the press and of the principle of free speech, created the most widespsead amazement throughout the country and elicited the following rebuke from the Springfield "Republican" :

"Some very foolish unofficial menaces against the editors of news­papers that have sympathized with the Germans have been emanating from Washington the past few days. The source of these threats to prosecute editors for the specific offense of having defended Germany's torpedoing of the 'Lusitania' appears to be the Post Office Depart­ment. Postal officials would do well to attend to their business carrying the mails and leave the war and its incidents severely alone. This country is still a country of free speech on war issues."

FRITCHIE, BARBARA—Immortalized by Whittier in a patriotic poem bearing her name, in which her defense of the Union flag during the Civil War is celebrated, came of an old German family which settled in Penn­sylvania in colonial times, and her own life spanned the two greatest crises in the history of her country, the founding of the republic and the struggle for the preservation of the Union. She was born in Lancaster, Pa., De­cember 3, 1766. Her maiden name was Hauser.

CONGRESSMAN AUGUSTUS P. GARDNER INTERESTED IN WAR CONTRACTS—At a hearing of the House Committee on Rules, January 19, 1916, Representative Augustus P. Gardner, of Massachussetts, the son-in-law of Senator Lodge of that State, testified that he was a holder of stock in the General Electric Company, which has contracts to supply munitions of war to the Allies amounting to $69,000,000. For upward of a year Gardner as well as Senator Lodge were the most outspoken ad­vocates of the Allied cause and most bitter in their denunciation of Ger­many. In a speech early in the session of Congress, Gardner became so bitter that Representative Cooper of Wisconsin rose from his seat and de­clared that the proper place for such a speech was the British Parliament, not the American Congress. Representative Stafford of the same State likewise denounced Gardner's speech as an insult to every American with a drop of German blood in his veins. In the official report of the hearing before the Committee on Rules, on House Resolution No. 7, on page 12, ("The Peace Propaganda Investigation"), the proceedings are reported as follows :

Mr. Tavenner : I believe that an investigation would reveal that the Navy League originated at 23 Wall Street, in the office of J. P. Morgan & Co.

The Chairman : You mean to say that in your resolution you will charge that members of Congress and Senators own stock in munition trafficking concerns ?

Mr. Tavenner: There was an investigation in 1914-1915 by a committee of the United States Senate into lobbies, and two members of the Senate testified under oath that they owned stock in such con­cerns ; others that their relatives owned stock.

The Chairman: You want to broaden this resolution? Mr. Tavenner : Yes sir. I want to broaden this resolution to take in everything, because I realize that nothing would be gained by the public if we investigated only the unimportant part.

43