Review of Reviews, l/ll/'>6. 



The Reviews Reviewed. 



507 



PKANCE AND INCOME TAX. 

 In the second August numlwr, Paul Leroy-Beau- 

 lieu reviews French finance of the last thirty years, 

 and discusses the Budget of 19U7. Witli reference to 

 M. Poincare's income tax proposal, he says that dur- 

 ing the last quarter of a century, and especially dur- 

 ing the last twelve years, a general income tax ap- 

 pears as the last great idea of tlie Go\ernment, and 

 it seeniB as if the Republic would not be complete til) 

 a general income tax has been introduced into 

 France But he thinks this tax cannot have good 

 results in France. The evstem is entirely repugnant 

 to French ideas ; both li'rench customs and French 

 traditions are oppased to inquiiies into private life. 

 He is convinced that in substituting a tax, more or 

 less personal, on a conjectural basis for real taxes 

 on almost all other branches of revenue. France will 

 be running enormous and ruinous risks. M. Poin- 

 care prefers the English system to the German or 

 Prussian, because the former approaches more nearly 

 to a real tax, while the latter is essentially a per- 

 sonal tax. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu analyses M. Poin- 

 care's proposal in considerable <letail, and concludes 

 that the difficulties in the way may be regarded as 

 insuperable. 



I'HE FRENCH AND THE BELGIAN ELECTORAL 



SYSTEMS. 

 Charles Benoist writes in the same number of the 

 Belgian Elections of last May, and describes the sys- 

 tems of secrecy of the ballot and jjroportional repre- 

 sentation. He favours the Belgian entirely, and 

 thinks France has everything to gain by adopting 

 it In the first August number F. de Witt-Guizot 

 discusses Universal Suffrage and the French Elec- 

 tions of 1906, and says the three things to be de- 

 sired are the maximum of liberty in the vote for 

 every citizen, the maximum of honesty in electoral 

 operations, and the maximum of sincerity in na- 

 tional representation. 



THE DUTCH REVIEWS. 



The most interesting contribution to Onze Eenw is 

 that which deals with Dr. van Eeeden's attempt to 

 establish a co-operative community at a place called 

 Walden in Holland. Dr. van Eeeden is a well- 

 known man and a philosopher; therefore, when he 

 adopts socialistic ideas he affords to laymen and 

 others much food for reflection. 



Dr. van Eeeden asserts, as many have done before 

 him, that interest on capital is unfair ; if a man 

 lends money to start a business, it is unjust on his 

 part to take a share of the profit. He has accord- 

 ingly purcha.sed a large piece of land in Walden, and 

 has created a co-operative community which now com- 

 prises fifty-four persons. At the out.s<<t Dr. van 

 Eeden was fortunate, for a lady who owned an ad- 

 joining estate gave her land to the community. As 

 profits come in, the founder proposes to utilise them 

 in the purchase of another e.stat.e on which to start 

 another community. In course of time there will be 

 many such conimnnities, all affiliated to one which 

 will be the chief. The development of this idea is 

 naturally being watched with the greatest interest, 

 but there is one question which arises in the minds 

 of most jx'ople, namely, to whom will the various 

 properties belong? Will the chief community main- 

 tain that it is the owner of all, or will each com- 

 munity insist that it is the owner of its land and 

 buildiiigsy Further, if any individual worker saves 

 money, will he hand it over to the general community 

 at death, or will it be placed out at interest during 

 his lifetime and bequoathetl to his family at death? 



In Eisucier there are several readable articles, all 



well illustrated. The sketch of the work of K. P. O. 

 Bazcl, with many reproductions, is a good commence- 

 ment ; there are pictures Qf houses, entrance gates, 

 and even an ornamental cushion, which were con- 

 structed or made in accordance with his designs. 



The contribution concerning Isadora Duncan, the 

 clever young American, and her new ideas about 

 dancing. This modernising of ancient Greek dances 

 formed the subject of a long article in Dc GUIs some 

 time ago, and was mentioned in this column at the 

 time. The present article has the advantage of the 

 illustratioiiB, showing various styles of dancing. The 

 article gives a description of JILss Duncan's school 

 near Berlin. 



Two other contributions are descriptive of Madeira 

 and Madrid respectively, and here again the illus- 

 trations materially assist the reader to understand 

 and to eujoy the text. The views of different places 

 in the Spanish capital are especially interesting. 



7>e (Jids opens with some Letters of J. Geel. writ- 

 ten during the period of 1836-1846, with a lengthy in- 

 troduction ; these are, however, not of great interest 

 to the outsider. Following this we have an essay by 

 Dr. Viirtlieim on Ancient Literature and the German 

 Classics, which touches a point of interest to all 

 who are studving the literature of Greece and Rome 

 <>ither from choice or by compulsion. Modern writers. 

 like Goethe and Schiller, have utilised the themes of 

 the ancients, and students often prefer to acquire 

 their kno\yledge through tlie later writings, which 

 ai-e in their own language, to plodding away at the 

 originals. Is this a good way? Do the' modern 

 authors give us an exact idea of the books of olden 

 times? That is the problem. Those who know the 

 difference between even a good tianslation and the 

 original will be inclined to say that a free render- 

 ing by a modern writer is not calculated to convey 

 a very exact notion of the ancient texts. 



Anothei' article well worthy of perusal is that on 

 the events and the condition of things in Holland 

 during the .years 1795 to 1798. This recalls the fact 

 that Holland was then known as the Batavian Re- 

 public. 



U REVUE. 



In La Revue of August 1st Simone Kleeberg gives 

 us an interesting study of Ellen Key. 

 ELLEN KEY. 



Ellen Key's most important works are her thoughts 

 on Love and ^larriasre. God, the World and the Soul, 

 the Century of the Child, etc. She would reform the 

 world b,\' love, and she works ardently for an evolu- 

 tion which would bring into our life moi-e beauty, 

 more morality, more truth, and more happiness. She 

 has much to say of the duties of motherhood. She 

 thinks the woman who is too much absorbed by her 

 intellectual personality cannot be a mother. The 

 true mother is absorbed by the happiness and wel- 

 fare of her children ; she is their guardian angel, 

 their friend, their coun.sellor. their moral and intel- 

 lectual support, and success in her noble task is her 

 most sublime recompense. It is interesting to learn 

 that Ellen Key is of Scottish origin. Her family 

 settled in Sweden after the Thirty Years' War. Her 

 grandfather, the possessor of a remarkable libi-ary. 

 was an ardent follower of Rousseau. 



ENGLAND AND THE SOUDAN. 



Jehan d'lvray, writing in the second August num- 

 ber on the North-East Egyptian Soudan, says that 

 the most important progress made in this region 

 consists in the means of conimunieatiou, it being now 

 possible to go from London to the heart of the Sou 

 dan ill three weeks. It is only fair to the English tr 

 recognise that they li.ive the gift of creating a com- 



