LITERARY NOTICES, 



123 



tries where most of such projects have origi- 

 nated. The distinction between socialism 

 and communism he states as follows : " The 

 central idea of communism is economic 

 equality. It is desired by communists that 

 all ranks and differences in society should 

 disappear, and one man be as good as an- 

 other, to use the popular phrase. The dis- 

 tinctive idea of socialism is distributive 

 justice. It goes back of the processes of 

 modern life to the fact that he who does 

 not work lives on the labor of others. It 

 aims to distribute economic goods according 

 to the services rendered by the recipients." 

 The earliest leader to receive attention is 

 Baboeuf, whose career began about a hun- 

 dred years ago. He and Cabet, who was 

 born twenty-four years later, are described 

 by the author as " the two leading French 

 representatives of pure communism." Ba- 

 boeuf s plan for the reorganization of so- 

 ciety was adapted to produce a cheerless 

 monotony, but that of Cabet is more attract- 

 ive. Under that of the latter, goods and 

 labor are common property ; executives are 

 chosen by ballot ; marriage and family are 

 held sacred. Young persons may choose 

 their own career, but overcrowding of any 

 profession is to be prevented by competi- 

 tive examination. Science and literature are 

 encouraged. Professor Ely describes the 

 system of Count Henry de Saint-Simon as 

 the first example of pure socialism. Saint- 

 Simonism regards the dead level of com- 

 munism as even more unjust than the pres- 

 ent state of things, and aims to proportion 

 each man's share of benefits to the service 

 he renders the world. Religion should be 

 reformed, not abolished, and all men should 

 regard each other as brothers. All privi- 

 leges of birth, including inheritance, were 

 to be abolished. We find Saint-Simon and 

 Fourier thus compared : " Each was re- 

 quired as a complement of the other. The 

 one started in his career as a man of wealth 

 and social eminence, the other as a man 

 of the people. The one observed society, 

 studied its history, its development, and 

 sought to find therein a clew to guide him 

 in his work of regenerating the world, mor- 

 ally and economically ; the other, regarding 

 the past as such a series of blunders as to 

 afford no proper basis for future formations, 

 searched the depths of his own conscious- 



ness, and discovered a law which furnished 

 premises enabling him to construct deduc- 

 tively an ideal and perfect society, and to 

 explain with mathematical accuracy the 

 past, present, and future." Recognizing 

 the absurdity of a large part of Fourier's 

 writings, our author maintains that this is 

 no reason for condemning the social scheme 

 which he originated. Chapters are devoted 

 to Louis Blanc, Proudhon, and to " Social- 

 ism in France since Proudhon." 



German socialism is distinguished by its 

 profundity. " One of its leading charac- 

 teristics," says our author, "is its thorough- 

 ly scientific spirit. Sentimentalism is ban- 

 ished, and a foundation sought in hard, relent- 

 less laws, resulting necessarily from the phys- 

 iological, psychological, and social constitu- 

 tion of man and his physical environment." 

 Rodbertus, one of the earliest and ablest of 

 German socialists, selects as the two chief 

 economic evils, which cause most of the oth- 

 ers, pauperism and financial crises. These 

 could only be abolished by securing to labor- 

 ers " a share in the national product, which 

 increases pari passu with increasing produc- 

 tion." A clear account is given of social 

 democracy, and of the views of Karl Marx 

 and Lassalle, the most prominent members 

 of the party. A short chapter is devoted to 

 the professorial socialists, among whom Bis- 

 marck is numbered ; and, lastly, the views of 

 the Christian socialists are presented. 



The spirit in which Professor Ely deals 

 with his subject is most commendable. His 

 book is entirely free from the partisan views 

 and the epithets that we find in the writings 

 of so many of those who view socialism from 

 the outside. It will do a great deal to cor- 

 rect the ignorant notion that socialists are a 

 set of vagabonds who are anxious to divide 

 with any one who has more than they, and 

 to distinguish the views that some socialists 

 hold on other subjects from socialism itself. 



The Vertebrates of the Adirondack Re- 

 gion. By Clinton Hart Merriam, M. D. 

 From the Transactions of the Linnaean 

 Society of New York for 1882. Press 

 of L. S. Foster, New York. 

 The Adirondack Mountains have a more 

 than local reputation as the happy hunting- 

 ground of those who find in " roughing it " 

 the panacea for most earthly ills. We 

 have read much of the thrilling times when 



