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best selves. There is no necessary antagonism in these positions; but the author's treatment suggests an antagonism. Speaking in another connection he says that the legislator is concerned not only with acts which are socially inexpedient but also with those which are considered wicked when judged by his moral canons. But is it not true that the individual's conception of right and of wrong is an outcome of environmental conditions, and would it not also be true that in legislating on what may, on the face of it, appeal to him as mala in se the lawmaker is in reality acting upon a conception which has become his through constant social accretions? The method of the author suggests that the transcendental analysis of the aims of the state gives the higher ideal and points out the way in which alone our best selves can be realized. But may it not also be claimed that the evolutionary point of view suggests that ideals are being moulded and reformed, not by the objective physical environment alone, as the author in his discussion of the evolutionary point of view would seem to suggest, but also through the influence of a psychical environment as well? In other words, is the ideal of a high conception of personality incompatible with the evolutionary system? While the author finds that rights are relative to conditions, he introduces into his analysis the conception of an abstract right, an abstract principle concerned with "right actions . . . (which) are founded ultimately upon eternal principles of morality flowing from the essential character of the Divine reason.' But if we look for the universality which this transcendental phrase would predicate do we not find that the ideas of right and of wrong vary from age to age, from clime to clime, and that the principles of right and of wrong which survive are those which have social utility and are in harmony with social expediency, giving to the word expediency that broad sense it must have throughout the discussion?

University of Arkansas.

SIMON J. MCLEAN.

BOOKS RECEIVED FROM DECEMBER 1, 1900, TO FEBRUARY

I, 1901.

Ashley, W. J., Surveys, Historic and Economic. Longmans, Green & Co. $3.00. Bittinger, L. F., The Germans in Colonial Times. J. B. Lippincott Co. $1.50. Bliss, H. L., Plutocracy's Statistics. C. H. Kerr & Co. $0.10.

Bourinot, J. G., Canada 1760-1900. Macmillan. $1.50.

Carnegie, A., Gospel of Wealth. Century Company.

Christison, J. S., Crime and Criminals. Second Edition. Chicago: Meng Pub. Co. Cunningham, W., Western Civilization. (Cambridge Historical Series.) Macmillan. $1.25.

Current Politics from a Liberal Standpoint.

Association.

Edinburgh: Scottish Liberal

Curtis, W. E., From the Andes to the Ocean. Chicago: H. S. Stone & Co.
Davidson, T., A History of Education. Scribner's Sons. $1.25.

Desmars, J., J. J. L. Graslin, Un Précurseur d'A. Smith en France. Paris: L. Larose. Dodge, R. E., A Reader in Physical Geography for Beginners. Longmans, Green & Co. $0.70.

Foster, J. W., A Century of American Diplomacy. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. $3.50. Gide, C., Principes d'Économie Politique. Seventh Edition. Paris: L. Larose 6 fr.

Harper's History of the War in the Philippines. Edited by, Marrion Wilcox. Harper & Bros. $10.00.

Hart, A. B., American History Told by Contemporaries. Vol. III. Macmillan Co.
Herboldshimer, J. B., The Enslavement and Emancipation of the People. Gibson
City, Ills.: J. B. Herboldshimer. $0.75.

Lauzel, M., Manuel du Co-opérateur Socialiste. Paris: G. Bellais. 0.50 fr.
London-Report by the Chief Labour Correspondent of the Board of Trade on
Trade Unions in 1899. London: Darling & Son. Is. 61⁄2d.

London-Report by the Chief Labour Correspondent on the Strikes and Lockouts of 1899. London: Darling & Son. 11d.

Mahan, M., A Church History of the First Seven Centuries to the Close of the
Sixth General Council. New York: E. & J. B. Young & Co. $2.00.
Morris, H. C., History of Colonization.

Macmillan Co. $4.00.

Newcomb, H. T., The Postal Deficit. Washington: Wm. Ballantyne & Són. $1.00. Norway-Official Publication for the Paris Exhibition 1900. Kristiania: AktieBogtrykkeriet.

von Oppenheimer, F. F., Die Wohnungsnot u. Wohnungsreform in England. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. 4 m.

13 m.

Simmel, G.. Philosophie des Geldes. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. Simonson, G., A Plain Examination of Socialism. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. New York: Scribner's Sons.

Sociale Verwaltung in Oesterreich am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts. 2 Vols. Wien:
Franz Denticke. 24 m., 16 m.

Smythe, W. E., The Conquest of Arid America. Harper & Bros. $1.50.
Spears, J. K., The American Slave Trade. Scribner's Sons. $2.50.

Thom, W. T., The Struggle for Religious Freedom in Virginia: The Baptists. (Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Series XVIII, Nos. 10, 11-12.) $0.75.

Thomas, W. H., The American Negro. Macmillan Co. $2.00.

von Tugan-Baranowky, M., Studien zur Theorie und Geschichte der Handelskrisen in England. Jena: Gustav Fischer.

Turmann, M., Le Développement du Catholicisme Social Depuis l'Encyclique. Paris: Felix Alcan. 6 fr.

Vandervelde, E., Le Collectivisme et l'Evolution Industrielle. Paris: G. Bellais. 1.50 fr.

Wallace, A. R., Studies, Scientific and Social. 2 Vols. Macmillan Co. 18s.

Young, J. W. A., The Teaching of Mathematics in the Higher Schools of Prussia. Longmans, Green & Co. $0.80.

NOTES.

I. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

Instruction in Municipal Government and Its Betterment.— In practical politics the American citizen overlooks the complex nature of his citizenship. In theory he is expected to determine consciously and intelligently the character of administration in some eight or more distinct governmental units. At different times the hypothetical citizen is to concentrate his patriotism and his interest upon each separate unit in its turn. In theory he is to consult the needs of each division irrespective of any other divisions, except as there is by law an organic relation. He is to have in his mind and heart a place for each unit as distinct as the sharp geographical line between precinct, ward, city, legislative division, county, congressional district, state, United States. In theory election judges are chosen to guarantee a pure ballot and an honest count; city officers consult only the local needs of the city; state officers concern themselves with essentially state problems; while only national officers are chosen because of national political leanings.

In practice, however, the American knows for the most part but one citizenship. He is an American and only an American, and as such, chooses for every office the man who holds the right views with reference to national policies. Accordingly, we have Republican and Democratic nominees for school director, assessor, treasurer, mayor and state executive, notwithstanding the utter absence of any essential point of contact between the functions of local, state and national offices. The reason for this anomalous situation is found in the exigencies of the national political party. In the absence of organized resistance to this universal tendency to confuse national, state and local issues, it will continue, for it has the organized support of all national parties, whether republican, democratic, prohibitionist or socialist.

Attempts have been made to cry this confusion out of existence, or to eliminate it by revealing the corruption and poor government incident to it. Again it was sought to cripple the national organization which encouraged the confusion by taking away patronage or spoils and establishing civil service commissions. Lastly and with greater success, organization was met by organization, and civic organizations in all parts of the country undertook to isolate city from national

patriotism to correspond with the isolation of essential interests. These citizens' leagues multiplied, until now they number nearly five hundred. League conferred with league, whence arose the state and national conventions of non-partisan citizens' clubs. Journals were established to represent the new movement, until to-day we have various monthly and bi-monthly magazines devoted exclusively to municipal problems, while others have special departments of municipal notes.

Independent municipal organizations have encountered not only the opposition of organized national parties, but also the apathy of the citizen. To counteract these two factors, there seems no recourse but painstaking education. At the present time it would seem that the various educational agents are not serving sufficiently to aid the movement to give to municipal matters a concentrated attention independent of national party lines. The various journals published by municipal leagues circulate, for the most part, rather among allies than among possible recruits. The daily press is with difficulty won over to the support of independent candidates. Likewise the textbooks, in harmony with past political traditions, cater to an interest in national government, to the partial if not total exclusion of municipal problems.

Realizing this and appreciating the importance of enlisting the forces of education in the cause of municipal betterment, the National Municipal League has instituted an inquiry into the extent of instruction in municipal government and its betterment. A committee was appointed, consisting of the secretary of the National Municipal League and representatives of departments in political science in six educational institutions. President Thomas M. Drown, of Lehigh University, is chairman of this committee, and Dr. William H. Allen, of the University of Pennsylvania, is secretary. Professor John L. Stewart, of Lehigh University has been added to the committee.

Manifestly the first work of the committee should be the collection of facts with reference to present courses of instruction in municipal government and its betterment. Wherever such courses are given, the co-operation of the instructors will be requested, in order that the lessons of practical experience may be disseminated. It will require a considerable period of time to secure answers to the personal letters which will be sent to every college in the country. The classification of the data received and the compilation of results will also entail a great deal of labor. Of great importance should be the tabulated results, independent of the collateral reports and recommendations which may be expected from the com1 ANNALS, January, 1901, p. 147.

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