THE ENGLISHWOMAN. WRITING in the January number on Women Voters in America" Miss Ida Husted Hayser claims that the Presidential and Congressional Elections in the United States advanced the status of woman suffrage immeasurably, and gave to it a definite place among the national issues of the day. The exact number of women who voted had not been announced when the article was written, but to judge from such States as Illinois, where nearly 800,000 voted, and California, which polled more than 400,000 out of a total of 990,000, the proportion of women having the vote who exercised it must have been very high; and, since all these States where women have the vote gave democratic majorities, women must bear their share of responsibility for the return of Wilson. The writer considers the various questions, such as Prohibition and the Child Labour Bill, which seem to have influenced the female vote, and says that the most powerful influence was the democratic slogan, adopted at the beginning of the cam66 President paign and never allowed to cease: Wilson kept us out of the War.'

The subject of the editorial, "Problems of the Day," to which we always look confidently for clear thinking soundly expressed, is the German Peace Note :

President Wilson's Peace Note is not the voice of America, which would never mock the “weak peoples and small states " with the promise of German sympathy. We shall not consider a peace which leaves barbarism triumphant unless we forget that there are many things worse than war. We can bury our dead, but we could never bury our dishonour if we stooped now to compromise with an enemy who is still glorying in vileness.

Miss M. Hartley writes with a pleasant sense of humour and sympathy on her experiences doing Red Cross work in Italy. Miss Mary C. D. Walters pleads for the better treatment and conservation of the health of young working-class mothers :--

Some form of communal housekeeping, some system of State or State-aided Day Nurseries staffed with trained nurses, must come to the aid of women attempting an otherwise impossible task. We shall not be able to stem the waste of infant life if we merely look on while the mothers of the young generation spend their strength for naught.

THE UNITED SERVICE
MAGAZINE.

"ADMIRAL " in a review of the month's doings at sea in the December number, under the title of "The Navy and the War." while admitting that the revival of the submarine menace has its serious side, wisely insists that there is no cause for panic. The nett loss to British shipping by submarines during the 27 months of the war has been only 2 per cent., and the shortage of tonnage and consequent increase of food prices is mainly due to the necessity of using an enormous number of vessels for Army and Navy purposes, and to the reduction of mercantile shipping, which latter defect is now being dealt with. As regards active defence against submarines, the writer advocates the arming of all merchant vessels :

It may be difficult to find the requisite guns and gunners, but even one gun is of value, and it should not be impossible to find R.N.R. men, possibly too old for the Navy, to work it. I hope that this question will not be lost sight of, but pressed upon the Board of Trade and the Admiralty by Members of Parliament. An armed ship practically precludes the submarine from acting as a surface vessel, and with fast steamers, which by zigzagging and in other ways manœuvre so as to make it difficult for the submarine to judge the position to take up to discharge their torpedo, the probability of escaping the pirates is much increased. It may be observed that the majority of the neutral vessels torpedoed or destroyed recently have been slow vessels, and that none of them were armed. The attempt of Germany to induce the United States to treat all merchant ships carrying guns as men-of-war shows a keen appreciation of the difficulty they find in dealing with armed merchantmen.

In “Women Warriors of India Colonel R. G. Burton tells the story of some of the Amazons who have from time to time flashed across the pages of Indian history, notably the celebrated Rani of Jhansi, whom Sir Hugh Rose considered to be the bravest and most skilful of all the rebel leaders who opposed him in Central India in 1858. Major G. W. Redway writes on "Frederick the Great"; Major H. Bannerman-Phillips on "Progress in Aeronautics"; Major-General T. F. Lloyd continues his most interesting historical study of "Anglo-French Relations from 1189 to 1453," the chapters under review dealing with the taking of Rouen by Henry V., in 1429, and the Treaty of Troyes made in the following year.

THE NORTH AMERICAN
REVIEW.

THE December number of this excellent Review betrays a certain languor, the result, no doubt, of calm following upon the tempest of the Presidential Election. More than half its space is allotted to purely literary subjects, of which by far the most noteworthy is a delightful "Conjecture of Intensive Fiction " from the pen of Mr. W. D. Howells. The difference between intensive and extensive fiction, says the writer, is the same as that between gardening and farming, and women more often excel in it than men :

Woman. I reasoned, is naturally fitted for the intensive culture of a small space of ground, from which by thoroughly enriching and tilling it she can garner the results of a very much larger area, a quite indefinitely larger area. In fiction by the same treatment of a very limited area of life she could make it yield a harvest as great as a large-sized plot under cultivation by the extensive method. My notion was, in fact, that women being gardeners rather than farmers by instinct, and more used than men to make the most of a little, would use a few characters, or a few groups of them, to get the effect of a vast dramatic scheme, peopled with a multitude of types.

But, of course, this is only Mr. Howell's playfulness. Whether there are such things as intensive fiction, or whether, if so, women have a monopoly of it, are questions which matter as little to him as to his readers; they are only pegs on which to hang a charming causerie on novels, ancient and modern, by men and women, which he knows and loves. In a discussion of the new German citizenship law which came into operation on January 1st, 1914, Mr. J. Mattern quarrels with the generally accepted view of the meaning of Paragraph 25, which, it will be remembered, provides that "Citizenship is not lost by one who before acquiring foreign citizenship has secured on application the written consent of the competent authorities of his home State to retain his citizenship." Many authorities hold that by this section a legal means has been given to naturalised Germans to retain, without the knowledge of the nations where their oath of allegiance has been received in good faith, citizenship in Germany, and, although we have read with attention Mr. Mattern's learned arguments to the contrary, we confess that we remain in the same belief.

THE ASIATIC REVIEW.

THE January issue contains several articles of more than passing interest. The Indian section is represented by a noteworthy article by Dr. John Pollen on "The Native States of India" and the important part they will play in the future politics of the great Peninsula. There is also the first instalment of an article on "The Work of the East India Association," which is just now celebrating its Jubilee and explains how in the early years the Association fought for greater attention among the public in Indian affairs.

The Far Eastern section is represented by Professor Parker, of Liverpool, who writes an illuminating article on Chinese politics, the rise of Li Yuan Hung and the fall of Yuan Shi Kai, which was chiefly due to his desertion of republican principles.

The Russian section is represented by Baron Heyking, who writes very confidently on the future of Anglo-Russian trade relations, and by Olga Novikoff, who contributes a monograph on the late Grand Duke Constantine.

THE Christmas double number of The Young Man and Woman reached us too late for notice in our last issue. It is not, however, too late to congratulate the Rev. Walter Wynn on having produced a very excellent number. He says: "I am able to say that our journal has so far survived the storm. Had it gone under ' no one, surely, would have been surprised, for all the forces imaginable have seemed to combine to make it impossible for us to survive. Everybody who knows anything about papers at present will agree that it is a miracle that we have survived." Mr. Wynn emphasises his faith in his magazine, and says his aim is to make it a weekly paper, and bring it in every sense up to date. In this praiseworthy policy he has our good wishes.

MR. MARSHALL reports that increasing nterest is being taken in the International Experiment, nearly every post bringing in information and enquiries from foreign countries. Amongst other places Tarrasa in Spain, Buenos Ayres, Harbin in Manchuria, Astrakan, and several towns in France have groups which are earnestly working. Members of London classes who have studied for a month are exchanging letters with the idea of finding out how far they have progressed before starting to write abroad. Imagine students, say even of French, after one month's course of evening classes (that is, eight lessons) exchanging ideas; and what could a student of Russian do in that time? It must not be forgotten that Esperanto in no way seeks to supersede the study of national languages any more than a lover of the sea who used a day excursion to fill up a gap would refuse to go and stay for a month if he got a chance. Esperanto often leads students to study each the other's language. Mr. Marshall also calls attention to the fact that there can be no examination according to the usual sense of the word. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The idea is to facilitate international commerce; and progress will be ascertained when enquiries about the sale and buying of goods come in; that of course will take time. The London Chamber of Commerce will help to take cognisance of this business side.

In spiritual as well as in commercial concerns progress is marked. The Church Esperanto League was started after the Eastbourne Congress, as a consequence of an article in The Guardian throwing ridicule upon a movement into which the writer -confessed in essence that he had made no enquiry! The Vicar of Great Gransden and the present Vicar of Farnley Tyas, Huddersfield, with others of the clergy and laymen of the Church of England, then decided to form the Church Esperanto League. Its aims, amongst others, are to help in mission work and to show the usefulness of Esperanto for all international ecclesiastical intercourse, such as international theological -discussion, promotion of friendly intercourse . between the various Churches, re-union

-work, etc.

Started in 1913, the third annual conference was held in London on November 28th last; the Rev. A. L. Curry, Vicar of Ingrow, Keighley, presiding. As is well known, many parts of the Old and the whole of the New Testament have now been published, the latter by the Bible Society, and at the conference it was announced, by the Special Prayer Book Committee, that its translation was completed, revised, and ready for publication, which would be proceeded with as soon as guarantees as to the cost were forthcoming. The American branch report was received, and it was decided that members of other churches, Quakers, etc., who desire to help the League work, yet are not eligible according to Rule 2, should be admitted as associates. Whilst awaiting the publication of the Prayer Book, a compilation of certain of the prayers has been published and may be purchased, price 2d., post free, from the Rev. A. J. Ashley, Farnley Tyas Vicarage, Huddersfield.

The Socialist Review had lately an amusing discussion by Messrs. Paul Dix and Lancelot Eden, in which, both disclaiming any knowledge of Esperanto, both condemned it; the one advocating a conglomeration of German and French words with English inflections, the other supposing that no one could think in Esperanto unless as a child he had heard no other tongue; concluding that this child would then go forth into the world with only a sort of pidgin English as a verbal storehouse to draw upon! Thus do clever men imagine a case and draw conclusions ! The Socialist Review published replies from Esperantists in the next number.

Esperanto literature grows steadily. Amongst the volumes lately published is a translation of Theodora Wilson Wilson's Last Battle (La Fina Batalilo). It has been translated by several co-workers, and is published at 2s. by Messrs. Daniels. Copies may also be obtained at the British Esperanto Association, Hart Street, Bloomsbury. Another translation is that of The King of Judea, the author of which is the late Grand Duke Constantine of Russia; the translation was made at his desire.

Readers are referred to our advertisement pages for a list of Esperanto publications issued by Stead's Publishing House.

A GRIEVANCE IN THE

COALFIELD.

THE bullying to which colliers are subjected in some mines is simply astounding. Especially if the men are insistent in asserting their rights, and are more or less leaders of their fellows all sorts of indignities are frequently heaped upon them, and this treatment has much to do with the stirring up of hostility against the management. The lot of Trade Union agitators in South Wales mines is not very pleasant. The Federation is now strong enough to protect the men where a clear case of victimisation is proved. Often, however, the unwelcome agitator is squeezed out of the mine by apparently unavoidable circumstances, for example, by the abandonment of the section of the mine in which he is engaged, and once he is got out, his chances of re-employment are very remote. Moreover, the managers of neighbouring collieries are warned not to employ the offender, and with this boycott against him, his career in the mines is soon brought to an end. That the men are victimised is well known to the mining community, and it is hardly surprising that a sense of insecurity is created which does not make for harmony between employer and employed.-OBSERVER, in The Welsh Outlook.

whole system of begging money, in fact, is to be deplored. We discountenance it in the Scout movement. The boys raise money for huts at the Front and for other purposes, but they do it by earning money for definite work. The boys in Belfast, for instance, have got together £1,100 by collecting 200 tons weight of old bottles, and they have never been allowed to beg, or have a Flag Day, or anything of the kind.-SIR ROBERT BADEN-POWELL, in The Sunday at Home.

BRITISH AIRCRAFT AFTER THE WAR.

THE prestige won in this war by British aircraft designers and constructors will mean that after the war all the neutral nations, which always desire to have their Navies and Armies miniature copies of those of the Great Powers, will come to Great Britain for their aircraft. Already British manufacturers are in close touch with foreign States which desire to buy aeroplanes after the war. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Holland, the Argentine Republic, Peru, Chili, Brazil, Mexico, are all in greater or less degree potential customers for aeroplanes and seaplanes. China, Japan, and Siam are also prospective buyers.-C. G. GREY, in The Financial Review of Reviews.

THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE.

In a few years we shall have plenty of young Englishmen and Englishwomen qualified to teach Russian, for large numbers are studying this language alike in our older and more modern Universities, and, fortunately for us, a fair number of our University students after taking their degree are glad to accept tutorships in Russian families, where they have exceptional facilities of mastering the Russian language and learning to apprcciate Russian ways of thought. Meantime, the schools must act on the legal principle of caveat emptor, and we must trust that Russia will send us some good material from which to select our teachers. We must also trust that scholarships and bursaries may be established in our Universities to be held by students learning Russian, and it is gratifying to hear that a beginning has already been made in this direction.-PROF. H. A. STRONG, in The Journal of Education.

THE ART OF WRITING. HOWEVER much pains a man may give to his writing, if he makes it duller than his talk, he has wasted his pains; and writing always is duller than talk if it has no likeness to natural speech. When one cannot imagine the writer talking as he writes, when he would be an intolerable bore if he did talk as he writes, then we may be sure that he is a bad writer. We say of a man