GABARDINE AND KILT THE Sphinx riddle of journalism is the eternal question about what it is in an incident or statement that makes it news or not news. Affairs and developments of far-reaching importance will achieve only meager local mention, while a trivial incident will set the wires quivering with despatches and stimulate a thousand editorial pens to comment. No press scientist has been able to isolate the germ that produces the indefinable something that gives the news quality to an incident.

Some weeks ago, when the whole world was saturated with drama, tragedy, intrigue, adventure, Mark Sullivan casually mentioned to a Chicago editor that he had not bought a suit of clothes for many moons; that instead he had been having his old suits turned by a certain New York tailor. The editor saw in this a news quality that justified his printing it as a story in his paper and sending it out over the wires. The story went round the world, and later Mr. Sullivan turned aside from his political and economic reporting and interpretation to write a long article about the strange quality of news that the trivial incident carried.

A similar incident has just occurred. One more of a long series of similar protests was entered against the teaching of "The Merchant of Venice" in our schools, on the ground that the character of Shylock was a libel on the Jewish race and made for race discrimination. This protest was immediately countered by a resolution of a group of Scottish war veterans to the effect that the suggested expurgation of curricula should not stop until "Macbeth" had likewise been shelved. It was held that "Macbeth" as a play was unfair to the Scotch race, and that if the gabardine was to be cleaned, so must the kilt be cleared of stains.

Some one has suggested that the resolution was merely a display of Caledonian humor, but whether serious or humorous in intent, the Scottish resolution proved to hold the indefinable news quality. The resolution was carried in newspapers throughout the United States, and editors everywhere turned aside from peace

treaties, imperialistic intrigues, Presidential aspirants, and the high cost of living to editorialize upon the incident. The incident is still filtering down to the editorial columns of smaller papers throughout the country. Editors are having no end of diversion imagining the length to which such expurgation of the curriculum might go under similar protests.

May we expect the ministerial associations of New England to protest against Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" as a reflection against the high standards of their profession? Will the bankers of America protest against the teaching of "Silas Marner" as dangerous to the thrift campaign in its suggestion that golden hair is more valuable than golden dollars? Will the packers protest against Mother Goose in the nursery because the "cow jumped over the moon" line is an unfair burlesque of the high price of meats? Will the Chamber of Commerce of Tarrytown demand the deletion of Irving's suggestion of the thriving city as a slow place? Will Reno demand the revision of "Home, Sweet Home" as dangerous doctrine striking at the heart of a local industry? And so on ad infinitum.

One editorial remarks that a quality of which once we proudly boasted has gone out of American life if "skins are so thin that even a feather touch of caricature gives acute pain" and if we have lost "capacity to grin when colored pictures of ourselves are thrown on the screen. But we have not lost that sense of humor. The deluge of whimsical editorials on this incident proves that.

THE INTER-CHURCH WORLD MOVEMENT

THE production of the dramatic spectacle "The Wayfarer," with Walter Hampden as the star, under the sponsorship and direction of The Inter-Church World movement, brought vividly to the attention of New York a significant undertaking. The thousands who attended the run of this production at Madison Square Garden were led to an interest in this venture in religious statesmanship which no amount of ordinary propaganda could have awakened.

American Protestantism has long been

Its

under the charge of "warring sects" and "divided counsels" and "mutual cancelation of effort." The InterChurch World Movement is a national and international attempt to remove the possibility of such criticisms. program is varied, and has a thousand ramifications that cannot be listed here. The program has been described by intelligent critics as "the most sweeping, far-reaching, unified program ever brought forward in the history of the Christian religion." It is a gigantic task of correlation, with the most scientific principles of survey and allotment of duty brought to bear upon the charting of the tasks of organized religion and the execution of the program the tasks demand.

A world-wide survey is being made to learn "what the world needs at the hands of the church." This survey is as broad as human interests and covers the globe. With the facts in hand from this survey, responsibility for carrying out a program of activity will be allocated upon a basis of scientific efficiency to the several denominations or denominational agencies. An attempt will be made the world over to eliminate duplication of effort as between denominations. A widespread recruiting campaign will be launched to secure the services of men and women who will measure up to the challenge of the tasks revealed by the survey as necessary. A human budget will be made, listing the leadership needed. Then a drive to meet that budget will be undertaken. A simultaneous financial canvass will be made. Throughout the program of the Inter-Church World Movement religion is conceived as touching every human concern, not as a mystical something insulated from contact with the stuff of everyday existence. The program is one of the hopeful signs of the times.

BELGIUM REFUSES NEUTRALITY

AT the moment of writing it seems that there is no possibility that the Belgian Government will consent to the reëstablishment of Belgian neutrality as it existed before the war. Thus Belgium moves from the position of ward to coequal in the family of nations. It is understood that an Anglo-French pro

posal was made that England and France guarantee the integrity of Belgium for a period of five years on the condition that Belgium agree to preserve absolute neutrality during that period. It is understood that Belgium considers herself to be in little or no danger from a German menace for the next five years. Further reasons against a neutralized and guaranteed status have not to date appeared in the despatches. Perhaps Belgium reckons that if she is to be treated as a roadway rather than a nation in the event of war she may as well accept the responsibility of selfprotected nationhood at the outset. She doubtless appreciates the fact that in future wars she will have generous support, as in the late war, when chivalry coincides with the highest self-interest of her protectors, and that such support will come whether treaties exist or not. With possibility of no end of realinement during the next fifty years Belgium may be just as well off with a minimum of treaty entanglements. There is really no telling what new strains of imperialism may crop out in Europe in the next few generations. Belgium is in a peculiarly ticklish position. No one can now tell what turns either German or French policy will take in the future, and Belgium's relations with Holland are by no means settled for all time.

Belgium, so long the battle-ground of competing powers, has reason for careful procedure in determining her future international relations. It is well to remember the very material interests that France, Germany, Holland, and England each have in Belgium. If Germany could ever gain control of Belgium she would be well on her way toward holding the balance of power in western Europe. France would be at her mercy, and Holland easy of access. The economic resources of Belgium and the fine port of Antwerp would figure well in the structure of any future German Empire. Possession of Belgium would make possible a German invasion of England, a dangerous possibility once Germany acquired a foothold on the English Channel. On the other hand, France depends upon a friendly or allied Belgium to give her a defensible frontier,

unless the ultimate settlement makes feasible other defense. In the event of a future renaissance of French imperialism, the Walloon section of Belgium might prove alluring. There is always the possibility that with with the political changes of a few generations the "Great Netherland" idea might take on new life, and Dutch aspiration for annexation of the Flemish part of Belgium cause trouble. Belgium is, of course, a bulwark for England.

This complex of factors naturally makes Belgium cautious in her international relations. Then, her self-respect is being daily stiffened by the fact of her rapid economic recuperation. From the moment the armistice was signed Belgium has, speaking broadly, buckled down to the job of her restoration. Her industries are getting under way rapidly. Her steel output is again rising. She is exporting steel products to France. Belgian factories are turning out rolling-stock for the French railways. Belgian coal-mines are rapidly getting back to normal production. The glass The glass industry of Belgium is having a surprisingly rapid restoration to normal. Belgium is already exporting in considerable quantities to England and the United States. Belgium has a long and hard road to travel before she gets fully back to her pre-war production and prosperity, but she is making gratifying progress.

Belgium is obliged to import foodstuffs heavily, a fact that has a bad effect on foreign exchange. She is looking, therefore, to every possibility of increasing her crop yields. A commission is making an extensive study of the organization and extension of her export trade, which, compared with other European countries, is in a relatively good condition already. A despatch to "The Christian Science Monitor" gives this suggestive picture of the situation.

One can form an idea of one of the chief reasons of the present prosperity of Belgium if one considers for a moment all that she exports annually to France alone. Each month Belgium sends over to France some 350,000 tons of coal, which are paid for immediately. She also exports large quantities of sugar and potatoes, as well as glassware. The French Ministry of Reconstruction recently passed an order to one single Belgian firm for 2,000,000 square meters of window panes, to be exclusively used in the devastated regions. Belgium also furnishes huge quantities of steel beams to the coal mines of northern France, and all the French railway systems are ordering large quantities of engines and carriages from the Belgian factories. Before the war Belgium never exported cotton to France, but to-day she is doing so in large quantities. Needless to say all these products are paid for cash down.

But Belgium does not limit her export trade to France alone. She is also beginning to carry out large contracts with England and America. The United States has recently forwarded an order for more than 300,000,000 francs worth of glassware. England in her turn has ordered bars of steel and iron as well as large quantities of tissues from Belgium. . . . All the large industries and banking concerns of Belgium have considerably increased their capital, and there is, at the present moment, deposited at the Bank of Belgium 1,700,000,000 francs, which bring no interest. . . . Another reason for the rapid improvement of the economic situation of Belgium is, without doubt, the fact that Socialist and Syndicalist leaders are far more moderate in Belgium than in France.

It is worth while to quote this rather long and detailed report, because the picture of a thriving spot on this disordered planet is welcome at a time when all statistics seem to reek with tragedy, and every nation seems to be extending palms for credit or alms. This despatch was written in December, so that now the picture is even brighter.