THE NEW LIBERAL REVIEW. THE New Liberal Review is a good number, and this month makes the excellent innovation of dealing with foreign as well as domestic questions. I have quoted elsewhere from Lord Crewe's article on "Ireland and the Liberal Party," and from Mr. Lucien Wolf's "Will the Triple Alliance Collapse," also from "The Causerie on the Settlement in South Africa."

i NAVAL WARFARE REVOLUTIONISED. Perhaps the most interesting of the other articles is Mr. Laird Clowes's "Coming Revolution in Naval Warfare." The revolution is to be brought about by the perfecting of what Mr. Clowes calls the actinaut, or torpedo, or small submarine boat, which can be steered by electrical rays from a great distance without any connecting wire. At present torpedoes are of two kindsautomobile torpedoes which, once started, cease to be under the control of the ship which discharges them, and therefore may miss their aim and be lost, and torpedoes connected with the place of discharge by means of a wire. Both of these types

have disadvantages which are apparent. But the actinaut when launched can be directed with certainty by means of rays to its destination. Actinauts have been already run over a distance of three miles, and from a height even twenty miles may be attainable. Mr. Clowes takes the Admiralty to task for beginning to experiment on submarine boats only at the moment when submarines are being superseded by a much superior invention. The actinaut has none of the disadvantages of the submarine, and all its advantages, since, while carrying no crew, it can be steered with more certainty than any boat controlled by direct human agency. Mr. Clowes does not attempt to forecast what means of defence will be adopted against these new weapons. first sight it appears that defence is impossible.

THE BUDGET.

On

Mr. Herbert Samuel writes on 66 The Budget and the Future Revenue." He says :—

The least that can be asked in the interest of the working classes, in addition to the surrender, already allowed for, of four millions on the indirect taxes levied this year and last, is the repeal of the whole of the remaining duties on tea, sugar, coffee, cocoa, and dried fruits, together with the new duty 4d. in the lb. on tobacco imposed in 1900.

If this were done the incidence of taxation would be as follows:

An average working class income would be taxed An income of £200 (income-tax Is., abatement £160, as now allowed)

...

5'5

...

4.2

...

...

...

5.8

IO'I

At present the income of £5,000 a year pays only 8.4 per cent.

THE CRICKET SEASON.

Mr. C. B. Fry has an article on "Cricket in 1901." The visit of the South African team, he says, will be the chief feature of this season. In regard to the much-discussed question of drawn matches, Mr. Fry does not think the public objects to them. The greater number of people witness a match only for an hour or two, and they want to see brilliant play first of all. Nevertheless, Mr. Fry recommends that experiments should be made with smaller bats and larger wickets.

THE MALTA LANGUAGE QUESTION.

Mr. Alexander Paul has a paper on this subject. The

real Maltese language at present, he says, is an Arabic patois:

Maltese is taught in the elementary schools and is made the medium through which English or Italian is acquired, the parent being now offered for his children the alternative, but no longer instruction or what used to pass for instruction-in both.

Under the present arrangement in twelve years Italian will cease to be used in official documents. Mr. Paul approves of the change, but he thinks that Mr. Chamberlain's over-emphatic way of writing of the question has injured its popularity. The policy taken by the Governor was merely that a thorough knowledge of English would open to the Maltese careers in the service of this country. But Mr. Chamberlain "could not demolish the opponents of his policy without proclaiming to all the world that he was doing so."

THE HOUSING PROBLEM.

Mr. George Haw, the author of "No Room to Live,” writes on The Government and the Housing Problem." He says:

The fact is, Parliament has set the local authorities an impossible task. All experience shows that they cannot deal with the difficulties of housing alone. They have tried, and tried nobly, in many places-to mention London, Glasgow, and Liverpool alone-but they are hampered by an Act which is very much in need of amendment. It is an Act which has benefited slum-owners more than slum-dwellers. It turns out the people who live in the slums, generally without rehousing them again, and compensates the people who own the slums, generally on a generous scale. Many of the clearance and rehousing schemes under Parts I. and II. of the Act have only intensified the evils of overcrowding. Yet it was these parts of the Act, and not Part III. (which confers the greatest benefit), that the Local Government Board in a special circular issued last June urged the local authorities to enforce. The Government encourages the local aspects of housing, but the national aspects it overlooks.

PEARSON'S MAGAZINE.

THE June number of Pearson's begins with another of the series of papers on "The Art of the Age," dealing this time with the American Academicians, Mr. Sargent and Mr. Edwin Abbey, R.A.'s, and Mr. Shannon, A.Ř.A. The writer considers Mr. Sargent the greatest portrait painter living, and decidedly the superior of his master, Carolus Duran.

A prettily written and cleverly illustrated article describes the way certain rare British wild birds lay and hide away their eggs.

ANIMAL DUELS.

Dr. Louis Robinson writes on “Animals at War,” and describes the various attitudes adopted by wild animals when disputing for a female or for the leadership of a herd. His theory, which he works out very ingeniously, is that, broadly speaking, animals' horns are so constructed that their fights very seldom end in death. Dr. Robinson says:—

It is not to the interest of the herd or community that weapons used in civil war should be lethal, because, if this were the case, the finest and most courageous males would leave no progeny. Elaborate means of protection against fatal injuries are found wherever trial by battle is fashionable between the males.

Other articles are on the ancient collection of historic horseshoes presented to the Castle of Oakham, Rutlandshire, and a description of Edison's new processes for iron-mining, which the writer says have revolutionised former methods of iron-mining. The article on the Kaiser's Hobbies is noticed separately.

THE MONTHLY REVIEW. THE editorial in the Monthly Review for June is a somewhat abstract article on the aims of education, entitled "The Pyramid of Studies."

WAR OFFICE AND ADMIRALTY.

Sir John Colomb writes on "The War Office, the Admiralty, and the Coaling Stations," in which he objects to the War Office proposal that the Admiralty should take over the coaling stations. The greater part of his article deals with our position in the Pacific. He regards Australia as the chief strategical position, and complains that Australia and Canada do not do more to support our naval power in the Pacific, in which they are chiefly interested.

THE POWERS IN CHINA.

Mr. H. C. Thompson has an article on "The Policy of the Powers in China." He contrasts the increase of Russian prestige with the decay of our own—a decay which has been caused by alternate threatening and receding. Even when we went in for a definite policy, it was at the heels of Germany; and Mr. Thompson claims that the Russians got on much better with the Chinese, once the heat of hostilities was over, than the Germans. The Russian policy was the right one, and carried its day.

THE VOLUNTEERS.

Mr. Basil Williams writes on "Volunteer Efficiency." The weak point of the Volunteer system, he says, is the inefficiency of the officers :

In artillery volunteer corps, where exact knowledge is even more requisite in an officer, the following figures show no great improvement, although I have reckoned in the totals those who have passed the special examination in artillery as well as those who have passed the school of instruction. In one corps only 6 officers out of 27 have passed either the school of instruction or the artillery examination; in another, 6 out of 25; in others, 6 out of 16, 6 out of 14, 10 out of 26, 4 out of 11, 8 out of 16, 15 out of 37, and 18 out of 23; in one corps the major, four captains and six lieutenants have not apparently even passed the examination entitling them to the prefix p!

NIGERIA.

Mr. Harold Bindloss writes an interesting article entitled "Nigeria and its Trade," which deals, however, more with the general conditions of life in Nigeria than with trade. The export trade of the country is practically confined to palm oil and kernels, which are paid for chiefly with gin and cotton. Of the former commodity Mr. Bindloss says:

This may,

Some describe it as a brain-destroying poison, others as an innocuous stimulant, while the writer would only state that though he has seen great numbers of cases purchased he rarely witnessed any drunkenness among the natives. however, be due to the fact that the negro can apparently consume almost any fluid without ill-effect. On the other hand, few white men care to drink the "trade" brand of gin, and the few seamen who do so surreptitiously are usually brought back by main force in a state approaching dangerous insanity.

THE MAKING OF PEDIGREES.

OTHER ARTICLES.

Mr. R. E. Fry's paper on "Florentine Painting of the Fourteenth Century" is admirably illustrated with reproductions. Miss Cholmondeley describes, under the title of "An Art in its Infancy," advertising as it was in the seventeenth century. Mr. Henry Newbolt tells the Romance of a Songbook, and there is an article by the President of Magdalen College on "Gray and Dante."

THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW.

THE June number is alive and up-to-date. It delivers itself with uncompromising earnestness about the national duty and the national danger in South Africa, as several articles cited elsewhere will show.

FOR CONVALESCENTS FROM THE KHAKI FEVER. Mr. Howard Hodgkin does good service by recalling the way in which Penn and the Quakers acquired Pennsylvania, and by contrasting the situation in South Africa. He ejaculates "If only our statesmen could first appreciate and then imitate the wisdom of the Quaker courtier of the seventeenth century!" There would follow cessation of hostilities, conference, possibly a compromise to be found in "flying the flags of two respective nations at Bloemfontein and Pretoria, as at Khartoum." In any case, he argues, "it were better to be on friendly terms with two contented peoples outside the British Empire, than on terms of enmity with two rebellious peoples lately introduced within it." He closes with the remark, "If only the English will rise to the high level of the first settlers of Pennsylvania, the other inhabitants of South Africa will rise to the level of the Red Indians." Mr. Frederic W. Tugman writes under the heading, "The Policy of Grab: Jingo or Pro-Boer"; and slashingly vindicates the genuine patriotism of "Pro-Boer" and "Little Englander" as against the rival claims of Jingo capitalists.

TWO IRISH PROBLEMS.

Mr. Dudley S. A. Cosby argues against Mr. T. W. Russell's scheme for the compulsory expropriation of Irish landlords. It would, he says, mean ruin to the landlords, extinction of the Protestation element, and elimination of a sorely needed source of good and honest leadership. He says that "the extension of the present system of voluntary purchase appears to us to be the best plan, until the whole question of the relationship of the people of Great Britain with the land comes up for settlement in England."

Mr. Thomas E. Naughten replies to an earlier article by Mr. Cosby, and explains that the opposition to the establishment of a Roman Catholic university is based not on Protestant bigotry or racial feud, but on a desire to promote national unity and brotherhood by a system of education common and open to all creeds and parties.` This he declares to be the real desire of Roman Catholic laymen, if they only dared to express it.

OTHER ARTICLES.

Mr. Maurice Todhunter supplies a very interesting study of the historian, Heinrich von Treitschke. Treitschke "is on the side of life against bookishness"; he "is possessed of the great antiseptic style' and knows how to set off his masses of material in a readable and artistic shape." He is said to resemble Macaulay, but was more genial and passionate, and had something of the lyrical and penetrative essence of Michelet and Carlyle. James Creed Meredith examines the basis of certain popular observations concerning the Ridiculous.

Mr. H. W. Wolff's proposal to use savings bank deposits as loans for housing purposes claims separate notice.

THE ENGINEERING MAGAZINE. THE magazine this month contains an unusual number of articles of interest to English readers.

THE TRANSFERENCE OF THE WORLD'S WORKSHOP. Mr. E. Phillips contributes the first of a series of papers upon Britain and her competitors in iron and steel-making. He writes before Mr. Morgan had completed his gigantic trust, but the arguments he brings to show the causes why America is forging ahead of us, are only emphasised by its formation. Hitherto Britain has been the workshop of the world, but within the last few years both America and Germany have forged ahead of her in the production of steel and iron.

The essentials for the production of cheap steel are— cheap railway rates, low sea or lake freights to bring ore to furnaces, cheap coal and coke, a large output production, mechanical labour-saving appliances, and a low wage-rate cost per ton on the output, whilst paying the men good wages.

At every point America has the advantage. Railway rates are cheap owing to the fact that most of the large steel-making firms own mines, railways, and fleets of lake steamers. Then the American method of handling and shipping ore is far ahead of that used by most British firms. Ore is brought to England from Bilbao in vessels of about 2,000 tons burden. The average time of voyage is two weeks, owing to the delays caused at each end by having to wait before loading and discharging. The lake steamers of 6,000 tons, which have to cover about the same distance, only take one week for the round trip. This is one of the causes for the higherpriced ore in England. But in the handling of the ore, in blast, and in open-hearth furnaces and in mechanical equipment the American mills are far ahead.

Mr. Phillips concludes his comparison of the two methods as follows:

It is with great reluctance and regret that I, an Englishman, have to make the foregoing very unfavourable contrasts between British and American methods in making iron and steel and of the dilatory progression of my countrymen in the past. I wish it were otherwise, but the facts of the case need to be fully disclosed, so that when realised, every possible reform in methods ensuring rapid production with a large output may be adopted; for it will only be by doing this that Britain will be enabled to make up for her want of foresight in the past in not forecasting the looming developments in America, and to put herself in better position to fight, on more equal terms, the American competition for trade which she has now to face unprepared.

THE GLASGOW EXHIBITION.

The International Exhibition has been duly opened, and it is interesting to find so lucid a description of the more important portion as is given by Mr. Benjamin Taylor. The buildings alone, he says, cover an area of close on twenty acres. The exhibits are:

(1) Raw material, both agricultural and mineral; (2) Industrial design and manufacture; (3) Machinery of all sorts in motion, electricity, and labour-saving devices; (4) Locomotion and transport; (5) Marine engineering and ship-building; (6) Lighting and heating; (7) Science and scientific instruments, education and music; (8) Sports and sporting appliances; (9) Women's industries; (10) Fine arts, Scottish history, and archaeology.

A

There are special buildings devoted to the displays of France, Russia, Japan, Canada, Persia and Morocco, and other countries. America has no special building, but her exhibits occupy a large amount of space. special section of the ground had to be set aside entirely for the use of Russia, as her demands for space were so large. The pavilions were erected by Russian workmen "sent specially from St. Petersburg, who worked for ten

hours daily in spite of short winter days and bad weather, and with a short-handled axe as almost sole instrument, it seems, for all kinds of jobs."

MOTORS TO SUPPLANT HORSES.

Mr. James G. Dudley contributes an interesting article upon the steam motor truck. Steam, he says, is the most reliable of all the known and tried motive powers, and should, therefore, be the one adopted for trucks which are to replace the ordinary cart and horse. The chief trouble of the steam motor vehicle is water purification. Impure water is often all that can be obtained, and it naturally has a bad effect upon any boiler. However, with care this can be, to some extent, minimised.

MINERALS IN THE PHILIPPINES.

Mr. Frank L. Strong writes upon the mineral deposits in the latest addition to the United States. Briefly put, his conclusions seem to be, that there is probably considerable mineral wealth, that the Spanish surveys and records are entirely untrustworthy, and that nothing can be known definitely until the "insurrection" is crushed out. He concludes with a significant remark :—

The machinery selected for the government plant and many thousands of dollars' worth placed elsewhere, have proved a revelation to users here. English machinery has had entire control, but American manufacturers have but to bestir themselves and adopt the same methods of selling as the English, to secure the trade.

CASSIER'S MAGAZINE.

MR. JOSEPH HOMER writes upon the copying of American Machinery. He deprecates the mere imitation of American tools which is taking place in Great Britain. He concludes :

In a dilatory way British manufacturers are waking up to the gravity of the situation, and are offering rival tools, of a class similar to those which find a ready sale here. But the necessity for producing something better still is generally neglected; and while they imitate existing machines, the American firms advance, constantly devising improved forms. While British firms are panting to recover lost ground, the 'Americans are still forging ahead, and scoring new triumphs year by year.

Two months ago several articles were published expressing the views of representative American engineers upon the industrial supremacy of the United States. Mr. Westgarth writes suggesting that Mr. Cassier should arrange to take a strong committee of bona-fide working men to America to see what is being done and report to their fellows on their return. This is now being done, and the result will be awaited with great interest. Mr. H. W. Buch, electrical engineer of the Niagara Falls Power Company, contributes an interesting account of the way in which Niagara Falls power is being used. Allan V. Garratt writes upon speed regulation of waterpower plants. W. D. Wansborough describes steam boilers at the Paris Exhibition. E. L. Orde draws some conclusions from recent trials of liquid fuel. Dr. R. Molden writes upon modern cupola practice, and C. F. Bancroft compares different systems of electrical distribution for street railways.

THE current number of the Rivista Musicale Italiana may be considered a Verdi number. The work of Verdi is dealt with by L. Torchi; Verdi in caricature is the subject of an article by G. Borca; G. Monaldi, the author of a book on Verdi, gives us some Verdi anecdotes, etc.; a notice of the Home for Musicians is contributed by L. Decujos ; and a valuable Verdi Bibliography is supplied by L. Torri.

THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. THE North American Review for May is chiefly notable for its series of articles on "Industrial and Railroad Consolidations." I have dealt with these articles in detail elsewhere, as also with Prince Kropotkin's paper on "The Present Crisis in Russia."

RENAN ON SCIENCE.

The editor has somewhere disinterred an article by Renan, entitled How Science Serves the People," from which I quote this remarkable passage :—

I have no fears for the future. I am convinced that the progress of mechanics and of chemistry will be the redemption of the working man, that the physical labour of humanity will go on always diminishing in quantity, and becoming less arduous; that thus humanity will be more free to lead a life happy, moral, intellectual. Hitherto, the culture of the intellect has been only a luxury, because material needs are imperious, and these must be satisfied first of all. The essential condition of progress is that the satisfaction of these needs shall become more and more easy, and it is not too rash to foresee a future in which, with some hours of not arduous labour, man will discharge his labour debt, and redeem his liberty. Be assured that it is to science that this result will be due. Love science, respect her, believe in her! She is the best friend of the people, the most certain guarantee of their progress.

THE MISSIONARIES' REPLY.

The Rev. Judson Smith replies on behalf of the Chinese missionaries. The following is the burden of his defence, but it cannot be said that his arguments are sufficient to sustain it :

1. The efforts of the missionaries have saved the lives of hundreds of the Chinese refugees, who with them went through the siege of Peking and helped to save the Legations, and thus placed the allied Powers in their debt.

2. The utterly abnormal conditions which have prevailed since the siege have demanded exceptional treatment, and in dealing with them the missionaries have shown great caution, courage and wisdom.

3. The indemnities secured were wholly for the Chinese whom the Boxers had robbed and outraged; not a penny has been asked or used for missionary losses of any kind.

4. The "amounts and method of settling" these indemnities, the additional third as well as the rest, were decided by the deputy of Li Hung Chang, the governor of the province; they are declared satisfactory and fair both to Chinese and foreigners" by Mr. Rockhill; and they were acceptable to the village officials.

THE FUTURE OF JUDAISM.

The Rabbi Gasler writes on “Jews and Judaism" as a "Great Religion of the World." Of the future of Zionism he says:

It is idle to speculate at this juncture what the result may be for the progress of the higher ideals of mankind. A mighty wind of reaction is blowing all over Europe. We are moving on the down-grade, from equality, fraternity, freedom, and right to racial hatred, national exclusiveness, military brutalisation, and dynastic tyranny; from the free and serene atmosphere of human faith to the swamps of Mysticism, Occultism, to the Inquisition, and the Stake. But far away the dawn of a new life is visible, a new day which will disperse the shadows that are settling down, a day rising again from the regenerated East, from the Orient inhabited again by its own sons-Jews living a national life, competing for the best and working for the highest, blending the civilisation of the West with the poetry of the East, and giving to mankind the message of better days: "Ex Oriente lux."

OTHER ARTICLES.

Mr. Alleyne Ireland continues his papers on "The Victorian Age of British Expansion," dealing this month with England and the Colonies. Mr. John Ford writes on "Municipal Government in the United States," and

Mr. W. D. Howells on "The New Poetic Drama," the literary qualities of which he admits, while denying its suitableness for the stage.

THE FORUM.

THE Forum for May is about at its usual level. It opens with an article by Mr. Marrion Wilcox on the Philippine questions, in which Mr. Wilcox makes it clear that it was the Taft Civil Commission by its wise handling of native affairs which led to the collapse of the insurrection. This Commission invited the public to come before it and advise as to the passing of projected laws. Thus they brought about the co-operation of the natives. Mr. Wilcox recommends that in any future case of the kind the army should be accompanied by civilians representing the Government.

RUSSIA IN MANCHURIA.

Prince Kropotkin writes upon this subject. He regards the Russian acquisition of the Amur, as of that of Central Asia, as a great misfortune for the Russian people, and even from the military point of view he considers Russia would have been better off without its Far Eastern possessions. Prince Kropotkin describes his visit to Manchuria in 1864 in company with the first Russian expedition, the purpose of which was trade. Things being as they are, he agrees, however, that the Russian Government has selected the best possible route for its railway to the Pacific.

NEGROES AS CIVILISERS.

Mr. W. S. Scarborough, writing on "The Negroes and our New Possessions," makes the interesting suggestion that American negroes should be used in the Philippines as intermediaries between white and black :

It does seem, as previously intimated, that the evolutionary process the race has gone through in this country would make such men and women of colour of inestimable value in undertaking the evolutions which must take place in the attempt to lead out to the light and on to strength the weaker, dark races of the world, wherever found. The cry comes from the Philippines, from the natives: Why does not the United States send out coloured men as school teachers, and in various other official capacities? It would seem wisdom for the Government to heed this cry, and to yield to the wish in the effort that is being put forth to bring these peoples under law and government represented by the American flag. The Filipinos especially, we are told, "want Occidentalism, but want it to come through hands of a like complexion to theirs."

MR. BRYAN'S FUTURE.

Writing on "Bryanism and Jeffersonian Democracy," Mr. Albert Watkins says:—

Mr. Bryan's natural followers since the election will be confined to the ultimate or logical Jeffersonian radicals. To accommodate himself to this following he should consistently, and at once, stand for postal savings banks, public ownership of telegraphs, and all means of transportation, and perhaps of all deposits of coal and other staple minerals. This he will not do, because his tendency is to build for the present and not to wait for development or slow party growth. He can win nothing practical on opportunist or temporary issues, because he is too widely distrusted by conservative classes whether on good grounds or not is not material.

OTHER ARTICLES.

Mr. T. S. Woolsey writes on "Foreign Bonds as American Investments." He lays down certain rules which should guide the investor. Professor Arlo Bates has an article entitled "The Negative Side of Modern Athletics," the negative side being the neglect of intellectual study which devotion to athleticism involves. Mr. G. D. Shepardson describes the methods of lighting railway cars. There are several other articles.

THE NOUVELLE REVUE.

THE Nouvelle Revue is not quite up to its usual level, though each of the May numbers presents a varied fare, twenty-four articles being spread through the whole month.

66 ROLL ON, THOU BALL!"

M. Camille Flammarion, the great astronomer, is given the place of honour in the first May number. It is his object to prove that the terrestrial globe, constantly turning on its own axis through space, never goes twice through the same atmosphere. According to this theory, the world turns on practically twelve axes, and those interested in astronomy will find the explanation of his theory very ingenious and plausible.

CAN CATHOLICISM BE LIBERAL?

M. Pottier once more makes a determined effort to prove the desirability of a new French political party which shall at once be Catholic and Liberal. He has taken the trouble to secure a written expression of opinion from well-known politicians, including those of such varying views as M. Clémenceau, the Abbé Gayraud, Jules Lemaître, M. Ribot, and M. Trarieux. The Comte de Blois is evidently very much discouraged. He says that, although the Catholic party are always willing to join themselves together to form such valuable institutions as that of the Catholic Workmen's Clubs, founded by Comte Albert de Mun, he does not see them at all willing to sink their various differences in order to form a united Liberal party. M. Clémenceau writes, as might be expected, very bitterly. He points out that numerous efforts to form a Liberal party have already taken place and that they have all failed. M. Cunéo d'Ornano, while full of faith and conviction, thoroughly disapproves of mixing up religion and politics. He declares that in France the religious politician is invariably a Royalist, and he points out that the Catholic Liberal party would inevitably work for the restoration of a Bonaparte or a Bourbon. The distinguished man of letters, M. Lemaître, who has come prominently to the front in connection with the Nationalist party, is evidently on the whole in favour of the formation of a Catholic Liberal party, but evidently simply because he believes that such a party would work for the objects he himself has in view. M. Leroy-Beaulieu sets forth at some length his reasons for opposing the suggestion of such a party-the majority, indeed, of the well-known people whose opinions are here set forth think the formation of a Catholic Liberal party neither desirable nor possible. M. Ribot recalls the fact that the Comte de Mun tried to do something of the kind some years ago, and that, so far from being encouraged, he was begged to .desist from his efforts by the heads of the French Episcopate.

HIS FATHER'S SON.

M. Mauclair gives in a few pages an interesting -account of M. Léon Daudet, the eldest son of the famous novelist, whose premature death was such a terrible loss to French letters. Young Daudet has not cared to follow in his father's footsteps, and his novels differ, as much as one form of fiction can differ from another, from those of the writer who was justly styled "the French Dickens." Alphonse Daudet delighted in showing the world simple heroism, the pathos and the beauty of ordinary life; his son is a philosopher, a cynic, a satirist, and up to the present time each of his novels has partaken of the nature of a pamphlet.

FRENCH HOUSEWIVES.

Mme. Schmahl, who is, we believe, an Englishwoman, contributes an excellent little article entitled "Domestic Economy," which is, of course, entirely written from the French point of view. She points out that in our modern life woman, in her rôle of housewife, has the disposal of a considerable portion of her husband's earnings or income. She also is an important employer of labour, and to the mother of the family falls the important duty of looking after the physical as well as the moral welfare of the future citizens in every country. According to Mme. Schmahl, the modern housewife, for the most part, does not fulfil her duties at all competently. Many women allow themselves to be hopelessly cheated by their tradespeople, even those who go to market themselves, for they have not the experience which will save them from being constantly outwitted in bargaining. Every household is managed upon a different plan, each married woman buying her experience very bitterly. She touches upon the servant question, which is apparently as great a problem in France as in this country. She points out that work has no sex, and would evidently like to see men taught to be as good housekeepers as are their wives-that is, when they are so fortunate as to meet the ideal housewife who knows something of everything, and who can teach each of her servants how to do his or her work.

THE CENTURY MAGAZINE.

THE June Century opens with Alice K. Fallows' discussion of "Working One's Way Through College." She tells of one Harvard student who acts as a butcher's clerk, and another man who sells eggs, butter, sugar, codfish, and other groceries to earn his way through Cambridge. There are dozens of other occupations to which students in the north and east resort to earn money they need for a college education. Harvard, of all the colleges in the country, has the longest roll of undergraduate industries, and it is said that in the past ten years almost every branch of business in Boston has had its Harvard undergraduate representative.

Mr. Waldon Fawcett describes the huge metal-working industries about Pittsburg, "The Centre of the World of Steel." A radius of a hundred miles about Pittsburg takes in most of the territory where the ironmaker is supreme, and will remain so. Prior to the Homestead strike the ironworkers of exceptional skill were receiving fabulous wages, some of them earning from 25 dols. to 40 dols. a day. Now the best paid artisans do not receive more than 20 dols. a day, and it is few indeed whose daily wage exceeds 10 dols. Moreover the necessity for skilled labour is disappearing. The machine, seemingly endowed with human intelligence, is doing the work better and cheaper than its prototype of flesh and blood.

Ex-President Grover Cleveland appears in the first of the two lectures delivered at Princeton University on the Venezuelan boundary dispute. This first chapter is occupied with clearing the ground by giving the history of the incidents leading to the situation in the dispute between the United States and Great Britain in 1893. The second chapter, published next month, will deal with the interposition of the United States in the controversy.

There appears in this number, too, the prize essay in the Century's competition for college graduates in 1899, "Tolstoy's Moral Theory of Art," by John Albert Macy, of Harvard University.