AMERICA IN THE WAR

With the signing by President Wilson on April 6 of the war resolutions, printed in full in these pages last week, the formal entrance of the United States into war began. The vote in the House of Representatives the evening before was 373 to 50 in favor of the resolutions. The number of negative votes, while inconsiderable, speaking relatively, was larger than had been expected, and this was due chiefly to the address of the floor leader of the Democratic section of Congress, Mr. Claude Kitchin. The address, while not marked by sound reasoning or clear logic, was evidently the utterance of a man fully convinced that his duty required him to oppose the measure and willing to accept the responsibility of opposing not only the leader, the President, but also the large majority, of his own party.

The proclamation by the President immediately followed. It declared a state of war to exist, defined the status of alien enemies in the country, and called upon the people at large to uphold the law and support the prosecution of the war.

Instantly orders were flashed to all war-ships and naval stations, mobilization of the naval militia and naval reserves was set in motion, recruiting for both navy and army was begun on a large scale, and the great questions of munitions and food supply were taken up for consideration. Under the action of the Council of National Defense a General Munitions Board has been appointed, with Mr. Frank A. Scott, a Cleveland manufacturer and expert in munitions, as its head. It is understood that Mr. Herbert Hoover has been asked to head the commission which will deal with food and supplies. Both the munitions and food commissions will work in accordance with proper legislation by Congress.

Perhaps the most spectacular immediate war action was that by which the United States took ninety-one German ships which have been held by war conditions in American ports. These ships have a gross tonnage of over six hundred thousand and are said to be not far from $148,000,000 in value. Several of them were among the most famous and largest passenger ships in the world, such as the Vaterland in New York and the Kronprinzessin Cecilie in Boston. Eighteen German ships were taken over in New York Harbor alone. The crews of the ships have been handed over to the immigration authorities, and are in the position of alien people who have not yet a right to enter the country until after the immigration officials have granted that right.

In Guam a German cruiser long interned there was blown up by its crew, several of whom perished in the explosion. The German ships have not been confiscated, and apparently the position of our Government for the present is that they are taken for protection and to prevent their injury. It is known that in many cases the engines and machinery have been tampered with, but it is thought that a few months' work will put the vessels in order. They could then appropriately be used for transporting troops or other necessary military purposes, leaving to one side the question of compensation to their original owners. If that question ever does come up in the future, it is to be hoped that against any such proposed compensation will be filed a counter-claim for injury done to American ships, American property, American mails, and American lives by illegal and inhuman acts of the German Government.

Because the United States has entered the war against her ally, Austria-Hungary on April 9 severed diplomatic relations with the Government at Washington. Immediately the President ordered that customs guards be placed on Austrian vessels (fourteen in number, said to be worth $26,000,000) and that the officers and crews be taken into custody.

ECHOES FROM ABROAD

The comments from political leaders and the press abroad brought out by President Wilson's address before Congress and the entrance of this country into the war have been on the part of the representatives of the Allies vigorous in their appreciation and praise. Thus the English Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George, declared," America has at one bound become a world power," and in behalf of the British War Cabinet he recognized "the chivalry and courage which called the people of the United States to dedicate the whole of their resources to the greatest cause that ever engaged human endeavor." Mr. Asquith was equally enthusiastic in welcoming the day when" the two great English-speaking democracies can rejoice together as fellowworkers and fellow-combatants for the triumph of freedom and for right." Mr. Bonar Law declared Mr. Wilson's Message" a fitting pendant to the revolution which has brought the Russian people within the circle of free nations," and added, “It is when America throws her weight into the scale that the end becomes certain." Mr. Strachey, editor of the London "Spectator," urges America to make a pledge of " No Separate Peace." France was no less eager to welcome her new ally. President Poincaré in a cable letter to President Wilson says: The war would not have reached its final import had not the United States been led by the enemy himself to take part in it." The Premier, M. Ribot, made a stirring speech in the French Senate, in which he said: "The powerful and decisive assistance which the United States brings us will be not material aid alone; it will be moral aid; above all, a veritable consolation. As we see the conscience of the whole world stirred in mighty protest against the atrocities of which we are victims, we feel that we are fighting not alone for ourselves and our allies, but for something immortal; that we are striving to establish a new order of things." M. Hanotaux declared that the gravest of the errors of autocracy in this war was to have so acted as "to bring America into the war at the moment when it enters upon its most decisive phase.'

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From the Emperor of Japan came a despatch of warm friendship, thanking the United States for upholding in common with the Allies "the sacred cause of the liberty of mankind."

The comments of the German press were sometimes violent and abusive, as might have been expected. Evidently they were founded on the garbled versions of President Wilson's address which alone were at first permitted to appear in Germany, although later, the Berlin despatches state, the full address was published. A typical utterance was that of Major Moraht, who calls the President's Message "hideously hypocritical, unprincipled, and untruthful." Several of the papers represented our action as caused purely by financial reasons and because of our alleged dependence on Great Britain.

OUR NEW ALLIES TO THE SOUTH

Now that the United States has taken the leadership on this continent in fighting German barbarism and militancy, there are encouraging indications that other nations feel as we do and will aid in the work. It goes without saying that Canada, which already has such a splendid war achievement behind it, will, wherever possible, work in harmony with this country. Cuba, with notable promptness, has ranged itself by our side, has actually declared war against Germany, and has seized German vessels in Cuban ports. In taking this action, Cuba, through President Menocal, recognizes a moral obligation to support the United States because of the special relations existing between the two countries. On the other hand, this country not only

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should protect Cuba against foreign aggression, but must do so for its own sake if it appears that there is any danger of the enemy establishing a naval base in Cuba or in other ways using Cuba to the injury of this country. An alliance with Cuba in this war is of prime importance. Panama also has issued a proclamation linking its interests with those of the United States and promising its full aid in protecting the Panama Canal.

Brazil, enraged, as it had every right to be, by the ruthless destruction of a Brazilian vessel, the Parana, by a German submarine, decided on April 10, as unofficially reported, to break off relations with Germany, and it was then practically certain that a rupture would immediately be followed by a declaration of war. Guatemala has declared martial law because of disturbances along its Mexican frontier, said to have been created by German intrigue, and it is not improbable that it may join in the general war.

Thus, while some other nations to the south are likely to remain at least formally neutral, there is a general movement which is most encouraging to those who hope for a growing spirit of harmony and a recognition of large common interests between this country and its sister republics.

With one exception, all these measures may be expected to pass. The first has now gone through both houses. It is of particular importance, as it puts a special appropriation of $100,000,000 immediately into the President's hands for emergency measures.

The appropriation bills unenacted by the Sixty-fourth Congress, because of the Senate filibuster, amounted to over $500,000,000. The House of Representatives is now enacting these measures, as modified by our entrance into the war, and the Senate will doubtless try to make up for its former delay. Of the appropriation bills two deserve special chronicling. The first is the Army Bill, which must now be increased, in addition to the former estimate of $240,000,000, by the startling sum of $2,932,000,000 if we are to make an army of one million men ready for war both in personnel and material within a year. The second bill is the Rivers and Harbors Bill. In its former form it contained many indefensible features, and hence was properly slighted by the Senate; but its new form, providing for deep channels at strategic points, will probably insure its

passage.

As to the Universal Military Training and Service Bill, by far the most important legislation considered by Congress in recent years, The Outlook favors the adoption of the Chamberlain Bill as opposed to the so-called General Staff Bill. In a private letter Senator Chamberlain says:

I am glad indeed to know that The Outlook favors my Universal Military Training Bill. Whether we are able to get it through or not, I think the friends of universal military training have accomplished a very great victory in that the President in his Message to Congress approved universal service, and the measure [the General Staff Bill] which is being submitted for raising an army recognizes the principle involved in my bill.

Of the other measures, the House of Representatives was as deficient in the Spy Bill as was the Senate in the appropriation bills. The Spy Bill is an omnibus measure embracing some

eighteen neutrality bills, most of which had been submitted by the Department of Justice. These measures were drastic, and were specially designed to curb the activities of foreign spies. They provided severe penalties for spying on matters of National defense and prescribed punishment for conspiracies to violate American neutrality. They passed the Senate practically unchanged, by the emphatic vote of sixty to ten. They will, it is hoped, pass both houses by large majorities. The pacifist lobby at Washington is opposing the Spy Bill on the ground that it "would abolish the right of free speech and prohibit public meetings held to criticise the Government." ship paragraph in the bill has also been criticised by certain newspapers which fear the effect of Government control of the press.

The censor

CONGRESS: AERONAUTICS AND OTHER THINGS

The Aero Bill would create a Department of Aeronautics, giving its secretary a portfolio in the President's Cabinet. Special stress is laid upon this bill by the recent statement from Miss Ruth Law, the aviatrice, who has returned from France and England, where she has been studying the conditions and the equipment of the aviation corps now in service in those countries. She reports that not one of the hundreds of airplanes which have been sent from this country to England and France is in use at the front; that they are used instead as training mediums only, as they are too slow and lack the tracta bility in flying which distinguishes the foreign product.

As is well known, the Armed Ships Bill was the cause of the recent Senate filibuster. It now comes up again in the new Congress, and should be passed at once, if only to set the record of Congress straight in confirming the President in his power to protect American commerce and American lives.

One of the proposed amendments to the Shipping Board Act, favorably reported before the adjournment in March, is now being taken up, with the Government's support, namely, the measure to empower the President in an emergency to take or control ships in process of construction on foreign orders at our yards. Under the present law, the sale of American ships to foreign Powers for transfer to a foreign flag can be forbidden; but we have no law granting the Government power to take over foreign vessels which builders are constructing.

The Naval Committee of the House has submitted bills increasing the personnel of the navy by 63,000 men, namely, to a total of 150,000; and increasing the marine corps by 12,500 men, namely, to a total of 30,000 men; the total cost being $175,000,000; increasing from thirty-five to fifty years the age limit for that class of the Naval Reserve force which is viding that midshipmen graduated a year ahead of time from composed of seafaring men capable of performing service, prothe Naval Academy may be immediately commissioned as ensigns (the existing law requires four years at the Naval Academy before an ensign's commission may be granted); finally, allow ing each member of the Senate and House to appoint additional men to Annapolis-this to fill up the classes which are to become depleted because of the order recently issued for earlier graduations.

As has been anticipated, following the British Trading with the Enemy Act, a similar bill has been submitted to Congress as an Administration measure. It provides that commerce be tween German subjects and between such subjects and American citizens will not be prohibited in the continental United States, and that trading between American citizens or German-composed corporations in the United States with German subjects in the neutral countries will not be molested, but that Germans residing in the United States or its possessions will be prohibited from trading with Germany and also forbidden to transmit funds.

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The bill giving the Government control of food follows the agricultural mobilization" ideas recommended by last week's conferences held by the National Agricultural Society at Washington, and by the conference of expert agriculturists called at St. Louis by Secretary of Agriculture Houston. A National Committee would be created with power to fix prices for farm products, and possibly wages for farm labor. The history of the warring countries shows the advisability of stringent Government control over food speculators.

CONGRESS: FINANCE AND THE WAR

There are three kinds of supplies which America can provide for this war in seemingly sufficient quantities. They are:

1. Money.

2. Munitions.

3. Food.

With regard to the first, there is no doubt. With regard to the second, there is a little doubt. With regard to the third, there is just now, unfortunately, a good deal of doubt.

As to the first, last week Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo submitted to Congress, and the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives has drafted, the largest financial proposal ever considered by any legislature. It provides for the disposal of some $7,000,000,000. Five billions of those dollars are to be raised by means of bond issues. The other two billions, to be raised by the issue of one-year certificates of indebtedness, are designed merely to anticipate increased revenues expected from the legislation enacted last winter or to be enacted this spring.

Of the money secured by the sale of bonds, $3,000,000,000 will be loaned to the Entente Powers in return for their obligations, and $2,000,000,000 will be spent on National defense. The money for the Allies forms, perhaps, the most interesting feature of the whole transaction. We are glad to note in Mr. McAdoo's announcement that the supply of credit to "the governments making common cause with us against Germany to enable them to secure essential supplies in the success of carrying on the war with increased effect also contains the additional clause that "this financial aid ought to be extended at the earliest possible moment." This is specially true with regard to Russia, where the stability of the new Government and the possibility of the success of a German drive cause uneasiness. Russia requires rolling stock and ship tonnage immediately.

The proposed bonds are to be exempt from taxation, and will bear interest probably at 321⁄2 per cent. It has been queried whether this rate of interest will produce the immense sum desired, and whether a higher rate would not assure definite success. Some savings banks pay 32 per cent, others 4-call it an average of 334 per cent; but even so, the best interests of the country might be better served by the savings banks themselves investing their funds in Government bonds at 31⁄2 and preserving their deposits, than by seeing their depositors withdraw their savings to buy bonds at, say, 4 per cent. For in this case the banks would be obliged to sell their own securities to have a sufficient amount of cash to pay to their depositors. Suppose the banks do lose a fraction of one per cent by investing in Government bonds. Would it not be better for them to have the new bonds bear a rate of interest which will not induce heavy withdrawals, and thus compel the banks to liquidate their holdings of other securities?

In any case, the problem of raising the money required for war will involve a shift of capital. This shift will doubtless be accompanied by a similar shift of labor, because some capital at least will be removed from the progress of undertakings that are not imperative, so as to enable men and women to invest in the new bonds, and the suspension of those undertakings will release a certain amount of labor supply.

The new bonds are to be offered as a great popular loan. The widest opportunity will be given to the public to subscribe. As law forbids the payment of commission on sales of Government bonds, it is gratifying to note that the bankers throughout the country have risen as one man to offer the free use of their services and facilities in making the proposed bond issue a success. In addition to these offers, the Treasury will seek the assistance of the Federal Reserve banks, the National banks, the State banks and trust companies, the savings banks and insurance companies, in this public offer of Government bonds. In addition, Governmental agencies, such as the post-offices and the internal revenue offices, will be asked to assist in this patriotic work.

Few doubt that Congress will grant the necessary authority to make public offer of these bonds. That our National wealth will not be too much lessened and that the task of raising funds will be accompanied without inflation and without confiscation should be evident from a survey of our financial resources.

THE NEW BRITISH OFFENSIVE

The advance made eastward by General Haig's army to the north of the town of Arras and extending north beyond Lens and as far as La Bassée has been so successful and on such a large scale that it is even thought by some critics that the German flank has been turned; that is, that the British operations have extended beyond the northern end of the new German line of defense occupied by the German forces after their retreat from the old line in the Somme sector. However this may be, it is clear that if the Germans expected that their recent retiral would embarrass or prevent a strong British offensive this spring they were mightily mistaken.

The battle of Arras bids fair to be the most notable engagement since the beginning of trench warfare in western Europe, exceeding last year's attack of the French in the Champagne district. On April 11 the despatches declared that in the two preceding days the British had captured more than eleven thousand prisoners, including two hundred and thirtyfive officers (five at least of whom were battalion commanders), while over one hundred cannon and over one hundred and sixty machine guns had been taken. The number of prisoners is particularly significant; either the German troops are now poorer fighting stuff than they have been or the planning of the British attack was brilliant in the extreme. A splendid achievement is again accorded to the Canadian forces, which took and held the Vimy Ridge, a most difficult position, the capture of which gave the British command of a large field of operations before it. It is here on Vimy Ridge that the American flag is reported to have made its first appearance on the front-carried by a Texan in a Canadian regiment.

The gain penetrates the hostile line in some places to a distance of three and one-half miles, and extends over more than twenty-five miles. One important effect will be to threaten the German position at Cambrai, and with Cambrai in danger and St. Quentin and La Fère now gradually being pocketed by lines extending on both sides of each place, the probability increases daily of a further German retreat which could by no means be considered a strategical movement planned in advance.

A remarkable feature of the war in the week ending April 11 was the battle fought in the air behind the new German lines. Nothing like it has ever taken place in the history of the world. The British sent scores of aviators over the German lines for the purpose of studying and photographing the positions. It is said that no less than seventeen hundred photographs of the country behind the enemy's lines were taken, while many tons of bombs were dropped. The German aviators accepted the challenge, and a general engagement took place. The exact number of airplanes on both sides is not given, but as the British claim that they destroyed or drove damaged to the ground over fifty of the German airplanes and admita loss of twenty-eight of their own machines, it is probable that the total number considerably exceeded one hundred. The extent of the airplane warfare on the western front may be judged by the fact that Berlin despatches declare that one hundred and sixty-one airplanes of the Allies were destroyed in the single month of March. The first official appearance of the American flag on the front is likely to be aloft; for the Lafayette Escadrille, composed of American aviators, are, it is said, soon to substitute American uniforms for French uniforms and to carry the Stars and Stripes.

The junction of British and Russian forces in the region north of Bagdad, briefly noted last week, has been followed by a considerable advance to the northeast-that is, toward Mosul— by General Maude's army. The co-operation of Russian forces from Lake Van in the north and from Persia in the east with the British forces in Mesopotamia, and perhaps later with those now threatening Jerusalem, is constantly becoming a more assured and important thing.

RECONSTRUCTION IN GERMANY

Last week despatches from Holland announced that serious food rioting had taken place across the border in the Westphalian districts of Germany, more particularly in the cities of Barmen, Bielefeld, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Elberfeld, and Krefeld. Crowds paraded the streets, according to this information,

shouting, "Give us bread!" smashing windows, and singing revolutionary songs, and among the crowd some members of the Landsturm-the third line of military reserve-were found. So serious were these disorders that, it is added, the military commanders in some of these cities have now empowered their soldiers to use firearms against rioters without previously warning them. Thus the food situation is disturbing Germany.

But the political situation is tending also in the same direction. In any event this would be the case, but it has been specially marked since the Russian overturn and the entry of America into the war. It is not a revolution, and no one well acquainted with Germany thought it would be. But it is an intense evolution. Newspapers which throughout the war have been bound have thrown off their control and have made unheard-of demands. These demands have centered about electoral reform in Prussia. The privileged classes have always fought this reform. But it has gained a new adherent-the Empero. He now declares it to be "near his heart," and he has made solemn pledges to abolish the famous-or rather infamous-Prussian franchise. But his promises are made, like so many others, to have effect "after the war.' This does not suit the Socialist or the Radical papers. Even some liberal papers do not accept the offer as decisive. For instance, the "Frankfurter Zeitung," as press despatches report, prophesies that a democratic German Empire will come soon, not because the Chancellor avows himself in its favor, but because the Chancellor's words interpreting the Emperor express the will of the overwhelming majority of the people.

In the Radical press the most prominent spokesman is Maximilian Harden, editor of "Die Zukunft." He boldly declares that Germany must remodel her monarchy on the line of the English system. What a curious comment Harden has made himupon self! Years ago he maintained that Russian regeneration could be brought about only by German assistance. And now German regeneration is being brought about by Russian example. As to the Socialists, their leading organ, "Vorwärts," joyfully hails the Emperor's message as a promise entirely distinct from all previous announcements and as a departure from the old spirit of things. Says "Vorwärts:"

Easter day of the third year of the war has brought us a promise which appears more hopeful than all previous announcements. It cannot possibly end again in empty words because of the solemn circumstances of the time at which it reaches us, and, above all, the inner spirit which it bespeaks. . . The throne pledges itself, in the case of Ministerial changes, to intrust no one with the leadership of Prussian state affairs who has not internal reform at heart in at least the same measure as has Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg. The main thing is not to calculate whether the Government promises to fulfill fifty per cent or seventy-five per cent or one hundred per cent of our demands. In the face of the Government's message our task must be to mobilize all the people's political powers for the most energetic continuation of the carrying out of the reform.

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The extremer Socialist views are reflected by the statements made by Deputy Ledebour in the Reichstag. Evidently referring to Russia, he said: "I earnestly hope that our Socialist friends may follow the gratifying example already afforded everywhere by the champions of Socialism through their resolute struggle against the anti-peace machinations of their own rulers." And, referring to Poland as reconstituted by Germany, Herr Ledebour declared that "the reconstitution of this Polish state contradicts the principle of the rights of peoples to selfgovernment."

HOW GERMANY PUNISHES FOR IMPROPER
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR

Ambassador Gerard, as the official representative of the United States in Germany, and as the one man to whom the Allied Governments looked with hope for the protection of their nationals in the prison camps of Germany, was in a position to see more of the conditions in those camps than any other man not an official of the German Government.

Two things may be taken for granted the authenticity of any criticism of these camps made by Mr. Gerard, and the obvious fact that Germany did not go out of its way to expose

to his view any brutality towards the prisoners which may have existed.

It is worth while, then, to stop and consider a recent statement made by Ambassador Gerard before the Canadian Club of New York City: '

One day I read in the "North German Gazette" a paragraph which told that a number of the inhabitants of a northern German town had been guilty of improper and unpatriotic conduct toward prisoners of war, and that they had been jailed for varying terms and their names printed in the "North German Gazette," that their names might be exposed to shame and their falsity made known to generations of Germans to come.

I said to myself, "Good! at last some of these Germans are to be punished for maltreating prisoners of war." I directed the American Consul there to make a report on the matter. He sent back word that a trainload of Canadian prisoners of war was being taken through the town when it was necessary to put the train on a siding. Some of the prisoners communicated to curious townsfolk gathered about the train that they were starving and had nothing to drink. The townspeople had given them food and drink, and that was the crime for which they were imprisoned and held up to shame.

I had seen small boys, with German simplicity and kindness, march about the prison camps armed with bows and arrows, shoot arrows tipped with nails at prisoners, but I had not before heard of such a thing as this.

Such testimony needs no further comment.

A FUTILE ATTEMPT AT SEDITION

The methods of German intrigue and the workings of the German official mind are well illustrated by the authenticated reports that German agents are actively attempting to stir up a revolt among Negroes of the South.

The thought that for every ignorant Negro who can be disaffected by such propaganda, ten thousand others will have their loyalty to their Government intensified, is one which apparently has not occurred to those responsible for this seditious activity.

If there is any one characteristic which is generally accorded to the Negro race, it is loyalty. Those Negroes who, when their own freedom was at stake, labored faithfully and devotedly for the unprotected women and children on the Southern plantations created a record for fidelity which might with profit have been observed by the powers who set on foot this curiously short-sighted effort to arouse racial antagonism in the South.

So far as can be judged from the Southern press, Southern white men share absolutely our opinion of the absurdity of this attempt to incite a race war. Such disaffection as exists is purely domestic in its character. Local conditions in many parts of the country, both North and South, may not be at all to the liking of Negroes, but their loyalty to their country and its flag is something which cannot and will not be doubted.

Dr. Frissell, of Hampton Institute, whose work as principal of that remarkable school has naturally brought him in close contact with Negro opinion, recently said:

After thirty-six years of labor among the Negroes of the South I feel that I have a fair knowledge of conditions. A recent meeting brought assurances of loyalty from some of the districts that are considered most disaffected. Forty of the Hampton students have offered themselves as candidates for the summer training camps for officers in Negro regiments. Should there be a call for help, the whole Hampton Institute battalion of five hundred cadets could be counted on for service. These five hundred students are under military training.

The Negro has always been loyal. Certainly no other race coming from a foreign soil can be compared with the Negroes in their loyalty to their country. What is true of the past is certainly true of the present.

Spontaneous evidence of this loyalty has already been given by the utterances of Negro leaders at Tuskegee and elsewhere throughout the South.

THE 66 'MOHANSIC MENACE"

The State of New York has purchased sites for a State Hospital for the Insane and a State Training School for Boys