would, at first thought, at least, seem to indicate that this is the case. Various explanations of the breaks have been given by engineers, and the public have again been allowed to see, in this case as in many others, that expert testimony is not always harmonious. It has been asserted that the breaks were due to rust caused by leaving certain parts of the rods unpainted; it has been asserted that these rods were strained by heat expansion, and that sufficient allowance had not been made for this; it has been asserted, also, that the enormous increase of weight on the bridge on account of the present trolley system and the placing of heavy tubes and other weights on the bridge have caused the breaks. In any of these cases it is a simple matter of construction and engineering ability to replace the broken parts; the real question of importance is whether there is a continued strain which will make breaks of this kind probable in the future. If this is so, it is certainly not beyond the power of modern engineering skill to reconstruct, truss by truss and suspensory rod by suspensory rod, that part of the structure which connects the bridge proper with the suspensory cables. Another question of very great importance which has come up is that of inspection of the bridge. The bridge engineers claim that continuous inspection goes on, but it does not appear that this inspection has been systematic. The very fact that the breaks which have just been mended were discovered by a police officer, and not by an engineer or inspector, and the additional fact that there were several breaks and that they probably did not occur simultaneously, tend to show that there is need of systematic inspection at stated hours and of regular and accurate reports to the engineers in authority. The lack of such systematic inspection has been ascribed by some writers to the fact that too many of the bridge officers owe their appointments to political influences rather than to special skill and experience. If this be true, it is only one more argument for such a thorough municipal reform to follow the elections of this fall as shall make even such suspicions impossible. The argument usually brought against municipal ownership of such public highways as the bridge is this very danger of political appointments to the posts and offices involved.

Speed in Air and Water

M.

While it cannot be affirmed that the problem of sailing through the air at will has been solved, several achievements in the last few years have made great advances. Dirigible balloons-that is, balloons that can be steered by the navigator-have been manufactured by several aeronauts, and have made partially successful flights. The latest was that of M. Santos-Dumont, who, about two weeks ago, started from St. Cloud, near Paris, sailed to and around the Eiffel Tower, and returned to a spot near his starting place, where, however, his landing resulted in the wrecking of his machine. A speed of thirteen and a half miles an hour was attained. Santos-Dumont failed to win a large money prize offered by an enthusiastic French scientist for such a voyage under stated conditions only because he exceeded the time limit. It is admitted, however, that his balloon was dirigible-if the wind was not too strong, a rather important if. Like the other dirigible balloons-those of Krebs, Zeppelin, and others-that of M. Santos-Dumont was extremely expensive to make, difficult and delicate to manage, and the margin between the power evolved by the motor and the resistance of a moderate wind was small. Not a few scientists maintain that the fixed relations between weight of possible material in balloon construction and power obtainable are such that for practical and useful purposes the problem of air-navigation is really fundamentally impossible of solution. Meanwhile the navigators of the ocean are vying with the aerial experimenters in proposing new methods of propulsion. The steam turbine machinery, invented by Mr. Parsons, has passed beyond the experimental stage. Extraordinary speed has been attained in small yachts, and now a good-sized passenger steamer has been built with turbine machinery. The King Edward, lately launched on the Clyde, has had trial trips with excellent results; the vessel is 250 feet long, 30 feet wide, and the average speed of her trial trips was almost 2011⁄2 knots an hour; taking into account size, weight, and coal consumption, this compares not unfavorably with the magnificent record made last week by the Deutschland, of the Hamburg Line, of an

ex-slave who cannot read and write. Last year, after paying all his debts, he had $75 in cash left. He gave $10 of this money to Tuskegee for the education of a negro boy, and

$10 more to a white school in his native town for the education of a white boy. These two types represent the kind of men that will come in the future-Southern white men who will

be ashamed of narrowness and prejudice, and colored men who will realize that they must lay aside their narrowness and their prejudice. Let us not be discouraged.

The choice of San The Epworth League Francisco for the fifth International Convention of the Epworth League, July 18-21, seems to have been made with a view to the encouragement of the pioneer and missionary work of Methodism in the Pacific States. call was heartily responded to, thirty to forty special trains of "Leaguers" arriving in the course of thirty-six hours, while admirable organization joined with lavish hospitality in welcoming the crowds. Nothing is more unique in American life than the ease with which these "movable feasts" of great churches are transferred back and forth between the Far East and the Far West. The Epworth League, which ranks next in numbers among similar organizations of young people to the undenominational Society of Christian Endeavor, was formed in 1889 by the consolidation of various small societies previously existing. Its chapters now extend from Norway to Malaysia, in a score of foreign lands, and spread through four great branches of Methodism in the United States and Canada. Particularly noticeable in its programme was the prominence given to the moral and social inter ests of religion-a feature which has been observable in other recent conventions of similar societies--by such topics as "The Young Christian as a Citizen," "Civic Righteousness," "The City and its Perils," "The Problem of the Poor," "The Church and the Newspaper," etc. Missionary and benevolent work, including systematic benevolence, formed another leading group of subjects, in connection with which there was a large exhibit of missionary and educational work. Sunrise prayer-meetings, as well as other notes of enthusiasm, showed the old-time glow of Methodist responsiveness to the new occasions that teach new duties. The Epworth League now numbers 20,000 Senior"

chapters and 7,300 "Junior," the former increasing by a thousand chapters annually. Its president is Bishop I. W. Joyce. The numbers and spirit of the conventior.s and conferences of young Christians held this summer exhibit an incalculable hope of remedy for the moral evils rife in American society. They accentuate the responsibility resting upon their leadership for a practical identification of relig ious interest with the need of social progress in all righteousness.

The Jewish Chautauqua Society

Among the later outgrowths of Bishop Vincent's prolific idea this is as vigorous and promising as any of its predecessors. Its fifth annual Assembly, held at Atlantic City, N. J., during the last three weeks of July, demonstrated the large interest it is gaining among Jews throughout the country-twenty-six States, besides Canada, being represented on the list of its patrons. The aim of the Society and its affiliated Chautauqua circles is "to bring it about that the Jew shall study and know himself." It is said to be reaching the Jewish people more directly and efficiently in the lines of need than any other Jewish institution in the country. The need, as viewed by the Society, is "to create a new birth of the Jewish spirit," both to contend with bigotry, superstition, and ignorance, and for constructive effort in the promotion of the moral life in the largest sense of the words. Among the subjects on its programme-historical, ethical, educational, sociological, philanthropical, literary, Biblicalnone seemed to rouse keener interest than the conference on "the Social Side of Synagogue Life." In opening it the Rev. Dr. Stolz, of Chicago, said that the synagogue, which up to the nineteenth century had been the center of Jewish life, had shrunk into a shadow of its former self since the emancipation of the Jew had introduced him to a larger participation in the world's life. To vitalize Jewry with the old fraternal feeling, remove the barriers between rich and poor, and bring the front and rear pews together, the old idea of the synagogue as the Beth Hakeneseth, "the meetinghouse," must be revived. To accomplish this, said he, "many congregations

must change their laws and habits, and many synagogues must be built on new lines." The animated discussion of this address made it plain that Jews as well as Christians are engaged with the problems created by, the cleavage of social classes and those that have called into being the institutional church. The history of the Jews in modern Europe and America was another of the more prominent topics. Professor Gottheil, of Columbia, dwelt upon the part the Jews had borne on this continent since the day when Columbus's ship sailed with three Jewish mates and a Jewish physician. The commercial development of Newport, R. I., he said, was largely due to Aaron Lopez, in 1750, and Jews had taken an active part in the Revoluntionary War. Professor Gottheil in another lecture sketched the divergence between orthodox and reforming Jews, and affirmed that in "Zionism" is the bond which will effectively hold together the divergent elements. "The greatest Jewish reformer in this country [meaning, we suppose, Dr. Felix Adler] is doing just what Paul the Apostle did to Judaism. Without the lines that unite us to the past we are bound to dissolve." Such a line he found in Zionism, to which most orthodox Jews are attached. The proceedings of the Assembly may be found succinctly reported in the "Assembly Record" (Philadelphia). "The Menorah Monthly," of New York, under new management, will henceforth sustain to the Jewish Chautauqua the relation which "The Chautauquan" sustains to the Chautauqua circles throughout the country. Its editor will be the Rev. Dr. Harris, of New York, an active leader in the new movement.

Theological Seminary in New York. It is particularly planned for Sunday-school teachers, men or women, re idents of the city and vicinity. A complete course in the English Bible and in pedagogy will be given in popular form, following the text-book and recitation method rather than the lecture method, and a Sundayschool teacher's diploma will be conferred on those who complete the course. The plan includes extension work in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and as far as Newark from the seminary as a center, with as many churches as require it, in either the lecture or the text-book method, as desired, from November 1 to May 1. Thus systematic Biblical study is following the course of development taken by theological study. A score of years ago the inchoate demand for it was supplied by pastors, like Dr. Meredith in Brooklyn, as in Boston previously, meeting large assemblies of teachers for weekly study of the Sunday lessons. Just so divinity students used to resort to learned ministers before the establishment. of theological seminaries a century ago.

of Chicago, has planned for a part of the theological course of next year to be taken in Palestine. A class limited to twenty will sail from New York about the middle of December, with Professor Shailer Mathews, author of the recently published handbook, "New Testament Times in Palestine," as its instructor. The class will make Jerusalem, where the American School for Oriental Research and Study will be at work under Professor H. G. Mitchell, of the Boston University, its headquarters for four weeks, with several excursions weekly to points of interest. Two weeks are assigned to a camping tour through Samaria, Galilee, and the region of Decapolis beyond Jordan. Damascus and Baalbek will be visited from Beirût. In simultaneous study of the Land and the Book, the illustrative interpretation of the Bible will go on continually, and original work in this will be expected of the students. Special courses will be given by Professor Mathews in historical geography and the life of Jesus. Before returning the class is expected to visit Cairo, Smyrna, Ephesus, Athens,

Naples, and Rome. Members of the class will register as students in the University, and will receive credit for work done by them, as if residing at the University. This new line of personally conducted Bible study is sagaciously initiated, and it is to be hoped will show such results as to give it permanence.

A Farm Laborers' Union

The long-talked-of Farm Laborers' Union has this year a local habitation in some parts of Kansas. A correspondent of The Outlook at Wichita writes us that the union had its origin in the system of employment agencies established in several centers by an anti-union contractor to furnish farmers with the extra hands required to harvest their wheat. The men collected together at these agencies, saw that the farmers' need of workers was greater than their own need of work, and agreed among themselves to unite in demanding $2.50 a day instead of $2 for the day's work (sunrise to sundown) during the harvest season. The men already at work on various farms co-operated with the movement, and the farmers were obliged to pay the $2.50 demanded or lose a good part of the crops. Our correspondent states that "walking delegates have been employed by the Farm Laborers' Union," and that the same kind of labor struggles that now go on in manufacturing industries are likely soon to prevail upon the farms. This prediction, however, he prudently limits to farms where a large number of extra hands are required at special seasons. Fortunately, these farms are less numerous than they were a generation or two ago. The inventions of farm machinery have rendered the ordinary farmer relatively independent of outside help, and in the Middle States, where diversified farming is the rule, there is rarely any need of importing gangs of men for special seasons. Even in the wheat district of the West, the diversified farm is gaining steadily upon the single-crop farm, and with this gain the demand for extra laborers during the harvest season lessens. When employment is steady, and the farm hand is engaged for the whole year, the personal relations between himself and his employ er are too close to make the development of strong unionism possible.

Education

Looking back over the scholastic year just closed, the most prominent facts are the influence of the educational exhibits at the Paris Exposition of 1900; the great gift of Andrew Carnegie in aid of the Scottish universities; the growing prominence of the educational problem in England; the retirement of President Gilman after a quarter-century of service as President of the Johns Hopkins University; the noteworthy celebration of the completion of the first decade of the history of the University of Chicago, and the incorporation in the university of the Chicago Institute for the training of teachers, endowed by Mrs. Emmons Blaine; the steady growth of sound ideas and policies in the domain of public education in the large cities, as evidenced by the increased influence and authority of Superintendent Maxwell in New York and by the educational provisions contained in the newly revised charter for that city, by the reception accorded to the progressive policy of Superintendent Van Sickle at Baltimore, as well as by the re-election and hearty support of Superintendents Seaver, of Boston, Soldan, of St. Louis, Boone, of Cincinnati, and Cooley, of Chicago; the unqualified success of institutional co-operation on a large scale as manifested in the College Entrance Examination Board of the Middle States and Maryland; and the foundation of the Washington Memorial Institution at the National capital to co-operate with the universities of the country in promoting scientific research through the use of the Government laboratories and collections. With each of these topics we must be content with the briefest possible reference.

The significance of the several educational exhibits at the Paris Exposition was marked in two ways: first, by the renewed interest which they aroused in technical and commercial education; and, secondly, by the lesson taught by the exhibit from the schools of the United States, and commented on from one end of Europe to the other, that effectiveness is best promoted by the development of general information and intelligence in the early school years, and by the consequent postpone