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are genuine old Bostonians-thoroughbreds of the good kind—in the story, and there are actors and young business men who have other thoughts than those which relate to their salaries, their dress, and their visiting lists. There is a little group of delightful women; and the heroine is the kind of New England girl whom Mr. Thayer might have painted. She has a struggle with her conscience that is to say, she thinks the struggle is her conscience-but she decides in a good, sensible fashion. The story is not exciting, but it is thoroughly well done. It has a leisurely, well-bred air; the portrait-painting is skillful; and there are qualities in the book which justify the reader in taking it leisurely. Vigilante Days and Ways. By Nathaniel Pitt Langford. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. $2. There are many exciting tales of adventure in the wild days of the West included in this narrative. Mr. Langford tells us of the conquest of the Rocky Mountains, of the way in which the Territories of Montana and Idaho were developed, of the rough and ready fashion in which the pioneers dealt with crime, of mining millionaires and mining tramps, of the old stagecoach and the highway robber, and of many individual men famous in the annals of the Far West either as desperadoes or as pioneers with constructive ideas.

In Desert and Wilderness. By Henryk Sienkiewicz. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $1.25. It is a long time since a romance of any magnitude has come from the pen of the great Polish novelist. His latest book is very unlike those extraordinary historical tales of the old days of Polish wars of which "With Fire and Sword is perhaps the best known. Here he takes two children (one of them a Polish boy, the other a little English girl) through extraordinary and (to speak frankly) impossible experiences in the heart of Africa. The time is that of the Mahdi's siege of Khartum. The children are seized in Egypt at the edge of the desert by orders of a relative of the Mahdi who wants to use them as hostages in order to secure the release by the English of his own family. They are taken to Khartum, see the Mahdi and the horrors which followed the. death of Gordon, thence are carried still farther into the interior, and eventually into unexplored depths of the continent. In a crisis which arises the boy shoots and kills his guards and, with two friendly slaves, a dog who loves him, and an elephant which is found starving in a chasm and is fed by the children, journeys for months through regions which would really have been impassable by a well-equipped band of explorers. Of course the children are at last restored to their friends and the heroic and impossible boy grows up and marries the gentle and pretty little girl. If the reader lets his imagination have full swing and does not balk at marvels, he will find the book exciting. It shows a minute

knowledge of the political, racial, and fanatical impulses at work at the time in the Sudan. In its detailed incident the plot is worked out with surprising richness and variety of invention. But it is rather a boys' book of adventure gone to seed, so to speak, than a great work of fiction such as undoubtedly were the volumes of Sienkiewicz's Polish historical trilogy.

Intellectual and Political Currents in the Far East. By Paul S. Reinsch. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. $2.

The background of the revolution in China is well summarized by Professor Reinsch in his latest volume, "Intellectual and Political Currents in the Far East: A Review of Conditions in India, China, and Japan." While, in general, Professor Reinsch avoids hard and fast conclu'sions and political prophecies, the change which China is undergoing at present, he declares, may be expressed by saying that Chinese society is becoming political; hitherto it has lived from generation to generation by custom, with no consciousness of political aims or purposes. As never before, the intellectual and responsible Chinese are now showing a need for the conscious expression of national policy. The question arises whether they equally feel the need of long-headed foresight in the management of their national affairs. Of course the privileged position occupied by Manchu officials has long been irksome to the influential Chinese. The removal of this jealousy, Mr. Reinsch declares, is the first problem to be faced in the question of how far the nationalist enthusiasm-of which we have now seen bloody evidence-can be harmonized with a continuance of Imperial domination. But why, he says, go to the other extreme and say that the problem can be solved only by establishing a republic? Do not those who declare this forget that the masses of the people have not as yet come into political consciousness? "They are simple-minded, easily guided this way or that by their leaders, but also apt to run into sudden frenzies of anger or panic which, when once unloosened, have all the force of an earthquake or typhoon." On the other hand, affirms the author, the intellectual class, composed of men of education and of commercial and industrial importance, is desirous of placing the institutions of the country upon a basis less broad than that of a pure democracy. Whether this be entirely true or not, the independent attitude of those called upon to act in the National Assembly is significant. For, after the fashion of the French Constituent Assembly, this Chinese embryo Parliament has virtually declared itself the sovereign representative of the people! So far, so good. But what China needs most at the present time is the kind of leadership strong enough to batter down outworn and corrupt contrivances, and then, rising superior to them, to pursue an active and positive policy of organizing public life on a

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permanent plane of efficiency. Such leadership, it is argued, in view of the fact that the masses of the people are not ready for a republic, would result in the concentrated responsibility to be found in a constitutional monarchy. Those who say that a republic, as we understand the term, would meet this demand do not, it is affirmed, understand conditions of unreadiness as they exist and as for generations they must exist in China. Hence Professor Reinsch believes that "in the Chinese situation at the present time Burke is rather a safer guide than Rousseau."

Chapters from Modern Psychology. By James Rowland Angell. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. $1.35.

Any who share the present increasing interest in psychology to the extent of desiring a correct and comprehensive account of its main lines, conveyed in plain, non-technical terms, could hardly do better than to read the series of eight lectures given last year at Union College by Professor James Rowland Angell, of the University of Chicago. It describes all provinces of the science-social and racial as well as individual, animal as well as human-and goes into its practical applications in law, medicine, business, education, and industry. Professor Angell correctly reports the disbelief of "the rank and file of scientific psychologists" in the reality of telepathy, and so dismisses it as not proven. More could be said for what has convinced such first-class psychologists as William James and Henry Sidgwick, the latter of whom, an eminently competent and skeptical critic of evidence, declared telepathy to be scientifically as well established as gravitation.

Practical Book of Oriental Rugs (The). By G. Griffin Lewis. The J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. $4.50.

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Mr. Lewis's is certainly a practical rug book." The information given us has been well systematized and tabulated, especially as to indications leading to the identification and place of any rug in its particular geographical class, also indications leading to the discovery of "fake antiques." Incidentally, the book contains some valuable hints concerning the care of rugs. is fitting, the glossary, bibliography, and index have been made ample.

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Negro Explorer at the North Pole (A). By Matthew Henson. The F. A. Stokes Company, New York. $1.25.

It will be remembered that Henson was Mr. Peary's bodyguard and companion, not only in the expedition which reached the North Pole, but in several preceding it. His African descent proved no obstacle to his ability to endure the worst kind of Arctic cold and exposure, and it is evident from this book that he was not only a man of endurance, but one of considerable intelligence and some education, for he tells us of the books he liked and carried with him, and

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James's philosophy was distinctively a philosophy of life and its experiences in an ascending series, physical, psychical, and religious. It speaks the language of common life. It is essentially creative reason, working out truth by test in action. It is thus the very opposite of Kant's " Critique" as regards quest of reality through the process of an abstract logic, and is ás congenial to the American mind as Kant's is to the German.

Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans. By Franz Cumont. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $1.50.

Educated men now regard astrology as a composite of quackery and superstition. Whatever it be now, Dr. Franz Cumont, a distinguished Belgian Academician, in his "Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans" (the American lectures for 1911-12 in the series on the History of Religions), shows that it once did

useful service as the handmaid of religion. By generating conceptions of the fixed and eternal order of the universe, and of a divine principle in the soul, it slowly transformed the grossness of paganism and prepared the way for Christianity. Stimulating, as astronomy now does, our emotional nature, astrology at length became the parent of a religious mysticism whose rapt communing with the glorious harmony of the star-lit skies awakened aspirations to an ethical purity and its hope of future blessedness for the purified, such as the devout Christian now feels. This history of a pseudo-science, now relegated by the Copernican revolution to the museum of antiquities, should suggest a wholesome lesson to those who regard the good service done in mediæval times by certain theological doctrines as sufficient reason for trying. to perpetuate them in the withering light of modern knowledge.

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LETTERS TO THE OUTLOOK

FILL IT UP

In The Outlook of February 3, Professor Laughlin, of the University of Chicago, talking about "what's the matter with business," says: "If there is a pitfall in a highway, and we mark it with a plain sign by day and hang lanterns in front of it by night, have we not taken every reasonable precaution to keep travelers from running into it? Or must we furnish each traveler with a policeman to prevent his walking into the hole in disregard of all warnings?"

How would it do to fill up the hole, take down the signs, and give the traveler an unobstructed highway? J. L. CAMPBell.

El Paso, Texas.

THE LAW'S DELAYS

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I have just read your article Law's Delays." In English courts it seldom takes more than ten minutes to impanel a jury, even if both sides use the privilege of challenge. The juries so selected are apparently as trustworthy as ours here. It seems a pity, though, to spoil a good case by coupling it with a bad suggestion. You speak of judges taking the verdict of eleven men when the counsel agree to it. If they believe the eleven are for acquittal, they will probably always agree.

It happens I have twice been the twelfth man and have been able to persuade the others to change their minds. In one case it was the only wrong-headed jury I ever saw; the eleven wished to convict a perfectly innocent man. When we went back into the box, they probably still believed in his guilt, but they could not deny that it had not been proved. In point of

fact, the evidence showed that the accused had nothing to do with the death of the man he was said to have killed. The other case was different. A species of highway robbery suddenly became very common. The victims were of a class that had great difficulty in giving straightforward evidence, and in consequence the robbers invariably got off scot free. There was no knowing what it might have led to, when a party of boys out on a spree met two lads in a donkey-cart, and hustled them for pure fun; they caught sight of twenty dollars in the hands of one of them. The boys seized the money and decamped. The evidence was plain enough, but the judge and every one in court, except myself, believed it was manufactured. I insisted on the jury retiring, and pointed out to the eleven that they were sworn to give a verdict on the whole of the evidence, not to those parts only to which the judge had drawn our attention. One of the witnesses had mistaken a question that had been asked him, and his reply had altogether upset the theory of the defense. No notice was taken of the answer, but I insisted that it was part of the evidence, and the jury were obliged to admit that the answer could not have been premeditated, and, if the defense was disproved, the men must be guilty.

Our verdict put an end to the crime that had become so dangerous. I can scarcely suppose that these reminiscences have much interest for you, but they prove that the twelfth man is sometimes of value even in cases where the counsel are quite willing to accept the verdict of the eleven.

There is another kind of the law's delays that

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does vastly more mischief than the loss of time from the routine of the courts. In some communities it is very difficult to obtain justice when the defendant is able to fee a lawyer. the lawyer sees he has no case, he will have the charge postponed again and again, until the case is dropped. This is neither more nor less than accusing the judges and lawyers of collusion, but how can you blame lawyers for saving their clients in the only possible way, and how can you blame any individual judge for being unwilling to forfeit his chance of re-election by acting differently from all the others and offending all the lawyers? It may seem useless to denounce a wrong when there is little or no hope of ending it, but that is not the spirit that reformers start with. The only possible remedy seems to be denouncing the evil and having the judges appointed for life. This is not in opposition to the recall which some advocate now. It would be quite impossible to stir up public indignation against a judge because he refused to postpone cases for frivolous reasons.

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[With our correspondent we believe that all judges should be appointed by the executive power; in the Nation by the President, in the State by the Governor, in the county by the properly constituted authority. The term might be for good behavior, the judge to be removed only on charges properly substantiated. The recall would then be exercised against the executive, not against the judge.-THE EDITORS.]

GRAFT AND THEFT

Following Mr. Leupp's exceedingly interesting "What's the Matter with Business ?" interviews, the writer is struck by the omission-or is it an evasion on the part of the interviewed?of the mention of an internal symptom that is extremely troubling to "business," now that the maxim, "Honesty is the best policy between birds of a feather," is being analyzed by its adherents with "loss of confidence" and by its victims with vigor. That fallacious old scapegoat, politics, is again being made to butt about by "business" as the universal "kill-all," notwithstanding accurate evidence that politics is become a trade and politicians too frequently the pliant tools which have advantaged "business" tremendously. What is the matter with the honor of the politico-business pragmatic coalition? What's the matter with business?

Graft having lost its jocular acceptation as a term, another word will, in large part, answer the question. An ugly word-" theft."

Is "theft" the procuration of the passage of laws of special privilege; is it the purchase of expert legal advice to evade existing statutes successfully; is it misrepresentation, or a lack of representation, as in the case of a studied neglect to designate weight or measure package goods labels; is it short weights or

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lengths, inappreciable to the careless but helpless consumer, very appreciable, and varying as profits allure, to manufacturers; is it adulteration, blendings, lying labels, substitutes "just as good," water, manipulation, overvaluation brought about by rigid-now rarely writtenrules of concentration-gentlemen's agreements? Is this "theft"? Or is it "business" blinded to everything but the maw of the market? "Business may deny the presence of these bacteria in its body. "Business "knows better. So now does the great, patient, purchasing public. Exceptions there are among traders who prove the rules of the game by their square dealing; but the exceptions constantly find themselves developing-without intent-the cancerous system they fight and deplore. The choice between commercial blindness and retirement remains. The fight must be made from the outside. The fight is on. "Business" is disturbed.

Generalizations! Not entirely. Take two symptoms of the malady that revealed themselves to the writer in two conversations. A great manufacturer spoke of one of his agents, a man known throughout the trade as a peculiarly straight business-getter: "He has not," said the manufacturer, "that elasticity that makes a man valuable." What does elasticity mean in such connection? The chief credit man of one of the largest distributing houses in the United States said of prevailing conditions: "It's all a gamble! We extend credit without reference to a man's honesty, banking almost solely on his ability. Take Blank, for example," and he named a dealer notoriously untrustworthy, notoriously able. What is the significance of a wail like that? What's the matter with business?

Where men get together they say that business is rotten, and when they say why, "rotten is more frequently applied to traders than to trade. They know that "business" methods and greed have debilitated its market. They know, too, that "business," no longer blind to its malady, is being compelled to look inward. They trust to the common sense of "business"and some fasting-to cure "business." They propose to fast themselves: necessity is making them clear-visioned, hard-headed. They are the market. And they consider the disturbance of "business" one of the very most hopeful signs of the times. EX-SALESMAN.

decision in the United States in the Supreme Court suggests these queries. Montana has a statute which imposes a license fee upon all persons engaged in the laundry business other than the steam laundry business, with a proviso that it shall not apply to women so engaged where not more than two women are employed. One Quong Wing paid this fee under protest and sued to recover it, alleging that the statute denied him the equal protection of the laws. In due season the case reached the Federal Supreme Court, which, while sustaining the statute as against the objections that it made unconstitutional discriminations between hand and steam laundries and between the sexes, left untouched what appears to be the most serious objection to this legislation.

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As Mr. Justice Holmes, speaking for the Court, truly says: It is impossible not to ask whether it [this statute] is not aimed at the Chinese, which would be a discrimination that the Constitution does not allow." Singularly enough, however, that objection, though suggested by the Court itself during the argument, was, as the Justice says, "not urged, and rather was disclaimed." If counsel for the plaintiff in error really wished to succeed, he must feel somewhat chagrined, and quite at a loss to excuse himself to his humble client, or to his own conscience, when he reads these sentences in Mr. Justice Holmes's opinion: "It rests with counsel to take the proper steps, and if they deliberately omit them we do not feel called upon to institute inquiries on our own account. Laws frequently are enforced which the Court recognizes as possibly or probably invalid if attacked by a different interest or in a different way. Therefore, without prejudice to the question that we have suggested, when it shall be raised, we must conclude that, so far as the present case is concerned, the judgment must be affirmed."

But why should not the Court have considered the question? True, it is not the office or duty of a court to act as counsel for the parties, nor, ordinarily, to consider questions not pressed upon it. But the result suggests a grave doubt as to the wisdom of the application of the general rule to this case. We have here a statute manifestly originating in a race prejudice against the class to which the aggrieved laundryman belongs-for surely Quong Wing is a Chinaman, however skillfully the fact is concealed in the pleadings by calling him “a resident" and "a male person." His suit progresses through the State courts, and to a final judgment in the Nation's highest tribunaland all this without any consideration given to the Constitutional objection which ordinarily would first suggest itself to any one interested in upsetting the statute! The validity of the statute remains in doubt after litigation extend

ing over a period of more than three years, which was avowedly begun to settle that question. Interest reipublicæ ut sit finis litium. Rochester, New York. W. W. NICHOLS.

A STUDY IN SOCIAL ENGINEERING Over ten thousand adult alien laborers are being taught English this winter in free night classes. Many of the teachers are earnest, though inexperienced, volunteers; others receive very modest salaries and have some kind of experience in teaching, although perhaps not in teaching the English language, or in teaching foreigners, or in handling adults. There are almost as many tuition plans or programmes as teachers. There are no special text booklets; those used are also used by native tots learning to read in the day schools.

There would be far more of these night classes if the work of the teachers were less trying, less disappointing. Their worries might perhaps be changed to gladness. Success might possibly be the rule instead of the exception.

Could a few experts of standing get together and determine the minimum number of words necessary for the normal life of unskilled laborers? The number of words used by children at various ages has been ascertained; the work of investigation was interesting to those engaged in it and the results are valuable to all.

Could a booklet be published for general use in immigrant classes? It would have to be in very bold, large type, as immigrants are not all expert readers. Probably many of the words used in the primers for native children could be omitted as of no value for adult toilers.

Could little supplementary leaflets be issued. one for each of the various trades the immigrant scholars drift into? Such leaflets to give only those trade terms unskilled laborers need know. Not so long ago the Bible was studied in Sunday-schools according to the ideas of the individual pastors, superintendents, and even isolated teachers. Now the International Bible Studies are used, planned with profound thought by leading men whose knowledge is at the service of the humblest and youngest teachers in the smallest Bible classes everywhere.

Observations made with great care during twelve years, in all the States of the Union save six, are the foundation of the suggestions submitted. WILLIAM W. BIGLER.

New York City.

A PERSONAL NOTE

May I ask you to insert the following notice in your columns? The order of knighthood conferred upon me by his Majesty, King Edward, was merely a companionship of St. Michael and St. George, and carries absolutely no title whatever with it. I am very anxious to correct the misapprehension which seems to be prevalent in America.

WILFRED T. GRENFELL, M.D.

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