every county an agent with permanent headquarters, who can serve as the joint representative of the local community, the agricultural college, and the Department." There are now in the United States more than a thousand counties with such agents, and in these there are several hundred women employed. These agents give farm demonstrations.

In the fifteen Southern States there were, for example, three thousand silos built under the direct instruction of agents. (A silo, by the way, is a structure in which corn is preserved for fodder.) More than seventy-five thousand hillsides were terraced to prevent erosion, home gardens were planted, thousands of acres were drained, co-operative enterprises were established for the breeding of live stock, handling seed, marketing crops, etc. The women agents visited homes and gave helpful suggestions about such matters as the eradication of flies and mosquitoes, the care of poultry, the provision of home conveniences, and the like. system is newer in the

The county agent North than in the South, but even in the North there were thirty-five thousand demonstrations, and thousands upon thousands of acres were planted with such crops as corn, oats, potatoes, and alfalfa. Farmers were instructed in the mixing of fertilizers, in the use of lime, and in the keeping of farm accounts. This is just a beginning. It is impossible to forecast what the developments of such work under the joint supervision of the Federal Government and the various States will be.

THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT AS DOCTOR AND FINANCIER

As a

It is not only, however, as an educational department that the Department of Agriculture is acting. It may also be called a department of medicine. Of course its activities in this respect are confined to veterinary medicine, but in this it is doing an important work in the line of medical science. result, for example, of the use of prepared serum, the reduction in the death of hogs from hog cholera has been remarkable. Perhaps the most widely known result of the work of the Department of Agriculture as a medical department has been in the direction of eradicating outbreaks of the foot-andmouth disease. This is a disease that attacks cloven-footed animals, such as cattle and hogs. Sometimes, as in a recent epizootic (which is the same as an epidemic, except

that it affects not people but animals), it is difficult to diagnose. The story of the way in which this disease first got a foothold and began spreading from one State to another and was finally overcome by the action of the Federal Government, through the Department of Agriculture, is one which shows how the States and the Federal Government may efficiently co-operate. The first signs of this infection were noticed in August, 1914, but because it was mild and did not display the usual symptoms it was not correctly diagnosed. It was not until October that the Department at Washington learned that there were indications of footand-mouth disease, and immediately inspectors were despatched to the infected localities, and in nine days a quarantine order was issued. Because of power over inter-State commerce, the Federal Government was enabled to issue orders that the States could not have issued. And in the following June the last herd then known to be infected had been slaughtered and buried, and the premises disinfected, and now, except for instances in certain parts of Illinois, the disease has been generally eradicated.

The Department is also concerned with the testing of serum for use in the treatment of animal diseases, and Secretary Houston suggests that a laboratory station for testing such serums for the entire output of commercial serum in the United States would probably not exceed $150,000 annually.

But Uncle Sam as a farmer is not merely an educator and a medical scientist, but also a financier and business man. Through the Department of Agriculture he has interested himself in the prices of agricultural products. Secretary Houston points out that the ordinary manufacturer knows what his product is and what it costs, and knows it better than the buyer; but that in agriculture the reverse is true, and the farmer does not know what his product is or at what price it may be sold as well as the buyer does. So the Department has been trying out various plans. It has tested a method of distributing market news so that the growers and shippers of fruits and vegetables might learn the latest news of crop movements and prices. The Department has also prepared a set of standards for cotton, and these standards have been voluntarily accepted in the more important spot markets. Moreover, it has designated certain of these spot markets as bona fide, and most of these furnish the Depart

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as one of the great educational leaders in the United States.

On one occasion, we think in the Adirondack Mountains, Dr. Frissell was unable to be present, and Major Moton made the address on behalf of Hampton. A lady in the audience who was unfamiliar with the personnel of Hampton Institute, but who knew that the head of the institution was Dr. Frissell, went up at the close of the meeting and, addressing Major Moton, said: "I cannot tell you, Dr. Frissell, how much I have been interested in your account of the work at Hampton." With his contagious smile, Major Moton replied: "I am very glad, madam, that you are interested, but I am not Dr. Frissell. He is a blond, while, as you see, I am a brunette."

Major Moton is not only a man of fine character and marked ability, but he also possesses a splendid physique. This is fortunate, for the demands upon him in his new position will be endless and exhausting. His selection as the head of one of the really great institutions of the South is giving great satisfaction to Southern people, both white and black. Mr. George Gordon Battle, a well-known Democratic lawyer of the city of New York and at one time an Assistant District Attorney, writes to the New York Evening Post" a letter from which we quote the following paragraph:

As a man of Southern birth who is deeply interested in the future of the Negro in the South, I am much gratified at the selection of Major Robert R. Moton to take charge of the Tuskegee Institution as the successor of the lamented Booker T. Washington. . . . Booker Washington was nowhere more highly esteemed and respected than among the white people of his community. . . . Undoubtedly he has done more than any man of either race to inspire hope of an ultimate and happy solution of this great problem [the Negro problem]. Major Moton's views are formed along the lines of his great preceptor, and I hope and believe that he will be equal to the task of carrying forward the work which has been so nobly begun, and that Tuskegee Institute, Hampton Institute, the Manassas Industrial School, and other like institutions throughout the South will continue to be not only centers of education and improvement for the colored race, but also growing and continuing sources of that mutual good will and respect which will enable the two races to pursue their separate but friendly and honorable destinies.

This utterance is, we believe, typical of the best sentiments of the South, and recalls

what Booker Washington often said himself, that the best friend of the Negro is the enlightened and broad-minded Southerner.

THE PAN-AMERICAN

SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS

The Outlook has already commented upon the wide significance of the word "scientific" in connection with the Pan-American Scientific Congress now in session at Washington. Its significance is even wider than that already indicated, if we may judge from the opening sessions of the Congress. After the Hon. John Barrett, Director-General of the PanAmerican Union, had introduced the Ambassador of Chile as President of the Congress, Vice-President Marshall, in the President's absence, welcomed the visitors. In these addresses, in those by the heads of the various delegations, and especially in that of Mr. Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, there was evident a sentiment looking towards the solidarity of the Western Hemisphere which has, we believe, been so strongly shown in no other place and at no other time.

In developing this theme an interesting and pertinent distinction was drawn between the Monroe Doctrine and what has come to be known as the Pan-American Doctrinethe latter being, in the words of Mr. Wilson's recent Message to Congress, an assertion that the countries of the New World" mean always to make a common cause of national independence." The Chilean Ambassador declared that so long as the Monroe Doctrine was understood as a threat it was viewed with distrust by South and Central America, but that, defined as a derivation of Pan-Americanism, it had become a “tie of union, a guaranty, a bulwark, for our democracies.' Other speakers so emphasized this idea that it seemed as if the Monroe Doctrine might be destined to be absorbed in the Pan-Ameri

can Doctrine. Mr. Lansing, however, said:

If I have correctly interpreted Pan-Americanism from the standpoint of the relations of our Governments with those beyond the seas, it is in entire harmony with the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine is a National policy of the United States; Pan-Americanism is an international policy of the Americas. The motives are to an extent different, the ends sought the same. Both can exist without impairing the force of either. And both do exist and, I trust, will ever exist in all their vigor.

The Monroe Doctrine is no threat by us to any Latin-American republic, for it is sim

ply the doctrine that the destiny of the North and South American continents is to be directed by the inhabitants of those continents. The Monroe Doctrine is still necessary, especially since the Latin-American republics have not developed military strength enough to defend by themselves the Western Hemisphere against aggression, whether European or Asiatic. The Monroe Doctrine, in short, means that we as a Nation, having the power, must carry with it a corresponding responsibility.

At the same time the doctrine of a concert of the American Powers, known as PanAmericanism, should receive continually new and enthusiastic support. To that end the present Pan-American Congress will prove, we do not doubt, a chief means.

THE COMMUNITY

CHRISTMAS TREE

Christmas, 1915, witnessed a great development of the community Christmas tree idea. Hundreds of communities, large and small, lent themselves to the movement.

It is a movement that has rapidly won popularity. It is only three or four years old. People had long been saying that Christmas ought to have public as well as private significance, that there were plenty of people who had no homes of their own, who could not have any proper Christmas and yet who ought to have it brought to them in some way. As long as it is impossible to penetrate to the myriad places where Christmas is not, why not have some public place in the open where a public Christmas shall be made? Thus thought many generous-minded folk. And the result was that in certain cities-New York, Boston, and Hartford, for instance-a public programme of song was prepared and a Christmas tree brought from Maine and decorated, the outward sign of the inward grace in those who had been possessed of the kindly thought. The next year Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati, and Chicago adopted the plan. In 1914 the list was still further increased, and 1915 saw the greatest extension of all.

This is a cheering result. It not only has the immortal, ineradicable Christmas significance, but it also means a deeper and welcome social responsibility.

It makes little difference whether the tree is bought by the community or by a committee of citizens; whether the community erects a tent or stand to shelter those closest

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the south in the province of Yunnan. Fifty thousand soldiers have been sent to quell the movement. One despatch indicates that some of the Government troops are disaffected, but the Chinese Legation at Washington denies that any have actually mutinied.

All despatches from China, we would add, are to be received with caution, especially those coming by way of San Francisco.

A private letter from Peking to The Outlook reports the great influence which the titles of nobility to be conferred by the new Emperor is having on certain Chinese in changing them from republicans to monarchists. Under the Manchu emperors there were nine ranks of nobility; there will now be six ranks, it appears. It was originally announced that titles to be created were not to be perpetual; it is now reported that they will be hereditary. All this is of much less importance, we think, than the announcement that the Government will retain the right to cancel titles if their holders conduct themselves in a manner regarded as improper by the Emperor.

CHINA AND JAPAN

This

Japan's ambition, it is alleged, is to dominate China under any circumstances. was recently indicated in the Japanese Government's demand that China should employ Japanese political, military, and financial advisers-as much as to say that Japan's military and economic interests in China are paramount. Writing in the New York "Times," Dr. George Trumbull Ladd, an authority on the Far East, says that the Japanese unnecessarily complicated this demand" and made an unfortunate and premature display of a disposition to use force."

But, as he adds, in Japan's opinion, the Chinese Republic has been so weak that it might be overturned at any time; in this case, Japan would have to bear the greater part of the burden of attempting to restore order. Dr. Ladd holds that only a long period of fair treatment from others, mingled with firmness and backed up by the fear of force, will bring China into the comity of civilized nations. He quotes as follows from a friend who has spent more than thirty years of his life in the Far East:

I have made it my habit to ask gentlemen versed in Chinese affairs if they could give me a single instance of any great organization undertaken by Chinese on their own initiative and successfully carried through to an efficient condition-efficient, that is, under Chinese control

and management. I have yet to learn of a case of such successful organization.

Japan, from all we can see, is the only Oriental nation that has shown a capacity for organization. If Mexico's disordered condition threatened the peace of all North and South America-provided that Mexico were large and important enough to do so-is it supposable that more highly organized nations would remain inactive? Yet such is exactly the situation in the Far East, and Japan's self-restrained efforts at organization should receive the encouragement of the whole civilized world.

The recent request from Japan, in conjunction with her allies, that China should postpone the installation of the monarchy, has been interpreted by some, first, as the unnecessary intervention of a foreign Power in another nation's affairs; secondly, as indicating the desire of the Japanese to keep the Chinese under a weak government; and, thirdly, as a mark of Japan's hostile feeling toward Yuan Shi-kai personally. To these interpretations Dr. Iyenaga, director of the East and West Bureau, replies in the New York "Times :" "The Japanese Government has averred in definite words that the advice in question was inspired by no thought whatever of intruding upon the domestic affairs of China. Nor has Japan any right to raise objection to the form of government China may adopt, whether it be a monarchy, republic, or autocracy, provided the Chinese Government thus formed does not threaten the interests of Japan. And we may take it for granted that Japan, being herself a monarchy, would welcome the adoption of the same form of government in her neighbor state." Finally, Japan deems Yuan Shi-kai the ablest and strongest statesman in China-" the man who alone can guide the Ship of State safely in the troubled waters."

THE PRESENT CONDITION
OF CHINA

It is true that, in general, China lamentably lacks Japanese efficiency. But in one important department there has been a vast improvement, if we may believe the latest issue to reach us of that well-edited weekly the Shanghai "National Review." It recounts editorially a discussion with a wellinformed Chinese as to whether the public service in China to-day is better administered than it was five years ago. He affirmed that it was. But a third person asked, "How much did the new Commissioner pay to get his present position ?" "Not a cash," was

the immediate answer; "the post is not worth buying." The editor of the "Review " asked for explanation. It was as follows:

The present Commissioner, like his predecessor, receives a definite fixed salary and out of that has to meet certain expenditures. The remainder amounts to probably not more

than Tls. [taels; a tael is worth about sixty cents] 500 to Tls. 650, which he has as his net salary. This is vastly different from what obtained in times past. In the days of the Manchus the Shanghai taotaiship [commissionership] was worth Tls. 200,000 per annum. All funds payable to the Government were paid to the Taotai, and he kept them in his hands as long as he could, lending them out from month to month at enormous interest. In addition, the Taotai had a good many other perquisites. To-day Government funds are mostly controlled by a separate official, and must be deposited in a stated bank within forty-eight hours of being received. Thus the Government is able to use these funds at once and, if it thinks fit, to set them to interest-bearing uses. In any case, it gets its money long before it used to do in the old days, and thereby at least gets the Tls. 200,000 that formerly went into the private pocket of the Taotai. This sort of change has taken place at every treaty port, and similar changes are taking place throughout the Government service.

This, we trust, really reflects the altered condition of China as regards the public service.

MOBILIZATION

FOR SNOW REMOVAL

The heavy snow-storm which so thoroughly disorganized traffic in southern New England and northern New York the early part of the week of December 12 demonstrated in New York City how fully unskilled and semiskilled labor is employed. A year ago Commissioner J. T. Fetherston, of the Street Cleaning Department of New York City, after long study of the problem, introduced new method of removing snow. He called his plan snow-fighting. Instead of waiting for the storm to cease or for a heavy blanket to cover the streets before beginning operations, he concluded that the least costly way was to attempt to keep the surfaces of the important streets clean while the snow was falling.

Investigation had shown that sewers could be utilized to transport snow. A sewer as a means of transportation had two advantages over the carts of the contractors. It practically eliminated the cost of moving the snow,