attacked the Germans at Vaux; the latter would indicate a positive German recession. For weeks the Germans have not advanced their attack on Verdun an inch, and the assaults have almost all been from the French side. THE RAILWAY CONTROVERSY President Wilson's attempt to bring together the leaders of the brotherhoods and the railway official representatives continued up to the time of writing (August 23), with no definite result. The President's own statement of his original proposal made this comment on its chief feature: I have recommended the concession of the eight-hour day-that is, the substitution of an eight-hour day for the present ten-hour day in all the existing practices and agreements. I made this recommendation because I believe the concession right. The eight-hour day now, undoubtedly, has the sanction of the judgment of society in its favor, and should be adopted as a basis for wages, even where the actual work to be done cannot be completed within eight hours. The other features of the proposal are thus described in the President's own words: I proposed that the demand for extra pay for overtime made by the men and the contingent proposals of the railroad authorities be postponed until facts shall have taken the place of calculation and forecast with regard to the effects of a change to the eight-hour day; that in the meantime, while experience was developing the facts, I should seek, and, if need be, obtain, authority from the Congress to appoint a small body of impartial men to observe and thoroughly acquaint themselves with the results, with a view to reporting to Congress at the earliest possible time the facts disclosed by their inquiries, but without recommendation of any kind; and that it should then be entirely open to either or both parties to the present controversy to give notice of a termination of the present agreements, with a view to instituting inquiry into suggested readjustments of pay or practice. The attitude taken by the railway managers in regard to this whole plan was shown in the statement issued by Mr. Elisha Lee, the chairman of the managers' conference committee. Mr. Lee said: "It is inconceivable in a democracy like ours that the railroads should grant, under threat of a National strike, a $50,000,000 wage preferment to a small minority of their employees without a hearing before a public tribunal." marine to meet the requirements of the commerce of the United States." The differences between this Ship Purchasing Bill and that passed by the House in May will be harmonized by the customary joint conference committee. The bill provides for the creation of a shipping board and appropriates $50,000,000, to be raised by the sale of Panama Canal bonds. As adopted by the Senate, the measure is much more restricted in purpose than the bill which passed the House. The Senate bill provides that, among other things: The Government is not to purchase any ship flying the flag of a belligerent nation or any ship already engaged in American trade unless it is about to be withdrawn from that trade. The Government must not undertake to operate merchant ships unless all efforts fail to negotiate satisfactory leases or sales to private corporations. The Government reserves the right to prescribe conditions under which its ships shall be operated by private concerns and in what service they shall engage. no An amendment offered by Senator Borah and backed by the Republicans was as excellent an example of a Congressional "rider" as we have seen in some time. Mr. Borah asked that it be provided that " ship purchased under the Act should carry any immigrant who could not read or write." This amendment was defeated by 37 to 20. Two Democrats, Senator Ashurst, of Arizona, and Senator Myers, of Montana, were the only representatives of their party to vote for it. Apparently the purpose of this rider was as much to get the Democrats on record in regard to the literacy feature of the Immigration Bill as any expectation or hope that it would be accepted. It seems to The Outlook that, while some of the objections to the earlier Shipping Bill have been eliminated from the present measure, the fundamental reasons for opposing it have not been changed. The cost of construction at this time and the complications which must necessarily arise from initiating so drastic an experiment in Government ownership seem to us to make this measure absolutely undesirable. The third incident of note in the history of the past week in Congress was the revolt of ten Democrats who joined with the Republicans to secure a vote on the immigration measure, which the President has already vetoed. It has been the desire of the Administration forces to avoid another vote on this bill until after the election. The likelihood that the Administration would be embarrassed in this way was decreased when, on the day following this revolt, five of the ten Democrats who voted with the Republicans reversed themselves and voted to give the revenue bill the right of way over the Immigration Bill. Two of the five who continued to vote with the Republicans were the Senators from Arizona and Montana who supported Senator Borah in his amendment to the Shipping Bill to which we have already referred. The Senate during the past week also passed the Workmen's Compensation Bill for Federal employees practically in the form in which it passed the House. The measure would grant Federal employees two-thirds of their regular wages throughout disability, benefits for dependents in case of death, and medical attendance during the period of disability. The bill was drafted by the American Association for Labor Legislation, of which Professor Irving Fisher, of Yale, is President. THE PRESIDENT VETOES The most dramatic feature of the Congressional history of last week was the veto by the President of the Army Appropriation Bill. The bill as passed by Congress included a revision of the Articles of War, the code of rules which govern the discipline of the armies of the United States and all persons subject to military law. The War Department has for a long time attempted to secure a revision of the Articles of War, and the present legislation is the result of this endeavor. Unfortunately, the Articles of War as accepted by the War Department underwent a revision in Congress for which Mr. Hay was responsible. It was this revision which aroused the President and caused his veto of the entire bill. In returning the bill to the House President Wilson said: The existing Articles of War are undoubtedly archaic, as they have not undergone compre hensive revision for more than one hundred years. . . . Both the practice of arms and the theory of discipline have undergone many modern changes, and manifest need for such revision of these articles as is here presented has long existed. Therefore I more keenly regret to find in the proposed revision of the Articles of War a provision to which I cannot give my approval. The provision to which the President objected was the exemption of officers upon the retired list from military discipline. The President points out that both courts and attorneys-general have in a long line of decisions held that officers of the army on the retired list hold public office. He also points. out that Congress has specifically declared that officers on the retired list are a part of the regular army, and available for certain classes of active duty in time of peace, with their consent, and, in time of war, without their consent. The President then says: The purpose of the Articles of War in times of peace is to bring about a uniformity in application of military discipline, which will make the entire organization coherent and effective and to engender a spirit of co-operation and proper subordination to authority which will in time of war instantly make the entire army a unit in its purpose of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty in the National defense. These purposes cannot be accomplished if retired officers, still a part of the military establishment, still relied upon to perforın important duties, are excluded, upon retirement, from the wholesome and unifying effect of this subjection to common discipline. I am persuaded that officers upon the retired list would themselves regard this as an invidious and unpalatable discrimination, which, in effect, excluded them from full membership in the profession to which they have devoted their lives, and of which by the laws of their country they are still members.. I am constrained to return this bill without my approval. The President in thus vetoing the Army Bill has, in our opinion, done well. The Presidential veto is too often withheld from bills which contain clauses of doubtful value or even of pernicious import. If Congress. could learn by experience that the insertion of riders and amendments foreign to the purpose of great measures would inevitably bring about a Presidential veto, a great step towards improvement in legislative procedure would have been made. Because of the present international situation the temptation to accept the Army Bill at this present time was doubtless a serious one. From present indications, however, the President's veto will not cause any really serious delay in the enactment of the measure as a whole. Perhaps it may be appropriate to point out here that the complete control by the President, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, over the actions of the officers in the two services has at times been used to the disadvantage of the public. It is entirely proper for the President and his Secretaries to suppress criticism of superior officers, Indeed, the prohibition of such criticism is one of the most important parts of the Articles of War. There is a difference between the suppression of such criticism, however, and the suppression of the discussion of technical matters by experts in the army and navy, from whom the people of the United States must learn, if they are to learn at all, what are our naval and military needs. Perhaps the most flagrant example in recent years of such misinterpretation of executive authority was the suppression by Secretary Daniels of the writings of Admiral Fiske. This is not the only example, by any means, of the unfortunate exercise of executive discipline which has taken place during the past four years. There is a contest in the Republican party of the State of New York regarding its candidate for the United States Senate which is of more than ordinary National interest. The candidate of the regular organization is Congressman William L. Calder. Mr. Calder has had a long political experience of a somewhat conventional type. He has served several terms in Congress, is a successful business man, and, to quote the words of that well-informed organization Republican Mr. Lemuel Ely Quigg, "has been for three years a candidate for the Senate. . . . He may not know all the diplomats of Europe, but he knows all the elements that are comprehended in American life. In his aspirations to be Senator he has consulted all these elements all over this State; and, if he has shaken hands a good deal, he has won hearts with hands. As between Mr. Bacon and Mr. Calder, the man who has shaken hands is the safer candidate and would be the more competent Senator." This does not strike us as being a very statesmanlike platform for a United States Senator, although we must admit that it is typical of a certain phase of American politics which we think is slowly but surely passing into the background. Mr. Calder's opponent for the Republican nomination is Robert Bacon. Mr. Bacon was formerly a banker, was Assistant Secretary of State under Elihu Root in the last Roosevelt Administration, and was Secretary of State during the final weeks of that Administration. He was our Ambassador to France for three years, from December, 1909, to January, 1912. During the past year or two he has taken a very prominent and active part in the National preparedness movement, being at the present time President of the National Security League. In a statement which Mr. Bacon has issued, and which constitutes the platform upon which he seeks the suffrages of his fellow-citizens, he says: There is to-day no more important National need than a better knowledge of the rights and duties imposed by international law; rights which we should have the courage to enforce, and duties which we should have the spirit to perform. Between nations, as between individuals, there must be laws so moral and far-reaching in conception, so sanctioned in national conscience and material readiness, as to place their enforcement beyond doubt. These laws should control and regulate the conduct of every nation, large or small, rich or poor, strong or weak, in its relations with every other nation. In order to maintain this policy of international rights and international duties, he regards preparedness as one of the great political issues of the day. He defines the essential elements of preparedness as (1) universal obligatory military training and service; and (2) training and service in the broader field of National industrial efficiency. We share Mr. Bacon's view. We believe that the great political problems which this country is facing are international problems. Mr. Bacon's perception and formulation of these problems are statesmanlike. His training as an important National executive and as international Ambassador has given him the experience necessary for dealing with these problems. We mean no reflection upon Mr. Calder's good citizenship or useful service as a legislator when we say that under the special exigency which confronts the Nation we should suppose that the Republicans of the State of New York would have no hesitation in naming Mr. Bacon as their Senatorial choice on the ground that his statesmanlike platform, his training and experience, and his personality make him an unusual candidate. THE ADMINISTRATION AND About eighty per cent of the world's supply of sisal hemp comes from Yucatan, Mexico. Sisal hemp, which is derived from the henequen plant, is used almost entirely in the making of binder twine, the cord with which the farmers of the United States fasten into sheaves most of their grain crops. In ordinary times the world can count on an output of about 130,000 bales of sisal hemp annually from German East Africa, which is the largest source of sisal after Yucatan, but at present the East African output of this commodity is unavailable owing to the war.. Not only do the farmers of the United States depend almost entirely on the sisal crops of Yucatan for their binder twine, but the sisal growers, on their part, depend almost entirely upon the American farmers for their market. Of the million bales of sisal which constitute the average annual crop in Yucatan, about 975,000 bales go to the United States. But Until about a year ago the sisal planters sold their crop either to American manufacturers, who converted it into twine, or to American brokers and jobbers, from whom it was bought by the manufacturers. about a year ago the Government of the State of Yucatan established a Government monopoly of this principal product of the State. The management of this monopoly has been in the hands of a body known as the Comision Reguladora del Mercado de Henequen. This Commission has had the support of a group of American bankers, and has required all the growers of sisal in Yucatan to turn over their product to it under martial law. This product the Reguladora, as it is commonly called, then sells directly to American manufacturers from the Commission's office in New York City, thus eliminating American brokers and middlemen from their former share in the transaction. Very soon after the establishment of this Government monopoly complaints against it were heard in this country, both from these eliminated middlemen and from the International Harvester Company and the Plymouth Cordage Company, two concerns which prior to the establishment of the Yucatan Government monopoly had controlled about sixtyfive or seventy per cent of the output of henequen. The complaints against the Reguladora have been, in general, twofold: First, it was said that the Reguladora was a monopoly in restraint of trade, and that its operations in this country through its New York office and through its affiliated American bankers constituted a violation of the anti-trust laws of the United States. Secondly, it has been charged that the rapid increase in the price of sisal since the Reguladora took control has been almost entirely arbitrary, and has been mainly unjustified by economic conditions. Certainly it is a fact that the farmers of the United States, as a result of this increase in the price of sisal hemp, were this year forced to pay at least $4,000,000 more for their binder twine than they paid last year, and that if the still further increase in price which the Reguladora has recently announced is maintained the American farmers will be subjected to an additional expense of about $10.000,000 next year. On the other hand, The Outlook has been informed by Dr. Victor Rendon, American representative of the Reguladora, that this increase in price has been entirely justified by a number of economic conditions, including the increased cost of living to the Yucatan planters and the increased price of Manila hemp and New Zealand hemp, two commodities which to a certain extent compete with sisal. Dr. Rendon admits that the Reguladora's methods constitute a monopoly, but contends that there is no restraint of trade. And he declares that any profits from the sale of sisal which may remain in the treasury of the Reguladora at the conclusion of the first year of control will be divided among the henequen growers of Yucatan. As a result of the complaints against this monopoly, a sub-committee of the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry began an investigation of the Reguladora last February. This Committee, after a number of hearings, adjourned in March, reconvened in April, and readjourned in that same month. Many witnesses were examined by this Committee and a vast amount of evidence was heard. Yet no report has been made. Some critics of the Administration have boldly alleged that the Committee's report has been withheld because such a report would be inimical to the Reguladora, and consequently embarrassing to the Administration which has supported the Carranza Governernment and its institutions, of which the Reguladora is an important one. These critics intimate that it is their belief that the Senate Committee will make no report until after the American elections in November. It seems to The Outlook that the Administration cannot afford to ignore such charges as these. The self-respect of the Adminis tration demands that these attacks be met fairly and squarely. The obvious way to meet them is for the Senate Committee which has been investigating the sisal monop oly to publish its report with no further delay. delay. This would silence the allegations that the report has been withheld for sinister political reasons, and it would furnish muchneeded information to thousands of Americans who are vitally affected by the monopoly in sisal hemp. THE ELEPHANT BUTTE DAM The Elephant Butte Dam, which is shown in a photograph in the pictorial section of this issue, blocks up the Rio Grande one hundred and twenty miles north of El Paso, forming the greatest storage reservoir in the world. Work on the dam was begun five years ago. This is the fifth big reclamation project to be completed by the Government. The reservoir will hold one hundred and fifteen billion cubic feet of water-enough to cover the entire State of Delaware to a depth of two feet and enough to water one hundred and eighty-five thousand acres of blistering land in western Texas, southern New Mexico, and northern Chihuahua-for the Mexicans. are to share the benefits of this project, although they do not share its burdens. For this they can thank an old treaty between Mexico and the United States, providing that the two countries were to have some sort of divided share in the control of the head-waters of the Rio Grande. The dam is as big as its name suggests. It is 318 feet high, 1,674 feet long, 235 feet thick at the base, and tapers up to a top only sixteen feet thick, along which runs a roadway. The reservoir will irrigate territory lying in four valleys, and for each of these valleys a diversion dam and main canals are being constructed. The Mexican territory to be benefited is 25,000 acres of land near Juarez. Before the Government began to build the dam it laid out a model town, with theater, hotel, hospital, schools, electric lights, and up-to-date sanitary system. For the year July, 1915, to July, 1916, our trade with the nations has been the largest in our history. Nor is this all. It is ahead of any record ever made by any other country. Though the war has annihilated our direct exports to Germany, Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria, some of the loss to these countries has been offset by indirect exportation to them. And though the war has sadly inter |