Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

WEEKLY OUTLINE
OUTLINE STUDY OF

CURRENT HISTORY

BY J. MADISON GATHANY, A.M.

HOPE STREET HIGH SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE, R. I.

Based on The Outlook of June 26, 1918

Each week an Outline Study of Current History based on the preceding number of The Outlook will be printed for the benefit of current events classes, debating clubs, teachers of history and of English, and the like, and for use in the home and by such individual readers as may desire suggestions in the serious study of current history.-THE EDITORS.

[Those who are using the weekly outline should not attempt to cover the whole of an outline in any one lesson or study. Assign for one lesson selected questions, one or two propositions for discussion, and only such words as are found in the material assigned. Or distribute selected questions among different members of the class or group and have them report their findings to all when assembled. Then have all discuss the questions together.]

I-INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Topic: President Wilson to the Mexican
Editors.
Reference: Page 336, 337.
Questions:

Note. Make this topic the basis of a study of inter-American relations. 1. What leads The Outlook to consider President Wilson's address to the Mexican editors

66

an important war utterance"? 2. What is Mr. Wilson's idea of a political union of the Americas? Discuss. 3. Give several reasons why William II would not advocate such a political union in Europe or in the Americas. 4. State and discuss what foreign editors think of the President's speech. 5. Tell what you think President Wilson's Mexican policy has been and is. Is it in the interest of Pan-Americanism? 6. Show that "the people of the United States feel only the heartiest friendliness and good-will" toward Mexico. 7. Suggest several ways of overcoming the misunderstanding and misapprehension that South American republics have of the United States. 8. Discuss the following: (1) "The little we now hear from the other side of the Rio Grande indicates that the situation there is more critical than before the war." (2) Pro-German and anti-American propaganda has existed in Mexico for years. 9. In reference to world interests what is our duty in Mexico? 10. Is the Monroe Doctrine a" Pan-American Declaration"? 11. Give a chronological résumé of interAmerican relations from the time of George Washington to the present. 12. State and discuss the suggestions that come to you from the study of this topic. 13. A very suggestive little book is "Inter-American Acquaintances," by C. L. Chandler (The University Press of Sewanee, Tennessee); consult also the index of "American Diplomacy," by C. R. Fish (Henry Holt)— a very valuable book to own.

II-NATIONAL AFFAIRS

A. Topic: The Underwood Resolution;
the Borah Resolution.
Reference: Pages 331, 332.
Questions:

the present time hold in times? peace 6. What was the Borah resolution? Present Senator Borah's view of his resolution. 7. Give the views of President Wilson and The Outlook on public consideration of treaties. 8. Is there any difference? If so, tell which you prefer, and why. 9. In discussing the danger of secret negotiations, The Outlook that the pending treaty says with Colombia is an illustration. How so? The Outlook believes that every act of our course in Panama was perfectly justifiable. Do you? Mr. Roosevelt was President at that time. Read his view of the pending Colombia treaty in "Fear God and Take Your Own Part," Chapter XI (Doran). 10. Can you suggest ways by which public business can be more effectively executed than at the present time and in ordinary times? Read the two articles on "The Administration: An Appraisal," in The Outlook of June 19 and June 26, 1918, and the editorial in The Outlook on page 307, issue of June 19, 1918.

B. Topic: Mr. Ford and the Senatorship;

What to look for in a Candidate for
Congress.

References: Page 332; editorial, pages 338, 339.

Questions:

you

you

1. Interpret the second paragraph of the first reference given (page 332). What do think of what The Outlook says? 2. Do you think The Outlook fair in its criticism of Mr. Ford? Give reasons. Do think the Republicans of Michigan should indorse the candidacy of Mr. Ford? Reasons. 3. What sort of men does The Outlook advocate that voters elect to our Congress (pages 338, 339)? Are there any statements in this editorial that are too extravagant? Reasons. 4. We are told that in recent times we have not had men

in Congress of the ability of Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Jackson, and that such men are not to be found nowadays. Is this so? If it is, who and what are responsible? 5. Suggest several ways of training efficient and intelligent lawmakers, judges, and Presidents.

III-PROPOSITIONS FOR DISCUSSION

(These propositions are suggested directly or indirectly by the subject-matter of The Outlook, but not discussed in it.)

1. The present world-crisis demands American intervention in Mexico. 2. Open discussion of public treaties would greatly aid world peace.

IV-VOCABULARY BUILDING

(All of the following words and expressions are found in The Outlook for June 26, 1918. Both before and after looking them up in the dictionary or elsewhere, give their meaning in your own words. The figures in parentheses refer to pages on which the words may be found.)

1. Tell what The Outlook says about the Underwood resolution. 2. Distinguish between a bill and a resolution. Between a public bill and a private bill. 3. Give five reasons why debate in the House of Representatives is greatly limited. 4. For what reasons has debate in the Senate been Episodes, sagacity, intervention (337); unlimited? Is or is not this in the interest prerogative, diplomacy, delimit, open diploof the public? Discuss. 5. Would the argu- macy (331); naïveté, anomalous, statesman ments for limited debate in the Senate at (332); pessimist, optimist, stalemate (339). A booklet suggesting methods of using the Weekly Outline of Current History will be sent on application

THE NATION'S
INDUSTRIAL
PROGRESS

Believing that the advance of business is a subject of vital interest and importance, The Outlook will present under the above heading frequent discussions of subjects of industrial and commercial interest. This department will include paragraphs of timely interest and articles of educational value dealing with the industrial upbuilding of the Nation. Comment and suggestions are invited.

[graphic]

MOTOR TRUCKS ON AMERICA'S "BREAD LINE "

BY G. A. KISSEL

PRESIDENT KISSEL MOTOR CAR COMPANY This is the second article by Mr. Kissel on How the Motor Truck Can Solve Community Transpor tation Problems.

SE

FOOD TRANSPORTATION

INCE transportation of commodities is one of the great problems of the present, and is becoming a greater problem every month as the war continues, how can every community be assured of an uninterrupted food supply? The daily increase in the manufacture of goods, munitions, and supplies has undoubtedly more than made up any increase in transportation equipment.

It has been only a short time since the call went out for America to produce everything that five of the world's greatest nations need to live, work, and fight on. That America answered the call is proved by the endless stream of supplies going across to our allies. And, mind you, these supplies are in addition to those made for consumption at home.

The result is, we have been so busy producing, manufacturing, and growing that our transportation facilities have been unable to keep up with the increase.

Haulage and delivery of food products and breadstuffs is one of the great problems of the present-one that cannot be neglected, and one on which the success of world democracy depends. Therefore it is up to every community to solve its own transportation problems and not leave them to the overworked railways.

One of the worst results of freight congestion is that of delaying food and breadstuffs. Unlike other commodities, vegetables, fruit, grain, food products, and breadstuffs cannot be tied up very long without danger of spoiling or deteriorating. Manufacturers and growers have found this, to their sorrow.

To free himself from such shipping uncertainty, a certain food manufacturer recently invested in motor trucks, and finds them much better for transporting his goods and supplies even to destinations two hundred miles away. His goods by this method are handled only twice, loading them on the truck and unloading them at destination. Compare this with the railways-loading on truck, unloading at freight depot, loading into freight cars, unloading at receiving station, loading on truck, and unloading at the store-five different loadings and unloadings.

[graphic]

TRUCKS ENCOURAGE FOOD PRODUCTION

The National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, through the National Motor Truck Committee, has sent out an appeal showing the need of rural motor express

[ocr errors]

Motor-Trucks on America's "Bread Line" (Continued)

lines, and pointing out the necessity for more and quicker transportation to aid. increased food production.

The railways are apparently not equipped to carry all food and other supplies at the same time. Naturally farmers hesitate to produce to capacity, fearing their produce cannot be marketed. About twenty per cent of farm help has been lost by the draft and other causes, making it impossible for farmers to haul crops to market and work on the farm at the same time.

The remedy lies in rural motor-truck express lines. Farmers, truck gardeners, and dairymen have found that motor trucks insure daily transportation to market, enabling them to devote all of their time to their farms. Increased production and compensation for loss of labor result.

The congestion of the railways has in some sections necessitated delivery of live stock to the stock-yards by motor truck. During the year there were hauled over highways for a radius of thirty miles to Cincinnati more than 77,000 hogs, 235,000 sheep, 28,500 calves, and 27,500 head of cattle, forty per cent of which were driven in on the hoof, and sixty per cent in motor trucks. This experiment has proved that the motor-truck method promises to be permanent, as stock can be handled cheaper than by railway, and arrive in better condition and in quicker time.

The dependability and adaptability of the motor truck have attracted the attention of manufacturers and growers of perishable goods. In the West and South growers have employed motor trucks for shipping strawberries and early summer fruits and vegetables to market or to warehouses. Even such delicate fruits as peaches, plums,

[graphic]

and

grapes are now being shipped out of the fruit-producing States over long distances by motor trucks. The hardier fruits, such as oranges, grapefruit, apples, pears, etc., are in some sections being almost entirely shipped by this method.

Such examples prove that the motor truck can be utilized to feed a community, and that it is not necessary, because food is of a perishable nature, to make the railways shoulder this work.

CENTRALIZED FOOD DISTRIBUTION

Uninterrupted distribution of food is one which the Nation must solve, not only for immediate relief, but after the war as well. I would not be surprised if such a solution were found in a centralized plan whereby distribution points would be located to facilitate the distribution of perishable and

[merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]
[graphic]

Just Out. A New Song Book. Sample copy will
demonstrate its value. Examination Copy Board 25c. Cloth 35c
The Biglow and Main Co., New York - Chicago

You can cure

CATARRH James

semi-perishable food products, eliminating without drugs-at home-with food the short haul on the railways.

This would enable the railways to run through trains from growing and manufacturing points direct to these distribution centers, whence motor trucks would complete the work of delivery to consignees. This would save time for the railways, as they would have no stops and but one loading and unloading. The growers and manufacturers would have but one point to ship to, and the consignees would have but one point to look to for their goods.

In my opinion, this would assure delivery of goods irrespective of what transportation problems might arise in the future. Either the Government might take this matter in hand, build food distribution warehouses, where all the goods for each point would be forwarded, and whence motor trucks would convey them to destinations, or the food manufacturers and producers

Complete and definite instructions by R. L. Alsaker, M.D. (recognized as an authority on the cure of this disease), will be mailed on receipt of $2.00. Satisfaction guaranteed. FRANK E. MORRISON (Est. 1889), Publisher Dept. 152, 1133 Broadway, New York.

[blocks in formation]
[graphic]

Motor-Trucks on America's "Bread Line" (Continued) themselves might combine for this purpose.

A COMMUNITY PLAN

There are several plans whereby a community can insure its own food supplies from delays. One way is for all food merchants in each community-the grocer, baker, meat market, fruit and vegetable dealer, contectioner,creamery, etc.-to form a co-operative motor-truck transportation company to collect and transport to their different places of business all food products and breadstuffs.

The number of trucks necessary to carry out this plan would depend on the number of dealers and the area necessary to cover. There would primarily have to be two different routes which this transportation company would have to operate over. The first route would be that of the farmers, dairies, and live-stock growers, whence the city derives its supply of fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, poultry, and meats. The location of each source of supply on this route should be listed and arranged on a schedule so that each truck would carry full loads both ways.

The second route would be for those trucks that would take care of all goods shipped over the railways by the manufacturers and would include all package goods and supplies. If a community is situated near a large city which is the distribution point for manufactured goods, time could be saved by the trucks going to this city and not waiting until they had been reshipped to the community. A great deal of time is lost in waiting for less than car-load lots to be reshipped from distribution points to small communities, and it is here that the motor truck would prove of invaluable aid in prompt deliveries.

The second plan would be that of a municipal motor-truck transportation company owned and operated by the community or by a group of individuals, for the purpose of supplying the community's dealers and merchants with their food supply. This could be operated over routes as outlined in the first plan.

The third plan would be that of a farmers' co-operative motor-truck transportation company, to be owned and operated by the farmers and dairymen who supply the community with its fresh vegetables, milk, etc. The farmers participating in such a company could use the motortruck equipment for transporting their products to the community and bringing back with them supplies needed on the farm, thus insuring a load both ways.

The above three plans are more or less in the rough, but I believe that every community can find an idea among them that they could profitably apply to their local conditions.

This war is a matter of men, equipment, and supplies. These three war essentials have to be transported. This means a load on the Nation's transportation equipment far in excess of its capacity. If it comes to a show-down, the railways will have to confine themselves strictly to Government work. This would mean that all goods and supplies for other than Governmental use would have to be transported in other ways. The motor truck has proved itself the logical means of transportation. It is an equipment that can be purchased and operated by every community without great initial outlay or time spent in putting it into operation.

To my mind, the time has arrived when such transportation steps should be taken without delay.

BY THE

The late Professor W. D. Whitney was quoted on page 156 of The Outlook of May 22 as saying that the Bible contains no such word as "its." A subscriber writes: "The word its does occur in Leviticus xxv. 5." The Oxford English Dictionary thus comments on the matter: "Its was formed in the end of the sixteenth century from it's of the possessive or genitive case, and at first commonly written it's. Its was not admitted in the Bible of 1611; the possessive it occurs once, but was altered (in an edition of 1660) to its, which appears in all current editions." (The word, it may be remarked, is found in only one of a halfdozen standard concordances.)

An examination of a copy of the Bible of 1611 in the New York Public Library corroborates the above statement. Leviticus xxv. 5 reads, as printed in the quaint "black letter" type of this early edition:

That which growrth of it owne accord of thy haruest, thou shalt not reape, neither gather the grapes of thy Fine undressed: for it is a peere of rest vnto the land.

The title-page of this Bible reads: "THE HOLY BIBLE. Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the Kings moft excellent Maieftie. Anno Dom. 1611." A note on the fly-leaf in the handwriting of Mr. James Lenox, the founder of the Lenox Library in New York City, says, curiously enough, that this title-page is that of an edition of 1613, altered to "1611." A close examination. of the last 1 in 1611 shows that the figure had, in fact, been tampered with, in order, possibly, to increase the value of the book to an inattentive bibliophile. The words of the Preacher seem apposite in this connection: "God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions."

The question about the identity of the jackknife that first had its blade renewed and then got a new handle is fairly matched by this story quoted from the "American Hatter:" "You say you've worn this hat for two years?" "Yes, sir; and it looks all right still. Twice I've had it cleaned and once I exchanged it in a restaurant for one that was entirely new."

The coming back of the full-rigged sailing ship is one of the wonders of the war. Recently a round dozen of these old-time monarchs of the deep were counted in New York Harbor lying off Staten Island. Two of the dozen were four-masters.

Speaking of the shortage of copper in Germany, Cyril Brown says in "Germany as It Is To-Day" that "about the last of Germany's famous church bells to go into the melting-pot has been the so-called 'Kaiser Bell,' out of the belfry of Cologne Cathedral, the largest church bell in all Germany, weighing sixty tons. Hung in 1877, it pealed its last on New Year's, 1918." Other authorities state that this bell weighed 271⁄2 tons, that it was cast in 1874 from French cannon captured in the war of 1870, and that it was exceeded in size only by the famous Russian bells of Moscow and by certain Chinese bells.

Negroes who can trace their ancestry to the Coromantees of the African Gold Coast have reason to be proud. A recent book entitled "American Negro Slavery," by Professor U B. Phillips, quotes from a letter written in 1701 by Governor Codrington, of the Leeward Islands, as to this tribe: "The Corramantes are not only the best and most faithful of our slaves, but are really all born heroes. There never was a raskal or coward of that nation. Intrepid to the last degree, not a man of

WAY

[graphic]

them but will stand to be cut to pieces without a sigh or groan. My father, who had studied the genius and temper of all kinds of negroes forty-five years with a very nice observation, would say, noe man deserved a Corramante that would not treat him like a friend rather than a slave.'

A subscriber writes that the translation of the Indian word "agawam" in our issue of June 12, "Great salt meadows of the Atlantic Coast," is somewhat too specific. "Great," he says, would be some form of missi, as in Mississippi," great river. Salt, he affirms, was a word unknown to the Indians, as was Atlantic. "The word," he concludes, "is undoubtedly derived from agwaam, meaning 'ground overflowed by water.' Without questioning the philological knowledge of our correspondent, we may express our surprise at his statement that salt was unknown to the Indians. The numerous "salt licks" of the West, it would seem, must certainly have had a descriptive name in the Indian languages.

It is unprecedented, unconstitutional, and otherwise quite out of the question for a man to be Senator from two States at the same time; yet if this were conceivable, there is no one who could carry this double burden with better grace than Oscar W. Underwood, of Alabama. That must be our excuse for referring to him two weeks ago as "Oscar W. Underwood, of Georgia." We trust that Georgia, Alabama, and the Senator appreciated the compliment.

Summer guests of an unusual character are solicited in the following advertisement in a New York City daily :

Woman with genuine affection for dogs, under standing care of sme, spacious grounds, wired runs, will accept five dogs only as boarders. Boston bulls preferred.. Address etc.

The French word bijou (jewel) is a popular one in America as a name for a small theater. The pronunciation of the word is difficult for the average playgoer, who is probably innocent even of boarding-school French, and it is sometimes Anglicized as By Joe." A Newport (Rhode Island) newspaper advertisement frankly accepts this pronunciation; in the announcement of a moving-picture theater the name appears in large black letters as BIJO.

[ocr errors]

Cherry-pit bean bags are the latest device of the conservationist. Bean bags make nice little gifts for children at Christmas, and now is the time to save the cherry pits for them. Beans are too costly to use for this purpose any longer, and, besides, it is said that the cherry pits are lighter and make better bags for children's use.

"One can't realize the magnitude of this war till one sees it," says John Kautz in his book "Trucking to the Trenches." "The other day we passed five solid miles of horses and guns going up-it is not an uncommon sight, but a wonderful one. We are only one section of twenty-four trucks out of more than 200,000, yet every time we load with shells the load is worth from $78,000 to $100,000, depending on the kind."

"The old adage, Talking is still done by hand in France,'" continues the author above mentioned, "has just been borne out again. I've had to tie up a Frenchman's elbow. He sprained it trying to translate 'Crank up your motor' from French into English-that's a fact. His two favorite American expressions, out of a vocabulary of about a hundred words, are, 'It is a gift,' and You darn fool." He uses both indiscriminately, but he is the best friend I have among the French in spite of his frequent use of the last compliment."

[graphic]

6

[graphic]

A TRIBUTE TO FRANCE

The Outlook

JULY 10, 1918

Offices, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York

The great national holiday of France is July 14. It is her Independence Day, and is regarded by Frenchmen at home and abroad as the anniversary of the birthday of the French Republic. A committee has been formed, of which exPresident Taft is the Honorary Chairman and Mr. Owen Johnson, the well-known novelist, the Executive Chairman, to arrange for a celebration of this French national holiday in as many cities and communities of the United States as possible. It is the purpose of this "Committee on Allied Tribute to France" to make this celebration "a tribute to France by the people of the United States and its allies, and to voice their determination to support France until peace shall have been achieved by victory."

The Committee, composed of a large group of representative men and women, makes various suggestions for a recognition of the day, such as a mention of the day and a reference to the spiritual solidarity of this country with France in church sermons and services; a display of flags; the arrangement in public libraries of special exhibits of prints, pictures, books, maps, and other material relating to France; special meetings or dinners to take place in the evening; processions, wherever it is practicable; and any other suitable way of making a public recognition of the day.

Special meetings have already been arranged in many cities. In New York there will be a mass-meeting in Madison Square Garden, which will be attended by societies and other bodies representing the various Allies. The plan, we are sure, will appeal widely to Americans who have grown during the last three years to have a very affectionate admiration for the spirit, courage, and delightful character of the French people. The Committee arranging this tribute asks that from every community where a celebration is held records or newspaper clippings be forwarded to Mr. Owen Johnson, Chairman of the Committee, Room 610, 19 West Forty-fourth Street, New York City. Copies of resolutions and other records thus collected will be bound together and will be forwarded in some appropriate form to the proper officials of the French Republic as a memento of this American celebration. This great war is remarkable for the fact that, while it has developed national hatred and enmity on the one hand, it has also developed in an unprecedented degree international appreciation and friendship. Our own Fourth of July is to be recognized and celebrated in England, France, and even on the other side of the world in Australia. One of the best ways to lay the foundations for an international league of peace is to promote international understanding and friendship, to which such celebrations as that proposed by the July Fourteenth Committee contribute greatly.

THE FALL OF THE BASTILLE

The destruction of the Bastille was in very truth a French declaration of independence. It was one of the fortresses of Paris which had come down from mediæval times. Indeed, the word bastille means, or formerly meant, fortress. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, however, the particular fortress at the old Paris gate of St. Antoine, now known as the Bastille, ceased to be used for purely military purposes and became a dungeon for prisoners of state. Ordinary criminals were sometimes confined in it, but its chief use was for the punishment of political offenders, who were often spirited off into its dim and gloomy cells without due process of law as we now understand that term. The Bastille came to be hated by the people of Paris and of France because it represented to

them the despotic power of the aristocracy. On July 14, 1789, during the French Revolution, the Bastille was stormed by the populace, seized, and finally razed to the ground. Its fall was regarded as a triumph of liberty. A tall bronze column now marks its site as a memorial to the patriots of France. One cannot help wondering whether Berlin will ever have a similar liberty column to mark the fall of that Prussian despotism of the Hohenzollerns which has plunged the world into a conflict more bloody and more terrible than the French Revolution, which was the result of the despotism of the Bourbons.

PROFITS IN WAR TIME

In language that smacks in spots of the political speech rather than the findings of the careful investigator, the Federal Trade Commission has submitted to the Senate a report concerning war-time profits. It charges that unfair and extortionate profits have been made by many great industries vital to the Nation's war programme. The existence of such profiteering is, according to the report," due to advantages taken of the necessities of the times as evidenced in the war pressure for heavy production;" but some of the profiteering, the report adds, is attributable to inordinate greed and bare-faced fraud.

[ocr errors]

There are a number of industries named. It is the meatpackers which the Commission singles out for especially heavy condemnation. It charges them with having "preyed upon the public unconscionably." The accusations of the Commission have been indignantly denied by the packers themselves. For example, one company says that the Commission figured the pre-war profit on the total investment, while it figured the war-time profit on a nominal capital, so that the increase was made to appear to be from 8.6 per cent to 263.7 per cent, while in reality it was only 141⁄2 per cent.

Charges against the metal trades have been denied. For example, among the charges was one that profits were concealed as payment of services to executives. It has been denied on behalf of one company that there was any such disguising of profits or that such payments have been the regular practice of the company as a part of its salary system. The Commission points out the big profits that have been made in some industries by companies which have kept their cost of production low. For instance, in the salmon-canning trade, the average net profit of ninety companies was over 52 per cent, but some of the low-cost companies made more than 200 per cent. So the Commission reports on profits in coal, oil, steel, zinc, sulphur, lumber.

It is unfortunate that this report is prepared in such a way as to give the impression to the country that it is not so much a report as an arraignment. Undoubtedly there are greedy and unscrupulous men in business, and the war has not transformed them into unselfish and honest men. But what the country wants is not a moral judgment, but a knowledge of the facts. In determining what should be done with regard to great profits made in war time, there are certain distinctions which officials as well as the public should keep in mind. One is the distinction between the evils of monopoly and the evils of big profits. The evils of unrestrained monopoly exist whether there are profits or not. The evils of inordinately large profits exist whether there is monopoly or not. The two classes of evils require different remedies. Another distinction to be kept in mind is that between taxation and punishment. Taxes ought not to be levied as fines for wrong-doing, but as sources of revenue and a means of regulation. Big profits ought to be taxed, not because they are punishable, but because they ought to be regulated,

[graphic]

and because they are legitimate sources of revenue. Instead of deploring large profits in war time, we ought to welcome them, because they provide easily ascertainable accumulations of wealth which can be properly taken by the Government to help pay for the war. Another distinction which ought to be drawn and which we have pointed out, is that between profits and profiteering. Not all profit-making is profiteering. Indeed, as the Commission makes clear, there are industries in which the cost of production varies very greatly. This means that the profits vary greatly. Some concerns with a high cost of production will have a small profit; but that means that other concerns in the same industry with a low cost of production will inevitably have a high profit.

This difference cannot be regulated by the price of the product, for if the price is low some of the concerns will have to go out of business and production will be reduced, with consequent hardship on the public, while if the price is kept high for the high-cost companies and low for the low-cost companies the low-cost companies will drive the high-cost companies out of business. The only remedy for this inequality is the very thing that will help pay for the war, and that is to levy a high percentage tax on war profits. Such a tax is not a fine or a punishment. It is a legitimate means of revenue. Excited or sensational talk about profiteering does not help to clear thinking or to just legislation. Let us face the fact that huge profits are inevitable in any industry where there is a great demand, as there is in war time; and let us take advantage of that fact by using those profits as one means for paying the cost of the war.

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE TELEGRAPHERS

As we go to press, it is announced that the President has intimated to Congress that he desires legislative authority which will enable him, if necessary, to take over the telegraph and telephone lines of the country and place them, like the railways, under Government administration. Before these lines are read, Congress will undoubtedly have passed the necessary

statute.

This action by the President in asking for immediate legislation by Congress has been brought about by a threatened serious strike among the employees of the Western Union Telegraph Company. The officers and employees have been at odds for some time over the question whether the telegraphers' union should be recognized by the company or not. No agreement has been reached, and a serious strike is threatened. A crippling of the system of telegraphic communication of the country at this time would very seriously interfere with the prosecution of the war, and if the Government takes over the telegraph lines it will be practically as a war measure.

The Outlook has long advocated Government control and administration of the telegraph lines. They are naturally and essentially a part of the postal system. There is every reason socially, industrially, and financially why the Government should administer the telegraph if it is going to administer the railways and the express companies. They are each an integral part of a general transportation system. As to the telephone, we do not think the case is so clear. It is said that the danger of spying and propaganda may make Government administration of the telephone essential, but while the legislation the President asks for will let him take over the telephone, we do not anticipate that this change will come as quickly as the conversion of the telegraph from a private to a Government enterprise. The system, both local and long-distance, in the United States is one of the most highly developed and best managed of the public utilities left in private hands. But it may be that the Bell telephone system is now so closely affiliated with the Western Union Telegraph Company that it will be necessary for the sake of efficient co-ordination to have the Government take the telephones as well as the telegraph. As we have said more than once before, the United States is going through a peaceful industrial and financial revolution such as the world really has never seen before. The properties involved in the railways and telegraph lines and the telephone system, which may be transferred from private to public operation and possibly to public ownership, amount to billions of dollars.

The fact is that we are living in an advanced stage of State Socialism, and we do not seem to mind it a bit.

[graphic]

LABOR AND THE WAR

Government control of labor is extending itself through two important agencies. The first is the War Labor Policies Board; the second is the United States Employment Service. The first was recently created; the second is about to begin its war activity.

The War Labor Policies Board consists of six representatives of labor and six of capital, with ex-President Taft and Mr. Frank P. Walsh as joint chairmen. When the Board was created, it was understood that neither employer nor employee would be asked to change fundamental pre-war conditions. As the Western Union Telegraph Company, in the effort of certain labor leaders to unionize it, was asked to change those conditions, the case constituted an important and significant one for the Board's consideration. Another interesting case before the Board has been the demands for wage increases by the street railway employees in various cities without regard to the financial conditions of the companies involved, it being expected that the President, acting through powers conferred on him by the declaration of war and reinforced by the Overman Act, would advance local car-fares if it should be demonstrated that the companies could not increase wages without more revenue.

The first problem, however, to which the War Labor Policies Board addressed itself was the formulation of a plan to centralize the recruiting of so-called unskilled labor, and thus to insure the fullest use of such labor to the needs of the war. The Board, with the sympathetic counsel of Secretary of Labor Wilson, soon arrived at a working plan. It was simply to agree that there should be one centralized National agency for recruiting the workers for the Nation's war needs. The United States Employment Service of the Department of Labor was evidently the agency appropriate for the task. All private enterprise in securing labor on a substantial scale should be prohibited, and all employers engaged in war work should be urged to refrain from recruiting unskilled labor in any manner except through this central agency.

To this end Secretary Wilson, on June 15, wrote a letter to President Wilson, saying that we can no longer leave our labor supply to unregulated forces or competition, or even to the Government's diverse agencies; and that one Government project should not secure men at the expense of another. He asked that labor might be mobilized and distributed as the War Labor Policies Board recommended.

The President was quick to respond, recognizing the situation, and naming the United States Employment Service of the Department of Labor with the counsel of the War Labor Policies Board as "the voice of the industrial agencies of the Government." He therefore appeals to all employers engaged in war work to refrain from recruiting unskilled labor in any manner except through this central agency. The President directs the War Labor Policies Board to appoint a committee on labor priorities to direct the United States Employment Service, the committee, in general, to follow the priorities determined by the War Industries Board.

Among the acts of President Wilson's Administration redounding most emphatically to his credit is his creation of the War Labor Policies Board, and the consequent decision to utilize to the full a centralized Government employment agency.

THE AMERICAN ARMY OF 1919

With a million men in American uniform in Europe and another million men in camps in the United States to go forward as rapidly as they can be fitted, the American people, rightly proud of what has been done in forming its new army, are already turning their attention to the gathering, instructing, and training of another, and perhaps larger, army for 1919.

In Congress there has been a strong sentiment for extending the draft age. Senator Fall vigorously advocated fixing it from eighteen to forty-five, with the proviso that none registered under twenty-one should be used for service on the firing line. Later in the discussion Senator Fall accepted the sug

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]
« PredošláPokračovať »