PUBLISHER'S NOTES "WE began housekeeping, many years ago, with The Outlook, and very little furniture," writes a subscriber in Minnesota. "The Outlook has been periodically renewed, likewise the furniture-both necessary in our housekeeping. The weekly visits of The Outlook have been welcome because we have not agreed on all points with its editors. I think if we had you would have been tiresome and the visits would have been discontinued long ago. My aged father, a retired clergyman, lived with us before his death, and how he did disagree with The Outlook's theology! At the last he could read only with the aid of a magnifying-glass the size of a saucer; but he never missed a number. It was these points of disagreement that he loved to dwell, to study, to 'sputter,' and to grow." on ERE is a brief excerpt from a long H letter from A. L. Davis, of North Loup, Nebraska, who, along with numerous others, writes to us in divided strain: "What America needs is a consistent, continuous foreign policy. And the fact that Harding is going ahead with the policies of Wilson, notwithstanding election promises, shows that beneath the insincerity of politics there is developing an American foreign policy, in spite of politics. Your bitter denunciations of the Wilson Administration, while approving so much of the same programme when directed by a Republican, has been one of the painful surprises to me. I had said I would stop my subscription, though I have been a subscriber for years. However, I am inclosing check for renewal. 'With all your faults,' I cannot do without you." He OME time back you asked for the peregrinations of certain copies of The Outlook," writes Edna S. Knapp, of Caryville, Massachusetts. "Allen Eastman Cross, the hymn-writer, takes the paper in Milford, Massachusetts. hands it to Mrs. Carl J. Dane, of Milford; then it comes to us here in Caryville. We read it, and add it to all our own periodicals and send them to a family of seven nine miles from the railway in the Vermont hills. The Bartletts read the copies threadbare; the mother keeps the papers in her own hands first and reads aloud the things the older children can appreciate at the evening story hour; then the papers really begin to circulate as she passes them on. I believe The Outlook is less of a magazine than a habit. MAN in Brookline, Massachusetts, likes his copy of Chesterton's "The Man Who Was Thursday," which we recently offered as a premium. He writes: "The books of the Modern Library are a boon to the invalid and the aged because of the excellent print and the light weight to handle." NEcoLY 70 letters were received in Contest Number Three; prize winners will be announced in an early issue. How you can build your home at a saving of hundreds of dollars Y Twelve hundred leading architects and leaders of the nation- YOU want to own your own home. You want to free yourself from the economic waste of paying rent for a house owned by somebody else. You want to be sure that your house plans are as perfect and economical as the most skillful architect can make them. You want to know how to finance a home so that what you now pay each month for rent will, little by little, make your home your own. How can you get this information? How can you be sure that the home you finally decide upon will be all that you dreamed it would be? How can you be sure that you will not waste $500 or even $2,500 in needless building expense? The answer to all these questions has been provided through the organization of the Home Owners' Service Institute-an organization existing for one purpose and one purpose only-to make possible more and better homes for men and women of moderate means at savings from 25 per cent to 40 per cent. Fifty Homes Laid Down on Your Library Table The Home Owners' Service Institute grew out of the nation-wide "Own Your Home" Movement, which had the co-operation of leading architects, building and loan associations, investment bankers and real estate associations all over the country. In the 1921 National Prize "Small House Competition," open to all American architects, more than 1,200 well-known architects submitted plans for economical bungalows and houses of four, five and six rooms in frame, brick, and stucco. The fifty prize-winners selected have been gathered together in a handsome book-a de luxe library edition-the "Home Builder's Plan Book. To members of the Home Owners' Service Institute this book will be sent immediately upon receipt of the coupon below. Think of it-fifty homes all laid down on your library table for you to study, discuss and compare. This is part, but only part of the service which members receive. A series of fourteen educational pamphlets is included in the service. These booklets contain a wealth of practical and invaluable information for the home builder, written by the leaders of the "Own Your Home" Movement and the 1921 "Own Your Home" Expositions in Chicago and New York. You receive an Active Membership Certificate in the Home Owners' Service Institute for one year. All questions which arise while you plan, or during actual construction of your home, will be answered, free of charge, by correspondence. Our corps of experts will be at your service. Making a Little Money Go a Long Way A complete statement of the twenty-four services offered to members is contained in the panel on the right. Read this list carefully. It is as if yo had gathered together for personal consultation the nation's leading architects and homeFuilding experts and put your individual problem into their hands SEND NO MONEY. CLIP THE COUPON You pay $5 only when you have examined the Service The Home Owners' Service Institute is conducting a nation-wide campaign for 1,000,000 members. It wants to enroll every American family of moderate means which hopes, either this year or at any time in the future to build and own its own home. While the offer remains open, the price of membership is not $100 or $50 or even $25. The Ins itute asks for no money at all in advance. It offers to send to any responsible man or woman who will clip the special service. introductory coupon the complete Accept it; examine it; pay the postman $5 for your membership and complete service, If at the end plus the small postage fee. of ten days you are not more than satisfied with your membership, return the service. The Institute will promptly return the fee and substitute anther name for yours on the Membership Rolls. HOME OWNERS' SERVICE INSTITUTE, I 24 West 39th St., New York. Send me your Service. I will pay the Postman $5 upon delivery (plus the small postage fee). If I am not satisfied for any reason whatsoever, you agree to refund my money upon return of Service and MemberI ship. 1 462 By CAPT. DAVID BONE Keith Preston in the Chicago Daily News says: "The more we reflect on this book the more we like it for its keen observation, its mellow humor, and the fine story of rough adventure that it is." HANIT THE ENCHANTRESS By GARRETT C. PIER "An honest historical romance," says H. W. Boynton of this story of ancient Egypt, in the Literary Review. "It puts us for a breathing moment in imaginative contact with that storied past whose tale is never really told." Mr. Mellon: A Study of the Secretary of the Treasury... By Richard Barry 472 "The Master Salesman A clear, practical, fascinating work, explaining the Real Secrets of Personality, Magnetism, Persuasion and Salesmanship Price $3.00 Postpaid W. L. VAN OSDOL Chicago, Ill. TEACHERS' AGENCIES The Pratt Teachers Agency 70 Fifth Avenue, New York Recommends teachers to colleges, public and private schools. Advises parents about schools. Wm. O. Pratt, Mgr. SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES THE PENOBSCOT TUTORING SCHOOL Summer Term: July 11-Sept. 10 DEER ISLE, ME. A legitimate school of highly specialized instruction, located in ideal surroundings. A faculty of experts and a complete equipment. For information address The Directors-S. B. Knowlton, Lester D. Tyler, Haverford, Pa. N. Y. Representative: W. B. Wildman, The Trinity School. 483 By Charles Henry Meltzer Night Sailing (Poem). By Bernice Lesbia Kenyon Buffalo Insists..... 483 New York City TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR NURSES St. John's Riverside Hospital Training School for Nurses YONKERS, NEW YORK Registered in New York State. offers a 2X years' courseas general training to refined, educated women. Require ments one year high school or its equivalent. Apply to the Directress of Nurses Yonkers, New York. PRESIDENT HARDING'S PROPOSAL FOR A WORLD CONFERENCE G RATIFICATION, mounting in some cases to jubilation, has greeted the invitation extended by President Harding to the principal Allied and Associated Powers to a conference at Washington to consider the limitation of armaments and Pacific and Far Eastern affairs. No other Power could have done what America has in summoning this conference. Proposals on the part of every other great nation concerning disarmament or concerning the Far East would have been subject to suspicion. Great Britain, as the predominant naval Power, could hardly take the initiative in asking others to limit their navies. France, of course, might have suggested a naval holiday; but she has hardly at stake what the United States has, and any suggestion from her would have been discounted. Any request of that nature from Japan or Italy might have been interpreted as a request for favor. The United States, however, has interests which call for the defense of a navy and yet is strong enough to make any suggestion it pleases without fear of being thought over-timid. No little credit for this suggestion is due to Senator Borah; for he was indefatigable in pushing, first as a resolution and then as an amendment to the Naval Appropriation Bill, a provision authorizing the President to call such a conference. By including the discussion of problems of the Pacific and the Far East President Harding has gone beyond the scope of any such conference as that authorized in the Borah Amendment. Indeed, the subject of limiting armament must be made subordinate to the larger questions of policy and principle; and Mr. Harding has exercised wisdom by using the demand for a conference on armament to forward the larger idea of cooperation between the nations on matters of foreign policy. JULY 20, 1921 ain and Japan. Of course with respect to both the Far East and naval armaments, any agreement reached by Great Britain, Japan, and the United States would undoubtedly prevail. It was wise, however, to include France and Italy because, aside from their interests as naval Powers and influences in the Orient, they are indispensable factors in world peace and justice. No question of limiting or reducing armaments of any kind can justly be considered without considering also the position of France as a neighbor of Germany. No question of naval armament can justly be considered without considering also the Mediterranean naval Power, Italy. In extending the invitation informally, the President, through Secretary Hughes, has made it clear that, in the discussions of Far Eastern problems, China has also been invited to take part. Some speculation has been entertained concerning the bearing of this conference upon the fortunes of the League of Nations. Some earnest advocates of the League have deplored the fact that the President did not have recourse to the League, and thus give it something to do. Others have seen in this conference the beginnings of a new association of nations which will gradually take the League's place. Those who have their minds more on means than on ends, more on organizations for justice than on justice itself, may find these speculations important. Those, however, who look for the gradual development of a sense of international law and justice, and who hope for peace as a fruit of justice, will welcome every practical measure, whatever its name, which will take justice and peace between nations out of the realm of academic discussion and into the realm of fact. is only fair to accept the document as at least presenting Obregon's view. It is full of friendly assurances; but how far can we rely on assurances by President Obregon? His own political stability is none too firm, and one of the best points that he makes-namely, that he has no power to commit his Congress in advance or to order the courts to interpret the Mexican Constitution to meet our views-really emphasizes the difficulty of getting valid and solid proof that American lives and property shall be protected. We are no more in a hurry than is Mexico for normal international relations. It is, then, for Mexico to find a way to establish her just intentions for the future. A year ago Senator Fall, of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, proposed that the assurances we demand should be embodied in a new treaty and that the ratification of the treaty should be followed by immediate recognition. If that course were legitimate a year ago, it might well be considered now. It is, unfortunately, quite possible for Mexico to injure unfairly American interests without confiscation, strictly so called, and without legislation aimed solely at Americans. Mr. Obregon can point out, as he does, that the muchtalked-of Article Twenty-seven of the Mexican Constitution does not in the least authorize confiscation, but simply asserts the national original ownership of natural rights while conceding the national power to transfer these rights to private ownership. This same article declares positively that such private ownership may not be destroyed "except for reasons of public utility and through indemnification." Moreover, another article of the Constitution declares that "no law shall be retroactive against any person." This flatly forbids any ex post facto legislation. This is all very well and very true, and it does seem to provide against the seizure of concessions to Americans. So far as law and Constitution go, at the present time, theoretically the property rights of Americans in Mexico are the same as those of Englishmen in Mexico or of Mexicans in Mexico. But the fact that foreign property rights in Mexico cover investments of universal importance in which Mexicans themselves are but slightly interested financially-as in the case of oil, for instance-leaves a door open to such unjust and grasping legislation toward foreign investors as practically amounts to confiscation. This seems to be what happened lately in Mexico when large oil wells shut down because, as the owners claim, exorbitant taxes could not be paid without destroying the business. The visit of American warships to Tampico was not a threat-nothing is more established in international law than that warships may be sent to foreign ports without a threatening purpose. But the visit of the ships seems for the present at least to have relieved the stress. The whole question resolves itself, then, not into how Mexican courts will interpret the Constitution or what the. Mexican courts may be willing to do in the way of legislation, or what President Obregon or any future President may say, but in the moral question, How can Mexico so gain the confidence of her great neighboring Republic as to make it willing to accept her promises as valid and deal with her as one strong and stable republic should deal with another? THE WORK OF CONGRESS HE number of matters that urgently that prospects of an early end to the present extra session are slight. The right of way just now, as far as practical, is with tariff and taxation. The first will demand thorough study and discussion, and the bill now under debate will certainly be greatly modified; the second subject has not even been taken up, but it is of prime importance and cannot be settled in a hurry. Meanwhile, it is understood that the so-called Bonus Bill (really a bill for "adjusted compensation" for veterans of the World War) must wait; the enormous sums of money involved have a direct bearing on all financial legislation. We treat of this matter elsewhere in an editorial article. Among other important measures under consideration are those for agricultural relief by enlarging the loan privileges of Farm Loan banks, creating a farm exports corporation, and regulating grain exchanges; the Maternity Bill, through which Federal aid would be given to States in furnishing education in maternal and infant hygiene; a bill to regulate or control the work of the packing-houses; the held-over Army and Navy appropriation bills; a bill dealing with the coal industry in the interest of the consumer and of public knowledge of trade methods; a good roads bill with emphasis on maintenance as well as construction; and the bill that proposes to consolidate into one Veterans' Bureau the existing War Risk Insurance and Rehabilitation Bureaus, with provision for local offices where veterans could conveniently receive the attention they should have. This is a bare and incomplete list of things that Congress has before it. It certainly would be surprising if it found time before the regular session begins in December to study thoroughly and act wisely on such a programme. YORKTOWN, NEW ORLEANS, AND BELLEAU commemorated if two bills now bewo historic events may be properly fore Congress pass that body. The first measure creates a military park at Yorktown, Virginia; the second creates a military park on the Plains of Central News MAJOR ROY C. HAYNES, THE NEW PROHIBITION COMMISSIONER Chalmette, below the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. The battles of Yorktown and of New Orleans were decisive battles. The first was a culminating event in our Revolution; the second was the great event of the War of 1812, to be set down to our credit. At Yorktown the rortifications of Cornwallis are being plowed over, shoveled down, and destroyed, and on the Plains of Chalmette there is little left to commemorate the victory of General Jack son. But the areas themselves should be preserved as military parks. In this connection we may mention a proposal to rebuild the little village of Belleau, close to Belleau Wood, near Château Thierry, France. The proposal comes from patriotic women of the United States who have formed them selves into an association for this purpose. Our troops were forced to destroy the village in order to reach their objective, but the village should be rebuilt as a monument to the two thousand American heroes who sleep there. The rebuilding of this little village would also be a reminder to all visitors of the fact that the living and the dead of the American forces made possible the rebuilding of France. THE NEW PROHIBITION HOUGH the enforcement of the Prohi THOU bition Law ought to be impartial and non-partisan, it is inevitable that the officer who is in charge of such an important function should be sympathetic with the National Administration. The man who has been selected by the Harding Administration as Prohibition Commissioner is Major Roy Haynes. At present the Prohibition Commissioner is in the Internal Revenue office, which is a bureau in the Treasury Department. So long as the chief interest of the National Government in the enforcement of the liquor law consisted in the proper collection of the Federal tax on the sale of liquor it was natural that the enforcement of the liquor law should be under the Treasury Department. Now, however, it is announced that the Prohibition Commissioner, who is not a revenue collector but an agent of the National police power, is to be transferred from the Treasury Department to the Department of Justice. Major Haynes is an Ohio Republican of the progressive type. His purpose in carrying out the duties of his office is a broader one than merely the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment. He regards his duties as involving the larger test of the place which the observance of the law holds in the minds of the American people. "I wish that we might have in America," he said the other day, "a revival of the regard for the sanctity and majesty of the law. I wish that it might be preached by the parents in the homes as well as by the teachers in the school; by the preacher in the pulpit, the writer and the cartoonist through the press; by the actor on the stage; by every good citizen and agency." In certain parts of the country, notably in New York City, men who would be frightened at the growth of studied disregard for law protecting property rights seem to be ready to encourage the support of disregard for the Eighteenth Amendment and its enforcing legislation. They do not seem to see that they cannot weaken the respect for laws which they do not happen to like without weakening respect for the laws in which they profoundly believe. If Major Haynes can cultivate even among the "wets" the spirit of law observance, |