Vol. 56

HE past week has made very clear the desperate character of the war upon which the Greeks have embarked against immense odds in numbers, equipment, and military resources of every kind. The strategy on each side has been obvious from the start. The Greeks endeavored, in their first irregular movement, to get through the mountain passes on their frontier before the Turks had time to take advantage of their position. They were handicapped by the unfairness of the Great Powers which are banded together to preserve the "integrity " of the Turkish Empire. The boundary between Thessaly and Macedonia proposed to the Berlin Congress of 1878 ran from a point on the Gulf of Salonica north of Mount Olympus to a point on the Albanian coast nearly opposite Corfu. This line would have been easy of defense for the Greeks, and the Powers accepted it; but Turkey declined to fall in with their decision, and, in obedience to the Turkish demand, the original boundary, which ran from the northeast corner of the Gulf of Arta to a point near the entrance of the Gulf of Volo, was allowed to remain. Sixteen years ago the boundary was finally settled by Turkey and the Great Powers without any reference to the demands of Greece, the latter country receiving but a small part of the territory which had been set apart for her by the Berlin Congress; and the frontier was so drawn as to make it very difficult of defense by the Greeks and very easy of

access to the Turks.

What the Greeks feared and the Turks planned for in this arrangement has been fully realized during the past two weeks. Every natural advantage has been on the

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side of the Turks, together with all the advantages of a much larger and much better-equipped army. The dash of the Greeks through the frontier was splendid, but it was against hopeless odds, and the last week has not only demonstrated the failure of that movement, but has brought the Turks well within the plains of Thessaly. The campaign in the east has centered mainly around the two passes of Miluna and Reveni, where the fighting has been stubborn and desperate. There are no more reckless fighters than the Turks, but it is so long since the Greeks have been engaged in actual warfare that there was some uncertainty as to the manner in which they would carry themselves. Their valor, however, is likely to make Reveni and Miluna as memorable in their future history as the pass of Thermopyla. The main advance of the Turkish force has been through Miluna, and on Friday a desperate battle was fought at Mati, not far south of the Thessalian side of the pass. As a result of the battle the Greek army was driven back upon Larissa, its headquarters; and, being still further pushed, that town was abandoned, and at this writing the army has retreated to Pharsala, which is almost in a direct line south of Larissa, where a new line of defense is being rapidly established. The Greek spirit appears to be unbroken. spite of the disasters of the week there has been no panic at Athens, and great confidence is expressed by the Greek Government in the outcome of the struggle.

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It is very probable that the present week will see the crisis of the struggle. The Greeks are hurrying every availab'e man to the frontier, and the Turks are pressing forward with equal energy. There is still a body of Greeks on the northern side of the mountain chain in the neigh

borhood of Damasi, and this body, the dispatches assert, has been threatening Elassona, the Turkish headquarters. If the force is large enough to make a serious attempt upon Elassona, the invading Turkish army will be threatened by a movement in its rear which may place it in a very perilous position; but it is much more likely that the Greeks are in peril, because of the smallness of their force and the closing in of the Turkish armies. In the Gulf of Salonica and on the western shore of the Gulf of Arta the Greek fleets have been very active during the past week, shelling small towns held by the Turks, and destroying munitions of war of various kinds. By destroying military stations which are used by the Turks as bases of supplies, the Greek navy is inflicting very serious injury, and may do something to turn the tide of Turkish success. The report that a Greek fleet is going to make the attempt to pass through the Dardanelles is not credited. The waters of that strait are sown thick with torpedoes, and its shores are lined almost continuously with heavy batteries of modern guns. The Greeks are equal to any heroic and brilliant enterprise, but it is doubtful if they will attempt anything so desperate as this.

What makes the outlook for Greece still more serious is the appearance at the seat of war of Osman Pasha, the greatest of the Turkish commanders, and one of the most distinguished soldiers of the century. Europe is very much puzzled by the sudden advent of Osman on the Greek frontier. Born in Asia Minor some time in the third decade of the century, studying the art of war in Constantinople, entering the cavalry service in 1854, distinguish ing himself at a very early age, Osman Pasha had gained a large military experience and had shown very unusual military gifts before his supreme opportunity came in the Russo-Turkish war twenty years ago. In September, 1877, he defeated the allied Russian and Roumanian forces in one of the most severely contested battles of modern times. The siege of Plevna followed, and Osman's defense of that city was one of the most brilliant exploits of recent years. tablished his reputation as a strategist

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and fighter of a very high order. On his return to Constantinople at the close of the war he was appointed Minister of War, and gained powerful influence over the Sultan. His position opened him, however, to the attacks of that group of men always to be found in the palace of every Sultan, who form a kind of kitchen cabinet, whose aim it is to discredit every able and intelligent public servant, and to control the Sultan for their own purposes. Osman was practically disgraced, and has been, to all intents and purposes, a State prisoner for many years past. Now Izzet Bey, the Sultan's favorite, and a man who is believed to have been one of the prime movers in the extinction of the Armenians, has been disgraced, and Osman Pasha has been sent to the frontier to take general command of the Turkish campaign against Greece. What this may mean as a matter of Turkish history at Constantinople Europe is asking with a good deal of curiosity. Meanwhile, the sympathy of the Christian world with the Greeks in their desperate struggle grows more and more marked. Contributions of money are being sent freely to aid the Greek cause; prayers were offered up in many churches in all parts of the world on Sunday; and the feeling of Christendom is indicated by a cartoon in one of the comic papers representing the Sultan standing on a cannon, waving his scimitar in the air and shouting to the Great Powers behind him, Onward, Christian Soldiers!"

Ten years ago the British Parliament passed an Act which gave to the Australasian Colonies the right of representation in a Federal Council. The Council was empowered to make laws applicable to all the colonies represented. Some colonies declined to take advantage of it, and intercolonial distrust was at that time so great that the realization of any scheme of federation seemed likely to remain for many years in abeyance. About four years ago, however, the late Sir Henry Parkes, the veteran Australian statesman, revived the project on the plan of the Dominion of Canada. The Federal Convention, in which all the Governments of Australasia except Queensland, New Zealand, and Fiji are represented, is the re

sult. The Convention proposes a federation by which the various colonies are to retain autonomy in local affairs, but in respect to customs, excise, and the army and navy will be under common control. Federal government will consist of a Senate and House of Representatives, together with a Federal Supreme Court and a Governor-General, appointed by the Crown. Thus prepared, the Federal Constitution will be laid for discussion before the respective Colonial Parliaments. After such discussion the Convention will reassemble, reconsider the Constitution, and sub mit it directly to the people for adoption or rejection. If adopted, it will be sent by the Colonial Parliaments to the Imperial Parliament and to the Queen for assent. This movement, than which none could conduce more to the solidarity of the British Empire reminds us of the days of the Philadelphia Convention. One question has apparently been decided in Australia in a way involving a greater encroachment upon States' rights than exists here, namely, the power over excise duties. A more interesting feature, however, is the direct submission of the Constitution to the people. Neither our Constitution nor the Canadian was ever submitted directly to a popular vote; they were referred, the one to State Conventions, the other to the Colonial Legislatures.

On Thursday of last week the Hon. W. S. Fielding, Minister of Finance, submitted the new Canadian tariff to the Parliament at Ottawa. Mr. Fielding pointed out that there was a deficit of a third of a million dollars for the financial year ending June 30, 1896; for the current financial year he estimated that the deficiency would reach half a million; and for the next financial year, notwithstand ing tariff changes, there might be a shortage of three-quarters of a million. The first important feature of the new tariff is the reduction of the duties on iron. During recent years taxes on the raw material had exceeded the protective duty on the finished article, and thus helped the United States instead of Canada. The second feature is the double schedule favoring Great Britain. When the Liberal party laid down its policy of tariff for revenue only, the United States had already de

clared through the Democratic party in favor of tariff reform. Canadian Liberals naturally followed this lead, expecting that an opportunity for reciprocity would be given. Now, however, the United States has apparently returned to high protection. Mr. Fielding does not give up hope of reciprocity with the United States, but in the meantime Canada will deal with those countries willing to reciprocate. Hence there is to be an innovation of great moment both to Great Britain and to ourselves. This is an offer to all countries admitting Canadian exports free or on "a favorable entrance," to admit their goods in turn into Canada under a minimum tariff one-quarter below the regular or maximum duty. This treatment will cause rejoicing among British exporters, who had last year to face an average duty of twenty-two per cent. on goods sent to Canada, whereas the average duty to our exporters was but thirteen per cent. From this general minimum tariff beer, spirits, sugar, molasses, silk, and tobacco are excepted. The history of tariff-tinkering on both sides of the border may thus delay, but cannot prevent, ultimate commercial union between ourselves and the Canadians.

The death of William S. Holman removes from public life a man who has been conspicuous for a long period, and whose total public service exceeded forty years. Born in Indiana in 1822, receiving a common-school education in his native town, with an additional two years of study at Franklin College, Indiana, he began life as a district schoolteacher in the days when such teachers "boarded round" among the patrons of the school. He became dissatisfied with his work, studied law, was admitted to the bar, went into politics, became Judge of the Court of Probate, later a prosecuting attorney, then a member of a Constitutional Convention, then a member of the Indiana Legislature, and entered the House of Representatives in 1852. From the very beginning of his career in the House Mr. Holman was a vigorous and persistent advocate of economy, objecting to every new expenditure and to many old ones when he considered them in any sense unnecessary or immoderate. His

opposition was often very harassing, and he soon acquired many nicknames, among others "the great objector" and "the watchdog of the Treasury." His honesty and integrity were above suspicion, and he took an attitude toward public expenditures which, unhappily, had been very rare among our public men. That attitude was not always, however, an intell:gent or even a consistent one. He was frequently an irrational obstructionist. His ideas of economy were often narrow and unintelligent. He was an out-andout Democrat, but during the war was a firm friend of the administration and of the Union cause. He represented a type of Western public men which has now almost disappeared from our political life.

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By a vote of 34 to 22 the United States Senate has adopted the Nelson substitute for the Torrey Bankruptcy Bill which has been urged upon Congress for so many years. The substitute is believed to deal much more considerately with debtors than the original measure. According to its provisions a merchant cannot be forced into insolvency unless he transfers or encumbers some of his property so as to 'prefer or defraud" any of his creditors. In case of voluntary bankruptcy the charges for the settlement of the estate are rigidly limited. The vote against the substitute came chiefly from Eastern Republicans and "gold" Democrats. The friends of the Torrey Bill still hope to revive their measure in the House, and induce the Senate to accept it in Conference Committee. The tariff discussions of the past week have virtually insured the rejection by the Senate of the retroactive clause of the House bill. A duty on hides now seems to be inevitable, as Senator Allison, of Iowa-a member of the Finance Committee-is one of the Western men supporting it.

The economic news of the week relates almost exclusively to the street railway problem. In Chicago two tremendous mass-meetings have been held to protest against the passage of the Humphrey Bil's by the State Senate. These measures propose to establish five-cent fares for fifty years, on condition that the roads

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pay three per cent. of their gross receipts into the city treasury. At one of the mass-meetings Mr. Ela, of the Civic Federation, Mayor Harrison, and Alderman Harlan the principal Republican candi. date for Mayor at the recent electionwere among the speakers. The enthusiwas intense, and the feeling expressed toward the Chicago Senators who had voted for the obnoxious bills was but little short of violent. The entire city government of Chicago-including every member of the Board of Aldermen except the State Senator who has a seat in the local body-opposes the bills. The tradesunions oppose them, all the reform organizations oppose them, and all the newspapers oppose them; and yet they passed the Senate by more than a twothirds majority. Fortunately, the great demonstrations of popular feeling against the action of the Senate have made a profound impression upon the House of Representatives, and a majority of that body now seems to be pledged against the bills. Chicago, therefore, stands a chance to secure reductions in street-railway fares corresponding with the reduced cost of service, as soon as the old franchises expire, in 1903. There is hardly a question that three-cent fares to-day would yield a larger profit than five cent fares twenty-five years ago.

In Indianapolis, Indiana, the period of three-cent fares lasted but a week. The United States District Court has declared the three-cent-fare law unconstitutional, on the ground that it applied only to Indianapolis and was, therefore, special legislation. However, the charter of the Indianapolis Company expires in 1901. In four years, therefore, the citizens there expect to obtain permanently the privilege of moderate fares. In Pennsylvania Representative Clinton Rogers Woodruff has introduced a bill limiting franchises to a maximum of thirty years. In New York a newly organized society has obtained from a large number of leading conservatives a declaration of faith in the principle that property rights attaching to the city streets properly belong to the city, while in Boston a Citizens' Committee-with such men as Edward Everett Hale, Professor Frank Parsons, and Thomas Went

tion.

During the past week the business world has been disturbed, not so much by the actual Græco-Turkish war as by the melancholy failure of the six European Powers to maintain peace, and by the anxiety lest a general European conflict might result from present conditions. Wheat advanced sharply, and has retained most of the advance; stocks fell. Rates for foreign exchange advanced to the gold exporting point. The rise in wheat is natural, since the adjacent Balkan countries which may be drawn into the conflict produced last year Dearly one hundred and fifty million bushels of wheat, Turkey forty million, and Greece nearly six million. These latter supplies are, of course, withdrawn from the market; those of Russia, three hundred and twenty million bushels, and of the Balkan States may also be withdrawn. In the stock market there has been much feverishness in international securities, and on the European exchanges the decline in Turkish and Greek bonds has naturally been a marked one. Producing States outside the countries immediately engaged in war gain commercially, because industry is interrupted in the warring States, and hence the markets of the latter go, for the time at least, into the hands of rival foreign producers, who may have long coveted an introduction to competing markets. Referring to this, the Commercial and Financial Chronicle" does well to point out that, like all other artificial diversions of general trade, the advantage must in the end be greatly qualified. Europe's general industrial stagnation after the close of the Napoleonic wars, the reaction following the termination of our own Civil War, and that of the Franco-German war, are cases in point. Reaction is a certainty, and it has been the rather uniform experience that it is peculiarly serious because of the

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The decision of the Court of Appeals of New York State in the Brooklyn civil service case, though naturally discouraging to those who thought that there were no more battles to be fought since the adoption of the civil service clause in the new Constitution, does not seem to us to justify either the criticisms which have been leveled against it or the discouragement to which it has given rise. Without going into details, which for our readers would be needless, the essential principles involved may be briefly stated. The Constitution provides that "appointments and promotions in the civil service of the State . . . shall be made according to merit and fitness, to be ascertained so far as practicable by examinations, which so far as practicable shall be competitive."

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The Court holds that the Legislature is required to provide the methods for the enforcement of this provision in its letter and spirit, and expresses its faith that the Legislature will do this at an early date. It seems to deny that the Constitution can be enforced by the courts without legislative enactment. It declares, furthermore, that "where the duties of the position are not merely clerical, but are delegated by the head of the office because of his own numerous duties, require skill, judgment, trust, and confidence, and involve the responsibility of the officer himself, it is not practicable to fill them by merely competitive examinations." such cases much must be left to the authority and discretion of the appointed officer. The Court does not hold that the decision of the Mayor of a city or the Governor of the State as to the classification of offices is final. On the contrary, it distinctly declares that "his action is subject to review," though it holds, in the particular case before it, that no facts are stated which justify the Court in setting aside the classification made by Mayor Wurster. Incidentally the Court states that a law which should give the officer who has to make the appointment power to examine the applicants, and in that way determine who should be the appointee, "would practically nullify the