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The plan of Professor Nicholson's work has been severely criticised, and from the scholar's point of view it is indeed open to serious objection. In retaining the general outline of Mill's work Professor Nicholson practically renounced the hope of creating a system which should synthesize the work done since the time of Mill. But it must be remembered that popular economic thinking is still greatly under the influence of Mill, and therefore the easiest way of presenting to the public the results of the latest historical and theoretical work is to cast them in the shape of a commentary upon Mill.

Vol. III is based upon Books IV and V of Mill's Principles. The first part, Book IV, discusses the nature and measure of economic progress; the second, Book V, is devoted to the economic functions of government. In his treatment of progress the author adopts a method quite the antithesis of Mill's, endeavoring to demonstrate general tendencies by historical facts instead of by deductions from arbitrary assumptions. He is too conservative, however, to present a clear definition of progress, and consequently he is frequently inclined to mistake history for progress. Thus it is hard to say why the sketch of the history of British coinage should be entitled "Progress and Money." As a discussion of progress, the book is unsatisfactory; but as a collection of historical material which is of more than insular interest, it has a considerable value.

Book V, like the corresponding book of Mill, is somewhat broader in its scope than its title would indicate. There is a full discussion of economic ideals and of the benefits and disadvantages of individualism; a fairly concise treatment of taxation and public expenditure; a restatement of the question of protection versus free trade; an essay on colonial policy and another on political economy and Christianity. Throughout, the treatment is sane and judicious, if somewhat diffuse. It would be difficult for any one to handle such an array of hackneyed topics without descending at times to the hopelessly commonplace; and from this vice the work before us is not altogether free. It is, moreover, somewhat surprising to find in a work on economics a discussion of the venerable question, "May a Christian become a soldier ? " But perhaps economists are shirking their duty when they leave to others the entire border land between economics and practical ethics. In a work like Professor Nicholson's it would be folly to require a strict regard for the boundaries of economic science. The general reader desires a commonsense discussion of all problems into which wealth enters, and this Professor Nicholson has succeded in giving. ALVIN S. JOHNSON.

BOOK NOTES.

READERS of William Hannibal Thomas's remarkable book, The American Negro (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1901), should read also Professor W. E. B. Du Bois's The Philadelphia Negro (New York, Ginn & Company, 1899). These two books, by negroes of ability and observation, paint two very different pictures of the race : the one gloomy and forbidding; the other hopeful, while pointing out many failures and difficulties yet to be overcome. Mr. Thomas's book has been much discussed, and by a large proportion of those who have entertained a rosy faith in the negro's prospects it has been severely condemned. It should be regarded, we think, as an interesting psychological fact. If the dark view it offers of negro intelligence and morals is even approximately true, that truth should be known. If it is all a lie, the liar is one of the most interesting personalities that have ever taken to authorship. Professor Du Bois's statistics are worthy of careful study, but they should not always be accepted until subjected to the analytical criticism which only students familiar with statistical detail are competent to make. They are a little weak in the pages devoted to showing that the negro is not so criminal as he is popularly represented to be.

An interesting and suggestive, if not quite a profound, study in social psychology is La marche de l'humanité et les grands hommes, by E. Bombard (Paris, V. Giard et E. Brière, 1900). The author shows the development of nations in civilization by means of a review of the great names of each period and region, and contends that existing social ills are a consequence of the long struggle between science and theology. The well-being of the race, he holds, demands attention to the development of a scientific morality; and the superiority of the white race, which is the complete demonstration of that proposition, is itself due to the cultivation of abstract science.

The reader who is in search of good vigorous thinking about men and things, by a man who does not care a scintilla whether he agrees with anybody else or not, and who is not afraid to exploit the resources of the English language in his militant antagonism to militancy and imperialism of every shade, should give himself up for an hour to John M. Robertson's Modern Humanists (London, Swan

Sonnenschein & Co., 1901). The personalities dissected are Carlyle, J. S. Mill, Emerson, Matthew Arnold, Ruskin and Herbert Spencer. An epilogue," Outlines of Social Reconstruction," is a bit of radicalism and common sense in due and entertaining proportions.

Vues contemporaines de sociologie et de morale sociale, by Henry Lagrésille (Paris, V. Giard et E. Brière, 1899), reviews current theories and discussions touching "The Fundamentals of Sociology," "Social Morality: the Individual and the Family," "The State and Civil Society," "Government," "Labor and Production" and "International Morality." The volume is popular and makes no noteworthy contribution to science.

The third volume of the Transactions of the National Liberal Club, Political and Economic Circle, edited by J. Levy (London, King, 1901), is of much the same character as its predecessors. The rather illassorted lot of essays on economic topics which makes up its contents exhibits all degrees of merit and all shades of opinion, from that of the extreme individualist to that of the socialist and the land nationalizer. Among the well-known writers are Messrs. MacLeod, Hewins, Wicksteed and Yves Guyot.

Mr. Sidney Buxton, whose substantial work on Finance and Politics is well known to readers on both sides of the Atlantic, has published a study on Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer (London, Murray, 1901). The substance of the book, although only in outline, appeared in the Fortnightly Review in 1901. The essays deal with one aspect only of Mr. Gladstone's career and character, and the author disclaims any attempt to anticipate Mr. Morley's forthcoming biography of the great statesman. He succeeds, however, in giving a clear picture of Mr. Gladstone's work at the Exchequer, which all, whether friend or foe, now unite in praising as in every way exceptional.

Among the Russian economists who at the same time exercised a considerable influence in politics, N. K. Bunge occupies a prominent place. A number of his essays on the various phases of the history of economic theory have recently been collected under the title Esquisses de littérature politico-économique (Geneva, Kündig, 1898). Some of the essays date back almost half a century, and from the modern point of view there is but little in the volume to instruct the present-day student. The essays are interesting, however, as showing the opinions of a Russian who tried to combine economic liberalism with autocratic politics. A biographical notice and a bibliography of the author are prefixed to the work.

The attractive and sympathetic lecture on Arnold Toynbee which was delivered a few years ago at Toynbee Hall by Lord Milner has recently been reprinted in a second edition (London, Arnold, 1901). It forms perhaps the most vivid picture of that remarkable personality that has yet appeared, and it will retain its place even after the publication of the larger biography which is still so sorely needed.

In Volks- und Seewirthschaftsreden und Aufsätze (Berlin, Mittler, two vols.) Professor Ernst von Halle has collected a number of essays on present-day problems of importance to his native country. The first volume, on German economic life at the close of the century, is occupied mainly with an account of the chief economic institutions of Germany. There is, however, also a substantial essay on the naval interests of Germany and a shorter one on the condition of economic theory. The second volume, entitled Weltwirthschaftliche Aufgaben und weltpolitische Ziele, deals with the wider international relations. The author not only discusses the relations between Germany and Holland and Germany and Asia, but takes up questions such as the development of Mexico, England's naval supremacy and the meaning of North-American imperialism. Dr. von Halle, as is to be expected, is an energetic upholder of the so-called "neomercantilism" and of the policy of colonial expansion. Although many of the essays are a little journalistic, Dr. von Halle discloses a substantial fund of acquaintance with fact and with economic principle. Many of his suggestions are fresh and interesting.

Laband's Staatsrecht des deutschen Reichs has recently appeared in a fourth revised edition, in four volumes (Tübingen und Leipzig, J. C. B. Mohr, 1901). The previous editions of this really great work have been reviewed at length in this QUARTERLY as they appeared, and we shall not repeat the encomiums which we have already bestowed upon it nor the criticisms to which we have subjected it. The historical introduction and the doctrinal part remain substantially unchanged in the new edition. The author does not seem to have learned any more history or to have changed his views of political science. He has, on the other hand, brought his account of the public law of the German Empire down to date in the most lucid and masterful way. It does not seem to us possible for a foreigner to acquire a thorough knowledge of this body of law without devoting himself earnestly and continuously to Professor Laband's great work.

The contribution of Professor E. G. Bourne to the Yale Bicentennial Publications is a collection of Essays in Historical Criticism (Scribners, 1901). This volume is an imposing monument to the

depth and variety of the author's scholarship. It exhibits him with especial distinction as a destroyer of myths. An expanded version of his well-known attack on The Legend of Marcus Whitman is the longest essay (109 pp.) in the collection, and the shortest is a conclusive demonstration that a familiar passage in Seneca does not necessarily prove that the Roman moralist was aware of the existence of America. That Professor Bourne's genius is distinctly critical in character appears very clearly in the list of writers whom he convicts of errors, greater or less. The list includes, besides all the standard historians of the United States who have adopted the Whitman legend, Roger Bacon, Edward A. Freeman, Hermann E. von Holst and Henry Cabot Lodge. The topics on which he writes include "The Authorship of the Federalist" and several related subjects; "Prince Henry the Navigator"; "The Demarcation Line of Pope Alexander VI" and "The Proposed Absorption of Mexico in 1847-48." There are also appreciative essays on Ranke, Park man and Froude.

The American Federal State, by R. L. Ashley (Macmillan, 1902), is a "text-book in civics for high schools and academies." It covers, in its closely packed 600 pages, more ground than could be covered satisfactorily by the most learned scholar and experienced teacher in the United States. Mr. Ashley makes no claim to such distinction. His work shows an adequate acquaintance with the best sources of information in the various subjects of history, public law, private law, economics, sociology, etc., and a good sense of the end to be sought in handling the material; but the actual result seems too multitudinous to be very useful in the hands of the novice,

J. K. Hosmer's Short History of the Mississippi Valley (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1901) is a rambling collection of facts about the interior of the United States, covering the period from the pre-glacial age to the St. Louis Exposition in commemoration of the Louisiana Purchase. There is nothing dryly statistical about the book. It is entertaining throughout, permeated with the interest which the author so deeply feels in the region that gives him his text. If the unity of the treatment is somewhat difficult to discover at times, this must be ascribed to the nature of the task, which requires that a niche be found somewhere within the 230 small pages for Lassalle, Daniel "Boon," U. S. Grant and Booker T. Washington.

A Political Primer of New York City and State (1902), by Adele M. Fielde, published by the League for Political Education, is an admirable little handbook of information about administrative and

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