Hevietc of Heviews, l{6/06. 



The Reviews Reviewed. 



THE AMERICAN REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



The April number of this invaluable survey of the 

 Amencau world i.s full of articles of varied interest 

 relating to the United States, and several which deal 

 brietlv but intelligentlv with European problems. Mr. 

 C. U". Keves, in a brief paper, exults over what he 

 believe.s to be the general agreement of the geolo- 

 gists that from 100 to 150 million yeai-s must have 

 elap!=<?d since life appeared on this planet. 



Mr Brook, a foo<l inspection expert, calculates 

 tliat the American people spend £l;2uO,000,000 every 

 v<^ar on food and drink. They spend £7,000,000 every 

 "year on baking powder alone. Mr. Brook calculates 

 that food and drink of the value of £180.000,000 

 per annum is more or less adulterated. Mr. Henry 

 Stead describes what people read in Australasia, 

 doing full ju.stice to the Sydneti BuUetiv. Miss 

 Hjiirknian eulogises the visiting nurse as a social 

 force. She mentions incidentally that "The health 

 department of Xew York City supports fifty nurses to 

 visit the chddren of the public schools, seven to visit 

 and in.<t]uct tubenulosis patients, and two to look 

 after pei-sons alllicted with other contagious diseases.'' 



[n view of the light over the Hates Kegulation Bill 

 of President iioosevelt and the prospective opening 

 of the Panama Canal. Mr. F. A. Ogg's paper on 

 Kailroad Uates and the flow of American trade is 

 very timely. Mr. T. Y, Chang roundly denies that 

 there is any danger of an uprising against foreigners 

 in China. 



THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 



The .Worth Aimiiaiii Recitw for March contains 

 .nrtides on tlic Anierioanisation of the Wefst Indies 

 ;ind the secret of Count Witte's failure. 



THE EUROPEANISATION OF .\iIEEIC.A. 

 In contrast to the account given as to the inevit- 

 able destiny of the British \Yest Indies to drift into 

 the bosom of the American Kepublic. take this ac- 

 (<vuiit by Mr. Henry James of the extent to which 

 the Europeans have annexed Boston. He stood on 

 I'.eacon Hill one fine Sunday : — 



There went forward across the top of tlie hill a continuous 

 iKissage of men and women, in couples and talkative com- 

 p;iDiea. who struck me as labourins; wage-earners, of the 

 simpler sort, aira.ved in their Sunday best and decently 

 enjoying their leisure. They came up from over the Com- 

 mon) they pas.scd or paused, exchanging remarks on the 

 beauty of the scene, but presenting themselves to me as of 

 more interest, for the moment, than anything it contained. 

 For no sound of English, in a single instance, escaped their 

 lips; the greater number spoke a rude form of Italian, the 

 others some out land dialect unknown to me— thougli I 

 waite<l and waited to catch an echo of antique refrains. 

 No note of any shade of American 8pe«ch struck my ear, 

 save in so far aa the sounds in ciuestion represent to-day 

 so much of the substance of that idiom. The types and 

 faces bore tJicm out; the people before me were gross aliens 

 to a man, and they were in serene and triumphant, 

 possession. 



THE PROOKESS OF DEMOCRACY IN GERMANY. 



'rile writer of the letter from Berlin states that : 



It is, indceJ, not impossible that the striking proof of 

 their discipline fumislied by the Social Democrats on 

 "Quiet Sunday may eventually mark a turning-point in 

 the domestic policy of (iermany. For it is pKain that 

 Ku.ssia. which the statesmen of Berlin have in times past 

 worshipped aa the bulwark of Autocracy, has nothing more 

 to teach them, unless it be the advisability of directing 



tlieir eves westward in search of successful methods of 

 government. Already the retreat from Russian ante-revolu- 

 tionary ide;LS has l>een sounded by the states ol South 

 Germany. In the Grand Duchy of Baden, a more liberal 

 franchise has quite recently come into operation; in 

 Bavaria, manhood suffrage is about to be introduced ; in 

 Saxony, the Government has anuounced its determination 

 to revise on modern lines the electoral law, which it enacted 

 three years ago in consonance with the reactionary- Pras- 

 sian model ; and the Grand Duchy is now preparing to 

 imitate the example of Baden. In these circumstances, it 

 can, notwithstanding the retrograde step taken by the Re- 

 public of Hamburg, be merely a question of time before 

 the Kingdom of Prussia yields to the cry lor reform raised 

 by the Social Democrats. 



OTHER ARTICLES. 

 The writer of the articles on the American Navy 

 says : — 



The general conclusion to which this review of the situa- 

 tion leads is that, if the American Navy is to deserve and 

 command our good opinion in the future, as it has in the 

 past, we must radically change our policy in dealing with 

 it, not only as to details of organisation, but as to general 

 spirit. 



EDUCATIONAL ART PICTURES. 



.Mr. C. M. Taylor, of Sydney, New South 'V\'alos, 

 has originated a series of edricational art prints. 

 Each picture, 6ay.s the Arena, will impress some great 

 l( -son or emnliasise some crime of omission or com- 



Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me ? 



