thousand people on trains have inquired with varying displays of irritation why it was necessary, if it really was necessary, to yank the daylights out of a passenger train in order to start it, the implication usually being that this results from pure cussedness on the part of the engineer. Occasionally this may be the case, but usually when an engineer yanks his train it is because the engine, which has enough "muscle" to keep it going once it has been started, has not enough muscle to start it gradually without the jerk. There is an additional starting load due to some sort of seal between axle, bearing, or journal and lubricant. Roller bearings, which reduce the starting load due to friction by 88 per cent, make up the difference; hence the train slides out of the station without fuss, like the silken trains of Europe, which are light enough to start smoothly with European locomotives despite added friction.

For years some of our railroads, notably the Pennsylvania, have experimented with roller bearings. It is therefore no half-worked-out innovation that the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul is trying out between Chicago and Seattle on its Pioneer Limited and Olympian. We hope it will spread.

Peace or Truce?

WE

E asked in our last issue whether the New York subway strike, expected to begin a few hours after The Outlook went to press, would prove a war or a fizzle. It was neither; for it did not begin. Mayor Walker for the city and Samuel Untermyer for the Transit Commission persuaded would-be combatants that a strike at this time would be helpful to nobody.

The victory for peace was the more remarkable in that no written agreement was made and neither side admits that it has receded from its original position that is, the Interborough Rapid Transit insists that it will deal with its labor through the Brotherhood (or "company's union") and the Amalgamated (affiliated with the Federation of Labor) asserts that it is at liberty to sign up any of the men who wish to join it.

So it is a truce! But it has lasted a week without any break or any signs of renewed clashes.

American fatalities in the great World War were 120,050. The fatalities caused by automobiles in the United States from January 1, 1919, to December 31, 1926, were 137,017. These are the figures made public by the Automobile Chamber of Commerce. Of those who were killed by automobiles in the United States in that period 26 per cent were children under fifteen years of age. Though the exact number of deaths for the past year do not appear to have been totaled, the statisticians of the Automobile Chamber of Commerce estimate that 23,000 people lost their lives. This number is an increase of 1,000 over the year before. Since the Armistice the injuries from automobiles are set at 3,500,000.

The death list from automobiles shows no signs of shrinking. The Department of Commerce announces that during the four weeks ending July 16 automobile mishaps were responsible for 578 deaths in 77 cities, as compared with 482 in the corresponding period last year. New York City, though it led the list with 69 fatalities, had a drop of 5 from last year. Chicago, which in the corresponding period last year recorded 51 deaths, this year recorded 57.

The problem is one that is difficult of solution. Speed maniacs are not the most numerous offenders. As in the days of the horse, heavy trucks account for the killing of many children in the streets. The speeders usually kill themselves or their friends. In such cases the responsibility is their own. But in great part the cause of injury and death can be attributed to conditions of traffic. Not only does traffic congestion, constantly increasing, add to the public peril, but it reduces the economic value of the costly motor. Wider and better roads and more of them are needed. Highways designed for the horse are unsuited to the motor vehicle. There is need too for education in caution. There should be no toleration for either the bad road or the careless driver.

more creditable. From Mrs. A. V. Powell,

a subscriber to the Chicago Orchestra for twenty-five years, we have received the following account of what has happened:

Far from "going on strike," the members of the orchestra have had no voice in the attempt of the Orchestral Association to arrange with the Musicians' Union for a new contract. The old one expired this summer. The officers of the union, through its president, presented an imperative demand for a one-year contract-instead of the usual one for two years-and for a hundred dollar a week basic pay. The Association replied that it had not the money to meet this demand, in fact, had been carrying a deficit, and showed its books to prove it. A suggested increase in the price of seats would fall far short of the amount needed, even if it did not reduce the number of subscribers.

The president of the union refused to consider any reduction in the number of players, and when he was urged as a matter of civic pride not to wreck the orchestra is quoted as saying, "Damn civic pride!"

The men of the orchestra, who were forced to join the union some years ago in order to obtain any outside engagements, have never been allowed to vote on the question of salaries or even discuss it in the union. So far as they have ventured to talk to reporters, they say they are satisfied with the old conditions. They are loyal to the orchestra and recognize the prestige their membership in it gives them. Mr. Stock has publicly stated that he supports the stand taken by the Association, as do subscribers, much as they deplore the temporary suspension of the great organization.

The control of artists by a labor union is an unintelligent method of cultivating fine arts. Can we avoid it by government subsidies?

In answer to this last query we state again our opinion that subsidies are not in accordance with the traditions, customs, and habits of mind of the American people. If there is a way out from the precarious situation in which orchestras find themselves as long as they are dependent upon annual subscriptions, it is by means of an endowment. In principle there is no more reason for endowing a university or a museum than an orchestra. We should like to see the Chicago Orchestra put upon as enduring a foundation as that other great institution of Chicago, the Field Museum. We should like to see the members of it in the same relation to their work as that which is assured through endowment to

the members of the Faculty of the University of Chicago.

Making a Political Football of a University

G

OVERNOR ROLAND H. HARTLEY'S well-coached political team in the

State of Washington has continued to use the University of Washington as its football.

When Dr. Henry Suzzallo was removed from the Presidency of the University last October, Governor Hartley brought under his control the administration of the University by reorganizing the Board of Regents. Of the seven Regents there is now only one of Governor Hartley's six appointees who has been confirmed by the Legislature. The others are recess appointments. This Board has chosen the former Dean of the University's School of Journalism, Dr. Matthew Lyle Spencer, as the University's President. That Dr. Spencer made an excellent Dean of the School of Journalism is generally acknowledged. Between his service as Dean and his appointment as President Dr. Spencer, who had made investments in newspapers-in some cases, we are told, acquiring control-devoted himself to his publishing interests and to work of writing and editing. He has been Vice-President of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and is now President of the Rotary Club of Seattle. He is also President of the Free Lance Club, an organization of writers. He is a native of Mississippi, received his bachelor's degree from Kentucky Wesleyan College, his master's degree from Northwestern University, and his doctor's degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago. Besides serving on the Faculty of Washington University he has been a teacher in other colleges. During the World War he was a captain. In an interview following the announcement of his selection as President of the University Dr. Spencer announced that he had disposed of most of his newspaper interests. Dr. Spencer's connection with the press of the State through former students in the School of Journalism who have been assisted by him in their careers as publishers of small newspapers gives him access to organs of public opinion. Just before Dr. Spencer was chosen President Mr. Fred W. Kennedy was erroneously announced as the newly chosen Dean of the School of Journalism. He remains instead as the director of the journalism laboratories. For sixteen years Mr. Kennedy has been field secretary of the Washington State Press Organization

Dr. Matthew Lyle Spencer, now President

of the University of Washington

and has built up a strong organization of the country press in the State.

Washington is ordinarily overwhelmingly Republican; but now the party is divided, and that part of the party which is opposed to Governor Hartley is itself divided. At present the prospects are that Governor Hartley will be renominated next year; but it is not by any means certain that he will be reelected. In 1916 Washington elected a

Wide World

Roland H. Hartley, Governor of Washington

Democratic Governor, and in 1922 it elected the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate. The next gubernatorial election will be held in 1928, but the Board of Regents will hold office until the next State Legislature meets in two years. The Governor can remove

Regents at will, and if a Democrat should succeed Governor Hartley, what has happened to the University in the last year would naturally lead to the appointment of a new set of Regents and a new change in the University's Presidency.

If the people of the State of Washington prize their University and their public school system, they will make it their first business to eliminate politics from the school system and more particularly from the University itself.

The Dragon and the
Black Boxes

For

OR many weeks now in the State of Indiana there has been the unedifying spectacle of a man who is serving a prison sentence on conviction for an atrocious and vile murder and at the same time bargaining or trying to bargain with the Government of the State. Those of our readers who recall Mr. Merritt's Special Correspondence article in The Outlook of December 8 last entitled "Klan and Anti-Klan in Indiana" will recall the wretched story of D. C. Stephenson's evil influence in State politics. He had been organizer and Grand Dragon of the Klan in the State, and always had used the organization for his own political benefit. At the time of the election of 1924 he had been deposed as Klan official, but his political influence continued.

There never has been any real question that this underground alliance between the Klan and politics was corrupt and brought shame upon Indiana.

Stephenson's attempts to sell his political secrets have repeatedly failed, because he was trying to get as much as possible in the way of pledges that his criminal sentence would be commuted. So from time to time we have had reports that the two black boxes containing correspondence relating to political corruptness were on the point of being opened or had been opened or that some letters had been opened and others not. Whether this convict-politician will ever tell the whole story seems doubtful. If he does, an inquiry into the corruption will undoubtedly take place. It is still believed that he is holding back the most important evidence. The sooner the whole matter is cleared up from

bottom, the sooner will the political reputation of Indiana be restored.

Congress and Farmers Co-operate

E

UROPEAN corn borers, which threat

ened to ruin our corn-growing industry, have received a serious jolt. Ninety-five per cent of these pests have just been exterminated.

Corn is our largest grain crop. We raise about three billion bushels of corn every year. That is about thirty bushels for every American. Hogs consume most of it. We consume the hogs. Without the corn crop the American Nation could not keep house. But corn borers like it too.

And now it is announced by the Department of Agriculture that ninety-five per cent of the corn refuse harboring cornborer pupa was cleaned up, burned, destroyed. It took gumption, diplomacy, sometimes threats, and occasional action to bring about this result. The farmers knew that, if necessary, the Government could do the work itself, charge it against them and collect. Most of them, however, saw the point, saw the significance of the menace, and did the job themselves, willingly, intelligently. Some one deserves commendation, presumably some one in the United States Department of Agriculture, for this auspicious beginning.

Of course the European corn borer

prize offered by Robert Easterwood, of Dallas, with two stops allowed; Bertaud's proposed non-stop flight from New York to Rome; Fonck and Curtin's attempt to fly from New York on the forty-fifth parallel of latitude with hopes of reaching Constantinople. Courtney's transatlantic flight westward is still held up by weather conditions as we write; the plans of Levine and Drouhin to fly westward from France are held up by uncertainty as to who is to go and who isn't.

This is certainly going to be a banner year both in air deeds and aviation plans.

A Fire Fight in the Air

It is pretty hard to get people interested in crop pests. Crops are beset by this pest, and that pretty much of the time. It becomes an old story. Dire predictions are made. The crop suffers. Money is lost. But somehow nature usually manages to take care of the pest in due course of time. This is a habit nature had had for millions of years before man grew his first cultivated crop. When a pest gets bad, its own pests get worse and set it back. In time the crop THE air accomplishment of this sum

It

comes back. But the corn borer is no ordinary pest. It is a real pest. simply ruins whole corn-fields.

It took some first-class fighting to get Congress to appropriate $10,000,000 last spring to fight this worm. Comparatively speaking, Congress acted quickly, efficiently, generously. We refrain from saying "for once."

We Congratulate Some One

THE

HE European corn borer is a white worm that eats its way upstairs through the stalk of the corn, enters the ears, devours the kernels, and kills what corn it fails to ruin. It came here in 1917 in some broom corn from Hungary. It spread like a grass fire. The worm becomes a butterfly, flies twenty miles, lays new eggs. More worms. This happens twice a season. In no time, seemingly-though the farmers have known all about it the borer had got as far West as Indiana. Illinois and Iowa, the greatest of corn States, would be next. It was time to stop the fire.

The corn borer has been fought one round. Throughout April, May, June, the appropriated ten million dollars were at work. Farmers who grew corn last year burned completely the stubble, cobs, stalks, and trash. The Government reimbursed them for the labor.

The New Stir in the Air

mer has been unequaled, and the interest in aviation has as a consequence advanced by great strides. Almost every day sees some new announcement as to plans for distant flights or for new records or for the building of airdromes and the multiplying of aviation fields.

Clarence Chamberlin's experimental flight from the Leviathan's deck a hundred miles out at sea to Curtis Field under bad weather conditions shows the feasibility of shortening by a day or even more the transit of mail between America and Europe, and it is quite possible that a few passengers may shorten their journey by an air-jump at the end. The manager of the United States Line, to which the Leviathan belongs, goes so far as to say that it promises to revolutionize ocean travel. Already other lines and ships are taking up the idea-among others the beautiful new French liner, the Ile de France.

It is not a new thing for a plane to take off from a ship; but Chamberlin's flight was the first from a passenger liner and as the forerunner of regular service.

Among other impending events in the air world are the competitive flight from California to Hawaii for the Dole prize of $25,000, to be started any time after August 12; the flight from Dallas, Texas, to Hongkong for the $25,000

s the conquest of the air goes on, adventures, tragedies, and escapes multiply and in time bid fair to rival those of the sea.

Most singular and startling of these air tales and one with a happy ending --is that of Lieutenant Champion, of the Navy fliers. He was trying to beat the French altitude record of 40,820 feet. Probably he was beyond it-say nine miles up soaring high over Washington, when his motor blazed with fire. Then came a fight with death. The airman kept his presence of mind, worked his controls with skill, and dropped unharmed in a corn-patch near Bolling Field.

The escape was a marvel. Moreover, Champion saved, clutched in his hand, one of the two sealed barographs which were to indicate the height reached. One certainly hopes that he gained his record, and it seems probable that he did so. At all events, this young aviator's coolness and resource in face of danger were wonderful. Seven of the plane's nine cylinders exploded, flames were lapping him around, but for his expert battling with a "dead stick" he would surely have perished, and his fixed determination not to jump and lose his barograph held firm to the last.

There are heroes of the air in peace as well as in war.

spirit. He liked both the niceties of play and the niceties of etiquette. By the maintenance of the strictest standards he did much to keep American play upon the highest possible level. It is

a tribute to the game of golf that it attracts and holds men of the temperament and character of Walter J. Travis.

A British Administrator

SIR

IR HARRY JOHNSTON, who died in England on July 31, in his seventieth year, was a man of varied abilities and tastes-he had been explorer, traveler, pioneer, hunter, scientist, painter, and author. But his chief claim to fame was as administrator of vast tracts in British Equatorial Africa. His part in the acquisition and rulership of East Africa, Uganda, and other countries was important. No one but Cecil Rhodes, with whom Johnston clashed at least once, did more than Johnston to establish British colonial power in Africa. Sir Harry was erratic and temperamental, but his serious study and his desire for justice were paramount. Theodore Roosevelt in a signed editorial in The Outlook relating to Johnston's book on "The Negro in the New World" said of him: "He is a trained scientific observer, desirous to ascertain the facts exactly as they are, with an extraordinary fund of knowledge and remarkable insight and power of getting at the kernel of things. . . . He has a fine fearlessness and love of truth, and a generous scorn of all that is mean or base or hypocritical, and especially of cruelty in every form; yet he is a practical man and no mere sentimentalist."

In the field of fiction Sir Harry startled conservative readers by his two novels called "The Gay-Dombeys" and "Mrs. Warren's Daughter." In each he took the singular literary idea of carrying on the story of another author, introducing the young people in later life and dealing with their descendants. The two books so developed or continued were, of course, Dickens's "Dombey and Son" and Shaw's "Mrs. Warren's Profession." Shaw did not object and Dickens's admirers, although they found the sequel to the life of Dickens's Florence and Walter rather footless, were not disturbed. Sir Harry also introduced in these novels under slight disguise actual people well known in English politics and society, so that the stories were a little audacious as well as ingenious in subject. No one was badly hurt and many readers were decidedly amused.

A

What's News to a Wet? SHORT while ago Major Augustus Heise, Assistant Prohibition Director of the district with headquarters in New York City, was charged by a man on trial for bribery and violation of the Prohibition Law with having used torture as a means of extracting evidence. The charges against Major Heise were put under large headlines on the front pages of several New York newspapers and made the theme of editorials denouncing the Prohibition. Law and the methods by which it is enforced. Congressman La Guardia demanded an investigation of the charges by a Federal Grand Jury.

The investigation by the Grand Jury was promptly arranged for, and it found that there were "no facts sufficiently important to warrant the allegations of any criminal action on the part of Major Heise, but that he acted throughout in an earnest endeavor to serve the ends of judgment."

New York papers which had spread the original charges in the headlines buried the account of Major Heise's exoneration in the body of their journals. The exoneration of a prohibition officer seems to have little news value in the New York press, even when the charges against him have been broadcast to the four winds.

It is discrimination of this character which makes the dry section of the coun

try look with distrust upon the wet arguments of New York. We think that the drys are more ready to recognize the shortcomings of prohibition than they were a few years ago; but biased news treatment of prohibition does not encourage people of dry leanings to accept constructive criticism, The editorial opinion of metropolitan journals which fail to give the Prohibition Law a square deal in their news columns won't have much influence in the country at large.

Why Let Our Forests Burn?

H

ALF a billion dollars in timber go up in flame each year.

We take that statement, in substance, from an article in the organ of the American Forestry Associationin the very issue of that organ, by the way, which contained an attack upon The Outlook for a criticism of the Forest Service. Mr. E. T. Allen, the author of that article, even goes beyond that figure. He says in this article, which was published over two years ago, that "our annual fire bill is well over $500,000,000 a year;" that the amount of our annual fire bill is growing, and is "very largely, if not wholly, preventable!"

What such a loss means let Mr. Allen explain. In the drier months, he says, there are two or three hundred new forest fires a day. In the course of a year fifty thousand of them are recorded. "Lining up the 50,000 so they touch," says Mr. Allen, "they extend 32,784 miles; so each year we run ten lines of fire, each two-thirds of a mile wide, across this country from coast to coast." Or let Mr. Allen describe it in another way:

If riot or invasion should sweep this country, killing unprotected settlers, plundering banks and treasuries of $100,000,000 of the people's savings and business capital, and, by destroying the basis of commercial enterprise, reduce our income by hundreds of millions more, the catastrophe would startle the world. If this disaster should threaten to recur the following year and every year thereafter, annually taking half a billion dollars from our people, paralyzing our industries, threatening future famine, and, worse still, destroying by millions of acres the very productivity of our lands, which alone can avert it, the situation would be unbearable. It would dominate every mind. All else would be forgotten in preparation for defense.

Of the ten million acres which are