and the Los Angeles labor unions, and the "Times" has always asserted confidently that the explosion was the work of labor leaders or their sympathizers. Mr. Burns declares that he has proof that the three men now arrested (John J. McNamara, Secretary of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, his brother, James B. McNamara, and Ortie McManigal) were not only directly concerned in the Los Angeles outrage but in other dynamite explosions in various parts of the country. McManigal is reported to have made a confession involving the others arrested, and also two men, M. A. Schmidt and David Kaplan, who have at this writing escaped arrest. McManigal told of the storing of dynamite in Tiffin, Ohio, and in Indianapolis, and it was found in the spots indicated. The three men have been taken to Los Angeles on requisitions from the Governor of California. Out of the arrest in Indiana of J. J. McNamara a charge of kidnapping" or illegal action has arisen. Mr. Burns, Mr. Ford (the Los Angeles assistant prosecuting attorney), and others were arrested in Indianapolis on the assertion that McNamara was not given a chance to procure counsel and take out habeas corpus writs, and that the police justice before whom McNamara was taken acted without jurisdiction. The resemblance of the case in some points to the Hayward and Moyer prosecutions in Idaho has been noticed, and Mr. Moyer, who is President of the Western Federation of Miners, says: "The arrest of McNamara shows on its face that it was a frame-up. He was treated exactly as we were. He was not given a single show either by the Governor of Indiana or the courts of Marion County." On the other hand, Mr. Burns, in an authorized interview, says:

I do not believe that organized labor stands for murder, and I believe that when

6 May

the whole story is laid bare every big labor leader in the country will renounce and denounce these fellows, for I do not for a moment believe that any labor officials higher up than are these men were cognizant of what was going on. McNamara, the brains of the band, had worked himself to a pitch where he believed any course justifiable in upholding the principles he advocated, and I charge that this same gang is responsible for similar outrages in all parts of the country. McManigal is said to have confessed that the gang of which he was one carried on a regular business of dynamiting, and caused explosions which cost 112 lives and destroyed $3,500,000 worth of property. The Indianapolis Grand Jury has been investigating the records and accounts of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers to discover what sums were paid out by J. J. McNamara, and for what purpose. It need not be pointed out that it is impossible to reach just conclusions about these arrests and charges until the evidence is presented in orderly and complete form, and that the accused are entitled to a suspension of public judgment until their defense has been heard. In the "kidnapping" charges the questions involved are purely legal, and it is equally unfair for the public to assume any wrong-doing or illegality until the courts have passed upon the points raised. As in the Idaho cases, the charges of crime and conspiracy are astounding in their extent; if they are susceptible of proof, they will unite to form one of the blackest chapters of murder in history. As yet the people have only fragmentary and disconnected statements to go on, but it is clear that the most searching inquiry into all the circumstances will be demanded. In his editorial on another page Mr. Roosevelt expresses not only his own views, but also the views of The Outlook

and, we add, those of all right-thinking Americans on the present chief aspect

of this case.

out policies in accident insurance companies. Of course at present employers do that, as a rule, in order to avoid losses that might come through heavy damages that are always possible in liability cases. As

a consequence of the passage of the Compensation Act in the State of New York, the accident rates were raised. In commenting upon the nullification of this Act by the Court of Appeals, The Outlook stated that this measure met the approval of everybody except a few employers, a class of not highly esteemed lawyers, and "certain accident insurance companies." The President of the Travelers Insurance Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, Mr. Sylvester C. Dunham, writes to us a letter in which he says: "Believing that you have mistaken the attitude of the insurance companies, I wish to bring to your attention the fact that no responsible company, so far as I know, advocates the continuation of the old method of paying for occupational injuries, which is obsolete and wasteful." This statement by the President of one of the great insurance companies of the country is of great importance, for it is testimony from a witness whose practical experience in the matter is wide. Mr. Dunham, in an address a copy of which he has sent us, points out one of the elements of wastefulness in the old liability system that is commonly overlooked. He says: "The courts more than one-half the time are engaged in settling controversies between employer and employed. In New York sixty per cent of the suits at law are negligence cases, and probably fifty per cent of all the money paid for conducting the courts of the country is consumed by cases of that character. It is an enormous waste, to which employers, employees, and the public contribute about equally, and under a well-devised plan of compen sation all these sums might go to the injured persons and those dependent upon them." At the time of delivering this address Mr. Dunham further pointed out, in answer to questions, that there was "little room for doubt that one effect of a workmen's compensation law would be to further increase the adoption of safety devices by employers." This testimony by the head of an accident insurance company is particularly significant when it is

remembered that the judges of the Court of Appeals in New York nullified the Compensation Act largely on the ground that it would not promote the safety or wellbeing of the people! Mr. Dunham, moreover, in the course of his letter, points out that the injustice of the old liability method is not only not avoided by merely taking away the old common-law defenses, but is actually enhanced through the consequent multiplying of lawsuits. We wish to emphasize Mr. Dunham's contention that strict liability laws should always be accompanied by measures limiting the amounts of compensation. The failure of the insurance companies to support the New York law was, Mr. Dunham explains, because they felt that it was inadequate and that its validity was questionable. Mr. Dunham cites as a law based upon a uniform and just theory of compensation the Compensation Act recently passed by the Legislature of New Hampshire. The principle of this law embodies the optional system embodied in the New Jersey law, which The Outlook has already described. Of this New Hampshire law we shall have something further to say at another time.

as the most calamitous, is the waste of human life. And human life is wasted, not only by death, but also by those other causes which impair or destroy the usefulness of life. A prolific source of waste in human life is provided by industrial accidents. With this there are two questions : first, how shall they be diminished in number? second, how will their evil results be most fairly distributed? In the old days, when labor was individual, and the relations between man and man in a measure were very direct, it was fairly just that each man should bear the burden of any accident that brought him injury, unless it was clearly due to his employer's fault. That, however, is very far from being just to-day. In the very great majority of cases the man who suffers from an industrial accident at present is like the soldier who receives a wound in battle. He is disabled either because of a general defect. over which he has no control, or as a consequence of one of the inevitable

features of the industry. The purpose of workmen's compensation acts is to transfer the burden of such accidents from the shoulders of the workmen to the shoulders of society This is not mere charity; it is primarily prevention of the waste of life. The nullification of the New York Compensation Act by the New York Court of Appeals, which The Outlook has not only deplored but has also emphatically criticised, is not a mere hardship to employees; it is a great injury to the community. A reader of The Outlook has asked how many people who had a right to seek compensation under this law did actually try to get it, his argument being that, if the workingmen were not clamoring for this mode of compensation, its denial was no great calamity. There are no statistics available on the subject. There were two or three cases pending in the courts. We have had direct testimony that many of the workmen were compensated without a suit at law, and there are indications that the insurance companies settled a large number of claims under the Compensation Act. Whether workmen, however, welcome this law or not, has very little bearing upon its value. The whole point is, not that the law is a I desirable to point diet for individuals who

want relief, but that it is a measure for reducing the waste of human life and of justly distributing its incidental burdens.

GENERAL BINGHAM

AGAIN

The re-entrance of General Theodore Bingham into the government of the city of New York has furnished a rather dramatic surprise. General Bingham was formerly Police Commissioner. Largely on account of the criticism which Mr. Gaynor, then a judge, directed against General Bingham, and the popular sympathy which that criticism evoked, Mr. Gaynor was elected Mayor. The burden of Mr. Gaynor's criticism was that the Police Department was too autocratic and that the police were too severe. Now Mayor Gaynor is himself the object of criticism on account of the alleged laxity of police administration and the alleged weakening of the police, while General Bingham returns to office. This is the dramatic side of this event, but the real significance lies else

where. General Bingham has been chosen by the Borough President of Manhattan, Mr. McAneny, as the Chief Engineer of the Bureau of Highways. Inheriting from an incompetent predecessor enormously difficult problems with regard to the streets, Mr. McAneny has inherited also the criticism that has been caused by his predecessor's failures. There is no more difficult question in municipal government than that of securing expert, non-partisan, efficient administration of the activities of a city. General Bingham is an engineer, and is therefore technically equipped; he was a most efficient administrative official as Commissioner of Police, and is therefore executively equipped. It is a sign of an advance in American standards of municipal government when, after such a régime as that of Ahearn, there follows the régime of a McAneny, with the expert service of a Bingham.

THE NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

The election of Dr. Elmer E. Brown, the present United States Commissioner of Education, as Chancellor of the New York University, will be welcomed, not only by its alumni, but by all in the city of New York who are interested in the higher education. Besides its free college, the crown of its free school system, the city of New York now has two universities-Columbia, on Manhattan Island, and the New York University, in the Bronx. It ought to have a third. If the now separated educational institutions for furnishing the higher education in Brooklyn were to be united in one university, they would at once increase their efficiency and economize their expenditures; and there is abundant population in Brooklyn and Long Island to furnish demand for the educational facilities that such a university would afford. When, twenty years ago, Dr. Henry M. McCracken took the Chancellorship of the New York University, its collegiate department was doing an excellent work, but to a limited number of students, in Washington Square, and under great financial discouragements. Under Dr. McCracken's leadership the University has been moved to the north side of the Harlem River in the Bronx, where an admirable site was procured for it. Its work has been greatly enlarged,

and it has been put upon a firm financial foundation. What it now needs for its future development in scholarship is a man of educational experience, wide knowledge both of men and of systems, and a National reputation which will attract to it men, not only from the city, but also from rural communities, who desire and need the kind of culture which only contact with a great city can give. Such a man is Dr. Brown, and we anticipate for the University, and for the city of New York, an added intellectual and spiritual impulse from his acceptance of this post of difficulty and honor.

THE BIBLE TERCENTENARY

Last week was notable for public meetings significant of the interest of the American people in religion and philanthropy. One of the most important and interesting was held in Carnegie Hall, New York City, to celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the publication of the King James version of the English Bible. The great hall was filled to its utmost capacity; and the intertwining of the British and American flags indicated the very happy trend which all these celebrations have taken. The anniversary coincides with the peace movement between the two countries on

both sides the Atlantic. The English Bible as a bond of union has been emphasized, and its significance has deeply stirred great audiences. Letters from the King of England and from the President of the United States, and the presence of the British Ambassador, brought to the meeting in an official way the authority of the two Governments. The President's letter was in the key of the letter which was read at the great meeting in London. He spoke of the King James version as associated with the earliest colonies of the English people on this continent. He described it as the Bible of our American forefathers, as having given shape to American literature, and as having deeply influenced American ideals in life and law and government. Mr. Bryce read the letter from the King, which also happily emphasized the Bible as a tie between the two peoples:

I rejoice that America and England should join in commemorating the publication three

hundred years ago of that version of the Holy Scriptures which has so long held its own among English-speaking peoples. Its circulation in our homes has done more perhaps than anything else on earth to promote moral and religious welfare among old and young on either side of the Atlantic.

I

The version which bears King James's name is so clearly interwoven in the history of British and American life that it is right we should thank God for it together. congratulate the President and people of the United States upon their share in this our common heritage.

The British Ambassador declared that our common reverence for the English version has been a link between the English-speaking peoples in four great continents, the strength of which has grown more precious as the memories of old misunderstandings and bickerings have melted away in the consciousness of a deepened unity and the sense of loftier duty to mankind. The address closed with these impressive words :

Let us hope that the year we commemoour religious history may also be rememrate as the anniversary of a great event in bered as the year in which a solemn renunciation of war as a means of settling their disputes was made by two mighty and kindred nations, grateful to God for the light, more precious than the wealth and the power which he has given, and for the peace of nearly a century which has subsisted between them. Such a renunciation may seem superfluous as between nations whom we can hardly think of as likely to be ever brought near to that dire resort, but the example will be of great and enduring importance to the whole world because it will mean that nations are at least seeking to rise to the level of Christ's teaching. The exercises were brought to a very happy end by a characteristically effective speech by Professor William Lyon Phelps, of Yale, on "The English Bible and English Literature.”

beauty. The audiences were large and deeply interested in the discussions. This Congress furnishes a free platform for the expression of thought in the Epis copal Church. From the beginning, its discussions have been sustained by many of the ablest and most progressive men among the Episcopal clergy and laymen, and it has never shunned what are called "burning questions." It has been of great service in bringing the various parties of the Church to a mutual understanding and in registering the advance of thought and the growth of real catholicity. For the first time in the history of the Congress women appeared on the platform to discuss the question of woman's suffrage as affecting our religious and educational institutions; a discussion conducted with great courtesy, and listened to with profound interest by an audience which completely filled the body of the hall. The sessions were concerned with living issues of the Episcopal Church; with such topics as "The Value of Protestantism," "The Seat of Authority in Church Government," "The Jesus Christ of the Gospels and Theology," "The Necessity for Comity in Christian Missions," "Prayer-Book Revision to Meet the Needs of the Day," and "The Place of Tradition in the Development of Christian Character." The Congress has been contemporaneous with, and in part responsible for, the remarkable growth in vitality and National influence of the Episcopal Church; at once conservative in organization and progressive in thought. No stronger plea has been made in any recent religious gathering for the spirit of democracy in the Church than was made in the discussion of the seat of authority when it was urged that the Church should be made democratic; that by placing responsibility on the whole membership of the Church a deeper interest and a higher efficiency would be evoked; and the general drift of the discussion was to the effect that the seat of authority in the Episcopal Church is in the congregation.

formed into a coherent National body. The local character of the various Associations has not changed, but they are now united in an organization which corresponds to that of the Young Men's Christian Association. The Third Biennial Convention of the Young Women's Christian Associations of this country was held in Indianapolis from the 19th to the 24th of last month. Perhaps the most significant element in its deliberations was the emphasis that was placed upon social questions. In this respect the Young Women's Christian Association is expressing one of the most patent characteristics of religious feeling in these days. After a particularly broad discussion the Convention put itself on record in favor of the living wage and improved industrial conditions for women, "along with a higher standard of faithful service and achievement for the worker and of justice and consideration toward the employer." The responsibility resting upon the Association to take the lead in developing Travelers' Aid work and work among immigrant girls, and the opportunities offered by these fields, were ably presented by Professor Jenks, of Cornell, and Miss Grace Abbott, of Hull House. A gymnasium drill and competitive games. by one hundred and seventy-five girls from fourteen city Associations as widely separated as Providence and St. Louis demonstrated to over three thousand spectators the relation of the physical department to every other form of Association activity. Over six thousand women came together for the Sunday afternoon massmeeting, and hundreds were turned away. The personnel of the Convention was made up of eleven hundred voting and visiting delegates from city, student, and industrial communities in all parts of the United States, and guests from Canada, Great Britain, France, India, and Japan. Among the speakers were Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell, President King, of Oberlin, Bishop E. H. Hughes, and Dr. Robert E. Speer.