Cctober 5, 1927

ether for the transmission of light we have the newer quantum theory: light is some sort of energy flying in separate little bundles. This is a return to the cruder idea back of Newton's original corpuscular theory of light. The fact is, however, that we do not yet know what light is. We only know some of the things it does.

The Women's National Golf Championship

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UST when it seemed almost certain

that the American champion among women on the links would be a Canadian, the tables were unexpectedly turned. Just before the semi-finals Mrs. W. G. Fraser, of Ottawa, defeated the brilliant young French golfer, Mlle. Simone Thion de la Chaume, who was regarded almost as the Helen Wills of golf. Miss Ada McKenzie, champion of the Dominion of Canada, at the same time reached the semi-finals. Though born and bred in Georgia, and as Miss Alexa Stirling winning her chief golfing fame in the United States, Mrs. Fraser is of British parentage and is the wife of a Canadian. Contrary to general expectations, Mrs. Fraser was beaten by Mrs. Miriam Burns Horn, of Kansas City; and Miss McKenzie was beaten by Miss Maureen Orcutt, of Haworth, New Jersey. In the finals the victory went to Mrs. Horn by five up and four to play. On the links, as on the tennis courts, women have been successful in repelling the invaders.

"Kill the Umpire'

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players by consistently and vociferously "bawling them out." His re-echoing shouts were too much for even hardened ball-players.

ERTAIN principles of sportsmanship have decreed that onlookers at such sports as tennis, golf, and polo must restrain the natural expression of their feelings, but there has never been any disposition to restrict the prerogatives of baseball fans. It has been an unwritten law that if the spirit so moves them they may hiss, jeer, catcall, and at times of extreme provocation-throw bottles without awakening any extreme condemnation from the public. It is true that mobbing an umpire is not in the best of form, but the rules of etiquette governing spectators at the great Na-A

tional pastime have always been most liberally interpreted.

Now a severe blow has been struck at this bulwark of free speech. Connie Mack, manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, has dragged into court an obstreperous fan whom he charges with disturbing the peace. He is not accused of throwing bottles or mobbing an umpire, but simply of upsetting the nerves of the

It is a momentous issue which has been raised by this attack upon what had been considered the inalienable rights of the fan. The decision of the Court will be awaited with the greatest interest.

Contests in the Air

NEW speed record was made in the Schneider Cup race for seaplanes off the Lido at Venice. The distance flown was about 2171⁄2 miles (350 kilometers) and the average speed of Flight Lieutenant S. N. Webster, one of the three British contestants, was at the rate of 2811⁄2 miles per hour; his fellow-countryman Flight Lieutenant Worsley also broke the previous record, and Lieutenant Kinkead, the third Brit

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ish contestant, in one lap attained the marvelous speed rate of 2891⁄2 miles per hour. This is stated to be the highest officially recorded speed ever reached by a human being.

The only other contestants were three Italian planes. All were forced down by engine trouble.

If we compare the new record with that of Major de Bernardi, of the Italian Air Force, last year (2461⁄2 miles), it will be seen that the speed of seaplane flying has been pushed forward notably. In part this is due to improvement in the form of the planes and in part to superior engines. The plane that Lieutenant Williams would have entered for this country had he been able to get it in shape in time has been laughingly described as the "flying motor" because its motor is enormous in proportion to its small wings.

There has been special interest in this

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contest since M. Jacques Schneider offered the prize to the French Aero Club fifteen years ago, and from that time the speed shown has increased by five times and more. There is a growing feeling that the use of the seaplane for sea trips will be developed until it is both the best and fastest plane for that purpose.

The races to Spokane and at Spokane (called the National Air Derby) were completed with one fatality-Richard Hudson and Jay Radike were killed near Morristown, New Jersey, when their plane crashed. Several other planes were forced down in the across-thecountry flights. There were three separate contests in the New York-to-Spokane races; the non-stop flight produced no winner; the list of contestants and winners in the two flights with certain fixed stops would fill a column or more of this journal. That the flights were successful in increasing a healthy spirit of reasonable competition in aviation races is generally agreed. Careful official planning and supervision made this possible.

Au Revoir

WHEN the plan was announced for

the American Legion to hold its

Convention this year in Paris, there were many misgivings. On account of the

Edward E. Spafford, of New York City, the newly elected National Commander of the American Legion

war debts the French were believed, in some quarters in America, to have none too kindly feelings toward Americans and to be none too ready to welcome any reminder of that other debt, not estimated in money, to those from overseas who had helped to repel the invader. Besides, there were doubts as to the selfrestraint of these Legionnaires who would be celebrating far from home and without military discipline. If reports that come to us from the Convention may be believed, there was no occasion for these misgivings or doubts. Both French and Americans have justified faith in their common sense, self-control, and good will. The French people have welcomed their old friends and gladly acknowledged an unpayable debt. And the visitors have shown that mixture of exuberance and of respect which is the natural response of men revisiting scenes where they have had a great and lasting experience.

Now General Pershing has suggested that the Legion make another pilgrimage ten years from now.

For the first time the Legion has chosen as National Commander a Navy man. The new Commander is Edward Elwell Spafford, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, who,

October 5, 1927

after resigning from the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander in 1914 to study law, re-entered the Navy and served in command of a destroyer in the Mediterranean.

With the election of the successor to National Commander Savage the formal meetings of the Convention came to an end. During the Convention, however, and afterwards many Legionnaires visited scenes of battles and other parts of France where they had served. Especially noteworthy were two pilgrimages -one, of several hundred of the Legionnaires to Verdun as a mark of respect to the French who to the number of nearly half a million gave their lives there that the invaders should not pass; the other, to St. Mihiel, where the Americans for the first time as a unit made their presence really felt on the German lines by wiping out the salient that had stood there for four years.

Whatever the impression of the Legion Convention of 1927 may have upon France, the effect upon America is likely to be most significant. The men who made this visit are men whose influence directly, and indirectly through the organization they represent, upon American public opinion will continue for years to grow. It is not likely that this visit will do anything to change either the interests of France or the interests of the United States; but it is certain that it will affect the way in which our interests are represented in any dealings with France and the way in which the interests of France are understood in this country.

A Plausible Plan

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ECAUSE the members of the American Legion will furnish an increasing number of leaders in public affairs, what the Legion thinks on public questions is an indication of future legislation. It is therefore of significance that at the Convention in Paris the Legion adopted a resolution urging the creation. of a Department of National Defense with three branches, one branch for the Army, one for the Navy, and one for aviation. The demand for this change, however, was conditioned by the words

"as soon as warranted."

The resolution for this change was not adopted without a very active and at times hot discussion. The argument for removing aviation from the Army and Navy seemed to many, and especially to some aviators, as convincing. Nevertheless we believe that those who voted against this resolution really represented the best sense on the subject. The President pointed out that the Army and the

Navy were now united under the Commander-in-Chief and that bringing them together in a new department would serve no useful end.

There is really no more reason for taking naval aviation out of the Navy Department and taking military aviation out of the War Department and putting

Baron Ago von Maltzan

them together under an Aviation Department than there is for taking naval artillery,out of the Navy and field and heavy artillery out of the Army and putting them under an Artillery Department. There is no doubt of the need for improvement in the organization in both the War Department and the Navy Department, as there is need for improvement in all the departments in Washington; but the burden of proof rests upon those who for the sake of securing better aeronautical supplies and getting rid of red tape would tear down the present structure and build a new and untried one.

Ago von Maltzan

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March, relations between the United States and Germany were still those of nations quite conscious of their recent enmity. By his tact, his good will, and his common sense he hastened the restoration of normal feeling. Two flag incidents may be taken as symbols of the change. When President Wilson died, the flag at the German Embassy inWashington was noticeably not at halfstaff. Last November, on Armistice Day, both German flags flew over the German Embassy in honor of the American dead. Of themselves such incidents do not make or mar international friendships; but they do signify a good deal concerning the attitude of those on whose ability and tact international relations largely depend. The real business of diplomacy lies in adjusting the interests of one nation with those of another; and when the business of making adjustments is intrusted to people who understand one another's points of view, diplomacy has a good chance of success. Baron Ago von Maltzan was ready to risk some loss of popularity at home for the sake of considering American points of view.

He came of the German nobility. His first name, Ago, was really made up of the initials of three of his given names. Baron Adolf Georg Otto von Maltzan was Freiherr zu Wartenberg und Penzlin. He belonged to the class known as Junkers, associated in American minds with the régime in Germany that was responsible for the war; yet he adapted himself with astonishing readiness to the new order. He was one of those who recognized the superiority of loyalty to their country over loyalty to their class. Much to the horror of some of his compatriots, he approved the Dawes Plan.

It was Baron von Maltzan, so the story runs, who secured the German Emperor's abdication. This may be his greatest achievement, but he served his country well as diplomat in various posts. He was only fifty years old when he died.

Elbert Francis Baldwin

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E deeply regret to announce that as this issue of The Outlook is partly on the press we learn by cable of the death of Dr. Elbert Francis Baldwin at Geneva, Switzerland. For over thirty years he had been a member of the staff of The Outlook, and at the time of his death he was in the sixth year of his serIvice as The Outlook's editorial correspondent in Europe. His wide acquaintance with public men here and abroad, his painstaking accuracy, his poise and sound judgment, his sense of fairness

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and justice, his familiarity with foreign tongues, and his unusual memory for events combined to an extraordinary de

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gree to fit him for his lifework. Next week we shall give a further account of his life and service.

Our Buttressed Bureaucracy

EAR-ADMIRAL T. P. MAGRUDER has started the bees buzzing in the hive at Washington. He has committed the indiscretion of publishing some public figures. In an article in the "Saturday Evening Post" he has pointed out that the cost of the Navy in 1926 is nearly four times what it was in 1908. Nineteen years ago, when Theodore Roosevelt was President, the United States fleet's auxiliaries were few, now they are many. But the difference does not account for the difference in cost. The nub of the whole matter may be found in the fact that there are over three times as many officers on duty in the Navy Department at Washington now with their attendant clerical assistants as there were only nine years ago. This is what in business is called a big overhead. The Navy is overorganized afloat and ashore. Admiral Magruder goes into detail. For example, he cites the case of a force consisting of four auxiliaries-fuel, supply, and repair ships-and five tugs commanded by a rear-admiral. He tells the old story of the unnecessary navy yards. He describes the red tape and the typewriters.

What Admiral Magruder says about the Navy Department could also be said in varying degrees about other depart ments at Washington. We had occasion a few weeks ago to print three articles which described a similarly enlarged overhead in the Forest Service. Only last week we referred to the harm that a blundering bureaucracy had done to the cotton growers-another example of the same evil, an overgrown overhead.

What happens when such bureaucratic evils are pointed out? Do we find the bureaucrats thanking the critic who points out the harm that they are doing? Do we find them turning to industrial engineers to get expert advice in planning? Not in our experience. Those who have the power believe that it is in wise hands. They are quick to point out errors in detail if errors there are in the criticism; but they have no concern over the question whether in substance the critic is right and whether there is some remedy.

In the current issue of the "Yale Review" William Bennett Munro, Professor of Municipal Government in Harvard University, has an article in which he comes to the rather gloomy conclusion that there is no way of reconciling

democracy with efficiency. He argues that in proportion as people control their own government they tend to make that government costly. This is in a measure probably true. We must pay the price for the liberties we have, and if we pay it in money at least we are better off

Eamonn De Valera, Irish agitator

than by paying for it in blood. But that is no reason why any people should endure both the veiled autocracy of the bureaucrat and his inefficiency. If we are going to be inefficient, let us at least get rid of bureaucratic tyranny. Our departments at Washington need overhauling.

The Outlook for

The appeal to the voters went out, it will be recalled, be se the antagonists of the Government-Eamonn De Valera, the old chief of the Sinn Fein republican extremists, now head of the slightly more reasonable Fianna Fail faction, and Tom Johnson, leader of the Labor Party-had secured as many seats as the Government in the lower chamber of the national Parliament. To redress this dangerous situation in the Dail Eireann, President Cosgrave determined upon general elections. The outcome resulted in weakening the Labor Party, strengthening the De Valera faction, and improving the position of the Government, but leaving it still anything but secure. This showed how much Ireland continues to be ruled by the sentiment of enmity to England and how little by the sense of actual welfare.

President Cosgrave himself has said in a recent interview: "Is it necessary to antagonize England in order to display a national spirit? England is our best customer." Yet Agitator De Valera, going out and making irresponsible pledges to the voters and hinting at independence of Great Britain, was able to come perilously close to upsetting the Government that has gained for Irishmen the only freedom and real economic advancement they have known for seven centuries.

The influence De Valera now commands in the Dail Eireann will test his practical statesmanship. He can use it constantly to embarrass the Government and keep President Cosgrave and his associates from carrying on their constructive work. Or he can use it to teach his followers the better way of seeking their objectives through cooperation with the executives of the Free State in every plan for the improvement of life in Ireland.

Americans have a concern in the course of affairs in Ireland, both because many good citizens of the United States are of Irish origin or descent and because the cause of Irish self-rule has always enlisted naturally a large degree

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War Again?

NARROW margin of six votes in Parliament is all that keeps the Government of the Irish Free State in power. After the hardfought election that followed President Cosgrave's call for the support of the people, that is the small balance of power that he and his Cabinet were able to secure. He now has the delicate task of keeping that sensitive balance down on the side of the forces of order in Ireland.

should get into difficulties with Great Britain again, it would not fail to react upon American politics as it did formerly and particularly upon relations with the British Commonwealth. Any trouble in Ireland is fought out partly here in the United States. Because good relations between Great Britain and the United States are of cardinal importance to both countries, peace and prosperity and as high a degree of contentment as the Celtic temperament will permit are desirable for their effect on Anglo-American understanding.

October 5, 1927

When the Irish signed a treaty of amity with the English and the Free State came into being, many Americans breathed a sigh of relief. They would be deeply disturbed now to see the new system in Ireland upset. So they will hope that De Valera and his adherents may see how much better is an arrangement that is working and holding out the hope of better things-even if it is not all that Irish republicans may desire-than a theoretically ideal arrangement which really means ruinous conflict and bloodshed.

Boswell the Incompa-
rable

OME have called Boswell an incomparable fool (Gray said, "Any fool may write a valuable book by chance"), but that he wrote an incomparable biography is undeniable. Few indeed read his "Tour of the Hebrides" or his "Life of Paoli," but to know Boswell's Johnson is part of a liberal education. It is true also that few now read Samuel Johnson's writings; but we all know Johnson as if we had just met him around the corner. "Who threw this Scotch cur at Johnson's heels?" said some one. "He is not a cur," retorted Goldsmith, "he is a bur . . . he has the faculty of sticking."

Goldsmith's remark shows only a part of Boswell's nature. Boswell was not all sycophant; he stood up to the Great Bear in argument sometimes; he discriminated between Johnson in earnest and Johnson growling in ursine humor; he was a marvel as a verbal reporter and a depicter of manners and personal peculiarities; his "Common Place Books" show that in his "Life" he followed his notes closely.

If unpublished letters and casual writings of Shakespeare were found, the literary and bibliographical world would go wild. The recent find of such literary remains of Boswell are far less important, and yet of exceeding interest. Collectors must almost tear their hair at learning that the only reason that the manuscript of Boswell's Johnson is not to-day in the market-unique, priceless -is that Boswell's descendants did not take care of it, and it is in a hopeless condition except for perhaps twenty pages. This indifference is quite in line with the feeling of Boswell's immediate relatives, who were not at all proud of Boswell's attendance on Johnson and his curious fame therefrom. The descendants have kept as a memento the ebony case in which the manuscripts were found; America has the contents.

The treasures newly acquired by an

American collector of rare books, Colonel Ralph Isham, are in this country and will be retained intact by their owner, but will be edited and published.

Included among the papers are the original "Account of Corsica;" letters from Burns, Goldsmith, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Pitt, and letters written by James Boswell himself; Boswell's proposal to his Peggy and her reply; and many other things of high literary interest to all Johnsonians and Boswellians. Just how much of the newly acquired

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HE office of ambassador is one of the most important and difficult in the structure of modern governments. In fact, the office is so modern that its power for good or evil is yet hardly realized by the great mass of citizens. The ancients had no conception of a resident representative in a foreign country, and so the word ambassador has no classical derivation. It is of mediæval creation, and down to very recent times the function of a foreign ambassador was something like that of an aristocratic and high-class spy whose duty it was to promote the interests of his royal master and to damage as much as he could the plots and plans of the kingdom to which he was sent. The French philosopher Bayle, whom Dr. Johnson regarded as the soundest political critic of his time, said that the first article of the political creed of ambassadors, whatever may be their religious creed, is to concoct lies and persuade society to believe them. Even as late as Bismarck this was the generally accepted doctrine in European foreign relations, and led the great German Chancellor to remark that the surest way for a diplomatist to conceal his intentions was to tell the truth about them, for nobody would believe he was telling the truth.

In one of the numerous delightful and efficacious speeches which that prince of envoys, Joseph H. Choate, made in England when he was Ambassador to the Court of St. James's he alluded to the old school of diplomacy in paying a tribute to the foreign policies framed in Downing Street, the place of the official residence of the British Prime Ministers. What Mr. Choate said on that occasion, the annual Lord Mayor's banquet of the year 1900, is worth quoting in some fullness not only because it is apropos to my

subject but because at the time it excited much interest on both sides of the water:

Downing Street, if it may be called a street at all-which I somewhat doubt is altogether an American street, and, however the representatives of other nations may feel, we are entirely at home there. [Laughter and cheers.] I will show you how it is an American street, and how it derives its origin and its history from the earliest periods of the English colonies in America. I doubt whether many within sound of my voice know why it is called Downing Street. Now at the school which I had the good fortune to attend in Massachusetts [the Boston Latin School] over the archway of the entrance there were inscribed the words Schola publica prima-the first school organized in Massachusetts-and underneath was inscribed the name of George Downing, the first pupil of that school. Then in Harvard College we find him, a graduate of that institution in the first year that it sent any youths into the world, the year 1642. He soon found his way to England. He became the chaplain of Colonel Oakey's army under Cromwell, and he soon began to display the most extraordinary faculties in the art of diplomacy of any man of his day. It was the old diplomacy. [Laughter.] It was not anything like the new diplomacy that Lord Salisbury and the Foreign Ministers here present practice. It was the old kind. Downing developed a wonderful mastery of the art of hoodwinking, in which that kind of diplomacy chiefly consisted. In the first place, he hoodwinked Cromwell himself, which showed he was a very astute young man. [Laughter.] . . . He hoodwinked the Rump

and when the restoration came, he practiced his wily arts upon the merry Monarch . . . three great tri

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