or four others, with an easy chair drawn up waiting for the passer-by to sit down, and a shaded electric reading-lamp at just the right height above it, is quite another matter as respects drawing power. The exhibit stood

open all day, the Spectator was told, free to the Boston public, that finest of all reading publics. Famous authors read from their books on the unobtrusive platform at the front. There was a Children's Hour every Saturday morning, upon which, as the Spectator has told in his opening paragraphs, he and his cousin had happened. There was a Musicians' Hour, and a Bookbinding Hour, and a Teachers' Hour, too, and reading by poets from their books of verses. Nothing like it has ever been done in any other country before," said the courteous usher," and the attendance is remarkable. Look at these children !"

They were worth looking at. A better audience no author could dream of. They stirred and cheeped all over the room, like a nest of alert little birds, and responded to every reader. They had come because they wanted to hear a nature-lover tell of the wild animals he had met, and a teller of animal tales unfold entrancing annals of the barnyard and the circus. They came early, and they meant to stay all through. They ranged from three years of age to thirteen, and many children of larger growth came too. Spectator's cousin sat down determinedly. "I must hear how the cow learned the new dances!" she said. But the Spectator could not sit down even to hear that alluring modern instance while the bookish vistas around him beckoned. So he wandered about, finding fascinations everywhere.

The

For example, the small, trig bookstand with spaces for only half a dozen books, all in limp leather, invited curiosity. A Bible, a Bible dictionary, an encyclopædia of quotations, a copy of Cushing's "Manual of Parliamentary Law"-why, it was as plain as day that this was planned for a pastor's study, to provide for sermons and committee meetings alike. In its way, it was as compressed and handy as the pemmican of the explorer. man with a clerical collar was hanging over it fondly—and no wonder. Not far away was a different appeal-a low child's table, with three tiny chairs around it, strewn with picture books and with a gayly painted bookrack holding favorites to grow up to, such as "Arabian Nights," ""Robinson Crusoe, "The

A

Young Emigrants," and Andersen's "Fairy
Tales."
The Better Books keynote was there
at the very beginning—

on.

"There is no frigate like a book To take us lands away,

Nor any courser like a page
Of prancing poetry."

The Baby Bird-Finder challenged from the wall-for every wall was hung with posters, original book illustrations, war maps, and so This Bird-Finder, two inches long and four inches wide, was evidently made for those ardent souls who find fifty birds with an opera-glass before breakfast. It was "little, but oh my!" De luxe editions and rare books, near by in glass cases, were the aristocrats of the show. A skilled, alert worker, with nervous, shapely hands and a seal ring on his finger, was tooling a book-cover in leisurely style as part of the exhibit. The Spectator was reminded of the Irishman who wanted to be a bishop because "it was such a clane, aisy job!" The gold-leaf, softly breathed upon, the cotton-wool pad that pressed it into place, the row of neat pots of vinegar, paste, and white of egg ("like a make-up outfit," as one girl whispered to another), the dainty circle of tools on an electric heating-plate, were indescribably neat. "It's a Grolier pattern, this one," said the workman. "The rose pattern there is English. That design," indicating a heavy mass of interlacing angular lines overwhelming an unattractive black leather binding, won the prize at the Centennial.” "Would it win one now?" asked the Spectator, feeling a bit depressed; but he was reassured by the reply that it probably wouldn't have a chance!

Hard by was an exhibit where many lingered. It showed the "Making of a Manuscript into a Book." There was a typewritten manuscript, with all the author's corrections and marginal notes. Then came the proof and the plates and the half-tone processes of the illustrations (which hung on the wall above in propria persona) and the binding, and the finished book lying new and inviting before the public. A slight, bright-eyed young man hung over this display and waylaid an author of the Spectator's acquaintance who happened to pass. He wanted to know, this ambitious youth, how to approach a publisher, and which ones were the very best. Perhaps this very exhibit may give the world

of Old Age," "The Modern Factory," etc. Some of the book neighbors in the exhibit were picturesque. The War Table, loaded with such titles as "Armageddon and After," "Secrets of the German War Office,' " "War Book of Facts," and "Submarine Warfare," was cheek by jowl with a table strewn with twenty editions of "Mother Goose. It is a calming thing to remember, surely, how many wars have come and gone since "Mother Goose" first blessed the world with her immortal couplet :

"The King of France, with twenty thousand men,

Marched up the hill, and then marched down again !"

Wars pass, war maps change, but " Mother Goose " goes into more editions every year. As the Spectator looked at the eager audience of children, at the portraits on the walls, at the immortal wit and wisdom and beauty beckoning from an endless multitude of volumes, he echoed the words of old Richard de Bury, who in 1345, even before printing was, proclaimed of books:

"These are the masters who instruct us without whip and rod, without harsh words or anger, asking naught in return. If you seek them, they are not asleep; if you ask counsel, they do not refuse it; if you go astray, they do not chide; if you betray ignorance to them, they know not how to laugh in scorn.

Truly, of all our masters, books alone are free, and freely teach."

Everywhere in South Africa, a writer in " Business says, signs announce: "Business as usual during alterations to the map of Europe." American manufacturers, he says, may well cultivate trade at this time with the enterprising cities of South Africa, especially with Johannesburg, or "Jo'burg," as it is called, which is" about the size of our Kansas City but far richer;" Cape Town, the principal seaport ; and Durban, the largest city of Natal. In these places "business is virtually waiting for the American manufacturer."

The Pennsylvania Railroad is to a considerable extent owned by women, though they do not seem as yet to be represented on its official staff. The latest report, that of December, 1914, shows that 48.17 per cent of the road's shareholders are women, numbering in all 43,913 individuals.

In four years, says a writer in "Travel," trapshooting, a sport in which a clay disc is hurled rapidly from a steel spring trap to be shot at by a marksman, has increased fourfold. There are now 4,000 trap-shooting clubs in the courtry, and last year they used 500,000,000 clay pigeons; the sport, which has supplanted the cruel practice of pigeon-shooting, is said now to Occupy a position second only to baseball in the number of its devotees and active participants."

Under the head "Our Personal Column (If War Were Individual and Local)" "Life prints this sarcasm: "John Robinson's eldest son, Jack, broke into the church last Thursday and smashed the cut-glass windows and ripped the gold off the altar. His father has presented him with a silver cup in honor of his bravery." Incidentally and not unappreciatively, why "cut" instead of "stained " glass?

The convict road-builders of Colorado, according to "Good Roads," work on the honor system, without guards, stockades, or striped clothing. Warden Tynan, of the State Penitentiary, says that under this system the quantity of work performed has been tripled, that only about one per cent of the men have tried to get away, and that the majority work "with an energy and zeal that have never before been equaled."

Two writers of English fiction who will doubtless have something to say about the war are Joseph Conrad, who has been writing his novel "Victory" in the Polish village in which he has been immured by the conflict, and May Sinclair, author of "The Divine Fire," who has joined an ambulance corps and is working at the front. The First Congregational Church of Montclair, New Jersey, is to have a new building, to be surmounted by a fine tower erected in memory of the Rev. A. H. Bradford, who was

for many years pastor of the church and was a frequent contributor to The Outlook. A phrase in the church calendar announcing the beginning of the work will awaken sympathetic echoes in many a minister's heart. It reads: The sound of the picks in the early morning, when a large gang of men set to work on the excavation for our new church, was like music at the parsonage."

A nouveau riche who was noted for his misuse of the King's English is quoted by an exchange as dilating on the cost of the kennels for his new country place in these words: "It's just throwing money into the fire. We haven't an animal on the place worth two dollars; but the way those architects are fitting up those confounded kennels, any one would think that they expected them to be occupied by the Dog of Venice himself!"

The largest windmill in the world is believed to be one recently erected in Friesland to drain. a great marsh. The mill is built entirely of steel, and its wheel is 39% feet in diameter. At its maximum capacity it lifts more than 7,500 gallons of water a minute.

The sight of vast numbers of men in arms exercises an obsessing influence on the beholder. Frederick Palmer, war correspondent, says in "Everybody's" that when he traveled on one of sixty-five French military trains, each bearing a thousand men through Dunkirk in a single day, it seemed to him that the French army was invincible. But trains of reservists in Germany exercised, in turn, the spell of German invincibility. The Germans' belief in their ultimate victory, based on what they have seen but taking no account of the vastly greater forces of the Allies which they have not seen, is thus accounted for.

In the Congressional Library at Washington is a collection of miniature books, the smallest of which, a copy of the "Rubaiyát" of Omar Khayyám, is said to have pages only % of an inch long. Two of the volumes of the. collection, an English Dictionary and Robert Burns's Poems, are incased in watch charms, which are faced with a small magnifying glass for reading the tiny books.

The use of teak in ship-building is said to be increasing throughout the world, as indicated by the value of the wood exported from India. In 1905 this amounted to $2,270,000, while in 1913 it had risen to over three millions. The increase is perhaps due in part to the advertising of the qualities of teak through the exhibition of the famous convict ship Success, built entirely of this wood. This vessel was built 122 years ago; it lay at the bottom of Sydney Harbor for three years, was then raised, and is still a stanch and seaworthy craft.

HAMILTON W. MABIE, Associate Editor

The Outlook has already devoted no little space to the Jones Bill now before the Philippines Committee of the Senate. The testimony of Dean Worcester, which we have already reported, has now received the influential corroboration of ex-President Taft. In the hearing given to Mr. Taft before the Senate Committee he characterized the preamble to the Jones Bill, which affirms the intention of the United States to relinquish the Philippine Islands upon the establishment of a stable native government, in no uncertain terms.

Mr. Taft said: "I do not think that such a recital can be better calculated to start up insurrection in the Philippines. It would not be two years before the Filipinos would be accusing us of not making good our promise if this preamble is approved. It is our first duty to prepare the Filipinos for self-government, not to give it to them because the politicians among them ask for it." Indeed, Mr. Taft quoted from a book by President Wilson a passage pointing out the fact that the art of self-government cannot be given to others, but must come as a result of long social discipline in self-mastery.

As to the time in which the Filipinos can be prepared for self-government, Mr. Taft said: "You cannot make one generation over; certainly you cannot make over a generation of adults, ninety per cent of whom are woefully ignorant and out of touch with any modern civilization-where not only ninety per cent of the people are not fit for selfgovernment, but the ten per cent of educated Filipinos do not understand self-government, and are not really in favor of it in the sense we use the term."

As an instance of the Filipino idea of democratic government Mr. Taft cited the familiar story of the two Filipinos who came to him during his term as Governor-General of the islands with a brief, in which they declared that the Filipinos were ready for selfgovernment because there were only half as

many offices as there were educated Filipinos, and that by running two shifts of men peace and contentment would be secured.

Apparently Mr. Taft does not feel that self-government can be approximated in the islands short of some sixty years, and he regards all present attempts to suggest a date for the relinquishment of the islands instruments for the promotion of disorder for the discouragement of good government.

as

"The Democratic promise of independence," Mr. Taft said, "has been a great obstruction to the carrying out of our plan." Mr. Bryan's defeat for the Presidency in 1904, Mr. Taft added, "was followed in the islands by the surrender of thousands of arms by the natives, and from that time insurrection in the mountains has been practically nil."

We hope as a result of the strong pleas made by Mr. Taft and Dean Worcester that the Jones Bill and its preamble will undergo considerable modification before the passage of the measure by Congress.

IN CONGRESS

If reports and indications are to be trusted, the one matter now before Congress which is to be pushed even against extreme measures of delay is the Shipping Bill. In the Senate last week Democratic leaders who are supposed to represent the position of the. Administration did not hesitate to say that Congress would be kept in session until March 4, if necessary, for the passage of, this bill, upon which the President is said to have affixed his most positive and urgent approval.

Against the bill Senator Lodge and Senator Root made forceful speeches last week, and (speaking, of course, for the Republican minority) resented any threats to push the bill through without full debate. That the measure should receive careful consideration is evident to the country at large, because it represents a new step in National legislation and is open to objections which may or may not be remedied after debate.

Senator Root briefly summed up the three

chief objections: First, he said, "It proposes to embark the Government of the United States upon a very large expense in a business venture of a kind in which the private enterprise of the United States has uniformly met with loss rather than profit." Of more importance, Senator Root thought, is the fear that the bill would put the United States into foreign trade at just the time when friction regarding the law of nations about neutral commerce is prevalent, so that our Government's good faith is likely to be questioned, and it is likely to be charged with violating neutrality through its own official acts. Finally, there is the objection that the extension of governmental functions involved is more extreme than would be even ownership of railways or telegraphs by the Government, because the United States in purchasing ships and carrying on commerce through them would be raising money by taxation in order to conduct "a business in which individual enterprise had failed.' Senator Lodge declared the measure was, in effect, "a gross subsidy," and that its adoption would declare to the world that private enterprise could never build up a merchant marine in this country.

The Philadelphia Maritime Exchange and other bodies have protested against the bill on the lines indicated above. On the other hand, merchants and associations of merchants who are anxious to provide immediate means for carrying American goods to foreign ports in American ships urge that the measure is indispensable for the end in view, and assert that ocean transportation is now practically in the hands of a monopoly. In short, they advocate the ship purchase bill, and closer control over commerce generally, as the only way of saving American commerce in a critical juncture. They point out also that the Government should not and would not enter the field of ocean transportation as a cutthroat competitor.

The Immigration Bill passed the Senate on January 2 by the great majority of 50 to 7. It passed the lower house with almost the

same provisions nearly a year ago by a vote of 240 to 226. It now goes to conference, and the President's objection to the literacy test may, or may not, lead to his vetoing the measure if it is retained, as seems certain.

We comment on this bill elsewhere. The Nicaragua treaty has been favorably reported in the Senate. It is proposed, in effect, to establish, with Nicaragua's consent,

and through this treaty, an agreement somewhat similar to that existing between the United States and Cuba under the Platt Amendment—that is, Nicaragua would not be at liberty to make treaties with foreign powers which should endanger her own independence or make possible military control by those powers, or to contract debts without reasonable provision for their payment together with interest, and if she violates these principles the United States may intervene. The treaty also provides for the payment of three million dollars to Nicaragua by the United States, in return for which the United States may form a naval base on the Pacific, and is given the exclusive rights to build an interoceanic canal across Nicaragua if it chooses. The Outlook has repeatedly commended this treaty.

REMEDIES FOR UNEMPLOYMENT

Unusual conditions of business depression, caused in part by the war, are presenting to communities all over this country the question of unemployment. Men out of work are draining the resources and the sympathies of people in city, town, and country. This is a matter on which counsel should be taken of those who have thought of the subject and who have dealt with the problem practically. Such experts gathered at the Second National Conference on Unemployment, held in Philadelphia in the last week of December in connection with the annual meeting of the Association on Labor Legislation.

This Conference on Unemployment marked a decided advance over the first, held in New York last February. The dominant theme was no longer extent and cause, but prevention. All of the speakers concurred in the view that the central feature in any adequate programme for dealing with the problem must be a well-organized system of conrected public employment bureaus. The benefits to be expected from such a system, as explained by Mr. Charles B. Barnes, Director of the New York State Employment Exchanges, Mr. Walter L. Sears, Superintendent of the New York City Public Employment Bureau, and other experts, are: (1) Information as to the number of the unemployed in different trades and as to the relation this number bears to the opportunities for employment. (2) Saving the waste of time, effort, and money involved in the present plan, when the unemployed worker must