The negro is proverbially indolent, and tropical nature yields what he needs almost without any labor. What he finds most disagreeable is steady, strictly regulated work under white supervision. Hence the difficulty of securing plantation and railroad hands; and they demand excessive wages. Successful efforts are now being made to contract for laborers from the thickly settled interior in larger numbers and for longer periods. The second condition which awaits fulfillment is the construction of railroads. About 80 miles of road in use and 140 in course of building are scant means of communication in so vast a country, in which traffic by wagons is excluded for lack of draught animals. Perhaps the contemplated parliamentary trip will conduce to the lengthening of this road into the interior. In spite of the paucity of railroads, and the difficulties of the labor question, German industry has achieved gratifying results, which are evidenced in the colony's balance of trade. The region about Lake Victoria Nyanza has in the last years assumed special importance; its surplus of cattle, with their by-products, is carried to the British port Mombasa; cotton is beginning to be raised on a great scale, and, finally, it is hoped that gold may be exploited with the increase of transport facilities. Some foes of colonization, the writer concludes, may find his description too optimistic. But it is based, he adds, upon personal knowledge of land and people. They will, naturally, hold up the unexpected revolt of the natives in 1905 as a factor to be reckoned with in retarding the economic development of the country. To give the actual reasons for those strange uprisings seems impossible, as the suppositions are so numerous; but of how little danger these opponents are to German arms is shown by the small sacrifice the revolt cost the Germans,-23 dead, 12 wounded! Fortunately, the disturbances were confined to the south; the central and northern parts, which contain the German plantations, remaining untouched. Finally, the objection that East Africa is a financial drain on the empire should be withdrawn. Remove the heavy military burden, which the empire and not the colony has to bear; diminish the cost of administration by recalling the debt of 600,000 marks which the colony has to numerous useless officials, and, lastly, clear the pay annually to the German East African Company on a loan contracted by the empire. REASONS FOR ANGLO-GERMAN FRIENDSHIP. IT T is, of course, impossible to point to any overt act on the part of the German and English governments or the German and English peoples which would lend support to the statement that the two nations are rapidly drifting toward active hostility. Despite the recent visit of the British King to Germany, however, and the German teachers' cordial reception in London, and despite all belief to the contrary by peaceloving editors like Mr. Stead, the fact remains that the British press, as a whole, is full of anti-German sentiments, and the inspired periodicals of the Fatherland are generally bitterly anti-British. One need only pick up any issue of such representative British monthlies as the National Review or the Contemporary to see how Germany is regarded in England as having become the traditional and inevitable enemy of Britain, whom the British army and the British fleet will some day have to meet in battle. On the other hand, such articles as the inspired one recently appearing in the Deutsche Revue, on the purchase price of German favor to England, in which the writer refers to the Anglo-French understanding in these words: "The policy of ententes which excludes Germany and is directed against Germany is an exceedingly dangerous policy for England," are not calculated to strengthen the rest of the world's belief in Berlin's protestations of peace and love for all mankind, the Englishman in particular. Count Bernstorff, son of a former Prussian Ambassador to England, and himself for a long time in close relations with that country, discusses very judicially, in the Deutsche Revue, the causes of this discord between Germany and Great Britain. If the people of the respective countries understood each other better, he maintains, and made due allowance for varying conditions, the feeling of animosity, the writer believes, would yield to kinder sentiments. Among other things he says that the English are, as a rule, conversant only with their own tongue; it is, consequently, difficult for them to fully judge a foreign nation, in spite of their traveling propensity, and but few Germans visit England. There is an obvious difference, too, between the inner policy of England and, for instance, that of the leading German state. In the former, the parliamentary system has been developed through ages of struggle in which the practical English sense and respect for law have been essential aids. Prussia has become what she is through her princes. The rightful participation of the people in the government is a thing to be gradually naturalized. Even to-day many politicians question whether, with the growth of Social-Democracy, a Reichstag based upon universal suffrage can remain a permanent institution. In England such problems have already been solved and are matters of history. Many Germans regard the parliamentary government of England with mistrust, for instance in the way of concluding treaties with her, since a certain ministry in question may at any time give way to another,while Germans strike Englishmen as reactionary. As to the question of religion, in Germany the political parties coincide with the religious ones; it is, for example, taken for granted that the Conservatives are believers and the Social-Democrats atheists. German liberalism believes the abandonment of firm Christian doctrines necessary to its full development. In England historical tradition is quite different. Cromwell was a strong Calvinist. Among those who in his time. achieved political freedom, the Puritans were foremost. Even now the most positive Christian believers are to be found in the matters with perfect freedom; therefore, ranks of the Liberal politicians. In the Count's estimation, firm religious conviction is an element of strength, and this the German Liberals lack. In social concerns the Englishman is more conservative than the German. The wealth of the old aristocracy is regarded with less envy; their display of a certain amount of luxury is liked,-nay, desired,-while in Germany it is begrudged. England's policy of expansion is not peculiar to her, since it is shared by all great nations. Her insular position makes inner extension impossible. Most of the conquests of Victoria's reign were commercial footholds. To term this a "commercial policy" is not just. Since Germany's flag floats in all seas, in all portions of the globe, she too, has had to gain colonies which essentially serve the purposes of trade. For 200 years England has been ruled by monarchs of German extraction. This, which might seem to form a bond of union, has in various quarters aroused a fear among the English of foreign interference. For the rest, the press is undoubtedly greatly to blame for the existing ill-humor in the two countries. In England the public has long been accustomed to see everything FAST FRIENDS! But the best of friends sometimes fall out. From Neue Gluhlichter, Vienna. without fully realizing their responsibility for the effect produced in foreign countries. And in Germany, also, it is undeniable that the way King Edward was spoken of by the press on his accession, as well as its attitude during the Boer War, was well calculated to irritate the British. In spite of some differences, which have. here been indicated, the two nations are, after all, kindred. The German who knows the English feels much nearer to them than, for instance, to the Latin or Slavic peoples. There has always been an active interchange in science and literature between the two nations. German science is held in high esteem in England, while the rich English litterature is widely read in Germany. The real ground of the present dissension between the brother nations lies in the fact that England, the mistress of the sea, "looks with a certain jealousy upon the growth of the German navy and the magnificent development of German commerce and industry." The Germans, in conclusion, will not allow themselves to be disturbed by this jealousy in their maritime and commercial expansion. The feeling will pass away with time; but the German press should take care not to augment it by attacks HARD LOT OF THE SWISS SILK-WEAVERS. THE popular idea of Switzerland as a land without poverty or oppression is rudely shaken by Erik Givskov, a Danish sociologist who has studied the Swiss peasantry in their own homes, and who writes, in Nordisk Tidskrift (Stockholm) of some of his observations. He gives the title of "Embroidery as a Home Industry" to his article, because it deals principally with the efforts of the peasantry in the cantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell to eke out the meager yields of their barren, overtaxed, and deeply mortgaged hillside farms by producing some of the four well-known kinds of Swiss embroidery, either by hand or with the help of machines. dren,-work from 12 to 16 hours a day, never leaving the house for a moment except when the scanty harvest of hay has to be garnered. One of the results of this life is that the mortality rate is higher in the country than in the cities throughout Switzerland. And each new generation is more "wormeaten" that the preceding one. MEAGER EARNINGS OF THESE WORKERS. The interesting figures given by Mr. Givskov regarding the earnings of those engaged in making embroideries must here be summarized into the statement that a franc and a half,—or 30 cents,—a day is a fair average. Goaded on by extreme necessity, they cling Mr. Givskov found an overwhelming mato their work to the very edge of the grave, jority of the small landowners and agrarian and the Danish writer saw more than one workers in the northeast corner of Switzer- tottering octogenarian slaving through the land living under conditions so unwholesome long hours between sunrise and sunset to that it would take the crowded tenement earn 50 centimes, that is, 10 cents. How districts of a city like New York to duplicate many are dependent on such wages for their them, and this notwithstanding the fact that living may be judged by the fact that in the their poverty-stricken homes are built in the canton of Appenzell alone there are more midst of scenery which gathers thousands of than 43,000 persons employed at making embeauty-loving tourists each year from all broideries by machine, while 3000 more are corners of the earth. using their hands for the same purpose. To make worse conditions already evil in themselves, the workers are not permitted to deal directly with the manufacturers. Between employers and employed stand a class of middlemen, most of whom are saloonkeepers and owners of small shops. They cheat the workers mercilessly and rob them still more effectively by refusing employment to any one who will not spend what little he earns in the middleman's shop or tavern. "Let us enter one of the houses that look so inviting and neat from the road," says Mr. Givskov. As early as September the fire is lit in the enormous stove that occupies nearly one-fourth of the space in the small, low-ceilinged room. For without the snow is covering all the hills, and we have been making our way to the house through deep slush. Therefore, they must have fire in the stove; but what temperature and what air result from it! Whatever of light and air find a way past the potted plants in the narrow and closely shut windows is, as a rule, shut out by the silk looms that are placed as close to the windows as possible in order to catch every glimpse of daylight. In this small room, where a man of average size generally can touch the ceiling with the crown of his hat, the whole family lives, takes its food, and sleeps. certain outward cleanliness prevails, of course, because the work demands it, but in regard to the care of their own persons the peasants are indescribably negligent, and the exudations of the various members of the family mingle with the smoke from the stove, the smell from the lamp, and the smoke from the tobacco pipes into an atmosphere that almost robs the visitor of his breath. A The food consists of bread, mush, potatoes, a drink euphemistically named "coffee," and, in moments of comparative prosperity, some fat. To keep up this kind of life the peasants, men, women, and chil The children are the worst sufferers from this system, being compelled to get up before daylight to do a part of their share of the work before going to school, and then having to toil from their return till nearly midnight. At school they fall asleep, of course, and of learning they get little or These children, according to Mr. Givskov, are undersized, round-shouldered, and withered before they grow up. Statistics prove that 50 per cent. among them are suffering from bronchitis, epilepsy, or chronic dyspepsia. none. The principal reasons for this state of affairs Mr. Givskov sees in mistaken land laws, which make it possible for the big landowners to grind out of the peasants anything these can earn above mere necessity, and in the prevailing system of direct taxation. An oasis in this desert of despair, and an addi- turers, who, as a rule, withdraw from busitional proof for his contention, the Danish ness early in life as owners of comfortable sociologist discovered in the villages of Buchs fortunes. Yet those peasants have full sufand Grabs, where the peasants own the earth frage; and they use it to maintain a tariff in common, and till it co-operatively. It that practically doubles the price of food. was the one really prosperous spot he ran across in that part of Switzerland. Mr. Givskov points out that an industry which brings so little to the workers themselves pours millions of francs into the country. But the beneficiaries are the manufac But this does not mean that the home industry is doomed. The impossibility for the Swiss peasants to derive a decent income from their work is the result of social, not of economical, causes. Give them only access to the soil, and the small industries will again flourish in the huts of the land. 'LITTLE DORRIT" AS SHE IS TO-DAY. TAKING advantage of the fact that un der the patronage of some well-known London ladies, Mrs. Mary Ann Cooper, the original of Dickens' "Little Dorrit," was conducting a bazaar in aid of some poor boys, a representative of the London Daily Chronicle called on the old lady, several weeks ago, and had a very interesting talk with her concerning her personal reminiscences of Dickens. Mrs. Cooper, who is now in her ninetyfifth year, was once a famous beauty. Her portrait was painted by a famous portrait painter, and her bust cut in marble by a wellknown sculptor of the past generation, both works of art being exhibited at the Royal Academy. The work of the sculptor was purchased by the present Duke of Devonshire. Mrs. Cooper, whose maiden name was Mitton, lived with her parents in Clarendon Square in 1822, opposite a house occupied by the Dickens family. A boy-and-girl friendship sprang up between Charles and Mary Ann, which lasted for many years, and some memories of which were given in these columns last spring. It should be added that Dickens' heroine merely took her name from a nickname bestowed on Mary Ann in her youth, and that the adventures of "Little Dorrit" as a child of the Marshalsea had no foundation in fact as regards Mrs. Cooper. At 94 Mrs. Cooper is slightly deaf and suffers from rheumatism, and, although her memories of "Phiz," Dickens' first illustrator, are growing dim, those concerning "my Charles," as she calls Dickens, are retained and possibly embellished through much repeating. 'Little Dorrit," as greatly beloved in the village of Southgate to-day as when to quietest, the weakest of Heaven's creatures," enjoys excellent health, physically and mentally. The accompanying drawing was made from a photograph sold at the Bazaar. It shows "Little Dorrit" as she is to-day,just after her ninety-fourth birthday. "LITTLE DORRIT AS SHE LOOKS TO-DAY. Of the immortal novel, in which Little Dorrit plays the title rôle, there have been endless praise and criticism. In the current number of the Westminster Review, Mr. William A. Sibbald, writing on "Charles Dickens Revisited," says: "Those passages in which the Father of the Marshalsea figures, for mordant humor and realism of the irony TH HARD LOT OF THE SWISS SILK-WEAVERS. 'HE popular idea of Switzerland as a land without poverty or oppression is rudely shaken by Erik Givskov, a Danish sociologist who has studied the Swiss peasantry in their own homes, and who writes, in Nordisk Tidskrift (Stockholm) of some of his observations. He gives the title of "Embroidery as a Home Industry" to his article, because it deals principally with the efforts of the peasantry in the cantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell to eke out the meager yields of their barren, overtaxed, and deeply mortgaged hillside farms by producing some of the four well-known kinds of Swiss embroidery, either by hand or with the help of machines. dren,-work from 12 to 16 hours a day, worm MEAGER EARNINGS OF THESE WORKERS. The interesting figures given by Mr. Givskov regarding the earnings of those engaged in making embroideries must here be summarized into the statement that a franc and a half,—or 30 cents,—a day is a fair average. Goaded on by extreme necessity, they cling Mr. Givskov found an overwhelming ma- to their work to the very edge of the grave, jority of the small landowners and agrarian and the Danish writer saw more than one workers in the northeast corner of Switzer- tottering octogenarian slaving through the land living under conditions so unwholesome long hours between sunrise and sunset to that it would take the crowded tenement earn 50 centimes,—that is, 10 cents. How districts of a city like New York to duplicate them, and this notwithstanding the fact that their poverty-stricken homes are built in the midst of scenery which gathers thousands of beauty-loving tourists each year from all corners of the earth. Let us enter one of the houses that look so inviting and neat from the road," says Mr. Givskov. As early as September the fire is lit in the enormous stove that occupies nearly one-fourth of the space in the small, low-ceilinged room. For without the snow is covering all the hills, and we have been making our way to the house through deep slush. Therefore, they must have fire in the stove; but what temperature and what air result from it! Whatever of light and air find a way past the potted plants in the narrow and closely shut windows is, as a rule, shut out by the silk looms that are placed as close to the windows as possible in order to catch every glimpse of daylight. In this small room, where a man of average size generally can touch the ceiling with the crown of his hat, the whole family lives, takes its food, and sleeps. A certain outward cleanliness prevails, of course, because the work demands it, but in regard to the care of their own persons the peasants are indescribably negligent, and the exudations of the various members of the family mingle with the smoke from the stove, the smell from the lamp, and the smoke from the tobacco pipes into an atmosphere that almost robs the visitor of his breath. many are dependent on such wages for their living may be judged by the fact that in the canton of Appenzell alone there are more than 43,000 persons employed at making embroideries by machine, while 3000 more are using their hands for the same purpose. To make worse conditions already evil in themselves, the workers are not permitted to deal directly with the manufacturers. Between employers and employed stand a class of middlemen, most of whom are saloonkeepers and owners of small shops. They cheat the workers mercilessly and rob them still more effectively by refusing employment to any one who will not spend what little he earns in the middleman's shop or tavern. The children are the worst sufferers from this system, being compelled to get up before daylight to do a part of their share of the work before going to school, and then having to toil from their return till nearly midnight. At school they fall asleep, of course, and of learning they get little or none. These children, according to Mr. Givskov, are undersized, round-shouldered, and withered before they grow up. Statistics prove that 50 per cent. among them are suffering from bronchitis, epilepsy, or chronic dyspepsia. The principal reasons for this state of afThe food consists of bread, mush, pota- fairs Mr. Givskov sees in mistaken land toes, a drink euphemistically named. cof- laws, which make it possible for the big landfee," and, in moments of comparative pros- owners to grind out of the peasants anything perity, some fat. To keep up this kind of these can earn above mere necessity, and in life the peasants,-men, women, and chil- the prevailing system of direct taxation. An |