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THft SUN SUtfDAYf MAY 29 1304 i I w ra- t 4 I c L r A j I- Q BOOKS iV New IlUlory of North America Jt may be remembered that tho late Justin Wlnsor held that Malory It It won to attain lt grnatfsl tiHofulnesw should but to ecienoe From this principle It was Obvious corollary that tho ofa given period or of u given branch of a subject should ba entrusted to student who had proven himself especially fled for the particular auk The of this method of historic comnoaltlon recognize of course that tho outcome of imch a syndicate of investigators will not and cannot bo a coherent unlflod work of art From cooperation of the kind described will never be such masterpiece of narrative as Thucydldes- Tacitus and given us On the other hand there doubt that In the way recommended and In practice adopted by Wlrutor It In possible to get together an extromoly valuable collection- of thn raw materials of history Neither can It l o denied that HH conceivably a firsthand Inquirer may bo endowed with the faculty of felicitous presentation Tyndnll had It HO had Huxley some of th monographs which make up the com rxJsito work produced In pursuance of WJhsprB be Invested with a good deal of literary attractiveness So much for the principle on which ia bated the hew and comprehensive Wiuforv of Nortk America projected and edited by Prof Our LBK of and Columbian Universities Barrio- A Ron Of this work four volumes hove been issued dealing respectively with Discovery and Exploration Indians In Historic Times The Colonization of the South and The Colonization of the Middle Btates Wo shall here briefly indicate the cope and method of treatment exemplified In the first two volumes of an exceptionally capacious work I In the first volume which treat of Dicovery and Kxploration we are in- debted to pr Alfred Brlttain author of The Spanish Conquest of Mexico Ocean Voyagm In tho Fifteenth Century and The Exploration of Northern America The volume begins with a chapter on pre Columbian discoveries and might have been expected to end with tho account of Henry Hudsons and the Dutch explorations though there is a supplemental chapter on The Search for In which are described tho later achieve- ment or adventurei of Bering Cook Vancouver Parry Franklin Ross Mac McCllntock and Kellott The Includes literal translation of many r Nfl riot to a a qui lao C John Cur c SON 1 j be treated as lIterature L 4 n c s Gibbon j 3 c v 1r c e lee I I I ¬ ¬ original documontH on for journal of ColumbUHs first voyage and the letter of Amerigo Vespucci Wherever possible Indeed tho author Dr Brittaln has aimed to bring together in exact form all the most important of the original sources though in making his selection he has otrlven to avoid repetition It hue not always been easy for him to confirm hlmiolf Within tho limits imposed he Li sometimes at a loss to know to draw tho line between exploration and settlement Ho liau proceeded however on tho assumption that the first volume hould treat only of those journeys by which the various sections of the Northern Continent were made known In a large way to tho Old World In the chapter on anteColumbian discov- eries all the legends except the now undis- puted one of the discovery of the North k American maiilandbyNorse mariners from Greenland A D 1000 are on the that they worthy documentary evidence Dr Brit makes It plain however that he Is well acquainted with the storlo He Is no means prepared to assert that Se- mitic navigators may not have made ac- cidental landfalls on what we term the New World thousands of years ago It is possible that from the reports of Phoeni- cian home comers from transatlantic shores may have arisen the Greek myth of the Heeperldes although now Madeira and the Canaries are generally identified with the Western Isles fact is recalled that many centuries before our era one Hanno a Carthaginian reached a region which has Identified with Leone on the coast of Africa as extant Greek version of a contemporary tablet still testifies and we know that In the reign of Pharaoh Nechoobout too B C Phoenician sailors starting from a port on the Red Sea doubled the Cape of Good and returned by- way of the Pillars to the mouths of the Nile Who will venture to assert that navigators by whom such were accomplished and who In tin went habitually to Cornwall or beyond were incapable of crossing the Atlantic There Is no doubt that centuries before Columbus tho Spanish Moors settled the Azores they hare left there remarkable architectural remains Including the ruins of an ratoitlshlng aqueduct Who shall dare to affirm that having erected a per- manent lodgment midway In the Atlantic dauntless Moorish adventurers went in the Western eeasT We ob serve that Dr Brlttain does not fail to the ease with which the northeastern of Brazil can bo reached from the southwestern corner of the great shoulder of Africa Indeed when certain winds prevail It Is scarcely possible as Portuguese experience was to show to avoid being blown on the shore of the Western Hemi- sphere What happened to a Portuguese may have happened to a Carthaginian In tho book before us comparatively- little attention la paid or for that be paid to the story of St Maclou and St Brandan who t re said to have crossed the Atlantic at different times and separately during the sixth century reaching In safety some part o the American coast Curiously enough there are no fewer than eight distinctversions of this myth extant In as many different languages the fullest Is contained In William Caxtonn Golden Legend Not more probable in Dr Brittains judgment Is the account of Clbolathe country of the seven wonderful cities long bolloved to have been founded by seven Spanish Bishops after the defeat of the Visigoths In tho weeklong battle of Navarret but now judged to have been based on the flight of a Portuguese Arch- bishop to the Cape Verde Islands when the Arabs Invaded the Iberian peninsula The Island of the Seven Cities wee also known as AntUIa a name preserved by the lards In the form of Antlllas bestowed on thcfWost India Islands Less popular than either of legend wee the reputed visit In century A D of one Arl Matson of Limerick Ireland to a region he styled White Mans Land little 1m- portanoe is here attached to the of the discovery America by a the tradition upon which Sou they founded lila epic Madoo A hot of other moro or less apocryphal anteColumbian voyagers are dinmiwd in a few lines Such were the Vnrtwii brothers Vacino and Guido Vlvulclo who in opinion of some nu 1 tlioritin found way late in the thir toanth century to this side of Atlantic There agnin were Nloolo and Antonio XHUO iho a century later made Important I f I I W I beau c I t abut dire f I ben lea Hop feat j i tee not i 11 mater nee the A triton tit I I i f tam 4 1 t r t I t I nib t g r I e I 1 I I Span- S t t i I the ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ voyages in the waters of the western hemls phere their alleged discoveries being sup posed to confirm those of an earlier fourteenth century shipwrecked fisher- man of FrUUnda There was the storm Cortereal tho Polish pilot Szolkny Martin Bohalm and there were Cousin and Place of Dieppe Of greater in- terest If not of greater trustworthiness significance Is the story of Alonzo Banchei de Huslva the pilot who Is said to have died at the house of Columbus leaving In the tatters journal of a voyage that proved service to tho dis- coverer If It Is easy to pass from the neighbor- hood of Sierra Leono to Brazil it is far easier to pasa from northeastern Asia to northwestern by way of tho Aleutian Strait Dr Brittaln concedes that no recorder of North American discovery and exploration- can afford to pass over In silence tho al- leged discovery of the Pacific ooant by Buddhist priestsearly In the fifth century- of the present era The report which one of priesU back a in Chinese histories con- tained allusions to that are Indigen ous to the of the Pacific and In the Nahuan and Mayan clvili there are indications pointing to Buddhistic Influences on the primitive religion and architecture of Mexico anti Central America The first of throe mis- sions seems to have occurred as early D 4M and we are told that It was fol almost holt a century later by a a member of tho College of Priests at Cabul who not only succeeded in reach- ing Alaska by way of Kamchatka but journeyed southward through a country to which he gave the name Fusang Curi- ously enough when Corter Invaded Mexico he learned of an old tradition among the Mexicans of a mysterious visit made money centuries before by a white man a Fair God an Afghan or a Mongol would seem fair to a Tolteo from whom their race learned the of civilization but who as suddenly and Inexplicably as ho had appeared Dr Brittaln deems It possible that Fuaang was Mexico but he Is inclined to concur with thoee who hold that more probably Japan was Intended by the terre The second volume Is concerned with the Indians in North America in Historic Times the history of prehistoric North America being judiciously left for the nineteenth and penultimate volume of tho work In order that the outcome of tho very latest1 official and unofficial researches may be Incorporated The author of the second volume is DrCynu Thomas who has been tOO bad Aero the plat CRt lowe element anti as- A ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ archeologist to the United State Bureau of Ethnology since 1883 Ho Is well known by his writings on mound explorations- and on many other subjects connected with Amerian ethnology and archaeology In the production of the book before ua- he has had the advantage of frequent con- ference with Dr McGee chief of the Department of Anthropology In thn Iioulsl ana Purchase Exposition and prcnldeu of the American Anthropological AfwociU McGee is known to many American as tho author of Geology of Chesapeake Bay tho Pleistocene History- of Northeastern Iowa tho Siouan In- dians Primitive Trephining in Peru and numerous contributions to scientific magazines In twenty chapters and some 490 pages Dr Thomas confining himself strictly to historic discusses the aborigines of the Weal Indies and Central America the tribes of Mexico the of the Eastern Gulf the of the Southern Atlantic by which are meant Maryland the CarolInas and eastern Georgia the Indians of New Jersey Pennsylvania and New York the Indians of New England the Indians of St Lawrence country and of the Ohio Valley the Shawnees and the Mi amis the Indians of tho Old Northwest- the Indians of Alabama Mississippi and western Georgia the Sioux and other tribes- of the plains the tribes of the Far North- west the Shoshones and other Rocky Moun- tain tribes including the Utes tho Com the Apaches and tho Navajos The policy of the United Is also a subject of historical and The book ends with a summary of thn authors conclusions touching the Indians as a race and as a factor In American his toryDr Thomas holds that a classification of the Indian of North America into more than two races to confusion The theory which he likely to bo ultimately and generally ia that of a single ace wherein tribes form a widely divergent group Attention ta di rected to the fact that notwithstanding the homogeneity postulated in classing all American aborigines as one race the ia somatic characters must be as very considerable If the data furnished in Denlkers tables be adopted- we shall find the American aborigines running through all his stature groups from the lowest to the highest while In craniometry they will be found in every group except that of hyperbrachy cephals Vlrchow after studying skulls from different sections of the continent professed to be driven to the conclusion now for the most part rejected that from the viewpoint of anthropological classi- fication there la no such thing as real unity among the aboriginal peoples of RaUel in his History of Man- kind drew from the data before him the deduction that as to the color of tho skin the utmost that could be said was that the extreme dark brown of the negro and the white of the European are nowhere encoun- tered In physiognomy ho found that the distinguishing mark besides the size of the head was the breadth of tho face soused by the strongly and the lowness of head The straight black hair circular section has been very generally looked upon as a distinguishing character Denlker has insisted that there is but a single physical character common to all aboriginal American peoples namely the color of the skin the ground of which avers to be yellow This ho admits appears to conflict with the current opinion that the Americans are a red race yet ho Instate that It I a statement of fact curious fact which to pointed out Dr but which heretofore has not notice ls the prevailing feminine physiognomy of tie males at least among the aboriginal peoples of the northern sections If any one will take the trouble to study carefully a hundred or more good photographs of males of he will observe that twothirds If not a greater proportion exhibit feminine Faces The full significance of tho fact Is not apparent but Dr that it may bear to tho question of the evolution of the race Among students of the American ab orglnes there has boon much dlfferenon of opinion concerning the scout and quality of their natural Intelligence A recent writer Insists that their brain power wss of a high order that the cerebral quality was extremely flee and capable through the processes of timo of attaining a d- relopment M oond to none On the other land It uid to be Mid that there U noth- ing an Indian ran do that a white man can WJ m- ID the Indian Ford cl- ONe ache State lea apt val atoM develop for a the he by Tom Thom j lines cheek- bone An- other pure- blood I ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ not do as well or better Dr Thomas Inclined to think that after rsssonab training of white men In native aooom- pllshments a teAt would In all prove the assertion to be substantially correct Ho deems It an exaggeration to My that the red men u a rule an pos- sessed of dauntleoa courage Inasmuch ad In this respect they are by no movie equal to white mon Seldom can a body of be marched squarely into the like a troop of sol- diers The truth seems to be the mental capacity and mental character of the Indians must be determined by the advance that they have shown themselves capable of while their development was and Independent One fact bear- ing on this subject which has not been sufficiently emphasized Is brought out by Dr Thomas namely that until modified by contact and Intercourse with the whites they were In what appropriately may be termed the childhood state of race That were children In many of their thoughts Is shown In their ceremonies amusements While It la true that In order fully to understand their nature It Is necessary- to consider the American aborigines aa In many children It is at the same time their physical develop- ment and the necessity of seeking a food supply or of providing means of defence against human and animal foes pushed development along certain lines which belong rather to the manhood than to the childhood It is also acknowl- edged that and Mayas had considerable progress along and artistic lines It Is admitted that a high degree of political intelligence was exemplified In the League of the Iroquois On the whole however- all the peoples just named were Indians savages In runny of their customs and childlike In some of their practices- It is undeniable that at the discovery- of the New World by Europeans the close of the fifteenth century tives although possessed of copper to some extent were yet in the Stone Age the art of smelting and working iron and other metals Into useful implements being un known to them The absence too of the larger domestic animals ma- terially the free course of agri- culture Approaching the subject from another sociological viewpoint we should note that the aboriginal tribes of America wore organized on the basis of the unit of organization being gene Theoretically if not universally- In practice the American Indians were Indian whit thy ply rpt etc mae math abut hinder dent Is a likelihood ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ exogamous marriage was the same gene the husband and wife must be of different gentes Even in the Iro- quois League although time political of the confederacy was of a high complicated type yet worked with the smoothness of a modern civilized govern- ment the social organization of the com- ponent peoples was based on the gentile systems with In the female line How did It countries favored- in situation and delicious in climate like California and Chile which are now among the most fertile and flourishing did long before the discovery of the New by Europeans become the seats of civili- zations of their own the light now at our disposal the cannot be answered Lou puzzling Is the Inquiry- To what did such countries aa Mexico Central America and Peru owe the com- paratively advanced civilizations which they attained Even with our present knowledge It seems to bo a reasonable as- sumption that development of the rela- tively high culture reached in Peru Central America and Mexico was due In a large measure to the discovery and cultivation of maize and to agriculture aa the chief means a food supply Agriculture It is argued results in bring ing a population Into a conducive to mental and ad vance in culture The subject is discussed- at length in the History of America by Mr E J Payne who arrives at the fol- lowing conclusion The two bases of ad- vancement in America were the domes- tication of the animals classified as auchenlas vicuna paco limited to the agriculture which was not only common to the three areas of aboriginal conquest but was pursued extensively far outside their limits both In the southern and northern continents- We have seen that the herdsmen of the Andes through the domestication of In- digenous animals became the founders of the great dominion of Peru we find now that cultivators of an Indigenous corn founded the advanced communities of Mexico and Central America For the recent researches of naturalists have proved that maize is Indigenous to the Pacific district intervening between the head of tho California gulf and the Isthmus of very district In which its culti most extensively practised and where local traditions Indicated maize as the primitive food of man Of the two wild American grasses which have been Identified with maize the RucMatna Hiud sepia and the ffueAfaeno luxuriant or Icosvnte of Guatemala the tatter approxi- mates most nearly to the cultivated corn It Is consistent with this fact that the Central American maize at the time of the Dis- covery was reputed to be larger and more productive than the Mexican and that Central America and not Mexico appears- In as the earliest seat of maize It Is well known that by the date of the Discovery the cultivation of maize had spread northward almost to the llmatlo limits of the species except on tie western aide of the Continent Aa It extended It carried with it a tendency to firmly established life hence a to build more substantial to practise certain arts not 3 the hunter status One of the Industries followed the migration of maize Industry which came to be practised over an area of equal extent with that of maize cultivation was tho manufacture pottery- The discovery and the cultivation of maize seem to have constituted one of the important steps unconsciously taken the preparation of the New World for of Europeans Not only la It without this cereal the tribes of southern Mexico and Central America would have roads the advances toward civilization which they were found have achieved at the appearance of the Spaniards on the sea but it Is certain that without maize as a source of food supply morn than one of the European colonies would have been to abandon for a time their would be difficult to an approximately correct opinion of what would be the condition of North America today had maize been unknown therefore that the bearing of this cereal on American history must be consideration whenever that H fully and scientifically treated Until recently Indeed the extant o which the Indian notwithstanding his seemingly obstructive methods bee really tided Europeans in settling the continent seems not to have been appreciated Touch and dent rot Wit relic tent lam And Pam triton a- more abe and an of moat In the coring to for Thom It tae Into organi- zation the ten- dency which Be- holds ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ lug this point Payne has observed Ur closer examination It becomes plam American history cannot be treated as simple expansion of European entorprisi on the soil of the continent Exclusively cause although undoubtedly they the principal motive fort to of events do not to for the direction the lines of American hIstory when It te traced from tho Discovery as a starting Much lots do they explain the rates and degrees of progress in different sections and the singular contrasts of translenc and permanence of weakness and strength which European enterprise has In different parts of have produced the varied which countries of the New pree ant According to Payne these divergent- or contrasted phenomena prove to be con- nected the causes to the Dis- covery originating In the New World Itself On another occasion we shall examine the third and volumes which deal respectively Colonisation of and the Colonisation of the and we shall look forward Interest to subsequent Installments of valuable work M W H Relation ef nnsila and Japan to Man churls and Cores It U on pages 4tOM of his Autrion Affairs E P Dutton A Co that Mr OaorruBrD- IUOB discusses the relation of Coma to Japan on the one hand and to Russia on the other It Is out by 1903 the vanguard of shifted its position Manchuria was left behind and Cores threatened The Invasion of the bank of the Yalu River by parties of lumberers aroused keen apprehen- sions m Japan to whom the status of Cores Is a matter of the gravest concern well known that Japan looks to provide an outlet for her already over flowing population and for the supplies of food which with her own restricted area she is unable to raise at home Ever since 1879 when the fret treaty declaring the Independence and sovereign rights of was signed by the Seoul and the governments Japan has Insisted upon the necessity of Coreas either re- maining Independent or becoming Japanese Her rival U of course Russia whose in- terest in Cores has developed rapidly since the construction of the TransSiberian a apple Imo oUt pit exhibit apt wit for t- eSt wit SECN pint tat Corn I- tt Core Core that the OICE ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ Railway and Its Mnchurian Russian activity in this direction began Indeed as early aa ISM when a plot placing Cores under Russian protection was detected by the Chinese agent at Seoul As a counter move Great Britain occupies Port Hamilton but gave It up on reoelv ing through China an explicit and official pledge on the part of Russia that if the British would evacuate Port Hamilton the St Petersburg Government would occupy Corean territory under any cur cumstances whatever This promise was declared to be still binding In 1804 by Sir Edward Grey representing the Foreign Office In the House of Commons In 1881 Russia concluded a commercial canyon with Core which opened the Corear frontier to Russian traders admitted Russian Imports by this frontier at a lower rate of customs dues than that Impose on soborne Importations and gave the right to have agents in the northern f the peninsula- Six yean the age long of China and Japan for ascendancy In Core led to the outbreak of war between the tw empire a war which left the Japanese supreme hi Coreaialthough they did not ab- solutely annex it The retrocession of th Llaotung peninsula through the pressure exerted by Russia France and Germany- led ultimately to the loss cf all the territorial sad strategic advantages which Japan bad the Asiatic mainland by the war Russia gained and thence forth no course was open to Japan but that of negotiation Russian rival Three treaties have been concluded Th first of these signed at Seoul In IBM con- ceded to Japan the right to maintain small bodies of soldiers for the protection of Jap- anese settlements at Seoul and the open Corean ports and alto for the safeguard- ing of the Japanese telegraph line between Fusan and the Careen capital On the other hand the Russian Government was to be permitted to keep guards not exceeding- the Japanese troops at the same protection of Its legation and consulates It was mutually agreed how- ever that both the Japanese and the Russian detachments should be withdrawn whenever peace and order should have been restored by the Corean Government This agree- ment was followed In the same year by a treaty which assured to Japan the right to administer the telegraph lines then in her possession and gave to Russia an equiva- lent right of establishing a telegraph line from her frontier to Seoul The final ar- rangement between Japan and Russia with reference to Coma was signed at Toklo m lug According to the offloUl French text which ia reproduced In the book before ua the imperial governments of Japan said Russia definitely recognlted the sovereignty- and entire Independence of Cores and mu tually to refrain from any the Internal affairs last named The text goes on that removing every pos of future misunderstanding tho Imperial governments of Japan and Russia mutually covenanted that In case Coma should have recourse to the advice or assis- tance whether of Japan or of Russia be taken with reference to of military Instructors or financial counsellors unless It should have been previously sanctioned by mutual agreement Lastly the treaty conceded that in view of the great development acquired by the commercial and Industrial enterprises of Japan In Cores as well as of the considerable number of Japanese sub 1ecte residing In the country the Russian Imperial Government would not obstruct the further evolution of commercial and Industrial relations between Japan and cores Encouraged by this treaty Japan strove with Increased energy to confirm and ex tend her commercial ascendancy over the Comm peninsula The one completed In the country the SeoulChemulpo line was built by a Japanese company said the SeoulFusan line now In course of Donstruotfon and eventually to be extended- to Wiju on the Yalu River was from the mitset also In Japanese hands Japanese have branches all over the penin- la threefourths of all the ships entering port sell under the Japanese flag Not only U the bulk of It foreign commerce lacted with Japan but Japanese set from 1MM onward flocked to Cores In- fer increasing Considering the her commercial Interests In Cores It Is nt surprising that he future of that country Is regarded by aa of absolutely vital Importance the Island Empire aid the determine ion has been expressed by those subjects the Mikado who echo the feeling of the whets people that the Japanese will fight for not ton Hun let wit nub engage dirt out t- ort n- ome e numb to of branches Russia rivalry rail- way bank its tiers in- deed Japan < ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ to the last man rather surrende Cores hostile Power Mr Diego holds that the Justice of Japan cannot be disputed Corea was her by right of the conquest effected In 1W495 arid the very fact thatshe waive this right gives the more to her claim that the peninsula permitted to pass under Russias control It known Japans preponderant Cores been Great Britain Such a recognition was one of pacific objects of the con- vention signed on Jan 30 103 The article of that treaty states that Interested In a peculiar degree politically- as well as commercially and In Cores To Russia on the other hand there is no doubt that an object of desire The peninsula would round off and give completeness to her Asiatic empire It would protect the see communication between Vladivostok and Port Arthur and Insure the safety of the Manchurian railway against attack from the south In short Cores Is wanted by Russia not as a purveyor of food or u a field for colonization but as a means of strategical precaution and of territorial aggrandizement Mr Drags is convinced that Cores If It passed Into Russian hands would remain and undeveloped for until eastern shall be far more thickly settled than It can be for many years to come Russia will have no popula- tion to spare for Cores and her failure to develop the trade of Manchuria or even of the Amur province li pronounced a sufficient indication of what might be expected should she obtain possession of the peninsula Japan has not felt her Interest In Manchuria was sufficient to justify active resistance to the occupation but her attitude toward encroachment In Corn lisa been of a differ- ent kind The Japanese hove recognized that they must insist upon tho Integrity- of the peninsula being maintained Inviolate and unthreatened While however our author concedes that the Independence of Cores Is a question which concerns Japan first and he yet holds that the geographical position of the peninsula commanding as It does the sea approach to Pekin makes its political status a matter of primary importance not only to Its nearest neighbor but to all the Powers Interested In the future of the Chinese Empire It Is pointed out that the whole- of the Gulf of Pechlll is dominated by the Corean peninsula and that no fleet ap- proaching from the south could hope to tin clam for Is tat In frt CorN empty Run toe rights the ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ pass through the Yellow Sea except the consent of Cores were that In the hands of a strong Power The ar preaches to Pekin from the northeast b- land are equally controllable by a fore posted on the Corean bank of tho Yal River With Corns neutral or friendly Japan could land a force in the peninsula and march It acrosS Manchuria U a on the Manchurian railway where it be possible to hold up a Russian army Its way to Pekin while It were i Russian province Russian com- munication would be safe from interruption from to the Chinese frontier Mr in that this of the Corean question is ono of none of tho Powers should lose sight He also sees that Cores pros pectlve Interests for States as a market for manufactured He asserts that luv foreign trade the eight treaty ports though not at pres- ent largo Is capable of Indefinite expan- sion WB are reminded that it la barely twenty years since the country was first opened to foreign trade As yet its bad Its railways Insignificant any shipping of Its own and its coinage Is Nevertheless with all those intercourse- the average annual value of its foreign traffic during the quinquennium 18971001 exceeded 13700000 It evidently follows that with improved Internal communica- tions the Corean peninsula should offer a good market for English and American manufactures From this of view Mr Drags deems the Japanese settlers much to be desired as tending- to increase the demand for Imports and to develop the resources of the country- On the other hand ho is convinced that the establishment of even a Russian protec- torate would mean the speedy extinction- of all trade possibilities for Great Britain or the States throughout the country- If we judge from precedents the treaty ports would be closed the Russian tariff would be enforced passports would be exacted from all foreign travellers and Cores would be aa difficult of approach commercially as any other portion of the Russian Empire Could Russia support a protracted war carried on at a vast distance from her base of That Is a question which can by those thoroughly conversant with Russias fiscal situation Mr Drags does not reply to the question In so many words but in the sixty pages devoted to Russian finance he affords materials for an answer Without attempt- Ing to follow his exposition in detail we shall state briefly his conclusions There Is no doubt that during the Finance Min- istry of Mr Witto the balance of remained favorable to Russia and during the last year in which he held the office IBOJ the excess of exports over Im ports reached a higher value than had ever before been attained In that year the exports were valued at 783000000 ru- bles and the imports though they were far greeter than they had been previously during the decade ending In the year amounted to only 300000000 rubles The causes of the apparently prosperous con- dition of Russias commerce had been according to Mr Witto three fold First he said we export continually Increasing of certain goods besides cere- li next we are reducing our Importation machinery and apparatus required for metal works and factories and finally our national manufactures now provide our markets with a great many articles consumption which formerly came from The objects which Mr Witto him at the beginning of his Min try had therefore been realIzed to some extent and his policy seems to have been at least in part by Its results however both Russian and foreign see another side of the picture out that while the favorable bal lisa grown larger the poverty if the masses of the population has deepened that greater exports of grain and other have not only but In oven production of food at home It lisa claimed as a merit of Mr Wltten administration that the burden of upon the peasants has been to some ixtent lifted and transferred to tho corn norclal classes This Is true OH regards direct taxation On the other hand with regard to the indirect taxation and to th State monopolies those already Include railways distilleries and tho sale of tea and ugar and to Include the trade In drugs and ohomlcaU our author notes that a proportion of their incidence does all upon the poorest classes and that the with pint on Core MOw apt POe good rad- ar deb pint Unit supple tradE of of brad Jute pint acura meat ar large country U quantities and and lees been tax- ation > ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ difficulty that Is encountered In the eel Joctlon of those direct taxes such as land tax to which the peasants arc still subject is partly at any rate due to Impoverishment caused by the severity of Indirect Mr Drageg researches have convince him that It IB the condition of agriculture In Russia which offers the most serious obstaolenot only to the general prosperity of the country but also to the continuance of Its financial solvency Manufactures have boon founded In Russia with foreign capital and It was with money obtained from foreign loans that Mr Wltte developed his great railway scheme Our author acknowledges that hitherto Russia his acquired an excellent reputation for regularity with which she interest to foreign creditors buthe holds only by maintaining a favorable can she continue to do shows that although as Mr Wltte has said the export of article other than cereals are Increasing the fact remains that the total exportation of Industrial aa distinguished- from agricultural produce U still too small to here any appreciable effect being lost i than oneseventh of the value of the manu- factured goods Imported Fiveseven the of the Russian exports are still made up of agricultural produce and of the other twosevenths Umber and wooden goods and naphtha and Its oils contribute an Important part It la therefore on the agricultural exports and especially on the exports of gram the value of which in 1901 amounted to 844000000 rubles that the favorable balance of Russia trade must depend If at the came time we bear in mind that In Ruwli nearly 78 per cent of the population are agricult- urist and more or less dependent on agricultural produce for their support it will be obvious that In order to main- tain this population In health and efficiency and also to keep up the same rate of ex- ports a very fruitful condition of agri- culture Is Indispensable What however are the facts In Russia the yield per cultivated dcsniatin about 2M acres is lower than In any other European country even the maximum yield in Russia being actually below the average yield of Servia the country next lowest In the scale Bel- gium which stands at the head of the list produces on an average 1285 peed of grain per dtstiatin t peed Is 88 while the Russian average Is ponds Compared with the volume of the population the figures convey an even worse Impression for Russia produces lest grain per head than Is consumed per head In other countries and yet ranks- as the second grain exporting country in the world Germany which itself produces rather more per head of population than Russia does has to Import considerable quantities of grain and does so largely from Russia There Is no doubt that famines have time been of almost continual occur In some part or other of the Russian Empire and Mr Long a student of the subject who is quoted in before us that during the seven years consumption of broad per capita has fallen off about seventy pounds that the conscripts rejected from military service have about 14V per and that of the people In richest provinces of Russia have come to live so miserably that In their numbers has ceased The financial question arises therefore How long oaa the existing export of grain be maintained Nb doubt in attempting to answer the Inquiry possible resources of Siberia must b j taken Unto acoouati but as shows are not at present very promising IB In the peasantry and agriculture of European Russia that the economic strength of the empire must be sought The policy of Mr overlooked this fact large extent a great deal undeniably to encour age the export of agricultural produce by providing railways and steamers and Introducing special low tariffs for its trans- port but one effect of his protectionist policy has been to check the importation of agricultural machinery anti to make any Implements of Iron almost impossible luxuries in the peasants huts thus keep- Ing agriculture always in the primitive stage represented by the wooden plough- As a further result of the high price of all the necessaries of life prices due to Indirect taxation and of the consequent poverty of the peasants the number of cattle and kept by them Is diminishing and are suffering from the want of manure It has been calculated we are told that the Russian peasant pays two and a halt times as much as the German peasant- for Ma cotton and sugar four and a as much for Iron mind six times as much for coal the price being reckoned- in the quantity of grain whloh must be produced a the equivalent In value In a word unless the amount of money obtainable from loan subscribed In Franco should prove Inexhaustible we infer from date presented In the book before us that Russia competence to sustain a protracted contest In the Far East has been greatly overrated the the j the tat baa pond for- Bore tie Arts Inc ont Inc th Mr the Wile hoC has book toe half- times the ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ A Mtttenrt War We read on page 8 of Mrs Abbot Stanleys U The Century Company have some ruling passion says Henry van The glittering observations of are so often overlooked by a careless that Dr Van Dyke ought to be this quotation The ruling passion of Col Trevllian in Mrs Stanleys story was to found an honorable house in the State of his adoption to make the name of Tie vllian In Jackson county aa for been In Albemarle to bequeath to his son and heir an estate com- mensurate wit the position he would in- herit and entitling him U a place among the landed gentry of the new Common- wealth The new commonwealth was Missouri and the story follows the fortunes of tho transplanted Virginian family Jackson county is next to Kansas o the Trevillans who were there before and during the civil war had plenty of stirring experiences Quantrell Is In the story and so Is Jesse Miss Cheever the Massachusetts by Col TrevlUan Is a highly character but we are unable to believe that waffles were a novelty to her or that she called them wof floe Having the courage of her convic- tions she the reading of selected parts of Cabin before a com pany of slaveholders nor ia It surprising- that Col Trevllian and the other school trustees of Grand Prairie good and true Southern gentlemen all should have con- sented to her return to Massachusetts Immediately afterward- We have always had a fondness for cer of the Southern locutions Hed like to said Virginia Trevlllans friend Sally when Virginia profited that the did not belong to Mr Gordon Lay and again- it IH recorded of Col Trrvlllan that bf wanted very much fur hU sun Beverly to grudusUi from tho University of Virginia london Lay is the hero of the tory and Virginia who is the heroine dill Wong to him notwithstanding that he was a Federal soldier and notwithstanding what said Ito Rio I Ore Dye word rpt Jam Import cUe tan she ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ to her friend Sally Virginia and Silly found some difficulty In rebel flags out of scraps of silk not plain sailing with the lags They had great difficulty with their stars which looked more llkr starfish than celestial luminaries lit to adorn the new nations banner They began to that no more States would secede Is shown In the political apportionment of the admirable characters they are set on ono side and the other North and South quite fairly the slaveholdlnc- Trevillans were all agreed that the best con versatlonallat they ever listened to Mr the Kansas Free Seller lady who procured tho read- Ing of Unole Toms Cabin A readable story with plot and alit and moving happenings with color of place and time and relieving and effective humor- to go along Pref sayce on the higher Criticism Ingenious Teutonic theories that have been accepted by scholars as gospel truth are crumbling away fast under the spade and pick of the archeological explorers A I Ilium and In the Forum in Crete In Egypt and In Asia evidence of the truth of the legends by German learning is dally and discredited are coming to honor again How discoveries in Ansyrls In Babylon and in Egypt affect the credibility of the Old Testament narrative Is shown by Prof A H Sayco In Monument Facts and Higher Criticism Fallacies Fleming H Revell a lucid and beautifully written Ho shows how the recent finds confirm and explain the Bible story and how the chief hypotheses of the higher critics have been proved to bn untenable It is a delightfully clear and logical argument that should make even to laymen what is the real meaning- of the latest investigations in Bible land Two Movrli or Provincial bile A realistic study of British middle class society Is presented by Mr John in Thn Philanthropist John Lane Th Bodlcy Head It very good in parts but spoiled by excessive smartness Tho people are nonconformist t and their sanctimoniousness and religious hypocrisy is shown up but they often talk brilliantly and with a lightness ol repartee to true The downfall and gradual moral throughout the paradoxical person who a name to the story tern with epigrams i dis- tinctly deserves bettor treat- ment the author gives her The mechanism of i almost shown on the surface In Mr David nraham Phllllpas The Cost The BobU Merrill Company A somewhat perfunc- tory leads to a account of a political convention Later we have an not so well clone description of a corner In stocks Neither vital Importance to tIm tory itself though it affects fortunes in it It IK possible that man- ners described am Indiana where this author BOPS his hut neither nor the people are particularly in- teresting tAttle Biographies Ore pxutillent quality is common to till volumes of the series of Little published by Mothnen A Co In London and E P Dutton A Co they are real biographies prraenting a definltt of the individual The fitatewmoi overshadowed hy historical In- orthatkm nor the literary criti- Istm The lIttle volumes are of taste in typography in getup In ration editor has been unusually successful In making the to a uniform the life of Alfred Tennyson Mr Arthur Christopher ad marked his Ron tti with his subject restraint n the expression of or criticism md no In H brief he has succeeded in an adequate and satisfactory biography as George talents worn trait that distinguishes him train oil other English statesmen in the strong he Inspired In thin men oune into contact him whMi- eemed to lost OH long as they lived Ills cannot be out of his biography Mr W Alison Phillips in Georg conveys a very iirprewion- if the man Disraeli Is too npar us for a definitive biography so that Mr Walter SichclV UP adventurous career In B teoii will be convenient fora long tlnv come though It ia i rhetorical It Impossible of course not to luring in and equally impossible for the author s view to i ac by all but Mr Sichel ha done hi to moderate and impartial the latest hooks a readable life of Robert Burns he drawn T F Henderson It ift means a compilation but a careful sympathetic The author added a bibliography mi- ng hop Cheer I I ridicule J author tho Comp F Is that or a manager and are hut four picture h miA plan- In the the tory hld runt M to bet no has god was Causlen is degradation described well the tim those Biogra- phies all personal lila trifle was too been liv ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ < Essays by Maeterlinck Sixteen short essays by Maurice Maeter- linck make up The Double Garden Dodd Mend Co All we believe hare ap- peared before In periodicals and news- papers That retain some of In translation U perhaps the surest test of the authors Where he talks of nature as In Field Flow era and Old Fashioned Flowers and the Spring and The Wrath of the Bee la delightful though In these papers where de French sound he loses translation Some of the other like the description of Monte Carlo and the on and uni suffrage are of a more ephemeral kind are little more Journalism The book will not add to Maeterlincks reputation but It will bo read with none the ess Japan- If there Is anything left unwritten about Japan nowadays It is certainly not the fault of the publishers Volume follows on the subject with such rapidity seems there now left to be said about the country or tt M Davidson write a series of Impressions of travel Her chap- ters are readable will serve to the summer reader In search of assimilated Information u fair surface Idea of the country a It Itself the an Intelli- gent Industrious English woman her the aid of a guide hook with a vocabulary of useful for tho volume is Illustrated The Great American Desert In The Mystic MidRegion The Deceit of the South West Putnam Mr Arthur i Burdick has written a highly Interestinr account of that vast stretch of lying between the ranges of mountain which mark the western boundary of th Mississippi Valley and the chain of peak as Coast Range whose western slopes face the within recent years as the Orest American this tract with salt end nitre fields borax plains and endless of shift Miiilc with a depres- sion of over ono hundred feet ePa level IK lull of a that l at one 1 era of the and IU curious plant HI are well described arid latter of the book U devoted to an account of the national work of Initiation and reel mention now desert The volume is well Illustrated V l mOt b IWo 4 the not tmf In Dr Ja Newdof uses versa little people that ha been many Present country S Desert its its sttractiveancl repellent the vast carried cm Ia I he CoIrndu ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ >
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