The Outlook

Seldom has there been in this country a more impressive ceremony than that which took place at the tomb of Washington at Mount Vernon on April 29. On this day representatives of France and Great Britain, guests of the American Nation, stood together beside the tomb of Washington and voiced their faith in the belief that the three democracies of France, the United States, and Great Britain had united in a fight worthy of the genius and the courage and the spirit of George Washington. The tribute of René Viviani, French Minister of Justice, was worthy of that spirit of eloquence which seems to be the birthright of the French. Here are the opening words of his brief address:

We could not remain longer in Washington without accomplishing this pious pilgrimage. In this spot lies all that is mortal of a great hero. Close by this spot is the modest abode where Washington rested after the tremendous labor of achieving for a Nation its emancipation. In this spot meet the admiration of the whole world and the veneration of the American people. In this spot rise before us the glorious memories left by the soldiers of France led by Rochambeau and Lafayette. A descendant of the latter, my friend M. de Chambrun, accompanies us. And I esteem it a supreme honor as well as a satisfaction for my conscience to be entitled to render this homage to our ancestors in the presence of my colleague and friend Mr. Balfour, who so nobly represents his great nation. By thus coming to lay here the respectful tribute of every English mind he shows, in this historic moment of communion which France has willed, what nations that live for liberty can do.

Joffre, Marshal of France, laid on the marble sarcophagus with his own hands a bronze palm bound with the French tricolor.

On behalf of the English mission Mr. Balfour laid a wreath of lilies beside the French palm, inscribed in his own handwriting with the following words:

Dedicated by the British Mission to the immortal memory of George Washington, soldier, statesman, patriot, who would have rejoiced to see the country of which he was by birth a citizen and the country his genius called into existence fighting side by side to save mankind from a military despotism.

There remains for America the duty of matching the hopes of her friends with the accomplishments of her people.

THE MESSAGE OF JOSEPH JACQUES CÉSAIRE JOFFRE

Less moving, perhaps, than the ceremony at the tomb of Washington, but more pregnant with suggestions for immediate action, was the message which Marshal Joffre read to the Washington correspondents just before he and other members of the French War Mission started for Mount Vernon. The interview with the correspondents took place in the home of Henry White, where the French Mission is lodged. The correspondents were ushered into a large reception-room in the center of which was a broad council table. After the correspondents had assembled Marshal Joffre entered the room and read to them a formal stateinent in French. Then a military aide read an English translation. There seems to be considerable doubt as to what this original statement by Marshal Joffre contained. The general impression seems to be that it was a plea for the immediate despatch of troops to the soil of France. According to the New York "Times," the State Department expurgated this formal statement before it was permitted to be published. The State Department, however, later announced that Marshal Joffre's remarks were censored by the French Mission itself. The

Marshal's statement as issued by the State Department, however, contains the following passage:

France, which has long recognized the valor of the American soldier, cherishes the confident hope that the flag of the United States will soon be unfurled on our fighting line. This is what Germany dreads.

France and America will see with pride and joy the day when their sons are once more fighting shoulder to shoulder in the defense of liberty. The victories which they will certainly win will hasten the end of the war and will tighten the links of affection and esteem which have ever united France and the United States. Whether or not more specific recommendations were made by Marshal Joffre it is not possible to say.

Following the reading of his formal statement Marshal Joffre submitted to questioning by the correspondents. The most definite recommendation contained in his answers to these questions was his advice to transport the American army that is to be raised for service in France, unit by unit, rather than to wait until it could be sent across as a great expedition. Reading between the lines, it is easy to judge that Marshal Joffre considers it of the utmost importance that the American flag be seen in France at the head of the troops sent from our shores, and that he also considers it advisable that a great part of the training of such troops shall take place behind the battle-line in France. The popularity of Marshal Joffre was shown on May 1, when, together with M. Viviani, he visited the United States Senate. Not since 1822, when Lafayette visited the Senate, has it witnessed such a demonstration.

MR. ROOSEVELT'S CHICAGO SPEECH

On the day when Marshal Joffre gave his interview to the Washington correspondents Mr. Roosevelt made in Chicago two stirring pleas to the Nation to "farm and arm." It was plain from Mr. Roosevelt's address, however, that so far as he was himself concerned he was much more interested in arming than farming. He said in part:

We Americans are at war. Now let us fight. Let us make it a real war, not a dollar war. Let us show that we have the manhood to pay with our own bodies, and not merely to hire other men to pay with their bodies. Let us fight at once. Let us put the flag at the front now, at the earliest moment, and not merely announce that we are going to fight a year or two hence. Mr. Roosevelt emphatically indorsed, as he has done before, the President's plan for conscription, which has now been adopted by Congress, but he also pleaded for the utilization of all the volunteers who desire to render service to the colors:

I wish to see the system of obligatory service used in order to make all men serve who ought to serve. But do not hinder men who, under conscription, would be entitled to stay at home from volunteering to go to the front if they can render good service. Under the bill proposed to Congress by the War Department many millions of excellent fighting men would be exempt from service, while a long time would elapse before the others are sent to the front. Under these conditions we ought to use the volunteer system to fill the gap.

Is it too much to hope that the country will come to see the Roosevelt's proposal? wisdom and necessity of accepting the principle behind Mr.

CONGRESS AND THE WAR

The duty of Congress in the war is twofold-to provide for our National defense and to provide for our allies' needs. As to National defense, Congress has now passed the Draft Bill, the first step in our practical preparation for mili

tary operations. The bill was not passed without a debate which, in the House of Representatives at least, proved illuminating as to the ignorance that prevails among many supposedly intelligent Congressmen and their unreadiness to put the country immediately in proper condition. Nevertheless, when the actual test of the strength of the volunteer system came-that is to say, when the motion to make the bill provide for volunteers instead of for the selective draft was put those who still championed the volunteer system were beaten by a vote of 313 to 109, and the House finally passed the Draft Bill by the impressive vote of 397 to 24. A few minutes later it went through the Senate by a vote of 81 to 8. Singularly enough, the chief Administration spokesman in the House in behalf of an efficient army to fight the Germans was the Hon. Julius Kahn, of California, born in Germany and a Republican.

The principal provisions of the bill are:

1. To raise the regular army to its maximum war strength of 287,000 from its present strength of about 145,000.

2. To increase the strength of the National Guard to a war footing of about 625,000 from its present strength of about 130,000.

3. To draft immediately 500,000 men between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-seven, as provided by the Senate, or twenty-one and forty, as provided by the House.

4. To draft an additional quota of 500,000 men and begin their training whenever, in his judgment, the President deems it

necessary.

5. To prescribe regulations for the registration, calling out, and training of both these draft armies.

6. To exempt legislative, executive, and judicial officers of the United States and of all the States, and as well members of religious sects with convictions against war.

7. To empower the President to exempt or to draft for partial service postal and custom-house clerks, arsenal, armory, and navy-yard workmen, and also workmen in certain industries, together with pilots and mariners, persons who have dependent families, and all persons physically or morally deficient. 8. To double the pay of enlisted men during the war.

Roosevelt volunteer amendment has been increased by the appeals of the French Commissioners in general, and of Marshal Joffre in particular.

The passage of the Draft Bill registers a notable change in the temper of Congress. Last autumn no one familiar with Congressional opinion would have prophesied that a bill for the creation of an enormous army by a draft, without preliminary experimentation through a call for volunteers, could pass both houses. But since the breaking of diplomatic relations with Germany and the declaration of war, the temper of Congress has changed materially. It also changed patently during the progress of debate. It is still changing, and this is due probably more than to any other cause to Marshal Joffre's thrilling appeal.

CONGRESS AND OUR ALLIES

Congress has voted money and men for our own National defense. What is Congress doing for our allies?

For them it must provide, not only money and men, but also munitions, food, and ships.

Congress has provided money for our allies-$3,000,000,000. We shall doubtless send men; and Congress has now made it legal for our allies to recruit their citizens in the United States. We continue to send munitions. But our allies' special needs just now are two-bread and boats.

The question is, therefore, how to increase our food and shipping. We must do this, not only for our own sake, but espe cially for the sake of our allies. We must furnish food, and we must furnish ships to carry it.

The Federal Shipping Board's praiseworthy energy 'in mobilizing ship-builders and shipyards has now been followed by Congressional action authorizing the President to take title to the German ships now in its custody. They are over ninety in number, and have a total tonnage of over 600,000; they are of many sizes, up to the huge Vaterland, the largest ship in the world, which exceeds 54,000 tons. These ships are already

The Senate amendments included the two following impor- admirably adapted to the transportation either of soldiers or of tant provisions:

To authorize the raising of not exceeding four volunteer infantry divisions for service abroad (the so-called Roosevelt volunteer amendment, adopted by a vote of 56 to 31). A good amendment.

To prohibit the sale of liquor at army posts and training camps and to army men anywhere while in uniform.

Senator McCumber's proposal to eliminate from the bill the exemption of persons who are deterred by religious belief from taking up arms was rejected, and Senator Gronna's amendment making it unlawful to use food products for making liquor was tabled.

CHANGING VIEWS IN CONGRESS

age

Thus the principal points of difference in the Draft Bill between the House and Senate include the difference in the subject to draft, the so-called Roosevelt volunteer amendment, and the prohibition section.

Of these differences, that concerning age has excited much comment in army circles. The bill as drawn by experienced military critics, under the eye of the War Department, provided for a selective draft of all able-bodied men, not other wise exempt, between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five years. This does not mean that a lad of nineteen would be sent to the seat of war. He would presumably have a long training before taking part in a battle. For intensive training, of course, the age limits as indicated by the War Department are superior to those provided by Congress. But when the bill was introduced into Congress it was seen that, in order to pass it, a concession would have to be made in the age limit, and hence the minimum age was increased by two years, the final limit being put at twenty-seven by the Senate. In the House, where the difficulty of passing the Draft Bill was much greater, the final limit had also to be increased much further, thus inevitably increasing the number of exemptions and adding greatly to the immense amount of clerical labor required to put the law in operation, facts doubtless quite patent to the politicians who insisted on this amendment.

Public and Congressional opinion in favor of the so-called

foodstuffs to Europe. Many of them are cargo carriers, and the transformation of the passenger ships not needed for the carriage of soldiers abroad into freighters would not be difficult. The immediate necessity is to repair the machinery of these boats, which was crippled, in many cases most seriously, by the crews, following orders received from Germany on January 31. This repair was begun as soon as the Federal authorities seized the ships on April 6, when the President issued his proclamation announcing the recognition of a state of war.

The food problem is a double one, namely, to increase our own supply, getting whatever is needed to our allies, and to prevent any from reaching Germany. The Administration Food Control Bills before Congress provide for an agricultural census, for aid to producers, for the licensing and supervision of food agencies, and for price regulation, if necessary. In addition, the Senate has now passed a bill to increase the supply of fertilization, appropriating $10,000,000 for the Government's purchase of nitrates for this purpose, for their transportation in Government vessels from Chile, and for their sale by Federal authorities at cost to farmers.

As to preventing our food from getting to Germany, an Embargo Bill has been favorably reported (it has now been made part of the Spy Bill, whose sweeping provisions for censorship are causing much adverse comment); it would authorize the President to regulate or prevent entirely, at his discretion, the exportation from the United States of all goods which might bring aid or comfort to the enemy. This measure doubtless interests Germany more than any other legislative proposition before Congress. It may also grimly interest the Scandinavian countries, Holland, and Switzerland, from which, despite all Allied efforts to keep goods from entering Germany, foodstuffs and war supplies have been and, it is believed, are being received.

POSTAL RATES AND NATIONALISM

One of the provisions for raising revenue to meet the cost of war which have been proposed and are before Congress would make considerable increase in the rates of postage.

On all first-class matter (which includes letters) there would

be added one cent for every ounce or fraction of an ounce. Thus the least postage payable on a letter would be three cents, and on a postal card two cents.

Besides this increase there is also proposed an increase on all second-class matter. This includes newspapers and periodicals mailed at regular intervals and paying postage by the pound. As proposed by the sub-committee in charge of the War Taxation Bill, the country would be divided into zones. In the first zone, within a given radius from the point of publication, the postage would be increased by a hundred per cent, in the second and third zones by two hundred per cent, in the fourth and fifth by three hundred per cent, in the sixth and seventh by four hundred per cent, and in the eighth zone by seven hundred per

cent.

Any increase in postage, like an increase in taxation, is a burden. The people of the United States must be prepared to bear extra burdens now. But the Government is morally bound to see that those burdens are distributed as equitably as possible, and that they are not so heavy that they cannot be borne by those upon whom they are laid.

It is notorious that the increase in the price of paper has put a heavy drain upon the financial resources of the publishing business. It would be to the defeat of its own purpose if the Government should exact from that business such a heavy postal rate as to drive periodicals out of business, and thus out of existence as sources of postal revenue altogether.

More important, however, than the question of the weight of the burden is its equitable distribution. The zone system means that the burden would be distributed inequitably. To-day intelligence can be transmitted by letter or periodical across the continent as easily as from one county to its neighboring county. All the people bear together all the burden. Under the zone system those who live at a distance would have to bear more of the burden than those who live near to the source of their information. A subscriber to a periodical who lived in the eighth zone could not get his periodical at the same rate at which a subscriber in the first zone could get it. Readers of periodicals, therefore, would soon tend to confine their subscriptions to publications near at home. Local interest would take the place of National interest.

The zone system applied to the dissemination of information through the mails is a blow at the National spirit. This is not a matter that chiefly concerns the publishers of periodicals. It chiefly concerns the whole people of the Nation.

THE PROBLEM OF WAR PROHIBITION

That the Government is seriously considering the problem of husbanding our food supplies by the prohibition of the manufacture of spirituous liquor during the period of the war is indicated by an announcement from Washington that Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor has been designated by the Department of Agriculture to undertake an exhaustive study of the proposals to limit the use of grains in the manufacture of intoxicants. When Dr. Taylor's recommendations have been made to the Government, the country at large will be in a better position than it is at present to judge of the economic significance and the feasibility of this far-reaching proposal.

In the meantime it is interesting to notice the growing demand for this measure from all classes of the population. One of the most interesting expressions of the attitude of leading business men towards the proposition is contained in a recent statement made by Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip, President of the National City Bank of New York, the largest bank in the country. Mr. Vanderlip says:

I strongly favor complete National prohibition. I believe we are facing a serious test of our National character and efficiency, and am firmly convinced that a National prohibition measure would be of transcendent importance in its effect upon the National spirit in conserving and increasing our food supply, and in raising the efficiency of the Nation.

The man power released from the liquor industries could be directed into productive channels where the need for labor will be acute, and thus be readily absorbed. The needs of the agricultural and industrial situation will make this a peculiarly opportune time to put through a National prohibition law with minimum shock to our economic machinery during the readjustment.

The business interests involved should be fairly dealt with, but many of the plants can be readily converted to important industrial uses. A National prohibition measure would do much to wake up the people to a realization of what war means and demands.

The problem of fixing a percentage profit for manufactured articles is simple compared with the problem of determining the cost of farm products. Any arbitrary plan to fix a maximum price per bushel for corn or wheat at the present time is more likely to discourage the production of food than to encourage the conservation and equitable distribution of our food supply. This is not to assert that the Government may not have to come to the fixing of maximum prices for food. It is merely to point out that the discussion of fixing maximum prices is something which can profitably be postponed until after the harvesting of the crops. If there is to be any price-fixing at the present time, let it be in the shape of a guaranteed minimum, for only by such a method can the farmers of the country be assured that if they respond to the country's rightful appeal for an increased acreage and an enlarged production, they will be protected against undue financial loss.

Farmers in the past have not without reason looked with suspicion upon an appeal to grow two blades of grass where one grew before. Large crops produced at the sacrifice of labor and capital have often resulted in smaller returns than poor crops. This has been because of our antiquated methods of distribution, marketing, and storage.

We do not believe that such a result is possible this year, but in guarding the farmer against the suspicion of such a possibility the Government will at the same time guard the Nation and our allies against any willful reduction of our food supply. In this connection it is interesting to note an offer made by the Northeast Nebraska Live Stock Breeders' Association. In an open letter to Secretary Houston, commenting upon the offer of the packers to permit the Government to fix arbitrarily the price of their product or to turn over to the Government the packing plants of the country, this farmers' association says:

If Mr. Armour proposes to turn over the packers' plants to the Government and run them for the benefit of the Government for a minimum profit, we will not allow him to be more magnanimous than we. We, too, will turn over our plants. We will turn our farms over to the Government and operate them for the Government on a basis of three per cent on the investment. This is only a bondholder's percentage, and the bondholder does not give his services, as we propose to do, without extra wage or salary. This offer is bona fide, and we are prepared to stand by it.

We desire some security for the future. No stockman to-day knows what to do. The tendency is to cash corn and quit the producing of finished beef. This would be a National calamity, and in some way must be averted. Secure to the feeder and producer of corn-fed beef and pork adequate remuneration for his labor and feed, and the future supply of corn-fed beef and pork is assured.

We agree with the further statement of the Northeast Nebraska Live Stock Breeders' Association that the Government at the present time is probably not prepared to go either into the farming business or the packing business, but the offer which we have here reported is an offer which accentuates the need of protecting our farmers and meat producers against unfair demands on the part of the consuming public.

THE COUNTY AGENT AGAIN

We have already, on more than one occasion, pointed out the need of increasing the activity of the county agricultural agents of the country at this time. In no way can the agricultural effort of the country be better organized and encouraged than through the efforts of those county agents provided for through the co-operation of the Federal Government and the localities where they have been assigned to duty. The duties

and responsibilities of the county agent are admirably outlined by "Wallace's Farmer:"

The job of the county agent is not to show the farmer how to farm, but to do what he can to help the farmer farm to better advantage. Under the present conditions, the live county agent will be more of a business helper to the farmer than anything else. He will organize to supply labor where it is needed, to secure seeds which are likely to be needed for late planting, to make arrangements for the prompt building of silos on farms where they are wanted, to fight hog cholera and other animal diseases; in general, make himself useful to the farmer. If there was ever a time when a county agent could be used to great advantage, now is the time; and the farmers and business men of every county should get together at the earliest possible date, organize, and secure a good, live man.

We commend this appeal to all communities which have not yet availed themselves of the services of a progressive county agent.

THE MARINES

The first arm of the service to reach the full quota allowed by law was the Marine Corps. Twenty-two days after war was declared the Marine Corps was enlisted to full war strength, namely, one-fifth the authorized strength of the navy. It is still recruiting men, however, in anticipation of an increase in the navy personnel within the next few days.

The fact is significant, perhaps, of the spirit of the country when we remember that the chief appeal made by Marine Corps recruiting agers has been the statement that the Marines would be the first to get into action. Whether or not this will be the case remains to be seen. Judging, however, from the record of the Marine Corps in the past, if there is to be action anywhere, the Marines will get themselves into it somehow.

During the past few years the Marine Corps has had its full share of what action there has been. In Nicaragua, at Vera Cruz, and in Santo Domingo the Marines have lived up fully to the traditions of their corps for concentrated activity.

The picture in our illustrated section shows a detachment of Marines in action near Guayacanes, in the Dominican Republic, where Sergeant-Major Roswell Winans won a medal of honor for courage in battle. This picture was taken during the recent pacification of that turbulent country.

In the illustrated section of this week's Outlook are reproduced eight pictures showing the manner in which England is treating her prisoners of war. These photographs were taken at the request of Ambassador Gerard in order that they might be sent to Germany to prove to the Germans that their soldiers were in good hands. When we remember Ambassador Gerard's reports of the conditions in the German prison camps, we are moved to wonder what impression these English photographs made on the German public. Could any German familiar with the life and treatment of the prisoners in the camps at Wittenberg or Gardelegen help from being shamed by these English pictures? Certainly when we remember the horrors and the hardships which have attended the creation of almost all prison camps in past wars we can accord to England the highest possible praise for her treatment of the German prisoners of war under her control. Her record in this respect is one to which the British nation can look as one of the most striking achievements of the great war. Had Germany waged warfare in accord with the ordinary dictates of humanity, England's treatment of her prisoners would still redound to her credit; but, under the circumstances, the record is so remarkable that it calls for the particular acclaim of the American people.

Probably the average Englishman would be more surprised than otherwise at being told that his nation deserved unusual credit for having cared for her prisoners according to humanitarian standards. He would probably content himself with saying that it was "not cricket, you know," to mistreat prisoners, and consider that this phrase covered the whole situation.

The prisoners who appear in the photographs which we have reproduced did so voluntarily. The photographers had explicit

instructions that no prisoner was to be photographed without his consent, and that neither compulsion nor persuasion was to be employed to induce any one to form part of a group. These instructions were strictly carried out. Indeed, the prisoners themselves frequently asked that copies of these photographs might be placed on sale in their prison camps.

THE COURAGE AND

STEADFASTNESS OF OUR ALLIES

Two recent utterances, one by the Prime Minister of Great Britain, the other by the new Russian Minister of Justice, show that the two nations they spoke for face the future with cheerful confidence. Mr. Lloyd George, for instance, said of the submarine situation: "The Germans think we are done for, but they do not know the race they are dealing with. I am confident that if our present programme is carried out the submarine campaign is beaten." As to the food question, he was equally sure that it could be met: "The best brains of America and Britain are concentrated on this problem. There never was a human problem which was not soluble, and I don't believe this is an exception to the rule."

In both cases Mr. Lloyd George recognized fully the need of concerted, thorough action in his own country and also in co-operation with America. He pointed out that the action was under way, so that, for instance, this year in England 3,000,000 acres will be added to the area before under cultivation, while in Great Britain "three, perhaps four, times" as many new ships would be built this year as last. Finally, as to the military situation he was almost jubilant :

very

Now, thank God, our men have a real chance in the fight. The story now is different from what it was in the early stages of the war. Before June, 1915, we lost 84 guns and a considerable number of prisoners. Since that date we have not lost a single gun, while we have captured 400. Regarding prisoners, we have taken at least ten to one. The tide has now turned. The declaration of Mr. Kerenski, the Russian Minister of Justice, a Socialist, also has a reassuring and confident tone. He denied flatly that Russia was in danger from a "duality of power," a phrase that had been used to describe a supposed opposition between the Provisional Government and the Committee of Soldiers and Workmen. Everywhere, he asserted, there was agreement in pushing war to victory and in organizing for building up the army and the munitions. It was the old régime, he said, that before the Revolution was weakening the army; for instance, he made the astonishing statement that before the Revolution there were a million cases a year of desertion, the soldiers going home and coming back about as they chose. Already, Mr. Kerenski showed, the discipline had been bettered by voluntary effort of the soldiers and the output of munitions had steadily increased.

Regarding peace, Mr. Kerenski said: "Russia wants peace on the terms proposed by President Wilson. The revolution and the entrance of the United States into the war have somewhat changed the objects for which we are fighting. We want peace restored without annexation or indemnity, and favor a conference with the Allies to determine how this can be attained."

FACING THE SUBMARINE SITUATION

It is quite in keeping with the spirit of resolution and hope indicated above that Great Britain has recognized that it is a mistake to minimize the losses from German submarines. Admiral Beresford and the London " Times " join in arguing, in effect, that in a democratic nation the people must know the facts and face them. As Lord Beresford says: "It is the first rule of warfare in a democracy, and above all in the British democracy, that national effort will correspond only to the nation's understanding of the danger to be overcome." The complaint is not that the Admiralty has given out false figures, but incomplete statements; for instance, for one week the statement was that fifty-five British merchantmen were sunk and that there were 5,205 sailings and arrivals in the same week. The inference is that the loss was one per cent, and only an expert would notice that the losses did not include neutral or Allied ships and that the total of sailings and arrivals not only

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