Both memorials will be National shrines. The interior of one speaks of Lincoln's origin. The interior of the other will speak of his life. It will contain the statue by Daniel Chester French; on the walls are to be engraved the Gettysburg Speech and the second Inaugural Address, and mural decorations are to typify some of Lincoln's inspired words.

REVISING THE

TEN COMMANDMENTS

A commission of the Protestant Episcopal Church will probably report at the coming General Convention a revision and shortening of the first five of the Ten Commandments for the use of the Church in its liturgy. It is possible that to some of our readers this may seem to be an unwarrantable change in the Bible; especially it may seem so to those

who think that reverence for the Bible requires that its exact form, if not its exact phraseology, should always be used in quoting from it.

In fact, however, the change proposed by this commission carries us back approximately to what was in all probability the original form of the Ten Commandments. Of these Commandments there are two forms: one in Exodus xx. 2-17, the other in Deuteronomy v. 6-21. The most important difference in these two versions is that, in the Exodus version, which is probably the older, the duty of Sabbath observance is based upon the statement that on the seventh day Jehovah rested, while in the Deuteronomy version it is made a memorial of the emancipation of Israel from Egypt. "Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day." The statement that the Ten Commandments were engraved on two tables of stone which Moses was able to bring down in his hands, descending a somewhat steep mountain with no prepared path, furnishes one of the reasons for believing that the Ten Commandments in their original form were simple statutes unattended by reasons or arguments for their observance, and that these were added later by way of comment to the original commands by the sacred historians. The form of the Commandments which will be recommended by the commission will be, we presume, substantially that

given by Ewald in his “ History of Israel "as in all probability the original form:

I am Jahveh, thy God, who delivered thee out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

I

1. Thou shalt have no other God before me. 2. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image.

3. Thou shalt not idly utter the name of Jahveh thy God.

4. Thou shalt remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5. Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother.

II

1. Thou shalt not murder.

2. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

3. Thou shalt not steal.

4. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

5. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.

We agree with our correspondent Dr. Chorley, who, recently forecasting the questions likely to come before the Episcopal Convention, commended the adoption of such a revision of the common form of the Ten Commandments.

THE NATIONAL TENNIS
CHAMPIONSHIP

One of the great events of the athletic year is the National Tennis Championship now played annually at Forest Hills, New York. This year's contest was of perhaps more than usual interest, for, added to the keen rivalry between the East and the West of the United States, there was introduced the possibility that the cup might even cross the Pacific to the land of Japan. Japan's representative in the tournament, Ichiya Kumagae, whose record in recent tournaments raised the thought that he might become a real contender for the championship cup, failed, however, to endure beyond the early rounds of the contest. He fell before the racquet of George M. Church in the second round.

In the fourth round of the tournament California's brilliant McLoughlin, twice winner of the National Championship, also fell before Mr. Church. But Maurice E. McLoughlin was avenged the next day when Church was defeated by Robert Lindley Murray, of McLoughlin's home State. The semi-final round found three representatives of the West, Clarence J. Griffin, William M. Johnston, and Robert Lindley Murray, still sur

viving the contest. The only Easterner left was Richard Norris Williams, of Philadelphia, National title-holder in 1914. Of these men, Williams and Johnston, the present title-holder, came through into the finals. California's hopes of again wresting the title from the East were destined, however, to be disappointed, for Williams won the final match by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2, 6-4. The match between Williams and Johnston was one of the most interesting in the history of the American game. In short, it was fully worthy of the splendid sport of which these

two men are masters.

THE RESCUE OF THE SHACKLETON PARTY

Welcome news came from Chile last week, of the success of Sir Ernest Shackleton in rescuing the twenty-two men of his party who have been isolated on Elephant Island, in the South Shetland group, since last April.

This was the fourth attempt made by their commander to save these men from starva

tion.

Previous attempts failed because of the impossibility of finding a suitable ship; the first was actually made in an eighty-ton whaling vessel. Finally, the Chilean Government lent Shackleton a small Government steamer, the Yelcho, and he sailed in her on August 26 from Punta Arenas, on the Strait of Magellan, the southernmost town in the world. The sea and ice must have been favorable, for a week sufficed for the rescue and return voyage. Great fear had been felt for the lives of the men, who had only five weeks' rations when Sir Ernest left them on the island. The chief hope for sustaining life was that they might kill penguins; and that not very palatable bird, in fact, saved their lives.

The story of the early disasters which had befallen both sections of the Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic continent has already been told in The Outlook, as also of the terrible crushing in the ice of Sir Ernest's own ship, the Endurance, its abandonment, the distressing journey in small boats driven through raging seas and dragged over ice to the inhospitable little bit of land called Elephant Island, and the further journey of Shackleton and five men in a single boat from Elephant Island to the coast of South Georgia to seek for help. When the full story is narrated, it will assuredly form one of the most thrilling tales of hardship, courage, and adventure in all the annals of polar exploration.

55

WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE

You ask me what I would have done if I had been President during the last four years. I cannot tell you what I would have done. For the President is not an autocrat. In deciding upon his policies he must be guided by the advice of his Cabinet, who are his chosen counselors; and in carrying them into effect his action must be determined by the support he can win from Congress. He is a leader, not a lawmaker. But I can tell you what the President could have attempted, and what, if I had been President, I hope I should have had the courage to attempt.

I would have secured for my advisers men who believed in the greatness of the American Nation and in the courage and patriotism of the American people, men all of whom put not safety first, but duty first. There were differences of opinion in Lincoln's Cabinet; but they all believed in maintaining the Union at any cost, and they all believed in "liberty National, slavery sectional." There were differences of opinion in Buchanan's Cabinet; some of them believed in preserving the Union, some desired its destruction. I would have sought to organize a Cabinet like that of Lincoln, not like that of Buchanan. I would have invited as my counselors only men who would advise me how to fulfill the Nation's obligations, never how to escape them. What of the specific policies outlined below I would have adopted would have depended partly on their counsels, partly on the question how far I could depend on the Congress and the people to support me in them. Some of the things I should like to have done are these:

I should like to have acquainted myself with the coming events which cast their shadows before, to have been familiar with such books as Bernhardi's "Germany in the Next War and Sarolea's "The Anglo-German Problem;" with the campaign in England of General Roberts for compulsory military service; with the anticipations of the more far-seeing European statesmen of an impending war. I should like to have secured for our representatives abroad, both in the diplomatic and the consular service, men of insight and foresight, of diplomatic temper and diplomatic experience, and I should have de pended on them to keep me informed of conditions and prospects.

As soon as there was adequate reason to believe that Germany meant to violate Belgium's neutrality, I should like quietly and

informally to have caused the German Government to understand that to do so would be to alienate the sympathies of the American people at the very outset of the war, and when the first step toward that violation of Belgium was taken I would have protested in the name of America against it. I believe that America's part in the Hague Conference gave us special reasons for such a protest, but if not, I would have protested on the general grounds that America cannot look with indifference on so gross a breach of national faith, destructive of the sacredness of all treaties.

In the Civil War a code of laws of war was prepared under Abraham Lincoln's personal supervision, which was subsequently made the basis of a similar code adopted by the Hague Conference. I would have protested in the name of America against the violation of that code-against the bombardment of unfortified cities, the torpedoing of merchant vessels without providing for the safety of non-combatants, the needless destruction of churches, hospitals, and libraries.

When the Lusitania was sunk, I would have called home our Ambassador and sent home the German Ambassador, and thus given the world to understand that America would hold no relations with a Power which in its wars violated alike the laws of nations and the instincts of humanity.

I would have called a conference of all the neutral nations and asked them to unite with the United States in vigorous action to protect the rights of neutrals. I should like to have proposed to that conference to take possession of all German shipping in neutral ports, to open all neutral ports to the ships of the Allies, to put an embargo on all exports to Germany and all imports from Germany--in a word, to notify Germany by action that so long as she disregarded the rights of neutrals she could not expect from them the acts of neutrals. If the neutral nations, if even the United States alone, had adopted some such policy, I believe that it would have secured respect for the rights of neutrals even if it did nothing to secure respect for the laws of civilized warfare.

I would have pursued in Mexico the policy which The Outlook has continuously and constantly urged. I would either have recognized Huerta and demanded that his Government protect the persons and property of Americans in Mexico, or I would have put a military force in Mexico sufficient to furnish

such protection, not only for Americans but for other foreigners and for peaceable and law-abiding Mexicans, against the rapacity of the banditti who have been allowed to roam over the country devastating and destroying unchecked and unpunished. This would not have been war against Mexico, it would have been war for Mexico against her enemies and ours.

I do not say that I would have done these things. For, I repeat, I would have been guided by the counsels of my Cabinet and limited in my powers by the action of Congress. But these specific suggestions may serve to indicate the spirit in which I hope my administration would have been carried on. The last four years make it perfectly clear that Mr. Wilson will not carry on his Administration in this spirit, and that the Democratic party would not sustain him in so doing if he tried; while the character and past career of Mr. Hughes give us good reason to believe that he will carry something of this spirit into his Administration, if he is elected, and will be supported by the Republican party in so doing.

For these reasons I shall vote for Mr. Hughes. LYMAN ABBOTT.

THE STRIKE AND AFTER

The country is no longer laboring under the threat of an immediate railway strike. It has at least time to breathe and to think. It behooves all intelligent men to reconsider calmly what has happened and to try to understand how the unprecedented action of Congress will affect the social and industrial future of the country. Many thoughtful and patriotic men are pessimistic about the situation. The view of those who look with grave distrust upon the action of the President and Congress cannot be better expressed than in the words of a well-known citizen who writes to The Outlook as follows:

I think the President, consistently with his general policy, has attempted to secure peace at any price; but he has not secured peace. He has gained only a brief armistice. Instead of using the great opportunity to advance regulation and arbitration, he has confused the issues and pushed the controversy into a more bitter phase.

I do not believe this Congress has the vision and courage to attempt any thing in the way of legislation for permanent peace during the