DR. IVAN BRATT

As a

it is in excess of the death rate. fact, the number of children born is now declining. The increase in population is due, therefore, to restrictions on emigration and to a diminished death rate, which means that the increase falls within groups of an age to use alcohol.

It is the urban population which has increased. The rural population has stood still. The trade in alcohol is almost exclusively confined to the towns, which means that intoxicants have been made accessible to a larger number of persons than in 1913, And as the towns are better policed than the country, there has been, presumably, a better supervision and registration of cases of drunkenness. The automobile has done done something to increase communication between the countryside and the urban centers; Sweden, which in 1913 had but few motors, had at the end of last year 110,000. The rural districts are no longer so fully isolated, and undoubtedly country folk do get to the towns and restaurants where intoxicants are sold.

Long known as "the land of peasants", Sweden is being industrialized; this, of course, accounts for the growth of the towns. There have been crises as regards food-stuffs, currency and manufacture. Political democracy

has been achieved in the Chamber of the Riksdag, then in local government, then in the elections to the First Chamber.

ba

Now, during the period we are coning, deposits in private savingsand in the Post-office savingsconsiderably more than doubled: to be exact, from 1,039,000,000 kronen in 1913 to 2,811,000,000 in 1926. During the same period the membership of the labor unions more than quadrupled; and this has a bearing because the value of the schooling given to workingmen by the trades-unions can hardly be overestimated. It is noteworthy that the membership of the unions, at first favorable to prohibition, is now in opposition..

More than that, two plebescites on prohibition have been arranged at intercals of twelve years. The first, at the close of 1909, was organized by the prohibition advocates in Sweden, and the vote stood more than 1,800,000 to less than 20,000 in favor of the wets. The second, arranged by the State, was held in 1922, when the vote stood 889,000 in favor of total prohibition to 924,000 against it.

This overturn in opinion has affected the prohibition organizations themselves. Before the World War they had a membership of half a million; in 1926 the figure stood at 360,000. It would be unfair to assume that this

decline is of decisive importance; it does seem symptomatic. And it might have been more marked had the Bratt system gone into effect as smoothly, after 1920, as my presentation may unintentionally have made it appear. As a fact the State authority which supervises the operation of the local companies had difficulty drumming into more than one of them the precise method of practice. Detailed advice and instructions were supplied, but years passed before these were followed with precision in all cases. It has been difficult, too, to get communal temperance committees to function; many of them existed for a long while only on paper.

1911-13

A table showing the consumption of intoxicants for three years before the Bratt system was put into effect, and for the last three years for which figures are available, will be useful in determining its effect. The first column will show consumption for inclusive; the last period 1925-27 inclusive; and it is proper to give also the figures for Stockholm, the capital and largest city, which has half a million people. In certain cases Stockholm statistics are available when none can be obtained for the country (Please Turn to Page 798)

A

Such As?

CRITIC is like a dog tied on a long leash. He wanders here and there at will, digging holes, upsetting garden furniture and scratching up flower beds. The world is his, until, all of a sudden, he comes to the end of his rope; and that's what happens to a critic when he goes about under-mining things, exposing faults, finding flaws, suggesting changes. Some one says: "Such as what?" Then the rope tightens about the critic's neck, and shuts off his bark. "Spang!" as Uncle Remus would say.

"Moth and Rust in the Sunday School," which appeared in The Outlook a few weeks ago, was not so much a criticism of religious methods as it was a plea for help. I was seeking advice about how to keep my children in Sunday School; how to make them willing to attend. Not one solution to that problem did I receive. Instead I was snowed under by communications from church workers. Courteous they were; reasonable and logical. Most of them admitted that my objections were well-founded. But they invariably came back at me with the questions: "Then what? What changes in the Sunday School would you suggest?" I quote from one of the letters, written by Park Hays Miller, associate editor of the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education:

"Religious education is infinitely complex. Children and youth are always impossible. Leaders are ever inefficient. The greatest monument to the grace of God is the kind of characters such Christian educators and their weak methods have developed. I do not mean this as an argument against the best that can be provided . . .

""Moth and Rust in the Sunday School' is worth reading. Articles of this kind tell what leaders in religious education already know and have been struggling with. Note the remedy proposed by the author. It is in terms of generalities. Why does she not outline a curriculum, suggest particular musicians and music, tell exactly what to do? Ah, there's the rub."

strong enough to set a critic's hair
bristling and make him tug at the end
of his rope.
But it is in no such spirit

that I answer. No one could be
humbler than I about advising upon
religious subjects. I am a housewife,
not a minister; a mother, not a trained
church worker. I have a few ideas
about Sunday Schools which I have
gathered from the memories of the time
when I was a pupil, and from what my
children, who are now pupils, tell me.
I offer them diffidently, with a feeling
that they are not of great value or they
would have been adopted long ago.

The chief objection that is given in the letters I have received is that the changes I suggest cost money. The church is not a wealthy organization, my correspondents say; it is dependent upon contributions for support. Most congregations are struggling for existence. To this I respond that the reason they are poor is that they are living beyond their means. They are trying to spread their religion over Persia, India, China; to clothe the Indians; to feed the negroes. In the meantime the cupboard is bare at home. My objection to most foreign missionary work is not from a religious standpoint, but an economic one. No grocer thinks of opening an annex until his original store is on a firm basis. I feel that sending cream to the Chinese heathen, and feeding our own boys and girls skimmed milk, is not alone poor economy, but may result in giving us the heathen right here, instead of in China.

The letters say that Sunday Schools are handicapped by the fact that their helpers are not paid; that their musicians and teachers are untrained, Here is a direct challenge, certainly volunteer workers; that it is impossible

to get good results from inexperienced leaders. All of this is true. But until we can afford to engage trained and salaried workers for our children there are two methods of getting the best that the country has to offer in the way of speakers and musicians. There are few schools that could not own a radio or a victrola, or both. The greatest enemy of the church could easily be made its

best friend. It is the moving picture that subtracts from our evening congregations; that takes from our pews to fill our cinema houses. Why not tame this dragon and break it to Sunday School harness, thereby destroying a rival, as well as cultivating a new acquaintance? The ideal way, of course, would be to get our Barries, our Milnes, our O'Neills to use their genius for Biblical interpretation, and write our religious drama for the church movies. Impossible, with present church funds, you say. What if three thousand churches united in a request to a picture-making company? I feel sure that there would be a favorable reply. And, in the meantime, why not use the best material we have? The moving picture machine, which makes colored photography, is now on the market at a price within the reach of most churches. Biblical stories, acted

in the church organizations, can now be reproduced. Your local playwright doesn't have to be an experienced writer to produce something that people would be interested to see.

As for music, if I am to be specific rather than general, I suggest the following for impecunious schools that want better singing: Songs of one verse -certainly not more than two verses— each, by a famous vocalist, over radio or victrola. For congregational singing none of the old, drawling "Alas, and Did My Saviour Bleed" songs, written by people who were more religious than musical; let us have swinging melody that children love. I can't be any more specific without getting within range of The Outlook advertising man's gun, but I know a place where such music can be obtained. In a little Wisconsin town near my home live a man and a

woman who are turning our simple, easy-to-play-and-sing melodies, with a rhythm and a lilt that children adore. If I were running a Sunday School I would send to them for songs that should be brief, inspirational and ringing. There must be other musicians that are doing the same work. I should think that by uniting Sunday Schools could have their own words set to music without prohibitive expense.

I would keep everything in the service short-songs, prayers, addresses. Children are as restless as adults are long-winded. As far as possible I would turn the Sunday programs over to the children, encouraging them to write their own form of service and prayers. That would do much to divest the program of the artificiality of which the children complain.

I would not try to make everything on the Sunday School program purely Biblical, but in every service would lay emphasis upon religion as inseparable from life. I would encourage in the Sunday School the study of social problems, the study of science in connection with religion, the use of modern psychology. I would advocate the study of the religious aspect of world affairs. By connecting the children's daily life with their religion, I would connect their religion with their daily life. The New Testament I would use as a text book; of the Old Testament I would use only such parts as bear upon daily living. Religion should not be a Sunday dinner, tasted once a week, but a homely cupboard to which we turn for sustenance and for relief from daily hunger. Religion is only worth to a Ichild what it offers him in comfort and inspiration, and as physical life changes. the spiritual life must change with it. The problems of today are not what our father's time, and they were in religion must meet those new problems, or fail in its ends.

By the introduction of these modern topics two things would be accomplished: In the first place, it would be easier to secure trained helpers in the Sunday School. Many people who would hesitate to talk to a congregation on religion, pure and simple, would be willing to talk on spiritual life as related to science, psychology or social problems. For instance, an archeologist who would not, and could not, give a spiritual talk might be able to make a vivid and inspiring address on Biblical stories which his own excavations had proved. High school teachers and

college professors could discuss the divine plan as related to their own particular branch of science.

econdly, the young people would be interested, as they are not now. Whether it be for the worse or the better, it is certain that a change has come to the young people of Sunday School age. They demand more than they are receiving. They are frankly bored by the story of Moses in the bulrushes. King Solomon is nothing in their young lives. They want an application of religion to modern problems, a religion that shall help them to live, love and work; a spiritual life that will be a help in social relations, in sex living, in business ethics, in political activiThere is no factor of living too small, too insignificant to be considered in its aspect to religion.

ties.

There is nothing sacreligious in this demand for modern spiritual education for modern times. The teachings of Christ, when he came upon earth, were the most radical that the world had ever known. He did not seek to heal the sick, comfort the sorrowing or minister to the suffering by quoting the Old Testament at them. He met the condition of that day with solutions that fitted the time, in the vernacular of the people, with a modernity that must have been startling to the Scribes and the Pharisees. There were times that the Jewish elders complained Christ's teaching, just as the reactionaries complain of youth today: Jesus broke the law by healing on the Sabbath day, they said; by eating the shew bread which the church reserved for priests. His disciples, they complained, failed to wash their hands before eating, as Jewish tradition ordered.

And this was his answer:

of

are to exist they must ally themselves with the science and the psychology that our children are learning in the public schools. They must be willing to teach religion, not alone in its relation to heaven, but in its relation to politics, to penal institutions, to the That is what labor question, to love.

youth is demanding of the Sunday School, and there is nothing in the demand that should grate upon religious sensibilities. For the young people are

only seeking what Christ taught-a religion that shall be practical, not abstract; simple, not abstruse; and as common as life itself.

miss it.

"The Drag Net".-A grand crook play, acted to the hilt. "Drums of Love".-Lionel Barrymore giving a star performance on a large scale. "Fazil".-Charles Farrell, Greta Nissen and George W. Hokum, himself. "Forbidden Hours".-Ramon Navarro is just dreadful to Renee Adoree.

"Forgotten Faces".-Clive Brook is splendid and so is the picture. See for yourself. "Four Sons".-A fine film, spoiled by sentimentality and excessive length. "Four Walls".-John Gilbert is fine, but the plot is decidedly draggy. "Glorious Betsy".-A talking picture; good only in spots.

"Hot News".-We found it interesting and amusing throughout. Bebe Daniels stars. "Ladies of the Mob".-Clara Bow keeps her shirt on and attends to her acting. "The Lights of New York".-The first all-talking picture. See "The Terror", instead. "Lost in the Arctic".-An authentic and moving record of Polar travel. Excellent. "Loves of an Actress". Pola's (allegedly) last picture. Good here!

"The Man Who Laughs".-A grand picture-entertaining and impressive. "The Mysterious Lady".-They've given the one and only Greta Garbo a good vehicle. "Out of the Ruins".-Richard Barthelmess and Marian Nixon make this a fine show. "The Patriot".-The picture of the year. With Emil Jannings, Lewis Stone, Florence Vidor. "Powder My Back".-A nice but not naughty little farce, with Irene Rich.

"The Racket".-Thomas Meighan comes back with a resounding smack.

"Ramona".—If you like the song you'll probably like the picture.

"The Red Dance".-Dolores Del Rio, Charles Farrel and some muscular direction by Raoul Walsh.

"The Scarlet Lady".-A hopeless try at another Russian picture.

"Simba".-The king of beasts and his subjects thrillingly shot by the Martin Johnsons. "Skyscraper"-A thoroughly engrossing

little

story. Fine work by William Boyd, Sue Carol and Alan Hale.

"Steamboat Bill, Jr."-The best Buster Keaton

comedy in years.

"Street Angel".-Considerable beauty and considerable bunk.

"The Street of Sin".-The less said, the better. "Telling the World".-They've managed at last to give William Haines a good picture. "Tempest".-John Barrymore makes a new reputation for himself as a movie actor. "The Terror".-By far the best of all the talkies. A foretaste of the future.

"The Trail of '98".-A big epic of the Yukon, with some startlingly fine scenes. "Two Lovers".-A well-played costume romance. Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky are in it. "Warming Up".-Richard Dix in a good light. sound comedy about baseball, with strange effects. "Wheel of Chance".-Richard Barthelmess gives a fine performance in a double role. "White Shadows in the South Seas".-There's so much in it that's good, you should see it.

"What do you think, Lazarus?" I cried. "I'm going to Africa to live!" Lazarus's eyes popped, then rolled skyward.

"Oh, lawdy, Miss Lucy," he moaned. "Don't you do it! You goin' be et by camels!"

The piquant idea of forming a light lunch for a placid dromedary caused me to giggle rudely. Lazarus was still shaking his head as I left the elevator.

"Bes' lef' dem camels alone, Miss Lucy, dey shore mean bizness!"

My cook, on whom I next burst the glad news, took another view.

"You goin' to Afr'can?" she exclaimed. "Unh-hunh!" with the negro's peculiarly resonant note of protest, "You an' gain' lak it, chile; you ain' use to it. Take me, now, I'se use to it—das all right—but you ain' borned day way. Whut yo' Papa goin' say, honey, when you comes back all black up?"

These naïve comments were only the beginning. Every one has something to offer on the subject of living in Africa. Try telling people you're going there, and you'll see what I mean. Most people start by asking one of two questions:

"Why do you want to go so far away?" and "What on earth are you going to do when you get there?" The first answer is easy.

I was born The family

with a passion for going. have often said that if I ever have a crest, it should show a hat, rampant on a field of suitcases, with the words, "Let's go!" emblazoned beneath.

The second question calls for more thought. Actually, I am going to be secretary to the Manager of a big new copper mining property, that is being developed in Northern Rhodesia. Working for a busy official on a pioneering job sounds like a lot in self, but it apparently doesn't even scratch the sur

By LUCY HARVIE POPE

face of the possibilities. I've found that out.

Suggestions on how to use my spare time pour in. Practically every one has a suggestion. Even those who ask what I shall do usually follow it up by saying brightly:

"Why don't you make a collection of butterflies?"

Perhaps I shall make a collection of butterflies. Perhaps I shall follow all of the other suggestions, too. Why not? Satan is said to find more mischief for idle hands in the tropics than elsewhere; it might be well to take no chances.

Therefore, I shall probably be variously occupied in taking moving pictures like Mrs. Martin Johnson; selling toilet soap to the natives on a commission basis; writing articles on the Back to Africa Movement Among American Negroes; checking up the facts on Trader Horn; tracing the Black Bottom; hunting big game; studying Swahili in its relation to Gullah; tagging birds for the Audubon Society; taking correspondence courses. in basket weaving, truck farming and philosophy; looking around for stray diamonds; catching elephants for the circus; exterminating the tsetse fly and organizing a native baseball team.

These activities ought to keep my spare time fairly well occupied.

Then aside from suggestions, you get a good many warnings. Africa seems to call for warnings; no wonder it's known as the dark continent. If being forewarned is really being forearmed, I shall be prepared to cope with sunstroke, fleas, voodooism, lions, sleeping sickness, ants, floods, native uprisings, malaria, centipedes, crocodiles, smallpox, cannibals, elephants, and the Prince of Wales, who is expected to visit South Africa in the fall.

A minor problem that arises in connection with life in a South African mining camp is that of clothes. There isn't any literature on what the welldressed secretary will or will notwear in the jungle. The correct sport costume is said to be shorts and a cork helmet, but somehow that hardly seems adequate for an office.

The wife of an engineer already out there writes that everything must be

white, first because the sun bleaches color, and secondly because of the native laundry method, which consists of taking the things out on a rock in the river, and beating them heartily with a stick. Crocodiles hover around meanwhile, waiting for a chance to snatch the garments away. With honors for damages

even between the crocodiles and the natives, canvas is unmistakably indicated as the best all round material for general wear.

The evening costume of course is easy; the majority of pioneers being English, and English pioneers being what they are. Full evening dress is the thing. I know of two American engineers, who went to an English mine in Africa. Having worked for some ten years in the rough and ready mining camps of the Western United States, they did not own so much as a Tuxedo between them. In London, on their way out, they were kindly but firmly taken to the best tailor, and inserted into the latest wrinkle in evening outfits. This in preparation for work under primitive living conditions at an isolated outpost of civilization. As the National Anthem so aptly puts it, "Long live the king!"

The native boys who supply service to the foreigner in Northern Rhodesia must be a delightful set of characters. They speak Swahili, which, according to a Swahili grammar that I've seen, consists largely in clucking like an agitated hen. It should be an easy language to speak; possibly not so easy

to understand.

The wife of the engineer mentioned before wrote that she was startled to find her black boys calling her "mama." She was dubious about the propriety of allowing them to do this, until she was told that it was a token of the highest esteem and respect. Even so, it might be regarded by some as a doubtful compliment.

The uniform worn by the boys in domestic service is described by those who have seen it as simple but effective. A single garment cut on the general lines of a night gown forms the chief item. Striking the leg midway between the hip and the knee, it is topped by a round, fez-like cap, on which is proudly displayed the insignia of the family for whom the boy works. The higher the

(Please turn to page 796)

>Labor Leans To Smith

"I REALIZE that you have been fortunate in having as Governor of this great State-"

William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, was addressing New York labor men at their convention in Rochester. He got no further for the moment. Delegates were on their feet, cheering.

"-one who was in sympathy with your social justice program and who assisted in securing the passage of much of this legislation," he resumed, when the delegates had let the noise out of their systems.

"I am glad that a study of the record shows that the working men and women of this state expressed their appreciation by voting for him almost unanimously in every campaign in which he has figured.

"While the American Federation of Labor is committed to a non-partisan policy in this campaign, I am convinced that Governor Smith's speech of acceptance and his reference to the abuse of injunctions has made a deep impression in every industrial State.

It is the purpose of the American Federation of Labor, Mr. Green continued, to acquaint its members with the speeches of both candidates, their records in matters affecting labor, and then leave the subject to their political

conscience.

"And I am satisfied," he concluded, "that when they go to the polls, they will stand by those who stood by them in their hours of need."

Reporters dryly observed that this was really a non-partisan speech, since Mr. Green did not say directly: "Vote for Al Smith".

The convention, however, went over the fence for him, booing down the few Republican delegates who protested that the labor convention was being turned into a political rally. A resolution was adopted calling upon "all organized and unorganized wage earning citizens in this state and in our sister states to install in the White House this tested and proved champion of

liberty, equality and justice for all the people of our nation.”

There was evidence at Atlantic City a few weeks ago, when the American Federation of Labor was in convention, that Smith sentiment was straining for expression; but at that time the candidates had not spoken and the official decision was to wait and see what they had to say about labor, and especially about injunction relief. Each has since recognized the abuse of the injunction and promised reform; so that Smith's past championship of labor apparently has more weight than the current utterances of either candidate. Then too, the workingman likes his beer.

Friends of Mr. Hoover will comment that labor leaders, like political persons, can not deliver their constituents wholesale; which is true and as it should be.

Free Speech Upheld

RENEWING the broadcasting license of Station WEVD, the Federal Radio Commission has stated its policy concerning free speech on the air.

Station WEVD was established as a memorial to the socialist leader and presidential candidate, Eugene V. Debs. It is engaged in socialistic propaganda but like other stations broadcasts programs for entertainment. It is not an important station.

When the Federal Radio Commission undertook the task of clearing the overcrowded air of superflous stations it included WEVD among those to show cause why they should not be discontinued. There had been complaints from listeners against this station; but after hearing the case for the station the radio commission renewed its license.

There had been some fear that because of the views it promulgated that seemed politically and socially heretical, Governmental authority would be exercised to suppress this station and keep the air orthodox. The fear was groundless. Though the doctrines fostered by the station are disapproved of by some members of the Commission the right of the station to broadcast them is not questioned.

In stating its policy the Federal Radio Commission says it "will not draw the line on any station doing an altruistic piece of work or which is the mouthpiece of a substantial political or religious minority." The Commission adds, "Such a station must of course comply with the requirements of the law and must be conducted with due regard for the opinion of others. There is no evidence that Station WEVD has failed to meet these tests; on the contrary the evidence shows that the station has pursued a very satisfactory policy."

This case may well prove historic as a precedent for freedom of speech on the air.

Prohibition, Big Business and the Campaign

W. C. DURANT, formerly of the General Motors Comporation, now President of Durant Motors, Inc., believes that lawlessness is the great issueespecially "the widespread violation of law the liquor embodied in the Amendment." Eighteenth Instead. however, of urging the abandonment of prohibition, as others have done, he offers a prize of $25,000 for "the best and most practicable plan to make the Eighteenth Amendment effective." The competition will close on December 1 next, and the prize will be awarded on Christmas Day by a committee now being formed.

In his announcement, cabled from Europe, Mr. Durant laid the responsibility upon "big business leaders who have the largest stake in law observance," and yet who "are the chief support of the master criminal class, the bootlegger."

Mr. Durant is an independent Republican who voted for Wilson.

At the same tme, Major H. H. Curran, President of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, a former Republican candidate for Mayor of New York, announced his personal support of Governor Smith on the prohibition issue. Major Curran bases

his decision on the same state of lawlessness that Mr. Durant recognizes, as well as on State's rights and indi