International Law. The fifth edition of that work appeared in 1904. 1897 (p. 75) should be 1807; "navel" (p. 143, n. 19) should be naval. Mr. Hershey's work is a success. He has labored hard to ascertain facts, the existence of which are of great concern to civilization. His judgment thereon has been that of one possessing both a close knowledge of international law and an instinctive sense of justice. Chicago, April, 1907. CHARLES CHENEY HYDE. American History and Government. A Text-book on the History and Civil Government of the United States. By James Albert Woodburn, Ph.D., and Thomas Francis Moran, Ph.D. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1906-pp. lxxxviii, 476. This is a text-book on history and civil government for grammar schools, written in the belief that "the history of the world is not intelligible apart from the government of the world," and conformable to an express recommendation of the Committee of Seven of the American Historical Association for the year 1898. The authors, recognizing that a very large majority of pupils conclude their school work before reaching the high school, would place civil government in the grammar grades for the benefit of this class. The objections that there is no time for this work in the already crowded course of study, and that civil government is too difficult a subject for children of grammar-school age, are met, first, by leaving out nonessentials, as for example, the details of military history such as marches, counter-marches, etc., and thus shortening the time given to history; and second, by vitalizing the study of law and institutions by presenting them in connection with history. The plan of the book is simple. In order, the authors set forth the essential facts of American history 'from the discovery to the close of the Revolution, the causes of the failure of the Confederation, the work of the constitutional convention, the structure of the new government and, finally, a narrative of political history from the Revolution to the present time. The narrative portion contains many excellencies. The author is admirably successful in bringing his subject down to the level of those for whom he writes. The style is simple and picturesque, and the text is enlivened by many very fine illustrations. In a few instances, however, he seems to forget that he is writing a condensed, general account, as, for example, when he includes the names of too many individuals (more than twelve men are mentioned by name in a two-page account of the colonization of the Carolinas). The chapters on civil government, really a book within a book, are not so plain and simple in style. It is, to say the least, doubtful if young students could understand the discussion of the Articles of Confederation and the formation of the Constitution, but perhaps it is as well adapted to their comprehension as any discussion of these difficult subjects could be. Although it is so plain that, judged from the standpoint of the needs of grammar-school children, the book is of uneven value, still it is a noteworthy attempt to work a new field, and deserves, as undoubtedly it will receive, a practical trial. Yale University. E. D. FITE. Municipal Ownership in Great Britain. By Hugo Richard Meyer. Professor Meyer's work is a noteworthy contribution to a vexed question. It is a careful and minute study, showing vast research and erudition. The citations are largely from official sources. The results of the Tramway act of 1870 and the Light Railways act of 1896 are given in the first ten chapters, while the Electric Lighting act of 1882, as amended in 1888, requires three chapters. Gas is dealt with summarily in a single chapter. Chapters fourteen to eighteen, inclusive, demonstrate, to Professor Meyer's satisfaction, that public ownership is inadequate to deal with new industries, injurious to the consumer, deadly to the manufacturers of electrical equipment, destructive to the interests of the wage-earner and, finally, that the office-holding class in the cities already control national politics with deadly results. The work, notwithstanding its appearance of great learning, will, in the opinion of the reviewers, fail to carry conviction to the reader. The prejudice of the author crops out too plainly at every turn. The book smacks more of the library than of the world of affairs. Although Professor Meyer uses chiefly official sources, his use consists primarily in selecting bits of the prejudiced and contradicted opinions of interested parties from their testimony before Parliamentary committees, and putting such matter forth as demonstrated fact. The conclusions of the author will be questioned, because his premises are no longer accepted by economists. He starts out (pages 1-3) with the statements that the public service industries do not "differ in vital respects from the ordinary trading and manufacturing industries," and that "upon the whole, and in the long run, the individual or company, in pursuing its own selfish interest, at the same time promotes the welfare of the community at large." He misinterprets entirely the relation of the British Government to the gas industry, when he ascribes the flourishing condition of that industry to the fact that it has been treated as an ordinary manufacturing industry. Nothing could be farther from the fact. The mode of regulating the gas supply has been different, but of longer standing and not less at variance with Professor Meyer's views as set forth in this work. Competent students may well differ and, in fact, do differ widely upon the general question of public ownership, and upon the whole question of the relation of government to these and other industries, but the day is long past when any one can talk convincingly about "enlightened selfishness" and the beneficence of universal and unrestricted competition in connection with these industries. The world is too largely engaged in trying to get rid of the recognized evils resulting from the attempt to apply these doctrines in the past, to pay much attention to their advocates in the present. The lengths to which such false doctrines may carry one are shown, when Professor Meyer puts the cart before the horse by calmly assuming that but for three or four restraining statutes, Great Britain would be as well served per capita with electricity and tramways as the United States (page 201). It is in this unhappy comparison that he asserts that municipal ownership has driven 120,000 British workmen, who would, but for municipal ownership, be making electrical apparatus, either to migrate, or to join the army of the unemployed. The general conservatism of the British nation is probably much more cause than effect of this legislation, and the backward condition of the industries under review. The author falls into the same error (page 328) where he says the remedy for the evils of unrestrained industry is to teach the people "civic virtue" and "political intelligence." The attempt to regulate these industries by organized society may prove the best means of inculcating civic virtue and political intelligence. At any rate, since Professor Meyer offers no other means of accomplishing these desirable ends, the poor, stupid world, having deserted the doctrine of enlightened selfishness, and lacking our author's confidence in the captain of industry as the source of all progress, is likely to stumble on in its efforts to get what it wants in regard to these municipal services, either through public ownership or thoroughgoing regulation. M. Brees' work, although on the whole favoring municipal ownership, is in sharp contrast as regards its animus and method with the work of Professor Meyer. The author appears to be seeking the truth, and not only exhibits a willingness to find the truth, but also shows a complete grasp of the philosophic, social and ethical movements of the last generation. The work is primarily a study of municipal public service industries in Belgium, with some suggestive comparisons with the English method of dealing with the same industries. As is well known, Belgium, with all of its avowed socialism, has, when compared with other European countries, done comparatively little towards municipalization. The first chapter deals with the monopolistic charter of such industries in general. The next chapter, after discussing the nature and importance of the water supply, and the significance of the price of water, takes up in detail the water supply of the fifteen more important Belgian communes. Chapter three deals with the subject of gas in the same way, except that the gas supply of but six places is studied. The two following chapters treat in like fashion electricity and tramways respectively. The final chapter considers the "exploitation" of municipal monopolies under three heads, namely: 1. A criticism of franchises. 2. A criticism of public management of these industries. 3. The organization of the public-owned industries from the administrative and accounting standpoint. An appendix of 130 pages gives a summary of the English Parliamentary investigations of 1900 and 1903 on municipal trading. The reviewer knows of but one other book on this controverted question; namely, that of Major Darwin, that leaves so pleasant an impression of fair-mindedness on the reader. The subject is treated with a high degree of skill. The author shows a thorough familiarity with recent thought on social matters, as one would expect from the fact that the work is published by the Solvay Institute of Sociology. The author is so open-minded, and makes such candid mention of the drawbacks to the system, which he believes, on the whole, the best, that one must follow his reasoning from beginning to end with close attention, and discover at what particular point, if anywhere, the logic is defective, before one can safely reject his conclusions. Northwestern University. JOHN H. GRAY. A History of Diplomacy in the International Development of Europe. By David J. Hill, LL.D. Vol. I: The Struggle for Universal Empire. Vol. II: The Establishment of Territorial Sovereignty. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1905, 1906—pp. xxiii, 481; xxv, 663. There is almost no field of historical research that offers a greater opportunity than that of the history of diplomacy. Something has been done by German and French scholars, but there is nothing adequate in English. And there is a very definite, a very pressing need for a history of diplomacy, or for an interpretation of general European history from the standpoint of the development of international problems and relations. It is some scholar's opportunity to do for European history from this standpoint what Professor Delbrück is attempting by interpreting world-history from the standpoint of military relations and war; what Captain Mahan did in his treatment of the sea power as a force in history, and Professor Dunning in his history of political theories. These works had a theme. which, like the subject of diplomacy, needed the background of general history. Each of them, in his own way, solved his problem by keeping firmly to his selected topic, bringing in only general history where it was necessary to explain the special topic, or where that special topic led to a reinterpretation of the general history of the period. That, when he has determined what he means by diplomacy and its history, is the problem of the historian of diplomacy. Dr. Hill's work is not in any sense such a history of diplomacy. The two stout volumes now issued are plain, colorless, sodden, general history. There is absolutely no reason for their being published under the title of a history of diplomacy. Measured by the pretensions of the title, the work merits not the slightest consideration at the hands of a reviewer. With the exception of the opening chapter on Europe under the Roman Empire, which, in its treatment of Roman law, gives good promise, the first volume contains nothing but general history to be found in more condensed form in any adequate manual. The reader receives the impression that Dr. Hill selected his subject, set himself to work up the necessary background of history, and found this so novel and engrossing that he felt it must be presented, and as a result, lost sight of his central theme. This method of treatment extends down to the chapters, pages 350-365 of Vol. I, entitled "The Organization of Diplomacy in Italy." That certainly sounds promising. But the space is occupied by paragraphs |