solemn and holy of all the observances of the Christian Church has been made by a secular authority, confessedly for the sake of pecuniary profits in trade. The effect upon the already much divided and distracted Established Church is scarcely likely to be favorable.

"FLOODING" THE SAHARA

LTHOUGH it is an exaggeration to

A describe it as "flooding" the Sahara, the proposal of an American engineer which is being seriously considered by the French Government has a strong appeal to the imagination and is provocative of much speculation as to its possible results. The plan is to construct several canals from the Gulf of Gabes some two hundred and fifty miles inland to the dry beds of what were formerly salt lakes, lying below sea level, and let

in the waters of the Mediterranean to fill them. It is estimated that there can thus be formed an inland sea about ten thousand square miles in extent something less than half the size of Lake Michigan, or a little larger than Lake Erie. As the Sahara comprises more than three and a half million square miles, the thought that this body of water may materially modify the climate of the whole region is obviously idle, though it may increase the local rainfall; and as it will be salt water, we can scarcely expect it to promote vegetation and fertility. It will, however, provide a means of travel and transportation which may have an important effect upon the further development and even the partial reclamation of what has long been considered one of the most hopelessly sterile and hostile regions of the earth's surface.

REASON IN INDIA

ONE

NE of the most encouraging items of news that have recently come from India is to the effect that the Legislative Council of Bengal has by a decisive majority defeated the Swarajists and resolved to coöperate with the British Commission which is considering the organization of a constitutional Government for the Indian Empire, and has appointed a Provincial Committee for that purpose. It is significant that this policy was strongly advocated by the Mohammedan members, and also by the leader of the Labor Party, the representatives of the most progressive elements of the Indian peoples.

MANHOOD IN SCHOLARSHIP

To

HE entrance at Oxford of another company of Rhodes Scholars from the United States this year has provoked another of the periodical outbreaks of chiefly ill-advised criticism. to which we have been accustomed during most of the more than score of years since that great foundation was established. With the crazy flubdub of the "Big Bill" Thompson type, about the devilish conspiracy thus to pervert into disloyal Anglomaniacs the flower of American youth, we need not concern ourselves. There is ancient authority for not answering fools in any fashion. But of serious import is the complaint that the Rhodes Scholars do not seem to be distinguishing themselves above all others in literature, science and the arts. The best and indeed a convincing answer is that these scholarships are not and were never intended to be bestowed chiefly for purely intellectual ability or attainments, but more for those moral

and social qualities which we comprehend under the name of Manhood. Let us recall Rhodes's own words. He said: My desire being that the students who shall be elected to the Scholarship shall not be merely bookworms, I direct that in the election of a student to a Scholarship regard shall be had to (i) his literary and scholastic attain

ments, (ii) his fondness of and success in manly outdoor sports such as cricket, football, and the like, (iii) his qualities of manhood, truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness, and fellowship, and (iv) his exhibition during school days of moral force of character and of instincts to lead and to take an interest in his schoolmates, for those latter attributes will be likely in after life to guide him to esteem the performance of public duties as his highest aims.

In that authoritative view of the case, it may well be maintained that the operations of the Rhodes Trust have been generally satisfactory; to which we may add that something of the spirit of the Scholarships might profitably be imparted, to a larger degree than at present, to our own entire college and university life.

PARTITIONING CHINA?

EMORIES of Poland invest the word "partition" with odious significance, yet the Thesaurus provides no preferable synonym, nor any word that seems more fitting to describe the process in which Japan is potentially engaged in Manchuria. The Nationalist Government at Nanking may or may not be the best possible authority for China. That is a matter for China itself to determine, and not for any alien Power to dictate. In the intestine struggle between conflicting sections of the Chinese Empire, if other countries had no right to intervene, save for the protection of their own citi

zens, much less has any a right now to intervene to prevent reunion of the lately distracted and dismembered realm. To say that a Province shall not adhere to the central Government is to separate it from Chinese authority, to deprive it of local autonomy, and to make it subject to alien rule. That would be true even if Manchuria were in a detached and quasi independent status, apart from China Proper, because then it ought to be

free to make such an alliance with China, or to place itself in such suzerain relations, as might be mutually acceptable between them. But we must regard it as an integral part of China, no less than Chiang-Su itself; an integration effected nearly three centuries ago in the Manchurian Conquest. From the historical point of view, nothing could be more absurd than to say that the conquering Province should be denied the right of attachment to its subject territory. It is, incidentally, one of the ironies of fate that the conqueror should now be threatened with conquest. We have recalled the Partition of Poland. Perhaps the case of Korea is even more pertinent. Yet in good faith and without a touch of cynicism - we cannot help wondering how the whole business is to be reconciled with that provision in "the very heart" of the Covenant of the League of Nations under which Japan undertakes "to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence" of China. Will it prove to be another of those awkward international complications with which, for its own ease and comfort, the League considers itself not to be concerned?

THE BROKEN BALANCE

HE troubles in Jugoslavia, which

what was perhaps the most useful function of the old Dual Realm of the Habsburgs. It served as a balance wheel to the complicated machinery of the great congeries of diverse tribes and peoples in Southeastern Europe. No doubt it was a usurping and oppressive Power. But at least it maintained peace among the subject States; and it even caused them, through their common antipathy toward it, to cherish a certain comradeship among themselves. A common hatred is sometimes a strong bond of union. With the disappearance of the object of hatred, however, the union is impaired. The States, no longer having Austria-Hungary to complain of and to inveigh against, now pick flaws in each other, and find fault with each other, and seek for supremacy among themselves. Once Belgrade and Zagreb both looked to Vienna and Budapest as the enemy. Now they eye each other askant. It should be said for King Alexander that he has acted

with fine impartiality and discretion,

and deserves success in holding together the discordant elements of his triplicate realm. But it is a difficult task. The ingrained, inherited spirit of revolt is not easily nor speedily to be eliminated. We shall expect to see it overcome, and the integrity of the kingdom maintained. But we fear that the road, like many another, will per aspera ad astra.

be

POLAR OBESSION

W E HONOR heroism. We admire adventure, even for its own even sake. We pay full tribute to that in

like Daniel, to refrain from the miserable interrogatory, 'What is all this worth?"" And we cannot help wondering whether it is really worth while to spend the valuable time and risk the invaluable life of Commander Byrd in so barren a quest as that which is which is now being undertaken. It is scarcely to be conceded that any substantial benefit will be conferred upon mankind by a demonstration of the conditions under which human life can be maintained in a region which is never to be permanently or numerously inhabited and which there is not the slightest need of ever inhabiting at all. Nor is it conceivable that any essential additions to human knowledge can be made through observations of the meteorology and of the amazingly meagre flora and fauna of the most remote, inaccessible and forbidding portion of the earth's surface.

OR character, courage, resourceful

Fness and all the elements of manly

greatness, Commander Byrd stands highly apart among the multitudes of his fellows, and his companions in this undertaking are worthy of his leadership. But could not he, and they, and the costly equipment at their disposal, be elsewhere engaged in a service more profitable to humanity than the mere struggle against the adversities of inclement nature upon an Antarctic ice cap? With the example — absit omen!

of Nobile and Amundsen poignantly in mind, to whose superb though sadly futile exploit a worthy tribute is elsewhere paid in this REVIEW, we

wish this expedition safety and all possible good fortune; but we cannot repress another wish that the splendor of its spirit had been directed to some quarter and some task perhaps not less arduous but certainly less gratuitously perilous and more potentially profitable in its results to the world. OLYMPIC GRUDGINGS

victorious rivals. Happily, that unintended infelicity cannot detract from the incalculable service which the Games render to that international good feeling and comradeship upon which the best interests of humanity depend.

GEORGE HARVEY

untimely passing we la

the American point of view, the latest Olympic Games. There was no lack of attendance or of enthusiasm, or yet of scenic splendor in the vast amphitheatre. The massed standards of the nations enchanted the eye, and the sonorous strains of their anthems ravished the ear and thrilled the heart. The games were cleanly and gallantly contested, with an average of high achievement. There was indeed everything to appeal most favorably to the finest sentiments of pure sportsmanship. But, alas! the notes of Vart Land were heard more frequently and more triumphantly than those of The Star Spangled Banner! And therefore for the American press and public the whole affair was seemingly of minor interest. We say seemingly, for we are not willing to believe that at heart American sportsmanship is of so poor a stuff that it cannot endure defeat. We should of course have exulted to record American success in every contest, and it was to be assumed that the American participants would, as they did, make every honorable effort to win. But after all the playing of the game is greater than the mere winning of it. We cannot therefore repress a feeling of regret that the true spirit of American sportsmanship was not more popularly displayed in acclaiming the well-won honors of our gallant and

as a most attractive and engaging comrade. By this REVIEW he is remembered as having been its Editor for a considerably longer time than any other in all its history, and as having invested it with a more intense personality and a greater political influence than it ever possessed before. In the journalistic and political world he will be remembered as one of the brightest wits, one of the readiest and keenest controversialists, and one of the most studious, far-seeing and sagacious counsellors, of his time. Nationally and internationally, he deserves to be remembered as the knight-errant champion of the Monroe Doctrine against the League of Nations. And this last characterization suggests the super-dominant feature of his entire career. That was, his passionate love of country. He was American nationality incarnate and inspired. Webster himself could never say more truly or with deeper feeling: "I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die an American.” That provides the interpretation of all the phases of his manifold public activities, in both his friendships and his feuds. It forms the loftiest tribute that can be paid to an American citizen, as such; and it is a tribute that can be paid to none more justly and deservedly than to George Harvey.