TIES. Illustrated. By Richard Henry Dana. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Richard Henry Dana in 1875-6 visited England, France, Italy, and Egypt, kept a minute diary of his experiences, and in them narrated vividly the customs of the country and the characteristics of his hosts and guests. Son of Richard H. Dana, author of "Two Years Before the Mast," he had, for his father's sake, ready welcome to exclusive circles. A graduate of Harvard, an athlete, a cultured gentleman, and last, but not least, an Episcopalian, characterized by both physical and social courage, able to take an oar at Oxford, to hunt and fish in Scotland, to join in lawn tennis out of doors and in billiards in the house, and free from that self-consciousness which is perhaps the greatest of social handicaps and makes its victims either timid or aggressive and sometimes alternately first one and then the other, he had in himself a pass-key which fitted all doors. His vivid pictures, not painted for the public, which now for the first time the public is permitted to see, interpret graphically phases of social life in old aristocratic England which will not long survive the advent to political power of democratic England. A little more relentless editing would have both shortened and improved the book for the general reader. But it will be not difficult and perhaps more satisfactory for each reader to do his own editing.

HISTORY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY POWERS AND AIMS OF WESTERN DEMOC

RACY (THE). By William Milligan Sloane, LL.D. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. There is scarcely a page in this valuable volume which does not offer some pertinent suggestion. The author's aim, we judge, is found in his words: "Democracy is in its essence conservative; the drift toward Socialism is an attack on its very life; the democratic nation is the best form of human association so far devised; neither democracy nor nationality insures enduring peace." And yet Professor Sloane concludes his work with the judgment that peace is the test of our democracy. He shows first how democracy has been developed, what its institutions are, and what its formula and terms. He describes the foes in its ousehold; incidentally hc shows that

German "social democracy is misnamed" and that the Social Democratic Party in Germany "has been making its enormous strides, not as a Socialistic or even as a Labor party, but because it is solidly democratic." Elsewhere he says: "Perhaps the worst indictment of democracy as it works to-day is its blundering inefficiency and its intolerable extravagance."

ESSAYS AND CRITICISM CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE (THE). Edited by William Peterfield Trent, M. A., LL.D., John Erskine, Ph.D., Stuart P. Sherman, Ph.D., Carl Van Doren, Ph.D. 4 vols. LATER NATIONAL LITERATURE-Parts II and III. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

These volumes complete this impor tant literary achievement. The "Cambridge History of American Literature" furnishes a history of the literature written in English in the United States from the first settlement to the end of the nineteenth century-in fact, it is so close to date as to contain reference to "The Education of Henry Adams." The editors have secured the services of contributors, American and Canadian, who in all cases write with special knowledge of the topic assigned. The work, as truly stated by the publishers, is exact and authoritative, but, though written by specialists, has been designed to meet the needs of the general reader. The indexes and bibliographies are excellent.

WAR BOOKS

GENERAL STAFF AND ITS PROBLEMS (THE). By General Ludendorff. Translated by F. A. Holt, O.B.E. 2 vols. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York.

Of all the supposed authors of the World War, the most talked of has doubtless been General Ludendorff. His object in compiling the present volumes is evidently threefold: first, "to bring home to every German that a peace of understanding was unattainable;" second, "to reveal how much was kept secret from the Supreme Command by the Imperial Government;" and, third, "to justify the confidence which the majority of the German people reposed in Field Marshal Hindenburg and myself throughout the war." To this end these volumes consist of original and contemporary documents taken from the records of the German General Staff. They include matters of such importance as that of the conference at which the unrestricted submarine campaign was finally decided upon and as the violent interchange of letters between Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg and General Ludendorff. The author discusses the work of the army in peace times, revealing Germany's strenuous efforts to prepare for war. He tells us about recruiting, labor, financial, and food questions in connection with the army; provision for men returned from the war; and of course about the war itself, its Polish and Russian aspects, the Austrian efforts towards a separate peace, President Wilson's peace attitude, and, most interesting of all, America's entrance into the war. The author frankly concludes that the American Army deprived

They

KING'S TREASURIES OF LITERATURE (THE). General Editor, Sir A. T. QuillerCouch. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. We have already referred to this excellent series of clearly printed and neatly bound small volumes. A dozen or more new issues have reached us. include many recognized masterpieces of literature, and from the entire collection almost any one would find it easy to make a choice of books welcome in his library. Among the present issues, for instance, are Longfellow's "Hiawatha," Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome," an unusually readable collection of papers about "London in Literature," Mrs. Ewing's "Jackanapes," and W. H. Hudson's "Birds in a Village." These few examples indicate the wide range of interest and subjects.

THE NEW YORK MUSIC
SCHOOL SETTLEMENT

HE Company of a good friend, a beau

School Settlement concert-all made one feel a little like Omar Khayyam with his "jug of wine and book of verse." For these Music School Settlement concerts, given annually now for a number of years, are inspiring and entertaining. Recently it was given in the attractive new Town Hall of New York, and enthusiastic friends of the pupils and of their popular conductors, Mrs. Fannie Levine and Mr. Melzar Chaffee, were present in goodly numbers.

Music, it is said, is a universal language, and it was charmingly expressed in a very attractive programme on that occasion "The Butterfly" of Grieg, a piano solo by a young girl who was so bashful that the audience through applause had to bring her out again and again in order to make her see the basket of flowers that a friend had sent; Mendelssohn's "Venetian Boat Song," played by the combined Elementary and Junior Orchestra of the school; a very beautiful Negro spiritual sung by a chorus of young men and young women under the direction of Mrs. Laura Elliott; and cello and violin soloists choosing Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart for their selections. The programme was well suited and attuned to the spring mood both of the weather and of the hearer.

I have written a letter

unto you in few words.

Hebrews riii. 22

Wisconsin, and from there to Utah, and the ones I am acquainted with can climb anything made out of wood anywhere.

I have seen them climb up very small quaking asp trees in the Rocky Mountains, and also up tall willows that were not more than one-half inch in thickness and up tall weeds that were not thicker than a lead pencil. Not once, but hundreds of times.

While they are not a true squirrel, they can climb anything that the true squirrel can.

And as for grease interfering with their climbing, I fail to see how it could, as they depend on their claws and not on friction, and can go up or down or stop at will.

I do not wish to start a general discussion, but in answer to the query "Can a chipmunk climb?" I wish to say most emphatically that he can.

R. P. GREGG. Hard-Scrabble Farm Mena, Arkansas.

February 16, 1921, entitled "England's Crimes" that, from the way in which it is signed, would seem to represent the views and to have been the result of definite action on the part of the Allandale Improvement Association of Allandale, Florida.

The New York Music School itself numbers among its students boys and girls of fifteen different nationalities, and to them during the winter months it A DISCLAIMER affords an opportunity through music to give expression to their finer aspira-ter in your esteemed publication of UR attention has been called to a lettions, and in the summer it looks after their physical comforts in the way of days and weeks in the country. The purpose of the concerts is to enlist public sympathy and interest in the work of the school. One finds among these foreign-born boys and girls musical talents which cannot be bought, but which money can help. There are many Nation-wide "drives" for worthy objects, and, while such a drive for the Music School Settlement is not expected, individual "drives" of those interested in music and Americanization work would not be unwelcome to the men and women who in doing this work with great selfsacrifice and devotion are adding glory to a great American ideal. M. B. New York City.

We would respectfully state, first, that the letter in question was not sent to you as a consequence of any action by our Association; second, that the subject has never been presented or considered at any Association meeting; and, third, that it does not express the sentiments of the organization as a whole.

Please understand we are not denying the individuals who signed the abovementioned letter the right to voice and spread broadcast any opinions for which they are willing to stand sponsor. But we do most strenuously object to having opinions whatsoever attributed to the Allandale Improvement Association that are not the result of a proper official action by the Association at a regular or duly called meeting. The letter headed "England's Crimes" simply expresses the personal views of the three individuals signing it, and in no way

represents any action by the Allandale Improvement Association, nor gives a correct idea of the sentiments of any other members of the Association.

May we ask you to give this communication as much prominence as was accorded the letter to which it refers. CHRIS. SUPPES, President. J. W. RIKEMAN, Secretary. The Allandale Improvement Association,

Allandale, Florida.

OPULENCE AND SPLENDOR

I

R. JONES in his admirable letter on

page 336 of your issue of March 2 says: "Make the seventy million urbanites know . . . the. thirty-five million farmers who . . . toil early and late to feed the multitudes. enjoying the opulence and splendor of our American cities," etc. Surely Mr. Jones must know down in his heart that this

touching and oft-repeated reference to

the helotry of the farmer to the city is "bunk" pure and undefiled. The farmer does absolutely no such thing. If he could make any more money doing contract work for his neighbors or selling real estate or agricultural implements to his brother slaves the farmers, he would,, and often does, do it. As well try to draw tears to my eyes picturing the unhappy shoe operative who languidly flirts away the busy hours in the reeking city turning out brogues and still more brogues for the heartless and shoehungry farmers.

The farmer hasn't been entirely free of the charge of profiteering in the past few years.

Where did this yarn about the downtrodden farmer start, anyway? It does not sound good to the city man.

Toronto, Canada.

HARRY M. TEDMAN.

II

INCE The Outlook has been ordained between the farmer and the city man, perhaps it would not be out of the way to suggest some points upon which illumination is needed.

Sinterpreter mediator

Where did the advocate of the farmer get the idea about "the multitudes enjoying the opulence and splendor of our American cities"? Has he perchance been riding a "rubber-neck wagon" along Riverside Drive or around the lake shore in Chicago, or has he been reading the fiction in the "Saturday Evening Post" or "Cosmopolitan"? Did he ever view the miles upon miles of densely populated streets from the window of a train as it drew into the Grand Central station, or did he ever take a car ride out Halstead Street or Archer Avenue?

The "opulence and splendor" of the American city is merely its superficial

aspect. The visitor from Yap's Crossing and from Madison, Wisconsin, sees the gay life of the hotels and the theaters. These institutions are maintained for his benefit and by his largess. True, there are city men who live at the great hotels, frequent the cafés, and regularly attend the theaters; just as there are farmers who live in Wichita, Kansas, Elmira, New York, and Madison, Wisconsin. But the one class is no more representative of the city dweller than is the other of the countryman. The multitude in the city, as well as in the country, is composed of people who rise before dawn, toil through the daylight hours, and retire to their modest, perhaps squalid, homes with the setting of the sun.

"Ah, but how about the eight or nine hour day of the city worker?" your farmer will ask. Does your farmer know that if the city man is to live under conditions which are at all tolerable his residence must be ten, twenty, even fifty miles from his place of occupation? Does he know that in addition to, or rather as a part of, his daily work the city man must spend two or three hours on crowded street cars or in evil-smelling subways?

As for "physical discomforts and social deprivations," the farmer in the lowest state to which he may possibly descend can have no conception of the physical misery and social poverty which abounds in the city. It is not necessary to point to the lot of the tenement

dweller to show the inestimable advantage which the farmer possesses over the city man. The millions of, let us say, middle class, for lack of a better term, who live in apartments or in the closely crowded houses of the close-in residence districts exist from year's end to year's end without a single breath of ozone-charged air. They breathe the choking dirt and smoke of numberless shops and factories, they hurry to and from their occupations through jostling, self-centered crowds of strangers, they never know, perhaps, even the names of their nearest neighbors. To the city man even the gifts of nature come not with their full value. The sun is but an instrument of summer torture, the rain turns the streets into seas of reeking mud, the beauty of the moon and stars is lost in the clinquant glare of the arc lights.

However, there is no profit in arguing the matter; man was born to discontent, and the luckiest mortal who ever lived no doubt envied some one who, from his view-point, was having a better time. Every farmer longs for the time when he will have acquired enough wealth to retire and move to town and every town man dreams of the day when he can buy a farm. But neither the farmer who gets to the city nor the city man who moves to the country ever finds things in the new environment just as he had pictured them.

Why must we constantly be reminded

that the farmer feeds the world? Does not the world furnish him with his dwelling, with his clothing, with his machinery, and with his automobile? To the animal or to man in the primitive state food is everything; in the higher planes of culture it is only one of the necessities.

We appreciate the farmer far more perhaps than he appreciates us of the city. We acknowledge his service to the world, not only as a producer of food, but as the father of future generations of bankers and lawyers and manufacturers; but have we not the right to ask that the farmer, on his part, appreciate that we who eat his food provide him with comforts and luxuries which he could not produce and which he could not purchase unless we first bought his crops?

If it is true that the rural estate is "rising into organized and embittered self-consciousness," as your first-prize winner tells you, the very best cure for the malady would be to work out a system whereby each dissatisfied farmer might be permitted to enjoy a few months of work and play amid the "opulence and splendor" which he envi ously views from afar. It might be a good plan, in fact, to arrange exchanges between city and country workers, so that the illusions on both sides might be cleared away. ERNEST CORDEAL.

Stonleigh Court, Independence Avenue,
Kansas City, Missouri.

while, I have only one addition to make to the statement"your magazine should not only be on the reading table of every progressive, or conservative, American, but it ought to be read from cover to cover."

If the readers of The Outlook are anxious to keep abreast of the times, they know that fifteen or twenty minutes' reading will provide a careful survey of the main events of the past week. Two hours with The Outlook will do more for the busy American in the way of self-education, pleasure, and information than the same amount of time de

1 This letter was among those submitted in the First Prize Contest.-The Publisher.

voted to half a dozen other magazines,

particularly those published every

month and which devote many pages to fiction. I am glad that The Outlook recognizes the fiction field is overcrowded, and if the charge be made that it is a matter-of-fact publication, then such a characterization is to its credit.

I value The Outlook because:

It is so arranged that the busy man can get a comprehensive digest of the world's news and views in a minimum

of time. For that reason alone it is seven times as valuable as a daily newspaper.

recognized as an asset to any article: it dresses it up to the reader's satisfaction-but, best of all, there is more to an Outlook article than the picture.

In Lyman Abbott The Outlook possesses a writer who gives the magazine an individuality not equaled by any other publication; when he speaks, Outlook readers listen, and one cannot read an article from his pen without catching a better, broader vision of all that life holds. The occasional touch of theology that breathes an atmosphere of purity and wholesomeness is most welcome in these days of hurry, when one is apt to overlook the beautiful for

The Outlook is clean, original, progressive, and far-seeing. Its editors are fair, honest, and upright; else its articles would not stand the test of time. The Outlook, living up to its name, has caught the broader vision, and in this workaday world it occupies a niche not touched by any other publication.

To be a constant reader of The Outlook means more to me than a college degree; it is distinction and education in itself. JAMES A. MURRIN. Franklin, Pennsylvania.