The Spanish government has announced its intention of purchasing a large quantity of American wheat for distribution among the Spanish agricultural syndicates for seeding. This information is contained in a report received by the state department from Carl Bailey Hurst, American consul general at Barcelona. Spanish experts regard American wheat as superior to other varieties.
Culebra New Gaillard Cut.
President Wilson has signed an executive order changing the name of Culebra Cut, in the Panama Canal, to Gaillard Cut, in honor of the late Colonel D. D. Gaillard, who died from disease contracted while a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission.
England Losing Great Pictures.
A committee of trustees of the English National Gallery appointed in 1911 to inquire into the retention of important pictures in England, has issued a blue book, in which the committee states that the exodus of pictures from private collections is proceeding at such a rate as to cause serious apprehension. Masterpieces of the[{64}] greatest importance have gone either to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum, in New York, among public collections, or to private collections in the United States.
The committee recommends that the government be asked to increase the ordinary Parliamentary grant from five thousand pounds yearly to not less than twenty-five thousand pounds, or, alternatively, that the money be raised by taxing the proceeds of works of art sold at public auction and by appropriating death duties paid on works of art. It is further recommended that the trustees and director of the National Gallery shall approach owners of pictures which it may be desirable to secure for the nation and endeavor privately to obtain the first refusal.
The committee regards it as inadvisable to legislate on the lines of the Italian law for restriction or prohibition of export of works of art. It is also considered inadvisable to put an export duty on pictures or works of art.
An interesting proposal is that some form of order, or decoration, should be conferred on those who generously endow or augment national art collections.
Wages Rising in England.
War as a wage raiser has brought to a considerable proportion of the laboring classes in England some compensation for the increased cost of living. Social workers estimate that the increased cost of living averages at least ten per cent, while the average increase in wages is not over five per cent. The plentiful supply of overtime work available in most trades makes it easy for most workmen to more than even matters.