have been brought forward are touched upon, but none of them treated with a fullness that is likely to carry conviction for the author's position, nor can it be said that he has given a satisfactory answer to objections that have been stated with great force and relevancy. With the increasing feeling that the state should not enforce the death penalty, even for aggravated crime, Dr. McKim's proposition is sure to prove too radical to accomplish great results. There are other remedies for checking the multiplication of the defective and criminal classes which do not appeal to sentimentalists any more than Dr. McKim's and are yet more likely to be given serious consideration, and perhaps wholesome experimentation in the near future. MR. J. HOWARD MOORE, of Chicago, in a small volume of essays entitled "Better World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis,"1 discusses the interesting conflict between the motives of egoism and altruism in their relation to the social problem of our own time. The Problem of Industry, The Blunders of Individuals in Interpreting the Animate and Inanimate Universe, The Social Problem, Egoism and Altruism, The Preponderance of Egoism, The Social Ideal, The Derivation of the Natures of Living Beings, Race Culture and Individual Culture are the topics of these essays. The fundamental thought running through the book is that both egoism and altruism are capable of classification and are found in a few well defined stages of intensity in all human beings. Furthermore, that both egoism and altruism are essentially rational motives. On this point it will be noted that the author takes issue with Mr. Kidd. The purpose of the volume is to show the existing preponderance of egoism in the social conduct of individuals and to discuss the question of how the preponderance may be turned, especially through the education of the young, in favor of the altruistic factor. THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION in its application to the origin of man is a subject of very general interest. Most writers nowadays assume that their readers accept the evolutionary hypothesis concerning man's ancestry. Very few persons know anything of the evidences upon which this theory rests or are able to read the scientific works which treat of those evidences. Mr. Charles Morris has given us, under the title "Man and His Ancestor: A Study in Evolution," a very modest clear and untechnical discussion of those evidences. He follows in the main the best scientific literature from Darwin to the present, and puts in a few suggestions concerning significant facts discovered since Pp. 275. Chicago: Ward-Waugh Company. Pages 238. Price, $1.25. New York: Macmillan Company, 1900. Darwin's time, which offer additional lines of evidence. The book is one which no reader of the social literature of the day can read without profit. It will help in clearing up many concepts which are currently accepted but dimly understood. The work is, moreover, sane and conservative from a positive evolutionist's point of view. Wall Street1 is a perennial source of interest to the uninitiated. Books which describe its methods and operations always seem to be in demand. Mr. Nelson's "A B C of Wall Street," although modest in size and pretensions, is an interesting book and is unusually accurate and reliable. An appendix gives the dictionary of the Wall Street jargon, which will be found very helpful to people not familiar with speculation. The book contains numerous extracts from the writings of Jevons, White, Muhleman and others. It describes Wall Street methods; it does not pretend to tell men how to make money there. MR. A. B. NETTLETON, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, has recently brought out a work entitled “Trusts or Competition." In this work Mr. Nettleton attempts to give both sides of the trust question. Pursuing this plan the author sets forth the arguments for and against the trust in clear and analytical style. Following these discussions the expressions of various leading thinkers in the spheres of finance and politics are given, together with the action taken by trust conferences and the United States Industrial Commission. The work is supplemented with extracts from anti-trust legislation and decisions. IN "Das Meer als Quelle der Völkergröfse," a pamphlet of eighty-six pages, the author, Friedrich Ratzel, has re-stated some of the thoughts contained in his "Politische Geographie." He discusses the influence of the sea upon the migration of peoples, finding that the maritime peoples are naturally migratory or expansive, because the land upon which they live necessarily gives a limited food supply. The people, therefore, extend their settlements from one island to another and along the coasts, as successive increases in the population necessitate new food supplies. The author also believes that islands are naturally the centre of world powers and cites numerous instances in support of this thought. The significance of maritime peoples and 1 The A B C of Wall Street. Edited by S. A. Nelson. Pp. 164. Price, $1.00. New York: S. A. Nelson, 16 Park Place. Pp. 304. Price, 50c. and $1.00. Chicago: Leon Publishing Company, 1900. their influence upon history varies greatly at different epochs. Professor Ratzel thinks that the influence of the Mediterranean Sea upon European civilization has at times been over-rated, since most of the great migrations took place through the interior of Europe rather than across the Mediterranean. At the present time, however, we are in the midst of a great development of sea power, which is extending to all progressive nations. The distinction between the land and the sea powers in world politics is rapidly dying out because of the great increase in the number of sea powers, and because all progressive peoples are steadily pushing their way toward the sea. "But it lies in the nature of the land that even the slowest progress finally brings the people to the ocean and no people will permanently renounce the advantages of sea trade; therefore, that steady progress of the inland peoples toward the ocean which is found in the negro races in Africa as well as the most cultivated peoples of Europe." This tendency is having a two-fold result, first, the enormous territorial expansion of the maritime powers, and, second, the destruction of the old balance of powers in Europe. Although the pamphlet contains ideas which the author had worked out before the present stage of international politics, yet it is intended primarily to educate the Germans to the necessity of a larger navy. THE HON. WILLIAM SCRUGGS, who was for many years the diplomatic representative of the United States in Colombia and Venezuela, has written a book' concerning these two countries. The volume will be a disappointment to persons familiar with the places described, and can hardly be recommended to those desiring information on Central or South America. The book contains chapters on the Panama Isthmus and canal, sections describing the coast and interior parts of Colombia and Venezuela, accounts of the manners and customs, revolutions and natural resources of each nation. The author discusses the political institutions of the countries named, makes some observations regarding the Monroe Doctrine, and gives an account of the Venezuelan boundary dispute. The political institutions and the economic resources of Colombia and Venezuela merit careful study on the part of the United States, and it is to be regretted that Mr. Scruggs has not written a work of more permanent value.2 1 The Colombian and Venezuelan Republics, with Notes on Other Parts of Central and South America. With maps and illustrations. By WILLIAM L. SCRUGGS, Late Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Colombia and to Venezuela. Pages, xii, 350. Price, $2.50. Little, Brown & Co., 1900. Contributed by Emory R. Johnson. DR. CHARLES B. SPAHR, one of the editors of the Outlook, has reprinted in an attractive volume his articles on "America's Working People," originally published in the Outlook. The articles origi nally attracted considerable attention, and even to those familiar with them they will be welcomed in the present collected form. The author has attempted to investigate conditions as they exist, and on the whole is rather optimistic in his conclusions. Economic gains seem to have offset economic losses in most of the departments of industry investigated. This is less true of farming districts, and yet Dr. Spahr is by no means as pessimistic as most recent writers in speaking of the condition of the American farmer. The studies in this volume cover the factory towns in New England and in the South, a primitive community in Arkansas, the coal and iron centres in Pennsylvania, two chapters on the negro, one on Mormons, a study of the trade union movement in Chicago and of the northern farmer. The chief value, as well as the chief weakness, of these studies consists in the fact that they are not statistical, but rather impressionist in character, and attempt to reflect the whole life of the people in the industry or section of the country under discussion. THE WORK of the London School Board" has just been described in an interesting compilation prepared for the Paris Exposition. The president of the board, Lord Reay, says, in his preface to the volume: "Although the school board has only been in existence for thirty years, it has wrought so great a revolution in the educational condition of London that people are apt to forget the calamitous state of affairs which existed before it was established . . . ." These conditions are briefly described in the first twenty pages of the book. In the second part an outline of the existing organization is given. From the interesting statistics given in this part it appears that until 1893 the number of children of school age exceeded the accommodations provided but that since 1893 the accommodations have been in excess. The efficiency of the board in bringing about this result is more striking when it is known that in 1870, when the board was instituted, over 180,000 children of school age were without accommodations. Part II also contains a convenient summary of information concerning school buildings, apparatus and text-books, compulsion, industrial schools and school finances. The local school taxes are levied by the various local councils of the municipality upon demand 1 Pages vi, 261. Price, $1.25. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1900. 2 By T. A. Spalding, T. S. A. Canney and others. Pp. 269. Price, 55. London: P. S. King & Son, 1900. of the board. The annual cost per child in 1900 is eighty-seven shillings, of which fifty-five shillings are paid from the local taxes, the remainder being given by the state. Part III contains a series of articles upon special topics, e. g., infant schools, teachers' training, drawing, singing, cookery, domestic economy, the abnormal child and evening schools, etc. The book will be of great interest to all American as well as English educators. "WHAT WOMEN CAN EARN "" is a discussion of the occupations of women and their compensation. The volume is a collection of very brief articles on the different professions and occupations in which women have entered in recent years, contributed by a large number of writers, many of whom, by their own conspicuous successes or their experience with women engaged in gainful occupations, can speak with authority. Most of the articles appeared originally in the New York Tribune, and are reprinted from the Women's Page of that paper. They contain a certain amount of wholesome advice for young women entering upon business careers, and are of some general interest in reflecting the usual difficulties with which women have to contend in the business world. The volume as a whole, however, has little scientific value as a study of women's attainments or failures in business. REVIEWS. Pennsylvania, Province and State. By ALBERT S. BOLLES. 2 vols. Pages vi, 532; x, 582. Price, $5.00. Philadelphia: John Wanamaker. 1899. Dr. Bolles has given the public, in the present work, a history of Pennsylvania from 1609 to 1790. His subject is one of peculiar interest. To use his own language: "Of all political institutions planted in the Anglo-American colonies, Penn's 'holy experiment' is the boldest, the most comprehensive, the most original." The land grant which furnished the material basis for this experiment included, in all, about forty-five million acres, a tract larger and more fertile in resources than that of England itself. The society and political organization planted here were unique. The early history of this newworld institution and the development of the proprietary into a state is portrayed in a most entertaining style. Dr. Bolles has aimed to write in a manner to entertain rather than to impress the reader with his scientific qualities. He has avoided foot-notes and the usual drapings of scientific history. The reason for this, as he states in his preface, is that the work is intended for the general reader, who trusts to the 1 Pages xvi, 354. Price, $1.00. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. |