able, strong and efficient. The opinion is justified, therefore, that there is need for work rather than almsgiving for a large number of aged persons, and those otherwise incapacitated for regular employment under modern conditions. The association has a permanent field of usefulness in bad and good times alike in administering to the needs of the aged, the weak and partially disabled, and its work should be especially adapted to their needs. The Charities Chapter of the New Charter of the City of New York. The New York Legislature has adopted the report of the Commission which has thoroughly revised the charter of Greater New York. Some changes have been made by committees of the two branches, but the provisions for a single-headed commission for the Department of Charities, for the establishment of a children's court, and for the creation of a new department of public hospitals, have been retained, together with the various minor changes affecting the Department of Charities, as reported by the Commission. Women Wage-Earners in New York.-A committee appointed by the Alliance Employment Bureau of New York City has investigated seven different occupations for women wage-earners in that city. The results of the investigation are summed up as follows: First, the wages of unskilled labor are either stationary or sinking; second, there is plenty of room for skilled labor in dressmaking, stenography, and laundry work; third, the introduction of machinery has complex results, but, generally speaking, it reduces the wages paid to hand workers and temporarily raises the machine piece-work wages. The report of the committee expresses the conviction that the training of girls to become skilled wage-earners and the opening up of new occupations are the two practical means of advancing the interests of wage-earning women. The Treatment of Consumptives.-The State of Texas has isolated her consumptive convicts. Wynne Farm, the site of this isolation hospital, is described as an ideal consumptive camp. On this farm no one is required to work beyond his strength, but all are required to go into the open air and sunshine when their strength admits of their leaving their beds. There are at present fifty-nine men in the camp, and they are reported to appear as the healthiest men among the convicts, although many of them were sent to the farm apparently in the last stages of consumption. If the principal object of imprisonment is reformation, this humane policy will be more likely to contribute to the desired end than that which has prevailed, for example, in Sing Sing Prison, where a sentence of prolonged imprisonment has come to be regarded as in effect a sentence to tuberculosis. The incident, however, is chiefly interesting as another indication of the awakening interest in the possibility of stamping out the scourge of consumption. In Illinois, on the other hand, an appreciable decrease in the death rate from tuberculosis has been brought about by isolation within the penitentiary. Consumption has been placed on the list of contagious diseases by the Philadelphia Board of Health. Physicians must report to the health officer all cases and deaths. It is not the intention of the board to isolate victims of the disease; the work is to be purely educational. It will consist in offering advice in regard to precautionary methods. Medicines and disinfectants will be supplied to worthy poor patients. The Board of Health of Boston, has lately adopted the ruling that tuberculosis is to be treated in the same manner as any contagious disease, and that patients suffering with tuberculosis may be removed from their homes by order of the Board of Health. A new building is about to be erected on Long Island in connection with the hospital there, which will be used chiefly for destitute persons suffering with this disease. The Rocky Mountain Industrial Sanitarium has been incorporated in Colorado. It aims to be national in scope, and its purpose is to aid tuberculosis patients in poor or moderate circumstances who go to the mountain states in the hope that the climate will aid in effecting a cure, but who, either from lack of means or from lack of proper direction, are immediately placed under conditions which preclude improvement or recovery. The plan provides for the erection of a sanitarium about twenty miles from Denver, to be conducted as an industrial colony. IV. COLONIES AND COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. Germany.-The Annual Report on German Colonies and Protectorates, which has just appeared, indicates a total native population in these districts, exclusive of Kiaouchou, of about 10,700,000 with Europeans to the number of about 8,000. From the returns on the economic conditions of the colonies, it is apparent that in spite of the extensive construction of railways, bridges, roads, etc., which has been planned or is in course of execution, the colonies are only in the earliest stage of development. With that thoroughness which is characteristic of the German, the Imperial Government has established experimental agricultural stations in every colony. The natural produce of the country is studied with a view to its thorough commercial development. Fruits, nuts, fibrous plants, etc., from other parts of the world are also being introduced, and special efforts are made to establish and develop rubber, coffee and tobacco plantations. The German enterprises in Africa are subject to all the peculiar advantages and disadvantages of the German governmental system. The Beamtentum, with its self-sacrificing and well-disciplined, yet arbitrary and semi-military characteristics, has been established throughout the colonies. If conscientious, pains-taking effort can create a colonial system worth having, the Germans are in a fair way to succeed and, in the future, when the competition of nations shall be turned more directly toward the Continent of Africa, Germany will doubtless be found to have laid the foundations of a great colonial empire. At the present time, however, the German colonies are almost devoid of German population. Emigration from the Fatherland is flowing in more attractive channels, where it seems only to strengthen other nations than Germany. The German settlements in Asia-Minor, Mexico and South America are rapidly forming the basis of what might well become an important colonial system were it possible for the German political power to be extended over these territories. One cannot learn of the pains-taking efforts expended in Africa without wishing that a more favorable field might be opened to a people so admirably equipped for colonization. Philippines.-The Division of Insular Affairs of the War Department has recently compiled the most important information dealing with the peoples of the Philippines. The material is taken from various sources and is highly interesting. The islands seem to have been subject to successive waves of immigration from the mainland, each wave leaving a different racial stratum, according to the origin of the immigrants. Over all the islands may be found what is sup posed to be the aboriginal race, or Negritos. They represent a very low type of development. The most highly developed of the native races are the Tagals and Visayans, both of which have been "domesticated" or semi-civilized under Spanish influence. The Chinese form a very important element in the foreign population. Their economic instincts are most acute, and they have accordingly amassed immense wealth in a country where the natives live from hand to mouth. As a consequence of this prosperity the Chinese have always been unpopular and numerous wholesale massacres of the Chinese are reported. A curious element in the native population is the race known as the Moros, who are supposed to have descended from the Mussulmen of Borneo. From that island they brought their religion and customs, notably slavery and polygamy. They have for centuries controlled the Zulu Islands and large portions of the Island of Mindanoa. Numerous attempts had been made by the Spanish to subdue the Moros and to convert them to Christianity, but without success. The number of Europeans in the Philippines is comparatively small. The Spaniards have never settled in the islands to any great extent. Up to the time of the American occupation there were a few English and Germans. The imports into the islands for the eight months ending August, 1900, were $14,580,457, as compared with $12,270,163 for a similar period in 1899; exports for the eight months ending August, 1900, $15,928,015, as compared with $10,391,286 for a similar period in 1899. Of the imports $1,340,717 came from the United States; of the exports, $1,954,531 went to the United States. England still has the largest trade of any individual country with the Philippines, the totals amounting to more than double the figures for the United States, both in imports and exports. Cuba.-The Constitutional Convention has avoided any final decision in the acceptance or rejection of the Platt Amendment. A commission of five members, appointed to confer with the President of the United States in reference to the relations of the two countries, has visited Washington and conferred with the Administration, as well as the committeemen of both houses of Congress. The radical element in the convention is still in control, but is beginning to split up into factions. The commerce of Cuba still shows a healthy increase in volume. Owing to a misunderstanding, by certain press correspondents, of the information communicated by the Division of Insular Affairs of the War Department, the impression is spread abroad that Cuban commerce is declining. This is only true of the imports and exports of gold and silver, not of merchandise. Following is a statement of the figures for merchandise furnished by the division for the first nine months of 1899 and 1900, respectively: The principal item of decrease in the export column occurs in the trade with Spain: EXPORTS TO SPAIN. For nine months ending September, 1899 . $2,788,078 770,456 The Cuban trade with the United States seems to be slowly increasing. Eliminating the coin shipments the imports from the United States to Cuba have gained $298,611 for the first nine months of 1900 over a similar period in 1899. The exports from Cuba to the United States have decreased $6,835,750. This is to be accounted for by the fact that a greater part of tobacco shipped by Europe is sent via New York. In the returns of 1899 no distinction was made with reference to the destination of the commodity; whereas in the returns of 1900 a large portion of this amount has been set down to European account. The Canadian-American syndicate, recently formed for the purpose of developing the transportation facilities of Cuba, has secured nearly all the property and rights necessary for a road running the entire length of the island. Owing to the so-called Foraker law, which prohibited the granting of franchises in Cuba by the American government, it has been necessary for the company to purchase outright several long strips of territory. Ship Subsidies for Colonial Routes.-Since the first of the year two interesting experiments have been made by England and Germany respectively in the furtherance of their colonial interests. Germany has subsidized an important line of steamships plying between Hamburg and her African possessions. The subsidy will enable ships to leave Hamburg every two weeks, one vessel passing through the Mediterranean and around Africa, the other passing down the west coast of Africa and up through the Red Sea, returning by the Mediterranean. The steamers are to be built in Germany, and German trade is to have preference over that of foreign countries in |