EDITORIAL NOTES. 



539 



THE NICARAGUA CANAL. 



The President's announcement in his message that a treaty with the Nicara- 

 guan government, which authorizes this government to build, maintain, and 

 forever control a canal, railroad, and telegraph lines across that country, has 

 already been concluded must be both surprising and gratifying to the commercial 

 world. It is a surprise because the negotiations have been conducted to success 

 before any one knew they were being pressed, and gratifying because no more 

 important diplomatic enterprise could have been undertaken than that which has 

 now successfully prepared the way for a water connection between the rich 

 territory of the Pacific slope and the great parts of the Atlantic. From other 

 points of view also the matter is one of great import to the nation. 



One hundred miles of the projected enterprise may be reported as almost 

 completed, as it is furnished by the San Juan river and Lake Nicaragua, which 

 is forty miles wide and sufficiently deep for the purpose. The engineering 

 difficulties to be overcome in the remaining fifty-three miles are not great. When 

 this treaty is ratified the Panama question will cease to demand attention^f 

 indeed it shall remain a question. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



This number of the Eeview, like that of 

 December, is conspicuous for its large num- 

 ber of articles by Western contributors. It 

 is also in our opinion exceptionally good in 

 the articles selected from other magazines. 

 The ground covered by these articles is 

 suflSciently wide to meet the wants and 

 sufficiently popular to attract interest, and 

 benefit almost all classes of readers. 



We call particular attention to our offers 

 to clubs, and also to the inducements we 

 offer subscribers who desire to subscribe for 

 other magazines. 



The great industries of America form the 

 subject of a series of articles which will com- 

 mence in the January number of Haiyer's 

 Magazine, with a paper entitled " A Pair of 

 Shoes," written by Howard Mudge Neuhall, 

 a leading shoe manufacturer in Lynn. 

 These industrial articles are planned to give, 

 in readable fashion, a clear idea of how the 



important articles of industry are made, who 

 make them, how much they earn, and how 

 they live; in short, to inform Americans how 

 they are clothed, fed, and otherwise served 

 in these days of machinery, and how their 

 fellow-Americans earn their respective 

 livings. 



We have received from the author a copy 

 of a new and interesting archaeological work 

 entitled " The Book of Algoonah," which 

 attempts to throw fresh light upon the 

 cloudy subject of the Mound-builders. We 

 shall notice it fully in our next number, and 

 in the meantime call attention to the adver- 

 tisement of the work in this issue. 



ITEMS FKOM PEEIODICALS. 



The January number of the North American 

 Review is an excellent one. It presents no 

 very famous names among its contributors, 



