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NEW TON

"LEST WE FORGET"

The New York municipal campaign presents a National as well as a local issue. The defeat of Mayor Mitchel and the victory of Tammany would mean a very great discouragement for the forces of municipal reform throughout the country. Coupled with this, the defeat of Mayor Mitchel might mean the placing of the country's metropolis in hands careless of the safety as well as the property of its citizens. New York City experienced in the administration of Fernando Wood during the Civil War an illustration of what it means to live under an incompetent executive during a National crisis. To-day New York City is more than ever the nerve center of the business of the country. A blow at New York City will be felt throughout the United States. What an honest and efficient government of the metropolis has done in the preservation of life and health, Mr. Potter tells in his article on page 17 of this number. And since health as well as disease is communicable, this story is of significance to the Nation. Every community can get the results in health and in order that New York City has obtained by intrusting its government to men like New York's Commissioner of Health and Police Commissioner.

Too often citizens permit the communities in which they dwell to slip back into the hands of the corruptionists because they forget the evils of previous administrations in their interest in present controversies-often of relatively minor importance. People have short memories, but it is difficult to think that many citizens of New York City have forgotten what a Tammany administration signifies.

A STORY OF TAMMANY IN ITS PRIME

One of those who has not forgotten is Mr. Charles J. Rosebault, managing editor of "The Vigilantes." Mr. Rosebault has written us a letter in which he records a typical example of Tammany at its worst, perhaps we should say at its best. Mr. Rosebault writes:

"How conditions have changed in the lifetime of the middleaged New Yorker! Take, for instance, the period when Aleck Williams was captain of the Thirtieth Street Station. Tammany, of course, was then in power. I recall an interesting night when the Twenty-seventh Street Property-Holders' Association held a meeting of protest against the conditions permitted to exist in that street.

"They were truly outrageous. Between Sixth and Eighth Avenues, at least, the street was given over to houses of prostitution and street-walkers. It was not safe for an honest citizen to pass through it by day or by night. A personal friend of mine, who refused to listen to one of these women, was so badly mauled that he was in the hands of his physician for months thereafter. "On the night in question indignation ran high. One property-holder after another arose to protest against the conduct of the police in not only permitting, but encouraging, the existing situation.

"At the climax of the oratory Williams appeared in the doorway, accompanied by a squad of his men. A long night-stick dangled by a leather thong from his mighty right fist. There was a savage scowl on his face. A giant in figure, and bearing the reputation of being the most successful breaker-up of public gatherings that the Department boasted, his dramatic appearance brought consternation to the meeting.

"Williams did not allow the effect of his dramatic entry to be lost. Striding down the center aisle, he bawled out at the top of his voice:

Get out of here, you or I'll knock the head off every one of you!' "There was a momentary indication of protest, and even the

reporters joined in this; but it died down almost unuttered. There was no use of defying Williams. In those days New Yorkers, whether of high or low degree, knew their masters.

"The protesting property-owners slunk out of the hall, and had to be brave not to run. Williams waited until the last one had gone, and then, with a cynical smile, ordered the place to be closed.

"The next day every newspaper in New York had a long article describing in detail what had occurred. Thereafter followed editorials galore denouncing Williams, the Police Commissioners, and the Mayor who supported them. Did anything happen? Was Tammany moved by public indignation to put Williams on trial? (Williams, by the way, was a Republican in politics, but with a three-headed Police Commission it was understood that the appointees of each party were to be protected.) The record answers the questions I have asked. Williams was promoted not long thereafter to be Inspector. He retired from the Department, admired and envied, to the enjoyment of the very considerable fortune his labors had brought him.

"This trifling but typical incident ought to interest voters who are contemplating casting their ballots against Mayor Mitchel, which means in favor of Tammany."

Mr. Rosebault's letter might well be entitled "Lest We Forget." It may convey some valuable information to New York voters with short memories or those with memories which reach back only a few years into the past.

COAL AND THE CONSUMER

President Wilson has fixed mine and jobbers' prices for anthracite, following his similar action regarding bituminous coal already reported. So far no attempt has been made to fix anthracite prices to be asked by retailers, but it is reported that this may be done later. The price of the hard coal at the mines as now fixed is $4.45. When to this are added the cost of freight, the jobber's profit, and incidental expenses, it is calculated that the price of anthracite this fall in New York City should be a trifle over $8-a little less than the present retail price. The dealers intimate that they are entitled to increase this price in the fall months because this is the ordinary practice. But they entirely omit to mention that the summer price has not been reduced as usual, and that the increase would be from an abnormal and not from a normal price.

Every householder the country over is interested in the price of anthracite, but is even more interested in the possibilities of a coal famine that is, serious difficulty in obtaining coal, apart from the price. He remembers the coal shortage last winter and spring, which has extended to some extent through the summer, and is even more disturbed by forewarnings of what might happen this winter if the conditions before existing are repeated. It is now the right, as well as the duty, of the Government to take the matter in hand, and to assert its power over distribution, hoarding, and inequality of treatment of consumers. These matters need guarding even more closely than the actual cost per ton of coal.

Unless the statements of the Federal Trade Commission are in error, there has been no difficulty in mining coal enough, and if the Government controls, as it now may, the use of the railways so that coal shall, when necessary, take precedence as freight (as has been ordered in the Great Lakes region), there ought not to be a shortage in the supply of coal at the distributing centers.

It is worth while to look at what happened last winter and spring as a lesson for the future. A report of the Federal Trade Commission on the subject, issued in May, 1917, declared that it had assurance from the anthracite operators that the production

would be unusually large this year, that there was no reason for a panic in the anthracite market, and that the retail prices then prevailing were unwarranted. Recurring to the "buying panic" which developed early in the winter of 1917, the Commission uses these words: "One of the greatest factors in the distressing and intolerable condition was the unwarranted and indefensible practice of using coal cars for warehouses. Coal was held in cars by speculators while shortage of cars was alleged as a cause of fuel shortage. The Commission calls your attention also to other activities of speculators in anthracite coal who perform no useful service in the distribution of the coal, but who insert themselves as a disturbing and clogging factor upon the industry, and whose unearned profits are often much greater than those enjoyed by either miner or operator or honest dealer. Those profits, in many instances more than one hundred per cent, were paid by the consumer, together with enormous bills for car demurrage."

Another report of the Federal Trade Commission, issued only two weeks ago, analyzes the question of prices and supplies in the city of Washington as a type of what has gone on elsewhere. It finds that the larger dealers have been receiving margins of from one to two dollars a ton greater than those of the smaller dealers who did not have storage facilities, and the Commission rightly classes this an exorbitant charge. It also declares that in Washington there was no just ground for a claim of actual shortage in the supply all through the winter and spring of 1917.

These reports and similar statements made in connection with the fixing of prices seem to show beyond dispute that the points most carefully to be watched are those of inequable distribution and of the imposing of an unnecessary number of profits and handling charges as between the coal-mining company and the householder's cellar.

Dr. Harry A. Garfield, who has been appointed Coal Administrator by the President, has said that he believes that overhead charges can be reduced, that coal contracts between the producer, the jobber, and the wholesaler should be investigated, and that, so far as prices go, the consumer can be protected. We urge that, in addition to this, regularity of supply be insured by oversight of the carrying and distributing companies, and that hoarding, whether at the mines or in cars or in the yards of the large dealers, be absolutely prohibited and prevented.

THE SHIPYARD STRIKE

The shipyard machinist strikers in New York City have been aiming at two results-a minimum daily wage of $4.50 and the recognition of the Marine Trades Council, the joint organization of the unions engaged in the strike, which has now been going on for some weeks. Though the majority of strikers still remain out, there has been enough disintegration in the ranks, the operators report, to bring about a considerable return of men to work. Perhaps this has caused the strike leaders to endeavor to foment sympathetic strikes among the shipyard employees along the Delaware River and in the Baltimore district. Until recently the New York City strike has involved only private yards. Now, however, there has been an effort to involve the navy-yards also. According to the leaders of the International Association of Machinists, the strikers have been more than patient, because they have hesitated to embarrass the Government, but patience, they claim, has now ceased to be a virtue. Accordingly, at a meeting of the Metal Trades Council in Tammany Hall, some fifteen hundred men unanimously voted to "pull the Navy-Yard."

But the Navy-Yard workers declined to be "pulled," especially as the cry came from men some of whom bore German names. The League Island Navy-Yard men of Philadelphia went further they signed and sent to the Secretary of the Navy this statement:

We desire by our example to stimulate all others to the fullest performance of their duty to the country at this time. We promise to stand by you shoulder to shoulder in carrying out measures for the development of our navy. We promise to notify our superiors of any indication of disloyalty on the part of any employee working for the Government. With the fullest confidence that our country is in the right in this war, and relying on the wisdom of President Wilson, we earnestly pray

for a speedy success for our cause, and we pledge you by our work to do our full share toward the victory which will ultimately be ours.

The war has inspired no finer act. The statement reflects the sentiment of every honest citizen.

We are glad to report that the Government, the American Federation of Labor, and other labor bodies have now taken the whole situation actively in hand, not only as it affects the men on the Atlantic coast, but also as it might affect the men on the Pacific who are at work on the new navy contracts. By the terms of the agreement, an Adjustment Commission is to be created forthwith. President Wilson is to name one member of it (it is understood that his choice is Mr. V. Everit Macy, President of the National Civic Federation); Mr. Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, is to name another; Admiral Capps, head of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, a third; and where particular navy work is concerned Assistant Secretary Roosevelt is to sit as a member. In the event of a tie, the deciding vote is to be cast by the Secretary of War as Chairman of the Council of National Defense.

This is a logical development of the agreement of June 19 between Secretary Baker and Mr. Gompers to adjust labor difficulties in cantonment construction, an agreement later extended to cover aviation work. A long step, we believe, has been taken towards hastening the whole Government shipbuilding programme.

A TWENTY-BILLION DOLLAR CONGRESS

The present session of Congress promises to be unprece dented in the history of parliaments. It would appear that it will be asked to authorize enough, together with what it has already authorized, to make a total of nearly twenty billion dollars available to the Government during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918.

This estimate covers the following probable expenditures:
Shipping Board...

Current expenses, exclusive of war, say..
Total loans for the fiscal year to our allies.

War expenses for the fiscal year..

$1,000,000,000

1,300,000,000

7,000,000,000 10,000,000,000

While heretofore income from Government bonds has not been taxable, the pending bill proposes that its issues, drawing presumably 4 per cent interest, shall be subject only to supertaxes, war profits, and excess profits taxes. Thus the net result will be fairer to the poor man than was last spring's 31⁄2 per cent non-taxable loan.

But the war savings certificates, a new form of bond issue, are intended primarily to be the poor man's investment. To draw forth his savings, it is the intention to issue them in denominations of $10, $5, and perhaps $1. To make the certificates readily obtainable they are to be placed on sale at all post-offices and other agencies specified by the Government. To keep the certificates from large investors no one person is to be allowed to buy more than $100 worth at one purchase or more than $1,000 worth as a total. To make the certificates

quickly convertible into cash it is stipulated that, while they

must mature in not less than five years, they may be discounted and retired at any time in advance of maturity. Such a bond issue carries success on its face.

THE PRICE OF SUGAR

The beet-sugar producers have reached an agreement with the Government's Food Administration to limit the price of their sugar to a basis which, the Food Administration says,

should result in a reduction of about 12 cents a pound. It adds that, "owing to the holders of the remainder of the Cuban crop asking exorbitant prices for their sugar, the price has advanced during the last few weeks by over 12 cents per pound." We are glad that sugar may thus resume its old price, but its present price is ascribed by some to a different cause from that mentioned by the Food Administration; namely, the report to the United States Senate of a bill repealing the drawback on sugar-the remission of duties to importers on their exportation of the sugar they have refined. If this drawback is repealed, however, it would doubtless prevent many refiners in this country from refining raw sugar for foreign exportation. Our allies in the war would then have to get their sugar refined in Canada or in their own countries. But they lack factories and refineries. It will cost them at least 12 cents more a pound than at present, according to recent speeches from Senators Smoot and Hardwick in the Senate.

Thus the repeal of the drawback would advance the world price of sugar, and by so doing advance the price of the sugar consumed here. If we force England and France to refine the sugar which they must buy from Cuba, we are forcing up the world's price, and in forcing up the world's price we force up the price to the American consumer

THE BASIS OF EXEMPTION

Provost-Marshal General Crowder has issued an important ruling in regard to the status of men claiming exemption on the ground of dependents, a decision based on an order from President Wilson, who is the final authority on the regulations adopted under the Draft Law. The President wisely says:

We ought as far as practicable to raise this new National Army without creating the hardships necessarily entailed when the head of a family is taken, and I hope that for the most part those accepted in the first call would be found to be men who had not yet assumed such relations.

He further states that the Selective Service Law makes the fact of dependency rather than the fact of marriage the basis of exemption. According to the President's ruling and the statement of the Provost-Marshal General, local boards which have certified for military service men whose families are actually dependent upon them for support have been in error, even in cases where the wife was able to work. "Support available from relatives" is strictly defined as support "partial or total previously extended to the applicant himself." Both of these rulings are just and wise. The obligation of the husband to support his wife is not only an obligation to the wife but to society itself. It is unjust to ask that wives capable of earning their own living be regarded as not dependent upon their husbands' support, and it is also unwise and unjust to ask relatives of married men and women to assume an obligation which the law places upon the shoulders of the husband, except in cases where the obligation has already been voluntarily assumed.

THE CALL TO THE COLORS

The call to the colors of the men chosen for the selective service will begin on September 5, when five per cent of the white men enrolled in the first quota for the National Army will begin their journey to the training camps. These men will go in five daily detachments of equal size, and from them the skeleton company organizations will be formed. Wherever possible, this first five per cent will be selected from those with military experience.

Forty per cent of the first quota will go forward on September 19, the second forty per cent on October 3, and the remaining fifteen per cent will be called on as soon thereafter as practicable. Local boards have been asked to disregard the numbers indicating order of liability to service to some extent in selecting the first five per cent in order that cooks and former soldiers may be utilized in the skeleton organizations of the new army. No one will be chosen, of course, not liable to service at the first call. The provision for distributing the first levy over a period of five days has been made in order that congestion of transportation facilities may not occur.

In the latest ruling from the Provost-Marshal General's

office there is a well-deserved tribute to the patriotism and selfsacrifice of the men who have served on the draft boards. General Crowder says of their work:

It stands as one of the most significant expressions of substantial patriotism and devotion on the part of fifteen thousand men selected from among the best citizens of the country.

Any one who has come into intimate contact with the work of the exemption boards knows how thoroughly this praise is deserved.

SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' INSURANCE

The question of insurance or pensions for our soldiers is, as The Outlook has stated, one which deserves increased attention on the part of the public.

One feature of the bill now before Congress providing for insurance for our soldiers and sailors has not been as fully discussed as it deserves.

Mr. Roosevelt calls particular attention to this feature in a letter recently published in the public press. Mr. Roosevelt writes:

I particularly like the provisions for re-education. There is great danger, when a man knows that for the rest of his life the Government is going to give him just enough to live on, that he will be content therewith, and grow sluggishly indifferent to further effort. It is clearly in the public interest, as well as for their own good, that they should be re-educated for life wherever possible; and it is both wise and just that their economic recuperation should not lessen their compensation for the loss of limb.

Mr. Roosevelt commends as of particular importance the emphasis placed in the present Insurance Bill on the family instead of the man. He says: "When we draft men into public service, we enlist their dependents, and of these we must never lose sight." He continues:

The compensation for the family should not be based upon the family's status at the time when the injury is incurred. These young men of from twenty-one to thirty-one, even though they be crippled, ought to marry, and the wife thus married after the war, and the children born to them, deserve the same treatment and consideration as those whom the husband has left in order to go to the war.

Doubtless with the pensions scandals in mind, Mr. Roosevelt adds that serious abuses must be guarded against in this connection. He puts forward the proposition that marriages where the wife is to be compensated should be limited to ten years, or at the outside fifteen, years after the war.

This tentative suggestion of Mr. Roosevelt's furnishes added evidence of the importance of giving the fullest discussion not only to the principles but also to the details of this Insurance Bill. Soldiers' insurance is sound in principle, but unless these principles are wisely and justly applied all the present effort to do away with the evils of our old pension system will be vitiated.

HOW AMERICANS MAKE WAR

At a recent meeting in New York, called to extend a greeting to the hundreds of members of the Harvard Club of that city who have obtained commissions in the Officers' Reserve Corps, Major-General J. Franklin Bell, then Commander of the Department of the East, but since assigned to the command of a division in the new National Army, outlined the ideals which he believed should be held before the American soldier. When he had finished speaking, Mr. Roosevelt pointed out that General Bell himself represented the best type of the American "officer and gentleman." In proof of this statement he recalled "In the record of General Bell's service in the Philippines. According to Mr. Roosevelt, on three separate occasions General Bell was attacked by armed natives who sought to take his life. General Bell was himself armed, but in each instance, instead of killing the men who attacked him, at the risk of his life he disarmed them and took them prisoners. On one or two of these occasions the incident took place in the course of an active fight between American and Filipino troops.

Such an instance as this speaks volumes for the spirit of the officers in our Regular Army, a spirit which does not hesitate to