or not. She must stop killing non-combatants. In the note sent by the American Government to Germany on May 13 the President directed Germany's attention to the rule safeguarding on the seas "the lives of non-combatants, whether they be of neutral citizenship or citizens of one of the nations at war." We are not merely here stating, therefore, the attitude of The Outlook; we are restating the attitude of the American Government and of the American people when we say that if Germany is to satisfy the American people and comply with the principles and demands expressed by the American Government she must see to it that no merchant vessel of any kind is attacked without warning and without ample provision for the escape of all non-combatants, whether they are Americans or not. THE SHORT BALLOT As we go to press, the Constitutional Convention of the State of New York, now in session at Albany, is struggling with the most important question which can come before it -the question of the Short Ballot. A decisive majority in a test vote and a remarkable speech by Senator Root, the President of the Convention, indicate that the Short Ballot principle will be embodied in the new Constitution. If so, no minor defects should prevent the people of the State from ratifying it, for it will be the greatest step taken for more than a hundred years in favor of open, honest, efficient, and popular State government. This is a strong statement, but it is supported by the facts of history and experience. What is the Short Ballot and what is its history? It has nothing to do with the size or form of the paper which the voter places in the ballot-box. The Short Ballot idea of government might be expressed in a ballot as large as a bed-sheet, and the long ballot idea in a ballot as small as the page of a newspaper. The Short Ballot advocates want few elective officers, who shall possess large powers of administration and appointment, but who shall be directly responsible to the people. The long ballot advocates want every government official, from Governor to dog-catcher, nominated by party conventions and elected by the people. The political bosses, the lovers of patronage, the officeseekers, the supporters of the "system," and the members of the "Old Guard are all long ballot men. They profess to be the only Simon-pure upholders of true democracy, because they claim the right of every voter to have a voice in the selection of every government official. As a matter of fact, by giving the voter a list of ten, forty, fifty, or a hundred names from which to select at an election, the long ballot men confuse him, throw dust in his eyes, and retain the actual power in their own hands. They thus become "the system," the "invisible government." They are really despots, not demo crats. Their methods gave us for many years the worst city governments in the world, and many of our State governments have been not much better. The long ballot principle has fostered bribery, corruption, irresponsibility, and inefficiency. We have no less an authority than Senator Root himself—and no man has a more intimate knowledge of the inside history of American politics, the machinery of its nominations and elections, and its methods of invisible control than he has― for saying that for many years the Government of the State of New York has been worse than the Government of Venezuela. The political history of American cities and States proves conclusively that the long ballot principle has been a failure; it does not work for the benefit of the people; it works only for the benefit of the "machine." 66 But when confronted with this unanswerable argument the long ballot advocates reply: We, too, are in favor of reform, but it must be a practical reform. The Short Ballot is visionary and unpractical. It is new-fangled, like the initiative, the referendum, and the recall. It is striking at the foundations of the republic. It won't work." History again shows them to be wrong. The Short Ballot is as old-fangled as the federation of the United States itself. It is the chief foundation stone of the Federal Government. There it has worked successfully for a century and a quarter. It is almost the only political principle of our forefathers which has lasted unmodified since the Federal Constitution was framed. And where, during the last twenty years, it has been applied to American municipal government it has worked so well that it has driven out corruption and developed efficiency until, as Senator Root said in his Albany speech, "the government of American cities to-day is, in the main, superior to the government of American States." The first Constitutional Convention of the State of New York was held in Fishkill Village in 1777. Those who have read Theodore Roosevelt's interesting "Life of Gouverneur Morris " will remember that Morris was a delegate to that Convention and that he strenuously endeavored to introduce the Short Ballot principle into the State Constitution. He advocated the election of a single executive or governor directly responsible to the people and having the power to appoint the military and civil servants of the State. But with the majority of the delegates "the remembrance of the contests with the royal governors was still fresh, and the mere name of governor frightened them. He did not let the memory of the wrong-doing of the royal governors blind him; he saw that the trouble with them lay, not in the power that they held, but in the source from which that power came. Once the source was changed, the power was an advantage, not a harm, to the State." But his fellow-delegates "nervously strove to save their new State from the danger of executive usurpation by trying to make the executive practically a board of men instead of one man, and by crippling it so as to make it ineffective for good, while at the same time dividing the responsibility so that no one need be afraid to do evil." Gouverneur Morris failed at Fishkill, and, from that day to this, long ballot inefficiency has prevailed at Albany. To-day not one voter in a thousand, outside of those who have some official or selfish interest in the matter, knows even the names of the complex executive board which he has helped elect to administer the business of the State. But Morris went to Philadelphia and played an important part in framing the Federal Constitution of 1789. He helped to make it a Short Ballot Constitution. Under it the citizen votes for one Executive, with vast powers of judicial, military, and civil appointment; a Representative in Congress; and two Senators. Every intelligent voter is familiar with the names, the character, and the acts of these four men. The result is that, with almost no exception, every President of the United States has been profoundly attentive to public opinion in making his appointments. No President who flouted public opinion could withstand the objurgations of his party even if he cared nothing about his own political success. How any sensible man, with the practical object-lesson of the Federal Government constantly in his view, can doubt the wisdom and efficacy of the Short Ballot principle we do not understand. What works in the National Government will certainly work in the State governments. The Federal Government for a hundred years has been the best government in the world, and at the same time some of the State governments. have been among the worst governments in the world. For this reason we repeat that the action of the Constitutional Convention and the people of the State of New York on the Short Ballot is crucial. If New York adopts it, other States are likely to follow the example, and a new and important era may thus be inaugurated in our National life, A DEMOCRATIC MEASURE vote. The proposal made at the Constitutional Convention of New York State to confine the suffrage to those who can read and write the English language has been defeated, partly, perhaps chiefly, on the ground that its adoption would endanger the entire amended Constitution by massing against it the foreign We should like to see an opportunity given to the people of the State to pass upon this amendment, and therefore we should like to see it hereafter brought before them as a separate amendment. We believe that it is intrinsically right, not because this is an Anglo-Saxon country, not because the English-speaking people are more intelligent than the people of other races, not because they are entitled to any special privileges or prerogatives; but for this very simple reason: It is essential to the success of democracy that the people should be able to discuss with one another the various propositions submitted to them for their decision. If they are to do this, it is essential that they should have a common language, in order that they may engage in such discussion. If they cannot understand each other's tongue, they cannot understand each other's arguments. Therefore every voter in a democratic community should be able, not only to understand his neighbor, but to communicate with him both by voice and pen. To do this he must be able to use whatever is the prevailing language of his country. In Italy democracy should require of the voter familiarity with the Italian language; in France, with the French language; in Norway, with the Norwegian language; in America, with the American language, which happens to be also the English language. The fact that progressive manufacturers are maintaining, at their own expense, schools for the instruction of their working people, because they find that a knowledge of the English language is essential to team work in the factory, confirms the belief that such knowledge is essential to team work in the State. If the State were to provide night schools for adults in all districts where there is any considerable number of foreign-speaking residents, such provision would go far to overcome their objection to a Constitutional provision requiring a knowledge of the English language as a condition of the suffrage. LETTERS TO UNKNOWN What has the United States, with all its opportunities, done more to bring righteousness and equity into the affairs of men than did Babylon? S. J. W. Read Rawlinson's "Ancient Monarchies," Volume III, chapters one to five. Two sentences must suffice here: "A savage and inhuman temper is betrayed by these harsh punishments, one that leads its possessors to sacrifice interests to vengeance, and the peace of a kingdom to a tiger-like thirst for blood." Compare with this any fair account of what Mr. Osborne is attempt ing to do in Sing Sing and what Miss Davis is attempting to do on Blackwell's Island. Please give us your interpretation of Proverbs xvi. 7: "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." A. M. W. Proverb is defined by the Century Dictionary as "a short, pithy sentence expressing a common fact ascertained by experience or observation." The Proverbs of the Old Testament are not, and do not assume to be, infallible statements of divine law. They are popular expressions of a common experience, and that common experience is that obedience to the law of God generally makes for happiness, and, specifically, for the promotion of friendship. Do you believe in predestination? If a soldier dies on the battlefield, was his death in accordance with divine providence? Was it ordained from the beginning of his life that he should end thus? E. I see no reason to believe that God has fixed all the incidents and events of any man's life in detail. On the contrary, I believe that He has left to his children a large realm in which they are free to determine, by their own choice, their course of conduct and the consequent events. How may old age be made bearable when deafness and other similar disabilities attack one? I have taken up china-painting; but my eyes will fail me later. E. A. T. Enjoy your eye Do not borrow trouble. sight while you have it. Do not suffer from blindness before you are blind. As to deafness, I know a gentleman who is so deaf that he always carries an ear-trumpet with him and offers it to any gentleman with whom he wishes to converse; thus, adjusting himself to his deafness, he continues to be a social favorite. In general terms it may be said that the way to be happy, under any limitations imposed upon us by our health or our external conditions, is to accept them, if we cannot change them, and adjust our life accordingly. The bird which beats itself against the cage does not get freedom. The bird that accepts the cage and sings its song in the cage is happy itself and makes others happy. Have there been any prophets since Christ who add to the great prophecies which are of value to those who wish to know the truth? Or is it sufficient to know the old prophets and the teachings of Christ? R. M. The prophets, we are told, spoke as they were moved, inspired, guided, by the Spirit of God. There is no reason to suppose that God has ceased to move upon the spirits of men and to inspire and guide them. Certainly there is nothing in the New Testament to warrant any such opinion. Peter expressly declares that the promise of the Holy Spirit is to all who will receive it, and Paul bids us pray that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that anything has been added to the substantial truths respecting God and his relations to his children which are taught in the Old and New Testaments. Their teaching that God loves and serves and sacrifices himself in love for his children leaves nothing beyond to be desired or even to be conceived. The prophets since that revelation are guided, not to add new truth, but to show how the truth of love -the love of God to man, and the love of man to God and to each other-is to be applied in all the changing situations and conditions of our human life. LYMAN ABBOTT. A WOMAN'S RIGHT We should like to see the Constitutional Convention of New York State adopt a clause providing that a ballot-box be put in every polling-place in the State at the first general election after the adoption of the Constitution, and that all women who are entitled to vote at school or other elections should be invited to drop a ballot in this box if they desire the ballot for themselves or for their sisters; and that if a majority of the authorized women voters express a desire for the ballot it should be given to the women of the State. The question whether women shall vote or not should be determined by them for themselves, not by the men for them. To impose political responsibilities upon them without knowing whether they wish to assume them or not is neither democratic nor just, and the women who have already had some experience in political responsibility are the ones to determine whether that responsibility shall be laid upon other women and extended to all subjects. LEST WE FORGET The Government of the United States would be constrained to hold the Imperial German Government to a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities, and to take any steps it might be necessary to take to safeguard American lives and property and to secure to American citizens the full enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the high seas.—American note of February 10 on the German war zone decree. On March 28 the English steamship Falaba was torpedoed by a German submarine and over a hundred non-combatants were killed, including one American. On May 1 the American steamship Gulflight was torpedoed by a German submarine. Her American captain died from shock and one other American was drowned. More On May 7 the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German sub- American citizens act within their indisputable rights in taking their ships and in traveling wherever their legitimate business calls them on the high seas, and exercise those rights in what should be the well-justified confidence that their lives will not be endangered by acts done in clear violation of universally acknowledged international obligations, and certainly in the confidence that their own Government will sustain them in the exercise of their rights. The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of the United States to omit any word or any act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment.-American note of May 13 on the sinking of the Lusitania. On May 25 the American steamship Nebraskan was torpedoed by a German submarine. Only her actual resistance to capture or refusal to stop when ordered to do so for the purpose of visit could have afforded the commander of the submarine any justification for so much as putting the lives of those on board the ship in jeopardy. The lives of non-combatants, whether they be of neutral citizenship or citizens of one of the nations at war, cannot lawfully or rightfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruction of an unarmed merchantman.—American note of June 9. On June 28 the English steamship Armenian was shelled by The very value which this Government sets upon the long and unbroken friendship between the people and Government of the United States and the people and Government of the German nation impels it to press very solemnly upon the Imperial German Government the necessity for a scrupulous observance of neutral rights in this critical matter. Friendship itself prompts it to say to the Imperial Government that repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels of acts in contravention of these rights must be regarded by the Government of the United States, when they affect American citizens, as deliberately unfriendly.-American note of July 21. On August 19 the English steamship Arabic was torpedoed by a German submarine; among the killed were two Americans. THE HOUSE OF GOVERNORS IN BOSTON T SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE OUTLOOK WENTY-SIX States of the Union were represented by their chief executives at the Conference of Governors in Boston August 24-27, and eleven former Governors came too, while three members of President Wilson's Cabinet dropped in more or less informally, but always appositely, during the sessions, which were held in the historic State House. This is the eighth meeting of the "House of Governors," and the value of the conference was never more striking than in this troublous year. The State House was lavishly trimmed, inside and out, with bunting, flags, and ropes of laurel. Some loyal Bostonians thought this detracted from the colonial charm of the famous Bulfinch front. But from steps to dome a patriotic welcome radiated that was perhaps more impressive, after all. When the sergeant-at-arms, with his cockade hat and his white and gold staff of office, preceding the Governor of Massachusetts, ushered the executives into the Senate chamber, where their sessions took place, it was a stately ceremony, witnessed by crowded galleries. The official welcome of State and city, given by Governor Walsh and Mayor Curley, was extended not only to the assembled Governors, but also to the representatives of the Conference on Universities and Public Serv ice, which held its sessions in another part of the State House August 24-25. Meanwhile all Boston, outside the classic walls, was arranging an overwhelming series of luncheons, automobile trips, parades, carnivals, and clam-bakes for its distinguished guests. When the heads of twenty-six States discuss a public question, a great deal of valuable information is brought out. Thus, in the first session, when "Governor's initiative," the short ballot, and the co-operation of Governors in preparing State budgets were the subjects of the papers read, the discussion was lively. Governor Fielder, of New Jersey, told of the working of the short ballot in that State, and the increased power and responsibility of the Governorship, while former Governor Adams, of Colorado, protested against creating forty-eight monarchies in such a way. The general trend of opinion, however, was that no Governor could do his best for the people and the laws while many State officials and commissions, not appointed or removable by him, controlled a large part of the State administration. In his address of welcome Governor Walsh, of Massachusetts, referred to the topic in the following words: Of late it is becoming generally understood that the business efficiency indispensable for good government can be secured only by con |