considered as conforming with either treaty or domestic law.

The other proposed changes are the registration of all aliens, including newcomers and those now here; additional penalties for steamship companies which exceed their quotas; and, finally, a demand that half of the immigration we do receive shall come in American ships.

THE DEBTS OWED TO US

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CCORDING to the law recently passed, President Harding has appointed as members of the Commission to refund the debts owed to us by foreign governments Secretary of the Treasury Mellon as Chairman, Secretary of State Hughes, Secretary of Commerce Hoover, Senator Smoot of Utah, and More Representative Burton of Ohio. appropriate selections, we believe, could not have been made.

The foreign governments owe us, with interest, about eleven billion dollars.

Last summer Secretary Mellon proposed a grant by Congress of full executive power to him to find out what each debtor nation could do and to conclude terms in each case for the funding or conversion or extension of the time of payment of the principal or interest or both.

Congress took a different view of the matter. It did not wish to lodge so much responsibility with any one person. So it erected a Commission of which the Secretary of the Treasury should appropriately be the chairman, the Commission to decide on the forms of the terms of refunding, conversion, or extension of the loan.

are to

The refunding conferences begin immediately and negotiations will be proceeded with as rapidly as possible. It is hoped that they may be concluded by the middle of next autumn. Certainly the European economic situation is more favorable to such deliberation than at any time since the war. As evidence of betterment one has but to note the improvement in foreign exchange, particularly with reference to the values of British and French currencies. The refunding conferences themselves ought to have a beneficial effect upon the general exchange situation, for any settlement of arrangements for the repayment of our war loans to our allies should be a considerable step towards the stabilization of overseas conditions.

Knocking the

Nonsense out of Weight-Control

"A slender, wiry mother places slender, wiry little Willy on the station scales, drops in a penny, and gasps in horror. Tables printed on the scales state that boys of Willy's age, and particularly of Willy's age and height, should weigh just about 85 pounds. And little Willy, doing the best he can, achieves but 75! And that mother, with startled intellect, realizes that little Willy must be UNDERWEIGHT-direful term! A term that brings consternation teachers and parents by the thousand, and urges investigating examiners of various kinds to a verge of hysteria!"

to

Little Willy's mother and all her kith and kin will want to read Mr. C. K. Taylor's article in next week's Outlook, from which this passage is taken. He thoroughly exposes the widespread fallacy of "The Great Underweight Delusion."

The popularity of the Princess was evidenced by the immensely hearty reception which she and her husband received as they drove to and from the Abbey. But the most striking feature of the wedding was the fact that it was between a Princess royal and an Englishman not of royal blood.

Fifty years ago Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, married the Marquis of Lorne, later Duke of Argyll. "Ah, but it's a great day the noo for the Queen," remarked an old Scotchwoman, in whose eyes the ducal house of Argyll represented all that was mighty.

Later another Princess Louise, daughter of Edward VII, married the Duke of Fife.

More recently the popular Princess Patricia, daughter of the Duke of Connaught, Edward VII's brother, married Commander Ramsay, son of the Earl of Dalhousie.

Now comes the turn of the house of Lascelles. The best-known member of that family has been Sir Frank Lascelles, the efficient British Ambassador at Berlin 1895-1908. In Yorkshire the Lascelles are such a great family that,

in the popular opinion, Princess Mary has doubtless secured "a catch." Viscount Lascelles is the eldest son of the Earl of Harewood, whose seat is at the stately Harewood House near Leeds and whose estates comprise some thirty thousand acres. Lord Lascelles was educated at Eton and, choosing arms as a profession, at Sandhurst. He joined the Grenadier Guards, served through. out the war in France, was wounded three times, gassed once, and won D. S. C. and a Croix de Guerre. vivacious youth, gallant soldier, intelligent country gentleman, he is quite the type the English like. He is rich in his own right, having inherited some thirteen million dollars from an uncle. So the new couple, it is expected, will be able to pay their bills.

MAKING THEATERS SAFE

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HE recent terrible disaster at the

Tekerbocker Theater in Wash

ington and the collapse of a movingpicture house in Brooklyn have stirred public authorities in many cities to action. It is to be hoped that this will not be sporadic, but that scientific and thorough investigation will be carried out everywhere as to faulty construction and fire risks in the thousands of theaters, large and small, which are crowded daily. In Washington one result was the closing of seven theaters on the ground that they were unsafe because of fire hazard or structural weakness. In Brooklyn investigators found a startlingly large proportion of the theaters and moving-picture places examined imperfect as regards legal requirements; most of the faults found were trivial or easily remedied, but some of the places were nothing more or less than fire traps-in one small picture house, for instance, the place was heated by gas-stoves placed on planks in the cellar just below the wooden floor! The official summary of the investigation as to the Knickerbocker Theater disaster by Engineers of the Army and Navy Departments presented a list of no fewer than twenty-one faults in construction. No wonder that the place collapsed as if it were of cardboard when the extra strain of a heavy snowfall was placed on it! The official inquiry pointed out that the direct cause of the disaster came from the unusual conditions owing to the fact that the street was curved and the stage wall had to be curved also; but it is added that if the rest of the building had been of a high grade of construction and properly braced the disaster would not have occurred.

Various laws have been proposed to secure sound construction. This is excel

lent in itself; but there is a strong feeling that back of other causes lies the very serious and common danger of poor inspection. Building inspectors are a not very well paid or very expert body of men and they are peculiarly subject to temptation in the way of bribe-taking. This is a difficult situation to meet; the best solution would seem to be in providing adequate and well-paid superinspectors, who should check up on the work and character of inspectors of the lower grade.

MR. BRYAN EVOLVES A HYPOTHESIS

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T makes one rub one's eyes to find Darwin and evolution back in the newspaper headlines. The State of Kentucky started the game by attempting to exclude the teaching of evolution from all schools supported by State money. Now Mr. Bryan has helped along with the good work by coming to the defense of the Bible in the New York "Times."

Mr. Bryan says: "The first objection to Darwinism is that it is only a guess and was never anything more. It is called a 'hypothesis,' but the word 'hypothesis,' though euphonious, dignified and highsounding, is merely a scientific synonym for the old-fashioned word 'guess.'" Mr. Bryan's guess that the word hypothesis has deceived people as to the importance of the theory of evolution seems to us purely hypothetical.

The second objection which Mr. Bryan brings against the doctrine of evolution (he apparently ignores the fact that "Darwinism" and "evolution" are not synonymous) is "that it has not one syllable in the Bible to support it." So far as we know, the words "preventive hygiene" do not occur in the Bible, but there are some mighty good illustrations of the practice of this extremely modern science. That the hygiene of the Old Testament was cloaked in the form of ceremonial religion does not alter the fact of its existence.

Thirdly, Mr. Bryan says, "Neither Darwin nor his supporters have been able to find a fact in the universe to support their hypothesis. . . . Wherever a form of life, found in the rocks, is found among living organisms, there is no material change from the earliest form in which it is found."

We think if Mr. Bryan will look to no more remote an authority than the Encyclopædia Britannica he will find under the word "Equida" an excellent cut showing the successive development of the left fore foot of horselike animals during successive geological ages, or if he will walk out into some neighbor's potato patch and remind himself that

the nourishing tubers buried under the soil have been developed in a matter of a few centuries from a wild plant of the Andes, he may discover other evidence of the possibility of evolution.

Again, Mr. Bryan says, "Evolutionists, not being willing to accept the theory of creation, have to explain everything, and their courage in this respect is as great as their efforts are laughable." It is not the function of science, as we understand it, to explain creation. So

far as we know, scientists of authority have attempted only to describe certain processes of creation as they are unfolded by research and study.

We are sorry that we have space only for these brief quotations from Mr. Bryan's article. They do not represent his position fully, and, perhaps he would say, they do not represent it fairly. But they cover, it seems to us, the main points of his-may we again use the word to which he objected?-hypothesis.

The event will recall to the memory of some now living the pleasure they had as boys many years ago in reading the then recently published volumes of Arctic exploration written by Dr. Kane and by Dr. Isaac Hayes. Both men were surgeons. Dr. Kane had served in the American Navy, had visited the Philippines, and had practiced as a surgeon in China, Africa, and the Mexican War. Dr. Hayes accompanied Dr. Kane on his second Arctic adventure as surgeon.

In those days the purpose of most Arctic expeditions was to discover traces of the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin. Both of Kane's voyages were financed by Henry Grinnell, of New York. The first set out in May, 1850. It searched the region around Lancaster Sound, but its two vessels, the Advance and the Rescue, were caught in the ice in Wellington Channel and drifted over one thousand miles into Baffin Bay before they could be extricated.

In the second Grinneli expedition Dr. Kane on one of his sledge journeys discovered the famous Humboldt Glacier. The Advance had to be abandoned, and the party reached communication with

the rest of the world only after a boat journey of twelve hundred miles. It has been said that this second voyage added more to the knowledge of the Arctic regions than any attempted up to that time.

Dr. Hayes had the special gift of writing a stirring narrative, and, while his more sensational discoveries were not sustained by later explorers, he gave the reading public in his books called "An Arctic Boat Journey" and "The Open Polar Sea" thrilling narratives of adventure and danger hardly equaled in recent days except by Shackleton's "South." Dr. Hayes believed in an open polar sea, and made a voyage of his own with only fourteen persons besides himself on board his ship. He reached a point from which he saw an open sea. Exactly where this point was is still uncertain, but it probably was Cape Goode.

No one doubts, we believe, that Dr. Hayes was perfectly honest in his belief that he saw before him an open polar sea which would furnish a route to the Pole in summer-time. This was not a case of Dr. Cook and Admiral Peary. But time has shown that what Dr. Kane recorded was scientific fact and that what Dr. Hayes recorded was partly the result of the glamour of his own enthusiasm. It must be admitted, however, that Dr. Hayes contributed one thing of importance to our polar knowledge when he traced the coast of Grinnell Island in a sledge journey under Dr. Kane's command. He failed lamentably, however, when he insisted on leaving Dr. Kanë and trying to reach Upernivik by a boat journey and was forced to give it up and return to Dr. Kane's leadership.

OVER HALF A CENTURY

FOR

NOR more than fifty years Frederick Walton, who died Sunday, February 26, had been in the employ of The Outlook. Entering the composing-room of this periodical in 1869, he was for many years in charge of its mail list during the days when nearly all newspaper and magazine mail lists were set in type from which the familiar "yellow label" was printed that appeared on the newspaper wrapper under the Dick system. When that system was superseded by more modern methods, Mr. Walton still remained an active member of The Outlook's "chapel." Always a willing worker, during fifty years he was almost never absent from his post on a working day. Even when, at an advanced age, he was urged to retire on a pension, he preferred to remain an active factor in the busy life of the composing-room. He will be missed by his fellow-workers and associates, who highly appreciated his

indomitable spirit, his zeal in his work, and his skill in his special department.

craft the country has purchased, the R-38. Secretary Weeks, of the War Department, has already put himself on record, as reported in the press, by say

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THE ROMA

S the horror and consternation at the destruction of the airship Roma, near Norfolk, Virginia, on February 21, become dimmer with time there should be no relaxation of the demand for exhaustive consideration. This should be, not merely of the exact causes of the disaster and the question as to who is to blame, but also of the larger question as to whether it is expedient and worth while for the United States to continue to expend enormous sums of money and risk such terrible losses of life as have occurred through the Roma and through the only other enormous lighter-than-air

the question with his military advisers and air experts, he was skeptical as to the advisability of further experiments in this type of craft.

We are not now expressing an opinion as to conclusions to be reached, but that the problem is one of the utmost seriousness is beyond question. The millions of money expended and the American lives lost are not in themselves positive proofs against continuance. They do, however, shift the burden of proof to those who claim that only by experience in every branch of air navigation can the possibilities of the air for the future be ascertained.

The cause of the calamity (as it is generally understood and subject to

the strong light which should be thrown on every point by official inquiry) was the failure of the controls governing the steering gear; it failed to respond; the airship went down by the head; when not very far from the ground, it struck electric wires carrying heavy voltage; fire resulted; when the airship crashed into a pile of débris, the fire spread instantaneously and it was impossible to disentangle the folds of the structure in time to rescue many of those who had not been killed outright by the crash. Thirty-four men were killed altogether, including thirteen commissioned officers, twelve non-commissioned officers, four privates, and five civilians.

The Roma had been considered comparatively safe, for she had made a number of successful voyages in Italy and had breasted a fierce gale in her first American test, on December 25, in a flight from Langley Field, Virginia, to

Washington and back. Her construction, unlike that of the British-made dirigible R-38, which was to be called in America the ZR-2, was only semirigid, and this was thought to be an advantage, although the German airship builders still claim that the rigid type is the best.

It had been hoped that, instead of hydrogen gas, helium gas might be used with the Roma. The public is now somewhat confused as to the question of helium-for instance, there have been statements since the Roma fell that the Air Service had at various places enough helium to fill the Roma twice over; on the other hand, it has been asserted that the quantity of helium available is not sufficient to make its use at present practical. If helium had been used in this case, it would not, of course, have prevented the fall of the Roma, but it would presumably have prevented the fire. It may fairly be asked whether the need of a trial trip of the Roma before she could be provided with helium gas was urgent enough to make it advisable to hasten, rather than to delay, this particular voyage.

It is clear that Congress is not to blame, as some rash writers first stated, in neglecting appropriations for lighterthan-air craft work; as Secretary Weeks has pointed out, Congress has appropriated large sums, and in addition to the very great cost of the Roma itself, great amounts have been expended in the search for helium and in experimenting with it.

Rumors that the Roma was unsafe should not be accepted without the fullest proof. Nevertheless it is only right to report the existence of such rumors. We mention them in order to urge that they be cleared up beyond the shadow of a doubt. The most important is found in the publication in the New York "Herald" of February 23 of what purports to be a letter from Lieutenant Clifford E. Smythe, of Chicago, to his father, said to have been written after the Roma's flight to Washington. Lieutenant Smythe perished in the disaster. The "Herald" in printing the letter states that it was made public by Dr. J. M. Nicholson, a friend of the Smythe family. Lieutenant Smythe is quoted as saying in this letter that it would be "criminal negligence to fly her again without making changes in her construction." As to the Washington voyage, he is quoted as saying: "The dirigible seemed sluggish and slow to respond to the controls. While she ended the trip all right, she disobeyed her rudder several times in a way that was alarming."

We understand that some doubt has

(C) Keystone

THE ROMA'S RUDDER PLANE been thrown on the authenticity of this letter, but either it should be positively denied at the source or be included in the evidence. Another similar newspaper report is that M. J. Beall, a sergeant engineer of the Roma, who was killed in the disaster, wrote a letter to Z. E. Uland in which he said: "This ship is a death trap; it's going down one of these days and only three or four of us are coming out alive." This we find in the New York "World."

No one will regard such letters or reports of letters as conclusive, but if they are authentic and indicative of a general state of feeling among the men of the Roma that should be given due emphasis.

It need hardly be pointed out that the question of enormous lighter-than-air dirigibles is entirely apart from that of the use of small dirigibles, and still more apart from that of air navigation by heavier-than-air craft-that is, airplanes and seaplanes. No one doubts that experiment with the latter classes of craft is indispensable for the continued development of our knowledge of the navigation of the air and for more than military purposes. The record of the Zeppelins, or monster dirigibles, in war time was not very encouraging. Some remarkable trips were made with them; one famous journey from Germany to Africa was really a record-breaker, and we all remember the trip of the R-34 from England to the United States and back without the slightest accident-the only round transatlantic trip ever made by any kind of air craft. But the percentage of their destruction was excessively large.

Almost simultaneously with the Roma disaster came newspaper despatches from England giving the report of the British Air Ministry about the wreck of the dirigible R-38 after it had been purchased by the United States, with the loss of forty-four lives, including both American and British citizens. The outstanding point in this report is the decided opinion of the experts that the

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MONG the provisions of the Ameri

can Constitution there is none that reveals the foresight of its framers more conclusively than that which requires every treaty to receive the approval of the Senate before råtification. That single provision has saved the United States from some of the worst evils of secret diplomacy and has made all compacts between America and other countries, not merely promises for the American people by their Government, but promises by the people themselves under the operation of public opinion. That provision is an outstanding expression of the American view of sovereignty. In many other countries sovereignty reposes in the rulers. Here, on the other hand, sovereignty reposes in the people. That sovereignty, sometimes exercised through the several States, sometimes exercised through Congress, and in the matter of treaties exercised through the Senate, is in this Republic under the control, not of the will or whim of an individual, but of public opinion. Although the President is in some respects the most powerful head of a state anywhere in the world, he is not a sovereign himself, but the agent of the sovereign people; and, although he has power to initiate negotiations, he is subject to public opinion in carrying them out, because ultimately he must submit the result of those negotiations, if it is to be binding, to the Senate for their advice and consent, and consequently through the Senate to the scrutiny of public opinion.

Impatience with the Senate because it chooses to exercise the power which the Constitution reposes in it is not justified. Indeed, if the Senate neglected to exercise that power it would be culpable, and would be disloyal to the people. Naturally those citizens whose hearts are set upon some special treaty are inclined to find fault with the Senate if that body does not at once fall in with their desire to see the treaty ratified; but if they denounce the Senate for thwarting their will they may be simply mistaking their own will for that of the whole people.

At the same time it is right and just