1914 COMMERCE AND FINANCE important export crop in the present emergency. That in suggesting 8 cents per pound for middling cotton as a basis for loans, it is not the purpose of the Committee to convey the idea that that figure represents, in their opinion, the intrinsic value of cotton, but that it is sufficient, in their judgment, to meet the requirements of the situation and enable the farmer to market his cotton in an orderly and deliberate manner. Your Committee recommends that notes having not longer than four months to run, when secured by proper warehouse receipts for the aforesaid commodities, properly insured, be accepted for rediscount by the Federal Reserve Banks, when organized, and that they also be approved by the National Currency Associations as security for additional circulation to the National banks under the provisions of the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, as amended by the Federal Reserve Act. The quoted portions of Mr. McAdoo's announcement and his Committee's report indicate the essential elements of the unique expedient devised to meet an unprecedented situation. The report of the Committee appointed by Secretary McAdoo is in effect a declaration of experts that loans properly margined, secured by cotton valued at 8 cents per pound, basis middling, are reasonably safe, and taken in conjunction with the Treasury announcement may be considered as suggesting that the currency issued against cotton warehouse receipts will be secured by cotton at 8 cents per pound, less the customary banker's margin and the further deduction of twenty-five per cent required by the Treasury under the law. If the banker exacts a margin of only ten per cent, he will be loaning but 7.20 cents per pound on cotton, and the notes issued by the United States will be for only seventy-five per cent of this price, or 5.40 cents per pound, which is the lowest price at which cotton has sold since the War of the Confederacy, and practically the lowest price at which it has ever sold since the railway and telegraph made a broad market for the most generally used commodity in the world. The delay in organizing the Federal Reserve Banks consequent upon the political wrangle over the appointment of the Federal Reserve Board has made it necessary to rely upon the Aldrich-Vreeland Act and the issue of currency which it provides. Since its passage this law has not been availed of until 99 recently. Under its provisions banks collectively organized, as described in Mr. McAdoo's statement, may issue their own notes guaranteed by the United States to an amount equal to one hundred and twenty-five per cent of their capital and surplus. As security for these notes there must be deposited at Washington bonds or "other securities" or commercial paper which the Secretary of the Treasury may accept at not exceeding seventyfive per cent of their face value. Of the circulation so issued not more than thirty per cent may be based upon commercial paper; the balance must be against "bonds or other securities." The banks of the South have but few "bonds or other securities." Their assets consist chiefly of commercial paper or loans against merchandise. It follows, therefore, that a Northern bank having the necessary securities could take out circulation equal to one hundred and twenty-five per cent of its capital and surplus, but that most Southern banks could procure circulation equal only to thirty per cent of their capital and surplus. The decision of Secretary McAdoo to accept warehouse receipts for cotton and tobacco as other securities" will enable a Southern bank which is a member of a National Currency Association to increase its circulation by one hundred and twenty-five per cent of its capital and surplus; and though this currency cannot be counted as part of its legal reserve, it can be reckoned as reserve by most State banks, and is by common consent, though not legally, available for the payment of all private debts. There is in certain sections of the country more or less criticism of the action that has been taken. This criticism emanates from those who assert that the law of supply and demand should not be interfered with, and that any increase of circulation that is not based on gold, or securities payable in gold, is" inflationary." Adequate reply to these criticisms would require too much space. It may be said, however, that any legitimate application of the law of supply and demand presupposes a world in which the operation of economic law has not been, as at present, factitiously suspended by war and moratoria; and those who object to using stimulants to prolong commercial life and credit in the present situation could just as consistently object to the use of oxygen in case of pneumonia or artificial respiration to prevent death by drowning. As to inflation, it is probable that those who use the word are not, in most cases, able to define it. Assuming a gold standard of the present weight and fineness, there can be no inflation when currency is issued against property actually hypothecated upon a basis. less than it is reasonably worth in gold. If cotton is not reasonably worth a great deal more than 5.40 cents a pound, or about fiftysix per cent of the generally admitted cost of production, then all the postulates of economics are misleading, and the entire machinery of credit rests upon a basis that is false. O THE SPECTATOR N the brow of a high hill in central Vermont commanding a view of distant blue peaks of the White Mountains, with the Connecticut River in the foreground, the Spectator joined the crowd and waited. It was the entrance to the Thetford Pageant Grounds, and a new kind of pageant was about to be presented. Up the steep slope the girl campers came, in well-formed lines, each line singing the songs of its own camp-girls in blue, girls in brown, girls in green and white, all arrayed in the bloomer-and-jumper costume of the girls' camp. Soon the procession reached across the wide fields to the top of the hill, where they formed in single file and entered a wood path. The Spectator turned to the right and entered the pine woods through a bypath and reached the grassy stage before the procession. In the center of the grassy circle was a huge totem-pole, the symbol of the union of eight sister camps in their intercamp celebration. This was surmounted by a banner bearing the inter-camp dragon. An orchestra, consisting of players from all the camps, was grouped about the pole. The edge of the circle was lined with waiting friends, while the grand stand—a rustic platform of different levels-was thronged with spectators from the countryside. Opposite the stand was the entrance from the wood path. At the opening strains of the festival music the first line entered from this path a stately line of Indian maidens issuing from the primitive forest. Singing original words to the festival music, they marched in a spiral around the symbolic pole. The sister camps followed the hostesses of the day. Each in turn sang an original stanza between the orchestral interludes, then all joined in the final : "We join our voices now in song; Our hearts beat high with joy that lives We love the woods, the birds and flowers, Till with joy our camps may meet again." Now the spiral wound out, and all were seated in a circle on the grass. The heads of all the camps then came to the center. The meaning of the Inter-Camp Pageant and the celebration of Inter-Camp Day was made clear to the Spectator, as each camp for ten minutes occupied the center of the stage. Camp Hanoum, the hostess, came first. It was her part to tell her sister campers and their friends the meaning of the symbols on the eight divisions of the totem-pole, which her own craft workers had constructed for the occasion. The pole was made in eight parts, each part representing one of the eight camps uniting for Inter-Camp Day. The divisions were graded according to the size of the camps, from the base to the apex. Upon one side, reaching from the base to the top, was the inter-camp dragon, symbolizing sun and nature, and binding all the camps together. The dragon was formed of symbols representing the activities of each camp. Each division, bordered by a band of camp girls represented by the Indian symbol for woman, was complete in itself. Placed one above the other, the eight divisions formed the complete dragon. Another side of the totem bore the same symbols in enlarged form. On the third side were the thunder bird (the Indian symbol for July), the day of the month, and the symbol of the camp conducting the celebration. On the fourth was the name of each camp. Camp Hanoum's own symbol was the pine tree (for work, health, and love), surrounded by the tents of the campers, alight with the three-sided fires of work, health, and love; a frog, indicating the lake, also strength, agility, and humor; and a circle, meaning nature, surrounding the camp, with a pathway open to infinity. The banner surmounting all, upon which the dragon was repeated, Hanoum offered to the camp, thus presenting in the allotted ten minutes the entertainment most appropriate to the occasion. Her Camp Quinibeck was introduced. symbols were those of sports-water, tennis, and baseball. In a series of tableaux she showed the development of woman in relation to outdoor life. A beautiful mounted herald rode into the center and read from a scroll the greetings from her camp. Down through the centuries was traced in verse, through various periods of outdoor life and seclusion, the development of the presentday camp idea." At her summons successive bands of maidens appeared from behind the woodland scenes. First the swift and agile Grecians, in dancing games; then the warlike Norse women, marching to battle; the lady and knight of the days of chivalry; stately maids of colonial days, treading the figures of the minuet; the woman pioneer, sharing the hardships of the Western journey; and the woman of the later day of luxury something fragile, put away." Then, after an expectant pause, a band of present-day campers rode swiftly to the platform and gave the camp cheer. The dancing symbols were for Camp Farwell. At her signal a group of dancers, arrayed in the dress of Spanish gypsies, entered the circle, and, in a fascinating dance, expressed the spirit of the out-of-doors in behalf of their camp. The late afternoon sunlight filtered through the trees upon the dancers from Wynona, the camp by the lake, whose symbols were the wave, the tadpole, and the canoe, as they brought their greetings to the united camps in a sun-dance. Hokomoko, the crown of the totem-pole, illustrated her symbol-the flame, or speaking tongue-in a verse of greeting. 101 Then Grecian maidens from Ken-Jocketee, the camp with the horse and rider symbols, glided in and out between the light and shade in a dance. To the name Aloha, the Hawaran word of welcome, two camps in green and white responded. These two camps formed the base of the totem. One of these, Aloha Club, had the symbol of the craft beast, made of saws and files, hammers and scissors, with paint-brushes for legs and feet; the rainbow for color; the three elements used in the crafts-fire, water, and rock; and the flower of beauty. Through the picture of real camp life presented by Aloha Club the Spectator felt himself initiated into the mysteries of the girls' camp. Here one was brought into intimate relation with a day's activities in a typical camp. Two young women in traveling dress were arriving from the city. Discontent was written on their faces. A young woman dressed in green bloomers and white jumper, her hair in braids, and her face beaming, came out to greet them. She discovered that homesickness was the cause of their discontent. They saw "nothing to do." Aloha Club then proceeded to show the new campers "what we do at camp." The horseback riders were summoned first. Unmounted riders they were, but they trotted, cantered, and walked in the best of form and with high spirits around the center. Paddlers came next, and swimmers, keeping the motions in time to their song. Then the craft workers, seated in the circle, with saws, files, hammers, wood blocks, and other implements and materials, proceeded to show how fascinating it is to the camper to weave baskets, to fashion silver rings and bracelets, to build a table of wood, as well as to embroider and sew. The dancers came next, the spirit of the camp in their steps. Tennis girls and golf girls appeared on the scene with an air that suggested wide fields and inviting courts. Then a camp councilor -a college girl who, the Spectator was told, is the "big sister" of the camper-appeared with a large book. As she strolled along, she looked, now at the book, now at the trees and the sky. With her was the nature study group. Notes of song-birds were heard overhead. Now the homesick girls (and the Spectator as well) were thoroughly interested. At this point the scene changed, and half a dozen young campers of the vigorous type came bounding forward, singing songs of mountain climbs. At the name Moosilauke.the city girls begged to be allowed to stay, and were thereupon welcomed into camp. Aloha. Club retired, and Camp Aloha took the stage. All the charm of the out-of-doors was in the movements of the Fire Spirit, the Water Spirit, and the Wood Spirit as they hovered over two sleeping sisters from the city. Having sought in vain for stimulating occupation at the average summer resort, they had fallen asleep from sheer ennui. The programme ended, all the campers rushed from the circle to the center for a final song-blues, greens, and browns mingling in a solid mass, without distinction of camp. Friend greeted friend from rival camp with a warmth of greeting which revealed a strong and commendable spirit of inter-camp friendship. At the top of the hill the camp in brown paused to sing their farewells. Suddenly, at a signal from their leader, they rushed swiftly down and were mingled with the crowd on the plain. The north-bound train bore away the last delegation, and Inter-Camp Day was overa day whose influence will be a contribution to the future development of American womanhood. THE NEW BOOKS RUSSIA AS IT IS Since the publication, more than twenty years ago, of Leroy-Beaulieu's monumental work on The Empire of the Tsars and the Russians," nothing has appeared, in any west-European language, that can be compared in point of fullness, accuracy, and scholarly treatment with Professor James Mavor's "Economic History of Russia."1 We have recently had, it is true, a revised and rearranged edition of Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace's "Russia," which first appeared in 1877; but neither in its original nor in its revised form does it compare favorably with the two massive volumes of Professor Mavor. Sir Donald did not try to cover so wide a field as that included in Professor Mavor's survey, nor did he draw to anything like the same extent upon Russian sources of information. His review of the causes of economic distress and revolutionary activity in Russia was comparatively sketchy and inadequate, and he seemed disposed to treat de haut en bas all forms of popular protest and resistance. Mr. Mavor, who is Professor of Political Economy in the University of Toronto, has made a careful and profound study of his subject; has availed himself of every accessible source of information, in the Russian An Economic History of Russia. By James Mavor, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy in the University of Toronto. 2 volumes. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $10, net. language as well as in French, German, and English; has had the assistance of able Russian advisers and collaborators; and has devoted more than seven years to his task. The result is a book which is a credit to Canadian scholarship, as well as a contribution of first-class importance to the world's knowledge of Russian affairs. He has called his great work "An Economic History of Russia," but its contents, which fill twelve hundred large octavo pages, more than make good the promise of its title. It is an economic history; but it is also a history of the whole Russian revolutionary movement, from the rebellion of the Cossack Rugachef, in 1773, to the end of the fight for the overthrow of the autocracy in 1907. Every phase of the long-continued struggle between the people of Russia and their rulers—the Decembrist conspiracy, the plots of Petrashevsky and Nechaiev, the movement " to the people,' the campaign of the Terrorists, the era of colossal political strikes, the resort to the wager of battle, and the final overthrow of the revolutionists after the desperate barricade fighting in Moscow-every one of these great historical episodes is treated clearly, impartially, and almost exhaustively. One might read everything that is available in English, from the first edition of Wallace's" Russia" to the articles on Russia in the eleventh edition of the " Encyclopædia Britannica," without finding anything so accurate, comprehensive, and illuminating as Few things in recent Russian history are more obscure, not to say unintelligible, to the average reader than the extraordinary career and mysterious death of the famous priest, Father Gapon, and the double rôle of the equally famous Terrorist and agent provocateur, Yevno Azef. These problematical characters are treated by Professor Mavor, for the first time, in such a way as to make them at least conceivable. They still remain, and perhaps will always remain, peculiar products of abnormal social and governmental conditions; but they are no longer the unrealizable apparitions of a wild political nightmare. In discussing the great popular uprising of 1904-5 and its causes Professor Mavor expresses the opinion that "the revolutionary state of mind among the Russian peasants arose, not merely from the political disabilities to which they were subject, nor merely from the economical pressure of high rents and low wages, nor merely from famine and its results, nor merely from the propaganda of enthusiasts, but from all of these together." This is undoubtedly true; but the author might well have included among his causes the pressure of martial law, the failure of the Government to provide adequate educational facilities for peasants who thirsted for knowledge, the arbitrary repression by local officials of all popular attempts at self-culture, the ruinous influence of the vodka monopoly, and the harsh and often brutal treatment of "politicals," especially enlightened peasants, in the Russian prisons. There were many other causes, but these are a few of the important ones to which no reference is made. Professor Mavor attributes the failure of the revolutionary movement of 1904-5 to "the divergence of opinion and of interest between the peasants and the artisans, the simultaneous forcing of the social and political revolutions, and the absence of constructive ideas at the critical juncture." This again is perfectly true so far as it goes; but equally important reasons for the failure were the terrifying influence of more than a hundred counter-revolutionary pogroms, the alienation of the nobles and landed propri 103 etors as a result of the agrarian riots, the weak support given to the popular movement by the revolutionary element in the army, and the absence of competent leadership. The last of these reasons by itself is sufficient to account for the abortive nature of the outcome. As the famous Russian basso Shaliapin said, "What sort of performance of grand opera could you expect-even from an all-star cast-if the orchestra and singers had never had a rehearsal and were without a conductor?" A single great popular leader a man like General Skobelef, for example would have made all the difference between success and failure. Professor Mavor deals with Russian life on its economic side even more carefully and exhaustively than with the same life on its revolutionary side.. Nowhere else in English historical literature is to be found a fuller or more lucid account of the establishment and abolition of serfdom; the condition of the agricultural peasants before and after emancipation; the present agrarian situation; peasant character and customs; Russian industrial progress; the growth of cotton manufactures; and the rise and development of the modern factory system. The only suggestion which the most captious critic could make, in reviewing this part of the work, is that it might have been better, perhaps, to curtail a little of the history of the emancipation of the serfs, and give the space thus saved to a consideration of tariffs and taxation in their bearing on national well-being; the results of the Government liquor monopoly; the press censorship in its relation to intellectual and material progress; and the ruinous influence of arbitrary bureaucratic action based on martial law. In his account of the Russian revolutionary movement Professor Mavor reproduces, in full or in part, a number of interesting historical documents; but, strange to say, he does not include among them the Freedom Manifesto of October 30, 1905, although that great state paper afterward gave rise to one of the most powerful of Russian political parties-the Octobrists-and has been utilized for the last eight years as the basis for all liberal agitation. Among the most interesting of the documents translated from the Russian and reproduced in Vol. II is a letter written to the Czar by Father Gapon soon after the famous massacre of "Bloody Sunday" in January, 1905. The letter, which follows, is perhaps the most extraor |