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lover of life, a writer who has studied his kind at close range, who is in revolt against many traditions and conventions, but who believes in life, in his fellows, in the possibilities of human nature; a great, sunny, exuberant, boyish leader." To most American readers Björnson is probably best known as the author of such charming idyllic tales as "Arne," A Fisher Lass," and "A Happy Boy," for these stories have had a wide reading in English as well as in many other languages. His lyrical poetry, naturally, is not so well known out of Norway, but has had praise from many critics. His plays and later fiction have dealt largely with heredity and with serious social and moral problems; in this part of his work he has inevitably come into comparison with Ibsen, whose superiority in the frank exposition of the evils and hypocrisy of social life cannot be denied, although Björnson had a simplicity and directness not without power, and certainly individual in its expression. It is said that even as a school-boy Björnson, the son of a Norwegian pastor in a bleak Norwegian vil lage, evinced not only energy, but the spirit of revolt against conventions and rules. At the Christiania University, where he became a close friend of Ibsen, Björnson slighted the regular work, but showed energy in the special things that interested him. Even in these early days he formed the idea of establishing a national literature, called to his aid in this purpose other young men of talent, and urged upon them also the cause of Norwegian independence, which he lived to see firmly established; his earlier strenuous advocacy of a republican form of government yielded in time to the acceptance of a liberal constitutional monarchy, dis-joined from Sweden. His first novel, published in 1857, and called "Synnöve Solbakken," was regarded as evidence that a new writer of original power had arisen, and it may be considered as also the beginning of an independent movement in Norwegian literature. Björnson was seventy-seven years of age when he died last week, and to the end he maintained his interest in writing and in public affairs. In 1903 a worthy tribute to his long career was the bestowal upon him of the Nobel prize for literature.

WILL THE CONGO STATE BE REFORMED?

Since the King of the Belgians turned over his sovereignty in the

Congo to Belgium, there has been no actual fundamental reform. For two years the natives have continued in a condition which the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs described as "indistinguishable from slavery." Now, at last, however, the Belgian Government, which exercises, whether rightfully or not, the power of sovereignty in the Congo, has announced certain reforms. In order to understand these proposed reforms some knowledge of conditions in the Congo is necessary. Originally among the natives the land was not divided among individual owners, but was owned by the native people as a whole. This was true of the great stretches of forest and wilderness as well as of the limited areas covered by native villages. When the King of the Belgians took up his rule, the Congo State, of which he was the sovereign, appropriated all so-called "vacant lands;" that is, the lands uncovered by native villages. villages. Here in these vacant lands are found the rich growths of rubber. The Congo State, therefore, not the native peoples, became the owner of the most important resources of the country. These resources the State farmed out to great companies. The people of course had to be taxed. The Congo State devised a system by which a moneyless people could be taxed and at the same time the companies could get a stable labor supply. The people had to pay their taxes in labor. Each village had to supply a certain amount of labor. This meant practically a certain amount of rubber. Theoretically the tax was a certain number of hours; but in that amount of time was not reckoned the time consumed in weary journeys to and from the sources of supply. In some cases this tax meant continuous slavery. Out of the enforcement of this policy grew the" atrocities" which have been reported by many and denied by the apologists of the Congo Government. The fundamental evil was not the atrocities," but the system. White men eager for rubber and endowed with power to force natives to get it for them cannot be watched and controlled in a wild country. Belgium received from the late King

Leopold II, as a sort of ante-mortem legacy, this evil system. Now the Belgian Government has definitely announced that the labor tax is to be replaced by a money tax in three installments, in one third of the colony on July 1, 1910, in the second third on July 1, 1911, and in the third third on July 1, 1912. A large quantity of nickel. coins is to be provided. Moreover, the enforced labor heretofore called for in the construction of public works is to be supplanted by voluntary labor. Still further, the land of the domain of the State (formerly the Crown Domain) will cease to be State property. In this part of the Congo the natives will be allowed to reap and sell the products of the soil. The "domain lands" will be given over to private activity. While the institution of these changes does great credit to the young King, who himself recently visited the Congo, those who have asked for reform and have received apology and explanation and promise may be excused for awaiting the outcome of the announcement with some skepticism. How will the natives be given a chance to get the money for the payment of taxes? Will the Crown Domain become simply a domain for big corporations and special interests ? We shall see what we shall

see.

LIBERIA AND THE UNITED STATES

The report of the Commission appointed last year to visit Liberia and examine its conditions has just been made to Congress. It is, on the whole, reassuring as compared with the alarming, not to say alarmist, reports about Liberia which appeared previous to the appointment of the Commission. At that time, or shortly after, The Outlook pointed out, through information which reached it directly, that, as a matter of fact, Liberia was not bankrupt and was in no danger of becoming so; that there was no revolution or turbulence, and that the real danger was from the encroachment of the Black Republic's neighbors on either side under claims of securing debts due, and perhaps also through clashes between the frontier forces at the boundaries between Liberia and the British and French possessions. The three Commissioners, Messrs. Falkner, Sale, and Scott, are hopeful of the Libe

rian future, provided the United States takes toward that country the attitude which they think it should take in view of the fact that in a large measure the existence of Liberia as a republic is due to the action of the United States in 1816, when colonization of freed American negroes and African negroes recaptured from slave-ships was aided by this country, with the result that the Republic of Liberia was established. The Commission finds that, so far as internal affairs are concerned, the Republic is not in difficulties from which it could not easily be extricated under good government. The debt is not larger, comparatively speaking, than that of many other small countries; the customs revenue is collected; the police is in good condition; the judiciary is honest, although not notably learned; and there is some effort to impart education, although much is needed in this regard. Within the last ten years Liberia has lost a strip of land of considerable size to France, whose officials held that this land was not "" effectively occupied " by the Liberians. The difficulty with the British was really a difficulty with a single British officer who carried things with a high hand as regards the frontier police, and took action in the way of occupying territory which seemed inconsistent with the assertion of the British Foreign Office that Great Britain had no design on Liberian territory. As we understand it, this officer has been discredited and removed. The recommendations made by the Commission to Congress are thoroughgoing, and it is reported that the State Department would willingly negotiate a treaty based on the recommendations. Under these the United States would offer to aid in settling boundary disputes; to guarantee the Liberian debt, and for this purpose to assume the control and collection of the customs, as was done in Santo Domingo; to assist the Liberian Government in reorganizing its internal financial system; to help in organizing an adequate frontier police force. The Commission still further proposes that the United States establish and maintain a research station in Liberia, and that it reopen the question of establishing a naval coaling station there. The questions involved will doubtless. come before Congress very

soon, and may then be more fully discussed than now seems necessary. Mr. Root once stated, we are informed, that there rests a duty on the United States to assist the Liberians, so far as they need assistance, towards the maintenance of orderly and prosperous civil government.

ARCHAIC PRUSSIA

The lower house of the Prussian Parliament has just passed an electoral bill. It was introduced at the initiative of the German Emperor, who is also King of Prussia, and of the Imperial Chancellor, who is also the Prussian Premier. As proposed, the bill provided for a certain amount of real reform, although it might well have provided for much more. The reason why it did not is not to be ascribed to any reactionary tendencies on the part of Kaiser and Chancellor. They proposed all that they thought a reactionary Prussian Parliament would pass. That their fears were not groundless is shown by the treatment of the bill in the Abgeordnetenhaus, or House of Representatives, the lower house of the Landtag, or Parliament. The upper house is the Herrenhaus, or House of Lords, naturally more conservative than the lower, and hence still less disposed to favor the present bill. The Prussian Parliament, in contrast with the Imperial German Parliament, is a relic of more archaic days. Whereas membership in the Reichstag, the lower house of the Imperial Parliament, rests on a "one man, one vote" suffrage, membership in the Prussian Parliament is dependent on wealth. Electors are divided into three classes according to the amounts of taxation paid. These classes are so arranged that each category pays one-third of the whole amount of taxation levied. The first class consists of those electors who pay the highest taxes, to the amount of one-third of the whole. The second class consists of those who pay the next highest amounts, down to the limits of the second third of the whole. The third class consists of the remainder. This system is absurd. In no fewer than twenty-two hundred electoral districts in Prussia the first class, as defined above, consists of but a single voter. It is easy to see that the third-class voters, necessarily many in

number, can be outvoted by a very few voters in the first and second classes. The present measure, as passed, does, however, provide for a little lessening of the burden, though not for as much as the Emperor requested. The voting power of the very wealthy is to be restricted by establishing a limit beyond which their wealth shall not count; and certain office-holders and professional men are to be put in a class beyond that in which their taxes alone would place them. The reform thus begun will, we believe, go on until Prussia becomes as democratized electorally as is the empire of which it forms much the largest part.

the Investigating Committee in Congress on Friday of last week naturally overshadows the testimony of those who immediately preceded him. These witnesses were Mr. Finney, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior; Mr. Dudley, formerly Register of the Land Office in Juneau, Alaska; Mr. Heltman, formerly an employee of the Interior Department as Law Examiner; and, finally, Mr. George Otis Smith, Director of the Geological Survey. All four of these men were or have been in the past subordi nates of Mr. Ballinger. Under crossexamination Mr. Finney was unable to show that there was any lack of money in the Reclamation Fund for the use of those projects on which water users' certificates were accepted. In another paragraph we tell what these water users' certificates were. It was because Mr. Ballinger's department regarded these certificates as insufficiently secured by funds that it declared them illegal. Mr. Finney also made it evident that he had very little sympathy with the Forest Service as it has been administered, although he could not substantiate with facts his statement implying that the Forest Service treated entrymen unreasonably. Mr. Finney was cross-examined for a long time concerning Attorney-General Wickersham's opinion about Mr. Glavis, but he could furnish no information which would show that certain parts of that opinion were sub

stantiated by evidence. Mr. Dudley denied the statement, made in earlier testimony, that he had been offered money to testify before this Committee. Mr. Heltman gave at length information concerning the practice of passing land claims to patent. Of the four, Mr. George Otis Smith, the Director of the Geological Survey, gave the most striking testimony. He declared not only that Mr. Ballinger had permitted him to carry out the same policies that he had pursued under Mr. Garfield, but had actually enabled him to do so more rapidly and effectively. He was very emphatic in giving, his views about Mr. Pinchot. He reported Mr. Pinchot as charging him with being disloyal to his former chief, Mr. Garfield, and as expressing a determination to drive Mr. Ballinger from office. In one place Mr. Smith virtually accused Mr. Pinchot of trying to alter Mr. Smith's course of action by threats of publicity. He had severe words for the Forestry Service, and showed little respect for the policy of conservation as it has been presented by Mr. Pinchot. He acknowledged that his former high opinion of Mr. Garfield, who had been his chief, had been distinctly lowered. He declared that he did not know until after Mr. Garfield had left office that under the previous Administration Reclamation withdrawals had been made for the purpose of preserving water power sites. He said that he regarded this as a violation of the law. He gave his views as to what constituted Conservation, which he defined as "utilization with a maximum efficiency and a minimum waste." He declared that resources should not be conserved for the use of succeeding generations at too great an expense to this generation. He was skeptical about Government ownership of coal land, and declared that he wanted to see some of that coal land pass over to somebody." He confessed that he was not as enthusiastic about the leasing of coal lands as he used to be. Regarding the leasing proposition he uttered a warning about encroaching upon the police powers of the States. He also offered a tribute to Mr. Ballinger. While Mr. Smith was on the stand, the Chairman, Senator Nelson, made several observations which, like others before, indicated that his mind

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HOW TO PAY FOR RECLAMATION

A bill has already passed the Senate to authorize advances to the Reclamation Fund. It is commonly called the Thirty Million Dollar Bond Bill. It authorizes the issue of certificates of indebtedness, which are virtually short-time bonds or notes, to enable the Reclamation Service to extend its work. One reason

why this bill has been introduced is because the present Administration has declared that the methods for extending reclamation projects adopted by the preceding Administration were illegal. The bill, however, is unnecessary. Moreover, it involves the expenditure of money by the Government which the former methods did not involve. Still further, it does not, as the other methods did, enlist the enthusiastic co-operation of the people who will use these reclamation projects. Until such other methods are adopted, by Congress if necessary, and shown to be inadequate, the issuance of thirty million dollars of bonds is wasteful and hurtful. This is the situation. The United States Government is engaged in the vast enterprise of bringing water to arid lands. Like the Panama Canal, this enterprise is of such proportions that no lesser organization than a National Government could undertake it. By means of the water which the Government is bringing, these lands are made fit for cultivation and habitation. The people who come to settle upon these reclaimed lands are glad to pay the Government for the cost of the irrigation which has made the land valuable. With the money which they pay, the Government goes ahead to reclaim other land for other people, who in their turn reimburse the Government. Thus these great irrigation projects become self-supporting. Of course the great part of the work is the building of the irrigation reservoirs and

aqueducts. But equally essential, though comparatively simple to construct, are the lateral ditches which convey the water immediately to the lands irrigated. Homesteaders, anticipating this reclamation, have come to these lands. Of course they have been eager to have the work finished and the water introduced as quickly as possible. In many cases they have said to the Government, We will not ask you to build these connecting ditches; we can join together and build these ditches ourselves; and when we build the ditches we will build them as you say, according to the plans of the Government engineers; all we ask is that when the whole project is finished we be given credit for the work we have done so that we will not have to pay the Government for our own labor, but may be allowed a discount from our water dues in proportion to the work we have severally contributed. The Roosevelt Administration was very glad to take advantage of this offer. It saved the Government money. It relieved the contractors of work which they were not anxious to do. It relieved the Government from doing the work itself. It enlisted the co-operation of the people on the ground. So the Government in the Roosevelt Administration suggested that these settlers unite in organizations which would issue certificates to their individual members in proportion to the work which those individual members should do. In issuing these certificates these water users' associations would have to abide by the decision of the Government engineers as to the character and quantity of the work done. After the work was done these certificates would then form, as it were, a memorandum on which would be based the allowance made to these water users when they came to pay for their share of the project—that is, for the water which would be brought to their farms by the project. This certificate plan, in which the Government was not involved except as it directed the workers and as it was saved money which it would otherwise have had to expend, has been, for some reason of which we do not find any adequate explanation, declared by the present Administration to be illegal. The solution would seem to be simple. Congress should at once pass a law requir

ing the Secretary of the Interior to accept as valid such water users' certificates.

PUBLICITY FOR CAMPAIGN FUNDS

The McCall Campaign Publicity Bill has passed the House of Representatives. Not only has it passed, but, barring one member, the House voted for it unanimously. The bill's fate now rests with the Senate. Senator Burrows, of Michigan, Chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, is in a position to hasten or hinder its progress. The opposition shown by the Michigan radicals to the Senator's own re-election may cause him to placate them by hastening the bill's consideration. The present measure represents the fruit of long struggle by those who believe that secret campaign contributions are the direct allies of corruption. After Mr. Roosevelt's election to the Presidency in 1904 public opinion had become sufficiently aroused to compel the passage of a bill prohibiting corporations from making campaign contributions in any Federal elections. Thenceforth life insurance companies, industrial trusts, and railway corporations must defy the law if they contributed to campaign expenses. Nor were the States idle. About twenty States now have statutes providing publicity. In Massachusetts the law applies to all State, city, and other local committees. But a National Committee might spend a million dollars in Massachusetts and not make any return. In 1908, however, the New York State Corrupt Practices Act was practically adopted by the National party organizations. Spontaneously the Republican National Committee followed its provisions, and published the names of the contributors to the Presidential campaign fund, with the amounts contributed. This praiseworthy example was followed by the Democratic National Committee. It is now desirable to pass a law which shall compel National Committees to make their accountings public. The law should also apply to National Congressional Campaign Committees. These things are provided for by the measure introduced by Representative McCall, of Massachusetts. In his Message to Congress at the beginning of the present session President Taft