dent or director of not less than twentysix corporations of more or less importance.

A

Mr. Baldwin's avocations filled as great a place in the activities of his life as his vocation, and in his affections a far greater place. His affiliations with university affairs were indicated by his membership in the University and Harvard Clubs and in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. The supreme interest of his life of late years might be defined as a passion for civic welfare. His heart was in every real reform movement. capitalist, the associate of many of the large capitalists of the country, connected with some of its leading financial enterprises, his sympathies with workingmen were so strong that in heart he belonged to them rather than to the class with whom his life was cast. Chairman of the Committee of Fifteen, chosen by the Chamber of Commerce of New York City in 1900 to .conduct a war against vice, his tact and judgment were of great service; and there was no movement looking to the better management, politically and socially, of the affairs of the metropolis that did not secure his interest. Of late years, however, he had been most conspicuously occupied with educational matters, and his services to Tuskegee and Hampton

As

and other schools in the South, his knowledge of Southern conditions, and his profound sympathy with the South in its struggles, were well interpreted by a public man of distinction who, on hearing of Mr. Baldwin's illness, said: "He is of more importance in the solution of the race problem in the United States than any other man." As Presi-. dent of the General Educational Board of the South he shared with Mr. Ogden the large responsibilities and honors of an educational work second in importance to none in the United States. There are many generous spirits among men of affairs in America who are using great financial positions for altruistic ends; but there has never been in the history of the country a finer citizen in business, nor one who more strikingly united idealism of aim with practical sagacity and method than Mr. Baldwin. Dying at the early age of forty-one, he

has left, not only an enviable reputation, but the memory of a spirit and a career which will be an inspiration to every one who knew him.

The Spectator

It was about the middle of December. The Spectator's hostess was busy with Christmas preparation. Now, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Christmas preparation means preparation really for Christ

mas.

Of

Not merely for the giving of presents, not merely for a family gathering, not merely for the reception of a good old saint, the best of saints, the patron of children. Among good Mopatron of children. ravians it means preparation to celebrate the Nativity. Of course Santa Claus is "Other welcome-Santa Claus, that Wise Man" who was wise enough not to turn back to the East, to oblivion, but to continue westward bringing gifts to little children through the ages. course, too, there are Christmas trees. After all, however, these are but subsidiary, in the Moravian household, to the Christmas story itself. The Spectator's hostess, therefore, was occupied in getting ready for the Christmas story when on this day she went to the telephone and called up the plumber. As soon as she heard his answering" Hello !" she gave this order: "Please send some one up at once to solder the pond." A pause. Then in a voice of astonishment came the simple ejaculation, "What !"

If that plumber had been a man of imagination, he need not have gratified this vivacious little woman's sense of humor. He ought to have understood what was going on in that household that time of year. The nursery had become a place of mystery. The door was shut.

Across one end of the room had been erected a low platform, and on this had appeared a wonderful miniature landscape. The wall had disappeared behind a background of little evergreen trees. The ground was green with moss from which paper rocks fiercely jutted. In the foreground, on a dreary waste of sand, a company of leaden soldiers valiantly paraded. To the right

towered a noble castle, at the very least a foot and a half high. To the left stretched a quiet pond in which a fountain, mysteriously controlled from the bath-room, spouted, fishes swam, and boats of various patterns plied. Under the branch of a tree an angel, poised on his wings, addressed some shepherds with their sheep. And situated at the point around which the whole scene was grouped stood a humble thatched log house. There, in the open doorway, surrounded by the cattle and protected by the husband, sat the Mother with the

Child on her knee.

In Pennsylvania many words have been Anglicized which will never become generally current; but there is one word which could be admitted to every American's vocabulary without the Spectator's veto, if what it represents might only become the possession of all American homes. That word is "putz "—the name of this Christmas decoration. These putzes (note that the Spectator does not say Pütze) vary with the taste, the ingenuity, the resources, and the traditions of the different families. One, as that of the Spectator's hostess, has a cattle-shed made by the grandfather; another lacks the rocks of specially prepared paper, but has instead real treestumps preserved in the cellar from year to year; another has a many-pointed star which, by an ingenious application of dry batteries and clockwork, is made to glimmer and twinkle realistically. Profiting by a well-established though obsolescent custom, the Spectator after Christmas joined a party which went from door to door with the request, (6 May we please see your putz?" At each door there was the hospitable welcome and the expression of pleasure at the appreciation which the neighborly visit evinced; at each home, too, there was some new feature, ingenious or artistic, that added flavor to the individuality of the putz. Indeed, the possible variety is endless, from the simple group arranged beneath a Christmas tree to the elaborate design which the Spectator heard of as having existed in some former year, in which the entire hall was

involved, and the stairway was transformed into a great cascade. Even the anachronism of a trolley-car or a mechanical railway winding about in two or three of the putzes had a charm of its

own.

The final convincing appeal of this Christmas custom lies, after all, not in the opportunity it affords for the exercise of ingenuity and artistic taste, not in the family traditions which surround the little figures that are handed down from generation to generation, not even in the neighborly feelings which the exchange of visits fosters, but in the idea which makes such charming anachronism possible. It is the association of the children's interests with the story of the manger, the star, and the shepherds. All day long, and day after day, the children of the household play beside the cattle-shed. The story is their story; the Child is their Playmate.

With the Moravians the Nativity is supremely the children's festival. It is on Christmas Eve that the little children and the boys and girls have their lovefeasts. It is then they gather in the church and have their little repast, and, with small beeswax candles in their hands, sing their Christmas chorales. It is thus that the Moravian Church gathers its congregation together and reminds them, "Except ye become as little children."

It is just because the Moravians really celebrate Christmas that the old Moravian Church at Bethlehem was the most natural possible place for a Christmas Festival of Bach music. To call that festival a series of services would be about as misleading as to call it a series of concerts, but it would be no more so. It was strictly a festival, a celebration. Yet though this Bach festival, like those which have preceded it, owed its existence to conditions which were created by Moravian traditions, it was by no means exclusively Moravian. The other celebrations-the putz and the lovefeasts had been church celebrations; this festival wa's a community celebra

tion. The Bach Choir, which is a permanent chorus of some six score voices, has among its members people of various denominations. Hecktown and Shimersville join with Nazareth and Bethlehem in producing this fine musical institution. There are members who travel fifteen or twenty miles every day there is a rehearsal. The old Moravian Church has become the center of a community that has a genuine enthusiasm for this old but living Protestant church music.

These recurrent festivals are the creation of Mr. J. Fred Wolle. The flame of musical devotion that burns so brightly in the region round about Bethlehem has been caught from him. The excellence with which the Bach choir sings this intricate music is due to his patience as conductor. The victory which Bach has won in this Pennsylvania town is due to his artistic faith. Yet the one name which cannot be found either on the official circulars or the official programme is that of Mr. Wolle. In this one respect Mr. Wolle has failed: he has not been able to hide his light under a bushel. He has tried to, but the only 'effect has been that the whole bushel glows.

And in this, too, the Bach Choir has caught his spirit. One evening, after most of the people had left the church, the Spectator noticed that the chorus was reassembling evidently for a rehearsal. So he sat down unobtrusively and let the billows of sound roll over him. It was the great motet for double chorus, Sing ye to the Lord." The next day the Spectator met a bass of the chorus and told him of this unexpected immersion. The eyes of this quiet, matter-of-fact man fairly shone as he told of the delight with which the whole choir saw Mr. Wolle's gesture to remain for this last rehearsal, and added, "The choir doesn't care whether nobody

became despondent. He told of the difficulty of counting eleven bars of rests, of humming B flat while seven other parts circled about, and of their suddenly attacking that B flat while the sopranos were doing their best to insist on everybody's singing C. He shook his head. "Besides," he added in despair, "I don't think there will be any tenors in heaven." In the Spectator's opinion there would be ample justification for extending special mercy to tenors if thereby this motet could be included among the songs of praise in the New Jerusalem. The members of the Bach Choir have a peculiar idiom. Of course they sing nothing but Bach's music; nevertheless, a not infrequent question at a rehearsal has been, "Are we going to sing Bach to-night?" In their vocabulary" Bach means the mass in B Minor. Now the Spectator believes that this word ought to be expanded to include "the motet." This, he feels, belongs with the very Bach of Bach.

Some day all the musical people of America will learn to prize this Bach Choir as many of them do already. Then there will come the suggestion of an endowment fund to meet the expenses, which now are a burden and a limitation on the technical excellence of soloists and orchestra. It is costly to hold rehearsals, especially with orchestra players and professional singers. In the meantime the Spectator hopes that a fund will be raised to erect a fireproof building for the old Moravian archives which are now shelved in the church. Possibly the old Bell House, solidly built of stone and brick, could be adapted to this use without serious modification. The Spectator's wife will be uneasy until those archives are safe. The Spectator has, therefore, reasons which affect the peace of his own home for urging at least this one reform.

Through a regrettable error, the excellent portrait of General Nogi which was published in The Outlook of January 7 was not credited to the photographers who made it. It was from a stereograph made by James Ricalton at General Nogi's headquarters Underwood & Underwood, New York, and before Port Arthur, on September 13, for copyright, 1904, by this well-known firm.

T

In

HE views which are expressed in this article are my own. I have entertained them a long time, and have frequently voiced them. no sense must they be considered as the views of the Administration, and in no way should it be interpreted that they are to be pressed upon members of Congress. They are offered as pertinent to a very important subject now being discussed, and are based entirely on my own somewhat extensive experience in the transportation business of the country.

To start with, every good citizen should be in favor of the extermination of rebates and special privileges of all descriptions which discriminate in favor of one shipper and against another. Fundamentally, this proposed reform is right.

There are very few complaints of railway rates per se in the United States. Rates generally are reasonable. Over ninety per cent. of the complaints made are of the relation of rates as between markets. Occasionally there have been complaints as to the relation of rates between commodities, but it is very rare that a complaint is made that any given rate is unreasonably high or extortionate. There are, in my opinion, as many rates in existence in this country which may be fairly considered too low, as there are rates which a court would decide to be too high. Rates that are unreasonably low may be just as disastrous to communities as rates which may be too high.

Railway rates are, without doubt, lower by much more than one-third in this country than anywhere else in the world. This, coupled with the facts that railway employees in this country approximate fifty per cent. more in wages and that all materials and supplies used by the railways are purchased in a high market, speaks volumes as to the triumphs in transportation by land achieved

here. The more one studies the composite parts of the costs of our transportation, and then contrasts our railway rates with those charged in other countries, and further compares our wages and material costs with the prices paid abroad, the more he will wonder how the American roads can afford to make the low rates now charged.

Personally, I am in favor of the proper regulation of our railways by the Federal Government. With that regulation should come proper protection. It is only fair that regulation and protection should go together. If the public is to be protected against a railway charge that is unreasonably high, the railways (which are generally owned by the public) should be protected against a rate which is unreasonably low.

Five years ago, before the Industrial Commission, I stated:

The results of consolidation of small railways into large systems have been to lower the charges of transportation, improve the service rendered, and advance the wages of the men employed.

Unless legalized pooling is authorized by Congress, the railways of the country are more than likely to pass into the hands of a ized, a pool of earnings will be accomplished. few owners, and then, without being legal

I believe the Inter-State Commerce Commission, or some similar body, has come to stay. I am in favor of its having proper pooling, that it should be empowered to pass, authority, and am willing, under legalized subject to review, upon the reasonableness

of rates.

The only change in my views since that time is a more decided conviction that Federal supervision is necessary, and I believe that one of three things is sure to take place in the conduct of our railway systems:

First-Legalization of pools-the right of the railways to make enforceable contracts between themselves as to a division of earnings, so that they can resist the temptations of big shippers