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In the first chapter the author, in defining municipal sociology, says that it "investigates the means of satisfying communal wants through public activity." On the basis of this definition he excludes from the scope of this book the police and judicial departments, churches, charities, the liquor question and the social evil. Then the author gives a long list of questions on the various points on which information is desired. His descriptions are based largely on the returns published in the well known bulletins of the United States Department of Labor, supplemented by data secured on blanks sent out to leading cities by himself.

The titles of the successive chapters, Transportation; Public Works; Sanitation; Public Schools; Public Libraries; Public Buildings; Parks and Boulevards; Public Recreation; Public Control, Ownership and Operation, will give to the reader an idea of the lines along which this readable census of municipal activities is developed. Most of the chapters are purely narrative or descriptive, except the last, which is an earnest argument for municipal ownership.

The second chapter, on Transportation, is one of the least interesting in the book, because of the fondness of the author for wearisome detail in giving dimensions and figures, and also because persons not familiar with the topography of different cities do not easily follow the descriptions.

Professor Zeublin writes with keen enthusiasm and sympathy, that enlist the reader's attention, but one is soon forced to the conviction that his sound judgment is not equal to his enthusiasm. His views seem somewhat visionary and lacking in balance. He gives one the impression that any new proposition may be likely to be good in itself and that old methods must necessarily be faulty. But change may not always be progress.

He seldom debates that most important question, "Who is to pay the piper," and one rarely finds him considering the extension of all these municipal activities from a most important point of view, viz., that of the taxpayer, the one on whom the burden of expenditures is to rest. When he does consider the incidence of taxation, in the extravagant expenditure of public money for the benefit of a small and exclusive group, as in the case of the Harlem River Speedway, his doubts as to the justice to the wage-earning taxpayer of such expenditures are easily satisfied in this way.

"When one considers the wealth of New York City and the great addition to the Harlem River bank, one is inclined to think that circumstances alter cases."

The most faulty chapter in the book is the one on public schools, where his lack of sound judgment on practical affairs is painfully evident. Here we have set out with approval many of the foolish fads which hamper the work of conscientious teachers, exasperate parents, and make the judicious grieve. To read some of these pages makes one doubt whether the author has any real knowledge of the average American boy, and fosters the belief that he is somewhat lacking in sense of humor. A single example will illustrate this point: In urging the study of natural science for young children by observation, he calmly writes, on page 137:

"The delight which comes from the observation of animals is not confined to the wild and exotic specimens. The beloved domestic dog is brought into the school room. Could the evidence of the superiority of the new methods over the old be more vividly presented than in the contrast of a beautiful Scotch collie sitting on a desk of the school room, all the children intent on his actions, with the pathetic old story of Mary's little lamb?"

Some of the most unfortunate tendencies of modern education are the extension of the sugar-coated pill theory of education, which leads to pupils choosing their studies along the line of least resistance, the superficial study of a variety of subjects instead of the thorough mastery of a few vital ones, the so called enrichment of the grammar school course with subjects beyond the mental grasp of the pupil, which are sure to produce mental dissipation, and the effort to have immature and irresponsible youth govern themselves. Of all these modern educational "fads," Professor Zeublin seems to be an enthusiastic champion. If he could have read and re-read Professor Briggs' admirable book, "School, College and Character," this chapter on public schools might have been shorn of some of its extravagancies.

New Haven, Conn.

GEORGE L. FOX.

RECENT LITERATURE.

In Mr. Sanford H. Cobb's "The Rise of Religious Liberty in America" (The Macmillan Co., New York), the student will find such a comprehensive survey of the subject as has long been needed. Mr. Cobb approaches his theme in a liberal and sympathetic spirit and not in the interest of any special party or section. In some cases a greater familiarity with the sources would have saved him from being misled by secondary writers, as in the case of the "Half-Way Covenant," which Mr. Cobb still explains as a device to extend the suffrage, with which it had nothing to do. Similarly, in his account of the Quakers, he emphasizes excessively the disorders of the Quakers and fails to notice, through a neglect of the chronology, that the worst instances of Quaker disorder occurred after their cruel persecution and were a consequence of it more than a provocation to it. Mr. Cobb also seems to us not to give sufficient importance to the economic motives contributing to the establishment of religious toleration in the Colonies which actuated the English proprietaries. The experience of Maryland proved that toleration was not only safe but profitable, and the example of Lord Baltimore was followed by the proprietors of the Carolinas and the Jerseys. On p. 77, Dale's Virginia Code of "Lawes Divine, Moral and Martial" are derived from Netherland's military code, although it has been shown that they have little in common.

An excellent example of the more laborious and critical examination of our Colonial history which is being made by the modern school of historians, is afforded by Dr. A. L. Cross's "The Anglican Episcopate and the American Colonies" (Harvard Historical Series, vol. ix. Longmans, Green & Co., New York). Besides the ordinary critical apparatus this volume includes seventy-five pages of transcripts from hitherto unprinted material in the English Archives. After a very careful weighing of the evidence Dr. Cross arrives at the conclusion that the view advocated by Mellen, Chamberlain and others, that a fear of having the English Church imposed upon the Colonies, through the appointment of American bishops, was an important underlying cause of the movement for independence, has been much exaggerated. To argue that the Episcopal question was an impelling cause, he asserts, is to misconstrue evidence and to confuse cause and effect.

In reviewing the first volume of Professor I. P. Gordy's "Political Parties in the United States," we suggested that the broader title, "Political History of the United States," would be more descrip

tive of its contents. The second volume has now appeared with the more comprehensive title. (Henry Holt & Co., New York.) It covers the years 1809-1828. As in the first volume, great attention is given to the diplomatic history, and for this part of his work the author was favored by Mr. Henry Adams with the use of his transcript from the British State Papers. Other subjects that receive full treatment are the financial panic of 1819-20, and the Bank question. The Monroe Doctrine is presented with greater brevity than one nowadays expects. In view of the intention of Professor Gordy to devote particular attention to political parties, we must confess a certain disappointment in his discussion of the presidential elections of 1824 and 1825. The irreconcilability of the method of electing the President by the House with any theory of Democracy, is not brought out clearly nor is there any exposition of the historical significance of that process or of its possible dangers.

In recent years the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson has been the subject of several historical studies. The latest by Mr. David Miller DeWitt, "The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson" (The Macmillan Co., New York), is written in a vivid although somewhat journalist style by a warm sympathizer and admirer of Johnson. The author has relied mainly upon the Congressional Globe and the official documents of the trial, but he has had the advantage of examining the private papers of the President and of his private secretary, Col. W. G. Moore. He shows an exceptional gift for literary portraiture. The portraits drawn of Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson are particularly striking. Apart from the sources mentioned the author does not appear to have investigated widely, if one judge from the lack of references to the considerable mass of biographical literature that exists for that period. Nor are the special studies of Chadsey or Dunning referred to. Mr. DeWitt's work, notwithstanding its apparent shortcomings in regard to breadth of investigation, is a thoroughly interesting narrative of one of the most striking and important events in American history.

The new edition of Phyfe's excellent little handbook, "Seven Thousand Words Often Mispronounced" (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York), is enlarged by an appendix, adding three thousand words. In the case of a book so remarkably successful-the new edition is labelled Fifty-ninth thousand-the publishers might well, in consideration for the users of the book, have made new plates and consolidated the vocabularies. To have to consult two separate lists is an inconvenience which might have been spared.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Annual Literary Index, 1902. Edited with coöperation of Members of the American Literary Association and of "The Library Journal" Staff, by W. I. Fletcher and R. R. Bowker. New York, Office of the Publishers Weekly, 1903.

BALDWIN, ERNEST H. Stories of Old New Haven. New York, The Abbey Press, 1903.

BEVAN, EDWYN ROBERT. The House of Seleucus. Two vols. Imported by Longmans, Green & Co. London, Edward Arnold, 1902.

BOAS, FRANZ.

Tsimshian Texts. Bureau of American Ethnology. Washing

ton, Government Printing Office, 1902.

BROOKS, JOHN GRAHAM. The Social Unrest. New York, The Macmillan Co., and London, Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1903.

BUCK, CARL DARLING. A Sketch of the Linguistic Conditions of Chicago. The Decennial Publications of the University of Chicago. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1903.

Commissioner of Education. Report for 1900-1. Vol. 2. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1902.

Commissioner of Labor. Seventeenth Annual Report, 1902. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1902.

Department of Labor. Bulletins, Nos. 44, 45, 46. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1903.

Dewey, Davis RICH. Financial History of the United States. New York, London and Bombay, Longmans, Green & Co., 1903.

DEWITT, DAVID MILLER. The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson. New York, The Macmillan Co., and London, Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1903. Dexter, Edwin G. High-Grade Men, in College and Out. Reprinted from Popular Science Monthly, 1903.

DUBOIS, W. E. BURGHARDT.

Press, 1902.

The Negro Artisan. Atlanta, Atlanta University

FAUNCE, D. W. Advent and Ascension. New York, Eaton & Mains, and

Cincinnati, Jennings & Pye, 1903.

HUTCHINS, B. L. and HARRISON, A. A History of Factory Legislation. Westminster, P. S. King & Son, 1903.

JOHNSTON, HUGH. Beyond Death. New York, Eaton & Mains, and Cincinnati, Jennings & Pye, 1903.

KOONS, WILLIAM GEORGE. The Child's Religious Life. New York, Eaton & Mains, and Cincinnati, Jennings & Pye, 1903.

LECKY, WILLIAM E. H. Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland. Two vols. New York, London and Bombay, Longsmans, Green & Co., 1903.

MEAD, ELWOOD. Irrigation Institutions. New York, The Macmillan Co., and
London, Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1903.

MERRIAM, C. EDWARD. A History of American Political Theories. New York,
The Macmillan Co., and London, Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1903.
MOYER, WILLARD.

1903.

The Witchery of Sleep. New York. Ostermoor & Co.,

New York State Library. Comparative Summary and Index of Legislation, 1902. Albany, University of the State of New York, 1903.

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