trenches on the battle lines in northern France, and the work of the Mission is being kept up for the most part by the wives and children of the workers who are in the army.

Five of the Paris mission halls have been converted into workrooms for women whom the war has rendered destitute. Two meals a day are provided, and a small sum of money is given to each woman. The Mission workers are on half-pay, which is entirely insufficient, and if the war lasts more than three months it is a question how the workers can live.

Meanwhile the work of the Mission is more necessary than ever. Part of its work has been conducted on two boats that went up and down the little rivers of northern France running through the terrible battlefields. One of these boats was at Meaux, on the Marne, when the war broke out. With the approach of the Germans towards Paris it was a military necessity to sink all the boats that could help the invaders across the river, and a Mission boat, Le Ron Messager, on whose wide decks in days of peace the Gospel was so often preached, was sunk by a detachment of English troops.

Everywhere in the northern towns the missions have been working to relieve the suffering of the people about them. The iron hand of war crushes everything it touches, and it falls heavily on all institutions which live by public generosity.

OLD AGE AND WAR

Vice-President Marshall's declaration, made some time ago at Wabash College, that the old man is being shoved off the stage everywhere, needs revision, as does the opinion of another Democratic statesman that men over fifty are atrophied and of no use in public affairs. "Failing physical vision," said VicePresident Marshall, " is assumed to mark a like diminution of intellectual sight."

In a field in which old age ought to be a heavy handicap, Mr. Marshall's assumption is strikingly disproved. In the last great war between France and Germany the campaign was planned and led by elderly men. The Emperor William, then King of Prussia, was in his seventy-fourth year; von Moltke, the masterly strategist of the war, was seventyone years old; General von Roon was sixtyeight; and Bismarck, the master-mind in the larger field, was in his fifty-sixth year.

In the next great war in which high mili

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tary efficiency was displayed Admiral Togo was approaching his sixtieth year when he took the field; Prince Oyama, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese forces in Manchuria, had passed his sixtieth year; Field Marshal Nodzu was sixty-three; Field Marshal Yamagata was sixty-six; General Kuroki was sixty; and General Nogi, who took Port Arthur after a series of desperate conflicts carried on with unflinching energy and almost breathless rapidity, was nearly sixty years of age.

In the present war Lord Kitchener, the organizing genius of the English army, is sixty-four, and Sir John French, commanding the English forces in the field, is sixtytwo. When Lord Roberts was sent to South Africa to snatch victory out of defeat under circumstances demanding openness of mind, flexibility, and agility, he was sixty-eight years of age, and to-day, at eighty-two, he is the most striking figure in the English war councils.

On the French side General Joffre, who is steadily gaining in reputation and whose unbending devotion to his work and unwillingness to talk about it put him in a class with Lord Kitchener, is sixty-two; General Pau, who has come to the front of late, is sixtysix, and came out of his retirement to take the second position in authority in the French army; General Castelnau, the third in command, is well advanced in the sixties; and General Gallieni, who is in command of the defenses of Paris, is seventy.

The German armies are also led by a group of elderly men: Count von HuelsenHaeseler has reached the mature age of seventy-eight; Field Marshal von der Goltz is seventy-one, and has been an authority on military subjects for fifty years; General von Kluck, who has so far been the most prominent commander on the German side, has reached his sixty-eighth year; General von Emmich, who took Liège and has since died, was sixty-six; and General von Hindenburg, who is regarded as the ablest of the German commanders on the eastern frontier, is sixty

seven.

These figures suggest that, while fifty may be the dead line among Democratic statesmen, it appears to be a kind of life line among great leaders abroad.

THE WAR AND IMMIGRATION

With the opening of a war involving the chief sources of American immigration, the

The war

subject acquires a new interest. arrested the flow as abruptly as closing a water-tight gate in a dam would do that of a stream. What the ultimate effect will be it is difficult to forecast, but it is probable that the ebb and flow will be affected for years.

Since rapid intercommunication and transportation became easily accessible to all classes of society, there has been no war comparable with the present one to serve as a guide in framing a prophecy. In the past there was little opportunity for the class that furnishes most of the privates to escape the burdens which recovery from war entails. They had to remain in their places to help pay the cost of reconstruction. But in this age of industrialism, if wages at home are not equal to those abroad, laborers can remove to the more profitable field of employment. It is easier to destroy the mechanism of industry than of agriculture, and it cannot be rebuilt until capital, earned perchance from the most primitive wealth-producing industry, has been raised. Men outside of Russia today cannot, except under military law, be forced to labor in a given spot, provided they have the essential for removal to a more lucrative place of occupation. Will they stay to help build up the prostrated country, or emigrate to countries which have not been devastated by the scythe and torch of modern warfare? The duration of the war, of course, will have some bearing on the

answer.

To be sure, even in the direst of national calamities, emigration is not an unmixed evil, for if it removes the able hands, it returns a portion of the wealth it has produced elsewhere.

It will be interesting to observe the effect of the war upon the wage scale of the world, for labor is now a fluid, international commodity. Will it tend to raise wages? There is no immediate need for immigrants either in Canada, the United States, or in the Argentine, the chief countries drawing upon other sections of the world for workers. In Canada and the United States the depressed state of industry has turned the stream back upon itself and reduced the flow materially. The crop condition in Argentina is responsible for a decrease in immigration to that country. Ordi. narily 300,000 "birds of passage" go to this land, their transoceanic flight made easy by a one-way rate of $7.50 from Italy.

In view of the situation, what will Congress

do? A new element which has temporarily cut off the stream absolutely has been introduced to complicate the problem. Although, undoubtedly, immigration will set in again, it would perhaps be the better part of wisdom to await a clearing of the atmosphere.

THE IMMIGRATION RECORD

Up to January 1, the official year which closed on June 1 promised to be the record one for immigration. On that date the incoming stream of immigrant and non-immigrant aliens had reached the total of 830,744. Usually the immigration for this half of the year is less than fifty per cent of the year's total. It might have been expected, therefore, that the number for the year would be more than 1,600,000. This would have been a record. From January 1 forward, however, the immigration fell off, and the total for the second half of the year was 572,337, two-fifths of the number for the year, which was 1,403,081, a number slightly less than that of 1912-13. Eliminating the nonimmigrant aliens-those who have been here before and established a home-the total was 1,218,480.

The exodus since the first of the year has not been equaled for a corresponding period in any year since that following the crisis of October, 1907, while the number entering has fallen to so low a total only once since 1908. The outgoing stream was three-fifths the incoming.

With the exception of Ruthenians and Italians, the only people establishing new records in the year just closed were from the Balkan region and included the Rumanians, Bulgarians, Slavs from Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Bosnia, and Montenegro, and Greeks. Perhaps the record Balkan emigration may be taken as an indication of what may be expected to follow the close of the great European war now waging.

The Italian total of 296,414 (north and south) was to be credited in a large measure to a desire to be on the sure side of the gate should a literacy test be established. Fewer of this race returned home this year than last, a fact which perhaps may be taken as an evidence that they intend to remain as long as possible where literacy tests cannot get at them. More Hebrews came last year than in any year since 1907, the total being 138,051. Comparatively few "birds

of passage "fluttered hither last spring, but the number of women, and children admitted exceeded that of the previous year. A record number of Africans (since the slave days), 8,447, entered, chiefly from the West Indies. In 1904 the number admitted was only 2,380.

The causes for the heavy immigration between July 1 and December 31, 1913, in the face of National legislative conditions such as have usually discouraged immigration, were untoward economic conditions in central Europe and the fear in Italy of the establishment of a literacy test. Usually in recent years the primary motive for immigration has been American demand. As we have seen, industrial conditions here were so unsatisfactory this spring that, bad as they were at home, there was no incentive to emigrate.

If we did not set up a new record in immigration this year, we did in the number debarred. We sent back 33,041, as compared with 19,938 in 1912-13 and 24,270 in 1909-1910, the previous record. Among them were 1,077 idiots, imbeciles, and feeble-minded, 3,254 persons suffering from loathsome or dangerous contagious diseases, 15,705 liable to become public charges (a number twice as great as that of the previous year), 6,537 certified by the surgeons as having physical or mental defects which might affect their capacity to earn a livelihood, and 2,793 contract laborers. With the exception of the number of those liable to become public charges, which was greater by 200 in 1909-10, these are records. It is evident from the increase in the number of mentally affected who were debarred that the facilities for detecting ailments of this nature are being developed. The totals are expanding from year to year. pity that such an army of disappointed human beings are not saved part of the disappointment and loss involved in a futile transatlantic journey through the adoption of an effective system of examination at the ports of embarkation.

EDUCATING A NATION ABOUT ITS CHILDREN

It is a

The Child Welfare Exhibit has now become a National institution. Wherever such an exhibit is held it instructs the community in what that community is doing for its children; what it is not doing for its children; and what it should do for its children. It shows the relation between the life of the child as a

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whole and the life of the community as a whole.

In January and February, 1911, the first Child Welfare Exhibit was held in the Seventyfirst Regiment Armory of New York. It is estimated that two hundred and fifty thousand people saw this exhibit and ten million people read about it. The Outlook described it at the time. Jane Addams characterized it as a cross-section of our civilization." The material then exhibited, supplemented by local material, was shown at a second Child Welfare Exhibit given in Chicago a few months later. Then requests from cities wishing Child Welfare Exhibits began to pour in so thick and fast that New York's local committee was swamped and the organization of the National Child Welfare Exhibit Association, with headquarters at 200 Fifth Avenue, New York, became imperative. Since then Kansas City, Rochester, Knoxville, and Atlanta have followed the example of New York and Chicago.

The forthcoming exhibits are to be State instead of city affairs. Mr. Charles F. Powlison, the Executive Secretary of the Association, in a recent tour of the West, found that in the State universities he had an efficient instrument already at hand for carrying a Child Welfare Exhibit to the people of entire States both in city and .country. Practically all State universities, particularly in the West, have departments of sociology and extension departments for carrying the university to those taxpayers who cannot come to the university. Since the officers and teachers in these universities are State officials and employees, they can naturally and readily secure the aid and co-operation of the various State departments. For instance, in the State of Indiana an Indiana State Child Welfare Exhibit has been in preparation by the Professor of Sociology in the State University, working through the Extension Division of the University, and in co-operation with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the College of Agriculture of Purdue University, the State Board of Charities, the State Bureau of Inspection, the State Library Commission, the State Fire Marshal, and private societies. Similar exhibits are being similarly prepared for the States of Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The States of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have agreed through their universities to take the matter

up as soon as organizations can be sent by the National Child Welfare Exhibit Association to take charge of the work. New York State may be the first of the Eastern States to follow the lead of these Western States. One obvious advantage of this plan is that it is capable of extension until the giving of State child welfare exhibits at appropriate intervals shall be looked upon as a regular and essential part of the extension work of every State university. Perhaps nothing could do more to develop the greatest resource of the United States-its children.

THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF
AMERICAN COMMERCE

On October 11, 1614, the States General of Holland granted to several merchants of Amsterdam and Hoorn the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians in New Netherland, the region which is now New York City and vicinity. This was the beginning of the regularly chartered commerce of New York.

Although other parts of the territory now the United States had been settled before that year-notably St. Augustine, Florida, and Jamestown, Virginia-they had devel oped no systematic commerce worth mentioning up to that time. Thus 1914 is the tricentennial of the establishment of the regularly chartered commerce of the United States.

The duty or pleasure of celebrating this event has been left largely to the people of New York City and State. A Citizens' Committee appointed by the late Mayor Gaynor of New York has grown into the New York Commercial Tercentenary Commission, which includes, as ex-officio members, the mayors of all the cities of the State and the presidents of all the incorporated villages of the valley that bears the name of the intrepid Hudson.

Unlike the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, in 1909, the present movement emphasizes the commercial and industrial aspects of American life, although the historical and intellectual sides of the anniversary have been recognized by numerous pageants and festivals in the schools and parks of greater New York. Thus far, however, the chief features in the long programme of the Tercentenary have been an Automobile Pageant on October 28 and a Commercial Pageant on October 31.

It is fitting that this tricentennial of American commerce should coincide with the opening of the Panama Canal. The westward

passage to the Orient, which the early explorers sought in vain, has now been created by twentieth-century science and determination. As the New York Tercentenary Commission points out, "We thus have a period of three hundred years of American history sharply defined by two conspicuous eventsat one end the beginning of the chartered commerce of New Netherland, which was the forerunner of the greater commerce of the Nation; at the other end, the opening of the Panama Canal, which is the consummation of the hitherto unattained hopes of centuries, and which is destined vastly to increase the commerce of the port of New York and the Nation as time goes on."

A MONUMENT TO JACOB A. RIIS

As our readers know, we deeply shared in the universal respect and affection which was felt in this country for Jacob A. Riis. Few native Americans were more sincerely patriotic, more profoundly devoted to its institutions and social welfare, than he. And he was an immigrant! His untimely death was in no small part caused by the self-sacrificing expenditure of his time, strength, and money for the benefit of his fellow-citizens of all conditions of life. It is a commendatory practice in this country to make an effort to build material monuments in honor of American patriots, although some of these monuments are often not as commendable in their form as in their idea. Fortunately in the case of Jacob Riis it is not necessary to build a monument. He designed and partly built one before his death, on lines which can be enlarged and strengthened as time goes on. It is the Jacob A. Riis Neigh

borhood Settlement.

Dr. Jane E. Robbins, the head worker of the Settlement, informs us that, owing partly to the financial condition of the country, perhaps, and partly to the fact that Mr. Riis is no longer here to plead for the work, the income from voluntary contributions has greatly decreased. She rightly feels that when this fact is brought to the attention of the small army of Mr. Riis's unknown friends throughout the country, the deficiencies will be made good. Mr. Roosevelt used to say, "Taking all his qualities into consideration, Jacob Riis is the best American citizen I know." This was a fine tribute from a man whose forebears had lived three centuries in this country to a fellow-man who came to these shores in

the steerage. We gladly print the following appeal which Dr. Robbins sends us.

"Dear Reader of The Outlook:

"The dirty-faced little rascal of to-day with stone in hand can by your help become in five years a manly young fellow in a responsible position. What he needs is 'to cut the gang.' Back of every boy who makes the proud boast, Not one of you fellows has anything on me,' is the thankful old mother or the bright-eyed sister made happy by the boy's success. One good father had tears in his eyes as he watched his son go through his drill in the gymnasium. We have 500 boys like him in the gymnasium and in our clubs learning to live up to Riis House standards. Will you help us in our fight to keep this 'perfectly good' boy from being spoiled by the street?

"The homelike social dances, with their good cheer and wholesome fun, have meant more to the young people than you can possibly imagine. The working-girls spend themselves at their tasks by day and they want a good time at night. A bright, attractive room appeals to their youth and to their unconscious love of beauty. The music, the games, the amateur dramatics, find a ready response, and peals of girlish laughter float out from their pleasant club-rooms.

"The children think the roof garden is theirs, and spend many happy hours there, free from the perils of the city street, swinging contentedly to and fro or playing their ring-around games.

"Come some afternoon to visit one of the six mothers' clubs who meet with us. At the Fresh-Air Home, as we came to know these patient, hard-working, or ambitious mothers, we felt that we were spending the summer with a set of heroines. would like to help these mothers.

I know you

"To-day is a time of sacrifice for love of country, and we need you more than ever before in our patriotic work for these new Americans. Contributions for Thanksgiving and Christmas may be sent addressed to the Treasurer, Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, 48 Henry Street, New York City."

THE DRUG HABIT AND THE LAW

Apparently it is generally admitted by medical experts that the use of habit-forming drugs has greatly increased in the United States within the past five or six years. The

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prices of these drugs for legitimate use are now about twice what they were six years ago because of the great expansion in the sale of drugs for illicit purposes. In New York State awakening public recognition of the injury that was being done to the community by the drug habit led to the adoption of the measure commonly known as the Boylan Law. As this measure has now been in force since July 1, 1914, and as it is probably the best piece of legislation on this subject ever secured in this country, a résumé of the law and an account of what it has accomplished have general interest.

The main provisions of the Boylan Law are as follows:

(1) All drug dealers, physicians, dentists, and veterinarians must use official order blanks in making purchases of opium, morphine, heroin, codein, or other dangerous, habit-forming drugs, and must keep record of purchases and sales.

(2) In filling prescriptions containing any of these drugs a certificate must be issued containing names of doctor, druggist, and patient.

(3) Mere possession of any of these drugs without this certificate is a misdemeanor.

(4) Addicts may be committed by magistrates to hospitals where they can have medical treatment.

The last provision is a very important one, for, as is well said by Mr. Charles B. Towns, an authority on drugs and the effects of their improper use, who drew up the Boylan Bill: "To deprive a drug addict of his drug without giving him definite medical help inevitably will subject him to such suffering, such incredible and indescribable torment, as cannot otherwise be brought upon mankind." The truth of this statement is evidenced by the fact that the drug wards of hospitals in some of the large cities of New York State have had an unprecedented number of applicants since the Boylan Law went into effect. Unable to get their beloved "dope," many gunmen, gamblers, prostitutes, and other denizens of New York City's underworld have appeared at the city's hospitals and clamored for treatment. The law is considered an excellent police measure, and during the months of July, August, and September New York City's special" Drug Squad" of police has made 409 arrests and secured 236 convictions, with 91 cases still pending.

The public is only beginning to realize the