the Lords, true to their pledge, accepted the verdict of the general election without appreciable protest. The Budget had passed the Commons the night before by practically the same majority that had adopted Mr. Asquith's veto resolutions about one hundred votes. Parliament has now adjourned for the spring recess of four weeks. When it reassembles, the Lords will take up the consideration of the Asquith resolutions, which aim to shear them of much of their power. What they will do with than is hardly a matter of conjecture, and their refusal to accept them will almost certainly precipitate another election. So far prediction is nearly safe. Beyond that point lies a crisis which may add a new and perhaps revolutionary chapter to the constitutional history of England.

A PURSUIT RACE IN THE AIR

An exciting contest in the air took place last week in England. Louis Paulhan, a French aviator, flew in his aeroplane from London to Manchester, a distance of one hundred and eighty-five miles, with only one stop. His rival, Graham White, an Englishman, left London an hour later than Paulhan, and succeeded in getting only within sixty miles of Manchester. The aviators were trying to win the prize of $50,000 offered by the London Daily Mail" for the first flight from London to Manchester with not more than two stops. Mr. White had already made one unsuccessful attempt several days before, and when M. Paulhan suddenly came over from France to compete with him public interest and excitement rose high. The French aviator stole a march on his British rival. He started on his flight at half-past five Wednesday afternoon, when White had gone to bed after hours of exhausting work in getting his machine ready for the flight which he expected both would attempt the next day. White was immediately informed of Paulhan's start, and pluckily set out after him with the least possible delay. Paulhan flew one hundred and seventeen miles that night, coming down near Lichfield, sixty-eight miles from Manchester, shortly after eight o'clock. White alighted at Northampton, sixty miles from London, a few minutes earlier.

Both aviators were compelled by darkness and cold to come down for the night; but both were under way again at a very early hour, White starting just before three and Paulhan about four o'clock. The victor reached his destination at 5:30, while White came to earth again at four o'clock on account of trouble with his motor. The result of the contest breaks no records for continuous flight, for M. Paulhan had already flown one hundred and thirty miles, from Orléans to Arcis-sur-l'Aube, in France, without landing. But it is only one more illustration of the steady progress which is being made in the conquest of the air. Aeroplanes are becoming more and more efficient and dependable every day, and every day aviators are learning better how to use them. Flights, even with one or two passengers, are becoming matters of common occurrence. Flying is already a recognized sport. The next step, adapting it to usefulness, may come before we know it.

ment.

By

The first is a measure of electoral reform whereby the basis of voting is changed from small districts to cover entire departments. For thirty years the vote by district has been in vogue. removing the deputy from local influence the new electoral system will raise the level of representation. Unmoved, therefore, by petty interests, future parliaments may be able better to govern the country and to prepare the long-advocated reforms planned by those who would give a decentralized system of administration to France, one more in harmony with our times, replacing the obsolete framework devised for a different epoch and different conditions. That this was realized by the late Chamber of Deputies is evident from its vote of over two to one for the proposed electoral reform In other words, the old electoral

system could no longer afford free play for the country's present aspirations. The second proposed piece of legislation is the income tax. For sixty years it has been in the radical platforms. Since 1848 no less than seventy bills outlining an income tax have been introduced. A year ago the Chamber of Deputies passed an income tax bill, but the Senate has not yet ratified it. To win that ratification will be one of the new Parliament's principal labors.

As both of these measures

have already taken firm root in the old Chamber of Deputies, the new Chamber may be considered as in large measure a continuation of the old. Not only in legislation will it be a continuation, but probably also in its attitude toward the Cabinet. The late Parliament was less wasteful of Ministries than some have been. During its tenure three Prime Ministers were sufficient to govern France-M. Sarrien, M. Clemenceau, and M. Briand. Indeed, we might almost say that France had but one Ministry during the late Parliament, for M. Clemenceau was the Minister of the Interior in the Sarrien Cabinet, and M. Briand Minister of Justice in the Clemenceau Cabinet. The Briand policy was impressively approved in last week's election. It appears that the premiership has not left this particular political family.

do not like the Administration's position on the question of universal suffrage. Yet it is difficult to carry through the broad suffrage demanded by the Socialists and other radicals. At present the Chamber of Deputies is elected by a vote of male citizens over twenty years of age who pay a small tax on property or on income. Certain professional, scientific, and learned classes are entitled to vote without other qualifications. The Hungarian electorate

consists of about one-fourth of the male population over twenty years of age. Of course this is not a one-man, one-vote system, and that is what many want. With this, they contend, they would have not only a more democratic government, but also one racially more equitable. The Magyars, or Huns, only very slightly exceed half of the population. The remaining peoples are Germans, Rumanians, Ruthenians, Croatians, Slovaks, and Servians. Under the present system the nonMagyar races maintain that they have not the opportunity for proper development. because the Magyars hold most of the property and therefore command a disproportionate influence through the suffrage. Count Apponyi, late Hungarian Minister of Education, who, at his castle near Pressburg, entertained Mr. Roosevelt, acknowledges that "the non-Magyars have not been conquered by Magyarization." The question now is, Will they be conquered by a greater democratization?

BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON

Norway loved Björnson not only as poet, playwriter, and story-teller, but also as a devoted patriot. When, some years ago, it was reported that he was weary of political turmoil and intended henceforth to live in Germany, he wrote a disclaimer of such an intention, and in it said: "I shall live right here in Norway-I shall thrash and be thrashed in Norway-I shall win and die in Norwayof this you can be sure." Personally, he has been described as a man of powerful frame, of overflowing physical life, and of intense 'energy of mind and feeling ; and a writer in The Outlook a few years ago further characterized his personality and methods by saying: He is a dynamic worker in every department of life, a born

lover of life, a writer who has studied his kind at close range, who is in revolt against many traditions and conventions, but who believes in life, in his fellows, in the possibilities of human nature; a great, sunny, exuberant, boyish leader." To most American readers Björnson is prob ably best known as the author of such charming idyllic tales as "Arne," "A Fisher Lass," and "A Happy Boy," for these stories have had a wide reading in English as well as in many other lan guages. His lyrical poetry, naturally, is not so well known out of Norway, but has had praise from many critics. His plays and later fiction have dealt largely with heredity and with serious social and moral problems in this part of his work he has inevitably come into comparison with Ibsen, whose superiority in the frank exposition of the evils and hypocrisy of social life cannot be denied, although Björnson had a simplicity and directness not without power, and certainly individual in its expression. It is said that even as a school-boy Björnson, the son of a Norwegian pastor in a bleak Norwegian village, evinced not only energy, but the spirit of revolt against conventions and rules. At the Christiania University, where he became a close friend of Ibsen, Björnson slighted the regular work, but showed energy in the special things that interested him. Even in these early days he formed the idea of establishing a national literature, called to his aid in this purpose other young men of talent, and urged upon them also the cause of Norwegian independence, which he lived to see firmly established; his earlier strenuous advocacy of a republican form of government yielded in time to the acceptance of a liberal constitutional monarchy, disjoined from Sweden. His first novel, published in 1857, and called Synnove Solbakken," was regarded as evidence that a writer of original power had arisen and it may be considered as also the begining of an independent movement in Norwegian literature Björnson was seventy-seven years of age when he died last week, and to the end he maintained his interest in writing and in public affairs. In 1903 a worthy tribute to his long career was the bestowal upon him of the Nobel prize for literature.

Congo to Belgium, there has been no actual fundamental reform. For two years the natives have continued in a condition which the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs described as "indistinguishable from slavery." Now, at last, however, the Belgian Government, which exercises, whether rightfully or not, the power of sovereignty in the Congo, has announced certain reforms. In order to understand these proposed reforms some knowledge of conditions in the Congo is necessary. Originally among the natives the land was not divided among individual owners, but was owned by the native people as a whole. This was true of the great stretches of forest and wilderness as well as of the limited areas covered by native villages. When the King of the Belgians took up his rule, the Congo

tate, of which he was the sovereign, appropriated all so-called "vacant lands." that is, the lands uncovered by native villages. Here in these vacant lands are found the rich growths of rubber. The Congo State, therefore, not the native peoples, became the owner of the most important resources of the country. These resources the State farmed out to great companies. The people of course had to be taxed. The Congo State devised a system by which a moneyless people could be taxed and at the same time the companies could get a stable labor supply. The people had to pay their taxes in labor. Each village had to supply a certain amount of labor. This meant practically a certain amount of rubber. Theoretically the tax was a certain number of hours; but in that amount of time was not reckoned the time consumed in weary journeys to and from the sources of supply. In some cases this tax meant continuous slavery. Out of the enforcement of this policy grew the " atrocities" which have been reported by many and denied by the apologists of the Congo Government. The fundamental evil was not the "atrocities," but the system. White men eager for rubber and endowed with power to force natives to get it for them cannot be watched and controlled in a wild country. Belgium received from the late King

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Leopold II, as a sort of ante-mortem legacy, this evil system. Now the Belgian Government has definitely announced that the labor tax is to be replaced by a money tax in three installments, in one third of the colony on July 1, 1910, in the second third on July 1, 1911, and in the third third on July 1, 1912. A large quantity of nickel coins is to be provided. over, the enforced labor heretofore called for in the construction of public works is to be supplanted by voluntary labor. Still further, the land of the domain of the State (formerly the Crown Domain) will cease to be State property. In this part of the Congo the natives will be allowed to reap and sell the products of the soil. The "domain lands" will be given over to private activity. While the institution of these changes does great credit to the young King, who himself recently visited the Congo, those who have asked for reform and have received apology and explanation and promise may be excused for awaiting the outcome of the announcement with some skepticism. How will the natives be given a chance to get the money for the payment of taxes? Will the Crown Domain become simply a domain for big corporations and special interests? We shall see what we shall

see.

LIBERIA AND THE

The report of the ComUNITED STATES mission appointed last year to visit Liberia and examine its conditions has just been made to Congress. It is, on the whole, reassuring as compared with the alarming, not to say alarmist, reports about Liberia which appeared previous to the appointment of the Commission. At that time, or shortly after, The Outlook pointed out, through information which reached it directly, that, as a matter of fact, Liberia was not bankrupt and was in no danger of becoming so; that there was no revolution or turbulence, and that the real danger was from the encroachment of the Black Republic's neighbors on either side under claims of securing debts due, and perhaps also through clashes between the frontier forces at the boundaries between Liberia and the British and French possessions. The three Commissioners, Messrs. Falkner, Sale, and Scott, are hopeful of the Libe

rian future, provided the United States takes toward that country the attitude which they think it should take in view of the fact that in a large measure the existence of Liberia as a republic is due to the action of the United States in 1816, when colonization of freed American negroes and African negroes recaptured from slave-ships was aided by this country, with the result that the Republic of Liberia was established. The Commission finds that, so far as internal affairs are concerned, the Republic is not in difficulties from which it could not easily be extricated under good government. The debt is not larger, comparatively speaking, than that of many other small countries; the customs revenue is collected; the police is in good condition; the judiciary is honest, although not notably learned; and there is some effort to impart education, although much is needed in this regard. Within the last ten years Liberia has lost a strip of land of considerable size to France, whose officials held that this land was not "effectively occupied" by the Liberians. The difficulty with the British was really a difficulty with a single British officer who carried things with a high hand as regards the frontier police, and took action in the way of occupying territory which seemed inconsistent with the assertion of the British Foreign Office that Great Britain had no design on Liberian territory. As we understand it, this officer has been discredited and removed. The recommendations made by the Commission to Congress are thoroughgoing, and it is reported that the State Department would willingly negotiate a treaty based on the recommendations. Under these the United States would offer to aid in settling boundary disputes; to guarantee the Liberian debt, and for this purpose to assume the control and collection of the customs, as was done in Santo Domingo; to assist the Liberian Government in reorganizing its internal financial system; to help in organizing an adequate frontier police force. The Commission still further proposes that the United States establish and maintain a research station in Liberia, and that it reopen the question of establishing a naval coaling station there. The questions involved will doubtless come before Congress very

soon, and may then be more fully discussed than now seems necessary. Mr. Root once stated, we are informed, that there rests a duty on the United States to assist the Liberians, so far as they need assistance, towards the maintenance of orderly and prosperous civil government.

ARCHAIC PRUSSIA

The lower house of the Prussian Parliament has just passed an electoral bill. It was introduced at the initiative of the German Emperor, who is also King of Prussia, and of the Imperial Chancellor, who is also the Prussian Premier. As proposed, the bill provided for a certain amount of real reform, although it might well have provided for much more. The reason why it did not is not to be ascribed to any reactionary tendencies on the part of Kaiser and Chancellor. They proposed all that they thought a reactionary Prussian Parliament would pass. Tha♦ their fears were not groundless is shown by the treatment of the bill in the Abgeordnetenhaus, or House of Representatives, the lower house of the Landtag, or Parliament. The upper house is the Herrenhaus, or House of Lords, naturally more conservative than the lower, and hence still less disposed to favor the present bill. The Prussian Parliament, in contrast with the Imperial German Parliament, is a relic of more archaic days. Whereas membership in the Reichstag, the lower house of the Imperial Parliament, rests on a "one man, one vote" suffrage, membership in the Prussian Parliament is dependent on wealth. Electors are divided into three classes according to the amounts of taxation paid. These classes are so arranged that each category pays one-third of the whole amount of taxation levied. The first class consists of those electors who pay the highest taxes, to the amount of one-third of the whole. The second class consists of those who pay the next highest amounts, down to the limits of the second third of the whole. The third class consists of the remainder. This system is absurd. In no fewer than twenty-two hundred electoral districts in Prussia the first class, as defined above, consists of but a single voter. It is easy to see that the third-class voters, necessarily many in

number, can be outvoted by a very few voters in the first and second classes. The present measure, as passed, does, however, provide for a little lessening of the burden, though not for as much as the Emperor requested. The voting power of the very wealthy is to be restricted by establishing a limit beyond which their wealth shall not count; and certain office-holders and professional men are to be put in a class beyond that in which their taxes alone would place them. The reform thus begun will, we believe, go on until Prussia becomes as democratized electorally as is the empire of which it forms much the largest part.

the Investigating Committee in Congress on Friday of last week naturally overshadows the testimony of those who immediately preceded him. These witnesses were Mr. Finney, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior; Mr. Dudley, formerly Register of the Land Office in Juneau, Alaska; Mr. Heltman, formerly an employee of the Interior Department as Law Examiner; and, finally, Mr. George Otis Smith, Director of the Geological Survey. All four of these men were or have been in the past subordi nates of Mr. Ballinger. Under crossexamination Mr. Finney was unable to show that there was any lack of money in the Reclamation Fund for the use of those projects on which water users' certificates were accepted. In another paragraph we

tell what these water users' certificates were. It was because Mr. Ballinger's department regarded these certificates as insufficiently secured by funds that it declared them illegal. Mr. Finney also made it evident that he had very little sympathy with the Forest Service as it has been administered, although he could not substantiate with facts his statement implying that the Forest Service treated entrymen unreasonably. Mr. Finney was cross-examined for a long time concerning Attorney-General Wickersham's opinion about Mr. Glavis, but he could furnish no information which would show that certain parts of that opinion were sub