EUROPE CONFRONTS A NEW IDEAL

La Ilustracion Española y Americana, in a leading article on the withdrawal of the Argentine delegation from the League of Nations Assembly at Geneva, comments as follows:

'When Dr. Puyrredón delivered his formal declaration as chairman of the Argentine delegation to the League Assembly at Geneva, he raised a question which must be answered, but which will inevitably precipitate a long and violent debate. What does the withdrawal of this delegation signify, if not the beginning of a policy upon which the whole world must take sides? The voluntary withdrawal of Argentine, followed by that of Chile, cannot be passed over in silence. These acts, which thus ally those countries with the great North American Republic in their attitude toward the League, signify that America is not following a path parallel with that of Europe, but proposes to steer an independent course, remoter from the rocks and reefs of war.

embog itself in bloody alliances, likely to blast its own continent with the sterility of hatred, of military rancor, and endless preparation for new conflicts.

'We look to America for something better. Let discordant Europe fight and die if it will; but let America be a harmonious whole, supreme only in the arts of civilization, imperialist only in the conquest of industry, pacifist in every attitude and act; a competitor in all that is noble and righteous. America should, indeed, keep aloof from us, that the tares of discord may not be sown in its own field. From the north to the south, its people are one. May they remain immune from that virus of war with which European chancelleries are so busily infecting the world.'

'As enemies of whatever spells destruction and strife between nations, we regard this act with emotion and approval. No. Let us have an end of war and imperialism. America ought not to follow the steps of Europe, and

government must end its 'military adventures' in the East, and its 'military oppression and lawless reprisals' in Ireland. The report also advocates extensive relief work, such as the building of schoolhouses, repairing of canals and railways, afforestation, and the construction of electric power stations. Naturally, these proposals are being vigorously attacked by employing interests, with abundant citations of the evil effects of the early poor laws, which, it is alleged, worked out much as would the unemployment relief now suggested, lowering wages and pauperizing the masses.

According to the London Economist, the percentage of trade union unemployment in Great Britain at the close of the year 1920 was 6.1. This percentage is not large compared with some previous years, but it is more noticeable by reason of the contrast with the recent boom. At the end of 1903, 6.3 per cent of organized workers were idle; in 1908 the proportion was 9.1, and in 1909 it was 6.6. Probably more workers are now upon short time, however, than in the earlier years mentioned.

THE ITALIAN LABOR BILL

THE Italian Cabinet has brought in a bill giving the workmen a share in the control of industry. It is not exactly along the lines advocated by either employers or employees as a result of the settlement which concluded the metallurgical workers' dispute last year, but follows a middle course between their respective recommendations. In each of the ten main industries, one of which is agriculture, the workmen are to elect a committee of nine members, consisting of six workers and three experts, and the employers are to elect a similar committee. The workers' committee is empowered to obtain full information as to the cost of production,

the methods of management, the wages paid, and the capital invested. It is authorized to supervise the enforcement of labor laws, and to suggest improvements in production. Workers are guaranteed against dismissal on account of their political opinions. On the other hand, employers shall have the right to send two members to all meetings of the workingmen's committee.

There are, of course, many other details. Factories employing less than sixty workers do not come under the provisions of the acts. Neither do new undertakings, during the first four years they are in operation. Naturally, the bill is being attacked from both sides, as would be the case of any compromise measure.

BELGIUM'S NATIONALITY

QUESTION

RACIAL rivalries in Belgium are always likely to become more acute in times of political crises. During the recent unsettled status of the ministry, the Walloon Standing Committee in Parliament petitioned the king for proportional racial representation in the new cabinet. It claimed for the people whom it represents at least four or five of the portfolios, and in particular, the ministry of railways, of public works, and of agriculture, which had been in Flemish hands almost continuously for more than thirty years. The same committee has also protested against the selection of two residents of Brussels, enthusiastic partisans of the Flemings, as delegates to the League of Nations meeting at Geneva.

COMMUNISM AND CORRUPTION

IN a recent speech before the Moscow District Congress of the Communist Party, Rykoff, president of the Supreme Economic Council, discussed the open break between the upper and

the lower ranks of the Communist Party. He said: "The masses are dissatisfied with the Communists for this reason; no Communist will ever succeed in convincing the workingmen that it is necessary for them to go hungry, to give up their clothing for the soldiers at the front, and to work barefooted at the very mouth of a blast furnace. This explains why the masses are deserting us. We have sent too many Communists to the fighting front, and there are great factories where there is not a single member of our party. We shall have to start at the very beginning in such places. We have strengthened our strategic position but have become weaker politically. We have neglected to put into effect the measures for economic reconstruction adopted by the Ninth Congress of the Communist Party - not from lack of time, but because of certain abuses, first among which is corruption. There is theft by factory managers and theft by shop committees, and the representatives of the workers and peasants levy a six per cent tax upon the men below them, live on the proceeds, and sign forged quittances to cover up their tracks.' Speaking of the inefficiency in government offices, which he attributed to under-feeding, Rykoff added:

In my own office, I have personally seen three of my employees faint from weakness due to lack of food. We cannot combat bureaucratic inefficiency and crime among our own members unless we make it possible for our people to exist. How can a man live on 3000 rubles without stealing? If we are to succeed in our reforms, it will not be by imprisoning such offenders, but by bettering their physical condition.

A report by Zinovieff, who of late has rather taken Radek's place as promoter of Bolshevist propaganda outside of Russia, on the condition of the Communist Party, printed in the Petrograd Pravda of October 5, says that a

considerable majority of those who remain in the party are 'persons physically weak,' that is, men over forty-five or fifty years of age, and women. 'Furthermore, a certain spiritual weakness was revealed, namely, the comparatively small number of members sufficiently intelligent regarding Communist theories and the class struggle to be used as leaders or even as public workers.' An allusion in the article suggests that the abler and more vigorous members of the party have been drawn off to military service.

CZECHO-SLOVAKIA

A REPORT on the economic and financial situation in Czecho-Slovakia has just been issued by the Prague foreign office, in which it is pointed out that the Czech states supplied 90 per cent of the sugar produced in the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy, 80 per cent of the coal, and 80 per cent of the textiles, although they contained less than 36 per cent of the Empire's population. The same territories also raised 45 per cent of the wheat, or more than enough for their local needs. The harvest, now, is less than half what it was before the war, on account of lack of fertilizers and shortage of labor. In spite of this, Czecho-Slovakia raises more than twice the quantity of sugar required for domestic consumption, and its exports of this single product will go far toward paying for the provisions which it must purchase abroad. The country also is in a position to export large quantities of timber, and anticipates a surplus of coal in the near future.

Business conditions are beginning to improve, and by another year, will in many respects be nearly normal. Public revenues are increasing relatively faster than public expenditures, although the declining purchasing power of the crown has made it necessary to

double the budget. Czecho-Slovakia is the only Central European state which has not issued paper money to cover its expenditures. In fact, it has withdrawn nearly 2,000,000,000 crowns of bank notes from circulation by a forced loan.

EDUCATING RUSSIAN WAR

PRISONERS

AMONG the happier reports from the prison and internment camps of Europe, is news of the educational work conducted by a group of patriotic Russian exiles among their fellow countrymen. Several hundred thousand Russian war prisoners and Russian troops belonging to detachments fighting on various allied fronts, who have been marooned outside their native land ever since the Bolshevist revolution, have received the elements of an education. The soldiers and prisoners in France and its colonies, Belgium, Italy, Macedonia, and Egypt, who were mostly illiterate, have been taught to read and write, have read many of the Russian classics, and have completed elementary courses in various practical branches of instruction. This work began later in Germany, Hungary, Czecho-Slovakia, and Poland, where it has so far extended to 40 camps containing 100,000 prisoners. There are still 300,000 prisoners who have not yet been reached. The teaching has been done by volunteers in the camps; the limited means of the promoters of the movement permitting them merely to supply the simplest school materials, to organize the work, and to give the teachers moral encouragement. Commenting upon the labors of these

teachers, one of the men interested in the movement says: "Though underfed, poorly clothed, poorly lodged, and often ill, they have worked untiringly in the midst of every privation and the inevitable discouragements of camp conditions. We have assisted them with text books and such school materials as we could provide. But the labor, the truly heavy, tedious labor, has been performed by these modest heroes in the camps themselves.'

This work has been supported entirely by private generosity, no official funds being available for this purpose.

FOREIGNERS IN FRANCE

SOME agitation has started in France against the settlement of strangers in that country. José Germain, writing in Matin says, that these foreigners receive bread tickets at the same reduced prices as French subjects, 'which gives the French the privilege and honor of paying for these parasites.' They get the benefit of party rates on the railways, and French taxpayers have to make up the railway deficit. There is a growing sentiment in favor of requiring foreigners who intend to reside for an extended period in France to take out licenses, and of limiting the number of such residents to a certain maximum; 'based on the services rendered by their native countries to our own country, and the trade balance between their own countries and France.' In the opinion of this writer, foreigners intending to sojourn in France should be required further to deposit a prescribed sum in French bonds with the government, to be returned to them when they leave the country.

CONFUCIUS says: Is it not one of the joys of life to learn and continuously to put in practice what we have learned? Is it not one of the joys of life to have intelligent friends come from a distance and seek us out on account of our learning and wisdom? Is it not the sign of a noble soul, however, to be content although men do not recognize our wisdom and attainments?

Confucius is here speaking from the experience of true culture, and points out what spirit and character and attitude of mind a man must have if he is truly cultivated. Such a man must be filled with disinterested love for the subject of his studies, and the test of this is spontaneous and unaffected joy in study for its own sake.

The educated men of former days, in spite of the deficiencies in their knowledge, possessed a certain refinement of taste which made them dislike numerous company-large gatherings with tea, and cakes, and refreshments, assembled in great apartments. It is not related that any of the great sages of former times delivered lectures in crowded public halls, to applauding auditors, who waved flags in their honor. Cultured men of the old school found their pleasure in intercourse with a few companions of similar intellectual tastes and attainments, a

few chosen and carefully selected friends, who came from a distance and sought them out for their wisdom and learning. The students of former days honored Confucius by studying his writings and by trying to understand him and to live in accordance with his doctrines, not by founding Confucian Societies and shouting 'Long live Confucius'! For these students of ancient date, Confucianism was a religion; but it was a religion like that of the English gentleman, who replied to the question of a lady inquiring his belief, that it was the belief of all sensible men.' When the lady persisted in asking further what that might be, he replied that sensible men never told.

Indeed, a great change has taken place in the manners of our educated classes in China since the introduction of the 'new culture.' Confucius says elsewhere in Li Chi: 'I have heard that it is good taste to come and learn; but I have never heard that it is good taste to go and teach.' The student of ancient days really wished to learn. It was his sole thought to perfect and mature his knowledge and culture. But the scholar of the new age wants to teach. His great idea is to deliver himself of a message, to preach, to spread the new culture which he has discovered, to inculcate his 'system,' his 'faith,