republican form of government in the islands, and, while he at first finds it difficult to realize that there is possibility of such a future, and admits the necessity of the presence of a large American military and naval force for many years to come, he still finds reasonable possibilities for an eventual establishing of representative government.

The Ice Trust

The answer of Mayor Van Wyck to the charges against him relating to the Ice Trust has been made public, together with the opinion on the charges rendered to Governor Roosevelt by Attorney-General Davies, of New York State. These charges were brought by the New York " 'World," and Mr. Davies finds in them a lack of evidence, a doubt as to who was responsible as counsel, and, generally, much informality. As to their substance, Mr. Davies finds that Mayor Van Wyck did hold stock in the American Ice Company, but that when it was bought the Company had no business relations with the city of New York, and as soon as the Mayor discovered that such relations existed he began to sell his stock. In all respects but one, Mr. Davies finds the Mayor's reply satisfactory; that exception is in the fact that Mayor Van Wyck bought the stock from the President of the Company on credit, at very favorable terms; others than Mr. Davies do not hesitate to draw the inference that the Mayor practically received a large present from the Ice Trust, and presumably for municipal favors or official influence. The Attorney General's conclusion is that there is not sufficient basis for further action by the Governor in the way of appointing a commission to consider the charges. This report by Mr. Davies was dated on October 4, and was sent to Governor Roosevelt in the Far West, where he was engaged in Republican campaigning. Mr. Davies recommended that the papers in the case should not be made public until Governor Roosevelt returned, as in point of fact no official action could constitutionally be taken out of the State. It may be stated, in connection with this matter, that the New York "World" published what purported to be a telegram from Mr. Odell to Governor Roosevelt, urging that Mayor Van Wyck's answer

should not be made public until after election, lest it imperil Republican chances. Governor Roosevelt, however, is quoted by the New York "Tribune" as saying that this telegram was "an absolute fake." He added, "I am going to make the telegraph company prove it a fake." We earnestly hope that Governor Roosevelt will carry out this intention, as the public as well as individuals concerned should be protected from outrageous forgery. Mr. Roosevelt's declination to make public. the Mayor's answer or the Attorney-General's report was based on the uniform practice of the Executive not to publish any of the proceedings in such cases until a decision is reached; and apparently it was within the power of the Mayor to have published his reply at any time.

A Criticism

This report gives us occasion to offer a criticism on the recent political campaign which we did not offer while it was pending, because it concerns a matter of minor detail, and it did not seem to us wise to deflect public thought from fundamental issues to subordinate questions. We venture to doubt the practical wisdom of the kind of campaigning illustrated most strikingly by the railroad tours of Mr. Bryan and Mr. Roosevelt. The speech which a candidate for office can make from the rear platform of a car in ten minutes, to a crowd which has come to see and not to listen, still less to learn, is not educative. It has and can have no such serious effect on the public mind as the debates in Illinois between Lincoln and Douglas, or such speeches as that of Elihu Root at Canton, and that of Carl Schurz at Cooper Union. When such a railroad campaign is undertaken by candidates for President and Vice-President respectively, the soberer portion of the American people cannot but feel that there is involved a loss of dignity; and when, in addition, it takes the Governor of a great State like New York away, not merely from the capital, but from the State, so that he is not able, under the constitution, to take executive action in so serious a matter as is involved in charges against the Mayor of a city containing over three millions of inhabitants, there is a failure in public duty as well. It is true that in this case the charges against the Mayor were not sustained; but it is also true that he

these schools, yet, in the height of their success and in spite of their doing the work cheaper and better than the Government itself could do it, we find that the subsidy has been for the greater part and will eventually be entirely withdrawn." "In other words," adds Bishop McFaul, "our enemies would rather have the Indian children grow up without religion than taught the tenets of the Catholic Church." His third grievance is the payment of taxes by Roman Catholics for the support of schools to which they cannot conscientiously send their children. The remedy suggested is concerted action among Roman Catholic societies; this would probably lead to political unity among Roman Catholics, though Bishop McFaul adds, "I have not the remotest idea of promoting or even suggesting a Roman Catholic political party."

This complaint is answered by a Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. T. H. Malone, of Denver, a member of the Colorado State Board of Charities and Correction. His article also appears in the "North American Review." Father Malone says that, while there have been some instances of friction in New Jersey, the cases are rare in which Roman Catholic priests have been hindered in ministering to their co-religionists in any city, county, State, or Federal institution in America. He admits that, in isolated cases, Roman Catholic priests may have been hampered by an excess either of official machinery or of bigotry on the part of officials. But, he protests, "a particular instance of this character cannot, in logic or common sense, be adduced in support of a universal conclusion that Roman Catholics are prevented from receiving spiritual ministra tions in charitable, penal, and reformatory institutions. To do so would be as unjust as to assume that Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority is unwilling to supply the religious needs of these institutions because, in a certain case, a State Board of Charities and Correction has been unable to secure the ministrations of a Roman Catholic clergyman in the institutions under its control." Father Malone declares that he has visited prisons in all

Roman Catholics and Constitutional Rights

parts of the United States, that he has everywhere been received with good will, and that at all seasonable times he could have celebrated mass and given religious instruction to Roman Catholic inmates. While he deplores the fact that Roman Catholic Indian schools have been hampered (if the failure of the Government to make further appropriations for their support has so resulted), he finds it difficult to understand how any one could expect that the Government "would return to its policy of subsidizing these schools." He points out that, five years ago, under the Cleveland administration, the United States Government declared its definite and irrevocable policy in the future to be the refusal of support to private Indian schools. Of this intention five years' notice was given-the support being withdrawn at the rate of twenty per cent. annually. No direct answer is made to Bishop McFaul's theory that the taxes paid by Roman Catholics should be turned over to Roman Catholic authorities for the maintenance of Roman Catholic schools. Father Malone's words, however, are not consistent with such a theory: "I quite agree with a distinguished Catholic author that it would be much better if both Catholics and Protestants would cease accepting money from the State for any purpose." The Outlook absolutely agrees with him in this respect; whether he agrees with The Outlook that public education is a matter for the State primarily and only for the Church secondarily we are not sure; but this is the opinion of some eminent Roman Catholic authorities.

Leo XIII. has addressed A Papal Encyclical to the Roman Catholic Bishops an encyclical, dated November 1, on the subject of the Redeemer. The Pontiff says he rejoices at the assemblage of Catholics from all parts of the world in Rome during Holy Year, which, he adds, demonstrates that the peoples are marching toward Christ. He exhorts the world to seek the Redeemer, which, the Pope points out, is the road to truth and life, adding: “As Christ's coming to the world reformed society, so the latter, in turning to Christ, will become better, and be saved by following his doctrines and divine law, by discountenancing revolt

against the constituted powers and avoiding conflicts." If the peoples acted so, the encyclical continues, they would all love one another as brothers, and obey peacefully, their superiors. Neglect of God, the Pontiff further asserts, has led to so many disorders that the peoples are oppressed with incessant fears and anguish. He concludes with urging the Bishops to make known to the entire world that the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind alone can bring salvation and peace. We commend this encyclical to the Western clergyman whose article Wanted, a Motive," called out the editorial a reply to which, with our response, will be found on another page. The Pope appears to believe that the Gospel is a fact and a life rather than a dogma.

66

President Stanley

Dr. Hall on Bible Study Hall, of Clark University, recently made an address on Bible Instruction in the Sunday-School which has attracted no little attention and some criticism, and which appears to us to be full of value. As reported, we should characterize it as an attempt to apply psychological principles in the construction of a course of Bible study. Its keynote is the declaration that the succession of the books of the Bible is about as good pedagogy as can be devised, simply because they take the child through the same order of religious experiences as has been traversed by the race in its spiritual evolution. He would, therefore, begin with the Bible stories, presumptively the Creation, the Fall, the Patriarchal stories, and so on through Samson, Jephtha, David, Elijah, and Elisha. Where he would put Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, and the Prophets does not appear from the report before us. When the arrival of adolescence comes is the time for the introduction of the New Testament, with its new birth of love. To attempt to introduce it before is to anticipate the order of nature. Justice, law, obedience, habit-making, must precede the spontaneous and free life of the spirit inculcated in and developed by the New Testament. Not until the later years of adolescence is there a natural attraction to the spirit of entire devotion as manifested by Jesus, and then is the time for teaching pity, charity, and other unselfish tendencies.

On the Life of Christ

Moreover, in teaching

this life, at first the

object should be simply to present it as a human life, without, on the one hand, perplexing the child's mind with any doctrine of divinity, or, on the other, still less, explaining away the miracles. On this subject we quote from the Rev. George William Cooke's interpretative report in the Boston "Transcript :"

It is a dangerous thing to mix up Deity and humanity, and to set Jesus apart from others. The result is that children are not attracted to Jesus, and they never will be until his simple hand, as the mental attitude of the child is humanity is presented to them. On the other that of those who believe in miracles, no effort should be made to keep from children the miraculous element in his life. Miracles should be interpreted as a great expression of love, but the mysteries of the Trinity and incarnation should be kept away from the young.

It is, we believe, this statement which has subjected Dr. Hall to the severest criticism. But we believe that in it he is thoroughly correct. Paul came to his knowledge of Jesus through the revelation of his divine appearance while the Apostle was on the road to Damascus. But the twelve came in the other way; they knew him first as a teacher, then as the Messiah, not certainly till after his resurrection as divine. It is in this way that the mind most naturally comes to know Christ's divinity. If it is to know that God was in Christ, it must first know the Christ in whom he was. If acquaintance with the human life of Jesus does not suffice to develop acquaintance with the divine spirit which filled and radiated that life, nothing can suffice for that purpose.

Of the increasing numSt. George's Church ber of Year-Books published by our churches, that of St. George's, New York City, still maintains its lead in interest. St. George's is essentially a downtown church; perhaps it has successfully solved more problems than has any other religious institution similarly situated. similarly situated. Within the past year, however, its situation has again changed. As Dr. Rainsford, the rector, says, from the nature of the movement in the population of the city, those who are liberally supplied with means form each year a lessening proportion of the congregation;

but poor people, too, are now moving away from the neighborhood; nor are the causes of this movement hard to understand:

Here is a family that comes in contact with the church when the children are quite little. These join the kindergarten and juvenile Sunday-school classes. In their early teens the boys go into the Trade-school, the girls into the Junior Friendly. Later the boys are to be found in the Battalion, and still later in the Men's Club, while the girls have graduated to the various classes of the Girls' Friendly or King's Daughters. The whole status of the family has risen, and when these children, who came to us before their teens, reach their early twenties, the family comes to the conclusion that the neighborhood in which they have lived for many years isn't good enough for them, and they move to Brooklyn or to One Hundred and Fiftieth Street. It is absolutely true that our poor people are moving away almost as rapidly as our rich have moved. You will see that, the facts being as I state them, the work of the church is not made easier thereby. We have to stand our ground, and do what we can for thousands of people who in a few years will not be numbered in our flock. Surely the work of the downtown church in New York presents difficulties and opportunities that are unique.

A new departure made during the past year was the freeing of Dr. Rainsford's staff from all other work for a fortnight, that it might devote its attention to a houseto-house visitation of certain blocks east of First Avenue. Over 2,200 visits were made; not the usual hurried calls made by census-takers, but visits often prolonged to an hour, in which the information desired was sought until it was obtained. On the admirable scheme of lectures addressed to workingmen which found successful realization last winter The Outlook has already commented. Dr. Rainsford's next need to be supplied is as follows: "I want to give the young working people opportunity for meeting. ... Opportunities for social intercourse are an immense moral safeguard. . . . As things are to-day in New York, where can a young man and a young woman meet? Not in the tenement house. That is too crowded and generally too hot.

street is a poor place, and to loiter there and talk is contrary to law. The hasty 'move on' of the policeman is not a pleasant though it is a very common experience." Dr. Rainsford would provide a large, simply furnished room, with a piano and papers and writing materialsa church drawing-room always open. The

idea is a good one, and we hope to see the experiment tried.

Educational Progress

The report of Dr. Harris, United States. Commissioner of Education, for the year ending June 30, 1899, which has recently been issued by the Government, shows a total enrollment of pupils in American schools and colleges of all kinds of 16,738,362; of these more than fifteen million pupils were in attendance on the public schools, and about a million and a half were in private schools and colleges. Before 1896 the average school year in the public schools of the country had never exceeded one hundred and forty days; during the year covered by the report the average rose to 143 2-10 days. Of the entire population of the country during the period covered by the report, about one person in four and a half was in attendance upon schools, and about one in every five hundred of the population was receiving a college education. The work of teaching was performed by about four hundred thousand teachers in the common schools, of whom sixty-eight in every hundred were women; the latter received on an average $38.14 monthly; the men teachers, $45.25. The public schools receive from funds raised by taxation about two hundred millions of dollars, the average amount for each person being $2.67. To this ought to be added the fact, commented upon in The Outlook at the time, that the amount of money given by private persons for educational purposes in this country during last year exceeded seventy millions of dollars. With this great public and private generosity has come not only increased educational facilities of every sort, but a prolonged period of school life. Thirty years ago the average child in the public schools received three years of training; last year the average child received nearly four and a half years of training. The standards of teaching have steadily risen ; and while much remains to be done in detaching the public schools of the country entirely from politics and in substituting fresh and individual methods of training for mechanical methods, the advance of the country in the last twenty years in all educational matters has been most encouraging.