LITERARY NOTICES. 



711 



constrained to adopt the scientific theory of 

 the universe. But he must show " that the 

 larger creed leads to a larger life ; that it 

 makes him more liberal and tolerant, more 

 pure and upright, more loving and unselfish, 

 more strenuous, as becomes a soldier fight- 

 ing in the foremost ranks in the campaign 

 against sin and misery ; so that, when the 

 last day comes, which comes to all, it may be 

 recorded of him that his individual atom of 

 existence left the world, on the whole, a little 

 better, rather than a little worse, than he 

 found it." 



The latest attempt to design an ideal re- 

 public is contained in Looking Backward, 

 by Edward Bellamy (Ticknor, 50 cents), 

 which has the form of a story about a Bos- 

 ton young man who went into a trance for 

 over a century, to recover consciousness 

 among the family of a retired physician with 

 a charming daughter. Stripped of its nar- 

 rative dressing, the author's plan for reor- 

 ganizing society is, that the people manage 

 the whole industry of the country through 

 the government. Each individual contrib- 

 utes to the common labor all he can of the 

 kind of work he is best fitted for, and each 

 draws from the public storehouses an equal 

 share of goods. The saving of misdirected 

 effort under this system makes it possible 

 for all to be mustered out of industrial serv- 

 ice at the age of forty-five, having entered 

 it at twenty-one, after a liberal education. 

 Houses and land are rented from the gov- 

 ernment. Money has no function. Accu- 

 mulations of personal property become bur- 

 densome the moment they exceed what adds 

 to the real comfort. The dread of want and 

 desire of luxury being eliminated, the mo- 

 tives relied on to draw out the best efforts 

 of the citizens are honor, patriotism, and the 

 sense of duty. For the first three years 

 after persons reach the industrial age thpy 

 are assignable to any occupation, which 

 makes all work of equal honor, and gives 

 a prodigious impulse to the invention of 

 labor-saving devices. The classes deficient 

 in body or mind are regarded as members 

 of the same family as their stronger breth- 

 ren, and receive support and care as a right, 

 not as charity. Hours of labor are less in 

 the more disagreeable and laborious occupa- 

 tions, so as to make all equally attractive. 



Women are organized as an allied force in 

 the industrial army, and employed for a few 

 years in occupations suited to their sex. 

 They have a world of their own, instead of 

 entering into an unnatural rivalry with men. 

 Marriages are contracted only from inclina- 

 tion or sexual selection. Most of the evils 

 of all sorts which we at present deplore are 

 eliminated by removing the conditions which 

 put a premium on baseness. 



The alcohol question is treated in a lib- 

 eral but earnest manner by Cr. H. Slockham, 

 M. D., in his little book entitled Temperance 

 and Prohihiiion (The author, Oakland, Cal., 

 75 cents). Dr. Stockham gives a sketch of 

 the temperance movement, accounts of the 

 making and adulteration of alcoholic bev- 

 erajres, and a statement of the observed 

 physiological action of alcohol. He includes 

 also a summary of the liquor laws of Great 

 Britain and America, with a chapter on pro- 

 hibition, and one on suggested remedies for 

 intemperance. He condemns prohibition as 

 being ineffectual and tyrannical, and con- 

 demns also the licensing of saloons, as en- 

 couraging drunkenness and crime. He thinks 

 a great step in the right direction would be 

 to grant licenses only for the sale of beer, 

 cider, and light wines to be drunk on the 

 premises, and for the sale of spirits not to 

 be drunk on the premises. He would be 

 glad to see closer restrictive measures than 

 these when society has been educated up to 

 the point of supporting them. 



Modern Speculation is an address by M. 

 W. Quick, of Titusville, Pa., before the New 

 York State Grange, January 24, 1888. The 

 address points out the evil effect of gambling 

 in agricultural produce on the prices of such 

 articles, and asks the support of farmers in 

 securing legislation to prevent fictitious sales 

 of agricultural commodities. The pamphlet 

 contains also the text of a bill having this 

 object, with answers to objections, and ex- 

 planations of the terms used on the ex- 

 changes. 



A number of documents important for 

 students of American and English history 

 are made readily accessible in the Old South 

 Leaflets (Heath, 5 cents a copy ; one hundred 

 copies, $3). They are pamphlets of twelve 

 to twenty pages, without covers, and the Gen- 

 eral Series at present comprises the follow- 



