The Washington herald., 1919-12-28

Hon. Gen. Charles y. Sheriff. in his
day was one Of the cleverest and
abIest of the men in our diplomatic
service. He must be noting with sat
isfactjon the announcement just made
that japan. without any formal action
by the American government has de-
Cided to put an end to the picture
Bride" method of increasing the
Japanese population ef California, for
il is precisely the policy he told emf
nent japanese that il would be pru-
dent for Japan to adopt when he
spoke at the AngIo-Japan Society
banquet in Tokyo late in November.
With a suaviter in modo style. but
fortiter in re content, he told the
japanese present more things about
the United States and its present at
titude toward Japan than they are
wont to get at such combined talk
tests and feasts. for which policy he
deserves commentator. Too often
these affairs are wholly misleading
because of their enforced courtesy and
amiable plstitudes.
1t is interesting to note that the
American Ambassador to Japan. Hon.
Roland S Morris. when he came to
.
Thanksgiving day. save point to his
thoroughly ''modernIst' argument by
a long quotation from Walt Whitman
and by a euIogy OF the Camden sage
as the typical singer Of American
democracy, present and culture. Not
Emerson or Longfcllow, be IL noted.
but Whitman: and this in a serVic.
on a Puritan and Pilgrim holiday an
niyersarS held in A Protestant church
in Tokyo.
There FITTED through Washington
the other day Mr. Frederick william
PCthick Lawrence, n leading advocate
at the present time Of a capital levy
on the wealth of England, and one OF
the old-fa shioned liberals" OF Great
Britain. who. while sympathetic with
labor and quite prepared 10 meet
many Of its demands, is not for a dis
tinctIy class government. Nor. on the
other hand. can he stand for Lloyd
George and the Liberal Unionist coali-
ton ministry and its policy. Together
with some younger men OF the same
mind. like LanSdon Davies. Gilbert
Cannan and \. 6. Gardiner. OF the
News. he has been in this country
tor several months trying 10 establish
some sort OF organization between
BritonS and Americans who think
along progressive rather than radical
lines. and, naturally. he attended the
recent convention In st. Louis. He
has Travelled much about the world:
he has suffered much in reputation
sud purse for his advocacy of unpop-
Ular causes. His stay in Washington
WAS brief In New York and in the
West he found more persons who re-
acted sympaihctically TO his message
aud propaganda.
The Harpers had no easy choice to
make in naming a successor TO the
late Henry NJ. Alden as editor OF their
venerable but vigorous monthly mag
azine. They have decided 10 maintain
the tradition of the office and not de-
part from II. The new editor.
Thomas Bucklin Wells, has served
seventeen years under Mr.. Alden, and
knows the ways and means by which
that mystic. philosopher. good critic
Of literature and friend of young Ru-
thors, kept the Magazine even on its
keel and a source OF income to the
firm during the years when fashions
In literature and In periodicals
changed rapidly. Mr.. Alden's Utmost
thoughts on the changes wrought in
the Weekly that George William Cur
tbs made famous and in the infiuen-
tial Bazaar that Mrs. Booth edited sf-
ter they passed out OF Harpers' con-
troll, IL they could have been published
would have made interesting reading.
The new deal on McClure's Maya
zinc, by which Herbert Kaufman
cornes int full control gives A new