railway with an important wagon road, the Boers have reasons both of sentiment and of strategy for a vigorous defense of the town which they took some time ago. In his last attack, however, General French lost one entire company with all its officers; the event was described with official euphemism by the War Office as an "accident." Despite this slight reverse, General French's tactical position is practically unaltered. He seems to be the one Brit ish officer to adapt himself to Boer strategy in that he does not do what his enemy expected him to do; for instance, he declined to make a direct frontal attack, or, with an insufficient force, to occupy Colesberg prematurely, or to be drawn on by seemingly retreating Boers to a less defensible position. The widespread approval of his course by the London papers would indicate that bulldog tactics are finally at a discount among the British. The twenty Boer prisoners taken by General French expressed surprise at this unexpected strategy. They supposed that the usual frontal attack would take place; instead, they found themselves shelled from three positions, and Maxim guns commanding their retreat. To their admiration of this generalship the prisoners added a generous appreciation of the bravery of the British rank and file. While the British suffered but slightly, it is reported that the Boers lost a hundred men in all. They have now reoccupied the positions from which they were driven by General French. Thus, no one of these three victories resulted in any substantial advance to the British in territory gained.

If the German Emperor The British Seizures had arranged with the British Government to have three of his vessels seized by it on suspicion of carrying contraband, he could not have better helped his pet measure of doubling the German navy. The people in Germany, for the most part anti-British and pro-Boer, are not only more than ever strengthened in their prejudices, but many of the doubters and opponents of the Kaiser's bill now before the Reichstag have become its supporters. They think

that the seizures would not have taken place if Germany had possessed a larger navy. Be that as it may, following the

seizures of American flour the week previous, last week the British captured three German vessels, the Bundesrath, the General, and the Herzog, at three points off the coast, as far apart as Lourenço Marques and Aden. Despite the apparent regularity of the bills of lading, the German vessels were compelled to submit to search, as having more than "occasional " contraband. The British suspected that the vessels carried ammunition, rifles, and cannon, fraudulently concealed and falsely labeled. They claim that such goods disguised in piano-boxes have been already shipped not only from Hamburg and Bremen, but from London itself. It was also recently discovered that the Boers had been supplied with tinned foods made in England. The fact that the seized vessels were mail steamers belonging to the German East Africa Line, heavily subsidized by the German Government, had no bearing on the case, such ships having no special exemption from search. While Great Britain cannot prohibit Germany from sending goods into Portuguese territory, if it can be proved that these particular goods were intended to be conveyed into Boer territory the right to seizure and confiscation is exactly what we exercised during the Civil War when the Confederates attempted to obtain contraband goods by way of Mexico. Of course, if search does not reveal contraband, compensation must be and will be gladly paid. The German Government is awaiting British action regarding the seizures. Next week The Outlook will publish an article from the pen of Professor Theodore S. Woolsey, of Yale University, on the questions of international law involved in these seizures.

The most interesting miliThe Philippines tary news of the week was the confirmation of a previous rumor that the Americans who have been prisoners to the Filipinos had all, or nearly all, been recaptured. Lieutenant Gilmore, of the Yorktown, with nineteen other American prisoners, is now in Manila. He states that Aguinaldo treated his prisoners with great consideration, but that General Tino, into whose hands they fell in the latter part of their imprisonment, was very harsh to them, and, when in his

flight he was forced to abandon them, left orders to have them shot. The guards refused to obey this order and liberated the prisoners, who were found by an American advance detachment under Colonel Hare, on December 18, after suffering terrible hardships in their march through the wild country. Lieutenant Gilmore is quoted as saying that he thought the insurrection would last as long as there were any Tagalogs left. Another news item of the week is that our flag has been raised over the little island called Sibutu, which is claimed by the Sultan of Sulu as belonging to his group of islands. Our flag is, of course, raised with the Sultan's consent. There is some question as to the real ownership of the island, as it lies at what may be termed the extreme southwestern corner of the Philippine group, not very far from Borneo. On Friday of last week Comanche, an insurgent stronghold on Mount Arayat, was captured by our forces with a loss of five of our men, three of whom are said to have been mutilated after capture. Newspaper correspondence indicates that the insurgents are still in considerable numbers south of Manila, from Imus south and east, and also around the southern shore of Laguna de Bay. On Sunday of this week an advance from Imus resulted in the loss of three Americans killed and twenty wounded. The enemy's loss is estimated at sixty killed and eighty wounded. American newspapers have during the week reprinted from the Manila "Times" an official order from General Otis reprobating the acceptance of gifts and bribes by persons in the military and civil service. General Otis says: "The evil, corrupting and far-reaching in its effects, appears to have reached a stage which renders its suppression with a strong hand imperative." There has also been reprinted for the first time in this country General Otis's statement with regard to the President's proclamation, in which General Otis admits that, in publishing the proclamation in Manila, he eliminated phrases regarding our claim of sovereignty, although fully concurring in their truth and justice, because he thought it impolitic to make that announcement at that time. The proclamation was, however, printed in full in Iloilo, and, of course, sent from there to Manila, with the result that the distrust of Ameri

cans felt by the Filipinos was greatly increased by the entire transaction. Welldeserved military promotions were sent by the President to the Senate last weekthose of General Young, General MacArthur, and General Ludlow to be Brigadier-Generals in the regular army, and those of General Bates and General Wheaton to be Major-Generals of volunteers by brevet. Three cases of the plague have been reported from Manila. In Honolulu there have been several deaths from the plague, and some fears are entertained lest the plague may spread in the lower quarters of Honolulu. Every possible precaution will be taken to prevent the pestilence from reaching San Francisco, where it might perhaps find a foothold in the Chinese quarter.

General Wood's Cuban Administration

One of the very first official acts of Governor-General Wood was to release from imprisonment some forty men in Santa Clara Province who have been held under wretched prison conditions for many months, and in some cases for several years, without trial. The need of prison reform is shown by the fact that these men were all released ten months ago by General Bates, but that they were instantly rearrested by order from the American headquarters, on the ground that General Bates had exceeded his authority. Since then they have been held in prison. There seems to have been no contention that General Bates's action was not justified by the circumstances; Governor-General Brooke merely held that General Bates's action must be reversed because it was taken without consultation with headquarters. We have already spoken of the need of thorough prison reform in Havana and in Cuba generally. It is now announced that General Wood will undertake a systematic examination of the situation. It is alleged that there are fifteen hundred people in jail in Cuba who have never been tried, many of them under minor charges, and that there are many prisoners undergoing excessively long sentences imposed for comparatively trivial offenses. Probably, after dealing with this prison matter, General Wood's next step will be to further sanitary reform. Much has

been done in this direction, but much more remains to be done before Havana and several other of the large cities are as well defended against disease as Santiago now is. The yellow fever statistics for the year 1899 have just been published, and show that there was an increase in the number of cases in Havana during the year. The increase is not very large, and is not alarming, but the fact that, after a year of American occupation and attempt at reform, the statistics show more cases than existed at the end of the Spanish régime, at least calls for renewed vigilance and larger plans of reform. The question of cleansing the filthy harbor is a most important one; Colonel Waring's plans are approved by many scientific experts, and very probably they will be put into operation. A significant fact with regard to General Wood's plans for education is the note, cabled last week, that bids for $600,000 worth of school furniture and supplies will soon be advertised for in the United States.

The End of a Farce

The comedy which the Royalist, "Nationalist," and anti-Semite leaders, MM. Buffet, Déroulède, and Guérin, have been playing with so much satisfaction to themselves for some time past, but without the edification either of the French people or of the world at large, has been brought to its end. The High Court, having reached their cases after some delay, has sentenced Guérin to ten years' imprisonment, and has exiled Buffet and Déroulède. Guérin will now have the opportunity of resuming the occupations which he pursued so long in "Fort Chabrol" last summer, when he made himself the center of local interest in Paris, and in a small way gave the Government no little annoyance. He is a person of considerable histrionic faculty, and probably found immense enjoyment in the spectacular but wholly innocuous attempt at revolution of which he was guilty. Déroulède has made more trouble. Representing what he declares to be the only true form of democracy, he probably had no programme further than to secure the overthrow of the present Government. While the Buffet programme was definite enough, involving the restoration of the monarchy, it is a significant fact that many

of the antagonists of the French Republic have absolutely nothing in mind in the way of a coherent plan for something better; their programme is brief and simple-to pull down the Republic. These men are for the most part harmless, and they gratify the Parisian love of excitement and show; but the Government, in dealing with them so quietly and along strictly legal lines, while at the same time it makes them aware that it costs something to be treasonable, will considerably reduce the enthusiasm for the spectacular among gentlemen of this class.

The Week in Congress

The Senate Committee on Elections has reported, five to four, against the seating of Mr. Quay. Senator Burrows, of Michigan, who voted with the Democrats and Populists in favor of adhering to the Senate's previous position in such cases, is to write the majority report. The other Repub

lican members of the Committee all belong to the small minority which has maintained that the Governor of a State may fill Senatorial vacancies which occur during the session of the State Legislature. The only two Republican Senators who have publicly announced their readiness to set aside their former view of the Constitution in order to seat Mr. Quay are Penrose, of Pennsylvania, and Carter, of Montana. Owing in part to the holiday recess, little was done in Congress, but several important resolutions were introduced. Among these was one from Senator Beveridge, of Indiana, declaring it to be the purpose of the United States to retain the Philippine Islands. Senator Beveridge has recently returned from a trip to the Philippines. Another of Senator Pettigrew's resolutions asking for official information respecting events in the Philippines was at first objected to by Administration Senators, but was promised consideration when Senator Hoar protested that such resolutions could not be rejected without violating the traditions of the Senate. The resolution, in question asked for information respecting the report that the day after the outbreak of hostilities the Filipino leader asked General Otis for their cessation, on the ground that they had been begun without authorization on the side of the Filipinos. The

most important measure introduced, how ever, was that of Senator Foraker, of Ohio-the Chairman of the Committee on Insular Affairs-providing for a territorial government in Puerto Rico, with one branch of the Legislature appointed by the Administration and the other elected by the people of the island on the basis of manhood suffrage. The debate on the Senate substitute for the House Financial Bill was opened by Senator Aldrich, of Rhode Island, the Chairman of the Finance Committee.

The resolutions adopted by the House of RepreNational City Bank sentatives calling upon Secretary Gage to furnish a complete statement of the transactions between his department and the National City Bank of New York City, and also of the extent to which public money has been deposited with other banks without interest, bring forward two questions-one of sensational interest and the other of permanent public importance. Naturally, the first is receiving the greater attention, though it deserves the less. Two charges of favoritism toward the National City Bank are brought against Secretary Gage. The first is that he already has on deposit with this bank over $13,000,000, and that he proposed to increase this deposit by requiring all internal revenue receipts in this district to be paid into this bank, there to remain until needed by the Treasury Department. Inasmuch as the trust companies of this city pay two per cent. interest on much smaller and less stable deposits, and Western bankers give still higher rates, it is charged that the Secretary's favor to this particular bank yields it a minimum profit of nearly $1,000 a day. In reply to this charge it has been urged that the City Bank was the first bank to qualify itself for large deposits by securing the requisite Government bonds for the Treasury to hold as security, and that the convenience of the Treasury made it necessary that the internal revenue receipts should be paid into a single de positary. The other charge of favoring this bank is more important. It is that the Government sold the Custom-House building to the National City Bank for $3,265,000, and took in payment the

bank's certified check, which it forthwith deposited in the bank, and thatthe Government thereupon, by previous arrangement, began to pay the bank a "rentab" of four per cent. upon the price of the boding for the privilege of continuing to occupy it until a new Custom-House is built. The Government thus, it is alleged, pays the bank four per cent. interest on over three million dollars which the bank retains in its possession to lend to other customers. Furthermore, it is said, the bank's check to the Government lacked about forty thousand dollars of covering the entire purchase price, so that the title to the building remains with the Government, and no tax can be levied. In case the City Bank is taxed upon its personalty as fully as upon its real estate, the exemption of the building is of relatively little importance, but this feature of the transaction has naturally quickened public interest. The officials of the National City Bank have the highest business standing, and no one questions the absolute integrity of Secretary Gage. Judgment as to the wisdom of these transactions should be suspended until the publication of Secretary Gage's report to Congress.

Government Deposits with Private Banks

All this, however, is of passing importance compared with the question of depositing the Government's surplus with the banks. It will be recalled that during the first half of this century the unpopularity of the Government's relations with the old United States Bank, and the bank's relations with party politics, led to the adoption of the "independent treasury system," by which the money of the Government should be kept in the Government vaults. This system, introduced by the Democratic party, was only slightly changed during the Civil War, when the new National banks were authorized to serve as depositaries for public money needed in various sections. The aggregate of these deposits remained small until Mr. Cleveland's first administration, when the surplus rapidly increased; and Secretary Fairchild took the position that the Government could not afford to bid in the outstanding bonds at market prices because its bids raised those prices. Of course Government bids

had raised prices, just as every bid does, but the price at which it might have bought the bonds would have saved the Treasury over two per cent. a year in interest, while the banks with which Mr. Fairchild proceeded to deposit the surplus paid no interest at all. President McKinley, then in Congress, vigorously attacked this policy. Among other things, he said:

Nearly $59,000,000, as I understand, of the surplus. is now out among the banks. If the Administration had used the $59,000,000 and bought a corresponding amount of bonds with that sum, those bonds would have been canceled, and the interest on that sum would have been stopped. What does a man do who has got a surplus balance in the banks and has outstanding debts bearing interest? He calls in the evidences of those debts and pays them off with his surplus deposit. That is what a business man would have done, and that is what a business Administration would have done; and we would have had $50,000,000 less of interest-bearing bonds in circulation to-day if the President had followed the way blazed for him by the Republican party. In the resolutions which Mr. McKinley reported to the Republican National Convention the same year (1888) there was a strong arraignment of the Democratic policy of loaning the Government's money without interest to pet banks. When President Harrison was inaugurated, Secretary Windom promptly returned toward the old plan of reducing the Government deposits to the sums immediately needed for the public service. The matter then dropped out of the attention of the public until the surplus again began to accumulate under the present Administration, when Secretary Gage adopted Secretary Fairchild's policy. At present the Government deposits aggregate over $80,000,000, and are likely to increase under the recent order respecting the internal revenue. While no one questions the integrity of the Treasury Department and the bank officials with whom the deposits have been made, it needs to be recalled that deposits of about $5,000,000 of State money with favored banks in Pennsylvania brought two per cent. interest payments to the Quay machine and corrupted the politics of the State.

He argued that such stores are a natural evolution from conditions of established trade laws, and beneficial to society, having a substantial economic and moral basis for their existence, and that, while the inspiring motive of such stores was the usual one of making money for their owners, such a purpose was not without conspicuous advantages to the public. The determination of the people to establish a common meeting-place for the consumer and producer is irresistible, said Mr. Wanamaker. He believes, not only that the modern retail system is the outgrowth of public needs, cheap capital, improved transportation, perfected communication, and commercial education, but also that the public good has been conserved by reduced prices consequent on enlarged production, and this reduction in prices has stimulated consumption of goods, and compelled increased employment, multiplying labor in production, transportation, and distribution. While locality needs will always make a place for small stores, the larger operator, offering larger assortments, will command a volume of sales sufficiently profitable at half the usual profit of old-time storekeeping. Though the natural sequence, said Mr. Wanamaker, is a certain diminution of small stores not able to justify existence from actual public service, the most marked effect of the department stores upon general trade is the elimination of commission houses, jobbers, and middlemen. Mr. Wanamaker added that the formation of combinations and trusts to control retailing was an impossibility, because the goods dealt in were of endless variety, made all over the world, and beyond control in production. Modernized retailing, he contended, had elevated the ethics of trade, opened new avenues of work and higher pay for women, shortened the hours of labor, and practically established business universities for the education of men and women for wellcompensated employments.