NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.

THE

HE Hon. Frank S. Monnett, the author of our leading article this month, is well known throughout the country as the incorruptible Attorney-General of Ohio who a short time ago waged a vigorous fight against the Standard Oil Company. His refusal to accept a large "retainer" to prove false to his oath of office made him conspicuous among American statesmen-a commentary on the moral status of our public men that would seem almost to justify the cynical opinion that "every man has his price."

Mr. Monnett was one of the most prominent speakers at the National Social and Political Conference, held in Detroit early in July, which was described in detail by Eltweed Pomeroy, A.M., in the June ARENA. This successful gathering was an epitome of all the Reform elements represented in American thought-economic, industrial, and sociologic progress having a leading place among the themes discussed. Our editorin-chief was present and addressed several of the well-attended meetings on the true reformatory mission of the daily and periodical press, one result being that the literary leadership of THE ARENA in the broad field of Reform was officially confirmed by the Conference.

While the policy of this magazine is essentially optimistic, and it is not our custom to "sound an alarm" unless the danger be obvious or clearly pointed out by the contributor-evolutionary progress being a spiral path and not always in sightyet we present a symposium on the drink evil in this number that should cause every young man in the country to stop and reflect. Dr. R. Osgood Mason, in his article on "Alcoholism in Three Acts," gives facts and figures that may be relied upon as authentic, as the statements of this well-known author and profound student are regarded as authoritative in advanced scientific circles. Mr. Robert Morris Rabb, who contributes

the other paper of the symposium, is a resident of New York and is well equipped for the gathering of statistics on the liquor traffic in our most populous State. That its magnitude is alarming cannot be disputed, and the conclusions deduced by Mr. Rabb will confirm in their opinion those who hold that the only way to cope with it is through the moral regeneration of the individual. Prohibitory legislation has proved notoriously inadequate wherever tried.

The second article of the series by Professor Frank Parsons on "Great Movements of the Nineteenth Century," which appears in this number bearing the title, "The Great Conflict," is even more interesting and instructive than "The Sweep of the Century and its Meaning," with which Professor Parsons opened our new volume last month. "The Century of Democracy" will be discussed in our next issue. These exceedingly valuable papers should be preserved and re-read by all who are favored with the educational opportunity of their perusal. Editor Flower's long but luminous and not overlaudatory character-sketch of this famous economist, in the current number, is the result of intimate acquaintance with the life and work of the noted author and teacher, and should be brought to the serious attention of all whose aims and ideals need remodeling.

Mr. Flower's long-delayed article on "Physical Science in the Nineteenth Century," for which room has been made this month, is a most excellent and informing synthesis of the material progress of the last hundred years. It is one of a series on related topics from the same pen that we hope to publish more regularly hereafter.

Mr. Sam Walter Foss's "Conversation," in the present issue, is bright and timely though brief, and his observations are a most reassuring antidote to the pessimism that afflicts those reformers who lack the discernment of the true poet. A sketch of the life and poetical works of Mr. Foss will shortly be contributed to our Essay department by Editor Flower.

In Mrs. Wilbert L. Bonney's article on "Women and the Wage System," in this number, much practical common sense. is condensed into a few paragraphs. The author presents some plain truths in a way that should compel attention to one of the most interesting, not to say alarming, features of current economic conditions. Other articles, embodying different phases of the subject, are in preparation for early publication in THE Arena.

The writer is pleased to be able to announce that the leading paper of our issue for September will be from the pen of Prof. George D. Herron, late of Grinnell College, Iowa-a sincere reformer who has been outrageously maligned by sensational newspapers and entirely misunderstood and misjudged by many well-meaning persons in private life. It will bear the title, "The Recovery of Jesus from Christianity," and should be read by every lover of the Nazarene-especially by the official expounders of His life and mission.

Prof. Thomas E. Will, A.M., of Ruskin College, Trenton, Mo., will contribute to our next number a strikingly suggestive paper on "The College Trust," which the author regards as a menace to freedom in the United States.

Among other interesting features of the September ARENA that may now be mentioned are: "When will the Bubble Burst?" by Robert A. Wood, of Washington, who considers the recent development of billion-dollar financiering in this country in the light of certain historic analogies; "Law and Liberty," by Frank Exline, who gives some timely and important definitions; and the seventh article in Miss Kellor's series on "The Criminal Negro.'

The serious attention of every friend of the magazine who peruses these "Notes" is earnestly invited to Editor Flower's announcement on the next page, as it offers an opportunity to all to coöperate in a simple but effective way in the great work to which our efforts are dedicated.

J. E. M.

A WORD TO OUR READERS.

N the May number of THE ARENA, in our symposium on

"An Army of Wealth-Creators versus an Army of Destruction," Professor Frank Parsons suggested that readers who might be interested in such an army should signify the same by dropping a line to the office of THE ARENA. We have received a number of enthusiastic communications from various parts of the country, perhaps the most remarkable of which is that sent by Mr. L. J. Heffern, of New Orleans, which is appended. Mr. Heffern, after reading the suggestion of Professor Parsons, copied the digest of the propositions as presented in THE ARENA and took the same to his friends, with the result that more than seventy promptly signed it in the city of New Orleans alone.

From the letters we have received from various parts of the country we are impressed with the conviction that the proposition will meet with hearty favor from our people as a whole; and in order to get something of public sentiment, as well as to arouse an interest in various communities on this very vital question, we earnestly urge all readers of THE ARENA interested in this subject to read again the symposium, and then to cut out the pages containing the proposition, down to and including the words "name and address." Paste this at the top of a sheet of white paper and secure from your friends as many signatures, with the address of each signer, as you can obtain in your community. When the first sheet is full, paste another below it, and so on until you have secured all the signatures possible from those who are heartily in accord with the proposition. Then forward same to the address given below. In this way each reader will be contributing in a real way toward educating the public on a question that is destined to become more and more a paramount issue as the years pass, and that represents the spirit of the new time in contradistinction to the bloody war spirit of previous ages.

The reader who sends in the longest list of names and addresses within the next thirty days will receive, post-paid, a copy of "Persons, Places, and Ideas," price $3; a copy of "The Century of Sir Thomas More," price $1.50; and his choice of either "Whittier," price $1.25, or "Gerald Massey," price $1.

The person sending us the second longest list of names and addresses will receive, post-paid, a copy of "The Century of Sir Thomas More," price $1.50, and his choice of either "Whittier," "Gerald Massey," or "The New Time," price $1.

The person sending us the third longest list of names and addresses will receive, post-paid, his choice of either "The Century of Sir Thomas More," "Whittier," "Massey," or "The New Time."

These books are all handsomely bound in cloth and will be promptly sent to the persons sending in the longest lists of names before the first of September. Address all communications to B. O. FLOWER,

5 Park Square, Boston, Mass.

AN ARMY OF WEALTH-CREATORS VS. AN ARMY OF DESTRUCTION.

Suppose the following alternate propositions were submitted for your choice. How would you vote?—

(1)

One hundred thousand men and half a billion of money to carry ou a war of conquest, reduce the patriot armies of the Filipinos into subjection to American sovereignty, and transform our Republic into an Empire.

a

(2)

One hundred thousand men and half a billion dollars to reclaim the arid lands of our Western States, and make the Mississippi well-behaved and law-abiding river; or to establish farms and shops where the unemployed may be taught the arts of self-support and mutual help through cooperative industry under good conditions; or to build or buy a transcontinental system of railways to form the first great link in a national railway system owned by the people and operated in their interest.