HIS SERVICES AT HOME AND ABROAD.

At the time of the Revolution no other American was able to accomplish a tenth part as much for the colonies abroad. Though France was in financial straits herself, Franklin obtained loans which kept the Continental army in the field. His diplomacy finally secured the recog. nition by France of American Independence, sixteen men-of-war, 4,000 men, and $5,000,000, nearly $2,000,000 of which was a free gift. But these great services, important as they were

at that critical juncture, should not cause us to overlook the more modest efforts that Franklin was making all through his long life to improve the condition of his fellows. Perhaps no other American of his day had to do with the founding of so many useful and worthy public insti.tutions. The University of Pennsylvania, the Philosophical Society, and the Philadelphia Library are only a few out of many instances. As Mr. Alger puts it, the permanent monuments which Franklin left were created, not by gifts of his money, but by gifts of himself.

A

STRIKING picture of the perils undergone by those who gather sponges is afforded by Mr. C. W. Furlong's article in a recent Harper's on the Greek sponge divers of Tripoli. We are told that "out of the seven hundred scaphanders (divers equipped with helmet and tube) working on this coast, from sixty to a hundred die every year, and sooner or later hardly a man escapes from diver's paralysis." The greatest danger is in the rapid ascent, producing sudden relief of pressure. A partially paralyzed diver recovers the use of his limbs again on descending. These divers work for six months in the year, from April to October, from sunrise to sunset, generally on a rough sea and under the scorching rays of an African sun. During the winter months, they spend most of their time ashore in their island homes. The experienced diver will receive from $200 to $600. To make their profits or to pay their way, "the captains are obliged to treat the divers with great severity, and hire overseers who devise most brutal means of forcing them to fish at any cost." The hot air from the desert, heated by friction in the air-pumps, ought to be cooled with water, but is frequently pumped down at an excessively high temperature. haul be unsatisfactory, the diver is sent down and kept down, in spite of his protests. The writer thus describes the descent of a diver, Pteroudiz:

If his

I followed his sinking form, as the last glint of his shining helmet, radiating shafts of refracted light in all directions, disappeared into the oblivion of the mysterious depths, where every ten meters equaled another atmospheric pressure. Crawling along the bottom, taking care not to wrench the weights from his feet, which would cause him to turn head downward, he searched among the wonders and beauties of the semitropical sea garden, and when he found a colony of the reddish-brown Tripoli sponge, signaled to the overseer, whereupon the spot was buoyed. Discarding, among others, the few black and worthless male sponges, he selected only the marketable ones, the best of which he gathered from the rocks. Sometimes the shadowy form of a huge shark or dogfish glided dangerously near him.

Suddenly Pteroudiz made his appearance at the surface, the water rolling off his helmet and shoulders as from some great amphibious creature; and the bag of dark, heavy sponges, dripping and streaming with ooze and sea water, was hauled aboard.

So much for the divers. As for the sponges :

As soon as the sponges are brought aboard they are thrown in heaps on deck near the scuppers, where the barefooted sailors tramp and work out the ooze; then, strung on lines, they are soused over the side, and trail overboard some ten hours during the night. To break and separate from them shellfish and other parasites, they are beaten with heavy sticks on deck or on the reef rocks off Tripoli; and after being well soaked in the sea again, many are bleached by being immersed in a tub of water containing a certain solution of oxalic acid, from which they emerge a yellowish color, care having been taken to avoid burning them.

President

Studies of Living Personalities. Roosevelt's "outdoor" side is the subject of an interesting article by Henry Beach Needham in the January number of McClure's. Several photographs taken during the President's bear hunt in Colorado, last spring, and later in the year at his Oyster Bay home, accompany the article. There is also an excellent photograph of the President with John Muir, the naturalist and writer, taken on Glacier Point of the Yosemite Valley, in the summer of 1903.-The subject of Mr. Steffens' contribution to this number of McClure's is Mayor Mark Fagan, of Jersey City. The story of this "reform" mayor as told by Mr. Steffens is a marked contrast to some of the narratives of municipal misrule which earlier papers in this same series have included.-A capital account of District Attorney Jerome's remarkable campaign in New York is given by Robert Adamson in Pearson's. Readers outside of New York City may gain from Mr. Adamson's sketch and the pictures accompanying it an excellent idea of the methods employed in that unique campaign.-In Munsey's, there is an appreciation of the veteran journalist, Henry Watterson, of the Louisville Courier-Journal, by E. J. Edwards.-Mrs. Mary Crawford Fraser, the wife of the late British minister to Japan, contributes to the World's Work a series of well-informed sketches of eminent Japanese leaders in the transition period. Of the older group, Marquis Ito, Count Okuma, Count Inouyé, and Yamagata are described; and, of the younger men, Saionji.-In Munsey's, Mr. R. H. Titherington writes about Lord Curzon of Kedleston, and Fritz Cunliffe-Owen tells what is known of Prince Eitel Fritz, the second of Emperor William's sons, and Princess Charlotte of Oldenburg, whom he is soon to marry. In the American Magazine (formerly Leslie's), Mr. Henry Kitchell Webster tells the story of Miss Marie Hall, who five years ago was fiddling in the streets of Bristol for the day's food and to-day is rated as perhaps the most popular of English violinists.-Mr. W. T. Stead relates, in the Cosmopolitan, the methods employed by the Countess Tolstoi to keep her husband from giving away all his property.-"A Study in SelfAnalysis," by Bernard Shaw, appears in the Metropolitan, prefaced by an editorial note predicting that the article will "surprise most readers who have seriously questioned the Irishman's possession of a soul."

Historical Characters in the New Year's Numbers.-Benjamin Franklin, the bicentennial anniversary of whose birth is to be observed on January 17, 1906, is the subject of an article in the American Illustrated, from which we quote in our department of "Leading Articles of the Month." There is also in the Century for this month a paper on "Franklin in France," written by the late Secretary Hay. It is an interesting estimate of the influence which Franklin was able to exert in France, and of the hold that he obtained on the popular imagination. In Lippincott's,

Emma Repplier writes entertainingly on "Franklin's Trials as a Benefactor."-"The Story of Paul Jones," by Alfred Henry Lewis, is continued in the January Cosmopolitan.-The second installment of "Lincoln the Lawyer," by Frederick Trevor Hill, appears in the January Century. There is a full account of Lincoln's early endeavors as a law student, his admission to the bar, his first partnership, and a number of his early cases and competitors, together with some description of the primitive bench and bar of Illinois in the days of Lincoln's youth.—In the current installment of George Bancroft's letters, which are appearing in Scribner's, we reach the culmination of his career, when he became minister to Germany. The letters show his intimacy with the Emperor, Bismarck, Moltke, and other great men during the Franco-German War period.

Commercial and Industrial Progress.-Mr. Charles Edward Russell's article, entitled "Germanizing the World," in the January Cosmopolitan ought to open the eyes of those insular Americans who have persistently refused to believe that Germany really has designs on the commercial dominance of the world. He shows how much has been accomplished within the past few years in the pushing of German trade and shipping interests in almost every part of the globe. Any one can remember, for instance, when the German flag was rarely seen in New York Harbor, but now the German ships are more numerous there than those of any other nation. As Mr. Russell puts it, the Germans have gone into Southampton and taken the cream of the Eastern trade from under the very eyes of the British. Mr. Russell finds that the whole scheme of German propaganda is wisely administered, and that the growth of socialism is the only cloud on the German horizon at the present time.-Apropos of the discussion of the railroad-rate question in Congress, Mr. Samuel Spencer, the president of the Southern Railway, contributes to the Century a well-considered paper explaining how railroad rates are influenced by industrial, geographical, and weather conditions.-In McClure's Magazine, Mr. Ray Stannard Baker gives the results of his recent investigation of the private-car interests and the beef trust. -"Working an Oil Lease" is the subject of an article in Appleton's Booklovers Magazine, by Alden A. Knipe, who describes in detail the Pennsylvania oil fields as they are operated at the present time.-Two most important railroad achievements in the West of recent years are described, respectively, in the Century and the World's Work. In the former magazine, the Lucin cut-off across the Great Salt Lake on an embankment and trestle, a remarkable engineering feat, is explained in detail by Oscar King Davis. Under the title "Swinging the March of the Empire Southwestward," in the World's Work, Mr. French Strother gives an account of the building of Senator Clark's railroad from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. Mr. George H. Guy summarizes in the Cos

mopolitan some of the latest achievements and discoveries in the electrical field.

Nature Notes.-Mr. Julian A. Dimock tells in the American Illustrated a wonderful tale of what he calls "Crocodiling with a Camera." It seems that Mr. Dimock has been for years accustomed to take photographs of crocodiles in their native element and in all possible positions, and in support of his assertions a number of exceedingly good photographs are reproduced in connection with his article. By harpooning and lassoing the crocodiles, Mr. Dimock is able to photograph them at very close range. Mr. Dimock always liberates his crocodiles taken in this way, and

uses neither gun nor rifle.-Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton contributes to Scribner's a paper on "The Wapiti and His Antlers," illustrated with his own drawings.-In the Metropolitan Magazine, Mr. Elwin R. Sanborn, one of the staff of the New York Zoological Park, describes several of the orangs and chimpanzees belonging to that institution. Accompanying his article are several photographs of these Zoölogical Park monkeys seated at the dinner-table and in other attitudes approaching the human.-Dr. Henry C. McCook's paper in the January Harper's is devoted entirely to the netmaking caddis-worm, a species of which one rarely hears, but which furnishes some remarkable illustrations of the architectural instinct.

Reform in the Congo.-In reviewing the report on the Congo State for the Contemporary Review (London), Mr. Herbert Samuel, M.P., puts little hope of improvement in the new system of forced labor, "to be established and administered by the same men who have for so long defended and profited by the old." He sees nothing for it but the transfer of the Congo from King Leopold's personal control to that of the Belgian parliament, with renewed and effective guarantees to the powers of humane government and free trade. He suggests that the demand should be renewed that the Hague tribunal should decide whether the concessions, at the bottom of the mischief, can be legally maintained under the terms of the Berlin Act.

A French Wordsworth.-André Turquet contributes to the Fortnightly Review (London) for December an appreciation of René Bazin. The modern sympathy with nature, of which Wordsworth's poetry is the central and elementary expression, has, says the writer, been surpassed by a few of his unconscious disciples, and all are French. The novelist, René Bazin, is selected as chief Wordsworthian of them all. The sketch thus concludes: "Such is the figure of this delicate and original writer, the friend of the poor and also 'a fine gentleman,' as Thackeray would say, a realist much bolder than might at first be supposed, lying hidden under a garment of refined sentiments, a wonderful landscape painter, as clear a delineator of human life, aiming always at an absolute sincerity of feeling and diction, an idealist in the best sense of the word, always true to himself, -in short, an Angevin Wordsworth, with the added sense of deep humor."

The German Navy League.-This organization is described in the National Review (London) for December in a paper which shows that when Germans take to agitation they do it with a thoroughness that puts our own best efforts to shame. Founded as late as 1898, the league has now more than four thousand local branches in Germany. Persons of highest title and greatest official influence are roped in to attract all classes beneath them into some sort of social touch. Its membership now numbers 810,000, "the largest voluntary association for patriotic purposes in the world." Its annual income amounts to about $250,000. Its monthly journal, Die Flotte, has a circulation of 320,000, more than twice the daily circulation of the four leading journals of Germany. It has presented the nation with a small gunboat. It distributes, gratis,

an enormous quantity of printed matter to attract seamen and naval officers from the inland population. It has also taken from inland districts nearly five thousand children to the sea, accompanied by teachers, and shown them over the warships. The results are immense enthusiasm, in which all parties unite, not excepting the Social Democrats, a national antagonism to great Britain, and the passing of heavy navy bills.

Why the French Birth Rate Declines.—Mr. Charles Dawbarn deals, in the Nineteenth Century (London) for December, with the depopulation question in France, and he quotes the report of the Extra-Parliamentary Commission on the subject, appointed in January, 1902. The stationary character of French population has been shown to be not due to physiological causes. There is no proof of unfruitfulness in the race. The restriction is voluntary, and enforced by social opinion. The root motive is love of economy. Where the population is provident, the families are small; where improvident, they are large. The writer thinks that France has but arrived in advance at a point to which all the civilized states are surely traveling. One of the results is the pacific temper of the French people.

Newspapers of the World.—In a recent number of the Revue Hebdomadaire (Paris) there appeared a statistical paragraph on the newspaper press of the world. It follows: "Among European countries, Germany stands at the head with 5,500 newspapers, of which 800 are dailies. England occupies second place with 3,000-809 dailies. France has 2,819, of which, however, only one-quarter appear daily or two or three times a week. Italy publishes 1,400 newspapers, followed in their order by Austria-Hungary, Spain, Russia, Greece, and Switzerland. The total number of newspapers published in Europe is about 20,000. In Asia, not less than 3,000 newspapers appear periodically, the largest number in Japan and the British Indies. Africa has the smallest number of newspapers, only 200 dailies being published in the whole continent, of which 30 are published in Egypt, the balance in the European colonies. In America, the newspaper business is very extensive. In the United States, 12,500 newspapers are published, of which 1,000 are dailies; 120 published by negroes. Australia has but few newspapers." Commenting on this paragraph, the editor of the Daily Consular and Trade Reports remarks: "If the newspaper statistics given in the Revue Hebdomadaire are as incorrect for the remainder of the world

as they are for the United States, it would be better had the compilation never been published. Bearing in mind that the Hebdomadaire informs the world that only 12,500 newspapers are published in the United States, of which number only 1,000 are dailies, the following statistics compiled in the Bureau of Manufactures from Rowell's American Newspaper Directory for 1903 will show the erroneous statistics given out by the French journal: 'Newspapers published in the United States at the close of 1903: Weeklies, 14,455; semi-weeklies, 499 tri-weeklies, 54; dailies, 2,215; total newspapers, 17,223. Periodicals published in the United States at the close of 1903: Monthlies, 2,710; all other periodicals, 552; total periodicals, 3,262; total newspapers and periodicals, 20,485.' Assuming that the Hebdomadaire's statistics for Europe are correct, it will be seen that the daily and weekly newspapers published in the United States are in number nearly equal to the dailies and weeklies published in all Europe."

The Action of Radium on Wool and Silk.— Two English scientists whose names are not given have been experimenting to find out what effect radium has on vegetable and animal textiles, on silk and cotton in particular. The Illustration (Paris) says that a certain number of threads were exposed to the action of radium several days, and every day a thread was taken away to see what progress had been made by the rays and what wear had been made in the resistance of the threads. The experiment proved that the strength of the threads visibly diminished. Before the experiment the resisting force of the silk fibers was 78 grams,-that is to say, the threads did not break until they had supported the weight of 78 grams. Under the action of radium the resistance diminished about four grams a day. The cotton fibers lost their strength, but they lost more rapidly during the trial of the first days. Their initial resistance was 370 grams; at first, the loss of strength was 60 grams per day. After a few days the loss was less. When the fibers were wet at the time of their subjection to the rays, they augmented in resisting power, but that effect was temporary. No one need hope to strengthen threads by wetting them and then subjecting them to radium.

Belgium's Experiment with "Municipal Dwellings."-Writing in Social Tidskrift (Stockholm), G. H. von Koch reviews the scheme of the Belgian Government for the erection and acquisition of workmen's dwellings, exhibited at the Liège Exposition last summer. Not less than two hundred and fifty building firms took part in this remarkable exhibition. By the law enacted in 1887, the acquisition of property was favored in such a way that workmen, acquiring their own houses, should enjoy special tax privileges. In order to facilitate matters, brokers' associations, also called Committees on Houses, were established in the thickly populated districts of larger cities, and the great Municipal Title & Guarantee Company was entitled to use some of its funds for loans to workingmen. The significance of these measures is obvious in the fact that up to the 31st of May, 1905, not less than sixty-five millions of francs were loaned, this money being used for the construction of thirty-one thousand workmen's dwelling-houses. The activity of the brokers' associations, numbering one hundred and sixty-eight in various places, in bringing about such an excellent result is profusely illustrated in this article by maps

and plans. The Belgian Government has also taken the bold step of arranging an exhibition of actual dwellinghouses. For this purpose the sum of fifteen thousand francs has been offered in prizes. The result of this offer has been the little village of sample houses erected on the heights of Cointe, above Liège. Seventeen different contracting companies and eight industrial entrepreneurs competed for the three prizes. Each house was to represent a one-family dwelling, with adjoining garden, the whole designed to demonstrate the most economical use of a small lot. Half the number of residences were provided with furniture, for the best of which several prizes were announced. In studying the arrangement of rooms and their furnishing, cheapness and sanitation were the salient features to be considered. While every house was provided with a cellar, some lacked the attic. Brick was used throughout in construction, but a varied application of mortar in different colors gave a pleasant appearance to the houses. As to cost of construction, in no case did it exceed 4,500 francs ($900). Supposing the lot to be worth 1,000 francs, the Belgian workingman could acquire his own house on the following conditions from the Municipal Title & Guarantee Company: First, without life insurance, 29 or 37 francs per mouth, to be paid according to situation and convenience of the house, for twenty-five years. Secondly, with life insurance, 39 or 45 francs per month. In this case the house becomes the property of the family at the death of the insured. Not less than 80 per cent. of all contracts have been issued with life insurance.

The Automobiling of the Near Future.---The Illustration (Paris) says that it appears probable to Parisians that automobilism is about to enter a new era. Up to this time, the only sensational manifestations of any importance in the annals of mechanical auto-locomotion have been long-distance races,-for example, ParisBordeaux, Paris, Paris-Marseilles, Paris, Paris-Amsterdam, Paris-Dieppe, Paris-Madrid, Paris-Vienna, the circuits of Ardennes, Brescia, etc., and speed races to Nice, Deauville, Ostende, Chanteloup, Gaillon Laffrey, Chateau-Thierry, Mont Ventoux, etc. And for such trials special vehicles were constructed, more and more monstrous year by year, as the increase of speed was demanded. We may well ask where the fury of the builders and the mad passion of the public for experiments often tragic and always bordering on folly will end. But the time is coming when that question will be answered. The Automobile Club of France is now divided into two camps,-(1) partisans of one-hundred-miles-an-hour races; (2) partisans of long tours. The partisans of one-hundred-mile races are builders of automobiles who have not yet taken a prize for the best construction, and drivers (called "chauffeurs") who think that one hundred and fifty miles or two hundred miles an hour do not amount to much; who say that it ought to be known just what the limit in speed is. The public, too, believes that there must be a limit that should not be exceeded. Men who ride in automobiles would like to be sure how fast it is safe to ride; in other words, they want to know how fast they can ride without blowing up the machine, not the special wagon built for special trials of endurance demanded by speed races, but the wagon that the public in general may consider safe to ride in. The drivers pretend that the only way to teach the public is to experiment by racing great races severely organized and controlled.

This opinion is gaining ground among the people who so far have escaped serious accidents, and in obedience to the popular demand the Automobile Club of France has set a committee to work studying a plan of races for the year 1906, and the coming races are expected to open the eyes of the people who have known nothing more astonishing than the races of the past. Were there any common sense left on earth we should not have automobile races the coming year. We should have just one decisive race. Given a serious and decisive trial of that kind, the public would gain what the automobile-builders would lose.

Underground Agriculture at Paris. The Hojas Selectas (Barcelona) contains an interesting illustrated article on mushroom culture in the suburbs of Paris. Some eighty growers occupy two hundred and fifty extensive abandoned limestone and gypsum quarries (similar to those used as catacombs), and the wooden towers for ventilation are prominent features of the suburban landscape. More than a thousand employees are required. The product is valued at over a million dollars a year. The fungi are raised in long ridges of horse manure, covered with a prepared soil of calcareous earth and sand, and require careful attention as to ventilation, heat, and humidity for about a month before the long harvest begins.

Some Statistics of Cholera Vaccination.-The Illustration (Paris), in an article on the steps to be taken to escape cholera, says: ". . . Measures of hygiene, of cleanliness, of disinfection, have never sufficed to stop an epidemic of any violence. Moreover, no infectious disease is on the road to diminution except smallpox. Smallpox is the only one against which we have a preventive treatment, vaccination. We have a curative vaccine for other diseases, but this vaccine does not lessen the number of the cases. See, for example, what takes place in the case of diphtheria. They treat it pretty well now; but if they reduce the number of the deaths, they do not reduce the number of the cases. They lessen the proportion of infectiousdisease cases only where they possess the preventive vaccine. This vaccine exists for cholera. For over ten years they have been vaccinating against cholera in India, and with great success. The thing has become customary, and the method is so well rooted that they no longer take the trouble to make known its benefits, any more than in the case of vaccination in Europe. As for the degree of efficacy of the anti-cholera vaccination invented by M. M. Haffkine, a former assistant at the Pasteur Institute, it appears very plainly from a few statistics taken in India, at Degubaar, Karkuri, and Bilaspur. Here are the figures for Degubaar: Cases of Cholera.-Not vaccinated, 254, 12. Vaccinated, 407, 5. Deaths.-Not vaccinated, 10. Vaccinated, 0. At Karkuri: Cases of Cholera.-Not vaccinated, 198, 15. Vaccinated, 443, 3. Deaths.-Not vaccinated, 9. Vaccinated, 1. At Bilaspur: Cases of Cholera.-Not vaccinated, 100. Vaccinated, 150. Deaths.-Not vaccinated, 5. Vaccinated, 1. In all the preceding cases, vaccinated and not vaccinated were living in the same conditions, engaged in the same work, and belonging to the same social class. Haffkine's vaccine is the only vaccine that we possess against cholera. It is, however, excellent, as the preceding figures show. The

duration of the immunity that it confers extends from six months to a year. But it is not curative; it is of no use to inject it into a cholera patient. It is a preventive remedy, designed for rendering non-cholera subjects immune to infection.

The Spanish Elections.-Commenting on the recent Spanish elections for the Cortes, Det Ny Aarhundrede, of Copenhagen, points out that the new Liberal cabinet of Montero Rios inaugurated its government by the customary dissolution of the parliament. Every new Spanish cabinet obtains a considerable majority by new elections, as the results in numerous districts are controlled by the government. It seems, however, as if this influencing of the ballot is decreasing in the degree as the opinion of the people is getting a hold on the dealing with public issues. The result of the recent elections in Spain was the election of 250 Liberals, while the parties of the opposition carried an aggregate number of 170 seats in parliament, about 100 of which belong to the Conservative party. The Republicans hold in the present, as well as in the previous house, 30 seats; in some country districts they gained four new members, but lost the same number of seats in Madrid by a slight minority. The followers of Don Carlos, the old pretender to the Spanish crown, have only three seats left at their disposition, and the Socialists have, in spite of all their efforts, not yet been able to elect a single candidate.

The General Commerce of Persia During 1903–04.—The general commerce of the Persian Empire during the year Tavichgan 11 (from March 20, 1903, to March 20, 1904) rose to a total of 639,810,662 krans, or, approximately, $53,744,095 (a kran is about 8.4 cents). Of this total, the importations represent $32,343,237, and the exportations amounted to about $21,401,058. The general commerce of the preceding year (1902-03) rose to a total of $38,028,367. So the increase was $15,715,728 (or 39% per cent., 20% per cent. being an increase in importations and 19 per cent. an increase in exportations). A financier, comments the Revue Diplomatique (Paris), will understand by these figures that, while the general commerce is naturally increasing, the condition of the country is not improved. The commercial situation is bad enough. Business is slow, and complaints are heard on all sides concerning customs duties, the customhouse, and the laws which took effect February 14, 1903, raising the taxes on all the important articles of commerce. If we glance at the part played by the powers in commercial relations with Persia, we see that all of the powers rank about as they did the preceding years. Russia is favored by her geographical situation. She heads the list, with a total figure of $15,517,719 importations. England, also favored by her position in the Indies, to the south of the Persian Empire, stands second, with $6,785,705. These two powers represent 81% per cent. of the total annual importation. France follows Russia and England, but at long distance from them. Her importations amount to about $1,848,000 (5%1⁄2 per cent. of the total importation). In 1902-03, the French importations were $1,428,000. So France has made a little progress-or, rather, she has retrieved this last year very nearly the figure that she reached in 1901-02. The other importing countries, taken all together, show about their usual figure.