Rericir of Rfrieict. l/S/Oe. 



\. 



The Reviews Reviewed. 



THE AMERICAN REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



The death and resurrection of San Francisco occups 

 most of the contents of the June number, ilr. J. D. 

 Pheian, ex-Mayor of the city, explains how Federal red 

 tape seven years ago caused most of the destruction of 

 San Francisco. '' By reason of the failure of our water 

 supply,' be says, " the city is in ashes." 



The city tias permitted itself to be served by a private 

 corporation witb water drawn from near-by sources, car- 

 ried in pipes over marsh lands on rotten treaties unsup- 

 ported bv piles. These fell at the slightest disturbance 

 of the eround. having no support, and by reason of that 

 fact the city was left without water, an easy prey to the 

 flames. 



Seven years ago. the city filed applications with the 

 Interior Department at "Washington for reservoir rights of 

 way in the Hetch Hetchy Valley, which happened to be 

 the remote corner of a national park, and the application 

 was denied bv the Secretary on the ground that he had 

 no discretion. Eecently, the Attorney-General has decided 

 that the Secretary was in error, and that full power was 

 possessed by him under the statutes of Congress- To that 

 seven years' de'.ay may be attributed the destruction of 

 our city, because otherwise a water system, publicly owned, 

 would "have been constructed, and we would have enjoyed 

 an unlimited supply from the high Sierras. 



Mr. S. E. Moffett says that a little island of Mexi- 

 cans' houses on tJie slope of Telegraph Hill was saved 

 by a baptism of Italian wine! 



Mr. B. I. Wheeler. President of the UniTersity of 

 California, declares: — 



In fury and in rage the disaster of Anril 13-20 fairly sur- 

 passes the historic record of destruction. Except for a 

 fringe of houses on the south-west, and a district on the 

 north-west, the material city is gone, and the people left 

 with one suit of clothes apiece and their courage. This 

 is the gi3t of the matter. 



Both writers are coufi'.'ent as to the future of the city 

 to be rebuilt. Mr. Wheeler declares the city more 

 beautiful aud impressive by far now than before the 

 fire. He says : — 



The architecture was bad — heinously bad, as everybod.v 

 knows. The new building laws will probably limit the 

 height of buildings to one and a-half the width of their 

 streets. This will make fair division of the light of the 

 sun, insure a reasonable uniformity of sky line, and lenH 

 property owners a natural motive for relinquishing land 

 to widen streets. 



Mr. Moffett reports that the month following the 

 proclamation that the soldiers and police were autho- 

 a-ised to kill all pei-sons found hxiting or committing 

 ajay crime was the most peacefiU and innocent montli 

 San Francsco had ever known. 



Mr. P. T. McGrath tolls what the people read in 

 Canada. He sums up the situation by saying. 

 " Canada's need in dailies is adequately and efficiently 

 met. Her weak point is her lack of weeklies or month- 

 lies of the class so familiar in England and America." 

 Mr. F. Franklin gives a short sketch of Karl Schurtz, 

 a native of Germany, a hero of the German revolu- 

 tionary movement of 1848. an orator in English as 

 well as iu German, a senator and a great Secretary of 

 the Interior. 



THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 



In the Xiirth American Beiiew, the German Ambas- 

 sador at Wa.shingtou ridicules the notion that the 

 Germans meditate foundiug an Empire iu South 

 America. The statistics which he quotes appear to 

 justify his contention : — 



According to the official German statistics, the total 

 numl)er of Germans who emigrated between 1871 to 1894 

 amounted to 2,616,731. Of this number. 2,380.792 emigrated 

 to the United States. 19.011 to British North America. 

 54,719 to Brazil, 31.814 to Argentina. Chile and other South- 

 American countries, 13,012 to Africa. 



Not less notable has been the falling off in German 

 emigiation : — 



In 1852. Germans, to the number of 145.918, and in 1354, 

 to the number of 215,009, went to the United States alone. 

 In 1872, just after the unification of the Empire, the grand 

 total of German emigration amounted to 128.152; in 1873, 

 to 110.438; in 1881, to 220,902; in 1882. to 205,585 persons. Dur- 

 ing the vears succeeding 1882 up to 1892. the figures, in 

 the .aver.age, still surpassed lO'J.OOO, but since then they 

 have shown a notable fallinsr otf. Thus, only 22.309 in 

 1900; 22.:75 in 1901; 32.098 in 19.2; 36,310 in 1903: 27,984 in 

 19(H_were recorded as having gone from Germany to lands 

 beyond the seas. 



AltEEIOAN GRIEVANCES IN TURKEY. ; 



• Americus " reminds us that the United States 

 Government has many grievances against the Ottoman 

 Empire, of which the general public knows little. To 

 begin witli, Avnerica has no Ambassador at Constanti- 

 nople. Her Minister cannot demand an audience 

 when he pleases, but must wait until the Sultan con- 

 descends to receive him. 



PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESSES. 

 Mr. H. G. Davis, writing on the business side of the 

 Pan-American railway, pretlicts that the coning Con- 

 ference at Rio will give its support to the railway: — 



The principles and motives underlying the assembling of 

 Pan-American Conferences are louud in the Monroe Doc- 

 trine. These confeiences are the logical result of the posi- 

 tion therein taken of the independence and interdepen- 

 dence of the republics of the Western Hemisphere. 



When the first International American Conference, the 

 inspiration of Mr. Blaine, wl en Secretary of State, held its 

 sessons in Washington, iu 1889-90. its work covered a wide 

 field, hut it approved the railway. 



The Second International American Conference, at ita 

 sessions in the Cifv of Mexico in 1901-02, gave further en- 

 dorsement to the Pan-American project. . 



Because it is an all-.\merican enterprise, the American 

 people will be sure to endorse whatever steps the Third 

 International American Conference at Rio takes for carry- 

 ing it forward- 



OTHER ARTICLES. 

 Professor Blackmar exults in the mastery of thoj 

 Desert achieved bv the American people. He predi 

 that '■ a nation of two hundred millions of freemen, 

 living under American Common and Statute Law, 

 stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, fifty mil- 

 lions of whom occupy the arid region of the continent, 

 whore the word ' desert ' is unknown, will soon be a 

 mighty reality.'' Mr. G. S. Brown states the case 

 strongly in favour of th° municipal ownership of 

 '■ Public Utilities." and Louise Collier Wilcos reviews 

 recent poetry at some length. 



Tlie Young Man for June, besides a sket:h of Mr. 

 Seebohm Rnwiitree. noticed elsewhere^ has interesting 

 sketches of Biiininghani University and reminiscences 

 of Sir Oliver Lo<lge. A rather daring piec'^ of fiction 

 is contributed bv the Rev. J. B. Stephenson on '' Tlie 

 Member for Nazareth." denictina what the presence of 

 the Divine Carpenter in Parliament would effect. 



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