THE ARENA.

I

N the September Arena, Mr. Duane Mowry shows that the indiscriminate criticism and abuse of our public men in the newspaper press tends strongly to keep good men out of political service. Mr. Mowry pleads for "the erection of a line between just and unjust criticism, and for the emphasis of a marked difference between the rights of free speech and unbridled license."

PROSPECTS OF THE DANISH WEST INDIES.

Although our title to the Danish West Indies is not yet perfected, it is not too early to begin taking an account of stock in the islands. Mr. Hrolf Wisby, in an article on "Our Duty in the Danish West Indies," makes much of the fact that negroes, and negroes only, can stand the climate of the islands in the long run, and he argues that the country must be thrown open to the native black population, while the colored population of our southern sea-coast States should be induced to immigrate to the islands. As to the agricultural possibilities, this writer thinks that hemp-growing would be more congenial and profitable than sugar-cane-growing. Hemp is a product suited to the capacities of the small farmer, and it will grow in soil that is now considered

waste.

A FLING AT ORGANIZED CHARITY.

Mr. Joseph Dana Miller denies to charity, as such, any place in the social relations of men. Society owes relief of distress as a matter of justice. For all attempts at the organization of private relief Mr. Miller has only this to say:

"Intellectually and morally deteriorating is this playing at charity. Better far the hard, calculating bent of mind, urged and animated by a sense of unpitying justice, than this toying with a great problem, this skimming the social surface for novelty, this wetting of dainty feet in idle dalliance in the great deep."

OTHER ARTICLES.

Editor Flower voices "The Cry of the Children" in a vigorous protest against the employment of children of tender years at factory labor. Mr. George F. Spinney contributes an interesting sketch of President Vreeland of the Metropolitan Street Railway system in New York City. Mr. Vreeland's career thus far is a good concrete illustration of "Humanity's Part in the Labor Problem"-the title of Mr. Spinney's article. There is a "conversation" with Prof. John Ward Stimson on the subject of "Art for America."

THE INTERNATIONAL QUARTERLY. NCE more we have an American counterpart of the British quarterly reviews. The International Monthly, a periodical very acceptably edited for the past two years by Mr. Frederick A. Richardson, of Burlington, Vt., is now succeeded by the International Quarterly, under the same editorship. In contents there is no material change noticeable, beyond the marked tendency to expansion. The average length of the articles, which has always been in excess of the average for other American reviews, remains about the same as formerly, but the number of articles making up an issue has been doubled.

As to the character of the contributions, our readers can form their own judgments from the list of contributors. As was notably the case in the old series of the International, these are all experts and authorities of the first rank in their respective fields. In the first issue of the Quarterly, for example, Mr. Elwood Mead, chief of the irrigation investigations conducted under the auspices of the United States Department of Agriculture, writes on "Property Rights in Water;" Prof. C. H. Toy on "Religious Fusion;" Mr. Will H. Low "National Art in a National Metropolis;" Max Nordau on Zionism; Mr. Richard M. Meyer on Hermann Sudermann; Sir W. Lee-Warner on "The Native States of India ;" and Prof. J. H. Robinson on "The Elective System, Historically Considered." Prof. George Santayana, of Harvard, recounts "A Dialogue in Limbo," and Mr. Robert Y. Tyrrell reports an "interview" with Cicero. Studies of Napoleon and Héloïse are contributed, respectively, by M. Mare Debrit and Mr. Henry O. Taylor.

on

The chronicle of events is written, as heretofore, by Mr. Joseph B. Bishop, the topics in the current issue being our work as a civilizer in Cuba and the national value of an Isthmian canal. The important article by Professor Jenks on "The Egypt of To-day" has been quoted at length elsewhere in this number of the REVIEW OF REVIEWS. All of the International's articles are of the highest quality known to modern periodical literature, and this American review does not suffer by comparison with its European contemporaries.

GUNTON'S MAGAZINE.

N the September number of Gunton's, besides the editorial articles on such timely topics as "Politics and Business Prosperity," "The Misuse of Injunctions," and "Is the Coal Strike a Conspiracy?" there is a character sketch of Governor La Follette of Wisconsin, by Mr. Henry W. Wilbur, which has a special interest in connection with the political campaign now in progress. An address by Mr. Horace White, of the New York Evening Post, on "The Economies of Branch Banking" is printed in this number, and there is a paper on "The Rule of Force," by Mr. Albert R. Carman.

NEGROES AS COTTON MANUFACTURERS.

Prof. Jerome Dowd tells of a cotton mill in the Piedmont region of North Carolina which is owned and manned by colored people. It used to be thought in the South that negroes could never be employed in factory labor because the hum of the machinery would put them to sleep. Within the past twenty years, however, they have come into very general employment in certain manufacturing industries, notably tobacco factories and cotton-seed oil and fertilizer mills, and now

it has been found that negro labor can be successfully and profitably utilized in cotton manufacturing. The mill has been running for more than a year, and only a few of the operatives have succumbed to the charms of Morpheus.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER.

B

ARON A. VON MALTZAN writes, in the Nineteenth Century for September, a very interesting article describing his experiences as a German volunteer with the Boers in Natal. He confirms everything that has been said as to General Buller's monstrous exaggeration of the numbers of the troops opposed to him. He says that the Boer position at Colenso was absolutely impregnable, but General Buller had 20,000 men against 1,500. He lost 1,000, and the Boers lost 3 killed and 8 wounded. He vouches for the fact that at 2 o'clock in the afternoon orders were given to the Boers to cease firing, as it was an unchristian and inhuman thing to continue the slaughter of men who were helpless and defenseless. Buller was quite sure that he had 20,000 Boers against him at Colenso. In reality, in all Natal there were only 13,000 Boers at that time. The whole line from Colenso to Van Reenen's Pass, a distance of 22 miles, was held by 7,000 men. Baron von Maltzan says that the Boers made no trenches whatever at Colenso; they simply lay behind the boulders.

MR. TOM MANN ON NEW ZEALAND.

Mr. Tom Mann has been seven months in New Zealand, and he is not enthusiastic about its climate. In some places fog is more general than in London. Wages are higher than at home, but 25 per cent. of this must be deducted as decreased purchasing power. Rent is very high, and the climate is by no means so idyllic as people represent. On the other hand, there are fewer stoppages of work from strikes than in any other country, thanks chiefly to the principle of compulsory arbitration, which, however, he says, is by no means working quite smoothly. It is quite on the cards that the men may take action for its repeal, and that the employers may be found defending it. He is pleased with the New Zealand Factory Act, chiefly because it forbids any boy or girl with a less wage than $1.25 a week being employed, and also because it fixes the hours of adult males at forty-eight per week, and those of women at forty-five. He is glad to find that the railways are in the hands of the state, and that the people having one person, one vote, and all elections on one day, have government under better control than is the case in England.

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CHARACTER.

Mr. Percy F. Rowland is rather enthusiastic about the Australian national character, although he admits that there is a tendency to great cruelty on the part of the Australians. This, he says, is due to their climate, to their familiarity with the horrors of drought in the bush, their habit of thinking of the sheep and kine as mere wool and meat,-the counters with which they play the game of life,-long warfare with rabbits and kangaroos for means of sustenance,-these have rendered the normal Australian countryman callous to animal suffering. The Australian woman is less prolific than her European relatives. The number of illegitimate births is double that of Ireland, and the divorce rate is thirteen times higher than that of England. Yet with all these

defects Mr. Rowland maintains that there is a good ground-work for building up such a noble national type that the proudest boast of Englishmen may some day be that they had a share in building up the Australian character. For among the Australians "you will find determination, pluck, sportsmanship, good humor, religion without theology, civility without servility, and an uncommon power of common sense."

LORD NELSON ON THE IDEAL HYMN-BOOK.

Lord Nelson writes an interesting article upon "Hymns Ancient and Modern." He thinks that in the future authorized hymn-book the old Latin hymns, with good English translations, should form a prominent part of the book. Then there should be a selection of narrative hymns, bringing out the teachings of the Christian year, and a large selection of modern hymns which have all won their way generally into the hearts of our people. A general book, voicing the religious experiences of men from every clime and in every age, would have no mean share in the formation of national character.

THE HUMANIZATION OF THE WORKHOUSE.

Miss Edith Sellers writes a pitiful paper entitled "In the Day-room of a London Workhouse." It was written after visiting a London workhouse in which there were 288 men and 437 women over the age of sixty-five. The account she gives is very sad, and she could not help contrasting the fate of these worn-out toilers with the inmates of the cheery, comfortable homes provided for the same class in Denmark and Austria, where the cost per head per week is considerably less than in these London workhouses, where it averages $3.37. "There was a time when we were supposed to provide for our poor at once more humanely and more wisely than other nations; but now-. It is only in England that poor old folk who have toiled hard for long years and pinched and saved must pass their last days in the workhouse. Even Russia has its old-age homes."

THE NEW LIBERAL REVIEW.

N the New Liberal Review, Mr. George Martineau

combinations. An undergraduate, Mr. D. F. T. Coke, defends Oxford against the accusation of laziness brought by Mr. Fotheringham in the previous number. Mr. Holt Schooling writes on the export of English coal, the large increase of which obscures the significance of the comparative decrease in other exports. Mr. Blumenfeldt gossips pleasantly concerning the new industry of manufacturing antiquities to order, which, it seems, is in a very flourishing condition at the present time. It is, however, somewhat precarious, for fashion is capricious, and antiquities which are at a premium to-day are at a discount to-morrow. One of the brightest articles is Mr. E. F. Benson's paper on the decadence in manners. Mr. Benson argues that the changes which are alleged to prove a decadence in English manners are really due to the improved sense of comradeship which has resulted from men and women playing games together. At the same time he admits that women are often brutally rude to each other. He says that the insolence of women, well-bred in their conduct to the other sex, can be a thing to shudder at when one of her own is concerned. This, in its more flagrant aspects, is easily observable in such public places as steamers and railway cars.

THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW.

THE

HE Contemporary Review for September, contrary to the usual practice of English reviews, publishes a translation of the article which General de Negrier contributed anonymously to the Revue des Deux Mondes on "The Lessons of the South African War." Sir A. E. Miller writes upon "The Proposed Suspension of the Cape Constitution," an article which might have been useful once, but is somewhat out of date to-day. Hannah Lynch writes a sprightly and somewhat spiteful article on "Paul Bourget, Preacher." Mr. A. C. Seward defends the doctrine of natural selection against J. B. Johnston, who attacked it in the July number of the Contemporary. Dr. Dillon confines his survey of foreign affairs to a discussion of the future of Italian expansion, a glance at the stagnation of British enterprises in China, and a lamentation over the refusal of the colonial conference to federate the empire.

WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY?

Professor Orr, in an article entitled "Dr. Fairbairn on the Philosophy of Christianity," says that the permanent value of his book is that it compels us to face the solemn alternative of what the essence of Christianity is. This alternative, he says, is as follows:

"On the one hand, a universal Father-God, whose presence fills the world and all human spirits; Jesus, the soul of the race, in whom the consciousness of the Father, and the corresponding spirit of filial love, first came to full realization; the spirit of divine sonship learned from Jesus as the essence of religion and salvation-here, in sum, is the Christianity of the 'modern' spirit. All else is dressing, disguise, Aberglaube, religious symbolism, inheritance of effete dogmatisms. Will this suffice for Christianity? Or is the Apostolic confession still to be held fast, that Christ is Lord: the Incarnate, the Living, the Exalted, the Redeemer and Saviour, the Head of all things for his Church and for the world?"

IMMORTALITY, BEFORE AND AFTER.

Miss Caillard concludes her three papers upon "Immortality" by declaring herself in favor of the preexistence of the soul, and inferentially at least of the doctrine of re-incarnation. She says:

"If the supreme worth of that human individuality be allowed, if it bears a unique and consequently eternal ethical significance to God, we must also grant that it neither began with birth nor ends at death."

THE FUTURE LANGUAGE OF SOUTH AFRICA.

Mr. Alfred A. MacCullagh writes a somewhat inconsequent article on this subject. His conclusion is somewhat startling :

"After all, the people of the British Islands need not concern themselves seriously as to the future of the language question in South Africa. South Africans will settle that for themselves. There may be a republic again in South Africa before many years, but it will be an English-speaking one, or there will be no rest in the land till the blood of the last British South African has stained the soil."

THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW.

IN

N the September Fortnightly "Diplomaticus" writes one of his characteristic, well-informed, and somewhat alarmist articles on the deepening unrest of Europe. He says that the Bismarckian Triple Alliance

made for peace because it was a coalition of the "Haves." The new Triple Alliance of Russia, Italy, and France will be a combination of the "Have-Nots." Italy and France are contemplating partition in North Africa, the revanche idea is reviving in France, and we must be prepared in the near future, if not for an actual catastrophe, at any rate for an era of excitability and unrest. The "Have-Nots" are no longer deterred from war by the certainty of defeat. Hence they will be less consistently conciliatory in the future, less prudent, less averse to dangerous intrigues and adventures of the Fashoda type.

THE TEST OF EFFICIENCY.

"Calchas" reviews in a very hostile spirit the changes which Mr. Balfour has made in his ministry. Apart from the appointment of Mr. Austen Chamberlain, his readjustments are commonplace, pointless, and inept. The present opposition, even without Mr. Morley, Sir William Harcourt, and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, would supply a ministry with a larger number of efficients than are to be found in Mr. Balfour's cabinet. "Calchas" deals faithfully with Lord Rosebery's absurdly inadequate speech on the North Leeds election, which "Calchas" says was a stupefying surprise to the victors hardly less than to the vanquished. After long immobility in national conviction there can be little doubt that the nation is now prepared as it has never been before to change, and to change constantly, until it gets a ministry to its mind. A new political world has come into existence since 1900. The war has destroyed much which was in the national repute, the prestige of British shipping has been almost extinguished, and on the diplomatic side England has discovered that the German empire as the bedrock of her external relations is a rotten foundation. Great Britain has completely lost the reputation of technical preeminence in industry and commerce. For the first time perhaps for two or three centuries there is no longer a department of national life in which anything like the old leadership of English intellect is recognized by the world.

HERMANN SUDERMANN.

Mr. W. S. Lilly, writing upon Hermann Sudermann's new play "Es Lebe das Leben," exhausts his resources of eulogy. The play marks the high-water mark of the author's genius. He says that his inspiration is essentially spiritual, like that of Nature herself. He has far more in common with Euripides than any dramatist of our time. Through his work is that deep underlying thought of the Greek drama that in the moral worla law rules, law fenced about as all law is by penalties. This is the deep verity which informs his pages.

AN APPEAL TO WORKMEN.

Mr. J. Holt Schooling writes a letter to the workmer of the United Kingdom, which he invites London and provincial papers to reprint. His object is to ask them one or two straight questions, the first being, "Is there not a tendency in too many of you to take your work easily?" Secondly, "Do you need so many strikes?" Thirdly, "Why should you drink twice as much as the American workingman?"

PAARDEBERG.

Mr. Perceval Landon writes a picturesque, briet paper describing the first crushing blow which overtook the Boer forces. Apart from his description of French's ride and Cronje's retreat, the most interesting