A KING OF COURAGE

K

ING PETER of Serbia died in Belgrade on August 16 at the age of seventy-eight. He was seventy-one when in 1914 Austria sent its humiliating ultimatum to Serbia and set its armies in motion to threaten that Balkan kingdom's independent existence. King Peter had every excuse for remaining at home-his age, illness (he was deaf and partly sightless), the fact that he had temporarily abdicated. But he was not that kind of a king; throne, went to the front, urged his army into fierce action, fired the country with resolution. At one critical juncture in 1914 he went into the front trenches and took part in the counterattack which rewon Belgrade to Serbia, to be held until Mackensen's invasion the next year crushed resistance. To his high spirit and inspiration of others was largely due the splendid resistance made by Serbia to Austrian aggression.

he resumed his

The horror of the assassination of Peter's predecessor, Alexander, and his queen left a dark shadow on Peter's throne. The slaughter of the two royal personages, the Prime Minister, and several others was the work of a group of army officers. No evidence was adduced of knowledge of the plot by Peter. The fact that he quickly accepted the throne and that he was supported by the enemies of Alexander caused his rule to be looked at askance by some of the Powers Great Britain did not recognize the new Serbian government for years. It should be remembered that the excitement that led to the assassination was not merely, as many suppose, rivalry between the Obrenovitch dynasty represented by Alexander and the Karageorgevitchs, of whom Peter was the leader. The cause was deeper; Alexander supported Austria, and even in 1903, when the killing took place, Serbians knew that Austria meant to absorb their country. Peter stood also for the constitution that Alexander had suspended by royal decree.

There was something picturesque and almost feudal about Peter's career and person. He fought as a young man in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. He aided Herzegovina's revolt a few years later. In camp, in battle, and in exile, he was for half a century a striking, audacious figure.

AUGUST 31, 1921

the American Relief Administration and the Soviet Government under which relief from America is to reach the famine victims of Russia. This document was signed by Maxim Litvinoff for the Soviets and Mr. Walter L. Brown on behalf of Mr. Hoover. Under its terms full authority and power to act without restraint or delays are given the American Committee. There is every prospect

(C) International

KING PETER OF SERBIA

that the work will be carried on vigorously and with all possible administrative economy, as has been the case with everything in which Mr. Hoover has taken the lead.

It was natural that the representative of the Soviet Government should take the opportunity to make a plea for a better understanding between the Russian and the American peoples. The suspicion and lack of confidence to which he referred, however, are not between the peoples of the two countries, but between the arbitrary and tyrannical men now held in power by sheer force in Russia and the free peoples of

the world-for of all peoples in large countries to-day the Russians, in our opinion, are the least free.

Recent reports from Russia confirm all that has been said about the distress and suffering in the Volga region, now said to be like a desert. The director of the Russian Red Cross, Dr. Georges Lodygensky, lately reached Paris. He fears that at least seven million people must perish in the Volga. The great difficulty is in reaching these people with relief, for transportation has completely broken down. Meanwhile, Dr. Lodygensky says, we have the pitiful and horrible spectacle in this area of "a great migrating mass, fleeing like a lost man in the woods, in circles, pursued by the inevitable attendants of faminescurvy, typhus, and cholera-destroying everything and leaving behind a trail of corpses which they do not even attempt to bury."

Apart from the special Volga district, Russia, according to Dr. Lodygensky, is partially paralyzed, and this, too, largely because of wretched transportation conditions, so that the country is overrun with homeless and hopeless refugees. Ultimately, although Dr. Lodygensky was very careful not to criticise directly the Soviet régime which he has been representing on the Red Cross, it is clear from what he says that the trouble is lack of any reorganization of Russia's shattered economic system. In other words, an insane theory of government has broken down precisely where intelligent minds would expect it to break down.

GREECE AND TURKEY

TH

HE war now going on between Greece and Turkey finds its inception thousands of years back. It is the seemingly eternal conflict between Mohammedan and Christian.

At the close of the World War the success of Venizelos was so pronounced that the Paris Peace Commissioners assigned to Greece not only the indisputably Greek area about Smyrna in Asia Minor, but also Thrace and a large portion of Macedonia. Unfortunately, the unstable Greeks overthrew Venizelos and reinstated Constantine. The Powers, which were about to impose a treaty upon Turkey confirming the Greek territorial accessions, withdrew their financial support from Greece, and, indeed, even their moral support to the extent of inviting delegates of Turks to visit London to confer concerning a readaptation of the Treaty. One delegation represent

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legitimate Government at Constantinople, and the other the rebel or Turkish "Nationalist" Government under Mustapha Kemal, whose capital had been established at Angora in Asia Minor. At the same time the Powers let it be known that any success at arms which the Greeks might achieve against the Turks would not be disputed.

Accordingly, Constantine made ready. His first campaign was unsuccessful, because, after having captured strategic points along the Bagdad Railway, which bisects Asia Minor, he was obliged to retire. His second campaign has been much more successful; he has recaptured these points, and has held them. As to his farther advance, however, into the mountains which separate him from Angora, he is not only a great distance from his source of supplies, but is also facing the certainty of guerrilla warfare, a kind in which the Turkish Nationalists excel.

As reported, the Turks have now gained the support of the Arabs of the Kingdom of Hedjaz, and this may amount to something material as well as moral.

Under these circumstances, it is not

ether surprising that the Paris Su

preme Council should have been considering not only the problem of Upper Silesia, but also the problem of Asia Minor.

MADEMOISELLE LENGLEN

TENN

so.

ENNIS is rapidly becoming a major sport, if it has not already become This must be the conclusion of all observers who saw Mrs. Molla Bjurstedt Mallory defeat the distinguished young French player, Mademoiselle Lenglen, at the West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills, Long Island, two weeks ago. To be sure, the test in which these two great tennis players competed in the tournament for the woman's championship of America was not completed, for Mademoiselle Lenglen, after having been beaten in the first set and in two games of the second, abandoned the contest in a fashion which was somewhat theatrical and must have been for her somewhat tragic. She had arrived from France only two days before and had a slight bronchial cough as a result of an attack of bronchitis from which she was recovering. It was perhaps too much, under these circumstances, to expect her to play the game which has led Furopean and English experts to regard her as the

greatest woman tennis player that ever lived. Indeed, the game she played under adverse conditions was in its grace, accuracy, and skill probably sufficient to have beaten almost any other woman than Mrs. Mallory, whom the French girl kept forcing from side to side in deep back court play in an extraordinary fashion. But the endurance, muscular power, and determination exhibited by Mrs. Mallory, who is a Norwegian by birth, on this historic occasion, was worthy of the football field. That is why we call tennis a major sport.

Mrs. Mallory has since completed the tournament by winning the American championship for the sixth time, beating some of the greatest American women players, such as Mrs. Bundy (Miss Sutton) and Miss Mary Browne. As tennis players Mrs. Mallory and Mademoiselle Lenglen are without doubt in a class by themselves. There seems now to be a possibility that a personal match will be arranged between these two players before the French girl returns to her home. We hope such a contest will take place. While Mrs. Mallory is an American by adoption and marriage, she is a Norwegian by birth. Students of ethnology as well as of athletics will be glad to see such a personal contest. It would throw light on the question whether the muscular strength of the northern races or the nervous grace and finish of the southern races are the most effective in physical prowess. There is a moral as well as a physical power of endurance. Mlle. Lenglen failed to display this quality in her first contest with Mrs. Mallory. We hope she will have and seize the opportunity to retrieve herself in respect of this quality of sportsmanship so remarkably displayed by her countryman Carpentier.

GIVE IT A CHINAMAN'S CHANCE HE thing has never had what I and chance."

So said Mr. Lasker, head of the United States Shipping Board, the other day concerning it. "It is a sick patient," he also averred. It certainly is.

At the close of 1916 there was a fearful dearth of ships. Fantastic prices were paid for new tonnage. To crown all, there was already a German threat of ruthless subna ine campaigns.

Accordingly the United States Shipping Board was formed to build boats. It has done hat. t now controls nearly seventeen hindred. Its accomplishment in the number of ships constructed, tonnage secured, and the time in which this was all done constitutes a most notable achievement in shipbuilding.

But the Board has paid dear. Its operations have cost the taxpayer about $3,500,000,000, a greater sum than any

ever expended by a corporation in a similar period of time. Nor is this the worst. Much of the money has been wastefully spent. There is no evidence, however, to prove that dishonest or fraudulent motives have actuated any members of the Shipping Board.

A particularly distressing fact about the Board's losses is that a very great amount occurred during the fiscal year which ended with June 30 last. This is the more distressing when we reflect that this largest business in the world's history was permitted to drift from June, 1920, to June, 1921.

The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 increased the Shipping Board to seven members. President Wilson made recess appointments. When Congress reconvened, the Senate refused to confirm his appointments. President Harding was prevented from appointing a Chairman, and so did not appoint members of the Board until June, 1921.

SHALL WE HAVE A MERCHANT MARINE

T

HE new Chairman of the Shipping Board has made one pertinent rejoinder to the oft-repeated criticism that our useless ships should have been sold during 1919 and the early part of 1920, prior to the slump in prices. So they should have been. But, Mr. Lasker says, if we had sold them we might have had most of them back now-in other

Congress has been lax and deserves to bear some of the responsibility. Not only did it not heed the President's request to define the policy it desired the Shipping Board to pursue, not only did it decline to direct an immediate sale of the extra ships, but even as late as a year ago last June it authorized the Board to sell ships "as soon as practicable," and, instead of directing the Board to stop building ships, it declared that the Board should have authority to complete any construction work. Even a provision for entirely new construction was inserted.

On August 22 it was announced that 205 of the wooden ships constructed during the war had been sold for $2,100 apiece. This sale graphically illustrates our present condition. The Government may be congratulated on getting any thing for these boats; it was costing nearly $50,000 a month to care for them in the James River, where they are at anchor. They have been sold to the Ship Construction and Trading Company, the only organization that would put in a bid for them, when, for the third time, they were offered for sale. Each of the ships cost the Government several hundred thousand dollars apiece.

PLATTSBURG AGAIN

HE month August, 1921, sees a

have been sold on time, and when the slump came and the companies were unable to meet their payments most of the

idea." Beginning August 7, eight hundred young men without previous military training detrained at Plattsburg

and began a month's work in the Citizens' Military Training Camp on the site of the war-time Plattsburg Camp. Some seventy-five instructors-regular army officers, reserve corps officers, and "non-coms"-are teaching the students the duties of the private in the Regular Army.

We have nine Corps Areas in the United States. The headquarters for the first is at Boston; for the second, Governor's Island, New York; for the third, Fort Howard, Maryland; for the fourth, Fort McPherson, Georgia; for the fifth, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana; for the sixth, Fort Sheridan, Illinois; for the seventh, Fort Crook, Nebraska; for the eighth, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; and for the ninth, San Francisco, California.

In all the nine areas camps are to be held this summer, each being under the direct supervision of the Corps Area or Department Commander.

There are three courses of instruction. The red course provides basic training. The white course provides training for those who want to become non-commissioned officers in the Reserve. The blue course provides training for men who want to become Reserve officers.

The red course camps comprise elementary training and instruction for all candidates. This includes the duties of the private, small-arms firing practice, guard duties, camping and marching, hikes, care of equipment, individual cooking, personal hygiene and physical development, discipline and morale. Normally, five hours a day are devoted

to practical military instruction. This is exclusive of the time given to physical training and the usual military ceremonies and an hour every day for gallery and range small-arms practice. There are no drills or instruction on Saturday afternoons or Sundays.

The chance for a life of upstanding American manhood, on a basis of equality, with transportation, uniforms, subsistence, and even laundry service furnished at the expense of the United States, has appealed to a very large number of young men. Five times as many applied in the Second Corps Area (comprising New York, New Jersey, and Delaware) as could be accommodated. Those who failed of admittance are envying their successful competitors, despite any present hardships in the intricacies of squad movement or the discomforts of the army pack. The unsuccessful applicants have been put on a preference list for the camps of 1922.

A GREAT NEWSPAPER

N August 18 the New York "Times" celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of its career under the management of its present owner, Mr. Adolf Ochs-a career which reflects credit upon the "Times," upon Mr. Ochs, and upon American journalism at large.

When Mr. Ochs took charge of the paper on August 18, 1896, he was a young man of thirty-eight whose journalistic experience was that of publisher and proprietor of a daily newspaper in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The New York "Times" had enjoyed an honorable record under the management of its founder, Mr. George O. Jones. It had been successful both as a property and as a newspaper. One of its great achievements had been the exposure of the Tweed Ring. But its circulation had fallen to 9,000 copies and it was in financial difficulties. It was under these conditions that Mr. Ochs took hold of the property. In twenty-five years he has made it, we think it is wholly within the truth to say, the greatest newspaper in the United States and one of the greatest newspapers in the world. There are other journals that have a larger circulation. There may be other journals that make a larger profit on their investment. But there is no daily journal in this country that we know of that makes a more complete or a better arranged presentation of the news.

We do not always agree with the editorial position of the "Times." For that matter, we have learned by a somewhat painful experience that nobody always agrees with our own editorial position. But what the really reasonable man wants in a newspaper is an intelligent and wise selection of the news, and a well-informed and well-written interpre

tation of the news on the editorial page. The New York "Times" fills this function of a newspaper admirably.

Moreover, it has proved that a respectable and self-respecting newspaper can be made a success as a piece of property. What it has achieved in twenty-five years managed on these admirable lines is indicated by the fact that it now has on its staff 1,885 persons and does a gross business of $15,000,000 a year, and not only manufactures itself typographically but even manufactures some of the paper on which its utterances are printed.

We extend our hearty congratulations to Mr. Ochs and his associates.

I

HOME BREW

T all depends upon the point of view whether the observer thinks that prohibition in the United States is a failure. Some ordinarily intelligent critics seem to believe that it was "put over" upon an unwilling people by a small group of fanatics. Hudson Maxim, the inventor, is one of these critics. He says: "It has been amply proved over and over again by undeniable and unimpeachable evidence upon the subject that the great mass of the American people throughout the country are overwhelmingly opposed to the present type of drastic prohibition."

It seems to us absurd for a man accustomed to statistics and scientific formulæ to make a sweeping statement of this kind. The fact is that the country has had no opportunity since the Prohibition Amendment was enacted to vote in a great and solemn referendum upon the question whether the importation, manufacture, and sale of alcoholic beverages shall be prohibited. Such statistics as we can gather, such reports as we hear, and such history as we read indicate that at least a majority of the people of the United States are in favor of prohibiting the use of alcohol as a beverage. The steady growth of local option and State prohibition during the last twenty-five years at least indicates this. The growth of medical opinion has been towards the conclusion that alcohol is not a beverage but a drug and is to be treated both by society and by the law as a toxic drug. At all events, the Prohibition Amendment has been embodied in the Constitution with the approval of most of the State Legislatures and with the apparent approval of a majority of the voters supporting those Legislatures. It will be a long time before it is repealed, if it is ever repealed. The duty of all good citizens is now to see that it is fairly enforced and that the experiment of classifying alcohol as a toxic drug, to be taken only with the greatest care and under

medical necessity, shall be put to the test of honest trial.

We are not going to fall into the error of Hudson Maxim and make a sweeping statement as to what the result of such a trial will be. But we are inclined to believe that if a whiskyless and saloonless régime is honestly maintained for twenty-five years, the American babies now being born will when they reach their majority no more think of taking alcohol for pleasure than any normal citizen now thinks of taking cocaine or heroin. There are drug addicts to-day and there probably always will be drug addicts, but nine men and women out of ten go through life in this country not only without using narcotic drugs for pleasure, but without even knowing anything about the illicit sale or use of such drugs. It is conceivable that we may reach a stage of civilization in which alcohol will take its place in this respect with pernicious drugs.

The way to accomplish this result, however a result which we believe desirable and worth working for is to devote the energies of the law and its officers to the enforcement of the Prohibition Amendment without frittering away effort in theatrical and futile attempts to interfere with private vice if there are people who wish to indulge in private vice. If there are people who think it is either fun or smart or productive of happiness to make home brew in a saucepan over the kitchen stove, we should let them go on doing it. Most of them will get tired before long and stop of their own accord. It is an established right in English history that a man's house shall not be entered without a warrant and that a warrant for entering cannot be obtained without presumptive indication that crime is being committed in the house.

The Prohibition Amendment forbids the manufacture, importation, or sale of intoxicating alcoholic beverages, and the Volstead Act, which has been declared Constitutional, defines an intoxicating alcoholic beverage as anything containing more than half of one per cent of alcohol. Law enforcement should be directed to seeing that there is no importation or manufacture for sale of such beverages. The need for enforcement of this kind is graphically told in an article elsewhere in this issue.

Some of the believers in prohibition of alcoholic drinks are despondent and some anti-prohibitionists are jubilant because there are so many reports of illicit stills and illicit sale of alcoholic drinks in various parts of the country. As we said at the beginning of this editorial, the conclusions of the observer on this subject are determined by the point of view very largely. Those who frequent gatherings of all sorts, fashionable and