The Crimson and Gray

Published Quarterly by the
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Vol. 6, No. 4

ATLANTA UNIVERSITY
ATLANTA, GA.

July, 1916

## Commencement

Every commencement at Atlanta University has its unique features. This year the whole week was so full of good things that only an eye trained by observation of many such occasions could pick out the most interesting events.

**The Class Play,** which was Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, at the very beginning called for an exhibition of the Atlanta University spirit. The Philadephia firm from whom the costumes were ordered wrote two days before the play that they could not furnish the costumes as we expected. What was to be done? To order them from New York or elsewhere was impossible in so short a time. Well, Miss Edwards, the teacher of dramatics, undertook what seemed an impossibility. She set to work at once and designed a complete set of costumes and with such help as she could hurriedly summon, she made them all and so well that everybody thought they were the ones ordered, in time for use on the night of the performance. That certainly was a good exemplification of the University motto, "I'll find a way or make one." The play itself was very good and was attended by an audience that left only standing room in the chapel.

**The Baccalaureate** sermon by President Ware is said on all sides to be one of his best efforts. He certainly made a deep impression upon the audience as he held up the ideals for which our young graduates should strive.

**The Twenty-first Annual Atlanta Conference on Negro Problems** was of no less interest than all the predecessors. There were really some fine things said by three southern white men, which ought to be given wide publicity. Judge Tindall of the Juvenile Court of Atlanta said among other things: "I would go anywhere to say that little colored children need the same care and attention that are given white children. . . . We can't expect to get along if we are not willing for the other fellow to get along too, whoever he may be. . . . No bigger

thing has been done anywhere than is done right here on your campus." Judge Tindall was speaking to a mothers' meeting at our Conference after an exhibition by the poor little children of five free kindergardens maintained by colored women of Atlanta under the leadership of Miss Gertrude Ware. Another impressive speaker was Dr. J. P. Falkner at the men's meeting on sex hygiene; and still another speaker was Mr. Philip Weltner of the Atlanta bar. He dwelt upon his high regard for the teachers of Atlanta University because of his personal knowledge of them and because he knew of the excellence of the work of Atlanta University.

**The Pageant,** a woodland fantasy written by Mrs. A. H. Ware, the wife of President Ware, and produced by the young women teachers and their children in the Oglethorpe Practice School, was a sight long to be remembered. There were between three and four thousand people present, representing all classes. Nothing of the kind on so large a scale has ever been seen among the colored people of Atlanta. It was really an educational opportunity. It brought to all of the people a chance to get close to nature in the big grove owned by the University. The setting of the pageant was ideal. It was in the same place where only a few weeks before the preparatory students had presented Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The grove has a level spot at the foot of a gentle slope which will accommodate an audience of several thousand spectators. Mrs. Ware made a real contribution not merely of an afternoon's enjoyment in the woods, but a contribution also of inspiration, of refreshment to the spirit of many tired people who were only too glad to come and there let the idyllic pageantry brush the cobwebs out of their minds. Some of the graduates are now asking why can we graduates not give a more ambitious pageant and others are asking why we have not sought Mrs. Ware's help before in this matter. Well, all things grow from small beginnings. It has taken the Oglethorpe

(Continued on next page.)

THE CRIMSON AND GRAY

The Crimson and Gray

Published quarterly during the academic year by the Alumni Association of Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. Subscription fee, 25¢ a year.

Entered as second class matter, November 4, 1912, at the Post Office at Atlanta, Ga., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

OFFICERS OF THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

<table><tr><td>J. R. PORTER</td><td>President</td></tr><tr><td>E. M. MARTIN</td><td>Vice-President</td></tr><tr><td>T. K. GIBSON</td><td>Treasurer</td></tr><tr><td>MILDRED GAINES</td><td>Recording Secretary</td></tr><tr><td>MARY B. GREENWOOD</td><td>Corresponding Secretary</td></tr></table>

ALUMNI COMMITTEES

**On Publication:** G. A. Towns, T. K. Gibson, M. R. Carey, Eugene M. Martin, Mildred Gaines.

**On Prizes:** T. K. Gibson, J. B. Greenwood, C. C. Cater, H. H. Pace Eleanor B. Murphy, A. C. King, J. C. Ross.

**On Alumni Fund:** G. A. Towns, P. A. Allen, J. R. Porter, Mary B. Grenwood, Mamie Haily, L. B. Palmer.

**Conference Committee:** E. P. Johnson, M. A. Ford, H. L. Green, John B. Greenwood, J. R. Porter.

Commencement

Continued from first page.

children to show us what we might do. The Crimson and Gray only advises that if we ever attempt anything of this kind, let us get at it early and seek Mrs. Ware early.

The Commencement Address by Rev. C. B. Wilmer, D. D., of Atlanta was a most skillful resume of all the speeches of the graduating class and a coordination of them with his theme which was "Loyalty." The young graduates had delivered themselves very freely upon what they thought about race equality, race inferiority and so forth, and then Dr. Wilmer followed them with no less frankness and no less vigor in emphasizing the truths they had pointed out, adding the results of mature thought and experience. He is a southern man, but he rang true every time on all the fundamental truths which he cherishes. His address was most gratifying and refreshing. One visitor said that he did not know there was an Atlanta white man who felt like that and that he was still more surprised to find one who dared to talk like that. He had never heard Dr. Wilmer.

The Alumni Banquet did not come last but we speak of it last for a reason. In the view of the writer this last alumni banquet revealed one thing more clearly than it has ever been shown before, through the speeches, every last one of them, and the spirit in which they were made, that Atlanta University has now clearly and distinctly passed a line in its progress as shown by the attitude of its graduates. We have a notion about just how far back in history that line was drawn but it would be embarrassing to state it, so that the best thing to do is to leave each class to think it began with them—as each surely will think—and merely to say what the nature of the progress is,

to which we refer. There was a time when Atlanta University meant to the graduates certain dear teachers and professors who had brought the University into being, who had established its ideals, and who had given to them the loving sympathy of a friend. This last banquet rang out again and again with the same love of old teachers, but the words and deeds of the graduates showed as never before that Atlanta University now means a set of ideals; that the principle has been abstracted from person; and that the persons are glorified because of the glorious principles for which they lived and died. That is a higher devotion and a higher loyalty. During the entire banquet there was not a word of whining or of peevishness, but all were joyful in the work they had tried to do in the world, in what they hoped to do and especially in what they had tried to do for Alma Mater.

This Year's Accomplishment

The list of names in this issue shows one encouraging thing, and that is a larger number of persons giving. Although the total amount given is not large still it is much larger than it seems to be at first sight. One of the most encouraging things is that a general movement has begun among the classes to do something, as classes, for the University. Several things have been accomplished by classes this year to make our campus more beautiful.

The Classes of 1904 and 1905 have laid a beautiful cement walk about 450 feet long, extending from the Hunter Street entrance, passing the bridge and running diagonally to the library. The work was done altogether by our students and helpers on the grounds under the direction of Superintendent Huth. Miss A. C. King did the work of collecting the funds.

The Class of 1906 has collected a considerable fund also, the exact amount of which we cannot state at present. It is rumored that they are going to take a big hand in helping to lay the concrete-asphalt driveway which is so badly needed to cure the one remaining eye-sore on our front campus.

The Class of 1910 began preparations early in the year to give a play for the purpose of raising funds for the erection of pillars at the W. Mitchell St. entrance. The class was successful and the six young women—Misses Askew, Dickerson, Tuggle, Watts, Willis, and Wise have done a remarkable service for their class and for the University by causing such beautiful steps and pillars to be erected at our most important entrance.

The Class of 1911 made everybody sit up and rub his eyes when Mr. S. S. Abrans announced at the business meeting that they had brought in cash

THE CRIMSON AND GRAY

for their class fund $130. He also said that more
is expected and that the fund will be larger before
the fall term begins.

The Class of 1912 reported through Mr. J. C. Ross
$50. This fund is also going to help the general
alumni contributions to pay for the driveway we
wish so much to lay.

The A. U. Club of Washington, D. C., under President J. G. Hutchins, sent its annual gift of $60. We are beginning to feel that alumni accounts can not be closed any year until we have heard from the Washington Club. They have the idea of regularity that we are sure all are going to get.

The A. U. Club of Albany comes forward again
with $40, we are told, that will also join the
general fund for campus improvement this year.

We ought to be very much encouraged this year
because of the general awakening of interest. We
have none of us given sufficient to ruin us and even
had we given to that extent, the total amount
of money would not be fabulously large. We all
ought to see that putting our little together and
doing it regularly is the thing that will count most
in the long run. What the Crimson and Gray
wants to see, and what all our friends want to see,
is a growing disposition on our part to do every
little bit we can to help ourselves. One dollar of
self-help is worth $100 of free gift from somebody
else. Our growing alumni fund is the one thing
that gives the Crimson and Gray most comfort
when it reflects on the work of our graduates.

Clipped from Correspondence

Washington, D. C., May 17, 1916.

My dear Dr. Adams:—I have before me a copy of the
appeal sent out by the A. U. Alumni Ass'n. It was sent to
me along with other mail, by my mother. She overlooked to
mention how she received it. I have thought that, possibly,
Mr. Towns had been down to Jacksonville and stopped in at
my home.

I shall never forget Atlanta University and the dear souls
who are laboring there for the uplift of my people. During
these later years I have been able to appreciate more keenly
the principles and ideals for which A. U. stands. It is with
much pleasure that I often think of the year that I was a
student there.

It gives me great pleasure to enclose herewith a check
for ten dollars. The only regret is that it is not ten times
ten. I hope that the Alumni Association has been very suc-
cessful in its efforts and that everything has gone well with
A. U. in general.

I do sincerely hope that you are well and happy. Per-
haps, some day, I may find it possible to visit A. U. I thank
you so much for a card which you sent me since I have been
here.

Kindly remember me to Prof. Webster, Miss Pingree,
Mr. and Mrs. Towns, and all of the noble hearts that are
working so nobly there.

Hoping that I may be prepared to contribute more sub-
stantially next time,

Yours sincerely,

W. L. MOSELEY.

Bordentown, N. J., 7 April, 1916.

My dear Mr. Towns:—The circular letter from the Alumni
Association was received a few days ago and I have just
sent a check to Dr. Adams. I trust that each and every
alumnus will respond nobly to the call of his Alma Mater.
I am sorry that my contribution was not larger, but as years
go by I hope to increase the amount. I still have the same
love for Atlanta University that I had while I was a student
there. I think that it is the greatest place in the world and
I am sure you will always find me “pulling for it” (if I may
use that expression).

S. D. WILLIAMS, '14.

"Lift Every Voice and Sing"

(National Hymn for the Colored People of America)

Lines written by James W. Johnson, A. U. '94. Music by Rosamond Johnson

Sung on Baccalaureate Sunday

Lift ev'ry voice and sing

Till earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the list'ning skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea;

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun

Of our new day begun,

Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chast'ning rod

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet, with a sturdy beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed!

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path thro' the blood of the
slaughtered,

Out of the gloomy past,

Till now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who has by Thy might,

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray,

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met

Thee;

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget

Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand,

True ot our God, true to our Native Land.

The Human Heart

I am a Negro with a human heart

And I would claim my kinship with mankind.

To what mean outskirts must I be consigned?

Why should I be a hunted thing apart

From my white brothers, bearing hurt and smart

Of racial hatred—both unjust and blind?

In the vast realm of character and mind

And in the world of beauty and of art

I am a free man. In the open mart

I seek the treasures that God bids me find.

-A. H. W.

THE WORLD TOMORROW, JUNE, 1929

# Negro Contributions to America

ALAIN LOCKE

ONLY in the last decade has there been any considerable recognition of the Negro as a contributor to American life, and the impression is still general that his career as a contributor has hardly more than commenced.

The reason his influence has not been apparent is that until recently Negro contributions have been silent and anonymous—they have been folk-gifts—and although they may on that account have been all the more effective, the race has proportionately lost the credit for them. Later we shall try to list them. But the present point is that the chief expectation for a significant rôle on the part of the present-generation Negro in American life depends not upon mere dreams but upon actual past performance. Indeed, the one great ground of hope for future influence and constructiveness rests upon the rather startling extent to which the Negro has already contributed to American life.

And if the Negro could be as originally creative and influential as he has been under unfavorable cultural conditions, under more favorable ones he should be many-fold more.

From the usual angles of assessment, the American Negro is a passive recipient and humble beneficiary. The political and economic institutions of America are not of his making, and the formal culture and tradition of the land are his by adoption only. In relation to these, he is a minority group in the second generation stage of assimilation, still below average in the mastery of some phases of American institutional life, especially the economic and industrial. But it should be realized that the Negro's debt to America is not peculiar in kind nor extremely different in degree. It is his longer period of dependence as a slave and his handicap of economic power that are mainly responsible for the conviction of many persons that the Negro is entirely a passive receiver. The reactionary mind capitalizes this condition, assumes him to be a permanent dependent, and for that reason thinks of him in the column of the nation's liabilities rather than its assets. Many of the Negro's best practical friends and benefactors share this view, and the major premise of most missionary efforts in his behalf has been an assumption of his dependence upon a civilization in which he is merely a consumer. Philanthropy's charitable minor premise "even so, it is our duty to share with him"—only compounds this grave misunderstanding. What the present generation is beginning to protest and to revise is the major premise

itself. It can indeed be shown to be contrary to fact.

To avoid any possibility of sentimental distortion, however, let us be realists and not presume that the gifts we shall mention were conscious, deliberate, or wholly original. The Negro's contributions have been made as reactions to white civilization, its elements have been the basis of these reactions and its attitudes often the stimulus thereto. Christianity, the plantation, freedom, democracy, justice were all imposed ideas, ideals, and social facts. But to each of these the Negro has given a peculiar and definite contribution from a double point of view: first, as a passive presence influencing the institutional development of each of these basic social ideas; in the second place, actually making, in many instances, a constructive contribution to these same ideas. All of them are characteristically different because of the presence of the Negro in American life, and all of them have been enriched by his peculiar impress.

TO realize this fully, one must notice the Negro's fundamental reaction to American life. Though a virtue of necessity on the part of a people introduced into a civilization by the hard way of slavery, it is a virtue nevertheless of great positive effect. The Negro has consistently from the beginning accepted almost without reservation the values and institutions of American life. Negative merit though it is, feeble as it seems to be, alien attitudes retained by the Negro could have introduced factors of non-conformity into the very heart of American civilization which would have prevented on the one hand, his rapid cultural assimilation, and, on the other, would have put the basic values of American life on the defensive. Even a dependent class has great negative power in this direction, and had his reaction been different, the Negro might presumably have exercised such power. America has gained profoundly then, from the Negro's humble assent to the fundamental values of her civilization. His domestication—for he was taken into the very heart of the American family under the plantation regime—would otherwise have been impossible or dangerous. This is a gift which will only be appreciated in time when it is realized that the whole trend of Negro life in America has been determined by this attitude of willing and loyal conformity.

Conformity to the material side of American life was perhaps necessary; but that of the Negro mind to the spiritual side of our civilization proves my first contention. The first constructive reaction of the

255

Negro was to Christianity. From it the Negro gained a spiritual compensation of inestimable practical value, but to it he gave his own unique spiritual gifts—one emotional, and the other artistic. The latter is well-known and highly prized; but the spirituals, although the most original and universally effective expressions of elemental Christian faith and feeling, are merely the artistic by-products of an emotional interpretation of Christianity that in time may be regarded as a greater gift. At present the vogue of appreciation for them is artistic—they have been lauded as "America's most notable folk music." Later it will be seen that, as an interpretation of Christianity in direct feeling and elemental mood, they are profound. A reaction to religion of similar character, but on a plane above that of the peasant mind, would be a major contribution and influence. There is still in this group tradition and heritage the latent possibilities of a spiritual dynamic of great force. It is to this that our present generation thinkers refer when they claim that the Negro's group experience in America has given him a special discipline and spiritual heritage which may eventually make him the protagonist in our culture of the more spiritual and mystical values of life.

For the time being, this heritage has only made the Negro slightly more of an artist than his fellow white American. No better catalogue of his contribution on this plane can be made than James Weldon Johnson's now famous list of four art gifts—the Uncle Remus body of folk-lore, the spirituals, and the basic idioms of American popular music and dance to the extent that these are distinctively different from the borrowed forms of the ancestral European cultures. The irony of the situation is that in folk-lore, folk-song, folk-dance, and popular music the things recognized as characteristically and uniquely American are products of the despised slave minority. Nor is this confined to the products of the old slave regime. In the two latter cases it is the constant creativeness and influence of the present-day Negro with an increasing extension of this artistic activity from the level of instinctive folk-art to that of formal art. The trained Negro musician, the literary Negro poet, the legitimate Negro actor, and the skilled Negro artist are becoming more and more figures in the foreground of American culture. This revival of artistic creativeness after a fall-low period in the transition from slavery to freedom is the well known "Negro Renaissance." Apart from its being an important aspect of minority self-expres-sion, it is a movement that has already made substan-tial contributions of general artistic significance and value. It begins to appear that the Negro as artist will disproportionately influence American culture in the present and future as in the past.

This artistic sway of the Negro race has been most obvious in music. Few people recognize its potentiali-

ties in other artistic fields. No special innate artistic endowments have to be assumed for this. What ac-counts for it in the past and promises great momentum to it in the future is the simple fact of the intensifica-tion of the emotional side of life by persecution and suffering, and the concentration of the group life-force at a point and in channels where the practical dis-abilities of social and economic handicaps are rela-tively powerless and inoperative. This is the Negro's compensation for his hard lot and generation-long sacrifice.

There are certain further contributions of the Negro which are more debatable but in my judgment of undeniable importance. One can only appreciate them by remembering that often in history a subject people has spiritually conquered their conquerors. The Negro has modified directly and indirectly the psy-chology of the South. His humble position has only magnified the subtle contagion of his folk traits and folkways. The South is different in many vital ways because of its black peasant matrix. It is difficult for a master class to recognize such an influence, let alone admit it. Some shrewd foreign observer may ventually have to convince us on this point. However, many typical Southern traits are typically Negro, and even when they are to be attributed to the common system of life of the South, in their overtones and color the Negro has left his impress. Southern amiability, nonchalance, familiarity, impracticality, self-pity, and sentimentalism all have some tropic coloration. Un-questionably the Negro has made a fundamental silent contribution to Southern folk psychology. It is not merely his drawl and humor which characteristically pervade the South; deeper traits, moods, and atti-tudes have come from his contagious presence. Nor need we reckon them all as desirable; an influence, especially that of a generally illiterate and exploited mass cannot be wholly beneficent. Indeed it is a marvel and much to his credit that the Negro's emotional influence in the South and on the South has been so kindly, sweet-tempered, and humane. The much dis-cussed and, by the present generation of intelligent Negroes, much repudiated "mammy tradition" is a notable instance. The unenvious sharing of local pride and sectional feeling is another. Every "old-school" Southerner is disposed to recognize this, and in the perspective of time the spiritual largesse of these Negro reactions will be fully appreciated by all.

Among the more substantial contributions, Dr. Du Bois and others are correct in listing a tremendous amount of unrequited labor to the Negro's collective credit. Though paid under the lash of a system giving no alternative but death, this labor in quantity and quality was disproportionate to the Negro's gain. An-other less tractable race would have been more nig-gardly with its labor under similar circumstances: the

256

Indian might have preferred to die. With this alternative in mind, it is not too much to claim that but for this vital service at a crucial point in the struggle of the majority to root its civilization, the whole course of American history might have been different and this difference on the negative side of the ledger. Incidentally, it is in view of this that the intelligence of the present generation Negro confronts America today without apology both in asking for rights and justice and sometimes, out of its poverty and handi-caps, for special consideration and for apparent favors.

IT is fair to list potential contributions if they herein logically in the present race situation. Much of common consequence to America is clearly involved in the attitude of the rest of the nation toward this peculiarly situated minority group. The conditions of the Negro are so unique in some respects that they must be the pivot of a general adjustment of American society in given directions. The Negro's position in America makes him the acid test both of practical democracy and of the practical application of Christianity to the social order. Negro leaders are never tired of pointing out that the failure of the Negro in America will mean the failure of democracy and Christianity. Although at present such a view suggests very painfully the problems and discrepancies of contemporary American institutions, in the long term view these very situations are challenging opportunities involving the practical working-out of the basic ideals of our common civilization. It would be playing a decidedly important national rôle merely to be the passive means or rough material for the solution of such problems. But Negro progress is in a vital way a substantial contribution in these directions.

It is obvious, in spite of the great necessity for practical and economic contributions in the future on the part of the Negro, that the main line of Negro development must necessarily be artistic, cultural, moral, and spiritual. Because of the complementary character of such contributions in contrast with the predominantly practical, economic, and scientific trend of the nation, the part which the Negro will play is all the more desirable and promising. Although he must qualify in all branches of American life and activity, the Negro can be of more general good in supplementing Nordic civilization than through merely competitively imitating or extending it along lines in which it is at present successful and preëminent. Indeed, as what seems to be the special race genius matures and gains momentum, it becomes increasingly apparent that the Negro's unique experience and heredity combined may have fitted him for a special creative rôle in American life as an artist class, as a social re-agent, and as a spiritual leaven.

## National Negro Anthem

ALTHOUGH not so well known as "America" and "Star Spangled Banner," there is in the United States a third anthem, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," which ten million Negro citizens claim as their national hymn.

In 1900 when James Weldon Johnson, who is now secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was principal of the Colored High School in Jacksonville, Florida, he wrote a poem that was set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, instructor of music at the same school. The song was sung by a chorus of five hundred children during a Lincoln's Birthday celebration and attracted considerable attention.

### LIFT EV'RY VOICE AND SING

Lift ev'ry voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us:
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path thro' the blood of the
slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met
Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget
Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.

Words by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON
Music by J. ROSAMOND JOHNSON

Copyright by Edward B. Marks Music Co.,
223 West 46th St., New York City.

257

Not in the Headlines

Ten Billions of Gold

The total supply of gold in the world at the end of 1928 was approximately ten billion dollars, of which the United States held $3,746,111,000; France $1,253,500,000; England 749 millions; Germany 650 millions; Argentine 607 millions; Japan 541 millions; Spain 493 millions.

Trade Union Gains Abroad

While organized labor membership in the United States is dropping, certain foreign countries show rapid gains. In Finland during 1928, membership of unions affiliated with the Trade Union Centre rose from 75,846 to 90,321. In Sweden similar figures for the same period show an increase from 437,034 to 469,409.

Our Unconcern for Mothers

According to recent addresses by Miss Frances Perkins, Industrial Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor, the loss of mothers in childbirth amounts to 20,000 a year or about 63 a day for the United States. Our maternity death rate is seven per thousand, highest of any civilized country. Miss Perkins ascribes this loss of "the young mother, twenty or twenty-five years of age," as due chiefly to "neglect at the most critical moment of her life."

Old Ironsides

In order to raise funds for the final rehabilitation of the historic frigate Constitution, the Navy Department is "presenting to contributors" of various amounts souvenirs of the old vessel. Publicity matter says, "When rebuilt, she will cruise again among our harbors, her sturdy frame enshrining a great, instructive collection of historic relics. She will spread a lesson that our youth may learn with profit and give the privilege of citizenship a richer, fuller meaning."

The Crime of Labor Education

A charge reinforced by strong evidence has been circulated by friends of Brookwood Labor College that its former students are being subjected to persecution in the ranks of conservative unions affiliated with the hostile A. F. of L. leadership. Local 246 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners has expelled August Danielson without trial or open charges. Danielson has been a defender of the school he attended at great sacrifice for two years.

Pacifists in New Zealand

In New Zealand this year the civil rights of 2,500 war resisters who refused to aid in the World War are to be restored. Few places have revealed so strong a war opposition as New Zealand with more than 40,000 prosecutions of boys refusing peace-time drill. A strong movement of radical pacifism exists in this far dominion and a fresh effort is being made to abolish the conscription of boys between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five, which is continued even in peace days since the enactment of the 1909 Defense Act. In Australia a vigorous pacifist movement has existed for a long time, and the Tasmanian Council of Churches has outspokenly protested against compulsory military training.

French and Belgian War Resistance

A "will to peace" declaration demanding the outlawry of war, immediate total disarmament, and the destruction of all war material, and stating refusal to serve in war, has been signed by 10,000 men and women of France and 3,000 in Belgium.

Old Age Pensions Gain

The greatest forward steps so far recorded in Old Age Pension legislation ever achieved in a single month was made during last March when three new states, Minnesota, Utah, and Wyoming, were added to the list of those which already have such provisions. Aside from the Territory of Alaska, nine states now have Old Age Pension laws in operation.

A Wyoming International Night

Taking as their motto the saying of Confucius that "All within the four seas are brothers," nearly all the 8,000 people of Rock Springs, Wyoming, recently gathered to celebrate their Third Annual International Night, with costumes and music of many lands. Taking part in the good-will demonstration were persons speaking a total of forty-five languages.

Unemployment Insurance in Canada

Long-continued efforts on the part of Canadian Trade Unionists to secure the enactment of legislation affording unemployment insurance seemed destined to bring fruit soon. In its last session the House of Commons gave unanimous approval to the report of the committee which had investigated the question and public opinion seems rather generally in favor of the measure.

Juvenile Court Thirty Years Old

The first Juvenile Court in the United States was started in Cook County, Illinois in 1899. Colorado soon followed suit. Today only two states in the Union are without some special court for children. However, the National Probation Association declares that recent surveys prove many of these laws are seriously inadequate and require amendment. A revised Standard Juvenile Court Law has been issued by the N. P. A. which combines the best features of the laws in force in 46 states.

Church Mission Gifts Falling Off

Twenty-five of the leading evangelical denominations of the United States and Canada, representing a combined constituency of 23,267,767, gave the vast total of $532,368,714.80 to all purposes during their last denominational years, respectively, according to the annual report of Dr. Harry S. Myers, of New York, secretary of the United Stewardship Council. Of this tremendous sum, however, $402,682,961.82 went to local congregational expenses, while only $92,325,775.47 went to denominational benevolences. The total for local church expenses for the year represented a gain of more than $20,000,000 over the total gifts for the same purposes the preceding year, according to the secretary's compilations, whereas there was a decline of approximately $12,000,000 in the gifts of the past year for budget benevolences.

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