Niagara Falls is directly reached by the New York Central Lines, which provide special stopover facilities for through passengers at Buffalo and Niagara Falls

"The Tremendous Spectacle

Niagara "The Thunderer of the Waters"- has been wearing its way through the rock four or five hundred centuries; and scientists estimate that in 5000 years more this wonder of nature will have cut its way back to Lake Erie and disappear.

For three centuries this tremendous spectacle has drawn to it explorers and travelers from over the world. From the days of the intrepid French pioneers who first saw the falls in all their primeval grandeur and loveliness, the literature of Niagara has been enriched by explorers, travelers, authors, poets, artists, scientists and statesmen. Some of the tributes to Niagara are here given:

Nothing in Turner's finest water color drawings is so ethereal, so
imaginative, so gorgeous in color.-CHARLES DICKENS.

The sublimity of rest is a distant view of the Alps; the sublimity of
motion is Niagara.-RICHARD COBDEN.

Niagara is the Titan in whose presence you stand dumb.

-BAYARD TAYLOR.

Niagara appears divinely and deliciously graceful-a specimen of the splendor and wonder of water at its finest.-Sir EDWIN ARNOLD. I know of no other thing so beautiful, so glorious and so powerful. -ANTHONY TROLLOPE.

My sense of it first, and my sense of it last, was not a sense of the stupendous, but a sense of beauty, of serenity, of repose.

WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS. Niagara calls up the indefinite past.-ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I do not know that there is anything in nature more majestic than the view of the rapids above the Falls.-DUKE OF ARGYLL. If we fix our thoughts on the lapse of time required by the recession of the Niagara from the escarpment to the Falls-how immeasurably great will its duration appear in comparison with the sum of years to which the annals of the human race are limited.

By Lyman Abbott

Edward Everett Hale...

The Genius of Ireland.
Bolshevist Russia.....

What the Forest Service Does.....
A Music-Maker for the Movies...
By Fullerton Waldo
Spirituals: Gwine Up ter Heab'n;
Ev'ywhars Dat Anybody Knows;

APRIL 12, 1922

A. 14! LIBRARY

THE COAL STRIKE IS ON

T

HE greatest strike this country has ever known went into effect on April 1. In twenty States about half a million miners laid down their ools. Perhaps six thousand mines, in both hard and soft coal fields, are afected. There was no violence or disorder in the first few days of the strike, and measures have been taken to insure the mines from ruin by flooding. Immediate suffering or industrial loss is improbable because of the immense amount of coal now above ground-about 63,000,000 tons of bituminous and 7,000,000 tons of anthracite, it is reported. The non-unionized West Virginia fields will furnish large quantities of bituminous coal. In fact, however, the public is a loser because it will have to buy coal for houses and factories at prevailing excessive prices.

What has the Government done? At this writing, practically nothing. It is probable that Congress will pass the Bland resolution providing a commission of inquiry into the strike and the coal industry. Meanwhile the permanent

Labor Committee of the lower house is holding hearings with a view to its action on the Bland resolution.

A full exposition of the strikers' views was made on April 3 before that Committee by Mr. John L. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers, the central labor organization in both branches of the industry. He dwelt more on what he deemed necessary for stability and peace than on the specific demands at this time. He even said: "In default of any other remedy, the mine workers seriously suggest that the Government take over and operate the mines."

Mr. Lewis based this sensational request on the assertion that miners and operators cannot come together. The bituminous operators in the central competitive district refused to meet the miners' delegates in conference to make a new contract, as called for by the contract made in 1920, which has just expired. This refusal has been condemned by Secretary Davis, of the Labor Department. It may be true, as the operators claim, that a Nation-wide contract is now impossible, but they should nevertheless have urged that view at the agreed meeting and not baldly refused to meet as agreed.

The word "Nationalization" was used by Mr. Lewis in his talk to the Committee, but he also declared that the unions are opposed at present to Government

(C) Keystone

cwnership of mines, and he disapproved of anything like the Railway Labor Board. It is evident that what he stands for is such regulation or control as should not involve fixing of prices by the Government or compulsory arbitration of any kind. This would certainly be "Nationalization" of a singularly weak sort, or "regulation without teeth." One peculiar feature about this strike is that in one State, Kansas, it may be forbidden by the courts; under the Kansas Industrial Law, the Industrial Court has ordered the former wage scale to continue for a month and may after inquiry enjoin the strikers from leaving the mines.

THE DISMISSALS IN
THE BUREAU OF PRINTING
AND ENGRAVING

ELDOM before in the history of the

sweeping, sudden, and drastic order been issued as that of President Harding of Friday, March 31, which removed at once by dismissal twenty-seven division heads, assistant division heads, and foremen of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, including the Director himself. The technical language of the order was that it was "for the good of the service," and no explanation accompanied it except the general statement that the changes were made following a study of the Bureau and the need for

its reorganization. No irregularities were charged or even hinted at, but the very indefiniteness of the order has given rise to all kinds of rumors. It would seem necessary that sooner or later some more definite explanation of the drastic order will be necessary in justice to those who have been dismissed the service.

An immediate reaction by a part of the general public, including a few Senators and Representatives, was that politics was responsible for the action and that the Civil Service regulations had been placed in jeopardy, for practically all of those dismissed, including the Director, have been under the Civil Service provisions which, among other things, provide that no employee shall be discharged without first being given a written statement of the reasons and an opportunity to defend the charges. In this instance no such procedure was followed, the order merely citing that it was "for the good of the service."

From its suddenness the order must have come as a crushing blow to the employees, all of whom held responsible positions and none of whom, it is said, had the slightest inkling of the impending dismissal. On Friday, March 31, they were employees of the Government at good salaries, as Government salaries go; on Saturday, April 1, they were without jobs and salaries. With the exception of three men, two of whom

had been in the Government employ only three years and one four years, all had been Government employees for many years.

The average length of service for the twenty-seven men and women dismissed, including the three short-term men, is a few months over twenty-one years each. All of them are well known in Washington and some of them well known Nationally. Mr. James L. Wilmeth, the deposed Director, is Mayor of Takoma Park, a suburb of Washington, and has been in the Government employ for twenty-seven years, six of which have been as Director of the Bureau. George Frederick Cummings Smillie, who shows the longest continuous period of public service-thirty-six years-is one of the best-known steel-plate engravers in the world. He has engraved many of the photographs and vignettes that have appeared on the currency of the United States for the past thirty years. One of his chief works was the silver certificate of 1895, and he has engraved the large portraits of the several Presidents under whose Administrations he has served. Mr. Smillie was superintendent of picture engravers, and with his dismissal that division is eliminated, as are a few other divisions, which indicates that the changes are, as announced, with a view to reorganization and increased efficiency. It is said that in the near future some five hundred employees of the several divisions of the Bureau will be dropped from the rolls in order to get back to a pre-war basis. This will not be an unusual step, but in line with similar action in all of the Government departments.

It has been announced at Washington since the order of dismissal that the Attorney-General is to proceed at once with an exhaustive investigation of the Bureau and that he has already assigned agents to the new Director to proceed with that work. The new Director, who assumed his duties on April 1 and immediately announced successors for the vacancies, is Louis A. Hill, who has been in the Government service for twenty-six years, and for some years has been assistant chief of the engraving division.

tive to the island of Yap. It provides for certain rights in that minute island, important because it is a cable station at a strategic point. This was the first of the treaties to receive the Senate's approval.

The other treaties, negotiated at the Conference itself and approved, are as follows:

I. A treaty between the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, limiting naval armament.

II. A treaty between the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy, and Japan, in relation to the use of submarines and noxious gases in warfare.

III. A treaty between the United States of America, the British Empire, France, and Japan, relating to their insular possessions and insular dominions in the Pacific Ocean.

IV. A declaration accompanying the Four-Power Treaty relating to insular possessions and insular dominions in the Pacific.

V. A treaty supplementary to the Four-Power Treaty relating to insular possessions and insular dominions in the Pacific.

VI. A treaty between the United States of America, Belgium, the British Empire, China, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Portugal, relating to principles and policies to be followed in matters concerning China.

VII. A treaty between the United States of America, Belgium, the British Empire, China, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and Portugal, relating to Chinese customs tariff.

Of these the only treaty which had to run a gauntlet of debate was the FourPower Treaty, concerning insular possessions and dominions. This, as The Outlook has already reported, was approved by a vote of 67 to 27, a majority larger by only four votes than the required two-thirds. The declaration accompanying the Four-Power Treaty and the treaties supplementary to the FourPower Treaty (Nos. IV and V above) also received the Senate's approval. The other treaties were approved by very much larger votes-virtually unani

mous.

These treaties did not represent, however, the only achievement of the Washington Conference. In fact, perhaps the most critical question at the Conference was not included within any of the treaties. This was the dispute between Japan and China relative to the province of Shantung. The conversations between the delegates of these two countries were not officially regarded as part of the Conference itself, but to all intents and purposes they were carried on as the other negotiations were. The re

sult was a treaty between China and Japan which settled that disturbing question. This was a matter which had as much as anything to do with American dissatisfaction with the result of the Peace Conference at Paris; the settle ment of it at Washington was an achievement of the first order. Crecit for this is due, not only to the intel gence of the representatives of both the countries immediately concerned, but t the wisdom and tact of President Ha:ding, Secretary Hughes, and Mr. Balfour, head of the British delegation. In addition to the treaties which called for Senatorial action there was a group of resolutions. There were twelve resolutions accompanied by certain deelarations which, though not in the nature of treaties, committed the govern ments involved to certain principles and policies. Two of these resolutions provided for the constitution of a commis sion of jurists to consider the amend ment of the laws of war. The other resolutions concerned policies in the Far East. Among these resolutions perhaps the most far-reaching was that which provided that all the participating Powers should file with the SecretariatGeneral of the Conference a list of all their treaties and agreements which they might have with China or with any other Power or Powers in relation to China, and as nearly as possible all contracts between their nationals and the Chinese Government or any of its local authorities. Never before has there been any agreement or understanding for equal rights and fair dealing in the Far East comparable to the understanding reached through the Far Eastern treaties and these resolutions which were drafted at the Washington Conference. If it had not been for the understanding reached concerning these difficult and contentious questions concerning the great area on the globe known as the Far East any treaty for the limitation of naval armament would have been impossible, and, if possible, would have been futile. The policies of the nations involved in the affairs of the Far East have as a consequence of this Conference become humanized to a degree which a few months ago seemed out of the range of practical international politics.

erous.

And yet that is exactly what the House of Representatives is apparently proposing to do. Navies can be scrapped in two ways: the ships themselves can be dismantled or the Navy can be deprived of men. The most efficient way to scrap the Navy is not to scrap its ships but to scrap its men. Ships can be rebuilt, but men cannot be provided for a navy, officers who know how to maneuver squadrons cannot be supplied except after long years of training. The country that scraps its ships can in two' or three years build better ones; but the country that scraps its naval men cannot provide their substitutes when emergency demands. The Washington Conference, after long negotiations in which America made great sacrifices for the sake of securing full understanding, provided for a navy of certain stated strength. If we are to have that naval machine, it is necessary that it be kept in order to be ready for use; otherwise, we might just as well not have it at all. It has been provided by treaty that the American Navy should remain virtually at the strength at which it had arrived last November. That treaty does not provide for the reduction of the Navy. What it provides for is the stopping of

naval competition.

The battleships afloat which we had then (except old ones that have passed their usefulness) we are to have still. In addition, we are to have two new battleships. These capital ships should be manned so that they will not deteriorate and so that the officers in command of them can maneuver them. To scrap these ships to which we are entitled is to make a greater sacrifice than America can afford to make.

Congress has no right to make that sacrifice in the face of the approval which the country has obviously given to the naval treaty. If Congress should choose to impair our Navy still further, it will do precisely what an enemy would seek to do in time of war.

Public opinion in this country ought to make itself heard at Washington and demand that the Navy be let alone.

Great Britain, whose navy by treaty is equal to ours, has about 125,000 men besides many men available from the merchant marine and other services. Japan has a navy of 75,000 men besides men available outside the naval service itself. Congress proposes to cut our Navy down to 65,000 men without supplying a reserve on which to draw.

The Navy Department has reluctantly proposed that the personnel of our Navy be fixed at about 90,000. That reduces the personnel to what we regard as a perilous minimum. If Congress wants to make any change from the recommendation of the Navy Department, it should increase that number. We recommend a careful reading of Captain Overstreet's article in this issue.

FREE SEEDS VS. THE ARMY

BVIOUSLY, the most important element in our National defense at the present time is the Navy. With a Navy of the size permitted by the Armament Conference, a Navy fully and properly manned, the United States, faced by hostilities, would probably have the expensive opportunity to build up its military forces, as we did in the last war behind the screen of Allied protection. But even if Congress should supply us with such a Navy, that fact would not justify us in permitting our Army to deteriorate into inadequacy.

The General Staff and the President have asked for a total strength of 150,000 men. The present Appropriation Bill now pending in Congress provides only for an enlisted strength of 115,000.

men.

When the great cuts in the size of the Army were made after the war, it was expected that a reserve force could be built up, the existence of which would justify cutting down the size of our standing army. On paper we now have some 65,000 reserve officers, but the pending bill would permit calling for annual training only some 33 officers in each State. Without adequate provision for such training, interest in the reserve corps will disappear, and with the passage of time the knowledge gained by these men in the World War will be lost. The appropriation for their training under the present bill is $250,000, just about twice what the House of Representatives is asking for the distribution of free seeds for our farmers. Practically all agricultural authorities are in agreement that the only crop raised from such seeds is that which Congress expects to harvest on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. While Congress makes such appropriations contrary to the advice of the Budget Director, the loud protests which it makes concerning its desire for economy in military appropriation will not carry much weight with the public. DEATH OF CHARLES I

HARLES I, last of the Hapsburg rulers

CHA

of Austria and Hungary, died in exile in Madeira, April 1. His death does not remove all possibility of further monarchistic ambitions in the Hapsburg family, for his six children and his wife, the former Empress Zita. survive him. Charles I came to the throne after the death of the aged Franz Joseph in 1916. His possession of the dual crown lasted through the troublous days which led to the break-up of his Empire. He was responsible for secret negotiations through Prince Sixtus which looked towards a separation from the German alliance. A month before the end of the war Hungary, under