LITERARY NOTICES. 



73 



command of pecuniary means; and there 

 is, therefore, reason to believe that what 

 is done under his direction will be well 

 done, and will not be marred or weak- 

 ened by the perfunctory spirit which so 

 often accompanies state action. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



FACTORS IN AMERICAN CIVILIZATION. Popu- 

 lar Lectures and Discussions before the 

 Brooklyn Ethical Association. New York : 

 D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 41 7. Price, $2. 



THIS volume, the third in the series issued 

 by the Brooklyn Ethical Association, cer- 

 tainly does not fall below its predecessors in 

 interest or the range of its topics. Five of 

 the addresses relate to national life; two 

 lectures are devoted respectively to com- 

 merce, the status of woman, and the labor 

 question ; while the subjects considered in 

 the remaining three papers are sufficiently 

 diverse penal methods, charitable work, and 

 the drink habit. 



Beginning with the' idea of the nation, 

 Dr. De Garmo finds it to be the ultimate unit 

 in civilization. We advance by helping each 

 nation to unhampered development upon its 

 own lines, not by breaking down national 

 barriers. The discussion discloses that Mr. 

 Spencer's idea of government is often mis- 

 apprehended, especially when drawn from 

 old editions of Social Statics. Our American 

 civilization is, however, the product of numer- 

 ous factors. The first of these in time, those 

 furnished by Nature, are described by Rev. 

 John Kimball, wbo agrees with Prof. Shaler 

 that even the boundaries of the civil war 

 may have been determined by the distribu- 

 tion of the Cretacean limestone. ' 



What America owes to the Old World is 

 epitomized by Mr. Palmer as everything ex- 

 cept itself. From England we inherit our 

 language, literature, trial by jury, and va- 

 rious institutions ; from the Netherlands, our 

 cherished ideas of religious tolerance, popu- 

 lar education, and the freedom of the press. 

 The written ballot is due to the same source, 

 the town meeting is (lermauic in its origin ; 

 while to Spain, France, and continental Eu- 

 rope we are indebted in other matters. 



Dr. Janes shows what the military habit 

 costs us, contrasts the warlike and indus- 



trial type, and leads us to question whether 

 the cultivation of the militant spirit pays. 

 Mr. Robert Taylor discourses upon the evo- 

 lution of railways and illustrates the great 

 progress made in transportation. To move 

 the freight of the United States in 1892 

 would have required five times the working 

 force of the world one thousand years ago. 

 Foreign commerce is ably handled by Mr. 

 Coombs, and is followed by the inevitable 

 discussion between the advocates of free 

 trade and protection. 



An eloquent plea for the political equal- 

 ity of woman is made by Rev. Mr. Chadwick, 

 who remarks that if the objections to woman 

 suffrage could be shut up together by them- 

 selves they would dispose of each other. 

 Interesting statistics and suggestions in re- 

 gard to the economic position of woman are 

 also given by Caroline B. Le Row. Those 

 interested in charities will find a comprehen- 

 sive paper on the subject by Dr. Warner. 

 Elsewhere in the volume, in an essay upon 

 labor, Mr. Sullivan demands justice instead 

 of charity. From another standpoint Mr. 

 Oilman deals very fairly with the labor 

 question, and without " preaching profit- 

 sharing as a panacea for industrial woes " 

 still recommends it as an improvement upon 

 the wages system. A review of penal meth- 

 ods and institutions is contributed by Mr. 

 McKeen, and an investigation of the drink 

 habit by Dr. Crothers. Finally, philosophiz- 

 ing upon history, Mr. Powell concludes the 

 book. 



The discussions following the lectures 

 and the lists of collateral readings suggested 

 contribute much to the value of the work. 



THE YACHTS AND YACHTSMEN OF AMERICA: 

 A STANDARD WORK OF REFERENCE. HENRY 

 A. MOTT, Editor. New York: Interna- 

 tional Yacht Publishing Company. Vol. 

 I. Pp. 692, with Eighty-nine Plates. 

 Price, $15. 



THIS sumptuous work is further defined 

 on the title-page as A. History of Yachting and 

 of Yacht Clubs, as well as of the Various 

 Yachts, with Biographies of the Founders and 

 Members of the Different Clubs of the United 

 States and Canada. Yachtsmen of all clubs 

 have long desired to have a work for ready 

 reference, which, besides reliable information 

 relative to the yachts belonging to members 

 of their respective clubs, would give facts 



