issued its report. Pending the inquiry the men remained at work. The settle ment proposed did not satisfy them, however, and, as the Act permits, they went out on strike to enforce their full demands. Three months passed before agreement was reached and work resumed. The specific points at issue were insignificant, but they brought to a head the irritation that had been accumulating between the company and the workmen for years. Unfortunately, the board seems to have considered itself bound, as in a court of law, to consider only these specific issues, and made no effort to grapple with the broader aspects of the dispute. Naturally, the settlement proposed, while a strictly judicial finding, failed to present an enduring basis of agreement between the parties concerned, or a clear guide to public opinion. Two additional instances may be cited of open violation of the Act. The recent telegraphers' strike in the United States led to a sympathetic walkout by a small number of operators in the employ of the Great Northwestern Company, with out any attempt being made to secure the intervention of the Department of Labor. No action was taken to punish this infraction. Again, in Cobalt, Ontario's silver field, a difference as to wages between the managers and a recently organized branch of the Western Federation of Miners led to three thousand men going on strike last July. The men were not alone in violating the Act, as the managers had also clearly infringed one of its provisions by posting a change of wages without giving the required thirty days' notice. An attempt was made by the Department of Labor to procure a settlement, but without effect. The matter was not pressed, as it was felt that no serious public inconvenience was being caused. Silver mines, while coming within the letter of the law, are scarcely to be classed with those vital quasi-public industries to which alone the measure was meant to apply. The strike has not yet formally ended, but acceptance of the men's demand, in some instances, and substitution of nonunion miners in others, has restored normal conditions. In September the mining companies invoked the penal clauses of the Act. Charges were laid against James McGuire. President of the miners' union, and Robert Roadhouse, its organizer, of inciting employees of the various mines to go on strike, and against William Hewitt for going on strike. The local police magistrate found James McGuire guilty on the first of the charges preferred, and sentenced him to pay a fine of five hundred dollars. or in default to undergo six months' imprisonment with hard labor. This case has been appealed to the High Court and pending the appeal decision has been reserved on the other charges. If the sentence is confirmed. the miners threater. to bring suit against the companies for their infraction. An encouraging feature of the situa tion is that the attitude of the labor world to the new legislation has grown more favorable with actual experience of its working. When the measure was introduced in the House, it was strongly opposed by the railway unions particu larly, but, except in procuring some minor amendments. their hostility proved ineffectual. Many railway men still persist in their opposition, but the majority seem to have come round at least to benevolent neutrality. The official pronouncement on the subject was given at the annual session of the Trades and Labor Congress in Winnipeg in September. In spite of the denunciation of the measure by several delegates, a revolution expressing approval carried by four to one. Even more significant was the action of the Congress in voting by a three to one majority, and in face of an adverse report by the committee, in favor of extending the operation of the Act to all industries. Several minor amendments were suggested-the elimination of the clause penalizing inciting to strike or lockout, the admission of other than British subjects to membership in the boards of conciliation, and the alteration of the penalty section so as to make the employer liable to fine for each employee locked out. It is not probable that any extensive changes will be made in the Act until it has been tested by further experience. One weakness which may call for amendment is the anomalous provision for enforcing the penalty clause The Gov ernment was more discreet than valorous in leaving the initiative in this matter to private action Yet it should be recog nized that the existing arrangement has the merit of flexibility, especially desir able in the experimental stage Legal proceedings are likely to be taken only when the violation entails serious con sequences. The logic of the situation, however would seem to necessitate that the Government should eventually assume responsibility for enforcement. In The omission of any provision for interpreting the award of the temporary boards of conciliation may yet cause trouble Inevitably differences of opin ion will arise regarding the meaning or scope of various provisions, no matter how carefully the award be drawn. the case of localized industries the solution is comparatively simple: in the settlement of the Alberta coal mines and the Valleyfield cotton mills disputes. local committees were established for this secondary arbitration. The prob lem presented by awards covering the relations of railway companies and their employees the continent across is more difficult. The board which originally gave the award would naturally be most capable of interpreting it, but, if it were to be reconvened every time the necessity for expounding some special clause arose, its character would be radically changed. This possibility, in fact, brings up the question of the relative merits of permanent or professional versus temporary or amateur boards. The abortive measure of 1902 provided for permanent boards, one in each province and a general one for the Dominion, while under the present Act the boards are selected anew on each Occasion The permanent board has the incalculable advantage of experience; the temporary permits greater scope in choice and avoids the accumulation of distrust of any individual member. Hitherto it has proved possible to combine these advantages by choosing for repeated service those members who had gained general confidence. The obvious drawback to the continuance of this policy is the difficulty of procuring good men whose business or professional interests permit such frequent breaks. Aside from a change in the constitution of the board, a solution may be hammered out by the extension of the practice of collective bargaining by joint agreement between the parties involved without outside intervention. It is. in fact. one of the chief merits of the Canadian measure that it is not only compatible with direct negotiation between employer and employee, but encourages it. The practice of collective bargaining is steadily making its way in America, however temporarily checked by the excesses of those unions which persist in coupling it with the demand for a closed shop, and of those reactionary manufacturers' associations which, under the cloak of attack on the closed shop, endeavor to thwart all union activity whatever. Government intervention succeeds best when designed as a supplement to this more organic and enduring agency of industrial peace, rather than, as in the New Zealand development, a substitute for it. The arbitrator is, after all is said that can be said, a deus ex machina. T HERE are two great reasons why Professor A. F. Pollard's "Factors in Modern History "is to be regarded as a most important contribution to recent historical writing. In the first place, it presents with excep tional clearness some fundamental but often misinterpreted facts in the development of modern society. And, secondly, it brings out with equal force the qualifications indispensable to the successful historian. It is the merest truism o say that the lessons contained in the xperiences of past generations of man1 are valueless to present and future ons unless they are set forth so ommand widespread attention, appreciation, and acceptance. History, in other words, to be useful must be studied, to be studied it must be read, and to be read it must be written lucidly and attractively. Narrative skill, the art of telling a story in a way that will appeal to the interest and stimulate the imagination of the reader or hearer, is thus the greatest requisite of the historian. as L Yet it is notorious that the present-day historian is largely indifferent to narrative skill. His concern, rather, seems to be to trace out relationships of cause and effect through the accumulation of a mountain of facts, the manner of presenting these relationships and these facts being of quite secondary consider ation. The result to the so-called general reader--to whom, after all, history should primarily be addressed-is a succession of arid, uninteresting, almost meaningless volumes. Not that the historian should disregard facts. On the contrary, it is his business to collect, scrutinize, and co-ordinate them-always, however, remembering that, as Professor Pollard insists, facts and figures are dry bones ! into which life can be breathed only by the exercise of imagination. And he well defines imagination as "the power of realizing things unseen, and of realizing the meaning of things seen." It follows, too, that the successful historian, the writer who would and does Factors in Modern History. By A. F. Pollard. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. deal with the facts of history understandably and convincingly, must be an adept in the dangerous art of generalization. It may be objected that a general statement is never entirely accurate, never perfectly true, that there are always qualifying particular exceptions which should be taken into account. But the thinker who permits such exceptions to terrorize him into doubt and uncertainty with regard to the great general truths persisting in spite of them will only imperfectly instruct and persuade. The chances are that his audience will not listen to him. “When a fact is generalized," to recall Sir W. Hamilton's pithy saying, "our discontent is quieted and we consider the generality itself as tantamount to an explanation." In the volume before us general statements are very much in evidence. And, not infrequently, exceptions to them occur instantly to one's mind. For all of this, in the majority of instances, careful reflection will show that they remain essentially true. Besides being characterized by bold yet not rash generalization, Professor Pollard's work is distinguished by a method of treatment that can hardly fail to stimulate the reader to do some thinking for himself. This is, perhaps, particularly apparent in the admirable chapter on the advent of the middle class, whose development during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was, in Professor Pollard's opinion, one of the greatest factors in transforming the mediæval into the modern world. To quote, by way of illustrating the ability with which. he states and expands a central thought: Nearly every movement of this period is a symptom of this middle-class development. The Renaissance represents its intellectual aspect; art, science, and letters had hitherto been ecclesiastical; the Renaissance is a secular and sometimes even pagan revolt against this sacerdotal monopoly. The Reformation is its religious counterpart, the domination by the Church over the relations rebellion of the middle-class laity against the between God and man. Socially, we see rich burghers competing with feudal lords for rank and title. Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, in Richard II.'s reign, is the first Englishman who owed his peerage to wealth derived from trade; knighthoods are won in the counting-house as well as on the field of battle; the feudal bars of iron are broken down, and golden keys begin to unlock the doors of office and influence. The great ministers of Tudor times, the Cromwells, the Cecils, the Walsinghams, all spring from the middle, and not the old feudal, classes; and Queen Elizabeth herself was great-granddaughter of a London merchant. Politically, this expansion shows itself in the develop ment of the House of Commons at the expense of the House of Lords and of the monarchy; and, but for this middle-class aggression, Charles I. would never have laid his head on the block, nor James II. have fled beyond the sea. Economically, the whole geographical movement, the search for new trade routes, the formation of great companies, the Merchant Adventurers, the East India Company, the Levant Company, are all expressions of the growth of a commercial middle class. Not that Professor Pollard fails to warn his readers against undue faith in general statements. He is, in fact, keenly alive to the ease with which generalization may be employed to distort truth, conceal ignorance, or avoid thought. Thus, writing of nationality, which he considers the dominant note of modern as opposed to medieval and ancient history, he observes that when the question arises of why the sentiment of nationality prevailed over the old idea of universality, it is not enough to say, as some would, that this was simply the result of the influence of national char Novels and acter. What, he demands, is this national character? Where does it come from? And, still further, how identify nationality itself? All of which leads him into a careful, painstaking, luminous discussion of the factors that have operated to distinguish an Englishman from a German, and a German from a Frenchman, and, in fine, to give nationality its predominating influence in the evolution of modern society. There is some capital analysis here—without, however, that minute particularization which robs so many historical works of their vitality. 66 It is unnecessary to enlarge on the more special topics with which Professor Pollard concerns himself in the course of his pages. Most of these, such as Henry VIII. and the Reformation," Parliament," "Social Revolution," "Political Ideas of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries," "Church and State in England and Scotland," and "Cromwellian Constitutions," relate to the Tudor and Stuart periods of English history. Both of these, and more especially the Tudor period, Professor Pollard has made peculiarly his own. But in his case the years devoted to diligent research have had none of the deadening effects so often evident in the writings of professional historical investigators. Comment on Current Books There are very few novelists indeed who could impart the interest of animation and living character to a discussion in fiction of medical fads and frauds. This is, nevertheless, exactly what Maarten Maartens has done in his "The New Religion." The delusions of people who think they are ill or who really are ill (for there is nothing commoner than a mingling of disease and delusion), the smooth deceit of the fashionable specialist who sends his patient from one expensive treatment to another without genuine belief in the benefit to be gained, the self-deceived and honest discoverers of promising remedies which fail in actual practice, the quack pure and simple, the confirmed valetudinarian, the patient who flits 1 The New Religion. By Maarten Maartens. D. Appleton & Co., New York. $1.50. from one sanitarium to another to taste and test them all-these and many other types are presented acutely, and with the obvious moral that in the care of our bodies terror, humbug, ignorance, and faddism are abominations, and that a sane attention to hygiene, a cheerful view of life, and the choice of a physician who is known to the patient to be honest and intelligent rather than famous and wealthy, are the primary requisites As usual, the author is lavish in plot-surprises and queer incidents. The book is sometimes puzzling and sometimes exasperating, but it is never dull. The author of the entertaining narrative called "Cupid: The Cow-Punch,“ puts rather a heavy strain upon her readers, for she allows" Cupid" to utter every word in 1 Cupid: The Cow-Punch. By Eleanor Gates. The McClure Company, New York. $1.50. the book. While his good nature and clever turns of phrase are infectiously amusing, one is left rather breathless at the end. In "The Plow Woman," by the same author, Eleanor Gates, there was more variety in characters, and a decided promise of excellent original work. That is not entirely carried out in " Cupid," but there is sufficient vigor, wit, and clever handling of material to encourage us to look for even higher achievements. I It has become a habit among ministers to write novels, and as fiction is the favorite vehicle for all sorts of discussion and material, their choice is not surprising. Dr. R. S. Holmes writes of theological problems, making an original old Scotchman chief speaker, and his hero, a young minister, chief actor. "The Maid of Honor," ' though described as transcendingly charming, is really too rude to be accepted seriously. She should have been taught her manners before she was old enough to attend her friend's wedding as maid of honor. The unobtrusive and altogether unusual devotion of the young dominie finally melted her hard heart, however, and she consented to marry a minister, disclosing the fact that her determination not to do so was the cause of all her bad behavior. As usual in these stories, emphasis is laid upon the high type of real religion found outside the church, and David Henderson, the Scotchman, though strong on dogma, is also mighty in good works. The marriage question in relation to disparity of age is less often touched upon in fiction than are some other phases. This aspect is the pivot of Mr. E. F. Benson's novel 2 in which Hugh Grainger, a man of twentyfour, marries a widow of forty-two, whose earlier marriage was a disastrous one. In this union there is perfect harmony of tastes and mind and a passionate mutual love; there is nothing to prevent its being an ideal coupling of two human beings except the great gulf between twenty-four and fortytwo-with the seniority on the wrong side. No "little rift" appears to open gradually and silence the music of this marriage, though the wife feels an occasional qualm as she glances into futurity, knowing that the years that will bring only maturity to Hugh will bring old age to her; what will be the outcome? There is only one ending that can avert unhappiness in such a case, and Edith's qualms were needless. Mr. Benson's most admirable point as a writer is his hatred and clever setting forth of cant and priggishness and his clear contrasting The Maid of Honor. By Richard S. Holmes. The Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. $1.50. Sheaves. By E. F. Benson. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. $1.50. of it with the real goodness it attempts to mimic. In Edith Grainger is portrayed a thorough Christian gentlewoman. She is a creation any novelist might be proud of. Several of the other characters display clever handling, particularly a pushing would-be society woman whose snobbishness and hypocrisy form a foil to Edith's genuine refinement and goodness; also Ambrose and Perpetua, a delightful pair of juvenile prigs. The days of New York when brocades, powder, and patches were worn, when, instead of automobiles and electric light, sedan chairs and link-boys were in vogue-these are the times portrayed in "The Van Rensselaers of Old Manhattan.” I The heroine rejoices in the name of India, and is a hoyden, as her starched old Tory relative appropriately but impolitely informs her. Still, she is so attractive that her path is literally besieged by the gallants of the day. Among her charms is an "arch gurgle," which is very often called into requisition; and she is remarkably demonstrative in manner. The other characters include the hero, a young Tory of fallen fortunes, a desperate and most repulsive villain, and an actress; while George Washington appears upon the scene, though very cursorily. There is very little plot, too much declamation, and a constant striving to produce atmosphere that is too apparent and therefore fails of its effect. The effort, too, to carry on the tale in the language of the period results in a stiited style that is very wearisome in spite of occasional anachronisms, such as "chortle" and "his nibs." A heartless flirting mother, a selfish weakwilled father, and a little neglected daughter are the dramatis personæ in this book of George Madden Martin's stories. Besides these appear officers of different standing and their wives, "non-coms," and "strikers.” Strikers, be it known, are soldiers who add to their finances by performing, if they choose to do so, various duties in the households of the officers, in whatever fort they are stationed. Letitia's comfort and well-being depend greatly in the earlier stories on the amount of milk of human kindness existent in the striker her mother selects to be the guardian of the lonely little girl; fortunately, being a shrewd woman and having a keen eye to her own advantage, she usually selects judiciously. The stories are amusing and give a good insight into wandering military life; the characters are avowedly reproduced from living types, and are vividly depicted and The Van Rensselaers of Old Manhattan. By Weymer |