cratic Presidential candidates. At present the man most generally talked about is Governor Harmon, of Ohio, and the second on Democratic lips is Mayor Gaynor, of New York City, whose record thus far in his great municipal office has been one of remarkable achievements. It is conceivable that the Democrats might elect him Governor next November, in which case his outlook for the Presidential nomination would be very favorable. Thus far Judge Gaynor has steadily refused to be drawn into any form of political discussion or to make any declaration whatever regarding party politics, in this as in other matters of official conduct setting an excellent example.

The

The business world was anxiously Work of the awaiting decisions of the Supreme Supreme Court Court of the United States in the great Tobacco and Standard Oil cases when on Monday, April 11, Chief Justice Fuller announced that these cases would have to be argued again before the court. This means virtually a postponing of the decision for another year. On March 28 Justice David J. Brewer had suddenly died and Justice Moody has been absent in Massachusetts for a long time, owing to illness. It was felt likely that the court would be divided and

HON. WILLIAM J. BRYAN AS HE APPEARED LAST MONTH ON ARRIVING AT NEW YORK

kiss, of Buffalo, and several of the newer political leaders in the City of New York are men of the Hughes type in public spirit, legal and political knowledge, and aptitude for governmental work. The Republican party has a wonderful power of self-discipline and rejuvenation. It is usually a more efficient party than the Democratic. It does not follow inevitably, therefore, that the revolt within the Republican party is going to lead to sweeping Democratic victory. The one thing that everybody who has a clear vision now understands is that the progressive spirit cannot be stamped out of the Republican party without involving that organization in hopeless defeat.

A NEW GLIMPSE OF CHIEF JUSTICE FULLER

that there ought to be a full bench before matters of such vast consequence were finally passed upon. Judge Brewer was almost seventy-three years old, and for forty continuous years had been either a State or a Federal judge, half of the time on the Supreme bench. He was a man of great vigor of mind and freedom of expression. The vacancy caused by his death had not been filled as these pages closed for the press, although it was understood that President Taft was making overtures to Goyernor Hughes, of New York. Justice Moody's early return to the bench is not probable. Chief Justice Fuller and Jus

tice Harlan are seventy-seven years of age, and their retirement cannot be long deferred. Matters of immense moment relating to the regulation and control by government of the business interests and methods of this commercial age are likely to be affected profoundly by interpretations that our highest tribunal will place upon existing statutes. It was at one time thought that President Taft himself. would almost certainly succeed Chief Justice Fuller. Quite as difficult as the task of interpreting the laws is that of selecting the men who for years to come will fix the complexion of the court.

Inefficiency

Business

The scrutiny to which some of in Public the big appropriation bills in Congress were subjected last month revealed many illustrations of the unbusinesslike methods that ex-Governor Herrick complains of in his able discussion of the subject of waste in public expenditure which we publish on page 600 of this number. In the course of that discussion Mr. Herrick alludes to the valuable work of the Bureau of Municipal Research in New York and of the Merriam Commission in Chicago in exposing not merely ordinary and incidental graft but fundamental inefficiency in accounting methods resulting in a steady drain on the municipal finances. The fact that one of the Chicago officials resigned under fire, while indictments have been found against others, is not the only result of the Merriam Commission's disclosures. The thing that should cause rejoicing is the prospect that the entire city administration will now be put on a business basis so far as accounting is concerned. The rapid spread of the "commission plan" of city government throughout the country means that business men are everywhere waking up to the necessity of applying in all departments of public business the same up-todate methods that are considered essential in private business.

The

There is little to relieve the Pittsburg monotonously sordid nature of Revelations, the Pittsburg bribery disclosures. During the past two months a score of members of the City Councils have confessed to receiving bribes for their official action, about forty indictments have been presented by the Grand Jury, and altogether more than one. hundred men have been implicated in the bribery cases, including several important personages in the business world who stand charged with purchasing legislation. Six banks which wished to secure deposits of city money are charged with the same offense. Such a revelation of venality was never before made in any American city, save possibly in San Francisco, but there is good reason to believe that other American municipalities might profit by a similar season of confession and repentance. Deplorable as Pittsburg's situation is, it is far from hopeless so long as a group of public-spirited citizens stands behind the prosecuting officials and demands the exposure and punishment of the briber as well as the bribed.

The Socialists

Milwaukee

Last month the city of MilwauGarry kee, with a population of about. 350,000, elected a Socialist Mayor and City Council. Emil Seidel, the Socialist Mayoralty candidate, received a plurality of over 7000 votes, while his party carried fourteen out of twenty-three wards and elected six Aldermen-at-Large. Thus the city government for the coming two years will be completely in Socialist control. The result, revolutionary as it seems, was not a sudden development. The growth of the Socialist vote in Milwaukee for the past decade has been steady. Two years ago it had become almost exactly one-third of the total city vote. This year it added over 30 per cent. to its own record figures of 1908, leaving both the Democrats and the Republicans hopelessly in the rear. This remarkable shift of votes is partly explained by general dissatisfaction with the city's administration, partly by a tremendously active Socialist propaganda, including a weekly house-tohouse distribution of literature by trained squads of workers, and partly by the work that had already been done by Socialists who had been elected to the City Council and by Socialist members of the Wisconsin Legislature. Milwaukee had suffered from jobbery, graft, and corporation rule, and was clamoring for any change that promised reform. The Socialists have campaigned persistently

against food-adulteration, the contract system of public works, and graft in the city garbage plant, and in favor of municipal ownership and model tenements. Moreover, their representatives in the council have taken a leading part in effecting important economies in the city government. In his inaugural address Mayor Seidel named among the reforms for which his administration is pledged to work the improved sanitation of factories, the bettering of conditions under which labor on city works is performed, and the establishment of a Bureau of Municipal Research, leading to the installation of a complete cost-keeping system for every municipal department. The new administration is also pledged to prevent overcrowding of street-cars and to compel the company to clean the cars regularly, to furnish enough cars, to sprinkle the streets between tracks, and to give the shortest route for transfers. The Socialists as a party expect to secure for Milwaukee the municipal ownership of gas and ice plants, a three-cent street-car fare, an eight-hour day, and work for the unemployed at union wages. Whatever may be thought of this program, it can hardly be regarded as subversive of the rights of property.

DISTRICT-ATTORNEY BLAKELEY, OF PITTSBURG (In charge of the graft prosecutions)

Photograph by Paul Thompson.

HON. EMIL SEIDEL

(The newly elected Mayor of Milwaukee)

Negro

Only the veto of Governor Disfranchise- Crothers last month prevented ment the adoption by the State of Maryland of a plan for negro disfranchisement which involved virtual nullification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution, so far as State and local elections are concerned. The Legislature passed a bill refusing the privilege of registration for such elections to members of the negro race. None of the Southern States has ever gone so far as this in depriving the negro of the suffrage, and the fact that in those States franchise laws had been framed on the assumption of the validity of the Fifteenth Amendment influenced the Governor in withholding his approval from the radical Maryland enactment. The new State of Oklahoma, which was not supposed to have

HON. WILLIAM SULZER, OF NEW YORK

(The father of the raising-of-the-Maine project, who has steadily grown in reputation during his

eight successive terms in Congress)

the raising and removal of the battleship Maine from Havana Harbor, where it was sunk on February 15, 1898, and for the transfer of the bones of her sailors remaining in the hull to American soil. Such action is eminently appropriate, though somewhat tardy. "Remember the Maine" was the ringing battle-cry of Americans in the Spanish-American War, but during the twelve years that have since elapsed the noble ruin has remained unremembered so far as concerned Congressional action looking toward its removal. Little attention, in fact, has actually been paid to it, except for the passing glance of the traveler in Havana Harbor and the annual tribute of a floral decoration by American residents in Cuba. Congressman Sulzer has repeatedly introduced bills for the raising of the Maine and has for many years labored, in season and out of season, for the accomplishment of this patriotic object. His zealous efforts, backed by a widespread sentiment and numerous resolutions of State legislatures and private organizations, have at last borne fruit. Should the Senate concur, the hulk of the Maine will not much longer remain a "lodger in the sea king's halls," and the

bones of her brave sailors will be removed to a resting place in the national cemetery at Arlington. Certainly the American people. will not be afraid of the effect of any light that may be thrown on the nature of the explosion that sunk the Maine through the bringing of the wreck to view. If the truth on this point can be clearly ascertained history will be satisfied and the incident will be definitely closed.

Two New Battleships

The House last month voted to adhere for the present to the twobattleships-a-year rule. After a seven-hour session the naval appropriation bill was passed in its original form, authorizing two new ships of the Dreadnought type, two fleet colliers, and four submarines. The construction work on these ships is to be done under the eight-hour law. The total amount carried by the bill is $128,037,602. There was the usual opposition from those advocates of peace who see no necessity for building additional battleships; but the policy of adequate preparation prevailed. In this connection it is interesting to note the statement made by Secretary Meyer in a recent speech, that the purchase of eight additional battleships, at an outlay of $50,000,000, would have prevented the Spanish-American war. That brief conflict cost the country $507,000,000 in immediate outlay, and it has already cost $20,000,000 in pensions. During the year he has been in his present office Secretary Meyer has been working upon a plan of reorganization for the Navy Department and the inspection of the yards. Until about six months ago, he informs us, the organization at Washington was practically the same as it was in 1842, when the naval expenditures were $8,000,000, with a tonnage of 78,500 and about 12,000 officers and men. To-day the expenditures are $130,000,000, with a tonnage of 1,250,000 and officers and men to the number of 46,893. Mr. Meyer strongly favors legislation, as recommended by President Taft, under which it will be possible to secure younger officers for our ships. The officers in the higher grades of our navy average a little older than those of the same grades in the principal European powers. The new scheme of promotions has been so drawn up as to involve no increased expense. Secretary Meyer has a tremendous task ahead of him in this reorganization work, and he is to be commended for his zealous efforts in behalf of the proposed reforms.