of our allies to continue the war as that we should take any other war measures. Upon the whole, the country is dealing with food problems in a hopeful way. The prospect is the more favorable because England is taking definite steps to increase so greatly her home production of wheat and other food material that the amount to be imported will next year show marked reduction.

Mr. Gompers' Labor Committees

Each member of the Advisory Commission associated with the Council of National Defense has been steadily elaborating the branch of work assigned to him and his subordinate committees. Thus Mr. Gompers, who is charged especially with the study of conditions of labor and health, has brought into a series of committees many of the ablest men and women of the country. Responding to his cabled request, the British Government early last month sent over a delegation headed by two Labor members of Parliament, to explain the problems encountered in England's industrial organization since the war began. Mr. James H. Thomas (head of the National Union of Railway Men) and Mr. C. W. Bowerman (of the British Trades Union Congress) proved themselves to be

men of remarkable ability and good sense, and to be walking encyclopedias of information on every possible question having to do with labor in munition factories, mines, and transportation, and with the working conditions of British men, women, and children in war-time. The experts who came over with Mr. Balfour's mission have also been indefatigable in giving advice based upon experience to the various committees and boards of the Council of Defense. The American leaders of labor and capital have come together in a spirit of unaccustomed coöperation; and, while there are many things to be anxious and concerned about, there is no need of pessimism regarding industrial conditions.

few types and varieties as possible. It takes time to translate such principles into achievements. But sound plans are necessary if there are to be adequate results. Thus it must be some time before airplanes are turned out in considerable numbers. But there will be tangible results a few months hence. Many boards and commissions have been created at Washington, and there is some danger. of confusion in the multiplicity of advisers who lack power to act. Most of these boards and commissions have excellent projects on foot, and are able to command great resources of expert knowledge and business ability. With a little stronger and more efficient executive capacity to translate the advice of these boards into decisive action, our system at Washington would soon become as efficient as that of any other government, perhaps not excepting the German.

may be found for meeting the submarine menace. The more rapidly the merchant ships can be built, the better is the prospect of bringing the war to an end. It seems to us, therefore, that the Shipping Board has been justified in proposing to secure the construction of as much tonnage, whether of steel or of wood, as can be got afloat in the shortest possible time. We can render no better service than this to our allies and the common cause. Next month the prog

that of trying to combat the submarine through inventions

and the activities of our navy-it must be said in brief that our most capable experts are working as hard as they can upon the problem. It was reported from England, after the middle of May, that a fleet of "destroyers" from our navy was active in European waters in helping to protect merchant shipping and to attack submarines. It is not permitted to us to tell how many such vessels are on active service abroad, and it will not be the policy of Our Navy Department at present to report upon the doings of Admiral Sims and his destroyers. The American newspapers, without any compulsory censorship, had withheld the information of Admiral Sims' sailing. We know, however, that our officers and seamen will be alert and plucky, and we hope that they may help materially to keep the seas open. Although it is not likely that any of the rumored devices for protecting merchant ships against submarines, or for annihilating the U-boat menace altogether, will meet the situation

at the same time planning to promote in every possible way the construction of a far greater tonnage of steel ships of a good standard size. There are those who have been asking, What is the use of building ships so feverishly, if they are destined to be sunk by submarines? The obvious answer is that they cannot be sunk before they are built, and if the ships now afloat are destined to be sunk there will be increasingly desperate need of those soon to be completed or begun. Meanwhile, let it be remembered, better methods

French armies. Whether or not this would be a valuable thing to do is a question for the decision of those who have sufficient reasons for arriving at a judgment. It may well be suggested that a good many of these men would be valuable here in our training camps. It may also be intimated that some of them, who have been wounded or ill, are soon to be brought here for hospital care and convalescence in the home climate.

Engineers For France

It was announced on May 7 that nine regiments of engineers, amounting to 10,000 men,

would be recruited at once and sent to France for railroad work along the war lines of communication. Each regiment will be headed by regular army engineer officers, but commissions have been given to eminent civil engineers, among whom are Mr. William Barclay Parsons, of New York, and others almost as well known. This also was a development following careful consultation with the French and British missions. The Germans owe much of their efficiency on the west front to their marvelous network of railways, by means of which they shift big guns and supplies from point

DR. A. PIATT ANDREW

(Who has developed the American ambulance in France to a field service rendering war duty)

The Field Service in

Meanwhile, the American Ambulance Corps, under the presiFrance dency of Mr. Robert Bacon, of New York, and under the active direction of Dr. A. Piatt Andrew, as inspector-general in France, had broadened its scope by reason of our entrance into the war. Many of the young men who had gone over to drive ambulances-mostly college studentswere last month assigned to the more perilous task of driving ammunition wagons at the front. Still others were placed in French training camps for officers' commissions. The name was changed from the Ambulance Corps to that of the American Field Service in France. This group had made a remarkably fine record. Dr. Andrew was formerly a teacher of economics in Harvard, later a member of Senator Aldrich's Monetary Commission, and afterwards an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Meanwhile, bills have been pending in Congress to repatriate and bring together under the American flag the estimated 50,000 Americans already fighting abroad in the Canadian, British, and

MR. JOHN F. STEVENS (America's Railway Envoy to Russia)

to point with astonishing rapidity. The Allies, on the other hand, are pushing doggedly forward across devastated country in which the Germans have left neither railroad tracks nor roads for motor trucks. American railroad engineers and construction men will soon be at the front rendering immense service. About this project we shall have more to say next month.

American

Russia, even more than France, Delegates to needs the help of American rail

Russia road engineers and expert transportation men. As an advance guard, President Wilson sent to Russia in March an eminent engineer, Mr. John F. Stevens (formerly Chief Engineer of the Panama Canal), with the high rank of Minister Plenipotentiary, accompanied by several experts almost as experienced and well known. It is possible that in the near future America must send to Russia a large body of men who will take active part in double-tracking the Trans-Siberian Railroad and doing other necessary transportation work. Following this mission of engineers, President Wilson has sent to Russia an American commission headed by the Hon. Elihu Root as Special Ambassador. Since their exact dates and routes were not announced, it is only proper

HON. ELIHU ROOT, SPECIAL AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA, WHO IS ON HIS WAY TO PETROGRAD WITH A GROUP OF AMERICAN COMMISSIONERS

to say that they are at this time somewhere between Washington and Petrograd. Mr. Root and his colleagues had their final conferences with President Wilson and the State Department on May 14. They will bear messages from America of profound importance both to Russia and to the future of the Allied cause. The things that have been taking place in Russia are exceedingly well described for our readers in an article by Mr. Isaac Don Levine in this number of the REVIEW. The new situation created by the forming of the coalition cabinet will greatly favor the friendly tasks of Mr. Root and his fellow commissioners. Russia seems to be submitting to discipline and authority at the hands of a thoroughly democratic government. Premier Lvoff and Foreign Minister Kerensky will find that they may repose full confidence in the American commissioners. Mr. Root's colleagues are: Charles R. Crane, of Chicago (who had gone to Russia in advance); John R. Mott, of New York, known everywhere for his international work on behalf of the Y. M. C. A.; Cyrus McCormick, of Chicago, head of the International Harvester Company, with large business interests in Russia; Samuel R. Bertron, of New York, member of a banking firm; James Duncan, of Massa