so long as he is not, what no one charges him with being, intemperate-because he might by executive order have closed the army canteens, which is undoubtedly true, and because he has nullified the Act of March 2, 1899, popularly known as the Anti-Canteen Law, which is undoubtedly false. On this platform the Convention has nominated as its candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency respectively, Mr. John G. Woolley, of Illinois, and Mr. Henry B. Metcalf, of Rhode Island.

It is needless to say that this An Estimate party cannot be taken seriousof the Party ly by any one who desires that his vote shall count immediately in the ensuing election. There is not the least possibility that the party will elect a single member of the Electoral College, or that its vote will have any appreciable immediate effect toward securing prohibition by either State or National legislation, and it is scarcely possible that it will even elect a single Prohibition member of the House of Representatives. The only conceivable value of a vote for the Prohibition party is as a protest against the other two parties, and as preparation for victory at some remote period in the future. But as this protest has been made election after election, and this preparation for a future victory has been gone through with year after year in both State and National elections, and the victory is no nearer realization now than it was a quarter of a century ago, it must be conceded, we think, by even the most sanguine Prohibitionist, that voting for the party is without political result, and is to be defended only for the sake of a supposed moral effect. Apart from this consideration, however, The Outlook is perfectly frank in affirming its conviction that the platform of the Prohibition party is not only politically impracticable, but also is erroneous in principle. We do not believe that National interest or National morals would be promoted "through a National policy, and the co-operation therein of every State, forbidding the manufacture, sale, exportation, importation, and transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes;" we do not believe that in the States where this policy has been tried the results have been an improve

ment of the moral condition of the community; we think, on the contrary, that whatever has been apparently gained for temperance has been more apparent than real, and has been accompanied by the promotion of evasion, false pretense, hypocrisy, and falsehood, which have been far more demoralizing than the open sale of liquor, which has been sometimes prevented, sometimes not, but can always be more efficiently prevented, at no such cost, by the policy of local option. Nor are we able to entertain a high intellectual and moral respect for would-be political leaders who, in such a time as this, preserve absolute silence on the National issues in which the great mass of their fellow-citizens are so profoundly interested, and speak only upon an issue which, under our Federal system, is primarily a State or local, not a National or Federal issue. As to woman's suffrage, it is hardly necessary for us to reaffirm our often affirmed conviction, that its adoption would be a distinct injury to the community socially, politically, and morally.

Political Conventions

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Before this issue of The Outlook reaches its readers the National Democratic Convention will be in session at Kansas City. In the following issue The Outlook will give to its readers two articles from Republican and Democratic correspondents respectively, and offer two opposing views of the events and character of the Convention, in the same way as in our articles of last week upon the Philadelphia Convention. The State Conventions of the week were rather numerous than important. In the Democratic Conventions there was absolutely no dissent worthy of speaking of from the general determination to renominate Mr. Bryan as a candidate, and while there is a great difference of opinion about the candidacy for the Vice-Presidency, nothing at all definite in the way of indication has been evolved. In the Illinois Convention the silver men were very prominent, and several of the speakers were anxious that the delegates should express themselves definitely on the question of the gold standard. The resolutions adopted reaffirmed the Chicago Platform, and especially reiterated the paragraph opposing "government by in

junction." The resolutions adopted included recommendations in favor of municipal ownership of public utilities and the taxation of franchises, condemned the Administration for the denial of home rule to Porto Rico, Cuba, and the Philip pines, and declared that the flag and the Constitution must stand together everywhere by which we suppose it is meant that all Territories belonging to the United States should possess the privileges secured by the Constitution to members of the United States. The resolutions also expressed sympathy with the Boers, and favored an American interoceanic canal and the election of United States Senators by direct vote. Samuel Alschuler was nominated for Governor. In Arkansas the platform also renewed allegiance to the Chicago Platform, laid emphasis on the Monroe Doctrine, favored the building of the Nicaragua Canal by the Government, and denounced trusts and charged the Administration with assailing the Constitution by the denial of self-government to the Filipinos. In Maryland similar opinion was expressed as regards imperialism and the trusts, but there was an attempt to put the issue of 16 to 1 into the background. The Republican Conventions in Maine and Vermont have nominated as candidates for Governor, respectively, Mr. John F. Hill, of Augusta, and W. W. Stickney, of Ludiow. The platforms indorse in a genera! way the National platform adopted at Philadelphia. A notable thing about the Maine Convention was the extremely cordial reception accorded to Congressman Littlefield, despite, or should we say because of, the independent attitude he has more than once assumed on National political questions. In Minnesota the Republicans nominated S. R. Van Sant for Governor. The platform's most notable feature was the indorsement of the antitrust Constitutional Amendment recently proposed in Congress.

Hawail Tuesday, June 14, was an important day in the history of the Hawaiian Islands. On that day Governor Dole took the oath of office and delivered an inaugural address, and the new Territorial Government was formally instituted. The account of the exercises which reached San Francisco last week

stated that the native Hawaiians, who have been anything but enthusiastic in regard to public affairs and public ceremonies since the downfall of the native government, for the first time showed a positive interest in governmental matters. They looked upon the ceremony as in a measure a rehabilitation of their citizenship. The labor question continues to be the all-engrossing subject in Hawaii, and Governor Dole devoted a large part of his address to the subject, and urged that no commercial interest should be allowed to stand in the way of individual and National development in a high sense. A curious sequel to the inaugurating of the new government was the breaking out of a large number of strikes throughout the islands. The reasons assigned are that the Japanese laborers who have been prominent in the strike movement formed the idea that they were now American citizens, and that no American citizens could be required to work for less than a dollar a day. It is also said that they had formed another strange idea, namely, that unless the written contracts under which they had been employed under the old régime were surrendered to them on that day, they would still be in force.

Cuba

In Cuba the most important news event of the week was the issue of a formal order removing Mr. Rathbone from the office of Director-General of Posts. He has heretofore been under suspension only. It is still uncertain whether criminal prosecution will be instituted against Mr. Rathbone. Mr. Bristow, the Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General, has completed his investigation of postal affairs and has returned to Washington, and Mr. Martin C. Fosnes has been made Acting Director-General. No decision has been reached as to the extradition of Mr. Neely, charged with fraud, but this is not taken. by anybody to mean that the Washington Administration is faltering in its design. to prosecute vigorously all connected with the frauds. It is now certain that something like $100,000 was stolen, in addition to the amount fraudulently acquired by selling old stamps which should have been destroyed; it is impossible to tell how much this latter fraud involved, but it is probable that it was a considerable sum,

Mr. Bristow instituted economies in the Cuban postal service which will lessen the annual expense by more than $100,000. Cuban papers continue to state that there is no doubt that representatives to a Constitutional Convention will be chosen in September or October by the municipalities, on the basis of one to every thousand of the population, but no official statement has been made on the subject. The trial of persons accused of defrauding the Cuban customs is still going on. The Commission appointed by the last Congress to make a thorough investigation of Cuban affairs is taking steps to that end, but probably little actual advance in the investigation will be made during the hot months.

The St. Louis Strike

In the St. Louis strike last week there was little or no violence, under the more efficient protection at last accorded by the authorities. In its place the strikers and their friends substituted an elaborate and far-reaching form of the boycott. Not only did they refuse to ride on the cars of the roads with which they were at odds and urge all citizens to do the same to aid their cause, but they threatened those who did not comply with their request with trade boycotting and all manner of annoyances. Thus it is stated that because a woman, going after a physician for her husband, rode upon a Transit Company car, druggists refused to allow her the customary use of their telephone, and to fill prescriptions for her, while her butcher and grocer refused to continue to trade with her, declaring that if they did they would be injured by the strikers. Owing partly to sympathy and partly to fear, the passenger traffic on the street-cars, interdicted by the boycotters, dropped to insignificant proportions. We need hardly repeat our frequently expressed conviction that the kind of boycott which consists of threats and persecution is both illegal (as has more than once been held by the courts) and futile, because in the long run no community can carry on business with comfort or decency under such conditions. Moreover, such a boycott as that described invariably defeats itself, because it soon becomes a public nuisance too troublesome to be endured and thus breaks of its own weight.

On another page will be found a letter from a St. Louis correspondent giving a different version of some of the earlier events of the strike from that contained in The Outlook's paragraphs. We are, as always, glad to correct errors, but we must add that both newspaper reports and letters from private correspondents have differed radically in their statements about what actually took place.

The Ice Trust Decision

The decision rendered last week by Justice Chester of the New York Supreme Court in what are known as the Ice Trust proceedings, makes it possible, if the decision is sustained by the Court of Appeals, to carry on the inquiry into the operations of the Ice Trust on the plan originally attempted. Two writs of prohibition had been granted by Justice Herrick which had the effect of forbidding the court referee, Mr. Nussbaum, from compelling the officers of the ice companies to testify before him and to present the books of the company. The points of law involved were somewhat abstract, but the main position taken by Justice Chester was that the referee was duly and properly appointed under the New York Anti-Trust Law, and that it was the intention of the law that he should exercise something more than ministerial duty. In other words, the referee stood in much the position which in other cases might be held by a Supreme Court judge, and, as Justice Chester pointed out, it would be quite untenable to declare that a writ of prohibition might be issued by one justice of a court against another justice of the same court, forbidding him to examine witnesses and papers. Incidentally Justice Chester pushed aside various. objections to the constitutionality of the Anti-Trust Law. It is improbable, despite this decision, that the examination will be proceeded with immediately, as a stay will probably be asked for by the counsel of the ice companies, and an appeal taken. Governor Roosevelt has been obliged to postpone for the present the decision upon the charges against Mayor Van Wyck and other city officials in connection with the Ice Trust matter, not only because of his necessary absence from the city, but because it is impossible

to proceed further until the AttorneyGeneral has prepared a full report upon the matter, in which are involved some nice questions of law and executive authority.

The Conviction

Utah has in a measure vindicated itself through the

of Roberts determined prosecution and

conviction of Brigham H. Roberts on a charge of unlawful cohabitation, or living with a plurality of wives. Two trials were necessary, as in the first the jury disagreed. In the second, however, Mormon jurors united with Gentiles and pronounced Mr. Roberts guilty of holding out a third wife to the world, while maintaining his relations with his first wife. It would not have been possible in other days to have prevailed upon Mormons to convict one of their own number in a case affecting their religion. On the records of the Utah courts, during the polygamy prose cutions from 1882 to 1889, can be found many cases giving proof of Mormon de termination not to submit to the laws which they declared were unconstitutional, as being an interference with the exercise of religion. That a mixed jury has now been able to agree in a trial under such laws shows that public sentiment in Utah has changed and the Mormons feel it is necessary to heed the opinions of the American people. No doubt the outburst against Mr. Roberts and his rejection by Congress have been a lesson, and with Roberts disgraced at home and abroad there is little danger that another polygamist will attempt to affront the Nation by endeavoring to obtain a seat in Congress. From such a condition it is easily possible for the people of Utah to advance to the position where they will decline to permit any polygamist to represent them

even in State affairs.

that the Assembly should have paid no heed to the overtures of the Presbyteries containing requests for some revision of the Confession, for the reasons that these requests were precipitate, that they were illtimed because they followed an assault by enemies upon Confessional statements, and that they were more than counterbalanced

by the " eloquent silence of five-sixths of the Presbyteries of the Church." He adds, with what seems to us somewhat extraordinary inconsistency, that "in the circumstances it was rather the duty of the Assembly to reaffirm the doctrines that

had been assailed;" and also that he

desires "above all things to see the Church pass quietly away from this disturbing agitation concerning its fundamental beliefs, which form the basis of its unity." disturbing agitation" by reaffirming the doctrines which are confessedly preached only by a very and probably believed by only a comparasmall minority of the Presbyterian clergy, tively small minority, we do not understand. Of course the whole question at issue in the Presbyterian Church is begged by the implication that the doctrine of particular election and limited atonement is one of the "fundamental beliefs" of the great Presbyterian Church.

How it can escape a 66

The Northfield Conference

Last week at Northfield, Mass., the first meetings of the fifteenth annual Northfield Students' Conference were held. This year's conference is characterized by a deserved prominence given to missionary interests, and the Northfield managenient is to be congratulated on securing the services of such veteran and distinguished missionaries as the Rev. Dr. John Paton, of New Hebrides, the Rev. Drs. Ashmore and Taylor, of China, and the Rev. Dr. Chamberlain, of India. The Executive Committee of the Students' Volunteer Movement is also arranging for a missionary institute in order to foster and give practical direction to the missionary interest. The conduct of the institute will be in the hands of the lev. Harlan P. Beach and his associates, secretaries of the Students' Volunteer Movement. Other departments of Christian work will not suffer, however, by the necessary prominence given to the missionary department

in this year of great expansion, religious as well as political and commercial. The "Normal Training Class for Personal Work" will be conducted this year by the Rev. S. M. Sayford, of Newton, Mass. The "Normal Devotional Bible Classes will be under the charge of such experienced teachers as Professors Bosworth, of Oberlin, Wright, of Yale, and Saylor of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. J. R. Mott, who has been connected with the Northfield Students' Movement since its inception, will preside at the platform meetings, morning and evening. The Sunset meetings on "Round Top," which have been perhaps the most impressive and helpful feature of previous conferences, will be continued, and are likely now to be more impressive than ever since the spot has become doubly sacred as the chosen place for Mr. Moody's burial.

Last week in Boston The Congregational there took place the Education Society eighty-fourth annual meeting of the Congregational Education Society. The Rev. C. O. Day, the Corresponding Secretary, presented the annual report, and stated that there had been appropriations to various institutions in the treasury of $33,000, as against only $8,600 last year. This surprising increase is not in any very marked degree the result of increased contributions, although these have held their own, with perhaps some gain; it has arisen through the payment of a substantial legacy and through the generous gift of $15,000 from Dr. Pearsons. We note in this report a reaffirmation of the convictions upon which the theological scholarship department of this society rests. Four principles are stated: (1) The churches must themselves raise up a strong ministry; (2) merit as well as need must condition aid; (3) students should concentrate all their strength upon their studies while pursuing them; and (4) should be able to go forth free from debt to undertake labor in remote and difficult fields. The Society proposes to reduce the amount of a scholarship from seventy-five to fifty dollars, and to make this department self-supporting by means of invested funds and special gifts. The changes have been accepted and substantially approved by all the

institutions affected. The number of scholarships paid has fallen off from 162 last year to 138 this year. Among the colleges Amherst enrolls the largest number of recipients, and among the seminaries Chicago and Hartford. As feeders for the colleges, the society has also enrolled seventeen academies as worthy of its aid, with six others indorsed and indirectly related to the above. Mr. Day was well within the mark in saying that no nobler or more patriotic service is being rendered in the land to-day than by these Christian schools. They produce the best, because Christian, type of citizenship. We report the work of this Society without here expressing any judgment concerning the wisdom of thus giving systematic aid to theological students. We are inclined to the opinion that this policy does more to injure than to aid the churches to secure the best men for their pulpits.

At

The closing week of College Commencements the Commencement season witnessed many delightful college festivals under conditions of temperature which have become associated by tradition with Commencement exercises. It was significant that nearly every baccalaureate sermon preached laid special emphasis on the growing necessity of absolute integrity of character and the spiritual view of life; so long as the colleges remain true to these ancient traditions of the best American culture, the country cannot be wholly given over to commercialism. Harvard the degree of D.D. was conferred upon Dr. H. B. Frissell, Principal of Hampton Institute, than whom no man now working along educational lines in this country deserves more genuine recognition. President Wheeler, of the University of California, received the degree of LL.D., as did also the British Minister, Lord Julian Pauncefote. At Amherst an honorary degree was conferred upon another distinguished educator, in the person of Dr. Washburn, President of Roberts College at Constantinople, through whose extraordinary courage and tact that institution was able to continue its work undisturbed during the critical and terrible days of the Armenian outrages. The principal event at Williamstown was