Mr. Roosevelt also referred to this matter, proposing that the school-houses be turned into a "senate of the people," where they

could discuss the issues of the hour. He declared his hearty approval of the maxim, "Public buildings for public uses.'

New Orleans Reformed

The political events of the past fortnight have not been exclusively in the National campaign. A municipal event is also well worth chronicling the sweeping victory in New Orleans, by a vote of more than ten to one, for the commission form of government. Like many another community, New Orleans has suffered under the failure of the aldermanic system, accompanied by the activities of unscrupulous bosses, to give proper government to its citizens. At last the old political ring has been partly broken; but not entirely. It still will try to elect an "organization Mayor and Commissioners." But its more comprehensive power has certainly been broken. In Galveston, where the plan was first tried, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin in Texas, Mobile and Montgomery in Alabama, as well as in Shreveport, Louisiana, the New Orleans people have had a chance, close at hand, to see just how the commission form of government works. At first there was a feeling that the plan might work ill because a yet stronger control over the city would be given to the Mayor and four Commissioners than to the Mayor and sixteen Aldermen. But conditions in New Orleans, one of the "widest open " towns in America so far as liquor, gambling dens, brothels, dives, and all sorts of "joints" are concerned, and with streets, health conditions, and internal improvements neglected, led the people to feel that, even if the newer form of government might mask a possible danger, it would be more than offset in the chance quickly to fasten responsibility for wrong-doing. Hence the vote of nearly twenty-four thousand in the affirmative, and of only about twenty-one hundred against the innovation. New Orleans will now be governed by five Commissioners, including the Mayor. As previous to this action only a few cities of over a hundred thousand population had adopted the commission form of government, the New Orleans plan, if it works well in a city of nearly three hundred and fifty thousand people, will impressively refute the theory of the opponents of commission government that the plan is good only for small cities.

Progress on the Panama Canal

Two items of news from the Canal Zone, the revision of the estimates of excavation necessary to complete the Canal, and the sinking of a section of the wharf at the Pacific terminus of the Canal, are events of importance chiefly because they may give rise to misapprehension if the facts are not clearly understood. An addition of 16,903,000 cubic yards of excavation to the estimates made heretofore is noteworthy even in Panama, where figures in the millions are common. The only important part of this, however, is the addition of 4,000,000 cubic yards made on account of the slides in Culebra Cut. Colonel Goethals is authority for the statement that this addition will not affect the prediction previously made by him that a ship could be passed through the Canal in September, 1913, a year from now. does not mean by this that the Canal will be completed, but merely that it will have reached such a stage that it can be used. In Culebra Cut there yet remain to be dug out, including the latest addition of four million yards, about 10,500,000 cubic yards of rock and earth. Forty-two steam shovels are working on this mass eight hours a day, and are removing it at the rate of one million yards a month. This rate, if continued, would result in the excavation being completed before September next, but it is not expected that it can be kept up, because the space in which steam-shovels can work is already being narrowed, and within six months it is probable that not over half the number of shovels now at work will

He

be digging in the Cut. If the shovels are unable to complete the excavation, it is proposed by Colonel Goethals to blast with dynamite such material as remains, as is now done continually, and then flood the trench. The excavation will have advanced to the point where vessels drawing thirty feet of water can pass safely through the Cut. The remaining fifteen feet (there is to be a fortyfive-foot depth) can then be taken out by elevator dredge, and towed either into Gatun Lake or out to sea at the Pacific entranceprobably the former, since to do so would not involve the use of locks.

tures that the Government is erecting at the Pacific entrance, such as quay walls and the dry dock. There need be no apprehension on this account. The section of the pier that slid towards the Canal was not based on bed-rock, and was not considered as part of the permanent wharfage. It adjoins the long pier of the Panama Railway, erected fourteen years ago, which is founded on steel caissons sunk to rock, and which has shown no signs of weakening. The new quay wall but recently completed at the Pacific terminus is built upon bed-rock, the concrete piers going down as much as seventy-five feet below the surface of the ground. The excavation for the dry dock, now in progress, contemplates just as substantial foundations. There is no reason to doubt that the permanent works of the Panama Canal will not lack for stability.

A Crisis in the George Junior Republic

The

controversy which has arisen in the George Junior Republic is temporarily unfortunate; but in its outcome it is alike creditable to William R. George, the founder of the Republic, and Thomas M. Osborne, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. It is unfortunate only as it may give rise to a natural misunderstanding among careless readers of the newspapers; and most of us read the newspapers carelessly. When, in 1898, Mr. George gathered at Freeville a group of boys, subsequently adding girls, from the streets of New York City, and organized them into a selfgoverning Republic and threw upon the boys and girls themselves the entire responsibility of making and enforcing all the local laws of the community-that is, all regulations beyond the laws of the State itself-his audacity of faith in human nature had no parallel, and in it he had little if any public sympathy. How much the extraordinary success of his experiment has been due to his personal influence as a friend and comrade of the citizens of his Republic has yet to be determined. Successful it was, so successful that, after two or three years, at Mr. George's request, it was incorporated, a Board of Trustees was organized to help guide its destinies, and Mr. Thomas M. Osborne was made its President. Ten years later, so strong had become the desire to initiate similar Republics in other parts of the country, and so urgent were the calls on Mr. George to aid in their formation, that a National Association of Junior Repub

66

lics was formed, and Mr. George was made its General Director, and therefore severed his official connection with the local Republic. He remained, however, at Freeville, where was his home, and made it the official headquarters of the National Association. This was quite natural, but proved to be an error in judgment. However heartily his successor might agree with Mr. George in spirit and purpose, it was impossible that he should agree with him in all methods. He would not have been the man for the place had he not had an initiative of his own. A mere copyist is never fitted to be at the head of a novel enterprise. It was equally impossible that Mr. George could see changes in method introduced and not have some apprehension as to the results; nor could he live in the Republic, in sympathetic relations with the boys and girls who had always called him Daddy," and avoid, however discreet he might be, their suspicion that every change in administration was a change for the worse, and that loyalty to him demanded that they should resent such changes. There are no such worshipers of tradition as uneducated children in their early teens. It is needless for us to narrate the difficulties which naturally arose under such conditions. Suffice it to say that they grew so acute that in July last Mr. Osborne resigned as President of the Board of Trustees. His resignation led to Mr. George's self-sacrificing resolve to sell his home and move away from Freeville altogether; and, as a result, Mr. Osborne will remain as President of the Board. The letters from Mr. Osborne and Mr. George, which have only just been made public, are too long for publication here. It must suffice to say that the wholly admirable spirit which both have maintained affords a happy augury for the future not only of the Freeville Republic, but also for other Republics which we hope may be established and successfully carried on in the same essential spirit. Those who have known Mr. George and the Republic which he has founded will heartily indorse the following paragraph from Mr. Osborne's second letter:

You are not only the founder of the Republic, but your personality has been the dominant force therein up to the present time. Many will find it hard to imagine the Republic in existence without "Daddy George" being on hand to radiate enthusiasm and faith in the little "great experiment." But that very feeling the difficulty of separating the thought of "Daddy George" from the Junior Republic—is the very

reason why the step you are taking seems to me wise. Sooner or later the hand of every one of whether it is wise to withdraw it sooner, rather us must be withdrawn from his earthly task; and than wait for the inevitable summons of death, depends upon the circumstances of each indi vidual case.

This event is, on the whole, not to be regretted. For the result will do much to determine whether the extraordinary success of the Republic is wholly due to a great personality, or whether it is due to a great principle which can be applied under other conditions and by men possessed of the spirit of Mr. George but not possessing his peculiar genius.

Abraham Lincoln's

The Century Magazine" for September conAchievements tains an interesting article, "Characteristic Anecdotes of Lincoln, from unpublished notes of his Private Secretary, John G. Nicolay, by Helen Nicolay." There is not much that is absolutely new in this article. Though some of the anecdotes are new to us, they all confirm the popular impression of Abraham Lincoln's character, and tend to intensify the admiration and affection for the great President. One incident which we do not recall to have seen before illustrates a profoundly religious trait in Mr. Lincoln's character-the trait of genuine, simple humanity. As he was leaving his Illinois home for Washington he said to the pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Springfield: "Mr. Hale, I have read my Bible some, though not half as much as I ought, and I have always regarded Peter as sincere when he said he would never deny his Master. Yet he did deny him. Now, I think I shall keep my word and maintain the stand I have taken; but, then, I must remember that I am liable to infirmity, and may fall." We do not think we have ever seen a summary of Lincoln's achievements so concisely eloquent as that which Mr. Nicolay's daughter quotes from her father's note-book-a summary in his own handwriting, made when writing had become well-nigh impossible for him:

Turned his defeat for the Senate into a success for the Presidency.

Took into the Cabinet his rivals, and made them his ministers and servants.

Conquered the Rebellion.

Liberated the slaves.

Outwitted all the intrigues against him in Cabinet and camp.

These

Morocco, and ultimately in the Far East. His celebrated walk of more than two thousand miles across Australia was rivaled by a three-thousand-mile walk across China, and then by a walk across Manchuria to Vladivostok on the Pacific. Dr. Morrison traveled alone, dressed as a native. and Dr. Morrison's other journeys were undertaken, not to satisfy a restless spirit, but to acquire knowledge at first hand. The result, so far as China was concerned, was that he knew the country better than did any Chinese statesman, for no one of these had studied it from as many angles. One has but to read Dr. Morrison's "An Australian in China " to realize this. Little by little he came to be consulted as one who could speak with comprehensive knowledge, and he was frequently consulted, especially during the three critical years before the Boxer atrocities startled the world in 1900, and also during the anxious time just before the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904.

The fol

lowing year, at the Russo-Japanese Peace Conference at Portsmouth, no one among the one hundred and twenty newspaper correspondents awakened more sympathetic respect than did Dr. Morrison. The appointment of such a man is a significant sign of President Yuan Shi-kai's recognition of the fact that a young Republic like China would do better with a tutor than without one.

The immense growth of billboard advertising in New York City has emphasized the imperative need of regulation. But when any thoroughgoing legislation is discussed or proposed, the backwardness of New York's courts in recognizing the true extent of the police power of a city stands in the way. is, of course, possible to regulate the billboards so far as they are dangerous in construction, or are allowed to become a menace to health, or are likely to spread a conflagration.

It

But the real indictment against the billboard is that it is ugly, that it offends the æsthetic sense, and that it injures the city because it is unsightly and offensive. The Commissioner of Accounts in New York, Mr. Fosdick, has been impelled by the increasing moral nuisance, if not the physical nuisance, of the billboard, to make a thorough investigation into the subject; and his report, just published, is a model of what a city investigation should be. It is most especially notable because of the numerous pic

tures which bring the offense and ugliness of the billboard directly before the reader's eye. Mr. Fosdick points out that there are over three thousand locations for billboard advertising in New York, exclusive of sky signs; and altogether there are about four thousand facings for advertisements, while eight of the leading concerns in the business have together a capital of about two million dollars. There is a city ordinance regulating both billboards and sky signs, but some of the provisions regarding the latter have been declared unconstitutional by the New York Court of Appeals on the ground that "" æsthetic considerations are a matter of luxury and indulgence rather than of necessity; and it is necessity alone which justifies the exercise of the police power to take private property without compensation." Other States and other cities have shown a more enlightened view, although the right of a city to make itself decent to the eye is perhaps nowhere so well established as it will be in the future. The New York Court of Appeals, however, in this matter as in others, has taken pains to place itself explicitly in the rear of such advance as has been made. Apart from the question of the aesthetic principles involved, Mr. Fosdick shows plainly that the law is being violated constantly and offensively, and that there are nuisances about which there is no question, which the city can and should instantly abate. As to the rest, we can only hope that the time will soon come when the law will recognize the common-sense theory that an offense to the eye is just as much a nuisance as an offense to the nose, and that the State or city must have power to promote beauty and attractiveness as well as safety and cleanliness.

Putting the Guilt in

the Right Place

A Federal judicial decision which is in line with the basic ideas of social justice has just been rendered by Judge Noyes, of the New York Circuit Court. A German woman who had been made ill by eating canned meat which contained the germs of trichinosis brought suit against the great packing company in Chicago which had put up the meat. Thereupon these meat-packers, Armour & Company, set up the legal defense that they did not deal directly with the consumer of the meat, but only with the storekeeper or middleman who sold the meat to the consumer, and that the middleman must, be held