contemporaneously with the Eighteenth Pharaonic Dynasty,—that is, in the sixteenth century, just before that epoch to which the Mycenæan treasure seems chiefly to belong.

"To the art of this Minoan age proper, stimulated by political greatness, and encouraged by profound peace, belongs the great bulk of the wall paintings, the ceiling designs, the friezes, the sculpture in stone and ivory, the gem designs, and the ceramic handiwork illustrated in the exhibition room."

An enormous number of clay tablets have been found at Knossos, inscribed in yet undeciphered characters. The glory of this gean chapter in the history of the civilization extended from 2000 to 1000 B.C., when it was stamped out by the invader.

"A movement of semi-barbarous peoples from East Europe and West Asia, which has left its mark on Greek tradition as the Dorian Invasion,' evidently swept over the civilized lands, invigorating the stock, but eclipsing a while the culture. But the old artistic race lived on, amalgamating itself with the new-comers and modifying its conquerors; and after general peace was established once more, idealism revived in the joint issue of the older and newer peoples. The sudden appearance of high art in Hellas in the seventh century was, therefore, a Renascence rather than a miracle of spontaneous generation; and something of the spirit and tradition of Knossian culture inspired the Ionian art of the sixth century and the Attic of the fifth, and contributed to make that Hellenism to which we of western Europe are the actual heirs."

with us and appropriated some of our colonies, they are already occupied and exploited by a patriotic and hard-working population. Can the profit be compared for a moment with that to be reaped from a successful attack on the Monroe Doctrine, which would in no way upset the European balance of power, and would not expose German commerce to the same risks as would arise from war with a great maritime power at her own doors? This theory fits in entirely with the Kaiser's reiterated statements, and it has the merit of possessing, not only solid business reasons, but also very plausible grounds in theoretical justice."

Germany wants real and profitable colonies. Mr. Duffield points out that the subsidy given to every German colony, save one, exceeds the annual revenue.

And Venezuela is just such a promising but unoccupied country as the Kaiser wants.

"To show the extraordinary fertility of many Venezuelan territories, our consul points out that a plot in the vicinity of his own house has produced six crops of maize in one year! Fruit farming would prove enormously productive, and coffee and cocoa, especially the latter, are largely grown; in fact, the latter is now the principal product of the country, which could grow anything. Cotton, indigo, rice, barley, and india-rubber have been produced with success. The water supply is ample, the climate is not unhealthy, and in most parts fit for Europeans. The mineral wealth is almost untouched,-iron, gold, coal, petroleum, silver, copper, lead, are found in every direction.' Eyewitnesses have related to the writer the shipping of huge ingots of gold on the Orinoco steamers in the best days of the great mine of El Callao; but now, mining, like every other industry in this unhappy land, is almost impossible, owing to insecurity of tenure. Under a rapid succession of governments, the leader in to-day's fortunate revolution refuses to recognize the title given by his predecessor, or constant pillage and oppression forbid Europeans to embark capital at such risks. We are told by our consuls

that there is nothing that can strictly be called an industry in Venezuela, yet she could grow her own grain, make her own flour, grow her own tobacco and cotton, make her own cloth and her own wine, burn her own kerosene, make her own leather, and have, besides all this, a surplus for export.

THE AMERICAN CAPTURE OF THE TRADE OF THE ORIENT.

NOW that the success of the United States

in securing the trade of the far East is generally acknowledged, there is some discussion, both at home and abroad, as to how this result has been accomplished. Mr. Harrington Emerson contributes an article to the March Engineering Magazine in which he says:

"A few years ago, steamers no longer fit for the Atlantic or Indian service were sent to the Pacific, as being quite good enough for all requirements. With the exception of the Empresses, built for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, there was not, until the Spanish-American War, a first-class steamer on the American Pacific. Now, the largest steamers ever constructed in American waters, and, with one exception,-the Cedric, the largest steamers ever built, have been ordered for the Pacific Ocean trade."

NEW YORK TO SAN FRANCISCO VIA SUEZ.

What has brought about this change? asks Mr. Emerson, and answers his question as follows:

Exports to the Orient must come from the Eastern and Southern States, railroad iron and other equipment, mining machinery, tobacco, and cotton,-and for these goods the usual railroad rate across the continent is prohibitive, as it costs almost twice as much to send boxed goods from New York to San Francisco as from New York to London, and thence by steamer direct to Puget Sound via the Suez Canal, the Straits, Hongkong, and Yokohama. . . . Before there could be any hope of a large increase in 'Pacific coast exports and imports, the whole railroad situation had to be changed, and this is what has happened."

The first railroads pushed to the Pacific were built to enrich the promoters rather than to make money out of the operation. It was not until Mr. James J. Hill made and developed the Great Northern Railroad that different methods were introduced. He built, not for the sake of bonds or subsidies, but for the immediate and prospective traffic. He made his terminus at Seattle, on Puget Sound, by far the best harbor on the Pacific coast. He formed an alliance

with the great Japanese line-the Nippon Yusen Kaisha-a line in ocean tonnage ranking among the foremost in the world, and began to divert a part of the tea and silk trade from the Canadian Pacific and the "Empress Line" to his own railroad.

A GREAT COMBINE.

At first he had to regard the other transcontinental lines as rivals, but with dramatic unexpectedness the Northern Securities Company was formed, identifying these three roads (the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, and the Burlington) with the deliberate intention of diverting the cotton exports of the United States to Asia by way of Atlantic and European ports to the ports of Puget Sound. The temporary and apparent rivalry between the combination of the Northern and of the Southern roads was but an episode. It is not a question as to whether Puget Sound ports shall not be favored in transcontinental rates compared to San Francisco, or whether the Great Northern shall carry fruit from southern California to Chicago, but whether the unlimited trade of eastern Asia shall pass to Europe by Pacific American steamers and American railroads or continue to go by way of the Suez Canal."

THE NEW STEAMERS.

Mr. Hill then proceeded to build the largest ships in the world. Mr. Emerson says:

"By building the largest ships in the world, even though they run under the more expensive American register, by filling the west-bound cars at a rate little more than the cost of handling, Mr. Hill knows that he can turn the export trade with western Asia from its three-hundredyear-old way past India to the direct Pacific sea route past Alaska. Before these new ships were ordered, experts were sent to Scotland, Ireland, and Germany to absorb all that could be learned of modern mammoth shipbuilding; and to escape from all hampering traditions of the past, an entirely new company, the Eastern Shipbuilding Company, was formed to construct them, and took the contract before even the site was purchased on which the new yards were to be established."

These steamers are 630 feet long, 73 feet wide, with a displacement of 37,000 tons. Each steamer can carry 1,200 troops, and the cargo capacity exceeds 20,000 tons. Some of the hatches are large enough to admit a complete locomotive. Horse-power of 11,000 will maintain a speed of 14 knots. To accommodate these vessels, enormous docks and warehouses have been built at Seattle and Tacoma.

TO CAPTURE THE AUSTRALASIAN TRADE. There is little doubt that the whole of the trade between the Eastern States and the Orient will now go by these new lines of steamers running in connection with the great transcontinental railways, instead of going, as now, via Europe and Suez. Nor is this all.

"The Northern railroads have quoted a rate of $8 a ton for the transport of government supplies from Chicago to the Philippine Islands. Return rates have been quoted on wool from Australia and New Zealand which make it probable that the imports from British Australasia to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia will come by the Pacific overland route instead of through Suez."

CANADA VERSUS UNITED STATES.

The Canadian railroads, however, will offer serious rivalry.

"From an American point of view, there is one shadow in this bright light of future American supremacy on the Pacific, and that is the rivalry of the Canadian roads to the north. One of these, already in full operation-the Canadian Pacific-runs from ocean to ocean. The other, the Grand Trunk, is now building to Port Simpson, the most northern seaport in British Columbia. Both these roads command rich wheat belts; both of them tap exceedingly rich and very good coal fields; both of them as they approach the Pacific coast pass through timber lands of the same general character as the heavy forests of Washington and Oregon. The Grand Trunk will have six advantages over all its American competitors. It will stretch from

Atlantic to Pacific under one management, and can make its own through rates, while none of the American roads extend further than Chicago, and it will further control ocean-steamer connections at both ends; it will be the latestbuilt road, with the latest and most consistent equipment; its Pacific terminus, Port Simpson, a magnificent harbor on the Alaskan border, is nearer by five hundred miles to Asia than is Puget Sound or Vancouver, yet the road itself is as short as any other transcontinental line; it escapes entirely the climb and heavy grades over the Rocky Mountains, which do not extend as far north as its line; its wheat belt extends from Manitoba unbrokenly to a region that is west of Vancouver, a gain in local agricultural lands of nearly one thousand miles over the American lines; and it will, by the location of its terminus, monopolize the whole of the enormous and rapidly growing Alaskan traffic."

Mr. Emerson concludes his valuable article as follows:

unite on a plan for the joint control of the road. Then he further showed his generosity by allowing the unfortunates who had been "short" of Northern Pacific to cover their contracts at the nominal price of one hundred and fifty dollars per share, when he might have compelled pay. ment of two or three times that amount.

Mr. Schiff's ability as a financier was first brought before the public several years ago by the reorganization of the Union Pacific Railway and the settlement of the debt to the Government. Later on, he took a hand in the purchase of the Chicago & Alton, and also in the acquisition of the Southern Pacific. The firm of which he is the head, Kuhn, Loeb & Co., is frequently employed by such great concerns as the Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio railroads. to conduct their largest financial operations.

One of the most recent feats of financiering which placed Mr. Schiff among the mighty men of Wall Street was the purchase of a majority of the stock of the Reading Railroad in the interests of the Baltimore & Ohio and Lake Shore railroads. When such transactions as this are to be carried out, there is room to save or lose millions of dollars, and by his wonderful diplomacy, Mr. Schiff saved these millions.

He is a very wealthy man, with a fortune estimated at from $75,000,000 to $100,000,000, most of it made within twenty years-perhaps in a dozen.

He is perhaps the leading Hebrew of New York, and there are many monuments to his great generosity, such as the Montefiore Home, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Semitic Museum at Harvard University, and the Nurses' Settlement on the New York East Side. He is a trustee of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, and has been treasurer of Barnard College. Mr. Schiff was born in Germany, and spent the larger part of his business career in Frankfort, until he came to this country, over thirty years ago.

THE DAY'S WORK OF A RAILROAD
PRESIDENT.

'HE daily grind of a railroad president's job,

and the dangers from cranks and passseekers that constantly beset him, make the subject of Mr. F. N. Barksdale's article in the April World's Work. The railroad president is apt to get to his office at 9 o'clock in the morning and to leave at 4 in the afternoon. But if it is necessary for him to stay until 12 o'clock at night in some conference of great importance, there are no union rules to prohibit it, and he does so. The first hour is taken in clearing the desk of the morning's mail that has sifted

through the secretaries, a very small part of that addressed personally to the president; then he has handed him a collection of cardboard sheets with clippings from the morning newspapers pasted upon them, to give him a bird'seye view of the commercial, financial, industrial, and railroad news of the preceding day. With these news items are also the editorial comments of the principal newspapers.

"Now the real work of the day begins. This includes the consideration of an endless array of legal, engineering, financial, traffic, and transportation questions. The adoption of plans for some extensive improvements in terminal facilities follows closely the determination of a question of general policy. The development of traffic by the extension of the main line and branches, questions affecting the relations with connecting lines, and matters relating to every phase of the vast field of traffic and transportation come up for settlement. The consideration of these diverse matters touches at some point almost every branch of human activity which yields something to the demand of a great system of transportation. The chief enlists in his aid in the decisions of these multiplied issues the thought and skill of his staff, who, having worked out the details, bring before him the results for final approval."

But the president of a great corporation is certain to have a similar position in a number of smaller companies, and aside from his duties on the great railroad, he has to preside over meetings of directors of many concerns, so that even at luncheon he is not always free from business. Nowadays, the executive offices are arranged in suites, and include apartments where luncheon can be served. Thus, the president may eat the midday meal in the next room to his desk, with officers of his own corporation, visiting officials, or business friends as his company.

Mr. Barksdale says it is a popular delusion that the inevitable private car of the president is a pleasure vehicle for himself and his friends. "But it is as much a workshop as his office, and it frequently affords that privacy and exclusiveness for the transaction of business which are not obtainable even in the private office. An appointment is to be kept in a distant place. The president's car is attached to a regular train, or run 'special,' as the case may be. The private secretary is directed to report on the car with such mail and papers as demand immediate attention, and the president gets down to work just as if he were sitting at his desk. The dispatch of business is uninterrupted. On the car, consultations are held and conferences occur between the chief and his subordinates or invited

guests. Meals may intervene, and social intercourse may break for a moment the monotony of work, but the spirit of business is ever presThe paraphernalia of the workshop, such as maps, reports, and official papers, are oftener in evidence on the private car than any of the usual concomitants of a pleasure jaunt."

AT

THE NEW CUBAN RAILROAD.

The

T the close of the Spanish-American War, it became clear to all intelligent observers that one of the pressing necessities for Cuba was a trunk line of railroad from one end of the island to the other, with branches to important ports on the northern and southern coasts. importance of such a railroad system was pointed out by Mr. Robert P. Porter, who had been specially commissioned by President McKinley to report on the industrial, commercial, and financial condition of the island. Mr. Porter, however, thought it extremely doubtful whether such an enterprise could be made to pay,—at least for many years to come; but within a year after the close of the war a route had been surveyed from Santiago westward to Santa Clara, the eastern terminus of the old road from Havana, a distance of about four hundred miles, and during the ensuing three years the entire line has been completed, so that Havana and Santiago, which were formerly as far apart, in

point of time, as New York and San Francisco, are now connected by rail, and important branch lines will soon be opened. The master spirit in this work from the beginning has been Sir William Van Horne, the builder of the Canadian Pacific. An account of the progress of the enterprise, and of some of the difficulties encountered, is contributed to Gunton's Magazine for March by Mr. J. W. Davies, whose description of the trunk line and its branches follows:

THROUGH TRAINS FROM HAVANA TO SANTIAGO.

"The new railway is of standard gauge, and its bridges are of steel and masonry; its equivalent is similar to that of the best American railways, and it is intended at an early date to run through express sleeping-cars between Havana and Santiago de Cuba.

"The trunk line begins at Santa Clara, where the hitherto existing western system ends, thus affording a continuous communication on to Sancti Spiritus, Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba. Along the main line are to be found great areas of land of the richest description, well watered and to a great extent well wooded, and suitable for sugar cane, tobacco, Indian corn, cotton, coffee, cocoa, and all the fruits of tropical and sub-tropical regions. The mineral wealth of this large tract is said to be very valuable. and the rural districts are peculiarly adapted for cattle; indeed, cattle do well everywhere,

ARIBBEAN

NOTE.

R.R.3 EXISTING BEFORE THE WAR. **** R.R.S COMPLETED SINCE THE WAR. PROPOSED EXTENSIONS.

SGLAMNY

MANOPILON ALTO CEDRO

SAN LOKS

SANTIAGO DE CUBA

BARA

GUANTANAMO