I

Can you explain the methods of handling the production of hard and soft coal in this country? Are any of these methods illegal?

If the Government should come to ownership of the coal mines, do you think the coal business would be handled any better than it is now being handled by private concerns? Would the price of coal be as high as or higher than it is now? Do you think that much or any of the propaganda against Government ownership is circulated in the interest of inordinate private gain? Are you able to substantiate your opinions by facts and sound reasoning?

The Outlook, in its editorial on the coal question, urges "that the methods of handling the fuel that saves us from suffering and wards off illness should be brought out into the open." Who has the authority to bring them out into the open? Why are they not revealed to the public? What good would it do if they were publicly known?

What industrial questions are involved in the coal problem? Have you any sug gestions as to how such questions should be answered?

Could a group of private families buy their coal direct from the owners of coal mines if these families together purchased in car lots? If not, should laws be made to encourage this practice?

If it is true that the coal industry in its three branches-mining, transportation, and distribution-is practically carried on by the same interests, is this and if wrong, why?

So,

What valuable suggestion do you see in Mr. Wetzel's article for employers and employees? Can you add any suggestions?

What solution have you to offer for our coal problem? Outline your argument.

What is the meaning of: Commiserate, riprap, espionage, sabotage, morons.

The following books offer a wealth of suggestion in reference to many of our pressing problems of to-day: "Problems of Today," by Moorfield Storey (Houghton Mifflin); "Unemployment," by J. E. Johnson (H. W. Wilson Company); "The New Industrial Unrest," by R. S. Baker (Doubleday, Page); "Organized Labor in American History," by F. T. Carlton (Appleton).

"Cold-Blooded Murder"

What is your explanation of why "the state of Ireland weekly goes from bad to worse "?

The Outlook tells us that "the first and foremost thing in the apprehension of fairminded people is to restore law and order

1 These questions and comments are designed not only for the use of current events classes and clubs, debating societies, teachers of history and English, and the like, but also for discussion in the home and for suggestions to any reader who desires to study current affairs as well as to read about them. -THE EDITORS.

quickly and thoroughly." But how is this to be done in Ireland?

Do you think it undignified and unwise for a Government to retaliate.?

Has Ireland played a noble part in world affairs?

Do you find that it is difficult for both Irishmen and Englishmen to talk about the Irish problem without bias of party, creed, or class?

Is it difficult for you to do so?

How can the Irish question be made to serve the cause of international good will? "The American Commission on Ireland" is now hearing witnesses at Washington. Do you think that our Government should allow this "Commission to continue the hearing? Will such a course as this "Commission" is pursuing help to bring about peace and end hate?

Who are the real friends of Ireland in this country?

Do you think that those who are talking about making England grant complete independence to Ireland may as well realize that England will not grant this, and that they will have to fight for it if they ever get it?

Have you yet read "Ireland and England," by E. R. Turner (Century)? You should by all means read "A Straight Deal; or, The Ancient Grudge," by Owen Wister (Macmillan); read also "An Irishman Looks at His World," by G. A. Birmingham (Doran).

A Useful Citizen

Governor Fort was a good mixer. Do you think that he was able to effect his reform partly because he knew how to shake hands? Is sociability a characteristic worth striving for by all men and women, even if they are not in politics?

Governor Fort never talked down to his listeners. What does such a characteristic imply? Do teachers talk down to pupils? Should they? What effect has such a practice upon teachers? Upon pupils?

Governor Fort once said that he had made an enemy of every political boss in the State of New Jersey. Is it always wise. and right to make enemies of political bosses? What was Roosevelt's attitude towards Senator Platt while Roosevelt was Governor and Platt was boss of New York State? The story of this relationship can be found in Roosevelt's autobiography (Scribners).

Governor Fort was a poor man's son, yet he won distinction. Does every person in America have an equal chance for success? Explain the phrase in the Declaration of Independence, "All "All men are created equal." Does equality of creation imply equality in ability?

You may be helped in your efforts to answer these questions by reading the recently published books by Hermann Hagedorn (Harcourt, Brace & Howe) and W. H. Hobbs (Putnams) entitled "Leonard Wood;" and the volumes by Vernon Kellogg (Appleton) and Rose Wilder Lane (Century Co.) entitled "Herbert Hoover;" also "The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie" (Houghton Mifflin) and "The Americanization of Edward Bok" (Scribners).

T

COMMERCIALIZING THE

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

HE wholesale destruction of trees by fire and wasteful lumbering has made it difficult in certain sections to supply the demand for evergreens at Christmas-time. Indeed, a considerable industry has grown out of this demand; and from northern points in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan hundreds of thousands of Christmas trees are shipped every winter to cities located at a distance from the source of supply. This ever-increasing demand has made such inroads on our supply that a distinct menace has resulted from the custom of the Christmas tree. Where the supply is taken from the spruce swamps remote from the public highway it is not especially noticeable, but our good citizens have the habit of getting the tree wherever it is most convenient to get it-which is usually along the road.

We cannot understand the mental process by means of which intelligent men and women can justify themselves in the act of cutting down a beautiful conifer along a public highway to be used but a few hours on Christmas Eve. Thousands of beautiful spruce and balsam as well as cedar and pine are taken in this way each year by the good citizens of our land. Evergreens along the road, that could be a perennial source of enjoyment and protection, certainly should not be taken for such a trivial purpose.

We have witnessed the destruction of endless thousands of these trees. We have seen large and beautiful spruce cut down to get a six-foot Christmas tree from the top because of the attractive cluster of cones. The banks of a small lake on the edge of a northern Wisconsin city have been completely stripped of a native stand of evergreens to satisfy this barbarous custom. A committee of good churchmen one time went out on a Federal road and got a magnificent tree to decorate their church with for an hour. Tourists and natives for a century will be deprived of the enjoyment of seeing this tree at the bend in the road.

On the banks of the Flambeau River just north of a thriving Wisconsin city, in a tract belonging to the city parks, stood a beautiful spruce in a grove of white birch. This tree, conspicuous in winter and summer for its symmetrical mass of green, was a source of enjoyment for all who passed that way. But a prominent citizen of my city took his small son and a hatchet up the river path one day and returned with the top of that spruce tree to decorate with tinsel for a night.

The boys from the best homes of our cities are permitted to go out along the road and bring in trees in any quantity where only one is used. A dozen trees around a yard at once is not an unusual sight at Christmas-time in a northern Wisconsin city.

There are hundreds of thousands of instances of this wantonness on the part of thoughtless citizens. Are we willing that our beautiful trees shall be destroyed in this manner? Is it possible that the American citizen can wish to see the evergreens wholly removed from along our Northern roads? Can intelligent men and women who live in these parts justify themselves in taking part in such destruction or permitting their children to do so?

Ladysmith, Wisconsin.

E. M. DAHLBERG.

The industrial opportunities now ripe in Seattle are beyond precedent. Seattle wants you if there is an opening in your line. Write freely and frankly. You'll receive an equally frank reply. Send for the booklet, Seattle, the Seaport of Success."

ABRAHAM LINCOLN said: Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

eattle for the American Plan

By C. T. CONOVER

THE FOLLOWING is the gist of a recent declaration unanimously passed by the trustees of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club and approved by a 991/2 per cent. vote of the members in referendum:

The Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Commercial Club stands for the American plan, which means absolute fairness to all classes of workers whether union or non-union. It unalterably opposes the "closed shop," which shuts the door of industry against the American working man who is not a member of a labor organization. It opposes the use of force or intimidation by any one endeavoring to persuade workmen either to join or to resign from a labor organization.*** It holds that both employe and employer are privileged to terminate their relations whenever either chooses to do so unless there be contracts between them.

It does not countenance limitation of the amount of work which may be accomplished in a given time or the manner in which payment shall be made, whether by hourly rate, piecework, contract or otherwise. It believes that every workman should have an opportunity to earn a wage proportionate to his ability and productive capacity. This declaration was endorsed by every business, commercial and employers' association in Seattle. In other words, SEATTLE IS A FAIR TOWN-FAIR TO LABOR, FAIR TO CAPITAL AND FAIR TO THE PUBLIC.

Seattle's new labor policy is based upon a perfectly frank understanding between employer and employe. In no American city is the labor situation more satisfactory or brighter with promise.

Seattle has an adequate labor supply of the highest class. She has a command of basic raw materials as has no other city on earth-her own great essential products and all the wealth of the Orient, Siberia and Alaska. She is the entrepot to Alaska, America's undeveloped treasure land, and by the immutable laws of distance, now and for all time the chief American port in Oriental trade.

Contiguous to Seattle is one-sixth of the Nation's water power, and practically the only coal in the Pacific States-a never-failing supply for all purposes.

She has a 20 per cent. margin in manufacturing costs due to her incomparable climate and the ability to work in comfort every day in the year.

Seattle is not only America's chief Pacific port but by all odds the chief railroad center of the Pacific Coast. She reaches every market in the civilized world.

The Seattle Spirit knows no obstacle it cannot overcome. Seattle is the healthiest city in the world and has the finest harbor on the Western hemisphere.

SEATTLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND COMMERCIAL CLUB Publicity Bureau

903 Arctic Building

Seattle

Manufacture in Seattle The Seaport of Success

Modern Discoverers of Opportunity

EACH

'ACH new discovery and invention multiplies opportunities for new and greater achievements.

queens,

Such achievements are no longer financed by kings and like the venture of Columbus. The privilege of investing in modern achievements is open to everyone.

Our Monthly Securities List brings together offerings which we have investigated and recommended as desirable investments. This list may be had at any one of our offices in fifty leading cities, or will be sent direct upon request for Z150.

Facts for CAREFUL INVESTORS

UR book, "Men and Bonds," giving information on the following subjects, will be sent on request :

Why we handle only carefully investigated investment curities.

se

The wisdom of purchasing securities from a Company large enough to maintain far-reaching investigation service. The importance of buying investment securities from a house with more than 50 offices and international connections and service.

Why the careful investor selects

securities from a broad range of offerings.

How 10,000 miles of National

City Company's private wires keep our offices in leading investment centers of the country in constant touch with our New York headquarters. Your advantage in dealing with a Company whose representatives talk with an average of 3,000 banks a day. Why these sales representatives are especially qualified to helpfully discuss your individual investment needs.

For a copy of this book, address our New York office, asking for Z-139.

The National City Company

National City Bank Building, New York BONDS PREFERRED STOCKS ACCEPTANCES

THE NATION'S
INDUSTRIAL

PROGRESS

Believing that the advance of business is a subject of vital interest and importance, The Outlook will present under the above heading frequent discussions of subjects of industrial and commercial interest. This department will include paragraphs of timely interest and articles of educational value dealing with the industrial upbuilding of the Nation. Comment and suggestions are invited.

TRUNK LINES FOR
MOTOR TRAFFIC

BY COLONEL JESSE G. VINCENT
Vice-President of Engineering, Packard
Motor Car Company

A

FRIEND of mine drove his car down

the Boston Post Road into New York, and within ten miles saw twenty-seven wrecked cars and trucks at the side of the right of way. Most of them had fallen into ditches or run into trees in efforts to escape collision on the crowded road.

This is almost typical of the condition of the roads which carry the heavy motor traffic around all our big cities. It shows the tremendous extent to which our highways are already overloaded by automobile traffic, which is growing steadily in volume, and which must continue to grow with even greater rapidity.

The

passenger

automobile's contribution to efficiency in production, according to figures compiled by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, is equivalent to an increase in more than a half of the working time of every man owning one.

We find signs that the passenger car may offer relief from the congestion in the great industrial centers which has inflicted upon us the horrors of slum life. Already large numbers of moderately paid workers are finding homes in the country at an increasing distance from the factories where they are employed, making the trips to and from work in their own cars, and thus not only saving in rent but giving their families health, quiet, and a far better chance in life.

The first real use of trucks came during the winter of 1917 and 1918, when the combined effect of an extremely hard winter and the tremendous demand for transportation for war ammunition and supplies broke down the railway service east of the Mississippi. During this period more than 1,200,000,000 tons of freight were moved by truck.

This service established the motor truck firmly as an economical carrier, and its use is being more and more extended for short-haul transportation. This has been emphasized by the present critical condition of the railway service, and will be still more accentuated by the recent heavy advance in freight rates. The trucks are now carrying between 700,000,000 and 800,000,000 tons of freight a year, at a minimum estimate, and there are hundreds of millions more tons that the railways are carrying with no profit, or even at an actual loss, that could be more economically handled by motor transport.

All the processes which these things involve have been checked and will continue to be checked by the practical break-down of our highway system. The few roads now capable of handling automobiles are already so dangerously overcrowded that

they furnish an effective restriction upon the saving and progress which would come from the increased use both of passenger cars and of trucks.

There have been many evidences of attempts to pass highway legislation which was in some cases not only unfair, but even absurd. Much of this resulted from an inadequate study, while a great deal of it was due to the attitude that roads possessed certain rights without regard to their ability to stand standard traffic.

When the passenger car became a standard means of transportation, the value of improved roads was generally appreciated and the movement to construct these became widespread. The passenger car, however, did not present any very difficult problems concerning the type of highway construction because it caused almost no damage to any comparatively hard and smooth road surface. As a result, most roads were built only to meet the needs of passenger cars and horse-drawn vehicles.

The increased use of heavy commercial cars, however, caused extremely rapid deterioration of the best highways. Some of these roads have even been partially rebuilt but of the same construction as the first. In consequence, they are soon destroyed again.

In the past year serious efforts have been made to improve the highway situation, but have accomplished little. Although $635,000,000 has been appropriated for road construction in this country, the difficulties with railway transportation of crushed stone, cement, binders, and other necessary materials have made it possible to let contracts on only about a quarter of this work, and there has been construction work done on only about sixteen per cent of the amount planned.

In the second place, there has not been a sufficiently fundamental analysis of the problem of building trunk roads to handle the great traffic already existing and the still greater traffic of the immediate future in the neighborhood of our great cities. Most of the roads are still far too narrowa sixteen-foot width being common. This means that, with almost unbroken streams of traffic passing each way, it becomes almost impossible to pass another vehicle going in the same direction, and thus the entire traffic will be held to the pace of the slowest truck.

It is probable that the highway of the future must follow the lines of development of the great railways and provide two, and possibly four, parallel roadbeds to handle different kinds of traffic going in opposite directions. What the solution will be has not yet been determined, and it should immediately engage the attention of the best engineers in the country. It is complicated by the problems of finance, of widening the right of way, and of availability of materials.

The importance of improved highways to economical operation of both passenger cars and trucks cannot be over-emphasized. Good roads have the effect of decreasing the cost of transportation of both kinds, and they also make possible considerably higher speeds. Fuel consumption is materially reduced, tire mileage is increased, and depreciation of the car is cut to minimum by protecting it from shocks received in negotiating poor roads.

It is evident that the legislators are under obligation to provide improved highways suitable for use by the heaviest vehicles.