jected works, and also revealed a general belief that England would not now refuse to abrogate the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, by which the two countries agreed that neither of them should ever obtain exclusive ownership of the canal nor construct fortifications upon it. The dispatches from London indicate that the belief also prevails there that England's sense of the advantage of the canal to the world's commerce makes her unwilling to embarrass a friendly power which desires to construct it. Meanwhile a preliminary statement has been prepared of the conclusions reached by the Nicaragua Commission, of which Admiral Walker is the head. As regards expense, the Commission finds that $135,000,000, or $20,000,000 more than the sum named in the pending Nicaragua Canal Bill, may be sufficient. Upon this point the report of the Commission agrees closely with that made by Major-General Ludlow two years ago.

The Mothers' Club of the First Congregational Church of Salt Lake City has issued an appeal to all Congregationalists and "to all who revere the institution of Christian monogamous marriage " to exert their influence in favor of the exclusion from Congress of Brigham H. Roberts, elected a Congress man from Utah, who is, says this protest, "well known as a polygamist," and "stands before the people of the State the chief exponent, by precept and example, of that practice which has caused Utah to be looked upon with abhorrence by the rest of the country." They ask the readers of this petition to write immediately to any Congressman or Senator they may know, urging Congress to refuse admission to that body of "so false a citizen, so flagrant a lawbreaker." A much longer and more elaborate address is issued by the Ministerial Association of Salt Lake, including pastors from all the Protestant denominations. This address recites the facts that Mr. Roberts was for years a missionary of Mormonism in the Southern States; is notorious as a polygamist; was in 1889 sentenced to the penitentiary for living in polygamy; published last spring an article in the magazine of which he is editor defending polygamy; was nominated against the protest of a strong minority of his own party, based on the ground that he was a lawbreaker, living in polygamy; and is still living in polygamy at the present time. Under the Edmunds

A Polygamist in Congress

Law of 1882, reaffirmed by the EdmundsTucker Law of 1887, all polygamists are disfranchised, and though President Harrison's proclamation of 1893 granted amnesty to all persons who had been guilty of polygamy in Utah, it was granted on the "express condi tion that they shall in future obey the laws of the United States" against polygamy. The issue presented by these facts is very simple, and it appears to us very clear what the action of Congress should be thereon. No man should be excluded from Congress for religious opinions or religious teachings; but no man should be allowed to represent his State in Congress if he is living in open violation of the laws of the State and the laws of the United States. The House of Representatives should investigate the charges against Mr. Roberts, and if they are justified by the evidence, he should be refused admission to that body. To allow a notorious lawbreaker, at the very time he is continuing to break the laws, to be a member of a body whose function it is to make laws, presents an incongruity which the people of the country ought not to tolerate.

Senator Hanna, of Ohio, One Way to Restore has introduced American Shipping

a bill granting bounties to the owners of American vessels on condition that the vessels may be leased by the Government in time of war, when their ordinary traffic is likely to be dangerous and unprofitable. The preamble of the bill states boldly the freetrade principle that the expansion of foreign commerce is necessary for the promotion of all our domestic industries, but Senator Hanna goes beyond the free-traders by proposing to subsidize the industry which tariffs aim to restrict. Senator Hanna does not propose, however, to lower the tariff; he would at the same time tax commerce so as to restrict it and pay bounties so as to increase it. The bounty on vessels engaged in foreign trade is graduated according to tonnage and speed. In order to protect the American laboring man and to secure an American crew in the event of future naval battles, it is stipulated that not more than three-quarters of the sailors shall be aliens, and that the remaining quarter, if foreign-born, shall be naturalized. The owners of deep-sea fishing vessels would receive a special bounty of two dollars per ton upon the capacity of their vessels-a provision which suggests a possible return to the old English system

of which Adam Smith said that it caused vessels to be fitted out "not to catch fish but to catch bounties." In the case of these fishing vessels, Senator Hanna's bill makes the severe requirement that not more than two-thirds of the crew shall be aliens and that a whole third, if born abroad, must have their naturalization papers. For the crew of these fishing vessels the bill nominally provides a bounty of a dollar a month; but as there is no stipulation by which the market rate of fishermen's wages is raised, there is nothing to prevent ship-owners from paying a dollar a month less than heretofore. Another important section of the bill provides that American vessels may be purchased abroad, if the companies building them will construct a corresponding number of vessels here. This provision closely resembles that under which the New York and the Paris were admitted to American registry six years ago, but is better than the former bill in that its privileges are not given to a single corporation, but are open to all. It is said that substantially this bill will be vigorously pushed during the present winter, and receive the general support of members unwilling to restore American shipping by the simpler process of enabling Americans to buy ships as cheaply as foreigners.

Another Victory in Chicago

The fight against

the extension of street-car franchises in Chicago until the Allen Law is repealed has been simply a succession of victories. At the meeting of the Board of Aldermen last week the street railway companies had on hand the anticipated ordinance offering the city somewhat better terms than the fifty-year five-cent-fare franchise defeated the week before. But the public was so thoroughly aroused to the fact that the city streets would be continually in danger so long as the Allen Law remained on the statute-book that the Council, by a vote of 40 to 23, withdrew all the pending franchise ordinances from the Joint Committee on Streets and Alleys, which had reported them. Even this victory, however, did not suffice. By a majority of one, the Board finally referred all of these ordinances to the Committee on City Hall, a committee which has the same rank in the Chicago Council that the Committee on Revolutionary Claims has in Congress. It is a committee which has nothing to do and never

66

meets, and for that reason had been filled with reformers when John Powers and the "gang" organized the Board. The fight at Chicago, therefore, is won, and won in such a way that victory at Springfield seems probable. Nevertheless, the fight in the Legislature will be conducted with vigor by the street railway corporations. The length to which they are ready to go has been shown by the methods pursued in Chicago. The "Inter-Ocean," which is owned by Mr. Yerkes, the head of the traction company, has had its columns almost filled with abuse of the "Anarchists" who fought against the turning over of public property to private corporations. The newspapers, such as the Tribune" and "Record," which opposed the franchise grant, were denounced as blackmailers, and their proprietors were charged with employing agents whose demands upon the traction companies had been refused. The "Inter-Ocean" even maintained that the Anarchistic attitude assumed by the other papers had injured the credit of Chicago in the financial world, and published dispatches from New York and Cleveland to the effect that bankers were shaking their heads over the idea of taking Chicago bonds. As a matter of fact, Chicago bonds never sold at so good a figure as now, and the fact that nearly the whole city can be aroused to prevent the corruption of the City Council has made the citizenship of Chicago stand higher than ever before in the esteem of the country.

The Dreyfus Infamy The Dreyfus Case Again dies hard. Stupid and shallow devices are still employed to stop the investigation of the facts and to keep up the ridiculous mystery and the sham show of patriotism which have made the treatment of the case a monument of chicanery and fraud. The more sincere the friendship of Americans for France, the more contemptuous must be their attitude toward the men who have contributed to bring this shame upon her. The Court of Cassation is now engaged in the first honest attempt to get at the facts in the Dreyfus business. It has so far refused to be hoodwinked and trifled with; it has courageously taken Colonel Picquart out of the hands of the court martial in order that the judges might hear what he had done; and the judges have ordered that all documents in the case shall be brought before them. Unless the Court

has access to every scrap of so-called evidence, its trial of the case would be as much a travesty of justice as the several trials on the various aspects of the case which have already taken place; but the moment the socalled secret documents-the mysterious, intangible, and elusive dossier and bordereau— are mentioned, straightway all the old appeals are heard the honor of France is concerned; the safety of the Republic is endangered; these awful secrets cannot be divulged by the little group of army officials and heads of state who possess them.

M.

It is discouraging to The Great Opera Bouffe note the attitude of two of the French Ministers when the matter came up in the Chamber of Deputies last week. A Jew-baiter of the common sort attacked M. Brisson as having violated the constitution-whatever that may mean. Brisson is, of course, out of the Government, but M. de Freycinet, now the head of the War Department, promptly replied that, as these secret documents contained matter which touches the security of the nation, he would never suffer the Court of Cassation to examine them. In response to the question asked by another deputy as to whether these sacred documents could not be submitted to the Court under a special arrangement, because, if they were not, the ends of justice would be defeated, the Prime Minister himself replied that these documents could be examined only under pledge of the most solemn secrecy. Then came one of those incidents which have made this case ridiculous and incomprehensible from the start. The ex-Prime Minister, M. Brisson, a man of unquestionable courage and integrity, arose and said that he had examined all these mysterious documents, that they were all, in his judgment, under suspicion of forgery, and that there was nothing in them which in any way affected the security of France. It is needless to add that this produced, as reporters would say, a "sensation." France is, unluckily, altogether too familiar with such sensations -they count for nothing. Then General Cavaignac, the former Minister of War, rose to his feet, admitted that he had shown the dossier to M. Brisson, but said that there were other documents which M. Brisson had not seen; whereupon the case took another turn, and another abyss was disclosed beneath the other abysses. The French are mistaken in

the stage upon which this performance is being given; it belongs to opera bouffe. An outsider is amazed that no man stands up in the Chamber of Deputies and in clear, vigorous, incisive tones makes the charlatanry, the chicanery, and the absurdity of the whole business so patent that the piece must be driven off the stage. The latest news advices indicate that the "secret dossier" will, after all, go to the Court of Cassation.

1898

It is difficult for contemporaries to judge one another with such dispassionateness as to secure the confirmation of the judgment of posterity; and it is equally difficult for men to measure accurately the significance and importance of their own times. There are years, however, through which it is impossible to live without feeling that they have witnessed great events and been marked by great movements. When the poet Dryden described the year which saw the burning of London and the defeat of the Dutch at sea as "Annus Mirabilis," he was not mistaken so far as picturesqueness was concerned, although there have been other years in English history which have been more potential in shaping the after-life of the nation. Probably few men in any part of the world have lived through the year 1898 without feeling, either keenly or vaguely, that it will be recorded in the future as a notable year in the history of the world. It has been so full of events that it would be impossible to enumerate them within the compass of an editorial; it has been rich in dramatic surprises and striking incidents; but it has opened lines of action which have touched the imagination of the world, not only because of their immediate importance, but because of their probable results.

Foremost among these events must be placed the fall of the Chinese Empire, and the appearance of the United States as a world-power. The great Empire of the East, so venerable with years, so long regarded as indestructible on account of its own immobility, still exists as a geographical expression; but exists only by the sufferance of other nations. Japan dealt it a blow three years ago, the full effect of which is now That blow revealed the instability of what appeared to be an imposing structure; it made the world aware of the entire lack of

seen.

cohesion in what appeared to be a great organism. The vast empire, covering an immense territory, including an enormous population, was ready to crumble at a touch; and that touch was given it early in the current year. Russia, Germany, and England are to-day the real masters of China; and there was a touch of tragi-comedy in the sudden and complete reversal of the scheme of a progressive Emperor to reform the methods of an empire which exists only by sufferance. The important fact in the collapse of China is not the sudden disclosure of the weakness of the oldest of Oriental governments; it is the inevitable transformation which must take place in the Orient when the vast resources of this empire are put into the hands of energetic and progressive races.

This dramatic event is almost overshadowed by another equally dramatic and significant the appearance of the United States as a world-power; and it is to be noted that both these great events have taken place in the East, and are likely to affect the East more than any other part of the globe. The war for the liberation of Cuba, although waged largely on this side the Atlantic, was begun in the harbor of Manila by one of the most brilliant achievements in the history of naval warfare, and has left as its most serious question the control and disposition of the Philippine Islands. Entirely apart from the ultimate disposition of those islands, the whole world has become conscious of the fact that the United States can no longer remain in its isolation; that henceforth it must be dealt with in the great affairs of the world. This does not mean that it is to abandon its ancient policy, reverse its traditional lines of action, or enter upon a career of conquest; it simply means that it is impossible for a great and growing country, full of energy and life, to confine its interests, in a time of swift communication and growing intimacy of intercourse, to its own territory. It is as impossible for a country in this age to live in itself and for itself as for a man to live in and for himself upon his own little bit of ground. He cannot avoid being a citizen; the interests of society lay hold upon him from every point, and he cannot be a man and reject them.

This country appears upon the scene of international action at a fortunate moment. Its whole organization and spirit will protect it from the lust of conquest and the vices of

The

militarism; it is pledged, not only by its Constitution and history, but by its political character, to religious and political freedom; to self-government in every form. Its appearance in the Far East means the breath of a new air in that part of the world; its very diplomacy suggests a new era. Spaniards, accustomed to protracted and dilatory diplomatic methods, which demand much in order to secure little, have been puzzled and confused by the frankness and directness of American diplomatic methods. The influence of a country which in international ffairs discloses its mind fully and frankly at the start cannot but be wholesome. He would be an audacious prophet who should venture to predict the changes in the order and constitution of the world which are likely to follow the collapse of China and the appearance of America in the East; but he must be dull of imagination who does not feel, however vaguely, that great changes are involved in both these events.

Among the chief incidents of the year must be placed the extraordinary development in the Dreyfus case, which has already become as complicated and promises to be as difficult of solution as the famous affair of the Diamond Necklace; it is to be hoped that, unlike that affair, it will not be later interpreted as one of the presages of a great storm. The Outlook, believing in the reserve power of the French people and in their intelligence, has regarded the retrial of Dreyfus, which is now going on, as simply a question of time. The French people, of late years, in more than one field have lost their way; but that they will find it again can hardly be doubted. Finally, the year has taken from the world two of its greatest figures—Mr. Gladstone, who died in April, full of years and honors, and Prince Bismarck, who died in September. Both men were in retirement; but to the very end both were centers of a great influence. Appreciations of their genius and estimations of their work have been many, and they differ widely; but all men are agreed that they would have been great in any age, and that in losing them this age loses two of its most striking personalities. The departure of these leaders at the very time when a new chapter in the history of humanity seems to be beginning reminds us that, though the workers pass on into other spheres, the race steadily moves forward in its divine unfolding and education,

Colonel Roosevelt on Ex

pansion

A correspondent writes, in reply to our statement that we have yet to read any editorial, speech, or platform which proposes to abandon the American ideal of growth for the European ideal of conquest," inclosing an extract from an article by Dr. Lewis G. Janes, of Cambridge, in the Boston "Evening Transcript." The citations which he gives, which are supposed to be inconsistent with our statement above, are chiefly the following:-Rear-Admiral Belknap: "The United States must hold permanently not only Hawaii but also Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines." Senator Morgan: "We must govern the people of Porto Rico, and the Philippines as we have governed the American Indians." Whitelaw Reid: "No public duty is more urgent at this moment than to resist from the very outset the concession of such a possibility," ie., that the new territories must be admitted into the Union as States. Professor McMaster: "In providing them [the territories] with governments, Congress is at liberty to establish just such kinds as it pleases, with little or no regard for the principles of self-government; in the past it has set up whatever sort was, in its opinion, best suited to meet the needs of the people, never stopping to ask how far the government so created derived its powers from the consent of the governed."

None of these quotations, as contained in the articles from which they are taken, except perhaps that from Senator Morgan, involves or implies a proposal "to abandon the American ideal of growth for the European ideal of conquest." Holding permanently the Philippines conquered from Spain no more involves the European ideal of conquest than holding permanently Texas, conquered from Mexico. Resisting the admission of the Philippines into the Union to help govern us does not involve the European ideal of conquest any more than does Great Britain's refusal to admit representatives from Australia and Canada into the English House of Commons to help in the government of Great Britain. Professor McMaster's article is simply a historical survey devoted to the confirmation of the doctrine, directly affirmed by one of the appellate courts of the United States, that territories of the United States are outside of the Con

stitution and governed by Congress without

restriction a fact which no more implies the European ideal of conquest than does the fact that the District of Columbia is governed by Congress. The other citations of Dr. Janes we do not refer to because they are not given verbally, but as interpretations of what he thinks other men have said "in substance." Our correspondent will have to try again to find any quotation from any editorial, speech, or platform which " "proposes to abandon the American ideal of growth for the European ideal of conquest."

Another correspondent quotes some single sentences from speakers which do apparently bear out the charge of imperialistic tendency; that is, if they are quotations from official and authentic reports of these speeches, and are not modified by the context. We print his letter on another page.

But these extracts do not justify the belief that there is even a reputable minority in the United States who propose "to abandon the American ideal of growth for the European ideal of conquest." Whether or not it is wise to extend American ideas and American authority over lands not included in the continent of North America is a legitimate subject for discussion. But let us not assume that such extension involves the abandonment of American ideals and the substitution of European ones, and then argue against such a revolution, which no one professes to desire. If the opponents of expansion desire to contest it, let them look to a recognized advocate of that policy, and debate it as he defines it. Some of our readers think that The Outlook is too idealistic; that it imagines a policy which no practical politicians advocate; that it is aiding imperialism without knowing it. We invite their attention to a recent speech by a man who is pre-eminently a representative of what the opponents of expansion would call "jingoism "imperialism," who, though in some sense an idealist, is always a practical politician and a strong party man. Colonel Roosevelt believed so absolutely in the war that, before it was anticipated by many others, he accepted a position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, in order to help prepare for the conflict which he foresaw. When the work of preparation was completed and the war began, he resigned his office to go into the field. When the war was over, he resigned his commission and entered into a political campaign in the Empire State on a platform indorsing

and