  Since  he  was  too  loyal 
to  his  party  to  forsake  it  (for  he  was  a  stanch 
partisan  always),  he  could  either  openly 
oppose  its  policy  and  try  to  shape  it  to  his 
liking  or  he  could  retire.  A  greater  man  in 
his  place  would  have  made  a  constructive 
effort  to  change  the  party  policy;  but  it 
suited  his  temperament  better  simply  to  retire. 

In    his    private    life,    after    he     became    a 

citizen  of  New  York,  he  held  all  his  old  friends 

and   made  new   ones  by  the    charm    of    his 

personality  and   by  his  inflexible   character. 

Mr.  J.  G.  Cannon  spoke  the  feeling  of  many 

men  when  he  said: 

"Thomas  B.  Reed,  the  greatest  in  intellect,  the 
broadest  in  understanding  and  the  most  courageous 
in  conviction  of  all  American  statesmen  I  have 
known." 

He  was  a  courageous,  able  and  stalwart 
man — attractive  but  not  constructive.  For 
this  reason  he  is  missed  as  keenly  as  any  man 
of  his  generation  would  be,  but  he  will  take  a 
less  important  place  in  our  political  history 
than  he  filled  in  his  lifetime. 

MR.  NAST'S  IMMORTAL   DONKEY,  ELEPHANT 
AND   TIGER 

THE  late  Mr.  Thomas  Nast,  who  recently 
died  at  Guayaquil,  Ecuador,  where  he 
was  Consul  General  of  the  United  States, 
added  three  symbolic  figures  to  our  political 
life  that  (so  far  as  men  now  living  can  see 
into  the  future)  give  promise  of  perpetual  use. 


2940 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


The  Democratic  donkey,  the  RepubHcan 
elephant  and  the  Tammany  tiger  seem 
likely  to  live  as  long  as  these  parties  exist. 
A  no  less  apt  cartoon  by  Mr.  Nast  represented 
Tweed  in  his  checked  suit  of  dollar  marks. 
This  followed  Tweed  relentlessly  to  his  cap- 
ture and  death.  In  the  active  days  of  his 
pencil  Mr.  Nast  did  many  other  clever  and 
effective  things.  But  the  three  great  party 
symbols,  the  donkey,  the  elephant  and  the 
tiger,  have  ever  since  remained  indispensa- 
ble to  us.  No  other  cartoonist  has  added  so 
much  to  the  permanent  vocabulary  (so  to  call 
it)  of  our  politics.  They  are  parallel  in  their 
finality  with  those  phrases  from  the  Farewell 
Address,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
the  Gettysburg  Address  that  have  become,  as  it 
were,  the  very  alphabet  of  our  political  thought 
and  speech.  Such  things  are  called,  for  short, 
works  of  genius.  The  many  clever  cartoonists 
since  Mr.  Nast's  active  days  have  probably 
created  nothing  so  fundamental  and  lasting. 


THE  DURBAR  AT  DELHI 

THERE  have  been  few  more  remarkable 
things  in  modern  life  than  the  durbar 
at  Delhi — the  celebration  in  India  of  King 
Edward's  coronation  on  a  scale  of  magnifi- 
cence that  the  coronation  itself  did  not 
approach,  if  an  Oriental  fete  may  be  compared 
with  an  Occidental  one.  The  incongruity  of 
the  elaborate  spectacle  is  emphasized  by  the 
American  birth  and  rearing  of  the  lady  who 
is  the  wife  of  the  viceroy  of  India  and  by 
the  presence,  of  many  American  spectators. 

The  political  significance  of  this  unparalleled 
display  of  Indian  wealth  and  splendor  and 
pomp  and  ceremony  by  the  Indian  princes 
(all  really  empty  of  power)  is  that  England's 
rule  over  them  is  made  easier  by  a  show  of 
power.  There  is  an  irony  in  this  that  is  at 
once  ludicrous  and  pathetic. 

Few  of  the  Indian  princes  have  a  real 
loyalty  to  Great  Britain.  If  you  scratch  a 
Hindu  you  find  an  enemy  of  Occidental  civili- 


%0^  BERMUDAS 

ATLANTIC      OCEAN 

.VnA55AU  ^  ^ 

ORUBA^^^  ^  "^^^  ^MARTINIQUE 
"^  <£5T.  LUCIA 


cD^ FORTIFIED  STATION 


A   MAP  SHOWING  THE  GEOGRAPHICAL    RELATION    OF    THE    WEST    INDIES    TO    THE    UNITED    STATES,   TO 
SOUTH  AMERICA   AND   TO   THE   ISTHMIAN   CANAL,   APROPOS  OF  THE  NAVAL   MANOEUVERS 


THE    INDIVIDUAL    RESPONSIBILITY    FUR    PANICS 


2941 


zation.  Yet  England's  rule  over  them,  after 
reckoning  in  all  the  evils  of  it,  has  been  and 
is  the  best  force  for  good  that  exists  in  these 
swarming  areas.  It  is  the  only  hope  of  the 
application  of  modern  forces  to  those  vast 
populations,  the  only  hope  of  sanitation,  of 
health,  even  of  food-supply.     The  future  of 


India  is  as  interesting  a  speculation  as  its 
past  is  an  interesting  study;  but  a  little  more 
than  a  hundred  years  of  active  English 
experience  is  not  enough  very  f)rofoundly 
to  affect  the  results  of  thousands  of  years 
of  over-crowded  inaction.  Such  a  task  must 
be  judged  by  century- results. 


THE  INDIVIDUAL  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR 
PANICS    AND    DEPRESSIONS 

(Thb  World's  Work  publishes  every  month  an  article  in  which  some  timely  and  vital  subject  of  the  financial  world 

is  taken  up] 


ALTHOUGH  the  new  year  finds  us 
still  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  excep- 
tional prosperity  which  has  made 
the  last  five  years  the  most  remarkable  period 
in  our  history,  and  although  nobody  sees  any 
peril  definite  enough  to  cause  immediate 
alarm,  yet  there  is  a  very  general  feeling  that 
a  stringency  in  the  money  market,  stagnation 
in  trade  and  perhaps  a  panic  must  sooner  or 
later  come,  and  that  perhaps  they  will  come 
at  an  early  time.  Is  there  good  reason  for 
such  a  fear  ? 

One  argument  for  fear  may  be  safely  dis- 
missed— the  argument  that,  because  periods 
of  depression  have  come  at  more  or  less 
regular  intervals,  they  are  inevitable — that, 
do  what  we  will,  we  cannot  avert  them.  To 
believe  that  the  commercial  world  is  bound 
to  become  depressed  at  regular  intervals, 
with  or  without  cause,  is  to  harbor  a  super- 
stition. 

Yet  every  period  of  prosperity  does  bring 
temptations  to  the  use  of  reckless  methods, 
and  reckless  methods  w411  bring  disaster  if 
enough  men  indulge  in  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  panic  or  the  recurrence  of  any  long 
period  of  depression  is  for  this  very  reason 
preventable ;  for  there  is  no  occult  or  necessary 
reason  why  they  should  come.  The  whole 
thing  is  a  matter  of  conduct — a  matter  of 
the  personal  conduct  of  men  who  carry  on 
the  activities  of  the  business  w^orld.  The 
question  is  whether  the  business  world  is  yet 
sufficiently  intelligent  and  self-restrained  and 
can  work  sufficiently  in  union  to  prevent  the 
coming  of  depression. 

Serious  disasters  have  been  caused  chieflv 


by  mortgaging  future  profits  or  values.  The 
clearest  example  of  panics  of  this  sort  is  given 
by  those  that  have  followed  land  speculations. 
In  a  given  community  land  values  rise, 
whether  for  a  legitimate  or  a  speculative 
reason.  If  they  keep  going  up  men  make 
big  profits.  The  bigger  the  profits  and  the 
more  men  that  make  them,  the  more  easily 
the  insidious  craze  spreads.  Presently  every- 
body is  speculating  in  land.  There  never 
was  a  better  example  of  crowd-craziness  or 
of  the  loss  of  judgment  by  whole  communi- 
ties than  the  great  land  "booms."  Sensible 
men  have  forgotten  real  values  in  the  excite- 
ment; they  have  forgotten  the  legitimate 
causes  of  a  rise  in  value.  They  have  lost  a 
sense  of  proportion.  In  these  crazes  the  land 
itself  has  sometimes  dropped  clean  out  of 
mind.  Lots  that  never  existed  have  been 
bought  and  sold  and  sold  and  bought  at 
continually  increasing  prices — prices  that 
bore  no  relation  to  values,  but  that  w-ere 
determined  wholly  by  the  mood  of  the  specu- 
lators. Most  communities  have  at  some 
time  suITered  more  or  less -from  such  a  craze; 
and  many  times  in  our  history  large  numbers 
of  people  over  wide  areas  have  run  the  course 
of  this  madness. 

Such  an  extreme  and  familiar  example  of 
anticipating  real  or  imaginary  future  values 
or  profits  has  been  cited  to  show  how  con- 
tagious any  movement  of  this  kind  may 
become,  and  how  under  the  excitement  of  it 
sensible  men  lose  their  heads.  Other  ways 
of  anticipating  future  profits  and  values  are 
far  less  direct  and  more  insidious;  and  they 
are  less  easily  recognized. 


2942 


THE    INDIVIDUAL    RESPONSIBILITY    FOR    PANICS 


Take,  for  example,  the  organization  of  a 
prosperous  industry.  Suppose  that  there  are 
ten  competing  factories,  each  earning  a  net 
profit  of  fifteen  per  cent.  Seven  and  a 
half  per  cent,  is,  of  course,  a  good  profit  if  it 
can  be  continuously  maintained.  The  ten 
factories  are  consoHdated  under  one  financial 
management.  If  its  securities — in  stock  or 
bonds — can  be  sold  on  a  "guarantee"  or  an 
expectation  of  seven  and  a  half  per  cent., 
they  are  marketed.  The  promoters,  the 
underwriters — everybody  on  the  "inside"  of 
the  consolidation — receives  some  of  this 
watered  stock.  Among  the  owners  of  some 
of  the  factories  are  men  who  prefer  cash  to 
securities.  Securities  are,  therefore,  sold  to 
the  public  for  this  reason  as  well  as  for  other 
reasons. 

Here  we  have  a  dangerous  situation.  An 
adverse  change  in  the  trade  of  this  particular 
product — which  may  come  from  any  one  of  a 
dozen  or  a  hundred  causes — may  lessen  the 
profits.  But  we  are  anticipating  the  course 
of  events. 

In  our  present  period  of  activity  and  of 
large  profits  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  com- 
binations such  as  the  foregoing  have  been 
made,  some  of  them  of  enormous  magnitude. 
Not  all  have  been  "watered"  in  direct  and 
open  ways,  but  most  of  them  have  in  some 
way  mortgaged  the  future.  They  proceed 
upon  the  assumption  that  large  profits  are  to 
continue  indefinitely.  The  same  tendency, 
of  course,  has  shown  itself  in  many  other  forms 
besides  industrial  consolidations.  The  point 
is  that  in  such  a  time  as  this  there  is  an 
inevitable  contagion  to  trade  on  future 
prosperity. 

What  happens  next  ?  The  men  who  have 
released  their  money  from  the  organized 
or  consolidated  factories  and  shops  invest  it 
in  other  enterprises.  In  other  words,  they 
"fix"  it — make  it  fast.  It  ceases  to  be 
"liquid"  capital.  It  takes  forms  that  could 
not  be  turned  into  cash  quickly.  Then  those 
who  hold  the  stocks  and  bonds  of  industrial 
organizations  use  them  as  collateral  for  loans 
to  carry  on  business  or  speculation  or  pleasure, 
as  they  choose.  Most  of  this  borrowed  money 
also  goes  into  "fixed"  investments  in  a  pros- 
perous time. 

In  this  way  the  property  of  the  ten  factories 
is  mortgaged ;  and  the  mortgagees  (the 
borrowers  on  the  combination's  securities) 
invest  the  money  mainly  in  "  fixed"  ways. 


Suppose  the  real  value  of  these  ten  factories 
be  Sioo,ooo  each.  Each  could  be  mortgaged 
for,  let  us  say,  $60,000  at  the  utmost.  But 
men  do  not  usually  mortgage  their  factories 
except  under  the  severest  pressure  so  long 
as  they  remain  "unconsolidated."  But  as 
soon  as  the  consolidation  of  these  ten  fac- 
tories takes  place,  they  are  valued  at  (say) 
82,000,000  instead  of  $1,000,000.  If  thev 
pay  seven  and  a  half  per  cent,  on  $2,000,000 
for  a  reasonable  period  their  stock  and  bonds 
in  good  time  will  approach  par  in  the  market . 
They  can  be  used  as  collateral  for  the  bor- 
rowing of  sixty  per  cent,  of  $2,000,000.  or 
Sr. 200, 000.  In  other  words,  these  ten  fac- 
tories, which  are  really  worth  $1, coo, 000  and 
would  probably  never  be  mortgaged  at  all 
so  long  as  they  remained  separate  and  inde- 
pendent, are  likely  to  be  used,  after  they  are 
consolidated,  as  collateral  for  more  than 
$1,000,000  of  loans.  Incorporation,  and 
especially  consolidation,  almost  always  lead 
to  the  taking  of  a  mortgage  on  the  future. 

When  this  process  has  been  extended  far 
enough,  and  enough  productive  enterprises 
become  thus  mortgaged,  a  more  or  less  danger- 
ous state  of  things  follows.  The  lessening  of 
profits — not  to  speak  of  the  failure  of  enter- 
prises— may  at  any  time  cause  a  fall  in  these 
securities.  A  hundred  and  one  things  may 
cause  a  disturbance.  Whenever  such  a  dis- 
turbance comes,  the  banks  and  other  lenders 
on  such  collateral  must  call  their  loans — or 
run  the  risk  of  loss.  Then  follows  the  same 
thing  that  follows  when  a  land  "boom" 
reaches  its  height.  Distrust  begins,  and  a 
collapse  or  a  panic  or  at  least  a  "stringency" 
follows.  Whatever  artificial  structure  of 
value  has  been  erected  topples.  Nor  is  this 
the  worst;  real  values  also  fall. 

The  more  or  less  regular  recurrence  of 
panics,  while  not  inevitable  or  mysterious, 
is  thus  caused  by  the  tendency  in  human 
nature  to  mortgage  the  future,  which  becomes 
too  strong  to  be  resisted  in  times  of  unusual 
prosperity.  An  artificial  structure  is  then 
likely  to  be  built  higher  and  higher  till  it 
collapse.  But,  given  a  sound  currency  and 
crops  of  normal  or  even  approximately 
normal  abundance,  there  is  no  other  reason 
why  serious  depressions  and  panics  should  be 
recurrent.  The  whole  matter  is  one  of 
prudent  conduct  and  of  good  business  fore- 
sight— this,  and  nothing  more. 

It   would  be   an  immense  gain  if.   as  the 


THE    INDIVIDUAL    RESPONSIBILITY    FOR    PANICS 


2943 


New  Year  begins  with  our  prosperity  still 
running  high,  every  man  of  affairs  would  bring 
the  matter  home  to  himself,  would  examine 
carefully  to  see  how  far  he  has  built  on  an 
artificial  or  possibly  dangerous  basis,  how 
far  he  has  a  part  in  the  gigantic  structure  of 
credit  and  confidence  that  has  been  reared 
these  five  or  six  years  and  whether  it  be 
sound  as  far  as  he  can  afifect  it.  Individual 
care  and  foresight  by  a  large  enough  number 
of  men  of  the  right  kind  can  prevent  the 
recurrence  of  serious  depression ;  and  there  is 
no  good  reason  why  we  should  have  a  panic 
again  in  the  United  States  for  as  long  a  period 
as  men  can  foresee. 

It  is  a  magnificent  and  impressive  thing — 
this  vast  structure  of  confidence  and  credit 
that  now  exists  in  our  world  of  finance  and 
commerce.  Almost  all  productive  industry 
is  making  large  earnings.  There  never  were 
such  large  dividend  payments  before.  So 
nearly  universal  is  practical  success  that  every 
man  and  every  corporation  that  has  not  been 
convicted  of  dishonesty  has  better  credit  than 
ever  before. 

But  the  basis  of  it  all  is  not  real  values, 
great  as  real  values  are.  The  basis  of  it  is 
credit,  is  confidence.  If  this  be  shaken  to 
the  slightest  extent  trouble  will  follow.  The 
continuance  of  prosperity,  then,  depends  on 
the  individual  character  of  every  man  of 
financial  or  commercial  importance.  If  every 
such  man  keep  his  credit  within  safe  distance 
of  his  real  values  we  shall  go  on  indefinitely 
as  a  prosperous  people,  and  prove  by  a  happy 
experience  that  panics  are  not  bound  to  come. 

Such  is  the  obvious  general  principle  of 
danger,  of  temptation  and  of  prevention. 

Let  us  see  in  a  general  way  if  facts  now 
warrant  fear. 

As  regards  the  solidity  of  our  actual  recent 
growth  in  wealth  there  is  no  doubt.  Nothing 
like  it  was  ever  before  seen  in  the  world.  The 
output  of  iron  and  steel,  for  example,  increased 
eight  million  tons  during  the  last  five  years — 
as  much  as  it  gained  in  the  preceding  quarter 
of  a  century.  The  enormous  increase  in 
railroad  traffic  and  earnings  and  of  dividend 
payments  every  half-year,  the  growth  of  our 
export  trade  in  manufactures — all  these 
substantial  facts  have  been  presented  and 
(explained  over  and  over  again  in  this  maga- 


zine. It  is  a  substantial  basis  of  prosperity. 
Most  of  this  phenomenal  growth  is  solid  and 
most  of  it  is  permanent.  More  than  that,  it 
will  go  on.  Our  commercial  "invasion"  of 
other  countries  has  only  begun,  if  we  are  wise. 
Nor  are  the  opportunities  of  expanding 
domestic  trade  by  any  means  all  used.  We 
have  created  real  values. 

As  regards  the  danger — we  have  built  up 
speculative  values  also,  and  we  are  using 
money  faster  than  we  are  making  it — at  least 
in  the  prodigious  development  of  industrial 
enterprises.  We  are  mortgaging  those  that 
we  have  in  order  to  build  others.  The  whole 
question  is  whether  we  are  doing  this  at  too 
rapid  a  rate.  The  enormous  increase  of 
bank  loans  and  discounts  tells  the  story. 

Now  as  to  prevention — the  general  appre- 
hension of  danger  is  perhaps  the  best  pre- 
ventive of  disaster,  if  it  lead  to  conservative 
action  soon  enough.  There  are  many  evi- 
dences that  such  conservative  action  is  being 
taken  in  time.  The  banks  are  gradually 
lessening  their  loans.  They  are  lending 
smaller  sums  on  those  industrial  securities 
that  are  known  to  be  watered.  Another 
very  strong  conservative  force  is  the  ever 
increasing  unification  of  the  commercial  and 
especially  the  financial  world.  When  one 
important  institution  encounters  danger,  the 
others  quickly  come  to  the  rescue,  so  that  no 
panic  may  ensue.  This  unification  of  interest 
and  action  is  becoming  in  effect  an  insurance 
against  fright.  It  supplies  the  one  thing 
needed  to  prevent  disaster  from  spreading 
by  sheer  contagion  from  cases  of  merely  per- 
sonal mismanagement  or  misfortune. 

But  the  greatest  preventive  force  of  all  is 
individual — the  extent  or  degree  to  which 
every  man  of  affairs  regards  the  financial  and 
commercial  community  as  a  thing  in  his  own 
keeping,  and  looks  upon  himself  as  personally 
responsible  for  so  much  of  it  as  he  touches  or 
can  affect.     It  is  at  last  a  matter  of  character. 

The  time  will  come,  and  surely  we  ought 
already  to  have  reached  such  a  stage  of 
commercial  civilization,  when  every  man 
will  have  a  feeling  of  responsibility  to  the 
business  community — will  have  a  commercial 
conscience  which  will  forbid  his  doing  danger 
to  the  great  fabric  of  credit  upon  which  the 
modern  commercial  world  rests. 


FRIEDRICH    ALFRED    KRUPP 


THE  funeral  procession  of  the  great 
German  ironmaster,  Krupp,  the 
other  day  wound  out  of  a  small, 
dingy,  smoke-stained  cottage  at  Essen.  The 
Emperor  with  his  suite  followed  bareheaded 
among  the  chief  mourners.  Many  of  the 
most  noted  men  of  the  empire  were  there. 
The  man  they  bore  to  his  last  rest  was  the 
third  head  of  the  firm  of  Friedrich  Krupp, 
and  the  small  cottage  whence  the  long  and 
brilliant  train  of  sorrowers  started  was  the 
humble  cradle  of  this  world -renowned  house. 

Nearly  a  century  ago — in  1810 — the  firm 
was  founded  with  very  small  capital,  during 
the  dreariest  days  of  Germany's  political 
debasement,  when  Napoleon's  eagles  flew 
wide  and  unhindered.  In  this  little  frame 
building,  with  barely  space  enough  for  him 
and  his  large  family,  the  founder  of  the  firm 
in  1826  died  of  a  broken  heart,  at  the  early 
age  of  thirty-nine,  leaving  his  business  affairs 
in  an  embarrassed  condition.  But  his  eldest 
son,  Alfred,  a  precocious  boy  endowed  with 
indomitable  energy,  with  the  consent  of  his 
mother  became  at  once  the  active  head  of  the 
firm.  He  was  then  just  fourteen.  In  1873 
Alfred  Krupp,  having  achieved  meanwhile  a 
measure  of  business  success  such  as  had  never 
before  fallen  to  any  man  in  Germany,  affixed 
a  small  and  modestly  worded  tablet  to  the 
door  of  this  low-eaved  cottage,  and  declared 
that  it  should  stand  as  a  memento  of  his 
family's  humble  origin  and  as  a  warning  to 
his  descendants'  pride. 

In  1887  Alfred  Krupp  died.  He  was  a 
bom  leader  of  men,  and  with  matchless  pluck, 
strong  common  sense,  thorough  and  practical 
acquaintance  with  the  manufacture  of  steel 
and  iron  in  all  branches,  he  coupled  a  wonder- 
ful resourcefulness  and  a  combative  and 
domineering  spirit.  He  left  his  son,  Friedrich 
Alfred,  the  sole  owner  of  the  huge  enterprise, 
which  even  then  was  composed  of  many  and 
diverse  branches. 

Friedrich  Alfred  Krupp,  the  third  head  of 
the  firm,  who  recently  died,  was  bom  on 
February  17,  1854,  and  he  was  a  man  of 
entirely  different  fiber. 

There  was  nothing  aggressive  in  his  nature. 
On  the  contrarv,  he  was  of  a  mild  and  amiable 


disposition.  He  disliked  publicity  and  the 
bustle  and  clamor  of  public  life.  He  left  an 
estate  valued  at  $150,000,000,  and  enjoyed 
the  largest  income  in  Germany.  Wealth  and 
the  power  that  great  wealth  brings  were  at 
his  command.  At  his  palatial  estate,  the 
Villa  Hugel,  near  Essen,  he  dispensed  on 
many  occasions  more  than  royal  hospitality, 
and  he  associated  with  monarchs  on  terms 
of  intimacy.  Yet  he  was  never  a  happy  man, 
and  his  career,  which  was  determined  by  an 
inheritance  whose  responsibilities  he  could 
not  shirk,  was  not  the  career  that  he  would 
have  chosen  if  he  had  been  free  to  choose. 
The  Emperor  of  Germany  was  his  intimate 
friend,  and  to  him  he  once  said:  "This  big 
fortune  has  been  a  curse  to  me.  If  I  had  not 
had  it  my  predilections  would  have  been 
for  art  and  literature.  " 

He  had  great  natural  talent  and  a  sound 
and  well-trained  taste.  He  was  a  generous 
but  judicious  patron  of  art.  His  admirable 
collection  of  paintings  in  Villa  Hugel,  which 
comprises  none  but  masterpieces,  and  his  fine 
aggregation  of  objets  de  vertii,  attest  this. 
During  conversation  he  would  often  dwell 
regretfully  on  the  fact  that  the  responsibilities 
of  his  position  left  him  no  choice  in  life; 
he  cordially  disliked  pomp  and  circumstance, 
affectation  and  insincerity.  He  married  a 
lady  of  rank,  Margaret  Baroness  von  Ende, 
and  the  match  was  a  love  match.  He,  like 
his  father  before  him,  scorned  all  titles  and 
distinctions,  except  those  that  came  to  him 
in  the  way  of  business.  He  preferred  to 
remain  plain  Herr  Krupp.  He  entertained 
his  friend,  the  Kaiser,  many  times  and  (just 
to  name  a  few  others)  the  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph  of  Austria,  King  Edward  VII.  when 
he  was  Prince  of  Wales,  King  Carlos  of 
Portugal  and  King  Leopold  of  Belgium;  but 
his  manner  toward  them  was  never  tinged 
with  that  obsequiousness  to  which  monarchs 
are  accustomed.  With  them,  as  with  his 
workmen,  he.  was  always  unaffected  and 
unassuming. 

He  was  a  man  of  fine  feelings,  of  a  lofty 
nature  and  of  thorough  and  wide  culture. 
His  education  had  been  most  comprehensive. 
He  went  through  the  usual  eight  years'  course 


FRIEDRICH    ALFRED    KRUPP 


2945 


at  the  public  "gymnasium  "  (or  lower  college) 
in  Essen,  then  studied  at  several  of  the  best 
German  universities,  and  was  afterward 
appointed  Commcrcicnrath  (Counselor  of 
Commerce),  later  on  Wirklidicr  Gchcimcr 
Rath  (or  Privy  Counselor  of  the  Crown),  and 
was  made  a  member  of  the  Prussian  Staatsrath 
(Council  of  State).  In  1893  he  was  elected 
to  the  Reichstag,  and  was  likewise  elected 
to  the  Prussian  Diet. 

He  was  a  bitter  foe  of  Socialism.  During 
one  of  his  few  Reichstag  speeches  he  fiercely 
attacked  that  party,  saying  among  other 
things:  "It  is  the  business  of  the  Socialists 
to  stir  up  strife  between  employers  and 
employees — right  or  wrong,  with  or  without 
reason.  The  Socialist  leaders  and  agitators 
hate  no  one  so  much  as  the  large  employer 
who  tries,  so  far  as  in  him  lies,  to  be  just, 
kind  and  sympathetic  to  his  men,  for  that 
robs  their  arguments  of  power  and  relegates 
them  where  they  belong — to  oblivion.  "  The 
Socialists  never  forgave  him  this.  Indeed, 
there  was  war  to  the  knife  between  him  and 
them  from  the  time  he  succeeded  his  father, 
and  he  would  tolerate  no  Socialists,  especially 
no  Socialist  agitation  or  literature,  in  his  wide 
domain. 

He  took  a  deep  and  steady  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  his  employees,  high  and  low  alike; 
and,  though  he  did  not  very  often  meet  them 
personally,  through  his  counselors  and  chiefs 
of  departments  he  kept  himself  always  accu- 
rately and  closely  informed  abouL  every 
detail  that  entered  into  the  life  of  even  the 
humblest  of  them.  The  unbroken  chain  of 
benefits  with  which  he  loaded  his  vast  army 
of  men — benefits  running  into  many  millions 
and  comprising  everything  that  thoughtful 
and  wisely  directed  kindness  could  suggest — 
are  uncontestable  proof  of  this.  He  went, 
in  fact,  much  further  than  his  father  ever  did. 
To  mention  just  one  particular,  he  has  made 
it  possible  for  his  employees  to  build  and  own 
comfortable  homes  of  their  own,  the  number 
of  such  houses  (in  every  instance  including 
land  for  gardens  and  fruit  trees)  amounting 
at  present  to  several  thousand  in  Essen  alone. 

Friedrich  Alfred  Krupp  possessed  the  great 
gift  of  choosing  able  men  for  his  assistants, 
and  of  not  interfering  with  them  except  in 
case  of  necessity.  Of  the  most  competent 
and  original-minded  of  them  he  formed  his 
"cabinet."  This  Board  of  Directors  num- 
bered fourteen  members  at  the  time  of  his 


death,  of  which  twelve  are  in  Essen  and  one 
each  is  in  Magdeburg  and  Kiel.  He  made  it 
the  interest  of  these  able  men  to  serve  him 
well,  for,  like  Mr.  Carnegie,  he  paid  them  not 
only  large  and  increasing  salaries,  but  admit- 
ted them  to  a  share  of  the  profits  in  those 
particular  enterprises  over  which  they  exerted 
control.  It  was  largely  owing  to  this  far- 
sighted  and  shrewd  policy  that  the  firm  pros- 
pered after  1887  at  an  even  more  rapid  rate 
than  during  his  father's  long  management. 
Within  the  fifteen  years  of  Friedrich  Krupp 's 
control  the  business  of  the  firm  was  more 
than  doubled,  its  capacity  was  trebled,  its 
enterprises  were  multiplied,  and  its  profits 
accumulated  so  that  the  total  property  now 
owned  by  the  firm  of  Friedrich  Krupp  is 
valued  at  twice  as  much  as  at  his  father's 
death.  More  than  150,000  persons  are  de- 
pendent upon  the  Krupp  enterprises  for 
their  bread,  and  of  these  43,083  are  men. 
Since  the  father's  death  the  son  introduced 
smokeless  powder,  and  ordnance  for  the  same ; 
began  the  manufacture  of  armor-plate  (now 
one  of  the  most  important  branches  of  the 
firm's  work);  he  purchased  the  gigantic 
Gruson  Works  near  Magdeburg,  the  specialty 
of  which  is  the  manufacture  of  turrets; 
he  purchased  and  immensely  enlarged  the 
Germania  Shipyards  in  Kiel  and  elsewhere; 
and  he  made  practicable  a  number  of  the  most 
important  inventions  in  the  making  of  steel 
tools,  implements,  ships,  guns,  etc. 

W.  Whit  well.  President  of  the  English 
Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  in  conferring  the 
golden  Bessemer  medal  this  year  upon 
Friedrich  Alfred  Krupp,  paid  a  glowing 
tribute  to  his  skill  and  far-sighted  wisdom 
as  shown  in  the  singularly  successful  man- 
agement of  the  works. 

Without  being  an  enthusiast  as  a  manu- 
facturer, as  his  father  had  been,  the  son's 
wider  horizon  had  doubtless  much  to  do  with 
the  phenomenal  growth  of  the  firm  under  his 
leadership.  During  a  visit  paid  the  Essen 
Works  a  number  of  years  ago,  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  a  conversation  with  him  in  which 
he  spoke  about  the  industrial  development 
of  the  United  States  in  a  manner  which 
showed  him  little  less  than  a  prophet.  His 
remarks  then  came  particularly  true  as 
regards  that  branch  of  trade  with  which  the 
great  ironmaster  was  most  familiar,  viz..  the 
production  and  utilization  of  iron  and  steel. 
And  a  year  before,  at  the  Chicago  World's 


2946 


MODERN    METHODS    OF    SAVING    SHIPS 


Fair,  Herr  Krupp  had  already  proved  by 
the  quality,  size  and  arrangement  of  his 
special  exhibit  what  an  immense  importance 
he  attached  to  this  market  and  its  coming 
competition. 

He  had  some  peculiarities.  For  one  thing, 
he  hated  to  be  spoken  of  as  the  "  Gun  King.  " 
Small  wonder,  for  whatever  the  firm  may  have 
been  in  his  father's  time,  it  now  owns  a  series 
of  great  enterprises  of  which  more  than 
seventy  per  cent,  of  the  total  values  produced 
are  other  things  than  guns  and  ammunition — 
things  like  railroad  and  ship  implements  that 
work  for  peaceful  ends.  He  was  a  foe  to  war. 
a  thorough  man  of  peace.  He  led  a  spotless 
and  tender  family  life,  and  was  a  most  devoted 
and  indulgent  husband  and  father.  He 
leaves  no  sons,  but  two  daughters,  Barbara 
and  Bertha,  survive  him.  The  management 
of  the  firm  wnll  devolve  upon  his  nephew,  who 
has  been  verv  active  in  it  for  a  number  of 


years.  In  demeanor  he  was  singularlv 
gentle,  almost  shy,  and  this  was  probably,  at 
least  in  part,  due  to  the  fact  that  he  never 
enjoyed  robust  health.  His  digestion  was 
weak,  and  he  was  debarred  from  most  of  the 
pleasures  of  the  table.  At  the  grand  banquets 
he  used  to  give  he  contented  himself  with 
Apollinaris  water,  and  he  rarely  was  allowed 
a  cigar  or  cigarette  by  his  physician.  For 
several  years  past,  too,  he  had  been  under 
constant  medical  treatment  because  of  a 
nerv^ous  depression.  This,  with  some  organic 
troubles  that  came  to  torment  him,  made  the 
last  five  or  six  years  of  his  life  a  burden  rather 
than  a  pleasure.  His  failing  health  was 
generally  understood  and  discussed  in  Essen 
for  years ;  but  it  is  probable  that  but  for  the 
savage  attack  upon  him  by  the  Socialist  press 
his  life  would  have  been  prolonged.  He  was 
one  of  the  greatest  captains  of  industry  that 
modem  conditions  have  produced. 


MODERN    METHODS    OF    SAVING    SHIPS 

HOW  NEW  INVENTIONS  HAVE  SIMPLIFIED  AND  MADE 
SUCCESSFUL  MANY  A  WRECKING  OPERATION  —  OLD 
METHODS  CONTRASTED  WITH  THE  NEW  —  STRIKING 
STORIES    OF    WRECKS— HOW    THE    SHIPS    WERE    SAVED 

BY 

MORGAN    ROBERTSON 

(.M^THOR    OF    "masters   OF    MEN,"    ETC.) 


A  BRIGHT  lantern,  elevated  above  the 
water  at  the  end  of  a  long  pole, 
and  given  a  slow  right  and  left 
movement  across  the  wind,  would  look  on 
a  dark  night  very  much  like  the  riding 
light  of  a  craft  rolling  at  anchor;  and  strange 
vessels,  seeking  port  and  good  holding  ground, 
would  head  toward  the  light.  When  they 
struck  the  bottom  and  became,  under  the 
law  of  custom  and  precedent,  "  wrecked," 
they  became  the  perquisites  of  the  discoverers 
— always  the  men  that  manipulated  the 
lantern — stout-hearted,  strong-limbed  fellows, 
able  to  enforce  their  rights  against  the  protests 
of  misguided  mariners. 

That  was  old-time  wrecking.  Today  it  is 
a  business  that  requires  integrity  and  ability, 
big    central    offices    with    long-distance   tele- 


phones, big  tugs  and  towlines,  and  a  complete 
equipment  of  diving  apparatus,  pumps, 
pontoons  and  derricks,  with  a  force  of  men 
trained  for  3'ears  in  this  peculiar  work. 

On  the  Florida  Reef,  it  is  true,  every  fisher- 
man, sponger,  or  beachcomber — "conches," 
they  are  called — who  owns  or  can  lease  a 
boat  of  any  size,  takes  out  a  wrecker's 
license.  Let  a  vessel  but  strike  a  reef  and 
up  will  come  the  wreckers  by  the  dozen  to 
wait  in  a  circle,  like  vultures,  while  the  anxious 
officers  and  men  strive.  Not  a  conch  among 
them  can  be  prevailed  upon  to  work,  even  at 
the  highest  wage.  When  hope  is  given  up — 
when,  with  a  gale  coming  on,  the  sore-hearted 
captain  decides  to  abandon,  and  save  the  lives 
of  his  crew,  no  sooner  does  his  boat  leave  the 
side  than  there  is  a  rush  of  the  wreckers;  and 


MODERN    MK'IIIODS    OI-'    SAVING    SIIII'S 


!947 


THE   WRKCK    iiF    THl,    BLAIRMORE 
Pushed  into  shallow  water  after  coming  to  the  surface  in  San  Francisco  Harbor 


the  first  one  aboard  has  the  legal  right  to 
salve  the  ship  and  cargo. 

If  these  simple-minded  people  would  com- 
bine instead  of  competing,  many  a  ship 
and  cargo  could  be  saved  to  the  owners  or 
underwriters  and  their  ultimate  reward  would 
be  heavier;  for  the  "chance  of  loot"  is  little 
compared  with  the  certainty  of  salvage.  So 
certain  and  so  generous  is  this  salvage  that 
wreckers  of  larger  growth  and  knowledge  of 
law — the  wrecking  companies  of  the  sea- 
ports— on  learning  that  a  ship  is  in  trouble 
will  rush  their  tugs  and  equipment  to  the  spot, 
and  labor,  often  against  the  wishes  of  the 
ship's  officers,  who  may  think  they  need  no 
help.  But  a  bargain  is  made  if  possible  for 
a  sum  greater  than  would  be  the  award  of 
the  courts,  and  this,  if  contested  later,  need 
only  give  way  to  the  always  certain  salvage. 
The  wrecking  companies  also  respect  the 
unwritten  law  of  the  craft,  and  the  first  tug 
to  get  a  line  to  a  stranded  ship,  or  an  anchor 
down  near  a  sunken  craft,  has  first  rights. 

Wrecking  has  two  distinct  phases — the 
pulling  of  stranded  craft  from  the  beach 
and  the  raising  of  sunken  craft  from  the 
bottom.  Another  and  new  method,  the 
salving  of  cargoes  with  submarine  boats,  is 
not  generally  used,  though  a  modest  man 
named  Simon  Lake,  with  a  genius  for  keeping 
out  of  print  and  a  very  practical  submarine 
boat  of  his  own  invention,  has  been  nosing 
around    under  water  for  the   last   three    or 


four  years  and  getting  rich  on  his  findings. 
Wrecking  has  to  do  with  the  reclaiming  of 
wrecks,  not  of  cargoes. 

When  a  ship  goes  ashore  she  lies  broadside 
on  and  punches  holes  in  herself  or  strains  her 
planking,  so  as  to  fill  with  water  up  to  the 
outside  level.  If  she  does  not,  the  divers  are 
saved  the  work  of  patching  and  pumping 
her;  but  when  they  have  made  her  tight, 
the  floating  of  her  is  merely  a  question  of  a 
long,  strong  pull  of  tug,  capstan  or  windlass. 
Tugs  are  tried  at  first.  Six  tugs  dragged  the 
Kilbrannan,  ashore  on  a  beach  nearly  as  flat 
as  a  floor,  into  deep  water.  But  in  heavier 
effort,  when  six  tugs,  or  as  many  as  the  ship 


Photographed  by  Higgms 
THE  POTRIMPOS 
Wrecked  in  the  breakers  off  North  Beach,  Washington 


2948 


MODERN    METHODS    OF    SAVING    SHIPS 


THE  STEAMSHIP  PARIS  ON   THE  ROCKS 


Copyright  by  W.  M.  Harrison,  Falmouth 


Photographed  by  Majiiard 
THE   BOW  OF  THE   UNFORTUNATE    UMATILLA, 
BEACHED   IN   ESQUIMALT   HARBOR, 
BRITISH  COLUMBIA 


has  bitts  and  masts  to  fasten  to,  cannot  pull 
her  afloat,  advantage  is  taken  of  elasticity 
and  buoyancy.  There  is  a  trick  known  to 
teamsters  and  horsemen,  on  which  bets  and 
reputations  for  strength  have  been  won,  which 
illustrates  this.  A  moderately  strong  man 
may  brace  his  chest  against  a  tree  and. 
extending  his  arms  at  full  length,  grasp  the 
whiffletree  of  a  team  of  horses.  Provided 
that  his  grip  is  not  loosened  by  the  first  plunge 
of  the  animals,  they  may  tug  with  all  their 
strength  and  not  tear  that  whiffletree  from 
his  hands;  but,  if  the  whiffletree  be  extended 
at  the  end  of  a  long,  elastic  rope,  they  could 
not  onlv  drag  his  arms  from  their  sockets, 
but  might  pull  the  tree  down  if  his  arms  and 
his  grip  and  the  rope  were  strong  enough. 
A  tug  may  not  be  able  to  drag  a  heavy  weight 
from  a  dock  if  it  is  attached  b}'  a  chain,  but 
if  a  long  hawser  be  substituted  the  tug  stores 
up  in  it  the  momentum  of  her  mass  during 
the  time  she  is  stretching  it,  and  this,  acting 
with  her  undiminished  pull  at  the  moment 
the  stretching  ceases,  will  jerk  the  weight 
into  the  air.  In  this  way  the  ponderous  ship 
is  dragged  down  the  sand  toward  deeper 
water;  and  it  matters  little  at  which  end  of 
the  elastic  cable  the  power  is  applied.     In  the 


MODERN    METHODS    OF   SAVING    SHIPS 


2949 


case  of  a  large  craft— a  steamer,  for  instance, 
thrown  higli  on  the  beacli  and  inil)C(l<le(l  in  the 
sand,  too  lieavv  a  drag  for  tugs  and  tow-lines 
— four  large  anchors,  each  nearly  four  tons  in 
weight,  will  be  carried  out  and  dropped  witii 
cables    of    200    fathoms'    length    and    fifteen 
inch    circumference    leading    in  to    the   ship. 
Four  powerful  tugs  might  drag  on  these  four 
cables  until  they  parted,  or  a  strain  could  be 
put  upon  them  from  the  ship  that  would  part 
them     or   drag   the   anchors    home,    without 
budging    the    wreck    an    inch.     The    iifteen- 
inch  cables  must  be  tautened,  at  first  with 
capstans  and  winches,  then  by  tackles  and 
luflfs.     The    power    that    can    be    gained    is 
enormous — sufficient  to  tear  out  the  sides  of 
the  ship.     But  the  cables  must  l)e  considered ; 
their  elasticity,  which  is  about  thirty  feet  to 
the  200  fathoms,  must  not  be  destroyed.     But 


Photofjraphcfi  by  McCurdy 
THE   SCHOONER   MINNIE  E.  CAINE  ASHORE 
On  Smith  Island,  Washington 


I 


WRECKERS   RAISING   THE    UMATILLA 
Showing  the  cofferdam  at  work 


Photographed  by  Maynard 


2950 


MODERN    METHODS    OF    SAVING  SHIPS 


SHIP  KILBRAXXAX  ASHORE 


Photographed  by  Fisher 
IX  PUGET  SOUND 


beach  ages  a  craft  more  than  a  score  of  storms 
at  sea;  every  plank  and  frame  has  been 
twisted  a  Httle ;  every  bolt  and  spike  is  looser. 
And  in  an  iron  ship  no  one  can  tell  how  many 
rivets  are  half  sheared  through. 

Sometimes  a  ship  can  be  pushed  instead  of 
pulled  into  deep  water.  This  operation 
occurred  in  the  case  of  the  big  four-masted 
schooner  'Minnie  E.  Caine,  ashore  on  the 
precipitous  beach  of  Smith  Island.  A  row 
of  hydraulic  jacks  arranged  along  her  side 
moved  her  the  short  distance  necessan,'  to 
float   her. 

A  craft  caught  in  a  quicksand  is  usually 
a  total  loss,  though  a  coffer-dam  some- 
times saves  her. 


if  they  are  tautened  to  moderately  near  a 
straight  line  the  wreckers  may  wait  for  the 
aid  of  the  sea. 

If  the  ship  has  gone  on  at  low  tide,  moderate 
waves  and  a  high  tide  will  suffice  to  lift  her, 
but  if  at  high  tide,  nothing  but  a  storm 
nearly  as  severe  as  that  which  threw  her 
ashore  will  furnish  seas  heavy  enough;  and 
often  the  wreckers  must  wait  for  the  spring 
tides. 

A  sea  that  will  lift  a  stranded  ship  will  first 
break  over  her.  and  when  at  last  she  quivers 
and  "goes  to  the  cables. "  she  comes  down  with 
a  shock  that  seems  to  start  every  spike  and 
bolt  in  her  framework.  But  after  each  jump 
seaward  the  cables  are  tautened,  and  little 
by  little — it  may  take  two,  three  or  a  dozen 
tides — the  ship  hitches  down  toward  deep 
water  until  she  floats.     An  experience  on  the 


bisn,  "RESURRECTED" 

A  vessel  coming  to  the  surface  after  being  pumped  out  by  wreckers 


F!i  t  j;Taphed  "by  Holmes 

A  SHIP  ASHORE  OX   NORTH  BEACH 

If  a  tight  ship  gets  into  the  grip  of  a 
quicksand  it  will  be  sucked  down  until  solid 
bottom  is  reached  or  the  quicksand  solidifies; 
and  inertia  and  friction  will  hold  it  there. 
A  quicksand  wrecked  the  big  ship  Glemnorag, 
which  ran  ashore  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  River  in  the  winter  of  1 896-9  7 .  The 
wreckers  pulled  her  off,  but  carelessly  allowed 
her  to  touch  a  soft  spot,  and  she  is  there  now. 

It  is  often  necessar}'  to  lighten  a  ship  of 
cargo  and  ballast  in  order  to  float  her,  and 
this  brings   an   additional  danger:  she  may 


2952 


MODERN    METHODS    OF    SAVING    SHIPS 


capsize  when  water-borne.  The  German 
bark,  Potrimpos,  which  grounded  at  high  tide 
near  where  the  Gleuiuorag  piled  up,  and  which 
made  much  work  for  the  wreckers  thereby, 
undid  the  whole  by  toppling  over  immediately 
the  support  of  the  sand  was  taken  from  her. 


this  limit  a  small  craft  can  be  lifted,  cargo 
and  all,  by  a  derrick  scow  until  her  deck 
openings  are  out  of  water;  then  she  can  be 
patched  by  the  divers  and  pumped  out  on  the 
spot;  or,  half  submerged,  she  may  be  towed 
in  her  slings  to  a  dr3-dock  and  there  repaired. 


ICE-BOUND 

Tlie   WTecking  operations   on   the  Minnie  E.  Caine  hindered   by   the    freezing  of  the    apparatus 


She  filled  and  sank  in  the  surf.     Yet  there 
was  not  a  leak  in  her. 

No  method  of  raising  sunken  craft  is  of  use 
for  a  depth  greater  than  twenty-five  fathoms 
— the    limit    of    diving    operations.     "Within 


But  a  big  craft  is  too  heavy  to  lift  with 
derricks.  Pontoons  are  employed  in  most 
cases,  though  when  a  ship  can  be  patched  and 
sealed  up  by  the  divers,  and  wind,  tide  and 
sea  are  easv  and  favorable,  she  may  be  raised 


MODERN    Mi:ril()l)S    OI'    SANIXC    SIIII'S 


2953 


bv  her  own  huoyanr)'.  The  l-^iij^Hsh  ship 
Blainuorc,  whiili  ca])sizc(l  and  sank  in  San 
Francisco  harbor,  was  raised  in  this  manner. 
Slie  came  up  on  lier  side  and  was  ri^lited  hiter 
by  skihul  grounchng. 

One  successful  trick  in  the  trade,  when  the 
craft  is  not  too  large,  and  wlicn  the  deck  can 
be  sealed  but  not  the  leak  in  the  bottom,  is 
to  pump  in  compressed  air,  which,  of  course, 
forces  the  water  out.  But  a  craft  rising  from 
the  bottom  of  her  own  volition  is  apt  to  be 
erratic  in  her  movements;  she  may  turn  over 
as  she  comes,  or  may  come  like  a  bubble  and 
upset  the  helpful  wrecking  craft  above  her. 

But,  all  in  all.  pontoons  are  the  main 
reliance  of  wreckers  in  raising  sunken  craft. 
They  are  strongly  built,  scowlike  hulks, 
submergible,  with  pumps  to  empty  them, 
and  wells  from  the  deck  down  into  which 
lead  the  heavy  chains  by  wdiich  wrecks  are 
lifted.  Two  pontoons  at  least  are  required, 
and  the  chains  pass  down  the  wells  of  one, 
under    the    bottom    of   the    wreck,    and    up 


STEAMSHIP   lyiLLIAMETTJi   ASHOKE  AT   UNION, 
BRITISH  COLUMBIA 

Its  bow  was  lifted  from  the  ledge  by  logs  running  through  the  hull  and 
resting  upon  scows 

through  the  wells  of  the  other.  Thev  are 
tautened  at  low  tide,  with  the  pontoons  full 
of  water,  and  made  fast.  Then,  from  the 
rising  of  the  tide  and  the  lifting  power  of  the 


DIVERS  AT  WORK  PATCHING  THE    HULL  OF  A  VESSEL 


PhotOi^r^phed  by  Gleason 


^954 


MODERN    METHODS    OF    SAVING    SHIPS 


Photographed  by  Dalies 
COLUMBIA   RIVER   LIGHTSHIP   EN   ROUTE   FROM 
PACIFIC  OCEAN   TO   BAKER'S   BAY 
The  ship  «-as  taken  about  a  mile  through  the  woods 

pontoons  as  the  water  is  pumped  out,  the 
wreck  leaves  the  bottom.  At  high  tide,  and 
with  the  pontoons  empty  of  water,  it  is  towed 
into  shallower  water  until  it  grounds;  then 
with  the  going  down  of  the  tide  the  pontoons 
are  again  flooded,  the  slack  of  the  chains 
taken  up,  and  the  operation  is  repeated.  By 
and  by  the  receding  tide  will  expose  the  leak 


or  bring  it  within  reach,  and  when  it  is 
plugged  or  patched  the  wreck  may  float  of 
its  own  buoyancy.  But  it  requires  months 
of  hard  work.  Pumps  may  break  dov>-n, 
pontoons  leak,  chains  part,  anchors  drag,  or 
drifting  and  unmanageable  craft  may  crash 
into  the  outfit  at  the  last  moment  and  the 
work  of  weeks  must  be  done  over  again. 

Where  the  tides  are  high,  as  they  are  in 
English  and  Canadian  waters,  pontoons  need 
not  be  emptied  and  pumped  out.  They 
are  merely  an  aid  to  the  lifting  power  of  an 
ordinary  tide  such  as  runs  in  New  York 
harbor,  and  a  good  substitute  where  there  is 
no  tide  at  all.  The  Thames  Conservancy,  the 
largest  wrecking  company  in  London,  seldom 
needs  submergible  pontoons — "camels,"  as 
they  are  called  over  there — and  on  the 
Great  Lakes  the  pontoons  are  large  and 
deep,  sufficiently  so  to  lift  a  wreck  to  the 
surface.  And  as  shelving  beaches  are  scarce 
,in  these  waters,  a  wreck  is  usually  patched 
and  pumped  out  while  slung  in  the  chains. 

The  wrecker's  life  is  full  of  danger  and 
daring,  with  rush  of  storms  and  high  tides, 
with  the  blow  of  the  salt  sea  in  his  face, 
trusting  his  life  to  swaying  ropes  and  the 
worn  windlass,  and  through  it  all  governing 
and  mastering  the  sea.  His  work,  in  its 
application  of  modern  invention,  is  a  new 
evidence  of  growing  human  control  over 
natural  forces. 


Photographetl  by  F.  H.  Can-iri'i 


THF.   LAST  STAGE— DISMANTLING  AN  OBSTINATE  WRECK 
Glenmorag  on  the  beach  near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River 


ON    THK    KlKTEENTIl    SIORY 


Jill 


THE    BIOGRAPHY    OF   AN    OFFICE 

BUILDING 


HOW  THE  TYPICAL  AMERICAN  SKY-SCRAPER  IS  DEVELOPED  FROM  THE 
SIGNING    OF    THE    CONTRACT    UNTIL    THE    BUILDING'S    COMPLETION 

BY 

ARTHUR   GOODRICH 

Illustrated  in  part  from  photographs  loaned  by  Clinton  &  Russell 


ABOUT  the  time  that  a  foreign  traveler 
remarked  that  New  York  was  begin- 
ning to  look  like  a  burying-ground 
that  was  all  headstones,  and  a  quick-witted 
American  retorted:  "Fifteen-story  head- 
stones that  mark  the  decay  of  European 
supremacy,"  the  directors  of  a  well-to-do 
company  which  owned  land  in  the  centre  of 
the  business  district  in  New  York  held  their 
annual  meeting.  The  solid  old  four-story 
building  that  had  covered  the  site  for  half  a 
century  was  scarcely  paying  for  itself.  The 
land  had  increased  enormously  in  value,  and 
taxes  and  general  expenses  had  grown  in  pro- 
portion. Business  firms  were  clamoring  for 
office  room,  and  there  was  a  large  space 
between  the  plot  of  ground  and  the  sky  if  it 
were  onlv  enclosed.     "Within  a  few  weeks  the 


company  selected  architects  to  enclose  it  as 
high  as  nineteen  stories.  And  so  began  the 
construction  of  another  of  these  great  auto- 
matic machines  of  modern  business  through 
which,  day  after  day,  thousands  of  human 
beings  are  hurried,  leaving  a  product  that 
scatters  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  helps  to 
feed,  clothe,  carry,  inspire,  ruin,  and  bring 
justice  to  hundreds  of  thousands  in  its  track — 
a  versatile  but  inexorable  force  over  which  its 
makers  have  no  control. 

It  was  made  much  as  any  other  automatic 
machine  is  made,  a  machine  built  on  a 
model  that  has  already  been  used  a  hundred 
times,  nearly  every  part  of  which  merely 
carries  out  an  old  formula.  The  only  varia- 
tion is  made  to  meet  some  difference  in  the 
ground    on  which  it  is  set  or  some  particular 


AFTER   THE    OLD    BUILDING    HAS    BEEN    CLEARED    AWAY 

Two  derricks  already  at  work 


I 


SINKING  THE    PNEUMATIC    CAISSONS 
Into  the  midst  of  the  quicksand  to  the  solid  rock 


k 


THE   FRAMEWORK   BEGINNING   TO    RISE 


THE    inOGRAl'IlV    C)l<-    AN    OFl-ICK    liUlLIHx\(} 


J959 


procUul  il  will  c\()l\c.  A  iM-enclunan  who 
looked  twice  within  two  months  from  the  lop 
of  one  of  these  buildings  at  the  bare  skeletons 
of  steel  that  rose  on  every  side,  said  in  wonder: 

"You  build  these  high  buildings  more 
rapidly  than  we  build  cottages  of  wood." 

lie  saw  only  the  putting  together  of  the 
structures — their  ])hysical  erection.  They 
were  built  months  before  in  brightly  lighted 
offices  in  buildings  almost  identical  with  them. 

This  building,  the  architects  and  contractors 
found,    presented    its   individual   difficulties. 


sons  were  tlicrefore  decided  u])on,  the  num- 
ber of  them  was  settled  and  the  exact  sjjot 
where  each  was  to  be  sunk  and  their  probable 
deptli,  and  the  time  to  be  allowed  for  tlieir 
com])lction  was  estimated,  all  with  the  aid  of 
a  foundation  specialist,  a  man  who  builds 
downward  only. 

This  done,  the  building  began  to  rise  on 
paper,  an  enormous  ])uzzle  of  interwoven 
lines  and  numerals  and  hieroglyphics  worked 
out  on  many  broad  drawing-boards.  Each 
floor  as  it  was  completed  and  checked  was 


WORKING  ON   THE   EDGES  OF  THINGS 

Putting  together  the  office-building  framework 


The  ground  upon  which  the  old  brick  structure 
stood  was,  as  one  of  the  engineers  epigram- 
matically  remarked,  "just  as  near  being 
quicksand  as  it  could  be  without  being,"  a 
running,  unsteady  foundation  for  any  heavy 
load.  New  York  is  founded  on  a  rock,  but  in 
many  places  this  foundation  of  the  island  is 
far  down  below  the  surface.  Nothing  but  the 
rock  itself,  however,  would  be  sure  to  hold 
the  hundreds  upon  hundreds  of  tons  of  the 
building  and  its  contents.     Pneumatic  cais- 


filed  away  in  a  small  oaken  case.  Meanwhile 
the  great  machine  with  its  innumerable  posts 
and  cogs  and  shafts  was  rising  as  clearly  in 
the  brain  of  its  master  mechanic,  the  engineer, 
as  if  he  already  saw  it  standing  straight  and 
clean  in  the  heavens,  silently  grinding  its 
human  atoms  at  the  speed  they  themselves 
had  set  for  it. 

In  only  one  wav  did  this  building  differ 
materially  in  the  making  from  many  of  its 
predecessors.     From  the  nearest  of  the  cais- 


2960 


THE   BIOGRAPHY    OF    AX    OFFICE    BUILDING 


sons  which  were  to  bear  the  great  weight  the 
wall  of  the  adjoining  building  was  distant 
more  than  three  feet.  To  gain  a  support  for 
that  edge  of  the  structure  steel  girders  were 
planned  which  ran  obliquely  from  the  nearest 
caisson  up  to  the  outer  framework  of  the 
ground  floor.  These,  with  the  cross-girders 
of  the  floor  and  the  broad,  upright  steel  beams, 


THE  DERRICK 
Which  lifts  the  great  weights  of  beams  and  girders 

formed  triangles  by  which  the  load  was  dis- 
tributed to  the  caissons.  Except  for  this, 
the  structure  was  merely  a  skeleton  of  steel 
beams  and  girders  mounting  upward  with 
unvarying  progression  until  the  topmost 
framework  was  in  place. 

Long  before  the  first  squad  of  workmen 
was  sent  against  the  old  building,  every  piece 
of  steel  and  all  the  stone  and  brick  that  was 


to  cover  the  frame  was  planned  and  ordered. 
Each  specific  beam  was  marked  for  its  place 
and  for  the  exact  position  it  was  to  occupy; 
each  hole  for  rivet  or  bolt  was  located,  each 
stone  was  measured  for  its  final  resting  place. 
The  machine  was  built  before  a  part  was 
made,  before  the  ground  was  cleared  for 
action,  before  the  great  rushing  public  that, 
only  a  few  doors  away,  was  settling  values 
for  the  republic,  and  which  surged  past  and 
through  the  old  building  day  after  day,  knew 
that  the  transformation  was  to  come.  It 
was  like  the  plan  b}^  its  leaders  of  an  arm}' 
campaign  in  which  there  was  to  be  no  opposi- 
tion and  no  chance  of  failure.  The  campaign 
was  made  in  the  commander's  tent  before 
the  men  marched. 

So  the  building  went  out  on  paper  through 
the  mails  to  mills  where  the  furnaces  glow 
with  the  heat  of  seventy  times  seven,  and 
clashing  machines  mold  and  form  and  punch 
the  heavy  steel,  and  creaking  overhead 
trolleys  carry  its  great  weight,  while  men, 
obscured  by  the  mighty  forces  they  have 
created,  direct  them;  to  quarries  where 
power  drills  loosen  granite  boulders  and 
derricks  lift  them  upon  cars  which  carry  them 
away  to  be  shaped ;  to  yards  where  hot  ovens 
bake  brick  for  the  body  of  wall  and  terra  cotta 
for  the  outer  shell  and  the  floors.  And  when 
it  returned  it  came  like  a  well-formed  army 
of  steel  and  stone;  so  many  parts  today,  so 
manv  tomorrow,  enough  for  each  day's  work, 
and  every  piece  minutely  ready  to  take  its 
place  in  the  structure. 

In  a  little  more  than  a  month  after  the  first 
workmen  were  turned  loose  on  the  old  build- 
ing it  was  gone.  Two  heavy  derricks  lifted 
the  weights  and  its  four  stories  were  soon 
carted  away.  Then  began  the  sinking  of  the 
fortv-one  caisson  shells,  and  the  foundations 
were  dug  down  fifty  feet  to  the  solid  rock. 
As  the  digging  went  deeper  and  deeper,  the 
sandy  ground  would  have  caved  in  and  would 
have  run  if  additional  air  pressure  had  not 
been  crowded  down  upon  it  to  hold  it  in  place. 
One  of  the  new  men  coming,  tired,  out  of  the 
caisson  where  he  had  been  working  under  the 
additional  weight  of  air,  remarked  to  another 
going  in  to  take  his  place : 

"It's  aisy  for  you  down  there.  You're  so 
small  there  ain't  much  pressure  on  ye." 

And  when  the  other  tried  to  explain,  and 
did  so  by  telling  him  that,  in  the  open,  there 
was   alwavs   fifteen   pounds   pressure   to  the 


THE    STEEL   SKELETON    TAKING    SHAPE 
After  the  first  stories  are  outlined 


BUILDING    FROM    THE   TOP    DOWNWARD 
Sliovving  ihe  central  stories  built  upon  the  mere  framework,  while  tlie  upper  stories  are  still  uncompleted 


THE    OFFICE    BUILDING    COMPLETED 


2964 


THE    BIOGRAPHY    OF    AN    OFFICE    BUILDING 


AT    THE   EXTRANXE 


square  inch,  he  scratched  his  head  and  said 
thoughtfully : 

"Is  that  so,  now?  That  must  be  how  it's 
so  hard  to  work.  It  ain't  decent  for  an 
Irishman  to  work  continuously  under  pres- 
sure.    Let's  strike." 

From  the  rock  foundation  up  they  filled 
the  caissons  with  concrete  and  capped  each 
with  a  broad  square  of  granite.  This  had, 
in  all,  taken  two  months.  The  floor  was  ready 
for  the  great  machine. 


Half   a 
races  and  creeds 


regiment    of    men 


men   of   many 
met  the  first  load  from  the 


THE  CROWD  ON   THE  STREET 


THE  TVPICAL  CIGAR   STORE 

rolling-mill,  and  the  upward  march  of  con- 
struction began.  Steam-engines  began  to 
puff  and  sigh  as  they  lifted  the  big  girders  up 
to  where  workmen  caught  them  and  riveted 
them  into  place.  Gangs  of  men,  each  under 
a  foreman,  rushed  enormous  chiseled  boulders 
across  the  rough  flooring  other  gangs  had  laid, 
and  still  others,  as  the  building  progressed, 
laboriously  swung  loads  of  wood  up  the 
elevator  shaft.  With  the  increasing  floors 
derricks  were  rushed  upward  to  support  the 
work  of  the  men.  Individual  deeds  of  daring 
were    done    on    the    frontier    floors    as    they 


THE    BIOGRAPHY    OV    AN    OFMCE    BUILDING 


2965 


pushed  up  two  stories  at  a  time. 
Men,  perched  at  the  top  of  protruding 
beams  in  the  track  of  the  cold  wind, 
cauglit  and  fastened  the  great  shafts 
of  steel  that  might  either  crush  them 
or  send  them  hurtling  off  into  space. 
Others,  in  pairs,  were  swung  upward  at 
the  end  of  long  hawsers,  and  still 
others,  in  pairs,  walked  the  narrow 
girders  of  the  top  stories,  each  carry- 
ing the  end  of  a  bit  of  temporary  floor- 
ing. Back  of  these,  full  companies 
labored  less  spectacularly,  carrying 
hods  to  the  hoist,  distributing  ma- 
terial, laying  the  enclosing  wall  or  the 
floor  of  hollow  terra-cotta  and  cement, 
handling  the  engines  and  the  derricks, 
tending  the  camp  fires  on  each  floor 
from  which  the  glowing  rivets  made 
certain  the  ground  already  gained; 
all  marching  steadily  upward  as  if,  the 
earth  having  been  conquered,  they 
were  storming  the  heavens. 

All  this  grim,  noisy,  effective  activ- 
ity was  under  the  control  of  a  workman 
who  had  risen  from  the  ranks.  Some 
Italiars  were  here  carrying  hods  for 
him  who  had  worked  beside  him  years 
before.  He  knew  the  plans  of  the 
construction  to  a  detail,  but  rather  as 
a  man  who  follows  than  as  one  who 
creates.  It  was  his  duty  merely  to 
direct  the  distribution  of  material  so 
that  it  would  be  easiest  at  hand,  and 
to  get  the  work  done.  To  him  delays 
were  fatal;  speed  and  care  the  end  of 
existence.  Once  when  the  framework 
stood  ready  for  the  wall  which  was  to 
close  it  in,  he  found  that  the  brick 
and  stone  for  the  walls  of  the  lower 
stories  had  not  been  delivered.  He 
reported  his  difficulty  to  the  engineers. 

"You  have  the  material  for  the 
upper  floor  walls  ? "  they  asked. 

"Yes,"   he  said. 

"Then  finish  those  first." 

And  so  he  set  his  men  at  work 
building  apparently  from  the  top  down- 
ward, for  in  these  steel  buildings  the 
framework  carries  the  entire  load;  the 
brick  and  stone  merely  close  in  the 
building  and  decorate  its  exterior,  and 
each  floor  carries  its  own  load.  Thus 
the  subordinate  officer  carried  out  the 
mechanical  plan  quietly.    He  overheard 


LOOKING  DOWN    AN   OFFICE-BUILDTNG    CANYON    TO 
THE   COMPLETED   STRUCTURE 


IN    THE    OFFICE-BUILDING    DISTRICT,   NEW    YORK 
In  irregular  lines,  the  high  buildings  rise  like  fortresses 


THE    BiOCiRArUV    OF    AN    OFFICE    BUILDING 


2967 


I 


one  of  tlie  younger  workmen  answer 
questions  from  a  bystander  with  a  blank 
"  I  don't  know."  And  he  promoted  the 
boy  because,  as  he  told  him,  "  If  you 
don't  tell  what  you  don't  know  to  people 
who  know  it  all,  there  isn't  any  time 
lost.  "  But  he  led  his  men  vigorously,  holding 
his  subordinates  strictly  to  account  for  the 
men  under  them,  and  getting  the  work  com- 
pleted within  the  specified  time. 

But  back  of  them  all  were  the  men  who 
created  the  plan.  To  them  each  story  was  a 
duplicate  of  one  they  had  already  constructed 
on  paper.  The  army  of  workmen  were  merely 
assembling  the  parts  they  had  formed  Each 
shaft  of  steel  was  located  by  its  number,  and 
the  upper  or  right  end  was  marked  so  that 
only  stupidity  would  turn  it  end  for  end. 
An  engineer,  inspecting  the  work  one  day, 
pointed  to  a  few  out  of  a  hundred  beams  that 
lay  ready  to  be  hoisted  into  place,  which  were 
all  exactly  alike,  and  said  quickly: 

"What  are  those  doing  here?  They  go  in 
the  fourth  story  of  the  Windsor  building. " 

And  at  another  time,  as  he  casually  passed 
the  structure  and  looked  up  at  the  ninth  story, 
he  called  out  to  the  superintendent  that  one 
of  the  small  girders  at  that  height  was  wrongly 
set.  He  knew,  because  that  girder  did  not 
coincide  with  the  visualization  of  the  building 
he  had  had  before  his  mind  for  months.  To 
him  the  superintendent  came  when  material 
was  delayed,  when  there  was  some  seeming 
mistake  in  the  filling  of  an  order.  To  him 
a  walking  delegate  of  one  of  the  unions  came, 
knowing  that  the  building  was  contracted  to 
be  finished  at  a  certain  time,  and  demanded 
higher  wages  for  the  men. 

"  Is  that  the  limit  you  will  ask  for  doing  the 
job  ? "  he  asked  the  delegate. 

"Yes." 

"Will  you  sign  a  paper  to  that  effect?" 

"Yes." 

"All  right,  they  shall  have  it.  " 

To  him  the  directors  of  the  company  which 
was  paying  for  the  construction  came  with 
objections  and  suggestions.  Such  a  firm 
would  take  this  entire  floor  if  these  alterations 
could  be  made  to  fit  their  needs.  All  these 
things  must  be  arranged  and  carried  out. 
Plasterers  and  decorators  were  at  w^ork  below 
long  before  the  upper  construction  was  com- 
pleted; and  while  the  workmen  were  still 
laboring  at  the  elementary  finishing  on  some 
floors,    on    others    the    offices   were    alreadv 


occupied,  the  elevators  were  running  regularly 
and  the  building  was  being  heated  and  ven- 
tilated and  lighted.  It  was  more  than  a  week 
before  the  contract  time  for  the  building 
was  up — a  year  from  the  first  breaking  of  the 
ground — when  the  final  decorations  on  the 
last  floor  were  finished.  But  when  the  shell 
was  completed  the  engineers  lost  their  heart- 
iest interest.  There  were  new  constructions 
awaiting  that  would  tax  their  skill  and  care 
much  as  this  one  had. 

"  In  the  old  buildings,"  one  of  them  said 
the  other  day,  "  I  felt  a  real  interest.  Each 
had  a  personality.  I've  always  considered 
them  old  friends.  These  are  mathematical 
problems  that  are  interesting  to  solve,  but 
once  they  are  done  they  are  forgotten." 

The  reinforcement  of  workers  which  at  first 
aided  and  in  the  end  superseded  the  men  who 
had  constructed  the  shell  of  the  building  was 
of  many  sorts:  plasterers,  painters,  paper- 
hangers,  decorators,  marble  workers,  mosaic 
workers,  metal  workers,  each  rushing  to  com- 
plete the  task  of  his  predecessor,  whose  mortar 
or  whose  paint  was  scarcely  dry.  The  swift, 
smooth-running  hydraulic  elevators  had  been 
churning  up  and  down  for  a  month  with  more 
or  less  regularity.  Below,  in  the  cavern 
around  the  granite  caps  to  the  caissons,  the 
big  boilers  and  bins  were  installed,  with  a  great 
wheel  like  a  windmill  to  fan  cool,  fresh  air  to 
the  furnace  men.  Back  of  this  grimy  space 
ran  the  exquisitely  clean  tiled  floor  of  the 
engine-room,  where  the  great  engines  swing 
their  thick  muscles  to  drive  the  elevators;  to 
send  air  with  the  aid  of  sweeping  fans — past 
heated  pipes  if  warm  air  is  needed — into  the 
hundreds  of  rooms  above;  to  light  any  or  all 
parts  of  the  structure  by  electricity,  and  by 
their  very  waste  to  furnish  heat  by  steam  at 
any  degree  to  the  building.  Over  at  one  side 
the  refrigerating  plant  was  placed  from  around 
the  ammonia  coils  of  which  chilled  water  is 
sent  into  various  parts  of  each  floor.  On  one 
of  the  upper  floors  ranges  and  shelves  and  all 
the  apparatus  of  the  most  modem  kitchen 
were  set  up  rapidly  for  the  restaurant. 
Marble  counters  over  which  all  manner  of 
interesting  everyday  things  were  to  be  sold 
fell  into  line  on  the  street  floor,  and  a  big 
bronze  booth  for  a  telegraph  company 
accompanied  the  many  bronze  decorations 
into  place.  Thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of 
gold  and  paint  and  burlap  covered  plaster 
that  was  hardlv  drv.     Smooth  marble  columns 


2968 


THE    BIOGRAPHY    OF    AN    OFFICE   BUILDING 


rose  where  two  months  before  were  open  air 
and  debris.  Back  of  the  engine-room,  resting 
on  the  ground,  was  built  a  big  safe  deposit 
vault,  guarded  by  heavy  metal  doors  with 
many  alarms  for  the  building  detectives,  by 
massive  gates,  by  constant  attendants,  and, 
below,  by  the  impassable  quicksand.  A  house 
telephone  was  installed  connecting  the  various 
important  stations  with  the  complete  apart- 
ment which  was  built  on  the  roof  for  the  man 
in  charge  of  the  building.  By  this  means  he 
is  able  to  communicate  quickly  with  any  of 
the  half  a  hundred  helpers  he  has  from  the 
cellar  to  the  roof. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  rush  of  final  prepa- 
ration, the  men  from  the  outside  who  had 
been  already  attracted  to  the  offices  the 
biiilding  was  to  offer  were  examining  and 
deciding  and  demanding  alterations  in  the 
suites  of  rooms.  Ever^-thing  was  done  to  meet 
their  wishes.  Whole  floors  were  remodeled 
until  upwards  of  half  a  million  dollars  were 
spent  remodeling  the  already  completed  inte- 
rior. When  the  last  workman  on  the  building 
had  gone  and  it  was  in  working  order,  there 
were  two  suites  unoccupied,  and  these  were 
rented  in  a  little  more  than  a  month. 

The  population  of  the  building  is  as  varied 
as  that  of  a  town,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
more  business  is  done  within  its  walls  than 
in  any  town  of  ten  times  its  one  thousand 
inhabitants.  Banking  houses  handle,  behind 
handsome  marble  desks,  their  hundreds  of 
thousands,  which  go  out  to  mingle  with  the 
coiintry's  prosperity  and  develop  new  projects 
of  industry  and  ingenuity.  Insurance  com- 
panies pledge  their  enormous  capital  to  the 
lives  of  men  in  California  and  Florida,  and 
to  the  safety  of  ships  rounding  the  Cape. 
The  tickers  in  many  brokers'  offices,  over 
which  noisy  stock  speculators  and  sober 
investors  touch  elbows,  chck  out  the  news 
concerning  the  great  mass  of  world  wealth 
for  bits  of  which  thousands  daily  match  their 
wits  and  their  energies.  Lawyers  make  plans 
in  these  rooms  that  will  free  the  innocent 
and  punish  the  guilty;  and  promoters  sell 
South  American  mines  and  West  African 
land  rights.  The  offices  of  a  great  Western 
railway  system  bind  the  East  and  the  West 
with  bands  of  steel  and  commerce,  and 
exporters  send  goods  from  Xew  Hampshire 
mills  to  the  Orient.  An  energetic  man  with 
military  carriage,  after  an  hour's  conference, 
is  just  completing  the  sale  of  an  important 


block  of  land  to  the  proprietors  of  a  great 
department  store,  while  directly  above  him 
an  insignificant  looking  little  man,  wheeling 
nervously  in  his  chair,  is  outlining  to  con- 
federate capitalists  a  scheme  that  will  give 
them  control  of  a  big  street  railway  system. 
At  his  left,  in  turn,  separated  by  a  thin 
partition,  an  engineer  is  solving  the  problem 
of  building  a  fifteen  story  building  on  a 
narrow  triangular  plot  of  quicksand  in  such 
a  way  that  no  disturbances  of  the  soil  shall 
shake  the  foundations  of  adjoining  structures. 
Typewriters,  rapid  fire  guns  of  industry, 
rattle  away  in  every  comer  of  the  floors. 
Bells,  each  ringing  for  a  purpose,  sound 
in  unmusical  confusion  on  every  side. 
Every  landing  is  an  eddy  in  its  swirling 
crowds  that  hurry  up  and  down,  in  and 
out,  throughout  the  long  days. 

From  the  time  these  men  enter  their  offices 
in  the  morning  until  they  go  at  night ,  many 
of  them  need  not  leave  the  building.  Mes- 
senger boys  rush  in  and  out  with  messages. 
By  telegraph,  cable  and  telephone  they 
can  talk  with  London,  San  Francisco,  or 
Fiftieth  Street,  as  they  wish.  Supplies  are 
there,  their  restaurant  is  there,  their  barber, 
their  newspaper,  their  bank,  their  insurance 
company,  their  own  police  and  detective 
service,  their  own  fire  department,  their 
broker,  their  lawyer.  It  is  a  complete  com- 
m\inity  in  itself. 

At  night  the  thousands  drift  away,  the 
engines  are  quieted,  the  outer  gates  are  closed, 
a  single  elevator  runs  irregularly.  Outside 
there  is  the  deathlike  stillness  of  a  deserted 
town,  and  the  tread  of  the  policeman  on  the 
pavement  echoes  bleakly  down  the  cavernous 
streets.  Within  only  the  caretaker  and  a  few 
helpers  remain.  But  the  great  machine  has 
scarcely  time  to  rest  before  it  is  again  throb- 
bing away  with  its  entire  strength,  straining  to 
handle  smoothly  the  masses  of  hurrying  people 
that  crush  in  upon  it.  Every  day  the  force 
it  unconsciously,  mechanically  manufactures 
reaches  further  into  recesses  of  unknown  lands 
and  increases  its  grip  on  world-important 
affairs.  The  army  of  stalwart  buildings  which 
is  growing  up  from  every  comer  of  the  island 
forms  the  rampart  of  American  industrial 
defense,  the  vanguard  of  American  commer- 
cial supremacy.  In  years  to  come  they  may 
pass  one  by  one  and  be  replaced  by  others 
greater  than  they,  but  the  forces  they  make 
today  are  a  part  of  history. 


THE    BATTLE-SHIP    OF    THE    FUTURE 

HOW  NAVAL  WARFARE  WILL  PROBABLY  CHANGE— THE 
INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SUBMARINE  BOAT— OFFENSIVE  AND 
DEFENSIVE  TACTICS  WHICH  ARE    ALREADY  F^ORESHADOWED 

BY 

LEWIS    NIXON 


THERE  is  one  possibility  that  makes 
anything  hke  an  accurate  forecast 
of  the  type  of  war-ship  of  the  future 
very  difficult.  This  is  the  chance  that  there 
may  come  at  any  moment  a  complete  revolu- 
tion through  the  discovery  of  some  agent  of 
])ropulsion  that  will  do  away  with  coal  and 
the  steam-engine.  At  present  the  stowing  of 
machinery  and  the  carrying  of  coal  in  a 
measure  control  the  construction  of  our 
ships.  The  room  occupied  by  these  two  all- 
important  elements  is  enormous  and  dictates 
arbitrarily  construction  along  certain  lines. 
Venturing  on  the  future,  nothing  positive  can 
be  laid  down,  because  we  do  not  know  how 
long  the  present  system  of  fuel  and  machinery 
will  endure.  The  use  of  compressed  or 
liquefied  gas,  or  gas  made  on  board  ship  in 
i)oilers  of  vessels,  is  a  possible  development 
wliich  will  save  weight  and  men  and  simplify 
boiler  arrangement,  even  with  steam  boilers 
and  engines  as  they  are  now.  The  nineteenth 
century  was  the  age  of  invention.  The  human 
mind  today  is  in  a  state  of  intense  activity, 
and  is  developing  by  its  experience  during  the 
century  just  closed.  It  is  fair  to  presume 
that  it  will  bring  forth  new  inventions  at  a 
much  more  rapid  rate.  At  this  time,  how- 
ever, there  is  not  in  sight  anything  that  would 
give  us  even  a  clue  as  to  what  we  may  expect 
in  the  way  of  a  new  driving  power.  Liquid 
air,  compressed  air,  electricity,  gas,  or  any 
one  of  a  dozen  forces  may  be  developed  over- 
night, so  to  speak,  in  a  manner  that  will 
compel  the  complete  remodeling  of  our 
enginery  both  on  land  and  on  sea.  Naturally 
this  would  bring  a  type  of  war-vessel  entirely 
different  from  what  we  have  at  present.  But 
a  nation,  to  be  abreast  of  the  times,  cannot 
speculate  in  future  developments.  It  must 
take  advantage  of  the  best  existing  conditions 
and  work  up  to  them,  if  it  desires  to  control 
at  sea.  So  far  we  have  done  this  admirably 
in  the  new  American  navy. 


For  a  generation  past  the  creation  of  a 
battle-ship  has  been  as  conventional  as  the 
trimming  of  a  hat.  The  trimming  may  be 
varied  here  and  there  and  the  shape  slightly 
altered,  but  the  frame  always  remains  about 
the  same. 

The  battle-ship  has  been  of  slow  growth, 
and  there  have  been  few  radical  changes. 
Take  the  Ironsides  and  the  Monitor  and  form  a 
composite  of  the  two  on  steel  brought  up  to 
the  time  of  the  Inflexible  in  armor  and  gun  and 
you  will  be  surprised  to  note  the  similarity. 
Yet  the  two  types  were  twenty  years  apart. 
The  Inflexible,  barring  modern  guns  and 
armor  distribution,  does  not  differ  greatly 
from  the  battle-ship  of  the  present. 

Hence  it  is  in  the  factors  going  to  make  u\) 
the  battle-ship  that  we  must  look  for  the 
probable  changes  that  will  be  made  in  the 
vessels  themselves.  As  to  these  factors, 
naval  opinion,  in  America  at  least,  is  radically 
divided.  Pick  out  five  of  the  brightest  officers 
of  the  service  and  ask  them  whether  a  battle- 
ship should  have  a  high  freeboard  or  only 
enough  for  seaworthiness ;  whether  she  should 
have  turrets  at  all  or  only  barbettes;  whether 
speed  or  armament  is  more  important — and 
it  is  quite  possible  that  one  may  get  five 
different  opinions.  This  does  not  mean  that 
battle-ships  are  inefficient.  They  are  all  good, 
and  the  merits  of  particular  factors  must  be 
proved  in  the  supreme  test  of  battle.  No 
nation  can  have  too  many  battle-ships  if  it 
aspires  to  world  power. 

It  has  been  asserted  by  eminent  con- 
structors that  we  are  approaching  an  era 
where  armor  will  be  subordinated ;  that  the 
battle-ship  of  the  future  will  depend  upon 
speed  and  quick  handling  for  defensive  pur- 
poses. Personally,  I  doubt  this  very  much. 
I  look  to  see  a  constant  development  of 
armor — an  increased  rather  than  a  decreased 
protection.  The  tendency  has  been  right 
along  to  protect  more  and   more,  and   ulti- 


2970 


THE    BATTLE-SHIP   OF   THE    FUTURE 


mately,  I  believe,  there  will  be  on  a  battle-ship 
no  exposed  parts  where  men  are  stationed. 
Those  who  suggested  the  sacrifice  of  armor 
in  the  interest  of  speed  forgot  that  the  first 
duty  of  a  battle-ship  is  not  to  insure  her  own 
safety,  but  to  destroy  her  opponent.  She 
is  essentially  a  fighting  machine. 

Battle-ships  are  like  prize-fighters — they  go 
into  the  ring  to  fight  to  a  finish,  and  realize 
that  they  must  be  prepared  to  take  many 
good  blows  in  return  for  those  that  they  deal 
if  they  want  victory.  Armor  being  a  measure 
of  endurance,  the  more  a  ship  carries  the 
better  able  she  is  to  take  blows  and  the 
better  able  to  administer  punishment  at 
short  range^the  most  effective  range.  The 
armor  and  the  gun  have  so  far  kept  pace 
with  one  another  very  well.  The  plate  can 
be  made  thick  enough  to  resist  any  gun, 
but  today  such  plate  is  too  heavy  to  carry ; 
so  the  gun  is  perhaps  ahead. 

From  the  time  that  explosive  shells  first 
came  into  use  armor  became  imperative. 
In  the  days  of  solid  shot  it  made  no 
particular  difference  whether  a  vessel  was 
pierced  or  not,  unless  at  the  water-line. 
The  shot  seldom  hit  any  one  inside,  and  the 
holes  made  in  the  vessel  were  plugged  up  with 
comparative  ease.  Even  chain-shot  was  not 
fatal  to  a  sturdy  vessel,  nor  impaired  seriously 
her  fighting  qualities,  but  a  shell  carrying  a 
high  explosive  is  different.  If  one  of  these 
pierces  a  vessel  it  practically  means  destruc- 
tion to  all  in  the  neighborhood  where  the  shell 
strikes,  as  well  as  the  danger  of  fire.  There- 
fore,it  is  necessary  to  take  protective  measures 
that  will  explode  these  shells  on  the  outside, 
and  such  protective  measures  are  found  only 
in  armor,  and  even  increased  armor.  If  there 
should  come  a  time  when  there  is  discovered 
a  projectile  that  nothing  can  resist,  or  that 
is  so  powerful  that  protection  against  it  would 
involve  armor  of  such  thickness  as  to  make 
a  battle-ship  an  inert  mass,  then  we  may 
expect  to  turn  from  armor  and  depend  upon 
an  overwhelming  battery,  but  at  present 
nothing  of  the  kind  is  in  sight. 

However,  we  are  only  at  the  threshold  in 
the  matter  of  explosives.  There  is  certain  to 
come  more  rapid  development  along  these 
lines.  Also,  we  may  confidently  look  for  a 
striking  advance  in  the  matter  of  propulsive 
power  to  regulate  the  discharge  of  shells. 
Smokeless  powder  has  marked  an  important 
step,  and  is  now  at  a  high  state  of  efficiency. 


It  has  enabled  us  to  reach  a  point  where  we 
have  reasonable  control  over  our  projectiles. 
As  investigation  progresses  we  will  be  able  to 
control  this  force  absolutely.  In  discussing 
smokeless  powder  it  is  a  common  error  to 
attribute  its  value  chiefly  to  its  smokeless 
quality.  This  is  merely  an  incidental  value, 
except  for  riflemen ;  the  main  value  is  that  in 
smokeless  powder  we  secure  perfect  combus- 
tion. We  are  relieved  of  the  necessity  of 
carrying  around  a  great  bulk  of  matter,  of 
which  a  large  percentage  is  useless,  serving 
merely  to  darken  the  atmosphere.  The  smoke 
seen  in  common  powder  is  that  part  of  the 
substance  which  remains  unconsumed,  and 
is  therefore  useless.  The  smoke  is  made  of 
particles  of  certain  unconsumed  ingredients 
of  the  powder  that  float  in  the  air.  The  idea 
in  powder  is  to  have  a  substance  that  shall 
have  powerful  propulsive  effect  at  a  very  low 
degree  of  heat. 

It  is  the  heat  that  plays  havoc  at  present 
with  our  guns,  so  that  the  life  of  a  gun  is 
perhaps  seventy-five  discharges.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  the  interior  of  the  gun-barrel  is 
all  torn  and  seamed  and  the  weapon  is  use- 
less. A  new  form  of  gun  in  which  practically 
all  the  energy  of  the  charge  is  imparted  to 
the  projectile  is  the  ideal  after  which  all  in- 
ventors are  striving  at  present.  Even  in  the 
most  advanced  types  much  energy  is  lost. 
An  increased  range  in  our  guns  is  made  diffi- 
cult by  the  fact  that  we  are  handicapped 
bv  certain  mechanical  difficulties  that  limit 
the  length.  When  a  gun  is  too  long  it  is 
impossible  to  prevent  its  stretching  under  the 
impact  of  the  exploding  charge,  thereby 
lessening  the  effectiveness  of  aim.  This  may 
be  overcome  by  powerful  trussing,  so  that  the 
gun-barrel  will  be  perfectly  supported  and 
held  rigid,  but  even  then  there  is  a  chance 
of  disturbance  that  will  interfere  materially 
with  the  aim;  consequently  guns  cannot  be 
lengthened  indefinitely  nor  the  range  indefi- 
nitely increased. 

In  the  matter  of  explosives  a  good  indica- 
tion of  what  may  be  expected  in  the  future 
are  the  "thunderbolts,"  as  the  Spaniards 
called  them,  hurled  by  the  Vesuvius  against 
the  Cuban  fortifications.  So  far  no  great 
range  is  possible  in  discharging  projectiles  of 
this  class.  The  problem  of  giving  a  suffi- 
cientl}'  strong  impact  to  insure  long  flight 
without  exploding  the  material  with  which 
the  shell  is  loaded  has  not  been  perfectly  met. 


TIIK    BATTLE-SlllP    OF    TIIK    FUTURE 


2971 


But  progress  along  that  line  is  rapid,  and  in 
the  next  war  we  may  be  reasonably  certain 
that  high  explosives  will  be  thrown  from 
powerful  guns  at  long  range.  Various  sug- 
gestions have  been  made  that  noxious  gases 
may  be  used  in  the  future  for  some  forms  of 
shells.  Humanity  will  probably  not  admit 
the  employment  of  such  forms  of  offensive 
warfare,  but  I  certainly  believe  that  some 
form  of  gas  which  produces  insensibility  will 
be  developed  as  the  air-ship  comes  into  use, 
and  perhaps  before. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  soon  electric  influences 
will  be  projected  and  that  the  metal  work  of 
an  enemy's  guns  may  be  able  to  transmit 
shocks  to  those  serving  them.  The  most  im- 
portant factor  we  have  at  present  to  influence 
the  future  navy  is  the  submarine  boat.  It 
is  a  peculiarity  of  this  new  addition  to  our 
fighting  forte  that  its  influences  will  be  outside 
itself.  By  that  I  mean,  that  so  far  as  the 
submarine  boat  is  concerned,  it  is  at  the  very 
outset  a  practically  perfect  craft.  Such 
changes  as  will  be  brought  about  by  its  enrol- 
ment in  the  navy  will  be  in  the  conditions  to 
which  it  is  opposed. 

I  was  challenged  some  time  ago  when  I 
said  that  the  submarine  boat  was  less  of  an 
experimental  vessel  than  the  battle-ship.  It 
seemed  an  unreasonable  proposition  to  those 
who  had  not  investigated  it,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  battle-ships  have  been  afloat  for 
centuries,  while  a  submarine  boat  has  not  yet 
seen  its  first  engagement. 

We  know  that  the  submarine  boat  is 
practically  a  perfect  type  of  its  class,  because 
of  the  limitations  of  the  field.  The  sub- 
marine boat  must  be  able  to  go  at  a  fair  speed 
above  and  below  the  water.  It  must  dive 
successfully,  and  be  capable  of  going  in  a 
straight  line  at  a  desired  depth,  and  when  it 
fires  its  torpedo  under  water  it  must  not  lose 
its  longitudinal  stability.  This  is  all  that  has 
yet  been  asked  of  it.  The  type  of  submarine 
boat  which  we  have — the  Holland — does  all 
these  things.  Therefore,  w^e  are  perfectly 
safe  in  saying  that,  unlike  battle-ships,  the 
opportunities  for  extension  or  development 
are  more  limited  and  less  likely  to  be  made. 

The  problem  we  are  confronting  now  is  to 
find  something  that  will  give  us  protection 
against  the  submarine.  At  present  we  have 
nothing.  The  only  measure  that  an  enemy 
menaced  by  one  of  these  boats  can  take  is 
flight,  and  battle-ships  are  not  built  to  run 


away.  Therefore,  some  of  the  greatest  minds 
of  the  day  are  wrestling  with  the  problem  of 
finding  something  with  which  to  combat  this 
new  form  of  offense.  It  has  been  suggested 
in  some  quarters  that  the  bottom  of  war 
vessels  be  heavily  armored,  but  this  proposi- 
tion has  met  with  no  favor.  It  would  mean 
an  additional  loading  down  of  our  ships,  which 
are  already  carrying  as  much  armor  as  weight 
can  be  spared  for.  Experts  are  not  wont  to 
view  favorably  any  device  that  will  retard 
the  speed  or  further  cumber  our  fighting 
machines. 

But  whatever  the  influence  of  the  sub- 
marine, I  doubt  that  it  will  change  materially 
the  general  type  of  the  battle-ship.  There 
may  be  deeper  double  bottoms,  more  bulk- 
heads and  a  general  increase  of  honeycomb 
structure,  but  the  exterior  shape  will,  after  all, 
remain  about  the  same. 

One  thing  certain  is  that  as  naval  equip- 
ment advances  there  will  be  a  concurrent 
advance  in  the  relative  cost.  This  is  shown 
conclusively  by  experience  in  the  past.  The 
expense  of  firing  a  hundred  rounds  from  the 
1 3 -inch  guns  of  the  battle-ship  Massachusetts 
in  ammunition  alone  would  exceed  the 
entire  cost  of  the  old  Constitution  battery  in 
1 8 1 2 ,  with  ammunition  enough  thrown  in  to 
fight  all  her  batteries.  Each  one  of  the 
13-inch  turrets  of  the  Massacliusetts,  with  its 
two  guns  and  all  its  actuating  gear,  costs  more 
money,  so  far  as  construction  is  concerned, 
than  the  cost  of  the  old  Constitution  entire, 
from  the  time  her  keel  was  laid  until  she 
bombarded  the  bashaw's  castle  at  Tripoli. 
The  cost  of  the  whole  battery  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts, including  the  armor  used  as  gun 
protection,  would  have  built,  armed  and 
equipped  ready  for  battle  two  120-gun  three- 
deckers  like  the  old  Pennsylvania;  the  cost  of 
the  side  armor  alone  of  the  Massacliusetts 
would  have  built  and  put  in  motion  the 
Hornet  and  Wasp  of  our  little  navy  of  1 8 1 2  ; 
and  the  cost  of  the  Massachusetts'  machinery 
would  have  provided  sailing  power  for  our 
whole  naval  force  at  that  time. 

But  while  the  first  cost  of  the  fighting  ship 
is  large,  it  represents  a  very  low  rate  of 
national  insurance.  By  a  vigorous  stand 
wars  are  prevented.  It  is  almost  impossible 
to  estimate  what  a  war  costs  in  the  loss  of  life, 
in  the  destruction  of  public  structures,  closing 
up  of  channels,  cutting  of  cables,  diversions 
of  trade  and  other  losses.     Of  course,  the  idea 


29/2 


A   TOWN    MADE   IDLE   BY    A    TRUST 


that  the  cost  of  the  thing  to  be  desired  is  not 
to  be  counted  is  all  wrong,  as  nothing  should 
be  bought  unless  it  is  clearly  worth  what  is 
paid  for  it.  England,  with  the  most  power- 
ful navy  in  the  world,  is  adding  to  it  con- 
stantly, and  while  we  need  no  such  establish- 
ment as  England,  when  we  see  almost  every 
maritime  nation  adding  armored  vessels  to 
its  navy,  a  nation  as  rich  as  the  United  States 
cannot  say  that  it  is  not  able  to  do  likewise. 
It  is  an  insurance  against  material  loss,  as 
well  as  against  loss  of  national  prestige,  and 
the  best  guarantee  of  peace. 

The  development  of  our  new  colonial  policy 
will  greatly  influence  the  navy  of  the  United 
States,  in  regard  to  both  numbers  and  types. 
In  this  swift-moving  age,  subjugation  and 
even  assimilation  of  new  ideas  of  government 
can    be    accomplished    in    years    instead    of 


decades  and  generations  as  formerly;  hence 
our  colonial  policy  is  sure  to  be  of  much 
quicker  growth  than  has  been  that  of  other 
nations,  where  the  government,  being  less 
responsive  to  the  wishes  of  the  people,  can 
carry  on  abuses  and  mistakes  in  a  way  that 
our  people  will  not  tolerate. 

We  have  entered  into  active  competition 
for  the  world's  markets,  and  we  have  to 
face  a  severe  commercial  rivalry  with  other 
nations.  This  condition  enormously  increases 
the  chances  of  war.  Its  bearing  will  be  direct 
and  specific  in  developing  both  the  type  and 
the  character  of  the  navy.  The  ocean  is  for  us 
now  no  longer  a  mere  geographical  division, 
but  a  connecting  highway,  the  control  of 
which  means  world-wide  power  and  boundless 
wealth.  The  navies  of  the  twentieth  century 
will  write  its  history. 


A   TOWN    MADE    IDLE    BY   A    TRUST 

HOW  NEW  HARTFORD,  CONNECTICUT.  SEEMED  TO  BE 
BLIGHTED  WHEN  A  TRUST  MOVED  ITS  COTTON  MILLS 
SOUTH— IN  A  FEW  DAYS  THE  OPERATIVES  WERE  AT 
WORK    AGAIN    ELSEWHERE— THE    TOWN     RECOVERING 

BY 

FRANKLIN    MATTHEWS 


OXE  of  the  great  evils  in  the  operation 
of  industrial  combinations,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  wage-earner,  is 
their  power  to  scatter  a  community  to  the 
four  winds  or  starve  its  people  into  submis- 
sion to  the  demands  of  capital.  It  has  been 
pointed  out  that  perhaps  one  man  or  a  small 
group  of  men,  by  the  mere  act  of  signing  an 
order  to  close  up  a  plant,  could  exercise  a 
power  of  life  or  death  over  thousands  of 
hixman  beings.  Something  akin  to  this 
happened  in  the  beautiful  New  England 
village  of  New  Hartford,  Connecticut,  last 
August  and  September,  when  the  compara- 
tively large  cotton  duck  mills  of  the  Green- 
woods Company  of  that  place  were  ordered 
closed  by  the  so-called  Cotton  Duck  Trust, 
the  Mount  Vemon-Woodberry  Cotton  Duck 
Corporation.  Nearly  one  thousand  persons 
of  the  2,300  in  the  place  were  compelled  to 
leave  the  town.  Nearly  a  hundred  houses 
were  boarded  up  and  rents  wer?  offered  free 


to  the  mill  hands  who  remained,  for  some 
men  who  had  worked  thirty,  forty  or  even 
fifty  years  in  the  plant  were  too  old  to  get 
work  elsewhere. 

With  the  population  cut  almost  in  half, 
the  merchants  of  the  place  thought  they  saw 
ruin  before  them.  The  pay-roll  of  the  mills 
had  been  more  than  $175,000  a  year,  and 
with  the  spending  of  this  money  stopped  it 
seemed  as  if  the  community  must  die.  The 
income  of  the  churches  was  cut  down ,  a  large 
part  of  the  foreign  congregation  of  the 
Catholic  Church  disappearing  as  if  swept  out 
bv  a  cyclone.  There  were  fewer  children 
for  the  schools.  The  value  of  real  estate 
declined,  and  those  who  had  put  their  savings 
into  homes  found  themselves  unable  to  get 
rid  of  them.  There  were  too  many  merchants, 
too  many  physicians,  too  many  barbers — and, 
one  and  all,  they  sat  down  to  see  who  would 
go  away  or  go  to  the  wall  first.  Gloomy 
forebodings  as  to  the  increase  of  the  poor  fund 


A    TOWN    MADE    IDLE    HY    A   TRUST 


2973 


of  the  town  arose;  the  bells  of  the  mills  ceased 
to  ring;  the  town  band,  that  gave  a  public 
concert  every  week,  ceased  to  play;  a  water- 
power  estimated  as  worth  from  $200,000  to 
$300,000  lay  idle;  the  machinery  of  the  mills 
was  being  shipped  to  the  trust's  mills  in 
Alabama;  only  the  four  walls  of  three  large 
buildings  remained.  Tlie  town  was  dead; 
the  heavy  hand  of  a  trust  seemed  to  have 
crushed  it. 

And  why  ?  Because  it  could  make  goods 
cheaper  in  the  South.  The  residents  of 
New  Hartford  said  the  days  of  evil  began 
when  the  owners  of  the  mills  sold  out  to  the 
trust.  Reproaches  were  cast  at  former  stock- 
holders who  live  in  New  Hartford,  particularly 
at  the  descendants  of  the  founder  of  the  mills. 
Then  a  clamor  arose  in  the  country.  It  was 
reported  that  the  mills  were  closed  because 
the  laws  of  Connecticut  would  not  permit 
child  labor  under  fourteen  years  of  age.  In 
the  South  child  labor,  it  was  declared,  was 
unlimited  in  supply.  Editors  from  one  end 
of  the  country  to  the  other  attacked  the 
managers  of  the  company,  and  those  who  fear 
trusts  as  a  menace  and  see  in  them  the  force 
that  can  make  white  slaves  of  all  humanity 
pointed  to  the  New  Hartford  example  and 
prophesied  the  downfall  of  New  England's 
cotton  industry. 

Nearly  three  months  have  gone  by;  men 
have  become  calmer  in  the  foothills  of  the 
Berkshires  around  New  Hartford;  and  the 
actual  results  of  the  trust's  action  are  visible. 
It  is  true  that  the  town  has  been  depleted  of 
its  people  by  nearly  one-half.  But  it  is  also 
true  that  not  one  person  who  left  New 
Hartford  to  work  elsewhere  failed  to  get  a  job. 
It  is  also  true  that  in  most  cases  the  mill 
operatives  bettered  themselves.  There  has 
not  been  one  dollar  added  to  the  poor  fund  of 
the  town.  Only  two  small  stores  in  the  place 
have  closed.  The  trade  of  the  merchants  has 
fallen  off  only  about  one-third.  One  school 
has  been  closed,  but  it  was  a  small  affair  of 
less  than  fifty  pupils.  The  income  of  the 
Congregational  Church  has  fallen  ofT  from  ten 
to  fifteen  per  cent. ;  that  of  the  Catholic  Church 
probably  nearly  fifty  per  cent.,  because 
one  of  its  congregations  was  wiped  out. 
The  savings  bank  deposits,  however,  have 
increased  in  the  town,  and  the  number  of  new 
accounts  opened  has  shown  a  greater  per- 
centage of  increase  than  last  year.  The  post- 
office  receipts  have  fallen  off  to  such  an  extent 


that  next  year  it  will  probably  be  a  fourth- 
class  odicc  or  the  postmaster's  salary  will  be 
cut  $200  or  $300. 

There  has  been  no  case  of  actual  distress  as 
a  result  of  the  closing  of  the  mills.  Three 
grades  of  people  have  incurred  loss :  the  mer- 
chants who  had  large  stocks  of  goods  on  hand 
when,  without  warning,  the  closing  orders 
came,  and  who  now  have  had  to  purchase 
another  grade  of  goods;  the  owners  of  real 
estate,  particularly  those  who  worked  in  the 
mills  and  now  cannot  sell;  and  the  farmers 
who  brought  in  large  quantities  of  garden 
truck  for  sale. 

On  the  other  hand,  newcomers  to  the 
surrounding  hills  are  giving  new  life  to  the 
place.  One  man,  Frank  Jones,  who  lived 
there  as  a  boy,  has  recently  bought  an  entire 
mountain  at  the  town's  edge  and  is  building 
a  large  country  estate  there.  A  dozen  or 
more  country  houses  of  considerable  pretense 
are  scattered  about,  among  them  being  the 
delightful  and  superbly  kept  home  of  Clara 
Louise  Kellogg-Strakosch.  The  hills  are  as 
picturesque  as  the  Berkshires  and  there  are 
more  streams  in  them.  The  water  is  declared 
to  be  purer,  as  shown  by  analysis,  than  in 
any  other  part  of  the  State.  The  town  has 
shaken  itself  together  and  finds  that  it  is  not 
so  badly  oflf  as  it  feared. 

It  is  altogether  improbable  that  a  waterfall 
of  1,500  horse-power  is  going  to  waste,  and 
although  there  is  no  immediate  prospect  of 
a  new  industry  coming  to  the  town,  some 
industry  will  come  in  time.  It  will  not  be  a 
cotton  industry,  but  Connecticut  is  full  of 
others. 

These  New  Hartford  mills  were  closed 
simply  because  they  were  losing  money. 
The  president  of  the  so-called  trust  has  given 
me  his  personal  word  that  the  mills  would  not 
have  been  shut  down  if  they  had  "brought 
back  a  new  dollar  for  every  one  that  had  been 
expended."  For  the  last  three  or  four  years 
they  have  brought  back  only  from  ninety  to 
ninety-five  cents  on  the  dollar.  The  industry 
was  moved  to  the  trust's  mills  at  Tallassee, 
Alabama,  because  it  could  be  made  to  pay 
there.  It  didn't  pay  in  New  Hartford  for 
three  reasons :  the  machinery  was  antiquated ; 
the  freight  rates  on  the  8,000  or  more  bales 
of  cotton  used  in  the  mills  every  year  were 
too  heavy  a  drain,  compared  to  the  freight 
rates  to  the  mills  built  almost  next  to  the 
cottonfields  in  the  South;    adult    labor,  not 


2974 


A   TOWN    MADE    IDLE    BY   A    TRUST 


child  labor  (there  seems  to  be  considerable 
misapprehension  about  this  child  labor  of 
the  South),  was  about  fifty  per  cent,  cheaper, 
to  use  round  numbers,  in  the  South  than  in 
the  North. 

If  the  trust  had  not  taken  these  mills  they 
would   have  been   closed  several  years  ago, 
because  they  did  not  pay.     The  machinery 
was    moved    South   precisely    for   the    same 
reason   that    other    cotton   mills    have   been 
moved    thither — to    make    money.     Factory 
Inspector  George  L.  McLean,  of  Connecticut, 
has  prepared  this  table  of  the  average  yearly 
wages     for    cotton    mills    in    the    countr}' 
Massachusetts, $35 1. 06;  Rhode  Island,S334.26 
Connecticut,      $332.98;      Georgia,      $194.82 
Alabama,.  $177.89;  North  Carolina,  $169.33 
South  Carolina,  $167.77.      Those  figures  tell 
why  the    New  Hartford  mills,   using   about 
20,000   spindles   out  of   a  total  of   7,000,000 
in  the  industry,  were  moved. 

This  is  what  happened  when  the  orders 
came  to  close  the  mills:  Agents  arrived  at 
once  from  other  mills  to  give  the  operatives 
work.  The  closing  order  came  on  a  Friday. 
By  Monday  200  of  the  750  hands  employed 
in  the  mills  were  on  their  way  to  other  places, 
where  they  had  already  been  hired.  Before 
the  managers  of  the  trust  could  reach  New 
Hartford  to  offer  to  take  their  operatives  to 
Baltimore  where  excellent  labor  laws  prevail, 
the  plant  had  been  cleaned  out  by  agents 
of  other  places.  Mr.  James  E.  Hooper,  the 
president  of  the  trust,  informs  me  that  it 
was  the  intention  of  the  company  to  take  care 
of  every  employee  who  would  be  willing  to  go, 
not  to  the  far  South,  where  cheap  labor  pre- 
vails, but  to  Maryland,  where  wages  are  as 
high  as  in  New  England.  But  the  operatives 
found  work  immediately  in  Rhode  Island; 
Danielson,  Connecticut;  Torrington,  Con- 
necticut; North  Adams,  Massachusetts,  and 
smaller  towns  near  by.  Their  traveling 
and  household  moving  expenses  were  paid 
for  them.  One  agent  brought  a  special  car 
three  times  to  New  Hartford  and  filled  it  each 
time.  The  rush  for  the  nev/  work  was  such 
that  one  day  the  train  employees  had  to 
sweep  off  the  train  people  hanging  to  the  cars. 
They  even  went  in  freight  cars.  The  great 
point  is  that  not  one  capable  of  working  failed 
to  get  work,  and  that  the  trust  would  have 
cared  for  its  emploj-ees  if  it  had  had  a  chance. 
The  general  prosperity  of  the  country 
may  have  brought  this  condition  about,  but 


nevertheless  it  is  true  that  no  one  actually 
suffered  more  than  nominal  loss. 

Of  the  750  employees  in  the  mills,  fully 
450  were  Hungarians.  Many  of  them  worked 
for  as  low  as  $5  a  week — starvation  wages, 
it  would  seem.  And  yet  they  saved  money. 
One  man  the  day  before  he  left  town  took  out 
eight  $100  money  orders,  representing  his 
savings,  to  be  sent  to  the  old  countr3^  Half 
a  dozen  others  took  out  from  four  to  six 
money  orders  for  $100  each.  The  chief 
merchant  of  the  town,  who  forwarded  money 
by  check  to  a  certain  New  York  banking  firm 
for  transmission  to  the  old  country — there 
is  no  bank  to  do  this  work  in  the  town — 
showed  me  dozens  upon  dozens  of  vouchers 
representing  the  savings  of  these  people. 
Scores  were  for  sums  more  than  $100.  One 
was  for  $1,300.  One  man  who  had  worked 
seven  years  in  the  mills  at  $5  a  week  had 
$850  as  his  savings.  It  went  to  the  old 
countr}'.  One  woman  who  had  worked  for 
$4  a  week  took  out  a  money  order  for  $100, 
and  told  the  post-office  people  that  it  repre- 
sented her  savings  for  just  one  year.'  These 
low  wages  were  paid  because  other  cotton 
mills  paid  the  same  wages ;  because  such  cheap 
labor  could  be  secured  for  the  industry. 

These  Hungarians  lived  in  comfortable 
houses  owned  by  the  company.  The  highest 
rent  was  about  $100  a  year — for  houses 
occupied  by  foremen.  In  some  of  the  dwell- 
ings— which  were  quite  comfortable — the 
rent  was  as  low  as  $1.50  a  month.  When  the 
mill  ran  on  half  time  no  rent  was  charged. 
The  company  raised  large  quantities  of 
potatoes  and  wood  on  its  lands,  and  often 
these  were  to  be  had  free  by  the  employees. 

The  Hungarians  lived  largely  on  barley, 
which  the  leading  merchant  of  the  town 
bought  by  the  ton.  They  did  not  keep 
boarders  in  the  ordinary  sense.  Those  who 
rented  cottages  sublet  their  rooms  at  so  much 
for  a  bed,  so  much  for  a  trunk,  and  so  much 
for  the  cooking  rights  of  the  stove.  Not  one 
of  them  had  a  bank  account.  They  saved 
money  in  stockings;  they  lived  on  soup 
three  times  a  day  and  seven  days  of  the 
week;  thev  saved  money  and  they  counted 
themselves  prosperous. 

All  these  are  gone.  Many  of  the  French 
and  most  of  the  Americans  remain.  Only 
about  150  children,  all  above  fourteen,  worked 
in  the  mills,  and  that  is  why  their  closing  has 
affected  the  schools  so  little. 


CONDUCTING    A    RUSSIAN    NEWSPAPER 

FOR  PERMISSION  TO  PUBLISH  A  NEWSPAPER  A  PETITIONER  MAY  WAIT 
TEN  YEARS  — THE  LIMITATIONS  PLACED  ON  CENSORED  PERIODICALS 
—  THE    DANGERS    RUN    BY    PUBLICATIONS    THAT    ARE    "  CENSORI-REE" 

BY 

WOLF    VON    SCHIERBRAND 


WE  often  read  about  the  censorship 
of  the  Russian  press.  How  does  it 
work  in  everyday  practice  ?  How 
does  a  Russian  editor  conduct  his  paper  under 
it  ?  Outside  of  Turkey  there  is  no  other 
country  where  the  pubHc  intellect  as  ex- 
pressed in  newspapers,  periodicals  and  books 
or  pamphlets  is  fettered  as  in  Russia.  This 
more  than  anything  else  makes  amalgama- 
tion with  Russia  inexpressibly  hard  for  the 
Finns,  bred  as  they  are  to  untrammeled 
assertion  of  their  thoughts  and  convictions; 
and  perhaps  no  other  form  of  Russian  official 
life  gives  a  clearer  insight  into  the  difference 
between  Russia  and  the  rest  of  the  world. 

The  greatest  and  most  multiform  restric- 
tions are  those  imposed  upon  the  daily  press. 
For  the  dominating  idea  of  Russian  censor- 
ship is  to  guard  the  mind  of  the  whole  nation 
against  intellectual  influences  inimical  to  pre- 
vailing political  and  social  conditions — against 
everything  which  Western  notions  deem 
progressive,  in  fact,  to  change  of  any  kind. 
That  the  influence  of  the  daily  press,  exerted 
incessantly  and  upon  broad  strata  of  society, 
is  most  to  be  dreaded  from  this  point  of 
view  cannot  be  denied.  A  whole  chain  of 
obstacles  and  safeguards  therefore  tightly 
encompasses  the  Russian  press. 

First,  to  issue  a  periodical  organ,  the 
Government  concession  must  be  obtained. 
This  requires  time  and  money,  and  even  with 
these  is  uncertain.  First  the  sum  of  5,000 
roubles  (about  $2,800)  must  be  deposited 
with  the  Government  when  the  application 
is  made,  this  money  remaining  permanently 
in  its  hands.  Then  at  best  comes  a  long, 
long  wait,  generally  several  years.  But  that 
by  no  means  insures  success,  even  if  assiduous 
and  never-tiring  efforts  are  used  to  fortify  the 
application.  A  concession  cannot  be  insisted 
upon  as  a  right,  nor  is  it  subject  to  certain 
specific    and    inflexible    conditions.      Neither 


the  applicant's  admitted  eminent  literary 
qualifications  and  repute,  nor  his  irreproach- 
able political  belief  and  conduct,  nor  his  high 
and  influential  social  position,  suffices  in 
itself  to  obtain  one.  The  Chief  of  the  High 
Press  Administration  and  the  Minister  of  the 
Interior  can  act  entirely  as  they  please,  and  * 
give  their  final  answer  in  either  one  or  ten 
years.  Sometimes  not  a  single  concession 
is  accorded  for  a  number  of  years,  and  then 
there  follows  a  plethora.  Curious  stipula- 
tions are  often  made.  Thus,  the  recently 
displaced  chief  of  the  bureau  stated  publicly 
that  he  would  confer  concessions  exclusively 
upon  petitioners  known  personally  and  favor- 
ablv  to  him,  and  he  adhered  to  the  rule. 

Every  newspaper  must  have  a  "responsi- 
ble" editor  and  publisher,  specially  confirmed 
by  the  High  Press  Administration.  Thus 
they  become  quasi  Government  officials. 
The  "responsible"  editor  can  lose  his  qualifi- 
cation only  by  becoming  guilty  of  specific  acts. 
The  owner  or  publisher  of  the  paper  cannot 
discharge  him,  although  he  can  diminish  or 
take  away  his  salary.  The  only  remedy  is 
then  for  the  paper  to  ask  the  bureau  to 
sanction  a  change — which  may  or  may  not 
be  done.  Only  in  case  of  the  "responsible" 
editor's  leaving  Russia  or  becoming  guilty  of 
some  distinct  crime  will  he  lose  his  place  and 
title.  The  publishing  rights  can  likewise  be 
transferred  only  with  the  previous  permission 
of  the  bureau,  which  is  very  difficult  to 
get.  Religious  faith  is  important.  Jews  are 
excluded  under  all  circumstances. 

If  a  paper  or  periodical  has  its  concession 
annulled,  both  editors  and  publishers  lose 
forever  the  right  of  issuing  or  writing  for  any 
similar  publication. 

Concessions  are  always  granted  only  after 
the  approval  of  a  programme  closely  out- 
lined by  the  petitioner,  to  be  adhered  to 
during  the  lifetime  of  the  publication.     The 


2976 


CONDUCTING    A    RUSSIAN    NEWSPAPER 


High  Press  Administration  curtails  in  advance 
this  programme  as  much  as  possible.  Hence 
Russia  has  many  publications  of  oddly  cir- 
cumscribed scope.  Many  of  them — particu- 
larly in  the  provinces  and  in  the  rural  regions 
— have  only  the  concession  to  publish  adver- 
tisements, while  others  must  not  publish 
political  articles  or  telegrams,  and  nearly 
all  of  them  are  not  allowed  to  report  the 
public  military  trials.  If  the  subscription 
price  of  a  newspaper  does  not  exceed  six 
roubles  a  year,  it  must  not  engage  in  any 
discussion  of  the  existing  laws,  nor  in  what 
is  called  "  high  politics.  "  On  the  other  hand, 
if  a  publication  fails  to  make  a  regular 
feature  of  any  topics  included  in  its  scheduled 
programme,  the  programme  is  then  corre- 
spondingly cut  down.  In  case  of  suspension, 
no  matter  from  what  cause,  the  permit  of 
publication  ceases  within  a  year. 

A  concession  to  publish  a  paper  or  periodi- 
cal is  given  only  to  persons  toward  whom 
either  the  High  Press  Administration  or  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior  feels  well  disposed. 
A  real  journalist  is  hardly  ever  made  "  respon- 
sible" editor.  The  authorities  do  not  feel 
confidence  enough  in  him.  It  is  nearly 
always  Government  officials,  retired  army 
officers  and  similarly  situated  persons  who 
receive  the  sanction  of  the  authorities.  The 
late  Chief  of  the  Bureau,  Ssolovieflf,  went 
further.  He  forced  upon  the  publishers  his 
personal  friends  as  "responsible"  editors. 

Despite  all  these  precautions,  most  new 
concessions  get  into  the  hands  of  writers 
more  or  less  identified  with  the  progressive 
movement  in  the  empire ;  for  the  publications 
of  the  reactionary,  autocratic,  old-fashioned 
type  cannot  exist — if  one  excepts  a  bare 
few — without  large  Government  subsidies. 
The  educated  classes  in  Russia,  high  and  low, 
simply  refuse  to  read  and  support  them,  and 
this  less  from  reasons  of  political  and  social 
conviction  than  because  these  old-fashioned 
sheets  are  too  dull,  since  they  have  to  exclude 
nearly  all  sensational  and  entertaining  news 
matter.  There  is  also  another  element, 
omnipresent  in  the  Czar's  domains — official 
corruption,  which  accounts  for  the  transfer 
of  concessions  granted  to  men  of  reactionary 
tendencies  to  men  of  different  leanings.  A 
glaring  case  is  that  of  M.  Ssasonoff,  for- 
merly the  official  publisher  of  Rossya,  an 
influential  daily  recently  suppressed.  He 
sold  his  concession  for  an  immense  sum.     M. 


Golovinsky  sold  his  concession  for  the 
Sseverny  Courier  to  Prince  Bariatinsky  for 
50,000  roubles  in  cash  and  other  emoluments. 

If  these  precautionary  measures  have  not 
been  quite  successful,  their  baleful  effects  are 
nevertheless  very  perceptible.  It  is  due  to 
them  that  M.  Ssuvorine  has  maintained  the 
practically  monopolistic  position  of  the  Xovoe 
Vreniya,  a  paper  which  is  a  very  chameleon 
of  political  opinion — now  Governmental, 
again  moderately  liberal,  next  jingoistic  or 
reactionary,  just  as  the  weather  vane  of 
political  current  in  Russia  indicates,  and 
which  precisely  by  these  methods  has  forged 
to  the  head  of  Russian  newspapers.  For  a 
short  time  it  looked  as  if  the  Rossya  would 
dispute  its  rank,  but  its  editor-in-chief  one 
day  recklessly  began  to  attack  the  Imperial 
family  in  the  guise  of  ironical  praise.  He 
and  his  publisher  had  the  highest  connections 
at  court  and  in  the  army,  as  well  as  in 
Government  circles,  and  on  this  account 
Prince  Chakhovskoi  had  pardoned  many 
transgressions.  But  this  last  escapade  was 
not  forgiven.  It  precipitated  the  ruin  and 
permanent  suppression  of  the  Rossya,  and 
landed  M.  Amfiteatroff  in  Siberia.  It  is, 
therefore,  opportunism  turned  into  a  fine  art 
which  alone  will  enable  owners  of  and  writers 
for  Russian  papers  to  avoid,  at  least  for  a  time, 
the  fate  of  being  ruled  out  of  existence, 
though  in  the  long  run  even  the  most  acc6m- 
plished  artist  cannot  escape  that  fate. 

According  to  the  experience  of  the  last 
twenty  years  in  Rtissian  journalism,  if  a 
paper  succeeds  it  will  be  suppressed;  if  it  is 
not  suppressed  it  must  forego  success.  The 
Russian  papers  are  forever  oscillating  between 
these  two  goals.  Even  the  blackest,  dyed- 
in-the-wool  reactionary  sheet  realizes  from 
time  to  time  that  it  must  make  a  bid  for 
popular  favor  by  printing  something  it 
ought  not  to  print  and  thereby  risking  or 
actually  incurring  penalties,  even  suppres- 
sion, simply  to  increase  again  its  dwindling 
subscription  list.  Even  the  most  liberal  sheets 
must  at  times  spread  the  cloak  of  reaction- 
ism  over  their  columns  in  order  to  save 
themselves  from  annihilation. 

There  are  two  classes  of  newspapers  in 
Russia — the  so-called  "censor-free"  and  the 
"censored."  The  "censor-free"  paper  is, 
of  course,  a  misnomer,  for  it  is  not  only  sub- 
ject to  censorship,  but  is  also  forbidden  from 
printing    whole    departments    of    legitimate 


CONDUCTING    A    RUSSIAN    NEWSI'AI'KR 


2977 


news,  and  many  specific  items.  But,  after  all, 
it  enjoys  more  latitude  than  the  "censored" 
papers.  The  latter,  which  print  only  news, 
comment,  editorials,  literary  matter  of  every 
description,  criticism,  etc.,  apjirovcd  by  the 
censor,  as  testified  by  his  signature  on  every 
proof  slip,  run,  of  course,  no  danger.  But 
such  censored  papers  have  neither  influence 
nor  a  large  number  of  readers.  Financially 
they  lead  a  very  precarious  existence,  and 
are  never  heard  of  outside  their  immediate 
neighborhood. 

It  is  the  "censor-free"  papers  that  alone 
represent  the  Russian  press,  taking  that  word 
in  its  Western  sense,  though  they  are  subject 
to  preventive  censorship  and  delay  in  just 
those  features  of  news  which  in  other  coun- 
tries are  hastened,  and  which  form,  in  their 
greater  wealth  of  details  and  in  their  speedier 
receipt,  the  chief  diflference  between  the  less 
enterprising  and  successful  newspaper  and 
its  more  enterprising  and  successful  rival. 
This  list  comprises  telegrams,  reports  of  the 
sessions  of  city  councils,  zcmstvos,  and  other 
important  local  news,  all  court  news,  the 
appearance  of  cholera  and  other  epidemics, 
and  so  on.  Many  departments  of  news  must 
only  be  given  after  official  information  (if 
obtainable,  else  not  at  all),  such  as  news  of 
riots,  revolutions,  movements  of  the  army, 
all  Government  measures  and  appointments 
and  dismissals.  Some  kinds  of  news  must 
never  be  touched  on:  for  instance,  suicides, 
internal  conditions  of  Russian  schools  and 
universities,  strikes,  lockouts,  and  all  other 
labor  news,  even  including  editorials  on  labor 
statistics,  the  duration  of  working  hours  and 
wage  scales.  Political  murders,  all  plots  of 
a  political  nature,  dissertations  on  ana/chism, 
socialism  (even  in  other  countries),  and  any 
other  news  "  calculated  to  disturb  the  peace 
of  mind  of  the  Russian  subject,"  as  the 
Government  decree  has  it,  are  also  strictly 
tabooed.  Religious  news,  including  such 
cases  as  Tolstoi's,  is,  of  course,  excluded. 
Very  often  circulars  are  issued  prohibiting 
the  press  from  mentioning  certain  events, 
such  as  sensational  trials,  and  in  many  cases 
extending  this  prohibition  to  matters  trivial  or 
worse.  One  of  these  recent  circulars  forbade 
"  further  mention  of  the  wives  of  the  Sultan,  " 
for  instance.  Another  time  it  was  forbidden 
to  discuss  a  theatrical  scandal  in  connection 
with  a  new  drama,  called  "The  Smugglers," 


and  still  another  tune  the  papers  were  inter- 
dicted from  chronicling  tiic  boycotting  of 
the  Novoe  Vrcmya  because  of  that  paper's 
attitude  on  the  university  students'  riots. 
For  many  years  it  was  not  allowed  to  speak 
of  the  sessions  of  the  National  Economic 
Society.  Mention  of  particular  newspaper 
articles,  and  polemics  engendered  thereby, 
is  frequently  proscribed. 

This,  then,  is  what  is  meant  in  Russia  by 
the  term  "censor-free."  Yet,  with  all  these 
difficulties,  most  papers  prefer  this  limited 
supervision,  with  all  its  attendant  dangers 
and  penalties,  to  the  complete  serfdom  of  the 
"censored"  press.  But  the  number  of  such 
"censor-free"  papers  is  very  limited,  for 
the  Government  does  not  issue  many  con- 
cessions, even  in  place  of  those  annulled. 
In  the  main  it  is  only  in  St.  Petersburg  that 
such  concessions  are  granted.  In  Moscow, 
even,  no  concessions  for  "censor-free"  papers 
are  any  longer  accorded.  And  it  took  a 
periodical  of  considerable  ability  in  St. 
Petersburg  several  years  to  obtain  per- 
mission to  change  from  a  "censored"  into 
a  "censor-free"  publication. 

The  "warning"  is  one  of  the  most  formida- 
ble censoring  weapons.  According  to  the 
Imperial  ukase,  it  requires  three  warnings 
before  a  paper  or  periodical  can  be  entirely 
squelched.  There  are  other  weapons,  of 
course,  such  as  "temporary  prohibition," 
"disallowance  of  the  street  sales  of  papers," 
and  "interdiction  to  receive  and  publish 
advertisements."  All  these  modes  of  pun- 
ishment are,  of  course,  severe  enough,  and 
if  insisted  upon  long  enough  will  sometimes 
ruin  or  embarrass  a  publication.  But  the 
"warning"  is  the  most  dreaded  of  all,  next 
to  complete  suppression.  Such  "warnings" 
are  given  entirely  according  to  the  whim  of 
the  Minister  of  the  Interior  or  of  the  Chief 
of  the  High  Press  Administration,  sometimes 
for  ludicrously  small  contraventions  of  the 
press  regulations. 

The  worst  punishment,  suppression,  is 
now  meted  out  by  the  so-called  "confer- 
ence of  ministers,"  composed  of  the  Chief 
Procurator  of  the  Holy  Synod,  the  Minister 
of  the  Interior,  the  Minister  of  Education, 
and  the  Minister  of  Justice. 

Censorship  in  Russia  certainly  retards 
progress.  But  will  it  stop  it  eventually? 
Signs  are  not  lacking  that  it  will  not. 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL    INVASION    OF 

CANADA 

THE  MARVELOUS  RESOURCES  OF  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA  AND  HOW  MEN 
FROM  THE  UNITED  STATES  ARE  DEVELOPING  THEM— A  STUDV  OF  AMERI- 
CAN     INFLUENCE      MADE      DURING     A      JOURNEV     ACROSS      THE     CONTINENT 

BY 

ROBERT    H.    MONTGOMERY 


CECIL  RHODES  once  passed  his  hand 
across  the  map  of  Africa  and  said, 
"I  want  to  see  this  all  red" — or, 
in  other  words,  all  British.  A  like  American 
expansionist  who  hoped  to  see  the  North 
American  continent  "all  red" — or  controlled 
by  the  United  States — could  readily  fancy, 
in  taking  such  a  trip  as  I  recently  took 
from  Sj-dney,  Nova  Scotia,  to  Vancouver, 
that  a  reddish  tinge  covers  territory  far  to 
the  north  of  our  northern  political  limits; 
for  the  industrial  boundary  of  the  United 
States  runs  in  a  waving  line  across  the  conti- 
nent   well   within    Canadian   territory. 

The  story  begins  at  the  Atlantic  threshold 
of  Canada  and  proceeds  to  the  Pacific  Ocean — 
with  American  achievements  all  the  wav. 
And  how  did  it  begin?  What,  for  example, 
called  I\Ir.  Henry  M.  Whitney,  of  Boston,  from 
his  finished  task  of  giving  Boston  a  rapid 
transit  system,  to  a  bleak  and  obscure  coast 
village  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  how  did  he 
manage  great  steel  plants  there  ?  And  what 
called  other  men  across  the  boundary  line  ? 
This  is  what  I  set  out  last  June  to  discover. 

"Why,  if  we  Canadians  had  asked  the 
bankers  for  a  third  of  the  money  he  secured 
and  expended  at  Sydney, "  said  a  Montreal 
manufacturer,  telling  me  of  Mr.  Whitney's 
methods,  "they  would  have  laughed  at  us." 
Yet  Mr.  Whitney  had  merely  been  acute 
enough  to  perceive  what  I  found  at  Sydney, 
when  I  began  my  investigations,  to  be  a 
unique  opportunity  and  to  explain  it  lucidly 
to  other  financiers.  In  the  civilized  world 
there  is  no  other  tide-water  district  where 
iron  ore,  limestone  and  coal  are  found  so  close 
together,  so  good  and  so  easily  obtainable. 
Coal,  Mr.  Whitney  found,  could  be  mined 
and  put  on  shipboard  at  less  than  a  dollar 
a  ton.  Limestone  and  iron  ore  were  handy. 
Accordingly  he  set  to  work.     As  mining  lands 


in  Canada  are  merely  leased  to  operators  who 
pay  such  high  royalties  that  one-third  of  the 
Government  revenue  of  Nova  Scotia  comes 
from  the  mines  alone,  it  was  necessary  first 
to  give  strong  guarantees  to  pay  large  royal- 
ties. He  gave  them.  Thus  political  objec- 
tions were  overcome.  Next  the  various 
Sydney  coal  companies  were  consolidated 
into  the  Dominion  Coal  Company  and  affili- 
ated with  the  Dominion  Iron  and  Steel 
Company.  Limestone  quarries  were  secured, 
and  at  Great  Belle  Island  immense  deposits 
yielding  fifty-three  per  cent,  of  iron  were 
obtained,  lying  so  close  to  the  water's  edge 
that  the  cakes  of  ore  were  shoveled  directly 
into  the  holds  of  ships.  Cargoes  of  iron  ore  are 
delivered  at  Sydney  from  the  Wabana  mines 
for  less  than  $1.25  a  ton.  Stephen  Jeans,  an 
English  •  authority,  computes  the  cost  of 
manufacturing  hematite  iron  at  the  great- 
est steel  centres  of  the  world  as  follows: 
West  Cumberland,  England,  $15.65  a  ton; 
Westphalia,  Germany,  $13.50  a  ton;  Pittsburg, 
S9.57  a  ton.  At  Sydney  the  cost  is  $7.45 
a  ton — without  deducting  the  government 
bonus  of  $2.70  on  each  ton  of  native  ore  and 
$1.80  a  ton  for  foreign  ore  manufactured  in 
Canada,  which  would  lower  the  net  cost  to 
$5.65  or  S4.75  3.  ton  according  to  the  soujce 
of  the  ore.  This  was  Mr.  Whitney's  discov- 
ery in  Canada.  When  the  works  at  Sydney 
are  completed,  they  will  turn  out  half  a 
million  tons  of  steel  a  year,  and  already  plans 
are  on  foot  to  begin  ship-building  there. 

Mr.  Whitney  has  disposed  of  his  control  of 
the  Dominion  Iron  and  Steel  Company,  but 
it  was  his  genius  that  created  this  typically 
American  industry  beyond  our  borders. 

Sydney  is  i  ,200  miles  nearer  European  ports 
than  Baltimore,  the  port  nearest  Pittsburg; 
2,300  miles  nearer  Liverpool  than  Pensacola, 
the  port  nearest  the  Alabama  iron  district ;  and 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL    INVASION    OF    CANADA 


2979 


through  the  fact,  not  usually  borne  ni  mind, 
that  South  America  lies  far  to  the  east  of  the 
United  States,  600  miles  nearer  Rio  de  Janeiro 
and  Buenos  Ayros  than  New  Orleans  and 
Mobile.  It  is  also  900  miles  nearer  Cape  Town 
than  these  Gulf  ports  are.  In  fact,  it  may 
not  inaptly  be  termed  "The  nearest  port  to 
anywhere."  Its  deep  reef-free  harbor,  on 
the  shore  of  which  stands  the  steel  plant,  is 
untroubled  by  fog  and  is  ice-locked  only 
twenty  days  a  year;  and  furthermore,  it  is 
supplemented  by  Louisburg  Harbor,  forty 
miles  south,  which  is  never  ice-bound. 
Between  the  two  is  the  Marconi  wireless 
telegraph  station.  Already  fast  developing, 
what  shall  this  region  of  great  natural  wealth 
and  easy  communication  with  the  world 
become  in  the  future  ?  And  yet  it  might  still 
be  slumbering  undeveloped  if  it  had  not  been 
that  an  American  industrial  pioneer  had  seen 
there  an  opportunity. 

With  this  thought  in  mind,  I  journeyed 
westward  up  the  great  Laurentian  Valley. 
Here,  running  to  waste,  was  the  greatest 
natural  advantage  next  to  abundance  of  raw 
material  and  access  to  markets — namely, 
power.  Quebec  and  Ontario  possess  in  their 
vast  systems  of  lakes  and  streams  the  largest 
reservoir  of  hydraulic  energy  in  the  world. 
And  already  I  found  American  industries 
making  a  beginning  in  those  two  provinces. 
Within  fifty  miles  of  Ottawa,  energy  of 
nearly  a  million  horse-power  is  susceptible  of 
cheap  transmission  to  the  city,  though  only 
one-sixteenth  of  that  amount  is  now  used. 

The  standing  timber  of  Canada  equals  that 
of  the  continent  of  Europe  and  is  nearly 
double  that  of  the  United  States.  I  asked 
an  American  manufacturer  of  wood-pulp 
what  the  resources  of  his  business  are. 

"About  half  of  that,"  he  replied,  sweeping 
his  hand  across  the  map  of  Canada.  Forty  per 
cent,  would  be  more  nearly  accurate. 

The  timber  belt  stretches  from  the  Atlantic 
coast  to  the  plains  beyond  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  from  the  slopes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean;  while  on  the  north, 
beyond  the  "Height  of  Land,"  is  a  vast  area 
of  timber  sweeping  across  the  continent  from 
Labrador  to  Alaska,  700  miles  in  width  and 
4,000  in  length.  Of  these  forests  no  small 
proportion  is  spruce,  white  and  black,  the 
preferred  material  for  wood-pulp,  used  for 
paper  and  other  commodities  ranging  from 
car- wheels    and    water-buckets    to    buttons. 


A  single  district,  that  of  Lake  St.  John,  north 
of  Quebec,  bears  spruce  ecjual  to  the  entire 
forest  area  of  Norway,  and  has  700,000  horse- 
power in  its  streams  waiting  to  be  harnessed. 

Throughout  this  territory  the  American  of 
characteristic  enterprise  and  ability  is  ubiqui- 
tous. Millions  of  American  dollars  are  being 
expended  yearly  on  huge  pulp  mills  equipped 
with  the  best  American  machinery,  and  large 
towns  are  fast  springing  up  around  the  once 
lonely  cataracts  in  this  vast  hinterland. 
Apart  from  numerous  small  concerns  and 
new  ventures  still  under  construction,  I  was 
able  to  visit  immense  pulp  mills  at  Sturgeon 
Falls,  at  Sault  Sainte  Marie  and  at  Grand  Mere 
on  the  St.  Maurice ;  corporations  whose  timber 
limits  aggregate  many  thousand  square  miles, 
and  handle  many  millions  of  logs  per 
annum,  producing  pulp  which,  from  its  high 
quality,  is  driving  the  Scandinavian  article 
from  the  markets  of  Europe,  is  supplying 
many  mills  in  the  United  States,  and  is 
largely  used  in  Australasia,  India  and  Japan. 

These  American  investors  are  determined 
to  make  their  position  in  Canada  that  of 
sovereignty  in  the  paper-using  world.  Twenty 
years  ago  wood-pulp  went  into  the  manufac- 
ture of  but  eight  per  cent,  of  ordinary  paper. 
Todaymore  than  eighty  per  cent. of  such  paper 
is  made  with  wood-pulp  as  the  chief  ingredient. 
The  pulp  has  become  one  of  the  prime  neces- 
sities of  civilized  peoples.  The  supply  in  the 
United  States  is  dwindling  as  its  forests  dis- 
appear, and  that  of  Europe  also,  while  the 
demand  continually  increases.  Attention  is, 
therefore,  now  transferred  from  exhausted 
districts  to  the  new  Canadian  field,  and  a 
flow  of  English,  French  and  Belgian  capital 
has  set  in  which  promises  phenomenal  devel- 
opment. Americans,  it  need  hardly  be  said, 
are  still  foremost  in  expansion,  as  they  were 
pioneers  in  the  inception  of  the  industry. 
Ezra  B.  Eddy,  of  Hull,  near  Ottawa,  who 
operates  the  largest  manufactory  of  pulp 
products  and  matches  under  the  British  flag; 
General  Russell  A.  Alger,  of  Michigan,  who 
initiated  the  development  of  the  Laurentide 
Pulp  Mills  at  Grand  Mere;  Francis  Clergue, 
of  Maine,  whose  pulp  processes  at  the 
Canadian  "Soo"  are  the  world's  criterion 
of  excellence ;  the  Clarks,  of  New  York,  pio- 
neers on  the  far  northern  shore  of  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence;  the  late  Ex-Senator  Warner 
Miller,  of  New  York,  one  of  the  organizers 
of   the    International    Company,  in    the    St. 


2980 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL    INVASION    OF    CANADA 


Maurice  region — led  the  van  of  the  American 
invasion.  And  largely,  too,  upon  American 
machinery,  engineers  and  employees  are 
European  investors  in  the  region  depending 
for  success. 

Crossing  the  gardenlike  peninsula  of  On- 
tario, I  proceeded  to  the  upper  lake  region, 
and  that  portion  of  its  north  shore  known  as 
Algoma  or  "New  Ontario."  Here  is  demon- 
stration of  American  discovery  and  conquest 
even  more  recently  achieved  than  that  in 
eastern  Canada.  On  the  Canadian  shore  of 
the  "Soo, "  by  the  original  purchase  of  a 
small  power  canal,  Mr.  Francis  Clergue,  of 
Maine,  representing  a  Philadelphia  syndicate, 
has  developed  in  a  few  years,  and  by  natu- 
ral, conservative  progress,  the  "Consolidated 
Lake  Superior  Company,"  a  corporation 
including  water-works  as  well  as  the  original 
canal,  light  and  power  plants,  pulp  mills, 
chemical  and  mechanical,  railroads,  telegraph 
and  steamship  lines,  iron  mining,  smelting 
and  blooming,  and  electro-chemical  works, 
with  all  their  subsidiary  industries.  Mr. 
Clergue  was,  as  he  says  himself,  "fortunate 
enough  to  come  to  Sault  Sainte  Marie  in 
1894,  and  sensible  enough  to  stay  there." 
His  original  investment  was  modest — the 
acquisition  of  a  5,000  horse-power  canal  and 
its  enlargement  to  fourfold  that  capacity.  The 
company  was  then  prepared  to  lease  power 
to  manufacturers,  but  there  was  apparently 
no  one  sufficiently  far-sighted  to  seize  the 
opportunity.  The  power  company,  tired  of 
waiting,  erected  a  pulp-mill  and  went  into 
manufacturing  on  its  own  account.  The 
story,  as  Mr.  Clergue  tells  it,  of  how  the  need 
of  sulphur  for  the  process  of  chemical  pulp- 
making  led  to  scientific  investigation  by  his 
experts,  resulting  in  a  performance  of  the 
"impossible"  feat  of  roasting  sulphur  from 
the  Sudbury  nickel,  near  at  hand,  and  how 
the  resulting  "matte"  was  discovered  to  be 
a  superior  quality  of  ferro-nickel,  eagerly  con- 
tracted for  by  the  late  Herr  Krupp  of  Essen,  is 
curious  enough.  Press  him  a  little  further 
and  learn  the  stranger  sequel  of  how  the 
excess  of  nickel  in  the  "matte"  beyond 
contract  requirements  led  to  a  search  for 
iron  ore  to  qualify  it,  and  of  the  accidental 
discovery  of  the  rich  Michipicoten  mines. 
An  ignorant  prospector,  thinking  he  had 
found  gold,  brought  his  specimens  to  Mr. 
Clergue  to  be  assayed.  On  learning  that  his 
treasure  was  only  iron,  he  was  so  disgusted 


as  to  sell  the  claim  for  $500.  Later,  when 
it  was  discovered  how  rich  the  mines  are, 
Mr.  Clergue  made  a  life  settlement  of  $75  a 
month  upon  the  lucky  prospector,  who  thus 
found  his  gold  mine  after  all.  The  develop- 
ment of  Michipicoten  required  the  construc- 
tion of  railroads  and  the  purchase  of  a 
fleet  of  steamers,  and  these  in  turn  led  to 
other  developments;  but  they  cannot  be 
related  here,  though  the  story  would  read 
like  a  romance. 

One  thing  failed  Mr.  Clergue:  coal  is  not 
available  at  Sault  Sainte  ^larie  unless  brought 
from  Pennsylvania;  but  in  place  of  coke  for 
the  blast  furnaces,  charcoal  is  made  by  a  new 
process  and  can  be  used  economically;  char- 
coal cannot  be  afforded  at  rival  plants  except 
for  the  manufacture  of  the  finest  crucible  steel. 
The  thousands  of  acres  of  forests  comprising 
the  company's  timber  limits  supply  an 
abundance  of  hard  wood  for  the  charcoal, 
and  the  utilization  of  the  by-products  will 
necessitate  new  structures,  extending  the 
already  large  territory  covered  by  the  com- 
pany's picturesque  buildings  of  red  stone. 
Every  dollar  of  the  vast  expenditure  for  the 
construction  and  equipment  of  these  works 
and  transport  lines  came  from  the  pockets  of 
the  syndicate.  There  is  not  a  mortgage  nor 
bond  of  the  concern  in  existence,  and  the 
funds  at  Mr.  Clergue 's  command  seem  unlim- 
ited. He  occupies,  with  his  brother,  pictur- 
esque bachelor  quarters  in  the  remodeled 
block-house  which  once  guarded  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company's  post,  around  the  premises 
of  which,  as  guardians,  two  or  three  large 
bears  are  usually  tethered.  His  method  is 
Napoleonic ;  his  outlook  is  no  less  remarkable 
than  his  appetite  for  detail. 

Educated  as  a  lawyer  and  trained  as  a 
banker,  he  is  also  a  mechanic  and  an  engineer. 
When  not  inventing  an  improvement  in  a 
machine,  he  may  be  dreaming  before  his  fire 
of  a  few  hundred  miles  more  of  railway ;  both 
will  be  executed.  He  required  an  apparatus 
for  drying  pulp  to  save  freightage  on  fifty 
per  cent,  of  useless  moisture;  there  was  no 
such  machine.  He  drew  plans  for  it,  but  the 
makers  of  pulp  machinery  declined  to  build  it, 
declaring  the  idea  to  be  erroneous  and  the 
plan  impossible.  He  built  the  machine  in  his 
own  shops  and  made  it  work.  The  saving 
over  the  old  method  is  represented  by.  $1,000 
per  day. 

Many  of  Mr.  Clergue's  schemes  have  seemed 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL    INVASION    OF    CANADA 


2981 


impossible,  as  did  this  machine,  but  eventually 
they  have  succeeded  and  have  paid  as 
handsomely.  The  completion  of  the  Algoma 
Central  Railway,  of  winch  Mr.  Clergue  is 
manager,  from  the  "Soo"  via  Michipicoten 
to  Moose  Factory  on  Hudson  Bay,  will  mark 
the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  North  American 
history;  and  when,  in  addition  to  Canada's 
already  valuable  export  of  fishery  products 
to  the  United  States,  the  salmon  of  the  great 
sub-Arctic  sea  are  delivered  fresh  on  the 
Chicago  markets,  nine  hundred  miles  due 
south,  as  Mr.  Clergue  promises,  it  will  stand 
as  an  achievement  in  the  history  of  man's 
struggle  to  subdue  the  Northland.  This  line 
of  railroad  will  open  a  country  equal  in  area 
to  one-half  the  State  of  New  York,  and  with 
a  soil  more  fertile  and  a  climate  more  equable 
than  prevails  in  many  more  southerly  and 
already  settled  portions  of  the  continent. 
The  company  is  pledged  to  bring  in,  and 
provide  farm  homes  for,  1,000  settlers  an- 
nually for  five  years,  this  in  return  for  the 
Government  grant  of  6,400  acres  of  land  per 
mile  of  railroad.  Mr.  Clergue  is  therefore  not 
only  a  discoverer  but  also  a  colonizer,  as  well 
as  an  industrial  czar  in  what  was  not  long 
ago  a  howling  wilderness. 

I  have  here  touched  upon  American  indus- 
trial outposts  located  in  portions  of  the 
Dominion  widely  separated  from  one  another. 
But  bear  in  mind  that  in  the  whole  of  her  vast 
territory  Canada  has  fewer  inhabitants  than 
the  State  of  New  York;  that  the  revenue  by 
which  the  Government  is  sustained,  great 
public  works  constructed  and  the  laws 
efficiently  administered  is  less  than  the 
revenue  of  the  City  of  New  York.  To  a 
population  so  widely  scattered,  means  of 
intercommunication  are  accordingly  of  exigent 
importance.  Canada  has,  as  the  result  of  an 
enormous  expenditure,  a  system  of  water- 
ways by  which  sea-going  vessels  may  pene- 
trate almost  to  the  heart  of  the  continent. 
These  were  for  a  time  suflficient,  but  years  ago 
a  few  public  men  began  the  agitation  for  a 
policy  of  railroad  construction  which  was  then 
largely  in  excess  of  the  country's  requirements. 
The  Grand  Trunk  was  the  pioneer  line,  and 
for  many  years  was  alone  in  the  field,  increas- 
ing its  Canadian  mileage  from  two  or  three 
hundred  miles  in  1 8  5  5  to  more  than  three  thou- 
sand in  1 901 .  Its  history  has  been  checkered, 
as  the  English  capital  most  largely  interested 
was  slow  to  realize  that  a  Canadian  railroad 


cannot  be  successfully  managed  from  a 
transatlantic  base;  but  the  lesson  once  learned 
was  taken  thoroughly  to  heart.  In  1895 
Charles  M.  Hays,  then  Vice-President  of  the 
Wabash  system,  was  selected  as  General 
Manager  of  the  Grand  Trunk,  and,  except 
for  a  few  months,  when  he  succeeded  Collis 
P.  Huntington  as  President  of  the  Southern 
Pacific,  has  occupied  that  position  ever 
since.  Mr.  Hays  cut  away  deadwood  ruth- 
lessly, and  effected  a  thorough  reorganization 
of  the  twenty-five  lines  comprising  the  Grand 
Trunk  system,  putting  the  whole  upon  a 
modern  and  efficient  basis.  The  great  increase 
in  the  road's  business  and  prosperity  is 
entirely  due  to  Mr.  Hays  and  the  American 
railroad  men  he  selected  as  his  subordinates. 
But  though  the  Grand  Trunk,  for  some  time, 
met  the  requirements  of  eastern  Canada,  and 
the  Intercolonial  Railway,  a  national  under- 
taking, connected  the  Maritime  Provinces 
with  Quebec,  it  was  felt  that  until  there  was  a 
comprehensive  railroad  system  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  to  bind  the  incoherent  confederation 
together,  Canada  could  not  become  a  nation. 
This  was  the  inspiration  that  American 
experts  crystallized  as  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway. 

In  1 88 1  the  political  party  in  power 
opened  negotiations  to  construct  a  trans- 
continental railroad  with  the  capitalists  who 
eventually  completed  it.  The  first  task  of 
these  builders  was  to  find  capable  and  experi- 
enced men  to  carry  out  their  project.  It  was 
then  that  two  American  railroad  men  of 
mark,  William  C.  Van  Home  and  Thomas  G. 
Shaughnessy,  first  became  interested  in  the 
great  enterprise.  Sir  William  Van  Home, 
before  he  accepted  the  management  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific,  had  had  a  varied  experience 
of  railroad  life.  In  his  fourteenth  year  he  was 
an  office  boy  in  an  Illinois  railroad  station, 
rising  to  the  posts  of  telegraph  operator  and 
ticket  agent,  and  ascending  grade  by  grade  in 
the  employ  of  various  lines  in  different  parts 
of  the  Union  until  he  became,  in  1880,  General 
Superintendent  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  & 
St.  Paul  Railroad.  In  the  following  year  he 
was  chosen  as  General  Manager  of  the  pro- 
jected Canadian  line,  and  given  the  task  of 
constructing  it  across  the  plains  and  over 
the  mountains  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  He 
selected  as  his  right-hand  man,  Mi.,  now  Sir, 
Thomas  Shaughnessy,  who  had  served  with 
him  in  Milwaukee  and  has  since  succeeded  him 


2982 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL   INVASION   OF    CANADA 


in  the  presidency  of  the  Canadian  Pacific. 
The  last  rail  of  the  line  was  laid  fifty-four 
months  after  the  commenceinent  of  the  road 
by  the  company,  and  in  less  than  one-half 
the  time  required  by  its  contract  with  the 
Government. 

The  day  came  when  the  first  train  for  the 
Pacific  Coast  was  scheduled  to  leave  ^Montreal. 
On  time  to  the  second,  it  pulled  out  of  the 
station  with  as  little  demonstration  as  if  it 
had  set  out  daily  for  years.  Ten  minutes 
later  a  battery  of  field  artillery  dawdled  up, 
unlimbered,  and  prepared  to  fire  a  salute 
when  the  train  should  depart.  Great  was  the 
disgust  of  the  major  in  command  when  he 
learned  that  the  object  of  his  attentions  was 
already  some  miles  on  its  way  west.  "  Well," 
said  Mr.  Van  Home,  in  humorous  reference  to 
the  leisurely  methods  of  the  rival  road,  "I 
guess  he  thought  he  was  to  salute  the  Grand 
Trunk!"  Sir  William  Van  Home,  knighted 
by  the  late  Queen  Victoria,  is  accounted  the 
ablest  as  he  is  certainly  the  most  versatile  man 
in  Canada.  He  is  repeating  for  Cuba  just 
such  a  triumph  of  trunk  line  railroading  as 
he  accomplished  for  the  Dominion.  He  is  a 
member  of  a  score  of  boards  of  manufacturing 
and  banking  enterprises,  and  fills  a  seat  at  the 
councils  of  McGill  University.  By  way  of 
recreation  he  gathers  canvases  by  Velasquez 
or  Corot,  his  love  of  the  masters  all  the  keener 
because  he  is  himself  an  artist  of  talent.  His 
collection  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  porcelains 
is  one  of  the  best  in  America;  he  can  stay  up, 
after  a  hard  day's  work,  till  two  in  the  morning 
transferring  to  paper  the  outlines  and  hues 
of  his  jars  and  vases.  He  talks  admirably, 
writes  well  and  has  a  hearty  appreciation  of 
the  best  literature,  and  naturally  Stevenson 
and  Kipling  are  among  his  favorites.  He  is 
in  intelligent  sympathy  with  science.  There 
is  nothing  mechanical,  from  the  proportions  of 
a  chimney  to  a  folding  berth  for  a  steamship, 
that  he  cannof  set  forth  with  pencil  and 
specification.  At  rare  intervals,  perhaps 
during  a  transcontinental  journey,  he  draws 
up  to  the  card-table.  Then  he  becomes  an 
object  of  dread,  for  never  was  there  such  a 
bluffer  before. 

Under  the  successive  supervision  and  man- 
agement of  Van  Home  and  Shaughnessy 
the  Canadian  Pacific  has  grown  to  control 
railroads  aggregating  6,874  miles  within  the 
Dominion  and  owns  fleets  of  steamships  on  the 
Great  Lakes,  and  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  royal 


mail  liners  to  China,  Japan  and  Australia. 
The  company  is  now  tendering  for  the  pro- 
jected fast  mail  service  between  Canada  and 
Great  Britain.  By  rail  and  water  it  main- 
tains a  continuous  transcontinental  route 
between  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  or  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  to  Victoria,  on  Vancouver 
Island,  British  Columbia,  the  only  single 
ocean-to-ocean  railroad  on  the  North  American 
continent.  The  original  purpose  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  was  political  and  military; 
its  financial  success  was  purely  speculative. 
There  were  not  wanting  men  of  influence  who 
jibed  that  it  "would  never  pay  for  the  grease 
on  the  car-wheels."  Needless  to  say,  its  con- 
structors had  more  confidence,  and  to  one 
who  has  traveled  by  it  through  the  Northwest, 
of  which  it  is  the  main  artery,  it  is  incredible 
that  men  of  intelligence  could  ever  have 
doubted  the  future  of  the  country  or  the 
success  of  the  road.  So  rapid  has  been  the 
development  of  the  country  through  which 
the  Canadian  Pacific  runs  that  the  Grand 
Trunk  is  now  preparing  to  share  in  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Great  West  of  Canada  by 
extending  its  line  to  the  Pacific.  Nearly 
3,000  miles  of  railway  will  be  built  across 
the  continent  at  an  expenditure  of  from 
$75,000,000  to  $100, 000, coo — another  monu- 
ment to  the  "  forward  policy  "  of  Mr.  Hayr. 
The  joke  of  Sir  William  Van  Home  in  the 
matter  of  the  battery  that  arrived  too  late 
no  longer  has  point. 

The  gold  fields  of  western  Ontario  have 
just  begun  to  produce  gold,  but  a  large 
amount  of  development  work  has  been  done, 
and  the  prospects  are  that  in  output  these 
fields  will  rank  with  the  Rand  and  the  great 
Comstock  lode.  Americans  are  almost  en- 
tirely responsible  for  all  the  work  done  on 
the  mines  in  the  Rainy  River  District,  as 
the  Ontario  gold  fields  are  generally  known, 
and  the  capital  has  been  drawn  from  "  the 
States."  Many  mills  are  already  in  opera- 
tion, though  it  is  hardly  ten  years  since  the 
gold-bearing  quartz  veins  were  discovered 
when  the  Canadian  Pacific  line  was  cut 
through.  Shafts  have  been  sunk  in  many 
places  chiefly  by  American  compressed  air 
drills  bought  by  American  capital  and 
operated  in  many  cases  by  American  miners. 

Though  these  new  gold  fields  are  almost 
on  our  very  borders,  little  is  known  to  the 
public  in  general,  but  the  mining  men  are 
thoroughly  alive  to  their  importance. 


OUR    INDUS'IRI  AL    INVASION    OF    CANADA 


2983 


THE    FIRST    IMPORTATION    OF    SHLILAND    PONIES    INTO   THE    NORTHWEST 

I-etlibridge,  N.  W.  T.,  Nov.  22,  1890 


During  the  past  autumn  Sir  Wilfrid 
Laurier,  the  Premier  of  the  Dominion,  in  a 
speech  at  Liverpool,  said  that  within  two 
decades  Canada  would  be  able  to  supply  the 
total  wheat  requirements  of  Great  Britain. 
One  of  the  most  notable  features  of  the 
decorations  in  London  for  the  coronation 
ceremony  this  past  summer  was  a  triumphal 
arch  of  cereals  at  Whitehall  bearing  the 
illuminated  legend,  "Canada  the  Granary  of 
the  Empire."  This  was  a  bold  bit  of  adver- 
tising, but  its  boast  and  Sir  Wilfrid's  state- 
ment have  a  basis  of  fact.  But  Sir  Wilfrid 
did  not  consider  it  necessary  to  add  that  the 
development  of  the  "Empire's  Granarv"  was 
being  effected,  not  by  English  immigrants 
or  Canadian  pioneers,  but  by  farmers  from 
the  United  States. 

There  has  lately  been  a  steady  migration 
of  Western  farmers  into  Canada.  It  is  now 
generally  conceded  that  the  bulk  of  the  wheat- 
bearing  lands  of  North  America  lie  beyond 
the  international  boundary.  The  western 
wheat  belt  of  Canada  is  estimated  to  equal 
an  area  of  400  miles  from  north  to  south  and 
900  miles  from  east  to  west.  This  does  not 
include  the  cultivable  area  of   Manitoba  and 


the  Northwest  Territories.  As  an  example 
of  the  vastness  of  this  new  cereal  Eldorado  I 
will  specify  one  territory,  Saskatchewan,  one 
of  the  most  fertile  districts  in  western 
America,  equaling  in  extent  the  combined 
area  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
Delaware  and  Kentucky.  This  deep-soiled 
river  valley  has  at  present  a  population  of 
about  25,000  souls,  over  a  third  of  whom  are 
Indians. 

As  I  passed  through  Manitoba,  from  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  to  Brandon,  and  still  west- 
ward to  Regina — through  one  vast  wheat- 
field  awaiting  the  reaper — it  was  an  effort 
to  realize  that  but  a  few  years  ago  the  entire 
country  was  deemed  a  worthless  wilderness, 
unfit  for  any  purpose  except  the  production 
of  furs  for  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  This 
impression  was  due  partly  to  ignorance,  but 
also,  to  a  considerable  extent,  to  the  deliberate 
misrepresentations  of  the  servants  of  the 
company,  who  wished  no  intrusion  on  their 
preserves.  The  United  States  Consul  at 
Winnipeg  was  one  of  the  first  to  realize 
the  great  opportunity,  and  his  reports  were 
corroborated    by  millers  at    Minneapolis  and 


2984 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL    INVASION    OF    CANADA 


KURN'ACES  OF  THF.    DOMINION    IRON   AM) 
A  monument  to  the  enterprise 


St.  Paul  long  before  the  attention  of  the  world 
at  large  had  been  directed  to  the  "wilderness" 
which  in  1902  produced  75,000,000  bushels 
of  the  finest  wheat  in  the  world. 

Mr.  Theodore  M.  Knappen.  addressing  the 
Bankers'  Association  of  Minnesota  not  long 
ago,  said  that  at  the  present  rate  of  American 
immigration  into  Canada  there  would  in 
ten  years  be  farmers  enough  to  produce 
250,000,000  bushels  of  wheat;  and  deducting 
the  comparatively  small  amount  required  for 
home  consumption,  Canada  will  then  export 
cargoes  nearly  double  those  of  the  American 
shipment  of  today.  The  farming  population 
which  produces  the  present  relatively  great 
crop  of  "No.  I  Hard"  is  at  present  insignifi- 
cant in  numbers  and  occupies  a  territory  that 
is  trifling  compared  to  the  area  capable  of 


cultivation.  In  Manitoba  and  the  Northwest 
Territories  260.000.000  acres  of  arable  land 
today  await  the  plow. 

Seeking  contact  with  American  trekkers,  I 
spent  a  most  interesting  day  in  the  busy  office 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Immigration  at 
Winnipeg,  and  conversed  wit  la  a  remarkable 
variety  of  land  seekers.  Shrewd-faced  depu- 
ties from  Indiana  and  Nebraska  came  in  to 
report  their  impressions.  I  found  them, 
without  exception,  enthusiastic  about  the 
country  they  had  been  sent  to  spy  out. 

"See  that  rye,"  pointing  to  a  specimen 
sheaf  seven  feet  four  inches  in  height.  "Tlie 
land  that  grows  that  is  good  enough  for  us."' 
one  of  them  replied  to  my  question. 

In  the  first  six  months  of  1902  eighty-six  per 
cent,  more  emigrants  entered  Canada  than  in 


()l\<     1  N  1)1   SIR  I  A  I.    IWASION    Ol-    CANADA 


J985 


STEEL  WORKS   AT  SYDNEY,   NOVA   SCOTIA 
of  Mr.  Henrv  M.  Whitnev 


» 


anv  preceding  year.  A  large  proportion  of  this 
immigration,  25.000  at  least,  was  of  American 
citizens.  The  estimates  published  in  the 
American  and  Canadian  press  may  in  many 
cases  be  inflated,  and  it  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  procure  accurate  statistics.  Careful 
inquiries  and  my  own  observation  would  go 
to  show  that  forty  per  cent,  of  the  American 
immigrants  are  not  entered  on  the  Immi- 
gration Commissioner's  books,  having  trekked 
singly  or  in  parties  across  the  frontier,  and 
not  having  entered  by  the  ports  of  registration 
on  the  lines  of  rail.  I  should  say  that  there 
are  already  70.000  people  of  American 
extraction  in  that  country. 

It  would  be  erroneous  to  assume  that  this 
migration  of  Western  farmers  is  due  to  dissatis- 
faction with  their  old  homes.     Apart  from  the 


tendency  of  certain  adventurous  spirits  to 
push  toward  v'irgin  territory,  and  the  overflow 
of  young  men  from  already  congested  farming 
districts,  the  bulk  of  the  immigrants  go  to 
Canada  because  they  can  sell  their  old  farms 
for  from  S30  to  $40  an  acre  in  manv  cases, 
and  can  buy  as  good  land  under  the  British 
flag  for  from  S7  to  Sio  an  acre,  starting  anew 
under  favorable  conditions  with  ready  cash 
in  hand.  A  certain  proportion  of  each  new 
township  is  of  crown  lands  on  which  the 
"homesteader"  may  secure  an  allotment  on 
the  payment  of  a  nominal  fee  of  Sio  for  160 
acres  of  land,  and  after  a  residence  of  three 
years,  in  compliance  with  homestead  regula- 
tions, receive  an  absolute  title.  Or  he  may 
purchase  lands  from  the  large  grants  owned  by 
the  Canadian  Pacific  and  Canadian  Northern 


> 


S  5 

<  S 

I—.  _- 

O  o 

o  z 


'a. 
C 


OTK     INDISIKIAI.    INVASION    0 1-"    CANADA 


2987 


New  barn 


HOW   WKALTH    INCREASES    IN    MANITOBA 
Old  bam 


N 


e\v  house 


Old  house 


railroads,  or  buy  a  farm  from  one  of  the  many- 
land  companies,  chiefly  American,  which  have 
recently  acquired  large  tracts  of  the  railway 
lands.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  also 
controls  enormous  holdings.  The  total  land 
sales  during  the  summer  of  1902  were  fivefold 
those  of  1901,  with  prices  steadily  rising. 
Lands  selling  at  $3  an  acre  fiv^e  years  ago  are 
now  bringing  double  or  treble  that  price. 
American  capitalists  are  forming  syndicates 
for  the  purchase  of  large  tracts  for  "bonanza " 
farming.  A  syndicate  headed  by  T.  B.  Hoard, 
of  Nebraska,  has  bought  40,000  acres  in  an 
unbroken  stretch  at  $5  an  acre.  This  farm  is 
near  Davidson,  on  the  Prince  Albert  branch 
of  the  Canadian  Pacific,  and  will  throughout 
its  great  extent  be  sown  in  wheat. 


I  give  this  as  only  one  example  of  several 
large  sections  of  the  wheat  belt  which  .within  the 
year,  have  passed  into  American  hands,  chiefly 
those  of  experienced  farmers  from  Montana, 
Minnesota,  the  Dakotas,  Indiana  and  Nebraska. 
Many  immigrants  have  selected  their  home- 
sites  in  what  is  known  as  the  semi-arid 
region,  comprising  most  of  Assiniboia  and  all 
of  southern  Alberta,  a  district  already  con- 
taining a  larger  population  than  any  other 
equal  area  of  the  Territories.  The  soil  is  deep 
and  exceptionally  fertile.  The  Americans 
settled  on  the  "  Soo  "  line,  near  Estevan,  have 
gone  largely  into  flax  growing.  They  told  me 
that  in  their  old  districts  they  considered  a 
crop  of  fifteen  bushels  an  acre  as  first  rate. 
Their  new  farms  are  yielding  twenty  bushels 


ST.   JOHN,  NEW  BRUNSWICK,  FROM    FAIRVILLE 


MR     HENRY    M.    WHITNEY 
Who  developed  the  resources  of  Nova  Scotia 


SIR    THOMAS    G.    SHAUGHNESSV 

PRF.SIDENT    OF    THE    CANADIAN    PACIFIC    RAII.WAV 


Photographed  by  Notman 


2990 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL    INVASION    OF    CANADA 


A   CORN    PLOT 
At  Indian  Head,  Manitoba 

per  acre.  They  attributed  this  to  the  fine 
quality  of  the  soil  and  the  long  solar  light  of 
the  northern  summer  day.  The  reports  these 
men  and  others  similarly  situated  send  to 
their  old  neighbors  help  the  steadily  growing 
migration  from  the  Western  States.  In  this 
district,  irrigation,  where  necessary,  is  easier 
than  in  the  higher  altitudes  of  the  southern 
division  of  the  continent.  Manv  canal  sys- 
tems   have    been    completed    bv    individual 


FARMERS  DELIVERING   GRAIN   AT   THE   RAILWAY 
ELEVATORS,   MANITOBA 

enterprise ;  all  are  under  government  super- 
vision. These  already  irrigate  several  million 
acres,  and  more  ditches  are  being  surveyed 
and  constructed.  The  rainfall  is  usually 
abundant,  and  irrigation  is  essential  only  in 
exceptional  years.  In  the  Western  and 
Southwestern  States  artesian  wells  are  largely 
relied  upon  for  water  supply;  in  southern 
Alberta  the  natural  reservoirs  contain  enough 
water  to  irrigate  every  foot  of  land.  Wind- 
mills or  steam  pumps  are  not  required;  the 
natural  fall  of  the  ground  toward  the  north- 
east is  amply  sufficient,  and,  indeed,  the  main 
engineering  problem  has  been  to  modify  this 
descent.  On  an  average  the  cost  of  irrigation 
has  been  $2.25  an  acre,  or  less  than  one-half 
the  cost  in  Montana,  which  has  the  cheapest 
svstem  in  the  Union.      Some  of  the  Mormon 


BRANDING   A    S  PEER   AT   A    ROUND-UP 
In  Alberta 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL    INVASION    OF    CANADA 


2991 


settlements  in  the  irrigated  districts  of 
western  Canada  have  been  very  successful  in 
the  growing  of  sugar-beets;  so  that  wheat  is 
by  no  means  the  sole  dej)endence  of  the  new 
settler.     All  the  sta])le  cereals  are  raised  in 


longer  a  menace;  the  last  serious  frost  took 
place  as  long  ago  as  189.5.  Climatic  con- 
ditions here  as  elsewhere  have  been  bettered 
l)y  the  ojK'ning  uj)  of  the  country.  An 
Agricultural    Commission    once     gravclv     re- 


the  Territories,  ami  mixed  farming,  dairying      ported    on    the    climate  of    Illinois  as  being 


IN   THE   SAULT  SAINTE   MARIE   CANAL 
A  whaleback  after  a  storm  on  Lake  Superior 


and  ranching,  the  latter  on  a  large  scale,  are 
profitably  conducted. 

An  important  efTect  of  irrigation  is  that  it 
considerably  mitigates  the  danger  of  summer 
frosts,  though  even  in  the  more  northern  and 
non-irrigated   districts   this   seems   to   be   no 


unsuited  for  wheat  culture  I  Since  then  the 
wheat  belt  has  made  two  northward  jumps 
of  300  miles  each.  Climatic  conditions  give 
western  Canada  an  advantage  over  the 
eastern  portion  of  the  Dominion  with  whose 
icy  breath   Kipling's   "Lady  of  the   Snows" 


I 


MR.    CHARLES    M.    HAYS 

VICE-PRESIDENT    AND    GENERAL    MANAGER    OF    THE    GRAND   TRUNK    RAILWAY    SYSTEM 


Photog^-aphed  by  Notman 


i. 


IMtolographed  b^*  Notirtan 

SIR    WILLIAM    C.    VAN    HORNF 

CHAIRMAN    OF   THE    BOARD    OF    DIRECTORS    AND    EX  PRESIDENT    OF    THE    CANADIAN    PACIFIC    RAILWAY 


2994 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL    INVASION    OF    CANADA 


made  the  world  familiar.  The  isotherm  of 
sixty  degrees,  which  in  July  lies  north  of 
Quebec,  in  the  east,  touches  the  mouth  of  the 
Mackenzie  River  above  the  Arctic  Circle  in 
the  west.  As  it  is  rather  solar  light  than 
solar  heat  that  growing  wheat  demands,  these 
northern  lands,  with  their  long  summer  days 
of  sunshine,  are  far  better  suited  to  its  success- 
ful, rust-free  cultivation  and  speedy  ripening, 
than  are  more  southerly  stretches.  I  made 
particular    inquiries  concerning  the  severity 


ranches  are  conducted  both  on  the  plains  and 
in  the  foothills,  and  of  late  years  have  proved 
most  profitable. 

Though  the  recent  progress  of  all  this 
country,  since  the  American  discovery,  has 
been  phenomenal,  it  is  but  an  earnest  of  a 
development  unprecedented  in  the  histor\'  of 
the  continent.  Already  the  railroads  are 
taxed  to  their  utmost  capacity  to  handle  the 
crops,  and  despite  the  annual  increase  of 
branch  lines,  the  construction  of  new  cars, 


MOUNT   STEPHEN 
British  Columbia 


of  the  winter,  but  was  assured  bv  American 
settlers  in  different  sections  that  it  was  far 
milder  than  an  experience  in  ^Montana  might 
suggest  as  existing  farther  to  the  north. 
Temperature  is  less  an  affair  of  latitude  than 
of  altitude,  and  the  elevation  of  the 
Northwest  Territories  is  considerably  less 
than  that  of  their  southerly  neighbors.  The 
cattle  range  free  all  winter  and  come  through 
in  good  condition.     Cattle,  sheep  and  horse 


engines  and  elevators,  transportation  facilities 
still  lag  behind  the  demand.  In  1901,  with 
a  crop  of  50,000.000  bushels  produced  in 
Manitoba  alone,  that  grain  inspection  district 
had  an  elevator  capacity  of  less  than  half  the 
requirements.  More  railroads  and  elevators 
are  urgently  needed,  and  it  seems  probable 
that  Americans  will  build  them. 

The  share  that  United  States  citizens  have 
taken  in  the  discovery  and  exploitation  of  the 


p 


< 


2     - 


<    1 


o  c 


> 

-3 
< 

z 


299^ 


OUR    INDUSTRIAL    INVASION    OF    CANADA 


Yukon,  or  Klondike,  is  well  known ;  in  the  rich 
mining  districts  of  the  Kootenay  eighty  per 
cent,  of  the  capital  invested  is  Western 
American.  ]\lr.  James  J.  Hill  is  interested  in 
the  coal  mines  of  Crow's  Xest  Pass,  and 
Americans  control  lignite  deposits  in  neigh- 
boring localities.  British  Columbia  is  one  of 
the  richest  gold-bearing  sections  in  the  world, 
and  miners  have  a  saying  that  "If  the  head 


eflt'ect  of  the  American  invasion  from  sea  to 
sea.  What  the  social  and  political  result  will 
be  it  is  too  early  to  prophesy.  In  some 
quarters  of  Canada  anxiety  is  expressed, 
but,  it  would  seem,  needlessly.  That  the 
fusion  of  the  two  peoples  caused  by  counter 
migration  of  Americans  and  Canadians  across 
a  purely  arbitrary  boundary  is  inevitable 
is    the    conclusion    of    some    observers ;    but 


A   TYPICAL   CATCH   OF   SALMON 
Fraser  River,  British  Columbia 


of  the  rat  is  in  Alaska,  and  his  tail  in  Montana, 
his  body  is  in  British  Columbia."  The 
American  mining  development  of  that 
province  has  steadily  advanced  since  1862, 
when  it  was  initiated  by  Californians,  and  the 
average  output  of  recent  years  has  been  more 
than  $4,000,000  annuallv. 


I  have 


an  outline  of  the  industrial 


at  any  rate,  it  guarantees  the  final  occupa- 
tion of  the  land  by  men  of  the  same  sturdy 
stock,  speaking  the  same  language,  and  with 
customs,  laws  and  religion  essentially  alike. 
All  the  way  across  the  continent  American 
pioneering  energy  is  pushing  its  conquests 
northward  across  the  line  and  the  industrial 
frontier  is  spreading  farther  and  farther. 


THOSE   WHO    LOSE    IN    THE   GAME 

OF    LIFE 

INCIDENTS    IN    THE    DAY'S     ROUTINE    IN    THE    OFFICE    OF 
MR.  JEROME,  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY  OF  NEW  YORK  COUNTY 

BY 

ALFRED    HODDER 

PKIVATE   SBCRSTARY    TO   MR.    JRROMB 


I 


TO  the  man  in  the  street  the  business 
conducted  in  the  District  Attorney's 
office  of  the  County  of  New  York 
seems  to  be  one  of  almost  unmitigated 
severity.  There,  amongst  two  milhons  of 
people,  all  of  the  vice  and  sin  and  shame  and 
criminal  negligence,  when  they  reach  the 
intensely  dramatic  point,  are  brought  to  be 
dealt  with  according  to  the  sense  of  justice  of 
the  community.  There  you  may  see  the 
murderer,  with  the  heat  of  passion  in  which 
he  committed  his  crime  died  out,  tranquil  and 
self-possessed;  the  thief  and  the  swindler, 
buxom  and  debonair,  with  all  their  wits  about 
them;  the  blooming  young  girl,  she,  too, 
perhaps,  accused  of  murder,  consciously 
making  the  most  of  her  graces  and  powers  of 
allurement.  To  the  man  inside  the  office 
the  dominant  note,  as  the  theologians  would 
say,  of  the  business  conducted  there  is  not 
one  so  much  of  severity  as  of  pathos. 

I  do  not  vouch  for  the  old  adage  that  there 
is  no  Irishman  so  poor  that  he  has  not  another 
Irishman  living  at  his  expense,  but  it  seems 
certain  that  there  is  no  man  so  degraded  that 
there  is  not  a  woman  to  intercede  for  him  when 
once  he  has  brought  himself  into  the  hands  of 
the  ministers  of  the  criminal  law;  and  the 
girl  whose  trouble  has  found  her  has  at  least 
a  mother.  From  the  time  a  criminal  is 
arrested,  until  he  has  been  pardoned  by  the 
Governor  or  has  served  out  his  sentence,  his 
wife  or  his  mother  or  his  sweetheart  haunts 
the  District  Attorney's  office,  interrupting 
the  graver  business  of  the  day  by  testimony 
to  the  prisoner's  virtues  and  the  petitioner's 
distress.  Even  in  the  case  of  an  accused 
police  captain,  a  prosperous,  smartly  gowned 
woman,  her  ears  and  bosom  radiant  with 
jewels,  will  come  to  the  District  Attorney's 
office  and  with  tears  in  her  eyes  explain  to 
him  her  own  and  her  husband's  poverty. 


The  labor  of  the  District  Attorney  today 
begins  at  No.  8  Rutgers  Street  as  early  in  the 
morning  as  his  Japanese  servants  are  willing 
to  answer  a  ring  at  the  doorbell.  A  few 
mornings  since  his  first  client  was  a  neat, 
meanly  clad  Jewish  woman,  who  explained 
with  much  agitation  and  gesture  that  her 
daughter,  aged  seventeen,  had  been  abducted. 
At  the  close  of  her  story  she  offered  him  a 
ten-dollar  note.  He  afterward  ascertained 
that  she  was  a  seamstress  earning  between 
fifty  cents  and  a  dollar  a  day.  When  he 
refused  her  money  she  burst  into  a  passion  of 
weeping  and  left  the  house.  In  a  few  hours 
two  detectives  had  found  the  girl  and  brought 
her  home,  much  against  her  will.  In  the 
afternoon  the  mother  paid  a  visit  to  the 
District  Attorney's  office  to  give  him  her 
thanks.  "Oh,  sir,"  she  said,  "when  you 
would  not  take  my  money  I  did  not  think  you 
would  do  anything  for  me." 

On  his  breakfast  table,  and  later  on  his 
desk  at  the  office,  he  finds  letters  of  which  the 
following  may  serve  as  a  sample : 

New  York,  June  4th,  1902. 
Hon'ble  Attorney  Gerome, 

Dear  Sir — This  is  a  letter  for  a  respectable 
Woman  writing  by  a  friend  for  the  Benefitt  for  her 
familie  &  Husband  to  stop  the  Husband  gambling. 

This  man  is  going  every  evening  after  8.30  p.  m. 
playing  the  open  game  in  the  back  of  a  Segar  store 

at  Avenue  between    1 1 2-1 1 3    Street   loosing 

the  most  of  his  money  he  earns.  The  game  he 
plays  is  so  called  2 1  with  cash  money  on  the  table. 

Kindly  take  notice  of  this  above  if  this  plase  get 
pulled  you  will  do  good  about  20  working  mens 
familie. 

Your  respectfully 

A  Friend  of  Honest  Life. 

District  Attorney. 

Honorable  Sir — Would  you  take  the  trouble  to 
find  out  if  the  Girl  from  Brooklyn,  that  is  lost,  is  in 

No.  Park  Ave.     Often  very  young  girls  call 

there,  and  don't  leave  the  house  before  night,  then 
a  carriage  is  coming  to  take  them  away,  it  must  be 
for  a  certant  purpose,  and  sure  not  a  good  one. 


3000 


THOSE   WHO    LOSE   IN    THE   GAME   OF    LIFE 


District  Attorney  Mr.  Jerome  please  take  interest 
in  this. 

I  beg  you  because  We  live  right  near  there  and 
we  see  everything. 

Mrs.    . 

New  York,  the  4  June,  1902. 

28  Precinct. 
New  York,  Octr.  19th,  1902. 

Dear  Mr.  Jerome — I  hope  you  will  pardon  the 
liberty  a  few  broken  harted  women  takes  in  sending 
you  thoes  few  lines  hopeing  you  will  do  something 
to  Put  a  stop  to  the  Badness  that  exists  on  the 
East  Side,  it  is  far  worse  than  the  tenderline  and 
Particularly  —  street  &  first  Avenue  &  Avenue  E. 

Their  is  a  salloon  on  —  St.   & Avenue  and 

it  is  a  disgrace  to  the  city,  it  is  open  all  day  Sundy 
from  five  in  the  morning  untill  one  on  Mundy 
morning.  It  is  full  of  gamblers  &  Drinkards  all 
dy  and  their  is  nothing  but  men,  woman  and  children 
bringing  cans  all  day  long.  It  is  the  cause  of  starv- 
ing poor  decent  families  so  we  will  aske  you  for  God 
sake  to  do  something  to  give  some  rehef,  their 
would  be  no  use  to  speke  to  the  poliece  of  —  St  the 
know  it  and  you  will  get  them  there  drinkeing  late 
&  erly.  I  have  seen  a  drunken  man  lying  on — 
street  for  four  howers  and  not  a  poliece  man  ever 
came  along  untill  a  lot  of  boys  draged  him  away, 
in  fact  you  would  nevr  seen  a  poliece  man  on  Sundy 
and  if  the  men  in  the  —  st  station  hears  of  this  the 
will  send  tips  to  all  the  saloons  so  we  trust  in  God 
you  will  do  some  thing  for  us.  Hopeing  you  will 
Pardon  us  for  troubleing  you 

FROM  Poor  women. 

Jime   10,    1902. 
Mr.  Jerome: 

De.\r  Sir — I  am  17  years  old  &  my  Brother  &  I 
are  the  only  ones  that  keep  my  mother.  I  make  S6 
a  week  &  my  brother  18 — but  he  spends  all  his  in  a 

gambling  room  on  cor.  — th  & Ave  N.  E.   cor 

on  horses.     They  are  open  every  day. 

Yours  truly, 

Joseph    Blank. 

New  York,  Oct.  6,  1902. 
Dear  Mister  Jerome — my  son  is  a  member  of 

the  Club  E.  — th  St.   and  he  is  loosing    his 

monney  Knight  after  Knight  and  I  am  afright  he 
will  get  in  trouble.  He  work  for  a  dn,-  good  hose 
and  he  is  giving  me  bother  about  monney  he  said  it 
was  the  best  crap  game  in  the  place  around  and 
he  owns  two  games. 

A  Friend. 

The  ignorance  and  the  helplessness  of  the 
writers  of  these  letters  must  be  sufficiently 
apparent.  Not  only  the  District  Attorney, 
but  each  of  his  assistants,  is  obliged  all  day 
long  to  deal  face  to  face  with  people  of  the 
same  stamp  as  the  writers  of  these  letters. 
Indeed,  the  letters  themselves  have  been 
chosen  amongst  the  complaints  of  those  to 
whom  it  was  possible  for  members  of  the  office 
to  give  some  relief;  there  is  a  parallel  line  of 
cases  in  which  it  is  impossible  for  members  of 
the  office  to  give  any  relief  whatever.  These 
are  cases  in  which  the  man  who  makes  the 
complaint     has    without     any     doubt    been 


grossly  wronged,  but  in  which  no  evidence  can 
be  ascertained  sufficient  to  convict  some 
particular  evildoer.  The  man  who  has  been 
injured  is  naturally  and  perhaps  rightly  cer- 
tain of  the  person,  man  or  woman,  who  has 
made  him  a  victim,  and  is  also  naturally 
ignorant  and  impatient  of  the  technicalities 
of  the  law  of  evidence.  The  maxim  of  the 
law  of  evidence  is  that  it  is  better  to  acquit 
ninety-nine  guilty  men  than  to  convict  one 
innocent  man.  With  this  maxim  the  victims 
of  the  ninety-nine  who  are  guilty  have  little 
sympathy. 

A  few  weeks  since  an  honest  German 
and  his  honest  German  frau  complained 
that  they  had  been  robbed  of  $600,  their 
savings  for  some  years.  Upon  investiga- 
tion there  was  no  doubt  whatever  that  he 
had  been  robbed,  and  was  in  consequence  in 
circumstances  literally  desperate.  But  there 
was  no  evidence  whatever  at  his  command 
or  at  the  command  of  the  District  Attorney's 
office  to  show  who  had  committed  the  crime. 
He  insisted  that  the  janitor  of  the  tenement 
house  in  which  he  lived  was  guilty,  on  the 
ground  that  fresh,  crisp  bank-notes,  such  as 
the  complainant  had  laid  away  amongst  his 
savings,  were  found  in  the  janitor's  possession. 
He  could  not  be  persuaded  that  there  was  in 
existence  a  number  of  crisp,  fresh  bank-notes 
other  than  those  which  were  a  part  of  his 
savings.  After  every  effort  had  been  made 
by  the  District  Attorney  to  discover  who  had 
wronged  him,  he  shook  his  fist  in  the  face  of 
one  of  the  Assistants  and  said,  "  By  Gott,  if 
you  vill  not  do  me  justice  I  vill  even  take  der 
law  into  mine  own  hants,  unt  it  vill  be  you 
dot  iss  guilty. " 

It  was  necessary  to  have  him  carried  to 
the  elevator,  his  wife  weeping  and  protesting 
amongst  the  cortege.  To  all  intents  and 
purposes  he  had  been  driven  mad  by  his  loss. 
He  was  in  much  the  same  position  as  a  score 
of  other  clients  whose  misfortunes  have  put 
them  undisguisedly  out  of  the  ranks  of  the 
sane. 

There  is  one  woman  who  on  an  average 
of  once  a  month  writes  twenty  closely 
written  pages  about  the  genealogy  of  per- 
sons unknown,  which  are  filed  in  the  waste- 
paper  basket,  and  who  sends  jewelry  of 
value,  which  is  returned.  There  is  a  man 
in  New  Jersey  who  writes  twice  a  week, 
on  wrapping  paper,  letters  of  twenty  and 
even   fiftv   folios,  mainly   in   comment  upon 


THOSE    WHO    LOSE    IN    THE    GAME    OF    1.1  IE 


3001 


the  conduct  of  the  President  and  his 
Cabinet  in  matters  of  international  affairs, 
and  in  a  postscript  requests  a  loan  of  ten 
dollars.  There  is  a  woman  who  has  a  case 
which  no  one  amongst  the  officers  of  three 
administrations  has  been  able  to  understand. 
At  a  recent  date  she  insisted  on  explaining  her 
troubles  to  chance  passers-by  in  the  corridor, 
and  emphasized  her  explanation  by  wrecking 
her  parasol  over  the  head  of  the  attendant 
who  warned  her  that  she  must  not  block  the 
passage.  She  also,  no  doubt,  has  been  the 
victim  of  some  one's  wrong.  She  also  was 
carried  to  the  elevator.  With  all  sympathy 
and  consideration  for  the  victims  of  undis- 
covered crimes,  the  business  of  the  county 
must  go  forward;  and,  if  necessary,  kicking 
men  and  screaming  women  must  be  carried 
bodily  to  the  street. 

Side  by  side  with  this  thread  of  pathos  in 
the  day's  work  runs  the  thread  of  delight 
that  every  virile  Anglo-Saxon  feels  in  the 
hunt  and  especially  in  hunting  a  man.  An 
Assistant  District  Attorney  at  the  last 
moment  may  be  almost  frightened  at  his 
success.  One  of  them  now  in  office  recently 
exclaimed  while  he  was  waiting  for  a  verdict : 
"  My  God,  I  am  afraid  they  will  find  him 
guilty  of  murder  in  the  first."  But  the  grim 
satisfaction  in  having  exercised  the  skill 
and  force  necessary  to  bring  a  subtle  and 
ruthless  animal  to  bay  appeals  to  an  instinct 
for  the  chase  which  is  strong  in  most  men. 
It  is  strongest  perhaps  amongst  the  detect- 
ives. The  detective  feels  a  sheer  glee  in  his 
power  and  gives  the  details  of  his  clever- 
ness with  a  juvenile  enthusiasm  and  a  grown 
man's  sense  of  dramatic  climax.  He  talks 
about  himself  as  an  actor  might  and  takes  a 
frank  pleasure  in  his  success,  and,  indeed, 
displays  much  of  the  technique  and  many 
of  the  talents  which  make  for  success  on  the 
stage. 

"Say,  that  was  a  great  arrest  we  pulled  off 
last  night,"  he  says  to  you.  Most  likely  you 
don't  know  that  he  has  been  detailed  to  make 
any  arrest  whatever.  "We  went  in,"  he 
continues,  "and  bought  a  drink  yesterday" 
(Sunday)  "  afternoon,  and  when  we  had  paid 
for  it  I  handed  the  barkeep  a  warrant  for  his 
arrest  and  said:  'Here  is  a  little  piece  of 
paper  I  want  to  give  you.'  When  he  had  got 
all  that  was  coming  to  him  in  the  way  of 
information,  he  said:  'Say,  boys,  just  wait 
will  you  till  I  send  upstairs  for  Charlie  to  take 


my  place;'  and  we  said,  'Sure,  we  are  not  in 
any  hurry;  we  are  doing  our  best  to  be  polite.' 
When  Charlie  came  in  the  barkeep  said, 
'Take  off  your  coat,  Charlie,  and  get  behind 
the  bar;  I  have  been  pinched.'  And  we  said, 
'Hold  on  a  minute,  Charlie,  you  need  not  take 
off  your  coat — here  is  a  little  piece  of  paper  for 
you,  too.'  We  wanted  Charlie.  A  more  dis- 
gusted pair  of  men  you  never  saw.  Then 
they  said  they  would  send  for  Joe,  and  when 
Joe  came  they  asked  him  to  take  off  his  coat 
and  go  behind  the  bar.  Joe  was  the  last  of 
the  three  men  we  wanted.  We  said  he 
needn't  take  the  trouble  to  take  off  his  coat, 
we  had  a  piece  of  paper  for  him,  too.  All 
three  challenged  us  to  give  Joe's  last  name. 
We  didn't  know  Joe's  last  name,  but  we  said: 
'That's  all  right,  his  name  is  John  Doe,'  and 
we  handed  him  a  warrant  made  out  for  John 
Doe.  They  were  so  stampeded  they  wouldn't 
take  a  chance  on  getting  another  of  their  pals 
to  look  after  the  bar,  and  they  sent  for  a  shoe- 
maker in  a  cellar  next  door." 

What  robs  this  spirit  of  the  hunt  of  the 
element  of  savagery  is  the  childlike  uncon- 
sciousness on  the  part  of  the  prisoner  that  he 
has  committed  a  crime.  A  member  of  the 
city  government  a  few  days  since  was  exam- 
ined in  the  office  on  the  charge  of  attempted 
bribery.  When  he  was  brought  in  under 
arrest  he  said,  "Why,  everybody  does  that; 
you  do  it  yourself."  It  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive a  more  complete  picture  of  injured 
innocence. 

A  member  of  the  police  department 
assigned  for  duty  under  Mr.  Jerome's  orders 
was  examined  in  this  office  on  the  charge  of 
having  spent  a  hundred  dollars  in  marked 
bank-notes.  The  notes  had  been  passed  in 
his  presence  in  an  attempt  to  blackmail  on 
the  part  of  a  public  official.  The  official  had 
been  arrested  by  him  and  the  notes  taken 
from  his  person  and  kept  in  custody  by  him 
to  serve  as  evidence  at  the  trial.  When  he 
was  summoned  in  a  preliminary  star-chamber 
hearing  before  Mr.  Jerome  and  the  Assistant 
District  Attorney  who  had  discovered  the  loss 
of  the  money,  he  said:  "I  lost  the  bills  on 
the  way  to  the  station-house.  But  I  have 
deposited  ten  other  ten-dollar  bills  with  the 
Property  Clerk,  and  I'll  swear  that  those  are 
the  same  bills,  so  that  the  case  will  go  on  all 
right.  There's  nobody  but  us  three  knows 
anything  about  it.  I  don't  see  any  reason 
why  we  can't  keep  it  quiet  between  ourselves." 


3004     THE  PROPORTION  OF  CITY  AND  COUNTRY  POPULATION 


accompanying  table  will  show  these  facts 
more  specifically. 

Other  reasons  for  believing  that  urban 
population  will  grow  more  slowly  in  the  future 
are  less  matter-of-fact,  perhaps,  but  hardly 
less  convincing.  Among  these  is  the  increased 
attractiveness  of  country  life  due  to  modem 
improvements,  the  better  and  easier  utiliza- 
tion of  the  land  under  a  more  scientific  agri- 
cultural system,  the  constantly  increasing 
demand  for  such  food  products  as  are  grown 
by  farm  labor,  and  the  further  extension  of 
facilities  for  communication  and  transporta- 
tion. Country  life  today  in  most  parts  of 
the  United  States  means  something  very 
unlike  what  it  meant  a  generation  ago. 
Rural  mail  delivery,  telephone  service,  the 
consolidation  of  schools  and  the  provision  of 
public  transportation  for  school  children,  the 
cheapness  and  general  circulation  of  news- 
papers, magazines  and  books,  the  improving 
of  common  roads  and  the  multiplication  of 
railroads  and  electric  lines — all  these  and 
many  other  things  are  revolutionizing  the 
life  of  the  farmer. 

It  is  contended  by  some  that  the  further 
introduction  of  scientific  farming  will  so 
reduce  the  number  of  men  needed  for  agri- 
culture that  a  constantly  increasing  surplus 
will  be  left  to  drift  to  the  city.  But  the 
advance  of  science  is  made  to  serve  the  manu- 
facturer even  more  than  the  farmer.  It 
has  been  estimated  by  an  expert  in  the 
employ  of  the  Government  that  agricultural 
machinery  reduces  the  number  of  men 
employed  to  do  a  given  amount  of  work  to 
one-third,  while  manufacturing  machinery 
reduces  the  number  to  one-fiftieth. 

Another  change  which  will  almost  inevi- 
tably occur  along  with  the  application  of 
science  to  the  practical  work  of  agriculture, 
but  which  has  too  often  been  overlooked,  is 
the  growth  of  intensive  farming.  Small 
farms,  economicalh''  administered,  will  be 
the  rule  in  the  future.  The  day  is  coming 
when  such  a  thing  as  a  "worn-out "  farm  will 
be  unknown.  Land  and  its  products  will 
become  too  valuable  to  permit  of  further 
impoverishing  of  the  soil. 

Obviously  this  will  mean  an  increase  in 
rural  population  and  the  production  of  food 
in  greatly  increased  quantities. 

It  is  true  that  there  must  always  be  a  limit 
to  the  amount  of  food  products  which  the 
world  can  consume.     And  it  is  likewise  true 


that  this  limit  is  much  more  easily  reached 
than  is  that  of  the  quantity  of  manufactured 
goods  which  may  be  disposed  of.  Even  if 
there  were  nothing  to  be  taken  into  account 
but  the  strictly  proportionate  increase  in 
food  consumption  as  the  number  of  people  to 
be  fed  increases,  the  outlook  for  agricultural 
activity  would  be  exceedingly  bright.  But 
the  gro-v^-th  of  wealth  and  better  conditions 
of  living  tend  to  augment  in  increased  pro- 
portion the  demands  upon  the  farmer.  A 
hundred  people  in  these  days  consume  more 
than  twice  what  fifty  people  consumed  half 
a  century  ago.  The  very  surplus  population 
which  we  are  told  must  continue  forever  to 
gather  in  the  cities  must  be  fed,  and  it  is  the 
farmer  who  must  meet  the  demand.  Then 
there  are  the  European  and  Asiatic  markets 
to  be  considered. 

Already  it  is  beginning  to  be  felt  that  the 
most  serious  difficulty  in  the  way  of  agri- 
cultural enterprise  in  the  United  States  is  a 
scarcity  of  labor.  Even  with  all  the  labor- 
economizing  devices  and  machinery  that  have 
been  introduced  there  is  yet  a  need  for  more 
workmen.  Doubtless  the  solution  of  the 
problem  lies  in  increasing  still  more  the 
profits  and  pleasures  of  rural  life. 

The  city  will  continue  to  grow,  and  grow 
rapidly.  But  as  time  goes  on,  rural  popu- 
lation may  be  expected  to  increase  relatively 
as  fast  as  the  urban  population.  More  food 
products  and  raw  materials  will  be  demanded, 
so  that  it  will  be  increasingly  profitable  to 
belong  to  the  agricultural  classes. 

What  vast  room  we  3'et  have  for  increase 
of  our  population  almost  staggers  belief. 
Although  it  has  practically  doubled  every 
quarter-century  since  1789,  the  extent  of  our 
territory  robs  this  remarkable  increase  of 
the  ill  omens  that  it  would  carry  in  many 
Asiatic  or  even  European  States.  Professor 
Albert  Bushnell  Hart,  of  Harvard,  some 
years  ago  advanced  the  opinion  that  the 
Mississippi  Valley  alone  is  capable  of  support- 
ing 350,000,000  people  in  comfort.  The 
population  of  this  same  region  by  the  census 
of  1900  was  less  than  41,000,000.  The  rate 
of  increase  per  decade  has  recently  been  from 
20  to  25  per  cent.,  so  that  we  may  expect  at 
least  two  centuries  to  elapse  before  the 
Mississippi  Valley  population  will  have  .at- 
tained Professor  Hart's  figure.  Even  then 
the  density  will  be  no  greater  than  the 
present  density  of  Massachusetts. 


THE     MAN     THAT     FAILED 

THE  SAD    KATE   OF  GENERAL  TORAI.,   WHO    COM- 
MANDED   THE    SPANISH     FORCES     AT    SANTIAGO 

BY 

THOMAS    R.    DAWLEY,  JR. 


IT  is  a  sad  story  that  conies  from  Spain 
that  General  Toral,  who  surrendered 
Santiago,  has  suffered  an  ecHpse  of 
mind.  He  is  the  Spanish  culprit  of  the  war. 
I  saw  him  shortly  after  the  surrender.  In  a 
drizzling  rain  he  stood  in  one  of  the  lower 
streets  of  Santiago,  a  water-proof  cloak  drawn 
over  his  shoulders,  his  Panama  hat  pulled 
down  in  front,  taking  leave  of  a  group  of 
officers  about  to  go  on  board  the  transports 
for  Spain.  They  were  gathered  around  him 
in  a  semicircle. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  he  in  a  low  voice,  "it  is 
not  your  fault  that  you  find  yourselves  in  this 
situation.  You  did  not  lack  courage,  you 
did  not  lack  bravery  or  energy  on  the  field 
of  battle.  You  fought  valiantly,  but  we  were 
left  without  resources,  without  adequate 
munitions  of  war,  even  without  food  supplies, 
and  we  were  obliged  to  give  way  to  an 
enemy  no  braver  than  you,  but  better 
provided  with  the  elements  of  war.  You 
have  all  done  your  duty,  and  now  that  you 
embark  for  Spain,  remember  that  should 
circumstances  call  us  together  on  the  other 
side,  and  should  you  need  me,  you  can  count 
upon  me  as  you  have  in  the  past." 

With  these  words  the  Spanish  General 
turned  sadly  away  and  the  officers  slouched 
on  board  the  ship  which  was  to  carry  them 
home  with  their  f^maciated,  dying  soldiers. 
As  the  old  General  with  bowed  head  went  up 
the  street  I  could  not  restrain  my  impulse  of 
going  up  to  him  and  offering  him  my  hand 
with  an  expression  of  sympathy.  He  grasped 
it,  saying  that  he  felt  deeply  gratified  at  my 
words,  and  he  could  only  thank  the  victorious 
Americans  for  their  kind  treatment  of  him 
and  his  officers;  and  then  his  words  seemed 
to  stick  in  his  throat. 

He  was  the  last  officer  to  leave  the  capitu- 
lated city.  A  few  days  before  his  departure 
I  called  upon  him  at  his  residence.  It  was  a 
stormy  night,  and  the  house  was  shrouded  in 
darkness.      An   orderlv  answered  my  knock- 


ing, and  in  the  gloom  told  me  that  the  General 
was  ill,  but  he  invited  me  in  and  shuffled  off 
after  a  light.  Presently  he  came  back  with  a 
lamp  and  led  me  into  a  room  in  which  there 
was  a  hammock,  a  plain  board  table  and  a 
single  chair.  In  the  dim  light  I  would  not 
have  recognized  the  General,  who  lay  in  the 
hammock  wrapped  in  a  blanket,  had  he  not 
held  out  his  hand  bidding  me  welcome.  He 
was  ill  of  fever,  and,  directing  the  orderly  to 
place  the  chair  close  to  his  hammock,  he  bade 
me  be  seated. 

I  spent  an  hour  or  more  with  him,  in  which 
he  asked  and  answered  many  questions, 
gave  his  views  of  the  war  and  his  opinion  of 
the  American  soldier.  "We  Europeans  have 
studied  all  about  European  armies,"  he  said; 
"we  have  studied  and  compared  them — the 
spirit  and  dash  of  the  French,  the  plodding 
earnestness  of  the  German,  and  the  sober 
tenacity  of  the  English,  but  the  Americans 
we  ignored.  We  never  considered  you  a 
military  people.  We  were  made  to  believe 
that  you  were  a  nation  of  shopkeepers  and 
merchants,  and  that  the  few  soldiers  you  had 
were  mercenaries  with  neither  discipline  nor 
a  knowledge  of  the  rules  of  war.  But  the 
fighting  around  Santiago  has  been  a  revela- 
tion. It  was  nothing  like  anything  we  have 
been  taught  in  the  books  of  the  European 
schools.  Your  soldiers  did  not  advance  upon 
our  positions  with  the  esprit  de  corps  of  the 
French,  nor  with  the  steady  advance  in  solid 
rank  of  the  German  and  the  English,  but 
they  came  as  individual  units,  each  man 
seeming  to  suit  himself  how  straight  and  how 
fast  he  should  come.  And  they  kept  coming, 
firing  as  they  pleased,  and  our  volley-firing 
seemed  to  have  little  or  no  effect  upon  them." 

Referring  to  his  surrender  he  said:  "Since 
I  accepted  your  terms  and  sent  my  soldiers 
into  camp  outside  the  city,  I  have  lost  eight 
hundred  men  from  the  fever;  and  there  are 
eight  hundred  more  dying.  I  don't  see  why," 
and  then  hesitating  with  a  far-off  look,  as  he 


3004     THE  PROPORTION  OF  CITY  AND  COUNTRY  POPULATION 


accompanying  table  will  show  these  facts 
more  specifically. 

Other  reasons  for  believing  that  urban 
population  will  grow  more  slowly  in  the  future 
are  less  matter-of-fact,  perhaps,  but  hardly 
less  convincing.  Among  these  is  the  increased 
attractiveness  of  country  life  due  to  modem 
improvements,  the  better  and  easier  utiliza- 
tion of  the  land  under  a  more  scientific  agri- 
cultural system,  the  constantly  increasing 
demand  for  such  food  products  as  are  grown 
by  farm  labor,  and  the  further  extension  of 
facilities  for  commiuiication  and  transporta- 
tion. Country  life  today  in  most  parts  of 
the  United  States  means  soinething  very 
unlike  what  it  meant  a  generation  ago. 
Rural  mail  delivery,  telephone  service,  the 
consolidation  of  schools  and  the  provision  of 
public  transportation  for  school  children,  the 
cheapness  and  general  circulation  of  news- 
papers, magazines  and  books,  the  improving 
of  common  roads  and  the  multiplication  of 
railroads  and  electric  lines — all  these  and 
many  other  things  are  revolutionizing  the 
life  of  the  farmer. 

It  is  contended  by  some  that  the  further 
introduction  of  scientific  farming  will  so 
reduce  the  number  of  men  needed  for  agri- 
culture that  a  constantly  increasing  surplus 
will  be  left  to  drift  to  the  city.  But  the 
advance  of  science  is  made  to  serve  the  manu- 
facturer even  more  than  the  farmer.  It 
has  been  estimated  by  an  expert  in  the 
employ  of  the  Government  that  agricultural 
machinery  reduces  the  number  of  men 
employed  to  do  a  given  amotint  of  work  to 
one-third,  while  manufacturing  machinery 
reduces  the  number  to  one-fiftieth. 

Another  change  which  will  almost  inevi- 
tably occur  along  with  the  application  of 
science  to  the  practical  work  of  agriculture, 
but  which  has  too  often  been  overlooked,  is 
the  growi;h  of  intensive  farming.  Small 
farms,  economically  administered,  will  be 
the  rule  in  the  future.  The  day  is  coming 
when  such  a  thing  as  a  "worn-out"  farm  will 
be  unknown.  Land  and  its  products  will 
become  too  valuable  to  permit  of  further 
impoverishing  of  the  soil. 

Obviously  this  will  mean  an  increase  in 
rural  population  and  the  production  of  food 
in  greatly  increased  quantities. 

It  is  true  that  there  must  always  be  a  limit 
to  the  amount  of  food  products  which  the 
world  can  consume.     And  it  is  likewise  true 


that  this  limit  is  much  more  easily  reached 
than  is  that  of  the  quantity  of  manufactured 
goods  which  may  be  disposed  of.  Even  if 
there  were  nothing  to  be  taken  into  account 
but  the  strictly  proportionate  increase  in 
food  consumption  as  the  number  of  people  to 
be  fed  increases,  the  outlook  for  agricultural 
activity  would  be  exceedingly  bright.  But 
the  gro\^i:h  of  wealth  and  better  conditions 
of  living  tend  to  augment  in  increased  pro- 
portion the  demands  upon  the  farmer.  A 
hundred  people  in  these  days  consume  more 
than  twice  what  fifty  people  consumed  half 
a  century  ago.  The  very  surplus  population 
which  we  are  told  must  continue  forever  to 
gather  in  the  cities  must  be  fed,  and  it  is  the 
farmer  who  must  meet  the  demand.  Then 
there  are  the  European  and  Asiatic  markets 
to  be  considered. 

Already  it  is  beginning  to  be  felt  that  the 
most  serious  difficulty  in  the  way  of  agri- 
cultural enterprise  in  the  United  States  is  a 
scarcity  of  labor.  Even  with  all  the  labor- 
economizing  devices  and  machinery  that  have 
been  introduced  there  is  yet  a  need  for  more 
workmen.  Doubtless  the  solution  of  the 
problem  lies  in  increasing  still  more  the 
profits  and  pleasures  of  rural  life. 

The  city  will  continue  to  grow,  and  grow 
rapidly.  But  as  time  goes  on,  rural  popu- 
lation may  be  expected  to  increase  relativelv 
as  fast  as  the  urban  population.  More  food 
products  and  raw  materials  will  be  demanded, 
so  that  it  will  be  increasingly  profitable  to 
belong  to  the  agricultural  classes. 

What  vast  room  we  yet  have  for  increase 
of  our  population  almost  staggers  belief. 
Although  it  has  practically  doubled  every 
quarter-century  since  1789,  the  extent  of  our 
territory  robs  this  remarkable  increase  of 
the  ill  omens  that  it  would  carry  in  many 
Asiatic  or  even  European  States.  Professor 
Albert  Bushnell  Hart,  of  Harvard,  some 
years  ago  advanced  the  opinion  that  the 
Mississippi  Valley  alone  is  capable  of  support- 
ing 350.000,000  people  in  comfort.  The 
population  of  this  same  region  by  the  census 
of  1900  was  less  than  41,000,000.  The  rate 
of  increase  per  decade  has  recently  been  from 
20  to  25  per  cent.,  so  that  we  may  expect  at 
least  two  centuries  to  elapse  before  the 
Mississippi  Valley  population  will  have  .at- 
tained Professor  Hart's  figure.  Even  then 
the  density  will  be  no  greater  than  the 
present  density  of  Massachusetts. 


THE     MAN     THAT     FAILED 

THE   SAD   FATE  OP^  GENERAL  TORAL,   WHO    COM- 
MANDED   THE    SPANISH     FORCES     AT    SANTIAGO 

BY 

THOMAS    R.    DAWLEY,  JR. 


IT  is  a  sad  story  that  comes  from  Spain 
that  General  Toral,  who  surrendered 
Santiago,  has  suffered  an  ecHpse  of 
mind.  He  is  the  Spanish  culprit  of  the  war. 
I  saw  him  shortly  after  the  surrender.  In  a 
drizzling  rain  he  stood  in  one  of  the  lower 
streets  of  Santiago,  a  water-proof  cloak  drawn 
over  his  shoulders,  his  Panama  hat  pulled 
down  in  front,  taking  leave  of  a  group  of 
officers  about  to  go  on  board  the  transports 
for  Spain.  They  were  gathered  around  him 
in  a  semicircle. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  he  in  a  low  voice,  "it  is 
not  your  fault  that  you  land  yourselves  in  this 
situation.  You  did  not  lack  courage,  you 
did  not  lack  bravery  or  energy  on  the  field 
of  battle.  You  fought  valiantly,  but  we  were 
left  without  resources,  without  adequate 
munitions  of  war,  even  without  food  supplies, 
and  we  were  obliged  to  give  way  to  an 
enemy  no  braver  than  you,  but  better 
provided  with  the  elements  of  war.  You 
have  all  done  your  duty,  and  now  that  you 
embark  for  Spain,  remember  that  should 
circumstances  call  us  together  on  the  other 
side,  and  should  you  need  me,  you  can  count 
upon  me  as  you  have  in  the  past." 

With  these  words  the  Spanish  General 
turned  sadly  away  and  the  officers  slouched 
on  board  the  ship  which  was  to  carry  them 
home  with  their  (^maciated,  dying  soldiers. 
As  the  old  General  with  bowed  head  went  up 
the  street  I  could  not  restrain  my  impulse  of 
going  up  to  him  and  offering  him  my  hand 
with  an  expression  of  sympathy.  He  grasped 
it,  saying  that  he  felt  deeply  gratified  at  my 
words,  and  he  could  only  thank  the  victorious 
Americans  for  their  kind  treatment  of  him 
and  his  officers ;  and  then  his  words  seemed 
to  stick  in  his  throat. 

He  was  the  last  officer  to  leave  the  capitu- 
lated city.  A  few  days  before  his  departure 
I  called  upon  him  at  his  residence.  It  was  a 
stormy  night,  and  the  house  was  shrouded  in 
darkness.      An   orderlv  answered  mv  knock- 


ing, and  in  the  gloom  told  me  that  the  General 
was  ill,  but  he  invited  me  in  and  shuffled  off 
after  a  light.  Presently  he  came  back  with  a 
lamp  and  led  me  into  a  room  in  which  there 
was  a  hammock,  a  plain  board  table  and  a 
single  chair.  In  the  dim  light  I  would  not 
liave  recognized  the  General,  who  lay  in  the 
hammock  wrapped  in  a  blanket,  had  he  not 
held  out  his  hand  bidding  me  welcome.  He 
was  ill  of  fever,  and,  directing  the  orderly  to 
place  the  chair  close  to  his  hammock,  he  bade 
me  be  seated. 

I  spent  an  hour  or  more  with  him,  in  which 
he  asked  and  answered  many  questions, 
gave  his  views  of  the  war  and  his  opinion  of 
the  American  soldier.  "We  Europeans  have 
studied  all  about  European  armies,"  he  said; 
"we  have  studied  and  compared  them — the 
spirit  and  dash  of  the  French,  the  plodding 
earnestness  of  the  German,  and  the  sober 
tenacity  of  the  English,  but  the  Americans 
we  ignored.  We  never  considered  you  a 
military  people.  We  were  made  to  believe 
that  you  were  a  nation  of  shopkeepers  and 
merchants,  and  that  the  few  soldiers  you  had 
were  mercenaries  with  neither  discipline  nor 
a  knowledge  of  the  rules  of  war.  But  the 
fighting  around  Santiago  has  been  a  revela- 
tion. It  was  nothing  like  anything  we  have 
been  taught  in  the  books  of  the  European 
schools.  Your  soldiers  did  not  advance  upon 
our  positions  with  the  esprit  de  corps  of  the 
French,  nor  with  the  steady  advance  in  solid 
rank  of  the  German  and  the  English,  but 
they  came  as  individual  units,  each  man 
seeming  to  suit  himself  how  straight  and  how 
fast  he  should  come.  And  they  kept  coming, 
firing  as  they  pleased,  and  our  volley-firing 
seemed  to  have  little  or  no  effect  upon  them." 

Referring  to  his  surrender  he  said:  "Since 
I  accepted  your  terms  and  sent  my  soldiers 
into  camp  outside  the  city,  I  have  lost  eight 
hundred  men  from  the  fever;  and  there  are 
eight  hundred  more  dying.  I  don't  see  why," 
and  then  hesitating  with  a  far-off  look,  as  he 


30o6 


THE   MAN    THAT    FAILED 


waved  his  hand  toward  the  San  Juan  Hnes, 
"it  would  have  been  far  better  to  have  lost 
these  men  in  battle." 

I  inferred  that  he  was  going  to  say  that  he 
did  not  see  why  he  had  surrendered,  and  he 
now  regretted  that  he  had  done  so;  but 
recovering  himself,  he  added  in  an  explana- 
tory way:  "I  could  not  have  done  otherwise; 
I  did  not  have  ammunition  enough  to  last 
through  another  battle,  and  my  soldiers  w^ere 
starved  and  weak.  I  had  to — I  capitulated, 
but  I  did  not  surrender." 

General  Toral  returned  to  Spain.  The 
populace  which  witnessed  the  disembarking  of 
his  fever-stricken,  emaciated  troops  at  Ferrol 
proceeded  en  masse  to  his  lodgings  and  pelted 
the  house  with  stones,  breaking  the  windows 
and  crying  out  against  him.  Arriving  at 
Madrid,  he  was  arrested  and  thrown  into 
prison,  because  it  is  the  unwritten  law  of 
Spain  that  an  officer  who  surrenders  must  die. 
After  an  imprisonment  of  five  months  and  a 
trial  he  w^as  released  because  he  was  able  to 
show  that  he  w^as  authorized  by  the  Madrid 
Government  to  capitulate,  but  he  was  sen- 
tenced to  retirement  from  the  army  and 
prohibited  from  ever  holding  office  of  any 
kind  again. 

When  the  war  was  all  over  a  New  York 
publishing  house  conceived  the  idea  that  an 
account  of  the  surrender  written  by  General 
Toral  himself  would  be  interesting  and  would 
be  of  historical  value.  When  the  subject  was 
proposed  to  me  I  volunteered  to  undertake 
the  commission  of  going  to  Spain  after  it. 

Arriving  in  Madrid  I  found  few  who  could 
teli  me  an\-thing  about  the  fallen  General. 
At  length  I  found  his  lodgings.  An  old 
woman  told  me  that  he  had  retired  to 
Murcia,  a  southeastern  comer  of  Spain.  I 
arrived  in  IMurcia  after  a  ride  of  all  night 
and  all  day. 

Coming  down  to  my  breakfast  at  about 
eleven  o'clock,  I  fairly  ran  into  the  arms  of  a 
little  Spaniard  in  civilian  attire  who  recog- 
nized me  at  once.  He  was  Major  Langoziaste, 
Toral's  field-aid  at  Santiago.  While  the 
Major  was  talking  to  me  as  though  he  were 
glad  to  see  me,  his  wife  appeared. 

'T  must  see  you  at  once,"  she  said  stiffly, 
and  bowing,  she  led  the  way  down  the  corridor, 
little  Langoziaste  looking  back,  waving  his 
hand  and  smiling  as  he  said:  "We  will  go  and 
see  the  General;  I  know  he  will  be  glad  to 
see  you."      I  can  only  imagine  what  his  wife 


said  to  him  for  receiving  a  Yankee  so  joyfully 
in  a  public  place.  There  could  be  no  other 
reason  for  my  appearance  there,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  people,  than  to  pay  the  rest  of  the 
blood  money  for  which  it  was  supposed 
Toral  had  surrendered. 

The  little  Major  disappeared  as  if  swal- 
lowed by  the  earth,  and  though  I  remained 
in  Murcia  more  than  a  week,  I  was  unable  to 
see  either  him  or  General  Toral.  The  people 
treated  me  kindly  and  talked  with  me  freely. 
But  many  of  them  believed  that  the  Spanish 
troops  had  been  surrendered  for  gold. 

One  man  said:  "General  Toral  escaped  the 
death  sentence  because  he  was  ably  defended, 
but  he  is  condemned  by  the  Spanish  people, 
and  Murcia  is  the  only  place  in  Spain  where 
he  can  live,  because  it  is  his  native  town." 

I  called  at  his  house.  But  my  knock 
was  answered  by  an  intelligent  girl  who 
declared  that  the  General  was  not  at  home.  I 
then  wrote  him  a  letter  explaining  my  mission. 
My  letter  remained  unanswered.  That  was 
three  years  ago.  Now  the  story  comes  that 
while  the  General  was  w^andering  around 
Alhama,  a  message  was  delivered  to  him  from 
the  Spanish  Government  instructing  him  to 
draw  up  a  full  account  of  the  battles  and 
surrender  at  Santiago.  The  old  General 
continued  his  walk,  muttering,  "The  sur- 
render !  the  surrender !"  and  then  it  was 
discovered  that  his  reason  was  unstrung. 

It  is  a  sad  story,  especially  when  it  is 
believed  by  a  few  in  a  position  to  know  that 
the  responsibility  of  the  surrender  was  shirked 
by  General  Linares,  who  was  in  actual  com- 
mand of  the  Spanish  troops  at  Santiago  till 
their  defeat  in  what  is  known  to  the  American 
soldier  as  the  big  fight  on  the  hills  around  the 
city.  A  Spanish  priest  who  was  a  canon  of  the 
Santiago  Cathedral  during  the  time,  assured 
me  in  Madrid  that  Linares  had  wounded 
himself  slightly  in  the  arm  at  the  close  of  that 
day's  battle  purposely  to  avoid  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  surrender  which  he  evidently 
realized  must  come.  The  father  said  that  he 
saw  him  brought  in  from  the  front  carried  on 
a  litter  as  though  seriously  wounded,  but  the 
moment  the  litter  was  set  down  in  front  of  his 
door  he  got  up  and  walked  upstairs,  there 
being  nothing  the  matter  with  him  except  the 
slight  wound  in  the  arm.  Arriving  in  Spain, 
he  was  loaded  with  honors,  while  poor  Toral, 
upon  whom  the  command  of  the  army 
devolved,  was  condemned  to  disgrace. 


AN    IN'l'AN  IKV    DIVISION    (;(»IN(;    INKJ    Al   IION 


A    DAY    IN    THE    REGULAR   ARMY 

THE    LIFE    OF   A    PRIVATE    CAVALRYMAN    FROM    RE 
VEILLE   TO   TAPS    IN    A    WESTERN    MILITARY    POST 

BY 

HAMILTON    M.    HIGDAY 

LATE    LIBRARIAN    U.    S.    CAVALRY    AND    FIELD    ARTILLERY    SCHOOL,    FORT    RILEY,    KANSAS 


PRIVATE  SMITH  of  "B  Troop,"  of  the 
— th  Cavalry,  knew  to  a  certainty  it 
was  5:15  A.  M.,  and  that  the  trumpeter, 
having  blown  "First  Call"  before  the  bar- 
racks, was  already  stalking  toward  the  flag- 
staff to  send  more  and  nearer  blasts  down  the 
"line" — the  officers'  street;  and  that  a  few 
seconds  later  the  echoes  would  be  stirred  by 
new  waves  of  sound. 

So  Trooper  Smith,  with  half -humorous,  half- 
protesting  growl,  swung  his  feet  from  under 
the  gray  army  blanket,  and  his  towsled  head 
and  undershirt  came  suddenly  upright.  All 
along  the  row  of  iron  cots  in  the  squad-room 
springs  creaked  and  the  sound  of  rough 
waking  calls  arose:  "Git  up,  y'  dog-robber!" 
"Climb  out  o'  th'  bugs  !"  The  soldiers  had 
just  ten  minutes  to  dress — trigly  and  coni- 
pletely,  too. 

Then,  as  the  last  eye  of  his  leggings  was 
corded  up,  from  out  on  the  centre  of 
parade  ground  came  the  trumpet  corps' 
resounding  salute  to  the  sun — the  march — 


and  the  instant  the  first  note  sounded  on  the 
quadrangle,  the  deep  "boom!"  of  the  morning 
gun  down  behind  the  guard-house  hurled  its 
impact  against  the  round  green  hills  across  the 
river  whence  came  successive  reports;  then 
"Reveille,"  clear  and  shrill — 

"  I  can't  get  'em  up — I  can't  get  'em  up — I  can't 
get  'em  up  in  the  morning ; 
I  can't  get  'em  up — I  can't  get  'em  up — I  can't 
get  *em  up  at  all  ! 
Corp'rals  worse  'n  privates  ! 
Sarjents  worse  'n  Corp'rals  ! 
Lieut'nants  worse  'n  Sarjents  ! 
And  the  Capt'ns  the  worst  of  all  ! " 

Down  the  stairs  from  the  second  story 
squad-rooms  and  across  the  main  porch 
swarmed  the  troopers,  coming  down  upon  the 
brick  pavement — straightening  a  belt  here, 
pulling  down  a  blouse  there,  stepping  auto- 
matically into  line  before  the  call  "Assembly" 
and  the  First  Sergeant's  stentorian  "Fall 
in  !"  and  "Atten-shoioi !  Roll-call !  D— n  it, 
keep  yer  faces  t'  the  frotit !  "  The  roll-call 
proceeded : 


30o8 


A    DAY    IN    THE    REGULAR   ARMY 


Ai<  AR^ry  PACK  TRAIN  ON  TEE    IvlARCH 

"Private  Allen  '."  — -Yer-r-r  V 
"An'ersn  I"— "Yike  !'" 
"Beale  I'" — "Yhope  I" 
"Brown:"— -Yow!" 
And  so  on  down  the  alphabet, 
the  "top"  Sergeant  "about-faced" 


At  closing 
and  saluted 


flagstaff — a  Captain  standing  straight  as  a 
statue  and  not  unlike  one  as  the  yellow  ravs 
of  early  sun  glinted  on  scabbard  and  sword- 
belt,  danced  on  the  reddish  leather  of  polished 
leggings,  and  played  over  his  campaign  hat 
and  khaki  uniform. 

At  5  :45 — it  was  now  summer,  and  in  this 
season  and  garrison  the  "Mess  Call"  was 
early — down  the  stairs  clattered  eightv  or  a 
hundred  feet  again  to  breakfast:  fried  beef- 
steak, a  little  tough  from  overfr\-ing;  brown 
gravy,  "too  greasy"  the  cook  would  have 
been  told  had  the  Captain  inspected  mess  that 
morning:  potatoes,  roasted  "with  their  jackets 
.on";  bread,  heavy  and  dark — a  healthful  and 
sufflcient  breakfast,  despatched  with  greater 
ease  than  elegance— a  judicious  combina- 
tion of  the  regulation  ration  issued  by  the 
Commissary  Department  and  careful  economy 
of  the  troop's  share  of  the  profits  of  the  post 
exchange  or  "canteen." 

"Xot  less  than  twentv  minutes  for  break- 


r.s  :.;*#»»• 


'■,.^mmmw^^iM^l^i¥ 


A    MAIN    DIVISION 
Rapid  fire  mountain  guns  leading 


toward  the  centre  of  the  parade  ground  with 
a  "Troop  B,  — th  Cav'ry,  all  present  and 
accounted  for,  s-i-r !"  The  answering  "All 
right !"  came  from  the  Officer  of  the  Day 
somewhere  on   the   cinder  path   toward  the 


AFTER    I>klLL   AND    MESS   CALL 


fast,"  says  the  "Blue  Book" — U.  S.  Armv 
Regulations;  but  the  Colonel  of  this  post 
gives  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  as  anv  one 
would  find  from  "General  Orders  Xo.  4"  in 
the  Sergeant-Major's  office  over  in  the 
Administration  Building — the  printed  sched- 
ule of  garrison  routine,  "Bv  Order  of  Colonel 
Blank." 

The  trumpet  again: 

"  Come  all  who  are  able  and  go  to  the  stable 

And  get  out  your  horses  and  give  'em  some 
com, 
For  if  you  don't  do  it  the  Col'nc^  will  know  it, 
And    then    vou    will    rue   it,   sure  as   vou're 
bom!" 

This  in  the  soldier's  language  is  "Stables." 
Five  minutes  later  at  "Assembly"  the  line  of 
men  before  the  barracks,  this  time  in  white 
canvas  stable  clothes,  march  off  to  the  stables, 
where  ev^ery  man  advances  to  his  numbered 
horse  and  proceeds  to  "police  up,"  feeding, 
watering  and  currying.  Or  perhaps  it  is 
"Boots  and  Saddles."  when,  in  the  uniform 


A    DAY    IN    Till'.    REGULAR    ARMY 


3009 


designated  in  "orders,"  the  entire  trooj)  march 
with  heavy,  ([uiek  tread  and  tnaehinehke 
uniformity  to  tlie  stables,  sadtlle  up  and  lead 
forth  the  horses  into  line.  "Count  fours ! 
Prepare  to  mount  !  Mount  !"  and  they  arc 
in  the  saddle  for  mounted  drill,  moving  for- 
ward at  the  "Howm]) !"  of  the  Captain — the 
unspellable  eonmiand  for  any  and  all  things 
— who  has  meantime  ridden  u])  with  clanking 
saber  and  rattling  si)urs. 

As  the  column  moves  past  the  i)arade 
grotmd,  Trooper  Smith  catches  a  glimpse  of 
three  squads  of  "Rookies"  (raw  recruits)  on 
the  quadrangle,  each  in  charge  of  a  Sergeant 
drillniaster,  the  nearest  one  at  saber  drill — 
"Port  sabalis!  'Gainst  infantry  left  parry!" 
come  the  commands,  short  and  sharp,  and 
miniature  lightnings  flash  where  the  polished 
blades  catch  the  glint  of  the  sun.     Farther 


CAVALRY   GUARD    MOUNT 

he  closes  his  lips  tightly  and  flashes  a  glance 
of  rebellion  at  the  non-com.  (a  Sergeant,  bv 
the  three-striped  chevrons  on  his  arms)  who 
has  "bawled  him  out"  for  "yanking"  the 
tossing  head  of  his  restive  mount.  But  he 
dares  olTer  no  word  of  explanation  or  excuse. 


A  SQUADRON   OF    CAVALRY 


aw^ay  another  Sergeant  is  swearing  volubly 
and  vigorously  while  a  particularly  awkward 
squad  blunders  through  '  'setting  up  exercises . ' ' 
On  the  most  distant  side  the  men  are  spread- 
ing out  in  a  skirmish  line  ("deploying"), 
running  forward  with  the  "rebel  yell,"  and 
dropping  flat  as  so  many  frogs  in  the  grass, 
operating  their  carbines  aimed  at  imaginary 
Filipinos  "at  500  yards  !"  and  then  rising  for 
rapid  volley  firing. 

A  mile  or  two  miles,  across  a  bridge,  or 
through  a  neck  of  woods,  or  over  a  hill  road  to 
the  drill  ground  selected  rides  the  troop — 
perhaps  all  three  or  four  troops  of  the  cavalry 
squadron  under  the  eye  of  the  Major — alter- 
nating a  walk  and  trot,  now  and  then  a 
gallop. 

"Quit  jerking  that  horse  I"  bellows  a  non- 
commissioned ofhcer,  riding  alongside  the 
column.  "Hain't  ye  got  no  sense  a'  tall?" 
And  as  Trooper  Smith  is  the  offending  object 


The  rigid  rule  is — Xo  talking  back.  Trooper 
Smith  has  no  desire  to  forfeit  a  month's  pay 
to  the  Soldiers'  Home  at  Summary  Court  in 
the  morning,  or  to  dig  up  sewer  pipes  and 
scrub  the  guard-house  floor  with  an  armed 
sentry  ten  feet  behind  him,  for  three  months. 


TRAINING    HORSES    IX    THE   RIDING-SCHOOL 


30I0 


A    DAY    IN    THE    REGULAR    ARMY 


FIRING  A   SIEGE    GUN 

Three  hours  of  the  morning  are  taken  up  in 
drill — often  two  mounted,  one  dismounted — 
and  the  men  today  are  in  blue  army  shirt, 
khaki  trousers,  leggings  and  campaign  hat; 
the  commissioned  officers  alone  resplendent 
in  khaki  blouse,  belt,  saber  and  polished 
leather  leggings.  For  today  the  exercise 
happens  to  be  "monkey  drill" — men  without 
equipment,  horses  without  saddle — vaulting, 
Cossack  and  backward  riding,  mounting  at 
gallop;  sharp,  quick  work,  exhibiting  the 
splendid  horsemanship  of  the  cavalry  and  the 
agility  and  admirable  physique  of  these  blue- 
eyed  healthy-faced  Anglo-Saxon  fellows  of  the 
American  Army. 

Nine  o'clock  and  "Recall,"   by  token  of  a 


A 


<^Ll 


PRACTISING   ON    THE   RIFLE   RANGE 


trumpet  blast,  which  the  horses  recognize  as 
the  signal  for  return  fully  as  well  as  the 
troopers  on  their  backs !  At  the  stables 
again,  tired  from  drill  and  the  increasing 
heat  of  a  humid  day  and  glaring  sun,  horses 
are  to  be  watered,  rubbed  down,  and  the 
stable  "policed  up" — the  saddles  and  fittings 
hung  in  precise  order  according  to  regula- 
tion; then  the  formation  "out  front"  and  the 
march  back  to  the  barracks  to  "wash  up," 
clean  and  burnish  equipment  and  put  cloth- 
ing in  order. 

The  Captain  and  his  Lieutenants  ride  off 
to  their  quarters  for  a  bath  and  a  rest  before 
"officers'  call"  at  noon,  when  they  report  at 
the  Adjutant's  office  for  orders,  given  orally 
or  filed  in  pigeonholes. 


A  SOLDIER'S   FUNERAL  IN  WINTER 


A    DAY    IN    THE    REGULAR    ARMY 


301 1 


At   noon    out   on   tlie   i)arade   ground   the 

bugler  says: 

"  Soup-y,  soup-y,  soup, 
Without  a  single  bean; 
Pork-y,  pork-y,  pork, 

Without  a  streak  of  lean ; 
Coffee,  coffee,  coffee, 

The  meanest  ever  seen  !  " 

From  one  o'clock  until  four  is  a  daily  holi- 
day for  the  soldier  except  when  on  guard  or 
"doing  fatigue" — a  season,  however,  wherein 
arms,  uniform  and  man  must  be  kept  clean 
and  presentable,  bedding  aired,  and  cot- 
covers  rolled  in  the  manner  prescribed. 

At  half-past  four  the  ubiquitous  trumpeter 
is  again  heard  "wind-jamming"  out  in  front  of 
quarters — "Stables"  again,  and  amid  groans 
and  oaths  and  rallying  jests  the  troopers 
"tumble  out"  to  be  in  line  at  assembly  call. 

Guard  mounting  is  the  spectacular  per- 
formance of  the  day.  Out  upon  the  parade 
ground  in  perfect  military  formation  moves 
the  band,  the  chief  musician  and  his  privates 
— the  "oom-pah"  man  in  all  his  glory  and 
fine  raiment.  To  hear,  to  see  and  be  seen,  if 
the  day  be  fair,  the  ladies  of  the  post  gather 
along  the  "officers'  line";  the  Major  at  the 
Officers'  Club  leaves  his  mug  of  beer  and 
arnxy  journal  to  join  them;  the  Lieutenants 
postpone  the  contest  at  billiards  for  the  same 
reason,  and  the  Captains  come  out  on  the 
clubhouse  porch,  tilt  back  their  chairs,  with 
feet  on  the  banisters,  to  look  and  listen.  Out 
beneath  the  flag  (which  flutters  on  the  staff 
from  "Reveille"  and  the  morning  gun  to 
"Retreat"  at  sunset)  stands  the  Adjutant — 
the  Colonel's  representative.  Martial  airs 
thrill  through  the  garrison.  From  the  bar- 
racks come  the  guard  details,  our  Trooper 
Smith  among  them,  marching  to  music  with 
a  surge  of  blood  and  a  firing  of  patriotism 
that  the  monotony  of  routine,  social  isolation 
and  the  bumptiousness  of  officers  cannot 
extinguish.  They  "left  front  into  line," 
these  men  selected  by  the  Sergeant-Major  to 
stand  guard  during  the  coming  night  and  day, 
"order  arms"  until  they  are  verified  and 
inspected — while  the  band  plays  on.  Every 
article  of  clothing  and  equipment  must  be 
in  perfect  condition,  and  the  smartest -looking 
soldier  is  selected  to  act  as  the  Colonel's 
orderly  the  next  day — a  desirable  duty  w^hich 
Trooper  Smith  narrowly  misses  because  the 
cartridges  in  his  belt,  rubbed  to  glisten  like 
silver,  are  deemed  not  sufficiently  brilliant  to 
outshine  the  polish  on  the  shoes  of  Trooper 


No.  6,  who  consequently  does  not  have  to 
remain  with  the  others  in  the  guard-hou.se 
during  the  night. 

At  last  the  band  strikes  up  a  march  and 
swings  across  the  parade  ground  and  back 
again,  and  then  again  past  the  Ofliccr  of  the 
Day — this  time  followed  by  the  new  guard  in 
column  of  platoons  led  by  the  Adjutant. 
Finally  in  column  of  fours  they  proceed  to  the 
guard-house  preceded  by  a  trumpet  cor])s 
whose  tooting,  in  contrast  with  the  band 
music,  grates  harshly  on  one's  ears,  or  makes 
one  smile  as  the  mocking  chorus  of  garrison 
dogs  accompanies  with  yelps  and  yowls. 

Before  the  guard -house,  where  the  sentries 
stand  on  either  side  of  the  prisoners  (the  latter 
in  brown  fatigue  clothes  painted  conspicu- 
ously "P  9,"  "P  27,"  etc.,  across  the  back  and 
on  the  legs),  the  "old  guard"  is  drawn  uj). 
"Atten-slioii'ii!  Present  harms!"  bawls  the 
sergeant  of  the  guard  as  the  blaring  trum- 
peters and  heavy  treading  new  guard  march 
past.  The  guard  just  mounted  salutes  the 
old  with  guns  at  the  "present,"  and  the 
Captain  or  Lieutenant  who  has  been  for  a  da}' 
practical  commander  of  the  post,  as  soon 
as  the  prisoners  are  counted  and  verified  with 
the  records,  is  relieved  with  his  guard  by  the 
new  Officer  of  the  Day. 

Out  of  the  "new  guard"  Number  One,  as 
sentry,  day  and  night  (two  hours  "on"  and 
four  "off")  marches  up  and  down  the  beat 
before  the  guard-house;  Number  Two,  Num- 
ber Three,  etc.,  patrol  the  hay-corral,  the 
stables,  the  commissary  and  the  quarter- 
master's storehouse ;  and  mounted  patrols  ride 
to  and  fro  through  the  post  until  daybreak, 
challenging  after  eleven  o'clock  with  a  sharp 
"Halt !  Who  is  there?"  all  who  may  be  pass- 
ing, requiring  mounted  parties  to  dismount 
and  advance  to  be  recognized. 

The  old  guard  has  dispersed.  On  the 
morrow  at  seven,  when  the  dreaded  "Fatigue 
Call"  sounds,  they  assemble  before  the  Provost 
Sergeant,  clothed  in  the  fatigue  uniform  of 
brown  duck,  and  go  where  he  directs,  armed 
with  garden  rakes  or  shovels,  some  of  them 
in  charge  of  an  army  wagon  and  a  team  of 
Government  mules,  to  perform  "police  duty." 

After  "Mess  Call"  and  supper  and  near  the 
sunset  hour,  "Retreat"  brings  all  enlisted 
men  to  "attention"  and  "parade  rest"  before 
the  barracks  and  guard -house;  the  evening 
gun  echoes  along  the  hills,  and  all  officers 
stand  at  "attention"  with  bared  head  while 


30I2 


AMERICAN    MANUFACTURES 


the  strains  of  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner" 
rise  on  the  air  and  Old  Glory  is  being  hauled 
down. 

As  dusk  comes  on  happy  children  romp  on 
the  lawns  "down  the  line";  along  the  drives 
floats  silvery  and  deep-toned  laughter  accom- 
panied b}^  the  clatter  of  horses'  hoofs  and  the 
ring  of  spurred  heels  on  stone  walks. 

But  Trooper  Smith  tries  not  to  hear  such 
sounds.  It  is  a  world  not  open  to  him.  The 
Chinese  Wall  of  rank  is  an  impassable  barrier 
between  him  and  the  "  West  Point  aristocracy . ' ' 
He  is  treated  by  his  officers  as  though  contact 
were  contamination,  and  his  American  soul  fills 
with  bitterness  at  the  tyranny  of  army  "disci- 
pline." He  therefore  bets  the  drinks  with 
his  "bunkies"  on  the  outcome  of  the  Sunday 
baseball  match  between  rival  troop  teams,  or 
gossips  about  a  recent  row  in  "Mike's  place" — 
one  of  the  typical,  parasitic  dens  in  the  nearby 
town  that  reaps  a  monthly  harvest  of  soldiers' 
squanderings  of  their  Si 3  pay.  He  listens 
to  the  click  of  billiard  balls  in  the  barracks 


poolroom ;  he  tells  the  corporal  he  wishes  to 
h — 1  he  were  tramping  around  down  town 

"Attention  !" 

Trooper  Smith  springs  to  his  feet  and  stands 
rigid  at  attention  with  the  other  enlisted  men 
on  the  guard-house  porch.  An  officer  is 
passing.  Sentry  Number  One  presents  his 
piece  and,  as  the  salute  is  acknowledged  by 
the  officer,  resumes  his  march. 

At  half -past  nine  as  "Tattoo"  (lights  out) 
is  blown,  Trooper  Smith  is  marching  from  the 
guard-house  with  a  "relief  party";  and  he  is 
sauntering  to  and  fro  along  a  solitary  beat 
himself  when  "Call  to  Quarters"  and  a  few 
minutes  later  "Taps"  are  sounded — eleven 
o'clock,  and  all  men  not  then  to  be  found  in 
quarters  or  on  pass  or  duty  are  absent  with- 
out leave  and  subject  to  military  punishment. 

"Five  months  and  thirteen  days  more," 
mutters  Trooper  Smith  as  he  changes  his 
carbine  to  the  other  shoulder  and  looks 
toward  the  arc  of  light  where  the  belated 
moon  is  rising,  " — and  a  breakfast !" 


AMERICAN    MANUFACTURES 

THE    ADVANCE    OF     INDUSTRY    IN    THE    UNITED 
STATES     AND     THE     DIRECTION     IT     IS     TAKING 

BY 

EDWARD    D.   JONES 

ASSISTANT     PROFESSOR    OF    COMMERCE     AND     INDUSTRY     IN     THE     UNIVERSITY     OF     MICHIGAN 


THE  Twelfth  Census  marks  the  close  of 
the  first  complete  century  of  manu- 
factures in  the  United  States.  It 
will  thus  become  the  most  important  statis- 
tical basis  by  which  will  be  measured  the 
future  advancement  of  American  industry. 
It  is  with  these  words  that  the  final  report  of 
the  Twelfth  Census  on  manufactures  begins. 
It  might  have  been  added  that  the  Twelfth 
Census  is  the  first  to  occur  since  the  United 
States  has  become  distinctly  a  manufacturing 
nation  and  has  produced  a  surplus  of  manu- 
factured goods  with  which  it  has  entered 
the  world's  trade  to  acquire  foreign  markets. 
Our  industries  have  grown  to  giant  size,  and 
we  have  begun  to  feel  and  act  upon  commer- 
cial policies  which  have  radically  altered  our 
relations  both  to  European  nations  and 
to  undeveloped  countries  and  peoples. 


HISTORY 

In  1 791,  when  Alexander  Hamilton  sub- 
mitted his  celebrated  "Report  on  Manufac- 
tures" to  Congress,  he  was  able  to  refer  to  the 
household  system  of  manufacture  by  means 
of  which  each  family  unit  supplied  many  of 
its  own  needs;  and  he  described  the  remark- 
able development  of  this  type  of  manufacture 
in  southern  New  England,  where  considerable 
c[uantities  of  coarse  cloth,  clothing  and  nails 
were  produced.  In  addition  to  this,  some 
twenty  industries  were  mentioned  which  had 
reached  a  considerable  development,  involving 
special  buildings,  the  division  of  labor,  the 
ingathering  of  raw  materials  from  distant 
localities  and  the  distribution  of  the  manufac- 
tured articles  throughout  the  States.  Among 
these  were  tanning,  iron  manufacture,  ship- 
building and  furniture  manufacture,  the  mak- 


AMERICAN    MANUFACTURES 


3013 


I 


ing  of  cordage,  brick,  distilled  liquors,  paper, 
wool,  hats,  whale  oil  and  candles,  copper 
utensils,  tobacco,  turpentine,  flour,  etc. 

While  this  was  a  respectable  beginning,  the 
chief  task  of  the  American  people  was  to  be 
for  at  least  five  decades  to  push  forward  the 
frontier. 

Up  to  1840  this  work  went  on.  By  that 
time  compact  settlement  had  reached  the 
Mississippi  River,  and  the  further  growth  of 
population  required  the  building  of  railways 
and  the  establishment  of  manufactures.  By 
1850  the  chief  forms  of  labor-saving  agricul- 
tural implements  of  American  origin  were 
introduced  and  began  their  work  of  liber- 
ating an  increasing  proportion  of  the  popu- 
lation from  agriculture.  The  Civil  War 
increased  the  need  of  the  country  for  manu- 
factured articles,  and,  accompanied  as  it 
was  by  a  high  tariff  to  provide  Government 
revenue,  provided  a  powerful  impulse  to 
develop  home  manufactures.  Down  to  1880 
agriculture  was  the  chief  source  of  wealth 
in  this  country.  The  last  two  censuses  have 
shown  manufacture  to  be  dominant.  In  1900 
the  value  of  agricultural  products  was  four 
and  seven-tenths  billions  of  dollars;  the  net 
value  of  manufactured  products  was  five  and 
nine-tenths  billions. 

We  may  group  our  industrial  history  into 
periods,  therefore,  roughly  as  follows: 

1609 — 1789     Colonial  period. 

1790 — 1840     Period  of  Western  settlement. 

Agriculture  for  home  consumption 
except  cotton. 

1840 — 1880     Period  of  agricultviral  dominance. 
Large  export  of  raw  materials. 

1880 — 1900     Dominance    of    manufactures    for 
home  use. 

1900  Period  of  foreign  trade  in  manufac- 

tures as  well  as  raw  materials. 

GENERAL     COMPARISOXS 

To  gather  some  of  the  chief  results  of  the 
recent  census  investigation  into  a  few  sen- 
tences we  may  say  that  when  we  speak  of 
"American  mantifactures "  we  mean  512,339 
establishments,  using  $9,835,086,909  of 
capital,  and  involving  the  labor  of  397,174 
officials  and  clerks  and  5,316,802  wage 
earners.  This  vast  equipment  consumes 
$7,348,144,755  worth  of  raw  materials  annu- 
ally and  makes  out  of  the  same  manufactured 
products  worth  altogether  $13,014,287,498. 
These  figures  all  show  a  healthy  increase 
over  those  of  1890.  There  are  forty-four 
per    cent,    more    establishments    now    than 


then;  fifty  per  cent,  more  capital  is  used;  a 
fourth  more  wage  earners  are  employed;  and 
the  annual  value  of  the  gross  product  is  forty 
per  cent,  more  than  in  1890. 

Our  rank  among  the  manufacturing  nations 
of  the  world  is  first,  for,  according  to  the  esti- 
mates of  the  late  Mr.  Mulhall,  we  produce 
about  half  as  much  as  all  of  Europe  combined. 
The  United  Kingdom  ranks  second,  Germany 
third,  France  fourth  and  Austria- Hungary 
fifth. 

The  significance  of  $13,000,000,000,  the 
value  of  the  manufactured  articles  produced 
in  1900,  is  difficult  to  realize.  It  is  nine  and 
one-third  times  the  authorized  capitalization 
of  the  greatest  corporation  on  earth,  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation.  It  is  one- 
fifth  of  the  true  value  of  all  real  estate  and 
personal  property  in  the  United  States 
reported  by  the  census  of  1890,  or  about  the 
value  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  com- 
bined at  that  time.  So  great  an  annual  prod- 
uct has  been  produced  by  our  manufacturing 
establishments  only  in  recent  years.  The 
product  of  1890  was  $9,372,437,283,  that  of 
1880  $5,369,579,191,  that  of  1850  but 
$1,019,106,616. 

In  1 810  the  manufactured  goods  produced 
in  this  country  were  worth  $27.58  per  capita 
of  the  population,  or  $165.48  for  the  average 
family.  In  i860  manufactures  were  worth 
$60.06  per  capita,  or  $318.32  for  the  average- 
sized  family  of  that  period.  In  1890  the  per 
capita  value  was  $149.72,  or  for  a  family  of 
4.9  persons  $733.63.  In  1900  the  per  capita 
value  of  manufactured  goods  was  $172.21,  or 
$809.39  for  the  average  family  of  4.7  persons. 

CLASSIFICATION   OF   ESTABLISHMENTS 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  manufactur- 
ing establishments  may  be  classified : 

1 .  According  to  the  general  economic  class 
to  which  they  belong. 

The  512,254  establishments  considered  by 
the  census  as  "manufacturing  establish- 
ments," in  the  strict  meaning  of  the  term, 
are  divided  into: 

Household  industries  and  repairing 215,814 

Manufacturing — other 296,440 

To  these  we  may  add  small  establishments 
producing  annually  goods  valued  at  less 

than  $500 127,419 

Government  establishments 138 

Educational,  charitable  and  penal  establish- 
ments    ,^83 

2.  The   second   classification   of   establish- 


3014 


AMERICAN    MANUFACTURES 


ments  is  according  to  the  form  of  organization 
employed.     It  is  as  follows: 

Individual  ownership 372,703 

Partnership 96,715 

Company  or  corporation 40,743 

Cooperative  association 1.765 

Miscellaneous 1 74 

The  corporation  is  the  form  in  which  the  larger 
businesses  are  usually  organized,  and  controls 
59.5  per  cent,  of  the  product.  Cooperative 
associations  are  confined  to  the  manufacture 
of  butter,  cheese  and  condensed  milk. 

3.  The  third  classification  is  according  to 
industry.  The  Twelfth  Census  has  given  us 
for  the  first  time  a  carefully  digested  grouping 
of  manufactures.  It  involves  fifteen  head- 
ings and  is  as  follows : 

(i)  Food  and  kindred  products,  (2)  textiles, 
(3)  iron  and  steel,  (4)  lumber,  (5)  leather, 
(6)  paper  and  printing,  (7)  liquor  and  bever- 
ages, (8)  chemicals,  (9)  clay,  glass  and  stone, 
(10)  metals  other  than  iron  and  steel,  (11) 
tobacco,  (12)  vehicles  for  land  use,  (13)  ship- 
building, (14)  miscellaneous,  (15)  hand  trades. 
Of  these  classes  the  most  numerous,  excepting 
the  hand  trades,  is  the  first,  "  food  and  kindred 
products,"  with  61,302  establishments.  The 
least  numerous  class  of  institutions  is  that  for 
shipbuilding,  in  which  there  are  1,116. 

THE    .MAXUF.A.CTURING   POPULATION 

The  statistics  show  that  29,000,000  persons 
over  ten  years  of  age  are  engaged  in  produc- 
tive industry.  A  little  over  a  third  of  these 
are  in  agriculture,  a  fifth  are  in  domestic  and 
personal  service,  a  fifth  are  in  trade  and 
transportation  (16.4  per  cent.)  and  the  pro- 
fessions (4.3  per  cent.)  combined,  and  a  fourth 
are  in  manufactures  and  the  mechanical  pur- 
stiits,  including  mining. 

To  this  latter  fourth  belong  the  5,713,976 
persons  engaged  in  manufacture.  In  the  last 
twenty  years  the  number  of  persons  in  pro- 
fessions, trade  and  transportation  and  manu- 
facture has  increased  relatively.  The  number 
of  persons  in  agriculture  has  decreased  rela- 
tively. The  domestic  and  personal  service 
class  has  remained  constant. 

The  proportion  of  men,  women  and  children 
in  manufacturing  establishments  is  such  that 
if  a  given  establishment  emplojdng  100  per- 
sons desired  the  typical  division  of  men, 
women  and  children,  it  would  be  obliged  to 
employ  seventy-seven  men  over  sixteen  years 
of  age,  twenty  women  over  sixteen  and  three 
children  or  young  persons  under  sixteen. 


POWER 

Half  of  our  manufacturing  institutions  use 
power  of  some  sort  to  supplement  hand  labor. 
So  liberally  and  skilfully  is  power  used  in  the 
United  States  that  the  average  output  per 
employee  is  between  three  and  five  times  what 
it  is  in  England.  The  most  prominent  fact  in 
the  evolution  of  sources  and  forms  of  power 
is  the  increase  in  the  use  of  electricity. 

GROWTH  OF   LARGE   ESTABLISHMENTS 

The  census  shows  the  increase  in  the  size  of 
plants  by  showing  that,  while  the  product  of 
mantifacture  has  been  increasing  in  almost 
all  lines,  the  number  of  establishments  has  been 
declining  in  many  of  them.  There  was  in 
1900  a  smaller  number  of  establishments  than 
in  1890  manufacturing  agricultural  imple- 
ments, boots  and  shoes,  carpets,  glass,  iron 
and  steel,  leather,  woolens  and  the  products 
of  slaughtering  and  meat-packing;  neverthe- 
less, in  each  of  these  industries  the  average 
capital,  the  average  number  of  employees 
and  the  average  product  per  establishment 
increased  and  the  total  product  of  each  of 
these  industries  increased. 

A  more  direct  but  not  more  positive  proof  of 
this  tendency  is  shown  by  the  enumeration  of 
large  establishments.  In  1900  there  were  452 
plants  in  each  of  which  over  1,000  employees 
worked.  Of  these  120  were  in  textile  manu- 
facture (one  in  New  Hampshire  employing 
7,268  persons),  103  were  in  iron  and  steel 
manufacture  (one  in  Ohio  having  7,477  per- 
sons), forty-eight  were  in  vehicle  manufac- 
ture, twenty-nine  in  food  products,  twenty  in 
metals  other  than  iron  and  steel  and  132  in 
miscellaneous  lines. 

Turning  to  the  question  of  industrial  com- 
binations, we  find  some  interesting  statistics 
in  the  census.  A  list  of  185  such  organiza- 
tions is  presented.  They  controlled  2,040 
plants,  possessed  a  combined  capital  of 
$1,436,625,910,  employed  400,000  wage 
earners  and  24,640  officials,  and  manufactured 
products  annually  valued  at  $1,667,350,949. 
That  is  to  say,  8.4  per  cent,  of  the 
wage  earners  engaged  in  manufacturing  in 
America  were  employed  by  these  combina- 
tions and  1 4. 1  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  our 
manufactures  originated  with  them.  The 
census  report  does  not  include  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  nor  any  other  com- 
bination organized  during  or  since  the  census 
year.     The   steel  corporation  is  largely  cov- 


AMERICAN    MANUFACTURES 


3015 


I 

I 


ered  by  the  above  figures,  however,  since  most 
of  its  constituent  companies  rank  as  combina- 
tions. The  great  dividend  payers  among 
the  "trusts"  in  1900  were  the  Standard  Oil 
Company,  American  Steel  and  Wire  Comj^any, 
Federal  Steel  Company,  American  Sugar 
Refining  Company,  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company,  Pullman  Company,  American 
Tobacco  Company,  Continental  Tobacco 
Companv  and  the  United  States  Leather 
Company. 

LOCALIZATION   OF   MANUFACTURES 

The  industries  of  the  United  States  are 
most  of  them  strongly  localized  in  certain 
regions.  This  tendency  to  develop  a  terri- 
torial division  of  labor  has  always  been 
marked  in  this  country,  in  agriculture  as  well 
as  in  manufactures.  The  causes  which  lead 
to  the  location  of  industry  in  certain  places 
are  enumerated  by  the  census: 

1.  Nearness  to  materials.  This  is  illus- 
trated by  the  oyster  canning  of  Baltimore. 

2.  Nearness  to  market.  The  agricultural 
implement  manufacturers  of  Chicago  find 
their  best  market  in  the  region  which  is  tribu- 
tarv  to  that  city. 

3.  Water  power.  Fall  River,  Mass.,  with 
its  textile  manufacture,  Cohoes,  N.  Y.,  with 
its  knitting  industry,  and  Niagara  Falls,  with 
its  electro-chemical  industries,  have  resulted 
from  the  utilization  of  water  power. 

4.  Favorable  climate.  The  Piedmont  sec- 
tion of  the  South  attracts  cotton  mills,  not 
only  because  of  its  nearness  to  materials  and 
its  water  powers,  but  because  of  its  favorable 
climate. 

5.  Supply  of  labor.  The  garment  trades 
are  largely  monopolized  by  New  York  City, 
Philadelphia  and  other  large  cities  on  the 
coast  because  there  a  large  population  of 
foreign  birth,  with  low  standards  of  living, 
furnish  adequate  supplies  of  cheap  labor. 

6.  Capital  available  for  investment  in 
manufacture.  When  the  whaling  industry 
declined,  New  Bedford,  which  had  become 
wealthy  by  means  of  it  and  was  ranked  as  one 
of  the  richest  cities  in  the  United  States,  put 
considerable  of  its  capital  into  cotton  manu- 
facturing. The  city  of  Chicago  was  not  able 
to  surpass  Cincinnati  as  the  centre  of  the  pork- 
packing  industry  in  the  West  until  the  local 
banks  acquired  enough  money  to  aid  the 
packers  in  carrying  the  enormous  financial 
load  of  buying  the  raw  materials,  which  for 


that  business  constitute  about  75  per  cent,  of 
the  value  of  the  finished  product. 

7.  Momentum  of  an  early  start.  Sir 
Wm.  Johnston  early  brought  glovers  from 
England  to  Johnstown,  N.  Y.,  and  started  the 
industry  for  which  that  city  and  Amsterdam 
and  Gloversville  are  now  noted.  Had  the 
celebrated  "shoemaker  of  Lynn"  settled  in 
a  neighboring  village  Lynn  might  not  now 
signify  shoes  wherever  the  name  is  heard. 

If  we  examine  a  map  showing  the  location 
of  American  manufactures  we  shall  observe 
that  they  are  markedly  concentrated  along 
the  Atlantic  seaboard,  from  the  middle  of 
Maine  to  the  latitude  of  Baltimore,  and  cover- 
ing a  region  extending  perhaps  100  miles  back 
from  the  coast.  West  of  this  an  irregular 
belt  of  country,  including  middle  New  York, 
western  Pennsylvania  and  northeastern  Ohio, 
stands  out  prominently.  Passing  still  farther 
west  we  find  the  manufacturers  not  so  evenly 
distributed,  but  rather  concentrated  at  cer- 
tain points,  such  as  Cincinnati,  Louisville, 
the  gas  belt  of  Indiana,  Chicago,  Milwaukee, 
St.  Louis,  Minneapolis,  Kansas  City  and 
Omaha.  The  South  shows  a  large  number  of 
small,  rather  isolated  manufacturing  localities. 
These  occur  most  frequently  upon  the 
Piedmont  plateau,  from  southern  Virginia  to 
northern  Alabama.  In  the  Rocky  Mountain 
States  and  the  region  west  of  them,  five  centres 
stand  out  separated  from  one  another  by  wide 
intervals  of  undeveloped  country.  They  are 
the  middle  portion  of  Colorado,  Salt  Lake 
Valley,  the  Butte  region  of  Montana,  the 
Puget  Sound  and  Columbia  River  cities,  and 
San  Francisco,  with  the  adjacent  cities  from 
Sacramento  to  Alameda. 

The  national  centre  of  manufactures  has 
been  fixed  at  a  point  east  of  the  middle  of 
Ohio,  about  twenty-five  miles  southeast  of 
Mansfield.  It  has  moved  west  only  about 
forty  miles  in  ten  years.  The  centre  of  popu- 
lation lies  200  miles  southwest  of  this,  at  a 
point  about  eight  miles  from  Columbus, 
Indiana. 

California  is  first  in  preserving  vegetables 
and  fruits,  vinous  liquors,  lead  smelting  and 
refining. 

Connecticut  is  first  in  ammunition,  brass- 
ware,  clocks,  corsets,  cutlery,  needles  and  pins 
and  hardware. 

New  York  is  first  in  thirty-one  industries, 
among  which  are  butter  and  cheese,  gloves, 
factory-made   clothing,  furniture,  chemicals, 


30i6 


AMERICAN   MANUFACTURES 


hosiery,  malt  liquors,  lithographing,  printing 
and  publishing,  millinery  and  lace  goods, 
paper  and  pulp,  patent  medicines,  soap  and 
candles,  sugar  refining,  cigars  and  cigarettes. 

Illinois  is  first  in  the  manufacture  of  agri- 
cultural implements,  bicycles,  cars,  glucose, 
and  distilled  liquors,  and  in  slaughtering  and 
meat  packing. 

Wisconsin  is  first  in  lumber  and  timber 
products. 

Minnesota  leads  in  flouring  and  grist  mills. 

Texas  leads  in  cotton  ginning  and  the  manu- 
facture of  products  from  cotton  seed. 

Some  manufactures  are  limited  to  very 
restricted  areas,  a  group  of  States  or  a  single 
State  or  even  a  portion  of  a  State  confining 
them.  The  most  highly  concentrated  indus- 
try is  the  making  of  collars  and  cuffs,  of  which 
99.6  per  cent,  is  within  New  York  State  and 
85.3  per  cent,  is  in  the  single  city  of  Troy. 

The  tendency  to  centralize  industry  has 
given  rise  to  cities  which  are  chiefly  devoted 
to  one  occupation.  The  city  most  wholly 
given  up  to  one  thing  is  South  Omaha:  89.9 
per  cent,  of  the  products  of  this  city  are  the 
output  of  the  great  packing  houses  located 
there.  A  list  of  cities  of  20,000  and  over  in 
population,  in  each  of  which  40  per  cent,  or 
over  of  the  industrial  products  belong  to  one 
branch  of  manufacture,  is  as  follows: 

Shoes — Brockton,   Haverhill,  Lynn. 

Agricultural    Implements — Springfield,    O. 

Collars  and  Cuffs — Troy. 

Cotton  Goods — Warwick,  R.  I.,  Fall  River, 
New  Bedford,  Lewiston,  Me..  Manchester, 
N.  H. 

Fur  Hats — Bethel,  Conn.,  D anbury.  Conn., 
Orange,  N.  J. 

Glass— Millville,  X.  J.,  Tarentum,  Pa., 
Charleroi,  Pa. 

Knit  Goods — Cohoes. 

Iron — McKeesport,     Youngstown,     Johns 
town.    Pa.,    New    Castle,    Joliet,    Pittsburg, 
Trenton. 

Jewelry — North  Attleboro,  Attleboro. 

Gloves — Gloversville,  N.  Y.,  Johnstown, 
N.  Y., 

Pottery — East  Liverpool,  0. 

Silk — West  Hoboken  and  Paterson,  X.  J. 

Slaughtering  and  Meat  Packing — South 
Omaha,  Kansas  City,  Kan.,  St.  Joseph. 

CITIES 

About  one-half  of  the  manufactures  of  the 
United    States    are    turned   out    in    our    100 


largest  cities.  These  cities  contain  23  per 
cent,  of  the  population.  About  two-thirds  of 
these  products  come  from  the  209  cities 
having  over  20,000  population.  The  greatest 
concentration  of  a  manufacture  in  cities  is 
found  in  the  case  of  men's  and  women's  cloth- 
ing, hats  and  caps,  cars,  umbrellas  and  canes, 
lithographing  and  engraving.  The  smallest 
degree  of  concentration  is  found  in  the  case 
of  flour  and  grist  mills,  distilled  liquors  and 
brick  and  tile. 

New  York  City  is  most  cosmopolitan  in  its 
manufactures,  exhibiting  the  greatest  variety 
of  them,  and  having  a  number  of  establish- 
ments which  are  the  only  ones  of  their  kind 
in  the  country.  In  1900  there  were  39,776 
manufactories  in  New  York  City,  employing 
89,250,000  capital  and  500,000  persons, 
turning  out  goods  annually  to  the  value  of 
Si, 3 7 1,000,000.  The  most  numerous  class  of 
establishments  in  the  city  was  for  custom 
work  and  repairing  of  boots  and  shoes,  of 
which  there  were  3,341.  There  were  more 
than  1,000  establishments  each  for  the 
manufacture  of  cigars,  women's  clothing, 
dressmaking,  carpentering,  men's  clothing, 
and  also  for  plumbing,  painting  and  black- 
smithing.  There  was  only  one  establishment 
each  for  the  manufacture  of  bells,  felt  goods, 
firearms,  leather  board  and  car-fare  registers. 

ACHIEVEMENTS    AND    THE    OUTLOOK. 

The  general  causes  which  have  made  us  a 
great  manufacturing  nation  and  the  advan- 
tages which  we  now  possess  have  been  placed 
under  five  headings: 

1.  Agricultural  resources. 

2.  Mineral  resources.  It  is  plain  that  a 
country  which  produces  nine-tenths  of  the 
world's  cotton,  one-third  of  its  coal,  one- 
fourth  of  its  iron  ore  and  one-half  of  its  copper 
and  a  similar  generous  share  of  many  other 
things,  such  as  lumber,  grain,  hides  and  petro- 
leum, has  a  great  advantage  in  the  matter  of 
raw  materials  upon  which  to  set  labor  and 
capital  at  work. 

3.  Transportation  facilities.  These  include 
the  remnants  of  a  neglected  canal  system,  a 
magnificent  but  scarcely  used  system  of  navi- 
gable rivers  amounting  to  18,000  miles,  and 
a  highly  important  system  of  Great  Lakes 
waterwa3-s  extending  for  i  ,000  miles  and  carry- 
ing a  tonnage  "equal  to  nearly  40  per  cent,  of 
that  of  the  entire  railroad  system  of  the 
United   States."     Our  railway  system,   con- 


AMKRICAN    MANUFACTURES 


3017 


structed  with  great  rapidity  between  i860 
and  1880,  is  now  over  a  third  of  that  of  the 
world.  In  1899  the  total  length  was  189,295 
miles,  as  against  172,621  in  Europe,  and  the 
cost  of  moving  goods  was  less  here  than  in 
Europe,  being  on  the  average  less  than  six 
mills  for  carrying  one  ton  a  distance  of  one 
mile. 

4.  Freedom  of  interstate  commerce. 

5.  Freedom  from  traditioti. 

As  an  example  of  American  ingenuity  we 
may  cite  the  invention  of  the  system  of 
interchangeable  parts,  which  has  made 
possible  the  use  of  complex  machinery 
in  agriculture  or  other  industries  at  a 
distance  from  machine  shops  'or  the  point 
of  original  manufacture.  Activity,  skill 
and  willingness  characterize  the  best  type 
of  American  workmen,  and  this  willing- 
ness is  shown,  in  part,  by  a  readiness  to  pack 
bag  and  baggage  and  move  to  those  places 
where  manufacture  can  be  carried  on  most 
economically,  especially  if  it  be  to  a  large  city. 
The  organizing  ability  of  American  capitalists 
cannot  be  doubted.  There  is  scarcely  an 
industry  upon  which  the  peculiar  genius  of 
the  American  has  not  wrought  an  effect. 

In  food  manufacture  we  began  with  the 
slowly  revolving  millstone,  but  Oliver  Evans 
originated  the  system  of  automatic  conveyors 
now  in  use.  When  later  this  was  coupled  with 
the  middlings  purifier,  also  of  American  origin, 
and  the  Hungarian  roller  process  in  a  modified 
form,  the  modern  mill  first  became  a  reality. 
Here  the  factory  system  was  first  applied  to 
the  making  of  cheese  and  butter,  resulting  in 
the  cheese  factory  and  creamery.  An  instance 
of  a  wonderful  application  of  machinery  to  a 
complex  process  is  afforded  by  our  slaughtering 
and  meat-packing  establishments.  While  the 
production  of  beef  extract  in  South  America 
is  reputed  to  be  one  of  the  most  wasteful  indus- 
tries in  existence,  involving  the  destruction  of 
an  entire  carcass  of  beef  to  produce  a  few 
pounds  of  extract,  the  American  method  with 
beef  and  pork  products  is  based  upon  the 
utmost  despatch  through  the  division  of  labor, 
continuous  refrigeration  from  factory  to  con- 
sumer, and  the  utilization  of  every  product 
so  that  there  is  no  waste.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  packer  gets  ever}'i;hing  out  of  the  hog 
but  its  squeal,  and  this  he  gets  out  of  the 
public. 

In  textile  manufacture  we  are  now  the 
second  nation  in  the  world  in    the  number 


of  cotton  spindles  operated,  and  first  in  the 
amount  of  cotton  fiber  used. 

In  iron  and  steel  manufacture  we  have 
passed  our  chief  rival.  Great  Britain,  several 
years  since,  and  now  English  ironmasters  who 
visit  us  say  that  nowhere  in  the  world  are 
labor-saving  devices  so  masterfully  designed 
and  employed  as  here.  In  the  using  of  steel 
we  are  quite  as  original.  To  this  the  heavy 
rolling-stock  and  rails  and  bridges  of  American 
railways  testify.  Here  structural  steel  was 
first  employed  in  buildings.  The  structures 
into  which  the  first  girders  went  are  still  stand- 
ing— Cooper  Union  and  Harper's  Publishing 
House  in  New  York  City.  An  enormous 
demand  for  iron  and  steel  is  created  for 
agricultural  and  mining  and  manufacturing 
machinery  and  also  for  electrical  equipments 
and  gas  and  water  pipe.  Nowhere  are  stoves 
and-ranges  made  so  large  and  beautiful  as  here, 
and  nowhere  is  tin  plate  used  so  lavishly. 
In  lumber  and  leather  and  paper  and  other 
lines  the  record  is  similarly  encouraging. 

There  are  some  things  lacking,  however, 
some  lines  of  effort  along  which  we  have  not 
progressed  as  far  as  we  might  have  wished. 
We  do  not  yet  convert  into  fiour  all  the  bread- 
stuff s  we  export.  This  is  partly  due  to  foreign 
tariffs  on  flour.  We  have  never  developed 
the  manufacture  of  linen  beyond  the  coarsest 
kinds  of  toweling.  The  difficulty  with  this 
industry  is  that  the  retting  of  flax  must  be 
done  by  skilful,  patient  agriculturalists,  willing 
to  work  for  small  wages;  and  American 
farmers  are  neither  skilful  nor  cheap  laborers 
at  this  task. 

While  in  steel  shipbuilding  the  construction 
of  our  own  navy  has  been  a  worthy  achieve- 
ment, we  have  contributed  little  to  the  steel 
tonnage  used  in  international  trade,  and  this 
is  true  not  so  much  because  ships  cannot  be 
built  well  and  reasonably  here  as  because  the 
cost  of  operating  them  with  American  seamen 
is  prohibitive  and  is  not  counterbalanced  by 
liberal  subsidies. 

True,  as  a  manufacturing  people  we  have 
rather  made  a  hobby  of  "production  on 
a  large  scale,"  and  "quick  returns,"  and 
"machine  methods."  We  have  perhaps 
overrated  quantity  and  cheapness  of  price, 
and  undervalued  solidity  and  durability 
of  wares  and  subdued  colors  and  correct  pro- 
portions combined  with  simplicity  and  hon- 
esty of  material  beneath  the  surface.  These 
are  the  natural  defects  of  a  people  accustomed 


30i8 


AMERICANISM    FOR   BRITISH   TRADE-UNIONS 


to  dealing  chiefly  in  raw  materials,  among 
whom  wages  are  high  and  life  is  lived  fast. 
Machinery  must  always  be  excepted  from 
this  criticism.  That  is  a  means  to  an  end, 
and  hurries  us  on  to  our  goal.  We  are 
more  exacting  in  the  choice  of  means  than 
we  are  discriminating  in  the  choice  of 
ends  themselves.  To  put  this  in  the  phrase- 
ology   of    the    economist,    producers'    goods 


maintain  a  higher  standard  than  consumers' 
goods.  We  are  more  proficient  in  the  process 
of  wealth  production  than  in  living  the  ideal 
life  to  which  wealth  is  intended  to  minister. 
If  we  could  so  simplify  life  as  to  gain  oppor- 
tunity to  examine  things  closely,  we  might 
learn  to  appreciate  them  when  well  done, 
and  we  might  then  find  time  to  make 
things  better. 


AMERICANISM    FOR    BRITISH 
TRADE-UNIONS 

WHY  I  BROUGHT  A  COMMISSION  OF  BRITISH  LABOR  LEADERS  TO 
STUDY  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES  —  WHAT  GREAT  BRITAIN  CAN  LEARN 
FROM  THE  UNITED  STATES  —  THE  HIGH  QUALITY  OF  AMERICAN  WORK- 
MEN —  A       SUGGESTION      TOWARD       SOLVING      THE       LABOR       PROBLEM 

BY 

ALFRED    MOSELY,    C.  M.  G. 


IT  has  been  my  fortune  of  late,  both  in 
England  and  in  the  United  States,  to 
be  frequently  asked  my  reasons  for 
bringing  a  party  of  English  trade-union 
representatives  across  the  water  to  study 
American  industries  and  American  labor 
conditions.  They  consist,  as  these  pages  will 
show,  of  facts  that  cannot  be  blinked  and  of 
hopes  which   promise  fulfilraent. 

Years  ago  in  the  gold  and  diamond  fields  of 
South  Africa  I  met,  one  after  another,  a  little 
army  of  American  engineers.  Mr.  Gardiner 
Williams  I  ran  across  by  chance  one  afternoon 
at  the  spot  that  afterward  became  the  Johan- 
nesberg  gold  fields,  standing  beside  his  out- 
spanned  oxen,  just  ready  to  make  camp.  I 
met  the  late  Mr.  Louis  Se^-mour  when  he  came 
to  the  Colony  to  work  for  De  Beers  at  $2,000 
a  year — plucky  Louis  Seymour,  the  best 
engineer  that  America  ever  sent  abroad,  who 
rose  by  his  efforts  to  a  salary  of  $50,000  a  A'ear, 
and  only  a  few  years  ago,  after  zealous  engi- 
neering work  in  the  war,  died  a  brave  death 
at  Sand  River,  defending  one  of  the  bridges 
against  attack  by  the  Boers  and  in  the  act 
of  leading  his  raen  to  cover.  After  him 
came  Perkins  and  Jennings  and  Hammond 
and  others,  all  Americans.  Beneath  the 
hands  and  brains  of  these  men  the  wealth 
of  South  Africa  grew.  The  gold  mines  and 
the  diamond  mines,   which  had  never  paid 


before,  began  to  pay  beyond  all  expectation. 
Wherever  things  were  accomplished  there 
were  the  Americans.  I  began  to  wonder,  as 
time  went  on,  what  manner  of  country  it  was 
that  produced  such  able,  level-headed,  efficient 
men ;  and  accordingly  five  years  ago  I  visited 
the  United  States  and  traveled  throughout 
its  breadth,  daily  becoming  better  aware  of 
the  methods  by  which  the  country  is  making 
its  marvelous  success. 

Soon  after  my  return  events  of  world-wide 
importance  began  to  shape  themselves  and 
take  on  unmistakable  import.  The  United 
States  leaped  to  the  position  of  the  leading 
exporting  nation  of  the  world;  and  Britain, 
its  industries  slowly  recovering  from  the 
effects  of  the  costly  engineers'  strike,  its  whole 
internal  development  checked  by  the  war  in 
South  Africa,  showed  signs  of  industrial 
crystallization.  The  United  States  was,  and 
is,  forging  ahead  with  a  rapidity  unprece- 
dented in  the  history  of  nations.  Britain 
was,  and  is,  advancing  far  too  slowly  for  its 
own  economic  safety  in  the  rush  of  twentieth- 
century  competition.  For  the  United  States, 
with  all  its  vast  resources  in  the  way  of  food- 
stuffs, is  no  longer  an  agricultural  nation,  but 
a  manufacturing  nation  also,  and  in  this 
respect  a  competitor  of  Britain.  With  a  vast 
gain  in  the  aggregate  production  under  each 
of  these  heads,  the  proportion  of  exported 


AMERICANISM    FOR    HRlTISll    TRADE-UNIONS 


3019 


goods   from   the   United  States  has  changed 
thus  in  thirty  years; 


Agricultural 
Products     Manufactures 

Others 

Percent.           Percent. 

Per  cent. 

■      77                   i6>^ 

6H 

■      (>i'A               2gH 

7 

I879-I88I 

1 899- 1 90 1 

The  export  of  manufactures  alone  grew 
from  an  average  of  ;^4o,ooo,ooo  in  the  years 
1 889-1 89 1  to  an  average  of  ;^82. 000,000  in 
the  years  1 899-1 901,  an  increase  of  over  fifty 
per  cent,  in  a  decade,  while  the  increase  of 
the  United  Kingdom  was  but  nominal. 
Meanwhile  the  population  of  the  United 
States  increases  twice  as  fast  as  the  popula- 
tion of  Britain ;  and  its  resources  in  foodstuffs, 
coal,  iron,  oil,  copper  and  many  other  impera- 
tive necessities  of  modern  industry  are  vastly 
greater. 

These  last  particulars  make  it  clear  that  the 
United  States  is  destined  to  hold  the  first 
rank  among  the  producing  nations  of  the  world. 
In  the  matter  of  manufactures,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  has  not  been  clear  to  me  that  there 
has  been  any  divine  dispensation  except  the 
law  that  "God  helps  those  who  help  them- 
selves," granting  the  United  States  a  special 
advantage  over  the  United  Kingdom.  At  the 
same  time  nothing  was  clearer  to  me  after  my 
first  visit  than  that,  except  in  ship-building, 
the  United  States  at  present  does  possess 
an  advantage.  I  have  been  able  to  perceive 
a  better  spirit  pervading  industry,  both 
among  employers  and  employees,  than  pre- 
vails at  home,  where  employers  ascribe  the 
backwardness  of  British  industry  to  the 
oppressive  rules  of  the  trade-unions,  and  the 
unions  ascribe  it  to  the  blind  unprogressive- 
ness  of  employers.  The  better  spirit  in  the 
United  States  has  led  to  better  methods 
than  ours.  Accordingly,  recalling  what  I  had 
seen  of  American  methods  in  South  Africa 
and  in  the  States,  and  viewing  with  some 
sincere  alarm  the  condition  into  which 
British  industry  had  fallen,  I  endeavored 
to  evolve  a  plan  whereby  American  methods 
could  be  introduced  into  Britain  to  the  last- 
ing good  of  its  economic  well-being. 

By  far  the  best  suggestion  that  presented 
itself  was  to  invite  the  British  trade-unions  to 
select  representatives,  one  from  each,  to  form 
a  commission  for  the  purpose  of  studying 
American  industries  and  the  condition  of 
American  workmen,  in  the  hope  of  discovering 
the  causes  of  American  success.  I  thoroughly 
believe   in   trade-unions   properly   managed; 


and  I  believe  that,  with  all  their  mistakes, 
the  British  trade-unions  take  a  patriotic 
interest  in  British  industry.  If  these  repre- 
sentatives, so  the  matter  presented  itself, 
should  find  American  workmen  living  as  well 
as  British  workmen,  or  better,  and  yet  pro- 
ducing a  greater  amount  per  capita,  I  had 
confidence  they  would  disseminate  among 
their  associates  on  their  return  a  spirit  of 
emulation.  If  they  should  find  that  American 
employers  show  a  keener,  up-to-date  spirit 
than  English  employers — as  I  am  convinced 
they  do — I  had  confidence  that  the  agitation 
they  might  arouse  would  put  the  blame  of 
British  industrial  backwardness  where  it 
should  rest — on  the  shoulders  of  employers; 
and  the  employers,  I  hoped,  would  rouse 
themselves  to  proper  efforts.  If  public 
opinion  needed  stirring  up  on  such  matters 
as  public  education — for  I  believe  that  the 
mainspring  of  American  success  is  American 
public  education — I  felt  that  the  demand  of 
these  men,  representatives  of  the  working 
people,  would  be  heeded  as  perhaps  a  demand 
from  any  other  class  would  not. 

I  came  to  the  United  States,  therefore,  to 
arrange  for  the  reception  of  the  commissioners 
and  to  seek  aid  in  our  enterprise.  On  return- 
ing I  set  to  work  to  find  the  largest  unions 
and  to  discover  the  most  fitting  men  to  invite. 
I  then  issued  invitations.  Ambassador 
Choate  provided  me  with  letters  of  intro- 
duction to  Mr.  Carnegie,  Mr.  Schwab,  Bishop 
Potter,  Mr.  Morris  K.  Jesup,  Mr.  Abram 
Hewitt,  Mayor  Low  of  New  York,  and  many 
other  representative  Americans.  Bishop 
Potter  brought  me  into  contact  with  the 
Civic  Federation  and  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  and  these  bodies,  as  well  as  many 
large  employers,  oflfered  their  assistance  to 
facilitate  the  inquiries  of  the  commission. 
Thus  labor  and  capital,  and  the  Civic 
Federation  representing  the  best  spirit  of 
both,  extended  to  the  commission  a  typical 
American  hospitality. 

Meanwhile  the  commission  was  forming 
at  home.  Most  of  the  unions  at  once  accepted 
the  invitation  and  elected  in  most  cases  their 
General  Secretary  as  representative.  There 
was,  of  course,  some  misunderstanding,  some 
evidence  of  the  feeling  that  has  delayed  the 
progress  of  Great  Britain,  expressed  in  the 
thought,  "We  have  nothing  to  learn  from 
America."  I  received  many  letters  of  which 
the  following  is  a  type: 


3020 


AMERICANISM    FOR    BRITISH    TRADE-UNIONS 


Folkestone.  best  and  to  give  a  fair  day's  work  for  a  fair  day's 


Dear  Sir:  Please  excuse  the  liberty  I  have  taken 
in  writing  to  you,  but  speaking  as  a  mechanic  I 
think  it  would  be  a  waste  of  time  and  money  to  go 
to  America  for  what  we  can  do  here  as  well  if  we 
are  given  a  chance — at  least,  the  writer  of  this  is 
open  to  take  on  anybody  from  America  or  anywhere 
else.  The  reason  why  the  American  workmen 
succeed  is  because  they  have  the  desire  for  it.  As 
far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  should  consider  it  a  disgrace 
to  say  I  went  out  there  to  learn  anything;  the  only 
way  to  do  it  would  be  to  help  them  here  that  have  a 
desire  to  get  on.  There  are  such  workmen  here,  but 
they  are  simply  smothered  by  shoddy  mechanics 
who  do  not  want  to  know  while  they  can  get  the 
same  money  as  those  do  who  try  to  get  on.  In 
conclusion  I  beg  to  say  I  do  not  want  any  help 
myself,  but  mean  to  fight  it  out  alone  because  I 
have  been  told  it's  no  iise  trying.  I  am  well  known 
in  Folkestone  as  second  to  none  in  my  own  trade — 
or  anything  else.  I  have  the  tools  to  work  with, 
because  it's  not  the  tools  but  what  is  behind  them, 
the  desire  to  do  it — and  for  so  doing  I  am  called  a 

and  a because  I  will  try  to  go  ahead. 

I  am  fighting  the  patent  office  single-handed, 
including  the  cj'cle  makers  who  have  been  boy- 
cotting me  and  other  people  because  we  will  not 
ride  a  hash-up  of  what  came  out  in  1842  and  a 
death-trap.  When  I  can  get  a  few  pounds  together 
I  will  go  to  America,  having  given  up  all  hopes  of 
doing  anything  here. 

Yours  respectfully, 

J-  E 

This  writer  was  unusually  incoherent, 
but  he  phrased,  with  some  basis  of  truth,  the 
idea  that  the  British  workman  has  Httle  to 
learn  from  the  American.  Yet  he  phrased  it 
without  knowing  whether  it  were  true  or  not, 
and  without  recalling  that  just  such  a  trip 
might  result  in  removing  the  "smother  of 
shoddy  mechanics";  and  this  insular  self- 
sufficiency  colored  more  than  one  mind,  I 
found  from  my  correspondence.  As  the 
unions,  however,  were  glad  to  send  their 
representatives  to  see  if  an^'thing  might  be 
learned,  the  commission  started,  each  man 
pledged  to  study  conditions  carefully  and 
answer  fully  on  his  return  questions  like  the 
following : 

1.  Is  the  American  lad  better  equipped  by  early 
training  and  education  for  his  work  than  the 
EngHsh    lad? 

2.  If  yes,  what  changes  would  you  suggest  in 
the  English  system  of  education  for  the  working 
classes  ? 

3.  What  are  the  hours  of  work  in  your  trade  in 
America,  and  how  do  they  compare  with  the  hours 
in  England  ? 

4.  Does  the  American  workman  do  more  or  less 
in  an  hour,  on  the  average,  than  the  English  work- 
man? 

5.  When  skilled  workers  on  piece-work  increase 
the  output  per  man  by  their  own  efficiency,  do 
American  employers  cut  down  wages  so  as  to  pre- 
vent a  man  earning  more  than  a  certain  amount  ? 

6.  Where  weekly  wages  are  paid — 

(a)   Do  the   men  show  any  anxiety   to   do  their 


pay.'' 

{b)  On  this  system  do  personal  energy  and 
initiative  meet  with  a  due  reward  ? 

7.  Are  suggestions  for  improvements  made  by 
the  employers,  the  introduction  of  labor-saving 
appliances  and  of  up-to-date  machines  welcomed 
by  the  men  or  the  reverse  ? 

8.  Are  suggestions  for  improvements  made  by 
the  workmen  welcomed  and  rewarded  by  the  em- 
ployers ? 

9.  (o)  Do  the  workmen  attend  on  a  larger 
number  of  machines  than  in  England  ? 

{b)  If  yes,  does  the  S3'stem  benefit  both  employer 
and  workmen,  or  does  either  side  reap  an  unfair 
advantage  from  it  ? 

10.  Is  the  American  workman  capable  of  exer- 
cising initiative  and  of  working  without  frequent 
and  detailed  directions  ?  How  does  he  compare 
with  the  English  workman  in  this  respect  ? 

1 1 .  Does  the  American  workman  exert  himself 
at  times  of  special  pressure,  and  at  such  times  do 
overwork  cheerfully  ?  How  does  his  overtime 
output  compare  with  the  output  of  the  normal  day 
and  how  does  he  in  these  respects  compare  with  the 
English  workman  ? 

12.  Are  the  American  employers  more  accessible 
to  their  men  than  English  employers  ? 

13.  Speaking  generally,  are  there  greater  oppor- 
tunities for  the  working-man  to  rise  in  America  than 
in  England  ? 

14.  How  far  is  greater  output  in  American 
factories  due  to 

(a)  Longer  hours  of  work  ? 

(6)  Greater  speed  at  which  the  machinery  is  run  ? 

15.  Are  there  any  points  in  American  practice 
which  should  in  your  opinion  be  imitated  in  English 
factories  ? 

16.  (a)  Are  the  American  workers  better  fed 
than  the  English  ? 

(6)  How  does  the  price  of  food  in  America  com- 
pare with  that  in  England  ? 

17.  (a)  Are  the  American  workers  better  clothed 
than  the  English  ? 

(6)  How  does  the  price  of  clothes  in  America 
compare  with  that  in  England? 

18.  (a)  Are  the  American  workers  better  housed 
than  the  English  ? 

(6)  How  does  rent  in  America  compare  with  rent 
in  England  ? 

(c)  Do  more  workers,  relatively,  own  the  houses 
they  live  in  than  is  the  case  in  England  ?  If  yes.  to 
what  circumstances  do  you  attribute  this  ? 

19.  How  does  the  average  wage  in  your  trade 
in  America,  expressed  in  money,  compare  with  the 
average  wage  in  England  ? 

20.  How  does  the  value  of  the  American  wage 
compare  with  that  of  the  EngHsh,  cost  of  living  beitic, 
taken  into  account  ? 

21.  Is  it  true  that  the  American  working-mrn 
does  a  larger  amount  of  work  in  earh^  manhood  thrn 
the  EngHsh.  but  that  he  deteriorates  young,  ard 
that  his  working  yesLVS  are  shortened  ? 

22.  Is  it  true  that  the  American  workman  is 
thrown  out  of  work  at  an  early  age  ? 

23.  (a)  Is  it  true  that  the  average  life  of  the 
American  workman  is  shorter  than  that  of  the 
EngHsh  workman  ? 

(h)  If  yes,  is  this  due  to  overstrain,  less  healthful 
climate,  or  to  some  other  cause? 


AMERICANISM    FOR    BRITISH    TRADE-UNIONS 


3021 


14.  Arc  a  larger  t)r  smaller  proportion  of  Ameri- 
can working-men  dependent  on  the  public  purse 
than  is  the  case  in  Fingland  ? 

25.  Do  the  ehilciren  and  friends  of  American 
working-men  wlio  are  either  past  work  or  incapaci- 
tated by  ill-health  or  accident  help  them  to  a 
greater  extent  than  is  the  case  in  England  ?  If  yes, 
to  what  do  you  attribute  the  dilTcrence? 

26.  Do  you  consider  the  general  conditions  of 
life  of  the  workman  better  in  America  than  in 
England  ?  In  what  respects  might  American 
examples  be  copied  so  as  to  improve  the  conditions 
of  life  in  England  ? 

The  commission  has  now  completed  its 
tour.  It  was  accompanied  throughout  the 
journey  by  Mr.  Marcus  M.  Marks,  President  of 
the  National  Association  of  Clothing  Manu- 
facturers. Mr.  S.  B.  Donnelly,  formerly 
President  of  the  International  Typographical 
Union,  gave  welcome  service  to  the  commis- 
sion; and  manufacturers  and  trade-union 
representatives  in  the  various  cities  we  visited 
gave  us  every  assistance  in  securing  informa- 
tion. The  party  have  now  returned  to 
England,  where  they  will  prepare  reports  on 
what  they  have  learned,  to  be  disseminated 
in  pamphlet  form  among  the  members  of 
their  respective  unions.  No  doubt  some  of 
them  will  also  give  lectures  illustrated  by 
photographic  lantern  slides  secured  by  Mr. 
E.  F.  Keller  on  the  trip  for  this  especial 
purpose.  Whatever  good  may  be  accom- 
plished, at  all  events  there  are  possibilities 
for  good  in  the  propaganda  these  men  will 
disseminate,  for  not  one  has  failed  to  mark 
phases  of  American  activity  that  might  well 
be  put  into  practice  at  home.  I  cannot  here 
set  forth  the  concrete  discoveries  made  by 
the  commission  without  forestalling  their 
reports;  but  traveling  with  them  I  have 
had  several  ideas  and  contrasts  driven  home 
to  me  with  resistless  force. 

Britain  suffers  first  of  all  for  lack  of  what  I 
find  to  be  the  crowning  glory  of  American 
civilization — a  highly  developed  system  of 
public  education.  British  children,  it  is  true, 
have  primary  school  opoortunities,  but  only 
the  few  who  win  scholarships  may  gain  a  high 
school  education  free,  and  this  only  because 
of  endowments.  Only  the  few  selected  from 
the  high  schools  for  scholarships  may  have 
free  university  training.  In  the  United 
States,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  school  on 
every  corner;  the  towns,  the  cities  and  the 
States   take    so    profound    a    pride    in   their 

I  systems  of  free  public  education  that  no 
American  boy  or  girl  lacks  an  education 
through  the  fault  of  the  community.  Never 
1 


I 

I 


can  Britain  equal  the  United  States  in  natural 
resources,  the  first  element  of  this  country's 
greatness ;  but  it  can  establish  an  educational 
system  like  the  one  that  furnishes  the  second 
element.  And  it  should — for  if  I  were  asked 
why  American  employers  are  "up  to  date" 
and  American  workmen  ethcient,  I  should 
answer,  "The  United  States  has  excellent 
public  schools,  and  its  people  make  use  of 
them. " 

In  the  United  States,  furthermore,  to  make 
another  point,  the  man  with  capital  is  eager 
to  invest  that  capital  in  productive  enter- 
prises. There  is  not  the  same  readiness  on 
the  part  of  wealthy  men  in  Great  Britain  to 
enter  "trade" — even  an  unwillingness  on 
occasion  to  grant  for  commercial  uses  patent 
natural  advantages  that  may  lie,  for  example, 
on  the  edge  of  great  estates,  which,  like 
fetishes,  must  be  kept  intact.  An  observer 
of  both  nations  is  struck  at  once  with  the 
aloofness  of  a  part  of  capital  from  industry  in 
one  country  and  the  contrasting  cumulative 
momentum  of  practically  all  capital  in  the 
other  country  helping  to  drive  industry  ahead. 
There  is  a  difference,  too,  in  the  normal 
attitude  of  employers — this  bearing,  I  sin- 
cerely believe,  on  the  restriction  of  output 
and  the  opposition  to  machinery  with  which 
the  English  trade-unions  have  been  frequently 
charged. 

There  should  be  no  restriction  of  output ;  it 
leads  to  the  ruin  of  industry.  If  the  English 
unions  have  pursued  the  policy  they  should 
drop  it — every  man  should  be  free  to  do  his 
best  work  and  to  rise  through  his  own  exer- 
tions. But  it  is  also  true  that  employees 
should  receive  fair  treatment  and  the  full 
fruits  of  their  labor.  And  it  needs  to  be  said 
that  the  shortcomings  of  English  industry 
have  not  lain  altogether,  or  even  in  greatest 
measure,  at  the  door  of  the  unions.  The 
trouble  has  been  that  employers  have  expected 
too  much  work  for  too  little  pay.  They  have 
had  too  little  desire  themselves  to  stimulate 
the  initiative  of  their  workmen.  Suggestions 
by  workmen,  looking  toward  greater  economy 
or  greater  effectiveness,  such  suggestions  as 
an  American  workman  might  bring  to  his 
employer  knowing  he  would  be  thanked  and 
rewarded,  are  not  only  not  welcomed  but 
repelled.  An  English  workman  offering  such 
suggestions  gets  off  lightly  with  a  reprimand — 
he  is  more  likely  to  be  "sacked.  "  The  manu- 
facturers, moreover,  have    not    merely  kept 


3022 


AMERICANISM    FOR    BRITISH    TRADE-UNIONS 


their  men  at  arms'  length,  but  they  have  not 
kept  themselves  up  to  date  in  scientific 
methods  of  production — in  economical  factory 
organization  and  in  the  latest  and  best 
machinery.  The  employers  are  most  to 
blame  for  English  restriction  of  output. 
Had  they  treated  their  men  on  the  same 
liberal  terms  as  the  bulk  of  American  employ- 
ers treat  theirs,  and  had  they  been  as  keen  in 
installing  new  machinery,  we  should  have 
heard  very  little  of  restriction  of  output  or  of 
labor  troubles  generally.  Restriction  should 
go,  and  the  employers  should  lead  in  dismiss- 
ing it.  It  is  based,  where  it  exists  in  Eng- 
land and  where  it  exists  in  the  United  States — 
for  it  does  exist  in  both  countries — on  the 
economic  fallacy  that  there  is  not  work 
enough  to  go  round.  True,  there  is  not  in 
congested  spots.  But  in  the  newer  English- 
speaking  countries.  South'  Africa.  Canada, 
the  United  States,  I  have  studied  industrial 
conditions  with  care,  and  I  know  that  now. 
at  this  moment,  the  world  is  cr\-ing  for  intelli- 
gent and  willing  hands.  There  is  no  dearth 
of  opportunity;  there  is  a  dearth  of  labor — 
but  the  worker  should  go  to  the  task;  never 
will  the  task  go  to  the  worker. 

Just  this  lavishness  of  opportunity  here  has 
helped  the  United  States  to  its  present  emi- 
nence. There  has  been  unequaled  opportunity 
and  it  has  been  grasped.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  American  workman  is  infinitely 
better  clothed,  better  fed  and  better  educated, 
and  that  he  feels  independent  and  self- 
respecting  to  a  higher  degree  than  his  fellows 
across  the  water.  He  is  more  sober.  He 
does  not  waste  his  money  in  betting.  He  has 
a  greater  ambition — because  of  widely  diffused 
public  education — to  rise,  himself,  to  raise 
his  family,  and  to  realize  his  responsibilities 
to  the  older  members  of  his  family  if  they 
happen  to  be  left  in  want.  In  no  country 
have  I  seen  less  poverty,  crime  and  drunken- 
ness than  here  or  fewer  public  charity  wards, 
or  so  few  beggars.  Brains  and  hands  are 
cheerily  working  to  exploit  to  best  advantage 
unparalleled  resources,  as  new  avenues  are 
constantly  opening  to  give  new  opportunities. 
Here,  however,  as  in  England,  the  labor 
problem  is  pressing  because  such  is  human 
nature — the  condition  is  a  thousand  times 
worse  in  England  than  here — that  labor  will 
not  always  go  to  the  task  that  awaits  far  off. 
preferring  to  conserve  every  possible  chance 
to  perform  some  task  at  a  more  or  less  tradi- 


tional home.  I  could  say  with  heartfelt 
sincerity  to  the  workmen  of  England  what 
Horace  Greeley  once  said  to  the  youth  of 
America,  "Go  west,"  for  I  believe  that  one 
day  they  must  go  west — to  the  United  States, 
or  to  Canada,  or  south  to  South  Africa  or 
Australia — but  so  long  as  too  many  stay,  a 
sociological  problem  must  be  solved,  the 
problem  of  the  elevation  of  the  masses. 

The  chosen  method  of  the  workmen  is  the 
trade-union.  So  be  it.  The  unions,  mis- 
taken in  policy  as  they  sometimes  are,  have 
already  raised  the  condition  of  working  people 
as  perhaps  no  other  single  force  has  raised  it. 
It  is  the  business  of  communities  and  of 
employers,  therefore,  since  the  workmen  will 
have  unions,  to  educate  them  out  of  economic 
fallacies,  to  show  them  that  wisdom  does  not 
come  from  firebrands,  and  to  treat  with  them ; 
for  after  all  it  is  easier  to  deal  with  an 
organization  than  with  aggrieved  unorganized 
workmen.  Such  action  tends  toward  indus- 
trial peace. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  the  ideal  solution 
of  difficulties  has  been  worked  out  by  the  Civic 
Federation,  a  body  whose  effort  it  is  to  get 
employers  and  representatives  of  workmen 
to  meet  in  close  contact  at  round-table 
conferences  and  to  investigate  each  other's 
conditions  and  points  of  view  with  the  hope 
of  eliminating  prejudice  and  bringing  vexed 
questions  to  a  satisfactory  outcome.  That  is 
the  way  to  settle  labor  troubles.  The  com- 
mission have  agreed  with  me  in  this  opinion  to 
the  point  of  signing  a  memorial  asking  for  the 
formation  of  a  Civic  Federation  in  England. 
I  am  confident  that  as  a  result  of  our  visit 
to  the  United   States  one  will  be  formed. 

I  maybe  permitted  to  add  one  more  thought 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  socialism  is  not 
uncommon  in  America  as  well  as  in  English 
trade-unions — a  growing  force.  I  might  say. 
It  is  that  the  English  and  the  American 
people  have  too  much  common  sense  ever 
to  eliminate  from  industrial  life  the  element 
of  individual  initiative  that  has  made  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  what  they  are. 
But  that  workmen  and  employers  shall  both 
receive  full  return  for  their  efforts — capital 
refraining  from  trenching  on  the  rights  of 
labor  and  labor  refraining  from  trenching 
on  the  rights  of  capital — I  believe  that  the 
following  division  of  the  fruits  of  industry 
will  one  day  be  made:  fair  wages  for  the 
workmen;  a  fair  return  on  capital  invested; 


WHAT    THE    BRITISH    UNIONISTS    SAW 


3023 


a  percentage  for  depreciation  of  plant  and 
for  extensions ;  old-age  pensions  for  workmen ; 
an  equal  division  between  capital  and  labor 
of  whatever  remains  in  the  form  of  profits.  I 
do  not  expect  to  live  to  see  any  such  division, 
but    I    ani    confident    that    such    a    division, 


retaining  as  it  would  every  incentive  to  the 
greatest  efforts  both  by  employers  and  work- 
men, is  what  the  industrial  world  is  coming  to, 
what  the  ceaseless  war  between  combinations 
of  capital  and  combinations  of  labor  will 
eventually  result  in. 


WHAT   THE   BRITISH    UNIONISTS   SAW 

A  RECORD  OF  EXPERIENCES  GAINED  BY  ACCOMPANYING  MR. 
MOSELY'S  BRITISH  COMMISSION  ON  THEIR  TOUR— THE  TROUBLE 
WITH  ENGLISH  INDUSTRY— HOW  THE  UNITED  STATES  IS  WORKING 
OUT     THE     LABOR     PROBLEM     AND     ORGANIZING     ITS    INDUSTRIES 

BY 

M.    G.    CUNNIFF 

(The  fourth  of  a  series  of  first-hand  studies  of  labor  problems 


THIS  morning,  when  I  asked  a  member 
of  Mr.  Mosely's  British  delegation 
if  he  thought  American  workmen 
labor  faster  than  their  English  fellows,  he 
drew  his  watch  and  said :  "  Look  there.  " 

Wo  were  facing  a  modern  office-building, 
rising  on  a  corner  of  Twenty-third  Street, 
New  York,  on  which  a  mason  was  backing 
granite  facing  with  fire-brick.  In  five 
minutes  by  the  English  delegate's  watch  the 
man  had  laid  one  brick. 

"  I've  been  watching  him,  off  and  on,  all 
morning,"  said  the  Englishman,  "and  that's 
his  pace,  twelve  bricks  an  hour — and  he's 
pretty  busy  at  that.  He  reminds  me  of  a 
workman  I  knew  at  home  who  could  busy 
himself  with  a  single  brick  all  day.  I  remem- 
ber one  frosty  morning  the  foreman  saw  him 
drop  his  trowel  to  flail  himself  with  his. arms. 
Foreman  said,  'Hi,  why  don't  you  warm  up 
by  working?'  'Hunh,'  said  he,  T'd  rawther 
g'home  frozen  t'  death  than  tired.' 

This  incident  has  the  picturesque  delusive- 
ness that  easily  leads  to  false  conclusions 
about  union  labor  both  in  England  and  here ; 
for  though  neither  workman  was  a  type  of 
anything  but  individual  laziness,  sweeping 
generalizations  are  made  from  such  stories 
that  confuse  the  labor  problem  faster  than 
large  facts  can  clear  it  up.  A  superintendent 
of  construction  on  a  great  New  York  building 

I  told  me  one  day  last  summer  that  the  union 
bricklayers  he  employed  were  speedy  and 
efficient    workmen.     Any    builder,    he    said. 


I 


can  get  good  masons.  That  is  a  larger  fact 
than  the  existence  of  an  occasional  shirk,  but, 
unfortunately,  such  facts  do  not  stick  well. 
As  for  England — well,  the  story  is  quoted 
because  for  years  we  have  heard  of  the 
"ca'  canny"  tricks  of  British  bricklayers, 
exploited  by  just  such  tales,  and  as  the  man 
who  told  this,  jocosely  holding  the  watch  on 
the  Yankee  masons,  about  whose  energy  he 
had  heard,  was  the  chosen  representative  of 
the  British  bricklayers,  I  knew  he  made  light 
of  one  Englishman's  inertia  because  he  could 
show  that  the  man  was  not  a  type  o'  all 
English  workmen.  Indeed,  he  and  his  asso- 
ciates have  made  clear  to  me  many  features 
of  both  English  and  American  industry  that 
will  furnish  the  thoughtful,  as  George  Meredith 
says,  with  a  bone  to  gnaw. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Alfred  Mosely 
I  accompanied  the  English  commission  of 
trade-unionists,  concerning  which  Mr.  Moselv 
writes  in  this  magazine,  on  their  tour  of 
investigation  through  American  industrial 
centres.  During  the  summer  I  had  studied 
American  labor-unions,  about  which  I  have 
written  in  other  articles,  and  I  hoped,  with 
foundation,  that  living  east  and  west  with  the 
leaders  of  English  unionism  I  could  gain  a 
fresh  point  of  view  of  American  labor  condi- 
tions and  at  the  same  time  learn  the  union 
side  of  the  "ca'  canny"  tales  that  come  to 
us  from  England.  So  I  set  out  across  the 
State  of  New  York  to  catch  the  commission, 
which  already  had  the  start  of  me. 


3024 


WHAT    THE    BRITISH    UNIONISTS    SAW 


Over  the  New  York  Central  the  commission 
went  to  Schenectady  to  see  how  locomotives 
and  electrical  apparatus  are  made;  to  Niagara 
Falls  and  the  great  manufactories  there, 
where  I  caught  them ;  thence  over  the  Lake 
Shore  to  Cleveland,  where  ship-building  and 
other  industries  were  studied;  on  to  Chicago, 
back  to  Pittsburg  via  Dayton,  to  Philadelphia 
and  Washington,  and  then  to  New  York, 
whence  the  various  delegates  scattered  to 
investigate  their  special  trades  in  the  East. 
Manufacturers  enabled  the  English  visitors 
to  visit  their  plants ;  and  all  day  the  hotels 
where  the  Englishmen  stayed  were  besieged 
with  local  labor-union  representatives  eager 
to  introduce  the  foreign  unionists  to  American 
workmen  who  would  testify  as  to  wages,  hours, 
speed  of  work,  the  use  of  machinery  and 
working  and  living  conditions.  Foregather- 
ing with  these  men  amid  scenes  of  vigor- 
ous industrialism  was  an  inspiration  in 
Americanism,  even  though  many  things  I 
saw  I  pray  will  never  take  root  in  American 
life. 

Here  is  what  I  mean.  From  a  sociological 
point  of  view  American  industries  are  organ- 
ized in  three  ways — all  successful.  In  one 
the  employers  treat  with  trade-unions  and 
make  collective  bargains  as  to  wages  and 
hours.  In  another  the  employers  refuse  to 
treat  with  unions,  but  pay  good  wages,  inspire 
initiative,  and  maintain  clean,  wholesome 
factories.  In  another  the  employers  hire 
cheap  foreign  labor  and  pay  them  poorly, 
sweating  their  profits  from  boys  and  girls  and 
women  in  unwholesome  workshops.  I  visited, 
for  example,  a  cigar  manufactory  where  little 
girls  with  flying  fingers  were  toiling  so  fiercely 
at  piece-work  to  make  six  dollars  a  week  that 
they  rocked  from  side  to  side  with  a  pitiable 
rh}i;hm ;  and  in  the  cloakroom  of  the  factory 
hung  a  placard  which  read,  "  Six  cents  a  week 
will  be  deducted  from  each  pay  envelope  for 
the  use  of  soap  and  towel  and  grindstone." 
"  Some  kinds  of  prosperity,  "  quoth  one  of  the 
Englishmen  when  I  spoke  of  this,  "can  be 
bought  too  dear.  "  This  factory  is  mentioned 
because  there  are  plenty  of  others  like  it  from 
which  the  English  visitors  could  learn  nothing. 
The  other  two  kinds,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
busily  maintaining  sound  American  prosperity 
and  teaching  lessons  in  every  wisely  conducted 
detail.  They  emphasized  the  fact  that  in  the 
United  States  labor  and  capital  are  slowly 
working  out  a  iiwdtis  vivendi  with  a  spirit  such 


as  Mr.  Mosely  is  trying  to  arouse  in  England — 
a  desire  for  a  thorough  understanding  between 
employer  and  employee.  Convinced  from 
previous  inquiries  that  labor  troubles  exist 
in  the  United  States,  where  they  do  exist, 
despite  the  admirable  efforts  of  the  Civic 
Federation  and  wise  employers  and  labor 
leaders,  because  there  is  a  less  clear  mutual 
understanding  than  there  should  be,  I  was 
struck  by  the  admiration  these  British  union 
leaders  expressed  for  the  pleasant  relations 
between  American  workmen  and  employers. 
I  believe,  moreover,  that  we  have  not  yet 
learned  the  true  condition  of  British  industry 
— the  true  importance,  I  mean,  of  the 
employers'  shortcomings  in  Great  Britain. 

Take,  for  example,  the  widely  exploited 
story  of  Mr.  James  C.  Stewart's  swift  building 
of  the  Westinghouse  works  in  England,  which 
is  accompanied  always  with  the  statement 
that  British  unions  restrict  their  members  to 
four  or  five  hundred  bricks  a  day,  one-third 
as  many  as  an  American  lays.  Mr.  H.  V. 
Taylor,  the  General  Secretary  of  the  British 
Bricklayers'  Union,  maintained  to  me  that 
the  "American"  record  of  i.oco  or  1,500  bricks 
a  day  at  the  Westinghouse  plant  near  Man- 
chester was  only  on  straight  foundation  work 
— a  pace  no  faster  than  any  British  mason 
would  set  on  that  class  of  work  for  the  wages 
paid.  As  the  walls  rose  higher,  he  said,  and 
the  work  became  more  difficult  the  pace 
hardly  exceeded  the  regular  four  or  five 
hundred.  "  I  know,  "  he  remarked,  "because 
I  watched  that  w^ork. 

"But  bricklaying,"  he  went  on,  "is  slower 
in  England  than  here.  In  New  York  I  will 
show  j-ou  why."  Later  he  did  by  pointing 
out  walls  shooting  upward  which,  he  said, 
were  so  slight  that  the  building  laws  of 
England  would  declare  them  unsafe.  He 
pointed  to  ornamental  stone-work. 

"That  work,"  he  said,  "we  do  in  brick, 
and  no  workman  living  can  build  such  decora- 
tive brick-work  and  lay  more  than  our 
union  masons — one  hundred  and  fift^^  a  day. 
Your  brick-work,  too,  is  laid  in  parallel  single 
walls  with  mortar  in  the  intervening  spaces. 
British  architects  now  require  that  walls  shall 
be  bonded  or  locked  together  by  the  over- 
lapping of  the  bricks  on  every  layer — the 
bricks  of  the  back  wall  with  the  bricks  of  the 
front — 'grouted  up'  and  'flushed'  are  the 
terms. " 

With  illustrations  from  brick-work  that  we 


WHAT    THE    BRITISH    UNIONISTS    SAW 


3025 


saw  he  gave  these  and  other  technical  reasons 
to  show  that  American  work  is  faster  than 
Enghsh  merely  because  it  is  flimsier.  "  'Lock- 
ing "every  course  of  brick  instead  of  every  fifth 
course,  as  fifteen  years  ago,"  said  Mr.  Taylor, 
"  has  added  thirty-three  per  cent,  to  the 
labor  cost  of  bricklaying,  and  yet  employers, 
demanding  the  added  work,  ascribe  the 
increased  expense  to  union  restriction.  They 
should  look  nearer  home.  And  in  so  far  as 
it  is  true  that  Mr.  Stewart  hurried  his  masons 
somewhat  by  paying  more  than  the  union 
scale,  why,  any  other  employer  may  hurry 
his  men,  and  the  Lord  bless  him,  by  using 
similar  means.  Employers  can't  expect  an 
American  pace  on  five  times  more  complicated 
tasks  than  American  masonry  calls  for,  and 
at  weekly  wages  of  about  ten  dollars — an 
American  mason's  pay  for  two  days.  Not 
the  '  ca'  canny'  unions,  but  the  'ca'  canny' 
employers  are  the  ones  to  wake  up.  " 

That  was  the  tale  throughout  the  trip. 
"We  do  not  have  this  machine,"  an 
Englishman  would  say  in  one  shop.  "We 
don't  employ  that  method,"  one  would  say 
in  another.  "  The  shops  I  know  are  not  so 
well  arranged  as  this,"  a  third  would  remark. 
And  one  declared:  "It  is  not  so  much  that 
your  men  work  faster  as  that  American 
employers  give  them  the  best  machines  and 
arrange  their  work  economically;  that's  why 
your  output's  bigger — your  employers  are 
up  to  date."  Only  the  ship-builders  were 
unmoved.  "Our  yards  are  better,"  they 
reaffirmed  when  I  said  good-by  as  they  left 
for  England.  "In  twenty-five  years  you 
won't  catch  us.  You  specialize  your  work; 
we  specialize  our  men.  And  our  method's 
better. "  But  in  other  industries,  agreed  the 
members  of  the  commission,  American  su- 
premacy rests  on  automatic  machinery,  on 
subdivision  of  labor,  and  on  the  ambitious 
spirit  aroused  in  workmen  by  the  democratic 
contact  between  employer  and  workmen — all 
lacking  in  England. 

In  the  great  Carnegie  steel  works  at  Home- 
stead I  walked  about  with  the  representative 
of  the  British,  ironworkers  over  iron  floors 
that  scorched  my  shoe-soles,  peering  now 
through  blue  glasses  into  open-hearth  furnaces 
where  molten  steel  was  boiling  with  the 
effervescing  liquidity  of  soda-water,  and  now 
dodging  a  cherry-red  billet  swinging  meteor- 

Ilike  through  the  air  in  a  pair  of  tongs.  Yet  in 
those  thunderous  rooms  where  red-hot  plates, 


I 


full  fifty  feet  long,  ran  back  and  forth  through 
the  rolls  with  a  deafening  musketry  crackle  as 
a  workman  sprinkled  them  with  saltpeter,  and 
then  shot  snakily  out  with  their  ends  lip- 
lapping  serpent-like  along  the  rollers  to  the 
table — in  all  the  successive  infernos  I  missed 
the  figures  of  men  running  here  and  there. 
Why?  The  men  were  not  there.  Three  or 
four  stood  about  each  roll  and  a  dozen  or  two 
were  marking  the  finished  plates  in  a  shop 
at  one  side.  Yet  the  plant  simply  clamored 
with  activity.  Gigantic  tongs  whirled  here 
and  there,  great  blocks  of  red-hot  steel  flew 
magically  into  place,  shot  along  toward  the 
rolls,  smashed  through,  flopped  over,~smashed 
back  again  with  a  splatter  of  sparks,  flopped 
over,  ground  through  again,  and  then  ambled 
off  apparently  alive  up  a  long  course  of  rollers. 
Glowing  chunks  of  steel  weighing  tons 
serenely  rolled  and  slid  and  flew  through 
those  mighty  rooms  as  if  animate.  Uncanny 
electric  cranes  glided  smoothly  overhead. 
Trains  of  incandescent  ingots  puffed  in  and 
out.  What  moved  it  all  ?  Well,  there  was  a 
man  sitting  quietly  at  a  lever  here,  another 
sitting  there,  and  a  few  conversing  quietly 
near  the  rolls;  and  as  they  crooked  a  finger 
now  and  then  the  whole  pandemonium 
dinned  its  industrial  paean  and  steel  products 
were  created.  "  No,  we  don't  have  machinery 
like  that, "  said  my  English  comp^anion. 
"Our  men  move  the  stuff  about." 

I  should  think  so.  Who  does  not  have  the 
idea  that  men  ' '  move  the  stuff  about ' '  ?  But 
American  industry  is  great  because  men  sit 
in  chairs  moving  levers,  and  massive  devils  do 
mighty  tasks  at  their  bidding.  Or  perhaps 
little  delicate  devils  keep  crazily  grinding  or 
gouging  or  spinning — like  one  at  Schenectady 
marvelously  winding  insulator  on  copper 
wire,  a  delegate  told  me,  with  a  fascinating 
precision  one  could  watch  all  day — and  no 
man  near  it.  Or  like  others  I  saw  in  rows 
in  an  instrument  factory  in  Cleveland  that 
crooned  away  to  themselves  in  an  oily  song 
and  dropped  out  bolts  and  screws  with  the 
regularity  of  clock-ticks.  Or  strident  devils 
like  a  mortising  machine  in  a  Chicago  furniture 
plant  with  an  endless  chain  of  chisels  that 
ripped  out  mortises  in  rapid  bites.  Or  quiet 
ones  like  an  augur  that  bored  square  holes  as 
I  watched  it  in  a  shop  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio.  Or  a  colossal  thing  I  saw  from  a  tug 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Cuyahoga  inside  the 
Cleveland  breakwater — a  thing  that  seized  a 


3026 


WHAT    THE    BRITISH    UNIONISTS    SAW 


full-sized  coal  car  and,  turning  it  upside  down, 
dumped  its  roaring  contents  through  a  chute 
to  the  hold  of  a  steamer  as  a  boy  would  empty 
a  hatful  of  nuts.  Farther  up  the  river  were 
spidery  structures  that  automatically  emptied 
other  steamers — mysteriously  working  away 
with  no  man  in  sight. 

"We  don't  have  machines  like  these,"  I 
heard  again  and  again,  for  we  saw  a  hundred 
others:  buttonholing  machines;  a  color- 
printing  machine,  which  one  of  the  visitors 
said  could  print  four  colors  with  one  impres- 
sion, "while  we  should  need  seven"  ;  a  machine 
for  pressing  wood-scraps  and  veneering  the 
slab  to  look  like  solid  wood :  I  cannot  go  into 
details.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  our  visitors 
saw  machines  they  had  never  seen  before. 
Progressive  men  themselves,  open-minded 
and  intelligent— I  was  sorry  to  part  with 
them  when  they  left  us — tliey  expressed  such 
ideas  in  personal  conversation  that  I  cannot 
but  believe  the  English  employers  in  the 
main  responsible  for  the  backwardness  of 
England  in  the  matter  of  machines.  Think 
of  recent  improvements  made  m  printing 
presses.  I  heard  of  one  English  employer 
who  replied  when  urged  to  "scrap"  an  anti- 
quated press:  "Oh,  there's  work  in  it  yet. 
I  got  it  second-hand  about  thirty  years  ago, 
and  I've  run  it  pretty  steadily,  but  there's 
work  in  it  yet." 

A  shipyard  on  the  Calumet  River  at  South 
Chicago  was  producing  lake  freighters  with 
speed  and  precision  by  specialized  manufac- 
ture of  standardized  parts.  Plates  were  made 
by  wholesale,  punched  by  wholesale,  riveted 
by  machinery — in  brief,  simply  rushed  with 
clocklike  regularity  to  their  places  in  a 
swiftly  growing  ship.  The  machine  shop 
was  so  clean  and  warm  and  brilliant  in  the 
sunlight  pouring  through  its  walls  of  glass 
that  it  must  be  a  joy  to  work  there.  It  was 
a  better  shop,  I  was  told  by  my  companions, 
than  English  shops,  and  the  production  of  the 
plant  was  faster  than  English  production. 
But  as  no  lake  freighters  are  built  in  England, 
so  that  broad  comparisons  are  impossible,  the 
point  I  wish  to  make  in  regard  to  the  yard  is 
that  the  youthful  superintendent  in  charge 
did  the  managing  work  himself  with  a  total 
office  force  of  ten  employees,  conducting  the 
plant  in  competition  with  other  shipyards 
in  the  great  lake  shipbuilding  trust  at  the 
highest  standard  of  efficiency  by  personal 
direction.     It    is    worth    emphasis    that    the 


combination  secures  economy  by  pitting  this 
superintendent's  executive  ability  against  that 
of  other  superintendents  in  other  trust  yards 
from  Duluth  to  Buffalo,  and  making  him 
responsible  for  keeping  the  pace  the  other 
yards  set.  But  a  comparative  point  is  worth 
attention.  I  learned  that  in  English  indus- 
tries of  this  sort  the  superintendent  does  not 
work  in  shirt -sleeves,  so  to  speak,  but  sur- 
rounds himself  with  a  cohort  of  subordinates. 
Orders  are  passed  from  one  to  another  with 
consec^uent  lost  motion,  and  pay-rolls  are 
burdened  with  men  who  do  other  men's  work 
for  the  sake  of  preserving  a  managerial 
dignity  for  which  the  average  American 
employer  cares  not  a  straw.  Here,  as  in  the 
matter  of  machinery,  I  have  the  word  of 
Mr.  Mosely  and  the  delegates,  the  United 
States  is  far  ahead  of  England.  Again  the 
employers  and  not  the  unions  are  at  fault. 

The  subdivision  of  labor  at  this  plant  and 
many  others  we  saw  is  typically  American. 
Our  industries  are  highly  organized.  There 
was  a  vast  imaginative  suggestion  in  seeing 
within  a  week  the  centre  near  Pittsburg, 
whence  the  iron  and  coal  of  the  greatest  iron 
and  coal  producing  country  in  the  world 
converge  from  a  hundred  widely  separated 
districts  and  then  debouch  to  the  world;  the 
centre  where  the  hogs  and  cattle  of  a  continent 
enter  in  snorting  herds  of  thousands  in  a  day 
and  then  go  out  in  cans,  bottles,  boxes  and 
refrigerator  cars,  also  to  the  world;  the  long 
lines  of  freight  trains  bearing  these  American 
products  and  wheat  and  corn  from  the  farm 
of  the  world  to  seaboard  ports  for  distribution 
to  the  hungr}-  peoples  of  the  world.  Teeming 
behind  the  railroads  and  the  busy  manufac- 
turing centres  lies  a  land  that  is  moved  by  a 
mighty  fruitfulness — the  gift  of  nature.  But 
at  the  centres  and  along  the  railroads  the 
fruits  of  the  earth  are  transformed  to  useful- 
ness by  a  process  resulting  from  the  brain- 
work  of  men.  Subdivision  of  labor  is  the 
keynote. 

At  a  packing-house  in  Chicago  six  girls 
about  a  table  divided  the  simple  motions 
that  go  to  filling  vials  with  beef  extract. 
Could  subdivision  go  further?  In  a  freight- 
car  works  in  Pittsburg  one  man  drove  nails 
all  day  at  so  much  a  nail.  In  shipyards, 
machine  shops,  locomotive  works,  clothing 
factories,  tanneries,  shoe-shops,  men  drove 
machines  from  morning  till  night  which  did 
but  one  thing.     Step  by  step  in  every  industry 


WHAT    THE    BRITISH    UNIONISTS    SAW 


3027 


trom  furniture  making  to  building  .sk\- 
scrapers,  materials  slid  through  trained 
hands,  or  more  often  automatic  machines, 
that  worked  some  infinitesimal  change,  and 
that  only.  But  the  total  of  results  made  car- 
loads of  products  with  unparalleled  rapidit)'. 
Would  the  unions  object  to  such  methods 
in  England  ?  I  have  only  the  earnest  words 
of  their  representatives  that  they  would  not. 
But  observe  this  fact,  which  struck  me  with 
stunning  effect  when  it  dawned  on  me  and  1 
thought  of  the  fears  so  commonly  expressed 
that  American  unions  were  tending  to  drag 
our  industry  to  the  British  level.  The 
American  labor-iiiiioiis  arc  today  equal  in 
numbers  to  the  British  unions  and  far  more 
aggressive.  There  are  nearly  two  million 
union  men  in  Great  Britain.  Tlie  American 
unions,  both  in  the  Federation  and  outside, 
aggregate  about  as  many.  But  American 
unions  demand  more  than  English  unions; 
they  strike  more  readily;  they  boycott, 
through  the  use  of  union  labels  —  which 
are  unknown  in  England — with  a  fierce- 
ness that  appalled  those  English  delegates 
with  whom  I  talked  of  the  matter.  The 
English  unions  are  hedged  by  law  and  by 
tradition.  As  one  representative  said  to  me: 
''We  know  just  how  far  w-e  can  go — both 
employers  and  unions.  You — good  heavens  ! 
you  have  no  bounds  at  all."  True.  These 
English  labor  leaders  have  struck  me  as  busi- 
ness men;  their  tales  of  their  work  have  been 
tales  of  executive  management,  of  invest- 
ments of  union  funds — sometimes  in  the  busi- 
ness in  which  the  union  men  are  employed — 
of  conducting  cooperative  stores,  of  serving  on 
conciliation  boards.  American  labor  leaders 
have  struck  me  as  generals  in  the  field; 
their  talk  is  of  campaigns.  Our  unions,  then, 
are  stronger,  and  our  industries — well,  the 
steel  works  I  saw  were  months  behind  orders. 
Industries  everywdiere  were  producing  fever- 
ishly. Cleveland  was  in  urgent  need  of  labor 
it  could  not  get ;  Pittsburg  and  Chicago  were 
groaning  over  the  freight-car  shortage;  the 
country  was  swallowing  the  immigration 
grist  and  digesting  whatever  union  elements 
— even  the  socialistic  froth  —  rest  in  its 
economic  body  with  a  healthy  cheerfulness 
to  make  an  American  glad  and  to  force  one 
of  the  Englishmen  to  say :  "  Opportunity  !  If 
I  were  tw^enty  years  younger  I'd  emigrate." 
The  unions,  I  believe,  are  a  very  small  part  of 
the  English  disease. 


Mr.  Mosely  says  that  an  English  workman 
who  offers  a  suggestion  toward  improving 
methods  of  work  is  likely  to  be  "sacked." 
Concrete  examples  of  this  sort  of  thing  were 
explained  to  me  on  the  ground  that  British 
industrial  life  is  so  crystalized  that  a  foreman 
resents  a  suggestion  as  a  hint  of  his  incom- 
petency likely  to  result  in  his  discharge;  and 
discharge  would  mean  seeking  for  work  in  a 
country  where  golden  op]Jortunities  are  as 
rare  as  weeks  of  sunshine.  Secondly,  it  was 
asserted — not  merely  by  these  British  visitors, 
but  by  some  of  the  most  illuminating  people 
I  met  on  the  trip,  English-Americans  who 
called  on  their  fellow  townsmen  to  tell  tales 
of  their  experiences  in  the  modern  Hesperides 
— that  British  employers  hold  aloof  from  their 
men.  One  told  of  getting  his  first  job  in  this 
country.  He  entered  the  "master's"  office 
very  timidly.  '' Hello,"  that  bluff  American 
said,  "what  do  you  want?  A  job,  eh? 
Have  a  cigar.  Well,  what  can  you  do?" 
and  so  on.  The  English  lad's  breath  was 
taken  away.     So  these  stories  ran. 

"  No,  we  would  not  object  to  American 
methods  and  American  machines,"  said  one 
of  the  union  leaders.  "But  the  employers 
must  abandon  their  aloofness  and  talk  the 
matter  over  with  us,  for  American  methods 
will  mean  that  some  of  our  men  will  be  sacked. 
They  must  not  cut  day  wages  or  piece  prices 
and  make  a  two-dollar-a-day  skilled  work- 
man change  over  to  tending  machines  at  a 
dollar  a  day.  But  if  the  machines  come  in 
and  the  employers  treat  us  fairly,  even  though 
inevitably  some  men  must  go,  we  are  ready 
for  American  methods.  Our  conciliation 
boards  are  ready  to  discuss  the  question.  If 
a  Civic  Federation  is  started — and  I  think 
your  Civic  Federation  is  a  good  thing — that 
will  help.  And  if  employers  there  will  show 
the  same  spirit  they  show  here,  there  will  be 
no  difficulty.     The  employers  must  wake  up." 

I  cannot  dwell  further  on  facts  I  learned 
on  this  trip — from  the  delegates  themselves, 
from  Mr.  Mosely,  from  the  English  journal- 
ists, from  Mr.  S.  B.  Donnelly,  and  from  Mr. 
Marcus  M.  Marks,  in  addition  to  what  I 
saw;  but  let  me  quote  what  one  of  the 
Englishmen  said  when  I  asked  him  how 
President  Roosevelt  impressed  him.    He  said  : 

"He  sums  up  my  impression  of  your 
country.  The  United  States  as  a  social  force 
is  at  work  evolving  a  man.  The  President  is 
a  type  of  that  man." 


VIEWS    OF    READERS    ON    RECENT 

BOOKS 


THE  "World's  Work  sent  a  letter  to 
some  of  its  literary  friends  asking 
them  what  recent  books  they  had 
read  with  the  greatest  pleasure  and  profit, 
and  requesting  that  their  replies  be  after  the 
manner  of  a  personal  letter.  Some  of  these 
replies  are  as  follows: 

ELLEN  GLASGOW: 

I  have  just  turned  from  my  sixth  care- 
ful reading  of  "Kim"  with  the  feeling 
that  I  had  touched  the  invisible  spirit 
of  the  East — a  feeling  that  nothing  else 
has  ever  given  me  save  the  Sacred  Books 
themselves.  So  vital,  indeed,  is  the  scholar- 
ship in  this  book,  so  flawless  the  force  of  words, 
that  it  seems  to  me  to  stand  for  nothing  less 
than  the  outward  semblance  of  an  eternal 
verity.  It  is  because  of  this  peculiar  genius 
of  sympathy — because  of  the  soul  that 
directs  and  animates  the  art — that  I  would 
rather  have  written  "Kim"  than  am-thing 
that  Mr.  Kipling  or  anj'bod}^  else  has  done 
for  the  last  ten — or  even  twenty — years. 

I  find  Mr.  Henry  James'  "The  Wings  of 
the  Dove"  a  wonderful  elaboration  of  a  slight 
idea — an  exquisite  word  embroidery  of  an 
insignificant  pattern — and  (to  veer  rather 
abruptly  from  art  to  nature)  of  Mr. 
Thompson  Seton's  animal  stories  I  could 
never  have  enough  though  they  should — as  I 
devoutly  hope  they  may — go  on  forever. 

Of  recent  fiction  I  saw  a  decided  promise  in 
"The  House  with  the  Green  Shutters," 
though  I  hesitate  to  declare  it  a  distinct 
achievement.  Mrs.  Wliarton's  "The  Valley 
of  Decision"  seems  to  me,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  be  a  noble  fulfilment — a  work  of  rare 
sincerity  and  composure,  and  I  confess  quite 
frankly  that  I  have  enjoyed  it  more  than 
any  novel  of  the  year. 

TUDOR  JEXKS: 

"  Anticipations,  "  by  Henry  George  Wells,  is 
alive.  It  is  broad  in  view ;  it  is  the  result  of 
an  imagination  big  enough  to  take  a  bird's- 
eye  view  of  the  world.  You  feel  when  read- 
ing it  that  petty  things  may  be  forgotten 
because  big  things  are  so  much  bigger.  I 
believe  that,  whether  or  not  we  are  traveling 
toward  the  developments  W^ells  foresees,  he 
teaches  us  to  ask  where  we  are  bound  and 


if  we  wish  to  go  there.  So  many  men  wear 
blinders  that  few  have  a  »\'ide  horizon. 
"Anticipations"  takes  off  your  blinders. 
While  you  may  shy,  you  will  see  more  than 
the  road  dust. 

"The  Blazed  Trail,"  by  Stewart  Edward 
White,  is  also  living.  It  smells  of  outdoors, 
and  while  telling  the  life  of  a  lumberman  it 
never  forgets  the  man  in  the  lumber.  White 
has  no  hesitation  in  following  his  own  blazed 
trail,  even  when  it  leads  him  through  riot, 
fire  and  bloodshed:  but  he  keeps  both  head 
and  heart  above  his  mere  incidents,  and  has 
produced  a  book  that  is  as  human  as  it  is 
American,  and  is  equally  readable  in  a  fashion- 
able club  or  a  bark  shanty — a  book  for  which 
no  reader  is  too  brainy  or  busy. 

"An  Island  Cabin"  is  another  book  that 
has  individuality  and  power.  The  author, 
Arthur  Henry,  is  a  homespun  Thoreau — 
homespun,  because  he  writes  without  the 
literary  pose  and  doesn't  leave  out  the  very 
things  we  like  to  know.  Thoreau  makes  one 
feel  his  disapproval — he  forgets  Shakespeare's 
wise  saying,  "  Nature  is  made  better  by  no 
mean  but  nature  makes  that  mean" — and 
does  not  see  that  a  city  is  as  natural  as  a  rose 
or  a  toadstool.  The  last  page  of  Henry's 
book  is  a  recognition  of  this  truth,  but  the 
whole  book  is  an  application  of  it.  Then, 
too,  there  are  good  episodes  all  through — the 
drowning  of  the  wicked  kitten,  for  instance, 
is  a  gem.  The  whole  volume  is  thoughts 
put  into  writing,  not  writing  trimmed  with 
thoughts. 

Maeterlinck's  "Life  of  the  Bee"  I  liked 
because  it  is  prose  poetry — facts  where  facts 
are  wanted,  and  speculations  in  their  own 
place.  It  makes  one  think,  and  treats  the 
reader  with  respect.  We  are  sick  of  being 
taught — none  of  us  knows  enough  to  be  con- 
descending— but  we  like  to  be  led  by  one  who 
knows  the  way. 

Besides  these,  I'd  like  to  say  a  word  in 
admiration  of  the  "Oxford  Book  of  English 
Verse."  chosen  and  edited  by  A.  T.  Ouiller- 
Couch — a  delightful  companion  for  a  traveling 
library  or  on  one's  desk  at  home.  Good 
poetry  is  a  tonic  inexhaustible,  and  the  range 
of  this  selection  is  from  A.  D.  1250  to  iqoo. 
In  the  India-paper  edition  it  is  a  marvel  of 
compression.  Personally,  I  can  live  without 
a  constant  diet  of  novels. 


VIEWS    OF    READERS    ON    RECENT    BOOKS 


3029 


WILLIAM  STEARNS  UAVIS: 

Of  the  recent  novels  I  have  read  the  one 
leaving  the  pleasantest  after-taste  is  Mr.  Allen 
French's  "Tlie  Colonials."  A  steady  diet  of 
Revolutionary  stories  led  me  to  attack  it 
with  hesitation,  but  the  hesitation  ended  with 
the  first  chapter,  and  I  was  sorry  when  I 
finished  the  last.  It  had  action,  literary 
charm,  a  nice  balancing  of  characters  and 
something  more — a  deep  sincerity  underneath 
all  the  sword-play  that  lifted  it  far  above  the 
host  of  swashbuckler  romances  which  try  to 
conceal  their  woodenness  behind  much  clatter. 
Very  different  is  the  satisfaction  given  by 
Miss  Norma  Lorimer's  "By  the  Waters  of 
Sicily."  There  is  a  little  thread  of  a  love 
story,  not  too  serious  to  divert  from  the 
pleasures  of  a  most  delightful  journey  through 
the  island  of  Svracuse,  Taormina  and  Palermo. 
In  Mr.  Stephen  Phillips'  "Ulysses"  I  think 
we  have  perhaps  the  high-water  mark  of  all 
recent  dramatic  verse.  If  superb  literar)^ 
technique  alone  makes  a  masterpiece,  it  is 
here,  unfortunately,  the  reader  feels  "there 
is  one  thing  lacking, "  and  that  is  soul.  It  is 
hard  -to  improve  upon  the  "Odyssey,"  and 
Mr.  Philhps  is  not  too  blameworthy  if  he 
has  failed.  Of  still  different  mood  is  Prof. 
William  James'  "Varieties  of  Religious 
Experience."  It  is  an  admirable  attempt 
by  one  of  the  most  fearless  and  best  accredited 
psychologists  of  the  age  to  show  an  essentially 
scientific  justification  for  religious  emotions, 
and  to  tear  away  the  barriers  which  have  been 
assumed  to  exist  between  faith  and  reason. 
A  wide  reading  of  this  book  w^ould  dissipate  a 
certain  phase  of  "unbelief"  more  than  a 
myriad  tracts. 

C.  M.  FLANDRAU: 

Mrs.  Wharton's  "The  Valley  of  Decision," 
Mr.  Kipling's  "Kim"  and  Mr.  Wister's  "The 
Virginian"  are  the  only  recent  novels  I  look 
forward  with  much  pleasure  to  reading  again. 
For  chronological,  if  for  no  other  reasons. 
Mr.  Kipling's  series  of  pictures  is  more  living 
— less  consciously  "educational"  than  that  of 
Mrs.  Wharton.  But  if  Mr.  Kipling  runs  a 
dazzling  cinematograph,  Mrs.  Wharton  per- 
forms charmingly  on  the  stereopticon. 

The  sentimental  grasp  Mr.  Wister  has  on 
his  "Virginian"  is  almost  always  beautiful, 
and  in  the  really  great  chapters  called  "  In  the 
Cotton  woods"  and  "Superstition  Trail"  it 
is  extremely  moving.  Perhaps  it  is  just  as 
well  that  the  other  characters  in  the  book  are 
either  sketchy  or  frankly  conventional.  The 
fact  gives  one  more  leisure  in  which  to  adore 
the  Virginian. 

Not  the  least  engaging  trait  of  the  humor- 


ous, pathetic  and  altogether  refreshing  collec- 
tion of  sketches  Miss  Edith  Wyatt  has  called 
"  Every  One  His  Own  Way"  is  its  delicate 
flattery  of  the  reader's  own  keenness  and 
general  superiority.  One  reads  them,  steeped 
in  the  comfort  of  lamenting  that  no  one  but 
oneself  is  quite  clever  enough  fully  to  appre- 
ciate them. 

M.  Maurice  Maeterlinck's  "The  Life  of  the 
Bee"  is  more  romantic  than  romance,  more 
poetic  than  poetry.  Only  a  pitying  con- 
sideration for  those  who  have  not  discovered 
it  restrains  one  from  establishing — in  the 
manner  of  M.  Maeterlinck  himself — an  apiary 
in  the  drawing-room. 

GEORGE  ILES: 

Why  do  we  read  novels?  Because  they 
deal  with  that  theme  of  undying  interest, 
human  nature.  That,  after  all,  is  the 
apple  for  which  we  accept  so  much  paste 
in  the  shape  of  scenic  setting,  historical 
properties,  more  or  less  tedious  moralizing. 
Commend  me  to  such  a  book  as  Prof.  William 
James'  "Talks  on  Psychology  to  Teachers," 
which  takes  up  human  nature  by  itself,  its 
thoughts,  emotions,  feelings;  which  serves  up 
apple  without  any  paste.  Professor  James  is 
a  man  of  science,  a  man  of  letters  and  a 
thorough  man  of  the  world.  He  addresses 
himself  to  teachers :  that  is  what  we  all  are ;  if 
not  teachers  of  our  own  children,  then  of  the 
children  of  other  people,  oftenest  of  all  the 
ignorant  teachers  of  ourselves.  Were  it  only 
for  its  supremely  wise  and  gracious  chapters 
on  "  Habit"  and  "  Memory,"  this  book  should 
be  in  the  hands  of  every  man  and  woman  in 
America.  We  rise  from  it  nourished  and 
stimulated.  Apple  pie  is  good;  plain  apple, 
sound  and  crisp,  is  better  still. 

A  great  biography  is  "  Huxley's  Life  and 
Letters."  Here  is  a  man  in  w^hom  new  thought 
aroused  new  powers  of  expression,  a  man  of 
keenest  insight,  of  masterful  will,  a  fighter  if 
Nature  ever  made  one.  And  yet  brilliant  as 
his  work  Undoubtedly  is,  it  has  neither  the 
weight  nor  originality  of  Darwin's  or  Spencer's. 
Nothing,  indeed,  was  finer  in  Huxley's  career 
than  his  discipleship  to  Darwin. 

In  his  "Facts  and  Comments"  Herbert 
Spencer 

'■  Obeys  the  voice  at  eve  obeyed  at  prime." 

As  in  1842  he  inveighed  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  government  upon  individual  liberty, 
he  sees  to-day  only  slavery  in  the  rising  tide  of 
imperialism,  only  rebarbarization  in  the  resur- 
gence of  the  warlike  spirit  of  the  hour.  And 
with  chapters  that  might  well  be  woven  into 
"First    Principles"    and   the    "Biology"    we 


3030 


VIEWS    OF    READERS    ON    RECENT   BOOKS 


have  glimpses  of  the  heart  of  the  man,  unre- 
vealed  before.  He  mourns  the  disappearance 
of  the  rustic  plank  and  hand-rail  as  they  make 
way  for  the  country  bridge  of  stone  or  brick. 
He  regards  with  a  sigh  the  hedges  of  clematis, 
bryony  and  wild  hop,  the  roofs  of  thatch,  the 
strips  of  greensward  and  wild  flowers  border- 
ing the  byroads,  which  are  fast  vanishing 
before  "improvements."  In  a  vein  well 
worthy  the  author  of  "Synthetic  Philosophy," 
he  argues  that  feeling  and  not  intellect  is  the 
weightier  part  of  the  mind:  a  dictum  fully 
borne  out  by  these  latest  pages  of  this  pro- 
foundest  generalizer  of  our  time,  perhaps  oi 
all  time. 

THOMAS  DIXOX,  JR.: 

Of  books  recently  published  "Kim"  con- 
firmed my  opinion  that  Kipling  is  the 
great  poet  of  the  century.  Of  course, 
"Kim"  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  novel, 
but  it  is  a  great  prose  poem  of  epic  grandeur. 
Its  sentences  echo  through  one's  soul  like  the 
music  of  a  grand  organ  touched  by  a  master's 
hand.  "The  Right  of  Way,"  with  all  its 
faults  of  melodramatic  and  improbable  situa- 
tions, is  still  one  of  the  most  fascinating 
stories  I  ever  read.  It  is  so  beautifully  told 
one  is  inclined  to  forgive  all  faults.  "The 
Bar  Sinister,"  the  story  of  that  bull  terrier 
in  Davis'  "  Ranson's  Folly,  "  is  the  best  short 
story  I  ever  read.  Mrs.  Wiggs  is  the  most 
original  and  one  of  the  most  beautifully  clean- 
cut  character  sketches  of  the  year.  The 
paragraph  in  which  Mrs.  Wiggs  gives  the 
obituary  of  her  late  lamented  husband  in 
pantomime,  imitating  a  man  drinking  out  of 
a  bottle,  and  that  without  adverse  comment, 
is  the  richest  piece  of  humor  I've  read  in  many 
a  day.  My  household,  young  and  old,  fell  in 
love  with  "  Mrs.  Wiggs." 

But  the  book  that  moved  me  most  pro- 
foundly was  "  Helen  Keller's  Autobiography.  " 
I  confess  that  I  read  every  chapter  through  a 
mist  of  tears,  and  over  some  parts  cried  like 
a  baby  when  nobody  could  see  me.  That 
sentence  where  she  said  the  feel  of  the  roses 
in  the  Xew  England  garden  was  not  so  soft 
and  tender  as  that  of  those  that  climbed  over 
her  mother's  cottage  in  Alabama  knocked  me 
clean  out  !  There's  something  about  her 
story  that  finds  the  inmost  depths  of  one's 
heart.  There  is  infinite  pathos  in  this  simple 
narrative  of  a  child's  soul  slowly  fighting  its 
way  out  of  eternal  night  into  light  and  love 
and  knowledge.  There  is  absolutely  nothing 
like  it  in  the  literature  of  the  world. 


CAROLINE  A.  MASON: 

In  G.  W.  Steevens'  "In  India"  the  book 
of  travel  strikes  me  as  having  reached  high- 
vvater  mark.  Keen  observation,  trenchant 
wit  and  an  extraordinary  power  of  vivid 
characterization  combined  to  make  Mr. 
Steevens  the  ideal  traveler.  This  seems  less 
a  book  about  India  than  a  glimpse  of  India 
itself. 

In  Mrs.  Wharton's  "Valley  of  Decision"  I 
labored  under  the  disadvantage  of  supposing 
myself  to  be  reading  a  romance  pure  and 
simple.  I  shall  read  the  book  again  when  I 
want  an  illuminating  discussion  of  eighteenth 
century  Italy,  its  philosophy,  politics,  religion, 
morals  and  manners.  As  such — and  this  I 
take  to  be  its  real  scope — the  two  thick 
volumes  would  be  none  the  worse  either  for 
the  occasional  brilliant  dialogue  or  for  the 
intermittent  action  which  link  them  to  the 
domain  of  fiction. 

M.  A.  DE  WOLFE  HOWE: 

I  have  read  the  new  "Longfellow"  by  Col.  T. 
W.  Higginson,  and  the  new  "Hawthorne"  by 
Prof.  G.  E.  Woodberry,  each  in  the  "American 
Men  of  Letters"  series.  One  would  think  the 
easier  of  the  two  to  write  would  be  the 
"Longfellow."  It  has,  indeed,  the  peculiar 
value  which  must  come  from  the  author's 
personal  relations  with  the  poet  as  his  teacher 
and  his  friend.  Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that 
this  volume  will  make  its  strongest  appeal 
to  the  new  reader  whose  studies  have  not  yet 
led  him  to  the  excellent  longer  and  shorter 
lives  of  Longfellow  previously  in  existence. 
Partly,  indeed,  because  the  "Hawthorne"  was 
the  more  difficult  task,  it  may  evoke  a 
more  general  response.  In  spite  of  the  fact 
that  Hawthorne's  wonderfully  autobiographic 
"Note-Books"  and  the  abundant  biographical 
writings  of  his  son,  daughter  and  son-in-law 
are  within  reach  of  all,  there  is  a  natural 
curiosity  to  learn  exactly  what  Hawthorne 
means  to  one  of  the  most  searching  students 
of  letters  in  the  generation  that  has  followed 
him.  Professor  Woodberry  has  put  con- 
science and  thought  and  a  native  sympathy 
into  his  undertaking.  If  the  reader,  new 
or  old,  puts  down  the  book  with  a  touch 
of  disappointment  that  Hawthorne  and 
his  art  are  not  explained  quite  so  wholly 
as  was  Poe,  treated  in  the  same  series  by 
the  same  writer,  let  him  remember  that 
here   Hawthorne  is    the  theme. 


3;;;: 


AA\OMC 


I  TttE  WORLDS 


WORKERS 

iS;.-..  ■■.■■■■:■ 


I 


A   NERVE   CENTRE  OF  BUSINESS 

AGERMAN  manufacturer  who  recently 
traveled  through  tlie  United  States 
for  the  purpose  of  studying  American  indus- 
trial methods,  announced  at  the  conclusion  of 
his  trip  that  the  most  interesting  thing  he 
had  found  in  America  was  Cupples  Station. 
It  is  probable  that  the  German  visitor  was 
right,  and  that  in  the  handling  of  wholesale 
merchandise  there  is  no  institution  in  the 
world  so  perfectly  organized  as  Cupples 
Station  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis.  St.  Louis  is 
the  great  wholesale  distributing  point  between 
the  Southwest  and  the  rest  of  the  country. 
Its  manufacturing  and  trans-shipping  business 
is  very  large,  and  the  plan  of  the  city  favors 
the  centralizing  of  all  the  railway  lines. 
Through  the  Terminal  Railway  the  various 
lines  bringing  freight  into  the  city  run  over 
a  single  group  of  tracks  that  lie  in  a  depression 
between  two  of  the  hills  on  which  the  city 
stands. 

Grouped  about  the  mouth  of  the  Terminal 
Association  tunnel  is  the  collection  of  eighteen 
immense  brick  structures  which  compose 
Cupples  Station.  Some  of  the  largest  whole- 
sale concerns  and  heaviest  shippers  in  the 
country  are  tenants  of  these  buildings.  The 
advantages  they  have  come  from  the  quick 
and  economical  handling  of  their  goods. 
In  New  York  City  more  than  30,000  trucks  are 
employed  in  the  movement  of  goods,  and  all 
m.erchandise  must  be  loaded  and  unloaded 
twice  in  entering  and  leaving  the  city.  At 
Cupples  Station  the  switches  from  the  various 
tracks  run  directly  underneath  the  buildings 
and  are  connected  with  the  large  shipping 
rooms  and  truckways  on  the  upper  stories  by 
a  system  of  high-pressure  hydraulic  elevators. 
A  single  package  of  merchandise  or  a  carload 
lot  can  be  shipped  from  the  rear  of  any  of 
the  buildings  to  any  railroad  point  in  the 
country  with  equal  facility  and  without  the 
expense,  delay  and  possibilities  of  damage 
which  exist  where  cartage  is  necessary. 

Cupples  Station  occupies  an  area  of  more 
than  thirty  acres  and  contains  a  floor  space 
of  1,500,000  square  feet.  Its  thirty  tenants 
represent     an     invested    capital     of    above 


$25,000,000  and  an  annual  business  of  more 
than  $75,000,000.  It  receives  and  ships  more 
than  1,000  tons  of  merchandise  per  day,  and 
does  a  greater  business  than  any  freight 
station  in  the  country.  The  immensity  of 
the  interests  represented  increases  the 
efficiency  of  the  work  done. 

HANDLING  GOODS   FOR  A   METROPOLIS 

THE  system  in  operation  is  practically  as 
follows:  During  the  night  cars  are 
being  delivered  on  the  station  tracks  from 
all  of  the  railroads,  both  east  and  west  of  the 
river.  Coffees,  sugars,  hardware,  and  all 
sorts  of  manufactured  articles  are  arriving 
from  the  East;  dried  fruits,  canned  goods  and 
many  other  products  are  received  from  the 
far  West.  At  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning 
the  large  force  of  men,  constituting  the 
Cupples  Station  emplo3'ees,  commences  to 
unload  these  cars.  With  the  system  of  trucks 
especially  designed  for  the  purpose,  as  many 
as  fifty  or  sixty  cars  have  been  unloaded 
within  two  hours  and  the  contents  have  found 
their  way  to  positions  in  various  stores. 

Practically  all  of  the  incoming  goods  are 
received  and  piled  in  the  respective  buildings 
before  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  instead 
of  coming  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  block- 
ading the  goods  that  are  being  shipped.  At 
nine  o'clock,  or  even  before,  large  trucks 
commence  to  roll  out  of  the  various  stores  on 
the  upper  or  shipping  truckways  into  the  great 
freight-receiving  room,  where  they  are  received 
and  the  bills  of  lading  signed.  Here  the  goods 
are  assorted  for  station  order  loading,  and  they 
go  out  by  trains  over  the  various  roads  during 
the  day.  Each  of  the  roads  has  a  schedule 
hour  for  pulling  out  its  train,  and  the  firms 
constituting  the  Cupples  group  assort  their 
orders  and  get  out  their  goods  to  conform 
to  these  schedules. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  busier  sight  than 
that  afforded  by  the  constant  flow  of  trucks, 
the  numerous  elevators  dropping  them  to  the 
lower  levels,  the  coming  and  going  of  trains, 
and  the  many  activities  of  the  station.  Over 
4,000  of  these  trucks,  on  each  of  which  more 
than  5,000  pounds  of  freight  can  be  loaded, 


3032 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


are  necessary  to  handle  this  daily  traffic. 
For  goods  arriving  the  trucks  are  pushed 
into  the  cars,  loaded,  drawn  to  the  elevators 
of  the  various  buildings,  elevated  to  the  floor 
where  the  goods  belong  and  pulled  to  the 
positions  where  goods  are  piled,  so  that  there 
is  but  one  handling:  and  the  same  thing  is 
true  of  the  shipping  process. 

All  the  details,  loading,  unloading,  arrang- 
ing shipments,  securing  bills  of  lading  and 
similar  duties  involved  in  the  receipt  and 
shipment  of  goods  are  managed  by  the 
station  employees,  and  the  cost  of  this  work  is 
assessed  pro  rata  on  the  different  tenants. 
Each  occupant  of  the  station  receives  his 
goods  at  the  door  of  his  office,  and  in  making 
shipments  need  only  place  his  packages  on 
trucks  in  his  storeroom  and  run  them  out- 
side his  door.  All  the  rest  is  attended  to  by 
the  station  management. 

Cupples  Station  represents  to  its  tenants 
convenience  and  facility  in  shipments,  econo- 
mies in  labor,  in  the  operation  of  elevators 
and  trucks,  economies  through  the  elimina- 
tion of  the  expense  of  drayage  and  through 
the  saving  of  waste  and  damage  to  goods  in 
handling,  and  it  also  represents  a  saving  in 
the  cost  of  light,  heat  and  steam,  owing  to  the 
location  on  the  premises  of  an  electric-lighting 
and  steam-heating  plant  operated  by  the 
company.  The  whole  enterprise  represents 
the  most  complete  development  of  a  typically 
American  idea,  and  as  such  its  operation  is 
of  importance  to  the  industrial  world. 

Cupples  Station  was  built  up  and  developed 
into  a  successful  business  enterprise  by 
Mr.  Samuel  Cupples  and  Mr.  Robert  Brookings. 
A  few  years  ago,  in  pursuit  of  the  educational 
gifts  which  they  began  to  make  many  years 
since,  the  entire  property,  involving  an 
mvestment  of  millions,  was  turned  over  to 
Washington  University  in  St.  Louis  and  it  is 
now  operated  for  the  university's  benefit. 

INDUSTRIES  AND  TOWNS  TO  ORDER 

LYIXG  at  the  eastern  base  of  the  Rockies, 
almost  in  the  centre  of  Colorado,  is 
"New  Pueblo" — "new"  in  distinction  from  the 
Pueblo  of  a  decade  ago.  Ten  3'ears  have 
brought  this  town  such  progress  and  such 
prosperity  that  it  is  called  the  Pittsburg  of 
the  West.  Its  situation  has  had  something 
to  do  with  the  transformation.  To  the  south 
and  west  are  great  coal  deposits,  the  nearest 
only  twenty-five  miles  away.  The  Florence 
oil  field  is  at  about  the  same  distance.  The 
town  is  a  natural  railroad  centre.  All  these 
natural  advantages  have  attracted  manu- 
facturing industries,  and  with  them  money 
and  men.  And  this  is  the  story  of  the  devel- 
opment of  most  American  cities. 


In  this  recently  awakened  town  has  devel- 
oped the  plant  of  a  great  iron  company.  This 
main  plant  is  the  centre  of  a  large  number  of 
secondary  works  and  factories  in  Colorado 
and  out  of  it,  for  the  company  controls  rail- 
roads, coal  mines,  iron  mines,  telegraph  lines 
— ever^-thing,  in  fact,  that  will  make  the 
company's  product  more  simply  and  easily 
handled.  But  the  works  at  Peublo  are  the 
great  nerve  centre  of  the  business. 

Here  in  great  factories  that  cover  several 
hundred  acres  of  ground  5,000  men  are  at 
work  daily,  besides  1,500  others  who  are 
making  improvements  and  additions  to  the 
equipment.  The  total  product  last  year 
showed  an  increase  of  nearly  325,000,000 
pounds  over  that  of  the  year  previous.  Three 
blast  furnaces  with  a  capacity  of  from  200 
to  400  tons  of  pig  iron  a  day  are  not  enough. 
Two  more  large  furnaces  are  being  built.  To 
meet  this  increase  two  ten-ton  vessels  will 
replace  the  present  five-ton  vessels  in  the 
Bessemer  steel  converter.  The  rail  mill, 
when  enlarged  to  handle  the  steel  this  wall 
furnish,  will  turn  out  1,000  tons  of  steel  a  da)-. 
Five  new  steel  rolling-mills  are  building. 
The  largest  wire  mill  in  the  world  is  going 
up  alongside  of  these — a  mill  that  will  employ 
1,500  people.  Another  mill  for  steel  plate  is 
nearly  completed.  The  tin  plate  mills  when 
they  are  ready  will  give  work  to  900  men  and 
women.  The  new  foundry  will  have  a  daily 
capacity  of  100  tons  of  castings.  When  all 
the  enlargements  are  completed  there  will  be 
upward  of  12.000  people  employed  at  these 
mills.  And  all  is  being  done  rapidly  in  the 
wholesale  American  manner  of  getting  a 
result  in  the  quickest  and  most  capable 
way.  The  improvement  will  cost  approxi- 
mately 815,000,000. 

Two  large  storage  lakes  have  been  arti- 
ficially made  south  of  Pueblo  to  furnish  water 
to  the  plant,  and  another  is  being  built. 
Nearby  a  large  structure  that  will  turn  out 
5,000  steel  wagons  is  being  built  by  another 
company.  All  these  mills  and  the  auxiliary 
factories  that  are  settling  in  Pueblo  are  at  the 
very  mouth  of  coal  and  iron  mines.  The 
raw  material  then  is  at  their  doors;  they 
convert  it  into  marketable  shape  and  ship 
it  east  and  west  to  the  entire  world. 

So  great  is  the  demand  for  wrought  mate- 
rial that  with  all  our  united  industry  at  work 
it  is  being  imported.  And  so,  unhesitatingly, 
Americans  build  up  a  great  new  industry 
and  a  new  industrial  centre  to  meet  the  need. 

SOLVING  A  SOCIAL  PROBLEM 

THIS  company  has  had  to  meet,  also,  a  dif- 
ficult sociological  problem,  and  it  has 
met  the  difficulty  in  an  interesting  way.     The 


AMONG     rill".    WORLD'S    WORRIERS 


3033 


population  of  its  employed  forms  a  cosmo- 
politan army  of  some  75,000.  These  people, 
speaking  twenty-seven  distinct  languages, 
house  their  families  in  some  forty  communi- 
ties. The  children  of  this  varied  parentage 
fight  at  school ;  even  the  sick  and  convalescent 
in  the  hospitals  are  constantly  at  war  with 
one  another.  Doctor  Corwin  and  his  thirty- 
five  assistants,  therefore,  have  organized  all 
kinds  of  evening  entertainment.  Cooking 
schools  were  established  and  night  schools, 
clubs  and  libraries.  In  the  club-house  at 
Coalbasin — for  they  are  not  experimenting 
with  Prohibition  tl  ere — good  liquor  can  be 
bought  cheaply  in  small  quantities.  Pool, 
billiards  and  poker  are  allowed,  and  the 
stakes  played  for  are  limited  to  twenty-five 
cents.  Everything  is  done  to  give  the  men 
in  a  decent  way  the  sort  of  good  time  they 
crave.  The  result,  to  quote  published  reports, 
is  as  follows : 

"  Under  present  conditions  not  i.ily  are  men 
ashamed  to  get  drunk,  but  it  is  a  matter  of  '  bad 
form,'  and  even  of  shame,  to  drink  more  than  two 
or  three  times  in  one  evening.  Ordinarily  the 
miner  takes  a  drink  on  coming  into  the  club,  plays 
a  game  or  two  of  cards  or  of  pool,  sometimes  follows 
this  with  a  second  drink  and  goes  home.     . 

"  Notwithstanding  the  low  prices  at  which  every- 
thing is  sold,  the  club  is  practically  self-sustaining, 
which  is  all  that  is  desired,  inasmuch  as  no  returns 
on  the  investment  are  expected.  Whatever  profits 
may  accrue  are  intended  for  use  on  improvements, 
extensions  and  auxiliary  features." 

To  teach  moderation  and  decency  and  a 
feeling  of  social  good  fellowship,  this  is  not 
only  a  good  thing  for  the  men,  but  as  well 
for  the  mills. 

RIGHT  RELATIONS  OF  EMPLOYER  AND 
EMPLOYED 

A  LARGE  and  very  well  known  manu- 
facturing concenn  has  carried  out  for 
twenty-five  years  a  systematic  plan  of  making 
merry  with  their  employees  at  Christmas. 
Gifts  are  given  to  all,  umbrellas,  gloves, 
pocket-books,  and  many  other  useful  articles. 
Long-faithful  workers  have  often  received 
gold  watches  instead  of  the  smaller  gift.  At 
first  the  custom  was  easy  to  maintain,  but 
when  the  business  grew  to  enormous  propor- 
tions it  became  difificult  to  find  any  place  in  the 
works  large  enough  for  the  annual  celebration. 
Two  or  three  years  ago,  therefore,  a  large 
auditorium  was  built  with  a  large  stage, 
balconies,  opera  chairs  and  the  complete 
equipment  of  a  modern  theatre,  for  this  and 
other  gatherings  of  the  working  force. 

The  idea  from  the  beginning  was  not  to 
give  presents  as  a  sort  of  added  compensa- 
tion, but  it  was  simply  the  natural  obser- 
vation of  Christmas  among  co-workers  in  a 


large  business.  Two  years  ago  a  new  plan 
was  put  into  execution.  The  employees  were 
the  guests  of  the  firm  at  a  Christmas  dinner, 
after  which,  in  accordance  with  a  previous 
invitation,  they  brought  their  children,  and 
in  the  case  of  tlie  young  men  and  women, 
their  younger  brothers  and  sisters  or  other 
young  friends,  to  whom  toys  were  distributed 
at  the  close  of  the  entertainment  that  had 
been  planned.  Some  7,000  toys  were  given 
away,  and  last  year,  at  their  own  suggestion, 
the  girls  in  many  of  the  departments  provided 
small  trees  upon  which  were  placed  their 
remembrances  for  friends  in  the  same  depart- 
ment. 

Good  fellowship  rather  than  the  charity 
or  the  kindness  of  a  patron ;  this  has  the  germ 
of  the  settlement  of  labor  difficulties  and  the 
union  of  all  for  the  best  industrial  result. 

A  TALENT-SAVING  STATION 

IN  the  narrow,  tempestuou.  channel  called 
Rivington  Street,  in  New  I'ork,  where 
every  day  and  all  day  the  tides  of  traffiic  surge 
heavily  to  and  from  Second  Avenue  and  the 
Bowery,  a  little  band  jf  young  men  and 
women  is  conducting  what  Doctor  Felix  Adler 
has  aptly  called  a  "  talent -sa\  ing  station." 

The  idea  of  founding  a  music  school  for  the 
children  of  the  very  poor  in  New  York  City 
originated  with  Miss  Emilie  Wagner,  who 
came  from  the  West  in  1894  eager  to  devote 
herself  to  benevolent  work  in  the  slums. 
One  day  she  attended  service  at  the  Baptist 
Mission  and,  hearing  the  children  sing,  her 
cultivated  ear  caught  at  once  the  true,  musical 
note  of  the  untrained  young  voices  of  the 
little  Russian,  Polish  and  Rumanian  Jews. 
By  the  autumn  of  1894  she  had  formed  a 
music  class  at  the  mission,  teaching  in  one 
room  until  the  limited  quarters  refused  to 
accommodate  the  increasing  number  of  her 
pupils,  and  she  was  compelled,  after  a  few 
months,  to  remove  to  a  tenement  house  in  the 
neighborhood,  where  there  was  more  space. 
From  a  class  instructed  by  herself,  her  work 
grew  to  the  proportions  of  a  school  which 
required  the  service  of  other  teachers  and 
the  administration  of  a  committee.  Teachers 
were  discovered  among  the  best  equipped 
musicians  in  the  city  who  readily  volunteered 
their  services  gratis;  while  the  committee 
consists  of  persons  chosen  jointly  by  the 
College  and  University  Settlements,  which 
organizations  are  still  providing  for  the 
financial  life  of  the   school. 

THE  SCHOOL  IN  THE  SLUMS 

NO.  31  Rivington  Street  is  an  old-fashioned 
dwelling-house  of  the  English-basement 
type,  and   though  it   was   once   no  doubt   a 


3034 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S   WORKERS 


"gentlemanly  residence,"  it  has  long  since 
fallen  from  grace.  Inside,  however,  much  has 
been  done  to  redeem  it.  The  walls  are  tinted  a 
dull  green  and  form  a  background  for  several 
good  prints  of  classical  sub j  ects  and  one  or  two 
well-selected  plaster  bas-reliefs.  The  painted 
floors  and  stairways,  while  bare,  are  kept 
admirably  clean — in  fact,  cleanliness  forms  a 
recognized  branch  of  the  school's  curriculum. 
The  child  who  presents  herself  at  the  door  on 
opening  day  with  unkempt  hair,  soiled  fingers 
and  slovenly  clothing  soon  learns  by  sugges- 
tion and  example  the  practical  as  well  as 
spiritual  advantages  of  clean  hands. 

There  is  not  an  inch  of  available  space  in 
the  whole  building  which  has  been  wasted, 
and  during  the  busy  hours  of  the  afternoon 
and  evening,  when  the  public  schools  are 
"out"  and  the  children  at  liberty,  one  may 
find  classes  for  voice  culture  in  the  back  base- 
ment or  kitchen,  a  violin  lesson  progressing 
in  a  curtained-off  comer  of  the  cellar,  pupils 
practising  cii  piano  or  "clavier"  in  the  tiniest 
of  low-ceilingcd  closets  under  the  roof,  while 
on  the  stair-landings  and  in  dim  passageways 
instruction  on  the  "  strings  "  is  being  given  by 
"practice-teachers"  to  beginners,  in  defiance 
of  the  waves  of  sound  which  surge  upon  them 
from  below,  above  and  all  around. 

PUPILS  BECOMING  TEACHERS 

THESE  practice-teachers,  by  the  way,  are 
older  children  who  have  so  far  progressed 
in  their  work  as  to  be  capable  of  keeping  a 
critical  eye  upon  the  very  little  ones  who 
cannot  be  trusted  to  perform  their  exercises 
alone.  Later,  as  they  themselves  progress, 
the  practice-teachers  are  given  pupils  of  their 
own  whom  they  instruct  under  the  super- 
vision of  a  head  teacher.  Here  we  find  a 
beginning  of  normal  training  as  also  of  the 
opportunity  the  school  is  most  anxious  to 
provide — of  a  means  of  practical  support  for  its 
pupils;  for  out  of  every  four  cents  paid  in  to 
the  school  for  a  fifteen-minute  lesson,  the 
practice-teacher  receives  three  cents,  and  so 
on  in  inverse  ratio,  until  having  advanced 
in  efficiency  she  can  claim  her  share  of  eight 
cents  for  a  twelve-and-a-half  minute  lesson, 
when  she  has  reached  the  limit  of  rates  quoted 
by  the  school.  From  that  time  on  she  is 
encouraged  to  take  pupils  at  home  and 
gradually  she  becomes  self-supporting  and 
independent. 

THE  MAKING  OF  MUSICIANS 

THE  instances  are  steadily  increasing 
where  the  parents  of  these  little  musi- 
cians, inspired  by  their  enthusiasm  and  seeing 
a  hope  for  the  future  in  their  training,  pluck 
up  heart   of  ambition  and  grace  and  buy  a 


piano  on  the  instalment  plan.  The  payment 
of  five  dollars  a  month  comes  the  easier  when 
the  school  sends  its  overflow  to  practise  on 
these  instruments,  for  even  four  cents  for  half 
an  hour's  practice  sums  up,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  month  the  profit  from  such  rental  often 
amounts  to  three  dollars  and  a  half — a  sub- 
stantial contribution  toward  the  required  five. 
Perhaps  the  purpose  and  provision  of  this 
little  school  in  the  slums  are  more  nearly  in 
harmony  with  those  of  the  great  German 
conservatories  than  is  the  case  in  any  other 
institution  in  the  country.  Elsewhere,  pupils 
of  acknowledged  talent,  who  have  already 
had  ample  instruction,  are  given  oppor- 
tunities to  compete  for  free  scholarships ;  but 
here  the  aim  is  to  discover  latent  talent  and, 
when  it  is  found,  to  provide  for  it  generously 
and  develop  it  to  its  most  perfect  expression. 

A  NEW  EDUCATIONAL  MOVEMENT 

AT  Wesleyan  University  last  July  was 
held  the  first  session  of  a  summer 
school  in  the  interest  of  "  home  science." 
In  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  especially 
in  the  central  West,  instruction  in  home 
economics  is  being  rapidly  introduced,  not 
only  in  technical  schools,  but  in  the  public 
school,  the  college  and  the  university.  It  is 
mainly  for  young  women  who  are  to  be  the 
home  makers  and  who  need  modern  science 
for  the  betterment  of  the  home.  Of  the 
branches  of  science,  it  happens  that  research 
is  now  especially  active  in  those  pertaining  to 
food  and  hygiene.  The  best  organized,  most 
extensive  and  most  thorough  inquiry  in  the 
world  regarding  food  is  that  carried  on  by  the 
Department  of  Agriculture.  It  is  under  the 
immediate  supervision  of  Professor  W.  O. 
Atwater  of  Wesleyan.  Some  of  the  most 
important  work  upon  the  subject  of  food 
preparations  is  being  done  at  Wesleyan  by 
Professor  H.  W.  Conn. 

At  the  session  of  the  National  Household 
Economics'  Association  in  1901  a  group  of 
teachers  especially  requested  a  summer  school 
at  Wesleyan  and  the  trustees  of  the  university 
gave  assent. 

Thirty-seven  were  actually  present  as 
students.  They  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
country — from  Maine  and  from  California, 
and  even  from  England  and  Japan.  The 
faculties  of  a  number  of  technical  schools  and 
colleges,  five  State  universities  and  one 
medical  school  were  represented. 

It  seems  likely  that  this  first  session  of  a 
pioneer  school  for  putting  the  practical, 
everyday  things  on  a  scientific  basis  is 
only  the  first  step  in  a  great  and  important 
educational  movement. 


Photos;raplied  by  Frances  Benjamin  Johnston 

THE    SECRETARY    OF   THE    NAVY.    MR.   \Y.    H.    MOODY 


(Sef  -Tht  .\'e-,ii  Xavy  at  M'ork"  page  30S9) 


THE 


World's  Work 


FEBRUARY,    1903 


Volume   V 


Number  4 


Zbc  fIDarcb  of  iSvcnte 


THE  larger  minded,  who  watch  the 
stronger  currents  of  the  world's 
activity  and  have  reasons  to  know 
that  American  life  swings  into  a  larger  era, 
have  got  good  cheer  from  the  start  that 
the  New  Year  has  made.  The  tide  of  pros- 
perity continues  to  run  full  at  home,  and  we 
have  again  appreciably  strengthened  our 
position  among  the  nations  by  the  wise 
diplomacv  of  the  Administration  touching 
the  Venezuelan  affair. 

The  largest  sums  ever  paid  in  dividends 
reached  the  owners  of  corporate  property  in 
January,  and  the  largest  sums  ever  paid  in 
wages  reached  the  workers  who  contributed 
to  this  prosperity.  The  increase  of  w^ages 
for  many  kinds  of  labor,  especially  of  the 
great  army  of  railroad  men,  and  the  profit- 
sharing  plan  put  into  operation  by  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation,  indicate 
definite  advancement  in  well-being.  The 
full  body  of  labor  is  as  nearly  all  em- 
ployed as  at  any  time  in  recent  history. 
The  railroads  have  had  an  exceptionally 
prosperous  time,  which  continues;  the  earn- 
ings of  capital  are  reinvested  in  new  enter- 
prises that  make  further  profits;  and,  if  men 
use  good  judgment,  there  seems  no  reason 
for  gloomy  predictions. 

Our  exports  are  less  than  they  were 
during  the  preceding  phenomenal  years,  but 
this  falling  off  seems  hardly  to  be  felt  in 
our    commercial    life.     Our    home    markets 


continue  to  be  larger.  We  built  6,000  miles 
of  railroad  in  1902 — more  than  in  any  year 
since  1888;  and  most  of  the  great  railroad 
systems  are  spending  unprecedented  sums 
in  improvements.  The  Pennsylvania  road, 
for  example,  is  spending  more  than  fifty 
million  dollars  in  New  York,  Pittsburg, 
Washington  and  other  cities.  These  local 
improvements  are  permanent  investments. 
And  the  great  Western  railroad  systems  are 
improving  and  extending  their  public  benefits 
at  a  similar  pace.  The  Baltimore  &  Ohio 
railroad,  for  example,  will  become  a  four- 
track  road  from  Pittsburg  to  Chicago;  and 
more  than  one  hundred  million  dollars  will 
soon  have  been  spent  by  it  in  recent  permanent 
improvements.  Other  great  railroad  systems 
are  doing  similar  great  tasks.  These  facts 
and  many  more  like  tliem  make  for  the  public 
good — they  are  permanent  factors  in  the 
upbuilding  of  the  country. 

But  it  is  a  good  time  to  grasp  thoroughly 
the  fundamental  principle  that  it  is  the 
waste  of  capital  and  of  labor  that  brings 
danger — the  money  spent  unproductively 
and  the  labor  that  goes  into  enterprises 
that  do  not  add  to  the  real  wealth  of  the 
community.  Luxury  is  waste.  Misdirected 
work  is  waste.  Idle  money  or  idle  brains  or 
idle  muscle  are  waste.  But  the  whole  full 
volume  of  well-directed  industry  is  gain. 

It  would  be  a  sordid  measure  of  life  to 
reckon  its  satisfaction  in  sheer  gain  of  money, 


Cop\Tight,  1903,  by  Doubleday,  Page  &  Company.    All  rights  reser\"ed. 


3038 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


but  money  means  the  filling  of  our  schools 
and  colleges,  the  building  of  more  houses  and 
better  ones,  the  advance  of  sanitation  and 
convenience,  the  purchase  of  more  books 
(good  ones  as  well  as  frothy  ones),  the  better 
provision  for  women  and  children  and  for  old 
age — all  good  things  that  spread  wider  a 
right  enjoyment  of  life  and  bring  larger 
chances  for  the  future. 

True,  we  yet  have  (and  we  shall  forever 
have)  the  tough  old  problem  of  preserving 
individual  opportunity  from  the  discourage- 
ment of  great  organization  and  concentration ; 
but  it  is  the  particular  task  of  our  modem 
democracy  to  prevent  this.  It  is,  in  a  sense, 
unimportant  that  the  rich  get  richer.  It  is, 
in  fact,  often  pathetic,  for  riches  won  and 
not  wisely  used  make  abnormal  and  pitiful 
men  and  w^omen.  But  it  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  that  the  number  of  the  well-to-do 
shall  continue  to  increase,  as  it  undoubtedly 
will.  The  most  important  thing  of  all  is 
that  we  shall  so  build  up  our  social  machinery 
as  to  lift  those  at  the  very  bottom  into 
efficiency  and  independence.  The  time  is  not 
in  sight  when  we  can  abolish  poverty.  But 
more  well-directed  agencies  are  at  work  than 
were  ever  before  at  work  to  prevent  its  per- 
petuation. We  are  learning  that  ventilation 
and  opportunity  are  the  main  preventives. 

The  year  has  thus  begun  well  for  those  who 
work  efficiently  and  with  hope  and  who  do 
not  lose  the  great  highways  of  human  progress. 
As  for  those  wdio  work  not,  or  work  not 
cheerfully,  and  who  wander  through  undrained 
places,  there  is  probably  no  glad  year  in  the 
whole  calendar  of  eternity. 

ANOTHER    STROKE   OF   WISE   DIPLOMACY 

WE  owe  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  his  adminis- 
tration thanks  for  many  good  acts 
of  public  service,  but  for  none  more  than  for 
the  skilful  steering  of  the  Venezuela  trouble 
to  the  Hague  Tribunal,  as,  when  this  is  writ- 
ten, it  seems  he  has  done. 

It  was  flattering  and  gratifying  that 
England,  Germany,  Italy  and  Venezuela 
wished  him  to  act  as  arbitrator;  and  the 
American  people  have  the  same  confidence  in 
his  judgment  that  these  Governments  have 
shown.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  assume  that 
these  Governments  had  a  sinister  purpose  in 
asking  him  to  become  arbitrator.  If  the  Hague 
Tribunal  had  not  been  created,  such  an  invita- 
tion would  have  been  a  natural  procedure. 


Yet  if  the  President  had  yielded  to  their 
wishes  and  undertaken  this  task,  he  would 
have  run  the  risk  of  misinterpretation  by 
some  Government  at  some  time ;  for  there  are 
two  or  three  simple  propositions  that  Europe 
and  South  America  find  it  difficult  to  under- 
stand. Europe  will  not  believe  that  we 
mean  forever  to  prevent  the  European 
acquisition  of  more  land  on  this  continent ;  or 
that,  if  we  do  so  mean,  we  shall  always  be 
able  to  maintain  this  position  without  assum- 
ing responsibility  for  South  American  Govem- 
rrtents.  South  America,  on  the  other  hand, 
finds  it  difficult  to  believe  that  we  have  a 
sincere  wish  for  the  welfare  and  for  the 
integrity  of  the  States  there,  unless  we 
ourselves  profit  at  some  time  by  our  quasi- 
protection  of  them;  and  what  is  a  quasi- 
protection  worth  if  in  times  of  emergency  it 
cannot  become  real  protection  ?  It  is  possible 
that  neither  Europe  nor  South  America  will 
ever  thoroughly  understand  the  position  of 
the  United  States,  or  give  us  credit  at  all 
times  for  sincerity. 

It  is  better  for  these  reasons  that  we  keep 
aloof  as  far  as  we  can  from  such  a  controversy 
as  this.  However  carefully  the  President's 
decision  of  the  case  might  have  been  expressed, 
if  he  had  undertaken  it  there  would  have 
been  the  danger  that  some  part  of  it,  a  phrase 
if  nothing  more,  would  have  been  misunder- 
stood by  some  party  to  the  quarrel. 

Moreover,  the  Hague  Tribunal  was  created 
to  serve  just  such  a  purpose  as  this.  If  it  be 
not  used  now  by  England,  Germany  and 
Italy  (all  signatory  Powers  to  the  treaty  that 
created  it),  when  would  it  be  used  by  them 
and  for  what  purpose?  Its  usefulness  in  the 
future  depends  on  the  willingness  of  the 
nations  to  submit  their  differences  to  it  now. 
The  skilful  and  respectful  way  in  which  the 
President  sent  these  great  disputants  to  this 
proper  court  made  as  good  a  precedent  for 
the  use  of  the  Hague  Tribunal  as  his  becoming 
arbitrator  would  have  made  a  bad  precedent 
for  the  United  States.  Nor  was  the  task 
an  easy  one.  It  was  one  of  those  delicate, 
difficult  matters  of  state  that  required  the 
most  skilful  diplomacy — diplomacy  in  the 
new  and  better  and  American  sense.  By  his 
conservative  wisdom  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  well 
served  his  own  country  and  the  whole  world. 
The  Hague  Tribunal  has  had  no  case  that 
has  so  committed  the  greater  Powers  of 
Europe  to  its  use  as  this  case  will. 


Photographed  by  The  Albany  Art  UnioQ 

CHIEF    JUDGE   ALTON    B.    PARKER 

OF   THE    NEW    YORK    COURT  OF    APPEALS,    WHO    IS    REGARDED    AS    A    POSSIBLE    DEMOCRATIC 

NOMINEE     FOR     THE    PRESIDENCY 

(Ste  "The  March  of  Events'^ 


3040 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


CLEARING  THE  ATMOSPHERE   OF  THREE 
CONTINENTS 

THE  sending  of  the  Venezuelan  trouble 
to  the  Hague  Tribunal  saved,  or  at 
least  more  firmly  established,  two  great — 
institutions,  shall  we  call  them  ? — the  Tribunal 
itself  and  the  ^Monroe  Doctrine. 

The  Hague  Treaty  was  not  taken  with  the 
greatest  seriousness  by  the  European  Govern- 
ments. Arbitration  between  Governinents — 
yes,  it  is  excellent  so  long  as  it  is  a  subject  of 
academic  discussion.  But  to  use  it  as  a 
method  of  settling  serious  difficulties  requires 
a  somewhat  different  state  of  mind.  The 
first  Governments  to  use  it  were  the  United 
States  and  Mexico,  and  now  by  the  skilful 
use  of  the  pleasantest  international  relations 
the  Administration  has  sent  the  most  impor- 
tant Governments  of  Europe  to  this  court. 
This  action  will  establish  the  court  in  the 
serious  consideration  of  the  whole  world. 
Few  recent  international  incidents  have  as 
large  a  significance  as  this  incident  is  likely  to 
have.  An  institution  that  was  first  regarded 
as  a  sentimental  whim  of  the  most  absolute 
monarch  in  Europe  seems  sure  to  become, 
chiefly  through  the  actions  of  the  United 
States,  the  most  hopeful  agency  of  human 
progress  that  mankind  has  recently  devised. 

As  for  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  the  Venezuelan 
incident  did  two  things.  With  Mr.  Roosevelt 
and  Mr.  Hay  at  Washington  (and  strong 
personalities  count  for  much  even  in  inter- 
national dealings)  and  with  Mr.  Cleveland 
and  Mr.  Olney  in  recent  memory,  European 
opinion  is  aware  now,  if  it  never  was  before, 
of  the  seriousness  with  which  the  doctrine  is 
regarded  by  the  United  States.  Public 
opinion  throughout  the  country,  too,  while 
it  strongly  supported  our  policy  of  non- 
interference with  the  course  that  events  took, 
would  have  as  strongly  resented  the  improper 
interference  with  American  traditional  rights 
— with  the  seizure  of  Venezuelan  territory. 
In  other  words,  the  simple  proposition  that 
no  European  Government  shall  be  allowed  to 
secure  more  territory  on  the  American  conti- 
nent became  more  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds 
of  European  Governments  and  in  American 
public  opinion  than  it  had  before  been  fixed 
in  this  generation.  More  than  that,  the 
incident  made  it  clear  to  South  American 
Governments  that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  does 
not  mean  protection  of  them  from  their 
creditors,  nor  any  assumption  of  responsibility 


for  them.  The  Venezuelan  incident  was  so 
managed  that  it  cleared  the  atmosphere  of 
three  continents. 

THE  FUTURE  OF  SOUTH  AMERICAN  STATES 

EVERY  South  American  incident  like 
this  Venezuelan  trouble  sets  the 
imagination  of  far-seeing  men  at  work. 
What  is  to  be  the  future  of  some  of  these 
South  American  States  ?  We  cannot  judge 
by  the  past  and  say  that  they  will  go  on 
indefinitely  as  they  have  hitherto  gone  on. 
for  new  forces  are  at  work  in  the  world  that 
are  bound  to  affect  their  future. 

So  long  as  the  United  States  offers  room 
and  opportunity  for  the  surplus  population 
of  the  Old  World  and  chance  for  the  invest- 
ment of  Old  World  capital.  South  America 
is  not  absolutely  essential  for  the  relief  of 
Europe  from  the  political,  social  and  finan- 
cial evils  of  congestion.  Australia  and  South 
Africa  and  Canada  have  afforded  and  still 
afford  room  for  English  expansion;  but  the 
continental  countries  lack  such  advantageous 
colonies  of  their  own.  More  than  this,  the 
pressure  of  international  commerce  is  becom- 
ing not  only  stronger  than  it  ever  was  before, 
but  stronger  than  economists  have  hitherto 
foreseen. 

Xow  such  countries  as  Argentina,  Uruguay. 
Brazil  and  much  of  Venezuela  have  every- 
thing that  Germany  and  Italy,  for  examples, 
lack — fertile  lands,  vast  opportunites  and  a 
sparse  and  (as  a  rule)  industrially  inefficient 
population.  The  London  Spectator  remarked 
the  other  week  that  the  possession  of  any  one 
of  these  regions  by  Germany  would  enable 
the  Kaiser  to  extinguish  the  German  Socialist 
party  which  gives  him  so  much  trouble. 
This  remark  implied  such  an  aggressive 
foreign  policy  as  the  Germans  perhaps 
have  no  w4sh  to  adopt.  But  the  pressure 
of  the  whole  organized  world  toward  these 
fertile  and  unused  territories  is  becoming 
exceedingly  strong. 

Xow,  if  European  immigration  and  trade 
conquer  them  without  political  complica- 
tions, all  right.  Still  South  America  is  our 
own  natural  trading  place.  We  need  most 
of  its  products  and  we  need  these  countries 
as  buvers  of  our  manufactures.  Trade  and 
immigration  will  many  a  time  encounter 
just  such  troubles  as  this  difficulty  in  Venezuela 
so  long  as  these  countries  are  ruled  by  revolu- 
tionists.    Who,  then,  is  to  establish  and  to 


GENERAL  FRANCIS  V.  GREENE 

THE  NEW  POLICE  COMMISSIONER  OF  NEW    YORK    CITY 


Photognr.iphe<l  by  Gessford.  New  York 


(See  'The  March  of  Events"') 


DOCTOR   JAMES    E.    RUSSELL 


Photographed  by  Alman  *  Company 


DEAN  OF  THE  TEACHERS     COLLEGE,  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

[Sfd  ••  The  March  of  Evfnts") 


TALK  OF  A  DEMOCRATIC  PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATE       3043 


ensure  stable  government  and  stable  indus- 
trial conditions? 

The  South  American  States  themselves 
never  for  a  moment  forget  that  the  price  we 
charged  for  ensuring  stable  conditions  in 
Cuba  is  the  practical  management  of  its  inter- 
national atfairs;  and  there  was  no  other 
proper  and  safe  way  to  do  that  particular 
task.  Our  unwillingness  that  any  European 
Government  should  acquire  South  American 
land  has  become  stronger  every  year;  but 
the  task  will  in  the  future  become  even  more 
difficult  than  it  has  hitherto  been  to  hold 
fast  to  this  determination  without  danger 
that  at  some  time  and  in  some  way  we 
may  assume  responsibility  for  some  of 
these  Governments — at  least  (as  in  the  case 
of  Cuba)  a  restriction  on  their  international 
activity  as  a  means  of  avoiding  possible 
complications. 

The  long  period  of  Spanish  stagnation  in 
the  States  of  the  only  available  continent 
for  European  relief  must  end  at  some  time. 
Their  isolation,  which  was  once  their  safety 
as  well  as  their  misfortune,  is  passed.  Trade 
will  conquer  them.  Industry  will  invade 
them  They  must  come  into  the  group  of 
productive  and  buying  peoples.  While  they 
are  coming,  the  interesting  question  is, 
whether  they  will  follow  the  example  of 
Mexico  or — of  Cuba.  We  cannot  per- 
mit European  Governments  to  interfere 
beyond  a  certain  point.  To  maintain  this 
policy  shall  we  be  obliged  ourselves  to 
assume  responsibilities  that  we  do  not  care 
to  assume  ? 

Such  a  necessity  does  not  yet  seem  to  con- 
front us;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  fear  that 
it  will  come  if  we  are  skilful  in  avoiding  it. 
The  natural  course  of  events  is  the  develop- 
ment of  these  countries  by  American  enter- 
prise and  capital  and  trade.  Such  a  develop- 
ment will  enable  them  all  the  sooner  to 
pass,  as  some  of  them  have  passed,  out  of 
the  era  of  revolutions  and  into  an  era  of 
stable  conditions. 
,  We  have  been  slow  to  do  our  whole 
pduty  in  this  matter  and  slow  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  great  opportunities  that  await  us. 
The  industrial  and  commercial  development 

tof  South  America  is  both  the  foremost  large 
duty  and  the  greatest  opportunity  that  await 
us  beyond  our  own  territory.  When  we  do 
this,  they  may  all  become  Mexicos  or  greater 
than  Mexico. 


EARLY  TALK  OF  A  DEMOCRATIC  PRESIDENTIAL 
CANDIDATE 

THE  darker  the  night  the  more  one  has 
to  feel  one's  way.  It  is  on  this  prin- 
ciple that  the  Democratic  press  and  politicians 
have  fallen  to  such  an  early  discussion  of  a 
presidential  candidate.  The  nominating  con- 
vention will  not  convene  till  the  summer 
of  next  year  and  a  dozen  "booms"  can  burst 
meanwhile. 

Judge  Alton  B.  Parker,  of  the  New  York 
Court  of  Appeals,  has  lately  had  the  special 
favor  of  the  prophets ;  and  there  is  this  strong 
practical  point  in  his  favor:  For  many  years 
he  has  been  on  the  Bench;  and,  while  he  has 
always  been  a  stanch  Democrat,  he  has  taken 
no  part  in  the  factional  troubles  of  the  party. 
His  last  active  participation  in  politics  was  as 
Chairman  of  the  Democratic  Executive  State 
Committee  in  1885.  It  is  thought  that  for 
this  reason  he  would  now  be  acceptable  to  all 
factions. 

Judge  Parker,  now  in  his  fifty-second  year, 
has  spent  most  of  his  mature  life  as  a  judge. 
He  was  first  appointed  to  a  vacancy  on  the 
Supreme  Bench  of  New  York,  and  in  1886 
he  was  elected  (for  fourteen  years).  But  in 
1889  he  was  appointed  to  the  Court  of  Appeals 
and  was  elected  as  the  chief  judge  in  1897. 

The  probability  of  the  unexpected  in 
politics  is  thus  admirably  illustrated.  Last 
year  it  was  believed  that  Mr.  David  B.  Hill 
refused  to  consent  to  Judge  Parker's  nomina- 
tion for  Governor  because  he  feared  that 
Judge  Parker  might  be  elected  and  become 
too  strong  a  presidential  possibility.  He 
was,  therefore,  "shelved."  But  Mr.  Coler, 
Mr.  Hill's  Democratic  nominee  for  the 
Governorship,  was  defeated;  and  now  the 
very  action  that  "shelved"  Judge  Parker  is 
bringing  him  into  prominence.  "If  he  had 
been  nominated  for  Governor,"  many  Demo- 
crats say,  "he  would  have  been  elected. 
Let  us  therefore  nominate  him  for  the 
presidency."  The  interesting  fact  about  the 
game  of  politics  is  that  every  "smart"  throw 
may  be  a  boomerang. 

Impossible  as  it  is  to  forecast  so  uncertain 
a  thing  as  the  action  of  the  next  Democratic 
National  Convention,  it  is  an  interesting  sign 
that  the  party  talk  is  more  and  more  about  so 
fresh  and  wholesome  a  personality  as  Judge 
Parker,  and  less  and  less  about  the  old  hacks 
and  bosses  of  many  inglorious  and  often- 
wrecked  preliminary  campaigns  of  the  past. 


3044 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


THE  NEW   GERMAN   TARIFF  LAW 

THE  passage  of  the  new  Gemian  tariff 
gives  the  Grovemment  a  formidable 
weapon  for  attack  or  defense  in  its  commer- 
cial dealings  with  other  countries.  The  tariff" 
agitation  was  from  the  first  aimed  chiefly  at 
the  United  States.  Our  agricultural  prod- 
ucts, which  form  our  staple  exports  to 
Germany,  will  all  be  taxed  at  rates  ranging 
from  a  fifteen  to  a  twenty-five  per  cent, 
increase  over  the  present  duties;  and  more 
than  one  hundred  important  articles  of 
American  manufacture  for  w^hich  a  German 
market  has  been  built  up  are  now"  subject  to 
greatly  increased  duties,  some  of  which  are 
practically  prohibitive. 

American  cotton  textiles,  which  had  begun 
seriously  to  compete  with  German  fabrics, 
are  heavily  taxed,  the  rate  running  from 
twelve  and  a  half  to  forty-five  per  cent.,  the 
average  being  about  twenty-seven  per  cent. 
ad  valorem.  The  duty  on  com  has  been  raised 
from  fourteen  per  cent,  to  sixty  per  cent. 
Meat  products — lard,  bacon,  hams,  etc. — 
suffer  increased  duties,  ranging  from  ten  to 
forty  per  cent.  These  will  largely  diminish 
the  market  for  these  American  goods.  The 
real  sufferer  w^ill  be  the  German  working-man. 
who  has  for  many  years  largely  subsisted  on 
American  meat.  Copper  wire  and  all  other  fin- 
ished copper  products  and  copper  fabrics  have 
a  duty  devised  to  prevent  their  importation. 
But  American  machinery,  machine  tools, 
bicycles,  shoes  and  other  leatherwear,  office 
furniture  and  cotton  goods  are  likely  to  suffer 
most.  On  some  of  these  the  new^  duties  are 
as  high  as  seventy  per  cent.  For  years  there 
has  been  strong  complaint  by  German  manu- 
facturers of  their  inability  to  compete  with 
the  Americans.  The  new  law  is  expressly 
framed  to  remove  this  objection.  The 
German  bicycle  industry,  for  example,  has 
almost  been  killed  by  American  competition. 
Under  the  provisions  of  the  new  law,  which 
imposes  heavy  duties  not  only  on  finished 
American  bicycles  but  also  on  their  parts, 
the  importation  of  American  bicycles  will 
probably  cease  entirely.  Under  the  old 
tariff  American  footgear  and  leatherwear 
was  rapidly  becoming  an  important  item  in 
our  trade  with  Germany.  Scores  of  large 
American  branch  shoe  stores  were  found  in 
the  large  German  cities  and  they  have  done 
a  flourishing  business.  The  provisions  for  the 
new  law  are  such  as  to  hamper  but  not  entirely 


to  destroy  this  trade.  Many  American  horses 
have  been  sold  in  Germany  in  late  years  at 
good  prices.  In  Berlin  alone  three  big  firms  \ 
dealt  exclusively  in  them.  But  these  dealers 
are  competing  with  the  Prussian  Government, 
which  owns  and  manages  large  studs,  and  with 
other  German  State  Governments.  The  new 
tariff  law  taxes  imported  horses  so  high  as  to 
prevent  this  competition  hereafter. 

The  method  whereby  the  bill  was  passed 
gives  a  severe  blow  to  German  parliamentary 
government.  The  Agrarians  carried  it  in  its 
final  form  against  the  wish  of  the  Government 
and  against  the  Liberals  and  the  Radicals. 
They  shut  off  debate,  and  the  Government 
was  obliged  to  accept  the  bill  as  they  -J 
fashioned  it.  The  result  is  a  victory  of  the 
most  retrogressive  element  in  German  politics. 

MARCONI'S  TRIUMPH  AND  CHEAPER  TELE- 
GRAPHY 

MARCONI'S  successful  experiment  in 
sending  long  despatches  by  wireless 
telegraphy  across  the  Atlantic  took  nobody 
bv  surprise.  His  preceding  success  in  sig- 
naling the  same  distance  practically  proved 
the  possibility  of  sending  messages.  But  our 
lack  of  surprise  makes  the  achievement  no 
less  wonderful.  The  question  now  is  whether 
the  new  method  will  so  greatly  cheapen 
telegraphy  as  to  bring  a  revolution  in  its  use. 

After  all,  we  use  the  telegraph  very  little, 
because  the  service  is  too  costly.  Business 
men  in  towns  and  cities  use  it  habitually,  and 
newspapers,  of  course,  depend  upon  it.  But 
how  small  a  proportion  of  the  population  ever 
sends  a  telegram,  and  how  little  is  the  volume 
of  telegraphic  communication  in  comparison 
with  commvmication  by  mail !  Wires  are 
costly,  and  the  development  of  devices  for 
cheapening  the  ser^'ice  has  been  hindered  by 
vested  interests.  We  have  yet  hardly  recov- 
ered from  our  first  state  of  wonder  that  the 
telegraph  is  a  fact.  No  man  can  compare 
the  low  tolls  in  some  European  countries 
with  the  tolls  in  the  United  States  without  a 
certain  degree  of  indignation. 

Perhaps,  at  the  best,  telegraphic  com- 
munication by  wire  will  always  be  too  costly 
for  an\i;hing  like  universal  use.  But  if  the 
wireless  method  should  be  so  developed  over- 
land as  to  admit  of  cheap  use,  and  so  that 
"stations"  should  be  put  up  in  every  town 
whereby  messages  might  be  sent  to  the  next 
town  for  a  few  cents,  the  uses  of  the  telegraph 


A    PROBLEM    THAT    GROWS    UNDER    DISCUSSION 


3045 


would  increase  to  an  extent  that  we  have  not 
yet  dreamed  of.  The  possibility  of  this  seems 
remote,  but  the  most  sluggish  imagination 
can  foresee  a  time  wlien  the  present  infrequent 
use  of  the  telegraph  will  seem  as  primitive 
as  the  three-cent  postage  stamp  now  seems. 
The  limitation  of  telegraphy  is  the  in- 
convenience of  sending  messages  to  and 
from  the  telegraph  office.  In  this  respect  the 
telephone  has  a  great  advantage.  There 
seems  now  no  method  of  overcoming  this 
drawback.  But  if  the  Marconi  system  does 
no  more  than  to  make  transoceanic  communi- 
cation cheaper,  it  will  do  much.  Its  greatest 
service  thus  far  is,  of  course,  its  service  to 
ships.  This  is  a  positive  addition  of  great 
value  to  the  convenience  and  safety  of  man- 
kind. And  the  most  interesting  question 
raised  by  it  is  its  possible  use  in  war  and  its 
bearing  on  the  problems  of  coast  defense. 

GENERAL  FRANCIS  V.  GREENE 

GENERAL  FRANCIS  V.  GREENE, 
the  new  Commissioner  of  Police  in 
New  York  City  (his  predecessor  having 
resigned  after  ayear  of  unsuccessful  authority) , 
is  a  man  who  brings  things  to  pass.  A  dis- 
tinguished graduate  of  West  Point,  a  soldier, 
an  engineer,  a  man  of  affairs,  a  political 
manager,  an  author,  yet  in  the  prime  of  life,  at 
fifty-two  he  has  undertaken  the  most  difficult 
task  that  he  has  ever  had  in  hand;  for  it  is 
easier  to  write  good  books  or  to  organize 
and  conduct  a  campaign  in  the  Philippines 
than  it  is  to  infuse  the  proper  moral  quality 
into  the  police  force  of  New  York.  He  has, 
in  fact,  the  most  important  military  command 
now  active  in  any  of  the  many  countries  of 
the  world — a  command  by  which  a  great 
soldier  and  disciplinarian  may  make  a  higher 
and  enduring  reputation.  And  no  man  of 
General  Greene's  military  training  and 
experience  has  before  held  the  place. 

The  men  who  make  up  the  force  are  as  good 
material  as  could  easily  be  had.  They  prefer 
to  be  "straight."  If  they  had  been  properly 
organized  and  properly  disciplined  for  ten 
years  they  would  be  as  excellent  a  police 
army  as  there  is  in  the  world.  The  fault  has 
been  with  the  "system"  rather  than  with 
them.  But  this  very  fact  makes  the  task  of 
the  new  Commissioner  the  more  difficult. 
To  start  afresh  and  to  select  and  train 
10,000  policemen  would  be  an  easy  undertak- 
ing for  a  man  of  General  Greene's  experience. 


But  he  has  the  harder  problem  of  making  the 
men  of  all  grades  under  him,  the  law-breakers 
and  the  public  all  understand  at  once  that  a 
new  regime  has  begun.  In  comparison  with 
this  the  most  difficult  duties  of  organization 
and  command  are  easy.  The  quality  called  for 
is  moral  force  of  an  unusual  kind — nerve,  as 
he  himself  expressed  it.  The  long-indulged 
law-breaking  classes,  the  political  organiza- 
tions, the  lethargic  public,  are  all  impedi- 
ments in  the  reorganization. 

Upon  the  results  of  General  Greene's  admin- 
istration depends  the  hope  for  clean  govern- 
ment in  New  York,  and  to  a  very  consider- 
able extent  the  success  of  good  municipal 
government  in  the  United  States.  The  prob- 
lem turns  directly  on  this  pivot — can  the 
police  force  be  kept  from  connivance  at  crime 
and  vice  and  from  giving  "protection"  for  a 
share  of  the  profits?  It  can  be  so  kept,  and 
General  Greene's  energetic  manner  gives 
promise  of  success.  He  does  things  and  talks 
afterward,  if  he  talk  at  all;  and  his  plans  are 
not  discussed  beforehand  in  the  newspapers. 

A  PROBLEM  THAT  GROWS   UNDER  DISCUSSION 

THE  increasing  difficulties  that  the 
Administration  encounters  in  the 
making  of  Southern  appointments  empha- 
size several  large  facts. 

Since  the  practical  elimination  of  the 
Negroes  from  local  political  life  their  eleva- 
tion to  federal  offices  is  resented  more 
emphatically  by  the  whites  than  it  was 
before. 

The  so-called  "Lily- White"  Republican 
movement — to  eliminate  the  Negroes  also 
from  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  Republican 
party  and  thus  to  make  the  party  more 
acceptable  to  Southern  white  men — has 
naturally  aroused  the  resentment  of  the 
Negroes,  but  seems  so  far  to  have  had  little 
effect  in  any  other  way. 

The  troubles  that  the  Administration  has 
met  have  caused  the  formulation  of  two  prin- 
ciples of  action  that  divide  men  into  two 
groups.  One  is  the  principle  that,  since  the 
Negro  is  a  large  part  of  Southern  citizenship, 
he  should  have  a  somewhat  corresponding 
share  of  federal  patronage  as  recognition  and 
encouragement.  The  other  principle  is  that 
the  giving  of  offices  for  recognition  and 
encouragement  really  means  the  bestowal  of 
office  as  reward  for  being  a  respected  Negro 
rather    than    as    a    means   of    getting   the 


3046 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


Government's  work  done  in  every  com- 
munity in  the  most  natural  and  simple 
way  possible. 

Thus  the  self-consciousness  of  the  Negro, 
and  the  even  greater  sensitiveness  of  the  white 
man  either  against  the  Negro  or  in  his  behalf, 
show  that  in  dealing  with  this  delicate  and 
explosive  subject  no  theory  works.  Personal 
tact  is  worth  all  the  philosophy  that  can  be 
formulated.  In  these  recent  controversies 
the  Negroes  themselves  have  as  a  rule  either 
remained  silent  or  have  conducted  themselves 
with  more  dignity  than  the  white  disputants. 

Meantime,  the  schoolmaster,  with  his  tools 
and  his  books,  must,  with  patience  and  justice, 
do  his  work  for  many  a  year  and  with  several 
generations  before  either  the  Negro  or  the 
white  man  ripens  into  a  serene  philosophy  of 
action.  The  conviction  grows  stronger  that 
the  right  kind  of  schoolmaster  is  worth  more 
than  all  the  controversialists.  The  matter 
gets  worse  under  discussion,  and  the  best 
lesson  to  learn  from  the  difficulties  and  the 
controversies  that  fill  the  newspapers,  is  the 
lesson ,  ever  worth  remembering,  that  an  ounce 
of  the  right  personal  conduct  is  worth  a  pound 
of  good  theory  or  a  ton  of  theory  that  may 
not  be  reducible  to  just  action. 

THE  GEOGRAPHICAL   READJUSTMENT  OF 
NEW   YORK 

MR.  ALFRED  MOSELY,  who  recently 
studied  our  social  and  industrial 
conditions,  has  declared  that  American  effi- 
ciency is  due  in  a  measure  to  our  solving  of 
transportation  problems.  Incontestably  the 
building  of  new  railroads,  and  the  straighten- 
ing of  existing  lines,  over  wide  expanses  of 
territory,  do  finally  subserve  our  highest 
economic  ends,  if  one  give  the  matter  thought ; 
and  the  present  concentrated  effort  to  make 
New  York  accessible  to  the  rest  of  the  nation 
without  inconvenience  means  an  increase  of 
well-being  to  tens  of  thousands. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  to  widen 
the  approach  to  the  city  of  the  New  York 
Central  railroad,  to  equip  the  trains  with 
electric  power,  and  to  make  direct  connection 
at  the  Grand  Central  Station  with  the  Subway. 
After  bitter,  but  vain,  opposition  in  the 
Board  of  Aldermen,  on  the  pretext  of  demand- 
ing an  eight -hour  day  for  construction  work- 
men, the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  has  at  last 
secured  a  franchise  for  a  tunnel  that  will  carry 
its  lines  to  the  heart  of  the  citv,  and  work  has 


begun  on  it.  And,  in  addition  to  the  tunnel 
of  the  Long  Island  Railroad,  now  building 
to  bring  its  passengers  also  mto  the  city, 
another  tunnel  is  building,  which  is  designed 
at  first,  at  all  events,  merely  to  connect  lower 
Manhattan  with  Jersey  City  by  trolley  cars, 
but  which,  later,  may  offer  ingress  for  the 
Erie  railroad  and  the  Lackawanna.  These, 
with  the  new  rapid  transit  facilities  within 
and  between  the  boroughs,  will  have  a  pro- 
found effect  in  a  hundred  ways,  but  mainly  in 
the  geographical  readjustment  of  New  York. 

Their  effect  will  be  social.  An  inconsiderable 
few  of  us  dwell  near  our  work.  The  elevated 
and  surface  railwa3'S  in  New  York  City  carr}' 
nearly  six  hundred  million  passengers  a 
year,  most  of  whom  travel  between  home 
and  business ;  and,  with  the  increase  in  speed 
of  transit,  home  and  business  ma}''  be  farther 
apart.  The  home  goes  countrj^ward,  for 
there  is  truth  in  the  maxim  that  at  forty  a 
man  is  a  fool  or  a  farmer,  or  both.  But 
without  cheap,  speedy  transit  the  desire 
for  rural  life  evaporates  in  dreams  ;  the 
cramped  cities  smother  their  dwellers,  as 
New  York  is  daily  choking  htmdreds  of 
thousands  of  country-born  recruits  who  live 
in  it.  At  present  a  worker  must  dwell  in  the 
city  or  suffer  a  martyrdom  of  discomfort 
and  delay  to  live  in  the  country;  and  the 
suburbs  of  New  York  have  grown  in  pre- 
scribed directions  and  far  more  slowly  than 
the  gro-^^h  of  the  city  demands.  The  busi- 
ness space  provided  in  new  buildings  in 
New  York  last  year  alcne  is  estimated  to 
offer  working  room  for  40,000  new  workers, 
with  no  corresponding  facilities  to  permit 
them  to  live  outside  the  growing  apartment 
pueblos.  In  five  3-ears,  when  the  Subway, 
the  New  York  Central  approach  and  the 
tunnels  are  finished,  the  greater  City  of  New 
York  homes  will  expand  at  a  boimd,  not  only 
into  Westchester  Cotmty  at  the  north,  but 
out  through  Long  Island  and  New  Jersey,  as 
if  the  rivers  no  longer  existed.  The  popula- 
tion will  push  a  little  apart,  family  from 
family,  and  green  spaces  will  come  between. 
"Who  would  live  in  the  city  when  electric  trains 
in  an  underground  tube  will  shoot  one, 
within  half  an  hour,  without  delay  and  with 
a  single  change  from  subway  car  to  tunnel 
train,  to  a  country  home?  This  is  the  vital 
meaning  of  the  new  improvements. 

Closer  connection  between  Boston  and  the 
West  and  South  will  follow  the  completion  of 


DEFINITE   PROGRESS    BY    PHILANTHROPY 


3047 


the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  plans,  and  a 
boom  is  promised  to  Boston  as  a  port.  Every 
locality  on  the  railroads  now  coming  to  New 
York,  from  every  direction,  will  be  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes  nearer  to  the  city;  and 
the  industrial  and  financial  capital  of  the 
nation  will  be  connected  more  closely  at  a 
cost  of  more  than  $10,0000,000  to  the 
liintcrlaiid  it  serves. 

ARE  THE  CHURCHES  LOSING  GROUND? 

ANEWS  association  in  New  York  City 
several  months  ago  counted  the  per- 
sons who  went  to  church  on  several  suc- 
cessive Sundays  of  fair  weather;  and  its 
example  has  been  followed  in  many  towns  and 
cities.  But  these  counts  have  not,  as  a  rule, 
been  accepted  as  fairly  accurate,  either  by  the 
churchmen  or  by  the  critics  of  the  churches. 
Many  small  churches,  it  is  said,  are  overlooked 
by  the  census  takers,  and  visitors  are  counted 
as  regular  attendants — these  and  many  other 
criticisms  are  made.  Nor  is  the  interpreta- 
tion of  these  counts  uniform.  To  some  minds 
they  show  a  very  satisfactory  attendance 
indeed;  while  to  others,  in  truth,  they  show 
a  progressive  decline. 

So  it  always  is  and  so  it  always  will  be. 
Every  effort  to  measure  the  condition  of  the 
churches  in  concrete  terms  ends  in  contro- 
versy, and  few  definite  facts  are  made  clear. 
Yet  a  few  large  tendencies  are  practically 
and  reasonably  certain. 

(i)  The  membership  of  the  Protestant 
churches  is  not  keeping  pace  in  its  growth 
with  the  growth  of  the  Protestant  part  of  the 
population.  Doctor  H.  K.  Carroll's  annual 
summary  of  church  membership  (which  is 
the  best-known  compilation)  puts  the  gain 
at  ij^per  cent,  for  1902,  as  against  more  than 
2  per  cent,  in  population. 

(2)  The  increase  in  value  of  church  prop- 
erty is,  however,  greater  than  the  increase  of 
membership.  This  is  in  part  accounted  for  by 
the  natural  rise  of  real  estate  values.  But  the 
churches  are  at  least  as  liberally  maintained 
as  they  ever  were — perhaps  more  liberally 
maintained  than  they  ever  were.  Witness 
the  great  Methodist  "Twentieth  Century" 
funds  so  recently  completed. 

(3)  There  has  been  no  such  falling-dff  of 
church  membership  or  of  church  attendance 
as  was  expected  a  decade  or  two  ago  when 
there  came  so  general  a  change  from  the 
orthodox  forms  of  faith  to  very  much  more 


liberal  creeds.  The  pew  has  accepted  liberal 
opinions  very  much  more  rapidly  than  the 
pulpit,  but  this  change  of  opinion  has  not 
emptied  the  pews. 

(4)  What  has  happened  is  that  many 
churchgoers  have  somewhat  changed  their 
reasons  for  going  to  church.  Fewer  go  for 
reasons  of  personal  salvation;  but  more  go 
from  force  of  habit,  for  social  reasons,  and 
especially  because  they  wish  to  be  identified 
with  the  church  as  a  great  organization  for 
practical  helpfulness.  Humanitarianism  has 
grown  more  than  ecclesiasticism,  and  the 
churches  receive  the  benefit  of  the  greater 
helpful  impulse. 

The  Protestant  churches,  therefore,  exert 
a  very  different  sort  of  influence  now  from 
that  which  they  exerted  a  generation  or 
two  ago;  but  it  is  a  great  influence  yet, 
and  it  will  remain  great  as  far  as  men  can 
foresee.  But,  whereas  they  once  had  the 
active  cooperation  in  most  parts  of  the 
United  States  of  nearly  all  the  "respectable" 
people,  they  now  fall  far  short  of  that.  There 
are  many  who  seldom  or  never  go  to  church 
but  who  are  yet  among  the  conservative  and 
uplifting  members  of  the  community.  In 
this  sense,  the  churches  are  doubtless  losing, 
but  the  loss  is  not  easily  expressed  in  any 
census  of  attendance. 

DEFINITE  PROGRESS  BY  PHILANTHROPY 

PHILANTHROPIC  gifts  made  in  the 
United  States  show  year  after  year 
a  steady  progression  both  in  their  volume 
and  in  the  wisdom  of  their  aims.  The  largest 
sums  go  for  the  alleviation  of  suffering  or 
for  work  that  gives  promise  of  alleviating  it. 
Hospitals  and  medical  research  and  the 
charities  that  attend  them  receive  larger  sums 
than  any  other  general  purpose.  This  is 
a  sane  and  well-balanced  judgment.  The 
strongest  humane  impulse  is  to  relieve  suffer- 
ing, and  the  best  application  of  science  is  to 
prevent  it.  This  is  sound  sociology  as  well 
as  good  personal  conduct.  We  may  look  to 
a  time — far  off  but  surely  attainable — when 
bodily  suffering  will  practically  be  unknown 
and  when  most  diseases  will  be  prevented ; 
and  help  toward  this  new  era  of  a  sound- 
bodied  commonwealth  is  made  in  large  meas- 
ure, if  not  chiefly,  by  private  philanthropy. 
The  Rockefeller  Institute  for  the  investigation 
of  the  causes  of  disease,  the  Phipps  hospital 
for  the  study  and  cure  of  tuberculosis  that 


3048 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


is  offered  to  Philadelphia,  the  endowment 
of  more  hospitals  for  the  crippled,  to  which 
Doctor  Lorenz's  visit  gave  such  an  impetus 
— these  are  examples  of  the  fundamental 
philanthropy  that  is  giving  our  age  a  great 
physical  advantage  over  all  preceding  ages  of 
mankind.  We  have  traveled  farther  and 
faster  along  this  road,  in  the  gradual  ascent 
of  life,  than  along  any  other;  and  it  is  a  good 
sign  of  the  sound  sense  of  the  community  that 
the  rich  continue  to  give  in  greatest  volume 
to  this  general  purpose. 

Next  to  the  relief  of  suffering  comes  the 
advancement  of  education.  Private  bene- 
factions to  promote  the  better  training  of 
youth  give  distinction  to  the  United  States 
over  all  other  countries.  In  this  great  field 
of  helpfulness  there  are  many  divisions — from 
the  support  of  universities  and  the  promotion 
of  research  to  the  beautification  of  school- 
grounds.  The  donations  that  are  every  year 
made  to  further  this  great  aim  likewise  justify 
the  accumulation  of  wealth;  for  the  accumu- 
lation of  wealth  is  justified  only  by  its  helpful 
use.  In  this  wide  range  of  aid  to  the  man, 
and  to  the  society  of  the  future,  there 
has  been  progressive  good  judgment.  The 
mere  duplication  of  colleges,  for  instance,  is 
becoming  less  frequent,  and  more  money  goes 
to  the  better  equipment  of  those  that  already 
have  foundations. 

PRECISION  m  PATRIOTIC  PHILANTHROPY 

THE  best  use  of  money  for  education 
that  can  be  made  under  present 
conditions  has  received  clear  formulation 
during  the  past  year;  and  such  excellent 
machinery  has  been  created  for  its  use  that 
we  have  reached  a  new  degree  of  precision 
in  applying  it. 

Having  demonstrated  that  the  public  school 
is  the  first  necessity  of  a  democracy,  we  yet 
have  a  very  large  and  important  part  of  our 
rural  population  without  adequate  public 
schools;  and  many  rural  communities  have 
not  even  developed  an  appreciation  of  them. 
For  obvious  reasons  there  are  more  such  com- 
munities in  the  Southern  States  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  Union.  The  first  public 
duty  of  the  people  of  the  Republic,  then,  in 
helping  forward  American  life,  is  the  develop- 
ment of  these  communities  by  public  schools. 

It  is  on  this  proposition  that  the  General 
Education  Board  has  established  itself  as  a 
patriotic  organization.      Its  main  aim  is  to 


help  rural  neighborhoods  to  build  up  the  best 
schools  in  the  world.  The  aim  is  not  to  build 
schools  for  such  neighborhoods,  but  to  help 
the  neighborhoods  themselves  build  them. 
This  organization  of  successful  men  of  affairs 
and  of  educational  workers  has  completed  its 
first  year  of  work.  Never  did  so  small  a  sum 
of  money  produce  so  large  a  result.  This 
Board,  by  spending  less  than  $1 50,000,  in  con- 
junction with  its  fellow-board  (the  Southern 
Education  Board)  and  in  the  most  cordial 
relations  with  every  other  agency  of  similar 
aims,  has  so  aided  the  fast -rising  tide  of 
Southern  opinion  as  to  begin  a  revolution. 
It  has  organized  public  sentiment.  It  has 
stimulated  it.  It  has  not  regarded  its  work 
as  a  charity.  It  has  regarded  it  as  a  patriotic 
duty,  and  it  has  been  so  received.  It  has 
cooperated  with  forces  that  are  already  at 
work;  for  the  neglected  people  must  at  last 
build  up  themselves.  This  Board  has  sought 
only  how  it  may  give  well-directed  aid  to  them 
that  ask  for  it  and  that  will  wisely  use  it  for 
giving  the  next  generation  an  advantage 
over  the  present. 

At  the  ofhce  of  the  Board  in  New  York 
there  is  more  information,  and  more  accurate 
information,  about  public  education  in  the 
South  than  can  be  found  an^^where  else  about 
public  education  in  any  other  wide  area.  It 
has  definite  machinery,  therefore,  for  directing 
every  helpful  impulse  and  every  helpful 
dollar.  It  receives  from  one  donor  a  fund 
of  Sioo.ooo  a  year  for  ten  years;  and  it 
received  during  its  first  year  an  additional  sum 
from  others.  Having  demonstrated  its  value 
as  an  instrument  of  greater  precision  than 
was  ever  before  used  for  a  great  national 
patriotic  cause,  its  appeal  for  support  ought 
to  bring  it  such  sums  as  no  institution 
maintained  solely  by  private  subscrip- 
tions ever  received. 

It  has  opened  up  avenues  wherein  a  million 
a  year  could  be  used  with  scientific  precision 
for  the  building  up  of  neglected  communities 
on  a  foundation  of  perpetual  growth.  In  the 
whole  history  of  patriotic  philanthropy  there 
has  never  been  such  accurate  work  done  on 
so  large  a  scale ;  and  (except  only  the  relief  of 
phvsical  suffering)  there  is  no  other  work  of 
human  helpfulness  that  is  so  wisely  directed. 
We  shall  by  its  aid  the  more  quickly  gain  the 
skilled  and  trained  contribution  to  our  indus- 
trial, social  and  political  life  that  must  and 
will  be  made  by  the  capable  people  of  our  most 


ON  THE  THRESHOLD  OF  PUHLIC  SCHOOL  DKVELOrMENT     3049 


backward  commonwealths.  This  work  is  at 
the  very  foundation  of  the  development  of 
our  own  population.  It  is  a  fundamental 
thing  in  our  national  life. 

THE   TEACHING  OF  HEALTH 

IT  is  odd  that  the  only  subject  which 
everybody  admits  ought  to  be  taught 
to  every  child  in  the  public  schools  is  the 
only  subject  that  has  never  been  taught — 
namely,  how  to  keep  well.  We  have  dallied 
with  physiology  and  hygiene,  and  we  have 
liad  calisthenics  and  all  sorts  of  exercises; 
but  there  has  been  no  general  or  thorough 
compulsory  instruction  in  what  might  be 
called  Health.  The  normal  functions  of  the 
organs  of  the  body  and  the  simple  methods  of 
keeping  them  in  healthful  action  is  the  one 
thing  that  no  educated  human  being  is 
excusable  for  not  knowing.  The  prevention 
of  disease  and  of  disorder  ought  to  be  among 
the  first  lessons  in  every  scheme  of  education. 

Yet  it  is  not  fair  to  blame  unduly  the  schools 
and  the  schoolmasters,  for  most  American 
children  reach  maturity  without  parental 
instruction  in  the  most  elementary  matters 
of  health.  We  all  wait  till  something  goes 
wrong  and  then  we  call  in  the  physician; 
and  it  is  only  just  now  that  the  physician 
himself  has  begun  to  regard  it  as  his  duty  to 
do  more  than  to  set  the  disabled  organ  to 
work  again — to  prevent  a  recurrence  of 
the  trouble — that  is,  preventive  medicine; 
and  preventive  medicine  is  a  new  thing. 
The  very  name  shows  that  we  have  come  to 
it  by  the  wrong  route,  for  prevention  of  dis- 
order makes  medicine  unnecessary. 

This  little  sermon  in  common  sense  is  sug- 
gested by  the  work  undertaken  by  the 
Teachers'  College  in  New  York,  which  hence- 
forth will  train  teachers  to  teach  Health. 
They  will  not  be  trained  either  as  physicians 
or  as  athletes  or  as  practitioners  of  any 
"system"  of  anything,  but  as  capable 
teachers  of  the  right  care  and  use  of  the 
human  body. 

It  may  not  be  extravagant  to  say  that  this 
same  movement  is  of  larger  possible  benefit 
than  anything  that  has  hitherto  been  done  in 
the  name  of  education;  for  if  it  should  ever 
come  to  pass  that  every  pupil  in  the  public 
schools  should  be  brought  naturally  to  a  proper 
understanding  of  health  and  its  relations  to 
every  other  part  of  life  and  conduct,  such  a 
rhance  for  the  advpitu-ement  of  the  human  race 


would  be  given  as  no  considerable  section 
of  society  has  yet  ever  had.  If  all  easily 
preventable  physical  troubles  were  prevented, 
such  an  addition  would  be  made  to  the 
energy  and  to  the  good  sense  of  the  people 
as  defies  description.  A  merely  incidental 
item  of  such  social  progress  would  be  the 
incalculable  saving  of  the  money  spent  on 
quackery  and  of  the  waste  in  energy  that 
quackery  causes. 

Reformers  who  are  casting  about  for  "new 
eras"  in  human  progress  may  profitably  turn 
all  their  energy  to  the  support  of  this  educa- 
tional innovation.  It  is  reducible  to  very 
simple  statement — every  normal  human 
being  if  he  be  taught  in  childhood  and  if  he 
use  this  knowledge,  may  lead  a  healthful  life 
and  (barring  accidents)  live  his  normal  period 
of  productive  and  active  existence.  Sickness 
and  all  forms  of  physical  inefficiency  could  be 
so  nearly  banished  that  the  ill  would  be  no 
more  numerous  than  the  criminal.  Then  it 
would  come  true,  as  Huxley  said,  that  we 
should  look  upon  most  cases  of  illness  as 
criminal. 

The  public  school  is  the  best  machinery 
for  bringing  such  a  change,  and  the  first  step 
is  the  training  of  well-balanced  teachers  who 
shall  be  in  earnest  but  shall  not  have  fads 
about  "physical  culture  " — whose  gospel  shall 
be  simply  the  gospel  of  Health. 

ON  THE  THRESHOLD  OF  PUBLIC   SCHOOL 
DEVELOPMENT 

A  TEACHER  with  as  thorough  a  training 
in  pedagogy  as  the  Teachers'  College, 
for  example,  requires  for  graduation,  and 
with  a  physician's  training  in  hygiene  and 
physiology,  though  not  for  the  same  purpose 
as  a  physician,  will  not  long  work  in  the  public 
schools  for  the  compensation  in  money  and 
in  position  that  is  now  usually  given.  All  the 
other  rewards  of  the  teacher's  life  must  be 
made  greater.  How  admirably  this  was 
recently  set  forth  by  Doctor  William  H. 
Maxwell,  the  Superintendent  of  Schools  in 
New  York  Citv,  in  an  address  at  the  Univer- 
sity  of  Chicago.  Emancipated  from  clerical 
influences,  and  in  process  of  emancipation 
from  political  influences,  the  teachers  now 
need  to  raise  the  standard  of  their  calling  by 
raising  the  standard  of  admission  to  their 
ranks,  and  they  need  security  of  tenure.  He 
classified  the  conditions  that  the  profession 
must  require  in  this  comprehensive  way: 


3050 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


(i)  Adequate  preparation  rigorously  in- 
sisted on.  In  this  the  State  of  New  York 
has  set  a  good  example.  The  point  is  that  the 
public  school  teachers  themselves  shall  insist 
on  the  exclusion  of  all  but  the  best-prepared 
candidates  for  places. 

(2)  Appointment  and  promotion  by  some 
means  that  shall  stimulate  the  teacher's 
efforts  and  preserve  his  self-respect;  in  other 
words,  by  impartial  examinations  and  pro- 
bationary tests  of  actual  working  qualities, 
and  not  by  "pulls." 

(3)  Opportunity  for  self -improvement 
and  for  the  development  of  originality.  "I 
mean,"  said  Doctor  Maxwell,  "by  the 
solidarity  of  teachers  an  organization  to 
accomplish  their  high  purpose  under  a  code 
of  professional  ethics  which  will  meet  a  stand- 
ard of  professional  honor  and  professional 
duty  transcending  school  board  ordinances 
and  statutory  enactments." 

(4)  Reasonable  financial  support  and 
secure  tenure  of  office  for  the  efficient. 

In  other  words,  the  professions  of  medicine 
and  of  law  and  other  such  professions  raised 
themselves  into  respectful  consideration  and 
dignified  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  com- 
munity by  insisting  on  as  high  a  standard  of 
character  and  of  preparation  as  they  could 
enforce.  In  a  word,  the  public  school  teacher 
must  make  his  calling  a  profession  and  not  a 
mere  means  of  livelihood. 

In  truth,  we  are  just  on  the  threshold  of 
the  development  of  the  public  school  system. 

A  CLEARING-HOUSE   FOR  PRACTICAL 
BETTERMENT 

THE  American  Institute  of  Social  Service 
in  New  York  makes  a  scientific  study 
of  the  various  movements  and  methods  of 
social  and  industrial  betterment  throughout 
the  world.  It  does  this  work  through  its 
collaborators,  like  Siegfried  and  Levasseur 
in  Paris,  Exner  in  Vienna,  Max  Richter 
and  Lewald  in  Berlin,  Luzzatti  in  Rome, 
Wavrinsky  in  Stockholm,  Shimomura  in 
Japan,  and  others.  Then  it  turns  its  knowl- 
edge to  practical  use. 

It  has  "commercial"  members — firms  em- 
ploying large  numbers  of  men  and  women. 
When  such  men  wish  to  improve  the  condition 
of  their  employees,  a  request  for  information 
is  sent  to  the  Institute  about  the  expenditure 
and  the  advisability  of  such  an  undertaking — 
whether  the  experience   of  others  has  been 


successful.  The  bureau  of  information  makes 
an  individual  study  of  each  case,  and  gives 
suggestions.  This  has  been  done  for  some  of 
the  largest  firms  in  the  United  States,  and 
upon  all  sorts  of  subjects — pensions,  sick 
benefits,  housing,  baths  and  the  like. 

The  Musde  Social  of  Paris,  the  first  great 
museum  of  its  kind,  was  the  result  of  the  far- 
sighted  generosity  of  the  Count  Chambrun. 
Brussels,  Berlin  and  Moscow  have  similar 
institutions.  The  Institute  in  New  York 
aims  to  be  a  social  clearing-house  in 
America  where  all  may  go  and  study 
present-day  problems  in  social  and  indus- 
trial betterment. 

Some  of  the  older  cities  in  Europe,  notably 
Amsterdam,  Milan  and  Berlin,  have  had  the 
forethought  to  establish  Museums  of  Security. 
The  Institute  includes  in  its  plans  a  similar 
collection — that  is,  the  various  devices  and 
appliances  for  safeguarding  the  lives  and 
limbs  of  workmen.  Such  a  museum  would 
show  the  operation  and  the  cost  of  safety 
devices  of  every  kind. 

This  interesting  institution,  now  in  the 
beginning  of  its  service,  has  the  commenda- 
tion and  practical  help  (for  its  aim  is  not  to 
make  money,  and  it  will  be  long  before  it  is 
self-sustaining,  if  it  ever  becomes  so)  of  some  of 
the  foremost  men  and  women  of  the  Eastern 
States;  and  it  ought  to  make  a  noteworthy 
success  in  a  country  at  once  so  humane  and 
so  practical  as  ours. 

THE  COLLEGE  DRUMMER 

THE  open  appointment  by  Northwestern 
University  of  a  "drummer"  whose 
business  it  is  to  induce  students  to  attend  it 
is  new  only  in  its  frankness.  By  methods 
usually  delicate  and  indirect  such  work  has 
long  been  done  in  behalf  of  most  of  our 
colleges.  But  the  frank  announcement  of 
the  appointment  of  such  a  college  officer  gave 
a  little  shock  to  the  academic  world. 

There  are  two  possible  fields  of  activity  for 
such  a  man.  He  can  "drum  up  custom" 
from  the  preparatory  schools  by  inducing 
youths  who  will  go  to  college  somew^here  to 
go  to  his  particular  college;  or  he  may  per- 
suade those  who  do  not  mean  to  go  to  college 
at  all  to  change  their  minds.  Both  these 
forms  of  activity  suggest  the  question  whether 
we  have  more  colleges  than  we  need.  If 
students  have  to  be  solicited,  does  the  neces- 
sitv  of  solicitation  mean  that  there  are  too 


HOW    LARGE   THE    WORLD    KS 


3051 


I 


many  colleges,  or  does  it  mean  that  too  small 
a  proportion  of  tlie  population  attends  them  ? 

Too  few  youths  doubtless  do  go  to  college, 
but  this  leads  to  the  still  harder  question: 
What  proportion  of  college-trained  youth  is 
the  normal  proportion  in  a  country  like 
ours  ?  According  to  the  latest  report  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Education  (1901),  there 
were  in  1900  169,036  students  at  universities 
and  colleges. 

Of  course  such  a  question  is  not  a  question 
for  a  statistical  answer.  On  one  side  it  may 
be  said  that  a  college  training,  if  it  be  good 
for  some  capable  youths,  is  good  for  all  capable 
youths ;  and  it  is  hard  to  say  why  this  is  not 
true.  We  have  long  ago  passed  that  narrow 
conception  of  college  training  as  an  experience 
that  fits  men  only  for  the  professions.  If  it 
really  develop  men,  it  is  good  for  those  also 
who  look  to  the  crafts,  to  commerce  and  to 
industry  for  careers.  If  this  view  be  correct, 
all  capable  youths  who  can  afford  it  ought  to 
have  college  training.  If  the  training  be  of 
the  right  sort,  giving  a  proper  view  of  demo- 
cratic life,  this  argument  is  sound;  and  it  is 
sound  alike  for  women  and  for  men. 

On  the  other  hand,  doubt  arises  chiefly 
because  all  college  training  is  not  of  the  right 
sort.  Education  has  traveled  a  long  way 
from  the  old  narrow  notion  of  it  as  a  thing 
for  preachers,  but  it  has  not  yet  gone  the 
whole  way  to  a  perfect,  democratic  view  of 
it.  We  yet  talk  about  the  danger  of  too 
large  an  educated  class,  such  as  Germany  has. 
But  the  trouble  with  the  superfluous  army  of 
German  scholars  is  that  they  were  mistrained. 
They  were  trained  only  for  work  in  professions 
that  are  limited,  not  for  productive  work. 

The  time  will  come  in  our  democracy — it 
must  come  if  we  are  true  to  democratic  ideals 
— when  every  capable  youth  will  receive  a 
college  education — not  in  the  classics  nor 
even  in  the  pure  sciences,  but  in  something 
that  will  give  him  the  benefit  of  trained 
powers  and  a  proper  adjustment  to  life  before 
he  begins  his  active  career.  In  the  mean- 
time the  colleges  have  the  task  of  even  more 
fully  adapting  themselves  to  this  widening 
conception  and  of  persuading  an  increasing 
proportion  of  the  population  to  take  advan- 
tage of  them.  If  the  "  drummer  "  be  the  best 
means  of  doing  this  in  any  community,  he 
justifies  his  avowed  activity.  It  is  possible 
that  a  college,  by  holding  on  to  its  merely 
formal    dignity,  may  restrict   its  usefulness. 


HOW  SMALL  THE  WORLD  IS 

AT  a  dinner  in  New  York  tlie  celebrated 
Viennese  surgeon,  Doctor  Lorenz,  told 
this  story: 

"  At  Los  Angeles  I  met  at  one  dinner  two  ladies. 
One  was  a  Norwegian  from  Bergen.  I  told  her  I 
knew  a  family  named  Middleton  there,  and  she  said 
that  they  were  her  best  friends.  Then  I  told  her 
that  I  had  operated  on  a  member  of  that  family. 
The  other  lady  was  from  Honolulu.  I  mentioned  a 
certain  doctor  there  and  asked  if  she  knew  him. 
'  He  is  my  physican,'  said  she.  And  I  said  to  her: 
'  He  was  my  pupil.'  " 

The  interesting  thing  about  this  incident 
is  that  such  experiences  are  no  longer  unusual. 
In  any  company  of  persons  who  have  gone 
about  the  world  somewhat,  similar  stories 
might  be  told  by  almost  every  one  of  them. 
The  number  of  persons  who  travel,  large  as  it 
is,  is  after  all  relatively  small,  and  they  come 
to  have  more  or  less  common  experiences 
and  more  or  less  common  acquaintances ;  and 
the  persons  who  travel  are  likely  to  be  the 
same  who  would  naturally  meet  a  distin- 
guished visitor  at  dinner. 

In  fact,  very  much  stranger  coincidences 
constantly  occur.  At  a  chance  meeting  not 
long  ago  in  New  York  of  three  men  who  live 
in  different  parts  of  the  United  States,  it 
was  discovered  that  every  one  of  them  had 
recently  traveled  the  same  out-of-the-way 
Southern  mountain  road  and  made  the 
acquaintance  in  an  unfrequented  region  of 
the  same  persons.  In  almost  any  company 
similar  incidents  can  be  told  without  repeti- 
tion for  a  whole  evening.  The  traveled  world 
is  very  small;  and  the  number  of  acquaint- 
ances that  a  traveled  man  may  naturally 
have  is  larger  than  a  Roman  Emperor  could 
possibly  have  enjoyed. 

HOW  LARGE  THE  WORLD  IS 

IN  another  sense  the  world  is  yet  very 
large  and  very  little  known.  In  Finland 
today,  a  country  that  has  sent  us  a  con- 
siderable number  of  good  immigrants,  and 
that  has  many  claims  on  the  attention  of  all 
civilized  mankind,  there  is  a  famine  so  appall- 
ing as  to  pass  description.  For  many  months 
news  of  it  was  practically  suppressed  by  the 
Russian  censorship.  A  cold  summer  ruined 
the  crops,  and  floods  swept  away  such  food 
supplies  as  matured.  These  misfortunes 
came  at  a  time  when  the  country  had  lately 
been  disorganized  and  demoralized  by  Russian 
tyranny.     One  estimate  has  been  made  that 


3052 


THE    MARCH    OF   EVENIS 


as  many  as  400,000  persons  are  suffering 
for  want  of  food.  The  country  to  whose 
humanity  they  would  naturally  look  is — 
Russia;  and  Russian  help  in  such  an  emer- 
gency is  practically  no  help  at  all.  If  Finland 
lay  within  the  region  of  the  organized  helpful- 
ness of  western  Europe  or  of  the  United  States, 
as  the  Island  of  Martinique  lies,  hardly  a 
human  being  would  be  allowed  to  die  from 
starvation.  There  are,  then,  two  modem 
worlds — one  consisting  of  those  countries 
that  are  bound  together,  not  by  religious 
belief  (for  Finland  is  a  Christian  country), 
but  by  rail  and  wire — by  free  institutions 
and  open  trade.  The  other  world  is  made 
up  of  those  lands  and  peoples  that  modem 
organization  has  not  touched;  and  they  are 
as  far  off  from  us  as  the  "barbarians"  were 
from  the  Greeks. 

Another  instance  like  Finland  is  Andijan. 
A  few  weeks  ago  an  earthquake  killed 
an  unknown  number  of  persons  (variously 
reported  from  4,000  to  10,000),  and  a  brief, 
belated  despatch  to  the  daily  papers  is  all 
that  the  organized  part  of  the  world  has 
heard  of  this  distant  Turkestan  disaster. 

As  the  time  approaches  when  men  may 
communicate  by  electricity  around  the  globe 
— possibly  without  wires — and  will  trade  and 
travel  in  lands  whose  populations  are  now 
isolated,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the  real 
forces  that  bind  mankind  together  are  first 
of  all  mechanical.  It  is  to  swift  and  cheap 
travel  and  communication  that  we  owe  the 
distinguishing  qualities  of  modem  life,  and 
not  to  creeds  or  formulae  of  any  kind.  And 
it  is  pleasant  to  reflect  that  the  great  quality 
of  organization  which  brings  the  Filipino  into 
a  closer  relation  with  the  rest  of  mankind 
than  the  Finn  has  ^-et  been  brought  is  the 
quality  that  has  its  freest  scope  and  finds  its 
strongest  impulse  in  our  own  country. 

A  FORCE  FOR  SOCIAL  BETTERMENT 

IN  its  war  against  the  sweat-shop  and  for 
humane  and  sanitary  conditions  in 
factories  where  women  are  employed,  the 
Consumers'  League  is  making  steady  progress. 
The  report  of  the  New  York  League  at  its 
recent  convention  showed  that  its  "white 
list"  of  "fair  houses"  —  stores  selling  only 
goods  that  are  made  under  sanitary  condi- 
tions and  bear  the  label  of  the  League — have 
grown  from  eight  to  fifty-two,  and  that  new 
activities  have  been  inaugurated. 


In  a  campaign  for  early  closing  of  depart- 
ment stores,  the  League  persuaded  three  large 
firms  in  New  York  City  to  close  at  five  or 
half-past  five  o'clock  instead  of  at  six.  The 
agitation  against  Sunday  opening  of  dry- 
goods  stores  in  tenement  districts  has  not 
been  wholly  successful,  because  the  police  will 
not  enforce  the  law;  but  an  effort  made  by  the 
League  in  opposition  to  two  obnoxious  labor 
bills,  one  of  which  endeavored  to  remove 
the  sixty-hour-a-week  limit  for  women 
employees  of  more  than  twenty-one  3'ears 
of  age  in  factories,  helped  to  defeat  the 
proposed  measures. 

The  League  had  previously  been  instru- 
mental in  securing  the  sixty-hour  restric- 
tion and  also  the  prohibition  of  the 
employment  of  children  tmder  fourteen  in 
mercantile  establishments,  as  well  as  in 
obtaining  one  seat  for  ever\-  three  saleswomen. 
One  of  the  continuous  activities  of  the  League 
is  to  report  to  officials  violations  of  these 
laws  that  may  be  discovered. 

The  spread  of  the  League  idea  from  this 
New  York  central  body  is  shown  by  the  roll 
of  forty-nine  leagues  in  eighteen  States  which 
will  send  representatives  to  a  national  conven- 
tion in  March.  Forty  maniifactories  through- 
out the  country  use  the  label,  eighteen  in 
Massachusetts,  where  the  rigid  factory  laws 
make  the  work  of  the  League  less  difficult 
than  in  other  States.  Naturally  Boston  stores 
lead  in  the  national  "white  list."  Wellesley, 
Vassar  and  four  other  colleges  have  local 
leagues,  and  the  spread  of  the  League  abroad, 
with  branches  in  Holland  and  Belgium, 
suggests  the  possibility  of  an  international 
League.  Much  of  this  growi.h  took  place  last 
year,  for  in  that  time  the  local  leagues 
increased  from  twenty-one  to  forty-nine. 
The  League  is  now  likely  to  undertake  the 
work  of  making  a  "  white  list  "  of  those  who 
sell  only  pure  food — a  crusade  both  against 
adulteration  and  against  the  production  of 
any  manner  of  food  products  under  undesir- 
able sanitarv  conditions. 


B 


BRAZIL  AND  ITS  NEW  PRESIDENT 

RAZIL  is  the  largest  republic  in  the 
world,  except  our  own,  and  over 
this  magnificent  domain  a  new  President, 
Doctor  Francisco  de  Paula  Rodrigues  Alves, 
has  been  called  to  preside.  He  was  regularly 
nominated  for  the  office  by  the  conservative, 
or,  as  it  is  known  in  Brazil,  the  "Historical" 


A   BOOK    OF    THE    GERMAN    EMPEROR'S    SPEECHES 


3053 


Republican  party;  was  peacefully  elected 
and  peacefully  inaugurated.  He  assumed 
office  under  encouraging  political  conditions, 
for  he  is  of  the  same  party  as  his  predecessor, 
Seiior  de  Campos  Salle,  who  a  year  ago 
crushed  the  projected  revolt  of  the  old 
revolutionist,  Admiral  de  Mello,  and  that 
plotter  for  the  restoration  of  monarchy  and 
other  plotters  against  the  internal  quiet  of  the 
country  are  now  quiescent. 

President  Alves  represents  the  highest  type 
of  South  American  statesman.  He  received 
a  classical  education  at  the  colleges  of  Brazil, 
and  served  under  the  Emperor  Dom  Pedro  H., 
as  President  of  his  native  State,  Sao  Paulo. 
When  the  republic  was  proclaimed  in  1889  he 
went  into  the  legislative  assembly  and  assisted 
in  framing  the  Brazilian  constitution,  which 
closely  resembles  that  of  the  United  States. 
He  is  fifty-four  years  old  and  has  been  con- 
tinuously in  public  life  since  he  left  the  law 
college  of  Sao  Paulo  in  1870.  A  notable 
feature  of  his  career  is  that  it  includes  neither 
naval  nor  military  service,  and  that  he  is  not 
identified  with  any  of  the  turbulent  factions 
of  Brazilian  politics. 

He  has  surrounded  himself  with  an  able 
cabinet.  The  Minister  of  Finance,  Seiior  de 
Bulhoes,  was  on  the  budget  committee  of  the 
Senate  and  is  identified  with  the  financial 
policy  which  has  maintained  Brazilian  credit 
at  a  higher  standard  than  any  other  South 
American  country  enjoys.  The  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs  is  Baron  Rio  de  Branco,  who 
was  Minister  from  Brazil  to  the  United  States 
during  Mr.  Cleveland's  second  administration, 
when  Mr.  Cleveland  acted  as  arbitrator  in  the 
boundary  dispute  between  Brazil  and  the 
Argentine  Republic  and  decided  in  Brazil's 
favor.  Baron  Branco  has,  therefore,  a  predi- 
lection for  the  United  States,  and  may  be 
expected  to  counteract  the  anti-American 
sentiment  among  his  countrymen,  who  have 
had  for  some  time  an  ill-founded  suspicion 
that  the  United  States  contemplates  en- 
croaching upon  Brazilian  rights. 

Problems  of  peaceful  government  confront 
President  Alves  which  will  test  his  powers. 
He  was  twice  Minister  of  Finance,  and  his 
experience  taught  him  the  evils  of  a  paper 
currency;  but  the  planter  interest,  which  is 
the  most  powerful  in  the  country,  is  demand- 
ing more  State  help,  even  if  to  furnish  it 
requires  larger  issues  of  paper  money.  In 
his  inaugural  address  the  President  declared 


for  an  increase  in  the  army  and  navy,  and 
these  breed  generals  and  admirals,  and  in 
South  America  consequent  revolutionists. 
But  the  most  important  announcement  of  the 
new  President  was  that  he  intends  to  improve 
the  sanitary  condition  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  This 
capital  of  400,000  people  is  devastated  by 
yellow  fever  every  year  from  June  to  October, 
when  the  whole  diplomatic  corps  and  all 
others  who  can  do  so  fly  to  Pteropolis  in  the 
mountains.  To  clean  Rio  so  that  it  would 
be  as  wholesome  a  place  of  abode  as  Havana 
has  become  would  be  an  accomplishment 
which  would  make  President  Alves 's  adminis- 
tration a  model  for  imitation  by  every  govern- 
ment in  South  America. 

A  BOOK  OF  THE  GERMAN  EMPEROR'S 
SPEECHES 

A  VOLUME  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany's 
"Speeches"  has  been  published  (in 
German  only,  we  think),  and  they  are  so  far 
different  from  the  perfunctory  deliverances 
of  most  other  modem  monarchs  as  to  arouse 
a  more  than  usual  interest.  He  is  the  only 
living  king  who  could  have  delivered  them 
or  anything  like  them.  Even  if  the  reader 
will  not  turn  to  them  for  literature  or  for 
wisdom,  by  reading  them  he  cannot  fail  to 
get  a  clearer  idea  than  he  had  before  of  this 
remarkable  man  and  to  get  light  at  many 
points  on  German  politics. 

Whether  the  church  or  the  navy,  education 
or  the  press  be  the  subject,  the  Emperor 
speaks  with  the  same  positiveness.  If  we 
grant  that  he  is  sincere  (and  there  can  be  little 
or  no  doubt  that  he  is)  it  may  be  said  of  him 
that  he  is  surer  of  his  own  mind  and  purpose 
than  any  other  man  living.  The  utmost 
positiveness  of  other  men  would  seem  doubt 
to  him.  He  and  the  Pope  are  perhaps  the 
only  two  men  in  Europe  who  really  hold  to 
the  theory  of  the  divine  right.  Such  a  fortifi- 
cation gives  a  man  a  confidence  in  himself 
that  is  well-nigh  inconceivable  to  the  modem 
mind.  "My  course  is  the  right  one  and  I 
shall  continue  to  steer  it.  "  "  Firm  as  a  rock  " 
is  his  belief  that  God  is  the  ally  of  his  House. 
In  the  same  spirit  he  speaks  of  "My  Church, 
of  which  I  am  summus  episcopus." 

Yet  not  all  his  speeches  are  in  this  tone.  As 
a  student  of  other  lands  and  of  all  modem 
forces,  he  speaks  at  times  with  reason  and 
humility.  He  does  not  merely  deliver  royal 
dicta.     He    sometimes    explains    conclusions 


3054 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


that  have  cost  much  thinking.  Impetuous 
his  manner  always  is,  but  it  is  not  always  the 
somewhat  grotesque  manner  of  an  infallible 
king.     Consider  this  for  instance : 

"  Since  I  came  to  the  throne  I  have  thought  much; 
and  under  present  conditions  I  have  concluded  that 
it  is  better  that  I  should  be  friendly  than  that  I 
shotdd  make  myself  feared. 

Again : 

"With  deep  anxiety  I  have  been  forced  to  watch 
how  slowly  Germans  learn  to  interest  themselves 
in  the  great  questions  which  are  moving  the  world, 
and  to  comprehend  their  pohtical  meaning.  Look 
round  and  see  how  things  have  changed  in  the  last 
few  years.  Old  empires  pass  and  new  ones  are 
arising.  .  .  .  Changes  that  in  old  days  took 
centuries  to  come  about  are  now  wrought  in  a  few 
months.  In  this  way  the  task  set  for  our  German 
Empire  and  people  has  immensely  enlarged  its 
scope.  .  .  .  Our  people  must  make  up  their 
minds  to  offer  the  necessary  sacr.fices.  Above  all, 
they  must  lay  aside  their  habit  of  seeking  the 
highest  good  on  sharply  defined  party  hues.  They 
must  set  bounds  to  their  old  hereditary-  fault  of  con- 
sidering ev-erything  as  an  object  of  unbridled 
criticism. " 

The  first  judgment  of  Wilhelm  II.  when, 
as  a  youthful  monarch,  he  did  bizarre  and 
said  ridiculous  things — he  was  excitable 
to  the  point  of  insanity — has  yielded  to  a 
far  different  opinion.  Xot  only  by  reason  of 
his  hereditary  position,  but  also  because  of 
his  own  unusual  personalit}^  he  is  the  most 
important  man  of  continental  Europe.  His 
dogged  perseverance  in  carrying  out  his 
policies — the  building  up  of  the  German  navy, 
for  instance — shows  that  he  does  not  lose 
sight  of  his  main  purpose,  however  eccentric 
he  mav  seem  concerning  lesser  things.  This 
volume  of  speeches  is  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able books  of  our  time — because,  being  what 
it  is,  it  bears  the  date  of  1902.  The  divine 
right  of  a  king,  uttered  and  made  manifest  in 
central  Europe  in  a  constitutional  monarchy 
in  the  twentieth  century  by  a  most  versatile, 
vehement  and  interesting  man — this  is  a 
thing  the  like  of  which  it  is  doubtful  if  the 
world  ever  sees  again. 

THE  GREAT  METHODIST  TWENTIETH-CENTURY 

FUNDS 

THE  Methodist  Church  in  the  Northern 
and  Western  States  collected  more 
than  twenty  million  dollars  as  its  "twentieth- 
century  fund";  and  this  is  an  achievement 
that  has  no  parallel,  we  think,  in  the  whole 
history  of  Protestant  Christianity.  The  fund 
was  not  for  the  regular  maintenance  of  the 
church.     It    was    an   addition   to   the   sums 


collected  every  year  for  its  usual  financial 
conduct. 

Nine  millions  go  to  pay  debts  on  church 
property;  more  than  eight  millions  go  to 
educational  purposes,  and  the  balance  to 
various  forms  of  philanthropies  and  chari- 
ties. The  subscribers  designated  the  uses 
to  which  their  money  was  to  be  put.  The 
Methodist  Church  South  collected  a  similar 
fund  of  more  than  a  million  dollars. 

Such  a  financial  achievement  tells  a 
stor}^  of  prosperous  membership  and  of 
an  extraordinary  organization,  and  of 
most  excellent  business  management  by 
the  Reverend  Doctor  Mills,  who  had  the 
direction  of  the  collection  of  the  fund  in 
the  northern  Church;  but  it  tells  much 
more  than  this.  It  shows  that  the  chtirch 
is  a  vital  part  of  the  community,  that  it 
is  a  vigorous  institution,  that  it  has  a 
strong  place  in  the  loyalty  and  the  affection 
of  its  people.  And  the  disposition  made  of 
the  fund  is  significant.  One  of  the  first 
thoughts  of  the  givers  was  of  education — and 
not  of  theological  education  nor  of  the  train- 
ing of  any  particular  class  of  men  or  women — 
but  of  the  support  of  the  colleges  that  were 
planted  by  the  church  in  its  pioneer  days 
and  have  been  maintained  ever  since  for 
training  that  has  now  generally  ceased  to  have 
any  strong  sectarian  bias.  This  is  a  broad 
view  for  the  people  of  any  religious  sect  to 
take.  The  other  great  purpose  that  the  fund 
was  given  for  reveals  the  economic  soundness 
of  this  large  mass  of  well-to-do,  everyday, 
upright  people:  they  wished  to  extinguish 
the  debts  on  their  church  property. 

The  money  of  the  sect  has  as  a  rule  not 
been  spent  in  buildings.  It  has  succeeded, 
as  well  as  any  large  and  prosperous  sect  can, 
in  holding  on  to  the  simple  methods  of  work 
and  worship,  and  in  using  its  income  in 
activity  rather  than  in  property. 

The  i\Iethodist  Church  has  suffered  a 
liberalization  of  its  faith  during  the  lifetime 
of  this  generation,  though  it  has  suffered 
perhaps  a  less  violent  change  than  others. 
But  the  strong  hold  that  it  got  on  the  masses 
of  the  sturdy  folk  of  the  country  in  its  earlier 
days  has  not  been  loosened.  It  continues  to 
be  a  primary  force  in  their  lives.  The  vitality 
of  a  religious  faith  is  not  easily  measured  in 
financial  terms;  but  such  an  extraordinary 
financial  achievement  as  this  tells  a  story  that 
cannot  be  misinterpreted. 


THE   UNITED   STATES   STEEL  CORPORA- 
TIONS   PROFIT-SHARING    PLAN 

A  COMPREHENSIVE  AND  FAR-REACHING  SCHEME, 
DEVISED  BY  MR.  GEORGE  \V.  PERKINS,  TO  PRO- 
MOTE     COOPERATION      IN      A      GREAT      INDUSTRY 

BY 

ARTHUR   GOODRICH 


MR.  CARNEGIE  once  said  "Capital, 
business  ability  and  manual  labor 
are  the  legs  of  a  three-legged  stool. 
If  one  leg  weakens,  down  goes  the  stool." 
The  Carnegie  Company  had  only  two  labor 
breakdowns,  because  "Mr.  Carnegie,"  as 
somebody  has  said,  "  sat  on  top  of  his  stool." 
With  the  formation  of  the  great  United  States 
Steel  Corporation  came  an  increased  neces- 
sity for  making  firm  the  larger  structure. 
The  result  was  the  publication  on  New  Year's 
Day  of  the  company's  profit-sharing  plan. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  supports  on  which  the 
company  rests.  Its  property  includes  mines 
from  which  is  taken  nearly  one-half  of  the 
total  production  of  iron  ore  in  the  United 
States;  the  greatest  American  fleet  and  the 
sixth  in  size  in  the  world,  and  1,500  miles 
of  railroad  to  carry  the  ore  to  the  furnaces; 
90,000  acres  of  coalfields  nearby  for  fuel 
to  help  turn  out  9,000,000  tons  of  pig  iron  a 
year;  and  great  steel  mills  from  which  come 
yearly  more  than  9,000,000  tons  of  steel, 
1,000,000  tons  of  rods,  100,000,000  feet  of 
tubes  and  more  than  12,000,000  kegs  of  nails 
and  most  of  the  woven  wire  and  tin  plate  in 
America.  Its  total  capital  amounts  to  nearly 
one  and  one-half  billion  dollars. 

In  its  organization  each  subsidiary  com- 
pany manages  itself;  it  has  its  own  president, 
its  officers  and  directors.  The  central  gov- 
ernment is  vested  in  the  president,  with  a 
cabinet  composed  of  three  vice-presidents 
and  two  president's  assistants,  one  looking 
after  production,  another  after  material, 
another  after  markets,  and  so  on.  Com- 
mittees of  superintendents  counsel  for  the 
best  result  in  subsidiary  companies.  The 
whole  organization  has  followed  the  demo- 
cratic idea  as  far  as  has  generally  been 
considered  possible  in  industry. 


The  employees  of  the  Steel  Corporation 
number  more  than  168,000  men,  greater  than 
the  combined  forces  of  Meade  and  Lee  at 
Gettysburg.  Among  the  great  army  of  work- 
men is  organized  the  Amalgamated  Asso- 
ciation which  caused  the  so-called  steel  strike 
a  year  ago,  doomed  to  failure  because  of  a 
bad  cause  and  poor  leadership. 

It  has  been  felt  by  many  men  who  have 
watched  the  progress  of  the  Steel  Corpora- 
tion, and  especially  in  the  light  of  the  recent 
strike,  that  again  the  third  leg  of  the  stool 
would  prove  its  weakness.  Not  long  ago  a 
well-known  steel  man  said  that  he  doubted  the 
continual  strength  of  "  Steel"  stocks  because 
of  the  lack  of  loyalty  among  the  men.  Trouble 
with  even  the  portion  of  the  steel-workers 
who  are  unionized  means  lessened  earnings ; 
more  than  that,  it  means  a  break  in  the 
remarkable  series  of  varied  industries  which 
the  corporation  has  planned — a  break  that  is 
most  likely  to  come  at  the  very  time  when 
the  demands  for  steel  in  the  country  are  so 
great  that,  with  the  mills  running  at  their 
capacity,  the  steel  concerns  of  the  country 
would  be  unable  to  meet  the  need.  The  prob- 
lem, therefore,  was  to  strengthen  the  doubtful 
third  leg.  The  intelligent  workmen — and 
there  is  a  large  portion  of  skilled  workers  in 
the  company's  force — consider  their  own 
good  first  of  all.  It  is  sheer  business.  The 
unions  are  formed  frankly  to  get  as  much  as 
possible  from  the  employer  for  the  laboring 
man.  The  problem  which  the  company 
faced  was  the  old  one  of  making  it  a  better 
financial  investment  for  the  men  to  work  for 
the  company  than  to  work  against  it. 

Profit-sharing  plans  have  been  tried  by  the 
railroads  and  by  many  individual  factories, 
and  in  no  case  that  I  know  of  have  they  proved 
an  undeniable  success.     Confessed  failure  has 


3056     THE   STEEL    CORPORATION'S    PROFIT-SHARING   PLAN 


been  the  usual  result.  The  general  feeling 
about  them  among  employers  has  been  all  the 
way  from  that  of  a  large  manufacturer  who 
said:  " No  workmen  want  to  share  risks  and 
responsibilities.  They  won't  invest  in  your 
stock.  They'll  take  any  profit  you'll  give 
them  and  strike  for  more  the  day  after. 
You've  got  to  fight  it  out  with  them,"  to 
Mr.  Lewis  Nixon,  President  of  the  United 
States  Shipbuilding  Company,  who  said 
recently:  "I  believe  that  some  system  of 
profit-sharing  will  eventually  settle  all  labor 
troubles."  But  if  wise  executives  of  railroads 
and  individual  mills  have  been  unable  to 
devise  plans  which  will  interest  and  bind  to 
them  in  cooperative  organization  the  com- 
paratively few  grades  of  workers  they  employ, 
the  task  of  constructing  a  successful  organiza- 
tion of  this  sort  in  the  enormous  coalition  of 
thousandfold  activities  and  industries  which 
make  up  the  Steel  Corporation  seems  an 
impossible  undertaking. 

Start,  if  you  will,  with  the  miles  upon  miles 
of  iron  mines  flanking  Lake  Superior,  where 
miners  cut  the  raw  iron  out  of  the  earth; 
follow  the  ore  on  board  the  hundred  and 
twenty  ships  across  the  lake  to  the  Ohio 
wharves;  see  it  shipped  on  railroads  to  the 
inferno  of  ftimaces,  and  watch  the  thousands 
of  men  who  stir  the  great  crucible ;  go  beyond 
to  the  coalfields  which  furnish  the  fuel,  to  the 
limestone  quarries  and  kilns,  to  the  ship- 
yards on  the  lake  shore,  and  then  farther  on  to 
the  multitude  of  rolling-mills,  tin-plate  mills, 
nail  mills,  wire  mills,  where  men  guide  the 
clashing  force  of  mammoth  machines,  roll, 
bend  and  form  the  metal  at  their  will  into  the 
hundreds  of  shapes  for  the  world's  markets, 
where  great  sky-scrapers  and  ocean  liners 
and  mighty  bridges  are  built  piece  by  piece. 
You  will  not  have  seen  all,  but  when  you 
realize  that  every  workman  you  have  seen  in 
your  course — men  of  many  nations  and  of 
nearly  every  trade  known  in  world  industry, 
is  a  part  to  be  reckoned  with  in  this  Titanic 
organization  of  activity,  something  of  the 
bigness  of  the  problem  of  forming  this 
inchoate  mass  into  a  permanent  and  loyal 
force  will  grip  you. 

More  than  a  year  and  a  half  ago,  George 
W.  Perkins,  a  man  of  forty,  who  had  started 
life  as  an  errand  boy  and  who  had  advanced 
by  steady  stages  until  he  was  a  vice-president 
of  one  of  the  great  life  insurance  companies, 
became  one  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan's  partners. 


He  had  sold  insurance  from  house  to  house ;  he 
had  managed  small  and  large  branch  offices; 
and  he  had  controlled  and  reorganized  and 
prodded  the  entire  agent  force  of  the  great 
company,  and  later  he  had  become  famous  in 
Europe  as  well  as  in  America  by  the  masterful 
way  in  which  he  had  twisted  foreign  red  tape 
and  bent  the  wull  of  European  governments 
to  his  wish  and  to  his  company's  profits.  He 
had,  in  the  days  when  he  was  injecting  his 
own  spontaneous  vigor  into  thousands  of  life 
insurance  agents,  planned  and  put  into  prac- 
tice a  profit-sharing  plan  of  a  sort.  He  is  a 
constructive  thinker,  as  all  men  must  be  who 
achieve  what  he  has  achieved.  He  was 
made  chairman  of  the  Steel  Corporation's 
finance  committee. 

The  tremendous  task  was  his  of  organizing 
into  a  permanent  loyal  force  168,000  men, 
whose  native  tongues  are  as  many  as  those 
once  about  the  tower  of  Babel,  whose  trades 
are  as  diverse  as  industry  itself,  who  are  suspi- 
cious of  any  plan  an  employer  may  propose,  an 
army  taught  by  outsiders  and  by  some  prece- 
dents of  poor  generalship  to  doubt  its  officers. 
His  imagination  caught  immediately  the 
stretch  and  sweep  of  his  opportvmity.  Success 
would  mean  far  more  than  creating  a  solid  irre- 
sistible front  for  the  great  Steel  Corporation. 
Success  might  be  the  beginning  of  a  new 
industrial  era  in  which  cooperation  might 
take  the  place  of  dissension,  organized  con- 
struction the  place  of  organized  destruction ; 
an  era  in  which  the  American  industrial 
armies  might  move  forward  shoulder  to 
shoulder  into  the  markets  of  the  world. 
Smaller  plans  of  this  kind  had  been  failures, 
but  that  had  nothing  to  do  with  him.  His 
own  career  had  been  punctuated  with  small 
failures,  but  they  had  only  made  clear  the 
large  meaning  of  his  successes.  He  went  at 
his  undertaking  with  enthusiasm  and  confi- 
dence. Plan  after  plan  was  proposed,  only 
to  reveal  some  fatal  flaw.  At  last,  after  a 
year,  a  remarkably  simple  proposition  was 
made  that  was  approved  by  all  of  the  many 
men  with  whom  he  consulted  in  the  various 
centres  of  the  Steel  Corporation's  activities. 
It  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  168,000  men  for 
whom  it  was  made.  Here  is  a  concrete 
statement  of  the  plan: 

Every   workman   employed   by   the    Steel 
Corporation   can   buy  a  limited   number  of    . 
shares  of  the  corporation's  stock  at  a  price  that    | 
is  now  approximately  the  market  price — the    j 


•  i 


THE    STEEL    CO  RPOR  ATI  O  N  '  S    PROFIT-SHARING    PLAN     3057 


least  well-paul  ciuployet's  having  the  jjiecc- 
dence  botli  in  the  receiving  of  stock  and  in  tlie 
proportionate  number  of  shares  they  can  buy. 
They  can  i)ay  for  the  stock  out  of  their  salaries 
at  any  time  within  tlircc  years,  in  the  mean- 
time receiving  a  seven  per  cent,  dividend  on 
the  total  amount  to  be  invested  and  paying  five 
per  cent,  interest  on  the  deferred  payments. 
If  the  employee  discontinue  his  payments 
before  the  stock  \)ecomes  his,  he  can  get  back 
the  money  l^e  has  paid  in  and  he  may  keep 
the  difference  between  the  dividend  on  the 
whole  and  the  interest  on  the  unpaid  part. 
If  he  keeps  the  stock  after  he  has  paid  for  it 
and  remains  an  employee  of  the  company  for 
five  years,  he  receives  another  payment,  as 
an  additional  dividend,  of  $5.00  a  year  for 
each  share.  If  during  the  five  years  he  leaves 
the  company,  this  additional  bonus  is  paid 
into  a  fund  which  is  divided  among  the 
employee  stockholders  who  have  remained 
with  the  company.  A  man  who  is  seriously 
disabled,  or  the  estate  of  a  man  who  dies 
while  in  the  service,  receives  the  bonus  for  the 
years  during  which  he  worked. 

Worked  out  in  approximate  figures,  this  is 
the  hmit  of  what  is  offered  to  men  earning 
different  grades  of  salaries.     An  average  sum 


in  each  grade  is 

taken. 

Man  earning 

Investment 

Result  in  five  years 

S20,000 

$1,000.00 

$1,780.00 

15,000 

1.15500 

2,055.00 

7.500 

742.50 

1,282.50 

4.000 

413-50 

713-50 

1.500 

247-50 

427-50 

500 

82.50 

142.50 

To  the  income  will  be  added  the  share  of 
the  fund  mentioned  above.  This  concludes 
the  first  part  of  the  plan. 

By  the  second  part,  a  percentage  of  the 
total  earnings  of  the  company  will  be  divided 
among  all  those  men  who  hold  responsible 
positions — and  the  individual  cases  to  whom 
this  applies  will  be  decided  by  the  company — 
the  percentage  increasing  with  increased 
earnings.  Using  average  figures  again,  this 
table  will  show  the  magnitude  of  this  offer. 


Amount  divided 
$  850,000 
1,140,000 
1,500,000 
1,840,000 
2,350,000 
2,700,000 
3,262,500 
3,875,000 


if  earnings  amount  to 
$  85.000,000 
95,000,000 
105,000,000 
I  15,000,000 
125,000,000 
135,000,000 
145,000,000 
155,000,000 


Half  of  the  amount  will  be  distributed  in 
cash  quarterly,  a  quarter  distributed  in  pre- 


ferred stock  at  the  end  ot  the  year,  and  a 
(juarter  to  be  distributed  among  the  men  who 
stay  consecutively  five  years  in  the  service  of 
the  company,  those  who  are  disabled,  or  to 
their  estates  if  they  die  in  the  service.  The 
men  who  leave  the  company  before  the  end 
of  five  years  draw  dividends  on  the  stock  as 
long  as  they  remain,  but  the  quarter  of  their 
profits  in  stock  and  the  further  dividends 
will  be  divided  among  the  men  who  remain  at 
the  end  of  five  years. 

The  plan  in  all  its  parts  is  not  for  a  single 
year.  If  it  is  successful  it  is  to  be  a  perma- 
nent part  of  the  company's  organization. 
Granting  its  success,  what  are  the  results? 

On  the  face  of  it  the  plan  is  frankly  a  busi- 
ness proposition.  It  is  not  "generous,"  as  it 
has  been  called,  at  least  not  in  intent.  It  is 
a  remarkable  stroke  of  constructive  thinking, 
bearing,  not  paternalism,  but,  instead,  a 
promise  of  a  democracy  in  which  each  citizen 
may  earn  his  vote. 

Mr.  Perkins  developed  the  plan  because 
he  believes  the  tendency  of  modern  business, 
as  of  modern  governments,  is  toward 
well-ordered  democratic  government.  He 
believes  that  the  corporation  can  be  made 
strongest  and  most  irresistible  in  this  way. 
To  the  Steel  Corporation  the  success  of 
the  plan  means  a  knitting  together  of 
the  diverse  activities  into  a  more  efficient 
industrial  machine.  It  means  more  loyal, 
more  enthusiastic  and  more  permanent  help 
from  the  ofificers  and  the  men  in  responsible 
positions  in  the  subsidiary  companies;  it 
means  greater  interest  and  better  work  from 
the  mass  of  workers  because  they  will  feel 
that  they  are  helping  themselves  by  doing 
their  work  well. 

These  results  obtained,  and  the  increase 
of  production  and  the  reduction  of  expense 
that  follow  can  scarcely  be  estimated. 
Labor  difficulties  should  be  reduced  greatly. 
And  more  than  all,  public  confidence  in  the 
company's  intentions  and  in  its  earning 
power  will  be  increased,  and  the  company's 
stocks  and  securities  will  necessarily  grow 
in  value. 

Exactly  as  the  company,  in  proposing  the 
plan,  frankly  stated  that  it  did  so  for  its  own 
good,  the  employee  is  asking  "What  is  there 
in  this  scheme  for  me  ? "  The  plan  opens  with 
an  investment.  That  raises  a  doubt.  But 
every  thrifty  worker,  from  the  man  in  the 
yards  getting  $1 .50  a  day  to  the  president  of  a 


3058     THE    STEEL    CORPORATION'S    PROFIT-SHARING   PLAN 


subsidiary  company — and  it  woiild  be  a  pessi- 
mist indeed  who  did  not  believe  that  a  large 
percentage  of  these  men  are  intentionally 
thrifty — knows  that  to  be  able  to  lay  money 
by  where  it  will  bring  him  interest  of  from 
twelve  to  twenty  per  cent.,  and  where,  fur- 
ther, he  can  get  at  it  in  case  of  need  at  any 
time,  is  an  unusual  opportunity.  To  the 
men  holding  responsible  positions  there  is 
not  only  the  new  incentive  of  working  for  a 
concern  in  which  they  are  part  owners,  but, 
as  well,  the  promise  that  if  they  are  able  to 
increase  the  company's  earnings  they  will 
share  the  profits  they  earn.  And  their 
added  endeavor  not  only  increases  the  value  of 
their  stock  but  also  the  value  of  the  stock 
which  the  miners  of  Lake  Superior  and  the 
freight  brakemen  on  the  railroad  and  the 
bookkeeper  have  bought.  To  the  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  men  who  have 
no  responsibility  except  their  daily  task 
is  opened  the  safest  way  of  saving  money — 
saving  it  before  they  receive  it,  an  invest- 
ment of  their  savings  where  they  receive  four 
or  five  times  as  much  interest  as  they  can  get 
elsewhere,  and  a  sense  of  ownership  of  a  small 
part  of  the  great  concern  they  serve — a  feeling 
that  develops  a  man's  dignity  and  responsi- 
bility as  few  things  do;  and  beyond  all  this, 
an  increased  reason,  from  the  part  of  the  plan 
that  divides  profits  among  men  who  hold 
responsible  positions,  why  they  should  grow 
into  these  responsible  positions  themselves. 
And  just  as  the  men  in  responsible  positions 
by  their  more  effective  work  increase  the 
value  of  the  day  laborer's  investment,  so  the 
greater  efficiency  on  the  part  of  the  day 
laborer  increases  the  value  of  the  superinten- 
dent's investment  and  the  profit  he  will 
thus  be  enabled  to  share. 

There  is  still  another  party  to  be  considered 
in  this  plan — the  Amalgamated  Association 
of  Steel  Workers,  headed  by  Mr.  Shaffer. 
One  labor  leader  has  already  announced  that 
the  plan  is  aimed  at  the  union.  He  is 
undoubtedly  right  in  so  far  as  the  union 
means  labor  disputes  and  the  tying-up  of  part 
of  the  corporation's  mills.  But  general  public 
support  which  unions  have  received  in  their 
belligerent  attitude  toward  capital  has  come 
only  when  the  demands  have  been  for  justice 
and  fair  treatment.  Can  the  unions  expect 
support  for  such  an  attitude  in  the  face  of  so 
manifestly  fair  an  invitation  to  the  workers 
to  make  the  company's  interests  their  inter- 


ests? Putting  the  question  back  to  the 
individual  worker — and  it  is  to  him  that  the 
labor  leader  must  look  for  orders — it  resolves 
itself  merely  into  whether  the  company  offers 
him  a  better  bargain  than  he  can  get  through 
periodical  strikes.  The  union  to  get  better 
conditions  for  the  worker:  in  that  the  work- 
man and  the  general  public  have  a  personal 
and  genuine  interest;  the  union  as  a  fetish, 
counseling  antagonism  at  whatever  cost, 
influences  neither  public  opinion  nor  the  intel- 
ligent workman.  More  than  this,  by  the  very 
terms  of  Mr.  Perkins's  plan,  a  man  who  sub- 
scribes for  stock  and,  before  payment  is  com- 
pleted, leaves  the  company's  employ,  loses 
nothing.  In  fact,  he  gains  the  difference 
between  the  dividend  on  the  stock  and  the 
interest  on  the  amount  he  has  not  paid  in. 
It  will  be  interesting  to  learn  how  much  stock 
is  subscribed  for  by  the  men  earning  from 
$500  to  §2,000  a  year.  Mr.  Perkins  said  to 
me  in  regard  to  this  side  of  the  plan's  results: 
"We  are  not  offering  an}i;hing  to  the 
union  or  against  it.  The  plan  is  for  our 
own  employees  as  individuals.  It  is,  I  think, 
fair  from  every  point  of  view.  It  binds 
no  one." 

It  is  too  early  to  gage  the  success  or  failure 
of  the  plan.  During  the  first  two  days  after 
it  was  published  600  men  in  two  Pittsburg 
mills  subscribed  to  it.  Already  there  are 
applications  for  all  the  25,000  shares  offered, 
among  which  was  Mr.  Schwab's  for  his  sixty 
shares.  Real  success  will  depend,  however, 
on  how  many  of  the  rank  and  file  who  make 
up  so  great  a  proportion  of  the  168,000 
employees  invest  in  the  steel  stock. 

It  may  take  years  to  realize  the  highest 
success  at  which  the  plan  is  aimed,  but  if  it 
is  attained  then  Mr.  Perkins  and  his  asso- 
ciates will  have  created  a  precedent  which  is 
as  significant  as  the  formation  of  great 
corporations  or  powerful  labor-unions.  Yet 
it  is,  it  seems,  the  natural  development  of 
industry  in  a  republic.  With  the  coming  of 
great  corporations,  admitting  their  occasional 
abuses,  began  the  lessening  of  the  old  auto- 
cratic government  of  industry.  With  the 
rise  of  labor  organization  came  the  demand  of 
the  mass  of  the  workers  for  more  just,  more 
satisfactory  conditions.  With  plans  like  this 
of  Mr.  Perkins  and  his  associates  is  promised 
the  beginning  of  a  mighty  democracy  of 
industry  in  which  every  thrifty  workman  of 
whatever  grade  is  a  citizen. 


RETURNING    FROM    MORNING   SHORE   DRILL 
Going  nbnard  llie  Kentucky 


Copyright,  1900,  by  Enrique  Mulier 


THE    NEW    NAVY   AT   WORK 


HOW  THE  TYPICAL  SHIPS  ARE  MANNED,  EQUIPPED  AND  ARMED— THE  LIFE 
OF  THE  MODERN  AMERICAN  SAILOR— THE  COMPLETE  ORGANIZATION  ON 
BOARD      SHIP     AND      IN     THE      FLEET— PERFECTING     THE     SUBMARINE     BOAT 

BY 

LIEUTENANT  COMMANDER  ALBERT  CLEAVES,  U.  S.  N. 

(In  command  of  the  U.S.S.  Mayflower,  Admiral  Dewey's  flagship  in  the  recent  na\'al  manoeuvers.) 


THE  primarv  purpose  of  the  Navy  is  to 
defend  from  the  aggressions  of  any 
foreign  enemy  our  13,000  miles  of 
coast  line  and  the  more  than  twenty  centres 
of  population  adjacent  to  it;  to  protect  in 
time  of  war  our  commerce  on  the  high  seas, 
and  in  peace  times  to  carry  the  flag  as  an 
expression  of  good  will  into  the  ports  of  other 
nations,  and  to  care  for  the  interests  of  the 
United  States  in  every  part  of  the  world.  To 
do  this  Congress  has  built  a  fleet  composed  of 
all  sorts  of  craft  but  in  which  each  craft  has 
a  certain  definite  purpose  and  duty.  The 
battle-ship  is  to  fight  and  not  to  run,  to  give 
and  receive  punishment ;  the  cruiser  must  not 
only  fight  other  cruisers  and  capture  and 
destroy  swift  merchantmen,  but  she  must 
have  speed  sufficient,  if  need  be,  to  run  away 
from  a  more  powerful  adversary ;  the  txltimate 
object  of  the  torpedo  boat  is  to  destroy  both 
battle-ship  and  cruiser;  and  of  the  torpedo- 
boat  destroyer  to  wipe  out  the  torpedo  boats ; 


and   finally,  the  mischievous  little  submarine 

boat  has,  its  advocates  maintain,  a  destruc- 

tiveness  that  will  revolutionize  naval  warfare. 

In   less   than   twenty   years    Congress    has 


A   RAPID-FIRE   GUN 


3o6o 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


Copyright.  1899,  by  Enrique  Muiler 
THE   SCHOOL  SHIP  ST.  MARY'S  COMING    INTO   PORT 

built  a  fleet  that  has  Hfted  this  country  from 
below  the  horizon  of  South  American  navies 
to  the  fourth  in  rank  of  great  sea  powers — 
England,  France  and  Russia  alone  standing 
ahead  of  us.  As  the  work  of  creation  is  still 
in  progress,  we  may  hope  to  hold  our  place, 


but  Germany's  navy  is  being  rapidly  en- 
larged. In  1898  the  United  States  Navy  had 
grown  from  a  motley  collection  of  worthless 
marine  curiosities  which  swelled  the  navy 
list  in  1882,  to  an  efficient  but  small  fighting 
force  composed  of  four  first-class  battle-ships, 
two  armored  cruisers,  sixteen  cruisers, 
fifteen  gunboats,  six  double-turreted  monitors, 
one  ram,  one  dynamite  cruiser,  one  despatch 
boat,  one  transport  steamer  and  fi-ve  torpedo 
boats.  In  addition  to  these  were  123  colliers, 
yachts  and  other  auxiliaries  purchased  for 
service  during  the  war  with  Spain.  In 
November,  1902,  the  fleet  had  been  increased 
by  five  battle-ships,  nine  cruisers,  fiftv- 
nine  gunboats,  twenty-two  torpedo  boats 
and  one  submarine  boat,  representing  an 
annual  increase  in  five  years  of  54,000  tons. 
According  to  the  last  report  of  Rear  Admiral 
Bowles,  the  Chief  Naval  Constructor,  when 
the  vessels  already  authorized  are  completed 
we  shall  have  a  total  of  286  vessels  of  all 
classes  fit  for  service,  and  this  will  include 
nineteen  first-class  battle-ships  and  nine 
armored  cruisers.  In  1882  the  enlisted  force 
of  the  navy  was  8,024  a-ii^d  the  total  number  of 
officers  1,817.  In  1898  the  enlisted  force  had 
been  more  than  trebled.  When  the  men 
provided  by  the  last  Congress  are  enlisted, 
the  total  force  of  men  and  boys  will  be  28,000, 
while  the  number  of  sea-going  officers  of  all 
grades  is  1,795. 

The  marked  discrepancy  in  the  expansion 
of  the  number  of  officers  emphasizes  what  has 
recently  been  aptly  termed  the  navy's  greatest 
need.  That  involves  a  long  discussion;  but 
it  is  an  interesting  and  significant  fact  that 


t       »»--    -V  -■?-    il.  - 


THE    HOLLOW   SQUARE    IN    RIOT  DRILL 
A  naval  brigade  ashore 


THE    NEW    NAVY    A  I     WORK 


3061 


LANDING    DRILL   DURING    A    SLMMLK   CRUISE 


on  November  15,  1902,  the  percentage  of  line 
officers  on  shore  duty  was  only  18.6. 

An  English  writer  has  recently  described 
a  battle-ship  as  the  last  word  that  mechanical 
genius,  naval  construction  and  cash  payment 
can  say  in  aggressiveness.  From  fighting-top 
to  double  bottom,  from  ram  to  sternpost, 
she  is  the  most  complicated  machine  the  mind 
of  man  ever  conceived.  There  is  scarcely  a 
trade  or  an  art  that  is  not  represented  in  her 
building.  She  is  a  house  that  must  be  lighted, 
ventilated,  drained,  and,  last  but  not  least, 
painted;  and  it  is  an  astonishing  fact  that  to 
paint  a  battle-ship  requires  150  tons  of  paint. 
She  is  a  fort  that  must  carry  guns  of  heaviest 
calibers  for  fighting  other  battle-ships;  guns 
of  medium  size  for  piercing  the  comparatively 
thin  protection  of  armored  cruisers ;  scores  of 
rapid-firers  for  protecting  herself  against  tor- 
pedo boats,  and  even  a  battery  of  small  Colts 
for  picking  oflf  sharpshooters  and  exposed  men. 
Above  all,  she  is  also  a  ship  to  be  taken  to  sea, 
to  make  passages  from  port  to  port  and  long 
ocean  voyages.  Moreover,  she  is  a  hostelry 
in  which  there  are  700  men  who  must  be 
clothed,  fed  and  housed,  and  for  whose  use 
there  is  provided  an  ice  plant  having  a  capacity 
of  three  tons  of  ice  per  day  and  evaporators 
that  daily  produce  16,000  gallons  of  fresh 
water;  there  is  also  a  bakery  and  an  enormous 
kitchen  for  cooking.  Besides  the  ponderous 
main  engines  of  more  than  16,000  horse-power, 
there  are  nearly  one  hundred  auxiliary  engines 
and  about  the  same  number  of  electric 
motors.  The  boilers,  with  their  46,000  square 
feet  of  heating  surface,  must  not  be  forgotten, 
nor  the  coal  bunkers,  which,  in  the  Oregon, 
for  instance,  have  a  capacity  sufficient  to 
steam  that  vessel  a  distance  of  5,500  miles 
without  recoaling. 

The  main  offensive  power  of  the  ship  lies 


in  her  heavy  guns.  The  Louisiana  class,  the 
latest  type  of  battle-ship,  two  of  which  were 
authorized  by  Congress  last  session,  will  be 
able  to  deliver  from  her  twelve-inch  guns 
every  ninety  seconds  or  less  a  total  weight  of 
metal   amounting  to   3,400   pounds,   moving 


Copyright.  rique  Muller 

U.  S.  TRAINING  SHIP  MONONGr^a j^^A 


3062 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


INSTRUCTION    IN   SWORD   DRILL 


Copyright, 


jller 


at  the  enormous  velocity  of  2,800  feet  per 
second,  with  a  total  muzzle  energy  of  184,984 
foot-tons.  The  battery  of  the  Louisiana 
comprises  four  twelve-inch  guns  each  weighing 
fifty-two  tons,  eight  eight -inch  and  twelve 
seven-inch,  besides  a  secondary  battery  of 
twenty  guns.  The  heavy  guns  are  mounted 
in  pairs  in  turrets  weighing  500  tons  each, 
which  revolve  as  smoothly  as  a  swivel  chair. 
The  shot,  weighing  850  pounds,  and  the 
powder,  which  weighs  half  as  much  again,  are 
brought  to  the  breech  of  the  gun  from  the 


magazines  forty  feet   below,  and   are  loaded 
as  easily  as  a  boy  loads  his  air  rifle. 

Around  the  ship  on  the  outside  is  bolted  the 
armor  belt — nine  feet  three  inches  in  width, 
varying  in  thickness  from  eleven  inches  amid- 
ships to  four  inches  at  the  ends — to  protect 
the  precious  engines.  More  than  this,  at 
each  end  of  the  engine  and  boiler  space  there 
is  a  solid  steel  wall  a  half-foot  thick;  and  over 
all  the  engines,  extending  from  bow  to  stem, 
is  a  curved  nickel-steel  roof,  two  and  one-half 
inches  thick  at  the  sides,  called  the  protective 


THE  CALL   FOR   BREAKFAST 
On  board  the  Buffalo 


Copyright,  1898,  by  Enrique  Muller 


THE    TRAINING    SHIP    HARTFORD    LEAVING    PORT 


Cop>  ri^ 


3064 


THE    NEW   NAVY    AT    WORK 


Photographed  by  E.  F.  Keller 
OUR  NEWEST  BATTLE-SHIP— THE  MAISE 


CopjTight.  1898.  by  Enrique  Mulier 
BATTLE-SHIP  IOWA    GOING  INTO   DRY   DOCK 


deck,  which  is  situated   near  the  water-line  able  steel  box  upon  which  the  upper  works 

and  covers  the  magazines,  dynamo  room  and  are  constructed. 

steering  engine.     In  other  words,  the  under-  The   most  interesting  of   all  the  numerous 

water  portion  of  a  battle-ship  is  an  invulner-  divisions  of  a  battle-ship  is  the  conning-tower. 


THE   MAIXE   AS   SHE   LOOKED   WHEN   COMPLETED 
In  dry  dock  at  the  Cnimps 


Photographed  by  E.  F.  Keller 


w 

8  ° 

n,       re 


X 


1      f- 


<; 

t: 

c 

'O 

o 

c: 

;    1 

g 

< 

t/j 

W 

o 

Oi 

c 

C"J 

3 

u 

M 

D 

X 

r-i 

^ 

W 

K 

^ 

3o66 


THE    NEW    NAVY   AT    WORK 


I 


M^' 


TORPEDO   BOATS  AT   FULL   SPEED 
The  IVitislow  and  tlie  Porter 


vuj'^  rij;ijl,   i^r~^.  L'^    i^iiliq-jc  J»i 


a  steel  cylinder  whose  walls  are  nine  inches  average-sized  man  to  stand  erect,  and  large 
thick.  Situated  above  and  just  abaft  the  enough  to  accommodate  three  or  four  persons 
forward  turret,  it  is  high  enough  inside  for  an      without    crowding.     It    contains    the    battle 


OFF   FOR   CUBA 
The  Texm  leaving  the  Navy  Yard  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war 


Cop>Tight,  i89«,  by  Enrique  Mullcr 


THE  NEW  NAVY  AT  WORK 


3067 


Copyright,  1900,  by  Enrique  Muller 
THE   TORPEDO   BOAT  MORRIS 


steering  wheel  and  means  of  communicating 
to  all  parts  of  the  ship  and  battery.  If  the 
captain  wishes  to  fire  the  guns  at  a  certain 
range,  he  presses  a  button  and  the  desired 
range  shows  up  at  every  gun.  Similarly  the 
kind  of  powder  and  projectiles  and  the  bearing 
of  the  enemy  are  indicated.  The  engine- 
room,  the  torpedo  rooms  and  the  steering 
engine-room  are  all  connected  with  the 
conning-tower  through  a  central  station 
situated  down  below  the  water-line. 

After  construction  comes  equipment,  and 
the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  stores  that 
are  supplied  are  stupendous.  As  soon  as  a 
vessel  is  commissioned,  the  stores  which  for 
months  have  been  preparing  are  passed  down 
in  streams  from  the  storehouses  in  the  navy 


yard,  and  every  imaginable  article  from  a 
dust-pan  or  shaving-ltrush  to  a  seven-ton 
anchor  or  a  searchlight,  may  be  found  in  the 
allowance  tables. 

The  interior  communications  of  a  large 
ship  consist  of  voice  tubes,  telephones,  range 
indicators,  engine-room  telegraphs,  call-bells, 
automatic  fire  alarms — the  whole  forming  a 


Copyright,  1898,  by  Enrique  Muller 
MEMORIALS   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 
Shot-marks  on  the  Nnhant 


RECEIVING   SHIP  NIPSIC  AT   BREMERTON, 
PUGET  SOUND 


LITTLE   BUTTERCUP 
A  bumboat  woman  on  board  an  American  war-ship 

complete  system  by  which  all  parts  of  the 
ship  are  connected.  As  to  exterior  com- 
munications, wireless  telegraphy  apparatus 
will  probably  soon  be  added  to  every  ship's 
outfit.  Communication  by  means  of  carrier 
pigeons  and  balloons  has  been  abandoned. 
Such  is  the  house  which  was  built  for  Jack. 

Over  the  vast  establishment  rules  the 
captain  in  supreme  and  isolated  authority. 
All  his  accomplishments  must  be  those  of  the 
seamen,  for  he  directs  the  movements  of  the 
ship  in  all  evolutions,  and  his  decision  upon  all 


3070 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


IN    CAMP 


professional  points  is  final.  His  responsibilit}' 
at  all  times  is  grave  and  exacting.  In  time  of 
war  it  will  strain  the  stoutest  nerves :  in  the 
hour  of  battle  it  is  nothing  short  of  appalling, 
when  he  stands  alone  in  his  conning-tower, 
having  control  of  all  the  tremendous  forces 
lying  latent  in  his  ship  only  to  be  released  at 
the  proper  moment  by  a  touch  of  his  hand. 
He  is  the  guiding  spirit  of  an  enormous 
projective  of  15,000  tons  that  rushes  through 
the  water  at  a  speed,  it  may  be,  of  fifteen 
knots,  and  he  knows  that  the  slightest 
mistake  of  his  head  or  heart  may  mean  a 
national  disaster. 

But  besides  being  the  naval  and  military 
chief  of  the  establishment,  he  is  a  lawver — a 


kind  of  justice  of  the  peace,  as  it  were,  who 
holds  court  every  morning,  investigates 
reports  of  misdemeanors,  and  assigns  punish- 
ment to  the  guilty.  The  delinquents  are 
brought  to  the  "mast" — the  quarterdeck — 
with  their  accusers.  Both  sides  are  heard 
and  swift  judgment  usually  follows.  In  this 
capacity  it  will  be  noted  that  the  captain  is 
court,  judge  and  jury.  Not  infrequently  he 
acts  as  clergyman,  and  as  such  is  the  bishop 
of  his  diocese,  acknowledging  no  ecclesiastical 
superior,  reading  the  service  on  Sundays, 
officiating  at  the  burial  of  his  dead,  and  in  the 
old  days  occasionally  marrying  lovers. 

He    always    messes    alone.     His    generous 
quarters  are  entirely  separate  from  those  of 


STRIKING   TENTS   AT   CAMP   HIGGINSON,   NANTUCKET 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


3071 


the  other  officers,  and  at  tlie  door  of  his  cabin 
stands  a  marine  sentry  day  and  nij^dit,  and 
none  may  enter  without  first  being  formally 
announced.  When  he  comes  on  deck  to 
leave  the  shi[)  in  imiform,  or  when  he  comes  on 
board,  he  is  escorted  to  the  side  by  the  execu- 


Next  in  rank  to  the  captain — "the  (Jid 
Man,"  as  he  is  irreverently  called — is  the  first 
lieutenant  or  executive  officer,  usually  a 
lieutenant  commander  and  the  next  in  line  of 
succession  to  the  cabin.  His  shoulders  must 
indeed   be  broad   and   his  temper  serene  as 


THE  INDIANA    IN   THE   ICE 


Copyright,  1898,  t>y  Hnrique  Mulier 


tive  officer  and  officer  of  the  deck,  the  guard  Italian  sunshine.     To  him,   as  the  captain's 

is  paraded,  four  boys  attend  at  the  gangway,  representative,    everything    is    first    referred, 

the  bugler  sounds  the  silence,  and  every  one  and   he   must   listen  to  the   complaints   and 

on  deck  stands  at  attention  as  the  boatswain  requests  of  600  or  700  men,  while  at  the  same 

pipes  him  cheerily  over  the  side.  time  he  organizes  and  drills  the  ship's  company 


3072 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


SAILOR:>    wl     IliL   .V^. 


/i^    ijUiLLIXG 


Copyright,  J902.  by  Enrique  Muller 


and  cares  for  the  ship,  inside  and  outside.  As 
a  rule  he  is  a  "ship-keeper,"  going  ashore  but 
httle  and  giving  all  his  attention  to  the  duties 
which  never  cease.  He  is  president  of  the 
wardroom  mess  and  presides  at  all  functions 
in  the  wardroom,  where  all  the  senior  officers 
mess  together.  The  midshipmen,  staff  offi- 
cers and  clerks  have  a  separate  mess  in  the 
junior  officers'  quarters  ("gunroom,"  as  it 
is  called  in  the  English  navy),  and  the  warrant 
officers,  which  include  boatswains,  gunners. 


carpenters  and  machinists,  have  still  another 
mess. 

The  wardroom  is  the  scene  of  many  enjoy- 
able entertainments,  for  in  spite  of  the  hard 
and  fatiguing  drills  of  a  day's  work,  dinner — 
usually  at  6:30  or  7 — is  the  feature  of  the 
twenty-four  hours.  Then,  for  the  time 
being,  care  and  worry  are  forgotten.  On 
Saturday  nights  comes  the  time-honored 
toast  of  "Sweethearts  and  Wives."  The 
president  of  the  mess  raps  on  the  table,  and 


A   rS'PICAL  CAPTAIN'S   CABIN 
Captain  Reeder  on  the  Hart/ord 


CopyrigliC,  1902.  by  Enrique  MuHer 


THE  NEW  NAVY  AT  WORK 


3073 


A    SUUAl)    I'ROM     LHK   KEARSARGE   AIMING   A    FIELD   PIECE 


C"i">vri^lit,  iQoi',  \'\  I_nri'|ii';  M'il-^r 


when  all  are  silent  he  asks:  "Gentlemen,  are  them, '"  and  the  toast  is  drunk  standing.  In 
your  glasses  charged  ? "  and  then,  "  I  give  you  the  Dutch  service  there  is  a  favorite  wardroom 
the  toast,  'Sweethearts  and  Wives,  God  bless      song  that  commemorates  the  deeds  of  their 


Copyright.  1902,  by  Enrique  Muller 
A   GROUP  OF   BLUEJACKETS   ON   THE   BROOKLYN  WITH    THEIR   MASCOTS 


2 

V 


X 


< 


W^'-'  * 


T 1 1  K    N  !•:  W    N  A  \  \'    A  T    \V  C)  R  K 


3075 


READY    FOR   THE   FANCY   DRESS   LALL 


great  naval  hero,  Pete  Heine.  Pete  Heine, 
it  seems,  was  a  very  small  man  who,  as  every 
one  knows,  rose  to  great  fame.  When  the 
song  is  started,  usually  after  dinner,  the 
officers  get  down  on  the  deck,  with  their  heads 
barely  above  the  table,  in  imitation  of  Pete's 
diminutive  stature,  and  begin  in  a  low  voice 
the  first  verse.  Then  as  the  song  proceeds 
they  gradually  rise,  making  louder  each  time 
the    refrain,  "Pete    Heine,   Pete    Heine,  der 


kleine  Pete  Heine,"  until  finally  there  is  an 
uproarious  chorus,  with  every  one  standing 
on  his  chair. 

The  other  officers  of  the  wardroom  are 
the  watch  officers,  surgeon,  paymaster  and 
marine  officers.  The  officers'  quarters  are 
comfortably  but  by  no  means  luxuriously 
furnished.  As  a  rule,  they  are  sufficiently 
commodious,  well  lighted  and  ventilated. 
A  fine  library  is  supplied  by  the  Government. 


I 


A  SATURDAY   HALF-HOLIDAY   IN   THE   NAVY 
An  afternoon  dance  on  a  recei\'ing-ship  for  apprentices  at  New-port 


5076 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


USING  THE   NEW  RANGE-FINDER 


The  Government  also  furnishes  the  cookery, 
glassware  and  table  linen,  but  does  not,  as  is 
generally  supposed,  pay  the  mess  bill.  In 
most  if  not  all  foreign  services,  commanding 
officers  are  allowed  a  certain  amount  of 
■'table  money"  for  official  entertaining,  an 
English  admiral's  allowance  being,  I  believe, 
S6,ooo;  but  in  the  United  States  Xavy  all 
such  expenses  must  come  out  of  the  usually 


Copyright,  1898,  by  Hnrique  MuUer 
A   MORNING   SHAVE   ON   THE    TEXAS 


r  ^:.t,  1898,  by  Enrique  M^iit 

THE  OLD   RAM  ALABAMA 

lean  purses  of  the  officers.     And  in  some  ports 
it  is  a  very  considerable  item. 

Forward  of  the  mast,  as  it  is  termed,  lives 
the  "man  behind  the  gun."  The  enlisted 
force  of  the  navy — nearly  25.000  men — con- 
tains many  foreigners,  but  their  number  is 
rapidly  diminishing  under  new  systems  of 
recruiting   which   require   all   the   men   now 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


3077 


enlisted  to  be  either  citizens  of  the  United 
States  or  to  liave  declared  their  intentions 
to  become  such.  According  to  Secretary 
Moody's  report,  eight x-iiiiu'  per  cent,  of  tlic 
enlisted  force  are  now  citizens  and  seventy- 
six  per  cent,  are  native  born.  We  shall  soon 
have  an  American  navy  of  Americans.  A 
few  years  ago  the  majority  of  our  bluejackets 
were  Scandinavians  and  of  other  European 
stock,  and  it  was  something  more  than  a 
mere  joke  when  a  lieutenant  once  hailed  the 
deck  of  one  of  our  men-of-war  with  "  If 
there  is  any  man  in  the  starboard  gangway 


who  can  s])eak  English,  lay  aft."  Indeed,  the 
number  of  foreigners  on  our  ships  was  so 
notorious  that  when  the  war  with  Spain  was 
threatened  not  a  few  Continental  papers 
prophesied  with  glee  unholy  that  at  the  first 
crack  of  a  gun  our  foreigners  would  jumj)  the 
shii)s  and  our  navy  would  be  left  hoj)elcssly 
short-handed.  The  prophecy,  of  course, 
like  many  others,  failed  entirely,  for  the  aliens 
who  bore  arms  for  us  and  with  us  were  truly 
loyal. 

In  the  organization  of   the  enlisted   force 
the   men   are   classified   under   four  different 


SUNDAY    MORNING   UN    THE   ALABAMA 


Copyright,  1902,  by  Enrique  MuUci 


3078 


THE    NEW    NAVY   AT    WORK 


heads:  seamen,  artificers,  specials  and  mess- 
men;  and  these  again  are  divided  into  two 
groups  which  separate  the  petty  officers  from 
the  men  of  inferior  rating,  and  each  of  these 
groups  is  subdivided  into  three  classes.  At 
tX~s  head  of  the  organization  are  the  chief 
petty  officers:  master-at-arms,  who  is  chief  of 
police,  so  to  speak,  and  is  popularly  known 


Chief  petty  officers  wear  visored  caps, 
double-breasted  sack  coats  with  brass  buttons, 
and  white  shirts.  The  last  is  a  change  that 
comes  a  little  awkward  at  first  to  those  whose 
thumbs  are  rough  and  tarred.  The  device 
that  denotes  their  rating  is  embroidered  on 
the  sleeve,  which  is  further  ornamented  by 
red  chevrons,  one  for  each  enlistment.     These 


THr,    dAi  ll.t-:^H^^    .^EARSARGE 


Copj-right,  190=,  by  Enrique  MuIIer 


among  the  men  as  "Jimmy  Legs,"  boat- 
swains' mates,  gun  captains,  quartermasters, 
machinists,  electricians,  commissary  stewards, 
bandmasters,  etc.  Their  pay  per  month 
varies  from  S70  for  chief  machinist  to  $30  for 
a  gun  captain.  The  chief  electrician  receives 
$60  per  month  and  the  bandmaster  S52. 


men  have  all  won  their  linen  collars  by  hard 
and  faithful  service  on  deck  or  in  the  engine 
room — except  such  specials  as  the  yeomen, 
stewards  and  musicians,  for  whom  no  previous 
sea  training  is  necessary — and  as  a  rule  they 
have  nearly  as  man}'  privileges  as  officers. 
They  are  allowed  a  separate  and  independent 


I 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


3079 


mess,  and  in  large  ships  are  provided  with 
staterooms.  They  are  a  fine  body  of  men, 
and  form  a  connecting  link  between  the 
commissioned  officers  and  enlisted  men,  with 
the  latter  of  whom  they  are  constantly 
associated.  The  third-class  petty  officers 
wear  the  ordinary  sailor  uniform  and  their 
pay  ranges  from  $30  to  $60  per  month.  Then 
come  the  bluejackets — that  is  to  say,  the  sea- 
men, ordinary  seamen,  landsmen  and  the  fire- 
room  force,  and  also  the  messmen,  the  latter 
including  the  officers'  and  ship's  cooks,  bakers, 
stewards  and  mess  attendants.  The  pay  of 
a  seaman  is  $24  per  month,  a  fireman  $35, 
and  a  mess  attendant  of  the  first  class  $22. 

In  addition  to  these  men  there  are  also 
marines — the  sea-soldiers — whose  presence 
on  board  ship  is  deprecated  by  some,  but 
whose  services  can  ill  be  dispensed  with. 
They  live  and  mess  together  in  a  part  of  the 
ship  assigned  to  them,  and  do  duty  as  sen- 
tries. Marines  have  always  been  included 
in  the  ship's  force,  and  it  may  be  remarked 
that  their  corps  antedates  both  the  army 
and  the  navy.  Now  when  these  people  are 
assigned  to  a  ship  they  are  divided  into  two 
\^^atches,  starboard  and  port,  and  these  again 
into  divisions.  Each  man  has  a  number,  a 
station  at  fire  quarters,  at  battle  quarters  and 
in  boats;  and  in  order  that  there  may  be  no 
excuse  for  a  man's  not  knowing  where  he 
belongs,  "station"  bills  are  posted  under 
glass  covers,  where  the  recruit  or  veteran 
may  constantly  refresh  his  memory.  So 
much  for  the  ship's  company. 

At  five  o'clock  or  earlier,  according  to 
season,  all  hands  are  turned  out.  The  ship's 
cook,  who  has  been  called  much  earlier,  has 
started  the  galley  fires  and  prepared  the 
coffee.  Ten  minutes  are  allowed  for  lashing 
up  hammocks  and  stowing  them,  and  twenty 
more  for  coffee  and  a  smoke.  Then  comes 
"turn  to,"  and  the  day's  work  begins  before 
the  sun  has  reached  across  the  skyline.  The 
first  thing  is  to  scrub  down  the  decks  and 
clean  ship.  Except  when  the  weather  is  too 
cold,  every  one  is  required  to  do  this  in  bare 
feet.  There  are  few  things  Jack  loves  better 
than  playing  in  water ;  and  the  splashing  and 
the  holystoning  go  merrily  on  for  an  hour 
or  so,  alternated  with  scrubbing  clothes,  per- 
haps, or  hammocks;  then  the  clotheslines  are 
triced  up,  the  decks  are  washed  down  and 
dried,  the  rigging  is  hauled  taut,  and  the  ship 
is  tidied  up  for  "colors"  at  eight  o'clock. 


In  the  old  dayo  the  raising  and  lowering  of 
the  flag  was  not  regarded  with  the  form  and 
ceremony  that  today  mark  it  on  all  shii)s, 
whether  tug  or  battle-ship.  At  five  minutes 
before  eight  the  bugler  sounds  the  "  first 
call,"  and  the  quartermasters  at  once  take 
their  station  by  the  flag  and  jack.  At  ^ne 
minute  to  eight  the  orderly  at  the  cabin  door 
reports  to  the  officer  of  the  deck  "Eight 
o'clock,  sir";  the  time  is  then  reported  by  him 
to  the  captain,  who  replies  "  Make  it  so" ;  and 
then  the  bell  is  struck,  the  bugle  "sounds  off," 
every  man  stands  at  attention  on  deck  fore 
and  aft  and  salutes  as  the  flag  touches  the 
truck,  while  the  band  on  the  quarterdeck 
plays  the  national  air.  So  ends  the  morning 
watch  as  the  crew  are  piped  to  breakfast. 

The  new  navy  ration,  for  which  Jack  is 
allowed  thirty  cents  per  day  in  addition  to 
his  pay,  is  as  follows: 

One  pound  and  a  quarter  of  salt  or  smoked  meat, 
with  three  ounces  of  dried  or  six  ounces  of  canned 
fruit,  and  three  gills  of  beans  or  pease,  or  twelve 
ounces  of  flour;  or  one  pound  of  preserved  meat, 
with  three  ounces  of  dried  or  six  ounces  of  canned 
fruit  and  twelve  ounces  of  rice  or  eight  ounces  of 
canned  vegetables,  or  four  ounces  of  desiccated 
vegetables;  together  with  one  pound  of  biscuit,  two 
ounces  of  butter,  four  ounces  of  sugar,  two  ounces 
of  coffee  or  cocoa,  or  one  half-ounce  of  tea  and  one 
ounce  of  condensed  milk  or  evaporated  cream;  and 
a  weekly  allowance  of  one  half-pound  of  macaroni, 
four  ounces  of  cheese,  four  ounces  of  tomatoes,  one 
half-pint  of  vinegar,  one  half-pint  of  pickles,  one 
half-pint  of  molasses,  four  ounces  of  salt,  one 
quarter-ounce  of  pepper,  and  one  half-ounce  of 
dry  mustard. 

From  breakfast  until  sunset,  with  the 
exception  of  one  hour  in  the  middle  of  the  day 
for  dinner,  the  greater  part  of  the  time  is 
spent  in  drill.  At  nine  o'clock  the  crew  fall 
in  at  the  guns;  and  after  a  rigid  inspection  of 
their  uniforms  and  their  general  appearance 
the  drills  begin.  These  consist  principally 
of  exercise  with  the  great  guns;  but  much 
attention  is  also  given  to  pistols,  broad- 
swords and  infantry.  The  turret-gun  drills 
are  especially  interesting.  The  accurate  point- 
ing of  a  twelve-inch  gun  under  cover  is 
an  art  attained  only  by  long  and  faithful 
practice,  and  as  the  chief  object  of  the  gun  is 
to  hit,  and  the  chief  object  of  the  ship  is  to 
carry  the  gun,  it  is  obvious  why  the  maxim 
of  the  navv  today  is  "  Drill,  drill,  ton  jours 
drill." 

Since  181 2  our  sailors  have  had  a  tremen- 
dous reputation  as  marksmen.  The  gunnery 
which    destroyed    the    Gucrricre,    Java    and 


3o8o 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


Hornet  astonished  the  world,  and  it  is  a 
happy  fact  that  the  reputation  acquired 
then  has  been  maintained  by  succeeding  gen- 
erations of  bluejacket  gun-captains,  notwith- 
standing the  mortifying  fact  that  at  Santiago 
only  four  per  cent,  of  the  shots  got  home. 
The  result  of  that  action  pleased  the  nation, 
however. 

And  our  gun-captains  ought  to  be  skilled, 
if  an  almost  unlimited  amount  of  ammunition 
for  target  practice  means  anything  at  all. 
The  money  value  of  ammunition  so  expended 
by  a  battle-ship  is  startling.  "Within  a 
period  of  twelve  months,"  reports  Admiral 
O'Neil,  "three  battle-ships  of  the  North 
Atlantic  Squadron  alone  have  expended 
$250,000  worth  of  ammunition."  And  he 
adds:  'Ttis  quite  evident  that  some  tangible 
results  ought  to  be  apparent  from  so  large  an 
expenditure  for  training  purposes,  for  even 
the  richest  nation  must  count  the  loss  of 
the  maintenance  for  its  naval  establishment, 
and  the  country  has  a  right  to  demand 
reasonable  returns  in  the  shape  of  increased 
efficiency  for  its  outlay." 

Once  a  month,  usually  on  the  first  Sunday, 
all  hands  are  called  on  the  quarterdeck  and 
the  executive  officer  reads  the  "Articles  of 
War,"  after  wdiich  the  paymaster's  clerk  calls 
the  roll,  and  as  each  man's  name  is  called 
he  takes  off  his  cap  and  passes  in  front  of  the 
captain  and  all  the  officers,  who  are  assembled 
aft  in  full-dress  uniform. 

But  the  sailor's  life  is  not  altogether  one 
of  hard  work,  and  on  the  whole  he  has  a  very 
good  time.  Dancing,  gymnastics,  fencing, 
boxing  and  boat-racing  fill  his  leisure  hours. 
His  natural  fondness  for  pets  is  proverbial, 
and  there  are  few  ships  without  a  mascot,  be 
it  a  goat,  dog  or  Dennis  the  pig,  which  serves 
to  lighten  the  hours  of  the  dull  watches  at 
sea.  Many  stories  are  told  of  the  prowess  of 
ship's  pets,  at  night  on  the  forecastle,  when 
the  hammocks  are  down  and  the  pipes  lighted. 
One  man  spins  a  yam  of  a  cat  that  was  bom 
in  an  old  boiler,  cruised  50,000  miles  in  one 
ship,  established  a  great  reputation  as  a 
fighter  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  finally 
ended  his  adventurous  career  on  the  coral 
reefs  of  Samoa.  Another  tells  of  a  monkey 
without  ears  or  tail,  with  which  he  sailed  in 
the  China  seas,  whose  fondness  for  liquid 
paint  produced  periodical  attacks  of  blind- 
ness. Then  there  is  a  story  of  a  dissipated 
dog  who  never  lost   an   opportunity   to   get 


drunk,  and  who  always  recognized  the  bugle 
call  for  the  gig  and  invariably  ran  to  the 
gangway  when  it  sounded,  to  go  ashore  in 
state  with  the  captain.  But  the  best  of  all 
is  the  one  of  the  pet  bear  who  chased  a  voung 
officer  up  the  mizzen  rigging.  Fortunate 
indeed  is  the  animal  that  falls  into  the 
hands  of  a  sailor. 

"The  sailor-man  has  his  vagaries,"  once 
said  the  present  Bishop  of  Shanghai  over  the 
coffin  of  a  sailor  who  had  taken  his  own  life, 
"but  he  is  the  tenderest -hearted  creature 
into  w^hich  God  ever  breathed  the  breath  of 
life." 

As  a  devotee  of  Terpsichore  Jack  is  at  his 
best  at  the  annual  ball  which  the  ships  of  the 
North  Atlantic  Squadron  are  wont  to  give 
in  New  -York  while  refitting  for  the  winter 
cruise.  A  hall  is  hired  on  shore  and  elabo- 
rately decorated;  ornately  engraved  invita- 
tions are  prepared,  and  everything  arranged 
for  an  entertainment  absolutely  regardless 
of  expense.  When  a  sailor-man  invites  his 
friends  to  be  his  guests  only  the  best  of  every- 
thing will  suffice.  The  ball  is  invariably 
opened  by  a  grand  march,  and  the  captain 
and  his  "lady"  are  always  invited  to  lead. 
No  dancing  or  privateering  is  allowed  until 
this  function,  which  is  impressive  and  digni- 
fied, is  over;  but  the  moment  it  is  finished  the 
fun  begins,  and  there  are  few  sights  more 
attractive  and  inspiriting  than  one  of  these 
sailors'  entertainments. 

The  crew  are  encouraged  in  athletics ;  ships 
are  supplied  with  a  fine  gymnasium  outfit, 
including  swords  and  foils,  and  many  of  the 
men  become  expert  in  the  scientific  art  of 
self-defense.  Besides  these  direct  means  for 
physical  development,  there  are  football  and 
baseball  teams,  and  many  a  good  game  is 
played  in  the  intervals  of  shore  leave. 

Of  course  the  natural  sport  of  a  sailor  is 
boating,  and  in  a  pull-away  race  our  men  are 
difficult  to  beat.  Many  years  ago,  in  the 
harbor  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  an  international 
boat  race  was  arranged  in  which  seven  nations 
were  represented.  Our  ships,  the  Hartford 
and  Essex,  entered  three  boats,  and  each  won 
the  first  prize  of  its  own  race.  The  trophies 
were  brought  on  board  by  a  committee  headed 
by  Saldanha  de  Gama,  afterward  greatly  dis- 
tinguished in  the  revolution  of  '93. 

Theatricals,  songs  and  stories  are  specialties 
of  the  gun-deck  that  must  not  be  forgotten. 
As  an  actor.  Jack  shines  best  on  the  minstrel 


THE    NEW    NAVY    AT    WORK 


3081 


and  vaudeville  stage;  if  he  is  not  always  a 
humorous  actor,  he  is  at  least  a  sincere  one. 

As  for  the  sailors'  songs,  the  real  thing  is  no 
more  like  the  popular  idea  of  a  forecastle 
chantey  than  a  hornpipe  is  like  the  two-step. 
"Strewing  Flowers  Over  Darling  Mother's 
Grave,"  and  similar  airs  of  a  pathetic,  almost 
doleful  nature,  are  most  in  favor.  Dibdin's 
ballads  are  unknown,  and  the  stirring  old 
battle-songs  of  18 12,  such  as  "The  Guerriere 
and  the  Constitution,"  which  used  to  be  so 
much  in  vogue,  have  long  since  passed  away 
with  the  clew-garnets  and  studdingsails,  in 
spite  of  the  efforts  of  Admiral  Luce. 

A  true  son  of  the  sea  is  a  natural  born 
raconteur.  Of  them  there  was,  once,  a  jolly, 
jolly  mariner  whose  sails  have  long  since  been 
furled  in  the  Port  of  Missing  Ships,  but  whose 
memory  will  ever  be  a  landmark  in  the  service 
career  of  those  who  sailed  with  him.  A 
veteran  of  the  Mexican  War,  he  had  entered 
the  navy  in  1842,  and,  according  to  his  own 
account,  he  was  a  boy  on  the  Somers  at  the 
time  of  the  mutiny.  His  story  of  the  hanging 
of  Midshipman  Spencer  was  doubtless  not  so 
accurate  as  that  of  the  Honorable  Thomas 
Benton,  but  it  certainly  was  more  pictur- 
esque. He  was  also  the  stroke  oar  of  Com- 
modore Tatnall's  barge  when  that  famous  old 
salt  pulled  through  the  fire  of  the  Taku  forts 
and  told  the  English  Commodore  Hope  that 
blood  was  thicker  than  water.  His  adven- 
tures in  the  Civil  War  were  legion,  and  if  he  is 
to  be  believed,  there  was  no  great  event  of  the 
navy  in  which  he  had  not  borne  a  prominent 
part.  The  men  called  him  "Dick  Deadeye." 
He  always  kept  one  eye  tightly  shut,  except 
when,  in  emphasizing  some  unusually  remark- 
able statement ,  he  would  flash  it  for  an  instant 
upon  his  startled  listeners.  He  wore  his  hair 
long  and  brushed  down  over  the  fragment 
of  an  ear  which  had  been  mutilated  (he 
declared)  by  a  saber  cut  at  Fort  Fisher. 

A  story  of  the  men  of  the  navy  would  not  be 
complete  without  a  reference  at  least  to  the 
work  of  their  patron  saint,  Miss  Helen  Gould, 
who  has  done  much  to  elevate  the  moral 
tone  and  standard  of  the  service.  Her  most 
remarkable  work  is  the  handsome  club  edifice 
erected  in  Brooklyn  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  It 
is  more  than  a  home  to  hundreds  of  our 
men,  who  without  it  would  be  practically 
without  object  or  interest  when  ashore  on 
liberty.     There  are  other  similar  clubs. 


It  is  not  the  province  of  this  story  to  tell  of 
naval  administration  or  the  organization  of 
the  navy  department.  Let  it  suffice  that  the 
Bureau  of  Navigation,  at  thehead  of  which  is 
Rear  Admiral  Henry  C.  Taylor,  is,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
charged  with  the  distribution  of  the  fleet  and 
the  assignment  and  development  of  the  navy's 
personnel.  Under  the  control  of  this  bureau 
is  the  General  Board,  sometimes  called  the 
Board  of  Strategy,  over  which  Admiral  Dewey 
presides.  Associated  with  him  are  the  Chief 
of  Bureau  of  Navigation,  the  President  of 
the  War  College,  the  Chief  Intelligence  Officer, 
and  a  number  of  other  naval  officers  specially 
selected  for  the  duty.  The  General  Board, 
which  is  like  the  general  stafT  of  foreign 
governments,  is  as  yet  an  experiment. 

There  is  a  singular  class  of  marine  war  craft 
that  must  not  be  ignored.  The  idea  of  sub- 
marine boats  is  almost  as  old  as  the  ships  of 
Tarshish.  The  French  may  be  considered 
the  exponents  of  submarine  warfare,  as  the 
Germans  are  of  the  torpedo.  Recently 
American  genius  has  added  to  our  fleet  eight 
boats  of  this  type  bearing  the  suggestive 
names  of  Adder,  Grampus,  Holland  (from  the 
inventor),  Moccasin,  Pike,  Plunger,  Porpoise 
and  Shark.  They  are  all  about  sixty  feet  in 
length  and  about  twelve  feet  in  diameter, 
with  a  maximum  displacement  of  122.55  tons. 
They  have  gasoline  engines  of  160  horse-power, 
except  the  Holland, which  has  one  of  only  forty- 
five,  and  their  speed  under  water  is  rated  at 
eight  knots.  They  carry  one  torpedo  tube  and 
five  torpedoes,  and  the  crew  is  composed  of 
five  men.  In  time  of  war  their  moral  effect  can 
scarcely  be  overrated,  but  their  actual  worth 
remains  to  be  proved.  They  are  supposed  to 
be  capable  of  remaining  under  w^ater  eight 
hours — a  much  longer  time,  probably,  than 
would  ever  be  required  in  actual  service — and 
on  trial  trips  they  have  accomplished  some 
very  remarkable  results;  but  the  submarine 
boat  is  yet  in  its  tentative  stage,  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  exhaustive  trials  will  be  accorded 
those  we  have  before  more  are  authorized. 

The  new  navy  is  a  thing  of  wonderfully 
careful  organization  and  mechanical  equip- 
ment. The  day  of  the  swashbuckler  and 
tyrant  have  departed,  and  the  conditions  are 
now  unknown  which  led  Doctor  Johnson  to 
remark  that  he  could  no  more  account  for 
people  fond  of  being  sailors  than  he  could 
for  other  strange  perversities  of  imagination. 


THE    PRESENT    STATUS    OF    THE    PRO- 
FESSIONS—THE   LAW 

HOW  THE  WORK  OF  THE  LAWYER  HAS  CHANGED  WITH  MODERN 
CONDITIONS— HIS  ATTITUDE  TO  BUSINESS  AND  TO  SOCIETY— HIS 
INCOME— THE    OUTLOOK    OF   THE    PROFESSION    AS    IT    IS    TODAY 

BY 

HARRY    D.    NIMS 


IN  the  early  days  of  the  country  the 
lawyers  had  their  "shops"  on  the 
lower  floor  of  their  houses,  their 
families  living  on  the  floor  above.  This  may 
explain  the  w'ide  culture  of  the  profession  of 
that  time. 

James  Kent  (afterward  Chancellor)  studied 
Greek  and  Latin  two  hours  every  day,  kept 
informed  on  the  decisions  of  the  French  courts 
and  made  extensive  researches  into  the  laws 
of  ancient  Rome  while  actively  practising 
law.  Modem  lawyers  are  found  in  great  city 
buildings  devoted  wholly  to  business  and  pro- 
fessional purposes,  and  the  time  which  their 
predecessors  spent  on  Greek  and  Latin  they 
use  to  reach  their  homes,  which  are  often 
twenty  miles  away  in  the  suburbs. 

The  student  of  fifty  years  ago,  "  reading  law 
in  an  office,"  usually  read  "Coke"  and 
'■  Blackstone,"  and  became  familiar  with 
"  Frankalmoigne, "  "  Burgage, "  "  Borough 
English,"  "Villenage,"  "Estates  Tail,"  and 
all  the  ancient  tenures  of  land.  In  many 
States  the  student  of  today,  having  mastered 
a  few  pages  of  the  "Revised  Statutes,"  faces 
with  equanimity  the  part  of  barless  examina- 
tions dealing  with  real  property. 

The  modern  real  estate  lawyers  are  not 
human  beings  educated  in  law,  each  w-ith 
two  hands,  two  eyes,  one  brain  and  an  office 
boy;  but  they  are  corporations,  each  with 
half  a  thousand  hands,  as  many  eyes,  hun- 
dreds of  trained  brains,  and  office  boys  like 
the  sands  of  the  seashore,  innumerable.  In 
the  office  of  these  lawyer-corporations,  which 
are  generally  spoken  of  as  title  companies, 
there  are  usually  to  be  found  complete  copies 
of  all  public  records,  relating  to  titles  to  the 
land  in  the  section  in  which  the  company'  is 
located.  The  magnitude  of  the  task  of 
making  these  copies  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 


one  county  alone  sometimes  possesses  as 
many  as  8,000  ponderous  volumes  of  hand- 
written records,  besides  the  court  papers  of 
every  suit  over  a  title  that  has  been  tried 
in  the  county.  This  mass  of  information 
is  the  stock  in  trade  of  the  title  company. 
In  its  hands  these  records  have  been  indexed 
and  cross-indexed,  until  they  are  all  available 
at  the  shortest  notice. 

There  are  still  real  property  law}''ers;  and 
a  visit  to  one  of  their  offices  gives  some  idea  of 
the  business  the  lawyer  formerly  obtained. 
In  them  will  be  found  documents  compiled  in 
work  incident  to  verifying  a  title  for  some 
client.  Each  abstract  gives  a  connected 
history  of  all  the  various  vicissitudes  through 
which  the  title  to  some  plot  of  land  has  passed. 
These  abstracts  were  often  extra-illustrated 
by  maps,  copies  of  court  papers  and  surveys, 
and  represented  the  final  results  of  days  and 
weeks  of  labor  on  the  part  of  the  men  who 
drew  them  up.  The  making  of  such  an 
abstract  was  usually  necessary  whenever  a 
purchase  of  land  was  made. 

The  attomej'  who  w^as  given  a  "title  to 
search"  took  his  papers  under  his  arm  and 
went  to  the  office  of  the  register  of  the  county. 
Here  he  traced  the  title  back,  deed  by  deed, 
to  its  first  ow^ner.  All  the  proceedings  taken 
in  any  suit  regarding  it  were  inspected.  The 
lawyer  satisfied  him.self  that  there  w^as  no 
legal  error  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  the 
title,  drew-  up  an  abstract  and  then  advised 
his  client  that  it  was  "good."  All  this  work 
was  of  no  value  for  any  future  investigation 
unless  this  same  attorney  was  retained. 

It  is  very  evident,  then,  that  most  of  the 
real  estate  business,  in  every  locality  where  a 
title  company  exists,  goes  not  to  the  lawyers 
as  formerly,  but  to  the  title  company.  Then 
there  is  the  insurance  of  titles.     Before  the 


THE  PRESENT  STATUS  OF  THE  PROFESSIONS 


3083 


days  of  the  title  company  the  buyer  of  real 
estate  had  no  safeguard  against  flaws  of  title 
beyond  the  confidence  he  reposed  in  his 
lawyer.  The  title  company,  however,  not 
only  searches  the  title,  but  offers  to  insure  its 
validity — in  other  words,  to  reimburse  the 
purchaser  for  any  damage  he  may  suffer  from 
tiaws  in  a  title  which  the  company  has  advised 
him  is  clear. 

One  of  the  results  of  the  title  company  has 
been  the  almost  total  disappearance,  in  the 
cities,  of  the  conveyancer,  who  was  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  figures  of  the  profession. 
He  was  not  a  man  of  large  affairs,  literally 
speaking.  His  life  consisted  of  metes  and 
bounds,  rods  and  perches,  feet  and  inches, 
stone  monuments  and  party  walls,  commas 
and  semicolons.  To  become  absolutely  exact 
was  his  greatest  ambition.  The  systems  and 
methods  that  surrounded  such  a  man  'were 
awe-inspiring.  Every  tool  and  paper  in  his 
office  had  its  place  and  was  kept  there  by  his 
constant  vigilance.  His  life  seemed  a  per- 
petual challenge  to  error.  The  conveyancers 
went  through  a  hard  struggle  before  they 
would  use  the  modern  simple  methods  of 
transferring  property  and  adopt  type- 
written legal  instruments.  To  convince  them 
that  a  deed  that  merely  "grants"  the  land 
sold  is  as  good  as  one  that  "gives,  grants, 
releases,  remises,  quit-claims,  sets  over,  bar- 
gains, sells,  conveys  and  enfeoffs"  was  out  of 
the  question. 

Another  poacher  on  the  hunting  preserves 
of  the  lawyer  is  the  trust  company.  In 
former  times  a  considerable  share  of  the 
lawyer's  income  came  from  fees  for  the  draw- 
ing of  wills,  or  from  commissions  received  a*s 
guardian  of  the  interests  of  children  and 
persons  incompetent  to  manage  their  affairs, 
or  as  administrator  of  an  estate.  The  man 
who  wishes  to  make  a  will  now  can  go  to  a 
trust  company  and  find  a  lawyer  to  serve  him 
who  makes  legal  questions  connected  with 
wills  his  especial  study.  The  trust  company 
demands  no  fee.  Its  only  stipulation  is  that 
it  be  appointed  executor  or  co-executor  of  the 
will  or  trustee  of  the  trusts  created  by  it.  It 
finds  its  profit  later  in  collecting  and  paying 
out  the  moneys  of  the  estate. 

The  trust  companies,  when  properly  con- 
ducted, command  the  confidence  of  the  public, 
and  rightfully  so.     But,   from  the    lawyer's 

■point  of  view,  they  more  and  more  absorb 
the  siirrogate  practice  of  the  profession;  and 


the  litigations  arising  from  tiie  affairs  of 
estates  of  deceased  persons  come  more  and 
more  into  their  hands.  A  like  change,  as  far 
as  the  lawyer  is  concerned,  has  been  brought 
about  in  the  matter  of  railroad  reorganiza- 
tions, for,  by  drawing  into  its  employ  counsel 
skilled  in  such  matters,  the  trust  company, 
as  trustee  for  corporate  securities,  has  been 
able  to  do  much  of  the  legal  work  of  these 
reorganizations. 

The  poverty  of  briefless  barristers  is  as 
proverbial  as  that  of  the  church  mouse.  It 
would  not  be  an  unnatural  mistake  to  con- 
sider a  barrister  with  only  one  client  hardly 
better  off  than  one  with  none  But  the 
modern  "one-client  lawyer"  is  usually  a 
prosperous  individual.  Said  a  man  well 
known  in  the  business  world  some  years  ago 
to  a  friend:  "I  want  a  young  lawyer  to  put 
down  at  a  desk  beside  mine.  I'll  familiarize 
him  with  my  affairs  and  then  I  want  him  to 
keep  me  out  of  trouble."  The  counterpart 
of  this  lawyer,  whose  duty  it  is  to  act  as  his 
own  client's  ounce  of  prevention,  may  be 
found  in  the  office  of  many  large  concerns. 
He  is  often  connected  with  trust  companies, 
banks,  banking  houses,  railroad  and  other 
transportation  companies  and  large  wholesale 
mercantile  houses.  When  a  merchant  found 
himself  in  a  tangle,  it  was  once  the  custom 
for  him  to  go  to  his  lawyer  for  advice.  The 
results  were  a  written  "opinion"  and  a  fee. 
The  business  man  today  obtains  a  law^^er  who 
shall  work  for  him  alone.  Again  the  field 
of  the  general  practitioner  is  narrowed. 

The  commercial  world  has  found  a  new 
sphere  of  usefulness  for  the  lawyer  in  what  is 
sometimes  called  negotiation.  The  men  who 
do  this  sort  of  work  seldom  go  to  court.  The 
special  value  of  their  services  is  to  get  results 
without  litigation.  The  occasion  for  calling 
on  them  may  arise  in  this  way:  A  concern 
gets  into  trouble;  perhaps  it  cannot  cope  with 
an  unscrupulous  competitor  or  it  is  unable  to 
obtain  new  capital  to  operate  its  business. 
When  such  difficulties  arise  such  a  lawyer 
is  called  in,  not  because  he  is  a  lawyer,  but 
rather  because  he  is  thoroughly  trained  in 
business  as  well  as  in  law.  By  reason  of  his 
tact  and  ability  he  brings  the  competitors 
together  and  they  adjust  their  differences 
amicably;  or,  perhaps,  they  are  persuaded 
to  combine  their  interests  into  one  concern. 
If  additional  capital  be  necessary,  such  a  man, 
by  assuring  investors  of  the  solidity  of  the 


3084 


THE  PRESENT    STATUS    OF  THE    PROFESSIONS 


enterprise,  obtains  the  necessary  funds  and 
prevents  disaster.  The  work  of  these  men 
has  been  decidedly  constructive.  By  their 
efforts  it  has  often  happened  that  reorganiza- 
tions have  done  much  to  make  companies  in 
which  the  pubHc  invests  sound  and  successful. 

The  growth  of  consolidation  has  had 
marked  effect  upon  the  law.  Here  are  ten 
large  concerns  manufacturing  some  article 
of  commerce.  Each  of  them  has  its  own 
counsel  on  whom  it  is  constantly  calling  for 
advice.  A  merging  of  these  concerns  occurs, 
and  the  attorney  of  those  in  the  deal  who 
wielded  the  greatest  influence  becomes  the 
counsel  of  the  new  corporation.  The  other 
nine  look  for  new  clients. 

The  demands  upon  a  law  office  which  has 
as  clients  several  of  these  corporations  are 
multitudinous.  Bad  accounts  to  be  sued  on, 
suits  of  employees  for  personal  injury,  legal 
steps  involved  in  absorbing  smaller  com- 
panies, work  incidental  to  the  preservation 
of  the  corporate  existence  of  the  company, 
and  all  the  legal  questions  arising  from  a  great 
industrial  enterprise,  call  for  a  man3^-sided 
law  office.  This  means  an  office  having  men 
trained  for  legal  work  of  widely  different 
character.  In  these  great  offices  one  some- 
times finds  as  many  as  eight  partners  and 
from  four  to  twenty-five  other  lawyers, 
besides  stenographers  and  bookkeepers.  One 
of  these  attorneys  is  the  managing  clerk. 
His  work  touches  practically  every  matter  in 
the  office,  and  yet  he  does  not  interview  the 
clients,  write  the  brief,  try  the  case  in  court 
or  argue  the  appeal.  He  steers  the  case 
through  labyrinths  of  calendar  rules  that 
encompass  the  courts  in  a  city  and  finally 
brings  it  up  for  trial.  He  has  at  his  tongue's 
end  the  status  of  every  case  in  the  ofiice  and 
keeps  in  his  "register "  a  record  of  every  move 
made  in  each.  Finally,  if  he  be  in  a  State 
which  has  codified  its  rules  of  court  procedure, 
he  must  become  a  commentary  on  that  code. 
A  well-known  law  professor  has  incidentally 
termed  the  study  of  the  New  York  Code  a 
prostitution  of  man's  intellect. 

Another  functionary  of  the  big  office  is  the 
"brief  man."  "  Blackstone  !  "  exclaimed  a 
cynical  lawyer  not  long  since,  "I  could  hire 
him,  were  he  alive  today,  for  twelve  dollars  a 
week."  If  this  estimate  of  the  great  Com- 
mentator's ability  be  correct,  and  could  the 
bargain  be  struck,  Sir  William  would  enter 
this   gentleman's   office   as   a   "brief  man." 


Great  cases  are  by  no  means  won  in  court 
entirely  by  the  oratory  of  the  advocate.  It 
often  happens  that  some  quiet  man,  working 
in  a  recess  of  the  library,  strikes  the  telling 
blow  and  wins  the  case. 

Owing  to  the  demand  for  the  influence 
that  the  name  of  a  well-known  law  firm 
carries  with  it,  it  is  impossible  for  the  men 
in  the  firm  to  write  personally  all  the 
briefs  and  opinions  that  go  out  of  the  office. 
Much  of  this  work  is  done  by  subordinates, 
and  by  them  submitted  to  some  man  in  the 
firm,  who  signs  it  as  his  own. 

Under  such  a  system  the  opportunities  for 
the  subordinate  to  become  known  are  limited. 
Those  who  are  at  the  head  of  such  an  office 
often  lose  sight  of  the  old-time  idea  that  each 
lawyer,  be  he  clerk  or  partner,  is  a  man  like 
themselves,  whose  dearest  possession  is  his 
good  name  and  whose  greatest  ambition  is 
to  build  up  for  himself  a  reputation  for  skill 
and  learning  in  his  profession.  Many  modem 
newspapers  and  periodicals  have  found  that 
it  pays  to  allow  their  men  to  sign  their  work ; 
but  city  lawyers  as  a  rule  are  by  no  means  as 
generous  to  their  clerks  as  these  newspapers 
are  to  their  employees.  Many  lawyers  who 
have  built  up  a  reputation  for  learning  and 
good  generalship  have  founded  it,  in  part,  on 
briefs  which  they  have  signed  and  argued  as 
all  their  own,  when  in  reality  the  learning  and 
ingenuity  both  of  brief  and  argument  were 
not  theirs,  but  the  result  of  the  labor  and 
study  of  some  subordinate  whose  ability  they 
knew  well.  An  occasional  "big  office"  is 
well  known  for  its  prompt  recognition  of  the 
merits  of  its  juniors,  and  takes  care  to  give 
them  every  possible  chance  to  get  ahead.  The 
"big  office,"  with  its  specialized  work — one 
man  giving  all  his  attention  to  surrogate  or 
probate  practice,  another  to  trials,  another 
to  briefs,  another  to  pleadings — is  not,  of 
course,  a  new  invention.  But  the  number 
of  such  offices  has  largely  increased  recently. 

Fifty  years  ago  young  men  obtained  a  law 
education  by  reading  for  a  few  years  in  a  law 
office.  Study  in  a  law  school  now  takes  the 
place  of  this  novitiate,  and  the  average  man 
who  enters  a  city  office  does  so  only  after 
being  admitted  to  the  bar.  Once  connected 
with  a  large  firm,  the  chances  are  he  stays  for 
a  number  of  years  in  its  employ ;  while  the  man 
of  a  half-century  ago  would  have  been  very 
likely,  on  being  admitted  to  practice,  to  have 
started  for  himself.     The  very  existence  of 


THE    PRESENT    STATUS    OF    THE    1M<0 1'ESSIONS 


3085 


these  h\g  offices  makes  a  young  man  feel  he 
must  know  a  httle  of  what  goes  on  in  them 
before  he  looks  at  the  world  from  the  window 
of  his  office.  Once  in  such  a  place,  however, 
many 'men  lose  heart,  i)ref  erring  to  accept 
the  certainty  of  a  salary  to  the  chances  of 
success  in  facing  the  world  alone.  Others 
stay  only  long  enough  to  learn  how  these 
offices  do  their  business  and  then  plunge  out 
independently.  In  any  event,  the  big  office 
has  tended  both  to  lessen  the  number  of  men 
who  begin  practice  on  their  own  account 
and  to  cause  those  who  do  start  for  themselves 
to  take  that  step  at  a  later  time  in  their  life 
than  formerly.  It  has  made  the  average 
lawyer  less  independent  than  he  once  was. 
Many  a  skilled  attorney  now  spends  his  life 
as  thoroughly  tied  down  to  some  other  man's 
law  office  as  does  a  clerk  to  the  counting- 
room  of  a  merchant.  Lawyers  who  work  as 
clerks  are  many,  but  lawyers  who  make  good 
livings  from  their  own  practice  are  not  pro- 
portionately as  plentiful  as  they  once  were; 
and  it  is  believed  that  more  than  ever  before 
men  drift  from  law  into  other  walks  of  life. 

The  work  that  thousands  of  lawyers  do 
in  the  face  of  these  conditions  is  varied. 
Three  police  court  lawyers,  all  known  to  be 
experts  in  Mosaic  jurisprudence,  were  not  long 
since  discussing  this  very  question.  One 
stated  that  he  had  found  a  knowledge  of  the 
late  decisions  of  the  courts  a  sure  road  to 
success.  The  second  was  equally  certain 
that  the  study  of  the  statutes  never  failed  to 
bring  legal  eminence.  Both  opinions  were 
flouted  by  the  third,  who  laid  down  the  maxim 
"Mine  friends,  tricks  makes  the  lawyer." 

It  was  not  many  years  ago  that  most  law- 
yers in  city  and  country  alike  undertook 
criminal  and  civil  cases  without  distinction. 
While  it  is  a  fact  that  there  has  long  existed 
in  most  large  cities  a  criminal  bar — by  which 
is  here  meant  men  who  devote  themselves 
almost  exclusively  to  criminal  law  work — it 
is  also  true  that  the  more  prominent  metro- 
politan lawyers  do  not  make  any  attempt  to 
get  criminal  cases;  many  of  them  absolutely 
refuse  them.  Thirty  and  forty  years  ago 
most  lawyers  had  some  criminal  practice — 
at  least,  they  took  such  criminal  cases  as 
came  to  them  unsought — and  most  of  them 
owed  part  of  their  reputation  to  successful 
criminal  work.  Today  it  is  a  conservative 
statement  to  say  that  the  criminal  bar,  in 
some   cities,    cannot   claim   even  its   propor- 


tionate share  of  the  best  talent  of  the  jjro- 
fession.  This  is  not  as  it  should  be.  Human 
life  and  human  liberty  are  of  more  importance 
to  the  community  than  stocks,  bonds  or  divi- 
dends, and  the  prevention  of  unjust  convic- 
tions is  of  greater  moment  to  the  public  than 
that  each  victim  of  a  trolley  accident  should 
be  recompensed  for  his  mental  anguish. 
Many  causes  have  combined  to  bring  about 
these  conditions.  In  criminal  as  in  civil 
courts  the  day  of  oratory  is  over.  No  time 
can  now  be  given  to  a  lawyer  to  wax  eloquent 
in  the  defense  of  Murphy,  who  hit  Hogan  in 
the  eye  and  robbed  him  in  a  street  brawl.  A 
criminal  trial  once  offered  opportunity  to 
oratorical  counsel  to  remind  the  jury  of  the 
heroes  of  ancient  Rome  and  Greece,  to  recite 
tragic  poetry  and  to  recall  the  glories  of  the 
heritage  of  the  American  people.  In  the 
courts  of  large  cities  there  exists  a  strong 
presumption  that  judges  and  jurors  are  suffi- 
ciently familiar  with  both  ancient  and 
modern  history  to  warrant  counsel  in  sticking 
closely  to  facts.  Accordingly,  the  facts  come 
out  in  quick  order,  and  Murphy  is  back  in 
prison  before  ye  barrister  of  olden  time  w^ould 
have  completed  his  opening  address. 

Nine  tenths  of  the  defendants  in  the  New 
York  criminal  courts  have  no  money  to  pay 
a  lawyer's  fee.  The  result  is  that  these  nine 
tenths  are  tried  by  counsel  who  are  assigned 
by  the  court  when  the  prisoner  is  called 
for  trial.  Hence  these  lawyers  (numbering 
about  two  hundred  in  all  the  courts  of  the 
county),  who  frequent  these  courts  for  the 
express  purpose  of  getting  these  assignment 
cases,  try  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  criminal 
cases  of  the  county.  The  remainder  of  the 
defendants — the  paying  ten  per  cent. — is 
largely  made  up  of  gamblers,  pool-room 
owners,  keepers  of  all  sorts  of  dives,  or,  in 
short,  prisoners  arrested  for  vice — as  dis- 
tinguished from  crime.  The  defense  of  such 
clients  has  little  to  attract  the  average 
lawyer  who  possesses  a  good  civil  practice. 
The  necessity,  also,  of  rushing  cases  through 
the  courts  has  done  much  to  change  the 
popular  idea  of  what  is  necessary  to  consti- 
tute a  criminal  trial. 

The  casual  observer  of  the  city  criminal 
court  at  work  is  at  once  struck  with  the  fact 
that  the  methods  employed  seem  often  to  be 
against  the  prisoner  and  in  favor  of  the  prose- 
cutor, even  the  furniture  of  the  room  being 
oftentimes  so  arranged  as  to  aid  the  prose- 


3086 


THE    RAPID    GROWTH    OF    PUBLIC    LIBRARIES 


cutor.  The  old  common  law  evolved  a 
maxim  that  a  prisoner  was  prestimed  to  be 
innocent  until  proved  guilty;  but  that  seems 
to  have  been  somewhat  abandoned. 

In  large  cities  a  law}'er  no  longer  acquires 
social  position  merely  because  he  is  a  la"wyer, 
as  was  once  the  case.  Society  has  found 
other  standards,  and  the  great  increase  of 
wealth  has  made  its  possession  a  widely 
recognized  badge  of  social  eligibility.  No 
doubt  in  that  world  where  once  the  doctor, 
the  parson  and  the  squire  held  sway  they 
are  not  now  missed.  These  professions  do 
not  now  claim  to  include  in  their  ranks  a 
large  majority  of  the  educated  and  cultivated 
men;  for  such  men  are  now  found  in  nearly 
all  walks  of  life.  Xor  perhaps  can  the  law 
claim  as  many  educated  men  in  proportion 
to  its  numbers  as  formerly. 

Said  a  loyal  citizen  of  a  western  town: 
"X-burg  hasn't  any  time  for  culture  now. 
But  if  she  could  get  at  it,  how  she  would  make 
it  htrni."  The  law\-er  who  is  ambitious  to 
stand  high  in  his  profession  has  little  time  for 
extended  social  duties   or  literarv  research. 


He  cannot  yet  afford  to  forget  the  admonition 
of  the  old-time  judge,  that  he  who  would  be 
a  true  lawyer  must  "live  like  a  hermit  and 
work  like  a  horse."  Time  was  when  no  extra 
effort  was  needed  to  enable  him  to  rank 
among  the  few  cultured  men  of  his  locality. 
To  achieve  the  distinction  of  possessing 
especial  cu  tivation  nowadays  means  mental 
work  far  beyond  that  involved  in  the  routine 
of  professional  life.  Every  attorney  claims 
to  be  a  professional  man;  but  let  men  who 
are  lawyers  be  asked  what  they  do  for  a 
livelihood,  and  half  the  answers  will  be:  "I'm 
in  the  law  business."  To  a  considerable 
degree  the  old  ideas  that  have  surrounded 
it  as  one  of  the  learned  professions  are  pass- 
ing away.  Go  into  one  of  the  lower  courts 
of  a  city  and  see  the  men  who  represent 
the  bar  there.  Among  the  many  character- 
istics that  are  ascribed  to  an  ideal  old-school 
lawyer,  none  are  more  strikingly  absent  than 
those  which  indicate  culture  and  learning. 
These  men  are  in  the  "law  business."  More 
and  more  the  educated  business  man  makes 
the  successful  practitioner  of  law. 


THE    RAPID    GROWTH    OF    PUBLIC 

LIBRARIES 


HOW  GREAT  CENTRAL  LIBRARIES  ACT  AS  NEWS  CENTRES  FOR  BRANCH 
LIBRARIES,  TRAVELING  LIBRARIES,  HOME  DELIVERIES,  CLASS  ROOM 
LIBRARIES  AND  OTHER  SMALLER  DIVISIONS— THE  PROBLEMS  OF 
THE    LIBRARIAN— THE   EDUCATIONAL    VALUE    OF    LIBRARY    EXTENSION 

BY 

HELEN    F.    HAINES 


THE  free  public  library  represents  today 
one  of  the  most  interesting  social 
forces  at  work  in  American  life.  As 
yet  it  is  largely  a  potential  force,  but  it  is 
working  toward  the  development  of  a  national 
institution  as  distinctive  and  influential 
as  our  common  school  system. 

Ten  years  have  seen  the  beginning  and  the 
progress  of  this  development,  as  twent^'-six 
years  span  the  history  of  organized  library 
effort  and  fifty  years  cover  practically  the 
lifetime  of  the  free  library  maintained  by 
public  taxation.  The  last  five  j-ears,  indeed, 
count  for  most  of  all  in  their  remarkable 
record  of  endowments  and  gifts — so  largely 


the  result  of  Mr.  Carnegie's  "investments" 
in  library  futures — which  are  giving  to 
libraries  the  housing  and  equipment  that  will 
best  strengthen  and  extend  their  work.  In 
1 90 1  gifts  to  libraries  reached  a  value  of 
nearly  $20,000,000,  812,000,000  were  given 
for  the  first  half  of  1902,  while  still  more 
significant  in  its  bearing  on  the  future 
is  the  fact  that  with  each  year  an  increas- 
ing number  of  towns  and  cities  accept  the 
maintenance  of  a  public  library  as  a  proper 
municipal  charge. 

Formerly  the  people  who  cared  for  books 
were  supposed  to  seek  the  library,  and  others 
need  not  know  of  its  existence.     Today  the 


THE    RAl'Il)    GROWTH    OF    PUBLIC    LIBRARIES 


3087 


public  library  is  working  to  reach  the  people. 
There  are  many  and  ever-widening  channels 
through  which  the  library  is  ^reaching  out 
into  sections  of  the  community  hitherto 
untouched  by  its  influence.  Mohammed  has 
gone  to  the  mountain.  Through  branches  and 
delivery  stations  it  is  making  the  resources  of 
the  library  accessible  in  widely  separated  dis- 
tricts;  through  traveling  libraries  it  is  reaching 
small  groups  in  varied  fields — in  factories 
in  social  settlements,  in  fire-engine  and 
police  stations,  in  trolley  car  bams;  through 
class  room  libraries  it  is  reaching  the  great 
mass  of  public  school  teachers  and  pupils ; 
through  home  libraries  it  is  reaching  children 
that  it  could  not  influence  through  the 
schools,  while  back  of  all  these  channels 
stands  the  central  library,  with  its  special 
departments  for  reference,  for  circulation,  for 
children,  that  again  reach  out  each  in  a 
special  field. 

So  far  the  public  library  has  not  gone 
beyond  bringing  its  books  to  group  centres 
In  only  a  few  cases  has  it  carried  the  book 
directly  to  the  individual.  A  system  of 
"home  delivery"  has  been  adopted  in  one  01 
two  cities,  notably  Springfield  and  Somerville, 
Massachusetts,  but  it  has  been  regarded  else- 
where as  an  experiment  of  doubtful  expedi- 
ency. According  to  this  plan,  library  mes- 
sengers are  employed  who  make  weekly  calls 
upon  persons  desiring  the  home-delivery 
service,  receiving  books  that  are  to  be 
returned  and  delivering  books  previously 
ordered.  A  small  fee — at  Springfield,  one 
dollar  for  twelve  weeks'  service — is  paid  by 
the  borrower,  which  is  generally  only  suflficient 
to  defray  the  cost  of  the  messenger  service. 
At  Springfield,  besides  making  delivery  of 
books  ordered  from  the  library,  the  messen- 
gers carry  with  them  a  collection  of  some 
twenty-five  volumes  from  which  borrowers 
may  select  a  book  if  they  desire.  The 
principle  of  this  service  is  the  same  as  that 
upon  which  the  commercial  agency  of  the 
Booklovers'  Library — which  is  practically  an 
Americanized  Mudie  system  of  "home  de- 
livery"— has  been  developed.  The  service 
rendered  is  obviously  a  luxury  rather  than 
an  essential;  the  demand  supplied  is  in 
truth  mainly  for  entertainment  or  novelty; 
and  the  public  library,  as  a  State-supported 
educational  agency,  must  be  handicapped — 
and  properly — in  any  effort  to  contest  this 
field  with  a  commercial  competitor. 


In  the  larger  cities  public  library  organiza- 
tion now  follows  a  somewhat  uniform  system. 
There  is  a  main  building,  where  the  admin- 
istration is  centred,  which  is  the  general 
source  of  book  supply  and  where  study  and 
research  work  are  especially  fostered.  In 
this  central  building  may  be  found  a  depart- 
ment for  blind  readers  with  its  unwieldly 
volumes  in  raised  print,  a  draughting-room  for 
persons  desiring  to  work  on  patent  specifica- 
tions or  technical  designing,  a  photographic 
dark-room  for  the  reduction  of  manuscripts 
or  plans,  study  rooms  in  which  teachers  may 
have  books  reserved  for  the  use  of  their  pupils 
or  club  members  may  work  up  subjects  for 
debate,  besides  the  ordinary  departments 
and  the  various  executive  ofhces. 

The  interpretation  of  the  public  library's 
functions  that  these  varied  departments  im- 
ply is  so  recent  that  not  many  libraries 
yet  possess  all  these  features,  but  they  find 
representation  in  the  plans  of  most  of  the 
new  buildings.  The  great  central  build- 
ing of  the  New  York  Public  Library,  now 
being  built,  provides  for  these  departments 
and  many  others;  the  fine  building  of  the 
Providence  Public  Library  is  also  an  ex- 
cellent example  of  the  varied  equipment  of 
the  modern  library. 

Next  in  the  scheme  of  organization  come 
the  branch  libraries,  placed  in  widely  sepa- 
rated sections  of  the  city,  each  independent  in 
its  field,  but  dependent  upon  the  central 
library  for  supplies  and  under  its  supervision. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  three-quarters  of 
a  mile  is  the  average  limit  of  distance  that 
most  persons  will  go  to  read  or  borrow  books ; 
libraries  have  not  yet  been  dotted  at  three - 
quarters-of-a-mile  intervals  throughout  our 
cities,  but  the  branch  library  has  become  one 
of  the  most  important  elements  in  the  public 
library  system.  The  Boston  Public  Library 
has  ten  branches;  the  Philadelphia  Free 
Library  has  eight;  the  New  York  Public 
Library,  thirteen;  the  Carnegie  Library  of 
Pittsburg,  five ;  in  Brooklyn  there  are  eighteen 
branches,  as  yet  without  a  central  library. 
In  New  York,  Brooklyn,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati 
and  Detroit  the  gifts  of  Mr.  Carnegie  will 
provide  within  the  next  few  years  branch 
library  buildings  that  should  be  models  of 
convenience  and  equipment.  Branch  library 
plans,  however,  are  still  in  the  making,  and 
the  accepted  type  has  not  yet  fully  developed. 
But  its   characteristics  are   fairly  indicated 


3o88 


THE    RAPID    GROWTH    OF    PUBLIC    LIBRARIES 


in  recent  examples.  It  houses  a  permanent 
collection  of  not  more  than  35,000  volumes, 
most  of  which  are  freely  accessible  to  the 
public  on  "open  shelves  " ;  it  provides  for  refer- 
ence and  reading-room  use,  for  circulation  and 
for  children,  with  one  or  two  study  rooms  or 
alcoves;  generally  there  is  an  assembly  room 
or  auditorium  seating  from  300  to  500  persons. 
The  arrangement  is  the  simplest  possible, 
glass  partitions  making  supervision  possible 
for  the  least  number  of  attendants.  As 
a  rule,  all  pvu-chasing,  cataloging  and  classi- 
fying of  books  is  done  at  the  central  build- 
ing, so  that  little  space  for  the  machinery 
of  administration  is  reqmred  at  the  branch. 
Each  branch  is  the  centre  of  its  own  neigh- 
borhood circle,  as  the  main  library  is  the 
centre  of  the  whole  system;  it  is  intended 
to  become  a  meeting  place  for  lectures,  for 
clubs,  and  the  natural  resort  of  children  and 
teachers  for  help  in  school  work.  This  is 
the  theory  of  the  branch  library;  so  far  it  is 
mainly  in  the  formative  stage.  In  every  city 
conditions  and  practice  vary,  but  the  next 
few  years  will  see  so  great  a  development 
on  the  practical  side  that  more  imiformity  in 
methods  must  naturally  follow. 

Subsidiarj^  to  the  branches  are  the  agencies 
which  reach  still  smaller  groups  of  readers — 
delivery  stations,  traveling  libraries,  class 
room  and  home  libraries.  Delivery  stations, 
as  the  name  implies,  are  simply  places  where 
daily,  semiweekly  or  weekly  the  library 
receives  books  returned  and  delivers  books 
requested.  The  St.  Louis  Public  Library 
has  forty-eight  such  stations,  the  Chicago 
Public  Library  has  nearly  seventy,  the  Boston 
Public  Library,  twenty-one.  In  some  cases 
a  small  "deposit  collection"  is  also  main- 
tained, from  which  books  may  be  selected, 
and  often  a  delivery  station  has  been  the 
nucleus  of  a  branch.  Most  of  the  stations, 
however,  are  located  in  small  shops — drug 
stores  being  generally  chosen — the  library 
usually  paying  a  small  amount  for  the  attend- 
ance necessary. 

The  traveling  libraries  cover  a  wide  field. 
These  are  collections  from  twenty-five  to  fifty 
volumes,  often  specialized  on  given  subjects, 
which  are  sent  to  institutions,  societies  and 
other  places  where  they  may  be  kept  for  a 
given  period  and  exchanged.  The  New  York 
Public  Library  last  year  had  traveling 
libraries  in  circulation  at  district  telegraph 
stations  for  the  use  of  messenger  boys ;  at  the 


city  hospitals  on  Blackwell's  Island,  at  seven- 
teen public  schools,  twenty-one  public  school 
playgrounds,  six  public  vacation  schools, 
thirty  fire-engine  houses,  nine  Sunda}'  schools, 
at  college  settlements,  industrial  schools, 
small  clubs  and  missions.  In  Boston,  besides 
the  school  collections,  thirty-three  fire-engine 
houses  and  eight  city  institutions  are  supplied 
with  traveling  libraries.  The  Philadelphia 
Free  Library  has  more  than  a  hundred  such 
libraries,  the  Buffalo  Public  Library  has 
eighty-four,  and  St.  Louis  and  Pittsburg  are 
other  cities  where  the  distribution  of  books 
has  been  largely  extended  through  this 
agency;  while  the  Cincinnati  Public  Library 
sends  its  traveling  libraries  beyond  city 
limits  to  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Class  room  libraries  are  supplied  by  the 
public  library  for  school  use,  sometimes  for 
home  circulation  among  the  children  as  well 
as  for  use  in  school  hours.  The  collections 
range  in  size  from  twenty-five  voltunes  to  one 
hundred  or  more,  and  are  chosen  with  a  view 
to  their  relation  to  the  school  work  as  well 
as  to  the  tastes  and  ages  of  the  children 
generally.  They  may  be  exchanged  after  a 
given  time;  but  sometimes  they  are  intended 
for  permanent  use.  In  Pittsburg  forty-five 
schools  are  supplied  with  books  in  this  way, 
and  more  than  sixty  thousand  volumes  are 
circulated  during  the  year  from  the  school- 
room collections.  In  Buffalo  books  are  sent 
to  thirty-three  schools,  and  besides  the  class 
room  libraries  in  the  grammar  schools  a  daily 
exchange  and  delivery  service  is  maintained 
for  the  high  schools,  the  total  yearly  circula- 
tion of  books  through  the  schools  alone  reach- 
ing more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
volumes.  In  St.  Lotiis  the  schools  are  sup- 
plied on  the  traveling  library  plan,  boxes  of 
books  for  supplementary  reading  being  sent 
out  for  use  in  class,  each  box  containing  thirtv 
copies  of  the  same  book  for  lower  grades  and 
twenty-five  copies  for  upper  grades.  Indeed, 
the  traveling  librar\"  principle  prevails  so 
largely  in  all  these  extension  agencies  that  it 
is  difficult  to  make  clear  lines  of  distinction. 

Home  libraries  represent  a  different  sort  of 
work,  more  personal  in  its  aspect.  It  is  part 
of  the  effort  to  reach  those  most  remote  from 
the  library's  influence  and  to  make  books  a 
factor  in  what  is  practically  city  missionary 
work.  The  ■  home  library  seldom  exceeds 
twenty-five  volumes,  made  up  largely  of  fairy 
tales   and   children's   classics.     These   collec- 


THE    RAPID    GROWTH    OF    PUBLIC    LIBRARIES 


3089 


tions  are  kept — on  the  traveling  library  plan 
of  excliange  after  a  given  period — in  homes  in 
the  tenements  or  congested  sections  of  the 
city,  where  they  are  used  by  the  children  of 
the  neighborhood  and  often  form  the  nucleus 
of  little  reading  clubs.  They  are  generally 
in  charge  of  "library  visitors" — often  young 
women  interested  in  such  work  who  give  their 
service  out  of  interest  or  sympathy — who 
meet  the  children  on  certain  days  to  read 
aloud  and  talk  over  the  books  read.  The 
Carnegie  Library  of  Pittsburg  has  probably 
the  most  effective  system  of  home  libraries 
maintained  by  any  public  library.  It  includes 
thirty  home  library  groups  and  eleven  library 
clubs,  reaching  seven  hundred  children,  and 
is  under  the  direction  of  a  supervise^*  whose 
entire  time  is  given  to  the  work.  The  year's 
circulation  of  these  books  is  about  five 
thousand,  but  these  figures  indicate  less  than 
two-thirds  of  the  actual  use  of  the  books,  as  a 
book  frequently  makes  the  entire  circuit  of  a 
neighborhood  before  being  returned  to  the 
librarv.  One  book  was  read  in  this  way  by 
ten  different  families.  Often  when  no  library 
visitor  is  available  the  boy  or  girl  in  whose 
home  the  library  is  placed  undertakes  its 
entire  charge,  and  generally  with  a  weighty 
sense  of  responsibility.  The  libraries  are 
frequently  named  by  the  children  using  them, 
and  the  names  are  amusing  evidence  of 
patriotism,  literary  aspirations  or  the  proud 
leadership  of  some  member  of  the  circle. 
Among  the  twenty-seven  home  libraries 
maintained  last  year  by  the  New  York  Public 
Library  were  the  Columbus,  the  Washington, 
the  Nathan  Hale,  the  Roosevelt,  the  Celia 
Baxter  and  the  Alcott,  not  to  mention  the 
Abraham  Polsky,  the  Gertie  Walthers,  and 
like  personal  titles. 

It  is  evident  that  the  public  library  is 
developing  on  lines  that,  to  a  degree,  are 
paralleling  those  of  the  public  school  system. 
What  is  foreshadowed  for  the  larger  cities  is  a 
public  library  system  based  upon  a  central 
foundation,  with  subsidiary  centres  in  each 
district  section  of  the  city,  and  with  a  chain  of 
allied  agencies  reaching  out  from  the  library 
into  the  homes  of  the  people.  And  it  will 
need  and  will  get  parallel  support.  In  Boston 
the  city  appropriates  $300,000  yearly  for 
library  purposes,  and  in  New  York  City 
the  public  library  system,  when  in  full 
operation,  will  entail  an  expenditure  of  not 
less  than  $1,000,000  a  year. 


This  development  is  not  limited  to  the  large 
cities.  There  are  now  twenty-two  States  which 
maintain  special  commissions  or  departments 
for  the  improvement  or  development  of  public 
libraries — Colorado,  Connecticut,  Delaware, 
Georgia,  Idaho,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Maine, 
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, 
Nebraska,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey, 
New  York,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Vermont, 
Washington,  Wisconsin.  In  New  York  this 
work  is  carried  on  extensively  by  the  Public 
Libraries'  Division  of  the  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York.  In  the  other  States  the 
State  library  commission  is  a  special  board, 
generally  of  from  five  to  eight  members,  with 
a  yearly  appropriation  ranging  from  S500  to 
Si 0,000 — although  in  one  or  two  States  no 
appropriation  has  yet  been  granted,  and  the 
commission's  work  has  been  made  possible 
only  through  money  given  by  interested 
persons.  In  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Minnesota, 
Indiana  and  Nebraska  the  commissions 
have  had  especially  strong  influence  upon 
recent  library  development. 

Traveling  libraries  are  sent  out  to  clubs, 
granges  and  small  villages  throughout  the 
State,  officers  of  the  commission  visit  towns 
where  libraries  have  been  or  are  to  be 
started,  and  the  commission  office  is  a 
centre  for  advice  and  information  on 
library  buildings,  administration  and  main- 
tenance. In  most  of  these  States  the 
commissions  conduct  short  summer  sessions 
of  instruction  on  library  management  for 
the  librarians  o  the  State.  To  a  degree, 
also,  they  have  joined  forces,  and  publish 
in  cooperation  a  bulletin  devoted  to  library 
news  and  practical  advice,  'ists  of  books 
recommended  for  purchase  by  small  libraries, 
and  a  handbook  of  library  methods  and  sug- 
gestions. Their  influence  and  activity  have 
grown  to  a  remarkable  degree  within  the  past 
four  years,  and  they  represent  another  step 
in  the  formal  organization  of  public  library 
effort.  Again,  this  advance  is  to  be  observed 
in  the  growth  in  number  and  activity  of  State 
associations  of  librarians — now  existing  in 
twenty-two  States — and  in  the  very  recent 
development  of  librarians'  institutes,  con- 
ducted by  the  State  associations,  and  modeled 
upon  the  familiar  teachers'  institutes,  with  the 
purpose  of  improving  the  standard  of  service 
in  the  libraries  of  little  towns  and  villages. 
Add  to  these  various  agencies  the  individual 
work   and    influence   of  the   smallest   public 


3090 


THE    RAPID   GROWTH    OF    PUBLIC    LIBRARIES 


libraries,  most  of  which  are  coming  into  closer 
relations  with  their  communities  through 
some  of  the  means  previously  mentioned,  and 
it  will  be  seen  how  many  and  how  varied  are 
the  points  at  which  the  public  library  now 
comes  into  contact  with  the  life  of  the  people. 
There  are  many  definite  results  of  this 
library  growth.  One  of  them  is  the  effect  of 
the  public  library  upon  current  literature. 
Through  the  library  a  good  book  is  raised 
practically  to  the  rank  of  a  "standard"  with 
certainty  and  promptness.  There  is  an 
increasing  tendency  on  the  part  of  librarians 
to  limit  their  most  widely  circulated  collec- 
tions to  books  that  count  for  something  in 
literature,  and  to  supply  a  great  many  copies 
of  such  books.  Thus,  at  the  Boston  Public 
Library  it  is  recommended  that  five  hundred 
copies  at  a  time  be  purchased  of  the  Lang 
fairy  books,  which  are  alwaj-s  in  great  demand 
by  the  children.  There  is  a  less  pleasing  side 
to  this  in  the  tmdoubted  promotion  through 
public  libraries  of  superficial  books,  careless 
compilations  and  superfluous  popular  "series." 
It  is  taken  as  a  safe  rule  by  publishers  that 
'libraries  will  buy  them"  if  they  deal  with 
nature,  with  useful  arts,  with  pemmican 
biography  or  histon,',  or  with  anj'thing  practi- 
cal; and  libraries  do  buy  them,  in  quantities 
sufficient  to  justify  the  publishers'  confidence. 
Another  point  is  the  effect  of  the  free  access 
to  books  now  generally  granted  to  the  public 
in  small  libraries.  Even  in  the  large  libraries 
a  selection  of  from  two  thousand  to  ten  thou- 
sand volumes  is  made  freely  accessible  on  open 
shelves  for  readers  to  browse  over  and  select 
from,  and  in  many  branch  libraries  and  small 
pub'ic  libraries  the  entire  collection  is  thus 
accessible.  The  popularity  of  this  system 
and  its  broadening  effect  upon  the  reader 
have  so  far  outweighed  the  administrative 
disadvantage  of  theft  and  displacement  of 
books ;  but  one  result  of  its  general  acceptance 
must  be  to  set  up  harmlessness  rather  than 
merit  as  a  test  in  book  selection,  and  so  to 
weaken  the  library.  The  librarian  whose 
books  are  selected  for  the  indiscriminate 
examination  and  choice  of  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men  and  w^omen  of  all  ages  has 
brough'  home  to  him  the  question  of  a  book's 
moral  influence.  The  question  of  fiction  is 
a  vexing  one.  The  great  demand  of  readers 
is  for  fiction — story  books  for  the  children, 
novels  for  their  elders;  but  it  is  yet  to  be 
determined  how  large   a  proportion   of  the 


public  funds  the  public  library  is  justified  in 
expending  for  these  books.  Much  of  the 
great  literature  of  the  world  is  fiction,  but 
does  recognition  of  Scott  and  Thackeraj'  and 
Balzac  and  the  rest  warrant  the  public 
library  in  supplying  a  score  of  copies  of  the 
last  much-advertised  novel?  There  is  a 
growing  body  of  opinion  in  the  negative,  and 
in  seems  inevitable  that  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  public  librar}'  as  an  agency  of 
public  education  there  must  be  a  change  of 
policy  regarding  the  supply  of  current  fiction 
— a  supply  that  even  when  pushed  to  the 
limit  of  extravagance  can  never  correspond 
with  the  demand  of  all  who  want  to  read  the 
last  new  novel. 

The  influence  of  the  public  library  upon 
the  reading  habit,  upon  the  use  of  books, 
cannot  yet  be  fairly  judged.  Fifteen  years 
from  now  we  shall  have  a  basis  of  observa- 
tion, for  it  must  be  remembered  that  this 
development  of  book  distribution  through 
public  libraries  has  not  yet  lasted  for  one 
generation.  When  the  children  who  within 
the  last  six  years  have  been  brought  in  touch 
with  books  through  the  public  library  shall 
have  gained  maturity  we  can  better  estimate 
what  the  library  is  doing  for  the  State,  just  as 
we  are  only  now  beginning  to  measure  the 
effect  of  cheap  and  abundant  newspapers 
upon  the  popular  mind.  Cheap  newspapers, 
cheap  magazines,  the  immense  production  of 
cheap  printed  matter,  these  have  probably 
so  far  had  more  effect  than  the  public  library 
in  bringing  about  the  enormous  increase  in 
superficial  reading  and  the  thirst  for  speedy 
and  comprehensive  systems  of  self-culture. 
What  we  call  the  reading  habit  is,  to  a  very 
large  degree,  a  sort  of  mental  indulgence, 
disassociated  from  thinking,  involving  neither 
effort  nor  definite  result.  Yet  the  use  of 
books,  even  superficially,  leaves  a  sediment  of 
enlarged  interest  and  quickened  sensibilities. 
It  is  significant  that  almost  always  in  review- 
ing statistics  of  library  use  for  a  period  of  years 
there  is  evident  a  constant  improvemicnt  in 
the  quality  of  the  circulation,  and  a  still  more 
definite  gro-wth  in  the  use  of  books  for 
reference  use.  Here  is  the  best  test  of  the 
public  library's  usefulness.  It  is  as  it  secures 
the  reading  of  better  books,  rather  than  ot 
more  books,  as  it  becomes  a  means  to  sounder 
thought  and  saner  judgment,  that  it  will 
become  one  of  the  strongest  elements  in  the 
social  development  of  the  future. 


AN    ERA    OF    THRIFT    IN    THE    MIDDLE 

WEST 

MODERN  BUSINESS  METHODS  APPLIED  TO  FARMING  AND  CATTLE 
RAISING— THE  FARMER  NO  LONGER  AT  THE  MERCY  OF  THE  MIDDLE 
MAN  — GRAIN  TRANSP'ORMED  INTO  CATTLE  —  MECHANICAL  APPLI- 
ANCES   TO    FACILITATE    HANDLING    THE    CROPS— THE     NEW     FARMER 

BY 

CHARLES  MOREAU  HARGER 


ONE  day,  late  in  the  recent  autumn, 
a  half-dozen  farmers,  coming  fifteen 
miles,  drove  into  a  prairie  village 
with  heavy  loads  of  com.  They  went  to  the 
principal  elevator  and  asked  the  price. 

"Thirty  cents  a  bushel  today." 

"We  will  go  to  the  buyer  at  the  other  end 
of  the  town,"  said  the  spokesman. 

"It  will  do  you  no  good,"  was  the  reply, 
"  as  all  the  buyers  pay  the  same  price  here. " 

"Very  well,  we  will  go  home  and  send  our 
corn  to  market  on  foot." 

They  drove  back  fifteen  miles  and  unloaded 
the  corn  into  their  own  granaries,  to  be 
shipped  later  in  the  form  of  fat  cattle. 

Such  an  incident  would  have  been  impossi- 
ble ten  years  ago,  when  the  average  farmer 
was  compelled  to  take  what  was  offered  for 
his  crop.  But  two  things  have  worked  a 
transformation  in  the  grain-growing  portion 
of  the  West:  the  farmers  have  become  con- 
servative with  prosperity,  and  the  railroads 
have  widened  the  markets. 

Five  years  of  good  crops  in  the  West  have 
not  only  paid  debts  but  have  also  made  the 
farmer  capable  of  employing  business  methods. 
A  few  years  ago  a  settler  visited  town  only 
once  a  fortnight  or  once  a  month.  He  took 
home  with  him  the  county  papers,  the  few 
magazines  that  he  received  from  the  East, 
and  large  bundles  of  groceries  and  dry-goods. 
With  rural  delivery  and  rural  telephones  all 
that  is  past. 

One  morning  the  telephone  in  my  of!ice 
rang,  and  answering,  I  recognized  the  voice  of 
a  farmer  friend  living  a  dozen  miles  from  a 
railroad. 

"  I  see  in  the  Kansas  City  morning  papers," 
he  began,  "that  there  is  trouble  in  Venezuela. 
Is  there  anything  later.?" 


"  How  did  you  know  what  was  in  the  morn- 
ing papers?" 

"Oh,  we  get  them  from  the  carrier  every 
day." 

It  was  not  noon,  yet  he  had  been  in  touch 
with  the  world's  news  up  to  three  o'clock  that 
morning,  and  this  two  hundred  miles  west 
of  the  Missouri  River. 

Under  these  conditions  the  Western  farmer 
has  developed  an  independence  in  the  move- 
ment of  crops  disconcerting  to  the  market 
manipulators. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  the  farmer  hauled  his 
wheat  directly  from  the  threshing  machine  to 
the  railroad,  loaded  it  into  cars  and  hurriedly 
drew  his  money  for  it.  The  chances  were 
that  he  did  not  really  get  any  money,  for  the 
wheat  was  mortgaged  and  the  creditor  took 
the  proceeds.  With  his  corn  it  was  the  same. 
Dozens  of  loads  might  be  seen  waiting  at  any 
prairie  station,  taking  their  turns  in  heaping 
the  dealers'  yellow  pile.  That  is  seldom  seen 
in  these  days.  Even  the  wheat  is  rushed  to 
market  only  in  the  remoter  sections  and  in 
years  of  mammoth  crops.  The  millers  of  the 
West,  out  in  the  wheat  belt,  are  frequently 
hard  put  to  it  to  secure  enough  grain  for  their 
mills.  Elevators  are  at  times  empty,  and 
farmers  exhibit  a  strange  reluctance  to  dispose 
of  their  produce. 

One  of  the  first  things  the  farmers  of  the 
West  did,  after  they  had  harvested  one  or  two 
good  crops,  was  to  build  commodious  barns — 
great  red  structures,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
old  Pennsylvania  bams,  with  generous 
haymows  and  low  eaves.  They  are  the 
symbol  of  the  new  generation  and  the  new 
methods  in  Western  farming.  They  take 
the  place  of  the  pole-and-sod  sheds  that, 
formerlv    used    as    bams,    now    shelter    the 


I 


509>2 


AN    ERA    OF   THRIFT    IN    THE   MIDDLE   WEST 


implements  from  the  storms  of  the  prairie 
winter.  But  more  than  all,  in  their  bearing 
on  markets  and  crop  movements  they  have 
huge  bins  for  wheat  and  com,  and  their  hold- 
ings have  an  unexpected  influence  on  the 
markets  of  the  nation.  It  was  to  such  bams 
as  these  that  the  farmers  who  refused  to  sell 
their  grain  went  when  they  returned  home. 
They  could  await  the  events  of  the  market, 
their  own  masters,  subject  to  no  dealer's  will. 

A  striking  and  present  example  of  the 
modem  attitude  of  the  farmer  has  been  seen 
in  the  financial  history  of  the  West  during 
the  closing  six  months  of  1902.  The  wheat 
crop,  while  not  a  record-breaker,  was  a  full 
average  of  the  past  two  decades;  the  com 
crop  was  large.  Yet  the  Western  farmer, 
instead  of  filling  the  banks  with  money  from 
his  crops,  has  drawn  on  his  deposits,  increased 
his  loans,  bought  cattle,  and  rested  in  the 
calm  security  of  abundant  assets  to  make 
possible  the  profit  on  his  produce.  The  West 
has  been  drawing  on  the  East  for  money ; 
Western  banks  have  reached  the  limit  of  their 
loan  fund;  the  expansion  of  the  business 
operations  among  the  Western  farmers  has 
been  disconcerting  to  those  who  wished  a 
speedy  settlement. 

The  West  is  sending  its  grain  to  market 
"on  foot."  It  has  learned  that  the  secret 
of  profit  is  in  approaching  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible the  manufactured  product.  Sometimes 
it  is  not  possible.  Such  a  season  was  190 1-2. 
The  com  crop  of  the  West  was  ruined  by  the 
drought  of  summer  and  cattle-feeding  was 
abandoned.  The  ranch  owners,  having  no 
market,  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  packers. 
The  farmer  and  stock-feeder  were  idle,  and 
awaited  the  harvest  of  another  crop  of  maize. 
This  came  in  the  fall  of  1902.  At  once  there 
was  a  rush  to  fill  the  yards.  Estimates  place 
the  following  figures  on  the  number  of  cattle 
and  sheep  handled  in  the  feed-lots  of  the 
leading  corn-producing  States: 

Cattle  Sheep 

Kansas 700,000  500,000 

Nebraska 400,000  700,000 

Missouri 800,000  200,000 

Colorado 100,000  1 50,000 

Iowa 750,000  200,000 

Oklahoma 100,000  75,000 

These  figures  are  approximate:  no  one  can 
give  exact  statistics  on  an  industry  so  varied 
and  so  scattered.  The  amount  of  money 
invested  in  this  quantity  of  stock  is  enormous. 
The    cattle,    for    instance,    weigh   about    one 


thousand  pounds  when  they  go  into  the  yards, 
and  are  bought  for  about  four  cents  a  pound, 
or  forty  dollars  each.  The  sheep  sell  to 
feeders  for  at  least  two  dollars  a  head.  With 
these  millions  of  dollars  invested  in  live-stock, 
the  farmers  require  other  millions'  worth  of 
grain  and  "roughness,"  or  fodder,  to  make 
good  their  returns. 

Time  was  when  there  was  but  one  path  for 
Western  grain:  eastward  to  the  seaboard. 
Through  the  St.  Paul,  Omaha  and  Kansas 
City  gateways  passed  the  golden  harvest. 
At  the  height  of  the  season  it  was  impossible 
to  find  cars  for  the  grain,  and  wheat  was  piled 
by  the  tens  of  thousands  of  bushels  on  the 
open  plain  or  was  sheltered  by  circus  tents. 

That  day  has  passed  except  in  remote 
sections  and  under  unusual  conditions.  Grain 
goes  to  Europe  from  the  prairies  of  the  West 
through  three  principal  channels:  over  the 
rails  and  through  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  to 
the  same  destination  by  way  of  the  Lakes,  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  by  Southern  railways. 
The  latter,  though  of  recent  origin,  has  grown 
rapidly  in  importance.  New  ports  are  being 
opened,  new  lines  of  railroad  built,  and  the 
bond  of  interest  between  the  North  and  South 
of  the  Western  States  grows  closer  each 
season  through  the  interchange  of  commodi- 
ties. The  diffusion  of  crops  grows  more  easy 
and  rapid,  and  the  congestion  of  grain  in 
transit  will  soon  be  unknown.  A  return  of 
the  old-time  methods  would  derange  in  a 
week  the  carrying  trade  of  the  nation,  and 
grain  dealers  would  be  in  confusion. 

In  addition  to  greater  resources  and  larger 
plans,  the  Western  farmer  has  learned  some 
of  the  little  economies  of  this  age.  For 
instance,  early  settlers  hauled  their  wheat  to 
the  side  of  box  cars  on  the  sidings  or  to  one- 
story  warehouses.  They  were  then  involved 
in  the  slow  and  wearisome  task  of  shoveling 
their  loads,  perhaps  to  an  elevated  bin.  The 
grain  cars  had  a  capacity  of  only  20,000 
pounds,  and  a  truck  and  a  grain-box  were  used 
in  filling  them,  a  few  bushels  at  a  time  being 
wheeled  along  a  platform  to  the  track. 

Today  the  farmer  drives  upon  a  weighing 
platform;  the  rear  boards  of  the  wagon-box 
are  loosened,  while  the  weight  is  recorded  and 
a  sample  is  taken  out  for  testing;  the  whole 
wagon  tips;  the  red-brown  flood  descends, 
and  in  the  time  you  have  taken  to  read  this 
paragraph  the  farmer  and  his  team  are  ready 
to  start  for  home. 


TROLLKV    LINES    IN    A    RAILROAD    SYSTEM  3093 

Twenty-five  years  ago  the  transcontinental  The  wheat  fails  now — sometimes;  the  corn 
trains  were  halted  in  the  Smoky  Hill  Valley  withers  occasionally;  the  fruit  does  not 
of  central  Kansas  that  the  passengers  might  always  give  abundance;  but  no  one  sells  out 
admire  the  vast  wheat  fields.  Thousands  of  or  goes  back  "East"  on  those  accounts, 
acres,  reaching  to  the  far  horizon,  surprised  The  farmers  of  the  valley  sell  a  dozen  articles 
and  charmed  the  travelers.  It  was  a  realiza-  where  they  once  sold  one.  That  is  the  secret 
tion  of  their  dreams  of  agricultural  splendor,  of  the  West's  prosperity.  The  same  con- 
But  a  year  later  the  wheat  failed,  and  the  dition  exists  throughout  the  prairie  States, 
settlers,  having  no  other  resource,  increased  It  tends  to  stability  and  contentment.  Added, 
their  mortgages  or  went  "back  East  to  the  as  it  is,  to  the  effort  to  utilize  as  much  raw 
wife's  folks.  "  material  as  possible  on  the  farm,  and  to  avoid. 

Today,  in  that  same  valley,  on  the  spot  when  able,   selling  products  directly  to  the 

where  the  trains  halted,  one  may  stand  and  dealer  without  having  in  some  way  raised  them 

see  not  only  wheat  fields  (now  smaller  and  one  step  in  the  scale  of  value,  thus  receiving 

better  tilled),  but  alfalfa,  corn  land,  orchards,  double  pay  for  the  labor,  it  means  marked 

soy-beans,  millet,  kafir   corn,  and    pasture —  advancement    in    the    management    of    the 

not  to   mention   sleek   herds   of  milch   cows  Western    farmer's    possessions.      It    means 

whose    product    goes    each    morning   to    the  simply    that    the    vast    territory    somewhat 

yellow  creamery  in  the  distance,  there  to  be  vaguely  described  as  "the  Middle  West"  has 

minted  into  thirty-cent    butter  for   the  dis-  passed  from  pioneering  and  settlerhood  into 

tant  but  quickly  reached  New  York  market,  the  soberer  but  happier  stage  of  thrift. 


TROLLEY    LINES    IN    A    RAILROAD 

SYSTEM 

HOW  THE  TRUNK  LINES  ARE  ABSORBING  ELECTRIC  TRAFFIC— A 
GREAT  STREET  RAILWAY  SYSTEM,  ABSORBED  AND  EXTENDED  BY  THE 
BOSTON  &    MAINE    RAILROAD,    CONDUCTED    ON    RAILROAD  PRINCIPLES 

BY 

SYLVESTER    BAXTER 

r    ■    iHE    railroads     are    absorbing    trolley     traffic;   and   here   and  there  the   new  rivals 
lines.      In    the    recent     remarkable      carry  local  freight.     Now  the  railroads  appear 


1 


development  of  electric  traction  to  be  getting  their  second  wind.  If  they  are 
first  came  the  stage  of  local  consolidation,  not  winning  back  old  trafific,  they  are  getting 
in  which  all  city  street  railways  came  under  new  traffic  in  its  place.  The  enormous  sum- 
single  managements.  Then  came  rural  expan- *  mer  excursion  business  developed  by  the 
sion.  Large  sections  of  the  country  have  been  trolley  lines  in  New  England  helps  the  steam 
covered  by  networks  of  street  railways — in  lines  by  inducing  pleasure  trips  to  distant 
places  consolidated  into  great  independent  points,  w^hence  the  tourists,  after  several 
systems.  Next  railroads,  here  and  there,  hours  in  the  electrics,  return  by  train.  The 
began  to  utilize  electric  traction,  both  trolley  trolley  lines  are  thus  becoming  auxiliaries  to 
and  "third-rail,"  on  branches  with  heavy  the  trunk  lines,  operated  in  unison  with  them 
traffic.  In  all  these  early  stages  there  has  and  evidently  destined  to  absorption, 
been  a  sharp  antagonism  between  the  rail-  A  step  recently  taken  by  one  of  the  great 
roads  and  the  new  street  railways.  Profitable  systems  of  the  country,  the  Boston  &  Maine 
suburban  traffic  has  been  wrested  from  the  Railroad  Company,  is  the  first  decided  move- 
railroads,  and  in  certain  instances  the  rail-  ment  toward  such  unification.  This  company, 
roads  have  practically  been  driven  from  the  after  absorbing  more  than  half  the  railroad 
field.     They     have     lost     rural     interstation  mileage  of  New  England,  concluded  to  acquire 


3094 


TROLLEY    LINES    IN    A    RAILROAD    SYSTEM 


street  railway  traffic.  On  account  of  favorable 
legislation  they  began  in  New  Hampshire. 
A  law  enacted  in  1895  permitted  existing  rail- 
roads to  bioild  electric  street  railway  branches 
and  extensions.  At  the  same  time  street 
railways  were  given  the  right  of  eminent 
domain  in  securing  private  rights  of  way, 
allowing  short  cuts  across  lots.  Under  these 
provisions  the  Boston  &  Maine  undertook, 
about  two  years  ago,  the  construction  and 
operation  of  the  important  new  system  in  and 
about  Portsmouth,  and  extending  thence 
southward  to  Rye  and  Hampton  beaches. 

The  lessons  learned  from  this  experience 
have  just  been  applied  in  the  creation  of  a 
new  electric  division,  which  boldly  parallels 
the  company's  trunk  line  between  Concord 
and  Manchester  in  New  Hampshire,  using 
water  power  from  the  Merrimac  River.  It 
is  unlike  all  other  street  railways  in  the  bodily 
adoption  of  steam  railway  practice.  It  bears 
the  same  relation  to  the  entire  system  of  the 
compan}'  that  any  other  branch  or  division 
does,  although  at  the  same  time  it  is  a  street 
railway  in  every  essential. 

One  serious  objection  to  travel  by  the 
ordinary  electric  line  has  come  from  the  dis- 
comfort caused  by  bumping  along  over  the 
rough  roadbed.  This  is  one  of  the  prob- 
lems solved  by  the  entrance  of  a  steam  rail- 
way into  the  field.  The  expense  of  roadbed 
construction  as  substantial  as  that  of  a  steam 
line  has  been  regarded  as  prohibitory.  But 
for  the  whole  of  the  seventeen  miles  be- 
tween Concord  and  Manchester  the  line  was 
ballasted  as  thoroughly  as  the  best  of  steam 
railways.  The  highway  was  excavated  to  a 
depth  of  two  and  three  feet  and  fresh  clean 
gravel  was  put  down  in  place  of  the  inferior 
road  material.  The  expense  was  kept  down 
by  the  use  of  a  construction  train,  regularly 
equipped  with  dump  cars,  workmen's  cars 
and  steam  shovels.  Some  of  the  grades  were 
ten  per  cent.  As  these  were  too  heavy 
for  an  ordinary  locomotive,  a  geared  loco- 
motive, such  as  is  used  in  mountain  work  in 
the  Andes,  was  employed.  The  use  of  this 
train  on  the  streets  was  made  possible  by  the 
permission  of  the  local  authorities.  This 
reduced  the  cost  of  the  work  two-thirds. 
Under  the  right  of  eminent  domain  about 
one-third  of  the  line  was  built  outside  of  the 
highway  over  private  land — about  two  miles 
near  Manchester  and  three  miles  near  Concord. 

The  street  railwav  lines  of  Concord  have 


been  made  practically  a  portion  of  this  new 
electric  system.  The  law,  to  be  sure,  does 
not  yet  allow  steam  railway  companies  to 
acquire  and  operate  existing  street  railway 
lines — a  step  that  logically  follows  and  which 
naturally  will  next  be  taken  in  New  Hamp- 
shire and  other  States.  In  this  instance, 
however,  the  difficulty  has  been  met  by  secur- 
ing control  of  the  Concord  Street  Railway 
Company  through  personal  purchases  in  the 
names  of  certain  officials  of  the  Boston 
&  Maine.  The  lu-ban  railway  lines,  while 
remaining  legally  separate  under  a  distinct 
corporation,  are  operated  in  harmony  with 
the  Concord  &  Manchester  electric  division, 
with  the  same  officials  at  the  head  of  both. 

The  passenger  over  this  line  is  struck  by 
the  remarkably  smooth  running  of  the  car. 
The  jar  and  bumping  are  no  greater  than  on 
a  thoroughly  constructed  steam  line.  The 
ties,  laid  in  firm  ballast,  are  thoroughly 
tamped  into  place,  with  the  rails  spiked  hard 
thereto  ;  and  improved  tie-plates  are  used  at 
the  joints.  Much  continued  future  expense 
in  power  and  from  wear  and  tear  has  been 
averted  by  cuts  and  fills  as  heavy  as  on  the 
average  steam  railway  and  by  blasting  away 
ledges.  In  various  places  the  entire  highway 
has  thus  been  changed,  greatly  to  the  benefit 
of  ordinary  traffic.  With  heed  to  the  engineer- 
ing axiom  that  curves  in  railroading  are  a 
source  of  waste,  the  highway  was  relocated 
in  various  places  under  cooperation  with  the 
local  authorities.  In  one  place  a  tangent,  or 
perfectl}'  straight  piece  of  track,  6,000  feet 
long  was  thus  secured. 

To  prevent  racking  of  cars  and  to  permit 
greater  speed,  the  outer  rail  on  curves 
is  elevated,  as  on  steam  railways.  Near 
Concord,  where  the  line  departs  from  the 
highway  for  a  mile  or  more,  the  Hookset 
branch  of  the  trunk  line  is  paralleled,  and  it 
is  seen  how  the  electric  construction  bears 
comparison  with  the  steam  railway.  To 
avoid  a  new  bridge,  the  electric  line  crosses 
the  Merrimac  near  Garvin's  Falls  by  the 
regular  railroad  bridge.  Danger  of  accidents 
through  a  common  use^of  the  same  track  by 
both  electric  cars  and  steam  trains  is  avoided 
by  the  use  of  an  interlocking  signal  system 
with  derailing  switches.  Another  feature  in 
bridges  is  at  a  crossing  of  the  steam  tracks  in 
Concord.  Here  the  highway  bridge,  being 
deficient  both  in  width  and  strength,  has  been 
paralleled  by  a  bridge  for  the  trolley  line. 


TROLLEY    LINES    IN     A    RAILROAD    SWSIKM 


CLIMBING  A   STKEP  GRADE   AT   FULL   SPEED   ON   A   STONE-BALLASTED    PRIVATE   RIGHT  OF   WAV 


In  street-railway  management  it  is  a  com- 
mon practice  to  wait  until  a  given  length 
of  track  is  in  really  bad  condition  and  then 
reconstruct  it.  Here,  however,  three  gangs 
of  section  men  are  at  work  throughout  the 
year  keeping  the  road-bed  and  track  up  to 
the  standard  just  as  on  steam  lines. 

Devices  for  preventing  the  slipping  of  the 
trolley  by  all  possible  strengthening  of  the 
supports  and  by  increasing  the  flexibility  of 
the  trolley  wire  at  points  of  exceptional  ten- 
sion have  been  provided.  A  telephone  circuit 
covers  the  entire  line,  with  telephones  at  every 
siding  and  at  all  important  points.  The  cars, 
built  from  plans  of  the  company's  master  car- 
builder,  are  de.:igned  upon  steam  railway 
lines — heavier  than  in  usual  street-railway 
practice  for  the  sake  of  greater  stability, 
smoother  running  and  higher  speed.  The 
use  of  "trailers"  in  street-railway  work — cars 
without  motors  drawn  by  motor  cars,  as  a 
railway  train  is  drawn  by  a  locomotive — 
very  common  in  the  early  stages  of  electric 
railway  development,  is  now  seldom  resorted 
to,  for  the  difficulty  of  making  quick  stops 
makes  the  practice  dangerous ;  but  on  this  line 
the  system  of  running  cars  in  trains  when 
traffic  is  heavy  is  made  possible  by  employing 
the  multiple  system  of  control  used  on  the 
electric  elevated  lines  in  Chicago  and  New 
York  and  the  elevated  and  subway  lines  in 


Boston.  By  this  system  the  motor  and  air 
brakes  of  each  car  are  controlled  by  a  single 
motorman  at  the  head  of  the  train,  just  as 
the  engineer  on  the  locomotive  controls  his 
train,  with  the  difference  that,  with  independ- 
ent motive  power  existing  on  every  car 
there  is  an  extraordinary  promptness  in  start- 
ing, stopping  and  attaining  maximum  speed. 
This  is  a  new  departure  for  street-railway 
work,  vasth'  increasing  efficiency. 

In  the  operation  of  the  system  punctuality 
was  difficult  to  introduce.  Employees  were 
not  easy  to  impress  with  the  importance  of 
running  the  cars  on  time.  But  the  people 
along  the  line  are  now  said  to  regulate  their 
watches  and  clocks  by  the  running  of  the  cars. 
Various  steam-railway  rules  are  bodily 
adopted.  An  official  watch  inspector  regu- 
lates the  watches  of  standard  make  carried  by 
conductors  and  niotormen.  There  is  a  com- 
plete system  of  train  despatching  by  telephone. 
If  a  car  chances  to  be  delayed  more  than  two 
minutes  at  a  siding,  the  conductor  is  required 
to  call  for  instructions  from  the  despatcher. 
Motorman  and  conductor  are  held  jointly 
responsible,  as  in  the  case  of  engineer  and 
conductor  on  steam  lines.  Therefore  the  con- 
ductor has  to  repeat  his  instructions  to  the 
motorman  before  leaving  the  telephone  post 
so  that  in  case  of  doubt  the  despatcher  may 
be  consulted  immediatelv  bv  him  also. 


3096 


TROLLEY    LINES    IN    A    RAILROAD    SYSTEM 


THL    FIRST    FOUR-CAR   TRULi^hV     TRAIN 


Instead  of  the  "  peg-and-hole "  method  of 
despatching  in  use  on  some  street  railways, 
the  system  adopted  here,  that  of  "plotting," 
is  the  same  as  on  steam  lines.  Paper  ruled 
in  squares  is  used.  Light  lines  form  squares 
within  those  formed  by  heavy  lines.  The 
heavy  vertical  lines  represent  the  hours  and 
their  larger  fractions;  the  heavy  horizontal 
lines  the  sidings.  The  progress  of  a  car  from 
Manchester  to  Concord,  both  in  time  and  dis- 
tance, is  represented  by  a  line  in  an  upward 


SETTING   THE   SWITCHES   AND   SEMAPHORES   FROM 
THE  SIGNAL  TOWER 


slope  from  the  bottom  to  the  right.  The  car 
starting  from  Manchester  to  Concord  is 
depicted  in  its  progress  by  a  similar  plotting, 
beginning  on  the  same  vertical  line,  and  run- 
ning in  a  downward  slope.  The  crossing  of 
the  two  courses  denotes  the  exact  place  and 
time  where  the  cars  meet.  The  plotting  for 
the  whole  day  gives,  in  a  lattice-like  series  of 
lines,  the  history  of  the  day's  car  movement, 
with  lie  time  and  place  of  every  crossing. 
The  -  lit  of  this  is  the  adoption  of  regular 
"car-runs"  corresponding  to  the  regular 
trains  of  a  steam  line.  This  in  turn  has 
solved  the  problem  of  handling  extra  cars — 
the  cause  of  some  of  the  most  disastrous 
trolley  line  accidents  both  East  and  West  in 
the  past  year.  Where  the  motorman  is 
expected  to  tell  the  other  motorman  met  at 
a  siding  about  other  cars  that  are  coming,  the 
fallibility  of  the  human  memory  is  likely  to 
lead  to  serious  consequences. 

The  device  of  target-signals  on  the  cars  by 
day  and  colored  lanterns  by  night  corre- 
sponds to  the  flags  and  lights  carried  by  a  , 
locomotive  and  serves  the  same  purposes. 
A  green  target  or  light  tells  that  the  section 
behind  is  clear,  and  red  indicates  that  another 
car  is  following.  The  absence  of  any  signals 
means  danger.  Extra  cars  are  thus  run  as 
sections  of  a  given  regular  car-run.  A  car 
that  chances  to  be  delayed  loses  its  regular 
run  and  becomes  a  section  of  the  following 
run.  So  there  are  never  any  cars  "running 
wild,"  as  in  ordinary  practice. 


TROLLEY    LINES    IN    A    RAILROAD    SYSTEM 


3097 


A   TYPICAL  CAR   LEAVING   CONCORD 

All  this  has  made  possible  a  system  of  time- 
tables that  gives  the  exact  time  when  each 
car  leaves  every  important  point.  The  wait- 
ing passenger  knows  just  when  to  expect  his 
car,  just  as  if  waiting  at  a  station  for  a  rail- 
way train.  This  is  a  vast  improvement  over 
the  ordinary  puzzling  street-railway  time- 
table which  is  appreciated  by  travelers. 

Another  exceptional  feature  is  the  fully 
equipped  general  passenger  agency  in  charge 
of  the  company's  assistant  passenger  agent  at 
Concord.  For  fares  on  the  railway,  coupons 
that  correspond  to  railroad  tickets  are  used. 
For  instance,  in  case  of  a  trip  involving  the 
payment  of  four  five-cent  fares,  trolley  line 
practice  calls  for  the  collection  of  four  nickels 
at  four  successive  intervals,  often  to  the 
annoyance  and  confusion  of  the  passenger. 
Here  the  whole  amount  is  collected  at  once, 
and  coupons  to  represent  each  interval  are 
given  and  kept  in  sight  as  in  case  of  a  con- 


A   NEW     BRIDGE,  SHOWING    HEAVY    RAILROAD 
EQUIPMENT 

ductor's  check  on  the  steam  cars — one  coupon 
being  taken  up  at  each  fare-limit.  Much 
trouble  for  passenger,  conductor  and  company 
is  thus  very  agreeably  avoided. 

In  the  general  passenger  agency  special 
attention  is  given  to  the  development  of 
business,  just  as  with  steam  railways.  Track 
is  kept  of  all  important  public  gatherings, 
the  meetings  of  all  sorts  of  organizations,  local 
and  general,  church  festivals  and  the  like, 
and  for  these  occasions  extra  car  service  is 
offered.  Traffic  is  built  up  in  every  way. 
On  the  day  of  President  Roosevelt's  visit  to 
Concord — a  citv  of  about  20,000  inhabitants 


I 


THE  TROLLEY   LINE   CLEARED   FOR  A   STEAM   TRAIN 


3098 


TROLLEY    LINES    IN    A    RAILROAD    SYSTEM 


A  CLEAR  RUN  THROUGH  THE  COUXTRV 

— 25,000  fares  were  rung  in,  but  no  blockades 
occurred  and  not  a  car  was  late. 

Great  pains  are  taken  to  select  good  men 
and  encourage  faithful  and  permanent  service. 
Instead  of  punishment  by  suspension,  as  is 
customary  with  the  average  street  railway,  the 
men  are  dealt  with  in  the  ways  prevailing 
on  all  other  parts  of  the  Boston  &  Maine 
system.  The  practice  of  "record  marking" 
is  that  in  use  on  steam  railroads  generally. 


A  record  is  kept  of  every  man,  and  infractions 
of  rules  are  denoted  bj^  graded  marks.  If  a 
inan  falls  below  a  certain  rating  he  loses  his 
place.  But  a  man  has  the  right  to  inspect  his 
own  record  at  any  time,  and  may  claim  a  hear- 
ing on  any  marking.  The  mark  is  removed 
and  the  record  cleared  if  the  circumstances 
are  satisfactorily  explained.  The  annual 
examination  for  the  men  takes  the  record 
duly  into  consideration.  This  examination 
covers  not  onh^  the  conduct  of  employees 
under  the  rules,  but  a  determination  of  physi- 
cal condition,  including  a  test  for  color- 
blindness, and  is  extremely  thorough. 

This  important  experiment  is  significant  of 
progress  in  various  ways:  superior  efficiency 
in  public  service;  advantage  to  the  railway 
company  b}^  an  enlargement  of  its  scope 
through  the  addition  of  an  important  field  of 
operations;  advantage  to  municipalities  by 
improved  conditions  of  the  highways;  and 
advantage  to  employees  through  subjection 
to  superior  methods  of  discipline,  organiza- 
tion and  systematized  promotion. 


THE  TRACK   IN    GOOD   CONDITION   IN   THE   SUBURBS  OF   CONCORD,   NEW   HAMPSHIRE 


PRESIDENT    LUCIUS    TUTTLE 

OF    THE    BOSTON    AND    MAINE    RAILROAD 


CLEARING  A   PLOT   FOR   PLANTING 
Hacking  away  the  underbrush  with  machetes 


GROWING   CUBAN    TOBACCO    IN    THE 

UNITED    STATES 

SUCCESSFUL  EXPERIMENTS  IX  PRODUCING  CUBAN  LEAF  IN  TEXAS 
AND  OHIO— THE  METHODS  EMPLOYED  IN  CUBA  — A  WHOLE 
FAMILY  AVORKING  DAY  AND  NIGHT  ON  A  SMALL  PLOT  OF 
GROUND— CAN    WE     COMPETE     WITH     CUBA      IN     THE     INDUSTRY? 

BY 

MARRION    WILCOX 


SEED   PLOT   IN   THE 
VUELTA    ABA  JO 


MEANWHILE," 
said  Don 
Domingo, 
who  had  taken  us  over 
one  of  his  plantations 
and  through  one  of  his 
factories  that  morning, 
"meanwhile,  for  our 
solace,  here  are  some  of 
the  best  cigars  in  the 
world." 

As  the  ordinary  cigars 
are  somewhat  longer 
than  a  finger,  so  those 
he  laid  on  the  table 
were  somewhat  shorter 
than  a  forearm;  they 
were  black  as  coals.     In 


an  hour  or  two  the  fire  would  creep  that 
portentous  distance  with  the  help  of  but 
a  little  puffing;  and  in  their  smoke,  for 
all  its  pungency,  there  was  the  fugitive 
odor  of  roses.  We  had  watched  him 
as  he  chose,  one  by  one,  these  formidable 
things  among  hundreds  that  his  workmen 
reckoned  perfect  products  of  their  skill, 
rejecting  the  others  on  account  of  some  slight 
imperfections  that  his  trained  sense  detected. 

"Infinite  care,"  said  he,  "is  required  to 
cultivate  this  leaf,  and  artistic  delicacy  of 
treatment  and  handling  at  every  stage  of 
production.  It  will  not  be  easy  to  find  labor 
equal  to  ours  for  this  particular  industry  in 
any  other  country.  "  ' 

We  liad  been  talking  as  we  lunched  together 
less  than  a  year  ago — half  a  dozen  men — at  a 


GROWING  CUBAN   TOliACCO  IN    1  1 1  1-:  INl'lKD  STATES         ^loi 


PULLING   THE   SEEDLINGS   FOR   TRANSPLANTING 


table  placed  in  the  garden  of  "The  Delights, " 
bordering  on  the  Vuelta  Abajo. 

"Besides,"  Don  Domingo  continued,  "our 
peculiar  Cuban  soil  and  climate  are  indis- 
pensable for  the  growth  of  the  finest  tobacco. 
When  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture  in 
Washington  consulted  me  about  his  plans 
for  growing  tobacco  equal  to  the  Cuban  leaf 
in  the  States,  I  said  to  him:  'We  Cubans  can- 
not raise  fine  tobacco  except  in  certain 
restricted  areas.  The  products  of  other 
parts  of  the  island  remain  hopelessly  inferior. 


Even  in  adjoining  fields  nature  produces 
different  qualities.  How,  then,  should  you 
in  America,  where  soil  and  climate  are  totally 
dififerent  from  ours,  expect  to  approximate 
the  Vuelta  Abajo  leaf?'  It  is  a  question  of 
climate  and  soil. " 

"Soil  merely,"  it  was  objected;  "or,  if  a 
warm  and  moist  atmosphere  is  also  neces- 
sary, that  can  be  produced  artificially,  as  in 
the  successful  experiments  with  shade-grown 
Sumatra  tobacco  in  the  Connecticut  Valley." 

"  But  the  soil  of  Pinar  del  Rio  province  is 


"  *  ^Y^  '•> '  / 

Jjl^^ 

-fc-* 

«S6lMik.    .    fti 

'^•fad" 

^HBIt:'*^^-*     '•-     ^^     '  Tv"' 

f  ^         ^t'                            ^M 

T^^ 

s  :■ 

W^ 

'~'~'>'^  - 

ff^ 

1       ,, 

tv 

A  A 

VS  '4ito'^ 

iM 

r^*                \ 

A 

uT 

M 

m  w 

tf 

1                 ■ 

1 

¥> 

A 

JMj^  m 

V' 

c 

1 

A 

f*-;^ 

'I^V  ^ 

1 

r' 

1 

'  \, 

T    ■                                                                    "". 

*   N 

4 

< 

-^ 
r 

',»                                                                               ' 

PLANTING   THE   SEEDLINGS 
"  For  work  in  the  field  antiquated  >vooden  plows  are  still  used  " 


3I02        GROWING  CUBAN  TOBACCO  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


SEARCHING    FOR   TOBACCO    WORMS 
Each  leaf  must  be  examined  frequently 


■unique,"  said  Don  Domingo.  "Until  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washington 
finds  a  Vuelta  Abajo  in  the  United  States  it 
can  make  no  headway." 

Now  the  report  of  Secretary  Wilson,  pub- 
lished on  December  4,  1902,  contains  this 
businesslike  statement : 


"  A  conference  has  been  held  in  Washington 
recently  by  the  tobacco  experts  of  the  Department 
to  consider  the  general  situation  and  to  advise  as  to 
the  methods  to  be  pursued  during  next  season, 
especially  in  Ohio  and  Texas.  Arrangements  have 
been  made  for  experimentation  during  the  coming 
crop  season,  with  good  prospects  of  producing  fine 
filler  tobacco  in  these  two  States.  Leaf  lias  been 
grown  tliat  cannot  be  distinguished  from  the  imported 
Cuban  when  properly  fermented." 


PREPARING  THE   TOBACCO    FOR   SELECTION 
"  The  neglect  of  growers  to  sort  the  leaves  adds  to  the  peiplexity  " 


GROWING  CUBAN  TOJiACCO  IN   TlIK  UNITED  STATES 


3'03 


MAKING   "CARROTS" 
Putting  up  the  tobacco  for  baling 


The  Department  of  Agriculture,  in  other 
words,  has  already  found  soil  in  two  widely 
separated  States  that  is  suitable  for  the  pro- 
duction of  good  Cuban  tobacco.  Has  it, 
then,  discovered  a  new  Vuelta  Abajo  ? 

This  much,  at  any  rate,  is  clear:  recog- 
nizing in  tobacco  grown  in  Texas  exceptional 
qualities  contained  only  in  occasional  leaves, 
to  which  the  main  crop  was  decidedly 
inferior,  the  Bureau  of  Soils  sent  repre- 
sentatives to  eastern  Texas,  who,  after 
this    year's    work,    rejjort    that    they    have 


located  the  soil-type  and  have  found  the 
desired  leaf  under  conditions  which  indicate 
that  large  quantities  can  be  produced  of 
uniformly  high  grade.  Only  a  small  amount 
of  leaf  which  could  be  fermented  has  been 
grown  this  year,  but  samples  have  been  sub- 
mitted to  dealers  and  brokers  in  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  and  these  authorities  now 
admit  that  the  leaf  is  a  Cuban  leaf  with  the 
characteristic  aroma. 

Most  of  the  land  that  will  produce  the  leaf  is 
still  in  forest.     The  Department  will  send  two 


BALING   THK   "CARROTS"    FOR   SHIPMENT 
Each  bale,  costing  for  production  between  $50  and  $62,  will  yield  3,000  cigars 


3I04       GROWING  CUBAN  TOBACCO  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


"  STRIPPING  "   TOBACCO 
Separating  it  into  individual  leaves 


parties  to  Texas  at  once  to  survey  the  area, 
and  will  enlarge  the  party  of  experts  in  order 
to  grow  fifteen  or  twenty  acres  of  tobacco. 
The  Department  will  then  have  all  necessary 
information  in  regard  to  methods  of  growing, 
curing,  fermenting  and  packing — details  very 
essential  to  the  commercial  success  of  the 
industry  wherever  instituted. 

The  Department  representatives  were  em- 
ployed last  year  at  Willis,  Texas;  at  present 
they  are  at  Woodville  and  Nacogdoches  in 
the  same  State,  and  they  have  made  favor- 
able reports  of  observations  as  far  south  as 
Liberty.  The  area  thus  roughly  defined  is 
larger  than  all  the  fine  tobacco-growing 
districts  in  Cuba  combined. 

And  now,  if  the  new  industry  is  developed, 


what    can    be  learned    from  Cuban  methods 
and  Cuban  mistakes? 

In  Cuba  a  clearing  on  some  sunny  hill- 
side is  used  for  a  seed-plot  to  secure  a  natural 
hotbed  for  the  seedlings ;  but  the  growers  err 
by  taking  seeds  from  inferior  third-growi;h 
plants,  which,  unsuitable  for  cigars,  have  been 
allowed  to  ripen  their  seeds.  The  result  is  a 
gradual  degeneration,  with  such  diminution 
of  individual  plants  that  their  aromatic 
brown  leaves,  when  they  reach  the  hands  of 
the  escojadorcs,  have  sometimes  seemed  des- 
tined to  share  the  fate  of  their  dwarfed 
yellow  Turkish  cousins.  To  check  this  degen- 
eration, strong  fertilizers  have  occasionally 
been  used  in  such  large  quantities  that  the 
leaves,    while   regaining  their   lost    size,   lost 


WETTING   THE  TOBACCO   TO   MAKE   IT  READY   FOR  CIGARS 


GROWING  CUBAN  TObACCO    IN  THE  UNITED  STATES         3105 


'IN  THE  LARGE  ROOM   WHERE   MEN   AND   BOYS  ARE   SEATED   AT   TABLES   MAKING   CIGARS" 


their  fine  qualities  also.  Scientific  selection  of 
the  seeds  would  certainly  improve  the  crops. 

For  work  in  the  fields  antiquated  wooden 
plows  are  still  used.  Indeed,  it  is  related 
that  during  the  war  Cuban  refugees  essayed 
tobacco  cultivation  in  Florida,  only  to  dis- 
cover that  they  were  outclassed  by  the 
American  farmers.  Their  failure  they  ascribed 
to  the  malign  influence  of  the  modern  steel 
plows  and  to  the  American  mule.  "Give  us 
back  our  6Mrro5  and  Cuban  plows  !  .  .  .  " 
The  fact  is  that  the  Cubans  of  today  have  not 
studied  their  own  methods.  Unreasoning, 
they  carry  on  what  their  fathers  have  taught 
them.  The  cost  of  production  might  be  con- 
siderably reduced  by  modern  devices. 

The  precious  tobacco  land  is  cultivated  in 
small  farms — an  arrangement  that  seems 
necessary  to  those  who  employ  only  primitive 


methods  of  destroying  insect  life.  Don 
Domingo  would  tell  us  that  a  native  family 
cannot  take  care  of  more  than  a  small  field. 
Moreover,  the  labor  of  the  entire  family  is 
required,  for  work  goes  on  day  and  night. 
Every  leaf  must  be  examined  frequently  and 
kept  from  the  tobacco  caterpillar.  The  wife 
and  children  must  aid  the  adult  male  laborer, 
taking  turns  throughout  the  twenty-four 
hours.  And  at  the  end  of  a  season  of  such 
days  the  family's  aggregate  earnings,  repre- 
sented in  the  value  the  crop  has  in  excess  of 
rent,  may  be  $500.  "Certainly  on  a  large 
scale  there  might  be  great  economies;  but 
on  a  large  scale,  to  exercise  the  care  our 
laborers  take — it  is  impossible!"  Secretary 
Wilson's  comment  on  the  small  tobacco 
farms  in  Cuba,  apropos  of  the  raising  of 
Cuban  tobacco  in  Texas    was:     "Americans 


PUTTING   THE   BANDS   ON   CIGARS 


3io6       GROWING  CUBAN  TOBACCO  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


will  not  sit  up  all  night  to  pick  caterpillars 
off  tobacco  leaves.  They  will  spray  them  by 
machinery." 

The  neglect  of  the  Cuban  growers  to  sort 
the  leaves  adds  to  the  difficulty  in  the 
process  of  manufacture.  Again,  in  the  large 
room  where  one  or  two  hundred  men  and 
boys  sat  at  tables  making  cigars,  until  quite 
recently  the  windows  were  always  closed. 
The  old  idea  was  that  fresh  air  would 
carry  away  part  of  the  flavor  and  scent  of  the 
tobacco;  a  draught,  too,  might  scatter  the 
light  leaves  laid  in  order  on  the  long  working- 
tables.    The  government  of  intervention,  how- 


year  1900.  for  example,  Cuba  sent  to  us  only 
40,000,000  cigars,  while  the  United  States 
produced  5,800,000,000.  Yet  we  know  very 
well — now,  when  two  years  have  passed — 
that  quality  wins,  as  usual. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Wash- 
ington wishes  to  learn  by  experiment  whether 
it  can  aid  our  planters  and  manufacturers 
to  secure  quality  as  well  as  quantity. 

The  experiment  just  begun  does  not  divert 
to  new  uses  lands  that  are  already  productive ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  to  be  made  in  a  region 
that  has  not  yet  been  cleared  of  forest  trees. 
The   probable   increase   in   the   value   of  the 


b 

h' 

t^r^i 

^-- 

m 

■ 

1 

ITPICAL   SMALL   CUBAN    FARMS 
One  family  cultivates  each  plot 


ever,  ordered  a  year  ago  that  such  windows 
should  be  opened  at  the  top,  and  conditions 
now  are  better.  If  the  experiments  in  Texas 
and  Ohio  are  to  be  successful,  the  Cuban 
errors  must  be  avoided;  and  we  should 
remember,  also,  while  noticing  certain  imper- 
fections in  Cul)an  methods,  that  the  island's 
distinctive  industry  is  on  the  whole  well 
conducted,  and  so  firmly  established  that 
competition  will  at  first  be  difficult. 

Preeminence  in  the  production  of  fine 
cigars  has  hitherto  seemed  to  be  the  monopolv 
of  the    Cubans   beyond    all  dispute.     In  the 


lands  in  eastern  Texas  may,  therefore,  be 
regarded  as  an  unforeseen  addition  to  the 
national  wealth.  For  it  is  customary  to  say 
that  Vuelta  Abajo  lands  are  not  for  sale  at 
any  price.  In  the  best  districts,  such  as 
San  Luis,  province  of  Pinar  del  Rio  and 
San  Juan  y  Martinez,  one  cahalleria  (equal 
to  thirty-three  and  one-third  acres)  of  land 
prepared  for  planting  rents  for  S800  a  year. 
In  districts  which,  though  uncommonly 
fertile,  produce  less  approved  grades,  the 
rental  of  one  caballeria  varies  between  $400 
and  S500  a  year. 


HERBERT*  SPKNCER,   1S84 


HERBERT  SPENCER,  ABOUT   1S65 


PhotogrAphed  by  Barrnuds 


Photographed  by  John  Watkins 


HERBERT    SPENCER 


BY 


GEORGE    ILES 


DERBY,  in  the  heart  of  England,  is 
today  a  stirring  town  of  loo.ooo 
inhabitants,  thanks  to  the  Midland 
Railway,  which  has  its  headquarters  there. 
In  1820  the  population  was  scarcely  one- 
fifth  as  much  as  now,  for  all  that  Derby  dates 
back  to  the  Roman  occupation  and  lies  on 
the  highway  from  London  to  the  north. 
There  dwelt  in  Derby  in  1820  a  schoolmaster 
of  ability  and  notable  independence  of  char- 
acter, William  George  Spencer,  whose  father 
before  him  had  been  a  teacher.  His  own 
powers  of  eliciting  the  thought  of  his  pupils 
find  a  remarkable  record  in  his  "Inventional 
Geometry,"  a  little  book  widely  in  favor 
among  English  and  American  teachers  to  this 
day.  Mr.  Spencer  also  devised  a  system  of 
lucid  shorthand  which  is  deemed  meritorious 
by  judges  familiar  with  systems  of  world- 
wide acceptance. 

To  this  man,  who  retained  comeliness  and 
vigor  to  his  old  age.  a  single  child  was  born. 


Herbert,  who  came  into  the  world  on  April  27, 
1820.  His  education  proceeded  slowly  and 
on  unconventional  lines,  first  at  the  hands  of 
his  father,  and  afterward  under  the  direction 
of  his  uncle.  Rev.  Thomas  Spencer,  Curate  of 
Hinton  Charterhouse,  near  Bath.  At  seven- 
teen Herbert  took  up  railway  engineering,  a 
profession  which  he  followed  for  eight  or  nine 
years,  until  the  crash  in  railway  enterprises 
forced  him  out  of  work.  He  had,  at  twentv- 
two,  written  for  the  Xon-conjormist  a  series 
of  articles  on  the  proper  sphere  of  govern- 
ment. This  opened  to  him  a  career  as  a 
writer,  and  in  London  for  four  years,  begin- 
ning with  1848,  he  was  a  sub-editor  of  the 
Economist.  In  1850  Thornton  Hunt,  a  son  of 
Leigh  Hunt,  and  George  Henry  Lewes  estab- 
lished the  Leader,  a  weekly  journal,  to  which 
Spencer  contributed.  Another  contributor, 
recalling  those  far-ofif  days,  thus  describes  him : 

"  He  had  a  ruddy  complexion  and  gave  one  the 
impression  of  being  a  young  country  gentleman  of 


3io8 


HERBERT    SPENCER 


I       tographed  by  G.  A.  Fawkes 

THE  HOUSE  IN  WHICH  HERBERT  SPENCER  WAS  BORN 

27  Exeter  Street,  Derby 

the  Sporting  farmer  class.  When  discussion  arose 
his  manner  was  earnest,  and  he  argued  as  a  man 
who  had  carefully  thought  out  his  convictions. 
Despite  his  vigorous  look,  he  had  even  then  misgiv- 
ings about  his  health.  On  Friday  nights,  just  before 
the  publication  of  the  Leader,  we  had  at  the  office 
eleven  o'clock  teas.  George  Eliot,  who  at  that  time 
lived  at  Chapman's,  the  bookseller's,  near  by  in 
the  Strand,  was  sometimes  with  us.  Spencer,  like 
herself,  occasionally  read  final  proofs.  At  these 
informal  parties  we  usually  had  Thornton  Hunt, 


William  James  Linton,  the    engraver,  and   Lewes, 
who  was  first  presented  to  George  Eliot  by  Spencer." 

In  1850  appeared  the  first  of  Spencer's 
books,  "Social  Statics,"  which  contained  in 
embryo  much  of  the  poHtical  philosophy  of 
his  subsequent  writings.  His  second  work, 
the  "Principles  of  Psychology,"  was  pub- 
lished in  1855.  In  1852  he  began  the  series 
of  essays  w^hich  many  critics  regard  as  his 
best  work.  The  third  of  them  was  an  argu- 
ment for  the  development  hypothesis,  of 
striking  power  and  originality.  Still  more 
remarkable  was  the  article  on  "Progress:  Its 
Law  and  Cause,"  which  appeared  in  the 
Westminster  Review  in  1857,  maintaining  for 
the  first  time  as  it  does  that  evolution  is  a  uni- 
versal process.  This  conviction  had  struck  so 
deeply  into  Spencer's  mind  as  to  prove  the 
turning  point  in  his  career.  When,  in  1858,  he 
planned  his  Sjmthetic  Philosoph}^  it  was  with 
evolution  as  its  keynote.  In  that  Philosophy 
he  duly  incorporated  the  Psychology  of  1855. 
In  1896,  after  thirty-six  years'  labor,  the 
author  came  to  the  end  of  his  task,  and 
a  noble  monument  it  is  of  original  and 
constructive  thought,  of  a  purpose  coura- 
geously carried  to  success  despite  poverty, 
ill  health  and  the  prolonged  withholding 
of  public  recognition. 

From  an  authoritative  source  some  account 
of  the  author  and  his  methods  is  here  for  the ! 
first  time  published. 

When  the  portraits  of  Herbert  Spencer  are] 
compared  with  those  of  his  father  and  mother, 
it  is  easv  to  see  that  the  mold   and  structure  j 


Copyright  by    Ernest  H.  Mills.  London 
THE   PARADE,  BRIGHTON,  IMMEDIATELY   IN    FRONT  OF   HERBERT   SPENCER'S    HOUSE 


HERBERT   SPENCER 

HE  ELEADS  WITHOUT   GLASSES  AT  EIGHTY-ONE 


Copyrighted  by  Ernest  H.  Mills,  London 


3IIO 


HERBERT    SPENCER 


of  his  face  were  from  his  father,  coming  out 
with  new  strength  in  the  son.  From  his 
mother  were  derived  the  long  upper  hp  and 
the  distinctive  expression  of  the  features. 
For  her  he  had  a  strong  affection ;  his  grief  at 
her  death  was  profound.  During  her  last 
long  illness  Spencer  devised  for  her  a  bed 
which  moved  in  any  direction  at  a  touch.  In 
other  ways  he  has  shown  inventive  talent. 
When  a  young  man  he  constructed  a  veloci- 
meter  to  indicate  the  speed  of  locomotives. 
Long  before  Francis  Galton  produced  com- 
posite photographs,  Spencer  suggested  the 
idea  and  pointed  out  its  value.  In  early  life 
he  was  a  capital  draughtsman  and  attained 
some  facility  as  a  painter  in  water-colors. 
He  had  as  a  young  man  a  strong  bass  voice 
of  good  timbre,  and  used  to  sing  in  part 
music  until  ill  health  forbade  the  exertion. 

When  he  began  the  composition  of  ""  First 
Principles"  in  i860  he  adopted  the  practice 
of  dictating  to  an  amanuensis.  He  was 
spending  the  summer  by  the  shore  of  a 
Scottish  loch.     His  habit  was  to  dictate  for  a 


quarter  of  an  hour,  tlien  row  for  an  equal 
period  with  the  object  of  so  stimulating  the  cir- 
culation of  the  blood  as  to  carry  him  through 
another  fifteen  minutes'  dictation,  and  so  on 
throughout  the  forenoon.  Xeither  then  nor 
afterward  did  he  work  in  the  afternoon. 
Ten  years  later,  at  times  when  his  health  fell 
to  a  low  ebb,  he  would  go  to  a  racket  court  in 
the  north  of  London,  play  with  the  man  in 
charge,  and  dictate  in  the  intervals  of  the 
game.  One  of  the  most  abstruse  portions  of 
his  Psychology,  the  argument  for  Transfigured 
Realism,  was  composed  under  these  un- 
promising circumstances.  His  usual  pro- 
gramme as  he  wrote  the  volumes  of  the 
"Synthetic  Philosophy'"  was  to  leave  his 
liouse  soon  after  nine  in  the  morning  and 
direct  his  steps  to  Kensington  Gardens. 
There  he  walked  until  nearly  ten  o'clock,  his 
head  slightly  bent,  his  pace  somewhat  rapid, 
his  mind  evidently  in  meditation.  Yet  he 
was  never  too  absorbed  to  greet  a  passing 
acquaintance  with  a  winning  smile.  Regularh' 
at  ten  o'clock  he  appeared  in  his  workroom 


HERBERT  SPENCER  AT  EIGHTY-ONE 
At  home,  sitting  overlooking  the  sea 


Copj-righted  by  Ernest  H.  Mills,  London 


HERBERT    SPENCER 


3111 


in  Leinster  Place,  a  retreat  known  to  hardly 
any  one,  and  sacred  against  intrusion.  He  first 
dictated  his  correspondence,  often  rebelling 
at  its  onerous  demands.  Then  he  turned  to 
his  systematic  work,  soon  rising  to  the  full 
tide  of  dictation;  usually  he  went  on  without 
a  break  till  close  on  one  o'clock,  when  he 
hurried  away  to  luncheon.  If  his  health  was 
out  of  order,  he  would  stop  abruptly  at  any 
moment  and  leave  the  house,  saying  that  his 
head  felt  quesr.  When  fairly  well  he  would 
smoke  half  a  cigar,  finding  that  it  promoted 
the  flow  of  thought.  His  light-blue  eyes,  as 
he  reflected,  had  the  thinker's  far-away  look. 
The  dictation  was  continuous ;  there  were  no 
interruptions  and  only  brief  pauses.  The 
panorama  of  thought  unwound  itself  slowly 
and  apparently  without  an  effort.  He  seldom, 
in  resuming  his  task,  needed  to  be  reminded 
of  the  last  word  spoken,  and  he  never  changed 
his  calm,  sitting  position  in  front  of  the  grate. 
Never  did  he  patch,  reconstruct  or  begin 
again.  The  matter  seemed  to  have  long  been 
familiar  to  him,  and  only  to  be  taking  its  final 
shape  before  his  eyes.  Now  and  then  a 
brilliant  thought  would  flash  suddenly  upon 
him.  Thus  the  felicitous  antithesis  in  his 
"Sociology"  of  the  religion  of  amity  and  the 
religion  of  enmity  was  a  surprise  to  himself, 
and  so  was  his  declaration  that  his  works  are 
not  only  caviat  to  the  many  but  caviar  to 
the  few.  He  rarely  used  notes.  At  the 
end  of  a  week  or  two's  dictation  he  would 
begin  revising  his  pages.  His  sole  objects 
were  greater  conciseness  and  precision  of 
language.  There  was  much  substitution  of 
short  phrases  for  long  ones,  but  there  were  no 
wholesale  excisions  and  few  additions.  His 
works  might  have  been  printed  from  his 
dictated  manuscripts  and  shown  no  other 
defects  than  redundancies.  Considering  the 
difficulty  of  his  subjects,  the  solidity  of  the 
matter  and  his  finish  of  style  and  treatment, 
his  rate  of  composition  was  not  slow.  On 
good  mornings  he  would  produce  1,000  words. 
This  was  reduced  by  the  time  occupied  in 
revision,  the  arrangement  of  materials  and 
relapses  into  ill  health  to  a  daily  average  for 
the  year  of  330  words.  In  1879,  when  he  was 
recovering  from  a  serious  illness,  sitting  under 
the  trees  of  Kensington  Gardens,  he  dictated 
his  autobiography  to  an  amanuensis. 

Spencer  has  never  been  much  of  a  reader: 
he  was  wont  to  say  that  if  he  were  to  read  as 
[■much  as  other  people  he  would  know  as  little 


as  they.  He  has  never  bought  many  books, 
nor  borrowed  from  circulating  libraries  or 
other  sources,  and  yet  he  has  managed  to 
accumulate  enormous  stores  of  knowledge. 
He  read  but  little  in  the  forenoon,  and  he 
dared  not  read  at  all  in  the  evening  through 
dread  of  insomnia,  but  for  all  that  he  seemed 
to  miss  nothing  in  print  that  bore  on  his  work. 
Almost  all  his  reading  must  have  taken  place 
at  odd  moments,  just  after  breakfast,  after 
luncheon,  and  in  the  afternoons  regularly 
passed  at  the  Atheneum  Club.  A  little  time 
went  a  long  way  with  him :  five  minutes  over 
an  article,  half  an  hour  over  a  book,  availed 
him  as  much  as  half  an  hour  or  half  a  day  to 
another  man.  Much  was  communicated  to 
him  by  friends  of  eminence  in  science,  who 
took  pride  in  placing  their  information  at  his 
service.  Among  these  were  Huxley,  Tyndall 
and  Hooker.  Huxley  read  and  revised  the 
manuscripts  of  "First  Principles  "  and  "The 
Principles  of  Biology. "  Early  in  life  Spencer 
mastered  the  art  of  putting  questions,  and  his 
unswerving  devotion  to  a  single  task  kept  his 
mind  ever  focused,  so  that  every  new  fact  or 
suggestion  at  once  found  its  place  in  his 
thought.  His  memory  is  strong  for  facts  and 
principles  and  weak  for  words ;  he  could  never 
quote  correctly  poetry  of  any  length.  He 
has  the  faculty  of  divination  which  Augustin 
Thierry  admired  in  Walter  Scott.  The  blank 
forms  of  knowledge  were  ever  in  his  mind, 
ready  to  be  filled  up  by  long-considered  inquiry. 
He  knew  well  how  to  make  his  assistants  render 
him  the  utmost  aid  in  gathering  data,  so  as  to 
spare  himself  for  the  organizing  work  he  alone 
could  do.  He  would  ask  an  assistant  whether 
such-and-such  a  series  of  facts  was  to  be 
found  in  history,  with  the  events  of  which 
he  had  hardly  any  acquaintance.  The  man 
might  be  an  indifferent  researcher  and  not  at 
once  discover  the  facts  required ;  but  he  always 
discovered  them  eventually.  Spencer  has  a 
keen  eye  for  a  hint  that  an  ordinary  thinker 
would  not  notice.  In  his  "Sociology"  he 
sets  forth  his  ghost  theory  of  the  origin  of 
religion — the  theory  that  a  ghostly  double  was 
suggested  to  primitive  man  by  his  dreams 
and  swoons,  by  apoplexy,  catalepsy  and 
ecstasy,  and  that  thence  have  proceeded 
beliefs  in  spirits,  in  another  life,  and  in  deities. 
The  suggestion  of  all  this  came  to  Spencer  in 
Robert  Southey's  "History  of  Brazil."  In 
the  first  volume  of  that  work,  page  237,  the 
author  says  of  the  Tupis  of  Brazil :     "  Tupa  is 


3II2 


HERBERT    SPENCER 


their  word  for  Father,  for  the  Supreme  Being, 
for  thunder;  it  passed  by  an  easy  process 
from  the  first  of  these  meanings  to  the  last, 
and  the  barbarous  vanity  of  some  tribes 
compounded  from  it  a  name  for  themselves. 
In  these  words  their  whole  theolog\'  is  at  once 
comprised  and  explained.  They  addressed 
no  prayers  to  this  xmiversal  parent ;  he  was 
neither  the  object  of  hope  nor  of  fear.  Their 
diabolism  was  rooted  deeper :  dreams,  shadows, 
the  nightmare  and  delirium  had  generated 
superstitions  which  a  set  of  knaves  systema- 
tized and  strengthened."  A  theory  of  ani- 
mism, which  has  much  in  common  with  the 
ghost  theory  of  Spencer,  is  elaborated  in 
Edward  B.'  Tylor's  "Primitive  Culture." 
Both  authors  worked  independently  and  in 
ignorance  of  each  other's  results  until  the 
publication  of  Spencer's  "Sociology.'."  A 
singular  adumbration  of  the  theory  of  Spencer 
w-as  set  forth  by  Thomas  Hobbes  as  long 
ago  as  1 651,  in  the  forty-fifth  chapter 
of  his  "  Leviathan,"  in  which  he  treats  of 
Demonology. 

Spencer's  knowledge  of  literature  is  not 
extensive.  He  is  familiar  with  Shakespeare 
and  Scott.  He  has  a  hearty  admiration  for 
' '  Tristram  Shandy, ' '  and  dislikes  the  coarseness 
of  Fielding;  he  regards  the  "Autocrat  of  the 
Breakfast  Table  "  as  a  gem.  He  liked  William 
Black's  short  stories  as  they  were  read  to  him 
during  a  convalescence,  and  relished  the  sharp 
skits  of  Grenville  Murray's  memoirs.  All  that 
he  has  taught  in  his  "  Ethics  "  he  has  exempli- 
fied in  his  life.  His  business  engagements, 
under  whatever  stress  of  ill  health  or  early 
penury,  were  always  strictly  fulfilled.  For 
more  than  forty  years  he  has  been,  in  a 
manner,  his  own  printer,  engraver,  book- 
binder and  publisher.  Everybody  who  has 
dealt  with  him  in  these  various  interests 
testifies  that  he  is  a  just  and  generous  man. 
As  in  business  relations,  so  also  in  those  of 
society.  While  on  the  committee  of  the 
Atheneum  Club  he  constantly  fought  for  the 
admission  of  men  of  science  and  of  letters 
who  had  made  their  mark  as  against  official 
personages  of  more  notoriety.  At  the  London 
Library  he  showed  equal  courage  in  with- 
standing, and  successfully,  the  dictation  of 
a  peer  eminent  for  little  else  than  his  rank. 

Naturally  of  a  robust  build,  he  preserved 
his  bodih^  vigor  till  past  sixty:  it  was  in  1884 
that  he  became  unable  to  take  his  accustomed 
long  walks.     In  that  year  he  began  to  drive 


to  the  Atheneum  Club  in  the  afternoons, 
instead  of  walking  across  the  parks  as 
formerly.  His  cerebral  strength  had  given 
way  many  years  before.  In  1855  he 
resided  at  Pentonville,  absorbed  in  writing 
his  "Psychology-."  He  had  then  few  acquaint- 
ances, had  joined  no  club,  and  was  left  much 
to  himself.  He  could  not  shake  off  the 
obsession  of  his  subject ;  his  thoughts  haunted 
him  by  night  as  well  as  by  da}'.  Ever  since 
he  has  been  a  sufferer  from  insomnia,  and  for 
eighteen  months  after  the  completion  of  his 
book  he  could  do  nothing.  Then,  in  his 
impatience,  he  one  day  resumed  work,  to 
discover,  as  George  Sand  and  others  in  like 
case  had  done,  that  his  strength  gradually 
came  back  to  him.  He  slowly  regained  vigor 
enough  to  accomplish  a  large  amount  of  toil, 
but  never  with  perfect  security:  it  was  always 
touch  and  go  with  him.  At  such  times  he 
threw  up  his  work  and  hurried  away  to  his 
native  Derby,  or  to  Brighton  or  Tunbridge 
Wells.  There  he  went  about  killing  time  as 
best  he  could,  feeling  thoroughly  bored  and 
miserable.  In  three  or  four  weeks  he  would 
return,  apparently  restored,  and  without  an 
effort  take  up  his  work  at  the  point  where  he 
had  dropped  it;  in  a  moment  the  bow  of 
Ulysses  was  bent  as  easily  as  ever.  As  time 
went  on  these  relapses  grew  less  frequent, 
and  at  the  end  of  fifteen  years'  work  on  the 
"Synthetic  Philosophy"  he  found  himself, 
in  1875,  in  much  better  health  than  when  he 
began.  In  1897  he  underwent  a  serious 
collapse,  followed  two  3''ears  later  by  a 
marvelous  restoration,  attributed  to  the  use 
of  meat  cooked  in  a  particular  way.  This 
rejuvenescence  disposes  him  to  believe  that 
nervous  troubles  may  be  assuaged  with 
advancing  years. 

When  Spencer  visited  America  in  1882  his 
address  to  his  friends  at  Delmonico's  was  a 
chapter  from  his  gospel  of  relaxation  and 
rest.  This  was  drawn  from  personal  experi- 
ence. In  early  life  he  was  told  by  his  physician 
that  his  health  would  never  improve  while  he 
worked  so  hard  and  lived  alone  in  lodgings. 
From  the  sixties  onward  he  resided  in  a 
boarding-house  at  37  Queen's  Gardens,  one 
of  the  best  neighborhoods  of  Bayswater. 
His  recreations  now  became  varied  and  of 
inestimable  benefit.  When  lawn  tennis  was 
revived  he  took  it  up  eagerly;  he  was  always 
ready  to  join  a  picnic  or  an  excursion,  when 
he  was  as  active  and  sportful  as  the  youngest. 


HERBERT    SPENCER 


3"3 


He  often  went  to  the  theatres  and  the  opera, 
visually  in  company  with  friends.  He  set  much 
store  by  his  annual  outing  in  Perthshire  or 
Argyleshirc,  where  he  fished  for  salmon  with 
the  tlioroughncss  which  went  into  everything 
that  he  did.  His  flics  were  always  of  his  own 
design.  Indoors,  when  in  London,  to  get 
through  the  long,  dull  evenings  when  he  had 
no  engagement,  he  played  whist  at  first  and 
then  billiards,  at  which  his  game  was  steady 
rather  than  brilliant.  He  often  dined  out, 
less  from  choice  than  for  distraction  from 
toil.  As  a  capital  talker  he  was  much  in 
request.  An  audacious  lady  once  sought 
him  for  a  dance;  he  told  her  that  he  did 
not  dance  nor  did  he  care  to  be  a  wallflower. 
Never  has  philosopher  had  more  warm 
friends  than  Spencer.  To  the  Derby  friends 
of  his  youth  he  was  attached  to  the  last.  One 
of  them,  Mr.  Edwin  Lott,  a  banker,  who  died 
some  years  ago,  was  his  companion  during 
his  American  tour  in  1882.  In  London  his 
first  associates  and  friends  were  Doctor  John 
Chapman,  the  editor  and  publisher;  Marian 
Evans,  whom  he  persuaded  to  become  a 
novelist;  and  her  husband,  George  Henry 
Lewes.  Afterward  came  the  friendships  with 
Huxley  and  Tyndall.  With  Huxley  the 
feeling  was  chiefly  a  matter  of  mutual  intel- 
lectual respect ;  in  the  late  fifties  the  two  had 
long  walks  together,  vigorously  debating  the 
new  phases  of  the  development  theory. 
With  Tyndall  the  connection  was  more 
emotional  and  less  intellectual  than  with 
Huxley,  although  Spencer's  uncompromising 
Radicalism  often  collided  with  the  Irishman's 
Orange-tinted  Conservatism.  To  all  his 
friends  Spencer  was  loyal  to  the  bone.  When 
Sir  Joseph  Hooker  fell  out  w^ith  the  Minister 
of  Works  in  the  Gladstone  administration  of 
1868-74,  he  organized  the  scientific  resistance 
which  left  the  great  botanist  in  possession  of 
the  field.  In  America  Spencer  had  many 
devoted  friends.  First  and  chief  of  these  was 
Doctor  Edward  L.  Youmans,  his  most 
enthusiastic  and  helpful  disciple.  When 
he  projected  the  "  International  Scientific 
Series,"  he  induced  Spencer  to  write  for  it 
the  "Study  of  Sociology,"  suggesting  how 
the  subject  might  be  treated.  That  volume 
remains  the  most  readable  of  Spencer's  many 
books,  and  one  of  the  most  instructive.  John 
Fiske,  who  later  oa  based  his  "Cosmic 
Philosophy"  on  Spencer's  system,  gave  his 
master  firm  and  unfaltering  support. 


One  of  the  earliest  honors  paid  the  philos- 
opher was  also  the  most  picturesque.  About 
1870  the  late  Sir  Julius  Haast,  the  explorer, 
l)cstowcd  Spencer's  name  on  a  grand  range  of 
mountains  which  buttress  the  western  coast  of 
New  Zealand.  The  next  distinction  was  one 
which  when  offered  to  Emerson  was  by  him 
considered  the  choicest  of  his  life.  In  1872, 
or  thereabouts,  a  committee  of  students  of 
St.  Andrews,  the  oldest  university  in  Scotland, 
proposed  to  elect  Spencer  as  their  Lord  Rector. 
One  of  the  leading  professors,  Thomas  Spencer 
Baynes,  believed  that  had  he  consented  to 
stand  he  would  have  been  elected.  But 
Spencer  dreaded  the  ordeal  of  delivering  the 
customary  address  and  declined  the  nomina- 
tion. The  senatus  of  the  university  then 
proffered  him  the  degree  of  LL.D.  He 
replied  that  had  such  a  distinction  been 
offered  him  when  he  was  young  and  struggling 
for  recognition  it  might  have  aided  him;  now 
that  he  had  made  his  mark  and  gained  a  hear- 
ing he  no  longer  needed  it.  The  university 
showed  that  it  took  the  rebuke  to  heart ;  some 
of  its  own  rising  members  soon  afterward 
received  degrees.  Many  years  later  the 
University  of  Cambridge  offered  him  an  LL.D. 
It  was  declined.  When  Sir  Joseph  Hooker 
was  president  of  the  Royal  Society  he  wished 
to  honor  his  presidency  by  having  Spencer 
elected  a  fellow,  but  he  would  not  agree.  The 
X  Club  long  nominated  the  presidents  of  the 
British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  and  proposed  to  appoint  him  presi- 
dent, but  he  shrank  from  the  excitement. 
When,  in  1878,  he  visited  the  Exhibition  in 
Paris,  he  was  publicly  entertained  by  a  com- 
pany of  professors  and  deputies,  responding 
in  an  interesting  speech.  One  of  his  latest 
•tributes  came  from  far-away  Australia.  His 
friends  there,  in  1900,  sent  him  congratula- 
tions on  his  eightieth  birthday;  he  responded 
in  terms  which  lack  nothing  of  his  w^onted 
power  of  terse,  vigorous  expression. 

About  ten  years  ago  Spencer  removed 
to  Brighton.  His  present  house  is  5  Percival 
Terrace,  facing  the  sea  in  a  charming  situation. 
He  takes  carriage  drives  in  good  weather,  but 
his  failing  health  permits  him  to  see  few 
visitors  and  then  only  for  short  periods.  Yet 
when  friends  converse  with  him  they  are 
surprised  and  astonished  as  well  as  pleased 
at  his  vigor  and  alertness  of  mind.  A  presen 
tation  bust  of  himself  occupies  a  place  of 
honor  in  his  house.     It  is  a  speaking  likeness. 


I 


WHAT  WE  CAN    LEARN    FROM  GERMAN 

BUSINESS    METHODS 

STRANGE  CONTRASTS  BETWEEN  OLD  BUSINESS  CUSTOMS  AND 
NEW— FEATURES  OF  COMPANY  FORMATION  AND  MANAGEMENT 
—  CHARACTERISTIC      TRAITS      IN     BUSINESS —GERMAN     TRUSTS 

BY 

LOUIS    J.    MAGEE 


WHEN  an  American  visits  the  offices 
of  a  great  banking  or  industrial 
corporation  in  Germany  he  finds 
frugality,  hard  work,  great  energy  and  dis- 
cipline side  by  side  with  wastefulness,  disorder, 
lack  of  interest  and  bureaucratic  red  tape. 
He  sees  hard-headed,  practical  men,  well- 
informed,  international  and  shrewd,  dealing 
often  in  much  empty  formality,  narrowness 
and  childish  self-conceit.  He  sees,  along  with 
modem  time-saving  methods,  an  accumula- 
tion of  useless,  antiquated  detail. 

The  visitor  receives  almost  invariably  a 
courteous  reception.  The  more  important 
members  of  the  staff  usually  have  separate, 
comfortably  furnished  offices,  especially  in 
banks.  The  separate  room  system  is  carried 
out  even  for  clerks  and  calculators.  The 
German  makes  a  point  of  devoting  himself 
entirely  to  the  visitor  he  receives.  I  know 
of  an  official  who  has  an  electric  knob  under 
his  desk  which  he  presses  with  his  foot  when 
he  thinks  that  he  has  given  all  the  time 
that  might  be  expected  to  a  tedious  visitor. 
The  office  boy,  in  whose  room  this  special 
bell  rings,  appears  and  announces  a  board 
meeting,  and  the  visitor  takes  his  leave.  A 
number  of  daily  papers  in  various  languages 
are  kept  on  file  in  the  waiting-room  for  the 
convenience  of  visitors.  This  question  of 
languages  enters  largely  in  Europe  into  the 
daily  routine.  The  Germans  are  good,  prac- 
tical linguists,  and  all  the  more  important 
clerks  as  well  as  the  managers  speak  French 
and  English. 

The  office  opens  usually  at  8:30  or  9  o'clock 
and  closes  at  about  6:30,  with  a  pause  of  two 
hours  from  i  to  3  o'clock.  Many  business 
men  dine  with  their  families  at  about  2  o'clock 
and  sleep  afterward.  A  new  start  is  taken 
late  in  the  day,  and  much  hard  work  is  done 
even    up    to    7    or    8    o'clock.     Some    bank 


officials  work  from  10  to  5  and  later,  with 
only  a  short  pause  for  luncheon.  In  London 
and  Paris  the  evening  mails  close  early,  and 
late  letters  are  subject  to  a  fine;  but  the  post 
leaves  Berlin  and  other  large  cities  in  Germany 
between  9:30  and  midnight,  thus  tempting 
one  to  save  a  day  by  writing  late  letters. 
The  pause  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  during 
which  outdoor  sport  is,  of  course,  impossible, 
is  opposed,  especially  by  the  younger  element. 
Some  of  the  business  men  ride  in  the  parks 
early  in  the  morning,  but  office-workers  as  a 
rule  have  no  opportunity  for  outdoor  exercise. 

In  some  firms  where  there  are  a  number 
of  managing  directors  and  important  heads 
of  departments  it  is  customary  to  meet  in 
conference  and  discuss  the  contents  of  the 
mail  at  a  fixed  hour  every  morning.  Some 
concerns  register  all  incoming  letters,  with 
number,  name  and  place  of  sender,  date  and 
short  note  of  contents,  so  that  the  letter  may 
be  easily  traced  if  it  goes  astray  or  remains 
unanswered.  Elaborate  systems  have  been 
worked  out  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  the 
promptness  with  which  letters  are  acted  upon 
and  replied  to.  Several  systems  of  modem 
letter  files  are  in  tise,  but  the  German,  espe- 
cially in  technical  offices,  has  great  preference 
for  the  old-fashioned  method  of  clamping  or 
pasting  a  letter  which  has  been  settled  into  a 
pasteboard  cover  or  folder,  with  a  copy  of  the 
reply.  Letters  ready  to  be  signed  are  placed 
in  books  made  of  colored  blotting-paper,  the 
leaves  having  two  or  three  holes  punched 
through  the  book.  One  sees  through  the 
holes  whether  there  are  more  letters  to  sign. 
Card  catalogues  are  gradually  coming  into 
use,  but  it  is  difficult  to  interest  clerks  in  their 
applications. 

In  the  management  of  a  company  there  are 
usually  several  "directors"  or  managers 
(England    "Managing   Directors"),   one   per- 


GERMAN    BUSINESS    METHODS 


3"5 


haps  who  has  the  bookkeeping  departments, 
another  who  looks  after  the  factory  affairs, 
and  a  third  who  is  chiefly  interested  in 
tlie  details  of  general  finance  operations, 
where  more  or  less  intricate  negotiation  is 
necessary.  No  matter  how  these  directors 
may  divide  the  work  among  themselves,  they 
are  as  a  body  responsible  for  the  management 
of  the  company.  In  some  companies,  espe- 
cially where  the  diversity  of  interests  requires 
a  larger  number  of  responsible  directors,  one 
of  them  is  appointed  as  the  so-called  "general 
director.  "  The  general  director  is  empowered 
to  sign  for  the  company — alone.  Otherwise  it 
is  customary  for  any  two  directors  to  sign 
together.  One  of  these  signatures  is  the 
indication  of  the  correctness  of  the  letter, 
contract  or  check,  the  first  signature  being 
furnished  by  the  director  who  is  best  informed 
on  the  matter.  It  is  not  usual  to  appoint  a 
president,  vice-president,  secretary  or  treas- 
urer, and  no  such  titles  or  names  of  persons 
ever  appear  on  letter-heads.  Every  one  may, 
at  an  expense  of  twelve  cents,  obtain  from 
the  Commercial  Registrar's  office  of  the 
district  or  city  a  list  of  names  of  those  who 
are  for  the  moment  entitled  to  sign  for  the 
company. 

In  Germany  the  president  of  the  company, 
although  not  so  called,  is  reall}'  the  chairman 
of  the  board  of  supervisors  (AufsicJitsrath). 
He  is  consulted  by  the  directors  on  all  very 
important  matters,  and  holds  meetings  of  the 
board  as  often  as  he  sees  fit  or  as  often  as  the 
managers  of  the  company  desire  to  bring  up 
matters  before  the  board.  The  manager  of  a 
company  is  forbidden  by  law  to  have  a  seat 
on  the  board,  but  he  must  attend  board  meet- 
ings. The  members  of  the  board  receive  for 
their  work  each  year,  after  the  annual  meeting, 
a  sum  which  is  made  up  on  the  basis  of  a 
percentage  of  the  profits  {tantieme)  after  a 
four  per  cent,  dividend  has  been  declared.  If 
more  than  four  per  cent,  is  not  possible,  the 
members  of  the  board  get  nothing.  A 
member  of  the  board  of  a  company  that 
has  declared  an  eight  to  ten  per  cent, 
dividend  receives,  for  instance,  from  $1,500 
to  $6,000  a  year  as  his  share. 

The  board's  work  must  be  that  of  calm 
judgment  and  fair  criticism.  The  balance- 
sheet  and  business  of  a  concern  must  be  pub- 
lished, so  that  the  smallest  stockholders, 
receiving  the  printed  report  some  time  before 
tlie  day  of  the  general  meeting,  are  able  to 


I 


criticize  at  will.  It  is  not  an  unusual  thing 
to  see  the  chairman  of  the  board  of  a  very 
powerful  company  answering  Uie  questions 
of  a  shareholder  who  has  perhaps  only  three 
hundred  dollars  invested,  and  who  has  come 
to  the  annual  meeting  with  the  express 
intention  of  making  trouble.  The  books  are 
revised  annually  by  an  official  auditor.  In 
the  rating  of  assets  all  securities  must  be 
noted  at  their  last  quotation  on  the  ex- 
change at  the  end  of  the  business  year;  or 
if  they  are  not  quoted  on  the  exchange,  then 
the  last  price  at  which  they  are  known  to  have 
been  sold.  But  no  matter  how  high  the 
quotation  may  have  been,  it  is  not  per- 
mitted to  rate  them  higher  than  the  purchase 
price.  Of  course,  if  the  quotation  is  lower 
than  that  at  which  they  were  purchased. 
tliat  must  be  booked.  This  wise  clause  in 
the  law  for  stock  companies  may  prove  in 
some  years  very  unpleasant  for  companies 
which  have  large  portfolios  of  securities.  A 
company  which  has  earned  very  well  on  its 
products  may  shcvw  a  net  loss  for  the  year 
if  it  happens  to  have  many  "securities'" 
which  have  been  in  disfavor  witth  the  public. 

Three  kinds^  of  companies  are  customary: 
The  limited  liability  company,  the  partner- 
ship company  with  shares,  and  the  ordinary 
share  company. 

The  first  is  the  form  used  for  small  under- 
takings: it  has  the  advantage  of  limited 
liability  and  the  privacy  of  personal  ov/ner- 
ship;  no  shares  are  issued. 

The  second  is  a  form  applied  in  the  case 
where  the  individuals  who  have  started  a 
business,  or  certain  large  owners,  retain  a 
preferred  interest  and  personal  responsibility. 

There  are  6,900  share  companies  registered, 
and  it  is  estimated  that  in  these  at  least  one- 
twentieth  of  the  nation's  wealth  is  invested. 

The  more  noticeable  features  of  the  share 
company  are: 

The  share  must  have  a  nominal  value  of  at 
least  1,000  marks  ($240).  It  is  indivisible. 
The  shares  must  represent  fully  paid  cash 
capital  or  other  good  assets.  If  a  part  of  the 
capital  consists  of  other  than  cash,  such  as 
plant,  patents,  etc.,  this  part  is  fixed  by  the 
contract  of  formation,  and  is  subject  to  the 
severe  examination  and  approval  of  the 
Commercial  Court  before  the  company  is 
registered.  Every  effort  is  made  in  the  law 
to  create  valuable  assets  equal  to  the  face 
value,  and  to  prevent  "  watering.  "     Managing 


3ii6 


GERMAN    BUSINESS    METHODS 


directors  have  to  "exercise  the  carefulness 
of  an  orderly  business  man. "  If  they  neglect 
their  duties  as  outlined  in  the  law  they  are 
liable  for  damages.  The  board  of  supervisors 
has  not  the  direct  responsibility  for  the 
business  of  a  company,  but  has  the  obligation 
to  "  watch  over  the  management  of  the  busi- 
ness in  all  branches  and  to  inform  itself  to 
this  end  regarding  the  progress  of  affairs." 
Its  members  are  also  responsible  against  fine 
and  imprisonment  and  loss  of  their  private 
fortunes  for  intentionally  hurting  the  interests 
of  the  company  or  neglecting  to  do  that  which 
"the  carefulness  of  an  orderly  business  man" 
would  dictate. 

The  deplorable  failtires  of  the  last  two  years 
in  Cassel,  Leipzig  and  Berlin  revealed,  it  is 
true,  despite  the  laws,  a  very  rotten  state  of 
affairs  in  several  banks  and  large  companies. 
Deliberate  criminal  practice  and  swindling 
can  hardly  be  provided  against  by  any  stock 
law.  The  members  of  the  boards  of  these 
companies,  as  well  as  the  directors,  were 
held  responsible,  and  their  property  seized  in 
some  cases.  Imprisonment  was  also  imposed. 
Since  these  failures  many  proposals  have 
been  made  looking  toward  their  greater 
efficiency. 

It  is  remarkable  that  a  country  made  up 
of  so  many  different  kingdoms,  duchies, 
principalities  and  free  cities,  all  with  their 
own  traditions,  should  possess  a  common  law 
good  for  the  whole  empire  in  commercial 
matters,  marriage  and  divorce,  the  relation 
of  the  laborer  to  the  employer,  and  most  other 
affairs  which  come  close  to  us  in  our  daily  life, 
and  ought  to  be  regulated  as  uniformly  as 
possible  throughout  any  great  country.  The 
Germans  consider  it  rather  ridiculous  that 
the  various  States  of  our  Union  have  such 
widely  different  laws;  and  that  the  inhabitants 
of  a  State  find  it  so  easy  to  evade  their  own 
laws  by  forming  their  companies  in  neighbor- 
ing States.  It  seems  strange,  from  the  German 
point  of  view,  for  Americans  to  demand 
a  strict  control  of  the  trusts  "while  they  are 
perfectly  contented  with  inadequate  corpora- 
tion laws  under  which  unscrupulous  promoters 
can  hoodwink  the  public.  Our  public,  they 
think,  rebel  only  at  the  thought  of  being 
subjected  to  monopoly  prices. 

Concentrations  of  capital  or  combinations 
of  interests  appear  in  Germany  under  the 
names  of  "Cartells,"  "Syndicates"  and 
"Price   Conventions."        Such      associations 


have  existed  and  worked  quietly  for  many 
years.  There  are  about  three  hundred  car- 
tells  of  various  forms,  two  hundred  and  twenty 
of  them  being  among  manufacturing  concerns 
and  the  others  among  selling  firms. 

The  "cartell"  (specifically  named)  pro- 
vides for  a  centralized  booking  of  the  orders 
and  a  partial  regulation  of  production;  but 
it  leaves  the  sale  in  the  hands  of  the  individual 
members.  The  "  Syndikat"  (syndicate)  goes 
further,  putting  the  sale  in  one  hand  for 
domestic  or  even  foreign  trade  and  prescribing 
the  production  according  to  the  market.  The 
Coal  Syndicate  of  Westphalia,  for  instance, 
has  been  keeping  up  the  prices  for  several 
years.  Its  present  rate  of  production  is 
about  twenty-five  per  cent,  below  normal 
output.  An  official  investigation  of  cartells 
has  just  been  decided  upon,  and  a  writer  who 
is  very  well  acquainted  with  their  working 
says:  "The  German  cartells  can  face  such 
an  examination  coolly  and  calmly,  and  I  do 
not  know  of  any  that  ought  to  fear  publicity. 
I  only  fail  to  see  on  what  legitimate  giounds 
trade  associations  of  a  fully  private  nature 
can  be  forced  to  make  their  business  public." 
On  the  other  hand,  Professor  Schmoller,  of 
Berlin  University,  says  that:  "Everything 
should  be  done  to  force  them  to  the  fullest 
publicity  which  they  now  shun.  In  the  super- 
vision of  the  cartells  (trusts)  a  representative 
of  the  communit}^  at  large  must  be  given  a 
voice  and  the  right  of  veto  in  case  of  abuses. 
Sooner  or  later  it  will  also  be  necessarv-  to 
accord  the  laborer  a  similar  representation." 
The  recent  convention  of  German  jurists 
adjourned  all  discussion  of  the  trust  question 
on  the  ground  that  trusts  could  not  be  made 
the  subject  of  special  control  until  they 
became  a  public  danger,  and  that  all  super- 
vision must  be  resorted  to  with  great  caution, 
as  it  will  threaten  the  individual  liberty  of 
the  business  man  and  throttle  his  initiative. 

Certain  fundamental  conditions  which  favor 
trusts  in  America  are  lacking  in  Germany. 
Vast  accumulations  of  capital  in  a  few 
hands  do  not  exist.  The  banks  take  much 
greater  risks  than  their  American  counter- 
parts, but  even  they  lack  the  incentive  of 
large  promoters'  profits.  As  the  institution 
of  watered  stock  is  not  permissible,  the  chief 
source  of  large  profit  for  promoters  and  finan- 
ciers lies  in  the  purchase  of  large  blocks  of 
new  stock  and  its  distribution  among  the 
public;  but  however  profitable  the  difference 


GERMAN    BUSINESS    METHODS 


3i'7 


may  be  to  the  banker,  the  company  itself  is 
never  an  absolute  loser  on  such  transactions, 
and  is  often  the  gainer.  All  such  profits 
must  go  to  the  reserve  fund. 

To  quote  an  interesting  example:  the  Auer 
Company  (Welsbach  Gas  Burner),  whose 
shares  have  been  as  high  as  i,ooo  per  cent,  on 
the  Berlin  Exchange,  purchased  recently  the 
Osmium  electric  lamp  of  Doctor  Auer.  The 
latter  took  over  new  shares  at  no.  At  the 
same  time  the  bank  group  bought  his  shares  of 
him  at  260 — finally  the  bankers  allowed  the 
shareholders  to  subscribe  for  these  new  shares 
at  308.  The  inventor  made  a  million  marks, 
the  bankers  had  their  profit  and  the  company 
increased  its  reserve  fund  by  a  few  thousands. 

Contracts  must  be  stamped,  officials  of  the 
Government  occasionally  appearing  at  offices 
to  look  them  through.  An  ordinary  contract 
of  purchase  for  $100,000  requires  a  stamp  in 
Prussia  of  about  $330  (one-third  per  cent.). 
An  ordinary  contract  for  the  service  of 
employees  is  stamped  with  thirty -seven  cents. 

The  German  business  man  has  also  to  take 
the.  income  tax  seriously  into  account,  both 
for  his  company  and  for  himself.  The  earnings' 
of  a  corporation  bear  an  income  tax  twice — 
once  at  the  expense  of  the  company,  again  as 
a  part  of  the  income  of  the  individual  stock- 
holder. The  total  income  tax  is  divided  into 
a  State  and  a  municipal  tax.  In  Berlin,  for 
instance,  one  pays  the  Prussian  State  tax 
and  then  one  hundred  per  cent,  of  that  to  the 
city.  In  some  towns  of  Prussia  the  needs  of 
the  community  are  less  than  this  one  hundred 
per  cent.,  and  in  other  towns,  especially  in  the 
great  industrial  centres  of  the  Rhineland  and 
Westphalia,  the  percentage  runs  as  high  as 
from  two  hundred  to  three  htmdred  per  cent. 
The  individual  counts  his  salary  and  other 
fixed  forms  of  income  at  its  whole  amount, 
whereas  his  income  from  sources  that  vary 
from  year  to  year  must  be  given  in  the  form 
of  an  average  for  the  last  three  years.  This 
is  especially  necessary  with  lawyers,  physi- 
cians and  others  receiving  fees  for  professional 
work.  The  total  income  is  taxed  according 
to  a  sliding  scale,  beginning  with  six  marks 
State  tax  on  an  income  of  900  marks  per 
year,  and  increasing  gradually  until,  with  the 
income  of  100,000  marks,  the  maximum  of 
four  per  cent,  is  reached.  A  Berlin  company 
with  $10,000,000  capital,  paying  $1,000,000 
in  dividends  and  tantiemes,  would  pay  a  State 
tax  of  $26,000  and  a  city  tax  of  $40,000. 


The  postal  telegraph  and  telephone  arrange- 
ments are  excellent  and  are  all  operated  by  the 
Government.  There  are  32,299  post-offices 
in  the  empire  and  15,200  telephone  centrals. 
The  ordinary  telegram  costs  for  ten  words 
twelve  and  one-half  cents  over  any  distance 
in  Germany.  Any  post-office  receives  tele- 
grams for  any  part  of  the  world.  One  may 
send  urgent  messages  for  three  times  the 
ordinary  price,  these  taking  precedence  over 
all  other  work.  In  Berlin  there  are  about 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  post-offices,  most 
of  which  take  telegrams  and  have  pneumatic 
tube  communication  with  the  chief  tele- 
graphic office.  The  Imperial  Post  made  a 
profit  of  about  $5,000,000  last  year. 

It  was  easier  to  generalize  after  three 
months  than  now,  after  a  residence  of  thir- 
teen years  in  Germany.  Facts  accumulate 
to  embarrass  the  observer.  If  I  were  forced, 
however,  to  say  what  I  consider  to  be  the 
three  features  which  most  hinder  business  in 
Germany,  I  should  say,  first,  enviousness ; 
lack  of  open  criticism.  Personal  considera- 
tions too  often  take  the  thought  away  from 
work.  Secondly,  experience  does  not  count 
for  enough.  Theory  is  believed  in  with  too 
little  regard  for  past  error.  Thirdly,  lack 
of  independence  in  methods  of  thought  and  in 
character;  bureaucratic  routine;  lack  of  origi- 
nality and  initiative  in  finding  new  methods 
to  meet  new  needs,  and  in  recognizing  these 
new  needs,  dependence  upon  orders  from 
above;  lack  of  fertility  in  finding  quick 
methods. 

I  should  think,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
Germans  possess  preeminently  the  following 
traits : 

First,  thoroughness — the  mastery  of  facts 
in  the  preparation  of  a  basis  for  action; 
elaborate  study  precedes  decision  in  most 
financial  and  technical  work;  high  standard 
of  education. 

Secondly,  unquestioning  obedience  to  the 
existing  laws — willingness  to  follow  rules;  a 
subordination  of  personal  will  to  the  estab- 
lished method.  This  is  the  good  side  of  thei^ 
lack  of  independence. 

Thirdly,  honesty  throughout  business  life 
is  the  general  rule.  Compai'atively  little 
business  depends  upon  the  use  of  questionable 
methods. 

In  technical  progress  as  well  as  in  general 
business  methods  the  Germans  are  keen  for 
progress.     All  branches  of  business  have  their 


3ii8 


THE   WORK    OF    A   JAPANESE    CRAFTSMAN 


trade  journals,  which  are  eagerly  watched, 
and  scores  of  clever  observers  are  traveling 
about  the  world  learning  much  from  their 
neighbors.  Only  thirty  hours  after  the 
American  astronomer,  Perrine,  had  informed 
the  world-central  astronomical  office  of  the 
discovery  of  a  new  comet,  a  French  astrono- 
mer telegraphed  his  news  of  the  same  celestial 
visitor.  This  faint  light  of  only  the  ninth 
magnitude  found  searching  eyes  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic.  How  much  more  must  the 
great  worlds  of  business  and  industry  on  either 
side  of  the  ocean  be  waiting  for  new  hints  of 
progress. 

An  American  professor,  after  visiting  a  large 
technological  institute  in  Germany,  told  me 
that  the  school  and  its  equipment  was  ahead 
of  an\i;hing  at  home.  When  this  compli- 
ment was  repeated  afterward  to  a  prominent 
instructor  in  the  institute,  he  replied :  "  Why, 
that  is  exactly  what  I  said  of  your  technical 
schools  after  my  trip  to  America,  and  that  is 
the  only  way  I  could  get  the  money  to  make 
ours  what  it  is  today." 

That  Germany's  technical  army  is  march- 
ing forward  in  good  form  is  a  generally 
accepted  fact.  The  American  terror  is  before 
their  eyes,  but  they  have  elements  of  strength 
which  may  keep  them  up  against  all  com- 
petitors in  certain  lines. 


See  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  bridge  at  Solingen ; 
the  ship-building  yards  at  Stettin,  Hamburg, 
Danzig,  and  the  vessels  they  have  produced; 
the  rolling-mills  and  steel  works  of  the  Rhine; 
the  great  electrical  factories  of  Berlin, 
Nuremberg;  the  Mauser  Rifle  Works  and 
Loewe  Tool  Works;  the  Dusseldorf  Exhibi- 
tion; the  "  Schwebebahn  " — that  elevated 
road  whose  cars  hang  over  the  streets  of 
Elberfeld;  the  electrical  cranes  of  Hamburg 
harbor;  the  Kaiser  dock  in  Bremerhaven — on 
every  hand  evidences  of  good  engineering, 
ingenuity,  energy'  and  capital  combined  with 
courage.  Yes,  Germany  has  become  an 
industrial  nation.  There  are  thousands  of 
highly  intelligent,  excessively  energetic  men 
who  appreciate  the  present  needs  and  are 
anxious  to  push  on  to  greater  achievements. 
They  tmderstand  export;  they  know  the 
world's  markets;  they  adapt  themselves  to 
the  requirements  of  foreign  customers,  but 
they  are  handicapped  b}^  opposing  elements 
at  home.  The  landed  aristocracy  cannot 
comprehend,  as  their  emperor  docs,  that  the 
country's  salvation  lies  in  its  industries  and 
its  foreign  trade.  They,  in  their  short- 
sightedness, oppose  every  measure  which 
would  encourage  financial  enterprises  and 
give  new  life  to  the  great  industrial  body  now 
lying  dormant. 


THE  WORK  OF  A  JAPANESE  CRAFTSMAN 

A  LITTLE  WORKSHOP  IN  KYOTO  PRODUCING  MARVELOUS  CLOISSONNfi 
WARE— YEARS  SOMETIMES  SPENT  ON  A  VASE— METHODS  OF  DECORA- 
TING THE  WARE— THE  STORY  OF  THE  MASTER  CRAFTSMAN,  NAMIKAWA 

BY 

HERBERT    G.   PONTING 

Illustrated  with  photographs  taken  by  the  author 


WHAT  one  loves  best  one  can  do 
best,"  says  a  Japanese  proverb, 
and  at  Kyoto  you  see  it  made  a 
fact.  Among  the  crowded  streets,  behind 
the  wooden  doors  and  paper  windows  of  the 
little  tile-roofed  houses  are  created  wondrous 
examples  of  wondrous  arts.  Year  after  year 
the  craftsmen  toil  patiently,  wanting  little, 
living  simply,  content  with  the  beauty  grow- 
ing beneath  their  hands,  their  craft   life   as 


well  as  occupation.  And  nowhere  in  Japan 
is  this  life,  so  different  from  the  modem  fac- 
tory industrialism  of  other  countries,  better 
exemplified  than  at  the  little  workshop  of 
Namikawa,  who  fashions  in  Kyoto  the  finest 
cloissonne  ware  in  the  world. 

When  my  'rikisha  man  had  dropped  me 
beneath  a  sign  that  read  "  Y.  Namikawa,  Man- 
ufacturer of  Fine  Cloissonn^  Ware,"  a  young 
Japanese  conducted  me  past  a  pretty  glimpse 


THE    WORK    OF    A    JAPANESE    CRAFTSMAN 


3119 


of  garden  into  a  typically  Japanese  room. 
Here  I  met  Namikawa  San,  a  man  ol"  gentle, 
passive  appearance  and  quiet,  courtly  manner, 
who  invited  me  by  gesture  to  partake  of  the 
tea  his  wife  had  brewed  a6  I  entered,  and  then 
went  about  selecting  from  a  cabinet  near  by 
sundry  little  boxes,  about  a  dozen  of  which 
he  laid  before  me  on  a  graceful  Chinese  table 
of  blackwood. 

Opening  one,  he  produced  a  bundle  done  up 
in  yellow  cloth  and  cotton  wool.  Unwrap- 
ing  it  with  tender  care,  he  disclosed  a  piece 


marine  and  deej)  purjjle,  one  and  all  decorated 
with  designs  of  delicate  beauty;  and  each  little 
gem  was  mounted  on  its  own  tiny  stand  of 
carved  blackwood  or  stained  cherry,  as  dainty 
in  its  way  as  the  piece  itself.  Seeing  my 
a])preciation,  he  produced  other  and  larger, 
and  hnally,  the  very  best  and  most  expensive 
examples  of  his  skill,  for  nowhere  in  Japan  is 
it  the  custom  to  display  the  finest  works  at 
first ;  and  only  if  real  and  genuine  interest  be 
shown  will  the  most  cherished  works  be 
brought  to  light.     These  he  at  last  brought 


THE  BEAUTIFUL  HOME  OF  NAMIKAWA 


of  cloissonne  so  exquisite  in  design  and  color- 
ing that  the  best  I  had  hitherto  seen  seemed 
crude  in  comparison.  In  turn  he  opened  the 
other  boxes  and  from  each  was  unearthed  a 
masterpiece. 

There  were  tiny  vases  of  a  beautiful  ground- 
work of  yellow  like  Crown  Derby.  Others  in 
their  coloring  and  design  almost  suggested 
Royal  Worcester  but  that  they  were  essen- 
tially Japanese.  There  were  urns  and  caskets 
of  which  the  prevailing  tints  were  delicate 
cornflower  and  peacock  blues;  there  were 
groundworks   of  red  and  olive  green,  ultra- 


out,  each  finished  with  a  lens-like  polish,  on 
which  one  might  search  in  vain  for  either 
speck  or  flaw. 

Each,  if  exhibited  in  the  large  establish- 
ments of  any  American  city,  would  command 
more  than  its  weight  in  gold.  As  they  stood 
on  the  table  they  ranged  in  price  from  S25 
to  as  much  as  $750,  a  large  piece  of  the 
latter  value  being  sixteen  inches  high  and 
decorated  with  a  matchless  design  of  purple 
and  white  drooping  wistarias.  In  such  a  house, 
and  with  so  handsome  a  table  for  a  setting, 
each  piece  assumed  a  far  greater  beauty  and 


i 


3I20 


THE    WORK    OF    A   JAPANESE    CRAFTSMAN 


THE    MASTER-CRAFTSMAN,  Y.  NAMIKAWA,  OF    KYOTO 

charm  than  it  could  ever  do  in  an}-  collector's 
cabinet,  and  it  seemed  almost  a  sacrilege  to 
remove  even  one  of  the  little  works  of  such 


exquisite  perfection  from  the  love  and  care 
of  its  creator. 

While  I  was  examining  each  vase  and 
casket  and  urn  in  turn,  Mr.  Xamikawa  sHd 
open  one  of  the  ini-ter  doors  to  admit  more 
light,  and  as  I  involuntarily  glanced  up  the 
beaut}-  of  the  scene  which  met  mv  gaze  through 
that  open  door  held  me  dumb  with  admira- 
tion. Outside  was  a  narrow  veranda, 
fronted  with  glass;  and  beyond,  condensed 
into  a  small  space,  was  the  very  essence  of  all 
that  is  beautiful  in  a  Japanese  garden.  The 
veranda  overhung  a  little  lake  with  rustic 
bridges  and  miniature  islands  clad  with 
dwarf  pine  trees,  of  that  ancient  rugged  kind 
which  one  sees  only  in  Japan,  stretching  out 
their  gnarled,  twisted  limbs,  just  over  the 
surface  of  the  water,  toward  others  reaching 
out  from  the  opposite  shore.  As  my  host 
walked  out  upon  the  porch,  the  whole  surface 
of  that  peaceful  pond  became  as  if  a  fierce 
squall  had  struck  it.  for  from  every  corner 
was  a  rush  of  huge  carp,  black,  spotted  and 
gold,  literally  to  their  master's  very  feet. 
He  scattered  a  handful  of  mochi  to  them, 
upon  which  there  followed  such  a  frantic 
struggle  and  noisy  gobbling  and  sucking,  as 
their  snouts  came  to  the  surface,  that  I  stood 
amazed.  So  tame  were  they  that  I  could 
reach  down  and  feed  them  from  my  hand. 

A  little  tortoise  standing  under  the  shelter 


FASHIONING  CLOISSUNNE  WARE 
One  of  Namikawa's  assistants  in  the  cleanly  workshop 


X 


<      o 

<    ~ 


3122 


THE  WORK  OF  A  JAPANESE  CRAFTSMAN 


WITHIN  THE  WORKSHOP 
"What  one  loves  best  one  can  do  best" 

of  a  dwarf  tree  on  an  island  in  front 
gazed  steadily  into  my  face.  I  looked  long 
at  it,  and  finally  asked:  "Why  doesn't  it 
move?"  Namikawa  smiled,  and  his  inter- 
preted reply  was:  "It  is  bronze." 

After  exhibiting  his  entire  stock,  which 
consisted  of  but  a  few  dozen  pieces,  for  wares 
of  this  order  cannot  be  made  w^holesale, 
Namikawa  invited  me  to  inspect  the  work- 
shop where  these  beautiful  things  received 
their  being.  Conducting  me  out  into  the 
garden  around  the  miniature  lake,  the  path 


led  to  another  building  open  to  the  light  on 
two  sides  and  furnished  with  running  white 
curtains  to  soften  and  diffuse,  if  necessary, 
the  strong  light  of  the  sun.  This  was  the 
workshop.  I  had  not  expected  to  see  a  large 
factory,  for  in  Japan  they  are  few,  and  many 
of  the  greatest  masterpieces  have  been 
created  in  a  little  humble  home,  where  a  lone 
individual  toiled  ceaselessly  and  lovinglv 
week  after  w^eek,  month  after  month,  and,  in 
some  cases,  for  years  on  a  single  piece;  in  turn 
making  the  copper  vase,  conceiving  and 
tracing  the  design,  wiring,  enameling,  firing, 
enameling  again,  and  still  again  and  again, 
and  finally  polishing  for  many  long  weeks, 
until  the  beloved  thing  stood  complete,  a 
master's  work  of  art.  I  was  not  surprised, 
therefore,  to  find  Xamikawa's  entire  staff  in 
Oiie  room.  Formerly  I  had  seen  a  great 
factory,  in  Yokohama,  where  the  artisans 
worked  on  dirty  wooden  floors  designing  and 
enameling  beautiful  things.  Figures,  naked 
save  for  a  loincloth,  scrubbed  and  ground  and 
polished  huge  urns,  in  some  cases  as  big  as 
themselves,  the  floor  puddled  wath  water 
and  gritty  wath  sand  and  pumice  stone.  •  In 
other  places,  by  the  side  of  large  kilns,  gleam.- 
ing  a  dull  red  in  the  half  light,  stood  and 
w^atched  old  and  experienced  men,  the  sweat 
dropping  from  their  nearly  nude  bodies. 

But  here  were  no  such  scenes.  Instead  I 
saw  a  spotless  room  tw-enty-five  feet  long  and 
half  as  wide,  the  floor  covered  w'ith  padded 
mats,    on   which,   bending   over  tiny   tables. 


IHE  EXQUISITE  FINISHED  PKuDLCT 


THE    WORK    OF    A    JAPANESE    CRAFTSMAN 


3123 


were  eight  artists,  so  intent  on  their  occupa- 
tion that  our  intrusion  caused  but  an  instant's 
glance.  Close  to  them  were  four  other 
figures  grinding  and  polishing;  these  com- 
prised Namikawa's  entire  staff. 

At  one  table  a  new  piece  was  receiving  its 
design — not  from  a  copy,  but  fresh  from  the 
artist's  brain,  traced  upon  its  surface.  At 
others  little  particles  of  gold  or  silver  wire 
were  being  bent  to  exactly  the  shape  of  the 
etched  design,  and  cemented  firmly  over  it, 
piece  by  piece,  until  the  design  was  com- 
pletely worked  over  in  gold  or  silver  wire  upon 
a  silver  or  copper  vase.  At  other  tables  the 
enamels,  mixed  as  required,  were  being 
puslied  into  these  little  cells,  some  no 
greater  in  diameter  than  the  prick  of  a  pin, 
in  the  exact  representation  of  the  colors 
of  nature.  They  are  not  at  first  filled  to  the 
top,  but  only  part  of  the  way,  and  when  the 
entire  design  is  filled  all  over  to  the  same 
depth  it  is  ready  for  the  first  firing.  More 
enamel  is  then  filled  in  and  it  is  fired  again, 
and  still  enameled  and  fired  again  and  again 
until  the  surface  is  reached,  the  last  filling 
requiring  a  greater  degree  of  skill  than  the 
preceding  ones.  After  filling  and  firing  for 
the  final  time  the  vase  is  rough  and  uneven. 
It  must  now  be  ground  with  pumice  stone 
and  water  for  many  days  or  weeks  to  reduce 
the  uneven  surface  to  the  same  thickness  in 
every  part.  This  is  all  done  by  hand,  and 
calls  for  great  skill,  for  if  it  were  ground 
thinner  in  one  place  than  another  the  work 
would  be  ruined.  The  grinding  is  accom- 
plished so  slowly  that  the  impression  of  an 
hour's  work  is  scarcely  perceptible.  As  the 
surface  day  by  day  becomes  finer,  pumice  of 
softer  and  smoother  face  is  chosen,  until  the 
final  pieces  used  are  like  silk  to  the  touch. 
And  now  it  is  quite  finished,  save  for  the 
final  polishing  w4th  oxide  of  iron  or  rouge. 
At  last  it  emerges  from  the  artist's  hands  with 
the  exquisite  and  flawless  polish  of  a  lens. 

Namikawa  then  makes  his  final  inspection, 
though  every  day  of  its  steady  gro\\i;h  has 
been  closely  watched  by  him;  and  if  pro- 
nounced perfect  the  piece  is  wrapped  in 
cotton  wool  and  yellow  cloth  and  consigned 
to  a  place  in  the  cabinet  in  his  house. 

.  The  firing  room,  like  the  workshop,  was 
spotlessly  clean  and  neat.  In  the  centre  was 
the  little  kiln,  and  by  its  side  a  tank  of  w^ater 
in  the  ground,  and  at  the  end  a  pile  of  stacked- 


up  fuel.  Here  the  pieces  are  fired,  Namikawa 
himself  attending  to  the  work,  for  upon 
it  depends  the  success  or  failure  of  the  pre- 
ceding labor.  Some  colors  are  much  more 
difficult  to  work  successfully  than  others,  the 
various  shades  of  yellow  calling  for  the 
utmost  degree  of  skill  in  firing,  which  even 
then  is  often  unavailing.  He  showed  me  a 
beautiful  thing — the  design  of  a  maple  tree  in 
the  glorious  tints  of  autumn,  on  a  yellow 
ground — which  had  taken  several  months 
of  toil  and  careful  skill  to  prepare  for  the  final 
firing  and  polishing.  As  tlie  pumice  ground 
the  surface  down  and  the  details  became 
clearer  day  by  day,  unsightly  marks  began 
to  appear  on  the  surface,  showing  that  it  had 
been  unable  to  stand  the  final  test,  and  it  had 
emerged  from  the  kiln  marred  and  ruined 
beyond  all  hope. 

Namikawa  is  a  man  of  grave  appearance, 
quiet  speech  and  gentle  manner.  He  would 
appear  more  in  keeping  in  a  Buddhist 
temple  than  anywhere  else  in  Japan. 

Formerly  an  attendant  at  the  Court  in 
Kyoto,  and  always  having  a  deep  love  of  art, 
he  betook  himself  nearly  thirty  years  ago 
to  the  manufacture  of  cloissonne  ware. 
Throwing  his  whole  heart  and  soul  into  the 
study  of  the  work,  he  became  in  time  a  finished 
artist.  When  the  productions  of  hi^  earlier 
days  are  shown  and  compared  with  the 
works  which  now  leave  his  shop,  it  is  seen 
how  great  was  the  gulf  which  he  has  bridged. 

Each  member  of  his  staff,  beginning  as  his 
pupil,  has  absorbed  his  master's  ideas  from 
his  earliest  acquaintance  with  the  art;  and 
although  Namikawa  now  does  no  work  him- 
self except  the  firing,  he  closely  supervises 
every  piece  each  day  during  its  entire  execu- 
tion, and  instantly  detecting  if  there  be  any 
cause  for  his  displeasure,  sharply  rebukes  the 
transgressor  for  his  want  of  care.  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  this  one  day.  A 
minute  detail  on  a  vase  did  not  please  him. 
his  face  became  hard  and  stem,  and  instantly 
his  manner  changed  to  that  of  an  unbending 
man  who  knows  exactly  and  instantly  what 
he  wants  and  whose  will  must  be  obeyed. 

Each  artist  is  permitted  to  come  and  go  as 
he  will,  and  work  when  he  pleases,  for 
Namikawa  is  keenly  alive  to  the  fact  that  a 
man  can  do  more  and  far  better  work  if 
laboring  only  when  the  mental  inspiration 
and  desire  for  labor  are  upon  him. 


THE    PREVENTION    OF    PHYSICAL 

BREAKDOWN 

AN  EXPLANATION  OF  PREVENTIVE  MEDICINE  FOR  THE 
LAYMAN— LOP  OFF  OUTLYING  AFFAIRS,  LEAVE  A  MARGIN 
OF  STRENGTH,  AVOID  A  RUT,  CULTIVATE  A  HEALTHFUL 
HOBBY,  TAKE  VACATIONS,  SLEEP,  AVOID  EXCESS  IN 
TOBACCO  AND  DRINK,  AND  A  BREAKDOWN  IS  NOT 
NECESSARY      EVEN      TO      THE      MOST      STRENUOUS      MAN 

BY 

FLOYD  M.  CRANDALL,  M.D. 

Fellow  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  etc. 

RESPONSIBILITY  and  high  tension  of  of  life  than  is  necessary.  The  delirious  style 
life  cannot  be  escaped  by  him  who  of  doing  business  is  partially  habit,  but  in 
lives  intensely  and  aids  in  carrying  some  cases  is  done  for  effect.  Men  often  keep 
on  the  business  of  the  world.  Much,  however,  themselves  in  a  nervous  state  and  do  more 
may  be  done  in  many  cases  to  reduce  these  rushing  about  than  tfiere  is  any  necessity  for. 
burdens  as  age  advances.  Upon  the  first  They  keep  themselves  keyed  up  to  such  a 
indication  of  failing  powers,  either  mental  or  pitch  that  they  use  up  as  much  vital  force  in 
physical,  the  burden,  as  far  as  it  is  possible,  doing  routine  work  and  unimportant  details 
should  be  lightened.  One  of  the  first  means  as  in  negotiating  great  transactions.  Like 
of  attaining  this  end  is  by  cutting  off  the  more  the  yellow  journals  which  print  enormous 
distant  and  least  manageable  portions  of  the  headlines  for  the  most  trivial  matters,  and 
business.  As  far  as  possible  the  business  work  themselves  into  an  excitement  over 
should  be  brought  within  sight  and  reach.  It  commonplace  events,  they  give  undue  im- 
is  the  outlying  portions  which  are  beyond  portance  to  details  and  do  everything  at 
personal  supervision  that  cause  the  most  high  pressure.  These  high -pressure  methods 
worry.  Cut  them  off  and  make  the  business  engender  laxness  in  self-control.  All  this 
more  compact  and  manageable.  Do  not  keep  impairs  the  judgment  and  renders  men 
too  many  irons  in  the  fire.  The  watching  of  capable  of  making  mistakes  and  incapable  of 
each  additional  one  demands  additional  con-  doing  good  work.  It  is  a  tremendous  drain 
centration  and  adds  to  the  mental  tension,  upon  the  vital  power.  Many  a  man  helps 
Work  one  or  two  fields  well  and  obtain  all  to  bring  on  a  breakdown  by  living  a  life  of 
they  will  yield,  rather  than  half  a  dozen  super-  unnecessary  tension  and  using  up  his  vital 
ficially.  It  will  be  far  easier;  you  will  live  power  through  failure  to  control  himself, 
longer  and  accumulate  as  much  in  the  end.  It  is  unwise  for  a  man  to  asstune  so  much 
"The  one  prudence  of  life  is  concentration;  business  that  he  will  be  obliged  to  labor  up 
the  one  evil  is  dissipation.  "  Many  a  man  has  to  the  full  extent  of  his  powers.  There  should 
dissipated  his  vital  and  mental  powers  by  be  some  allowance  made  for  emergencies, 
attempting  to  spread  them  over  too  much  when  the  business  will  suddenly  be  increased, 
surface.  Study  your  own  capabilities;  be  Anxiet}'  and  worry  are  more  exhausting  to 
honest  with  yourself.  If  you  are  convinced  the  physical  powers  than  actual  labor.  They 
that  you  have  large  business  capabilities,  do  cause  rapid  anemia  and  loss  of  flesh.  When 
not  over-restrict  them ;  but  do  not  make  worry  is  added  to  responsibility  and  exhaust- 
radical  changes  nor  undertake  entirely  new  ing  labor,  the  breaking-down  point  is  brought 
kinds  of  business  after  middle  life.  You  many  times  nearer.  It  is  a  common  experi- 
may  not  fail,  but  success  will  be  purchased  ence  of  the  physician  to  see  business  men  go 
at  too  great  an  expenditure  of  vital  and  on  without  apparent  difl&culty  until  a  period 
neryous  force  to  make  it  advisable.  of  panic  and  financial  depression  comes,  and 
.  Many  Americans  maintain  a  higher  tension  then  break  down  at  the  time  it  is  most  impor- 


THE    PREVENTION    OF    PHYSICAL    BREAKDOWN 


3125 


tant  for  them  to  be  on  duty  with  clear  heads. 
It  is  an  insane  captain  who  loads  his  craft  to 
the  water-line  because  he  is  lying  in  a  quiet 
harbor.  It  requires  no  nautical  skill  to 
foretell  the  result  when  a  storm  comes  on. 
But  that  is  the  risk  that  thousands  of  business 
and  professional  men  are  unnecessarily  taking 
today.  They  are  allowing  no  margin  for 
bad  weather.  The  millenium  is  not  here, 
and  the  age  of  panics  and  business  depres- 
sions is  not  past. 

A  word  may  be  said  regarding  certain 
classes  of  toilers  who  cannot  change  the  con- 
ditions under  which  they  are  obliged  to  labor. 
They  fill  the  subordinate  positions  in  the 
ereat  financial  and  business  institutions. 
They  are  fixed  in  a  vise,  and  must  perform 
the  duties  appertaining  to  their  positions  or 
resign.  The  duties  in  many  instances  cannot 
be  divided  or  materially  lightened,  but  there 
are  other  cases  in  which  the  life  of  the  sub- 
ordinates might  be  made  easier.  The  long 
struggle  which  has  preceded  the  rise  to  posi- 
tions of  influence  and  power  has  the  unfortu- 
nate effect  upon  men  of  some  temperaments  to 
harden  and  render  the  temper  harsh.  They 
are  inclined  to  say  that  as  they  were  obliged 
to  struggle  in  their  time,  let  the  younger  men 
now  take  the  same  experience.  This  is  cer- 
tainly not  universal.  But  the  experience  of 
the  medical  practitioner  leads  him  to  think 
that  there  is  a  growing  tendency  to  work  to 
their  uttermost  the  subordinate  officials  of 
financial  and  mercantile  institutions,  who 
'carry  heavy  responsibilities  and  often  handle 
large  sums  of  money,  and  when  they  fail  to 
keep  up  to  the  standard  drop  them  and  take 
younger  men,  to  put  them  in  turn  through 
the  same  ordeal.  The  heads  of  these  institu- 
tions have  often  come  to  their  positions 
through  great  struggles.  They  should  remem- 
ber, however,  that  their  success  has  been 
partly  due  to  native  talent;  that  all  men, 
even  by  the  same  labor,  could  not  attain 
a  like  success. 

Moreover,  while  opportunities  are  greater 
today  than  they  have  ever  been  before,  and 
the  rewards  of  success  a.r£  larger,  the  wear  and 
tear  in  attaining  them  have  greatly  increased 
in  the  last  thirty  years.  Though  there  are 
more  places,  there  are  more  applicants,  and  the 
struggle  is  more  intense.  Men  will  do  more 
work  in  the  same  time  if  they  are  not  held 
under  too  high  tension.  Overseverity  defeats 
its    own    objects.     Prolonged    labor   without 


sufficient  rest  impairs  the  value  of  the  laborer. 
The  constant  fear  that  any  decrease  of  effec- 
tiveness will  be  followed  by  loss  of  position 
"gets  on  the  nerves "  and  renders  an  employee 
less  efficient.  The  best  work  cannot  be  done 
with  overwrought  nerves  and  under  unremit- 
ting high  tension. 

Specialism  is  not  confined  to  the  professions. 
It  is  seen  in  all  branches  of  business  and 
among  day  laborers.  The  old-time  merchant, 
whose  ships  returned  laden  with  all  the 
products  of  Europe  and  the  East,  is  sup- 
planted by  the  importer  who  buys  a  single 
class  of  goods.  Even  the  department  store 
is  an  apparent  rather  than  a  real  exception  to 
the  rule.  It  is  an  aggregation  of  different 
branches  of  business,  each  under  the  super- 
vision of  trained  specialists.  Specialism  has 
come  to  be  a  characteristic  of  modern  life. 
But  where  specialism  goes  there  goes  the 
tendency  to  fall  into  a  rut,  and  a  rut  is  a  very 
bad  thing  to  fall  into.  "  When  a  fellow  begins 
to  find  out  de  rut  he's  in,  "  remarks  that  young 
philosopher,  Chimmie  Fadden,  "it's  up  to 
him  for  him  to  climb  out.  If  he  don't  get  a 
move  on  him  then,  the  first  ting  he  knows  de 
rut  is  so  deep  he  can't  climb  out,  nohow;  and 
dat  queers  his  nerve."  It  would  be  difficult 
to  compress  more  truth  into  so  little  space. 
The  only  advice  that  could  be  added  is  a 
warning  against  getting  into  a  rut  in  the  first 
place.     It  is  easier  to  keep  out  than  to  get  out. 

The  young  man,  when  he  chooses  his  life 
work,  whether  it  be  a  profession,  business  or 
trade,  puts  his  whole  mind  and  strength  into 
it  if  he  be  the  right  kind  of  young  man.  The 
more  determined  he  is  to  succeed,  the  more 
intensely  does  he  apply  himself  to  his  work. 
He  associates  with  others  doing  the  same  work. 
Their  ideas  become  his  ideas;  their  ways  his 
ways.  He  finds  so  much  to  learn  that  he  is 
inclined  to  eliminate  from  his  reading  and  his 
thoughts  all  other  interests.  "The  lyf  so 
short,  the  craft  so  long  to  leme, "  he  restricts 
himself  more  and  more.  He  loses  interest 
in  other  matters.  Work  becomes  a  second 
nature,  and  he  is  uncomfortable  when  he  is 
not  at  work.  As  he  grows  older  he  restricts 
his  work,  perhaps,  to  a  limited  portion  of  the 
business  or  profession  to  which  he  belongs. 
He  is  apt  to  magnify  the  importance  of  his  own 
special  w^ork  and  to  minimize  that  of  others. 
His  field  of  vision  becomes  narrower;  he 
settles  into  certain  fixed  beliefs  and  adopts 
certain   methods    of   doing   things.     His   life 


3126 


THE    PREVENTION    OF    PHYSICAL    BREAKDOWN 


degenerates  into  a  routine  and  before  he 
knows  it  he  is  in  a  rut.  He  loses  his  interest 
in  outside  matters  and  is  unhappy  if  he  tries  to 
take  a  vacation.  He  becomes  irritable  and  is 
only  contented  when  in  the  harness.  As  time 
goes  on  he  does  not  do  his  work  with  the  vigor 
and  energy  of  old,  but  dawdles  and  becomes 
fussy  and  wastes  time  over  details.  He  feels 
that  there  is  but  one  way  of  doing  things,  and 
that  is  his  way.  Therefore,  he  will  not  leave 
work  to  subordinates  which  they  could  do  as 
well  as  he.  When  a  man  detects  these  various 
symptoms  in  himself,  he  may  be  assured  that 
he  is  in  a  rut.  There  is  then  one  thing  to  be 
done — to  make  a  vigorous  effort  of  the  will 
and  get  out  of  it.  If  he  cannot  take  a  vaca- 
tion without  being  restless  and  unhappy,  then 
a  vacation  is  what  he  needs.  He  should  force 
himself  to  rest.  If  he  has  lost  his  taste  for 
fiction,  then  he  should  read  a  few  good  stories 
each  year  and  spend  some  time  upon  light 
literature.  If  he  has  given  up  amusements, 
he  should  begin  going  occasionally  to  a  few 
good,  wholesome  places  of  amusement.  He 
should  visit  his  friends  and  renew  the  old 
acquaintances  he  has  dropped.  In  a  little 
time  these  things,  at  first  irksome,  will 
become  pleasures,  and  he  will  be  taken  away 
from  his  cares  and  his  business  worries. 
Gradually  he  will  find  that  he  is  getting  out 
of  the  rut  and  is  doing  his  work  not  only 
easier  but  better. 

One  of  the  serious  features  of  life  in  a  rut  is 
the  fact  that  judgment  is  impaired.  Allowing 
the  mind  always  to  dwell  upon  one  subject 
and  keeping  the  attention  always  fixed  in  one 
direction  destroys  the  power  to  draw  correct 
conclusions  and  lead  to  the  adoption  of  dis- 
torted and  peculiar  ideas.  The  sense  of  pro- 
portion is  lost.  "They  who  always  labor  can 
have  no  true  judgment,"  says  Burke.  Those 
who  get  deeply  fixed  in  a  rut  almost  always 
become  more  or  less  "queer"  as  they  grow 
older.  This  impairment  of  the  judgment  and 
one-sided  way  of  looking  at  things  lead  to  the 
adoption  of  hobbies  and  weird  and  extreme 
doctrines.  This  is  one  of  the  reasons  for  the 
prevalence  of  isms  and  queer  theories.  Many 
of  those  who  adopt  them,  even  though  suc- 
cessful in  business  or  professional  life,  have 
lived  so  long  in  limited  or  restricted  channels 
that  their  judgment  in  matters  outside 
becomes  impaired.  Their  views  are  narrow 
and  restricted  and  their  lives  run  along  a 
single  channel.     If  by  chance  they  make  an 


excursion  outside  of  it,  their  knowledge  of  the 
country  is  so  limited  that  they  are  apt  to  get 
lost ,  and  either  become  mired  in  some  bog  of 
superstition  or  are  taken  in  by  some  com- 
munity of  fanatics. 

The  wise  man  keeps  out  of  ruts.  To  be 
certain,  however,  that  he  will  accomplish  this 
he  must  begin  early  in  life.  He  must  not 
begin  his  life  work  by  restricting  himself 
absolutely  to  a  single  channel.  This  does  not 
mean  that  he  should  scatter  his  forces  and 
attempt  everything,  or  should  not  become  a 
specialist.  But  the  more  strictly  he  special- 
izes, the  more  carefully  should  he  see  to  it  that 
he  does  not  become  narrow  and  bigoted. 
The  young  man  should  early  begin  the  habit 
of  reading  a  newspaper.  It  should  be  a  real 
newspaper,  and  not  a  yellow  journal  which 
will  cause  his  mental  and  moral  standards  to 
degenerate.  He  will  thus  get  a  general  educa- 
tion that  he  can  obtain  from  no  other  source. 
But  he  cannot  get  all  the  education  he  requires, 
even  of  public  affairs,  from  the  newspapers. 
Let  him  not  make  this  error.  Their  news 
is  necessarily  fragmentary.  He  should  read 
regularly  one  or  two  good  monthly  magazines 
of  the  class  devoted  to  the  discussion  of 
questions  of  public  interest.  He  should  read  a 
Httle  good  fiction  as  well  as  history  and* general 
literature.  While  he  should*  persistently  seek 
the  acquaintance  of  the  best  men  of  his  own 
craft,  who  are  usually  the  broadest  minded,  he 
should  also  seek  friends  outside  of  it.  They 
will  help  him  to  see  that  there  are  other 
important  crafts  in  the  world  besides  his  own. 
All  this  will  broaden  his  views  and  help  to 
keep  him  out  of  a  rut. 

If  he  finds  he  is  becoming  a  specialist  (the 
term  is  used  in  its  broad  sense  to  include  any 
man  who  restricts  his  business  to  narrow 
limits),  he  should  adopt  further  measures, 
even  to  the  taking  up  of  a  fad.  "Fads  con- 
stitute a  mental  antitoxin  to  the  poison  gen- 
erated by  cerebral  overactivity,"  says  Pyle. 
This  has  been  a  measure  adopted  by  many 
intense  workers.  WiUiam  H.  Vanderbilt 
believed  that  his  life  was  prolonged  by  the 
daily  driving  of  his  horses,  which-  he  took  up 
as  a  means  of  diverting  his  mind  from  the 
cares  of  business  rather  than  for  pure  pleasure. 
His  eldest  son  died  a  comparatively  young 
man,  largely  as  the  result,  it  was  believed,  of 
too  close  application  to  business.  Chauncey 
M.  Depew  has  repeatedly  said  that  public 
speaking  is  for  him  a  method  of  recreation. 


THE    PREVENTION    OF    PHYSICAL    BREAKDOWN 


3127 


Literature  has  been  adopted  by  Roosevelt, 
Gladstone,  Disraeli,  and  many  others.  Lord 
Salisbury  is  a  scientist  of  large  attainments 
and  has  done  much  work  in  his  laboratory, 
which  is  one  of  the  best  in  England.  He 
adopted  this  means  of  escape  from  the  crush- 
ing cares  which  rest  upon  the  virtual  head  of 
a  great  empire.  'The  present  Prime  Minister 
takes  refuge  in  literature  and  golf.  Some 
men  adopt  hunting,  fishing,  golf  and  similar 
sports.  Others  choose  photography,  micro- 
scopy, or  become  collectors  of  this  or  that,  or 
make  themselves  experts  upon  some  branch 
of  art.  Others  with  a  musical  talent  be- 
come proficient  in  some  branch  of  that 
art.  The  point  is  simply  this:  that  it  is 
wise  for  a  person  to  take  up  some  subject 
for  which  he  has  special  liking  or  aptitude, 
with  which  he  may  divert  his  mind  from  the 
anxieties  and  worries  of  his  daily  work.  It  is 
not  a  theoretical  proposition,  but  an  emi-- 
nently  practical  one,  which  has  been  utilized 
for  years  and  is  utilized  today  more  than  ever 
before.  Elaborate  fads  like  literature,  music 
and  art  are  not  necessary.  A  prominent  and 
very  successful  New  York  lawyer  has  a  fad 
for  baseball.  He  is  a  frequent  attendant  at 
the  League  games,  where  he  enters  into  the 
spirit  of  the  sport  and  obtains  complete 
relaxation  from  professional  cares.  During 
other  portions  of  the  year  he  escapes  from 
them  in  public  speaking,  which  native  talent 
and  experience  enable  him  to  look  upon  as  a 
relaxation.  Some  one,  at  least,  of  these  or 
other  simple  and  inexpensive  means  of 
diversion  are  within  the  reach  of  every  one. 
A  well-known  New  York  physician  used  to 
say  that  he  could  do  a  year's  work  in  eleven 
months,  but  could  not  do  it  in  twelve.  The 
annual  vacation  is  one  of  the  most  efificient 
defensive  weapons  against  breakdown  for 
those  who  live  the  intense  modern  life.  If  it 
be  a  sedentary  one,  the  necessity  of  the 
vacation  is  the  greater.  It  is  greater  still  if  it 
be  like  that  of  the  busy  doctor  which  knows 
neither  evenings  nor  nights,  Sundays  nor 
holidays,  but  is  an  unremitting  grind,  month 
after  month.  The  vacation  is  one  of  the 
most  potent  aids  in  helping  to  keep  out  of  the 
rut  into  which  the  daily  routine  of  life  tends 
to  force  one.  One  or  two  days  a  week  during 
the  summer  do  not  afford  sufficient  rest  for 
the  hard-working  business  man.  They  are 
very  beneficial,  but  do  not  permit  him  really  to 
step  from  beneath  his  burdens  and  feel  that 


he  is  free  from  care.  I  appreciate  fully  that 
it  is  very  difficult  for  many  men  and  abso- 
lutely impossible  for  others  to  escape  from 
their  responsibilities  for  more  than  a  day  or 
two  at  a  time.  It  could  often  be  done,  how- 
ever, if  its  importance  were  appreciated. 
Many  a  man  has  learned  a  lesson  from  an 
illness.  After  years  of  closest  application  to 
business  he  has  been  forced  by  disease  to 
remain  away  from  business,  and  has  been 
surprised  and  a  little  annoyed  to  find  that 
affairs  moved  on  pretty  well  without  him.  It 
is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  attempt  to  arrange 
his  affairs  so  that  he  may  leave  them  to  others 
if  it  is  necessary.  Accident  or  illness  may 
come  to  any  man  without  a  warning,  and 
they  are  rendered  far  more  serious  by  worry 
over  business.  If  he  prepares  for  such 
emergencies  in  the  be.st  way  he  can,  he  will 
find  it  easier  to  arrange  for  a  vacation.  If  he 
decides  upon  it  in  a  half-hearted  way,  to  be 
taken  if  convenient,  he  will  probably  not  find 
it  possible.  If  the  time  is  set  for  it  with  the 
full  expectation  of  going  away  when  the  time 
comes,  affairs  are  much  more  likely  to  arrange 
themselves  favorably.  The  way  to  take  a 
vacation  is  to  set  the  time  and  take  it  when 
the  time  comes.  There  is  some  locality  north 
or  south  favorable  for  a  vacation  at  every 
season  of  the  year.  If  it  cannot  be  taken  in 
the  summer,  it  may,  perhaps,  be  arranged  for 
at  some  other  season. 

After  fifty  the  importance  of  the  annual 
vacation  becomes  greater  each  year.  A 
man  should  rid  himself  of  the  idea  that  a 
vacation  is  a  simple  matter  of  pleasure  or  a 
mild  form  of  dissipation.  He  should  regard 
it  as  a  duty  to  himself  and  to  his  family,  and 
should  plan  for  it  as  a  necessary  hygienic 
measure.  Even  though  he  goes  into  the 
country  each  night,  he  should,  if  it  is  possible, 
stay  entirely  from  his  business  for  two  weeks 
at  least,  and  longer  if  he  can.  As  there  are 
many  men  of  many  minds,  so  there  are  as 
many  ways  of  spending  a  vacation  as  there 
are  individuals.  The  one  rule*  should  be  to 
live  a  life  different  from  that  of  the  rest  of  the 
year,  taking  the  precaution  not  to  overdo 
the  strength.  The  man  of  sedentary  habits, 
unaccustomed  to  vigorous  and  protracted 
exercise,  may  destroy  much  of  the  good  of 
his  vacation  by  entering  at  once  upon  moun- 
tain climbing,  extended  tramps,  prolonged 
bathing  or  excessive  exercise.  Some  people 
seem  to  be  possessed  of  the  demon  of  unrest 


3128 


THE    PREVENTION    OF    PHYSICAL    BREAKDOWN 


when  they  get  into  the  country,  and  act  as 
though  they  expect  to  atone  for  the  sins  of 
their  months  of  sluggishness  by  a  few  weeks 
of  overexercise.  As  a  rule,  exercise  during 
vacation  is  overdone  rather  than  underdone. 

The  summer  hotel,  the  cottage  or  the  camp 
may  not  be  as  comfortable  as  the  home.  But 
if  people  stay  at  home  they  will  stay  also  in  the 
rut.  The  most  valuable  result  of  a  vacation  is 
to  get  busy  men  and  women  out  of  their  ruts, 
to  take  them  away  from  themselves  and 
their  everyday  cares  and  remove  them 
from  their  usual  routine  of  life.  If  it  is 
rationally  spent,  it  is  worth  all  that  it 
costs  in  money  and  trouble. 

"If  men  would  but  observe  the  golden 
Mean  in  all  their  Passions,  Appetites,  and 
Desires;  and  if  in  their  Gratifications  they 
followed  the  uncorrupt  Dictates  of  Nature,  and 
neither  spurred  her  on  beyond  her  Cravings, 
nor  violently  restrained  her  in  her  innocent 
Bias,  they  would  enjoy  a  greater  Measure  of 
Health  than  they  do,  live  with  less  Pain,  and 
die  with  less  Horror.  "  These  words  of  George 
Cheyne  are  full  of  wisdom,  and  their  observ- 
ance would  correct  much  erroneous  living. 
One  of  the  most  common  causes  of  break- 
down is  faulty  diet.  One  point  alone  may 
be  referred  to  here,  namely,  the  luncheon  of 
many  business  men.  Go  into  a  downtown 
restaurant  in  New  York  near  noon,  be  it  cheap, 
middle-class,  or  high-grade,  and  take  note  of 
the  stuif  that  composes  the  lunch  of  many  of 
the  men,  presumably  sane.  It  often  tends  to 
shake  one's  respect  for  human  nature.  It 
demonstrates  what  some  men  are  capable  of 
when  away  from  the  protecting  care  of  their 
wives.  Some  of  these  men  we  know  will 
seek  sympathy  at  home  because  of  the  cares 
of  business  life  when  the  real  trouble  with 
them  is  downtown-lunch  dyspepsia. 

Irregular  hours  and  too  little  sleep  are  other 
factors  in  causing  early  breakdown.  Sleep 
is  an  absolute  requisite  of  nature.  Different 
temperaments  require  different  amounts  of 
sleep,  but  there  are  very  few  who  can  keep 
healthy  and  well  on  less  than  eight  hours. 
Continuous  curtailing  of  the  sleep,  even  if  it 
be  slight,  is  more  serious  than  the  occasional 
loss  of  many  hours.  It  renders  the  mind 
heavy  and  sluggish,  and  few  other  things  will 
so  diminish  the  power  to  do  good  work.  In 
time  even  a  small  daily  loss  will  tell  upon  the 
health.  If  to  this  is  added  frequent  heavy 
losses  of  sleep,  with  eating  and  drinking  late 


at  night,  by  a  man  who  carries  heavy  business 
or  professional  burdens,  we  have  all  the  con- 
ditions for  disaster  soon  after  middle  life. 
The  irregular  life  of  the  society  man  or  man- 
about-town  cannot  be  combined  with  that 
of  the  strenuous  business  man  with  impunity. 

The  subject  of  tobacco  is  necessarily 
included  in  this  chapter.  Like  all  elements 
which  have  an  effect  upon  the  nerves,  it  differs 
widely  in  its  action  upon  different  individuals 
and  no  sweeping  statements  can  be  made. 
Upon  most  constitutions  its  action  is  deleteri- 
ous. ■  It  is  always  injurious  before  the  period 
of  complete  development  and  cannot  be  used 
before  the  age  of  twenty-five  without  harm. 
Doctor  Seaver,  Director  of  the  Physical 
Laboratory  at  Yale,  tabulated  the  record  of 
the  students  entering  that  university  during 
nine  years,  when  all  the  young  men  were 
examined  and  measured.  The  smokers 
averaged  fifteen  months  older  than  the  non- 
smokers.  They  were  also  shorter  in  stature. 
Nicotine  interferes  with  gro-n^h,  and  its  effect 
in  that  regard  is  very  measurable.  At  Yale 
during  the  four-years'  course  the  non-users  of 
tobacco,  although  taller  when  they  enter,  gain 
24  per  cent,  more  in  height  and  26.7  per  cent. 
more  in  girth  of  chest  than  do  the  habitual 
users.  Doctor  Hitchcock  of  Amherst  College 
found  even  greater  differences.  The  differ- 
ence in  the  lung  capacity  is  very  striking  in 
the  two  classes  and  has  been  noticed  by  all 
observers.  It  shows  the  effect  of  tobacco  on 
the  respiration,  nicotine  being  a  potent 
depressor.  As  regards  the  effect  of  nicotine 
on  the  mental  processes,  it  is  more  difficult  to 
interpret  the  meaning  of  statistics.  Out  of 
the  highest  scholarship  men  at  Yale  only 
five  per  cent,  use  tobacco,  while  of  the  men 
who  do  not  get  appointments,  sixty  per  cent, 
use  it.  It  is  not  necessary  to  interpret  this 
as  meaning  that  mental  decrepitude  follows 
the  use  of  tobacco  by  young  men,  for  there  are 
other  factors  to  be  considered ;  but  it  is  cer- 
tainly not  conducive  to  the  best  work. 

Nicotine  is  the  most  active  element  in 
tobacco.  Its  immediate  effect  is  to  lower  the 
circulation,  quicken  the  respiration  and  excite 
the  muscular  system ;  its  final  effect  is  to  cause 
general  relaxation.  In  "tobacco  heart"  the 
heart's  action  becomes  irregular  and  irritable 
and  the  walls  are  hypertrophied  or  thickened. 
There  is  no  cure  without  stopping  the  tobacco. 
The  tendency  to  increase  the  amount  of 
tobacco  is  almost  irresistible.     It  is  a  safe  and 


AN    EXAMPLE   OF    DELICATE    WORKMANSHIP 


3129 


a  wise  rule  for  the  user  occasionally  to  take 
honest  account  of  the  amount  used  and  reduce 
it  one-half.  If  tobacco  could  be  banished 
entirely,  there  would  be  fewer  irritable  and 
nervous  men  in  the  community.  We  may 
once  more  quote  our  old  friend  George  Cheyne: 
"  Smoking  tobacco  may  be  useful  to 
flegmatic  Constitutions,  but  to  dry  and 
lean  Habits  it  is  pernicious.  Snuff  is  just 
good  for  nothing  at  all. " 

With  the  possible  exception  of  bad  diet 
and  methods  of  eating,  alcoholic  drinking  is 
the  most  fruitful  cause  of  human  breakdown. 
The  physical  questions  are  so  interwoven  with 
the  moral  that  it  is  a  very  difficult  subject 
upon  which  to  write  from  the  standpoint  of 
physical  effects  alone.  The  dangers  of  excess 
and  habit  and  the  sad  results  w^en  they  be- 
come master  are  universally  recognized.  Their 
power  to  cause  suffering  and  ruin  need  not 
here  be  entered  upon.  One  point  only  will  be 
considered — the  physical  effects  of  so-called 
moderate  drinking.  This  commonly  used 
term  is  indefinite,  for  what  is  moderation  for 
one  may  be  excess  for  another.  We  may  say 
in  its  stead  ' '  the  daily  or  frequent  use  of  con- 


siderable amounts  of  alcoholic  drink,  but  not 
sufficient  to  cause  symptoms  and  perhaps 
never  intoxication."  In  speaking  of  those 
men  who  thus  drink  and  think  it  does  them 
no  harm.  Doctor  Osier,  whose  opinion  is 
respected  by  medical  men  on  two  continents, 
speaks  as  follows:  "During  the  fifth  decade, 
just  as  business  and  political  success  is 
assured,  Bacchus  hands  in  heavy  bills  for 
payment  in  the  form  of  serious  diseases  of 
the  arteries  or  of  the  liver  and  kidneys,  or 
there  is  a  general  breakdown."  This  is  a 
statement  of  a  physiological  truth  in  very 
plain  and  unmistakable  language.  While  a 
few  constitutions  seem  to  tolerate  much  more 
than  the  average,  the  fact  remains  that 
alcohol  is  an  insidious,  treacherous  and 
dangerous  element.  Its  use  in  considerable 
daily  quantities  is  always  productive  of 
serious  and  considerable  harm. 

Again,  it  may  be  said  that  breakdown 
is  by  no  means  a  necessary  result  of  our  intense 
modern  life.  There  is  more  to  provoke  it 
than  there  has  ever  been  before,  but  at  the 
same  time  we  have  more  means  at  our  hand 
to  prevent  it  if  we  will  utijize  them. 


AN  EXAMPLE  OF  EXACT  AND  DELICATE 

WORKMANSHIP 

A  DESCRIPTION  OF  AN  AMERICAN  WATCH  FACTORY  WHERE 
10,000,000  WATCHES,  EACH  HAVING  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY 
PARTS,  HAVE  BEEN  PASSED  THROUGH  FOUR  THOUSAND  OPERATIONS 

BY 

PHILIP    PRESCOTT    FROST 


BEFORE  the  year  1-800  our  grandfathers 
bought  all  their  timepieces  in  Europe 
at  high  prices.  The  English  clock- 
maker  went  into  the  open  market  and  bought 
of  one  man  a  centre- wheel  cast  from  brass,  of 
another  a  few  suitable  screws,  of  another  a 
crown-wheel  adapted  to  his  purpose,  and  so 
on  through  the  list  of  necessary  parts.  Then 
he  went  home  and  assembled  his  chaotic 
collection  of  plates,  screws,  wheels  and  pivots 
into  a  clock  or  a  watch,  filing  away  a  little 
here  and  a  little  there  to  make  one  man's 
handiwork  agree  with  another's,  until  the 
lachme  was  done  at  last.      No  two  clocks 


or  watches  were  likely  to  be  duplicates,  and 
a  part  once  broken  had  to  be  replaced  by 
the  best  substitute  at  hand. 

In  1800,  Eli  Terry,  of  Plymouth  Hollow, 
Connecticut,  began  to  make  clocks;  his  towns- 
man, Seth  Thomas,  followed,  and  by  1850  the 
business  had  spread  over  Connecticut  and  into 
Massachusetts.  These  men  built  their  first 
clocks  of  wood,  but  wood  soon  gave  way  to 
brass.  The  Yankee,  however,  refusing  to 
cast  his  wheels  laboriously,  one  by  one  in  a 
mold,  punched  them  rapidly  out  of  sheet 
brass,  inserted  cheap  iron- wire  pivots,  assem- 
bled the  parts  before  they  had  time  to  cool. 


3130 


AN    EXAMPLE    OF    DELICATE   WORKMANSHIP 


and  there  it  was — a  clock  all  complete,  built 
under  one  roof  and  costing  two  or  three 
dollars.  Soon  America  stopped  importing 
clocks  and  began  to  export  them  in  enor- 
mous quantities  to  almost  every  part  and 
corner  of  the  world. 

But  from  1825  to  1858,  as  shown  by  the 
Treasury  Department  returns,  watches  to 
the  value  of  $45,820,000  came  into  this 
country  from  England,  Switzerland,  France 
and  Germany.  The  methods  which  succeeded 
so  well  in  clockmaking  were,  until  1850,  con- 
sidered too  crude  for  application  to  the 
infinitely  more  delicate  task  of  constructing 
a  high-grade  watch.  Aaron  L.  Dennison, 
a  Boston  watch  repairer  who  had  strug- 
gled with  the  diversity  of  ailments  afflict- 
ing foreign  constructions,  went  one  day 
through  the  armory  at  Springfield,  where 
machine  tools  turned  out  weapons  on  the 
interchangeable  system,  and  he  returned 
with  a  new  idea.  Watches  covrid  be  made  in 
the  same  way,  he  thought.  He  interested  a 
few  capitalists  in  his  scheme  and  in  1850  a 
factory  was  begun  in  Roxbury.  Massachusetts. 
That  was  the  beginning. 

American  makers  from  the  first  discarded 
the  "fusee,"  a  contrivance  by  which  the  pull 
of  the  mainspring  was  kept  constant  from 
the  time  it  was  wound  until  it  had  run  down. 
By  this  they  reduced  the  size  and  weight  of 
the  watch  and  removed  parts  very  likely 
to  break. 

The  first  impression  a  great  watch  factory 
makes  is  one  of  absolute  cleanliness.  "\^^de 
lawns  with  a  park  across  the  street  are  a 
reminder  that  dust  is  fatal  to  the  delicate 
machinery  used  in  watchmaking.  Parks 
and  lawns  are  a  decidedly  good  business 
investment.  Nor  are  there  heaps  of  waste 
visible,  the  small  bulk  being  so  easily  handled 
that  it  never  accumulates.  It  might  easily 
be  mistaken  for  some  school  building,  save 
that  it  is  too  well  lighted.  No  school  ever 
had  so  many  acres  of  glass  as  are  contained  in 
these  four  thousand  large  windows,  for  the 
brick  skeleton  of  the  building  serves  merely 
to  introduce  a  glass  surface. 

"  Labor  troubles  ? "  says  the  genial  superin- 
tendent of  one  great  factory.  "  No,  we  never 
had  any  labor  troubles  and  we  don't  mean  to 
have  any.  We  pay  what  we  can  afford  and 
try  to  be  fair  with  our  people.  Of  course  we 
have  to  reduce  wages  sometimes,  but  they 
know  we  do  it  because  we  have  to,  and  thev 


take  it  cheerfully.  They  know  we'll  raise 
them  again  when  we  can." 

The  men  outside  tell  the  same  ston,\  The 
State  law  makes  fifty-eight  hours  a  week's 
work.  The  company  accepts  one  less  hour, 
allowing  the  employees  to  decide  when  they 
will  take  the  extra  time.  This  year  they 
voted  to  have  all  Saturday  afternoon  through 
the  summer,  and  no  difference  was  made  in 
the  pay. 

On  entering  the  works,  one  may  pass  wnth 
a  glance  the  boiler-room,  the  engine-room 
furnishing  power  to  the  factor}^  by  shaft, 
pneumatic  and  electric  transmission,  and  the 
machine-shop,  where  one  hundred  and  seventy 
men  are  employed  building  and  repairing  the 
machinery  used  directly  in  the  manufacture 
of  watches..  Then  we  come  to  the  first  room 
of  the  punch  department.  Here  ribbons  of 
brass  run  into  machines  which  reduce  them 
rapidly  to  little  wheels  and  "pillar  plates." 
In  four  long  lines  down  the  high,  well-lighted 
room,  set  close  together,  are  the  punches. 
The  young  women  who  operate  them  adjust 
bits  of  metal  quickly  on  their  machines,  puil  a 
lever  and  the  punch  descends  with  a  ton's 
weight,  rises,  and  a  delicate  watch-hand  is 
crushed  into  being.  It  requires  eight  opera- 
tions to  complete  the  tiny  pointer.  These  are 
\''ery  intelligent  machines:  before  venturing 
to  descend,  each  carefully  brushes  the  attend- 
ant's hand  out  of  harm's  way. 

In  the  plate-room  the  frame  is  built. 
Here  stand  massive  machines  like  modem 
dragons,  each  with  six  "  heads  "  served  by 
arms  and  hands  of  steel.  The  first  hand 
takes  a  disk  of  brass  and  presents  it  to  head 
number  one.  Head  number  one  turns  it 
about  much  as  a  squirrel  would  a  nut,  drives 
a  tiny  drill  into  it  here,  turns  it  around  and 
samples  it  there,  tilts  it  up  and  worries  it  a 
moment  in  another  place,  and  finally  turns 
it  over  to  be  presented  by  another  hand  to 
head  number  two.  This  head  turns  and 
twists  it  about,  gouging  out  here  and  bor- 
ing there.  So  it  goes  down  the  line  until 
after  seven  minutes  the  last  hand  takes 
the  new  pillar-plate  and  places  it  in  a 
tube  with  the  others.  One  hundred  and 
thirty-three  operations  have  been  performed, 
both  sides  of  the  plate  having  been  recessed 
and  drilled.  The  holes  and  depressions  are 
exact  to  the  thousandth  part  of  an  inch. 
And  this  wonderful  machine  replaces  more 
than  a  hundred  skilled  workmen. 


AN    EXAMPLE    OF    DELICATE    WORKMANSHIP 


3131 


Every  watch  must  have  its  number  on 
each  of  several  different  pieces,  and  when 
from  twenty-five  to  twenty-seven  hundred 
watches  are  made  every  day — more  than  four 
a  minute — this  numbering  is  no  Hght  task. 
Number  11,000,000  has  been  passed,  and 
that  means  a  watch  from  this  factory  for 
some  member  of  ahiiost  every  family  in  the 
United  States. 

Down  both  sides  of  one  room  are  long 
benches  occupied  by  machines,  with  only  a 
few  leisurely  attendants.  A  dish  containing 
what  looks  like  corn  meal  stands  nearby. 
Under  the  microscope  every  grain  is  a  screw, 
threaded  and  slotted,  and  a  machine  is  chew- 
ing them  out  at  the  rate  of  nine  thousand 
a  day.  Slightly  larger  and  silver-like  are  the 
little  pinions.  A  machine  slowly  devours 
iron  wire,  busily  handling  meanwhile  some 
little  speck  of  a  thing,  and  out  of  it  comes 
another  pinion  with  the  little  gears  cut  on  it, 
all  just  alike.  After  these  are  hardened  they 
are  inspected  by  a  workman  at  the  rate  of 
four  thousand  a  day.  Only  perfect  ones  are 
satisfactory. 

Of  the  thirty-one  hundred  and  fifty 
employees  in  this  factory,  about  seventeen 
hundred  are  women.  The  wages  for  men 
vary  from  $1.50  to  $5.50  a  day  and  the 
women  get  from  $1.00  to  $2.25  a  day.  A 
foreman  thus  explains  the  seeming  injustice: 

"You  see,  the  young  ladies  here  make  the 
most  faithful  automatic  machinery  attendants 
that  we  can  get.  As  long  as  it  is  only  a  matter 
of  keeping  up  the  supply  of  material  and 
reporting  on  the  machines  they  are  all  right, 
but,  "  glancing  apprehensively  over  his  shoul- 
der to  make  sure  none  of  these  subordinates 
are  within  hearing,  "when  any  difificulty 
comes  up  requiring  mechanical  skill,  very  few 
have  it.     They  lack  judgment." 

In  the  balance  department  we  find  some  of 
the  most  exact  and,  from  the  watchmaker's 
point  of  view,  most  wonderful  automatic 
machinery  in  the  factory.  Visitors  find  it 
hard  to  realize,  however,  what  "seventy-two 
operations"  and  "eight  hundred  and  fifty 
balance-wheels  a  day"  mean.  But  this 
balance-wheel  itself  is  wonderful — a  pendulum 
in  disguise.  The  bimetallic  rim  of  the  wheel 
regulates  the  'watch  for  changes  of  tempera- 
ture. Every  time  the  balance-wheel  of  your 
watch  swings  it  receives  a  little  push  from 
the  spring  and  allows  the  last  wheel  of  the 
"train"  to  move  up  one  tooth.     If  the  watch 


is  to  keep  correct  time,  the  balance  must 
release  the  train  at  the  rate  of  exactly  five 
beats  a  second,  three  hundred  a  minute, 
eighteen  thousand  an  hour;  and  few  good, 
well-regulated  watches  will  lose  or  gain  a  full 
beat  in  one  hour. 

The  hairsprings  are  said  to  be  the  most 
expensive  manufactured  article,  weight  for 
weight,  in  the  world.  Nine  thousand  weigh 
a  pound.  A  fine  steel  wire  is  passed  between 
rollers,  from  which  it  comes  in  a  microscopic 
ribbon  of  uniform  width  and  thickness.  This 
is  cut  into  lengths  of  twelve  or  thirteen  inches, 
wound  in  the  form  of  a  spiral  and  hardened 
by  a  secret  process.  Polishing  follows,  and 
the  little  gray  coils  are  then  heated  on  a 
griddle  until  they  turn  blue. 

Within  a  few  years  a  new  difficulty  and  a 
serious  one  has  presented  itself  to  watch- 
makers. The  powerful  magnetism  of  electric 
machinery  has  great  influence  upon  the 
steel  parts  of  the  watch,  and  when  these 
become  magnetized  all  good  timekeeping  is 
impossible.  No  man  can  keep  his  watch 
entirely  out  of  danger,  but  it  was  only  by  a 
long  course  of  experiments  that  horologists  dis- 
covered an  alloy  resembling  steel  in  all  except 
its  magnetism.  To  the  outsider  this  is  not  so 
impressive  a  change,  perhaps,  as  the  adoption 
of  stem  for  key-winding  twenty  years  ago, 
but  it  is  vastly  more  important  in  this  age 
of  electricity. 

The  remainder  of  the  day's  work  on  a 
watch  (each  movement  turned  out  by  the 
factory  represents  about  twelve  hours  of 
human  effort)  is  hand  labor  or  work  with 
simple  machine  tools. 

The  hundreds  of  bench-workers  sit  all  day 
with  a  microscope  focused  on  their  work  and 
manipulate  the  tiny  parts  brought  to  them. 
The  average  of  intelligence  and  good  breed- 
ing here  could  hardly  be  matched  in  any  fac- 
tory. Most  of  the  three  thousand  and  more 
employees  have  a  high  school  education  and 
there  are  college  graduates  among  them.  The 
officers  of  the  company,  the  foremen  of  the 
different  departments  and  some  of  the  more 
skilled  workmen  are  of  middle  age  or  past — 
"grown  gray  in  the  service,  like  me,"  as  the 
superintendent  says  ruefully — but  the  mass 
of  the  workers  are  young  people. 

Each  end  of  every  pinion  in  a  watch  must 
turn  in  a  jewel  to  reduce  the  friction  and 
keep  the  bearing  from  wearing  out,  and  be- 
cause of  its  rapid  movement  the  balance-staflf 


3132 


AN    EXAMPLE    OF    DELICATE   WORKMANSHIP 


is  given  two  extra  jewels  and  harder  ones. 
In  the  escape-room  a  visitor  sees  garnets  and 
Montana  sapphires  worked  into  form  for 
roller-pins,  and  in  -the  jewel-making  room 
garnets,  rubies,  sapphires  and  diamonds  in  the 
rough  are  turned  and  worked  to  the  proper 
form,  polished  in  a  manner  which  gives  per- 
fect smoothness  to  the  bearing  surfaces,  and 
placed  in  their  brass  or  gold  settings.  These 
are  made  fast  in  the  watch  by  screws.  Swiss 
jewels  are  used  to  some  extent  on  account 
of  the  cheapness  of  Swiss  labor. 

The  dial  makers  furnish  the  last  portion  of 
the  movement.  Enamel  powder  is  sifted  on 
a  copper  plate  and  then  it  is  taken  away  to 
be  "  fired.  "  One  brief  moment  in  the  intense 
heat  of  the  furnace  and  a  perspiring  workman 
draws  out  the  incandescent  disk  to  cool 
down  through  red  heat  into  a  smooth  white 
watch  dial.  The  numerals  are  photographed, 
printed  or  hand  painted  upon  it  and  the  dial 
is  fired  again. 

The  olhce  safe  holds  interesting  "plunder" 
— watches  all  the  way  from  the  dollar  w^atch 
to  quaint  old  timepieces  thick  and  heavy  and 
wrought  with  loving  skill  from  the  richest  of 
materials.  Here  is  a  watch  that  once  ticked 
cheerfully  in  the  fob-pocket  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  so  tradition  says;  and  here  is 
another  so  old  that  the  maker  never  thought 
of  furnishing  more  than  one  hand  to  mark  the 
hours.  Among  the  others,  aristocratic  and 
plebeian,  is  a  burned  and  disfigured  WTeck  that 
came  through  the  great  Chicago  fire. 

"But  what  is  that  meal  sack?"  is  asked. 
The  great,  hulking,  well-filled  canvas  sack 
seems  out  of  place — until  you  learn  that  it  is 
filled  W'ith  jewels  in  the  rough,  precious  stones 
by  the  handful,  the  quart  and  the  peck. 

The  chief  of  the  regulating  department  is 
putting  the  last  perfecting  touch  on  a  watch 
destined  to  tick  from  the  throne  of  Siam. 

In  the  office,  and  on  every  bench  in  the 
regulating-rooms,  are  little  sounders.  Every 
other  second  they  tick  in  unison,  except  at 
the  fifty-eighth,  and  then  every  one  knows 
that  the  next  begins  a  new  minute.  Each 
watch,  now  in  an  ice-box,  now  in  a  hot-box, 
and  in  every  one  of  five  different  positions,  is 
regulated  to  keep  exactly  with  the  little 
sounder.  When  a  watch  can  meet  those 
requirements  it  is  a  good,  reliable  movement. 

But  what  authority  has  the  ticker?  Our 
chief  regulator  takes  us  down  into  the  lowest 
parts    of    the    building,   and    after  manifold 


opening  of  doors  we  stand  in  a  vault  where 
year  in  and  year  out  forever  neither  tempera- 
ture nor  atmospheric  pressure  are  to  change, 
where  chemicals  seize  upon  all  moisture,  and 
there  between  two  massive  piers,  free  from  all 
vibration,  a  pendulum  swings  on  and  on, 
driven  by  delicately  adjusted  clockwork.  An 
ingenious  system  of  wiring  enables  this  clock 
to  make  and  break  an  electric  circuit  at  every 
swing  without  destructive  arcing  at  the 
contacts,  and  so  its  ticking  is  heard  in 
the  instruments  up  where  temperature  and 
barometric  pressure  vary.  But  that  is  not 
the  end.  Below  is  a  little  room  in  which  two 
clocks  bolted  to  opposite  sides  of  a  brick  pier 
quietly  keep  watch  over  each  other  and  their 
less  secluded  neighbor.  So  delicately  are  their 
pendulums  hung  that  they  would  run  twenty 
hours  w^ithout  the  impulse  of  the  gravity 
escapement  by  which  they  are  driven.  The 
least  flake  of  aluminum  in  addition  to  the 
heavy  brass  and  mercury  weight  of  one  would 
cause  it  to  lose  step  with  its  neighbor.  These 
piers  do  not  rest  on  bedrock  lest  faint  earth 
tremors  reach  the  mechanism  they  carry,  but 
on  a  cushioning  bed  of  sand. 

But  what  authority  have  these  clocks  ? 
Up  above  where  the  sun  shines  is  an  observa- 
tory with  a  telescope,  and  on  favorable  nights 
the  astronomer  watches  for  old  friends 
among  the  stars.  These  stars  know  what 
time  it  is,  and  they  tell  the  astronomer,  who 
presses  a  little  key  and  tells  a  recording 
instrument  downstairs. 

Here,  then,  after  some  four  thousand 
operations,  we  have  our  little  machine  of 
steel,  brass,  nickel,  precious  stones,  so  per- 
fect in  every  one  of  its  hundred  and  fifty 
parts  that  whatever  its  temperature  or 
its  position  it  will  run  steadily  on,  eighteen 
thousand  beats  an  hour  for  hours  and  days 
and  months  and  years  before  its  tiny 
needle-point  bearings  wear  out  or  break. 
The  little  balance-wheel  revolves  as  many 
times  a  minute  as  the  drive-wheel  of  the 
twenty-hour  limited  at  full  speed;  but  let  it 
fall  short  only  one  beat  in  every  full  thousand 
required  of  it  and  the  daily  loss  amounts  to 
nearly  a  minute  and  a  half.  Watches  have 
been  built  which  were  only  one  swift  little 
fifth  of  a  second  beat  in  error  after  twenty- 
four  hours — four  hundred  and  thirty-two 
thousand  swings  of  the  balance — and  these 
watches  were  turned  out  by  machinery  at  a 
cost  of  only  a  few  dollars. 


'THE    PIT— A    STORY    OF    CHICAGO" 

THE    LAST   AND    BEST    NOVEL   OF   THE    LATE    FRANK    NORRIS 

BY 

OWEN    WISTER 


Two  liearts,  that  should  beat  as  one, 
estranged  by  prosperity , and  by  adver- 
sity united  in  the  happy  and  solemn 
end:  this,  stated  in  its  simplest  terms,  is  the 
theme  of  "The  Pit" — a  theme  as  old  as  the 
hills,  and  all  the  better  for  being  so.  Ingenu- 
ity, surprises,  novel  twists  of  plot,  these  also 
belong  to  legitimate  art ;  but  it  is  never  upon 
them  that  the  soundest  art  relies ;  great  artists 
always  concern  themselves  with  the  usual,  not 
with  the  unexpected;  with  the  familiar  rather 
than  with  the  exceptional;  and  are  recognized 
by  their  simplicity,  not  by  their  complexity. 
Mr.  Norris  has  chosen  a  situation  that  belongs 
to  all  time,  and  has  given  it  a  treatment  which 
belongs  entirely  to  himself.  This  is  what  we 
ask  of  the  strong  writer,  and  it  is  only  the 
strong  writer  who  can  do  it. 

A  man  of  action,  shrewd,  self-made,  and 
successful  in  affairs,  to  whom  speculation  has 
so  far  been  no  more  than  a  distrusted  and 
occasional  pastime,  meets  and  marries  the 
first  woman  who  has  seriously  interested  him. 
He  outstrips  his  competitors  with  ease;  he 
conquers  her  with  no  very  great  difficulty. 
She  is  not  sure  how  much  she  loves  him,  and 
her  own  words,  "Do  you  suppose  you  can 
say  '  no '  to  that  man  ? "  summarize  the  quality 
of  his  wooing,  which  is  but  little  presented  on 
the  scene.  That  both  are  large  enough  natures 
for  a  fine  and  understanding  union  is  shown 
by  one  simple  and  beautiful  page  after 
they  .  have  come  out  from  church  after 
being  married. 

But  a  friend  has  recently  drawn  him  into 
certain  transactions  in  wheat  so  profitable 
that  his  latent  relish  for  such  excitement  is 
awakened.  This  starts  the  crack  in  their 
happiness. 


I 


"  If  I  leave  all  for  thee,  wilt  thou  exchange 
And  be  all  to  me  ?     Shall  I  never  miss 
Home-talk  and  blessing:?" 


Her  heart,  like  every  natural  woman's,  had 
asked  this  of  her  husband,  and  the  answer 
is — his  deepening  preoccupation  in  his  wheat 


gambling  ventures,  his  increasing  absences 
from  her.  He  was  rich  already  when  he 
married  her,  rich  beyond  need  of  greater 
wealth;  but  the  lust  of  the  chase  is  on  him, 
and  hence  he  gives  her  more  and  more  the 
luxurious  things  she  does  not  want  and  less 
and  less  the  only  thing  she  craves — the  home- 
talk  and  blessing.  Sometimes  her  appeals 
for  his  companionship  (she  makes  but  few, 
being  proud)  bring  him  to  her  for  awhile, 
filled  with  desire  to  make  amends ;  but  his 
brief  resolves  evaporate  like  mist  in  the  hot 
glare  of  speculation.  Repeated  triumphs 
lead  him  on,  flatter  his  vanity,  stimulate  his 
sense  of  power  and  his  thirst  for  more  power. 
Each  new  campaign  is  on  a  scale  more  huge ; 
to  see  his  enemies  out -generated,  to  graze 
ruin  and  make  half  a  million  instead,  all  this 
gives  him  sensations  so  poignant  and  delicious 
that  he  grows  to  require  it  like  some  hypo- 
dermic injection.  Deprived  of  it,  his  powers 
sink  flaccid  and  unelastic.  Especially  after 
one  victory,  when  he  comes  home  declaring  it 
shall  be  his  last — that  he  is  done  with  this 
debauch  of  nerves — is  the  abstinence  shown 
to  be  a  strain  greater  than  his  endurance  can 
any  longer  sustain.  He  fidgets  in  idleness; 
tries  books,  driving,  the  theatre,  his  country 
place,  all  quite  in  vain.  These  things  cannot 
hide  him  from  his  ennui,  do  not  bite  sharp 
enough  to  stimulate  him.  He  goes  back 
to  the  wheat  pit,  and  this  is  the  beginning 
of  the  end. 

Presently  the  markets  of  the  world  are 
throbbing  with  his  vast  operations.  The 
fortune  that  still  attends  him  makes  the 
annihilation  of  those  who  stand  in  his  way; 
he  himself  becomes  the  storm  centre,  while 
through  his  brain  sweep  the  vertiginous  cur- 
rents of  trade  and  strategy  which  he  has  set 
going  and  could  not  stop  if  he  would. 

To  such  demands  mortal  strength  is  unequal. 
His  judgment  grows  bloodshot,  his  human 
feelings  grow  bloodshot,  his  sleep  deserts 
him,  and  his  appetite;  and  whenever  he  is  not 


I 


3134 


"THE   PIT— A    STORY    OF    CHICAGO" 


in  action,  night  or  day,  the  words  "wheat, 
wheat,  wheat"  sing  perpetually  in  his  head; 
so  that  he  goes  flying  forward  through  the 
weeks  with  the  dread  of  illness  coming  behind 
him  and  the  beckoning  illusion  of  his  omnipo- 
tence in  front.  These  pages  are  so  powerful 
that  they  drag  the  reader  in  their  sweep  even 
as  the  wheat  drags  the  hero,  even  as  Dickens 
and  Zola  and  Tolstoi  drag  one  with  an 
interest  and  a  suspense  that  are  like  a  joy- 
ful riot  of  pain. 

And  the  man's  lonely  wife  meanwhile  ? 
She  sits  deserted  in  her  uptown  magnificence, 
sharing  in  her  husband's  life  no  longer,  know- 
ing nothing  of  his  thoughts,  his  doings,  his 
hopes  or  his  fears,  not  even  seeing  his  face 
any  more,  but  keeping  company  with  empty, 
expensive  furniture.  He  has  ceased  to  come 
home  at  all,  but  makes  his  visits  to  her  by 
telephone,  sleeping  in  a  hotel  room  as  close 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  as  he  can  get.  So  for 
her  also  a  pit  opens — a  pit  of  desperation,  that 
she  struggles  back  from.     The  end  is  happy. 

Stripped  of  accessories,  such  is  the  story; 
nor  do  accessories  seem  to  count  for  much  in 
looking  back  upon  this  book.  It  belongs  to 
a  group  of  financial  novels  certain  of  which 
are  familiar  to  most  of  us — "Mammon  and 
Company,"  for  instance,  and  "The  Market 
Place"  and  Mr.  Hope's  new  story.  Very 
different  from  each  other,  all  in  their  way 
take  up  the  same  thread  of  modem  specula- 
tion and  thus  furnish  a  proper  measure  by 
which  to  gage  "The  Pit." 

I  think  Frank  Norris  has  outstripped  them 
all.  I  do  not  think  any  one  of  them  compares 
with  him  in  emotional  interest  or  in  grasp 
of  the  subject.  His  study  of  the  quite 
special  technicalities  presented  seems  far  more 
thorough  than  any  of  theirs,  even  Harold 
Frederic's,  whose  book  has  strength.  Mr. 
Frederic's  pirate  financier  is  a  success; 
Mr.  Benson's  is  a  failure,  though  he  tried  hard; 
Mr.  Hope  does  not  try  at  all,  but  plays  more 
on  the  surface;  and  it  is  the  speculating 
woman  who  is  the  object  of  his  brilliant 
attention. 

When  it  comes  to  the  accessories,  to  drawing- 
room  small  talk,  to  a  certain  light  sureness  of 
touch  in  presenting  men  and  women  of  the 


world,  we  have  nobody,  except  Edith  Whar- 
ton, who  can  do  it  right.  Hope  and  Benson 
do  it  very  right.  Harold  Frederic  is  clumsy 
at  it,  and  Frank  Xorris  is  behind  Harold 
Frederic.  From  this  inadequacy  in  acces- 
sories may  be  excepted  one  comedy  scene 
where  a  3-oung  girl  and  grown  man  discuss 
love,  literature  and  themselves.  It  is  very 
pleasant. 

Concerning  the  art  of  "The  Pit"  certain 
other  reserves  are  to  be  made ;  but  if  they  are 
all  made  they  will  leave  still  untouched  the 
great  main  stor}-,  strong,  passionate,  vivid — 
livid,  I  had  almost  written — with  interest. 
The  author's  firm  hand  and  long  reach 
stretch  into  tragic  depths  of  the  human 
soul  far  beyond  the  compass  of  the  other 
financial  novels  I  have  named. 

You  have  noticed,  have  you  not,  how  many 
novels  we  read,  how  few  we  remember  ?  They 
are  little  pleasure-bridges  by  which  we  cross 
a  mental  gap  and  go  on,  and  that's  all. 
This  is  one  sort  of  novel,  and  a  good  sort,  too. 
Have  you  noticed  how,  even  though  we 
may  think  of  these  stories  during  the  hour 
that  we  read  them,  we  never  think  of  their 
authors  for  a  minute  ?  Their  existence  doss 
not  occur  to  us. 

But  there  is  another,  a  rarer  kind  of  novel, 
the  kind  written  by  what  we  call  a  master.  The 
sure  s^^mptom  of  such  a  novel  is  not  so  much 
that  you  remember  it,  but  that  you  think  of 
its  author.  You  feel  the  force,  the  personality, 
the  attitude  toward  life,  that  lie  behind  the 
printed  words ;  the  story  is  but  a  medium 
through  which  you  have  met  somebody. 
Frank  Norris  is  somebody.  In  his  first  novel, 
the  sea  story,  this  was  evident  at  once.  In 
"McTeague"  his  strength  had  grown;  in 
"The  Pit"  he  has  risen  on  stepping-stones 
to  higher  things.  Such  a  raw  device  as  (for 
example)  the  recurrent  descriptive  phrase 
is  no  longer  employed;  and  his  last  word  to 
us  shows  him  on  the  road  to  have  become  a 
master. 

There  is  a  marble  group  called  "  Death 
Arresting  the  Hand  of  the  Young  Sculptor." 
When  I  think  of  this  group  I  think  of  Frank 
Norris  and  lament  the  great  loss  to  our 
national  literature  that  his  death  has  brought. 


VIEWS   OF    READERS    ON    RECENT 

BOOKS 


THE  World's  Work  sent  a  letter  to 
some  of  its  literary  friends  asking 
them  what  recent  books  they  had 
road  with  the  greatest  pleasure  and  profit, 
and  requesting  that  their  replies  be  after  the 
manner  of  a  personal  letter.  Some  of  these 
replies  are  as  follows: 

ADELE   MARIE  SHAW: 

A  man  who  can  read  Barry  Pain's 
"The  One  Before"  without  laughter  is  a 
troglodyte.  Phrases  born  of  its  cheerful 
context  come  rippling  into  a  depressed 
atmosphere  and  smiles — inopportune  smiles — 
widen  outward  fron\  an  inward  bliss.  There 
isn't  even  the  pathos  of  the  Goose  Girl's 
"invaleeds"  to  edge  its  unshaded  mirth. 

"Myra  of  the  Pines"  laughs,  but  the 
laughter  has  its  moods,  like  the  pines  them- 
selves. Of  course  the  artist  that  can  make 
you  laugh  can  make  you  cry.  It  is  the 
tragedian  that  is  oftenest  limited.  Long  ago 
I  found,  in  a  newspaper,  stanzas  on  the  death 
of  Stevenson,  and  pasted  them  into  the  copy 
of  "Memories  and  Portraits"  that  in  the 
affluent  future,  of  dreams,  is  to  be  bound  in 
soft  leather.     These  lines: 

"  And  the  tears  and  the  prayers  of  a  planet 
That  start 
From  the  heart 
Reach  over  the  distance  and  span  it 
From  us  to  the  land  where  thou  art," 

came  as  naturally  from  the  author  of  "  Myra  " 
as  "  My  little  body  is  aweary  of  the  whole 
push."  The  Knickerbocker  youth  of  the 
whimsical  combinations  and  the  note  of  a 
universal  grief  are  part  of  the  same  scale  if 
the  audience  knows  how  to  listen. 

In  "innocent  mer-ri-ment "  is  a  whole 
gospel  of  regeneration,  and  few  there  be  who 
can  create  it.  So  true  a  picture  as  "The 
Battleground"  would  be  sure  to  have  it, 
finely  distributed  like  "minor  constituents" 
in  the  atmosphere.  Beside  the  vulgar  com- 
monplace of  the  Dorothy  Vemons  the  real 
gentlefolk  of  this  real  time  show  as  might  a 
Rembrandt  beside  a  colored  "supplement." 
There  are  two  heroines,  sisters,  and  neither 
plots  against  the  other;  two  heroes,  cousins, 
and  no  villainy  to  make  that  pleasing  com- 
plexity  productive   of  suspense.     It   is   just 


life,  as  it  happened,  like  Uffington- Valentine's 
"October." 

Hornung's  last  book  is  life,  too.  "  In  the 
Shadow  of  the  Rope"  is  not  an  Arabian 
Nights;  it  is  not  "Raffles,"  but  it  "takes 
hold."  We  give  more  interest  to  the  half 
repellant  man-who-would-be-Nemesis  than 
to  Harland's  lovers  who  cannot  gaze  upon 
the  one  beloved  without  a  fervent  "What 
sex  !"  Clear-eyed,  honest,  tormented  Rachel 
keeps,  even  in  the  criminal  court,  a  vital 
cleanness  like  highland  air.  The  least  char- 
acter is  definite.  We  get  the  story  without 
waste  or  struggle.  And  though  "  Mr.  Caine 
and  Miss  Corelli  better  please  the  massy 
mind,"  little  by  little  the  circle  of  those 
who  prefer  the  body  of  an  idea  mated  to 
its  soul  grows  wider. 

It  will  widen  faster  if  our  boys  and  girls  can 
be  set  to  reading  the  right  things.  In 
"Golden  Numbers"  Kate  Douglas  Wiggin 
and  her  sister  have  given  them  a  beautiful 
anthology,  real  poetry,  by  poets;  and  there 
are  always  nature  tales  bv  people  who  know, 
like  "The  Kindred  of  the  Wild"  and  the 
books  with  Dugmore's  pictures. 

Now  and  then  a  book  grapples  us  into  a 
nearness  where  we  can  take  no  thought  for 
form.  "The  Octopus"  does  that.  For  a 
host  of  people  there  is  a  pang  in  the  death  of 
Frank  Norris.  The  force  of  the  man  and  of 
his  genius  showed  so  increasingly  in  his  work. 
He  was  never  meaningless.  He  roused  you 
either  to  combat  or  to  acclaim.  You  might 
rage  at  the  realism  of  "  McTeague, "  but  if  you 
began  the  book  you  read  it,  and  you  felt  its 
arraignment.  "See  these  people,"  it  seemed 
to  say,  "knowing  nothing  beyond  the  animal, 
the  material.  There  are  thousands  like 
them,  product  of  our  schools,  of  our  civiliza- 
tion. Why,  if  we  are  all  we  say  we  are,  have 
they  no  glimmer  of  perception  an  inch  above 
the  ground?" 

If  Frank  Norris  had  lived  his  genius  would 
have  mounted  steadily  toward  the  knowledge 
he  has  gained  in  the  swift  moment  of  our  loss ; 
and  there  might  have  been  added  to  his 
optimism  another  note — the  hint  of  an  im- 
mortality superearthly,  the  persistence  of  the 
individual  no  less  than  of  the  type. 

It  is  hard  to  see  how  any  American  can 
afTord  to  leave  "The  Octopus"  unread.  I 
am  waiting  with  eagerness  for  "The  Pit." 


3136 


VIEWS    OF    READERS    ON   RECENT   BOOKS 


CHARLES  H.  CAFFIN: 

Apart  from  books  special  to  my  work 
I  am  more  given  to  the  renewal  of  old 
friendships  than  to  the  seeking  of  new 
acquaintances.  But  among  the  latest  books 
that  mean  something  to  me  is  Maxim 
Gorky's  "  Foma  Gordyeef. "  Its  rough- 
hewn  realism,  for  all  the  ugliness  of  its 
sordid  picture,  suggests  such  a  grip  upon  facts 
and  represents  them  in  such  fit  proportion  to 
their  local  background  as  to  savor  of  universal 
truth  and  to  act  as  a  fine  tonic  upon  one's  con- 
science and  imagination.  Then  for  a  sweeter 
( ?)  appeal  to  the  latter  quality  I  can  read  and 
reread  Maurice  Hewlett's  "Little  Novels  of 
Italy"  and  his  "Richard  Yea  and  Nay." 
But  the  former  seems  more  free  of  the  con- 
sciousness and  suggestion  of  invention;  and 
as  a  throwing  back  of  the  imagination  and  a 
revitalizing  of  the  old  matter,  with  its  outward 
appearance  and  environment  and  its  spiritual 
inwardness,  such  a  creation  as  "  The  Madonna 
of  the  Pear  Tree"  is  completely  engaging. 
I  place  it  in  a  little  niche  of  my  affection 
alongside  Pater's  "Imaginary  Portraits." 
And  further,  there  is  "Kim" — but  my 
admiration  for  it  I  do  not  choose  to  try  to 
analyze.  I  yield  to  the  extraordinary  glamor 
of  its  crowded  and  changing  spectacle  and 
prefer  to  lose  myself  in  its  phantasmagoric 
maze. 

GAILLARD  HUNT: 

I  have  read  Benjamin  Kidd's  great  book 
on  "Western  Civilization"  and  I  accept 
it  without  wholly  discarding  those  authors 
against  whom  Mr.  Kidd  breaks  his  lance. 
There  is  a  lofty  optimism  about  the  book;  it 
develops  an  inspiring  theory  of  the  advance- 
ment of  the  world,  and  the  style  is  one  of 
sustained  eloquence  and  strength. 

We  are  Americans  before  we  are  critics, 
and  whenever  a  book  comes  to  us  painting 
truly  a  picture  of  American  life  we  know 
inttiitively  that  it  is  good,  and  do  not  need  an 
expert  to  appraise  its  exact  value  for  us. 
Owen  Wister's  story,  "The  Virginian,"  is  one 
of  the  best  books  of  the  day,  because  it  is  a 
true  account  of  a  part  of  Western  life  rich  in 
primitive  virtues  and  in  the  qualities  that 
count  for  much  when  put  into  the  sum  which 
makes  up  the  manliness  of  America. 

There  are  some  chapters  in  Clara  Morris's 
"Life  on  the  Stage" — notably  the  one  in 
which  she  describes  her  first  appearance 
before  a  New  York  audience — which  are 
extraordinary  in  their  vivid  intensity.  Her 
book  confirms  the  theory  that  the  man  or 
woman  who  has  won  and  deserved  success  in 
a  calling  requiring  the  exercise  of  thought  and 


imagination  has  alwa^-s  an  instructive  story 
to  tell  and  can  always  tell  it  interestingly. 

GEORGE  H.  ELLWANGER: 

I  know  of  no  writer  of  recent  fiction  who 
exhibits  to  an  equal  extent  the  qualities 
possessed  by  Maurice  Hewlett — originality  of 
treatment,  mastery  of  expression,  stirring,  pic- 
turesque incident  and  rich  and  colorful  phrase, 
beginning  with  "  The  Forest  Lovers  "  and  con- 
cluding with  the  "New  Canterbury  Tales." 
I  have  also  found  Bernard  Capes  a  dra- 
matic craftsman  who  invariably  exerts  a 
subtle  charm.  An  eerie  restless  breeze,  as  of 
an  Autumn  wind  before  the  fall  of  the  leaf, 
plays  through  his  chapters,  while  the  setting 
of  his  scenes  and  certain  other  characteristics 
not  infrequently  recall  the  author  of  "The 
Mayor  of  Casterbridge."  He  is  perhaps  at 
his  best  in  "Love  Like  a  Gipsy,"  in  the 
haunted  "Mill  of  Silence,"  and  especially 
when  he  flashes  the  gorgeous  ruby  in  "The 
Lake  of  Wine." 

Yet  the  novelist  has  yet  to  appear  who 
can  be  compared  as  an  exponent  of  romance 
and  realism  to  Thomas  Hard}'.  What  short 
stories  recently  published — with  due  respect 
to  the  genius  of  Bret  Harte  and  the  airy 
fancy  of  "The  Turquoise  Cup"  and  "The 
Desert"  of  Mr.  Arthur  Cosslett  Smith — may 
vie  with  "Wessex  Tales." 

Among  "nature  books"  one  intuitively 
turns  to  Burroughs  for  the  most  graceful 
picture  of  the  bird  on  the  bough ;  to  William 
Robinson  in  his  newly  revised  "  English 
Flower  Garden  "  for  a  consummate  presenta- 
tion of  the  charm  of  floriculture;  while  the 
recent  American  volume,  "Nature's  Garden," 
may  be  cited  as  a  delightfully  instructive 
monograph  of  the  wild  flower  and  the  mission 
of  its  insect  visitors. 

Mrs.  Schuyler  Van  Rensselaer  has  discoursed 
most  entertainingly  on  trees,  Mrs.  Alice 
Morse  Earle  on  the  love  and  history  of  "Old- 
Time  Gardens,"  and  a  month  or  two  since 
Dr.  Charles  Sprague  Sargent,  the  eminent 
American  botanist,  completed  his  magnificent 
and  exhaustive  "Silva  of  North  America." 
Closely  following  Thompson  Seton,  who  is 
his  own  excellent  illustrator,  the  wild  animal 
and  its  haunts  have  been  graphically  por- 
trayed by  Charles  G.  D.  Roberts,  seconded 
by  the  spirited  illustrations  of  Charles 
Livingston  Bull  in  "The  Kindred  of  the 
Wild." 

And  if  one  is  weary  it  is  pleasant  to  sink 
into  one's  easy-chair  and  bask  in  the  placid 
atmosphere  and  quiet  humor  of  "My  New 
Curate,"  so  artfully  diffused  by  the  genius  of 
the  Rev.  P.  A.  Sheehan,  P.  P. 


VIEWS  OF  READERS  ON  RECENT  HOOKS 


3«37 


LIONEL  STRACHEY: 

Are  you  a  Philistine?  If  you  are,  shun 
the  "Melomaniacs,"  keep  away  from  the 
"Valley  of  Decision,"  turn  your  back  upon 
the  "Column."  But  if  you  are  thirsty  for 
literature  which  is  without  deference  to 
gallery-god  ideals  of  life  and  art,  then 
you  may  pass  agreeable  hours  in  the  com- 
pany of  these  novels.  Compare  them  with 
one  another  one  cannot,  but  a  few  of  their 
common  merits  it  is  easy  to  state.  Mr. 
Huneker  writes  of  musicians  and  pseudo- 
musicians,  Mrs.  Wharton  of  eighteenth- 
century  Italians,  and  Mr.  Marriott  of  Attic 
souls  in  British  bodies,  each  with  an  erudite 
knowledge  of  the  subject.  The  three  authors 
are  quite  free  from  cant.  They  are  brave  and 
broad.  They  speak  with  mature  opinion  in 
language  sententiously  pointed.  Their  style 
is  in  either  case  personal  property.  The 
writers  richly  possess  and  as  richly  diffuse 
gifts  of  eminent  culture.  All  of  them  take 
a  critical  view  of  the  dealings  of  both  Provi- 
dence and  man.  And,  oh  Philistine !  of 
no  one  of  the  three  books  can  it  be  said  that 
it  is  "pure  and  sweet,"  that  it  is  "breezy  and 
wholesome,"  that  it  "can  be  read  without 
effort,"  or  that  it  is  "a  stirring  tale  of  the 
American  Revolution." 

WILLIAM  ROSCOE  THAYER: 

Booker  T.Washington's  "Up  From  Slavery" 
is  the  most  remarkable  book  yet  produced 
by  a  Negro,  not  only  because  it  gives  the 
life-story  of  the  most  remarkable  of  Negroes, 
but  also  because  it  contains  the  gospel 
of  the  regeneration  of  a  race.  Mr.  Wash- 
ington's personal  vicissitudes,  from  abject 
poverty  and  slavery  to  his  present  com- 
manding position,  would  suffice  to  insure 
to  his  autobiography  a  permanent  place 
among  biographical  writings;  but  the  fact 
that  his  book  demonstrates  that  Negroes  have 
been  and  always  must  be  lifted  by  the  same 
means  by  which  all  other  races  have  been 
lifted  from  barbarism,  makes  it  immensely 
significant.  For  thirty  years  politicians  have 
tried  to  persuade  us  that  the  Negro  Question 
is  political.  Mr.  Washington  proves  con- 
clusively that  it  is  educational,  economic, 
moral,  social  in  the  largest  sense. 

"The  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Richard 
Green"  possesses  in  certain  measure  a  like 
twofold  interest.  First,  it  introduces  us 
to  a  cnarming  personality.  No  one  who 
makes  Green's  acquaintance  here  can  fail 
to  be  grateful  for  it :  he  is  so  alert,  and  sympa- 
thetic, and  sincere  in  mind,  so  buoyant,  play- 
ful and  loving  in  heart,  and  he  achieves 
modestly  and  quietly,  against  long  bodily  dis- 


tress, work  of  such  rare  excellence.  And  then 
his  letters  are  a  running  comment  on  the 
methods  and  aims  of  historical  writers,  and 
show  him  to  be  sounder  than  the  other  men 
of  his  group — Freeman  the  pugnacious  and 
narrow;  Stubbs  the  dry;  Creighton  the  dull 
and  heavy.  They  rather  looked  down  on 
him  as  an  amateur,  but  his  letters  reveal 
patience  in  scholarship  equal  to  theirs,  and 
a  regard  for  the  claims  of  narrative  which 
has  made  him — what  not  one  of  them  ever 
was — a  historian  whom  all  the  world  reads 
with  pleasure. 

Read  Mr.  Owen  Wister's  "The  Virginian" 
for  the  story  first ;  then  think  it  over  and  read 
it  again  as  a  real  contribution,  the  first  in 
many  years  made  by  an  American  to  the 
art  of  fiction.  See  in  the  Virginian  himself 
a  personage  worthy  to  rank  with  Cooper's 
Old  Leatherstocking,  human  through  and 
through,  the  only  large  representative  creation 
an  American  novelist  has  blessed  us  with 
since  Hawthorne.  The  book  is  a  literary 
landmark. 

MARY  ROGERS  MILLER: 

I  have  lately  bought  three  books  to  give 
away,  but  have  ended  by  keeping  them 
myself:  "Cross  Country  with  Horse  and 
Hound,"  "The  Misdemeanors  of  Nancy," 
and  "  Emmy  Lou — Her  Book  and  Her  Heart." 
Their  principal  characters  are  certainly  thor- 
oughbreds. 

I  have  never  hunted  the  fox,  and  must  con- 
fess that  I  have  always  thought  it  poor  busi- 
ness even  for  the  idle  rich.  I  never  believed 
that  they  really  enjoyed  cross-country  riding. 
My  sympathies  were  with  the  fox.  I  find 
that  I  have  been  buried  under  a  mountain  of 
prejudice  which  Mr.  Peer's  charming  book  has 
rolled  from  my  shoulders.  His  view  of  sport 
and  of  athletics  in  general  is  the  broadest, 
sanest  and  cleanest  I  ever  encountered. 
The  book  acquaints  the  reader  with  a  true 
sportsman  and  gentleman. 

Some  folks  think  Nancy  a  conscienceless 
flirt.  Nancy  and  I  will  not  admit  this. 
Neither  do  I  agree  with  the  author  that  Nancy 
is  a  disreputable  (though  adorable)  person. 
What  can  you  expect  of  the  daughter  of  a 
New  Hampshire  lawyer  and  a  Kentucky 
belle  ?  I  see  in  her  all  the  instincts  of  the  true 
sportsman.  She  plays  for  the  sake  of  the 
game  itself  and  not  for  the  killing. 

To  imitate  Nancy  or  to  be  dull  in  her  com- 
pany would  be  equally  impossible. 

"Emmy  Lou"  goes  straight  to  the  heart. 
She  is  so  deliciously — and  normally — dull. 
She  is  also  very  dear  and  very  sweet. 

Every  teacher   in   the  land  ought  to  read 


3138 


VIEWS    OF    READERS    OX    RECENT    BOOKS 


"  Emmy  Lou"  and  then  take  an  inventor}^  of 
herself.  There  are  more  good  lectures  on 
school-teaching  in  this  book  than  I  ever  found 
in  a  treatise  on  pedagogy.  Emmy  Lou  is 
real.  She  is  American.  She  is  human.  You 
could  hardly  love  her  better  if  she  were 
your  own. 

DAVID  SAVILLE  MUZZEY: 

Of  recent  books  I  have  read,  I  must  give  the 
first  place  to  Hon.  George  S.  Boutwell's  "Sixty 
Years  in  Public  Affairs."  Stories  from  their 
own  lips  of  men  who  were  active  in  our  national 
councils  in  the  days  before  Abraham  Lincoln's 
presidency  are  rare  enough  nowadays;  and 
when  written  by  such  a  delightful  narrator  as 
Mr.  Boutwell  they  are  doubly  worth  reading. 
These  memoirs  are  furthermore  the  record 
of  a  statesman. 

In  Mr.  Howells'  "The  Kentons"  is  the 
story  of  an  Ohio  family  leaving  their  com- 
fortable home  first  for  a  visit  to  Xew  York, 
then  for  a  longer  period  of  diversion  abroad, 
simply  to  cure  the  eldest  daughter  of  her 
tender  interest  in  a  brazen-faced  cad,  who 
really  gave  the  girl  the  best  sort  of  affection 
he  knew  how  to  give,  a  mixture  of  patronizing 
admiration  and  prurient  attraction.  There 
is  not  a  dramatic  incident  in  the  story;  the 
heroine  is  a  moping,  plain  girl  who  has  little 
to  say,  and  the  scene  is  for  the  most  part  laid 
on  board  an  ocean  steamer  during  a  mon- 
otonous voyage.  Given  such  data,  we  should 
like  to  see  anybody  except  the  inimitable 
Mr.  Howells  produce  with  them  a  story  to 
surpass  all  the  elaborate  melodrama  of  the 
court  and  the  wilderness.  Mr.  Hamlin 
Garland,  it  seems  to  me,  comes  nearest  to 
doing  it.  Mr.  Howells  writes  about  real  men 
and  women  in  real  circumstances.  His 
incomparable  gifts  of  insight  into  the  springs 
of  action,  of  mastery  of  colloquial  English, 
and  of  a  humor  refined  to  the  utmost 
delicacy  of  suggestion,  redeem  ever}i;hing 
that  he  writes  from  the  least  taint  of  trivi- 
ality or  commonplaceness. 

Finally,  I  would  mention  Count  Tolstoi's 
religious  and  social  tracts,  entitled  "What  is 
Religion?"  There  is  in  them  an  unmistak- 
able suggestion  of  retrospection  and  sum- 
mary. A  quality  of  seership  adds  solemnity. 
Tolstoi  has  worked  long  and  faithfully,  and  I 
for  one  must  think  ver\"  wisely,  to  solve  the 
most  important  question  of  religion,  namely: 
"What  do  I  really  believe  and  why  do  I  believe 
it? 

MARY  E.  WILKIXS-FREEMAX: 

Maximilian  Foster's  "In  the  Forest"  is 
totally  different  from  any  other  book  descrip- 
tive of  animal  life  which  I  have  ever  read. 


It  may  not  be  that  the  mystery  of  that 
animal  creation  which  runs  parallel  with  ours, 
and  concerning  which  we  possibly  know  as 
little  in  reality  as  we  do  about  the  life  on  the 
planets,  is  in  truth  dispelled  by  these  masterly 
sketches,  but  we  are  able  to  persuade  our- 
selves with  a  considerable  show  of  reason 
that  a  bright  light  is  shed  upon  some  of  its 
dumb  secrecy. 

At  all  events,  the  stories  are  convincing. 
They  are  credible  to  one's  reason.  There 
seems  little  doubt  that  that  great  Caribou 
who  slew  his  great  sire  and  deposed 
him  from  his  forest  throne,  and  who  in 
turn  yielded  up  his  own  sovereignty  to  his 
son,  lived,  and  lives.  It  seems  inevitable  that 
they  should.  It  is  the  everlasting  story  of 
the  triiimph  of  youth  and  strength,  and 
splendid  selfishness,  for  the  final  good  of  the 
mass,  among  animals  as  well  as  men.  There 
are  many  other  stories  comprised  in  this  col- 
lection which  delight  me.  I  have  not  read, 
for  many  a  day,  a  book,  taken  altogether, 
which  so  struck  me  as  a  new  note. 

Speaking  about  books,  I  have  just  finished 
Mr.  Stoker's  "The  Mystery-  of  the  Sea." 
Criticism  aside — all  books  can  be  criticized — 
it  is  a  renewal  of  one's  childish  delight  in  a 
story  to  read  such  a  genuine  one.  It  is  a  stor}' 
which  is  a  stor\',  and  moves  along  with  a 
rattling  pace,  and  holds  one's  interest  from 
first  to  last. 

Then  there  is  another  book,  "The 
Furniture  of  Our  Forefathers,"  which  in- 
terests me  intensely  from  its  pages  of  pure 
suggestion.  On  looking  at  these  pictures  of 
the  ancient  seats,  chests  of  drawers,  tables, 
etc.,  which  furnished  the  homes  of  our  ances- 
tors, I  see  stories  hovering  in  the  air.  These 
things  which  gave  comfort,  rest  and  pleasure 
to  those  who  have  gone  before,  these  pieces  of 
carved  wood  which  went  to  make  the  old 
homes  of  the  nation,  are  to  me  like  ke}-notes 
to  the  people  themselves  and  their  Hves. 

EVERETT  T.  TOMLIXSOX: 

Hapgood's  "Washington"  seems  to  me  a 
movement  toward  the  newer  and  true  con- 
ception of  history.  "Up  from  Slavery"  is 
unique.  It  is  national  in  its  scope  as  well  as 
individual,  and  if  the  phrase  is  not  unduly 
overv\-orked  it  might  be  termed  "epoch- 
making.  " 

Brierley's  "Studies  of  the  Soul,"  by  its 
freshness  and  suggest iveness,  has  given  me 
a  new  insight  into  the  possibilities  of  life. 
Dean  Briggs'  "  School,  College  and  Character," 
free  from  pedagogical  cant,  has  been  inspiring 
by  its  clearness,  saneness  and  genuine  insight 
into  educational  values. 


AAVOMC 

TAE  WORLD'S 

WORKERS 


AN   AMERICAN   IN   RUSSIA 

RUSSIA  has  been  something  of  an  undis- 
covered country  to  American  progress. 
It  is  beyond  the  Hnes  of  our  present  industrial 
invasion  of  Europe.  Yet  one  American 
whom  we  know  has  been  doing  things  there 
much  as  thousands  of  men  are  doing  them 
at  home.  Mr.  Enoch  Emory,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, went  into  the  far  Amur  province 
about  thirty-five  years  ago.  Since  that  time, 
through  his  enterprise,  it  has  become  the 
best  developed  of  the  Siberian  colonies.  He 
started  to  develop  one  of  the  most  unpromis- 
ing regions  that  could  have  been  found. 
Aside  from  the  natural  difificulties  of  the 
problem,  there  was  that  of  a  lack  of  sufficient 
population.  When  he  first  went  there  it 
took  six  months  and  often  more  to  com- 
municate with  the  outside  world.  It  can 
be  done  now  in  less  than  a  day.  Through  his 
American  energy  and  foresight  in  teaching 
the  people  and  in  bringing  in  the  latest  and 
best  machinery  and  tools  of  all  kinds,  and 
through  the  help  of  the  Government,  which 
brought  in  colonists  from  European  Russia, 
he  has  succeeded  in  making  this  province  on 
the  northern  border  of  Manchuria  one  of 
the  richest  under  the  Russian  flag. 

He  introduced  plows  and  from  them  has 
taught  the  people  the  use  of  our  reapers 
and  binders,  and  has  of  late  successfully 
brought  in  our  most  modern  harvesters. 
He  has  introduced  mining  and  industrial 
machinery  in  large  quantities ;  he  has  created 
a  fleet  that  plies  the  Amur;  he  has  founded 
warehouses  and  large  stores  that  supply 
everything  that  any  one  could  possibly 
want;  he  has  started  electric  light  plants 
and  has  introduced  the  telephone.  He  has 
established  his  trading  stations  all  through 
the  provinces,  covering  a  territory  of  thou- 
sands of  miles  with  them.  In  fact,  he  has 
made  this  region  to  grow  and  become  impor- 
tant to  a  degree  that  is  even  more  astounding 
to  its  inhabitants  than  it  is  to  us.  His 
trade  is  with  all  the  world  north  and  south. 
He  has  at  one  time  or  another  dismantled 
and  sold  throughout  Siberia  forty-two 
ships,    some    of    them    coming    from    San 


Francisco.  The  population  of  this  district 
has  been  more  than  doubled  through  his 
instrumentality,  and  by  the  introduction  of 
labor-saving  machinery  he  has  multiplied 
its  output  and  its  resources  an  innumerable 
number  of  times.  The  Government,  having 
been  always  favorable  to  America,  has  been 
favorable  to  him  personally,  throwing  no 
obstacles  in  his  way,  helping  when  it  could — 
seeing  that  he  was  working  for  what  were 
their  most  immediate  interests. 

AMERICAN   OPPORTUNITIES   IN   RUSSIA 

RUSSIA  and  Siberia  are  the  richest  two 
countries  in  the  world  as  far  as 
mineral  and  agricultural  resources  go,"  said 
Mr.  Emory  the  other  day.  "The  great  field 
has  hitherto  been  only  slightly  developed. 
The  Germans  have  control  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  commerce,  internal  and  foreign,  but 
they  sell  as  a  rule  only  the  cheaper  grades 
of  merchandise.  The  French  and  Belgians 
have  put  in  a  large  amount  of  capital,  but 
mostly  in  a  speculative  way ;  while  the  English 
have  started  a  very  few  iron  and  steel  factories, 
and  are  somewhat  heavily  interested  in  the 
development  of  the  oil  trade.  The  Americans 
have  as  yet  done  very  little  here.  The 
Germans  have  exploited  most  of  the  American 
goods  which  have  come  to  Russia. 

"The  two  lands — the  Russian  level  country 
and  our  great  Mississippi  basin — are  the  two 
nearest  alike  in  the  world  in  general  climatic 
conditions  and  in  the  character  of  the  soil. 
If  we  go  to  their  mountains  and  look  at  their 
iron  and  coal  deposits  and  see  how  near 
together  they  are  and  of  how  easy  a  mining 
character,  we  find  conditions  that  are  only 
to  be  equaled  in  our  eastern  Pennsylvania 
district.  The  Russians  are  primarily  an  agri- 
cultural people.  Their  methods  are  the  very 
crudest.  The  ground  is  broken  with  a  bent 
stick  shod  with  a  piece  of  tin  which  only 
makes  a  little  scratch  on  the  surface,  and  the 
crops  are  gathered  with  the  old-fashioned  sickle 
and  cradle  abandoned  a  generation  ago  in  this 
country.  Labor-saving  machinery  is  rarely 
to  be  found.  The  live-stock  and  dairy 
interests  are  just  starting,  yet  we  find  that 


3I40 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S    WORKERS 


Russia  supplies  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  world's 
meat,  and  that  in  the  last  five  years  she  has 
built  up  a  trade  in  butter  with  England 
alone  that  amounts  to  more  than  $17,000,000 
a  year.  She  has  good  facilities  for  trans- 
portation and  communication.  All  the  enor- 
mous trade  of  Russia  is  only  a  new  groT\i;h, 
and  it  is  very  small  compared  with  that 
which  is  certain  to  come.  The  industrial 
condition,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  even 
more  backward  than  the  agricultural  one. 

"Russia  is  as  certainly  a  land  of  promise 
as  our  own  agricultural  and  mining  regions 
were  thirty  years  ago.  The  few  attempts  which 
have  been  made  have,  indeed,  been  failures. 
But  it  is  not  because  of  any  fault  in  the 
conditions,  but  rather  because  of  the  incom- 
petence of  those  who  undertook  the  job.  As 
a  rule,  they  were  men  who  had  never  had  any 
experience  in  directing  large  enterprises  at 
home  or  abroad,  or  who,  so  far  from  wanting 
to  make  a  success  of  their  ventures,  were 
in  them  only  to  sell  out. 

"But  to  the  American  who  is  accustomed 
to  our  conditions,  and  who  has  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  farming  or  of  some  manufacture, 
there  can  be  no  reason  why  he  cannot  succeed 
enormously  in  these  large,  undeveloped  fields. 

"It  has  been  said  and  repeated  that  this 
Russian  peasant  people  are  ignorant  and 
conservative.  To  a  great  extent  it  is  so. 
They  are  ignorant,  but  they  are  quick  to 
learn.  They  are  conservative  because  they 
only  know  the  old  methods,  and  also  because 
their  simplicity  has  been  taken  advantage 
of  by  unscrupulous  German  traders,  until 
they  do  not  now  trust  any  people  who  want 
to  sell  unknown  goods.  And  here  again  is 
another  reason  why  the  Americans  should 
get  into  this  great  country:  the  American 
name  on  a  piece  of  machinery  is  a  kind  of 
sterling  mark,  so  that  anything  that  is  not 
too  complicated  will  sell  merely  on  its  merits 
as  an  American  machine.  We  are  in  great 
danger  of  losing  this  good  name,  however, 
because  the  Germans  and  other  traders  are 
in  the  habit  of  selling  veiy  inferior  goods  by 
representing  them  to  be  American.  And  the 
only  way  that  this  can  be  stopped  is  by  our 
trading  directly  with  Russia.  Almost  all  of 
the  things  that  we  sell  to  Russia  pass  through 
Hamburg  and  Bremen  and  are  handled  by 
German  houses,  only  a  little  of  this  business 
being  in  English  hands.  An  additional  and 
scarcely  less  important  result  of  this  rehan- 
dling  on  the  Continent  is  that  it  involves  the 
taking  out  of  several  more  profits.  The  goods 
then  become  so  expensive  to  the  Russians  that 
they  can  afford  to  buy  them  only  in  small 
quantities.     But  if  a  man  goes  to  these  people 


and  wins  their  confidence  and  has  the  patience 
to  show  them,  and  not  try  to  blackguard 
them  into  buying,  they  will  buy  and  buy 
liberally." 

A  LABOR-UNION   TURNED   CAPITALIST 

ABOUT  a  year  and  a  half  ago  some 
fifty  polishers  and  platers  in  a  plant 
in  Rochester,  New  York,  organized  a  labor- 
union  and  made  demands  for  higher  wages. 
They  were  refused  and  quit  work,  when  the 
manager  of  the  works  made  this  rather 
astonishing  proposition : 

"You  won't  work  for  me  !"  he  said.  "Work 
for  yourselves.  Start  a  polishing  and  plating 
plant  of  yotir  own.  If  you'll  do  it  as  cheaply 
and  as  well  as  any  one  else  you  can  have  my 
work." 

The  union  met  and  decided  to  follow  his 
suggestion.  With  the  aid  of  a  lawA-er  they 
drew  up  articles  of  agreement.  The  company 
was  capitalized  at  $3,400,  divided  into  thirty 
shares.  After  a  year  and  a  half  the  concern 
is  doing  a  thriving  business. 

This  last  year  has  been  very  prosperous. 
Much  of  the  time  the  men  have  worked 
thirteen  hours  a  day.  The  men  are  paid  by 
the  piece,  and  receive,  besides,  their  share  of 
the  profits  of  the  business.  So  profitable 
has  the  concern  been  that  the  men  have  been 
required  to  pay  only  a  small  part  of  their 
original  subscription.  There  are  now  only 
twenty-one  shareholders  and  each  owns  one 
and  two-thirds  shares. 

When  differences  arose  in  the  shop  they  were 
referred  to  a  shop  committee.  Each  share- 
holder considered  himself  a  capitalist  and 
therefore  did  not  spare  himself.  They  sug- 
gested improvements  and  economies.  The 
president  acted  as  bookkeeper  to  save  expense, 
and  all  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  for  the 
result. 

Perhaps  there  is  a  suggestion  in  this  suc- 
cessful experiment  for  a  way  out  of  labor 
difficulties.  But  it  will  be  noticed  that 
piece-work,  which  many  unions  condemn,  was 
instituted,  and  the  men  worked  thirteen 
hours  while  their  neighbors  fight  for  eight. 

A  LESSON   IN   FACTORY  METHOD 

A  FACTORY  expert  who  has  been  for 
more  than  a  year  examining  the  works 
of  an  old  and  well-known  New  England 
concern  and  suggesting  changes  and  improve- 
ments, made  this  remark  the  other  day: 

"They  were  always  interested  in  all  the 
suggestions  I  made  which  would  lessen  the 
cost  of  supplies,  but  when  I  submitted  a  long 
list  of  new  machines  that  in  my  opinion 
were  needed  the  president's  face  grew  long. 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


3141 


"Don't  you  think,"  he  said  finally,  "that 
we  can  get  along  in  many  cases  with  the 
machinery  we  already  have  ?  Such  an  expen- 
diture as  this  will  hurt  the  year's  dividend, 
and  we  can  realize  very  little  on  the  old 
machines  if  we  try  to  sell  them." 

"Well,  no,"  I  said.  "If  you  merely  wanted 
to  get  along  you  didn't  need  me.  And  that 
isn't  the  American  way.  The  reason  we 
win  is  because  we're  willing  to  take  big  risks 
to  do  it." 

"I  guess  you're  right,"  he  answered;  "but 
that's  a  long  list." 

"He'll  do  it  after  awhile,"  went  on  the 
expert,  "but  there's  quite  a  bit  of  old  England 
in  New  England  method." 

THE  LITTLE  THINGS  THAT  COUNT  FOR 
SUCCESS 

IT'S  often  the  little,  unheard-of  things 
that  are  making  the  great  reductions 
in  manufacturing  costs,"  said  a  patent 
lawyer  recently.  "Only  this  morning  a 
manufacturer,  a  workman  and  I  settled  the 
matter  of  two  little  wheels  that  the  workman 
had  invented  for  an  automatic  machine  he 
had  worked  over  in  the  employer's  shop. 
No  one  will  ever  hear  of  it,  but  the  little  con- 
trivance will  save  the  manufacturer  between 
forty  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and 
the  working-man  won't  have  to  mind  the 
machine,  either." 

MAKING    NAVAL    CONSTRUCTORS    IN  AMERICA 

THERE  is  a  new  proof  of  our  growing 
efficiency  in  technical  education,  and 
one  of  national  interest.  Our  naval  cadets, 
who  w^ere  to  become  members  of  the  naval 
construction  corps,  were  trained  until  recently 
at  Greenwich  in  England.  They  are  now 
being  sent  to  Boston.  The  English  school 
was  closed  to  Annapolis  graduates,  but  there 
were  famous  schools  on  the  Continent  ready 
to  teach  the  cadets.  A  special  course  in  the 
theory  of  war-ship  building,  however — from 
torpedo  boats  and  gunboats  to  monitors  and 
battle-ships — was  established  at  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technolog^^  last  year. 
It  is  to  serve  as  a  complement  to  the  four 
years  at  Annapolis,  and  it  is  without  doubt 
entirely  a  success. 

The  Bureau  of  Construction  and  Repairs 
recently  applied  to  Congress  to  increase  the 
number  of  constructors  from  forty  to  fifty, 
and  a  bill  was  passed  authorizing  the  appoint- 
ment of  two  additional  men  in  1902  and  four 
in  1903.  These  new  constructors  were  needed 
to  meet  the  increase  in  the  number  of  the 
navy's  ships.  Whether  a  ship  is  being  built 
in  private  shipyards,  or  in  a  navy  yard,  a 


constructor  is  responsible  to  his  superiors  for 
the  quality  of  every  pound  of  material  and  the 
method  of  every  hammer  stroke  and  of  the 
placing  of  every  rivet. 

The  new  course  at  Boston  will  be  three 
years  in  length.  It  will  teach  the  young 
midshipman  everything  he  needs  to  know 
about  designing  and  building  a  war-ship;  and 
as  soon  as  he  is  ready  he  is  set  to  work 
designing  a  ship  of  his  own  to  meet  certain 
defined  requirements.  Once  a  week  he 
goes  to  the  Boston  Navy  Yard  and  either 
works  as  a  mechanic  or  studies  administrative 
details  in  the  head  constructor's  office.  He 
visits,  also,  the  Fore  River  Yards,  where  the 
Virginia  class  battle-ships.  New  Jersey  and 
7?/zo(f^ /5/a;fc/,  are  being  built.  In  1901  three 
graduates  of  Annapolis  were  assigned  to  the 
Boston  naval  station  to  take  the  course. 
Last  year  four  others  entered  the  school. 
The  1 90 1  men  have  all  been  appointed  to  the 
naval  construction  corps,  and  last  year's  men 
will  follow  in  order;  and  unless  an  emergency 
arises  each  Annapolis  graduate  who  enters 
will  have  three  years  of  post-graduate  work 
before  he  becomes  a  regular  officer  in  the 
navy.  And  he  will  have  taken  his  entire 
course  in  American  schools. 

THE  MACHINERY  OF  MODERN  FARMING 

THE  modern  farmer,  like  the  mechanic, 
is  becoming  merely  the  director  of 
machines.  At  the  barn  and  granary  he 
is  relieved  of  the  tiresome  task  of  shoveling 
the  grain,  elevators  run  by  horse-power  taking 
the  loads  swiftly  to  the  top  of  the  highest 
structure.  Corn-cribs  as  well  as  wheat-bins 
are  thus  filled.  Modem  cribs  made  of  wire 
and  steel  netting  serve  as  com  depositories 
at  the  least  possible  cost.  Indeed,  there  is  a 
perplexing  problem  for  the  farmer  who  buys 
grain  of  his  neighbor  and  has  not  the  most 
improved  machinery  for  handling  it.  The 
seller  insists  on  a  cent  more  a  bushel  for  his 
grain  if  he  must  unload  by  the  old-fashioned 
way,  rather  than  at  a  "dump,"  as  in  an 
elevator  or  mill. 

The  introduction  of  the  corn-harvester 
and  the  shredder  has  done  much  to  revolu- 
tionize the  handling  of  the  com  crop.  It  was 
but  a  few  years  ago  when  the  only  method 
used  for  com  was  to  husk  the  ears  from  the 
stalk  in  the  field,  leaving  the  stalks  to  wither 
through  the  winter,  at  most  furnishing  a 
precarious  rough  feed  for  the  cattle.  It  was 
shown  by  the  experiment  stations  that  not 
more  than  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the 
crop  was  utilized.  Other  ways  of  gathering 
have  been  introduced.  A  harvester  gathers 
the   com  in  great   bundles  and,  binding  it. 


3142 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S   WORKERS 


places  it  in  suitable  shape  for  carr^^ng  to 
lauge  shocks.  The  field  is  thus  left  bare  and 
ready  for  sowing  to  wheat.  The  shredder  is 
a  machine  through  which  this  com  is  run. 
The  corn  is  threshed  as  thoroughly  as  wheat, 
but,  more  than  that,  the  stalks  are  chewed 
up  into  a  hay-like  material,  called  "stover," 
which  is  eaten  by  cattle  and  horses  as  easily 
as  is  hay.  The  com  is  thus  utilized  to  more 
than  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  its  worth,  and 
the  farmer  is  able  with  the  same  exertion  to 
fatten  nearly  twice  as  much  stock.  Railway 
cars,  filled  from  grain  spouts  at  the  country 
elevator  in  a  brief  time,  are  emptied  by  means 
of  steam  scoops  run  by  compressed  air  or 
flexible  shafts.  These  are  worked  inside  the 
car,  taking  out  almost  the  last  bushfel  of 
grain  with  remarkable  rapidity. 

From  the  standing  wheat,  through  the 
operations  of  the  self-binder  in  the  field,  the 
self-feeder  and  self-measurer  and  loader  at 
the  threshing  time,  and  the  mechanical 
devices  for  handling  the  full  loads  at  either 
end  on  the  railway  transit,  only  in  the  trans- 
ference from  scattered  bundles  to  the  sepa- 
rator is  direct  human  effort  needed.  This 
of  itself,  in  its  saving  of  time  and  strength, 
brings  consumer  and  producer  closer  and  lifts 
the  farmer  to  a  more  self-respecting  position. 

ELEVATING    AND    STRAIGHTENING   RAILROADS 

WHILE  New  York  City  is  burying  its 
tracks  a  number  of  the  larger 
Atlantic  coast  cities  are  engaged  in  elevating 
theirs.  This  series  of  public  works  along 
our  eastern  highway  from  north  to  south  is 
full  of  significance.  It  marks  the  last  stage 
in  the  evolution  of  our  once  crude  frontier 
railroad  to  the  permanent  form  of  the  English 
right  of  way.  Grade  crossings  are  eliminated, 
curves  straightened,  and  wood  or  iron  trestles 
and  bridges  are  replaced  with  masonry  or 
with  steel  as  rigid  as  stonework.  Lifted 
twenty  feet  above  the  street  level  on  massive 
walls  based  on  bed-rock,  our  heavy  modern 
express  train  may  make  its  sixty  or  eighty 
miles  an  hour  just  as  safely  through  city 
streets  as  in  the  open  country.  Time  is  saved, 
and  danger  to  life  and  property  is  removed. 
If  some  railway  company  were  to  reproduce 
the  great  pyramid,  756  feet  square  on  the 
ground  and  towering  481  feet  into  the  air, 
of  solid  masonry,  and  should  raise  it  out 
of  the  heart  of  one  of  our  large  cities,  it  would 
occasion  remark.  When  an  equal  mass  of 
stone  and  earth  is  being  handled  in  a  track- 
elevation  scheme  no  notice  is  taken  of  it, 
even  though  it  be  set  down  upon  extremely 
valuable  land.  So  the  one-time  wonders 
of  the  world  are  quietly  surpassed. 


More  wonderful  than  the  mere  quantity  of 
material  handled  is  the  way  in  which  the 
engineers  carry  on  their  work  without  inter- 
rupting or  delaying  for  an  hour  the  tremen- 
dous volume  of  traffic  passing  over  the  right  of 
way.  Express  trains,  locals,  local  expresses 
and  freights  follow  one  upon  another  over 
temporary  tracks  until  other  tracks  are  ready 
at  a  new  level,  and  the  throwing  of  a  switch 
turns  the  tide  of  commerce  into  the  new 
channel.  Great  railwa}^  stations  are  rebuilt 
to  suit  the  new  track  level  without  incon- 
veniencing the  crowds  which  use  them. 

The  track-elevation  work  now  in  progress 
within  city  limits  on  the  direct  line  between 
Boston  and  Washington  will  cost  not  less 
than  $50,000,000,  and  will  probably  amount 
to  much  more.  An  exact  estimate  is  impossible 
at  the  present  stage  of  the  work.  The 
D.,  L.  &  W.  R.  R.  is  spending  about  $6,000,000 
within  fifteen  miles  of  New  York  which 
would  not  be  included  in  that  estimate, 
but  which  forms  a  part  of  the  great  track- 
elevation  scheme  now  being  worked  out. 
The  city  governments  contribute  a  part 
of  the  expense,  Newark,  N.  J.,  paying 
$900,000,  orless  than  ten  per  cent,  of  the  actual 
cost  of  the  work,  to  the  three  railroads  ele- 
vating their  tracks  through  that  city.  The 
New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  are  build- 
ing great  granite  piers  through  Bridgeport, 
Connecticut.  And  these  examples  are  only 
a  few  out  of  a  large  number. 

MEASURING  THE  TEMPERATURE  OF  FURNACES 

IX  connection  with  man}^  big  enterprises 
— notably  the  manufacture  of  steel — it  is 
frequently  desirable  to  know  the  temperature 
of  a  molten  fluid  in  a  furnace.  At  tempera- 
tures easily  attainable  in  the  modern  electric 
furnace  no  kind  of  fire-brick  at  present  manu- 
factured will  hold  together.  The  electric 
furnace  easily  fuses  substances  set  down  in 
the  old  chemical  dictionaries  as  "infusible.  " 

Carl  Barus,  an  American  physicist,  of  Brown 
University,  has  helped  to  develop  a  scientific 
principle  commercially  applicable  to  the 
measurement  of  high  temperatures. 

The  method  devised  is  this :  Two  wires  of 
different  metals — i.  e.,  platinum  and  an  alloy 
of  platinum — are  joined  at  one  end.  This 
junction  is  placed  in  the  body  whose  heat  is 
to  be  determined.  Between  the  other  pair 
of  ends,  at  any  distance,  is  placed  a  galvano- 
meter. Owing  to  the  difference  between  the 
temperature  of  the  first  pair  of  ends  and  that 
of  the  second  pair  an  electric  current  is  set  up ; 
and  the  deflection  of  the  galvanomieter  needle 
serves  to  indicate  the  amount  of  the  difference 
in  temperature. 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


3143 


The  French  have  devised  an  optical  pyro- 
meter. They  observe  through  a  telescoiH^ 
with  a  ])risni  how,  in  the  case  of  a  body  lumin- 
ous with  heat,  new  spectrum-rays  are  added 
with  every  rise  in  temperature,  from  the  dull 
cherry-red  of  a  low  tem])erature  to  the  daz- 
zling white  betokening  a  high  degree  of  heat. 

By  such  ingenious  devices  tlie  necessity  of 
plunging  a  fragile  thermometric  instrument 
into  highly  heatetl  bodies  is  obviated ;  and  the 
measurement  of  high  temperatures  inaccessible 
by  means  of  ordinary  thermometric  methods 
becomes  practicable. 

A  NEW  LIFE-BOAT 

COLLAPSIBLE  life-boats  have  been  in- 
vented and  improved  until  the  new 
boat  for  the  navy,  which  was  recently  tested 
at  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard,  seems  to  come 
near  to  filling  all  the  requirements.  First 
of  all,  it  can  be  extended  or  collapsed  in  the 
water  or  out;  it  is  practically  impossible  to 
capsize  or  sink  it,  and  it  carries  provisions 
and  has  protection  for  its  passengers.  Cork 
and  kapok  give  the  boat  its  buoyancy,  and 
the  entire  framework  is  covered  with  canvas 
for  protection. 

The  fact  that  it  can  be  opened  in  the  water 
gives  it  a  great  advantage  in  the  event  of 
an  accident  in  which  a  ship  sinks  rapidly, 
for  the  frame  can  be  thrown  overboard  like 
a  raft.  If  the  ship  sinks  too  quickly  the 
lashings  can  be  cut  and  the  life-boat  floats, 
ready  to  pick  up  people  struggling  in  the 
water.  The  present  life-boats  are  often 
crushed  in  the  launching.  This  new  boat 
can  be  handled  easily  and  will  stand  all 
sorts  of  rough  usage.  Broken  frame  or  torn 
canvas  make  no  difference  in  its  bouyancy. 

The  new  boat,  as  it  showed  in  its  tests,  can 
be  extended  or  opened  into  boat  shape  in  ten 
seconds.  A  ship  meeting  another  in  dis- 
tress in  a  rough  sea  can,  instead  of  "laying 
by"  for  calmer  weather,  have  the  life-boat 
hauled  over  as  a  raft  and  unfolded  when  there. 
The  life-boat  can  carry  sixty-eight  people 
from  a  wreck  to  the  shore  without  a  possi- 
bility of  swamping  or  sinking.  Boats  of  the 
same  size  are  not  ordinarily  allowed  to  carry 
more  than  fifty  people.  A  life-boat  that  will 
not  capsize,  which  cannot  be  sunk,  and 
which  can  take  whichever  shape,  raft  or 
boat,  is  best  for  the  conditions,  seems  to  be  a 
great  advance  over  the  boats  now  in  use. 

ONE  EFFECT  OF  HIGH  WAGES  IN  AMERICA 

SOME  industries  in  California  which  have 
failed  are  evidence  that  high  wage  rates, 
even  with  our  tariff  wall,  prevent  home  supply 
in  the  face  of  competing  imports. 


Efforts  to  produce  tea,  silk,  opium  and 
])crfumery  are  among  these  features.  The 
local  climate  fosters  the  most  satisfact(^ry 
growth  yf  these  plants.  They  were  intro- 
duced years  ago  with  every  promise  of 
success.  There  was  a  famous  tea  planta- 
tion in  California  forty  years  ago  that  is 
famous  among  tourists  for  the  thrift  of  the 
bushes,  for  tea-making  stopped  as  soon  as  the 
first  picking  showed  that  the  men  employed 
could  only  earn  for  the  employer  about  a  fifth 
as  much  as  their  wages  cost  him.  Wages 
have  been  lowered  since  then,  but  never 
low  enough  to  enable  a  Californian  to  produce 
tea  for  the  market  price.  It  avails  nothing 
industrially  for  California  that  the  tea  plant 
will  grow  luxuriantly  anywhere  in  the  valleys 
or  foothills ;  the  plant  is  an  ornament  and 
nothing  more. 

It  is  much  the  same  with  the  cotton  plant 
in  California.  In  the  interior  valley  the  plant 
grows  finely  and  the  staple  is  exceptional  in 
length,  strength  and  fineness,  but  though 
occasional  efforts  have  been  made  to  gather 
it,  failure  has  always  come  through  lack  of 
hands  for  picking.  Even  the -effort  to  colonize 
blacks  from  the  South  failed  because  the 
people  found  other  opportunities  for  more 
profitable  labor.  The  very  crop  they  were 
brought  to  gather  went  unpicked.  Before  it 
could  ripen  every  black  man  was  gone 
and  employed  elsewhere. 

Silk-growing  has  been  persistently  pushed 
in  California,  enjoying  at  one  time  a  State 
bounty  for  cocoons.  So  long  as  the  State 
paid  seventy-five  cents  a  pound  for  them 
some  were  produced,  but  when  the  bounty 
lapsed  production  ceased.  Silk  could  not  be 
profitably  produced  with  hired  labor,  but  it 
was  hoped  that  it  might  prove  an  acceptable 
fireside  industry.  Women  and  children  could 
make  money  too  easily  in  other  ways.  The 
large  plantations  of  mulberries  find  their 
present  functions  in  shade  and  firewood. 

The  opium  poppy  grows  splendidly,  but 
there  is  no  labor  to  score  the  capsules  and 
scrape  the  exuding  gum.  Hundreds  have 
tried  to  prepare  it  and  all  have  failed. 

Perfumery  farming,  planning  to  market  the 
subtle  essence  of  rose,  violet,  lavender,  tube- 
rose, etc.,  has  been  a  standing  possibility 
for  outdoor  occupation  in  California,  but 
has  yielded  nothing  because  of  high  wage 
rates.  Even  the  vast  quantities  of  orange 
blossoms  which  are  produced  in  excess  of  all 
requirements  of  fruiting  trees  cannot  be 
profitably  gathered  for  the  perfumers'  pro- 
cesses. Perhaps  a  time  will  come  when  low 
wages  along  with  low  cost  of  necessaries  will 
make  us  able  to  conipete  with  the  foreigner. 


3144 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S    WORKERS 


THE  BUSINESS  OF  SAVING  TREES 

PORTABLE  outfits  for  threshing,  saw- 
ing, grinding,  hay-bahng,  etc.,  have 
long  been  owned  by  the  operators  and 
moved  from  farm  to  farm,  performing  expert 
services  at  contract  rates  for  those  whose  skill 
or  means  did  not  warrant  them  in  purchasing 
appliances  and  doing  the  work  for  themselves. 
Li  California  this  service  has  been  extended 
to  the  destruction  of  injurious  insects  on  fruit 
trees,  and  operators  have  found  it  profitable 
to  secure  the  best  machinery  and  materials, 
and  the  highest  expert  knowledge  as  well. 
The  highest  mark  in  professional  insect- 
fighting  is  found  in  the  use  of  hydrocyanic 
(prussic)  acid  gas.  The  fumes  are  deadly, 
and  the  tree  must  be  enclosed  in  a  gas-tight 
receptacle  during  its  application.  Roughly 
speaking,  the  method  is  to  drop  a  tent  over 
the  tree  to  generate  the  gas  in  a  dish  of 
chemicals  under  the  tent,  and  to  allow  the 
tree  to  remain  in  its  gas  bath  for  some  time. 
While  one  tree  is  medicated  others  are  being 
tented,  and  work  proceeds  uninterruptedly. 
This  operation  takes  place  at  night .  Sunlight 
or  heat  makes  the  gas  destructive  to  foliage 
as  well  as  insect.  To  work  economically  a 
number  of  men  and  tents  are  required.  There 
is  need,  therefore,  of  organization  and  capital 
and  a  business  head  to  the  undertaking.  In 
Southern  California  there  are  probably  about 
thirty  professional  outfits.  A  single  gang 
consists  of  four  or  five  men.  Tents  cost  about 
$25  each,  and  each  gang  of  men  can  use 
from  forty  to  fifty  of  them.  About  $1,500 
would  then  be  the  cost  of  an  average  outfit, 
including  teams  and  wagons. 

Firms  of  "fumigators, "  as  they  are  called, 
may  operate  a  number  of  "gangs"  and  out- 
fits, and  one  Los  Angeles  firm  has  as  much  as 
$10,000  invested  in  its  business.  The  cost  of 
treatment  depends  upon  the  size  of  the  trees, 
and  contracts  are  made  with  growers  at 
agreed  rates — an  average  cost  being  about 
twenty-five  cents  a  tree.  Sometimes  growers 
furnish  the  materials  and  contract  for  the 
application,  and  there  is  reason  to  think  that 
the  insect  receives  the  hardest  strokes  when 
this  method  is  employed.  Some  counties 
have  purchased  outfits  for  local  use,  and  some 
growers  operate  their  own,  but  professional 
"gassing"  is  the  rule.  There  is  also  an 
application  of  the  same  business  methods  to 
the  operation  of  outfits  for  spraying  orchards. 
No  doubt,  to  the  development  of  such  business 
methods  is  due  much  of  the  very  successful 
work  against  insects  for  which  California  is 
well  known.  A  struggle  against  an  army  even 
of  insects  must  be  organized  and  carried  on 
with  thoroughness  to  gain  permanent  success. 


COLLEGE  ENGINEERS   AT    WORK 

TWO  young  men  not  long  ago  went 
West  from  an  Eastern  college.  Box- 
ing, lacrosse  and  football  had  hardened  their 
muscle,  and  an  engineering  education  had 
so  sanely  developed  their  minds  that  they 
buried  their  diplomas  in  trunks  and  met  the 
West  unaffectedly,  with  their  coats  oflf  and 
their  sleeves  rolled  up.  They  went  to  work 
in  a  copper  smelter. 

One  became  furnace-man's  helper  and,  as 
he  said,  "didn't  do  much  at  first  but  extin- 
guish John  when  his  clothes  caught  fire  from 
the  red-hot  spatters."  But  the  second  night — 
for  he  w^as  working  on  the  "graveyard"  shift — 
the  furnace-man  defected,  and  the  college  bov. 
with  his  friend  as  helper,  ran  the  furnace 
himself  from  his  book  knowledge.  They 
watched  the  valves,  kept  the  water-jacket  of 
the  slag-spout  tepid,  dodged  the  explosions 
of  the  molten  metal,  and  at  last  prepared  at 
midnight  to  tap  the  furnace  and  draw  the 
slag  from  the  settler,  wdiile  the  manager  and 
the  smelter-men  stood  about  to  see  how  the 
"tenderfeet"  ran  their  "first  tap."  There 
was  cheering  when  the  operation  succeeded. 
But  the  young  men  felt  they  had  not  yet  been 
Westernized  by  initiation. 

"Watch  for  something  spectacular,"  said 
one  to  the  other,  "and  when  it  comes, 
tackle  it  hard." 

The  next  week  he  was  down  in  the  mine 
repairing  a  pump  when  a  workman  dropped 
a  wrench  into  seven  feet  of  cold,  dirty,  copper- 
impregnated  water  at  the  bottom  of  the 
shaft — the  second  wrench  to  be  lost  that 
day. 

"Fish  it  out,"  said  he. 

They  stared  dumfounded.  The  "sump," 
or  pool  of  water,  lay  at  the  foot  of  a  slippery 
ladder;  and  no  one  in  the  gang  could  swim. 

Chuckling,  he  undressed,  while  the  miners 
gasped  at  his  temerity,  and  creeping  down 
the  slimy  rungs,  he  plopped  oflf  into  the  sump, 
dived,  secured  a  wrench,  came  up  for  breath, 
dived  again  for  the  other,  and  came  dripping 
up  the  ladder,  to  find  himself  an  extremely 
popular  youth. 

The  other  was  still  a  tenderfoot  until  one 
night  the  slag-spout  of  his  furnace  blocked 
and  the  furnace  began  to  "freeze" — a  costly 
accident,  for  a  frozen  charge  of  copper  must 
be  chipped  away  with  sledge  and  cold-chisel. 
One  had  already  frozen,  and  men  had  sledged 
away  for  five  perspiring  hours  to  clear  it, 
the  two  young  men  among  them.  Afterward 
they  had  talked  of  the  meaning  of  "work." 
One  described  minutely.  He  said:  "Your 
legs  don't  yield.  You  sledge  away  till  your 
grip  on  the  handle  begins  to  weaken;  your 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


3145 


arms  start  dyiny;;  your  back  loses  power; 
your  stomach  yields,  and,  last,  your  head. 
Finally  you  can't  lift  the  sledge.  You  lean 
on  a  post  and  pant;  for  worlds  you  couldn't 
clasp  your  lingers  around  the  hammer  handle. 
Then  you  begin  to  'come'  again;  and  you 
go  through  it  all  once  more.  People  who 
haven't  tried  it  don't  know  how  workmen 
feel  when  they  work."  Accordingly,  when 
the  slag  sluice  blocked  and  another  round 
of  sledging  promised,  the  young  man  pon- 
dered to  find  a  way  out. 

"What  can  be  done?"  said  the  superin- 
tendent, who  had  hurried  up  with  a  trail  of 
workmen. 

"Give  me  a  pickax,"  said  the  college  boy. 
"Don't  yer  try  it,  sonny,"  said  a  workman. 
But  he  took  the  pickax  and  a  sledge, 
went  down  alone  underground  beneath  the 
fifty-ton  settler  full  of  molten  matte,  and 
began  hammering  at  the  viscous  obstruction. 
The  superintendent  held  a  stream  ol  water 
from  a  hose  upon  him  while  he  worked,  but 
some  of  the  spattering  metal  burned  through 
his  clothes,  and  his  shoe-soles  were  slowly 
crisping.  At  last  the  slag,  giving  way,  went 
rushing  down  the  flume  in  a  smother  of 
steam  and  sulphur  fumes,  and  the  boy  stag- 
gered out.  His  shoe-soles  were  burned  away 
and  his  clothes  were  riddled  with  holes. 
The  men  cheered  as  he  started  home  to 
change  his  garments.  He  was  naturally 
happy,  for  he,  too,  was  no  longer  a  tenderfoot. 
One  of  the  two  said  afterward:  "All  these 
Westerners  want  is  something  theatrical." 
The  other,  blowing  a  puff  of  smoke,  respcmded : 
"Yes,  it's  grandstand  play."  But  each  feat 
was  a  little  more :  it  was  showing  an  aptitude 
promptly  equal  to  the  occasion. 

CONTRASTS  IN  NATIONAL  INGENUITY 

IN  going  over  the  Valdez  Pass,  by  all  odds 
the  longest,  most  difificult  and  most 
dangerous  path  into  the  interior  across  the 
Alaskan  mountains,  the  early  pioneers  of  1898 
and  1899  had  some  diflficult  problems  to 
solve  in  primitive  engineering.  The  Pass 
is  thirty  miles  long,  and  twenty-two  miles  of 
this  are  up  hill.  The  rise  is  in  a  succession  of 
"benches" — steep  snow-clad  trails  from  five 
hundred  to  five  thousand  feet  long  and 
inclined  at  an  angle  in  many  cases  steeper 
than  forty-five  degrees. 

The  longest  of  these  benches,  called  the 
"summit,"  presented  the  most  difficult  task. 
Men  had  not  only  to  take  themselves  up  this 
incline,  but  to  drag  also  from  one  to  two  tons 
of  food  and  utensils  with  them. 

It  forms  a  curious  study  in  racial  thought 
and  ability  to  recall  the  various  methods  by 


which  this  task  was  accomplished.  The 
patient,  dog-like,  lower-class  Swede  took  his 
fifty  or  seventy-five  pounds  on  his  back  and 
toilfully  climbed  to  the  top,  deposited  his 
burden,  and  returned  again  and  again  for 
another  load.  The  Norwegian,  more  saving 
of  his  strength,  carried  his  pack  perhaps  a 
fourth  of  the  distance  and  made  a  cache. 
By  making  many  short  trips  he  gained 
frequent  rests  and  accomplished  more  in  the 
long  run  than  the  harder-working  Swede. 

The  German,  man  of  one  idea,  stuck  to  the 
sled  that  had  brought  him  over  the  easier 
reaches  of  the  Pass,  and,  carrying  a  bare  forty 
pounds,  painfully  and  slowly  drew  the  load 
to  the  top,  and  then  coasted  down  for  more. 
Some  Frenchmen,  who  were  fortunate  enough 
to  possess  a  horse,  drove  hirri  up  with  light 
loads  until  driven  off  the  trail  for  spoiling  it, 
and  some  Japanese  tried  pitching  fifty-pound 
bags  from  hand  to  hand,  but  soon  wore 
themselves  out.  They  then  imitated  the 
American  plan,  which  was  as  follows: 

A  strong  stake  was  driven  eight  or  ten  feet 
into  the  snow  a  thousand  feet  up  the  incline, 
and  braced  with  an  additional  stake  and 
ropes.  To  the  large  stake  was  attached  a 
block  through  which  ran  a  thousand  feet  of 
rope.  On  each  end  of  this  rope  was  attached 
a  sled.  The  sled  at  the  foot  of  the  incline 
was  then  loaded  with  from  seven  hundred  to 
a  thousand  pounds  of  goods,  held  in  place  by 
the  drag  rope,  which  passed  over  the  load 
from  the  rear  and  under  the  front  bar  of  the 
sled. 

Four  men  picked  up  the  upper  sled  and 
thrusting  short,  tough  sticks  through  it, 
grasped  them  under  arms  and  literally  "fell 
down"  the  hill,  their  weight  drawing  up  the 
loaded  sled,  guided  by  its  gang  of  four  men. 
Arrived  at  the  bottom,  the  empty  sled  was 
loaded,  while  the  top  sled  was  unpacked. 
The  operation  was  then  repeated,  the  men 
who  had  just  worked  getting  a  rest  walking 
up.  In  this  way,  in  one  instance,  fourteen 
tons  of  goods  climbed  the  four  thousand  feet 
in  two  nights'  work  of  ten  hours.  American 
ingenuity  had  seen  that  the  necessary  return 
trips  should  be  made  useful  in  some  way, 
and  that  if  gravity  could  be  made  to  assist 
in  the  pulling,  the  precious  strength  of  the 
men,  so  necessary  for  success  later  on,  would 
be  made  to  last  longer  and  go  further. 

GETTING  RESULTS  AT  ANY  COST 

AFIRE  completely  destroyed  recently  the 
plant  of  a  manufacturing  company  of 
New  England  which  manufactured  emery 
and  corundum  wheels,  used  in  every  machine 
shop  and  in  nine  out  of  ten  of  all  manufac- 


I 


3146 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


turing  operations.  The  factory  possessed  a 
large  stock-room  in  the  basement  where  sixty 
thousand  wheels  were  kept,  stored  in  racks. 
These  wheels  ranged  in  size  from  the  tiny 
jeweler's  wheel,  half  an  inch  in  diameter  and 
thin  as  a  wafer,  to  the  giant  tool  grinders 
four  feet  across  and  a  foot  thick. 

Emery  wheels  are  made  by  several  different 
processes  for  different  purposes,  of  emery  of 
all  degrees  of  fineness  and  into  wheels  of  all 
degrees  of  hardness.  The  wheels  are  stored 
by  size  in  racks,  and  arranged  in  these  racks 
according  to  the  number  of  emery  and  grade. 
When  the  factory  burned  down  the  stock- 
room was  a  mass  of  ruins  and  the  wheels  were 
buried  beneath  the  debris  of  the  burning 
building,  but  not  much  injured. 

The  company  advertised  that  it  would 
resume  operations  at  a  certain  date,  when  the 
new  building,  on  another  piece  of  ground, 
w^as  expected  to  be  completed.  As  it  hap- 
pened, a  blizzard  so  tied  up  the  railroads  that 
the  expected  material  failed  to  appear,  with 
the  result  that  while  the  building  was  fin- 
ished, the  date  of  opening  business  found 
the  stock-room  still  unstocked. 

The  fire  and  water  had  pretty  well  obliter- 
ated the  paint  marks  on  the  wheels  which 
designated  their  grade  and  the  number  of  the 
emery,  and  as  it  was  vitally  necessary  to  know 
these  it  was  decided  that  they  should  be  put 
into  the  new  room,  marked  and  graded  in 
as  short  a  time  as  possible.  One  traveling 
man  happened  to  be  in  at  that  time,  and  he 
and  the  superintendent,  the  only  other  avail- 
able man,  set  to  work  to  grade  some  forty 
thousand  wheels.  Grading  an  emery  wheel  is 
accomplished  by  laying  it  down  on  some  hard 
surface  and  attacking  it  with  a  blunt  tool, 
called  a  "digger."  The  "feel"  of  the  slight 
give  to  the  tool  tells  the  skilled  workman 
which  of  the  fourteen  degrees  of  hardness  the 
wheel  is.  By  looking  at  it  the  size  of  the 
grain  is  judged.  These  two  men  grading,  two 
laborers  for  lifting  and  a  boy  for  marking, 
graded  and  marked  and  put  away  the  wheels 
in  fifty-six  hours,  working  without  rest. 

]\Iore  men  were  not  put  on  the  job  because 
grading  is  an  art  which  few  in  the  factory 
knew.  The  graders  had  to  handle  most  of  the 
wheels  themselves,  and  each  wore  out  three 
pairs  of  heavy  buckskin  gloves  in  the  process. 
The  smaller  wheels  were  attacked  first,  and 
graded  and  marked  at  the  rate  of  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  a  man  per  minute.  The  large  ones 
required  more  time,  as  they  had  to  be  wheeled 
to  the  proper  position,  carefully  lowered  on 
the  side  and  then  accurately  judged.  The 
very  large  wheels,  made  by  a  chemical  pro- 
cess, are  much  harder  to  judge  than  those 


made  b}"  burning  an  emery  composition  in  a 
kiln,  and  these  took  more  time. 

In  fifty-six  hours  the  job  was  done,  and  the 
next  day  a  waiting  pile  of  more  than  four 
hundred  orders  were  filled  from  the  stock 
which  two  days  previously  had  been  abso- 
lutely useless  because  they  were  unmarked 
and  unarranged. 

ANOTHER  NEW  FORM  OF  FUEL 

IN  Germany,  France  and  Belgium  the  manu- 
facture for  fuel  of  briquettes — made  of 
coal  dust,  lignite  or  peat  mixed  with  a 
cohesive  substance,  such  as  pitch  which  is 
combustible,  and  formed  into  bricks  under 
high  pressure — has  been  an  important  indus- 
try for  twenty  years ;  and  the  small  circular 
or  cubical  blocks  are  being  very  generally 
used  in  cooking-stoves  and  grates  and  even 
for  power  fuel.  In  America  the  industry 
has  never  been  thoroughly  developed,  prob- 
ably because  coal  has  been  cheap  and  plentiful. 
The  recent  coal  strike,  however,  hurried  the 
commercial  production  of  briquettes  in  the 
United  States  to  a  great  degree. 

The  material  from  which  the  American 
briquette  is  manufactured  is  culm — the  fine 
coal  which  surrounds  ever\'  breaker  in 
mountainous  heaps.  This  culm  is  valueless, 
for  it  is  so  fine  that  it  packs  tightly  together 
and  will  not  bum.  To  make  it  available  in 
the  form  of  bricks  it  is  necessary  to  combine 
it  with  a  "binder,"  as  it  is  technically  called — 
a  liquid  substance  made  by  a  secret  process 
from  oil  and  various  distilled  products  of 
coal.  The  culm  is  first  washed,  then  mixed 
with  the  binder  and  then  subjected  to 
great  pressure. 

These  briquettes  may  be  made  in  any  size, 
according  to  the  form  of  furnace  in  which 
they  are  to  be  used.  They  are  ignited  exactly 
as  coal  is  ignited,  and  bum  with  a  strong 
flame  and  with  remarkable  heat -giving  power. 
Two  attractive  features  of  this  fuel  are  that 
it  gives  off  almost  no  smoke  and  bums  with 
very  little  waste.  The  only  residue  is  a  fine 
ash  without  clinkers  or  cinders.  It  is  claimed 
that  careful  experiments  demonstrate  that 
they  possess  greater  heat-giving  power,  weight 
for  wxight,  than  the  best  anthracite  and  from 
three  to  four  times  that  of  dry  wood  or  peat. 

The  chief  recommendation  of  the  briquette, 
however,  is  expected  to  be  its  greater  relative 
economy.  It  is  said  that  the  cost  of  manu- 
facture, including  the  raw  material,  is  not 
over  one  dollar  per  ton,  and  that  the  product 
can  be  marketed  profitably  at  a  saving  of 
from  two  to  three  dollars  per  ton  over  coal  at 
the  lowest  normal  prices.  It  is,  among  other 
things,  a  valuable  new  use  of  waste  material. 


MR.    JOHN    S.    SARGENT 

THE    MOST    EMINENT    OF   THE    WORLDS     PORTRAIT    PAINTERS 


(.See  "The  March  of  Events'") 


THE 


WORLi:>SWORK 


MARCH,    1903 


Volume   V 


Number   5 


Zbe  fIDarcb  of  lEvents 


THE  historic  event  of  the  month  is  the 
making  of  the  treaty  with  Colombia 
which  ends  the  long  preparation  for 
the  Panama  Canal.  When  this  paragraph  is 
written,  the  treaty  awaits  only  the  ratification 
of  the  Senate,  which  now  seems  certain.  The 
canal,  therefore,  is  definitely  in  sight;  for  it 
must  be  begun  within  two  years  and  be  fin- 
ished within  twelve. 

After  more  than  a  half-century  of  agitation ; 
after  long  opposition  from  many  quarters,  in 
particular  by  some  of  the  transcontinental 
railroads;  after  efforts  made  by  private  cor- 
porations; after  the  scandal  of  the  French 
Panama  company;  after  the  abrogation  of 
the  old  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  with  England, 
which  stood  in  the  way;  after  surveys,  dis- 
cussions of  routes  and  endless  debates;  and 
after  the  silent  opposition  of  some  European, 
and  the  jealousy  of  some  South- American, 
governments — at  last  the  United  States  will 
construct  and  control  an  interoceanic  highway 
for  the  incalculable  and  perpetual  advantage 
of  the  commercial  world. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  the  act  of  Congress 
at  the  last  session  gave  the  President  authority 
to  conclude  prescribed  arrangements  for  a 
canal  by  the  Panama  route;  or  if  this  failed, 
to  conclude  arrangements  for  the  Nicaragua 
route.  The  French  canal  company  and  all 
its  property  and  rights  will  be  bought  with 
clear  titles  for  $40,000,000;  and  now  a  satis- 
factory treaty  with  Colombia  is  concluded. 
The  Panama  route,  therefore,  is  selected. 


By  this  treaty  we  are  to  pay  Colombia 
$10,000,000  for  an  exclusive  franchise  for  one 
hundred  years  (renewable  forever  at  our 
option) ,  and  after  nine  years  an  annual  rental 
of  $250,000.  We  agree  to  the  neutrality  of 
the  canal  (as  we  had  previously  agreed  with 
Great  Britain) ;  and  although  Colombia  retains 
general  sovereignty  over  the  zone  of  the  canal, 
we  have  the  right  to  protect  life  and  property 
there  if  she  fail  to  do  so.  The  agreement  is 
satisfactory  to  our  government  in  all  its 
details,  for  it  is  fair  and  reasonable. 

We  shall,  then,  soon  begin  work  on  the 
canal,  as  already  authorized  by  Congress;  and 
we  have  been  fortunate  in  securing  the  route 
that  most  engineers  think  best.  By  a  total 
expenditure  of  more  than  $200,000,000  we 
shall,  within  a  few  years,  have  made  it  pos- 
sible to  sail,  as  Columbus  set  out  to  do,  almost 
due  west  from  Spain  and  reach  Asia.  A 
great  new  way  will  be  opened  between  east 
and  west  that  will  radically  change  the  com- 
mercial geography  of  the  world  for  a  large 
part  of  its  inhabitants.  Such  an  event  has 
not  happened  many  times  in  human  history. 

SECRETARY  HAY'S  CONTINUED  TRIUMPHS 

AGAIN  Secretary  Hay  has  won  the  thanks 
of  the  nation  —  this  time  by  this 
agreement  with  Colombia  about  the  canal. 
It  was  he,  it  will  be  recalled,  who  concluded 
with  Great  Britain  a  new  treaty  that  got  rid 
of  the  old  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  which  so 
long  stood  in  the  way  of  any  isthmian  canal. 


ft 


Copyright.  1903,  by  Doubleday,  Pag-e  &  Company.     All  rights  reserved. 


3150 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


Again,  in  his  work  looking  toward  a  satisfac- 
tory settlement  of  the  long  controversy  with 
England  about  the  Alaskan  boundary,  he  has 
opened  a  way  of  hope  for  the  end  of  that  old 
trouble.  From  his  dealings  about  the  inva- 
sion and  occupation  of  China  to  his  remon- 
strance against  the  expulsion  of  Jews  from 
Rumania,  Secretary  Hay  has  continued  to 
earn  the  eulogy  of  Harvard  University  as  the 
foremost  living  diplomatist.  Even^  year, 
under  his  direction,  it  becomes  plainer  to  the 
world  that  American  diplomacy  means  fair 
dealing;  and  this  is  a  great  national  gain. 

Every  student  of  public  events  whose 
memory  goes  back  no  more  than  a  dozen  years 
will  thankfully  bear  witness  to  the  change  that 
has  taken  place  in  our  foreign  relations.  We 
were  then  under  suspicion  when  we  were  not 
in  contempt.  Our  dealings  even  with  Great 
Britain  were  difficult.  We  were  always 
wrangling  over  inconsequential  international 
affairs,  and  we  never  seemed  to  reach  clear 
conclusions.  The  most  tiresome  and  appar- 
ently the  most  ineffective  part  of  our  national 
administrations  used  to  be  the  Department 
of  State. 

Many  influences  have  contributed  to  the 
happy  change.  We  have  asserted  ourselves; 
we  have  grown  richer;  we  have  made  a  com- 
mercial "invasion"  of  other  lands;  we  have 
built  a  navy ;  and  we  have  cut  a  bigger  figure 
in  the  world  in  several  ways.  But,  after  all, 
it  is  men  that  mold  events ;  and  wherever  an}- 
notable  thing  is  done  you  will  find  a  note- 
worthy man.  The  just,  frank  and  persistent 
personalit}''  of  Secretary  Hay  has  been  felt 
and  respected  in  every  capital  in  the  world; 
and  he  has  won  a  place  in  our  history  and 
among  the  greatest  international  statesmen. 
He  has  given  new  character  to  diplomacy. 

GOVERNOR  TAFT  AS  AN  EXAMPLE  OF  THE 
SUCCESSFUL  PUBLIC  SERVANT 

AND,  since  it  is  pleasant  to  write  in 
praise  of  good  men,  what  an  example 
Governor  Taft  has  set  for  patriotic  youth  for 
all  time  to  come  1  A  good  student  of  the  law 
and  a  successful  judge,  he  had  as  the  ambition 
of  his  life  a  seat  on  the  Supreme  Bench  of  the 
United  States.  He  was  in  the  direct  line  for 
such  a  promotion  if  vacancies  should  occur, 
when  he  was  appointed  chairman  of  the 
present  Philippine  Commission.  But  from 
a  sense  of  public  duty  he  accepted  the 
uncommonly    difficult    task     of    leading   the 


PhiHppine  peoples  out  of  the  chaos  of 
war  and  ignorance  to  orderly  government. 
When  he  accepted  this  post  the  diffi- 
culties were  greater  than  beset  any  other 
public  task  that  we  had  in  hand.  It  was 
not  clear  what  could  be  done.  It  was 
not  even  quite  clear  what  we  wished  to  do. 
Congress  had  enacted  no  Philippine  legisla- 
tion. The  whole  problem  was  yet  a  military 
one;  and  public  opinion  in  the  United  States 
was  divided.  We  were  making  our  way 
through  a  fog.  But  Judge  Taft,  with  his 
capable  co-commissioners,  took  the  task  in 
hand  and  began  the  work  of  constructing  an 
orderly  government — of  making  a  civiliza- 
tion where  civilization  had  never  been. 
What  they  have  done  is  a  great  piece  of  con- 
structive work,  and  the  first  piece  of  such  work 
that  has  been  done  by  a  democratic  govern- 
ment with  an  Asiatic  population.  For  this 
reason  its  far-reaching  value  cannot  yet  be 
estimated.  It  is  too  soon  to  say  that  it  is 
the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
the  Orient ;  but  it  is  not  extravagant  to  say 
that  it  may  turn  out  to  be  so. 

When  Governor  Taft  came  home  ill  last  year, 
he  again  consulted,  not  his  personal  comfort  or 
safety,  but  only  public  duty,  when  he  returned  S 
to  his  post.  A  few  weeks  ago  the  President 
offered  him  the  appointment  to  the  vacancy 
on  the  Supreme  Bench  caused  by  the  retire- 
ment of  Justice  Shiras;  and  his  old  ambition 
was  at  last  within  reach.  But  the  whole 
people  of  the  Philippines,  as  nearly  as  they 
can  be  represented  by  residents  in  Manila — 
English,  Spanish,  Tagalog — made  a  great 
demonstration  to  show  their  wish  for  him  to 
remain;  and  6,000  Filipinos  "of  all  political 
and  religious  parties,"  begged  him  to  stay. 
He  declined  the  appointment  and  remains 
Governor  of  the  Philippines. 

Judge  Taft  is  yet  young  enough  reasonably 
to  expect  other  opportunities  to  become  a 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court;  but — without 
holding  lightly  the  great  dignity  and  worth 
of  the  Court — it  may  be  said  that  his  present 
post,  since  he  has  given  it  meaning  and  power, 
is  as  honorable  and  as  important  as  any  place 
in  the  public  service.  To  build  up  at  last  a 
self-governing  people  out  of  the  Philippine 
tribes  is  constructive  statesmanship  of  the 
highest  kind.  It  is  worth  remembering  that 
this  great  opportunity  came  to  him  simply 
because  he  took  up  cheerfully  the  public  task 
that  was  assigned  to  him  and  did  it  with  all 


Photographed  by  Frances  Benjamin  Johnston 


MR.    WILLIAM    R.    DAY 


RECENTLY  APPOINTED  JUSTICE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  SUPREME  COURT  TO  SUCCEED  JUSTICE  SHIRAS,  RETIRED 

^  {Sfe  ''The  March  of  Events**) 


\ 


Copjiig-nt,  1902.  by  C.  M.  Gilbert 

MISS    KELLER,  THE    DEAF    AND    BLIND    AUTHOR,    READING    HER   TEACHER'S   LIPS 

Miss  Helen  Keller  Miss  Sullivan  Mr.  Joseph  Jefferson 

(Sec  "Tht  March  0/  Er'tuls"} 


THE    AMERICAN    FEELING   TOWARD    GERMANY 


3'53 


his  niiglit  and  with  tlie  highest  patriotic  aims. 
He  found  tliis  great  opportunity  for  an  historic 
career  sini])lv  bv  following  public  dutv. 

THE  MATTER  WITH  SOUTH  CAROLINA 

TILLMAN,  tlie  ex- Lieutenant  (iovernor 
of  South  Carolina,  who  a  year  ago 
won  unenviable  notoriety  by  his  gross  dis- 
courtesy to  President  Roosevelt,  had  been 
roundly  abused  at  home  by  Mr.  Gonzales, 
the  editor  of  the  Columbia  State,  which  is  the 
principal  daily  paper  at  the  ca])ital.  A  few 
days  before  Mr.  Tillman's  term  of  office 
expired  he  walked  from  the  state  house  down 
one  of  the  principal  streets  of  the  town  and, 
when  he  met  Gonzales,  fatally  shot  him  in 
cold  blood.  Tillman,  who  had  two  revolvers, 
was  put  in  jail.  There  is  a  general  feeling  of 
shame  and  indignation;  a  subscription  has 
been  started  to  erect  a  monument  to  the  dead 
editor;  but  the  prevailing  opinion  is  that  the 
murderer  will  not  be  hanged. 

The  calm  people  of  South  Carolina  are 
entitled  to  the  sympathy  of  the  country  for 
the  unwelcome  notoriety  that  the  State  again 
suffers.  It  has  not  been  many  years  since 
Mr.  Dawson,  the  editor  of  the  Xcivs  and 
Courier,  in  Charleston,  was  murdered;  and 
his  murderer  went  unpunished.  The  bully 
has  brought  disgrace  on  the  State  from  the 
time  when  Brooks,  a  South  Carolina  member 
of  Congress,  struck  Sumner  on  the  head  with 
a  cane  in  Washington,  and  he  continues  to 
disgrace  the  Commonwealth. 

Now,  there  are  many  good  men  in  South 
Carolina — men  whose  standards  of  civilization 
and  of  personal  conduct  are  the  same  as  those 
of  good  men  elsewhere.  The  State  is  not  a 
frontier  community.  It  is  one  of  the  Original 
Thirteen.  It  has  long  been  the  home  of  a 
cultivated  society.  Why  is  it,  then,  that  the 
bully  has  survived — that  men  take  the  law  in 
their  own  hands,  and  that  murderers  are  not 
punished  there  ? 

The  argument  in  detail  would  lead  far  and 
would  reach  over  a  long  stretch  of  history. 
But  the  general  fact  that  explains  the  State's 
degradation  is  that  human  life  is  held,  and 
has  by  a  large  part  of  the  population  always 
been  held,  cheap ;  and  it  is  held  cheap  because 
all  men  are  not  considered  to  have  the 
same  rights  and  privileges.  An  individual 
assumes  that  he  and  not  the  organized  com- 
munity is  dominant;  and  the  organized  com- 
munity    has     not     asserted     itself     strongly 


enough  against  such  an  individual  assump- 
tion. In  jjlain  English,  the  democratic 
theory  of  society  is  not  in  favor.  It  is  not 
accepted  in  the  daily  life  oi  the  people  of 
South  Carolina.  Such  a  community  is  as  far 
off  from  modern  American  ideals  as  a  com- 
munity that  existed  a  ccmtury  ago. 

The  remedy  is  in  education.  Education 
means  the  free  right  training  of  every 
child  in  the  Commonwealth;  but  it  means 
a  great  deal  more  than  this.  It  means 
the  assertion  of  the  community  against  the 
lawless  individual — the  community's  author- 
ity against  individual  authority.  The  State 
must  tax;  it  must  educate;  it  must  ]junish. 
It  must  give  every  individual  the  same  privi- 
leges, the  same  duties — put  them  on  a  level. 

An  aristocracy  in  a  democracy  means  a 
group  of  a  few  privileged  persons ;  outside  this 
group,  the  bully;  behind  the  bully  an  ignorant 
populace  that  will  elect  the  bully  to  office, 
will  hold  him  in  honor  and  will  acquit  him  of 
crime.  There  is  yet  something  structurally 
wrong  in  South  Carolina,  and  the  many  good 
people  of  the  State  have  the  sympathy  of  the 
country  in  their  efTorts  to  reform  their  social 
structure.  They  can  do  it  only  by  building  up 
all  the  ignorant  and  neglected  classes.  Then 
a  Tillman  could  not  be  a  hero,  he  could  not 
be  elected  Lieutenant  Governor,  he  would  not 
be  even  tolerated,  not  to  sav  admired  and 
acquitted.  No  State  can  rise  higher  than  its 
average  man,  no  matter  how  high  the  personal 
conduct  or  how  gracious  the  civilization  of 
some  of  its  individuals. 

THE  AMERICAN  FEELING   TOWARD  GERMANY 

GERMANY  has  not  made  a  happy 
impression  on  the  world  b}"  her 
conduct  in  the  Venezuelan  trouble.  The 
popular  feeling  in  England  against  the 
English-German  alliance  ran  high,  and  it  was 
regarded  by  the  best  opinion  as  a  most  grave 
and  dangerous  error  of  the  Government. 
Again  Mr.  Kipling  struck  the  note  of  national 
feeling  in  "The  Rowers,"  his  spirited  verses 
against  the  compact.  The  Prime  Minister 
of  England  felt  obliged  to  declare  that  the 
alliance  was  "a  mere  casual  cooperation  for 
a  specific  purpose  in  a  limited  time." 

Opinion  in  the  United  States  has  been 
singularly  tolerant,  and  the  Administration 
has  been  patient  and  careful  to  an  admirable 
degree.  But  the  undercurrent  of  American 
feeling  has  been  one  of  suspicion. 


Photographed  by  Frances  Benjamin  Johnston 


BARON    VON    STERNBERG 

THE    NEW    CERMAN    ENVOY    TO    THE    UNITED    STATES 


(See  "The  March  of  Events") 


BARON  VON  STERNBURG,  THE  GERMAN  ENVOY 


3'55 


The  suspicious  attitude  of  the  German 
admiral  toward  Admiral  Dewey  at  Manila  is 
recalled.  German  conduct  at  Samoa,  too, 
is  remembered.  The  recent  storming  of  the 
forts  in  the  bay  of  Maracaibo  during  the 
Venezuelan  blockade  (in  spite  of  the  explana- 
tion offered  by  the  German  Government)  had 
the  appearance  of  unnecessary  hostile  activity. 
The  anti-American  feeling  also  that  found 
expression  in  Germany  during  our  war  with 
Spain  is  remembered.  And  there  is  no  need 
of  a  reminder  of  the  German  dissatisfaction 
at  that  time  with  the  close  relations  between 
England  and  the  United  States. 

Now  all  these  events  and  incidents  are 
probably  the  results  of  the  German  tempera- 
ment and  of  the  ignorance  of  the  German 
official  classes  of  our  institutions  and  methods 
— the  outcroppings  of  militarism.  Rude 
manners  are  natural  results  of  a  military 
bureaucracy.  Germany  is  "cocky" — to  a 
degree  theatrical.  Witness  the  dress-parade 
and  the  pomp  and  the  triumphal  manners  of 
the  German  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Allied 
Armies  in  China — in  a  war  that,  after  the 
Commander  arrived,  was  opera-bouffe  when 
it  was  not  the  wanton  murder  of  help- 
less Chinese.  Military  Germany  reflects  and 
exaggerates  the  war-lordly  manners  of  the 
Emperor.  Wherever  his  soldiers  march  or 
his  navy  sails  there  is  boasting,  if  not  violence. 

This  military  spirit  cannot  ever  quite  fall 
in  with  the  American  spirit.  It  was  easy  to 
see  during  Prince  Henry's  visit  how  ill  the 
German  of  official  life  understood  the  Ameri- 
can character.  In  spite  of  the  genuine  cour- 
tesy that  was  shown  on  each  side,  there  was  an 
obvious  difference  in  the  point  of  view.  The 
American  people  were  less  impressed  than  the 
Germans  thought.  There  was  no  lack  of 
frankness.  Certainly  there  was  no  intention 
to  deceive.  But  the  greetings  of  crowds, 
private  hospitality,  official  and  personal 
heartiness — all  these  are  a  mere  pleasant  show, 
and  they  mean  next  to  nothing  in  American 
politics,  domestic  or  foreign.  The  character 
of  the  American  people  shows  itself  in  other 
ways;  and  a  Prince's  visit  and  welcome  cannot 
mean  the  same  thing  in  a  democracy  as  they 
often  mean  in  monarchical  countries. 

The  present  suspicion,  therefore,  may 
spring  wholly  from  German  military  manners 
and  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  American 
character.  For  Germany  has  time  and 
again  declared,  probably  in  good  faith,  that 


she  has  no  colonial  plan  that  looks  toward 
the  acquisition  of  territory  in  South  America. 
Her  policy  is  to  build  up  her  own  industries, 
to  strengthen  herself  at  home,  to  hold  herself 
strong  between  Russia  and  France. 

Yet  while  the  good  faith  of  the  Kaiser's 
Government  toward  the  United  States  and  its 
friendly  feeling  need  not  be  doubted,  we  can- 
not forget  that  there  is  a  strong  push  of  the 
German  people  outward.  They  need  markets. 
There  is  a  strong  economic  pressure  for  more 
room;  and  economic  pressure  has  many  a  time 
proved  itself  more  powerful  than  kings  and 
parliaments,  to  say  nothing  of  mere  diplo- 
matic declarations. 

While,  then,  it  would  be  inaccurate  to  call 
the  present  feeling  in  the  United  States  by 
any  milder  name  than  suspicion,  and  although 
Germany's  bad  naval  manners  and  her  lordly 
ways  in  dealing  with  a  weak  nation  recall 
bad  manners  on  previous  occasions,  a  suspi- 
cion of  unfriendly  intentions  may  be  unjust. 
Let  us  hope  so,  and  forget  the  whole  incident. 
But  Germany  must  remember  that  these  ways 
are  not  pretty  ways,  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
stands.  * 

BARON   VON  STERNBURG,  THE  GERMAN  ENVOY 

THE  coming  of  the  new  German  Envoy, 
Baron  Speck  von  Sternburg,  for  the 
immediate  purpose  of  representing  Germany 
at  Washington  during  the  Venezuelan  trouble, 
is  taken  as  evidence  of  good- will  to  us ;  for  he 
has  had  unusual  opportunities  to  understand 
American  character  and  institutions.  He 
was  born  of  an  English  mother  and  he  spent  a 
part  of  his  childhood  in  England.  His  father, 
although  a  man  of  aristocratic  lineage,  took 
part  in  the  revolutionary  uprisings  in  Germany 
in  1848-49  and  found  it  prudent  for  a  time  to 
expatriate  himself. 

The  son  (the  present  Envoy  to  the  United 
States)  had  a  military  education,  won  military 
honors  in  the  Franco-Prussian  war,  and  was 
decorated  with  the  iron  cross  on  the  battlefield 
of  Sedan.  Having  left  the  army,  he  pursued 
political  and  economic  studies,  and  at  twenty- 
eight  years  of  age  entered  the  German  diplo- 
matic service.  All  his  experience  as  a  diplo- 
mat has  been  in  English-speaking  countries; 
and,  while  he  was  attached  to  the  German 
embassy  at  Washington  about  six  years  ago, 
he  married  an  American  lady.  He  was  the 
Kaiser's  special  commissioner  to  Samoa, 
wdiere    he    had    a   difficulty   to    settle   with 


3156 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


representatives  of  the  American  and  English 
governments.  He  is  regarded  as  the  German 
diplomatist  who  knows,  perhaps,  better  than 
any  other,  the  thought  and  temperament  of 
English-speaking  nations,  with  an  especial 
knowledge  of  the  United  States.  If  he 
should  be  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Ambassa- 
dor to  the  United  States — to  succeed  Baron 
von  Holleben,  who  yet  holds  the  post, 
although  he  is  absent  from  the  country — his 
promotion  would  be  interpreted  as  evidence 
of  the  German  desire  to  understand  and  to 
be  understood  by  the  American  people. 

"TO  INTERFERE  WITHOUT  INTERFERING" 

HE    further     the     Venezuelan     trouble 


T 


has  gone  the  plainer  it  has  become 
that  South  America  is  right  at  our  doors. 
Even  a  little  while  ago  these  countries  seemed 
somewhat  far  away.  They  were  removed 
from  our  special  concern  except  at  long  inter- 
vals and  because  of  our  trade  with  them. 
Now  they  press  much  closer. 

While  the  conferences  at  Washington  about 
Venezuela  w^ere  going  on,  our  Government 
was  asked  by  nearly,  all  the  Central  American 
governments  to  afford  some  sort  of  protection 
in  case  of  grave  domestic  disturbances  which 
they  feared.  The  tendenc}^  will  become 
stronger  for  these  weaker  governments  to  look 
to  us  for  protection  when  they  have  trouble; 
and,  but  for  very  careful  diplomatic  work,  the 
European  governments  would  assume  that 
our  Government  must  in  some  way  and  under 
some  conditions  or  at  some  time  be  to  some 
extent  responsible  for  them. 

It  is  a  delicate  task  always  to  maintain  our 
historic  relation  to  the  South  and  Central 
American  countries  and  yet  not  indirectly 
at  least  to  help  their  credit  or  standing,  and 
thereby  to  seem  to  assume  obligations  that 
we  have  no  thought  of  assuming.  When 
they  get  into  trouble  with  European  credi- 
tors, w^e  have  to  set  bounds  to  the  actions 
of  these  creditors.  We  make  it  more 
difficult  for  them  to  collect  their  debts; 
but  we  cannot  help  them  to  collect  them; 
and  the  debtor  countries  must  not  be 
allowed  to  strengthen  their  credit  by  our 
concern  for  their  territor}\  Theoretically, 
our  position  may,  under  certain  conditions, 
seem  an  impossible  one;  and  it  will  require 
even  greater  diplomatic  care  in  the  future 
than  it  has  required  in  the  past  to  "  interfere 
without    interfering" — for    this    is  a  defini- 


tion  that    was    once    given    of    the    Monroe 
Doctrine. 

CHANGED  OPINIONS  ON  THE  RACE   QUESTION 

THE  most  noteworthy  fact  shown  by 
the  discussion  of  race-politics  in  the 
South  that  has  for  some  time  been  going  on 
is  the  change  of  opinion  in  the  North  and 
the  change  of  expression  in  the  South  during, 
say,  the  last  ten  years. 

In  the  North  the  dominant  feeling  now  is 
that  the  problem  is  the  South's  ow^n  problem, 
and  that  the  South  must  work  it  out.  There 
is  no  disposition  in  the  North  to  repeat  the 
missionary  and  reconstruction  experiments 
of  the  early  da^^s  of  freedom.  There  would 
have  been  a  very  general  approval  of  a  restric- 
tion of  the  suffrage  to  prevent  ignorant 
domination — if  ignorant  white  men  and 
ignorant  Negroes  had  alike  been  excluded. 
There  cannot  be  found  in  any  influential 
quarter  a  wish  to  force  "Negro  domination" 
on  the  South. 

But  dominant  Northern  opinion  yet  holds 
firmly  to  the  doctrine  that  no  political  dis- 
crimination should  be  made  against  the 
Negro  simply  because  of  his  color  or  race; 
that  (deprived  of  the  ballot  as  he  may  rightly 
be — along  with  ignorant  white  men — so  long 
as  he  is  ignorant  and  in  arrears  for  taxes) 
he  shall  have  the  door  open  to  him  for  all 
the  privileges  of  citizenship  when  he  is 
worthy;  and  that  when  he  proves  per- 
sonally fit  he  shall  not  be  excluded  simply 
because  he  is  a  Negro. 

This  is  believed  to  be  a  fair,  if  blunt,  state- 
ment of  the  present  dominant  opinion  in  the 
Northern  and  Western  States.  But  in  most  of 
these  States  the  interest  in  the  subject  is  less 
than  it  was  when  the  South  was  a  burning 
question  in  national  politics.  If  the  South 
will  only  manage  the  matter  without  doing 
violence  to  the  Constitution  and  without 
denying  the  Negro  a  chance  to  rise.  Northern 
and  Western  opinion  will  not  again  greatly 
concern  itself  about  it. 

In  the  South,  too,  there  has  been  a  decided 
change  of  temper.  President  Roosevelt  has 
appointed  fewer  Negroes  to  office  in  the 
Southern  States  than  President  McKinley  or 
President  Harrison  appointed,  not  to  speak 
of  preceding  Republican  Presidents ;  and  there 
are  fewer  Negroes  holding  public  offices  in 
the  South  now  than  there  were  when  Mr. 
Roosevelt  became  President.     Those  that  he 


LARGER  FORCES  THAN  RACE  POLITICS 


3'57 


las  appointed  are  acknowledged,  too,  to  be 
)f  a  higher  level  of  personal  worth  than  most 
)receding  appointees  were.  Yet  there  has  been 
I  louder  outcry  against  him  in  the  Southern 
Jtates  for  his  attitude  to  the  Negro  than 
,here  was  against  any  of  his  predecessors  for 
nore  than  twenty  years.  What  Southern 
)pinion  accepted  from  President  McKinley 
ind  President  Harrison,  and  acquiesced  in,  it 
•esents  from  President  Roosevelt.  He  gets 
lo  credit  for  appointing  better  Negroes  and 
ewer  of  them  than  his  predecessors  appointed, 
Dut  only  blame  for  appointing  them  at  all. 

This  change  in  Southern  political  temper 
las  followed  the  recent  campaigns  in  many 
states  to  restrict  Negro  suffrage.  These 
;ampaigns  emphasized  the  subject.  Every 
)ther  political  topic  was  put  aside.  The 
Dopular  cry  was  "white  man's  rule,"  which, 
,n  the  minds  of  many  white  men,  came 
;o  mean  that  no  Negro  shall  ever  hold  any 
office.  The  agitation  to  prevent  "Negro 
domination  "  seems  to  have  produced  a  deter- 
mination to  deny  the  Negro  any  part  in 
politics.  He  may  vote  when  his  vote  cannot 
;hange  an  election.  But  he  may  not  hope 
for  political  "recognition"  nor  for  office — 
2ven  the  humblest.  This  feeling  is  expressed 
sometimes  thus  bluntly,  sometimes  more 
gently;  but  it  is  the  present  feeling  at 
least  of  most  of  the  political  spokesmen 
of  the  South. 

There  is,  therefore,  yet  a  difference  be- 
tween opinion  in  the  two  sections;  and  the 
pivot  of  the  difference  is — whether  the 
Negro  shall  be  excluded  from  politics  be- 
cause of  his  race. 

On  one  side  the  Fifteenth  Amendment 
stands  as  apart  of  the  fundamental  law,  which 
forbids  discrimination  in  suffrage  on  account 
of  race.  On  the  other  side  stand  the  suffrage- 
restricting  amendments  to  several  Southern 
State  constitutions.  If  they  dealt  alike  with 
white  and  black  men,  there  would  be  no 
doubt  about  their  constitutionality  in  spirit 
or  in  letter.  But  they  do  not^deal  alike  with 
white  and  black  men;  and,  if  they  mean  what 
the  present  Southern  opinion  signifies,  they 
are  meant  to  exclude  Negroes  only.  They 
are  in  intent  and  in  effect  violations  of  the 
Fifteenth  Amendment,  whether  they  are  ever 
ileclared  to  be  violations  or  not. 
I  Here,  then,  is  the  conflict  between  Southern 
ind  Northern  political  opinion  and  purpose — 
i  conflict  that  is  real. 


LARGER  FORCES  THAN  RACE  POLITICS 

ARGUINO  from  sucli  a  bald  statement 
of  the  conflict  of  opinion  about  Negro 
suffrage,  a  man  who  did  not  know  the  subject 
historically  and  who  did  not  know  the  people 
in  the  South  might  conclude  that  there  is 
grave  danger  ahead.  Grave  enough  the 
problem  is — there  is  no  doubt  of  that.  But 
it  is  less  a  constitutional  argument  or  struggle  > 
than  it  is  a  practical  ]iroV)lem  which  is 
working  itself  toward  solution  by  the  forces 
of  every-day  life. 

The  South  is  prosperous.  There  is  a  grow- 
ing liberality  of  opinion — on  all  other  sub- 
jects at  least.  The  industrial  relation  between 
the  races  is  becoming  constantly  closer. 
Except  where  there  is  a  political  controversy, 
a  man  might  go  through  the  whole  South 
and  never  find  any  evidence  of  race  hostility. 
The  Negroes  are  acquiring  property.  The 
industrious  and  well-trained  among  them  are 
acquiring  also  a  steadily  increasing  influence 
in  their  communities.  The  State  support 
of  Negro  education  is  everywhere  more  liberal 
than  it  ever  was  before.  The  best  white 
men  and  the  best  black  men  are  everywhere 
working  together  for  the  building  up  of  the 
country  and  of  the  people. 

In  spite  of  the  dominant  political  feeling 
as  it  expresses  itself  in  party  and  sectional 
controversy,  politics  is  not  the  whole  of  life 
even  in  the  South.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  small 
section  of  it.  Industry  is  a  much  larger 
section.  Education  is  a  larger  section.  The 
natural  kindliness  of  both  races  and  their 
dependence  on  each  other  are  more  impor- 
tant facts  than  Federal  offices.  The  outlook, 
therefore,  is  not  dark.  There  is,  on  the  con- 
trary, every  reason  for  hope  of  a  steadily 
growing  cooperation  of  white  and  black. 

There  are  many  influential  Southern  white 
men  of  the  best  type  who  do  not  assent  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  whole  race  from  the  suffrage ; 
and  such  an  absolute  exclusion  will  not  take 
place.  It  is  by  the  work  of  wise  men  of 
both  races,  done  mainly  in  silence,  that 
continuous  progress  is  made,  and  not  by 
political  agitation. 

Until  the  Negro  was  practically  disfran- 
chised there  had  been  a  complete  political 
deadlock,  each  race  always  voting  solidly 
against  the  other.  There  was  no  political 
virtue  in  that.  The  experiment  is  now  to  be 
tried  of  encouraging  a  division  of  opinion,  and 
of  building  up  parties  that  shall  not  be  parties 


I 


3158 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


by  race.  Time  will  be  required  to  test  the 
experiment.  But  in  the  meantime,  politics 
seems  likely  to  continue  to  be,  as  it  has 
hitherto  been,  the  least  fruitful  of  Southern 
industries.  The  work  of  constructive  states- 
manship is  done  there  in  other  ways. 

HOW  RACE  POLITICS    NARROWS    THE    HORIZON 

OF  cotirse,  the  blacks  who  can  read  and 
have  paid  their  taxes  are  not  formally 
disfranchised,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
fear  that  they  ever  will  be.  As  matters  now 
stand,  then,  the  doors  of  political  privilege 
are  open  to  them.  But  we  are  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  experiment  in  race  politics,  for 
the  hope  is  that  the  white  vote  in  the  South 
may  be  divided  between  two  parties,  and  the 
Xegro  vote  also  will  cease  to  be  solid. 

This  is  the  result  to  be  hoped  for;  for  it  is 
this  solid  Negro  vote  and  the  consequent  solid 
white  vote  that  have  shut  the  South  out  from 
the  broad  currents  of  national  life.  A  man 
in  a  Northern  or  a  Western  State  may  hold  an 
opinion  about  the  Negro  in  politics,  but  he 
does  not  concern  himself  greatly  about  it. 
There  are  other  subjects  that  he  cares  more 
about.  This  is  remote  from  him.  Not  so  in 
the  South.  A  man  who  lives  in  South 
Carolina,  or  in  Mississippi,  whatever  his 
opinions  are,  finds  himself  less  a  part  of  the 
great  country  and  of  the  stimulating  time  in 
which  he  lives  than  a  corresponding  man  in 
Ohio  or  New  York  or  Michigan.  He  dwells 
in  a  shadow,  apart,  somewhat  detached,  do 
what  he  may.  The  Negro  problem  over- 
v.'-helms  him.  Go  wherever  you  will  in  the 
South  and  most  of  the  talk  that  3'ou  will  hear 
will  be  about  it.  Patriotic  youth  (and 
Southern  youth  abound  in  patriotism)  hear  it 
almost  to  the  exclusion  of  other  public  sub- 
jects. They  read  about  it  in  their  newspapers. 
They  grow  up  under  its  shadow,  and  they 
fail  to  get  the  wider  vision  that  makes 
American  life  today  more  stimulating  than 
life  in  any  country  has  hitherto  been.  This 
is  the  pity  of  it. 

Now  there  are  as  thoughtful  and  as  earnest 
men  in  the  South  as  in  any  other  part  of  the 
Union;  and  the  whole  country  has  as  great 
need  of  their  contribution  to  its  character  and 
thought  as  it  has  of  the  contribution  of 
similar  men  in  other  States.  But  the  whole 
country  now  loses  it,  just  as  these  more  or 
less  isolated  men  lose  the  stimulus  of  a 
strong  national  feeling. 


These  paragraphs  do  not  rise  to  the  dignity 
of  suggesting  remedies.  They  merely  chron- 
icle conditions.  But  the  remedy  for  the  con- 
flict of  opinion,  for  the  solidity  of  race-parties, 
for  the  lack  of  a  wide  enough  national  spirit, 
is  the  training  of  all  the  children  to  useful 
work  and  to  clear  thinking  and  the  opening 
of  the  door  of  equal  opportunity  to  every  one. 
The  next  generation  will  then  be  wiser  than 
we  are,  and  the}^  may  find  that  many  prob- 
lems that  disturb  us  have  solved  themselves. 

THE  NEGRO  HIMSELF 

MEANWHILE,  in  most  of  this  dis- 
cussion of  the  race  problem  little 
is  said  of  the  Negro's  own  point  of  view.  He 
is  the  chief  figure  of  it  all.  He  is  at  once  the 
innocent  cause  of  it  and  he  must  be  one  of 
the  chief  factors  in  its  solution. 

There  has  not  been  time  enough  nor  work 
enough  nor  money  enough  nor  opportunity 
for  great  masses  of  Negroes  to  be  built  up  to 
responsible  citizenship,  but  the  leaders  of  the 
race — the  real  leaders — show  a  stead\  growth 
in  thrift,  in  responsibilit}-  and  in  good  citizen- 
ship. A  study  of  the  result  of  the  work  done 
at  an}^  of  the  great  schools  where  they  are 
properly  trained  will  give  the  most  despon- 
dent man  good  hope.  In  fact,  the  records  of 
the  best  men  and  women  who  have  gone  out 
from  Hampton  and  Tuskegee  and  other  such 
training  places  makes  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able chapters  in  human  progress.  The  Negro 
conferences  that  are  held  at  Tuskegee  show 
year  after  year  growth  of  character  and  of 
economic  efficiency  among  large  masses  of 
them;  and  the  reports  of  the  Negro  Business 
Men's  League  and  other  such  bodies  tell  of 
remarkable  progress. 

Useful  and  responsible  black  men — as  far 
as  their  opinions  have  been  expressed — have 
as  a  rule  not  opposed  a  restriction  of  the 
suffrage.  They  have  objected  only  to  an 
unfair  discrimination  against  the  Negro. 
They  would  assent  freely  to  any  restriction 
if  it  applied  alike  to  white  men  and  to  black. 
They  want  the  door  open  to  the  personally 
worthy  and  fit — without  regard  to  race. 

The  Negro's  children,  too,  will  be  wiser  than 
he  is;  and,  after  all,  this  whole  problem  is 
not  one  that  we  who  are  now  living  shall  see 
the  end  of.  If  we  pass  it  to  the  next  genera- 
tion in  a  better  shape  than  we  found  it — 
that  is  all  we  can  hope  to  do.  And  no  man 
who  knows  Southern  life  can  for  a  moment 


THE    CllARACTKR    C)  I-    OUR    ARMY 


3159 


doubt  that  it  is  now  in  very  much  better  shape 
than  it  was  twenty  years  ago.  So  mueh 
l)etter  is  it  that  the  aspects  it  now  presents 
are  not  permanently  discouraging  to  those 
who  know  wliat  has  been  done. 

But  one  thing  is  fortunate  and  certain  and 
necessary — the  door  (in  industry  or  in 
poHtics)  is  not  shut  and  must  not  be  shut  on 
the  worthy  individual,  be  he  black  or  white. 
That  would  be  a  denial  of  American 
institutions. 

THE  APOSTOLIC  SENATOR  FROM  UTAH 

THE  United  States  Senator-elect  from 
Utah,  Mr.  Reed  Smoot,  is  an  apostle 
of  the  Mormon  Church.  He  is  not  a  polyga- 
mist.  He  is  an  energetic,  honorable  and 
successful  man  of  affairs — merchant,  miner, 
manufacturer  and  banker.  But  the  word 
"apostle"  strikes  harshly  on  Gentile  ears. 

The  New  Testament  title  is  somewhat 
misleading.  The  twelve  apostles  of  the 
Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints  are  not  a  partic- 
ularly ecclesiastical  body.  They  are  rather 
the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  church's  many 
secular  activities;  for  the  Mormon  Church  is, 
hrst,  a  very  successful  business  organization, 
and,  second,  a  religious  body.  Some  of  the 
apostles  give  their  whole  time  to  the  church. 
Others,  like  Mr.  Smoot,  serve  it  chiefly  in  an 
advisory  way.  His  temperament,  his  tram- 
ing  and  his  appearance  suggest  ecclesiasticism 
no  more  than  the  temperament,  the  training 
and  the  appearance  of  the  Wall  Street  broker. 
But  the  apostolic  office,  as  might  be  expected, 
seems  to  have  an  effect  even  on  a  practical 
man's  vocabulary.  Mr.  Smoot  said  when  he 
was  elected  Senator: 

"  I  hold  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
is  divinely  inspired;  that  under  the  folds  of  the 
starry  flag  freedom  reigns  supreme;  and  that  my 
first  duty  is  to  my  country,  whose  laws  and  institu- 
tions I  love,  honor  and  respect." 

Of  course  the  serious  question  raised  by  his 
election  to  the  Senate  is  what,  in  secular 
language,  may  be  called  the  bosshood  of  the 
church.  Before  he  could  accept  any  office 
he  was  obliged  to  get  the  consent  of  the 
quorum  of  the  twelve  apostles  ;  for  the 
church  does  control  politics  as  well  as 
industry  in  Utah. 

This  is  objectionable.  But  it  differs  in  no 
essential  wa\^  from  the  bosshood  of  party 
"apostles"  in  many  States.  It  violates  no 
statute.  It  gives  no  sufficient  reason  for 
excluding  Mr.  Smoot  from  the  Senate  or  even 


for  talking  about  excluding  him.  He  is 
simply  another  boss-made  Senator;  and  his 
bosses  happen  to  be  apostles  whose  speech  is 
somewhat  more  Biblical  than  political.  But 
the  difference  is  unessential. 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  OUR  ARMY 

BETWEEN  the  agitation  carried  on  by 
the  peace  societies  and  the  demand 
for  Congressional  appropriations  for  new 
battle-ships,  every  American  citizen  at  some 
time  asks  himself  what  the  nation's  duty  is 
in  self-defense.  Warned  of  the  danger,  on 
one  side,  of  a  military  spirit,  and  on  the  other 
side  of  the  peril  of  insufficient  preparation — 
where  lies  the  truth  of  the  matter  ?  What  is 
the  sensible  course  for  our  Government  to 
pursue  ?  Does  readiness  for  war  make  for 
peace,  or  does  it  tempt  to  quarrel? 

Let  a  man  read  all  the  peace  literature  that 
he  can  find,  and  then  let  him  read  Secretary 
Root's  speech  at  Canton,  Ohio,  delivered  at 
the  celebration  of  Mr.  McKinley's  birthday 
on  January  27th,  and  he  will  find  it  hard 
to  resist  the  Secretary's  logic;  he  will  be 
sure  to  feel  a  pride  in  the  record  of  the  army. 

Secretary  Root  read  despatches,  that  had 
not  before  been  made  public,  from  two  thou- 
sand Chinamen  in  Peking  when  it  was  held  by 
foreign  troops,  praying  that  the  little  Ameri- 
can army  be  kept  there  till  all  the  allied  forces 
should  be  withdrawn;  because  American 
authority  fed  the  starving,  and  brought  better 
sanitary  conditions  than  the  city  had  ever 
known,  and  prevented  the  people  from  "being 
harmed,  robbed  and  badly  treated,  and," 
the  despatch  said,  "we  can  continue  our 
business  with  content." 

A  despatch  bearing  similar  testimony  was 
sent  by  President  Palma  of  Cuba  when  he  was 
inaugurated,  and  another  by  the  leading 
native  ofihcials  at  Manila  about  the  retention 
of  Judge  Taft  as  Governor. 

Mr.  Root  declared  that 

"The  establishment  of  those  governments  in  far 
distant  China  and  the  islands  of  the  East,  making 
for  peace  and  justice  and  ordered  liberty  by  the 
American  army,  is  a  greater  achievement  than  the 
winning  of  any  stricken  field,  a  just  cause  for  pride 
by  every  American  citizen,  and  a  just  title  to  confi- 
dence, respect  and  gratitude  by  every  officer  and 
soldier  of  the  army  of  the  United  States." 

His  spirited  defense  of  the  character  of  the 
men  and  officers  of  the  army  is  convincing. 
The  army  does  not  make  itself  a  political 
agent;  it  does  not  become  the  personal  fol- 


3i6o 


THE    MARCH    OF   EVENTS 


lowing   of   any   leader;   in   no    way   does   it 
endanger  our  liberty. 

"  The  officers  of  the  army  conform  in  their 
character  and  conduct  to  the  purpose  for  which 
the  army  is  maintained  and  the  character  of  the 
people  from  whom  they  come.  I  wish  to  say  to 
you,  not  in  the  language  of  rhetoric,  but  as  a 
sober  statement  of  what  I  have  found  by 
careful  observation,  that  they  are  free  to  a 
degree  which  I  never  dreamed  of  until  I  com- 
menced to  know  them,  from  the  vices  and  the 
greater  defects  which  have  prevailed  in  most  armies 
of  the  world  during  all  history.  They  are  a  tem- 
perate set  of  men.  They  are  freer  from  the  vices  of 
drinking  to  excess  than  most  any  other  class  I  know 
of  in  this  country.  They  are  free  from  the  vice  of 
gambling.  No  such  thing  as  dueling,  which  dis- 
graces and  deforms  many  militarj'  services,  main- 
tains in  our  army.  The  man  who  is  dissipated  is 
out  of  favor,  and  the  public  sentiment  of  the  officers 
of  the  army  is  opposed  to  dissipation  and  excess, 
and  it  is  an  offense  which  is  punished  in  our  army  by 
court-martial  if  a  man  does  not  pav  his  honest 
debts." 

THE  BEST  PEACE  MILITARY   ORGANIZATION  IN 
OUR    HISTORY 

SINCE  we  pretend  to  have  an  army  and 
must  have  one,  it  would  be  inexcusa- 
ble not  to  have  an  efficient  organization ;  and 
now  for  the  first  time  in  peace,  in  our  whole 
history,  w^e  have  such  a  one.  Whatever 
befall  us,  we  are  not  likely  again  to  suffer 
the  horrors  of  the  little  war  with  Spain.  The 
enemy  did  us  little  damage;  but  disease, 
incompetent  leadership,  lack  of  preparation 
and  lack  of  transportation  cost  thousands  of 
brave  lives.     This  was  murder. 

The  bill  for  a  general  staff,  for  which  the 
War  Department  has  long  worked,  will  now 
become  a  law,  and  under  this  the  army  organi- 
zation can  be  made  very  much  better.  The 
instruction  both  of  officers  and  of  men  is 
better  than  ever  before.  And  Congress  has 
passed  a  law  for  the  organization  of  the 
militia — a  measure  of  a  kind  that  has  been 
insisted  on  almost  continuously  since  AVash- 
ington  proposed  militia  legislation  in  his  first 
message  to  Congress. 

The  new  law  makes  the  militia  a  potential 
part  of  the  army — really  and  not  merely  in 
theory.  The  strength  of  the  militia  of  the 
several  States  is  nearly  110,000  men  and 
nearly  9,000  officers;  and  there  are  more 
than  10,000,000  men  in  the  country  available 
for  military  duty. 

To  regard  ourselves  as  possible  soldiers 
does  not  foster  a  spirit  of  combativeness,  but 
it  does  give  us  respect  for  our  army,  and  it 
keeps  us  alive  to  the  need  of  proper  organiza- 
tion.    It  was  the  neglect  and  indifference  of 


public  opinion  that  caused  the  shameful  loss" 
of  most  of  the  men  who  died  during  the  cam- 
paign against  Spain.  The  cost  of  our  well- 
organized  peace  army  of  less  than  60,000  men 
is  not  one  dollar  per  capita,  and  it  is  a  tax  of 
less  than  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent,  on  the 
property  of  the  people. 

The  three  greatest  forces  that  make  for 
peace,  as  the  world  now  is  and  as  we  play  a 
part  in  it,  are — the  Hague  Tribunal;  a  mihtary 
organization  that  shall  make  a  United  States 
army  quickly  available,  to  be  formed  about 
the  little  army  that  we  maintain  in  well- 
drilled  efficiency — in  other  words,  prepared- 
ness; and  most  of  all  a  manly  and  robust 
determination  not  to  fight  but  to  make  other 
people  afraid  to  fight  us.  Then  we  shall  have 
neither  a  dangerous  military  spirit  nor  a 
flabby  sentimentality. 

A  HERO  WORTHY  OF  REMEMBRANCE 

DOCTOR  BRISTOW  tells  in  this  maga- 
zine the  heroic  story  of  the  work 
done  in  Cuba  by  the  members  of  the  United 
States  Commission  which  discovered  the 
method  of  transmitting  yellow  fever.  The 
disease  can  be  carried  from  a  patient  to  a 
well  person  only  by  mosquitoes.  Personal 
contact  and  clothing  do  not  transmit  it. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  important  discoveries 
of  recent  times,  and  it  was  made  by  men  who 
freely  gave  their  own  lives  to  the  investigation. 
They  permitted  themselves  to  be  bitten  by 
infected  mosquitoes,  and  they  died  that  the 
truth  might  be  discovered. 

The  head  of  this  Commission  was  Major 
Walter  Reed,  who  recently  died,  leaving  his 
family  ill  provided  for.  It  is  due  to  him  as 
much  as  to  any  one  man  that  we  shall  never 
have  another  scourge  of  yellow  fever.  When 
this  paragraph  is  written  a  bill  is  pending  in 
Congress  to  grant  a  pension  to  his  family — a 
poor  debt  of  gratitude  at  most ;  for  here  was  a 
man  of  heroic  temper. 

THE  PRACTICAL  END  OF  PROHIBITION 

THE  abandonment  of  prohibition  in 
Vermont  at  the  recent  special  election 
and  the  substitution  for  it  of  a  s^^stem  of  local 
option  and  high  license  has  more  than  a  local 
interest.  It  is  interpreted  as  the  practical 
end  of  prohibition  everywhere. 

In  Maine  and  Vermont  it  has  had  a  longer 
trial  than  anywhere  else,  for  the  Maine  law 
has  now  been  in  effect  for  fifty  years.     It  is. 


THE  WELL-PAID    AND    WELL-TREATED    WORKMAN 


3161 


in  fact,  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  the  State. 
Most  of  the  other  States  that  tried  tlie  pro- 
hibitory system  have  either  abandoned  it  or 
their  experience  has  been  for  a  shorter  time. 
But  in  these  rural  New  England  States  two 
generations  have  grown  up  under  prohibition. 
Few  men  now  living  there  clearly  recall  any 
other  state  of  society. 

The  judgment  of  scientific  students  of  the 
subject  has  for  some  time  been  very  clear  that 
prohibition  is  a  failure — that  it  does  not 
prohibit,  but  that  it  does  bring  unexpected 
evils  with  it.  Now  that  the  people  have 
abandoned  it  in  Vermont — although  the 
majority  was  only  about  a  thousand  votes 
out  of  sixty  thousand — it  is  abandoned  for 
good.  It  is  a  sort  of  declaration  that  the 
prohibition  experiment  has  been  sufficiently 
tried  and  that  it  failed.  And  it  is  not  likely 
to  be  tried  in  any  State  where  it  does  not 
now  exist. 

High  license  is  them  ethod  now  most 
approved  for  regulating  the  traffic.  But 
local  option  laws  are  in  force  in  a  good  many 
States,  and  there  are  many  small  communities 
where  prohibition  has  been  successfully 
carried  out.  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  is 
such  a  community,  and  it  has  been  successful 
there  because  Cambridge  is  adjacent  to  the 
city  of  Boston.  The  dispensary  system,  which 
was  first  tried  in  Athens,  Georgia,  and  is  now 
in  force  in  South  Carolina  and  in  some  parts 
of  some  of  the  adjacent  States,  works  well. 
Local  option,  high  license  and  the  dispensary 
are  likely  to  be  the  approved  methods  of 
dealing  with  the  subject  in  the  future. 

THE   PAY  OF  PUBLIC  SERVANTS 

BY  the  new  law  increasing  the  salaries 
of  the  Federal  judges,  the  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  will  receive 
$13,000  a  year,  the  Associate  Justices  $12,500, 
the  Circuit  Judges  $7,000,  and  the  District 
Judges  $6,000.  In  the  large  commercial 
centres,  where  these  sums  are  very  small 
incomes  for  men  of  ability,  there  has  been 
criticism  of  Congress  for  not  setting  them 
higher  when  the  subject  had  once  been  taken 
up.  In  comparison  with  the  sums  paid  to 
corresponding  judges  in  almost  all  other 
countries  and  even  in  some  of  our  States, 
these  are  niggardly  salaries,  and  they  are 
niggardly  in  comparison  with  the  incomes  of 
most  lawyers  of  distinction  who  practise  in 
the  Supreme  Court.     Nearly  all  our  public 


salaries  are  low.  Scandalously  inadequate 
arc  our  ambassadors'  and  ministers'  salaries. 

But  any  discussion  of  i)ublic  salaries  raises 
a  question  that  has  two  sides.  If  places  of 
great  dignity  yield  liigh  pay,  they  may  be 
sought  for  the  salaries;  if  they  yield  low 
salaries,  too  many  of  them  may  be  filled  by 
men  chiefly  because  they  are  rich.  The 
theory  is  that  the  salary  should  enable  a  poor 
man  to  accept  the  place,  but  not  tempt  him 
to  seek  it.  This  theory  would  be  sound  but 
for  one  reason :  it  does  not  permit  a  poor  man 
who  dies  in  the  public  service  to  make  pro- 
vision for  his  family. 

We  have  reached  a  degree  of  well-being 
where  almost  all  competent  men,  except  col- 
lege professors  and  public  servants,  may 
accumulate  a  small  fortune  by  middle  life, 
and  the  Government — especially  the  National 
Government — ought  to  be  much  more  liberal 
in  paying  its  high  servants.  There  have  been 
many  pathetic  instances  in  the  family  life  of 
great  men  who  served  our  country  for 
less  pay  than  many  a  book-agent  earns.  The 
dignity  of  the  government  demands  a  new 
and  more  liberal  policy. 

THE    WELL-PAID    AND    WELL-TREATED 
WORKMAN 

IN  the  London  Times  in  recent  months 
there  has  appeared  as  clear  and  ac- 
curate an  explanation  of  American  industrial 
success  as  has  ever  been  made.  The 
emphasis  is  laid  on  the  right  facts.  Consider 
these  statements,  for  example: 

The  Times  correspondent  found  that  an 
American  manufacturer  of  shoes  knew  exactly 
what  every  process  cost.  He  knew  the  cost 
per  shoe  of  driving  tacks  and  of  inserting 
eyelets.  He  knew  the  cost  per  hour  of  every 
machine.  He  knew  the  cost  of  every  piece  of 
material — of  the  thread  that  goes  into  every 
shoe.  With  this  exact  knowledge  he  knew 
precisely  what  quantity  of  work  every 
machine  and  every  workman  must  turn  out 
every  hour  to  yield  him  a  profit;  and  he  knew, 
of  course,  what  wages  every  workman  really 
earned.  By  a  simple  calculation  from  all 
this  exact  knowledge  it  was  demonstrated 
both  that  the  American  workman  received 
more  pay  than  a  corresponding  English 
workman,  and  that  the  shoe  cost  the 
American  manufacturer  less  than  the  corre- 
sponding shoe  cost  an  English  manufacturer. 

The  other  fact  upon  which  emphasis  is  laid 


3i62 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


is  what  may  be  called  the  democracy  of 
American  industry — ' '  In  America  employer 
and  workman  seem  to  be  closer  together 
than  they  are  in  England." 

These  characteristics  of  American  industry 
have  many  a  time  been  pointed  out  in  this 
magazine  and  elsewhere;  but  they  are  so 
fundamental  that  we  cannot  ourselves  be 
reminded  of  them  too  often.  They  are  the 
two  most  important  facts  that  the  foreign 
study  of  our  working  ways  have  properly 
emphasized.  They  both  come  to  this  at  last 
— that  democratic  treatment  and  a  chance 
to  earn  as  much  as  possible  raake  men  more 
productive.  This  is  the  secret  of  the  advan- 
tage that  American  methods  have.  And 
every  industry  may  have  it  in  proportion  to 
the  wisdom  of  its  managers. 

CAUSES    OF   BUSINESS   FAILURES 

BRADSTREET'S  commercial  agency  keeps 
a  record  of  business  failures  in  the 
United  States,  classified  by  causes,  and 
the  percentage  of  failures  that  is  set  down 
under  each  cause  is  approximately  the  same 
year  after  year.  Lack  of  capital  last  year 
brought  most  of  them — almost  one  in  three; 
incompetence,  one  in  five;  "specific  condi- 
tions," about  one  in  six;  fraud,  one  in  ten. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  only  about  one  failure 
in  a  hundred  was  reported  as  due  to  extrava- 
gance, and  about  the  same  number  to  specu- 
lation. Unwise  credits  and  the  failure  of 
others  caused  each  about  one  failure  in  thirty. 
Competition  is  assigned  as  the  cause  of  only 
one  failure  in  every  twenty-seven. 

These  reports,  so  far  as  they  may  be  relied 
on  to  show  true  causes,  speak  well  for  the 
industry,  the  avoidance  of  speculation  and 
the  general  honesty  of  men  in  commercial  life. 
The}'  indicate  their  daring  (or  folly),  too,  by 
showing  how  large  a  proportion  of  failures  is 
due  to  insufficient  capital.  Men  dare  fate  bv 
undertaking  enterprises  beyond  their  means 
and  credit.  Even  this  folly  shows  a  good 
tendency — the  tendency  of  men  to  go  into 
business  for  themselves;  but  in  the  modem 
organization  of  business,  capital  becomes 
increasingly  necessary. 

Yet  men  do  every  year  begin  with  very 
small  capital  what  turn  out  to  be  very  great 
enterprises ;  for  the  man  is  the  main  factor  in 
success,  after  all — almost  the  only  factor 
worth  counting.  And  it  is  also  true  that  it 
is  easier  now  than  it    ever    was    before  for 


men  who  show  successful  qualities  to  get 
capital.  But  the  ease  with  which  it  may  be 
got  varies  according  to  a  man's  place  of  resi- 
dence, and  especially  according  to  the  wide- 
ness  of  his  acquaintance. 

There  can  be  no  exact  science  of  success; 
but  the  hint  that  this  table  of  wrecks  gives  is 
that  a  man  of  character  and  good  judgment, 
who  by  his  native  endowment  will  avoid  the 
perils  that  beset  incompetence,  needs  to  make 
very  sure  of  enough  capital,  and  then  that 
competition  need  not  frighten  him. 

THE     PREVENTION  OF    RAILROAD     COLLISIONS 

ALMOST  at  the  same  hour  on  the  same 
day  a  few  weeks  ago  there  were 
deadly  collisions  on  the  Southern  Pacific 
Railroad  near  Vails  in  Arizona,  and  on  the 
Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey,  near  Plain- 
field,  both  clearly  caused  by  carelessness. 

The  New  Jersey  engineer  passed  a  signal 
without  seeing  it  because  the  steam  obscured 
it.  If  the  engine  was  defective  there  was 
fault  also  in  using  it.  The  telegraph  operator 
in  Arizona  failed  to  deliver  to  the  engineer 
one  of  the  orders  that  he  had  received  for  him. 

Investigation  of  every  disaster  like  these 
shows  carelessness  by  somebody.  The  thou- 
sands of  orders  for  running  trains  that  are 
accurately  transmitted  and  delivered  every 
da\'  and  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  signal? 
that  are  every  day  seen  and  heeded  prove  that 
the  systems  and  the  service  of  the  railroads 
are  good — to  a  certain  point.  Beyond  that 
point,  it  has  sometimes  been  argued,  there  is 
a  margin  of  danger  that  can  never  be  removed. 
But  such  a  conclusion  is  not  scientific.  By 
the  duplication  of  men  who  work  at  danger- 
points  the  margin  of  danger  can  be  greatly 
lessened  if  not  wholly  removed. 

Since  a  frightful  ferryboat  disaster  years 
ago  at  New  York,  which  was  caused  by  the 
sudden  illness  or  the  death  of  the  pilot,  the 
ferry  companies  have  been  required  to  keep 
two  men  in  every  pilot  house.  The  principle  of 
the  duplication  of  men  or  of  the  repeating  of 
orders  at  danger-points  is  evidently  still 
further  applicable  to  the  railroad  service. 

In  1 90 1,  8,455  persons  were  killed  and  more 
than  53,000  were  hurt  by  railroad  accidents 
in  the  United  States;  and  of  these  453  were 
killed  and  3,732  were  hurt  by  collisions. 
Collisions  at  least  are  preventable,  whether 
accidents  due  to  the  carelessness  of  indi- 
vidual men  be  or  not. 


A   CRUSADK   AGAINST   TUHKRCULOSIS 


3 '^^3 


A  device  is  now  on  trial  in  Germany,  which 
has  been  successful  in  the  experiments  thus 
far  made,  that  is  expected  to  give  warning 
of  danger  ahead  of  a  locomotive  and  to  pre- 
vent collisions.  From  a  third  rail  the  loco- 
motive engineer  receives  a  warning  if  another 
locomotive  comes  on  the  same  track  within  a 
certain  distance.  The  warning  is  automati- 
cally conveyed  to  both  locomotives  by  the 
ringing  of  a  bell  and  by  the  lighting  of  a  red 
electric  bulb  in  the  cab,  and  the  two  engineers 
may  speak  to  one  another  by  telephone. 

TO  REFILL  THE  LAND  WITH  BIRDS 

THE  Audubon  Societies  continue  to  add 
State  after  State  to  the  area  of  bird 
safety.  They  are  organizations  of  bird-lovers 
who  work  to  educate  public  opinion  to  a 
j)roper  appreciation  and  protection  of  bird-life. 
They  have  now  been  organized  in  thirty 
States  and  have  60,000  members.  Thus 
the  efforts  of  a  few  lovers  of  birds  have 
developed  into  a  widespread  movement  of 
national  importance. 

At  first  these  societies  tried  to  achieve  their 
end  by  arousing  a  sentiment  to  discourage 
the  wearing  of  plumage;  but  this  was  too  big 
a  task.  It  meant  the  conversion  of  every 
woman  in  the  land  to  the  courageous  action 
of  defying  fashion. 

A  more  practical  campaign  was  begun — 
a  campaign  for  State  laws  to  protect  birds. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  circulars,  explain- 
ing the  economic,  educational  and  esthetic 
value  of  birds,  were  distributed.  Circulating 
libraries  and  illustrated  lectures  were  sent 
from  town  to  town.  Meetings  were  held; 
classes  for  bird-study  were  formed.  When- 
ever public  opinion  in  a  State  seemed  ripe,  a 
bill  was  introduced  in  the  legislature  and 
many  a  lawmaker  was  surprised  to  discover 
an  active  interest  in  birds  that  he  had  never 
suspected.  Even  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture at  Washington  began  to  inform  him 
of  their  economic  value. 

Thus  the  model  bird  law  of  the  American 
Ornithologists'  Union,  which  forbids  the 
killing  at  any  time  of  non-gamebirds,  has 
been  adopted  in  all  the  New  England  States, 
in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Florida, 
Ohio,  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Illinois,  AVisconsin, 
Arkansas  and  Wyoming.  The  campaign 
this  legislative  season  was  carried  on  in 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Missouri, 
California,     Oregon     and     Washington.     No 


State  will  escape,  and  probably  within  ten 
years  birds  will  be  protected  by  law  practi- 
cally throughout  the  Union. 

But  even  then  the  labors  of  the  Audubon 
Societies  will  by  no  means  end.  The  laws 
must  be  enforced  and  the  public  conscience 
kept  alive  until  sentiment  enforces  them. 

Incidentally,  the  young  people  who  form 
these  societies  add  a  new  pleasure  to  life  by 
their  knowledge  of  birds  and  they  see  a  new 
beauty  in  nature.  They  educate  themselves 
while  they  are  educating  the  community — 
as  all  unselfish  workers  for  any  great  aim. 

A   CRUSADE  AGAINST   TUBERCULOSIS 

WE  may  find  ourselves  engaged  i)res- 
ently  in  a  crusade  for  the  practical 
eradication  of  consumption;  and  pray  Heaven 
we  may  !  By  a  concerted  effort  street-cars, 
stations,  other  public  places,  and  even  some 
streets  in  some  cities,  were  made  and  have 
been  kept  clean  of  sputum;  and  now,  with 
increasing  frequency  and  earnestness,  the 
proper  treatment  of  the  disease  in  its  early 
stages  is  urged,  demanded,  begged  for. 
There  is  talk  of  municipal  hospitals;  there 
are  plans  for  public  instruction  about  the 
disease ;  and  there  are  other  signs  of  a  general 
awakening. 

Every  person  who  reads  must  now  know 
that  the  disease  is  not  contagious;  that  it  is 
preventable;  that  many  cases  are  curable — 
most  cases,  if  treated  in  time;  that  it  is  not 
inherited ;  but  that  it  is  transmitted  by  inhal- 
ing the  tubercle  bacillus.  Yet  in  New  York 
City  alone  one  hundred  new  cases  develop 
every  day;  and  there  are  19,000  known  to  the 
health  officers.  Yet  there  is  not  a  hospital 
in  the  city  where  the  cases  are  treated  in  their 
early  stages. 

It  is  perhaps  the  most  striking  instance  that 
could  be  found  of  unutilized  definite  knowl- 
edge that  is  of  vital  importance.  We  know 
definitely  how  to  save  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  lives;  but  because  it  is  not  a  contagious 
scourge  that  quickly  causes  painful  death 
we  have  been  slow  to  stop  the  disease.  All 
that  is  needed  is  an  earnest  enough  crusade. 
If  physicians  and  bodies  of  physicians, 
boards  of  health,  charity  societies,  women 
and  organizations  of  women,  philanthropists, 
the  pulpit  and  the  newspapers  w^ere  all  to 
forget  less  important  things  for  a  time  and 
fall  to  work,  more  lives  might  be  saved  every 
vear  than  are  lost  in  the  bloodiest  wars. 


3164 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


CANADA  FORGING  AHEAD 

CANADA  is  steadily  broadening  on  the 
horizon  of  the  world's  trade.  Within 
the  past  six  years  the  Dominion  increased  her 
imports  and  exports  ninety-six  per  cent. 
Since  1868  the  trade  between  Canada  and 
this  country  has  undergone  remarkable 
development.  In  1868  the  Dominion's  im- 
ports from  the  United  States  amounted  to 
$22,000,000.  By  1902  these  figures  had 
grown  to  $114,000,000,  including  iron  and 
steel  and  machinery,  Si 8,000,000;  electrical 
apparatus,  carriages  and  cotton  goods, 
each  about  $1,500,000.  From  Canada  the 
exports  to  the  United  States  were  in 
1868  $22,000,000;  in  1902,  $69,000,000,  of 
which  $16,000,000  came  in  wood  and  wood- 
pulp,  together  with  $24,000,000  in  gold, 
silver,  copper  and  their  ores.  During  the 
past  thirty-five  years  Canadian  exports  to 
Great  Britain  have  expanded  enormously — 
from  $17,000,000  in  1868  to  $117,000,000  in 
1902.  Last  year  the  most  noteworthy  item 
in  this  export  trade  was  $25,000,000  in  butter 
and  cheese,  largely  to  be  credited  to  the  educa- 
tion of  Canadian  dairymen  by  Professor  J.  W. 
Robertson  and  his  staff  of  the  Dominion 
Department  of  Agriculture. 

The  extraordinary  forward  movement  in 
Canada  is  shown  also  by  the  business  of  the 
chartered  banks,  which  are  on  the  Scotch 
model,  with  a  thorough  development  of 
branches.  At  the  end  of  1902  they  had  on 
deposit  $397,000,000,  against  $108,000,000  in 
1887.  The  Dominion  conducts  savings  banks 
at  915  post-offices.  In  1869,  the  second  year 
of  its  existence,  this  system  showed  less  than 
$1 ,000,000  on  deposit ;  last  year  this  sum  had 
grown  to  $42,000,000, 

HELEN    KELLER 

THE  photograph  reproduced  in  this 
magazine  of  Miss  Helen  Keller  and 
of  her  teacher.  Miss  Sullivan  (Mr.  Joseph 
Jefferson  looking  on),  represents  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  results  of  patient  teaching 
in  all  human  experience.  Not  only  does  Miss 
Keller,  who  has  been  blind  and  deaf  almost 
from  infancy,  speak  English,  French  and 
German  so  that  she  may  be  understood  by 
any  careful  listener,  but  she  understands  these 
languages  when  they  are  spoken  to  her.  She 
understands  every  word  by  the  impact  of  the 
speaker's  breath  on  her  fingers.  Her  attitude 
when  "listening"  is  shown  in  the  photograph. 


Her  fingers  are  gently  pressed  against  Miss 
Sullivan's  lips  and  Miss  Sullivan  is  speaking. 
Miss  Keller's  intellectual  life  and  attractive 
character  make  her  a  most  interesting  per- 
sonality; and  her  own  account  of  her  release 
from  blankness  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
of  human  experiences. 

PORTRAITS  OF  MR.  SARGENT  AND 
JUSTICE  DAY 

IN  addition  to  the  portraits  of  Miss  Keller 
and  Baron  von  Sternburg,  the  special 
German  Envoy  to  the  United  States,  there 
appear  in  this  magazine  portraits  of  Judge 
William  R.  Day,  of  Ohio,  formerly  Secretary 
of  State,  who  has  been  appointed  Associate 
Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
and  a  portrait  of  Mr.  John  S.  Sargent,  the 
distinguished  American  painter,  who,  during 
his  present  visit  to  the  United  States,  will 
paint  a  portrait  of  President  Roosevelt. 

TRUST-REGULATING  LEGISLATON 

THE  sum  total  of  the  trust-regulating 
acts  passed  by  Congress  falls  far  short 
of  the  general  onslaught  with  which  the 
session  began — fortunately;  for  legislation 
in  restraint  of  commerce,  even  when  it  is 
directed  at  definite  abuses,  is  most  difficult. 
New  laws  either  go  so  far  as  practically  to 
defeat  themselves,  as  anti-trust  legislation 
in  many  States  has  gone,  or  they  fall  short 
of  checking  the  evils  aimed  at,  as  the 
original  Sherman  law  did. 

Congress  did  two  things.  It  created  a  new 
Cabinet  Department  of  Commerce  which  has 
power  to  get  the  facts  about  interstate  corpo- 
rations, which  the  President  may  publish  at 
his  discretion.  This  makes  for  publicity. 
How  it  is  going  to  work  nobody  knows,  and 
no  opinion  in  advance  of  experiments  is 
worth  much. 

The  new  legislation  makes  the  receiving  of 
rebates  or  improperly  discriminating  rates 
on  transportation  as  criminal  as  the  granting 
of  them.  This,  it  is  hoped,  will  give  tlie  Inter- 
state Commerce  law  a  new  vitality  in  the 
direction  of  its  greatest  abuse ;  and  an  appro- 
priation was  made  to  enable  the  Department 
of  Justice  to  prosecute  offenders  and  to  push 
its  cases  to  final  decision  with  rapidity. 

It  is  doubtful  if  more  could  have  been 
hopefully  done  and  if  the  practical  results  of 
what  has  been  done  will  be  great.  We  must 
gradually  make   our   way   by    experiments. 


FINANCIAL    DESPOTS   AND 
FREEBOOTERS 


[Thb  World's  Work,  publishes  every  month  an  article  in  which  some  timely  and  vital  subject  of  the  financial  world 

is  taken  up] 


SOME  time  ago  Mr.  J.  P.  iMorgan,  who 
is  the  strongest  personality  in  our 
financial  world  not  only  because  of 
his  ability  but  because  of  the  variety  of  his 
activity,  frankly  told  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  that  he  made  a  certain 
large  transaction  in  order  to  eliminate  a 
speculator  whom  he  considered  dangerous 
to  his  interests  and  to  stable  financial 
conditions. 

This  testimony  and  the  state  of  mind  that 
it  showed  provoked  much  comment  on  the 
theory  of  the  benevolent  despot  in  finance — 
on  the  power  that  one  man  may  wield.  The 
comment  turned  not  on  criticism  of  Mr. 
Morgan  and  his  actions  or  his  admissions,  but 
on  the  larger  question  of  what  may  be  called 
the  proper  organization  of  financial  life. 
Mr.  Morgan  wields  an  influence  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  his  own  fortune.  He  is  not  our 
richest  man.  It  is  commonly  supposed  that 
his  personal  fortune  is  much  less  than  the 
fortune  of  any  one  of  a  considerable  number 
of  Americans.  He  brings  things  to  pass  not 
with  his  own  money  only,  but  mainly  with 
other  men's  money — to  a  great  extent  with 
the  money  of  the  whole  investing  public.  It 
is  his  activity  and  his  influence  and  not  his 
fortune  that  is  the  main  thing. 

And  Mr.  Morgan  is  of  course  used  only  as  a 
type.  The  large  question  is:  How  far  have 
we  gone  in  the  organization  and  conduct  of 
finance  ?  Does  the  public  safety  yet  rest  in 
the  hands  of  any  one  man  or  even  of  any 
small  group  of  men?  Are  we  in  that  stage 
of  development  corresponding  to  the  stage 
in  civil  development  when  the  king,  or  at 
most  an  oligarchy,  had  all  the  power,  and 
the  people  none  ? 

If  we  may  look  forward  to  a  time  when  our 
financial  life  shall  have  the  security  that  cor- 
responds to  the  civic  security  that  we  now 
enjoy  under  representative  government,  are 
we  not  yet  a  long  way  from  it  ?  ]\Ir.  Morgan 
confessed  that  he  drove  one  freebooter  from 


the  market.  In  other  words,  we  had  to 
depend  on  him  to  do  police  work  on  the 
financial  highway.  Is  this  system  civiliza- 
tion or  a  state  of  society  that  may  rest  only 
on  the  strength  of  an  individual  ? 

These  reflections  are  far  less  definite  than 
the  facts  that  usually  fill  these  pages;  but  it 
seems  worth  while,  oftener  than  we  do,  to 
consider  what  sort  of  large  structure  we  are 
building  against  possible  disaster,  or  whether 
we  are  building  any.  We  are  forging  ahead, 
individuals  and  corporations,  each  making 
all  possible  profit  and  each  fortifying,  accord- 
ing to  his  wisdom,  his  own  structure.  But 
is  there  enough  thought  given  to  the  whole 
public  welfare  ? 

The  organization  of  clearing-houses,  the  use 
on  occasion  of  clearing-house  certificates,  and 
the  other  forms  of  cooperation  which  financial 
institutions  have  evolved,  are  important  steps 
in  the  constructive  organization  of  financial 
society.  The  recent  demand  in  New  York 
City  that  trust  companies  shall  increase 
their  reserves  is  another  measure  of 
public  safety.  The  safeguards  thrown 
around  savings  banks,  national  banks  and 
State  banks  are  old  influences  for  safety. 
Perhaps  nothing  more  can  be  done 
under  present  conditions.  But  every  once 
in  a  while  thoughtful  men  are  brought  to  a 
sudden  halt  to  consider  the  power  of  one 
strong  man.  If  it  be  a  powder  for  good, 
might  it  not  become  as  great  a  power  for  evil  ? 

To  an  extent,  yes.  A  man  of  gigantic 
strength  always  has  abnormal  power — for 
good  if  he  use  it  wisely,  for  evil  if  he  use  it  ill. 
This  is  true  in  finance,  in  politics,  and  in 
almost  every  othet  field  of  activity.  But  it 
is  doubtful  if  the  danger  is  greater  in  finance 
than  in  any  other  field. 

Return  to  Mr.  Morgan  as  an  example.  He 
has  built  up  his  great  influence  by  demonstra- 
tion after  demonstration  of  his  constructive 
ability  and  of  his  safe  leadership.  If  the 
great  enterprises  that  he  undertook  had  failed 


3i66 


THE    CARNEGIE    INSTITUTION    OF    WASHINGTON 


or  had  been  ill  carried  out,  he  would  not  be 
strong.  He  is  strong  because  of  the  power 
that  he  has  won  by  successful  activity.  It 
is  not  a  power  that  he  can  transmit. 

The  experience  of  the  financial  freebooter 
points  the  same  moral.  He  goes  forth  to 
wreck  and  he  wrecks.  But  his  career  is  not 
a  long  one.  He  fails  to  hold  the  confidence 
of  the  public — even  of  his  public.  He  builds 
up  no  permanent  influence. 

The  same  law  holds  even  with  regard  to  any 
financial  oligarchy.  There  is  a  small  group 
of  men  in  New  York  who,  by  combined  action, 
can  control  a  very  large  part  of  the  great 
enterprises  in  the  country  They  can  control 
a  large  part  of  the  surplus  wealth.  But  they 
would  soon  cease  to  control  them  if  they  mis- 
used their  power.  Their  power  depends  upon 
their  safe  use  of  it.  Their  own  selfish  inter- 
ests depend  on  using  their  power  conserva- 
tively and  constructively.  This  is  to  say 
nothing  of  the  sense  of  responsibility  that 
almost  all  successful  men  develop  in  propor- 
tion to  their  acquisition  of  authority. 

While,  then,  we  doubtless  are  a  long  way 
from  the  ideal  organization  of  financial  life, 
and  are  yet  in  a  period  of  large  one-man 
power  and  under  the  influence  of  strong 
oligarchies,  the  devices  for  safety  are  more 


numerous  than  they  may  at  first  sight  appear 
to  be,  and  the  structiire  of  finance  is  more 
"  civilized  "  than  it  seems.  It  rests — whoever 
holds  the  power — to  a  very  considerable 
degree  on  public  confidence.  Public  opinion 
in  the  financial  world  does  not  express  itself 
by  ballots,  but  by  silent  fluctuations  in  the 
market,  and  by  a  much  more  delicate  method 
than  it  uses  in  politics. 

The  sheer  accumulation  of  wealth  by  an 
individual  or  by  a  group  of  individuals  to 
abnormal  proportions  is  a  much  more  danger- 
ous thing  than  the  building-up  of  power  and 
influence  by  activity  in  the  use  of  wealth. 
The  greatest  dangers  in  the  financial  world 
are  not  from  the  active  captains,  whether 
they  be  benevolent  despots  or  freebooters, 
but  from  the  silent  and  quiet  absorption  of 
"interests"  that  may  be  so  managed  or 
manipulated  as  unduly  to  affect  political 
action  or  to  monopolize  trade. 

The  growth  of  great  concentrated  interests 
necessarily  concentrates  power.  There  is  no 
help  for  that,  even  if  help  be  desirable;  for  it 
is  only  by  the  possession  of  power  that  men 
can  do  great  constructive  pieces  of  work. 
The  ideal  to  bring  about  is  such  a  state  of 
public  opinion  as  will  rigidly  hold  strong  men 
to  a  right  use  of  power. 


THE    CARNEGIE    INSTITUTION    OF 

WASHINGTON 


WHAT  IT  IS  AND  WHAT  IT  IS  NOT 
BY 

Dr.    D.    C.    oilman 

PRESIDENT    OF    THE     INSTITUTION 


A  YEAR  has  now  passed  since  the 
country  was  surprised  and  delighted 
by  the  announcement  that  Mr. 
Andrew  Carnegie,  the  enlightened  promoter 
of  public  libraries  in  this  and  other  countries, 
had  made  a  munificent  gift  for  the  endow- 
ment of  the  Carnegie  Institution  in  Wash- 
ington. 

Although  the  object  of  this  foundation  was 
clearly  set  forth  in  Mr.  Carnegie's  letter  and 
in  the  act  of  incorporation,  the  methods  to  be 


pursued  were  left  to  the  trustees.  The  income 
could  not  be  appropriated  until  the  trustees 
came  together  in  November  last.  Meanwhile, 
the  executive  committee  engaged  in  a  very 
careful  study  of  the  problem;  institutions 
were  visited;  leading  men  in  many  branches 
of  scientific  investigation  were  consulted;  a 
voluminous  correspondence  was  begun,  and 
the  suggestions  made  in  the  public  press  and 
in  private  communications  were  carefully 
considered.     The  task  of  studying  this  com- 


THE    CARNEGIE   INSTITUTION    OF   WASHINGTON 


3167 


plexity  of  counsel  would  have  been  over- 
whelming if  the  conmiittec  had  not  at  once 
proceeded  to  secure  specific  and  confidential 
advice  from  some  of  the  most  expert  and 
most  eminent  of  their  countrymen.  Abstracts 
of  their  recommendations  were  laid  before  the 
trustees,  at  their  meeting  last  November, 
and  that  representative  and  authoritative 
body  reached  some  important  conclusions. 
In  the  first  place,  they  decided  to  wait  for 
further  light  and  for  more  thorough  inquiry, 
in  respect  to  certain  large  projects  submitted 
to  them.  All  the  greater  investigations  were 
postponed.  No  summary  of  these  proposi- 
tions has  been  prepared,  but  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  if  the  income  of  the  Carnegie  Institution 
were  doubled  or  trebled  the  learning,  the 
ability  and  the  energy  of  our  countrymen 
could  employ  it  all  in  wise  undertakings  for 
the  advancement  of  knowledge.  The  fields 
are  boundless.  At  present  the  work  of  the 
Carnegie  Institution  must  be  restricted  to 
minor  projects.  Some  of  these  are  extremely 
important  and  promise  to  bring  forth  fruit 
that  will  be  valuable  to  the  world.  But  they 
are,  for  the  most  part,  so  special  and  technical 
that  any  enumeration  of  them  would  not  be 
interesting  to  the  public  generally  for  whom 
this  article  is  written. 

The  present  time  appears  to  be  a  con- 
venient opportunity  to  explain  what  the 
Carnegie  Institution  is  undertaking  to  do, 
and  what  it  cannot  do,  what  it  is  and  what  it 
is  not,  and,  accordingly,  I  gladly  reply  to  a 
request  of  the  editors  of  this  review  for 
information  on  these  two  points,  first, 
positively;  second,  negatively. 

First,  then — What  can  the  Carnegie  Insti- 
tution undertake  to  do?  The  answer  is 
obvious  if  any  one  will  refer  to  the  original 
limitations  of  the  trust.  It  can  select  and 
mark  out  certain  lines  of  inquiry,  and  intrust 
them  to  competent  investigators,  who  will 
report  their  results  to  the  Institution,  to  be 
in  some  one  way  or  another  made  known  to 
the  world.  It  can  also  recognize  the  ability 
of  certain  leaders  of  investigation,  in  any  part 
of  the  country,  and  give  them  grants  for  the 
continuance  of  the  work  upon  which  they  are 
engaged.  These  investigators  may  be  found  in 
universities,  technical  schools,  observatories, 
museums,  and  in  private  life.  Their  number 
is  very  large,  and  all  the  income  could  be 
expended,  and  then  it  would  be  inadequate, 
if  all  their  requests  were  granted.     Sometimes 


a  year  of  freedom,  sometimes  the  appointment 
of  an  assistant,  sometimes  the  purchase  of 
instruments  will  be  of  the  greatest  benefit  to 
this  class  of  overworked,  underpaid  men 
eager  to  add  their  contribution  to  the  stock  of 
human  knowledge.  The  Carnegie  Institution 
can  also  engage  in  publication.  Such  memoirs 
and  papers  as  are  the  result  of  investigations 
just  referred  to  may  be  printed,  although  it 
is  doubtless  true  that  the  reports  of  progress 
will  find  a  more  appropriate  place  in  the 
special  scientific  journals  already  established. 
There  are  memoirs,  however,  so  abstruse,  so 
technical,  and,  perhaps,  so  long,  that  they 
cannot  be  accepted  in  any  of  the  ordinary 
channels  of  publication.  These  extended 
memoirs  may  be  of  the  highest  value  to  the 
world  if  they  deal,  as  they  may,  with  subjects 
of  fundamental  significance.  Here  is  an 
inviting  and  important  field  for  the  Carnegie 
Institution  to  occupy. 

Another  line  of  activity  is  closely  allied  to 
the  foregoing.  There  are  many  young  men 
of  superior  talents  in  the  different  parts  of  this 
country  eager  to  develop  their  powers  and 
to  make  a  favorable  beginning  in  their  scien- 
tific careers.  It  is  not  easy  to  discover  who 
are  the  most  promising,  most  deserving  of  aid, 
most  likely  to  do  well.  The  Carnegie  Institu- 
tion has  decided  to  appoint,  for  one  year,  and 
possibly  for  longer  periods,  a  certain  number 
of  such  persons,  who  will  be  known  as  research 
assistants.  They  may  or  may  not  reside  in 
Washington.  No  limitations  as  to  age  or 
nationality,  or  sex,  or  academic  standing  are 
prescribed.  Good  work  already  done  will 
have  great  influence  in  the  selection.  A 
specific  purpose,  rather  than  a  vague  disposi- 
tion, will  be  essential.  The  indorsement,  or 
at  least  the  encouragement,  of  some  one  who 
has  already  acquired  a  position  in  the  scien- 
tific world  will  be  of  value.  Sometimes,  but 
not  often,  promising  candidates  may  be  dis- 
covered far  away  from  libraries  and  labora- 
tories (as  the  late  Doctor  Keeler,  the  astrono- 
mer, for  example,  was  discovered  in  Florida). 
After  one,  two  or  three  years,  it  is  probable 
that  individuals  will  be  found  under  the  aegis 
of  the  Carnegie  Institution  worthy  to  be 
called  to  important  stations,  or  who  will  be 
encouraged,  independently,  to  enter  upon 
scientific  careers. 

Plans  are  also  under  consideration  for  bring- 
ing to  Washington  from  time  to  time  certain 
persons    who    desire    to    become    acquainted 


3i68 


THE    CARNEGIE    INSTITUTION    OF    WASHINGTON 


with  the  work  of  the  scientific  bureaus  of  the 
Government,  or  who  wish  to  make  use  (as 
students,  not  as  casual  visitors)  of  the 
Ubraries,  archives  and  collections  here  main- 
tained. Unexpected  difficulties  have  arisen 
in  respect  to  the  development  of  these  plans, 
but  they  are  not  forgotten. 

This  brief  statement  indicates  in  what  the 
Carnegie  Institution  has  already  engaged, 
namely,  the  bestowal  of  grants  for  research; 
the  encouragement,  by  specific  grant,  of  a 
select  number  of  investigators;  arrangements 
for  printing  scientific  memoirs;  the  appoint- 
ment of  "research  assistants,"  and  prelim- 
inary inquiries  respecting  large  undertakings 
to  be  decided  in  the  future. 

There  is  a  reasonable  curiosity  to  know, 
specifically,  what  sort  of  investigations  are 
receiving  Carnegie  aid.  The  executive  com- 
mittee does  not  think  it  expedient,  for  many 
reasons,  to  publish,  at  this  stage  of  the  develop- 
ments, this  list.  It  is  incomplete;  in  many 
cases  it  is  conditional.  In  some  instances 
the  recipients  of  aid  do  not  wish  to  reveal  their 
work.  But  in  due  time,  all  the  particular 
appropriations  will  be  communicated  to  the 
trustees,  and  they  will  doubtless  cause  them 
to  be  published.  There  is  no  concealment 
about  the  Institution — only  that  degree  of 
reserve  in  the  preliminaries  without  which 
important  results  cannot  be  accomplished. 

As  examples  of  the  aid  that  the  Carnegie 
Institution  has  already  promised  to  give, 
these  cases  may  be  mentioned:  For  the 
encouragement  of  biological  research  a  liberal 
grant  has  been  made  to  the  Marine  Biological 
Laboratory,  at  Wood's  Hole,  Massachusetts, 
an  admirable  station,  frequented  every  sum- 
mer by  a  large  number  of  naturalists.  For 
want  of  the  requisite  pecuniary  support,  the 
institution  has  been  embarrassed;  it  will  be 
reinvigorated  by  this  grant.  Two  tables 
have  been  taken  in  Doctor  Dohrn's  celebrated 
laboratory  in  Naples,  and  one  in  a  station  to 
be  established  in  the  Bermudas. 

A  grant  has  been  made  for  the  continuati<^n 
of  the  Index  Medicus,  the  key  to  current 
medical  science,  publication  having  been 
suspended  for  the  lack  of  pecuniary  support. 

Measures  have  been  initiated  for  the  study 


of  economic  and  social  problems  in  the  United 
States,  a  vast  amount  of  facts  having  been 
accumulated  in  Washington  and  in  the 
several  States  of  the  Union  which  are  now 
to  be  examined,  digested  and  studied  by 
competent  economists. 

The  examination  of  the  unprinted  archives 
of  the  United  States  will  be  undertaken,  with 
the  cooperation  of  the  officers  of  the  American 
Historical  Association. 

Much  will  be  done  in  astronomy,  and  among 
other  things,  the  publication  of  the  memoirs 
of  George  W.  Hill  is  soon  to  be  tmdertaken. 

Many  minor  grants  have  been  devoted 
to  geology',  physics,  chemistry,  psychology, 
physiology  and  botany.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  botanical  inquiries  that  have  been 
set  on  foot  is  that  of  the  vegetation  of  the  arid 
regions  of  the  United  States,  an  inquiry  quite 
as  interesting  to  the  economists  and  the  legis- 
lators of  this  country  as  it  is  to  men  of  science. 

Second,  negatively — From  what  has  been 
said  it  is  obvious  that  the  Carnegie  Institution 
is  not  a  "university"  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  that  word.  It  has  no  faculty,  it  has  no 
body  of  students  brought  together  in  one 
place.  It  has  no  systematic  courses  of 
instruction.  If  lectures  should  be  given 
under  its  auspices,  they  will  probably  be  by 
specialists  and  to  specialists,  not  popular 
lectures  nor  the  sort  of  expositions  required 
for  the  instruction  of  young  pupils. 

The  fund  is  not  intended  for  the  aid  of 
scholars  in  their  antecedent  or  professional 
education.  This  must  be  provided  for  by 
the  existing  universities  and  colleges.  Only 
those  who  are  mature  enough  to  show  their 
powers  will  be  aided. 

The  Carnegie  Institution  does  not  propose 
to  build  up  a  library  nor  to  make  collections 
in  archeology,  ethnology  and  natural  history. 

The  Carnegie  Institution  does  not  intend  to 
do  that  which  other  institutions  or  individuals 
are  doing  or  will  undertake  to  do. 

To  sum  up  the  whole  matter,  the  Carnegie 
Institution  is  a  supplementary  agency  for  the 
purpose  of  strengthening  scientific  w^orkers 
in  any  part  of  the  country  and  aiding  them  to 
carry  on  investigations  which  promise  to  be 
of  importance  to  the  world. 


GERMAN    INTERESTS  AND  'I1<:NDENCIES 

IN    SOUTH    AMERICA 


BV 


FREDERIC  AUSTIN  OGG 


TO  many  who  have  been  wont  to  regard 
the  relations  between  Germany  and 
the  United  States  as  fixed  for  all 
time  by  the  panegyrists  on  the  occasion  of 
Prince  Henry's  visit,  the  current  crisis  in 
Venezuela  has  come  as  a'rude  shock.  To  them 
it  has  seemed  that  the  German  Government's 
determined  attempt  to  collect  debts  due  its 
citizens  from  South  Americans,  who  bask 
under  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  strikes  away  the 
very  foundations  of  friendship  between  the 
two  peoples.  Such  a  conclusion  is,  of  course, 
clearly  unwarranted.  The  collection  of  debts 
is  a  perfectly  legitimate  business  for  a  gov- 
ernment, provided  it  be  done  after  such 
fashion  as  common  international  courtesy 
demands. 

The  seriousness  of  the  Venezuelan  situation 
does  not  arise  from  the  mere  fact  that  Ger- 
many, in  collaboration  with  Great  Britain 
and  Italy,  is  coercing  an  American  republic, 
or  even  from  the  open  display  of  force  in 
achieving  this  end,  but  rather  from  the  fever- 
ish and  really  quite  uncalled  for  avidity  with 
which  the  Germans  are  conducting  their  side 
of  the  affair.  There  is  on  their  part  the  same 
enthusiasm,  aggressiveness  and  proneness 
to  break  over  the  grounds  of  the  justifiable 
which  proved  so  annoying  to  other  powers 
during  the  Spanish-American  war  and  the 
Peking  expedition  of  1900.  The  real  gravity 
of  the  Venezuelan  trouble  lies  not  in  the 
possibilities  of  an  immediate  war  of  the 
powers,  as  the  alarmists  would  have  us 
believe,  but  in  the  revelation  it  has  made  of 
the  German  imperial  temperament  and  the 
possibilities  of  future  German  aggressions  on 
South  American  soil. 

When  one  considers  the  increasing  interests 
of  the  German  people  in  certain  South 
American  States,  notably  Brazil  and  the 
Argentine  Republic,  one  is  apt  to  regard  these 
latter  possibilities  as  rather  probabilities. 
It  is  an  open  secret  that  in  our  councils  of 
state  there  has  been  of  late  years  a  growing 


concern  at  the  magnitude  of  German  colon- 
ization in  the  continent  to  the  south  of  us. 
The  grounds  for  such  concern  are  twofold. 
In  the  first  place,  German  imperial  ambition 
under  the  regime  of  Emperor  William  is 
universally  recognized  as  becoming  more  and 
more  insatiable.  Twenty  years  ago  Germany 
had  not  one  acre  of  land  outside  of  Europe; 
today  she  controls  by  right  of  full  possession 
2,500,000  square  kilometres,  not  to  speak  of 
probably  an  equal  amount  over  which  her 
flag  does  not  fly  but  which  is  fast  being 
populated  and  exploited  by  men  of  her  lan- 
guage and  blood.  South  Africa,  China,  Asia 
Minor,  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  and  finally  South 
America,  are  all  the  scenes  of  more  or  less 
open  German  aggrandizement;  and  among 
them,  the  last-named,  at  least  since  1896,  has 
been  distinctly  favored  by  the  Government 
as  a  goal  for  the  German  emigrant. 

The  other  chief  ground  for  concern  at  the 
increase  of  German  population  in  South 
America  is  the  fact  that  of  all  the  peoples  who 
migrate  thither  in  any  considerable  numbers, 
the  Germans  alone  hold  strictly  aloof  from  the 
natives  and  maintain  intimate  commercial 
and  social  relations  with  the  home-land. 
Spaniards,  Italians,  Portuguese,  even  Chinese 
and  Japanese,  are  quickly  assimilated  with 
Brazilians  or  Argentines,  but  the  Germans 
never.  In  the  naval  debates  of  1897  Minister 
von  Marschall  declared  in  the  Reichstag, 
"  Emigration  must  be  directed  into  such  chan- 
nels that  the  Germans  abroad  may  be  kept 
German."  It  is  in  pursuance  of  this  policy 
that  South  America  has  become  the  favored 
land  of  settlement. 

German  colonies  in  South  America,  as  else- 
where, are  almost  uniformly  commercial  in 
origin.  A  colony  begins  by  the  settling  of 
some  merchant  or  merchant  company  in  one 
of  the  more  favored  cities,  and  grows  by  the 
attracting  thither,  through  trade  opportuni- 
ties, of  friends  and  business  associates,  until 
the  business  interests  of  the  community  pass 


3170 


GERMANY   IN    SOUTH    AMERICA 


completely  into  German  hands.  With  the 
merchants  as  a  nucleus  the  colony  is  further 
increased  by  the  coming  of  agriculturalists, 
bankers,  manufacturers  and  professional 
men,  though  its  dominating  commercial 
character  is  never  quite  thrown  off.  The 
settlers  refrain  absolutely  from  participation 
in  local  politics.  While  native  factions  and 
parties  contend  for  offices  and  honors,  the 
German  minds  strictly  his  own  business, 
preserves  the  good- will  of  all  elements,  and 
profits  financially  by  the  political  preoccupa- 
tion and  industrial  backwardness  of  the 
natives.  In  most  cases  the  colonies  are  quite 
independent  of  the  Government  in  whose 
jurisdiction  they  happen  to  be  located.  They 
are  in  the  State  but  not  of  it.  Not  infrequently 
they  even  go  so  far  as  to  make  their  own  laws. 
This  cannot  but  mean  the  gradual  denational- 
ization of  great  sections  of  the  country. 
The  southern  provinces  of  Brazil  have 
been  weakened  from  this  cause.  A  more 
patriotic  people  than  the  Brazilians  would 
be  much  exercised  over  the  situation. 

The  commercial  and  banking  houses  main- 
tain the  closest  possible  relations  with  institu- 
tions of  their  sort  in  the  Fatherland.  During 
the  past  decade  German  trade  with  Central 
and  South  America  has  increased  more  rapidly 
than  that  of  any  other  nation.  This  fact  of 
itself  would  be  quite  harmless  were  it  not 
that  this  increase  of  trade  has  been  brought 
about  almost  wholly  through  German  invest- 
ments and  settlements  in  these  countries.  It 
is  a  trade  of  Germans  with  Germans — across 
5,000  miles  of  saltwater,  it  is  true — but  never- 
theless regarded  as  essentially  domestic. 
Great  banking  corporations  have  been  cre- 
ated for  the  express  purpose  of  facilitating 
this  trade.  Such  are  the  German  Brazilian 
Bank,  with  a  capital  of  84,000,000,  and  the 
German  Transatlantic  Bank  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  with  a  capital  of  $5,000,000,  not  to 
mention  scores  of  lesser  corporations  doing 
business  in  practically  every  important  South 
American  city.  The  total  amount  of  German 
capital  supposed  to  be  invested  in  banks, 
stores  and  general  real  estate  in  Brazil  alone 
is  $150,000,000. 

In  addition  to  interests  of  this  sort  there 
are  the  railroads,  such  as  the  Great  Railway 


of  Venzuela,  controlled  for  the  most  part  by 
German  capitalists.  The  exploring  expedi- 
tions now  being  conducted  by  Doctor  Karl 
von  den  Steinens  in  western  Brazil  are  being 
followed  up  as  rapidly  as  possible  by  the 
building  of  the  Rio  Grande  Northwestern 
Railway — a  purely  German  enterprise.  The 
activity  of  the  Germans  in  the  sending  out  of 
scientific  expeditions  and  the  construction 
of  pioneer  railroads  in  certain  regions  of  South 
America  reminds  one  strongly  of  the  devices 
by  which  Russia  has  been  accustomed  to 
break  the  way  for .  political  aggrandizement 
along  her  Asiatic  frontier. 

Despite  Doctor  von  Holleben's  emphatic 
assurances  a  year  ago  that  German}^  has 
absolutely  no  thought  of  acquiring  territory 
in  the  West  Indies  or  along  the  South 
American  coasts,  and  despite  the  repeated 
disavowals  by  other  German  officials  of  such 
ambitions  on  the  part  of  their  country,  the 
fact  cannot  be  obscured  that  precisely  such 
conditions  are  ripening  in  portions  of  South 
America  as  the  world  has  come  to  consider 
inevitable  stepping-stones  to  annexation. 
A  purely  commercial  imperialism,  such  as 
Bismarck  advocated,  has  long  since  proved 
a  dream.  When  the  citizens  of  a  great  State 
settle  among  a  weaker  and  more  backward 
people,  with  the  express  intention  of  main- 
taining their  allegiance  to  the  home-land, 
experience  attests  that  there  are  certain  to 
be  occasions  on  which  the  government  of  that 
State  will  be  called  upon  to  defend  the  inter- 
ests of  those  who  have  passed  beyond  the 
pale  of  its  legal  jurisdiction.  Such  defense 
is  the  more  likely  to  be  extended  if  the  parent 
state  is  as  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  its  people 
abroad  and  as  ready  to  make  a  display  of 
authority  in  their  behalf  as  is  Germany. 
There  are  at  present  probably  not  more  than 
400,000  Germans  in  South  America.  But 
their  numbers  and  interests  are  increasing 
so  rapidly  that  it  would  be  folly  to  close  our 
eyes  to  the  possibilities  of  the  situation. 
Certainly  well  to  the  front  among  these  possi- 
bilities is  the  facing  of  the  United  States  of 
the  alternatives  which  Secretary  Root  some 
years  ago  predicted  we  must  choose  some  day, 
namely,  abandoning  the  Monroe  Doctrine  or 
fighting  for  it. 


THE       PIONKER"   COACH    IN    FRONT  OF  TlIK   HOLLAND    HOUSE 

Al  Fiflli  Avenue  aiul  Tliirlicth  Street,  New  York 


Photographed  by  A    R.  Dugmore 


THE  WORKINGS   OF  A  MODERN    HOTEL 

A  STORY  OF  ORGANIZED  LUXURY— MORE  SERVANTS  THAN  GUESTS— THE  LAND- 
LORD A  SYNDICATE— MORE  THAN  1,000  ROOMS  FOR  400,000  GUESTS  A  YEAR  AND 
A    $500,000    ANNUAL    PROFIT— A    VAST    MACHINE     OF    WELL-REGULATED    ACTIVITY 

BY 

ALBERT    BIGELOW   PAINE 


AMONG  all  our  institutions  of  progress 
there  is  none  more  amazing  than  the 
modem  hotel  in  immensity,  in  com- 
plex activities,  in  social  significance.  With 
a  width  of  200  feet  and  a  length  of  nearly 
400  feet,  and  approximately  300  feet  in 
height  —  these  are  the  dimensions  of  one 
of  these  great  machines  for  convenient 
living,  while  within  its  vast  walls  are  more 
than  a  thousand  rooms.  Its  capacity  is  more 
than  twelve  hundred  guests  per  day,  and 
it  employs  eighteen  hundred  servants  to 
attend  to  their  needs. 

In  a  sub-basement,  forty-two  and  one-half 
feet  below  the  street  level,  is  the  motive  power 
of  this  vast  machine.  Here  is  one  of  the 
largest  private  electric  plants  in  the  world.  Its 
power  drives  the  screws  of  nineteen  elevators 
and  supplies  the  illuminating  energy  of  twenty- 


five  thousand  electric  lights.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  men  are  employed  in  these  power 
rooms,  though  the  seven  great  boilers  are 
self-stoking,  and  one  hundred  tons  of  coal  a 
day  are  supplied  to  them  in  seven  automatic 
and  never-ending  streams.  In  the  sub-base 
basement,  too,  is  the  private  ice-machine, 
which  freezes  fifty  tons  of  ice  and  forty  dozen 
carafes  of  drinking  water  daily,  besides 
refrigerating  the  four  thousand  pounds  of 
meat,  fish  and  game  necessary  to  feed  the 
huge  and  gorgeous  army  of  guests  and  servi- 
tors above  stairs.  It  requires  six  skilled 
butchers  to  handle  this  meat  item,  and  five 
men  are  employed  to  open  the  twelve  barrels 
of  oysters  that  are  served  daily.  These  things 
are  bought  in  open  market  by  men  whose 
sole  business  it  is  to  buy  well  at  whatever  price 
is  necessary  to  secure  the  quality  desired. 


Photographed  by  A.  K.  Dugmore 


THE    DISTRICT   OF   MAGNIFICENT    HOTELS 
Sixtieth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  at  the  corner  of  Central  Park.     Tlie  building  on  the  left  is  the  Hotel  Netherland;  next  to  it  is  the  Savoy 


THE  WORKINGS  OF  A  MODERN  HOTEL 


3'73 


The  kitchen  arrangcnu'iits  of  tlie  "modern 
hotel"  are  on  the  lirst  l)asenient  floor.  1 
think  1  had  a  very  dim  idea  about  such  things 
until  we  went  there.  1  believe  I  })ietured 
to  myself  a  properly  attired  clii-}  with  several 
assistants  before  a  rather  large  kitelien 
range  and  in  a  good  deal  of  a  hurry  during 
the  rush  hours,  ])erhaps  forgetting  his  pan 
of  hot  rolls  in  the  oven  now  and  then,  or 
letting  the  eggs  get  overdone. 

My  mental  picture  was  not  a  good  one. 
There  is  a  clwj,  to  be  sure,  but  so  far  as  I  could 
.see  he  does  not  cook.  He  is  simply  a  cajitain 
of  the  seventy-five  other  cooks  who  work  in 
three  relays  of  twenty-five  each.  There  is  no 
range,  but  a  solici  bank  of  broilers — immense 
gridirons,  beneath  wliich  are  the  fires  that 
never  die.  As  for  the  four  hundred  loaves 
of  bread  and  eight  thousand  rolls  required 
daily,  the  chef  does  not  worry  his  mind  over 


riioti.(,'r.i|>lic(l  by  Fallc 
THE  WALDORF   ROOF-GARDEN 

the  patent  cutters  and  mixers  and  ovens  and 
staff  of  bakers  needed  to  supply  the  simple 
item  of  bread;  or  concern  himself  with  the 


I 


A   MAMMOTH   HOTEL  STRUCTURE 
The  Majestic— one  of  the  largest  hotels  in  New  York 


Photographed  by  A.  R.  Dugmoic 


•o 
« 
o 


e 
E 


•e 
c 


Till':    WOKKINCS    C)l'    A    MUDKRN    llUTKL 


3'75 


(lualit)'  1)1"  IIk"  I'K'vrn  liundrrd  pounds  ofljiittcr 
tliat  arc  each  day  n'([ui!vd  to  (,fo  with  it. 
Neither  docs  lie  trouble  himself  with  the 
pastrv,  where  marvelous  thinji;s  arc  eon- 
struetctl  of  candies  and  creams  and  fruits — 
works  of  art,  some  of  them  entitled  to 
"honorable  mention"  in  an  academy  of  design. 
The  patrons  of  the  modern  hotel  are  fond  of 
desserts,  and  the  daily  item  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  large  pies  convinces  me  that  a  fair 
percentage  of  them  are  native  born. 

1  must  not  forget  the  item  of  eggs.  Eight- 
een thousand  are  re(iuired  every  twenty-four 
hours.  Boiled  eggs  do  not  get  overdone; 
they  are  boiled  by  cloek-work.  A  perforated 
dipper  containing  the  eggs  drops  down  into 
boiling  water.  The  dipper's  clock-work  is 
set  to  the  second,  and  when  that  final  second 
has  expired  the  little  dipper  jumps  up  out  of 
the  water  and  the  eggs  are  ready  for  delivery. 
There  are  men  who  do  nothing  else  but  fill 
and  watch  and  empty  these  dancing  dippers, 
and  it  seemed  to  me  great  fun. 

On  another  part  of  this  fioor  is  the  dish- 
washing, where  great  galvanized  baskets 
lower   the    pieces   into    various    solutions    of 


Pliotographed  by  McCormick 
RECEIVING  A  VISITOR'S  CARD 

potash  and  clean  rinsing  water — all  so  burn- 
ing hot  that  the  dishes  dry  instantly  without 


THE   OFFICE   OF  A    .MODERN    HOTEL 


Photographed  by  McCormick 


31/6 


THE    WORKINGS    OF    A    MODERN    HOTEL 


Photographed  by  McCormick 
A   HOTEL  BARBER   SHOP 

wiping.  Sixty-five  thousand  pieces  of  china- 
ware  are  cleansed  in  a  day,  and  an  ahnost 
equal  quantity  of  silver.  All  told,  there  are 
three  hundred  employees  in  the  kitchen 
departments  of  this  huge  living  machine. 

On  another  part  of  the  first  basement  floor 
is  the  laundry.  Every  day  is  washday  in 
the  modem  hotel.  Eleven  great  revolving 
washers  are  here,  four  centrifugal  dryers, 
almost  exactly  like  the  centrifugal  bleachers 
in  a  sugar  refinery,  and  six  ten-foot  mangles 


that  take  in  a  full-width  sheet,  smoothing  as 
well  as  drying  it.  But  the  ironing  of  shirts 
and  collars  is  done  in  the  good  old-fashioned 
way — by  hand,  only  that  the  irons  are  always 
hot,  for  they  are  electric  irons,  and  a  perfect 
evenness  of  temperature  is  maintained.  They 
are  handled  by  a  staff  of  sturdy-armed  men 
and  women,  and  an  ironer's  wages  are  con- 
sidered good. 

On  this  floor,  too,  are  the  refrigerating 
rooms,  where  champagne  and  other  wines  are 
kept  at  a  point  just  below  freezing.  Also, 
the  storerooms  for  an  endless  quantity  of 
liquors  and  cigars,  and  for  the  $35,000 
worth  of  groceries  kept  constantly  on 
hand.  Then  there  are  the  barber  shops, 
with  twenty-seven  barbers  and  bath  at- 
tendants, and  the  offices  of  a  big  im- 
porting company,  with  the  largest  wine 
cellars  in  America.  Going  about  in  this 
wonderful  electric  underground  world,  one 
would  be  likely  to  forget  the  upstairs,  for 
which  it  all  exists,  were  it  not  for  the  constant 
stream  of  waiters  hurrying  to  and  fro,  placing 
and  gathering  up  their  orders,  pausing  a 
moment  at  the  checking  office,  where  sit  half 
a  dozen  keen-eyed,  quick-witted  young  men. 


A   HOTEL   BILLIARD-ROOM   AT  A   QUIET    HOUR 


Photographed  by  McCormick 


THE    WORKINGS    OF    A    MODICRN    HOTEL 


3177 


A   HOTEL   BALLROOM  WITH   STAGE   SETTINGS 


Photographed  by   Fallc 


who  glance  at  every  dish,  see  that  it  conforms 
to  the  patron's  written  order,  stamp  the 
prices  and  the  total  of  each  bill  so  that  there 
can  be  no  possible  error,  intentional  or  other- 
wise, on  the  part  of  the  waiter. 

There  are  four  dining-rooms  and  two  cafes 
upstairs,  and  perhaps  a  thousand  people  are 
being  served  at  one  time.  They  are  the  most 
brilliantly  dressed,  best  groomed  people  in 
the  world.  They  are  also  the  richest.  A 
matter  of  a  dollar  more  or  less  on  a  single  item 
is  not  considered.  Their  chief  object  in  life 
is  to  live.  Their  chief  object  in  living  is  to 
have  as  many  good  things  to  eat  and  to  wear 
as  possible,  and  to  eat  and  to  wear  them  in  a 
gay  atmosphere  of  lights  and  music  and 
flowers  and  flashing  gems. 

Besides  dining-rooms  and  cafes  on  the 
first  floor,  there  are  splendid  foyers,  or  rest 
rooms,  fitted  with  every  luxury  in  the  shape 
of  easy  chairs,  divans  and  desks,  though 
perhaps  the  most  striking  feature  of  this 
mezzanine  floor  of  the  modern  hotel  may  be 


its  wonderful  corridors  running  its  length 
and  breadth,  luxuriously  seated  and  carpeted 
throughout,  including  a  gorgeous  avenue 
of    Oriental    fabrics,    lapis    lazuli    and    gold. 


Photographed  by  Falk 

A   PRIVATE   DINING-ROOM    IN   A  HOTEL  SUITE 


3178 


THE    WORKINGS    OF    A   MODERN    HOTEL 


LAUNDRESSES   Al    WORK 


Photographed  by  McComiick 


Then  there  are  the  luxurious  Turkish  smoking-  is  in  the  centre  of  this  floor.     Here  is  a  force 

parlor,  the  ample  reading-rooms,  and  the  vast  of  men,  trained  for  a  special  service,   each 

billiard  parlors.  with  his  knowledge  and  his  ability  ready  for 

The   splendid   office   of  the   modern   hotel  instant  use,  each  with  a  judgment  of  men  and 


A   HOTEL  LAUNDRY 
The  plain  clothes  are  all  ironed  by  machinery 


Photographed  by  McCormick 


Till-:    \\()RKIN(;S    OF    A    MODKRN    HOTEL 


3'79 


conditions  and  onuTj^cMicics  that  tMiahlcs 
hini  to  decide  wlicthor  a  case  presented  is  a 
matter  for  instant  action  or  for  managerial 
consideration.  At  one  corner  of  the  otlfice  is 
a  young  man  wliose  only  duty  is  to  supply 
information  and  guides  to  visitors.  There 
are  six  of  these  guides,  and  it  is  their  business 
to  "show  through"  anv  stranger  who  may 
desire  to  see  the  glory  and  the  inner  workings 
of  the  machine.  Guides  are  also  supplied  to 
strangers  who  wish  to  be  directed  about  the 
city,  and  sometimes  to  a  party  of  guests  on 
an  extended  tour. 

The  office  of  a  hotel  was  formerly  a  place 
where  women  were  rarely  seen.  Today 
about  that  marble  and  gilded  cage  the  tide 
of  fashion  ebbs  and  flows,  and  mingles  with 
the  stronger  current  and  fiercer  swirl  of 
the  affairs  of  men. 

Near  the  office  there  is  a  oattery  of  pneu- 
matic tubes  connecting  with  the  upper  floors 
A  bell-boy  no  longer  carries  up  a  visitor's 
card.  The  card  is  put  into  an  air-cartridge 
and  is  fired  straight  to  the  floor  where  it 
belongs.  An  attendant  at  a  little  desk  there 
sends  it  to  the  proper  room.     By  and  by  the 


Pholographetl  by  McCormick 
IN   THE  KITCHEN 


PREPARING   THE  VEGETABLES   IN   A   HOTEL  KITCHEN 


Photographed  by  McCormick 


3i8o 


THE    WORKINGS    OF    A   MODERN    HOTEL 


Photographed  by  McCormick 

A   PLEASANT  CORNER   IN   THE   DINING-ROOM 

cartridge  goes  back  to  the  office,  and  the 
visitor  learns  whether  the  guest  he  wishes  to 
see  is  in  his  room,  whether  he  will  see  him, 
and  if  not,  why,  or,  perhaps,  when. 


On  the  next  floor  above  are  two  rooms  for 
public  entertainment:  one  a  complete  theatre 
1 02  feet  long,  with  splendid  decorations, 
seated  with  gold-leaf  bent-wood  "hand- 
painted"  chairs,  of  which  there  are  three 
thousand  in  the  hotel  all  told — the  other  a 
ballroom,  100  feet  square,  two  stories  in 
height,  with  two  tiers  of  galleries  for  spec- 
tators. The  ballroom  is  used  for  dramatic 
performances  and  for  balls  and  other  social 
events.  A  card-party  had  just  ended  when  I 
went  through,  and  a  bushel  of  playing-cards, 
once  used  and  thrown  away,  were  flung  into 
the  corner.  Everything  is  luxurious,  lavish 
and  prodigal  in  the  modem  hotel. 

There  are  five  splendid  banquet  and  recep- 
tion rooms  in  all,  and  they  are  rarely  unoccu- 
pied. Lectures,  readings,  musicales,  grand 
opera  performances,  art  auctions,  mighty 
social  affairs  that  fill  corridors  and  stairways 
with  a  dazzling  and  humming  overflow — 
there  is  no  end  to  these  things.  Night  is  like 
day,  only,  if  anything,  more  brilliant.  Even 
the  casual  visitor  feels  somehow  caught  in  an 
endless  whirl  of  gaiety  and  recalls  certain  old 
allegorical  pictures  wherein  the  festivities  of 
life  were  meant  to  be  thrown  in  high  relief. 


SALOON,  ROV.AL   SUITE— THE  WALDORF-ASTORIA 
This  suite  was  occupied  by  Li  Hung  Chang  while  in  New  York 


FhotograpUed  by  i-iiijt 


THE   WORKINGS    OF   A    MODERN    HOTEL 


3i8r 


THE   DINING-ROOM   OF  ONE  OF  THE   LARGE    HOTELS 


Photographed  by  McCurmick 


And  everywhere  the  symbols  of  luxury — 
onyx,  costly  fabrics,  gold  ornamentation, 
priceless  statuary  and  art  treasure — abound. 
The  clock  and  chair  of  Marie  Antoinette  and 
the  sword  of  Napoleon  the  Great  are  here,  and 
certainly  they  have  never  been  amid  more 
luxurious    surroundings. 

It  is  said  that  a  guest  may  spend  a 
profitable  week  in  this  hotel  without  once 
going  on  the  street.  Entertainments  are 
always  in  progress;  two  orchestras  supply 
music;  objects  of  art  and  interest  are 
on  every  hand,  businesses  of  almost  every 
sort  are  represented  on  the  ground  floor, 
and  when  at  a  loss  for  other  amusement 
the  visitor  may  ascend  to  the  fifteenth 
floor  and  sit  for  his  photograph,  or  spend  an 
hour  in  a  gay  roof-garden. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  bring  a  maid  or  a  valet 
to  the  modern  hotel.  This  personal  service 
may  be  ordered  along  with  a  suite,  by  tele- 
graph; and  the  guest  whose  trunks  are 
expressed  ahead  will  find  them  properly 
unpacked  and  arranged  in  the  various  closets 
and  drawers.  This  trained  attendant  may 
be  retained  during  the  guest's  entire  stay,  to 
supply  information,  care  for  all  personal  needs, 


to  secure  tickets  and  berths  for  departure. 
Such  service  to  an  old,  feeble  or  inexperienced 
person  is  of  genuine  value.  Of  course,  these 
things  are  "extra"  and  cost  a  round  sum, 
but  to  those  who  may  be  considered  legiti- 
mate patrons  of  the  great  hostelries — guests 
who  do  not  hesitate  to  pay  from  $5  to 
$50  a  day  for  the  apartment  alone — the 
matter  of  a  few  extra  dollars  for  added  com- 
fort should  not  count. 


Photographed  by  McConnicli 
IN   A   HOTEL  CAFE 


3i82 


THE   WORKINGS    OF   A   MODERN    HOTEL 


Photo^aphed  by  A.  R.  Dugmore 
THE  NEW  ASTOR  HOTEL  ON   FIFTH  AVENUE 


In  the  matter  of  rates,  it  is  possible  to 
obtain  small  inside  rooms  without  meals 
as  low  as  $3.50,  prices  ranging  upward 
as  high  as  $150  a  day  for  one  suite, 
or  $250  including  a  state  dining-room. 
All  prices  are  for  apartments  only.  The 
old  American  plan,  once  so  popular,  has 
well-nigh  gone  out.  Guests  prefer  to  take 
their  meals  when  and  where  they  will. 
It  is  doubtful  if  there  are  two  modern 
hotels  in  New  York  where  rates  will  be 
quoted  for  "room  and  board." 

As  for  the  apartments  themselves,  they  are 
of  every  sort,  size  and  description.  There 
are    Colonial    suites,    French,     Italian     and 


V.'    t^T  v ",'  '      ' 


Pliotographeil  by  A.  B.  I'aine 

THE   HOLLAND    HOUSE 
One  of  Fifth  Avenue's  modem  hotels 


Photographeii  by  A.  B.  Painc 
THE  OLD   EVERETT   HOUSE  ON  UNION   SQUARE 

Greek  suites,  suites  of  the  far  Orient,  with  all 
the  colors  and  luxury  that  wealth  can  pur- 
chase and  the  looms  of  the  East  supply.  As 
the  nations  have  combined  to  create  the 
American  people,  so  it  would  .seem  that 
thev  have  conspired  to  produce  that  marvel- 
ous and  amazing  institution,  the  American 
hotel.  It  is  a  stupendous  affair.  The  first 
fat  Dutch  innkeeper  of  New  Amsterdam,  if 
he  were  to  be  placed  suddenly  in  the  midst  of 
it  all  and  we  were  to  say  to  him,  "This  is 
what  you  have  brought  us  to,"  might  find 
himself  at  a  loss  for  words.     If  we  were  to  tell 


THE   WORKINGS    OF    A    MODERN    IIOTKI 


him  tliat  in  tlie  year  1902  more  than  four 
hundred  thousand  j>[uests  were  registered  at 
one  of  these  hotels,  and  that  during  the 
present  winter  ai:  average  of  three  hundred 
were  daily  turned  away,  he  would  try  to 
gasp  and  fail,  and  if  wc  were  to  add,  as  a 
matter  of  frivolous  detail,  that  it  requires  an 
average  of  one  and  a  half  servants  to  eaeh 
patron,  if  we  told  him  what  he  must  pay  for 
ins  dinner,  and  then  tried  to  explain  to  him 
that  the  percentage  of  proht  on  each  guest  is 
probably  no  greater  than  he  reckoned  from 
his   patrons   in    his    little    tile-roofed   tavern 


.iJ- 


5^'^  Hi..      ^"^ 

—-'^■31  film  mg 


Fiiutoyraplied  by  A,  B.  Paine 

ONE    OF    THE    FINE   OLD    HOTELS  OF  LOWER    FIFTH 

AVENUE 

The  Brevoort  House 

three  hundred  years  ago,  he  would  probably 
give  up  trying  to  think  and  accept  any- 
thing further  without  question.  In  the 
matter  of  profit,  one  large  hotel  in  New 
York  is  said  to  have  yielded  $500,000 
net  returns  in  1902,  or  considerably  less  than 
one  dollar  on  each  patron,  niany  of  which  are 
not  registered,  coming  in  for  meals  only. 
This  is  not  a  big  percentage,  all  things 
considered.  The  sum  total  is  probably  less 
than  is  distributed  by  the  guests  in  tips 
to  the  emplovees. 

There  are  a  number  of  hotels  the  dwellers 
in  which  are    chieflv   families.     These  hotel 


1  "       ,1  .,.'ii:J  l>y  A.  B.  Paine 

AN   OLD   DOWNTOWN   HOTEL 
Smith  &  McNeil's 

dwellers  are  certain  to  be  always  warmed, 
always  lighted,  always  well  cared  for  by 
servants,  who  are  controlled  as  an  army 
is  controlled — by  efficient  officers,  strict 
discipline    and    exact    duties.     The    servant 


Photo^aphed  t>y  A   K.  Liugniore 

A  WET  DAY    ON    FIFT\'-NINTH    STREET,   NEW    YORK 
The  Hotel  Netherland  on  the  left  and  the  Savoy  on  the  right 


3i84 


THE   WORKINGS    OF    A   MODERN    HOTEL 


Photo^aphed  by  A.  R.  Dugmore 
A  TYPE  OF  THE  OLD-STi'LE   HOTEL 
The  Broadway  Central 

problem  is  solved  for  the  hotel  dweller. 
So  are  the  various  problems  that  have  to  do 
with  tradesmen  and  mechanics.  The  hotel 
dweller's  problem  is  to  furnish  the  money — 
the  rest  is  easv.     It  is  true  that  there  mav  be 


Photojrraphed  by  A.  R.  Dugmore 
AN   OLD   LANDMARK 
The  Astor  House 


a  certain  lack  of  individuality  in  his  home 
life,  and  he  must  put  up  with  rather  narrow 
quarters  as  compared  to  what  he  might  have 
in  his  own  household.  He  must  do  without  a 
good  many  things  that  he  would  have  in  a 
home  of  his  own,  and  accustom  himself  to 
having  strangers  above  and  about  him  when 
sometimes  he  w^ould  wish  to  be  removed  from 
it  all.  But  he  has  niany  advantages.  His 
meals  are  always  ready.  His  servants  are 
always  at  hand.  He  has  a  telephone  in  his 
room  that  connects  not  only  with  the  office, 
but  with  the  systems  of  the  outer  world.  He 
is  a  living  embodiment  of  human  irresponsi- 
bilities. 

In  the  matter  of  architecture  the  modem 
hotel  is  a  sky-scraper  with  peculiar  adapta- 
tions for  its  special  purpose.  A  hotel  is  a  perfect 
plexus  of  flues,  pipes,  wires,  tubes  and  sani- 
tary connections.  Hotel  constructive  engi- 
neering has  become  an  occupation  of  its  own. 
as  well  as  hotel  architecture,  and  able  men 
today  give  their  attention  wholly  to  these 
branches  of  their  professions. 

Their  problems  are  many.  The  architect 
must  be  able  to  construct  a  vast  ceiling  like 
that  of  the  "Waldorf-Astoria  ballroom,  and  be 
ableto  place  on  top  of  it  thirteen  stories  of  steel 
and  masonry — a  feat  said  to  be  unequaled 
hitherto.  He  must  arrange  for  proper  light, 
ventilation,  economy  of  space,  a  minimum 
of  noise,  and  he  must  reduce  the  chances  of 
fire  to  a  degree  where,  as  is  claimed  by  man- 
agers today,  it  is  simply  impossible  for  any 
disaster  endangering  human  life  to  occur  in 
a  modern  hotel.  As  for  the  engineer,  he  must 
see  first  of  all  that  all  connections  of  wires. 
flues  and  drains  are  safe  and  sanitary.  He 
must  also  provide  for  all  vapors  and  smells 
likely  to  arise  from  the  kitchen  below-stairs, 
and  see  that  they  are  carried  to  the  highest 
point  of  the  roof,  forced  up  by  swift  currents 
through  spacious  ventilators,  until  there  is 
hardly  a  suggestion  of  an  odor  even  in  the 
kitchen,  where  cookery  on  a  gigantic  scale  is 
always  in  progress.  He  must  see  that  the 
vast  system  of  nerves  and  draughts  and  vents 
and  exhausts — startlingly  like  a  human 
sj'stem  on  a  mighty  scale — are  most  unlikely 
to  become  disordered  and  are  altogether 
accessible  in  case  of  accident.  Like  the 
architect,  he  has  human  comfort,  safety, 
life  itself  in  his  hands,  and  it  is  w^ell  that 
these  men  should  devote  a  lifetime  of 
energy  and  study  to  their  work. 


PhotOj^raphed  by  A.  K.  Dugmore 


MADISON    SQUARE,    WEST 

The  junction  of  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue,  showing  the  "Flatiron"  building  on  the  left  and  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  on  the  right.     The 

remarkable  contrast  between  the  new  sky-scraping  building  and  the  older  structure  is  well  illustrated 


THE   CLIFF-LIKE    WALDORF-ASTORIA 
The  largest  of  the  modern  hotels 


Pliotographed  !>>  A.  B.  Paine 


I 

11 


.PUBLIC-SCHOOL   TEACHING 


3187 


But  it  is  not  the  size,  the  construction  nor 
the  furnishing  of  the  modern  hotel  that  makes 
it  a  success.  It  is  the  fact  that  the  institu- 
tion has  a  system — that  the  armies  are 
completely  and  capably  officered,  and  that 
l)ehind  these  officers,  at  a  little  corner  desk,  in 
a  quiet,  unnoticed  nook,  sits  the  commander- 
in-chief  to  whom  all  otlicers  report — the 
manager  of  tlie  "modern  hotel." 

The  manager  selects  his  subordinates,  and 
he  holds  tliem  accountable.  His  subordinates 
select  the  next  in  rank,  and  these  in  turn 
select  others.  Each  becomes  a  piece  of  a 
great  mechanism,  and  must  be  in  place  and 
in  perfect  condition,  or  must  be  instantly 
replaced  from  the  hundreds  of  eager  appli- 
cants always  on  the  waiting-list,  marked 
"Next."  Good  and  promptly  paid  wages, 
strict  discipline,  with  accountability  to 
the  next  higher  in  rank,  with  an  able 
manager  as  the  final  court — this  is  the 
secret  of  the  very  existence  of  the  modern 
hotel. 

And  now  what  of  the  hotels  to  come  ? 
The  Astor  House  and  the  Fifth  Avenue 
in  New  York  were  each  in  their  time 
thought  to  be  the  end  of  human  achieve- 
ment.     Yet     the     forward     movement     in 


each  case  has  been  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
Only  eighteen  years  ago  a  writer  in  the 
L'cntiiry  Muii^aziiic  suggested  the  use  of  the 
telephone  for  communication  with  the  hotel 
office,  but  even  in  his  wildest  flights  he  did 
not  foresee  the  present  system  of  a  long- 
distance telephone  in  every  room,  making  it 
possible  for  the  occupant  to  lie  in  bed  and 
hold  a  conversation  with  Chicago. 

As  to  the  future,  the  hotel  architects  are 
already  planning  structures  that  will  surpass 
any  now  in  existence.  On  the  present  sites 
of  the  Plaza  and  the  old  Brunswick  magni- 
ficent public  palaces  are  to  rise;  while  it  is 
said  that  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  above 
an  underground  station  to  be  located  at 
Thirty-fifth  Street,  between  Seventh  and 
Ninth  Avenues,  is  to  erect  a  house  of  enter- 
tainment in  which  a  building  like  the  Waldorf 
Astoria  could  be  lost.  No  conception  seems 
too  great.  Hotels  today  are  filled  as  fast  as 
built,  crowded,  overflowing — rooms  must  be 
secured  days  in  advance.  Facilities  for  travel 
are  increasing.  Architects  will  plan,  inven- 
tors will  conceive,  capitalists  will  supply 
funds  for  the  achievement  of  whatever  the 
present  or  the  future  metropolitan  public 
may  regard  as  the  modern  American    hotel. 


THE    PRESENT     STATUS    OF    THE    PRO- 
FESSIONS—PUBLIC-SCHOOL   TEACHING 


HONEST  AND  OUTSPOKEN  OPINIONS  OF  PUBLIC-SCHOOL 
TEACHERS  IN  ALL  PARTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES— VARY- 
ING VIEWS  ON  THE  "RAG-TAG  AND  BOBTAIL"  OF  THE 
LEARNED    PROFESSIONS— HOW    TEACHING    MAY    BE  ELEVATED 

BY 

WILLIAM   McANDREW 

PRIN'CIPAL    OF    THE    GIRLs'    TECHNICAL    HIGH     SCHOOL,    NEW   YORK 


THIS  story  I  had  from  a  man  who  was 
present:  A  wealthy  woman  who 
affects  patronage  of  education  drove 
up  one  morning  to  the  school  of  which  she  is 
a  trustee  and  invited  the  teachers  to  spend 
the  evening  at  her  home.  When  the  refresh- 
ments were  served  that  night,  one  little  cake, 
which  by  mistake  had  escaped  the  vigilance  of 
the  overseer,  came  into  the  hands  of  one  of 
the   guests   and   proved   to   have   a   curved 


omission  as  if  something  had  been  bitten  out. 
The  discovery  was  made  in  a  cozy  corner 
where  some  of  the  irreverent  young  women 
of  the  teaching  staff  were  making  merry. 
Annabel,  who  is  a  musical  accompanist, 
whispered  to  the  girls  that  this  was  the  second 
successive  evening  she  had  attended  a  recep- 
tion in  this  house,  once  as  a  hired  entertainer 
and  once  as  a  guest.  She  suggested  that  the 
things  to  eat  were  what  were  left  over  by  the 


3i88 


PUBLIC-SCHOOL   TEACHING 


"society  people"  of  the  night  before.  At 
this  revelation  there  were  indignant  looks, 
but  the  tieachers'  inviolable  safeguard,  the 
sense  of  humor,  came  to  the  rescue,  and  the 
holder  of  the  telltale  wafer  lifted  it  up  and 
proposed,  sotto  voce:  "Here's  health  to  us: 
the  rag-tag  and  bobtail  of  the  learned  pro- 
fessions; beloved  by  children;  tolerated  by 
youth;  forgotten  by  maturity;  considered 
municipally,  financially  and  socially  as  good 
enough  for  what  is  left." 

Some  have  wondered  why  so  old,  so  neces- 
sary and  so  glorified  a  thing  as  learning  has 
failed  to  reflect  upon  those  who  dispense  it 
more  of  its  own  respect  and  honor.  Although 
history  does  record  some  cases  of  praise  to 
teachers,  they  are  comparatively  few.  The 
usual  record  is  after  this  fashion:  "Crates 
of  Mallos  was  the  first  to  teach  grammar  in 
Rome.  It  came  in  this  wise:  Having  had 
the  misfortune  to  fall  into  a  sewer,  thus  break- 
ing his  leg,  he  was  thenceforward  considered 
good  for  nothing  but  to  be  a  teacher.  "  "  Nero 
caused  one  Paetus  Thrasea  to  be  put  to  death 
for  no  other  reason  than  that  he  had  a  sour 
cast  of  countenance  and  looked  like  a  school- 
master."  Horace  mentions  Orbillius,  the 
most  famous  teacher  of  his  time,  only  to 
confer  on  him  an  immortality  of  contempt. 
The  literature  of  our  own  tongue  from 
Shakespeare  to  Irving,  in  speaking  of  us,  uses 
no  words  so  frequently  as  those  of  ridicule 
and  contempt.  The  first  American  school- 
masters, say  the  historians  of  education, 
were  also  gravediggers,  street-sweepers,  and 
were  employed  in  other  occupations  simi- 
larly looked  down  upon. 

For  me,  a  teacher,  to  whine  about  our 
neglected  state  and  to  entreat  for  our  own 
sakes  a  more  decent  respect,  would  savor  of 
petulance.  This  need  not  be  done.  The 
people  have  done  more  for  the  teachers  of 
New  York  City  than  has  been  done  for  any 
body  of  teachers  in  the  world.  We  are 
nearer  worldly  happiness  than  our  brothers 
and  sisters  anywhere.  My  purpose  is  quite 
different.  I  desire  rather  to  present  the 
proposition  to  you,  parents  of  children, 
wherever  you  are,  that  you  are  depriving 
the  growing  generation  of  efficient  training 
and  are  falling  short  of  the  excellence  you 
would  wish  this  nation  to  achieve.  You  are 
doing  this  by  failure  to  hold  in  higher  regard 
those  who  teach.  This  is  not  a  question  as  to 
whether  they  get  all  they  are  worth.     As  mere 


persons,  let  them  receive  what  their  personality 
brings  them,  but  as  companions  and  examples 
for  the  children  of  the  republic,  every  soul 
of  us  has  a  deep  and  inevitable  interest  in 
seeing  that  they  are  the  best  and  most 
respected  guides  and  examples  that  can  be 
obtained. 

This  question  of  the  quality  and  position 
of  school-teachers  seems  to  be  a  pertinent 
present-day  problem.  A  score  of  well-known 
men  have,  within  a  few  years,  contributed 
suggestions  on  the  elevation  of  the  teacher. 
This  magazine  has  insisted  upon  counting 
actual  education  as  an  important  field  of  its 
province.  It  has  expressed  the  belief  that 
American  teaching  is  not  good  enough  and 
that  the  fault  lies  in  the  position  of  the  teacher. 
Such  assertions  provoke  more  or  less  denial. 
The  protests  in  some  educational  magazine? 
led  the  editor  to  send  specific  inquiries  to  a 
large  number  of  teachers  themselves  in  everv 
portion  of  the  country,  asking  directly  what 
they  feel  their  own  positions  to  be.  The 
replies  have  been  turned  over  to  the  present 
writer,  now  for  twenty  years  past  a  public- 
school  teacher,  with  the  object  of  securing 
from  a  school -man's  standpoint  as  frank  and 
honest  an  estimate  of  ourselves  as  mav  be 
formed  from  hundreds  of  opinions.  If  this 
were  a  monograph  for  educational  associations, 
its  presentation,  to  give  it  the  greatest  value 
to  students  of  the  subject,  would  require 
printing  each  reply  in  full  with  each  respond- 
ent's name  and  position.  Here,  however, 
it  is  required  that  the  case  be  stated  con- 
cretely but  briefly.  Names,  moreover,  in 
many  cases  must  be  omitted.  So  timid  have 
teachers  become  that  the  majority  of  those 
responding  have  said:  "Please  do  not  give 
our  names. " 

To  begin  with  New  England,  the  traditional 
starting-place  of  school-teachers.  They  say 
of  themselves  that  they  are  looked  on  "some- 
times with  contempt,  often  with  pity.  "  "The 
young  men  fresh  from  college  follow  Thomas 
Reed's  example  and  take  a  school  to  keep 
the  pot  boiling  while  they  prepare  themselves 
for  law  or  something  else."  "The  young 
women  keep  their  eyes  open  for  a  husband 
and  an  easier  life.  "  "Conditions  are  growing 
rather  worse,"  says  a  Maine  man.  "As  the 
power  of  money  increases,  the  low  wages  of 
the  teacher  puts  him  at  a  social  disadvantage, 
to  overcome  which  teachers  see  no  adequate 
compensations  in  other  directions."     Maine, 


PUBLIC-SCHOOL   TKACIIING 


3i89 


for   instance,    pays,    in   cities   of   more   tlian 
eight   thousand   inhabitants,    an    average   of 
$448    a    year    to    its    teaching    and    superior 
officers.     The    average    in   the    villages    and 
rural  districts  is  so  much  lower  than  this  that 
"the  service  is  the  subject  of  persistent  and 
incurable    ridicule."     New    Hampshire    says 
her    "teachers    arc    usually    commiserated." 
"The  women  would  prefer  marriage,  the  men 
the  professions  of  medicine,  law  and  engineer- 
ing, because  in  them  they  would  have  a  pro- 
fessional standing  and  be  taken  with  more 
consideration  by  the  bulk  of  society."     The 
repbrts  from  Vermont  indicated  that  "such 
of  the  public  as  know  nothing  about  teaching 
regard  it  as  an  overpaid  sinecure,  while  the 
more  intelligent  members  of  the  community 
look  upon  it  as  an  uncertain  makeshift,  to  be 
taken  up  only  by  a  man  moving  on  to  higher 
things  or  by  a  woman  watching  and  waiting 
for  her  true  estate:  a  husband,  a  home,  a 
family. "     Rhode  Island  declares  that  "teach- 
ing as  an  abstract  proposition  is  highly  re- 
respected,"   but  that   the  treatment   of  the 
teacher  herself  is  another  matter.     "  In  many 
cases  she  does  not  respect  her  own  calling. 
How  can  she  do  so  in  an  atmosphere  of  uncer- 
tainty   and    neglect?"     "No    Rhode    Island 
woman  can  be  content  outside  of  a  home  of 
her  own.     This  deep  and  fundamental  instinct 
will  always  make  teaching,  so  far  as  woman's 
regard  of  it  is  concerned,  a  secondary  interest, 
and  will  always  make  her  feel  inferior  to  the 
majority    around    her,    who    have    achieved 
wifehood  and  motherhood."     As  to  the  men 
teachers  of  Rhode  Island,  "they  are  pinched 
with    small    pay    and    discouraged     by    the 
insecurity  of  tenure.     The  school-masters  of 
the  cities  are  subjected  to  a  political  influence 
that  stunts   and  paralyzes  manliness,   while 
those  in  the  rural  communities,  as  to  their 
acts,  their  speech  and  their  very  souls,  are 
the  common  property  of  the  rustic  demagogue 
who  wields  the  power  of  school  trustee.  " 

The  Connecticut  teacher  "does  not  have 
a  social  standing  because  he  cannot  afford  it.  " 
"He  intends  to  leave  the  calling."  The 
woman  especially  announces  that  she  expects 
to  teach  only  a  short  time,    because   "she 

I  would  prefer  to  manage  fewer  children  and 
those  all  her  own."  One  says:  "The  office 
girl  or  the  typewriter  is  more  of  a  social  success 
because  her  evenings  are  free  and  her  spirit 
less  fatigued;  not  because  she  has  a  mind  or 


Grand  old  Massachusetts, the  school-master's 
paradise,  which  produced  Mark  Hopkins, 
America's  greatest  teacher,  and  Horace  Mann, 
the  Moses  who  drew  teachers  as  far  out  of 
bondage  as  national  opposition  would  let  him, 
sends  more  replies  than  any  other  State. 
From  them  it  is  to  be  observed  that  "the 
ordinary  American  citizen  looks  i^atronizingly 
upon  teacliers";  "he  gives  the  impression 
tliat  he  thinks  that  a  man  would  not  be  a 
teacher  if  he  could  be  anything  else;"  "the 
men  in  schools  are  not  content;"  "they  are 
leaving  all  the  time  for  business,  for  law,  for 
medicine,  for  preaching,  because  these  occupa- 
tions bring  more  respect,  and  are  freer  from 
absurd  and  petty  exactions  in  the  matter 
of  mechanical  uniformity  and  routine."  A 
superintendent  of  long  and  wide  experience 
in  the  State  asserts  that  "  he  does  not  know  a 
single  teacher  who  feels  that  the  money 
received  is  adequate  payment  for  the  labors 
rendered."  Another  reports  that  "the  good 
teachers  could  earn  twice  the  money  at  other 
work"  and  that  "the  poor  ones  would  be  dear 
at  half  the  price,  "  but  that  "public  sentiment 
will  not  permit  adequate  payment  nor  the 
separation  of  charity  and  political  patronage 
from  the  selection  of  teachers." 

The  Massachusetts  superintendents  agree 
that  their  teachers  "cannot  hold  a  high  social 
position  because  they  cannot  afford  the  time, 
the  strength  nor  the  clothes  necessary.  "  "In 
earlier  days,"  says  one,  "when  the  masses 
were  not  educated,  the  school-teacher  was 
generally  looked  up  to  as  a  sort  of  superior 
being,  but  of  late  years  the  teacher  is  a  sort  of 
valet  of  the  other  professions.  "  "The  calling 
has  not  attained  the  rank  of  a  profession. 
It  has  not  even  the  dignity  of  a  trade.  A 
manufacturer  will  put  in  his  shops  appliances 
that  save  labor  and  improve  the  output,  but 
the  same  man  on  a  board  of  education  will 
vote  down,  as  ridiculous,  propositions  for 
telephones,  cupboards,  locks,  letter-files,  a 
typewriter,  a  card  catalogue,  a  stereopticon, 
or  a  time-stamp."  "Business  men  laugh  at 
our  unbusinesslike  ways;  they  ridicule  the 
petty  bookkeeping  we  do,  but  regard  as  absurd 
our  request  for  a  clerk  and  a  counting  machine 
to  prepare  the  statistical  reports  first  required 
of  us  by  law,  and  afterward  they  make  an 
argument  against  us  as  inveterate  winders  of 
red  tape.  We  are  carrying  twentieth-century 
burdens  on  a  seventeenth-century  hand-cart.  " 
A  superintendent  near  Boston  gives  as  a 


3190 


PUBLIC-SCHOOL   TEACHING 


chief  cause  of  discontent  ' '  the  uncertainty  of 
reward  for  labor,  devotion,  duty,  extra  study, 
and  superior  service."  " Pidl  with  a  school 
board  counts  for  more  than  any  special  fitness 
for  service."  "The  best  positions  are  so 
frequently  secured  through  personal  influence 
instead  of  merit  and  experience  that  the  rank 
and  file  lose  heart  and  cannot  be  induced  to 
put  into  their  work  one  atom  of  enthusiasm  or 
one  stroke  of  effort  more  than  they  are  obliged 
to."  "All  work  done  under  such  circum- 
stances without  the  vitalizing  spirit  of  hope 
is  inferior  work."  "If  a  naturally  enthusi- 
astic teacher  enters  the  service,  its  hopeless- 
ness soon  causes  the  loss  of  this  animation  and 
a  reduction  to  the  appalling  cynicism  which 
is  the  inevitable  disease  of  most  modem 
school  s}' stems." 

A  superintendent  of  one  of  Boston's  rich 
suburbs  says:  "Teachers  have  too  little 
social  diversion.  Their  intimates  are  chosen 
from  their  own  body ;  they  are  too  tired  or  too 
poor  to  take  a  high  social  position."  He  is 
sure  that  "a  teacher's  calling  is  regarded  as 
respectable,"  but  "not  sure  whether  it  is 
above  or  below  that  of  the  girl  who  has 
an  office  position. "  The  marriage  problem 
confronts  every  school  superintendent;  every 
respondent  admits  that  a  woman  teacher 
ought  to  wish  to  marry,  and  that  with  a 
corps  composed  chiefly  of  women  educational 
perfection  must  be  a  secondary  consider- 
ation. The  superintendent's  problem  is, 
therefore,  how  to  get  the  best  kind  of 
second-class  service  rendered  for  the  money 
allowed  for  it.  All  agree  that  the  men 
teachers,  likewise,  do  not  regard  their  work 
as  first-class.  Says  one:  "  Almost  any  other 
calling  is  preferable  for  a  man."  Says 
another:  "No  ambitious  father  or  mother 
wants  a  member  of  the  family  to  be  a  teacher." 
A  third  remarks:  "Every  school  man  I 
know,  but  one,  came  into  the  ranks  by  acci- 
dent or  intending  to  remain  a  short  while.  " 

Turning  to  the  next  group  of  common- 
wealths one  finds  the  teachers  of  New  York 
State  ready  to  answer  all  the  questions  and  to 
be  quoted  as  responsible  for  the  statements. 
Mr.  Charles  R.  Skinner,  the  State  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Instruction,  and  Doctor 
William  H.  Maxwell,  the  Superintendent  of 
Schools  of  New  York  City,  express  themselves 
as  believing  that  one  of  the  fundamental 
reforms  of  education  has  to  do  with  the  social 
and  financial  condition  of  the  teacher.     Both 


men  take  open  and  decided  positions  advocat- 
ting  the  elimination  of  politics  from  the 
selection  of  teachers,  the  assurance  of  the 
tenure  during  meritorious  service,  and  the 
payment  of  high  wages  for  high  attainments. 
The  State  Teachers'  Association  has  a  perma- 
nent committee  on  "the  condition  of  the 
teacher."  It  is  undertaking  an  elaborate 
and  detailed  account  of  stock  in  the  differ- 
ent counties  of  the  State  with  the  intent 
to  suggest  the  most  practicable  and  effective 
steps  for  the  improvement  of  the  service. 
From  the  very  large  number  of  replies 
received  it  appears  that  the  life  of  a  teacher  in 
this  State  is  estimated  by  himself  more  hope- 
fully than  in  any  other  in  the  Union. 

One  correspondent  maintains  that  there 
are  more  school  systems  in  the  State  free 
from  political  meddling  than  is  usual  in 
America.  Another  calls  attention  to  the 
average  salaries  for  the  teachers  of  the  cities 
of  the  State — $863  a  year  as  against  $728  in 
Massachusetts  cities  and  S528  in  the  cities  of 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  matter  of  social  posi- 
tion, the  same  general  statement  is  made  as 
by  the  New  England  educators.  Superin- 
tendent Gilbert,  of  Rochester,  says  the 
attitude  toward  the  rank  and  file  of  teachers 
is  determined  wholly  by  the  ranks  from  which 
teachers  come  and  from  their  natural  associa- 
tion. A  teacher  whose  mother  is  a  scrub- 
woman is  naturally  regarded  by  her  family 
as  socially  superior.  There  are  many  such 
in  the  common  schools.  Persons  of  a  so-called 
higher  rank  frequently  regard  teachers  as 
they  do  all  women-workers — as  inferior. 
Superintendent  Walker,  of  Elmira,  thinks 
the  public  does  not  know  and  therefore  does 
not  appreciate  a  teacher's  work.  Superin- 
tendent Tisdale,  of  Watertown,  "believes  the 
teacher  never  ranked  as  high  as  today,  and 
that  the  people  are  awakening  to  the  danger 
of  retaining  poor  teachers."  "As  soon  as 
public  sentiment  condemns  poor  teaching, 
good  teachers  can  have  anything  that  any 
public  service  can  command." 

New  Jersey  has  been  in  a  condition  of  mild 
educational  ferment  for  three  or  four  years. 
Proximity  to  New  York  City  during  its 
school  reform  raised  salaries  to  a  considerable 
extent.  All  of  the  leading  school-men, 
including  the  State  Superintendent,  are  busy 
with  plans  for  an  improvement  of  the  service. 
The  average  monthly  salary  of  men  teachers 
in   New  Jersey   is   $87    and   of  women   $49. 


PUHLIC-SCIIOOL    TKALIIING 


3191 


The  view  of  a  superintendent  wlio  has  had 
experience  in  four  States  is  that  "Most 
women  and  all  men  under  thirty  are  discon- 
tented in  teaching.  After  that  age  they 
become  niore  or  less  reconciled,  but  this 
seems  a  sorry  state  of  things  for  an  occupation 
requiring  spirit,  joy  and  enthusiasm.  The 
women,  of  course,  would  prefer  even  a  hum- 
drum life  if  it  were  a  married  one,  but  the 
discontent  of  the  men  is  due  almost  wholly 
to  lack  of  means.  Pick  out  the  men  who  are 
teachers,  not  supervisors,  and  they  have  no 
rank  at  all — they  are  a  caste.  The  highest 
school  official  feels  that  his  calling  ranks  the 
lowest  of  all  the  professions ;  for  a  man  doing 
work  as  a  class  teacher  the  public  has  not 
even  contempt.  He  is  a  cipher  with  the  rim 
removed.  We  superintendents  are  furnished 
with  a  few  celibates,  a  crowd  of  half-baked 
girls,  and  an  equal  number  of  disappointed 
old  maids  with  which  to  educate  the  growing 
generations.  Then  some  parent,  too  busy 
to  think,  wonders  why  his  boy  doesn't  like 
school.  The  American  educational  system 
today  seems  to  me  one  of  the  most  ridicu- 
lously managed  fool  things  on  earth.  There 
is  nothing  funnier  than  the  solemn  way  in 
which  we  sit  and  speculate  about  it,  when 
everybody  knows  the  trouble." 

From  Pennsylvania  come  many  answers. 
State  Superintendent  Nathan  C.  Schaeffer 
leads.  "To  ask  what  callings  rank  more 
dignified  is  to  my  mind  an  improper  question. 
If  the  King  of  Heaven  should  send  two  angels 
on  earth,  one  to  break  stones  upon  a  highway, 
the  other  to  rule  a  realm,  which  one,  knowing 
himself  doing  his  Lord's  work,  would  dare 
exalt  himself  above  the  other?"  Another 
Pennsylvanian,  desiring  not  to  be  quoted, 
cries :  "  If  we  count  the  estimate  of  the  world, 
teaching  is  not  worth  considering;  if  we  prize 
the  approval  of  the  judge  within  the  breast, 
no  service  can  compare  with  mine.  It  is 
my  daily  consolation  that  the  Great  Teacher 
was  despised  and  rejected  of  men  much  more 
than  I."  Most  of  the  Pennsylvania  teachers 
allude  to  the  low  wages  of  teachers  in  that 
State;  they  average  $352  a  year  for  men  and 
$304  for  women. 

From  the  South  the  reports  exemplify  a 
general  tone  of  resolution  to  improve  the 
educational  service  of  the  district,  no  matter 
how  the  public  treats  the  teacher  or  what  his 
tinancial  position  may  be.  Says  one  superin- 
tendent:    "We   are   not   in  this   occupation 


for  money ;  there  is  a  big  work  here  that  must 
be  done  and  we  must  do  it  just  as  long  as  we 
can  stand."  Says  another:  "The  teachers 
of  the  South  are  more  generally  religious 
than  in  any  other  district;  the  consoUitions  of 
religion  are  the  only  things  that  can  uphold 
a  teacher  in  the  sacrifices  tiuit  must  be  made.  " 
"Our  teachers  sufTer  from  the  i)ublic's  dis- 
position to  rate  them  from  a  monetary  ])oint 
of  view.  " 

From  the  interior  .States  come  the  announce- 
ments that  longer  and  more  expensive  prepa- 
ration is  everywhere  demanded  of  those  who 
would  be  teachers.  In  some  localities  this 
is  resulting  in  a  failure  to  get  enough  teachers 
to  fill  the  schools.  "It  is  the  general  opinion 
among  all  the  school  men  I  know,"  writes  an 
Ohio  superintendent,  "that  had  they  given 
as  much  attention  to  any  other  calling  they 
would  have  been  better  off."  "Young  men 
of  talent  do  not  care  to  teach:  there  is  not 
enough  independence,  surety  of  engagement, 
or  pay  in  it.  "  Indianians  are  said  to  "regard 
teaching  as  a  hard  way  to  earn  a  living, 
though  honorable.  "  "  The  men  are  especially 
discontented.  "  "  It  is  impossible  for  teachers 
to  live  up  to  professional  or  educational  ideals 
on  present  salaries."  "The  best  men  are 
drawn  off  to  larger  liberty  and  manliness  in 
other  professions."  Superintendent  W.  A. 
Miller,  of  Crawfordsville,  says:  "The  most 
serious  threat  to  the  progress  of  education  in 
America  is  the  fact  that  the  ability  required 
for  successful  school  administration  today  is 
wanted  more  in  business  than  in  schools — 
that  is,  business  offers  three  or  four  times  the 
school  price. " 

Michigan  is  a  low-salary  State.  State 
Superintendent  Henry  R.  Pattengill  tersely 
puts  it:  "Teaching — noble  in  all  but  the 
wages."  Says  Superintendent  Stewart,  of 
Bay  City:  "Teachers  are  becoming  better 
educated,  but  in  America  money  talks." 
"  Low^  salaries  and  chronic  political  meddling 
are  the  curse  of  Michigan  schools,"  says  a 
Normal  school  professor.  ' '  Our  city  is  notori- 
ously indifferent  to  the  treatment  of  the 
teachers,"  writes  a  Detroit  schoolmaster. 
"Private  schools  flourish  and  offer  a  harbor 
to  teachers  driven  from  the  public  system  by 
nagging  politicians." 

George  Herbert  Locke,  Professor  of  Educa- 
tion in  the  University  of  Chicago,  and  editor 
of  the  School  Review,  declares:  "Conditions 
are  growing  better  here ;  people  are  awakening 


3192 


PUBLIC-SCHOOL   TEACHING 


to  the  fact  that  the  teacher  ought  to  be  a  force 
in  the  community,  a  force  for  righteousness  in 
pubHc  and  civic  affairs."  This  is  the  city 
in  which  the  woman  teachers  have  been  at 
law  for  their  salaries  for  the  past  five  or  six 
years.  From  rural  Illinois  and  from  all 
through  the  central  West  come  such  answers 
as  this:  "We  have  no  cause  to  complain  of 
our  social  positions."  "There  is  less  snob- 
bishness in  the  treatment  of  teachers  here 
than  in  the  East."  "Low  salaries  and 
uncertain  tenure  of  engagement  prevent 
retention  of  the  best  teachers."  "Teachers 
are  not  looked  down  upon.  Everybody  is 
willing  to  help  them  get  some  better  employ- 
ment." 

"In  small  towns,"  says  Professor  M.  V. 
O'Shea,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  an 
authority  on  educational  conditions,  "the 
teacher  is  a  model  of  intellectual  excellence. 
In  larger  places  they  are  considered  hirelings 
who  lack  the  polish,  the  spirit  and  the  raiment 
which  'good  society'  demands."  "Dakota 
teachers,"  says  a  correspondent,  "are  regarded 
with  mingled  pity  and  respect.  They  are 
birds  of  passage,  turned  out  at  the  end  of  the 
year.  They  cannot  afford  the  expense  neces- 
sary to  live  well.  Independence  is  impossible. 
As  they  cannot  return  hospitality,  they  do 
not  get  much  of  it.  " 

The  teachers  of  the  far  West  are  not 
expected  to  teach  more  than  a  year  or  two, 
and  so  are  regarded  just  the  same  as  anybody 
else.  The  Arizona  teacher  "is  the  oracle  of 
the  place  and  expected  to  know  a  little  of 
everything."  "In  this  State  you  can  get 
admitted  to  the  bar  or  to  the  ministry  easier 
ihan  j-ou  can  get  a  teacher's  license." 
"  Montana  school-teachers  are  mostly  Eastern 
girls;  they  marry  faster  than  the  superin- 
tendent can  get  a  fresh  supply.  The  educa- 
tional authorities  desire  a  law  to  prevent 
marriage  of  school-teachers  except  at  the  end 
of  June."  "Everj^body  of  any  consequence 
in  Idaho  taught  school  once  and  so  are  good 
to  those  who  are  temporarily  engaged  in  it 
now."  On  the  Coast,  President  Benjamin 
Ide  Wheeler  thinks  the  men  would  mostly 
prefer  law,  medicine,  commerce,  theology, 
railway  management,  engineering,  etc. 
President  David  Starr  Jordan  thinks  "the 
teacher  makes  whatever  social  place  he 
deserves. "  Other  replies  from  the  Pacific 
States  agree  in  the  main  that  teachers  are 
expected  to  leave  the  occupation  in  three  or 


four  years,  having  in  that  tim.e  prepared 
themselves  for  an  occupation  more  suited  to 
the  ability  and  ambitions  of  a  live  man. 

These,  then,  are  the  opinions  of  teachers 
and  superintendents  as  to  the  positions  we 
maintain  for  them.  Again  I  urge  that  their 
personal  comfort  and  satisfaction  are  no  more 
to  us  than  that  of  any  other  laborers.  If 
they  are  discontented,  and  can  do  better 
otherwise,  let  them  go  out  and  make  place 
for  those  who  are  willing  to  be  treated  "with 
mingled  pity  and  contempt."  But  from  the 
point  of  view,  if  not  of  patriotic  citizens 
desiring  the  advancement  of  the  country, 
then  of  selfish  parents  wanting  the  best  for 
our  children,  we  must  do  something  to  make 
it  worth  while  for  bright  men  to  stay  in  the 
ranks.  We  must  leaven  the  teaching  mass 
with  some  superior  talent  which  can  be  held  to 
work  long  enough  to  perfect  an  art  which  is 
now  chiefly  short-time  guesswork  in  the 
hands  of  "birds  of  passage."  Scarcely  a 
daily  paper  is  printed  without  the  obituary 
notice  of  some  distinguished  man,  like  Abram 
S.  Hewitt,  who  "taught  school  for  a  few  years" 
in  this  or  that  town .  What  drove  or  drew  them 
out  of  teaching  ?  What  would  not  American 
teaching  be  today  if  the  traits  and  powers 
which  made  those  men  successful  could  have 
been  held  to  its  service  and  given  freedom 
and  encouragement  to  advance  ?  Among  our 
five  hundred  thousand  and  more  American 
teachers,  why  is  it  that  we  do  not  have  a 
greater  number  who  have  discovered  an 
eminently  successful  career,  not  in  manage- 
ment, but  in  the  actual  work  of  instruction? 
It  can  be  seen  that  the  operations  which  give 
fame  to  a  Doctor  Lorenz  are  simpler  than 
the  functions  of  perfect  teaching;  but  wc 
have  no  one  who  remotely  suggests  a  Doctor 
Lorenz.  Knowing  American  sentiment  as 
we  do,  we  cannot  expect  to  attract  or  hold 
the  best  talent  in  our  ranks  at  $47  and  $39  a 
month,  the  average  salary  of  men  and  women 
teachers  respectively  in  the  United  States. 

The  well-to-do  trustee  whom  last  I  heard 
discuss  this  question  said:  "We  cannot 
expect  teachers  to  enjoy  the  material  benefits 
of  this  life.  They  must,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
missionary,  as  martyrs  maybe,  give  their 
life  to  the  service."  That  means  celibacy; 
that  means  asceticism;  that  means  a  perfec- 
tion of  unnaturalness  which,  however  in- 
wardly glorious,  does  not  radiate  the  sort  of 
atmosphere  I  want  my  children  to  bask  in. 


PUBLIC-SCHOOL   TEACHING 


3193 


I  want  them  taught  by  red-blooded,  virile 
men,  and  by  pleasant,  rosy,  buxom  women; 
the  sort  of  people  I  myself  would  be  glad  to 
meet  and  talk  with  long  and  often.  So  do 
you.  This  missionary  spirit  may  be  well 
enough  for  a  few  devoted  souls  in  China,  but 
our  nation,  the  richest  in  the  world,  is  a  loser 
if  it  persists  in  making  a  business  of  preaching 
missionary  spirit  to  its  hired  men  and  women 
in  the  schoolroom. 

Nor  will  the  government  let  me  demon- 
strate by  a  model  school  that  high  wages  will 
draw  better  talent  into  teaching  and  keep 
it  in  better  condition.  Government  has  a 
monopoly  of  schools.  I  could  not  compete 
with  it.  The  only  circumstances  in  which 
private  schools  can  succeed  are  when  the 
public  schools  are  so  bad  that  intelligent 
people  are  unwilling  to  patronize  them,  or 
when  there  is  a  sufficiently  large  number  of 
persons  desiring  fashionable  exclusiveness 
to  support  a  private  school  because  it  is 
exclusive.  American  sentiment  combats 
both  reasons  and  tends  to  keep  the  public 
schools  just  good  enough  to  prevent  any 
considerable  number  of  school-teachers  set- 
ting up  their  own  institutions  and  winning 
real  respect  and  standing  by  superior 
triumphs  springing  directly  from  their  own 
ability  and  skill.  The  only  possible  way 
this  triumph  can  be  won  is  by  a  superior 
teacher  who  has  an  independent  fortune 
sufficiently  large  to  enable  him  to  own  his 
plant,  to  take  pupils  free,  to  compete  on  their 
own  ground  with  the  public  schools  and  to 
demonstrate  on  the  spot  the  conditions  under 
which  teachers  can  do  the  best  work.  It  is 
not  sufficient  to  say  that  endowed  schools  are 
doing  this,  for  the  wages  of  their  teachers, 
the  slavery  of  their  routine,  the  insecurity  of 
tenure  of  their  employees  and  the  general 
lack  of  inside  and  outside  inspiration  are  not 
strikingly  in  advance  of  the  public  institu- 
tions. Trustee  or  family  politics  seem  fully 
as  baneful  as  the  politics  of  the  ward  or 
county.  The  ultimate  destination  of  their 
endowments,  even  in  this  age  of  marvelous 
gifts  to  "Education,  "  is  not  in  teaching  at  all. 
The  average  donor  has  not  passed  beyond 
the  stage  of  wanting  to  see  his  money  materi- 
alize in  buildings,  books,  or  something  that 
he  can  go  to  see  and  feel. 

Teaching  is  today  suffering  not  so  much 
from  lack  of  buildings  and  apparatus,  to 
which  most  of  this  money  goes,  as  from  a 


dearth  of  red  blood,  manly  strength  and 
ambitious  hearts. 

Yet  Lewis  Elkin,  of  Philadclijhia,  has  just 
left  his  fortune,  not  for  buildings,  but  to 
pension  worn-out  teachers.  Next  we  shall 
see  some  man  (or  more  likely  some  woman) 
of  wealth  awakening  to  the  unifjuc  sanity  of 
recognizing  that  the  actual  teacher,  and  not 
the  building  or  the  supervising  officer,  is  the 
seat  of  educational  progress.  We  shall  see 
some  one  bestowing  moral  and  financial 
encouragement  on  actual  education  itself, 
not  upon  the  place  where  it  might  be  given 

Meantime,  and  all  the  time,  there  is  a  spirit 
underneath  the  whole  of  American  education 
— notwithstanding  the  answers  which  the 
teachers,  in  respect  for  the  truth,  had  to  make 
to  the  editor's  direct  questions — a  spirit  in 
some  places  heroically  strong,  which  is  push- 
ing the  work  of  teaching  upward  in  spite  of 
all  the  circumstances  which  would  seem  to 
make  it  impossible;  it  crops  out  in  some  part 
of  every  reply  received;  it  declares  that, 
however  the  public  regard  it,  this  work  is 
intrinsically  and  inevitably  the  most  dignified 
and  important  that  any  man  or  woman  can 
engage  in.  It  is  a  spirit  that  leads  some  men 
and  women  to  remain  at  work,  not  only 
admitting  that  they  are  in  the  rag-tag  and 
bobtail  of  the  professions,  but  in  fact  because 
they  are  in  the  rag-tag  and  bobtail — because 
that  is  where  there  is  at  this  moment  the 
greatest  need  for  them.  If  teaching  is  moving 
one  little  barleycorn  toward  the  front,  it  is 
because  of  the  work  of  such  as  these,  looking 
beyond  the  common  regard  of  communities 
to  the  real  satisfaction,  the  authentic,  legiti- 
mate, incorruptible  content  of  rendering  a 
service  inferior  to  none.  That  it  does  not 
move  forward  faster  seems  to  be  due  to  the 
community.  Wherever  a  teacher  is  ashamed 
to  be  known  as  such,  you  will  find  that  what 
passes  for  the  best  society  of  the  place  is 
chiefly  to  blame.  This  fact  suggests  the 
unique  opportunity  for  such  citizens  of  wealth 
or  position  as  are  looking  for  chances  of  real 
service.  Pick  out  one  public  school.  Add  a 
little  to  the  monthly  pay  of  every  one  within 
it ;  but  above  all  go  to  the  teachers  and  tell 
them  you  for  one  respect  them  for  their  work. 
It  is  only  by  realizing  that  their  devotion 
to  a  profession  that  requires  self-sacrifice 
is  recognized  for  what  it  is,  that  the  teachers 
can  labor  single-heartedly  in  these  days  of 
insufficient  recompense. 


COMMERCIAL    WIRELESS    TELEGRAPHY 

MARCONI'S  DEMONSTRATION  OF  THE  POSSIBILITY  OF  TRANS- 
OCEANIC TELEGRAPHY  AT  FROM  FIVE  CENTS  TO  TEN  CENTS 
A  WORD— STATIONS  TO  COST  ONLY  ABOUT  $200,000— IN  THE 
CAPE  COD  STATION  WHEN  MESSAGES  ARE  SENT  TO  ENGLAND 

BY 

LAWRENCE    PERRY 


WIRELESS  telegraphy  is  a  commer- 
cial fact.  When  Marconi,  after 
months  of  final  preparation,  sent, 
on  January  19th,  President  Roosevelt's  mes- 
sage to  King  Edward  from  Cape  Cod  to 
Poldhu,  the  last  doubt  vanished.  While  I 
was  at  South  Wellfleet  on  Cape  Cod — where 
I  went  to  meet  the  inventor  and  to  get  a 
view  of  his  work — he  said  that  in  six  months 
his  invention  would  be  on  a  business  footing. 
It  was  the  cautious  remark  of  a  man  who 
was  assured  of  his  success.  The  experimental 
stage  of  wireless  telegraphy  is  passed. 

Imagination  can  hardly  picture  a  drearier 
place  than  the  Marconi  station  at  South  Well- 
fleet.  Surrounded  by  a  stockade,  guarded 
night  and  day,  the  four  towers  rise  two 
hundred  and  ten  feet  above  the  gray  sand 
dunes,  while  beneath  squat  a  few  low  build- 
ings constituting  the  plant.  Here  I  found 
Marconi  the  day  after  his  successful  test. 
In  appearance  he  suggests  the  Englishman 
rather  than  the  Italian — his  mother  was 
Irish  and  he  studied  at  an  English  school. 
His  tastes  are  all  English.  He  has  a  short, 
quick,  determined  way  of  talking. 

Visitors  are  not  allowed  to  see  his  inven- 
tions in  operation.  When  I  asked  to  see 
him  send  and  receive  a  message  he  hesitated. 
But  he  decided  quickly. 

"Come  on,  "  he  said. 

Walking  along  the  board-walk  under  the 
great  towers,  it  was  noticed  that  from  the 
horizontal  stay-wire  running  between  the  two 
northerly  towers  were  strung  a  number  of 
telegraph  wires,  about  half-way  down  con- 
verging like  those  of  a  gigantic  harp. 

"These  wires  receive  and  send  out  the 
ether  waves,"  said  Marconi.  "There  are 
fifty  of  them  there,  which,  I  have  found,  send 
and  transmit  the  waves  with  sufficient  power 
to  carry  to  England.     I  used  to  think  that 


you  needed  great  heights ;  now  I  find  that  the 
more  wires  you  have  the  less  height  you  need. 
These  fifty  wires  are  joined  to  the  wire 
running  into  the  ooerating  room.  But  come 
in  here.  " 

He  opened  the  door,  and  the  visitors  entered 
a  room  where  few  have  been.  The  centre  of 
this  place  was  filled  with  great  box-like 
Leyden  jars;  while  at  the  easterly  side  was 
the  magnetic-detector  w^hich  has  replaced 
the  coherer  in  receiving  messages;  on  the 
south  side  was  the  induction  coil  and  great 
zinc  and  copper  tanks  of  oil.  Over  the 
Leyden  jars,  which  occupied  the  greater 
portion  of  the  room,  were  four  huge  sheets  of 
zinc  bound  with  copper.  On  the  concrete 
floor  were  rubber  mats,  and  the  walls  and  low 
ceiling  were  of  hardwood.  Here  some  impor- 
tant devices  were  completed  late  in  January 
and  some  important  discoveries  made.  Queer 
instruments  stored  in  all  parts  of  the  room 
evidently  played  their  part  in  the  general 
scheme,  but  no  one  but  Marconi  knew  what 
they  were  or  what  they  were  for.  On  a 
northerly  wall  over  a  platform  were  tables 
with  a  brass  sending-key  and  a  great  wooden 
lever  also  used  for  sending.  Marconi  stood 
on  this  platform,  his  hand  resting  near  the 
sender. 

"Now,"  he  said,  "when  I  signal  to  the 
electrician  fifty  thousand  volts  will  come 
into  the  room.  Stand  up  here  by  me  and 
don't  touch  anything.  Keep  away  from  those 
jars,  because  the  current  does  not  w^ait  for 
you  to  touch  it.     It  will  jump  to  you.  " 

I  confess  I  stood  as  close  to  Marconi  on 
the  little  platform  as  I  could.  A  volt  meas- 
ures speed;  an  ampere  means  volume — 
Marconi  has  secured'  great  speed  with  little 
volume;  so  that,  if  anything  slipped  and  the 
fifty  thousand  volts  passed  through  you,  you 
would  get  about  the  same  shock  as  though 


COMMKRCIAL    WIRKLESS    TKLKGRMMIY 


3»95 


Phot>  , 
MARCONI   AND   HIS  ASSOCIATES   LEAVING   THE   WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH   STATION 
AT  SOUTH  WELLFLEET,   MASSACHUSETTS 


J  L.  Perry 


vou  had  formed  a  ground  connection  with  a 
trolley  wire,  which  measures  about  five  hun- 
dred volts,  but  has  fearful  amperage.  This 
scene  is  indelibly  stamped  in  my  memory: 
the  room,  packed  with  its  queer,  mysterious 
instruments,  of  some  of  which  the  electrical 
world  knows  nothing,  and  that  slight,  youthful 
figure  of  Marconi,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
indicator,  his  sensitive  hands  on  the  key. 
You  thought  of  what  this  man  of  twenty-nine 
had  accomplished — of  his  long  fight,  his 
courage;  and  here  you  saw  him,  in  the  midst 
of  that  accomplishment,  ready  to  reveal 
it  to  his  wondering  companions. 

"All  ready!"  he  cried  to  the  electrician 
who  stood  in  the  power-room  watching  the 
inventor  through  the  long  connecting  hallway. 
A  lever  was  pulled  and  a  dim  hum  filled  the 
room.  The  indicator  of  the  volt  meter  began 
to  race  past  all  sorts  of  high  figures  on  the 
face  of  the  dial. 


"Now  I'll  send  to  Poldhu.  "  He  pressed 
the  key. 

There  was  a  blinding  flash  of  bluish  light, 
for  with  each  movement  of  the  key  great 
sparks  jumped  two  inches  between  the  two 
silvered  knobs  of  the  induction  coil.  One 
knob  of  this  coil  is  connected  with  the  earth, 
forming  the  ground  connection,  the  other 
with  the  wire  leading  to  the  aerial  wires. 
Each  spark  means  an  oscillating  impulse 
from  the  battery  to  the  aerial  wire,  and  from 
the  wire  the  oscillations  of  ether  occur  which 
carry  through  space  at  the  speed  of  187,000 
miles  a  second.  With  the  blinding  flash 
accompanying  each  movement  of  the  key 
occurs  a  report  to  be  compared  accurately 
with  the  noise  attending  the  discharge  of  a 
Krag-Jorgenson  rifle.  It  was  terrifying — the 
light,  the  noise,  and  in  the  midst  of  it  all  the 
inventor  calmly  pressing  the  key,  making 
more  noise,  more  light.   Imagine  a  company  of 


I 


3196 


COMMERCIAL    WIRELESS    TELEGRAPH! 


Photographed  by  Frederick  Collins 


MARCONI  READING  A   MESSAGE 


infantry  firing  at  will  in  a  tunnel  and  you  can 
understand  the  sound  that  accompanies  send- 
ing a  message.  Marconi,  who  stuffs  cotton  in 
his  ears  when  sending,  is  now  experimenting 
to  deaden  this  sound.  But  somehow,  to  one 
impressed  by  the  fact  that  here,  in  this  very 
room,  a  message  was  being  sent  through  the 
air  across  that  gloomy  stretch  of  3,000  miles 
of  ocean,  the  noise  and  the  light  seemed 
fitting — gave  the  proper  touch  of  the  super- 
human, of  force,  of  intensity. 

Quite  different  was  the  process  of  receiving. 
When  the  light  and  the  banging  ceased  there 
was  a  strange  silence  as  ^larconi  walked  over 
to  the  receiving  instrument.  He  set  in 
motion  the  wheels  of  the  magnetic-detector. 
No  sound  came  at  first,  and  while  waiting 
Marconi  pointed  to  the  detector.  The  incom- 
ing oscillations  from  Cape  Breton,  he  said, 
would  be  caught  there.  He  pointed  to  a  wire 
passing  around  the  outside  of  the  two  wheels 
of  the  detector.  This  wire  is  of  soft  iron, 
insulated,  through  which  a  slight  alternating 
current  passes.  The  ether  waves  disturb  this 
current  sufficiently  to  cause  either  a  dot  or  a 
dash,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  this  is  recorded 
on  a  ticker.  It  was  a  strange  experience. 
Suddenly  the  detector  began  to  move  and 
the  ticker  to  click.  Every  one  started  for- 
ward. Slowly  the  tape  ran  out  of  the  ticker — 
dot,  dot,  dash — so  they  came;  and  by  placing 


a  telephone  receiver  to  your  ear  you  could 
hear  plainly  the  b-r-r-rang  of  the  induction 
coil  hundreds  of  miles  away.  While  the  phe- 
nomenon was  taking  place  it  was  difficult  to 
tell  whether  the  faint  sound  one  heard  was 
the  impulse,  coming  hundreds  of  miles 
through  the  air,  or  one's  own  heart  beating. 
It  is  impossible  to  analyze  your  impressions 
in  that  place. 

"Of  course  unforeseen  things  may  occur, 
but  I  think  now  we  shall  be  on  a  business 
footing  inside  of  six  months,"  said  Marconi 
afterward.  "  Overland  or  across  sea,  it  makes 
no  difference ;  you  know  we  have  sent  mes- 
sages overland  from  Cornwall  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1 ,500  miles.  The  waves  will  go  through 
anything.  For  instance,  we  have  Nova  Scotia 
and  Newfoundland  between  this  station  and 
Poldhu,  but  the  ether  waves  travel  all  right. 
Wireless  telegraphy  is  assured.  " 

If  any  person  can  invent  a  name  for  wireless 
messages,  he  will  have  the  thanks  of  ^larconi. 
He  calls  them  etherographs,  for  want  of  a 
better  term. 

Marconi  is  not  the  discoverer  of  the  ether 
waves;  neither  did  he  evolve  the  theory  of 
wireless  communication,  which  he  has  brought 
to  such  a  practical  realization.  He  acknowl- 
edges adequately  the  work  of  predecessors 
in  leading  up  to  his  invention :  Professor 
S.    F.    B.    Morse,    Doctor   Oliver   Lodge,   Sir 


\ 


I 


3I9S 


COMMERCIAL    WIRELESS    TELEGRAPHY 


MARCONI 


Fhotographed  by    Falk 


William  Preece,  Sir  William  Crookes,  Edison, 
Tesla,  who  perhaps  came  nearer  than  any  to 
working  out  a  system  of  wireless  communica- 
tion; Hertz,  the  discoverer  of  Hertzian  waves, 
and  Professors  Trowbridge  and  Dolbears,  of 
America.     He  used  the  coherer  invented  by 


Branley  and  Calzecchi.  Although  when  criti- 
cized on  this  point  he  abandoned  that  impor- 
tant instrument  for  receiving  messages,  and 
produced  his  magnetic-detector;  he  utilized 
Professor  Rhigi's  oscillators  and  the  dis- 
coveries of  Henry  and  Hertz.  But  all  these 
were  simply  parts :  wireless  telegraphy  in  its 
entirety,  its  successful  application,  its  brilliant 
originality,  is  r,bsolutely  his. 

The  idea  of  it,  so  Marconi  has  stated,  came 
in  1894,  while  reading  in  an  electric  journal 
an  account  of  the  work  of  Professor  Hertz 
with  ether  waves.  He  .ras  interested  in  the 
Hertzian  theory  that  waves  of  ether  could  be 
carried  through  space;  but  feeling  that  great 
numbers  of  scientists  must  be  pursuing  the 
phenomenon,  ^Marconi  did  nothing  for  a  year. 
Then  hearing  nothing  from  the  world  of 
science,  he  began  to  investigate  for  himself. 
For  detecting  the  waves  sent  from  his  oscil- 
lator Hertz  used  a  metal  hoop  broken  by  a 
small  gap.  When  the  hoop  was  brought 
within  the  influence  of  the  transmitting 
instrument  it  was  noticed  that  a  small  spark 
leaped  across  the  gap  in  the  hoop.  This 
showed  that  the  waves  when  radiated  into 
space  could  be  detected  at  a  distance  by  this 
metal  hoop.  The  thought  came  to  Marconi 
that  if  he  could  interrupt  the  waves  en  route, 
so   to   speak,   from   the    oscillator,   breaking 


THE  GRAY  ATLANTIC  OVER  WHICH   THE  MESSAGES   PASS 
A  photograph  taken  from  a  Ararconi  tower 


COMMERCIAL   WIRELESS   TELEGRATIIY 


3199 


them  up  into  long  and  short  periods,  similar 
interruptions  would  be  detected  in  the  spark 
of  the  metal  hoop.  A  short  emission  of  the 
transmitted  waves  would  signify  the  dot  of 
the  Morse  code;  a  long  emission,  the  dash; 
and  these  would  be  registered  in  the  distant 
receiver.  Later  Marconi  conferred  with 
Professor  Rhigi,  and  in  1894  Doctor  Oliver 
Lodge  issued  a  book  publishing  the  result  of 
his  experiments  with  the  ether  waves,  sug- 
gesting a  number  of  possibilities,  but  neglect- 
ing that  of  telegraphy  altogether.  IMarconi 
utilized  all  available  material,  but  it  is  only 
fair  to  say  that  new  elements  of  his  own 
invention  made  long-distance  wireless  com- 
munication a  success. 

Briefly,  the  Marconi  system  of  telegraphy 
consists  of  setting  in  motion,  by  means  of 
his  transmitter,  electric  waves,  which  pass 
through  the  ether  (a  colorless,  rarefied, 
unknown  agent,  supposed  to  fill  all  space) 
and  are  received  on  a  wire  or  wires  strung  in 
the  air.  Like  water,  ether  has  waves,  which 
may  be  set  in  motion  just  as  waves  from  a 
stone  thrown  in  a  pond — it  is  the  same  prin- 
ciple exactly.  Air  waves  and  ether  waves 
are  totally  different ;  sound  is  the  result  of  the 
vibration  of  air ;  light  the  result  of  vibration  of 
ether.  Air  waves  travel  infinitely  more  slowly 
than  ether  waves ;  that  is  the  reason  you  see  the 
lightning  flash  before  you  hear  t^ie  thunder. 
Electricity  means  etheric  vibration.  Wireless 
telegraphy  simply  means  the  unharnessing 
of  electricity  which  has  long  been  transmitted 
only  by  wire.  Marconi  has  demonstrated 
that  since  ether  is  everywhere  the  waves  can 
be  set  in  motion  and  sent  on  long  journeys 
without  the  medium  of  wires  as  well  as  with 
them.  But  after  these  deductions  he  had 
first  to  invent  two  mechanical  processes — 
one  for  setting  the  ether  waves  in  motion  so 
that  they  would  travel  great  distances,  and 
the  other  for  receiving  and  registering  these 
waves.  Finally  he  evolved  an  apparatus 
which,  when  a  current  from  a  battery  passed 
through  it,  would  cause  the  current  to  jump 
between  two  brass  or  silver  balls,  described 
in  the  foregoing,  and,  passing  thus  into  the 
aerial  wire,  would  be  radiated  into  space.  By 
turning  this  current  on  and  off  with  an  ordi- 
nary sending-key  its  waves  would  be  divided 
into  dots  and  dashes.  To  catch  these  waves 
an  aerial  wire  was  hung  up  many  miles  away. 
The  waves  which  the  w4re  catches  are  too 
weak    to    operate    an    ordinary    telegraph 


instrument.  In  order  that  they  might  be 
strengthened  Marconi  utilized  the  coherer  of 
Calzecchi  and  Branley.  The  coherer  was  a 
little  glass  tube  two  inches  long,  jjluggcd  at 
each  end  with  silver  plugs.  The  ends  of  these 
plugs  very  nearly  met  in  the  middle  of  the 
tube.  Within  the  narrow  si)ace  in  the  tube 
were  little  atoms  of  nickel  and  silver.  Tlie 
incoming  ether  waves,  though  not  strong 
enough  to  work  a  telegraph  sounder,  are 
strong  enough  to  cause  the  loose  silver  and 
nickel  particles  to  cohere .  When  the  particles 
are  loose  they  will  not  carry  an  electric 
current;  when  they  cohere  they  are  good 
conductors  of  electricity.  Thus  when  they 
cohere,  a  current  from  a  powerful  battery 
runs  through  the  tube,  and  operating  the 
Morse  instrument,  causes  the  ether  wave  which 
entered  the  coherer  in  the  first  plate  to  be 
registered  as  a  dot  or  dash,  as  the  case  may  be. 
As  soon  as  this  has  been  recorded,  a  little 
tapper  causes  the  particles  to  fall  loose,  as  it 
were,  and  thus  it  is  ready  for  the  next  wave. 
Marconi  has  abandoned  this  coherer  now, 
however.  Instead,  he  uses  the  magnetic- 
detector. 

Around  two  wooden  wheels  half  a  foot 
in  circumference  runs  a  wire  consisting 
of  soft  iron,  insulated,  through  which  a  slight 
alternating  current  passes.  The  magnet 
causes  the  current  to  alternate,  which  means 
flowing  first  one  way  around  the  wheels,  then 
the  other  way.  The  ether  waves  disturb  the 
regular  flow  of  this  current,  and  additional 
current,  pouring  in  at  the  moment  of  the 
disturbances,  increases  the  force  of  the  dis- 
turbing waves  so  that  it  operates  the  Morse 
instrument. 

In  his  first  experiment  I\Iarconi  believed 
that  the  ether  waves  could  be  sent  great  dis- 
tances only  from  great  heights ;  so  he  used 
kites  to  carry  his  receiving  and  sending  wires, 
believing  that  the  curve  of  the  earth  hindered 
the  progress  of  the  waves.  Recent  experi- 
ments have  sho-wn,  however,  that  the  waves 
conform  to  the  earth's  curve,  and  that  the 
aerial  wires  need  not  be  very  high  pro- 
vided sufficient  power  be  utilized  in  trans- 
mission. The  sending  of  great  power  caused 
the  instruments  to  become  overheated,  and 
this  was  one  of  the  problems  solved  recently 
at  Cape  Cod.  From  the  appearance  of  the 
operating  room  it  looks  as  though  oil  were  the 
chief  medium  in  keeping  the  instruments 
cool  while   fifty  thousand  volts  were  being 


3200 


COMMERCIAL   WIRELESS    TELEGRAPHY 


shot  into  aerial  wire;  but  that,  of  course,  is 
only  conjecture. 

Marconi  first  began  to  experiment  with  his 
invention  in  his  father's  fields  in  Bologna. 
Later  he  came  to  London,  working  in  the 
laboratory  of  Sir  William  Preece.  Then 
came  signals  overland  on  Salisbury  Plain, 
through  walls  and  houses  and  everything 
else;  and  finally,  in  1897,  came  the  great 
success  of  sending  a  message  from  the  Needles 
on  the  English  Coast  to  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
In  July,  1898,  came  its  practical  test  and 
its  complete  success,  by  the  Dublin  Daily 
Express,  in  reporting  the  Kingstown  yachting 
regatta.  Since  then  Marconi  has  persevered 
and  fought  under  all  sorts  of  discouragements 
and  doubts  until  wireless  telegraphy  is  about 
to  become  something  that  will  be  quietly 
accepted,  just  as  the  telephone  and  telegraph 
were,  each  in  its  turn. 

The  extent  of  its  commercial  success  is 
already  remarkable.  In  England  there  is  the 
Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Company,  capi- 
taHzed  at  $5,000,000.  In  this  country  the 
Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Company  of 
America  is  capitalized  at  $6,500,000;  and 
the  Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Company  of 
Canada  has  just  been  organized.  The  Italian 
Government  deals  personally  with  Marconi, 
and  he  is  now  preparing  to  establish  wireless 
connections  between  Italy  and  Argentina,  a 
distance  of  some  six  thousand  miles.  With 
the  United  States  the  American  Company 
is  putting  through  its  system  from  Seattle 
to  Juneau,  Alaska;  and  in  other  ways  this 
government  is  experimenting  with  different 
systems  of  wireless  telegraphy.  Gerniany  is 
taking  up  the  Arco-Slaby  system,  which  has 
not  yet  been  brought  to  the  perfection  of  the 
Marconi  invention.  France  is  experimenting 
with  various  plans,  and  so  is  Russia.  About 
seventy  British  cruisers  and  a  number  of 
English  lightships  have  the  ^larconi  system 
installed,  and  the  great  ocean  liners  find  it 
almost  a  necessity.  Off  our  coast  the 
Nantucket  lightship  supplies  information  of 
incoming  vessels  hours  before  they  would 
otherwise  be  reported.  The  United  Fruit 
Company,  controlling  the  tropical  fruit  trade 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  has.  contracted  with 
Marconi  for  the  establishment  of  stations  at 
its  Central  and  South  American  ports.  Every 
ship  of  the  company  will  be  fitted  with  the 
Marconi  apparatus  and  will  carry  an  operator. 
Other  private  concerns  in  all  parts  of  the 


globe  are  taking  an  active  interest  in  the 
development  of  wireless  telegraphy.  The 
public  believed  in  the  invention  before  its 
success  was  assured.  Marconi  thoroughly 
believes  that  it  will  supersede  to  a  great 
extent  the  telegraph  and  the  cable.  The 
wireless  system  will  secure  almost  a  monopoly 
in  the  sending  of  matter  that  cannot  be 
codified,  as,  for  instance,  stock  reports  and 
press  matter.  Marconi  says  that  written-out 
matters  can  be  sent  in  full  across  the  ocean  at 
ten  cents  a  word  for  commercial  matter  and 
five  cents  a  word  for  press  matter,  the  rates 
now  established  at  Glace  Bay;  and  that  he  is 
prepared  to  meet  any  reductions  his  com- 
petitors may  make.  He  promises  a  reduction 
an\nvay  when  improved  facilities  and  the 
volume  of  business  warrant  it.  Indeed, 
Marconi  prophesies  that  in  time  the  rates  will 
be  so  lowered  as  to  render  it  no  more  costly  to 
send  a  message  from  New  York  to  London 
than  it  costs  now  to  telegraph  from  New  York 
to  Philadelphia.  It  costs  only  $200,000  to 
install  a  transatlantic  wireless  telegraph  sys- 
tem, and  once  installed  there  is  nothing  to  get 
out  of  order:  no  breakages  to  repair,  except, 
probably,  a  wire  or  so  once  in  a  while.  The 
repairs  for  one  year  to  a  perfected  wireless 
telegraph  system  should  not  equal  the  cost  of 
keeping  a  cable  repair  steamship  in  commis- 
sion for  two  months. 

The  scheme  of  timing  a  sending  instrument 
so  that  it  will  send  ether  waves  vibrating  a 
specific  number  of  times  a  second,  and  be 
received  only  by  a  receiving  instrument 
tuned  to  receive  just  that  number  of  vibra- 
tions, is  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  Marconi 
achievements.  It  had  been  maintained  that 
a  rival  to  the  concern  using  the  wireless 
system  could  simply  rig  up  the  aerial  wire 
and  catch  the  ether  message  also.  The 
waves  radiate  in  all  directions,  all  efforts  to 
send  them  in  one  direction  only  like  a 
searchlight  having  failed  where  great  distance 
is  involved.  This,  too,  was  the  fear  expressed 
in  regard  to  the  war-ships  of  nations  at  war. 
But  now  the  system  of  tuning  has  obviated 
all  this.  Every  firm  or  country  may  have 
their  instruments  tuned  to  send  and  receive 
only  a  certain  number  of  vibrations  by  the 
ether  waves. 

Marconi  says  that  there  is  no  limit  to  the 
distance  of  wireless  communication.  It  is 
only  a  question  of  increasing  the  power  of  the 
apparatus.     He  counts  on  sending  messages 


COMMERCIAL    WIRELESS    TELEGRArilY 


3201 


cross  the  Pacific  Ocean  from  San  Francisco 
to  Japan  in  due  time.  England  still  refuses 
to  allow  Marconi  to  transmit  messages  over- 
land, and  until  that  is  done  public  business 
y  wireless  telegraphy  will  be  delayed. 
Within  a  short  time  stations  will  be  erected 
t  Seattle  and  San  Francisco  to  open  com- 
lunication  between  these  ports  and  vessels 
t  sea.  The  State  of  Washington  and  Alaska 
re  now  being  connected ;  and  in  a  short  time 
the  whole  of  the  Pacific  Coast  will  be  lined 
with  stations  for  communication  with  ship- 
ping. On  the  Atlantic  the  iMarconi  Company 
already  has  three  such  stations,  all  in  active 
operation — one  at  Sagaponack,  on  the  end 
of  Long  Island;  another  at  Babylon,  Long 
Island,  and  one  at  the  Nantucket  lightship. 
They  are  working  perfectly  and  a  large 
amount  of  business  is  already  being  trans- 
acted. A  school  of  wireless  telegraphy  has 
been  established  in  Babylon  where  telegraph 
operators  are  instructed  in  the  use  of  the 
delicate  instruments.  It  is  only  the  best 
operators  who  can  become  successful  in  send- 
ing and  receiving;  the  finest  sense  of  hearing 
is  requisite.  There  are  from  four  to  six 
students  in  the  school  all  the  time,  and  they 
learn  t]ie  system  in  about  three  weeks.  They 
receive  free  lodging  at  the  quarters  of  the 
company,  and  when  they  have  finished  the 
course  of  instruction  they  are  employed  at  a 
salary  of  from  $60  to  $100  a  month. 

With  the  short-distance  stations  on  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  the  transatlantic 
stations  in  Canada,  England  and  this  country 
and  the  future  trans-Pacific  wireless  system, 
there  will  be  communication  with  all  parts  of 
the  world.  A  station  is  soon  to  be  erected  in 
South  Africa;  and  at  Monte  Mario,  Italy,  the 
most  powerful  station  in  the  world  will  shortly 
be  built,  at  which  place  ]\Iarconi  will  work  out 
the  remaining  problems  of  wireless  telegraphy. 
Among  other  things  at  Cape  Cod  he  solved 
the  minimum  power  necessary  to  carry  the 
ether  waves  across  the  Atlantic. 

There  seems  no  limit  to  the  pictures  that 
one's  imagination  sees  in  the  future.  Every 
newspaper  ofhce  in  the  land  might  be  equipped 
with  wireless  receivers.     Every  home  could 

I  have  one.  A  message  received  of  an  event 
anywhere  could  be  "marconied"  simulta- 
neously to  every  newspaper  in  the  land,  and 
I        


on  ticker  tapes.  Marconi  has  already  thought 
of  this  project.  When  Marconi's  work  is 
completed  France  can  talk  to  Russia  without 
paying  any  other  government,  and  England 
can  communicate  with  Italy  direct  without 
tlie  aid  of  branch  systems.  It  means  much 
to  international  politics.  Marconi  says  it  is 
just  as  easy  to  communicate  by  wireless 
telegraphy  over  land  for  any  distance  as  it  is 
across  the  water.  He  did  not  believe  this  at 
first,  but  now  he  finds  that  it  is  so. 

The  equipping  of  ocean  greyhounds  with 
the  Marconi  system  has  taken  away  part  of 
the  dread  and  mystery  of  the  sea.  Steam- 
ships can  now  communicate  with  one  another 
or  with  the  shore  at  a  distance  of  hundreds  of 
miles,  the  case  of  the  American  liner  Phila- 
delphia, which  talked  with  Poldhu  from  mid- 
ocean,  1,551  miles,  on  February  22,  1902, 
coming  to  mind.  Recently  the  Philadelphia 
and  the  Lucania  played  a  chess  game  en  route, 
and  a  plan  of  supplying  liners  with  daily  news 
from  shore  at  $5.00  a  day  is  now  being  con- 
templated. In  April,  1899,  the  Goodwin 
Sands  lightship  of?  the  English  coast  was 
struck  in  a  collision,  and  with  her  Marconi 
apparatus  was  able  to  send  for  assistance 
across  twelve  miles  of  ocean.  Life-saving 
stations  along  the  coast  of  England  have 
frequently  received  warning,  by  the  wireless 
system  attached  to  outlying  lighthouses,  that 
vessels  were  drifting  ashore  through  the  fog. 
When  the  invention  is  perfected  so  that  the 
Weather  Bureau  can  flash  warnings  from 
shore  stations  to  the  coasting  fleet  plying 
the  coastwise  lanes  a  great  step  will  have 
been  taken;  but  at  present  the  tests  of 
this  nature,  owing  to  various  atmospheric 
disturbances,  have  not  met  with  complete 
success. 

It  was  only  a  little  more  than  a  half-century 
ago  that  the  present  network  of  telegraph 
wires  w^hich  knits  continents  together  began 
with  Morse's  invention.  A  comparatively 
few  years  later  the  whole  world  was  amazed 
at  the  successful  laying  of  the  first  trans- 
oceanic cable.  And  now  comes  this  new  step, 
more  wonderful  perhaps  than  either  of  its 
predecessors.  The  wonder  of  this  invention, 
the  simplicity  of  it,  strike  the  imagination 
with  the  same  sense  of  awe  that  thrills  one 
for  the  moment  when  in  a  blinding  flash 
Marconi  talks  with  Poldhu. 


RECENT   ADVANCES    IN   MEDICINE  AND 

SURGERY 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  YELLOW  FEVER  AND  MALARIA— CURING  A  DISEASE 
AMONG  THE  SOUTHERN  "POOR  WHITES  "—NEW  USES  OF  ANESTHETICS- 
DOCTOR  LORENZ'S  WORK— EFFORTS  TO  FIND  A  CURE  FOR  BLOOD  POISONING 

BY 

A.    T.    BRISTOW,   M.D. 


AT  this  time,  when  "the  world  is  made 
over  every  half-century,"  when  no 
task  seems  too  difficult  for  the  force 
of  men's  minds  and  the  energy  of  men's 
muscles,  the  practical  science  that  counsels 
ways  of  keeping  minds  vigorous  and  bodies 
strong  and  healthy  is  adding  rapidly  to  its 
equipment.  Anesthesia,  antiseptics,  the  new 
science  of  bacteriology,  sanitary  science,  all 
these  have  been  realized  within  less  than 
fifty  years,  and  new  developments  come 
with  a  speed  that  is  bewildering.  The  dis- 
covery of  today  is  common  gossip  tomorrow, 
and  the  day  afterward  it  is  history. 

Two  or  three  years  ago  a  ship  aboard  of 
which  was  a  case  of  yellow  fever  sailed  from 
port  to  port  for  weeks  before  the  passengers 
could  find  a  landing,  and  when  at  last  they 
left  the  boat  they  were  quarantined  for  a 
considerable  time.  We  know  now  through 
the  investigations  of  the  United  States  Yellow 
Fever  Commission  that  all  this  hardship  was 
unnecessary — that  yellow  fever  spreads  only 
through  the  agency  of  the  mosquito. 

The  story  of  the  investigations  tells  of 
self-sacrifice  and  courage  that  transcends 
the  bravery  of  the  soldier  on  the  battlefield. 
The  excitement  of  battle  buoys  the  soldier 
up  so  that  he  forgets  danger,  and  he  remem- 
bers the  old  adage,  "Ever}^  bullet  has  its 
billet."  But  when  a  man  in  cold  blood 
deliberately  allows  a  mosquito,  which  has  fed 
on  yellow  fever  patients  for  days,  to  bite  him, 
and  this  with  the  full  knowledge  that  he  may 
become  infected  with  one  of  the  most  rapidly 
fatal  of  all  the  tropic  fevers ;  when  men 
wrap  themselves  in  the  clothing  taken  from 
yellow  fever  corpses,  and  so  clad  lie  down  to 
sleep  on  beds  covered  with  filthy  blankets 
and  sheets  from  yellow  fever  hospitals,  with 
soiled    towels    from    yellow    fever    patients 


spread  on  their  pillows,  and  so  spend  their 
nights  for  three  weeks,  we  can  call  it  real 
heroism,  courage  or  sacrifice.  It  is  all  three. 
Briefly  told,  the  story  of  the  investigation  of 
the  United  States  Yellow  Fever  Commission 
in  Cuba  is  as  follows : 

As  the  cause  of  yellow  fever  is  unknown, 
and  as  animals  are  immune  to  this  disease, 
it  was  necessary  that  all  experiments  be  con- 
ducted upon  human  beings  who,  never  having 
had  the  fever,  were  therefore  susceptible. 
In  order  to  test  the  theory  that  mosquitoes 
convey  the  fever  from  sick  to  healthy  indi- 
viduals, it  was  necessar}^  for  the  investigators 
to  submit  themselves  and  their  volunteers 
to  the  bites  of  insects  known  to  have  bitten 
yellow  fever  patients.  As  a  result  of  their 
investigations  the  commission  discovered 
one  curious  fact,  namely,  that  the  organism 
of  infection,  whatever  it  may  be,  took  twelve 
days  to  travel  from  the  mosquito's  stomach 
to  the  salivary  glands,  and  that  this  period 
might  be  prolonged  during  cold  weather  to 
eighteen  days.  This  fact  explains  certain 
cases  in  which  mosquitoes  known  to  have 
bitten  yellow  fever  patients  nevertheless 
failed  to  communicate  yellow  fever  to  sus- 
ceptible individuals.  In  one  series  of  cases 
the  mosquitoes  were  permitted  to  bite  at 
intervals  of  four,  six  and  eleven  days,  respect- 
ively, after  having  fed  on  yellow  fever  patients, 
without  producing  the  disease ;  but  the  same 
mosquitoes  used  after  the  twelfth  day  gave 
rise  to  yellow  fever. 

Doctor  James  Carroll,  a  member  of  the 
Board,  allowed  himself  to  be  bitten  by  a 
mosquito  which  was  known  to  have  bitten  a 
severe  case  of  yellow  fever  twelve  days 
before.  The  usual  period  had  therefore 
elapsed  at  the  close  of  which  the  insect  was 
capable    of    conveying    disease.     After    five 


RECENT    ADVANCES    IN    MEDICINE    AND    SURGERY         3203 


days  Doctor  Carroll  was  taken  down  with  the 
disease  and  passed  througli  an  attack  of 
moderate  severity.  He,  fortunately,  recov- 
ered. Doctor  J.  W.  Lazcar  was  bitten  by 
a  mosquito  wliich  ten  days  previously  had 
bitten  a  mild  case  of  yellow  fever.  No 
result  followed  this  bite.  The  twelve-day 
limit  had  not  expired.  It  was,  however, 
necessary  tliat  such  experiments  should 
be  made  in  order  to  establish  this  important 
fact  beyond  a  doubt.  Later,  while  in  the 
yellow  fever  hospital,  Doctor  Lazear  delib- 
erately allowed  a  mosquito  of  unknown  species 
to  settle  on  his  hand.  Five  days  afterward 
he  developed  yellow  fever,  and  after  a  week's 
illness  he  died.  The  investigation  still  went 
on,  however,  and  these  men  exposed  them- 
selves to  certain  infection  until  they  had 
proved  beyond  reasonable  doubt  that  the 
mosquito  was  a  conveyer  of  yellow  fever. 

An  important  question  still  remained 
unanswered:  Could  the  fever  be  conveyed 
by  contact  with  clothing,  or  contracted  by 
sleeping  in  a  house  in  which  yellow  fever 
patients  had  died,  provided  mosquitoes  were 
excluded  ?  This  question  was  tested  in  the 
following  way:  A  small  house  was  built, 
consisting  of  one  room,  14x20  feet.  It  was 
tightly  ceiled  and  well  battened  on  the 
outside.  It  was  provided  with  two  small 
windows,  26x34  inches,  so  placed  as  to  pre- 
vent any  thorough  ventilation  within.  In 
fact,  everything  was  done  to  invite  infection, 
if  this  were  possible,  without  the  aid  of 
mosquitoes.  Entrance  to  the  house  was 
effected  through  a  vestibule  arranged  after 
the  manner  of  an  airlock  in  a  caisson,  the 
vestibule  being  divided  in  its  middle  by  a 
screen  door  protected  without  by  a  solid 
door  and  having  a  second  wire  door  across  the 
inner  entrance.  The  windows  were  also 
carefully  screened.  This  was  a  tropical 
climate,  and  it  was  the  intention  of  the  men 
who  had  volunteered  for  the  purpose  to 
spend  the  tropical  nights  in  a  room  which 
was  tightly  closed,  and  to  which  the  smallest 
amount  of  ventilation  necessary  to  life  was 
admitted  by  two  small  windows  a  little  more 
than  two  feet  square.  When  the  building  was 
ready,    three   large    cases    filled   with    soiled 

I  clothing  from  yellow  fever  hospitals  of 
Havana  were  opened,  and  Doctor  R.  P.  Cook 
with  two  privates  of  the  hospital  corps  entered 
the  house  and  closed  the  doors,  then  unpacked 


it  around  the  room.  It  is  evident  that  it 
would  have  been  impossible  in  a  small  room 
of  14x20  feet  to  have  hung  clothing  from 
three  large  boxes  in  any  way  so  that  the 
inmates  could  avoid  constant  contact. 
These  men  lived  here  for  twenty  days.  At 
the  end  of  that  time  they  were  placed  in 
quarantine  for  five  days,  but  they  did  not 
develop  the  disease.  Further  experiments 
went  on  for  sixty-three  days,  and  conditions 
were  made  still  more  trying,  but  not  a  single 
individual  developed  the  fever. 

To  settle  the  question,  How  does  a  house 
become  infected  with  yellow  fever  ?  a  second 
house  was  built,  divided  into  two  rooms 
separated  by  wire  screens.  Everything  in 
this  house  was  carefully  disinfected  by  steam, 
and  then  into  the  large  room  a  number  of 
infected  mosquitoes  were  introduced.  A  sus- 
ceptible individual  entered  this  room  and 
permitted  himself  to  be  bitten  a  number 
of  times,  and  after  three  days  developed 
yellow  fever.  Two  non-immunes  slept  in 
this  house  for  eighteen  nights  in  the  part  of 
the  room  which  was  screened  from  mos- 
quitoes and  did  not  develop  the  disease. 

The  conclusions  are  the  results  of  months 
of  most  painstaking  investigation,  during 
every  hour  of  which  the  investigators  faced 
death  by  one  of  the  most  fatal  of  tropic 
diseases. 

Of  eleven  conclusions  which  the  commis- 
sion formulated  as  a  result  of  their  investi- 
gations, four  are  of  immediate  public  interest. 

(i)  Yellow  fever  is  transmitted  by  means 
of  the  bite  of  a  mosquito.  (2)  Yellow  fever 
cannot  be  conveyed  by  contact  with  articles 
of  clothing  supposedly  contaminated,  and 
disinfection  of  such  articles  is  therefore 
unnecessary.  (3)  A  house  may  be  said 
to  be  infected  with  yellow  fever  only  when 
there  are  present  contaminated  mosquitoes. 
(4)  The  spread  of  yellow  fever  can  be  most 
effectually  controlled  by  measures  directed 
to  the  destruction  of  mosquitoes  and  pro- 
tection against  the  bites  of  these  insects. 

At  present  yellow  fever,  which  has  been 
constantly  epidemic  in  Cuba,  has  been  prac- 
tically stamped  out.  It  is  impossible  now 
that  epidemics  of  yellow  fever  should  ever 
again  devastate  our  southern  ports.  And 
it  is  evident  that  the  extermination  of  the 
mosquito  is  a  pressing  necessity,  not  only  of 
sanitation,  but  of  practical  economics.  The 
cost    of   a   single    epidemic   of   yellow   fever 


3204        RECENT   ADVANCES    IN    MEDICINE   AND    SURGERY 


would  defray  the  expenses  of  mosquito 
extermination  over  an  area  equal  to  the 
entire  region  likely  to  be  infected. 

Doctor  Walter  Reed,  the  head  of  the  com- 
mission, died  this  winter  in  Washington.  His 
widow,  under  the  law,  has  the  trifling  pension 
of  $2 5  per  month.  When  we  remember  the 
shotgun  quarantines  of  a  few  years  ago,  the 
hordes  of  trembling  and  often  destitute 
refugees  fleeing  from  the  stroke  of  death, 
denied  asylum  and  driven  with  guns  from 
town  to  town ;  when  we  reflect  on  the  enor- 
mous losses  to  commerce,  the  interruption  to 
travel  occasioned  by  a  quarantine  based  on 
ignorance  and  selfish  terror,  it  is  impossible  to 
overestimate  the  value  of  the  work  he  and 
his  associates  accomplished. 

The  mosquito  bears  the  same  relation  to 
malarious  fevers  that  it  does  to  ^-ellow  fever : 
it  transmits  the  disease  by  its  bite.  There 
are  several  species  of  the  malaria  parasite, 
which  is  of  microscopic  size,  but  the 
variety  which  produces  a  mild  infection  can 
be  readily  distinguished  from  that  which 
induces  a  dangerous  fever.  It  was  there- 
fore possible  to  select  for  experimental 
purposes  a  parasite  which  would  give 
rise  to  a  mild  attack  of  malaria  only.  The 
role  of  the  mosquito  in  disseminating  disease 
had  before  been  suspected.  As  early  in  the 
past  century  as  1807  the  theory  had  been 
propounded  that  the  mosquito  was  the  active 
agent  in  propagating  malarial  diseases.  From 
that  time  there  have  been  constant  investi- 
gations to  prove  the  theory.  Commenced 
in  1898  and  1899,  within  the  last  two  years 
a  long  series  of  experiments  with  human 
subjects  have  finally  demonstrated  beyond 
reasonable  doubt  that  malarial  fevers  can 
only  be  disseminated  by  the  bite  of  the 
mosquito,  and  also  that  certain  species  only 
of  the  mosquito  are  able  to  communicate 
the  disease.  It  has  also  been  proved  that 
kerosene  oil  thrown  upon  water  in  which 
the  young  of  the  mosquito  are  developing, 
by  keeping  the  oxygen  from  them,  destroys 
them  immediately. 

Travelers  in  the  South  have  frequently 
observed  the  extreme  pallor  of  the  so-called 
poor  white  trash;  but  until  the  past  year  no 
one  has  ever  suspected  that  these  people 
were  the  victims  of  a  disease,  which  was,  in 
part  at  least,  responsible  for  both  their  mental 
and  physical  condition.  They  have  been 
treated    by    local    doctors    for    malaria    and 


anemia,  they  have  been  dosed  with  quinine, 
arsenic,  iron — all  to   no   purpose.     The  dis- 
covery of  the  true  cause  of  these  symptoms, 
bodily   and   mental,    was    made    during  the 
last  year  by  Doctor  C.  W.  Stiles,  of  the  United 
States  Marine   Hospital  Service.     There  is  in 
Europe  a  condition  of  anemia  which  is  pro- 
duced by   an  intestinal   parasite   called  the 
hook  worm.     This  is  a  small  worm  not  much 
larger  than  a  sewing  needle,  which,  when  it 
inhabits  the  human  intestine,  occurs  in  large 
numbers.     Its     eggs,     of     microscopic     size, 
through    contaminated    water    or    uncooked 
vegetables,     spread     the     disease.       Doctor 
Stiles  went  South  for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining  whether   there    was   such   a    disease 
prevalent    in    this    country.     He    examined 
some  fourteen  hundred  convicts  in  one  of  the 
southern  prisons,  without,  however,  finding 
the  disease.     But  going  into  what  is  known 
as  the  sand  belt,  he  soon  encountered  indi- 
viduals with  characteristic  symptoms.  Weeks 
were  spent  in  the  affected  territory.     It  was 
found  that  the  disease  was  limited    to    the 
sand   belt,    never   being   found   in   the    clay 
region    except    where    the    individuals    had 
come  from  the  sand  belt.     Persons  moving 
from    the    clay   to    the    sand    soon    became 
affected.     The  disease  does  not  occur  in  the 
well-to-do    because    of    their    more    cleanly 
habits  of  life.     As  many  as  fourteen  hundred 
of  these  parasites  have  been  found  in  one 
person's  intestine.      The  anemia  they  occa- 
sion   is    intense.     Persons  affected  with  the 
disease    soon    tire    and  want  to  leave  their 
work;  they  are  incapable  of  continuous  exer- 
tion, they  contract  morbid  appetites — become 
clay-eaters;  and  Doctor  Stiles  observed  one 
case  in  which  the  morbid  appetite  took  the 
form  of  a   predilection  for  live   mice.     The 
form   of   the   affected  individual   is   stunted 
and  fails  to  develop,  so  that  a  lad  or  young 
girl  of  eighteen  or  twenty  has  the  appear- 
ance of  a  child  of  twelve  or  fourteen.     The 
disease  may  be  cured  by  the  administration 
of  simple  drugs  to  destroy  the  parasite.     The 
spread  of  the  disease  is  to  be  prevented  by 
more   cleanly   personal  habits   and   sanitary 
precautions.     This  discovery  is   recent,  and 
promises  to  put  the  poor  white  of  the  South 
on  an  equality  with  the  northern  farmer  in 
the  point  of  health. 

The  recent  wars  in  Cuba  and  South  Africa 
have  attracted  the  attention  of  governments 
to   the   problem   of   protecting  their  troops 


RECENT    ADVANCES    IN    MEDICINE    AND    SURGlvRY         3205 


from  typhoid  fever,  a  disease  which  numbers 
more  victims  than  bullets.  This  also  is  due 
to  the  contamination  of  food  or  drink.  The 
British  Government  undertook  the  task  of 
attempting  to  protect  certain  of  its  troops 
sent  to  India  and  South  Africa  by  the  use 
of  a  protective  serum  obtained  by  iniinimizing 
horses  against  typhoid.  This  is  injected 
under  the  skin  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
antitoxin  of  diphtheria.  Of  11,295  men 
observed  in  the  British  Army,  2,835  were 
inoculated  and  8,460  were  not  inoculated. 
Of  the  inoculated,  less  than  one  per  cent, 
contracted  the  fever,  while  two  and  one-half 
per  cent,  of  the  non-inoculated  contracted  it. 
This  experiment  has  little  to  commend  it, 
for,  as  there  were  nearly  four  times  as  many 
men  who  did  not  receive  the  serum,  there 
were  four  times  the  number  exposed  to  infec- 
tion. A  more  striking  series  of  cases,  however, 
from  which  a  deduction  might  be  made  is 
the  following:  Among  655  individuals,  511 
were  inoculated.  Of  these,  only  seven  were 
attacked;  while  among  the  144  not  inocu- 
lated there  were  47  cases  of  typhoid  fever. 
With  regard  to  tlie  prevention  of  this  dis- 
ease, however,  the  public  are  in  as  much 
need  of  education  as  the  Georgia  "cracker." 
When  communities  learn  that  careful  sani- 
tation is,  in  the  long  run,  less  expensive  than 
disease,  and  cease  to  contaminate  running 
water,  wells  and  springs,  we  shall  cease  to 
have  typhoid  fever. 

Protective  and  curative  serums  against 
plague  and  cholera  have  been  made,  two  tropic 
diseases  which,  now  that  we  have  colonies  in 
the  tropics,  concern  us  as  Americans.  It 
cannot,  however,  be  said  at  present  that 
these  serums  have  proved  as  efficient  pro- 
tectives  against  their  respective  diseases  as  is 
vaccination  against  smallpox  or  curative  as 
is  antitoxin  in  cases  of  diphtheria. 

In  surgery  there  has  been  in  the  last  year 
or  two  a  constant  and  steady  improvement 
in  technique,  due  largely  to  the  conferences 
which  surgeons  hold  in  their  different  societies. 
An  abundant  and  progressive  medical  litera- 
ture is  also  largely  responsible  for  the  free 
interchange  of  experiences  and  opinions,  so 
lA  ^^^^  surgical  events  in  one  hospital  soon 
'  become  the  property  of  all  surgeons.  In 
the  latter  half  of  1899  a  new  method  of  anes- 
thesia was  introduced.  This  consisted  of  the 
I  introduction  of  a  solution  of  cocaine  within 


ducing  an  anesthesia  of  the  sensory  nerves 
of  the  body  as  they  are  given  off  from  the 
spinal  cord.  The  method  is  simple:  the 
back  having  Ijcen  thoroughly  scrubbed  and 
cleansed,  a  long  and  slender  hollow  needle 
is  pushed  boldly  between  the  s])ines  of  the 
vertebrae  until  it  enters  the  canal  in  the 
spinal  column  which  contains  the  spinal  cord. 
The  cocaine  solution  injected  into  the  spinal 
canal  diffuses  itself  in  the  cerebral  sj)inal 
fluid.  Within  varying  periods  of  time,  aver- 
aging, however,  about  ten  minutes,  com- 
plete anesthesia  is  established  as  high  as  the 
arms,  and  sometimes  higher.  It  is  then 
possible  to  operate  without  any  pain  what- 
ever on  the  part  of  the  patient,  who  is,  how- 
ever, entirely  conscious.  It  seems  positively 
uncanny  to  be  able  to  carry  on  a  conver- 
sation with  a  patient  while  performing 
operations  ordinarily  most  painful.  I  have 
had  a  patient  chat  unconcernedly  through 
an  operation  which  involved  the  use  of  the 
actual  cautery  on  the  most  sensitive  parts  of 
the  body.  Through  the  years  1901  and 
1902  this  method  of  anesthesia  was  exten- 
sively used  both  in  this  country  and  Europe. 
Surgeons,  however,  here  at  least,  soon  found 
that  there  was  an  advantage  in  the  ordinary 
anesthetics,  ether  or  chloroform.  Moreover, 
there  was  an  element  of  uncertainty  about 
the  new  method.  In  some  parts  of  the 
body  anesthesia  was  never  to  be  depended 
upon.  Unpleasant  after  effects  were  not 
uncommon,  such  as  long-persistent  headache, 
sometimes  lasting  for  two  weeks.  The  new 
method  used  is  chiefly  in  selected  cases  which 
are  unfit  for  chloroform  or  ether.  The 
sphere  of  local  anesthesia  by  cocaine  has, 
however,  been  much  enlarged. 

The  use  of  the  X-ray  for  the  detection  of 
foreign  bodies  has  been  extended  through 
improvements  in  instruments  and  by  a  more 
thorough  comprehension  of  the  subject. 
Within  the  past  year  and  a  half  a  new  use 
has  been  found  for  the  Roentgen  ray.  It  has 
been  observed  that  it  exercises  a  favorable 
influence  on  cancerous  growths.  It  is  par- 
ticularly useful  in  superficial  cancers  of  the 
skin.  I  have  seen  such  growths  disappear 
after  a  number  of  exposures  to  the  ray.  Even 
in  unfavorable  cases  improvements  have 
been  noticed,  such  as  relief  from  pain.  Some 
physicians  devoted  to  the  X-ray  have,  it  is 
feared,  been  overenthusiastic  in  their  reports, 
but  it  is  certain  that  many  cases  of  cancer, 


3206        RECENT   ADVANCES    IN    MEDICINE   AND    SURGERY 


not  amenable  to  the  knife,  have,  for  a  time  at 
least,  been  favorably  influenced  by  this  par- 
ticular treatment. 

Twice  during  the  past  two  3^ears  the  heart 
itself  has  been  successfully  sutured  after 
stab  wounds.  This  is  an  operation  which 
can  be  done  very  rarely  because  such  injuries 
are  generally  immediately  fatal.  When  the 
wound  is  valve-like,  or  very  small,  this  opera- 
tion occasionally  may  be  attempted  with 
complete  success. 

The  tour  in  this  country  of  Professor 
Lorenz,  of  Vienna,  has  attracted  public 
attention  to  his  method  of  treating  congenital 
dislocations  of  the  hip  joint.  A  child  has  a 
congenital  dislocation  of  the  hip  joint  when 
it  is  bom  with  one  or  both  of  the  thigh  bones 
out  of  the  socket.  In  such  cases,  the  socket 
is  usually  too  shallow,  and  the  tense  muscles 
resist  the  efforts  of  the  surgeon  to  bring  the 
head  of  the  bone  into  its  proper  place.  There 
are  two  methods  of  dealing  with  these  muscles : 
One  is  by  cutting  them  with  a  knife  through 
an  open  wound,  and  the  other  by  tearing 
them  apart  by  main  force  underneath  the 
skin.  The  latter  is  Doctor  Lorenz 's  method. 
It  is  not  new  to  the  surgeons  of  America,  and 
the  operation  has  been  done  a  number  of 
times  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  Its 
chief  advantage  over  the  open  method  lies 
in  the  fact  that  the  child,  in  a  few  davs  after 
the  operation,  is  placed  on  its  feet  with  the  leg 
in  plaster  and  compelled  to  walk.  It  is  to 
be  understood,  however,  that  the  limb  is  not 
in  the  ordinary  position  adopted  in  walking. 
If  this  position  were  attempted  the  bone  would 
immediately  slip  out  of  place  again.  To 
keep  the  head  of  the  bone  in  its  place  after  the 
dislocation  has  been  reduced,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  thigh  be  flexed  nearly  at  a  right 
angle  on  the  body  and  extended  outward. 
This,  of  course,  shortens  the  leg,  and  it  is 
necessary  to  put  a  high  shoe  on  the  foot. 
The  leg  is  kept  in  this  position  by  plaster  of 
Paris  bandages,  which,  applied  when  moist, 
rapidly  set  into  a  hard,  stone-like  mold, 
which  keeps  the  limb  rigid  in  the  position 
described.  The  limb  is  then  forced  to  bear 
its  proportion  of  the  weight  of  the  body,  and 
this  has  a  tendency  to  deepen  the  socket. 
This  plaster  is  not  disturbed  for  eight  months. 
At  the  end  of  this  time  it  is  removed,  and,  if 
the  dislocation  does  not  recur,  in  a  short 
time  the  leg  comes  down  from  its  abnormal 
position   to  a  natural  one  and   the  child  is 


cured.  This  happy  result  is  not  attained  in 
all  the  cases  treated  after  this  method,  even 
by  Doctor  Lorenz  himself,  the  relapses 
being  about  forty  per  cent,  of  the  total 
number  of  cases. 

There  are  small  glandular  bodies  attached 
to  the  upper  border  of  each  kidney,  known 
as  the  suprarenal  capsules.  Until  recentlv 
their  function  was  entirely  unknown.  A 
substance  called  adrenalin  has  been  extracted 
from  these  glands  which  when  placed  in 
contact  with  mucous  membranes  in  water 
solution  renders  them  bloodless.  This  has 
been  of  great  service  to  those  surgeons  who 
operate  on  the  nose  and  throat,  as  they  first 
render  the  vascular  parts  bloodless  by  the 
adrenalin  solution,  and  anesthetize  by  cocaine. 
It  is  then  possible  for  them  to  operate  without 
causing  either  hemorrhage  or  pain. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  find 
remedies  for  blood  poisoning.  Fortunately, 
since  the  introduction  of  antiseptic  surgery, 
and  as  a  result  of  our  knowledge  of  the  causes 
of  this  condition,  such  cases,  previously  very 
common,  are  now  quite  rare.  They  do  occxir, 
however,  and  physicians  have  been  in  search 
of  an  agent,  harmless  to  man,  which  would 
be  destructive  to  the  organism  which 
causes  blood  poisoning.  Up  to  the  present 
time  no  such  agent  has  been  found.  Recently 
some  experiments  have  been  made  with 
formalin  by  introducing  it  into  the  veins  in  a 
solution  of  one  part  of  formalin  to  five  thou- 
sand of  water  to  which  a  little  salt  has 
been  added.  It  is  too  soon  to  give  an  opin- 
ion as  to  the  usefulness  of  this  treatment. 

There  are  great  problems  still  to  be  solved  in 
surgery.  Most  important  of  all  is  the  discovery 
of  the  cause  of  cancer,  which  hitherto  has  de- 
fied the  most  acute  investigators  of  the  world. 
On  this  problem  laboratories  everywhere  are 
working,  and  every  surgeon  in  every  hospital. 
Sometimes  it  seems  as  if  the  secret  is  within 
our  grasp — nevertheless  it  stili  eludes  us.  No 
great  advances  can  be  expected  in  the  treat- 
ment of  cancerous  growths  until  we  have 
solved  this  the  most  hidden  secret  of  disease. 
The  world  owes  much  to  the  labors  of  scien- 
tific men.  Their  work  is  accomplished  in 
silence,  in  the  stillness  of  the  laboratory,  the 
quiet  of  hospital  wards  and  in  the  sick-room. 
To  their  unwearied  hands  we  may  entrust 
without  fear  this  most  difficult  problem  of 
disease.  Its  solution  is  only  postponed. 
No  man  shall  call  it  impossible. 


IN     IIIK    UKOKJN    OK   'IHK    l'K(  )l^()Si:i)    A  I'I'AI,  \(   1 1 1  A  N     I'XKK. 


SAVING    THE   SOUTHERN    FORESTS 

SOME  OF  THE  METHODS  BY  WHICH  SCIENTIFIC  FORESTRY  IS 
REPLACING  WASTEFULNESS  WITH  CONSERVATIVE  CARE— HOW 
TURPENTINE  WAS  GATHERED— USING  BLACK  WALNUT  FOR 
FENCES  — PARTICULAR     EXAMPLES     OF     BETTER    MANAGEMENT 

BY 

OVERTON    W.    PRICE 

ASSISTANT    FORESTER    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT   OF    AGRICULTURE    AT    WASHINGTON 

Illustrated  in  part  from  photographs  furnished  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Forestry 


THE  Bureau  of  Forestry  at  Washington 
has  lately  been  overwhelmed  by 
requests  from  the  southern  States 
for  assistance  in  the  application  of  practical 
forestry  to  private  lands.  Back  of  these  is 
the  old  motive  of  learning  how  the  productive 
capacity  of  a  forest  may  be  preserved,  and 

I  how,  at  the  same  time,  the  forest  may  be 
I 


made  to  yield  a  fair  return  on  the  capital 
it  represents.  And,  although  the  work  is 
young  and  the  forest  lands  which  are  being 
managed  conservatively  are  only  a  minute 
part  of  the  southern  timber  lands,  there  is 
already  a  practical  realization  of  what  well- 
directed  forestry  can  do  for  timber  lands 
which  have  been  used  for  each  year's  result 


3208 


SAVING  THE    SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


"BOXING"    FOR   TURPENTINE 
The  tree  is  scored  each  year  higher  up  the  trunk  and  on  another  side  until  it  is  girdled  as  high  as  a  man  can  reach 


rather  than  to  conserve  the  lasting  value  of 
the  forest.  The  South  is  prosperous,  and  her 
forests  in  large  measure   are  paying  for  it. 


A    FIRE    IN   A   TURPENTINE  ORCHARD 


Here  the  tree  growth  is  among  the  richest 
and  most  varied  in  the  world.  And  the 
recent  movement  for  a  national  reserve  in 
the  southei-n  Appalachians  is,  without  doubt, 
leading  to  a  better  understanding  of  the 
need  of  careful  forestry. 

Just  as  differences  in  soil,  slope  and  ex- 
posure within  the  limits  of  a  farm  wood-lot 
produce  distinct  forest  types,  so  the  forests 
of  a  country  fall  naturally  in  great  divisions. 
In  the  South  these  are  the  southern  pine 
forest,  the  northern  forest  and  the  interior 
hardwood  forest.  The  limits  and  the  condi- 
tions of  these  sections  are  interesting  in 
many  ways.  In  the  Southern  pine  forest, 
which  occupies  the  great  coastal  plain  from 
Virginia  to  Texas,  long-leaf  pine  is  the  charac- 
teristic tree.  With  it  mingle  the  seven  other 
southern  pines  in  a  proportion  fixed  by  the 
suitabilitv  of  forest  conditions  to  their  indi- 


SAVING   TIIK   SOUTHERN    FURKSTS 


3209 


THE    iMETHOiJ   uF    FELLINt,   YELLOW  PIXE 


i  hy  Davison 


CUTTING   UP  YELLOW   PINE 


Photographed  by  Davisoo 


3210 


SAVING   THE    SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


HANDLING   LOGS    IN   THE   WOODS 


riiutugrdpiica  i-y  uiviiun 


HAULING  LOGS  OUT  OF  THE  WOODS 


Photographed  by  Davison 


TURPENTINE    ORCHARDING 
The  deep  notch  to  catch  the  drip  is  an  invitation  to  windfall  and  damage  by  fire 


3212 


SAVING    THE    SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


vidual  requirements.  In  the  moist  places 
oaks,  gums,  hickories  and  ash  are  prominent, 
while  in  the  swamps  and  bayous  the  bald 
cypress  reaches  its  best  development. 

The  northern  forest  stretches  southward 
along  the  Appalachian  Mountains  to  northern 
Alabama.  It  contains  a  remarkable  and 
varied  mixture  of  trees  common  both  in  the 
North  and  in  the  South.  The  spruce,  the 
white  pine  and  the  sugar  maple  find  in  the 
higher  parts  of  the  Smoky  Mountains  and  of 
the   Blue   Ridge   conditions  similar  to  those 


United  States.  It  was  the  region  of  giant 
walnut,  oak,  cherry  and  yellow  poplar. 
The  hickories,  ash,  basswood  and  butternut 
here  reached  their  largest  size,  and  the  forest 
was  characterized  throughout  by  the  remark- 
able luxuriance  of  its  grouch. 

Fifty  years  ago  the  southern  States  con- 
tributed only  one-tenth  of  the  total  lumber 
product  of  the  country.  They  now  yield  more 
than  one-fourth,  and  the  proportion  is  rising 
steadily.  The  Civil  War  was  followed  closely 
by  a  peaceful  invasion  of  the  South.    Lumber- 


LOADING  LOGS  ON   A   TRAIN  WITH   OXEN 


Photographed  by  Davison 


of  lower  altitudes  in  the  North  woods ;  while 
in  the  mild  climate  of  the  southern  foothills 
they  are  replaced  by  magnolias,  gums  and 
live  oak.  In  all,  the  southern  Appalachian 
Mountains  contain  more  than  one  hundred 
different  kinds  of  trees. 

The  interior  hardwood  forest  stretches 
from  the  western  base  of  the  Appalachian 
Mountains  to  the  Mississippi  River,  and  was 
formerlv  the  finest    hardwood  forest  in  the 


men  turned  in  increasing  numbers  from  the 
depleted  northern  pineries  to  the  hardwoods 
of  the  Appalachian  ^Mountains  and  the  soft 
woods  of  the  coastal  plain.  Sawmills  and 
settlements  sprang  up,  a  new  field  for  labor 
was  opened,  and  growing  activity  in  the 
manufacture  of  lumber  became  a  prominent 
feature  in  the  developments  of  southern 
industries.  The  result  has  been  that  the 
South  owes  much  of  her  prosperity  to  the 


SAVINC;    THE    SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


3213 


lumber  iiidustrw  I>u(  Ihc  end   of  her  timber 
su])ply  is  ah-e;uly  clearly  in  sight. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  point  upon  wliieli 
authorities  diiTer  more  than  as  to  the  standing 
timber  in  the  southern  States  and  elsewhere 
in  this  country.  Our  forest  lands  are  so  vast, 
their  composition  so  varied,  and  our  knowl- 
edge of  them  based  upon  so  slender  a  thread 
of  information,  that  even  an  api)roximate 
estimate  of  their  contents  is  largely  guess- 
work. The  period  necessary  to  exhaust  the 
long-leaf  jiinc  at  the  ]:)resent  rate  of  consump- 


The  history  of  lumbering  in  the  South 
(litTers  only  in  detail  from  its  develoj)ment 
elsewhere  in  this  country.  It  grew  rapidly 
from  small  beginnings  to  a  great  industry, 
every  branch  of  wliich  is  aimed  at  the  prompt 
conversion  of  trees  into  money.  Realization 
is  gaining  ground  rapidly  that  the  old  form  of 
lumbering,  with  its  rough-and-ready  methods, 
its  enormous  profits,  and  its  disregard  of  the 
future,  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  It  has  gone 
with  the  buffalo  "killings,"  with  the  flush 
times     that     marked     imf)rovident     use     of 


Photographed  by  Davison 


LOADING  LOGS  ON  A  TRAIN  WITH   HORSES 


tion  lias  been  reckoned  to  be  from  fifteen  to 
thirty-five  years,  while  statements  differing 
quite  as  widely  have  been  made  for  the 
southern  hardwoods.  The  time  that  will 
I  elapse  before  the  merchantable  trees  have 
'  all  been  cut  is  not  the  urgent  question.     The 

Ifact  that  so  far  no  general  remedy  has  been 
applied  to  prevent  an  already  imminent 
timber  famine  is  in  itself  a  matter  of  grave 


resources    whose    limits    had   not    yet    made 
themselves    felt. 

There  is  no  region  in  the  United  States  in 
which  the  adoption  of  conservative  methods 
in  lumbering  is  more  urgent  than  in  the  South, 
nor  one  in  which  it  is  a  sounder  business 
measure.  In  the  Pine  Belt,  wdiere  logging 
is  easy  and  profits  are  large,  the  future  crop, 
which  it  is  the  object  of  forestry  to  produce, 
is   of  high   potential   value.     The   successful 


3214 


SAVING   THE   SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


A   TRAIN   OF   LOGS   AT  A   MILL 


Photographed  by  Davison 


reproduction  of  the  forest  requires  the  appli- 
cation of  comparatively  simple  measures. 
Fires  that  would  sweep  the  ground  bare 
of  seedlings  in  the  North  woods  or  in  the 
Appalachian  Mountains  destroy  only  the 
very  young  long-leaf  pine.  After  four  or 
five  years  a  thick  casing  of  needles  protects 
the  seedlings  from  the  ordinary  fires — a 
provision  of  nature  that  has  done  much  to 
preserve  the  long-leaf  pine  from  extermina- 
tion. But  in  spite  of  its  resistance  to  fire  and 
its  capacity  to  perpetuate  itself  under  adverse 
conditions,  the  long-leaf  pine  has  one  enemy 
with  which  it  cannot  cope  successfully. 
Turpentine  orcharding,  the  source  of  the 
great  naval  stores  industry  of  the  South,  is 
yielding  slowly  to  improved  methods,  but 
centuries  cannot  eradicate  the  harm  that 
has  been  done.  There  is  no  more  deplorable 
sight  to  the  man  who  has  a  sense  of  the  value 
of  trees  than  the  abandoned  turpentine 
orchard — a  grim  array  of  mutilated  trunks, 
scorched  and  charred  where  the  box  is  made, 
broken  by  the  wind,  infested  by  insects,  and 
worthless  except  to  illustrate  the  futility  of 
killing  the  goose  which  lays  the  golden  eggs. 
The  South  is  full  of  such  pictures. 


The  forests  of  the  southern  Appalachians 
contain  perhaps  the  clearest  examples  of 
misuse  that  this  country  has  the  misfortune 
to  present.  Fences  built  of  prime  black 
walnut,  because  walnut  happened  to  be  the 
tree  nearest  the  line  of  the  fence,  enclose 
many  a  mountain  field,  the  value  of  which  is 
but  a  trifle  compared  to  that  of  the  trees 
from  which  its  fence-rails  were  split.  The 
region  contains  numberless  "  deadenings, " 
the  local  phrase  for  girdling  the  forest  trees 
so  that  they  die,  and  cultivating  the  ground 
beneath  them.  And  in  the  places  where  the 
axes  have  been  plied  more  vigorously  and 
from  which  the  great  logs  of  tulip  tree  and 
oak  have  come,  there  are  results  typical 
of  the  point  of  view  that  sanctioned  the 
walnut  fences  and  justified  the  deadenings. 
Here  the  ground  is  piled  high  with  the  debris 
of  the  lumbering,  tinder  for  the  next  fire. 
Here  are  tops  and  trunks  smashed  and  riven 
by  careless  fellings,  logs  left  lying  because  of 
small  unsoundness,  young  growth  trampled 
and  bruised  beyond  necessity.  Time  will 
make  mold  of  the  debris  and  will  heal  the 
scars  upon  standing  trees.  As  long  as  a 
remnant   of  the   forest   remains  the   second 


SAVING   THE   SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


3215 


I 


crop  will  gi"OW,  although  greatly  haiiii)cri'(l 
by  its  unfa\oral)lc  surroundings.  Hut  it  is 
the  composition  of  the  second  crop  which  is 
the  urgent  question.  With  the  big  trees, 
the  mother  trees  of  the  valuable  species,  gone, 
sourwoods,  dogwoods  and  other  kinds  of 
little  value  are  all  that  remain  to  shed  the 
seed  from  which  the  new  growth  will  spring. 

Each  development  of  the  knnbcr  industr\' 
has  left  its  mark  upon  the  southern  forests. 
There  was  the  era  of  the  portable  sawmill, 
a  small  but  insatiable  monster  which  moved 
from  place  to  place  leaving  mutilated  spots 
where  it  rested  and  destroying  more  timber 
than  it  sawed.  Then  with  capital  and 
energy  and  increased  demand  came  the  large 
sawmill,  representing  a  million  or  more  of 
invested  capital,  which  established  itself  in 
one  spot  and  built  a  settlement  around  it, 
reaching  out  farther  and  farther  and  cutting 
more  and  more  closely  throughout  the  neigh- 
boring   country,    in    order    to    turn    out    its 


lumber  by  the  many  millions  of  feet  each 
\car.  The  small  mill,  the  large  mill,  and 
then  the  ap])lication  of  practical  forestry — 
that  is  the  logical  secjuence.  The  small  mill 
came  first  bccau.se  standing  timber  cost 
])ractically  nothing  in  the  early  days,  and  it 
therefore  paid  best  to  skim  the  cream  of  it. 
The  large  mill  followed  because  with  an 
increase  of  demand  grew  the  profit  of  meeting 
it.  And  since  the  large  mill  cannot  be  moved 
advantageously,  and  sooner  or  later  must  shut 
down  unless  new  crojjs  of  timber  may  be 
obtained  from  the  lands  which  have  been  cut 
over  to  feed  it,  the  application  of  conserva- 
tive forest  management  is  its  natural  and 
inevitable  consequence. 

There  are  forests,  however,  which  are 
already  being  managed  conservatively.  The 
domain  of  the  University  of  the  South,  near 
Sewanee,  Tennessee,  for  example,  possesses 
an  educational  value  far  out  of  proportion 
to  its  comparatively  small  area.     Cattle  had 


rhutographed  by  Davison 


32i6 


SAVING    THE    SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


LUMBER    IX    PILES 


Photographed  by  Davison 


LOADING   LUMBER   FOR   EXPORT 
At  Port  Arthur,  Texas 


Photographed  by  Davison 


SAVING  Till-:  sou'iii  i:rn  i<'() rests 


3217 


AN   OLD   TURPENTINE  ORCHARD 
The  forest  was  culled  for  lumber  and  boxed  for  turpentine  and  then  fire  ran  through  it 


REPRODUCTION   OF  LONG-LEAF  PINE 
The  larger  seedlings  will  probably  survive  the  next  fire 


I 


32i8 


SAVING   THE   SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


overgrazed  the  forest,  fire  had  run  through  it 
and  a  slovenly  form  of  lumbering  had  been 
practised  in  it  long  before  the  University  was 
founded.  Under  the  supervision  of  the 
Bureau,  methods  have  been  introduced  which 
insure  the  production  of  a  second  crop,  while 
the  profits  of  lumbering  have  been  notably 
increased  by  enforced  system  and  economy. 
The  joint  result  is  that  the  University  has 
gained  a  higher  return  from  cutting  over  a 
quarter  of  its  holdings  than  all  the  timber  it 
formerly  possessed  was  estimated  to  be  worth. 
Moreover,  the  lumbering  now  husbands 
the  productive  capacity  of  the  forest  instead 
of  destroying  it. 

Upon  the  tract  of  the   Sawyer  &  Austin 
Lumber  Company,  consisting  of  one  hundred 


Photographed  by  Darisou 


SHORT-LEAF   PINE 
In  Arkansas 


AFTER   THE   LUMBERING 
The  second  crop  will  be  tardy  and  of  low  value 

thousand  acres  of  southern  pines  in  south- 
eastern Arkansas,  an  experiment  in  practical 
forestry  is  under  way  which  is  of  direct  value 
to  other  owners  of  pine  lands  in  the  South 
It  consists  not  only  in  the  leaving  of  seed 
trees,  in  care  in  the  fellings  and  in  methods 
for  the  full  utilization  of  the  trees  felled,  but 
notably  in  a  carefully  devised  system  for  the 
protection  of  cut-over  areas  from  fire.  It  is 
upon  similar  protection  that  the  future  of 
the  pine  belt  chiefly  depends,  and  a  demon- 
stration of  its  practicability  at  moderate 
expense  is  the  best  argument  for  its  adoption. 
As  a  result  of  its  work  upon  the  Stevenson 
and  Wetmore  lands  in  the  Smoky  Mountains, 
the  Bureau  of  Forestry  has  succeeded  in  intro- 
ducing rules  for  conservative  lumbering  as  a 
part  of  the  contract  under  which  the  timber 
is  sold.  To  those  who  have  watched  the 
progress  of  forestry  in  this  country  the 
inclusion  of  measures  fostering  the  production 


3220 


SAVING   THE   SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


of  a  second  crop  in  a  contract  for  the  sale 
of  stumpage  is  a  notable  step  in  the  right 
direction. 

The  tract  of  the  Kirby  Lumber  Company 
in   southeastern    Texas   offers   a   remarkable 


the  preparation  of  which  is  now  going  on, 
owns  the  timber  rights  upon  one  and  one- 
quarter  million  acres,  an  area  approximately 
the  same  as  that  of  the  State  of  Delaware. 
It  is  the  main  source  of  livelihood  to  about 


Photographed  by  Davison 


A   TREE   FALLING 


opportunity   for   proof   of   the    business   ad-  fifteen  thousand  persons,  and  is  remarkable 

vantages    of   practical  forestry.     The  Kirby  for  the  quality  of  its  long-leaf  pine  lands  and 

Lumber  Company,  which  has  recently  applied  the    completeness    of    its    equipment.     The 

to  the  Bureau  of  Forestry  for  a  working  plan,  application   of  conservative  management  to 


LUNG-LEAF    PINE    IN    LOUISIANA 


Photographed  by  Davison 


3222 


SAVING   THE   SOUTHERN    FORESTS 


the  forest  of  this  great  corporation  will  be  of 
incalculable  value,  not  only  as  an  experiment 
upon  the  largest  private  holding  in  the  United 
States,  but  also  as  furnishing  the  most 
forcible  example  that  the  South  can  afford  of 
the  fundamental  change  in  the  attitude  of  the 
lumberman  toward  the  work  of  the  forester. 
There  is  no  reason  why  the  practical 
wisdom  shown  in  these  instances  should  not 


govern  the  treatment  of  all  the  southern 
timber  lands.  The  widespread  adoption  of 
scientific  forestry  will  tend  not  merely  to 
make  timber  property  a  permanent  source 
of  continued  revenue,  but  to  save  the  South 
from  such  secondary  effects  of  thoughtless 
denuding  as  have  played  havoc  with  the 
water  supply  of  streams  in  other  parts  of 
the  country. 


THE   FOREST  DISTRIBUTION   IN   THE   EASTERN   UNITED   STATES 
Showing  the  extent  of  the  soulhein  wooded  belt  th.Tt  scientific  forestry  may  preserve 


GREAT    QUESTIONS   OUT    OF    THE   VEN 

EZUELAN    TROUBLE 

WHAT  OF  THE  PUTURE?— SMALL  HOPE  OF  STABLE  CONDITIONS— THE  FEEL- 
ING OF  FOREIGN  RESIDENTS— THE  INTEREST  THAT  THE  SEVERAL  TOWERS 
HAVE      IN      THE      REGION  —  THE     GENERAL      FEELING      OF      UNCERTAINTY 

BY 

JOHN    CALLAN    O'LAUGHLIN 


THE  Caribbean  Sea  should  be  called 
hereafter  an  American  Lake,"  re- 
marked Admiral  Dewey  one  eve- 
ning while  sitting  on  the  quarterdeck  of  his 
flagship,  the  Mayfloivcr,  during  the  recent 
naval  maneuvers.  "It  would  be  well  to 
accustom  the  world  to  the  name  and  what 
it  means." 

The  attention  of  the  world  was  then  riveted 
upon  Venezuela.  Ostensibly  to  obtain  repa- 
ration for  outrages  upon  their  subjects  and 
interests,  Great  Britain,  Germany  and  Italy 
had  destroyed  the  little  navy  of  President 
Castro  and  were  preparing  to  establish  a 
"pacific  blockade."  The  statesmen  who 
pondered  upon  the  action  of  the  European 
Powers  readily  understood  that  Venezuela 
was  an  incident  and  that  something  more  lay 
behind.  In  other  words,  the  lesson  it  was 
intended  she  should  learn  was  imposed  for 
the  benefit  also  of  other  American  govern- 
ments. Europe  was  asserting  her  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  the  western  hemisphere,  and 
the  United  States,  which  had  been  informed 
of  her  intention,  was  standing  by  watching 
developments,  its  fleet,  filled  with  ammuni- 
tion, within  striking  distance  of  the  scene  of 
"pacific"  hostilities. 

From  the  time  of  its  discovery  by  Columbus 
the  Caribbean  Sea  has  been  repeatedly  the 
ground  of  international  conflict.  It  is  not 
going  too  far  to  say  that  Europe  and  the 
United  States  are  now  in  a  sense  contending 
for  mastery  there.  Great  Britain  and  Italy 
fell  into  the  plan  to  coerce  Venezuela,  to 
obtain  redress,  and  to  maintain  and,  if  pos- 
sible, increase  their  prestige  in  the  western 
hemisphere.  Germany's  primary  purpose  was 
to  assert,  herself,  to  extend  her  influence 
and  power  and  to  demonstrate  that  she 
must  be  regarded  as  a  factor  in  American 
iffairs.     The  Civil  War  convinced  Secretarv 


of  State  Seward  of  the  necessity  of  placing 
the  American  flag  in  the  Caribbean  Sea;  but 
at  the  time  the  Senate  looked  through  differ- 
ent glasses  on  that  section  of  the  world.  The 
Spanish-American  War  brought  about  what 
Mr.  Seward  foresaw.  Porto  Rico  was  acquired 
and  Cuba  passed  under  our  protection.  The 
United  States  induced  the  Danish  Government 
to  sign  a  treaty  providing  for  the  transfer  of 
its  possessions  in  the  West  Indies  to  this 
country;  but  German  influence  is  supposed 
to  have  prevented  ratification  of  the  treaty 
by  the  Danish  parliament.  Now  the  United 
States  is  on  the  eve  of  building  the  Panama 
Canal.  Its  construction  will  increase  the  stra- 
tegic and  commercial  value  of  the  islands  and 
of  the  countries  bordering  on  the  Caribbean 
Sea ;  and,  in  the  light  of  the  conditions  present 
and  impending,  the  action  of  the  Powers 
with  respect  to  Venezuela  assumes  an  impor- 
tance which  must  be  considered  seriously  by 
the  American  people. 

The  European  nations  which  have  terri- 
torial interests  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  are 
Great  Britain,  France,  Denmark  and  Holland. 
Germany  has  not  a  single  foot  of  land  there, 
and  has  given  repeated  assurances  that  she 
has  no  intention  of  acquiring  it.  Her  activity 
elsewhere,  however,  is  remarkable.  During 
the  last  seven  years  she  has  established 
herself  in  China,  where  she  owns  Kaio  Chou 
and  claims  commercial  control  of  the  province 
of  Shantung;  she  purchased  the  Caroline 
and  Ladrone  islands,  with  the  exception  of 
Guam,  from  Spain;  she  became  sovereign 
over  the  islands  of  Savaii  and  Upolu  of  the 
Samoan  group,  and  has  increased  her  terri- 
torial interests  in  Africa.  Her  policies  of 
territorial  and  commercial  expansion  move 
together;  the  one  she  considers  the  comple- 
ment of  the  other.  She  has  aggressively 
pushed    her    trade    in    Central    and     South 


3224        QUESTIONS    OUT    OF    THE   VENEZUELAN    TROUBLE 


America,  but  her  navy  is  not  yet  strong 
enough  to  justify  an  attempt  to  brush  aside 
the  Monroe  Doctrine. 

Commercially,  the  United  States  is  the 
dominant  power  in  the  Caribbean  Sea.  The 
products  of  the  islands  and  of  the  countries 
whose  shores  are  washed  by  the  waters  of 
Admiral  Dewey's  American  lake  are  prac- 
tically the  same.  The  United  States  is  their 
natural  market.  The  American  acquisition 
of  Porto  Rico  and  the  negotiation  of  the 
reciprocity  treaty  with  Cuba  seriously  men- 
ace the  prosperity  of  the  other  islands  and 
affect  that  of  the  neighboring  continental 
republics.  Deprived  of  an  outlet  for  their 
surplus  products,  the  colonies  of  Europe 
in  the  Caribbean  Sea  must  necessarily  become 
poorer  and  poorer  and  make  a  greater  drain 
upon  the  mother  countries.  The  gravity  of 
the  situation  was  recognized  by  Great  Britain 
in  her  recent  protest  against  the  Cuban 
reciprocity  treaty.  Already  most  of  the 
islands  receive  financial  support  from  Europe. 
Strategic  reasons  compel  Great  Britain  and 
France  to  retain  their  West  India  possessions. 
Denmark  was  anxious  to  sell  her  islands, 
and  their  inhabitants  desired  transfer  to  the 
United  States.  Holland  finds  it  necessary  to 
credit  her  Dutch  West  Indies  with  $40,000 
annually. 

In  Curacao  I  asked  a  leading  merchant 
how  the  natives  would  regard  American 
protection.  "We  prefer  to  be  under  the 
Holland  flag,"  he  answered,  "for  the  reason 
that  Willemstadt  is  practically  a  free  port,  and 
there  is  little  likelihood  that  our  government 
will  ever  become  involved  in  war.  We  are 
greatly  disturbed  by  the  probability  that  a 
German  Prince  will  succeed  to  the  throne 
if  Queen  Wilhelmina  should  have  no  heir. 
Except  the  few  Germans  here,  I  know  of  no 
one  who  desires  Germany  as  his  sovereign 
State.  Next  to  Holland,  we  want  the  United 
States." 

While  practically  all  the  West  Indies  are 
looking  forward  to  ultimate  annexation  by 
the  United  States,  political  Venezuela  enter- 
tains no  such  desire.  A  rich  country,  there 
can  be  no  question  of  its  ability  to  support 
itself  provided  it  has  peace.  A  constant 
succession  of  revolutions  has  brought  the 
people  to  poverty.  During  the  blockade 
many  sold  jewels  in  order  to  obtain  the  neces- 
saries of  life.  The  natural  effect  of  the  action 
of  the  Powers  has  been  to  create  a  feeling  of 


hatred  for  them  and  to  emphasize  the  depend- 
ence of  the  country  upon  the  United  States. 
Great  Britain,  Germany  and  Italy  will  have 
their  claims  paid,  but  commercially  thev 
will  be  losers.  Plastered  throughout  the 
republic  where  all  may  read  are  cards 
which  set  forth  the  request  of  the  government 
that  Venezuelans  refrain  from  purchasing 
goods  of  German,  English  or  Italian  manu- 
facture. The  newspapers  in  all  their  issues 
print  a  similar  notice.  The  effect  of  this 
move  was  immediate.  Shopkeepers  reported 
a  decrease  in  the  demand  for  articles  manu- 
factured and  imported  by  the  countries 
tabooed  and  an  increase  in  the  sale  of 
American  and  French  made  goods.  Had 
the  Powers  considered  the  possible  effect  of 
hostile  action,  they  might  have  looked  at 
their  trade  returns  and  attempted  a  more 
diplomatic  adjustment. 

The  United  States  leads  in  Venezuelan 
commerce.  Its  imports  and  exports  for 
the  year  1901  amounted  to  $10,205,900. 
Germany  was  second  in  Venezuelan  trade, 
the  value  of  her  commerce  being  $3,903,200. 
France  stood  third  with  $3,320,000;  and 
Great  Britain  was  fourth  with  $3,083,400. 
Italy's  commerce  is  comparatively  of  slight 
importance.  "Our  interests  do  not  lie 
here,"  said  an  Italian  official;  "they  exist 
in  Argentina.  The  important  reason  why 
our  government  participated  in  the 
coercion  of  Venezuela  was  because  Germany 
desired  it." 

During  the  blockade  I  ate  dinner  at  La 
Guayra  with  a  German  who  spoke  bitterly 
of  the  exactions  he  had  suffered.  "I  tell 
you,"  he  said,  pointing  to  the  British  man- 
of-war  and  the  Italian  cruiser,  which  were 
lying  at  anchor,  "these  ships  should  open  fire 
on  the  forts  and  raze  them  to  the  ground. 
Punishment  of  the  harshest  character  should 
be  visited  upon  these  people.  They  are 
thieves  and  cowards.  They  lay  tribute  upon 
ever}^  man  who  they  think  has  money;  and 
if  he  does  not  comply  with  their  demands 
he  is  made  to  suffer.  Recently  I  went  to 
Guanta  to  collect  a  bill  for  a  firm  by  which 
I  w^as  employed.  In  spite  of  secrecy,  the 
news  of  it  reached  the  general  in  command. 
He  called  on  me  and  announced  that  he 
desired  a  "loan,"  and  asked  for  a  sum  equal 
to  that  which  I  had  obtained.  I  told  him 
I  had  no  money.  He  was  incredulous  and 
ordered    a    search    of    my    baggage.     When 


QUESTIONS    OUT    OF   THE    VENEZUELAN    TROUBLE         3225' 


he  proposed  to  search  my  person,  I  rcphecl 
that  if  he  did  so  I  should  lay  the  matter 
before  my  Government,  which  would  seek 
reparation.  I  also  took  occasion  to  suggest 
that  he  would  receive  $1,000  if  the  matter 
were  dropped.  This  suggestion  was  acce})t- 
able  and  I  escaped  without  further  payment. 
There  is  no  security  for  foreign  life  here. 
A  German  was  killed  some  time  ago.  Capital 
punishment  is  not  permitted  by  law,  and  the 
native  charged  with  the  crime,  after  insistent 
demands  by  the  German  representative, 
was  finally  arrested  and  tried.  He  received 
a  year's  imprisonment  only,  and  I  suspect  he 
was  released  before  the  expiration  of  his 
sentence." 

Mr.  W.  H.  D.  Haggard,  Minister  of  Great 
Britain  to  Venezuela,  told  me  when  I  met 
him  in  Caracas  and  subsequently  in  Trinidad, 
after  his  departure  from  Venezuela,  that 
action  by  his  Government  had  become 
absolutely  imperative.  "My  country  was 
patient  and  long-suffering,"  he  said.  'Tts 
subjects  had  been  barbarously  treated ;  vessels 
flying  its  flag  had  been  seized  without  cause 
and  their  crews  outraged,  and  demands  for 
redress  were  evaded  or  were  contemptuously 
put  aside."  Mr.  Haggard's  estimate  of  the 
Venezuelan  people  is  shown  by  his  state- 
ment that  he  left  Caracas  without  announcing 
his  intention,  "because  he  did  not  care  to 
have  a  repetition  of  the  Peking  trouble  of 
1900,  when  the  foreign  envoys  in  the  Chinese 
capital  were  besieged  by  Boxers  and  were 
rescued  by  an  international  army." 

On  the  day  the  blockade  of  Venezuelan 
ports  was  established,  Vice-Admiral  Sir 
Archibald  Douglas  announced  that  the  war 
would  be  "opera  boufTe"  in  character;  that 
there  would  be  no  landing  of  marines  and 
no  bloodshed.  As  Vice-Admiral  Douglas 
was  commander-in-chief  and  had  just  con- 
cluded a  conference  with  Commodore  Scheder, 
the  German  squadron  commander,  it  was 
expected  that  the  blockade  would  have 
none  of  the  usual  accompaniments  of  war; 
but  Vice-Admiral  Douglas  apparently  counted 
too  much  upon  the  assurances  of  the  Germans, 
as  is  shown  by  the  bombardments  which 
occurred  at  Maracaibo.  Those  bombard- 
ments. Commodore  Scheder  insisted,  were 
tthe  consequence  of  Venezuelan  attack  upon 
the  German  gunboat  Panther;  but  the 
Venezuelans  claim  that  the  Germans  were  the 


merits  consideration  in  view  of  the  attitude 
of  the  defense  force  elsewhere. 

The  only  bombardment  in  which  the 
British  engaged  was  that  of  Puerto  Cabello 
before  the  blockade  began,  and  the  Germans, 
though  they  were  not  interested,  participated. 
Commodore  Montgomerie,  who,  in  his  flag- 
ship, the  Charydis,  directed  the  attack  upon 
the  forts  protecting  Puerto  Cabello,  informed 
me  that  he  decided  to  bombard  only  after 
giving  the  Venezuelans  ample  time  to  make 
reparation  for  a  wanton  and  outrageous 
insult  to  a  British  vessel  and  its  crew  and 
the  British  flag.  He  regretted  the  necessity 
for  this  action,  but  he  said  that  not  a  single 
person  was  struck,  and  the  only  casualties 
ashore  resulted  from  two  soldiers  falling  into 
a  ditch  and  breaking  their  legs.  British 
officers  were  surprised  at  the  German  desire 
to  join  in  the  bombardment  of  Puerto  Cabello. 

I  found  the  sentiment  of  the  British  gen- 
erally was  that  their  Government  had  made 
a  mistake  in  joining  with  the  Germans. 
They  have  not  forgotten — though  it  was 
suggested  with  some  bitterness  that  London 
had — the  cablegram  sent  by  Emperor  William 
to  President  Kruger  of  the  South  African 
Republic  on  the  eve  of  the  Boer  war,  and  one 
of  them  asserted  that  Kipling  was  justified 
in  decrying  in  verse  the  alliance  between  the 
two  antipathetic  nations.  "The  people  of 
the  United  States,"  said  a  high-ranking 
naval  officer,  whom  I  met  at  Trinidad, 
"believe  that  Germany  is  enlarging  her  navy 
in  order  to  destroy  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
I  tell  you  Germany  rather  contemplates  a 
war  with  Great  Britain.  Our  interests  clash 
far  more  with  hers  than  do  yours." 

It  is  the  opinion  of  foreigners  in  Venezuela 
that  there  will  never  be  continued  peace  under 
native  administration,  and  that  foreign  con- 
trol is  necessary  if  the  country  is  to  be  orderly 
and  prosperous.  Germans  would  naturally 
prefer  the  extension  of  German  rule  to  Venez- 
uela, but  this  is  clearly  impossible  with  the 
United  States  determined  to  uphold  the 
Monroe  Doctrine;  and  they  therefore  advo- 
cate joint  control  by  the  Powers  having 
subjects  and  interests  there.  British  sub- 
jects in  Venezuela  and  British  colonists  in 
Trinidad  favor  this  plan  also.  But  they 
recognize  that  the  United  States  would  never 
permit  European  participation  in  an  American 
government;  and  they  say  that  if  their  sug- 
gestion cannot  be  adopted,  then  the  United 


3226        QUESTIONS    OUT    OF    THE   VENEZUELAN    TROUBLE 


States   alone   should   undertake  the  govern- 
ment of  the  republic. 

"Venezuela  knows  that  you  will  not  permit 
her  to  suffer  territorially,"  said  one  of  these 
men.  "She  understands  that  if  any  European 
nation  attempts  to  punish  her  seriously  for 
outrages  perpetrated  upon  their  subjects 
and  interests,  the  United  States  will  inter- 
vene and  say  '  Hands  off.'  You,  therefore, 
are  responsible  for  her  excesses  though  you 
specifically  disclaim  responsibility.  If  you 
propose  to  enforce  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
and  enjoy  the  advantage  consequent  from 
such  enforcement,  then  you  should  discharge 
the  attendant  obligations." 

While  President  Castro  promptly  appealed 
to  the  Monroe  Doctrine  w^hen  the  occasion 
for  it  developed,  he  and  other  Venezuelans, 
as  well  as  the  whole  of  Central  and  South 
America,  fear  that  the  United  States  has  a 
selfish  purpose  in  its  enforcement. 

During  a  conversation  with  President 
Castro  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine.  He  considered  a  moment. 
"Properly  interpreted  and  properly  applied," 
he  responded,  "it  is  an  excellent  princi- 
ple." In  other  words,  he  reserved  to  him- 
self and  to  his  country  the  right  to  say 
when  the  United  States  was  justified  in 
its  application.  President  Castro's  answer 
is  that  of  every  other  Venezuelan  politician. 
Among  business  men  a  sentiment  is  growing 
in  favor  of  partial  control  of  the  republic 
by  the  United  States.  They  see  no  prospect 
of  stability  under  native  administration. 
A  formidable  revolution  under  the  leader- 
ship of  General  Matos,  which  has  the  covert 
support  of  Great  Britain  and  Germany,  is 
now  in  progress  against  Castro's  Govern- 
ment. "If  Matos  succeed,"  said  a  Venezuelan 
merchant,  "a  revolution  will  be  inaugurated 
against  him  by  one  of  his  own  men,  if 
Castro  does  not  keep  up  the  struggle.  That 
will  mean  a  continuance  of  the  present  dis- 
turbed conditions.  It  will  also  mean  further 
calls  upon  business  houses  for  money  by  the 
new  Government  and  the  revolutionary  forces. 
No  Venezuelan  cares  to  see  an  inch  of  the 
territory  of  his  country  seized  by  a  foreign 
government;  all  would  prefer  native  to 
foreign  administration,  even  though  the 
United  States  were  in  control.  But  if  some 
arrangement  could  be  reached  by  which  the 
United  States  would  guarantee  stability  of 
government,   as  in  the  case  of  Cuba,  then 


Venezuela  would  enter  upon  an  era  of  pros- 
perity which  would  parallel  that  of  the 
Great  Northern  Republic.  We  have  rich 
natural  resources;  our  people  are  intelligent, 
energetic  and  industrious,  and  our  national 
debt  is  small.  The  sole  thing  we  need — 
stable  government — we  have  not,  and  the 
United  States  owes  it  to  its  own  people  as 
well  as  to  other  nations  to  see  that  this  need 
is  supplied." 

It  was  apparent  from  the  pause  that  followed 
this  exposition  of  Venezuela's  necessity  that 
I  was  expected  to  make  a  reply  to  this  com- 
prehensive statement. 

"But  the  United  States  could  not  inter- 
vene in  Venezuela,"  I  remarked.  "You 
know  that  in  spite  of  the  unselfish  attitude 
we  have  observed  for  eighty  years,  we  are 
suspected  of  a  desire  to  extend  our  sovereignty 
over  the  whole  of  the  western  hemisphere. 
To  put  our  foot  in  Venezuela  would  be  to 
arouse  every  other  American  nation  and  to 
affect  serioush'  our  standing  with  them. 
Besides,  we  have  problems  that  engage  our 
attention  elsewhere." 

"The  suspicion  that  you  propose  to  enlarge 
your  territory,"  I  was  told,  "was  confirmed 
by  your  acquisition  of  Porto  Rico  and  the 
Philippines  and  3'our  demand  of  Cuba  that 
she  give  you  virtual  control  while  retaining 
her  independence.  Venezuela  is  on  j'our 
conscience,  and  as  long  as  you  fail  to  act 
Europe  will  create  pretexts,  ostensibly  to 
protect  her  interests,  but  really  to  increase 
her  prestige  at  your  expense." 

Still  the  important  fact  which  strikes  the 
observer  in  Venezuela  is  the  satisfactory 
position  occupied  by  the  United  States. 
During  the  bombardment  of  Maracaibo  an 
American  walking  along  the  streets  of  Caracas 
frequently  heard  the  exclamation :  "America 
for  the  Americans." 

The  Venezuelan  newspapers  have  never 
tired  of  asserting  that  to  the  western  world 
Venezuela  must  be  considered  as  the  touch- 
stone by  which  the  temper  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  was  to  be  tried.  By  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Panama  Canal  the  commer- 
cial and  strategical  value  of  Venezuela  and 
Antillean  territory  will  be  immeasurably 
increased.  It  is  the  realization  of  this  that 
contributed  to  present  European  activity, 
and  it  is  a  like  realization  that  is  responsible 
for  Admiral  Dewey's  designation  of  the 
Caribbean  Sea  as  an  American  lake. 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  AIM 

now  CITIZENSHIP  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  DIFFERS  FROM  CITIZEN- 
SHIP IN  ALL  OTHER  COUNTRIES— THE  SINCERITY  OF  PATRIOTISM 
AND  THE  BREADTH  OF  SYMPATHY— THE  NECESSARY  APPLICATION 
OF   THE  AMERICAN  IDEA  TO   INDUSTRY    AND  TO    SOCIAL  RELATIONS 

BY 

AUSTIN    BIERBOWER 


AM  ERIC  AN  citizenship  diflfers  in  several 
essentials  from  citizenship  in  otlier 
countries,  and  some  peculiar  duties 
arise  from  the  difference  which  require  special 
attention  now  when  our  institutions  are 
receiving  a  general  reexamination  and  are 
subjected  to  special  strain  through  the 
attempt  at  expansion. 

An  American,  having  a  great  country,  has 
wide  relations  in  his  patriotism.  He  loves 
something  great,  which  is  important  in  the 
character  of  a  people.  When  a  man  must  fix 
his  affections  on  the  small  it  tends  to  belittle 
him.  One  is  measured  by  what  one  loves. 
With  our  vast  and  opulent  domain,  we  need 
never  be  ashamed  of  the  object  of  our  affec- 
tion, but  can  be  enthusiastic  for  our  country 
without  seeming  ridiculous;  which  a  Belgian 
or  Portuguese  can  hardly  be.  While  it  is 
demoralizing  to  have  to  champion  a  petty 
cause  (since  in  tr3'ing  to  maintain  its  impor- 
tance one  unconsciously  develops  insincerity), 
the  espousal  of  the  great  protects  all  the 
virtues.  The  American  need  not  be  afraid  of 
exaggeration  if  he  talks  in  superlatives,  for  he 
can  boast  of  his  country  without  lying.  His 
difficulty  is  to  reach  the  truth  rather  than  to 
keep  from  transcending  it,  and  he  can  indulge 
in  limitless  ideals  without  despair  over  their 
ultimate  realization. 

The  first  characteristic  of  American  citizen- 
ship, therefore,  is  a  confident  pride  of  country 
I  that  goes  parallel  with  love  of  country,  a  pride 
that  is  well  founded  and  honest;  so  that  an 
American  feels  a  satisfactory  self-respect  as 
an  American,  and  seldom  gets  an^-thing  but 
respect  from  others.  He  cannot  be  easily 
ridiculed,  and  he  need  not  be  sensitive  about 
-  foreign  opinions.  A  scoffer  who  would  laugh 
I  at  the  United  States  is  like  the  simpleton  who 
would  ridicule  the  sun.     Owing  to  our  size. 


country,  even  in  words,  for  most  antagonists 
seem  unworthy  of  us.  Only  three  or  four 
nations  are  ever  compared  with  ours,  and  we 
need  not  fear  the  comparison  then.  The 
American  can  accordingly  indulge  a  generous 
high-mindedness  toward  the  world  without 
the  usual  temptations  to  jealousy  which 
characterize  small  peoples. 

A  second  feature  of  American  citizenship 
springs  from  the  fact  that  we  are  a  growing 
country.  Great  as  we  are,  we  expect  to  be 
greater.  Our  eyes  are  turned  to  the  future 
and  our  pride  is  founded  in  hope.  It  matters 
much  whether  one  is  on  the  rising  or  declining 
side  in  his  feelings,  whether  his  enthusiasm  is  a 
swelling  or  a  receding  tide.  Americans  are 
in  the  line  of  the  world's  movements,  going  in 
the  direction  in  which  things  are  enlarging. 
Our  country  is  to  take  part  in  nearh''  all  events 
that  are  to  come,  and  to  act  with  the 
whole  world  as  an  arena.  We  have  a  career 
before  us  rather  than  behind  us,  and  enter  on 
battlefields  yet  to  be  won.  We  are  in  the  line 
of  permanent  movements,  too,  and  not  of  mere 
episodes.  Our  acts  must  have  an  influence 
that  is  to  grow  with  the  enlargement  of  the 
country  and  of  the  world's  civilization;  so 
that  in  making  history,  we  are  not  building  a 
fabric  that  is  soon  to  fall,  but  one  that  will 
grow  for  centuries.  Like  King  Arthur  and 
Romulus,  we  are  beginning  a  State,  and  not, 
like  Kosciusko,  losing  one.  While  the 
eloquence  of  Demosthenes  was  lost  because 
he  spoke  for  a  falling  Greece,  that  of  Patrick 
Henry  and  Beecher  was  treasured  up  and 
invested  with  perpetual  power  because  they 
spoke  for  a  coming  empire.  It  is  the  rare 
privilege  of  Americans  to  do  what  will  not 
be  lost  on  humanity,  as  the  deeds  of  most 
centuries  were.  What  they  build  will  be 
builded  on.  We  are  working  at  a  founda- 
tion rather  than  a  pinnacle,  and  are  looking 


1228 


A    STATEMENT    OF   THE    AMERICAN    AIM 


up  instead  of  down.  Growth  is  to  be  our 
next  movement.  "Forward"  is  our  watch- 
word, rather  than  "  Halt.  " 

A  third  feature  of  American  citizenship 
restilts  from  the  fact  that  our  country  repre- 
sents liberty  and  equality,  so  that  in  being 
proud  of  our  cotmtry  we  are  proud  of  some- 
thing good.  In  taking  up  the  cause  of  the 
United  States  one  takes  up  the  cause  of  right. 
Most  countries  represent  tyranny  or  some 
form  of  inequality,  so  that  their  citizens,  to  be 
patriotic,  must  be  unjust.  In  Europe  they 
are  committed  to  the  interests  of  the  Bourbons 
or  the  Hapsburgs,  and  stand  for  the  aggran- 
dizement of  privileged  classes.  We  stand 
for  the  equal  rights  of  all  the  people;  and 
nothing  can  be  better.  We  have  no  royalty 
to  defend,  no  discriminations  to  maintain,  no 
wrongs  to  perpetuate.  There  is  no  contra- 
diction between  our  patriotism  and  our  ethics. 
One  need  not  be  a  bad  man  to  be  a  good 
American.  It  requires  no  qualms  of  con- 
science to  take  up  any  of  our  principles. 
Feeling  that  ours  is  the  cause  of  humanity,  we 
can  enter  as  heartily  into  the  American  spirit 
as  into  a  religious  or  philanthropic  move- 
ment. This  is  an  important  element  in  our 
moral  and  intellectual  character.  We  need 
not  stretch  our  consciences  or  warp  our  judg- 
ment to  be  loyal,  but  can  give  our  undivided 
selves  to  our  cause  without  abating  any  of  our 
manhood.  Americanism  is  a  sum  of  virtues, 
standing  for  a  principle.  Our  flag  has  a 
meaning  of  which  we  approve.  It  is  demoral- 
izing when  one's  national  sentiments  are  in 
conflict  with  one's  private  convictions.  The 
liberals  of  most  foreign  countries  are  disaf- 
fected toward  their  national  institutions,  so 
that  many  of  their  best  citizens  live  not  in  the 
spirit  of  their  country,  but  in  hope  of  revolu- 
tion. In  America,  on  the  other  hand,  loyalty 
is  a  virtue;  the  good  are  committed  to  our 
institutions ;  and  to  be  more  of  an  American  is 
to  be  a  better  man.  One  cannot  have  our 
national  spirit  and  be  unjust.  Our  under- 
lying principles — liberty  and  equality — are 
the  substance  of  all  governmental  ideals,  and 
in  America  the  ideal  and  the  practical  are  for 
the  first  time  reconciled.  Our  constitution 
expresses  their  union  in  the  most  substantial 
form  yet  attained. 

Another  circumstance  affecting  American 
citizenship  is  the  fact  that  our  country 
represents  progress.  The  traditions  of  our 
fathers  have  little  weight  when  pitted  against 


our  common  sense.  The  world's  best  ideas 
have  a  chance  to  be  put  into  practice. 
Thought  and  activity  are  alike  free.  Old 
machinery,  old  opinions,  old  institutions  are 
constantly  passing  away,  and  we  are  in  a 
coimtry  of  revision.  Americans  are  accord- 
ingly independent  and  aggressive.  Instead 
of  being  a  led  people,  chained  to  precedent, 
they  search  for  the  unknown,  rather  than 
try  to  recall  the  forgotten.  Frontiersmen 
rather  than  antiquarians  in  civilization, 
we  are  carving  a  way,  instead  of  digging  up 
the  forgotten  paths.  We  are  more  interested 
in  discovering  new  truths  than  in  handing 
down  old  ones.  The  search  for  the  better  is 
our  most  characteristic  occupation — inven- 
tion. We  are  most  interested  in  what  has 
never  been  done  at  all,  and  never  known 
at  all.  News  is  everywhere  sought  in 
thought,  as  novelty  is  in  action.  The  turning 
of  the  unknown  into  the  known  and  of  the 
untried  into  experience  is  our  most  peculiar 
and  characteristic  mission. 

The  first  duty  of  American  citizenship  is  a 
liberal  patriotism.  Nor  is  this  feeling  of 
magnanimity  for  land  and  numbers  alone. 
American  patriotism  must  be  a  love  not  of 
race  but  of  many  kinds  of  people — of  English, 
Germans,  Italians,  Irish,  Scandinavians, 
Africans,  Chinese,  Indians  and  Tagals.  It 
must  be  cosmopolitan.  American  patriotism 
comes  near  being  humanitarianism. 

Another  duty  of  American  citizenship  is  to 
apply  our  principles  of  liberality  and  equality 
to  our  new  domain  and  keep  our  republican- 
ism intact  through  our  varied  expansion. 
While  we  can  afford  to  grow  beyond  our 
limits  and  even  beyond  our  continent,  we 
cannot  afford  to  grow  beyond  our  principles. 
We  are  making  great  experiments  and  en- 
countering new  dangers  in  our  development 
from  primitive  simplicity,  and  the  problem 
is  how  to  go  forward  without  shifting  from 
our  traditional  foundation  of  equal  rights 
and  universal  liberty. 

A  more  immediate  duty  of  American  citi- 
zenship, and  one  appealing  directly  to  the 
individual,  is  to  apply  our  principle  of  equal- 
ity to  our  business  and  social  relations.  We 
cannot  have  the  people  politically  equal  if 
they  are  unequal  in  other  respects.  While 
all  cannot  have  the  same  wealth,  rich  and 
poor  classes  being  unavoidable,  as  also 
intelligent  and  ignorant,  we  should,  by 
giving  all  an  equal  chance,  reduce  these  con- 


A    HUNDRED    YEARS    UE    OHIO 


3229 


ditions,  and  especially  avoid  great  extremes. 
It  is  not  safe,  either  for  our  republic  or  for  the 
wealthy,  that  there  should  be  many  fortunes 
which  exhaust  the  materials  which  make 
competencies  for  thousands.  The  very  rich 
menace  the  moderately  wealthy,  and  the 
very  poor  menace  in  turn  the  rich.  All  must 
have  a  competency  or  hope  of  it. 

In  the  children  we  should  start  anew  with 
all  our  American  rights.  The  common  school, 
which  provides  an  equal  education  to  a  cer- 
tain point  and  sends  out  the  youth  equipped 
alike  for  the  battle  of  life,  is  the  great  leveling 
agency  for  preserving  our  American  spirit. 
It  is  our  periodical  equalizer,  which,  removing 
the  advantages  of  the  fathers,  restores  the 
common  equality  of  nature.  Our  peculiar 
American  idea  is  to  furnish  all  equal  weapons 
and  then  see  that  there  is  no  unfairness  in 
the  fight ;  and  as  often  as  some  unavoidably 
get  too  far  ahead  in  one  generation,  to  start 
all  over  again  in  the  children  of  the  next. 

Another  duty  of  American  citizenship  is  to 
adjust  with  like  liberality  our  political  idea 
of  equality  to  our  social  relations.  With 
a  better  acquaintance  with  men  we  find 
them  more  alike.  The  workingman's  intel- 
ligence rivals  that  of  the  professional  man, 
and  the  qualifications  of  the  artisan  are 
everywhere  recognized  as  a  culture.  There 
are  virtues  in  the  poor  which  the  ancient 
world  did  not  know. 


A  liberal  appreciation  of  the  varieties  of 
culture  should  therefore  characterize  the 
American  in  this  age  of  difTcrentiation, 
especially  of  that  culture  which  differs  from 
his  own.  He  has  entered  into  a  confederacy 
with  all  kinds  of  men,  and  he  should  feel  con- 
genial amid  a  great  variety  of  differences. 
Many  are  willingly  poor  that  they  may  be 
scholarly  or  that  they  may  work  out  some 
problem  for  the  race.  Others  sacrifice  posi- 
tion for  their  children,  and  all  who  deprive 
themselves  of  anything  make  it  possible  for 
others  to  have  more  of  it;  and  they  should 
suffer  no  additional  disability  for  this  heroism. 
Those  who  have  the  advantages  ought  not  to 
discriminate  against  those  who  concede  them. 

Refinement,  not  exclusiveness,  ought  to  be 
the  test  of  social  distinction  in  a  republic, 
which  in  all  things  is  inclusive.  One  does  not 
lose  his  respectability  in  this  country  by  allow- 
ing others  to  be  respectable,  or  degrade  him- 
self by  mixing  with  many  people. 

Nearly  every  social  problem  that  now  con- 
fronts us  might  be  solved  by  simply  a  return 
of  the  people  to  a  manly  and  generous  com- 
mon sense,  which  would  enable  them  to  enjoy 
their  possessions  without  a  sacrifice  of  taste  or 
happiness,  and  at  the  same  time  make  such 
enjoyments  more  common.  The  American 
aim  is  simply  the  welfare  of  the  race  in  which 
we  have  enlisted  a  part  of  the  race  and  are 
trying  to  stand  as  an  example  for  all  others. 


A    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF    OHIO 


A  STATE  THAT  HAS  PEOPLED  MANY  COMMONWEALTHS  AND  EXERTED  A 
CONTINENTAL  INFLUENCE— GREAT  FIGURES  WHICH  SHE  HAS  FURNISHED 
TO  THE  COUNTRY'S  SERVICE— HER  TRIUMPHS  IN  INDUSTRY,  EDUCATION 
AND  PROGRESS— CAUSES  OF  HER  POLITICAL  PROMINENCE  IN  THE  REPUBLIC 


BY 

CHARLES    M. 


HARVEY 


OHIO,  a  hundred  years  young,  will  have 
the  good  will  of  the  whole  American 
people  on  May  21  and  22, 1903,  when, 
at  her  old  capital  at  Chillicothe,  she  will  cele- 
brate the  centenary  of  her  admission  to 
statehood.  In  the  large  sense  this  will  be  a 
national  observance,  because,  almost  from 
the  days  of  Edward  Tiffin,  her  first  Governor, 
down  to  those  of  George  K.  Nash,  her  present 


I 


executive,  Ohio  has  played  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  political  and  also  in  the  social 
life  of  the  republic. 

The  fourth  of  the  States  in  population  and 
w-ealth  (New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Illinois 
being  the  only  commonwealths  which  lead  her 
in  these  respects),  the  oldest  State  west  of 
the  Alleghanies  except  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see, Ohio  is  a  large  and  important  part  of  the 


3230 


A    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    OHIO 


American  nation.  The  State  which  gave 
birth  to  all  the  Presidents — Grant,  Hayes, 
Garfield,  Harrison  and  McKinley — elected 
from  the  close  of  the  Lincoln-Johnson  term 
to  the  present  day,  except  Mr.  Cleveland,  and 
which  claims  another  President,  William 
Henry  Harrison  (through  residence  for  many 
years  at  the  time  of  his  election  and  through 
his  identification  with  her  political  and  social 
interests),  Ohio  is  also  the  mother  of  many 
other  statesmen.  In  the  present  Senate  her 
sons  by  birth  include  not  only  the  two  men 
whom    she    herself   has    in    that    body,    but 


r 


(IMS  Mil  §123  im  Emmim 
immmM^mmmm  w  wi 

■    IfMlLTira 


A  TABLET  UNVEILED  AT  CHILLICOTHE 

Fairbanks  and  Beveridge  of  Indiana,  Allison 
of  Iowa,  Alger  of  Michigan,  and  Scott  and 
Elkins  of  West  Virginia.  She  is  the  birth- 
place of  eighteen  of  her  own  twenty-two 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
as  well  as  of  Hitt,  Selby,  Crowle}^  and  George 
W.  Smith,  members  from  Illinois;  Landis  of 
Indiana,  Rtimple,  Hull  and  Hepburn  of  Iowa; 
Bowersock  and  Calderhead  of  Kansas;  Irwin 
of  Kentucky,  and  Gardner  of  Michigan. 
Secretary  of  State  John  Hay  is  an  Ohio  man 
by  residence,  as,  by  birth  and  residence,  were 
his  two  immediate  predecessors,  William  R. 
Day  and  John  Sherman.  In  William  H. 
Taft,  the  Governor  of  the  Philippines,  Ohio 
has  contributed  a  man  who  has  made 
American  sway  in  the  antipodes  popular. 

Ohio  is  likewise  the  mother  of  States. 
She  has  contributed  more  of  her  native-bom 
children  to  the  building  of  other  communities 
than  any  other  State  of  the  forty-five  except 
New  York,  and,  in  proportion  to  population, 
her  contribution  has  been  far  greater  than 
New  York's.  Most  of  them  have  gone  West, 
though  many  have  gone  South,  and  some  of 
them,  reversing  the  sun's  course,  have  moved 


to  the  East.  Every  city  of  any  consequence 
from  New  York  Bay  to  the  Golden  Gate  has 
a  colony  of  Ohioans.  New  York's  Ohio 
society  includes,  among  others,  Whitelaw 
Reid,  editor  of  the  Tribune,  Edison  and 
Brush,  electricians,  and  Ward,  the  sculptor. 

OHIO    AS    AN    EMPIRE    BUILDER 

About  the  time  that  Jefferson  was  felici- 
tating his  fellow  Americans  on  possessing 
a  "chosen  country  with  room  enough  for  our 
descendants  to  the  thousandth  and  thou- 
sandth generation, "  although  the  nation's 
westerly  boundary  was  then  the  Mississippi 
River,  Ohioans  were  beginning  to  spread 
westward  into  the  region  that  is  now  Indiana 
and  Illinois,  and  were  enlarging  and  giving 
impetus  to  that  volume  of  immigration 
which  has  peopled  a  country  three  times 
as  large  as  Jefferson  had  in  mind — and  all 
within  three  generations. 

In  1900  there  were  1,114,000  natives  of 
Ohio  residing  in  other  parts  of  the  United 
States  than  the  State  of  their  birth.  New 
York,  with  3,000,000  more  inhabitants  than 
Ohio,  was  the  only  State  which  made  a  greater 
contribution  (1,289,000)  to  the  rest  of  the 
country's  population,  and  this  was  only 
175,000  larger  than  Ohio's.  Pennsylvania 
with  937,463  and  Illinois  with  1,012,000 
natives  living  outside  their  own  boundaries 
in  1900,  each  of  which  is  larger  than  Ohio, 
made  smaller  additions  to  the  citizenship  of 
the  rest  of  the  country.  Almost  half  the 
entire  contribution  made  by  the  dozen  States 
of  the  North  Central  division  to  the  stalwart 
Americanism  of  the  part  of  the  United  States 
outside  their  own  borders  was  furnished  by 
the  Buckeye  State  alone. 

There  were  178,000  native  Ohioans  resid- 
ing in  Indiana  in  1900,  or  more  than  those 
of  the  combined  three  next  highest  States — 
Kentucky,  Illinois  and  Pennsylvania.  In 
Illinois  there  were  137,000  Ohio  men,  as 
against  128,000  from  Indiana  and  111,000 
from  New  York.  Kansas,  Michigan  and 
Iowa  each  had  88,000  Buckeyes,  Missouri, 
80,000,  California,  34,000,  and  Oregon,  13,000; 
while  26,000  of  them  were  in  New  York. 

Naturally  this  wide  diffusion  of  Ohio  men 
enables  them  to  see  things  from  more  angles, 
makes  them  more  hospitable  to  new  views, 
and  causes  them  to  think  in  larger  terms 
geographically.  Many  of  them  have  risen 
to  high  stations  in  their  new  homes.     But 


A    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    OHIO 


3231 


OHIO  UNIVERSITY,  ATHENS,  OHIO 
The  building  to  the  left  of  the  centre  is  the  oldest  building  for  higher  education  in  the  original  Northwest  Territor>- 


THE   SOLDIERS'   MONUMENT,  ATHENS,   OHIO 
At  the  entrance  of  the  campus  of  Ohio  University 


3232 


A    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    OHIO 


THE  OLDEST  NEWSPAPER    IN   OHIO 
Established  in  1880 


while  Ohio  has  thus  been  making  a  large 
contribution  to  those  forces  of  national 
expansion  which  have  made  the  United  States 
fill  a  big  place  on  the  world's  map  and  win  a 
still  larger  place  in  the  world's  councils,  her 
own  population  has  grown  a  hundredfold  in 


THE   STATE    HULsL    AT  COLUMLL;,    OHIO 


Photographed  by  Baker 


GOVERNOR  GEORGE  K.  NASH,  OF  OHIO 


A    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    OHIO 


3235 


the  ccMitury,  increasing  from  the  45,000  of  tlic 
latter  part  of  St.  Clair's  governorship  of  the 
territory  to  the  4,500,000  of  this  fourth  year 
of  Governor  Nash's. 

At  the  outset  Ohio  owed  a  vast  debt  to  the 
country.  General  Rufus  Putnam's  Massa- 
chusetts Revolutionary  soldiers  settled  the 
Marietta  region,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskin- 
gum. John  Cleves  Symmes'  New  Jersey 
men  and  Pennsylvanians,  most  of  them  also 
okl  soldiers,  went  to  Cincinnati.  General 
Nathaniel  Massie,  with  his  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  soldiers,  many  of  them  being 
General  George  Rogers  Clark's  victors  at 
Kaskaskia  and  Vincennes,  who  won  the  great 
Northwest  for  the  United  States,  colonized 
Virginia's  military  lands  between  the  two 
Miamis.  Moses  Cleaveland,  along  the  border 
of  Lake  Erie,  founded  his  New  Connecticut, 
the  later  Western  Reserve,  peopling  it  with 
some  of  the  choicest  spirits  of  New  England. 
None  but  the  daring  and  enterprising 
attempted  to  cross  the  Alleghanies  into  the 
Ohio  valley  in  those  days,  and  none  but  the 
physically  capable  got  there.  Thus  the 
original  Ohioan  was  a  composite  of  the  best 
that  was  in  American  blood  and  training. 
The  debt  which  the  Buckeye  State  thus 
incurred  to  the  country  has  been  paid  with 
compound  interest  in  the  past  hundred  years 
through  the  diffusion  which  has  made  the 
whole  West  an  expansion  of  Ohio. 

THE   state's   national  FIGURES 

On  a  granite  block  just  erected  in  the 
cemetery  at  Mansfield,  which  marks  the 
grave  of  a  distinguished  American,  are  these 
words  and  these  only:  "John  Sherman." 
It  would  be  as  impossible  to  write  the  history 
of  the  politics  of  the  United  States  from  1855 
to  1898  without  telling  the  story  of  that  man's 
deeds,  as  it  would  be  to  write  the  annals  of 
the  war  of  1861-65  without  giving  a  com- 
manding space  to  the  achievements  of  that 
other  Ohio  man,  elected  President  in  1868, 
of  whom  "  Miles  O'Reilly  "  wrote : 

If  you  ask  what  State  he  hails  from, 

Our  sole  reply  shall  be, 
He  hails  frotn  Appomattox 

And  its  famous  apple  tree. 

In  the  war  of  secession  and  the  reconstruc- 
tion period  Ohio  furnished  to  the  country's 
service  in  civil  station  such  national  charac- 
ters as  Chase,  the  head  of  the  Treasury  and 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court;  Stanton, 


who  "organized  victory"  for  the  Union  cause; 
Sherman,  the  Wades  (Benjamin  F.  and 
Edward),  Corwin,  Pugh,  John  McLean, 
Allen,  Payne,  Cox,  Lewis  D.  Campbell, 
Schenck,  Garfield,  Keifer,  Hayes,  Thurman, 
Pendleton,  Bingham,  Riddle,  Ashley,  the 
younger  Thomas  Ewing,  and  Jay  Cooke,  who 
financed  the  country's  bonds  and  provided 
the  sinews  of  war  for  the  Government.  To 
the  list  of  the  nation's  fighters  in  those 
days  it  furnished  Grant,  Sherman,  Sheridan, 
Rosecrans,  McPherson,  Gilmore,  two  or 
three  of  the  McCooks,  Custer,  O.  M.  Mitchell, 
Buell,  Jacob  D.  Cox,  Garfield  and  Hayes. 
An  enumeration  of  Ohio's  great  personages 
from  the  fall  of  Sumter  to  the  restoration  of 
the  Confederate  States  to  their  old  relations 
to  the  Union  sounds  like  a  roll-call  of  the 
entire  nation's  ablest  and  greatest  sons 
during  that  period. 

Back  in  1814,  when  Ohio  was  the  newest 
State  excepting  Louisiana,  Madison  called 
Return  J.  Meigs  (who  had  been  United 
States  Senator  and  Governor)  to  the  office  of 
Postmaster  General.  Between  his  days  and 
the  Civil  War  period  McLean,  Cass,  Ewing 
and  Corwin  were  among  the  eminent  Ohioans 
who  held  Cabinet  posts,  and  since  the  recon- 
struction Stanbery,  Cox,  Foster,  Delano  and 
Harmon  have  been  members  of  presidential 
councils,  while  the  State  portfolio  has  just 
been  held  by  three  Ohio  men — Sherman,  Day 
and  Hay — in  succession.  Of  the  eight  mem- 
bers of  Harrison's  Cabinet  of  1889,  all  of 
whom  were  residents  of  States  other  than 
Ohio,  five  were  Ohioans  by  birth. 

A    state    of    fierce    political    feuds 

There  has  been  a  dash  of  savagery  in  Ohio's 
politics  from  the  beginning,  as  John  Sherman 
could  have  testified,  for  he  was  one  of  its  recent 
and  frequent  victims.  The  region  now  called 
Ohio  was  claimed  by  France  and  England, 
and  by  the  Shawnees,  Mingoes  and  other  red 
men  at  an  earlier  and  later  date.  England 
drove  France  out  of  the  region,  and  then 
England  was  driven  out  by  the  Americans, 
after  which  the  Indians  turned  on  Haem. 
Before  the  Indians  were  finally  disposed  of, 
the  feud  between  the  Federalist  territorial 
Governor,  St.  Clair,  and  the  fierce  JefTersonian 
Democracy  of  the  frontier,  under  the  lead  of 
Tiffin,  Worthington  and  their  associates, 
resulted  in  St.  Clair's  removal  by  Jefferson 
under   circumstances   of  peculiar   harshness. 


I 


3-36 


A    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    OHIO 


and  on  the  eve  of  the  State's  admission, 
which  would  itself  have  brought  his  service 
to  an  end.  Tifl&n,  St.  Clair's  leading  antago- 
nist, and  the  State's  first  Governor,  was  himself 
a  victim  of  the  same  ferocity  a  quarter  of  a 
century  later,  when  he  was  removed,  while 
on  his  deathbed,  from  the  office  of  Survej-or 
General  of  the  Northwest  by  President 
Jackson  in  1829,  because  Tiffin  had  supported 
Clay  for  President  in  1824,  when  the  election 
went  to  Adams,  and  because  he  did  not 
support  anybody  in  1828,  when  Jackson  was 
elected.  Thus  he  made  himself  construc- 
tively an  enemy  of  Jackson,  for  everybody 
who  was  not  for  "Old  Hickor}-"  w^as  deemed 
to  be  against  him. 

There  has  thus  been  a  spirit  of  conten- 
tiousness and  barbarit}-  in  Ohio  politics  from 
a  date  anterior  to  Ohio's  existence  as  an 
organized  community.  After  Chase's  death 
Ohio's  most  conspicuous  son  was  Sherman; 
and  Sherman,  by  reason  of  his  long  and  able 
service  in  the  House,  the  Senate  and  the 
Cabinet,  became  an  avowed  aspirant  to  the 
Presidenc}'.  A  prominent  and  active  candi- 
date in  the  conventions  of  1880,  1884  and 
1888,  he  was  beaten  each  time,  partly  through 
treachery  in  his  own  camp,  by  men  of  far 
less  political  experience.  Although  he  was 
betrayed  as  often  and  as  badly  as  Clay  or 
Webster,  he  never  was  guilty  on  that 
account  of  the  petulance  and  weakness  shown 
by  those  leaders,  but  preserved  his  courage 
and  balance  to  the  last.  Foraker  and  Hanna 
have  taken  part  in  recent  years  in  as  impla- 
cable feuds  as  those  in  which  Sherman  was 
beaten,  though  neither  was  in  the  role  of  a 
presidential  aspirant. 

A    COMMUNITY     OF     COLOSSAL    ACTIVITIES 

When,  in  the  sum.mer  of  1870,  John  D. 
Rockefeller,  his  brother  WilHam,  Stephen 
V.  Harkness,  Samuel  Andrews  and  Henry  M. 
Flagler,  petroleum  refiners,  with  their  head- 
quarters in  Cleveland,  consolidated  their 
interests,  gained  control  of  the  railroads  for 
their  purposes,  and  established  the  Standard 
Oil  Company,  that  quickly  became  the 
United  States'  largest  industrial  combination 
under  a  single  head,  the  world's  original 
"octopus"  came  into  being.  But  the  com- 
bination was  even  more  important  for  what 
it  foreshadowed  than  for  what  it  immedi- 
ately and  directly  accomplished.  It  set  an 
example    for   that    consolidation    which    has 


seized  most  of  the  great  activities  within  the 
past  dozen  years,  which  has  given  capital 
and  labor  an  immeasurably  larger  power  than 
they  ever  had  before,  and  which  has  enabled 
the  United  States  to  furnish  the  greater  part 
of  its  own  needs  in  the  manufactures  and  to 
make  industrial  conquests  in  Europe  and  all 
the  rest  of  the  globe.  That  pooling,  in  the 
capital  of  Ohio's  Western  Reserve,  of  the  oil 
men's  interests  (and  the  Standard,  in  January, 
1903,  paid  its  shareholders  $30,000,000  in 
dividends  for  1902)  a  third  of  a  century  ago 
was  the  beginning  of  the  application  on  a 
world-conquering  scale  of  that  industrial  and 
financial  concentration  and  combination 
which  has  thrown  open  every  great  country 
on  earth  to  the  "American  invasion.  " 

Nature  as  well  as  man  contributed  to  make 
Ohio's  fortune.  With  a  great  waterway, 
Lake  Erie,  on  her  northern  border,  and 
another,  the  Ohio  River,  on  her  southern 
and  eastern  boundary,  she  was  liberally 
endowed  with  fortune's  favors.  The  Presi- 
dent's grand-uncle,  Nicholas  J.  Roosevelt, 
with  capital  furnished  by  Fulton,  Livingston 
and  himself,  built  near  Pittsburg  the  first 
steamboat  that  ran  on  western  waters,  the 
Xc'cL'  Orleans,  which  went  down  the  Ohio  in 
181 1.  A  few  years  later  steamboats  started 
on  the  great  lakes,  on  the  State's  opposite 
verge.  Canals  connecting  the  Ohio  with 
Lake  Erie  began  to  be  built  in  1825.  In  that 
year  Lafayette,  on  a  tour  through  the  United 
States,  called  Ohio  the  "eighth  wonder  of  the 
world"  on  account  of  its  industrial  activity 
and  general  prosperity.  The  national  road, 
running  westward  from  the  Potomac,  was 
completed  to  the  Indiana  line  by  1838,  but  by 
that  time  the  railroads  began  to  supersede 
that  thoroughfare.  All  the  important  trunk 
lines  running  east  and  west  before  the  Civil 
War  were  compelled  by  the  exigencies  of 
the  slavery  interest  to  run  north  of  the  Ohio 
River,  which  meant  through  that  State. 
Most  of  them  run  through  it  yet. 

Geography,  transportation  facilities,  the 
discoveries  of  coal,  iron  ore,  petroleum, 
natural  gas  and  other  material  riches,  and 
the  existence  -  of  great  hard-wood  forests 
within  it,  gave  Ohio  the  fourth  place  in  the  list 
of  States  in  1 900  in  the  value  of  its  manufac- 
tured products.  It  stood  first  among  the 
States  in  that  year  in  the  production  of 
wagon  and  carriage  materials  and  in  the 
manufacture  of  wagons  and  carriages,  as  well 


A   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    OHIO  3237 

as  in  the  aggregate  of  its  manufacture  of  the  1804.  This  is  the  Ohio  University,  the  oldest 
various  sorts  of  cK'iy  procUicts;  second  in  iron  institution  of  learning  north  of  the  Oliio  River, 
and  steel  output,  in  agricultural  implements  and  the  lirst  anywhere  in  the  United  States 
and  in  food  preparations;  third  in  the  endowed  by  Congress.  It  must  not  be  con- 
products  of  foundries  and  machine  shops,  founded  with  the  Ohio  State  University, 
of  flouring  and  grist  mills,  and  in  distilled  a  larger  and  newer  institution  (established  in 
liquors,  tobacco,  cigars  and  cigarettes;  fourth  1872),  situated  in  Columbus,  the  State  capital. 
in  the  factory  product  of  boots  and  shoes,  Thomas  Ewing,  United  States  Senator  and  a 
car  and  general  shop  construction  and  repairs  member  of  W.  H.  Harrison's  and  Taylor's 
by  steam  railroad  companies,  in  the  factory  Cabinets,  has  the  distinction  of  receiving,  on 
product  of  women's  clothing,  glass,  petro-  his  graduation  from  Ohio  University,  the  first 
ieum  refining,  and  rubber  and  elastic  goods;  degree  of  A.  B.  ever  granted  in  the  Northwest, 
and  hfth  in  the  factory  product  of  men's  In  addition  to  the  two  just  mentioned, 
clothing,  in  electrical  apparatus  and  supplies,  some  of  Ohio's  institutions  of  the  higher 
malt  liquors,  planing-mill  products,  and  in  learning — Western  Reserve,  Kenyon  (of 
book  and  job  printing,  and  t'he  printing  and  which  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  was  an  alumnus), 
publishing  of  newspapers  and  periodicals.  Oberlin,      Miami      (from     which      Benjamin 

For  the  past  score  of  years  the  centre  of  the  Harrison  was  graduated),  Wesleyan,  Antioch, 

manufacturing  of  the  United  States  has  been  Hiram  (which  Garfield  attended  for  a  time, 

in  Ohio,  just  as  the  population  centre  was  though   he    finished   at   Williams),    Marietta, 

there   from    i860  to  1880,    and  then  passed  and  others — are  known  all  over  the  country, 

into  Indiana,  where  it  yet  is.     The  country's  Ohio  has  contributed  many  men  of  eminence 

manufacturing  centre  was  nine  miles  south-  to    institutions    outside    her    own    borders, 

east  of  McKinley's  home  in  Canton  in  1890,  among  them  in  recent  years  being  Burke  A. 

the  year  of  the  enactment  of  the  McKinley  Hinsdale,  of  Michigan  University,  and  George 

tariff.     It  was  seventeen  miles  southeast  of  T.  Ladd,  of  Yale.     Some  of  these   are  very 

Mansfield,  the  home  of  John  Sherman,  in  1900.  creditable  successors  to  Antioch's  old  presi- 
dent, Horace  Mann,  and  to  Finney,  Mahan, 

A  GREAT  EDUCATIONAL  CENTRE  Fairchild,   Lyman   Beecher  and  others   con- 

But  empire  building,  politics,  war  and  nected  with  Ohio's  schools  in  the  earlier  days, 
industry  do  not  exhaust  the  scope  of  Ohio's  Piatt  R.  Spencer  began,  in  a  little  log  school- 
preeminence.  Her  forty-one  colleges  and  house  near  Geneva,  Ohio,  the  system  of  pen- 
universities  entitled  to  grant  degrees  exceed  manship  which  afterward  spread  all  over  the 
in  number  those  of  Illinois,  which  State  ranks  country.  Oberlin,  established  in  1833,  open 
next  to  Ohio  in  this  respect.  The  first-born  to  all  races  and  both  sexes,  was  the  pioneer  in 
of  her  seats  of  learning,  the  Ohio  University,  coeducation,  which  has  since  extended  all 
situated  at  Athens,  in  the  county  of  that  over  the  West,  and  has  furnished  the  first 
name,  may  truthfully  be  said  to  be  actually  concrete  demonstration  of  complete  liberty, 
older  than  the  State  of  Ohio.  equality    and    fraternity    which    the    world 

A  clause   in  the   Ordinance   of    1787 — the  throughout  its  history  has  ever  seen. 

West's     Magna     Charta  —  sets    forth    that,  The  large  number  of  the  institutions  of  the 

"Religion,    morality    and    knowledge    being  higher   learning   in    that    State    gives    every 

necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happi-  resident  a  chance  to  get  all  the  educational 

ness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  advantages  at  his  own  door;  and  they  explain 

education     shall     forever     be     encouraged."  the    wide    prevalence    of    college    graduates 

Under  the  contract  in  that  year  between  the  among  her  public  men.     This  has  much  to  do, 

Ohio  Company  of  Associates  and  the  Conti-  too,  with  the  fact  that  there  are  fewer  illiter- 

nental  Congress  two  townships  of  land  w^ere  ates  in  Ohio  in  proportion  to  population  than 

set  apart  for  the  purpose  of  a  university.     On  in  any  other  States  except  Nebraska,   Iowa 

January   9,    1802 — a  year  and  seven  weeks  and  Oregon,  99.51  per  cent,  of  Ohio's  people 

before  the  inauguration  of  Tiffin,  the  State's  between  ten  and  fourteen  vears  of  age  being 

first     Governor — the     territorial     legislature  able  to  read  and  write. 

enacted  that:    "There  shall  be  an  university  Another  educational  agency,  the  newspaper, 

instituted    and   established   in   the    town   of  appeared    in    Ohio    even    earlier    than    the 

Athens,"  and  a  charter  was  granted  to  it  in  college.     In    the    cluster    of    log    huts    with 


I 


3238 


A    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    OHIO 


their  three  hundred  inhabitants  which  St. 
Clair  christened  Cincinnati,  in  honor  of  the 
society  to  which  he  belonged,  William 
Maxwell,  in  1793  (earlier  than  the  establish- 
ment of  any  of  New  York  City's  present 
newspapers  except  the  Commercial  Advertiser, 
founded  in  the  same  year),  began  printing 
the  Centinel  of  the  NortJiwcsterii  Territory,  the 
first  newspaper  published  north  of  the  Ohio. 
iMaxwell's  paper's  descendant,  under  consoli- 
dations, reconstructions  and  changes  of 
name,  is  today  Cincinnati's  Commercial- 
Tribune,  the  oldest  newspaper  in  any  western 
State.  Nathaniel  Willis  in  1800  started  the 
Scioto  Gazette,  which  is  flourishing  today,  in 
Chillicothe,  then  the  territorial  capital,  and 
afterward  for  years  the  capital  of  the  State. 
The  fourth  State  in  population,  Ohio  is 
fourth  also  in  1903  in  the  number  of  her 
newspapers,  although  she  has  more  news- 
papers in  proportion  to  population  than 
either  New  York  or  Pennsylvania. 

Among  her  literary  celebrities  residing 
outside  her  borders  are  Howells,  "Susan 
Coolidge,"  and  Edith  Thomas,  as  well  as  the 
historians,  James  Ford  Rhodes,  Hubert 
Howe  Bancroft  and  William  M.  Sloane. 
While  residing  in  Cincinnati  with  her  husband, 
Calvin  E.  Stowe,  who  was  connected  with 
Lane  Theological  Seminary,  of  which  her 
father.  Doctor  Lyman  Beecher,  was  president, 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  got  some  of  the 
incidents,  scenes  and  suggestions  which 
inspired  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

CAUSES   OF    Ohio's    political   preemixence 

"I  suppose  that  Ohio  has  got  all  that  she 
deserves,"  said  General  Garfield,  on  the 
morning  of  March  4,  1881,  just  as  he  left  his 
hotel  in  Washington  to  go  to  his  inauguration. 
"Ohio  has  got  all  that  the  other  States  will 
stand,  anyhow,"  said  a  distinguished  New 
York  Republican  leader,  to  whom  these 
words  were  addressed. 

Unmistakably  that  State  had  the  centre 
of  the  stage  on  that  day.  Hayes,  the  retiring 
President,  made  way  for  Garfield,  to  whom 
Chief  Justice  Waite  administered  the  oath  of 
oihce,  and  close  to  these  the  other  most  con- 
spicuous personages  on  the  platform  were 
William  T.  Sherman,  Commanding  General 
of  the  Army,  Philip  H.  Sheridan,  second  in 
command,  and  John  Sherman,  who  had  been 
the  largest  figure  in  Hayes'  Cabinet,  who 
had  just  been  returned  to  the  Senate,  and 


who  was  destined  to  have  a  longer  career  in 
that  body  than  any  other  man  who  ever 
entered  it — all  natives  and  residents  of  the 
commonwealth  except  Sheridan,  who,  though 
bom  elsewhere,  passed  the  greater  part  of 
his  life  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 

What  have  been  the  causes  of  Ohio's  pre- 
eminence in  America's  public  life  of  the  past 
few  decades  ?  Some  of  them  ma}'  be  broadly 
outlined  thus:  Starting  out  with  the  best 
blood  of  the  nation,  situated  at  the  gateway 
of  the  great  W^est,  she  had  at  the  outset  a 
majority  of  the  immigrants  from  the  States 
which  furnished  the  bulk  of  the  migrating 
peoples  and  of  the  European  immigrants, 
and  she  was  the  pathway  of  those  who  went 
farther  into  the  Mississippi  Valley,  or  be^'ond 
the  great  river.  Situated  at  the  meeting 
point  of  the  North  and  the  South,  the  East 
and  the  West,  of  the  later  days,  she  focused 
and  reflected  all  the  streams  of  national 
tendency.  Location,  lineage  and  education 
gave  her  citizens  an  initiative,  a  daring  and 
an  individualism  which  enabled  them  to 
impress  themselves  on  the  country's  social 
affairs  and  on  politics. 

As  a  path-breaker  in  politics  she  furnished 
in  Thomas  Morris  the  earliest  avowed  aboli- 
tionist who  ever  served  in  Congress.  She 
gave  more  votes  to  Bimey,  the  Liberty 
party's  candidate  for  President  in  1840  and 
1844,  than  all  the  rest  of  the  West  combined. 
More  stations  of  the  underground  railroad 
were  in  Ohio  than  in  any  other  State.  This 
courage  and  initiative  were  represented  even 
in  follies.  Her  Vallandighajn  became  the 
leader  of  the  Copperheads  of  the  North  in 
the  Civil  War  days,  but  he  was  overthrown, 
while  a  candidate  for  Governor  of  Ohio  in 
1863,  by  John  Brough,  the  Unionist  nominee, 
by  a  majority  of  101,000,  the  broadest 
margin  ever  gained  by  a  candidate  for 
Governor  in  an}'  State  up  to  that  time. 
Under  the  leadership  of  Pendleton,  Allen  and 
others,  she  incubated  greenbackism  in  1867, 
and  quickly  gave  it  a  national  vogue,  but  the 
same  spirit  of  Ohio  independence  and  courage, 
incarnated  in  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  defeated 
Allen  in  the  Governorship  canvass  of  1875, 
checked  the  rise  of  the  Greenback  wave, 
overthrowing  the  so-called  "Ohio  idea," 
and  won  for  Hayes  the  presidency  in  1876. 
Tom  L.  Johnson,  running  a  Socialist  pro- 
gramme with  a  circus  attachment,  was 
beaten  in  the  State  election  of  1902. 


A    HUNDRKl)    YEARS    ()!''    OHIO 


3239 


Her  independence  and  individualism  made 
her  a  doubtful  State  in  tlie  Whi^  party's  days, 
and  sent  her  occasionally  to  that  party's  side. 
Although  won  by  the  Republicans  in  every 
presidential  canvass  since  their  party  first 
appeared,  her  Republican  lead  has  often  been 
short,  and  it  was  so  small  in  1892  that  one 
Cleveland  elector  squeezed  in,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  the  Republican  candidate 
was  one  of  her  native  sons,  Benjamin 
Harrison.  Tod  and  Brough,  Democrats — 
both  supported  by  the  Republicans  on  Union 
tickets — were  elected  Governors  of  Ohio 
during  the  Civil  War.  Several  Democrats, 
in  straight  party  fights,  carried  the  State 
for  Governor  since  the  war.  Beginning  with 
Thurman,  who  succeeded  the  old  Republican 
stalwart,  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  the  Democrats 
had  one  member  of  Ohio's  delegation  in  the 
Senate  from  1869  to  1897,  when  Calvin  S. 
Brice  retired,  and  for  part  of  this  quarter  of 
a  century  they  had  two  members  in  the 
Senatorial  chamber. 

An  "October  State"  until  a  comparatively 
recent  time,  her  State  elections  every  four 
vears,  which  occurred  two  or  three  weeks 
before  the  presidential  vote  of  the  country 
was  cast,  assumed  a  national  character, 
which  sent  into  that  State  the  strongest 
stump-speakers  that  each  party  could  muster. 
Thus  the  canvass  commanded  the  entire 
country's  attention.  The  election  of  a 
Governor  in  1903,  in  which  the  Republicans 
will  select  a  new  man  and  in  which  the 
Democrats  intend  to  make  a  supreme  effort, 
will  attract  more  attention  than  any  other 
State  campaign  of  the  year.  To  a  larger 
extent  than  most  of  the  other  States,  Ohio 
has  selected  strong  men  for  both  branches  of 
Congress,  and  has  kept  them  there  for  long 
periods,  Sherman's  thirty-two-years'  service 
in  the  Senate  exceeding  that  of  Benton, 
William  R.  King,  Justin  S.  Morrill,  or  any 
other  person  who  ever  sat  in  that  chamber. 
Moreover,  Sherman  was  in  the  House  six 
years  and  in  the  Cabinet  more  than  five  years. 
From  1820  to  1890,  when  Illinois  got  ahead 
of  it,  Ohio  was  the  most  populous  of  all  the 
western  States,  and  for  most  of  this  time  it 
was  the  third  State  of  the  Union,  and  its  elec- 
toral vote  was  correspondingly  an  object  of 
great  attraction  for  all  parties.   Here  are  some 

I  of  the  reasons  why  Ohio  won  the  reputation, 
obtained  the  vogue  and  exerted  the  swav 
r— 


Ohio  has  made  much  history.  She  began 
making  it  long  before  her  admission  as  a  State. 
Greater  than  Tnjjan  wars  were  waged  within 
her  borders  in  the  wild  brave  days  of  the 
country's  youth.  The  story  of  Ohio's  career 
is  an  epic  of  the  conquest  of  America. 

At  the  annual  dinner  of  the  Ohio  Society  in 
New  York  City,  on  January  16,  Secretary  of 
State  Hay  corroborated  the  conclusions  of 
Mr.  Harvey  in  the  following  words: 

"A  distinguished  American  some  time  ago 
leaped  into  unmerited  fame  by  saying  'Some 
men  are  born  great,  others  are  born  in  Ohio.' 
This  is  mere  pleonasm,  for  a  man  who  is  born 
in  Ohio  is  born  great.  I  can  say  this  as  the 
rest  of  you  cannot — without  the  reproach  of 
egotism,  for  I  have  suffered  all  my  life  under 
the  handicap  of  not  having  been  born  in  that 
fortunate  commonwealth.  I  was  born  in 
Indiana,  I  grew  up  in  Illinois,  I  was  educated 
in  Rhode  Island,  and  it  is  no  blame  to  that 
scholarly  community  that  I  know  so  little. 

"  I  learned  my  law  in  Springfield  and  my 
politics  in  Washington,  my  diplomacy  in 
Europe,  Asia  and  Africa.  I  have  a  farm  in 
New  Hampshire  and  desk-room  in  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

"  Of  my  immediate  progenitors,  my  mother 
was  from  New  England  and  my  father  was 
from  the  South.  In  this  bewilderment  of 
origin  and  experience  I  can  only  put  on  an 
aspect  of  deep  humility  in  any  gathering  of 
favorite  sons  and  confess  that  I  am  nothing 
but  an  American. 

"  I  lived  a  little  while  in  Ohio  and  was  very 
happy  there,  but  obeying  a  call  which  seemed 
to  me  imperative,  I  went  to  Washington  some 
twenty  years  ago.  I  might  be  pardoned  for 
thinking  I  had  not  left  Ohio,  for  every  great 
department  of  national  activity  and  power 
was  under  the  direction  of  a  citizen  of  that 
masterful  State. 

"The  President  was  an  Ohio  man,  equally 
distinguished  in  character  and  achievements ; 
the  finances  of  the  country  were  in  the  strong 
and  capable  hands  of  -John  Sherman,  the 
army  gladly  obeyed  the  orders  of  Tecumseh 
Sherman,  with  Phil  Sheridan  as  second  in 
command,  while  at  the  head  of  our  august 
Supreme  Court  sat  Chief  Justice  Waite:  the 
purse,  the  sword  and  the  scales  of  justice,  all 
in  the  hands  of  men  coming  from  a  State 
which  breeds  men  who  know  how  to  make 
war,  to  make  monev  and  to  make  laws. " 


THE    MUNICIPAL    CHARACTER    AND 
ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  CHICAGO 

THE  FORWARD  BOUND  OF  OPINION  ON  SOME  GREAT  ECONOMIC  SUBJECTS- 
DEMOCRATIC  TO  THE  CORE  — THE  PRAIRIE  OPEN-MINDEDNESS —COMMON- 
PLACE ACHIEVEMENTS  THAT  SEEM  REVOLUTIONARY  IN  THE  EAST— THE 
UPLIFTING  POWER  OF  A  FEW  MEN— A  RIGHTEOUS  KIND  OF  TAMMANY— THE 
MOST    INTERESTING    GREAT    CITY    IN    THE    WORLD  IN   ITS  BOLD    INNOVATIONS 

BY 

FREDERIC    C.    HOWE 

Theories  attd  plans  for  municipal  reform  Jill  volumes,  but  little  has  been  written  to  show,  in  careful  summary,  what 
our  great  cities  have  recently  done.  What  definite  progress  are  they  making  in  good  government  and  in  the  building  up 
of  civic  character  ?  For  a  decade  or  more  tnany  thoughtful  men  and  many  earnest  organizations  have  been  at  work. 
Some  great  problems  have  been  solved  in  some  cities  ;  others  in  other  cities  :  and  others  remain  7tnsolved. 

In  this  article  and  in  several  more  that  are  to  follow  a  first-hand,  personal  study  of  the  achievemettts,  the  present  con- 
dition, and  the  character  of  some  of  our  principal  tnunicipalities  is  made  in  definite  concrete  terms.  These  articles  are 
written  to  help  to  a  clear  understa?iding  of  what  has  been  done  toward  the  solution  of  the  gravest  problem  in  democratic 
government. 


PARADOXICAL  as  it  may  seem,  one 
can  appreciate  Chicago  only  after  he 
has  known  the  prairies  of  the  far 
West.  The  stragghng  railway  towns  scat- 
tered here  and  there  along  the  great  trunk 
lines  which  enter  the  city  are  miniature 
Chicagos  in  the  making.  They  are  ragged, 
unkempt,  uncared  for  and  unadorned;  an 
abiding  place  just  beyond  the  homesteader's 
tent  in  permanency.  The  church  and  saloon 
have  both  come  in,  and  the  vigilance  com- 
mittee has  vanished,  but  the  rough-and-ready 
life  is  there.  Of  tradition  there  is  none;  of 
restraint,  little.  Of  independence,  vigor  and 
self-confidence  there  is  a  surplus.  Government 
is  public  opinion  in  process  of  formation. 
Improvements  are  emerging,  but  the  prairie 
is  just  around  the  corner.  And  Chicago  is  a 
frontier  town  increased  a  thousand  fold. 
This  is  the  impression  of  the  visitor.  It  is 
ultimately  the  belief  of  the  resident.  He  may 
treat  it  as  his  home,  and  love  it  as  his  city, 
but  at  heart  he  is  but  one  of  two  million  and 
odd  people  whom  necessity,  choice  or  chance 
has  cast  into  the  community  which  the  four 
quarters  of  the  globe  and  the  best  portions  of 
America  have  builded  into  a  city. 

Chicago  is  unfused.  It  has  not  yet  found 
itself.  Historically,  it  happened;  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  is  still  happening.  It  has  many 
organizations,  but  little  organized  life.  Some- 
time it  will  have  such  a  life.  Then  it  will  be 
one  of  the  greatest,  possibly  the  greatest,  of 
American  cities. 


Constructed  on  a  rectangular  plan,  its 
business  streets  present  in  dreary  succession 
sheer  walls  of  brick  and  stone,  irregular  in 
height,  size  and  appearance,  unadorned  and 
ugly.  Here  and  there  a  building  arises  which 
suggests  an  architect  rather  than  a  contractor; 
but  beauty,  municipal  beauty,  Chicago  cannot 
claim,  save  in  palatial  residences,  splendid 
boulevards  and  magnificent  parks.  Street 
life  is  still  the  life  of  the  frontier.  Adver- 
tisements of  every  description  offend  the  eye. 
The  saloon,  cheap  restaurant  and  variety  hall, 
with  garish  signs  of  every  conceivable  nature, 
decorate  the  faces  of  buildings,  corners  and 
other  available  space  with  announcements 
of  their  attractions.  Certain  streets  suggest 
a  Midway  Plaisance  to  catch  the  thousands 
of  fugitive  transients  who  pass  through  the 
city  or  call  it  a  home. 

Under  foot  are  badly  built,  badly  engineered 
pavements  and  sidewalks.  The  streets  are 
badly  lighted  and  are  a  mass  of  mud  in  spring 
and  fall,  of  dust  and  wind  in  summer  and 
winter.  Overhead  is  a  murky  sky  and  dingy 
side  walls,  and  everywhere  the  din  and  roar  of 
surface  and  overhead  cars,  vans  and  truck 
wagons,  strike  the  ear.  Noises  of  an  indcscrib- 
able  municipal  sort  prevent  conversation, 
even  if  conversation  were  possible,  for  Chicago 
does  not  stop  to  talk  on  the  streets.  They  are 
filled  with  eager,  hurrying,  crushing  crowds, 
rushing,  jamming  and  seeking  only  to  move 
on.  The  purpose  of  every  one  seems  to  be 
to  get  somewhere  else.     Life  is  movement.^ 


CHARACTER   AND    ACHIEVEMENTS    OF    CHICAGO 


3241 


Ivipling  said  C'hicago  rcnundcd  him  of  an 
Indian  famine  relief-distribution  force  at 
work. 

Such  is  possibly  an  exaggerated  picture  of 
Chicago  in  its  downtown  regions.  Every 
appearance  seems  to  indicate  inefficiency  in 
public  administration.  The  external  evi- 
dences are  all  against  good  government. 
Nothing  seems  to  be  done  as  it  should  be  done, 
and  most  things  seem  to  be  neglected  alto- 
gether. But  probably  in  no  city  in  America 
are  the  seen  and  unseen  forces  more  at 
variance.  Chicago  is  essentially  a  new  city. 
Its  life  is  that  of  the  keen,  enterprising,  rough- 
and-ready  sort.  It  is  eager.  Conservatism 
has  not  had  time  to  crystallize.  A  full  life 
is  offered  to  the  last  comer  who  has  anything 
good  to  suggest.  Its  hospitality  is  of  the 
open,  tolerant  sort.  It  holds  no  obligations 
to  the  past.  It  has  its  eye  on  the  future. 
Life  is  always  in  today,  not  in  yesterday. 
For  effects  it  cares  little,  for  immediate  life 
everj'thing,  and  for  fundamental  reality 
probably  more  than  any  other  city  in  the 
world.  Chicago  is  individualistic  in  the 
extreme  in  its  methods,  socialistic  in  its  hopes 
and  ambitions.  Within  twenty  years  it  will 
probably  surpass  Glasgow,  which  it  suggests 
in  many  respects,  in  municipal  enterprise; 
and  in  half  that  time  it  will  lead  America  in 
the  ownership  and  operation  of  public  util- 
ities. In  this  respect,  Chicago  will  break  the 
way.  As  a  force  it  will  revolutionize  America. 
Precedent,  tradition,  caste,  the  opinion  of  the 
club,  church  or  the  status  quo  count  for  little. 
No  one  speaks  with  authority,  but  an  essential 
truth  finds  a  ready  response.  The  spirit  of 
the  city  is  one  of  buoyant,  leaping  self- 
confidence,  knowing  no  obstacle  and  resolute 
in  its  purposes.  And  there  is  a  vibrant  note 
here.  Chicago  seems  to  trust  the  people. 
There  is  no  fear  of  democracy.  There  is  no 
hesitant  doubt  of  the  city's  future. 

And  the  city  has  an  easy  tolerance.  Its 
ideals  are  economic  and  industrial  rather 
than  esthetic  and  refined.  And  there  are 
many  Chicagos.  It  is  not  metropolitan;  it 
is  cosmopolitan.  There  are  1,314,453  persons 
of  foreign  birth  or  foreign  parentage  living 
in  the  city.  It  is  often  said  that  Chicago  has 
more  Germans  than  any  city  in  Germany, 
save  two  or  three,  and  more  Irish  than  any 
city  save  Dublin.  A  large  percentage  of  the 
officials  in  the  Mayor's  cabinet  and  the 
council  are  of  foreign  birth,  the  Irish,  German 


and  Bohemian  races  pre<lominating.  The 
city  is  Pan-l"2uropcan  in  its  temperament  and 
American  to  the  core  in  its  democracy.  It 
is  extravagant  in  its  luxuries;  it  is  degraded 
in  its  poverty.  It  employs  thousands  of 
children  of  school  age  in  its  factories  and 
sweat-shops  in  defiance  of  law,  and,  like  a 
sponge,  sucks  to  itself  the  young  men  and 
women  of  the  exuberant  western  prairies. 
It  is  the  Mecca  of  the  tramp  and  the  criminal, 
who  find  access  to  it  easy  by  the  many  rail- 
roads which  converge  in  Chicago,  and  the 
public  are  an  easy  "graft"  in  their  ready 
tolerance  of  the  unsuccessful.  Its  tenements 
are  crowded  and  squalid,  and  are  in  sight  of 
spacious  palace-like  mansions  occupying 
park-like  grounds.  Dignity  has  not  yet 
come,  and  the  judge  of  the  court  may  be 
found  at  the  ten-cent  lunch  counter,  along- 
side of  the  professional  juror.  The  inner 
sanctum  of  the  great  financier  or  the  manager 
of  the  leading  daily  is  as  open  to  a  humble 
depositor  or  subscriber  as  to  the  successful 
promoter  or  advertiser.  A  conservative 
journal  may  be  edited  by  a  philosophical 
socialist,  and  the  inner  advisers  of  the  Mayor 
are  likely  to  be  men  of  the  most  radical  views. 
Democracy  is  of  the  advanced  sort,  while 
conservative  Republican  leaders  are  hospi- 
table to  many  principles  essentially  radical 
to  the  eastern  mind. 

Chicago  is  open-minded.  Just  as  an  esoteric 
Oriental  will  fill  an  auditorium  in  Boston,  so 
a  new  political  idea  will  pass  sympathetically 
over  the  city  like  a  prairie  fire.  While  other 
communities  wait  for  organization,  Chicago 
accepts  the  man.  In  igoi  a  bill  "for  the 
submission  of  questions  of  public  policy"  to 
the  electors  became  a  law  of  the  State.  It 
required  a  petition  of  twenty-five  per  cent, 
of  the  registered  voters  to  have  a  public 
question  presented  at  the  polls.  The  Legis- 
lature thought  this  percentage  would  be  pro- 
hibitive. And  it  would  have  been  so  in  the 
average  city.  Not  so  in  Chicago.  There 
was  a  breezy  wakefulness  about  the  citizens 
which  forced  results  with   unexpected  vigor. 

A  young  lawyer,  Daniel  L.  Cruise,  of 
comparatively  little  prominence,  who  se- 
cured his  legal  education  while  serving  as 
a  mail  clerk,  in  less  than  a  year  after 
the  passage  of  the  law  forced  the  sub- 
mission of  three  questions  to  the  people 
of  Chicago  by  the  presentation  of  a  peti- 
tion   bearing     109,000     signatures.       These 


I 


3242 


CHARACTER    AND    ACHIEVEMENTS    OF    CHICAGO 


questions    and    the    votes    thereon    were    as 
follows : 

For  ownership  by  the  City  of  Chicago 
of  all  street  railroads  within  the  cor- 
porate limits  of  said  city. 

For  such  ownership  .     .  142,826 

Against 27,998 


Majority  almost  five  to  one  in  favor     1 14,828 

For  ownership  by  the  City  of  Chicago 
of  the  gas  and  electric  light  plants,  said 
plants  to  furnish  light .  heat  and  power 
for  public  and  private  use. 

For  such  ownership  ....      139,999 
Against 21,364 


Majority  almost  six  to  one  in  favor     1 18,635 

For  the  nomination  of  all  candidates 
for  city  offices  by  direct  vote  of  the 
voters  at  Primary  Elections  to  be  held 
for  that  purpose. 

For  direct  primaries     .     .      .     140,860 
Against 17.652 


Majority  almost  eight  to  one  in  favor     123.208 

To  the  surprise  of  all,  both  the  friends  and  the 
foes  of  the  referendum,  the  majority  in  favor 
of  these  questions  was  far  heavier  in  the 
Republican  wards  than  in  the  downtown 
districts,  a  refutation  of  the  idea  so  preva- 
lently advanced  that  municipal  ownership 
is  sought  only  by  irresponsible  and  property- 
less  classes. 

Of  a  similar  sort  was  the  contest  waged  by 
two  women  school-teachers,  Miss  ^largaret 
Haley  and  Miss  Catherine  Goggin,  represent- 
ing the  Chicago  Teachers'  Federation.  The 
school  funds  of  Chicago  were  inadequate. 
Teachers  were  unpaid,  and  underpaid,  were 
retired  for  a  portion  of  the  year  and  the 
schools  closed.  It  was  discovered  that  the 
law  requiring  the  taxation  of  public  service 
corporations  at  their  franchise  value  was 
ignored  by  the  taxing  bodies.  The  teachers 
raised  82,000  to  contest  the  question.  Mass 
meetings  were  held  all  over  the  city,  able 
lawyers  were  engaged,  mandamus  proceedings 
were  begun,  and  carried  through  one  coi:rt 
after  another  until  the  Supreme  Court  issued 
a  writ  requiring  the  taxing  authorities  to 
place  these  properties  upon  the  tax  duplicate 
at  their  full  market  value.  By  this  proceed- 
ing S6oo,ooo  of  back  taxes  was  turned  into 
the  city  treasury  and  an  annual  increase  of 
$1,000,000  made  to  the  city  revenue. 

Such  is  the  force  of  individual  effort  in 
Chicago.  The  citizen  seems  to  believe  in 
his  own  powers  and  sets  out  to  achieve  his 


purposes  without  organization,  whether  it  is 
in  business,  politics,  philanthropy  or  reform. 
In  1893  a  few  men  began  an  agitation 
for  civil  service  reform.  Xo  more  hope- 
less cause  seemed  conceivable.  The  two 
political  parties  were  boss-ridden  and 
seemed  impregnable  in  their  control  of  the 
city  and  the  Legislature.  Corruption,  vice 
and  spoils  were  in  the  ascendency.  In  1895 
one  of  the  best  civil  service  reform  acts  in 
America  was  passed  at  Springfield.  It  was 
achieved  not  by  argument  merely,  but  by 
careful  business  and  campaign  methods. 
Not  only  was  local  interest  aroused,  but 
Chicago  manufacturers,  jobbers  and  profes- 
sional men  distributed  tens  of  thousands  of 
printed  letters  and  postals  all  over  the  State, 
to  be  sent  by  men  to  their  Assemblymen, 
asking  their  support  for  the  measure.  Spring- 
field was  deluged  with  petitions,  letters  and 
postals.  The  Assembly  was  forced  by  the 
burden  of  the  demand  to  ignore  the  party 
lash.  They  responded  by  passing  the  act  as 
desired.  For  several  years  the  measure 
received  scant  support  from  the  local  admin- 
istration. The  spoilsmen  were  too  much  for  , 
the  Mayor,  whose  appointees  to  the  commis- 
sion "took  the  starch  out  of  the  act."  Today 
all  this  is  changed.  Alert  public  opinion  has 
forced  the  appointment  of  better  commis- 
sioners and  they  in  turn  dignify  the  act  in 
its  administration.  The  result  has  been  a 
reformed  public  service.  A  better  class  of 
men  are  seeking  oflEice.  A  higher  morale 
characterizes  public  work.  Enforced  politi- 
cal assessments  are  at  an  end.  No  longer  are 
pay-rolls  padded  at  election  time ;  inde- 
pendence and  self-respect  pervade  the  depart- 
ments. The  city  hall  machine,  in  so  far  as  it 
is  an  official  organization,  is  broken,  and 
public  office  is  becoming  a  public  trust. 
Today  even  the  elective  officials  indorse  the 
law  and  encourage  its  honest  demonstration. 
Yet  another  instance  of  the  force  of  person- 
ality. Six  years  ago  Chicago  was  governed 
by  the  "Gray  Wolves."  The  crooks  had 
control  of  the  City  Council  by  a  vote  of 
about  fifty-six  to  twelve.  The  office  of  alder- 
man was  rated  as  being  worth  S50.000  a  year. 
In  1896  John  Maynard  Harlan,  son  of  Justice 
Harlan  of  the  Supreme  Court,  with  one  or  two 
other  young  men,  entered  the  Council.  He 
arrested  public  attention,  called  a  crook  a 
crook,  and  the  corruptionist,  whether  rich  or 
poor,  by  similar   terms.     He    manufactured 


CHARACTER   AND    ACHIEVEMENTS    OF    CHICAGO 


3243 


headlines  for  the  press.  About  the  same  time 
the  Municipal  Voters'  League  was  formed  by 
a  few  energetic  men.  Among  them  were 
Walter  L.  Fisher  and  Edwin  Burritt  Smith. 
The  League  solicited  funds  and  began  to  issue 
bulletins  on  the  eve  of  election,  giving  the 
voters  full  information  as  to  candidates  for 
the  Council.  The  announcements  went  into 
the  lives,  characters  and  public  records  of 
the  candidates. 

At  first  the  public  received  the  announce- 
ments with  indifference  or  suspicion.  The 
politician  treated  the  bulletins  as  a  "kid- 
glove"  effort  of  the  "rayformer,",  who  would 
soon  tire  of  the  business  and  return  to  his  club. 
But  the  League  stuck  to  its  purpose.  It 
secured  headquarters.  It  employed  secre- 
taries and  investigators.  It  elected  some 
aldermen.  Soon  the  public  began  to  trust 
its  statements.  The  press  seconded  its  efforts, 
and  the  press  of  Chicago  is  independent  and 
non-partisan  in  such  matters.  The  politi- 
cians began  to  wonder.  Soon  the  political 
leaders  brought  their  candidates  to  the  League 
for  inspection  before  they  announced  their 
candidacy.  Today  the  public  awaits  the 
League's  announcements  and  follows  its 
advice.  A  trained  staff  is  constantly  em- 
ployed. The  League  is  in  politics  to  stay. 
It  is  the  best  organized  machine  in  the  city 
and  has  Tammanyi'ied  the  honest  and  intelli- 
gent voter.  It  is  the  most  effective  organiza- 
tion of  its  kind  in  America.  Its  administra- 
tion is  centralized.  It  is  quick  and  free  from 
machinery.  It  has  no  axes  to  grind;  no 
political  purpose  to  advance.  It  is  disinter- 
ested and  inspired  with  a  love  for  the  city 
and  decent  government.  It  has  100,000 
voters  of  the  city  classified  and  indexed,  and 
has  succeeded  in  electing  fifty-five  aldermen 
out  of  seventy,  who  are  honest  and  competent. 
This  majority  controls  the  Council  on  a  non- 
partisan basis.  They  are  conscientious  in 
their  attention  to  public  duties,  and  far 
and  away  the  most  efficient  municipal 
assembly  in  America.  For  several  years  not 
a  boodle  ordinance  has  been  passed  by  the 
Council. 

But  this  giant  of  a  city  is  bound,  Gulliver- 
like, by  the  thongs  of  a  State  Constitution, 
adopted  in  1872.  Its  hands  and  feet  are  tied. 
It  has  issued  no  bonds  since  the  World's  Fair. 
Its  valuation  for  purposes  of  taxation  is 
kept  down  to  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  true 
valuation.     The  assessment  amounts  to  but 


I 


$374,580,440.  Its  bond  limit  is  but  five  per 
cent,  of  its  valuation  for  purjmses  of  taxation. 
As  a  result,  the  city  is  limited  in  its  bor- 
rowing powers  to  one  per  cent,  of  the  real 
value  of  property.  Its  indebtedness  is  lower 
today  than  it  was  thirty  years  ago  when  the 
population  was  but  little  more  than  300,000 
and  the  city  had  an  area  of  but  thirty-six 
square  miles.  Today,  it  covers  one  hundred 
and  ninety-six  square  miles.  The  bonded 
debt  is  but  $19.42  per  capita.  It  was  $46  per 
capita  in  1 87 1 .  The  per  capita  debt  of  Boston 
is  $91.61  and  of  New  York  $81.27.  New  York, 
with  half  the  street  mileage  of  Chicago,  spends 
five  times  as  much  for  their  cleaning,  while 
Boston,  with  one-seventh  the  mileage  of 
Chicago,  spends  a  much  larger  sum  for  this 
purpose.  With  the  exception  of  the  expen- 
diture for  police,  fire  and  health,  all  depart- 
ments of  the  city  are  on  the  same  inadequate 
basis.  The  per  capita  revenue  collected  per 
annum  is  less  than  any  other  large  city  in 
America,  with  the  exception  of  Cleveland 
and  Indianapolis.  It  is  but  $15.81  per  capita 
as  compared  with  $45.37  per  capita  for 
Boston  and  $30.35  for  New  York.  The  city 
cannot  borrow  any  money  for  permanent 
improvements,  however  imperatively  they 
may  be  needed,  and  is  waiting  release  from 
the  limitations  imposed  upon  it  by  a  country 
Legislature  to  take  up  plans  for  municipal 
betterment  on  an  extended  scale.  Chicago 
needs  a  new  charter.  Were  it  freed  from 
the  Legislative  restraint  and  given  virtual 
home  rule  in  its  local  affairs  it  would  astonish 
the  world. 

Like  many  of  our  American  cities,  the 
charter  under  which  the  city  operates  is  a 
historical  survival.  In  the  complexity  of  its 
machinery  it  suggests  London.  Until  very 
recently,  the  rural  township  government 
existed  side  by  side  with  the  city  government. 
In  addition  to  this,  there  still  exists  a  county 
administration  under  three  commissioners, 
despite  the  fact  that  there  are  less  than  a 
hundred  thousand  people  in  Cook  County 
outside  the  city  limits.  There  are  three 
separate  Park  Boards,  two  of  which  are 
appointed  by  the  Governor  and  one  by  the 
Circuit  Court.  A  sanitary  sewer  district  has 
charge  of  the  construction  of  the  drainage 
canal.  Altogether,  the  municipal  functions 
of  Chicago  are  divided  up  among  eight  differ- 
ent corporations,  each  of  which  maintains 
its    own   officers,   levies  its    own   taxes   and 


3244 


CHARACTER    AND    ACHIEVEMENTS    OF    CHICAGO 


expends  its  own  money  without  regard  to 
that  unity  of  action  so  necessary  in  efficient 
administration. 

A  magnificent  park  system  has  been  devel- 
oped under  these  boards,  with  forty-five 
miles  of  splendid  boulevards  connecting  one 
part  of  the  city  with  another.  Certain  streets 
have  been  developed  into  residence  boule- 
vards, and  the  parks  themselves  have  been 
turned  into  veritable  commons  or  play- 
grounds for  the  public.  No  "keep  off  the 
grass ' '  signs  depress  the'  spirit  of  sport ;  an 
increasing  interest  is  shown  in  the  develop- 
ment of  public  baths  and  playgrounds.  At 
present  there  are  twenty-four  playgrounds 
in  use.  Public -spirited  citizens  have  taken 
up  a  project  of  unparalleled  possibilities  for 
the  construction  of  a  breakwater  botdevard, 
extending  from  Jackson  Park  to  the  mouth 
of  the  river  in  the  centre  of  the  city. 

The  plan  contemplates  an  esplanade  or 
speedway  500  feet  broad  and  from  five  to 
seven  miles  in  length,  constructed  far  out  into 
the  lake,  and  enclosing  a  lagoon  for  pleasure 
craft  and  sports  between  it  and  the  shore. 
The  estim_ated  cost  of  this  development  is 
$25,000,000.  The  plan  is  unique  in  America  or 
anywhere  else  in  the  world,  and  will,  if  carried 
out,  redeem  the  loss  which  Chicago  has  suffered 
from  the  occupation  of  the  lake  front  by  the 
railroads.  A  similar  project  has  been  dis- 
cussed for  the  construction  of  abutting  quays 
along  the  Chicago  River,  which  could  be  used 
for  business,  promenade  and  architectural 
purposes,  and  which  would  convert  that  river, 
which  now  runs  clear  as  the  lake  itself,  into  a 
stream  attractive  as  the  Seine  at  Paris,  the 
Thames  at  London  or  the  Oder  at  Berlin. 
These  are  Chicago  dreams.  But  in  this  great 
western  metropolis  the  dreams  of  today  have 
a  way  of  becoming  realities  tomorrow. 

The  responsible  administrative  agencies  of 
the  city  are  the  Mayor  and  the  City  Council. 
"While  eastern  cities,  affrighted  at  the  ineffi- 
ciency and  corruption  of  their  representatives, 
have  abandoned  the  democratic  traditions  of 
the  past,  and  have  lodged  great  power  in  the 
Executive  and  left  the  Council  an  anomalous, 
powerless  survival,  Chicago  has  retained  the 
early  type  and  reposes  large  powers  in  its 
aldermen.  The  City  Council  is  a  body  of 
seventy  members,  two  of  whom  are  chosen 
from  each  ward.  They  receive  a  salar}^  of 
$1,500.  The  budget  of  the  city  is  made  up 
by  the  Finance  Committee,  subject,  as  is  all 


legislation,  to  the  veto  of  the  Mayor.  Six 
years  ago  the  City  Council  was  a  byword  of 
reproach.  Candidacy  for  membership  in  it 
was  almost  a  confession  of  dishonesty.  An 
aldermanic  syndicate  trafficked  openly  in  all 
sorts  of  legislation.  It  granted  franchises  to 
itself  under  the  guise  of  a  dummy.  These 
franchises  were  sold  by  the  syndicate  to  the 
highest  bidder  or  were  used  as  "strikes" 
against  the  existing  railroad  companies.  In 
1896  the  Council  granted  six  franchises  of 
immense  value  in  utter  disregard  of  public 
protest.  Today  but  four  of  the  old  gang 
remain  in  the  Council.  The  corruption  bom 
of  public  franchises  and  grants  in  the  streets 
is  at  an  end,  and  the  public  go  to  bed  on 
Monday  evening  with  reasonable  assurance 
that  nothing  will  be  done  by  the  Council 
seriously  to  imperil  the  city's  interests.  This 
has  been  largely  achieved  through  the  efforts 
of  the  Municipal  Voters'  League,  and  there 
seems  to  be  no  public  sentiment  demanding  a 
substitution  of  larger  executive  responsibility 
for  the  distributed  democratic  powers  which 
the  Council  now  enjoys. 

Still,  the  office  of  Mayor  remains  a  dignified 
post.  The  Corporation  Counsel,  the  Comp- 
troller, the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works, 
the  heads  of  the  Fire  and  Police  Departments 
are  all  executive  appointees,  as  are  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  the 
members  of  the  School  Board,  the  Health 
Commissioner,  the  City  Electrician,  the  Build- 
ing Commissioner,  and  a  number  of  other 
officials.  Many  of  these  officials  are  men  of 
talent,  with  a  full  sense  of  official  responsi- 
bility. The  merit  S3-stem  has  relieved  the 
Mayor  and  his  subordinates  from  the  stress  of 
the  spoilsman,  and  has  freed  their  hands  for 
large  public  business. 

In  the  one  community  in  America  where 
the  spirit  of  the  people,  the  conditions  of 
trade,  the  topography  of  the  city  and  the 
wide  dispersion  of  population  unite  in  demand- 
ing excellence  and  rapidity  in  local  trans- 
portation, we  find  the  worst  of  conditions. 
Aside  from  the  suburban  and  elevated  rail- 
road traffic,  the  service  is  slow,  inadequate 
and  dilapidated.  Cable,  overhead  electric 
and  horse  cars  block  the  streets;  the  equip- 
ment is  worn  out;  the  cars  dirty.  This  is 
explained  by  the  companies  on  the  ground 
that  their  franchises  are  about  to  expire,  and 
that  improvements  cannot  be  made  until  this 
question    is    disposed    of.     And    this    is    the 


CHARACTER    AND    ACHIEVEMENTS    OK    CHICAGO 


3245 


burninjT  issue  of  municipal  politics  in  Chicajj;o. 
All  others  are  subordinate  to  it.  For  the  i)ast 
half-dozen  years  the  City  Council,  the  Munici- 
pal Voters'  League  and  the  press  have  been 
studying  the  franchise  question  in  a  mo?t 
intelligent  manner.  Many  valuable  reports 
have  been  published  on  the  subject,  and  the 
present  policy  of  the  city  seems  to  be  one  of  no 
franchise  extension  until  the  city  is  empow- 
ered by  the  Legislature  to  own  and  operate 
the  lines  and  no  action  under  such  power 
until  the  question  has  been  submitted  to  a 
vote  of  the  people  for  approval.  Apparently, 
the  preponderance  of  opinion  is  in  favor  of 
public  ownership,  if  the  referendum  vote  of 
last  year  is  any  index  of  public  opinion. 

But  the  city's  financial  condition  would 
seem  to  preclude  such  action  now,  and  the 
present  purpose  of  the  city  seems  to  be  in  the 
direction  of  a  short  franchise,  with  full  return 
to  the  city  in  the  form  of  low  fares  or  a  tax 
upon  gross  receipts,  and  better  service,  with 
an  underground  subway  system  through  the 
business  districts  to  relieve  the  congestion  of 
traffic.  This,  with  full  public  accounting, 
and  the  right  of  the  city  to  acquire  and  operate 
the  roads  at  any  time,  seems  to  be  the  pro- 
gramme of  the  administration.  And  no  city  in 
America  has  proceeded  with  more  intelligence 
in  the  treatment  of  this  great  question  than 
has  Chicago,  and  there  are  many  who  predict 
an  early  ownership  of  the  entire  transporta- 
tion system  by  the  municipality. 

The  friends  of  municipal  ownership  insist 
that  the  question  is  no  longer  a  speculative  or 
experimental  one  with  Chicago.  They  say  it 
is  foolish  to  contend  that  the  city  cannot 
successfully  operate  its  own  street  railways. 
They  point  to  the  water  and  electric  lighting 
plants  for  verification.  The  former  system  is 
a  most  extensive  one,  the  supply  of  water 
being  obtained  from  Lake  Michigan  through 
immense  submarine  tunnels,  constructed  by 
the  city  under  the  bottom  of  the  lake,  to 
intake  cribs  some  miles  from  the  shore.  The 
plant  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  city  since 
1854,  when  it  was  purchased  from  a  private 
corporation.  The  cost,  without  allowance  for 
depreciation,  has  been  more  than  $34,000,000. 
Its  present  bonded  indebtedness  is  $4,000,000. 
The  gross  earnings  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 
December  31,  1901,  were  $3,504,457,  while 
the  net  earnings  to  the  city,  after  all  expenses 
for  operation,  maintenance  and  interest  are 
deducted,  were  more  than  $1,250,000. 


Chicago  also  lights  its  own  streets  by  elec- 
tricity. It  claims  to  do  this  for  $57.48  a 
light,  which  figure,  however,  does  not  include 
loss  of  taxes,  interest  on  investment  and  some 
other  charges.  The  j)lant  is  free  from  indebt- 
edness, having  been  built  from  the  proceeds 
of  taxes  levied  for  that  purpose.  The  prop- 
erty of  the  department  is  valued  at  $1,300,000, 
and  is  ably  conducted  under  the  merit  system. 

Two  other  enterprises  of  tremendous  magni- 
tude merit  notice.  One  of  these  is  the  con- 
struction of  the  Chicago  drainage  canal  at  a 
cost  of  nearly  $40,000,000.  This  great  project, 
which  covered  a  quarter  of  a  century  of 
agitation  and  work,  has  finally  been  completed 
except  as  to  a  portion  of  the  intercepted 
sewer  system.  By  this  system  all  the  sewage 
of  the  city  will  be  dumped  into  the  canal,  the 
river's  flow  will  be  reversed,  and  Lake  Michigan 
will  be  utilized  as  a  great  natural  flushing  tank, 
carrying  the  sewage  into  the  Mississippi 
River.  This  will  prevent  the  pollution  of  the 
water  supply  of  the  city,  will  cleanse  the 
Chicago  River,  and  will  ultimately  render 
serviceable  immense  water-power  for  public 
uses.  When  this  is  finished  the  water  supply 
of  the  city  will  be  as  free  from  impurities  as 
the  lake  itself.  Already  the  Chicago  River 
has  become  a  clean  flowing  stream  instead  of 
the  vilest  of  sewers,  to  the  great  comfort  and 
growing  health  of  the  city. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  city  has  gradually 
brought  about  the  abolition  of  the  railroad 
grade-crossing.  In  1892  355  deaths,  or 
twenty-three  per  cent,  of  those  from  accident 
in  the  city,  were  caused  by  the  railroads.  In 
1 90 1  the  number  of  deaths  had  been  dimin- 
ished to  241,  or  fourteen  per  cent,  of  the 
accident  cases.  Hundreds  of  miles  of  tracks 
have  been  elevated  above  grade  by  ordinances 
of  the  Council.  This  has  been  done  without 
cost  to  the  city,  the  expense  being  borne  by 
the  railroads  themselves.  The  tracks  are 
unsightly,  it  is  true,  and  it  is  possible  that 
future  years  may  cause  the  community  to 
regret  that  they  did  not  require  the  tracks  to 
be  placed  below  grade  rather  than  above;  but 
it  is  a  remarkable  achievement  in  the  face  of 
the  obstacles  which  the  railroads  usually 
interpose  to  such  legislation. 

The  problem  which  is  the  most  serious  one 
in  New  York — i.  e.,  the  relation  of  the  public 
and  the  police  toward  vice,  the  saloon  and 
gambling — is  also  a  problem  in  Chicago.  But 
it  is  solved  on  the  frontier  principle.     The 


3246 


CHARACTER   AND    ACHIEVEMENTS    OF    CHICAGO 


easy  tolerance  of  another  man's  habits  which 
marks  the  West  characterizes  the  city  admin- 
istration so  far  as  it  relates  to  these  questions. 
For  Chicago  is  a  "wide  open"  town.  The 
saloon  closes  when  the  last  customer  departs. 
Sunday  differs  from  the  other  days  of  the 
week  only  by  the  volume  of  business  done. 
The  theatre,  the  variety  show  and  other 
forms  of  public  recreation  flourish  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week  as  they  do  on  the  seventh. 
And  there  seems  to  be  no  general  demand» 
for  a  severe  enforcement  of  the  Sunday- 
closing  laws.  At  least,  this  question  does 
not  present  itself  as  a  political  issue ;  and  the 
public,  whether  moved  by  indifference  to 
such  matters  or  a  desire  for  the  utmost  free- 
dom, raises  no  organized  protest  against  the 
continuance  of  these  conditions. 

The  police  force  of  the  city  has  been  sub- 
jected to  severe  arraignment  in  the  past.  The 
various  forms  of  vice  and  gambling  were  said 
to  be  subject  to  police  tribute  and  blackmail. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  there  has  been 
considerable  improvement  in  this  regard  in 
late  years,  but  the  street  evidences  indicate 
a  widespread  prevalence  of  vice  and  crime  in 
striking  contrast  to  some  eastern  cities. 
Part  of  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  Chicago 
receives  at  one  time  or  another  the  flotsam 
and  jetsam  of  the  whole  country.  Moreover, 
it  is  the  trading  centre  of  the  West,  and  the 
drovers,  ranchmen  and  miners  look  upon  it  as 
their  eastern  rendezvous.  The  lack  of  fixity 
in  employment,  the  immense  foreign  popula- 
tion, the  railway  terminals  which  dump  the 
criminal  and  the  tramp  into  the  city's  popu- 
lation, all  contribute  to  this  condition.  The 
morale  of  the  police  force  is  not  of  the  highest, 
nor  the  protection  to  life  and  limb  of  the  best. 
Chicago  does  not  seem  to  get  her  money's 
worth  from  her  police  force,  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  this  department  of  public  service 
will  respond  to  better  conditions  only  with  a 
change  in  public  sentiment  toward  law  and 
order. 

Any  intelligent  opinion  of  the  administra- 
tion of  Chicago  must  have  in  mind  many 
things  not  visible  on  the  surface. 

The  large  western  cities,  especially  those 
whose  growth  has  been  rapid,  are  burdened 
with  many  things  to  be  done,  with  few  people 
to  do  them.  They  have  no  accumulated 
experience  to  draw  upon,  and  are  like  the 
western  farmer  who  can  find  no  time  to  paint 
his  house  because  lie  must  first  get  in  his  crops. 


Moreover,  Chicago's  financial  resources  are 
inadequate,  and  apparently  there  is  no  means 
of  relief  save  through  a  State  constitutional 
convention.  Her  temper  is  easy  and  tolerant 
of  vice  and  even  of  lawlessness.  The  political 
machine  and  the  party  boss  are  still  formid- 
able, though  they  are  held  in  check  by  a 
steadily  increasing  independent  vote  which 
esteems  the  city  above  party.  The  dignity 
of  public  office  is  increasing  and  the  City 
Council  is  coming  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  door 
for  higher  political  preferment.  Partisan- 
ship and  favoritism  play  a  large  part  in  local 
matters,  but  bribery  and  direct  corruption  are 
practically  at  an  end.  The  merit  system  is 
well  administered,  and  economy  is  enforced 
by  the  financial  limitations  of  the  city  as  well 
as  by  a  recent  investigation  made  by  a  firm  of 
expert  public  accountants,  who  have  reorgan- 
ized and  placed  the  departments  on  a  strict 
business  basis  and  have  rendered  possible  a 
great  reduction  in  the  working  force  and  a 
consequent  saving  of  nearly  $100,000  to 
the  city  in  salaries. 

The  one  fundamental  need  of  Chicago  is  to 
be  free  from  the  limitations  placed  upon  her 
by  the  State  constitution,  free  from  the 
ignorant  control  of  an  indifferent  State  Legis- 
lature, free  to  put  the  tremendous  powers 
lying  more  or  less  dormant  in  her  life  or 
absorbed  in  commercial  pursuits,  to  work  on 
her  upbuilding.  A  city  that  can  do  the 
things  she  has  done  in  the  face  of  the  obstacles 
that  have  been  overcome  can  be  trusted  to  do 
an3^hing.  Chicago  is  a  giant  manacled  and 
fettered  by  a  rural  community  inspired  by 
fear  and  ignorance.  The  State  will  not 
unloose  the  chains,  partly  because  of  the 
corrupt  spoils  which  come  from  local  legisla- 
tion, partly  because  partisan  leaders  and 
franchise  owners  fear  the  city  will  put  an  end 
to  their  sinister  purposes. 

But  endow  Chicago  with  home  rule,  give 
her  such  powers  as  she  sees  fit  to  exercise, 
and  she  will  advance  by  leaps  and  bounds; 
her  civil  development  will  equal  her  wonderful 
commercial  expansion;  for  no  city  in  America 
is  more  ambitious,  none  is  freer  from  obstruc- 
tive conservatism,  and  none  can  claim  more 
distinguished  contributions  to  the  power  of 
the  American  people  to  abolish  abuses  and 
reestablish  local  self-government  on  an  endur- 
ing foundation.  And  this  is  a  city  which  six 
years  ago  was  a  reproach  to  her  citizens  and  a 
byword  of  corruption  to  the*  nation. 


WIDENING    THE    USE    OF     PUBLIC 

SCHOOLHOUSES 

HOW  THE  EXPERIMENT  SUCCEEDED  IN  BOSTON  OF  OI'ENING 
THEM  ALL  DAY  AND  ALL  THE  YEAR— INDUSTRIAL  CLASSES, 
PLAYGROUND  FACILITIES  AND  BATHS— APPLYING  THE  SYSTEM 
IN   CONGESTED    DISTRICTS— THE    COST   AND    THE    REAL   SAVING 

BY 

SYLVESTER    BAXTER 


WHEN  the  public  pays  for  schools,  it 
pays  for  institutions  in  the  form 
of  grounds  and  buildings  that  lie, 
as  a  rule,  in  profitless  idleness  eighteen  hours 
out  of  every  twenty-four.  During  those 
eighteen  hours  they  are  fenced-in  bug- 
bears, in  cities  at  all  events,  shunned  by  the 
children  for  whom  they  have  been  erected, 
a  waste  of  investment  that  private  capital 
would  not  tolerate  for  a  moment. 

Boston  not  long  ago  awoke  to  this  anomaly 
through  the  influence  of  Mr.  J.  J.  Storrow,  a 
prominent  young  lawyer  and  a  member  of  the 
Public-School  Association — a  non-partisan 
organization  which  is  bringing  new  vitality 
into  the  city's  school  system.  It  was  found 
that  the  city's  educational  plant,  which  cost 
$13,110,700,  was  being  used  only  five  hours  a 
day  for  about  two  hundred  days  in  the  year — 
only  about  a  quarter  of  the  possible  work- 
ing time.  A  special  committee,  accordingly, 
made  a  start  toward  greater  economy  by 
experimenting  with  longer  hours  of  use  for 
two  selected  schools,  with  the  hope  of  extend- 
ing the  system  later  to  others.  The  Hancock 
school  at  the  North  End,  where  the  foreigners 
live  and  where  the  great  majority  of  the 
children  leave  school  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
was  chosen  because  Headmaster  Button  had 
already  opened  several  of  his  schoolrooms 
in  the  evening  and  allowed  his  pupils  to  read 
and  study  in  them.  The  Lowell  school  in  the 
suburb  of  Roxbury,  in  an  entirely  different 
sort  of  neighborhood,  was  the  second  school 
chosen.  The  work  was  not  regular  evening 
school  work,  but  what  might  be  called  "  public- 
school  extension."  Evening  classes  were 
given  in  cooking,  dressmaking,  millinery, 
drawing,  gymnastics  and  other  studies.  In 
the  summer  the  schoolyards  were  turned  into 


playgrounds  and  the  buildings  opened  as 
industrial  schools.  These  activities  kept  the 
schools  in  use  the  year  round. 

At  the  North  End  school  the  yard  with  its 
swings  and  tilts  and  sand-courts,  and  the 
building  with  its  classes  in  domestic  science, 
basket-making,  sewing,  drawing  and  color- 
work,  embroidery,  music,  reading  and  games, 
teemed  with  life.  There  was  a  kindergarten 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  children,  a  reading- 
room  furnished  by  the  Boston  Public  Library, 
and  in  the  neighboring  Paul  Revere  school  a 
bathing  establishment  that  served  two  hun- 
dred persons  a  day.  Did  the  children  appre- 
ciate these  privileges?  The  average  attend- 
dance  in  the  yard  of  the  Hancock  school  was 
two  hundred  and  fifty  in  the  morning  and 
three  hundred  and  fifty  in  the  afternoon; 
and,  as  only  young  children  were  admitted, 
it  was  not  uncommon  to  see  a  ten-year-old 
youngster  borrowing  a  baby  to  take  care  of 
in  order  to  gain  admittance.  In  addition  to 
the  opportunities  given  at  the  schoolgrounds, 
moreover,  there  were  field-work  and  nature- 
study  classes  which  brought  the  children  out 
of  the  city  to  the  parks,  the  woods  and  the 
seashore.  As  a  rule,  these  children  paid  their 
own  fare — ten  cents. 

Mr.  Storrow  tells  of  a  visit  he  made  to  the 
Hancock  school  one  winter  night.  "I  stood 
outside  the  schoolhouse  in  the  crowded 
North  End  street.  Not  a  single  room  was 
dark.  The  building  looked  like  a  great 
factory.  Within  we  saw  young  women  learn- 
ing to  make  dresses  and  trim  hats  and  cook. 
At  the  top  of  the  building  I  saw  a  circle  of 
boys  gathered  around  the  master,  who  was 
teaching  them  to  play  the  violin.  In  some 
rooms  foreigners  were  learning  English, 
repeating  sentence  after  sentence  as  each  fell 


I 


3248 


WIDENING   THE    USE    OF    PUBLIC    SCHOOLHOUSES 


from  the  lips  of  the  teacher.     Altogether,  I 
suppose  there  were  twenty  rooms  in  use. 

The  experimental  work  was  so  successful 
that  the  idea  has  been  applied  to  other  school- 
houses  in  other  sections  of  the  city,  and  it  is 
proposed  to  extend  it  until  all  demands  are 
met.  The  scope  of  the  evening  drawing- 
schools  has  been  considerably  enlarged. 
Opportunities  for  training  in  the  fine  arts,  as 
well  as  in  mechanical  drawing,  are  increased, 
and  free  instruction  in  drawing  from  life- 
models  is  given.  It  is  particularly  desired 
to  make  wider  use  of  the  magnificent  plant  of 
the  Mechanic -Arts  High  School,  with  its  fine 
facilities  for  manual  training  and  technical 
instruction,  by  duplicating  its  day  work  with 
evening  courses  that  would  open  its  opportu- 
nities to  hundreds  who  would  profit  by  them 
immensely,  but  who  are  now  barred  by  the  ne- 
cessity of  earning  a  livelihood .  Such  gratifying 
results  have  come  from  the  playground  use 
of  the  Hancock  schoolhouse  yard  that  it  is 
now  proposed  to  throw  open  the  yards  of  eight 
schoolhouses  in  various  congested  districts. 
The  idea  is  to  have  no  supervision  beyond 
what  the  schoolhouse  janitor  may  casually 
exert.  The  children  will  be  left  to  their  own 
devices.  There  may  be  some  broken  windows 
now  and  then,  but  it  is  felt  that  no  partic- 
ular harm  will  be  done  if  these  are  not  too 
numerous. 

Stress  is  laid  upon  making  the  schoolhouse 
of  all  possible  service  to  the  public,  even 
giving  it  the  character  of  a  sort  of  free 
neighborhood  clubhouse.  At  a  crowded  public 
meeting  on  the  subject  held  at  the  Lowell 
school,  Mr.  Storrow  said  that  the  committee 
wanted  to  keep  the  schoolhouses  open  not 
merely  for  intellectual  work,  but  for  anything 
that  will  tend  to  make  our  homes  more  attrac- 
tive and  comfortable  and  our  lives  pleasanter. 
"Come  here  and  learn  how  to  make  dresses, 
to  cook,  or  sew.  Moreover,  do  not  always 
come  here  for  the  sake  of  work.  Get  used  to 
using  the  schoolhouse  for  having  a  good 
time;  have  a  dance  here  in  the  hall  once  a 
week,  if  you  can.  Meet  here  to  discuss 
neighborhood  matters.  In  short,  we  are 
anxious  to  have  you  wear  out  the  threshold 
of  this  schoolhouse  for  any  purpose  that 
will  make  life  pleasanter,  happier,  and  more 
worth  the  living. " 


The  direct  economy  effected  is  something 
extraordinary.  In  the  summer  work  at  the 
Hancock  school  the  expense  of  the  playground, 
including  the  entire  cost  of  equipment,  was 
only  $1.25  for  each  child.  The  expense  of  the 
industrial  and  kindergarten  departments  for 
the  same  period  was  only  $2.25  a  pupil. 
With  the  entire  cost  of  the  public  schools 
amounting  to  an  average  of  say  something 
near  $30  for  each  pupil,  the  additional  cost 
entailed  under  the  extension  system  makes 
an  average  of  but  a  few  dollars  for  each 
pupil  thus  served — say  $7  or  so.  With 
these  additional  pupils  included  in  the  total 
attendance  the  average  cost  for  each  pupil  is 
brought  down  very  considerably,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  benefits  to  those  who  use  the 
schoolhouses  for  social  and  recreative  pur- 
poses, such  as  the  occasional  free  concerts 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Music  Commission 
of  the  city.  Another  development  likely  to 
come  is  their  use  for  courses  of  free  lectures, 
as  in  the  public -school  extension  in  New 
York  City.  The  extension  of  these  additional 
features  is  trifling  in  comparison  with  the  total 
cost  of  running  the  schools,  particularly  in 
view  of  the  benefits  derived.  The  "  plant  " 
itself  remains  the  same,  and  requires  no 
enlargement  for  the  purpose.  Therefore, 
there  is  no  increase  in  interest  and  sinking- 
fund  requirements.  The  wear  and  tear  is 
somewhat  greater,  meaning  a  slight  addition 
for  repairs  and  perhaps  for  depreciation. 
The  main  item  of  additional  cost,  however,  is 
in  operating  expenses,  comprising  principally 
the  increased  charges  for  heating  and  lighting, 
the  expense  for  the  additional  staff  for  instruc- 
tion, and  the  cost  of  material  used — the 
Massachusetts  plan  of  free  text-books  includ- 
ing also  papers,  pens  and  pencils  and  drawing 
materials.  Some  charge,  for  the  sake  of 
exactness,  should  also  be  made  for  the  addi- 
tional cost  to  other  departments  of  the  city 
that  take  part  in  the  work,  like  the  Public 
Library  and  the  music  department. 

President  Eliot  of  Harvard  University  has 
said:  "There  is  no  such  waste  of  a  plant  as 
to  shut  it  up  and  not  use  it."  The  recogni- 
tion of  this  fact  in  educational  economics  is 
certain  to  assure  an  immense  advance  in  the 
character  of  the  American  people  wherever 
the  principle  is  practically  applied. 


WHY  SHAKSPERE  IS  NOT  UNDiaiSTOOI) 

OUR  GREATEST  LITERATURE  NEGLECTED  BECAUSE  OF  ITS  UNINTEL- 
LIGIBILITY— CHANGES  IN  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE  TO  WHICH  THE 
OBSCURITY    IS    DUE— THE  EXPLANATION    OF    MODERN    SCHOLARSHIP 


THERE  is  a  Judge  in  a  certain  western 
town  whose  habit  it  has  been  for 
many  years  to  read  a  play  of 
Shakspere's  to  his  family  every  Saturday 
evening.  The  town  is  a  university  centre 
and  above  the  average  in  culture,  but 
the  Judge's  practice  causes  comment 
because  even  there,  as  everywhere  else, 
the  latest  novel  is  far  more  likely  to  be 
the  food  of  everyday  reading  than 
Shakspere;  for  Shakspere  in  the  ordinary 
American  home  is  used  chiefly  to  fill  book- 
shelf space.  Why?  Take  down  a  play, 
even  one  you  read  at  school,  and  read  to  see 
if  you  comprehend  the  tongue  in  which  Shak- 
spere wrote.  Time  has  so  changed  idiom,  the 
meaning  of  words  and  the  manner  of  English 
thought,  that  what  was  as  clear  to 
Elizabethan  theatregoers  as  Pinero's  dramas 
to  an  audience  of  today  is  fogged  for  modern 
readers  with  baffling  unintelligibility.  Thus, 
lurking  in  the  mind  of  the  ordinary  reader, 
even  one  who  feels  the  mighty  power  of 
Shakspere's  literature,  is  a  haunting  sub- 
consciousness that  Shakspere  is  "hard 
reading.  "  The  reader  has  a  little  of  the  feel- 
ing he  has  toward  Chaucer.  Some  will  deny 
it,  but  let  those  who  do  take  down  a  play 
and  try  to  understand  a  single  scene,  as 
Shaksperian  audiences  understood  it.  It  is  a 
pretty  test.  This,  after  all,  is  why  the  great- 
est literature  of  any  language  is  neglected 
for  fustian  stuff,  or,  if  not  that,  for  an  unvaried 
consumption  of  second,  or  third,  or  fourth, 
or  fifth-rate  books.  Even  those  who  do  read 
Shakspere — consider  if  this  be  not   true — 

' '  Aim  at  it 
And    botch    the  words   up    fit    to    their   own 
thoughts." 

We  read  about  Shakspere,  listen  to 
lectures  about  Shakspere,  talk  about  Shak- 
spere, quote  Shakspere;  but  not  one  in  ten 
thousand  of  us  can  really  read  common 
passages  of  Shakspere  intelligently.  We 
patch  out  a  lame  sense  from  his  words  to  fit 
our  own  notions  of  what  their  meanings  ought 


to  be.  Thus,  like  poor  Ophelia,  we  make  our 
Shakspere  speak  things  of  doubtful  import 
that  carry  but  half  a  sense.  His  fine  speech 
is  really  nothing — empty  sound ;  though  our 
crude  rendering  of  it  leads  us  to  fine  and 
stirring  inferences,  we  only  aim  at  his  thought ; 
we  do  not  hit  in  the  gold.  We  guess  that 
there  must  be  a  fineness  in  the  lines  since 
they  suggest  fine  emotions;  but  there  is 
nothing  sure  in  our  reading  and  much  that  is 
unhappy. 

Take  for  example  the  following  lines  from 
the  second  scene  of  the  first  act  of  '  'Macbeth,  " 
where  their  Norwegian  allies  turned  on  the 
Scots  and  aided  Macdonwald's  rebels: 

Soldier: — As  whence  the  sunne  'gins  his  reflection 
Shipwracking  storms  and  direful  thunders 
So  from  that  spring,  whence  comfort  seem'd  to  come 
Discomfort  swells. 

Some  editors  interpolate  a  "break"  at  the 
end  of  the  second  line,  but  does  even 
that  give  the  passage  clear-cut  signification, 
even  if  the  editors  were  warranted  in  rewriting 
what  Shakspere  wrote  ?  The  sun  does  not 
reflect  its  light,  nor  is  it  clear  from  the  lines 
as  written  what  the  storms  and  thunders  do. 
"Comfort "  could  hardly  come  from  a  spring — 
and  why  "seem'd  to  come"?— and  the  sun 
could  hardly  be  a  "spring."  "Discomfort" 
seems  a  sapless  word  to  apply  to  a  hostile 
onslaught  of  quondam  friends.  What  other 
impression,  then,  is  given  an  unscholarly 
reader  than  that  Shakspere  used  a  surpris- 
ing number  of  bombastic  words  to  say  that 
the  Norwegian  action  made  the  Scots  uncom- 
fortable, that  the  passage  not  only  falls  short 
of  great  literature,  but  is  even  inept? 

This  vague,  awkward  and  clumsy  English, 
however,  is  only  vague,  awkward  and  clumsy 
because  we  try  to  read  it  without  knowing 
the  idiom  of  the  time  when  it  was  written — 
the  ordinary,  current,  everyday  speech  of 
Elizabethan  England.  If  we  read  Shak- 
spere with  a  knowledge  of  this  language  his 
works  are  a  different  book — indeed,  the 
greatest   and   finest   literature   ever  penned, 


I 


3250 


WHY  SHAKSPERE  IS  NOT  UNDERSTOOD 


compared  even  with  Homer,  or  Virgil, 
Euripides,  or  Horace. 

"  'Gins"  in  Middle  English  and  early  New 
English  is  a  common  form  of  the  word  which 
is  now  "begins, "  and  not  an  arbitrary  poetic 
license;  "his"  is  the  regular  form  of  "its"  in 
Shakspere's  time;  "reflection"  was  in 
common,  everyday  use  for  direct,  as  well  as 
indirect,  shining  when  this  passage  was 
written;  the  verb  of  motion,  when  it  could 
easily  be  supplied  from  the  context,  was 
omitted  in  Middle  English  and  early  New 
English  idiom,  and  the  passage  needs  no 
' '  breaks  "  or  "  comes  "  or  "  bursts  "  or  "  swells ' ' 
to  make  clear  sense.  "Spring"  meant 
"source  "  in  Shakspere's  time,  and  was  applied 
to  the  sun,  which  was  the  "source  of  the 
day," — we  still  have  it  in  our  poetic  "day- 
spring" — i.e.,  dawning.  "Comfort"  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  was  the 
regular  word  for  "succor,"  "aid" — we  still 
say,  "give  comfort  to  the  enemy.  "  " Seem'd 
to  come  "  in  Elizabethan  English  is  a  frequent 
idiom  for  "was  on  the  point  of  coming," 
"was  just  coming."  "Discomfort,"  as  the 
Oxford  Dictionary  shows,  was  a  common 
word  for  "disaster"  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  quite  intelligible  to  Shakspere's 
audience  and  perfectly  fitting  to  the  thought. 
Every  one  of  the  words  noted  in  these  few 
lines,  save  "'gins,"  is  in  common  use  today; 
but  each  has  so  changed  its  meaning  between 
Shakspere's  time  and  ours  that  the  context 
is  dull  and  colorless,  the  notions  vague  and 
confused,  and  the  sense  unintelligible  if  we 
apply  to  it  any  standard  of  unscholarly 
criticism. 

To  go  further,  one  reads  in  the  second  scene 
of  the  fifth  act  of  Macbeth : 

He  cannot  buckle  his  distemper'd  cause 
Within  the  belt  of  rule 

As  enemies  are  gathering  thick  about  Macbeth 
at  this  stage  in  the  drama,  any  modern  reader 
would  naturally  assume  that  "cause"  is 
simply  the  modem  "cause,"  but  in  Eliza- 
bethan English  the  word  means  "disease," 
and  the  passage  in  reality  refers  to  Macbeth's 
growing  madness.  "Naught  that  I  am" 
looks  simple,  but  who  would  be  aware  that 
Shakspere  meant  "Wicked  that  I  am?"  or 
•who  would  understand  from  "  I  cannot  taint 
with  fear"  that  "taint"  means  "wither"? 
The  three  words,  through  changes  of  mean- 
ing, no  longer  convey  what  Shakspere  meant. 


Again  Macbeth  soliloqtiizes  in  the  third  scene 
of  Act  V. : 

Seyton!     I  am  sick  at  heart, 

When  I  behold — Seyton,  I  say  ! — This  push 

Will  chere  me  ever,  or  disseat  me  now. 

I  have  lived  long  enough ;  my  way  of  life 

Is  fall'n  into  the  sere,  the  yellow  leaf, 

And  that  which  should  accompany  old  age. 

As  honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends, 

I  must  not  look  to  have;  but  in  their  stead, 

Curses  not  loud  but  deep,  mouth  honor,  breath 

Which  the  poor  heart  would  fain  deny  and  dare  not. 

This  passage  contains  two  phrases  that  have 
passed  into  current  speech,  but  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  the  sentence  following  the  daft  king's 
second  agitated  call  to  Se^^on  is  misread  a 
thousand  times  to  once  that  it  is  understood 
as  meaning,  "This  contest  will  chair,  or 
enthrone  me  permanently,  or  overthrow 
me  now.  "  A  favorite  passage  from  Macbeth 
is  the  well-known  apostrophe  to  sleep,  which 
contains  the  line  "Sleep  that  knits  up  the 
ravell'd  sleave  of  care.  "  It  requires  knowl- 
edge of  Elizabethan  English  to  be  aware  that 
"  knit  "  means  simply  "  gather  together,  "  and 
that  "sleave"  is  not  "sleeve,"  but  a  bunch 
of  loose  material  like  flax  or  silk  fibers  ready 
for  spinning.  With  this  knowledge,  the 
signification  of  the  passage  is  far  from  that 
which  the  ordinary  reader  gives  it. 

Macbeth  speaks  of  "the  disposition  that  I 
owe";  he  means  "possess."  Earlier  in  the 
play  Lady  Macbeth  says — cold-bloodedly — 
of  Banquo  and  Fleance,  "In  them  Nature's 
coppie  is  not  eterne,"  employing  the  Eliza- 
bethan legal  term  "copy"  to  say  "In  them 
Life's  tenure  is  not  eternal."  For  another 
example  one  reads  in  the  First  Folio,  the  first 
collected  edition  of  Shakspere's  plays : 

How  say'st  thou,  that  Macduff  denies  his  person 
At  our  great  bidding  ? 

This  is  after  the  banquet,  at  which  Banquo 's 
ghost  appears,  when  Macbeth  and  his  queen 
are  discussing  the  events  of  the  evening. 
Attempts  have  been  made  by  editors  through 
the  use  of  unwarranted  punctuation  to  make 
this  read,  "How  say'st  thou?  That  Macduff 
denies  his  person  at  our  great  bidding  ? ' '  but  as 
Lady  Macbeth  has  said  nothing  of  the  kind, 
such  endeavors  have  left  the  line  as  hazy  as 
they  found  it.  Yet  it  was  common  idiom  to 
Shakspere's  contemporaries  to  say  "  How 
say'st  thou  that"  for  "What  do  you  say  to 
the  fact  that,"  a  rendering  that  makes  the 
puzzling  passage  crystal  clear. 


I 


WHY    SIIAKSPERE    IS    NOT   UNDERSTOOD  3251 

These   illustrations    have   been   chosen   at     fashion,  destroy  the  rhythm  of  the  verse.     If 
random  from  a  single  play  to  show  a  reason     one  read  in  Macbeth,  for  example, 
why  Shakspere's    dramas  are    not    so    often       "When  I  came  hither  to  transport  the  tidings 


■re  came  a  rumor 


•'                 ^        .                                     —     vv  nen  i  came  nitner  to  transpor 

common    reading    matter     for    unscholarly  Which  I|have  heavily  borne,  ther 

book-lovers  as  their  quality  makes  them  pre-  ^^  "^^"y  worthy  fellows  that  were  out." 

eminently  fit  to  be,  and  to  hint  that  a  little  the  second  line  seems  crude;  or  if  one  read  in 

self-examination  on  the  part  of  those  who  do  "  Henry  IV.,"  Part  I,  in  Hotspur's  speech  to 

read  Shakspere  will  prove  that   the  abrupt  the  King, 

assertion  that  Shakspere   is  practically  unin-  "When  I  was  dry  with  rage  and  extreme  toil " 

telligible  to  modern  minds  is  not  so  radical  one  has  to  wrench  the  words  to  make  melody, 

as  it  seems  offhand.     For  it  is  plain  that  if  a  It    would    seem     either     that     "  Shakspere 

word  or  an  idiom  had  one  meaning  to  Eliza-  nodded,"    or    that    he    took    poetic    license, 

bethan    England    and    has    another    to    the  But  "heav'ly"  was  Elizabethan  pronuncia- 

English-speaking    world    of   today,    to    gain  tion,  and   so    was    "ex'-treme":     Shakspere 

modern  meanings  from  these  metamorphosed  wrote  here  the  common  locutions  of  his  time, 

forms  of  speech  is  to  comprehend  awry,  which  Stories    and    legends    and    superstitions    and 

is  tantamount  to  not  comprehending  at  all.  beliefs,  now  forgotten,  were  current  in  Eliza- 

Those     editors     who      have      changed     the  bethan    England     that     gave     Shaksperian 

Elizabethan    spelling,    for     example    substi-  passages  a  point  that  modern  readers  quite 

tuting   "cheer"   for  "chere"  in  the  passage  miss,    and    so     fail    to    find    the    matchless 

quoted    above,  as    in  the    Cambridge   text,  gold  the  verses  really  contain.     So  runs  the 

have    not    merely    failed    to    help    modern  tale.     We  are  taught  to  read  great  works  in 

readers  out  of  the  slough  of  misunderstanding  foreign    tongues — that    is   part    of   a   liberal 

— they  have  plunged  them  deeper  in.  education — but      Shakspere,      greater     than 

Chaucer's  poetry  and  Spenser's  is  frankly  the  others,  nearer  at  hand,  and  a  part  of  the 

recognized  as  being  written  in  a  tongue  that  is  stuff  of  our  intellectuality,   is   neglected   or 

not    ours;    explanations    and    glossaries    are  "botched  up  fit  to  our  own  thoughts.  " 

required    to     understand     it.     Through     an  "Appreciative"  criticism  is  naturally  unable 

unwarranted   assurance   it   has   been   widely  to  furnish  guides  and  fingerposts  to  intelligi- 

taken  for  granted  that  with  Shakspere  the  bility,   and  many  an  editor  has  lamentably 

case  is  different — that  his  tongue  is  ours.     It  failed  to  point   aright.     Some,  indeed,  have 

is   not.     It   requires   translation   as   Chaucer  even    confused    what    they    tried    to    make 

and  Spenser  require  translation.     Take  down  clear.     Readers  have   accordingly  been  con- 

your  text  of  Shakspere  and  see  if  that  fact  tent  either  to  skip  w^hat  they  could  not  under- 

is  indicated,  or  if  the  editor   has  given   you  stand  or  to   guess   at   it   and  read  on,  with 

any  clue  to  the  dramatist's  meaning.     See  if  associations  in  mind  that  Shakspere  and  his 

there  are  not  lines  on  every  page  which  your  contemporaries   could  not  have  dreamed  of. 

education,  which,  perhaps,  has    taught  you  Well-informed  persons,  moreover,  have  been 

to     understand       Virgil     and     Homer,     has  led  to  believe  that,  in  order  to  heighten  the 

failed  to   teach    you   to    understand.       Not  effect  of  his  finer  passages,  Shakspere  delib- 

one    man     in    twenty    thousand    can    read  erately    wrote    the    less    brilliant    ones    more 

Shakspere    intelligently,   and    it   is    unfortu-  crudely.     These   cruder  passages,   of  course, 

nately  probable  that  not  one  in  a  thousand  are  merely  those  which  the  ordinary  reader 

is    aware   that   he    cannot    read    Shakspere  is  unable  readily  to  translate  into  meanings 

intelligently.  clear  to  his  modem  mind. 

In  addition,  moreover,  to  this  veil  of  hazi-  With  modem  scientific  scholarship  equip- 

M  ness   wrought   by  the   change   in  language,  ped  by  recent  research  to  tell  us  to  the  full 

there    are    other   results    that    cast   a  blight  just    what     Shakspere    conveys — beginning, 

Ion  Shakspere's    glory.     Pregnant    lines    are  indeed,  to    give  us    Shakspere's    Shakspere 

taken  for  bombast.     Apparent  slips  in  art  or  without    slips    and    errors    and    nods    and 

in  sense  are  frequent ;  stupid  editors  have  been  stupid     transliterations     and     respellings — 

fond  of  appending  to  lines  they  did  not  under-  the  opening  of  a  new  century  should  give  us 

stand,    "Here   Shakspere  nodded,"   whereas  a  Shakspere  revival  in  America   as    enthusi- 

Shakspere  didnot  nod  atall.    Again  and  again  astic  as  that  in  the  early  part  of  the  last 


AMOMC 

TAE  WORLDS 

WORKERS 


THE  ADVANCING  AUTOMOBILE 

THE  progressive  march  of  the  automo- 
bile impresses  itself  upon  us  only 
when  some  new  and  surprising  truck  or  car- 
riage passes  in  the  street.  The  excitement  of 
the  innovation  is  gone,  and  the  machines  are 
so  common  that  they  go  by  unnoticed.  Few 
people  realize  the  vast  number  of  automobiles 
of  all  kinds  that  are  being  put  together  in  a 
hundred  factories  or  the  immense  usefulness 
they  have  already  served.  They  are  drawing 
nearly  ever^-thing  that  horses  used  to  draw. 
They  are  operating  great  agricultural  machines 
on  the  prairies  and  delivering  mountains 
of  merchandise  in  the  city  streets.  They  are 
being  tried  already  along  western  roadways 
in  opposition  to"  trolley  lines,  which  can 
travel  only  on  one  beaten  track.  They  are, 
in  every  new  office  they  have  assumed, 
swifter,  safer  and  cleaner  than  the  things  they 
have  superseded.  Looking  into  the  future, 
prophets  are  seeing  individual  machines, 
possible  to  the  rich  and  poor  alike,  solving 
many  transportation  problems.  They  are 
the  crowning  achievement  of  a  preeminently 
mechanical  age. 

Many  of  the  late  details  of  automobile 
development  are  interesting.  The  light  bugg\% 
for  example,  unfitted  for  bad  weather  and 
bad  roads,  uncomfortable  at  its  best  and 
adapted  only  to  low  speeds  and  limited  mile- 
age, has  lost  favor  as  a  model.  In  their  place 
are  massive  tonneau  machines.  The  "rail- 
way car"  is  the  new  model,  with  its  standards 
of  comfort  and  convenience,  if  not  of  speed. 

When  one  sets  out  on  a  two-hundred-mile 
ride  between  breakfast  and  sunset,  no  fifty- 
mile  vehicle  will  give  satisfaction.  Instead 
of  flimsy  running-gears,  we  have  a  steel  frame 
borne  on  artillery  wheels  and  heavy  springs, 
with  long  wheel-base  and  easy-riding  quali- 
ties. Upon  this  is  an  aluminum  body, 
capacious,  splendidly  upholstered — as  com- 
fortable and  complete  as  a  parlor  car.  The 
tonneau  has  become  popular  partly  because 
of  its  wide  rear  seat  set  well  back  from  the 
other  and  enough  higher  to  overlook  it. 

One  of  the  indications  of  a  tendency 
toward  practical  usefulness  rather  than  mere 


sport  is  the  number  of  carriages  fitted  with 
canopy  tops,  storm  curtains  and  removable 
plate  glass  fronts.  Hitherto  every  summer 
shower,  however  light,  has  meant  a  drenching, 
and  only  the  automobilist  can  fully  realize  the 
value  of  this  new  feature.  Automobile  cabs, 
fire  apparatus,  ambulances  and  trucks  are 
becoming  almost  commonplace  in  many  cities, 
and  each  of  these  machines  displaces  several 
horses.  There  would  seem  to  be  no  service 
the  horse  has  rendered  which  cannot  be  done, 
and  better  done,  by  a  machine.  The  motor 
delivery  wagon  and  van  for  freight  transfer, 
along  with  the  electric  cab,  are  in  straightfor- 
ward competition  with  the  older  vehicles. 
They  pay,  and  that  is  the  test  which  deter- 
mines their  fitness. 

During  the  past  year  steam  and  electricity 
have  given  way  in  great  measure  to  the  less 
reliable  but  more  convenient  gasoline  motor. 
This  has  been  improved  in  many  important 
particulars,  such  as  sparking  and  gear- 
changing.devices,  and  there  has  been  a  marked 
preference  shown  for  greater  power.  Twenty 
horse-power  is  neither  very  high  nor  very 
low  this  year.  France  has  passed  through  a 
similar  enthusiasm  for  the  high-powered 
internal-combustion  engine,  but  the  French 
are  now  beginning  to  return  to  steam.  Its 
flexibility  is  a  strong  argument  in  its  favor 
and  its  faults  have  been  overcome  to  a 
surprising  degree.  Electricity  still  has  no 
improvement  to  offer  upon  the  old  lead  cell, 
Edison's  nickel-iron  cell  being  several  months 
in  the  future. 

A  noveltv  which  is  still  untried  but  which 
promises  much  in  theory  and  may  prove 
revolutionary  is  the  new  gasoline-electric 
machine.  It  should  combine  every  advan- 
tage of  economy,  endurance,  ease  of  control, 
reserve  power  for  hill-climbing,  and  the  other 
things  which  either  alone  possesses — pro- 
vided some  unforeseen  fault  does  not  counter- 
act all  its  virtues. 

Although  the  competition  is  so  sharp  that 
firms  have  failed  in  the  past  twelve  months, 
there  is  no  break  in  prices.  Five  hundred 
dollars  is  the  minimum,  about  one  thousand 
the  price  of  thorough  efficiency,  and  several 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


3253 


thousand  the  price  of  luxurious  complete- 
ness. The  })oor  man's  automobile  has  yet  to 
be  made.  Tlie  many-cylindercd  high-power 
gasoline  engine  is  hopelessly  costly  to  build 
and  rccjuires  the  services  of  a  skilled  mechanic. 
While  it  is  the  prevailing  type  of  motor  the 
automobile  must  continue  a  rich  man's 
machine.  Meanwhile  it  has  made  steady 
])rogress  toward  efficiency,  simplicity,  and 
the  development  of  a  prevailing  type — which 
must  precede  its  universal  acceptance. 

The  horse  is  rapidly  losing  ground  in  our 
cities  and  every  summer  motor  vehicles  go 
out  into  the  country  districts.  The  move- 
ment for  good  roads,  started  by  the  bicycle, 
is  now  being  hurried  on  by  the  owners  of 
automobiles.  The  "scorcher"  of  bicycle  days 
will  soon  tire  of  his  racing  automobile,  already 
the  horses  on  our  roads  are  ceasing  to  fear  the 
monster,  and  public  interest  is  proved  by  the 
already  large  sales  this  season.  The  time  of 
considering  automobiles  as  expensive  and 
novel  toys  for  amusement  has  passed  long 
since,  and  the  measure  of  its  possibilities  for 
usefulness  is  so  great  that  the  widest  play  of 
the  imagination  suggests  nothing  that  seems 
impracticable. 

THE    DIFFERENCE    BETWEEN    AMERICAN    AND 
EUROPEAN  PLOWS 

THE  American  plow,  simple-looking  tool 
as  it  is,  is  a  fine  type  of  industrial  art. 
The  handles,  beam,  share,  mold-board,  land- 
side,  colter  and  frog  fit  together  at  various 
angles.  Its  curved  parts  are  as  graceful  as  a 
pigeon's  wing.  The  mold-board  of  the  com- 
mon American  plow  is  cut  from  sheet-steel 
made  by  a  union  of  three  plies.  The  back  is 
ordinary  sheet-steel,  the  middle  ply  is  tough 
and  gives  the  mold-board  strength;  the  front 
is  tempered  so  hard  in  a  red-hot  bath  that  a 
file  will  not  cut  it.  This  plow-bottom  is 
ground  with  an  emery  wheel  and  polished  on 
a  grindstone  until  the  turning  surface  is 
smooth  as  glass.  Its  bolt-heads  fit  with  such 
nicety  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  find 
them  with  the  naked  eye.  The  plow  is  so 
carefully  adjusted  that  if  it  is  thrown  over 
while  running  it  will  right  itself.  There  isn't 
an  unnecessary  pound  of  wood  or  iron  about 
it.  Even  the  clevis-pin  is  tempered  to  reduce 
its  size.  With  this  American  tool  an  eighteen- 
year-old  boy  can  turn  over  three  acres  of 
ground  a  day.  But  the  French  farmer  looks 
with  suspicion  upon  an  American  plow.  So 
does  the  German,  and  the  Englishman,  and 

I  the  Belgian. 
A  common  French  plow  is  so  different  from 
the  American  pattern  that  not   one-half  our 
1        '"'"" 


tion.  It  has  no  handles.  It  has  a  truck  but 
no  seat.  It  has  two  shares,  two  skim-colters 
and  two  knife-colters.  In  short,  there  arc 
two  plows,  one  in  the  air,  one  in  the  ground, 
concave  to  each  other.  All  the  parts  are 
heavy.  It  cuts  a  deep,  narrow  furrow,  and 
the  skilled  plowmaker  discerns  at  once  that 
it  leaves  the  ground  in  ridges.  This  plow  is 
made  in  sizes — one  for  a  small  horse  or  a  small 
ox,  another  for  a  horse  or  an  ox,  another  for 
two  small  horses  or  two  small  oxen.  There 
is  still  another  for  two  horses  or  two  oxen,  and 
so  on  up  to  six  horses  or  six  oxen.  The  two- 
horse  plow  retails  at  $50.  The  maker  of  this 
French  tool  maintains  that  it  is  forged  by 
hand  and  that  it  is  much  stronger  than  the 
American  make. 

NATIONAL  PECULIARITIES   IN  AGRICULTURE 

PERHAPS  the  most  interesting  implement 
used  by  French  plowmen  is  the  bascule. 
This  plow  is  sometimes  eighteen  feet  long  and 
of  sufficient  strength  to  cut  a  furrow  thirty 
inches  deep.  It  is  used  in  plowing  for  vines 
and  in  cutting  drains.  It  is  used  occasionally 
also  by  hop-farmers,  potato-growers  and 
gardeners.  Near  Paris  are  municipal  gardens 
fertilized  with  the  city  sewage,  and  these 
gardens  are  periodically  plowed  with  the 
bascule.  One  purpose  of  plowing  is  to  let 
air  into  the  soil,  hence  the  deeper  the  ground 
is  worked  the  more  air  it  will  contain.  French 
farmers,  therefore,  sometimes  attach  a  hook 
to  their  stirring  plows  which  acts  effectively  as 
a  sub-soiler. 

In  many  European  countries  the  soil 
becomes  very  hard.  Fields  newly  plowed 
have  at  times  lumps  a  foot  thick  that  can 
hardly  be  crushed  with  the  heel.  For  this 
reason  plows  scour  easily,  but  they  are  held 
to  their  course  with  difficulty.  The  clods  are 
finally  reduced  by  rains,  and  when  sowing 
time  comes  the  fields  lie  in  loose  ridges. 
Theee  ridges  are  easily  broken  down  with  a 
cultivator  and  converted  into  a  seed-bed. 
The  man  who  owns  a  small  farm  in  France 
cannot  afford  to  have  it  cut  up  with  dead 
furrows  or  checkered  with  back-furrows.  To 
avoid  this  the  French  plow  is  made  double. 
This  plow  is  composite,  being  a  right  and  a  left 
or  a  reversible  tool,  and  the  team  goes  back 
and  forth  on  the  same  side  of  the  unplowed 
ground.  The  field  is  finished  with  only  one 
back-furrow  and  a  finish-furrow  at  the  hedge. 

French  plow-horses  are  stallions  and  are 
hitched  tandem.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see 
three  men  and  three  horses  work  one  plow. 
One  man  drives,  another  manages  the  plow, 
while  a  third  follows  with  a  spade  to  dig  up 
the  "cuts  and  covers."     This  crew  may  plow 


3254 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S    WORKERS 


a  full  acre  a  day.  The  American  plow  is 
evidently  not  adapted  to  French  custom.  If 
it  were,  our  exports  of  plows  to  that  country 
would  soon  reach  prodigious  invoices. 

The  French  peasant  loves  his  home  farm. 
He  seldom  migrates.  The  comers  of  his  farm 
are  not  right  angles.  He  does  not  work  to  a 
line,  like  the  American.  He  inherits  a  taste 
for  the  haphazard,  the  picturesque,  and  he 
delights  in  a  free-hand  way  of  doing  things. 
He  cultivates  the  eye.  This  makes  him  an 
artist.  For  centuries  poets  and  painters  have 
celebrated  the  grotesque  beauty  of  rural 
France.  Libraries  and  galleries  everjrwhere 
abound  with  these  works.  But  not  one  of 
them  attracts  more  attention  than  Rosa 
Bonheur's  old-time  plowing  scene  in  Nivemais. 
In  the  valley  of  the  Guadalquivir  a  traveler 
may  still  see  a  type  of  the  primitive  plow  of 
Asia.  In  the  old  daj^s  it  was  made  of  a 
crotchet.  Xow^ada^^s  it  is  made  of  two 
crotchets ;  one  is  shod  with  a  chisel  of  iron  for 
the  plow;  the  other  is  bound  in  rawhide  for 
the  handles.  Bullocks  are  yoked  to  the 
implement.  In  many  parts  of  Europe  oxen 
are  broken  to  draw  from  the  horns,  but  these 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  cattle  generally  draw 
from  the  neck,  to  which  a  yoke  is  fitted  with 
bows.  These  yokes  are  sometimes  twenty 
inches  high  and  only  two  or  three  inches 
thick.  The  broad  surfaces  are  not  infre- 
quently hand-carved  in  designs.  There  may 
be  vines  and  clusters  of  grapes  and  grow- 
ing com  and  the  bearded  heads  of  wheat. 
Sometimes  these  decorations  are  inspired  by 
religious  subjects.  The  comfort  and  capacity 
of  the  ox  are  sacrificed  to  satisfy  the  artistic 
taste  of  the  peasant.  And  this  makes  it 
difficult,  as  one  might  imagine,  to  sell  many 
American  plows  in  Spain. 

In  Germany  the  plow  is  nearly  always 
geared  to  a  truck.  It  is  heavy  and  awkward 
but  strong.  Steers  and  cows  are  not  infre- 
quently used  for  power.  The  work  is  done 
slowly,  but  it  is  done  well.  In  Switzerland 
it  is  not  unusual  to  see  a  cast-iron  plow  made  re- 
versible similar  to  the  "side-hill"  tool  of  West 
Virginia.  There  is  little  difference  between 
the  English  and  German  plow,  except  that 
the  rod-breaker  is  common  in  the  former  coun- 
try. The  Asiatic  plow  is  still  very  primitive. 
German  manufacturers  have  studied  these 
conditions  and  are  selling  large  shipments  in 
Russia,  Siberia  and  Siam.  They  retail  a  plow 
in  Odessa  for  $5. 

Professor  Patrick  Geddis,  of  Edinburgh, 
once  said  that  it  is  easy  to  tell  the  character 
of  a  people  by  the  character  of  their  plows. 
The  Chinaman  stirs  the  soil  for  his  rice-paddy 
with  a  stick  and  covers  the  seed  with  his  foot. 


The  American  breaks  up  his  grovind  with 
three  horses  and  plants  his  cornfield  with 
two  horses.  The  stature  of  the  Chinaman  is 
four  feet,  that  of  the  American  is  six  feet. 
Except  in  a  small  Manchurian  territory  about 
Harbin,  where  a  small  group  of  modem  grist- 
mills has  been  built,  Chinese  farmers  can 
hardly  be  induced  to  try  an  American  plow. 
It  is  said  that  English  plow  samples  have  lain 
in  Mongolia  untouched  for  twenty  years.  At 
home  the  manufacturer  fas4iions  his  goods  to 
suit  the  taste  of  his  customers.  The  commer- 
cial traveler  calls  upon  the  trade  who  want  his 
goods;  the  retailer  stocks  with  what  his 
customers  want  rather  than  with  what  they 
ought  to  have.  Foreign  trade  is  conducted 
after  the  same  plan. 

MEETING  THE  FOREIGN  DEMAND 

A  FRENCH  mowing  scythe  is  only  about 
twenty-eight  inches  long.  It  is  seven 
inches  wide  at  the  heel  and  broadly  curves 
along  the  edge  to  the  point.  This  scythe  is 
hung  to  a  straight  bar  with  a  single  handle — 
that  for  the  right  hand.  This  handle  is  a 
post  set  in  the  b,ar  from  which  a  straight  arm 
extends;  from  this  arm  a  second  post  rises. 
The  mower  wears  a  belt  to  the  front  of  which 
a  cow's  horn  hangs.  This  holds  a  whetstone. 
When  this  rustic's  scythe  is  dull  he  falls  on  his 
right  knee,  places  the  bar  over  his  shoulder, 
with  the  point  of  the  sc}'the  in  the  ground, 
and  whets  the  blade.  He  may  even  hammer 
it  on  an  anvil  anchored  to  a  stump  or  a  stone. 
This  mower  will  cut  one-half  acre  of  grass  a 
day  and  the  stubble  will  look  as  though  it 
were  done  with  a  lawn-machine.  The  English 
mowing  scythe  is  similar  to  the  French,  only 
not  so  grotesque. 

Notwithstanding  the  skill  of  the  French 
sc\i:he-man,  our  export  of  hay-making  ma- 
chinery is  very  large.  The  foreign  agent 
of  a  Chicago  company  asserts  that  his  firm 
sells  more  than  twenty  thousand  reapers 
and  mowers  and  self-binders  in  Europe  annu- 
ally. Our  reaper  firms  have  adapted  their 
goods  to  the  foreign  habit.  Many  American 
one-horse  mowers  with  thirty-six-inch  sickles 
are  used  in  England,  Scotland,  France, 
Germany,  Austria,  Russia.  Belgium  and 
Hungary.  These  machines  have  opened  the 
way  to  other  and  commoner  American  pat- 
terns. The}'  compete  with  domestic  and 
Canadian  goods,  and  their  superiority  is 
seldom  questioned. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  American  goods 
are  sold  abroad  more  cheaply  than  they  are 
at  home.  Yet  American  self-binders  that 
retail  for  Si 25  in  Iowa  cost  S225  in  Hungary. 
Nor    is    inferior    machinery    commonly  sold 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


3255 


abroad.  There  is  an  Ameriean  firm  engaged 
in  manufacturing  sewing-machines  with 
branch  shops  in  Scotlanch  Not  infrcciuently 
customers  on  the  Continent  insist  upon 
liaving  machines  imported  across  the  ocean; 
but  whetlicr  made  by  Scot  or  Yankee  there 
is  no  difference  between  the  price  of  these 
goods  of  the  same  grade.  A  cheaper  grade, 
however,  is  made  in  Scotland  to  supply  a 
cheaper  demand.  These  machinery  firms 
began  by  making  what  the  Europeans  wanted ; 
now  the  European  wants  what  the  American 
makes.     And  that  is  the  natural  result. 

A  Scotchman  named  Bell  invented  the  first 
reaping  machine  which  employed  the  principle 
of  a  vibrating  sickle.  Laborers  became  appre- 
hensive that  the  device  would  lessen  the 
demand  for  their  service.  Accordingly  they 
held  an  indignation  meeting  and  proceeded 
to  destroy  the  Bell  machine  with  stones  and 
sledges.  In  less  than  five  years  from  that 
time  the  same  principle  was  applied  in  this 
country,  and  today  Scotch  farmers  buy  their 
best  reapers  and  mowers  in  the  United  States. 
But  Bell's  machine  was  made  to  turn  to  the 
right  instead  of  to  the  left,  so  that  all  our 
reaping  goods  shipped  to  that  country  must 
be  made  to  traverse  the  field  in  a  way  reverse 
to  the  old  American  custom.  The  foreign 
habit  has  so  impressed  itself  upon  the  manu- 
facturers, however,  that  they  now  supply 
their  American  trade  with  many  machines 
which  turn  to  the  right. 

FACTS  OF  OUR  TRADE  WITH  EUROPE 

GOOSE-QUILL  pens  and  drying  pow- 
ders are  still  used  in  the  House  of 
Lords  and  in  His  Majesty's  law  courts.  They 
are  used  in  the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies  and 
in  the  Court  of  Cassation  also.  But  the  people 
are  coming  to  care  little  about  maintaining 
these  ancient  dignities.  Europeans  need  our 
fountain-pens  and  blotting-pads;  they  need 
our  typewriters  and  rolling-top  desks;  they 
need  our  carpet-sweepers  and  curtain -rollers, 
our  elevators  and  electric  devices — they  are 
beginning  to  buy  them  in  large  invoices. 
Their  carpenters'  handsaws  are  mounted  like 
our  bucksaws  and  their  squares  are  made  of 
wood.  They  need  our  handsaws,  steel 
squares,  spirit-levels,  and  screwdrivers;  our 
hot-water,  hot-air  and  steam  heating  appara- 
tus. Foreigners  do  not  produce  these  things 
as  cheaply  as  we  do.  As  conditions  become 
i  better  understood  and  closer  relations  develop, 
large  invoices  of  these  goods  will  supplement 
our  exports  of  cereals,  cereal  flours,  tobacco, 
mineral  oils,  cotton,  phonographs,  linotypes, 
telephones,  bicycles,  engines,  meat  products 
and  machinery.     Much  will  depend  upon  the 


price  of  the  goods  and  their  adaptability.  A 
Cincinnati  hrm  was  called  ujjon  t(j  dismantle 
a  lot  of  wood-working  machinery  which  it  had 
installed  for  a  firm  in  Sweden.  The  opera- 
tives could  not  stand  the  work — tlie  speed 
was  too  high.  The  feed  had  been  gauged  to 
the  American  scale.  An  expert  reduced  the 
feed.     After  that  all  went  well. 

Englishmen  wear  a  shoe  which  they  call  a 
boot,  quite  different  from  the  American  gar- 
ment. It  is  large  for  the  foot,  made  of  stout 
leather  which  lacks  luster,  and  has  a  sole  nearly 
an  inch  thick.  Frenchmen  wear  a  wooden 
shoe  which  they  call  a  sabut.  It  is  fitted  with 
a  leathern  stocking,  which  latches  tightly 
around  the  ankle.  Many  of  those  intended 
for  women  are  lined  with  felt.  In  Germany, 
Norway  and  Holland  prodigious  wooden  shoes 
are  worn.  One  reason  why  American  work- 
men accomplish  more  in  a  day  than  workmen 
abroad  is  because  of  shoes.  Our  shoes  are 
lighter,  easier  on  the  feet,  and  thus  permit 
greater  action.  German  leather,  however,  is 
superior  and  the  shoemaker  uses  a  sensible 
last.  In  all  these  countries  felt  slippers  are 
worn  about  the  house,  many  of  them  having 
soles  of  plaited  cordage.  In  the  Pyrenees 
Mountains  an  important  cottage  industry 
has  developed  among  the  peasants  who  make 
these  shoe  bottoms. 

Throughout  the  Balkan  States,  in  France 
and  in  Russia  much  leather  is  tanned  and 
large  quantities  of  fancy  grades  exported. 
Manufacturers  in  this  country  import  enamel 
leather  from  Europe.  But  our  shoes  are  much 
neater,  they  fit  better,  and  they  retail  at 
prices  twenty-five  per  cent,  lower  than 
European  shoes.  There  are  reasons,  however, 
why  we  do  not  sell  more  leathern  goods  abroad. 
In  England  an  important  and  growing  portion 
of  the  shoe  business  has  passed  under  the 
control  of  profit-sharing,  cooperative  societies. 
Starting  in  Rochdale,  these  companies  had 
a  precarious  existence  for  twenty  or  thirty 
years.  But  success  has  followed  better 
methods  of  administration,  and  today  they 
own  some  of  the  finest  business  houses  in 
Manchester  and  in  other  cities  in  northern 
England.  The  shares  are  sold  at  a  guinea, 
and  this  enables  a  large  number  of  mechanics 
to  own  stock. 

As  a  result,  all  the  shoe  trade  which  the 
guilds  and  unions  control  goes  to  these 
cooperative  stores  and  factories.  Such  dealers 
as  Manfield,  who  also  have  houses  in  the 
principal  cities  of  Europe,  have  an  established 
trade  into  which  it  is  difficult  to  break. 
Natural  conditions  furnish  another  reason 
more  fundamental  than  these.  During  the 
winter  season  it  drizzles  and  rains  a  great  deal 


I 


3256 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


in  the  British  Isles.  Arctics,  overshoes  and 
rubbers  are  not  worn  so  commonly  as  they  are 
in  our  own  country.  We  must  study  physical 
conditions  in  order  to  reach  the  possibilities 
of  foreign  trade.  We  have  the  hides  and 
quick  processes  of  tanning;  we  have  the  best 
mechanics  for  fabricating  shoes  and  the  best 
operating  skill.  We  have  the  capital.  In 
certain  commercial  fields  our  supremacy  is 
admitted,  and  one  reason  for  the  dominating 
success  of  American  business  men  in  these 
fields  is  their  ability  to  meet  emergencies. 
The  American  inventor,  manufacturer  and 
salesman  must  come  into  close  personal  con- 
tact with  the  foreign  trader  and  consumer. 
They  must  learn  the  essential  facts  and  adapt 
their  products  to  the  people  for  whom  they  are 
planned  in  order  to  win  success. 

FIGHTING  HARBOR  FIRES 

DING — ding — ding  ! " 
The  Captain  stopped  abruptly  in  his 
conversation  with  a  visitor  whom  he  had  just 
shown  over  the  Battery  fire  station,  whirled 
in  his  office  chair  and  sat  counting  the  strokes, 
his  feet  under  him  for  a  quick  spring. 

"If  that's  for  us,  you  come  along,  too, "  he 
interjected  as  the  gong  paused  again,  and  the 
visitor's  pulses  quickened  with  excitement 
and   anticipation. 

"We  go!"  cried  the  Lieutenant,  as  he 
leaped  for  cap  and  coat.  A  clatter  of  chairs 
and  dominoes  broke  out  in  the  lounging-room 
as  the  men  abruptly  abandoned  their  game; 
the  gong  began  to  repeat,  and  some  one  out- 
side on  the  wharf  was  shouting. 

"Meet  me  in  the  pilot-house,"  came  the 
sharp  direction  of  the  Lieutenant,  and  the 
visitor,  joining  in  the  rush  for  the  door,  was  one 
of  the  straggling  line  as  it  raced  down  across 
the  wharf  and  swung  himself  over  on  a  rope 
like  the  others  to  the  fire-boat's  rail.  As  he 
made  his  way  forward  the  lines  were  cast  off, 
and  before  he  reached  the  pilot-house  New 
York's  "floating  Niagara,"  as  the  firemen 
call  her,  was  under  way. 

The  wheel  went  over  to  starboard  and  the 
rumble  of  the  steam  steering-gear  under  the 
floor  mingled  with  the  warning  roar  of  the 
whistle  as  she  passed  the  wharf-end  and 
swung  toward  the  East  River  and  Brooklyn. 
The  speed  steadily  increased  until  the  750- 
horse-power  engines  were  driving  her  a  good 
twelve-knots  clip  and  the  foam  went  racing 
back  in  a  rolling  wake  behind.  Then  the 
visitor  began  to  learn. 

The  New  Yorker,  the  largest  of  New 
York's  five  fire-boats,  carries  with  her  twenty 
men:  officers,  engineers,  pilots,  firemen  and 
stokers,  when    she    responds    to    an   alarm. 


Steam  is  always  up.  When  either  boiler  is 
cooled  down  for  inspection  and  repairs  the 
other  does  double  duty.  In  going  to  and 
from  fires  the  boat  is  in  command  of  the  pilots, 
and,  contrary  to  the  general  impression,  it  has 
no  right  of  way.  The  siren  is  used  only  on 
entering  a  slip  at  a  fire  to  attract  attention. 
Shore  fires  one  thousand  feet  back  and  fires 
in  the  enormously  valuable  shipping  of  the 
harbor  and  North  River  are  the  New  Yorker's 
lawful  prey.  She  sometimes  releases  the 
city  engines  from  an  obstinate  water-front 
fire,  and  reaching  out  with  more  than  five 
thousand  feet  of  hose,  her  crew  drowns  the 
conflagration  in  worthless  harbor  water,  to 
the  saving  of  the  city's  fresh- water  supply. 

But  when  this  fire  fighter  races  down  the 
harbor  to  meet  some  iron  furnace  struggling 
in  from  the  sea  with  its  load  of  desperate  men 
and  perishing  goods,  the  name  "floating 
Niagara"  is  earned.  Firebrands  may  rain 
on  cement  deck  and  steel  sides,  but  the  little 
craft  closes  in;  and  through  hose  lines,  gal- 
vanized iron  flooding-pipes  and  four  great 
"monitor  pipes" — nozzles  mounted  on  pilot- 
house and  deck  like  rapid-fire  guns  on  a  war- 
ship— she  pours  twelve  thousand  gallons  of 
water  a  minute  into  the  burning  hull.  There 
are  ingenious  appliances  for  reaching  the  fire 
however  it  may  be  hidden  away  in  a  ship's 
cargo,  and  more  than  twenty  streams  of  from 
one  to  six  inches'  diameter  are  available  when- 
ever they  are  needed. 

An  account  of  the  fires  against  which  the 
New  Yorker  has  led  the  attack  since  she  went 
into  commission  would  rival  in  interest  the 
story  of  any  ship-of-war  that  ever  floated. 
Close  upon  a  seventeen-hour  fire  not  long 
ago,  the  New  Yorker  was  called  out  in  the 
gray  light  of  the  morning  for  thirty-two  con- 
secutive hours'  more  of  fighting  in  the  dense 
smoke  of  a  city  lumber-yard  fire.  Twelve 
million  seven  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand 
gallons  of  water  thrown  and  five  men  disabled 
was  this  fire  company's  record. 

LABOR-UNION    STORIES   BY  AN   EMPLOYER 

THERE  are  two  classes  of  men  in  this 
labor  question,"  said  a  manufacturer 
the  other  day — "men  who  own  property 
and  men  who  do  not;  and  the  first  class  is 
likely  to  be  the  check  on  the  second. 

"  For  instance,  there's  a  mechanic  whom  I've 
known  for  years — a  clean-cut,  hard-working, 
thrifty  man,  who  has  taken  good  care  of  his 
family  and  has  saved  enough  money  to  buy 
a  pretty  home  outright.  He  joined  the 
union  when  he  saw  he  could  be  forced 
into  it  and  then  forgot  all  about  it — for 
he's  a  hard-working  fellow,  who  is  interested 


AMONG    TIIK   WORLDS    WORKERS 


3257 


in  his  task  and  believes  in  his  eniph^yer 
more  than  he  docs  in  his  labor  leader.  A 
strike  was  ordered  and  he  reluctantly  went 
out  with  the  rest.  Time  hung  heavy  on 
his  hands,  and  he  decided  that  he'd  give  his 
new  house  a  coat  of  ])aint.  So  he  left  an 
order  with  a  union  painter,  and  the  next 
morning  he  was  out  early  to  supervise  the 
job.  lie  fidgeted  about  until  8:1  5,  when  the 
painter  drove  up  and  leisurely  prepared  for 
his  work.  It  was  half-past  nine  when  the 
man  began  to  paint,  and  then  he  did  it  so 
slowly  that  the  striking  machinist  grew 
tired  of  delay  and,  putting  up  a  ladder  on  the 
other  side,  went  to  work  himself.  He  had 
been  painting  away  vigorously  for  some 
time  when  he  heard  a  voice  below  him : 

"  '  Hello,  what 're  you  doin'  up  there  ?' 

"  'Painting  my  house,'  he  answered. 

"  'Have  you  got  a  union  card?'  said  the 
painter. 

"  'Yes,'  said  the  man,  who  was  gradually 
getting  angry  at  the  questioning. 

"  '  A  painter's  card?'  asked  the  man  below. 

"  'No,  I  haven't  a  painter's  card.  I've  a 
mechanic's.' 

"  'Then,'  said  the  painter,  'come  down 
off  that  ladder  and  quit  paintin'  or  I'll  leave 
the  job.' 

"  The  mechanic  came  down  from  the  ladder 
and  walked  up  to  the  painter  he  had  hired. 

"  'Look  here,'  he  said,  'this  is  my  house 
and  this  is  my  land.  Now  you  get  off  it 
just  as  quickly  as  you  can  pick  up  your 
paint.' 

"And  he  painted  his  house  unaided  that  day 
and  the  next,  and  then  went  back  to  work 
in  his  old  place. 

"  I  remember,"  he  went  on,  "reading  in 
The  World's  Work  about  the  native 
labor  in  India  when  they  put  up  that 
big  American  bridge  out  there.  The  natives 
could  do  only  one  well-defined  task;  the 
Americans  could  do  almost  anything.  There's 
a  machine  in  my  shop  that  merely  needs  to 
be  watched,  but  it  must  be  watched  by  a 
skilled  mechanic.  While  he  is  watching 
that  machine  he  can  do  another  task  that  is 
more  valuable.  But  by  the  rule  of  the 
union,  that  man  must  sit  in  a  chair  all  day 
and  watch  that  machine.  He  mustn't  do 
anything  else.  It's  waste  time  for  him,  for 
he  can't  grow  very  rapidly  there,  and  it's 
adding  to  my  cost  if  production  without 
doing  any  one  any  good.  The  American 
workingman  can't  afford  to  be  a  man  with 
only  one  job.  They've  got  to  work  with  us 
if  we're  to  keep  our  prosperity.  We  can't 
do  it  without  their  help,  and  we  certainly 
can't  do  it  in  the  face  of  their  opposition." 


ONE   USE   OF  MACHINERY 

THE  picture  of  an  EngHsh  or  German 
farmer  walking  about  his  fields  in 
a  pair  of  brogans  made  in  America  from  a 
hide  which,  tanned  and  likewise  finished  in 
America,  was  originally  taken  from  one  of  his 
own  cattle,  might  be  a  little  fanciful,  but  it 
is  within  j)Ossibility,  as  a  glance  at  foreign 
trade  reports  for  1902  will  show.  We 
imjiorted  about  $60,000,000  worth  of  hides 
and  skins,  of  which  a  good  part  came  from 
England  and  other  European  countries,  and 
we  exported,  largely  to  the  same  countries, 
$20,000,000  worth  of  shoes  and  finished 
leather.  Two  trips  across  the  Atlantic  and 
considerable  land  travel  beside  offer  thus  a 
fair  measure  of  the  superiority  of  our  shoe 
and  leather  manufacturers  over  their  foreign 
competitors.  The  efficiency  of  the  leather 
maker  helps  the  shoe  manufacturer  in  his 
fight  for  the  world's  market,  as  nearly  two- 
thirds  of  the  value  of  his  product  is  the  cost 
for  materials  alone. 

The  introduction  of  machines  that  not  only 
reduce  the  amount  of  labor  but  frequently 
replace  skilled  labor  with  unskilled,  and  the 
quickness  of  employers  to  adopt  new  processes, 
account  for  our  success.  A  visitor  to  a  modern 
tannery  would  see  a  man  here  and  there  dump- 
ing a  hide  upon  a  moving  feed-table  that 
smooths  and  straightens  it  out  and  then  passes 
it  through  a  machine,  pressing  it  evenly  and 
gently  against  a  revolving  cylinder,  spiraled 
with  knife-blades,  and  drops  it  out  at  last 
clean  and  without  a  cut  or  tear.  He  would 
see  "putting-out"  machines  that  pressed  and 
scraped  tanned  hides  at  the  rate  of  350  dozen 
per  day,  attended  by  only  one  man;  or 
splitting  machines  where  a  belt  of  thin  steel, 
sharpening  itself  by  touching  an  emery  wheel 
as  it  whirled,  could  split  a  hide  with  the  deft- 
ness of  magic  into  sheets  as  thin  as  tissue 
paper — a  machine  that  can  be  adjusted  to 
the  thousandth  part  of  an  inch.  The  ancient 
tanner  paid  an  expert  high  wages  to  guess  at 
the  contents  of  his  hides  when  sold  by  measure. 
Today  an  unskilled  workman  hands  the 
irregular-shaped  pieces  to  a  little  machine 
that  looks  something  like  a  table  with  a 
double  top,  which,  quicker  than  the  mind  of 
the  expert  could  guess  it,  reckons  with 
exactness  the  square  contents  in  both  the 
metric  and  standard  systems. 

But  the  new  processes  tised  in  tanning  are 
most  surprising.  Leather  used  to  be  tanned 
by  soaking  it  for  seven  days  in  a  weak  solution 
of  hemlock  or  oak  bark  to  give  it  color,  then  in 
pits  of  stronger  solution  for  six  weeks,  moving 
the  hides  every  day  or  so;  then  in  "  lay-away  " 
pits  still  stronger  for  another  six  weeks;  by 


3258 


AMONG    THE   WORLD'S    WORKERS 


filling  them  with  new  bark  for  another  six- 
weeks'  soak,  and  repeating  this  last  operation 
thrice  or  four  times.  All  this  made  good 
leather,  but  it  took  from  six  to  eight  months. 
Today  even  the  thickest  hide  can  be  tanned 
by  chemicals  in  three  hours.  Germany  has 
led  in  the  discovery  of  new  processes,  but 
American  tanners  have  been  quick  to  follow 
the  German  example. 

THE   SCHOOL   NURSE 

ONE  of  the  most  important  services  of 
the  Board  of  Health  in  a  large  city  is 
the  careful  medical  inspection  of  school  chil- 
dren to  stop  the  spread  of  contagious  diseases. 
In  some  of  the  crowded  districts  of  New  York 
last  fall  more  than  two  thousand  children  a 
week  were  turned  away.  Rigid  examination 
and  exclusion  like  this  greatly  lessens  the 
possibility  of  widespread  epidemics.  It  was 
felt,  however,  that  something  was  due  the 
children  whose  education  was  thus  delayed 
for  the  public  good.  To  this  end  an  experi- 
ment was  tried  with  a  single  school  nurse, 
having  much  the  same  duties  as  the  "school 
nurse  "  now  so  important  a  part  of  the  London 
school  system.  And  the  result  after  three 
months  was  an  appropriation  by  which  twelve 
regular  nurses  at  the  beginning  of  the  new 
year  were  set  at  work 

The  nurse  by  whom  the  experiment  was 
tried  was  assigned  a  group  of  four  schools 
with  a  school  population  of  about  4,500 
children.  She  visited  each  school  every 
school  day.  Her  work  was  divided  into 
schoolhouse  work  and  visiting  work.  At  the 
school,  pupils  who  were  but  slightly  ailing 
received  treatment  first.  When  these  chil- 
dren were  cared  for  Miss  Rogers  took  up  her 
list  furnished  by  the  medical  inspector  of  the 
pupils  excluded. 

Forestalling  the  danger  of  contagion,  the 
child  was  sent  home  by  the  medical  inspector. 
This  separated  the  pupil  from  his  schoolmates, 
however,  only  during  school  hours.  The 
school-going  and  excluded  children  inter- 
mingled after  hours  for  play.  The  nurse 
visited  all  of  these  children  at  their  homes. 
She  explained  to  the  parents  the  school  and 
Health  Department  rules.  She  told  why  the 
child  must  be  isolated,  how  he  should  be 
treated  and  attended  to  in  order  to  carry  out 
the  directions  of  the  medical  inspector  or 
dispensary  physician  and  insure  an  early 
return  to  school.  These  visits  were  repeated 
that  the  case  might  be  watched,  a  record  being 


made  of  each  case  and  each  visit.  A  daily 
report  was  handed  to  the  Health  Board. 

The  duties  of  the  school  nurse  are  outlined 
in  this  work.  She  continues  the  w^ork  begun 
by  the  medical  inspector,  and  works  only 
under  the  direction  of  the  Health  Department. 
She  first  attends  to  the  minor  infections, 
which,  if  neglected,  would  soon  exclude  the 
child  from  his  class-work.  This  is  done  at 
the  school.  Then  she  attends  to  the  children 
who  have  been  sent  home — sees  that  they 
have  medical  attention  and  regular  treat- 
ment. She  gives  the  mother  or  caretaker  a 
practical  demonstration  of  how  it  is  all  to  be 
done,  and  exacts  a  promise  of  as  complete 
isolation  as  is  possible.  She  continues  the 
work  of  the  previous  visit  and  sends  back  to 
the  school  for  medical  inspection  all  such 
children  as  seem  to  her  to  have  responded  to 
the  treatment  and  recovered  enough  to  be 
admitted  to  class-work.  Thus  she  teaches 
the  child  not  only  to  protect  himself  from 
contagion  by  keeping  him  from  his  playmates, 
but  he  learns  as  well  that  a  cure  in  time  saves 
many  school  days  for  him,  and  that  the 
doctor  as  well  as  the  teacher  is  his  friend. 

A  typical  case  is  that  of  a  boy  twelve  years 
old  who  had  never  had  a  day's  schooling. 
His  ambition  was  to  be  able  to  read  the  street 
signs  before  he  began  to  go  to  work.  His 
mother  had  taken  him  to  school  each  term, 
but  because  of  a  slight  disease  he  was  always 
excluded  from  the  overcrowded  schools. 
Each  time  the  mother  had  been  sent  to  the 
dispensary,  and  each  time  had  been  given  an 
ointment,  which  she  had  applied.  But  he 
did  not  have  proper  care.  With  the  nurse's 
help  he  was  soon  at  school  again.  At  the  age 
of  twelve  he  began  to  learn  his  letters  with 
the  prospect  of  two  years'  schooling  before 
him. 

One  of  the  most  important  results  of  the 
school  nurse's  work  comes  with  the  added 
knowledge  of  how  to  take  care  of  children's 
little  ailments  which  the  mothers  acquire  by 
watching  the  nurse's  methods.  She  fills  in  a 
gap  in  what,  in  other  ways,  is  a  most  admira- 
ble and  necessary  system. 

By  the  addition  of  the  nurses'  services  the 
chance  of  a  bad  epidemic  among  school 
children  is  still  further  obviated.  The  child, 
moreover,  gets  immediate  and  adequate  care 
at  the  school  and  at  home  during  his  illness, 
and,  because  of  the  example  of  the  nurses' 
scientific  and  practical  work,  better  general 
care,  when  sick  or  well. 


riiot"ifraphedby  C.  M.  Bell 


MR.    GEORGE    BRUCE    CORTELYOU 

THE   FIRST    SECRETARY   OF    THE    NEW    DEPARTMENT   OF    COMMERCE    AND    LABOR 

(See  pages  3337  and  3334) 


THE 


WORLDfSWORK 


APRIL,    1903 


Volume    V 


Number  6 


tTbc  flDarcb  of  j£vcntB 


IX  a  general  view  of  tlie  work  of  Congress 
during  its  recent  session,  the  acts  that 
stand  out  are  such  tilings  as  the  tenta- 
tive anti-trust  legislation  and  the  creation 
of  the  new  Cabinet  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  and  the  conclusion  of  the  isth- 
mian canal  negotiations — in  other  words, 
great  subjects  of  commercial  rather  than 
primarily  of  political  importance. 

The  canal  has  fortunately  been  kept  clear 
of  politics.  For  many  years  both  parties 
have  been  committed  to  it.  In  the  back- 
ground of  the  anti-trust  legislation  partizan- 
ship  does  lurk,  or  the  possibility  of  it.  But 
the  legislation  that  was  enacted  was  con- 
sidered to  be  in  response  to  a  demand  made  by 
the  masses  of  the  people.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  public  temper  called  for  at  least  an 
effort  to  assert  national  authority  to  some 
extent  over  the  great  commercial  combina- 
tions. Nobody  yet  knows  wiiat  this  legis- 
lation will  accomplish;  but  for  the  time  being 
it  has  quieted,  if  not  satisfied,  the  popular 
feeling  that  something  should  be  done  to 
sliow  that  "the  trusts  shall  not  own  the 
government." 

Considered  politically,  the  Republicans 
have  stolen  the  Democratic  thunder.  An 
anti-trust  cry  might  have  played,  and  if 
prosperity  wanes  may  yet  play,  an  important 
part  in  the  next  presidential  campaign. 
But,  with  fair  wind  and  weather,  this  cry 
can  now  hardly  be  used  with  great  effect  by 
the     Democrats     against     the     Republicans. 

CopjTight,  1903,  by  Doubleday,  Page 


The  President  (for  it  was  chiefly  his  work, 
because  of  his  persistent  agitation  of  the 
subject)  has  relieved  his  party  of  the  neces- 
sity of  occupying  a  defensive  attitude. 
Politically  considered  further,  this  anti-trust 
legislation  has  not  been  sufficiently  radical 
to  drive  the  great  commercial  interests  into 
an  unfriendly  attitude  to  the  Republican 
party;  or,  to  put  it  in  another  way,  the 
Democrats  have  given  these  great  interests 
no  reason  to  prefer  a  Democratic  administra- 
tion. The  party  in  power,  then,  rather 
strengthened  than  weakened  its  popular  posi- 
tion during  this  session  of  Congress. 

MR.  ROOSEVELT'S  PARTY  LEADERSHIP 

CONCERNING  other  questions  of  national 
politics  as  they  are  left  at  the  close  of 
this  last  session  of  Congress — most  of  them 
are  dead  or  settled,  except  the  tariff.  That  is 
quiescent,  but  it  may  at  any  turn  of  the  road 
become  active.  The  anti-imperialistic  cry 
has  ceased  to  attract  public  attention.  The 
large  appropriations  for  the  navy  (for  we  are 
now  definitely  committed  to  a  policy  of  great 
naval  expansion)  can  hardly  arouse  definite 
partizan  opposition.  The  old  anti-English 
yawp  is  now  seldom  heard  in  our  national 
politics.  Coercive  measures  directed  at  the 
South  are  not  likely  to  be  revived  unless  they 
take  the  form  of  an  effort  to  reduce  Congres- 
sional representation.  Of  course,  the  old 
free-silver  agitation  is  ended.  A  straight, 
hard,  open  fight  will  come,  when  it  comes, 

&  Company.    All  rights  reserved. 


3262 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


about  the  tarifif;  and,  until  that  come,  the 
Republican  party  seems  to  have  reasonably 
clear  sailing  before  it;  and  Mr.  Roosevelt  has 
so  far  kept  and  strengthened  his  hold  as 
captain.  In  the  silent  under-world  struggle 
for  party  leadership  he  seems  now  definitely 
to  have  won.  The  political  outcome  of  this 
past  session  of  Congress  was  the  demonstra- 
tion of  his  victory.  The  formerly  discordant 
elders  now  sing  in  tune  or  they  sing  low. 

THE    NEGRO    CONTROVERSY    LOCAL  IN    ITS 
POLITICAL    EFFECTS 

IT  is  now  hardly  more  than  a  year  before 
delegates  will  be  chosen  to  the  national 
conventions.  Although  we  shall  have  a  long 
session  of  Congress  before  next  summer — 
and  a  long  session  of  Congress  is  sometimes 
fruitful  of  political  issues — the  outlook  for 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  nomination  is  as  clear  as 
such  a  thing  can  be  a  year  beforehand. 

His  unusual  personal  popularity  has  suf- 
fered in  a  part  of  the  Union  and  for  a  reason 
that  can  have  little  or  no  influence  either  on 
his  nomination  or  on  the  vote  that  will  be 
cast  for  him.  There  has  been  a  persistent 
and  almost  violent  change  of  feeling  toward 
him  in  the  South.  If  the  South  could  pre- 
vent either  his  nomination  or  his  election,  it 
would  do  so.  But  northern  opinion  is  not 
going  greatly  to  concern  itself  about  the 
South's  difference  with  the  President  about 
the  Negro:  or,  if  it  do,  sentiment  in  the 
dominant  Republican  States  will  show  itself 
rather  with  Mr.  Roosevelt  than  against  him. 

The  probability  is  that  this  whole  subject, 
which  has  caused  so  much  excitement  in  the 
South,  will  cut  a  small  figure  in  the  next 
national  campaign — unless  the  next  Congress 
happen  to  give  it  such  expression  as  may 
bring  the  Negro  again  into  national  political 
discussion.  Such  an  event  inight  follow  an 
effort  to  cut  down  the  Congressional  repre- 
sentation of  the  southern  States  or  an  effort 
to  repeal  the  fifteenth  amendment  to  the 
Constitution.  But  it  is  likely  that  the  sub- 
ject will  be  exciting  and  important  hereafter 
only  in  the  southern  States.  For  any  agita- 
tion to  repeal  the  fifteenth  amendment,  if 
it  should  be  made,  would  bring  only  futile 
discussion  and  stir  up  sectional  feeling.  Its 
repeal  is  the  most  impossible  of  impossible 
tasks.  There  is  now  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  present  discussion  will  be  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  next  national  election. 


HOW    TWO    MEN    TALKED     THE    GOVERNMENT 

STILL 

TWO  Senators  took  (and  wasted)  nearly 
one-third  of  the  working  days  of  the 
last  session  of  the  Senate — Mr.  Quay,  in 
trying  to  secure  the  admission  of  Arizona 
and  New  Mexico,  and  Mr.  Morgan,  in  trying 
to  defeat  the  treaty  for  the  Panama  canal. 
Neither  had  his  party  behind  him.  Neither 
had  a  party  issue.  Neither  had  a  chance 
to  win.  Neither  won  popular  favor.  Both 
were  simply  stubborn,  and  Mr.  Morgan  was 
stubborn  for  an  honest  preference.  He  had 
no  personal  advantage  to  gain. 

The  situation  was  shameful.  Yet  it  is  a 
situation  that  may  at  any  time  recur  for 
any  purpose — whether  for  a  stubborn  whim 
or  for  an  unworthy  motive.  Under  the 
rules  of  the  Senate,  debate  cannot  be 
closed,  a  final  vote  cannot  be  reached  by 
the  majority,  no  matter  how  large,  until 
every  Senator  who  wishes  to  talk  ceases 
to  talk. 

Now,  whatever  may  be  the  value  of  free 
and  thorough  discussion,  it  is  plain  that  one 
thing  has  resulted  from  this  system — the 
action  which  must  be  taken  sooner  or  later, 
and  which  cannot  be  forced  by  the  majority, 
is  reached  by  "compromise."  That  is  to  say, 
it  is  reached  practically  by  traffic — by  what 
are  known  in  politics  as  "deals." 

Thus  it  is  a  matter  of  historical  though 
not  official  record  that  the  passage  of  the 
Dingley  tarift"-bill  in  the  Senate  was  secured 
by  conceding  to  an  obstinate  minority  the 
passage  of  the  Sherman  Silver-Purchase  law, 
probably  the  most  pernicious  and  disastrous 
financial  legislation  ever  enacted  in  the 
United  States.  And  later  the  passage  of 
the  misnamed  Wilson  tariff  act  was  effected 
by  placating — we  had  almost  said  buying — 
votes  with  provisions  so  abhorrent  to 
President  Cleveland  that  he  refused  to  sign 
the  bill,  permitting  it  to  become  law  withou' 
his  signature. 

Can  proper  and  sufficient  debate  be  had 
without  the  privilege  of  endless  talk  in  tlie 
Senate  ?  Some  of  the  most  able  and  honor- 
able members  that  body  has  ever  had  have 
thought  that  it  could  be.  The  majority 
could  have  the  power  to  close  debate  on 
fixed  conditions  and  after  a  certain  time, 
not  arbitrarily — the  plan,  in  substance,  of  the 
House  of  Commons. 

And  it  must  be  remembered  that  Congress 


Photographed  for  The  World's  Work  by  Frances  Benjamin  Johnston 

MR.    JAMES   R.    GARFIELD 

COMMISSIONER   OF   CORPORATIONS    IN    THE   NEW    DEPARTMENT   OF    COMMERCE    AND   LABOR 


{See  page  3334) 


3264 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


is  not  now,  as  it  was  in  ourearlier  history,  the 
chief,  almost  the  sole  forum  of  discussion. 
The  press  serves  that  purpose  in  some  respects 
admirably,  not  merely  by  the  pens  of  its 
writers,  but  by  the  publicity  it  gives  to  the 
utterances  of  men  in  a  position  to  influence 
opinion.  Its  efficiency  in  this  direction  has 
grown  far  more  rapidly  than  has  the  efficiency 
of  Congress.  President  Roosevelt's  speeches 
on  the  trust  question  last  summer  were  read 
by  many  times  more  voters  than  were  reached 
by  all  the  speeches  in  Congress  during  the 
session.  Xor  must  it  be  forgotten  that 
debate  in  the  Senate,  though  it  may  possibly 
change  opinions,  rarely  changes  votes. 


T 


THE  NATIONAL  BANKRUPTCY  LAW 

HE  strong  and  persistent  effort  to  secure 
the  repeal  of  the  national  bankruptcy 
act  failed  at  the  last  session  of  Congress; 
but  the  law  was  so  amended  as  really  to 
insure  its  continuance.  And  it  seems  to 
have  proved  its  worth.  Its  chief  purpose 
is  to  fix  such  conditions  to  the  release  from 
debt  as  tend  to  make  traders  honest.  Start- 
ing with  the  assumption  that  it  is  better  for  the 
community  that  debtors  who  cannot  pav, 
and  who  have  conducted  their  business  in 
good  faith,  and  are  ready  to  give  up  all  their 
assets  to  their  creditors,  should  be  freed  to 
begin  again,  the  law  was  carefully  framed 
to  prevent  the  release  of  those  who  have 
meant  to  cheat  or  have  been  criminally 
careless  or  extravagant.  The  testimony  of 
commercial  organization,  especially  that  of 
the  strong  Credit  Men's  Association,  with  its 
ramifications  in  every  part  of  the  Union,  is 
conchxsive  that  the  law  has  done  much  to 
raise  the  standard  of  commercial  integrity 
in  both  the  retail  and  the  wholesale  trade. 
It  has  been  found,  on  the  one  hand,  that 
credit  is  more  easily  had  bv  those  who  are 
entitled  to  it,  and  on  the  other  hand  that 
pure  misfortune  is  more  readily  remedied. 
Both  debtors  and  creditors  of  sound  character 
have  profited  by  its  operation. 

The  amendments  that  have  been  made 
to  it  throw  the  burden  of  proof  on  appli- 
cants for  discharge  of  indebtedness  that 
they  have  complied  with  the  law,  and  espe- 
cially that  they  have  kept  sufficient  and  cor- 
rect accounts.  A  man  claiming  so  great  a 
favor  from  the  law  on  the  ground  that  he 
is  unfortunate  but  honest  cannot  complain 
if  he  is  forced  to  prove  his  honesty. 


PROGRESS  IN  CHILD-LABOR  LEGISLATION 

THE  movement  North  and  South  for 
the  legislative  restriction  and  regula- 
tion of  child-labor  accomplished  definite 
results  during  the  recent  legislative  season. 
Child-labor  laws  were  enacted  in  Alabama, 
South  Carolina,  North  Carolina  and  Virginia. 
In  Georgia,  where  the  Legislature  meets  again 
in  June,  legislation  is  regarded  as  inevitable: 
and  in  Texas,  where  the  Democratic  party  is 
committed  to  the  reform,  the  movement  for 
a  child-labor  law  will  probably  be  attended 
with  success.  The  passage  of  these  measures 
in  Alabama  and  the  Carolinas  shows  that  the 
tendency  of  southern  opinion,  even  where  the 
textile  interests  are  strongest,  is  humane  and 
sound. 

The  laws  thus  far  secured  in  the  South  are 
not  perfect.  The  South,  however,  has  been 
the  home  of  the  doctrine  of  "  non-interference," 
and  the  mere  recognition  of  the  principle  of 
State  control  is  a  long  step  in  advance. 
Climatic  conditions  are  partly  responsible  fo-^ 
the  conservatism  of  the  measures  enacted, 
for  the  child  of  twelve  in  the  South  is  usuallv 
as  fully  developed  as  the  child  of  fourteen  in 
the  North.  The  Alabama  law,  which  is 
similar  to  the  legislation  in  most  of  the  southern 
States,  totally  prohibits  child -labor  in  factories 
for  all  under  twelve,  except  in  the  case  of  the 
children  of  the  widowed  mother  or  the  dis- 
abled father;  it  prohibits  child-labor  for  all 
under  ten  without  exception;  it  prohibits  all 
night  work  for  all  under  thirteen ;  and  it  limits 
night  work  to  forty-eight  hours  per  week  for 
all  under  sixteen.  Such  regulations  are  far 
from  adequate,  but  they  represent  a  decided 
advance  upon  conditions  in  which  certain 
mills  have  been  working  children  of  from  six 
to  ten  years  of  age  for  thirteen  hours  a  day — 
and  sometimes  far  into  the  night.  Almost 
all  of  the  women's  clubs  in  the  southern  States 
have  been  on  the  right  side  of  this  question 
from  the  first 

The  movement  at  the  North  also  for  more 
satisfactory  child-labor  legislation  in  Illinois, 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania  is  likely  to 
result  successfully.  Best  of  all,  there  is  being 
created  a  public  sentiment,  a  national  solici- 
tude in  the  interest  of  the  factory  child,  which 
will  prove  quite  as  helpful  and  effective  as 
better   laws. 

The  essential  soundness  of  the  American 
character  shows  itself  quickly  and  firmly  in 
response  to  such  a  movement. 


REV.    DR.    EDMUND    M.    MILLS 


WHO    MANAGED    THE    COLLECTION    OF   THE    METHODIST    THANK-OFFERING    FUND,    BY    WHICH    $20,000,000 

WAS    OBTAINED    FOR    EDUCATION    AND    BENEVOLENCE 

(See  page  3300) 


rhotographed  for  the  World's  Work  hy  A.  R.  Dugmore 


MR.    HEIXRICH    CONRIED 

THE    NEW    MANAGER   OF    THE    METROPOLITAN    OPERA    HOUSE    IN    NEW    YORK    CITY 


THE    CORPORATION    INVESTIGATORS 


3267 


THE    MORE    STRINGENT    LAW    AGAINST 
RAILROAD   REBATES 

NO     amount     of     preliminary     discussion 
can  throw  much    Hght    on    the    real 
value  of  the  anti-trust  legislation  of  Congress. 

It  is  divided  into  two  parts — that  aimed  at 
interstate  railroads  and  that  aimed  at  other 
interstate  corporations. 

The  Elkins  bill,  which  strengthens  the 
present  Interstate  Commerce  Act,  is  aimed 
at  preventing  the  giving  and  receiving  of 
secret  rebates.  It  looks  as  if  its  rigid  enforce- 
ment would  make  rebates  and  discriminations 
in  rates  practically  impossible.  In  the  first 
place,  it  makes  rebates  an  offense  where  there 
is  no  discrimination  shown.  Under  the 
former  law  they  could  not  be  punished  unless 
discrimination  were  proved.  Now  variation 
from  the  published  rates  and  failure  to 
publish   rates  are  in  themselves  punishable. 

In  the  second  place,  the  penalty  of  imprison- 
ment for  individuals  is  done  away  with,  and 
every  offense  of  an  officer  or  agent  is  made 
the  offense  of  the  corporation,  which 
may  be  fined  for  it  from.  $1,000  to  $20,000  in 
each  case.  Under  the  old  law  evidence  that 
would  lead  to  the  imprisonment  of  persons 
was   almost  unattainable. 

In  the  third  place,  the  taker  as  well  as  the 
giver  of  rebates  is  made  accountable,  and  the 
chances  of  detection  are  greatly  increased. 

Finally,  the  courts  are  given  power  to 
proceed  civilly  against  corporations,  and  to 
enjoin  illegal  actions,  a  power  more  extended 
and  elastic  than  that  of  criminal  procedure. 
Special  authority  is  also  given  to  advance 
cases  under  the  law  by  summary  action,  and 
to  appeal  from  the  court  of  first  instance 
directly  to  the  Supreme  Court,  which  ought 
to  save  much  time  and  uncertainty.  It  is 
the  opinion  of  those  best  qualified  to  judge 
that  this  law  can  be  made  effective. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  to  be  remarked  that 
"unity  of  interest"  between  the  main  trans- 
portation lines  and  the  main  industrial  com- 
binations has  made  the  old  form  of  favor  by 
rebates  less  frequent  and  less  sought  after. 

So  much  for  the  restraining  legislation  that 
is  aimed  at  railroads. 

THE  LAW  TO  INVESTIGATE  CORPORATIONS 

THE  new  anti-trust  law  is  meant  to  apply 
the  remedy  of  publicity.  It  provides 
for  the  investigation  of  corporations  by  the 
new  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 


A  Bureau  of  Corporations  is  created  in  the 
new  Department  of  which  the  head  is  called 
the ' '  Commissioner  of  Corporations. "  The  law 
says  that  he  "shall  have  power  and  authority 
to  make,  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary 
of  Commerce  and  Labor,  diligent  investigation 
into  the  organization,  conduct  and  manage- 
ment of  the  business  of  any  corporation,  joint 
stock  company  or  corporate  combination 
engaged  in  commerce  among  the  several 
States  and  with  foreign  nations  except  com- 
mon carriers,"  and  "to  gather  such  informa- 
tion and  data  as  will  enable  the  President  of 
the  United  States  to  make  recommendations 
to  Congress  for  legislation  for  the  regulation 
of  such  commerce."  "The  information  so 
obtained  or  as  much  thereof  as  the  President 
shall  direct  shall  be  made  public. "  For 
these  purposes  he  is  given  the  same  power  as 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to 
"subpoena  and  compel  the  attendance  and 
testimony  of  witnesses  and  the  production 
of  documentary  evidence  and  to  administer 
oaths." 

This  is  a  definite  extension  of  governmental 
power.  It  is  admittedly  experimental.  But 
it  can  bring,  in  a  sense,  any  corporation  under 
the  investigation  of  the  general  Government 
whenever  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and 
Labor  may  so  direct. 

THE  CORPORATION  INVESTIGATORS 

IMPORTANT  and  even  surprising  conse- 
quences may  follow  these  investiga- 
tions by  the  Government  into  the  conduct  of 
corporations.  With  more  knowledge  the  way 
may  be  made  clearer  for  further  legislation 
than  it  now  is;  for  the  Administration  and 
Congress  and  the  economists  themselves  are 
yet  groping — feeling  their  way  toward  some 
clearer  course  of  action. 

At  the  head  of  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor  the  President  has  placed  his 
friend  and  former  private  secretary,  Mr. 
Cortelyou,  and  he  has  appointed  as  Commis- 
sioner of  Corporations  Mr.  James  R.  Garfield, 
of  Ohio,  former  Civil  Service  Commissioner, 
an  able  and  independent  man,  of  experience 
in  public  life  and  of  aggressive  energy,  shown 
heretofore  in  the  support  of  excellent  aims. 
In  such  hands  the  authority  to  investigate 
may  be  used  with  vigor,  and  the  President  as 
well  as  the  trusts  may  be  surprised  at  the 
outcome.  Probably,  on  the  whole,  Mr. 
Garfield's  roving  commission  for  inquiry,  if 


3268 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


not  exactly  the  ' '  very  long  stride  in  advance ' ' 
which  Mr.  Knox  declares  it,  is  as  long  a  step 
and  in  as  nearly  the  right  direction  as  could 
have  been  taken. 

WHY  SO  MUCH   UNINVESTED  CAPITAL? 

JUDGE  GROSSCUP,  of  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court,  recently  delivered  an 
address  at  the  University  of  Michigan  in 
which  he  argued  that  industrial  consolida- 
tion was  making  the  mass  of  the  people  mere 
lookers  on  and  not  participants.  Yet,  as  he 
showed,  the  wealth  of  the  people  has  rapidly 
increased.  From  1890  to  1900  the  increase 
of  population  was  about  twenty  per  cent.; 
of  "general  wealth"  about  twenty-three  per 
cent.,  and  of  bank  deposits  eighty-five  per 
cent.     Then   he   put   this   question: 

"Can  any  one  explain  this  disproportion  of  the 
growth  of  uninvested  capital — a  disproportion  begin- 
ning with  activity  in  consolidation  and  rising 
rapidly  as  consolidation  increased — except  upon  the 
inference  that  the  people,  having  little  confidence 
in  existing  trust  organization,  have  been  thus  cut  out 
from  ownership  in  the  industries  of  the  country-  ? 
Showing  as  they  do  that  the  people  at  large 
are  withdrawing  from  ownership  in  the  industries  of 
the  country,  they  point  to  a  time  in  the  near  futiu"e, 
if  the  present  methods  of  consolidation  go  on,  when, 
barring  the  shopkeeper,  the  farmer  and  the  owner 
of  city  real  estate,  and  barring  the  man  who  is  will- 
ing to  take  chances  upon  an  unknown  venture,  there 
will  be  but  comparatively  few  proprietors  among 
the  run  of  citizens  who  ordinarily  would  be  inter- 
ested in  the  coiantr\''s  industries.  " 

In  another  part  of  the  same  address  he 
said: 

"There  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  people 
uninvested  capital  nearly  sufficient  to  buy  out,  at 
the  valuations  of  1890,  the  existing  manufactories 
or  the  existing  railroads,  or  one-half  of  the  farm 
property  of  the  country.  It  constitutes  nearly  one 
dollar  in  ten  of  all  the  dollars  that  measure  the 
countr%''s  entire  wealth;  and  what  is  more,  it  is 
available  at  any  moment  to  enable  the  people  at 
large  to  re-enter  the  proprietorship  of  the  country.  " 

THE  PEOPLE  RICH  IN    SPITE    OF    THE    TRUSTS 
OR  BY  THEIR  HELP  ? 

THE  situation,  as  set  forth  by  Judge 
Grosscup,  is  that,  although  the  great 
companies  are  consolidating  the  industries  of 
the  country,  the  people  have  more  money 
than  they  ever  had  before.  This  state  of 
things  causes  different  men  to  draw  very 
different  conclusions. 


The  defender  of  trusts  will  say  that  the 
trusts  have  added  to  the  people's  prosperity 
by  paying  good  wages  and  dividends,  and 
that  a  large  part  of  the  trusts  are  owned  by 
the  people. 

From  another  point  of  view,  it  is  said  that 
the  people  are  afraid  to  invest  in  trust  shares, 
and  are  hoarding  their  money  in  banks  that 
pay  from  two  to  four  per  cent.,  for  fear  of 
losing  it;  and  that  they  are  debarred  by  the 
trusts  from  engaging  in  industrial  under- 
takings for  themselves. 

From  another  point  of  view  it  will  be  said 
that  men  who  keep  their  money  in  banks  that 
pay  only  two  to  four  per  cent,  thereby  confess 
their  lack  of  ability  to  make  profitable  use 
of  it  in  productive  ways.  The  man  who 
shows  the  qualities  of  industrial  leadership 
can  get  all  the  money  he  needs. 

This  striking  statement  of  the  facts  about 
the  people's  wealth,  therefore,  does  not  point 
the  way  to  any  conclusive  opinion.  Opinions 
depend  on  the  state  of  mind  of  those  who 
consider  them. 

A   GREAT  ENGLISH    EDUCATOR    ON     AMERICAN 
SCHOOLS 

"At  rare  intervals  in  the  history  of  a  nation  there 
comes  a  great  outburst  of  physical  and  intellectual 
energy  which,  with  overmastering  power,  carries 
forward  the  masses  of  the  people,  together  with  its 
leaders,  in  an  exhilarating  rush  of  common  effort. 
In  the  United  States  of  America  such  a  movement  is 
in  progress  to-day.  It  reveals  its  force  at  three 
points — the  American  workshop,  the  American 
office  and  the  American  school.  Of  the  tremendous 
power  of  the  movement  no  one  who  has  witnessed 
it  can  doubt.  ...  Of  all  the  educational 
movements  now  going  forward  in  the  world,  that 
in  America  seems  to  me  at  present  the  most  forcefxU 
and  pregnant  in  great  issues.  " 

THUS  spoke  Mr.  Michael  E.  Sadler,  the 
English  leader  in  education,  who  spent 
some  time  in  the  United  States  last  summer, 
in  summing  up  in  an  address  at  Glasgow  his 
conclusions  about  American  education.  His 
judgment  on  the  subject  is  as  highly  regarded 
as  is  the  judgment  of  any  man  living.  The 
favorable  things  in  his  summary  are  these: 

1.  The  earnest  belief  that  he  found  in 
education.  "That  is  the  heart  of  the  whole 
matter,"  said  he.  "America  believes  in 
education.  .  .  .  The  American  school  is 
radiant  with  its  belief  in  its  mission. " 

2.  "An  eager  belief  in  individuality," 
which  "is  the  essence  of  a  democratic  com- 


EXTENSION   OE    I'UHLIC    SCHOOL   INELUENCE 


3269 


monwealth.  "  .  .  .  "  For  the  work  of  the 
earUest  grades  of  American  education  the 
harshest  critic  would  give  Httle  else  than 
praise.  In  the  first  four  years  of  school  life 
the  child  is  stimulated  to  self-expression  and 
self-realization  by  teachers  skilful  in  their 
art  and  unwearied  in  their  practice  of  it. " 
"Thus  the  American  believes  in  education 
because  education  e([uips  individuals  for  the 
tasks  of  American  citizenship." 

3.  He  found  a  conviction  that  great 
changes  are  impending  in  the  subject-matter 
of  education.  Teachers  are  endeavoring  to 
"tear  out  the  non-essentials."  They  have  a 
tendency  to  "employ  labor-saving  appliances 
in  education"  and  to  "avoid  to  the  utmost 
the  waste  of  precious  time. " 

4.  The  Americans  "have  grasped  the  fact 
that  for  national  welfare  under  modern  con- 
ditions the  highest  and  most  costly  types  of 
technical  and  university  training  are  as 
indispensable  as  the  kindergarten  and  the 
primary  school."  .  .  .  "The  American 
organizer  of  industry  believes,  as  a  rule,  in 
tlie  college-bred  man."     He  added: 

"Modem  industry  and  business  need  the  products 
of  the  highest  education,  but  they  cannot  afford  to 
pay  for,  nor  will  they  put  up  with,  fine  academic 
airs  and  fastidious  nonsense,  or  unwillingness  to  do 
the  rough  work  which  every  one  must  learn  to  do 
who  means  in  truth  and  through  and  through  to 
learn   a   trade." 

And  he  paid  a  tribute  to  the  American 
generosity  that  establishes  well-equipped 
universities  and  technical  schools. 

These  four  important  facts  impressed  Mr. 
Sadler   very   strongly. 

THE  SHORTCOMINGS  OF  AMERICAN  EDUCATION 

BUT  Mr.  Sadler  found  also  several 
reasons  for  friendly  criticism  of  our 
educational  thought  and  practice  which  may 
be  more  useful  for  us  to  consider  than  his 
praise. 

He  feared  that  our  methods  "stimulate 
interest  without  laying  corresponding  stress 
on  intellectual  discipline";  and  he  finds  that 
parents  also  fail  in  the  discipline  of  children. 
This  tendency  he  regarded  as  a  revolt  against 
"the  repressive  precision  of  the  overstrict 
Puritan  home.  " 

I  This  lack  of  severe  discipline  leads  to  super- 
ficialitv  "with  its  attendant  evils,  exaggera- 


He  fears  that  we  make  too  many  short  cuts 
and  are  too  fond  of  the  last  new  thing. 

Another  criticism  of  American  training 
and  of  American  life  is,  that  the  men  become 
unduly  concentrated  on  business  pursuits — 
not  for  the  sake  of  wealth,  but  for  the  material 
comforts  and  for  the  power  that  success 
brings.  "One  is  tempted  to  say  that  a 
special  danger  of  American  life  is  the  pursuit 
of  material  success  in  the  spirit  of  idealism, 
while  the  converse  danger  in  English  life  is  the 
pursuit  of  ideal  aims  in  the  spirit  of  material- 
ism."  We  need  "variety  of  culture,  variety 
of  type  and  variety  of  standards  of  success." 

AN  ENORMOUS  EXTENSION   OF  PUBLIC  SCHOOL 
INFLUENCE 

IN  another  part  of  this  magazine  the  story 
is  recited  how  the  public  schools  of 
New  York  have  entered  upon  the  education 
of  adults,  offering  free  lecture  courses,  many 
of  which  would  do  credit  to  the  halls  of 
colleges  or  the  platforms  of  the  old-time 
lyceum.  Boston,  Newark  and  other  cities 
are  copying  the  example  of  New  York;  and 
the  plan  is  applicable  to  villages  and  to 
towns  large  or  little.  Everywhere  the  school 
building  may  become  a  new  social  centre 
for  the  people  of  its  district,  in  summer  and 
winter,  by  night  as  well  as  by  day.  A  capital 
lantern  with  a  sheet  twenty  feet  square,  and 
a  hundred  carbon  pencils  for  electric  illumina- 
tion, can  be  had  for  Si  1 5.  Slides  ready  made, 
or  made  to  order,  may  be  had  at  moderate 
prices  in  all  our  cities.  A  school  equipped 
with  a  lantern  and  rightly  chosen  pictures 
can  give  a  new  meaning  to  many  subjects;  it 
can  continue  beyond  girlhood  and  boyhood 
the  instruction  of  the  people,  and,  not  less 
important,  their  worthy  entertainment  as 
well.  Everywhere  in  America  there  are  men 
and  women  able  and  willing  to  carry  out 
programmes  that  can  add  a  new  interest  and 
joy  to  the  community's  life.  The  staff  of 
the  nearest  academy  or  college  may  be 
enlisted,  then  lawyers  and  journalists,  clergy- 
men and  physicians  of  the  neighborhood,  and 
anybody  else  who  deserves  to  be  heard.  An 
inventor  may  tell  how  he  came  to  perfect  an 
ingenious  machine.  An  amateur  astronomer 
may  show  how  much  of  the  heavens  declare 
themselves  to  a  common  opera -glass.  An 
old  resident  may  recall  distant  days  of  hard- 
ship and  triumph,  and  their  contrasts  with 
the   age   of   the    wireless    telegraph    and   the 


3270 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


steam  turbine.  Those  who  travel  may  take 
their  neighbors  with  them,  after  they  come 
home.  Men  and  women  worth  knowing 
would  be  better  known  than  they  are  and 
would  contribute  more  to  the  community's 
information  and  pleasure.  Their  experience, 
talent,  culture,  would  pass  into  the  common 
treasury  for  a  currency  that  would  enrich 
others  and  themselves.  And  there  would  be 
measureless  relief  from  the  vacuity  and 
dulness  which  oppress  millions  of  our 
people,  especially  in  lonely  villages  in  the 
dreary  nights  of  winter. 

THE  WIDENING  SCOPE   OF  INSTRUCTION 

GROUPS  of  facts  present  themselves 
with  startling  rapidity  that  confirm 
Mr.  Sadler's  opinion  that  the  American 
people  are  in  dead  earnest  about  education. 
Such  a  great  movement  as  Mr.  lies  describes — 
of  free  popular  lectures  of  solid  worth;  the 
equipment,  at  the  other  extreme  of  educa- 
tional work,  of  such  an  institution  as  the 
Rockefeller  Institute  for  Medical  Research; 
the  endowment  of  men  to  carry  on  research 
in  many  fields  of  work,  by  the  Carnegie 
Institution;  the  continued  benefactions  to 
well-established  institutions,  as  the  recent 
anonymous  gift  of  $1,000,000  to  Barnard 
College  in  New  York,  and  the  gift  of  quite  as 
much  to  Trinity  College  in  North  Carolina  by 
Mr.  Washington  Duke  and  his  sons — these 
are  only  detached  instances  of  what  is  going 
on  in  every  part  of  the  land  for  education 
both  in  some  of  its  most  popular  phases  and 
in  some  of  its  most  learned. 

It  was  significant  that  the  announcement 
of  a  sort  of  traveling  medical  university  that 
is  about  to  be  equipped  by  the  German 
Government  attracted  universal  attention 
in  the  United  States.  The  most  skilful 
surgeons  and  practitioners  of  medicine  will 
go  from  place  to  place  and  perform  operations 
and  make  diagnoses  and  give  instruction  to 
local  practitioners.  It  is  a  plan  that  to  the 
lay  mind  at  least  shows  much  common  sense. 

THE  BITUMINOUS  COAL  SETTLEMENT. 

WHILE  the  extraordinary  anthracite  coal 
commission  was  still  in  session,  and 
the  operators  and  the  mine-workers  were 
disputing  their  claims  with  unpromising  and 
uncompromising  bitterness,  in  the  bitumin- 
ous region  the  mine -workers'  organization  met 
the  employers   and   came   to   an    agreement. 


An  advance  of  about  one-eighth  in  the  average 
wage  was  made  and  accepted  for  a  year. 
A  strike  that  had  been  discussed  rather  than 
threatened  was  thus  averted,  and  reasonable 
stability  is  assured. 

It  can  hardly  be  assumed  that  a  like 
result  could  have  been  reached  in  the  anthra- 
cite region  in  a  similar  way,  for  the  conditions 
are  somewhat  different.  But  only  a  few 
years  ago  such  a  result  in  the  bituminous 
region  was  declared  by  the  employers  to  be 
hopeless  for  much  the  same  reasons  now 
assigned  in  the  anthracite  region — the  great 
differences  in  the  conditions  at  the  various 
mines  and  the  impossibility  of  holding  the 
union  to  responsibility.  It  may  be  that 
Mr.  Mitchell  cannot  do  with  the  miners  of 
Pennsylvania  what  he  has  done  with  those 
of  the  half-dozen  States  in  which  soft  coal 
is  produced.  But  to  the  outside  observer  the 
real  obstacle  may  well  seeim  to  be  the  lack  of 
that  good-will  and  intelligence  in  one  region 
which  has  been  shown  in  the  other. 

THE    POSSIBLE     END     OF     THE     IRISH     LAND 
QUESTION 

NOT  long  ago  a  brilliant  Irish  member  of 
Parliament  visiting  this  country  was 
asked  to  define  the  Irish  land  question  as  it 
then  was.  He  replied  by  quoting  the  saying 
of  Lord  John  Russell  about  the  Schleswig- 
Holstein  question:  "Only  two  men  ever 
understood  it,  I  and  another.  He  is  dead 
and  I  have  forgotten  it."  So  hopeless  did 
the  Irish  situation  seem  at  that  time  from  the 
tangle  of  interests,  prejudices,  passion  and 
political  ambitions  in  which  it  was  wrapped. 
Today,  at  the  opening  of  Parliament  for  a 
session  at  which  Ireland  bids  fair  to  be  the 
chief  matter  of  discussion  and  action,  the 
chances  of  something  like  a  solution  are  bright. 
The  change  is  largely  due  to  the  conference 
of  landowners  during  the  winter  represented 
by  Lord  Dunraven  and  Lord  Mayo,  and  the 
occupiers  of  the  land  represented  by  John 
Redmond,  Timothy  Harrington,  William 
O'Brien — all  members  of  the  Irish  party  in 
Parliament — and  by  T.  W.  Russell,  a  Con- 
servative. This  conference  recommends 
Government  aid  in  the  transfer  of  land  from 
the  present  owners  to  the  present  tenants,  at 
prices  to  be  based  on  income,  the  Government 
to  guarantee  the  payment  of  the  income  or  a 
price  that  will  yield  the  income  at  from  three 
to  three  and  one-half  per  cent.,  and  to  collect 


TROGRESS    FROM    THE    liOTTOM  3271 

the  amount  from  the  purchasers  in  instalments,  well  as  the  making  of  woolen  fabrics  and  the 

The  process  would  involve  a  net  loss  to  the  numerous   small    home   industries   connected 

Government,  the  exact  amount  of  which  is  with    the    faiTn.     By    cooperation    the    best 

not  definitely  estimated.     But  it  is  contended  stock   and   machinery,    too   costly   for   small 

on  both  sides  that  this  loss  would  be  much  tenants,     are     obtained.     Uniform      quality 

more   than   offset   by   the   reduction   in   the  and  preparation  of  goods  are  secured,  with 

cost  of  ruling  Ireland,  even,  in  fact,  by  the  the  advantage  that  these  give  in  the  markets, 

less  cost  of  the  constabulary  alone.  better    terms    are    made    for   transportation, 

In  theory  this  looks  like  buying  peace,  and  sales  are  made  directly  by  the  agents  of  the 

it  would  have  been  resented  and  denounced  society,    and    markets    are    developed    and 

five  years  ago.     Now  there  is  a  fair  chance  that  extended.     In   the   agricultural   banks,   with 

it  will  be  accepted.    There  is  comfort  in  the  joint  liability,  the  miracle  has  been  accom- 

inference  that  in    the    long    run    the    selfish  plished   of  a  group   of  insolvents   making  a 

interests     of    men     tend    more     and    more  profit    by    lending  to  each  other.     Extraor- 

to    produce    peace    and  justice.     The    elimi-  dinary  as  this  is,  it  is  literally  true, 

nation    of     the     Irish     land    question    from  Apart  from  the  material  benefits  secured, 

the      great      controversies      of      our       time  and  in  connection  with  them,  there  has  been 

would     mark     a     new     epoch     in     English  an  increasing  advance  in  mutual  confidence 

experience   and  would   give   the   rest   of  the  among  the  members  of  these  organizations, 

world  relief  that  it  would  be  grateful  for.  accompanied  by  a  corresponding  advance  in 

self-respect.     Here,  then,  are  the  roots  of  the 

HOW    THE    CHANGE    HAS    BEEN    WROUGHT    IN  material  and  moral  progress  which  has  made 

IRELAND  possible  the  approach  to  agreement  between 

ONE  of  the  most   effective   causes  of  the  the  landowners  and  the  occupiers.     Farming 

promised  new   and  happy  era  in  the  has  been  made  profitable.     When  there  was 

Irish  land  question  is  the  movement  for  "help  little  or  no  profit  in  it  the  parties  to  a  loss 

to  self-help"  of  which  the  Honorable  Horace  could  not  well  agree. 

Plunkett  is  the  active  leader.  Oflficially  it  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  when  Doctor 
is  known  as  the  "Irish  Agricultural  Organiza-  Frissell,  the  Principal  of  Hampton  Institute 
tion  Society."  This  society,  which  began  for  the  training  of  Negroes  and  Indians,  was 
work  about  nine  years  ago,  now  has  70,000  in  Ireland  last  summer,  he  was  so  impressed 
members,  and  since  nearly  all  are  heads  of  by  the  work  of  Mr.  Plunkett  that  he  invited 
families,  it  represents  at  least  350,000  of  the  him  to  visit  Virginia  to  investigate  con- 
agricultural  population  of  Ireland.  Its  pur-  ditions  in  that  State  and  to  make  suggestions 
pose  is  to  organize  the  farmers  for  cooperation,  about  the  practicability  of  a  similar  organ- 
not  in  the  ownership  of  land,  but  in  its  culti-  ization  in  the  South.  This  Mr.  Plunkett  did, 
vation,  in  the  provision  of  the  supplies  and  and  it  is  probable  that  organizers  who  have 
machinery,  in  the  preparation  and  the  had  signal  success  in  Ireland  will  come  to  this 
marketing  of  the  crops,  and  in  the  provision  country  to  begin  a  similar  movement, 
of  financial  credit.  The  central  society  fur- 
nishes organizers  and  instructors,  but  the  PROGRESS  FROM  THE  BOTTOM 
management  of  business  is  entirely  democratic  '  I  ""HE  Negro  conferences  held  every 
in  each  society.  The  two  cardinal  principles  X  year  at  Tuskegee  Institute  in 
are  that  the  progress — the  salvation,  indeed  Alabama  get  to  the  bottom  of  things.  There 
— of  Irish  farming  must  come  from  the  indi-  is  probably  no  other  meeting  of  men  at  which 
vidual  farmers,  and  that  it  can  be  attained  there  is  such  a  frank  discussion  of  the 
only  by  united  effort.  fundamental  facts  of  everyday  life.  Are 
Some  of  the  industries  in  which  the  organ-  you  out  of  debt  ?  Do  you  own  your  house  ? 
ization  has  accomplished  great  things  are  Have  you  any  land  ?  How  are  you  getting 
the  production  or  manufacture  of  cheese  and  on  ?     Men  come  from  considerable  distances 

I  butter  in  factories  and  creameries,  the  pro-  and   hold    "experience"   meetings   by   asking 

duction   of  poultry  and  eggs,  the  raising  of  and  answering  such  questions  as  these.     These 

cattle  and  hogs  and  the  production  of  pork,  conferences  have  now  been  held  for  twelve 

bacon,  hams  and  lard,  the  raising  of  sheep  years,  and  every  year  the  reports  are  increas- 

ind  the  production  of  mutton  and  wool,  as  ingly     encouraging.     The     people     and     the 


3272 


THE    MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


newspapers    of   the    South    show  a  growing 
and  eager  interest  in  these  meetings. 

Mr.  Booker  T.  Washington  has  thus  briefly 
summarized  their  aims:  "Securing  homes, 
the  freeing  of  ourselves  from  debts,  the  saving 
of  money,  the  encouragement  of  intelhgent 
producers,  the  payment  of  taxes,  the  culti- 
vation of  habits  of  thrift,  honesty  and 
virtue,  the  building  of  schoolhouses  and 
churches,  the  securing  of  education  and  high 
Christian  character,  and  friendship  between 
the  races."  This  year  he  said  that  because  of 
"the  many  homes  that  have  been  sectued, 
schoolhouses  built,  debts  paid,  taxpayers 
produced,  and  State  and  local  Negro  confer- 
ences organized,  the  feeling  of  hope  and 
encotuagement"  throughout  the  entire  race 
is  justified.  "No  race  that  is  patient,  long- 
suffering,  industrious, economical  and  virtuous, 
that  is  persistent  in  efforts  that  make  for 
progress  and  that  cultivates  a  spirit  of 
good-will  toward  all  mankind,  is  ever  left 
without  reward." 

Wrangling  about  appointment  to  public 
office  may  or  may  not  have  a  place  in  the 
many-sided  economy  of  American  life,  colored 
as  well  as  white;  but,  whether  it  has  or  not, 
the  straightforward  sort  of  work  done  and 
reported  at  these  meetings  spells  advance- 
ment in  capital  letters.  There  may  be  doubt 
about  other  things,  but  there  can  be  no 
doubt  about  that. 

SILVER  COUWTRffiS  MOVING  TOWARD  THE 
GOLD  STANDARD 

MEXICO  recently  took  a  step  toward 
extending  the  gold  standard  and  to 
solve  the  vexed  problem  of  the  use  of  silver  as 
currency  in  a  way  to  avoid  the  effects  of  rapid 
changes  in  its  value  measured  in  gold.  Here- 
tofore the  standard  of  value  in  Mexico  has  been 
silver,  which  it  also  exports  in  very  large 
amounts  both  as  coin  and  as  bullion.  Its 
standard  coin  is  the  dollar,  or  peso,  at  a  legal 
ratio  of  sixteen-and-one-half  to  one  of  gold. 
Within  the  last  thirty  years  the  market  ratio 
has  fallen  until  a  dollar  in  gold  exchanges  for 
about  tnirty-two  in  silver.  The  payment  in 
gold  of  the  interest  on  Mexico's  considerable 
national  debt  and  the  violent  fluctuations  in 
foreign  exchange  have  thrown  heavy  burdens 
on  the  country,  which  have  been  borne  with 
extreme  honesty  and  courage,  but  which 
hinder  the  progress  of  industry — a  progress 
that  has  still  been  remarkable. 


What  Mexico  now  proposes  is  to  keep  a 
steady  relation  between  silver  and  gold  by  the 
issue  of  a  new  silver  coinage  at  the  ratio  of 
thirty -two  to  one,  to  be  limited  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  the  needs  of  trade,  and  to  be  kept 
at  par  by  the  use  of  a  gold  reserve  in  the 
treasury.  In  principle  this  is  the  present 
system  of  the  United  States,  which  maintains 
about  $500,000,000  in  silver  coins  and  cer- 
tificates at  par  at  the  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one 
by  the  strict  limitation  of  the  amount,  by 
taking  silver  for  public  dues,  and  by  a  gold 
reser\^e  pledged  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
parity  of  all  forms  of  money  issued  by  the 
Government.  It  is  also  the  plan  in  substance 
adopted  in  1893  by  Great  Britain  for  the 
currency  of  India  when  it  stopped  the  coinage 
of  silver  and  formed  a  gold  reserve  to  main- 
tain the  par  value  of  the  rupee.  It  is  prac- 
tically the  system  adopted  by  the  same 
country  in  the  Straits  Settlements  and  in 
the  Confederated  Malay  States  and  by  the 
Netherlands  Government  in  Java. 

It  is  a  definite  abandonment  of  the  bimetal- 
lic scheme  which  rested  on  the  unlimited 
coinage  of  both  metals  at  a  fixed  ratio,  for 
this  plan  rests  strictly  on  the  limitation  of 
the  coinage  of  silver.  In  other  words,  the 
old  bimetallic  plan  has  been  practically 
abandoned  throughout  the  organized  world. 

The  Government  of  Mexico  recently  sent 
to  this  country  a  Commission,  consisting  of  an 
eminent  banker,  Mr.  Creel,  and  a  member  of 
the  Senate,  Mr.  De  La  Garza,  to  invite  the 
moral  cooperation  of  the  United  States  in  the 
adoption  of  this  general  plan  by  countries 
having  the  gold  standard  at  home,  but  having 
possessions,  like  our  own  in  the  Philippines, 
with  a  silver  currency.  The  Chinese  Govern- 
ment joined  in  this  appeal,  and  it  was  cor- 
dially received  by  President  Roosevelt.  Its 
success  will  rest  on  the  firmness  with  which 
the  issue  of  silver  coin  can  be  limited  and  by 
the  provision  of  a  sufficient  gold  reserve  to 
maintain  the  parity  at  the  ratio  adopted. 
The  plan  means,  of  course,  the  ultimate 
adoption  of  the   gold  standard  by  Mexico. 

China  must  sooner  or  later  follow  some  sucli 
example.  Then  the  old  silver  question  will 
have  been  practically  settled  the  world  over. 
Every  movement  toward  a  universal  gold 
standard  buries  still  deeper  the  silver  heresy, 
which,  supported  by  practical  politics,  men- 
aced American  prosperity  and  the  good 
repute  of  the  United  States  for  many  years. 


ABOUT   THE   SIZE   OK    FAMILIES 


3273 


INTERNATIONAL  HATRED   IN   THE  OLD   WORLD 
AND  IN  THE  NEW 

HERR  ERNST  VON  WILDENBRUCH, 
a  name  Carlyle  might  have  invented, 
a  poet  of  BerUn,  whom  the  Emperor  has 
honored,  in  a  recent  article  expressed  the  hope 
that  Germany  will  join  with  the  United  States 
in  maintaining  the  Monroe  doctrine.  "The 
greatest  struggle  of  the  twentieth  century," 
he  declared,  "may  be  a  contest  of  the  Germanic 
race  against  Latindom.  Germany  started 
the  strxiggle  in  1870  and  America  continued 
it  in  1898.  It  is  the  inevitable  strife  of  the 
Germanic  races  against  the  Latin  races, 
which  must  continue  until  the  Germanic 
race  is  supreme.  In  the  struggle,"  which 
he  hopes  will  next  take  the  form  of  extending 
the  authority  of  the  United  States  over  all 
Latin  America,  "no  German  can  be  in  doubt 
as  to  where  his  sympathies  and  active  aid 
should  go." 

This  is  a  frank  bit  of  barbarism,  which 
is  not  as  untrue  as  it  is  undesirable.  But  it  is 
a  feeling  much  stronger  in  the  Old  World 
than  in  the  New.  There  is  something  in  the 
dominant  feeling  in  the  United  States  that 
may  perhaps  be  called  a  prejudice  against 
the  Latin  peoples ;  but  it  is  not  a  race  prejudice 
nor  a  political  prejudice,  but  rather  the 
feeling  of  impatience  that  the  economically 
efficient  man  has  toward  the  economically 
inefficient.  There  is  not  the  slightest  reason 
to  fear  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
will  ever  have  such  a  hostile  attitude  toward 
the  people  of  South  America  as  the  Germans 
and  the  French  have  toward  one  another. 
There  is  no  inherent  animosity,  nor  animosity 
of  any  sort;  and  the  influence  of  trade,  which 
is  strong,  is  constantly  to  bring  a  better 
understanding.  The  German  poet  harks  back 
to  the  pre-democratic  era,  and  he  will  find 
no  response  on  this  side  the  Atlantic. 

THE    INSTRUCTIVE    ASPECT    OF    COMMERCIAL 
FAILURES 

THE  elaborate  study  of  commercial  fail- 
ures, extending  over  a  period  of 
twenty-seven  years,  made  in  Dun's  Review, 
shows  a  remarkable — indeed,  an  almost 
incredible — diminution  of  the  relative  impor- 
tance of  failures  to  the  volume  of  business. 
If  the  liabilities  of  failed  commercial  enter- 
prises were  shared  by  all  the  other  commercial 
enterprises  in  the  country,  the  loss  of  each 
would  have  been  less  than  $100  last  year. 


The  defaulted  indebtedness  was  only  ninety- 
nine  cents  on  every  $1,000  of  solvent  pay- 
ments made  through  clearing-houses.  These 
figures  are  only  of  failed  merchants,  not 
manufacturers  nor  banks.  The  smallness  of 
the  losses  caused  in  the  commercial  com- 
munity by  mercantile  failures  is,  therefore, 
not  a  heavy  tax  on  the  successful. 

Still  the  absolute  number  of  failures  is 
great — more  than  11,000,  or  about  one  per 
cent,  of  all — and  the  aggregate  liabilities  (not 
all  of  which  was  loss,  of  course)  were  last  year 
more  than  $117,000,000.  The  number  of 
failures  has  increased  during  these  twenty- 
seven  years  in  times  of  bad  crops,  of  panic, 
etc.,  as,  for  example,  in  1893,  when  they  were 
fifty  per  cent,  more  than  in  1892.  But  the 
most  interesting  aspect  of  this  study  is  the 
personal  aspect  of  it. 

And  yet  the  personal  aspect  of  it  cannot 
be  made  very  clear  by  any  statistical  study. 
Although  the  immediate  and  assigned  causes 
for  mercantile  failures  can  be  set  down  in 
columns — such  as  extravagance,  incompe- 
tence, lack  of  capital  and  dishonesty — most 
of  these  are  some  form  of  deficiency  in  charac- 
ter or  in  ability.  The  specific  instruction  that 
can  be  got  from  this  list  of  causes  is  little. 
Yet  every  failure  is  an  instructive  warning  to 
those  who  can  find  out  its  real  cause  by  a 
knowledge  of  the  personalities  involved; 
and  no  very  instructive  study  of  them 
can  be  made  in  any  other  way.  A  person- 
ality in  some  way  defective  is  behind  every 
one  of  them. 

ABOUT  THE  SIZE  OF  FAMILIES. 

IN  an  argument  for  a  shorter  college  course 
and  for  graduation  at  an  earlier  age 
President  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  showed  in  his 
latest  report  that  the  graduates  of  the  uni- 
versity "do  not  reproduce  themselves." 
Twenty-eight  per  cent,  of  the  members  of 
six  classes  that  had  been  out  of  college  twenty- 
five  years  or  more  are  unmarried,  and  those 
who  have  married  have,  on  the  average,  only 
two  surviving  children,  "so  that  the  married 
pairs  just  reproduce  themselves  on  the 
average."     And  he  added: 

"  It  is  probable  that  the  regrettable  result  is  due 
in  part  to  the  late  postponement  of  marriage  on 
the  part  of  educated  young  men,  a  postponement 
which  the  protracted  education  now  prescribed  for 
men  who  enter  the  learned  and  scientific  professions 
makes  almost  unavoidable.     The  young  physician, 


3274 


THE   MARCH    OF    EVENTS 


lawyer,  engineer  or  architect  is  now  fortunate  if  he 
marries  at  twenty-eight  or  twenty-nine,  whereas  he 
shotild  have  married  at  twenty-five  or  twenty-six. 
To  make  earUer  marriage  possible  is  one  of  the 
strong  inducements  for  bringing  to  an  end  the  school 
course  at  seventeen  or  eighteen,  the  college  course 
at  twenty  or  twenty-one,  and  the  professional  train- 
ing at  twenty- fottr  or  twenty-five." 

It  is  pretty  well  established  that  the  time 
of  marriage  is  deferred  also  in  what  may  be 
called  the  upper  working  classes  by  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  young  women  who 
can  support  themselves  in  the  greater  variety 
of  pursuits  now  open  to  them,  and  that  the 
number  of  children  for  each  married  pair  is 
becoming  gradually  smaller.  That  there  is 
a  relative  diminution  of  the  offspring  of 
native  Americans  in  some  rough  proportion 
to  the  education  of  the  parents  is  obvious. 
This  is  what  President  Roosevelt  in  a  recent 
letter  denounced  with  characteristic  emphasis 
as  "racial  suicide." 

These  two  causes  of  a  low  birth  rate  are 
very  different.  In  the  case  of  women  who 
decline  to  marry  or  who  postpone  marriage 
because  they  are  economically  independent, 
the  social  damage  is  perhaps  not  a  damage 
at  all,  but  a  benefit.  They  simply  refuse  to 
marrv"  for  purely  economic  reasons ;  and  when 
they  do  marry  they  are  likely  to  marry  more 
satis  factoril^^  There  is  a  certain  social 
loss  here,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  be 
as  large  as  it  might  seem. 

The  case  of  cultivated  men  who  marry 
late  or  do  not  marr}^  at  all  is  different.  They 
are  often  mistrained  men — self-conscious 
and  unsocial.  It  is  doubtful  if  society  would 
gain  by  their  marriage.  To  put  it  bluntly, 
such  men  are  socially  not  worth  reproducing. 
The  very  fact  that  they  abstain  from 
marriage  is  the  best  proof  that  they  are  not 
normal  social  units. 

It  is  easy  to  become  somewhat  excited 
about  almost  any  aspect  of  this  subject, 
especially  if  one  pay  heed  to  the  statisticians. 
But  the  saving  fact  is.  Nature  is  very  wise. 
We  may  easily  set  up  false  standards  and 
assume  that  this  class  or  that  class  ought  or 
ought  not  to  reproduce  itself.  But,  without 
regard  to  our  theories,  in  the  main  those  who 
are  best  fitted  for  parenthood  reproduce 
themselves.  The  trouble  is  that  many  who 
are  unfitted  also  reproduce  themselves.  It 
is  perhaps  well  that  the  selfish  and  mistrained 
are  barren.     The  misfortune  is  that  so  many 


clearly  incompetent  to  rear  children  have 
so  many.  But  here  again  Nature  is  wiser 
than  we  are. 

It  is  unreasonable  to  become  alarmed 
when  one  looks  about  and  sees  the  great  mass 
of  American  families  consisting  of  three  or 
four  or  five  or  six  children.  Perhaps  it  is  well 
that  they  are  not  seven  or  eight  or  ten  or 
twelve,  as  many  families  of  two  generations 
ago  were.  But  the  family  of  at  least  four 
children  is  yet  common  enough  to  hold  us 
back  from  despair. 

IMAGINATION  AND  HONESTY 

ANEW  YORK  architect  of  talent  and 
experience  was  recently  reported  to 
have  said  in  a  public  discussion,  "I  would 
rather  have  a  man  with  imagination  coupled 
with  dishonesty  than  a  man  with  rectitude 
coupled  with  stupidity."  And  then  to  clench 
his  meaning  by  a  concrete  example,  he  added: 
"The  people  of  New  York  owe  Tweed  a  great 
tribute.  It  was  his  imagination  which  gave 
us  Riverside  Drive,  which  is  the  most  beauti- 
ful spot  in  the  city.  He  may  have  been 
corrupt,  but  he  was  practical." 

This  is  a  sentiment  not  uncommon  among 
men  of  culture  keenly  interested  in  art,  and 
especially  among  those  who  are  interested 
in  art  provided  at  the  public  expense.  Your 
honest  man  in  office,  who  feels  that  he  is 
spending  the  money  of  others  and  who  is 
perhaps  a  better  judge  of  morals  than  of 
architecttire  and  landscape  effects,  often 
seems  slow  and  dull  to  men  to  whom  lasting 
beauty  is  more  important  than  temporary 
economy.  But  the  sentiment  is  not  a  sound 
one,  nor  is  the  method  of  securing  improve- 
ments by  recklessness  a  proper  one. 

The  real  cause  of  the  sloth  with  which 
public  art  moves  is  the  difficulty  of  putting 
men  who  have  imagination  in  authority — 
in  local,  or  State  or  national  life.  Political 
methods  and  the  routine  of  public  duties  do 
not  appeal  to  them.  But  for  that  matter, 
men  of  imagination  are  hard  to  find  in  private 
life — even  in  the  artistic  professions. 

DOES  POVERTY  HELP  CHARACTER  ? 

A  RECENT  eulog\-  of  Lincoln  by  Ex- 
Governor  Black  was  the  most  suc- 
cessful after-dinner  speech  of  the  season  in 
New  York,  judged  by  the  impression  it  made 
on  the  audience.     The  impassioned  tone  that 


OPERA    IN    NEW    YORK 


3275 


touclied  their  hearts  may  be  understood  from 
this  brief  passage: 

"It  is  not  wealth  that  counts  in  the  making  of 
the  world,  but  character.  And  character  is  best 
formed  amid  those  surroundings  where  every  waking 
hour  is  filled  with  struggle,  where  no  flag  of  truce  is 
ever  sent,  and  only  darkness  staj'S  the  conflict. 
Give  me  the  hut  that  is  small  enough,  the  poverty 
that  is  deep  enough,  the  love  that  is  great  enough, 
and  1  will  raise  from  them  the  best  there  is  in  human 
character." 

No  one  is  to  be  envied  to  whom  this  does 
not  appeal.  Yet  is  character  best  formed 
by  the  struggles  of  poverty?  Washington 
did  not  know  cramping  poverty.  He  had 
fair  schooling  for  the  time,  powerful  con- 
nections and  aristocratic  associations.  The 
toil  that  he  subjected  himself  to  in  youth  was 
voluntary.  Another  Virginian.  Robert  E. 
Lee,  was  born  to  wealth  and  social  distinction. 
Such  a  list  could  be  made  as  long  as  the  list  of 
great  men  who  came  to  distinction  through 
poverty.  The  moment  we  commit  ourselves 
to  a  sweeping  generalization  on  either  side  of 
such  a  controversy,  we  find  as  many  facts  to 
overthrow  it  as  to  support  it.  It  is  neither 
poverty  nor  wealth;  it  is  discipline,  it  is  con- 
centration, it  is  work — these  and  other  things 
make  the  complex  thing  that  we  call 
character.  Heredity  may  have  much  to  do 
with  it.  Surely  it  is  not  poverty  alone.  Else 
how  numerous  would  be  our  heroes  ! 

THE  SMALL  CIRCULATION  OF  NEW  BOOKS 

THE  sale  of  several  hundred  thousand 
(say,  from  100,000  to  600,000)  copies 
of  several  novels  is  every  day  commented  on 
as  something  extraordinary.  If  a  book  have 
qualities  that  commend  it  to  100,000  persons, 
these  same  qualities  would  commend  it  to 
twice  or  thrice  or  six  or  eight  times  as  many 
— if  the  publishers  and  booksellers  had 
machinery  to  find  them. 

For  the  machinery  they  have  is  the  book- 
stores; and  a  very  small  proportion  of  the 
population  lives  within  reach  of  bookstores. 
Comparatively  few  new  books  are  sent  by 
mail.  There  is  apparently  no  practical  way 
to  make  bookstores  as  numerous  as  grocery 
stores.  Bookselling  does  not  naturally  ally 
itself  to  grocery-selling,  and  books  alone  do 
not  3^ield  a  large  enough  income  in  many 
small  towns  and  villages  to  reward  energetic 

I  shopkeepers. 
I    The  book-agent  is  yet  the  best  distributor 


of  books.  But,  as  a  rule,  he  does  not  dis- 
tribute new  books.  There  is  a  single  j)ub- 
lisher  in  New  York  who  sells,  through  agents, 
more  sets  of  books  every  year  than  any 
publisher  sells  of  any  new  novel.  For  the 
American  home  is  yet  by  no  means  filled  with 
books.  Few,  outside  the  cities  and  larger 
towns,  have  as  many  books  as  they  wish  or 
can  afford.  The  market  is  practically  unlim- 
ited, if  it  could  be  reached;  and  the  art 
of  bookselling  is  yet  probably  in  its 
unorganized  infancy. 

In  proof  of  such  an  opinion,  consider  the 
circulation  of  the  most  popular  magazines; 
for  they  are  distributed,  as  books  cannot  be, 
at  a  cheap  rate  of  postage.  One  periodical 
has  reached  the  sale  of  more  than  a  million 
copies  a  month.  It  has  no  quality  of  popu- 
larity that  certain  books  do  not  or  might  not 
have.  The  chief  difference  is  the  advantage 
that  the  periodical  has  in  its  method  of  dis- 
tribution. 

If  the  subject  be  rightly  understood,  then, 
the  wonder  is  not  that  certain  novels  reach 
editions  of  100,000  copies  or  300,000  or 
400,000,  but  that  they  do  not  reach  even 
larger  editions,  as  they  will  in  the  future. 

DOCTOR  J.  L.  M.  CURRY 

THE  death  of  Doctor  J.  L.  M.  Curry, 
successively  member  of  the  Pro- 
visional Confederate  Congress  and  of  the 
Confederate  Congress,  teacher,  preacher. 
Minister  to  Spain,  and  agent  of  the  Peabody 
and  Slater  funds  to  further  education  in  the 
southern  States,  closes  a  career  of  unusual 
versatility  and  usefulness.  Popular  educa- 
tion in  the  southern  States  owes  him  the  debt 
that  every  great  movement  owes  to  its  able 
agitators  and  pioneers.  He  had  the  apostolic 
temperament,  and  he  made  more  speeches 
to  further  the  cause  he  served,  perhaps,  than 
any  other  man  in  the  country ;  and  his  sincere 
and  attractive  character  brought  to  him  as 
many  friends,  of  high  station  and  of  low,  as 
■any  man  now  living  can. boast  of. 

OPERA  IN  NEW  YORK 

AT  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  in  New 
York  are  heard  the  greatest  singers 
in  the  world  in  the  greatest  operas.  The 
coming  of  a  new  manager,  therefore,  is  an 
occurrence  of  both  financial  and  musical 
importance.  Mr.  Conried  has  succeeded  Mr. 
Grau,  and  the  promise  is  of  evenly  balanced 
and  still  more  noteworthy  performances. 


FRANK    NORRIS 


BY 


W.    S.    RAINSFORD 

RECTOR  OF  ST.   GEORGE'S,  NBW  YORK 


WE  need  today  men  who  can  see,  who, 
seeing  things  and  men  as  they  are, 
can  still  firmly  believe — believe 
in  the  general  soundness  of  life,  the  "worth- 
doing"  of  it  all.  And  still  more,  we  need  men 
who  can  put  down  accurately  what  they  see 
sanely.  Such  a  student,  believer,  artist  was 
Frank  Norris. 

He  has  left  us  in  the  very  morning  of 
his  life.  He  has  gone  before  he  struck  the 
stride  of  midday  marching.  The  best  he 
has  given  had  promise  of  still  better  work. 
But  he  lived  enough,  and  put  enough 
life  into  his  line,  to  give  notice  to  all  that 
he  is  of  those  who,  even  in  youth,  are  con- 
tent with  nothing  less  than  to  see  life 
sanely,  and  to  see  it  whole. 


The  honesty,  the  bravery,  the  faith  of  the 
man,  all  live  in  his  work.  The  pity  of  it, 
that  time  was  given  to  him  only  to  make  a 
beginning.  Frank  Norris 's  work  rings  true — 
always  true.  There  is  not  one  unmanly 
or  unhealthy  note  struck.  He  takes  it  for 
granted  that  ordinary  people,  if  we  covdd 
only  really  see  them,  are  interesting  enough 
to  write  about,  yet  he  never  knows  a  trace 
of  the  sordid. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  be  counted  among 
his  friends  for  years.  I  seldom  have  met  so 
lovable  a  man.  He  had  unquestionably 
great  dramatic  power.  He  believed  with 
all  his  soul  in  the  future  of  democracy, 
and  ever  and  always  he  tried  to  serve 
his  brother  men. 


WHENCE  COME  OUR  IMMIGRANTS 

AN    INVESTIGATION    OF   THAT  PART    OF   RUSSIA    FROM    WHICH   A 
LARGE  NUMBER  OF  IMMIGRANTS    COME  TO   THE   UNITED    STATES 

BY 

MAJOR  W.  EVANS  GORDON,  M.P. 

MEMBER   OP    THE    ROYAL   COMMISSION    ON    ALIEN    IMMIGRATION 


ENGLAND,  of  course — and  America  as 
well — attracts  foreign  elements  from 
all  parts  of  the  globe.  If  a  line  be 
drawn  from  Kustendjeh  on  the  Black  Sea 
to  Libau  on  the  Baltic,  and  another  from 
Kalisch  in  Poland  to  the  easternmost  point 
of  the  Province  of  Ekaterinoslav  in  Russia, 
these  lines  will  traverse  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  vast  area  from  which  comes  a  mass 
of  immigrants  whom  English  and  American 
population  must  assimilate.  England's 
doors  are  wide  open  to  these  people,  and 
many  thousands  yearly  pass  the  test  of 
the  immigration  laws  of  the  United  States. 
The  slums  of  Vilna  and  Warsaw,  the  ghettos 
of  Lemberg  and  Galatz,  the   remote   villages 


in  the  Provinces  of  Minsk  and  Tchemigov, 
all  send  their  quota  to  swell  the  ever-rising 
tide. 

As  a  member  of  the  Royal  Commission  on 
Alien  Immigration,  I  have  thought  it  most 
important  to  investigate  this  question  on 
the  spot,  and  accordingly  I  spent  the  last 
Parliamentary  recess  in  visiting  the  homes 
of  all  our  different  aliens.  I  propose  to 
tell  here  exactly  what  I  found. 

I  reached  Dvinsk,  my  first  halting-place  in 
the  Russian  Pale,  on  a  mournful  rainy  Satur- 
day morning.  Leaving  the  railway  station, 
with  its  luxurious  restaurant  and  many  com- 
forts, one  stepped  into  another  world.  Three 
miserable    droschkies,    ghosts    of   the    smart 


WHENCE    COME    OUR    IMMIGRANTS 


3277 


St.  Petersburg  carriages — the  horses  mere 
bags  of  bones — the  drivers  huddled  bundles 
of  rags  with  metal  numbers  on  their  backs — 
stood  steaming  and  dripping  in  the  rain  and 
a  sea  of  mud.  Beyond  the  mud  a  rotting 
wooden  fence,  and  then  some  tumble-down 
wooden  shanties,  inhabited  apparently  by  a 
few  melancholy  women  and  pigs.  The  station, 
as  often  happens  in  Russia,  was  three  miles 
from  the  town,  and  the  drive  gave  me  my 
first  impressions  of  Russian  country  roads. 
The  crazy  carriages  bumped  over  patches 
of  cobbles  and  plunged  axle-deep  into  pools 
of  unfathomable  black  mire.  After  twice 
breaking  down,  we  arrived  in  the  town.  The 
main  street  is  not  disagreeable  to  look  at; 
the  houses  are  stucco-fronted,  with  sides  of 
unpointed  brick,  or  wooden  bungalows  of  the 
familiar  Russian  type.  The  roadways  are 
laid  with  cobblestones  and  the  footwalk  is  of 
planks.  The  inn  looked  better  than  I 
expected,  but  smelled  considerably  worse.  I 
recognized  a  smell  I  remembered  in  the  slums 
of  Calcutta  and  Bombay.  The  rooms  w^ere 
decent  and  clean.  The  decoration  was  early 
Victorian,  the  furniture  upholstered  in  dusty 
red  Utrecht  velvet,  and  the  sanitary  arrange- 
ments prehistoric. 

The  town  is  said  to  have  80,000  inhabitants, 
and  some  70,000  are  Jews.  The  persecuting 
May  Laws  of  1882  drove  many  of  these  from 
the  villages  and  smaller  towns  into  the  larger 
centres  of  population,  hence  the  high  pro- 
portion of  Hebrews  to  be  found  in  the  place; 
hence  also  much  of  the  misery  and  poverty 
from  which  these  poor-  people  suffer.  The 
preponderance  of  the  Jewish  race  was  at  once 
apparent,  the  Sabbath  sending  the  whole 
place  to  sleep.  Not  a  shop  was  open,  not  a 
stroke  of  business  being  done.  The  only 
sign  of  life  was  in  front  of  the  synagogue; 
there  a  large  crowd  of  decent-looking  folk 
were  holding  their  church  parade,  promenad- 
ing up  and  down. 

The  town  is  situated  on  the  Dvina,  a 
mighty  stream  in  full  flood  when  I  saw  it. 
On  its  banks  is  a  beautiful  boulevard.  But 
the  place  was  deserted  and  depressing  at  that 
time.  An  aged  Jew,  gazing  at  the  flood  and 
wreckage  with  mournful  eyes,  was  the  only 
creature  I  met.  I  talked  with  him,  remark- 
ing that  the  flood  was  working  sad  havoc. 

"Not  sad,"  said  he,  "but  blessed.  The 
world  has  been  too  wicked  of  late:  it  will  be 
piirer  and  better  when  the  water  subsides. " 


Not  understanding,  I  asked  him  to  ex- 
plain. "The  wars,"  he  said;  "the  wars  in 
China  and  Africa.  What  wickedness !  The 
Almighty  is  washing  the  sins  of  the  earth 
away. " 

His  point  of  view  was  quaint  and  a  little 
touching.  He  seemed  to  regard  the  flood  as 
a  sort  of  divine  flushing  of  mundane  drains. 

On  the  next  day,  Sunday,  I  was  able  to  see 
the  town  in  its  business  dress,  though  the 
Russian  law  forbids  the  opening  of  shops  by 
the  Jews  till  i  p.  m.  on  the  Christian  day  of 
rest.  After  that  hour  the  markets  were  in 
full  swing,  crowded  with  country  folk  and 
soldiers  from  the  cantonments  near  by.  All 
were  eagerly  doing  business  with  the  Jews. 
A  peculiar  feature  was  that  the  soldiers  were 
mostly  sellers  and  the  Jews  buyers.  Strips 
of  embroidered  Russian  cloth,  old  boots, 
uniforms  and  a  mass  of  miscellaneous  odds 
and  ends  were  the  articles  which  the  Czar's 
"Tommies"  had  for  sale.  Every  article 
was  the  subject  of  a  protracted  bargain,  and 
each  group  of  soldiers  in  their  white  jackets 
and  caps  was  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  Jews 
in  long  rusty  black  coats,  with  the  character- 
istic stoop  of  the  shoulders  and  flowing  beards. 
Round  the  markets  were  many  drinking  and 
gambling  dens  and  disorderly  houses,  into 
which  I  saw  the  soldiers  being  decoyed  and 
dragged.  The  police  gave  me  a  bad  account 
of  the  morality  of  the  place,  and  at  night,  too, 
hospitable  invitations  were  extended  to  me 
at  every  second  door.  No  doubt  the  crowd- 
ing of  the  Jewish  population  into  the  towns 
has  led  to  a  general  deterioration  both  moral 
and  physical.  The  struggle  for  life  is  a 
desperate  business  for  many  of  them,  and 
scruples  diminish  in  proportion  to  its  severity. 
Whatever  the  cause,  sexual  immorality  is 
prevalent  in  towns  like  Dvinsk.  The  house 
accommodation  is  poor  and  squalid,  but  there 
is  always  light  and  air  and  space,  and  con- 
sidering Dvinsk  from  the  purely  residential 
point  of  view,  I  personally  should  prefer  it  to 
some  streets  I  could  name  in  towns  at  home. 

To  those  anxious  to  see  for  themselves 
what  a  Russian  ghetto  is  like  at  its  w^orst,  I 
would  recommend  a  visit  to  Vilna.  From 
the  fort  which  crowns  the  hill  in  the  middle 
of  the  town,  the  hill  up  which  Napoleon  rode 
in  1 81 2,  when  Vilna  w^as  the  centre  of  his 
advance  upon  Moscow,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  views  imaginable  is  obtained.  The 
town  lies  at  your  feet,  with  its  clustering  red 


3278 


WHENCE    COME    OUR   IMMIGRANTS 


roofs  and  hundred  gilded  domes  and  spires 
and  cupolas;  the  glittering  river  and  lovely 
wooded  country,  stretching  away  for  miles, 
make  an  unrivaled  picture — and  it  is  difficult 
among  such  surroundings  to  realize  the 
squalor  and  misery  which  the  place  contains. 
There  are  said  to  be  some  80,000  Jews  here — 
not,  by  any  means,  all  poor.  By  far  the 
greater  part  of  the  trade,  and  practically  all 
the  shops,  are  in  their  hands.  But  the 
submerged  tenth  is  submerged  indeed. 

The  Ghetto  is  a  seething  mass  of  humanity. 
Many  of  the  streets  and  alleys  are  so  narrow 
that  the  pavements  almost  touch.  At  inter- 
vals throughout  their  length  are  arched  gate- 
ways leading  into  courtyards  round  which 
the  dens  and  cellars  in  which  the  people  live 
are  clustered. 

I  spent  a  whole  day  in  visiting  them.  In 
the  comers  of  the  court  one  would  find  a 
wooden  trough  into  which  all  the  refuse  of 
the  houses  was  thrown.  The  stench  from 
these  receptacles  filled  the  whole  air.  The 
stucco  walls  were  blistered  and  rotting  as  if 
infected  by  the  poisonous  atmosphere  within. 
Inside,  the  people  were  crowded  pell-mell, 
regardless  of  health,  age  or  sex.  In  one  room 
I  found  a  lunatic  in  the  middle  of  a  family  of 
young  children.  I  was  followed  as  I  walked 
by  a  crowd  of  haggard,  anxious,  careworn 
people,  staring  at  me  with  mournful  eyes. 
Some  openly  begged  alms,  others  had  trifles 
for  sale.  Many  seemed  to  pass  their  time  in 
the  synagogues,  rocking  and  chanting  them- 
selves into  oblivion  of  their  miseries.  I  came 
across  several  who  had  been  to  Whitechapel, 
and  had  been  sent  back,  I  suppose,  as  fit  for 
nothing.  One  man  with  a  large  family 
wished  to  make  another  trial  of  England,  and 
asked  me,  of  all  people,  for  money  to  help  him 
to  get  there.  The  situation  was  not  without 
a  certain  pathetic  humor. 

The  slums  of  Vilna,  it  is  evident,  are 
not  a  desirable  recruiting-ground  for  the 
East  End  of  London  or  the  East  Side  of 
New  York.  Until  a  year  or  two  ago  the 
poor  Jews  found  plentiful  employment  in  the 
building  and  allied  trades,  in  which  there  was 
a  "boom,"  but  this  has  been  followed  by  a 
"slump,"  and  the  unemployed  are  propor- 
tionately as  numerous  as  they  are  in  London. 
At  such  times  their  thoughts  turn  to  America 
and  England;  dreams  of  high  wages  and 
regular  work  fill  their  minds ;  anyhow,  it  will 
be  something  new,  and  at  the  worst  they  will 


be  sent  back.  And  so  they  arrive  in  the 
Thames.  Unless  they  have  health  and  means 
of  earning  a  livelihood,  the  United  States  are 
closed  to  them  by  strict  legislation — as  are 
the  English  Colonies.  The  well-to-do  Jewish 
community  in  Vilna  does  its  best,  and  the 
place  is  full  of  admirable  charitable  institu- 
tions and  schools.  But  here,  as  in  all  other 
great  towns,  there  seems  to  be  a  residuum 
which  is  never  reached,  or,  if  reached,  is  never 
permanently  benefited. 

There  are  other  towns,  however,  in  the  Pale 
where  things  are  better.  Pinsk  is  one  of  them. 
Here  Jewish  skill,  labor  and  enterprise  have 
been  combined  to  good  purpose.  It  is  a 
picturesque  place.  The  streets  of  wooden 
houses  and  cottages  are  lined  with  trees; 
there  are  a  quaint  old  church  and  seminary, 
and  the  river  banks  are  full  of  life  and  color. 
The  population  is  40,000,  of  whom  37,000 
are  Jews.  This  disproportion,  as  in  most  of 
the  towns  of  the  Pale,  would  have  resulted 
in  congestion  in  all  employments  open  to 
Hebrews  had  it  not  been  for  the  energy  and 
enterprise  of  certain  leaders  of  the  community 
such  as  Messrs.  Lourie  and  Halpem,  who, 
by  starting  factories,  have  succeeded  in 
profitably  utilizing  the  labor  of  their  co- 
religionists. In  Mr.  Halpem's  match  factory, 
for  instance,  1,500  hands  are  employed. 
Here  3'ou  can  see  a  huge  log  go  in  at  one  end 
and  come  out  half  matches  and  half  boxes 
at  the  other.  From  first  to  last  none  but 
Jewish  hands  touch  it,  and  the  whole  process, 
from  rolling  and  sawing  the  heavy  timber 
down  to  deftly  pasting  the  labels  round  the 
boxes,  is  done  by  them.  In  all  there  are 
eighteen  factories  in  Pinsk,  employing  between 
4,000  and  5,000  hands.  If  only  similar 
industries  could  be  started  in  other  centres 
the  great  and  tragic  Jewish  question  in 
Russia  would  be  well  on  the  way  to  be  solved. 
I  am  certain  that  the  only  true  and  permanent 
solution  will  be  found  on  these  lines.  The 
idea  that  Jews  will  not  engage  in  manual 
labor  has  long  since  been  exploded.  Twenty- 
five  years  ago  it  was  based  upon  fact.  The 
venerable  Mr.  Lourie,  who  throughout  his 
long  life  has  been  struggling  with  problems 
connected  with  his  people,  told  me  that  he 
well  remembered  the  time  when  no  Jew 
would  even  consider  working  as  an  artizan 
or  entering  a  Christian  school.  They  still 
much  prefer  to  become  employers  or  traders; 
but  circumstances  have  brought  about  a  great 


WHENCE   COME    OUR   IMMIGRANTS 


3279 


change,  and  they  eagerly  accept  employment 
in  factories  when  opportunity  offers.  As 
to  the  schools,  after  tlie  first  plunge  was  taken 
the  rush  for  education  was  so  great  that  the 
Russian  Government  became  alarmed  and 
closed  the  doors  to  all  but  a  very  small  per- 
centage of  Jewish  children.  It  may  be  that, 
in  the  course  of  the  development  of  his 
industrial  policy,  M.  De  Witte,  the  great 
Russian  Minister  of  Finance,  will  find  it 
advantageous  to  use  the  great  mass  of  intelli- 
gent and  industrious  labor  which  the  Jewish 
community  provides  ready  to  his  hand  and 
which  now  runs  to  waste.  I  hope  so. 
Numbers  of  first-rate  mechanics  and  artizans 
are  being  turned  out  annually  by  the  Jewish 
technical  schools,  and  for  them  the  whole 
of  Russia,  with  its  vast  field  of  employment, 
is  open.  There  is  no  necessity  for  them  to 
emigrate.  The  Jew,  moreover,  is  not  handi- 
capped by  the  one  hundred  and  eighty-five 
State  holidays  which  an  orthodox  Russian 
workman  has  to  keep.  But,  apart  from  the 
adoption  of  a  more  enlightened  policy  by  the 
Government,  much  might  be  done  by  the 
Jewish  community  themselves.  The  vast 
sums  expended  upon  colonization — the  tens 
of  thousands  of  pounds  annually  thrown 
away  in  a  senseless  and  pitiful  game  of  battle- 
dore and  shuttlecock,  in  which  the  unemployed 
Jews  are  driven  backward  and  forward 
between  Russia  and  Galicia  on  the  one  hand 
and  England  and  America  on  the  other, 
could,  I  believe,  be  far  better  and  more  use- 
fully employed  in  providing  work  and  occupa- 
tion for  the  people  in  their  native  land.  The 
idea  at  the  back  of  this  movement  is  that, 
removed  from  the  restrictive  influences  of 
Russian  laws,  these  people  thrive  and  prosper. 
But  this  idea  has  only  been  to  a  small  extent 
realized  in  practice.  The  bulk  of  the  poor 
emigrants  here  become  and  remain  poor 
immigrants  and  emphasize  the  little-known 
truth  that  the  Jews  as  a  people  are  the  poorest 
race  of  the  earth.  From  75,000  to  100,000 
members  of  the  community  in  New  York, 
says  the  report  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities 
for  the  year  ending  October,  1901,  "are 
unable  to  supply  themselves  with  the  imme- 
diate necessaries  of  life,  and  are  dependent  on 
the  public  purse." 

In  Pinsk  there  is  plenty  of  poverty — the 
poverty  which  is  common  to  all  large  towns 
in  every  country — but  nothing  hopeless  or 
abnormal.     The   5,000  hands  in  regular  em- 


I 


ployment  leaven  the  mass,  and  the  homes, 
though  humble  and  very  poor,  still  in  several 
instances  show  signs  of  comfort  and  compara- 
tive prosperity. 

From  Pinsk  I  made  a  tour  into  the  interior 
ofthe  country.  I  was  anxious  to  see  the  con- 
dition of  things  in  the  small  towns  and  villages. 
The  enterprising  Jews  have  started  lines  of 
steamers  which  ply  on  the  numerous  streams 
that  intersect  the  country  and  add  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  town.  On  one  of  them  I 
took  a  passage. 

It  was  a  market-day,  and  the  river  was 
crowded  with  primitive  boats  and  dug-out 
canoes  laden  with  many  kinds  of  produce. 
The  scene  was  curiously  Eastern  and  reminded 
me  strongly  of  parts  of  Lower  Burma.  Our 
boat  was  crowded  with  Russian  peasants  and 
Jews.  I  may  here  say  that  throughout  my 
travels  I  was  unable  to  discover  any  trace  of 
ill  feeling  between  the  two  peoples.  In  the 
villages,  Jew  and  Gentile  live  harmoniously 
together.  The  Christian  peasantry  are 
engaged  solely  in  agriculture ;  all  other  employ- 
ments and  handicrafts  are  conducted  by  Jews. 
Their  capacity  for  business  and  organization 
is,  on  the  whole,  I  think,  a  benefit  to  the 
peasantry.  It  is  the  Jews  who  find  a  market 
for  the  produce  of  the  land,  and  every  village 
and  townlet  in  the  Pale  contains  an  agent  or 
correspondent  of  the  big  exporting  firms  in 
Riga,  Libau  or  Odessa.  It  is  this  elaborate 
organization  which  gives  rise  to  the  complaint 
so  often  heard  in  Russia,  that  the  Jews  are  the 
exploiters  of  the  peasantry.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  in  many  instances  the  moujiks  do  fall  an 
easy  prey  to  the  superior  intelligence  and 
astuteness  of  their  Hebrew  brethren.  At 
the  same  time,  it  is,  I  believe,  a  fact  that  the 
general  condition  of  the  Russian  peasants  in 
the  region  where  Jews  are  allowed  to  reside 
is  superior  to  that  which  obtains  outside  the 
alloted  provinces. 

Any  one  undertaking  a  country  tour  in 
Russia  must  be  prepared  to  rough  it.  The 
only  available  conveyance  is  the  ordinary 
country  cart — a  wooden  frame  on  four  wheels. 
The  roads  are  partly  sand  or  mud  and  partly 
logs  of  wood  cut  into  lengths  and  thrown 
upon  the  ground.  A  few  miles  of  the  latter 
leave  the  traveler  in  much  the  same  condition 
as  he  would  be  after  a  severe  flogging  with  a 
heavy  stick.  The  inns,  too,  are  queer  places 
— in  one  I  spent  the  night  on  the  floor, 
surrounded   by   a   zareba   of   insect   powder, 


3280 


WHENCE   COME   OUR    IMMIGRANTS 


successful  attacks  on  this  work  being  main- 
tained throughout  the  night.  The  people 
are  simple  and  good-natured,  but  sunk  in  the 
depths  of  ignorance  and  superstition.  In  the 
whole  country  I  passed  through  there  was  not 
a  single  school  or  doctor.  In  one  village, 
Gorodno,  an  epidemic  of  scarlet  fever  was 
raging,  and  the  children  were  dying  like  flies, 
without  the  least  prospect  of  any  medical 
assistance !  It  was  curious  to  think  that 
here,  forty-eight  hours  from  Berlin,  one  was 
in  the  midst  of  conditions  far  more  backward 
and  less  civilized  than  are  to  be  found  in  the 
remotest  comer  of  our  Indian  Empire. 

It  would  take  too  much  space  to  describe 
all  I  saw  in  Poland,  Galicia  and  Rumania, 
and  I  must  therefore  confine  myself  to  a  few 
points.  There  is  one  feature  common  to  all, 
namely,  the  tendency  of  the  Jews  to  congre- 
gate in  the  towns.  In  the  fifteen  provinces 
of  the  Pale  they  are  obliged  to  do  so  by  law. 
In  Poland  and  Galicia  no  such  legal  obligation 
exists,  yet  it  is  in  the  towns  we  find  them. 
In  Warsaw  alone  some  300,000  Jews  have  to 
make  a  living,  and  in  Lodz,  the  Manchester  of 
eastern  Europe,  there  are  nearly  150,000. 
In  the  latter  town  the  overcrowded  and 
insanitary  conditions  under  which  the  poor 
people  live  are  appalling.  One  tall  wooden 
house  which  I  inspected  was  packed  solid  with 
humanity.  I  found  people  living  in  the  apex 
of  the  roof  between  the  tiles  and  the  top  ceil- 
ing. I  had  to  crawl  into  this  noisome  recep- 
tacle on  my  hands  and  knees  and  to  climb  a 
ladder  to  reach  it.  The  police  had  interfered, 
I  was  told,  but  the  place  was  occupied  again 
as  soon  as  the  backs  of  the  authorities  were 
turned.  Such  incidents  are  reproduced  in 
the  East  End  of  London.  Lodz  is  a  great 
spinning  and  weaving  centre,  and  many  of  the 
factories  are  owned  by  Jews.  I  was  surprised 
and  sorry  to  find  that  they  employ  hardly 
any  Jewish  labor.  There  seems  to  be  a  diffi- 
cultv  in  connection  with  the  Sabbath  and  the 
Sunday,  and  keeping  the  machinery  idle  for 
two  days  in  the  week  instead  of  one.  This 
objection  has  been  overcome  in  Warsaw, 
however,  where,  in  I\Ir.  Finekin's  lace  factory 
and  Mr.  Polakiewitz's  tobacco  works,  Jewish 
and  Christian  hands  are  both  employed  with 
happy  results.  These  establishments  left 
a  very  agreeable  impression  on  my  mind. 
Every  care  is  taken  of  the  workpeople,  even 
schools  for  the  children  being  provided  on  the 
premises.     The  wages  are  small  judged  by  an 


English  standard,  from  6s.  to  15s.  per  week 
being  the  average,  but  living  is  cheap  and  the 
wants  of  the  people  few,  and  they  are  infinitely 
better  off  in  every  respect  than  persons  of  a 
similar  class  earning  double  the  money  in 
London  or  New  York. 

In  Galicia  the  condition  of  the  Jews  seemed 
to  me  worse  than  in  Russia  or  Poland.  A 
fatal  apathy  and  bigotry  seemed  to  have 
settled  upon  the  majority  of  the  Hebrew  race 
here.  They  are  divided  into  factions,  and 
engage  in  incessant  quarrels  with  one  another. 
There  are  no  laws  to  oppress  them,  but  they 
are  extremely  unpopular  with  their  Christian 
fellow-subjects,  and  as  a  class  are  wanting  in 
those  qualities  of  push,  enterprise  and  desire 
for  education  for  which  their  co-religionists 
elsewhere  are  so  conspicuous. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  land  in 
Bukovina  and  Galicia  is  owned  by  Jews,  who 
are,  moreover,  said  to  hold  mortgages  on 
many  of  the  remaining  estates.  But  there 
are  few  manufacturers,  and  a  great  part  of 
the  Jewish  population  seems  to  have  nothing 
to  do.  The  housing  conditions  were  not  bad —  , 
infinitely  superior  to  what  I  had  seen  else- 
where, or  to  what  I  can  see  any  day  in  my 
own  constituency  in  London. 

The  Rumanian  Jews  stand  head  and 
shoulders  above  their  Galician  brethren,  and, 
where  not  interfered  with  by  the  law,  do  well 
for  themselves.  I  came  across  many  robust 
working-men  who  presented  none  of  the 
painful  ghetto  characteristics.  Nearly  every 
house  in  a  Rumanian  town  is  roofed  with  tin 
plates,  and  this  industry  is  exclusively  in  the 
hands  of  the  Jews.  The  work  needs  agility 
and  involves  much  exposure.  It  was  curious 
to  see  a  church  being  roofed  in  this  way  by 
Jewish  workmen  who  were  accompanying 
their  labors  by  chanting  a  Hebrew  psalm. 

The  general  conclusions  I  arrived  at 
regarding  the  houses  and  life  of  the  Jewish 
people  whom  I  saw  on  my  journey  to  the 
homes  of  our  aliens,  are  that  their  standard  of 
existence  is  a  much  lower  one  than  obtains 
in  this  country,  their  food  is  less  in  quantity 
and  poorer  in  quality — meat,  for  example,  is 
seldom  eaten,  and  a  fowl  would  never  be 
killed  except  in  cases  of  serious  illness  or  dire 
necessity.  Their  wages  are  lower  and  their 
requirements  fewer  and  more  simple.  In  the 
large  towns  the  housing  conditions  are 
deplorable,  and  sanitation  as  we  understand 
it   is  unknown.     In  the  villages,   where  the 


THE    FLAT-DWELLERS    OF   A    GREAT    CITY 


3281 


number  is  restricted  and  no  newcomers  are 
allowed  to  settle,  the  lot  of  the  Jews  is  by  no 
means  bad.  Many  of  them  are  poor,  but  the 
whole  population  is  poor,  and  their  life  is  no 
harder  than  that  led  by  people  similarly 
placed  in  England  or  Scotland  or  any  other 
country  in  Europe.  I  have  said  enough, 
however,  to  show  that  a  large  part  of  the 


recruiting-ground  of  our  aliens  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  produce  any  of  the  (jualifications 
of  good  citizenship — a  fact  keenly  appre- 
ciated by  the  United  States,  the  English 
Colonies,  and,  most  striking  fact  of  all,  by 
the  authorities  of  the  Jewish  settlements  in 
South  America,  whose  recruits  are  filtered 
once,  twice  and  thrice  before  being  accepted. 


THE    FLAT-DWELLERS   OF  A   GREAT 

CITY 

THE  TYPICAL  EXPERIENCE  OF  PEOPLE  WHO  LIVE  IN  THE  BIG 
NEW  YORK  APARTMENT  BUILDINGS— THE  ENORMOUS  GROWTH 
OF  APARTMENT  -  HOUSES  —  HOW  THEY  CONTRIBUTE  TO 
THE     INDIVIDUAL     LIFE     AND     THAT     OF    THE    COMMUNITY 

BY 

ALBERT    BIGELOW    PAINE 

(Ulustrated  from  photographs  taken  by  the  author) 


A  SHORT  time  ago  the  tenement 
dweller — a  person  whose  habita- 
tion was  bounded  on  the  top  and 
bottom  by  other  habitations,  and  who  some- 
times found  it  cheaper  to  move  than  to  pay 
rent — was  scorned  by  the  house-dweller,  who 
had  upstairs,  downstairs  and  basement, 
secured  for  a  term  of  years.  Today  it  is 
said  that  nine-tenths  of  the  population  of 
Manhattan  Island  are  dwellers  in  tenements, 
and  that  one-half  of  them  move  from  one  to 
six  times  yearly.  I  have  heard  of  a  family 
that  moved  three  times  in  one  month. 

The  word  "tenement "  is  no  longer  popular. 
We  hear  of  "fiats"  and  "apartments"  now, 
of  rentals  as  high  as  $6,000  and  even  $10,000 
a  year,  but  the  law  makes  no  distinction. 
Every  house,  however  big  and  expensive, 
which  contains  layers  of  inhabitants,  all 
duly  recorded,  labeled  and  pigeonholed,  is 
a  "tenement." 

The  rise  and  progress  of  the  New  York 
City  "  fiat -dweller "  presents  a  sociological 
object  lesson.  It  begins,  as  likely  as  not, 
with  a  young  man  from  the  country.  He  has 
secured  employment  in  the  metropolis  at 
wages  which  seem  liberal,  and  with  good 
prospect  of  advancement.  Almost  imme- 
diately he  begins  to  plan  for  a  home.  He 
cannot  afford  a  house.     The  Sunday  papers 


are  fairly  overflowing  with  offers  of  fiats — 
"Three  light  rooms  and  improvements  at  $20 
and  upward;  steam  heat."  On  Sunday 
afternoon  he  climbs  numberless  flights  of 
stairs  to  look  at  certain  tiny  nooks.  Within 
the  year  he  has  brought  his  bride  from  her 
country  home  to  become  a  mite  in  a  great 
human  hive — a  flat-dweller  in  Harlem. 

When  the  new  things  are  all  brought  in 
and  all  placed,  and  hung,  and  dusted  for  the 
last  time,  the  two  march  back  and  forth  from 
one  end  of  their  play-house  to  the  other — 
being  careful,  of  course,  not  to  upset  any  of 
their  wedding  presents.  Then  they  go  to 
the  window  and  look  out  over  wide  expanse 
of  housetops,  or  down  vistas  of  flapping 
laundry,  and  are  happy.  They  will  probably 
never  be  quite  so  happy  as  that  again. 

They  begin  to  move  at  the  end  of  the  third 
month.  For  one  thing,  the  apartment  is  too 
small.  One  doesn't  need  much  in  a  fiat, 
but  one  must  have  two  or  three  chairs,  and 
perhaps  a  stand-table,  and  then  there  are  the 
wedding  presents.  The  house  is  too  new. 
In  a  perfectly  new  house  the  windows  and 
doors  and  drawers  are  likely  to  stick,  that 
the  plumbing  and  heat  supply  have  not 
been  tested,  nor  the  janitor  service  duly 
seasoned.  Then  the  stairs — four  long  flights 
are  really  too  many. 


3282 


THE    FLAT- DWELLERS    OF    A    GREAT    CITY 


The  new  rooms  are  larger,  and  more  expen- 
sive and  nearer  the  ground,  but  they  are  also 
darker  and  dirtier,  and  perhaps  occupied  by 
certain  elusive  "tenants  "  who  forgot  to  move, 
and  whose  rights  and  powers  of  occupation 
are  not  easily  gainsaid. 

The  well-balanced  country  girl  shudders 
at  these  things.  Cleaning  preparations,  cor- 
rosive sublimate  and  various  cimicides  are 
presently  ranged  along  the  kitchen  shelf. 
The  fight  has  begun — the  everlasting  warfare 
that  rages  night  and  day  between  the  New 
York  City  fiat-dwellers  and  the  voracious 
hordes  of  the  lower  animal  kingdoms. 
Through  the  dim  watches  of  the  night 
croton-bugs,  which  she  at  first  takes  for 
young  roaches,  file  across  her  kitchen  ceiling, 
or  marshal  in  solid  phalanx  down  her  sta- 
tionary tubs.  Mice  scramble  in  the  walls 
— rats  clatter  through  her  ""inware. 

They  must  have  a  better  apartment,  a  big- 
ger apartment,  and  a  lighter  apartment,  even 
if  they  have  to  pay  half  their  income  to  get  it. 

They  are  more  careful  this  time  in  their 
selection.  They  consider  north  and  south 
exposure,  roof  or  pulley-line  accommodations 
for  laundry,  appearance  and  probable  tem- 
perament of  the  janitor.  They  compromise 
at  last  on  another  new  house,  for  after  all 
cleanliness  is  the  first  consideration. 

Of  course  they  have  bought  more  things 
by  this  time  even  though  none  of  the  six 
rooms  can  show  a  measurement  of  more  than 
ten  by  ten,  while  the  "girl's  room"  off  the 
kitchen  is  a  mere  closet.  It  is  winter  when 
they  move,  and  the  steam-supply  does  pretty 
well,  except  when  the  wind  comes  across 
North  River  and  the  mercury  falls  to  zero. 
On  days  like  these  the  radiators  become 
unambitious  and  forgetful.  Discussion  with 
the  janitor  is  unavailing.  He,  or  she,  insists 
that  there  is  some  mistake — the  woman  on 
the  third  floor  is  complaining  of  the  heat. 
They  do  not  press  the  matter.  They  have 
discovered  that  the  janitor  is  absolute.  Also 
that  he  receives  no  pay  but  his  rent  ^some- 
times not  all  of  that.  His  life  is  a  never- 
ending   round   of    ashes   and    condemnation. 

Other  peculiarities  develop.  A  family 
moves  in  overhead,  with  a  trio  of  boys 
that  clatter  up  and  down,  like  a  Texas 
herd  on  a  stampede.  Across  the  way 
another  family  has  a  mania  for  cooking  cab- 
bage, while  on  the  first  floor  onion  stew  has 
a  daily  place  on  the  bill  of  fare. 


Meantime,  the  young  man  has  had  an 
increase  of  salary.  With  the  coming  of  the 
spring  they  move  again  and  for  a  time  occupy 
"nice,  quiet  apartments  near  the  elevated 
railway."  It  is  a  pretty  suite — better  and 
more  expensive  than  any  they  have  occupied 
heretofore.  The  janitor,  too,  is  rather  cleaner 
looking  than  usual,  and  more  accommodating. 
The  doors  swing  on  their  hinges;  the  plumb- 
ing and  the  pulley-line  are  in  working  order. 
They  are  quite  happy  until  with  warmer 
weather  and  open  windows  the  crash  and 
clatter  and  jangle  of  the  elevated  and  the 
trolley  make  days  of  disordered  nerves  and 
nights  devoid  of  rest. 

They  move  twice  during  the  next  3'ear, 
acquiring  knowledge  with  each  migration. 
They  learn,  among  other  things,  that  the 
schedule  of  "fiat"  prices  is  adjusted  to  the 
penny — that  when  a  good-looking  fiat  is  to 
be  had  at  what  seems  a  low  price  there  is  some 
drawback  that  will  develop  sooner  or  later. 
It  may  be  the  noise,  it  may  be  dampness,  it 
may  be  the  neighborhood.  It  is  certain  to  be 
something,  and  the  fiat-dweller  gets  precisely  t 
what  he  pays  for,  neither  more  nor  less. 
They  learn  also  that  there  are  houses  of  the 
better  class,  such  as  they  now  select,  that  do 
not  "  take  children."  Neither  can  they  move 
now  at  will,  for  in  the  better  places  they 
are  obliged  to  sign  a  lease  for  a  year,  and 
must  either  sublet  or  serve  out  their  time. 
Often  they  do  the  former,  for  apartments 
are  always  in  demand,  and  at  many  of  the 
better  houses  there  are  long  waiting  lists  of 
would-be  tenants. 

The  young  man  from  the  cotmtry  prospers. 
He  is  industrious  and  energetic,  and  raises 
of  salary  are  frequent.  Fhght  by  flight  he 
ascends  the  apartment  scale,  until  finally  he 
is  able  to  enter  a  vestibule  adorned  by  palms 
and  Turkish  rugs  and  be  lifted  to  his  comer  of 
a  vast  domicile  in  an  elevator.  His  rental 
is  from  $1,200  to  $1,500  a  year  at  this 
stage,  and  he  is  not  likely  to  move  until 
his  term  expires.  The  janitor  problem  is  no 
longer  difficult.  He  is  called  a  superinten- 
dent now,  with  a  corps  of  efficient  assistants, 
all  decently  clad  and  properly  paid.  Heat  is 
usually  to  be  had  from  the  radiators,  and 
when  these  fail  there  are  always  the  gas  logs. 

He  is  high  enough  up  in  the  world  to  solve 
the  light  problems,  at  least  until  some  other 
sky-scraping  apartment  uplifts  beside  him. 
Then  he  will  move  on.     He  will  move  anyway, 


THE    FLAT-DWELLERS    OK    A    GREAT    CITY 


3283 


A    HANDSOME  APARTMENT   HOUSE   ENTRANCE 


APARTMENTS  NEAR  THE   ENTRANCE  TO  CENTRAL 

PARK 


I 


ONE  OF  THE   MOST   MODERN   OF   APARTMENT   HOUSES 


3284 


THE    FLAT-DWELLERS    OF    A    GREAT   CITY 


FLAT-DWtLLERS    HERE    MAY    HAVE   A   GLIMPSE   OF    THE    HUDsuN 


APARTMENTS  WHICH  LOOK   OUT  OX   THE   TREETOPS   OF   CENTRAL   PARK 


TllK    1<  LAT-UWKLLERS    OF   A    (.Rl-lAl     c;  11  V 


3285 


wlicn  his  lease  expires,  for  he  can  ])ny  a 
rental  of  $2,500,  and  he  has  learned  that 
it  pays  to  do  so.  It  is  true,  his  salary 
is  onlv  double  tiiat,  but  he  has  discovered 
that  to  tlie  llat-dweller  on  Manhattan 
Island  it  is  not  tlie  table,  not  tlie  bank 
account,  but  the  apartment  that  is  "the 
thinj:;. " 

The  "family"  p;oes  liome  in  the  summer 
and  the  former  country  girl  "  liolds  forth"  on 
the  joys  of  a])artment  life  —  tells  of  its 
convenience  and  its  luxury — of  the  cold- 
storage  refrigerator  that  freezes  ice-cream  by 
merely  turning  on  the  current;  the  long- 
distance telephone,  the  row  of  electric  buttons 
that  at  the  slightest  pressure  will  bring  almost 
anything  under  the  sun.  She  tells  of  these 
things  to  her  wondering  hearers — tells  of 
them  triumphantly,  not  to  say  boastfully — 
but  now  and  again  when  she  is  alone  her 
eyes  wander  about  the  great  sunlit  sitting- 
room  with  its  wide  fireplace,  then  to  the 
whispering  trees,  long  waving  clothesline 
and  clambering  vines  without,  where  the 
"brood"  is  laughing  and  playing  and  shout- 
ing for  sheer  happiness.  For  a  moment  she  eyrie  habitation  with  its  dizzy  outlook  on 
forgets  to  feel  triumphant,  and  remembers  the      smoky,  wash-hung  roofs,  its  gilded  radiators. 


M44?! 

r 

B         1    "» 

I 

l-T 

Hii 

1 

P 

If 

, 

m 

'H 

ir 

. 

mm 

^^fljg 

lf| 

^CB?--^ 

-Tar .  f— ..^,1^ 

OPKN    FIRES  ARE   POSSIKLK 


AN   APARTMENT   INTERIOR 


Photographed  by  R.  F.  TurnbuU 


I 


3286 


THE    FLAT-DWELLERS    OF    A    GREAT    CITY 


its  tesselated  halls,  and  its  clacking  elevator, 
with  something  that  is  almost  like  a  sigh. 

Perhaps — if  they  are  wise  enough,  and  care 
enough  for  the  children — they  will  give  up 
apartment  life  in  the  end  and  move  to  the 
suburbs.  They  will  take  a  house  there — one 
as  much  like  a  flat  as  it  is  possible  to  find — 
with  gas  range,  stationary  tubs,  electric  bells 
and  sham  fireplaces.  Or  if  the  fireplaces  be 
real,  they  will,  as  likely  as  not,  put  gas  logs  in 
them,  and  in  other  curious  and  amazing  ways 
endeavor  to  simulate  the  apartment  house 
plan  and  atmosphere.  They  have  learned 
the  profession  of  flat-dwelling  too  well  to  live 
it  down  in  a  day,  or  in  a  year.     Every  trip  to 


of  which  still  survive,  though  most  of  them 
have  given  way  to  make  room  for  sky- 
scrapers, and  for  other  flat-houses  of  greater 
proportions  but  of  smaller  rooms  and  smaller 
respectability.  Also,  many  residences  were 
converted  into  apartments,  and  among  these 
are  still  desirable  habitations  for  persons  of 
quiet  tastes  who  are  willing  to  forego  a  few 
"improvements"  for  the  sake  of  large  rooms, 
closets,  and  real  open  fires. 

Apartment  building  became  more  and 
more  popular.  Once  the  wave  got  started, 
it  went  rolling  to  the  northward.  It  billowed 
around  Central  Park.  The  heights  of  Harlem 
were    inundated    and    swept    away.     Across 


A   DRAWING-ROOM    IX   A    FLAT 


Photographed  l>y  K.  h.    1  urni-uU 


the  city  is  beset  with  temptation — every  fine, 
new  apartment  house  is  discussed  and  per- 
haps examined.  They  are  likely  to  return 
and  end  their  days  in  one. 

Apartment  building  of  the  better  class 
began  in  1869  when  Rutherford  Stuyvesant 
put  up  the  buildings  at  Nos.  140  and  142 
East  Eighteenth  Street,  two  substantial  and 
roomy  houses  which,  in  spite  of  their  location, 
still  rank  among  the  best  of  the  older  New 
York  city  apartments.  The  success  of  the 
Stuyvesant  buildings  was  followed  by  the 
building  of  a  score  of  other  apartments,  some 


the  river  and  up  the  Bronx  raged  the 
tenemental  tide.  Morrisania,  Melrose  and 
Tremont  were  overwhelmed,  their  individu- 
ality lost  amid  a  myriad  of  square,  five-story, 
contract -built  structures — put  up,  pushed  up. 
thrown  up  by  anybody  and  everybody  who 
could  get  hold  of  a  bit  of  land  and  a  company 
willing  to  make  a  loan. 

Of  course  they  were  built  too  fast  and  too 
poorly.  Rentals  cheapened  and  houses  began 
to  fall  to  pieces  within  a  year.  Land- 
lords became  poor.  The  more  houses  tliey 
had  the  poorer  they  became.     The  poorest 


\> 


Q 

O 

o 
o 


>« 

CO 


3288 


THE    FLAT-DWELLERS    OF    A    GREAT    CITY 


THE  OUTLOOK  FROM  THE  FRONT  OF  A  FLAT 


man   I  ever   knew   owned  a 
him  a  pair  of  my  old  shoes. 


block.     I 


gave 


Perhaps  it  was  as  well  that  the  houses  were 
poorly  built.  For  now  they  are  coming 
down.  Another  wave  has  set  in — buildings 
ten,  twelve  and  sixteen  stories  high,  with 
elevators,  and  the  old  five-story  drift  is 
being  pushed  aside  to  make  room.  Seven 
years  ago  there  was  but  one  elevator  apart- 
ment house  above  Central  Park  —  the 
Monterey.  Today  there  are  many — wonder- 
ful towers  of  steel,  stone  and  stucco, 
each  capable  of  sheltering  a  good-sized 
village. 

The  Ansonia,  just  completed,  at  Seventv- 
second  Street  and  Broadway,  is  the  latest  and 
largest  apartment  house  in  the  world.  It  is 
seventeen  stories  high,  the  top  story  being 
used  exclusively  for  servants.  It  has  sixteen 
elevators,  more  than  300  suites  of  rooms, 
and  1,800  people  may  be  luxuriously  shel- 
tered within  its  fire-proof  walls.  There  are 
dining-rooms  upstairs  and  down  for  those 
who  do  not  occupy  housekeeping  suites,  a 
grill-room  and  palm  garden;  and  the  whole  is 
illuminated  by  18,000  electric  lights.  Busi- 
ness houses  of  every  sort,  from  a  bank 
to  a  barber  shop,  are  on  the  main  floor, 
while  throughout  the  building  are  pneu- 
matic tubes,  dumb-waiters,  push  buttons, 
long-distance  telephones,  and   means   of  re- 


THE   OUTLOOK    FROM   THE   REAR   OF  A    FLAT 


THE    ELAT-DW  ELLKRS    OF    A    GREAT    C  El  \' 


3289 


THE   ONLY   YARD    !>    IHI     ROOF 


frigeration  as  well  as  heating,  so  that  winter 
or  summer  an  equable  temperature  may  be 
maintained.  The  Ansonia  cost  the  owner, 
W.  E.  D.  Stokes,  nearly  $4,000,000,  and  its 
yearly  rentals  range  from  $500  for  a  single 
room  and  bath  to  $10,000  for  a  large  double 
suite.  It  is  a  vast  experiment  in  wholesale 
flat-dwelling  that  is  attracting  world-wide 
attention.  Apartment  houses,  especially  the 
finer  ones,  are  a  boon  to  those  persons  of 
social  inclinations  and  no  vast  amount  of 
capital.  A  cottage  for  the  summer  and  an 
apartment  for  the  winter  is  the  solution  of 
their  problem,  and  the  volume  and  swiftness 
of  New  York's  social  maelstrom  has  doubled 
and  quadrupled  during  recent  years. 

I  do  not  know  how  many  apartment  houses 
there  are  in  Greater  New  York  city.      There 
are  more  today  than  there  were  at  this  time 
last  week.     A  year  ago  there  were  more  than 
40,000  on  Manhattan  Island  alone.     Perhaps 
;  70,000     would    be    a    fair    guess     all    told, 
;  counting     up     to     five    o'clock     this    after- 
noon.    Rentals  range   all   the  way  from    $5 
'  a   month   for  a  wretched  tenement   hole  in 
the  lowest   depths   of  the   East    Side,  where 


WHERE   THE   LLEVATtD    THUNDERS   BY 


3290 


THE    FT.AT-DWELLERS    OF    A    GREAT    CITY 


MR.  GEORGE   McCANN 
The  oldest  janitor  in  the  oldest  apartment  house  in  Xew  York 

narrow,  svinless  houses  seem  overrun  by 
a  perfect  tangle  of  fire-escapes,  to  $500  a 
month  for  a  marvelous  ten-room  suite  with 
every  luxury  and  convenience  that  whim  can 
devise  and  ingenuity  and  wealth  supply. 
But,  whatever  3'ou  pay,  or  wherever  3'our 
suite  may  be  located,  you  are  still  bounded  on 
the  top  and  bottom,  and  perhaps  on  the  sides 
as  well,  by  other  suites  occupied  by  persons 
whom  you  may  not  know  or  wish  to  know,  yet 


THE   STUVVESAXT 
The  oldest  apartment  house  in  New  V'ork 


whose  social  events,  domestic  disasters  and 
culinary  economies  may  and  do  become  an 
element  and  an  influence  in  your  dailv  life. 
A  fairly  decent  apartment  of  seven  small 
rooms  may  be  had  for  $40  per  month, 
with  steam  heat.  Certain  labor-saving 
appliances  reduce  the  cost  of  living  some- 
what, so  that  flat-dwelling  is  rather  cheaper 
than  residence  in  a  detached  house,  the 
rental  becoming  about  one-half  the  expense. 
Perhaps  the  saving  is  more  than  made  up  in 
doctors"  bills.  Dark  or  half- lit  suites — and 
most  of  them  are  either  one  or  the  other — 
are  not  conducive  to  health,  and  it  seems  to 
me  that  a  long  period  of  fiat-dwelling  must 
result  in  the  city's  physical  deterioration, 
just  in  proportion  as  the  apartments  lack 
direct  sunlight  and  pure  air. 

Whatever  may  be  the  physical  effect  of  flat- 
dwelling,  it  is  likely  to  mean  artistic  and,  in 
some  cases,  even  moral  decline.  No  matter 
what  his  original  tendency  toward  individu- 
ality of  taste  and  a  regard  for  the  genuine 
things  of  life,  the  flat-dweller  will  at  last 
accustom  himself  to  accepting  conventional 
plans  and  designs  that  are  thrust  upon  him. 

"  Just  tell  me  what  color  paper  you  want 
— green,  blue  or  pink — and  I'll  fix  it  for 
you,"  I  heard  an  agent  telephone  to  a  newly 
signed  tenant.  "  I  know  all  the  kinds.  You 
needn't  bother."  The  apartment  in  ques- 
tion yielded  an  annual  rental  of  $3,000. 
Doubtless  the  tenant  did  not  care.  A  man 
who  has  worked  up  to  a  $3,000  apartment 
has  likely  reached  an  artistic  poise  where  he 
is  willing  to  put  aside  all  care  and  have  his 
paper  selected  for  him.  He  has  grown  to 
like  whatever  is  supposed  to  be  the  proper 
thing. 

At  that  point  moral  decline  is  apt  to  set  in. 
You  can't  lose  individuality  and  retain  strict 
honesty.  One  of  the  foremost  apartment 
owners  in  New  York  city — the  promoter  of  an 
apartment  house  in  which  there  are  dining- 
rooms — assured  me  that  some  of  his  wealthiest 
tenants  took  silverware  and  glasses  from  the 
tables,  slipped  nuts  and  confections  into  their 
pockets,  and  that  at  the  table-d'hote  dinner 
more  than  one  man  came  down  alone,  and 
carried  away  enough  in  his  pockets  of  bread, 
cakes,  and  even  cooked  birds,  to  make  a 
dinner  for  his  wife  who  stayed  upstairs  to 
save  a  dollar.  Such  is  the  moral  degenera- 
tion that  goes  with  lincrusta  Walton,  gas 
logs,  and  a  thoroughly  artificial  life. 


THE   ANSONIA 
The  largest  apartment  house  in  New  York  city 


Photographed  by  Irving  L'nderhill 


IMMENSE   APARTMENT    HOUSES    IN    UPTOWN    NEW    YORK 


TlIK    FLAT-1)\\  IM.I.ICRS    OF    A    GRKA'l     (   ITY 


3293 


WHERE  APARTMENTS   LINE    UOTH   SIDES    OF  THE   STREET 
The  centre  of  Harlem  flatland 


The  effect  of  flat  life  on  children  is  bad. 
Their  childhood  becomes  a  medley  of  assorted 
and  variously  connected  rooms,  stair  climb- 
ing, roof  prospects,  elevator  and  pavement 
associations.  They  have  no  real  home — 
nothing  to  look  back  upon — their  individu- 
ality is  nipped  and  blighted  by  the  frost  of 
many  moving-days.  And  they  grow  to  like 
it — that  is  the  worst.     The  prospect  of  mov- 


ing and  of  a  new  flat  is  looked  forward  to 
somewhat  as  they  anticipate  Fourth  of  Julv 
and  Christmas. 

They  grow  to  regard  all  nature  from  a  "  flat  " 
point  of  view.  A  little  girl  I  knew  went  into 
the  country  last  summer  and  heard  for  the 
first  time  the  tinkle  of  the  bells  as  the  cows 
came  home  at  evening. 

"Oh,"  she  said,   "I  hear  the  ragman  com- 


APARTxMENTS   ON   A   STREET   LEADING   UP   TO   GRANT'S   TOMB 


3294 


THE    FLAT-DWELLERS    OF    A    GREAT    CITY 


ingi"  The  ragman  who  drove  through  her 
street  had  cow-bells  on  his  cart.  To  her  the 
cow-bells  may  always  suggest  the  ragman. 
Such  impressions  are  not  easy  to  live  down. 

Of  course  the  apartment  house  is  the  natural 
result  of  space  limitations.  For  those  who 
desire  or  are  compelled  to  live  on  Manhattan 
Island  there  is  no  alternative.  The  island 
is  small  and  it  is  full  to  the  edges.  Dwellings 
become  fewer  each  year — lawns  and  gardens 
are  forgotten.  Within  twenty-five  years,  at 
the  present  rate  of  building,  there  will  be 
hardly  a  square  foot  of  available  ground  that 
is  not  occupied  either  by  a  sky-scraping 
office  building  or  by  an  apartment  house. 
Then  it  will  be  simph^  a  question  of  going  up 
or  down^higher  and  even  higher  into  the 
air,  deeper  and  still  deeper  into  the  depths 
below.  Lawsuits  will  develop  and  test  cases 
will  be  tried  to  decide  how  high  up  and 
deep  down  a  title  may  extend,  and  what  are 
the  aerial  and  subterranean  rights  of  way. 

Meantime  what  of  the  poor — those  who  are 
too  poor  to  go  to  the  suburbs — too  poor  even 


now  to  remain  where  they  are  ?  Will  they  be 
crowded  down  and  still  down  into  the  depths, 
to  become  at  last  a  weird  and  ghastly  race — 
the  "molocks  of  Wells's  'Time  Machine,'"  or 
will  the  vast  fiat  tops  of  the  mighty  houses  of 
the  near  future  be  covered  with  their  cottages, 
their  clothes-lines,  and  their  gardens — a 
development  already  suggested  by  the  many 
drying -lines,  some  janitor  lodges,  and  tubs 
of  growing  plants.  I  fear  the  latter  idea  is 
visionary.  The  top  is  "too  good  for  the  poor." 
It  will  be  used  for  great  glass-covered  hot- 
houses, where  artificial  farms,  warmed  and 
enriched  even  in  winter  by  the  waste  heat 
and  vapors,  will  supply  with  food  the  vast 
artificial  life  below.  The  poor  will  go  down 
and  still  down — the  graduation  from  poverty 
to  wealth  will  be  an  absolute  and  literal  scale. 
Perhaps  this  is  a  long  look  ahead,  and  then 
again,  as  Frank  Xorris's  Annixter  would  say, 
"Perhaps  it  isn't."  Among  the  many  prob- 
lems of  flat -dwelling  life  on  Manhattan 
Island,  perhaps  the  most  important  is  the 
vital  question  of  space. 


AN  APARTMENT   HOUSE   INHABITED   CHIEFLY    BY    BARNARD   COLLEGE   STUDENTS 

The  Horace  Mann  School  just  behind 


THE   "ROOM"  AT  LI.OYDS 
Here  the  sliips  of  the  «hole  world  are  »-atch:d 


LLOYDS 


THE  GREAT  MARINE  INSURANCE  COMPANY  WITH  A  SEA-WIDE  BUSINESS 
WHOSE  RECORDS  SHOW  THE  HISTORY  AND  THE  CHARACTER  OF  EVERY 
IMPORTANT  SHIP  AFLOAT  AND  THE  RECORD  OF  EVERY  MASTER 
—THE    ROMANCES    AMONG     ITS     RECORDS— ITS     INTERESTING    HISTORY 

BY 

CHALMERS  ROBERTS 


PROSAIC  modernity  has  left  little 
romance  in  the  life  of  the  ordinary 
man  who  goes  down  to  the  city 
and  toils.  Commercial  activity  has  stretched 
such  a  network  of  interests  over  the  earth 
that  few  regions  are  now  beyond  the  reach 
of  breakfast-table  bulletins.  Only  the  sea 
remains  the  home  of  mystery,  retains  all  the 
charm  of  uncertainty.  And,  therefore,  those 
whose  business  is  concerned  with  the  sea 
have  perhaps  most  of  old-time  romantic 
flavor  in  their  lives.  An  unceasing  war 
wages    between   the    grim    old   monster    and 


the  men  who  insure  ships  against  its  fury. 
How  it  must  delight  now  and  then  to  upset 
all  their  calculations,  to  force  back  the 
ever-advancing  tide  of  man's  mastery  over 
it !  For  the  story  of  Marine  Insurance  is 
one  of  constant  conquest  over  the  chances 
of  the  sea.  of  constant  reduction  in  the  risk 
taken  and  the  rate  asked.  But  even  yet, 
until  the  day  when  Marconigrams  flood 
the  face  of  the  waters  and  every  ship  has 
a  spark-emitting  masthead,  the  risk  and 
mystery  remain  greater  than  in  any  other 
insurance    underwriting.     Modern    statistical 


3296 


LLOYDS 


THE   TOP  OF   THE   STAIRCASE   AT  LLOYDS 
On  the  right  is  the  entrance  to  the  committee  room,  on  the  left  to  the  sub-committee  room,  at  the  back  to  the  luncheon  room 


returns  have  made  it  easy  to  compute  the 
average  of  human  Hfe,  but  mortality  tables 
for  ships  have  not  yet  been  constructed. 

This  is  undoubtedly  the  oldest  form  of 
insurance.  From  the  earliest  times  ship- 
owners have  combined  for  the  mutual  pro- 
tection of  their  constantly  endangered  prop- 
erty. Those  earliest  voyagers  to  distant 
seas,  the  Phenicians,  practised  a  kind  of 
bottomry.  Before  the  master  sent  his  small 
bark  on  a  voyage  to  the  edge  of  the  earth 
he  mortgaged  her  against  her  return.  If  she 
came  back  safely  he  restored  the  loan  with 
a  heavy  premium.  From  that  time  until 
now  marine  insurance  has  been  bound  up 
with  the  wars,  frauds  and  vicissitudes  of 
commerce  and  is  full  of  fine  tales  of  adven- 
ture. It  is  particularly  fitting  that  Great 
Britain,  the  very  existence  of  which  is  bound 
up  in  the  rapid  movement  of  a  large  com- 
mercial fleet,  should  be  the  home  of  marine 


insurance  in  its  most  perfectly  organized 
form.  For  this  form  of  protection  against 
the  chances  of  the  sea  may  be  said  for  all 
modern  purposes  to  have  been  bom  in  London. 
One  may  go  further  and  fix  its  birthplace 
in  the  coffee-house  kept  by  a  certain  Edward 
Lloyd  in  Tower  Street  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  For,  although  there  was  little  evi- 
dence that  Lloyd  himself  engaged  in  any 
sort  of  insurance,  he  has  given  his  name 
thereto  and  has  become  in  fact  a  godfather 
or  patron  saint  of  marine  commerce. 

The  early  association  between  coflfee-houses 
and  marine  underwriters  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at,  for  these  resorts  became  almost  from 
their  date  of  opening  a  general  place  of 
meeting  for  all  men  of  business.  The  first 
on  record  is  found  in  1652,  when  a  Turkish 
merchant  named  Hodges  introduced  the 
brown  berry  in  this  way  and  opened  what 
contemporary     chronicles     call    a    "Kauphy 


LLOYDS 


3297 


JJ.OYDS   NEW   BUILDING 


lb 


House."  And  bc'lorc  tlic  name  of  I^hnd 
occurs,  notices  and  advertisements  were  to 
be  seen  showing  that  shii)i)ers  and  under- 
writers used  the  new  taverns,  particularly 
those  in  the  city,  as  ])laccs  for  auctions  of 
ships  and  underwriting  against  their  possiljle 
loss  or  damage.  The  first  mention  of  the 
name  of  Edward  Lloyd  is  in  an  advertise- 
ment in  tile  London  (nizcltc  in  1688.  The 
advertisement  reads: 

"  A  middlc-si/'Ad  man  having  black  curled  hair 
and  pock  holes  on  his  face  is  wanted  for  having,' 
stolen  a  numl)er  of  watches.  A  reward  of  one  .guinea 
is  offered  for  information  as  to  the  delinfjucnt,  and 


3(n  Consitjcration  «y  ;v.<W'"^'^^'/ 

_  Jot  dnr  llur.Jrrd  l'oundi,.ixnd  MrcrJ,nf   ta  IhgCKMt  Jt 

'•^^^--  UfiSum  Tiaivtdtf  yy^-«'  '  "t^ 

We  who  havt  hcmnii  Juh/irihed  mr  Htmes,  <h,  /cr  curftim  jtxtrcUy,  and 
hr  HUT  Jcvtrol  and  rrjptaivc  Heiri,  Extailirri,  Admhupatm,  and  Afgwi, 
and  not  me  for  the  cUut  or  olheri  0/  Ui,  or  for  the  Hiin,  ExeetUori,  AMmi- 
firalor,,  or  Ajjipu,  <j  the  ether  m  othtri  of  Ut,  affumt,  engage,  and  framje, 
Ihfit  We,  uljunv.ely,  g[  curjfvfraljsint  rffieOive  H{/r»,  £«oil£",  AAmiu- 
JtratoTt,  and  AJJigm,JhaU  and  will  pa,,  or  tia/f  to  k  pa,d,  ■in'o  the  fiad 

Ueiri.  Exenlori,  AJmni/lralori,   and  ^gni,  iht  Swm  arid  Sum  of  MoMj 
ahuh  We  have  haeuiM  rejpe&vel,  J>if<Til>td,  mthmtan,  MateMt  mitUvcr. 


3n£a[r  . 


/ 


•  *»»'^/^'"  ^ 


/- 


y/^ 


V: 


/jr 


/  //  .  '^^ 


/'' 


THE    CRIER'S    KoSTRU.M 
The  famous  Lutine  bell  behind 


LLOYDS    POLICY   ON   THE   LIFE   OF   NAPOLEON,  1813 

those  w-ho  would  earn  money  are  directed  to  apply 
to  Mr.  Edward  Llovd  at  his  Coffee  House  in  Tower 
Street." 

Edward  Lloyd  moved  in  1692  to  Lombard 
Street,  and  it  was  here  that  he  began  the 
publication  of  Lloyd's  Xeu'S,  a  paper  which 
contained  intelligence  from  foreign  countries 
and  home  centres.  In  fact,  very  little  else 
is  known  concerning  the  man  whose  name 
has  now  been  carried  to  the  uttermost  corners 
of  the  earth.  Almost  the  only  other  record 
left  of  him  individually  concerns  a  dispute 
which  he  had  with  the  House  of  Lords  in 
consequence    of    some    comments    which    he 


LLOYDS 


3299 


made  upon  a  petition  from  the  Quakers. 
In  this  encounter  he  appears  as  a  doughty 
man,  for  when  the  noble  Lords  demanded 
that  he  pubhsh  a  retraction  of  his  statements 
he  dechned  to  do  anything  of  the  sort.  He 
returned  their  demand  with  a  reply  that 
"Mr.  Lloyd  will  print  no  more  at  present." 
And  no  more  did  he.  It  was  thirty  years 
later  before  his  paper  was  revived  as  Lloyd's 
List,  since  when  it  has  gone  on  uninter- 
rupted to  its  present  honorable  age.  Little 
further  is  known  of  its  founder,  but  after 
his  death  the  coffee-house  kept  its  original 
name  for  many  years. 

It  does  not  appear  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  mer- 
chants and  underwriters  frequenting  Lloyd's 
rooms  were  bound  together  by  any  organiza- 
tion. It  was  probably  as  a  result  of  the 
enormous  gambling  crazes  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  so  inseparably  bound  up  with  the 
history  of  insurance,  that  formal  and  final 
organization  took  place  in  1 7  7 1 .  But  Lloyd's 
coffee-house  played  an  important  part  in 
the  long  reign  of  insurance  scandals  and 
financial  bubbles  which  make  almost  the 
whole  of  the  eighteenth  century  famous  in 
financial  annals.  In  1768  a  writer  in  the 
London  Chronicle  declared  that  Lloyd's 
coffee  house  was  the  scene  of  all  manner 
of  illicit  gaming,  and  that  insurance  had 
been  developed  into  more  or  less  fraudulent 
bets  upon  elections,  on  resignations  of  the 
Government,  on  the  lives  of  distinguished 
people,  and  even  upon  the  execution  of 
certain  well-known  peers. 

To  look  back  briefly  over  this  curious 
development  of  financial  history  we  find 
that  it  was  an  important  day  when  nearly  at 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  son 
of  an  Edinburgh  goldsmith  escaped  from 
the  King's  Bench  prison  in  London,  having 
been  tried  at  Old  Bailey  for  murder  and 
condemned  to  death.  The  fugitive  son 
reached  the  coast  of  France,  and  in  the 
Hue  and  Cry  which  went  after  him  his 
name  was  given  as  John  Law  and  he  was 
described  as  "A  black,  lean  man  about  six 
feet  high,  large  pock  holes  in  his  face  and 
easily  known  by  his  high  nose  and  his  loud 
and  broad  speech."  Although  the  descrip- 
tion of  this  fugitive  is  not  attractive,  he 
seems  to  have  been  able  to  exercise  wonderful 
influence  over  those  of  the  highest  birth  and 
rank.     He  became  the  intimate  friend  and 


counselor  of  the  Regent  of  France,  Comp- 
troller-General of  the  Exchefjuer  of  the 
Kingdom,  and  the  originator  of  the  most 
gigantic  financial  imjjosture  ever  known. 

Not  only  individuals  but  masses  of  people 
and  nations  must  go  mad  at  certain  periods, 
for  in  no  way  else  can  be  described  the  furious 
seething  mass  of  people  whirhng  around  a 
group  of  needy  speculators  in  the  Rue  Quin- 
compoix,  Paris,  during  17 18  and  17 19.  In 
these  years  Law  and  his  Mississippi  Company 
ruled  everything.  The  disease  proved  infec- 
tious, for,  leaving  Paris,  it  came  to  England 
and  found  its  culmination  in  the  South  Sea 
bubble.  During  this  time,  and  in  fact  for  a 
period  of  about  forty  years,  the  greatest 
scoundrels  in  England  were  starting  insurance 
companies  and  selling  shares  at  prices  varying 
from  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  to  $5,000.  At  the 
time  of  the  South  Sea  mania  there  were  more 
than  two  thousand  schemes  afloat  in  the  shape 
of  joint  stock  undertakings  representing  a  nom- 
inal capital  of  $2,500,000,000,  about  five  times 
the  current  cash  existent  in  all  Europe.  It 
was  only  necessary  for  an  unknown  person 
to  take  a  room  and  to  advertise  to  receive 
subscriptions  amounting  to  thousands  of 
pounds,  which,  it  is  needless  to  say,  dis- 
appeared along  with  the  promoter.  At  this 
time  all  manner  of  insurance  swindles  were 
afloat.  Advertisements  may  be  seen  offering 
to  insure  horses  from  natural  death,  to 
increase  children's  fortunes,  and  there  was 
even  a  company  which  offered  general 
assurance  from  lying. 

It  was  in  1774  that  the  association  of  under- 
writers and  brokers  calling  itself  The  New 
Lloyds  settled  down  in  the  Royal  Exchange. 
It  was  here,  at  about  this  time,  that  the 
printed  policy  of  insurance  was  first  made 
uniform;  and  that  adopted  on  the  12th  of 
January,  1779,  is  used  with  few  alterations 
today.  In  fact,  it  is  identical  except  that 
the  opening  formula,  "Be  it  known  that," 
has  been  substituted  for  the  more  pious, 
"In  the  name  of  God,  Amen."  The  associa- 
tion was  again  reorganized  in  181 1,  but  was 
not  finally  incorporated  by  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment until  187 1.  The  objects  of  the  incor- 
poration were  stated  to  be  (i)  carrying  out 
marine  insurance,  (2)  the  protection  of  the 
interests  of  members  of  the  association,  and 
(3)  the  collection,  publication  and  diffusion 
of  intelligence  and  information  with  respect 
to  shipping. 


3300 


LLOYDS 


In  187 1  the  society  created  a  Nautical 
Institute  called  Lloyds  Register  of  British 
and  Foreign  Shipping.  This  classification  of 
ships  is  the  work  of  a  separate  executive. 
The  first  steamer  noted  on  Lloyds  Register 
was  the  James  Watt,  294  tons,  bxiilt  in  the 
previous  year  at  Greenock,  and  classed  as 
"A  I."  That  brief  but  very  significant 
term,  "A  i,"  has  become  so  general  a  col- 
loquialism that  people  who  constantly  use 
it  have  probably  little  idea  of  its  origin. 
In  imitation  of  Lloyds  there  was  founded 
at  Rostock  in  1868,  and  aftem*ard  trans- 
ferred to  Berlin,  the  Germanische  Lloyds. 
After  this  French,  Russian  and  American 
companies  have  been  similarly  formed.  The 
name  has  also  been  adopted  by  navigation 
companies,  perhaps  because  of  the  security 
it  seems  to  promise.  The  North  German 
Lloyd  of  Bremen,  fovmded  in  1857,  traverses 
the  North  Sea,  the  waters  of  England,  North 
and  South  America.  The  Austrian  Lloyds, 
founded  in  1836,  was  at  first  a  marine  insur- 
ance company,  but  now  it  sends  ships  through 
the  Adriatic  and  Mediterranean  seas  and 
across  the  Indian  Ocean  to  Hongkong. 

The  great  central  room  in  the  handsome 
Lloyds  building  in  London  is  available  only 
for  subscribers  and  members  and  is  generally 
spoken  of  as  the  "Room."  Subscribers 
pay  $25  per  5'ear  and  have  no  voice  in 
the  management  of  the  association.  Non- 
undem'riting  members  pay  an  entrance 
fee  of  S60,  while  underwriting  mem- 
bers pay  an  entrance  of  $5  00  and  also 
deposit  securities  of  a  value  of  from  $25,000 
to  $50,000,  according  to  circumstances. 
Lloyds  is  managed  by  a  committee  chosen 
from  its  own  members,  which  in  turn  appoints 
clerks  and  a  secretary'  to  attend  to  the  daily 
routine  of  business.  The  mode  in  which  this 
is  done  is  ver\'  simple.  Brokers  write  on  a 
slip  of  paper  the  name  of  the  ship,  the  ship's 
master,  the  nature  of  the  voyage,  the  sub- 
ject to  be  insured,  and  the  amount  at  which 
it  is  valued.  If  the  risk  is  accepted,  each 
underwriter  subscribes  his  name  and  the 
amotmt  he  agrees  to  take  or  underwrite,  the 
insurance  being  effected  as  soon  as  the  total 
amount  is  made  up,  and  in  these  times  of 
progress  in  shipbuilding  and  navigation  the 
sum  paid  by  the  insured  to  the  unden^-riter 
is  a  very  moderate  tax  indeed. 

As  in  the  old  days  of  insurance  gambling, 
all  manner  of  risks  mav  be  covered  at  Llovds, 


but  marine  insurance  is  the  only  kind  which 
receives  official  recognition.  There  are  two 
classes  of  members — brokers  who  act  for 
clients,  and  underv\'riters  who  do  business 
on  their  own  account.  Admission  is  not 
easily  obtained,  and  the  most  careful  investi- 
gation is  made  into  the  character  of  all  appli- 
cants. No  one  who  has  been  in  the  "Room" 
at  Lloyds  during  office  hours  will  forget 
the  animated  scene.  The  underwriters  sit 
at  tables  ready  for  business,  and  to  them 
brokers  come  constantly  submitting  risks 
to  be  covered  for  their  clients,  or  perhaps 
some  member  comes  to  gain  information 
before  undertaking  a  certain  risk.  As  has 
been  said  before,  the  intelligence  system  at 
Lloyds  is  as  perfect  as  modem  ingenuity  can 
make  it.  The  coasts  of  nearh'  all  the  civi- 
lized world  are  subdivided  into  districts 
which  are  covered  by  Lloyds  agents,  and 
much  fuller  news  is  obtained  when  the  sub- 
ject for  information  comes  within  reach  of 
the  signal  stations  which  have  been  erected 
throughout  the  world  at  Lloj'ds's  expense. 
All  the  marine  insurance  companies  of  the 
world  practically  are  dependent  upon  this 
source  of  information.  To  the  underwriters' 
associations  in  Paris,  Marseilles,  Bordeaux, 
Genoa,  Hamburg,  Bremen,  Berlin,  and  in 
fact  all  the  commercial  centres  of  Europe: 
to  New  York  for  the  underwriters'  associa- 
tion there,  and  to  Melbourne  for  the  under- 
writers in  the  Autralasian  colonies  go  constant 
btdletins  from  Llo^'ds.  The  registers  avail- 
able for  members  are  wonderfully  complete. 
Near  the  entrance  to  the  "Room"  is  the  huge 
casualty  book,  in  which  may  be  found 
recorded  the  fate  of  many  a  gallant  ship. 
In  another  set  of  volumes  are  set  down  the 
movements  of  every  British  vessel,  for  these 
are  entered  up  as  the  telegraphic  news  arrives, 
and  the  actual  position  of  the  vessel  and  the 
name  of  the  place  where  she  was  last  spoken 


is  given. 


There  is  still  another  register  containing 
the  biography  of  every  skipper  in  the  British 
Mercantile  Marine,  where  and  when  he  was 
bom,  on  what  ship  he  served  his  apprentice- 
ship, what  vessels  he  has  commanded,  the 
casualties  that  have  befallen  them,  and  any 
other  information  which  may  be  of  help  to 
the  underwriter  about  to  undertake  a  risk  in 
which  this  particular  captain  is  concerned. 
There  is  another  volume  called  the  Confi- 
dential Index,  which  is  not  so  easilv  obtainable 


LLOYDS 


3301 


by  the  public.  In  tliis  the  underwriter 
finds  the  history  and  financial  standing  of 
every  ship-owning  firm  and  company.  Here, 
also,  is  to  be  found  a  list  of  captains  who 
have  had  their  certificates  suspended,  with 
reasons  for  suspension,  and  whatever  other 
mformation  is  considered  of  value  to  those 
who  conduct  marine  insurance  business. 

One  of  the  most  distinctive  sights  to  the 
average  visitor  to  Lloyds  is  the  crier,  who 
stands  in  a  rostrum  under  a  great  sounding- 
board  and  announces  good  or  bad  news  as  it 
is  received  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth. 
A  great  ship's  bell  is  placed  above  his  right 
hand,  and  when  it  rings  out,  all  the  noisy 
babble  of  the  place  ceases,  as  every  one  is 
keen  to  hear  whether  the  news  announced 
concerns  some  long-belated  ship's  arrival  in 
port  or  if  the  intelligence  adds  another  name 
to  the  many  which  have  surrendered  to  the 
fury  of  the  sea.  And  after  this  will  be  posted 
a  very  brief  formula  concerning  the  missing 
ship,  which  is  full  of  significance,  for  it  means 
that  all  hope  is  gone  and  that  captain  and 
crew  are  dead  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  There 
is  a  room  devoted  wholly  to  the  posting  of 
these  notices  and  telegrams,  and  it  has  come 
to  be  called  "The  Chamber  of  Horrors." 

The  bell  which  announces  the  news,  good 
or  bad,  which  is  daily  received,  is  itself  con- 
nected with  a  romantic  chapter  in  the  history 
of  Lloyds.  The  late  Mr.  Frederick  Martin, 
the  historian  of  Lloyds,  as  well  as  the  best 
authority  upon  marine  insurance,  tells  very 
fully  the  story  of  the  wreck  of  the  war-ship 
Lutine,  to  which  this  bell  formerly  belonged. 
For  about  sixty  years  the  bell  itself  lay  at 
the  bottom  of  the  Zuyder  Zee.  The  ship 
went  down  in  the  autumn  of  1791  with  all 
on  board  save  one  solitary  survivor.  It  was 
originally  a  French  man-of-war,  but  after 
its  capture  by  Admiral  Duncan  it  was  added 
to  the  British  Navy.  At  the  time  of  the 
disaster  she  was  on  her  way  to  Hamburg, 
with  a  large  amount  of  gold  and  bullion  on 
board,  consigned  there  by  English  merchants. 
But  as  this  was  the  day  of  the  newspaper 
hoax,  the  most  extraordinary  stories  were 
printed  in  the  London  papers  at  the  time 
about  the  cargo.  One  story  had  it  that 
the  Dutch  crown  jewels  were  on  board  and 
that  the  treasure  on  board  amounted  to 
$10,000,000.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  amount  was  a  large  one,  but  as 
England  was  then  at  war  with  the  Nether- 


lands, and  the  Netherlands  Government 
claimed  tlie  wreck,  English  underwriters  had 
little  hope  of  recompense.  It  is  said  that 
local  fishermen  succeeded  in  salving  coin 
and  bullion  amounting  to  $415,000  from  the 
wreck  and  were  allowed  by  their  Govern- 
ment to  retain  a  third  of  this. 

But  peace  had  been  restored  many  years; 
in  fact,  not  until  1858  were  salvage  operations 
begun  on  a  scientific  scale.  As  a  result  of 
this  search,  Lloyds  secured  in  all  the  sum  of 
$110,810,  as  well  as  the  bell  which  bears  the 
royal  crown  and  arms  of  Bourbon,  and 
the  ship's  rudder,  from  which  were  made  a 
great  armchair  and  a  table  which  are  to  be 
seen  in  the  underwriters'  room.  This  sum 
saved,  however,  by  no  means  satisfied  the 
expectation  of  those  carried  away  by  the 
glamour  of  submarine  treasure-seeking,  for 
even  in  187 1,  when  the  Act  of  Incorporation 
was  granted,  the  committee  of  Lloyds  secured 
the  insertion  of  a  provision  that  "the  society 
may  from  time  to  time  do  or  join  in  doing 
all  such  lawful  things  as  they  think  expedient 
with  a  view  to  further  salving  from  the 
wreck  of  the  Ltitiiie." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  organization 
is  to  a  great  extent  the  public  prosecutor  as 
well  as  the  police  system  of  the  sea.  It  is 
largely  owing  to  the  relentlessness  of  Lloyds 
in  dealing  with  wrong-doers  that  many  old 
forms  of  piracy  and  sea  knavery  have  come 
to  an  end.  This  is  not  to  say  that  the  mem- 
bers of  Lloyds  quibble  over  genuine  mistakes. 
They  have  been  known  to  pay  insurance 
without  question  even  where  the  ship  lost 
had  sailed  from  another  port  than  that  named 
in  the  policy.  Still  it  is  inevitable  that 
underwriters  should  at  times  be  victimized. 
Of  course,  unscrupulous  owners  and  captains 
do  not  scuttle  ships  now  with  the  same 
impunity  which  they  enjoyed  in  the  early 
days  of  marine  insurance.  But  the  records 
at  Lloyds  are  filled  with  stories  of  bold 
buccaneering  men  of  the  sea  and  also  filled 
with  the  very  severe  punishment  meted  out 
to  them. 

Even  today  cases  of  fraud  discovered  in 
attempts  to  secure  marine  insurance  unjustly 
are  dealt  with  very  severely  by  the  courts. 
A  well-remembered  case  at  Lloyds  concerns 
the  yacht  Firefly.  Not  long  after  this  boat 
had  been  insured  for  a  considerable  sum, 
two  men  landed  in  an  exhausted  condition 
from  a  rowing-boat   on    the  south  coast   of 


3302 


WHAT    IS    THE    BEST    COLLEGE? 


England.  They  told  a  long  ston.^  of  ship- 
wreck, of  perils  braved,  of  how  the  Firefly 
had  gone  down  and  under  what  great  diffi- 
ctilty  they  had  escaped.  It  was  subsequently 
discovered  that  the  whole  story  was  an 
invention,  and  that  the  ver\'  boat  in  which 
the  escape  had  been  made  had  been  stolen 
by  the  shipwrecked  mariners.  They  were 
just  upon  the  point  of  receiving  the  sum 
of  insurance  money  they  expected.  They 
obtained  instead  a  lengthy  term  of  im- 
prisonment as  the  just  meed  of  their 
audacious  crime. 

But  with  the  developments  of  modem 
science  these  enterprises  have  become  as 
rare  proportionately  as  have  the  actual 
risks  which  nowadays  threaten  marine  com- 
merce. Marine  unden\'riters  of  a  hundred 
years  ago  would  indeed  be  amazed  at  the 
enormous  reduction  which  has  taken  place 
in  insurance  rates.  The  price  of  gold  bullion 
between  London  and  New  York  is  only  twenty- 
five  cents  net  per  loo  lbs.  and  this  covers  not 
only  the  risks  of  the  transatlantic  voyage, 
but  transit  from  the  London  house  to  the 
liner  and  from  the  liner  to  the  firm  in  New 
York  to  which  the  btdhon  is  consigned. 
And  the  most  easily  negotiable  of  securities, 
even  when  sent  by  registered  post  between 
England  and  the  United  States,  can  be  covered 
by  insurance  at  the  rate  of  one-third  per 
loo  lbs.     There  comes  a  time,  however,  when 


this  very  rate  rises  by  leaps  and  bounds 
and  seems  to  point  in  its  rise  to  a  great  loss 
in  life  and  property. 

Only  recently  a  great  Atlantic  liner  was 
announced  to  be  three  days  overdue.  On 
the  third  day  there  was  no  noticeable  advance 
in  the  rate  charged  for  those  who  had  neglected 
to  insure  property  shipped  upon  it,  but  on 
the  fourth  day,  when  anxiety  as  to  both  the 
passengers  and  the  property  on  board  had 
increased,  it  was  ominously  announced  from 
Lloyds  that  the  rate  of  insurance  upon  that 
particular  vessel  had  been  advanced  to  $io  in 
S500.  This  was  on  Tuesday.  On  Wednes- 
day, when  no  further  news  had  been  heard, 
the  rate  had  jumped  to  $25  in  the  $500.  On 
Thursday  it  reached  $50  and  by  Friday  the 
enormous  sum  of  $100  in  $500  was  declared 
to  be  the  rate  in  any  and  all  manner  of  insur- 
ance upon  the  missing  vessel.  It  is  needless 
to  say  how  horribly  these  announcements 
confirmed  the  anxious  fears  of  those  most 
deeply  concerned  in  the  arrival  of  the  vessel, 
for  all  the  world  knows  that  if  there  is  any 
hope  it  will  be  longest  found  at  Lloyds.  It 
is  also  needless  to  say  that  when  the  great 
liner  in  question  finally  reached  her  dock 
in  New  York,  nowhere  was  there  greater 
rejoicing  at  the  announcement  than  in  the 
room  where  it  was  tolled  out  by  the  bell 
of  the  Luiine  and  read  by  the  crier  to  the 
assembled  crowd  at  Llovds. 


WHAT    IS    THE    BEST   COLLEGE? 


A  CLASSIFICATION  OF  SUCCESSFUL  MEX  ACCORDING  TO 
THEIR  COLLEGES— SMALL  COLLEGES  SURPASS— A  STRIK- 
ING DISPARITY  BETWEEN  CO-EDUCATIONAL  AND  MEN'S 
COLLEGES— NEW  ENGLAND  COLLEGES  THE   MOST  FRUITFUL 

BY 


EDWIN   G.    DEXTER 


THE  best  college  is  the  one  which  sends 
out  the  largest  percentage  of  its 
graduates  to  fields  of  broadest  use- 
fulness, thus  contributing  most  largely  in 
proportion  to  its  size  to  general  culture  and 
progress.  Assuming  this  definition,  it  is 
possible  to  form  a  judgment  from  an  examina- 
tion of  "Who's  Who  in  America"  as  to  the 
sort  of  college  that   has   given  the   country 


successful  men.  The  criterion  is  not  infal- 
lible, but  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  better. 
"Who's  Who"  for  1900  contains  the  names 
of  8,602  Americans,  3,237  of  whom  were 
college  graduates  distributed  among  200 
colleges.  One  himdred  and  fortv-four  of 
these  colleges,  embracing  all  the  more  impor- 
tant institutions,  have  in  round  numbers 
260,000    living    graduates,     only     2,655     of 


WHAT    IS    THE    BEST    COLLEGE 


3303 


whom  were  mentioned  in  "Who's  Who." 
Classifying  these  144  colleges  according  to 
size,  wc  have  the  following  table: 

Table  I.     Classification  as  to  Size 


chiefly  whether  a  co-cducational  or  a  men's 
college  is  better  for  men : 

Table  III.     Classification  as  to  Sex  of 
Student  Bony 


0 

„  3 

.2  0 

C.2 

6^ 

rtT3 

?l^ 

f'g 

3  0 

0  u 

S  u 

IZC) 

HO 

S: 

P.S 

85 

67.387 

953 

1.40 

26 

34,810 

328 

•94 

33 

157.617 

1.371 

.86 

Below  500 
500    to    1,000 
Above   1 ,000 


Although  this  table  would  seem  to  show 
conclusively  that  the  smaller  college  is  best, 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  larger 
universities  furnish  men  from  graduate  or 
professional  schools  who  are  not  accounted 
for  in  this  list — which  includes  only  graduates 
with  the  bachelor's  degree.  On  the  other 
hand,  men  are  accredited  to  large  colleges 
who  really  graduated  from  small  ones.  The 
"Who's  Who"  names  show  almost  no  gradu- 
ates of  more  than  ten  years'  standing,  and 
many  colleges,  notably  the  western  state 
universities,  may  no  doubt  have  passed 
from  the  small  class  to  the  large  since  their 
prominent  sons  were  graduated;  so  that 
the  classification  is  hardly  accurate.  These 
facts,  however,  do  not  seem  to  disturb  the 
advantage  of  the  smaller  colleges.  For, 
though  Harvard  and  Yale — leaders  for  the 
large  colleges — far  exceed  the  average,  there 
are  nine  of  the  colleges  with  a  membership 
below  500  which  surpass  them. 

The  second  table  shows  the  result  of  a 
classification  on  the  basis  of  sectarianism : 

Table   II.     Classification  as  to  Sectarian 
Affiliation 


Sectarian 
Non-sectarian 


75 
69 


^ 

•Si 

2 

•2^ 

0 

C  w 

bo 

.9  0 

a 

■wxl 

> 

y^ 

hJ 

S: 

c  2 


<u 


a> 


75.476  585 

184,367         2,070 


(is 

.78 

1. 12 


Study  shows  that  non-sectarian  colleges 
average  three  times  as  large  as  the  sectarian, 
but  the  two  individual  colleges  with  the 
largest  number  of  eminent  graduates  are 
not  only  small,  but  sectarian. 

In  the  third  table  the  important  com- 
parison is  between  the  first  and  second 
classes   in  the   table.     The   question  here  is 


Co-educational 
Male     .     .     . 
Female     .     . 


3 

C  0 

'^ 

•  Sx: 

"3 

u 

0 

1'^ 

11 

^'0 

(a 
c 
> 

.2'o 

c  0 

5cc3 

hJ 

S: 

&.S 

94 

138,247 

802 

■58 

46 

114,660 

1.839 

1.60 

4 

6.736 

14 

•03 

Deducting  from  the  total  number  of  living 
graduates  of  co-educational  institutions  one- 
fourth,  about  the  present  proportion  of  women, 
we  still  have  a  sufficient  preponderance  of 
success  for  men  in  favor  of  the  college  for  men. 

Table  IV.  fails  to  throw  much  light  on  a 
much  discussed  question : 

Table  IV.     Classification   from  the  Stand- 
point of  the  Size  of  College  Towns 


V  (U 
J3  60 

Less  than  30,000  pop.   115 
More  than  30,000  pop.     29 

Dividing  the  country  into  five  geographical 

sections  we  have  the  following  result: 

Table  V.     Geographical  Distribution 


nt 

z 

3 

c  ° 

■d 

■~Xi 

•s^ 

?fn-H 

0 

C  w 

5^ 

60 

.2  0 

c  2 

C 

^3  45 

f,-2 

> 

g^ 

.-H 

S: 

euS 

150-2 

36 

1,494 

■99 

109,6 

07 

1,161 

1.06 

New  England 
Middle .      .     . 
Southern    . 
Central       .     . 
Western     . 


3 
•0 

.ii 

0 

■s^ 

^V, 

h  « 

0 

c  « 

4..  c 

.So 

bo 

c 
> 

.2'o 
g^ 

c  0 
Ha 

'^u 

J 

S: 

-1-S 

19 

53.620 

1,116 

2.08 

26 

77.310 

751 

•97 

38 

39.799 

271 

.68 

55 

79.934 

447 

•59 

6 

7.135 

39 

•54 

In  1890  however,  about  43  per  cent,  of 
the  college  students  in  the  country  were  in 
the  central  and  western  states,  whereas  in 
1900  there  were  about  47  per  cent.  This 
growth  has  not  affected  the  number  of  names 
in  "Who's  Who."  Moreover,  the  co-educa- 
tional character  of  the  western  universities 
tends  to  bring  down  their  percentage.  Yet 
seven  of  the  twelve  leading  colleges  in  our  list 
are  in  New  England. 

The  best  college  seems  to  be  the  small, 
non-sectarian  college  for  men  in  N^ew  England 
in  towns  of  more  than  ,^0,000  inhabitants. 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  AUTOMOBILE 

THE  MOTOR  AGE  WILL  FOLLOW  THE  RAILWAY  AGE— GOOD 
FOR  ALL  PURSES— HOW  THE  AUTOMOBILE  WILL  AFFECT  THE 
LIFE  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY— THE  CAR- 
OWNER  HAS  SIX  TIMES  THE  SPHERE  OF  THE  HORSE- 
OWNER— A    GREAT     INDUSTRY     AND   A    SOCIAL    REVOLUTION 

BY 

HENRY    NORMAN,  M.P. 

EDITOR  OF  THB  ENGLISH   "  WORLd's  WORK  " 


FIRST,  the  age  of  the  stage-coach — a  fine, 
manly  age,  full  of  splendid  horses  and 
vigorous  men,  redolent  of  romance 
and  gay  with  color.  Second,  the  age  of 
the  railway — the  foundation  of  modem  indus- 
trialism, the  creator  of  vast  wealth,  the 
parent  of  great  cities.  Tomorrow  and  there- 
after, the  age  of  the  motor — a  revival  of 
country  life  infinitely  beyond  that  of  the  old 
coaching  days,  a  vehicle  of  national  develop- 
ment greater  than  the  railway,  an  industry 
destined  to  be  inferior  only  to  iron,  coal, 
and  shipbuilding,  a  social  revolution  in  the 
life  of  the  individual  man  and  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  community. 

Doubtless  today  this  forecast  will  seem 
exaggerated.  A  year  or  two  hence  it  will  be  a 
commonplace  of  opinion.  Today  we  all  talk 
of  automobiles  and  motoring;  we  see  a  huge 
show  of  motor  vehicles;  we  read  striking 
statistics  of  production;  we  learn  of  non- 
stop runs  of  hundreds  of  miles,  and  of  speeds 
exceeding  those  of  the  fastest  expresses;  and 
we  find  in  this  a  convenient  topic  of  dinner- 
table  talk.  But  few  even  of  our  leaders  of 
opinion  have  yet  realized  that  we  are  on  the 
eve  of  a  more  momentous  change  than  that 
inaugurated  by  Watt  and  Stephenson,  with 
even  greater  consequences  to  the  community 
than  their  steam  automobiles  on  fixed  rails 
brought  about. 

The  automobile  is  no  longer  an  experiment, 
and  motoring  is  no  longer  only  a  pastime  or  a 
luxury.  The  internal-combustion  engine  for 
locomotion  is  finally  invented.  Of  course,  it 
will  change  and  improve.  It  may  be  a  two- 
cycle  engine  instead  of  a  four-cycle;  it  may 
continue  to  be  fired  by  electricity,  or  it  may 
fire  itself  automatically  by  compression;  it 
may  be  combined  with  a  dynamo  and  a 
series  of  electro-motors;  it  may  burn  gasoline, 


alcohol,  common  petroleum  or  heavy  gasoline 
residue;  but  substantially  in  its  present 
fundamental  form  it  has  its  own  age  of  activ- 
ity before  it,  until  the  problem  of  storing 
in  cheap  light-weight  accumulators  electrical 
energy  generated  at  Niagara  or  Imatra  or  on 
the  Zambesi  is  solved,  to  transfigure  once 
more  the  practical  applications  of  power. 
Some  of  the  most  successful  of  the  automo- 
biles of  toda}'  are  propelled  by  steam  engines, 
and  these  have  certain  distinct  advantages 
of  their  own;  but  I  am  speaking  here  of  the 
new  invention — or,  rather,  the  new  applica- 
tion— of  the  gasoline  engine,  with  which  prob- 
ably eighty  out  of  every  hundred  mechanic- 
ally propelled  vehicles,  other  than  those  for 
heavy  traction,  are  equipped;  and  of  this  it 
may  safely  be  asserted  that  for  aU  practical 
purposes  it  is  today  thoroughly  efficient, 
even  without  the  certainty  of  its  constant 
improvement.  Not  much  more  than  a  year 
ago  the  motor-car  was  a  noisy,  ill-smelling, 
costly  and  unreliable  machine — a  public 
nuisance.  Today  it  is  silent;  if  it  smells, 
the  driver  is  to  blame;  it  is  within  the  reach 
of  a  man  of  modest  means;  and  it  is  as  little 
likely  to  break  down  as  any  other  fine 
product  of  human  ingenuity.  I  do  not  mean, 
of  course,  that  every  car  one  meets  on  the 
road  has  these  admirable  qualities,  but  that 
they  characterize  the  latest  inventions  in  the 
motor  world.  A  car  of  twenty  horse-power, 
capable  of  carrying  four  passengers  at  forty 
miles  an  hour,  can  hardly  be  heard  by  those 
on  board;  in  fact,  its  extreme  silence  is  a 
new  element  of  danger,  as  the  only  notice  of 
its  approach  is  the  horn  of  its  driver.  It  is 
on  land,  in  that  respect,  what  the  canoe  is 
on  water.  These  most  silent  cars  are  for 
the  moment  expensive,  but  even  moderately 
priced  cars  can  be  had  as  silent  as  anybody 


THE    COMING    OF    THE   AUTOMOBILE 


3305 


ought  to  desire  them.  This,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  non-expert  reader,  is  due  chiefly  to 
two  factors:  the  balanced  and  slower  revo- 
lution of  the  engine  by  the  increased  number 
of  cylinders,  and  the  introduction  of  the 
valve  which  is  opened  and  closed  mechanically 
in  place  of  the  valve  held  shut  by  a  spring 
and  opened  by  the  suction  of  the  piston. 
Opinions  differ  yet  upon  the  advantages  of 
the  new  method,  but  in  my  humble  and 
amateur  judgment  the  motor  with  automatic 
spring  valves  will  be  as  obsolete  a  year  hence 
as  the  bicycle  without  free-wheel  action 
is  today.  There  are,  moreover,  today  one  or 
two  makes  of  car  with  the  older  valve  which 
are  almost  as  silent  as  need  be. 

Improved  methods  of  combustion  and 
lubrication  have  practically  abolished  offen- 
sive odors.  Pneumatic  tires,  once  the  bane 
of  the  motorist's  life — for  he  never  dared  be 
confident  that  he  would  not  have  to  spend 
an  hour  in  tedious  and  dirty  repair  of  a 
puncture  by  the  roadside — now  with  luck 
will  run  a  thousand  miles  without  mishap, 
and  several  thousands  before  they  need  be 
re-covered  or  replaced.  And  it  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  the  inflated  rubber  tire 
is  destined  to  remain  an  essential  part  of  a 
motor-car.  In  the  vehicle  of  the  future, 
concussion  due  to  inequalities  of  road  surface 
may  be  absorbed  by  springs,  either  in  the 
wheel  or  on  the  body.  This  would  be  a  more 
scientific  method.  Side-slip,  too,  the  one 
and  only  real  danger  of  motoring,  both  to 
the  motorist  and  the  public,  is  on  the  eve 
of  being,  if  it  is  not  already,  overcome.  Gasoline 
costs  twenty-five  cents  a  gallon,  and  a  gallon 
will  take  an  average  car  twenty  miles,  and 
each  new  car  put  on  the  market  runs  farther 
on  less — one  make  of  car  has  just  run  fifty 
miles  on  a  gallon.  A  driver  with  access  to 
a  small  workshop  who  cannot  do  most  of  his 
own  repairs  does  not  know  his  business,  and 
as  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  before  long  an  ele- 
mentary knowledge  of  mechanics  and  the 
ability  to  handle  all  simple  tools  may  be 
considered  a  necessary  part  of  every  man's 
education,  the  car-owner  who  does  not  keep 
a  mechanic-driver  ought  not  to  need  to  send 
his  car  to  a  professional  repairer  except  in 
case  of  something  breaking.  It  is  truly 
absurd  to  see,  as  one  often  does,  an  owner,  or 
indeed  a  driver,  hurrying  his  car  in  alarm 
to  the  makers  if  the  engine  says  "puff"  when 
it  ought  to  say  "pafi,"  when  the  same  man 


would  doctor  his  horse  without  a  misgiving 
— though  putting  a  motor-car  in  order  is 
child's  play  compared  with  getting  a  sick 
horse  well,  as  anybody  knows  who  has  tried 
both. 

And  as  regards  cost — too  big  a  subject  to 
be  dealt  with  here  except  in  very  general 
terms:  For  $7,500  or  a  little  more  you  can 
get  the  best  car  in  the  world,  a  magnificent 
vehicle,  of  the  utmost  comfort  and  the  most 
unnecessary  speed — a  marvel  of  carrosserie 
and  luxury  and  workmanship,  the  dernier  cri 
of  motor  fashion.  And  parenthetically  I 
must  add  that  something  more  than  the 
possession  of  a  big  bank  account  ought  to 
be  necessary  before  a  man  is  permitted  to 
drive  one  of  these  tremendous  engines  upon 
the  public  roads.  In  the  hands  of  a  man 
who  really  understands  them  and  has  had 
ample  experience  in  driving  they  are  under 
perfect  control,  but  it  is  almost  criminal  for 
anybody  to  drive  them  who  has  not  these 
qualifications.  But  to  return  to  the  question 
of  cost:  for  $3,500  or  $4,000  you  may,  if  you 
know  or  are  well  advised,  procure  a  car  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  as  good  as  the  most 
costly.  The  highest  prices  last  only  for  a 
season,  and  all  prices  are  coming  down  fast. 
The  car  that  about  $2,500  will  buy  is  not 
much  inferior,  and  nobody  who  does  not  need 
the  social  distinction  of  owning  the  very  latest 
and  biggest  and  fastest  and  smartest  need 
drive  a  better  car  than  can  be  had  for  that 
reasonable  sum. 

To  come  to  "light  cars,"  $1,500  or  a  trifle 
more,  combined  with  a  certain  knowledge  of 
the  curious  varieties  of  price  for  the  same 
thing,  will  make  you  the  owner  of  a  vehicle 
that  will  carry  four  passengers  safely  and 
reliably  and  comfortably  at  thirty  miles  an 
hour  on  the  level,  and  at  an  average  of 
eighteen  miles  on  ordinary  country  roads,  and 
that  you  may  be  proud  to  show  your  friends. 
Below  this  figure,  the  buyer  will  do  well  to 
choose  a  two-seated  vehicle,  possibly  with  a 
detachable  spider  seat  behind  for  a  servant 
on  occasions.  Nothing  is  more  unsatisfactory 
than  a  car  too  heavy  for  its  horse-power. 
These  were  turned  out  in  quantities  not  long 
ago,  and  today  they  are  for  sale  second-hand 
by  the  hundred  for  what  they  will  bring.  A 
first-rate  two-seated  car,  by  one  of  the  best 
makers,  perfect  for  its  work  in  all  respects, 
in  which  you  can  start  for  Edinburgh  from 
London  or  for  Chicago  from  New  York  with- 


33o6 


THE    COMING    OF    THE   AUTOMOBILE 


out  a  moment's  fear  of  accident  or  discom- 
fort or  danger  or  serious  delay,  may  be  bought 
for  $i,ooo,  or  even  a  little  less.  And  if  you 
decide,  after  examination  and  reflection,  to 
choose  steam,  $250  may  be  economized 
on  the  above  price.  Below  S750  there 
is  at  present  no  car  fulfilling  the  above 
conditions,  except  second-hand,  and  there 
you  must  proceed  very  warily  indeed  or  you 
will  take  home  a  four-wheeled  scrap-heap. 
Finally,  there  is  the  motor-bicycle,  but  this 
is  so  remarkable  a  production,  and  is  destined 
to  play  so  great  a  role  in  our  social  life  in  the 
near  future,  that  it  deserves  a  separate 
article. 

I  have  now  shown  that  the  price  of  a  car 
is  no  longer  prohibitive,  but  that  good  cars 
may  be  had  to  suit  all  purses.  It  is  delightful, 
of  course,  to  own,  and  superlatively  so  to  be 
able  to  drive,  one  of  the  magnificent  monsters, 
but  husband  and  wife  may  get  great  pleasure 
and  health  and  constant  change,  and  vastly 
enlarge  their  circle  of  friends  and  places  to 
visit,  out  of  a  Si, 000  car,  and  unless  the  man 
of  the  pair  is  in  the  habit  of  hammering  his 
thumb,  or  drawing  tin-tacks  with  a  chisel, 
there  will  be  no  need  whatever  for  them 
to  keep  a  driver.  The  little  car  will  cost 
them  less  a  year  than  a  pony  and  trap,  and 
do  five  times  the  work.  Indeed,  there  is  not 
the  slightest  reason  why  the  intelligent 
woman  of  today  should  not  keep  and  manage 
and  drive  such  a  car  entirely  by  herself,  hiring 
the  local  boy  to  wash  it  occasionally  in  muddy 
weather.  There  is  nothing  about  it  which 
a  woman  who  understands  a  sewing-machine 
could  not  learn  in  a  week. 

What  is  the  probable  influence  of  the 
automobile  upon  contemporary  life  ?  The 
privately  owned  car  alone  will  enormously 
affect  this.  Every  car-owner  has  at  once 
a  vastly  increased  radius  of  movement.  The 
owner  of  a  pair  of  horses  in  the  country  may 
be  said  to  have  a  practical  everyday  radius 
of  about  ten  or  twelve  miles.  Twenty  or 
twenty-five  miles  is  a  day's  work  for  a  good 
horse  or  a  pair,  and  though  this  can,  of  course, 
be  exceptionally  much  exceeded,  it  cannot 
even  be  maintained  as  an  average.  The 
horses  that  have  done  twenty-five  miles  on 
Monday  will  not  be  expected  to  do  much  on 
Tuesday.  Moreover,  a  twenty-five-mile 
drive  is  a  tiring  thing,  and  nobody  cares  to 
do  it  two  or  three  times  a  week.  If  this 
estimate  of  the  use  of  horse-flesh  seems    too 


small,  let  the  reader  who  lives  in  the  country'' 
and  keeps  horses  ask  himself  how  often  weeks 
pass  before  he  makes  a  call  due  at  a  house 
a  dozen  miles  away.  And  this  keeping  of 
horses  is  an  expensive  business,  with  all 
the  concomitant  and  never-ceasing  payments 
for  doctoring,  shoeing,  saddlery,  brushes, 
clothing,  cleaning-pastes,  etc.  A  carriage  and 
pair  means  $2,000  a  3^ear  in  town  and  more 
than  $1,500  in  the  country,  as  it  involves 
there  at  least  one  other  carriage,  alternative 
horses,  and  two  servants.  "Moderate  means" 
in  the  country  permits  of  only  one  horse  and 
carriage,  and  this,  including  a  man  in  livery 
but  charging  nothing  for  stabling,  involves  an 
expenditure  of  $600  per  annum,  after  an  ' 
initial  outla}^  of  from  $500  to  $1,000,  accord- 
ing to  the  style  of  the  turnout.  Recent 
exaggerated  estimates  of  the  cost  of  keeping  an 
automobile  have  misled  opinion.  It  is  well 
within  the  mark,  however,  to  say  that  a  big 
car  should  not  cost  less  than  a  carriage  and 
pair,  and  a  small  car  less  than  a  horse  and 
carriage.  A  correspondent  of  the  AiUomohile 
Club  Journal  has  just  given  exact  figures  of 
the  use  and  cost  of  his  ten  horse-power,  four-  ' 
seated  car.  He  does  not  keep  a  man,  and 
nothing  is  allowed  for  depreciation.  His 
average  number  of  passengers  was  three,  his 
average  speed  eighteen  to  twenty  miles  an 
hour,  his  distance  run  in  the  year  4,975  iriiles, 
and  his  total  cost  was  little  more  than  $575. 
And  this,  be  it  remembered,  is  what  the 
ordinary  man  would  call  a  "big  car."  Another 
correspondent  in  the  Motor-car  Journal  gives 
his  figures  for  five  months  of  the  ownership 
of  a  five  horse-power,  three-wheeled  tandem, 
which  would  be  little  cheaper  than  a  two- 
seated  car.  He  drove  it  1,648  miles,  and 
his  entire  expenditure  was  about  $22.50,  or 
a  little  more  than  a  cent  a  mile.  He  describes 
himself  as  a  "man  who  conducts  a  small 
country  business." 

My  point  in  giving  these  figures  is  to  show 
that  everybody  who  keeps  a  horse  may  keep 
a  car  for  less  money,  and  that  thousands  of 
people  who  have  never  felt  that  they  could 
afford  a  horse  will  certainly  keep  a  small  car 
as  soon  as  they  learn  the  cheapness  and 
reliability  of  it.  Now  to  return  to  the  ques- 
tion of  radius,  which  for  horse-keepers  I  have 
put  down  at  about  twelve  miles.  For  non- 
horse-keepers  it  is,  of  course,  much  less, 
unless  they  ride  bicycles,  and  a  man  and  his 
wife  cannot  go  out  to  dinner  on  bicycles,  or, 


THE    COMING    OF   THE   AUTOMOIULE 


3307 


indeed,  go  out  regularly  with  comfort  during 
several  months  of  the  year.  With  a  car 
of  ten  or  twelve  horse-power  the  radius  of  a 
family — the  whole  family — is  comfortably 
thirty  miles,  and,  of  course,  much  more 
on  occasion  and  if  they  like  motoring.  To 
go  to  lunch  thirty  miles  away  and  come 
back  is  an  easy  performance;  and  a  hundred 
miles  in  the  day,  fifty  out  and  back,  can 
often  be  done  not  only  without  undue  fatigue, 
but  with  great  enjoyment  and  benefit.  Now 
the  area  of  a  circle  whose  radius  is  twelve 
miles  is  452  square  miles,  but  the  area  of  one 
whose  radius  is  thirty  miles  is  2,827  square 
miles.  Thus  the  car-owner  has  a  sphere  of 
activity  exceeding  by  no  less  than  2,375 
square  miles  that  of  the  horse-owner,  with 
all  its  additional  opportunities  of  intercourse 
with  his  fellows.  In  other  words,  the  pos- 
session of  a  car  multiplies  the  contents  and 
the  effective  sphere  of  his  life  by  more  than 
six — and  by  much  more  if  he  did  not  and 
cannot  keep  a  horse.  Think  of  what  it  means. 
Every  friend  within  3,000  square  miles  can 
be  visited,  any  place  of  worship  or  lecture  or 
concert  attended,  and  business  appointment 
kept,  the  train  met  at  any  railway  station, 
every  post  and  telegraph  and  telephone 
office  within  reach,  every  physician  accessible, 
any  place  reached  for  golf  or  tennis  or  fishing 
or  shooting,  and  with  it  all  fresh  air  inhaled 
under  exhilarating  conditions.  It  is  a  revolu- 
tion in  daily  life.  With  an  automobile  one 
lives  three  times  as  much  in  the  same  span 
of  years,  and  one's  life,  therefore,  becomes  to 
that  extent  wider  and  more  interesting. 

The  influence  upon  the  community  will  be 
no  less  than  upon  the  individual.  Our 
country  districts  will  revive.  The  old  coach- 
ing roads  and  coaching  inns  will  once  more 
be  thronged  with  travelers.  We  shall  know 
the  land  we  live  in — its  rural  interests,  its 
beauties,  its  antiquities.  Country  residential 
property  will  rise  in  value.  The  man  who 
has  business  in  the  town  will  no  longer  be 
dependent  upon  a  slow  and  rare  service  of 
trains.  His  first-class  carriage  will  await  his 
will  in  his  own  coach-house.  Therefore  thou- 
sands of  the  town-dwellers  of  today  will  be 
the  country-dwellers  of  tomorrow.  It  will 
no  more  be  necessary  for  those  who  would 
dwell  in  the  country  to  stipulate  that  their 
house  shall  not  be  more  than  so  many  miles 
from  a  railway  station.  To  the  car-owner 
it   is   virtually   the   same   thing  whether   his 


home  is  one  mile  or  a  dozen  miles  from  his 
nearest  railway.  This  will  bring  into  the 
market  at  good  prices  a  great  numljcr  of 
country  places  unletable  and  unsalable 
today.  There  will  soon  arise,  in  consequence, 
an  irresistible  demand  for  better  roads — in 
all  probability  for  a  division  of  road-control 
similar  to  that  of  France,  the  main  arteries 
under  the  direct  management  of  the  state, 
the  smaller  roads  under  local  control.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  the  present  absurd  laws 
regarding  speed  will  soon  be  altered — by 
abolishing  all  restriction  upon  speed,  and 
making  every  driver  responsible,  under  heavy 
penalties,  for  inconsiderate  or  dangerous 
driving. 

So  much  for  the  privately  owned  car  and 
its  future  influence.  This,  however,  will  be 
but  a  minor  factor  in  the  coming  development 
of  motor  traffic.  The  motor  vehicle  for  busi- 
ness purposes  will  soon  be  universal.  Already 
the  more  enterprising  tradesmen  are  using, 
with  greater  efficiency  ^pd  economy,  light 
motor  vans  for  the  collection  and  delivery  of 
their  goods.  In  New  York  heavy  commercial 
transport  is  being  rapidly  absorbed  by  the 
motor.  A  few  years  hence  we  shall  look 
back  with  a  smile  to  the  practice  of  the  rail- 
ways and  large  firms  in  using  horse-drawn 
vans.  Commercial  travelers  will  take  their 
samples  through  the  country  in  suitable 
motor-cars. 

Agriculture  will  be  one  of  the  chief  indus- 
tries to  benefit  by  the  coming  revolution. 
Already  a  company  has  been  formed  for 
manufacturing  an  agricultural  gasoline  motor 
which  has  proved  its  practicability.  Most 
of  the  important  large  farming  tasks  in  the 
United  States  are  accomplished  by  some 
kind  of  engine  or  motor.  A  motor  lawn- 
mower  already  makes  it  less  costly  to  keep 
up  those  stretches  of  glorious  sward  which 
England  alone  can  show.  Groups  of  farmers 
will  combine  to  send  their  milk,  eggs,  butter, 
fruit  and  vegetables  to  a  town  market  if 
within  thirty  miles,  or  if  farther  to  a  railway. 
By  the  return  journey  the  farmer  will  get  his 
supplies  from  town  or  rail  at  a  fraction  of 
their  present  transport  cost. 

The  coming  of  the  motor  means  an  abso- 
lute change  of  the  nature  and  conditions  of 
passenger  traffic  in  cities.  The  cab  horse  and 
the  stage  horse  will  soon  be  extinct  as  the 
megatherium — to  the  satisfaction  of  every 
lover  of  horses.     The  public  motor  phaeton 


33o8 


THE    COMING    OF    THE    AUTOMOBILE 


for  fine  weather,  with  a  closing  body  for  wet 
weather,  has  been  long  in  coming,  but  it  will 
arrive  with  a  rush.  The  luxurious  electric 
brougham,  weighing  a  ton  or  more,  devouring 
costly  electric  energy  and  unfitted  to  go 
outside  city  limits,  does  not  touch  this 
problem,  being  merely  for  the  pleasure  of  the 
wealthy.  But  the  neat,  quiet,  quick,  com- 
fortable little  car,  seating  two  besides  the 
driver  and  charging  twelve  cents  a  mile,  will 
sweep  the  awkward  and  dangerous  hansoms 
from  the  street.  An  excellent  motor  omnibus 
has  just  made  its  appearance  in  London,  and 
from  the  moment  that  its  speed,  reliability 
and  comfort  are  proved,  that  utter  abomina- 
tion of  locomotion,  the  'bus,  the  despair  of  all 
students  of  traffic  probleras,  is  doomed. 

For  my  own  part,  I  am  convinced  that  ten 
years  hence  there  will  not  be  a  horse  left  in 
the  streets  of  London  or  New  York  except 
the  few  kept  purely  for  pleasure  and  pride  in 
their  beauty  and  strength  and  for  police  and 
military  purposes. •:■  Their  disappearance  will 
have  three  results:  first,  twice  as  much  traffic 
can  be  accommodated  in  any  area;  second, 
the  streets,  no  longer  subjected  to  the  pound- 
ing of  their  iron-shod  hoofs,  will  be  smooth 
and  quiet  and  will  last  incomparably  longer 
— to  the  saving  of  the  taxpayers'  money; 
and  third,  there  will  not  be  5,000  tons  of 
manure  deposited  in  London  every  day,  to  be 
collected  and  carted  away,  filling  the  air  with 
ammoniacal  odors  and  the  lungs  with  poison- 
ous dust,  and  costing  an  enormous  yearly 
sum  for.  its  final  disposition. 

I  am  even  inclined  to  go  a  step  further  and 
hazard  the  opinion  that  the  motor  will  kill 
the  railway.  Why  should  the  community  pay 
a  huge  sum  per  raile  for  a  special  roadway  for 
electric  cars  and  a  huge  generating  station, 
when  self-propelled  motor  omnibuses  of 
equal  speed,  comfort,  capacity  and  economy 
can  use  the  common  road,  and,  by  their 
ability  to  be  steered  round  obstacles,  not 
Interfere  with  the  rest  of  the  traffic  ? 
I  am  convinced  that  municipalities  would 
consult  their  own  interests  by  carefully  con- 
sidering the  introduction  of  motor  omnibuses 
before  embarking  upon  the  heavy  initial  cost 
of  an  electric  railway  system  which  may 
quite  likely  be  obsolete  before  their  deprecia- 
tion fund  has  been  charged  a  dozen  times. 

One  great  organization  alone — the  greatest 
of  all,  the  railways — will  suffer  from  the 
coming  of  the  motor.     The   motor  will   rob 


them  of  passenger  traffic,  of  the  transport  of 
mails  except  for  long  distances,  of  the  carry- 
ing of  light  goods  and  light  agricultural  prod- 
uce, and  will  prevent  them  from  opening  up 
new  districts,  which  will  be  served  by  light 
lines  and  motor  vehicles  as  today  in  America 
by  the  electric  trolley.  To  some  extent  the 
injury  will  be  mitigated  by  the  motor  bringing 
to  them  agricultural  produce  from  wider 
areas  than  can  produce  it  profitably  to  cart 
to  the  rail;  and,  of  course,  the  motor-engine, 
or  rapid  succession  of  motor  carriages,  as 
already  planned  in  France  and  Austria,  will 
replace  the  steam  locomotive  for  suburban 
and  light  fast  traffic.  But  on  the  whole,  the 
stage-coach  will  be  avenged  upon  the  railway 
by  the  motor. 

There  are  several  other  aspects  of  the 
development  of  motoring — such,  for  example, 
as  the  motor  on  water,  where  also  it  will 
effect  great  changes;  and  the  stationary 
gasoline  motor  for  light  manufacturing  and 
domestic  purposes.^  One  more  matter,  how- 
ever, cannot  be  passed  over,  namely,  the 
colossal  industry  that  the  manufacture  of 
motor-cars  and  all  that  belongs  to  them 
will  become. 

In  1902  Great  Britian  imported  motors  and 
parts  to  the  value  of  $5,512,310  and  exported 
only  $657,405.  The  value  of  the  American 
output  of  motor  vehicles  for  1902  is  officially 
reckoned  at  $25,000,000.  In  the  »ame  year 
France  exported  motor-cars  to  the  value  of 
$5,310,200.  Two  firms  manufacturing  pneu- 
matic tires  in  France  turned  out  in  1902 
$4,100,000  worth,  and  each  of  them  has 
$400,000  worth  of  goods  in  the  charge  of 
agents.  Seventy  French  firms  manufacture 
motor-cars,  and  their  combined  output  last 
year  was  1 2 ,000  cars.  The  industry  employed 
180,000  workmen,  earning  on  an  average 
$360  a  year  each. 

That  the  coming  of  the  automobile  will  be 
a  social  and  industrial  revolution  I  have  not 
the  slightest  doubt;  that  it  will  add  vastly 
to  the  sum  of  human  pleasure  and  health  is 
certain;  that  it  will  render  what  Mr.  Hardy 
calls  "the  doubtful  honor  of  a  brief  transit 
through  a  sorry  world,"  a  fuller  and  more 
interesting  experience,  I  feel  sure.     In  fact,  if 

"  'Tis  life  whereof  our  nerves  are  scant, 
More  life,  and  fuller,  than  we  want," 

the  motor-car,  in  one  sense,  bids  fair  to  go  a 
good  way  toward  supplying  the  deficiency. 


TWENTY    MILLIONS    FOR    PRACTICAL 

CHURCH    WORK 

THE  PERSONA!,  STORY  OF  HOW  THE  TWENTIETH 
CENTURY  THANK-OFFERING  OF  THE  METHODIST  CHURtH 
BROUGHT   $20,ocx),ooo    TO     EDUCATION    AND     BENEVOLENCE 

BY 

EDMUND  M.  MILLS,  PH.D.,   D.D. 

SECRETARY    AND   EXECUTIVE  HEAD   UF    THE   THANK-OFFERING  COMMISSION 


THE  culmination  of  any  undertaking 
that  can  point  to  "millions  in  it" 
is  interesting  to  the  average 
American.  The  story  of  a  gold  or  silver 
mine  with  a  $20,000,000  output;  of  a  lucky 
speculation  netting  stock  gamblers  a  score 
of  millions;  of  an  invention  enriching  its 
discoverer  or  promotors  by  that  amount 
anywhere  would  have  eager  readers.  How 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  raised  its 
thank-offering  of  more  than  $20,000,000  is  of 
interest  to  others  besides  churchmen. 

The  thank-offering  was  the  idea  of  a 
Methodist  layman  in  England  who  is  the 
son  of  a  Methodist  minister.  Honorable 
Robert  W.  Perks,  a  member  of  Parliament, 
is  the  solicitor  of  a  London  railroad  company. 
He  was  impressed  by  the  vast  aggregate 
resulting  from  railroad  fares  none  greater 
than  a  shilling.  Why  not  fill  the  treasuries 
of  the  institutions  of  the  church  by  a  thank- 
offering  of  a  million  guineas  from  a  million 
persons?  The  aim  must  justify  itself  to  the 
cold  judgment  of  the  church  and  its  adherents, 
but  sentiment  must  be  kindled  and  enthusi- 
asm roused.  The  fund  was  to  be  a  thank- 
oflfering  to  God  for  the  most  glorious  century 
in  human  history.  Mr.  Perks  persuaded  the 
English  Wesleyan  Methodist  Conference  to 
make  the  attempt.  The  complete  success 
of  that  thank-offering  fund  is  known  all 
over  the  world. 

Probably  it  will  never  be  known  who  was 
the  first  to  propose  that  the  American  Metho- 
dists should  make  a  thank-offering.  It  is 
likely  that  with  the  English  example  before 
them  the  suggestion  came  to  many.  The 
presidents  of  Methodist  schools  whose  needs 
had  been  only  partially  met  by  the  churches 
because  of  pressing  local  claims  felt  that  this 


was  their  opportunity.  They  sent  a  com- 
mittee to  petition  the  bishops  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  at  their  meeting,  held 
in  Trinity  Church,  Springfield,  Mass.,  Novem- 
ber I,  1898,  to  appeal  to  the  church  to  make 
a  thank-offering  to  be  devoted  to  church 
educational  institutions.  They  received  a 
cordial,  sympathetic  hearing.  The  bishops, 
after  long  and  earnest  deliberation  and 
debate  on  what  objects  should  be  included 
in  the  thank-offering,  and  how  much  should 
be  asked  for,  enlarged  the  proposed  scope  of 
the  movement,  and  appealed  to  the  church 
and  its  friends  for  a  thank-offering  of 
$20,000,000  to  be  devoted  to  permanent 
work  or  endowment  for  the  following  objects : 

(a)  "  For  education  as  represented  either 

by  particular  schools  in  this  country 
and  in  foreign  lands,  or  by  a  general 
educational  fund  for  the  aid  of  needy 
schools. 

(b)  "  For     charitable      or     philanthropic 

work  as  previously  set  forth. 

(c)  "  For  endowment  for  city  evangeliza- 

tion. 

(d)  "  For  invested  funds  for  the  support 

of  conference  claimants. 

(e)  "  For   the   payment   of   debts   on  our 

various  kinds  of  church  property. 

(f)  "  For   any  specific  objects  in  foreign 

fields." 
This  fund  was  to  be  above  and  beyond  the 
regular  gifts  of  the  churches  for  their  own 
support  and  the  support  of  denominational 
benevolences.  Nothing  used  for  current  ex- 
penses could  count  on  the  thank-offering. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  in  several  important 
particulars  this  thank-offering  differs  from 
the  English  one.  Here  no  specified  gift  was 
asked    from    the    individual.     In     England 


33IO     TWENTY   MILLIONS    FOR    PRACTICAL  CHURCH    WORK 


everything  went  into  a  central  treasury, 
from  which  each  of  the  various  objects 
received  a  share,  the  size  of  which  had  been 
determined  and  announced  beforehand. 
Here  the  giver  had  the  right  to  determine  to 
what  object  his  thank-offering  should  be 
devoted.  He  was  encouraged  to  give,  know- 
ing that  the  cause  he  was  interested  in  was 
to  receive  his  entire  gift.  Again,  the  gift  went 
directly  to  the  treasury  of  the  cause  for  which 
it  was  given.  The  share  that  any  organiza- 
tion or  institution  received  was  determined 
by  its  promptness  and  perseverance  in  getting 
and  keeping  its  needs  and  worth  before  the 
church.  The  presidents  of  some  church 
educational  and  philanthropic  institutions 
are  greatly  disappointed  that  a  movement 
they  fondly  dreamed  would  fill  their  coffers 
without  any  effort  on  their  part  leaves  them 
discredited  and  less  prepared  to  meet 
competition,  because  their  more  active  and 
enterprising  rivals  have  seized  and  improved 
a  great  opporttmity. 

The  bishops  appointed  a  Twentieth- 
Century  Thank-Offering  Commission  to  give 
direction  to  the  movement.  The  commis- 
sion consisted  of  seven  bishops,  eight  clergv^- 
men — either  college  presidents  or  identified 
with  the  educational  work  of  the  church — 
and  fifteen  representative  laymen.  Bishop 
Edward  G.  Andrews,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  who  has 
his  official  residence  in  New  York  city,  was 
subsequently  elected  President  of  the  Thank- 
Offering  Commission,  and  Reverend  Doctor 
Frank  A.  Parkin,  of  Germantown,  Pa., 
one  of  the  most  successful  and  popular 
pastors  of  Methodism,  was  elected  corre- 
sponding secretary.  Doctor  Parkin  has  been 
engaged  with  his  people  in  the  erection  of 
one  of  the  most  expensive  and  beautiful 
church  structures  in  the  denomination.  This, 
added  to  his  duties  as  a  pastor  and  preacher, 
left  him  run  down  nervously.  His  physician, 
one  of  his  parishioners,  warned  him  that 
he  had  reached  his  limit  of  work,  that  rest 
would  bring  him  restored  health,  but  that 
if  he  persevered  in  his  resolution  to  superin- 
tend this  new  enterprise  he  would  break 
down  entirely.  Doctor  Parkin,  thus  warned, 
reluctantly  resigned.  I  was  chosen  to  suc- 
ceed him,  and  no  one  has  more  cordially 
cooperated  with  me,  or  has  rejoiced  more 
heartily  over  the  success  of  the  thank-offering, 
than  Doctor  Parkin. 

The    work    began    March    20,    1899.     We 


sent  our  requests  to  many  leaders  of  the 
church  for  suggestions  for  organization. 
More  than  a  hundred  replies  were  received. 
The  plan  of  organization  finally  proposed  to 
the  commission  and  adopted  by  it  provided 
for  a  thank-offering  commission  in  every 
annual  conference,  presiding  elder's  dis- 
trict and  pastoral  charge.  The  work  was 
not  to  be  carried  on  by  an  army  of  salaried 
agents,  but  by  the  bishops,  presiding  elders 
and  pastors  enlisting  the  laymen  and  cooper- 
ating with  them.  That  the  plan  was  suc- 
cessful is  seen  by  the  fact  that  nearly 
$21,000,000  have  been  secured,  with  the 
expenses  of  the  General  Commission  consid- 
erably less  than  $20,000.  It  was  not  success- 
ful everywhere.  In  some  conferences  it 
was  a  lamentable  failure.  A  few  conferences 
did  nothing  more  than  organize  because  of  a 
lack  of  leaders.  To  raise  $20,000,000  required 
an  average  gift  of  $9  from  the  white  members 
of  the  church.  The  Los  Angeles  (California) 
district,  through  its  presiding  elder.  Reverend 
Doctor  Bovard,  reports  $36  a  member  for 
the  thank-offering  from  its  more  than  6,000 
members.  Other  districts  as  wealthy  have 
not  contributed  S5  per  member.  The  colored 
conferences  were  willing  and  generous,  but 
poor. 

An  educator  declared  to  a  congregation, 
gathered  to  hear  the  thank-offering  advo- 
cated, that  the  addition  of  such  a  vast  amount 
to  the  resources  of  the  church  must  be 
fraught  with  great  peril  to  her.  His  insti- 
tution has  not  been  imperiled  to  the  amount 
of  a  dollar.  Many  true  friends  of  the  church, 
forgetting  that  the  sowing  must  go  before  the 
reaping,  were  greatly  disquieted  by  such 
prophecies  and  criticisms,  but  those  who 
wanted  miracles — or  immediate  results — 
predicted  failure  if  torchlight  and  brass- 
band  methods  were  not  added  at  once.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  it  was  not  a  small 
task  that  the  bishops  had  appealed  to  the 
church  to  undertake.  For  $15,000,000  the 
United  States  bought  an  empire  in  the 
southwest  from  France.  For  a  little  more 
than  a  third  of  the  proposed  thank-offering 
we  purchased  Alaska  from  Russia.  After  pro- 
viding the  largest  submarine  navy  in  the 
world  for  Spain  she  sold  us  the  Philippines 
for  820,000,000. 

The  very  magnitude  of  the  undertaking, 
however,  was  inspiring.  From  unexpected 
quarters     came     encouragement.     The     first 


TWENTY   MILLIONS    FOR   PRACTICAL    CHURCH    WORK     3311 


I 


gift  reported  to  the  secretary  was  a  double 
gold  eagle  from  a  day-laborer  in  the  north- 
west. The  two  women's  missionary  societies 
each  resolved  to  contribute  $200,000  toward 
the  $20,000,000.  One  gave  in  the  end 
$409,000,  besides  increasing  its  regular  con- 
tributions for  current  expenses;  the  other 
went  far  beyond  its  proposed  thank-offering. 
The  conferences  made  up  of  foreigners  were 
among  the  first  to  respond.  One  German 
conference,  made  up  of  people  in  moderate 
circumstances,  gave  $20  per  member  to 
the  thank-offering,  and  a  Norwegian  confer- 
ence surpassed  it  with  $22  per  member. 
The  Church  Extension  Society  and  the 
Freedmen's  Aid  and  Southern  Education 
Society  wheeled  into  line.  Twelve  leaflets 
bearing  on  various  phases  of  the  movement 
were  printed  and  sent  to  every  pastor  and 
presiding  elder  in  the  church,  and  they  were 
urged  to  circulate  them  freely.  The  postage 
bill  for  these  samples  alone  was  between 
$200  and  $300.  The  church  newspapers 
were  furnished  with  items  that  would  arouse 
curiosity  and  create  interest  in  the  thank- 
offering.  The  Secretary  was  constantly  em- 
ployed in  addressing  the  annual  conferences 
where  the  pastors  met,  and  twentieth-century 
thank-offering  conventions,  and  in  carrying 
on  a  correspondence  that  extended  to  every 
part  of  the  church.  With  Reverend  Doctor 
W.  F.  McDowell,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  who  has  had  a  large  share  in 
securing  the  $8,500,000  for  church  schools, 
I  went  to  Portland,  Ore.,  and  for  thirty 
days  we  spoke  in  the  interests  of  Methodist 
denominational  schools,  averaging  more  than 
one  address  a  day  for  that  period,  and  closing 
that  campaign  at  Riverside,  in  southern  Cali- 
fornia. For  a  thousand  miles  down  the  coast 
the  claims  of  four  Methodist  colleges  were 
urged.  Five  weeks  were  spent  in  Iowa  at 
various  times,  and  more  than  forty  addresses 
were  made  in  that  commonwealth  alone.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  the  church  ever  witnessed 
just  such  another  campaign  for  education  as 
was  carried  on  for  one  college  in  Iowa.  The 
college  president,  financial  agent  and  college 
quartette  visited  with  me  a  dozen  of  the 
cities  and  the  principal  villages  of  its  patron- 
izing territory.  The  meetings  were  thoroughly 
advertised.  The  young  people  came  out  to 
hear  the  quartette.  The  old  people  came 
out  because  the  young  people  had.  After 
the   meetings   young   men   and   women   who 


wanted  to  go  to  college  crowded  around  the 
president  to  make  arrangements.  The  men 
and  women  who  had  money  were  not  always 
as  eager  to  interview  me.  We  sought  them 
out,  and  if  they  escaped  without  an  offering 
then  they  were  reserved  for  future  and 
further  treatment.  This  institution  had  a  foot- 
ball team  that  had  won  a  series  of  brilliant 
victories.  One  of  its  best  players  startled 
me  by  seriously  proposing  that  football  games 
be  arranged  for  the  afternoons  with  the 
local  teams  where  the  evening  meetings  were 
to  be  held.  He  was  sure  that  the  young 
men  in  the  places  visited  would  then  decide 
without  hesitation  that  there  was  only  one 
place  where  the  right  kind  of  a  college  educa- 
tion could  be  secured.  Although  not  opposed 
to  new  schemes,  I  had  to  veto  the  idea. 

In  personally  representing  the  thank- 
offering  I  visited  every  state  in  the  Union 
and  have  traveled  more  than  170,000  miles. 
The  first  year  the  payment  of  church  debts 
more  than  any  other  object  claimed  the  atten- 
tion of  the  church.  When  the  thank-offering 
began,  January  i,  1899,  interest  was  being 
paid  on  debts  resting  on  churches  and  parson- 
ages that  amounted  to  $12,500,000.  The 
country  was  emerging  from  a  period  of  great 
financial  depression.  The  debts  that  dis- 
credited where  they  did  not  imperil  the  local 
churches  should  be  paid  without  delay.  The 
papers  became  filled  with  reports  of  Methodist 
churches  that  had  paid  their  debts.  Mr. 
Henry  Benedict,  a  layman  of  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  proposed  that  the  Methodist  churches 
of  that  city  pool  and  pay  all  their  debts. 
The  aggregate  was  only  $70,000,  but  it 
encouraged  others. 

When  we  went  to  a  field,  while  we  repre- 
sented all  the  objects  included  in  the  thank- 
offering,  we  emphasized  the  things  the  Metho- 
dists of  that  place  were  intent  on  doing. 
In  one  place  the  college  had  the  right  of 
way,  in  another  the  local  church  debt,  in  a 
third  the  Orphanage  or  Worn-Out  Preachers' 
Fund.  The  most  remarkable  thing  about 
the  thank-offering  movement  is  that  with 
six  different  objects  entitled  to  enter  any 
church  field  and  present  its  claims,  there  has 
scarcely  been  any  friction  between  them  or 
their  representatives.  When  one  college 
received  a  large  gift  the  friends  of  all  the 
other  colleges  rejoiced,  for  they  knew  it 
would  help  their  institutions.  The  -emphasis 
has  been  placed  on  the  endowment  of  church 


3312      TWENTY    MILLIONS    FOR    PRACTICAL    CHURCH    WORK 


colleges  and  academies.  "When  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  entered  upon  the  thank- 
offering  movement  she  had  $27,000,000 
invested  in  her  schools.  She  closes  it  with 
$36,000,000  assured,  and  she  will  make  it 
at  least  $50,000,000  inside  of  the  next  five 
years.  Cornell  College,  Iowa,  reported  one 
day  that  its  thank-offering  had  reached 
$350,000.  The  other  Methodist  colleges  of 
that  commonwealth  only  took  time  to  con- 
gratulate her  and  then  redoubled  their  efforts 
to  secure  ample  endowments.  Mr.  John  D. 
Archibald  offered  $400,000  to  Syracuse  Uni- 
versity on  condition  that  the  conferences 
raise  a  like  amount.  The  Chancellor,  Rev- 
erend Doctor  James  R.  Day,  rallied  the 
churches  with  such  good  effect  that  its 
thank-offering  rose  to  $1,203,000.  In  seven 
years  its  students  have  increased  from  700 
to  more  than  2,000.  The  $8,500,000  raised 
on  education  for  the  thank-offering,  and  the 
$500,000  that  has  come  in  through  other 
channels,  have  been  used  to  equip  and  endow 
institutions  already  in  existence.  After 
Allegheny  College  had  received  a  beautiful 
chapel,  science  building  and  library,  Mr. 
F.  A.  Arter,  of  Cleveland,  offered  to  give 
S6o,ooo  toward  its  endowment  if  $180,000 
additional  was  contributed  for  the  same 
purpose.  His  proposition  was  promptly  met. 
In  two  other  fields  Mr.  Arter  made  thank- 
offering  victories  possible.  He  offered  to 
pay  one-quarter  of  the  debt  of  any  j\Iethodist 
church  in  Cleveland  if  it  paid  the  rest.  Cleve- 
land Methodism  is  practically  free  from  debt 
except  in  one  church.  He  then  offered  to 
give  $1  for  every  $9  raised  for  the 
aged  Methodist  ministers  of  one  of  the  Ohio 
conferences.  The  Nebraska  Wesley  an  Uni- 
versity paid  what  seemed  an  overwhelming 
debt.  Hamline  University  added  $250,000 
to  its  endowment.  Mr.  John  E.  Andrus,  of 
Yonkers,  offered  $50,000  to  the  Worn-Out 
Preachers'  Fund  of  the  New  York  Conference 
if  that  body  would  raise  $100,000. 

All  the  time  through  the  letters  that  poured 
into  the  central  office  of  the  commission 
the  Secretary  was  enabled  to  keep  his  hand 
on  the  pulse  of  the  church.  Every  victory 
was  reported.  The  poor  vied  with  the  rich. 
A  little  later  the  hospitals  and  orphanages 
and  old  peoples'  homes  began  to  have  their 
turn.  Thirty  years  ago  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  did  not  have  a  single  hospital. 
During  the  thank-offering  period  she  founded 


two  in  one  state.  They  have  sprung  up  as 
if  by  magic  from  Boston  to  Seattle.  The 
$2,500,000  raised  for  this  purpose  under  the 
thank-offering  is  but  the  beginning.  Many 
of  the  letters  received  were  pathetic  in  the 
extreme.  Some  experiences  have  been  more 
amusing  than  pathetic.  A  saloon-keeper 
assured  me  that  his  mother,  now  dead,  had 
been  a  true  Methodist,  while  his  wife  had  no 
use  for  Methodists,  but  belonged  to  the 
Church.     Said  this  man: 

"If  you  will  come  round  to  my  place  I 
will  give  you  $10  for  your  thank-offering. 
I   want    the    Methodists    to    keep    ahead    of 

the    s.     It    will    make    my  old   woman 

squirm  when  you  get  ^-our  $20,000,000." 
That  $10  has  not  been  called  for  yet ! 

The  sons  and  daughters  of  Methodist 
ministers  have  been  much  in  evidence  during 
the  thank-offering  movement.  The  largest  gift 
ever  made  to  a  Methodist  University  was  made 
by  a  Methodist  minister's  son;  the  largest 
gift  ever  made  to  a  Methodist  charitable 
institution  was  made  by  another  Methodist 
minister's  son ;  and  the  largest  gift  ever  made 
to  the  support  of  aged  Methodist  ministers 
was  by  another  Methodist  minister's  son. 
The  bishops  of  the  church,  by  their  active, 
hearty  support,  brought  to  the  thank-offering, 
many  of  its  greatest  successes.  They  not 
only  called  the  church  to  undertake  the 
work,  but  led  them  in  it.  Thousands  of 
humble  ministers  and  laymen  worked  hard 
and  as  effectively  as  the  leaders.  It  was 
a  great  partnership  for  success. 

The  result  in  four  years  is  a  thank-offering 
of  $20,800,000,  and  in  addition  $16,931,030 
spent  for  new  churches  and  parsonages  and 
improvements  on  churches  and  parsonages, 
making  a  total  of  $37,731,030,  besides  in- 
creasing the  gifts  for  regular  benevolences 
and  meeting  the  current  expenses  of  their 
churches.  The  church  historian  will  say 
that  the  thank-offering  closed  at  midnight, 
December  31,  1902,  but  the  forces  it  set  in 
motion  will  last  a  thousand  years.  Prob- 
ably without  the  thank-offering  some  of 
these  millions  would  have  come  into  the 
treasury  of  the  church,  but  a  harvest  of  far 
more  than  $20,000,000  will  come  directly 
from  the  seed-sowing  of  this  period.  Men, 
as  long  as  they  think  of  the  tlaank-offering, 
will  find  a  reply  to  rebuke  and  silence  the 
prophets  of  indecision,  of  selfishness  and 
of  unbelief. 


A    DAY'S    WORK    OF   A    RAILROAD 

PRESIDENT 


BY 


F.  N.  BARKSDALE 


I  WANT  to  see  the  president,"  said  a 
visitor  with  the  dress  and  bearing  of  a 
farmer,  in  the  anteroom  of  the  execu- 
tive office  of  a  railway  corporation. 

"Write  your  name,  address  and  the 
subject  of  your  interview  on  this  card." 

"I  don't  want  to  write  to  him.  .1  could 
have  done  that  at  home.  I  want  to  see  him 
and  talk  to  him.  Tell  him  Hiram  Horton,  of 
Whitestone  Township,  wants  to  see  him  on 
very  important  business." 

The  message  was  delivered  to  the  chief 
clerk,  who,  with  accustomed  urbanity,  greeted 
Mr.  Horton  and  inquired  the  nature  of  his 
business. 

"  It  seems  strange  that  I  should  take  the 
trouble  to  come  all  the  way  here  from  my 
place  to  do  a  great  benefit  to  this  company, 
and  then  not  be  allowed  to  do  my  business 
with  the  head  man.  I  don't  want  to  deal 
with  no  understrappers,  but  I  want  to  talk  to 
the  boss  himself. " 

"  But  the  president  is  exceedingly  busy  and 
I  may  be  able  to  act  for  him,"  retorted  the 
clerk. 

"You're  too  fresh,  young  man — you  can't 
do  this  business;  but,  if  you  must  know,  I  will 
tell  you  that  I  want  to  sell  him  a  gravel-pit  at 
my  place.     It's  the " 

"  But,  sir,  the  president  cannot  attend  to 
those  little  details.     His  time  is  too  valuable.  " 

"  Little  details  do  you  call  'em !  Why, 
that's  the  finest  gravel  in  Whitestone  Town- 
ship. I  know  you  people  want  it.  I  have 
samples  of  it  here,  and  I  want  to  explain  to 
the  boss  all  about  it  and  fix  the  price,  and  I 
want  some  money  on  account  today." 

"  It  is  simply  impossible,  Mr.  Horton,  for 
the  president  to  see  you.  The  local  superin- 
tendent attends  to  such  matters.  Go  home 
and   see   him." 

Hot  on  the  heels  of  the  retreating  and 
disappointed  farmer  came  a  delegation  of 
distinguished-looking  men  in  high  hats  and 
fur  coats.     They  were  evidently  expected,  for 


they  were  ushered  into  the  presence  of  the 
president  without  intervening  ceremony. 
Their  mission  was  to  dispose  of  a  controlling 
interest  in  another  great  property,  and  even 
the  chief  clerk  did  not  overhear  their  propo- 
sition. 

A  group  of  newspaper  reporters  trailed  the 
delegation  to  the  outer  office  to  ferret  out  the 
object  of  the  interview.  Faihng  in  this,  they 
mounted  guard  in  the  hall  to  catch  the  visitors 
as  they  emerged  from  the  temporary  security 
of  the  private  office.  The  chief  clerk,  being  a 
strategist,  guided  their  departing  footsteps 
through  another  exit  at  the  conclusion  of  the 
conference,  and  the  newspaper  men  continued 
to  cool  their  heels  and  to  inflame  their  imagi- 
nations in  the  corridor  for  hours  after  the 
business  was  ended. 

And  so  it  goes  throughout  the  day,  and 
day  by  day. 

The  president  of  a  great  railway  corpora- 
tion is  not  protected  from  working  overtime 
by  the  rules  of  labor-unions.  He  reaches  his 
desk  at  nine  o'clock.  The  mail  that  he  finds 
represents  an  infinitesimal  proportion  of  that 
which  has  been  delivered  to  his  chief  clerk 
from  the  post-office  as  well  as  from  the  bags 
which  come  in  from  all  parts  of  the  railway 
system.  This  mass  of  correspondence  includes 
letters  in  various  languages  on  almost  every 
conceivable  subject.  The  mechanical  world 
sends  suggestions  for  everything  from  track- 
bolts  to  freak  locomotives  and  mammoth 
ships  for  ferrying  trains  across  the  ocean. 
Applications  for  positions  and  for  passes  and 
appeals  for  contributions  and  subscriptions 
are  as  numerous  as  the  stars  in  the  firmament, 
while  letters  of  advice  on  financial  and  traffic 
affairs  form  no  inconsiderable  percentage  of 
this  daily  harvest.  Some  of  the  letters  signed 
with  fictitious  names  take  the  form  of  demands 
for  money,  with  threats;  others  are  from 
"cranks,"  and  are  simply  the  exploitations 
of  visionary  schemes  bred  in  badly  balanced 
brains.     One  wild  dreamer  outlines  on  quires 


3314 


A    DAY'S    WORK    OF    A    RAILROAD    PRESIDENT 


of  paper  a  scheme  for  the  construction  of  a 
transoceanic  railway;  another  presents  plans 
and  specifications  for  eqtiipping  the  front  of 
engines  with  pointed  steel  hoods  to  prevent 
collisions.  An  esthetic  individual  describes 
a  plan  for  beautifying  waste  places  along  the 
line,  and  as  an  antithesis  to  this  proposition 
comes  a  suggestion  to  utilize  these  same 
wastes  for  advertising  purposes.  One  corre- 
spondent offers  his  discovery  as  a  free  gift  in 
the  interest  of  hiunanity;  another  makes  a 
"touch"  for  a  present  in  return  for  a  simple 
suggestion. 

The  clearing  of  his  desk  of  the  morning 
mail  may  occupy  the  first  hour  of  the  day. 
The  next  most  important  thing  is  a  resume 
of  the  commercial,  financial,  industrial  and 
railroad  news  of  the  preceding  day  collected 
from  the  morning  newspapers,  clipped  and 
pasted  upon  cardboard  sheets  for  easy  han- 
dling. A  glance  at  these  discloses  not  only 
the  accumulated  news  of  the  previous  day, 
but  also  the  editorial  comments  of  the  principal 
newspapers. 

Now  the  real  work  of  the  day  begins.  This 
includes  the  consideration  of  an  endless  array 
of  legal,  engineering,  financial,  trafhc  and 
transportation  questions.  The  adoption  of 
plans  for  some  extensive  improvements  in 
terminal  facilities  follows  closely  the  deter- 
mination of  a  question  of  general  policy. 
The  development  of  traffic  by  the  extension 
of  the  main  line  and  branches,  questions 
affecting  the  relations  with  connecting  lines, 
and  matters  relating  to  every  phase  of  the 
vast  field  of  traffic  and  transportation  come 
up  for  settlement.  The  consideration  of 
these  diverse  matters  touches  at  some  point 
almost  every  branch  of  human  activity  which 
yields  something  to  the  demand  of  a  great 
system  of  transportation.  The  chief  enlists 
in  his  aid  in  the  decisions  of  these  multiplied 
issues  the  thought  and  skill  of  his  staff,  who, 
having  worked  out  the  details,  bring  before 
him  the  results  for  final  approval. 

During  the  illness  of  a  late  President  of  the 
United  States,  the  caller  at  the  office  of  a 
president  of  one  of  the  great  railroads  insisted 
on  seeing  the  chief.  The  persistent  efforts 
of  the  attendant  to  ascertain  his  mission 
finally  resulted  in  the  statement  that  he  had 
a  sure  cure  for  the  ills  of  the  unfortunate  man, 
and  needed  a  special  train  to  convey  himself 
and  his  apparatus  to  his  bedside.  When  he 
was  advised  that  the  cost  would  be  near  a 


thousand  dollars,  he  expressed  a  harsh  opinion 
of  the  head  of  a  soulless  corporation  for  allow- 
ing such  a  trifle  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the 
restoration  to  health  of  a  great  patriot.  The 
visit  of  the  pass  fiend  is  a  frequent  occtirrence 
at  the  president's  office.  He  never  sees  the 
president,  but  he  thinks  he  should  see  him. 

The  head  of  a  great  corporation  generally 
occupies  a  similar  position  in  a  number  of 
lesser  and  allied  corporations.  There  are 
stated  and  special  meetings  of  these  bodies  and 
committee  meetings  of  the  general  board  that 
require  his  presence  as  presiding  officer,  and 
these  duties  consume  considerable  time. 
Even  at  luncheon  he  is  not  always  freed  from 
business.  The  majority  of  the  executive 
offices  are  arranged  in  suites  and  include  an 
apartment  where  food  may  be  served.  Here 
the  chief  gathers  about  his  board  officers  of 
his  own  corporation,  visiting  officials,  or 
business  friends  who  may  be  present  either 
by  chance  or  by  appointment. 

There  is  a  popular  delusion  that  the  presi- 
dent's private  car  is  kept  chiefly  for  pleasure 
jaunts  for  himself  and  his  friends.  But  it  is 
as  much  a  workshop  as  his  office,  and  it 
frequently  affords  that  privacy  and  exclu- 
siveness  for  the  transaction  of  business 
which  are  not  obtainable  even  in  the  private 
office.  An  appointment  is  to  be  kept  in  a 
distant  place.  The  president's  car  is  attached 
to  a  regular  train,  or  run  "special"  as  the 
case  may  be.  The  private  secretary  is  directed 
to  report  on  the  car  with  such  mail  and  papers 
as  demand  immediate  attention,  and  the 
president  gets  down  to  work  just  as  if  he  were 
sitting  at  his  desk.  The  despatch  of  business 
is  uninterrupted.  On  the  car  consultations 
are  held  and  conferences  occur  between  the 
chief  and  his  subordinates  or  invited  guests. 
Meals  may  intervene  and  social  intercourse 
may  break  for  a  moment  the  monotony  of 
work,  but  the  spirit  of  business  is  ever 
present.  The  paraphernalia  of  the  workshop, 
such  as  maps,  reports  and  official  papers,  are 
oftener  in  evidence  on  the  private  car  than  any 
of  the  usual  concomitants  of  a  pleasure  jaunt. 

The  hours  of  the  president's  afternoon  are 
filled  with  duties  similar  to  those  of  the 
morning.  There  is  no  cessation  of  the  work 
that  confronts  him  as  long  as  he  remains  at 
his  desk.  The  official  hours  end  generally  at 
four,  and  the  busy  man  seeks  those  social  or 
recreative  diversions  to  which  his  disposition 
inclines. 


A    RANCllKK    AN1>    MIS    KAMII-V    P1CKIN(;    LEMONS 
In  six  years  this  ranch  increased  in  product  more  than  tenfold  without  increase  in  acreage.     'I  he  trees  increase  in  productivity  an  they 

increase  in  size 


GROWING   AMERICAN    LEMONS 

WHY  AMERICAN  IMPORTS  OF  LEMONS  HAVE  DECREASED  BY  MORE  THAN  A 
MILLION  DOLLARS  IN  SIX  YEARS— A  TYPICAL  CALIFORNIA  RANCH— ITS  NATURAL 
ADVANTAGES— HOW    IT    GETS    ITS    W^ATER  — THE     STORY     OF    THE    YEAR'S     CROP 

BY 

W.  S.  HARWOOD 

(Illustrated  from  photographs  taken  by  the  author) 


NOT  long  ago  Sicily  monopolized  the 
American  lemon  market.  Last  year 
California  shipped  out  of  the  State 
nearly  600.000  boxes  of  lemons  in  nearly 
2,000  standard  refrigerator  cars.  With  one 
bound  the  California  ranches  have  gained 
part  of  the  home  trade;  with  another  they 
will  probably  control  the  rest  of  it;  and  with 
a  third  they  may  reach  out  for  foreign  markets 
and,  perhaps,  sell  lemons  in  southern  Europe. 
It  is  the  natural  growth  of  American  industry. 
Lemon  trees  must  be  free  from  frost ,  and  in 
the  long  strip  of  land  between  the  mountains 
and  the  sea  bordering  on  Old  Mexico,  all 
winters  are  summers.  The  difference  between 
summer  and  winter  temperature  is  only  about 
five  degrees.  So  constant  is  the  summer, 
indeed,   that   the   lemons   mature   month   bv 


month,  the  year  round.  In  January  I  picked 
a  branch  from  a  tree  in  the  largest  lemon 
ranch  in  the  world;  on  the  branch  were  the 
delicately  scented  flowers,  the  tiny,  half- 
formed  lemon,  large  green  lemons  and  the 
fresh,  yellow,  ripened  fruit.  Sunshine  seems 
perpetual,  but  it  is  the  sunshine  of  a  temperate 
climate,  not  of  the  tropics,  and  the  lemons 
gain,  therefore,  their  full  measure  of  acidity. 
There  are  already  more  than  400,000  lemon 
trees  here,  fully  one-half  of  which  have  not 
yet  reached  bearing  age.  There  is  room  for 
millions  of  trees  in  the  region. 

A  few  years  ago  the  surface  of  this  great  park 
was  a  wretched  waste  of  cacti,  sage-brush  and 
stunted  desert  grou-ths — haunt  of  the  tarantula 
and  the  rattlesnake.  "Warmth,  equality  of 
climate,  sunshine,  absence  of  frost,  a  generous 


33i6 


GROWING    AMERICAN    LEMONS 


A   RESERVOIR   OVERFLOWING   DURING  A    HEAVY   RAIN.   WASTING    MILLIONS   OF  GALLONS  OF   WATER 

This  resen'oir  will  supply  its  tributary  ranches  several  years  without  refilling 

pi),  soil,  all  these  the  section  had  naturally,  but 

there  must  be  water.  The  average  rainfall 
year  by  year  in  this  region  is  slight  and  is 
confined  to  a  relatively  few  days  in  the  winter 
months.  There  must  be  at  least  twelve 
inches  of  water  in  addition  to  the  average 
normal  rainfall  in  order  to  keep  a  ranch  in 
prime  condition.  This  extra  water  is  held 
in  great  reservoirs  in  the  mountains  hard  by, 
the  sides  of  the  mountains  gathering  up  the 
rains  as  they  fall  and  sending  them  downward 
in  rushing  torrents  to  the  vast  reservoirs  held 
in  check  by  enonnous  walls  of  masonry. 
Sometimes  the  rains  are  so  sudden  and  heavy 
that  the  largest  reservoirs  quickly  overflow. 

From  the  reservoirs  the  water  is  piped  down 
the  vallevs  to  the  ranches.  At  the  entrance 
to  every  ranch  stands  a  meter  which  measures 
the  quantity  used.  The  pipes  are  opened 
several  times  a  year  and  the  water  is  allowed 
to  flow  in  between  the  rows  of  lemon  trees  in 
little  rivulets.  It  enters  the  soil  and  gives 
strensrth  to  the  roots.     Several  hundreds  of 

O 

thousands  of  dollars  are  now  being  expended 
in  this  region  in  making  still  larger  reservoirs 
farther  back  in  the  mountains — some  of  them 
will  even  gain  moisture  from  the  snows  on 
the  higher  peaks,  for  not  many  miles  distant 


PU 


TTING    THE    IRON    BANDS   ABOUT  THE   WATER- 
PIPE   LEADING   DOWN   THE    MOUNTAINS 
The  reservoir  is  far  beyond  the  top,  up  another  mountain 


GROWING    AMERICAN    LKMUNS 


33>7 


from  these  warm,  rich  valleys  lying  in  the 
sunshine  are  the  frost  and  snow. 

But  tlicre  is  still  another  essential,  one 
which  has  been  too  often  overlooked  in  the 
past,  a  dual  essential,  made  up  of  common 
sense  and  capital.  All  the  rest  may  be  here 
and  yet  much  money  be  wasted,  as  it  has  been 
wasted  in  generous  quantities.  There  have 
been  many  lamentable  failures  solely  because 
people- entered  thoughtlessly  upon  the  work. 
When  to  all  the  natural  conditions  are  joined 
skill,  business  capacity,  capital,  the  lemons 
form  a  very  profitable  crop.  Not  long  ago  I 
met  a  man  from  an  eastern  state  who  invested 
some  $15,000  in  a  lemon  ranch.  Four  years 
ago  he  got  out  of  it  with  less  than  $4,000  left. 
This  season  from  the  same  ranch  a  i)ractical 
lemon  growler  is  marketing  ninety  tons  of 
lemons,  and  the  little  patch  of  ground  will 
net  him  $2,000  for  his  year's  work. 

Many  things  conspired  against  the  lemon 
grower  in  this  region  a  few  years  ago — lack 
of  sympathy  on  the  part  of  shippers,  apathy 
of  railroads,  distrust  of  the  California  lemon 
on  the  part  of  the  public,  a  low  import  duty, 
ignorance  of  the  business.  Today  the  lemons 
of  this  region  are  in  favor;  they  have  passed 
the  test  of  high  acidity;  shipping  conditions 
are    improved;    intelligence    is    directing   the 


THE   FINISHED    WATER-PIPE 

business.  There  is  a  duty  now  of  one  cent 
per  pound — about  eighty-five  cents  per  box. 
Some  idea  of  the  competition  which  these 
California  lemon  pioneers  have  had  to  face  is 
seen  in  the  fact  that,  while  they  pay  from 
$1.25  up  to  $2.00  per  day  for  pickers,  the 
Sicilian  pickers  receive  from  thirty  to  forty- 
five  cents  per  day,  while  the  women  pickers 
are  content  with  from  six  to  twelve  cents; 
and  in  the  further  fact  that  a  box  of  lemons 
can  be  laid  down  in  Chicago  from  Sicily,  so 
low   are  the   ocean   rates,    at   two-thirds   the 


A   TV'PICAL   DAM    IN   THE   LEMON    REGION 
The  resen'oir  in  the  foreground  is  partly  filled 


3318 


GROWING    AMERICAN    LEMONS 


freight  paid  on  a  box  from  San  Diego  to 
Chicago.  Frequently  now,  so  complete  has 
been  the  reversal  of  feeling  in  regard  to  the 
Cahfomia  lemon,  it  brings  a  higher  price  than 
the  Italian. 

The  by-products  of  the  lemon  are  an  im- 
portant feature  of  the  industry.  One  large 
company   owning  some   30.000   acres   in   the 


A   SOUTHERN   CALIFO! 
How  the  storing  of  «3° 

lemon  valleys  near  the  city  of  San  Diego  has 
already  begun  the  manufacture  of  these 
by-products.  Lemon  extracts,  lemon  oil 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  extracts,  citric 
acid  used  in  soda  waters  and  as  a  dye  in  the 
manufacture  of  calicoes,  Komel,  an  unfer-  ' 
mented  drink,  made  from  the  lemon  and  also 
from  the   grapefruit  which  grows  with  great 


A    LEMON    LAND   IN    ITS   NATIVE   STATE,  SHOWING   THE   GROWTH  OF   CACTI 
The  soil  below  is  rich  and  arable  when  it  is  supplied  with  water 


GROWING    AMERICAN    LEMONS 


3319 


)rmed  the  cactus-grown  desert 

success  alongside  the  lemon,  are  now  being 
manufactured.  The  processes  are  largely 
kept  secret. 

The  picking  of  the  lemons  is  done  mainly  by 

1      men.     Each    picker    wears    a    canvas    sack 

strapped  to  his  chest.     The  sack  is  open  at 

both  top  and  bottom,  the  bottom  being  held 

in  place  by  a  wire.     In  one  hand  the  picker 


holds  a  clipping-knife,  in  the  other  a  steel 
ring  two  and  five-sixteenths  inches  in  diame- 
ter. This  ring  is  passed  over  the  lemons 
before  picking.  The  object  is  to  select  only 
such  lemons  as  are  of  desirable  merchantable 
size,  the  medium  size  which  the  public 
demands  running  from  360  to  420  to  the  box. 
The    public    has    a    prejudice    against    large 


A   BOSS   LEMON-PICKER 
The  measuring  ring  shows  in  his  left  hand  above  the  sack 


3320 


GROWING    AMERICAN    LEMONS 


A    SUPERINTENDENT   ON    HIS    ROUNDS  OF    THE 
RANCHES    ON    A    LARGE    ESTABLISHMENT 


lemons;  so  when  a  lemon  fits  the  ring  it  is 
picked,  ripe  or  green.  Of  course,  all  ripe  ones 
are  picked,  whatever  the  size.  The  ripe  ones 
are  ready  for  immediate  market,  while  the 
green  ones  are  piled  away  in  boxes  in  ware- 
houses for  curing  or  ripening.  It  ordinarily 
requires  from  four  to  eight  weeks  to  fit  the 
lemons  for  the  market.  As  the  lemon  harvest 
of  this  region  is  continuous,  the  market  is 
supplied  at  all  seasons  of  the  year. 

When  the  lemons  reach  the  warehouse  they 
are  run  through  a  washing-wheel  and  packed 
in  boxes  for  storage ;  or.  if  ripe,  placed  directly 
in  the  cars.  The  washing-wheel  is  about  five 
feet  in  diameter,  with  brushes  five  or  six 
inches  long  arranged  on  the  outer  rim.  These 
brushes  pass  down  into  a  trough  of  water 
as  the  wheel  revolves,  and  into  this  trough  are 
fed  the  lemons.  The  brushes  remove  any 
dirt  or  slight  imperfections.  Long  strips  of 
wood  hold  the  boxes  in  place  in  the  cars  when 
ready  for  shipment,  thus  preventing  any 
movement  in  their  long  journey  across  the 
American  continent. 

This  new  industry — new  because  it  has 
been  only  a  few  years  since  it  started,  while 
centuries  are  behind  the  lemon  growers  of 
Sicily — is  a  new  proof  of  the  flexibility,  the 
adaptability  of    our  national  resources.     In 


the  year  1892  the  United  States  imported, 
chiefly  from  Italy,  84,548,263  worth  of 
lemons.  In  1901  the  foreign  importation 
fell  to  83,412,308 — more  than  a  million  dollars' 
decrease.  In  1896  the  foreign  importation 
rose  to  a  little  over  85.000,000,  while  for 
the  first  ten  months  of  the  year  just  closed, 
1902,  the  imports  were  only  a  trifle  more  than 
83,000,000.  In  1892,  when  the  lemon  imports 
ran  at  least  81,000,000  higher  than  now.  the 
American  lemon-growing  was  but  beginning; 
the  shipment  of  nearly  600.000  boxes  of 
lemons  from  California  in  1902,  ten  vears 
later,  suggests  the  cause  for  the  falling  otf. 
It  indicates  that,  with  this  new  industry  but  in 
its  infancy,  it  has  already  reduced  the  foreign 
importation  by  more  than  twenty-five  per  cent. 
The  American  lemon-raising  industry  is 
carried  on  amid  delightfully  picturesque 
surroundings,  rendering  none  the  less  at- 
tractive this  new  and  significant  element  in 
the  development  of  the  Larger  America. 
The  picturesqueness  of  this  section  sur- 
passes that  of  any  other  lemon  region  on 
the  globe.  From  an  elevation  here  you  can 
look  down  upon  one  of  the  most  interesting 
scenes  in  the  world.  In  the  distance,  the 
purple  mountains;  far  to  the  left,  the  sweep 
of  the  hills  of  Mexico;  below  you,  the  little 
lemon  ranches,  their  vivid  deep-green  accentu- 
ated by  the  brilliant  yellow  of  their  fruit, 
and  the  whole  valley  marked  off  in  a  great 
chess-board,  as  if  by  the  hedge  lines  of  an 
English  landscape;  beyond  you  the  sweep  of 
the  Pacific,  and  your  eye  catches  the  faint 
puflf  of  smoke  from  a  mighty  battle-ship  in 
the  far  offing.  Here  and  there  below  you  are 
the  comfortable  homes  of  the  lemon  ranchers, 
standing  amid  the  graceful  palms,  the 
lofty  eucalyptus  and  the  feathery  pepper 
trees.  It  is  like  a  great  park  in  the  warm 
January  sunshine,  an  ideal  place  for  the 
workers  as  well  as  for  the  work. 


A   GENERAL    PANOR.AMIC   VIEW   OF   A   YOUNG    LE.MON    RANCH 


A   LEMON   PICKER 

In  one  hand  he  holds  a  clipper ;  attached  to  the  thumb  of  the  other  is  a  gage  for  measuring  the  size  of  the  lemon 


3322 


GROWING    AMERICAN    LEMONS 


WASHING   THE   LEMONS 

The  lemons  are  fed  into  the  trough — below  the  wheel  (at  the  left)  — and  come  out  at  the  right ;  the  brushes  on  the  wheel  clean  them  as  they  roll 

along  the  trough  in  the  water 


The  development  of  this  particular  industry 
here  is  but  another  indication  of  American 
resourcefulness — of  the  growing  power  of 
Americans  to  produce  within  the  national 
limits  of  the  United  States  nearly  all  the 
necessities  and  luxuries  of  life.     Already  our 


imports  show^  that  the  country  is  actually 
dependent  on  foreign  countries  for  but  very 
few  articles,  and  these  very  largely  such  as 
traditionally  cannot  be  produced  in  our 
climate  or  under  our  labor  system.  Everv 
diminution  of  the  list  of  these  articles  means 
added  wealth  to  the  nation  and  prosperous 
communities  where  none  existed  before. 
Even  now  in  southern  California  are  miles 
on  miles  of  hills  and  valleys  near  the  coast 
baking  in  the  sun  and  bare  but  for  cacti. 
They  need  only  water  and  the  practical 
wisdom  of  hard-headed  men  to  teem  w4th 
fruitfulness.  Such  development  is  bound 
to  come.  The  gro'5\'th  of  the  lemon  industry 
is  an  earnest  of  it. 


•^ 


MAKING    LEMON    BOXES 
Five  hundred  of  these  boxes  are  made  in  one  day 


LOADING   LEMONS   INTO   CARS  WHICH    DRAW   THEM 

FROM   THE   FIELD   TO   THE    PACKING  AND 

CURING  WAREHOUSES 


Sweden 

Aiislri.i 


A   GROUP  OK    HOYS    IN   THE   SCHOOL    liOKN    KN    DIll'KKtNT   COLNTRl  KS 

Greece  (>ermany  Russia  China  Scotland 


Australia 


Canada 


KiiBlaiul 


Il.ily 


Kiiin.inia 


NEW  CITIZENS  FOR  THE  REPUBLIC 

SCHOOL  NO.   I   IN    NEW  YORK,  WHERE   CHILDREN    OF   TWENTY-FIVE 
NATIONALITIES  LEARN  AMERICANISM  WITH  THEIR  DAILY  LESSONS 

BY 

A.  R.  DUGMORE 


AT  the  corner  of  Catharine  and  Henry 
Streets  in  New  York  is  a  large  white 
building  that  overlooks  and  domi- 
nates its  neighborhood.  Placed  in  the 
middle  of  a  region  of  tawdry  flat -houses  and 
dirty  streets,  it  stands  out  preeminent  because 
of  its  solid  cleanliness  and  unpretentiousness. 
It  is  the  home  of  Public  School  No.  i.  In 
it  are  centred  all  the  hopes  of  the  miserably 
poor  polyglot  population  of  the  surrounding 
district — for  its  pupils  the  scene  of  their 
greatest  interest  and  endeavor,  and  for  their 
parents  an  earnest  of  the  freedom  they  have 
come  far  and  worked  hard  to  attain. 

The  child  of  American  parentage  is  the 
exception  in  this  school.  The  pupils  are 
of  the  different  nationalities  or  races  that 
have  their  separate  quarters  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood.  If  they  were  to  be  divided 
according  to  their  parental  nationality,  there 
would  be  twenty-five  or  more  groups.  The 
majority  of  the  pupils,  however,  are  Swedes, 
Austrians,  Greeks,  Russians,  English,  Irish, 
Scotch,   Welsh,   Rumanians,   Italians,    Poles, 


Hungarians,  Canadians,  Armenians,  Germans 
and  Chinese.  The  Germans,  Russians  and 
Polish  predominate,  for  there  are  a  very  large 
number  of  Jewish  pupils. 

The  most  noticeable  thing  in  the  school  is 
the  perfectly  friendly  equality  in  which  all 
these  races  mix;  no  prejudice  is  noticeable. 
The  different  races  are  so  scattered  that  there 
is  no  chance  for  organization  and  its  attendant 
cliques  and  small  school  politics.  This  is 
particularly  interesting  in  the  face  of  the 
fact  that  the  one  thing  more  than  any  other 
which  binds  the  boys  together  is  their  intense 
common  interest  in  party  and  city  politics. 
All  political  news  is  followed  and  every  ques- 
tion is  heatedly  debated  in  and  out  of  class. 
This  interest  in  politics  and  the  training  in 
argument  and  oratory  it  brings  is  probably 
due  in  large  measure  to  the  parents.  To 
them  this  opportunity  for  political  discussion 
is  an  evidence  of  the  freedom  of  the  new 
country  which  has  replaced  the  tyranny  of 
the  old.  The  lack  of  organization  and  the 
lack  of  prejudice  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 


3324 


NEW   CITIZENS    FOR   THE    REPUBLIC 


CHIN  CHUNG,   BORN  IN   CANTON,   ENTERED   SCHOOL 

TWO  YEARS  AGO 

He  is  now  in  6A  grade  and  is  president  of  his  class 


the  "captain"  or  elected  leader  of  a  class 
composed  with  one  exception  of  Jewish  lads 
is  the  solitary  exception — an  Irish  boy.  In 
another  class  the  "captain"  is  Chinese. 

The  interest  in  politics  is  only  one  of  the 
evidences  of  a  great  desire  to  "get  along  in 
the  world. "  Another  is  the  fact  that  many 
of  the  boys  are  self-supporting.  The  number 
of  boys  working  their  way  through  can  only 
be  guessed.  They  are  reluctant  to  tell  any- 
thing  about   their   home   life   or   conditions. 


WOOD-WORK   DESIGNED    AND    EXECUTED    BV    BOVS 
TWELVE   TO   THIRTEEN   YEARS   OLD 

Tlie  decorations  are  in  colors  and  are  particularly  noticeable 

It  is  known,  however,  that  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  of  the  six  hundred  odd  boys  in 
the  grammar  department  are  self-supporting. 
A  little  Italian  boy  was  late  one  morning  and 
was  asked  for  his  excuse  by  the  principal. 
After  much  questioning  he  told  this  story : 
His  mother  was  dead,  and  his  father,  who 
worked  on  the  railways,  and  consequently 
was  away  from  home  most  of  the  time,  could 
send  him  only  enough  money  to  pay  the  rent 
of  the  two  small  rooms  in  which  he  and  a 
smaller  brother  and  sister  lived.  To  pay  for 
their  food  and  clothing  he  and  his  brother 
sold  papers  after  school  hours,  making  abcut 


A  CLASS   IN   CARPENTRY 


NEW    CITIZENS    FOR    THE    REPUBLIC 


3325 


AN   UNGRXDKl)    LLAii^j    IN   CALISIUKX 


ICS 


$4    a    week.     The    sister    did    the    cooking 
and  the  housework.     Tliis  particular    morn- 
ing she   had   been    ill    and   unable   to   leave 
her  bed,  and  it  had  taken  him  so  long  to  care 
for  her  and  attend  to  her  work  that  he  had 
been  late.     Thfs  was  told  quietlv  and  quite 
as  a  matter  of  course.     The  bov  was  fourteen 
years   old.     He   had   no  idea   that   his   storv 
seemed  extraordinary.      He  had  never  thought 
of  trymg  to  get  help  of  any  kind.     This  earn- 
estness is   carried   into   all  the  school   work 
The    boys,    because    of    the    sacrifices    their 
schooimg    brings,   realize    more    keenly    how 
valuable  it  is  to  them. 

Although  the  school  is  democratic,  and 
although  the  public  school  has  taught  them 
the  English  language  and  a  certain  feeling  of 
Americanism,  their  race  shows  itself  often  in 
the  classroom.  For  example,  the  Russian 
and  Polish  Jews  have  a  school  standing  far 


out  of  i)roportion   to   their  number,  and  the 
Italians  are  unquestionably  the  most  artistic 
m  the   manual   training  shops,  wliile,  as   we 
have  seen,  the  Irish  talent  for  leadership  and 
organization  is   not   impaired   bv  the  public 
school.     Very  often  this  grafting  of  Ameri- 
canism   on    foundations    of    foreign    family 
tradition  gives  rise  to  very  naive  points  of 
view— such,  for  instance,  as  that  of  the  little 
Polish  lad  who  gave  the  following  definition 
of  spring:     "Spring,  which  is  the  first  season 
of   the   year,    is    when   flowers    and   business 
bloom. " 

The  school  course  is  similar  to  that  in  all 
the  other  public  schools.  There  is,  however 
one  extra  class  called  the  "ungraded  class."' 
This  class  is  divided  into  four  subdivisions- 
those  for  (i)  special  discipline  cases,  (2) 
truants.  (3)  defective  children— phvsically 
mentally  or  morally,  and  that  for  (4)  foreign 


THE    BASKET-BALL    TKA.M    AT    PRACTICE 
A  game  on  the  roof  playground-the  Brooklyn  Bridge  in  the  background 


3326 


NEW    CITIZENS    FOR   THE    REPUBLIC 


bom  children  who  do  not  speak  EngHsh. 
The  work  done  with  these  boys  is  perhaps  the 
most  valuable  single  service  of  the  school. 
Here  the  entire  stress  of  the  teacher's  task  is 
given  to  remedy  the  individual  defect.  The 
children  are  taught  only  those  things  which  the 
teacher  believes  are  within  the  understanding 
of  each  individual.  Sand  and  clay  modeling, 
drawing  lines  with  colored  crayons,  weaving 
with    colored    splints,    cutting,    pasting    and 


It  is  a  large  task  that  schools  of  this  kind 
are  doing,  taking  the  raw,  low-class  foreign 
boys  of  many  nationalities  and  molding 
them  into  self-supporting,  self-respecting 
citizens  of  the  republic.  The  amount  of  this 
work  done  by  the  public  schools  in  New 
York  is  indicated  by  the  figures  of  the  immi- 
gration bureau,  for  of  the  great  body  of  for- 
eigners who  come  into  this  country,  more 
than  two-thirds  come  through  the  port  of  New 


AX   UNGRADED   CLASS 
Pupils  unfined  for  the  ordinary  classes 


using  peg-boards  are  some  of  the  occupations 
through  which  the  minds  are  stimulated. 
Gradually,  as  they  develop,  tool  and  other 
work  is  given,  and  the  results  are  remarkable. 
Their  defect  may  be  of  eyesight,  hearing, 
muscular  control,  speech,  moral  sense.  Some 
are  afflicted  with  paralysis  or  epilepsy. 
Whatever  it  is,  all  that  can  be  done  to 
better  their  condition  and  to  make  them  self- 
supporting  is  being  done  by  tactful  teaching. 


York,  beyond  which  most  of  them  rarely  get. 
The  results  shown  by  the  public  schools  seem 
little  short  of  marvelous.  There  are  many 
things  in  which,  as  a  rule,  the  public  consider 
that  the  public  schools  fail,  but  the  one  thing 
that  cannot  be  denied — and  it  is  the  great- 
est— is  that  these  boys  and  girls  of  foreign 
parentage  catch  readily  the  simple  American 
ideas  of  independence  and  individual  work 
and,  with  them,  social  progress. 


rilK   ATTKNTtVK    I.tSTKNERS   AT  A    PtrBLIC   LKCTItrF 


HOW    A    GREAT    FREE    LECTURE 

SYSTEM    WORKS 

HEARERS  ENTERTAINED  BY  THE  THOUSANDS  IN  PUBLIC  LECTURES  IN  NEW 
YORK— 117  LECTURE  CENTRES  IN  THE  CITY— YOUNG  MEN  INTERESTED  IN 
ELECTRICITY,  YOUNG  WOMEN  IN  LITERATURE  AND  HISTORY— DEYELOPING 
THE     SYSTEM     AND      MAKING      SOCIAL      CENTRES      OF      PUBLIC     SCHOOLS 

BY 

GEORGE  ILES 


ONE  dreary  night  last  January,  in  one 
of  the  New  York  free  pubhc  lectures, 
Mr.  A.  J.  Talley  presented  views  of 
Florence  in  a  public  school  m  East  Twenty- 
seventh  Street.  To  the  fourth-story  hall 
had  climbed  a  weatherbeaten  old  Italian  whose 
features  kindled  as  scene  after  scene  swept 
the  canvas.  When  the  Baptistery  was  shown, 
chief  among  the  glories  of  the  great  city,  the 
old  man  whispered,  "I  batized  dere,"  and 
added  with  a  sigh,  "Ah,  I  no  see  Firenze 
again!"  Well-to-do  New  Yorkers  who  have 
seen  Niagara  in  summer,  in  winter,  and  in 
the  lovely  garb  of  late  October,  live  among 
millions  of  people  who  owe  to  the  camera 
their  sole  acquaintance  with  the  great 
cataract.  Pictures  of  Niagara  are  much  the 
most  admired  in  the  round  of  those  which 
illustrate  Mr.  L.  H.  Tasker's  lecture  on  the 
"  Great  Lakes.  "  One  night  at  Cooper  Union, 
as  Mr.  Tasker  threw  on  the  screen  a  picture 


of  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  he  told  us  that  a  steamer 
passes  through  its  canal  every  seven  minutes, 
night  and  day,  during  the  season  of  navigation. 
On  my  row  sat  a  burly  chap  grimy  with  coal 
dust.  His  comment,  loud  as  a  stage  "aside,  " 
was,  "  Hully  gee  ! "  It  is  usual,  when  a  lecture 
suggests  inquiry,  to  invite  questions  at  the 
close  of  the  hour.  I  have  known  Mr.  T.  B. 
Collins  to  be  kept  almost  another  sixty 
minutes  busily  answering  the  queries  of  the 
keen-witted  Jewish  lads  who  had  seen  his 
experiments  at  the  University  Settlement 
Hall,  at  Eldridge  and  Rivington  Streets. 
Apart  from  his  Jewish  auditors,  the  lecturer 
that  night  had  not  more  than  three  or  four 
hearers  of  other  races.  These  incidents 
show  the  spirit  of  the  lecture  audiences. 

In  this  public  lecture  system  arranged  by 
the  Board  of  Education  of  New  York,  the 
lecturers  are  men  and  women  of  mark,  secured 
on  moderate  terms  because  thev  reside  in  the 


3328 


HOW   A    GREAT    FREE    LECTURE    SYSTEM    WORKS 


city  and  can  repeat  their  discourses  in 
different  quarters.  The  audiences  come  to 
be  informed  rather  than  to  gratify  their 
curiosity  by  seeing  an  explorer,  a  novelist  or 
a  humorist  of  world-wide  fame.  And  while 
the  programmes  give  the  place  of  honor  to 
teachers  and  scholars,  there  is  a  welcome  for 
anv  one  else  with  capacity  to  instruct,  stimu- 
late and  refresh.  Xobody  begrudges  the 
people  a  good  novel  taken  from  a 
free  library;  and  it  gives  them  just  as 
much  delight  to  be  escorted  through  the 
palace  of  the  Alhambra,  or  to  hear  a 
capital  tenor  sing  "La  ^larseillaise" 
and  "Die  Wacht  am  Rhein.""  Lives  divided 
between  the  tenement  house  and  the  shop 
or  the  factory  need  all  the  cheer  they  can  get. 

Twenty  years  ago  some  of  the  city  libraries 
charged  fees  of  perhaps  a  dollar  a  year. 
Mark  what  followed  a  change  of  policy.  In 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  the  charge  was 
abolished  in  1885;  the  next  year,  with  open 
doors,  the  users  of  the  library  increased 
sevenfold.  So  in  St.  Louis  and  elsewhere. 
A  dollar  is  a  good  deal  of  money  to  the  average 
American  family.  Today  the  public  library 
is  supplementing  the  public  school  more  and 
more  effectively ;  the  work  of  both  is  possible 
because  offered  free.  Side  by  side  with  free 
libraries  are  subscription  libraries  which 
flourish  apace;  but  their  constituency  of  the 
well-to-do  is  a  bagatelle  in  comparison  with 
the  throngs  at  the  free  counters.  In  the 
lecture  field,  Major  Pond,  let  us  say,  engages 
on  liberal  terms  Henry  ^I.  Stanley,  Ian 
Maclaren  or  Mark  Twain.  He  announces 
a  lecture  at  great  cost  in  the  newspapers, 
sends  out  circulars  by  the  thousand,  and 
placards  the  streets  with  advertising.  The 
tickets,  at  from  one  to  two  dollars,  are  sold 
to  just  such  well-to-do  persons  as  take  books 
from  subscription  libraries.  At  an  opposite 
pole  is  the    lecture    system  considered  here. 

Most  of  the  courses  are  given  in  public- 
school  buildings;  the  great  hall  of  the  Cooper 
Union  is  occupied  without  charge,  and  so 
are  several  excellent  halls  connected  with 
churches;  where  rents  are  paid,  the  terms  are 
moderate.  There  are  today  in  Greater  Xew 
York  one  hundred  and  seventeen  lecture 
centres,  each  as  well  known  in  the  neighbor- 
hood as  the  local  sub-station  of  the  post-office; 
tliis  publicity  reduces  the  expense  of  adver- 
tising. Pocket  bulletins  setting  forth  the 
courses  are  distributed  at   the   doors  of   the 


lecture  halls;  placards  in  big  type  are  posted 
outside,  and  by  friendly  hands  in  shops  and 
factories  near  by.  Newspapers  announce 
gratis  the  subjects  every  evening.  Thus  it 
comes  about  that  while  the  cost  of  a  lecture 
to  a  lyceum  manager  may  be  as  much  as  a 
dollar  a  seat,  the  cost  to  Xew  York  of 
a  public-school  lecture  this  season  is  about 
ten  cents. 

These  lectures  began  in  1889,  simply  as  an 
experiment,  their  themes  miscellaneous,  and 
only  a  few  illustrated.  In  1890,  when  Doctor 
Henry  ]\I.  Leipziger  was  given  charge,  the 
experiment  became  an  assured  success.  The 
lectures  have  steadily  broadened  in  range 
and  constantly  improved  in  quality.  The 
progress  of  the  movement  is  due  to  the  large- 
minded  men  who,  as  members  of  the  Board 
of  Education,  have  espoused  the  cause  of  adult 
instruction,  such  as  the  Honorable  Miles  M. 
O'Brien,  late  President  of  the  Board,  who  was 
the  first  champion  of  the  lectures ;  Honorable 
Henry  A.  Rogers,  Ex-President  C.  C.  Bur- 
lingham  and  General  George  "VV.  Wingate. 
During  the  present  season  the  auditors  at  the 
lectures  will  probably  number  a  million  and  a 
quarter,  with  a  lecture  staff  of  five  hundred. 
The  stereopticon  is  always  employed  when 
helpful,  and  experiments  are  also  introduced. 
Doctor- Leipziger  plans  to  give  each  centre  a 
variety  of  courses  every  season,  each  course 
consecutive  and  thorough.  In  Cooper  Union 
last  January  and  February  nine  lectures  were 
given  on  Xorth  American  geography,  five  of 
them  on  the  Colorado  River  and  its  Indians, 
by  George  Wharton  James,  the  explorer; 
with  these  were  alternated  eight  lectures  on 
"Electricity,"  by  Doctor  E.  R.  von  Xardroft", 
accompanied  by  experiments  worthy  of  a 
college  laboratory.  At  St.  Bartholomew  Hall 
eight  evenings  were  devoted  to  an  exposition 
of  "Heat  and  Its  Work,"  by  Professor  John 
S.  McKay,  and  eight  to  renditions  of  the  best 
songs  of  Europe  and  America,  with  apt  intro- 
duction and  comment.  Particular  pains  are 
taken  that  all  the  advanced  lectures  shall  lead 
to  study.  For  example,  when  Professor 
William  Hallock,  of  Columbia  University, 
delivers  his  course  on  "  Light,  "  a  neat  pamph- 
let is  distributed  presenting  a  summary  of  his 
exposition,  ending  with  a  brief  list  of  books 
for  study  and  reference.  This  aid  is  invari- 
ably extended  for  lectures  of  this  stamp, 
whether  scientific,  literary  or  on  themes  of  art. 
So  great  is  the  demand  at  the  public  libraries 


DR.    HENRY    M.    LEIPZIGER 

DIRECTOR  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  LECTURE  SYSTEM 


o 


o 

'■J 


p 


HOW    A    GREAT    l-RKK    LECTURE    SYSTEM    WORKS 


3331 


for  recommended  books  that  the  supply  there 
fails,  and  the  Board  of  Education  provides 
copies  at  each  centre  from  what  Doctor 
Leipziger  calls  a  "platform  library."  At  a 
single  centre  last  winter  two  hundred  copies 
of  a  standard  text-book  on  electricity  were 
thus  lent  or  sold  at  cost.  One  of  the  Doctor's 
dreams  is  that  there  shall  be  erected  in  New 
York  two  or  three  temples  of  science  where, 
in  addition  to  a  fine  auditorium,  shall  be  found 
amply  equipped  laboratories  and  workshops 
for  practical  application  of  lecture  lessons. 

A  capital  series  by  Mr.  Earl  Barnes  deals 
with  the  "Care  and  Culture  of  Children." 
Doctor  Ida  Welt  gives  an  attractive  account 
of  how  foods  may  best  be  chosen  and  pre- 
pared. The  maintenance  of  health,  the  pre- 
vention of  disease  and  first  aid  to  the  injured 
are  topics  always  on  the  programmes. 
What  a  voter  should  know,  wisely  to  exercise 
his  franchise,  is  expounded  in  every  ward  of 
New  York.  Courses  just  established  impart 
this  instruction  in  Yiddish  and  Italian  to 
immigrants.  By  way  of  varying  the  interest, 
the  departments  of  the  city  government  are 
successively  described  and  illustrated,  and 
the  courses  also  treat  questions  of  capital 
and  labor,  the  trusts  and  the  trade-unions. 

But,  truth  to  tell,  the  audiences  like  enter- 
tainment joined  to  instruction,  and  nothing 
pleases  them  more  than  an  excursion  to 
Rome,  Constantinople,  Venice,  Paris  or 
London,  especially  if  their  guide  is  Professor 
Hamlin,  of  Columbia  University,  who  com- 
ments acutely  on  the  architecture  they  behold. 
A  parallel  course,  by  Mr.  A.  T.  Van  Laer, 
admits  the  audience  to  the  art  galleries  of 
Italy,  Spain,  France,  Holland  and  England, 
and  shows  them  the  canvases  of  such  Ameri- 
can painters  as  Copley,  Stuart,  Inness, 
Hunt  and  La  Farge.  Music  is  as  popular  as 
pictorial  art.  The  course  by  Doctor  H.  G. 
Hanchett  discusses,  with  piano  illustrations, 
the  materials,  methods,  merits  and  masters 
of  musical  composition.  One  of  Mr.  T.  W. 
Surette's  courses  brings  out  with  some  detail 
the  characteristics  of  Bach,  Handel,  Haydn, 
Mozart  and  Beethoven,  each  composer  repre- 
sented by  some  famous  pieces.  For  literary 
programmes  take  two  by  Mr.  Frederick  H. 
Sykes.  The  first  series  is  Shaksperean, 
beginning  with  a  sketch  of  the  poet's  life 
and  proceeding  to  studies  of  "As  You  Like 
It, "  "  The  Merchant  of  Venice, "  "  Henry  IV.," 
"Macbeth"  and  "Hamlet."     The  pamphlet 


distributed  at  these  lectures  mentions  tlie 
chief  biograjjhies  of  Shaksjjere  and  the  best 
editions  of  his  works,  and  refers  to  the  leading 
commentaries,  commencing  with  Dowdcn's 
as  indispensable.  In  his  second  course  Mr. 
Sykes  takes  up  great  writers  of  the  la.st 
century  —  Carlyle,  Dickens,  George  Eliot, 
Tennyson,  Browning  and  Stevenson.  In 
fifteen  closely  printed  pages  he  tells  the 
reader  just  what  he  wants  to  know  about 
these  authors,  their  works,  their  principal 
appreciators  and  critics.  What  more  than 
this  can  be  done  to  redeem  reading  from  being 
desultory  and  unfruitful  ?  What  better  ally 
can  the  free  library  count  upon  ? 

Turning  from  the  platform  to  the  people, 
we    notice    that    young    men    predominate, 
especially    when    the    lecture    touches    some 
practical    art   of   electricity,  photography  or 
lithography.      If   the  subject  is  historical  or 
literary,  the  larger  part  of  the  audience  will 
be  young  women,  many  of  whom  doubtless 
would  attend  the  high  schools  if  they  could. 
A  lecture  on  the  care  and  culture  of  children 
of  course  draws  a  matronly  group  of  hearers, 
escorted  by  partners  not   always  as  attentive 
as   they   might   be.     Naturally   enough,    the 
majority  of  those   who   come   are   from  the 
neighborhood.      Wealthy     districts      present 
fashionable  audiences :  the  hall  of  the  Natural 
History  Museum,  near  Central  Park,  attracts 
just  such  a  gathering  as  might  hear  a  lyceum 
lecture.     A  lecture  hall  amid  tenement  houses 
attracts    mechanics,    factory    hands,    clerks, 
their  wives  or  sweethearts,  their  mothers  and 
sisters.     A    hall    connected    with    a    church, 
such    as    St.     Peter's,    on     West   Twentieth 
Street,  seems  to  have    a    goodly  nucleus  of 
hearers   from   the    parish.       I  have  seen  the 
same  listeners  again  and   again  at  Columbus 
Hall,  adjoining  the  Church  of  St.   Paul  the 
Apostle,    on    West    Sixtieth    Street.     These 
earnest,  wistful  faces  are  not  borne  by  the 
first  five  hundred  men  and  women  who  might 
pass  along  the  street;  they  belong  to  church- 
going  people  who  want  to  know  more  than 
they  do  and  be  better  than  they  are.      In 
every  lecture-room,  wherever  it  may  be,  the 
"tough"   of   Ninth  Avenue  or  the   Bowery, 
the    branded    frequenter    of    the    saloon,    is 
conspicuous    by    his    absence.     The    door    is 
open  to  all,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  only  the 
thoughtful,    the    men    and    women   bent    on 
improvement,  cross  its  threshold. 

Sometimes  a  lecture  draws  from  all  New 


3332 


HOW    A    GREAT    FREE    LECTURE    SYSTEM    WORKS 


York.  How  else  could  pictures  of  Mont  Blanc, 
the  Jungfrau,  the  Finsteraarhom  keep  all 
eyes  a-strain,  prompt  all  hands  to  loud  and 
repeated  applause  ?  Swiss  from  every  ward 
in  the  city  here  revisited  together  the  old 
home  and  renewed  old  memories. 

At  every  lecture  one  sees  the  local  superin- 
tendent moving  quietly  about.  His  duties  are 
manifold:  he  sees  to  the  hall's  being  properly 
aired,  warmed  and  lighted;  he  makes  an- 
nouncements and  introduces  the  lecturer;  he 
reports  the  number  present  to  headquarters ; 
he  maintains  order.  Once  I  saw  a  lad  who  sat 
in  the  centre  of  an  audience  begin  to  make  a 
row.  He  was  reproved  in  vain.  The  super- 
intendent then  requested  the  lecturer  to 
pause  for  a  moment ;  the  disturber  was  taken 
to  the  door  and  asked  never  to  show  his  face 
there  again.  On  another  occasion  two  little 
girls  near  me  persisted  in  loud  talk;  I  pointed 
them  out  to  the  superintendent,  who,  without 
the  slightest  fuss,  ejected  them  at  once.  My 
impression  is  that  these  superintendents,  who 
are  usually  teachers,  have  duties  more  impor- 
tant still — in  reporting  on  the  quality  of  the 
lectures,  on  the  interest  or  apathy  of,  the 
listeners.  In  no  other  way  can  I  account  for 
the  increasing  diversity  of  the  programmes, 
the  constant  rise  in  their  standards.  There 
is  evidently  a  ceaseless  process  of  trial  and 
of  sifting  going  on.  Two  years  ago  I  heard 
a  teacher  of  mark  speak  in  a  large  hall  on  the 
West  Side.  His  theme  was  important;  his 
presence,  voice  and  matter  were  exceptionally 
good.  Yet  his  presentation  was  so  lacking  in 
order  that  the  man  was  tiresome:  until  he 
masters  the  art  of  arrangement  he  is  not 
likely  to  be  recalled.  Another  evening  I  heard 
a  speaker  fluent  to  glibness,  with  all  the 
unction  of  a  political  spellbinder;  but  his 
story  was  mere  wish-wash,  told  at  second- 
hand, and  without  either  the  pictures  or  the 
experiments  we  had  a  right  to  expect.  He, 
too,  now  stays  at  home.  A  third  lecturer 
among  the  failures  was  an  ancient  mariner; 
his  matter  and  manner  were  so  redolent  of 
the  forecastle  and  the  smoking-room  that  he 
was  quietly  dropped  and  will  be  no  more 
heard. 

It  is  with  such  tireless  vigilance  as  this  that 
in  every  field  where  the  platform  can  give 
instruction,  inspiration  and  initiative  Doctor 
Leipziger  has  drawn  up  the  programmes 
with  intent  to  do  all  the  good  he  can,  to  do 
nothing  else,  and  to  exercise  a  spirit  of  wise 


and  kind  hospitality.  He  suggested  long  ago 
that  the  schools  be  opened  on  Sundays  as  well 
as  week  days,  not  only  for  lectures,  but  as  the 
social  centres  of  their  neighborhoods.  This 
suggestion  is  now  taking  effect  in  a  few  places, 
and  may  be  expected  to  spread  throughout 
the  city.  It  will  then  be  inevitable  that  the 
school  buildings  be  remodeled  for  their  new 
purposes;  and  the  remodeling  will  redound  to 
the  great  benefit  of  the  thousands  beyond  the 
school  age.  Often  the  lecture  audiences  of 
today  must  climb  many  narrow  stairs  to 
reach  a  hall  on  the  top  story,  and  then  sit  on 
benches  made  for  children.  There  should  be 
commodious  halls  on  the  ground  floor,  with 
comfortable  seats  for  adults,  and  these  halls 
should  be  light  and  cheerful,  adorned  with 
busts  and  pictures  of  merit.  Some  of  the 
newer  school  buildings  are  being  fitted  up 
with  such  meeting  places;  New  York,  with 
its  vast  corporate  wealth,  can  make  no  wiser 
investment.  In  silence  a  school  gives  some 
of  its  best  lessons  when  it  is  handsomely  built, 
when  its  furniture  and  decorations  are  in 
good  taste.  This  influence  becomes  more 
important  than  ever  as  the  public  schools  pass 
to  new  breadths  of  usefulness.  Already  in 
New  York  there  are  recreation  centres,  play 
centres,  and  they  offer  instruction  during  the 
months  of  summer  which  in  years  past  found 
them  closed  and  idle.  Only  one  American 
boy  or  girl  in  sixteen  carries  education  beyond 
the  sessions  of  the  common  school  into  the 
high  school,  the  college,  the  university.  The 
common  school  is  now  beginning  to  open  its 
doors  for  all  the  years  of  life.  Let  its  archi- 
tecture, surroundings  and  maintenance  at 
every  point  mirror  the  intelligence  and 
opulence  of  America. 

LECTURES        DIRECTED        BY       THE       STATE      OF 
NEW     YORK 

For  visual  instruction  at  its  best  one 
must  go  to  the  lecture  hall  of  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History  on  West  Seventy- 
ninth  Street,  near  Central  Park,  a  model 
of  what  such  a  hall  should  be.  Here  are 
given  illustrated  lectures  under  the  auspices 
of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion, with  Professor  A.  S.  Bickmore  at  the 
Museum  as  director.  He  supervises  in  person 
the  taking  of  the  photographs,  which  are 
executed  with  a  skill  and  delicacy  which 
eclipse  ever}i;hing  else  of  the  kind  in  the 
world.     When  necessary  the  slides  are  given 


now    A   GREAT    FREE    LECTURE   SYSTEM    WORKS 


3333 


the  hues  of  nature.  The  floral  pictures, 
tinted  by  Mrs.  Cornelius  Van  Brunt,  are  of 
matchless  fidelity  and  beauty.  The  main 
intent  of  the  lectures  is  to  inform  the  people 
as  to  their  own  state,  show  them  what  is 
best  worth  seeing  in  other  states,  in  the  new 
possessions  of  the  Union,  and  in  foreign  lands. 
From  the  long  list  of  lectures  we  note  the 
picturing  of  Manhattan  Island  and  the 
islands  of  the  Hudson,  the  Catskills  and  the 
Adirondacks,  the  lakes  of  central  New  York, 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  the  Yellowstone  Park, 
California  and  the  Yosemite  Valley,  Alaska, 
the  Philippines,  and  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 
Each  lecture  begins  with  a  map  clearly 
explained,  on  occasion  followed  by  a  geologi- 
cal chart.  A  favorite  lecture  illustrates  our 
native  birds;  equally  popular  is  a  survey  of 
Paris  in  its  various  aspects. 

When  Professor  Bickmore  gives  a  new 
lecture  his  first  audiences  are  teachers  solelj^; 
afterward  he  invites  the  public,  notably  on 
the  holidays,  which  are  often  days  of  vacuity 
and  boredom.  Faithfully  copied,  and  accom- 
panied by  manuscripts  for  the  reading-desk 
prepared  by  Professor  Bickmore,  these  lectures 
are  doing  duty  in  forty-four  cities  and  twenty- 
seven  villages  of  New  York.  And  far  beyond 
New  York  their  services  extend.  Fifteen 
other  states  of  the  Union,  Canada  and  India 
are  beneficiaries  of  the  system.  Each  of 
these  commonwealths  may  buy  one  set  only 
of  such  slides  as  it  chooses,  at  cost,  which  is 
about  $75  per  lecture.  Two  rules  are  imposed : 
the  lectures  must  be  given  in  connection  with 
the  free  common  schools  and  without  charge 
for  admission.  The  home  demand  for  slides 
is  so  great  that  applicants  elsewhere  are  not 
likely  to  be  satisfied  until  1904. 

In  1900  a  Bickmore  lecture  and  its  colored 
pictures  were  exhibited  at  the  Paris  Exposi- 
■  tion;  they  received  the  gold  prize,  and  Pro- 
fessor Bickmore  was  invited  to  take  part  in 
the  Conference  for  Nature-Study  held  in 
London  last  year.  There  the  County  Council, 
which  directs  the  education  of  the  British 
metropolis,  heard  with  interest  Professor 
Bickmore 's  illustrated  account  of  his  work 
in  New  York.  Part  of  his  exhibit  was  a 
series  of  photographs  of  London;  on  these 
the  Council  laid  hands  for  a  round  of  lectures 
modeled  on  those  of  the  Empire  State.  At 
Berlin,  Baron  Ferdinand  von  Richthofen, 
the  official  head  of  education  in  Germany, 
is  to   incorporate  the   Bickmore  methods  in 


the  popular  instruction  of  the  German 
Empire.  At  home  the  Bickmore  pictures 
have  suggested  how  the  courses  of  the  public 
schools  may  be  broadened  and  enriched. 
In  New  York  city  the  Board  of  Education 
is  giving  every  school  a  stereopticon  for  such 
lessons  as  may  be  the  better  understood  and 
impressed  by  its  pictures.  The  large  array 
of  slides  accumulated  by  Professor  Bickmore 
will  form  an  important  part  of  the  material 
for  these  school  lanterns.  One  series  of 
colored  slides,  seventy-two  in  number,  is  for 
kindergarten  and  primary  instruction. 

In  1898,  through  the  hospitality  of  the 
state  of  New  York,  its  pictures,  which  include 
several  Canadian  series,  began  going  across 
the  border  to  Canada.  From  Montreal  as  the 
centre,  the  lectures  extended  during  the  past 
winter  to  no  fewer  than  forty-eight  places, 
including  seven  mining  and  lumbering  camps 
in  Ontario.  The  Montreal  committee  asks 
nothing  more  of  its  correspondents  than  that 
they  shall  pay  the  carriage  of  slides  and 
return  them  punctually  in  good  order.  Their 
scheme  is  joined  to  a  round  of  traveling 
libraries,  bringing  redoubled  light  and  cheer 
to  many  an  outlying  camp  and  village. 

FREE    LECTURES    AT   THE     PEOPLE'S    INSTITUTE 

Cooper  Union,  at  the  head  of  the  Bowery, 
since  1859  has  stood  as  the  centre  of  free  edu- 
cation in  New  York.  Its  classes  in  art,  in 
applied  science,  in  literature,  have  instructed 
thousands  of  men  and  women  who  owe  to 
this  foundation  the  chief  debt  of  their  lives. 
The  great  hall,  with  its  sixteen  hundred  seats, 
has  always  been  a  forum  for  the  people. 
From  its  platform,  in  i860,  Abraham  Lincoln 
declared  his  convictions  regarding  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery,  and  outlined  his  policy.  To 
name  the  statesmen,  agitators  and  reformers 
who  since  have  spoken  here  would  be  to 
catalogue  the  men  who  have  swayed  and 
molded  public  opinion  in  America  for  the 
past  forty-three  years.  In  1897  a  group  of 
leading  citizens  decided  that  this  hall  should 
become  more  than  ever  a  popular  forum  for 
the  discussion  of  problems  economic,  social 
and  ethical.  They  accordingly  founded  the 
People's  Institute,  with  Professor  Charles 
Sprague  Smith,  who  held  the  chair  of  modern 
languages  and  foreign  literature  at  Columbia, 
as  director  and  mainspring  of  the  work.  He 
chooses  themes  of  prime  current  interest 
and  has  them  treated  by  men  of  the  first  rank. 


3334     THE  NEW   DEPARTMENT    OF    COMMERCE   AND    LABOR 


During  the  past  winter  the  long  and  varied 
programme  offered  such  themes  as  "  Remedies 
for  Trusts,"  presented  by  Professor  J.  W. 
Jenks,  of  Cornell  University;  and  "Impe- 
rialistic Democracy,"  by  Henry  D.  Lloyd. 
When  a  debate  took  place  on  Socialism  between 
Professor  E.  R.  A.  Seligman,  of  Columbia,  and 
H.  Gaylord  Wilshire,  more  than  three  thou- 
sand hearers  were  present,  packing  the  hall 
as  it  never  was  packed  before.  Another 
debate,  attracting  a  vast  audience,  considered 
the  pros  and  cons  of  the  "Single  Tax," 
Professor  John  B.  Clark,  of  Columbia,  and 
Louis  F.  Post,  editor  of  the  Public,  Chicago, 
facing  each  other  in  courteous  combat. 
Following  every  lecture  and  debate  the 
auditors  are  invited  to  ask  questions.  They 
do  so  freely  and  candidly,  with  the  effect  of 
bringing  out  facts  and  arguments  which 
academic  persons  seldom  hear,  and  of  showing 
how  common  is  the  lack  of  elementary 
information  regarding  economic  facts.  In 
some  of  their  features  these  assemblies  recall 
the  old-time  town-meeting.  Votes  are  taken 
on  important  questions  of  reform,  and  these 
are  duly  brought  before  the  lawmakers 
concerned,  and  not  without  effect.  The 
Tenement  House  Commission  had  the  unani- 
mous support  of  the  People's  Institute,  and 


so  has  the  movement  for  the  abolition  of  the 
labor  of  children  in  New  York.  On  Sunday 
evenings  crowded  houses  listen  to  ethical  dis- 
courses, always  followed  by  free  discussions. 

Some  other  distinctive  features  of  the 
Institute  are  worth  noting.  It  gives  sym- 
phony concerts,  rendered  by  a  capital  orches- 
tra of  fifty  performers.  The  cheapest  tickets 
are  but  five  cents  each,  if  bought  for  a  series 
of  six  concerts.  A  club,  with  rooms  in  East 
Fourteenth  Street,  numbers  nearly  four 
hundred  men  and  women;  the  monthly  dues 
are  forty  cents:  its  classes  are  maintained  the 
year  round.  In  the  heat  of  summer,  when 
"everybody"  is  supposed  to  be  out  of  town, 
there  are  more  than  three  millions  left  in 
the  dwellings  of  New  York,  about  half  of 
them  in  tenements  at  that.  The  Cooper 
Union  courses  of  lectures  include  many  apart 
from  those  of  an  economic  or  social  type; 
systematic  programmes  deal  with  art,  science 
and  literature  on  approved  lines.  Excursions 
are  arranged  to  places  in  New  York  of  historic 
interest  and  to  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of 
Art.  The  Institute  has  a  flourishing  branch 
at  Harlem,  founded  in  1901,  and  directed  by 
Mr.  John  Martin.  The  total  expenses  of  the 
Institute  for  the  past  fiscal  year  were  about 
$11,000,  defrayed  by  subscription. 


THE  NEW  DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE 

AND  LABOR 

THE  IMMENSE  MACHINERY  OF  MR.  CORTELYOU'S  NEW 
DEPARTMENT— SYNTHESIZING  SCATTERED  BUT  ASSOCIATED 
BUREAUS  — THE  BUREAU  OF  CORPORATIONS  AND  ITS 
"TRUST"    INVESTIGATION— PROMOTING   OUR    FOREIGN    TRADE 

BY 

FREDERIC  EMORY 

CHIEF  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  FOREIGN  COMMERCE,    DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE 


FEW  persons,  probably,  realize  the 
magnitude  of  the  machinery  and 
personnel  of  the  national  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labor  which  is  being 
organized  under  the  recent  act  of  Congress. 
It  is  estimated  that,  when  it  is  in  full  working 
order,  the  new  Department  will  have  a  staff 
of  some  fifteen  hundred  employees  at  its 
headquarters  in  Washington,  and  about  ten 


thousand,  including  both  permanent  and 
temporary  appointees,  chiefly  in  the  Light- 
house Establishment,  outside  of  the  Federal 
capital.  Great  as  is  this  force,  the  number 
of  places  to  be  filled  will  be  relatively  small, 
for  the  reason  that  but  two  new  bureaus — 
the  Bureau  of  Corporations  and  the  Bureau 
of  Manufactures — have  been  created,  and 
it    is    understood    that,    for    the    immediate 


THE    NEW    DEPARTMENT    OE    COMMERCE    AND    LA1U)R     3335 


future,  at  any  rate,  the  needs  of  these  bureaus 
will  not  involve  many  appointments.  Some 
time  will  probably  be  occupied  mainly  with 
the  work  of  organization  and  the  development 
of  plans  of  action.  The  great  bulk  of  the 
force,  therefore,  will  be  made  up  of  clerks, 
messengers,  etc.,  already  on  the  Government 
rolls,  who  will  be  transferred  from  other 
departments,  as  part  of  existing  bureaus  to 
be  included,  on  the  first  of  July  next,  in  the 
new  organization. 

It  is  fortunate  for  Mr.  Cortelyou  that,  as 
the  first  head  of  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  he  will  be  relieved  at  the  outset 
of  the  task  of  making  a  large  number  of 
appointments.  He  will  have  enough  to  do 
in  rearranging  and  adjusting  the  working 
parts  of  the  vast  machine  he  is  to  control, 
and  setting  in  motion  and  giving  the  proper 
direction  to  the  new  apparatus.  He  is 
fortunate,  also,  in  the  fact  that  he  is  not 
compelled  to  burden  himself  with  the  opera- 
tion of  the  bureaus  to  be  transferred,  until  the 
first  of  July.  By  this  he  has  four  months  of 
comparative  freedom  in  which  to  mature  his 
plans.  But  his  resources  will  be  heavily 
taxed,  for  the  problem  before  him  in  the  mere 
work  of  preparation  is  complicated  and 
delicate.  He  will  be  called  upon  to  coordinate 
and  harmonize  a  great  variety  of  interests 
and  to  bring  into  line  with  his  general  scheme 
of  administration  a  number  of  important 
bureaus  which  have  heretofore  had  a  more 
or  less  independent  existence  and  power  of 
initiative.  The  discretion,  tact  and  ready 
spirit  of  accommodation  which  he  has  shown 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  in  the  White 
House  would  seem  to  fit  him  especially  for 
doing  this  work.  Happily,  he  will  have  the 
cooperation  of  a  number  of  trained  and  able 
officials,  as  well  as  of  new  men,  who  will 
doubtless  be  selected  for  their  special  aptitude 
and  fitness. 

THE    WORK   OF   THE    DEPARTMENT 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  enumerate  the 
functions  of  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor.  They  are  indicated  broadly  by- 
its  name,  and  may  be  said  to  include  almost 
every  important  agency  of  the  Government 
which  has  to  deal  with  industry  and  trade. 
The  Department  of  Agriculture,  which  has 
some  divisions  more  or  less  related  to  these 
subjects,  is  the  only  Department  that  will  not 
transfer  part  of  its  work.     The  exception  was 


made,  no  doubt,  because  many  of  its  functions 
are  more  natural  parts  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture.  It  was  proposed  to  include 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  but 
Congress  finally  decided  to  maintain  it  as  an 
independent  body.  The  State  Department 
contributes  its  only  commercial  bureau — 
that  engaged  in  the  jjublication  of  the  Consular 
reports — and  from  the  Treasury  everything 
is  taken  that  could  well  be  utilized  in  the 
new  Department,  including  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics,  which  compiles  the  figures  of 
exports  and  imports  and  a  variety  of  other 
commercial  data;  the  Bureau  of  Navigation, 
dealing  with  our  merchant  marine;  the 
Steamboat  Inspection  Service;  the  Light- 
house Establishment;  the  Alaskan  fisheries; 
the  Bureau  of  Immigration;  the  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey,  and  the  Bureau  of  Standards. 
The  Treasury  is  practically  relieved  of  nearly 
all  its  extraneous  duties.  It  reverts  to  its 
original  and  proper  functions  with  the 
exception  of  the  Life-Saving  and  Marine 
Hospital  Services,  which  it  will  continue  to 
control.  The  Interior  Department  contrib- 
utes the  Census  Ofhce;  and  the  hitherto 
unattached  Department  of  Labor  and  the 
Fish  Commission  are  also  brought  into  the 
new  Department. 

Owing  to  the  recent  agitation  of  the  trust 
question,  public  interest  has  naturally  cen- 
tred in  the  new  Bureau  of  Corporations, 
which  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  investigat- 
ing the  organization  and  management  of 
corporations,  joint  stock  companies  and 
corporate  combinations,  except  common 
carriers,  subject  to  existing  law,  that  are 
engaged  in  commerce  among  the  several 
states  and  with  foreign  nations,  and  of  making 
public  the  results.  There  has  been  some 
criticism  of  this  provision  by  advocates  of 
trust  legislation  on  the  ground  that  it  does 
not  go  far  enough,  confining  itself,  as  it  does, 
to  securing  publicity  as  to  the  operations  and 
methods  of  "combines.  "  On  the  other  hand, 
there  would  doubtless  have  been  strong 
opposition  on  the  part  of  many  who  have 
no  love  for  great  corporations  to  giving  a 
Federal  bureau  large  discretionary  or  restrain- 
ing powers.  It  will  probably  be  found  that 
more  real  progress  will  have  been  made  by 
first  collecting  the  facts  indispensable  to 
wholesome  legislation  than  if  the  bureau  itself 
had  been  charged  with  the  duty  of  providing 
remedies. 


3336     THE    NEW    DEPARTMENT    OF    COMMERCE  AND    LABOR 


ITS    EFFECT    ON    FOREIGN'    TRADE 

So  far  as  the  ordinary  currents  of  our 
commerce  and  industry  are  concerned,  the 
new  Department  will  probably  be  most 
helpful  in  giving  a  fresh  impetus  and,  what 
is  needed  most  of  all,  an  intelligent  and 
systematic  direction  to  the  expansion  of 
foreign  markets  for  our  manufactured  goods. 
Our  exports  of  food  supplies  and  raw  materials 
need  little  aid  or  stimulus,  since  they  are 
■prime  necessities  which  industrial  nations 
must  obtain  from  us,  according  to  their 
requirements  at  any  given  time.  Those 
requirements  depend  upon  conditions  be- 
yond our  control,  such  as  the  abundance 
or  failure  of  crops  or  the  extent  of  a  nation's 
purchasing  power  determined  by  the  degree 
of  prosperity  or  of  business  depression  it  may 
be  experiencing.  The  usefulness  of  govern- 
ment machinery,  therefore,  must  be  limited 
to  removing  purely  artificial  obstructions  to 
the  extension  of  our  sales  or  to  pointing  out 
new  channels  of  demand  or  the  special  needs 
of  different  fields  of  consumption.  It  is 
doubtful,  too,  whether  the  new  Department 
can  add  much  to  the  sum  of  knowledge  of 
our  domestic  trade  or  industry  which  will 
be  of  practical  benefit  to  the  average  business 
man,  but  it  can  and  doubtless  will  collate 
this  information  in  a  more  convenient  form. 

When  we  consider  the  capabilities  of  a  well- 
organized  Department  of  Commerce  as  an 
agency  for  increasing  our  exports  of  manu- 
factures, however,  its  probable  usefulness  is 
at  once  seen  to  be  broad  and  far-reaching. 
Our  manufactured  goods,  it  is  true,  like  our 
food-stuffs,  are  selling  themselves  because  of 
inherent  qualities  which  commend  them  to 
foreign  consumers,  but  they  cannot  be  regarded 
as  necessities  to  foreigners,  and  they  are, 
moreover,  subject  to  a  competition  on  the 
part  of  other  industrial  nations  which  is 
likely  to  become  much  keener.  The  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  will  therefore  have  a 
double  part  to  play.  On  the  one  hand,  it 
will  be  its  province  to  keep  our  manufac- 
turers and  exporters  informed  as  to  condi- 
tions abroad  and  the  special  requisites  for 
obtaining  the  largest  possible  share  of  the 
world's  trade;  and  on  the  other  hand,  it  will 
be  able  t9  direct  and  give  full  effect  to  an 
intelligent  propaganda  in  foreign  countries 
for  making  known  the  distinctive  merits  of 
our  wares.  Its  main  reliance  for  some  time 
to  come  will  be  our  consvdar  service,  which, 


notwithstanding  its  alleged  shortcomings,  is 
now  generally  conceded  to  be  doing  valuable 
work  in  both  directions. 

Under  the  new  organization,  the  consular 
officers  will  continue  to  be  subject  to  the 
direction  of  the  Department  of  State,  but  the 
latter  is  to  cooperate  with  the  Department 
of  Commerce  and  Labor  in  utilizing  them  as 
agents  for  obtaining  industrial  and  trade 
information.  The  new  Department  is  to 
publish  and  distribute  their  reports,  and 
with  its  larger  facilities  will  doubtless  be  able 
still  further  to  extend  and  improve  a  service 
which  has  practically  reached  the  limit  of 
its  development  with  the  resources  at  the 
command  of  the  Department  of  State.  In 
course  of  time,  perhaps,  the  labors  of  the 
Consuls,  wiio  are  even  now  overburdened  in 
many  instances  with  inquiries  from  our 
business  interests,  wiU  be  supplemented  by 
the  employment  of  special  agents  in  foreign 
countries  similar  to  those  appointed  by  the 
British  Foreign  Office,  but  possibly  with 
larger  powers.  There  may  be,  also,  com- 
mercial attaches  at  the  principal  embassies 
and  legations. 

A    VAST    FIELD    FOR    FUTURE    DEVELOPMENT 

The  results  already  accomplished,  with  but 
little  systematic  effort,  in  extending  the  sales 
of  our  goods  even  in  countries  where,  at  one 
time,  the  prospect  w'as  least  encouraging, 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  we  have  before 
us  a  vast  field  of  development,  if  the  proper 
means  are  taken  thoroughly  to  cultivate  it. 
To  individual  enterprise,  of  course,  must  be 
left  the  actual  work  of  cultivation,  but  the 
Federal  Government  is  now  provided,  for 
the  first  time,  with  efficient  machinery  for 
fully  doing  its  part  as  an  auxiliary.  How 
great  that  part  may  be  is  appreciated  only  by 
those  who  have  become  familiar,  through  the 
consular  reports,  with  the  great  w^aste  of 
effort  due  to  ignorance  or  misdirected  energy 
on  the  part  of  our  business  men  seeking 
foreign  markets  for  their  goods,  knd  with 
the  golden  opportunities  which  are  so  often 
neglected  because  we  have  no  one  great 
central  repository'  of  the  information  required. 
There  has  been  no  lack  of  such  information 
in  the  past.  The  great  trouble  is  that  it  is 
distributed  among  so  many  bureaus  that  it 
is  obtainable  only  by  piecemeal;  so  that,  for 
example,  if  one  wished  to  learn  a  group  of 
facts  more  or  less  closely  related,  he  might 


GEORGE  in<uc:i':  cortklyou 


3337 


have  to  apply  to  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of 
the  Treasury,  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  Com- 
merce of  the  State  Department,  the  Census 
Office,  the  Dciiarttnent  of  Labor,  and  so  on, 
and  would,  pcrhaixs,  have  to  sift  and  analyze 
a  mass  of  data  furnished  from  these  different 
sources  before  he  could  arrive  at  general 
results.  It  has  often  happened,  moreover, 
that  the  work  of  different  bureaus  has  over- 
lapped, producing  confusion  and  waste  in 
the  duplication  of  matter. 

With  all  work  of  this  kind  combined  and 
properly  classified  in  a  single  depiirtment, 
as  will  now  be  done,  it  should  be  possible  to 
answer  inquiries  of  the  most  comprehensive 
character  promptly  and  with  full  details. 

If  to  this  faculty  of  judicious  concentration 
the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor 
adds,  as  it  probably  will,  a  diligent  cooperation 
with  organized  bodies,  such  as  boards  of  trade, 
commercial  expositions  and  museums,  manu- 
facturers' and  export  associations,  etc. — in 
other  words,  all  the  rapidly  multiplying 
representatives  of  our  industrial  interests 
generally — it  may  easily  become  all  that  its 
projectors  have  hoped  for  it  as  an  engine  of 
commercial  progress  and  expansion.  This 
may  be  done,  too,  without  its  necessarily 
developing     those     paternalistic     tendencies 


which  in  some  ([uarters  have  been  regarded 
as  likely  to  make  of  it  an  incubus  upon  private 
enterprise  and  initiative.  At  any  rate,  it 
will  supply,  almost  immediately,  the  pressing 
need  of  the  hour  in  bringing  to  a  focus  the 
manifold  energies,  now  more  or  less  divergent 
or  undeveloped,  which  have  been  groping 
for  the  key  to  concerted  action  in  promoting 
our  foreign  trade.  It  is  to  foreign  trade  that 
we  must  look  for  a  safe  and  profitable  vent 
for  our  rapidly  augmenting  industrial  output. 
Prosperous  as  we  now  are,  we  may  soon  be 
face  to  face  again  with  a  heavy  excess  of 
production,  and  if  we  would  not  then  see 
many  of  our  factories  idle  and  our  labor  only 
partly  employed,  we  must  in  the  mean- 
time make  wider  and  deeper  the  export 
channels  which  alone  can  relieve  us  of  the 
surplusage.  Our  endeavors  to  do  this,  so  far, 
are  almost  wholly  parochial  and  inconclusive, 
for  the  reason  that  we  have  had  no  common 
rallying  point,  no  national  pivot  of  action. 
With  a  department  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment specially  equipped  for  guiding  our 
export  activities,  and  setting  the  example, 
in  itself,  of  concentration  and  directness  of 
efifort,  we  ought  now  to  be  able  to  exert  the 
full  force  of  our  undoubted  capabilities  in 
international  competition. 


GEORGE    BRUCE   CORTELYOU 

THE  HEAD  OF  THE  NEW  DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE,  WHO, 
OUTSIDE  OF  POLITICS,  HAS  RISEN  TO  HIGH  OFFICIAL  POSITION 
BY    CLEAR-HEADED    METHOD  AND  CAPACITY  FOR  MUCH  WORK 

BY 

DAVID  S.  BARRY. 


A  GROUP  of  senators  and  newspaper 
correspondents  were  chatting  in  a 
committee  room  at  the  Capitol  the 
other  day  about  the  Secretary  of  the  new 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  when 
one  of  the  senators  remarked,  "In  my 
experience  in  public  life  I  have  never  known 
of  any  man  except  George  B.  Cortelyou  who, 
without  political  experience  or  influence, 
representing  nobody  but  himself,  without  a 
political,  social  or  financial  'pull,'  without 
ever  being  asked  whether  he  was  a  Republican 


or    Democrat,    had  reached   a  high  political 
office  on  his  merits  alone." 

Mr.  Cortelyou  has  not  held  many  offices  in 
Washington.  When  he  was  a  stenographer 
in  the  Post-Office  Department  he  did  not 
dream  of  ever  becoming  secretary  to  a 
President.  When  he  was  appointed  secre- 
tary he  had  no  thought  of  becoming  a 
member  of  the  Cabinet.  During  the  McKinley 
administration,  when  Charles  Emory  Smith 
talked  of  resigning,  Henry  B.  F.  Macfarland, 
President  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of 


3338 


GEORGE  BRUCE  CORTELYOU 


the  District  of  Columbia,  sent  a  despatch  to 
his  paper  one  night  stating  that  Mr.  Cortelyou, 
then  President  McKinley's  secretary,  might 
be  offered  the  Postmaster- Generalship.  The 
uninformed  who  read  the  despatch  laughed 
at  it,  and  it  was  soon  forgotten.  A  few 
persons,  however,  who  had  heard  President 
McKinley  talk  about  Cortelyou,  saw  nothing 
improbable  in  Macfarland's  despatch.  Noth- 
ing more  was  heard  of  the  matter  until  one 
day  last  spring  two  newspaper  correspondents 
went  to  the  White  House  to  ask  President 
Roosevelt  about  the  probable  success  of  the 
group  of  western  speculators  who  were  trying 
to  get  Secretary  Hitchcock  out  of  the  Interior 
Department.  The  President  said  that  Mr. 
Hitchcock  was  an  honest  man  and  would 
remain;  but  when  he  was  asked  who  would 
succeed  him  if  the  influences  at  work  against 
him  should  ultimately  succeed,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
turned  on  his  heel  in  his  impulsive,  character- 
istic fashion  and  said: 

"Cortelyou,  step  here  a  moment."  Draw- 
ing the  three  friends  about  him — for  the  room 
was  filled  with  people — the  President  said: 
"Whenever  a  vacancy  shall  occur  in  the 
Cabinet  it  is  my  purpose  to  appoint  Mr. 
Cortelyou  if  he  will  accept,  and  I  want 
that  distinctly  understood. "  Mr.  Cortelyou 
smiled  and  went  back  to  his  desk.  The  cor- 
respondents published  what  the  President 
had  said,  but  very  few  people  believed  it. 
When  the  Senate  passed  the  bill  creating  the 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  it  was 
held  up  in  the  House  for  some  time  because 
of  the  opposition  of  a  number  of  Congressmen 
who  wished  to  have  it  arranged  in  advance 
that  one  of  their  number  should  get  the  new 
Cabinet  place.  It  took  a  long  time  to  make 
them  believe  that  the  President  really 
intended  to  appoint  Cortelyou. 

Mr.  Cortelyou — not  Cor-f^/-you,  although 
that  was  President  ^IcKinley's  pronunciation 
of  the  name — was  bom  in  New  York  city  on 
July  26,  1862.  His  father  was  a  well-to-do 
business  man,  who  sent  his  boy  to  the  Normal 
School  at  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  to  pre- 
pare for  Harvard,  after  he  had  passed  through 
the  grades  of  the  public  schools  in  Brooklyn. 
Young  Cortelyou  took  up  the  study  of  music, 
and  after  that  stenography.  Then  he  became 
Supreme  Court  reporter.  In  1889  he  was 
appointed  a  stenographer  to  the  Post-Office 
Inspector  for  New  York  city,  and  two  years 
later  confidential  stenographer  to  the  Surveyor 


of  the  Port  of  New  York.  In  the  same  year 
he  came  to  Washington  as  stenographer  in 
the  office  of  the  Fourth  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General.  Just  before  he  went  to  Washington 
Thomas  C.  Piatt  offered  to  make  him  his 
private  secretary,  an  offer  which,  on  consider- 
ation, Mr.  Cortelyou  declined.  In  1895 
President  Cleveland  wanted  a  good  stenog- 
rapher at  the  White  House  to  take  the  place 
of  Robert  Lincoln  O'Brien.  Casting  about 
to  find  one,  Postmaster-General  Bissell  spoke 
of  Cortelyou  as  just  the  man  for  the  place. 
It  was  found  that  he  was  a  Republican  hold- 
over who  had  been  appointed  under  the 
Harrison  administration.  Cleveland  said  he 
did  not  care  an^^thing  about  that,  and  Cor- 
telyou went  to  work  as  stenographer  and 
assistant  to  Henry  T.  Thurber,  then  the 
President's  private  secretary.  He  was  pro- 
moted along  with  other  clerks  until  he  came 
to  be  assistant  secretary  under  John  Addison 
Porter,  secretary  to  President  McKinley. 
The  newspaper  correspondents  were  the  first 
persons  outside  of  the  White  House  to  dis- 
cover that  Cortelyou  was  gradually  becoming 
the  real  secretary.  Mr.  Porter's  health  was 
not  good,  and  after  awhile  he  broke  down 
and  was  forced  to  resign.  From  that  time 
began  the  rise  of  Mr.  Cortelyou  in  the  esteem 
of  the  important  men  who  had  an  opportunity 
to  discover  his  merits. 

A  gentleman  who  sat  next  to  Mr.  Cortelyou 
at  a  Gridiron  Club  dinner  a  few  years  ago 
said  the  next  morning: 

"That  man  Cortelyou  is  about  the  most 
solemn  proposition  I  ever  ran  up  against. " 

It  was  a  very  natural  estimate.  Cortelyou 
looks  solemn  and  he  never  laughs  aloud. 
He  is  a  good-looking  man,  but  he  might 
easily  fie  taken  for  a  minister  or  a  college 
professor.  He  is  well  built  and  as  straight 
and  supple  and  graceful  as  an  Indian. 
His  head  is  very  round  and  covered  with 
thick,  black  hair,  fast  turning  gray,  brushed 
straight  up  from  his  forehead  in  pompadour 
style.  The  real  secret  of  Mr.  Cortelyou's 
power  lies  perhaps  in  the  fact  that  he  listens 
to  ever\^hing  that  is  said  to  him  and  forgets  • 
nothing.  In  addition,  he  has  a  well -trained  ;^- 
mind.  He  has  so  systematized  the  things 
he  has  learned  that  it  is  like  pigeon-holed 
material — always  ready  for  use.  Although 
he  laughs  little  and  never  heartily,  Cortelyou 
has  a  very  attractive  smile.  When  he  talks 
he  looks  one  square  in  the  eye  and  answers 


1 


GEORGE   liRUCE   CURTELYOU  3339 

in   a  low   voice,   but   directly   to   the   point.  Cortclyou    was    eyes   and   cars  for  President 

His  solemnity  is  easily  ])enctrated  by  a  good  McKinley  in  those  days,  as  he  has  been  for 

story  or  a  joke,  and  no  President's  secretary  President  Roosevelt  since.   He  saw  every  man, 

ever   appreciated  the   humorous   features   of  woman  and  child  who  entered  the  President's 

life  in  the  White  House  more  than  Cortelyou.  office  and  knew  what  they  came  for  and  what 

He  can  say  yes  or  no  with  equal  firmness  and  they  got.    He  read  every  message  that  came 

good  nature;  and  in  his  faithful  devotion  to  and  went  by  wire,  post  or  messenger,  and  kcjjt 

McKinley  and  Roosevelt,  the  two  Presidents  the  whole  great  game  in  his  head  as  a  player 

whom  he  has  served,   he  never  forgot  that  at   chess   does.      Where   McKinley    went   he 

they  were  human  after  all.     His  admiration  went,  always  by  the  President's  side,  acting 

for  them  never  grew  into  worship.  as    an    intermediary    between    him    and    the 

One  of  Cortelyou 's  most  valuable  assets  is  people, 

and  always  has  been  his  remarkable  ability  On    that    September    day    in    1901    when 

to  work  and  work  hard  twelve  or  fifteen  hours  McKinley  was  shot  down  by  the  hand  of  an 

out  of  twenty-four  and  come  up  smiling  after  assassin,  it  was  Cortelyou,  strong,  cool  and 

a  few  hours'  sleep.     His  habits  of  life  outside  clear-headed,    who   gave   the   prompt   orders 

his  office  are  just  as  regular  and  abstemious  that    took    the    stricken    President    to    the 

as  when  he  is  in  it.     He  eats,  drinks,  smokes,  hospital  and  placed  him  under  the  surgeon's 

talks,  laughs  and  does  everything  else  in  the  knife    within    an    incredibly    short    space  of 

same  quiet,  temperate,  contained  way.     He  time  after  the  shot  had  been  fired;  and  it  was 

has  so  schooled  himself  to  conceal  what  is  he    who    so    thoughtfully    arranged    for    the 

going  on  in  his  mind  that  there  is  not  the  interview    between    the    wounded    President 

slightest  doubt  in  the  world  that  if  he  were  at  and  his  wife  that  called  forth  the  sympathy 

his    desk    and    the    report    should    come    to  of  the  world.     From  that  day  until  McKinley 

him  that  President  Roosevelt  had  fallen  from  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  flower-strewn  cemetery 

the   top    of   the   Washington    Monument   he  at  Canton  there  was  practically  no  rest,  day 

would  with  mechanical    calmness   order  the  or   night,    for    Mr.    Cortelyou.     The   terrible 

proper  person  to  send  an  ambulance.  anxiety,  the  mental  worry,  the  actual  work 

Mr.  Cortelyou 's  ability  to  withstand  hard,  performed  by  him  will  never  be  known  except 
continuous  physical  and  mental  work  and  by  those  who  were  within  the  circle  at  Buffalo, 
to  subject  his  mind  and  his  body  to  wearying  Returning  to  Washington  after  the  funeral, 
strain  was  first  put  to  the  test  during  the  Mr.  Cortelyou  said  to  a  friend  that  he  was 
Spanish-American  War  in  1898.  He  was  tired  in  mind  and  body  almost  to  the  breaking 
even  then  the  real  secretary  to  President  point.  But  he  did  not  show  it.  He  was  as 
McKinley,  and  during  all  of  that  long  hot  calm  and  suave  and  neat  and  self-contained 
summer  he  performed  an  enormous  daily  as  if  upon  a  pleasure  trip.  The  Canton  train 
and  nightly  task.  In  those  days  when  the  reached  Washington  early  in  the  morning, 
telegraph  office  at  the  White  House  was  a  and  an  hour  later  Theodore  Roosevelt  was 
war  chamber,  when  there  were  hourly  meet-  sitting  in  the  President's  chair  as  self-reliant 
ings  of  the  Cabinet  day  and  night,  and  when  as  though  there  had  not  been  a  tragedy  at 
every  act  performed  by  the  Government  had  Buffalo.  He  took  up  the  work  that  the 
a  world-wide  interest,  Cortelyou  was  President  murdered  President  had  laid  down,  and  there 
McKinley's  right  hand.  He  was  at  the  White  by  his  chair  was  Cortelyou,  who  from  that 
House  at  nine  o'clock  or  shortly  after  every  moment  became  the  central  figure  of  a  pro- 
morning;  he  left  it  between  six  and  seven  in  gramme  of  executive  strenuousness  perhaps 
the  evening;  he  was  back  about  half -past  never  before  known  to  the  American  people, 
nine  and  did  not  depart  much  before  one  in  President  Roosevelt  does  not  spend  as 
the  morning.  In  1899  the  Philippines  war  many  hours  a  day  at  work  as  President 
made  conditions  similar;  in  1900  it  was  the  McKinley  did,  but  he  works  more  rapidly. 
Chinese  war  that  made  the  doings  at  the  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  no  systematic  regularity 
White  House  the  important  things  of  the  about  his  methods  either  at  work  or  at  play, 
world.  During  all  this  time  the  mental  and  He  is  likely  to  do  the  unexpected  thing, 
physical  strain  upon  President  McKinley  and  Cortelyou  is  just  the  opposite  of  Mr.  Roose- 
Mr.  Cortelyou,  who  had  been  made  his  secre-  velt.  He  never  hurries  and  he  never  is 
tary  in  the  spring  of    1900,  was  prodigious,  excited.     He  keeps  himself  in  perfect  physical 


■ 


3340 


GEORGE    BRUCE    CORTELYOU 


I 


trim  without  taking  any  systematic  exercise. 
Mr.  Cortelyou  does  not  ride  horseback,  or 
take  long  cross-country  walks,  or  fence  or 
box,  or  play  single-stick  or  chop  down  trees. 
He  "saws  wood"  all  the  time,  it  is  true,  but 
he  never  swings  the  ax.  He  rides  to  his 
modest  little  home  over  on  Capitol  Hill  in 
the  unfashionable  part  of  "Washington,  and 
he  has  probably  spent  less  time  in  the  open 
air  during  the  last  five  years  than  any  other 
man  in  the  city  of  Washington.  He  has 
never  had  a  real  vacation  since  McKinley 
became  President,  and  has  done  none  of  the 
things  that  the  doctors  say  one  must  do  to  be 
well  except  that  he  is  temperate  and  regular 
in  all  his  habits. 

Mr.  Cortelyou  has  a  charming  wife  and 
four  children,  two  boys  and  two  girls.  All  of 
his  time  not  devoted  to  his  public  duties  he 
spends  in  their  company.  He  belongs  to  no 
clubs  except  the  New  York  Press  Club,  and  to 
no  secret  societies.  He  takes  no  part  in  the 
social  life  of  Washington  except  to  participate 
in  such  official  functions  as  fall  to  his  lot  in  his 
official  capacity.  He  attends  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  the  children  go  to  the  public 
schools.  Mr.  Cortelyou  will  receive  $8,000 
as  a  Cabinet  officer  instead  of  $5,000  as 
secretary  to  the  President,  and  he  may  find 
it  necessary  to  move  from  Capitol  Hill  into 
a  more  accessible  part  of  Washington. 

In  no  respect  has  ]\Ir.  Cortelyou  been  more 
valuable  to  the  late  President  McKinley  and 
to  President  Roosevelt  than  in  his  relations 
with  the  newspaper  men  in  Washington. 
He  has  accomplished  a  great  deal  in  the  way 
of  creating  and  maintaining  a  good  feeling 
between  them  and  the  Administration.  He 
never  slaps  them  on  the  back  or  calls  them 
"old  man,"  but  he  always  treats  them  fairly 
and  squarely.  It  was  under  Mr.  Cortelyou 
that  the  practice  was  inaugurated  of  having 
the  President  talk  frankly  with  newspaper 
correspondents  about  public  affairs.  This 
was  President  McKinley "s  policy,  and  it  has 
been  followed  by  !Mr.  Roosevelt  very  liberally. 
President  McKinley  was  not  as  accessible 
to  the  newspaper  men  as  President  Roosevelt 
is.  He  did  not  let  them  see  him  off-hand  so 
frequently,  but  he  was  always  ready  to 
receive  a  reputable  newspaper  correspondent 
if  the  nature  of  his  visit  was  important  enough 
for  him  to  demand  an  interview.  But 
President  Roosevelt  talks  to  the  newspaper 
reporters  with  nearly  as  much  freedom  as  he 


does  to  the  members  of  his  Cabinet.  It  is  his 
way,  he  says,  of  keeping  things  secret.  Like 
President  McKinley,  and  unlike  President 
Roosevelt,  Mr.  Cortelyou  never  replies  to  a 
statement  put  to  him  until  he  has  listened  to 
everything  the  person  making  it  has  to  say. 
He  listens  as  patiently  and  good-naturedly 
as  if  he  really  enjoyed  it.  His  replies  are 
always  to  the  point. 

It  was  during  Mr.  McKinley 's  term  of 
office  that  Mr.  Cortelyou  inaugurated  the 
practice  of  turning  a  railroad  train  into  an 
executive  office  during  a  presidential  trip, 
and  handing  to  the  newspaper  men  on  the 
train,  with  a  very  few  minutes'  delay,  a  type- 
written report  of  ever}i;hing  said  and  done 
at  each  stopping  place,  recording  not  only 
the  speech-making,  but  the  human  inci- 
dents. This  is  a  great  convenience  to  the 
reporters  and  it  is  very  important  to  the 
President.  It  puts  before  the  country  sys- 
tematically and  completely  a  correct  report 
of  all  he  says  and  all  that  is  said  to  him. 

One  of  the  President's  friends  expressed 
surprise  the  other  day  that  he  should  appoint 
as  a  member  of  his  Cabinet  a  man  who  is  not 
a  politician.  But  a  senator  who  was  present 
said  that  Cortelyou  was  the  best  politician 
he  ever  knew.  Cortelyou  is  a  consummate 
master  of  the  science  of  politics,  he  said. 
However  that  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  Mr. 
Cortelyou  is  a  good  judge  of  human  nature, 
and  he  generally  values  a  man  at  his  worth. 
The  manner  in  which  he  intends  to  conduct 
his  new  department  was  well  illustrated  the 
other  day.  A  friend  said  to  him  that  he 
supposed  a  good  place  would  be  given  to  a 
mutual  friend  of  theirs.  "No,"  said  Mr. 
Cortelyou,  "I  doubt  if  he  has  the  kind  of 
ability  the  thing  needs."  He  went  on  to 
say  that  the  employees  must  be  able  to  do 
intelligent,  painstaking  work  or  he  would  not 
have  them. 

Political  influence  will,  of  course,  have 
some  weight  with  Mr.  Cortelyou,  but  he  will 
have  no  idlers  and  no  incompetents.  Since 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Spanish-American 
war  the  clerical  work  of  the  White  House 
has  greatly  increased  and  expanded,  but 
frequent  visitors  to  the  White  House  see 
nothing  of  it  as  they  transact  business  with 
the  calm,  quiet,  level-headed  man  who 
manages  it  all.  The  public  may  hear  more 
of  him  in  the  future  as  one  of  the  twentieth- 
century  captains  of  industry. 


A  VAST  MACHINE  FOR  SOCIAL 

BETTERMENT 

AN  IMPARTIAL  INVESTIC'.ATION  OF  THE  VOUNCl  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN 
ASSOCIATION— THE  QUAI.ITV  OK  ITS  MEMHERSH  IP— HOW  IT  EDU- 
CATES FOR  THE  POLICE  AND  FIRE  SERVICE  AND  HENEFITS  THE 
SAILORS— RELIGIOSITY  SUPERSEDED   BY  PRACTICAL  HELPFULNESS 

PY 

RAYMOND  STEVENS 


AT  a  recent  civil-service  examination  for 
positions  on  the  New  York  police 
force  a  candidate  was  asked,  to  test 
his  ability  to  answer  the  questions  of  the 
public,  how  he  would  go  from  City  Hall  to 
the  Metropolitan  Museum.  He  said,  "I'd 
ask  some  cop  what  car  to  take."  Similar 
incidents  served  most  of  those  who  heard  of 
them  merely  as  jokes,  but  it  occurred  to 
officers  of  a  certain  organization  of  which 
President  Roosevelt  lately  remarked,  "It 
combines  decency  with  efficiency,"  that  in 
the  training  of  men  for  police  and  fire  depart- 
ment places  lay  a  field  of  very  appreciable 
usefulness.  Young  men  were  invited,  accord- 
ingly, to  join  classes  to  study  elementary  civil- 
service  subjects  and  to  gain  the  physical 
strength  required.  And  now  in  a  commodious 
building  on  the  Bowery  in  New  York  such  a 
class  is  at  work  every  evening,  and  of  the  125 
men  on  the  last  police  force  civil-service 
list  in  New  York  city,  fourteen  came 
from  this  single  little  group.  Such  a 
manifestation  of  practical  helpfulness,  com- 
bined with  successful  effort  in  a  hundred 
siinilar  fields,  emphasizes  the  expansion 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, the  organization  that  is  carrying  on 
this  work  in  New  York  and  elsewhere, 
far  beyond  the  narrow  conceptions  of  its 
founders. 

An  organization  whose  sole  business  is  the 
making  of  men  better,  and  which  has,  ac- 
cording to  its  last  report,  property  worth 
$30,000,000  and  a  membership_  of  300,000 
3''oung  men  and  boys,  deserves  an  investiga- 
tion of  its  methods,  personnel  and  results. 
Greater  New  York  has  thirty-three  branches 
of  the  Association,  covering  its  most  impor- 
tant fields  of  activity;  here  such  an  investi- 
gation was  made. 


The  West  Side  branch  has  one  of  the  best 
equijjped  buildings  in  the  city,  and  is  typical. 
This  branch  has  more  than  3,500  mem- 
bers, whose  average  age  is  twenty-three 
years.  Most  are  clerks  and  office  employees 
and  are  fairly  representative  of  their  cla.ss. 
Some  are  the  typical  Sunday-school  youth, 
vapid  and  lacking  in  virility,  but  these 
are  not  so  numerous  as  to  color  the  Asso- 
ciation. The  many  practical  advantages 
attract  also  men  of  more  manly  stamp.  The 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  partly 
supported  by  benevolence,  is  evidently  for 
men  of  moderate  means  and  the  less 
fortunate  in  early  advantages  or  home 
environment,  yet  many  men  in  no  need 
of  its  help  do  association  work  from  philan- 
thropic motives,  as  college  men  go  into  settle- 
ment work.  Any  respectable  young  man 
may  join.  About  1,500  men  at  the  West 
Side  branch  are  not  church  members,  and 
of  the  rest  one-half  are  Catholics. 

Twelve  hundred  men  belong  to  the  physical 
department  and  take  regular  exercise. 
Besides  the  usual  class-work,  boxing,  wrest- 
ling and  fencing  are  taught.  Last  year  11 1 
entertainments  and  lectures  were  given 
with  a  total  attendance  of  21,000,  also  210 
religious  meetings  with  an  attendance  of 
30,000.  Such  eminent  churchmen  and 
laymen  as  Doctor  Lyman  Abbott,  Doctor 
Rainsford,  Jacob  Riis  and  Colonel  Leonard 
Wood  were  among  the  speakers.  Some  of 
the  Sunday  meetings  in  Carnegie  Hall  were 
the  largest  meetings  for  men  alone  ever  held 
in  New  York  city.  The  Association  runs  a 
free  employment  bureau.  The  West  Side, 
the  Bowery  and  the  Twenty-third  Street 
branches  last  year  secured  3,766  situations. 

The  West  Side  branch  has  650  men  in  its 
night-schools.     Since   most    of    its   members 


3342 


A   VAST    MACHINE    FOR    SOCIAL   BETTERMENT 


are  young  men  who  had  to  go  to  work 
early  and  without  special  training,  the 
courses  are  usually  very  practical,  commercial 
and  technical  courses  predominating.  There 
are  seventy-five  college  graduates  in  this  one 
night-school,  even  from  such  institutions  as 
Harvard,  Princeton,  Yale  and  Columbia, 
studying  commercial  courses  that  the  colleges 
do  not  teach.  Here  is  a  typical  case  of  what 
the  Association  aims  to  do.  A  clerk  working 
in  a  dry  goods  store  at  $5  a  week,  after 
taking  a  course  in  mechanical  drawing, 
secured  a  position  through  the  Association 
Employment  Bureau  in  an  engineer's  office 
with  a  salary  to  begin  with  of  $8  a  week, 
and  also  the  chance  to  do  all  the  extra  work 
he  wished  to  at  $1  an  hour. 

The  Twenty-third  Street  branch  not  long 
ago  opened  a  successful  day-school  which  will 
probably  be  imitated  in  other  branches.  It 
has  nearly  one  hundred  students,  and  is  really 
a  thorough  business  college  open  to  members 
at  a  merely  nominal  cost — for  S3. 50  is  about 
the  average  fee  for  all  Association  courses. 

A  standard  examination  is  held  in  all 
Association  schools  so  rigid  that  more  than  a 
hundred  universities,  colleges  and  technical 
schools,  including  the  State  universities  of 
Maine,  Indiana,  Oregon,  Washington,  Colo- 
rado, Georgia,  Mississippi  and  Louisiana, 
accept  the  Association  certificates  in  lieu  of 
entrance  examinations. 

The  Naval  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion has  a  different  problem  to  meet. 
"Jackies"  have  no  need  of  g\'mnasiums, 
no  opportunity  for  study  and,  generally 
speaking,  no  religious  interests.  They 
are  not  more  given  to  dissipation  than 
the  average  man,  in  spite  of  a  rather  common 
opinion  to  the  contrary.  After  months  of 
strict  discipline  and  careful  living,  very 
naturally  many  turn  their  liberty  into  a  spree, 
and  thus  their  misdeeds  are  emphasized. 
There  are,  of  course,  some  men  with  fixed 
habits  of  dissipation,  but  more  are  led  to 
saloons  and  cheap  "joints"  chiefly  from  the 
lack  of  any  better  places  to  go  to. 

The  Brooklyn  Naval  Building,  opened  last 
May  through  the  generosity  of  Miss  Helen 
Gould,  is  probably  the  finest  inexpensive 
club  in  the  world.  Besides  the  usual  facilities, 
it  has  a  rifle-range,  pool  and  billiard  tables,  a 
barber  shop,  a  camera -room  and  a  large 
number  of  storage  lockers.  Asked  how  he 
liked  the  place,  one  sailor  said,   "My  clothes 


fit  me  better  here  than  in  any  other  place  I 
go  to."  Another  said,  "I  didn't  come  here 
for  months — I  thought  it  was  one  of  these 

d d  missions,  but  this  place  is  all  right." 

These  remarks  indicate  two  reasons  why  the 
Young  ]\Ien's  Christian  Association  has 
attracted  sailors.  Here  they  are  made 
to  feel  at  home,  while  in  most  places, 
even  in  our  democratic  community, 
they  are  not  wanted — a  fact  that  leads 
many,  against  the  rules,  to  wear  citizen 
dress  on  shore.  They  object  to  charity  and 
hate  attempts  to  save  their  sovds.  They 
pay  a  large  part  of  the  running  expenses 
themselves,  and  they  do  not  have  religion 
thrust  upon  them.  ' 

Last  Christmas  twenty-five  men  from 
Newport  and  a  few  from  Norfolk  came  to  the 
Brooklyn  branch  to  spend  the  day,  just  as 
they  might  have  gone  home  if  home  had  been 
accessible.  In  the  first  six  months  the 
average  daily  attendance  at  the  building  has 
been  365  and  the  average  number  of  lodgers 
125.  Most  of  this  time  only  a  receiving-ship 
and  a  gunboat  or  two  were  in  port.  But  while 
the  Atlantic  Squadron  was  at  Brooklyn  last  ' 
August,  some  nights  nearly  a  hundred  men 
slept  on  the  hall  floors,  and  even  more  were 
turned  away.  One  saloon  close  to  the  Navy 
Yard  has  closed  since  the  Young  ]\Ien's 
Christian  Association  opened  its  build- 
ing; and  one  Raines  hotel-keeper  told  the 
hotel  inspector  on  his  last  trip  that  he  was 
going  out  of  business.  "  I  haven't  let  a  bed 
to  a  sailor  since  that  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  got  in,"  he  said. 

A  Brooklyn  policeman  takes  an  intoxicated 
sailor,  not  to  the  station  house,  but  to  the 
Association  bmlding,  where  he  is  cared  for. 
One  sailor,  who  had  been  robbed  of  his  money 
and  left  unconscious  on  the  street,  was  found 
by  a  secretary  and  taken  to  the  Naval  build- 
ing, sobered  off  and  hurried  back  to  ship  in 
time  to  keep  his  liberty  leave  unbroken. 
The  next  day  he  wrote:  "This  has  taught 
me  a  lesson.  I  promise  you  never  to  taste 
of  intoxicating  liquor  again.  Also,  I  shall 
leave  an  allotment  with  you  to  help  me  save, 
as  I  cannot,  do  it  without  help." 

The  "allotment"  refers  to  an  arrangement 
whereby  a  sailor  can  assign  a  part  of  his 
wages  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, which  encourages  saving  by  putting  , 
the  money  on  interest  with  trust  com- 
panies.    In  this  way    the    Brooklyn    branch 


A   VAST    MACHINE    FOR    SOCIAL    HKTTEKMENT 


3343 


receives  more  than  $5,000  a  month. 
It  even  acts  as  general  business  agent. 
Letters  come  every  day  from  all  over 
the  world  with  a  great  variety  of  requests. 
"I  want  $50  at  once.  I  got  into  trouble 
ashore,"  wrote  a  sailor  from  Hongkong. 
Another  was  more  explicit:  "Send  me  $20 
— our  boat  lost  the  race."  Another  asked 
the  secretary  to  subscribe  and  pay  for  a 
half-dozen  leading  monthly  magazines.  One 
sailor  wanted  the  secretary  to  buy  him  a 
farm  in  Michigan — location  and  choice  left 
to  the  judgment  of  the  secretary. 

The  men  seen  about  the  naval  building  are 
'  older,  hardier,  and,  if  rougher,  also  more  virile 
than  the  usual  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation man.  They  look  as  if  they  could 
fight  better  than  they  could  pray.  The 
religious  work  is  mostly  done  by  indi- 
vidual efforts,  rather  than  by  general  exhor- 
tation. Any  sailor  may  become  a  member, 
irrespective  of  religion  or  lack  of  it.  More- 
over, the  building  with  all  its  advantages  is 
open  to  any  enlisted  man,  whether  a  member 
or  not. 

Most  college  associations  run  an  employ- 
ment bureau  for  the  benefit  of  students  work- 
ing their  way.  At  Columbia,  which  has  no 
dormitories,  the  association  found  last 
year  boarding  places  for  more  than  400 
men.  But  their  chief  work  is  to  interest 
and  train  men  for  philanthropic  work.  Said 
J.  C.  McCracken,  the  famous  University  of 
Pennsylvania  football  player,  now  secretary 
of  the  Columbia  branch :  "  I  do  not  believe 
any  man  can  come  out  of  college  a  better  man 
morally  than  when  he  entered  if  he  does  not 
associate  himself  with  some  religious  organi- 
zation and  do  active  work  in  it.  That  is 
what  the  college  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  is  for."  At  Harvard  more  than 
100  men  are  engaged  in  settlement  work 
among  the  poor  in  Cambridge  and  Boston. 

The  railroad  branches  in  New  York  do 
little  educational  and  religious  work,  as 
the  members  are  practically  all  transients. 
The  men  who  drop  into  the  buildings  for  a 
few  minutes'  loaf,  or  a  dinner,  or  for  a  bath 
and  a  sleep,  represent  the  rank  and  file  of 
railroad  men,  and  not  the  few  religiously 
inclined.  From  sixty  to  seventy-five  per 
cent,  of  the  men  available  join.  More  than 
half  are  Roman  Catholics.  "  We  don't  preach 
men  away,"  said  a  railroad  branch  secretary. 
"There   have   been  Young    Men's    Christian 


Associations  that  ran  their  religious  work 
so  far  into  the  ground  that  not  only  the 
Catholics  but  every  self-rcsj)ccting  man  got 
out.  But  here  I  never  knew  a  man  to  keep 
away  on  account  of  the  religious  part.  Two 
left  because  we  were  '  too  worldly. '  We 
have  many  earnest  Christians,  and  we  do 
our  best  work  quietly  and  by  personal  touch.  " 

Recently  the  Association  has  begun  to 
establish  industrial  branches.  It  is  able 
to  do  what  the  men  would  not  do  by  them- 
selves and  the  employers  could  not  if  they 
would.  There  are  five  industrial  branches 
now  actually  running:  one  in  the  iron  mills 
at  Lorain,  Ohio;  one  at  Stamps,  Ark.,  in 
a  lumber  mill;  one  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  also  in 
a  lumber  mill;  one  at  Wilmerding,  Pa., 
in  the  Westinghouse  Electric  Works,  and 
one  at  Proctor,  Vt.,  for  the  marble  workers. 
Here  217  men  joined  the  first  week  without 
solicitation;  and  a  night-class  contains  forty 
Hungarians.  Since  January  ist  the  committee 
in  charge  of  the  industrial  department  has  re- 
ceived applications  either  from  the  men  or  the 
employers  in  fourteen  plants,  some  the  largest 
in  the  country,  representing  eight  industries. 
The  Association  secretary  or  agent  goes 
directly  to  the  men,  and  if  he  can  get  enough 
to  agree  to  form  a  branch  to  insure  its  success 
from  the  point  of  view  of  numbers,  he 
raises  what  money  he  can  from  the  men  before 
he  calls  on  the  company  to  subscribe.  In 
this  field  lies  perhaps  the  greatest  opportunity 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
and  it  has  begun  vigorously  to  cultivate  it. 

Even  from  an  examination  of  the  Associa- 
tion in  the  one  city  of  New  York  it  is  difhcult 
to  generalize.  Its  work  varies  greatly  accord- 
ing to  different  conditions.  Some  secretaries 
are  broad-minded,  some  narrow;  some  are 
men  who  would  be  hard  put  to  it  to  win  a 
livelihood  in  other  callings,  while  others  are 
efficient  men  who  have  given  up  more  lucra- 
tive work  to  devote  themselves  to  helping 
the  less  fortunate.  It  is  distinctly  an  associa- 
tion for  mutual  helpfulness,  and  not  a  chari- 
table institution.  It  is  democratic  in  its 
management  and  in  its  underlying  idea  that 
the  real  way  to  help  men  is  to  give  them 
opportunities  to  help  themselves.  "Pious" 
it  has  certainly  ceased  to  be.  It  represents 
today  the  strongest,  largest  manifestation  of 
enlightened  practical,  strenuous  Christianity 
in  the  United  States,  and  probably  in  the 
world. 


THE  MODEL  AMERICAN  RESIDENCE 

THE  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  MODEL  HOUSE  —  CLEAN  CELLARS, 
SANITARY  KITCHENS  AND  WHOLESOME  PANTRIES— AUTOMATIC 
ELEVATORS— A  COMPLETE  LAUNDRY  AT  HOME— NEW  DEVICES 
FOR  WINDOWS  AND  DOORS— A  HOSPITAL  ROOM  AND  SUN  PARLOR 

BY 

KATHARINE    C    BUDD 


CUSTOM  has  made  us  familiar  with  the 
many  devices  invented  to  increase 
the  comfort  of  our  houses.  We  do 
not  realize  how  fortunate  we  are  until  we 
compare  our  lot  with  that  of  our  friends  in 
England  and  France.  We  would  not  tolerate 
in  the  meanest  houses  here  sanitary  equip- 
ments in  daily  use  in  good  quarters  of  Paris. 
Bathtubs,  regarded  there  as  a  luxury,  are 
here  a  necessity  too  common  to  be  discussed. 
The  French  fashion  of  having  a  copper  tub  on 
wheels  brought,  through  the  streets,  to 
one's  bedroom  when  a  hot  bath  is  desired, 
wotdd  not  appeal  to  our  sense  of  comfort. 
The  tub,  lined  with  fair  white  sheets  and 
laboriously  filled  with  water,  may  seem  invit- 
ing to  a  Frenchman;  to  us  it  seems  a  relic  of 
feudal  life. 

In  planning  our  houses  all  is  carefully 
studied  in  order  to  reduce  the  amount  of 
service  required.  Trained  servants  are 
difficult  to  find,  and  we  are  obliged  to 
simplify  their  tasks  and  to  adopt  the  latest 
labor-saving  inventions. 

In  considering  the  appliances  used  in  our 
homes,  the  best  place  to  start  is  the  cellar. 
The  first  thing  we  notice  is  the  freshness  of 
the  air.  Even  though  direct  sunlight  can- 
not penetrate  here,  the  current  of  well- 
sunned  air,  constantly  drawn  through  from 
openings  in  the  front  to  the  windows  in  the 
rear,  keeps  the  air  wholesome.  The  smoothly 
concreted  floor,  the  shiny  white  walls  and 
ceiling,  reflect  light  into  dim  comers.  Electric 
light  is  no  friend  to  heaps  of  rubbish.  A 
modem  furnace  is  self-regulating,  requir- 
ing little  attention  after  the  shaking- down 
and  replenishing  in  the  morning.  The  ideal 
system  is  one  where  hot  water  is  carried  in 
tubes  throughout  the  house.  With  this 
system  the  temperature  of  the  rooms  may 
be  kept  at  the  same  degree  of  heat  in  the 
spring  and  fall.     For  this  reason,  in  spite  of 


the  expense  involved,  hot- water  heating  is 
growing  more  popular. 

Here  in  the  cellar  is  the  meter  which 
measures  the  quantity  of  gas  consumed. 
In  some  places  there  is  also  a  water-meter  to 
prevent  wanton  waste  of  water.  And  here 
are  the  drain-pipes  and  their  connections, 
deemed  ugly  and  uninteresting  by  the  uniniti- 
ated. The  weight  of  cast-iron  pipes  has  in- 
creased because  we  learned  that  the  rust  and 
various  gases  in  time  rot  the  pipe,  eating 
great  holes  in  it.  Much  time  has  been 
spent  in  the  perfection  of  traps  and  fresh- 
air  inlets  of  different  kinds. 

One  recent  invention  is  coming  into  com- 
mon use,  especially  in  isolated  country 
houses  —  acetylene  gas.  Within  a  very 
short  time  radical  improvements  have  been 
made  which  render  the  manufacture  of  it 
perfectly  safe.  The  carbide,  in  powder, 
falling  into  water,  cannot  explode.  The  little 
machine  in  the  cellar  provides  a  gas  five 
times  as  powerful  as  the  ordinary  illuminating 
gas.  A  special  tip  for  the  burners  is  necessary, 
but  otherwise  the  piping  and  other  apparatus 
are  the  same  as  for  the  old-fashioned  gas. 
The  carbide,  made  in  great  quantities  by 
the  power  of  Niagara,  is  very  cheap.  It  has 
within  a  few  weeks  been  discovered  that  the 
waste  carbide  formerly  thrown  away  will 
bum  with  an  intense  heat  in  the  furnace  if 
mixed  with  clinkers. 

THE    MODERN    KITCHEN 

The  modem  kitchen  is  of  moderate  size;  a 
large  kitchen  means  added  steps  for  weary 
feet.  The  floor  is  covered  with  a  patent 
composition  of  pale  yellow,  warmer  than 
tiles,  although  equally  non-absorbent  and 
easy  to  clean.  A  six-inch  border  of  white 
glazed  tiles  wainscots  the  walls.  This  wain- 
scoting of  tiles,  six  feet  high,  joins  the  glossy 
plaster   above   without   a   break,   the   ceiling 


THE   MODEL   AMERICAN    RESIDENCE 


3345 


being  finished  with  a  curve.  There  are  no 
l)rojections,  no  angles  not  readily  dusted 
out  with  a  cloth.  In  fact,  although  the  ease 
with  which  the  room  may  be  kept  clean  does 
not  often  warrant  the  operation,  the  hose 
may  be  turned  on  here  without  injuring 
anything. 

The  wrought-iron  range  has  many  labor- 
saving  attachments.  A  wide  iron  hood  ])ro- 
jecting  out  from  the  wall  catches  all  the 
odors  and  much  of  the  heated  air,  drawing 
them  up  through  a  register  into  a  venti- 
lating rtue  in  the  chimney.  A  porcelain 
sink  opposite,  tables  with  marble  tops  built 
into  the  wall  and  supported  in  front  on  nickel- 
plated  legs,  cupboards  with  sliding  glass 
doors  built  into  the  wall,  a  block  of  oak  for 
meats,  are  among  the  fittings  of  this  kitchen. 
Many  ranges  are  made  with  "complete  gas 
attachment,"  as  the  catalogues  call  it.  This 
is  very  convenient  in  summer.  It  is  arranged 
over  the  range  proper  and  includes  a  bake 
oven,  boiler  and  extended  top.  It  can  be 
used  at  the  same  time  as  the  coal  range  if 
more  capacity  is  needed.  The  broiler  and 
'  all  the  ovens  are  ventilated.  In  all  coal 
ranges  some  form  of  revolving  grate  is  used 
which  quickly  disposes  of  clinkers  and  ashes. 
The  old-time  cook  with  her  ineffective  little 
poker  would  look  at  these  with  awe  and 
amazement.  Cooking  by  electricity  will  soon 
become  common.  We  use  electric  plate- 
warmers  and  various  small  devices,  but  the 
main  part  of  the  cooking  is  carried  on  in  the 
old-fashioned  way.  Electricity  is  still  too 
expensive  for  everyday  use  in  the  range. 

THE    NEW    STOREROOM 

The  storeroom,  opening  off  the  kitchen, 
is  a  model  of  convenience.  Tiled  and  wain- 
scoted like  the  kitchen,  with  non-absorbent 
shelves  graduated  in  width  according  to  the 
articles  to  be  kept  on  them,  with  flour  and 
sugar  in  patent  metal  bins  which  tip  back 
or  slide  in  or  in  other  ways  are  cleverly  con- 
trived to  fit  the  space  allotted  to  them. 
There  is  a  sunny  window  in  the  storeroom 
which  insures  perfect  ventilation. 

The  daintily  kept  cold-room  is  a  pleasant 
place  to  inspect. 

The  inner  surfaces  are  of  glazed  white 
tiles.  In  receptacles  within  the  double  walls 
ice  is  put  from  the  outside.  In  country 
houses  where  it  is  necessary  to  keep  meat 
for  several  days  this  cold-room  is  large.      Jt 


is  often  built  in  as  part  of  the  regular  ice- 
house. The  regular  sup])ly  f)f  fc^rty  or  fifty 
tons  serves  to  keej)  this  njom  cold  all  summer. 

THE    MODEL    LAUNDRY 

It  would  take  a  volume  to  describe  the 
wonderful  inventions  used  in  the  laundry. 
Some  of  them  are  expensive  and  not  suitable 
for  use  in  private  houses.  In  the  future  the 
laundry  will  be  as  completely  eliminated 
from  our  houses  as  it  is  in  France,  but  at 
present  the  careless  way  in  which  our  linen 
is  handled  in  the  great  laundries  makes  us 
anxious  to  have  it  washed  at  home.  The  line 
of  porcelain  tubs,  well  supplied  with  hot  and 
cold  water  and  the  convenient  wringer,  seem  so 
much  a  matter  of  oburse  that  we  forget  the 
amount  of  lifting  a  woman  was  obliged  to  do 
in  the  days  of  portable  tubs.  At  the  side  is  a 
drying-room,  with  rows  of  movable  racks, 
easily  pulled  out  and  filled  with  clothes  and 
then  rolled  back  into  the  hot,  dry  air  of  the 
steam-chamber. 

A  very  simple  form  of  steam  washer, 
which  cleans  the  clothes  perfectly  without 
rubbing,  is  used  in  the  boiler.  This  is 
sometimes  an  elaborate  affair  in  larger 
laundries,  but  the  principle  is  the  same — 
a  current  of  steam  and  hot  water  constantly 
passing  through  the  meshes,  removing  all 
stains. 

An  electric  iron,  a  heavy  affair  connected 
by  a  covered  wire  with  the  nearest  electric 
fixture,  is  used  for  ironing  fine  pieces.  A 
mangle  for  straight  coarse  goods  takes  the 
folded  sheets  or  towels  rapidly  between 
heated  rollers. 

HOW  THE  PANTRY  IS  PLANNED 

The  fittings  in  a  modern  pantry  are  arranged 
to  avoid  waste  of  space  and  to  afford  the  utmost 
convenience.  Shelves  are  as  carefully  studied 
as  are  the  mahogany  bookcases  in  the  library. 
The  height  of  the  sink,  the  lighting  of  the 
room,  the  placing  of  refrigerator,  plate- 
warmer  and  all  such  details  are  considered. 
The  result  is  so  simple  that  the  ow^ner  takes 
it  all  as  a  matter  of  course,  or  perhaps  regards 
it  as  a  happy  accident.  There  are  two 
pantries  when,  as  is  usually  the  case,  the 
kitchen  is  in  the  basement.  The  one  next 
the  dining-room  is  connected  by  a  noiseless 
dumb-waiter  so  accurately  balanced  that  a 
touch  will  set  it  in  motion. 

The  upper  part  of    the    walls    is    covered 


3346 


THE    MODEL   AMERICAN    RESIDENCE 


with  dressers  enclosed  with  sHding  glass 
doors.  The  shelves  are  cleverly  planned  to 
contain  without  waste  space  all  the  china  and 
glass  necessary  for  the  tables.  These  shelves 
are  sometimes  made  of  heavy  plate  glass. 
Under  the  dressers  runs  a  wide  counter-shelf. 
On  one  side  of  the  room  are  two  pantry 
sinks,  with  open  plumbing.  A  rack  under 
one  of  the  dressers  holds  the  trays.  Places 
are  provided  for  fresh  linen,  cloths  for 
cleaning,  cups  and  bottles  of  all  kinds. 
Under  the  counter-shelf  opposite  the  sinks  is 
a  small  refrigerator  lined  with  tiles.  This  is 
large  enough  for  desserts,  etc.  A  plate- 
warmer,  heated  by  gas  or  electricity,  is  set 
in  the  wall  near  the  dumb-waiter. 

This  enumeration  of  the  fittings  of  the 
pantry  does  not  convey  an  idea  of  its  attrac- 
tive appearance;  its  white-tiled  walls,  the 
leaded  sash  in  the  window,  the  glossy,  immacu- 
late floor,  the  nickel-plated  trimmings  of  the 
refrigerator,  the  hot-closet,  the  hardware  and 
supports  for  the  shelves  must  be  seen  to  be 
appreciated.  The  door  connecting  with  the 
dining-room  swings  on  spring  hinges  which 
permit  it  to  open  into  either  room,  closing 
immediately  after. 

From  the  first  floor  a  "  lift  "  is  provided  for 
the  use  of  persons  unable  or  unwilling  to 
climb  the  stairs.  This  is  run  by  electric 
power.  By  a  push  button  on  a  dial  inside 
the  car  is  started  when  both  doors  are  closed. 
The  elevator ,  stops  automatically  when  it 
reaches  the  desired  floor.  The  doors  can- 
not be  opened  until  that  floor  is  reached, 
thus  preventing  possible  accidents.  An  at- 
tendant is  not  needed  for  this  elevator.  It 
can  be  opened  only  when  opposite  a  floor.  It 
will  not  start  until  both  doors  are  locked. 
Very  often  a  smaller  lift  is  provided  for 
freight,  such  as  coal  or  linen.  This,  also,  is 
automatic. 

LUXURIOUS    BATHROOMS 

The  ordinary  bathroom  of  a  private  house 
is  finished  in  a  style  that  twenty  years  ago 
would  have  been  considered  luxurious.  The 
floor  is  covered  with  small  unglazed  white 
tiles  or  inch-square  marble  blocks  with  a 
pretty  border.  The  walls,  wainscoted  with 
large  white  tiles,  have  a  coved  tiling  where  the 
floors  join.  No  dust  can  accumulate  any- 
where. All  plumbing  is  open.  The  large 
tub  is  of  porcelain  or  perhaps  of  iron  enameled 
white,   with    lines   of    gold    outside.     It    has 


been  found  that  many  people  have  been 
injured  by  stepping  on  the  soapy  tub  and 
striking  the  faucets.  Therefore  the  handles 
are   outside   the   tub. 

SPECIAL     ROOMS     FOR     COMFORT     AND     HEALTH 

In  many  houses,  especially  where  there 
are  children,  a  hospital-room  is  fitted  up  on 
the  top  floor,  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the 
house.  The  walls  are  painted  in  a  cheerful 
color;  the  floor  is  covered  with  some  patent 
preparation  like  lignolette  or  asbestolette. 
An  open  fireplace  assists  in  the  ventilation. 
A  tiny  but  complete  arrangement  for  cooking 
the  invalid's  food  is  connected  with  the 
chimney  which  carries  off  all  odors.  It  is 
here  that  the  electric  equipment  for  cooking 
and  sterilizing  food  finds  its  true  value. 

On  the  roof  we  sometimes  find  a  sun-parlor 
of  heavy  plate  glass.  This  is  heated  as 
easily  as  is  the  rest  of  the  house.  A  row 
of  boxes  at  the  sides  is  filled  with  plants, 
turning  it  into  a  miniature  conservatory. 
Here  the  children  spend  much  of  their  time 
in  winter.  The  best  way  to  arrange  this  is 
on  the  roof  of  the  extension  in  the  yard  if 
there  is  no  elevator  in  the  house,  for  in  America 
we  are  beginning  to  object  to  an  undue 
number  of  stairs  to  climb. 

For  increasing  the  light  at  the  end  of  long 
rooms  there  is  a  number  of  inventions. 
The  commonest  diverts  the  light  through 
prisms  of  molded  glass  until  the  rays  enter 
the  room  horizontally.  Window  cleaning, 
also,  has  been  simplified.  Windows  may  be 
arranged  to  swing  on  a  pivot  into  a  room  as 
well  as  up  and  down. 

The  attitude  of  the  educated,  cultivated 
woman  toward  manual  labor  is  changing 
rapidly.  At  one  time  she  regarded  the  time 
spent  in  her  kitchen  or  sewing-room  as  lost. 
Now  it  is  this  very  woman  who  is  most  capable 
of  instructing  and  governing  her  servants .  She 
fully  appreciates  the  value  of  machinery  and 
the  various  "Yankee  methods"  devised  to 
aid  her  in  simplifying  the  work  in  her  house- 
hold. She  seizes  the  latest  idea.  When 
the  comfort  and  health  of  those  dearest  to 
her  are  concerned  her  patience  is  endless. 
In  building  the  new  home,  it  is  generally  the 
mistress  who  investigates  and  suggests,  and 
realizes  from  experience  the  important  bear- 
ing these  details  have  on  the  future  welfare. 
If  the  house  is  a  success,  it  is  largely  due 
to  her  influence. 


FORKST.    FISH    ANO    C.AMK   COMMISSION    AT  WORK    PI.ANTINC.    AN    OLD    I'INK   "BURNING" 


THE    RAILROADS   AND    FORESTRY 

THE  GOVERNMENT  GRANTS  TO  RAILROADS— THE  CARE- 
LESSNESS THAT  WASTES  TIMBERLANDS  BY  FOREST  FIRES 
—SCIENTIFIC  FORESTRY  AS  A  HELP  TO  FURNISH  THE 
GREATEST  AMOUNT  OF  RAW  MATERIAL.  TO  MINIMIZE 
WASTE      AND      TO      BEAUTIFY      THE      RAILROAD      LINES 

BY 

JOHN    GIFFORD 

ASSISTANT   PROFESSOR   OF    FORESTRY   IN    CORNELL   UNIVERSITY 


MANY  people  have  thought  that  the 
wide  use  of  steel,  stone  and  coal 
would  reduce  the  deniand  for  wood. 
But  they  forgot,  among  other  things,  that  rail- 
roads are  being  built,  mile  upon  mile  daily, 
the  world  over. 

Many  said  that  wood  would  become  very 
scarce  and  expensive  and  steel  and  stone 
would  entirely  take  its  place.  Wood  is 
strong  in  proportion  to  its  weight;  it  is  easy 
to  work,  and  easy  to  hold  in  place  by  nails 
and  glue;  it  is  a  non-conductor  of  heat 
and  electricity,  and  possesses  beauty  of  grain, 
color  and  other  qualities  which  fit  it  for  a 
greater  variety  of  uses  than  metal.  It  can  be 
grown  over  a  vast  territory  of  land.  ]\Ietals 
are  local  and  exhaustible;  wood  is  almost 
everywhere,  and  a  forest,  if  properly  tended, 
is  a  living,  perpetual  resource. 

We  have  in  this  country  at  least  250.000 
miles  of  trackage,  excluding  electric  rail- 
roads. About  2.500  ties  are  used  per  mile. 
The  average  life  of  a  tie,  without  the  use  of 
preservatives,   is   about   six   or  seven   years. 


There  is,  then,  a  constant  annual  demand  for 
more  than  100,000,000  ties.  A  tree  which 
will  yield  three  good  ties,  under  forest 
conditions,  in  this  climate,  is  at  least  fifty 
years  old,  and  it  is  an  exceptional  acre  which 
produces  more  than  three  hundred  such  trees. 
An  acre  of  tended  forest  ought,  therefore,  to 
yield  about  eighteen  or  twenty  ties  each  year. 
The  annual  demand  for  each  mile  is  about 
400  ties.  Twenty-five  acres  of  forest  are 
necessary,  therefore,  for  every  mile  of  track. 
A  railroad  with  a  trackage  of  5,000  miles 
would  need  about  125,000  acres  of  tended 
forest  to  supply  itself  perpetually  with 
ties.  For  a  large  corporation  this  is  a  slight 
task.  It  spends  $1,000,000  frequently  for 
a  single  bridge.  The  intermediate  yield 
from  thinnings  would  supply  fence-posts, 
which  are  also  used  in  large  quantities.  It  is 
of  interest  to  note  that  the  United  States 
Government  donated  to  the  Union  Pacific 
1,655,586.3  acres  and  to  the  Northern 
Pacific  1,518,007.91  acres  during  the  year 
which  ended  June  30,  igo2. 


3348 


THE    RAILROADS    AND    FORESTRY 


WHERE    A   SERIES   OF   FIRES   HAVE   MADE  A   DESOLATE  WASTE 
Scenery  along  many  wesiera  railroads 


The  pinch  of  want  has  never  been  seriously 
felt  by  railroads.  ]\lany  pass  through  regions 
rich  in  virgin  timber.  The  Federal  Govern- 
ment not  only  presented  them  with  land 
grants  of  immense  areas  of  timber,  but  gave 
them  as  well  carte  blanche  to  all  timber  needed 
for  "constructive"'  purposes  on  Government 
land  "adjacent"  to  their  lines.  Few  rail- 
roads would  consider  it  urgent  to  care  for 
forests  while  they  can  help  themselves  on 
United  States  public  domain. 

It  is  dangerous  to  be  lavish  with  natural 
resources.  It  would  be  wise  to  care 
for  everv  acre  of  public  non-agricultural 
forest  land  in  our  West,  and  to  require  corpo- 
rations of  all  kinds  to  pay  for  wood,  just  as 
other  people  do  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 
The  public  domain  belongs  to  the  people  and 
not  to  a  few  western  settlers  and  corporations. 
The  old  system  was  wise  in  the  beginning, 
but  it  cannot,  with  fairness  to  all,  continue 
forever.     The  amount  of  good  land  which  has 


been  granted  to  railroads  during  the  last  fifty 
years  approximates  100,000,000  acres.  This 
is  a  territory  three  times  the  size  of  the 
State  of  New  York  and  almost  ten  times  the 
size  of  the  Swiss  Republic.  During  the  last 
year,  ending  June  30,  1902,  4,848,845.7  acres 
were  granted  to  railroads.  This  is  an  area 
almost  as  large  as  the  State  of  New  Jersey. 
The  general  governmental  policy  is  turning  in 
the  proper  direction  in  reserving  more  than 
60,000,000  acres  of  forest  land.  A  national 
forestry  policy  is  forming.  The  next  step 
in  line  should  come  from  the  railroads. 
Railroad  forestry,  which  is  just  beginning, 
is  something  new  and  truly  American. 

Few  persons  would  recommend  the  plant- 
ing of  rights-of-way  for  timber  production, 
because  the  lines  are  too  narrow  and  are 
generally  not  suitable.  Trees  which  have 
been  planted  along  rights-of-way,  in  the 
plains  and  prairies,  have  never  prospered. 
Thev  are  of  little  use  for  timber,  although 


TIIK    RAll.R()\nS    AND    1"()R1-:STRY 


3349 


WHITE   OAK.   KAll.ROAl)   C'KOSS-TIK  DKCAVIJ)    l!V   A 
lUNGUS 


CROSS-SKCTION   OK  A   CATALPA   TIE 


they  have  helped  in  checking  winds  and 
snow.  The  widest  right-of-way  is  seldom 
more  than  200  feet  on  each  side,  and 
usually  it  is  much  less.  Timber  cannot 
be  successfully  produced  in  long,  thin 
strips.  Every  railroad  should  own  and 
properly  care  for  large  blocks  of  forest  land 
for  timber  production.  Timber  culture  by 
railroads  is  just  as  practicable  as  mining 
coal  or  manufacturing  iron. 

Railroads,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  can  produce 


timber  to  better  advantage  than  any  other 
proprietors.  They  are  long-lived,  they  must 
have  timber,  and  they  can  transport  it  at  a 
minimum  cost.  The  ties,  ])oles,  fuel- wood 
and  posts  which  they  consume  in  immense 
quantities  do  not  need  large  manufactur- 
ing establishments  to  make  them  ready 
for  use,  as  do  coal  and  iron.  They 
can  be  prepared  in  the  woods,  ready  for 
use,  with  an  ax.  Well-established  roads  are 
willing  to  sacrifice  high  gains  to  reduce  the 


THE    FIRST   FIRE    KILLS   THE   GREEN    TIMBER,    LEAVING    THE   GROUND   COVERED   WITH    HIGHLV 

CO.MBUSTIBLE   MATERIAL 


3350 


THE    RAILROADS    AND    FORESTRY 


A   RAILROAD    IN    EUROPE,   SHOWING   WATTLEWORK 
ON   THE   EMBANKMENT 


HARVESTING   EUCALYPTUS   IN   SOUTHERN   CALI- 
FORNIA 


future   cost   of  maintenance, 
business  proposition. 


The     only      extensive     single     block     of 
timber  planted  by  a  railroad  in  this  coun- 
It   is  a    plain      try  is  near  the  village  of  Parlington,  Kansas. 
Its   400    acres,    planted    between    1877    and 


A   EUROPEAN   HILLSIDE   WHERE   LANDSLIDES 


ENTED   BY   BOTH   MASONRY  AND  PINE   GROWTH 


TllK    RAILROADS    AM)    I'ORKS'IRV 


3351 


1884,    by   the    Kansas    City,    Fort     Scott    &  Planting'  and   ivniVma;   has   cost   $124.51    per 

Memphis  Railroad  Company  for  purely  com-  acre;   the   gross  value  is  at  present    $^90. 21 

mercial   purposes,  consist   of    hartly  catalpa,  per   acre;   allowing   six    per  cent,  compound 

for    posts,    poles     and      ties.      This      forest  interest  there   is   still   left   a   clear   profit    of 

has    been    carefully  studied   l)y   the    Bureau  $138.19  per  acre, 

of    Forestry,     with     the     following     results:  In  this  way  a  railroad  can  j)reparc  for  tlie 


CATALPA   PLANTATION   BELONGING   TO   THE   KANSAS   CITY.    FORT  SCOTT  &   MEMPHIS   RAILROAD 

COMPANY   AT   FARLINGTON,    KANSAS 


3352 


THE    RAILROADS    AND    FORESTRY 


future,  during  prosperous  times,  by  converting 
the  forests  along  its  lines  into  a  perpetual 
resource.  Beginning  with  fairly  well-stocked 
timberland,  such  as  exists  in  many  parts  of 
this  countrv,  a  corporation  could  secure  at 
once  good  interest  on  the  amount  invested. 
And  it  could  cut  its  crop  in  such  a  way  that 
the  forest  would  actually  improve  in  quality. 


There  are  many  incongruities  in  this  coun- 
trv. The  "big  trees"  of  California  are  cut  into 
grapevine  props;  shingles  from  the  Pacific 
coast  may  be  bought  in  eastern  markets  at 
reasonable  prices;  corn  is  burnt  in  Kansas 
when  grain  is  cheap  and  fuel  dear;  while  one- 
third  of  the  State  of  Xew  Jersey  and  a  large 
part  of  Long  Island,  within  thirty  miles  of 


A    FOREST   IN    FRANCE   WHICH    HAS   YIELDED   GOOD   TIMBER   AM'   A    riluH    K.^  i  h^   uK    INTEREST 
FOR   CENTURIES   AND    HAS   CONSTANTLY    IMPROVED    IN   QUALITY 


THE    RA1I.K(^A1)S    AND    !•  ()  K  I-.ST  K  V 


3353 


A   YELLOW    PINE    FOREST   61iOU  ING   A  GKULNlJ    KIKE    IN    Till.    DISTANCE 

the  largest  population  centre  of  the  United  the  fact  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  cords 

States,  both  by  rail  and  water,  is  periodically  of  wood  are  wastefully  consumed  by  forest 

burnt  over  by  wasteful  forest  fires.     In  these  fires,  and  that  fifty  per  cent,  of  these  confla- 

days  of  dear  coal  we  should  not  lose  sight  of  grations  are  set  by  locomotives. 


HARVESTING   TIMBER    IX   A    SOUTHERN    PINERY 


3354 


THE    RAILROADS    AND    FORESTRY 


Miles  of  blackened  wastes  border  the  rail- 
road lines.  In  building  a  big  railroad  all 
efforts  and  funds  are  concentrated  on 
getting  it  through,  putting  it  into  running 
order  and  up  to  standard.  By  that  time 
the  fires  have  done  their  fatal  work. 
Damages  are  sometimes  paid,  but  they 
are  never  adequate.  In  time,  public 
opinion  develops  and  legislation  follows. 
In    Europe 


where    both    the    railroads    and 


forest  culture  are  old,  and  where  the  state 
owns  both  railroad  and  forest,  the  railroad 
officials  and  foresters  are  forced  to  cooperate 
in  preventing  fire,  and  they  are  usually  suc- 
cessful. Lanes  along  the  track  are  kept  clear 
of  litter,  the  edges  are  plowed,  and  in 
swamps  ditches  are  dug  to  mineral  soil. 
Sometimes  a  row  of  evergreen  trees  is  planted 
close  to  the  track  to  serve  as  a  screen  to  arrest 
the  sparks.     Often  the  lane  is  sown  with  cera- 


1 


THE   LIVE-OAK   OF   THE  SOUTH 
One  of  our  best  tie  timbers 


i 


CONFESSIONS    OF  A   FOREIGN    CORRESPONDENT 


335S 


della,  a  Spanish  vetch  which  keeps  green  even 
in  times  of  drought.  With  well-kept  fire  lanes, 
spark  arresters  on  locomotives,  care  in  drop- 
ping hot  ashes,  and  constant  vigilance  on  the 
part  of  employees  during  times  of  danger, 
locomotive  fires  can  be  prevented.  Owners 
of  woodland  along  railroads  should  cooperate 
by  not  allowing  slash  to  accumulate  close  to 
the  line,  and  by  encouraging  the  growth,  close 
to  the  railroad,  of  locust  and  other  trees 
that  are  not  easily  burnt. 

The  planting  of  trees  along  railroads  is, 
however,  objectionable  for  several  reasons. 
They  obscure  the  track,  crossings  and  signals, 
they  blow  over  on  the  track  and  on  the 
wires,  and,  if  close  to  the  windows,  cause  a 
constant  and  annoying  whir.  If  trees  are 
necessary  as  a  protection  against  wind  and 
snow,  they  should  be  planted  in  wide  belts 
of  evergreens  some  distance  from  the  track. 
A  dense  growth  of  low  but  deep-rooted 
coppice  on  embankments  would  be  excellent 
to  prevent  landslips  and  washouts.  The  locust 
is  used  for  this  purpose  in  Europe.  Engineers 
I  in  this  country,  however,  are  apt  to  work 
'  with  stone  and  other  constructive  material 
rather  than  with  shrubs  and  trees. 

A  meeting  of  railroad  men  was   held   at 
Cumberland,    Maryland,    on     November    22 


and  23,  1901.  Two  hundred  of  the  lead- 
ing otlicials  of  the  Haltimore  &  Ohio 
Railroad  listened  attentively  for  two  days 
to  lectures  on  forestry,  and  the  Bureau  of 
Forestry  has  since  been  requested  to  prepare 
working  plans  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  acres  belonging  to  this  company 
in  West  Virginia.  This  is  uncjuestionably 
merely  the  beginning  of  a  general  movement. 
The  railroad  will  profit  in  the  transportation 
of  materials  and  in  the  general  betterment  of 
country  which  would  otherwise  remain  waste. 
Were  Germany  recklessly  to  cut  her  forests, 
a  large  proportion  of  her  people  would  be 
paupers,  and  it  would  ruin  many  small  indus- 
tries dependent  upon  a  constant  supply  of 
raw  material.  By  depleting  our  forests  we 
are  driving  a  large  number  of  our  people 
indoors  to  the  factories  of  the  cities.  It 
seems  unjust  to  the  taxpayers  of  town  and 
farm  for  a  corporation  or  an  individual  to 
cut  in  a  few  days  a  forest  which  has  been 
centuries  growing,  and  then  to  leave  it,  a 
desolate  waste,  to  the  State.  The  produc- 
tivity of  the  land  is  the  thing  to  consider, 
and  we  are  constantly  consuming  more  of 
essentials.  The  proper  policy  is  to  spend 
the  interest  and  conserve  the  principle. 
This  is  the  aim  of  scientific  forestry. 


CONFESSIONS     OF     A     FOREIGN    NEWS- 
PAPER CORRESPONDENT 

SIDE-LIGHTS  ON  GERMAN  POLITICAL  AND  SOCIAL  METHODS 

BY 

WOLF  VON  SCHIERBRAND 

AUTHOR  OF  "GERMANY:   THE   WELDING    OF   A    WORLD-POWER,"    AND   FORMERLY   CORRESPONDENT  OF   THE    ASSOCIATED   PRESS   AT   BERLIN 


CONDITIONS  under  which  a  news- 
paper correspondent  has  to  live  in 
continental  Europe  vary  radically 
from  those  either  in  England  or  in  America. 
The  difference  is  the  more  startling  to  a  cor- 
respondent trained  according  to  American 
newspaper  methods. 

Take,  for  example,  the  habit  of  quoting 
names.  The  American  newspaper  thinks 
it  essential  to  make  clear  the  source  of  impor- 
tant statements.  An  interview  with  a  name- 
less  statesman   whose   identity   cannot   even 


be  guessed  from  the  context  is  put  down  in 
American  newspaper  parlance  as  "a  fake." 
But  the  opposite  method  is  the  method  in 
the  continental  countries  of  Europe.  There 
it  is  an  unpardonable  offense  to  name  your 
informant. 

This  knowledge  I  purchased,  at  rather 
an  inconvenient  price,  when  I  had  been  but 
three  months  in  Berlin  as  correspondent 
of  the  American  Associated  Press.  It  was 
in  the  early  autumn  of  1894.  Bismarck's 
successor  in  the  unsafe  chair  of  the  imperial 


3356 


CONFESSIONS    OF   A   FOREIGN    CORRESPONDENT 


chancellor,  General  Count  Caprivi,  had  re- 
signed early  in  the  evening,  after  a  stormy 
meeting  with  the  Kaiser.  At  ten  o'clock 
that  night  Caprivi  accorded  me  an  interview. 
He  did  not  request  that  his  name  be  withheld. 
In  my  ignorance  I  quoted  him  in  my  cable- 
gram that  night.  His  talk  to  me  had  been 
brief  but  to  the  point.  He  had  told  me  of 
the  causes  that  had  led  to  his  loss  of  favor 
with  the  Kaiser  and  to  his  retirement. 

But  I  had  unwittingly  violated  one  of  the 
first  principles  in  the  code  of  German  journal- 
istic ethics.  And  I  reaped  a  whirlwind  of 
abuse  for  it.  "That  news  is  bogus — must 
be  bogus,  you  know,"  said  the  German  news- 
papers and  their  correspondents,  "for,  don't 
you  see,  he  has  quoted  Caprivi?" 

For  years  the  reputation  thus  earned  made 
my  work  doubly  hard.  Whenever  I  happened 
into  one  of  the  departments  a  whisper  ran 
round,  "That's  the  man  who  names  names!" 
I  never  quite  got  over  this  during  my  long 
stay  in  Berlin. 

During  the  Samoan  troubles,  when  Commo- 
dore Kautz  had  been  shelling  villages  near 
Apia,  and  a  detachment  of  German  marines 
had  been  waylaid  and  slaughtered  by 
Malietoa's  men,  I  obtained  a  very  interesting 
talk  with  the  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
Its  value,  however,  chiefly  consisted  in  the 
fact  that  it  came  from  this  official's  own 
lips.  I  asked  him  to  let  me  quote  him,  but 
he  refused  point-blank.  The  matter  then, 
being  cabled  as  from  an  anonymous  source, 
fell  fiat  on  this  side  the  ocean.  The  very 
purpose  my  informant  had  had  in  view  in 
talking  to  me  naturally  miscarried  as  well. 

On  another  occasion,  when  I  had  succeeded 
in  getting  from  the  American  Ambassador 
exclusive  and  accurate  information  about 
the  tripartite  agreement  between  England, 
Germany  and  the  United  States  (the  agree- 
ment being  in  the  nature  of  a  preliminary 
settlement  of  the  whole  Samoan  trouble, 
and  substantially  as  it  was  ratified  at  the 
capitals  of  these  three  powers),  I  had  another 
illustration  of  the  difference  between  conti- 
nental and  American  newspaper  methods. 

The  hour  being  then  about  noon  in  Berlin 
(i.  e.,  6  A.  M.  at  New  York),  I  had  time  to 
verify  the  news  and  to  secure  additional 
details.  So  I  strolled  into  the  Foreign 
Office.  My  first  question  had  an  unexpected 
effect.  It  changed  the  staid  and  solemn 
official  in  a  jiffy.     He  grew  pale. 


"What!"  he  almost  screamed,  "you  know 
that?"  I  bowed  in  affirmation. 

"Why,  I  thought,"  he  went  on,  breath- 
lessly, "it  was  understood  in  Washington 
and  London  that  the  first  information  to  the 
public  about  this  settlement  was  to  come 
from  Berlin.  I  don't  see  how  it  can  have 
leaked  out.     Who  told  you?" 

I  said  I  couldn't  think  of  betraying  my 
informant. 

"Hm,  hm" — in  a  quandary — "and  what 
did  you  come  here  for?" 

I  told  him  my  object. 

The  puzzled  expression  was  intensified. 
Then  he  suddenly  looked  up.  A  ray  of  hope 
was  glimmering  in  his  fishy  eye.  "Please, 
would  you  mind  waiting  here  a  minute  while 
I  inquire  of  the  chief?"  he  asked,  and  left 
me  standing  there.  He  was  back  in  a  trice. 
"Well,"  he  remarked,  and  his  smile  was 
triumphant,  "you  mustn't  use  that  informa- 
tion today." 

He  must  have  noticed  my  astonishment. 
"No,  you  mustn't  use  it  today.  You  see, 
the  three  cabinets  of  Berlin,  London  and 
Washington  agreed  that  the  information  was 
to  come  from  Count  Bulow  first,  and  he 
will  impart  it  tomorrow — probably  in  the 
Reichstag.  It's  too  late  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  that  today."  The  Reichstag 
usually  meets  at  twelve,  and  was  in  session 
while  he  spoke. 

"But  what,"  I  ventured  to  interrupt, 
"has  all  that  got  to  do  with  me  ?  M}''  business 
is  to  furnish  the  news,  as  soon  as  I  have  it, 
to  the  American  press." 

The  official  stared  at  me  in  blank  amaze- 
ment. "But,  don't  you  understand,  sir," 
he  replied,  rather  nettled.  "Count  Bulow 
doesn't  wish  premature  publication  of  these 
facts." 

"I  am  sorry,  genuinely  sorry,"  I  began, 
"but " 

"You  surely  must  appreciate  the  situation," 
the  official  insisted.  "I  need  not  point  out 
to  you  that  we  shall  not  forget  this  favor. 
And  what  possible  difference  can  it  make  to 
you  whether  you  send  this  news  today  or, 
like  the  remainder  of  the  correspondents, 
tomorrow?" 

What  difference,  indeed !  Well,  the  up- 
shot was  I  left  the  Foreign  Office,  having, 
of  course,  made  no  pledge  to  hold  this  impor- 
tant piece  of  news  in  abeyance.  Thirty 
minutes  later  the  wires  flashed  it  across  the 


CONFESSIONS    OF   A    FOREIGN    CO  RRESl'O  N  DENT  3357 

water,  and  the  afternoon  papers  in  the  United  pendence    and    freedom    of    the    press    l;cing 

States   pubUshed   it   that   day    in    full.     The  unknown    in    Germany,    and    every    editor 

news  was  not  cabled  back  to  Berlin  in  time  there  having  constantly  the  fear  of  the  jail 

to   spoil    Count    Billow's   programme.     That  before   him,   both   German   Government   and 

suave   statesman   promulgated   the   informa-  press  were  unable  to  see  how  I,  representing 

tion   next   noon  in  the   Reichstag  as  though  a  press  governed  by  no  such  fear,  could  dare 

it  had  reached  him  that  very  moment.     He  publish  news  unwelcf)me  to  them. 

made  an  impressive  scene  of  it.  In     the     other     countries    of    continental 

During  the  Spanish-American  war  I  became  Euroi)e  the  condition  of  the  press  is  not  much 

painfully  aware  of  other  difficulties  that  beset  better,  and  in  Russia  much  worse.     In  France, 

the  path  of  an  American  correspondent  on  during  the  Dreyfus  affair,  a  number  of  foreign 

the  Continent.     My  instructions  at  that  time  correspondents  were  expelled.     I  recall  simi- 

were:     "Send  the  news,   no  matter  how  or  lar  cases  in  Rome  and  Vienna  during  times 

whom  it  may  hit!"  of  heated  public  opinion. 

A  large  part  of  my  work,  from  April  to  As   a   result,  writers   on   the   Continent — 

November  of  that   year,  was   reporting   the  editors,  contributors,  reporters — never  speak 

actual  state  of  feelings  prevalent  throughout  out  in  bold  and  manly  fashion.     They  dare 

Germany  in  respect  to  that  war.     That  the  not.     Not  everybody  likes  martyrdom,  even 

pen  pictures  I  drew  during  that  period  were  for  so  good  a  cause  as  a  free  press.     Under 

not  likely  to  increase  American  affection  for  the  stress  of  necessity  they  have  originated 

our  German  cousins  is  true.     But  that  was  and  cultivated  a  style  of  diction  which  may 

not  my  fault.     I   did  not  exaggerate.     The  fitly  be  called  the   "read-between-the-lines" 

German    people    during    that    war    were    as  style.     They  express  their  meaning  by  innu- 

intensely  hostile  to  Americans  as  they  were  endo,   rather  than  directly,  avoiding  in  this 

to  the  English  cause  during  the  Boer  war.  way    the    many    pitfalls    which    courts    and 

My  plain  duty  was  to  describe  things  as  I  press  laws  have  dug  for  their  undoing.     The 

found  them,  and  this  I  did.     I  did  not  omit  reading  public  are  accustomed  to  this.     They 

mitigating     circumstances.     I     seized     upon  do  read  between    the    lines,  and    gather,  as 

and  cabled  every  fragment  of  news  calculated  a  rule,  quite    correctly    the    meaning    which 

to  exonerate  official  or  unofficial  Germany,  the  cautious  writer  meant  to    convey.     The 

But  I  sent  all  the  facts  I  could  get.     In  all  American  or  English  correspondent,  unused 

this   I   simply   obeyed   instructions   and   felt  to  these  ways,  requires  years  to  become  an 

free    from    bias.     In    fact,   other    American  adept  in  them. 

correspondents  then  in  Germany  found  fault  I  recall  the  case  of  Mr.  Valentine  Chirol, 

with  me  for  my  lack  of  "Americanism."  a  very  able  man  who  represented  for  a  period 

But  my  activity  for  the  Associated  Press  the    London    Times    in    Berlin.     After    the 

was    nevertheless    looked  upon   as  nefarious  incident   which   created   such   deep   indigna- 

by    the    German    Government,    and    I    was  tion  in  England,  viz.,  the  Kaiser's    despatch 

made  to  suffer.     I  was  approached,  time  and  to   Kruger  on   the   occasion  of  the  Jameson 

again,  both  at  the  Foreign  Office  and  outside,  raid,  he  was  expelled  for  plain  speaking.     My 

with  hints,  veiled  threats,  or  direct  requests  own  case,  brought  about  by  the  same  offense, 

to  color  my  reports  so  as  to  give  the  impres-  is  likewise  an  illustration.     For  I,  too,  more 

sion  that  there  was  no  ill-feeling  for  America  recently  shared   Mr.   Chirol 's  fate   and   that 

on  the  part  of  the  German  people.     When  I  of  a  number  of  correspondents  in  Berlin  for 

did  not  heed  these  requests,  the  Government  having  dared  write  the  truth  about  one  of 

began  a  regular  campaign  against  me,  assail-  the  many  extravagant  acts  the  Kaiser  was 

ing  me  and  impugning  my  motives  in  that  guilty  of  during  my  stay  at  his  capital  city, 

part  of  the  German  press  subservient  to  its  I    was    caught    napping.     I    ought    to    have 

interests  and  in  all  the  other  sheets  it  could  known  better. 

influence  or  control.     I  became  a  proscribed  Another  difficulty  under  which  the  Ameri- 

man  for  a  time.     Two  of  the  chief  Govern-  can    correspondent  labors  is  the  difficulty  of 

ment    organs,    the    Norddeutsche   Allgemeine  securing    news.     No    such    methods    would 

Zeitung  and  Die  Post,  went  even  the  lengths  accomplish  the  purpose  on  the  Continent  as 

of  threatening  me  with  expulsion.  are    used    here.     Personal    influence    and    a 

This  must  be  said  in  explanation:     Inde-  wide    acquaintance    are,    of    course,    indis- 


3358 


CONFESSIONS    OF   A   FOREIGN    CORRESPONDENT 


pensable  to  every  successful  newspaper  man 
anywhere  on  the  globe.  But  in  Germany 
and  on  the  Continent  generally  it  requires 
much  more  than  that.  To  become  a  success- 
ful correspondent  there  for  any  length  of  time 
one  must  cultivate  a  number  of  other  things. 
He  must  be  in  the  social  swim,  and  dine  and 
wine  his  patrons  as  well  as  hobnob  with  them 
at  their  own  firesides.  He  must  show  a 
certain  amount  of  style,  and  must  conform 
in  his  life  to  the  demands  of  fashion.  He 
must  distribute  "tips"  liberally  and  regularly 
among  the  many  underlings,  who  in  turn 
supply  him  with  "tips"  of  news.  He  must 
be  a  bright  and  amusing  conversationalist, 
full  of  good  humor  and  racy  anecdotes.  He 
must  pretend  to  hold  the  same  views  politically 
and  socially  which  his  informants  hold.  He 
must  be  extremely  discreet.  He  must  write 
his  news  with  great  care,  so  that  its  source 
cannot  be  traced.  He  must — but  I  might 
go  on  with  the  list  until  the  picture  would 
be  that  of  a  Chesterfield  and  a  Machiavelli 
rolled  in  one. 

To  speak  more  in  detail.  American  vis- 
itors in  Paris,  Berlin  or  Vienna  often  wonder 
how  and  where  correspondents  do  their  work. 
The  truth  is,  a  large  part  of  their  work  is 
done  at  these  very  social  gatherings  where 
you  have  met  them.  Important  news  is 
usually  there  obtainable  only.  Statesmen 
and  diplomats,  generals  and  admirals,  leaders 
of  thought  and  action,  the  foremost  men  of 
business  and  the  indefatigable  promoters 
of  great  new  ventures — all  the  men  and 
women,  in  fact,  who  make  the  news  and  who 
are  the  fountain-head  of  it,  the  correspondent 
will  meet  there.  It  depends  on  his  indi- 
vidual exertions  and  on  his  tact  and  gifts 
of  persuasion,  what  use  he  makes  of  his 
opportunities.  Being  treated  as  a  social 
equal,  it  devolves,  of  course,  on  the  corre- 
spondent to  reciprocate  favors  shown — not 
in  quantity,  perhaps,  but  at  least  in  quality. 
The  leading  correspondents  must  have  homes 
of  comfort  and  must  throw  them  open  to  the 
official  and  unofficial  world  at  stated  intervals, 
say  three  or  four  times  per  season.  Their 
private  fortunes  or  their  incomes  must  be 
large  enough  to  admit  that.  Their  annual 
expenditures  cannot  be  less  than  $5,000  and 
may  exceed  $15,000.  The  London  Times, 
for  instance,  pays  its  correspondents  on  a 
liberal  scale,  salaries  of  $5,000  to  $10,000 
being  the  rule.     Yet  the  majority  of  them 


find  it  necessar}^  to  make  up  regtdar  defi- 
ciencies in  their  exchequer  out  of  their  own- 
private  funds.  Money  in  the  capitals  on  the 
Continent  goes  furthest  in  Paris  and  Rome, 
Berlin  being  next,  and  Vienna  and  St. 
Petersburg  being  the  most  expensive  places. 

The  peripatetic  American  correspondent 
on  the  Continent,  of  course,  is  exempt  from 
these  conditions  or  from  most  of  them. 
But  he  will  not  be  able  to  obtain  much  news — 
I  mean  real,  honest,  reliable  news.  There  is, 
for  instance,  one  such  "Wandering  Jew" 
of  a  correspondent  on  the  Continent.  He 
is  forever  flitting  between  extreme  points  of 
the  compass — in  Sofia  today  and  in  Copen- 
hagen next  w^eek.  The  prestige  of  his  paper 
helps  him.  A  purse  liberally  supplied  by  his 
employer  in  New  York  helps  him  likewise. 
And  indiscretions  he  may  be  guilty  of  today 
are  forgotten  within  the  two  or  three  years 
it  takes  him  to  return  to  the  same  spot.  But 
his  news  is,  despite  these  advantages,  unre- 
liable as  a  rule.  In  every  one  of  these  conti- 
nental countries  it  takes  years  of  quiet, 
persistent  study  to  fathom  political,  social 
and  economic  conditions,  and  without  such 
intimate  knowledge  the  correspondent  will 
constantly  commit  egregious  blunders. 

The  life  of  the  American  correspondent 
on  the  continent  of  Europe  is  a  life  interesting 
and  fascinating  enough  in  its  way,  and  it 
broadens  the  mental  horizon  as,  perhaps, 
no  other  occupation  does.  But  it  is  a  nerve- 
destroying  life,  a  life  in  which  there  is  scarcely 
a  minute  he  can  call  his  very  own.  Every 
day  in  the  year  it  spurs  its  slave  on  to  utmost 
exertion.  It  barely  pays  expenses,  and  it 
necessitates  constant  outlays  in  time  and 
money  w^hich  cannot  be  put  down  in  the 
"expense  account"  and  which  are  a  drain  on 
health  and  purse  alike.  Even  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances  the  game  is 
hardly  worth  the  candle.  To  go  to  bed  at 
two  or  three,  fagged  out  with  never-ending 
excitement  and  toil;  to  be  waked  out  of  a 
sound  sleep  an  hour  later  by  a  ring  at  the 
telephone  or  by  inopportune  cable  inquiries 
from  the  home  office;  to  dress  hurriedly, 
take  a  cab  to  the  nearest  telegraph  office,  and 
there  wire  a  hasty  reply;  then  to  return  and 
seek  a  few  more  hours  of  fitful  sleep,  and  to 
rise,  morning  after  morning,  unrefreshed, 
with  never  repose  for  body  and  soul — all  this 
is  neither  conducive  to  longevity  nor  to  a 
quiet  and  contented  mind. 


JOHN   FISKE  AS  A  POPULAR   HISTORIAN 

HIS   PLACE  AMONC;   IIISTORRAL  WRITERS   AND    MEN   OK   I.E'ITKRS— 
A   REVIEW  OF  HIS    WORK   AND   AN    EXPLANATION   OF  HIS   METHOD 

PY 

H.  MORSE  STEPHENS 

PROFESSOR   OF   HISTORY    IN    THU   UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA 


IN  an  article  published  in  The  World's 
Work  for  July,  1902,  upon  "Some 
Living  American  Historians,"  an  effort 
was  made  to  point  out  the  distinctive  char- 
acteristics of  the  writing  of  history  as  at 
present  held  and  practised  by  the  chief 
exponents  of  the  scientific  historical  school 
in  the  United  States.  The  ideal  of  the 
writers  of  this  school  is  the  discovery  and 
narration  of  the  truth,  their  method  is  that 
of  scientific  investigation,  and  both  ideal  and 
method  have  begun  to  be  followed  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  But  such  scien- 
tific histories  cannot  appeal  directly  to  the 
great  body  of  readers ;  their  very  impartiality 
repulses  a  generation  that  thinks  history 
should  be  made  as  fascinating  as  romantic 
fiction;  their  accurate  perspective  includes 
many  things  that  do  not  interest  the  general 
public;  and  the  reaction  from  history  which 
should  be  all  style  and  no  facts  has  induced 
some  of  the  most  illustrious  representatives 
of  the  scientific  school,  especially  in  Germany, 
to  go  to  the  other  extreme  of  compiling 
history  which  is  all  facts,  set  forth  with 
studious  disregard  for  the  niceties  of  literary 
style.  There  has  therefore  come  into  exist- 
ence a  class  of  historical  writers  who  aim 
to  show  forth  after  a  fashion  attractive  to 
the  general  public  the  results  of  the  labors 
of  more  serious  and  carefully  trained  his- 
torical students.  The  productions  of  these 
popular  writers  are  as  much  controlled  by 
regular  laws  as  the  work  of  the  scientific 
historians  themselves;  the}"  also  have  to 
understand  the  mental  attitude  of  their 
readers;  they  have  to  proportion  their  nar- 
rative along  different  but  as  well-defined 
lines  as  their  carefully  trained  contempo- 
raries ;  and  they  have  to  realize  that  success 
can  only  come  to  those  who  rightly  gage  the 
receptivity  of  their  particular  public.  The 
late  John  Fiske  was   the  most  brilliant  and 


successful  of  the  popular  writers  of  history  in 
the  United  States  in  the  last  decade  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  it  is  intended  here 
to  try  to  analyze  those  qualities  as  liistorian 
and  man  of  letters  which  set  him  at  the 
head  of  his  class  as  a  popular  American 
historian. 

Mr.  W.  S.  Gilbert  once  said  of  the  comic 
operas,  "There  are  some  men  who  seek  to 
win  the  applause  of  the  private  boxes;  there 
are  others  who  cater  to  the  taste  of  the  gallery ; 
but  I  always  keep  my  eye  fixed  on  the  dress- 
circle."  Just  so  yie  scientific  historians 
cater  to  the  private  boxes  and  write  for  the 
appreciation  of  minds  trained  in  scientific 
research  and  able  to  criticize  its  results,  while 
the  vulgar  historian  who  seeks  the  applause 
of  the  gallery  rouses  their  fervid  enthusiasm 
by  wild  generalizations  and  clap-trap  patri-  • 
otism.  Mr.  John  Fiske,  like  Mr.  Gilbert, 
won  his  triumph  by  skilfully  pleasing  the 
taste  of  the  educated  classes  of  the  dress- 
circle.  The  difficulty  of  his  task  is  attested 
by  the  rarity  of  its  accomplishment.  A 
scientific  historian  can  be  trained  in  scientific 
method,  and  the  vulgar  historian  needs  only 
to  share  the  ignorance  and  the  gullibility  of 
his  readers ;  but  the  writer  for  the  dress-circle 
must  be  born  with  an  instinctive  feeling  for 
the  width  and  the  limitations  of  the  education, 
the  experience  and  the  sentiment  of  his 
audience.  It  is  true  that  it  is  the  scientific 
historian  who  adds  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
human  race  and  clears  away  the  old  legends 
and  traditions  which  make  the  men  and 
women  of  past  ages  a  set  of  impossible  mon- 
sters; he  it  is  who  by  the  ardent  pursuit  of 
truth  makes  the  dark  places  of  history  clear, 
and  shows  how  things  really  happened  and 
how  institutions  took  root  and  grew;  and  it 
is  his  accuracy  of  perspective  and  sense  of 
proportion  that  enable  us  to  grasp  the 
meaning  of  the  lessons  of  the  past.     But  the 


336o 


JOHN    FISKE   AS  A   POPULAR   HISTORIAN 


very  form,  depth  and  nature  of  his  work 
make  it  necessary  that  it  should  be  trans- 
mitted into  more  readable  shape  for  the 
instruction  of  the  majority. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  that  there 
must  be  more  than  accident  in  the  fact  that 
John  Fiske  was  not  only  the  most  successful 
popular  historian,  but  also  the  most  successful 
platform  lecturer  on  history  of  his  generation. 
The  same  qualities  that  commended  his 
books  commended  his  lectures.  Practically 
all  his  historical  works  were  based  upon 
lectures  delivered  to  cultivated  and  educated 
general  audiences  from  Maine  to  California. 
In  the  preface  to  his  "The  Beginnings  of 
New  England"  he  mentions  no  less  than 
twenty-three  places  in  which  lectures  had 
been  delivered  by  him,  containing  the  sub- 
stance of  that  book,  between  May,  1887,  and 
its  publication  in  April,  1889.  This  practice 
of  trying  his  books  from  the  lecture  plat- 
form in  all  parts  of  the  country  gave  Mr.  Fiske 
an  admirable  means  for  testing  their  effective- 
ness. Though  popular  m  form,  his  lectures, 
like  his  books,  were  not  designed  for  the 
uneducated;  and  the  crowds  which  attended 
them  consisted  of  cultivated  people  of  all 
classes  and  professions,  and  not  simply  of 
young  students.  It  would  be  vain  to  specu- 
late whether  j\Ir.  Fiske  learned  his  power 
•  of  writing  popular  history  from  delivering 
popular  lectures,  or  whether  it  was  the 
temperament  in  the  man  that  made  him 
acceptable  to  a  broad  general  audience  both 
as  a  lecturer  and  as  a  writer.  His  unrivaled 
gift  for  hitting  the  popular  taste  was  certainly 
heightened  by  the  steady  intermingling  of 
lecturing  and  writing.  He  learned  on  the 
lecture  platform  what  interested  his  hearers 
and  faithfully  followed  their  indications  when 
he  sent  his  books  to  press.  In  his  case  the 
lecture  platform  was  more  than  an  advertise- 
ment; it  was  a  rehearsal.  His  greatest 
merits — simplicity  of  style,  charm  of  manner 
and  delicate  interpretation  of  the  past  by 
use  of  modern  phrases  and  modem  instances 
— were  seen  to  equal  advantage  in  lectures 
and  in  books.  His  chief  defects  —  a  certain 
carelessness  about  details,  a  lack  of  true 
perspective  and  a  readiness  to  digress  from 
the  subject  in  hand  and  to  give  vent  to  his 
own  personal  views  on  ethics  or  politics — 
were  faults  encouraged  by  these  platform 
rehearsals.  But  it  was  to  them  that  he  owed 
his  exact  perception  of  his  readers'  demands 


and  learned  how  to  satisfy  them.     Incident-    11 
ally,  the    familiar    acquaintance    made    with      ' 
the  personality  of  the  man  upon  the  plat- 
form  gave   to    thousands    of   readers   of   his     * 
books  an  opportunity  to  read  between  the 
lines  and  to  interpret  the  written  pages  by     | 
the  voice  and  gesture  of  the  living  man.    It  has 
only  to  be  remembered  that  John  Fiske  was 
a  famous  popular  lecturer  on  history,  that  he 
was  neither  a  hard -worked  college   professor 
on    the    one    hand    nor    a    political    stump- 
speaker  on  the    other,    to    understand    why 
his  books  are  more   wideh^  read  than   those 
of  any  other  historian  of   this  generation  by 
the   educated    and    cultivated  section  of  the 
American  people. 

One   of  the   first   things    that    strike   any 
critic  in  comparing  the  works  of  a  pot)ular 
historian  with  those  of  a  scientific  historian 
is  the  difference  of  historical  perspective — or 
perhaps  it   would   be   better  to  say,  of  pro- 
portion.    The   scientific    historian   endeavors 
with   all   his   might   to   give   such   a   correct 
balance    to    his    treatment    that    the    reader 
should  grasp  the  true  relations  of  the  points 
of  the  narrative  to  each  other.     The  popular 
historian,  on  the  other  hand,  who  thoroughly 
knows  the  intellectual  make-up  of  his  audi- 
ence,    adopts    proportions    suited    to    their 
attitude    of    mind.     An    admirable    instance! 
of  this   can  be  found  in  the  proportions  of] 
Mr.  Fiske's  last   volume,    "New   France   and] 
New  England."     In  that  volume  he  devotes 
sixty-four  pages  out  of  a  total  of  359  to  the! 
episode  of  the  trials  for  witchcraft  at  Salem. 
When  it  is  considered  that  he  gives  only  thirty- 1 
four   pages    to  the    campaign   of   Louisburg, 
Fort  Duquesne  and  the  fall  of  Quebec,  and  I 
only  sixty-four  pages,  including  these,  to  thej 
whole  of  the  important  events  of  the  Sevenj 
Years'  War  on  the  North  American  continent,! 
the  startling  difference  between  scientific  anc 
popular  proportion  in  weighing  historic  events 
can   be    clearly   seen.     That    Mr.    Fiske   ws 
absolutely    right    in   gaging    the    interest    oi 
his    readers    there    can    be    no    doubt.     Th( 
weird    genius    of    Nathaniel    Hawthorne    hi 
cast  a  glamour  over  the  witch  persecution  a^ 
Salem  that  fascinates  a  majority  of  Americai 
readers,  while  the  military  details  of  the  greal 
movement  which  ended  the  power  of  France 
in  North  America  and  paved  the  way  for  tm 
American  Revolution  would  be   utterly  disj 
tasteful  to  them.      This  instance,  it  is  truej 
taken    from     Mr.     Fiske's     latest     bookj 


IS 


JOHN    FISKE    AS    A    POPULAR    HISTORIAN  3361 

which  had  not  the  advantage  of  the  author's  with  the  absence  of  tiresome  foot-notes  in  the 

revision    before    his     lamented    death,     but  popular    histories.     Count    the     number    of 

similar    instances    of    the    great    difference  proper  names   in  a   page  of  Gibbon   and   a 

between  the  proportions  given  by  scientific  page  of  Green;  compare  the  description  of  a 

and  popular  historians  to  different  historical  debate  or  a  negotiation  in  a  chapter  of  Henry 

events,  owing  to   the   contrast   between  the  Adams    and    a    chapter   of    Fiske,    and    the 

points  of  view  of  the  readers  they  were  writing  characteristic     differences     in     this     respect 

for,   could  be  multiplied   out  of  Mr.    Fiske's  between    the    scientific    historian     and    the 

earlier  volumes.     But  what  would  be  a  gross  popular  will  at  once  become  manifest, 

instance    of    malproportion    in    a    scientific  Another   characteristic  of  the  popular  his- 

writer,  writing  for  a  special  and   an  almost  torian  may  be  summed  up  as  his  modernity, 

professional  audience,  is  no  offense  at  all  in  a  A  general  audience  listening  to  a  lecture,  or  a 

book  intended  for  a  popular  audience.  general  reader  reading  a  volume  for  amuse- 

The  second  great  difference  to  be  perceived  ment  rather  than  instruction,  loves  to  have 

between    scientific    and    popular    history    is  his  understanding  quickened  by  allusions  to 

with  regard  to  the  treatment  of  detail.     The  contemporary  ideas  and  events  well  within 

scientific   historian   has   not  only   to   master  his  knowledge. 

details  accurately,  since  the  slightest  flaw  The  scientific  writer,  realizing  the  false 
would  spoil  the  whole  picture,  but  has  also  impressions  generally  given  by  compari- 
to  illustrate  every  generalization  that  he  sons  between  past  and  present,  avoids 
makes  with  a  sufficient  wealth  of  detail  to  misleading  serious  students  by  tempting 
illustrate  his  general  conclusion.  The  popular  analogies.  But  the  popular  writer  revels 
historian,  on  the  other  hand,  must  be  wary  in  allusions  which,  if  not  precisely  ac- 
of  wearying  his  audience  by  too  many  details ;  curate,  are  yet  stimulating  to  the  imagina- 
those  which  he  introduces  must  be  amusing  tion.  Mr.  Fiske  was  a  past  master  in  the 
or  interesting  in  themselves,  and  he  must  not  art  of  modern  allusion.  When  dealing  with 
run  the  risk  of  over-illustration.  Few  his-  the  history  of  the  beginnings  of  the  American 
torical  writers  have  recognized  this  secret  Revolution  he  found  it  expedient  to  write  a 
of  widespread  popularity  better  than  Mr.  page  of  praise  for  Mr.  Gladstone's  policy 
Fiske.  A  happy  instinct,  either  derived  with  regard  to  the  Boer  War  of  1881,  thus 
from  experience  on  the  platform  or  account-  creating  a  misleading  analogy  that  has  been 
ing  for  his  success  upon  the  platform,  guided  popular  in  these  latter  days.  This  sort  of 
him  in  his  selection  of  detail.  If  he  mentions  thing  is  common  to  all  popular  writers  of 
a  proper  name,  it  has  generally  some  interest  history,  who  occasionally  abuse  their  posi- 
either  explained  or  known  to  be  understood,  tion  as  recorders  of  the  history  of  the  past 
which  at  once  appeals  to  the  hearer  or  reader,  to  advocate  their  own  political  and  economic 
Picturesqueness  rather  than  special  fitness  and  literary  ideas  with  regard  to  the  present, 
controls  the  choice  of  detail  of  the  poptdar  Mr.  J'iske  was  a  convinced  free-trader,  and 
writer  of  history.  dozens  of  allusions  can  be  found,  some- 
Compare,  for  instance,  the  mass  of  detail  times  in  the  most  unlikely  places,  in  all  his 
and  the  citations  of  actual  texts  and  sources  books,  in  which  he  takes  a  fling  at  the  policy 
in  such  a  writer  as  Fustel  de  Coulanges  of  protection.  Wherever  a  pretext  can  be 
with  the  airy  grace  of  J.  R.  Green  or  found  he  was  ready  to  appeal  to  the  past  for 
John  Fiske  in  dealing  with  an  institutional  the  condemnation  of  this  particular  present 
topic.  The  popular  historian  makes  his  policy  that  offended  his  political  and  economic 
generalizations  boldly  in  the  knowledge  ideas.  He  was  equally  ready  to  vent  his 
chat  his  readers  are  ready  to  accept  his  con-  literary  likes  and  dislikes.  A  sincere  lover 
elusions  upon  his  word,  while  the  scientific  of  the  novels  of  Charles  Dickens,  he  took 
historian  has  to  prove  his  generalizations  up  every  opportunity  to  bring  in  citations  from 
to  the  hilt  with  accurate  citations  and  care-  his  books,  and  sometimes  with  a  most  curious 
ful  illustrations.  Consider  the  mass  of  foot-  effect,  as  where  he  described  Augustine 
notes  that  disfigures  the  pages  of  the  great  Herman  of  the  Bohemia  Manor  as  suffering 
scientific  historians,  where  these  foot-notes  from  "matrimonial  infelicities  like  those  of 
often  occupy  a  larger  share  of  the  space  on  Socrates  and  the  elder  Mr.  Weller,"  or 
each  page  than  the  text  itself,  as  contrasted  where  in  a  note  on  the  Mexican  drink,  pulque, 


3362 


JOHN    FISKE    AS    A   POPULAR    HISTORIAN 


a  reference  is  made  to  the  plant  which  stood 
by   the   front    doorsteps  of  George  Nupkins, 
magistrate  in  Ipswich,  England,  who  figures 
conspicuously  in  an  episode  in  the  "Pickwick 
Papers."     This    wealth   of   modern    allusion, 
political,  economic  and  literary,  is  characteris- 
tic of  all  successful  poptilar  historians.    Under- 
standing    thoroughly    the    feelings    and    the 
favorite  books   of  their  readers,   they  know 
exactly  how  to  place  an  allusion;  and  when 
the  writer  knows  exactly,  as  Fiske  did,  the 
mental  make-up  of  his  chosen  audience,  he 
brings  in  references  that  startle  the  serious 
student  by  their  ludicrous  inappropriateness, 
but  which  keep  the  readers  aimed  at  in  per- 
fect good  temper  from  a  knowledge  of  their 
particular  limits   and  their  precise  point  of 
view.     One   of   the   things    that   prevents    a 
scientific    historian    from    appealing    to    the 
majority  of  readers  is  the  sense  of  remoteness, 
produced  either  by  the  entire  absence  of  any 
evidence   of   being   upon   the  same  plane   as 
themselves,  or  by  such  a  perpetual  reminder 
of  things  unfamiliar  that  it  produces  a  sense 
of    shamed    ignorance.     The    more    modern 
the  allusions,  the  more  certainly  can  the  writer 
of  history  get  in  touch  with  a  whole  generation 
of  readers;  but   time   has   its   revenges,   and 
some  of  the  most  popular  histories  written 
in  the  past  are  now  mainly  of  value  in  that 
they  show  by  their  allusions  the  state  of  mind 
and  plane  of  knowledge  of  an  average  general 
reader  at  the  time  when  they  were  written. 

Another  quality  always  to  be  looked  for  in 
a  popular  historian  may  be  designated  the 
power  of  being  up  to  date.  In  this  character- 
istic, Mr.  Fiske  was  easily  first  among  modern 
American  historians.  In  every  one  of  his  his- 
torical books  he  showed  himself  in  touch  with 
the  most  recent  literature  and  expounded 
the  most  recent  views.  His  philosophy,  as 
he  showed  in  his  philosophical  writings,  was 
of  the  most  recent  t^^pe.  As  the  exponent 
of  evolutionary  ideas  he  did  something  of  the 
same  sort  in  philosophy  as  he  did  in  history. 
Both  Darwin  and  Herbert  Spencer  acknowl- 
edged that  John  Fiske  was  the  most  effective 
and  popular  exponent  of  the  great  series  of 
ideas  which  are  lumped  together  as  the 
philosophy  of  evolution.  Equally  effective 
was  he  as  the  exponent  of  the  latest  views  of 
historical  criticism.  Take,  for  instance,  one 
of  the  most  skilful  chapters  he  ever  wrote,  the 
first  chapter  of  his  "Discovery  of  America." 
In  this  chapter  he  summed  up  the  views  of 


Mr.    Lewis   Morgan   in   the   most   fascinating 
style  and  made  accessible  to  a  vast  body  of 
readers   views    that    would    otherwise    have 
remained  perhaps  for  generations  theories  of 
primitive  life  to  be  fought  over  by  specialists 
but  never  brought  within  the  ken  of  general 
readers.     Fiske 's     extraordinary     knack     of 
knowing  what  to  leave  out  was  never  better 
illustrated     than     in     this     chapter.     Great 
thinkers  and  discoverers  have  to  prove  their 
points,    and     are    therefore    confusing    and 
repellant   to   untrained   minds   by   excess   of 
detail  and  the  necessity  of  controversy;  but 
the    popular  exponent  has  the  art  to  assume 
the  truth  of  the  theory  expounded  and  can 
handle  the  subject  with  an  interesting  sim- 
plicity.    Even  where   the  popular   historian 
feels  it  necessary  to  take  up  a  position  upon 
some  controversy  he  can  put  forth  his  view 
without  the  wealth  of  detail  needed  to  con- 
vince well-armed  critics.     An  instance  of  this 
can  be  found  in  Fiske 's  defense  of  John  Smith 
in  the  third  chapter  of  his  "Old  Virginia  and 
Her   Neighbors."     The  story  of   Pocahontas 
and  her  rescue  of  John   Smith  is   one  that 
American  readers  would  be  loath  to  discredit. 
Fortunately  there  are  some  good  arguments 
in  its  favor,  and  John  Fiske,  with  his  accus- 
tomed skill,  takes  the  reader  into  his  confi- 
dence   without    excess    of    technical    detail, 
and  while  doing  his  duty  as  a  faithful  historian 
in  stating  existing  doubts  of  the  truth  of  that 
romantic    tale,    yet    leaves    a    pleasant    and 
convincing  impression  of  its  perfect  correct- 
ness.    As  might  be  expected,  he  defends  the 
popular  view  of  the  character  of  Christopher 
Columbus,    and    throughout    his    writings    is 
kind  to  all  popular  heroes.     He  is  sufficiently 
touched  with  the  modern  spirit  of  impartiality 
not  to  fall  into  the  snare  of  the  Carlyle  theory 
and    practice    of    hero-worship.     His    heroes 
are  as  thoroughly  human  as  modern  critics 
could  desire;  he  admits  that  Columbus  was 
not  married  to  Donna   Beatriz  Enriquez  de 
Arana,    and    that    his    son    Ferdinand    was 
illegitimate;  he   admits   that   General   Grant 
in    his    memoirs  is  not  fair  to  the  splendid 
conduct  of  General  Thomas  in  the  matter  of 
the  battle  of  Nashville;  and  his  portrait  of 
George  Washington  is  that  of  a  noble  gentle- 
man  and   not   of   a   prig.     The   same   sweet 
reasonableness,  with    a  full  acknowledgment 
of  the  value    of    modern  research,  is  shown 
in  his  attitude  toward  other   problems    than 
those    of   individual  character,  and    a    good 


JOHN    MSKK    AS    A    I'OrULAR    IIIS'IOKIAN 


3363 


specimen  of  his  kindly  treatment  of  con- 
troversies is  to  be  seen  in  his  accounts  of  the 
voyages  of  the  Northmen  to  Markland  and 
to  Vinland.  Tliroughout  his  writings  j)roof 
is  given  of  his  desire  to  give  to  his  readers 
the  very  latest  and  most  scientific  views,  and 
he  combines  a  readiness  to  expound  these 
views  with  a  full  command  of  the  bibliography 
of  his  subject  to  the  most  recently  published 
pamphlet.  It  may  be  said,  then,  that  Mr. 
Fiske,  like  other  historians  who  have  known 
how  to  reach  the  heart  of  the  great  educated 
public,  was  thoroughly  up  to  date,  both  in 
his  knowledge  and  in  his  allusions,  and  gave 
forth  with  the  extraordinary  skill  due  to  his 
sympathy  with  his  audience  the  very  latest 
results  of  modern  scientific  historical  research. 
The  point  is  worth  discussing  here  as  to 
whether  it  is  possible  for  the  same  man  to  be 
at  one  and  the  same  time  both  a  scientific 
and  a  popular  historian.  Do  the  qualities 
that  make  the  former  exclude  the  qualities 
that  make  the  latter?  Can  a  writer  be  a 
master  of  the  scholarship  and  of  the  critical 
training  needed  for  scientific  research  without 
losing  the  broad  sympathies  that  must 
underlie  an  appeal  to  the  larger  public  ? 
Must  a  sense  of  what  the  educated  public 
demands  blind  a  writer  to  the  necessity  of 
scientific  precision?  The  question  cannot 
be  answered  positively,  but  the  study  of  the 
whole  historical  work  of  John  Fiske  is  exceed- 
ingly suggestive.  Like  the  late  Professor 
Edward  A.  Freeman,  whom  he  much  admired 
and  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  "Discovery  of 
America,"  John  Fiske  was  not  what  the 
French  term  an  erudit.  He  was  not  learned  in 
the  lore  of  manuscripts;  he  did  not  care  for 
the  niceties  of  textual  criticism;  he  had  no 
love  for  details  or  training  in  the  comparison 
of  material.  But  at  the  same  time  he  had  a 
wide  knowledge  of  historical  literature  and, 
like  Mr.  Freeman,  was  fond  of  striking  general- 
izations. Some  of  these  generalizations  were 
his  own  and  some  were  borrowed  from  others, 
but  in  all  of  them  he  was  guided  by  the 
instinct  of  the  popular  rather  than  of  the 
scientific  spirit.  His  most  striking  contri- 
bution to  historical  literature  was  his  "Critical 
Period  of  American  History."  In  this  his 
first  volume  of  history  he  gave  no  proof  of 
original  research,  but  his  keen  perception  of 
the  circumstances  which  threatened  American 
unity  between  1783  and  1789  made  his  treat- 
ment of  that  period  almost  an  event  in  Amer- 


ican historiography.  Others  before  him  had 
seen  the  importance  of  the  Federal  Conven- 
tion and  had  realized  that  a  new  period 
was  opened  in  the  history  of  government 
by  the  drawing  up  of  the  American  Constitu- 
tion, but  the  exclusive  devotion  of  generations 
to  the  history  of  the  more  romantic  events 
of  the  Revolution  had  obscured  their  api)recia- 
tion  of  the  period  of  danger  that  followed. 
It  was  John  Fiske's  merit  to  have  realized 
what  was  really  the  critical  period  in  American 
history  and  thereV)y  to  have  changed  the 
perspective  of  all  thinking  ui)on  American  his- 
tory since  the  time  of  the  publication  of  his 
book.  His  "Critical  Period  of  American 
History"  owes  its  importance  to  his  real  gift 
of  historical  insight  and  compares  favorably 
in  this  respect  with  his  "The  American 
Revolution,"  which  is  as  conventional  in 
treatment  as  the  former  book  was  uncon- 
ventional. Like  his  friend  Freeman,  he  could 
see  .clearly  and  generalize  forcibly,  but  the 
subjects  he  chose  for  his  later  historical 
works  did  not  give  him  the  opportunity  to 
make  as  striking  contributions  to  the  general 
perspective  of  history  as  he  did  in  his  first 
volume.  In  his  later  books  he  frankly  used 
the  work  and  adopted  the  generalizations  of 
other  men,  and  it  must  be  remembered  that 
in  so  doing  he  always  gave  the  most  generous 
appreciation  to  the  scholars  whose  labors 
he  placed  under  contribution.  His  lavish 
acknowledgments  of  indebtedness  to  others, 
often  accompanied  with  the  most  gracious 
words  of  personal  obligation,  are  evidences 
of  the  best  type  of  literary  honesty.  The 
praise  given  to  his  predecessors  is  ungrudging ; 
and  even  where  he  differed  from  their  con- 
clusions he  had  always  a  pleasant  word  to 
say  of  some  quality  they  had  shown  or  of 
some  discovery  they  had  made.  There 
have  been  popular  historians  who  have  made 
their  reputations  by  battening  on  the  labors 
of  other  men;  the  very  quality  of  their  work 
places  them  under  obligations  to  their  fore- 
runners; it  is  in  their  power  to  ignore  those 
obligations;  but  John  Fiske  stands  forth 
from  among  the  crowd  of  popular  historians 
as  one  who  never  stole  but  rather  augmented 
the  glory  of  others.  His  definite  contribution 
to  history  was  in  the  new  perspective  he  gave 
to  a  certain  phase  of  American  histor>',  and 
for  the  rest  he  gave  to  the  world  of  his 
numerous  readers  a  summary  of  the  sanest 
work  of  other  men. 


3364 


JOHN    FISKE   AS    A   POPULAR   HISTORIAN 


It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  any  testimony 
to  the  charm  of  John  Fiske's  literary  style, 
for  without  it  he  never  could  have  been  a 
popular  historian.  He  added  to  perfect 
lucidity  of  statement  the  art  of  graceful 
narrative.  His  language  is  always  simple 
and  direct;  his  sentences  are  never  involved; 
he  never  sacrificed  to  the  temptation  of 
elaborate  antithesis,  and  he  kept  the  intelli- 
gence of  his  readers  clearly  before  his  mind. 
Mention  has  already  been  made  of  his  skilful 
avoidance  of  detail,  and  he  rarely  broke  the 
law  of  good  historical  writing  which  forbids 
the  accumulation  of  lists  of  proper  names 
that  have  no  meaning  without  proper  intro- 
duction or  connotation.  If  he  seldom  rose 
to  eloquence,  he  never  descended  into  mere 
verbosity,  and  he  rarely  failed  to  remember 
that  his  first  task  was  to  interest  his  readers. 

No  one  ever  succeeded  better  than  John 
Fiske  in  attaining  the  aim  of  a  popular 
historian.  His  instinct  for  what  w^ould  inter- 
est his  great  public  was  unfailing,  and  his 
perfect  knowledge  of  his  constituency  was 
the  secret  of  his  success.  A  scientific  historian 
can  be  trained,  but  the  popular  historian 
is  born  and  not  made.  What  in  the  scientific 
historian  would  be  mistakes  in  proportion 
arise  from  the  keen  perception  in  the  popular 
writer  of  the  nature  of  the  interest  of  his 
readers;  what  might  be  criticized  in  others 
as  slipshod  or  daring  generalizations  are 
stimulating  to  the  reason  and  the  imagination 
of  general  readers ;  allusions  that  seem  inap- 
propriate and  sometimes  ludicrous  to  the 
serious  mind  are  exactly  suited  to  a  larger 
class  of  the  greater  public;  and  the  note  of 
personality  which  irritates  the  highly  trained 
specialist  is  delightful  to  the  wider  audience. 
Popular  writers  of  history  of  the  type  of  Mr. 
Fiske  are  much  more  rare  than  scientific 
historians,  for  they  need  a  special  power  of 
arousing  interest  in  a  general  audience  that 
is  not  found  more  than  once  or  twice  in  a 
generation.  This  power  can  be  recognized, 
but  it  cannot  be  analyzed;  it  can  be  felt,  but 
it  cannot  be  taught.  And  the  reason  of  this 
is,  that  the  popular  writer,  in  order  to  be  a 
popular  writer,  must  be,  hke  the  popular 
lecturer,  a  man  of  broad  human  sympathies, 
interested  in  the  things  that  interest  the 
majority  of  the  cultured  class  to  which  he 
speaks,  and  able  to  set  forth  the  things  that 
arouse  his  interest  in  the  way  to  arouse  theirs. 
Such  men  are  far  more  rare  than  scholars  or 


than  critics.  Such  a  man  was  the  late 
John  Fiske.  He  knew  his  public  thoroughly 
and  they  responded  generously.  He  brought 
out  what  was  best  in  them  by  giving  to  them 
the  best  that  was  in  himself.  The  things 
in  modern  American  life  that  appeal  to  the 
best  educated  men  and  women  appealed 
to  him.  The  literature  and  the  art  and  the 
music  that  they  love  he  loved  also,  and  with 
a  more  perfect  understanding.  The  political 
ideals  that  they  cherish  he  cherished,  and  he 
could  show  them  whv  he  and  thev  alike  cared 
for  these  things.  Their  chosen  moral  eleva- 
tion was  his  also;  their  national  heroes  were 
to  him  models  to  be  imitated  and  beings  to 
be  loved;  and  the  emotions  that  they  felt 
in  the  domains  both  of  thought  and  of  feeling 
he  abundantly  fostered  and  enjoyed.  It  was 
because  he  saw  and  felt  like  one  of  them- 
selves, and  was  possessed  further  of  the 
power  of  explaining  to  them  why  they  saw 
and  felt  thus,  that  John  Fiske  became  to 
thousands  of  his  countrymen  the  interpreter 
of  their  own  thoughts  and  feelings  in  the 
spheres  both  of  history  and  of  philosophy. 
A  personal  affection  follows  the  great  sub- 
jective, popular  historian  that  cannot  be 
felt  for  the  colder  and  more  impartial  searcher 
after  scientific  truth;  for  the  man  who  gives 
himself  to  the  public  in  his  lectures  and  his 
writings  wins  back  from  them  a  confidence 
that  can  spring  from  sympathy  alone.  To 
those  who  knew  John  Fiske  personally  his 
death  brought  a  sense  of  crushing  personal 
loss;  to  those  who  had  heard  him  speak  and 
had  read  his  books  the  sense  of  personal 
loss  was  but  little  less;  and  any  attempt 
made  to  anal^^ze  the  sources  of  success  of  a 
popular  historian,  using  John  Fiske's  his- 
torical work  as  a  text,  must  end  with  the 
recognition  of  the  truth  that  there  are  two 
codes  of  law  for  historical  writers,  the  one 
defining  the  methods  of  search  after  and  state- 
ment of  truth  so  as  to  promote  the  progress 
of  mankind  and  to  widen  the  field  of  knowl- 
edge; and  the  other,  which  John  Fiske  so 
splendidly  illustrated,  having  as  its  leading 
feature  a  broad  human  sympathy  with  the 
art  of  so  freely  and  winningly  revealing  that 
sympathy  as  to  hold  the  interest  and  stimu- 
late the  imagination  of  that  large  portion 
of  educated  humanity  which  forms  the  '  'dress- 
circle"  of  the  cultivated  public  as  much  in 
the  general  world  of  art  and  letters  as  in  the 
smaller  mimic  world  of  stage  and  theatre. 


A/AOMG 

TME  WORLD'S 

WORKERS 


ANOTHER  LARGEST  SHIP  AFLOAT 

IT'S  not  the  record-breaker  any  more," 
said  a  prominent  steamship  man  the 
other  day.  "The  dividend-payer  is  the 
thing. " 

The  immense  Cedric,  which  made  its  maiden 
trip  a  few  weeks  ago,  is  a  "dividend-payer." 
This  new  steamship  is  the  result  of  growing 
international  trade  and  travel,  the  demand 
for  the  biggest,  safest  and  easiest  ocean 
carrying  possible.  It  combines  in  large 
measure  the  convenience  and  luxury  of  the 
faster  boats  with  the  cargo  facilities  of  the 
freight  carriers.  There  are  many  people  who 
prefer  a  steady  seven-day  boat  to  one  of  the 
lighter,  speedier  ships.  This  has  been  proved 
already  with  the  Oceanic  and  the  Celtic.  The 
Cedric  is  the  largest,  and  therefore  probably 
the  steadiest,  ship  afloat,  with  good  speed, 
with  splendid  accommodations  for  2,600 
passengers,  with  comparatively  cheap  rates, 
and  the  cargo  capacity  of  a  warehouse. 
The  Cedric  carries  a  crew  of  335  men,  350 
first-class  passengers,  250  second-class,  and 
2,000  people  in  the  steerage;  her  capacity  is 
18,400  tons  cargo,  and  she  is  fast  enough  to 
carry  all  mails. 

Externally  the  Cedric's  measurements  are 
identical  with  those  of  the  Celtic,  but  inside 
the  gross  tonnage  is  larger,  reaching  21,000 
tons.  The  Campania  has  a  gross  tonnage  of 
12,950  tons,  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  14,349  tons, 
the  Oceanic  17,274  tons,  the  Deutschland 
16,502.  The  Cedric  displaces  38,200  tons, 
the  Celtic  36,700.  The  propelling  machinery 
of  the  Cedric,  two  sets  of  quadruple  ex- 
pansion engines  with  twin  screws,  will  send 
her  along  at  a  rate  of  seventeen  knots  an 
hour.  She  has  eight  double-ended  boilers, 
and,  notwithstanding  her  size,  she  will  not  use 
as  much  coal  as  any  of  the  fast  boats.  She 
has  nine  decks,  four  masts  and  two  funnels, 
the  last  twelve  feet  in  diameter  and  reaching 
131  feet  high  above  her  keel.  The  Cedric  is 
probably  the  strongest  vessel  ever  built. 
Some  of  her  plates  weigh  three  tons  apiece, 
and  the  frames  are  the  heaviest  ever  fitted 
on  a  steamship. 


No  care  has  been  spared  to  make  this  big 
ship  luxuriously  comfortable.  Among  the 
novelties  of  her  passenger  accommodations 
are  single-berth  staterooms.  The  first-cabin 
dining-room,  on  the  upper  deck,  extends  over 
the  entire  width  of  the  vessel,  seventy-five 
feet,  and  will  seat  340  passengers.  All  the 
apartments  are  roomy  and  the  decoration 
and  general  equipment  are  exceedingly  hand- 
some. Externally,  her  graceful  lines  conceal 
her  size. 

The  Cedric  is  not  an  experiment.  These 
large  ships  are  as  natural  a  development  as 
the  record-breaking  passenger  ships  were. 
Shrewd  steamship  men  feel,  however,  that, 
for  the  present,  at  least,  the  limit  of  size  has 
been  reached.  The  Cedric  and  the  twin 
ships  now  building  for  the  Great  Northern 
Company  will  probably  not  be  surpassed 
soon  in  tonnage. 

HARNESSING  THE  HUDSON 

AT  Spier  Falls,  on  the  Hudson  River,  the 
greatest  dam  ever  built  for  power 
production  is  advancing  rapidly  toward  com- 
pletion. It  is  of  granite,  1,800  feet  long. 
The  cross-section  at  the  base  measures  115  feet 
and  its  greatest  height  is  1 56  feet.  It  is  built  in 
three  sections.  On  the  south  shore  is  the 
canal,  430  feet  long.  This  will  lead  the  water 
into  ten  steel  tubes,  each  twelve  feet  in 
diameter,  which  bring  it,  in  turn,  to  the 
ten  54-inch  turbines.  The  water-wheels  are 
directly  coupled  to  ten  5,000  horse-power 
generators.  The  work  will  give  50,000  horse- 
power at  a  constructive  cost  of  $2,000,000. 

Mere  figures  scarcely  suggest  the  immensity 
of  the  work.  The  lake  formed  by  the  dam 
is  five  and  a  half  miles  long  and  covers  770 
acres.  A  whole  township  has  been  covered 
by  it.  The  dam  itself  is  as  long  as  three  city 
blocks.  To  complete  the  task  in  the  two 
years  allotted,  a  new  community  of  upwards 
of  2,000  people  was  created  in  the  wilderness, 
with  complete  systems  of  water- works,  sewers 
and  telephones;  a  hotel,  a  laundry,  a  bakery, 
schools,  a  department  store — in  fact,  every- 
thing necessary  in  a  well-ordered  town. 


3366 


AMONG    THE   WORLD'S    WORKERS 


The  Hudson  River  furnishes  practically 
constant  power.  For  four  months  in  a  year 
this  may  be  reduced  to  less  than  50,000  horse- 
power, but  with  the  storage  dams  which  are 
being  built  the  flow  will  be  equalized.  Up- 
wards of  half  a  million  people  live  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  various  plants  of  the  system. 
Already  one  plant  at  ]\Iechanicsville  generates 
7,000  horse-power  and  runs  the  street  cars  of 
Albany  and  Tray  and  the  electric  works  at 
Schenectady.  !■*:  is  not  impossible  that  New 
York  City  itself  may  be  included  in  the 
circuit. 

This  dam  is  only  a  beginning.  The  Sacan- 
daga  River,  the  Hudson's  chief  tributary, 
will  be  dammed  at  Conklingsville,  and  an  area 
larger  than  Lake  George  will  be  flooded.  And 
the  plan  is  to  make  this  Sacandaga  dam  one 
of  a  long  series  of  storage  dams.  If  the  plans 
which  are  being  made  succeed,  the  rivers 
of  New  York,  with  the  Hudson  in  the  east 
and  Niagara  in  the  west,  will  put  their 
almost  limitless  power  at  the  disposal  of 
even.'  community,  every  factory  and  every 
householder  in  the  State. 

A  GERMAN    ELECTRICAL    FARM 

IX  the  application  of  electricity  to  every- 
day work,  Germany  has,  perhaps, 
gone  further  than  any  other  nation.  Elec- 
trically heated  and  operated  cooking  and 
laundn.-  apparatus  is  in  common  use  there, 
but  the  most  striking  single  development  is 
the  electrical  farm.  Take,  for  example, 
Professor  Backhaus's  estate  near  Quednau  in 
eastern  Prussia,  which  is  only  one  of  a  large 
ntunber  of  German  estates  run  by  electricity. 
The  Quednau  farm  covers  450  acres  and 
its  dairy  handles  1,000  gallons  of  milk 
daily.  Every  part  of  the  farm  is  lighted 
by  electricity  and  is  in  telephone  communi- 
cation with  ever\'  other  part.  The  dairy 
has  an  electrical  chum;  the  bam  con- 
tains electrically  operated  feed  and  carrot- 
cutting  machines,  and  even  the  grindstone 
is  turned  by  a  small  belt  from  the  shaft 
connected  with  the  bam  motor.  The  water- 
pumping  apparatus  is  run  by  electricity;  all 
the  buildings  are  lighted  by  incandescent 
lamps,  and  there  is  an  electrical  pipe-lighter 
at  the  doors  of  all  the  houses.  This  farm 
has,  also,  its  own  threshing  and  grist  mill, 
the  machinery  of  which  is  turned  by  a  current 
from  the  miniature  central  station,  and 
finally  there  is  a  small  sawmill  which  gets  its 
power  from  the  same  station.  On  the 
farm  are  all  kinds  of  electrical  agricultural 
machines,  including  an  automobile  plow, 
all  run  by  batteries  charged  from  sub- 
stations in  the  fields. 


The  power  for  all  these  various  operations — 
lighting,  heating,  telephones,  churning,  cut- 
ting, grinding,  pumping,  threshing  and  saw- 
ing— comes  from  a  fifty  horse-power  sta- 
tionary engine  moving  two  dynamos. 

From  this  station  the  power  is  distributed 
to  the  parts  of  the  farm,  and  the  switchboard 
is  so  plainly  marked  that  the  commonest 
farm-hand  can  regulate  the  supply  to  fit  the 
need.  At  Crottorf  a  number  of  small  farms 
have  grouped  to  support  one  station  and 
have  their  work  done  by  it. 

Such  plants  as  these  do  more  than  merely 
lighten  farm  labor ;  fewer  workmen  are  needed 
and  greater  profits  are  possible,  and  the  whole 
business  of  farming  is  made  more  attractive. 
The  barnyard  is  lighted  by  an  arc  light; 
night-work  in  the  fields  is  possible  when  it  is 
necessar}-;  the  stables  are  warmed  in  winter 
and  ventilated  in  summer  by  the  turning  of  a 
switch;  indeed,  the  entire  farm  runs  like  a 
machine  at  the  call  of  the  electric  current. 

TRADE  APPRENTICES   IN  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

SEVERAL  rooms  in  one  of  the  public  school 
buildings  of  Chicago  are  given  up  during 
three  months  of  the  school  year  to  the  edu- 
cation of  123  young  men,  who  spend  the 
other  nine  months  as  apprentices  to  the  brick- 
layers' trades.  During  the  morning  hours 
thev  study  the  ordinary-  English  branches, 
while  the  afternoons  are  given  up  to  engineer- 
ing, principles  of  construction,  architecture, 
elementary-  mechanics,  and  other  studies 
having  a  direct  bearing  on  their  work.  For 
each  day's  work  at  school  each  of  these  123 
students  is  paid  the  regular  wage  of  the 
bricklayers'  union  to  which  he  belongs. 

This  school  was  established  by  the  Board 
of  Education  on  the  joint  petition  of  the 
tinion  and  of  the  Masons'  and  Builders' 
Association,  which  includes  practically  all 
the  employers  of  this  class  of  skilled  labor 
in  the  city.  The  management  of  the  school 
is  practically  left  to  the  joint  arbitration 
committee  of  the  union  and  the  employers" 
association.  All  fines  assessed  by  the  com- 
mittee for  the  breaking  of  joint  rules  go 
toward  the  purchase  of  text-books  for  the 
school  pupils.  Before  an  apprentice  can 
secure  a  union  card  he  must  satisfy  this  com- 
mittee both  of  his  skill  and  of  his  good  deport- 
ment and  proficiency  at  the  school.  If  one 
of  the  students  should  stay  away  from  school 
without  a  good  excuse,  the  principal,  who  is 
appointed  by  the  Board  of  Education,  reports 
the  absence  to  the  joint  arbitration  committee, 
and  the  time  lost  is  added  to  the  time  he 
must  serve  as  an  apprentice  to  his  trade. 

Almost    without    exception,    these    young 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


3367 


men,  who  range  from  sixteen  to  twenty  years 
old,  sliow  jijrcat  caj:;erncss  to  take  advantage 
of  these  opportunities.  They  recently  peti- 
tioned for  an  additional  hour  in  school  each 
day  than  the  other  public  school  pupils. 
The  unique  petition   was  promptly  granted. 

The  association  of  employers  say  that  the 
trade-unions  liave  come  to  stay  and  that 
employers  must  help  to  make  the  future 
members  of  the  unions  men  of  both  technical 
and  general  education.  The  plan  is  com- 
pletely successful.  The  National  Association 
of  Masons  and  Builders  voted  at  its  last 
meeting  to  urge  its  adoption  everywhere. 

In  Chicago  the  Carpenters'  Union,  includ- 
ing thousands  of  members,  has  proposed  a 
petition  to  the  public  school  board  asking 
that  similar  schools  be  established  for  its 
apprentices  during  the  slack  months.  The 
machinists  and  other  trades  are  likely  to 
follow.  The  best  months  for  the  schooling 
are  not  the  same  in  all  the  trades.  The  same 
schoolrooms  and  the  same  teachers,  therefore, 
might  be  utilized;  the  apprentices  to  the 
building  trades,  say,  coming  in  the  winter 
months,  the  plumbers  and  steamfitters  in 
the  spring,  the  machinists  in  the  fall. 

The  Chicago  innovation  should  interest 
the  people  who  wish  to  see  a  broadening 
public  school  system  and  more  intelligent 
labor. 

THE  CONTINUED  PROGRESS   OF  A  GREAT 
AMERICAN   RAILROAD 

IT  is  a  surprising  faJt  that,  though  the 
freight  rates  on  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  on  its  main  line  between  Pittsburg 
and  Philadelphia  are  among  the  lowest  in  the 
world,  the  gross  earnings  on  that  line  last 
year  reached  $150,000  a  mile — at  least 
eighteen  times  the  average  gross  earnings  of 
American  railroads.  The  last  annual  report 
of  President  Cassatt  shows  not  only  how  this 
result  was  reached,  but  how  the  Pennsylvania 
and  other  railroads  employing  similar  methods 
are  constantly  raising  the  standard  of  Ameri- 
can railroading  in  efficiency.  By  the  use  of 
heavy  locomotives  and  long  freight  trains, 
the  Pennsylvania  was  able  to  move  the 
maximum  traffic  the  road  under  present 
conditions  could  handle,  averaging  32,000 
tons  of  freight  each  way  every  day.  An 
unprecedented  business  offset  the  low  rates. 
Provisions  were  made,  moreover,  for  greatly 
increased  facilities  by  the  application  of  new 
methods. 

The  management  arranged  for  financing 
four  new  undertakings.  Of  last  year's  twelve 
per  cent,  net  earnings,  half,  or  $12,500,000, 
was  diverted  to  betterments  instead  of  being 


paid  in  dividends.  A  plan  was  set  on  foot  to 
secure  new  cai)ital  of  $f)7,ooo,ooo  by  the  i.'^sue 
of  stock,  and  another  to  permit  the  holders 
of  the  $50,000,000  bonds  issued  to  ]jay  for  the 
New  York  City  tunnel  to  exchange  those 
bonds  for  stock,  allowing  one  $5o-share  of 
stock  for  every  $70  in  bonds.  Thus  a  vast 
sum  was  provided  for,  in  addition  to  the 
$12,500,000  already  earned,  to  remodel  the 
railroad. 

Mr.  Cassatt  recommends  that  the  equip- 
ment of  the  railroad  be  kept  at  the  point 
required  by  the  greatest  possible  business. 
It  is  better,  he  believes,  to  store  rolling-stock 
in  times  of  slackness  than  to  suffer  from  a 
shortage  when  business  is  brisk.  Work  is 
already  under  way — much  has  been  already 
completed — to  grade  and  straighten  the  line. 
When  the  work  is  finished,  the  Pennsylvania, 
though  it  crosses  the  Alleghany  Mountains, 
will  have,  except  for  one  short  stretch,  no 
heavier  grades  than  those  of  railroads  in  fiat 
States.  The  yards  are  to  be  rearranged. 
Despite  what  was  called  the  "freight-car 
shortage"  which  choked  up  Pittsburg  in  the 
fall,  Mr.  Cassatt  declares  that  the  Pennsyl- 
vania had  locomotives  and  cars  enough,  if 
tracks  and  yards  had  been  available.  More 
tracks  and  yards  will,  therefore,  be  provided. 
Some  yards,  he  says,  are  too  large  to  handle 
trains  effectively.  Miscellaneous  commodi- 
ties all  handled  in  one  place  produce  confusion. 
The  division-of-labor  principle  will  therefore 
be  employed.  The  crowded  Altoona  and 
Harrisburg  yards,  for  example,  will  be 
restricted  to  general  merchandise:  coal,  coke 
and  limestone  .will  be  handled  exclusively  at 
two  new  yards  to  be  built.  By  such  division 
of  the  functions  of  different  yards  the  man- 
agement hopes  to  save  annually  something 
like  $1,000,000,  the  sum  paid  last  year  in 
"shifting"  expenses  and  overtime  pay  to 
train  crews. 

A  RAILROAD'S  PROVISIONS  FOR  ITS  EMPLOYEES 

NOR  does  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
lose  sight  of  its  employees.  It  has 
three  departments  covering  three  phases  of 
its  activity  in  this  particular. 

On  the  lines  east  of  Pittsburg  and  Erie  last 
year  10,637  men  joined  the  voluntary  relief 
association  which,  through  all  its  70,307 
members,  contributed  more  than  $1,060,000 
to  pay  for  sickness,  death  and  accidents.  The 
company  paid  nearly  $165,000  for  the  associa- 
tion's operating  expenses. 

Nearly  8,000  employees  now  take  advan- 
tage of  the  employees'  saving  fund,  a  gain 
of  942  in  a  year.  These  are  drawing  3^^  per 
cent,  interest  on  $3,300,000. 


3368 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S   WORKERS 


The  new  pension  department  grew  to  such 
an  extent  that  an  increased  appropriation 
had  to  be  made  for  it.  Two  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  superannuated  employees  were 
added  to  the  pension  list,  and  allowances  of 
$265,113  were  paid.  There  are  now  1,200 
men  enjoying  benefits  under  the  system. 

IMPROVEMENTS  IN  LOCOMOTIVES 

WHILE  electricians  are  prophesying  that 
electric  locomotives  will  soon  take 
the  place  of  those  driven  by  steam,  constant 
advance  is  made  in  the  construction  of  the 
steam  engines.  The  American  locomotive 
has  become  "obsolete"  a  number  of  times,  so 
completely  has  the  building  of  them  been 
revolutionized.  Details  are  continually 
changing.  The  boUer,  nowada^^s,  is  raised 
higher  above  the  six-  or  seven-foot  drivers  to 
permit  an  increase  in  its  diameter.  An 
express  engine  often  carries  a  pair  of  small 
trailers  behind  the  drive-wheels  to  gain  a 
wider  fire-box  and  grate.  For  suburban 
service,  where  great  pull  at  starting  is  needed, 
the  weight  of  the  locomotive  has  been  con- 
centrated on  the  smaller  drivers. 

The  modem  American  locomotives  are  com- 
pound engines,  getting  thereby  added  power 
and  economy.  The  Vanderbilt  boiler,  while 
it  does  not  impress  a  layman  by  any  spectacu- 
lar advantages,  gives  increased  grate  area, 
increased  heating  surface,  and  lessens  the 
internal  strain  on  the  engine.  It  is  built  to 
wear  under  the  enormous  pressure  our  fast 
schedules  put  upon  an  engine.  Fuel  oil  is 
being  tried  in  Texas  and  elsewhere,  and  there 
are  reports  of  unquestioned  success,  although 
it  is  said  that  means  of  getting  rid  of  the  odor 
of  btuning  oil  must  be  foimd  before  its 
entire  practicability  is  proved. 

There  are  a  number  of  ways  in  which  the 
steam  engine  has  the  electric  motor  at  a  dis- 
advantage. The  tying-up  of  aU  business 
around  Niagara  recently  by  a  sudden  accident 
in  the  great  power-house  suggests  one 
difficulty.  A  bolt  of  lightning  might  stop 
one  steam  train,  but  it  could  never  block 
every  wheel  of  an  entire  division.  Trolle}'- 
car  fires  are  not  uncommon,  and  the 
third  rails  have  caused  many  fatal  accidents. 
The  burst  of  fire  and  molten  metal  and 
the  explosive  force  of  a  short-circuited 
power-house  switchboard  are  only  hints  of 
the  dangerous  force  which  is  handled. 

The  American  builders  of  steam  locomotives 
cannot  yet  fill  all  their  orders,  which  come 
from  every  part  of  the  world.  And,  with 
each  order  filled,  they  build  better  the  loco- 
motives which  have  become  the  standard 
of  wide  use  and  efficiency. 


A    NEGRO    COMMUNITY    RULED     BY 
PRIMITIVE  METHODS 

THE  colored  male  citizens  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Providence  Church,  near 
Dublin,  Laurens  County,  Ga.,  organized 
not  long  ago  a  unique  "Good  Government 
Club,"  and  being  curious  to  learn  something 
of  it.  Reverend  Silas  Xavier  Floyd,  of  Augusta, 
called  on  the  secretar\\  He  found  that  the 
secretary  was  the  principal  of  the  village 
school,  and  that  he  was  graduated  from  one 
of  the  colored  southern  universities.  The 
secretar}^  explained  the  club  to  Mr.  Floyd  as 
follows : 

"Our  society  is  a  voluntary  organiza- 
tion, and  has  for  its  object  the  betterment  of 
the  race.  It  doesn't  cost  anything  to  join, 
and  any  male  citizen  upward  of  twenty -one 
years  old  may  become  a  member  by  taking  an 
oath  to  be  governed  by  our  constitution  and 
by-laws.  There  are  no  monthly  dues.  Now 
and  then  we  make  up  a  purse  to  help  a  needy 
brother.  Our  plan  is  to  inquire  into  the 
mode  of  living  of  our  members  and  correct, 
if  possible,  any  faults,  if  a  member  fails  or 
refuses  to  correct  a  fault  complained  of,  he  is 
then  tried  by  a  sort  of  court-martial.  The 
man  under  charge  is  allowed  to  have  counsel 
from  among  the  members  of  the  organization. 
If  he  is  found  guilty,  the  punishment  is 
usually  a  flogging  given  in  the  presence  of 
the  other  members.  We  whip  a  man  for  a 
number  of  things :  getting  drunk,  wife-beating, 
vagrancy,  selling  his  vote,  failure  to  provide 
for  his  family,  failure  to  make  an  honest 
effort  to  pay  his  debts,  using  profane  language, 
and  so  on. 

"It  was  reported  to  the  society,"  he  went 
on,  "that  one  man's  wife  was  badly  in  need 
of  a  wash-pot.  The  man  was  cited  to  show 
cause  why  he  had  not  provided  his  wife  with 
the  article.  He  failed  to  buy  one  before  the 
trial  came  off,  and,  when  tried,  failed  to  show 
how  his  wife  could  get  along  without  one  and 
still  be  put  to  no  great  inconvenience.  Con- 
viction followed.  He  was  whipped,  and 
ordered  to  get  a  pot  within  thirty  days. 
.  .  .  In  riding  past  the  home  of  another 
man  it  was  seen  by  one  of  our  members  that 
the  front  gate  had  fallen  down.  From 
appearances  he  had  made  no  effort  to  put  it 
up.  At  the  trial  it  was  proved  that  the  gate 
had  been  down  for  several  weeks,  and  that 
his  wife  had  tried  many  times  to  get  him  to 
take  more  pride  in  the  care  of  his  home. 
Conviction  followed,  and  the  husband  will 
remember  a  long  time  the  flogging  he  got 
that  night.  .  .  .  We  had  a  man  before 
us  once  charged  with  kissing  a  girl  on  the 
street.     The  girl  did  not  appear  against  him; 


AMONG  THE  WORLD'S  WORKERS 


33^39 


we  could  not  get  her  to  do  so;  and  the  man 
stoutly  denied  the  charge.  He  told  our 
judge  that  he  had  never  kissed  a  woman  in 
his  life.  The  Judge  asked  him  if  he  wasn't 
married.  'No,  sah,'  he  said,  'mah  wife's 
dead.  I'm  de  daddy  uv  nine  chillun,  an'  I 
nevah  kissed  a  woman  in  mah  life.'  In  the 
midst  of  much  laughter,  the  Judge  asked, 
'Did  you  never  kiss  your  wife?'  Without  a 
moment's  hesitation  the  man  said,  'No.  sah; 
no,  sah.'  Then  the  Judge  said,  'Jim,  you're 
the  biggest  liar  in  town,  and  I  sentence  you 
to  be  given  forty-nine  lashes,  but  I'll  suspend 
the  sentence  if  you'll  agree  to  leave  town 
within  the  next  five  hours.'  'Judge,'  said 
Jim,  'I  don't  want  no  five  hours:  I'll  be  gone 
in  five  minutes.'  .  .  .  The  strangest 
case  I  remember  was  the  case  of  a  man 
charged  with  beating  his  wife.  His  wife 
was  a  hard-working  washerwoman.  She  had 
complained  to  us  three  or  four  times,  but 
always  repented  before  the  time  for  trial,  and 
would  not  appear  against  her  husband. 
When  she  did  come  to  our  meeting,  she  said, 
'Now,  Judge,  I's  a-gwineter  tell  you  evaht'ing.' 
And  she  told  how  her  husband  would  get 
drunk  and  corae  home  and  curse  and  beat  her 
unmercifully.  She  gave  a  graphic  account 
of  the  last  whipping  she  had  received.  The 
Judge  said,  'I  sentence  this  man  to  be  given 
one  hundred  and  one  lashes — the  maximum 
of  the  law.'  'Dar,  now!'  exclaimed  the 
woman.  'Dar,  now !  I's  done  fixed  you  at 
las' !  I  tol'  you  'bout  beatin'  on  me  lak  I 
wuz  a  dawg !'  Turning  to  the  Judge,  she 
said,  'Judge,  I'll  tek  de  whuppin'  fur  him 
ef  you'll  lemme;  I  'spec'  he'll  be  good  after 
dis.'" 

It  is  said  that  the  society  is  doing  a  world  of 
good  in  the  community  where  it  is  organized. 
It  is  making  better  citizens  and  better  hus- 
bands of  the  blacks  who  are  members,  and 
even  those  who  have  not  joined,  it  is  said, 
have  caught  the  spirit  of  the  thing  and  are 
benefited  by  it.  Not  one-half  as  many 
colored  people  gather  now  in  the  village  on 
Saturdays  and  spend  their  time  in  gossip 
and  their  wages  for  candy,  red  lemonade, 
whisky  and  tobacco. 

OUT-OF-DOOR    TREATMENT    FOR  POOR 
CONSUMPTIVES 

AT  a  recent  meeting  of  the  New  York 
State  Conference  of  Charities  and  Cor- 
rections, Doctor  Alfred  Meyer,  of  New  York, 
advocated  the  more  general  use  of  the  fire- 
escape  in  the  treatment  of  tuberculosis  when 
better  facilities  seemed  impossible.  He  illus- 
trated the  idea  by  a  case  in  his  own  practice. 
A  consumptive  girl,  fourteen  years  old,  took 


her  out-of-door  rest  cure  daily  on  the  fire- 
escape  of  the  third  floor  of  a  tenement-house 
near  First  Avenue  and  Eighth  Street,  New 
York.  On  the  shortest  day  of  the  year,  with 
the  temperature  twenty-four  degrees  above 
zero,  she  spent  four  hours  and  a  half  outdoors. 
Her  case  was  a  bad  one  when  the  treatment 
began.  After  tlie  winter  she  spent  daily 
more  time  on  the  fire-escape,  bundled  up  to 
meet  the  weatlier  conditions.  She  rapidly 
gained  appetite  and  strength  and  weight; 
her  fever  and  cough  lessened  and  all  com- 
plications disapi^eared. 

There  is  a  gradual  but  steady  reduction  in 
the  death  rate  from  tuberculosis.  The  per- 
centage in  New  York  last  year,  for  example, 
was  ten  per  cent,  less  than  the  year  preceeding. 
There  are  not  sanatoriums  enough,  and  most  of 
the  existing  ones  are  not  v/itliin  the  means 
of  the  poor.  Perhaps,  Doctor  Meyer  sug- 
gests, there  has  been  an  overestimation  of 
the  value  of  altitudes  and  an  underestima- 
tion of  pure  air  per  sc;  perhaps  there  has 
been  too  much  medicine  used  and  too  little 
attention  given  to  light,  food,  baths  and  care- 
ful medical  supervision.  Wherever  physicians 
are  finding  ways  of  lessening  fatality  without 
sending  patients  away,  they  are  doing  so.  And 
especially  is  this  necessary  among  the  poor. 
Fire-escapes  are  practically  universal  on 
tenement-houses;  they  are  accessible  even  to 
the  very  weak;  they  are  large  enough  for  a 
reclining  chair  or  couch;  and  they  are  con- 
venient for  the  necessary  supervision  and 
attendance.  Fire-escapes  are  not  open  to 
the  objection  of  chimney  smoke  and  gas 
which  is  raised  against  out-of-door  treat- 
ment on  roofs.  They  are  sheltered  in  many 
directions  from  the  wind,  and  are  easily 
covered,  when  it  is  necessary,  from  wind, 
rain  or  snow  by  simple  screens  or  bits  of 
awning.  It  seems  as  if  Doctor  Meyer's  idea 
of  making  use  of  fire-escapes  to  save  lives  in 
other  ways  than  that  for  which  they  were 
built  is  admirable  practical  medicine. 

THE    MAN    WHO    FOUND    HIMSELF   AND 
HIS  WORK 

THE  son  of  an  immensely  wealthy 
American,  having  graduated  from 
college,  went  to  Paris  to  study  art.  He 
worked  hard  in  the  Paris  studios  for  three 
years.  One  day  he  made  up  his  mind  that 
he  would  never  be  a  great  artist,  and  that  he 
would  rather  be  a  successful  farmer  than 
a  fairly  successful  painter.  Now — although 
still  a  young  man — he  has  a  model  farm 
covering  10,000  acres  in  Illinois.  He  knows 
every  foot  of  it,  what  it  should  produce,  and 
he  sees  that  it  produces  everything  it  should. 


3370 


AMONG   THE   WORLD'S    WORKERS 


He  has  built  a  magnificent  house,  in  which 
not  an  ornament  jars  the  finest  taste.  He 
goes  to  Europe  every  winter  and  studies 
European  methods  of  scientific  farming  and 
cattle-raising.  He  is  developing  the  land  as 
his  fathers  did  before  him.  He  employs 
scores  of  men;  he  helps  the  smaller  farmers 
about  him;  he  is  Kkely  to  be  a  great  factor  in 
the  development  of  the  State  during  the  next 
few  years.  And  this  is  the  story  of  a  young 
American  who  works  for  the  love  of  it  and  who 
is  a  great  success  because,  anxious  to  do  things, 
he  knew  when  he  had  not  "found  his  work. " 

THE  ART  OF  CASTING  BRONZES 

IT  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  processes  in 
the  w^orld,  the  taking  of  the  plaster  figure 
which  the  art  of  the  sculptor  has  wrought 
and  duplicating  it  in  bronze.  It  is  something 
of  an  art  itself,  so  delicately  perfect  must  be 
the  reproduction. 

The  founder  begins  by  laying  the  sculptor's 
plaster  pattern  face  down  in  the  dirt  and 
burying  it  about  half  way — the  dirt  being 
enclosed  in  a  shallow  iron  box  or  tray.  On 
the  back  of  the  figure  left  exposed  the 
molders  lay  on  a  firm,  close  coating  of  the 
reddish-brown  earth — earth  dug  out  of  a 
certain  red-brown  hill  near  Paris.  As  the 
process  of  fitting  on  the  earthen  armor 
proceeds,  each  piece  becomes  a  thick  block 
neatly  joined  to  its  neighbors,  and  each 
having  a  wire  skeleton  or  core  run  through  it 
for  greater  strength  and  a  loop  to  lift  it  by. 
When  the  whole  figure  is  covered,  a  second 
iron  box  is  fitted  over  the  first  just  as  the  two 
parts  of  a  waffie-iron  go  together;  and  when 
this  has  been  filled  with  sand  it  forms  a  bed  to 
hold  all  the  little  blocks  in  place.  The  whole 
mass  is  then  turned  over,  and  the  half  in  which 
the  figure  was  first  laid  temporarily  is 
removed,  the  loose  sand  is  shoveled  away, 
and  the  front  of  the  figure  is  exposed  lying 
in  a  bed  of  jointed  earthen  armor. 

The  front  must  now  be  covered  piece  by 
piece  like  the  back,  but  the  parts  are  much 
more  numerous  and  irregular.  A  single  eye 
is  often  a  matter  of  two  or  three  tiny  blocks 
neatly  internotched.  Two  men  will  work  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  same  face,  shaking  their 
white  powder-bags  over  it  that  the  earth  may 
draw  away  from  it  freely,  shaping  the  parts 
with  slender  spatulas,  lifting  the  tiny  pieces 
on  sharp,  two-pronged  forks,  spraying  them 
with  water;  yet,  when  they  finish,  each  has 
followed  his  own  idea,  and  the  jointings  for 
one  side  are  entirely  different  from  those  on 
the  other. 

The  figure  is  completely  blocked  in.  The 
first  half  of  the  waffle-iron  is  again  laid  upon 


the  second,  filled  snugly  with  sand  and  all  is 
bound  firmly  together.  Then  the  figure  itself 
comes  out,  leaving  a  hollow  in  the  centre. 

Now,  if  the  bronze  were  poured  into  this 
hollow  we  should  have  a  solid  bronze  figure, 
very  hea\y  and  very  costly.  So  they  fill  the 
cavity  with  soft  earth  until  it  forms  an  earthen 
image  instead  of  a  bronze  one.  This  they 
also  lift  out  bodily,  and  with  their  sharp  little 
tools  cut  off  a  layer  from  its  entire  surface 
about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  so  that  when 
it  is  returned  to  the  cavity  there  remains 
this  narrow  space  all  around  it  to  be  filled  by 
the  molten  bronze.  Now  the  mold  must  be 
dried.  Into  the  great  oven  it  goes  and  stays 
for  many  consecutive  hours,  kept  hot  day 
and  night  until  it  is  almost  as  hard  and 
dry  as  a  brick. 

Then  this  many -jointed  sarcophagus,  bound 
and  clamped  within  its  waffle-iron  frame 
(which  is  technically  spoken  of  as  a  "flask"), 
appears  tilted  up  on  one  comer  so  the  metal 
will  run  from  the  entrance  at  the  top  down 
through  the  many  little  channels  cut  for  it 
to  the  several  parts  of  the  statue.  The  men 
stand  ready  with  sacks  tied  about  their  feet 
and  legs  to  protect  them  from  the  splashing, 
overflowing  metal.  The  livid  crucibles  are 
drawn  forth,  the  metals  are  poured  like 
many-tinted  quicksilver  into  the  great  "ladle" 
— often  a  full  ton  at  once — and  mixed  in  the 
proportion  of  ninety  parts  copper,  ten  parts 
tin  and  three  of  zinc,  or  thereabouts,  accord- 
ing to  the  judgment  of  the  caster.  The  crane 
swings  around,  slowly  lifting  the  heavy  mass 
over  the  opening  in  the  mold,  and  the  men 
take  their  positions  at  the  ladle  handles  with 
skimming-rods.  The  signal  is  given,  the  ladle 
tips  slowly  on  its  trunions  and,  with  a  shower 
of  fine   sparks,  the  molten  stream  descends. 

After  the  pouring,  when  the  metal  has 
hardened,  the  mold  is  broken  open,  the  neat, 
patiently  fitted  blocks,  now  cnunbling  and 
blackened,  are  shoveled  aside,  and  water  is 
thrown  hissing  upon  the  still  hot  metal  to 
anneal  it.  When  finally  the  statue  stands 
swept  clean  of  its  earthen  chrysalis  many 
days'  work  are  yet  to  be  done  on  it.  It  is 
filed  smooth  and  bright,  it  is  gone  over 
patiently  with  hammer  and  chisel,  and  if 
it  has  been  cast  in  several  pieces  the 
pieces  are  to  be  neatly  riveted  together.  The 
finishing  touch  is  the  coloring.  The  real 
color  of  statuary  bronze  is  yellow  like  that  of 
brass.  The  rich  brown  tint  of  the  statues  we 
see  is  made  by  treating  the  metal  with  acids. 

Then  all  that  remains  is  for  the  drays  to 
carry  it  away,  for  the  derricks  to  lift  it  to  its 
high  pedestal,  for  the  veil  to  be  drawn  from  it, 
and  it  becomes  an  established  statue. 


PLEASE  DO  NOT  REMOVE 
CARDS  OR  SLIPS  FROM  THIS  POCKET 


UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO  LIBRARY 


UKrtti.ii