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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

120502

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1899

EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE OUTLOOK

REV. LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D., Editor-in-Chief HAMILTON W. MABIE, L.H.D., Associate Editor

ROBERT D. TOWNSEND, Managing Editor CHARLES B. SPAHR, Ph.D.

ELBERT F. BALDWIN

REV AMORY H. BRADFORD, ]

MRS. LILLIAN W. BETTS
REV. JAMES M. WHITON, Ph.

Vol. 60

The Outlook

The Treatment of the

Sick Soldiers

Published Weekly

September 3, 1898

The condition of our returned soldiers at Camp Wikoff has greatly improved during the past week, partly because of reforms and cutting of red tape which followed Secretary Alger's personal visit to the camp, partly because of the generous efforts of private citizens and associations, and partly because the lapse of time has made it possible to bring things into a more satisfactory condition. There are still about two thousand sick men at Camp Wikoff, and there is unquestionably room for improve ment. On another page we speak editorially of Secretary Alger's defense of the War Department and its various branches against the charges of incompetency, delay, and criminal neglect. Since that defense was printed Secretary Alger has issued another statement, in which he declares that no investigation is necessary, that everything has been done that could be done, and that the failures were inevitable. This second defense is weak in many ways; to instance a single point, it is admitted that the condition of affairs on board the transport Seneca was abominable; but Secretary Alger, following his usual course, promptly throws all the blame on some one else; in this case upon the captain of the boat. This is a typical defense. No one can fail instantly to see that the captain of a transport should not have been free to do or not do precisely what he chose; and the serious point of the charges in this case is that the captain had no proper direction or inspection. So, tco, in Secretary Alger's defense of the diseasestricken camps. He insists that the camps were inspected by General Miles and others, and that everybody thought they were ideally located. Here again the blame is shuffled off upon others, though all accounts show that the prevalence of disease was due not so much to the original choice of site as to the unsanitary conditions which

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were allowed to prevail, and the lack of medical and nursing facilities when the disease began to spread. Two or three incidents of the week throw light on the methods of the War Department. Thus, an excellent order was issued directing surgeons in the hospitals to purchase, within certain bounds, anything needed for the diet of the soldiers; but this order seems to have been tied up by the official red tape at Washington, and for at least four days was held back at the very time when its enforcement was a matter almost of life and death. No reasonable explanation of this fact has been given to the public. In another case it is asserted that General Wheeler ordered large quantities of supplies for the sick, and that they were stopped for some time by Commissary-General Eagan, solely because of some technical defect in the requisition. Such instancesand others might be quoted-show that there is truth in the belief, now gaining ground constantly, that the basic trouble is in the organization of the branches of the War Department. The Quartermaster-General Department, the Commissary Department, the Subsistence Department, and the Transpor tation Department are managed almost independently, whereas they should be coordinated and work in the closest union. Back also of this difficulty lies the well-known fact that the War Department is honeycombed with political favoritism.

The members of the The Peace Commission Peace Commission of the United States have now all been selected. As was expected, the Commission is headed by Secretary Day; the other members are Senator Davis, of Minnesota, Senator Frye, of Maine, Justice White, of the Supreme Court, and Mr. Whitelaw Reid. Popular report indicates that, of these, Judge Day and Justice White are the two members more

conservative in their opinions on the question of National expansion, while the other three members represent the radical view on that question. As a whole, the Commission is one of very great ability, and is undoubtedly well equipped in knowledge and capacity to cope with the extremely important questions which will come before it at the Paris Conference. Naturally, the instructions given to the Commission by the President are not made public. The first meeting of our Commissioners with those of Spain will take place in Paris about October 1; the Spanish Commissioners have not been named as we write, but undoubtedly will be within a very few days. Senator Frye expresses a hope that the treaty will be concluded and ready to lay before the Senate when it meets early in December. France has cordially welcomed the selection of Paris as the place of meeting, and the French Government is making every possible preparation to insure the comfort and dignity of the members of the Commission.

of the War

In The Outlook for George Kennan's Story August 13 we told our readers that Mr. George Kennan had been ill with fever at Santiago, but was rapidly recovering. We regret to say that the recovery was retarded by a return of fever. Under date of August 10, Mr. Kennan wrote: "I am getting into such a condition that I can't take care of myself, and if I remain here shall have to go to a hospital. Dr. Egan says it is doubtful whether I can shake off the fever in this climate, and advises that I go North until the heavy September and October rains are over. If

I don't get better, I shall probably be forced to do so. I have not been well enougn to write a letter for The Outlook this weeknor, indeed, to sit up much of the time-but will resume my correspondence as soon as I am able to do so." Accordingly Mr. Kennan sailed from Santiago on August 12 in the steamship Philadelphia, arrived in New York the next week, and is now at his summer home in Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, taking a much-needed rest and slowly gaining his usual strength. We hope to have for publication next week another insta lm nt of his Story of the War," to be followed by one or two others embodying the results of his observat on in Cuba. It is quite probable that early in the fall Mr. Kennan may return to Cuba

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and write a new series of letters for The Outlook upon the actual conditions and posIsibilities of the island. In many ways our readers have shown intense interest in this special correspondence and appreciation of Mr. Kennan's accuracy, breadth of view, and fairness of mind.

The New Fiscal Policy

Mr. Worthington Ford presents in the September issue of "Harper's Magazine " a striking article upon the change in our fiscal policy which changing commercial and political relations are forcing upon us. Reviewing our tariff policy from the beginning, Mr. Ford shows that at first it was a policy which sought revenue with incidental protection, while now it seeks protection with incidental revenue. Hamilton, he says, believed that an average duty of ten per cent. upon imported merchandise would suffice, but to-day the average duty upon taxed imports is 51 per cent. This increase of the duty, he thinks, was of i:self sufficient to reduce revenues by reducing imports, and the recent growth of manufacturing in our country has made still further reductions. In 1887, for example, the imports of manufactured iron and steel brought the Nation a revenue of $21,000,000. Last year, only a decade later, the same imports brought us a revenue of less than $7,000,000. The rate of duty has not changed, but the importations have fallen to a third, because we are now producing nearly all the iron we need, and are even exporting great quantities to foreign markets. Similar changes, says Mr. Ford, have been taking place in other branches of business, and today, among the thousands of duties upon imported goods, scarcely a dozen yield any appreciable revenue. The one great revenueproducing duty that remains, he says, is that upon sugar, which promises to yield about $80 000,000 a year, or nearly half of the whole amount now anticipated from the Dingley tariff. Yet even this revenue from sugar will be cut down to $30,000,000 if, as he expects, the sugar produced in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines is admitted duty free under the annexation program me now making headway. Such reductions in cus oms revenue make it inevitable, he says, that the tariff which used to furnish the bulk of our public revenues shall in the future furnish a much smaller part, and that taxes upon corporations, incomes, and inheritances

shall take its place. With these tendencies Mr. Ford is not in sympathy. His review of conditions is that of a historian and not of an advocate, and therefore the conclusions he reaches are the more impressive.

The Fight Against Mr. Quay

The National League of Business Men in Pennsylvania, which was organized three years ago to secure the nomination of Mr. McKinley when Mr. Quay was opposing it, has this year instituted a campaign to "redeem the next Pennsylvania Legislature from the control of the Quay machine." At a preliminary meeting held in Philadelphia last week the League resolved to direct its efforts "to the nomination and election of members of the State Legislature who will earnestly and unalterably oppose all the various forms of jobbery which made the last Legislature disgracefully notorious, and who will elect in the place of the present senior Senator from this State a Senator who will fitly and justly represent the people and the interests of this great commonwealth." To accomplish this end it was resolved that the League's Executive Committee be enlarged, and directed "officially to invite all parties and associations desiring to unite against the Quay machine to meet for consideration of a definite plan for the defeat of the Quay legislative candidates." This Philadelphia meeting was addressed by Mr. Wanamaker, who made it evident that his opposition to the Quay machine has not abated since the machine captured the Republican State Convention. Speaking of the last Legislature, Mr. Wanamaker said: "Men became articles, pieces of furniture, of the Quay stock, with prices attached in plain figures. The whole business of electing a United States Senator was an arithmetical problem. On the night that settled the election, legislators and leaders, showing the character of the machine and the spirit of the men, made a procession on the streets with brass bands, conducting mock religious exercises with mock hymns, and kneeling in the highway in mock prayers. Did ever before, in the history of any State capital, a Legislature and its henchmen, on the night of its first meeting, so defy public sentiment and outrage decency ?" This opening of the session, Mr. Wanamaker went on, was the fit prelude to the scenes that followed, and he recalled, giving a single sentence to each, the long catalogue of scandals. "This,"

he said, "is not the time to reveal the details. I can only say that each day's notorious revelations scalded the State from one end to the other as with boiling water, and that even to-day, a year after, the State is sore all over, and crying for relief." To furnish this relief the League of Business Men have set to work to secure the men and the money to conduct a vigorous campaign in every part of the State.

Editorial Silence

Following the report of the New York Canal Commission that Superintendent Aldridge had distributed among the newspapers seven times the requisite sum for advertising his contracts, attention is called by the Springfield "Republican" to the manner in which "advertising" figures among the expenditures of corporations employing lobbyists at the Boston Capitol. Under an act passed during Governor Russell's administration, every person or corporation employing counsel to appear before the Massachusetts Legislature is obliged to make a sworn return of all payments made in promoting or opposing the legislation for which the counsel was engaged. Last winter a bill was introduced providing for State supervision of telephone rates. The great body of Boston's telephone subscribers petitioned in favor of its principle, but the Boston newspapers--with the exception of the "Post," which ardently advocated the measure-were either silent or hostile. It now appears from the sworn reports of the telephone company under the lobby act that of $7.756 expended directly in opposing this measure, $5,360 was paid out for advertising. A correspondent through whom we verified the "Republican's" statement sends us a list of the payments made to the several papers. With the exception of the " Post," every prominent secular paper in Boston and its suburbs seems to have received a share. No distinction seems to have been made as to politics. The three heaviest payments were made to papers of different affiliations. The "Journal" (Republican) received $1,018, the "Herald" (Independent) received $800, and the "G.obe " (Democratic) $680. Seventeen other papers received smaller sums. There is not the slightest evidence that any one of the papers was directly asked to favor the attitude of the telephone company, but, as the Springfield " Republican" remarks, while "it may not be cause and effect, those corporations which pay lavishly for reading

matter are seldom or never attacked in the editorial columns." The incident again presses home the conclusion that the leadership of the press cannot be blindly followed. It is necessary for the public to observe and think for itself.

Political Conventions

In the political conventions held last week the Republicans continued to demand a more aggressive foreign policy than the Democrats. In Delaware, in Missouri, and in South Dakota they contented themselves with demands for the extension of our commerce

might satisfy, but in California they urged or our institutions which a mere protectorate the annexation of both Porto Rico and the Philippines. The important Democratic Convention was that in Ohio, where a plank was adopted declaring that the mission of this Nation was to stand for the principle of selfgovernment, and that the United States "should keep the faith upon which the war was begun and prosecuted." On the cur. rency question all of the Republican platforms except that adopted in California stood squarely for the maintenance of the gold

standard, and even in California, where two years ago the Republicans demanded the free coinage of silver by this Nation at the old ratio, they this year indorsed the St. Louis platform, and merely urged the President to secure an international bimetallic agreement. The Ohio Democrats indorsed the Chicago platform, and placed a special emphasis upon its financial plank. The Delaware Republicans, curiously enough, declared themselves in favor of "all measures to extend and protect our commercial relations with the rest of the world." When the tariff question was in the foreground, this would have sounded like a declaration in favor of absolute free trade.

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appears to be, are capable of legislative remedy. The railroads of Pennsylvania, it is declared, are charging from seventy cents to one dollar and ten cents a hundred miles for carrying a ton of anthracite coal, while the same roads are carrying soft coal at from fifteen cents to thirty cents a hundred miles. The cost of hauling a ton of soft coal is as great as the cost of hauling a ton of anthracite coal, and the burden placed upon the shippers and purchasers of anthracite is plainly intolerable. It may be for the interest of the Pennsylvania roads to charge three times as much for carrying the hard coal

from the West, but the proceeding is not produced in these districts alone as for carrying the soft coal which other roads can bring only contrary to justice, but, in a pre-eminent degree, contrary to the public interests. The increasing use of soft coal instead of anthracite by railroads and factories has added greatly to the discomfort of railroad travel and city life. Every city has a right to protect its buildings and its citizens from State has a similar right to protect the travbeing begrimed by black smoke, and every eling public. These rights should be exer

cised, and the use of anthracite coal or smokeconsuming devices should be mandatory for passenger trains and for city factories.

The Czar and Universal Peace

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It is natural that some skepticism should shown by diplomatists about the startling proposition of the Czar of Russia looking to the eventual disarmament of the nations. No country has shown a more aggressive spirit of late years than Russia, and none has apparently leaned more strongly upon the tacit threat of force. Moreover, it has been generally believed that Russia's diplomatic methods in her forward movements have been often unscrupulous and commonly regardless of the territorial rights and policy of other nations. That Russia, then, should be the first to suggest the possibility of universal peace is indeed surprising. The arguments set forth by the Czar are those which have always been put forward by advocates of peace and comity, with the result that these advocates have been generally termed idealists and theorists. Making all allowances for practical difficulties and for possible motives beneath the surface, the mere fact that the Czar of Russia should seriously put forward such a proposition has in

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