schools the replacing of cigarette and dime novel by wholesome contact with animals and plants-in other words, getting up again as nearly as possible to the training of home life on a good farm-are matters needing legislative aid, if we are to remain a healthy nation, for the influence of the cities is enervating and tends to dependence, disease, and crime. The farm home in place of the orphan asylum; the summer camp in place of the city street; the supervised playground in place of the corner tobacconist or loafing-place-these require immediate thought and care. If by some organized effort the facts are made known, our lawmakers will not delay to provide wisely and amply, for legislative bodies in America are always on the side of appropriations for education when they are assured that the expenditure is well planned and needful. It is possible that this conference will be the opening cleft to a wiser, more liberal, and thereby more truly economical National policy in the effective upbringing of the children of America.

Week before last The

THE CONTRACT Outlook epitomized the LABOR CASE case of Alonzo Bailey and

the law under which he was arrested. The case was then pending in the Supreme Court of the United States. Although this is the highest tribunal of the land, its decision in the case which was handed down last week does not end the matter. That decision was adverse to Bailey. The facts we briefly recall to the reader as follows: Bailey, a negro, had made a contract to work for a company, received some money, and, long before the full time of the contract was over, stopped working. Instead of treating the matter as a simple breach of contract, the company, acting in accordance with an Alabama statute, prosecuted Bailey as a criminal; for the statute provides that the stopping of work under such circumstances is prima facie evidence that the employee made the contract with fraudulent intent. Bailey was tried before a Justice of the Peace. His counsel applied to the City Court of Montgomery for a discharge on habeas corpus, then to the Supreme Court

of the State, and finally to the Supreme Court of the United States. Counsel for Bailey argued that the law under which he was detained was unconstitutional, inasmuch as it made the breaking of a contract prima facie evidence of crime and did not allow the accused to testify as to his own intent; so that under it a man could be deprived of liberty without due process of law. The Supreme Court of the United States does not pass upon the constitutionality of the statute. It denies the discharge of the prisoner because the case has not really been allowed to go to court as it should. In reference to the arguments of Bailey's counsel the Supreme Court says: The trouble in dealing with this contention is due to the meager facts on which this case comes before us at this stage." The Court adds that it has not been shown that the accusers of the prisoner intended to rely upon this provision concerning prima facie evidence, and it may be that when the case comes to trial they "will exhibit satisfactory proof of a fraudulent scheme," so that this provision of the law" will not come into the question at all." The Supreme Court sums up the matter by saying: "The trouble with the whole case is that it is brought here prematurely by an attempt to take a short cut." So the case is not settled, and will have to come back to the Supreme Court by a longer route, if it ever reaches it again. Even this decision was not unanimous. Mr. Justice Harlan and Mr. Justice Day dissented. The question as to the constitutionality of the law still remains. There is no question as to the injustice of the law. Whether it is constitutional or not, it is a bad law and ought to be repealed.

mon Council, and, in addition to the six other men arrested, many of the city officials are under suspicion or are positively accused. In fact, the Civic League, which, through detectives, has long been gathering evidence, declares that rarely, if ever, has there been such a sweeping and important proceeding against municipal officers as is involved in this case. A thorough examination of these charges must be deferred until the evidence is laid before the court; but it may be noted here briefly that bribes were, it is alleged, given and received for the purpose of influencing members of the Councils to pass measures designating certain banks as depositories for the city funds, and to pass also certain measures relating to bridges, street railways, filter beds, street paving, and other subjects. The sums involved were in the aggregate large, but so common and cheap had become the purchase of the men sworn to protect the city's interests that it is said that sometimes a few dollars only could buy a vote on a minor matter. A sample transaction is that by which, it is alleged, the president and cashier of the German National Bank paid $17,500 to the Councilmen to induce them to continue that bank as a city depository. In this case it is said that the money was laid on 2 table in a room of the bank, and a recognized agent for the bribe-takers was left alone with it; when the bank officers came back, they did not find the agent or the money there, and they did not think it worth while to make any inquiry. We are glad to add that the president and cashier of the bank have been indicted. In another case a company was trying to get the contract to pave an avenue; the contractor was approached by a Councilman, who said, "It's coming Christmas, and the boys need a little money." A detective acted as the contractor's partner, and when, in a secluded room, he handed $10,000 in bills to the Councilman, a flashlight photograph showed the scoundrel in the very act of taking the money. If the assertions made by the Civic League are correct, and if their evidence is in legal shape, the two crimes just described are no worse than dozens of other similar transactions. It is probable that before this is read many other arrests will be made, and it is to be hoped

that the result will be a political overturning and ultimately a municipal reform of the most thorough description.

THE SOUTHERN STREET DUEL

A letter from "A Southerner" commenting caustically on the atrocious criminal practice miscalled the street duel, and on its recent murderous exemplification in the killing of Senator Carmack, was published by The Outlook in its issue of December 5. The very last thing the author of that letter could have thought of doing, and the very last thing The Outlook would have undertaken in its own comment on the affray, would be to sit in judgment on the merits of the quarrel between Senator Carmack and Colonel Cooper. Yet a Nashville correspondent (whose letter would fill several columns, and cannot, therefore, be here printed) finds that "the palpable purpose was to create a prejudice against Colonel Cooper," and seems to believe that because, as he says, Colonel Cooper was a man of gentle birth who led a kindly life without vicious habits, and because in his opinion Senator Carmack was blameworthy in his conduct toward Colonel Cooper, therefore it must be that Senator Carmack precipitated his own killing by drawing his own pistol when the two Coopers were close to him and before they had drawn. The courts must (or should) decide as to the exact circumstances of this affray; whether a pistol was first drawn by the one party or the other has nothing to do with the heinousness and barbarism of the "street duel" practice, beside which the real duel of olden days was a civilized and humane custom. We may, however, point out that the printed account of the affray sent us by this Nashville correspondent as giving the exact facts states that "Sunday night Senator Carmack received a verbal message from Colonel Cooper, through a mutual friend, saying that his name must not again appear in the Tennessean or one of them would have to go." (Italics ours.) If this is not an invitation to a street shooting affray, it would be hard to say what it is. On the other hand, The Outlook and its correspondent, "A South

erner," are attacked by the Epworth Era, of Nashville, whose editor, in sending us the item, states that the Era is "perhaps the most widely read religious newspaper printed in the South," because in an "anonymous," "scandalous," and "reprehensible " communication "A Southerner" has "slandered the South, as we believe, in the matter of the socalled 'street duel' and has grossly and purposely, we dare assert, defamed the name of the murdered Carmack." So, if street dueling were to be applied practically to this case, the friends of "A Southerner" might never know to which cause he fell a victim. Seriously, it is astonishing that people of the high personal character and social standing of these two Nashville gentlemen cannot see that what "A Southerner" and The Outlook stand for is neither Carmack nor Cooper, but the supremacy of law. Whether North or South, Thaw case or Carmack case, no section of the country is civilized unless its citizens unite in putting down any sentiment tending to sustain the settlement of private quarrels by threats and murder.

A HOPEFUL

Events moved rapidly in

Venezuela last week, and, REVOLUTION according to all appearances, the downfall of Castro is complete. There are those, to be sure, who say that the wily and unprincipled President saw that revolution was imminent, and that Venezuela's relations with foreign Powers also had come to a pass where something must be done; and that he chose to absent himself abroad, and to let the prearranged revolution take its course under the guidance of his old ally (perhaps accomplice might be an equally suitable word) Gomez, the Vice-President and Acting President. This theory has been supported by the fact that, although in most Central American countries it might be almost called the regular procedure for the Vice-President to seize the reins of power whenever the President gives him a chance, yet Gomez has proved faithful to Castro on at least one occasion when left in charge of the Government and when his opportunity was undoubtedly great. On the other hand, Gomez has now acted like a man who means to stay in office permanently;

he seems to have winked at an anti-Castro demonstration, and to have disregarded the insults of the populace to Castro's friends; and he has certainly discharged Castro's old subservient Ministry, and appointed a Cabinet made up largely of Castro's enemies. Another significant fact is that many men expelled from the country by Castro, and some who are actively plotting revolution in the United States and elsewhere, are now hastening with all speed to Caracas. The most cheerful outcome of the overturn in Venezuela is that there seems to be an excellent prospect for a reasonable and courteous adjustment of the quarrels and financial difficulties into which Castro plunged his country with a dozen or more nations on both sides of the Atlantic. Gomez has already suspended the operation of the commercial decrees about transshipment of goods bound for Venezuela which have been a prime cause of trouble with Holland and Colombia. He has also intimated a disposition to deal fairly with the United States and France: and now that the arrogant braggart, Castro, is out of the way, we may hope to see the long-standing questions between the United States and its small sister Republic adjudicated with dignity and fairness. To this end, the United States has already despatched to Venezuela a special commissioner on the part of the United States; Secretary Root, for this purpose, has selected the Hon. William I. Buchanan, formerly Minister of the United States to the Panama Republic. and a diplomat of long experience in Central and South American matters; Mr. Buchanan will no doubt prove an eminently acceptable envoy, and it is known that his instructions are of a friendly and conciliating kind. As is customary when disturbances of a revolutionary kind suggest possible danger to American citizens and property, war-ships have been sent to the neighborhood of the disturbance, and in this case our vessels sent to Venezuela are led by the battle-ship Maine, with Rear-Admiral Arnold in command of the squadron.

recent report of a joint committee of workmen and representatives of the University of Oxford, organized for the purpose of devising some way of placing the educational opportunities of that old and most conservative university within reach of the working classes. As a rule, eduAs a rule, education has meant, both in England and in this country, the opportunity of getting out of what is called the working class into a profession or trade of some sort. The aim of this committee, as reported by the New York Sun, is, "not that men should escape from their class, but that they should remain in it and raise its whole level;" and to bring about this great result, as important in this country as in England, the committee is anxious to present a scheme for a "democratic education as a preparation for an educated democracy." Some time ago there was in this country a very strong desire to get away from the land, and the most energetic and ambitious boys on farms made their escape as early as possible to the cities. This was accepted in quarters as a permanent movement. But there has already been a great change; boys of ability are no longer looking upon the farm as drudgery, nor upon farm life as a long monotony. Scientific education is making farming profitable, and modern means of communication are ridding farm life of its old isolation. What society needs is not the concentration of educated men in the professions, or in any special occupations, but the diffusion of education through all professions, trades, and occupations; the identification of labor of every sort and kind with training and intelligence; for an uneducated democracy, no matter how good its intentions, or how wise the structure of its government, is a danger to itself and to other countries. If, to quote the report of the Oxford committee, "the eleven millions who weave our clothes, build our houses, and carry us safely on our journeys" are demanding better education, they ought to have it, not because it will enable them to change the form of their work, but because it will enable them to perform their work with more intelligence, and to have larger resources of living. The committee therefore proposes that working men and boys shall have a chance, in the different local

ities, of studying under tutors who shall be under the direction of the University, jointly with the representatives of the working classes; and that for these working class students provision shall be made for study in Oxford for a period of at least two years as candidates for certain diplomas now granted by the University. A committee, consisting of representatives of the University and the working classes, has arranged for the formation of tutorial classes in eight different localities, and the privilege of the admission of tutorial class students to the courses in economics, for which degrees are granted. This committee is further arranging a plan which shall include science in the diploma course for economics; and it is proposed to establish a lectureship in political theory and institutions of a kind which shall be especially useful to students who come from the industrial classes. This is a long step forward, when one recalls what the traditions of Oxford are. It does not involve any lowering of the standards of that ancient institution, but it does involve a recognition of the brotherhood of all classes in society.

AN AMERICAN SCHOLAR

Dr. Wolcott Gibbs, who died in Newport, Rhode Island, on December 9, was known and greatly respected among scholars all over the world. In fact, he was one of the small group of Americans whose reputation for pure scholarship is international. He was grandson of Oliver Wolcott, Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, after whom he was named, and son of a mineralogist of repute, George Gibbs. He was a graduate of Columbia College and of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. For fourteen years he was Professor of Chemistry in the institution then known as the Free Academy, but now become famous as the College of the City of New York. Then he was called to Harvard, with which he maintained connection until his death. For the last twenty-five years of his life he was professor emeritus. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from five universities, including Harvard and Columbia. He was member of a number of learned societies. His public services on the Sanitary Commission