offered by Grover Cleveland, has been repudiating her debts and treating with insolence the demands of Britain and Germany. But a saner and wiser hand is at the helm in the United States, and President Roosevelt refuses to shield the reckless republic from the consequences of its folly.

Great Britain and Germany are doing some police or bailiff duty to the defaulting republic. The railway which connects the port of Guayra with the capital, built with English money, is one of the most wonderful pieces of engineering in the world.

While the journey to Caracas presents many attractions, it has its disconcerting phases as well, as it is not uncommon to hear falling on the roof of the car stones and earth disturbed by the vibration of the train, and the danger of heavy landslides is very great during the rainy season. The road, however, is carefully watched by men stationed at intervals, in the same way as the C. P. R. is guarded in the Rockies. Before the railway was built it took from twelve to twenty hours to do the same distance as is now done in two and a half hours. The carriage road is now impassable.

Mr. Balfour explained in the House of Commons that the crux of the matter was a series of outrages by Venezuelans on British seamen and shipowners, for which not only had compensation been refused, but Great Britain's remonstrances had been entirely disregarded.

THE PACIFIC CABLE.

It is greatly to the credit of those far-flung colonies of the Empire, Canada and Australia, that they are so soon united by electric nerves with the motherland. Our cartoon shows John Bull as a sort of Happy Jim, offering to transmit a message for Brother Jonathan, who has very much the look of Jim Dumps.

JOHN BULL: "I say, Sam, anything I can do for you South Pacificward?

-The St. Paul Pioneer Press.

QUEEN'S' NEW PRESIDENT.

It is a remarkable circumstance that three distinguished college presidents should have had their birth in the town of Pictou, in Nova Scotia. Sir William J. Dawson, president for many years of McGill University, Dr. George M. Grant, Principal of Queen's University, and Dr. Daniel M. Gordon, his successor in that important office. These distinguished men all sought subsequent training in Scotland, and all rendered distinguished service to their native land. Drs. Grant and Gordon traversed this broad continent by the bone-racking prairieschooner and mountain mule long before the Canadian Pacific road was built. Dr. Gordon subsequently served his Church with distinction in the prairie city of Winnipeg, and later for some years as Professor of Apologetics in the Presbyterian College, Halifax. We wish for him great success at the head of the flourishing institution built up by the enterprise and energy of Dr. Grant. We rejoice at the growing rapprochement between two leading Protestant denominations in this land, the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches.

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DR. DANIEL M. GORDON.

significant evidence of this is the fact that Dr. Gordon, at his late inaugural address to the students of the Presbyterian College, chose for his subject the life and character of John Wesley as set forth in his remarkable Journals. That lecture we shall have the pleasure of printing in the pages of this Magazine. We regard it as one of the many evidences of the closer drawing together of the bonds of peace and fellowship between these sister Churches.

A NEW DEPARTURE.

Toronto is, it seems, to have an independent journal, of which Mr. Willison, of The Globe, shall be the editor. Mr. Willison has exhibited many of the highest qualities of journalismthe open vision, the judicial mind, the clear insight, and remarkable facility for expression in English of classic elegance. We are confident that in the freer field to which he is called he will exhibit these qualities in sti higher degree.

On the occasion of Mr. Willison's taking leave of The Globe, Mr. Robert Jaffray, in an admirable address, placed the press above the pulpit or the bar, as influencing public opinion. "The journalist," he said, "has to try and lead his fellow man, to try and create lofty impressions upon those of his readers with whom he comes in contact." A very just remark, yet through no fault of Mr. Willison's, we believe, The Globe has signally failed in this respect. When prohibition was the foremost subject before the public mind, discussed in nearly every pulpit and on scores of

platforms throughout the land, in all the religious papers, and in many secular papers of the country, The Globe and most of the city papers were mute as oysters on this important question. The Globe gave, every day, reports of what occurred fifty and a hundred years ago, but not a word of counsel or leadership on this great question of to-day.

It was not ever thus. In a former temperance campaign The Globe sent its own commissioners to Maine to investigate the effects of prohibition there, and gave full and fair reports of their findings. The Globe could have rendered the cause of temperance and morality invaluable service by reprinting the gist of those reports, but not a line was given on the subject. We hope that the tremendous change in public sentiment in our towns and cities will show the city journals the fatuous and foolish policy of, like the ostrich, burying their heads in the sand and attempting to ignore the pressing problems of the day.

BEFORE THE COMMISSION.

If the commission on the coal strike achieved nothing else for the miner, it has at least opened our eyes to his life. The eyes of all America have been turned to the shafts of her mines. When our grate-fires were out, and we were living on patent foods, we devoted more solid and sympathetic thought to the miners' lot than we did in all our lives before. Says The Independent: "Each miner produced more coal per working day in eight hours than he formerly produced in ten hours." The labour of miners is unusually arduous and hazardous. In the anthracite mines 2.6 persons are killed daily, three times that number are maimed, and few miners escape miners' asthma. "The miners are compelled to work in powder smoke, in foul air, many of them in water, and their work is difficult and exhausting. Reputable insurance companies will not issue policies to this class of workmen."

ADVANCED WAGES FOR RAILROAD
EMPLOYEES.

In these days, when capital so often seems to tread on labour, and labour to bite the heels of capital, it is a most cheering promise of better things when we find great corporations of their own free will increasing the wages of their employees. A

step like this reveals a keen sense of justice, which is better than misplaced generosity. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company recently increased the wages of all its employees who were earning less than $200 per month, by ten per cent. The movement seems to be of national scope. The reasons assigned are the increased cost of living, the continued prosperity of the roads, and the right of the men to share this prosperity. It is quite possible that capital and labour are being educated to the point of seeing that their interests are identical, and that the industrial world may readjust itself without such wrenchings and overturnings as some extremists suggest.

A MESSENGER OF PEACE.

The visit of Britain's pro-consul to Africa, not to "gloat over the conquered Boers," as the rabid Continental press describes it, but to bring peace, prosperity, content to these vast regions, is a sign of the times. Never was Britain's magnanimity more clearly shown than during and since the war. Mr. Chamberlain would have closed the refuge camps at once, but at the earnest solicitation of the Boers he kept them open at a cost of a million dollars a month for the succour and protection of a conquered people. The fifteen million dollars given them is to be largely supplemented, a generosity which no nation ever showed before. Kruger and Leyds have managed to carry off two million and a half dollars, of which they refuse to give a penny to the suffering Boers, though earnestly besought by Botha, their leading representative. All the world contributed the beggarly sum of some six hundred thousand dollars, scarce half what Britain is giving every month. Botha confesses his mistake in minifying British generosity, and counsels loyalty and gratitude.

AGILE JAPANESE FIREMEN.

In Japan the members of the fire departments in the larger towns and cities are regular gymnasts. Tokio, especially, has reason to be proud of

its department, which consists of 1,640 volunteers, and about 200 paid men. The paid men wear woollen uniforms similar to those of the Japanese soldiers.

Owing to the extensive use of highly combustible material in the buildings of Tokio, the firemen have to work with even more rapidity than that seen in this country when fire breaks out. Ladders made of bamboo are used to scale walls and extend hosepipes. Up and down these ladders the Japanese firemen run with almost

JAPANESE FIREMEN

incredible rapidity. To secure agility at this the men go through a drill twice a day. Two or three men will stand a ladder up, and before you know it, another man has reached the top.

As fires are of frequent occurrence in Tokio, vigilance is the price of safety. The fastest of horses are employed by the fire chiefs, and the engines are made somewhat lighter than the American models. It is said that fires seldom get beyond the control of the agile members of the department.-Young People's Weekly.

This beautiful monument commemorates the fourteen faithful witnesses for Jesus, connected with Oberlin University, who counted not their lives dear unto them, but gladly laid them down for the Lord they loved, in the late Boxer persecution in China. Every day hundreds of the students of Oberlin shall pass through this gate and catch inspiration from record of the heroism of the members of their own university. Their bodies sleep till the resurrection in a foreign land, but their souls, lo, they are alive for evermore. Intrepid and blessed spirits, ye fought a good fight, ye finished your course, ye kept the faith, and the crown of righteousness is yours. Your names shall not perish; your deeds shall kindle in many hearts the deathless purpose to walk with God and do His will."

"SAVED FOR SERVICE."

The General Executive Committee of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held its annual gathering this year in Minneapolis. For thirtythree years the Executive has been holding its annual sessions in various great cities. Says the Western Christian Advocate: "The women who, somewhat falteringly, but with a belief that God was leading them, took the first steps toward organizing the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society something over thirty-three years ago, are now burdened with the success of their labours. They stand fairly bewildered by the number of doors of opportunity opening wide be

fore them. More missionaries, more native workers, larger and more numerous schools and orphanages, and more money in every field, are the cries of the hour, to many of which there can be no response at present."

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The Advocate attributes a large measure of this success to the good use the society has made of the printing-press. The Woman's Missionary Friend has a circulation of about twenty-two thousand. smaller paper for the children has a circulation of twenty-five thousand, while during the year 1901 there were distributed free, through the various Branch meetings, two hundred and seventy thousand leaflets. Since its inception, the Society has received and distributed six million dollars. By far the greater part is received in small amounts, showing the sacrificing interest of a multitude, rather than of the wealthy few. The Society has now two hundred and fortyeight missionaries in the various fields. Truly, they are living up to Saved for service."

their motto,

REACHING THE PEOPLE.

The life of the Church depends not on the strength she is housing within her walls, but on the strength she is sending forth. "Go forth," was the parting message of the Master. The movement toward street preaching and preaching in public buildings is all along the line of recruiting our forces. The Methodist Times tells of a new departure made by the Rev. J. E. Wakerley and his colleagues of the Central Mission, London. These brethren held a Sunday evening ser

vice in the Grand Theatre, thereby getting a congregation of 2,500 persons, and these of a class of people that are not usually reached by the Church. There is every need in our Church work of wisdom and tact, as well as consecration. It is a mighty warfare that we wage, and there is a place for generalship, as well as courage.

But we must not lose sight of the Church itself in these evangelistic movements. We must not, in our efforts at reaching, lose sight of the need of retaining. Every child of God needs the atmosphere of a church home around him, from the hour he is born into the Kingdom. These efforts are but the outer encampments of the Church.

The distribution of the Century Fund in England begins in January next. The Chapel Committee has heretofore had only £10,000 for distribution, now it will have £300,000. The rural districts are already feeling the stimulus resulting from the fund. The churches are being transformed, and bright school-rooms are everywhere in evidence, where formerly were dilapidated structures.

But special prominence is being given to the social element in church life. Proper school and vestry accommodation to hold the young is to be one of the first considerations. They feel the need of a church parlour in connection with every Sundayschool. The needs of the army and navy are also being recognized. Says The Times, "Methodism has become a great National, nay, an Imperial Church, and it is meet that she should take her full share in providing for the social, the moral, and the religious well-being of Our soldiers and sailors." The mission halls, too, with their plans for uplifting the masses, are to be generously aided.

FIRED WITH MISSIONARY ZEAL. The meeting of the General Missionary Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Albany, N.Y., has afforded cause for general rejoicing. Last year, at the meeting held in Pittsburg, the order for retreat had to be sounded. Owing to lack of finances, and the pressure of debt, many native ministers had to be sent home, and there was a reduction of eight per cent. in the salaries of those in the field.

But this retrenchment cut deep into the heart of Methodism. The Church roused herself as from sleep; and the meeting at Albany this year has been a complete contrast, a paean of victory. Instead of retrenching this year, the committee is enabled to increase its appropriation by about $135,000. Bishop Thoburn's face," says one writer, was wet for India," and " 'Bishop Moore could not keep back the tears, when the new appropriations were made for Eastern Asia." Dr. Homer C. Stuntz, in his plea for the Philippines, was interrupted as he spoke by subscriptions of from $100 to $500, the total amounting to $3,000, for his new church in Manila.

THE CHRISTIAN CONQUEST MOVEMENT.

This movement originated in the United States shortly after President McKinley's assassination. Its object is definite and practical teaching of Christian citizenship, and the rallying of all Christian forces under one flag for world-wide evangelism. A small card sets forth, "The Creed of Christian Patriotism," which is a brief but very instructive lesson on the duties of citizenship in a Christian land. The movement was originated by the Rev. S. M. Johnson, who resigned the pastorate of Austin Presbyterian Church, Chicago, to devote himself to the work. Dr. Johnson designed a flag bearing a cross and the words, By this sign, conquer.' This flag he associates with the national flag of each country. The flag and einblem are rapidly being adopted by Sunday-schools, young people's SOcieties, and churches.

MILLIONS FOR MISSIONS.

At the recent missionary convention in Cleveland, it was voted unanimously that if the Methodist Episcopal Church is to do her share in proclaiming salvation to men, her regular missionary givings must be increased to an average of $1 per member, which would mean a total of $3,000,000 a year. Leaders in the mission field say there is need of a reinforcement of two hundred and forty-eight missionaries in the near future. Besides this, home claims are pressing. Especially is this true in our own land with the plains of the West opening up before us.