French annual production of shoes is estimated at $160,000,000 worth. The leather comes, as regards the best qualities, from France itself, and the second qualities from South America and the Antilles. Tanned sheepskins are imported from India, and a certain small amount of trade is done in particularly delicate skins, such as those of the antelope and kangaroo. M. d'Avenel goes on to deal with the question of competition, against the work-people of Europe, of the black and yellow races, whose needs, being less, would enable them, it is thought, to accept lower wages; but it is too often forgotten that the taste for luxuries is universal, and when you have given a shirt to a South African savage he is by no means content, but immediately wishes to have himself photographed in it. The Egyptian fellah and the Brazilian negro-to take two very different examples-have alike shown a growing taste for more elaborate costumes than their fathers had. It is probable, therefore, that rates of wages will tend to adjust themselves in accordance with the practical needs of the workers, of whatever color they are.

OTHER ARTICLES.

It is certainly an honor of an unexpected kind for Mr. Hall Caine to have a short story of his published in the Revue des Deux Mondes; it seems to be admirably translated. For the rest, Dr. Bonnafy contributes a very clear and useful account of the Société des Œuvres de Mer, founded in 1895, to provide the 16,000 French deep-sea fishermen with the hospital-ships of which, unfortunately, they stand in frequent need; and he also describes other organizations in various countries designed to improve the lot of these lonely workers.

TH

NOUVELLE REVUE.

HE Nouvelle Revue keeps up well to the higher standard it has lately set itself; but, as many of the regular readers of the Revue will note with disappointment, Mme. Juliette Adam's bimonthly letters concerning the trend of foreign politics are omitted.

AN EXPERT'S CRITICISM OF THE BOER WAR. Capt. G. Gilbert, a distinguished French officer, continues his highly technical account of the South African campaign; and to the many who are now beginning to take an interest in what may be called the theoretical side of the war, his criticisms concerning Magersfontein, Stormberg, and Colenso-that is to say, the operations on the Modder River, in the Orange Free State, and on the Tugela-will be found deeply interesting; the more so that he analyzes at length the Boer and the British methods of warfare. He evidently considers that the leading mistake made by the British generals was that of underestimating their enemy; but he pays a well-deserved tribute to the many individual acts of bravery, and even of good sense, shown by certain minor British officers. He gives a marvelously vivid and powerful account of the Magersfontein disaster; and it is significant that a French officer goes out of his way to again and again pay testimony to the marvelous courage of the British troops. In the first September number Captain Gilbert continues his analysis of the campaign.

CONTEMPORARY CRITICISM IN FRANCE.

In the matter of periodical literature, and even in the matter of fiction, France, at any rate as regards output,

ment.

is a hundred years behind England and America. The would-be novelist always publishes his first story at his own expense, and even the most successful writers do not make anything like the huge profits that accrue as a matter of course to their great British rivals. Here every newspaper devotes a certain amount of space to literary criticism; in France, save by two or three leading Parisian sheets, no attempt at anything of the kind is made. Review copies are not sent round to the leading periodicals, and the only way in which a book gets advertised is literally by means of advertiseIt is easy to pay for the insertion of a very flattering notice; but then every intelligent reader is aware that the so-called review has been paid for, often at a very extravagant rate. It must, however, be admitted that there are some half-dozen French writers who give up much of their time to literary criticism, and who are--to their honor, be it said-really incorruptible. They, however, either contribute a weekly signed article to some literary paper, or they publish their conclusions in one or other of the three great bimonthly reviews. Among these literary critics may be especially mentioned MM. Brunetière, Faguet, Lemaître and Hallays.

FRENCH RED TAPE. ·

Those who marvel why French life is so terribly encircled with red tape should make a point of reading M. Martin's article entitled "The Reign of Bureaucrats." He points out that the republic owes not a little of its stability to the fact that an enormous number of Frenchmen of the lower and upper middle class are actually in its employment, and are to all intents and purposes its paid servants. Notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary, the Frenchman is essentially a man of stable ideals: he has in him very little of the gambling instinct, and he can make himself happy on a tiny income, provided that income is a sure and certain one. This is why a post under government is regarded as being so desirable. A Frenchman would rather see his son become a clerk in a government office at $250 a year than the confidential manager of an ordinary business man at a salary ten times that figure. The number of people employed in the great government offices doubles every few years. At the present moment the finance minister alone has under his orders 1,400 employees; and the different ministries, or rather their clerks, absorb a yearly income of 30,000,000 francs, mostly paid away in small salaries. The same system obtains in every provincial town. In 1858 there were 217,000 state employees, costing the country in salaries 260,000,000 francs. Last year the number had just doubled, and the salary list had trebled. The same state of thing obtains, and to an even worse degree, in the French colonies. In Cochin China there are 3,000 French people-men, women, and children; and of these 3,000, 1,700 are civil servants! Indeed, observes M. Martin, Cochin China may be called the paradise of the bureaucracy; the functionaries are in such a majority that they carry a solid vote, and thanks to this fact they are able to decide what their own salaries are to be.

CHINESE WAR-MAKING,

M. de Contenson gives some curious particulars concerning the Chinese methods of making war. Even in the days anterior to the Christian Era the Celestials had an elaborate military theory of their own, and had actually written works on the art of war. These curi

imitation of old architecture, destroys the effect of one of the most impressive views of the Grand Canal. Furthermore, the destruction of the Pescheria, a horribly ugly building close to the Grand Canal, is urgently demanded. The practice of coloring the houses which are built of stone or marble in white is to be regretted, M. de Souza thinks, and color-preferably red-should be made compulsory. In general, it is the reviving commercial prosperity of Venice that brings in its train the vandalism of engineers, stimulated by the self-esteem of officialism.

REVUE DES REVUES.

HE August numbers of the Revue des Revues contain a second article by Senator Paul Strauss upon "Puericulture"-a paper which might have been inspired by Zola's "Fécondité." He advocates the legal protection of maternity, not only by forbidding women to work in factories for four or even six weeks after the birth of a child, but also by giving them an indemnity for wages lost. Excessive infant mortality is the chief cause of depopulation. In France, one-sixth of the total number of deaths are those of infants. In Paris, infant mortality is relatively low, but in some French industrial towns over 50 per cent. of the deaths are of children under one year. Sterilized milk will be a great factor in the saving of infant life, yet the prime cause of the frightful mortality of young children will never be removed except by educating girls for their duties as mothers-an education which must begin as the school time ends. One institution, at least, has already been founded with this object, with the happiest results in the saving of infant life.

FIRST STEPS TOWARDS SOLIDARITY.

Anna Lampérière, secretary-general of the Education Congress, has a most interesting paper upon "Social Education" in France, in which she thinks France has made far greater strides than any Anglo-Saxon nation. France is the brain of humanity;" French thought the light which guides the steps of the rest of the world. In many French schools much has been done to instill into the children's minds the idea of solidarity, coöperation, being able to do easily combined what would be impossible by individual effort. A typical exercise for teaching children the elements of social economy may be quoted:

"On Thursday the master, being pleased with his class, had promised that every one should go for a walk as a reward. In the morning the father of Louis, one of our mates, said that Louis would have to fetch in the wood instead of going for a walk. Then every one went to Louis' home to help him; the wood was brought in directly, and Louis went out walking with us. Every one was very glad, and he was very glad, and the master said that that was solidarity."

Some schools try more practical methods. In one the children club together to buy a bottle of expensive wine for a sick schoolmate unable to get it for himself. In others they club together to replace a boy's cap which has landed in the garden of a bad-tempered neighbor, or a spoiled dictionary. In Orleans a case is cited of a "Mutual Insurance Society Against WindowBreaking," a club upon which a boy can draw when in play he has managed to break some one's window. In secondary schools less is being done than in primary; but coöperation is one of the leading notes of the "Universités Populaires."

THE INTERNATIONAL PEACE MOVEMENT.

M. Frederic Passy gives some reminiscences of his peace propaganda, dating over thirty years back. Old as he is, M. Passy writes with hope and enthusiasm. Speaking of the French Society for International Arbitration, which for ten years past has been striving to apply the principles of arbitration before war, M. Passy says that its efforts, though at first received with some indifference, have been the object of more and more attention on the part of the governments. "Not only have the ambassadors, through whom we had to send our letters, for the most part acknowledged their receipts in terms which were not mere flattery-several having even taken the trouble to leave their cards upon me-but a certain number, after acknowledging the letters, have renewed their thanks by order of their government." Speaking of the Hague Conference, M. Passy says it is "a happy crowning of the work of the Interparliamentary Conferences and the Peace Congresses."

OTHER ARTICLES.

Miss Constance Barnicoat, in an article on "The Alleged Disappearance of the Maori," replies to an anonymous French writer's assertion that the English had extirpated this race from the face of the earth, which is happily yet far from being the case.

M. Renard eagerly hails the first signs of spelling reform in France, the minister of education having last July published a decree which will greatly reduce the size of French grammars and immensely simplify the task of learning either to spell or write that language correctly.

Mme. Vera Starkoff writes on "Russian Writers Who Reach the People," among whom she mentions Novikoff and Tourguenieff.

Mlle. Lecamp writes sensibly upon "Moral Teaching in School and in the Family." She asserts that the teacher, as well as the parent, is morally responsible for children's moral instruction. "If only one rule was required for our true education, I should say: Never put any but beautiful things before the eyes of a child. It is by the worship of the beautiful in all its forms that the child gets a great and generous soul, a free mind, open to all large thoughts."

AMERICAN POLITICS.

A History of Political Parties in the United States. By James H. Hopkins. 12mo, pp. 477. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. $2.50.

Mr. Hopkins has prepared a convenient work of reference covering the whole political history of the United States. In appendices to the book are contained the more important national platforms from 1840 to the present time, together with tables giving the popular vote in the various States in the last four presidential elections. In a brief concluding chapter Mr. Hopkins sums up the record of American parties in a suggestive manner. This record shows that since the days of Jackson the rule has been that the party which secured the Presidency at the same election chose Congressmen of the same political faith, but that two years later the people have chosen a majority in the House of Representatives hostile to the administration. In every second term of Congress, therefore, in almost every instance, the political control of legislation has been transferred from one party to the other. Exceptions, however, occurred during the period of the Civil War, in Cleveland's first term, and during the second half of McKinley's term.

The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia. Edited by John P. Foley. 8vo, pp. 1009. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company. $7.50.

It is claimed for this work that it contains everything of importance that Jefferson ever wrote on government, law, politics, education, commerce, agriculture, manufactures, navigation, finance, morals, or religious freedom-in short, that it is a complete manual of Jefferson's doctrine. Nearly ten thousand extracts from Jefferson's letters, state papers, and published works are arranged alphabetically by topics, with a full cross-reference index. This scheme greatly facilitates the use of the voluminous material. If we mistake not, the publishers have had an eye on the needs of the campaign "spellbinders" in this Presidential year. The book is thoroughly workmanlike, and a model of its class.

The Life and Writings of Thomas Jefferson. By S. E. Forman. 8vo, pp. 476. Indianapolis: The BowenMerrili Company. $3.

To write a biographical sketch of Jefferson that should "avoid controversy, abuse, and eulogy" has been Dr. For. man's very sensible and praiseworthy aim. He has achieved it by rigidly confining himself to the undisputed facts of his hero's career. Of this volume, entitled "The Life and Writings" of Jefferson, the "Life" occupies less than one-third. The more important portion of the book consists of extracts from Jefferson's voluminous private correspondence, his state papers, his "Notes on Virginia," etc. All of this material has long been in print, of course, but not in a form generally accessible.

The Trusts: What Can We Do with Them? What Can They Do for Us? By William Miller Collier. 12mo, pp. 338. New York: The Baker & Taylor Company. $1.25.

Mr. Collier's point of view in dealing with the trust problem is that of the student who recognizes the necessity of combinations of capital, and at the same time sees their dangers to the industrial, social, and political system. He believes that much of the legislation heretofore attempted has been futile, and even positively injurious. His method, therefore, is to discriminate between the evils that must be prohibited and prevented and the tendencies that must be

limited and restricted. As specific remedies for the evils resulting from trusts, Mr. Collier would abolish all special privileges; prohibit and absolutely prevent railroad discrimination; lower the tariff,-not whenever we can obtain our goods from abroad at a lower rate, but whenever the prices exacted by any trust, or any corporation, or any individual are in excess of a fair profit after paying American wages. He would compel corporations to bear their fair proportion of taxation, and let the public retain and, in so far as is lawful, retake all public utilities and franchises. He favors the New York franchise-tax law. In addition to the abolishing of special privileges, Mr. Collier has great faith in publicity as a coördinate remedy.

"Restraint of Trade :" Pros and Cons of Trusts in Facts and Principles. By William Hudson Harper. 12mo, pp. 368. Chicago, 750 Marquette Building: Printed for the Editor. Paper, 50 cents.

This pamphlet represents an attempt to collate the most diverse opinions recently expressed by American thinkers on the trust problem. No great effort has been made to secure an orderly arrangement of material, and, as the editor himself intimates in his preface, the book may be opened at random and read without regard to sequence. There is an advantage, of course, in having the crystallized views of economists and publicists on this question thus compiled in a single volume. All schools of thought seem to have been fairly treated by the editor, whose sole aim has been to give each authority equal and just representation. The Wall Street Point of View. By Henry Clews. 12mo, pp. 290. New York: Silver, Burdett & Co. $1.50.

In this volume Mr. Clews considers the political and social problems of the day, and even international affairs, from "the Wall-Street point of view." Many of his chapters, such as " Washington Domination in Finance, Speculation, and Business," ""Tariff for Prosperity Only," "Currency Legislation," and "President McKinley's Policy and the Nation's Future," have a direct bearing on the current Presidential campaign. The concluding chapter, entitled "Our Nation's New Departure," is a defense of the present administration of our foreign affairs. Chapters on the Cleveland and Harrison administrations, the Wilson tariff law, the Baring failure, and the Venezuelan message panic are not without historical value and significance. Mr. Clews' style, as often illustrated in his writings for the press, is colloquial, frequently anecdotal, and always entertaining.

One Hundred Years of Platforms, Principles, and Policies of the American Democracy. By S. S. Bloom. 12mo, pp. 221. Shelby, Ohio: The Shelby Publishing Company. Paper, 50 cents.

This pamphlet is a campaign handbook designed for the guidance of Democratic voters, and intended to familiarize the younger generation with the principles of the Jeffersonian fathers. The book was published before the assembling of the Kansas City convention.

The Referendum in America. By Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer. 12mo, pp. 430. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

$2.

Dr. Oberholtzer has been engaged for several years in a study of the referendum in Switzerland and in this country. He has given special attention to the system of lawmaking by popular vote in the United States, under which constitu

tional amendments and even entire constitutions are submitted for ratification at the polls. He makes it clear that Americans really had the referendum long before the name was familiar to them. His discussion of the various phases of the subject in the light of the most recent developments, both at home and abroad, is exceedingly timely and instructive.

Representative Democracy. By John R. Commons.

12mo, pp. 100. New York: Bureau of Economic Research. Paper, 25 cents.

This little pamphlet brings together the main arguments for direct legislation and proportional representation. The chief aim of the work, perhaps, is to show the importance to minority parties in different sections of the country of proportional representation as a means to united action without fusion. The author seeks to apply this principle to Democrats, Populists, and Silver Republicans in the West, to Populists and Republicans in the South, and to Republicans, Socialists, etc., in New York City. In considering direct legislation, the author argues that it is the only cure for corruption in politics. The account of the new proportional-representation law in Belgium was contributed by Professor Commons to the REVIEW OF REVIEWS for May, 1900.

ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY.

America's Economic Supremacy. By Brooks Adams. 12mo, pp. 222. New York: The Macmillan Company. $1.25.

The titles of the essays brought together in this volume are as follows: "The Spanish War and the Equilibrium of the World; ""The New Struggle for Life Among Nations;" "England's Decadence in the West Indies;" • Natural Selection in Literature;" "The Decay of England," and "Russia's Interest in China." These essays deal with the last three years, in which the United States, at least, has made history very rapidly. These discussions of the most modern phases of our economic life are well thought out, and, though prepared without reference to one another, form a natural sequence.

Industrial Betterment. By William Howe Tolman. (Monographs on American Social Economics.) 8vo, pp. 82. New York League for Social Service. Paper, 75 cents.

Dr. Tolman's monograph, which has received the honor of a French translation, deals particularly with the improvement in the conditions under which American working-men and working-women perform their daily tasks. Dr. Tolman has investigated not only the factories themselves, but the homes and environments of the workers. He has also studied the effect of such industrial and social betterment on the community as a whole.

Religious Movements for Social Betterment. By Dr. Josiah Strong. (Monographs on American Social Economics.) 8vo, pp. 50. New York: League for Social Service. Paper, 50 cents.

Dr. Strong's pamphlet on "Religious Movements for Social Betterment" covers particularly such developments as what is known as the "institutional church" idea and other modern attempts to direct religious activities along social lines. The work of the Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, and the Salvation Army is also described.

The Past and Present Condition of Public Hygiene and State Medicine in the United States. By Samuel W. Abbott. (Monographs on American Social Economics.) 8vo, pp. 103.

In summing up the progress of matters pertaining to public health in the United States, Dr. Abbott mentions especially the rapidity with which the introduction of public water-supplies has been effected, especially in States west of the Mississippi Valley, and the stimulus given to meth

ods for the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases through the agents of bacteriology. As pressing needs of the hour, Dr. Abbott suggests a central bureau or department for the collection of vital statistics from the different States and Territories, and a central sanitary organization at Washington to coöperate with and to aid municipal and State sanitary authorities.

The Care of Destitute, Neglected, and Delinquent Children. By Homer Folks. (Monographs on American Social Economics.) 8vo, pp. 142. New York: The Charities Review.

In a series of monographs on American social economics, prepared for the United States Commission to the Paris Exposition, there is an exhaustive study of "The Care of Destitute, Neglected, and Delinquent Children," by Homer Folks, secretary of the New York State Charities Aid Association. Mr. Folks first describes the situation in this country in 1801 with reference to these dependent classes. He then reviews the development of the public care of destitute children up to the year 1875. Private charities for destitute children during the same period are treated in a similar manner. Then the movement for the removal of children from the almshouses is described. This is followed by a full account of public systems other than almshouse care, for the last quarter of the nineteenth century. There is also a chapter on private charities for the same period, together with specific chapters on neglected and delinquent children, present tendencies, and an ample bibliography of the whole subject, giving the more important sources of information. This paper also forms one of an historical series on American philanthropy in the Charities Review.

Crime and Criminals. By J. Sanderson Christison. 12mo, pp. 177. Chicago: 100 State St. Published by the Author. $1.25.

Dr. Christison's studies of crime and criminals have attracted much attention, and, in view of the rapid increase in American crime, they are deserving of most serious consideration. In this little volume, Dr. Christison presents a series of criminal topics, with brief descriptions of the individual characters and their history. Each description is given as the product of an examination of two or more hours' length made in private and supplemented by other inquiries. They thus have a rigid scientific basis. The History of the Prudential Insurance Company of America (Industrial Insurance). By Frederick L. Hoffman. 12mo, pp. 338. Newark, N. J. The Prudential Press.

In connection with the exhibit at the Paris Exposition of charts, diagrams, and statistics illustrating the methods and results of what is known as "industrial insurance" in the United States, this monograph has been prepared by the statistician of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, the concern most closely identified with this form of insurance. Although the company has had an existence of only a quarter of a century, it has fully demonstrated the possibility of extending the benefits of life insurance to the masses. This volume forms as complete a record of the history of the insuring of working-men and their families in this country as it would be possible to compile from any source.

CHINA AND THE FAR EAST.

China's Open Door: A Sketch of Chinese Life and History. By Rounsevelle Wildman. 12mo, pp. xvi-318. Boston: Lothrop Publishing Company. $1.50. Consul-General Wildman has brought within brief compass an historical sketch of the Chinese empire and its people from the earliest times to the outbreak of the Boxer insurrection. Mr. Wildman's book lacks the element of dryness so often present in histories compiled from printed works. Perhaps one reason for this is the fact that the author has based his work on personal observation and asso