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REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



also in our dealings with our fellow 

 citizens and with the whole human 

 race. 



Here is his indictment when dealing 

 with gambling, bribery, insanitary 

 dwellings, life-destroying trades, faults 

 in the administration of justice, and so 

 on : — 



Taking account of these various groups of 

 undoubted facts, many of which are so 

 gross, so terrible, that they cannot be over- 

 stated, it is not too much to say that our 

 whole system of society is rotten from top 

 to bottom, and the Social Environment as a 

 whole, in relation to our possibilities and our 

 claims, is the worst that the world has ever 

 seen. 



He scorns the Eugenic idea of race 

 improvement through regulation of 

 marriages, and his remedies are: — 



Universal co-operation in place of univer- 

 sal competition for the means of existence. 



Freedom of access to land and capital for 

 all, instead of the monopoly by the few of 

 the land, without access to which no life is 

 possible, and of capital, or the results of 

 stored-up labour. 



A few in each generation inherit the 

 stored-up wealth of all preceding genera- 

 tions, while the many inherit nothing. The 

 remedy is the universal inheritance by the 

 State in trust for the whole community. 



In a few words, our system must be 

 brotherly co-operation and co-ordina- 

 tion for the equal good of all. 



BOOKS IN BRIEF. 



Home Life ' ,i Russia. By Angelo S. Rap- 

 poport. (Methueu, 10s. 6d. net.) 



Dr. Rappoport, in this very interesting 

 book, written with personal knowledge of 

 and sympathy with his subject, describes 

 the intimate home and social life of all 

 classes in Russia, and sheds much light 

 on this little-known nation. It is perhaps 

 to the peasantry that one must look for 

 the springs of rational character, and it- 

 is the Russian peasant whose mode of life 

 and thought have until comparatively re- 

 cently never been made clear to Western 

 eyes. The author shows the Russian 

 peasant as he is at home in town and 

 country, ignorant and illiterate, trodden 

 underfoot by a harsh despotism, yet on the 

 whole cheerful, in spite of oppression, 

 deeply pious, and at the same time amaz- 

 ingly superstitious, living for the most 

 part in squalid discomfort, relieved only 

 by periodical bouts of drunkenness. Yet 

 in him, somewhere — especially in the Little 

 Russian, who is a happier, cleaner, and 

 more prosperous and enlightened person 

 than the native of Great Russia — is a vein 

 of rude poetry, as is evidenced by the 

 national legends, customs, and festivals, 

 which are described with much interesting 

 detail. No one who wishes to get an in- 

 sight into the real life of Russia should 

 omit to read this unpretentiously written 

 but very charming book. 



Mozambique. Its Agricultural Development. 

 Bv R. N. Lvne. (T. Fisher Unwia, 

 12s. 6d. net.) 

 An invaluable book for anyone who is 

 thinking of taking up agriculture in Por- 

 tuguese East Africa. The writer, for 

 many years Director of Agriculture to the 

 Government of Mozambique, gives a full 

 account of the soils in the different dis- 

 tricts, and points out what particular pro- 

 duct is most suitable for cultivation on 

 each soil. That which is being done in 

 production at the present moment is dis- 



cussed fully, and suggestions are made as 

 to the improvements which might be in- 

 troduced. One chapter deals with the 

 question of native labour, and brings out 

 a point that has not been sufficiently re- 

 cognised, which is that the white man has 

 never taken trouble to study the character 

 of the native with a view to finding the 

 most economical method of getting him 

 to work up to his full capacity. In an 

 appendix is given the full text of the 

 land laws of the province. One rather 

 serious omission is that of a map of the 

 province, as most people are quite un- 

 familiar with its geography. 



Modern Chile. By W. H. Koebel. (G. Bell 

 & Sons, 10s. 6d. net.) 



A charming and vivid description of the 

 people and resources of Chile. The writer 

 is perhaps too eulogistic ; in fact, he 

 scarcely describes anything as even in- 

 different, except, perhaps, some of the 

 hotels. Full of beautiful cities and 

 scenery, inhabited by one of the most 

 patriotic nations in the world, possessing 

 valuable mineral and agricultural re- 

 sources. Chile appears to have the bright- 

 est future of any South American State. 



Trade Unionism. By Henry H. Schloesser. 

 (Methuen.) 



A description of the birth of Trade Unions, 

 the repeal of the various early Statutes 

 of Labourers, the rise of the Labour Party, 

 the -Trade Union Act of 1871, and, in 

 short, a work written in most interesting 

 fashion of Trade Union Methods and 

 government. The appendices occupy some 

 forty-two pages, and relate to the"statis- 

 tics of the movement. A quotation of 

 present-day interest, as affecting women's 

 suffrage, is taken from the history of the 

 eighteenth century : " The journeymen 

 were non-voters, as a rule, and. there- 

 fore, were, politically, of no account.'" 



