Connie Mack refused to comment on Baker’s latest move other than to declare he had never said he intended to blacklist the famous third baseman. “I want to say, however,” continued Mack, “that I never want to see Baker again. He has treated the club unfairly, and I have no time for a man who is unfair in his dealings. “So far as preventing Baker from coming back to the Athletics is concerned, I have not that power. Our contract is mutual, and he can force me to take him, but my sincere hope is that he sticks to his word and remains away. A man who breaks his word once is likely to do it again, and once and for all, I don’t want Baker on my club. We miss him greatly and want his services, but I prefer a losing club to having men whose words are unreliable.” United States Seed Wheat for Spain. 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 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.