naval officer charged with sinking English hospital ships. The result is one that the Allies should not pass by without protest. The officer was acquitted on the sole ground that what he did was done under orders from his superiors! It is admitted that hospital ships were sunk. It is admitted also, and brazenly, that this was done by orders of the German Government. In defense the old allegation is made that the hospital ships had violated international law by carrying munitions or supplies. So far as we have seen, no evidence was given to this effect. It is unbelievable that this accusation by Germany will be allowed to go without contradiction. Germany has assumed the responsibility; let Germany prove her charges or else hand over for trial those who are really responsible for the atrocity.

TH

A STIMULUS TO PUBLIC SERVICE HERE can be no doubt that the motive of Mr. Edward W. Bok in offering an annual prize of ten thousand dollars to that citizen of Philadelphia who has in any given year done for that city an act of service "best calculated to advance the largest interests of Philadelphia" is in itself an instance of municipal patriotism and civic pride. It is a coincidence that just before this announcement there was awarded to Mr. Bok the Pulitzer prize of one thousand dollars for the best American biography of the year that teaches patriotism and unselfish services to the people. We have already commented at some length on the nature and attractiveness of Mr. Bok's book thus honored. It is called "The Americanization of Edward Bok;" its spirit is fine and thoroughly sincere, and it is highly readable.

The Philadelphia prize is almost, or quite, unique. It may be compared to the Nobel Prizes and perhaps to some minor Americanization awards, but, so far as we know, it has no exact parallel. It may be that some difficulty will be found in determining what kind or class of service would exactly come within the definition of the offer-we understand that official political effort would not be included-and it may also be a little difficult to define the phrases "best calculated" and "largest interests." But an excellent alternative has been provided for the disposition of the prize money in case the committee do not see their way to carry out the exact primary purpose of the donor in a given year. In that case the money for that year will be devoted to free scholarships for boys and girls of the city and vicinity. In this alternative there is another thoroughly commendable plan for improving character and citizenship.

form a valuable and suggestive historical survey.

In 1860 the French painter Claude Monet sent to the Paris Salon a landscape called "Impressions." It was conceived according to a new technique. It emphasized the color imparted to objects by the reflections from the sky and the enveloping atmosphere. The canvas revealed a host of subtle variations of atmospheric light instead of fixed colors. From the title of the picture which first introduced the new technique to the public view Monet became known as an "impressionist," and so did the other painters of sunlight who imitated him.

In the present exhibition there are half a dozen examples each of Monet's work and of that of his contemporaries, Manet and Pissaro. The pictures of these and other masters of the period occupy the long wall to the left of the entrance to the gallery.

Upon the opposite wall are examples of the work of the "post-impressionists." The difference between their period and the preceding is seen in the struggle to express the inner significance of material objects. The greatest name among

the "post-impressionists" is doubtless that of Cézanne. The display of no less than twenty-three of his pictures (portraits, landscapes, figure-pieces, examples of still life) constitutes the main feature of the exhibition. After Cézanne stands the less normal, more nervous and dramatic Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh. Then comes the calmer but more primitive Gauguin with his perversely savage subject-matter.

The exhibition is the most widely representative of any show of the kind yet seen in this country. A group of pictures from the exhibit are reproduced elsewhere in this issue.

THE LESSON OF TULSA

O

N the night of June 1 a newspaper despatch from Tulsa, Oklahoma, said: "The hospitals of Tulsa are

filled with wounded and dying men tonight and the morgues are crowded with dead after twenty-four hours of rioting between white men and Negroes."

On the same day a woman stenographer in a Tulsa office wrote this moving letter to the editors of The Outlook:

To-day Tulsa is torn by a civil battle between the white and black races which is sickening to all rightminded, thinking people of this city. All of little Africa is burning; many people, both white and black, lie dead and wounded.

The cause of the trouble is the usual one. A young Negro is accused of attempting to attack a little elevator girl. He claims he intended no wrong, but of course his story has no chance of recognition.

I am a stenographer in a downtown office, and just now a large company of Negroes were marched through the street past my window, under the protection of white soldiers. They are taking them to the ball park, where they will be under protection. They are homeless, most of them innocent of any wrong-doing or even wrong thinking, helpless, dumbly wondering why this thing should be.

The whites here are much more to be blamed than the Negroes. It is largely an element of hoodlum white boys, craving excitement, and looking for any opportunity to start a race riot.

How long are such outrages going to be allowed? Cannot America find some means of preventing such terrible occurrences? The Negroes are with us here in America, though they did not ask to be brought here. There is wrong on both sides, but in some manner law and order must be maintained.

What caused the rioting, shooting, and burning that left in Tulsa a wake of deaths (at least thirty persons were killed), widespread suffering and destitution, thousands of homeless people, acres of smoldering ruins, a money loss

International

of perhaps a million dollars? Superficially, the answer might be that it was a strange misunderstanding of facts. General Barrett, in command of the State Militia, is quoted in the papers as saying that the riot was caused by "an impudent Negro, a hysterical girl, and a yellow journal reporter." Again superficially, it may be said that this horror was caused by the misuse of a word; it was reported that a white girl had been "assaulted" by a colored man; the fact was, it now appears, that a bootblack stepped on an elevator girl's foot, that she slapped him, and he grasped her by the throat.

But the real causes lie deeper. Americans take the observance of law and order for granted. Civilization, they assume, has reached a stage where force is not needed. Then, under some comparatively slight provocation, the wildbeast element in society leaps up, the peace officers are unready, and we have the race riots of Washington, Omaha, East St. Louis, Chicago, and Tulsa. Especially is this true when race feeling is involved. Race aversion (from which few of us are free) easily becomes race prejudice; race prejudice is quickly fanned into race hatred; race hatred among the ignorant and violent elements, black and white, may at any moment blaze into race war.

The following account comes to The Outlook from a well-informed Western correspondent upon our telegraphic request:

Tulsa, the scene of the recent rioting, is an Oklahoma oil city of mush

room growth. It has a population of seventy-three thousand, of whom perhaps eight thousand are Negroes. The Negroes are employed chiefly in forms of service not sought by the whites. The men are porters, barbers, bootblacks, day laborers; the women cooks, charwomen, laundresses. There has been no industrial race friction.

The industrial depression had brought an unusual number of idle men from the oil fields to Tulsa. A few gathered at the Court-House where the Negro was confined. The sheriff ordered them away, but did not enforce his order. An altercation followed. Word spread that a lynching was contemplated. Several armed Negroes appeared. A Negro peace officer appealed to them to disperse, assuring them the prisoner would be protected. Most of them started away, but leaders called them back. Whites and blacks continued to gather. The police did nothing. Then a shot was fired and a white man fell.

This was the beginning of a series of battles between rapidly growing mobs of whites and blacks, which the small police force was unable to control. The fighting lasted into the morning. It resulted in the death of nine white men and more than twenty Negroes and in the wanton burning of the Negro residence district, leaving thousands of innocent persons homeless. Tulsa was impotent, but the Government of Oklahoma functioned promptly. By early morning the State was pouring National Guardsmen into the city. Governor Robertson proclaimed martial law, and the rioting abruptly ended. A citizens' committee with the local Red Cross unit at once took the situation in hand and organized relief work. Tulsa is a wealthy community. It At cannot spare its Negro workers.

the present writing plans are under way to raise a fund to rebuild the houses destroyed.

What is the significance of this tragedy for the rest of the Nation? Tulsa is not essentially different from any American city in which there is a considerable Negro element. Contemplating the dark episode, almost any other city might echo the humble thanksgiving, "But for the grace of God there goes John Bunyan." So long as race feeling exists there is danger of such outbursts. Deprecate it all we please, the foundations of order are secured through effective police backed by a firm demand for law and order by all decent citizens and helped by the earnest desire of white and colored people to draw together in just and friendly civic relations and to abstain from forcing the questions of social relations to the front. Potentially disorderly elements are restrained by fear of the instruments by which society defends itself. Prompt and energetic action on the part of the peace officers at the first sign of trouble in Tulsa that Tuesday night would have prevented the riots. Governor Robertson, who arrived in the city soon after the disturbances were over, expressed a general opinion when he called the affair "damnable and inexcusable" and blamed the ineptitude of the officers responsible for maintaining order. At the outset a few well-directed policemen could have dispersed the trouble-makers at the Court-House. Once the mob spirit was aroused and armed crowds had gathered, the situation was out of control until the display of overwhelming force by several hundred determined Guardsmen.

In the long run civilization must depend on the education, tolerance, and intelligence of the mass of the people. But, as the experience of Tulsa and so many other cities shows, police forces cannot be demoralized by politics or by neglect except at risk of disaster.

WHAT MAKES THE WILD WOODS WILD

HE mental makeup of men and

women who scatter papers along

the highroads, who trample down growing crops, who break down farmers' fences, and who are responsible for surrounding our woodland streams with a beadwork of tomato cans is quite easy to understand. Such people are merely primitive individualists. They have not yet advanced in civilization to a point where they can visualize the property rights of others. They scatter their trash broadcast through the land because they have not imagination enough to see how such action can rebound

their own hurt. There are many who are neither homeless nor landless themselves who can still act and live, so far as the rights of others are concerned, as though they were a race of nomads wandering across a trackless desert of swiftly cleansing sand. Their mental processes are as obvious as the trail they leave behind them in the landscape. We can understand them, but we do not like them.

There is another group of wayfarers which, though allied closely to the first, we both dislike and cannot understand. This is the group which not only scatters refuse over private lands, but also leaves a trail which he who runs may read over the land belonging to cities, States, and the Nation. A public park, whether it be but a triangle of grass at the intersection of three village streets, or a rolling meadow land set down in the heart of a great city, or a Forest Reserve of a hundred thousand acres of the National domain, is property to which each and every one of us has an inalienable right. To scatter trash over a bit of green in the heart of a city or to slash off the top of a pine tree in a National park is to damage part of the common land to which every citizen is heir. We can understand how a man can disregard the rights of a neighbor, but it is not so easy to understand how a man can destroy the beauty of land which is his own and his children's. If we are to continue to build parks in our cities and set aside wildernesses for our recreation, we must also build up, in the mind and heart of every citizen, a spirit of jealousy for the beauty of these green places. Perhaps the present generation of Americans is already past the cure, but there is another generation of citizens in the making, and, if we are wise, we will do for them what the Forestry Association has been doing in the city of Washington. If we catch Young America young enough, our

parks of to-morrow may be as popbottleless as the beech-shaded sward of Hampstead Heath.

HOUSES THAT CAN STAND STUDY NEED HAVE NO FEAR OF DIVISION

T

HE announcement of The Outlook's third contest has called forth an indignant letter signed W. and W. F. A. which concludes: "If there is not a deluge of protests from other members of your family, it will be to us a most sinister and depressing sign of the weakness of present-day home and community life. If we are absolutely alone in our protest, we feel that it should be made and have confidence that you will give it fair consideration."

The protest has been as conspicuous by its singularity as a gold dollar in a Soviet treasury; but perhaps this neither indicates that our subscribers are alone in their feeling or that community and family life are bound for the dogs.

The reason for our subscribers' protest is to be found in the following quotation from their letter:

"To invite complaints by children of their parents, etc., etc., may be worthy of a Hearst publication, but that The Outlook should open such a door is almost unbelievable.

"Is there to be no such thing as reticence? Is there nothing too sacred to put into print? What about loyalty? 'Be objective.' Well, we certainly object!! 'You don't have to be bitter.' That phrase alone exposes the danger of this proposition."

To all of which we cry in the language of the court-room, "Exception," and leave it to our readers, as judges, to determine whether or not we should be overruled.

There is no household or community in the land which cannot study itself or its surroundings to advantage. There are few households and communities which do not at times study themselves and their surroundings in a way which reacts seriously to their disadvantage. Malicious gossip and unfounded rumors disport themselves through neighborhoods with a rapidity which affords a modern instance of the process which Chaucer describes in his "Hous of Fame." Individual members of households brood over dark imaginings which need only a frank explanation and wholesome laughter for their speedy dissipation.

Parents, lay not the flattering unction to your souls that your children invariably regard you as the fountainhead of all wisdom. Their questioning may come first only in such simple form as, "Well, Jimmy's father lets him sit up till half-past seven." Later on, and not so much later at that, it may appear in the unspoken thought, "If I ever have any children, I won't do so and so."

The subject of The Outlook's contest was selected with no thought or fear that it would serve to divide households or communities against themselves by bringing into the light the reasons for such questioning.

The subject of the contest was chosen because it seemed to us to afford a chance for personal and community stock-taking, which would be of value not only to the stock-takers, but to those who would later share in their endeavors. We said, "You don't have to be bitter," because bitterness has no place in an inventory. We said, "Be objective," because we wanted our contest letter writers to analyze squarely their relationships and not to moon over them.

The highest form of loyalty is understanding loyalty, and the deepest love does not need to be blind to endure.

N June 2 President Harding

Ο

walked from the White House to the Inter-State Commerce Commission's Building, not far way. Unannounced, he appeared before the Commissioners personally to urge upon them the necessity of revising railway rates. This, we think, is the first time that a President has ever taken such a direct initiative with the Commission.

The event calls particular attention to the Commission and, in especial, to the new Commissioners. Among them, the most notable is John Jacob Esch, of Wisconsin. All Americans, we believe,

GOVERNMENT

without distinction of party, were gratified at his appointment. He has seen long and distinguished service in Congress-indeed, he has been in every Congress since and including the Fiftysixth. He is fifty-nine years old, was born in Wisconsin, is a graduate of the University of that State and its Law School, and practiced law at La Crosse. In Congress Mr. Esch's position as Chairman of the House Inter-State Commerce Committee gave great force to that Committee's policy in the framing of the Transportation Act of 1920. It seems strange that so efficient a statesman

should have been retired by his constituents. Yet that is what organized labor did, backed up by the Wisconsin pro-Germans, who resented Mr. Esch's patriotic attitude during the war. Some voters also resented Mr. Esch's votes for the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Law.

Another appointee to the Inter-State Commerce Commission is J. B. Campbell, of Spokane, Washington. He is a traffic lawyer, and for years has represented various Western organizations before the Commission, particularly the Spokane Merchants' Association. Не

The latest Assistant Secretary of the Treasury is Colonel Edward Clifford, of Chicago. He is an investment banker. During the early part of the war he was in Washington as a "dollar a year man." serving as a bond expert in the Treasury Department in connection with the Lit erty Loans. Later he was commissioned Heutenant-colonel in the Quartermaster Corps and made a member of the War Credit Board. He went overseas in the Finance Service, and later was with our Army of Occupation in Germany. Re turning here, he spent a year in the organization work of the American Legion. His training in the law, in finance, and his close contact wi actual army conditions should fit him to work out effectively, and with justice 20 all, the peace-time problems that have arisen and arise in the relations between the Federal Government and the ex-service men And it is to tius particular task that Secretary Melion has called him. Under Colonel Clifford's immediate direction there will be a es ordination of all activities in the behalf of ex-serviceman He will be the Director-General of this work, and will doubtless advance the recommendations of the come headed by General Dawes, which really investigated all the activities in beat of the ex-service

(C) Clinedinst

ROBERT H. LOVETT, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY

GENERAL

COLONIA, WAW

men. The committee's recommendation was that the activities should be centralized under one head.

portant duty fur being given send tion, and

the Frenc

for camps, baka, wit takings.

The new Director of the Bureau of tion. He is Colonel Charles R. Forbes, War Risk Insurance also deserves menof Seattle. He saw active service overseas as the commanding officer of a regiment of infantry. He has lived for many years on the Pacific coast. Now that Secretary Mellon has transferred to Health Service, Colonel Forbes's posi- lawyer ward but the Bureau a portion of the Public tion has increased in importance.

Another new Administration officer is Frank White, the new Treasurer of the United States. Colonel White has been a resident of North Dakota for many years. During sixteen of them he was a farmer.

Probably t

of Winsto

new Commu

He is well **

He has ever won

office. He bui Commiss

4