Populaire' in France, and the 'Gellsenverein,' the Bauernverein and the Volkesverein' in Germany, offer us a record of achievement which will be astonishing to all those except the few who are acquainted with the literature of the subject. We see curés in France turning their presbyteries into co-operative societies and sewing guilds, and in Belgium a Dominican monk goes to the length of becoming a miner for three years in order to gain an insight into the conditions under which those who toil under the earth live and labour. The book is throughout bien documenté, and the author-a thorough master of his subject-has the art of selecting out of a great mass of material what is exactly suitable and apposite for his immediate purpose. The extracts which he gives from the voluminous literature in French and German which has grown up from the study of Catholic Social Action, and his descriptions of the working and the success of various social experiments all make for a fuller comprehension of the ideas which lie at the base of the science, and the methods by which these ideas are to be carried into execution. The testimonies quoted of the social activities of priests, notably in Belgium, are such as must be a source of legitimate pride to all Catholics. The book is thus useful as a manual of reference and a record of achievement, but it is something more. It is, as we believe the author intended it to be, extremely suggestive of what might be attempted in countries where the priest has not as yet become conspicuous in the field of Social Action.

The object of the book is, as the Bishop of Northampton states in his introduction, " to convince English priests that, under our actual circumstances, Social Action is no longer merely a matter of taste or interest that can be taken up or laid aside at choice. Social Action has become an indispensable phase of our apostolate. For proof it is enough to refer to the remarkable series of official pronouncements emanating in recent years from the Holy See and the Episcopate throughout the world." For the reassurance of the timid who may hesitate to take part in social movements Father Plater has gathered together a large number of these pronouncements to show that they enjoy, not the mere grudging toleration, but the warm support and encouragement of the last two

Popes and the Bishops throughout the Catholic world. The movements, as he points out, have often been inaugurated by Catholic leaders. Bishop Ketteler led a Catholic social campaign in Germany, and Cardinal Mermillod presided over international congresses at Fribourg, even before the time when Leo XIII. gave a charter to Catholic Social Action in the Encyclical Rerum Novarum. Nor is it to be supposed that these movements are new in the history of the Church. As appears from the teachings of its Doctors and its Popes, as well as from the lives of its Saints, Catholicism is, in the words of Professor Duthoit, essentially social. What is relatively new is the growth of specific industrial evils, and in consequence the particular applications of traditional Catholic principles which are required to meet these evils. The Encyclicals of Leo XIII. are of great value, not because they contain a new message to the world of labour, but because they are a masterly setting forth of Catholic principles. What requires to be done is, as Father Plater says, that we should soak our minds in the Catholic principles, and master the teaching of the Encyclicals, and then take in hand the laborious work of testing our social institutions and measures and proposals by them. To do this it will of course be necessary to know something of these institutions, measures and proposals. Hence arises the need for concerted study, and a large amount of patience. Even when all this has been done, there will be much room for differences of opinion, because Catholic social science is not merely a deduction from Catholic principles. Catholics may differ as to the merits of the two schemes, both of which are in accordance with Catholic principles, the difference between them arising from other sources. At every stage of the process there will be a need for forbearance and a regard for the existing order of things. In omnibus caritas' holds good for the social reformer. Catholics cannot ally themselves with the root and branch reformers who wear red ties, sing the Internationale' and promise to bring about the millenium by the judicious distribution of bombs and by the abolition of society as at present constituted. Nor can Social Action if it is to be good and true and sound be undertaken in a hurry. In this matter it is better to abstain altogether than to take a wrong

line. Great interests (those of the Church first of all) are at stake; and those interests may be compromised by ignorance or want of skill, however well intentioned.

In the interesting summary which Father Plater gives us in six of the chapters of his book of what has actually been accomplished by priests in different countries, we find that the priests of Belgium have surpassed those of all other nationalities. In agricultural organisation, in the movement to establish labour credit, in the founding of technical schools and mutual benefit societies, in workmens' unions, in temperance, in almost every sphere of Social Action the priests of Belgium have been pioneers in the work of organisation. It is largely as a result of their efforts that Belgium became the most prosperous country in Europe "socially a shining example copied by many, and second to none: morally a worthy exponent of true Christian principles." Mr. CharlesBathurst, M.P., speaking at the English Church Conference in 1913, attributed the extraordinary agricultural development of Belgium to the fact that the clergy had thrown themselves whole-heartedly into an organised endeavour to improve the material and social position of their parishioners. Mr. Edwin Pratt also bears witness to the golden opinions which the priests of Belgium won for themselves by the conspicuous proofs they have given of both willingness and capacity to become leaders of men in material concerns as well as spiritual. In France the social efforts of the priests from having been sporadic and tentative have becomeorganised and confident. The organisation of social work and study has reached a very high pitch of perfection amongst the French clergy, and they have at their disposal an enormous number of magazines, reference books, bulletins, programmes and directions of all kinds to aid their social activity. In Germany the Catholic clergy take an active part in all social movements; and identify themselves with all that concerns the temporal welfare of the people to an extent that is probably without parallel in other lands. Their work for the benefit of artisans shows an interesting revival of the spirit which created the old Catholic Guilds, and it has done incalculable service in raising the material and moral condition of a large section of the working classes in Germany.

In the United States many of the seminaries have established social courses for the benefit of ecclesiastical students; and much may be expected from the clergy who have passed through these courses. Much has also been done in the direction of organising Catholics in the cause of Catholic interests and social reform; witness the National Conference of Catholic Charities and the American Federation of Catholic Societies. The latter, representing nearly three million Catholics, has as its aim the infusion of Catholic principles into public and social life; it supports the attempt to obtain a living wage for the workers, and all efforts to bring about proper moral and sanitary conditions in the home, the shop, the mine, and the factory. In Canada the Missionaires Agricoles,' a body of priest lecturers organised by the Bishops of the Province of Quebec are working hard to introduce more scientific methods of cultivation among the somewhat conservative farmers.

In the chapter devoted to Ireland mention is made of the splendid work that priests like Father Maguire of Tyrone, Canon Doyle of Wexford, and Father Meehan of Creevelea have done for the material welfare of their parishioners; and also of the active part which Bishops like Dr. Kelly of Ross, Dr. Foley of Kildare, and Dr. O'Donnell of Raphoe have taken in the movements for the improvement of social conditions. The name of one priest-Father Denis O'Hara of Kiltimagh-whose labours in the interests of his own parishioners and of the congested districts generally have been attended with such splendid results, is omitted from the volume. We would also venture to say that Father Thomas Finlay, S.J., whose work in the cause of co-operation is incidentally referred to, has brought a capacity and a practical and untiring energy into movements for economic reform that have not been surpassed by even the greatest of the priests of Belgium, France, or Germany. The publication by Father M'Kenna, S.J., of the Social Action pamphlets is noted as being of remarkable importance in the direction of popular social education and constructive social work. The foundation of the Leo Guild' in Dublin in May, 1912, marks a systematic effort to organise Catholic social study amongst the educated laity as well as amongst the working classes.

The scheme promises, in Father Plater's words, to give a decided impulse and a right direction to Catholic social effort in Ireland, and such a "movement of ideas" is the usual prelude to momentous reforms. On the whole, however, when we compare what has been done in Ireland with what has been done on the Continent we have but small cause for self-congratulation. As Father McKenna truly states in one of his pamphlets, there is but little of the more constructive forms of charitable endeavour, of Catholic social work properly so called, in Catholic Ireland. In this respect we are forty years behind the progressive Catholics of Belgium and France. This is all the more regrettable inasmuch as the Irish priests who engage in Social Action have a great advantage over the priests of Continental countries. In France, and even in Belgium, the curé had often to break down a spirit of aloofness and mistrust before he could commence his social work. In Ireland the excellent mutual understanding between the parish priest and his flock affords a splendid basis for the priest to work on, and with some little social study much might be attempted to improve the comfort and well-being of the people. It is not indeed possible, as Father Plater points out, nor is it desirable that they should take the whole of the work upon their own shoulders, since the co-operation of the laity is becoming increasingly necessary; but the clergy may well be (as indeed. to a great extent they already are) the inspiring influence, guiding and encouraging and training the lay workers, keeping prominently before the minds of the people the great social principles laid down by the Church. Father Plater shows himself extremely hopeful of Ireland's future. He tells us that perhaps in no country in the world has Catholicism such a splendid opportunity of establishing a healthy social order, and of showing to the world an example of that fair and prosperous commonwealth for which Leo XIII. would have us strive. "We see a nation of peasant proprietors-the ideal of Leo XIII. fulfilled. We see the priests bound to the people by long years of common suffering, priests, who, for the most part, brought up on Irish farms, have an intimate knowledge of rural needs and conditions. We see that to the marvellous religious and charit