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Rome, and even to establish a new Vatican in Washington, with the Pope personally in charge, is the cause of much astonishment. Similarly, the opinions commonly entertained by Catholics about the Masonic orders puzzle the average Protestant. To him the manifestations and purposes of the several branches of

promote a "spirit of toleration in economics, politics, and religion." It should be applauded, if for no other reason, for the emphasis laid upon the word "toleration," for there is no word that can perform so useful a service in the United States at the present time.

Stage

The organizers of the Hamilton-Jefferson Society evidently realize that the current misconceptions are not only absurd, but, if unchecked, are likely to cause much harm. "I hate that man!" Charles Lamb once viciously remarked. "But, Charles, you don't know him!" his friend remonstrated. "Of course I don't," was the rejoinder. "If I did, I wouldn't hate him!"

The jest contains a profound truth, as applicable to bodies of men, especially religious bodies, as to individuals. It is perhaps the highest tribute to the essential worth of human nature that acquaintance and close association usually result in finding common points of understanding and even of admiration. No man, and no group of men, are quite so bad, when viewed close at hand, as they seem to be when associated with only in the hastily read columns of a newspaper. The purpose of the Hamilton-Jefferson fraternity is to promote this saving human contact between men of different religious faiths. Its members-one half Protestants and one half Catholics-will hold monthly meetings, for the purpose of frankly discussing pending differences and points of view. They take as the basis upon which they can all agree the Constitution of the United States, and find their chief guidance in those sections which guarantee freedom of conscience, prohibit the establishment of a state religion, and give assurance of government protection to every church, so long as its practices do not violate other principles of law. The leader of the Protestant group is Mr. Elihu Root, while the Catholic leader is Mr. Arthur J. Foley. Its purpose is to

E

ACH new dramatic season is in

variably greeted by more or less intelligent demonstrations against what is regarded as the growing indecency of the stage. The present year has been no exception to that rule. It is difficult to decide which side of this unending dispute is the more unintelligent and hypocritical-the one which, at the slightest excuse, rushes in with its accusations, or the one which just as speedily rushes to the defense. The selfimposed defender of public morals is always more or less of an odious figure, yet for some reason the man or woman who champions certain of the transactions of the modern stage escapes the imputation.

Yet many of these vindicators of "art" are far greater enemies of society than are the professional and salaried guardians of public virtue. The problem, after all, is not a particularly complex one. It presents no difficulties that the commonsense citizen, endowed with average intelligence, cannot solve. What is the motive that prompts the presentation of certain plays? To state the case more personally, what is the motive that prompts the innocent playgoer to propel himself in the direction of certain playhouses, and to submit to great financial sacrifices to see certain productions? Thus morality on the stage, like most ethical problems, is purely one of motive.

There is not the slightest doubt that certain spectacles at present on view in New York, especially the so-called "revues" and "musical comedies," are attempts-alas! too frequently successful-to commercialize certain instincts of human nature. The managers who begin to prate about "art" and "beauty," as

soon as these productions are assailed, are canting hypocrites of a more reprehensible type than their assailants, for the last things they are interested in are "art" and "beauty"; their interest is limited to swelling their bank accounts by inducing foolish men and women to gaze on obscene exhibitions. Nor should there be any great difficulty in dealing with such offenders, for certainly the existing laws against indecency are sufficient to close a majority of these performances.

A Hint From the Ancients

WHEN it comes to the more serious drama, the issue is not so

W

plainly drawn. So long as love

between man and woman continues to be practically the only theme of the drama, so long will the portrayal of certain of its phases be called in question on the score of morals. The only great playwrighting that successfully escapes this issue is the Greek. About fifty Greek tragedies have survived from the hundreds of masterpieces written, and practically none of these offends on the score of morals. The reason is that the Greek dramatists were not Freudians; they did not believe that sex was everything. In fact, they regarded this subject as utterly unworthy of dramatic treatment. Instead, they handled such themes as the workings of destiny on human life, the injustice of the gods towards men, and the battles fought by men against the gods, the love of daughter for father, of sister for brother, the Greek conceptions of duty, vengeance, hate, and even darker passions-almost never the love of a man for a maid. Euripides, it is true, occasionaly violated this canon, but he greatly shocked his generation when he did so. In the famous debate between Euripides and Eschylus in "The Frogs" the main indictment, brought by the older against the younger writer, is that he had degraded the Greek theater by representing men and women in love!

In this there is a hint for the modern dramatist and the modern theatrical audience. It would be a rash suggestion

to propose that American dramatists follow the example of the Greek in excluding this topic, but there are certainly other phases of human experience that have great dramatic possibilities. Ibsen found one in "Ghosts"-in its essentials a Greek tragedy-and the fact that this play has held the stage for forty-three years shows that other subjects than the familiar one can "get over." Perhaps the great dramatist of the future will be he who will really portray human nature and human life on a greater canvas, and find that, whereas the relations of men and women do form a large part of human existence, they do not make up the whole of life. This discovery might run foul of the tendencies of the new psychology, but it would enrich the drama, to say nothing of making it less pornographic.

An Irish Minister at Washington

H

ARDLY a day passes without its reminder that the world has entered a new age, and perhaps the quiet arrival at Washington of a Minister from the Irish Free State is one of the most impressive. Mr. Timothy A. Smiddy, the first Irishman to occupy this historic mission, seems exceptionally qualified for the task. And his task involves greater difficulties than ordinarily fall to the lot of a diplomat.

Irish immigrants to this country have always shown a particular tenacity in maintaining their allegiance to the motherland. There are two Irelands in the sense that there are not two Germanys or two Italys-conspicuous as the peoples of these two latter countries are in keeping alive their European enthusiasms. For Irish public affairs are factional to an unusual degree, and the antagonisms. that prevail on Irish soil are altogether too inclined to manifest themselves in the Irish populations of this country. The Ulsterman and the Irish Celt live together about as harmoniously in this country as in their native soil; here, as in Ireland, the Battle of the Boyne is still fought again every year. Forty years ago the Orange day procession, and its accom

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panying riots, were annual diversion in New York and other large American cities. The differences that exist between the loyal citizens of the Irish Free State and the Irish Republicans similarly find their counterparts in this country.

Mr. Smiddy comes as the representative of the Free State, the new Dominion which the majority of the Irish people, and the best friends of Ireland in this country, have accepted as the solution of the Irish problem. That he will have his difficulties with the extremists who still hold out for an Irish Republic, comprising all Ireland and completely separated from British sovereignty, can well be foreseen. Fortunately, however, the malcontents are a small minority in this country as in their own. The new Minister will find a friendly hand extended to him from all parts of the United States, and there is every likelihood that his arrival will not only help the cause of Irish progress, but accomplish much in clearing up a situation that has long disquieted American politics. He will not only stimulate the feeling of friendship and good will which Americans, whatever their origin, have for Ireland, but he will also be an influence in promoting that coöperation between Great Britain and the United States so essential to modern progress. Ireland is now a member of the League at Geneva and is also represented by a Minister at Washington. Who will deny that she is not at last a nation?

of national organization to control broadcasting. This might be done either under Federal control or under private enterprise. Mr. Hoover favors the latter. At the present time the Government retains for itself supervision of the ether, and should the industry conduct radio activities by formulating and enforcing rules designed for the best possible service-this need not be strengthened by further administrative or legislative control. Of course the danger in Government control of broadcasting is, that a group of men might arbitrarily decide what information was to be put on the air.

In the past year experiments have proved that broadcasting can be conducted on a national scale. This inter-connection between stations is accomplished over wires of the telegraph and the telephone companies and by radio itself. But as yet there has been organized no definite nation-wide system, and, lacking that, interconnection cannot possibly continue.

There are now 530 broadcasting stations in this country. The Department of Commerce, in classifying them, discovered that "of the present stations, 196, or over one third, are owned and operated by manufacturers of or dealers in radio apparatus, whose interest is of course apparent. Department stores and similar mercantile concerns add 39 to this number, and publishers 41, making a grand total of 276 known stations, which may be said to have a direct interest in the publicity legitimately resulting from their own broadcasting.

institutions, 35 churches, 12 city and state agencies, 12 clubs,

all of which may be said to operate from more altruistic motives." More than half of the country's stations, without great financial support, cannot present good programs every day in the year. In certain sections of the country many listenersin (particularly farmers, who now own nearly 400,000 receiving sets) are limited to such programs as are broadcast by these stations-which usually means the ever-present jazz and amusement, and no good music, or lectures and

talks whose aim is a "widening vision of national problems and national events." It is this situation that would be met by the suggestion that all local stations be able regularly to deliver every nationally important event.

This does not mean that radio would become a competitor of the newspaper; for, although big contests-athletic and political-are now announced over the air, thus making "extras" old before they are on sale, the announcer cannot hope instantaneously to describe and to interpret as faithfully and as fully as does the newspaper writer who can devote an hour or more to his "story." But there can be no doubt that this year thousands of American citizens were, thanks to the radio, better informed about the personalities and issues of the Presidential campaign than they were four years ago.

Mr. Hoover gives the solution: "The local station must be able to bring to its listeners the greatest music and entertainment of the nation, but far beyond this it must be able to deliver important pronouncements of public men, it must bring instantly to our people a hundred and one matters of national interest. To this it must add its matters of local interest. This can only be accomplished by regularly organized interconnection on a national basis, with nationally organized and directed programs for some part of the day in supplement to more local material."

Jail Sentences for Stock Swindlers

F

IVE years ago a man identified with the management of the New York Stock Exchange was asked why the Exchange did not take an active part in the educational campaign then going on to save millions of Liberty Bondholders from the loss of their bonds to promoters of oil stocks and other doubtful securities. His reply was that if they did the cry would go up throughout the country that the "big crooks were trying to put the little crooks out of business."

Since that time there has been a good deal of housecleaning done within the

confines of the Stock Exchange. Many members were quietly persuaded to give up their memberships; others were expelled. In addition to this, a system of reports from members was instituted which discloses to the Exchange authorities the business methods of the members.

With these things accomplished, the Stock Exchange began to take a more active part in the campaign against those who exploit the credulity and cupidity of the public. Mr. Seymour L. Cromwell, then President of the Exchange, became a leading advocate in the education of the public. Due to his efforts many people became better able to distinguish between the good and the bad in the financial field.

Mr. E. H. H. Simmons, the new President of the Stock Exchange, is following this same course of fearless attack against financial frauds. Speaking before the National Association of Securities Commissioners in Richmond, he said: "The honest stockbrokers and honest dealers realize that their own prosperity, and indeed their very existence, hinges upon the suppression of fraud in security dealings generally. The Stock Exchange will go to the very limit of its powers in fighting the fraudulent security dealer."

His conclusion as to the best means of suppressing this evil is the one that has been reached by many other students of the problem. "What America needs in handling our seemingly perennial problem of security frauds," he said, "is more jail sentences, quicker jail sentences, and longer jail sentences. Not until the security swindler begins to get hurt will he quit the fascinating pursuit of 'easy money.' When he knows that if he engages in swindling, he will in the long run be severely dealt with in the courts, he will hasten to abandon a business so personally dangerous to him."

This active part taken by Stock Exchange authorities in the campaign against the frauds should lead to a better understanding of the true economic function of the Exchange and lead to a better differentiation in people's minds between the good and the bad in Wall Street.

T

a Big Success

HE Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad-better known as the Ford Railroad-is not doing any one thing to speak of which some other railroad is not doing. The Ford Motor Company is not doing any one thing which some other company is not doing. The Ford secret is not a secret at all; it lies in doing all the things. A single operation in a Ford property may be done no better than in some other property. But where in another company only one half or three quarters of the operations may be first-class, in the Ford idea every operation must be first-class.

More than that, the best practice of the moment is taken as only a step towards better practice. Doing things well is not enough; everything must not only be done well but must also be coördinated with every other operation-which means that every man must be coördinated with every other man. No man can shut himself off in a little coop and perform, it makes no difference how well, purely as an individual.

All of this is fundamental in the Ford management and it cuts out the waste motion and expense of passing the buckwhich is the chief pastime of many organizations.

For instance, take the handling of freight claims and the claims for personal injury on this little railroad. Claims are usually the exclusive property of the claim department and, on even the best managed railroads, the idea that good will can be created by the handling of claims seldom penetrates to the legal department. There a case is a battle to be won at all odds. If the claimant can be tired out, so much the better, but in any event the

fight has to be made. That is not the Ford idea.

"We try to settle every claim out of court," the man who handles most of the claims said to me. "We find that claimants are not often unreasonable if the company is reasonable. They are usually willing to settle at once for a sum fair to both sides. Some of the best boosters for the railroad are men with whom we have settled claims on the basis of putting all the cards on the table and paying on the facts.

WE

WITHOUT THE LAW

go on the theory that when a case reaches court everybody loses; if the plaintiff wins, he has to pay a good share of the verdict to his lawyer, while he gets no money at all at the very time he needs it most-that is, just after the accident. Win or lose, we have our own expenses of the trial to pay. If we can settle a case at once on a fair basis, then probably we shall pay less than it would cost us just to try the case, while the plaintiff often gets more money than he would net if he won. And he gets the money when he needs it. I am speaking now of the personal injury cases.

"The freight claims are just pure business and it is not good business to let disputes go to law if it can be prevented and it nearly always can be prevented. Whenever only our road is concerned in a claim, we try to settle within a week or less, and if, as often happens, other roads are concerned, then we try to hurry through all of them to a settlement. We do not want claims hanging over us any more than we want bills.

"It is a remarkable fact that we have never been held liable in a crossing ac