THE NEW BOOKS

This department will include descriptive notes, with or without brief comments, about books received by The Outlook. Many of the important books will have more extended and critical treatment later FICTION

Wander-Ships. Folk-Stories of the Sea. By Wilbur Bassett. The Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago.

Sailors' legends of uncanny ships-"reward ships, punishment ships, specter ships, ships of the death voyage, and devil ships

are here told, with copious notes which, to our thinking, have more of the real nautical flavor than the stories themselves as here presented. The telling of folk-lore stories effectively requires either verbatim reporting from an original "source or the fine art of an Uncle Remus.

BIOGRAPHY

Audubon the Naturalist. A History of His Life and Time. By Francis Hobart Herrick, Ph.D. 2 vols. Illustrated. D. Appleton & Co., New York. $7.50.

This book supplements the admirable work prepared by Mrs. Audubon and edited by Dr. Elliott Coues called " Audubon and His Journals." It does more, because it is a formal and complete biography and because it includes many letters and facts not heretofore published. Audubon was one of the most interesting of persons, whether as a naturalist or as a talker and thinker. Happy the collector who possesses his great work on the birds of America, with its individually painted plates!

Mark Twain's Letters. Arranged, with Comment, by Albert Bigelow Paine. 2 vols. Illustrated. Harper & Brothers, New York. $4. If any one is inclined to think that Mark Twain was a professional humorist who made fun in order that he might make money (and this opinion has been entertained in some quarters), we think that these letters should suffice to correct the error, for they are characterized by the same exuberant exaggeration and the same rollicking humor which characterizes his published writings. Those characteristics are evidently the spontaneous expression of himself. In reading these letters one sits down at the fireside or the table or in the camp or on the steamboat with Mark Twain and hears him in the untutored and unstudied expression of his own unique personality. Mr. Andrew Lang says in his introduction to "Chuzzlewit" that Mark Tapley is "unconvincing." If he had read Mark Twain's letters, he would have perhaps entertained a different opinion, for the Mark Twain of history is quite as jolly as the Mark Tapley of fiction, and the greater the difficulties which either confronts the greater is his jollity. The letters are well edited, with such historical comment as is needed to make them understandable and

no more.

Master of the Hill (The). A Biography of John Meigs. By Walter Russell Bowie. Illustrated. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. $3. At the time of his death The Outlook published its estimate of John Meigs as master of his school and architect and builder of men, "a sculptor working on live clay." It is enough for us to say here that this book, written by one who was first his pupil and afterwards a teacher in his school, is pervaded by his spirit of absolute sincerity. It is appreciative, warmly affectionate, even at times eloquently enthusiastic, but it is not indiscriminating; it recognizes the master's faults as well as his virtues with a frankness which would delight him and which bears the impress

Linen Opportunities for January

at McCutcheon's

J1

ANUARY at "The Linen Store" will be a month of opportunity for the far-sighted-the opportunity not only to purchase at favorable prices, but also to anticipate coming increases in price.

The world-wide scarcity of flax which has heretofore come in large measure from Belgium and Russia, the difficulties of obtaining labor for manufacturing Linen, and the high rates for ocean transportation have combined to increase the cost of Linens. Further and greater increases have already been announced. During 1918 it is going to be more and more difficult to get Linens at any price.

Only extensive and fortunate buying many months ago has enabled us to keep prices at the level now prevailing at "The Linen Store."

Therefore, you will find it decidedly advantageous to lay in your supplies at this time.

The goods which we are now able to offer you could not be duplicated today at anywhere near their present prices.

Our Country Must Be United

N this time of unprecedented national peril and world peril, America must be strong

today, not so much by the machinery of Government, as by Ideas, held in common by all and fully exchanged, so that all. the people throughout the country may understand and sympathize with one another. This is what has brought this great nation together and holds it together.

This result has been accomplished primarily by the Press-particularly the weekly and monthly periodicals and business papers. These periodicals have not local or sectional bias; they go to all parts of America, and serve all parts alike; their great service is in helping to bring all sections close together into one great nation, through a common understanding.

Second

Class Postal Law

America must not be Split into a half-dozen Sections

Weak with the ILLS and EVILS of Sectionalism

But such a disastrous result is not only possible, but probable, unless the present law pertaining to second-class postage is repealed before it goes into effect. Postal legislation was enacted in the present Revenue Bill, which divides the country up into "zones" and increases the average carrying charge upon magazines and periodicals from 50 to 900 per cent.

These nation-binding periodicals are confronted with certain injury and destruction-which means loss to you personally and loss to your country. It will destroy a large part of the periodicals. You will be deprived of the magazines that have kept you informed on your country's problems, that have helped you in your work. Your children will lose the clean publications that have entertained and helped educate them. And eventually, such magazines as do survive will cost you much more.

The Post Office Department has never been considered a money-making institution. It was established, as was the Department of Agriculture, for the benefit of the people. There is no deficit to make up, therefore

No increase is necessary. Last year the Post Office
Department earned a surplus of nearly $10,000,000

The Post Office was never intended as a tax-gathering institution. It was basically designed to give service to the people-to all the people at the same rate. The Publishers are not trying to evade taxation. They will gladly accept any rate of tax upon their profits that may be levied. Most of them have gone on record as being willing to turn over to the Government their entire net profits for the period of the war.

This is the time of all times when America must be a united America-one nation strong with the strength of unity. Let your influence be used to that end and write to your Senator and Representative in Congress urging them to vote for the repeal of this law, which, unless repealed by the present Congress, will go into effect on July 1st. Every such letter will help.

The Authors' League of America, Inc.

REX BEACH, President

Executive Committee-GERTRUDE ATHERTON, GELETT BURGESS, CHANNING POLLOCK, ALICE DUER Miller, GEORGE BARR MCCUTCHEON, HARVEY O'HIGGINS, LEROY Scott, JESSE LYNCH WILLIAMS, LOUIS Joseph Vance, HELEN S. WOODRUFF

No. 4

The New Books (Continued)

of his character. It will be welcomed as a memorial by many of his pupils and his contemporaries, but it will also, we hope, inspire to a manly, Christian life many who never personally knew the great teacher. Wessel Gansfort. Life and Writings. By Edward Waite Miller, D.D. Principal Works Translated by Jared Waterbury Scudder, M.A. Illustrated. 2 vols. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. $4.

Next to Wyclif, "the morning star of the Reformation," ranks the illustrious Wessel as a precursor of Luther. The authors of these volumes have redeemed from long forgetfulness a theologian greatly admired by Luther. Luther's famous theses assailed the abuse of Papal indulgences. Wessel attacked the system itself as unscriptural and harmful to morality. His attitude was distinctly Protestant, holding to the Bible as the supreme authority in religion, and to Christ rather than the Pope as giving unity to the Church. In his view of the sacraments he anticipated the most radical of the Reformers. A biography of Wessel introduces the estimate of him as a herald of the Reformation. Following this the more significant of his writings are here for the first time translated from their original Latin.

ESSAYS AND CRITICISM

On Contemporary Literature. By Stuart P. Sherman. Henry Holt & Co., New York. $1.50.

The author is at the head of the Department of English Language and Literature in the University of Illinois. He here discusses freely and unconventionally what he considers "the requisites of sound literature" in different periods, using the work of individual authors to bring out his own views. These can be best indicated here by quoting two or three of his extremely interesting titles. Thus we have "The Democracy of Mark Twain," "The Utopian Naturalism of Wells," "The Æsthetic Idealism of James," "The Esthetic Naturalism of Moore," "The Barbaric Naturalism of Dreiser," and so on.

WAR BOOKS

Defenders of Democracy. Edited by the Gift Committee of the Militia of Mercy. President's Edition. Illustrated. The John Lane Company, New York. $2.50.

A medley of good things from many famous authors and artists. There is something here to entertain every one, even if he opens the book with a prejudice against such collections. The reader, indeed, is twice blessed who buys this book, for not only will it interest him, but the purchase of it will help the families of our wounded sailors.

France Bears the Burden. By Granville Fortescue. The Macmillan Company, New York. $1.25.

Readable sketches of war-time activities at the front and behind the lines in France. The sacrifices and the burdens so cheerfully borne by the French are accurately and vividly described by a war correspondent who has a record as a fighter as well as a writer.

Harry Butters, R. F. A. : An American Citizen." Life and War Letters. Edited by Mrs. Denis O'Sullivan. Illustrated. The John Lane Company, New York. $1.50.

A charming young soldier is here revealed. While the book will be of greatest. interest to those who personally knew him, the descriptions of life at the front are so graphic that even the casual reader will be absorbed by them and regret the tragic finale.

The food question is now of the greatest importance. The war may be won or lost by food or the lack of it. The farmer is having great difficulty in keeping enough labor to harvest and deliver his crops. Any means which helps him solve these difficulties is therefore of the greatest value under present conditions. Instead of riding all night behind a slow-moving team to get his products to market, the modern farmer, equipped with motor trucks, starts out at a reasonable hour and yet beats his less progressive neighbor. On his return trip from the city he brings back household staples, fixtures for the stable, dairy, poultry yard, kennel, and various other supplies. In addition to hauling products of the garden, orchard, and farm to the city markets, many of the trucks are provided with removable seats, which makes them easily convertible for passenger service. Frequently they are used to transport passengers and baggage between railway stations and the house. The heavy duty trucks have extra large bodies to provide for great bulk as well as great loads. These trucks usually displace from one to three of the largest farm wagons and from two to eight horses. They are used in hauling hay, grain, corn, oats, and wheat to the grist-mills, and in many cases are used also for transporting milk cans from the farm to railway or interurban milk depots.

On the farm, motor trucks carry soil, fertilizer, garden tools, and farm products. They also haul shrubbery, plants, trees, and cattle. In an emergency the power of the truck can be used to drive an electric generator or water pump, to pull a plow, or operate a threshing machine. Formerly the operations that are now possible with a single truck required several pieces of special machinery that aggregated a heavy financial investment. Large estate owners

admit that the motor truck on the farm today has no rival as far as utility is con.cerned. It makes itself felt when the estate owner counts the cost. Farm hands have time for work that could not be done before the trucks came to the farm. The station wagon has been discarded. Fewer work horses are necessary. The light spring farm wagon is unnecessary. There is a reduction in the cost of feed, stabling, and grooming. In addition barn space is released for other purposes.

The advent of the truck upon the farm has brought a new type of man to superintend the work that is now being conducted on a broader and more extensive scale, to drive the machines and care for their incidental needs. It has given practical mechanical educations to the farm hands and sons of the estate owners. In the great majority of cases the power vehicle has been the means of displacing two or three men, half a dozen work horses, and occasionally road horses, depending upon the type of machine used.

Since the high-powered motor truck has become an intricate part of the country estates and high-class farms, farm life and methods have been completely and quickly revolutionized. To-day the truck is involved in practically every phase of agricultural life. It performs many widely differing duties, all at a great saving of time and labor costs, and has so increased the amount of work possible in any given period of time that the country gentleman who owns a well-managed estate now considers from one to three trucks a necessity, and is loud in his praise of the "iron horse's" performance.

In instances exacting records are many kept of the volume of work the truck does

and the cost of doing it. In practically every instance the truck has shown great reductions instead of increases in the maintenance cost. Records of trucks are compared with those of former years, and this has aided the farm superintendent in establishing himself as an economic factor rather than an item of expense.

It is therefore apparent that transportation problems on the farm which were impossible are now but ordinary tasks for a properly designed motor truck. Farmers and estate owners are beginning to realize that many more tasks can be accomplished by motor, and thus new uses are discovmore economically and much more quickly ered every day and many long-established methods of doing farm work are undergoing radical changes.

One of the most perplexing problems which wholesale and retail merchants have to solve is how to reduce the cost of delivery. Most of the leading truck manufacturers now maintain special research departments, whose province it is to give the merchant, whether a prospective buyer or not, a scientific analysis of his particular haulage problems. One large company, through its advertising, invites merchants to send in their haulage problems to its traffic engineers. Merchants are asked to give the equipment they are now using, general conditions of road, weather, and loads, present cost of operation, loading, unloading, and routing conditions. From these data an analysis is prepared showing the merchant just what changes. would be advisable and how he would profit by the use of trucks. These analyses have been of great benefit to the merchant. They have shown him how to secure better service at a lower cost.

The Research Department of another well-known company has furnished us with the following examples of how it is saving money for small merchants by putting their delivery systems upon an efficient basis. In many cases this saving in delivery cost marks the difference between the success or failure of the business. Each case is an instance of saving in time or money, usually both, effected by displacing the horse with a delivery car. This tabulation fails to show increased territory covered, new business added, and deliveries made on schedule time in all kinds of weather, which helps greatly in holding the good will of the customer.