regular way by the Allies until the nation had, in one way or another, selected its official representatives.

In the latter part of January the German people elected delegates to the National Assembly. This was to be the same sort of body as the American Constitutional Convention of 1789.

Perhaps the tragic death of Liebknecht roused the German people to a sense of their danger, or perhaps they were beginning to tire of their long indulgence in bad thinking and evil doing. Whatever the reason, they voted in a more orderly manner than might have been expected.

Germany supported Lenine and Trotzky in Russia, knowing that they would ruin their country. And now Germany has had to fight their wolflike followers in her own cities! It is a clear case of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind.

HAVE THE SEEDS OF BOLSHEVISM BEEN PLANTED IN AMERICAN SOIL?

WHILE the Peace Conference was trying to straighten out the tangle of international relations, there was some talk in America about the possibility of Bolshevist

because by long years of despotism the people had lost fitness for self-rule.

On the other hand, America must share in the unrest and the very genuine difficulties caused by the war. Labor and capital are both restless. Each is inclined to be suspicious of the other. There have been strikes and signs of discontent. But the very existence of these things is, in a way, a safeguard. We blow off steam, and so avoid the danger of an explosion.

We are in no immediate danger, but we do need to be careful and sensible. And the boys and girls of to-day will be the employers and the employees of tomorrow!

THE PROHIBITION AMEND-
MENT BECOMES LAW

ON January 16 the Nebraska Legislature ratified the Prohibition Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Nebraska was the thirty-sixth State to declare in favor of the change in the national law, and her vote was decisive. Amendments require for passage the voting support of three fourths of the States, and it was generally agreed that three fourths of forty-eight is "about" thirty-six.

As by the terms of the amendment the new law goes into effect one year after ratification, the country will be "dry" after January of 1920. The manufacture of spirituous liquors anywhere in the United States will be prohibited. There is a possibility of their sale and consumption being forbidden after the last day of June, 1919, under the Presidential proclamation issued as a war measure. The proclamation may be rescinded if demobilization of the army is completed by that time.

By the passage of this amendment it has now become impossible for the country to go "wet" again except by the enactment of a new amendment.

So ends a long and bitter battle. WHERE RUSSIA AND POLAND MEET

IN January, American soldiers, riding to battle in sleighs, defeated the Bolshevik

Vilna. They celebrated their victory in their customary way, with a massacre of civilians.

In Poland, Ignace Paderewski strove heroically to form a Cabinet which the Allies might recognize. It was rather surprising to read of the part played in public affairs by the great pianist-but we could not give any really good reason why a great musician should not be also a great man!

Poland will, clearly, be an important factor in future developments in the troubled regions east of Germany. Late in January, her Government was officially "recognized" by that of the United States.

TRADE WITH GREAT BRITAIN In the last week of January the British Government announced its intention to protect British industries during the period of reconstruction by refusing to per

mit certain goods to be imported after March 1. After that date Great Britain will not permit these things, made in other countries, to be sent into her markets:

Certain kinds of machinery and clothing, basketware, guns, hats, lawn-mowers, matting, oilcloth, perfumery, cameras, sewing-machines, clocks and watches, weighing-machines, vacuum-cleaners, and certain other products of the mill or factory.

Goods and articles not named in the list from which these examples are taken may, however, be sold to British buyers. Such goods and articles may be grouped under the heading, "raw materials, or articles required for further manufacture."

This means, in a word, that Great Britain intends to give her workmen employment in making the things the British people have to use. She will buy from other countries the materials needed in her mills and factories, but she will not buy the product of mills and factories in other countries. For example, she will buy raw hides from America, but her own workmen will be paid for making them up into shoes and other articles of common use.

It is the duty of a Government at all times to protect the interests and promote the welfare of those whom it represents and by whose support it exists and operates; and that is what the British Government is doing for its people in making these regulations about imports.

THROUGH THE WATCH TOWER'S

TELESCOPE

YEARS ago, no finer vessels sailed the seas than those built by American hands of stout American timber. Yankee trees, Yankee brains, and Yankee muscles-together with Yankee enterprise and courage -carried the American flag to foreign ports and brought foreign goods and cash back to Yankeeland. Then came the Age of Steam, and the American merchant marine fell into decay. The war revived it but was the revival permanent, or only temporary? Now there will be a "trade war." The nations will struggle for the prizes of commerce. Great Britain, with

her vast fleet, began in January carrying ocean freights at rates so low that we could hardly hope to compete with her. The best brains in the offices of American exporters, and in our Congress, must devote themselves to the solution of such domestic problems as this, while our statesmen are grappling with the problems of foreign relations and international politics.

ONE of the many problems considered by the Peace Conference was that of KiaoChau. After Germany forced China to cede to her this valuable port, the Kaiser spoke of it as "the eyrie of the German eagle in the Far East." The retaking of Kiao-Chau, early in the Great War, was accomplished principally by Japanese forces, and Japan, openly desiring a position of dominating power in the Far East, was anxious to hold Kiao-Chau, if not as a permanent possession, at least as something to trade with in the final settlement.

THEY say that now the streets of Bagdad are lighted by electricity. It will take a good deal of light to balance the long darkness of Turkish rule in that city!

MR. MCADOO suggested, and Mr. Hines, his successor as Director-General of the Railroads, seemed to believe when he took up the duties of that extremely important office, that the railroads should either be returned immediately to their former owners, or be placed definitely under full government control for five years more. The plan suggested by the railroad executives would effect a compromise between these two extreme policies, by restoring the roads to private ownership, but subject to supervision by a new cabinet officer, the secretary of transportation. Some of the youngsters who are "playing train" today may, in the years to come, find the solution of this great national problem.

TIME to begin to think of tops and marbles, hoops and jackstones-and of limbering up the "wing" and getting the "batting eye" adjusted. These things are important, and must not be neglected!

IN ZERO WEATHER

cover what may be the approximate temperature at any time by noting the color and the bearing of these leaves.

S. LEONARD BASTIN.

HOW THE BEE KEEPS WARM THE ant and the wasp are often said to be the cleverest members of the insect world; but in many ways the bee is even cleverer. One of the most remarkable things about the bee is the way in which it contrives to keep itself warm in winter-time, when the ant and the wasp die of cold. And the bee goes about it very much as a human being does.

When we are out doors and find ourselves chilly and shivering, we stamp our feet, swing our arms, and snap our fingers to get warmth into our bodies. And what does the bee do when chilled by the wintry wind? He applies the same principles.

Feeling the cold very much, and not having either fur coat or gloves to put on, nor being able to sit beside a roaring fire, when the frosts of late autumn come the wise bee turns into its hive for warmth. Inside its dwelling it makes arrangements with its fellow-tenants. Several layers of bees place themselves close together, with