as compared with those of England and Russia, but that it should be capable of defending our coast in the event of sudden war, and that it should be in the future, as it has been in the recent past, a model to other nations in respect to efficiency, accuracy, and fighting power.

Primaries

The direct primaries in The South Carolina South Carolina, which have been the occasion of a more active and interesting campaign than is likely to precede the State election in November, were held last week, and revealed a strong Prohibition sentiment. There were seven candidates for the nomination for Governor. Governor Ellerbe, who stood for renomination as the champion of the dispensary system-restricting the sale of liquor to about one hundred State agencies, and forbidding all sale of liquor to be drunk on the premises-received the largest vote-30,000. Next to him came Mr. Featherstone, whose candidacy was belittled by the daily papers, but whose advocacy of complete prohibition brought him 18,000 votes. The other five candidates, whose attitude toward the dispensary was of less importance, received, all told, barely the vote of Governor Ellerbe. Mr. Schumbert, who won so much applause on the stump by telling how his son had been disciplined in the army for refusing to hold the horse of a negro officer, carried the primaries at Charleston and Columbia, but polled a relatively small vote in the rural districts. As no candidate received a majority of all the votes, a second primary will be held next week, at which only the Governor and Mr. Featherstone will be candidates. It is probable that Governor Ellerbe will be renominated, as the votes hostile both to him and to the dispensary system cannot be concentrated upon his opponent. The campaign has resulted in a good deal of criticism of all the candidates, and there has been some discourtesy exhibited, but the Charleston "News and Courier" reports that the "general shaking up" is believed to have been beneficial. One result that has been gratifying to the Conservatives has been the practical disappearance of the old factional feud between themselves and the triumphant Reformers. For Congressional and minor offices many Conservatives were voted for by Reformers, and Reformers by Conservatives—a result that could not easily have been reached

had nominations continued to be made by the aggressive workers for the two factions. A direct primary, at which all voters in general sympathy with a party are allowed to take part, (seems to be the surest preventive of permanent factions. This feature of direct primaries may partially reconcile to it the party managers who are for other reasons its most strenuous opponents.

Political Events

From a National standpoint the most important action of any political convention last week was the explicit declaration of the Iowa Republicans in favor of the gold standard. Until 1896 the Iowa Republicans always demanded the enlarged use of silver as currency, and in 1896 the Iowa representatives at St. Louis nearly all opposed the use of the word "gold" in the financial plank. This year, however, their declaration is as follows: "The experience of the last two years has fully approved the gold standard of the Republican party, as declared by the National Convention of 1896. . . . The monetary standard of this country and of the commercial world is gold. The permanence of this standard must be assured by Congressional legislation giving to it the validity and vitality of public law." In Wisconsin the agitation in favor of direct primaries bore fruit in the Democratic Convention as it had in the Republican. In fact, the Democratic plank on this subject was even more explicit than the Republican in favor of a primary election law by which "nominations shall be made by the direct vote of the people." In the main, the Democratic platform is devoted chiefly to State issues, but on National questions the Convention unequivocally reaffirmed the Chicago platform. Notwithstanding this, however, a disposition manifested to conciliate the Gold Democrats led to the failure of the expected fusion with the Populists. In New Hampshire the Democratic platform declared against the annexation of the Philippines, and against the maintenance of a large standing army. It was understood that this platform was designed to restore harmony between the gold and silver wings of the party, but it reaffirmed the principles of the party as enunciated in its National Conventions, and proclaimed its devotion to Mr. Bryan as a leader. In New York State the popularity of Colonel Roosevelt as a hero of the Cuban war has led to a spontaneous movement all

over the State in favor of his nomination for Governor. So strong is this movement that the machine leaders seem to contemplate yielding to it. The election in Arkansas resulted, of course, in a Democratic victory. All that was important in this election or in that in Vermont, which is taking place as we go to press, is the relative decrease in the votes of the two parties.

The Quay Machine and the Banks

Mr. Wanamaker has called attention to new and con

vincing evidence that the system of keeping millions of dollars of Pennsylvania funds on deposit with favored banks without interest was maintained directly by and for the political machine. The evidence in question is that of ex-Congressman Darlington, of West Chester, who, it appears, has recently been forced to tell how the system worked in the case of the bankrupt Chester County Trust Company, of which he was President. According to his testimony, “the current expenses "charged on the books of his company were actually political contributions to Republican State and county committees. These contributions were made, he said, pursuant to "a sort of implied understanding" with "the parties who were influential in controlling State deposits." His crossquestioning on this point ran as follows:

"Was this understanding with the State Treasurer ?"

"I did not say that," said Mr. Darlington; "it was an implied understanding."

"Who was that understanding with?" "With those who controlled State deposits." "Who were they?"

Myself, for one."

"Who else?"

headway. The chief danger seems to be the presence of National issues in the campaign. As a rule, the Republican papers prefer the re-election of Mr. Quay to the triumph of a Democratic candidate who believes in the free coinage of silver, and insist that Dr. Swallow, the nominee of the Independents and the Prohibitionists, cannot possibly be elected. "City and State," however, to which we are mainly indebted for this paragraph, believes that victory for Dr. Swallow is possible.

Since our last week's The Quebec Conference summary of matters to be discussed at the Quebec Conference some important work has been done, though its bearing on the result cannot yet be ascertained. The Commissioners will not give full news to the press, but the presence of several deputations has indicated pretty accurately certain questions which are being considered. The lumber interest, the Canadian sealers, the New England fishing interest, and the Boston Chamber of Commerce have sent representatives, each urging its own views of what should and should not be done. It is time to make a protest against the too frequent demands of special interests. Although the Commissioners on both sides are men exceptionally well informed, it is necessary, of course, to supplement their knowledge by reports of the latest phases of the matters dealt with; yet they were appointed, not to be dictated to by these interests, but to subordinate them to the general interest by the mutual exchange of national advantages. It has been asserted in dispatches, and has not been as yet contradicted, that the alien labor laws, the mining regulations, the inshore Atlantic fisheries, the bonding privilege, and the Behring Sea fisheries have all been discussed preparatory to the most important subject, changes in the tariff of both countries. Not only so, but it is said that special efforts were made not to complicate other matters with the tariff for fear of causing a vital disagreement. Undoubtedly our side of the question has not been so insistent upon a simultaneous and connected settlement of all matters as that of the Canadians has been; we could afford to settle some and leave others to the future. But it has been the claim of the Canadian Liberals that they could clear away these outstanding difficulties in which their Conservative oppo

nents had failed; hence their dislike of a partial arrangement. The deliberations have Deen made more difficult by Newfoundland's position. Sir James Winter, the representative of that colony, insists that, if the Canadian terms are such that Newfoundland cannot accept them, he shall be allowed to take independent action and secure his own terms from the United States. This is the attitude which resulted in the Bond-Blaine treaty which the Imperial Government promptly disallowed. It is not likely that Great Britain will permit any action by Newfoundland which would displease the Dominion; it is the imperial policy not to do so.

American Soc al Science

Association

The American Social
Science Association

held its thirty-sixth annual meeting at Saratoga last week. The Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, the President, delivered an instructive address on the "History of American Morals," in the course of which he characterized the factory system as a triumph of collectivism over individualism, thus involving the subordination of the man to the machine, every such workshop being a "school of fatalism." The report of the General Secretary, the Rev. Frederick Stanley Root, of New York, emphasizes the desirability of enlisting more women in the work of the Association, on the ground that some of the most important contributions to social science proceed from the pens of women students of social problems. The General Secretary reported a gain of one hundred and forty-five new members during the year, many of whom are men well known in literary fields. Perhaps the most significant act of the Association, on motion of Mr. St. Clair McKelway, was the transmission of a cablegram to the Czar of Russia, which read as follows:

To the Czar, St. Petersburg: The American Social Science Association unanimously hails the lofty purpose of your overture for a better understanding among nations and for better economic conditions for their peoples, and confides in its eventual success.

The Association unanimously and enthusiastically sustained the motion. The sessions of the Association maintained the usual prestige of expert discussion of topics of vital and universal interest, and among the speakers were the Hon. William P. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, the Hon. F. B. Sanborn, of the Springfield

"Republican," the Hon. Frank A. Vanderlip, Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury, the Hon. St. Clair McKelway, and Dr. W. J. Holland, Chancellor of Western University, Pittsburg.

The paper of Mr. Charles A. Papers of Note Gardner, of New York, on the "Proposed Anglo-American Alliance" contained an extraordinary marshaling of statistics in favor of such union, and the keynote of the paper was the phrase, "The grandest thought of the century is the convergence of the Anglo-Saxon rice." Hon. Josiah Quincy, Mayor of Boston, in his paper on "School Playgrounds and Baths," emphasized the widespread hygienic and moral influences, chiefly the latter, which had followed the effect of the action of the city authorities in promoting juvenile facilities in these directions. On Thursday morning, Jurisprudence Day, Dean Wayland, of the Yale Law School, presented some startling figures as to the increase of homicides and the tardy and infrequent infliction of penalty, and a brisk discussion followed as to the ethics of the legal profession in criminal defense. It was urged by one speaker with much earnestness of conviction and power of statement that the ethics of said profession might be as conspicuously strained in corporation practice as in criminal proceeding. On the day devoted to the health department, Dr. Elmer Lee, of New York, maintained that the present breakdown of competent medical direction in soldiers' camps was not due chiefly to general Government maladministration, but to the failure among various medical schools to standardize methods of treatment, especially in fevers. The session closed with an address by Dr. W. J. Holland "on the purification of municipal water supplies by filtration." The entire meeting of the Association was remarkable for largely increased attendance and renewed interest in the affairs of this, the oldest of all societies of its class.

skill which united the landscape gardener's art with the providing for the practical needs of a great city population was largely directed by him. In many other ways Mr. Stranahan advanced the interests of Brooklyn, and earned for himself the title so often given him of its First Citizen." He was one of the earliest and most influential promoters of the Brooklyn Bridge project, had much to do with the ferry and warehouse system, was at the head of the Sanitary Fair Commission which raised nearly half a million dollars for our soldiers in the Civil War, was a member of the boards of directors of the Brooklyn Institute, the Polytechnic, and the Academy of Music, and was constantly active in many forms of philanthropic and educational work. For three years over half a century he had been a resident of Brooklyn, and no one man has had his name so closely identified with the material growth and prosperity of the city. In all the undertakings with which he was connected, and more particularly in his administration as President of the Park Commission, he recognized merit and capacity as the only test for service, and was a living exponent of the principles of Civil Service Reform long before those principles won their political victory. Mr. Stranahan was a little over ninety at the time of his death, and he maintained in his old age much of the intellectual clearness of mind and executive force which made his life one of such great public utility. Such a man is in himself an honor to the great city which he had helped to form, and must long be held in grateful

memory.

The British Pacific The British Pacific Cable Cable scheme be comes complete by the adhesion of New Zealand, which is practically assured by the report of a legislative committee. The burden of the cost is apportioned by Great Britain and Canada assuming five-ninths, while New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and New Zealand are to contribute one-ninth each. There has never been any serious opposition to the scheme in any of the colomies, the only obstacle being due to the company, of which the late Sir John Pender was President. The cable will be begun very soon, and will connect New Zealand and Australia with Vancouver, British Columbia, and probably take an intermediate station at one of the small British islands near Hawaii,

This is part of a scheme to make communication within the Empire independent of the outside world. It is likely to be completed before our own cable, and may prove very useful to us if a connection should be made between Australia and the Philippines, or, after the completion of our proposed line to Hawaii, if a branch should be extended to the British intermediate station at the nearest islands. It is more than probable, however, that commercial needs, which are becoming more urgent every month, will prompt the construction of a complete and independent system of our own as a logical part of our commercial development.

The Peace Proposals

of the Czar

The peace proposal of the Czar of Russia, which we print in full on another page, may easily prove, in its final results, to be the most important state paper of the century. The emancipation of the serfs in Russia, the emancipation of the slaves in America, were both far more important in their immediate results; but each affected directly only one nation, while, in its not improbable outcome, the Czar's proposal may affect the whole civilized world. These proclamations abolished different forms of slavery in two empires; this aims to abolish war throughout the civilized world. And it would be difficult to determine which of the two is the greater evil. Slavery produces the greater degradation, but war the greater suffering; slavery forbids growth, war perverts it; slavery is the mother of ignorance and idleness, war of passion and greed. Both are inhuman uses of force by the strong against the weak. Slavery is legitimate only as a transition from the idleness of barbarism to the free and joyous labor of a Christian civilization; war is legitimate only as a forcible means of destroying a power used for purposes of practical enslavement. Thus the proposal for peace comes naturally from the successor of him who gave to the anti-slavery movement throughout the world so great an impulse by his proclamation emancipating the serfs throughout the Russian Empire.

Nevertheless, this proposal has startled Europe because of the source whence it c mes. Anglo-Saxons are wont to regard the g eat and, as it appears to all Anglo-Saxon

people, ill-organized Empire of Russia as but semi-civilized. Its aristocracy is indeed highly educated, as its bureaucracy is highly organized; but neither constitutes the nation. Anglo-Saxons are wont also to regard Russia as an Empire which rests upon force and depends for its existence on the power of its standing army. We are so habituated to local independence that we are unable to conceive the mental attitude of a people who are content to be governed, if indeed they do not prefer autocracy to the responsibilities of self-government. Thus philosophic thinkers have regarded the existence of Russia as the one insuperable obstacle to European disarmament. A great Cossack Empire, governed by force and controlled by an autocrat, an Empire which is purely military in its organization, and has heretofore been supposed to be so in its ideas also, has apparently compelled the rest of Europe to keep itself armed, much as the existence of a halfsavage tribe of Indians compels a border community to keep itself always ready for possible attack, though the attack may never come. It is this Cossack Empire whose autocratic head now proposes preparations for universal peace.

No wonder that European statesmen and European journals know not what to make of the proposal. It speaks well for the reputation of the Czar that, with scarcely a single exception, his sincerity is not called in question. It would hardly have been strange had even the authenticity of his proposal been doubted. The reception accorded to it shows that the Czar is not mistaken in thinking that the time is ripe for the consideration of such a measure as he proposes. It is true that one morning London journal suggests cynically that Russia is not prepared for war with Great Britain, and that this is the Czar's method of delaying hostilities until she is ready; true that one or two French journals indicate that France will not consent to disarmament until she has won back Alsace and Lorraine; true that some of the German journals receive the suggestion of disarma ment with a sneer. But these are the exceptions. Whatever may come later, the first expressions of the European press are, those of warm approval; the chief, if not the only, criticism is the supposed impracticability of the Czar's high ideals. It is ev.dent that the combined effect of the crushing burdens of war taxes, the dread of the results of another European war on the scale of

that of the Napoleonic era, and the preaching of peace by such poets as Tennyson and such novelists as Tolstoï, Schlevinski, Suttner, and Zola have produced both a profounder and a wider impression than any one had supposed. It would be too much to say that Europe is prepared for peace; but it is well within bounds to say that Europe is quite prepared to consider whether international provision for universal peace is not possible.

The reader may think that we are reading into the Czar's proposal what is not really there; that he proposes, not absolute disarmament and universal peace, but only a reduction of armaments which are imposing on the nations a burden too heavy to be borne, and threatening them with a conflagration which might involve universal ruin. It is true that the Czar is too wise a statesman to define with accuracy a policy. In form he indicates a discussion, not a revolution. He simply asks a question; he thus does what in him lies to avoid those race and national jealousies which any proposal of definite policy would be sure to excite. "We all agree," he says, in effect, "that peace is desirable. We have been increasing our military and naval equipments in order to protect ourselves and preserve the blessings of peace for our people. The evils of this method are many and manifest. Let us come together and see if we cannot devise some better way." But it is literally evident that there is but one other way-that of a permanent court of international law, whose decisions would be respected by common consent, or, if need be, enforced on the recalcitrant State by common action. International differences will continue to arise. their settlement, as for the settlement of controversies between individuals, only two methods are really possible-war and law. The one appeals to force, the other to reason. The methods by which reason may have an opportunity for expression are indeed various. But muscle or brain, force or reason, war or law, present the only possible alternatives. Two years ago, when the proposal was made in England and in this country for the establishment of a permanent Supreme Court for the settlement of all issues arising between these two countries, the proposal was treated by a certain class of journalists and politicians as wholly chimerical, the notion of visionaries and dreamers. Practically, though not in form, the Czar has enlarged this proposal to include all the nations of Europe, and by his presentation of it has introduced it at

For