THE OFF-THE-STREET CLUB BY RAGNA B. ESKIL Over in the saloon-dotted West Side factory district of Chicago the Off-theStreet Club (for children) is changing its moorings from a narrow three-story building at 1346 Van Buren Street to a more commodious home two blocks farther west. This is the third time the club has had to enlarge its quarters. Last winter the sign, "SORRY-NO MORE CHILDREN CAN ADMITTED," had to be put in the windows, and it is only a question of time before the sign will have to go up in the new home. BE The Off-the-Street Club, with a present weekly membership of eight hundred, was started by Superintendent John McMurry seventeen years ago in two small rooms not far from the present location. He had been a Y. M. C. A. secretary, and the plight of the street-driven children in this neighborhood had touched him. He had watched them on the can-and-bottle-strewn empty. lots, hiding behind signboards and in vacant hallways, hunting garbage piles, making sport of drunken men and street women, teasing the police, and on cold days seeking the warmth of saloon entries. Dirty-clothed and dirty-mouthed, cigarettesmoking, worldly-eyed, and neglected or unwanted in their crowded, cheerless homes, living by their wits, they hardly knew what human kindness was, or to what future, except that of drunkard or criminal, they might aspire. Mr. McMurry decided to make the saving of these children from the streets his life-work. So, although he had only $17 in his pocket, he rented the two rooms already mentioned, furnished them with second-hand furniture and toys, and asked the children to an ice-cream social. They came, cynically-more than could get inbut gradually, night after night, their starved and suspicious youngness yielded to the cheer and friendliness they found there. Mr. McMurry is the trusted out-ofcourt adjudicator and friend for the neighborhood. And for all his service-he has no other income-he allows himself a salary of sixty cents a day, and he is on the job three hundred and sixty-five days in the year. Needless to say, the man who can keep a club of this sort a live and growing organization for this number of years has ideas that children appreciate. Mr. McMurry, or "Brother," as every one calls him, does not believe in preaching or citing abstract examples of noble conduct. He believes rather in giving the children a chance to develop the good that is in them. and to help themselves by helping each other. The older ones instruct the younger (there are only three paid employees in the club), and any child, no matter what his age, who thinks he has the teaching faculty is allowed to form a club. There are fortyfour such clubs. Besides the usual gymnastics, Boy Scouts, cooking, etc., clubs, there is a primary for little tots, a band of forty instruments, and a character-building class, the Architect Guild, for older boys and girls, that with solemn and dramatic ritual teaches the dignity of industry, the control of the will, and the value of pure living. The Off-the-Street Club is not only molding character, but it is making worthy Americans out of what might have been mighty poor material. 70 Fifth Avenue, New York Recommends teachers to colleges, public and private schools. Advises parents about schools. Wm. O. Pratt, Mgr. LAKE PLACID, N. Y. On Buck Island. Finest situation on most beautiful lake in Adirondacks. Ideal boys' camp. Elevation 1,900 feet Mountain climbing, swimming, boating, canoeing, fishing, tennis, hikes, etc. Motor boats. Main cottage and tents on platforms. Ages 10 to 16 years. Highest references given and required. Illustrated booklet. Mr. and Mrs. S. Hudson Chapman, 1128 Spruce St., Philadelphia CAMP OXFORD A Summer Camp for Boys, OXFORD, MAINE Eighteenth Season. Highest efficiency at minimum rates. Booklet. A. F. CALDWELL, A.M. Camp Cobbossee LAKE COBBOSSEECONTEE, MAINE 16th season. Location, equipment, supervision, food the best. Ideal boating, swimming and land sports. Experienced college men. Camp physician. Write for Booklet. R. L. MARSANS, A.B., Director, Shandaken, N. Y. On account of the war and the consequent delays in the mails, both in New York City and on the railways, this copy of In next week's Outlook we shall publish a striking article on one of the colored regiments now preparing to go over there "-the 367th Infantry, which is known by the men forming it as "The Buffaloes." The article is written by Lieutenant O. E. McKaine, one of the battalion staff officers of the regiment, and is prefaced with an Introduction by its commander, Colonel James A. Moss. Lieutenant McKaine is colored and is a graduate of the Regular Army. Colonel Moss, as those who are familiar with recent American military history well know, is white, a native of Louisiana, and a graduate of West Point. In frontier days the Indians used to call our colored soldiers "Buffalo soldiers," because in color they were black like the buffalo, and also, like the buffalo, they were good fighters, as the Indians had learned from experience. The 367th Infantry has adopted a buffalo head, which, combined with an American eagle and with two crossed rifles, forms its coat of arms. This coat of arms bears the motto "See it Through." At present the Buffaloes are at Camp Upton, Long Island, where they hold the record on the rifle range and have shown in all respects that they are first-class fighting men. They may confidently be expected to "See it Through" when they reach the western front, for their motto well expresses the spirit and purpose which permeate the whole regiment. AIRPLANES AND GUNS-WHERE ARE THEY? THE WEEK What many have foreseen and have warned against has happened. This country is short of airplanes and guns at a time when to our allies a supply of American airplanes and American guns to withstand the Germans would be invaluable. Congress is stirred up about the matter. President Wilson has ordered an investigation of the airplane situation, and the War Department has assured Congress that it is making inquiries into the matter of ordnance. What our allies need is not investigations and inquiries. It is guns and airplanes. There is something pathetic in the position in which our failure to meet the expectations of our allies leaves us. Perhaps those expectations were not fully reasonable; but they were the measure of their confidence in us, and also a measure of our tendency to make big promises. In a private conversation the other day an officer of one of our allies put it somewhat like this: "We are disappointed. Of course we will stick it out, and of course we will win because we have got to win; but we had great hopes when America came in. We thought that we were perhaps old-fashioned, and that America, modern, ingenious, alert, would show us something new. If we had only had three thousand of your airplanes at the front, this German drive could never have happened. You had the Lewis gun, but you wanted something better, and you waited. You may get something better, but you haven't it now. When a robber has got you by the throat, you don't say, 'Dick, run down to the shop three blocks away and buy me an automatic.' You pick up the carving-knife. It's all right to want the best; but in the meantime why not use what you have?" Men who, like this officer, have seen their pals killed waiting for us to get into the game, do not say much, but they feel that perhaps England and France are not so old-fashioned and slow, after all. What has raised the airplane question lately has been the renewed charges of the sculptor Gutzon Borglum, who, with the President's permission, made an investigation of his own. He attributes the delay to graft, if not disloyalty. It is not necessary to find somebody venal or disloyal to get an explanation of the delay. Delay was the inevitable consequence of the policy which we have pointed out; and it will continue to be the consequence until the Government changes its policy, and while working for perfection in airplane motors makes use of what motors are available. It is the same policy that has caused delay in the ordnance. It is now reported that there will be no heavy Browning machine guns produced this year! There never was any reason for believing that there could be any production on a large scale of the heavy Browning much before the close of the year. Readers of The Outlook will remember what we have printed on this subject. There is no reason why we should fail to strive to get a perfect machine gun and a perfect airplane motor for large-scale production; but we ought to have used the designs already proved effective by warfare, to have put energy into the manufacture of arms that could be made at once. To our leaders our people should say: "These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Meantime, let our people and our allies remember that not all that we have done in the way of building aircraft here and abroad can be published. Our mistakes have been plentiful; but the self-sacrificing and patriotic work of American citizens who have labored to bring our aircraft production out of nothing into something prodigious has had and will have fruit. We must on the one hand give credit to what has been accomplished, and on the other hand remain intolerant of delay. STEERING AUSTRIA AMONG THE ROCKS Austrian statesmen have displayed incredible cleverness in maintaining the existing order against great odds. Their method of governing has been to create division at home and to disseminate false information abroad. This is the explanation for the recent dissolution of the Austrian Parliament by order of Emperor Charles. Opposed to the rule of the Austrians and Magyars in the Dual Empire has been the independent spirit of freedomloving Slavs and Poles. What Austria has done has been to fan the mutual jealousies of these subject nationalities. In the last few months, however, there has been a rapid process of unification in the forces opposing autocratic rule in Austria-Hungary, and demands for their rights were becoming too effective in the Parliament. Indeed, Parliament has been regarded as a source of danger in Austria. During the first two years of the war Austria was without a Parliament, when even Russia had one. Because of the fear of the opposition to autocracy it was not called until May, 1917. For a while the Poles did not vote with the Opposition, consisting of Czechs, Jugoslavs, Italians, Rutheni ans, some democratically inclined Austrians, and a few others. This fact postponed the day when the Government would have been put into the minority. That day was imminent when Parliament was dissolved. The Austrian Government has had several big problems to deal with. First, this rising national spirit among the Jugoslavs, Czechoslovaks, and Poles; second, food shortage and misery all over the Empire, provoking a democratic agitation among the German and Magyar elements; and, third, the difficulty of maintaining Austrian sovereignty in the face of the encroachments of Germany. So the best thing for the Austrian statesmen to do was to get rid of Parliament; and they have done so without providing for an appeal to the voters for a new Parliament. It is a plain replacement of parliamentary government by arbitrary power. Austrian statesmen can now settle matters without the embarrassment of being asked questions. OUR FRIENDS FROM AUSTRIA-HUNGARY Under these circumstances, there never was more need for the expression of sympathy and for actual help for the oppressed peoples of Austria-Hungary. Although, as subjects of Austria-Hungary, they are technically enemies of the Allies, these peoples are really the Allies' friends. By the thousand they are risking, not only their lives, but all they hold dear, for the cause for which the Allies are fighting. Not long ago an incident occurred that affords a dramatic illustration of this. Forty-six hundred Jugoslav volunteers and three hundred of their officers, all Austrian subjects who had enlisted against Austria in the Russian army and who had bravely fought on the eastern front, refused to accept the Russian peace. There they were, cut off from their friends in Serbia. In order to rejoin their comrades they made the long trip across Siberia to Vladivostok, and sailed thence across the Indian Ocean and up through the Red Sea, and finally reached Salonika, and they are now fighting on the Macedonian front. Czechs, or Bohemians, as we would call them, have deserted in groups from the Austrian army, in which they were impressed. They have sent messages across the lines to the Italians; and then the Italian guns have put down a barrage behind the Czechs, cutting them off from the Austrian rear, and then the Czechs have gone safely over to the other side and joined the Italians in fighting for liberty. Men who do this know that if captured they will be hanged. Such peoples deserve our sympathy and aid. They ought to be told that we are not going to stand for the preservation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; that we believe in their liberty as we believe in our own; that, though they are technically enemy aliens when they are in this country, they are really our friends, and when they go to fight for our cause and theirs they have our God-speed. IS THERE A NEW GERMAN PEACE OFFENSIVE? It has been noted that whenever one of Germany's great fighting offensives comes to a standstill and time is needed for planning new attacks a flood of talk comes through neutral countries as to Germany's alleged purpose to offer terms of peace to her enemies. Such a false peace offensive seems to be under way now. The evidence of its existence depends largely on statements of Lord Robert Cecil, the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He warns the British people against plausible but slippery attempts to influence the world's mind in this way. He describes Germany's tactics as being also to “induce its own people to carry on the war from week to week and month to month in the belief that peace is almost in sight, until Germany's Russian plans are matured." News reports from England say that a Dutch financier and other neutral emissaries have lately appeared in England posing as representatives of the German move for peace. As has been the case in every previous attempt, there has been nothing whatever to commit Germany officially, nor any plain speaking about terms of peace. So far as there is any substance at all in the so-called peace drive (Mr. Balfour declares that no one has made peace offers to his Government), it is an attempt to delude and entice Germany's enemies into a state of feeling in which their military efforts may relax. To pay the least attention to this particular form of German propaganda is to give it an importance which it does not at all deserve. Lord Robert Cecil believes that German diplomacy is now trying to gain time during which the German power may be strengthened in Russia. He even says, "If they once really establish themselves in Russia, there is no reason why they should not fight the whole world forever." The reason is well stated in an editorial in the New York Tribune:" There is perhaps little likelihood that the military strength of Russia and Poland will be added to that of the Teutonic allies, but Germany's great need is industrial. If it can now command the food, the coal, iron, and other products of one hundred and fifty millions of people, it can keep its own armies in the field, and behind the western barrier which these impose it can build up the most powerful and the most populous commercial alliance the world has ever known. GERMAN AGGRESSION IN THE UKRAINE The view above stated is confirmed by what Germany has actually been doing lately in Russia. At first she used the desire of outlying portions of Russia to achieve independence to overcome the Bolshevik power and influence over those provinces. Now, having accomplished this, she is picking quarrels with the new governments of the new republics and is proceeding to establish German rule by force. This is particularly evident in the Ukraine. Here, under various pretexts, Germany has taken control of the capital, Kiev, has arrested many of the Government officials on the ground that “the Government has proved too weak to maintain law and order," and has made arbitrary arrests. A wildly sensational rumor of a plot for a general massacre is darkly hinted at in excuse. All this, and the putting of German officers in control of work on the land, Germany euphoniously calls establishing “a state of enhanced protection"! Equally arbitrary was the seizure of the Russian naval base on the Black Sea, Sebastopol, famous in the history of the Crimean War. Here lay the vessels of the Russian Black Sea naval fleet. All of these ships are now in the possession of the Germans, and when manned by German or Turkish sailors may prove a formidable element in all that relates to sea power in the East. Germany may well be willing to let the Bolshevik leaders maintain the semblance of power in Moscow or Petrograd so long as she is free to do whatever she chooses in the Ukraine. A French despatch last week said, "The Germans have decided to install themselves in the so-called independent Province of Ukraine as if it were conquered and colonized." A good number are already there. Many more will pour in steadily during this month. The French who saw their fighting in the battle lower down the line said they were first-class fighting material, full of courage and resource, and all very keen. The Germans have rendered at least two great services to the Allies' cause. They have accelerated the advent of the American troops and they have made unity of command at last a reality. The French and British are fighting in close comradeship, each with full appreciation of the qualities of the other. This praise from Mr. Lloyd George is particularly welcome when taken in connection with his recent urgent plea that America should hasten her effort and his admission that the slowness with which our soldiers were coming into the lines was a great disappointment to her allies. Much satisfaction is felt at the decision of the War Department and General Pershing by which in publishing lists of American casualties the address in this country of each officer or private is given. The record up to May 7 includes 646 killed in action and 155 who have died of wounds, while the number who have died of disease is larger than the first two combined, namely, 982. An encouraging and inspiring statement was made by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, recently in regard to American naval effort abroad. He said that we have now 150 American war-ships in foreign waters, manned by 40,000 American sailors, while new ships are being added rap idly. The personnel of the Navy has in a year and a half risen from 75,000 men to 370,000. Mr. Roosevelt rightly called attention to the remarkable good fortune which has attended the transport of our armies abroad. The loss by undersea attack has been notably light; on the other hand, the warfare against the submarine conducted by our destroyers and other naval vessels is more than creditable to this country, and sustains the brilliant history of the American Navy. A LARGER ARMY The plans for the American Army of the future, as outlined by Secretary Baker and other War Department officials before the House Committee on Military Affairs, look to an increase in the size of the Army during the next fiscal year (that is, as we suppose, reaching to midsummer of 1919) which would at that time make it approximately 3,000,000 in numbers, or perhaps even more. Mr. Baker himself, with characteristic vagueness, but with earnest patriotism, said: "Let us avoid specific figures. They imply limits. There is no limit. We will call out enough men to make victory certain." Other statements are that the number of men who can be sent over is limited to 100,000 a month on account of the lack of shipping, and that approximately 150,000 newly conscripted men will be called to our camps every month. In his speech at Boston the other day Theodore Roosevelt said that we should have an army of 5,000,000 men in the field. Three measures were introduced on April 30 in the United States Senate to increase the size of the Army. The first bill was introduced by Senator Poindexter, of Washington, who directed the Secretary of War to call from the eligible list of registries under the Selective Draft Act 1,500,000 in addition to those who have been called and to train and equip them for service in the National Army. Senator Reed, of Missouri, introduced a similar bill calling for an additional force of 3,000,000 men. Senator Smith, of Georgia, submitted a resolution declaring that the Senate urges immediate action to provide for the organization of an army of 5,000,000, and requesting the Committee on Military Affairs to prepare a bill providing for the immediate training of officers and the manufacture of munitions for such an army. In the House of Representatives, Mr. Dent, Chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs, introduced a bill providing for an increase of the Army to 5,000,000 men. The introduction of these measures reflected the growing restiveness among members of Congress over what had seemed to be the Administration's delay in revealing its plans, and especially its disagreement with the proposition emanating from the Secretary of War that Congress shall grant a blanket power to the President to raise as large an army as he deems necessary to insure victory. As Mr. Poindexter said in introducing his bill, Congress ought to act immediately, and there ought not to be any delay in increasing the army. "The foundation for this increase is already laid in laws that have been enacted. All that is necessary is to call an additional number of men." The bills introduced therefore provide for the amendment of the Selective Draft Act signed by the President May 18, 1917. That Act authorized the President to increase the military establishment of the United States by raising all organizations of the Regular Army to the maximum enlisted strength; to draft into the military service all members of the National Guard and of the National Guard Reserves; to raise an additional force of 500,000 enlisted men, providing their necessary officers from the Officers' Reserve Corps or from members of the National Guard; to raise a further force of 500,000 men at such time as may be determined; and to provide that the enlisted men shall be raised by voluntary enlistment or by selective draft. The country has now at home in camp and abroad in the field, it is said, a total of 1,885,000 enlisted men and officers. The turn of events since the German drive started has convinced members of Congress that an even greater number will be needed from America immediately to swing the tide in the Allies' favor. How the needed men are to be provided, whether by a definite provision from Congress or by its giving a blanket power to the President, does not, in the ultimate analysis, make so much difference to our enemy. He cares little for methods. He cares much for men. HOLDING BACK THE HUNS Since Hindenburg's futile attempt of April 29, in Flanders, to crash through the British line running southwest from Ypres to Locre, he has probably been reorganizing and strengthening his much-battered divisions. Whether the comparative lull both in Flanders and in Picardy in the week ending on May 7 presages renewed and even more desperate attacks remains to be seen. The attack of April 29 was deadly in its intent, and that it failed so completely and involved such frightful German losses is a victory for the Allies both materially and morally. The aggressive since that battle has been with the Allies. Thus on May 7 comes news of British raids near Arras, of American extensive gas retaliation on the Picardy lines for a well-withstood previous gas attack upon them, and of a raid by our "old 69th New York" in the Lunéville front. The day before, Australian and Canadian attacks were reported, respectively, east of Amiens and in the southern part of the Arras sector, to say nothing of a British gain of five hundred yards on a thousand-yard front near Locre. None of these actions were of superlative importance, but the mere fact that the daily news throughout a week has nearly always recorded aggression instead of defense or retreat has a rather broad significance. There have been rumors of an impending attack in Italy, and Emperor Charles is said to be at the head of a great Austrian force. Nothing important has yet developed, however, in that region. As to the general situation in the west, General Radcliffe, for the British War Office, says: "It is difficult to make an exact comparison of the staying powers of the two armies, but the facts shown are in our favor. If the enemy continues his offensive in the north, he must impair his chances of success in the south." THE THIRD LIBERTY LOAN A BRILLIANT SUCCESS Beyond question, the three billion dollars called for by the Third Liberty Loan has been very considerably exceeded. The exact figures are not available as we write (May 7) because of the enormous work necessary in auditing and in collecting the reports from the districts all over the country. On that date, however, the amount actually recorded was three and one-half billions. It is quite probable that the total amount subscribed will run up to four billions or perhaps over. Even more gratifying than the success in dollars is the fact that at least seventeen million people subscribed to the Loan. Emphatically, this Liberty Loan, as well as those which preceded it, was not essentially a financial deal, but an outpouring of money in all kinds of amounts from men, women, and even children, throughout the country. Equally gratifying has been the incalculable amount of freely given volunteer effort in fighting the campaign. A great many thousands of Americans, from the great Wall Street banker down to the youngest Boy Scout, have participated in this effort. The cost of placing the Third Liberty Loan has been extremely small, and that is so simply because of the patriotic and untiring energy shown by the people themselves in making the Loan a success. It has been pointed out that in the Civil War a war loan of five hundred million dollars, with investors numbering perhaps fifty thousand, was considered a marvelous achievement, while the placing of it was given to a private banking concern which received a commission for its services. Altogether the three Liberty Loans amount to nearly ten billion dollars, and more was subscribed but could not be received by the Government. It is notable that the number of persons |