put good machinery in their mills and — then look for labor. They get people from the surrounding country, from other mills, from the mountains. They begin efforts is of tremendous importance, not only to the South, but to the rest of the nation as well. S PEKING OMETHING of the change that has come over China, going to the foundations of national of national thought and racial custom, may be seen in this paragraph from a letter written by Mr. Sherwood Eddy, a Christian missionary who last spring made an evangelistic tour of the country with the cordial cooperation of the Republican Government, even addressing the 1,600 cadets of the Military Academy, the West Point of China, who were drawn up at attention at ten o'clock at night in the bitter cold especially to hear him. to train the force in habits of industry. TAXICABS AND CHRISTIANITY IN In some of the mills there are bad conditions and child labor, etc. But let us take the best of them, mills which are run by resident owners who know their help and have a keen interest in its welfare. Many of these owners have more zeal than discretion in their welfare work. They often provide facilities for better living that their employees are not advanced enough to use and appreciate. But in spite of all difficulties there are many model villages, in which the laborers live and work under good conditions. Yet even in most of these model villages the mill hands lack the responsibilities of democracy. They live under a benevolent despotism. They get their wage from the mill company, pay back part of it to the company for rent, and most of the rest passes through the hands of the company store keeper. They send their children to a company school, and they themselves attend a church built and often supported by the company. Some of the mill owners believe in a benevolent despotism. Others practise it, thinking that their workers are living in a democracy. Only a few see that to make a real race of manufacturers the working people will have to be led out of the despotism to a condition in which they can think and act for themselves. There will not be a real democracy among the workers in the mills until they are rid of the company school, the company store, the company houses—no matter how benevolently these agencies are conducted. The people upon whom the future of Southern industry depends should begin to stand upon their own feet and practise democracy. It is time that they began to own their own homes, to send their children (as a right and not as a favor) to the public schools, perhaps to belong to a cooperative store. There are a few mills which are helping their employees to take up the responsibilities that every American should assume, and the success or failure of these It was a novel experience in ancient Peking, where Sir Robert Hart remembers seeing men drowned in the deep pools of mud and water in the main streets, to speed from college to college in a taxi, though we had to turn out for an occasional camel train or a slow moving country cart. The battered walls of Peking reminded us of the siege in Boxer days, a short decade ago, but recently the Young Men's Christian Association held a prayer meeting of its Bible Class leaders on the high altar in the Temple of Heaven itself, where the Emperors of China offered their yearly sacrifice. The especial pertinence of this quotation may be gathered from its significance when read in connection with Mr. Cleveland's article on "American Automobiles Abroad," elsewhere in this magazine. Americans who stay at home have little conception of the widespread influence of our country upon a swiftly changing world. of Huerta or because the Germans fear our imitation of their goods. The refusal of these two countries changes the scope of the exhibition. It can not show what the canal means to the commerce of the world, nor what the canal means to the American continents, for Germany and England are the two greatest trading nations in the world. But without them the Fair at San Francisco can be a complete exposition of the wonderful possibilities of bringing the American continents commercially closer together by physically cutting them apart. The Governments of the two American continents are well represented. Perhaps there will also be illuminating exhibitions from the Far East. With all these the Fair will have as definite a plan if not as comprehensive a one as was the original outline. Nevertheless the withdrawal of Germany and England is embarrassing. The Fair management will have to make extra efforts to fill the space that they would have taken. San Francisco with characteristic aggressiveness succeeded in getting the Fair in spite of the desires of places located much more conveniently for the fications of first class matter, which is The new rates for packages of 100 pour or more are about the same as the n now in force for short distances and lowfor long distances. On packages of pounds or less practically all rates h been reduced. On light packages g more than 200 miles and less than 30 miles, many of the rates are even lower the newly announced parcel post charg Between the parcel post and the expre companies under the direction of t Interstate Commerce Commission we sha have service far cheaper and better th we even hoped for five years ago. A the best of it is that the Post Office De partment seems disposed to continue is improvements and even the express con panies are reported to have some enlig ened plans for cheap and efficient tran portation of food stuffs from the country to the city. W PRICES great mass of American fair-goers and THE TARIFF REDUCING WOOLEN exhibitors. Now it must show that same aggressive spirit in getting ready an exposition so interesting that, in spite of the long distances, the people of the great interior and the people of the East will have to attend. And this is more than a problem for San Francisco. The Panama Exposition is an opportunity for the United States to increase its acquaintance with its neighbors, the Latin American Republics, and the peoples across the Pacific. As such the Fair is a national, not a San Francisco, project. HILE the tariff bill was st under discussion the America: Woolen Company announce its prices for the spring of 1914. The showed an average decrease of from to 12 per cent. from the prices of 1913 This is one of the first visible effects of the reform of our tariff laws. The actu reductions were from 5 to 21 cents a yard Other American manufacturers have made similar reductions. More striking, how ever, was the trade programme of the American agents of mills in Bradford England. They made public two dif erent sets of prices, one for importation under the Payne Act, and the other under the new Underwood-Simmons tariff. Th second schedule of prices was from 4 to 50 cents a yard cheaper than the first. Such announcements, however, are like to raise false hopes of very much cheape clothing. The day that these reduced prices were announced a manufacturing clothier in New York explained that the reduction which they provided in the cost of the cloth going into an average suit of clothes would be about 40 cents, and he added that the increase in the cost of labor would more than offset that. In other words, people who expected large reductions in the price of clothes to follow the reduction in the tariff will be disappointed. The reason is obvious. The cost of raw material is only one of many items which affect the final price of the finished garment. A 20 per cent. reduction in the price of the raw material would naturally dwindle to a 5 or 6 per cent. reduction on the finished product. Yet despite the fact that we shall probably not be able to buy woolen suits $5 or $10 cheaper than formerly, we have no reason to be disappointed in the tariff. If the increasing cost of labor, as the manufacturing clothier says, takes up the saving in the raw material, we are still just that much better off, for under the old conditions the extra wages would have been added, and we should have been paying more for our clothes. Moreover, these are the first reductions, announced while the new tariff was still under discussion in the Senate. With the rates in effect foreign competition is likely to cause greater reductions. Perhaps even foreignmade clothes might be imported, if there remain a great discrepancy between prices here and abroad. In other words, the new rates set all the forces toward cheaper clothing at work without handicap. For all these forces to get into full operation may take a little time, but their operation is certain. And what is true of the prices of woolen goods is true of most of the other things which we buy directly and indirectly. In the aggregate it will mean a great deal in easier living for the average American family. It means much more than their accounts will necessarily show, for the family accounts do not show what is bought indirectly. To take a simple example: The price of steel rails has been $28 a ton for many years. In other countries the price has varied but the average has been below $28. The railroads of the United States consume nearly 2 million tons of rails a year. A change of even a dollar in the price means a difference of about 2} million dollars. Ultimately, the American people pay for those rails and in the long run saving means a lessened cost of living. There are thousands of things which the public buys indirectly this way, and the reduction in the tariff affects the public as much through these things as it does in any other way. Throughout the whole fabric of our life the reduced tariff works toward more normal conditions and fairer prices. A PROGRESSIVE POSTMASTER O' GENERAL N AUGUST 15th PostmasterGeneral Burleson's new orders to increase the scope of the par cel post went into effect. Under their provisions parcels will hereafter be delivered locally, by city or rural carrier, for 5 cents for a pound package. For every additional two pounds in weight up to the 20 pound limit, a cent is added to the rate. On this basis, for example, an eleven-pound package could be sent to any local address for 10 cents. Under the old rates it would have cost 15 cents. The territory covered by local delivery to which these rates apply is the first zone. Approximately all territory within 150 miles of a post office (excluding the local delivery territory) makes up the second zone. In this, the rates are five cents for the first pound and one cent for every additional pound. This is also a substantial reduction from the original rates. At the same time the weight limit is increased from eleven to twenty pounds. This reduction in rate and increase in the limit of weight follows the three changes put into effect in July: one to reduce the insurance charge on packages sent by parcel post from ten cents to five cents for parcels valued at $25 or less; another providing for the shipment of parcels C.O.D.; and the third rescinding the order that parcel post stamps should be used exclusively in that branch of the postal service. All these changes widen the usefulness and increase the convenience of the parcel post, and the Postmaster-General says that other improvements are to follow, such, for example, as the use of precancelled stamps. Under such administration the new head of the service hopes not only to please the public but to increase the business enough to make the post office pay. Admittedly, these new rulings are of a somewhat experimental character, and until they have been thoroughly tried it will not be possible to tell how successful they are. But one thing is certain: they are moves in the right direction, and they show a refreshing flexibility and business-like attitude on the part of the post office. Incidentally, also, they point very strongly a moral about legislation. The original act which Congress passed creating the parcel post gave the PostmasterGeneral wide powers and responsibilities. He was given permission, with the consent of the Interstate Commerce Commission, to make changes in the classification, the weight limit, the rates, or the zones specified in the bill. In other words, the act allowed him latitude enough to be efficient. The granting of such powers to administrative officers is as rare as it is wise. In this particular case the changes which the Postmaster-General has made in six months, if made by Congressional amendments, probably would have taken two or three years. That Congress was wise enough to give him the opportunity to make these changes is as much to its credit as the making of the changes is to the credit of the Postmaster General himself. states which have no better natural advantages than those from which they came. The Western ranchmen pay for the cows, the cost and losses of shipping West, fatten them, and still make a profit. That profit and much more would go to the Southern farmer if he kept his cattle at home. But he is a cotton farmer-a onecrop man. He does not know much about the cattle business, and his ignorance costs him dearly. It also costs the public, for carrying the cattle all over the country is an economic waste. If the Southern pastures were freed of the cattle tick and the Southern farmer of his indifference to the cattle business, the United States would gain a great cattle country that would much more than offset the breaking up of the Western ranges. The solution of our beef problems can be made much nearer home than Argentine. And at the same time the prosperity of the agricultural South can be greatly enhanced, for it is almost axiomatic that farm profits and cattle are to be found together. KENTUCKY'S "MOONLIGHT” O SCHOOLS NE of the most touching stories of educational advance that could well be imagined comes to light in a recent government publication-those publications that are usually so dull and so sterile of human interest. Bulletin No. 530 of the United States Bureau of Education is entitled "Illiteracy in the United States" and, in much smaller type, "An Experiment for its Elimination." The statistics under the larger title are important; but the story of the experiment is interesting. Here is the essence of it: To wait for a generation of illiterate men. women, and children to die is a slow and pain ful process. That there is a shorter way to the reduction and elimination of illiteracy has been proven by some European states, and sporadic efforts in this country indicate that there is a better way here, to wit: To teach these grown-ups, in schools organized especially for them, to read and write, and possibly something more. One of the most notable recent attempts to do this is that begun in September, 1911, by Mrs. Cora Wilson Stewart, superintendent of schools in Rowan County, Ky., and her associ ates. Having studied carefully the conditions of the county, Mrs. Stewart decided to open night schools for adults on moonlight nights in the public schoolhouses of the county. She outlined her plan to the teachers and called for volunteers. All the teachers of the county responded. On Labor Day, September 4, 1911, these teachers visited the homes of the people throughout the county, explained the plan, and announced that moonlight schools would be opened the next evening. It was expected that the response would be slow, but more than 1,200 men and women from 18 to 86 years old were enrolled the first evening. They came trooping over the hills and out of the hollows, some to add to the meagre education received in the inadequate schools of their childhood, some to receive their first lessons in reading and writing. Among these were not only illiterate farmers and their illiterate wives, sons, and daughters, but also illiterate merchants or "storekeepers," illiterate ministers, and illiterate lumbermen. Mothers, bent with age, came that they might learn to read letters from absent sons and daughters, and that they might learn for the first time to write to them. Almost one third of the population of the county was enrolled. Says Mrs. Stewart: "They had all the excuses and all the barriers which any people might offer high hills, bridgeless streams, rugged roads, weariness from the day's hard toil, the shame of beginning study late in life, and all the others; but they were not seeking excuses - they were sincerely and earnestly seeking knowledge. Their interest, their zeal, and their enthusiasm were wonderful to witness. It was truly an inspiring sight to see these aged pupils bending over the desks which their children and grandchildren had occupied during the day. Their delight in learning and their pride in their achievements exceeded any joy that I have ever witnessed." In September, 1912, a "moonlight school" teachers' institute was held in Morehead, Ky.; and the superintendent and teachers who had conducted the first moonlight schools instructed others who wished to do work of this kind in Rowan and adjoining counties, and in the fall of 1912 the movement spread to eight or ten other counties, while the enrollment of adults in Rowan County reached nearly 1,600. The success of the men and women proves that it is not so difficult for illiterate grown-ups to learn to read and write as is generally supposed. They learn in a very short time, if given the opportunity. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are simple subjects when mature minds are concentrated upon them. A child of ordinary mind can be taught to read and write in three or four weeks; and the adult can do at least as well. One man, aged 30, after four lessons in the evening school, wrote the county superintendent a legible letter. Another man, aged 50, wrote a legible letter after seven nights' attendance. A woman, aged 70, wrote a legible letter after eight nights of study. These cases are, of course, exceptional; but experience has shown that a few weeks' attendance at the night schools has been sufficient to enable the adult pupils to pass over the dark line of illiteracy and to get into the class of literates. Several succeeded in securing a Bible, which had been offered as a prize by the superintendent to those who would learn to write a letter during the first two weeks of the moonlight school term. In some of the districts the enrollment of adults exceeded the enrollment of children. One teacher, 18 years old, had only four adult pupils in her class, but one of these was a preacher who learned to read his Bible and a newspaper after a few weeks of earnest study. After four lessons he signed his name to a paper for the first time; and after seven lessons, to quote the words of the county superintendent, "he wrote an enthusiastic letter, with a period at the close of each sentence as large as a bird's eye." In another night school, of 65 enrolled, 23 were illiterates, and there were 3 preachers in the class. Several octogenarians were enrolled in these schools; one a woman, 85, another a man, 87. Some of the men and women entered the schoolroom for the first time in their lives when they enrolled as night pupils. One of the significant facts brought out in this experiment is that adults of limited education have taken advantage of the opportunity to return to school and to increase their knowledge. Of the 1,600 adult pupils attending night school during the second term, 300 were unable to read and write at all, 300 were from those who had learned in September, 1911, and 1,000 were men and women of meagre education. The change in the attitude of the community toward the school, where the night school has been undertaken, is in itself significant. A school trustee thus describes the change in his community: "I have lived in this district for 55 years and I never saw any such interest as we have |