Mr. Haywood withdrew, and at the time of writing Mr. Debs' nomination seems probable.

The conference summoned by President Roosevelt in the White House in WashThe White ington May 13, 14 and 15,

House is likely to prove a matter Conference of unusual influence in the development of the country. Among those who were invited were members of the Cabinet, judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, governors of all the States of the Union, and, in addition, Andrew Carnegie, W. J. Bryan, James J. Hill, Seth Low, and John Mitchell. There were present also a number of experts on the natural resources of the country, who presented papers. As the conference is in session at the time we go to press, it is impossible for us to state the result of the meeting, but we sincerely hope that there will be some definite plan determined upon which will direct legislation for the next generation.

THE HOTEL FIRE AT FORT WAYNE, INDIANA Twelve persons lost their lives in this disaster. This photograph was taken at sunrise

The Currency Reform

The deadlock into which Congress seems to have fallen relative to currency reform seems in a fair way to be broken. The Aldrich Bill, after having been modified and remodified and then again remodified, has finally disappeared from legislative possibilities. In its place came the socalled Vreeland Bill. All that it contains of its predecessor is a provision for the payment of interest on government deposits in national banks. The new bill provided for the formation of a clearing house association to be composed of not less than ten national banks, with an aggregate capital and surplus of not less than $5,000,000. Emergency currency could be based on clearing house securities, including commercial paper, subject to a tax of four per cent the first month and one per cent additional until ten per cent was reached. The bill also provided for a currency commission composed of six members from each house. This bill met with disapproval in the house currency committee, Mr. Fowler, chairman of that committee, holding strenuously to the belief that at the present time the only need is for the appointment of a currency commission. Speaker Cannon favored the Vreeland Bill, and on May 6 the Republicans of the House held a conference at which a resolution was passed which, without mentioning the Vreeland Bill, approved through clearing house association, securities including commercial paper, as a safe asset for emergency currency. At the time of writing there is every evidence that the bill will be passed embodying the essential points of the Vreeland Bill. In any case, Congress has learned the need of caution in currency legislation, and, it is to be hoped, the country is to be relieved at least to some degree from the danger of the recurrence of the currency panic of last October.

is going on vigorously, its chief apostles being Richmond P. Hobson and the President. Japan has been building some tremendous ships of late, and according to Mr. Hobson the United States would have no chance in a naval conflict with that power. The President in a letter urging the appropriation for four vessels, justifies his position by the failure of The Hague Conference to reach an agreement limiting the armament among the powers. When it is borne in mind that a 20,000-ton battle-ship will cost more than all the endowments of colleges and universities in most states of the union, with the exception of three or four, and that these ships are likely to be out of date even before they are finished, Congress will be judged reasonable in its decision. There is a limit to an annual expenditure in the present stage of naval development.

public eye than Admiral Evans, and to no one has public sympathy gone out more heartily than to him as he has suffered in a sanitarium and has mourned the loss of a favorite grandchild. The reception of the fleet by citizens of California is something more than a mere sight-seeing affair. It is a tribute paid by the Pacific Coast to the nation. Knowing what effect the appearance of our battle-ships has produced on Asiatic coasts in the past, we can not doubt that its voyage home by way of Japan and China and the Suez Canal will increase our prestige among nations where prestige is largely set by an estimate of fighting strength. But at the same time, the country might as well face the serious facts presented by Senator Hale in a recent speech in the Senate. He shows beyond question that seventy per cent of all the revenues of the United States are expended for preparation for war. If the development of the navy is to proceed at the present rate it will be only a few years before we shall be expending 150,000,000 annually in its support. To double the army as some are urging would require $200,000,000 be

sides. This tremendous expense, although not yet incurred, is forcing us to neglect internal improvements of permanent importance and absolute necessity. The money spent in this development of our fleet would work an incredible transformation for the economic development of our country; would save our forests; reclaim our deserts; restore our waterways; deepen our ports; establish a national university; raise our consular service to a worthy profession; build respectable homes for our ambassadors; and do innumerable other things that the country at large needs, vastly more than it needs

ships and guns. The safest way to keep out of international imbroglios is not necessarily to put a premium on our fighting spirit. There are problems pressing upon the United States which are infinitely greater and more immediate than war with any nation on the face of the earth. There are great public enterprises that ought to be undertaken to give employment to thousands who need to labor. We ought to establish some form of pension for old age. To put the matter very bluntly, Germany, France and Great Britain have passed beyond us in estimating the real function of government. We are about where they were twenty years ago, longing to be military. We do not expect to see militarism dominant, but if the persistent agitation in favor of increased

ernor Johnson indicated that the subject of state rights would be one of the fundamental questions agitated in pursuing his campaign. He protested vigorously against the interference of the general government through the federal courts, with the administration of state laws. "Shall we now, because some laws are found irksome by a class and interfere with their selfish aims, commence to deprive our sovereign states of that measure of home rule which until now they have seen fit to reserve to themselves?" he contended. The recent decision of the United States Supreme Court concerning the Minnesota and North Carolina railroad rate cases was classed by Governor Johnson as "One of the unhappy incidents in the history of our republic.

May 1 and the Saloons

The first of May inaugurated in many localities the banishment of the saloons. In Massachusetts, by changes in six cities and thirty-six towns, 210 licensed places went out of business. Among these are three of the largest manufacturing cities of the state, where the doing away of the liquor traffic means inestimable benefit to business as well as individuals. Worcester, with a population of over one hundred and thirty thousand, is the largest municipality in the country under a nolicense régime. A year ago the wets had a majority of 6,722. At this year's elections the drys were ahead by 18,085 votes. In Vermont only twenty-seven cities and towns legalize the sale of liquor as compared with ninety-two five years ago. Druggists' licenses are abolished in New Hampshire. In Illinois, as already reported in these columns, and Nebraska, the tide has gone in the same direction. Fourteen towns in the latter state adopted no-license. Even in Chicago there are, since May 1, 125 less saloons than last year. An interesting exhibit of the results of prohibition in Atlanta, Georgia, has recently been published. The total number of arrests for the first quarter of 1908 were 2,211, whereas in the same months of 1907 they were 4,386. The "drunk and disorderlies' arrested this year numbered 326 as compared with 1,400 last year. Prohibition certainly. saves municipal criminal expenses, a fact that should be

remembered in considering the loss of revenue from license fees.

The Chelsea

Fire

A lamentable loss of property was occasioned by a disastrous fire in Chelsea, one of Boston's important suburbs, on April 12. A fierce northwest gale, blowing at the rate of forty-five miles an hour, prevented the efforts of the firemen to check the progress of the flames. The area over which they raged is a mile and a half long and half a mile wide at its broadest part. The city hall, the public library, two hospitals, thirteen churches, five schoolhouses, twenty business blocks and nearly a score of factories were destroyed. The total loss is estimated as between $7,500,000 and $10,000,000. Ten thousand people were made homeless. It was found necessary to call out the militia to help in preserving order. Fortunately no lives were lost. The number of heavy losses by fire of late years has led to widespread comment on the unwisdom shown in not using fireproof construction. It is claimed that at least seventy-five per cent of the annual losses by fire in the United States are preventable. The Wall Street Journal states that in the past three years the losses in this country and Canada aggregated $850,000,000-a sum "nearly equal to the total capital stock, paid in, of the national banks of the United States!"

The Southern Cyclones

One of the most terrible storms of modern history swept across the States of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. Mississippi was the greatest sufferer. The total number of those who were killed in the storm was approximately four hundred. Forty-six towns were more or less damaged. The cyclone was particularly fatal among the negroes. whose frail houses were almost instantly ruined. The federal government immediately undertook the work of relief, Congress appropriating $250,000. Another tornado swept over the southern part of Nebraska May 12, killing fourteen persons and damaging much property. At Fort Crook the village was destroyed and the army post damaged to the amount of $100,000.