Long Island. His plans comprise a twelve days' journey through the New England States, to end on September 3, and a visit to the West to attend soldiers' reunions, and for some other similar objects, beginning on September 19, and

JUSTICE HORACE GRAY, OF MASSACHUSETTS. (Retiring from the United States Supreme Court.)

continuing for two or three weeks. With Congress adjourned, and no very critical problems pending, either of domestic or foreign concern, it has been possible for high government officials, from the President and his cabinet down, to relax somewhat through the summer months. There have been no cabinet changes, and no rumors of any. The most important appointment of last month was that of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to succeed Justice Horace Gray. Several months ago Justice Gray, who is seventy-four years old, was stricken with apoplexy, and it was known that he would not again appear on the bench. Justice Holmes, his successor, has served for twenty years on the bench in Massachusetts, and is sixty-one years old. He is a man of brilliant and varied attainments, and an eminent legal scholar, of a thoroughly independent and modern order of mind. We present elsewhere in this number an interesting sketch of him from the pen of an esteemed contributor,

Mr. Morris. Justice Gray, who now retires, was also Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts when appointed twenty years ago. It has been known for some time that Justice Shiras intended soon to retire from the Supreme Court, and it was authoritatively stated last month that he would resign next spring, having attained the age of seventy years. It was also announced that, with the completion of his threescore and ten years, Dr. Andrew D. White would soon resign as ambassador at Berlin. While no formal announcement was made, it was commonly believed that the position at Berlin would be filled by the transfer thither of some other prominent member of the diplomatic service, those most frequently named being Mr. Charlemagne Tower, now ambassador at St. Petersburg, and Mr. Bellamy Storer, now minister to Spain and recently minister to Belgium. Dr. Andrew D. White is the best known and most conspicuous man in the American foreign service, and his retirement will be much regretted, although his return to the United States will doubtless result in his being drawn into various activities of a literary, educational, and philanthropic nature.

Some
Political

In the domain of political personalities the summer has brought forth litPersonalities. tle of special note or interest. It is to be said, however, that the emphatic voice of the country regarding the value of the services of Senator Spooner at Washington has had its due weight in Wisconsin. Spooner clubs have been forming all over the State. It is now practically certain that Mr. Spooner will be the Senatorial choice of the Republican members of the new Legislature, without any regard to those qualifications in its endorsement of him that the Republican State platform contains. It does not follow that Governor La Follette's strong support throughout the State has weakened in the least, or that the dominant element of Wisconsin Republicanism is any the less devoted to the projects of tax reform and nomination reform that are set forth in this year's platform; but it be. gins to see the impropriety of forcing local tests upon a Republican like Senator Spooner, whose duties at Washington have nothing to do with State issues at home. The perennial struggle about Addicks has broken forth with renewed vigor in Delaware, which remains without any representation at all in the United States Senate, through the stubbornness of the Addicks deadlock. The death of that silent but powerful Republican Senator, Mr. McMillan of Michigan, has made a vacancy for which the ex-Secretary of War, General Alger, was much

mentioned last month as a willing candidate. The Pennsylvania State campaign has brought Judge Pennypacker, the Republican candidate for governor, into much prominence, and he has been a good deal criticised by the more independent element of Pennsylvania Republicans for his unexpectedly warm and much reiterated eulogies of Senator Quay. It is asserted that this attitude on Judge Pennypacker's part may make votes for his Democratic opponent, exGovernor Pattison. The Democrats of New York seemed as far as ever last month from agreement upon a candidate for governor. Determined efforts were on foot to reorganize Tammany Hall on an anti-Croker basis. Mr. Bryan has continued to be the most prominent figure in national Democratic politics, and he has been making visits and public addresses in the East. He has declared plainly that he is not a candidate for renomination in 1904. He has not, on the other hand, said that he would decline a nomination which might come without any seeking on his part. Of Republican leaders, Senator Hanna remains the most conspicuous, apart from the President. If he reads the newspapers, he cannot possibly forget that he is regarded all over the country as a probable Republican nominee in case of conditions,-now improbable and unexpected,-which might take Mr. Roosevelt out of the field. Governor Crane, of Massachusetts, has been brought into added prominence through the report that he will be asked to manage the next national Republican campaign, Senator

THE LATE SENATOR JAMES M'MILLAN, OF MICHIGAN.

that Mr. Bryan might give the weight of his influence to either of these two men in 1904. Judge A. B. Parker, of New York, is another possibility.

Charters.

Mr. Johnson, by the way, now finds Ohio's City himself at the head of a city gov ernment whose charter has been found unconstitutional. A recent decision of the Supreme Court of Ohio has condemned and annulled the many enactments relating to the government of particular Ohio cities which have been in evasion of that clause of the State constitution which requires such legislation to be general rather than special in its application. It was necessary to deal with this situation in a special session of the Legislature; and this was accordingly called late in July by Governor Nash, to assemble at Columbus on August 25. Under the constitution it will be permissible to divide Ohio cities into regular groups or classes, and it will be necessary to adopt a uniform general framework of government for all the cities

that belong in the same class. Ohio has thus an opportunity to benefit by the experience of the rest of the country in municipal government, and it is to be hoped that wise results may accrue from this special session. We believe that experience shows that a very large measure of home rule may well be accorded to the people of our American towns and cities, and that they ought not to be much hampered or restricted in carrying on their affairs and in spending their own money for local improvement. But, above all, it is to be hoped that the Ohio Legislature will be broad-minded enough to adopt such provisions as have been found in practice to aid in the lifting of municipal government out of the ruts of party politics. The National Municipal League, which has for some years past devoted much attention to the reform of municipal charters, and which has a number of influential members in Ohio, has been finding many newspapers of the Buckeye State friendly to its ideas. Its president is the distinguished leader of the bar, Mr. James C. Carter, of New York, and its secretary and executive officer is a wellknown young Philadelphia lawyer and politician, Mr. Clinton Rogers Woodruff.

American Municipal

Societies like this league, and like the League of American Municipalities Progress. (which is an organization of public officials), and the American Park and Outdoor Art Association (which includes in its membership several hundred park commissioners and superintendents, and which recently held a very brilliant annual meeting in Boston), are contributing a very great deal to the advancement of municipal government, and to the improvement and embellishment of our towns. One of the most beautiful and progressive of American municipalities has had the bad luck this year to fall into disgrace through its folly in electing a notoriously unfit man as its chief executive. We refer to Minneapolis, where indictments have followed astounding charges of malfeasance in office, and where the lesson will doubtless be taken to heart and remembered for many years to come. Now that the tendency in American cities is to concentrate authority more and more in the hands of the mayor and a group of department chiefs selected by him, it becomes indispensable that the mayor should be a man of judgment and poise as well as of the highest qualities of personal character. Thus it would be hard to overestimate the value that is accruing week by week to the great metropolis of New York, under its concentrated system of municipal government, from the efficient services of Mayor Seth Low and his appointed heads of the

various branches of the administration. High tone, business efficiency, genuine public spirit, and interest in municipal progress characterize not merely the mayor's office, but the work of nearly if not quite all of the numerous departments. New York is developing wonderfully, and Mayor Low's administration is contributing in a hundred valuable ways to the city's progress.

The situation in Cuba continues to be one fraught with trials, difficulties, and Perils. and dangers. It is hard to keep the sense of righteous indignation within moderate bounds when one remembers how clear and unmistakable was the moral obligation of Congress last winter to give tariff concessions to Cuba which would have obviated all the existing distress. It is not strange that the Cubans should feel bitterly disaffected toward this country. Nor is it unnatural that their disposition should be to disregard the terms of the Platt amendment as embodied in their constitution, or else to construe them as unfavorably toward this country as possible. In its serious financial plight the Cuban Government is proposing to try to raise a loan of $35,000,000 in gold, the greater part of which is to be used to pay off the soldiers of the insurgent army, with a large slice to be loaned to planters and agriculturalists, to enable them to tide over the present disastrous season. This loan project is, of course, unfortu nate, if not wholly ill advised; but it is hard to see in what other direction Cuba is to find relief. No man of any party ought to be elected to the Congress of the United States this fall who will not admit the duty of entering into a liberal reciprocity arrangement with Cuba, and will not promise to support such a policy. Meanwhile, the Cubans would do well to try to exercise patience, and keep their faith in the people of the United States, who, indeed, are distinctly with President Roosevelt in his Cuban policy, and as distinctly against the behavior of Congress in the last session. The Cuban authorities in particular will make a mistake if they disregard the obligations that they voluntarily assumed in adopting the Platt amendment. The lower house of the Cuban Congress, for instance, passed a resolution the other day repudiating an arrangement that Governor-General Wood had entered into with the Catholic Church authorities regarding compensation to the Church for certain property. If this resolution should be adopted by the upper house, and become effective, it would be not only in violation of the agreement entered into with the United States, but in defiance of the obligations assumed by the United States in the treaty of peace with Spain.

Cuba's Troubles

There would be no alternative for this country under such circumstances but to interfere, on the ground of its agreement with the government at Madrid.

The separation of Problems of Church and Church and State, State." as understood in this country, does not signify antagonism toward ecclesiastical bodies, nor any disposition to confiscate their property. Those settlements arranged in Cuba were in good faith on the part of this government, and the Cubans would do well to accept them as honorable and just, and to study diligently the methods. by which we secure to all churches freedom and contentment, while giving none of them a voice in the conduct of the state. The European governments and newspapers seem at a loss to understand the apparently delightful re

lations between the GovernFrom the Independent. ment at Washington and the James F. Smith. Vatican, in view of the pleasant things that have been said on both sides in connection with the visit of Governor Taft to Rome, the friendly exchange of greetings between President Roosevelt and the Pope, and the announcement that all difficulties in the Philippines are in the way of being settled. Europe continues to smile in an amused and superior way at the American statement to the effect that Governor Taft's mission was not a diplomatic one. They fail to understand because the explanation is so simple. and easy, whereas they are looking for something more complicated. The United States has no controversy at all with the Vatican, with the Catholic authorities in the Philippines, or with the friars. It has no policy that would lead it to demand the exclusion of any class of men whatsoever from its jurisdiction, whether in the Philippines or in the United States. It had simply a business transaction or two on foot that could be better initiated at Rome than elsewhere. Its position in dealing with the land question was in some ways analogous to that of the British Government in its treatment of the land question in Ireland. Practical conditions made it necessary that the friars, who could no longer live in

their parishes on account of the hostility of the people, should sell their lands. The civil gov. ernment of the Philippines was the best and most responsible agency for negotiating the purchase and subsequently reselling to the actual occupants and cultivators.

As to the withdrawal of the Spanish friars from the Philippines, there were Philippines. reasons why on all accounts this was much to be desired. It was also evident, after conference at Rome, that it was neither necessary nor advisable that there should be any specified agreement on this point, but only a friendly understanding of the policy that would actuate the head of the Church. Since under the American rule no church establishment is possible, it is plain enough that the Catholic Church in the Philippines must as soon as possible be brought under the management of ecclesiastics accustomed to the American system; and we have the assurance of Archbishop Ireland and Bishop O'Gorman (who accompanied Judge Taft to Rome) that this is perfectly understood and agreed to at the Vatican. The completion of the negotiations will

The Friars in the