strikes and lockouts are in progress involving twenty-five or more cotton-mills. Last spring Mr. C. P. Davis was commissioned by the American Federation of Labor to organize unions among all of the textile industries of the South. He began work first in North Carolina, his native State, and met with surprising success. The first clash between these unions and the mill-owners took place at the Proximity Mill near Greensboro'. Learning of the existence of a union among the employees, the president immediately closed the mill, and declared that, having fled from labor agitators in the North, he would not operate a day with union operatives. In two weeks the mill resumed, each employee being required to sign an agreement not to join any labor organization. The next disturbance occurred early in October at the Thomas Holt Mill at Haw River, Alamance County. The discharge of a union operative in that mill precipitated a strike, and caused all of the mills in the county, numbering about twenty, to declare against union labor. On the 15th of October, by concert of action, all of the union laborers were shut out. The following day they assembled at the town of Graham, and, after parading the streets, listened to stirring speeches by Organizer Davis and others. It is believed that all of the mills in the State have combined against union laborers, as the operatives shut out in one place have not been able to obtain positions elsewhere. The lockout having been in progress now several weeks, the resources of the unions are running short, and many families are in distress. The avowed object of the unions is to obtain better wages for adults, so that the children from five to twelve years may be sent to school instead of being worked in the mills. Thus far neither the mill owners nor the unions seem inclined to yield, and the contest promises to be prolonged and bitter.

New York City has lost a Ex-Mayor Strong representative citizen to whom she owed much for the illustration of sound and intelligent public service by the death of ex-Mayor William L. Strong, which occurred at his home in this city on Friday of last week. Although well Although well past his seventieth year, Mr. Strong until

recently had been in unusual vigor of body and mind, and gave promise of renewed service to the city in its coming struggle to free itself from bondage to Tammany Hall. Beginning with small opportunities and limited capital, by integ rity, industry, and sagacity, Mr. Strong came to occupy a position of great prominence in the commercial world of New York, and to discharge many trusts in connection with public and private organizations. He was a strong Republican, but he believed in honest and capable municipal government. When the inves tigation of the Lexow Committee, six years ago, showed that Tammany Hall was practicing its ancient vices of theft and connivance with crime of every kind, Mr. Strong was carried into office as a representative of the popular revolt against bad government. His administration stands out conspicuously for integrity and efficiency. Mayor Strong was not an idealist, but he had an honest scorn for dishonesty and incapacity. Under his leadership the city government was reorganized. Colonel Waring gave us clean streets, and left a record which even Tammany has not dared to disregard. When the Grand Army, in foolish resentment of a hasty remark of Colonel Waring, attempted to secure the resignation of the Street Commissioner, Mayor Strong promptly and courageously refused to yield to popular pressure. In the hands of Mr. Roosevelt, as President of the Board of Police Commissioners, decency reigned in the city. The police force rose rapidly in self-esteem and in the confidence of the community, and crime was promptly and relentlessly punished. Great improvements were made in almost every department of administration, and the facilities of the city for education, traffic, and pleasure were enormously enlarged. The election of Dr. Low as his successor was strongly supported by Mr. Strong, but the opposition of Mr. Platt, who prefers the rule of Tammany to that of an independent and capable man, secured the defeat of Dr. Low and the return to power of an organization which has done much to degrade New York in the eyes of the world. Looking back over the present administration, with its terrible record of connivance with vice and of general inefficiency, the three years of

despatches reporting the event claim that the Chinese troops have thus far lacked organization and a plan of campaign. We may guard against too ready an acceptance of such statements, however, even if this one should prove to be true. There has always been too great a belief placed in any tale, however absurd or self-contradictory, if only applied to the Chinese. This is not altogether surprising, as, in his just-published book, Mr. Holcombe reminds us that until recently the Chinese have been unable or have not cared to defend themselves before the world. For example, if, in 1840, the British had been accurately informed of the facts, and especially if they had been made familiar with the protests of the Peking Government, it is not possible to believe that her Majesty's Government would have been allowed to persist in the opium traffic, and thus to work a cruel wrong upon China. With considerable justice, Mr. Holcombe claims that too much has been written about China from a purely foreign standpoint, and that the world of literature has been too markedly silent regarding what China needs for her own sake. He declares that only a fair knowledge of events and influences at work in the Flowery Kingdom during the past six decades is needed to cause wonde', not at the Boxer outbreak, but that t has been delayed so long. Better than that, he adds, such knowledge would have prevented the outbreak by destroying the

cause.

The British Cabinet

Rumors of impending changes in the British Cabinet were officially confirmed last week. Queen Victoria has now approved the appointment of the Marquis of Salisbury as Premier and Lord Privy Seal, the Marquis of Lansdowne as Foreign Secretary, Mr. Brodrick as War Secretary, the Earl of Selborne as First Lord of the Admiralty, and Mr. Ritchie as Home Secretary. The fact that Lord Salisbury associates with the Premiership the office of Lord Privy Seal, a sinecure, makes it probable that the venerable Viscount Cross, the late holder, will no longer remain a member of the Cabinet. Lord Salisbury, however, expects still to dominate the Foreign Office, although retiring from its Secretaryship. Contrary to custom, he will

have his Prime Minister's desk at the Foreign Office. Lord Lansdowne, one of his most trusted friends, succeeds him as Secretary. In view of the recent apparent breakdown of the War Department under Lord Lansdowne, the judgment alike of experts and of "the man in the street" makes the recent War Secretary a scapegoat and considers that Lord Salisbury, by this promotion, puts an affront upon the general judgment. While this may be true, we must remember that Lord Lansdowne has a diplomatic rather than a business man's capacity. His administrations as Viceroy of Canada and India were successful. The new War Secretary returns to a career with which he has long been associated. From 1886 to 1892 he was Financial Secretary to the War Office, and only left the Under-Secretaryship two years ago to take the position at the Foreign Office vacated by Lord Curzon. Ir view of the sweeping reforms necessary, Mr. Brodrick's appointment is well received among military men. He is a good debater and a man of marked energy. The appointment of Lord Selborne, in succession to Mr. Goschen, is also generally approved. He has been UnderSecretary at the Colonial Office since 1895. He inherits much of the ability of the late Earl of Selborne, who was Mr. Gladstone's great law officer. The present Earl is a son-in-law of Lord Salisbury. Mr. Ritchie, who succeeds Sir Matthew White Ridley as Home Secretary, has been President of the Board of Trade and has been responsible for much domestic legislation, especially in the reorganization of local government. As a whole, with the continuance of the Premier's personal influence at the Foreign Office, the new Cabinet may be said to be well suited to England's needs.

last week. Most readers will be astonished to find that the loss in killed and wounded of the present revolution is estimated to aggregate thirty thousand. This is not far from the number of killed and wounded generally estimated as the loss of the Filipinos in the conflict with this country, and it is very much larger than the loss on either side in the recent war between the United States and Spain. That such a war on our own side of the Atlantic should have attracted little attention is surprising; the cause is probably in the fact that no great questions of principle are involved in this revolution, which, like most revolutions in South America, springs out of the clash of personal ambition and the lack of knowledge of what representative government should be. At present the revolutionists in Colombia, although they have gained some important battles, are strategically overmatched by the forces of the Government, and Mr. Hart, our Minister, thinks that the insurrection will soon be put down. Its leader rejoices in the poetical name of Rafael Uribe Uribe. But, apart from the insurrection, another political crisis exists in Colombia which may readily take the form of a second revolution, if it is not already of that character. The President is Señor Sanclemente; the Vice-President, Señor Marroquin. The President is somewhat old and infirm, and has been living at Bogota to recuperate. The Vice-President promptly took advantage of the situation, assumed all the powers of the Presidency, and gained possession of the Government buildings. The Marroquin Government has been recognized by foreign State Departments as the Government de facto, the Papal See alone declining to do this. Both Presidents, by some financial and political arrangement impossible to understand here, are receiving full Presidential salaries. In addition to these two revolutions, one bloodless, the other extremely destructive to life, Colombia is suffering from financial difficulties not unnatural under the circumstances.

a special committee recently appointed consider the question of larger unity action on the part of the six missiona societies of the Congregational Churc The report was presented at the annu meeting of the American Missionary Ass ciation at Springfield, Mass., and wa referred to a committee of that body f consideration. The principal recommen dations are that a joint annual meeting b held, with delegates chosen on a commo basis of representation by the churches o local conferences; that each society hav its separate board of directors and it separate budget of receipts and expenses that cach society have one secretary; tha the treasuries be combined in two office: with two treasurers, one in Boston and one in New York; that the solicitation of funds shall be under the care of a special sub-committee selected from the boards of the six societies; and that, whenever necessary, there shall be such a readjustment of the work or territory of the socie ties as will secure greater economy and prevent two societies from doing similar work upon the same field. There can be no question that a single annual meeting of all the societies of the denomination would tend greatly to increase the attendance and the enthusiasm in the general missionary work of the denomination, and that in general there is need for such cooperation as to secure greater unity of action. The details of the plan will need careful working out, and it will take time to adjust all the conditions so that the desired result can be achieved, but we have no doubt that a federation of the societies along the lines indicated would greatly add both to their efficiency and their economy.

erable prelate, also the celebrant at the service of the Holy Communion which preceded the Council, was a picturesquely impressive figure as he administered the sacred emblems to the thirty other bishops present. In order of consecration, Bishop Whipple is now, with one exception, the oldest prelate in the whole Anglican communion. At the two last Lambeth conferences (1888 and 1897), Bishop Whipple represented the American Church as senior bishop. He went to Minnesota the year after Statehood had been claimed, nearly half a century ago, and immediately undertook the championship of the aborigines. He protected their interests successfully against wrongful encroachments by individuals or by the Government. He has not only long been a revered bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church, but has been looked up to as spiritual and almost as temporal head by Christians and by citizens generally in Minnesota. In appearance and in life no missionary realizes to the popular mind more graphically the dignity and power of successful pioneering than does the one who has long been known as the Apostle to the Indians. As in the recent meeting of the American Board (Congregational) at St. Louis, so at the meeting of the Episcopalians at Louisville the foreign field was dominantly to the fore, and was emphasized by important addresses from Bishops Potter and Doane. The Bishop of New York declared that the almost universal "open door" (not only for commercial intercourse, but for mission extension) was an inspiring opportunity, but an opportunity for the readjustment of method. It should be utilized by according a larger recognition to the good elements of the ethnic religions. He deprecated an unqualified application of the word "heathen" to those religions. He believed that there is a better opportunity for influencing to higher things the trained minds of their devotees than the untrained minds of the savage followers of some purely heathen system. The Bishop of Albany's address may be summarized as follows: (1) The whole Church should recognize that the duty of missions is the very life of the individual Christian, as it is of the Church; (2) it is necessary to abandon all discriminating and differentiating adjectives about missions; (3) there should be a

reversal in the methods of missionary administration; and (4) enlargement, not retrenchment, should be the rallying cry. We are glad to note the adoption of the sensible resolution introduced by the Rev. Dr. McKim to secure the necessary enactment to dispense with the words "Domestic and Foreign" in the title of the Society. As the General Convention will undoubtedly ratify the Council's vote, the title will henceforth read "The Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church."

The State Conference

of Religion

The first meeting of this body, deferred last April on account of the Ecumenical Conference, is to be held in this city November 20-22. Its aim is one which may count on wide sympathy, the drawing together of the religious forces within the State for co-operative effort in a religious spirit toward that moral betterment of social life which all religious men desire. The strongly sup ported initiatory stages of the movement we reported in June, 1899. A strong list of speakers is now announced: among them, Presidents Schurman, of Cornell, Raymond, of Wesleyan, G. Stanley Hall, of Clark, Taylor, of Vassar, Gates, recently of Iowa College; Professors Schmidt, of Cornell, Hall, of Union Seminary, Nash, of the Cambridge Divinity School; and Judge Baldwin, of the Connecticut Superior Court. Dr. Wines, of Washington, Dr. Gladden, and the Hon. Bird S. Coler are also announced. Among the more striking topics of the programme we note: "Demands on a Nation Conscious of a Moral Mission," "Dangerous Classes in a Republic," "Religion Vital to Democ racy," "Education by Church and School in Social Righteousness," "The Unused Power of the Churches in Politics." The membership of the Conference is quite inclusive. Fifteen denominations are represented in its General Committee, numbering upwards of a hundred and sixty. Among Protestant bodies its overtures were declined by Lutherans only. Among Roman Catholics co-operation was dissuaded by the attitude of Church authorities. The four denominations most largely represented are the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Unitarian, in the order named. The specific