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A Farmer on Food...

By W. W. Reynolds

AUSTRIA CAN'T; GERMANY WON'T

The replies of the German Chancellor and the Austrian Premier to President Wilson's statement of fourteen conditions essential to peace afford no indications of a desire on Germany's part to concede anything, nor of a possibility on Austria's part of escaping German domination. In other words, Germany will not now talk of peace otherwise than as a victor; Austria cannot and dare not act independently.

It means nothing for Austria to express a willingness to discuss at a peace conference matters which do not concern her own Empire directly, for Count Czernin adds that Austria will remain a faithful German ally—that is, of course, that Austria will support German claims as to Alsace-Lorraine, the African colonies, and the German designs on parts of western Russia. Neither does it mean anything for Germany to announce her adhesion to President Wilson's first four points, for each of these deals with general principles, and each may be defined diversely. What Germany would regard as open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, trade_equality, and reduction of armaments no one now knows. In Germany's dealings with Russia she has accepted the principle of "no annexations and no indemnities," and then quickly unmasked her intention of holding a vast amount of Russian territory. As to the other and concrete points in Mr. Wilson's programme, Germany's Chancellor is either evasive or scornfully defiant.

A single sentence saying that Belgium would be restored with due reparation would be a better basis for possible discussion of peace than all of Count von Hertling's elaborate subtleties. One almost welcomes the flat-footed declaration that Germany will never give up Alsace-Lorraine, because it is the one manly, straightforward statement in the Chancellor's speech. Even the acceptance of President Wilson's freedom of the seas idea is coupled with the insulting and non-apropos demand that England should give up Gibraltar, Malta, Aden, Hongkong, and the Falkland Islands! And Count von Hertling's reply to the demand for justice to Belgium is cryptic; what does the statement that "Germany has never demanded the incorporation of Belgian territory" mean? It may be literally true as to the past; it promises nothing as to the present or future.

One cannot help pitying Austria. Her subservience to Germany has led to degradation and danger. Strikes, food riots, threats of revolution, beset her. No doubt Austria might like to make a separate peace with Russia, but even the Bolsheviki would hardly consent to such a peace if Austria were to be left free to turn all her armies against Italy (to say nothing of the other allies), and Germany would never consent to a peace which would take Austria out of the war altogether. What internal Austrian conditions are may be judged when a Moderate Socialist can say in the Austrian Chamber, as Victor Adler said the other day: The monarchy... must become a federal state of nationalities, for which the people are enthusiastic and ready to fight."

TAKING PART IN A STERN CHASE

The sweeping charges of intemperance among our soldiers in France, which recently occupied so large a place in the newspapers of the country, have again been denied by General Pershing in no uncertain terms. It may seem hardly worth while to dignify these charges by continued discussion, but as hysterical rumors have been so widely scattered over the coun

try there may be some value in attempting to give equally wide currency to the denial of the truth of these rumors. The pursuit of a slander is always a stern chase, and stern chases are always proverbially long.

General Pershing's latest testimony concerning the moral welfare of our troops was made public in a letter from Secretary of War Baker to Governor Capper, of Kansas. Governor Capper wrote to Secretary Baker concerning the "persistent reports as to the immoderate sale of liquor among our forces in France, and in reply received a letter from the Secretary of War, from which we quote as follows:

You will be glad to know that I have just received the following from the commander of the American expeditionary forces: "There has never been a similar body of men to lead as clean lives as our American soldiers in France. They have entered this war with the highest devotion to duty, and with no other idea than to perform those duties in the most efficient manner possible. They fully realize their obligation to their own people, their friends, and the country.

"A rigid programme of instruction is carried out daily with traditional American enthusiasm. Engaged in healthy, interesting exercises in the open air, with simple diets, officers and men, like trained athletes, are ready for their task. Forbidden the use of strong drink and protected by stringent regulations against sexual evils, and supported by their own moral courage, their good behavior is the subject of most favorable comments, especially by our allies.

"American mothers may rest assured that their sons are a credit to them and to the Nation, and they may well look forward to the proud day when on the battlefield these splendid men will shed a new luster on American manhood."

It is not a pleasant fact to contemplate, but it is the truth, that the most persistent of the rumors to which Governor Capper referred were given the public support and sanction of the Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The statement issued by this Board in regard to the moral conditions of our troops in France supplied an excellent example of the kind of criticism of the management of war in which no loyal American should indulge. This criticism was of a destructive and not of a constructive kind. However justly Secretary Baker may be criticised for some of the deficiencies of his Department, few informed people will be found to question the splendid work of the War Department in its efforts to provide clean living conditions for the soldiers intrusted to its care by the American democracy.

THE LAST CHANCE: GOING, GOING

The Government has made unprecedented provisions for the protection of its soldiers and sailors, and the families of its soldiers and sailors, by the enactment of a law whereby every man in the service is entitled to take out as much as $10,000 insurance within one hundred and twenty days after he enlists. This law was described in The Outlook for December 12 last.

One million men were in the service of the United States when the provisions of this law went into effect in October, and for these men the opportunity to take out Governmental insurance expires on February 12. Up to that time every man in the service, no matter when he enlisted, can take out a $10,000 policy for about $6.50 a month. Compared with the cost of ordinary commercial insurance, this war insurance represents a most tempting offer, and the soldier or sailor who fails to take

advantage of this opportunity will be neglectful of his own interests and the interest of his family.

It cannot be too strongly urged that families and dependents of every man in the Army and Navy do their utmost to encourage the men in the service to take advantage of this offer of the Government. Relatives may wisely offer to help pay the premiums when such aid seems advisable or possible, in order that their fathers, sons, and brothers may not lose this opportunity. Not only will Governmental insurance protect families and dependents of men in the Army and Navy in case of death, but such insurance will also protect the men who are insured in case of permanent and total disability. In case of total disability a $10,000 policy will result in the payment of $57.50 per month for life to any holder. On January 26, 551,849 men had already accepted this offer and filed applications for insurance aggregating $4,663,420,500 and averaging $8,451 per man. There remain, however, at least a million more men who have not taken advantage of this offer. The time is short. Application blanks can be obtained by writing to the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, Treasury Department, Washington, D. C., or from any Army and Navy station. An application for insurance may be made on any ordinary sheet of paper, provided that it gives the applicant's full name, rank, organization, and station, the amount of insurance wanted, and the authorization to deduct the premium from the soldier's or sailor's pay. Such an application must be duly witnessed, preferably by the applicant's commanding officer, and the name and address of the witness must also be given.

February 12 is the last date on which this application can be filed by thousands of men in the service. For them the opportunity is like a tempting bargain at an auction sale. The Government the auctioneer, has already started to call, "Going, going-' When the hammer falls, we trust that these thousands of men will have "signed on the dotted line."

AUTOMATIC GUNS AND AUTOMATIC SAVINGS Mr. Herbert N. Fell, whose article on "Automatic Saving" appeared in The Outlook for January 10, 1917, now comes forward with the statement that the same reasons which made automatic saving desirable in time of peace make it doubly desirable in time of war. He writes us:

If we need automatic guns to whip the Kaiser, we need automatic saving to support our automatic guns. Money, men, and munitions are so interrelated in a war of such colossal magnitude as that in which we are engaged in Europe that lack of one cripples the other. The longer the war lasts, the greater the dependence of the Allies on all three. We wouldn't think of arming our men with the old muzzle-loading musket, yet we are using muzzle-loading methods in our finance. It is time we awakened. It is time we applied methods of automatic saving to co-ordinate with our automatic guns.

Mr. Fell believes that the Liberty Loan campaigns have not brought out some of the resources which can be tapped by using the principle of automatic saving in the present emergency. He says that in each of the first two Liberty Loans we created a great machine for the raising of money which upon the conclusion of each campaign was permitted to disintegrate. What we need, Mr. Fell believes, is some method by which a permanent and continuous campaign for the raising of loans can be waged. Of course the best field for such a campaign lies in the distribution of Thrift Stamps and War Savings Certificates, but it is not enough continually to urge the purchase of these stamps and certificates. They must be sold in a way to encourage their automatic purchase by millions of our citizens to whom the buying of a Liberty Bond would be a financial impossibility.

During the great Liberty Bond campaigns many business houses did their best to encourage their employees to purchase these Governmental securities. In the majority of instances cooperation between employers and employees was whole-hearted and disinterested, but there were perhaps some instances where unfortunate pressure was applied, with the result that ill-feeling was aroused and sympathy for the bond campaigns lost. Americans have a wholesome dislike for anything which looks like the thrusting of benefits upon them. Most of us would rather be kicked in a democratic and neighborly fashion than kissed by charity or paternalism. Perhaps, too, the unavoidable delay of the

Government in the printing of the bonds of the last two loans may also have worked to discourage co-operation of the right kind, for those who bought Liberty bonds on the installment plan were left for a time with nothing but a hole in their weekly pay envelopes and without anything more tangible than a receipt for their money.

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Mr. Fell believes that these objections arising from conditions under which the Liberty Loans were financed can be largely met by applying the automatic savings idea to the sale of War Savings Stamps and Certificates. He suggests that business houses offer to their employees a chance to receive part of their wages or salaries in the form of War Savings Stamps. He suggests that to make this plan of selling War Savings Stamps attractive employers agree to pay the odd cents which are necessary when War Savings Stamps are exchanged for Wa Savings Certificates. Such a plan, Mr. Fell believes, would prove the patriotic disinterestedness of employers, and would also encourage thrift and help win the war. One War Savings Stamp in the hands of each citizen of our country means more than four hundred million dollars for the war. That is a sum not to be despised. Mr. Fell believes that this suggestion, if carried into effect, would draw out a great deal of money not now in circulation. Its special appeal to the wage-earner he pictures in the following words:

With $4 in Thrift Stamps he could buy a War Savings Certificate which other persons outside the sphere of the worker would have to pay $4.12, or $4.13, or $4 and something in odd cents to obtain. He would see, not 31⁄2 per cent as in the first Liberty Loan as his reward, or 4 per cent as in the second, but 5 per cent compound interest. And with the 5 per cent he would have the additional impulse of patriotism.

The suggestion sounds discussible. How far is it practicable to carry it into effect?

THE GOVERNMENT'S PLAN FOR AUTOMATIC SAVING

Apparently the need of automatic saving is one which has not been lost sight of by the Government. The National War Savings Committee has its own method of encouraging regular economy and thrift. It hopes to accomplish this by the formation of War Savings Societies. According to the plan of the National War Savings Committee, ten or more persons, members of the same church, lodge, club, association, school, community, or employees in the same office, shop, factory, or mill, may form a War Savings Society by holding a meeting at which officers are elected and simple by-laws are adopted. Each member of such a group signs a pledge that he or she will

1. Purchase War Savings Stamps and Thrift Stamps amount

ing to $- or more weekly (monthly).

2. Aid the Government by buying only what he needs and only

when he needs it.

3. By example encourage economy and thrift among his friends and associates, and secure as many members as he can for the society.

Each of these groups is to be known as a War Savings Society, and upon reporting to the State director becomes affiliated with the National War Savings Committee. It is expected that regular meetings of these societies will be held, and that competition between societies will have an important effect upon the regular sale of stamps. These societies, it is hoped, will prove an effective vehicle for discussion and the readjustment of personal and family budgets to war conditions, and that they will heip to cut down extravagance and promote the investment of money in Government securities of all kinds.

There is nothing in Mr. Fell's suggestion, reported above, which is antagonistic to the principle involved in the organization of the War. Savings Societies. Perhaps both plans could be effectively combined as a means of aiding the Government.

HOARDING HIDES

It appears that the meat-packers have been hoarding hides. Yet shoe prices have been climbing upward, and with excessive profits to the packers, who practically control the hide market.

During the past five years the slaughtering of cattle has increased some thirty per cent. Such a record ought not at the same time to mean that the country should be forced to pay

abnormally high prices for leather products made from the correspondingly increased take-off of hides-at least this is the opinion of members of the Federal Trade Commission. According to the figures collected by them, the quantity of hides stored by the largest packers increased forty-five per cent during 1916 and the first half of 1917, and-to show that this is not a corner" made by a few big men the stocks held by the smaller packers increased no less than eighty-three per cent.

Imports of hides were also found to have increased. In 1917 they were seventy per cent more than in 1912. Our imports are chiefly from the Argentine, Uruguay, and Brazil, countries in which the great Chicago packers are prominent factors in the hide business.

Moreover, the increase of value placed by the packers on their hides in 1916-17, thirty-five per cent, was seen to be twice as much as the increase in prices paid by them for cattle. The result was that the net profits of the larger tanning companies were said to be from two to five times as great as in 1915. Finally, exports of men's shoes were found to have dropped from the high level of 13,000,000 pairs in 1916 to slightly over 6,000,000 in 1917-the lessened exports being largely offset, we suppose, by our own Army demand.

These facts are a pertinent illustration of the all too painful truth that social, industrial, and economic injustices and ills cannot be left to the unsatisfactory cure afforded by the laws of supply and demand.

MR. BURLESON'S REAPPOINTMENT

The United States Senate has just unanimously confirmed the renomination of Albert Sidney Burleson, of Texas, to be Postmaster-General for the ensuing four years.

The question will doubtless arise, Why should the Postmaster-General be renominated and none of the other Cabinet members? Curiously enough, "the powers that be" have only just discovered that, by law, the Postmaster-General does not hold his office over from one term to another. The statute provides that he shall hold office only during the term of the President by whom he was appointed and for one month longer. As a matter of fact, the country, ever since April 4, 1917, has been, it is said, legally without a Postmaster-General, and, so far as the law goes, the position of head of one of the Government's greatest executive departments has been unfilled.

Hence it was with some irony that Mr. Hardwick, of Georgia, arose in the United States Senate the other day and called attention to the above, which has now been followed by President Wilson's transmittal of the Postmaster-General's renomi nation. Mr. Hardwick congratulated the country "on the fact that the President has at last found out what the law is and has at last complied with it."

It will be interesting to see whether the New York "Call," the "Irish World," and other papers which have been denied second-class mailing privileges by Postmaster-General Burleson will ask to have his orders declared void on the ground that he had acted without legal authority.

Mr. Hardwick added that he would still further congratulate the country and the President if the President would comply with the spirit of the Constitution about all these things. Mr. Hardwick declared that in times like these, when we are granting all sorts of unusual, large, extraordinary, and in some cases autocratic powers to the present Chief Executive, it is especially incumbent upon the Executive to comply with the spirit of the Constitution. For many years, Senator Hardwick affirmed, and in many Administrations, every President of the United States who was re-elected has, at the beginning of his second term, sent to the Senate his Cabinet nominations, and the Senate has always, except in one or two rare instances, promptly confirmed these nominations without question.

Query: Would the Senate have confirmed all of the Cabinet nominations had they been sent in on March 4, 1917?

MAYOR HYLAN AND MR. BUGHER

The resignation of Frederick H. Bugher as Police Commissioner of New York City is an event of more than mere municipal significance. We are at war, and, as New York is

our principal port of departure for munitions and army supplies, the New York City police force is vital to the National as well as the municipal welfare. If it is inefficient, the Governor of the State has the authority to remove both Mayor and Police Commissioner. If he should not do this when conditions call for it, then the Federal Government should and doubtless will act.

Arthur Woods, the outgoing Commissioner, had brought about an unprecedentedly efficient morale in the police force. Many citizens felt that Judge Hylan, the incoming Mayor, had no more important appointment than the Police Commissionership. They were deeply gratified when he appointed a non-partisan, a man who had had successful experience as a Deputy Commissioner. But those best informed as to the Police Department's inner workings prophesied that Mr. Bugher would fail unless assured of two things: first, the Mayor's support; and, second, the right sort of Deputy Commissioners.

For three weeks all seemed to be going well, so far as the public knew. Mr. Bugher had been persuaded to accept the commissionership upon assurances that he would be absolutely unfettered and allowed to select his five deputies in his own way. But, after painstaking investigation of dozens of applicants, Mr. Bugher's very first appointment of a deputy met with the Mayor's disapproval because the candidate was not "of the people." This means that "he happens to be a man of good family and of unquestionable antecedents," according to Mr. Bugher. At the same time the Mayor pressed the appointment as Deputy of a man who had unfavorably impressed the Commissioner. Finally, when the Mayor notified the Commissioner not to fill the most unimportant positions, which would include clerks and stenographers, without first consulting him, Mr. Bugher saw no other way out of the difficulty than to demand to be permitted to "assume or surrender" the entire task.

On this Mayor Hylan, under a paltry subterfuge, asked for Mr. Bugher's resignation, and appointed instead Lieutenant Richard Enright, who has had long experience in the uniformed police force, but who had been unable to obtain promotion under the Woods administration.

The whole affair indicates that, the only proper way to run a Police Department is under a Commissioner who is given full power and responsibility by the Mayor. In his final report to Mayor Mitchel Commissioner Arthur Woods said:

Whatever success has attended the Police Administration would not have been possible without your unfailing understanding and support. Police conditions in New York are of such a character that a Police Commissioner cannot be successful unless he is master of his job, and unless at the same time he has no doubt as to the backing and confidence of the Mayor. You have given me an entirely free hand to run the Department, yet I have always found that when I needed advice or support you were ready with it in large measure.

Lieutenant Enright's appointment is looked on with anxiety by those who remember the days of a political police force under former Tammany administrations.

AT THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CONFERENCE AT TUSKEGEE

The war has served to concentrate the attention of both North and South in a greater degree than ever upon the prob lem of the relations between white and colored American citizens. The war created, first of all, an abnormal condition in the industries of the North and an abnormal condition in the cottonfields of the South. In addition to the economic and labor problems which followed in the wake of these phenomena, there has been the problem of adapting both Negroes and whites to the conditions forced upon the country by the raising of the National Army. It is encouraging to record here some of the conclusions of Dr. Moton, the successor of Booker T. Washington as the Principal of Tuskegee Institute, concerning the place of the Negro in the fight for democracy. Dr. Moton is a profound believer in the theory that increased privileges bring increased responsibilities. Addressing an audience of Negro farmers at the Twenty-seventh Annual Tuskegee Conference, he said:

We can approach the future with renewed hope that right and justice will inevitably prevail. This triumph of democracy can