of Mexico in the Nicaraguan matter. "The asylum granted by Mexico to ex-President Zelaya," said Señor Creel, "in no way was an unfriendly act to the United States. The United States and Mexico will continue acting and co-operating in full accord to consolidate peace in Central America." Secretary Knox's policy has been justified by its results, the new President of Nicaragua has approved it, our perfect accord with Mexico has been maintained at all points, and public opinion in South America is favorable to the action of our Government.

The News from Canada

Sir Wilfrid Laurier's proposals for national defense in Canada and for the Dominion's share in the imperial army and navy establishment contemplate the organization of a Canadian militia on the same general lines as the national guard of the United States, and the building of a Canadian navy to be subject to the call of the British admiralty, "provided always that within fifteen days the Dominion Parliament ratifies the call." The plans of the government provide for the construction of eleven ships of war, building to begin at once,-in Canada, if possible. This program is supported in the main by all parties. The measure authorizing the construction of the warships, which had its first reading in the Parliament at Ottawa on January 12, is known as "an act extending the naval service of Canada." It is interesting to note here that the calendar year 1909 marked the highest record ever made in trade between the United States and Canada. During 1909, $88,000,000 worth of imports from Canada and $190,000,000 worth of exports to the Dominion show the already large and rapidly increasing volume of trade. More than 60 per cent. of all Canadian imports, these figures show, are from the United States. Official figures indicate that during the past decade Canadian-American trade has more than doubled. The American and Canadian peoples are being bound closer each year by facts of commerce proximity and mutual friendliness.

710109

MR. JOHN BURNS, ENGLAND'S RADICAL LABOR MINISTER

(Mr. Burns is President of the Local Government

He has just been returned to Parliament by an increased

Board in England and a member of the Cabinet. majority from the London district of Battersea)

place according to law between the 10th and 28th of last month, the last day of polling for the city boroughs being January 19 and the last for the county and district boroughs the 28th. The actual voting in the great majority of districts took place on the 15th, 17th, 18th, and 19th. The general result was the return of the Liberal government to power, though with somewhat considerably reduced majorities. By January 20 the returns showed a Unionist gain of sixty seats in the House of Commons. We have in this magazine set forth the news of the memorable Parliamentary session just closed. The issues of the present campaign, the events leading up to their formulation, and the leading personalities which have figured before the country in championing these issues are of much interest to Americans. In another part of this number of the REVIEW Mr. Stead tells the story of the campaign.

Liberals are returned to power. He also repeated the determination of his party to take up the Home Rule question at the earliest practicable moment.

The

King Albert, the new Belgian Popular New monarch, who, as we noted last Belgian King month, formally succeeded his uncle, the late Leopold II., on December 23, is a close, progressive student of economics, and has already begun to identify himself with the progressive political and economic tendencies of his country. After the coronation ceremonies he addressed the Parliament and pledged himself to work for the social advancement of the nation and the elevation of the moral and intellectual standard of his people. He made particular reference to the cause of popular education and to an early and equitable solution of the Congo question, it being his great ambition "to justify in the eyes of the world the sovereignty of Belgium over the Congo." King Albert's civil list was fixed by the Parliament at 3,300,000 francs, approximately $660,000. The new king, studious and domestic, presents a rather marked contrast to his predecessor. He is said by those who know him

THE NEW KING AND QUEEN OF BELGIUM, AND THEIR FAMILY

(This photograph of the young King with his wife and children is unusually interesting because it was taken by the King's mother)

well to have a genuine sympathy with the workers, and Socialists and Catholics alike agree that from him much may be expected. He knows the horrors of the Congo at first hand. He is not consumed by the love of money. Belgium, once the cockpit, is now the garden and the workshop of Europe. In Albert I. she seems to have secured a sovereign after her own heart.

France

The new French tariff bill which Adopts a was drawn up by the Tariff New Tariff Commission expressly appointed for that purpose last winter, was passed on December 29 by a large majority vote, after protracted discussion in the Chamber of Deputies. The bill was drafted by the reporter-general of the commission, M. Peirre V. Morel, a staunch protectionist and disciple of Méline, the father of French tariff makers. Although M. Morel referred to the measure as simply a work of economic defense, menacing no one," it is generally regarded as aggressively protectionist in character. As passed in the Chamber, it is a high

66

COUNT UDO STOLBERG-WERNIGERODE (The new President of the German Reichstag)

ly specialized law based on the maximum. and minimum principle, containing a vast number of concessions that can be offered by France to the nations with which she trades. The enacting clause puts the new tariff in force on March 31 of the present year. It is not considered likely, however, that the Senate will approve the measure in time for it to become a law before the beginning of 1911. In purely domestic matters the French people have been greatly interested during the past few weeks in the plans publicly announced by the new Minister of Marine, Vice-Admiral Boué de Lapeyrére, for the complete reorganization of the French navy; the projected measure of the government for readjusting the relations between the state and the church with regard to the socalled private schools, and the authorization by the Chamber of Deputies for the municipality of Paris to contract a loan of $180,000,000 for an elaborate scheme of improvement, including the demolition of unsanitary buildings, the construction of new streets, gardens, and schools.

procity arrangement with Germany, made under the terms of the Dingley act. This arrangement expires on the seventh of the present month, and automatically upon that date the general German tariff rates will apply to all imports from the United States, unless in the meantime a new agreement is made. On April 1, unless the President shall by proclamation decide the minimum. rates of our new tariff in effect against Germany, the maximum rates provided for in the Aldrich-Payne tariff will be automatically applied to our vast German import trade. These rates provide for the imposition of the minimum with the addition of 25 per cent. ad valorem. In negotiating for a new agreement our own State Department has demanded a relaxation of some of the severe German restrictions against American cattle. The German contention in reply is that these restrictions are founded on sanitary reasons and embodied in the general laws of the Empire and cannot be regarded as discriminating against the United States.

No

Discrimination

The State Department has also, Mutual the newspapers report, protested to the government at Berlin against the passage of the proposed Prussian potash law. Germany has a practical monopoly of potash production, and approximately 60 per cent. of her production, aggregating $7,000,000 in value, is exported to the United States. Up to July of last year the potash output was controlled by a syndicate. When this was broken up the Prussian Government, which controls five potash mines, in order to prevent demoralization of the trade and the cutting of prices, proposed to the Federal Council of the Empire a bill putting the whole German potash industry under Imperial control, and providing that prices must be approved by the Federal Council. Meanwhile a number of American concerns had made new and more favorable contracts with individual mine owners. On January 11, therefore, the American Government informed the German Foreign Office that it would regard the adoption of the proposed potash law as a discrimination against American interests. On January 18 the government at Berlin made formal announcement to the United States that it was unable to agree to the American demands, since the sentiment of the Reichstag was hostile to such concessions. American merchants sell to Germany annually goods to the value of more than $275,000,000 and

buy goods to the value of more than $150,000,000. Our trade with Germany, as regards both export and import, is larger than that with any other country except Great Britain, and an interruption to this trade would result in grave loss to both countries. Undoubtedly some amicable arrangement will be made to prevent the threatened tariff war that is being predicted in the newspapers.

Constitutional

A Change government in of Cabinet both Turkey and Greece has been in Turkey going through some rather unusual experiences recently. At Constantinople the Committee of Union and Progress, otherwise known as the Young Turk party, effected last month what was announced as a reorganization of the Cabinet, which since May last has been under the leadership of Hilmi Pasha. The economic and political regeneration of Turkey has been making steady progress since the deposition of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II. last April. It was in the interest of a complete "modernization of business conditions," the young Turks contend, that the Hilmi Pasha ministry was forced to resign. The new Premier is Hakki Bey, formerly Turkish Ambassador to Rome. On January 19, the Palace of Cheragan, at Constantinople in which the Turkish Parliament meets, was entirely destroyed by fire.

Recent Greek Politics

At Athens there has been for some months a disagreement between the King, the Ministry, and the National Assembly, or Bulé (as the Greek one-chamber Parliament is known) on the one side, and the Military League on the other. The army, particularly the organization of officers, -is dissatisfied with what it characterizes as the weak attitude of Greece toward Turkey in the matter of the annexation of Crete. The Military League, which is very strong and apparently has a good deal of popular support, early last month demanded the resignation of two cabinet ministers and the enactment of several measures reorganizing the Greek army. Their demands were, in the main, conceded. The appointment (on January 3) of a new Minister of War, who himself is a member of the Military League, foreshadows a radical reorganization of the entire military establishment. It remains to be seen whether King George will be able to work out the military reforms without sacrificing anything of the constitutional principle.

Russia

in

1909

Summaries of the progress made by Russia during the year that has just closed emphasizes what one reviewer calls the single great legislative asset of the government during 1909. This is the Land Act, which became a law early in the past year, and which opens a way out from the commune system by which Russian peasants have heretofore been virtually bound to the soil. According to figures indicating the workings of this law for the first half of 1909, more than one million independent farmers have been created from the old peasant community of the empire. The Government Land Bank has helped these peasants to get their farms by issuing long-time loans at a low rate of interest, payment being largely conditional upon the state of the harvests. The general political condition of the empire has been quieter, although in the closing days of the year the assassination of several high officials was reported, including the killing by bomb of Colonel Karpov, chief of the secret police at St. Petersburg.

Russia's Special Problems

Late in December the Duma authorized the expenditure of $55,000,000 for the reorganization and redistribution of the army. In regard to naval construction and the reform of the courts very little actual progress is reported. The Duma, it is true, has been debating a habeas corpus project, as well as the general idea of trial by jury. The system of courtmartial, however, "reinforced protection,' as it is known in Russia, has been in force in most of the Russian cities for nearly four