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problems of Wilkes-Barre and Leadville, and the racial problems of the Pacific Coast and the Mexican border. We should wish him to know something more of farming than how to shake a farmer's hand; something more of mechanics than how to crank an automobile; something more of social welfare work than the habit of dropping money in a contribution plate.

He should know that our country has a past as well as a future; he should know that behind that past lie generations and centuries of human endeavor and human development. Since our laws and our Government are so closely bound to the laws and the Government of England, he ought to have in his mind as well as in his library at least so much of the history of that country as is contained in Green's" Short History of the English People." He ought to know enough of eighteenth-century England to understand that Burke's Speech on Conciliation " is practical political history as well as material for schoolboy orations and grammatical exercises. ought to know enough of nineteenth-century England to understand the relations between England and America during our Civil War. He ought to have a clear conception of the contributions which France has made to the development of democracy, and something of the great historical forces which have led to the unification of Italy and of Germany, the eastward sweep of Russia, and the transformation of Japan. For all of this our Congressman of course must turn to such bocks, for example, as Brownell's "French Traits," Thayer's Life of Cavour," the "Reminiscences" of Carl Schurz, Bismarck's speeches and letters, Wallace's "Russia," and Nitobe's "Intercourse between the United States and Japan."

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And to books he must turn to a large extent for the appreciation and understanding of his own country, for no man can exhaustively investigate at first hand all the corners of our continental domain.

The books which he should possess (mentally and physically) are largely biographical and historical, and of these two classes perhaps the biographical is the more important.

Of course our student Congressman would find instructive and valuable reading in John Fiske and Francis Parkınan and James Ford Rhodes. He should at least know such representative volumes of these three writers as "New France and New England," "The Oregon Trail," and "Essays on the Civil War."

Of the books which deal with the philosophy of American history, democracy, and political economy, he should certainly possess "The American Commonwealth," by James Bryce. He should read "Democracy in America," by de Tocqueville; Mumford's "The Nation;" and H. E. von Holst's "Constitutional History of the United States." He might add, for further reading, James Russell Lowell's Democracy," Lieber's "Civil Liberty and Self-Government," A. Lawrence Lowell's Essays on Government," Woodrow Wilson's "The State," J. W. Jenks's "The Immigration Problem," Theodore Roosevelt's "Winning of the West," and Lecky's "Democracy and Liberty.'

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The list of books which might be given is a long one. But perhaps we ought to mention in these suggestions for study Horace L. Deming's "The Government of American Cities or Munro's "Principles and Methods of Municipal Administration ;" "Woman's Work and Wages," by Cadbury, Matheson, and Shann; "The Labor Movement in America," by Richard T. Ely; F. W. Taylor's "The Principles of Scientific Management ;" Webb's "İndustrial Democ racy;" and "Labor Legislation," by Commons and Andrews. We should also add, perhaps, such diverse publications as "The Administration of Dependencies," by Alpheus H. Snow; Abraham Flexner's "Prostitution in Europe;" Raymond Fosdick's "The European Police System;" and Oppenheim's International Law.'

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In the field of biography our student certainly should make himself familiar with the volumes of "The American Statesmen " series. There is also a rich field of study in the memoirs and biographies of the statesmen and soldiers of the Civil War, chief of which is, of course, "The Life of Abraham Lincoln," by Nicolay and Hay. Dealing with an earlier period, he ought also to know the state papers and letters of Washington, and Owen Wister's "Seven Ages of Washington." He ought also to know Sumner's or Oliver's "Life of Alexander Hamilton," and for a general survey of American politics Edward Stanwood's History of Presidential Elections." To come to more recent times, such books as the "Life and Letters of John Hay," by W. R. Thayer, and Mr. Roosevelt's "Autobiog raphy" (especially the chapter relating to his first entry into political life) should have a share in our candidate's political education.

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have mentioned is the attainment of an understanding and appreciation of General Emory Upton's "Military Policy of the United States" and Mr. Huidekoper's "The Military Unpreparedness of the United States."

Having exhausted the possibilities of such a programme of study as we have here outlined, we should be almost willing to trust our candidate within the halls of Congress.

But we should have to warn our candidate that, as Congress is now organized, he might at first attain to no greater dignity than a minority membership upon the Committee of Acoustics and Ventilation.

A SUGGESTION FROM INDIA

This is the noisiest age that men have lived through. There are more people in the world; they travel more than ever before, they are more gregarious, and they use far more machinery. The little cities of antiquity were not silent cities; they were neighborhoods rather than great communities, and they were vocal with the sounds of human work and companionship. But electric cars did not rush through the narrow streets, and the strident horn of the automobile was not heard. More men are in arms to-day than ever before. Battles that were once ended at nightfall now run into months; armies are now counted by millions, cannon by thousands; artillery duels are continuous, and the roar of great guns is deafening over vast territories and for months together.

The noise out of doors is supplemented by the noise within doors. There are, for many people, no settled principles, no fundamental convictions; every statement is challenged, every belief denied, every custom questioned. Everywhere men and women are talking at the top of their voices; no mysteries are inviolate; no experiences are too sacred to be reported; no details of crimes are so revolting that they are not spread out for the reading of children.

The passion for speech has not only robbed silence of things once committed to its keeping, but has made it almost obsolete.

The

world is filled with the uproar of fierce debate, recrimination, charge and countercharge; the newspapers tell the story of the day's doings in headlines, gigantic capitals advertise remedies for quieting the nerves, and

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scores of best-sellers among novels "start with a rush and end with a bang."

Wise men and women are finding out that emphasis is secured, not by force and exaggeration, but by moderation and quietness of statement. Here and there in the uproar a still, small voice arrests attention. In a revolutionary age there is always much and noisy talk; but has not the time come for lower tones, for a milder temper, for less bitterness of spirit, for the quietness which listens and tries to understand? When everybody shouts, there are few listeners.

In crowds there sometimes come sudden silences that are almost uncanny in their effect. Has not the time come for one of those moments of silence? There is too much hysteria in the air; feeling is mounting to a dangerous height; society is becoming ominously divided. Instead of standing off and shouting charges at one another, as some employers and some workers are doing, we ought to come quietly together and try to understand why and how we differ. Americans need an army of evangelists of the gospel of quietness. Describing the visit of a group of Hindus to this country, Professor William James wrote: "More than one of them has confided to me that the sight of our faces, contracted as they are with American over-intensity of expression, made a painful impression upon him. 'I do not see,' said one of them, how it is possible for you to live as you do, without a single minute in your day given to tranquillity and meditation. It is an invariable part of our Hindu life to retire for at least half an hour daily into silence, to relax our muscles, to govern our breathing, to meditate on eternal things. Every Hindu child is trained to this from a very early age.""

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We are getting many holidays; why not set aside half an hour every day for silence?

THE FIELD IS THE WORLD

A recent attempt of a church to carry its message outside of church attendance is furnished by the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan. It publishes, in connection with the Congregational Educational Society and the Michigan Congregational Conference, a pamphlet entitled "Congregationalism at the University of Michigan." Its title seems to us infelicitous. It contains. not an account of Congregationalism at the

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University of Michigan, but a series of articles, short, readable, we should think effective, addressed to freshmen; an article on Congregationalism by Dr. Gladden; and a directory of members and officers of the University affiliated with the Congregational Church. The method of publication naturally might be improved, for this is a first attempt. But the spirit which animates it is admirable, and it contains a suggestion which in different forms might be worked out in other than college communities.

There is nothing new in the publication by a church of a weekly or monthly paper. But these are generally adapted to, if not intended for, the Church and Sunday-school, not for the world outside. And they are generally too ecclesiastical, too professional, too much trade journals, to be of much value except as a means of communication between the pastor and his people.

But every attempt to carry the message of the church to people who never come to church is to be welcomed, encouraged, supported. There will be mistakes made, even blunders committed. The wise church will learn wisdom by its mistakes and blunders.

The real question for the churches is not how to get the people to the church, but how to get the church to the people.

Every great revival of religion has been accompanied, if not produced, by a movement to carry religious truth to men and

women who could not be induced to come to the church. Christ preached in the synagogues, but he also preached in the outer court of the Temple, in private houses, and in the fields. The prow of a boat, a stone on the hillside, sufficed for a pulpit. Paul preached in the synagogues, but he also preached in private houses, in the public market-places, in a school-house, in a prison yard. The preaching friars who did so much in England for improving social conditions as well as inspiring spiritual life did not confine their preaching to the cathedrals. John Wesley preached in the churches when they would admit him, but his great congregations were those which he addressed outside of

any church. No preachers in this country have reached such large congregations as those reached by Dwight L. Moody and Billy" Sunday, and their congregations have largely been made up of non-churchgoers.

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The church has a double function. It has to maintain, promote, and express the spiritual hopes, aspirations, resolves, of those who already attend its services. This it is doing fairly well. It has also to carry its message of spiritual life to those who never come to its services. This it does but feebly, and generally, we fear, not at all.

Dr. Parkhurst put the truth well in a sentence: The Church should be the minister's force, not his field.

AMERICA'S PROSPERITY

BY HENRY VAN DYKE

They tell me thou art rich, my country: gold

In glittering flood has poured into thy chest ;

Thy flocks and herds increase, thy barns are pressed

With harvest, and thy stores can hardly hold
Their merchandise; unending trains are rolled

Along thy network rails of East and West;
Thy factories and forges never rest;

Thou art enriched in all things bought and sold!
But dost thou prosper? Better news I crave.
O dearest country, is it well with thee
Indeed, and is thy soul in health?
A nobler people, hearts more wisely brave,

And thoughts that lift men up and make them free,-
These are prosperity and vital wealth!

The Hague, October 1, 1916.

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