480 MISCELLANEA 



schools, a county superintendent and the voters who elect him must re- 

 side in that part of the county outside the cities. 



" There is no complete and general municipal incorporations act in any 

 of our states; . . . the largest towns are left to depend for their in- 

 corporation upon special acts of legislation " (The State, sec. 1245). One 

 constitution at least (Illinois, 1870, art. iv, sec. 22) prohibits local or 

 special laws for incorporating cities, towns, or villages, or changing or 

 amending their charters, and communities of any size can act under laws 

 harmonious with it. 



The discussion of national citizenship and state citizenship does not 

 seem wholly consistent. Some day an "inhabitant" who has legally 

 voted in one state for a representative in Congress and has been denied 

 the right so to vote in a state to which he has removed may secure a de- 

 cision from the Supreme Court that will warrant positive assertions. Till 

 then the author may well say : "A very considerable amount of obscurity, 

 it must be admitted, surrounds the question of citizenship. ... It 

 has become extremely difficult to draw any clear line between citizens 

 and aliens" (sec. 1121). 



While the diversity of our marriage and divorce laws is demoralizing, 

 it is not quite clear how " it may be possible for a man to have different 

 wives or a woman different husbands in several states at onetime " (sec. 

 1110), except as a criminal. 



The superintendent of public documents is now under the Public 

 Printer, not under the Secretary of the Interior (sec. 1348). 



This edition is neater than the first, the paragraphing is better, the 

 reference lists are made alphabetical (pp. 160, 161 excepted). The book 

 has no rival for its particular place in the class or in the library. 



James H. Blodgett. 



MISCELLANEA 



During 1897 the gross reduction in the effective mercantile marine of the 

 world, through wrecks and condemnations, amounted to 1,045 vessels, 

 aggregating 726,800 tons. From this number vessels of less than 100 

 tons were excluded. Of the above total 293 vessels of 398,207 tons were 

 steamers and 752 of 328,593 tons were sailing-vessels. The United King- 

 dom shows the smallest percentage of loss, viz., 2.7 percent of the vessels 

 owned, and Norway has the highest, with 7 per cent. 



The Florida Coast Line canal, after nine years' work, is now completed 

 from Mosquito inlet to Miami. Boats drawing five feet pass semi-weekly 

 the entire distance from Titusville on the Indian river through Lake 

 Worth to Palm beach. Thi-ee short cuts complete the canal — two between 

 Matanzas and Tomoka and one uniting North river with Pablo creek. 

 Eventually the canal will connect the St John river with Biscayne bay, 

 and render an inland passage possible along the Atlantic coast from Long 

 Island sound to Key West. 



