regretted only having not succeeded and who sought only to escape punishment.

"Cuno and Stinnes will now see in the Pope's letter the only means of contesting the Treaty of Versailles. When they ask once more for an 'impartial judgment 'of Germany's ability to pay they must recall that it is they who have voluntarily thrown Germany into bankruptcy.

"The issue of reparations is identical with the issue of peace. The debtors will be persuaded to pay only by forcing them to pay. Affectionate appeals to their good-will will remain vain. "Pius XI, if he wished to do something, should have written some strong phrases upon the strict obligation to repair the damage done and upon the wrong in trying to get out of this obligation. The Germans fear that public opinion will turn against them and they are expending great sums to deceive public opinion. Perhaps they might have heeded a paternal but firm admonition from the Vatican. Unfortunately, in the letter of the Pope to Cardinal Gasparri there is is nothing to awaken the conscience of a sinner."

The semi-official Temps observes that the letter will be of no assistance to French Catholics in their plea for a restoration of the former complete relations between France and the Vatican, and observes:

evidently has been aware of it for two weeks and has been preparing to make use of it. Not only does the action of the Pope threaten to weaken the Poincaré Government's Catholic support, which has been heretofore foremost in advocating the occupation policy through its journals and spokesmen, but it also further menaces the Franco-Belgian accord over the Ruhr by strengthening the Catholics and Socialists in Belgium, who have been fighting for a more moderate Ruhr policy.

"From the discussion already provoked in Europe the Pope's action would seem to rank almost with the peace efforts of the late Pope Benedict as a political move disturbing to European Chancelleries. The outstanding impression in Continental

"The letter from the Pope suggests two ideas: One is financial and consists of relieving the Reparations Commission of its problem and leaving it to arbiters to fix Germany's debt. The second is political in suggesting the evacuation of the occupied territory before the complete payment of the reparations. These are exactly the two ideas the French Government have repulsed."

Nevertheless, the leading Catholic paper, La Croix, calls the letter a "very grave document," and says:

"By its serenity and evident spirit of equity the Pope's letter commands the respect of every one and the sympathetic attention of all the Governments. It appears, moreover, that logically all modifications of the Ruhr régime are subordinated to 'proof of good faith,' which will assure to the creditors guaranties proportional to their claims. We hope sincerely that this eventually will be obtained."

On the other hand, Le Petit Journal remarks that, "no religious question being involved, it is to be presumed that most French Catholics will continue to think, in all deference, that their opinion on these fundamental points is more in accordance with justice," for

"It is impossible to conceal the fact that the pontifical suggestion is aimed at the revision of the Treaty of Versailles and contests the impartiality of the Reparations Commission, whose existence and powers are derived therefrom."

That the letter tends seriously to weaken French Catholic support of the Poincaré Government is the opinion advanced by a correspondent of the New York Herald, who tells us that it has "left political circles in France almost speechless with surprize":

"For reasons still unexplained not a word of warning had come from the French Embassy, only recently reestablished at the Vatican, of the Pope's intention to throw the tremendous moral weight of the Holy See into this highly charged international issue at the present critical time.

"Yet, according to the French Foreign Office to-day, Germany

diplomatic circles is that without consultation with France the Pope has taken issue with her apparently on two main points:

"First, in placing the moral support of the Vatican behind the Hughes proposal, since embodied in the British and German proposals, for an impartial investigation by experts of Germany's capacity to pay, a proposal which France has consistently rejected.

"Second, in practically suggesting that the occupation should cease progressively in accordance not with the payments made but with other guaranties that might be as efficacious in securing payment as the actual occupation. This is in marked contradiction to the Franco

Belgian program of a gradual evacuation based solely on cash payments."

B

TROUBLESOME FORMOSA

ARBED-WIRE ELECTRICALLY CHARGED and protecting 235 miles of frontier holds back the unsubdued aborigines in Formosa, whose Japanese rulers have other troubles besides, as we are told, for even the subdued natives protest against Japanese harshness. For the third time, a petition demanding a legislature for Formosa is before the Diet. Accordingly Mr. J. H. Cousins includes an account of Formosa in a series of articles on "Awakening Asia" in the Madras journal, New India. Assuming that Asiatics as well as Occidentals are perhaps a bit uncertain regarding the whereabouts of Formosa and its recent history, Mr. Cousins explains,

"The voyager along the edge of Asia between Hongkong and Shanghai may see away on the right of his steamer, in the east, a lumpish piece of land, lying along the horizon like some basking ocean monster. If you ask a Japanese what it is, he will tell you it is Taiwan; but others would tell you it is Formosa. Both would mean the same. It is the southern limit of the stretch of Japanese imperialism, an island inhabited by about 2,000,000 people, of whom eighty thousand are the ruling Japanese, and the rest divided by the arithmetic of suzerainty into 1,750,000 natives-that is, settlers from the main land who have accepted the foreign yoke; and 43,000 aborigines-that is, tribes of the Malay race, some of whom have not yet accepted the foreign yoke, and live in the inaccessible mountain districts, awaiting the next wave of subjugation. To keep the unsubdued aborigines in their place a frontier of 360 miles is guarded.

"The last campaign of subjugation was undertaken by the Japanese in 1910, and ceased in 1914, leaving 13,000 still to be dealt with. Politeness was not wasted on either side. The official record of executions of aborigines had a seasonal rhythm from a hundred in July and August (the rainy season) to from fifty to sixty in each of the other months; that is to say, an average of seven or eight per day. Happily in the first quarter of 1916, the

total of aboriginal executions fell to twenty-three, but whether from grace on either side, or from the distractions of the Great War, official records do not say."

It is not only among the aborigines that violence has occurred. Elsewhere in Formosa, Chinese malcontents remember their former power and "frequently stir up insurrection." In 1915, when 51 Japanese lost their lives, 866 natives were sentenced to death. As Mr. Cousins goes on to say, "luckily for 771 of them, the coronation ceremony of the present Emperor of Japan came off before the sentence was carried out, and only 95 paid the extreme penalty." Continuing, the writer assures us,

"These details of the miserable process of 'civilization' are referred to for the purpose, not of gloom, but of cheer by placing them in contrast with an editorial in one of the most important vernacular daily newspapers in Japan, which indicates that the struggle for freedom in the island in the China Sea has entered the realm of reason, and that there is a certain amount of influential Japanese opinion in favor of the demand of the now politically awake Formosans for legislative power."

The editorial appeared in the Tokyo Nichi Nichi, and concerns the petition demanding a legislature for Formosa:

"We hope that it will claim the earnest attention of the members of the Diet. It seems strange that the petition presented to the present Diet bears the signatures of only 270 Formosans, while the one presented last year was signed by over 500. The authorities may point to this as an indication of the decreasing discontent on the part of the Formosans with the Japanese administration. This view, however, is apparently very superficial. It is more probable that the demand for a Formosan Legislature is gaining ground among the Formo

HIMP

sans, just as the demand for universal manhood suffrage is growing among the Japanese people. We are tempted to conclude that there has been some foul play in connection with the decrease in the number of petitioners. We hope that instead of unduly suppressing the growth of legitimate movements among the Formosans the Japanese authorities will courageously look the fact in the face and tackle the situation with sincerity and magnanimity.

"At the same time, we want the petitioners to have greater sympathy with the Japanese point of view. They protest strongly against the penal law against Formosan rebels, which they denounce as the severest legislation in any civilized country. In the eyes of Formosan intellectuals this law may be highly objectionable, but there are circumstances which require its continued enforcement. Many Japanese lives were lost in the suppression of Formosan rebellions in the past. It is also on record that during the 200 years of Chinese administration more than twenty revolts broke out in Formosa. With these facts before them, it is not altogether unreasonable that the Japanese authorities in Formosa should hesitate to revoke the law. The Formosans also complain that the burden of national taxation on Formosans is twenty-eight yen per head, while that on the Japanese is twenty-six yen per head. As a matter of fact, the burdens on the Japanese, with the local levies added, are fortythree yen per head, while those imposed on the Formosans are thirty-six yen per head."

-Rul (Berlin).

are told, and the Isviestia, official organ of the Soviets, declares that for "Butchkavitch" we must read "oil," while "Zeppliak" stands for "the Russian fisheries" and "Tikhon" for "British interests in the East." The great issue, thinks the Isviestia, is oil:

"Five years ago, England tried to seize by force our oilfields in Transcaucasia. Later on she tried to make us restore the rights of the British holders of shares in our oil-fields who suffered losses from the nationalization of oil industries. But, having once more fallen short of success, England now is trying to terrorize us, hoping that this will result in the victory of the British oil-industrials who are playing none too small a rôle in the Conservative party."

Then, too, the Isviestia remembers England's traditional fear of Russia in the East, and assumes that Lord Curzon, believing Russia to be weak at present, thinks she may be forced into abandoning some of her rights in Central Asia. this offends Naturally, all Russian pride, and Lord Curzon's demands called forth immediate protest by the Soviet press, and, in describing the recent demonstrations in

Petrograd and Moscow, the Isviestia remarked,

"Lord Curzon was the hero of the day. A large number of placards and slogans that he would hardly like were devoted to him. Among them there was a witty and interesting improvisation: Lord Curzon at the fisheries. 'Lord Curzon demands the abolition of the Third International and freedom for fishingboats' was the inscription on the placard picturing a Red soldier with a bayonet aimed at Curzon. But the greatest joy was provoked by the sight of two dolls-'Curzon and Mussolini'hanged on a gallows. That is what they deserve, the bloodsuckers!' was the exclamation of women laborers from the candy factories."

After the Soviet Government had yielded on many points, including Lord Curzon's demand for the release of fishing-boats, the confinement of territorial waters within a three-mile limit, and the withdrawal of two notes signed by Vinestine, the Isviestia observes.

"The thing that we need above all, that we need immediately, is the development of our military aviation and the reenforcement of our air fleet. If the latter were strong enough our enemies would speak to us in an altogether different language, and the language we use in addressing them would be also different." Commenting on this, an anti-Bolshevist paper suggests

alteration in the wording: "air fleet" should be replaced by "military forces and economic possibilities" and would then afford "a good explanation for the concessions made by the Soviet Government to British diplomacy."

Lord Curzon's second note aroused indignation even greater than that called forth by its predecessor. Of this second document, the Pravda, organ of the Central Committee of the Communist party, declares,

"The Soviet Government has displayed the maximum of conciliatory spirit. This is recognized in England not only by the Labor party, but also by a large section of the bourgeoisie. Even the British Government, however unpleasant such a statement was to it, saw itself obliged to recognize this fact. But after the conciliatory spirit of the Soviet Government was thus unanimously acknowledged, the British Foreign Office (in its new memorandum) widens and extends its original demands, or, in other words, is getting impertinent. The cause of this impertinence is evident. Our peaceful tone was evidently mistaken for weakness."

a

This "impertinence," we are told, found expression in Lord Curzon's demand for compensating British subjects who had been ill-treated in Russia, as well as in the demand for the withdrawal of the two undesirable Russian diplomats-Raskolnikov and Shumiatzkyfrom their posts in Persia and Afghanistan. "There is limit to our concessions. And there should be a limit to any form of impertinence. There is also a limit to our patience, Your Lordship!" says the Pravda, while the Russian antiBolshevist papers printed in Berlin and Paris complain that "the Soviet Press is trying to hide the fact that the Bolshevist Government is on the way to the fulfilment of Brit

ALCOHOL

CONGRESS

OF WOMEN

ish demands which are irreconcilable with Russia's national dignity." The democratic Dni (Berlin) says:

"The Soviet Government was aware of the fact that no Government-not the British Government in any case-would leave these challenges unanswered. Consequently it should have been aware also of the eventual consequences of its game."

The Rul, a liberal Russian daily in Berlin, asserts that the noisy manifestations and bellicose speeches in Moscow and Petrograd were intended as a device to save the Soviets' dignity, whereas—

"The fatal and momentous fact is that the Soviet Government is responsible not only for Russia's internal ruin and weakness, but also for the humiliation and decrease of her international authority. She is reduced to a position where any demands may be addrest to her. It would be childish and naive to blame Lord Curzon for using such opportunities in the international situation as may contribute to the growth of the authority of his country. We are the only ones to blame for the fact that a government giving such opportunities to the foreigners still exists in Russia. Nothing but the removal of those who are responsible for Russia's weakness can straighten out the situation."

To this the Paris Posliednia Novosti, Professor Miliukoff's democratic daily, adds,

"The history of international conferences in Genoa, The Hague and Lausanne (the first and the second) shows clearly the decreasing prestige of the Bolsheviki among the nations. At first received by a King and by a Bishop, then repudiated by

-El Mundo (Mexico).

while sure to yield excellent results. In Mexico City, El Democrata remarks:

"Prohibition has already been tried in Mexico and has succeeded. When General Calles was Governor of Sonora, complete prohibition was established. Tho our people will never be total abstainers, the curse of alcoholism must be eradicated. The best way to fight Demon Rum would be by adopting gradual taxation on beverages, according to alcoholic strength. Higher taxes being charged on strong drinks, the people would naturally turn to light wines and beer."

The convention endorsed the resolutions adopted at the PanAmerican Congress of Santiago regarding the liquor traffic, and a campaign plan designed to elect Congressmen pledged to a semi-dry platform was also adopted. As El Mundo ob

serves:

"Prohibition is not only a moral issue but an economic problem as well, as the taxes in liquor are the main sources of income after the custom house receipts. The United States has had

to make up for the falling off of government income (which at times reached the high level of $500,000,000), by an increased income tax whose working is obnoxious to a high degree."

That Mexican prosperity is linked to prohibition seems to be the common opinion of all observers, national as well as foreign, tho La Voz, of Yucatan, reminds us that pulque, the national beverage, is extracted from a cactus found everywhere and requires no machinery or still. The same paper then says:

"The great social experiment now being tried in the United States is of interest to all sociologists and statesmen. That abstinence will make the nation stronger can not be doubted. On the other hand, all known civilization and progress has always originated among people used to alcohol."

The whole matter is regarded as an educational problem by the same daily, which advocates a broader program for the advancement of the Indian peon, who takes to drinking because all other joys are forbidden to him. Thus―

"The feminist organizations have a large field open to their activities, and governmental support will not be lacking. It will take them several years before their efforts succeed, but this must not discourage them, as the forces of habit are powerfully entrenched. When the man-in-the-street realizes the evils of strong drink, and the gain he can reap by abstaining, the eampaign will be on the right road to success."

H

the habits of our people," altho he believes it to be due partly to restrictions on the liquor traffic. On the other hand, Dr. Louis Dublin, statistician of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, reports that among its policy-holders, deaths from alcoholism have recently doubled. Taking first the mental disease statistics, Dr. Pollock tells us that the only nation-wide information concerning alcoholic mental disease among admissions to institutions prior to 1919 is that contained in the Federal Census report on the insane hospitals in 1910. says:

He

"On the schedules that were filled out for admissions during that year, the question was

seen from a comparison of index numbers computed from official reports for the years 1909 to 1920.

"The figures showing the decline in alcoholic psychoses in recent years in New York State are paralleled by data compiled from the official records of the State of Massachusetts by Cora Frances Stoddard.

"The number of cases among all first admissions in which there is a record of intemperate use of alcohol shows a corresponding decline during the same period in both New York and Massachusetts.

"The gradual decline in the excessive use of alcohol constitutes good evidence that a marked change in the habits of the general

asked whether the patient was suffering from alcoholic psychosis. The term 'alcoholic psychosis' was defined in the instructions for filling out the schedules as follows: 'By "alcoholic psychosis" is meant one of the mental diseases which, by their characteristic symptoms, are known to be the direct result of alcoholic intemperance. Cases of mental disease in which alcoholic intemperance is only one of the etiological factors and cases merely associated with alcoholic intemperance should not be reported under alcoholic psychosis.'

**Of the 60,769 patients with mental disease admitted to institutions in 1910, 6,122, or 10.1 per cent., were reported to be cases of alcoholic psychosis. The annual rate of admission of alcoholic cases was 6.7 per 100,000 of the general population.

"It was found by this census that patients with alcoholic psychoses constituted 12.4 per cent. of admissions from urban districts, and 6.4 per cent. from rural districts.

**Of the 34,116 males admitted in 1910 to hospitals for mental disease, 5,220, or 15.3 per cent., had alcoholic psychoses. Of the 26.653 females admitted, 902, or 3.4 per cent., were diagnosed as alcoholic.

**A marked decline in the number of alcoholic first admissions to New York State hospitals began in 1914 and became more pronounced in 1915. In 1916 a slight change in trend occurred, and in 1917 a decided reaction took place, the number of alcoholic cases in that year exceeding that of 1913. In 1918, 1919, and 1920, the number of these cases fell off rapidly and reached its lowest point in 1920. In 1921 the male alcoholic cases increased, altho there was a further reduction in female cases. The chart shows graphically the rates for both sexes since 1909, based upon the general population.

That the rate of first admissions with alcoholic psychoses is closely correlated with the per capita consumption of liquors is

population with respect to the use of alcohol had been taking place for several years prior to the enactment of the Volstead Law. The change began before the World War, but was halted Later by the reaction of 1917. it was accelerated by war-time restrictions."

Tables compiled by Miss Edith M. Furbush, statistician of The National Committee for Mental Hygiene, from original standardized reports of State hospitals, give, according to Dr. Pollock, the latest available data concerning the prevalence of alcohol psychoses in various parts of the country. He says of them:

"These representative data show that only 3.1 per cent. of first admissions to State hospitals in 1921 were cases of alcoholic psychoses. Compared with figures previously given from the Federal Census of 1910 and the reports of the New York State Hospital Commission, a marked general decline in alcoholic insanity is shown.

"The rate of admissions with alcoholic psychoses in these States was only 1.9 per 100,000 population, as compared to 6.7 for the whole country in 1910. During the year 1920, the first year under Prohibition, alcoholic admissions to State hospitals were less than in 1921.

"The sex distribution of the alcoholic first admissions in the several States shows that the decline in female admissions in 1920 and 1921 was more than in male cases. These results correspond with those found by Miss Stoddard in her study of the effects of Prohibition among women. She states: 'The women have apparently gained more than the men under Prohibition, perhaps because they are less exposed to the bootleggers' blandishments and are less likely to seek out the tribe. At all events, the average number of women in all penal institutions of Massachusetts on September 30, 1920 and 1921, the two dry years, was the lowest of the decade, 60 per cent. smaller than the wet years' average, while the total prison population on this date had dropt 52 per cent. A decrease of practically one-half in the number of commitments to the State Reformatory for Women in the two Prohibition years carries a stage farther the story, not only of the passing of the alcoholic women from penal institutions, but also of other women offenders.'

"During the entire period for which we have adequate data, alcoholic psychoses have been much more prevalent in urban than in rural districts. As previously mentioned, in 1910 the rates of all alcoholic admissions in the United States per 100,000 of general population of the same environment were 10.7 and 2.6 respectively. The admissions from urban districts in that year constituted 77.8 per cent. of all the alcoholic admissions. Since

1910, the proportion of alcoholic cases from urban districts has increased. In a study of first admissions to the New York civil State hospitals from July 1, 1915, to June 30, 1920, it was found that 90.9 per cent. of the alcoholic first admissions were from urban districts. The average annual rate per 100,000 of general population was 3.7 in urban districts and 1.6 in rural districts. Representative data compiled by Miss Furbush from State hospital reports of several States in 1919, 1920, and 1921, indicate clearly the preponderance of cases of alcoholic psychoses in urban districts."

Dr. Pollock's conclusions are stated in the following terms:

"1. Marked reduction in the prevalence of alcoholic psychoses throughout the United States has taken place since 1910. This is due partly to restrictions on the liquor traffic and partly to changes in the habits of the people.

"2. The lowest rate of first admissions with alcoholic psychoses occurred in 1920; a reaction occurred in 1921.

"3. The rate of alcoholic first admissions is closely correlated with the per capita consumption of liquors.

"4. The reduction in the rate of alcoholic psychoses had been relatively greater among women than among men.

"5. Admissions with alcoholic psychoses come principally from urban districts."

Quite a different picture is presented by Dr. Dublin's lifeinsurance figures, which relate, it must be remembered, to deaths due to alcoholism and not simply to its mental effects. A 100 per cent. increase in such deaths during the first three months of this year as compared with the same period for last year is shown. A death-rate of 3.4 per 100,000 insured persons, or 121 deaths, were reported, while in the first quarter of 1922 there were only 62 such deaths, a rate of 1.8. During the entire year 1921 the deaths from alcoholism totaled only 122, Dr. Dublin said. Says Science Service's Daily Science News Bulletin (Washington):

"Since January 1, 1922, 414 deaths from this cause have occurred among Metropolitan Industrial policyholders, of which 411 were distributed among thirty-four American States; the remaining three occurred in the Canadian Province of Ontario. There were, in addition, 224 deaths from cirrhosis of the liver, which is closely associated with alcoholism, during the first quarter of 1923. Deaths from wood and denatured alcohol poisoning, of which there were thirty-six during the year 1922 and twelve during the first quarter of 1923, are not included in the above figures."

T

EVOLUTION IN A NUTSHELL

HE THEORY OF EVOLUTION, as popularly presented by Prof. William N. Goldsmith of Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas, in a recent book entitled: "The Laws of Life," is commented upon by Wilhelmine E. Key, in a review contributed to Good Health (Battle Creek, Mich.. Professor Goldsmith says, in his introduction, regarding general ignorance of what the theory signifies:

"The term 'evolution' has been employed so carelessly that one scarcely knows what shade of meaning is implied when the word is used. However, to many, it suggests a type of human development as related to the lower animals, especially the monkeys. This fact was illustrated when, a few years ago, it was the author's privilege to offer the first course in Heredity and Evolution in a certain denominational college. The first day, without any preparation or preliminaries, every student was requested to write his own definition of evolution. Twelve out of a class of only thirty wrote the following: 'Evolution is the theory that man came from monkey.' Other definitions that were written conveyed the same ideas. When we realize that a large proportion of the common people and indeed many men and women of college training, have no broader view of this subject than to consider it a study of the parallelisms between man and monkey, we do not wonder at the lack of interest that is being shown in its several lines of development. Before considering the meaning of evolution, it may be well to emphasize the fact that it 'neither eliminates God, nor does it teach that monkeys are the ancestors of men.""

The reviewer goes on to comment:

"He gives extended consideration to superstition as a retarding factor in the progress of our understanding of the laws of life, from the practises of the medicine fakers of all ages to the mixture of truth and error to which adherence is demanded by many religions, and states it as his belief that while such beliefs and practises are slowly passing away, they are leaving a culture which makes it difficult for the eugenicist to root out the deceptive notions that are current regarding the science of heredity. "The story of evolution begins with the account of the development of the planetary systems and continues with the geological succession of plant and animal types as they made their appearance upon the earth. The primitive ideas regarding the origin of life are given as exprest in the immortal lines of 'Paradise Lost':

The grassy clods now calved; now half appeared
The tawny lion, pawing to get free

His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brindled mane; the ounce,
The libbard, and the tiger, as the mole
Rising, the crumbled earth above them threw
In hillocks; the swift stag from under ground
Bore up his branching head; scarce from his mould
Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved
His vastness. fleeced the flocks and bleating rose,
As plants. ambiguous between sea and land
The river horse and scaly crocodile.

Contrasted with this are the sublime reflections of Charles Darwin on the evolutionary development of life from its earliest stages to its present efficiency and complexity; 'There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixt law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and wonderful have been, and are being evolved.'

"The general scheme of animal relationships is then taken up and the long path from ameba to man is outlined with a remarkable fulness of illustration. Evidences of the organic relationship of animals are recounted as shown by certain blood tests which have been receiving considerable attention in recent years. The blood consists of corpuscles floating in a serum. On mixing the blood of animals, it was found that the serum of one animal's blood sometimes destroyed the corpuscles of the other animal's blood, and at other times did not. As the experiments were multiplied it was found that the amount of destructive action exercised by one specimen of blood upon another was in direct proportion to the nearness or remoteness of relationship between the animals. If the animals are closely related, there is no disturbance when their blood is mixed; when they are not closely related, the serum of one destroys the corpuscles of the other and the intensity of this action is proportionate to the remoteness of