investigations are-by a theory, but it was not vitiated, as so many investigations are, by a greater concern for the theory than for the facts. The committee felt that the solution for the problem of domestic servitude-so embarrassing in democratic communities lay in the continued transfer of work from dependent producers within the household to independent workers without. The fact that the old household industries of spinning, weaving, the curing of meat, and latterly the wash ing of clothes and cleaning of carpets, had passed or were passing into the hands of outside workers had been duly noted, and the committee wished to ascertain to what extent it was already economical to have cooking transferred in the same way. The chief difficulty confronted lay, of course, in the necessity of estimating the cost of the labor performed in the kitchen, the cost of the fuel used in preparing the food, and the expense for wear and tear on stoves and pots and pans that ought finally to be added to the apparent expense of home-cooked foods. This last item the committee was finally obliged to ignore because no figures of any value could be obtained. As to the cost of labor, the committee reckoned that well-to-do city families pay a servant $4 a week in wages, $3 a week in food and other supplies, making all told $7 a week, or about 81⁄2 cents an hour for the working time. As to the cost of fuel, the committee found by experiment that a coal stove cost 16 cents a day, an oil stove 17 cents, and a gas stove 27 cents, if no allowance was made for the labor of caring for the fires and cleaning the stoves; but that if this labor was charged for at 81⁄2 cents an hour, the coal stove cost 23 cents a day, the oil stove 24 cents, and the gas stove 30 cents. The gas used cost $1 a thousand feet, so that the experiments indicated that with gas at 75 cents a thousand-the price in Wheeling under public ownership and in Cleveland under private ownership— gas would be as cheap a cooking fuel as coal.

service and fuel brought the total cost to 6 cents-or nearly half a cent more than the baker charged. In the case of meat, on the other hand, fuel and service added only one-fifth to the cost of material, and meat cooked at home was a full third cheaper than meat bought ready cooked. What was true of meat was approximately true of entire dinners. A large family living near the New England Kitchen had their meals supplied from that quarter for several days, and then the same meals cooked at home for as many more, and repeated the experiment half a dozen times. Some things were supplied almost as cheaply from the outside "kitchen" as from that in the household, but, on the whole, the average cost of food for each person was 16 cents per meal when it was prepared at home, and 25 cents when bought ready cooked. The committee recognizes that its figures are not applicable to all families, since some would be at the same expense for servants even if they had their cooking done outside. But over against these families are others which, by the purchase of some readycooked foods, can dispense with a servant altogether. Families which wish to do their own work must often reckon labor at more than 81⁄2 cents an hour, and as the number of such families tends to increase with the increasing cost and irksomeness of domestic service, the demand for food cooked outside the household may increase as rapidly as the demand for food that is baked or cured or canned outside the household has increased in the past. With the increase in the demand for food prepared, or partly prepared, outside the household, there is certain to come, not only an increase in the supply, but a cheapening and bettering of the service.

The work at HampThe Hampton Summer Normal Institute ton grows broader and deeper year by year. Recognizing the importance of having in the elementary schools for colored children the best-equipped teachers, Hampton has held for the last few years a summer normal school for the training of such teachers. This summer school aims to give to these colored teachers, especially those who have not received

a normal school training, the latest and most approved methods of teaching and school management. The steady increase in numbers and the wider mental view of those who attend from the various sections of the country, particularly from the South, indicate the success of this summer school. The session just closed was the most successful one yet held both in point of numbers and work accom plished. There were three hundred and forty-seven teachers in attendance from twelve States, two Territories, and the District of Columbia, the largest number coming from Virginia. A hundred and ninety-four teachers, following the educational trend of the times, took work in industrial subjects. These studies were upholstery, sewing, cooking, dairy husbandry, sloyd, basketry, and agriculture. To acquaint their pupils during the coming school session more with things than words, to develop in them a proper appreciation of serviceable handiwork studies that may have a ready commercial value in adult life, seemed to be the desire of the teachers who took the industrial subjects. These subjects were supplemented by academic work in elementary and advanced English, school economics, psychology, civics, experimental physics, primary methods, free-hand drawing, arithmetic, and business forms and methods. A suggestive course in American history was given, the object of which was to develop race consciousness through the study of negro history in its relation to the National life. The course, quite novel in subject," Negro Ideals," evoked considerable enthusiasm. Drs. Frissell, of Hampton, and Southall, the Superintendent of Public Instruction for Virginia, have shown deep interest in the growth of this summer institute that will help in a wise way to solve the problem of the common school of the South for the negro child.

that the instructed disciple of the Kingdom brings both old and new things from the treasury of truth, he put forward the old doctrines of the divine sovereignty and the atoning cross, and called for a new separation of the church from the world, with new effort to reach the unreached masses. The Rev. Samuel Chadwick, of Leeds, England, a new accession to the Northfield platform, also attracted marked interest. One of the younger ministers of British Wesleyans, he has won regard by his efficiency in evangelistic work and as a Biblical preacher. Among prominent features of the conference were Professor Towner's Musical Institute, dealing with music specially in its relation to Christian work, and Dr. Torrey's Institute of Christian Doctrine, a series of addresses on the fundamental truths. In these two lecturers Mr. Moody's Bible Institute at Chicago, where thirty-five hundred men and women have received training in the twelve years of its existence, was strongly represented. Professor Towner pronounced strongly for the chorus choir and against the quartette: "Never have it," said he of the latter. "Missionary Day," August 12, when nearly ninety missionaries were present, was prolonged from the early prayermeeting at 6:30 to the end of the evening. Mr. S. B. Capen, President of the American Board, spoke at the twilight meeting on "Foreign Missions as an Investment from a Layman's Point of View." Instances are not wanting of manufacturers who have been made contributors to missions by discovering that a demand springs up for the tools and products of civilization where the missionary has carried new light and life into dark and stagnant communities. In connection with the Conference, a Young People's Institute, as for several years past, attracted many representatives of young people's societies, and a Post-Graduate Conference, directed by Messrs. Morgan and Chadwick, followed it for the week ending August 26.

census shows that the population, now about forty-four millions, has increased nearly fifteen per cent. in eleven years, or rather more than half the rate at which our own has increased in ten years, with all the advantage of our large immigration-the increase of the city population being about three times that of the Empire as a whole. The productiveness of the land has increased still more largely. Industrial and commercial growth has been vastly greater. From 1884 to 1898 manufacturing companies increased from less than four hundred to over two thousand, and their aggregate capital from five million to a hundred and twenty-two million yen (the yen is equal to about eighty-eight cents). Commercial companies multiplied from some six hundred and fifty to over four thousand, and their capital from about nine million yen to three hundred million. Transportation companies grew from about two hundred to over five hundred and thirty, with a growth of capital from about seven million yen to nearly two hundred million. In education a similar expansion has taken place, especially in the universities, the middle schools, and the girls' schools, the last showing over eight thousand pupils in 1898 to about thirty-two hundred in 1889. The attendance at the primary schools has risen from three million to four, and will increase now more rapidly because of the recent abolition of the fees hitherto paid. That the common people prize the opportunities of culture appears from the fact that in the universities they already out number the gentry and the nobles together. Dr. Greene mentions having overheard two coolies discussing the questions at issue in our Presidential campaign. The door is now open through the schools for those once destined to be serfs to reach the highest stations in military or political life. That the reading population has vastly increased appears in the nearly eightfold increase of newspapers and magazines since 1884. Whether an ethical advance has taken place has been doubted or denied by many. Dr. Greene admits the existence of serious evils, but observes that the laws take more cognizance of them, and public opinion visits sharper censure on them. On one hand, he finds that life and property were never so secure as now. On the other hand,

The

charitable work is expanding, and the national conscience extends its criticism into fields formerly outside its view. The lot of the lowly, the despised, the outcast, now appeals to a new public sentiment, which gives them the benefit of a more favorable interpretation and a more effective administration of the law. Politically, the reign of the common people seems still far off, but a gradual democratizing is apparent. The number of persons entitled to vote in national elections is still but a million. But for local elections a recent law, by lowering the property qualification, has increased the electorate from less than half a million to over two millions. The same law has introduced with equitable results the principle of minority representation, which even we have not yet attained to. In the present House of Representatives the commoners outnumber the gentry three to one, and the distinction between the two classes, says Dr. Greene, "is slowly but surely passing away."

The advance of Chris

Christianity in Japan tianity in Japan is evidently not to be measured by the present number of its enrolled adherents. These are but about one hundred and twenty thousand, nearly one-third of them Protestants, the rest divided between the Greek and the Roman Church in the ratio of about one to two. But in the successive Diets the Christians have never had less than four times their proportional number of members. In the present Diet they have thirteen members, besides the Speaker, and among them some of the most efficient men. "One of them was elected in a strongly Buddhist district by a majority of five to one." Last year, in the Executive Committee of the Liberal party, two of its three members were Christians; and this year one of the three. Three per cent. of the officers of the army are said to be Christians, and a goodly proportion also of naval officers. The late Rear-Admiral Serata was an ardent and active Christian. Christians in abnormal numbers abound in the universi ties and Government colleges, among both students and instructors. Not less than three of the great dailies of Tokio are largely in Christian hands, and Christians are at the head of editorial departments

in several others. A very large volume of charitable work and the most successful charitable institutions are also under Christian management. From twenty-five hundred to three thousand youth pass every year out of Christian schools, where they have averaged four years spent under Christian influences. The effect of this on public opinion is shown by Buddhist imitators, who undertake to form young men's associations, women's and children's societies, and to organize charitable institutions and schools according to Christian patterns. Public sentiment favors a Religions Bill, which Dr. Greene expects will ere long be passed, making Shintoism, Buddhism, and Christianity equal before the law. Quite recently Christian schools have been relieved of some serious disabilities. Since the incorporation of Japan with the civilized world she has been affected by the various currents of thought observable elsewhere in that world. Politically, the intense nationalism of the Japanese, and the reaction of many liberally educated men against party government, reproduce phenomena noticeable even in the United States and Great Britain. Religiously, the churches of Japan have felt, like those of the West, a temporary check during the process of readjusting Christian doctrines to modern science and philosophy—a check which appears to have reached its limit in the beginning, which we recently reported, of a great revival.

not bear the impress of reliability. In the first place, it is not made at the right time, or in the right manner, to convince the public that any such plan has actually been adopted. In the second place, the reference to the "great success of profitsharing in the Carnegie Company" is a reference to a form of philanthropy which the Carnegie Company never professed to have adopted. In the third place—and this is really the most unfortunate feature of it all-it is doubtful if the stock of the Steel Trust could be sold to the employees and held by them, however generous might be the intentions of the managers.

Gigantic concerns like the Steel Trust, whose securities are listed on the stock exchanges, are the very last in which workmen can become part owners and managers. If the trust stock represented only the capital invested in the plants, the situation would be better, since neither hard times nor the re-establishment of competition could take away its entire value, and the investment might be considered safe. But even safe investments in stock exchange securities are not often attractive to working people, since they yield their possessors barely five per cent. on their market value, and workingmen with a few hundred dollars ahead will not invest in five per cent. securities on the stock exchange when they can realize ten per cent. through owning instead of renting their homes. Even those who already own their homes will not put their surplus into

holders

A New York newspaper which favors the Steel Trust in the present controversy announces that the head of the Trust at the time of its organization set aside several million dollars' worth of stock to be sold to employees "at inside prices," so as to create a labor union of an ideal type-a union in which the members would share the profits as well as the wages of the concern they manned. The plan was adopted, says this newspaper, because of the "great success of profitsharing in the Carnegie Company," and its execution was merely postponed for a couple of years, until the affairs of the Trust were in a more settled running order.

Unfortunately, this announcement does

so easily realize eight per cent. by renting homes to others, if they devote their attention to looking closely after their property. To sell these workmen stock at “inside prices" would be at best a temporary expedient, for even if the workmen-and not outsiders in their name-took the stock offered at less than the market price, they could not be kept from selling it at the market price as soon as they wanted the money for something else. Even, therefore, if the trust stocks were as secure investments as the bonds which Mr. Carnegie took in payment for his interests, it would not be an investment which wage-earners could be asked to hold. For the present, indeed, most trust stocks are paying more than five per cent. on their market value (and far more

than five per cent. on the original value of the plants they represent), but these higher rates of interest, as Emerson put it, are but the measure of the insecurity of the principal. Such investments should be touched by those only who can afford to lose. They are the last that should be commended to wage-earners, who, it has been observed, are led to begin saving, not by high rates of interest, but by the certainty that their savings will be at their call in time of need. Mr. Carnegie recognized this principle in 1889 when, in lieu of profit-sharing, he established a savings fund in which the workmen in all his mills could make deposits ranging from three dollars to two thousand dollars, and have them cared for without charge for clerical service. The rate of interest was generously fixed at six per cent., though this was a point of minor importance, since the rate of interest does not begin to concern depositors until several hundred dollars have already been laid by. The Carnegie savings fund was a distinct success, and in 1898, according to Mr. N. P. Gilman's "Dividend to Labor," over a million dollars stood to the credit of employees. Meanwhile, over a half-million dollars had been lent on mortgage to employees who wished homes of their own, and thus the great corporation had done a work almost equal to that which many small manufacturers have done when they have organized building and loan associations among their employees, or have looked after the legal side of purchases of land.

There are many ways in which even the greatest corporations may help their employees to achieve industrial independence, even though the ownership of their securities by their employees is out of the question. Profit-sharing does, indeed, yield a less direct return in the case of such corporations than in that of small firms, in which the quality of each man's work is so important a factor in the aggregate output. But even in the greatest corporations a share in the profits can produce a better spirit, and produce at least a slight betterment in the general quality of labor. The ideal of a capital-and-labor union, such as the reported plan of the Steel Trust suggests, is one to be diligently cherished by all who would avoid class conflicts. There are, indeed, keen and cold revolutionists

who object to laborers becoming capitalists, for fear that the ownership of property will create conservatism. There are also keen and cold reactionaries who prefer to have laborers dependent, because such laborers can least offer resistance to any treatment offered them. But to publicspiri ed men who care for the orderly bettering of social conditions, the advance of wage-earners to the position of small property owners, and their further advance into an interest in the management of the concerns they work for, are steps of incalculable importance. Only through such advances can the mass of the people get the training in the management of industrial affairs that is essential to competent management of the affairs of the Nation. More than this, only through such advances can the spirit of class conflict be avoided. America owes much of its progress in the past to the fact that there have been-apart from the curse of slaveryno caste lines and no rigid class lines. On the farms, in the stores, and in the shops men have been continually passing over from the ranks of workers to the ranks of owners, and the larger part of the people have been at once capitalists and laborers. By reason of this condition, the creation of class antagonisms has been made impossible. It is the duty of the new industrial organizations to devise methods by which they, too, may prevent the development of hostile classes.

The Real Conquerors

Among the many admirable inscriptions which may be seen at the PanAmerican Exposition is one which finds a place on a panel in the Stadium, the significance of which, for the place and for the larger arena of life, is evident at the first reading:

He who fails bravely has not truly failed, but is himself also a conqueror !

Those who assume that success means positive achievement in some visible, tangible, and generally material form fail to understand that the visible, tangible, material things are in many cases only the evidences of success, and that success lies in that which has come to the worker in his achievement. The finest element in success is its reactionary influence on