penses were still less. Adverting to the general increase in living expenses everywhere throughout the country, he makes a telling point when he says: "But notwithstanding this, the salaries of Congressmen and Senators remain precisely what they were forty years ago." The desire of the wealthy to live on a scale proportionate to their means he does not consider reprehensible; "but the result of it," he sagely adds, "is a very serious matter to all of us." Literature and law are resorted to for additional income, but the former is meager and the latter fragmentary. The only paying practice for a lawyer to-day appears to be "corporation" business, and that "in some form or another touches national legislation, either directly or indirectly, in a variety of ways." Hence, it is forbidden territory.

Salary increases will not materially aid in

IN N an open letter addressed to Viscount Hayashi, Japanese Foreign Minister, the Hon. Julius Kumpei Matsumoto, a member of the Japanese Parliament, discusses the latest developments in the diplomatic relations between his own country and the United States. Mr. Matsumoto has been a member of the Japanese Diet for several years. As one of the leaders of the Seiyu Kivai, the Constitutional party of the empire, he is entitled to be heard with respect when he speaks on the subject of naturalization for Japanese. Besides being a lawyer of repute, he is a graduate of two American universities, -Pennsylvania and Brown. From the open letter referred to, which appeared in a recent issue of Dai-Nippon (Greater Japan), a monthly review of Tokio, we quote as follows:

The fundamental cause of the political and social ostracism to which the Japanese are condemned in America is the fact that they have not the privilege of naturalization. If the Japanese had that privilege, and within three years after naturalization they had the rights to vote as the Italians, the Irish, the Germans, and other nationalities have, the voice of Japanese exclusion would never have been raised in politics or in society in America. If the Japanese acquire the privilege of naturalization, those who will become American citizens will increase gradually, and finally constitute themselves powerful political factors. The Japanese are an en

prove to be too great to be trifled with. Those politicians who are now catering to the pleasures with soft and sweet voices, wait upon the Japaof the Italians, the Germans, the Irish would, nese. They would not perhaps point a finger at them. And of course it is plainer than light that, in such event, the Japanese exclusion would be a forbidden thing. In perusing the Constitution of the United States I find that the races that are allowed to be naturalized are two: the white and the negro. The Supreme Court of the United States interprets this portion of the Constitution and says in relation to Japanese: "The Japanese are neither of the white race, nor of the negro race, but they are of the Mongolian race. Therefore, the Japanese have not the privilege of naturalization." The court thinks this is a just interpretation of the Conclaring its opinion. In some States, by the stitution, and has no compunction about deState laws, naturalization of Japanese is allowed. There are some Japanese who have already obtained citizenship papers from the State government and believe that they have been duly naturalized. But before the Constitution of the United States, which is the supreme law of America, the State laws are void if they should conflict with the federal Constitution. Should anything happen, and should naturalized Japanese citizens of America ask the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States as to the validity of their citizenship papers, their cases will be decided by the court according to its interpretation of the Constitution. On the whole, therefore, the Japanese have not the privilege of naturalization in the United States. Setting aside the question of justice of the matter, such is an indisputable

who come from Italy, Germany, Ireland, Russia, Spain, Portugal, and other countries have the privilege of naturalization, it is an insult to the Japanese to deny the privilege to them alone. The Japanese call themselves an enlightened race. They class themselves as a nation among the strongest civilized powers of the world. But in the United States they are not accorded the right which even the people of poor and minor nations of Europe have. If the United States Government denies the Japanese the same right to become citizens that it gives to the Europeans, where is the sincerity of the American people? Naturalization, viewed from the standpoint of international private laws, is a special privilege of the people of civilized nations on equal terms. The Americans may be naturalized in Japan. The Japanese cannot be naturalized in America. It is against the principle of reciprocity embodied in international law. Are the Japanese so generous as to accept good-naturedly the discriminative treatments in America, as if they were the people of a far inferior race in the international position? Has not the Japanese Government the courage even for the sake of dignity to open negotiations with the United States Government in regard to this matter? We owe much to America for our civilization and progress. Our countrymen are all grateful. We look up to America as our real guide in civilization, as our propitious friend, and as more than our ally. In spite of this relationship, America still looks down upon the Japanese as an inferior race,

It is not therefore impossible to look for a satisfactory solution of the problem during the administration of such a sympathetic statesman. The international agreement takes precedence of the national Constitution of either party to the agreement. To-day, the American President has the support of the majority in Congress, and an unprecedented influence and popularity. He is endowed with veto power by the Constitution. When such a great statesman, who is proud of being a friend of the Japanese people, has the reins of government in his hand, it is high time that we take the opportunity offered to see that the problem meets with a favorable solution. If, by hesitation, we fail to grasp the opportunity, I fear we may lose forever the key to the solution. Therefore, I urge our diplomats in service to open immediate negotiations in regard to naturalization. This is a way to harmonize sentiments of the two nations, and to perpetuate the friendly relation existing between Japan and America.

A HISTORY of the use of tobacco for smoking purposes, from the days the Spaniards first observed the Indians using the plant to the present, is given by Dr. Valentin Nalpasse, of the Paris Faculty of Medicine, and physician to the Persian embassy, in a highly interesting article which appears in the Journal de St. Petersburg.

Dr. Nalpasse traces the development of the use of tobacco as a medical agent, and then comes naturally to the question whether or not smoking is a practice injurious to health. He refers to the great popularity of Jean Nicot, who introduced tobacco into continental Europe, and after whom we have the word nicotine. Since Nicot's day, says Dr. Nalpasse, the use of tobacco has been more than a habit or a pastime. It is a passion, a mania, if not second nature.

varied mixtures of the different qualities. To some of the mixtures perfumes are added. For the man who smokes the narghileh, suave or sweet perfumes are mixed, in greater or less proportion, with the sharp, strong tombekou. That complicated vehicle (the narghileh) is very hygienic. In it tobacco is grilled in a little metallic furnace. The smoke passes through a tube and through a vaseful of pure water, or rose water, and through a second pipe to the lips of the smoker.

Now and then the Oriental interrupts his smoke to take a few sips of coffee from a tiny glass, and by that means he neutralizes the slow intoxication induced by the prolonged

use of tombekou.

There are tobaccos and tobaccos, ways smoking and ways of smoking. The Oriental exclaims: "You people of Europe do not know how to smoke." Perhaps he is right.

The Oriental knows all about tobacco. His supply is prodigious. It comprises every variety of fine tobacco, from the finest leaves to the most

But if tobacco is dangerous if it is abused, it does not follow that it is dangerous if treated as it should be treated and taken in a reasonable quantity. I am not attempting to encourage to smoke those who have not formed the habit of

smoking, but it must be admitted that tobacco may be used without bad effects. It has no bad effect when used moderately by people who are in a condition to use it. It must not be used at all by people who have heart trouble or lung trouble. It must not be used by people who have any disease of the nervous system. In a word, it must not be used by any one who would be unpleasantly affected, or who would be disturbed, by a hearty meal. Under any of those very common conditions tobacco might be dangerous, and it is not necessary to say that, for many reasons of all kinds, tobacco must not be used in any form by growing children or youths. Judged therapeutically, tobacco has an incontestible action on the intestinal canal, continues Dr. Nalpasse.

Many people are forced to smoke at least one cigarette as an aperient before the morning meal; as an aperient the most powerful diuretics are less effective than the after-dinner cigar. In some cases tobacco aids digestion by exciting the salivary secretion and so determining a greater activity of the gastric secretions. When pleading the cause of tobacco physicians cite the case of a woman who suffered from hysteria. She was racked by nausea, and all treatments had failed to check her paroxysms. Dr. Dujardine Beaumetz advised her to smoke one cigar after each meal. She did so and ceased her

vomiting. When she neglected to smoke her paroxysms returned. In many cases the cigarette has been useful for the prevention or cure of nausea. Pregnant women find benefit from it. And, according to the testimony of the Jesuit priest Charleroi, in cases of asphyxiation and drowning tobacco has been of use.

Many doctors have spoken against tobacco, and with reason. Societies have been formed to war against its use. These societies exaggerated the evils of tobacco, and their complaints, made in the name of hygiene,were excessive. They tried to forbid its use in any form. Exaggerations are not successful, and, perhaps, for that reason, many of the societies failed completely.

After a very serious study of the properties and the effects of tobacco, Dr. Nalpasse says: "I conclude that there are no pernicious effects when tobacco is used moderately.'

Pernicious results follow immoderate, often foolishly excessive, use of it. Smoked as it should be smoked, tobacco causes a man to forget his anxieties for a time. And the man who smokes as he ought,-and in the only way that tobacco was made to be smoked,-need not fear his pipe or his cigar. But even habitual smokers should avoid smoking on an empty stomach (unless they take this smoke as an aperient), and no one should smoke in his sleeping-room. Three cigars a day, four at most, or their equivalent in pipe tobacco, ought to be the limit of the habitual smoker. The "colored" pipe, however artistically it may have been colored, is impregnated with nicotine, and therefore is not fit to be

feast the eyes. The smoker should throw away his pipe after the first few puffs. The cigar should be thrown aside when but three-quarters smoked,-just so the cigarette. This is because nicotine, the alkaloid contained in tobacco leaves, does not volatilize until it attains 250 degrees, and as it is drawn with the smoke toward the mouth when the fire is near the mouth-end of the cigar or cigarette, there is danger; it is apt to be drawn into the mouth. The habit of smoking the wet stump of a cigar impregnated with nicotine is essentially weak, foolish, indelicate,— not to say greedy. Here we have an act that betrays absolute ignorance of the composition of tobacco smoke. The intelligent smoker will not relight his cigar or his pipe, because he knows that the smoke of relighted tobacco is impure and that it cannot be purified. Experienced smokers know that the first puffs of tobacco smoke are most agreeable, while the last of the smoke is distasteful and acrid. If it does not irritate the throat it causes the smoker to cough.

The Japanese, and probably they are alone in this,-have seized the meaning of these last irritating puffs of smoke, and in smoking, as in every other act of life, they have taken hygienic precautions.

I had occasion to study their method on board a Japanese warship to which I was invited fifteen years ago. Their tobacco is stripped in threads like hair, or, to put it better, as fine as cornsilk. This finely stripped tobacco is stuffed into an exceedingly small pipe, and of each pipe the Japanese draws two whiffs,-only two, no more. The sight astonished me, and, noticing my astonishment, the surgeon explained to me that they smoked in that way to avoid inhaling nicotine. The pipes had to be lighted every minute, but no matches were used, the pipes being held at burning fuse-like wicks suspended for that purpose at the corners of the ship. I considered the whole arrangement hygienic.

As tobacco is noxious in proportion to the amount of nicotine held by it, a man ought to think seriously, before he makes his selection, of the origin of his tobacco.

baccos contain only a minimum quantity of nicoAnalyses have proved that the Oriental totine. Western tobacco contains much more. The tobacco of Hungary contains 2 per cent. of nicotine, and that of Brazil, Maryland, and Virginia contains quantities varying from 2.29 to 6.85 per cent. Tobacco marketed by Garonne holds the largest proportion of nicotine,-nearly 8 per cent. Nicotine is a redoubtable poison. The best way to avoid inhaling it is to smoke a pipe through a long stem and with a bowl,-like the chiboukhs of the Turks. That pipe, now out of date, was an excellent one. It was composed of several successive tubes furnished with large screened ends. The chiboukh arrested the nicotine before it reached the smoker's mouth. But of all the "pipes." none can equal the graceful and delightful narghileh or the ghalian of the Persians. Those are the pipes used incessantly by the people of the East, and by their use the noxious action of tobacco is almost wholly an

Germany, Mr. Osborne points out, maintains a staff of commercial experts attached to various consulates, and Great Britain a staff of commercial attachés, with diplomatic status, at several important embassies, who report to their governments on commercial matters, answer inquiries of corporations and individuals, and act, in general, as commercial intermediaries. A similar addition "would materially strengthen the existing official machinery for promoting American trade interests abroad." He, likewise, dep

recates the open publication of commercial intelligence secured from our consuls, which is often cabled back to Europe, and sees wisdom in the discrimination with which Germany at times sees that important information reaches her own merchants first. Commenting on this, he says:

I regard that practice as not only sagacious of protecting home industrial and commercial but eminently patriotic, for it is one effective way interests in the international struggle for wider markets.

ON THE EVE OF THE

THE great danger of the present political situation in Russia on the eve of the assembling of the second Duma lies in the apparent impossibility of an understanding and agreement between the government and the progressive elements of Russian society. With the character and work of the stereotyped, fossilized, and corrupt Russian bureaucracy American readers are already familiar. This bureaucracy, report to the contrary notwithstanding, is still in the saddle, although Russia has the forms of the beginning of constitutional government by its

better elements.

There is no real government in Russia today as the term government is understood in western Europe. This is the assertion of the famous Russian economic and political writer, L. Slonimski, in his review of current events in a recent number of the Vyestnik Yevropy, of St. Petersburg. The leading rôle in the empire of the Czars, he declares, really belongs to those "sinister powers behind the scenes, and the ministers serve only as executors of the various influences which prevail at the court at any given moment." These spheres" are always more or less reactionary, generally hostile, and at best suspicious in their relation to the Russian people at large. Their power lies in the fact that the army still remains faithful to them. Since the famous manifesto of October 30, 1905, many privileges have been granted, on paper, to the Russian people. A so-called Parliament has met. These "spheres," however, never recognized the Duma, and, from its own side, this Russian Parliament was never guided by those practical maxims and conditions under which it should have worked. Many serious mistakes hastened its

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NEW RUSSIAN DUMA.

ceeds to analyze the condition of Russia as bettered by the meeting of the first Duma, and points out the causes of that body's failure to accomplish genuine reform. At this point he says:

The political parties which had a majority in the Duma labored under the illusion that a real constitution after the western-European model had already been introduced in Russia, and that the question to be settled concerned merely the means of bringing it into working order. Therefore an injudicious and irreconcilable attitude was adopted from the very beginning in its relations to the opponents, who were in possession of all the material resources of the government machinery. Instead of basing its authority and credentials on the great historical sins of the rulers, who had brought the country to the verge of ruin, the Duma attempted to imitate ready formula which are not at all in harmony with parliamentary models, and to apply constitutional our real conditions and needs. In its aimless antagonizing struggle with the ministry the Duma overlooked the fact that behind the minthe army. It was carried away by undefined istry stood the court, and behind the court,sentiments and expectations of the masses, and worked under the dangerous illusion that it might succeed in seizing the power of governcusable tactical mistake from the party standment. This was politically a naïve and inexpoint, which was to deal above all else with questions of tactics.

As a matter of fact, the first Duma and the imperial government spoke to each other in different languages. The experiences of this Parliament again corroborated the old adage that political reforms must precede social reforms. To quote further:

before the constitutional. Nothing can be realIt was useless to take up the agrarian problem ized and accomplished without real power, while the effective distribution of power depends on the form of government. Of what use are the ministry in possession of the government machinbest agrarian projects where an insignificant