FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

[From Tuesday, January 29, to Monday, February 4, inclusive.] Editorial Of several important events abroad during the past week, the most thrilling and touching is the steamSummary ship disaster off the coast of Holland, involving, according to the steamship company's latest official statement, the loss of 335 lives. All accounts thus far agree in laying the blame mainly, if not entirely, upon the officers of the Crathie, and loud and deep is the denunciation of their action. That such a disaster should appeal strongly to the sympathies of mankind everywhere is natural. And yet, considering the great number of steamers and sailing vessels that are crossing the ocean continually in all directions between Europe and America, their courses intersecting at a multitude of places, the most surprising fact about it all is that there are not a hundred disastrous ocean collisions where one actually occurs.

Wei-Hai-Wei has fallen, and the Chinese peace commissioners have been sent back home by the Japanese Government because their credentials were defective. These two short statements sum up the progress of the Japanese and Chinese conflict during the past week. But although the statements are short they tell much. It is reported that there was hard fighting at Wei-Hai-Wei, but after all the Japanese have captured the great Chinese stronghold with ridiculous celerity and ease, and their way is now open to Pekin without any important barrier to stay their victorious march. Moreover, the Japanese are pursuing their campaign in midwinter apparently as successfully as in the warmer months, notwithstanding the prediction that they would never be able to withstand the rigors of a Chinese winter. In diplomacy the Chinese cut quite as ridiculous a figure as in war. They have sent peace commissioners to Japan not clothed with full powers to conclude peace, and the Japanese have promptly declined to treat with them. Japanese victories and exhibitions of Chinese incompetency have grown too monotonous to be longer interesting.

Ex-Queen Liliuokalani has been arrested by the government at Honolulu on charge of being implicated in the recently discovered plot to overthrow the government. It is expected that she will be exiled. American newspapers show a disposition to comment facetiously upon the arrest of the ex-Queen, but still the comment is along the well known Administration and anti-Administration lines that are followed in treating of anything that concerns Hawaii.

Czar Nicholas has at last definitely spoken, and has declared his purpose to uphold autocracy. The British Parliament meets to day (Tuesday), with strong indications that the Rosebery government will not be able to survive many weeks, if indeed it escapes defeat at the very opening of the session. The situation as to Mexico and Guatemala is regarded as somewhat more hopeful, although the war cloud has not yet been dispelled.

Providence Journal: The loss of the Elbe is a disaster the force of which nothing can mitigate. In all the history of steam navigation there have been few records of a greater sacrifice of human life. When the Atlantic went down in 1873, no less than 585 persons perished; 563 were lost in the Utopia in 1891, and many years ago, in 1954, 480 were lost in the City of Glasgow. What such a calamity as the loss of the Elbe means is hard for any one not an eye-witness, except by a stretch of imagination of which most of us are incapable, to appreciate. The stories of the survivors are full of horror. The accident took place at an early hour in the morning, when practically every one on board except the watch on deck was asleep. So far as our present knowledge extends, it was brought about by no negligence on the part of the officers of the Elbe. The morning was dark, and there were many vessels in the vicin

ity; but rockets were sent up at frequent intervals, and it is obvious enough, apparently, that these other vessels should have had no difficulty in keeping out of the way. The steamer which caused the collision was seen by the lookout on the Elbe, and additional rockets were sent up as a precautionary measure. But the steamer, which was at uncomfortably close quarters when discovered, paid no attention to the warning; and before the speed of the Elbe could be checked or her course changed she was struck abaft the engine room. The water poured in; the room filled; the ship settled, and in 20 minutes it had sunk. These bare details illuminate the awfulness of the situation without comment.

Two points in this dreadful story there are which need particular attention in the inquiry which must follow. One is the condition of the water-tight bulkheads with which the ship was provided. Were these bulkheads closed at the time of the collision? What is the use of providing safety devices, indeed, if they are to be made no account of? Possibly the force of the collision in which the Elbe was lost was so great that nothing could have saved her. Yet there are cases in which disasters have been averted which at first blush appeared to be as unavoidable as this. The second point of especial importance in the story of the disaster is the conduct of the captain of the Crathie, the vessel which is supposed to have run into the Elbe. The Crathie, as has been shown, was perfectly able to make port unaided. Yet it did not stand by the injured Elbe, nor, so far as is known, undertake in any way the rescue from a horrible fate of the unfortunate on board. This is inhumanity of the most inexcusable sort. There does not seem to be anything to relieve the accumulation of horrors in the story of the loss of the Elbe.

THE ARMENIAN QUESTION.

THE Armenian question, if it ever be settled at all, must be taken out of the Turk's hands, whether he like it or not. The Armenian question is emphatically not-as a great many excellent Englishmen believe it to be a religious question. The Turk, with all his faults, is not intolerant. The Armenians suffer, not because they are Christians, but because they are the subjects in a portion of an empire which knows not, or ignores, the first elements of government. They do not suffer more than the Turkish peasant. But his wrongs it is no one's interest to talk about, and his wrongs are therefore unknown, though they are identical with the Armenian's. All the exciting stories about the maltreatment of Christians because they will not embrace Islam are pure moonshine. I do not say that when Turkish soldiers are ordered to shoot Armenians down, the fact that the victims are Giaours does not increase their satisfaction, or does not diminish their reluctance. But that is the beginning and that is the end of the religious aspect of the difficulty, so far as the Turk is concerned. None the less, the religious element is made the most of by the powerful Armenian societies which exist in Russia, England and elsewhere. They know that the surest way to enlist the sympa. thies of Europe is to raise the cry of religious oppression. And they make the most unscrupulous use of the knowledge, pouring their emissaries into Asia Minor deliberately to foment disturbances and to encourage resistance to what by the sheerest irony is called law, to the end that they may have a pretext for their cry. The Turk realizes that, for all our nagging, we shall take no active means to enforce our demands.

In the case of Armenia the conditions are particularly favorable to the application of the sole remedy which, in the opinion of those entitled to speak with authority, is likely to be effective. Let us discount all the exaggerated statements of the rapprochement between Russia and England, of which the cordiality of the relations between the Czar and the Prince of Wales were the outward and visible signs. Yet the fact remains that the relations between Russia and England are better than they have been at any time since that ghastliest among human blunders, the Crimean War; and this not from sentimental reasons, but as the result of material considerations, upon which it is impossible, as it would be undesirable, to enter now. Russia wants a free passage through the Dardanelles. For a long time she coveted this privilege for herself alone; but there is the best of reasons for believing that she would now gladly consent to the opening of the waterway to all the world. The Sultan would object, because the flashing of British and Russian search-lights on the bedroom window of the Yildiz would be more than a hint to him that the Powers could compel him to set his house in order, if he were unwilling to undertake the task himself. But his resistance would be abortive in the face of the pressure of combined Russia and Great Britain. His enforced acceptance of the demand would be of infinite advantage to him-though this, perhaps, he can hardly be expected to realize.

"Oh! but "-the cry will come from the old Jingo party-"the Rus

sians must not have Constantinople for we do not want to see them in the Mediterranean." To which the simple and effective reply is this: "My good friends, every military expert in Europe will tell you that Constantinople is not worth an hour's purchase if Russia is determined to possess herself of it, unless we are prepared to send a fleet beforehand, and to stake our existence on a fight with Russia." Are we prepared to take that step? and, if we are prepared, are we so sure that the Sultan would welcome our presence? He trades upon the unnatural jealousies of the two Powers; but he does not want to see the fleet of either anchored off the Golden Horn. And as for the presence of Russia in the Mediterranean, who doubts that the moment it becomes essential to her interests that her navy should be there, there her navy will be, with or without our consent? There is a point in Asia Minor where our imperial interests might conflict with those of Russia; but that point could not be reached for many a long day yet, and might never be reached at all. To the diplomatist, at any rate, "sufficient for the day" is a good working maxim. And we have an opportunity now, which may never come our way again, of settling a difficulty which, if allowed to develop much longer, will prove more fruitful of mischief than any with which we have been confronted for a generation or more. We shall have to choose between the old policy and the new; but the choice must be made by diplomatists and not by journalists, because it is given to the latter only to see the backs of the cards.-Diplomatist, in the New Review, London, January.

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THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII.

Hartford Courant: More than a year ago it was suggested in these columns that the ugliest factor in the Hawaiian situation had been almost wholly overlooked by the American spectators. It was never overlooked for a moment by President Dole and his associates. They have known all along that they had little to fear from the easy-going, indolent, shiftless Kanakas of the royalist party. They have now demonstrated their ability to deal with white and half-breed malcontents. The Chinese coolies are, apparently, quite free from any itching to cut a figure in Hawaiian politics. The Portuguese are neither very numerous nor dangerous. But the Japanese are both the one and the other. There are a good many thousands of them already in the islands, and there will be more of them there before there are fewer. They have always had a good conceit of themselves; it will not be lessened by the events now occurring in Asia. They are clever, pushing and ambitious. They want to vote, to hold office, to be in all respects on an equal footing with the American and European residents. They are encouraged in these aspirations by the Japanese Government, which has had an attentive eye on Hawaii for years past, and has once (at least) shown a desire to meddle in its affairs. Honolulu has not to learn what Japanese warships look like. Mr. Hatch, Hawaii's very intelligent Minister of Foreign Affairs, said a thing or two during his recent brief stay in San Francisco which should have an interest for American statesmen.

We quote:

It may not be generally known but it is a fact that the Japanese merchants are surely absorbing the trade of the islands and acquiring a position of great commercial importance. Already they are driving the Chinese merchants out of business. It is significant to the United States, for Japanese supremacy means the cutting off of valuable trade with the islands and its transfer to Japan. The commercial future of the islands rests with the United States or England. We are only a bandful of people. We can take care of ourselves if let alone, but if Japan makes demands on us we can do nothing unless the United States or England gives us support.

New York Herald: The Jingoists in Washington who have heard with such "profound indignation" of the little uprising against the Hawaiian Government, and are so eager to express to "the young republic the warmest sympathy," may find some timely matter for reflection in the dispatch from Mr. Charles Nordhoff, which we print. Mr. Nordhoff cites laws of that " young republic" against personal liberty and the freedom of speech and the press "so unrepublican that their model is not found in the United States, but in Poland, under the rule of Russia." Boston Transcript: The "Hawaiian Annual" for 1895, "the recognized handbook of information pertaining to Hawaii," merits all that can be said of it as a manual of facts respecting the islands. Their estimated population, July 1, 1894, was 100,374; in 1890, 89,990. Of the population four years ago, the Hawaiians numbered 40,622, foreigners, 49,278. The Americans are enumerated at 1,928; British, 1,344; Portuguese, 8,602; Chinese, 15,301; Japanese, 12,360; Hawaiian-born foreigners, 7,495.

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THE War Department is gradually weeding out the Indians in the Army.

Springfield Republican: The ex-Queen of Hawaii cannot be blamed for joining in a conspiracy to get back her throne, nor can the present government be blamed for arresting her for so conspiring. Liliuokalani has never admitted the legality of the present government and never given any pledge of allegiance, or in any way acknowledged her submission to the republic or recognized its supremacy. She has remained its avowed enemy, and has made no secret of her intention to overthrow it if she could. So long as her hostile attitude was a passive one, and she committed or prompted no overt act of enmity to the republic, that government probably acted wisely in ignoring her presence in Honolulu; but with her change of attitude and assumption of active hostilities came the warrant for the step the government is said to have taken. Her arrest as one of the active leaders in the recent rebellion is only an act of selfdefense, and if her banishment from the islands follows it can be justified on the same grounds.

FOREIGN NEWS SUMMARY.

[From Tuesday, January 29, to Monday, February 4.] TUESDAY.-The President's message is approved in London as sound and thorough, but gloomy views are expressed on the probability of action by Congress-A conference between the Mexican and Guatemalan Ministers at Washington was brought about by Secretary Gresham--Deputations from the chief Russian cities waited upon the Czar and in his speech to the members he told them that he was firmly resolved to uphold autocracy ---The Australian Federation Conference met---Ex-President Peixoto's friends are stirring up trouble in Brazil.

WEDNESDAY.-The Spanish Senate has passed the modus vivendi placing the United States again in the most-favored-nation column as to duties on imports into Cuba and Porto Rico.---Duties on grain imported into Sweden have been increased, in some cases more than 100 per cent---A preliminary agreement for arbitration is said to have been reached by the Mexican and Guatemalan Ministers at Washington ---The Chinese peace envoys have reached Japan, and after consultation with their counsel, ex-Secretary of State John W. Foster, they started for Hiroshima___ Emperor William sent a message of sympathy to the son-in-law of Marshal Canrobert.

THURSDAY.-The Japanese have captured Wei-Hai-Wei, the great Chinese stronghold. A difference on the tariff question has caused the resignation of the Norwegian Ministry ---After an exciting scene in the French Chamber of Deputies money was voted for a State funeral for Marshal Canrobert by a vote of 288 to 152---The French Senate adopted the Political Amnesty bill---The Colombian rebels have been defeated in a battle with the government troops---The Peruvian rebels have seized Arequipa.-Prof. Arthur Cayley, professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, died, aged 74 years---Paul Mantz, the art critic, died at Paris. FRIDAY.-The London Statist, commenting on President Cleveland's financial message, says that as the law now stands the United States could not borrow a large sum in Europe because of the President's inability to contract for payment in gold---All the Wei-Hai-Wei land forts have been captured; the Chinese lost 2.000 men---No more survivors of the wreck of the Elbe were found; the Crathie's captain said that his own vessel seemed to be sinking and that he thought the Elbe was safe---Guatemala is said to have conceded practically all the points in dispute with Mexico --Premier Greene, of Newfoundland, resigned his office; Sir William Whiteway will succeed him.

SATURDAY.-Ex-Queen Liliuokalani was arrested by the Hawaiian Government on charges of complicity in the recent revolt---Revolutionists in the United States of Colombia were defeated by government troops Premier Ribot, of France, in the Chamber of Deputies, declared that a cessation of the coinage of silver would be regrettable, but the matter could only be settled by an international agreement between the powers---The Russian Millers' Congress of St. Petersburg adopted resolutions for the establishment of a syndicate to protect the interests of the trade and promote the export of flour---Madame Joniaux has been convicted in Brussels of killing her relatives for insurance and been sentenced to life imprisonment.

SUNDAY.-The credentials of the Chinese peace envoys were found to be imperfect and they were requested to leave Japan at once; a naval engagement is in progress at Wei-Hai-Wei---A party of officers from the United States cruiser Concord, while hunting on the Chinese mainland, accidentally shot a man and a party of natives captured the whole party and carried them into the interior---M. Henri Rochefort, the noted French journalist who was exiled from France with the late General Boulanger in 1889, has returned to Paris under the permission granted by the Amnesty bill.The Canadian Comptroller of Customs is considering the question whether electricity conveyed across a river from the United States is dutiable.

MONDAY.-In the elections held in Argentina for members of the House of Deputies the Radicals scored a great victory---Count Di Vergano, lately Italian Ambassador to Great Britain, has been appointed Ambassa dor to France in succession to Signor Ressman, who was recently recalled---Gen. Anniballe Ferrero has been appointed Italian Ambassador to London---By an explosion of firedamp in a French colliery in the Department of Saone at Loire, forty or fifty persons were killed.

SOCIOLOGICAL

AN APPEAL TO ALL NATIONS FOR PEACE. FOLLOWING are the main points of the address issued by Houzeau De Labaie, Chairman, and H. La Fontaine, General Secretary, of the Antwerp Peace Congress:

The Sixth Universal Peace Congress which met at Antwerp, in the month of August last, and which was attended by delegates from most European countries and from the United States of America, resolved to make an earnest appeal to all who desire the establishment of the reign of peace and good will among men.

The voice of reason and humanity grows ever louder in its protest against the excessive military burdens, and against the universal danger created by an armed peace. At the present time there are more than a hundred peace societies in Europe; and petitions in favor of their aims have been signed by hundreds of thousands of persons; while branches of the body entitled "the Inter-Parliamentary Conference" have been formed in almost all parliaments; and the members of that conference, at their annual meetings, decide what resolutions shall be brought before their respective parliaments, with the view of securing international relations between the different States, based upon justice. All these bodies are striving with one accord to remove the danger of war; and to banish as far as possible the misunderstandings and the prejudices which occasion it. To effect this object, these workers for peace appeal, through an active propaganda, to public opinion, inasmuch as the sympathetic support of the public is indispensable to the realization of every great ideal.

Peace among civilized nations is, at the present day, not merely a pious wish or a philanthropic idea; it is an imperative need, and a necessary result of the progress of civilization. The political and moral necessities which compel people of common origin, but divided into small separate States, to combine in those great international unions which form one of the triumphs of our age, will, in the near future, induce nations of one continent to unite for the representation and defense of their common interests. International congresses of every kind, and international agreements for such objects as health, railways, telegraphs, navigation, etc., indicate the tendency of our time-toward the creation of ever wider associations of interests. For this reason warlike sentiments are losing ground every day. The masses of the population know intuitively that every war leaves behind it sad legacy of bloodshed, slavery and barbarism, while peace contains within it germs of a settlement of every quarrel-based on justice and equity to all men. Even those governments which are least influenced by modern ideas understand the nature of these new aspirations, and lose no opportunity of declaring themselves partisans of peace, and of friendly relations between neighbors.

Quite recently a distinguished Minister, Count Kalnoky, appealed to the peace congresses, calling on them to endeavor to suppress those false alarms which are chronic with certain newspapers. This is indeed what the peace congresses and peace societies have always done.

We therefore address our earnest appeal to those numerous friends of peace, who, up to the present, may have thought they stood alone. We Bay to them: Declare everywhere your principles of humanity. Join us in the good fight for peace! Enter our societies, which have their doors wide open to you; and the century will not close before a beneficent breeze has scattered the dark clouds which to-day threaten States, families and individuals !"

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DISPROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION IN TWO CONGRESSES. NEVER before in the history of representative government has there been such a splendid illustration of the evils of the single district system of electing Representatives, or such a complete vindication of the claims of proportional representation. Within two years of the great tidal wave of 1892 came the greater tidal wave of 1894, sweeping back to oblivion the rulers who had reigned for a day. If the victory of the Democrats in 1892 was stupendous, the success of the Republicans in 1894 was overwhelming. But what does it all amount to when properly analyzed? Were these elections in reality great upheavals of an impatient people,

or were they simply the natural results of a vicious electoral system? In 1892 the total vote polled for Congressmen was 12,032,203, of which the Republicans polled 5,031,360, the Democrats 5,670,148, the Populists 1,046,392, the Prohibitionists 244,726, and 39,577 were scattering. The result of this poll was that the Republicans elected 131, the Democrats 213, and the Populists 12 Congressmen. That is to say, the Republicans with 41.9 per cent of the total vote secured 36.8 per cent of the Representatives, the Democrats with 47.2 per cent of the vote got 59.8 per cent of the Representatives, the 8.7 per cent of the Populists obtained 3.4 per cent of the Representatives, the Prohibitionists' 2 per cent securing nothing.

Nor was the last election less erroneous in registering the will of the people. The total vote for Congressmen in 1894 was 11,281,525 (Chicago Daily News Almanac). Of this number the Republicans cast 5,427,124, the Democrats 4,292,089, the Populists 1,354,722, the Prohibitionists 182,728, and 24,862 scattering. The result was, the election of 245 Republican, 104 Democrat, and 7 Populist Congressmen. Or in other words, the Republicans with 48.1 per cent of the total vote elected 68.8 per cent of the Congressmen, the Democrats with 38.1 per cent of the vote secured 29.2 per cent of the Representatives, the 12 per cent of the Populists obtained 2 per cent of the Representatives, and the 1.6 per cent of the Prohibitionists failed of recognition.

When considered in this light the results of these two elections fail to be impressive-or rather, they do impress the thoughtful student with the gravity of such a haphazard system of electing Representatives. We now see that the enormous majority of the Democrats in the Fifty-third Congress and the still greater majority of the Republicans in the Fiftyfourth Congress represent each less than half the people. May not this fact have had something to do with the vacillating policy of the Fifty third Congress? And if so, what are we to receive at the hands of the Fifty-fourth Congress if the same influence obtains? Never was the mockery of the single district system of electing Representatives more pronounced. Our small but venerable sister republic, Switzerland, has solved the problem; can we not profit by her example?

In view of the following demonstration, why should any one object to proportional representation?

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION, 1892.

5,031,360 Republican, 5,670,148 Democratic. 1,046,392 People's.

244,726 Prohibition.

131 Republican Congressmen.
213 Democratic Congressmen.
12 People's Congressmen.

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION, 1894.

5,427,124 Republican. 4,292,089 Democratic. 1,354,722 People's.

187,728 Prohibition.

245 Republican Congressmen.

104 Democratic Congressmen.

7 People's Congressmen.

OHIO, INDIANA, MICHIGAN, ILLINOIS, WISCONSIN, 1894.

1,576,477 Republican. 1,101,029 Democratic. 181,299 People's.

69,274 Prohibition.

74 Republican Congressmen.

4 Democratic Congressmen.

-Proportional Representation Review, Chicago, December NOTWITHSTANDING the agitation kept up by a few in favor of propotional representation in elections, the scheme receives little attention from the politicians. It is not unlikely to be adopted in local contests in time, but the plans that have been proposed, and which were indorsed by the proportional representation congress held at the time of the World's Fair, for the election of Congressmen, are too intricate and cumbersome to be made readily popular with either the politicians or voters.-Springfield Republican.

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"OLD MAIDISM" AND MATERNITY.

FOR about a year I lived in Japan, quite away as a rule from other Westerns, in purely Japanese households, often for weeks seeing none but Japanese, and the conclusion I have come to, as the result of my observations of Japanese women, is that they are happier in a high degree

than women are where Western ideas obtain. It has since occurred to me to ask whether there can possibly be any connection between their domestic condition and their even temper and content?

Who are the fretful and discontented among English women? They are the "old maids," the wives whose husbands stray away, the women who want to marry and cannot, the women deserted and childless. In Japan all but every mature woman has at least one child. Very often only one, but one is enough to give play to maternal satisfaction. When a man in Japan has more than one wife, some of them are virtually discarded as wives after the birth of the first child. They retain their position as servants of the lady of the house, and they see their baby, the idol of its father, the well-cared-for and beloved of the nominal mother -but theirs, their very own to cuddle and caress-when they like. But in England terrible crimes arise as the consequence of maternity when it is irregular, terrible fears eat out the peace of women who are not "straight," terrible penalties attach to the mother of an illegitimate child. In Japan maternity is always an honor and a joy. Women hardly ever live lives of secret-intrigue; there is no need; lawful means of satisfying natural desires are open to almost every woman if my informants spoke the truth. Even the poor girls in the Yoshiwara may be redeemed by honorable mariage. Is there any connection between the frequent unrest and unhappiness of unmated English women and their lot in life? Of course, nine-tenths of the unhappy among women do not recognize what ails them. Science says that the female is constituted for reproduction. Whatever else she is not fitted for Nature has generally qualified her for this office. Are there "old maids" among the trees? Do animals die unmated? Are any of these unchaste? In justice to myself I may here state that I am the happy wife of a good man, and can, for myself, conceive of no other life than the ordinary married life of the Christian idea. I am close upon fifty years of age; I married when well on in the thirties, am thus qualified to speak from experience of the penalties of some years of "old maidism" so called. I have both before and since my marriage known many women very intimately, notably single women, widows and deserted women. I have conferred a little with happily married women. The result is almost an agony of pity for those who are not and may not be mothers.

I don't pretend to say that any possible way out of the horrible state of things exists. None has, even in the remotest notion of a glimmer, ever appeared to me. But that our system is unnatural and therefore wrong, the first cause of innumerable crimes, and of more miseries, I am firmly convinced. I am not talking of young girls. I am talking of women between thirty and forty say, women whose temptations are primarily from within, not from without. Women whose chances of marriage are past or rapidly passing. Not such women either as those who read such magazines as the Humanitarian; but our dumb sisters, whose lot costs them too often all happiness, and sometimes, alas, their reason. -Mary Basil Browne, in the Humanitarian, London, January.

WINTER HELPS IN THE COUNTRY.

PEOPLE Who live in lonely country neighborhoods, especially young people, are very apt to look at the approach of winter with a sort of dread, and to experience a disagreeable if mild depression at the thought of the long and dreary season stretching into the east winds of May, and destitute of the pleasures that made the summer flee so fast. Friends have gone, gardens are deserted, windows are nailed up and vines laid down in straw, the snow adding a ghostliness to vacancy and solitude. In such cases one of the first things to do is to organize and arrange a neighborhood book or review club, in which each family, paying a small sum, not more than three dollars, will have the reading of the magazines and weeklies and the occasional new books that can thus be taken and passed about. The walk, where no horse is kept, of a half-mile, more or less, from house to house, which will be required for the transfer of the books and periodicals, makes outdoor exercise, and even visiting, a necessity; and every one meanwhile is kept sufficiently au courant in the affairs of literature, and much time is beguiled and made profitable as well as pleasant, and the new word arriving from the great world of cities and their people, the story of the great writer, the song of the great singer, is soon looked forward to and received like the visit of personal friends.

But next to the book club, and almost as important, sometimes even more important, is a neighborhood club, which shall meet on one evening of every week, for the express purpose either of reading or singing or dancing, or the playing of games, or the studying of plays, with some very simple refreshment, whose quality and quantity shall be prescribed, so that no member shall be humiliated by having provided less than another has provided, and no one shall be embarrassed by being obliged

to offer more than is convenient. If in this neighborhood club one of the forms of entertainment is the reading and discussion of brief articles written by the members, or the reading of bright dialogues or the like, the preparation of the articles will fill many an otherwise lagging hour. Even with these helps alone it will be surprising to find how quickly winter passes, and with what improvement and growth one meets the spring. Harper's Bazar.

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"MEN ARE CHEAPER THAN SHINGLES."

IN an article in the January number of the Arena on "The Sweating System in Philadelphia," written by Rev. Frank M. Goodchild, the author says: "One man was asked to repair the roof over his workmen. It was giving them rheumatism, asthma and consumption. He said: 'Men are cheaper than shingles; no sooner does one drop out than a dozen are ready to take his place.'

We do not intend to dwell upon the brutality of this expression. The man simply said what many others think and do not say. Or if they don't think it, they act upon this theory. The question for us is simply, Is it true that men are really cheaper than shingles? Alas, it is true! Shingles cost money, men do not. Men can be had for nothing. If a workman dies it does not cost his employer a single cent to put another one in his place. During times of slavery that was different. A man had to be bought. Economically speaking, free labor is cheaper than slave labor. The slave has to be maintained whether he is working or not; the free laborer gets nothing unless he is at work. The slave represented a capital invested which had to be taken care of; the free laborer represents nothing. In our age an industry cannot be developed with slave labor. It is too dear.

It recently happened in one of the counties of our State that a woman whose husband was, with his horse, killed by a railroad train recovered 10 cents damages for her husband and $50 for the horse. Probably because men are cheaper than shingles.-American Nonconformist, Indianapolis.

TOLSTOI'S SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY.

THE editor of the Daily Chronicle told me a few months ago that of all the living writers Tolstoi was the one whose name on its bill of contents would sell the greatest extra edition. A good deal of his later work has appeared in the Chronicle, and now he has an answer to his critics explaining and defending his general position on "Christianity versus Patriotism," which is strikingly characteristic. He never before reduced to such pointed brevity his gospel of Christian anarchy. “If man is mortal, they be fools to pursue any other aim but their own happiness; if he is immortal, he is a worse fool to oppose God; in either alternative he has no intellectual or logical excuse for supporting the so-called government of landlords, policemen, soldiers, Parliaments, and the rest, because these are equally opposed to pagan personal happiness and to true Christian Socialism.' To those who object that he proposes to destroy the existing order, Tolstoi, writing on our Christmas Day, concludes with the question, "If the fulfillment of the will of God is destroying the existing order, is it not a proof that this existing order is contrary to the will of God and ought to be destroyed?"-Harold Frederic, in the New York Times.

VARIOUS TOPICS.

WE single-taxers are not a political party; we are not in search of offices; we are not dismayed when majorities go against us; we know that our feet stand upon an eternal principle, and are sure that in the long run principles never fail to vindicate themselves. Our sole function is to educate the minds of men and to change mistaken convictions.- Wiliam Lloyd Garrison, at the Tariff Reform Club.

TO BE a real Christian (?) nation, according to the standard of Europe and America, all Japan will now have to do is to give away all the valuable franchises of the people, tax them a little more, so that some of them may starve, and her claim to be classed as "civilized" and "Christian" is established.-Journal of the Knights of Labor.

KATE FIELD lectured in Chicago recently. She declares prohibition to be intemperate. Among other things she said: "Alcohol is in everything. The Creator understood his work, and let us accept the situation. In human stomachs undigested food ferments and alcohol results. Every dyspeptic is a walking distillery. Must they be abolished? Total abstainers eat great quantities of sweets. These ferment and the prohibitionists themselves form a grand cordon of distilleries."-Bonfort's Wine and Spirit Circular.

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MISCELLANY

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THE ROOT OF HATE.
WHAT has that man thou hatest done to thee
N'importe, I hate him, that's enough for me.
Do birth and fortune give him rank undue?
Born in the Almshouse, he will die there, too.
Does he with brazen sin at virtue flout?
The hypocrite has never been found out.
Then thou hast been unconsciously his tool,
He mulcted thee? You do not know the fool.
On thy fair dame does he enamored gaze?
Herself knows not, his eyes look diverse ways.
Has he upon thy honor cast a slur?
Never, he dares not ope his lips, the cur.

Why should he ope his lips, what hast thou done?
Helped God to justly deal with such a one.
Those whom we wrong we hate with all our heart.
A knave ne'er bawled but you would take his part.
Does he the ghost of murdered conscience ruise?
Do you believe ill-natured meddling pays?

-Wilbur Larremore, in the Overland Monthly.

the prizes, all news that is printed will be paid for at the rate of $6 a column. Among the "instructions" given to these amateur reporters are careful directions for reporting burglaries, “hold-ups," murders and other crimes, as well as elopements and other "society" events. The Tribune descends to details in this wise:

You might hear, though you probably won't, of a man eloping with his motherin-law. Find out the names of both, where they have lived, where they have gone, if they are foolish enough to tell anybody, and send in all that information. Such a story would surely win a prize.

The Washington Pathfinder, a newspaper especially designed for young people, thinks that the Tribune's "idea is admirable in theory," but that in view of the above instructions the plan marks "the birth of a new newspaper infamy so hateful that no words can adequately stigmatize it. The scheme accurately measures the news standard of even the best of our newspapers. Essential as they are to our civilization, in the sphere of legitimate news, the average newspaper to-day makes itself also a sewer of filth, a cesspool of gathered tales of crime and vice and wanton gossip."

The Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst preached a sermon on December 30, in which he made incidental reference to newspapers. He said that the people should look for an improvement in the character of the newspapers, and that the papers which daily serve up a mess of undigested matter without discrimination to their readers were rapidly becoming a public nuisance.

THE Boston Pilot says that "Never write anything you would not sign your name to," was one of the sentiments which won a prize at the Boston Press Club's dinner recently, and the Pilot adds: "It is a good principle, although the author should have borne in mind the immortal maxim that 'a preposition should never be used to end a sentence with.' John Boyle O'Reilly anticipated the sentiment when he said, 'never do anything as a journalist which you would not do as a gentleman.'"

THE FUTURE OF OUR GIRLS.

IN Mr. Robert Grant's paper upon "Income," mention was made of a father whose anxiety all centered in the provision for the future of his girls, his belief being that to bring up a daughter in luxury and then leave her with less than $5,000 a year was a piece of paternal brutality." Mr. Grant takes issue with this opinion, and I agree with him; though perhaps for somewhat different reasons and with a wider application. "Luxury" is perhaps an unfortunate word, since it inay be interpreted into habits of folly or extravagance, which would of course take the force out of an adverse argument;but if it means—what the father undoubtedly did mean-the enjoyment of the opportunities for reasonable pleas

"There is still another good newspaper rule which Mr. Dana has not incorporated in his list, but which should be there. The rule is short and cogent: Always keep your temper.' The man who flies into a passion over this or that little matter, political or personal, is not likely to be of much use as either reporter or editorial writer. The public does not like to be made the recipient of wrathful outpourings at the breakfast table, and if a splenetic individual desires to vent his wrath, he ought not to do so within the columns of a daily paper. Good humor as well as good sense and good judgment pays in newspaper management, and the beginner in newspaper work cannot learn that fact any too early."

The New York Commercial Advertiser has this to say: "Mr. Dana, in his interesting talk to Cornell young men about the making of newspapers, explained about much of the machine work which goes into the newspaper, such as the machine work of typesetting, printing, pasting, folding, counting, and so on. He said nothing of the machine work on the editorial page. In the offices of newspapers which are thick and thin supporters of a political party, organs in the most restricted sense of the term, the writers are hardly more than machines for producing articles the exact tone and sentiment of which can be told in advance of their publication."

In this connection a new departure in news-gathering by the Chicago Tribune is worth noting. The Tribune has just begun to give daily a series of cash prizes-$5, $3 and $2-to the pupils in the city schools who send in the best three items of current local news. In addition to

be a more wrong-headed theory of the education of girls, or boys either, than that which would deprive them of these things because the chances are that they cannot always continue to have them. Not even the old exploded theories as to the systematic physical "hardening" of children were more erroneous. Teachers of hygiene no longer talk about these as though warm clothing, proper food and civilized habits did not produce a race better fitted to meet the physical struggle for life than do privation and chillinesss; all the figures are against them, like those compiled as far back as our civil war, which showed how invariably the well-nourished troops from communities where a higher standard of living prevailed, outmarched, outstayed, and-other things being equal-outfought those to whom the "hardening" process seemed to have been most thoroughly applied by circumstance.

In other than physical matters, the lesson seems slower to learn. Yet the capital furnished by a properly exercised but unworn, unfagged, undiscouraged mind and morale, may be no less valuable than that of an exhausted constitution. Gaudeamus igitur, juvenes dum sumus, is good moral hygiene. Those worthy citizens who still preach the gospel of Josiah Bounderby, of Coketown, are generally found insincere when brought to book, or else are among the men whom nothing educates. If my choice were free, I would rather give my boy the memory of a fairly happy and untrammeled life up to twenty, and leave him nothing then but a consequent reasonable optimism, an unsapped courage and a disposition to regard money as a means rather than an end, than keep him constantly face to face with a specter of possible poverty, fill him full of premature cares and leave him five thousand or twenty-five thousand a year, and no memories, or well-grounded healthy tastes, or world to live in, indeed, except such as he commonly sets out to make for himself under these circumstances, which is worse than nothing. And though with girls there may be a very considerable difference in their power to decide the conditions of their life by