2

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

THE AUSTRIAN REPLY. The Austrian reply to the second note regarding the sinking of the Ancona was more conciliatory in tone than had been anticipated, and went far toward meeting the American demands. Teclared that the commander of the submarine had been pubished for exceeding his instrictions, so far that he failed to make allowance for the panic among ihe passengers so as to permit their escape; and it promised indemnity to American citizens who suffered. It expressed assent to the principle that private ships which do not flee or offer resistance should not be destroyed without allowing those on board to escape; though it did not distinctly promise that there should be no repetition of the Ancona incident. For the rest, the note was mainly an elaborate statement of the circumstances, a shouldering of responsibility upon the crew of the Ancona for the loss of life, and a disavowal of liability for lives lost while the ship was in flight, or by the faulty lowering of lifeboats, and the capsizing of boats. This was followed, however, by a promise to disregard "gaps in proof" in particular claims for indemnity. ALMOST A SECOND

ΤΑΝΙΑ.

LUSI

The sinking of the British passenger ship Persia in the Mediterranean by a torpedo ranks with the sinking of the Cunarder Lusitania among the submarine tragedies of the war. The ship was attacked without warning; no attempt was made to assist those on board; and the ship sank five minutes after the torpedo struck her, carrying with her about onehalf of the passengers and crew. There were several Americans on board, among them the newly-appointed consul at Aden, Arabia, Robert N. McNeely. There was no panic, and the survivors report that the crew behaved splendidly. There is, therefore, no room for such quibbling as was contained in the Austrian note, attempting to throw the blame for the loss of life upon the crew. Coming, as it did, just as the Austrian reply to the note on the Ancona was published, it seemed to afford fresh proof of the inadequacy of diplomatic exchanges to check the horrible submarine warfare upon unarmed merchant shipping. THE CONSCRIPTION QUESTION IN GREAT BRITAIN.

The crisis over compulsory service in Great Britain has advanced so far as this, that the Cabinet, at the cost of whatever divisions may be caused in its own ranks and of whatever bitter opposition in Parliament, has determined to push a bill giving it power to force the enlistment of unmarried men, if found necessary. The straits in which the Government finds itself might well appeal to the patriotism of all groups in Parliament and all classes of citizens; but, with the Irish members openly declaring themselves against conscription and the labor unions organizing against it, the crisis is a serious one. The situation may yet be relieved by rapid voluntary enlistment; but, if it is not, it may be hoped that the patriotism of the country will rise to the support of the Government.

THE GERMAN MUNITION
PLOTS.

The eight indictments found by the Federal Grand Jury in New York for conspiracy to prevent the manufacture and shipment of arms and ammunition to the Entente Allies cover Captain Franz von Rintelen of the German navy, the chief instigator of munition strikes, who is now a prisoner in England; Representative Buchanan, of the seventh Illinois district; former Attorney-General Monett of Ohio; ex-Congressman Fowler of Illinois; David Lamar, right hand man in the work of tying who is regarded as von Rentelen's up munition plants; and Jacob C. Taylor, Henry B. Martin and Herman Schulteis, officers of the so-called Labor's National Peace Council, a notorious pro-German body, organized with the ostensible purpose of promoting international peace, but financed and controlled by von Rintelen and his associates, with a view to bribing labor leaders and manipulating labor organizations. The trial of these men and of others, who will be indicted later, will lead to startling disclosures.

A MYSTERIOUS EMBASSY. Speculation is rife as to the real mission upon which Colonel Edwin M. House, the President's confidential adviser, who has been sometimes described as a sort of unofficial ambassador-at-large, has just sailed for Europe. It is vigorously denied that he goes upon any kind of a peace mission, and still more vigorously that he goes to collect information which may lead to the displacement American representatives in belligerent countries. It is given out that the object of his visit to European capitals is to to convey American ambassadors exactly what the President thinks and what American sentiment desires, and to bring back confidential statements to the President regarding the European diplomatic situation. But none of the official explanations make the matter very clear.

of some

"PORK" VERSUS PREPARED

NESS.

It is understood that the enemies of the President's plans for national preparedness have hit upon the ingenious scheme of antagonizing bills for army and navy increase with bills for public buildings and river and harbor improvements-bills, that is to say, of the familiar "pork-barrel" type. In this way, they hope to array against the proposals for national defence the strong local and sectional interests which are always eager for a share of the national expenditures. Their argument will be that, if the nation is able to appropriate millions for warships and a larger army, it should have money to spend for good roads, new public buildings, and river and harbor improvements. No less than three appropriation bills for these purposes are being worked out by the respective committees, and the anti-preparedness groups will do their utmost to push them along ahead of bills framed to carry out the President's recommendations. A BOOMING FOREIGN TRADE.

The intimation that Americans are well content to have the great war go on, because they are making so much money out of it, is entirely

January 6, 1916

cynical and groundless; but it is per"fectly true that our foreign trade is reaching prodigious and unprecedented proportions. In November alone, our imports and exports totalled half a billion dollars. The exports reached $331,144,000, which was far the largest total on record. During the twelve months ending with November, our amounted to $3,437,000,000, which was

exports

one and a half billion dollars in excess of the figures for the preceding year. Our imports for the same result of this huge excess of exports period were $1,730,000,000. As one the country as over imports, gold is pouring into never before. The net inward gold movement for the twelve months was $390,983,000, against a net outward movement the year before of $174,705,000. THE "MURDER DEATH-RATE."

The statistics of what is graphically called the "murder death-rate" in the United States, by which is meant the ratio which the number of homicides in a given period bears to the total population, are sufficiently depressing. They show a bad state of things steadily growing worse. For the last ten years, the average annual homicide-rate for the thirty cities grouped in the table was 8.1 per 100,000 inhabitants as compared with 5.0 for the preceding decade, and 4.8 for the decade before that. The comparison by cities shows Memphis at the head of the list, with a homicide-rate of 63.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, or nearly eight times the average in the group. The murder deathrate for the registration area of this country for the period 1909-13 was 6.4 per 100,000 of population, as compared with 0.8 for England and Wales, 2.0 for Prussia, 3.6 for Italy, and 1.9 for Australia. These statistics are a painful reflection, not so much upon American laws, but upon the non-enforcement of them.

MAGAZINES

-In "Labor and Capital-Partners" by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in the January Atlantic, we get a definite statement of the industrial creed of a man who has recently been the victim of more unfavorable publicity and misunderstanding and calumny than any other individual in the country. Now he sets forth clearly his theory of the partnership of labor and capital, and illustrates it by explaining the nature of the "Industrial Constitution" which has recently been devised for the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Seldom appears such a valuable contribution toward the solution of the tremendous problems of modern industry. At this season, when prohibition is discussed everywhere, there is also special interest in John Koren's "Social Aspects of Drink." The Atlantic's war articles are as stimulating as usual: Rebecca West writes brilliantly on the growth and transformation of the women of England under the conditions of war; W. J. Ashley, the leading British expert of the economic resources of Germany, explains the cotton situation in that country to-day; Roland G. Usher poses and answers the question, "Can Sea Power Decide the War?" J. W. Headlam unravels the Balkan diplomatic tangle. There is interest for every type of reader in the other Atlantic papers.

One

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