ditional subways. In each borough, under the guidance of THE WORLD, a committee of teen able, earnest citizens was organized. The five committees acted as a unit in the struggle for better transit facilities.

Innumerable obstacles were placed in the way of the committee, not a few of them originating with interests friendly to the existing subway company. One argument was that the debt limit forbade the large outlay the city must make for more subways. THE WORLD showed that new subways could be built in sections on the pay-as-you-go plan. The magnates of the Interborough declared private capital could never be induced to venture millions in another subway enterprise. THE WORLD showed the plea to be nonsensical. The fact that President Shonts publicly announced the willingness of private capital to furnish $49,000,000 for a $50,000,000 subway thus proved the accuracy of the contentions made by THE WORLD in March, 1908.

Opponents of the campaign for more subways declared suitable routes could not be laid out. THE WORLD answered this by employing Caccavajo, Pruyn & Calhoun, consulting engineers, who worked out a comprehensive plan for a subway system that would meet the wants of all boroughs for many years. A large map of this plan was submitted to the Public Service Commission and met with the approval of many of its engineers.

President Willcox, of the Service Commission, gave hearty support to the pay-as-you-go plan. The map, prepared by THE WORLD'S engineers, was deposited in Corporation Counsel Pendleton's office at his request.

The creation of subway committees in all boroughs served to keep the matter constantly before the public and the aggressive campaign initiated by THE WORLD was never permitted to lag. Citizens who joined forces with THE WORLD eighteen months ago never faltered in their belief that the Interborough would be compelled to surrender. The offer made by President Shonts was accepted by them as the hoisting of the white flag.

On

THE WORLD continued its fight for the pay-as-you-go plan. On March 27 the Board of Estimate by a vote of 10 to 6, approved the plans for the Fourth avenue subway in Brooklyn, over the heads of Mayor McClellan and Comptroller Metz and authorized the Public Service Commission to begin advertising at once for bids. On October 29 the Board of Estimate approved contracts for six sections at a cost of approximately $15,000,000. November 9, 1909, the last of these contracts was signed. On Sunday. November 13, in the presence of happy thousands of sightseers, Chairman Willcox, of the Public Service Commission,, turned the first spadeful of earth at Flatbush and Dekalb avenues-and now the dirt is flying!

On November 10, 1909, THE WORLD said editorially: "The first shovelful of earth from a publicly built subway falls cold on the grave of private monopoly. The ruinous rule of the Interborough-Metropolitan was broken by the entrance of the McAdoo tunnels into Manhattan, soon to be extended to Forty-second street. The new company bidding for Lexington avenue promises more competition, but the best competitor of all is public ownership and control; for the people can neither be bought off, nor merged, nor brought into harmony of interests" with stock watering exploiters. The debt-limit bogy is no more. All reasonable present needs are supplied by the Court of Appeals decision. More borrowing power can be gained by equalizing assessments. What is most important now is economy in the city government, and the elimination of waste, so that the interest of the expanding debt shall not press too heavily upon the taxpayers and rentpayers.'

THE PANAMA CANAL LIBEL CASE.

The dawn of 1909 found the press of the country denouncing an attack made upon THE WORLD by President Roosevelt, in a special message to Congress, because THE WORLD had called for a Congressional investigation of the financial proceedings in connection with the purchase of the Panama Canal. Mr. Roosevelt, in his message, informed Congress that certain statements printed in THE WORLD "are wholly and in form partly a libel upon the United States Government;" that the proprietor of THE WORLD "should be prosecuted for libel by the Governmental authorities," and that the Attorney-General has under consideration the form in which the proceeding against Mr. Pulitzer shall be brought." To this THE WORLD replied editorially:

"Such being the case, Congress certainly has a right to know when it became possible to commit a libel upon the United States Government' and under what statute proceedings to punish a newspaper for lese majesty can be brought at the instigation of the President. There has been nothing quite like it in the country for the last 109 years-not since the Federalist party went to wreck and ruin under the infamy of the Alien and Sedition laws and Thomas Jefferson became President of the United States. The real issue involved in this case is not one that affects merely THE NEW YORK WORLD. It is not an issue that affects merely the freedom of the press. It affects freedom of speech as well and reaches out to the constitutional rights of every citizen of the United States.'

THE WORLD urged a prompt, impartial and just punishment of itself or anyone else who has violated any penal statute of the United States; but it added that it had been una to ascertain what law it had been guilty of violating. Hundreds of papers and thousands of intelligent citizens saw a vicious precedent in this Government attempt to muzzle the press, and the entire country was agitated.

THE WORLD showed its readers that no precedents exist for these libel actions and that an exhaustive search of laws and court decisions proved that the Government's brief presented to the Senate, supporting the President's position in Grand Jury proceedings aimed at THE WORLD, was in error and that the citations in it were garbled and distorted. In brief, it made clear that no such crime as libelling the Government or the President of the United States ever existed except during a short period under the Presidency of the first Adams. And from that day to this there has been no such crime as libelling the Government or the President of the United States, and there has been no such crime as sedition within the United States, except in the arm or navy and among the officers and men thereof.

On February 17 the Grand Jury of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, sitting in Washington, returned an indictment against the Press Publishing Company (THE NEW YORK WORLD), Joseph Pulitzer and two of the editors of THE WORLD, charging criminal libel in the publication of various articles having to do with the publications regarding the Panama Canal purchase scandals. The United States Government brought the proceedings under a Federal statute which continued in the District of Columbia, with very slight modifications, the odious libel laws of England which were in force in the province of

Maryland in pre-Revolutionary days. The proprietors of the Indianapolis News were then indicted on charges identical with or similar to those made against THE WORLD.

On March 4 the Grand Jury for the Southern District of New York also brought in an indictment against the Press Publishing Company (THE NEW YORK WORLD), and another against C. M. Van Hamm, the managing editor, charging on the same articles that a criminal libel had been published in Federal territory, to wit: The United States Post Office in New York City and the United States Army reservation at West Point. This proceeding. purported to have been brought under a statute of 1825, which was passed for the purpose of extending State police regulations over Federal reservations within such State limits. The Government's next effort was to bring the defendants to trial in Washington, the defense in each instance being that if an offense had been committed the trial should be in the State where the publication had occurred.

On March 5. United States District Attorney Keating, of Indianapolis, resigned rather than to prosecute the case against the News, which he said he could not conscientiously do. On October 13, Judge A. B. Anderson, of the United States District Court of Indianapolis, dismissed the proceedings against Delevan Smith and Charles R. Williams, proprietors of the Indianapolis News, who were resisting removal to the District of Columbia for trial under a Federal Grand Jury indictment, charging them with having committed criminal libel in publishing articles alleging that there was a corrupt profit in the sale of the Panama Canal to the United States.

In concluding his decision Judge Anderson said:

"That man has read the history of our institutions to little purpose who does not view with apprehension the success of such a proceeding as this, to the end that citizens could be dragged from their homes to the District of Columbia, the seat of government, for trial, under the circumstances of this case. The defendants are discharged."

Judge Anderson also said, among other things:

It

"I have had occasion to say before that a newspaper has a sort of duty to perform. was well stated by a former judge of the United States, 'It is the duty of a newspaper to print the news and tell the truth about it.' It is the duty of a public newspaper, such as is owned and conducted by these defendants, to tell the people, its subscribers, its readers, the facts that it may find out about public questions or matters of public interest. It is its duty and its right to draw inferences from the facts known; to draw them for the people.

"I might just digress long enough to suggest that it is not everybody that can draw inferences. Now here was a great public question. There are many very pecullar circumstances about the history of this Panama Canal or Panama Canal business. I do not wish to be understood as reflecting upon anybody in office or out in connection with that matter, except such persons as I may name in that way.

The revolution in Panama, the circumstances surrounding it, were unusual. It was unusual and the circumstances were unusual and pecullar. The people were interested in the construction of a canal. It was a matter of great public concern. It was much discussed. A large portion of the people favored the Nicaragua route. Another portion of those who were interested in it officially or personally, or just interested, preferred the Panama route. "A committee was appointed to investigate the relative merits of the two routes. They investigated and reported in favor of the Nicaragua Canal. Shortly afterward-I do not recall just how soon afterward-they changed to the Panama. Up to the time of the change, as I gather from the evidence, the lowest sum that had been suggested at which the property of the Panama Canal Company could be procured was something over a hundred million dollars. Then, rather suddenly, it became known that it could be procured for forty millions of dollars.

"Now, there were a number of people who thought there was something not just exactly right about that transaction, and I will say for myself that now I feel a natural curiosity to know what the real truth was. Thereupon a coinmittee of the United States Senate was appointed to investigate these matters-about the only way that that matter could be investigated.

So we have this situation here. Here was a matter of great public interest, of public concern. I was interested in it; you were interested in it; we all were interested in it. Here was a newspaper printing the news, or trying to. Here was this matter up for discussion, and I cannot say now, I am not willing to say, that the inferences are too strongly drawn. "I am not approving of the inferences. I am simply saying that I am not able to say that they were too strongly drawn. Now, if that is the situation-and as I understand the truth, that is the way it stands-the question is, did these defendants under the circumstances act honestly in the discharge of this duty which I have spoken of, if the law recognizes it, or they were prompted by a desire to injure a person who was affected by their acts?

If it were necessary to decide this case upon the question of privilege, the lack of malice. I would hesitate quite a while before I would conclude that it was my duty to send these people to Washington for trial."

Almost without exception the newspapers of the United States applauded Judge Anderw son's rulings on a matter of such vast importance, not only to the press, but to every cities of the country.

THE WORLD, of course, makes no predictions as to what will happen in its own case which is yet to be heard. The story of its fight for the freedom of the press and the right of every man to honestly, fairly criticise what he believes to be wrong in governmental affairs must be continued in 1910.

TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR AERONAUTS.

The civilized world took notice when on January 31, 1909, THE WORLD, looking forward to the Hudson-Fulton celebration and realizing the universal interest felt in aeronautics, annnounced:

To make this anniversary notable, to encourage the science of aerial navigation, to inspire effort to invention, to reward pioneer endeavor in aviation, to demonstrate beyond all question the commercial and scientific practicability of the dirigible balloon and the aeroplane, THE NEW YORK WORLD makes the following offer:

Ten thousand dollars will be paid by THE WORLD to the person who makes the Journey from New York to Albany in an airship or flying machine, mechanically propelled, thus duplicating in the air Fulton's famous steamboat trip of a century ago. if two or more competitors perform the journey on the same day, the one making the fastest time will receive the prize. This offer of THE WORLD, which is open to the aeronauts of Europe

as well as America, has been accepted by the Aero Club of America, the recognized American and international authority in aerial matters.'

The

THE WORLD was immediately encouraged by many entries, and its offer was widely praised by aeronauts at home and abroad. Keen interest was instantly manifested. first man to qualify was Capt. Thomas S. Baldwin. Others who entered were Ciement-Bayard, dirigible; Morris Boxor, George T. Tomlinson, Carl E. Myers, William Van Sleet, Johnny Mack, Frederick Holwedel, A. Leo Stevens, Charles J. Glidden, Mark O. Anthony and R. M. Viniello. As the time for the flights approached hundreds of thousands of people Cagerly awaited the attempts. On September 25, while more than a million eyes looked upward, Capt. Baldwin and George T. Tomlinson started. Baldwin flew out over the British warships, and was but ten minutes in air when the frame of his dirigible balloon buckled from excessive weight of the motor and he was forced to drop into the Hudson. Tomlinson was compelled to land at White Plains, about twenty-six miles distant, because of a leaking and unsafe oil tank. Both these men say they will yet make the trip to Albany.

THE WORLD'S offer is still open and conditions have been simplified. On October 10, 1909, THE WORLD printed this announcement: To the first person who makes the Fulton flight from New York to Albany, or from Albany to New York, by a continuous trip in a mechanically propelled airship, either lighter or heavier than air, THE WORLD will pay $10,000. This offer holds good until October 10, 1910, and is made without any conditions whatsoever, except that the starting point must be somewhere in the limits of New York City and the finish somewhere in the limits of Albany, or vice versa, and that intending competitors must give at least twenty-four hours' notice to THE WORLD and the Secretary of the Aero Club of America of their intention to start."

So, while during the Hudson-Fulton celebration the limitations of time and adverse weather conditions prevented any of the contestants from completing the course, THE WORLD encourages further effort. It still believes that no better test of the capabilities of airships, no higher trial of the skill and daring of aviators, no more significant achieve ment in aeronautics, no more symbolic course is possible than the Fulton flight. THE WORLD hopes it will be called upon in 1910 to pay the promised $10,000 to the man who will also win a fame and glory as great as that of Hudson and Fulton-for he will have demonstrated beyond question the practicability of the airship in travel,

DENOUNCED THE SECRET DIVORCE EVIL.

When early in November a divorce was granted to Mrs. Ava Willing Astor, wife of Col. John Jacob Astor, from her husband, without the name of Astor being mentioned in court, and the papers were ordered sealed, THE WORLD devoted many columns day after day to pointing out the evils of secret divorces. Many lawyers and judges, including Justice Mills, who ordered the Astor papers sealed, agreed with THE WORLD that the practice may often lead to bad results. THE WORLD'S argument was that the suppression of evidence tends to make divorce easy for the rich and galling for the poor, and that it was never the intent of New York State laws to suppress evidence or have private hearings, except when publicity would be obviously detrimental to public morals. THE WORLD also showed that there is still another evil attaching to the sealing of the papers in divorce suits. The intent of the law providing for the issuance of an interlocutory decree three months before the final decree is signed is largely nullified when the papers are sealed. The purpose of allowing this time between the granting of the interlocutory decree and the signing of the final decree, lawyers say, is to give an opportunity to co-respondents or others interested to intervene. Property rights are very often affected by divorces, and title companies, insurance companies and similar business concerns may have a vital interest in the matter. THE WORLD'S fight for a betterment of divorce court conditions will not be ended until such remedial legislation has been enacted as will give rich and poor, innocent and guilty, their right standing in the eye of the law.

CASH AND HONOR FOR DRAMATISTS.

In June, 1909, THE SUNDAY WORLD aroused widespread interest among playwrights and all others ambitious to pen a drama by offering to award $1,000 in cash to the originators of six ideas for plays-$500 for the best one and $100 each for the next best five. Furthermore, THE SUNDAY WORLD guaranteed a professional production under the direction of Mr. Henry B. Harris at a first class New York theatre, and within one year from the close of the competition, of the play resulting from such a scenario. It was prescribed that the scenario, or 2,000-word story, must outline a serious play of modern life in which the leading character is a woman. Ninety days after the close of the contest was allowed to the winner to convert his or her scenario into an acting play. If such play be afterward accepted as of proper standard of excellence these royalties were guaranteed: Four per cent. on the first $4,000 paid into the box office, 5 per cent. of the next $3,000 and 71-2 per cent, of all receipts over $7,000. The Committee of Judges was Martha Morton, playwright; Wilton Lackaye, actor; Henry B. Harris, theatrical manager; Maurice Campbell, stage director, and Louis V. De Foe, dramatic critic.

Manuscripts of scenarios, good, bad and indifferent, soon poured into THE SUNDAY WORLD from all parts of the country. Every State in the Union is represented in the list of competitors. Thousands of manuscripts were received, and were submitted to the judges in series of twenty-five each. An enormous amount of labor resulted, and as these pages of THE ALMANAC go to press the names of the winners have not yet been announced. The contest, however, has proved to be one of the most successful in newspaper annals, and may bring to the contestant whose play is published a substantial fortune.

NIGHT COURT ABUSES ABOLISHED.

On January 8, 1909, just one year lacking one day after THE WORLD began its investigation of rumors of graft in his court, Otto H. Droege was removed from the City Magistrates', bench by unanimous decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. Against the charges that Droege, in attempting to bribe representatives of THE WORLD not to expose the traffic in Justice in the Night Court, committed an act unworthy of a Judge, and that his release of numerous women from the workhouse was illegal, the Appellate Division wrote: Charges sustained and respondent removed from office,

The smoking out of the system of traffic in police court justice was accomplished by THE WORLD only after weeks of patient and persistent work, in which it received the hearty co-operation of District-Attorney Jerome and his staff and Police Commissioner Bingham. When Magistrate Droege got wind of the inquiry he attempted to purchase suppression of THE WORLD'S story with a bribe. When the first bribe offer was made Dis

trict-Attorney Jerome was taken into confidence immediately by THE WORLD, and a $100 instalment of the bribe was accepted, with two of Jerome's men watching the transaction. Later, under pressure, Droege admitted the attempt at bribery, with the explanation that his effort to suppress the publication was "an act of folly." Mayor McClellan demanded that Droege resign from the bench. Droege refused. The Mayor then preferred charges before the Grievance Committee of the Bar Association, with the final result that Droege was removed by the courts. THE WORLD'S victory for the purity of the city bench was complete. CHAMPION OF THE CHILDREN.

In July THE WORLD'S showing of the amazing number of arrests of children for petty offenses brought about speedily a needed reform. City youngsters were in terror of the Children's Society officers, whose dragnets ensnared many a child for the heinous" crimes of selling newspapers, peddling chewing gum and playing games in the streets. THE WORLD came to the rescue. The Grand Jury soon filed a presentment with Judge Otto A. Rosalsky in General Sessions recommending that no bail be required for the release of a child taken on a misdemeanor charge. Supt. Maxwell of the Board of Education threw open all schoolyards in Greater New York for the children to use during the day instead of playing on the streets and Police Commissioner Baker announced that he was not in favor of arresting youngsters on petty charges. Plans are under way to frame bills to be presented at the coming session of the Legislature remedying the laws so that children will be immune from molestation.

When the Estimate Board in February, 1909, approved plans for a large athletic field near Two Hundred and Seventh street it was a victory for THE WORLD in the long fight which it has made for more playgrounds and athletic fields for the school children.

AN EDUCATION WITH FLAGS.

Taking the initiative upon a suggestion made by Ervin Pratt, the Superintendent of the Pulitzer Building, THE WORLD begun in October a custom not observed elsewhere, but which at once met with popular approval. From the dome of the Pulitzer Building THE WORLD now flies the flags of all the nations of the globe, and of such States of the Union as have State flags on their various holidays. By this means THE WORLD enables men from lands bordering the seven seas to see their own beloved standards flung to the breeze on the birthday of a ruler or on some day of general observance in the land the foreigner came from.

More than a hundred flags are used in carrying out the plan. The Consular representatives of forty-five foreign countries have hailed the idea as a splendid one, and in some instances have furnished the flags to be displayed. The hearts of thousands have already been gladdened by these banners, and the people are being educated to learn the different flags of nations and of States.

So, while THE WORLD stimulates patriotism, brings sunshine into the hearts of alien races and promotes good feeling between them and those who were born here, it will also be maintaining a sort of history class which all who have eyes to see may take advantage of. LIGHT ON THE REBATE EVIL.

One of the most successful of THE WORLD'S fights during the year was its wattle against rebating. During the summer it presented to United States Attorney Wise a mass of documentary evidence collected by THE WORLD to prove that the Interstate Commerce law had been grossly violated by a number of railroad and steamship companies. The Federal Grand Jury Investigated, and as a result the general agent in New York of the Holland-America Steamship Company was indicted, he being charged with receiving rebates from railroad companies on consignment of foreign freight shipments. The indicted official pleaded not guilty. The two indictments against him contain thirty counts in all. The maximum penalty in case of conviction is $20,000 fine and two years' imprisonment on each count, or a total of $600,000 fine and sixty years' imprisonment. More indictments followed. The proceeding is the more notable because in this case the individual, not the corporation, is being prosecuted by the Government. It it certain that a great reform will follow THE WORLD'S rebating expose. An international governmental control of ocean traffic rates is already planned by experts.

EXPOSED MILK TRUST METHODS.

Early in November, when the milk dealers' combination raised the price of milk from eight to nine cents a quart, THE WORLD immediately and with exhaustive facts and figures pointed out that the price was jacked up to insure the resumption of 10 per cent. dividends on enormous capitalization. The result of the exposure was a commercial sensation. Citizens whose large families make milk an important item in the weekly list of expenses, mothers whose first consideration in the day is the arrival of the milkman with the baby's greatest necessity, were aroused over the situation, and in letters to THE WORLD and other newspapers they denounced the dealers who thus sought arbitrary profits.

Brooklyn, "the City of Homes," where Borden's Condensed Milk Company, the leader in the price rise, has ten delivery depots to the nine it has in Manhattan and the Bronx, was deeply interested in THE WORLD'S exposure of the real conditions leading up to dear milk. The members of the Twenty-eighth Ward Board of Trade in Brooklyn sent a letter to Attorney-General O'Malley asking him to investigate the milk situation. The letter drew to Mr. O'Malley's attention the facts that THE WORLD had printed concerning the absorption of smaller concerns by the big milk retailing corporations, the uniform and arbitrary increase in price by all the dealers, and the presence on the Board of Directors of Borden's men whose names are usually associated with Standard Oil and its affairs.

In the letter to Attorney-General O'Malley the independent dealers said, among other convincing statements: AS THE WORLD has pointed out, the increased expense to the New York milk market due to the one cent rise will amount to $6,120,000 a year-approximately $17,000 a day. This enormous sum would pay 6 per cent. dividends, the fair return of a commercial corporation, on a capitalization of $102,000,000, which is many times the fair value of all the Investment by milk dealers supplying this market. The increased capitalization of Borden's, which is equal to more than hair the total capitalization of the business, and which is believed to represent a good deal of water, is only $30,000,000, and much of that represents interests in which milk is but a secondary consideration. Yet at eight cents a quart Borden's has paid 8 and 10 per cent. dividends for several years. nine cents a quart it should be able to distribute much better quarterly remembrances among its stockholders."

At

On November 27, eighteen days after the publication of the first of THE WORLD'S

articles exposing the injustice of the increase in price, Attorney-General O'Malley appointed John B. Coleman as a Special Deputy Attorney-General to inquire fully into the facts of the milk situation, and take such steps to wipe out the combination of dealers as might seem advisable. Mr. Coleman immediately set to work to prepare a petition to the Supreme Court for the appointment of a referee to hear testimony, and for the issuing of summonses to the principal dealers and officers of milk corporations throughout the city. William Grant Brown was appointed referee December 6.

THE WORLD AND WALL STREET.

THE WORLD scored a signal triumph when at the close of 1908 Gov. Hughes appointed a representative committee of notable men to probe Wall Street. Throughout 1909 Wall Street has remembered it. Recently one of the best known jurists in the country said: THE WORLD is the only paper that Wall Street really fears and that it knows to be independent." In June, 1909, Gov. Hughes's committee reported the results of its six months' investigation, generally suggesting that Wall Street purify itself, and placing the responsibility for fair play upon the governors of the big stock and other exchanges. A sharp line was drawn between gambling and legitimate speculation, the latter being vigorously indorsed. THE WORLD has continued to warn the public against many nefarious Wall Street schemes and has kept many lambs from being sheared.

SUNDAY WORLD FIELD DAYS.

The great series of athletic games for boys in the grammar schools of New York City, known as THE SUNDAY WORLD Field Days, increased their success of previous years in 1909. One hundred and forty-seven schools of the city held these meets last spring, and 34.000 boys competed in the games. These field days were instituted by THE WORLD in 1906 by an offer to the grammar schools of the city made by THE WORLD through the Public Schools Athletic League. In four years more than 100,000 boys have enrolled as contestants in the games, and the grand final meet, to which all the schools send representatives, is the great event of the year in New York public school athletics In the final meet of 1909, held at the American League Baseball Park, the contestants numbered 1.500, and 20,000 spectators viewed the games.

In 1909 THE SUNDAY WORLD also gave a series of prizes for baseball games played in the Summer vacation, It was the second year of THE SUNDAY WORLD Baseball League of the Parks and Playgrounds Association of New York City. Two hundred baseball teams of boys under seventeen years of age competed in the League's preliminary games. of which more than 600 were played, affording healthful recreation to more than 2,000 boys in the congested parts of the city. THE WORLD gave gold, silver and bronze medals to all members of the victorious teams in the final games played in September.

THE CATSKILL WATER EXTRAVAGANCE.

Persistently THE WORLD has continued to point out the enormously wasteful features of the building of the Catskill water system, the extravagances being without parallel in the city's history. A report made by Comptroller Metz in April not only confirmed THE WORLD'S figures, but also showed that instead of being checked the waste was worse than ever. This report proved all THE WORLD'S charges. It showed that for every $100 which the city had until then paid for land acquired the expenses were between $40 and $68. Out of a total of $2,220,000 paid for land $888,057.19 was expended in expenses of advertising. fees to commissioners at the rate of $10 a cy, and to counsel and for stenographic reports. THE WORLD'S long battle to prevent the robbery of taxpayers by incompetence or extravagance in the operation of the Catskill water scheme is too well known to the public to require rehearsal. And THE WORLD will continue to keep the people informed as to how their money is being expended,

On November 29, 1909, THE WORLD reviewed the entire aqueduct graft scandal, pointing out to Mayor-elect Gaynor and his Corporation Counsel how they can if they will save the city $10.000 a day on Catskill watershed proceedings and smash the wasteful condemnation proceeding. In this review THE WORLD showed how it had cost $1.975,334 to condemn to date aqueduct land valued at $1,422,050, an excess of $553,284 of expenses over awards. It showed other enormous disbursements, such as $252.913.41 to "Special Counsel" John J. Linson of Kingston, a lawyer, in two and a half years: $99,890.41 to Special Counsel' Everett Fowler, this year; $22,839 to "Special Counsel' Henry T. Dykman this year, and so on. THE WORLD called attention to the 129 commissioners at work at $50 a day and expenses. It showed how some lawyers searched titles for 4.000 years, the pay being five cents for each year covered in the searches. In brief, THE WORLD fully informed Mayor-Elect Gaynor of the conditions he would find on January 1, 1910, in aqueduct affairs.

HELPED JUDGE GAYNOR TO VICTORY.

Sturdily and unswervingly Democratic and opposed to bossism, THE WORLD supported Judge William J. Gaynor for Mayor in the municipal campaign of 1909, because it believed that of all the candidates he best represented the people's interests. It then and now took him at his word that no man or set of men would rule him if elected. In brief. he stood for all that is best in city government. Although Tammany's candidate, he in no sense represented Tammanyism or Murphyism. THE WORLD and the Press were the only two important daily papers in New York that supported Judge Gaynor. Judge Gaynor was elected, but the rest of the Tammany ticket, weighted with men obnoxious to voters. suffered inglorious defeat at the hands of the Fusion candidates, many of the latter having had THE WORLD'S editorial aid. THE WORLD deplored the mud slinging and other disgraceful features of the campaign, and did its best to make issues clear. Its triumph on Election Day showed that it was right. It will support the incoming administration when it thinks it is serving the people, and will not hesitate to criticise it when it does not live up to THE WORLD'S standards. THE WORLD is independent of all administrations.

OTHER EXAMPLES OF MANY PUBLIC SERVICES IN 1909.

During the Summer of 1909 the war on the house fly, a campaign inaugurated by THE WORLD a year before, spread throughout the country. Health Officer Woodward, of the District of Columbia, took up the fight and health officers in all the big cities of the United States became interested in the extermination of the breeding places of the millions of flies which carry all sorts of disease germs. This battle must continue in 1910.

A previous humane public service of THE WORLD was recalled in March. 1909, when Hangman Jacob Van Hise, of New Jersey, for the last time sprung a gallows trap in that