and the Senate. President Roosevelt was disposed to withdraw the treaties altogether rather than have them amended and thus rendered inoperative and subject to rejection by the other treaty powers. He urged their ratification as being a long step to universal arbitration and the peace of the world.

The Mormons on Trial.-For the past two months the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections has been trying the case against Reed Smoot, United States Senator from Utah. The present status of the Mormon sect, of which Mr. Smoot is an apostle, has been made public, but only in so far as the sworn secrecy of Mormons and the reticence of their gentile sympathizers permitted. The prosecution, of which Senator Dubois of Idaho was the leader, rested its case December 20. It sought to prove that the Woodruff manifesto of 1890 against polygamy had not been observed, and that Senator Smoot connived at its violation. Cases were cited of methods still in use to evade the law while adhering to Mormon polygamous principles. The notorious "Endowment" ceremonies were described, in which personal property and absolute obedience are pledged to the leaders and apostles, and the most horrible penalties imposed for the violation of the Endowment oath. Open interference of the Church in politics was also charged. The Mormons held absolute control in Utah and sought to extend their sway by colonizing Idaho, Wyoming and the adjoining States. Mormon school teachers used the public schools to propagate the tenets of their sect, and Mormon influence frustrated the legal prosecution of members of the sect guilty of the most flagrant crimes.

Several of these charges were defiantly admitted before the Committee by two of their apostles and bishops, John H. Smith and Charles W. Penrose. The case was resumed January 10. Witnesses for the Mormons testified that though the Woodruff manifesto was at first thought to condemn only new plural marriages but not polygamous cohabitation (apparently a distinction without a difference), yet since its real sense became clear, the great majority of Mormons had conformed to it. They denied that any real significance was attached to the oath of vengeance "against this generation for the blood of the prophets." None of the Mormon or even ex-Mormon witnesses would reveal or admit any of the Endowment House practices. Gentile witnesses testified rather favorably to the accused Latter Day Saints. Mormon influence as such was said to be waning in politics. No polygamist had been elected to public office since Utah became a State, and polygamy was dying out, though many of the older members practised it to the extent of having as many as nine wives. The young people were all opposed to it. Thus of seventy-four known polygamists in Salt Lake City, only two were under fifty years of age. President Smith, indeed, was a notorious polygamist, and his example was bad; yet for that reason he could not be eligible to any public office. Public sentiment was opposed to prosecuting polygamists as it was hoped the abuse would surely die out, and no one seeking office cared to lose the Mormon vote.

Some Gentiles resented the opposition to the sect as a kind of religious persecution. Such was said to have been the attitude of many Catholics at the November elections. Senator Smoot was considered a strong anti-polygamist in theory and practice, and it was hoped he would use his extensive political influence within and without his Church to redeem Mormonism from its illegalities. Mr. Smoot was the last to be called in his own defence and substantiated all the favorable points brought out in the preceding testimony. Apropos of all this comes the report from Utah that the legislature, in which Mormon influence is dominant, has replaced Senator Kearns by George Sutherland, a Gentile, but, unlike Kearns, a supporter of the Mormon Church.

The Fall River Strike.-On January 18, through the mediation of Governor Douglas, of Massachusetts, who in his inaugural address had called this strike an appalling spectacle and a blemish on the good name of the Commonwealth, the strikers were induced to return to work and both parties agreed to submit their disputes to the Governor as arbiter. This famous strike began July 25 of last year, and involved 25,000 cotton weavers in 71 mills at Fall River, Mass. The cause was a 121⁄2 per cent. reduction of wages that had been preceded eight months before by a 10 per cent. reduction. One month ago 10,000 had returned to work and 5,000 had left the city; the rest held out, though at all times the strikers were anxious to submit their claims to arbitration. The employers, however, would accept no conditions, protesting their readiness to prove from their books the impossibility of granting the old wages in view of sharp competition in other parts of the United States. Governor Douglas used his influence, and arbitration is being tried as a remedy. No advance will be made in wages until a decision shall have been rendered. The direct losses to all parties are placed at $5,000,000. The strikers received from the various labor unions about $1,000,000 in benefits, but nevertheless the strike reduced many of them with their families to the acutest suffering from cold and hunger.

The Appeal of Pius X.-His Holiness Pius X. has turned to the Catholics of the United States to aid him in the needs that the Catholics of troubled Europe can no longer supply. Mgr. Falconio makes the appeal.

"I regret to state," he says, "that notwithstanding the generous response of the American people, the financial condition of the Holy See is far from being prosperous or satisfactory. The present sad state of some of the most prosperous nations of Europe and the increased demands on the funds of the Church are the principal causes of the actual financial situation of the Holy See, a situation upon which our Holy Father looks with alarm, because, unless his children come forward more liberally to his assistance, notwithstanding the utmost economy practised in every direction, he can hardly meet the exigencies of the vast administration of the Church, which extends throughout the whole world.

Consequently, His Eminence the Cardinal Secretary of State requests me to make known to all the ordinaries of the United States the said financial difficulties, in the hope that by their zeal those sources of revenue which have heretofore been forthcoming from France and Italy, and of which at present in a very large measure the Holy See is deprived, may be adequately compensated.

* * *

"Hence, besides the general yearly collection, which is to remain as heretofore and to be more earnestly encouraged, other means are suggested which may prove here in America as productive as they have been in some countries of Europe."

One of these means, Mgr. Falconio suggests, is the formation of "Peter's Pence Societies."

A Brooklyn Jubilee.—On January 8, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, of Brooklyn, celebrated its Golden Jubilee by a religious service in St. James' pro-Cathedral, at which Bishop Cusack officiated and Archbishop Glennon preached, and by a public meeting held at Montauk Theatre in the evening. Mayor McClellan, of Greater New York, presided at this meeting and made an address in which he highly commended the work of the Society in general as known to himself. He said that it was the first organization in the United States to systematize charity work. The principal speaker was Professor Carmody, of Columbia University. Archbishop Glennon and others made brief addresses. The forty-eight conferences of this flourishing Brooklyn society have a membership of 1,000 or more. During its existence it founded two homes for newsboys and friendless women, and has expended in charity upwards of $1,500,000.

The Clergy and Hierarchy.-Archbishop Farley has been made assistant at the Pontifical Throne by the Holy Father.

Right Rev. J. F. Regis Canevin, who was appointed Coadjutor of Pittsburg cum jure succesionis two years ago, has now succeeded the late Bishop Phelan in that See.

Right. Rev. Bishop Carroll, who was consecrated to the See of Helena, December 21, by Archbishop Keane, Right Rev. Bishops Scannell and O'Reilly assisting, was installed in his new diocese January 27. Bishop Carroll had presided over St. Joseph's College, Dubuque, with eminent success for ten years. Rev. D. M. Gorman has since been appointed to the presidency by Archbishop Keane.

Bishop McFaul has had a bill introduced in the House of Representatives authorizing the Secretary of War to erect a chapel at Sandy Hook for the use of Catholic soldiers. Of course this chapel is not to be built at the government's expense.

His Holiness, Pius X., has raised to the dignity of Monsignor two wellknown priests of New York, Rev. Richard L. Burtsell, of Rondout, and Very Rev. Nelson H. Baker, V. G., of Buffalo, the latter known for his zealous work as head of St. John's Catholic Protectory, West Seneca, N. Y.

Rev. P. B. Englert, O.F.M., Rector of the Franciscan College, Washington, has been appointed canonical visitor to Cuba.

Right Rev. Bernard Menges, O.S.B., was installed as Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery, Cullman, Ala., by Bishop Allen, of Mobile.

The Philippines. As a result of Archbishop Agius' conference with Secretary Taft and the Bureau of Insular Affairs, December 16, to negotiate the adjustment of claims for church property in the Philippines taken by our government at the time of our occupation of the Islands, the Supreme Court at Manila has been given jurisdiction to settle disputes between the original holders of churches and missions and the usurpers who follow the schismatic Aglipay. The Secretary of the Anti-Imperialist League, in an open letter to Bishop Spalding, discusses the preparation of the Filipinos for independence. "It seems to me," he says, "that it is our duty in every way to aid and hasten that preparation, and, from my point of view, to bring about a condition of things in which the Aglipayan schism can no longer receive aid and comfort from the irreligious example of the American military and civil officers, speculators and exploiters. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the disregard of religious duty which has spread so rapidly in the Philippine Islands is directly due to this example."

Civil service examinations were held in St. Louis, December 28 and 29, for the selection of 140 teachers to fill vacancies in the public schools. Good salaries of $1,000 a year and upward are to be paid to these teachers. The Christian Brothers of this country have been requested by the authorities to send members of their Congregation to take charge of some of the schools in the Islands. Brother Edward has gone to negotiate the matter. The Bureau of Insular Affairs is bringing thirty more Filipino students, but to be entered in Catholic Colleges and Academies when the next school year begins. The Philippine Weather Bureau exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition was highly honored by the Committee on Awards. One grand prize was awarded to it as a model Meteorologico-Seismical Station of the first class. Another was awarded for maps of the Archipelago, one of them a large relief map. The Director, Rev. Jose Algué, S.J., was awarded a grand prize for two important instruments invented by him. In addition to these, nine gold medals were secured by Father Algué and his assistants at the Observatory and Atenéo, Manila. On the closing day of the Exposition an army of Colporteurs scattered Bibles, neatly printed in Spanish and stamped with a cross on the cover, among the Visayans and other Filipinos on the Fair Grounds, who were then photographed in the attitude of holding the Bibles. One of their own faith was on the scene and their action was prompt and emphatic when they discovered the ruse.

The Philippine scouts, 280 in number, who won great praise at the St. Louis Exposition will remain to participate in the inauguration parade at Washington next month, and in the annual military tournament in New York. They will then return to the Philippines.

Miguel Nicdao, a Filipino in the Illinois State Normal University and a convert from Catholicity to Methodism, contributed to the student publication of that public institution an attack on the Church and the Friars of his native land. The article was widely copied by the public press, and when protest was made to the President of the University, he replied that

though he had recognized the unfairness of the article, he merely gave instructions to carefully correct the English and let it go to print. The matter was then brought to the attention of the Bureau of Insular Affairs at Washington, and Mr. Nicdao was properly reprimanded.

CANADA.

Active preparations are going on for the first Canadian Plenary Council, soon to be convened. Mgr. Falconio, when Delegate Apostolic to Canada, took the first steps, and the present Delegate, Mgr. Sbaretti, has been active in completing the necessary preliminaries for the Council. The committee to which was assigned the work of drawing up plans and arranging topics, has been meeting regularly at Ottawa. The President is Mgr. C. Alfred Marois, Vicar General of Quebec; Mgr. Paquet, Director of the Grand Seminary, also represents the Diocese of Quebec. Montreal is represented by Very Rev. E. Roy, D.D., and Very Rev. Chas. Lecoq, S.S., Superior of the Grand Seminary; Kingston by Archdeacon Casey, of Lindsay and Very Rev. John Masterson, V.G.; Toronto by Very Rev. J. J. McCann, V.G., and Rev. J. E. Meunier, V.G., of London; Ottawa by Rev. D. Jacques, O.P., and Rev. E. A. Latulippe; Halifax by the Very Rev. Alex. McDonald, V.G., and Rev. J. Levallois, DD., Eudist; Vancouver by Rev. W. J. Murphy, O.M.I., and Rev. J. E. Emery, O.M.I.; St. Boniface by Rev. M. Froc, O. M. I., and Rev. J. Grenier, S.J., of Sault au Recollet. Their work will serve to guide the hierarchy in the sessions of the Council, on which will depend to a great extent the religious future of the Church in Canada.

Archbishop Bruchési, of Montreal, who assisted at the Jubilee exercises at Rome with five other Canadian Bishops and three Vicars Apostolic, has obtained from the Holy See the appointment of Very Rev. Mgr. Zotique Racicot as his auxiliary in the See of Montreal.

Bishop Dontenwill, of British Columbia, had an audience with His Holiness, December 26, and received a special blessing for the 10,000 Catholic Indians in his diocese, New Westminster.

ROME.

The Marial Festivals. We can give but the merest outline of the magnificent festivals which Rome celebrated in honor of the Jubilee of the Immaculate Conception. From November 16 to 27, missions were preached in twenty-six churches. There was a solemn funeral service for Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII at St. John Lateran's on the 26th. On the 27th the Marial Exposition was inaugurated, and on the 30th the Marial Congress began. From December 1 to 3 there was a solemn triduum at St. John Lateran's. Afterwards similar services were held in various churches. On the 8th the Pope sang Mass at St. Peter's in presence of a multitude, literally, of all nations. Thirty-four cardinals were present, 200 bishops, the complete Diplomatic Corps save the representative of France, and amongst others the sister and brother of the Pope. The apse was brilliant with electric lights, and in the window above was a transparent image of the Mother Immaculate. Before the Mass