opinion has been put forward that the diminishing birth rate was a potent factor in deciding the Kaiser to strike now rather than a few years later. However this may be, it is certain that the immediate effect of the war will be to make the birth rates of the warring countries lower than ever. History shows that when a country goes to war, its birth rate drops off almost immediately and does not return to normal for several years after peace is established.

Germany, however, is not the only country in which parenthood has become scarcer recently the same tendency to some extent is found in every civilized country. In the large cities this tendency is particularly marked-in fact, New York is almost the only large city in which there are more babies born to every thousand persons now than there were thirty years ago. The following table, with the approximate birth rates of New York, London, Berlin, Paris, and Brussels in 1880 and in 1912, is interesting:

Among the many difficulties which face the establishment of popular government in China is the absence of a common language and of means of rapid and complete communication of news. There are probably hundreds of thousands of Chinese who do not yet know that the Manchu dynasty has fallen. The report in the New York "Tribune" of an official of the Chinese postal service recently in this country is therefore very significant.

After calling attention to the fact, known to every one who knows anything about China, that the people are supremely interested in work and that as long as they can work under proper conditions they care nothing about politics, and that they want to be let alone, to be at peace among themselves and with the whole world, this official said that

ten years ago the postal service of China, organized as a part of the customs service under that very able administrator Sir Robert Hart, handled about ten million pieces of small mail per annum; at present it handles about six hundred million pieces. It is international in scope; its officials represent eight or ten different nations; wherever railways go the mails are carried by trains, but many thousand miles are covered by couriers on foot or horseback, or by any other means of conveyance. In many places the service is not only up to the standard of service in American cities, but is superior to it. In the city of Peking there are twelve deliveries a day. Letters are carried everywhere within the country for one cent. The parcels post and money order systems are in successful operation all over China. The special delivery letter service is especially efficient. Mail marked " express letter service" is placed in special bags as soon as it is deposited. These bags often contain only two or three letters. They are taken out by couriers in waiting, who, mounted on bicycles, go at full speed to the address, deliver the letter, and wait to receive an answer. This service is confined to large towns, and the cost of sending such a letter is five cents.

It will be a long time, despite the progress made, before the great mass of people who speak the various dialects get into close communication with one another and the mind of the vast population of the republic is accessible to ideas and responsive to them.

A NEW USE FOR TRIAL
BY "JOINT BOARD"

Whether or not government is by "the consent of the governed" is the acid test for democracy among peoples. The more consent" there is on the part of employees in relations between employer and employed, the less of autocracy there is in that relation also; and, generally speaking, the more efficient will be the service rendered. Mr. Marcus M. Marks, President of the Borough of Manhattan in the City of New York, has recently inaugurated in the government of that borough a system of trial for accused employees by joint boards of employers and fellows of the accused which marks a new advance in democracy.

When a man who works for the Borough of Manhattan is brought up for trial on charges, his case is heard by a board consisting of two officials of the borough and two

employees of the same department as the accused. The result is that the man under charges has a fuller opportunity to state his case than he would if his interests were not safeguarded by his fellows, and he feels more inclined to bow with a good grace before whatever punishment is meted out to him than he would if he were not represented on the joint board of judges. The findings of these boards, although only advisory, are usually followed by the department heads.

It has been found that the workingmen called to serve as judges have not been swayed in their findings by class prejudice, and the discipline and esprit de corps of the men working for the borough has been improved owing to the fact that after trial the men carry back to their fellows the story of an absolute " square deal.”

A SCHOOL FOR SALESGIRLS

Practice in choral singing and indoor baseball may not seem to be essential to skill in disposing of lingerie behind a sales-counter in a large department store, but the management of Lord & Taylor's new store in New York and the directors of the Department Store Education Association have included these two specialties with other branches of physical training as part of the curriculum in the new school of salesmanship just opened in the New York store.

This is not the first attempt to teach individual salesgirls how to sell their own specialty, but it is the most successful effort on record to teach the girl her function in relation to the whole store, to make each cog understand its relation to the whole wheel; in short, to organize a department store like a baseball team, each unit having its particular function, but being ready in emergencies to perform the function of some other unit.

The school is the result of the effort of three New York women: Mrs. Henry Ollesheimer, Miss Virginia Potter, and Miss Anne Morgan. It has already made good in the Lord & Taylor store, and will doubtless be adopted by many others. The reason that baseball and choral singing are practiced during the forty-fiveminute period at the beginning of the day is that the physical well-being of the salesgirl is essential to good salesmanship. Other subjects taught are the psychology of selling. fashion study, store system, etc.

The girls are divided into groups, each group going to school four times every three

weeks. They look forward with pleasure to these study periods, during which they are receiving full pay, by the way, and they are just as much interested in learning matters relating directly to their daily work-as, for instance, that the first slit skirt was decreed by Lycurgus-as they are in mastering the intricacies of batting and catching in the gymnasium during the play period.

While in this way the human side of the girls is reached and their interest aroused in their work, at the same time their efficiency is carefully studied so that each girl may get credit on the pay-roll for her own work. Instead of the unfair and unpopular "percentage system," the girls are paid on a graded weekly salary basis, and when it is necessary to reduce expenses, instead of immediately lopping off salaries the plan will be to look for possible leakages and wastes. In the short time it has been in operation the school of salesmanship has won the approval of the girls, while it has demonstrated to all store managers that scientific éducation of employees pays in dollars and cents as well as in the increased contentedness of employees.

to be decided which was to be master in Europe, the West or the East. The West-that means Germany, France, England, and Italy. The East-Russia.'

It is because France and England refused to join Germany and Austria in war against Russia that Germany is peculiarly incensed against France and England.

Why must either West or East be master in Europe? Why must either the Teuton or the Slav dominate?

In the eighteenth century Roman Catholicism and Protestantism fought to determine which should dominate Europe. In England the Puritans and the Episcopalians fought to determine which should dominate England. To-day neither Roman Catholicism nor Protestantism dominates Europe; neither

Dr. Hanns Heinz Ewers, born in Düsseldorf, on the Rhine, is said to be one of the most celebrated authors of the day. His article in "The Fatherland," an American weekly published for the purpose of defending Germany and Austria, begins with the sentence quoted above.

Puritanism nor Episcopalianism dominates England. The Roman Catholic Church is better because it has a Protestant neighbor. The Protestant Church is better because it has a Roman Catholic neighbor. Nowhere

are Protestantism and Roman Catholicism more efficient religious forces than in America, where neither attempts to dominate.

In the eighteenth century France and England fought to determine which should be master on this continent. England won, only to lose her mastery in half the continent through the American Revolution, and to divide her mastery with France in the other half. It is true that Canada is an English dependency. But it is also true that in Canada the English do not dominate and do not try to dominate the French. The two races live in peace and friendship, each learning from the other. English Canada has had a French Premier. In Quebec a FrenchCanadian solution of the school question is adopted. In Manitoba an English-Canadian solution of the school question is adopted.

The United States is occupied by a heterogeneous population in which all races live peaceably together. Politically the Irish have dominated New York City; the Germans have dominated Wisconsin. But the Anglo-Saxons have not fought with the Celts in New York nor the native Americans with the Germans in Wisconsin. The AngloSaxons have learned something from the Irish and the Irish something from the Anglo-Saxons. The native Americans have learned something from the Germans and the Germans something from the native Americans. All races live peaceably together because each race recognizes and respects the good qualities of its neighbor, and there is a free commerce in ideas as well as in goods.

We Americans repudiate absolutely this idea that either the East or the West, either the Slav or the Teuton, must dominate Europe, as we absolutely repudiate the idea that either the East or the West, either Slav, German, or Celt, must dominate America. Once the South attempted to dominate, and a terrible war resulted. Then, for a little time, the North attempted to dominate, and a disastrous political anarchy resulted in the South. Now neither North nor South attempts to dominate. The whole country recognizes the truth that the interests of North' and South, of East and West, are one. At one time, in America, the white race dominated

the colored race. The result, slavery, was equally disastrous to both races. Then, in the reconstruction period, the colored race dominated the white race. The result, political corruption, was equally disastrous to both races. Now the constitutions of the six most progressive Southern States provide that intelligence and thrift shall dominate ignorance and idleness. And where this solution is honestly accepted and honorably lived up to, peace and prosperity follow.

We do not deny the right of a nation to exclude from its territory a foreign and inharmonious race. We affirm that right. Austria may forbid the migration of Slavs to her Empire. But it is one thing for a nation to exclude from her territory a foreign and inharmonious race; it is quite another thing for one race in a nation to demand the right to dominate another race in the same nation, or one nation to demand the right to dominate other nations in the family of nations.

Russia wants free access to the Mediterranean. She needs it and ought to have it. But that does not give her a right to wrest Constantinople from Turkey. Austria wants free access to the Ægean. She needs it and ought to have it. But that does not give her a right to annex Servia. Canada wants free access, winter and summer, to the Atlantic Ocean. She needs it and ought to have it. But she does not make war on the United States and seek to annex Maine. She would not if she had the power. She builds a railway to Portland, and enjoys the same access to that port that is enjoyed by the citizens of Maine.

Political domination is not necessary for commercial extension. To suppose that one nation or one race must dominate Europe in order to secure peace and order in Europe is to assume that international law is nothing but an application to international affairs of the law of the jungle.

Europe will not win peace by the domination of East over West or West over East, of Slav over Teuton or Teuton over Slav. It will win peace only when the various European races respect each other, recognize the truth that each race can learn from the neighboring races, and all the peoples—Russian, German, Austrian, Servian, Belgian, English, French-realize that they possess a common interest in the success of Europe overwhelmingly greater than any possible gain in the domination of one people over another.

It is the attempt of Russia to dominate

however, can only be included in such an understanding when it is recognized in that country that the attempts hitherto made in the Cisleithan half of the monarchy to introduce a liberal system are based on a mistaken policy, as are also the national experiments in a Polish direction.

The Czar is now aligned with republican France and democratic England, and has at least pledged his support to "a new national experiment in a Polish direction." Austria has satisfactorily purged herself, so far as Germany is concerned, of her mistaken sympathy for liberalism. Though the players have shifted sides, the conflict is the same.

WHY?

Many of our German-American citizens cannot understand why Americans sympathize with the Allies in a war between the most progressive and the most reactionary Empire on the European Continent. In this brief statement we tell them why.

Big Austria attacked little Servia. Without demanding an impartial investigation of Austria's charges against Servia, Germany allied herself with Austria. Germany's first mistake.

Sir Edward Grey made earnest efforts to secure the co-operation of Germany in an endeavor to obtain for Austria and Servia justice without war. Germany refused. Germany's second mistake.

Germany, England, and France had guaranteed, by sacred treaty, the neutrality of Belgium. Germany, in her plan of campaign, disregarded her pledge and asked Great Britain to disregard her pledge also. Germany's third mistake.

Americans do not believe in condemning an accused without giving him an impartial hearing. They do not believe in war without exhausting every endeavor to secure justice by peaceful measures. They do not believe in regarding a solemn treaty as a scrap of paper which may be discarded whenever it interferes with the interests of either of the parties to the treaty. If a nation can break its solemn obligations without penalty, there is an end to any international good relations.

The agitation for international arbitration -the substitution of the appeal to reason for the appeal to force-has led thousands of Americans to hope that henceforth treaties would require no other enforcement than the

public sense of national honor. Germany's disregard of her treaty obligations by her invasion of Belgium has disappointed this hope.

CONCERNING CLOTHES

Mark Twain, who made fashions for himself, wore white flannel during the later years of his life, and, like every other man or woman who departs from the modes of the hour, was accused of self-advertising. There was method in his madness, however, as there often is in the seeming insanity of original people. Dark clothing, he explained, was depressing to him after passing his seventieth year, while lighter colors cheered him; he could not compel others to wear white, but he could wear it himself, and accordingly he wore it.

There is reason and also good sense in the conventions about dress that rest on good taste and a nice sense of propriety, which some "come-outers" discard, but which are a protection to privacy, to feeling, or to instinct.

The only reason for the uniformity of most of the clothes we wear, however, is the stimulation of business. We wear garments devised, not by artists, but by expert promoters of trade, and the fashions change every six months simply because the exigencies of business demand the discarding of the old in order that something new may be in demand. When one thinks of it, the general submission of society to the dictates of a group of irresponsible fashion-makers is one of the extraordinary facts about the Western peoples of to-day. Our ancestors had the idea that dress ought to be becoming, and that what was appropriate in one decade was appropriate in another; we have the idea that dress ought to be varied from year to year and that it ought to be standardized. The artist is brought in when it is a question of making a woman beautiful for a particular purpose or occasion; the rest of the time the tailor rules her with a rod of iron. An unfeeling man recently said that his heart would never be moved by the appeals of the "slaves" for freedom so long as they voluntarily wear skirts in which they cannot walk with comfort or run under any circumstances.

The obstacle in the way of individuality, and freedom in dress is the publicity which any departure from the fashion of the moment entails on the innovator. The man who wears a coat of a past design, or a