very considerable degree, through patriotic co-operation, to enormous advantage of the country and without prejudice or disadvantage to either of the great parties. In pursuance of this object, on May 13 we addressed to the Chairmen of the two National Committees identical notes to this effect:

My DEAR MR. HAYS:

WASHINGTON, Monday, May 13.

In consideration of the unprecedented condition of public affairs and of a quite common desire, so far as may be practicable, to eliminate partisanship from the coming Congressional elections, might it not be possible-even probable-for you and Mr. McCormick to reach an agreement, upon wholly patriotic grounds, to eliminate from political strife a certain number of districts in which the results cannot in candor be regarded as in the slightest degree doubtful? Take as bald instances, for example, Vermont and Arkansas-indeed, while I have not carefully analyzed the situation, I am disposed to think that fully 50 and perhaps 60 per cent. of the Congressional districts would fall within the classification of "certainty." Now, if I am right, or even approximately correct in this assumption, would it not be worth while. at least for you and Mr. McCormick to meet, simply to talk the matter over and see if something along the line I have suggested may not be accomplished to the advantage of the country and the cause?

I appreciate, of course, that nothing at this late day could be achieved further than a mutual agreement upon the part of you two Chairmen to recommend to your respective electors in such districts as may be regarded as certain to vote this or that way not to interpose an opposing candidate-unless, of course, the one named by the recognized majority should be objectionable upon grounds of suspected disloyalty or for some other distinctive reason.

I hesitate, naturally, to address you upon such a matter, and am impelled to do so, I beg you to believe, only by the positiveness of the expressed convictions of many others, no less than of my own, that anything, however seemingly unimportant, that might be done to evidence to our friends abroad a unity of spirit and purpose at home, could not fail to be advantageous.

I cannot see how any harm or bother, political or otherwise, could eventuate from an informal and of course wholly uncommitting conversation such as I have suggested, and I can perceive at least a possibility of great good.

Also, it goes without saying, I may be quite in error, with respect at any rate to practicability, but, feeling as I do, I cannot do less than take the risk of seeming to be so presumptuous as to propose that I try to arrange such a meeting as I have suggested. Simultaneously with the despatch of this note to you, I am of course sending one identical in every respect to Mr. McCormick. And I remain,

Faithfully yours,

WILL H. HAYS, ESQ.,

Chairman of the Republican

National Committee.

GEORGE HARVEY.

Mr. Hays responded on the same day as follows:

MY DEAR COLONEL HARVEY:

WASHINGTON, May 13, 1918.

I have your note, and I like the idea. Anything I can do to keep politics out of this war I stand ready to do.

While, of course, as you point out, we cannot go past a certain point, I believe that something to this end might be achieved by a discussion of your suggestion, and with that purpose in mind, I will gladly keep any appointment that may be convenient to you and Mr. McCormick.

Another thing occurs to me, and doubtless has to you that our meeting in this way might make more surely effective our determination to whack any disloyal head that may show up.

W. H. H.

Four days later Mr. McCormick replied to an identical note as follows:

DEAR COL. HARVEY:

WASHINGTON, May 17, 1918.

I want to acknowledge your kind letter of the 13th.

The matter about which you have written me has been brought to my attention before, and I have already given very careful consideration to this subject which I consider of very great importance. I want to assure you that the suggestions you have made will have my most careful consideration, and I thank you for writing me.

Faithfully yours,

VANCE C. MCCORMICK,

Chairman.

There the matter stands. The prompt response of Mr. Hays is undeniably frank, unequivocal and, to our mind, worthy of the highest commendation. Less could hardly be said in fairness, but in saying it we are far from meaning to imply the slightest reflection upon Mr. McCormick. His is a grave responsibility calling for the exercise of exceptional prudence, especially with regard to a matter which he regards rightfully as of so great importance. Nevertheless, at the expiration of five weeks after the submission of a suggestion to which he had already given careful consideration, we feel warranted in making a direct appeal to the leader of the Democratic party,-to the only man who can meet the country's demand and resolve into accomplishment his own dictum that Politics shall be, as it ought to be, Adjourned.

Our letter to the two Chairmen presents the case as clearly as we can state it, but the wider possibilities of crushing disloyalty, wherever it may raise its ugly head, now or

hereafter, through the patriotic coöperation which would inevitably ensue from adoption of the plan proposed are illimitable.

We have only to add, as an indication of the far-reaching effect and practicability of the idea, that if 3,000 majority in each of the last two elections should be accepted, except of course in special instances, as marking a district as safe for the party which carried it both times, the number of Congressional elections would be reduced from 435 to less than 100 and probably, by supplementary mutual agreement, to not more than seventy-five.

"Politics is adjourned."

Will not the President make it so?

AN ECONOMIC ALLIANCE

WHEN nations are at war with each other they are, or should be, at war" all over." That is to say, they fight each other not at one point alone, but wherever they come into contact; and they fight not alone with armies and navies but also with all the forces of diplomacy, of industry and of commerce. Laws prohibiting under penalty trading, correspondence or friendly intercourse of any kind with enemies are customary and appropriate.

Conversely, it is logical and we should say essential that when nations are allied, at any rate when they are allied in such a war as this, they should similarly be allied “all over.” That is to say, they should not merely coöperate against the common foe with their armies and navies; but they should equally coördinate and combine their diplomatic activities and their industries and commerce, and these latter should be used no less than their military equipments, not separately but unitedly, for the purpose of overcoming the foe and securing and confirming the objects of the war.

Accepting these observations academically, as little less than axiomatic, we shall now do well to apply them in the most practical and efficient manner to the accomplishment of the gigantic task which we and our Allies have in hand. We and they all the Allied Powers-are already in military accord, with our armies consolidated under a single Generalissimo. It is further proposed, most happily, to "pool" all Allied war resources of munitions, food and raw materials,

under either a single head or, more probably, an Allied Cabinet of War Supplies. That will be a perfectly logical sequence to the appointment of a Generalissimo for the Allied armies. But we cannot reckon even it as a finality. There are other steps to be taken for the full completion of what we may call the Alliance of Civilization.

There may be some question as to the extent to which it would be practicable, under the hard and fast prescriptions of the American Constitution, to place the functions of diplomacy and economic administration under a single international head. We can perceive difficulties which might prove insurmountable. But international accord does not imply abdication of national sovereignty. What is obvious and certain is that there could and should be at least a community of counsels, and a consequent unity of purpose, policy and action. That is why it has seemed to us regrettable that the United States should so long have persisted in differing from and holding aloof from all its Allies in Russian policy. While all the nations which are in closest touch with Russia and are therefore supposedly best informed concerning her have been in favor of aiding her with deeds as well as with rhetoric, the United States has alone held back, dissented, and thus blocked action; leaving the unhappy wreck of a once great empire to drift to dissolution and to absorption by the Huns. There is abundant reason for believing that tactful but vigorous action months ago, as dictated by “the common sense of most," would have saved Russia from being partitioned, would have rehabilitated her as a sovereign entity, and would have brought her back into the war as an effective democratic force coöperating with the other democracies of the world against the menace of autocracy.

This unity of allied effort is so desirable as a war measure as to be all but indispensable. But we cannot regard it as by any means confined in its desirability and utility to the period of actual belligerence. It will be equally pertinent to the making of peace, and thereafter for an indeterminate period to the maintenance of peace. We must assume with all confidence that when this war ends we are not merely going to stop fighting and then wash our hands of all further responsibility for the welfare of the world. To do so would be both imbecile and criminal. It will be incumbent upon the Allies not merely to win the war but also and equally to secure and to conserve its results. That will mean that they

must adopt such measures of reorganized relationships among all nations as will afford the fullest possible compensation for the losses of the war and also afford the strongest possible guarantee against another such war if not against any international war. In such measures it is obvious that economic provisions must play an important part.

There is thus talk about certain degrees of non-intercourse with Germany after the war. Private initiative has led to the signing by millions of pledges not to purchase goods of any kind of German origin for a long term of years following the war. Going further, it is seriously proposed that governmental action shall be taken for the prohibition or at least the discouragement of commercial dealings with Germany, in either buying or selling. In part these proposals doubtless arise, consciously or unconsciously, from a natural and perfectly legitimate feeling of resentment and hatred toward Germany for her attack upon civilization and her unspeakable barbarities in the war. It is indeed difficult to understand how anyone could hereafter purchase, let us say, children's toys from Nuremberg, with a memory of the manner in which Germans have been torturing and massacring little children in France and Belgium; or how any woman could purchase or use any article of German origin, remembering the outrage and martyrdom that thousands of women have suffered at German hands.

But these proposals arise, also, from other considerations than these. It is cogently argued that, on the most practical grounds of equity, the Allies should have the first opportunity to rehabilitate themselves and to restore their own industries and commerce; and that they should give to each other, and afterward to friendly neutrals, the preference over the Huns in both imports and exports. Nor is that all. It is felt that it would be foolishly imprudent to give Germany an opportunity of speedy commercial rehabilitation and therefore of ability again to make herself the troubler of the world. In this there is none of the wanton malignancy with which Germany proposed to "bleed France white," and with which she has during the present war been destroying the industries and also destroying so far as possible the effective manhood of conquered regions. It is simply felt that Germany has grossly misused her material prosperity. She has in the last half century made marvellous industrial and commercial progress, in which she has been greatly aided