PETERS, MADISON C. Taxation of Church | SPEED, JOHN GILMER. The Right of
Property, 638.

QUINCY, JOSIAH. Issues and Prospects of Teacher's Duty to the Pupil, The, 56.

REED, T. B. The Safe Pathway of Ex THWING, CHARLES F. Influence of the
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Parr"-153 years. Though the number of women who live to a century or a little more is undoubtedly greater than that of men, yet the men in the few cases have gone to a higher figure. And so we shall have to leave the question. There are more women that live long, but they cannot go to the highest points.

Pressure on the stomach and liver is not the only evil of the corset system, for the lungs and heart have to suffer also. Careful measurements made of Indian girls, who had lived a life of nature, prove that they breathe not from the upper part of the lungs almost entirely, as modern young women do, but just like young men and boys. The bodies of these young women were born just like those of the Indian girls, but the lacing and compressing waist system began at so early an age that the utmost effort of nature to start the girl of civilized life on a In a state parity with the girl of nature has been carefully defeated. of nature a woman has a child and is out, sometimes the same day, or at any rate the next one, just as if she had had a slight cold. Motherhood is painless. The civilized girl is prostrated for weeks. If she is not often a physical wreck for life, she is an exception. And then come the soured temper, bad digestion, fretfulness, and generally miserable domestic life which make the weary husband wish that he had never, never thought of marriage. When it becomes the Paris fashion to have waists like the Venus of Milo, then our girls will wear them-not before. Writers on the subject and talkers also may just as well save time and let the poor things torture themselves in their own way. Better study longevity, gentlemen, and not waste time by letting your thoughts run on waists.

As to the question of marriage, the Registrar-General for Scotland published some tables of statistics in 1867 to prove that married men live longer than the unmarried. Scientific critics in England and other countries, however, have questioned the accuracy of these tables, not holding that they were deliberately and of intention false, but that the experiment was not conducted on fair or just principles. These contestants may have been bachelors of centenarian proclivities, and having a reputation to sustain, they would naturally examine a married man's tables with close and scrutinizing suspicion. For, say the opponents of this theory, if a man lives longer by reason of marrying one wife, could not he then double his age or his chances of longevity by marrying two? Perhaps wives are to be taken, however, like those of Henry VIII. of England, only one at a time, though he had six and then did not live to be a centenarian. The easons given by old people for their long length of years are often seemingly absurd. The Scientific American of December 16, 1893, had an account of Miss Eliza Work, of Henrietta, N. Y., who was within six weeks of being 100 years old. "The reason I have lived so long is that I have never drunk tea nor coffee, and, above all, never got married, and I have always been hearty and healthy, too." At the age of 91 she travelled alone to her native place in Vermont. She has always been a hard worker, never had occasion to use glasses, and her teeth are of original growth. Her brother lived, she stated, to be 101, and she thought he would have lived much longer if he had never married. He drank tea and coffee, too. People who drink such things, Miss Work thought, and then aggravate the case by getting married, ought not to expect to live long. And yet Miss Work, being herself a centenarian, knows, perhaps, almost as much about the case as physicians.

WILLIAM KINNEAR.

OBSTACLES TO BUSINESS METHODS IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS. GENERALLY speaking, we have bad city government in America, and we agree that business methods should prevail in its administra. tion. The question then arises, what obstacles stand in the way of apply. ing business methods to our municipal affairs. Briefly stated, the answer is: 1. American commercialism; 2. The spirit of partisanhip; 3. The misplacement of emphasis since the outbreak of the Civil War; 4. An erroneous political perspective; 5. Executive legislation; 6. Want of local autonomy.

I. Under the head of commercialism, a number of influences of various kinds have to be considered.

1. Commercialism, or undue absorption in private business or an undue desire to accumulate wealth, has been the distinguishing characteristic of the average American during the present century, and especially since the Civil War. It is the one feature more frequently referred to and more generally commented upon by foreign observers than any other. It is no doubt true that the rapid development of our country and its unparalleled growth in wealth and numbers have absorbed the energies of our people; and now that we have passed the stage of expansion, and entered another, which should be one of cultivation, we seem unable to leave off the habit formed largely under the spur of necessity, and which was undoubtedly essential to recovery from the evil effects of internal dissension.

Commercialism has led to the absorption of the best business talent in every community in private business affairs, mainly because the legitimate rewards are larger, and because there is a permanency of tenure not to be found in public affairs.

The returns in mercantile, manufacturing, and professional pursuits have been much larger than the honest returns to those holding equally responsible official positions in our cities. I admit there is a certain honor attached to public office; and that there should be a certain amount of selfsacrifice for the public welfare; but we may not always be able to afford such honors or make such sacrifices. So long as the returns from the same amount of application in public business are so disproportionate to those received from private business, we shall find the latter absorbing the best ad. ministrative and executive talent to the manifest detriment of the former.

Then, again, a young man starting out in private business knows that, with diligent attention to details and close application, he will be enabled to improve his position and his emoluments. The results of his efforts will be in a direct ratio to the energy expended. Let the same young man enter the public service and his tenure of office will not depend on capacity or application; but, in nine cases out of ten, upon his usefulness to a political leader or organization. When this ends, his tenure ends. He can retain his place only by subserviency—a course that must always prove distasteful to the conscientious young man. Is it any wonder, therefore, that private affairs irresistibly attract young men ? Is it any wonder that we find the public service in many cities filled with men who cannot make a livelihood elsewhere, and who resort to public patronage when all other resources fail? Commercialism robs the public services of its best men and leaves it almost bare; a wrong political system steps in and deprives what little there is left of its value.

2. Commercialism leads not only to the absorption of business talent in private affairs, but also to the diversion of the constructive talents of the

community into the same channels. There is no denying the great constructive abilities of the Anglo-Saxon. In former times they were utilized in building up the state and nation and perfecting great governmental schemes; but of late years there has been little if any progress along governmental lines at all in keeping with the immense strides we have taken along commercial and manufacturing lines. The creation of great factories and great trusts and business concerns; the inventiveness displayed in mechanical and electrical trades seem to have exhausted the constructive genius of the country. Here the question of returns comes in again. The same amount of skill and ability displayed in public affairs will not bring a tithe of the return that an equal amount exerted in private business would. I am not now taking into consideration anything but legitimate returns, for the dishonest men can perhaps make more out of public office than in private business. I am considering only the honest rewards to be had in both services. As a result of this tendency, we have the rather curious condition of great advance in business, an advance that has placed us at the head of the commercial world; while in municipal methods we are a generation or so behind in our development.

3. Another result of commercialism is seen in the indifference of the average voter, who is generally so wrapped up in his business that he forgets to discharge his duties as a citizen. He reasons that the amount of time he would devote to political affairs if expended in private business will yield a return very much larger than the increased tax he will be subjected to by permitting incompetent men to run the city. In other words, he will pay higher taxes rather than devote good and valuable time to public business. It may be said in passing, however, that if every citizen would give but five hours a year to the consideration of public business; very great changes in present methods could be inaugurated. This would allow two hours (a generous allowance) for attendance on two primary and two general elections, and three hours for general conference, consideration, and attendance on one or two meetings.

4. Inasmuch as most if not all of our state and national taxation has been indirect, insignificant as compared with European taxes, due to the fact that we have no immense armies or navies or expensive royal families to support, voters have not as yet felt the full effect of high municipal taxation and extravagant and inefficient local government. The fact is that, after all that can be said against bad city government, the cost of maintaining it (at least from the financial view point) is comparatively small and bears but indirectly upon the average citizen. The business man is accustomed to sacrifice a small benefit in one direction to earn a larger one in another; and he carries this principle into his consideration of public affairs. He will agree that we have bad government and should have better; but he sacrifices the benefit that would accrue to him in this direction to gain a larger one in his private affairs.

5. The spirit of commercialism has also had another effect, of a somewhat different character, however, from those mentioned. Many who devote their brains and energies to the consummation of great undertakings have found that it is good business to conciliate and control the governing powers. Constantly seeking franchises and privileges, they have realized that a better bargain can be made when all the parties to it are of one opinion and on one side. Their policy has therefore been to make the interest of the granting powers identical with their own by taking them "in on the ground