the unquestionable fact that, in the minds of a great many Democrats, eager to "get in" once more, the best candidate of the party could be named only after the Republicans had made their nomination. This is a difficulty which must necessarily attend the primary system: two unconditional choices, really dependent one upon the other, must be simultaneously made at a moment so early that after-regret is extremely likely on one side or the other. Some day we shall be likely to come to the method of electing the President (and all other officers) by the preferential ballot. Two elections.

a "primary" and a final election

an awkward, expensive, and unscientific makeshift, though doubtless on the whole any method that gives the people (provided they want it) the right and duty of acting directly and so minimizing the power of professional politicians, is better than the old convention system. we are only in the crude beginnings of the science of efficient voting.

T

MINORITY PRESIDENTS

But

AKE the matter of electing Presidents, for a single example. Leave entirely aside the manner in which nominations are dictated by bosses; leave out of consideration the obstructing activities of party machines, and say nothing of the faults of the electoral college system. Consider merely the fact that the country is obliged to choose between two leading candidates with a possible third, fourth, or sometimes fifth minor nominee. On the broad question of majority rule, how has the thing worked?

We have had twenty-one Presidential elections since the people commenced in 1824 to elect members of the electoral college before that left to the state legislatures. In those twenty-one elections, ten candidates have received the Presidency in spite of the fact that they polled less than a majority of the votes cast; two were put into the Chief Executive's chair in spite of the fact that another candidate had received more votes.

In 1824, Jackson had, not a majority indeed, but a plurality over John Q.

Adams of 50,551 votes; yet Adams, who not only had received fewer votes than Jackson, but who lacked 240,000 of having a majority of the small vote cast, was seated by the House of Representatives. Four years later the wrong was avenged; Jackson was elected by an indisputable majority, as were his successors, Van Buren and William Henry Harrison. In 1844, Polk lacked 24,200 of a majority; in 1848, Taylor lacked 152,700 of a majority. Pierce received a majority. Buchanan lacked 377,600 of a majority in 1856, and Lincoln fell short a million of a majority of the total vote cast in 1860. Four years later, he was elected by a majority of those voting. In 1868, Grant was a majority President - the last for twenty years. Between 1876 and 1896, not a President was the choice of a majority of the voters. Hayes lacked 345,000 of a majority; Tilden had a quarter of a million more votes than Hayes. Garfield lacked 321,300 of a majority. Cleveland lacked 213,000 in 1884; in 1892, he took his seat a second time, though he this time needed 1,045,500 to be the indicated choice of the greater part of his fellowcountrymen. Harrison was successful, although he lacked 304,400 of a majority. The last two Presidents, elected during the piping times of Republican prosperity, had more votes than all their opponents combined.

Yet it is an outstanding fact that speaks little of our method of choosing Presidents that ten out of twenty-one elections have not been decided by majorities; that, of the sixteen different men elevated to the Presidency, only eight have been the clear choice of the citizens.

There is no use to say that an actual majority is too much to expect in a popular vote. It is nothing of the kind. It is no more impossible, no more difficult, to decide by the rule of majority in a nationwide vote than in the limited vote of a small assembly. It is necessary only to get the matter accurately before the voters. It is conceivable that, if a second vote had been taken in those years when no candidate for the Presidency had received a majority, the results might have remained unchanged; majorities might

have ratified the choices expressed by mere pluralities; pluralities might have become majorities in a second balloting. But it is extremely likely that in most cases the results would have been changed. What we arrive at under the prevailing system is a rough and ready decision, not a careful one. We say, in effect, "Oh! well, most of the people want Harrison, so let's declare Harrison elected." But the fact might have been that, as between Harrison and Cleveland, say, most of the people would have preferred Cleveland and they would have so expressed themselves in a scientific ballot, such as they have found it a perfectly simple thing to employ in Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, Japan, and even far Tasmania.

An even more serious failure of our election machinery to make effective the desires of the people is to be found in the gross and glaring misrepresentation in Congress caused by the failure of our system to take any account of the minority, and give it proportionate representation.

Whatever may be the result of the important campaign which we are now entering upon, the return of a period of comparative calmness ought to see a thoughtful consideration of the election. machinery of the country.

EXTRAVAGANT ECONOMY

T

HERE is need of economy at Washington, and there are wastes enough that need stopping. But there is such a thing as being penny wise and pound foolish; and that is the easy error that the House of Representatives has more than once made. For example, its action in reducing the appropriation for the State Department by almost $100,000 is, on one hand, a piece of petty politics and, on the other, a piece of gross folly. The amount allowed the State Department is already meagre in the extreme; no other first-class or, for the matter of that, no second-class, power in the world pretends to conduct its diplomatic and consular business on twice. We spend the allowance made for ours. millions on the army and navy in prepara

tion for war; we think nothing of throwing claimants on behalf of wars long past a largesse of near 200 millions a year; but when we give a dollar on behalf of war, we grudge a cent for the maintenance of peace.

The Secretary of State and his staff are the nation's peace-preservers; their office is to maintain good understanding between us and other peoples and to watch out for our interests abroad. Too little appreciated, the work that the State Department does is an absolutely indispensable work, and no reasonable amount of money should be witheld to make this department as efficient as possible.

Within the last two or three years, the State Department has been recognized —or rather, for the first time organized - and put on an efficient practical working basis, though still handicapped by lack of funds. To take away now a single dollar from its appropriation would be to take a backward step unnecessarily.

ABOUT THE CRAZY PEOPLE

Τ'

HE conclusion of a recent editorial in the New York World runs thus:

There are thousands of Americans who do not believe they can get something for nothing. There are thousands of Americans who work from eight to twelve hours every day, who support their families and pay their debts and save a little something for their old age and live normal, rational lives.

We are not so crazy as we sometimes seem. Very true; but the point about this is, that any great newspaper should think it necessary to say that there are thousands of Americans who work and live normally, and that such a declaration should be received as a welcome relief from the howlings about impending disaster that we read as a morning and an evening service. Thousands of such Americans? There are millions of them every one with his earnest struggle with real problems, but every one working hopefully, sanely, and intelligently to do his duty to his family and to his community and succeeding in proportion to his ability

and his character. In a time like this, the excitable minority get attention wholly out of proportion to their importance.

For instance, the newspapers in a certain town of 50,000 inhabitants at which Mr. Taft and Mr. Roosevelt both spoke furiously a month or more ago, naturally "played up" their presence and their speeches in big headlines; everybody talked about them for a day; the newspapers elsewhere also gave prominence to their "scrap." Yet less than 10 per cent. of the people heard them or tried to hear them not a larger percentage than would have gone to an equally well advertised circus or moving picture show, and not so large as would have gone to a big baseball game. More important yet, it would be very hard to find a man who would confess that he changed his mind or his preference because of anything he saw or heard or read about them.

Yet we think of ourselves as really excited about politics, and men of bad digestions really fear that the people have gone crazy.

Those who yell most loudly at the people, and are most concerned about the people, seem to know least about them.

SANER THINGS THAN POLITICS

ERE, for example, comes a letter from an earnest man who gives his time and thought most unselfishly to the organization and betterment of country life:

Perhaps in my enthusiasm this suggestion would be impractical, but this thought comes: Why could not one year's sole devotion of the WORLD'S WORK be made to the wage-worker, the farm-worker, and the business-worker. It seems to me that you could thus cover practically all the big work that you are now doing, under these three divisions, and be a means of bringing about a right way of seeing each other's work. Of course I am prejudiced, but I think that our political situation is the biggest farce that we have. The all important thing is for our people to get right and fair and square in their work, in their living, in their homes, and not make so much fuss over our politicians. When the politicians are right, go to them as we would go to our clerks and ask them to do the things that are neces

sary to make our work and homes and profits better than they are now. I think it makes little difference who our next President is. All our politicians, Presidents, and others. have appealed to us or tried to appeal, in a petty way in their anxiety to secure attention. They are big men when they are not in a political wrangle. Any of them has, I believe, the capacity to be a good President if they could eliminate party and personal quarrels from their work and treat it as a big business and be in office long enough to build up a right business organization.

"The right way of seeing each others' work" that comes pretty near to the heart of the matter. We become earnest and sympathetic and tolerant in other words capable of real helpfulness — in proportion as we "see each others' work."

The economic organization of society so that every worker and every class of workers shall receive the "right and fair and square" return that's the biggest task of civilization and it underlies every other task. To take our correspondent's division of men into wage-workers, farmworkers, and business-workers and his contempt of mere politicians, it is true that all political activity that does not directly or indirectly make for "a right and fair and square" relation of these divisions, one to another, is a misdirection. of time and energy.

A QUESTION OF MORALS

H

ERE is a question of honesty: Two men, who were good friends at college twenty-five years ago, are good friends yet. One is now a speculative broker in New York and is rich, and the other is a high public officer with a low salary, and is a poor man. The broker, under a generous impulse, lately said to his friend:

"You have given practically all your working life to the public service. You have not had time nor opportunity to put aside any money for your family. Now we have all profited by your public service; and I am in a position to help you. I share in the underwriting of various successful enterprises. In some cases I put up no money at all. In most

cases I run practically no risk of loss. Now I wish to put you down for a share in some of these. It will not cost you a cent. I'll do the underwriting; and, if money is necessary, I'll risk the money. You shall have no loss, but you'll share the gains. I wish to do this till your account shows a profit of $100,000. Then draw it out and invest it. You ought to have it. I'm going to put you down." "No," said the other. "Of course not. I can't take a profit that I've done nothing to earn."

the time. You risk nothing."

Well, the two men didn't understand one another. Their codes of economic morals were so different that they did not mean the same thing when they spoke of "profits" and "earnings." The broker was hurt by the refusal of his friend and thought that he was a very squeamish and timid politician.

HEALTH OFFICERS AND WITS

H

EALTH officers in other states could study with profit the the methods of New York and California, which are among the most progressive in the country. For example, Dr. Eugene H. Porter, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, has been holding a series of "sanitary institutes," at strategic centres, for the encouragement and instruction of city and county health officers, who attend. from all the easily accessible nearby territory. Such an institute was lately held at Elmira and seventy-seven physicians registered as members. The Commissioner and the directors of the several divisions of the state Department of Health were present. "An hour was set apart each day for demonstrations to health officers individually or in small groups of any laboratory procedures in which they were particularly interested." One afternoon was devoted to a discussion of milk supply in relation to the public health. One evening was given up to a round-table conference, at which the Commissioner and his aides answered extemporaneously legal questions that were

faithful guardians of health received at Elmira. A dozen such institutes in a year may well be the saving of thousands of useful lives to the community.

The Californian method of attack is less direct, but it is as novel and it has aroused much interest in sanitation in that state. Dr. William F. Snow, secretary and executive officer of the state board of health, has the knack of the pen. Besides issuing formal monthly publications that tell what has been accomplished by his office, Doctor Snow points the way for local authorities by covering a whole sanitary subject in a special bulletin that he is not afraid to make interesting. For example, Bulletin Separate No. 6 is a comprehensive and popular statement of the theory and methods of sewage disposal. It has been reprinted twice because the people asked for more copies than Doctor Snow believed they could want. It discusses first "The Sewage Problem and the Law," gives "A Review of Some Available Methods of Sewage Treatment for California," describes "Septic Tanks," and tells how to make "Residential Sewage Disposal Plants." This bulletin leaves little to be said about sewage and practical sanitation.

As an example of Dr. Snow's striking method of attracting attention to his subject so that people will read, the following extract from another bulletin, about tuberculosis, may suffice:

THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA VERSUS THE TUBERCLE BACILLUS

The tubercle bacillus is at last fairly on trial in California. The case has been pending before the Court of Public Opinion since 1871.

Since that time the evidence in the case has been steadily accumulating. Serious complications have arisen through the implication of many "higher-ups." It has been found that the criminal bacillus has been aided and abetted by big business interests the milk producers, the tenement house builders, the timid physicians who fail to report the victims of the bacillus, and many other interests friendly to the chief offender. But if this were all, a jury would long ago have been secured which would have convicted the bacillus and punished those who assisted it.

Following that introduction is a lucid résumé of the tuberculosis situation in the state, with practical advice for a campaign of eradication, and photographs of lifelike models of houses and tents arranged to procure the "fresh-air" treatment and of sanitary dairies to aid the fight against bovine tuberculosis.

Either method is worthy imitation: socialization of health officers' work by personal contact at institutes, or stimulation by an intelligent use of imagination and printers' ink. Perhaps a phrase of warning will comprise the value of these examples: Doctors, do not be dull.

OUR LONG, SLOW SCHOOL-TASK F ONE read the latest report of the United States Commissioner of Education about the salaries of public school teachers and the short schoolterms and the small proportion of pupils who remain in school long enough to profit greatly if one read these facts without considering the advance that has been made and is going on, it would be a most discouraging experience. Consider these figures

The average wage of all public school teachers in the United States, including the teachers in all our cities, is $1.60 a day for the working days of the whole year - less than $500 per annum; or less than $10 a week.

The average pay in eleven states is less than $400; in eight states, it is less than $300; in two states, less than $250. A very large proportion of the public school teachers in the country are minors, and less than half of them have had any special or adequate preparation for teach

ing; in several states from 20 to 30 per cent. of them every year are beginners; and in the best states the average length of service is less than four years.

But these statistics, like most other statistics of large averages, tell only a part of the story and by far the least encouraging part. During the last ten years the pay of male teachers has increased 38 per cent. and of female teachers 27 per cent.; and the increase goes on. Moreover, everybody who knows the present mood of the educational world and who interprets public sentiment intelligently knows the ever increasing earnestness of the people about this very subject. More important yet, the movement for better schools, schools better fitted to the needs of the people, gathers volume and earnestness every year. There is no better leadership in any department of American life than the leadership of the best minds now engaged in public educational work.

NEW CHINA'S

L'

DIFFICULTIES

ITTLE news escapes from China,
the most interesting country in
the world just now, as
just now, as she takes

the first steps of her life as a Republic. Affairs there are complicated beyond any real understanding by foreigners except those with very special knowledge; but the failure of any definite facts to emerge from the general scene of confusion serves to justify the fear that the new régime is not proving itself strong enough to rule. China has drifted for several hundreds of years and it has not got over the habit. The revolution was an event simply astounding, but it does not seem as if the land possessed personalities equal to the task of guiding the new patriotic movement which manifested itself in a popular uprising unprecedented in history.

The loan, which is the first necessity of the new government — the first requirement for the stability of the new order - hangs fire. The six Great Powers Powers (England, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, and the United States) are ready to "recognize" the Republic,