bly to place such a law upon the statutebooks of the islands. Early last summer the Commission adopted a resolution and forwarded it through the Governor-General to the Secretary of War, urging that this matter be brought before the United States Congress. Whether through fear that Congress would pass the desired law, or through a sudden "conviction of sin," or through a desire to convince the new Governor-General of their ability for self-government, we do not know, but we are glad to record the fact that the Philippine Assembly has now placed itself on record as opposed to both slavery and peonage. The text of the new law has not yet reached this country, but we presume that it does not radically differ from that which the Commission has so long urged upon the Assembly.

Still more worthy of attention than the action of the Philippine Assembly in regard to the abolition of slavery is the course which the new Governor-General has pursued since the removal of Cameron Forbes. Dean C. Worcester, who has resided in the Philippines for eighteen years, and who for the past thirteen years has filled with great credit the important office of Secretary of the Interior of the islands, has returned to this country with decided views as to the wisdom, or rather unwisdom, of the policies instituted by Governor Harrison. Within fourteen days after Governor Harrison's arrival at Manila, Mr. Worcester is reported as saying:

Arrangements were completed to dispense with the services of several of the most competent bureau chiefs and assistant chiefs of the insular Government. The resignations of Captain Charles Sleeper, Director of Lands, and of Colonel Henry McCoy, insular Collector of Customs, were the first requested. The vacancy created by Captain Sleeper's removal was immediately filled by the appointment of Manuel Tinio, a bright young Filipino of good character, but absolutely lacking in knowledge of public land matters and administrative experience which would fit him to conduct a business enterprise of anything approaching such very large dimensions.

The Bureau of Lands has charge of the entire public domain, including agricultural and mineral lands and the foreshore, and excepting forest lands only. It has been stated in the public press that the appointment of a Filipino to this position meant a radical change in the public land policy. It is greatly to be feared that this is the case. Hitherto the policy has been to give the poor man-the poor Filipinos who make up the bulk of the Christian population-and the ignorant wild man all possible assistance in securing homeste or free patents or in purchasing the usuallyll tracts of land

which they desire. Very many wealthy Filipinos who are large landowners dislike to have the less fortunate people secure lands, preferring to keep them tenants, as this makes it possible to hold them in peonage, or in a state closely approximating it.

The Director of Lands furthermore administers some seven million dollars' worth of socalled Friars' lands, purchased by the insular Government from religious corporations in order that they may be resold to their occupants. As in the case of public lands, wealthy Filipinos have repeatedly tried to prevent poorer people from purchasing holdings in the Friars' lands which they themselves wrongfully claim.

In commenting upon his own appointment, Tinio said that he knew nothing about the work. John R. Wilson, Assistant Director of Lands, has also resigned, and it is improbable that any competent person can be found for the salary of this position to tell Tinio what to do.

In an address delivered last week before the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, ex-President Taft heartily supported the stand taken by Mr. Worcester. Mr. Taft pointed out that the policy of the present Administration in turning over to the Filipinos the majority of places on the Commission was fraught with grave danger to the peace of the islands, from the fact that these appointive commissioners, who serve as the upper house of the Philippine Government, have control over the nonChristian tribes of the islands, most of which are bitterly and traditionally hostile towards the Christianized natives.

The Congress nominally elected the other day in Mexico, but really ordered elected by Huerta, was formally opened on Thursday of last

MEXICO: THE DICTATOR
AND HIS CONGRESS

week. All reports take it for granted that this Congress, made up largely of officials and military men designated by Huerta, will be totally subservient to his will, and that it will indorse his despotic acts of the past and confirm his orders for the future. Huerta's address was delivered in person. It consisted of an elaborate defense of his action in driv

ing out the old Chamber of Deputies and imprisoning scores of the members; the ground of justification asserted was that the Deputies were in sympathy with the rebels in the north, and that their Chamber was honeycombed with treason to the country as well as to the provisional President. Huerta asserted his constitutional right to act with "a certain measure of energy," and also declared that in an emergency the highest patriotism overshadows ordinary law.

He even likened himself to Napoleon, saying, "The words of great Bonaparte that the law is not violated when the country is saved shall always be true." Huerta has driven Manuel Adalpe from his Cabinet and sent him out of Mexico under the polite pretense of a vague foreign special embassy. Adalpe presumably was not subservient enough.

There was no evidence last week of agreement between President Wilson and General Huerta. Mr. Lind remained at Vera Cruz; Mr. O'Shaughnessy, Chargé d'Affaires, at the capital. Whatever negotiations had been going on between General Carranza and Mr. William Bayard Hale came to an abrupt ending. It is reported that Mr. Hale, for President Wilson, tentatively suggested a plan of gathering together fair-minded Mexican leaders not actively concerned in the present strife to act something as the Council of "Elder Statesmen in Japan acts—this presumably in case Huerta should resign or Carranza, obtain the upper hand. Carranza, as reported, declined to approve the idea or anything else that did not look to his own supremacy if he meets with military

success.

Whatever favorable views our Administration may have formed toward Carranza were. probably weakened by the reports of wholesale military executions by the insurgents. Such reports followed the recent seizing of Juarez by the rebels. Even more horrible reports followed the news last week of the capture by the rebels of Victoria, the capital of the State of Tamaulipas. But at the end of the week even the report as to the capture of Victoria was denied. Victoria is only about one hundred and fifty miles from Tampico, an important port on the Gulf. Tampico itself is, in a direct line, not much over two hundred and fifty miles from the capital. The fighting at Victoria emphasizes the peculiar character of the fighting in Mexico. It is not war on a large scale and with a correlated strategic plan, but a number of little wars, so to speak, at centers widely removed in an enormous territory. Thus, one week the rebels drive the Federals from Juarez, on almost the most northern point of the border between Mexico and the United States, and the next week we hear reports of the capture of Victoria, perhaps five hundred miles southwest of Juarez.

The possible future tension of the international situation was indicated by Great Brit

ain's action in sending three war-ships to Mexican ports near the property of British industries and the request for protection by Lord Cowdray, head of the Pearson oil companies operating in Mexico. It is hard to judge just what is going on under the diplomatic surface, but reports lean to the belief that the European Powers, while unwilling to act unless in case of actual outrage to their subjects, are beginning to be impatient at the lack of any positive advance in the attempt of the United States to bring about by.moral pressure an endurable or stable condition in Mexico.

In

According to the embattled householders, the eggs which were bought for storage at from 18 to 22 cents a dozen last April have been selling at from 35 to 50 cents a dozen, and they maintain that 32 cents is all that should ever be paid for such varieties. Pittsburgh eggs have already dropped to that figure, owing partly to the agitation fanned by the League, but mainly to the fact that the ten million dozen now in storage will reach the eight months' age limit established by a Pennsylvania law on December 1. In several other localities prices have dropped, but as this issue of The Outlook goes to. press Humpty Dumpty, representing the general market price, has not been budged from his high seat.

A picturesque feature of the food war has been the boycott threatened by the housewives. Mrs. Alfred Dunk, of Detroit, President of the Ohio Federated Women's Clubs, notified Mrs. Julian Heath, of New York City, the President of the Housewives' League, that at a word from the latter 25,000 Detroit women would cease buying and eating eggs, and Mrs. Heath claims that

thousands of women in other cities east of Kansas City would follow suit.

Whether the League wins its fight or not, its campaign has been valuable through the enlightening effect it has had upon the public. For one thing, many people have learned that a "number one cold storage egg is often better than the so-called "fresh" article. The League's indorsement of the egg that has been kept at a nearly freezing temperature has removed much of the odium that formerly attached to the very term by which such eggs are designated. Furthermore, a great many housekeepers have learned that they can themselves put by a supply of eggs against a period of high prices, thanks to a commodity which can be purchased at any drug-store, namely, water-glass.

The Outlook recently announced a great gift for medical research in connection with the

MEDICAL EDUCATION

Johns Hopkins ANOTHER GREAT GIFT FOR University. This gift has been supplemented by another of $4,350,000 to the Cornell University Medical School in New York City. The name of the donor has not been made public, although he is understood to be Colonel Oliver H. Payne, who, it is said, has previously given four million dollars in varying amounts to the same school. This latest gift insures for the benefit of the school an annual income of $200,000, which is to be used, not for building purposes, but to provide for running expenses. It will enable the institution materially to enlarge its faculty and to secure the services of men of the first standing. The school is now adequately housed for its present work; and the advance in the requirements for entrance is likely to keep its members down.

A recent

article by Dr. Flexner in the "Atlantic Monthly" emphasizes the need of more exacting requirements from students proposing to take courses in medical work. The Cornell Medical School requires for entrance the A. B. degree or a certificate of three years' work in some college of established position, or the ability to pass examinations based on this amount of work in some college.

Colonel Payne's gifts to the Cornell School have been on a large scale, and, like the other gifts for medical education and research, contribute directly to the highest welfare of the country. During the last fifteen years he had given four million dollars, always

stipulating that his name should be withheld; a stipulation which reflects credit on the man, but which in the case of such great sums is almost impossible of fulfillment. Colonel Payne is the son of the late United States Senator Henry B. Payne, of Cleveland, was graduated from Yale College, saw extensive service during the Civil War, and finally was put in command of an Illinois regiment. He has long been associated with the Standard Oil Company.

A SCENIC HIGHWAY ON THE HUDSON

What will eventually be one of the greatest scenic highways in the world is under construction along the west bank of the Hudson River. Even among those who have traveled up and down the Hudson by boat or train few have any idea that within fifty miles of the biggest city of the New World there is to be found in ravine and wooded hill, promontory, crag, and river, the rugged beauty of the wilderness.

This great highway, when finished, will extend from New York City to Albany-one hundred and thirty-three miles. Less than eighteen miles of this road remain unbuilt, most of which is now planned for. Portions of the road can be used locally; but only when these eighteen miles are completed will it become a highway of National character.

The most important unbuilt section is in the Highlands of the Hudson; and it is at this point that the scenery is most impressive. Though no photograph, of course, can really represent the contrast of color, the shifting lights, the almost dramatic contrast between the river and the massive cliffs and overhanging ledges, the photograph which appears in the illustrated section of this number of The Outlook conveys some idea of the sort of views that will delight the eye of one who drives along this section of the road. The spot from which this picture was taken can be reached only by a climb over rocks and through underbrush. Other places on the site of the road within a mile of this point are now absolutely inaccessible—except by balloon. From the place on the site of the road where the camera stood that took that photograph one will be able to see the road ahead, winding about the precipitous face of Storm King, the mountain on the left of the picture. A horizontal line drawn from the top of the distant mountain seen across the river would intersect the face of Storm

King at just about the point where the proposed road, carved out of perpendicular cliffs, will reach its highest altitude above the river.

The successful completion of this road, which passes through territory rich in Revolutionary associations, now awaits final action by the Federal Government. Inasmuch as two former Superintendents of West PointGeneral Mills and General Scott-have indorsed a suitable crossing of the Reservation that would not bring travelers near the ground of the Military Academy, it is taken for granted that no objection will be raised by the United States Government. Some of the wildest scenery lies within this Government Reservation. The most difficult portion to construct lies to the north of the Reservation, but this cannot be built to any purpose until provision is made for building the road through Federal territory. Most of the right of way through private lands has been already given as a donation to the people. The Orange County Supervisors have voted to acquire the remaining right of way. All that needs now to be done is for Congress to appropriate the comparatively small sum that is necessary for supplying the missing link- -a matter of three miles or less. It is to be hoped that Congress will promptly do its part.

A VETERAN EDITOR

The " Independent" announces that, after forty-five years of work at the editorial desk, Dr. William Hayes Ward, so long its editor-in-chief, is to become its Honorary Editor, to be freed from all routine office work, but to continue to write editorials and reviews, and to publish in the near future a series of articles, the fruit of his ripe experience, entitled "What I Believe and Why.". Dr. Ward has united the tastes and pursuits of a scholar with the work of the editorial direction of the "Independent." He has been a man of tireless industry, and has kept up the habits of an original student in two or three departments during his long and active life. He was Professor of Science in Ripon College before he became an editor, and has long been a recognized authority on Assyriology. He was director of the Wolfe Expedition to Babylonia in 1884-5. He has been the author of many articles and several books on Oriental archæology, his most important work being an illustrated volume on

"The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," published by the Carnegie Institution four years ago. His pastoral work began in Kansas in 1859; and he has long been known as a man of very earnest religious faith and of progressive theological views. A.keen critic, abhorring slovenly work and carrying the instincts of the scholar into his profession, he has not lacked the sympathy which evokes the best in men, nor the keenness of insight which recognizes ability and promise behind imperfect workmanship.

At the ripe age of seventy-nine he retires, not from original work, but from routine work; and furnishes a fine example of youth of manner, mind, and spirit surviving in advancing years by reason of many interests and a vigorous intellectual life.

A PILGRIMAGE

TO CHICAGO

Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and of its parent organization, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, returning from the annual joint meeting of these bodies, held in Chicago, November 13 to 15, are loud in their praise of the hospitality of that city and of its unfeigned interest in literature and the arts. Eugene Field's jest about "making culture hum is not one that by any stretch of the imagination could be applied to New York, and Chicago can well look with equanimity upon the gibes of her Eastern rival when she herself has the substance as well as the appearance of progress in things intellectual. It is to be doubted whether any other city, Boston not excepted, could have provided a more attractive programme of welcome in honor of representative men of letters, artists, and composers. On the 13th, in the beautiful sculpture gallery of the Art Institute one of the most admirable working schools of art in the country-there took place a dinner of greeting by seventeen literary, educational, and artistic societies or clubs; the absent Mayor was represented by the City Counselor, and the chairman was Mr. Charles L. Hutchinson, the public-spirited President of the Institute, one of the leaders of Chicago's "Friends of American Art," who are building up its foremost gallery by notable purchases. Another feature of the occasion was the inclusion in the annual exhibition of pictures of canvases specially solicited from members of the two visiting bodies, which contributed to make the display one of un

usual excellence in its showing of American painting.

MUSIC AND LITERATURE

The compliment to the composers was unique. On the afternoon of the 14th, in Orchestra Hall, there was given a programme selected by Mr. Frederick Stock, the accomplished conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, composed exclusively of works by members of the musical sections of the visiting organizations, and including pieces of large interest by George W. Chadwick, Arthur Foote, Edgar Stillman Kelley, conducted in each case by the composer; and others by Edward MacDowell, Horatio Parker, and Victor Herbert, conducted by Mr. Stock; who concluded with his own "Festival Hymn."

The perfection of the orchestra, even with scant rehearsals, and the intimateness of the beautiful hall, contributed to the enjoyment of a well-contrasted and creditable programme. The cordial appreciation of this musical treat by the audience should go far to stimulate and encourage American composers. It revealed the sustaining musical atmosphere of Chicago, so largely the creation of German influence.

The joint literary sessions on the mornings of the 14th and 15th were crowded to the doors of Fullerton Hall with an audience that responded with marked attentiveness and often with applause to the vital and suggestive addresses on Architecture by Mr. Hastings; on Literature by Dr. Crothers, Professor Lounsbury, and Mr. Burroughs; on Choral Singing by Mr. Chadwick; on Opera in English by Mr. De Koven; and on the Drama by Mr. Gillette. Most of the addresses rippled with humor, and if any came to yawn he remained to enjoy. Beneath the humor, however, one felt the serious conviction of the speakers as they made their telling points. Poetry was represented by Mr. Madison Cawein. Mr. Augustus Thomas responded happily as the recipient of the Institute's gold medal for Drama, and a fine letter from President Wilson placed the purposes of the organizations on the high plane of ideality. The visitors left Chicago feeling that they had discovered in that city a deep and genuine interest in letters and the arts. Mr. Howells expressed the thought of all in these words from a very interesting letter:

Chicago is very near, near every heart that loves great and generous things, and believes

them more and more possible as time goes on, and the perplexed and anxious present becomes the secure and radiant future, when all the poems and novels, the pictures and statues, shall be as good as those we should each like to create. When I tell over to myself the names of the Chicagoans who have done fine and beautiful things already in those kinds, I begin to envy the aspiration you will find among them. And President Wilson struck a keynote in his letter:

I should like to be present to say how sincerely I believe in the usefulness of the two bodies joining in the meeting. It is of no small import to the country that such influences for upholding ideal standards of creative art should be encouraged. The commerce and material development of the country are of deep consequence to it, but above all must rise the objects we have in view. If those objects are disinterested and touched with insight, our greatness will bear greater distinction and enjoy the greater spiritual soundness and health.

WASHINGTON AS A

LABORATORY

Civic experts lately descended upon the city of Washington with a plan for establishing a model government in the District of Columbia. Mayor-elect Mitchel, of New York, Governor-elect Walsh, of Massachusetts, and Henry Bruère, of the New York City Bureau of Municipal Research, conferred with the President and submitted their plan, for the fulfillment of which they hope to obtain a Congressional appropriation of $15,000.

"The Federal Government, with the city of. Washington as a laboratory, will be able to give momentum to the development of efficient city government which can be provided in no other way "-this is the claim of the would-be surveyors.

A thorough misunderstanding of the plan and scope of the enterprise has been responsible for much irritation among citizens of the capital, which has been clearly reflected in the local press; there are also those whose civic pride revolts at the idea of laying open to the public the very serious social and administrative defects of the city which, to the eye of the casual observer, is the most beautiful in the United States.

Washington has a paternal form of government. Its citizens are disfranchised; executive authority is vested in three Commissioners appointed by the President, while the rôle of City Fathers is filled by the members of a Congressional committee.

Authority is absurdly apportioned. Were a diagram of the city government plotted, it