Topics of the Moment

AN INCIDENT ON THE SAN PEDRO. 453 The man turned his head for a minute. "And where are you going now?" "We are going back home; there is nothing else to do." At the word home, the child opened her eyes and asked, "Are we home now, mamma?" "Not yet, dear, but we will be in a little while." "Oh, I'm so tired, I do wish we were home." "I know you are tired, but we will be home in a little while." The child leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes. The man asked the mother where she lived and upon being informed said, "Excuse me, I will be back in a few minutes." He looked neither to the right nor to the left, as he hurried through the train to the smoker. Going to his friends he said, "Boys, there'd a sick child back here in the fourth coach, she's leaning her tired little head against the window pane when she ought to be in bed. We can make something that will do for a bed, until the mother reaches the station where they get off. I want each of your overcoats so that I can fix up something to make her comfortable." "But say, Jack, tell us who it is and what about it." "No time to talk now, this is a time to act," replied Jack, as he gathered up the four overcoats and started down the aisle. Stopping at the door, he turned back and said, "Boys, any one of you would do what I am doing now, and I'll tell you all about it after awhile. It's one of those cases in which what's done has to be done at once. Dan, you know the conductor pretty well, ask him to stop long enough at Provo for you to run over to that little restaurant on the south side of the track and get a warm drink and a sandwich or two, bring it into the fourth coach." "But what about the cup and saucer?" "Oh, hang it, buy the cup and saucer. Ed., you come with me and help me fix up a bed. Joe, you stay and watch our things until one of us returns." As the two men with the four overcoats went through the train, the situation was hurriedly explained to Ed. Reaching the seat occupied by the mother and child, the man to whom she had told her story said: "Madam, if you will permit us, we will fix this seat so that it will be more comfortable to the little girl."

454 IMPROVEMENT rRA. With a look the tired mother thanked them and arose from her seat. "Now, Ed., you fix the seats while I hold the child." Tenderly he lifted the child from her place by the window. She opened her tired eyes, and looking at her mother said, "Are we home, mamma?" As one of experience, who knew how to make things as comfortable as possible on a railroad train, Ed. fixed the seat. The back was taken from one seat and placed between the others; three of the overcoats were spread upon the improvised bed, with the fourth for a pillow. When the man who had held the child attempted to lay her down, she whispered, "Are we home, mamma?" As the train left Provo, the man addressed as Dan entered the car with a warm drink and something wrapped in paper which was handed to the first man, who passed it to the mother. The three men who saw the look on her face were repaid for all that they had done. Two of them left the coach, while the other re. mained. Two h >urs later, the train stopped at a little station, beside which stood a horse and wagon, in charge of a man whose form was bent with age. As the man, who had remained with the mother and child, lifted the latter from the train, he heard the woman say, "My father, sir." He passed the sleeping form to the gray-haired grandfather, and swung aboard the train as it pulled out. Entering the smoking car, he joined his friends, and told to them the woman's story, finishing with these words, "I have a wife and a little girl just about the age of that one; we had two girls, but one died about four years ago. I thought of my wife and little one. We never know!" The light of the cigars had died out; the new stories which each had intended to tell were forgotten, as the four men sought the sleeper in silence. Salt Lake City, Utah.

TOPICS OF MOMENT. Decision of the North Sea Commission. The North Sea Commission rendered its decision in Paris, February 25, against the Russians who, under Admiral Rozhdestvensky, fired upon the British fishing fleet off the Dogger banks, in the North Sea, October 22, 1904. It will be remembered that at the time the English people were greatly excited over the incident, and a conflict was apparently averted by submitting the question to the decision of an international commission. The facts found by the Commission are practically those set forth by the press at the time. The Russian Baltic fleet left the port of Libau in northwestern Russia, ostensibly to relieve Port Arthur, actually to put on a bold front in order to save, if possible, the Muscovite's face. When the fleet reached the North Sea, off Hull, it ran into a trawling fleet that was fishing by night out in the deep sea. Without any warning whatever to the trawlers, the Russians opened fire upon them, sank one vessel, killed two men, wounded a number of others, and then moved out without offering any assistance to the drowning men, after the mistake had been discovered. The excuse for such an uncalled-for attack, and such inhuman disregard of life, was that the Russians were attacked by a torpedo boat. In order to avert an open conflict between two great powers, one of which already had a war on its hands, they agreed to leave the question to the Commission of whether or not a torpedo boat was among the fishing fleet, and whether it made any attack on the Russians. The Commission called to try the case was composed of admirals from different nationalities and held its sessions in Paris.

456 IMPROVEMENT ERA. It finds that "the act of firing on the fishing fleet when no torpedo boats were present was, in the opinion of the majority of the Commission, unjustifiable." Continuing, the report says: "The Russian commissioner dissents from the opinion, and holds that the action of unknown vessels was responsible for what happened. The majority find that the firing, even accepting the Russian version, was unduly prolonged. The fishing fleet was in no way guilty of hostile action." They also think that Admiral Rozhdestvensky had good reason for continuing his voyage without rendering aid, but that he should have signaled some friendly neighboring vessels, and informed them that the fishermen were in need of assistance. The Commission thinks it was probably the arrival of a belated Russian ship that caused the firing, and that the cessation was finally caused by the Donskoi which signaled her approach. Then follows the curious part of the report, to the effect that there was nothing which occurred to reflect upon the martial qualities or sentiments of humanity of Admiral Rozhdestvensky. Martial qualities! In other words, the "bravery" of the admiral is not to be put in question! There the Commission stultifies itself. The probable cause was the culpable negligence of one of the fleet's own ships which failed to give proper notice of its approach. Again, the men on the trawlers were left to take care of themselves, and no one was even asked to go to their aid. The Commission finds that there was nothing inhuman in that. It was evidently a sop of comfort which the Commission—strongly pro- Russian—intended to throw to a discredited admiral. The Commission says Rozhdestvensky had "good reasons" for proceeding on his journey without offering the unfortunate fishermen, whose lives he had imperiled, any help. It does not say what those "reasons" were. Perhaps it thought best not to explain. Again, Russia has been discredited in the eyes of all the world. And the question is, Will Rozhdestvensky be disciplined, or will Russia treat the matter with autocratic indifference? She is willing to pay the damages; and must, of course, pay the expenses of the Commission, which, it is estimated, will reach $150,- 000. The damages, $325,000, was paid on March 9, by Count

TOPICS OF MOMENT. 467 Benkerdorff, the Russian ambassador to Great Britain, to Foreign Secretary Landsdowne, and the incident is, to all appearances, closed. Opening of the Twin Falls Canal. One of the momentous events in Western irrigation took place on March 1st, when one of the greatest engineering feats of modern times was completed at Millner, near the Shoshone Falls of Snake river, Idaho. A great dam has been built across the Snake, and on that day, the iron gates of the dam were successfully lowered, causing the thunders of the falls to be hushed for nearly twenty-four hours while the waters of the mighty river were backed for from nine to fifteen miles up the stream, until the water was forced back into the opening of the canal, forty-eight feet above the level of the river. The occasion marks an epoch in the history of southern Idaho. By this enterprise many thousands of acres of arid land will be reclaimed, and prepared for thriving settlements. The Twin Falls irrigation scheme represents an initial expenditure of $2,500,000. The great dam raises the river fortyeight feet to the canal, which is eighty feet wide at the bottom, and one hundred and twenty feet wide at the top. The water at full flow in the canal will be ten feet deep and one hundred and twelve feet wide, at the surface. The dam is one thousand nine hundred feet long, seventy-nine feet high, four hundred feet through at the base; it is built of loose lava rock, with a wood and concrete core, the upper side being filled with puddled earth, the down side being left without such filling to allow the seepage water to run away freely without washing out the dam. The main canal, now completed, is twenty-six miles long; at the end of th<* twenty-sixth mile, it is divided in the "high-line" and "low-line" canals, which continue nearly fifty miles further westward. In the completed system, there will be about one thousand miles of main canals and laterals, making the largest irrigated tract on the western hemisphere, under one canal. The lands are rapidly filed upon, and many people are settling in the neighborhood. Two thousand people witnessed the dam opening. Twin Falls, which six months ago had only about twenty residents, had a population

458 IMPROVEMENT ERA. in early March of over one thousand. The deserts of sage will soon be transformed into fruitful fields and gardens. Condition of the Jews in Morocco. The ninth volume of the Jewish Encyclopedia, which has just issued from the press, contains the following account of the condition of the Jew in Morocco: From the cradle to the grave he is despised and vituperated, an apology being necessary for an allusion to him in polite society. Every possible indignity is heaped upon him, and he enjoys neither social nor civil equality with his neighbors; they tolerate him only because he renders himself indispensable, and knows how, under the most unfavorable circumstances, to amass wealth, which he is always ready to put out at exhorbitant interest, and of which he may be ultimately despoiled by powerful officials. He is known as a "dhimmi" (plural, "dhimmiyyab") or tributary, since he is only tolerated on that basis, and special contributions are wrung from him on every possible occasion. In most of the towns of Morocco the Jews are forced to congregate in the "Mellah"—in which they are confined at night by gates beyond which many of the women never pass. Those Jews who do so must needs walk barefoot, even riding being forbidden to them within the walls, certain streets approaching mosques and shrines are interdicted altogether. Outside the walls Jews may ride any animals but horses, which are considered far too noble for such despised individuals. In order that they may never be mistaken for their betters, a dark colored gabardine, with black skull cap and slippers, is compulsory for the men. The women, however, may dress as they like, which in some cities means, in the streets, placing a sheet over their heads to hide their faces in the Moorish fashion, and in others following closely the style adopted by their neighbors when indoors. In the Atlas district, if a village has not a Jewish quarter, there is generally a companion village at a stone's throw, and devoted to the "tributaries," who are the peddlers, the craftsmen, and the muleteers, if not the farriers, of the district. The condition of the Jews in such villages is even worse than of those in the towns; for it lies between that of serfs and that of slaves. Some are under the binding protection of the local sheik, others pertain to private individuals, who have practically the right to sell them. They may not marry or remove their families till they have received permission from their so-called protectors; and without this protection they would not be safe for a