BOOK NOTICES

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 7, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 19.

"The American Commonwealth." By James Bryce. In two volumes. New edition. Price $4.00. The Macmillan Company, New York.

The first edition of this work was published by Mr. Bryce in 1888. The Macmillans published an enlarged edition in 1893; but when the work came out written by an Englishman, there were not a few ready to criticize before they had read it, or even examined it ever so slightly. "The idea that an Englishman should presume to write a book on such a subject!" "What does he know of America?" "And being an Englishman, how could he write without prejudice?" But he wrote a remarkable book, nevertheless,—clear, illuminating, strong, analytical, and truly judicial, and sympathetic withal. It was not wholly free from error, but it gave the English reader on the other side of the Atlantic a clear, comprehensive setting forth of the great republic. But after years of study, during a part of which Mr. Bryce has been an honored representative of Great Britain to this Government, he has had better opportunities than before to study the American republic at first-hand, to become better acquainted with its people, their customs, prejudices, sympathies, with its marvelous intermixtures of races, the development of the great West; and in the light of this riper knowledge, he has completely revised, throughout, his truly great work, and added four new chapters, on the "Transmarine Dominions of the United States," dealing with the huge influx of immigrants from Central and Southern Europe, with the more recent phases of the Negro Problem in the South, and the remarkable development in late years of the American universities. Mr. Seth Low, former mayor of New York, has rewritten his chapter on municipal government. In this last revision, Mr. Bryce has availed himself of expert knowledge when he could not study the subject personally; and it is safe to say that he has given us a work which will not only be a standard reference work in our libraries, but a text-book in our academies, colleges, and universities. Those who have read his book "The Holy Roman Empire," will know something of the worth and character of this work. Volume I contains a list of the Presidents, dates of remarkable events in the history of the North American colonies and United States, area, population, and date of admission of the States, the national Government and its various branches, the State governments, and an appendix on constitutional conventions, what the Federal Constitution owes to the constitutions of the several States, and other important matters, such as rules of the Senate, private bills, the lobby, Constitution of the Confederate States, Federal Constitution of Canada, etc., etc. Volume II consists of four parts: The Party System; Public Opinion, and how it rules; Illustrations and Reflections on various phases of political life peculiar to America, like the Tammany Ring of New York, Kearneysim of California, the South and its problems, and other better phases; Social Institutions, such as the bar, the bench, Wall Street, churches and clergy, religion, woman, etc., etc., and closing with the "Social and Economic Future." There are 123 chapters, with an excellent index. It is a great work. The publishers have done their part in a presentable, well-printed, and well-bound volume.