In 1818 the precedent for the service pension was established by the act pensioning all indigent soldiers who had served in the Revolutionary War. The present system is especially liberal, and is of a double nature, (1) that under the so-called general law, and (2), under the act of June 27, 1890. The latter applies to soldiers of the Civil War and their widows in cases where disability and death are not due to military service. It embraces more pensioners than all our other laws taken together, and is considered by the writer as the most defective part of the system. The former applies to all our wars since the Civil War and to wars of the future. The rules regarding beneficiaries are stricter but the benefice is larger.

The existence of a large surplus in the treasury is given as a principal cause for the unwarranted prodigality of the laws; the evil of encouraging citizens to look for a monetary equivalent for the performance of a patriotic duty as the most serious danger.

"THE CAUSE OF THE SOUTH AGAINST THE NORTH" is a summary of the historical evidence in justification of the Southern States and their action up to and including the Civil War. The author, who was formerly a representative in the United States Congress, has given an interesting, if not always pertinent, account of the issues of the Civil War from the standpoint of the South.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT IN MICHIGAN' is a valuable contribution to the literature on the industrial development of the United States. The study covers only ten years of internal improvements in Michigan (1836-46), but the period is one of particular interest, owing to the fact that many of the internal improvements of that state had their beginning at this time. Canal building, railway construction, the development of turnpike roads and bridges formed an important part of the life and interest of this new community. The methods employed, the results accomplished, the financial difficulties undergone, are set forth in detail. The author has proceeded from an investigation of original documents and current literature available to few students in history and economics.

"THE COUNTY PALATINE OF DURHAM,” by Gaillard Thomas Lapsley, Ph. D., strikes to the very root of English constitutional history. 1 By B. F. GRADY. Pp. 345. Price, $1.00; $1.50. Raleigh, N. C.: Edwards & Broughton, 1899.

'By Hannah Emily Keith, M. L. Pages 48. Price, paper, 50 cents. Michigan: Political Science Association, July, 1900.

Published in Series of Harvard Historical Studies. Vol. viii. Pp. xv, 380. Price, $2.00. New York: Longmans, Green & Co.

The author has selected the County Palatine of Durham as a norm, presenting all of the characteristics of the smaller group in English political society; we are thereby given a much more exact knowledge of the constitutional government of the entire empire. He traces the history of the County Durham from its origin, portraying in minute detail the structure of executive and judiciary, as well as the financial and military arrangements. This study is of especial interest to the American student on account of the importation of English institutions in colonial government. It is impossible to understand the colonial establishment of New York, Virginia and the Carolinas without knowing the local government of England at the time. Dr. Lapsley has given us a working model, from which we can reconstruct our early colonial institutions with much greater accuracy than was heretofore possible.

MR. LECKY's recent work, "The Map of Life," 1 touches two points of interest in the field of social science, the first being the rapid decline, during the past generation, of the love of individual liberty. The English race are now "contentedly submitting great departments of their lives to a web of regulations restricting and encircling them." The historian declares that "the triumphs of sanitary reform as well as of medical science are perhaps the brightest page in the history of our century." "At the same time the marked tendency of this generation to extend the stringency and area of coercive legislation in the fields of industry and sanitary reform may in more ways than one greatly injure the very classes it is intended to benefit."

The second reflection of special interest relates to the South African policy of the dominant English party. "The Jameson raid was one of the most discreditable as well as mischievous events in recent colonial history, and its character was entirely unrelieved by any gleam either of heroism or of skill." English public sentiment was grossly deceived, "one of the chief and usually most trustworthy organs of opinion having been made use of as an organ of the conspirators." Cecil Rhodes is held responsible. His popularity with the British public is cited as evidence that the standard of morality in international politics has not kept pace with the improving standard of morality in home politics. The following sentences sound a solemn warning which, at the present time, may be construed as addressed to each of the leading world powers: "Of all forms of prestige, moral

The Map of Life, Conduct and Character. By WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY. Pp. xiv, 352. Price, $2.00. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899.

prestige is the most valuable." "A nation wins prestige if its policy is essentially honorable and straightforward, if the word and honor of its statesmen and diplomatists may be trusted implicitly, and if intrigues and deceptions are wholly alien to their nature.”

THE SOURCE-BOOK OF ENGLISH HISTORY1 is a bold attempt to give in a single volume a collection of sources extending from "the first mention of Britain by ancient historians to the last great treaty with the Boers of South Africa." To the important constitutional and legal documents which are selected with a view to furnish a framework for the history of national development, a great deal of illustrative material is added, which is not strictly documentary. The work of the author therefore called for careful discrimination in the selection of material. The result, from the standpoint of political history, is eminently satisfactory; the political, legal, and even the ecclesiastical changes and growth are admirably set forth so far as the limits of the work would allow. From the point of view of English social and economic development, however, the book is a decided disappointment; a few sources regarding the organization of rural and municipal society in the early medieval period are given, but the great movements of more recent centuries, such as the abolition of serfdom, the transition from villainage to free labor, and the important social and economic changes of the early Tudors are absolutely ignored. Nor does the great industrial revolution and the consequent readjustment receive better treatment. This peculiar bias in the choice of material is inexcusable and has resulted in an unfortunate and serious defect in an otherwise meritorious work.

The constructive work by the author appears to advantage in the chapters on "Bibliography of Sources," followed by one of less value, giving the "Sources Arranged by Epochs."

"CASES ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW" is a convenient collection of the most important cases affecting our constitutional development. The value of these collections in general depends upon the ability of the compiler to select those decisions and just those parts of each decision which are important. In the second place the value of the compilation depends upon the description of all the incidents surrounding the case. President McClain has chosen his cases and his quotations from each case admirably. It is, therefore, to be regretted 1 By GUY CARLETON LEE, Ph. D. Pp. 609. Price, $3.00. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1900.

By EMLIN MCCLAIN. Pp. xv, 1080. Price, $4.50 net: $5.00. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1900.

that the space at his command did not permit of a satisfactory explanation of the origin of each case. In the chapter on "The Government of Territories," the book bids fair to be antiquated in a very short time by reason of the rapid development of our constitutional law on this point. One or two important and interesting cases are not found in the compilation, but the ground as a whole is well cov. ered and it may be said that the object of the collection is attained.

DR. ELLIS P. OBERHOLTZER has rewritten his monograph on "The Referendum in America,"1and brought it up to date. Among the most important additions are the first three chapters on "The Interplay of French and American Thought in the Eighteenth Century," "The Downfall of Franklin's Government in Pennsyl vania," and "The Rise of the Constitutional Convention." In these three chapters the author gives a most interesting discussion of the conflict between the political philosophies of Franklin and John Adams, Franklin representing the extreme radical tendency of democracy, while Adams represented the theory of checks and balances. Dr. Oberholtzer is of the opinion that Franklin's system worked more injury than good to the government of the colonies and the Pennsylvania constitution of 1776 is pointed to as an indication of this. The author thinks it fortunate that the philosophy represented by Adams triumphed in the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787.

After this preliminary discussion, which might well have been condensed into a single chapter and entitled "Radical versus Conservative Democracy," the author proceeds to a discussion of the referendum as it has developed in America. This development has taken place in three forms, the referendum on entire constitutions, the referendum on laws, and the local referendum. The local referendum is the most varied of the three, having developed, for example, as a referendum on bills affecting the scope and form of local government, on loan and financial bills, on liquor licenses, etc. The work is in no sense a critical one, nor is it an attempt to justify direct legislation, but aims to be "an unvarnished historical account of some important developments in the field of popular government in the United States of America." In his concluding chapter on "Referendum versus Representative System," Dr. Oberholtzer has been almost too careful in his efforts to avoid a prejudiced conclusion. "One cannot escape the thought, therefore, that there may be compensations in the method of direct legislation, at any rate with regard to local government, and that it may at least not be a tendency to make our system, already bad, in any essential respect the worse." Dr. Oberholtzer's work should help to dispel the widespread ignorance on this important subject.

1Pp. 430. Price, $2.00 net. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900.

THE REPORT ON MUNICIPAL Trading,1 by the Joint Select Committee of Parliament, appointed to investigate this subject, will be found invaluable by all who are interested in the question of municipal ownership and operation of public conveniences. With the usual deliberation and thoroughness of parliamentary committees appointed for the purposes of investigation, the Earl of Crewe and his colleagues held fifteen sittings, all of considerable length, and heard both sides of the question discussed by thirty-five witnesses, representing governmental organs, local bodies, public and private enterprises. The results of the system of questions and answers by which the investigation was carried on are found in this "blue book" entitled "Municipal Trading." The committee consisted of five commoners and five lords.

The minutes of evidence fill about three hundred and fifty pages, and the appendix one hundred and fifty.

From the various tables and statements of the witnesses we gather a number of important facts regarding the present state of municipal activity in business undertakings. In England and Wales there are 265 municipal corporations thus engaged, and also 74 in Scotland. This is 45 per cent of the boroughs in the United Kingdom. The chief industries are: Waterworks, 226; markets, 197; gasworks, 119; baths, etc., 112; tramways, 65; cemeteries, 64; electric lighting, 60; piers, quays, etc., 15; working-class dwellings, 8. The amount of capital involved is $440,726,975, of which 94 per cent is borrowed. Half of this is employed in waterworks and a quarter in gas. Electric lighting uses seventeen and tramways sixteen millions. Between 1875 and 1896 the percentage of local to national debt rose from twelve to thirty-nine.

All arguments brought forward against municipal trading may be summed up in these statements: (1) that water alone being a universal necessity, municipal industry should be limited to supplying it; (2) municipalities lack the business experience essential to carrying on tramways, gasworks, etc., successfully; (3) local authorities are overworked; (4) municipalities cannot take advantage of modern improvements, or would not without the stimulus of competition; (5) the large number of workmen employed constitute an important electoral factor; (6) using profits from one industry in another is bad finance; (7) private enterprise is discouraged and industrial progress checked; (8) to it is due the backwardness of electrical and

1 Report from the Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons on Municipal Trading, together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence and Appendix. Pp. x, and 513. Price, 45. 3d. London: Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, by Wyman & Sons, Limited, 1900. Blue Book 305.