This debt originally contracted in the development of transportation, the accumulation of war and reconstruction interest, amounted to some $45,000,000, and the State's assets amounted to $10,000,000 in State bonds. According to the author, the most important results of the movement were the changes in the dominant party and the rejuvenation of the Republican party.

Thackeray's notes for an Essay on Napoleon are published by his daughter in "The Cornhill Magazine " for March.

Miss Ruth A. Gallaher is continuing her studies of the relations between the Indians and Europeans in the "Iowa Journal of History and Politics" for July, 1916. This is the third of her articles on the Indian agents, and gives an unusually clear account of the relations between the two races. In Iowa the period of hostility was shorter than elsewhere, because there the pioneer days came when the Indians had become accustomed to removal. The greatest cause of difficulty, however, lay in the fact that both Indian agents and military officers not infrequently found themselves involved in expensive litigation because of their attempts to enforce the indefinite regulations of the department.

The letters of the elder William Byrd in the July number of the "Virginia Magazine of History" give glimpses of the quaint customs of the closing years of the seventeenth century, as well as of the interesting personality of the writer, who has been rather eclipsed by his more polished and courtly son of the same name.

-The belated German periodicals give interesting points of view on the war. In the March "Deutsche Rundschau," Alfredo Hartwig discusses the effect of the war on the relations of Japan and North America, showing an understandable contempt for North American bankers and ironmongers.

Sir Guildford Molesworth's "Common Origins of the Religions of India," in the "Asiatic Review" for May, is decidedly worth reading. According to the author, the three leading religions of India, Hinduism, Buddhism and Mohammedanism, all debased and overlaid with various accretions of medieval growth, have a common origin, and, indeed, were originally identical.

The war articles in the current number of the "Atlantic" are especially interesting. Cyril Campbell's discussion of General Smuts's "Campaign in German East Africa " was written on the field. The author criticises Mr. Gladstone's "indecisive, vacillating attitude" in his forreign policies as the cause of the chief campaigns in Africa in 1914-15, resulting in "a meagre record of sporadic raids, isolated bush fights and attacks on block-houses, the results as a whole favoring the Germans." That the more recent campaigns have had a different outcome is due to General Smuts, the secret of whose success is the mobility of his army, which the author claims is the most diverse in organization since the barbarian invasions. T. Lathrop Stoddard's article on "Russia's State of Mind" in the same magazine characterizes Russian public opinion as complex and glaringly contradictory and vexed by many cross currents tending in radically divergent directions.

"One of the Garrison" publishes an intensely interesting and vivid account of the Irish situation in April in "In Trinity College During the Sinn Fein Rebellion" in "Blackwood's Magazine" for July.

Archibald Hurd's "Testing of the New British Navy," May 31, 1916, in the July "Fortnightly Review," claims that the moral victory of the British is everlasting, even though their squadrons were denied anything in the nature of a general engagement.

Prof. W. P. M. Kennedy has an interesting brief account of "Richard Hakluyt" in "The Canadian Magazine " for March.

R. F. O'Connor's "Blessed Catherine of Racconigi" in the "American Catholic Quarterly Review" for April, is full of interest to students of fifteenth century history.

Louise Closser Hali's somewhat misnomered article in the August "Harper's," "We Discover the Old Dominion " (beginning a series) gives what purports to be an authentic account of the Barbara Frietchie incident.

"The Nineteenth Century" for July publishes "Neutrality in Northern Europe," by Rt. Rev. Bishop Bury, who gives his impressions received during a recent visit to Norway and Sweden. According to Bishop Bury, neutrality in Scandinavia is as unreliable as it has been in America. While it is hard to form a satisfactory opinion of the public feeling in either country, yet Norway's sympathy is generally for the Allies and Sweden's for Germany.

Reports from
The Historical Field

Dr. W. S. McKechnie, the well-known author of the book on Magna Charta, has been promoted to a full professorship in Glasgow University, after serving for many years as a lecturer. The chair is one in Conveyancing, but as the feudal law still is in force in Scotland in land transfers, the field is near Dr. McKechnie's own interests.

"The Outlook for International Law" is the title of pamphlet No. 3, Vol. 6, of the publications of the World Peace Foundation. The paper is an address delivered by Elihu Root before the American Society of International Law in Washington, D. C., December 28, 1915.

"The Independent" for June 12, 1916, contains a number of replies sent in response to the following inquiries: "Of all you were taught at schcool, what has proved most useful to you in after life?" "What have you had to learn since leaving school that you might have been taught there?" The editors, in commenting upon the replies, state that they show "the impracticability of prescribing any single course of study as suited to all minds and future careers. Almost every conceivable study is mentioned among those which have proved most useful, and some inconceivable studies are mentioned among those most missed."

Brother Denis Edward, president of LaSalle College, Philadelphia, read a paper on Wednesday, June 28, before the College Department of the Catholic Educational Association meeting in its thirteenth annual convention in Baltimore, upon the topic, "The Scope and Value of History in Catholic Colleges."

"Five Hundred Practical Questions in Economics" will be published by D. C. Heath & Company for the New England History Teachers' Association. The questions were compiled by a special committee of the Association, conABBOTT, JAMES FRANCIS. Japanese Expansion and American Policies. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1916. Pp. viii, 267. $1.50.

In this little book Professor Abbott states the facts which lead him to believe "that war between Japan and America during the present generation is a most unlikely contingency." In the first three chapters he gives an excellent brief historical resume to enable the reader to understand what follows. Then in five strong chapters he gives the arguments and evidence to back his conclusion "that war with America would be national suicide for Japan." First he takes up the Philippine question, and shows that it would be far more profitable for Japan to deal with the islands as a foreign power and do a good business with them than to try to overdo this trade by forced control. Then he describes Japan's economic evolution, showing that Japan is now in the midst of an industrial revolution. It is significant that America is the only country with which Japan has a large and favorable balance of trade, i. e., from all other countries with which she has much trade she imports far more than she exports. United States is Japan's best customer, and some articles which she gets from United States can not be secured as cheaply or conveniently elsewhere. Japan has a gigantic debt, and has difficulty to make ends meet now. She has great interest payments to make abroad and seldom a favorable balance of trade with which to do it. It would be folly for her to fight her best customer. In the sixth chapter Professor Abbott takes up the "yellow peril"-the danger of Japanese and other Oriental immigration. Here he discusses very fairly the great reasons underlying dislike of Oriental immigration not only into our Pacific States, but also British Columbia and Australia, and tells what has been done. Then he goes on to discuss the chances of war, drawing conclusions from his data and summarizing.

In the last three chapters the author shows clearly Japan's imperative need for expansion on account of her growing population, and that the natural and desirable field for it is Manchuria. He believes that Japan wants to avoid any trouble with the United States, but is in an adolescent stage of development, and is very sensitive, much as America was in the early and middle nineteenth century. He pleads for recognition of Japan's aspiration as an Oriental power with her own Monroe Doctrine similar to ours, because he is convinced that this recognition will be very greatly to our own advantage.

This is an extremely readable and interesting as well as informing book, and should have a wide circulation. The author's style is very clear, and he gives excellent summaries at the close of nearly every chapter. The book is well suited to the more mature high school students, and will be a very helpful reference book where much attention is paid to recent American history and modern world politics. CLARENCE PERKINS.

Ohio State University.

ASHLEY, ROSCOE LEWIS. Medieval Civilization, a Text-book

for Secondary Schools. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1915. Pp. xxi, 327-703. $1.10.

This volume is intended primarily for a course on the later period of ancient history or for the first part of a course on medieval and modern history. It is a continuation of the author's "Ancient Civilization," and covers the period between 376 and 1648 A. D. The first chapter in this volume is numbered XIV and the first page 327. The book is divided into three "Parts,” numbered IV, V and VI. Part IV, "Transition from Ancient Times," covers the period from 376 to 900. Fifty-one pages are given to this

part. Part V, "The Feudal Age, 900 to 1450," is discussed in six chapters and 150 pages. Part VI, "Transition to Modern Times, 1450 to 1648," has five chapters and about 100 pages. Two Supplementary Chapters" are added, "Constitutional Development in England Under the Stuarts" and "Absolutism on the Continent of Europe." The appendix has a table of sovereigns of the more important countries, a history correlation outline, containing definitions or explanations of important terms, and the outline of ancient civilization. Sixteen maps are given, eight of which are full-page colored maps, one a double-page colored map, and the others are in the text uncolored. Some eighty-two illustrations are listed, some of which are full-page.

This book, as indicated by its title, is intended to be somewhat different from the usual textbooks on European history. It aims to stress social and economic changes and conditions. Almost one-half of the book deals with such material and only some 175 pages to the usual narrative. The author admits that "Details of the narrative have necessarily been omitted in the discussion of many subjects," but justifies the omission on the ground that "each teacher will wish to place emphasis on different details, and as there are numerous excellent textbooks and books of reference, this supplementary work can be done without difficulty by collateral readings. On the contrary, most of the material on business and the life of the people cannot be found easily elsewhere." He also says that he "has tried to give correct impressions of events and changes rather than to describe them with literal accuracy, as literal accuracy is impossible in so brief an account. Even if it were not impossible, it would be undesirable, for an exact, detailed account would often render obscure the character and the meaning of the movement under consideration." These quotations indicate the chief characteristics of the book.

Two prime essentials of a good textbook, that it be interesting and teachable, are certainly exemplified in this book. High school pupils will enjoy it. The teaching helps are excellent, each chapter being followed by a list of general references, topics, studies and questions. The books referred to are, on the whole, books that are or should be in the high school reference library. The topics have more than one reference and call for more detailed work than the studies, which have usually just one reference and aim to bring out a brief report from the pupil. The questions are well selected and will be helpful to pupils and teacher. WILSON P. SHORTRIDGE.

North High School, Minneapolis.

FLING, FRED MORROW, AND FLING, HELENE (DRESSER). Source Problems on the French Revolution. (Harper's Parallel Source Problems.) New York: Harper & Brothers, 1913. Pp. xii, 339. $1.10.

The necessity of using source material in the teaching of history has long since passed the stage of argument. That students of history-even children in the grammar grades-should know something of the process by which the historian discovers truth is well-nigh commonplace. As Professor Fling says, instruction in historical method may begin just as soon as the boy or girl is desirous of knowing 'if it is true' and 'how do we know that it is true." The great problem is not whether to use sources," but how to use them most advantageously. To the solution of this problem, the "Parallel Source" series has been a great contribution.

"the

08 DUDLEY, E. LAWRENCE. Benjamin Franklin. SPRAGUE, WILLIAM C. Davy Crockett. HOLLAND, RUPERT S. William Penn. GILMAN, BRADLEY. Robert E. Lee. STAPLEY, MILDRED. Christopher Columbus. True Stories of Great Americans Series. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1915. 50 cents each.

These little books will increase the number of reference volumes in that field of elementary history where the supply is probably least adequate, viz., in the grammar grades. Small in size (ranging from 160 to 240 pages beach), cheaply but neatly printed and bound, and elementary in style, they should find places in many school libraries where economy must be exercised in expenditures. Thus many a boy and girl to whom history makes little appeal will be stimulated to a liking of the subject by excursions into the adventureful lives of those who have helped to make history." That such books may serve the same purpose in the high school, and that they should be read by teachers, may safely be assumed.

The authors of this series adhere closely to the truth of history, but not all are natural writers of children's stories. In the "Christopher Columbus" the style is more spirited, and in the "Benjamin Franklin" it moves with less effort, than is the case in the other volumes. The story of Davy Crockett is as interesting as a novel. In all the volumes we find clearness, excellent arrangement of subject-matter, and comparatively little "moralizing." The illustrations, from six to twice that number in each volume, are practically all reproductions.

ALBERT H. SANFORD.

State Normal School, La Crosse, Wis.

TERRY, CHARLES S. A Short History of Europe. Vol. 3. From the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire to the outbreak of the German war, 1806-1914. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1915. Pp. 602. $2.00.

This volume is the third volume in a series by the same author and publishers. The first volume covers the period 476 to 1453; the second volume, 1453-1806; and this volume, 1806 to 1914, the outbreak of the great war. This is a clear, well-proportioned and readable account of nineteenth century Europe in some 635 pages of rather fine print. It ✓ has some fifteen pages of genealogical tables of the ruling houses of Europe. The next to the last chapter on “The Armed Peace" and the last chapter on "The Coming of are particularly interesting at this time, although, of course, written from the English viewpoint.

War"

It is not a book that teachers would want to require → high school students to use extensively, perhaps, but it is a good book for the teacher, particularly the last two chapWILSON P. SHORTRIDGE.

ters.

- North High School, Minneapolis.

BOOKS ON HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT PUBLISHED

IN THE UNITED STATES FROM APRIL

29 TO JULY 29, 1916.

LISTED BY CHARLES A. COULOMB, PH.D.
American History.

Andros, Thomas, and others. The old Jersey captive (1833), etc., etc. Tarrytown, N. Y.: W. Abbott; Mag. of Hist. Extra No. 46. $4.00.

Arthur, Stanley C. The story of the Battle of New Orleans. New Orleans: La. Hist. Soc. 260 pp. $1.00. Atlantic County Hist. Soc. Early history of Atlantic Co., N. J. Kutztown, Pa.: The author, care of Kutztown Pub. Co. 179 pp. $1.50.

Bagley, Clarence B. History of Seattle. In 3 vols. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. $25.00.

Bogart, E. L., and Thompson, C. M., compilers and editors. Readings in the economic history of the United States. N. Y.: Longmans. 862 pp. $2.80.

Boucher, Chauncey S. The nullification controversy in South Carolina. Chicago: Univ. of Chic. 309 pp. (18 pp. bibl.). $1.50, net.

Bruce, Robert. The National Road. Wash., D. C.: Natl. Highways Asso. 96 pp. $1.00.

0098

Bryan, Wilhelmus B. A history of the national capital. Vol. 2, 1815-1878. N. Y.: Macmillan. 707 pp. $5.00, net.

Chapman, Charles E. The founding of Spanish California; the northwestward expansion of New Spain, 16871783. N. Y.: Macmillan. 485 pp. (bibls.). $3.50, net.

Cleveland, Catharine C. The great revival in the West, 1797-1805. Chicago: Univ. of Chi. 215 pp. (912 pp. bibls.). $1.00, net.

Corwin, Edward S. French policy and the American alliance of 1778. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton Univ. Press. 430 pp. (41⁄2 pp. bibls.). $2.00, net.

Crockett, T., and Wallis, B. C. North America during the eighteenth century. N. Y.: Putnam. 116 pp. 75 cents, set.

Dahlinger, Charles W. Pittsburgh; a sketch of its early social life. N. Y.: Putnam. 216 pp. (bibls.). $1.25,

net.

Esarey, Logan. Indiana local history; a guide to its study. Bloomington, Ind.: Ind. Univ. 19 pp.

Faris, John T. Real stories from our history. Boston:

Ginn. 308 pp. 60 cents.

Faust, Albert B., compiler and editor. Guide to the materials for American history in Swiss and Austrian Archives. Wash., D. C.; Carnegie Inst. 299 pp. $2.00. German-American Hist. Soc. of Illinois. Fifteenth yearbook of the society, 1915. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago. 382 pp. $3.00, net.

Gray, Lewis H., editor. The mythology of all races. In 19 vols. Vol. 10, North American. Boston: Marshall Jones Co. [212 Summer St.]. 325 pp. (11 pp. bibls.). $6.00.

Gudehus, E. R., compiler. The Liberty Bell; its history, associations and home. Phila.: Dunlap Pr. Co. 31 pp. Hall, Jennie. Our ancestors in Europe; an introduction to American history. Boston: Silver, Burdett. 408 pp. 76 cents.

Hogue, Albert R. History of Fentress Co., Tenn. Nashville, Tenn.: Williams Pr. Co. 165 pp. $1.00. Horne, Charles F. History of the State of New York.

N. Y.: Heath. 434 pp. $1.20.

Ingham, Joseph W. A short history of Asylum, Penna.,

sisting of Winthrop Tirrell, High School of Commerce, Boston, chairman; Prof. Edmund E. Day, Harvard University; Horace Kidger, Newton (Mass). Technical High School; Thomas H. H. Knight, Girls' High School, Boston; Margaret McGill, Newton (Mass.) Classical High School; Prof. Sara H. Stites, Simmons College. This publication will be sold at a very reasonable price. The Association hopes that the questions may tend to make the study of economics more practical and more interesting.

"The New Purchase," by B. R. Hall, describing life in Indiana and the Northwest before 1843, is being reprinted by the Princeton University Press with notes and introduction by Prof. James E. Woodburn, of Indiana University. The appearance of this work fits in well with the Indiana Centennial Celebration.

"Relations Between the United States and Great Britain," is the title of Hollywood Junior College Studies, No. 1, published by the Student Association of the Hollywood High School, Los Angeles, Cal. The pamphlet is the composition of a freshman college student, Miss Juliet Green, and is based upon official treaties and secondary historical material. It is an ambitious bit of work for a freshman girl and shows what results can be obtained from well directed instruction in the junior colleges.

A pageant by the Farm Clubs, of Anoka County, Minn., entitled, "The History of Agriculture," was given at Anoka on August 18-19, 1916. The book of the pageant by Roe Chase includes thirteen scenes each presented by one of the clubs of the county.

New York State, with nearly 600,000 foreign born whites unable to speak English and with 362,000 who can neither read nor write any language, has taken energetic steps toward Americanizing the alien. Preliminary surveys were followed up by the establishing of institutions for the preparation of teachers for foreigners. Two publications have also been issued by the State, entitled "Citizenship Syllabus" and "Rochester Plan of Immigrant Education."

A brief bibliography of books in English, Spanish and Portugese relating to the Latin-American States has been prepared by Peter H. Goldsmith, director of the PanAmerican Division of the American Association for International Conciliation (The Macmillan Co.). The bibliography contains about 300 references to recent descriptions and early works concerning these countries.

Prof. Robert McNutt McElroy, of Princeton University, will have leave of absence during 1916-17 to lecture in various Chinese universities at the request of the Chinese government.

Dr. Leonard P. Fox has been appointed instructor in the Department of History and Politics of Princeton University.

The American Political Science Review for August, 1916, contains a wide variety of contributed articles. "The Political Theory of the Disruption of the Scottish Church" is expounded by Prof. H. J. Laski. Charles H. Cunningham discusses the Origin of the Friar Lands Question in the Philippines, tracing the subject from the early settlement of the friars in the islands down to the period of American occupation. "Presidential Special Agents in Diplomacy " is treated by Henry N. Wriston; and "Problems of Percentages in Direct Government," by C. O. Gardner. Three papers upon the Initiative and Referendum are the work respectively of W. A. Schnader, Robert E. Cushman and F. W. Coker. The number contains the usual valuable bibliographical, personal and legislative notes.

HISTORY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS.

Additions to and corrections of the following list of associations are requested by the editor of the MAGAZINE.

Alabama History Teachers' Association, T. L. Grove, Tuscaloosa, Ala., member of Executive Council.

American Historical Association-Secretary, Waldo G. Leland, Washington, D. С.

History Section of Colorado State Teachers' Association -Chairman, Prof. C. C. Eckhardt, University of Colorado, Boulder, Col.

History Teachers' Association of Florida-President, Miss Caroline Brevard, Woman's College, Tallahassee; secretary, Miss E. M. Williams, Jacksonville.

Indiana History Teachers' Association-President, Beverley W. Bond, Jr., Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.; Secretary, D. H. Eilsenberry, Muncie, Ind.

Iowa Society of Social Science Teachers-President, Prof. L. B. Schmidt, Ames, Ia.; secretary, Miss Mary Kassan, East High School, Des Moines, Ia.

Jasper County, Mo., History Association-Secretary, Miss Elizabeth Peiffer, Carthage, Mo.

Kleio Club of University of Missouri. Association of History Teachers of Middle States and Maryland-President, Miss Jessie C. Evans, William Penn High School, Philadelphia; secretary, Prof. L. R. Schuyler, City College, New York City.

Mississippi Valley Historical Association, Teachers' Section-Chairman, A. O. Thomas, Lincoln, Neb.; Secretary, Howard C. Hill, State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wis.

Missouri Association of Teachers of History and Government-Secretary, Jesse E. Wrench, Columbia, Mo.

Nebraska History Teachers' Association-Secretary, Julia M. Wort, Lincoln, Neb.

New England History Teachers' Association-Secretary, Mr. Horace Kidger, 82 Madison Avenue, Newtonville, Mass.

New York City Conference-Chairman, Fred H. Paine, East District High School, Brooklyn; secretary-treasurer, Miss Florence E. Stryker, State Normal School, Montclair, N. J.

Northwest Association of Teachers of History, Economics and Government-Secretary, Prof. L. T. Jackson, Pullman, Wash.

Ohio History Teachers' Association-Chairman, Wilbur H. Siebert, Ohio State University, Columbus; secretary, Miss A. P. Dickson, Dayton.

Political Science Club of students who have majored in history at Ohio State University.

South Dakota History Teachers' Association-Secretary, Edwin Ott, Sioux Falls, S. D.

Tennessee History Teachers' Association-Secretarytreasurer, Max Souby, Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Texas History Teachers' Section of the State Teachers' Association-President, Frederic Duncalf, Austin, Tex.; Secretary, L. F. McKay, Temple, Tex.

Twin City History Teachers' Association-Secretary, Miss Amanda Sundean, 2828 South Girard Avenue, Minneapolis, Minn., teacher in West High School.

Virginia History Teachers' Section of Virginia State Teachers' Association-President, Prof. J. W. Wayland, Harrisonburg, Va.; secretary, Katherine Wicker, Norfolk,

Va.

BOOK REVIEWS

EDITED BY PROFESSOR WAYLAND J. CHASE,
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.

WHITE, ALBERT BEEBE, AND WALLACE, NOTESTEIN. Source
Problems in English History. (Harper's Parallel
Source Problems.) New York: Harper & Brothers,
1915. Pp. xv, 422. $1.30.

Such is the modesty of the editors in explaining the aims and scope of this work, that from the Preface one would suppose that here we have merely a Source Book arranged Tip topically instead of chronologically. This, however, is not the case. We find eight important topics, each of which is skilfully prepared for the student under the following heads: The historical setting of the problem; introductions to the sources; questions and suggestions for study; the

sources.

Mr. White is responsible for the problems entitled "Alfred and the Danes," "Origin of the Jury," "Some Antecedents of the House of Commons," "An Aspect of the Fourteenth-Century Labor Problem." Mr. Notestein for the latter four, namely: "Freedom of Speech Under Elizabeth and the Stuarts," "The English Parish and the New England Town-Meeting," "Beginnings of Peace Negotiations with America,” “The Parliament Act of 1911."

This collection of source problems, together with the ill similar collections for medieval history and the French Revolution, promise much for the better training of students in historical technique. Not merely will the instructor in the small college, whose library facilities are limited, welcome this addition to his resources, whereby he has access, as it were, to large expensive sets; but any instructor, wherever he may be located, may well find a place for such a work which he can put with confidence

✓ into the hands of his students as a sure guide to lead them directly to proved exercises in historical criticism..

An appendix, containing certain standard documents of constitutional significance, adds to the usefulness of the HENRY L. CANNON.

book.

Stanford University.

HOGARTH, D. G. The Ancient East. Home University Library. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1915. Pp. 256. 50 cents.

In this volume, the ninety-second of the Home University Series, D. G. Hogarth presents a comprehensive sum

✓ mary of the political history of the "East of Antiquity." The area surveyed and shown by sketch maps includes besides Egypt the territory in Asia Minor from the Hellespont to the salt deserts of Persia. The time covered is from about 1000 to 330 B. C. The plan adopted of taking a survey of the East every two centuries makes it something of a drama whose first four acts are named: The East in 1000 B. C.; The East in 800 B. C.; The East in 600 В. С.; The East in 400 B. C. The fifth is entitled, "The Victory of the West," and belongs to Greek history. Then comes an Epilogue, which the author says in his introduction is to enable readers to understand the religious conquest of the West by the East, a more momentous fact than any political conquest of the East by the West. The latter brought together the West and the East in such a manner that each learned of the other. There was a contact of Hellenic philosophy and eastern religiosity that resulted in the philosophic morality of Christianity, and made its westward expansion inevitable.

Teachers who know D. G. Hogarth's "Philip and Alexander of Macedon" will turn with interest to the last two

chapters and will pronounce them profitable. It would be hard to find, in any one book, more information, told more clearly and vividly. Altogether it should be classed among VICTORIA A. ADAMS. the best of this series.

Calumet High School, Chicago.

MORGAN, JAMES. In the Footsteps of Napoleon: His Life and its Famous Scenes. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1915. Pp. 524. $2.50.

This, we are informed, is Napoleon's story told against its true background, for, traversing in a five months' journey the regions over which Napoleon led his armies, the author sought inspiration for his biographical task in visits to scenes made historic by the man of destiny. Doubtless such a tour would kindle the imagination and might make the pen move faster, but it would not insure accuracy in the narrative. The material which this method brought to him bearing the label or the looks of history he has used indiscriminatingly and uncritically, so that his book is a commingling of fact and error, undistinguished for the reader. His test of the availability of a report and the value he sets on the historian's critical attitude are disclosed in his statement on page 42: ... if it is too good to be true, it is also too good to be spoiled by sceptics who have no story to take its place." Any one of the older biographies of Napoleon-Johnston, Fournier, Rose-is of greater value for high school pupils.

66

ELLIOTT, EDWARD. American Government and Majority Rule. Princeton: The Princeton University Press, 1916. Pp. 175. $1.25.

No new message is attempted in this volume. It is an interestingly written commentary on certain phases of politics by one of moderately progressive views. The title leads one to expect a discussion of present-day political propaganda, but the chapters deal primarily with the conditions of settlement in the colonies, the Whig doctrine of checks and balances, Jeffersonian theories of government and the influence of the idea of equality. About forty pages are devoted to a discussion of the movement for direct primaries, corrupt practice acts, registration laws, initiative, referendum and recall, commission government for cities and the short ballot. The last receives the author's support, as does the recall at least as applied to city officials. The initiative and referendum are asserted to be "losing ground in the States where they have been adopted."

The need of our State governments, it is maintained, is for an increase of executive authority under a "cabinet system," but this is only in the form in which it "has proved acceptable in the national government." The author asserts that if one of the houses of the legislature were abolished, and the governor given control over the State executive officers with the power to frame, introduce and advocate bills. "it would be possible for the voter to enforce responsibility upon" the executive or legislature, or both. How this could be done is not explained. Many will doubt whether this scheme would give truly "responsible" government.

The small space devoted to present-day developments is disappointing in a book under the title this volume bears. It necessitates that the features of the struggle for majority rule in the American governments be dismissed with little more than mention. The statements are so compressed that they often lack clearness and sometimes have a finality which many readers will feel the facts do not justify. CHESTER LLOYD JONES.

University of Wisconsin.