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the winner to spend at least one year in foreign study. On the alternate year, the McKim fellowship is awarded, of two prizes of $1,000 each. This was endowed by Mr. C. F. McKim in 1890. The prizes are open to all graduates of the Department of Architecture, under thirty years of age, each candidate on his return being required to present his written report, and to exhibit at the School of Mines the drawings he has made. When the School of Architecture in Rome was established, a second, a Roman Scholarship, a real Prix de Rome, was endowed by Mr. McKim with the sum of $1,500, and the next year, 1896, a similar sum was added. It was then proposed to unite the two McKim fellowships into one, and send the winner to Rome for two years instead of one. Complications naturally arose with the architectural scholarships in other States-one of the first suggestions being that each of them should require attendance at the Roman Academy of the students sent abroad. Several of these, from Philadelphia, Boston, and New York, had gone of their own volition to the Villa dell' Aurora, and, to simplify matters, in the spring of 1896, a joint competition was arranged among the various institutions whose graduates are available for the Roman Scholarship, so that the competitors for the Rotch Travelling Scholarship, the Columbia Fellowship in Architecture, the Travelling Scholarship of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Scholarship in the School of Rome, should be examined on the same programme and conclude at the same date, May 9th. Objections to this plan had been raised in Boston on the

ground that the Rotch Scholarship offered two years abroad instead of one, and at the same time is open to anyone who has had merely two years' experience in an office.

Any graduate, under thirty years of age, of Cornell University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of 11linois, Syracuse University, Lehigh University, Columbia University, or the University of Pennsylvania, may enter for the Roman Scholarship in Architecture. All American students who have spent three years in the Paris École des Beaux-Arts are also eligible. The holder of the scholarship receives $1,000 a year for three years. As at first arranged, he has to spend eighteen months in foreign travel and study, ten in the American School in Rome, in Italy, Sicily, and Greece, under the direction of the Secretary, and the other eight, as might be agreed upon between himself and the Executive Committee of the School. As already stated, the establishment of the full Academical term of three years has necessitated a modification of these arrangements. This scholarship may be made cumulative with any of the four travelling endowments, so that the winner of both may enjoy double advantages of time and funds. The award of the Roman scholarship is made by a jury appointed by the Executive Committee, which jury does not meet until the other juries have made their awards, these latter not to be made public until the Roman scholarship has been decided upon. Thus in 1896, Mr. John Russell Pope won both the Columbia Travelling Scholarship and the Prize of Rome.

WORLD

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HE multiplicity of "congresses" and "conventions" nowadays has produced a wide-spread feeling of indifference to such gatherings, outside of those who gather. The International Postal Congress, however, possesses a lively interest for every individual, and its session at Washington this year was expected to produce some striking improvements in our foreign postal service. It is a truly wonderful system, and surely not the least of nineteenth century achievements. That anyone in Oshkosh or Kalamazoo can for five cents communicate with friends in Calcutta or Melbourne or Stockholm, and that the missive shall be forwarded to its destination with a regularity well-nigh infallible, are facts which are not only marvels but which must be accounted most potent factors in our social and economic life. The founder of the international system, Dr. von Stephan, died quite recently at Berlin, yet it is difficult already for those of the later generation to realize the conditions before" Post-Stephan," as he was nicknamed, devised the far-reaching plan now in vogue. Fifty-one countries now belong to the Postal Union, and China, who was represented at the recent congress, has given notice that she will fall into line before long. This will leave no countries of consequence outside except Corea and the Orange Free State, so that Dr. Stephan lived to see a singularly complete development of his great scheme.

The most important project before the Congress this year was the much-discussed proposition for an international stamp. It has long been pointed out as one of the most radical weaknesses of our system that it is now practically impossible to send return postage to a

foreign correspondent, and it was hoped that the present Congress might grapple successfully with the problems involved in the issuing of a “universal" stamp. The delegates at the Corcoran Art Gallery, however, decided, after some five or six weeks of discussion, that the question was entirely too large for them to grapple with. The obvious difficulty lies in the diversity of monetary values in the various countries. An English sovereign will purchase only ninety-six tuppence ha'penny stamps, whereas the German equivalent of twenty marks and twenty pfennigs is good for a hundred and one foreign stamps, these costing twenty pfennigs each. The situation here and in France is just as complicated, so it is no wonder the Congress was daunted. It seems almost beyond question that the near future must contain some relief from the exasperations of the present state of affairs, and one need not be a visionary to foresee the time when international currency and postage will seem as much matters of course as are our present postal facilities. Since the next Congress, however, is scheduled to meet at Rome in 1903, it is evident we must worry along as we are for at least another decade. Some slight changes for the better the late meeting did bring about. Foreign postal-cards not prepaid will hereafter be taxed only four cents instead of ten; type-written circulars may be shipped in batches of twenty at printed-matter rates; and, most evident gain of all, foreign letters may weigh three-quarters of an ounce instead of a half, without being subject to double charge.

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THE CHRISTIAN

sible for Christian Endeavor meetings, it is that from New York to the Pacific coast and undoubtedly true that their methods are not back-without the least hesitation or conwholly acceptable to some staid individuals cern? It is not only religious fervor that who cannot bracket religion is responsible, for a very respectable proporand emotion without trepida- tion of the travellers who crowded the trains tion. Yet it is doubtful if even of all the trans-continental roads between the Salvation Army presents June 30th and July 5th, were not Endeavorers such a noteworthy phenome- at all, but merely pleasure-seekers taking adnon as the rise of this society. vantage of the abnormally low fares. One Some sixteen years ago Dr. railroad sent out forty-two heavily loaded Francis E. Clark, the pastor of special trains in as many hours, and all the a church in Williston, Me., took others were for days almost given up to this ENDEAVOR advantage of a fervent " re- great migration. Nor is this particular gathCONVENTION vival" to organize a Young ering by any means an isolated instance. People's Society of Christian Every year there are numbers of cases where Endeavor, which was so successful that an ac- vast bodies of people, in order to be prescount of it was published a few months later ent at the gathering of some association, unin two of the prominent religious papers. dertake journeys the thought of which would This was in the summer of 1881. There fill the average foreigner with horror. Cerare to-day 50,coo Christian Endeavor so- tainly a Frenchman or a German would be cieties all over the world with a rapidly grow- apt in similar circumstances to put his afing membership of over three million! Now, fairs into shape, make his will, and trust to one may have serious doubts as to the effi- Providence for a sight of his home in the dim cacy of the "comfort bags" supplied by the future. Our statisticians have put the matter Floating Society to sailors; one may even be into a somewhat more tangible form. They unmoved, in the manner designed, by the calculate that the passenger mileage in the detailed parallel drawn by an enthusiast be- United States during 1896 ran up to nearly tween a Christian Endeavorer and a trolley- thirteen billions; that is to say, there was an car ("The car is the Endeavorer. The wheels average of about two hundred miles of travel are his ability. . . the trolley is prayer. for each man, woman, and child in the whole The fender is his helping or saving hand"- country. etc.); but any organization which has in fifteen years enrolled three million individuals in support of a most praiseworthy idea, which has held ten million meetings and distributed five million copies of its constitution in some forty different languages, must claim attention.

The annual convention held by this society is worthy of notice from many aspects. It was held in 1893 at Montreal, with 16,000 delegates present; next year 20,000 members gathered together at Cleveland, and in 1895 no less than 56,000 "Endeavorers" from England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, India, Persia, China, and Japan, as well as from all parts of our own country, congregated at Boston. This year the convention was held at San Francisco, but the distance seemed to have practically no effect upon the enthusiasm

of the members. This modern travel spirit is

really a very singular development when one comes to think of it. Where else in the world could one find thousands and thousands of people setting out on a journey of quarter the distance round the globe-for it is fully

W

HEN the projects for both of the great veteran societies-the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Confederate Veterans-were first discussed, one of the strongest arguments brought against them was that they would tend to perpetuate bitter memories that were best forgotten. This sounded plausible enough at the time, but the result seems to have been strikingly at variance with such predic- THE tions. Both organiza- CONFEDERATE tions have had the warmest support. The VETERANS Grand Army in its

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thirty years of exist- ANASHVILLE

ence has gathered to-
gether nearly 350,000 members, and some 40,-
ooo ex-Confederates have allied themselves to
the Southern association from its beginning in
1889 to the convention just held at Nashville.

It would appear but natural that issues whose memories can evoke such support should have left much of their sting behind, yet at these reunions each year Union and Confederate soldiers meet not only in amity but in a spirit of especial friendliness. Numbers of instances have been recorded where a speaker addressing an assemblage of veterans has described some dramatic little incident that marked his own experience of a particular battle-an impromptu picket duel, or a friendly swapping of tobacco, or a hand to hand struggle in the thickest of a charge-only to receive unexpected corroboration of his tale from a whilom antagonist who had been the unknown "Yank" or "Johnny Reb." At each great public function of both North and South during the last two decades representatives of the other section have figured conspicuously, and at General Grant's funeral one of the most prominent of the invited guests was a Southern General. But perhaps the most striking case of all occurred some years ago when an educational institution drawing its students from both North and South invited simultaneously to its lecture platform the Union and Confederate leaders of the forces engaged in the terrible fighting at Fort Fisher. These two gentlemen delivered a joint address describing in detail the progress of the assault“Here, Major — killed about 200 of my men, so we ordered up the reserves," and so on. Thirty years ago this colossal conflict ended, and it cost both sides over half a million lives and $10,000,000,000, yet the very actors in the struggle, the men who flew at each other's throats like tigers, can already discuss such events with the impartiality of the historian! Such swift and complete healing of grisly wounds speaks well indeed for the healthfulness of our body politic.

T

HAT contradictory composite, The American Character, has, during many decades, been a peculiarly efficient whetstone for foreign journalistic wits, but the many perspicacious analyses of it, British and Gallic alike, have very generally failed to note one of its most salient features: the love of sport. That this should appertain to us as part of our Anglo-Saxon heritage was to be expected; and if one were called upon to prove the fact, no more telling evidence could be adduced than the public state of mind, as shown by the "public prints," for the weeks immediately preceding last Fourth of July.

C

THE BATTLE

OF THE STROKES AT

It might well have been expected that patriotism would have arisen rampant at the approach of its high feast, and monopolized our attention and the front pages of the newspapers. But not Independence memories; not tangled tariffs; not Hawaiian annexation, with its attendant national problems and its reopening of the burning question of territorial ag- POUGH grandizement; not the political KEEPSIE struggle ahead of the inhabitants of Greater New Yorknone of these topics proved able to hold its own against the eight-oared boat-races at Poughkeepsie and the supremacy of "strokes " believed to be involved therein.

Now such an utter absorption would be remarkable under any circumstances; but when it is considered that the average American never even saw a boat-race, this pastime requiring conditions all too rarely found among us, and that certainly not one man out of a hundred has the slightest personal knowledge of any stroke whatever, the gusto with which detailed comparisons of crews and strokes were devoured becomes a phenomenon of more than usual interest.

We took this particular contest with more than usual seriousness, for, as all will remember, the three competitors represented as many different styles of rowing, each of which was claimed by its supporters to be the only method sanctioned by true science. Curiously enough no one of these styles corresponded exactly either to the "English" or "American" strokes. Practically speaking, these two opposing systems were characterized, the former by a short slide and a long swing back, the latter by a quick, strong thrust with a full slide, utilizing the utmost leg-power. In one the aim was to have the oar under water as much of the time as possible; in the other to apply the utmost propelling power in a short time, the crew being trained to the utmost precision of catch and recovery. Many believed that, with equal crews and conditions, our cousins across the water had decidedly the best of the argument in four-mile races, although the quick, choppy pull, of which Cornell was once the leading exponent, might prove very efficacious over shorter distances where a spurt from start to finish was possible.

The question as to the merits of these opposing theories has divided not only college against college, but each college at various times against itself. Yale has been perhaps as consistent in policy as any. Under the leadership of the redoubtable Mr. "Bob" Cook, Yale crews were long trained to what has attained fame as the "Cook stroke." This was a development of Mr. Cook's theories, and combined great precision of motion with a long reach, the legs still having the greater share of the work. After last year's Henley races, however, Mr. Cook still further modified his ideas, and this year the Yale crew rowed a stroke closely modelled on that which carried Leander to victory at Henley.

Harvard was under much the same influence. Her trainer, Mr. R. C. Lehmann, one of the best known of English" coaches," had succeeded in arousing the keenest interest and the full support of the various rowing factions, each of which had found support for its own theories in a long list of defeats. Under Mr. Lehmann's instruction the crew was pulling a pure English stroke, closely resembling that of Yale, whom they excelled in smoothness and in recovery, although sharp observers professed to discern greater power in Yale's sweep. Cornell, who had had as usual the benefit of the veteran Courtney's instruction, won handily from both crews, repeating the feat a few days later against Pennsylvania and Columbia. Despite the fact that the personal equation is always a troublesome unknown quantity in comparing athletic systems, it has been widely claimed

that these two victories demonstrated the correctness of Mr. Courtney's views. Cornell partisans rail at the assertion that their prophet derived any inspiration from the enemy at Henley. Yet it is the judgment of the best critics that Cornell's victories were due to Mr. Courtney's able selection of the best points from both methods. Adopting the long swing in vogue on the other side, he retained the leg thrust, which is undoubtedly the strongest feature of the American system. At least that is what is claimed for him—in the light of his victory; certainly the theory is sound, and it seems probable we must look for next year's winner, other things being equal, to the crew which most successfully combines the “long pull" and the "strong pull."

Harvard was last, yet the rowing outlook at that university is brighter than for many years. The crew was perhaps the best Harvard has ever turned out, and there are many shrewd boating men who declare that if Mr. Lehmann had not failed to realize the difference between some American and English conditions his men would have carried the day. There is every prospect of a great contest in 1898. Cornell naturally believes more than ever in Courtney's stroke; Yale has lost no jot of faith in "Bob" Cook; and Harvard evidently believes Mr. Lehmann will yet do the trick for her. The latter took several members of the crew with him to Henley just after the Poughkeepsie meet, with the idea of giving them an ocular demonstration of what he has been trying to inculcate. So we shall probably be thrilled again next year with another contest of strokes.

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