Hevietf of Retiein, fO/!i/0*i. 



THE REVIEWS REVIEWED 



THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 



The North Americaii B(vi€u: for February contains 

 two articles on tlie Christian Endeavour Movement 

 and oil Japan. Most of the other articles deal with 

 exclusively American subjects. 



HOW THE UNITED STATES WENT TO WAE. 

 Mr. Husdekoper, who seems to be a kind of 

 American Dr. Maguire, draws an appalling picture 

 of the unpreparedness of the United States for the 

 Spanish war. They seem to have been even worse 

 than we were in South Africa. ^Mr. Husdekoper 

 says : — 



Congress, as usual, failed t-o provide the net-esaary sup- 

 plies until the very eve of mobilisation and concentration, 

 so that some of the volunteer regiments reported for duty 

 without arms, accoutrements, ammunition or clothing. The 

 confusion in the various camps, the dearth of proper sup- 

 plies and equipment, the lack of adequate means of trans- 

 port, the wild chaos at Tampa, the criminal waste of pro- 

 visions which could not be found, the bungling which 

 marked the embarking at Tampa, and the landing at 

 Daiquiri, and Siboney. the blundering conduct of the opera- 

 tions culminating at Santiago, and the wholly unnecessary 

 sufferings of the troops by reason of their ignorance, 

 coupled with the paucity of medical stores, field and base 

 hospitals, afford a spectacle of unpreparedness and in- 

 capacit.v of which we Americans ought to be heartily 

 ashamed. Judged by a purely militar.v standard, the in- 

 vasion of Ouba was a trivial affair; but never in modern 

 times ha5 there been an expedition which contained so 

 many elements of weakness: that it succeeded at all is, 

 indeed, a marvel. 



THE STANTDAED OF CX)MFOKT IX >EW YORK. 



In his Social Notes Mr. Henry James dwells lov- 

 ingly upon the exceedingly high standard of material 

 comfoit attainetl by the people of Xew York. Rich 

 and poor alike, he declares, are noticeable because of 

 two things — the excellence of their boots and the 

 care bestowed upon their teeth. In all classes he 

 observes 



the extreme consideration given by the community at large 

 to the dental question. The terms in which this evidence 

 is presented are often, among the people, strikingly artless, 

 but thev are a marked advance on the omnipresent op- 

 posit© signs, those of complete un.acquaintedness with the 

 admonitor.v dentist, with which any promiscuous " Euro- 

 pean " exhibition is apt to bristle. . . . The consequences 

 of care and forethought, from .an earl.v age. thus write 

 themselves on the facial page distinctly and happily, and 

 it is not too much to say that the total show is, among 

 American aspects, cumulatively charming. 



THE ■UXDERPAYStENT OF AMBIEICAN" OFFICIALS. 

 Mr. Thomas L. James bears eloquent testimony to 

 the evil result of the parsimonious scale on which the 

 United States pays its employes. From the President 

 downwards no high official can live on his income, 

 much less provide for his family. Many have to 

 spend double their income to maintain the dignity 

 of their office. Hence none but plutocrats can be 

 appointed as Ambassadors or as Secretaries of State. 

 Xo judge is paid anything like the income he could 

 earn at the Bar. Hence many of the best judges 

 quit the Bench in order to escape bankruptcy. Mr. 

 James insists that the President's salary should be 

 raised to £20,000 a vear, with a retiring pension of 

 £5000 a year. 



POETS WHO DIED YOUNG. 

 The Rev. F. E. Clark, in an article entitled 'What 

 English Poetry Owes to Young People,'' makes otit a 

 list of poets who died in their youth. Here is his 



list, with their age at death: — C. Wolfe, thirty-two; 

 C Marlowe, twenty-nine ; Chatterton, eighteen : H. 

 Kirke White, twenty-one: John Keats, twenty-five; 

 Herbert Knowles. eighteen: Richard Gall, twenty- 

 four; Rob Nicoll, twenty-three; David Gray, twenty- 

 three ; Shelley, thirty. 



OTHER AETIOLES. 



Mr. Haunis Taylor uses Roman and British law to 

 illustrate the elasticity of written Constitutions. Mr. 

 ^ . S. Ros.siter describes Commodore Perry as the 

 first American Imperialist ; he proposed to seize and 

 hold one of the liewchew Islands in case Japan had 

 refused to concede the American demands. Mr. G. 

 W. Young writes on the Reserves of Trust Com- 

 panies, and Mr. A. Pollow regales the American pub- 

 lic with spicy tales of Electoral corruption in the old 

 days in England. 



THE AMERICAN REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



The March number offers a great variety of special 

 articles. An interesting account is given of the Lin- 

 coln farm where Abraham was born and spent his 

 boyhood. It is noted elsewhere. 



Mr. J. W. Jenks, American representative of the 

 Imperial Chinese Special Mission, tells of its progress. 

 It was appointed by the Empress Dowager to study 

 IKilitical conditions in the United States. Germany, 

 Austria. Italy and Russia. The Empress charged them 

 specially to inquire into the education of girls in the 

 United States, hoping on their return to found a 

 school of the be.st type for the education of the 

 daughters of the princes. 



Vivid insight is given into the Press of South 

 America. Argentina evidently takes the lead. Buenos 

 Ayres is a polyglot city, with dailies of large circula- 

 tion in most of the European tongties. The oldest 

 daily in the city is the Standard, the organ of the 

 English-speaking people. The Prensa is not only a 

 newspaper, but a free doctor, a free lawyer, a free 

 library, a free forum, a free hall, a free museum and a 

 free hotel for dis-tinguished foreign visitors. All the 

 famous works of the world are translated into SpanisJi 

 and published at a very low figure. The Nestor of the 

 Chilian Press. Seiior Rodrigez, is generally regarded 

 as the best journalist ever produced by Latin 

 America. The Brazilian newspapers are not very 

 highly spoken of. Most of the Brazilian dailies are 

 said to be printed on a vei'y large sheet, almost twice 

 as large as the newspapers of the United States and 

 Europe. 



Dr. D. W. Robinson calls attention to the ravages 

 of tuberculosis among the Sioux Indians. Mr. Upton 

 Harvey thinks that England can teach America many 

 things in athletics. He says Americans love their 

 players rather than their games, and what they need 

 to learn is to become cheerful losers. In England love 

 of sport, of the game, not the player, has made the 

 man of Great Britain the best developed of the civi- 

 lised races of the world. Edwin Bjbrkman sketches 

 the late King of Denmark. Captain Anderson, v^-riting 

 on the wages of American soldiers, contrasts their poor 

 pay with the excellent remuneration of the Canadian 

 mounted police. 



