The entire Pennsylvania Railroad system, with 26,000 miles of track, has, it is announced, completed two years without a single one of the 361,572,114 passengers carried in that period being killed in a train accident. The lines east of Pittsburgh have completed their third successive year without a single fatality of this class.

Do woodpeckers get drunk? The question is seriously asked by Professor Burges Johnson in Harper's Magazine" as the result of certain observations in a camp in Maine. Eminent naturalists to whom Professor Johnson wrote disagree. Ernest Thompson Seton says: "The story of woodpeckers getting drunk on fermented sap is an absurd fable." John Burroughs answers: "Both birds and insects might get drunk on the fermented sap." Ernest H. Baynés, of Meriden, New Hampshire, says: I do not think it impossible, perhaps not improbable." Professor J. B. Watson, of Johns Hopkins, says: I have seen robins in a 'loggy' condition upon very ripe berries in the South."

Proverbs have great influence with the Japanese in their daily lives, according to a writer in the "Christian Register." Among their countless adages these, with their English equivalents, are quoted: "Some insects feed upon smartweed" (There is no accounting for tastes). “If in a hurry, go round " (The more haste, the less speed). "Live under your own hat" (Let well enough alone). "The mouth is the front gate of misfortune" (The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity).

The philanthropic impulses of the sentimentalist receive this "palpable hit" from "Life:" Young Girl: "Yes! I feel an intense longing to do something for others." Friend: "Just whom do you mean by others?" "Well, I suppose almost anybody outside of my immediate family."

A letter from Shelley, the poet, to a friend, which was recently sold at auction for $1,485 in New York, gives a picture of Byron's strenuous life: "Lord Byron gets up at 2 [P.M.]. I get up

at 12. After breakfast we sit talking till 6. From 6 to 8 we gallop through the pine forests. ... We then come home and dine and sit up gossiping till 6 in the morning. I don't suppose this will kill me in a week or a fortnight, but I shall not try it any longer."

In a "general information test" conducted by a school in Baltimore many amusing answers were given to the questions asked. Waterloo was located in Ireland, Gotham in Belgium; the Sublime Porte was identified as a "good wine," while Adam's ale was described as drink that was made early in human history in the Garden of Eden," and another boy said that it is "the lump in a man's neck." A hyphenated

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American, according to one student, is "6 an American who talks in short sentences," and conscription "is a thing that is written on a tombstone." Lewis Carroll, one young Baltimorean declares, wrote the 'Star-Spangled Banner." On being asked how many people were saved in Noah's ark, one student replied, "We all of us were." The question, "Why does a blacksmith heat an iron tire before putting it on the wheel?" received from one boy (who apparently thought it a "catch" question) the answer, "He doesn't."

"Who leads a good life is sure to live long," might be a variation of the old song in speaking of the Rev. William Barnes, of Asheville, North Carolina, who died recently at the age of 103 years and 8 months. Mr. Barnes was thought to be the oldest minister in the United States. He preached occasionally up to the year of his death.

A subject for discussion around the library table in the winter evenings might be, What word is most frequently mispronounced? "Arctic," widely pronounced without the first c, would have a high place in the list; others might be these: cul-inary for cu-linary, lamentable for lamentable, airoplane for a-e-roplane, ac-climate for acclimate, cupolo for cupola, charlotte roosh for russe.

In somebody's book on "Little Brothers of the Great" a prominent place will doubtless be given to Angelo Sarto, the brother of the late Pope Pius X. He was a postman almost up to the time of his death a few days ago. He occasionally visited his brother, traveling third-class from his humble home in Grazia to the magnificent palace of the Popes in Rome which was the abode of his distinguished relative.

Slips of speech are amusingly and yet scientifically analyzed in Dr. Freud's recent book, "The Psychopathology of Every-Day Life." One of the illustrations is that of a young, nervous physician who called on the celebrated Dr. Virchow and, when admitted to the presence of the great man, said, instead of giving his own name, "I am Dr. Virchow"! The astonished Professor exclaimed, What! is your name also Virchow?" The finale is not recorded.

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THE STORY OF THE WAR:
KING CONSTANTINE TO THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE

One of the most interesting events of the week under consideration (January 19-26) was the publication of an authorized statement by the King of Greece addressed to the people of the United States as a neutral forum of public opinion. Its form, like the King's previous statement some weeks ago, was made through the Associated Press. If the present statement is compared with former interviews granted by the King, a serious change of position is shown, for the former statement included a clear, although involved, admission that the landing of the Allies at Salonika was allowed, if not actually. invited, and expressed warm sympathy with the Allies; while now Constantine talks of the "unheard-of highhandedness of the recent action of the Allies towards Greece " and "the Allies' encroachment on the sovereignty of Greece." In the main, the interview is a protest against such recent acts of the Allies as the occupation of Corfu and the blowing up of a bridge for military purposes. Such acts as these are, on their face, a necessary sequence of the original entrance of the Allies into Greece. Being there, they must necessarily prepare to defend themselves against the threatening movements of Bulgarians, Germans, and Austrians. The King admits, even in this statement, that the Allies entered Greece in order to render that support to Servia which Greece, although bound by treaty to afford, had through fear refused. He denies that the occupation of Greek islands is necessary or that they are being used as a submarine base by the enemies of the Allies.

In reply to this interview with the King, and published simultaneously with it, the Associated Press sent out a reply from what it terms "the highest French authority," which to most people's mind would seem to mean President Poincaré. This answers the King's protests point by point, declares that

the Allies went to Servia at the request of the Greek Government," that the only protest made was purely formal, and that the Greek military authorities and railways gave the Allies every facility-as, indeed, the King himself stated in his former interview; that the charges as to a submarine base are true; that the blowing up of the bridge in question was absolutely necessary, and that its cost will be repaid. Then comes this remarkable statement which, we believe, has not before been made publicly by any one in authority:

The Greek Government was so little convinced that the Gallipoli enterprise would be a failure that they tried by every means to take part in it, and it was only their exaggerated demands that caused their co-operation to be refused. If the enterprise has been a failure and the Servians have been crushed, the fact is due to Greece's declining to fulfill her engagements as an ally towards Servia, and allowing her territory to be surrounded by the armies of her bitterest enemy.

Curiously enough, the King himself states that at the beginning of the war eighty per cent of the Greeks were favorable to the Allies, but claims that to-day this has been reduced to twenty per cent. The French reply turns this point upon him convincingly by referring to the recent elections in Greece, where the enormous number of voters who stayed away from the polls was a clear indication that they still favor Venizelos and his policy of friendship to the Allies.

Finally, the telling point is made that to this day the Allies are financing the Greek army. No unprejudiced reader can study these two documents without seeing that any attempt to compare the temporary occupation of certain parts of Greece by the Allies with Greece's consent with the invasion and occupation of Belgium is preposterous from every point of view.

CONSCRIPTION IN ENGLAND

On January 24 the compulsory military service bill passed its third and final reading

The

in the British House of Commons. The vote in favor of the bill was 383 to 36-a smaller total vote than on the first reading (403 to 105) and with a decrease of two-thirds in the Opposition vote. It may be said that the minority vote in all three of the readings was so small as to be almost negligible. bill, of course, goes at once to the House of Lords, and there is no question in any one's mind that it will be passed without serious opposition there. The result is a triumph for the Coalition Ministry. Mr. Bonar Law, in closing the debate, noted the extraordinary change in sentiment that had taken place since the matter was under discussion. main provision of the bill empowers the Government to call under the British flag every unmarried man fit for military service who did not enroll himself either for military service or industrial service under Lord Derby's campaign. Proper exceptions are made of those who are now working in what are called "starred" industries-that is, practically, industries furnishing munitions and other needed things for the war-and of those on whose labor depends the absolute support of persons close to them.

The

One other exception is made to the operation of the bill. Ireland is entirely omitted from its scope. This exception is due to political rather than to industrial reasons, and is founded on expediency and not on principles of absolute justice.

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The opposition to conscription in the British Labor party has not yet been destroyed. great British Labor party conference is in session as we write, at Bristol; it is said to represent 2,250,000 workers. The chief question before this conference is the attitude of the party towards compulsion and the question whether the Labor party's representatives still in the Coalition Cabinet should withdraw.

Following the passage of the compulsion. bill there was published an interview with the Minister of Munitions, Mr. David Lloyd George. He expressed himself as now confident of the outcome of the war, and said: "England is planning to put her whole weight into the war, and Germany will feel it shortly. It is an effort such as England has never made before-a truly prodigious effort. In the days before the war she had the greatest fleet in the world, but now she has one of the greatest armies, and in a very short time it will be about the best-equipped army in the world."

ON THE FIRING LINES

The situation in Mesopotamia did not alter decisively during the week. The British relief forces advancing to support General Townshend's troops shut up in Kut-el-Amara have more than once been engaged with the Turkish forces, and on one recent occasion are said to have fought a battle lasting six hours. The Turks claim that in this battle the British were driven back with a loss of three thousand men, but the British War Office asserts that there was nothing conclusive about the engagement, and declares that the British in Kut-el-Amara have plenty of supplies and are able to resist all attacks. The Turks, on the other hand, assert that there is great lack of supplies and provisions, and especially water, on the part of the besieged forces, and that an early surrender is probable. Terrific weather has seriously hindered military operations in this campaign.

The Russian advance in Persia from the north toward Bagdad is not as closely connected with the British campaign in Mesopotamia as a glance at the map might indicate, for while the distance is not enormous. the difficulties of the waterless desert are great.

The question of the formal and unconditional surrender of Montenegro was disputed as our week began. It soon became of no consequence, for the Austrian forces have now overrun Montenegro, occupying nearly all of the important strategic points. The King and the royal family have fled to Italy. The invasion of Montenegro has been followed by the invasion of Albania by the Austrian armies. While the Italians still occupy the important parts of Avlona and Durazzo, the city of Scutari is in Austrian hands, and, if Italy is to hold any part of Albania and retain her prestige on the eastern Adriatic, strenuous military action is required on her part.

Warfare in the air marked the week in several places. Two air raids on England were made by German aeroplanes without great damage. Many think that they presage another great Zeppelin raid. another great Zeppelin raid. A report comes of a bombardment by a "squadron of fortyfive French aeroplanes" at Monastir, and there was also recently a French air attack on Metz, in Lorraine. One thing that is amusing as well as instructive in the accounts of all these air raids is the care which the assailants always take to show that they were justified by the rules of war, while the reports

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Great Britain followed the German example of submarining ships which attempt to run the blockade. Great Britain could do this and provide for the safety of passengers and crew, but without examining the cargoes or the papers of the vessels, and thus stop all traffic across the Baltic. Is this what the United States wants? Of course not. But we have allowed Germany to do this with very little protest except when lives have been

Meantime, British newspapers are criticising the Government because the blockade is too lax. The "Daily Mail" has cited figures, purporting to be taken from American sources, to show that American trade with neutral countries like Norway has increased to such an extent as to prove that goods are escaping the British blockade by going from America by way of Norway and other neutral countries to Germany. To this the British Government has replied, showing that these figures, even so far as they are correct, do not prove this conclusively.

Another element has entered in to complicate matters. The British law known as "Trading with the Enemy" Act prohibits British residents from trading with any companies or individuals that have any business dealings with the Teutonic Empires. There are concerns in the United States which are owned in part or wholly by Germans and which deal with Germany. This Act, if enforced, would prohibit Britons from trading with such American concerns. In one sense, this is a domestic affair of Great Britain's, and therefore can hardly be a subject for formal protest, but it may enter into the question of the blockade, because goods from such American concerns may be treated by Great Britain as enemy goods, while the United States will hold that, as they came from residents of the United States, they are, under international law, neutral goods.

We say here again what we have said repeatedly before, that these questions are to be considered as corresponding to such questions as in domestic affairs would be settled by the civil courts, and are subject, therefore, to compromise and settlement by payments of money; while the issues that have been raised between this country and Germany are matters which in domestic affairs would be submitted to a criminal court, and could have no satisfactory settlement except through the punishment and the reform of the guilty party.

PREPAREDNESS AND CONGRESS:
THE FLETCHER REPORT
MADE PUBLIC

Those who read Secretary Daniels's annual report will recall its somewhat roseate phrases describing the present condition of the American navy. In that report Mr. Daniels was authority for the statement that the personnel was up to the prescribed quota in numbers—a statement which meant merely that the personnel was as large as the law allowed, but which had no bearing upon the needs of the service itself for a greatly increased body of officers and men. Secretary Daniels did say, however, that "more than ninety per cent of the effective fighting power of the navy is now fully manned.” Secretary

Daniels voiced the opinion that our American submarines" are on a par with any in the world," and he took pride in the fact that "the navy is coming to be the biggest university in America; every ship a school' is now literally true.'

The misleading character of Secretary Daniels's report is painfully apparent when contrasted with the report, recently made public, from Admiral Fletcher, Commanderin-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. This report was sent to the Senate soon after the opening of Congress and was voted confidential. Its contents, however, became known through a summary in the New York "Sun," and the report itself was therefore published. Perhaps the most important information which it contains is Admiral Fletcher's statement of the present shortage of personnel needed to make our navy an effective machine. Admiral Fletcher says:

The most vital weakness in the Atlantic Fleetis the shortage of officers. It takes approximately ten years to educate and train an officer, and no amount of legislation can provide officers when trouble is imminent. Expansion of the navy is limited by the number of officers available. The fleet is handicapped, not alone by the shortage of officers, but by the inexperience of the large number of young officers that have been added to the navy in the last few years. This condition, coupled with the shortage of officers, has resulted in officers being ordered to duties beyond their capacities and for which their experience and judgment do not fit them.

for handling rooms and no officers available for the after range-finder. The torpedo room is in charge of a chief petty officer, and the torpedo officer stationed in the conning tower is of the class of 1914 In the plotting room a pay clerk and a yeoman are performing work which requires commissioned officers of the line.

Concerning the condition of our submarines Admiral Fletcher says:

While there are twelve submarines in full commission assigned to operate with the fleet, only six of these vessels were in condition to proceed to Pensacola for the winter's work. All twelve were assembled in May in New York, but only ten were available for the war problem, May 18-25. Of these ten a number were soon incapacitated by machinery troubles, and at times not more than five submarines were ready for duty. Due to untrained crews some of the five were not ready to undertake submerged work.

Admiral Fletcher points out the vital need of scouting vessels and fast cruisers, and describes the effect of this shortage upon the maneuvers during the last year. He expresses also his belief that the service will be benefited by the withdrawal of Secretary Daniels's orders in regard to compulsory education in the navy. With the compulsory features omitted, greater facilities will be available for teaching and helping those who are ambitious to help themselves.

GENERAL WOOD BEFORE
THE SENATE COMMITTEE

Before the Senate Committee on Military Affairs General Leonard Wood discussed the military power of the United States in comparison with the military power of nations which might question the international policies of the United States. Some of the steps which General Wood recommended for the immediate improvement of our defense were:

The modification of the Enlistment Act to provide for a short term of service with the colors and service with the reserve corps.

A moderate increase in the regular army, which he definitely outlined.

Authority and money for the formation of an officers' corps of forty-five thousand men, a matter of imperative necessity.

The accumulation of a reserve of matériel. General Wood stated his belief that the

At general quarters in the United States steamship Utah a chief petty officer is in charge of one turret, and an ensign graduated in 1914 is in charge of another. There are no officers

army while still maintaining and supporting the militia under State control was wrong in principle. He said:

To keep the militia and build up a continental army. . . is like saying to your butler: "You