1918

WAR RELIEF IN MANILA

I was much interested in the article in The Outlook for November 7, 1917, "The Pacific Coast and War Relief," and I am wondering if, in turn, your readers would care to learn of the relief work being done by the women of Manila.

Although one might not imagine the tropics to be a place in which to collect heavy clothing for the French, such is really the case, as is being constantly demonstrated. Americans coming to Manila from the United States and other cold countries find no use for their heavy garments and shoes, and have donated quantities of practically new clothing to this good cause. By arrangement with the French Government and the United States Army, this clothing is sent free to France.

One interesting way of raising money for war relief work has been developed by the Woman's Club of Manila, which conducts the collection and sale of old newspapers. These are bought by Chinese pedalers at ten centavos a kilo. Quite a substantial sum is raised regularly each month in this manner from material which formerly was destroyed. Old books and magazines are distributed to soldiers and sailors on the transports.

The Woman's Club also set in motion the work of planting vegetables in vacant city lots, and has interested more than a hundred branch Woman's Clubs in the provinces in this work. (The members of these branches are Filipino women, while the Manila club is composed of both Americans and Filipinos.) Through the efforts of the Woman's Club more than 150,000 square meters of land in Manila were put under cultivation in a few months' time. The club also organized a mammoth Agricultural Preparedness Parade, and this was held on August 19, 1917. The Mayor, school-children, various Government bureaus, influential citizens (both men and women), police, etc., took part in this parade, which resulted in the establishment of a Food Commission and in splendid publicity for the work.

Much interest has been taken in both the Allied and the American branches of the Red Cross. Many American women devote a large part of their time in working at the headquarters in the Manila Hotel. At the times of the sale of Liberty bonds the women have taken a very active part in getting subscriptions. About fifteen desks in centrally located stores and offices were used as their headquarters.

Over three hundred pesos was recently sent to New York for the purchase of Lafayette kits from this Club alone.

I have not mentioned private work in behalf of the Belgians or of the French orphans, nor the work for rebuilding French devastated towns. Many organizations, such as the local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and of the Association of Collegiate Alumnæ, are working along these lines.

I feel it a matter of some pride that the women here have shown such an active interest in relief work. We are so far out of the center of things. Our interest in the war has thus far been derived mainly from the magazines, such as The Outlook. Only recently have home letters begun to convey the grim news of friends and relatives off to the front. MRS. LEVANT BROWN, Chairman of the Civic Committee of the Woman's Club of Manila. Manila, Philippine Islands, January 9, 1918.

60

A WORD

FOR

75

PROFITEERS

It has become almost fashionable to speak contemptuously about 'business men." They have become as unpopular as hedgehogs at a picnic. But it is a cheap pastime to denounce all "business" men as Profiteers. Under the present profit system what business man is not obliged to make as much money as he legally can, or be forced to the wall by some competitor who has not such fine sensibilities? And which of you, so smug in your virtue, wouldn't rather eat pate de foi gras than file a schedule of liabilities?-which brings us to the real point of this discussion:

Can we be fair to ourselves in charging only 60c. for a hand-bound, limp, croft-leather volume in the Modern Library? When sixty cents was fixed as our selling price, the United States had not yet declared war against Germany. Since then, the prices of eggs, butter, pork, ice-cream sodas, beef, coal,

cotton, talcum powder, wool, leather, newspapers, filet of sole Marguery, etc., etc., have advanced about 63 132-789%. Even the price of labor has greatly increased. Still there is more than a vague suspicion that the present JAM startlingly high prices are not wholly justified by economic Some zealous and righteous citizens even insist that there are more diamonds, automobiles, fur coats, and gilt edge securities being worn by a select few than ever before.

66

A SELECT

FEW

causes.

But listen to the other side of the question. The other day one of our friendly fellow publishers treated us to a four-course luncheon and gently suggested that we have a lunacy commission appointed for ourselves. "Why, boys," he groaned, here you have about two hundred magazines and newspapers and the leading colleges and schools and libraries singing the praises of the Modern Library in so many different, yet singularly harmonious strains, that if you only had an ear for music you would recognize the tune. It's 'Johnnie, Put Your Price Up!" "Well, we have been seriously considering raising our price," we answered. "I should hope so," he continued, somewhat less gloomily. Smyth of the New York Times, Kerfoot of Life, Davis of the Evening Post, Gerould of the Bellman, Sell of the Chicago News, N. P. D. of the Globe, and the Independent, Reedy's Mirror, Philadelphia Ledger. The Boston Transcript, the Philadelphia Press, the best papers on the Pacific coast-why, great guns, all the critics say the Modern Library was the literary sensation of 1917. You have given the book-loving public the biggest bargain ever. With your fine titles and valuable introductions and attractive binding and clear print, sixty cents is simply ridiculous. What is the new price going to be "We have been thinking of seventy-five cents." Figure your costs!" he angrily interrupted, gulping down a Benedictine and brandy. "You can't do it! Everything is up from 10 to 200% since you started-from composition and plates to binding, from office salaries to royalties. And I understand one of you had the nerve to get married recently. Heaven help her at 75c a volume."

66

"Yes, there is a lot in what you say, my friend," the newly married one of us admitted, after the waiter had softly reminded us that we were not the only ones in the room. "We don't criticise you or any of the others for asking more money for the books you are publishing. We know you are entitled to it. We know that you are simply business men-not Profiteers. We, too, have been thinking about a higher price, but we cannot forget that the Modern Library is a unique institution. When we started it we announced that we did not expect to get rich, and that that was not primarily our ambition. So we have decided to stick to the old price-sixty cents per volume, postage 6c. extra

351

JAM

and we are going to add new titles regularly, with the best introductions we can buy. All the addi tional support we will ask of our friends is to buy four volumes where they used to buy two, and twenty instead of only ten."

WE PAID FOR OUR HATS

JAM

We got our hats (paying for them as usual) and waited a moment for our friend to join us, but he could only gasp feebly, as he lit his fifth fifty-cent cigar, "Don't wait for me, boys. The shock is too great or may be you're only joking.'

We are not-here's the list of titles now included in the Modern Library. They are all hand-bound. In limp Croft Leather, and sell at all stores for sixty cents per volume, 6c. extra by mail. Check the titles you want.

MEN OF THE NATIONAL ARMY ON PARADE

On Washington's Birthday, New York City saw one of the most notable military parades that has ever drawn a cheering crowd into its streets. Nearly ten thousand men of the National Army marched in uniform and under arms as they will appear sooner or later on the French front. The soldiers who formed this great marching body were all from Camp Upton, on Long Island, and most of them were recruits under the selective draft four months ago. A battalion of Negro soldiers formed a part of the procession. Half of this considerable army of men marched up Eighth Avenue, in order to give the West Side a view, and half up First Avenue, to give the East Side a chance to see the soldiers. Both sections then marched toward each other on Fifty-seventh Street, and united and continued the joint parade down Fifth Avenue.

All observers agree that rarely have such crowds been seen in the streets of New York as those that gathered to watch this unique parade. The soldiers made a remarkable impression not only upon civilians but upon expert military judges who reviewed the parade. In physique, in military bearing, in quick response to orders, in thorough knowledge of marching technique, this body of men, only a few months ago untrained civilians, was really magnificent. It should be remembered, too, that most of the officers in command were from the Officers' Reserve Corps, and were themselves civilians not so very long ago. Even more striking than the parade itself was the formation of the men on the street as they arrived at the great Pennsylvania Terminal on their way up from Camp Upton the day before the parade. They stood on Thirty-fourth Street in parade or inspection formation two deep until they turned in a column of fours and marched away.

As one coming out of the Pennsylvania station on that Thursday morning looked upon the long line which stretched a quarter of a mile away, one understood as never before the phrase "in the pink of condition." In the brilliant sunshine of the morning the splendid and healthy color of every man's face made a long streak of pink, as though a painter had taken a mixture of cream-white and rose madder from his palette and had painted it on canvas. This great citizen-soldier parade reflected honor on the men, their officers, the War Department, President Wilson, their Commander-in-Chief, and on the fathers and mothers of the country who so promptly and patriotically have given their sons to the great cause of liberty.

This visible manifestation of what the right kind of military discipline will do for the physique, minds, and morale of Ameryoung men is an argument in favor of universal military training and service which cannot be gainsaid.

ican

LOYALTY FIRST

A

The League for National Unity, of which Cardinal Gibbons is Honorary Chairman and Mr. James M. Beck is Chairman of the Executive Committee, has issued "An Appeal to the Voters of the United States to Elect a War-Till-Victory Congress Next November." Among the signers to this appeal is the Hon. Elihu Root, who suggests as a motto for the Congressional campaign" Loyalty First for Congress." We heartily agree with his statement that "what we want for Congress is the quality of loyalty. Our present business is to elect loyal

hearts."

Washington correspondents report that President Wilson

favors the movement to secure in every district the re-election of all members of Congress who have supported the war, without regard to party. He has already written a letter urging the Democrats in Minnesota to make no nomination against Senator Nelson, who comes up for re-election next fall, and who, though he is a strong Republican, has been a strong supporter of the Administration in all its war measures.

In the judgment of The Outlook, the one issue which confronts the Nation at this time is the vigorous, efficient, and prompt prosecution of the war. The prohibition issue and the woman suffrage issue should by every voter be regarded as subordinate to the war issue. The one question which every voter should ask himself is, not, To what party does this candidate belong-Democratic, Republican, Socialist, Prohibition, or what not?-but, What are his views on the war measures before Congress; what, if he is up for re-election, has been his action, and how far can he be depended on to support the vigorous prosecution of the war, with no peace until the military power which seeks to dominate Europe is destroyed?

GERMANY'S ADVANCE ON RUSSIA

The advance of German armies against Russia has been rapid. and has been practically unresisted both in the north and in the south. The capture of Dvinsk and Lutsk, reported last week, was merely the prelude to the occupation of the great naval fortress of Reval, on the Baltic, which guards St. Petersburg; on the center of the line came the capture of Minsk, and to the south Rovno, formerly a serious obstacle to any German attempt to occupy the Ukraine from the west. Everywhere the German troops took possession of vast quantities of booty-hundreds of cannon and machine guns, thousands of motor cars, and an incalculable amount of food and supplies. From the coast of Esthonia to the southern border of Volhynia Germany has cleared of Russian soldiers a deep section of country and is in full possession.

The leaders of the Bolsheviki in Petrograd soon saw that Germany was following by deeds its declaration that until a peace treaty was signed Germany was at war with Russia, whatever Russia might say as to its no longer being at war with Germany. The Lenine-Trotsky Government at once withdrew its refusal to accept Germany's former terms. But the new offer met at first with little attention. Germany insisted on formal written statements and delayed all efforts towards a peace settlement. It became evident also that now Germany proposed to insist on enormous new demands. The proposals first made at Brest-Litovsk (commonly called the Hoffmann terms, because they were formulated by General Hoffmann) were enlarged, and the Russian territory to be held by Germany, or to be indirectly controlled by it, was made to include almost all of the Baltic provinces, a considerable portion of Esthonia, Poland, and the Ukraine. The new terms proposed also include very large commercial concessions, and, according to some accounts, a large money indemnity. It is perfectly evident that under any circumstances Germany will long maintain an overlordship in these great sections of Russia, and this control may be permanent if the result of the world war permits.

The disillusionment of the Bolsheviki must now be complete. They were sanguine enough to think that their effort at peace would precipitate a social revolution in Germany. Now they know it will not. They were weak enough to believe that Ger

many's willingness to talk about " no annexations and no indemnities" meant something. They now know that Germany defined the phrase so as to allow her grasping and greedy hand to seize immense and valuable territories. Whether the very capital of Russia will fall into German hands or not depends upon Germany's present willingness to make a peace even more favorable to itself than it proposed at the first Brest-Litovsk conference. A study of the accompanying map will give our readers an idea of the extent and possession of the territory over which

the German shadow has fallen.

Germany's whole course forms an ironical comment on the statement of the Chancellor, Count von Hertling, on February 25. He declared: "I can fundamentally agree with the four principles which in President Wilson's view must be applied in a mutual exchange of views, and thus declare with President Wilson that a general peace can be discussed on such a basis.

But he insisted that first "all states and people must recognize these principles," and added, "When President Wilson incidentally says that the German Chancellor is speaking to the tribunal of the entire world, I must decline this tribunal as prejudiced, joyfully as I would greet it if an impartial court of arbitration existed, and gladly as I would co-operate to realize such ideals." Whether it be " no annexations and no indemnities or a theoretical "mutual rapprochement," Germany's expressed willingness to discuss anything is meant to cover her military effort. A direct answer to President Wilson's "fourteen points would be more to the purpose.

Elsewhere in this paper we comment editorially on Russia's position and its future. How the situation is regarded in America may be indicated by two extracts. The New York "Times" comments: "Of course there is no peace for Russia, no freedom for Russians, no future either for the state as a

THE FALL OF JERICHO

resistance.

THE HOME CARD

in

Have TWO WHEATLESS DAYS (Monday and Wednesday) in every week, and ONE WHEATLESS MEAL in every day.

EXPLANATION-On "Wheatless" days and in "Wheatless" meals of other days use no crackers, pastry, macaroni, breakfast food, or other cereal food containing wheat, and use no wheat flour in any form except the small amount that may be needed for thickening soups or gravies, or for a binder in corn bread and other cereal breads. As to bread, if you bake it at home, use other cereals than wheat, and if you buy it, buy only war bread. Our object is, that we should buy and consume one-third less wheat products than we did last year.

Have ONE MEATLESS DAY (Tuesday) in every week and ONE MEATLESS MEAL in every day. Have TWO PORKLESS DAYS (Tuesday and Saturday) in every week. EXPLANATION-"Meatless " means without any cattle, hog, or sheep products. On other days use mutton and lamb in preference to beef or pork, "Porkless" means without pork, bacon, ham, lard, or pork products, fresh or preserved. Use fish, poultry, and eggs. As a nation we eat and waste nearly twice as much meat as we need.

Make every day a FAT-SAVING DAY (Butter, lard, lard substitutes, etc.).

EXPLANATION-Fry less; bake, broil, boil, or stew foods instead. Save meat drippings; use these and vegetable oils for cooking instead of butter. Butter has food values vital to children; therefore give it to them. Use it only on the table. Waste no soap; it is made from fat. Be careful of all fats. We use and waste two and a half times as much fat as we need.

Make every day a SUGAR-SAVING DAY.

EXPLANATION-Use less sugar. Less sweet drinks and candy containing sugar should be used in war time. As a nation we have used twice as much sugar as we need.

Let us remember that there is starvation in Belgium and privation elsewhere, that each pound of food saved by us is a pound

given to the support of our Army or our allies and that each pound wasted or eaten unnecessarily is a pound withheld from them.

WHEAT AT $2.20

The country is heeding the Food Administration's recom mendations. One indication is that the prices of the most popu lar wheat substitutes have lately advanced, so we learn, about a cent a pound wholesale. They may go higher.

If the food problem of the Nation is to be successfully carried out, should not the price for these cereals be fixed? Why should not the Government take the same action regarding corn, rye, barley, and oats that it did with wheat? The answer is that. while normal distribution of all our farm products has been subject to great disturbances during the last three years because of war conditions, only two commodities, namely, wheat and sugar, have been so seriously affected as to require Governmental intervention.

In the attempt to prevent the farmers from holding back their grain, the minimum price for last year's crop was fixed at $2.20, or more than three times the average price of any wheat crop during the two decades before the war. The price of this year's crop was fixed at $2, but so great has been the reluctance to plant among certain classes of farmers, due to more costly labor, seed, and machinery, that bills have been introduced in Congress increasing that figure to $2.50 and even to $2.75.

The President has now taken matters into his own hand and has fixed a general price of $2.20 for this year's crop, establishing differential prices according to the place of delivery, as of course freight differences should be considered in the price fixed.

Two things have been said in adverse criticism of the President's latest price-fixing: First, that future laws having to do with price-fixing will lose all value if the public were to believe that they were subject to change at almost any moment; and, second, and curiously enough on the contrary, that the worst way to regulate prices is by statute, because such a price is regarded as a finality; instead it should be revised according to varying conditions. This disagreement indicates the difficulty inherent in any plan of price-fixing.

It is more comfortable to think that our farmers in general will loyally accept the present decision as an incentive to production, following their action last autumn when they planted an acreage larger than the record of any preceding year. As the President says: "The chief thing to be kept clearly in mind is that regulations of this sort are only a part of the great general plan of mobilization into which every element in the Nation enters in this war as in no other."

THE WISCONSIN SITUATION

Paul Husting, patriot, died last October. He was United States Senator from Wisconsin. He came from a pro-pacifist, pro-German region. But he was ruggedly loyal and militant in his principles and policies of war efficiency.

Wisconsin's living Senator, Robert M. La Follette, is in bad odor because of the speeches, provocative to disloyalty, he has made since the war began, and a Committee of the Senate is now considering a proposal recommending his expulsion from that body.

It is doubtful if Mr. Husting, a Democrat, would have been chosen had Mr. La Follette not bitterly opposed the Republican candidate, ex-Governor Francis E. McGovern. One of the problems now confronting Wisconsin is to determine how much of Senator La Follette's former prestige still remains. Of course Mr. La Follette will endeavor to dictate the selection of a successor to his departed colleague.

In providing for the election of the United States Senators and for the filling of vacancies due to death, resignations, or removal, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution directs the Governors to issue writs of election, but permits the Legislatures to empower the Governors, until elections shall be held, to make temporary appointments. Some States have already so empowered their Governors. But not Wisconsin.

Governor Philipp, who delayed action three months, called a