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higher courts, save that it is thought that they are at times slightly swayed by prejudice in favor of the Europeans or in favor of Christians. This is, however, admitted by the Egyptians themselves to be not corruption, but only a natural prejudice, and even this is not charged except in the rarest cases. So far as the Egyptian judges are concerned, there is a rigid system of inspection of cases in the lower courts by English officials; and unjust judgments are now very likely to be discovered. If discovered, they are certain to be upset; and the unjust judge, if there is evidence of corruption, is punished. This even-handed justice between rich and poor is another one of the boons of liberty for which Egypt thanks the Englishman.

In dealing with criminals, many reforms have been introduced. Whereas formerly prisoners of all grades, first offenders and hardened criminals, were placed together and worked together, the prisoners are now classified, with the idea of protecting the younger from the evil influence of the hardened criminal. Lighter sentences are provided for first offenders, and there are other suitable gradations of punishment. A reform. school for child offenders has been established, which educates the children in trades.

A

ALFRED BEIT, THE CREESUS OF SOUTH AFRICA. BRIEF character sketch of Alfred Beit, the associate of Cecil Rhodes, and the largest diamond merchant in the world, appears in Everybody's Magazine for October, from the pen of Chalmers Roberts. Alfred Beit is only about forty-five years old, and a bachelor. People say he is worth $375,000,000. He came of a Hebrew family in Hamburg, went to college, and served. an apprenticeship in a Hamburg bank. After this apprenticeship he went to Kimberley and rapidly built up a fortune in the diamond fields. From the time that Rhodes consummated his great consolidation of the Kimberley diamond. mines in 1889, he and Beit were in close business association, and Beit is one of the executors of the famous Rhodes will. The South African millionaire is also much the largest shareholder in the Rand Mines, Limited. He has never been at Johannesburg but three or four times, and on one of these visits he gave a great ball to three hundred friends, one of the most sumptuous entertainments ever seen, where every lady present was given a valuable diamond as a souvenir. This is entirely apart from his usual character, for he is a modest, retiring man. Mr. Roberts says he can be sometimes seen sipping a lemonade in one of the great restaurants in a quiet manner; and that although the newspapers have

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Mr. Rhodes, the contrast was almost ludicrous. He is as thorough and precise as Mr. Rhodes was general and heedless of details. He is very blonde, with prominent eyes of steel blue, and is almost dandyish in his dress. Both Rhodes and Beit began their fortunes with the consolidation of the diamond mines; but while Mr. Rhodes left off fortune-making, and began imperial schemes, Mr. Beit will never reach the point where he has money enough. He seems to have no social ambition, and is perfectly satisfied with the work of adding to his immense possessions in every country of the world. These are generally mining properties, but he possesses controlling interests in many street-railway systems in South Africa, Mexico, Chile, and Portugal. The actual figures of Mr. Beit's wealth are probably known to no man; but it is certain that he is one of the richest men in the world, and almost the only man to whom the Rothschilds are willing to play second fiddle, as in the great De Beers Company, where

"Those

his holdings much exceed their own. who do come to know him find him personally a very sunny-tempered man, well read, well traveled, well groomed, by no means the typical millionaire of fiction or the stage. He has keen artistic tastes, as his house well proves. His picture gallery is supposed to contain one of the best collections in London. The house, which is in no way overdone, as London mansions so often are, holds a collection of Louis Seize furniture which is said to be unequaled."

AUSTRIAN EXPERIMENTS IN STATE

THE

SOCIALISM.

HE state socialistic work which is undertaken by Austria in Bosnia and Herzego. vina is described in the Monthly Review for September by Mr. L. Villari. This activity shows itself in many ways. It has increased, by means of loans advanced by the Landesbank, the number of peasant proprietors to 15,000. It is also making every effort to institute agricultural improvements, and to establish a number of model farms, which are schools of agriculture. But the most curious experiment that has been made is the establishment of government hotels. Herr Von Kallay was very anxious to attract tourists to Bosnia, and as the ordinary landlords would not take the risk of building hotels, the government has built them on its own account. These hotels are plain, comfortable, and well managed, and are sufficiently popular at certain seasons to be crowded by tourists, who have come chiefly from AustriaHungary. Where there are no hotels, board and lodging are provided at the gendarme stations. Herr Von Kallay has even created a state watering-place, Ilidze, with three good hotels, a casino, and charming grounds; a narrow-gauge railway has been constructed throughout the country, and on the whole M. Villari thinks that the government has done very well in its experiments.

IN

COLOMBIA THE VICTIM OF BAD FINANCE. N the September number of the REVIEW OF REVIEWS (page 357) some account was given of the Colombian revolution. The wretched financial conditions that prevail in the country were outlined, and the writer (a contributor to the Missionary Review of the World) predicted that the attempt to return to a sound currency will be more trying to the Colombian people than any financial question that they have ever tried to solve in the past. A similar opinion is expressed by a writer in the North American Review

for September, Señor E. A. Morales, who is himself a citizen of Colombia.

Señor Morales shows that the annual revenues of the government (averaging about $14,000,000 for a population of 4,500,000) were more than sufficient to save the country from ruin, if properly administered, but so seriously were the pub. lic funds misapplied that the judges and magistrates of the important Department of Panama were left without one cent on account of their salaries for a period of two years.

"The war budget, which in the administrations prior to 1886 never reached the amount of half a million of dollars yearly in time of peace, went on increasing until it aggregated the enor mous sum of nine and a half million dollars (in round figures) in the two years' term of 1897-98, -say, more than one-third of the revenues, calculate at $28,224,000, for the same term.

"While the War Department has been expending such a considerable portion of the revenues, other branches, like the external debt, have been completely obliterated from the budget, and the interests on said debt, which in years preceding 1886 were always considered as sacred engagements even in time of war, were entirely neglected. I consider it no exaggeration to assert that some have not been paid for over twenty years.

"The internal debt, the proper study of which would require much labor, because of the diversity of the forms under which it has been contracted, has increased extraordinarily by claims. for recognized services which have not been cov. ered, supplies, loans, and expropriations, and for military recompenses. That has been one of the means selected to give protection to the partisans of the government.

THE FLOOD OF IRREDEEMABLE PAPER.

"As I observed before, it was not possible to maintain this system with the ordinary revenue, and it become necessary to have recourse to the emission of irredeemable paper money and the institution of monopolies. The estimated deficit of $1,312,016 for the period 1887-88 increased to $3,435,498.70 in 1897-98, being one-eighth of the revenues. Although the persistence of an ever-growing deficit in the budget of the country would demand the application of the proper remedy or rigorous economy from any statesman, in Colombia these means were not adopted, because the provoking lithographic machines were ever and ever ready to cover the deficiencies.

The terrible and inevitable consequence was not long in making itself felt, for the reason that the economic laws are not to be trifled with

with impunity. The paper money of compul

sory circulation suffered a depreciation; and, as its exchange value fell, the government found itself obliged to issue a larger quantity in order to obtain the same benefit previously obtained for a smaller quantity; for this new deficiency it was forced to make a new issue, which caused the same disastrous effect; and this evil went on growing daily in alarming progression. On the other hand, as the taxes, rents, and contributions were payable, according to tariffs established by law, in the depreciated paper, the intrinsic value of these revenues dwindled in the proportion of the rise in exchange. So that the proceeds of the rents should maintain the intrinsic value estimated in the budget, it would have been requisite to change the tariffs daily in or der that they might be always in accordance with the fluctuations of the paper money.

"The exchange which fluctuated ten points at the utmost when the system was established began to vary a hundred points in 1899, and by the year 1900 the fluctuations were counted by the thousand points.

"Commerce, all industries, and even the very life of the nation were highly affected by this situation, as may be easily understood when it is known that one American dollar is equivalent to fifty dollars in Colombian notes. Private credit completely disappeared, on account of these violent fluctuations, and as it was and is still prohibited to stipulate any other currency but the notes in private contracts, commerce had to choose between inaction and bankruptcy.'

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY VS. SCIENCE.

MR.

R. CARL SNYDER'S recent article in the North American Review upon American inferiority in science has greatly impressed a French writer, M. Jean Jussieu, who, in La Revue for August, does what Mr. Snyder did not attempt, namely, gives the reasons why America is inferior in scientific attainments. M. Jussieu has just returned from a lengthy stay in the United States, during which he paid special attention to American universities.

M. Jussieu will have none of the argument that America is too young a country to have attained distinction in science and art.

It is not imagined, I presume, that the little European comes into the world with science inborn or infused? What is the cause, then? That the discoveries of European savants are not immediately made known in the United States? Not at all. There are quantities of European reviews in every university or library of any importance. Whether they are read or not is another matter. The opportunity is there. . . .

In America there are as many means of doing scientific work as in Europe, or more. The use

is not made of them that might be made."

TOO MUCH DEMOCRACY THE CAUSE OF AMERICAN INFERIORITY.

The French writer has no doubt that the real cause of American scientific inferiority is the too great triumph of democracy.

"The idea of the moral equality of citizens

brings about in most minds the idea of intellectual equality, which is a profound error. The result is the bourgeoigisme (!) not only of a class, as in France, but of the whole nation. . . . Democracy insures the triumph of utilitarianism. The formula of both is the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Now, the value of a principle depends entirely upon the person who adopts it."

In the mouth of the majority this principle has merely come to mean: "So long as I do not interfere with another's action, there is no reason why I should work for him rather than for my self."

"It is easy to see what this means in the mouth of any one of average intelligence; it is the end of all spirit of disinterestedness, not only in science, but in art and in morality."

THE CHILDREN RULE.

Men who will not sacrifice themselves for another man will hardly do so for an idea, a precept. Worldly success, the money-making ideal, has fettered and will fetter American science. The only scientist honored is he whose books sell in quantities; as a conseqence, the scientist must appeal to an inferior public, write amusing" books, but not books of high scientific value. The professor must make his lessons amusing. Thoroughness is ignored. There is never anything finished," nothing soigné, says M. Jussieu.

In the United States, it may be said, the school governs science, the masters govern the school, the parents govern the masters, the children govern the parents,-therefore the children. govern the science."

This he considers good neither for the children nor science.

OTHER CONSEQUENCES OF TOO MUCH DEMOCRACY. All these millions "given" to American universities are often given because they have first been begged. There is a strong tendency to choose as university presidents men and women with large fortunes, nominally because any one in such a position ought not to be troubled about financial matters, but really because millionaires consort with other millionaires, and the wealthy

president will be better able to secure gifts and endowments for his university.

Again, there is far too much attention paid to athletics. A director of football at an American university gets $6,000 a year; a coach, $1,500 for ten to twelve weeks' work, with board and lodg. ing. Sports occupy a preposterous amount of space in American papers. New York pays its teachers fairly well, but worse than any other form of work not purely mechanical. No other State pays them nearly so well.

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC WORK MERELY ANALYTICAL.

The true scientific spirit, according to Herbert Spencer, is the synthetic spirit, which sees likenesses where the common mind only sees divergences. It is this which M. Jussieu considers is almost wholly lacking in America. Here scientific works are almost always merely analytical, statistics, compilations, etc., requiring an altogether lower order of intelligence.

"Modern positivism has been little understood in America. Two very different propositions. have been confounded: basing science on facts, and making science consist in facts."

M. Jussieu concludes by remarking that nothing is further from him than to wish to cast a stone at America. He merely tries to explain. that the state of science here is a necessary result of the social conditions. In America "every one must, willingly or unwillingly, enter the unbearable democratic mill." The American professor must waste endless time on social distractions; the scientist can with difficulty avoid doing likewise. What waste of time! What strength spent in futile details!

TEACHING AGRICULTURE IN THE PUBLIC
SCHOOLS.

THE

It

A HINT AS TO WHAT SHOULD BE TAUGHT.

Teach the children the lessons of the soil. Tell them the wonderful story of its origin, or, better still, let them tell you what they have seen in the field, and by the brook, and then you give them the charming explanation. Tell them why men plow, and what are the reasons for cultivat ing the soil, and what methods of cultivation are beneficial and what are decidedly injurious. Tell them how the physical condition of the soil may affect its fertility; and tell them what elements have been taken from the soil when it is worn out, and how to replace them. Tell them the marvelous story of the important discovery of modern times, a discovery which places in the hands of every farmer a means, completely under his control, of drawing from the atmosphere the free nitrogen of the air, and of fixing it in any field he may wish to enrich.

'It is a story of minute organisms which are in the soil,- —or if they are not there, the farmer can put them there,-which locate themselves upon the roots of certain plants, and give these plants power to store up in their roots, to be left in the soil, its most valuable constituent of plant food-nitrogen. Tell them what the tassel and the silk of the corn are, and why one is at the top of the stalk and the other very much below it. Tell them why the blossoms of corn, oats, rice, and wheat are colorless and odorless, and why the blossoms of cotton and the clover are so beautifully colored, and why they have such exquisite perfume. Tell them what the bees and the bumblebees are doing, and of what superlative importance they are to the existence of many plants, and how they are most industriously serving man a little by the honey they make, but vastly more in other ways; for they not only increase his apple, peach, and pear crop, but they also aid in adding fertility to the soil."

All of which presupposes, we fear, a richer equipment on the part of the instructor than is now possessed by the majority of our country school teachers.

EFFECT ON SOCIAL IDEALS.

Professor Carter is enthusiastic over the results to be hoped for when once the system is fairly at work:

HE advantage of some form of agricultural instruction in the rural and village schools, to which is committed the training of about 70 per cent. of the public-school children of our land, hardly seems to require demonstration. is a fact, nevertheless, that in many parts of the country next to nothing has been done in this direction. Educationists, however, are alive to the pedagogical value of this kind of training in elementary schools; a paper contributed by Superintendent Joseph Carter, of Champaign, Ill., to the September number of the Kindergarten Magazine gives many excellent reasons for the inclusion of the subject in school programmes and at the same time offers helpful suggestions to teachers. Some of the latter we quote in the following roadside and the harm they do; the birds in the paragraphs:

"Who can doubt the practical value of teaching these things to those who are to be the future farmers of this land? Think how it would brighten the dull monotony of the lonesome little country school to teach the children to understand the things about them; the weeds by the

hedge and the good they do; the honeybee and

the white clover, the bumblebee and the red clover, and the great value of the work they accomplish; the angle worm in the field and its work. These things for the child, and more complex things for the young man and the young woman of the farm, how they would change the mental and spiritual attitude of the future farmer toward his vocation! Instead of being either the discontented drudge longing to get to town, as he so often is, or of being the hard-fisted, grasp ing land grabber, which some, alas! are, he would be a student working joyously and happily and successfully in that greatest of all laboratories -a well-kept farm."

WILL OUR CITIES BE A MASS OF SKY-
SCRAPERS?

MR. BURTON J. HENDRICK contributes

an article on The Limitation of the Production of Sky-scrapers" to the October Atlantic Monthly. Mr. Hendrick says that the imagina. tive pictures of our great cities as they will appear twenty-five or fifty years hence, as masses of sky-scraping office buildings twenty to thirty stories high, is not a true one. He says that natural causes have brought a pause to the production of sky-scrapers in New York City at least, and that in future there will be rather a decrease, relatively, in their production.

This is brought about, he says, by the factors of light and air. The tenants that occupy great office buildings are willing to pay liberally for light and air, and it is readily seen that if a street is lined on both sides with twenty to thirty story buildings, a majority of the rooms. in these buildings will not have their quota of light and air. This is so true that nowadays, when a company erects a huge structure in New York City, it finds it necessary to buy or lease the adjoining property to insure against the erection on this adjoining property of sky-scrapers similar to its own. Dr. Hendrick gives a number of examples where this has been done in New York City, and he shows that this process will prove a constantly growing limitation to the production of sky-scrapers. In other words, whenever a very tall building goes up nowadays, it is apt to make it certain that adjoining lands will be used for lower structures permanently.

PLAINNESS IN SKY-SCRAPER ARCHITECTURE.

This is, from an architectural point of view, highly desirable, because the constructors of skyscrapers have found out by experience that it is practically useless to attempt ornamentation of the huge office buildings, and have come down to an absolutely plain and monotonous façade as the

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