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"We can't go abroad this summer," says Mrs. Twickembury (the "Christian Register's " Mrs. Malaprop)," and so we have decided to take a transatlantic journey to California." Mrs. Twickembury will have many fellow-travelers this season, whether she goes (as she might say) in a personally conductored tour or by the individual travail plan.

One of the big automobile companies announces that it will soon turn out one thousand automobiles a day. If these were parked in New York City, two days' output of the factory would, allowing 6 × 14 feet space for each car, cover entirely with automobiles a vacant lot equivalent in area to the immensely long block inclosed between Eighth and Ninth Avenues and Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Streets. No wonder the railways are congested when they have to carry away such quantities of freight from a single factory!

The lady to whom Shakespeare is supposed to have bequeathed his "second-best bed " is cleverly pictured in "Life's "Shakespeare Number as gazing sourly at her husband through his study door and saying, "What! scribbling again, William ?" "William's" beseeching eyes as he gazes at the sympathetic reader appeal to the universal love of a humorous situation.

Many of the games of Kaffir children, as described by a traveler, are just such "nice dirt games" as English children would like to play if only their mothers would let them. This observation gives point to a story about little Willie and John published in "The Pathfinder." "My mother don't care how much I run over the kitchen floor," said John to Willie on a rainy day when Willie's mother had forbidden the playmates to cross her threshold with their muddy boots. Then Willie said, enviously: "I wish I had a nice dirty mother like you've got, John!"

A man got into a police station in New York City the other day for trying to sell, on the streets, ten-dollar bills for a dollar apiece. He had probably heard the story that New Yorkers are too skeptical to take up with an opportunity of this sort, and determined to test the theory. A friendly policeman arrested him for delaying traffic before he had succeeded in selling any of his bargains.

Dean Swift's famous sermon quoted in The Outlook April 12 is not the shortest on record, a reader says. He asserts that the palm belongs to the late Dr. Muhlenberg, who at the funeral of Mr. Robert B. Minturn read the text, "What doth the Lord require of thee," etc., and delivered this sermon: "So did he." This beats the Dean's sermon by eight words.

Apropos of the slang words to which the war has given currency, a subscriber sends these notes: The French soldiers call their small cannon "cigares," the larger ones “pipes; "a bayo

net is called "cure-dents" (toothpick); bullets, "pruneaux." Another reader writes that the word “boche,” concerning the derivation of which there has been much discussion, is said to have been applied to German soldiers in 1870-1 exactly as now, and that it appears in Zola's celebrated story of the Franco-Prussian War, "Le Débâcle" (The Downfall). .

Brantford, Canada, feels that her title, "The Telephone City," is assailed in the tablet recently set up in Boston reading "Here the telephone was born, June 2, 1875," though Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, the telephone's inventor, apparently sanctioned the tablet by his presence at its unveiling. The Toronto "Globe" says: "The telephone was devised in Brantford in 1874 and made in Boston in 1875." The instrument's anterior history, our Canadian friends may discover on reflection, is suggested in the tablet's word "born." Why should not Brantford generously make a tablet of its own, inscribed: "The telephone: conceived in Brantford, born in Boston, arrived at full stature in America, and became a traveler thence all over the world "?

Eighty per cent of the best-known players are now acting before the camera instead of before audiences, says Robert Grau in the "Dramatic Mirror." Most of these are probably in Los Angeles, where it is said that there are over a hundred companies engaged in producing moving-picture plays.

Tommy Atkins, according to William J. Robinson in "My Fourteen Months at the Front," is very fond of pets, and finds room for them even in the trenches. "The Tommies," he says, "keep canaries, rats, mice, dogs, cats, goats, and even pigs, and they will go hungry themselves rather than see the object of their affections want for anything. On the march if they get tired they may throw their equipment away, but I never heard of one yet who would give up his mascot."

The passion for games of chance, says Mr. Robinson, shows itself in a curious way in what the soldiers call "trench pools." A group of ten men who expect to go into action each put ten francs (two dollars) into the hands of some one behind the lines. This money is to be divided evenly among the men who live to get back. "It was the only gamble I ever saw,” says the narrator. where you couldn't lose. If you came out safely, you were bound to get your own money back, at least." Hardly a gamble.

The American War Risk Bureau has written policies amounting to $110,000,000 for war risks on American ships and cargoes and has earned premiums of $2,200,000. All losses, it is stated, have been paid out of the premiums, and the $5,000,000 appropriated by Congress for that purpose remains untouched.

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MEXICO-FROM THE INSIDE
LOOKING OUT

BY GREGORY MASON

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE OUTLOOK

THE GARMENT TRADE AND THE
MINIMUM WAGE

AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. HENRY MOSKOWITZ

SIXTEEN-PAGE ALCOGRAVURE
PICTURE SECTION

FOR COMPLETE TABLE OF CONTENTS SEE
THIRD PAGE PRECEDING READING MATTER

WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1916

PRICE: TEN CENTS A COPY
THREE DOLLARS A YEAR

381 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

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The following collection of about fifty designs of Table
Cloths and Napkins has been taken from our regular stock
and specially priced for this Sale-although even their
regular prices are considerably below present market values.
The special prices hold for this month only.
Table Cloths

2x2 yds., $3.00, 3.25, 3.50, 3.75, 4.75 to 7.50 each.
2x22 yds., $3.85, 4.00, 4.25, 4.50, 4.65 to 9.00 each.
2x3 yds., $4.75, 4.85, 6.00, 8.25, 8.75, 9.25 to 12.00 each.
24x24 yds., $4.50, 5.75, 6.00, 7.25, 7.75 to 10.00 each.
214x22 yds., $6.75. 8.25, 8.75, 9.25 to 11.00 each.
214x3 yds., $8.00, 8.50, 9.75, 10.00, 11.50, 13.25 each.
22x22 yds., $6.85, 7.25, 7.50, 8.25, 8.75 to 12.50 each.
22x3 yds., $8.50, 10.75, 11.50, 12.00 to 15.00 each.
Longer Lengths at Proportionate Prices.

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Booklet describing goods offered at May Sale free on request. Mail orders receive our prompt attention. This sale also includes Fancy Table Linens, Bed Linens, Towels, Lingerie, Corsets, Wash Fabrics, Ladies' Outer Garments, and Children's Wear.

James McCutcheon & Co.

Fifth Avenue, 34th and 33d Streets, New York

The Outlook

MAY 10, 1916

Offices, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York

THE STORY OF THE WAR

The surrender of the British forces under Major-General Charles Townshend at Kut-elAmara in Mesopotamia was not unexpected. Elsewhere we comment editorially on this event. The surrender was forced by a lack of supplies and the failure of the relief army to force its way to the aid of the besieged forces. The number of men surrendered is about eight thousand nine hundred and seventy; the major part of these forces were from India. General Townshend's little army, the remnant of the much larger army which marched upon Bagdad in June, 1915, had been shut up in Kut-el Amara since last December. Forces sent to their relief, first under command of General Aylmer and later under command of General Gorringe, were greatly impeded by extraordinary floods in the Tigris River and the adjacent regions. For a long time General Townshend's position had been critical. The Turkish forces in Mesopotamia were easily reinforced; while the British were far distant from their base and reinforcement was, as events proved, almost impossible.

Nearly simultaneously with the report of this disaster comes the news that the Russian forces in Asia Minor, part of which have been moving south since the capture of Erzerum, are making good progress and have captured the town of Diarbekr. This is a great distance from Bagdad-at least four hundred miles-but the Russians' capture of Trebizond and their general advance in this part of the country as well as in Persia make further successes, and even the ultimate capture of Bagdad, entirely possible.

From Verdun the news of the week ending May 3 was distinctly encouraging to the Allies. Not only were no German gains of any consequence made, but from day to day we have read of attacks originating with the French and resulting in appreciable gains both northeast and northwest of Verdun.

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The disturbances which broke out in Dublin April 24 were by May 3 all but completely quelled, so that the authorities were able to announce that Dublin was almost in its normal condition and that the disturbances outside of Dublin were no longer threatening. One cabled account from Dublin states that the number of rebels killed in the insurrection was approximately five hundred and that fifteen hundred were wounded. There are indications, however, that these figures are overdrawn. It is commonly reported that most of the men engaged in the revolt were actually assembled on the day planned for its beginning without any knowledge of what was to be done, and supposed they were simply to engage in parades and reviews.

Four of the leaders of the revolt were tried by court martial, found guilty, and executed by shooting on Wednesday last. The self-proclaimed Provisional President of the Republic of Ireland, Peter H. Pearse, was among the four, all of whom signed the proclamation of independence; the others were James Connolly, Thomas McDonagh, and Thomas J. Clark.

The futility and unreason of this perfectly hopeless attempt by a very small minority of irreconcilable revolutionists to take advantage of Great Britain's struggle with Germany to raise the flag of rebellion in Dublin becomes more and more evident every day.

Not a little criticism has been made in Parliament and elsewhere against the alleged

weakness and inefficiency of the authorities in Ireland under the administration of Augustine Birrell as Chief Secretary for Ireland. It is said, with some force, that the officials knew that the adherents of the Sinn Fein Association and the followers of the labor agitator James Larkin were drilling, and that they should have foreseen and forestalled any outbreak. The London "Mail" says:

Mr. Birrell never asked why the volunteers existed. He knew it was not to serve against the enemy, but rather to obstruct the Imperial forces. On December 10 he declared, "evidence of their disloyalty is voluminous," yet he did nothing. If he had any policy other than merely drifting, it was to turn a blind eye to the disloyal movement. The Government persuaded itself that the treason could be overcome by resolutely looking the other way. The Government's wait-and-see policy was complicated by a hide-the-truth policy.

Mr. Asquith, in the House of Commons on May 2, stated that the Government was prepared to discuss the conduct of Mr. Augustine Birrell, a motion having been made demanding Mr. Birrell's resignation, but on the following day Mr. Birrell's resignation was reported.

Throughout this disturbing and disheartening incident the leaders of the Home Rule party, and particularly Mr. John Redmond, have been earnest and outspoken in their indignation, while the attitude of the Ulster leaders has been equally vigorous. Mr. Redmond has declared that in the South of Ireland the loyal adherents of the Home Rule party, as compared with the wild and impracticable revolutionists demanding a republic, are at least ten to one.

OUR GAME. OF

CHESS WITH MEXICO

Three men have been at the focus of the gaze of every one who has been interested in the Mexican situation during the past week. They are Major-General Scott, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, as famous for his diplomatic triumphs over the Indians as for his military victories over them; Major-General Frederick Funston, the man who captured Aguinaldo and the commander of our forces along the border; and General Alvaro Obregon, Carranza's Minister of War, who eclipsed Villa's glory and lost an arm in the battle of Celaya about a year ago. These three men have directed the conferences between the United States and the de facto

Government of Mexico which have been taking place at Juarez and El Paso.

Distinguished as they are, General Scott and General Funston have been virtually messengers, being restricted almost entirely to the deliverance of the proposals of President Wilson to the Carranza Government and to the pronunciation of a policy formed at Washington. But while General Obregon has been ostensibly only the spokesman of Carranza at this conference, he is much more than that. He is probably the most popular man in Mexico to-day and certainly the most powerful. The one-armed hero of Celaya has succeeded to the power and the glory that were Pancho Villa's. He may make and unmake Mexican history. He himself summed up his present position accurately if he said, as alleged by newspaper reports: "No musical instrument ever responded more faithfully to the touch of the master than do the Mexican people to the man of the hour. Just now I am the man of the hour."

As we go to press it is unofficially reported that the delegates to the conference have agreed to recommend to their respective Governments that an official agreement be adopted whereby the American troops shall remain in Mexico until satisfied that banditry has been wiped out and that the Carranza government is able to cope with any emergencies; but it is also rumored that the Americans will consent to fall back towards the border and hunt" for Villa only within a restricted area. But, in any case, whatever happens, Obregon will bear watching. The chances are that he will gain by any development of the conference. If the United States assents to any course of action pleasing to the Mexican masses, those masses will give Obregon the credit. If the conference is disappointing to the Mexican people, it will be easy for Obregon to shift the blame to his nominal chief, Carranza, and then put himself at the head of a popular movement to win by force or otherwise what arbitration may fail to win.

It is significant that as Obregon grows more popular and more prominent, the rumors of his disagreement with Carranza increase.

In the meantime, to be ready for any outcome of the El Paso-Juarez conferences, both Mexico and the United States have been doing on a small scale what Europe did on a large scale during the first week of August, 1914. Mexican forces are reported moving up toward the border in great

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