The American Monthly Review of Reviews

THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

E have selected from the Atlantic Monthly for June three contributions to quote from among the "Leading Articles of the Month :" "The Outlook in Cuba," by Herbert P. Williams; "Politics and the Judiciary," by Frank G. Cook; and "Japan and the Philippines," by Arthur May Knapp. Mr. Jacob A. Riis writes on "The Tenement House Blight" with his accustomed thoroughness and first-hand knowledge. He gives a vivid picture of the conditions in the worst portions of New York, and suggests a very dismal result of the system of herding the poor people together in squalor in these tall buildings. The great misfortune of the tenement system is that the home of the olden days is not to be found in it. "No home, no family, no morality, no manhood, no patriotism,' said the old Frenchman. Seventy-seven per cent. of their young prisoners, say the managers of the State Reformatory, have no moral sense, or next to none. Weakness, not wickedness, ails them, adds the prison reformer." We have reared our civilization upon the corner-stone of the home. Mr. Riis thinks that the annihilation of the home by the slums has a dread warning for us. The "Letters Between Two Poets" are the correspondence of Bayard Taylor and Sidney Lanier during the years 1875 and 1876, with an introduction by Henry W. Lanier. Curiously enough, for a man like Bayard Taylor, immersed in the terrible grind of a New York editor's life, the friendship between the two poets sprang into being almost in a moment, the occasion of it being the reference of one of Lanier's newly published poems to Mr. Taylor. An important part of the correspondence deals with the severe criticisms of Sidney Lanier's Centennial cantata. Another contribution of literary interest is Harriet Waters Preston's essay on Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

THE

THE FORUM.

HE Forum for May opens with two articles relating to trusts. The Hon. Aldace F. Walker, formerly interstate commerce commissioner, discusses "Anti-Trust Legislation," holding that most of this kind of legislation thus far enacted has brought on evils far worse than those that it was intended to cure. Mr. Walker gives a clear exposition of the relation between trusts and the discrimination in railroad rates. His proposition for ameliorating the present chaotic conditions is to legalize pooling contracts, which would put the carriers on an equality with the trusts. He believes, however, that united self-interest will in the end do away with this difficulty. The article on "Trusts in Europe" by Mr. Wilhelm Berdrow has been noticed in our department of "Leading Articles." Like Mr. Walker's paper, this article is moderate in tone, and sets forth the beneficial results of trusts rather than the evils of such organizations.

The article by Mr. Frank Moss on "The Problem of Police Administration" has application in other cities than New York, though it makes some startling revelations of police depravity under Tammany rule.

Gustave Kobbé makes a plea for native American art, taking care to stipulate, however, that by native art he does not mean "the old panoramic ‘Hudson River school,' with its photographic attention to detail, nor pictures of cows standing beneath convenient oak trees near accommodating looking-glass pools. This is not

typical American art. It is simply bad art." Mr. Kobbé shows that various art institutions throughout the country are giving more attention than ever before to the representation of native art in their galleries. The Chicago Art Institute is preparing a special gallery for American paintings, and the trustees of the Metropolitan Museum in New York are discussing similar plans. The situation seems hopeful.

Mr. Francis H. Tabor contributes a suggestive paper on "Directed Sport as a Factor in Education." This idea of regulation of sport is somewhat novel in America, but Mr. Tabor shows that the system has taken deep root in England, and, indeed, would seem to be one of the most important elements in the English schoolboy's development. "Unselfishness must be practiced at every turn; the strong must help the weak; and the weak must be aroused that they may not be a drag upon the strong. The team that represents a school must be chosen purely on the merits of its members. The less attractive and more tedious positions in the field must be conscientiously filled without a murmur, the pride of success felt without conceit. As the aredit of the school demands the best effort of every individual, there must be patient practice and steady perseverance. If wrangling and ill-feeling are to be averted, respect must be shown to the referee, even when his decisions seem palpably unfair." Mr. Tabor's picture of English school sports is calculated to impress Americans with the marked advantages of regulated sport.

Mr. W. Kinnaird Rose, Reuter's special war correspondent in the Soudan campaign last year, describes "War's Aftermath." Mr. Rose has made a careful study of sanitary conditions in the British army, especially the efficiency of the hospital and medical corps, and the food, drink, and clothing of the troops. He gives statistics of losses in previous wars, from which we gather that the improvement in hygienic conditions, in the British army at least, within the last thirty years has been remarkable. He is convinced, however, that under the very conditions under which war is waged the sanitary condition of armies can never be absolutely good.

Mr. Henry G. Kittredge, editor of the Textile World, gives a résumé of the textile industries since 1890. From figures that he presents it appears that the present value of cotton manufactures in the United States is considerably less than the value of the same products in 1890, notwithstanding the fact that there has been an increase of 24 per cent. in the number and 10 per cent. in the productive capacity of the spindles. The loss, or decrease, in value is entirely due to the great depreciation in the market price of the goods, whieh Mr. Kittredge places at 30 per cent.

President Jordan, of the Leland Stanford University, writes on "Lessons of the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration." President Jordan declares that five years of "protection and preservation" of seals under the regulations of the Paris tribunal have achieved the commercial destruction of the two most valuable and almost sole remaining seal herds.

Prof. Brander Matthews says of William Archer, "a critic of the acted drama:" "In the main Mr. Archer's criticism is sympathetic, although his sympathy is sane always and never sentimental. Certain things in the theater of to-day he detests, and he says what he thinks; but he does not dwell on these things again and again, losing his temper. He drops on them a few words of scorching scorn in passing by, and then gives

his attention to things that he likes, to things that are worth while. Here he is at odds with those who cry aloud for a crashing criticism that shall free the land of humbugs, pretenders, and quacks. But he is in agreement with the practice of all the foremost critics of the past."

Mr. John J. O'Shea writes on "The Irish Leaven in American Progress; " Mr. Oscar P. Austin, of the United States Bureau of Statistics, describes "The Colonies of the World and How They Are Governed;" and Mr. Jacob Schoenhof attempts "A Cetennial Stocktaking: A Retrospect."

THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.

COL. GEORGE B. M. HARVEY,

Editor of the North American Review.

HE May number of the North American-the first under the editorship of Col. George B. M. Harvey-is a notable issue, quite worthy of the traditions of our pioneer review. Americans may be pardoned a little honest national pride in the vigor and alertness of this dignified periodical, now in its eightyfifth year, in whose pages so much of the best work of our native writers has made its first appearance.

In the days of Channing, the Everetts, Francis Bowen, A. P. Peabody, and James Russell Lowell the review which these men successively conducted was "American" in an exclusive sense; its writers were almost all Americans, and the point of view taken on all subjects was therefore distinctively an American one. Mr. Allen Thorndike Rice, in 1877, changed the plan of the magazine by incorporating in its contents the treatment of topics interesting to Americans by contributors having expert knowledge on those topics, without regard to nationality. Mr. Rice's successors have followed in his path, and it has come to be a matter of course to see the names of distinguished foreign writers on the North American's cover. We observe that the new editor is disposed to continue the practice, since of the thirteen articles comprising the contents of the May number seven bear the signatures of foreigners. The subjects treated, however, are without exception matters of interest to

American readers, whose horizon has greatly widened within the past few years.

The North American's partiality to international and colonial politics is marked; the following articles in the May number are clearly within this field: "The War with Spain-I.," by Gen. Nelson A. Miles; "China and the Powers," by Rear Admiral Beresford; "The Nicaragua Canal," by Thomas B. Reed; "England and Egypt in the Soudan," by Col. Charles Chaillé Long; "Conditions and Needs in Cuba," by Gen. Leonard Wood: "Work of the Joint High Commission," by a Canadian Liberal; and the paper by Señor Estévanez on "What Spain Can Teach America," which we have reviewed in our department of "Leading Articles."

In the department of science and invention the May number has two important articles on wireless telegraphy-one by Signor Marconi himself, on the origin and development of his invention, and one by Professor Fleming, the English expert in electrical engineering, on the scientific history and future uses of this system of communication.

"The Religious Situation in England" is presented by "Ian Maclaren;" literary criticism is represented in an article by Mr. William Dean Howells on "The New Poetry;" Rebecca Harding Davis describes "The Curse in Education;" and the Rt. Hon. Sir F. H. Jeune, judge advocate-general of the British army, writes on "Courts-Martial in England and America."

THE

THE ARENA.

HE leading feature of the Arena for May is a rather sensational exposé of "Christian Science and Its Prophetess" by two former disciples of the faith-healing cult, Mr. Horatio W. Dresser and Josephine Curtis Woodbury. These writers are evidently thoroughly familiar with the record of Mrs. Eddy's apostleship from the days of her alleged cure by Dr. Phineas P. Quimby. Mr. Dresser himself is now convinced that a disruption of the "Christian Science" church is at hand.

Writing on "The Republic of Cuba," Mr. Richard J. Hinton says: "We are, for the time being, in honest control of Cuba, but there are things we may not honestly do. We do not need an army in Cuba, for a small garrison is sufficient. We should let the Cubans do their own police work. We must not allow them to be despoiled of their franchises, utilization of which must be to enrich the island and not our speculators and investors. We must for our own health's sake, as well as the safety of the Cubans, set them to planning and working for sanitary improvement."

Mr. Albert L. Blair raises the heretical question, "Was Jefferson a Democrat?" He declares that in only one important aspect-namely, in his views on nullification and secession-was Jefferson a true Democrat. In his other political principles and public efforts, especially in relation to protection and anti-slavery, Mr. Blair declares that Jefferson was the forerunner of the Republicans of to-day. "Even in his chief act as President-the Louisiana purchase-an act to which the country owed incalculable good and for which he will ever be most gratefully remembered, he patriotically departed from his theory of strict constitutional adherence and set the example, followed by Lincoln's administration, to employ if necessary the inferential powers of the Government for the obvious benefit of the people. Republicans have really more reason than

Democrats for political pilgrimages to Monticello and Jefferson birthday banquets."

Mr. W. J. Corbet, M.P., writes on "Illustrious Lunatics;" Jean Porter Rudd on "The Divine Opulence :" and Mrs. Dario Papa on "The Italian Revolt;" while Mr. A. C. Coursen attempts an answer to the question, "Is Bellamy's Idea Feasible?"

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

HE Nineteenth Century for May is a good number. We have dealt with several of its leading articles elsewhere.

THE THEORY OF BRAIN WAVES.

One of the most interesting papers is the last, in which Mr. Knowles reproduces, apropos of Marconi's wireless telegraphy, a letter which he wrote to the Spectator in 1869, suggesting that the phenomena of telepathy, etc., might be explained on the theory of "brain waves." He tells us that the suggestion came to him from seeing the way in which a hypnotist was able to impress his thought upon the mind of his subjects. Marconi's success leads him to reprint his letter and press home his conclusions.

THE INFLUENCE OF WOMEN IN ISLAM.

Mr. Justice Ameer Ali, under this head, once more surprises the Western world by an exposition of the marvelous virtues of Mohammedanism. It is always a pleasure to read his articles, although in this case their perusal occasions the same kind of regret as that with which we read of the passing of the Amazons, for according to him the women immediately after Mohammed-and still more when the Arabs were supreme in Spain-had a position of influence and equality of opportunity for which the sex may now sigh in vain, not only in Mussulman countries. He declares that "the ethical movement created by the Arabian prophet was intimately connected with the elevation of women." One of the first persons to illustrate the improved position of women was the prophet's own daughter Fatima, who deserves a high place in the annals of female worthies:

"She lectured to mixed congregations of both sexes often in the court-yard of her house and sometimes in the public mosque. Many of her sermons are still extant. The remains of her sayings reveal to us a nobleness of spirit and high feeling that would do honor to the best women of any age or country."

His practical point is that if women did all those things in the old days, there is no reason why they should be forbidden similar liberties and opportunities at present.

THE TRIUMPH OF PEACE AT THE HAGUE.

Mrs. Lecky, writing on "The House in the Wood," where the peace conference will meet, describes a great allegorical picture, painted by Jordaens, a disciple of Rubens, in honor of the triumph of Prince Frederick Henry :

"We see the noble figure of the Prince seated in the triumphal car and crowned by Victory, who reserves another crown for his son and successor, William II. The young Prince, at the head of a band of cavaliers, rides near the car, which is drawn by four white prancing horses, led by Pallas and Mercury. The statues of William the Silent and Maurice on either side are surrounded with spectators. Hatred and Discord are trod

den under foot. Death hovering above vainly struggles with Fame for the mastery, while Peace, one of the last wishes of the Prince on earth, is seen descending from heaven, holding an olive and a palm branch and accompanied by angels bearing the symbols of the arts and sciences, and an unfolded scroll with the 'Ultimus ante omnes de parta pace triumphus.' The figure of Peace is dressed in white, as the painter tells us, to symbolize that peace should be 'of sincere intention and without fraud or guile.'"

THE FAILURE OF PARTY GOVERNMENT. Prof. Goldwin Smith writes on the modern system of party government. He explains that "it is the permanent division of the nation into two political organizations, to one of which each citizen is bound through life on pain of being regarded as an apostate to adhere, and which are to carry on a perpetual struggle for the offices of state, each of them assailing and traducing the other with much of the moral bitterness of a civil war, though the theory is that both of them are equally necessary to the operation of the political machine. Such a system appears to me neither rational nor moral, nor do I believe that it can forever endure."

HOMING PIGEONS IN WAR-TIME.

Mr. George J. Larner, an officer, pleads in favor of greater utilization of the pigeon by the English War Office. He says:

"After the fall of Paris many of the powers immediately inaugurated pigeon systems that have ever since been growing in utility. Spain, Italy, Russia, France, Germany, Austria, and Roumania have all established military lofts, and to-day large amounts of money are annually spent on their maintenance."

Pigeons, he thinks, will be of great service in wartime in keeping up communication between the fleet in the channel and the English coast. Of course Marconi's systém may obviate the need for such messengers, but until it is perfected the pigeons would no doubt be invaluable.

OTHER ARTICLES.

Mrs. Alexander Ross quotes extensively from Lady Byron's letters, which show that she was a very religious, philanthropic person, who took a keen interest in everything that was going on around her :

"During eight years of wifehood and thirty-six of widowhood, Lady Byron found relief from personal griefs which she did not wish published to the world in an enlightened philanthropy. She made friends with the best workers and thinkers of her day."

Mr. Edmund Robertson, M.P., writing on "The Church of England as by Law Established," combats the arguments of the high churchmen concerning the judicial committee of the privy council.

Sir G. S. Clarke, writing on Germany as a Naval Power," describes the naval programme of the German Government, and predicts with some degree of confidence that it will soon be discovered to be insufficient.

RURAL VICE IN PRUSSIA.

It is a heart-sickening tale which Mr. Richard Heath recounts in his paper on the Prussian rural laborer and the evangelical Church. He recalls the ancient prosperity of the German peasant, his overthrow in the peasants' war, and his subsequent serfdom. At last in 1807 the serfs were freed and day-wage laborers took their place. In 1821 the partition of the common lands left the laborer at the mercy of the landowner. His wage averages 1.17 marks a day. A woman laborer rarely gets more than a mark a day. Two volumes published by German pastors in 1895 on "Sex Morality of the Evangelical Rural People in the German Empire" show the result of this expropriation. The people live in cottages of one or at most two rooms, frequently unsanitary and in bad repair. "The reports use the strongest and most graphic language in describing the licentiousness which prevails among the young." It is, according to these volumes, universal and equally marked in both sexes.

PLEA FOR RESPECTABLE DRUNKARDS.

Mr. Thomas Holmes pleads for some extension of help to habitual inebriates who are not yet convicted criminals. He says:

"Since this act has been talked of numbers of men, mostly young men, have consulted me personally, wishing to be committed to some inebriate reformatory. And when I have told them the conditions-four times in one year before a magistrate--they have gone away sorrowing, for self-respect was not yet dead within them. I have on my list of friends a number of men, splendid fellows in every sense but one; good workers, with intelligence more than common; good husbands and loving fathers when free from drink."

PHANTOMS EXPLAINED AWAY.

Mr. Sydney Olivier contributes an interesting dialogue on portraits and phantoms. The naturalist tells how he had mourned over the death of his sister, until one night he suddenly woke and saw her there before him, so vividly outlined in the dark that he put out his hand to his drawing materials to sketch her. Then she vanished. He proceeds:

"Since that time I have never felt any trouble at all because of her death. It seemed to me as though what had been diffused in pain, as I said, all about me, had gathered itself together into one sense-the most joygiving of all the senses-and so passed out in the form of a figure seen, outside of me, leaving joy only. It would not have consoled me at all simply to think that my sister had herself been there and had gone; my loss of her would have remained just as great. I did not think so; I felt quite sure of the contrary; and always since then I have been satisfied that there are no such things as ghosts, because I had seen one; for no one ever saw a solider ghost than that."

THE OLD MAN HUMANE.

Mr. W. J. Stillman presents a plea for wild animals, which is steeped in the reverent tenderness of a beautifully humane old age. He claims that "if a man is punishable for cruelty to a beast which is recognized as his, he is more responsible morally for cruelty to the beast which is not his." He argues that the susceptibilities of men like himself who cherish the "religion of the heart" should be protected from the outrage done

them by cruelties practiced on wild animals. Here are two incidents which the old man tells :

"A baby squirrel, brought to me by a village boy, and which I bought in order to give it more effectual protection, first taught me, by its devotion and its almost human sympathy, the community of all sentient being, and awakened in me the perception of the common parentage of the great Creator.

"I do not remember in all my life a more exquisite sensation of pleasure than when, last summer, in the great and crowded Central Park of New York, thronged with its heterogeneous public, all classes and nations meeting there, I saw a squirrel go about among the children on the broad footpath, stopping before each one and standing up on his hind legs to ask for his daily bread. It was an ideal of the millennium, when the lamb shall lie down with the lion and a little child shall lead them; and to me it has a pathos finer than the finest music."

THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW.

HE Fortnightly for May is a good number, marked by much variety and actuality. Some of its principal articles have received separate notice.

LORD SALISBURY AS HOME RULER.

"Milesius" writes on the Irish County Council elections and their bearing on home rule. After recounting and emphasizing the Nationalist victories, he concludes with a rather confident claim on the Unionist government. He recalls the famous Newport speech of 1885 and says:

"Lord Salisbury surely will, by a measure of home rule, relieve the loyal minority from ostracism from public life in Ireland. If, however, home rule be not granted, the loyal minority will soon join the ranks of their fellow-countrymen, and Ireland, with one voice, will demand the restoration of her native Parliament."

THE TITLE OF CARDINAL.

The recent alarm about the Pope's health leads Mr. Richard Davey to explain the procedure connected with the death, lying in state, election, and coronation of popes, under the title " Cardinals, Consistories, and Conclaves." The consistory is a meeting of the college of cardinals. When held under lock and key it is called a conclave. Of the word "cardinal" he says:

"The title of cardinal makes its first appearance in history in the fourth century, when Constantine assembled the council of Rome. Cardinal Belarmin, a great authority, tells us that in the early ages of Christianity the word cardinal was bestowed upon the principal churches of Italy, which were known as Cardinalis. From these churches the title, in course of time, became synonymous with the chief pastors who directed them. Pope Pius V., however, by a constitution dated March 13, 1567, ordered them to relinquish this title in favor of the chief priests of the Church of Rome."

THE FIRST GREAT NOVELIST.

Mr. Arthur Symons contributes a very vivid study of Balzac, born one hundred years ago, whom he hails as the first great novelist and the creator of the modern novel. As Dante with his "Divine Comedy" was the father of modern poetry, so Balzac with his "Human Comedy" has made the novel the modern epic. The writer observes in conclusion:

"A great lover, to whom love, as well as every other passion and the whole visible world, was an idea, a flaming spiritual perception, Balzac enjoyed the vast happiness of the idealist. I do not know, among the lives of men of letters, a life better filled or more appropriate."

THE DOOM OF THE SOLILOQUY.

Mr. H. M. Paull turns on the dramatic convention of the soliloquy-for it is a pure convention-a cold douche of common sense. He says:

"A man does not speak to himself, unless indeed he is beside himself; when we hear any one muttering and talking to himself we are apt to think that he is not in full possession of his senses. Is it allowable, then, to introduce into a representation of ordinary life a convention not absolutely necessary, which is contrary to actual practice instead of merely a modification?"

But is it necessary in order to lay bare the inner workings of the soul? Mr. Paull offers a strong instance:

"If there is one dramatist who is introspective in the highest degree, whose every recent play is the history of a soul, it is Ibsen. Now, Ibsen uses the aside and soliloquy very rarely; in some of his later plays he abandons them entirely. . . We may conclude that the soliloquy not being necessary, and being false to real life, it is desirable that its use should be abandoned. Even those who will not go quite so far must acknowledge that to an increasing section of intelligent audiences it is becoming irksome. If so, it is condemned. A convention that is questioned is doomed; its existence depends upon its unhesitating acceptance."

THE NATIONAL REVIEW.

HE principal papers in the May number of the National are Mr. Arnold White's on the Uitlanders, Mr. Leslie Stephen's on the Browning letters, and Mr. Stillman's on "The Belligerent Papacy," which claim separate notice.

AMERICAN PARTIES IN TRANSITION.

Mr. Maurice Low holds out a doleful prospect for Mr. Bryan's friends :

"The Democratic party appears to be fast drifting to destruction, and at the present time is more hopelessly divided than it has been for years. It is rent into factions; it has no recognized leader; its titular chiefs are squabbling among themselves, and having no common ground on which to unite against the common enemy are fighting one another."

PALMERSTON AND GARIBALDI IN 1860.

The Right Hon. Evelyn Ashley gives a vivid picture of his trip to Naples in 1860. His Garibaldi reminiscence throws an instructive light on the attitude of England toward the insurrection in south Italy. Her "benevolence" was much more evident than her "neutrality," for the writer was then private secretary to Lord Palmerston, and this was his lordship's answer to his parting request:

"I do not want to know what you are going to do for a holiday. All you ask me is to give you a letter of introduction to Count Cavour. What you want it for is no affair of mine. I will hand you a letter asking his good offices on your behalf.' That is what Lord Palmerston said to me with a chuckle. It was all I wanted, and with eagerness I started off in great spirits."

So it came to pass that he joined Garibaldi and witnessed his peaceful entry into Naples.

A NEW IRISH POET.

The Earl of Lytton introduces with warm commendation the poetry of an Irish writer whose identity is hid under the initials A. E.; and the passages quoted seem to warrant his lordship's eulogy. The writer says: "The central idea of his poetry is the revelation of the divine in nature. Humanity is dwarfed and cramped and surrounded by a 'vestiture of pain,' but in rare moments when nature speaks to us through cloud or sunshine, dawn or twilight, mountain or sea, we transcend the limits of mortal sense and feel thrillingly our divine birthright. Another most fascinating characteristic of these poems is their author's firm belief in the connection between our own world and a world of fairies."

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