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Volume 54

O one outside official circles seems to know precisely what the Government means to do with the dispatch-boat Bancroft. It has been reported and denied that the Bancroft is to go through the Dardanelles with or without permission and anchor at Constantinople, where she is to serve as a guard-ship for Minister Terrell. Everything points to a determination on the part of the Government to send the Bancroft through the Dardanelles, not for the sake, as some people suppose, of attempting to do anything about the Armenian question, but for the purpose, by her presence, of lending support to our claims for damage done to the property of American citizens and the injury and violence to American subjects under Turkish rule. Reparation has been demanded again and again, but no reparation has been made, and the country will be very glad if it turns out that the Government has at last decided to convince Turkey that there is one Power at least which she cannot always hoodwink and evade. The situation is interesting in many ways. The Dardanelles, or narrow passage connecting the Ægean Sea and the Sea of Marmora, is about forty-five miles long and varies in width, its greatest breadth being about four miles. The entrance is protected by a number of fortifications. When Turkey controlled all the seacoasts in the neighborhood, the Dardanelles could properly be regarded as a closed sea, and Turkey assumed the right to exclude foreign war-vessels. When the Black Sea passed under Russian control, this right, under the law of nations, ceased to exist. however, agreed in the Treaty of Paris in 1856, and in that of London in 1871, that the Dardanelles should be closed to war-ships, except such as the Turkish Government chose to give the right of way. Qur Government has never recognized this concession to Turkey as in any sense binding on the Powers who were not parties to the treaty, and has always assumed that its war-ships have a perfect right to go to and from the Black Sea through the Dardanelles. As a matter of courtesy, however, whenever it has been desired to send a ship through the Dardanelles, the consent of the Sultan has been asked. The Bancroft, which is a very small dispatch-boat, has been selected in order to avoid all objections against her size and armament.

It is the duty of a government to protect its citizens wherever it has the power; where it has not the power it should cease all pretense of protection and declare frankly its powerlessness, that they may seek safety elsewhere-in flight if necessary. American property has been destroyed, American lives endangered, and the American flag insulted in Turkey. Whether this has been done by the connivance or because of the incompetence of the Sultan it is needless to inquire. It is our bounden duty to do one of two things: either to notify the American citizens who are pursuing a quiet and legitimate calling in Turkey that we are unable to protect them and their property, or else to proceed at once vigorously to afford

Number 17

them protection, by insisting upon the payment of indemnity for the injuries already inflicted, and upon the protection of them from future threats and danger. What we have no right to do is to temporize and palter and leave Turk and American alike uncertain of our purpose. It is, therefore, cause for gratification that the Bancroft has been ordered to go to Constantinople and that the American fleet has been ordered to rendezvous in the vicinity, and we trust that this means that the Administration has determined to afford adequate protection to the persons and property of its citizens in Turkey, at whatever cost to us, and at whatever hazard of war to Europe. Bad as war is, a timid and truculent spirit in the presence of an armed bully is worse; and that has been the apparent spirit of the European powers in the presence of Turkey. We believe that the American public, without respect to party, will support the Administration in pursuing a different policy and exhibiting a different spirit.

The local political situation in San Francisco is peculiar and significant. There are nearly six hundred men in the field, including the National tickets. Two Republican city tickets, two Democratic, two Prohibition, a Non-partisan, a Labor, and others are to be dealt with on election day. Why this confusion and worse than folly? Because in this way the main issues are better concealed, the new charter can perhaps be defeated, and, if it is carried, its provisions. can thus be more easily evaded. But there is another reason. Salaries of officers have been too high, clerkships too numerous, the work required too easy; hence, in hard times, the pressure of men and women seeking office or appointments is greater than ever. Overpaid municipal employees have not only demoralized the public servicethey have misled friends and acquaintances, who now want equally good sinecures. In San Francisco at the present time the salaries of subordinates are about twice as much as those paid by private firms for similar services. A correspondent of the "Argonaut" lately looked up this matter, and states that in San Francisco "a competent male stenographer or bookkeeper receives, in private service, about $60 per month;" the city pays, for fewer hours and easier tasks, from $125 to $150. A similar difference, it is stated, is everywhere manifest. The wages of skilled labor have steadily decreased during the past decadeexcepting in political circles. Taken in the aggregate, the vast sums of money thus paid out (over and above what private employers are paying) form a corruption fund which is constantly in use, injuring not only the public service, but also the men and women who receive it, and are thus yoked to political machines. yoked to political machines. Civil Service Reform principles should everywhere be extended to State, county, and city affairs. In California the fee system and mileage system should be abolished, and salaries reduced to the ́ same rate that prevails in private employment. Good Government Clubs organized in every precinct of San Francisco, and sending delegates quarterly to central asso

ciations, would be of much service in forming public opinion and in organizing a tireless campaign in the interests of the taxpayers.

There is constant evidence in the expression of opinion from the most influential sources in England that the desire in that country for adjustment of all differences with this country is deep and general. In a recent speech at Aberdeen, Professor Bryce expressed his earnest hope that Lord Salisbury would take the earliest opportunity of bringing the negotiations relating to the Venezuelan matter to a satisfactory issue, and of settling the terms of a treaty in time to bring it before the United States Senate at an early date. He said that it would be a very great service to England if Lord Salisbury would conclude a general treaty of arbitration, toward which very considerable progress had been made. In his judgment, the Premier had been overcautious in seeking to restrict the scope of arbitration. To those questions involving national honor, about which a great deal of vague and very loose writing has been. indulged in on both sides of the Atlantic, Professor Bryce brings the sound common sense of a high-minded man in words which must carry conviction with them to all reasonable and thoughtful people. He proposes that disputes "affecting the honor or territorial integrity of either country" should not go to the court of arbitration unless by a special agreement outside the general treaty. Questions alleged to involve "national honor" are often the most delicate questions, and, therefore, those in which arbitration would be most useful, for the worth of arbitration lies largely in the fact that it saves national honor. A nation is not dishonored by accepting the decision of a properly constituted tribunal of arbitration, any more than a man is dishonored by referring to an ordinary court of justice matters which would a century ago have led him to challenge his opponent to a duel.

The Indian Conference loses nothing in interest as the years go by. Though much has been accomplished in the past, there was a strong feeling expressed at the meeting last week that much yet remains to be done. Many warm friends of the meeting were missed, but, in spite of the empty places left by death and by the necessary absence of those usually at Mohonk, there was a large attendance, and the six sessions were crowded with listeners as well as with speakers. There were few from the field, but Mrs. Eldridge, a field matron from the Navajos, and Miss Collins, from the Sioux, amply made up for any deficiency. The former made an earnest plea for farming implements and seed to be wisely distributed, for though the Navajos are self-supporting, they are poverty-stricken because they cannot sell the wool on which they depend for a living. Miss Collins was called out again and again to answer practical questions as to school work, mission agencies, the character of the people, and the outlook. She commanded the respect and admiration of every one by her winning personality and sterling common sense. After twenty-one years of work and experience among the Sioux, Miss Collins declares that the problem is not a problem of what to do with the red man, but what to do with the white man. Given good agents, teachers, missionaries, and neighbors, and the Indians are as easily reached by high and noble influences, and may as readily be Christianized, as any others. The great problem is how to secure these. Especially does the question of securing and retaining good agents loom up with a Presidential election at hand. A strong sentiment was expressed by all friends of the Indians that an effort should be made in

advance of the ides of March to influence the incoming President of the United States to retain, if possible, the present Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the Superintendent of Schools, and all agents who merit retention.

Far and away ahead of everything at this Indian Conference was the able address of the Hon. H. L. Dawes on the Indian Territory. It was said to cut the last Gordian knot in that tangled skein. It is to be printed in full and distributed broadcast from the press of Captain Pratt at Carlisle. The following are the main points of this compact and comprehensive address:

"Why is it that this Territory is left without State or territorial government? There is no answer in law or in the Constitution, much less in the possibilities of continuance. It grows out of the belief of the people of the United States that somehow or other they have bound themselves to let it be so-the belief that the United States has abdicated authority over these people. If it is so, it is to be respected and adhered to so long as the public safety will permit, but no longer. I respect the sentiment that is solicitous lest we should violate the treaty rights of these people. But I am unable to come to the conclusion that we ever did or ever had the power to abdicate our authority over any foot of the territory governed by the Constitution and the flag of this country. It was beyond the power of this Government under the Constitution to do it. The Constitution is the measure of the power of every branch of this Government. Congress sold this land to those people for a purpose, but the rules and regulations concerning it, the government of it, it not only never did sell to them, but

never could have sold. The Congress of the United States has never attempted to do this. Whatever was done was in a sort of treaty not made by Congress, and there is not a jot of authority in the Constitution for those people to set up a government over a portion of the people of this country that is independent of the United States. The title was conveyed to these nations for the benefit of the people. It was put in their hands as trustees for each and every one of the citizen Indians. Every one of these treaties contemplates two things-first, they shall hold this land strictly for the use of each and every Indian, share and share alike, and they provide that the old system should pass away. They provide that whenever they choose they may take land in allotment, and the United States shall survey the land for them at its own expense; that whenever they choose they may establish a territorial government and have a delegate in Congress. This is what the Commission has been importuning the United States at one end and the Indians at the other to do. And that is what those who hold the power and are gathering the fruits of their iniquitous greed into their

pockets have resisted to this day. This Commission has asked for

the violation of no treaty obligation. We were charged from the beginning to say to these people, Our desire is that you shall do this yourselves. The condition of things is growing worse every hour that it continues. No description of the crimes committed will compare with the reality, and it was our duty to impress upon them that a change must come. And I am glad to say that the light is breaking in upon them. They begin to see that the end has come, and they are beginning to negotiate with us now. Suppose they have an independent government, who made it? The United States made it, and it can unmake it. While the property conveyed to these people is a vested right that can never be taken from them, the political status is not a vested right. There is no political condition that is a vested right. It is constantly being changed by the power that made it; and the power that made whatever independent authority is there was the Nation, and the United States has the power to resume it. These nations held the title in trust for the people. What have they done? They have misappropriated the trust. What is plainer than that if a trustee violates a trust he may be removed? It is in behalf of the Indian, not of the white men, that we were sent down there; and it is in behalf of the Indian that we plead to have his possessions allotted to him, by his own act, by the Government of the United States, or by some court in equity."

Chicago is quietly solving one of its most perplexing municipal problems-that of the "deadly grade-crossing." For years past the railroads have reached their down-town terminals in the heart of the city by crossing hundreds of streets at the pavement level, only a small proportion of the intersections being protected by gates or watchmen. The inevitable result of this condition was an appalling loss of life and property and a costly hindrance to street-car

transit and other traffic. In one year the average of persons killed and maimed in grade-crossing accidents reached more than one for every day, the crushing of a crowded trolley-car by a rapidly moving train being a not infrequent Occurrence. The residents of the afflicted districts held mass-meetings and sent in petitions, and the newspapers fumed and scolded, but the feeble City Council seemed unwilling or unable to grapple with the problem. At last the immense expense and danger of maintaining gradecrossings in a thickly populated portion of the city, combined with a desire to control the World's Fair traffic, prompted the Illinois Central Railroad in the winter of 1892-93 to elevate two miles of its tracks and build twelve iron bridges at street intersections, bearing the entire expense of the undertaking. It was a striking objectlesson to other railroad corporations. Although the first outlay was enormous, it did away with the costly gate and watchman service at scores of street intersections, saved the continual drain of damage suits for loss of life and property, and enabled the railroad company to run its trains at full speed in the heart of the city, thus materially shortening its time-schedule, especially to suburban points. This marked financial success of the experiment emboldened the City Council to approach the other railroad companies with track-elevation propositions. A committee was appointed, and the results of the first few conferences. showed that nearly every company having down-town terminals was not only willing but anxious to elevate its tracks, provided a satisfactory agreement could be made with the city. The Lake Shore and Rock Island Railroads were the first to begin work, and they have now completed the elevation of nearly seven miles of their tracks, and have built twenty-four subways at street intersections. More than four miles of the tracks belonging to the Northwestern Railroad have also been elevated in one of the most congested parts of the city, and the company is engaged at present in still further extending its work. This undertaking has gone forward in all cases without interfering with the running of trains, and some of it has been done

with marvelous rapidity. In forty-five working days

the Northwestern Railroad elevated two and one-half miles of its track, built thirteen subways, and crossed twentytwo streets. Several other railroad companies are about to begin the work of track-elevation, and the Council Committee is confident that within two years the deadly gradecrossing will be a thing of the past. In many places in the city the elevation of tracks will present the unique spectacle of three-story transit—the electric cars on the street level, steam cars thirteen and one-half feet above, and the structure of the elevated railroad towering still higher at the fourth floors of the neighboring buildings.

Princeton College celebrates this week the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its foundation with exercises of unusual academic interest, variety, and dignity, fitly commemorating the event by formally changing its title to Princeton University, and by the completion of a very large endowment fund. The Outlook will give its readers next week a sympathetic interpretation of the spirit of the College, with its historical background, from the hand of the Rev. Dr. Henry van Dyke, one of its most distinguished alumni, who is to be the poet at the exercises on Wednesday, when Mr. Woodrow Wilson is to be the orator. Princeton was the third American college, in point of time, and has always been one of the most useful and influential of our institutions. In spite of its identification in the popular mind with religious conservatism, it has done not a little for the intellectual liberation of the country.

The work of Dr. McCosh, for instance, in boldly announcing his belief in the method of evolution at a time when that method was so generally identified in the minds of religious people with agnosticism and even atheism, was a service of the very highest order to untrammeled Christian thinking. thinking. The growth of Princeton in recent years has been almost phenomenal. No college is more beloved by its alumni, and no Northern college has a stronger hold on the people of the South and the Central West than the ancient institution at Princeton.

Mount Holyoke College is making a brave and self-sacrificing effort to recover from its recent disaster. The ruins of the building in which the institution began its organic life in 1836 furnish perhaps the most eloquent plea, not only for the restoration of the structure itself, but for the building of the College on larger lines. To graduates and undergraduates alike, what seemed a calamity has apparently been transmuted into a blessing by the ardor of spirit and the intense loyalty to the institution which have been aroused. The college work goes on as before; recitations, lectures, and laboratory work have been conducted almost without interruption in the other buildings of the institution, and the determination is evident on all sides that the work of the year shall not suffer in any wise from the destruction of the main building. Since June, 1895, the alumnæ of the College have been working to secure the $150,000 necessary in order to make available Dr. Pearson's gift of $50,000 for an endowment fund. Early this month Dr. Pearson placed $40,000 in the hands of the Trustees to be used in building in any way they thought wise. This has given the alumnæ new courage in their endeavor to aid Mount Holyoke in this crisis of her history. They ought not to stand alone, for an institution with such a history belongs, not to those whom it has trained, but to the whole country, to whose better life it has made so generous a contribution.

The report of the Commissioner of Education contains the

report of the Sub-Committee of the National Association on

the organization of city school systems. The Committee consisted of the President of the University of Illinois and the Superintendents of Schools of Boston, Chicago, Washington, and the State Superintendent of New Jersey. This Committee has been most active in investigating the school systems in many large cities, and its report is based on conclusions reached after these investigations. The Committee reports that there should be two departments of administration in every school system; one department managing the business affairs, the other supervising the instruction. The Committee believes that reputable men of affairs should be appointed to Boards of Education for the administration of business affairs, but that the departments of instruction should be administered wholly from a scientific educational basis and controlled by experts. These two departments must work together harmoniously and sympathetically if the best results are to be attained. The Committee believes that the larger the percentage of citizens in any given locality interested in public-school affairs, the more perfect is that school system. The Committee also believes that appointments to the Board of Education should be regulated wholly by law; that even the function of the appointing power of the Mayor should be regulated by law; that the school system should be absolutely emancipated from partisan politics and dissociated from municipal affairs. In all cities of less than five hundred thousand inhabitants the Board of Education should not number more than nine, and, in the