reports than any other adventure beyond the arctic circle that was ever attempted. One thing Dr. Cook's tour succeeded in demonstrating, and that is the comparative ease with which a summer trip may be made to regions heretofore regarded as absolutely inaccessible except to the marvelously bold explorer. Going to Greenland will some day become as easy and popular a thing as going to Alaska for a vacation trip.

LIEUTENANT PEARY.

As for Mr. Robert Stein and his well conceived expedition, circumstances prevented his getting started this year; and as the New York Sun remarks, he is "the only aspirant for arctic honors who has reason to feel perfectly satisfied." If he should go next year he would be altogether likely to encounter a more favorable set of climatic conditions.

Northwestern Forest Fires.

Great disasters follow each other with a frequency and a variety that will not permit man to forget altogether his limitations and weaknesses as compared with the resistless forces of nature. In the present year there have been calamitous earthquakes in Greece, South America, and other parts of the world, and quite lately the most ancient portion of Constantinople has been partly demolished, with much loss of life, through those subterranean forces that make mockery of our notions of terra firma. In our own country within a very few years there have been historic calamities produced by earthquakes, by fires, by cyclones and tornadoes, by floods, by drouth, and by grasshoppers and various insects. Floods in the lower Mississippi. the Jamestown calamity, the tidal wave that submerged the Cotton Islands,-these have brought devastation and death by means of resistless volumes of water. The calamities of the present season, however, have been due primarily to a lack of water. The prolonged drouth of the summer was

of very unusual extent and duration, and it affected most disastrously the crops maturing late in the season. Its most tragic effect was witnessed in the great pine woods of the Northwest, where the driedup grass and undergrowth was like tinder, and where forest fires of more or less magnitude were raging for weeks. Extended regions in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan have been the scene of the most resistless and widespread of the forest fires of the present year; and Saturday, the first day of September, witnessed the culminating horrors of this series of vast conflagrations. On that day the well-known railroad junction village of Hinckley, Minnesota, and several other lumbering villages in the same region, were completely swept away, having been encompassed by the flames so rapidly and so unexpectedly that escape was well nigh impossible. The number of lives lost did not fall far below 500, and may possibly have exceeded that number. It will be extremely difficult ever to determine the exact mortality.

Heroism on

The tales of heroism that have been rethe Minnesota ported from the scene of death and deRailroads. struction in Minnesota may well quicken our sense of the noble possibilities of human nature. Where so many men were brave and self-sacrificing, it would not be possible to make any list of heroes. But particular praise is due to the railroad men whose trains rescued hundreds of people, and whose splendid courage alone prevented the doubling of the list of the dead. Conductor Sullivan and Engineer Root, in charge of the regular passenger train on the St. Paul & Duluth road that reached Hinckley at the very moment when the whole neighborhood was enveloped in flames, did not back their train away from the doomed town until they had loaded it with hundreds of fleeing inhabitants. The train was on fire from one end to the other, but Engineer Root, sustained by his brave fireman, ran the train backward several miles to a swamp, where the passengers took refuge in the foul and shallow water, while the dense forest all around them roared and crackled under the tremendous conflagration, and the train on the track before them was totally consumed. They remained in the water for many hours, and were subsequently rescued by aid from Duluth and Superior. The Eastern Minnesota railroad also touches Hinckley, and the passenger train on that line reached the burning town at about the same time with the train on the St. Paul & Duluth road. Powers and Best, the conductor and engineer of the Eastern Minnesota train, showed the same firmness, courage and high sense of fidelity to duty that the trainmen on the other road were displaying at the same time. Heedless of all protests they held their train until all who sought refuge on it had been packed into the cars, and then they coolly proceeded to take the chances upon their only means of escape. In one direction the road was completely blocked. In the other direction it was necessary to cross the Kettle river bridge,

115 feet high and 1,600 feet long. The bridge was already burning fiercely, but Engineer Best drove his train with its hundreds of passengers safely across the chasm. The kind of manhood that is capable of such deeds is one of the best possessions of any nation. As for the homeless and impoverished settlers of the destroyed villages, the quick generosity of the people of Minnesota has made due provision for them. The economic loss resulting from these great forest fires will reach into the millions, but as yet no computation of it is possible.

Great as are the property losses from The Drouth, the Western Crops, the conflagrations made possible by and Irrigation. the extreme severity of the drouth, they will not compare in volume with the losses which the Western States will have experienced through the effect of the dry weather upon the corn crop alone, not to mention the flax and various other agricultural staples. In some of the best corn States west of the Mississippi the crop is almost a total failure. As a consequence we have witnessed the unusual phenomenon of a higher price per bushel for corn than for wheat. The effect of the dry summer gives particular point to the current movements for the great extension of irrigation throughcut the West.

Even in States which in normal years have sufficien rainfall, some system of irrigation as an auxiliary in farming would add vastly to the certainty of results, besides greatly increasing the average yield per acre. The past weeks and months have witnessed very pitiable sights in some parts of the West which a few years ago were opened up to agriculture with much enterprise and high hopes. The highways have been lined with canvas-covered wagons, or "prairie schooners" as they are called beyond the Mississippi, filled with jaded, hungry, and disappointed farmers' families moving eastward for food. The lack of rain has happily produced no such famine results in our land of plenty as in Russia two years ago; but in certain districts nine-tenths of the farms have been temporarily abandoned. Some of these districts perhaps are so situated that they could not be irrigated without undue expense. But for most of these unfortunate farmers, and for millions to come after them, irrigation is the one sure path to success and prosperity. We are glad to publish in this number an account of the recent Irrigation Congress at Denver, from the pen of Mr. William E. Smythe, the most enthusiastic and the most widely informed of all our American advocates of the redemption by irrigation of the great arid empire of the West and Southwest.

JAPAN

Over Corea.

The war in Corea between Japan and The Struggle China is doubtless producing incidents of an exciting if not of a tragical character, from day to day. Thus far, however, this Oriental centre of interest has seriously baffled the news gatherers. It was not to be expected that, with telegraph tolls at something like five dollars a word, the reports could be very extended. Moreover, much of the region now involved in the conflict or in preparation for it is extremely difficult of access and remote from modern means of communication. None the less, the newspapers and news gathering associations of Europe and America fell far short of their customary enterprise in their complete and abject surrender for a time to the difficulties that beset their attempts to report the present war. They were actually paying out a great deal of money for dispatches that were absolutely worthless. The newspaper reader was cautioned, when he read the telegraphic account of a new fight at sea or clash of arms on land, that perhaps after all this dispatch referred to a battle six weeks or two months previous. The only bit of solidly authentic news that seemed to have been published was that which related to the first event of the war-namely, the sinking by the Japanese navy of a transport ship loaded with Chinese soldiers destined for Corea. This was true up to September 18. Then came the clear intelligence of a great battle on the 14th and 15th at Ping Yang, or Phong Yang as it is also called. The Chinese army of 20,000 men was demolished and nothing seemed to oppose a rapid march of the Japanese in the direction of Pekin. A great naval victory was also reported in the papers of the 19th. At least enough is now known to make it appear certain that both by land and by sea thus far the advantage is overwhelmingly on the side of Japan. On the other hand the great majority of intelligent critics throughout Christendom are of the opinion that China, with its vast population and resources, will not be discouraged by Japan's superior preparations and temporary successes, but will never admit defeat or cry enough. It will be fortunate indeed if this struggle can be brought to an end without any serious embroilment of the European powers. England's interests are so vast and so intimately interwoven with the commerce of every nation and region, that strict and honest neutrality is an excessively difficult thing for John Bull to maintain. He thrust his finger in our pie some thirty years ago with results that were very costly to him, and that he took very much to heart. He has doubtless resolved to obey most faithfully in this Oriental war the dictates of international law regarding the duties of neutrality. But his manifest sympathy with China and prejudice against Japan has shown itself in several more or less unpleasant ways, and it is to be feared that this partiality may go too far. Russia and the United States would be disposed to insist upon fair play for Japan. The thing to be earnestly desired by all friends of civilization is the prompt termination of the war upon some

ORT LAZARLI

Pong San

CHONJE

PORT HAMILTON

COREA

VICINITY OF THE PHONG YANG BATTLE. basis of clear understanding about the future status of Corea. While we must be content to wait awhile for detailed news about the current incidents of the war, it is at least a great satisfaction to be able to obtain from competent sources some definite and accurate knowledge of the countries affected and of the men who are leading the forces of their respective nations. Thus last month the readers of the REVIEW OF REVIEWS were afforded a clear and careful survey of the political conditions and the political and military leadership of Japan. This month we are so fortunate as to be able to present to our readers a sketch of Li Hung Chang, the "Bismarck of China," from the pen of Mr. John Russell Young, formerly our minister to the Chinese Empire, and for many years past a close and confidential friend of the great Chinese statesMr. Young's extremely interesting portraiture of the man who is now devoting all his energies and powers to the organization of the campaign against the Japanese in Corea, throws much valuable light upon the whole Oriental situation.

man.

Nicaragua and the Mosquito Coast.

Another of the small States practically under the friendly patronage of the United States is Nicaragua. For many months past this little republic of Central America has been the scene of a controversy that has attracted almost as much international attention as the Hawaiian revolution, and it is fortunate that the Nicaraguan affair has also been settled upon lines of apparent justice and permanence. The controversy has been over the relations to Nicaragua of a portion of its eastern or Gulf-of-Mexico slope, known as the 'Mosquito Coast" or the "Mosquito Reservation." The government of this district has borne some such anomalous relationship to that of Nicaragua as the Indian Territory's has borne to that of the United States. The Mosquito Indians have had a chief of their own and have been independent of Nicaragua in local affairs. Their port is the town of Bluefields, and under the long established régime of the Mosquito Reservation this port has not been subject to the customs regulations of the republic of Nicaragua. Accordingly many American and other foreign traders and merchants dealing in the fruits and various semi-tropical products of the region have settled there, have obtained great influence over the conduct of local affairs, and have profited greatly by the immunities which freedom from Nicaraguan laws and regulations has permitted them. It needs no argument to make it clear that this quasi independence of the Mosquito Reservation has been most disadvantageous to Nicaragua, and constantly humiliating as a limitation upon the nation's sovereignty over its own territory. So indefensible an arrangement could not have lasted all these years. but for the real or pretended existence of a certain vague and shadowy British protectorate over the Mosquito Indians, which has enabled the merchants of the coast to bring dire and sundry threats against Nicaragua when the little republic has been inclined to assert itself. Of

late, however, the Nicaraguans have grown bolder. and have simply advanced into the Mosquito Reservation, claimed possession, and reduced the district to the status of an unprivileged, ordinary portion of the republic of Nicaragua. In this proceeding, despite the loud complaints of American residents at Bluefields, whose special immunities are cut off, our government at Washington has promptly and heartily acquiesced. The phantom British protectorate has vanished into thin air, and Nicaragua is wondering at her own former timidity and congratulating herself upon the ease with which she has cut the Gordian knot. For foreigners resident at Blefields who are discommoded by the assertion of full Nicaraguan jurisdiction over Nicaraguan te.ritory, we beg to express our sympathy; but we will not for a moment admit that their interests are superior to those of Nicaragua or that the power of the United States should have been employed to maintain a humiliating curtailment of Nicaragua's authority and sovereignty within her own boundaries. It is reported that many of these irate Americans trampled upon the Stars and Stripes and renounced allegiance to this country in favor of Great Britain, because Mr. Cleveland and Secretary Gresham were not willing to help drive the Nicaraguans out of a vital part of Nicaraguan territory. In point of fact our government has done its duty in supporting the just claims of an American republic over its own soil and its own fiscal arrangements, as against private and foreign interests.

Venezuela and There is another American republic whose British rights within her own proper territory Aggression. require the most considerate attention by our Department of State. We refer to the republic of Venezuela, great and valuable portions of whose territory seem to have been encroached upon by Great Britain. Beginning with a trading post or two on the coast, the English have extended their claims until they now assert authority over a great region which was formerly regarded by everybody as an integral portion of Venezuela. Far from increasing their territorial claims on the north coast of South America, the British ought by all means to prepare definitely to withdraw altogether. It is wholly contrary to the ethics of modern international relations that a European power like Great Britain should hold by force of arms a region that belongs naturally to the home territory of a friendly nation.