Hunter, R. Socialists at Work. Pp. 374. Price, $1.50. New York: Macmillan Company, 1908. This is a chronicle of some interesting facts concerning the Socialist movement, but of so incomplete a character as hardly to justify publication in book form. The material would serve well for a series of popular magazine articles entitled, "Notes on Socialism Abroad and at Home," but as a book it is hardly worthy of the perusal of a student. The book is devoted in the main to the Socialist movement in Europe and details visits to the various Socialist conventions. Most attention is devoted to the Socialist party in Germany, which is held up as the most strongly and best organized of any of the political parties and therefore the most worthy of emulation by other Socialists. In analyzing the growth of the movement abroad, the author takes pains to show wherein the foreign conditions differ essentially from the American and to point out the fact that no conclusions for America can be based on European premises. From this general criticism of the book, the only chapter which can be excepted is the one entitled "Socialism in Art and Literature." In this chapter the author presents in a new and interesting way a survey of the accomplishment of Socialists in these two fields. Altogether the material is quite noteworthy and well arranged. The style of the book is interesting but by no means scholarly. The author has attempted to state the problem in a popularized way such as that employed by Mr. Wells in his "New Worlds for Old," but Mr. Hunter's book shows much less thought and mature judgment than that of Mr. Wells. On the whole, it would seem that one chapter of moment scarcely justifies the publication of a three-hundred page book. SCOTT NEARING. University of Pennsylvania. Lewis, G. R. The Stannaries: A Study of the English Tin Miner. Pp. 278. Price, $1.50 net. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1908. This very scholarly study, awarded the David A. Wells prize for 1906-07, is the outcome of an undergraduate thesis begun by Dr. Lewis at Harvard University, and represents three years of investigation-one in America and two in England. The book affords ample evidence of painstaking, intelligent work. In his opening chapter the author treats of technical conditions in the English tin industry, which dates back at least to the bronze age. The early English kings were impressed with the superior skill of the Germans in mining and metallurgy, although Dr. Lewis points out that for centuries the English pewterer excelled his continental brother. It is the author's opinion that Kemble's declaration that mines formed part of the regalian rights of the Anglo-Saxon kings is based on charters that are inconclusive. In view of our present agitation for the preservation of natural resources, the following principles among others set forth by Emperor Frederick I, are of special interest: first, mineral rights are essentially disconnected from tenure of the surface; second, the sovereign is the sole proprietor of mines and alone may grant individuals power to work them. The author has found his material inadequate to answer the question whether English mining laws represent a seizure of private property under asserted regalian rights, or are fragments of a customary law antedating private property in land, or whether the mines were worked from the first under customs demanded by the peculiarities of the mining industry. In the chapter on privileges and trade rules, there is a discussion of the right to dig tin wherever found and the limitations on that right. The author's treatment of industrial organization includes a brief sketch of the progress of mining organization in Germany, and in his last chapter he observes that early mining law was free from anything approaching the restraints of the guild system. Mining was characterized also by the earlier introduction of capitalistic forms of enterprise and further by an earlier introduction of the middleman than in other industries. The eight chapters include the following: technical conditions; external history of the stannaries and the tin trade, early mining law, administration and justice, taxation and revenue, privileges and trade rules, industrial organization, labor and capital. University of Minnesota. RAYMOND V. PHELAN. McCormick, F. The Tragedy of Russia in Pacific Asia. 2 Vols. Pp. xxx, 913. Price, $3.00 each. New York: Outing Publishing Company, 1907. COTES, E. Signs and Portents in the Far East. Pp. 308. Price, $2.50. New York: Putnam's Sons, 1907. Among the rich literature that has grown out of the experiences of the Russo-Japanese War, the book of Mr. McCormick occupies a pre-eminence which it shares with very few others. Indeed there is no other book on the war which combines so many elements of excellence. Not only is it an intensely fascinating account of the great campaigns seen from the Russian ranks, but it is a deep study of the psychology of war, of military organization, strategy, and the great variety of human elements that went into the making of this vast drama. Mr. McCormick has indeed been rewarded for his courage and persistency, in braving the dangers of associating himself with the Russian troops in days when the Americans were intensely hated by them and in defying all the hardships of war; because this has enabled him to give an account of entirely unique value. While the human interest predominates in this work and imparts to it a great fascination, the author's studies of affairs and his insight into human nature have enabled him to make many valuable observations upon policies and political characteristics. He draws a vivid picture of the lack of intelligence and the demoralization on the Russian side. "The talents and energy spent in dissipation and graft were enough to have won the war twice over," that is his deliberate judgment. The Russian troops, while individually brave, were still largely in the "javelin age" and not able to fulfill the demands of modern military organization. Their initial overconfidence, nursed by false intelligence kept alive by the government, gradually gave way to the conviction that the war was a national crime and that the Russian organization was utterly evil. Towards the end of the war, the author found among the Russians only one man who expressed contempt for the Japanese and his views were so unwelcome to his hearers that it was a dangerous matter to express them. In these days when so many persons have suddenly veered in their judgment and turned utterly against Japan, denying her every vestige of civilization, the testimony of such a witness as the author, who saw the action of the Japanese troops from the enemy's side, ought to be listened to and weighed by thinking men. In the judgment of the Russian army the Japanese had kept up the highest standards of civilized nations in their behavior before and during battles and in the considerateness with which they treated their conquered enemies thereafter. Their spontaneous loyalty, their self-reliance, and ready self-sacrifice, contrasted strangely with the apathy and discouragement of the Russian troops. The author counsels America against harboring her prejudices and fomenting her grievances, offering the Oriental peoples a mere political good will which costs nothing, instead of a thorough sympathy and understanding which might help in solving the difficulties of the world. The work of Mr. McCormick is a commentary on the values of civilization as they revealed themselves in a great struggle. The book of Mr. Cotes, notwithstanding its portentous title, is merely a well written and interesting account of the trip of an intelligent journalist along the main highway through China and Korea to Japan. We do not encounter any new interpretation of the present Oriental situation, nor are there revealed any new facts which would materially influence our judgment. But upon the various movements which are going on in China at the present time the author gives interesting and valuable testimony. His account of the manner in which governmental power in China is circumscribed by the custom of popular resistance, and his description of educational and industrial advance in Chinese cities, are very informing. When, however, he sees no hope for China except through the establishment of a virtual European protectorate, it is plain that his Anglo-Indian prejudices determine his judg ment. University of Wisconsin. PAUL S. REINSCH. Shambaugh, Bertha M. H. Amana, The Community of True Inspiration. Pp. 414. Iowa City: The State Historical Society of Iowa, 1908. For many years the community of Amana has been widely known as one of the most successful, both in its finances and its long life, of the German communistic settlements in America. By long years of residence near the community and frequent visits, Mrs. Shambaugh is well qualified to tell its story and interpret its life. The general history has been told many times. No one to my knowledge has quite told of its inner life and spirit as has the author of this attractive volume. Indeed her very sympathy leads her to minimize criticism and the reader is left in some doubt as to the extent to which the influence of the outside world, or its attractions for the younger generation, are affecting or will affect its future, though new customs are evidently creeping in. Ninety pages are devoted to a brief history of the movement. One hundred and twenty-eight pages are filled with the account of the life and customs of the community; while some one hundred and fifty pages are taken to tell of the religion. The constitution and by-laws are appended. The author's style is good; her account readable. The volume will be welcomed by all who are interested in social experiments, whether truly democratic or not-for be it not forgotten that Amana is ruled and ruled strictly too by the elders. University of Pennsylvania. CARL KELSEY. Smith, J. H. Our Struggle for the Fourteenth Colony. 2 Vols., Pp. xxx, 1271. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1907. The volumes tell with minute detail the story of the attempts by Americans to secure Canada. The preliminary chapters give the analyses of the conditions in the United Colonies and Canada previous to the outbreak of the war, and then follows the history of the taking of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. The following chapters on the results of the proclamation of the Quebec Act in Canada, and the reasons that decided Congress to invade the northern country are interesting, and the invasion is told with a minuter detail than ever before, making up the bulk of narrative. (Vol. I, pp. 224606, vol. II, pp. 1-458.) The account of the relations of Canada and the Americans for the remaining years of the war is compressed into 114 pages. One is impressed with the industry of Professor Smith in searching out the material in printed volumes and in the archives of Europe and America. Never before has the importance of the early invasion of Canada, or the influence it had on contemporary events in other parts of America been so clearly shown. The author has avowed his purpose to make the books interesting, and it must be confessed that he has succeeded, but this is due to the completeness of his knowlege of details rather than to his literary style, which is flamboyant, to put it moderately. This criticism of Professor Smith's work has been made so often that it is not necessary to give examples of his literary taste. Such sins in the use of language might be forgiven in a book of careful research, but when Professor Smith draws on his imagination for the narration of facts, the sin is no longer venial. In the very first pages he undertakes to describe most vividly, by picturing the persons present and by summarizing their speeches, an historic meeting in Faneuil Hall, in February, 1775, although he acknowledges that, "if any records of the session were kept, they have disappeared." The whole point of view of the author is provincial. All acts of Great Britain are directed with hostile intent against the colonies and to prove his thesis he has drawn too frequently on the testimony of the enemies of the British ministry both in America and England. Never does it occur to the author to investigate the causes, to find the fundamental motives of ministerial action. In fact, in one instance he obscures the issue. In treating of the passage of the Quebec Act he quotes Governor Haldimand's estimate of the English-speaking population in Canada, as being 2,000 in 1780, as if such was the case in 1774. (I, p. 48.) As a matter of fact they did not number much over 300, and the ministry can scarcely be accused if it chose to treat this handful of Englishmen as a negligible quantity. Yet it is to the testimony of these 300 that Professor Smith turns most frequently for his interpretation of events in Canada, and of the attitude of the Canadians to the British government and the Revolution, so that this initial error is not unimportant. The author's lack of critical acumen may be best displayed in his treatment of the history of the Quebec Act. He attempts to prove that the measure was directed against the Americans by quoting from the enemies of the ministry and without giving due emphasis to the wrongs the French of Canada and the West had suffered during previous years,which wrongs were the direct cause for passing the Quebec Act; nor, does he perceive the force of the fact that the Act was fathered by Lord Dartmouth, a man of conciliatory attitude, and that some important provisions of it, such as the incorporation of the West in the Province of Quebec, were opposed by Lord Hillsborough, the public man who was most hostile to the Americans at the time. On account of such errors in critical analysis and in point of view, and in spite of the industry displayed by Professor Smith, the decision must be that the volumes cannot be regarded as a definitive narration of the relations between the Canadians and Americans during the Revolutionary War. CLARENCE WALWORTH ALVORD. University of Illinois. Snedden, D. S., and Allen, W. H. School Reports and School Efficiency. Pp. xi, 183. Price, $1.50. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1908. For a considerable time a desire has been variously expressed for more rational and uniform methods of presenting educational statistics. The need is obvious to one who gives even a cursory examination to city and state school reports. The latest and so far the most satisfactory attempt to bring educational statistics more into uniformity and put them on a basis which will enable them better to serve the ends for which they are used is the book by Professor Snedden of Teachers' College and Dr. Allen of the New York Bureau of Municipal Research. The book consists of seven chapters, four written by Professor Snedden, two by Dr. Allen and one in collaboration. The earlier chapters present a brief account of the purposes and beginnings of school reports and review various attempts of the National Educational Association to establish greater uniformity in these reports. The most useful chapter in the book is that |