ances. A proper regard to this point will save many unnecessary steps and much loss of time upon the part of the workmen. This, in turn, can be directly translated into a saving of dollars and cents.

Manufacturers are now going to great lengths to provide proper equipment for their men. Modern toilet conveniences and washrooms are now very generally found in factories. In many plants gymnasiums and shower-baths are also provided. In many cases such facilities evoke the heartiest re

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absences dropped almost immediately from sixteen to two.

For men working under extreme temperatures, as in steel mills, shower baths and lockers for a change of clothing have reduced colds, pneumonia, and consumption.

From tests made in one of the big steel plants it was found that after the installation of individual lavatories, the number of skin diseases dropped off sharply.

In these times of tremendous industrial strain and activity, manufacturers must

sponse from the men. They will frequently come to work ahead of time and linger after working hours, making a sort of social club out of the " gym or shower-room. The sense of personal cleanliness arouses the workman to a better attitude towards his job and a sense of pride in his company. He becomes a better man, a better worker, and a greater asset to his employer.

In addition to the ordinary facilities, many manufacturers provide other equipment to insure absolute cleanliness.

A large manufacturer of food specialties requires each employee to be manicured before starting the day's work. In this plant the clothing must also be changed, and white uniforms are provided for the working hours. Rest-rooms are available for the women workers, and a doctor and trained nurse are also in regular attendance.

One manager in an enamel-producing factory found it necessary to compel his men to clean their finger nails before lunching. He had had considerable trouble with lead-poisoning-white lead being a constituent of the enamel. Providing adequate washing facilities with running hot and cold water, and requiring the men to wash thoroughly before eating, reduced the number of cases of lead-poisoning very materially.

In the Pullman Company's shops the bell is rung ten minutes before the noon hour, and all employees are compelled to go to the central washrooms, where they are furnished with individual nail-brushes, soap, and towels. Since the introduction of this 66 wash-up" system cases of leadpoisoning have been entirely eliminated.

A manufacturing concern which has made a careful study of things that affect the efficiency of workmen first installed a filter plant. This cut down the number of absences traceable to impure drinking water from an average of more than fifty a day to sixteen. Yet this number still seemed excessive. They next installed a sterilizing piant in addition, and the number of

take every precaution to guard their workers against infection and disease which will reduce their efficiency and productivity or lay them off entirely. Every man and every woman must produce up to his or her full capacity in order that we may meet the great crisis of the war successfully. Every day or hour lost by a worker means a lessening of production. Labor must be kept in prime condition, like the trained athlete, in order that our common task may be fully and effectively accomplished.

It is the patriotic duty of every employer to keep his men and women fit for the job. In so doing he helps them to a fuller earning capacity and a deeper measure of selfrespect and loyalty to the business; he helps himself by reducing the " labor turnover" and increasing his production; and he helps the Nation by stabilizing labor and by making it one hundred per cent efficient.

JOB IN DRAMA FORM

I was much interested in reading in The Outlook of March 27 the article on "The Book of Job." I should like, however, to correct the statement that this wonderful poem has not been brought to light in dramatic form until its presentation by Mr. Stuart Walker. The class of 1890 at Smith College for their senior dramatics gave a musical presentation of the Book of Job, with music composed especially for it. They used the text as given in the Bible, with, of course, some omissions. The fourth friend, Elihu, was also omitted, for reasons which I do not now remember. The characters of Job and his three friends were taken by groups of girls.

Many professors from theological schools and colleges were present at the performance, and at that time this rendering of the beautiful dramatic poem aroused much interest and received favorable comment. ELIZABETH S. GUTHRIE.

Buffalo, New York.

In the Red Cross organization of the Omaha tribe (which is said to be the only Indian chapter of that Society) there are 314 members. Nearly $2,000 augmented their treasury by the benefit auction sale held April 5, on the reservation in Thurston County, Nebraska.

When we had journeyed to the agency at Macey, the photographer and myself did not suppose that the sale could prove very satisfactory; for an icy wind, strong and cutting, ran over the hills, shaking the broken cornstalks of many an austere field and dismally swishing through the winterbleached prairie grasses. On a day so bleak why should people want to stand about in the cold? And how could their hearts be warmed to generosity?

We wandered to the region of barns and sheds back of the agency, where the auction stand had been set up. There were articles enough to be offered for sale, a great array of them-chickens on the ground with legs tied together, crates of ducks and geese and rabbits, bales of hay piled high in a rectangular mound, a load of straw, beaded moccasins, a ceremonial tobacco pouch, a calf, a pig, a goat, a pony, a load of sweet corn, and many jars of preserved fruits and vegetables.

Early in the afternoon we heard whirring sounds, a great variety of them, mingled with the raspy rush of cold wind. What could be occasioning all this mechanical buzz? Motor cars?

Yes; that was it. Indians were coming from all parts of the reservation. And they were coming, not in the old tribal way with pony and dog travois, but in the new way, after the manner of prosperous farm folk, which they really are. Before the auction sale began (and it was begun with a prayer to invoke the blessing of God upon the project) there were not less than four hundred Indians gathered about the stand.

Furthermore, they proved reckless bidders. Objects offered for sale brought outrageous sums. There was a commonplace goat, for instance, that brought something over $300.

The sale was conducted in the manner known as Dutch auction-whatever you bid you had to pay, even though the money you advanced bought you nothing more than a pleasant smile.

On the reservation there are 1,300 of the

up-stream people, the Omahas; and that they are intensely patriotic is attested by the manner in which they open their purses in the present crisis.

While our country was still supposed to be neutral the Indians of eastern Nebraska were not among those who would look with tolerance upon the enormities perpetrated by Germany. And once the United States had committed itself to the support of the Allied nations in putting down Prussian autocracy, eighty-two of those bronzeskinned native Americans were prompt to enlist in the Army and Navy.

During the past year the Red Cross chapter on the Omaha reservation has been actively engaged in knitting, in making surgical dressings for soldiers, and in raising funds for relief work.

Knowing the spirit of the Indians, and how they feel regarding the European war, one need not be surprised at their patriotic fervor. As long ago as 1915 they were bestirring themselves in the interests of humanity.

There was the case, for instance, of Maha-wa, whose name signifies The Conqueror. He had been informed of nations fighting beyond the east wind, across the great waters. He had heard also of a peaceful people brought low by mighty guns whose fire-speech is as a power to shake the bones of the world. He learned of them, and how the fields of the peaceful people were laid waste, and their lands taken and their homes demolished.

Now, who better than an old Indian might know the meaning of all that? Maha-wa knew. He knew and pitied, and wanted very much to show that his heart had gone out to those people in their suffering. But what might he do for themhe, an old man, so far away?

Money, of course, might help. He sent money-$20-raised by means of selling a load of corn; and from the Belgian Minister at Washington he received a letter, thanking him in words graciously expressed, not alone for his gift of money, but more particularly for the kindness of an understanding heart.

Regarding the work of the Red Cross, an aged Indian woman said:

"It is nothing new to us. The method is different, but the spirit is the same, as we always had it in the tribe. Only our organi

zation we called Te, meaning buffalo, and Ithaethe, meaning to show compassion. The Red Cross is a society to show compassion, and so was the Buffalo Society." It was explained that the buffalo cure their wounded by licking the hurt place and keeping it clean.

"Surgical dressings that we made in tribal practice," said an Indian woman, "were very different from those that we are making for the Red Cross. Between our teeth we ground the roots of the wild hop, then we took clear water into our mouths, and blew the medicated liquid into the wound."

With our modern ideas about germs and the need of sterilizing all dressings, this sort of primitive practice might seem highly deleterious, and yet there is abundant proof of remarkable cures. For the Indians, especially those men and women members of the Buffalo Compassion Society, understood the curative values of herbs and plants, and also understood means of reducing fractures.

Captain Luther North is authority for the astonishing facts regarding a Pawnee Indian scout whose hand and forearm were shattered by the accidental discharge of a carbine. A surgeon advised amputation, but the Indian would not consent. The wound grew extremely ugly; during a long journey with the troops the hurt even filled with maggots. Finally the Indian was sent back to the reservation-to die, as Captain North supposed. But six months later the wounded Indian had recovered, after receiving treatment from the medical experts of the tribe.

An aged member of this Buffalo Society, the Indian Red Cross, said that the white

INDIAN WOMEN INSPECTING GOODS TO BE OFFERED FOR SALE AT THE RED CROSS AUCTION

people do not beat a drum or chant songs over a wounded soldier; but in tribal days each herb used for the injured person had its particular song.

"You might think," said a young Indian, "that such noise and singing might do harm; but no, it was soothing, the same as the Latin prayers of a priest may be soothing to a good Catholic, for he believes in prayer. It was so with the Indian sufferer, when he heard the songs and the beating of the drum. The songs were addressed to Wakonda, the Great Mystery, who was inplored to send comfort to the injured man. Mystical influence was thus made to play an important part in the cures effected by members of the Buffalo Society."

May has come to be regarded as the special month for the purchasing of Lingerie, and we have provided an unusually full supply not only of French and Philippine goods, but also of the best American makes.

We are placing on sale at this time a few cases of French Lingerie of the more simple and staple designs ordered at the prices prevailing more than two years ago. This enables us to offer these garments at much below present day values. They are all new and fresh goods in the latest styles. Hand-made Gowns, simple scallops and dainty fine handembroidery on Nainsook, $1.95, 2.50, 2.95, 3.75 to 37.50. Envelope Chemises, hand-embroidered, $1.75, 2.25, 3.75 to 7.75.

Regular Chemises, hand-embroidered, $1.50, 1.75, 2.25, 3.75, and up.

French Drawers, hand-embroidered, $1.10, 1.25, 1.75, 2.25 to 6.75.

American-made Gowns, Tailored and Embroiderytrimmed, $1.00, 1.50, 1.95, 2.25. Cotton Crepe, $1.45. Envelope Chemises, Lace and Embroidery-trimmed, $1.50, 1.75, 2.25.

Corset Covers, 55c, 85, $1.00.

Muslin Skirts, $1.50, 3.25, 3.75, and 4.95.

Corsets and Brassieres

New Summer models of Corsets and Brassieres designed in light weight fabrics of Mesh, Nets, and Batistes at very special prices. Corsets, $2.75 to 16.50. Brassieres, 75c to $7.50. Orders by mail given special attention.

James McCutcheon & Co.

Fifth Avenue, 34th and 33d St., N. Y.

Best in Life (The). By Muriel Hine (Mrs. Sidney Coxon). The John Lane Company, New York. $1.50.

An English society novel.

Best Short Stories of 1917 (The), and the Yearbook of the American Short Story. Edited by Edward J. O'Brien. Small, Maynard & Co., Boston. $1.50.

Devil to Pay (The). By Frances Nimmo Greene. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.35.

A story of crime, sometimes a little overwrought in its writing, but never relaxing in its grip on the reader's attention. The terror of a murderer haunted and pursued, as it seems, by the spirit of the accomplice whom he has allowed to be hanged, is vividly rendered. The one fault of the plot is that most readers will guess the heart of the mystery too soon.

My Two Kings. By Mrs. Evan Nepean. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. $1.50.

A novel of the Stuart restoration. Stealthy Terror By John Ferguson. The John Lane Company. New York. $1.40.

A somewhat over-sensational and overcomplicated story of German plot and intrigue It turns about a document which, on its face, is a child's pictorial tribute to his father's birthday, but which really outlines a German plot for the conquest of England

BOOKS FOR YOUNG FOLKS Aztec-Hunters (The). By Francis Rolt-Wheeler. Illustrated. The Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company, Boston. $1.35.

Daddy's Bed-Time Stories. By Mary Graham Bonner. 2 vols. The Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. 60c. each.

These two little volumes, one of "Outdoor Stories," the other of " Bird Stories," have been reviewed for us by two children, a boy and a girl of ten and eight years of age, respectively, to whom the stories were read aloud at bed-time. These two children confirm our own judgment that they have a rather unusual charm. They are not scientific, nor entomological, nor ornithological, nor sociological. They simply appeal to the imagination and to the instinctive love of small children for out-of-doors life. The little volumes are excellently illustrated with sketches and colored plates. We can heartily commend them for small people. Kathleen's Probation. By Joslyn Gray. Illus trated. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.25.

A well-written story for girls.

Tales from Birdland. By T. Gilbert Pearson. Illustrated. Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City.

BIOGRAPHY

Tolstoy. By George Rapall Noyes. (Master Spirits of Literature.) Duffield & Co., New York. $1.50.

This is not so much a biography as it is a connected view of Tolstoy's many-sided literary work. Lovers of literature may know equally well Pushkin and Turgenev, who came before Tolstoy, or Dostoyevsky, who came after. But Tolstoy is the only great Russian novelist who ever reached the whole international reading public. Of all the well-known Russians, no one was more intensely Russian than was Tolstoy. The realism, the neglect of conventions, the social and religious revolutionary philosophy, and, above all, the altruism and fraternalism shown in his writings, were characteristic of his life. No matter how adversely one may judge that social and religious revolutionary philosophy, one feeling must