THE ELECTIONS

The newspaper reports of an election that are received within the twenty-four hours which follow the closing of the polls can be fairly discussed only in their general terms. There is too large an opening for doubt still remaining as to the details of the opinion registered by the Nation at large.

Before the present election there were four general questions upon which the Nation's voters expected to take their stand:

Has the Democratic Administration warranted the continued support of the country at large?

Is the Progressive party still a vital factor in the arena of National politics?

Have the American people definitely decided to eliminate the boss and the political machine from sharing the control of their destinies ?

What is the attitude of the Nation at large upon such social questions as woman suffrage, prohibition, the various questions of Constitutional policy and of legislative reform that were presented to their attention by referendum in the several States ?

Upon the last of these four questions the final results are not yet known as The Outlook goes to press. Apparently, the hope of the suffragists that the vote might be given to women at this present election has been destroyed in Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nevada.

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But even the election of this Congressman must be taken not as an indorsement of the Progressive party so much as a decisive rebuke to the economic policies of the present Administration in their effect upon that State's interests.

With the election of Boies Penrose to the Senatorship in Pennsylvania over Gifford Pinchot and A. Mitchell Palmer, with the likelihood that Illinois will be represented in the Senate by Roger Sullivan, with the return to political activity of such old Republican war-horses as ex-Speaker Cannon and Representative McKinley, the third question anThe Nation at large seems to

swers itself.

have decided that it did not care to sacrifice what it regarded as its present economic welfare by a vote of protest for political principles or for the reform of political machinery.

To the first, and perhaps the most important, of these four questions the handwriting upon the ballots has given apparently a more definite answer, when we consider that there were many who no doubt longed for the elimination of such men as Barnes and Penrose from the political structure of this Nation who nevertheless chose to swell the tide of Republican triumph with their votes. The reports we have received from Pennsylvania indicate that thousands voted for Penrose upon the same principle by which the Germans have justified their violation of Belgium. A vote for Penrose seemed to them the shortest and quickest road to Paris, and they were willing to sacrifice their convictions to make their actions immediately effective. New York State, by returning a Republican Governor by approximately 150,000 majority, has added its quota to Democratic defeat. Here, as in other States, local issues contributed to the result, for the election of Mr. Whitman to the Governorship not only means popular discontent with the National Administration, but also a revolt against the particular machine in power, and therefore most evident above the political horizon.

The Republican victory in New York State, in New Jersey, and in other States throughout the Nation has apparently placed the Democratic control of Congress in very real peril. In the Senate the Democrats have gained, but in the House and without the House their policies will have hard sledding; their

control has been lost or retained by a very narrow margin.

The result of this election has been in many instances a triumph of the reactiontionary element. Generalizations are unsafe, but it may be deduced perhaps from the results that, without economic prosperity, the Nation has little stomach for political and social reform.

THE INTER-STATE

COMMERCE COMMISSION

In the celebrated Freight Rate Case of last summer the Inter-State Commerce Commission, it will be remembered, granted an increase of freight rates to the railways in the Central Freight Association territory, but denied an increase to the Trunk Line and New England territories. Since that decision was rendered the railways assert that the wholly unexpected economic and industrial conditions resulting from the war have made necessary a further increase of rates, or rather an extension of the territory in which rates may be increased. Railway authorities have published tables of statistics and reports to show that the gross earnings of some of the best-managed railways in the country are rapidly decreasing without a proportionate decrease in expenditures. Mr. Charles Francis Adams, of Boston, who for twenty-three years was an officer of the Union Pacific Railway, and who is recognized as an accomplished and expert authority on American public questions, has written to President Wilson in defense of National as opposed to State regulation of railways, and urges that the National Government, if it wishes to save the American railways from a terrible financial crash, must grant an increase of rates.

These various events and incidents have led again to much private and public criticism of the Inter-State Commerce Commission. Many impatient citizens assert that if the Commission does not grant the desired incréase, and grant it at once, it will prove that it has wholly failed in its functions and ought to be abolished. We think these critics of the Inter-State Commerce Commission lose sight of one or two aspects of the question that are more important than an increase of

rates.

Shall we have wholly privately managed railways, like those of the scandalous period of the '70's and '80's, or Government owned and operated railways, or Government regu

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lated railways? There are only these three possibilities. We are for the last. If after a fair trial it proves a failure, Government ownership with all its difficulties and dangers seems inevitable.

Under a policy of Government regulation, shall the regulation be administered by Congress or by an executive committee or board to carry out the principles laid down by Congress? We are for the executive committee or board, as we think every experienced business man must be. The executive committee in this case is the Inter-State Commerce Commission.

Shall it be a group of estimable but practically powerless sub-assistants of the President and of Congress, or shall it have ability, responsibility, and power? It seems to us axiomatic that the men who administer our railways must be men of ability, responsibility, and power. The Commission must be in very truth a kind of Supreme Court of railway questions. The political stability of the United States rests upon respect for the authority of the Supreme Court. Consider for a moment what would have happened if in 1893 the supporters of the Income Tax Law had said while the Supreme Court was considering it, You must find it Constitutional; if you do not, you are a failure and must be abolished.

The very function and purpose of the Inter-State Commerce Commission is to hear in its proceedings the most reliable expert witnesses that the country can produce; to get the facts, to get the technical statistics, to digest the figures, and to render its judgment on that basis. It is created to do what no layman, no single railway man, however expert, and no single publicist, however experienced, can hope to do for himself.

The remedy is not for any private citizen to formulate in advance a verdict, and to insist that the Inter-State Commerce Commission shall adopt that verdict. If any remedy is needed, it is to see that the Inter-State Commerce Commission is put, by reason of its ability, its respected authority, and its governmental power, on a plane not dissimilar to that of the Supreme Court of the United States.

If we could address the railway managers of the United States in mass-meeting assembled, we should say: Devote yourselves, gentlemen, to the problem of making a great Inter-State Commerce Commission instead of

to the inappropriate and useless task of trying to make its verdicts.

THE MEXICAN

CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE

The most significant features of the continuous performance in Mexico during the seven days that end as this number of The Outlook goes to press have been the amalgamation of the Villa and Zapata forces at the Aguas Calientes gathering and the acknowledged transformation of this peace conference into a war conference. According to newspaper despatches, the Aguas Calientes Congress has "ordered an extensive movement of the Villa troops towards Mexico City." Already there have been rumors of clashes between Villa forces and Carranza troops at several points between Aguas Calientes and Mexico City, while the irrepressible Zapata is reported to have attacked the town of San Angel, a suburb of the Mexican capital.

The Villa-Zapata coalition at the Aguas Calientes Conference, after coming out openly for the so-called "plan of Ayala," which calls for the immediate division of the big landed estates of Mexico, brought about the election of General Eulalio Gutierrez as Provisional President of Mexico for a period of twenty days. It is carefully explained that the extreme limitation of General Gutierrez's term of office was due to the fact that the Zapata delegates had not been given by their chief the power to vote in the Convention, and hence we are led to infer that there may be another vote on the fitness of Señor Gutierrez for office before his twentyday term is out. Gutierrez was comparatively unknown prior to his sudden elevation into eminence. A humble grocer a few years ago, he first received favorable attention from the revolutionists as a successful dynamiter of Federal troop trains.

Carranza, of course, denies the legitimacy of the Gutierrez election and continues to aver that he is willing to retire to private life only if Villa and Zapata will do likewise. This the redoubtable pair seem not anxious to do. Carranza has again protested against the presence of the United States forces in Vera Cruz. On the whole, the Mexican situation continues to be a subject to try the temper of the most confirmed optimist.

THE ITALIAN CABINET

The members of the Italian Cabinet have resigned. The cause of their resignation is

the difficulty encountered in obtaining proper sanction to extraordinary military expenditures. The present exigency imposes upon Italy an unusual care, not only to keep her military and naval forces intact, but also to provide for a possible heavy increase in expenses in the near future.

Accordingly the Minister of War and the Chief of the General Staff have made extraordinary demands upon Italian finances-so extraordinary indeed as to lead to the proposal that all taxes should be increased by one-tenth to meet such augmented expenditure. Unless this were done the Minister refused to approve of such expenditures, as there would be an inevitable deficit for which he declined to undertake the responsibility. Nor would he give way to the urgent insistence of the Prime Minister and the Minister of War that the expenditures be undertaken at any cost, the deficit to be remedied later. Rather than agree, the Minister of Finance resigned, and his resignation has caused the retirement of the whole Cabinet.

The interesting thing about the Italian Cabinet crisis is the fact that, as in France, it has really been caused less by any lack of confidence in the integrity of the Ministers than by the growing feeling among the Italian people, as among the French, that the present time demands a Ministry of All the Talents "-that is to say, the Ministry which shall represent all parties. Accordingly we are not surprised to learn that the King has summoned men of all parties, including the Socialist, to decide whether a so-called national Ministry, like that in France, may not be formed.

PUBLIC OPINION IN ITALY

In view of the Italian Cabinet crisis, Italian public opinion becomes very interesting. As may be expected, the long-cherished hope to reclaim Italia Irredenta (unredeemed Italy, the Trentino and Trieste) is a strong factor in the present situation. It is natural that the Italians should incline to whichever side in the present conflict promises them the possession, especially, of the Trentino-the region about the city of Trent in which a great Italian population lives. If Italy had the Trentino, her northern frontier, now interrupted by this triangular piece jutting into the peninsula, would be properly rounded.

Because of this hope, and also because they believe in the cause of the Entente Powers,

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certain Italian political parties-the Nationalists, the Republicans, and the Reformist Socialists-would declare for the Allies.

With the Nationalists there is a touch of humor in the situation because they used to consider France as Italy's greatest prospective enemy. Perhaps they correspond to the Bernhardi school in Germany; they seem to be Real-Politiker, political realists-that is to say, time-servers who will take territorial gains where they can. The other two political parties, the Republican and the Reformist Socialist, seem to be chiefly inspired by hatred of Austria, inherited from their great apostle Mazzini.

The Socialists proper preach neutrality. But these Socialists themselves fall into two classes those who believe in absolute and those who believe in conditional neutrality. Their organ, the "Avanti," is interesting reading these days; and their leaders-Ferrari, Mussolini, Bissolati-worth hearing. Indeed, Signor Bissolati has now actually been called to Rome to help form the new Cabinet.

Opposed to the Nationalists, Republicans, and Reformist Socialists are the Conservatives and a section of the Liberals. These are the political parties who maintain that the triumph of England, France, and Russia, no matter how inspiring for popular rights, would mean the triumph of those who have been Italy's chief competitors in the Mediterranean, and who are the protectors of the Slav power which Italy dreads.

In addition, there is a feeling among them that to fight against Germany and Austria would be in some sense a betrayal. The other day the Catholics, in congress at Milan, declared that "an attitude of hostility towards the states of the Triple Alliance and in favor of those of the Triple Entente would be, unless imposed by insurmountable necessities of national defense, an attack on the rights of nations equal to that of the violation of Belgium." This is an extreme statement, but it finds recognition even among the Entente Powers by such an organ as the "Westminster Gazette," for instance, which says:

We, for whom the breaking of a treaty by Germany has been a factor of such supreme importance, should do well to respect the sentiment that makes a large section of Italians averse to making war against former allies. Neither by caresses nor by veiled threats should we try to lure the Italians to our side.

Whatever the position of the Italian people, the Government, like our own, has main

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tained up to this time its position of neutrality, in the belief that, if it can keep its military and naval forces armed and intact, it can, in the final settlement, greatly strengthen its moral position as a neutral Power, and, while legitimately attending to its own interests, can more quickly assure justice and peace.

THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
AND STRICKEN EUROPE

In such a time as this, when the sympathy of the whole world is searching for means to aid the innocent sufferers of Europe, it is gratifying to record that this outpouring of the Nation's spirit is to find an immediate expression through the highly organized and efficient philanthropy of the Rockefeller Foundation. Men trained to deal with problems on a national basis are not ready at hand in every emergency. When such men can be found, backed by almost unlimited wealth, to face such a catastrophe as has devastated the Belgian nation, all the forces that are working towards the relief of the terrible suffering across the seas can take new hope in the progress of their work.

From the Rockefeller Foundation has come a statement of intention from which the following quotation has been taken :

It having become clear that one of the most terrible and appealing effects of the war will fall upon the non-combatants-those most innocent of any part in the cause or the conduct of the conflict-the Rockefeller Foundation has determined to exert itself to the extent, if necessary, of millions of dollars for the relief of noncombatants in the various countries involved.

This action is taken as a natural step to fulfilling the chartered purposes of the Foundation, namely, "to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world."

In order to obtain expert opinion as to the time, place, and means of rendering aid most effectively, the Foundation has arranged to send to Europe within the next few days a Commission which shall visit the countries affected and advise us first-hand. The chairman of the Commission will be Mr. Wickliffe Rose, Director-General of the International Health Commission, whose successful experience in organizing the campaign against hookworm disease in various parts of the world peculiarly fits him for the task.

To avoid delay and to provide relief at the earliest possible moment for the suffering people of Belgium the Foundation has chartered the largest neutral ship available in New York

Harbor, and purchased a full cargo of supplies to be despatched immediately.

OTHER AGENCIES NOT SUPPLANTED

It is not to be understood in any way that the Rockefeller Foundation expects to supplant the efforts of those agencies which have already undertaken the difficult task of bringing succor to broken Belgium. This fact the statement of the Foundation makes very clear. It continues:

This action will but supplement the publicspirited efforts of the Belgian Relief Committee, of which Mr. Robert W. de Forest is Chairman. That the necessity is vital and worthy of the heartiest support is indicated by the following cablegrams which, in reply to inquiries, we have received from Mr. Page, the American Ambassador at London:

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"Belgians on the verge of starvation. phatically regard it most opportune to help. I have never known such a case of need. Committee to distribute food consists of prominent Americans here and influential Belgians in Belgium and American Minister and Consuls in Belgium, all under my direction. British Government forbids export of food, and no food can be bought on Continent. Help needed is food and clothing for women and children.

"It will require a million dollars a month for seven or eight months to prevent starvation. In fact, many will starve now before food can reach them. No food can be bought and exported from any country in Europe. Every dollar you choose to give will save or prolong a human life if you give it quickly. enough. No other time will come in any land when there can be greater need. Do not send money. Buy six parts wheat, two parts rice, two parts beans, and ship in neutral ships consigned to American Consul at Rotterdam. Inform me when you ship and I will arrange all diplomatic requirements for landing, for transit to Belgium, and for distribution in small quantities by the Commission of Relief, which as a means of reaching all the people have taken over all grocery stores."

On next Tuesday morning [November 3], therefore, the Massapequa, of the New York and Porto Rico Steamship Company, will sail direct to Rotterdam, Holland, laden with 4,000 tons of supplies, consigned to the American Consul.

The extraordinary need in Belgium is further indicated by the following cablegram received from Mr. H. C. Hoover, of the American Relief Committee in London:

"Have received reports from members of our Commission, from the American Minister in Brussels and from local officials that within

three weeks the last vestige of foodstuffs in Belgium will have been exhausted, and the entire population of over seven million people will be faced with starvation. The minimum supply of foodstuffs required amounts to about ninety thousand tons of cereals per month, together with bacon or lard. The minimum monthly expenditure required is from four to five million dollars, of which some part returnable through sales. It therefore appears that the problem of feeding the people of Belgium transcends other Belgian relief. The one function of Americans in Belgian relief is the purchase and despatch of food. We have expended every dollar that we have received in the purchase and despatch of foodstuffs already, and it will take all the funds we can raise here to take care of emergency pending arrival of stuffs from America."

It is obvious that no philanthropic exertion will be too great to relieve the acute suffering of those victims of the war who are innocent of any participation in it.

That the committee of investigation of conditions in Europe is under the head of so efficient and capable an executive as Mr. Wickliffe Rose is ample guarantee to all of the earnestness and the effectiveness with which the mission will be prosecuted.

Ships have gone out from this country. before to suffering Europe, carrying supplies to the famine sufferers of Ireland, to the cotton-spinners of England, to India, and to earthquake-stricken Italy, but it can be said. that no ship has ever gone upon a more imperious call than that which took the Massapequa from our shores.

THE WAR AND
THE MCALL MISSION

The fate that has befallen the McAll Mission in France makes a vivid picture of the ravages of war far away from battlefields and burning cities.

Almost all Americans know about the McAll Mission. It was founded in 1872, the year after the Franco-Prussian War, the first service being held in a little hired shop in Belleville. This was so successful that a number of halls were rented, and in time these were succeeded by more ample accommodations. These " plants," as they are called, have developed into centers of all kinds of human assistance and sympathy in neighborhood life. Now there are more than forty McAll Mission institutions; and hundreds of Americans have seen the Salle Centrale and the Maison Verte in Paris. Most of the leaders of this Mission are now in the