132 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



protection, the very logic of whose honest 

 application compelled the taxation of an 

 almost innumerable list of articles and the 

 general introduction of ad valorem rates, 

 vastly complicated the problem. It has 

 brought in devices to deceive the Govern- 

 ment, and " this seems to be the legitimate 

 outcome of any system of ad valorem duties," 

 while the introduction of the consignment 

 system has thrown the business of import- 

 ing largely into the hands of unnatural- 

 ized foreigners. But there has been, on the 

 whole, a steady development toward more 

 stringent supervision, regulation, and control 

 over the importer. 



The Hon. Andrew S. Draper, State Su- 

 perintendent of Public Instruction of New 

 York, desiring to get a view of the workings 

 of the Prussian educational system from the 

 obsei'vations of an expert, commissioned Mr. 

 James Russell Parsons, Jr., an experienced 

 oflScer of the public schools, on his being ap- 

 pointed United States consul at Aix-la-Cha- 

 pelle, to examine the schools of the country 

 and report upon them. The fruits of Mr. 

 Parsons's observations arc now published in 

 the volume Prussian Schools through Amer- 

 ican Eyes, by C. W. Bardcen, Syracuse, N. Y. 



Problems of the New Life is the title of 

 a book of essays on social and labor ques- 

 tions by Iforrison I. Swift, and published 

 by him at Ashtabula, Ohio, The author 

 writes with much ability from the point of 

 view that the social organization is wrong, 

 and a remedy is to be sought by agitation. 

 The first paper is on The Social Ordeal of 

 Christianity, and the burden of it is that 

 the Church has failed to regenerate society. 

 The ethical culture organization is contrasted 

 with it as having recognized the progressive 

 tendency of the time and placed itself in the 

 current with it. In the paper on The Old 

 and the New Life exception is taken to 

 the attention given to mental culture as at 

 the expense of physical development, and 

 the accepted criterions of social esteem are 

 decided to be wrong. Other essays concern 

 Education and Power, The Extension of 

 Culture, Nationalism, The Awakening of the 

 Farmers, The Growing Eevolution, etc. The 

 conclusion of the last is that " the death of 

 the old order is declared." 



In Politics and Property, or Phronocracy 

 (G. P. Putnam's Sons), a compromise is pro- 



posed by Slack Worthington between de- 

 mocracy and plutocracy. Causes are recog- 

 nized for the existence of discontent and 

 strife, but it is also seen that they can never 

 be entirely annulled ; that poverty can never 

 be eradicated from society any more effectu- 

 ally than disease from the human body. But 

 it can be ameliorated by the timely enact- 

 ment of intelligent laws. The author op- 

 poses both plutocracy on the one hand and 

 socialistic tendencies of all kinds on the oth- 

 er, and advocates a reasonable or conserva- 

 tive position between the two, which he calls 

 Phronocracy, or the rule of reason, prudence, 

 and understanding. He holds that the prop- 

 erty rights of men shall, to a reasonable ex- 

 tent, be fully recognized and sedulously pro- 

 tected, but that the masses have grievances 

 that must not be ignored. He further ad- 

 vocates the curtailment of the elective fran- 

 chise by property and educational qualifica- 

 tions. 



Tlie American Citizen (D. C. Heath & Co.) 

 is intended by the author, Mr. Charles F. 

 Dole, to supply in part the growing demand 

 for the more adequate teaching of morals in 

 schools, especially with reference to the mak- 

 ing of good citizens, and to show- in this case 

 the practical application of the precepts to 

 the duties of life. It aims, not merely to 

 state the facts about the government of our 

 country and our social institutions, but also 

 to illustrate the moral principles that under- 

 he the life of civilized men. The work is 

 intended for youth in the higher schools, and 

 for adults who may wish to make a begin- 

 ning in the study of citizenship ; and the au- 

 thor hopes to leave such an impression as to 

 lead his more thoughtful readers to take up 

 a more thorough course of study. 



The publication (by Macmillan) of the 

 Encyclopaedia Britannica's article on War in 

 a separate volume gives the author, Colonel 

 F. Maurice, opportunity to insert a few re- 

 marks on the probable influence on tactics 

 and warfare generally of the latest improve- 

 ments in destructive agencies, of which the 

 most important are smokeless powder and 

 the introduction of " high explosives " into 

 shells. The general efPect of the former ele- 

 ment will probably be to render a defensive 

 position more difficult to approach, while the 

 assailants will continue to be completely ex- 

 posed to view. The effect of high explosives 



