the chief reason why immigrants shun the land is that Argentina offers a poor man little prospect of acquiring a farm of his own. Our old saying, 'Uncle Sam is rich enough to give every man a farm,' has never at least not within many decades been true in that country, nor has its Government sought to build up a population of small independent landowners. Great estancias-like the immense ranches of early California and Texas-have always monopolized the more accessible territory.

Now the Government is trying to introduce a new system which looks introduce a new system which looks

toward closer settlement and the subdivision of large estates. It may find useful precedents for this in the legislation of Australia and especially of New Zealand.

But land and immigration are by no means the only topics that preoccupy President Alvear and his Cabinet. Currency, banking, and public finance also call for legislative attention. Manufacturing industries were encouraged by the war and now demand tariff protection. A demand has also arisen for civil-service reforms that will do away with the spoils system in public office.

LABOR AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN JAPAN A CONTRIBUTOR to The Nation and the Athenæum thus explains the fact that during the recent serious industrial depression in Japan the number of unemployed did not exceed 100,000, or about five per cent of the industrial wageearners of the country:

The domestic demand for commodities has been remarkably strong, and in spite of the slump in the world's international trade the internal trade of Japan has flourished. The reason for this, it may be suggested, is due largely to certain peculiarities of her social organization. It is gener

ally stated that the aim of the leaders of modern Japan has been to graft the industrial and commercial organization of the West on to a patriarchal Eastern society, since in this way the country might secure all the advantages accruing to the service of Mammon together with those arising from a faithful observance of the tradition of the Elders. One result has been that an economic system, which was the product of an individualistic society, has been worked by a nation in which the family group rather than the individual has been

and still remains the social unit. Nowadays it is generally declared that this organization is breaking down before the rising tide of Americanism; but it is not so generally recognized that its approaching destruction is not entirely a matter for congratulation, for the family system carries with it advantages which are by no means to be despised.

The operation of the family system, which makes the whole group responsible for the welfare of all of its own members, was favorably illustrated at the time of the late earthquake, when a great deal of want and suffering was prevented by the support given the destitute by their more fortunate relatives in regions not directly affected by the disaster.

Another interesting example of this is the custom of giving large dismissal allowances to workers on their discharge, a practice which has resulted in the shipbuilding industry in particular paying out enormous sums during the last few years. This has helped to prevent distress among the workers and, by placing on each firm to some extent the burden of its own unemployed, it has achieved the end of Insurance by Industry schemes, except for the fact that the allowance paid by a company is not fixed definitely, but depends on the circumstances of the time and on its attitude to its workpeople.

Furthermore in Japan that modest conveyance, the bicycle, like the automobile in the United States, has increased the mobility of labor, especially

between the country and industrial

centres.

In many districts of Japan, also, there is a tendency for labor to flow backward and forward between industrial and agricultural employments. In this connection the introduction of the bicycle, now one of the chief means of transport in this country, has been of utmost importance, since it enables members of agricultural families to ride into the towns to their work in the morning and to return to the farms in the evening, and it has caused something of a revolution in the life of farming communities. During the boom thousands of farmers' sons sought industrial employment in the towns, but during the slump have returned to agricultural work and domestic industry with their families.

AMERICAN OIL MEN IN ITALY

THE Concession to prospect for oil granted by the Italian Government to the Sinclair Company is commented upon in the June Report of the General Confederation of Italian Industries. Italian companies have not been able to provide sufficient capital, and have lacked the technical knowledge to determine conclusively the value of Italy's hypothetical oil deposits.

For these reasons the Government has decided to grant to the Sinclair Company the right to explore the subsoil in Emilia and Sicily, while reserving in those districts an area of some 40,000 hectares already assigned to Italian undertakings. The agreement with the Sinclair Company provides for three stages in the work: the first three years will be used for study, the next three for investigation, and during the ensuing four actual exploration of the subsoil will be made. During the first period the Sinclair Company undertakes to expend no less than five million lire on the preliminary work. Should these studies decide the Company to sink shafts in certain zones, it will form an Italian company for this purpose with a share capital of not less than forty million lire, of which forty per cent

will be placed on the market for Italian subscribers. During the ensuing three years the Company is pledged to an annual expenditure of eight million lire on actual soundings. Thus by the end of the sixth year the Company will have invested in the enterprise a total sum of twenty-nine million lire.

This will be followed by a third period extending over four years, during which the ing efficiency, at an outlay of $12,500 per Company undertakes to put into full workunit, each unit of 1000 hectares it decides to take up. Meanwhile it will abandon all claims to zones shown to be unproductive. At the close of the ten years the Sinclair Company will be entitled to concessions covering an area not to exceed 75,000 hectares. The total capital outlay for the whole ten-year period will amount, if the investigations give favorable results, to 104,000,000 lire. The concessions will cover the output and handling of mineral oils, gas, and their respective hydrocarbides, but do not apply to asphaltic schist. The concession will be for fifty years.

The Italian Government will exempt by the Company, provided such machinery from customs duties machinery imported cannot be supplied by Italian factories, and it exempts the profits of the Company from income tax (ricchezza mobile) for a period of ten years. On its side the Government is entitled to a percentage on all dividends exceeding seven per cent, up to a maximum of forty per cent on its quota of dividends amounting to forty-five per cent and over.

They have practically no knowledge of foreign politics.' But these two classes represent a very small fraction of the population. Coming to the plebs:

The lower orders, both in the large towns and in the provinces, do what they are paid for and care for little else. The Persian landowner or employer who treats his men well can within limits depend upon them to assist in any demonstration he sees fit to organize. Two years ago, on the arrival in Teheran of two 'religious,' who had been sent back to Persia from Irak for meddling in politics, a public reception was organized. Crowds were brought from the city in cars and carriages to meet these divines, and they were escorted to their homes with cries of 'Down with Lloyd George' and 'Down with Lord Curzon.' It is certain that the vast majority of the people who indulged in the shouting had not the faintest idea who it was they were holding up to execration. They were simply obeying instructions.

The Persian press enjoys extraordinary liberty. Apparently there are no laws regulating it, and since most newspapers are subsidized by officials or powerful aspirants for official posts, they can publish violently abusive articles with impunity. But such at

THE DEATH PENALTY

tacks seldom disturb the equanimity of those against whom they are directed, because they are regarded as part of the game.

Some time ago a long article appeared in a Teheran journal which dealt with various offenses supposed to have been committed by a British Consul-General. He was accused of having caused a famine by cornering grain and then instituting relief works so as to regain the lost regard of the province. "Thousands of unfortunates perished,' wrote the author of this effusion; 'but what did that matter to the Consul-General?

His object was gained.' When asked why he published such nonsense, the editor replied that he had to live, and the articles had been well paid for. He pooh-poohed the suggestion that perhaps some readers might take seriously the charge made.

Persian newspapers rejoice in names that appear rather unconventional to a Westerner, such as The Thunder, The Storm, and The Spring. Unpleasant as a fanatical Persian mob may make itself, there is no more agreeable host than a Persian gentleman. 'Always courteous and affable to strangers, to more favored individuals he is quite charming.'

GERMANY Lend me some money. THE ALLIES. What for?

GERMANY. To pay you.

-La Tribuna

STIRRING scenes and incidents took place in London on the evening of August 4, 1914. Momentous statements preparing the public for what might happen had been made in the House of Commons. The ultimatum was to expire at twelve midnight. Many hours before that time the West End, and particularly that part round about Westminster, Trafalgar Square, and Buckingham Palace, began to attract people in immense numbers. By eleven o'clock they were to be counted by hundreds of thousands, and progress in any direction was very difficult. Though the scene when the fateful hour had passed was one of extraordinary patriotism, there was a commendable restraint and absence of violent and aggressive demonstration in places where, in a less phlegmatic community, it might easily have taken place. The German Embassy in Carlton House Terrace, for instance, was completely avoided, and left in dark isolation, though the adjoining Mall was full of people from end to end.

Walter H. Page, the American Ambassador in London, in a letter to the President of the United States, dated Sunday, August 9, 1914, wrote:

telephoned me every few hours, and laughingly told funny experiences with nervous women who came in and asked absurd questions. Of course, we all knew the grave danger that war might come, but nobody could by the wildest imagination guess at what awaited us.

'On Monday I was at the Embassy earlier than I think I had ever been there before, and every member of the staff was already on duty. Before breakfast-time the place was filled — packed like sardines. This was two days before war was declared. There was no chance to talk to individuals, such was the jam. I got on a chair and explained that I had already telegraphed to Washington - on Saturday -suggesting the sending of money and ships, and asking them to be patient. I made a speech to them several times during the day, and kept the secretaries doing so at intervals. More than 2000 Americans crowded into those offices which are not large- that day. We were kept there till two o'clock in the morning. The Embassy has not been closed since.

...

"Then came the declaration of war most dramatically. Tuesday night, five minutes after the ultimatum had expired, the Admiralty telegraphed to the Fleet: "Go!" In a few minutes the answer came back: "Off." Soldiers began to march through the City, going to the railway stations. An indescribable crowd so blocked the streets about the Admiralty, the War Office, and the Foreign Office that at one o'clock in the morning I had to drive in my car by other streets to get home. The next day the German

Embassy was turned over to me. I went to see the German Ambassador at three o'clock in the afternoon. He came down in his pyjamas, a crazy man. I feared he might literally go mad. He is of the anti-war party, and he had done his best and utterly failed. This interview was one of the most pathetic experiences of my life. The poor man had not slept for several nights.

"Then came the crowds of frightened Germans, afraid that they would be arrested. They besieged the German Embassy and our Embassy. I put one of our naval officers in the German Embassy, put the United States seal on the door to protect it, and we began business there too. Our naval officer has moved in-sleeps there. He has an assistant, a stenographer, a messenger; and I gave him the German automobile and chauffeur and two English servants that were left there. He has the job well in hand now, under my and Laughlin's supervision. But this has brought still another new lot of diplomatic and Governmental problems a lot of them. Three enormous German banks in London have, of course, been closed. Their managers pray for my aid. Howling women come and say their innocent German husbands have been arrested as spies. English, Germans, Americans-everybody has daughters and wives and invalid grandmothers alone in Germany. In God's name, they ask, what can I do for them? Here come stacks of letters sent under the impression that I can send them to Germany. But the German business is already well in hand, and I think that that will take little of my own time and will give little trouble. I shall send a report about it in detail to the department the very first day I can find time to write it. In spite of the effort of the English Government to remain at

peace with Austria, I fear I shall yet have the Austrian Embassy too. But I can attend to it. . . .

'None of us slept more than a few hours last week. It was not the work that kept them after the first night or two, but the sheer excitement of this awful cataclysm. All London has been awake for a week. Soldiers are marching day and night; immense throngs block the streets about the Government offices. But they are all very orderly. Every day Germans are arrested on suspicion, and several of them have committed suicide. Yesterday one poor American woman yielded to the excitement and cut her throat. I find it hard to get about much. People stop me on the street, follow me to luncheon, grab me as I come out of any committee meeting, to know my opinion of this or that: How can they get home? Will such and such a boat fly the American flag? Why did I take the German Embassy? I have to fight my way about and rush to an automobile. I have had to buy me a second one to keep up the racket. . . .

'Upon my word, if one could forget the awful tragedy, all this experience would be worth a lifetime of commonplace. One surprise follows another so rapidly that one loses all sense of time; it seems an age since last Sunday. I shall never forget Sir Edward Grey's telling me of the ultimatum while he wept; nor the poor German Ambassador who has lost in his high game

almost a demented man; nor the King, as he declaimed at me for half an hour, and threw up his hands and said, "My God, Mr. Page, what else could we do?" Nor the Austrian Ambassador's wringing his hands and weeping and crying out, "My dear colleague, my dear colleague!"

'Along with this tragedy come two reverend American peace delegates who got out of Germany by the skin