haps because of his observations there, the President began to modify his views. When Secretary Garrison announced that he could not accept or acquiesce in the acceptance of the project to drop the official plan and to federalize the National Guard instead (“unjustifiable imperilling of the nation's safety ''), the President replied: "I am not yet convinced." Because of disagreement on the military program and on the subject of Philippine independence, Garrison resigned on February 10. Henry S. Breckenridge, the assistant secretary, resigned at the same time. A month later Newton D. Baker, formerly mayor of Cleveland, was appointed secretary of war.—The annual report of the postmaster-general showed decreased revenues of $21,000,000, but departmental economies reduced the deficit to $11,000,000.-For the first ten months of the fiscal year the income of the government showed a marked increase over 1915, this including $26,000,000 more derived from the income tax. In spite of the growth of prohibition in the states collections on distilled spirits increased by $10,000,000.-Several important recommendations were made in the annual report of the secretary of commerce. In view of the destructive and unfair competition to be expected after the war, he favored, not increased customs duties, but an amendment to the Clayton anti-trust act. This amendment was embodied in a special revenue bill (see infra, p. 25). The law should also be modified so as to permit the combination of business firms for the purposes of foreign trade.-During the year 1915 the foreign commerce of the United States showed an excess of exports over imports amounting to $1,772,309, 538. During the first nine months of the fiscal year 1916, exports amounted to almost $3,000,000,000, being fifty per cent greater than in any corresponding period.—In January a special board of inquiry at the port of New York refused to admit Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, the English suffragist; this decision was overruled by the department of labor on the ground that Mrs. Pankhurst's offences had been political in character (see Record of December, 1913, p. 715). In July Cypriano Castro, former president of Venezuela, was detained at the same port and afterwards allowed to enter (see RECORD of June, 1913, p. 356).—Among the appointments made by the President were the following: Louis D. Brandeis as associate justice of the Supreme Court; John Hessin Clarke as associate justice of the Supreme Court; James Hay as judge of the court of claims; Abram I. Elkus as ambassador to Turkey; David R. Francis as ambassador to Russia; Henry P. Fletcher as ambassador to Mexico; Joseph H. Shea as ambassador to Chile.-The Panama Canal was reopened to general traffic on April 15.

CONGRESS.—The first session of the sixty-fourth Congress opened on December 6. The President's message, read before a joint assembly of the houses, laid emphasis upon the necessity of large naval and military increase. It recommended that the regular army be brought to a strength of 142,000 and supplemented by a force of 400,000 "disciplined citizens'' raised in increments of 133,000 throughout a period of three years, this

etc.

citizen force to receive for three years an annual training of about two months and to constitute a reserve for three years thereafter. It recommended a comprehensive five-year program which would create a navy "fitted to our needs and worthy of our traditions." Provision should be made in the first year for the construction of two battleships, two battlecruisers, three scout cruisers, five fleet submarines, twenty-five coast submarines and other vessels. In view of the proposed expenditures on armaments the treasury would face an enormous deficit in 1917. This should be met by extending the emergency revenue bill, maintaining the tax on sugar, and levying new taxes on automobiles, gasoline, bank-checks The President again urged Congress to enact, with some modifications, the ship-purchase bill which had passed the House of Representatives in February (Record of June, 1915, p. 356) and which would help to restore "our commercial independence on the seas"; and the bills reorganizing government in the Philippines and Porto Rico. Referring to the European war, the President held that the government had discharged its manifest duty in standing apart "studiously neutral," and that at the close of the war the self-governing nations of America would be of infinite service." In their neutrality they had become conscious of a new and more vital community of interest. Among them the Monroe Doctrine was a matter of cooperation and mutual support. Laws were needed to deal with citizens of foreign birth who had made " the gravest threats against our national peace and safety." They had plotted to destroy property, conspired against the neutrality of the government and "sought to pry into every confidential transaction of the government", to serve foreign interests.—In developing the scheme of army reorganization the two houses set to work independently. On March 23 the House adopted one measure by a vote of 402 to 2; on April 18 the Senate adopted another measure without the formality of a roll-call. The chief points of difference were that the Senate fixed the strength of the regular army at 250,000, as against 140,000 in the House bill, and provided for a volunteer army consisting of not more than 600 men for each Congressional district and paid at army rates while in training camp. The law of June 3, while making no provision for a volunteer or "continental army," arranged that the government should pay all the expenses of citizens who attend summer training camps. It fixed the maximum peace strength of the regular army at 175,000 (which may be increased by executive order to nearly 220,000) and the term of enlistment at seven years, three with the colors and four in the reserve. The most important feature of the law, however, is the "federalizing" of the national guard and the increasing of its strength to 425,000 men. Henceforth the national guard must conform to the physical qualifications and discipline applied to the regular army, undergo just twice the aggregate period of annual training formerly required and enlist for a period of six years, the last three years being passed in reserve. Officers are to be appointed by examining boards. In order to stimulate recruiting and

enforce discipline both officers and men will receive federal pay. When authorized by Congress (and Congress gave such authority in June) the President may draft the national guard into federal service in American or foreign territory.—The naval bills adopted by the two houses differ widely. The House bill provides for five battle-cruisers. The Senate bill provides for four battleships and four battle-cruisers as the first step in a three-year program which contemplates the building of twenty-six capital ships and many submarines. If the secretary of the navy believes that agreements and understandings deprive the government of free competition in letting contracts, he may build any of these ships in improved navy yards. On July 26 it was announced that the President desired the House to accept the Senate bill.-Under new laws the number of cadets at West Point had been doubled and the number of cadets at Annapolis increased by 540. Money was appropriated to enlarge the facilities of the navy yards at Brooklyn and Mare Island so as to permit the construction of large battleships. In conformity with the President's wishes Congress extended the life of the emergency revenue bill for another year and suspended indefinitely the free-sugar clause of the Underwood tariff. On July 10, by a vote of 240 to 140, the House adopted a special revenue bill. Under its terms the income-tax rates are materially increased; taxes are imposed on inheritances of more than $50,000, on the manufacture of munitions and on imported dye-stuffs; a tariff commission of six members is created; and precautions taken against the sale of foreign articles at less than their market value when the intention is to injure an American industry or to prevent its establishment or to monopolize or restrain commerce in such articles. For the Philippine bill see infra, p. 37.-A law of July authorizes the expenditure, over a period of five years, of $85,000,000 in the construction of good roads. This money is to be distributed among the states and spent under adequate engineering supervision.-A law of July 17 establishes a farmers' loan board of five members who will supervise a system of rural credits and direct the operations of twelve land-loan banks. Money will be lent at reasonable rates and for long periods under a system of gradual repayment.-In May Congress appropriated $42,000,000 for river and harbor improvements. The bill met with opposition in the Senate where a filibuster was maintained for four weeks under the leadership of Senator Kenyon and Senator Husting. The former's substitute proposal reducing the amount to $20,000,000 and giving the secretary of war control over its expenditure on maintenance work was lost by only fourteen votes.-A bill prohibiting the interstate shipment of the products of child labor passed the House on February 2, the vote being 337 to 46. In spite of the pressure which the President exerted on the Senate, he could not hasten favorable action by that body. Senators from cotton states condemned the bill as unconstitutional.-The ship purchase bill passed the House on May 20 by a vote of 211 to 161, only twelve Republicans supporting it. It provides for a shipping board of seven members who

have drastic powers to regulate sea transportation by preventing illegal combinations and discriminatory rates. The board is authorized to spend $50,000,000 on the purchase of ships and, if they are not leased and operated by private capital, to form a joint-stock company with the government as principal stockholder. The functions of the board are to cease five years after the close of the European war.-On March 30, by a vote of 308 to 87, the House adopted the Burnett immigration bill which imposes a literacy test and other restrictions (such as the increase of the head tax from $4 to $8), these being designed to prevent the influx of undesirable aliens after the war. On July 31 the Senate Democrats decided to postpone action upon the bill.—The House adopted on January 8 a bill which would open non-navigable water power sites to private enterprise under fifty-year leases. This bill had the support of Secretary Lane. On the other hand conservationists condemned a bill passed by the Senate on March 8. This provides for the development of water power on navigable streams under fifty-year licenses issued by the secretary of war, the government being permitted to take possession at the end of that period only after making fair allowance for lands, rights and other property.-On December 4 the Senate Democrats, by a vote of 40 to 3, rejected a proposed change in the rule under which the Senate could terminate obstruction after two days of debate. On May 15, by a vote of 42 to 36, the Senate rejected the nomination of George Rublee as a member of the Federal Trade Commission. For its action in the case of Justice Brandeis see infra, p. 26.—On June 20 the House of Representatives ordered the sergeant-at-arms to apprehend and bring to the bar of the House on a charge of contempt H. Snowden Marshall, federal district attorney at New York. In a letter to its chairman Mr. Marshall had impugned the motives of a sub-committee which had investigated his official conduct with a view to impeachment proceedings, this investigation having occurred at the instance of Congressman Buchanan whose indictment for conspiracy Mr. Marshall had procured.-For other proceedings in Congress see "The United States and the European War", supra, pp. 14-18.

THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY.—On January 2 Joseph Rucker Lamar, associate justice of the Supreme Court, died at the age of 58. President Wilson nominated as his successor Louis D. Brandeis of Massachusetts. This nomination was made on January 28; but such determined opposition developed that confirmation was delayed till June 1. Forty-four Democrats and three Republicans voted in the affirmative; 21 Republicans and one Democrat in the negative. — Charles Evans Hughes, nominated as Republican candidate for the presidency (see infra, p. 31), resigned from the court on June 10; and on July 14 John Hessin Clarke of Ohio was nominated to fill the vacancy.-Among the important decisions of the Supreme Court were the following. The provision in the Corporation Tax Act limiting interest deductions to an amount of the indebtedness not exceeding the capital stock is not

an arbitrary classification denying due process of law under the Fifth Amendment (Anderson v. Forty-Two Broadway Co., 239 U. S. 69). The restrictions on alienation of Choctaw allotments under the act of July 1, 1902, does not violate the Fifth Amendment (Williams v. Johnson, 239 U. S. 414). The Shirley Amendment to the Food and Drug Act is not unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment for uncertainty (Seven Cases v. United States, 239 U. S. 510). The mere location by the secretary of war of a harbor line does not amount to a taking of property within the line or its appropriation to public use; nor does a taking result from the request of an officer of the United States to a riparian owner to vacate, if such request is neither acceded to nor enforced (Willink v. United States, 240 U. S. 572). The imposition of an inheritance tax by the state in which the donor resided is not unconstitutional as depriving the beneficiaries of their property without due process of law (Bullen v. State of Wisconsin, 240 U. S. 625). The statute of North Dakota requiring lard when not sold in bulk to be put up in pails, is not unconstitutional as depriving the sellers of their property without due process of law (Armour & Co. v. State of North Dakota, 240 U. S. 510). The trading-stamp-license statute of Washington is not unconstitutional under the due-process or equal-protection provision of the Fourteenth Amendment (Pitney v. State of Washington, 240 U. S. 387). A distinction in legislation does not deny equal protection of the laws if any state of facts can be conceived that will sustain it. A classification based on differences between a business using and one not using trading coupons and stamps is not so arbitrary as to deny equal protection of the law (Rast v. Van Deman & Lewis, 240 U. S. 342). An ordinance requiring a railway company to pave with asphalt the space between its tracks and one foot on each side is not a violation of the equal-protection provision of the Fourteenth Amendment (Southern Wisconsin Ry. v. Madison, 240 U. S. 457). The statute of the state of Washington, 1907, concerning trading stamps properly enacted in the exercise of the police power of the state is not unconstitutional under the Federal Constitution as to denying equal protection of the law, or depriving merchants of their property without due process of law (Tanner v. Little, 240 U. S. 369). The statute of Florida requiring every able-bodied man within its jurisdiction to work during each year for six ten-hour days on public roads within the county of his residence, and imposing penalties for wilful failure so to do, is not unconstitutional as contrary to the due-process provision of the Fourteenth Amendment (Butler v. Perry, 240 U. S. 329). The equal protection of the laws is not denied to the owners of property assessed in a supplemental curative proceeding for benefits from the widening of a street (St. Louis & K. C. L. Co. v. Kansas City, 36 S. Ct. Rep. 647). The federal Income Tax Act is not unconstitutional under the due-process provision (Brushaber v. Union Pacific R. R. Co.,

wwww