Saints

The Roman Catholic Church in England is proceeding industriously in the work of elevating 252 British martyrs to the rank of Saint.

In 1874 Cardinal Manning and the Roman Bishops of England petitioned the Pope to "introduce the cause" of 315 persons who had been executed for heresy in the reigns of Henry VIII, Elizabeth, James I (1509-1625). The Pope granted the honor of beatification (Sainthood) to 54 of them and assigned their general feast to May 4. The remaining 261 were given the lower rank of "Venerable Servants of God." Later, 9 more were proved to be Saints and were beatified accordingly.

Last year the Pope granted a Court of Inquiry into the cause of the remaining 252.

The Court sits at Westminster Cathedral. It convenes twice each week to examine and pass on the evidence. The 252 causes will require about two years' work. Final decision rests with the Pope after the ecclesiastical lawyers have completed their arguments for and against beatification.

The 252 persons, long dead, whose degree of holiness is the subject of such intense investigation, are representative of every county in Great Britain. Some were persons of high degree, some of low; for example, the candidates for Sainthood from London are:

Name and place of execution: William Carter, printer; Tyburn, 1584 John Lowe, priest; Tyburn, 1586 Thomas Felton, priest; Brentford, 1588 Richard Leigh, priest; Tyburn, 1588 Polydore Plasden, priest; Tyburn, 1591 Edward Waterson, priest; Newcastle, 1593 Earl of Arundel; Tower of London, 1595 Thomas Garnet, S.J.; Tyburn, 1604 Hugh Green, priest; Dorchester, 1642 John Gavan, S.J.; Tyburn, 1679 Viscount Stafford, Tower Hill, 1680 Executions of heretics cannot properly be understood unless it is remembered that high treason, in those days, was heresy. That high treason was heresy was a ruling of the Roman Catholic Church which was taken over by the Anglican Church when it separated from Rome. This same doctrine is still technically the law of the Roman Church, and received expression as late as 1864, when Pope Pius IX (Pio Nono) issued his tremendous Syllabus of Errors*.

"It is an error to assert that every man is free to embrace the religion he shall believe true, guided by the light of reason."

Church ought to be, separated from the State and the State from the Church." "It is an error to assert that in the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion shall be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other modes of worship."

"It is an error to assert that it is allowable to refuse obedience to legitimate princes."

Sentaro Honda

A Buddhist priest, representing a league of 6,000,000 Japanese, travelled

Keystone

SENTARO HONDA

He arrived on a day of death

to Washington to see the President. He arrived on a day of death, wrote a letter, departed.

THE HONORABLE CALVIN COOLIDGE

Sir: It would be highly impudent of me, a stranger from across the sea, to address the President of the United States, were it not for the fact that I have traveled many thousands of miles only to deliver to him a message which millions upon millions, who be lieve in the Buddhist teachings of mercy and tolerance as expounded by the great Saint Nichiren, of Japan, wish me to deliver.

That message it was my hope and desire to deliver personally to you. Upon my arrival in Washington, however, I was profoundly grieved to hear of the demise of your beloved son. It would be an inexcusable intrusion on my part to ask for an audience with you at such a time.

Speaking for the followers of the teachings of Saint Nichiren, it is my first duty to convey to you their heart-felt gratitude for your and your countrymen's magnificent generosity.

Love is supreme. Its voice can never be drowned by the tumult of politics. Of all times this is the time when the followers of Nichiren should unflinchingly and steadfastly stand by his eternal doctrine of tolerance, love and righteousness. My second duty, then, is to convey to you, and through you to the American people, the humble assurance that we who endeavor to follow Nichiren will do all in our power to convince our countrymen that the way to set American-Japanese relations aright is to walk in the footsteps of the Great Saint.

The third message, then, which I am

asked to deliver to you is that the followers of Saint Nichiren humbly ask you and your fellow citizens to join with them in a common prayer, invoking love, tolerance and justiceyou in the words of Christ, and we in the language of Nichiren. .

May I conclude this humble message with the assurance that the followers of Nichiren are praying and will continue to pray for you and your people, as they pray for their own people, so that the hands of love will guide the two nations in their endeavor to keep the peace of the Pacific.

Respectfully yours,

(Signed) SENTARO HONDA, Representing the Buddhist Salvation League of Japan.

LAW

Annual Convention

At Philadelphia, 2,000 men of law hushed their private conversations at the bang of Robert E. Lee Saner's gavel. Forthwith he, as President, opened the 47th Annual Convention of the American Bar Association.

Addresses. Mr. Saner, of Dallas: Denounced the growing tendency in Congress toward the enactment of sumptuary laws, as striking at the fundamentals of constitutional government (with particularly strong reference to Senator LaFollette's amendment to limit the power of the U. S. Supreme Court.) Likened the U. S. Government to the planetary system, wherein balancing of forces prevents chaos.

U. S. Senator George Wharton Pepper of Pennsylvania: Inquired if the federal judges should not be spared "the shock of industrial warfare," the burden of legislative and executive problems. Defended peaceable picketing, a strike weapon, as "domesticated" by England. Inveighed against industrial injunctions.

U. S. Attorney General Harlan F. Stone: Warned of a decline in law administration due to a lowered tone, lowered standards, of the American bar. Saw no reason why the public prosecutor should be a political appointment. Announced that he would meet with a committee of the National Association of States Attorneys General to discuss procedure in his forthcoming U. S prosecution of big oil interests under the anti-trust law.

Dean Roscoe Pound of Harvard University Law School: Differentiated between law as "the régime of social control through legal institutions" and law as "the body of legal precepts which obtain for the time being in a particular society." Declared most social and economic progress had come about through discontent with law of the latter definition. Urged further continuous creative effort to keep legal precepts abreast of the times, thus assuring further progress.

Former Attorney General Alter of Pennsylvania: Exhorted his colleagues to the speedy preparation and adoption

of a "model code" as planned by the Association's Committee on Law Enforcement. Stated that at its last session the Legislature of his State created "nearly a hundred new crimes that did not exist before."

William Draper Lewis, Director of the American Law Institute: Stated that definite progress had been made by his Institution on its undertaking of restating, in simple English terms, the common law.

Reports. A recommendation to enlist State support for a bill in Congress authorizing the Supreme Court to make and publish rules in common law actions.

A censure of the Senate committee that side-tracked a House bill providing for the consolidation, codification, revision, reenactment of the general permanent laws of the U. S.

A recommendation that the Government publish noteworthy changes in state laws.

A recommendation that State Bar Associations work for the passage of the Norris resolution to amend the Constitution so that Congress would meet the first Monday in January and the President and Vice President be inaugurated the third Monday of that month.

Officers.

Charles Evans Hughes, U. S. Secretary of State, was named President of the Association but could not be present to make a speech of acceptance at a banquet that terminated the Convention. Secretary: William C. Coleman, Maryland. Treasurer: Frederick E. Wadhams, New York.

London. Just before the last session adjourned, each barrister was handed a card: "Clothing for Men on Shipboard-Day, sports or lounge; evening, tuxedo, light overcoat, cap.

"In London-Day, business clothes; for receptions, etc., cutaway, silk hat; evenings, full dress (tuxedo permissible)."

Equipped with these instructions, some 1,200 of the gathering rejoined their wives and children, took ship in New York for Merry England. The great Hegira, led by Charles E. Hughes, was at the cordial invitation of the Bench and Bar of England.

Women. Also in Philadelphia, 100 women convened representing the National Women Lawyers' Association. Miss Emilie M. Bullowa, of New York, declined reëlection as President; Mrs. Rose Falls Bres of Brooklyn accepted. "We want wigs" was one keynote struck at this Convention. Another was: "Feminism is now an asset to women attorneys. It is the girl with the real womanly qualities who now appeals to judges and juries. . . . The flat-heeled, sailor-hatted, high-collared woman lawyer is out of date."

MEDICINE

Michigan Smallpox

On Feb. 11, a citizen of Windsor, Canada, died of hemorrhagic smallpox, so unusual in character that it was not recognized before numerous persons had come in contact with the patient. Cases soon developed in neighboring cities and in the State of Michigan. During the first six months of 1924, 3,999 cases of smallpox were reported in Michigan, of which 1,532 were in Detroit. From Jan. 1 to May 30, there were 106 deaths from smallpox in Detroit and 27 in the rest of the State. The Health Officer of the Canadian cities involved issued a report on the relation of vaccination to the outbreak: no person who had been successfully vaccinated at any time in his life died of smallpox; of those who had never been successfully vaccinated and who developed the disease, 71% died; no one who had been vaccinated successfully within the previous twelve years developed smallpox; nurses, whose only protection against the disease was recent vaccination, nursed patients for weeks without contracting smallpox.

Not Wanted!

Some weeks ago it was pointed out (TIME, May 5) that there had been an influx of foreign physicians into the U. S., and that this was undesirable in many cases. The following States have taken action to require application for naturalization papers, actual citizenship, or an examination written in English, before a foreign physician can be licensed: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas.

Sleeping Sickness

From England was reported sharp increase in the number of cases of the new sleeping sickness (Encephalitis lethargica). Every week of 1924 has revealed, for that matter, a relentless increase. For the week ending Jan. 12 the number was ten; for the week ending April 19, 253. Only 541 cases were recorded for the whole of 1919. The current year thus far has recorded 1,409 cases.

Lethargic encephalitis has not the slightest connection with African sleeping sickness (Trypanosomiasis). The name is more appropriate to the former disease than to the latter. Sleep symptoms are not invariably characteristic of the African sickness, but they occur whenever the parasite localizes in the fluid of the spinal cord or in the

brain. Since they are conspicuous when present, the disease got its popular name from them. Sleep is a marked and invariable symptom of encephalitis, ranging from a light slumber to a profound coma.

The cause and cure of encephalitis are still unknown. There are no known preventive measures to be taken. It first attracted wide attention when it appeared in Europe and North America in the wake of the epidemic of influenza in 1917-18, and it has been noticeable in England only for the last five years. Its history, however, is longer, for a few isolated cases were recorded in Central Europe in 1712, and it followed, also, the influenza outbreak of 1890.

It is probably not communicable. In the U. S. the case fatality rate has been about 29%, with the greater number of fatalities in cases where the onset of the disease was sudden. The onset is usually gradual. SympHeadache, vertigo, eye troubles, changes in speech, a low fever, a peculiar mask-like expression of the face, a lethargy which gradually develops into coma, or, rarely, into wakeful delirium.

toms:

In 1918 investigators of the U. S. Health Department decided that encephalitis is "a specific disease and must be caused by a specific living virus which has a specific affinity for the central nervous system." It is sui generis. The virus eludes dis

covery.

In Africa. The cause of African sleeping sickness, on the other hand, is well known to be a blood parasite (trypanosome) transmitted by the tsetse fly. It never occurs outside of Africa. It has been almost conquered by driving the fly away from human habitations, and the prescribed method of treatment (usually with arsenic in certain forms) is generally effective. Unlike encephalitis, trypanosomiasis is always characterized by a severe progressive fever-a daily rise of temperature.

Better remedies for trypanosomiasis will be needed as long as there are tsetse flies in Africa. During 1920 Germany is known to have developed a valuable trypanocide, "Bayer 205." This medicine was so effective that it attracted the attention of all interested in tropical diseases, but its makers refused to tell the secret of its composition. The Germans virtually offered it as the price for the restoration of their African colonies (TIME, Feb. 4).

At last a French chemist, Fourneau, and his associates have produced a substance which they think is identical with "205."

Heads

In recounting (in its issue for June 30) the death and record of the late Dr. Huber Gray Buehler, headmaster of the famed Maria H. Hotchkiss School, TIME set down, as leading secondary schools of the country, Hotchkiss, Taft, The Hill, Lawrenceville, Groton, Phillips Exeter, Phillips And

over.

Wrote a Mercersburg Academy graduate: "I, along with many fellow alumni, resent the fact that you omitted the name of Mercersburg and the mention of her headmaster, Dr. William Mann Irvine, from an article which ends with this sentence: "These are the schools which during the last quarter-century have achieved national repute.' You entirely ignore Mercersburg. She is recognized as one of the five greatest-Andover, Exeter, Lawrenceville and The Hill being the other four. She is more democratic than any other school of which you made mention-perhaps that is the reason you so tactlessly passed her by.

some

"If a school is to be judged only by her athletics, then Mercersburg is greater than even Exeter and her quarterbacks, for who will ever forget Meredith or Woodring or Keck or Caldwell; if she is to be acclaimed only for her scholastic attainments, again she reaches forth and holds those laurels with Andover; if her greatness lies in her wealth alone, you rightfully omitted her name, for Mercersburg does not have the money that Hill does, nor does Mercersburg teach that success and happiness come hand in hand with riches..

Dr. William Mann Irvine, graduate of Exeter and of Princeton, has guided the destinies of Mercersburg Academy for 31 years. While a youthful Professor of Social Science at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., he was offered the headmastership shortly after his 27th birth'day. He moved to Mercersburg, Pa., found there a few acres of weeds and one old building, his "school." Today his personality and vision are reflected in a large (550 enrolment), firmlyfounded institution with a reputation for vigor, discipline (stiff collars at classes), scholarship, a thoroughgoing democratic spirit.

At St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H., moves another figure very visible upon the educational horizon-the Rev. Samuel Smith Drury, rector. Thought of by many as a formalist because of his dignified, clerical presence and rather stiff manner in public, Dr. Drury is at

heart, and in method, a humanist. He believes in atmosphere. He believes in being "one of the boys"; walks with them; works with them; remembers their first names forever; keeps abreast of their family affairs. His school is noted rather for the stamp of cultured, urbane gentility that it imparts to its graduates, than for preeminence in any

DR. WILLIAM M. IRVINE "Discipline, scholarship, democracy"

special line. The alumni are known to compose one of the most devoted bodies of their kind in the country.

Tall, "lantern-jawed," severe of mien, Dr. Drury little resembles Dr. Frederick Luther Gamage, head of the Pawling School at Pawling, N. Y., who is short, grayish, kindly of appearance. But the two may be classed together as being "schoolmasters" rather than "educators." Character-building, not marks, is their mutual aim. Dr. Gamage relinquished the headmastership

inspired Hill School men to call Al fred G. Rolfe, long the counsellor of Hill headmasters, "The Walrus."

Abroad

In Holland. Fifty Americans were guests of the University of Leyden during a special "Netherlands Week for American Students." Distin guished Dutch scholars lectured in English. Among the guests: Dr. and Mrs. Frank Crane (famed Moralizer), Dr. and Mrs. Harry Pratt Judson (onetime President of the University of Chicago), American students from Oxford and Cambridge.

In Germany, authorities announced that at German universities matriculants numbered 60,748 in 1914, 89,346 in 1919. The number of women students (summer term) increased from 4,057 to 8,761 (for 1923). Leading German university enrollments: Berlin (founded 1809), 12,522; Cologne (founded 1388), 5,270; Frankfurt-am-Main (founded 1914), 5,032; Hamburg (founded 1919), 4,571; Munich (founded 1472), 8,600.

In Scotland, "teaching is a desirable Occupation, an honored profession, is paid accordingly. Scotland has the best public schools in the world." So said 20 Scottish teachers, as they stepped ashore in Manhattan for Summer travel.

From London, went Albert Mansbridge, Chairman of the World Association for Adult Education, to Chautauqua Lake, N. Y., to prepare for his organization's part in the Chautauqua jubilee symposium, to be held next week. Said he: "Adult education has become a force in many countries."

At Glasgow, an exhibition was opened illustrative of the progressive stages in the education of a Scotch child, from the nursery to the threshold of a university. Pupils from Glasgow schools performed.

N. Y., after 14 years' tenure, took with him three close associates, founded the Pawling School in 1908.

From Lakeville, Conn., the trustees of the Maria H. Hotchkiss School announced the appointment of Walter H. Buell as Acting Headmaster to succeed the late Dr. Buehler. Mr. Buell, now 25 years a Hotchkiss master, had of late shared with Dr. Buehler in the 'school's administration. He is known to the boys as "a hard marker, strict in class and at table, kind at heart and a knock-out German prof." They call him "The Bull," for no more obvious reason than that which has for years

Death of Lamme

How many of

"B. G. Lamme is dead. our 112,000,000 know his name? He was one of the four greatest electricians in the coustry. Edison, Tesla, and Steinmetz were the other three. Lamme and Steinmetz are gone." -ARTHUR BRISBANE, Hearst Editor.

At Ohio State University the young Benjamin Lamme studied electricity but slightly. He was a prodigy in mathematics-which ex plains his later power to perfect the most intricate inventions in his mind without pencil or paper. Differential calculus and high-range multiplica tion were his diversions. Upon

graduation, in 1888, he entered the employ of the Westinghouse Co. He began inventing then, and stopped only at his death, after having given the world 150 useful devices.

His more important achievements: he "umbrella" generators to which he waters of Niagara Falls were first harnessed; the high tension system of power transmission; the synchronous converter employed on New York City subways for converting alternating to direct current; the generating equipment for the first big railway electrification (on the N. Y., N. H. & H.); the single-phase alternating current; the single reductiongear street-car motor, which, although designed in 1890, is the type still used. His conception of the single-phase alternating-current railway system, now in universal use, is declared to have revolutionized the industry. The 62,500-kilowatt generator which he recently designed was larger than Steinmetz had conceded to be possible.

"Museum of Engineering"

In name and membership the National Museum of Engineering and Industry, Inc., already exists. But it has no home. Its sponsors now propose to erect one on the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Its present headquarters are in the Engineering Societies Building, Manhattan.

Here would dwell the models of inventions, once revolutionary, now antiquated. Here the First Cause of street cars, steamboats, telephones could be seen. "In this way the U. S. will be given the kind of institution which all the great European nations have possessed for years."

In the American plan, however, a departure is proposed, made necessary by the vastness of the territory. In addition to the central collection at Washington, special collections-such as replicas of historical exhibits-will be sent about for public view. Also - "live machinery" of various modern processes will be placed in affiliated museums in the industrial centres of every State.

- A number of very old models and records have already been collected. Dr. Elihu Thomson is President of the new organization.

It was he who received this year the Kelvin Gold Medal from the Royal Society, at the Kelvin Centenary in London, "in recognition of his preeminence in those branches of engineering with which Baron Kelvin's*

Baron William Thomson Kelvin, born in Belfast in 1824, was the most eminent physicist of his time. He published over 300 original papers covering every branch of physical science. He made possible submarine telegraphy, and invented practically all the instruments used by electrical engineers for measurements.

scientific work and researches were identified."

Dr. Thomson's first important invention dates from 1876-a centrifugal separator for fluids of different density. He achieved the thorough lamination of armature cores, and in 1889 greatly improved electric-lighting apparatus. Other inventions are: a constant-current regulator for arc light dynamos (he perfected the arc lamp), the induction motor, the art of welding metals by electricity, the magnetic blow-out for switches, lightning erectors of various types, constant current transmitters, a generator which was "one of the first and most effective and ingenious" in early electrical development, a recording watt hour metre. In the field of mechanical engineering he is responsible for important developments in steam engines, steam turbines and the internal combustion engine.

Remarkable as is Benjamin G. Lamme's record of 150 U. S. electrical patents, Dr. Elihu Thomson has 700.

World Quart

A determined drive on behalf of the metric system will be made by the Pan American Standardization Conference, which is to meet at Lima, Peru, in November. From Washington it was last week announced that Secretary of Commerce Hoover is one of those who think that the nations of the world would be more amicable were their ways of weighing and measuring the same. Said Mr. Hoover: "It may well be

set forth, as a truism, that it is impossible to maintain proper standards of ethical conduct throughout business and industry without a proper background of recognized physical standards of quality and quantity. Much of the misunderstanding and ill-feeling arising in the course of transactions between producers and consumers can be eliminated..."

Present standards need only a little changing here and there in order to conform with those of the 20 other American republics: the yard must be stretched; the quart must take on international proportionsbecome a world quart. Canada is expected to follow the U. S. in participation.

Marconi as Prophet

a

Said Guglielmo Marconi to learned Manhattan audience in 1922: "The radio transmission of the human voice across the Atlantic Ocean is a matter of but a few years." His prediction came true ahead of time. Last week, lecturing before distinguished Romans, the inventor of wireless telegraphy prophesied again. Said he: "High-power stations will soon be abolished. Stations of very low power will supplant them. I have been making discoveries concerning short wave-lengths. My engineer and I have patented directional waves like beams of light."

These short waves, directed in beams, have four advantages over the long waves now in use, said Marconi: "They use up much less power; permit greater speed; are less affected by atmospheric disturbances, thus permitting 24-hour service; permit the establishment of more stations, without interference. So he foresees the scrapping of all high-power stations and a great reduction in price for commercial wireless messages.

Aged 50, Marconi has already had a long career. In 1890 he began his experiments to prove that an electric current can pass through any substance-and that it can follow an undeviating course, in whatever direction it may be started, with no need for a wire or other conductor. In 1897 he won a great triumphhe succeeded in sending a message from Queen Victoria, ashore, to Edward of Wales aboard the royal yacht. Two years later he first came to the U. S., and has visited this country from time to time ever since. The amazing new wireless was used in reporting the 1900 U. S. Presidential elections.

Two obstacles only have slightly deflected Marconi's smooth advance:

conjugal difficulties (in 1915 he married the Hon. Beatrice O'Brien who gained a divorce in April, this year), and a commercial scandal in England. In 1912 it was charged that Premier Asquith, Chancellor George and other Cabinet officers had profited improperly through promotion of the Marconi companies. The conclusion of the matter was that blame could not be attached to the inventor and that the Cabinet members had merely been "indiscreet."

Fakery

Last week the daily press of the U. S. gave extensive publicity to: "MECHANIC BROKE, GIVEN $1,500,000 FOR SECRET. COPPER-HARDENING PROCESS, LOST for 2,000 YEARS, BOUGHT BY DETROIT FIRM." An often-found lost art was again discovered by "an obscure mechanic, of little scientific knowledge," who lives in East St. Louis.

Said an official of the Copper Research Association: "I feel uneasy and lonely unless I receive at least once a month another news story about the discovery of the 'Lost Art of Hardening Copper.' I keep these stories tacked above my desk and seldom lack fresh copy. But since copper can already be hardened as hard as anybody wants it-and much harder than was possible

through the use of the one alloy known to the Ancients-the reason for this dazzling payment [of $1,500,000] remains as obscure as the name of the company."

Dinner

In the dining room of the WaldorfAstoria Hotel, Manhattan, sat Richard O. Marsh of Rochester, N. Y., feeding his three "white Indian" children, rapt from Panamanian forests (TIME, June 30). Muttering among themselves, leading Manhattan scientists munched with them. Plates were removed, the three blond guests of honor were encircled, a critical examination begun. Itching with curiosity, the scientists pinched, poked, tweaked the Indians (Marguerite, Chepu, Olo), pondered over their glands.

Said some: "They are not albinos."
Others: "They are partial albinos."
Still others: "They are albinos."

Those who said "albinos" remembered their Columbus and their von Humboldt, both of whom reported albinos in Panama. Also their Cortés. He found "white ones" in Truochtitlán.

None agreed with Mr. Marsh that here were links between the red and white races. Opinions varied as to a pathological cause for such extraordinary pallor:

1) Endocrine (ductless gland) deficiency.

2) Peucodermia, an affection of the nerves often observed in the West Indies, which produces white patches on the victim's skin.

Current Situation

With domestic politics quiet for the moment, the equally political conference of the Allied Premiers over the eternal question of German reparations is again to the fore. The acridly partizan politics in Paris threaten as usual to hold up agreement upon the Experts' Plan. Yet the business community in the U. S., although heartily weary of futile European conferences, is unusually hopeful that this time some definite basis of concerted action regarding Germany can be secured. How much actual buying in U. S. markets this would develop, is problematical.

The West is reviving under better grain prices and rapidly maturing crops. Money continues easy, and now the fear of higher rates because of crop financing is being allayed. But industry is very dull, although not sufficient wage-cuts or lay-offs have been occasioned to injure retail merchandising. Even the stock market has acted somewhat weary and dispirited, despite strength in utility. stocks and the better railroads.

A Major
A Major Prophet

In the forecasting of future business conditions, there are major and minor prophets. Arthur Reynolds, President of the Continental and Commercial Bank of Chicago, is one of the major prophets. Very rarely has he made specific and unequivocal predictions in the past, but when he has, his prophecies have almost invariably come true.

Recently Mr. Reynolds has again expressed a concrete opinion: "Within 30 days there will be a very definite and easily measurable upturn in business. I mean by that something more than a change in sentiment and a foundation for hope. . . . Business is fundamentally sound despite the difficulties of some specific industries. The political situation is much more encouraging. . . Business has been stagnant so long that there has been a material accumulation of needs in almost all industry, and this must lead toward acceleration."

Mr. Leaf

London bankers are in somewhat of a quandry just now. The Dawes Plan proposes to put Germany back on a gold basis, and consequently make the German mark a gold par currency. The British do not relish seeing the pound sterling lag behind in this race to return to the gold standard, as it might mean the enforced abandonment of her former international trade and financial position. The problem therefore is-how soon can the pound get back to par and a gold basis?

In an attempt to answer this ques

tion, Mr. Walter Leaf, famed Greekscholar and chairman of the Westminster Bank, dropped something of a bomb-shell into the discussion. In order to attract capital to Londona necessary preliminary to removing the British restrictions on the export of gold-Mr. Leaf advocates an increase in the Bank of England rediscount rate from 4 to 5%.

Now many college economists in England-notably J. M. Keynes and Arthur Kitson-doubt the advisability of going back to the gold standard anyway, and, consciously or not, are inflationists. The Labor Government is also naturally in favor of easier money. Moreover, the London money market itself rather shrinks from pursuing the heroic seemingly neces sary remedy of higher rates proposed by Mr. Leaf.

In any case, a most enthusiastic and heated controversy is now going on in the London journals, over the old issue of deflation vs. inflation. Yet no one so far has met or controverted Mr. Leaf's recommendations.

Corn

A report of the Department of Agriculture on the July 1 condition of the crops explained the sensational rise in corn recently seen. The Government's estimate of the 1924 corn crop is 2,515,000,000 bushels-a drop of 531,000,000 from the 1923 corn crop of 3,046,000,000 bushels. Acreage this year in corn was 105,604,000, compared with 103,112,000 last year. Yet despite this increased area planted to corn, a relatively short crop is anticipated, owing to the condition of the 1924 crop, which on July 1 was only 72% compared with 84.9% a year ago.

Incidentally, while the rise in corn prices at Chicago has been fundamentally due to basic economic conditions, its rapidity is reputed to be due to a large Chicago grain operator, Arthur W. Cutten. Before the poor condition of the current corn crop was apparent, there was a large "short interest" in corn, speculating for the decline. The lateness of the Spring season and the poor prospects of the corn crop, however, completely turned the tables. The visible supply is small, and Mr. Cutten and his associates are reported to control most of it. The unfortunate "shorts" are now paying through the nose by bidding up the juice, to obtain corn from the farms to cover their short commitments.

Steel

The steel business is still a debatable theme among bankers. Almost everyone tries to speak well of it, yet the actual statistics get worse and worse.

The unfilled tonnage of the U. S.