STAVING OFF STARVATION

FOR

IN TURKEY

ORMER Ambassador Abram I. Elkus, in an interview last week with a member of the SURVEY staff, confirmed the rumors which at intervals during the last few months have reached this country concerning the appalling economic pressure of the war upon the people of Turkey. Not only the Christian and Jewish populations of the Ottoman empire, but the Moslem subjects as well, are suffering from a destitution and prevalence of epidemic diseases such as for long had been unknown even in this poverty-stricken country. Mr. Elkus himself contracted typhus last April when attending the opening of the first charitable soup kitchen of the government, established in imitation of several kitchens previously maintained by philanthropy. Some six thousand persons were fed at this kitchen on the first day.

The extreme poverty of the people is in spite of the fact that practically the whole female population has entered wage-earning occupations and in field and factory is doing the work of men. who have been conscripted up to the age of forty-five and even fifty. Not only are their wages extremely low and separation allowances little more than an earnest of good intentions, but the value of the paper lira, the Turkish pound, has decreased in a comparatively short time, about a year, to little more than a third of its former value.

The principal form of relief is the issue of identification cards which enable the people to buy bread at less than the commercial price. American relief has taken the form of outright money grants to deserving families known to the missionaries and other agents, of the distribution of uncooked food bought wholesale at reasonable prices by the committees in charge, and of soup kitchens in the large cities where persons judged deserving after investigation are given portions of hot meat and vegetable soup to take home to their families.

The war has not interrupted American efforts on behalf of the subject peoples of Turkey which, according to the most recent dispatches, are more

ur

gently needed than ever. W. W. Peet, an agent of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, until recently in Constantinople, cabled from Berne, Switzerland, on July 17, that he estimates the number of deported, destitute Armenians, Syrians and Greeks now in Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine at one and a half millions. Nearly all of them were self-supporting before the war, but conscription and deportation of their breadwinners, loss through destruction and government requisition have deprived them of property valued at millions of dollars. American and Swiss missionaries have remained on the field, but their funds in Constantinople have become exhausted.

During the period of reconstruction after the war, the former ambassador expects even larger demands upon American philanthropy, since the majority of those deported will have to be rehoused and supplied with farming tools and with operating capital. In this work of rehabilitation he expects that the young Moslems of good family who have passed through the American colleges at Constantinople and been imbued with American ideas and ideals will take a prominent part. While as yet the number of Turkish young men and women who have come under this influence is not great, they will act as levers in the democratization of this most autocratic of near-eastern countries. The finance minister whom Mr. Elkus conducted over the Girls' College at Constantinople last March was greatly impressed with the value of its work and expressed his gratitude for it to the

United States. Most of the teachers have stayed at their posts and expect to take up their usual courses after the summer vacations.

The chief obstacle to reforms is that Turkey has not so far developed an educated and influential middle class. Nearly all the storekeepers and business men are foreigners or of one of the despised subject races. Politics are dominated by organized religion to an extent unknown in other countries. Under present conditions, there is no end in sight to religious and racial persecution. In spite of this, Mr. Elkus is making a strong appeal for continued American support of the charities maintained in Turkey, not only among Christians and Jews, but also to aid the Moslem population. lation. He holds that the good-will now shown to a suffering people, which has no part in the politics and actions of its autocratic rulers, is bound to bear good fruit in the future.

MAKING CITIES SAFE FOR
SOLDIERS

ECRETARY of the Navy Daniels

SECRETARY of Raymond Fosdick.

has entrusted to

chairman of the Commission on Training Camp Activities, created some time ago by Secretary of War Baker, the chairmanship of a similar commission which will safeguard moral conditions and promote athletic contests and social activities in the naval and marine training camps. Taken together, these commissions are now either "cleaning up" or policing as to certain moral conditions nearly a hundred camp locations throughout the country.

Mr. Fosdick and his associates have the hearty co-operation of the War and Navy Department chiefs in carrying out the first two items in their program: removal of prostitution from anywhere within five miles of any camp or cantonment, and removal of all retailing of liquor from a zone at least a mile broad, around each camp. Local authorities are expected to enforce these rules, and to enforce the federal law forbidding the sale of liquor to anyone in military uniform. Failure of the police to so enforce the law and the regulations will be met, according to the cir

cumstances, either by removal of the camp to a law-abiding community or the vigorous enforcement of the law by the military authorities.

The commissions are by no means satisfied that the transformation desired. in various cities where army or national guard or naval training camps have been located will be a simple matter. They anticipate difficulty, in certain cases, in persuading local authorities that saloons are really to be banned from the onemile zone, and that prostitution is to be eliminated.

Nevertheless the willingness of the heads of the War and Navy Departments to back up the findings of the commissions, even to the point of removal of the camps, is expected to have its effect.

The five-mile limit will not be enforced against saloons because the issuance of such an order would impose "dry" conditions upon many cities where the sentiment of the majority is averse to prohibition, and where local authorities are wholly out of sympathy with its enforcement so long as the voters have not outlawed the saloons. The onemile zone is considered sufficient to guard the interests of the camps, when the soldiers and sailors are themselves

forbidden to purchase liquor.

Aside from these measures of social sanitation, the commissions are responsible for the formation of numerous clubs-athletic, dramatic, musical and literary-and the organizing of general athletic contests and games among the men in the camps. They are sending special men to each camp to take hold of the formation of the groups which will promote these activities during the period of training.

No other nation in the war has attempted anything similar to the work of the Commissions on Training Camp Activities. Nothing ever attempted in this country, in similar lines, has approached this plan in magnitude or in completeness of detail. While the chief immediate object is the safeguarding of the physical and moral health of the young men entering the nation's military service for the period of the war, its promoters hope for it a permanent influence upon the point of view of every soldier and sailor as to his own responsibility to the community.

MINIMUM WAGE FOR ENG

LISH FARM LABOR

THE Cork the

HE corn production bill adopted this week by the British House of Commons embodies a section which, three years ago one of the chief weapons in Lloyd George's fighting arsenal, has since become a matter of common agreement-the provision of a legal minimum wage for agricultural laborers. The bill provides for the establishment of wage boards similar to those

which determine minimum wages in the sweated industries, but with the proviso that in no case shall the wage be fixed at less than twenty-five shillings ($6.25) per week, including value of perquisites.

Critics of the government contend that this is not a living wage at present prices, and that a minimum of at least thirty shillings ($7.50) is necessary to carry out the intention originally avowed by the government of making it a real living wage. The government replied that nothing in the bill will prevent a wage board from fixing a higher minimum for the area it serves and that anyhow the minimum provided for in the bill is immensely higher than the wage now received by the great majority of laborers. Since, under the bill, the government makes itself responsible to the farmers for loss incurred by the higher wage expenditure, the difference of five shillings a week might assume an annual net loss to the taxpayers of £40,000,000 ($160,000,000).

FIXING WAGES FOR WOMEN

THE

trial Welfare Commission of California has announced a revised wage schedule for women employed in mercantile establishments. It provides that no experienced woman shall be employed in any mercantile industry of the state at a wage less than $10 a week, or $43.33 a month.

A lower wage is set for learners, starting with a minimum of $6 a week for girl learners under eighteen years of age, and a minimum of $8 a week for girls starting to work between eighteen and twenty years. In each case the wages will be automatically increased fifty cents a week every six months until the minimum wage of $10 a week for experienced workers is reached. Learners starting work at twenty years or over begin at a minimum of $8 a week and receive an automatic increase of fifty cents every six months until $10 is reached.

The regulation stipulates that no woman or minor will be allowed to work in a mercantile industry more than eight hours in any one day or forty-eight hours in any one week.

AMERICAN AID TO RUMANIA

state minimum-wage legislation that has been awaiting federal judgment.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld the Arkansas minimum-wage law providing a flat rate of recompense for inexperienced women employes of not less than $1 and for those employed over six months of not less than $1.25 for a day of nine hours.

"The strength, intelligence and virtue of each generation," declared the court, "depends to a great extent upon the mothers. Therefore, the health and morals of the women are a matter of grave concern to the public, and consequently to the state itself."

More recently still the State Indus

[Chapin, in the St. Louis Repubilic]

IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY

her autocratic form of government and social organization and partly owing to her treatment of her Jewish citizens, can hardly be said to share the warm friendship which the people of America feel for others of their Allies. Nevertheless, the suffering of her great submerged peasantry is making an irresist ible appeal to American generosity. And to Rumania the American Red Cross has dispatched its third relief commission.

This commission is headed by Henry Watkins Anderson, a Richmond, Va., lawyer; the other members are Arthur Graham Glasgow, a leading engineer from Washington, D. C.; Dr. Francis W. Peabody, of Boston, recently returned from an investigation of health conditions in China; Bernard Flexner, of Louisville and Chicago, whose constructive studies of juvenile courts and child dependency have served all social workers in social; Dr. H. Gideon Wells, professor of pathology at the University of Chicago; Dr. Robert C. Bryan, of Richmond, Va., and Dr. Roger Griswold Perkins, professor of hygiene at Western Reserve University, Cleveland. The medical unit accompanying the commission consists of thirteen doctors and twelve nurses. A special emergency appropriation of $200,000 has been voted to defray initial expenses, including that of medical supplies, serums, vaccines, and foodstuffs urgently needed in Rumania.

The first object of the commission on reaching Rumania will be to investigate conditions of health and sanitation; but it will be necessary also immediately to

vision, chairman of the Red Cross War Council, in announcing the dispatch of this commission, dwelt upon the patriotism and disinterestedness of the professional men who, in some cases at

great personal inconvenience and loss and always with no inconsiderable risk, have responded to the call of humanity. RELIEF ADMINISTRATION IN WINNIPEG

N May 1, last, Canada's first So

Ο Ocial Welfare Commission

com

menced operations in Winnipeg. The commission is the direct outgrowth of the Social Welfare Association of Winnipeg which, since 1909, a year after its inception as an associated charities, has been the agent for administration of city relief. The new commission, which is constituted by civic by-laws and authorized by the province through an addition to the city charter, has now taken over the entire staff of the association, with its secretary, J. Howard T. Falk. It is independent of the City Council as an executive body, but dependent upon it for its operating funds.

Under a by-law, the commission is composed of eight aldermen and six citizens appointed by the City Council.

The association continues as an auxiliary and will place funds for extraordinary purposes at the disposal of the commission. It is expected that next fall it will raise the money to pay for the services of a visiting housekeeper, a most helpful adjunct to relief work, delayed in the past through lack of money. Having proved the value of her service, the association will ask the commission to assume the responsibility of her salary.

The present responsibilities of the Social Welfare Commission are to give aid and service to dependent families and homeless men; to investigate for hospital treatment in public wards; to investigate for admission at the expense of the city to the Home for Incurables and homes for the aged and convalescent sick; to investigate and supervise mothers in the city of Winnipeg under the Manitoba mothers' allowances act, and to initiate measures with a view to the prevention of poverty, sickness and crime.

During the years that the Social Welfare Association has administered public relief, much opposition has been encountered to placing some $12,000 of taxpayers' money every year in the hands of a private organization. That the association was able to weather the storms of protest and to progress almost in advance of public opinion was due in large part to its first president, J. S. Woodsworth, a man of rare tact and wisdom, who had the confidence of the best as well as the most influential of Winnipeg's citizens.

lution was drafted before the resignation of the Chancellor who, from the beginning of the war, had shaped Germany's foreign policy. It was passed last week by a vote of 214 to 116 immediately after his successor, a man of unknown caliber and convictions, had made his maiden speech. It was the first and apparently independent act of a new block of parties which before long may stand together in open opposition to the government-centrist, progressive and

socialist.

THE REICHSTAG RESOLUTION "As on August 4, 1914, so on the threshold of the fourth year of the war, the German people stand upon the assurance of the speech from the Throne-We are driven by no lust of conquest.'

"Germany took up arms in defense of its liberty and independence and for the integrity of its territories. The Reichstag labors for peace and a mutual understanding and lasting reconciliation among the nations. Forced acquisitions of territory and political, economic, and financial violations are incompatible with such a peace.

"The Reichstag rejects all plans aiming at an economic blockade and the stirring up of enmity among the peoples after the war. The freedom of the seas must be assured. Only an economic peace can prepare the ground for the friendly association of the peoples.

"The Reichstag will energetically promote the creation of international juridical organizations. So long, however, as the enemy governments do not accept such a peace, so long as they threaten Germany and her allies with conquest and violation, the German people will stand together as one man, hold out unshaken, and fight until the rights of Germany and its allies to life and development are secured. The German nation united is unconquerable.

"The Reichstag knows that in this announcement it is at one with the men who are defending the Fatherland; in the heroic struggles they are sure of the undying thanks of the whole people."

The seconder of the resolution, Deputy Fehrenbach, expressly defended its

supporters against the criticism of play

ing into the enemy's hands by advocating a new peace offer. It was nothing more, he said, than an honest expression of an overwhelming majority of the German people for a peace of reconciliation, without annexation and compensation. Conservative and militarist opposition to the resolution took the now usual form of insinuating that it was due to clever suggestion and machination from without the empire. The Koelnische Zeitung, which takes this view, says there is no genuine demand within the empire for democratization. "Let us be sober. What England and America-warlike imperialism and tyrannical oligarchy-are using as a catchword and a trap, our people are taking in dead earnest."

Very different is the opposition to the resolution on the part of the radical socialist minority. Deputy Hugo Haase, who presented its views in a lengthy speech just before the resolution was passed, denounced every reform offered by the government or asked for by the majority, including participation of the Reichstag in the control of foreign policy. His party, he said, stood for immediate peace and for a social republic. Chancellor Michaelis's pronouncement on the resolution, read in conjunction with previous utterances of the government, implied, though it does not definitely embody, hostility to its demands:

"Germany did not desire the war in order to make violent conquests, and, therefore, will not continue the war a day longer merely for the sake of such conquests, if it could obtain an honorable peace.

"The Germans wish to conclude peace as combatants who have successfully accomplished their purpose and proved themselves invincible first. A condition of peace is the inviolability of Germany's territory. No parley is possible with the enemy demanding the cession of German soil.

"We must, by means of understanding (Verständigung) and in a spirit of give and take (Ausgleich), guarantee conditions of the existence of the German Empire upon the continent and overseas.

"We must, as expressed in your resolu tion, prevent nations from being plunged into further enmity through economic blockades and provide a safeguard that the league in arms of our opponents does not develop into an economic offensive alliance against

us.

"These aims may be attained within the limits of your resolution as I interpret it. We cannot again offer peace. We have loyally stretched out our hands once. It met no response, but with the entire nation and the army and its leaders in accord with this declaration the government feels that, if our enemies abandon their lust for conquest and their aims at subjugation and wish to enter into negotiations, we shall listen honestly and readily to what they have to say to us. Until then we must hold out calmly and patiently."

A

REGULATION OF POOL
HALLS IN KANSAS

ordinance has been adopted by

the City Council of Kansas City, placing the licensing and regulation of pool halls under the recreation depart ment of the Board of Public Welfare.

This action on the part of the council, together with ordinances already in existence, makes a very comprehensive system of control of commercial recreations in Kansas City. All dance halls and skating rinks have to have permits from the Board of Public Welfare to operate and are carefully inspected, and rules are enforced in regard to their conduct. All motion picture films exhibited in Kansas City are censored likewise in the Department of Recreation.

In the first week of pool-room inspec tion seven or eight halls were closed, and the board established strict rules besides those contained in the ordinance. No

liquor can be sold now or dispensed at a pool hall; no gambling of any kind is allowed; minors are not allowed to frequent or play in the pool hall; no screens obstructing the view are permitted; and the presence of a lookout is considered sufficient cause for revoking a permit. The ordinance also provides that the possession of a federal license to dispense liquor is prima facie evidence of intention to violate the ordinance and sufficient ground for revoking the permit.

While large numbers of halls will be closed, the desire of the Board of Public Welfare is to exercise reasonable regulation over the pool halls and not to interfere with them as a legitimate form of amusement.

Its avowed program is to make all forms of commercial amusement in Kansas City subject to licensing and supervision under its recreation department.

MUNICIPAL INSURANCE FOR CANADIAN SOLDIERS

How

OW certain localities in Canada have, ever since the war began, protected the families of enlisted men by life-insurance policies and have paid the premiums on these policies themselves, is told by S. Herbert Wolfe, an actuary of New York City, in a report to the Children's Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor just issued. Captain Wolfe is cooperating also with the section appointed recently by the Committee on Labor of the Council of National Defense, of which Judge Julian W. Mack is chairman and which was formed to draft legislation providing compensation for soldiers and sailors and their dependents.

His report deals with the whole question of assigned pay, separation allowances, aid by the Canadian Patriotic Fund, and other forms of relief for enlisted men and their families.

The most interesting form of insurance issued is that in Toronto, where the city itself has entered the insurance business and has created a special bureau for that purpose. Every officer or enlisted man residing within the city limits

who has volunteered for overseas service

since the war began has been protected by a life-insurance policy of $1,000, the protection running from the day of his

enlistment to his death or six months after discharge or resignation. The amount of insurance so issued up to May, 1917, was over $32,000,000, while that issued by private companies in Toronto was only $10,000,000.

To meet the cost of this insurance Toronto has issued $2,000,000 of bonds for war purposes. The charge of principal and interest on these bonds is a charge upon the general taxpayers of the city. Originally the city planned to obtain all of its coverage from duly organ

ized insurance carriers, but the mortality experience led the companies to deity experience led the companies to decline to continue coverage on the same basis as theretofore and so the city entered the insurance business itself. It had paid $930,000 in death claims up to May 14.

"It is interesting to note," says Captain Wolfe, "that while at first the city paid the principal sum to the beneficiary in one sum,

it soon became evident that such a course was inadvisable and led to extravagant and ill-considered disbursements. At the present time, therefore, an investigation of the circumstances of the dependents is made by a committee of officials which recommends how the amount should be paid; in most cases the amount is paid in monthly installments of $30 each, and the city allows interest at the rate of 42 per cent per annum on the unpaid balance. In exceptional cases, however, this rule is modified, and if the beneficiary require the principal sum to pay off or reduce a mortgage or to enable her to be placed in funds to start in business the entire amount is paid at once.

"So far only one action has been brought against the city. This was the case of a soldier who worked in the city but who did not live within its limits. Although the policy had been issued, the city claimed. that no contractual relations existed, as it was not the intention . . to accept nonresidents. . . The court sustained the contention of the city officials and no appeal has been taken."

Other Canadian municipalities have bought policies from companies domi

ciled in the United States. Different

methods have been followed by these in the distribution of benefits. In some places the proceeds have been payable at

once to the beneficiaries of the deceased or to his estate without regard to their necessities, while in others the proceeds have been pooled and divided among those beneficiaries who needed the protection.

Winsor McCay, in the New York American

tives was issued on Monday at the office of the Treasury Department in Washington:

"The plan has not yet assumed definite form," said the statement, "but when it has been worked out in all its fundamentals and details, Secretary McAdoo will present it to the President for his approval, and if approved, the recommendation will be submitted to Congress at an early date for its consideration.

"The whole proposition is based on the fundamental idea that the government should, as a matter of justice and humanity, adequately protect its fighting men on land and sea and their dependent families.

"Under the plan discussed, it is suggested that provision be made for the support of dependents of soldiers and sailors by giving them an allotment out of the pay of the men and also an allowance by the government: that officers and men be indemnified against death or total or partial disability; that a system of rehabilitation and reeducation of disabled men be inaugurated and that the government insure the lives of sailors and soldiers on their application at rates of premium based upon ordinary risks.

". . . The amount of the government allowance would depend upon the size of the family and, as to others than the wife and children, upon the actual dependency upon the men. The family allowance would be made only if the sailor or soldier makes an allotment for his dependents out of his pay.

"The risk of death or total disability would be compensated for somewhat on the analogy of workmen's compensation acts, with the compensation measured by the men's services, the size of the families and the loss to the family. Partial disabilities would be compensated for upon a percentage of the compensation for total disability. The cost of this compensation naturally must be paid wholly by the government.

"In working out the new system it is deemed essential that a system for reeducation and rehabilitation be established, so that injured men may be fitted as far as possible for lives of usefulness either in their former or some other vocations."

Insurance policies, it is understood, would, under this plan, run from $1,000 to $10,000, the government paying any costs above those of peace-time rates. The statement concluded by saying that the subject would probably be considered during the present session of Congress.

ON June 15, 1917, occurred the marriage of Helen Glenn, supervisor of mothers' pensions for Pennsylvania, to Francis D. Tyson, professor of social economy of the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Tyson is a member of the summer school faculty of the University of Minnesota and has been engaged by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry to investigate and study the present negro migration from the south.

THE American Federation of Labor's executive council has declined the invitation to have American trade unionism represented at "an international conference of trade unions" on September 17, in Switzerland, to discuss "the demands of peace of the trade unions." This conference was agreed to at a meeting on June 8, in Stockholm, of Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, German, Austrian, Hungarian and Bulgarian trade unionists. In declining the invitation President Gompers cabled that the council of the American federation had decided such conferences to be "premature and untimely❞ and leading to no good purpose.

JEANNETTE RANKIN, congresswoman from Montana, introduced in the House on July 10 a bill appropriating $5,000,000 for separation allowances to the dependent families of enlisted soldiers and sailors during this war. Under its provisions not more than $75 a month can be paid to a single family, nor more than the man's average

For Labor's Defense

TO READERS OF THE SURVEYAnyone wishing to contribute to the fund for giving Mrs. Rena Mooney and the others who are under accusation a fair trial is invited to send the money to the International Workers Defense League, 210 Russ Building, San Francisco.

ALICE STONE BLACKWELL writes: "The prosecution is backed by unlimited money. The defense is almost penniless. Unless means are supplied, there is grave danger of a serious miscarriage of justice, and the judicial murder of several innocent person's. The effect in embittering feeling among the workers, and alienating the sympathy of Russia from the United States may be imagined."

That Charity Organization Society Friend of Yours

would enjoy Dr. Devine's "Social Forces in War Time"; the article on Civilian Relief in our series on wartime problems and programs; and all the other authentic news and authoritative opinion on the social phases of war service and the wartime phases of social service.

Why not get that friend to subscribe, or subscribe for her (or him)? The SURVEY Weekly is but $3 a year, and an introductory subscription may be had at $1 for four months.

Send the subscription in now, so that friend may miss none of the SURVEY'S inspiration and service.

earnings before enlistment, provided: that a wife or dependent mother shall receive not less than $30; a wife with one child not less than $45; a wife with two children not less than $60, and a wife with more than two children, $75. If the wife dies, each dependent child is entitled to receive $15 a month, and all children above the age of sixteen years who are physically or mentally incapacitated are entitled to support. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Military Affairs.

THOSE 60,000 DOCTORS TO THE EDITOR:

In your issue of July 14, page 344, appears a communication from Ridgewood, N. J., entitled "Seventy Social Workers," in which the writer refers to a statement that 60,000 doctors had been killed.

Whether these wild, exaggerated statements of mortality in various branches of service are inspired by pro-Germans and pacifists or not, they obviously do not help enlistment and are discouraging. It is believed that these stories are deliberate German propaganda. At any rate, they should not pass unrebuked.

In the first place, there are probably not 60,000 physicians in the whole of England. It is some question whether there are that many in the British Empire. And as to the mortality among them, the highest figure I have seen is 958. In the American Medical Journal a statement appears that the mortality among physicians on the western front is 195 killed, and I think less than 100 wounded. Pittsburgh. EDWARD A. WOODS.

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HELP WANTED

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