mercial and agricultural conditions are in a wretched state, and it seems impossible to do anything to better matters until the old government is done away with entirely and an intelligent and consistent plan is adopted by the United States for the immediate future. The condition of the people in the interior continues to be desperate. A letter from Admiral Sampson was printed last week, inclosing a long communication from General Gomez, both calling upon the American people to carry out their expressed intention of feeding the distressed people who are actually in a state of starvation. These, Admiral Sampson says, include a large majority of the inhabitants of the country.

No testimony taken The Army Investigation since the investigation into army abuses began has been so significant as that of Major-General Breckinridge. This is so because of his military experience and special training as an Inspector-General, because he is admitted by all to be eminently fair-minded, because he had opportunities to see for himself and on the spot, and, finally, because he was the first witness of consequence to throw light on the question of ultimate responsibility. General Breckinridge was Chief Inspector-General when the war broke out, and he then promptly sought and found active service. After he left Washington, he said, the corps Inspector-Generals, who had formerly reported to him, were ordered to report to the Adjutant General. Thus the whole system of inspection was destroyed, and he frankly commented to the Commission: "There is where the whole trouble is; you, gentlemen, are doing now what an Inspector-General should have done three months ago." A curiously suggestive sentence was that in which General Breckinridge said that he thought it best to leave his office in charge of a subordinate who was "also from Michigan "-the " also " clearly referring to the Secretary of War. When he went to Camp Thomas he found the sanitation defective and the command so infected that he recommended that it be disintegrated. He was asked directly to say who was responsible for various defec.s, and very reluctantly testified that the Quartermaster's Department had not done its entire duty, that the Medical Department "seemed to recognize that something was the matter, but they did not catch up," and

that the trouble was the result of the "extremely narrow regular army experience in some quarters, and very narrow civil experience in other quarters." He added that "he did not think that any one wanted a patient with his mouth a nest of flies, yet such a condition was noticeable. No one wanted eight delirious men where only one should have been, yet that happened." Pressed still further on the subject of responsibility, he said that it took time and trouble to get the higher officers in Washington to recognize the situation, and that his predecessor at Camp Thomas, General Brooke, "had to educate the people here [Washington] as well as there." Thus, Surgeon-General Sternberg refused to have a second hospital built, holding that one was enough; General Breckinridge knew that a second was imperatively needed, and built it on his own responsibility. As Inspector-General this witness has done admirable service in pointing out necessary changes and improvements in the army, and his criticisms on the ignoring of General Miles, the inefficiency of General Shafter's campaign, and the "reprehensible" condi tion of the army system generally, are not to be taken as might be the carping of a newspaper critic or a layman.

one.

We speak of this as an apprehension, but not because we are devoted to the Civil Service Law in its present form or regard it as embodying the best possible ideal for securing the best possible men in the public service. We do not wonder that heads of departments are sometimes out of patience with a system which hampers them in the selection of their subordinates, and which implies a deep distrust of their purpose to secure the best men for the work to be done. Nor do we know what are the offices which it is proposed to take out from under the operation of the Civil Service Act, nor what the reasons assigned for the change. But we are certain that it would be a great mistake for the President, whatever those

offices are and whatever the reasons assigned, to take any such step at the present time. Let it be granted that the Civil Service Law needs amendment; let it be granted that the appointing officers should have a larger discretion in making their appointments. Nevertheless, in politics it is always wise to let the lesser wait upon the greater question; and the great question before the country to-day is, What shall be its relations to Cuba and the Philippines? One of the foremost objections which the anti-expansionists bring against any adoption of a colonial or quasicolonial policy is their conviction that Cuba and the Philippines will be used by selfish politicians for the purpose of securing places for their friends and favorites. Any such change as it is rumored the President is to make, no matter what reasons may be assigned for it, will intensify and strengthen this objection.to his policy of expansion. It will cast suspicion in many quarters upon his Administration, and subject it anew to the charge of being run in the interest of a political party. It will revive again the charges, well grounded as we believe, against the War Department for its appointment of civilians to exercise military functions for which they had neither the competence that comes by training nor that which comes from inherent and original ability. Whatever may be the effect of such an order as is proposed on the place-hunters and political managers, whatever grounds may be alleged for it, the time is most inopportune; and we doubt whether any act of secondary importance which the President could perform would do more to discredit and injure his Administration than any apparently backward step at the present time in the matter of Civil Service Reform.

Race War

We have given a Southern The South Carolina view of the race war in North Carolina. For the attack there made upon the negroes, especially in Wilmington, there seems to have been, not indeed any justification, but much provocation and some excuse. The fact that leading ministers of the city-Presbyterian, Baptist, and Episcopalian-took the ground that "in the riot the negro was the aggressor," that the question at issue "was the question of intelligence, honesty, and competence as against debauchery, theft, ignorance, and incompetence," does not suffice to

prove that the revolution was right, but it certainly does indicate that the revolution was not causeless. If we turn, however, to the South for an account of the race riotings in South Carolina, we are not able to discern either provocation or excuse. The Charleston "News and Courier" says, contrasting the two States, that "in South Carolina there was absolutely no excuse for the lawlessness and bloodshed of the last few days at Phoenix, which has brought shame and disgrace upon the whole State, and exposed the weakness and hollowness of our boasted civilization. We have waited for the facts before making any comment upon the situation, and the facts utterly condemn us as a people. They show, not only that we are powerless to protect the weak and ignorant who are at our mercy, but that we cannot control our own evil tendencies." In South Carolina there is no assertion that the negroes were aggressors, or that they were armed, or that they had brought any intolerable political corruption into the State; and the mob did not confine itself to an attack upon the negroes, but assaulted white men as well, in at least one case threatening the life of a substantial and well-to-do white farmer for no other reason than that he would not join the mob, and that he harbored one of his neighbors from its assaults, It is a mistake to confound the riotings in the two States. In the one case it was an organized uprising against political conditions believed to be intolerable, but which we think it is very clear might have been peacefully corrected. In the other case it was an irruption of lawless members of the community, inflamed by their own passions, feeding their appetite for blood by shedding it, and uncontrolled becausewe quote again from the Charleston "News and Courier"-"the lawfully constituted authorities of the State are indifferent or imbecile, or both, in the discharge of their duty." As in the South Carolina riotings the husband (and assistant) of the Federal postmistress was driven by a mob from his home, the Federal Government is investigating the facts, and may follow the investigation with intervention.

State and the edict of his Church. To the credit of the Mormons be it said, many of their number opposed Mr. Roberts's candidacy, on the ground that he would misrepresent to the country the general attitude of the Mormon voters. For example, Governor Wells, himself an official in the Mormon Church, spoke as follows in Salt Lake City a few nights before the election: "To vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress vindicates no principle, subserves no good or worthy purpose, but invites more disaster, because it is an open invitation to Congress and the Nation to renew the warfare against the Mormon people, which we all hoped and prayed was ended forever. I am unable to tell what Congress may do in the matter, but I feel sure that the agitation of the matter will be a very great detriment to the State of Utah and to the interest of the people. Let us prove that we are able to settle our own family affairs. Let us have peace." Mr. Roberts's reply was surprisingly frank: "Technically," he said, "a law crept into our statute-books. That law has not been executed; there has been no public sentiment that demanded its execution; and, like some of the blue laws of Connecticut, it has not been enforced. Governor Wells knows all this, and yet he is craven enough in his soul to join hands with the lifelong enemies of his father and his people, and attack me for doing what, as a private citizen and a member of the Mormon Church, he dare not lift his voice against." Inasmuch as Mr. Roberts has been elected, the responsibility of his admission to Congress now rests upon the House of Representatives, to which the Constitution gives the right to " judge of the election and qualifications" of its own members. It is true that since the decision of the Wilkes case in England, just prior to our own Revolution, it has been practically an accepted principle that a constituency has the right to be represented by whomever it desires, regardless of his private character. But in Mr. Roberts's case the fact that Utah was admitted to Statehood only on condition that polygamy should be forever abrogated by law makes it seem legally reasonable as well as morally just that Congress should have the right and the duty to refuse admission to a member who lives in flagrant violation of the laws of his State, and openly repudiates the Constitution under which his State was given representation in the National Congress. The cutévit

The Minor Parties

The official returns now published in a few States make it possible for the first time to measure the growth or decline of the minority parties whose votes were not given in the telegraphic dispatches. It appears that the People's party-and, at the South, the Republican party-polled an even smaller vote than the returns a week ago indicated. For example, in Georgia, where the Democratic majority was correctly reported to be about 45,000 votes, it turns out that the total vote for Populists and Republicans combined was but 13,000, as against 70,000 in 1896. It seems doubtful whether the People's party, as such, will poll any considerable vote two years hence. The Prohibition party seems also to have disappointed its friends-outside of Pennsylvania, where Dr. Swallow ran upon an anti-machine rather than an anti-saloon platform. The total vote of the party does not seem to have reached 150,000 votes, as against nearly 250,000 six years ago. Of considerable interest is the exceptional increase of the Socialists' vote in the Eastern States, particularly in the depressed cotton districts of Rhode Island and Connecticut. In Rhode Island the Socialist vote has grown from 1,300 two years ago to 2.400 this year, while in Massachusetts it has increased from 2,100 votes to no fewer than 12,500, and two Socialists (of the Debs faction) have been elected to the House of Representatives. In the West, where the Fusionists have taken up so many anti-monopoly measures, the Socialist vote seems to have dwindled almost to the vanishing point. The Single-Taxers again had a ticket in the field in Delaware, where, it will be remembered, they conducted a long and vigorous agitation in the hope of securing in this little State a trial of their system. In 1896 they polled 1.200 votes. This year their vote fell to 820. Outside of the great cities, the single tax seems to make but few gains. The movement sprang from the brain of one man, and seems never to have taken hold of the common people, who get their views from what they experience rather than from what they read.

majority, and in South Dakota it failed of victory, though by only a few votes. In Minnesota the amendment extending the franchise of women on school matters shows a substantial majority in its favor. Already in Minnesota and States westward women candidates for County Superintendent have become popular in all parties; but this is the only position, even in the women's suffrage States, for which women candidates seem to be welcomed by the voters. The other Minnesota amendment, allowing cities to frame their own charters, seems also to have been adopted. The most important amendment, however, accepted in any State was that in South Dakota providing for the establishment of the initiative and the referendum. Although the Populist candidates for Congress were defeated, these principles, formerly advocated by the Populists alone, were indorsed by a majority of more than two to one. The South Dakota amendment, however, does not establish direct legislation in the radical form used in Switzerland or in the New England town meetings. Instead of every measure being submitted to the voters, there is no referendum unless five per cent. of the voters petition for it. If only, therefore, the Legislature avoids scandalous measures in behalf of monopolists or racetracks or saloons, or some other matter of vital public interest, the referendum is not likely to be invoked, save at rare intervals. A similar percentage of the voters is likewise required to initiate new legislation. The chief effect of the amendment will probably be to keep the legislators more closely in accord with their constituents, by enabling the latter, whenever dissatisfied, to take the control of things into their own hands.

Yale University stands President Dwight's in such relations to the Resignation Nation that the resignation of its President, Dr. Timothy Dwight, must be regarded as an event of National importance. The ground of his resignation is thus stated by himself:

It has been my conviction for many years that it is desirable-alike with reference to his own happiness in the later, less active, and more restful period of life, and as related to the highest interests of the institution-that a person who is placed in the chief administrative office in a large university like ours should not continue in that position beyond the age of seventy. In accordance with this conviction, I have had the purpose ever since I entered upon the presidency to offer

my resignation at the time when I should myself reach that age. As that time has just now arrived, I make known to you my desire to withdraw from the duties of my office at the close of the present academic year.

It is,

Dr. Dwight took office in 1886, and will have held it, therefore, when his resignation takes effect next spring, for about thirteen years. During this time the number of students has about doubled, and so many new buildings have been added that it may fairly be said that, materially, Yale University has been rebuilt. The funds of the University and its departments have at the same time been increased from $2,273,092 to $4,635,321; that is, they have been, in round numbers, doubled. Nor is this all. Considerable intellectual progress has been made. The elective system of studies has been greatly expanded, and it may almost be said that Yale has been transformed during these years from a college to a university. however, an open secret that the changes which President Dwight has introduced have been too slow for the more progressive spirits, or those who are known as constituting "young Yale." Yet it must be remembered, as the Waterbury "American" well says, that "it is the inheritance of traditions which really makes a great university, such as Oxford and Cambridge on the other side of the water, and Harvard, Yale, and Princeton on this side." Any policy which abruptly broke with these traditions would destroy the university idea under the guise of developing the university organization. The Outlook ventures to hope, however, that, in selecting a successor for President Dwight, the University will so far depart from its traditions as to elect an educator and organizer rather than a clergyman, and a comparatively young man rather than one of approaching old age. What such a university as Yale needs in its future head-at least it so seems to us-is energy, force, and enthusiasm rather than caution and adherence to the past. For, be he who he may, he will certainly be surrounded by men of years and experience who will furnish all the caution and all the loyal adherence to tradition which are necessary to safeguard the University from too abrupt a revolution. The Corporation has requested President Dwight to defer his resignation until the time of the bicentennial celebration in 1901, and we judge that it is not impossible that he may comply with their request.