appalling sacrifice on the part of her enemies as to make them shrink from the task.

What then? How is the war to end? The end is to be sought not in material exhaustion, but in spiritual reaction. If both sides are equally stubborn, the time will come when the peoples behind the warring governments will become tired of a war which in effect is nothing but a gory deadlock. When the German people realize that their dreams of world conquest and world dominion must be abandoned, and that there is no purpose or possibility of their country being overrun and subjugated, they will cease to support the war as unanimously as they have been doing. Some of the Socialist elements are how clamoring for peace on the basis of the preservation of national integrity and the abandonment of the idea of world-conquest. This clamor will become louder in Germany as the war drags on, and such a clamor in Germany will find resonant echo in the opposing lines.

A LESSON FOR AMERICA

LONDON newspaper some time ago published a remarkable letter from a British officer at the front in France. Perhaps the letter was not so remarkable as the fact of its publication in a prominent London paper. For there must have been many such complaints sent home from the men in the fighting ranks. This officer did not expect his letter to be published, but he wanted to let the editor know how he and his comrades felt. He declared that the Germans were winning the war on points, while the British people at home remained smugly complacent. His cry for relief was a plea for conscription, not only of men to fight in the British armies, but of men to man the factories and insure an adequate supply of ammunition for the British armies. He declared that the British nation must wake up, forget its traditions, and organize to win.

The writer of the letter contrasts the wonderful unanimity, fortitude, prevision and skill of the Germans with the political divisions and slip-shod methods of the English, and says the German efficiency will not be adequately met by "blather about God

upholding the cause of the just." It certainly does look as if in war, as in everything else, God helps those who help themselves. British elocution, so far, has proven a very poor defense against German method and organization and determination to win by any means. The British opponents of conscription object to it as "Prussianization," but if they do not speedily reform their methods they may be presently called upon to determine whether they would rather be "Prussianized" under Prussian officers or under English officers. This is a war in which no nation can "muddle through." Efficiency and organization must, to win, or even to hold its own, be met by equal efficiency and organization. There is a lesson for America in all this.

THE GIGANTIC DRIVE AGAINST RUSSIA

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HE tremendous Austro-German drive at Warsaw serves to illustrate how much bigger this war is than any other war of ancient or modern times. The army assembled by Xerxes for the invasion of Europe may possibly have equaled the Austrian and German armies in point of numbers, but it must be remembered that a large percentage of the hosts of Xerxes were mere camp followers, and that perhaps not much over fifty per cent. were really effective fighting men. Add to this the vastly greater aggregate of force embodied in the weapons with which this modern army is equipped. No ancient army, however numerous, and no army ever assembled by the great Napoleon, however well equipped and gallant and ably led, could have stood for more than a few hours before this modern embodiment of the Kriegesgeist. The Russian forces probably equaled in numbers those of the Central Empires, and it is estimated that six millions of armed men, three! million on a side in round numbers, faced each other on the long lines of this memorable campaign.

Lacking the cohesion and discipline, and above all the formidable equipment of the invading hosts, the Russians were pressed steadily back from the start. They fought gallantly, often behind strong defenses, but

always a losing battle. It is claimed that the Russians inflicted losses upon the enemy equal to their own. Perhaps so, but the loss of morale involved in constant retreat and constant loss of territory, and their inability to repair their losses in men and material as rapidly as their enemy, must tell disastrously upon their power of future resistance.

It now becomes evident that the German plan of campaign does not stop at the occupation of Warsaw and driving the Russians out of Poland. It aims at the destruction of the Russian armies and possibly the occupation of Petrograd, the Russian capital. The only hope for the Russians appears to be to delay the German advance until the awful winter climate of Russia comes to their rescue.

The German plan to deal effectually and finally with Russia before concentrating their whole strength upon the western battle fields is an inspiration of genius and an accomplishment of almost superhuman hardihood and endurance. If they succeed in putting Russia virtually out of the fighting, what will be the fate of the remainder of Belgium and France? It is evident that the western allies will have to gird up their loins and do better than they have done heretofore if they hope to stay the concentrated German onrush when it comes. Perhaps Russia, by concentrating on interior lines, may yet block the Teutonic advance. If not, England has a serious task before her.

struggle is so all embracing that it will bring up for settlement nearly all the questions that have hitherto endangered the peace of Europe and which will, until they can be properly adjudicated, endanger the peace of the whole world. whole world. Mr. Chittenden holds that disarmament under stress of coercion in any form, whether by a single dominant power, a group or alliance or even by a league of peace, would be a perilous undertaking. "The only measure which offers the least promise of success," he says, "must proceed from the people of the several nations, acting upon ing upon their governments."

It is to be hoped, and may be reasonably presumed, that when this war is ended the people of the various nations will be so sick of war that they will be ready to join voluntarily in a movement for a World Court of Judicial Settlement. The United States will be in a position to take the leadership in such a movement if it keeps free from entangling alliances.

RATHER A LAME EXPLANATION

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ISS JANE ADDAMS has explained that she did not intend to impugn the courage of soldiers in saying that they were doped before being sent on bayonet charges, but to vindicate their humanity. She says that men who would unhesitatingly shoot bullets or shrapnel at a foe would shrink from stabbing with cold steel, and hence had to be made drunk before being sent upon such bloody work. This is at queer notion of relative degrees of "humanity." If Miss Addams were compelled to lacerate a human being would she rather cut him with a sharp knife or tear him with red-hot pincers? There is the same relative difference between bayonet and shrapnel wounds. A piece of shrapnel or exploded shell tears and sears the flesh. A bayonet gives a clean cut. If the bayonet does not reach a vital point, its wounds usually heal quickly and inflict comparatively small suffering. Most soldiers are intelligent enough to know that a bayonet cut is not so terrible as a wound from an explosive, therefore it is improbable that they regard a bayonet charge as more inhuman than an artillery bombardment.

THE LEO M. FRANK TRAGEDY

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HE ghastly tragedy of the kidnapping of Leo M. Frank from a State Prison and his execution by an organized mob, is an ineffaceable blot upon the fair fame of the State of Georgia. There is much talk by the Governor and other State officials of punishing the murderers, but the probability is that not one of them will ever be apprehended or tried. We in the United States talk of the brutality of the nations engaged in the great world war, but what shall we say of outbursts of brutality within our own borders in a time when our nation is at peace with all the world? Lynching has come to be regarded as peculiarly an American custom. It is not confined to our Southern States. It is a phase of brutality more hateful than war itself. If we cannot abolish war, can we not at least put an end to organized murder which has no sanction of any sort of authority save Satanic passion for revenge and the depravity of blood-lust?

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MOBILIZING A NATION

HE offensive and defensive strength displayed by Germany in this war against a combination of nations numerically superior in population and greatly superior in aggregate material resources, has not been due to the intrinsically superior courage or fighting ability of Germans and Austrians and Turks, but to the power of organization. Germany has mobilized not only her armies, but her entire resources. Every ounce of food and labor and material of every kind, as well as every fighting man, has been at the quick service of the government. Germany has thus been able to get the most out of her own armies, but also those of her allies. Wherever a weakness appears in the lines of her allies, German officers, German arms and ammunition, and German organizing skill has been promptly sent to remedy it.

The Germans have not only never run short of arms and ammunitions themselves, but they have been able to supply any deficiencies of their allies without delay. Perhaps it is not too late for England and France and Russia to learn this lesson of universal and effective national mobilization. In the days of Oliver Cromwell the "Cavaliers" claimed that they whipped the "Roundheads" repeatedly until the “Roundheads," taking lessons from defeat, learned to whip them. It is certain that the Parliamentary forces met with no success until Cromwell, with the inspiration of genius, devised his "New Model." Then he organized an army that was unbeatable either by the king's forces or by any of the armies of the day of continental Europe. The British an `Russian armies of the present day evidently need reorganization.

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L.

CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE

In

ROM this side of the water it looks to the impartial observer as if the British authorities were unwarrantably careless or neglectful in allowing the Lusitania to be torpedoed. We notice that the negligence is also censured by some of the leading British magazines. And in a letter written as late as August of this year, Lord Charles Beresford declared that if certain advice which he had tendered to Premier Asquith in April had been followed, the Lusitania would have been saved. reply to a query as to why a convoy had not been furnished for the Lusitania, Winston Churchill is quoted as saying that the navy could not furnish convoys for all the British shipping. But the case of the Lusitania was a peculiar one. It was the pride of the British commercial marine; it was known to have a large list of passengers and valuable freight; official warning had been given by the German government that it would be destroyed. Under these circumstances it is difficult to characterize the conduct of the British naval authorities in neglecting all

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HE Eastland disaster presents no point of comparison with the Lusitania disaster, since the latter was a deliberate act of war, while the former is classified as an accident. The one was an act of man, and the other, in the legal parlance, "an act of God." But if the Eastland disaster was caused by the neglect of duty of some official, or the greed for gain of some ship owner, the moral guilt for the destruction of the women and children in the Chicago River was as great as the moral guilt for the destruction of the lives in the North Sea. It was Metternich, we think, who said that in politics or statesmanship a blunder was worse than a crime. An avoidable blunder that leads to the loss of human life is a crime. Indictments against certain accused have been found by federal and local grand juries. The punishment of the guilty ones, if there are guilty ones, will not bring the victims back to life, but the example may blazon the fear of the law, if not the fear of God, upon the minds and souls of all who are responsible for the safety of the travelling public.

The

been unable to agree upon a majority report. The views of its members are so wild and variegated that it submits three reports, all about equally futile. That signed by Chairman Walsh proposes the confiscation of "swollen fortunes" by amending the inheritance laws so that no person can dispose of more than a million dollars by will. surplus is to be distributed in various ways to the public. Another report proposes a constitutional amendment prohibiting the courts from declaring legislative acts unconstitutional. This would virtually abolish the bill of rights and give unlimited power to any wild-eyed legislative body. Another report proposes to raise a fund "to promote social welfare" by a tax running as high as 15 per cent. on incomes above $25,000. This violates the constitutional guarantee of equal taxation. Social betterment is all right, but it would not be social betterment if achieved through social injustice.

THE "GARY" PLAN IN EDUCA

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TION

HAT would be thought of a large manufacturing concern that would operate its expensive plant only about five or six hours a day, five days a week, with a three-months complete shutdown in midsummer? It would be said that the concern was unnecessarily burdening itself with idle capital, and that it could not expect to pay reasonable dividends without overcharging its customers.

The public school authorities in various parts of the country seem to be waking up to the great waste of the taxpayers' money in school buildings and teaching equipment which are in actual service only a portion of the time. This idea first found expression in the town of Gary, Illinois, in what is now dubbed "the Gary plan." This, broadly stated, is the putting of the school buildings and their equipment to more complete use through double school sessions. Instead of erecting additional school buildings when the number of school children in a district outgrow the existing accommodations, the pupils are divided into two sections, a

portion of which receive their instruction and training in the early part of the day, and the other section in the latter part of the day. A school building can thus be made to accommodate double the number of pupils for whom desks and class rooms are provided.

This plan has been adopted in many other towns. In some cases the teachers are required to work more hours than formerly, and in some cases extra teachers are employed. This is a matter that will be adjusted by experience of local conditions and needs.

It is gratifying to note that the New York Board of Education has appropriated the sum of $620,000 to defray the cost of construction and equipment of additions, additional land for playgrounds, etc., incidental to installing the Gary plan in twelve elementary schools in the Bronx. This will be immensely cheaper than would be the erection of twelve new buildings.

The question of the long summer vacation in connection with the Gary plan is still under discussion. If pupils and teachers need a long rest during the year, it might be possible to arrange it so that half of them could take their vacation at one time and half at another, and that thus the school buildings and equipment could be in practically continuous use.

A QUESTION FOR JINGOES

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HE jingoes or extremists who clamor for interference by the United States in the affairs of the world -who insist that we should lay down the mandate to Japan to respect the integrity of China, and the mandate to the warring nations of Europe to respect the humanities, should reflect that an ultimatum of that kind from Uncle Sam might mean If any of us are ever moved to such rash counsels we should pause and ask ourselves what the United States has got to fight with if it precipitates war? We have a fairly good navy, but one certainly not up to the mark of the strongest navy afloat, and hardly up to the mark of the second in rank. We have an army which, however

war.

excellent in quality, is actually contemptible in quantity when compared with the armies of the second and third rate powers of Europe. of Europe. We have ample financial resources and vast resources of men and material and potential industry, but it would require considerable time to mobilize them for adequate offensive or even defensive military operations against a firstclass power.

THE WORLD AFTER THE WAR BY GEORGE K. SHAW

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UDSON MAXIM, in his book, "Defenseless America," advocates the adoption in this country of the Swiss system of military training in order to put the country upon a defensive basis commensurate with its resources in population and wealth. The Swiss, he says, have not the remotest idea of making an aggressive move on any neighboring country, but they hold themselves in perfect readiness to see to it that no other nation can find it profitable to make an aggressive move on Switzerland.

The principal feature of the Swiss system is that it makes military training a part of her school system. "The chubby, rosycheeked little Swiss boys are taught to play soldier with wooden imitation guns, and as they grow the training later becomes more comprehensive, more exacting, more scientific, until finally the young men find real guns in their hands, find themselves commanded by and receiving instructions from real officers, and are taught to shoot. And when their school training is over their military training and term of military service also are over. They are ready for civil life, also they are ready at any moment for the call of their country to shoulder the rifle and knapsack and go to the front.

"This system places no burden upon the; school boy or the young man; on the contrary it is a source of keen enjoyment, like any other manly game. The beneficial psychological effect is simple. The youth is taught obedience, his powers of perception are quickened, his alertness increased, his physique greatly strengthened, his health benefited, and his personal habits governed