that the husband had no bona fide domicile in the state of North Dakota when he obtained a divorce there, and it is not pretended that the wife had an independent domicile in North Dakota or was ever in that state. The court of that state, therefore, had no jurisdiction.' This language clearly shows that the divorce was void simply and solely because the law of the state in which it was granted was not followed by the petitioner, the libelant, whose domicile there was not bona fide, but a device to lay the foundation for a suit against his wife. The states are not under any obligation to give faith and credit to a judicial proceeding in a case where no jurisdiction has been acquired.

In the second case, a decree obtained by a New York citizen in Pennsylvania was held to be invalid. The Pennsylvania law distinctly provides that the libelant must have had bona fide residence in the state for one year. This condition was wanting, and the supreme court annulled the decree on the ground of "no jurisdiction" in the Pennsylvania courts. There is no jurisdiction without legal residence as defined by state law, and where the evidence shows that the state law in relation to divorce has been complied with, even if the law be unreasonable and revolting to the moral sentiment of the country at large, the divorces granted under it are entitled to "full faith and credit."

Once more the fact is emphasized that only national or uniform marriage and divorce legislation can do away with the abuses of inter-state migration for periods just sufficient to enable people to dissolve marital ties.

Since 1872 Bible lessons recommended by the International Sunday School Lesson Committee have been uniform. At a recent meeting of the committee, at which the lessons for 1903 were approved, the suggestion was adopted of having different lessons, covering one year, for children six years of age and under, and still another series, to be known as the senior, covering two years. A new organization has been formed, called the Sunday-School Editorial Association, composed of editors of Sunday-school periodicals and writers of lesson helps.

Under this association a conference is to be held during June to formulate criticisms of Sunday-school lesson schemes, and if possible to put a stop to objections which have been made almost continuously since uniformity in

such schemes was undertaken.

Not before during the pontificate of Leo XIII. has the Roman Catholic College of

Cardinals been so full as now. Its traditional number is seventy, although there is nothing but tradition to hinder a pope making as many cardinals as he pleases. The present number is sixty-six. Never before during any pontificate of recent centuries was the Italian strength so great. In his last allocution Leo XIII. again referred to his position as the prisoner of Rome, and pleaded once more for temporal power; something that only a brief sojourn in Rome and in Italy is enough to show he will not soon get, if Italian public opinion does not change or is not overpowered. The former apostolic delegate to this country, Cardinal Martinelli, Former Papal Delegate to was duly invested with the biretta in the cathedral at Baltimore on May 8.

Copyright, F. Gutekunst, Philadelphia. SEBASTIAN MARTINELLI,

the United States. Now a Cardinal.

The Congregational Home Missionary Society concludes three-quarters of a century of activity with a celebration to be held in Boston in June. When the society began work, a pioneer in Home effort, there were 1,200 Congregational churches, and their membership was about 150,000. Fully seventy per cent of the 4,000 churches started since 1826 owe their existence to this society, which has seen the church of the Puritan fathers stretch across the country from Plymouth Rock to the Golden Gate. Above forty states have organized associations, working with the parent society, besides associations in many of them conducted by women. Recently two new fields have been occupied. They are Alaska and Cuba. The Diamond Jubilee will bring to Boston an unusual array of great men and women, who will assist in the Congregational rejoicings.

Church missionary societies are not feeling the effects of the good times to any extent. Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist societies are scarcely any ahead of last year; the Episcopal is several thousand dollars behind, and the Congregational Home, which made a special effort because of its celebration of

the close of seventy-five years of history, held in Boston at the middle of May, got a Jubilee Fund of only moderate proportions. At the same time enormous sums of money are going into charities and into all sorts of religious projects. Charity, outside of churches, usually runs $60,000,000 a year. Estimates are that it will run $100,000,000 this year. The trouble with the missionary societies seems to be that they are a dead level of aspiration--an old story, so to speak, and the public is, as always, taking more kindly to new things. The societies have suffered somewhat from their attempt, a quite general although not concerted one, to stop contributions to special objects, and increase gifts to a general fund that can be administered by experts who presumably make up their executive boards. Givers ought to have sufficient grace to stand this strain, but they do not seem to have it.

The increasing emigration of Greeks to the United States in late years has attracted considerable attention. Newspapers reported that in a single month of this year 2,000 young Greeks sailed for this country, owing chiefly to agricultural depression in Greece. The number of Greeks now living here is estimated at 30,000. Chicago is said to have the largest Greek colony.

Probably no man in this country has toiled more faithfully and successfully for the amelioration of the harsh conditions of tenement house life than Jacob A. Riis, who, though a newspaper reporter, is a sociologist and philanthropist of the highest type. The story of his life, which will shortly appear under the title "The Making of an American," is a remarkable recital of hardships, of indomitable courage, of contagious optimism, of generous devotion to the needs of humanity, and of the achievement of what is practically a revolution in social, domestic, and sanitary conditions among the foreign tenement house population of New York.

Considering the work done by Mr. Riis for the betterment of conditions among the foreign poplation of New York's east side it was particularly appropriate that the King's Daughters should call their new settlement house on Henry street "The Jacob A. Riis House." The work of these devoted women on the East Side had its inspiration ten years ago in Mr. Riis, who had for years been in the habit of distributing flowers from his garden on Long Island among the poor children of that section of the city. When the

gracious work outgrew him he turned it over to the King's Daughters, and it has grown in ten years into a settlement. This settlement is an important factor in transforming the thought and life of hosts of men, women, and children, who, like Mr. Riis himself, have come from foreign shores.

Opposition of an interesting character has broken out against the establishment of sixty-five libraries in New York as provided by Mr. Carnegie's recent gift to that city of $5,200,000. Under the present library law the city spends $300,000 a year for the support of the Brooklyn Public Library and other affiliated libraries. Among these latter is the Cathedral Library of the Roman Catholic Church, which is partly supported by bequests made with the condition that it shall remain under the control of the Cathedral, and of course, is wholly under Roman Catholic ecclesiastical supervision.

A few weeks ago Archbishop Corrigan delivered an address in New York in which he declared that the carrying out of Mr. Carnegie's plan will be at the expense of the Cathedral Library, and that in common with the other affiliated libraries it will lose its autonomy. He claimed also that "there is a lamentable dearth of books giving our point of view on burning questions of the day" in the public libraries, and he thought it only fair that the Roman Catholics of New York should have "three or four distributing centers" from the sixty-five for which Mr. Carnegie's gift provides. This raises an interesting question as to whether a public

ESS than forty miles of land divides the world's two biggest oceans in the western hemisphere; yet, after four hundred years of discovery, settlement, and development, the barrier remains as stubborn as ever. Ships that ply between our eastern and western shores must make the journey of half a hemisphere around stormy Cape Horn, or take the longer course through the Suez canal. In the meantime, our nation has taken first rank in wealth, trade, and power among the world's forces.

The easy western water route to the Indies, sought by Columbus, is yet to be laid open. Balboa, as he stood on the mountain heights overlooking the Pacific, thought that he was on the brink of the discovery. Hendrik Hudson, a century later, sailed up the river that bears his name, and believed that the secret was his. But the time-lock for the opening of the Pacific treasure-house was not set for the fifteenth century, nor even for the nineteenth. May it not be set for the new century?

The proposal to pierce the isthmus was made as early as 1520 by Angel Saavedra. After Cortez had marched his army into Old Mexico, and after he stood in the halls of the Montezumas, he, too, thought to open an easier way to the Pacific. He ordered a survey of the route across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Then for three centuries the project slumbered, until in 1814 the Spanish

Cortes ordered the viceroy of New Spain to undertake the cutting of the same isthmus. But the wars of Spanish-American independence intervened, and Spain, shorn of her sovereignty in these colonies, lost also her opportunity to connect the oceans.

Three routes in general have been proposed for canals from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The first is across the Isthmus of Darien at its narrowest point-the famous Panama route. Another takes advantage of the mighty inland lake of Nicaragua and its tributary rivers. The third is through Mexican territory, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The Tehuantepec route is not at present live issue. Twenty years ago it was revived by the daring proposition of James B. Eads, the famous American engineer, whose jetties on the Mississippi yet stand as a monument to his genius. Mr. Eads's proposition was to build a railroad across the isthmus from ocean to ocean over which the largest vessels could be bodily transported. This plan is not wholly a dream, for just such ship railroads, on a smaller scale, are already in operation.

Mr. Eads's road was to run from Salina Cruz, on the Pacific, almost due north 154 miles to Barra, on the Gulf of Mexico, the maximum height above the sea level being 755 feet. It was to be composed of four parallel tracks. The ship, resting on a cradle placed in position while it floated in the harbor, would be drawn along the track

De Lesseps himself visited Panama. Congresses were called, and the wisest men of France consulted. De Lesseps came to the conclusion that six hundred million francs ($116,000,000) would suffice to build the canal, and the "Company of the Interoceanic Canal of Panama was formed in 1880 to do the work. De Lesseps called for subscriptions of 590,000,000 francs capital stock. So potent was the magic of his name, so fully did France believe in the success of the enterprise, that the entire amount was subscribed twice over. More than a hundred thousand people, of whom sixteen thousand were women, put their hard-earned francs

by four engines, each on its own track. Eads estimated the cost of such a ship railroad at less than nineteen million dollars. The Mexican government granted him a concession for fourteen years, from May 6, 1881, and the entire strength of his genius was devoted to the perfecting of the details of his plans. He labored for eight years, when death cut short his work, and the project has never been revived. It is interesting to note, however, that the Mexican government has since run a railroad of the ordinary type over nearly this same route. This road was poorly built and badly equipped; so a few months ago it was turned over to Pearson & Co. of London, a famous contracting firm which is spending immense sums on the road and terminal harbors.

When gold was discovered in California in 1849, one of the first problems raised was that of quick transportation to the Pacific coast. Again the interoceanic canal question became a popular issue. But even at that early day the railroad had demonstrated its peculiar fitness as a pioneer. A route for a railroad was laid across the Isthmus of Darien, and American capital poured in to build the road. Dangers from climate, forest, and precipice needed to

GULF OF MEXICO

TEMUANTEPE

be overcome. It was said that a Chinaman was buried with the laying of every tie. American pluck triumphed, and in 1855, for the first time in history, trains were running from ocean to ocean.

into De Lesseps's hands. The first ground was broken in 1881, and for six years thereafter the work was prosecuted to the satisfaction of the hundred thousand stockholders.

The first plans of De Lesseps were for a sea-level canal across the isthmus. But the expense of digging was found far too high, and M. Eiffel, a noted engineer, was called in to design a series of locks. This was the first cloud on the horizon of the confiding stockholders. If their idol could be mistaken in one essential point might he not be in others? In March, 1889, the blow fell. Work was stopped on the canal for lack of funds. Six hundred million francs had been swallowed up, and the canal was yet far from completed. When the books were opened to public scrutiny, little more than half the funds could be accounted for in work actually done on the canal. The awful scandal that followed is a matter of recent history. With De Lesseps fell not only those immediately

But the canal project would not down. It was a favorite topic of the magazine. It often came before learned bodies. In 1875 it was brought up for formal discussion before the Congrès des Sciences Géographiques at Paris. Exploration followed, and in 1878 the Colombian government granted the "Civil International Interoceanic Canal Society" the exclusive privilege of building the canal through Colombian territory. The eyes of France naturally turned toward M. de Lesseps. To him belonged the glory of cutting apart the eastern continents with the Suez canal. What more appropriate than that he should round out his career with a similar achievement in the western hemisphere?