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lack of imagination in dealing with it. From St. Petersburg to Sacramento the truth must be driven home that there is a new East to be dealt with on a basis of equality. ignore this new force and to attempt to deal with the East as so much outlying territory to be divided by arrangement between more thoroughly organized nations, or to treat its peoples as if they were unable to understand their rights or to protect themselves, will mean that the twentieth century will be a breeding-ground of deadly hatreds, of lasting and dangerous animosities. It will mean not only defiance of those Christian standards of action to which the West professes to conform its actions, but a blindness of sight, a stupidity of policy, which will invite great calamities.

The most dramatic, possibly the most important, fact of this century is likely to be the coming together of the East and the West. Whether that coming together shall be a

friendly union or a collision will be decided in the next few years. In its new birth in vitality. in achievement, in freedom, shall the East have the aid of the West, or shall it be hampered by the West? shall the West play the part of a far-sighted friend or shall it be a mere trader, a strong man taking advantage of a weaker man to lay tribute on his passing weakness, to divide his possessions while he is still unable to defend them? Americans have no greater international asset to-day than the confidence and friendship of Japan and China; the generous and disinterested policy which has governed our relations with a country already powerful, and a country on the way to power, has been a noble expression of the American spirit of justice and helpfulness. The preservation of that policy is the duty of all Americans to whom the honor of the country is dear, and who regard its privileges and its power as a trust for the benefit of humanity.

THE WORLD'S FINANCIAL DEPRESSION

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A POLL OF THE PRESS

HE money market is "tight." This, says the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette,” is due, first of all, to the Balkan War. It explains why by saying that Europe has more money than has any other continent, and that it is to Europe that promoters must look for a considerable portion of the funds used for development purposes. The "Gazette " proceeds thus: "A war sends billions of real money into hiding. The Balkan sent hundreds of billions [sic] into seclusion, and so long as there is a possibility of a continuation of the conflict or any likelihood of other wars, the money will stay in hiding. War is an expensive thing, and when there is a conflict between nations millions of dollars that would be invested in business enterprises must be wasted. It takes the world no little time to recoup the financial losses entailed by a war."

The London "Statist agrees to this, and

adds that "in the last resort it rests with the investing public to stop all wars and even to prevent unpopular wars."

Commenting on this, the New York "Bankers' Magazine" says that British investors themselves have had some recent

experiences teaching them that investments. in war loans are not profitable. The expenses incurred in the South African War added huge sums to the public debt of Great Britain, seriously depressed the price of the Government securities, and caused no little loss to those who bought them. The British banks have been compelled in recent years to write off very considerable sums on this

account." The " Bankers' Magazine" admits that a nation may, for its own preservation, have to lay aside all considerations of profit and to go to war to protect its honor and its life at whatever cost or sacrifice. "But," it adds, "if investors, not through sentiment but solely because of business considerations, decline to put their money in war loans except at exorbitant rates, it may at least prove an added hindrance to war and tend toward preserving the peace."

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says, must be added the loss of production by the 2,500,000 young men in the prime of life and vigor withdrawn from industry for service in the armies and navies. Estimating

the average value of the productive power of these young men at the moderate rate of $400 annually, M. Guyot estimates the total cost of the fighting forces of Europe at three billions of dollars.

What is the present situation? All the Balkan States, says the Springfield "Republican," nearly all the Great Powers, and of course bankrupt Turkey, are eager to borrow in the aggregate vast sums at the earliest opportunity. "In addition to these demands the field of borrowing has been widely extended of late by the inclusion of China and India, so that the demands upon capital are probably greater than ever before." The present crisis would therefore seem to be one of lack of capital, not of currency.

Whether or not the hoarding of cash in Europe on account of war has been exaggerated, says the New York "Sun," it is today quite obvious that the Balkan War and all its corollaries were only an accident which proved that the world, especially the Old World, had been so financing its economic progress of late years as to leave no margin for accident." The "Sun" explains that when capital is on a strong foundation the accident of war does not greatly shake it, and in support of this view says that our war with Spain, the British war with the Boers, Russia's war with Japan (very few newspapers mention the present crisis with Japan as having to do with the situation), and all the war clouds, have not developed any such situation as has had to be dealt with since the end of 1912.

The London "Economist" summarizes the situation by saying that the world is "overloaded and overarmed."

We have considered the overarming. to the overloading the New York "Sun" chronicles:

In 1911 the first danger signals began to be displayed by securities, and in that year and 1912 the great London market was conspicuously characterized by congestions of new promotions, which were only slowly and with increasing difficulty overcome. Practically all countries continued, nevertheless, to press vast borrowing demands on capital and credit, and a sure sign of diminishing capital supplies and overtaxed credit was provided by ever-growing recourse to European funds for the accommodation of shortterm note issues.

The tale of the present year made the notice

of danger unmistakable. As early as January a Credit Foncier loan of $100,000,000 in Paris was only two and one-half times subscribed, although the rate of interest was 31⁄2 per cent, whereas a 3 per cent loan had been subscribed nineteen times over in January, 1912. In March a $100,000,000 offering of Prussian treasury 4 per cent notes failed of complete subscription in Berlin, and at the same time $37,500,000 of Imperial and Prussian Government bonds were barely sold. Meanwhile the indigestible mass of securities underwritten abroad was steadily augmented by fast-following public and private undertakings, and the convincing proof of practical exhaustion of the European capital market was given when $55,000,000 of Brazil Government 5 per cent bonds offered under Rothschild auspices received less than a 10 per cent subscription.

In this connection the Philadelphia "Record" cites the following facts with regard to Europe:

France has been projecting a loan of $200,000,000. Fifteen bond issues of national and colonial governments and corporations have been left in the greater part upon the hands of the underwriters in London, who have been obliged to borrow money to carry them. . . . The financial authorities are coming to the conclusion that the demand for money far exceeds the world's supplies. The world is not saving money fast enough to meet the requirements of governments and corporations.

Most of the newspapers agree that if the main causes of the financial stringency are world-wide, a few may be sought for in this country. The Philadelphia Record" says:

All our cities and States are borrowing for buildings and canals and roads and every conceivable form of expenditure. The State of New York is now raising $27,000,000 on shorttime notes, because for the moment its bonds are unsalable, though they are among the most desirable of all investments. In fifteen years New York City has added $913,000,000 to its bonded debt, and its annual budget has very much more than doubled. In seven years the per capita debt of this city, whose debt is relatively moderate, has increased from $37.03 to $55.56; that of Pittsburgh from $56.24 to $81.33; that of Baltimore from $40.34 to $71.64; and that of Cincinnati from $86.48 to $140. A number of State and city bond issues during the past few months have failed or have been carried through only by increasing the rate of interest.

In the next place, there is the recent St. Louis and San Francisco railway receivership. This, indeed, was not without influence on foreign exchanges, especially that of Paris. The first impulse of Frenchmen, says the Paris Temps," was to condemn without distinction all American affairs. "But," the paper continues, we must not generalize from one unfortunate case that no American

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security shall henceforth enter the French portfolio." The least compensation which can be offered to French investors is security, and the recent St. Louis and San Francisco incident" shows the lightness with which this security is regarded." It is surprising, the "Temps" adds, that the French financial institutions which issued this security should have been content with a mere affirmation by the company's directors and bankers that it was a good security. "No independent verification of statements was made. Let this be a lesson for the future. Let our banks have direct representatives in America to examine securities offered even by the best houses in New York."

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Though the New Orleans "Picayune" is a well-known Democratic organ, it does not hesitate to ascribe other causes of the financial slump to the Democratic Administration at Washington. It says that "the most recent and active causes of the slump in values have been, first, the Frisco" receivership; secondly, the activity of the Federal Administration in endeavoring to reopen the Tobacco Trust and Standard Oil cases, and the threat of new prosecutions and penalties, which have also been a powerful contributing factor in the situation; and, thirdly, the undermining of confidence by radical tariff revisions and the apprehension generally felt in all business circles that the Washington Administration is bent upon enacting radical and dangerous legislation. The disposition of the Federal Administration to regulate everything and to hamper corporate initiative and enterprise has caused anxiety and nervousness, and unless the authorities at Washington take warning from what has already occurred even greater damage may yet be done."

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Another Southern Democratic organ, the Nashville Democrat," pooh-poohs this as follows:

Without stopping to remember that for every seller there must be a buyer, that for every weak-kneed speculator or investor there is one who is confident, and that for every shareholder whom circumstances may force to realize ready cash there is another anxious to secure the goods in exchange for the same, those men who never look below the surface began wagging their heads and declaring that they felt all the time that a Democratic administration would precipitate a panic in the country. Others were equally confident that the tinkering with the tariff had destroyed the confidence of manufacturers in the future. . . . One feels that the beneficiaries of a robber tariff and the alarmists who have little else to engage their energies have taken advantage of a tempest in a teapot

to create the impression that an elemental war is raging.

"We have no idea of denying that public policies may have had some hand in the financial unsettlement," comments the New York "Evening Post." "Anything that makes the investor hesitate will tend to disturb the markets." The "Post" adds:

Even of the tariff it must be said in fairness that any extensive change in schedules, whether upward or downward, interferes inevitably with some of the normal plans of the business world for a season's trade, and therefore might affect the market. It is the simple fact of impending change and intervening uncertainty which causes hesitation. But these are wholly temporary influences; they could not of themselves explain the recent market; and, as a matter of fact, they were not needed for explanation.

A Republican paper of the progressive type, the Topeka Capital," defends the Administration. When Wall Street speculators complain that the Government is persecuting legitimate business again and bringing on one of Wall Street's periodical panics, sensible people are inclined to smile, says the " Capital." "It is the apparent inten

tion of the Government to reach a settlement of some of the pressing questions that the Government has been facing, and with as little delay as necessary. Also it is the Government's intention to carry out its public pledges."

Referring to the fact that stocks may decline further, the "Capital" remarks:

This need not worry the owner of such securities, while it causes disaster to the margin trader who is on the wrong side. Unfortunately 98 transactions on the Stock Exchange out of every 100 are of the latter character, of margin buying and selling, instead of actual purchase and sale for investment, and hence the excited flip-flops of Wall Street when margins are gradually or suddenly wiped out, even though dividends are in no wise affected. The country in late years has come to regard the palpitations of the stock market less seriously than in the past. If Wall Street intends to have a stock market panic at all, President Wilson will be lucky to see it occur early in his term.

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In view of all the circumstances, the Springfield Republican" concludes that it is a poor time to borrow. It is encouraging to note, it says, a case like that of the people of Rhode Island, who have voted down a $2,000,000 bond issue for road improvement. ments that can wait should wait. In any event, it appears they will have to wait. In seeking for first causes one may find much obscurity, but the facts are what they are. Just now it is a poor time to borrow."

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JULY 1-3, 1863

BY ELSIE SINGMASTER

HE battle of Gettysburg was the most important battle of the Civil War. The contest had been thus far without decisive result. Intervention and acknowledgment of the independence of the Confederacy by foreign powers was imminent. In the North dissatisfaction reigned, enthusiasm had begun to cool. The Northern army was about to lose fifteen thousand men by the expiration of their term of service, and there was no prospect of the re-enlistment of so many.

The battle of Gettysburg was the only battle of the war fought on Northern soil. Here the enemy was at hand; Harrisburg, a great railway center and depot of supplies, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, lay exposed to the danger of capture.

There were engaged at Gettysburg about eighty thousand men on the Union side and about eighty thousand on the Confederate side. Of this number the Union loss was about twenty-three thousand in killed, wounded, and missing; the Confederate about twenty thousand-an appallingly large proportion. All the loyal Union States except Kentucky and Missouri were represented. Every Confederate State had soldiers upon the field.

The town of Gettysburg was in no way remarkable before the battle. It was a little village, seven miles from the Maryland border and about forty-five miles from Harrisburg. It was founded in 1780, and though it was the county seat, it numbered in 1863 only three thousand inhabitants. Its most famous citizen was Thaddeus Stevens. Gettysburg has two educational institutions, the Lutheran Theological Seminary, giving its name to the ridge west of the town, and Pennsylvania College, also an institution of the Lutheran Church, in the town itself. The only citizen to be killed in the battle was a woman, Miss Jennie Wade, who was struck by a stray shot, probably from the Union lines. John Burns seized his squirrel gun and fought with the Union troops. He was wounded three times and left on the field for dead, but recovered and lived to be a source of great interest and admiration.

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The village lay apart from the main lines of railway travel, and except for the pranks of the students and the sessions of court it knew little excitement. Its topographical features seem to have prepared it, however, to be the arena for one of the greatest battles of history.

Gettysburg is the meeting-place of eight roads, several of which are good pikes. Therefore troops could be moved about swiftly and could be easily concentrated. The two adjacent ridges offered fine positions to contending armies. Seminary Ridge to the west, occupied first by the Union and afterwards by the Confederate troops, has no sharp elevations. Cemetery Ridge to the east, occupied by the Union troops on the second and third days of the battle, is terminated on the north by Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill and on the south by Big Round Top and Little Round Top. There are no great streams; the masses of rock and stretches of woodland are thick enough to protect but not to interfere with the movement of troops. Cemetery Ridge is higher than Seminary Ridge, and is therefore admirably suited to troops on the defensive, a fact which helped materially to give the Union forces the victory. The village itself occupies about the center of the field, which, exclusive of the cavalry field to the east, covers an area of about twenty-five square miles.

The Union troops advanced, speaking generally, from the south by way of the Baltimore, Taneytown, and Emmittsburg roads. The Confederate troops advanced, speaking generally also, from the north, by way of the York, Chambersburg, Mummasburg, Carlisle, and York roads. At the beginning of June, after its defeat at Chancellorsville, the Army of the Potomac under General Hooker lay north of the Rappahannock River in Virginia. The Confederate Army of Virginia, under General Lee, began meanwhile to move toward the north. The Union army started in pursuit, and, capturing General Stuart's official papers, discovered General Lee's orders for a march into Pennsylvania. Thereupon began the great parallel procession, the two armies meeting in skir

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