fundamental doctrines of modern economics. Clearness of ideas, a well-known characteristic of the author, makes the book invaluable to the intelligent layman and to the teacher of elementary economics. In this respect it differs notably from most works which attempt a condensation of economic teaching. Brevity is attained by omitting outlying portions of the subject, and rigorously excluding controversial matter. What is left forms a compact but substantial treatise.

Although the author does not parade the original portions of his book, it is not a mere compilation or summary, but the work of one who has his own independent point of view. The usual division of subject matter is abandoned. The book consists of three parts, viz., "General material welfare," or "the unchanging laws of political economy," "Individual welfare under private property," and "The promotion of material welfare by the State." Especially instructive are the portions which treat of capital ("stock of useful material objects"), of "material services" of wealth, of the comparison of incomes, and of the theory of in

terest.

I. F.

How far has the progress of events modified the objections raised in past times to the practice of taking interest? (Oxford University Cobden Prize Essay for 1896). By Percy F. Rowland. Sydney, McCarron, 1897, 29 pp.

This interesting essay is based on the "Capital and Interest" and "Positive Theory of Capital" of Böhm-Bawerk. It passes in review the scriptural, Greek, mediæval and socialistic objections to interest, and answers them by means of Böhm-Bawerk's theory that interest, being an agio on present over future goods, is inevitable so long as mankind prefers immediate to deferred pleasures. Replying to Marx and Rodbertus, who contend that labor is the sole source of value, and that the laborer should be paid the total value of his product with no deduction for interest, the author pertinently asks "Was the laborer to receive in the present the entire present value of his work, or in the future the entire future value of his work? Either of these positions is tenable, but Rodbertus and his followers usually write as if the laborer was to receive in the present the future value of his work."

But while maintaining that interest is inevitable and therefore justifiable, the author is inclined to admit that, prior to modern industrialism, when the borrower was usually very poor and the

lender very rich, there was real ground for the charge of extortion. Even to-day "the 'sixty per center' still exists, and retains his ancient characteristics. Say what we will, the money lender is not an amiable person." Pursuing this sentiment, the author allows it to get the better of his judgment. He is certainly misstating authoritative opinion when he asserts that "Ruskin is no longer thought fantastic for teaching that a man who knowingly deals at a shop where murderous wages are paid is a virtual murderer." It is not shown how a falling off of demand for the wares of a shop-keeper is to have any other effect than to decrease the "murderous wages" or throw the workmen out of employment.

I. F.

BOOKS REceived.

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Annual Literary Index, edited by W. I. FLETCHER and R. R. BOWKER. N. Y., Publisher's Weekly.

BOUGHTON, W. History of Ancient Peoples. N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons.

BOURINOT, J. G. The Story of Canada. (Story of the Nations Series.) N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons.

BROWN, ALICE.

ner's Sons.

Women of Colonial and Revolutionary Times. N. Y., C. Scrib

DAYTON, A. C. The Last Days of Knickerbocker Life in New York. N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons.

FRASER, R. W. British India. (Story of the Nations Series.) N. Y., G. P. Put

nam's Sons.

GIDDINGS, F. H.

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GIBBINS, H. DE B. & Co.

The Theory of Socialization. N. Y., Macmillan & Co.

Municipal Problems. N. Y., Macmillan & Co.

History of Commerce in Europe. London & N. Y., Macmillan

HALE, W. B. The New Obedience: A Plea for Social Submission to Christ. N. Y., Longmans, Green & Co.

HOLM, ADOLF. The History of Greece. Vol. III (translated from the German). London & N. Y., The Macmillan Co.

KEASBEY, L. M. The Nicaragua Canal and the Monroe Doctrine. N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons.

LANG, ANDREW. Pickle the Spy: The Incognito of Prince Charles. London & N. Y., Longmans, Green & Co.

MACY, JESSE. The English Constitution. N. Y., The Macmillan Co.

MAITLAND, F. W. Domesday Book and Beyond. Three Essays in the Early History of England. Boston, Little, Brown & Co.

MAXWELL, SIR H. Robert the Bruce. (Heroes of the Nations Series.) N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons.

MILLER, W. The Balkans. (Story of the Nations Series.) N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons.

MITCHELL, DONALD G. American Lands and Letters. N. Y., C. Scribner's Sons. Official Handbook, Independent Order, Knights of Labor. Tiffin, O., C. R. Martin. PELLEGRINI, PIETRO. I disiderati e i loro diritti. Borgo a Mozzano, N. Vannini. PALGRAVE, R. H. I. Dictionary of Political Economy, vol. II. F-M. London & N. Y., The Macmillan Co.

POULTON, E. B. Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection. N. Y., Macmillan & Co.

Report on Contracts given out by Public Authority to Associations of Workmen. London, Eyre & Spottiswoode.

Report on Public Baths and Public Comfort Stations, by the Mayor's Committee of New York City.

RICHARDSON, O. H. The National Movement in the Reign of Henry III, and its Culmination in the Barons' War. N. Y., Macmillan & Co.

SMYTH, NEWMAN. The Place of Death in Evolution. N. Y., C. Scribner's Sons. Third Annual Report on Changes in Wages and Hours of Labour in the United Kingdom. (Board of Trade, Labour Department.) London, Eyre & Spottiswoode.

The Revolutionary Tendencies of the Age: Their Cause and Their Ultimate Aim. N. Y., G. P. Putnam's Sons.

TSOUNTAS, C, and MANATT, J. I. The Mycenean Age. Boston & N. Y., Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

WATT, W. A. The Theory of Contract in its Social Light. Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark; N. Y., C. Scribner's Sons.

Zeller's Aristotle, translated by B. F. C. Castelloe and J. H. Muirhead.

2 vols.

N. Y., Longmans, Green & Co.

THE

YALE REVIEW.

AUGUST, 1897.

COMMENT.

Causes of Bad Legislation; The Outlook for Currency Reform; The Resignation of President Andrews.

T

'HERE can be no doubt that the session of Congress which has just closed has been a severe disappointment to many thoughtful members of both parties. Not that thoughtful members of either party are in the habit of expecting a great deal from sessions of Congress in general; but in this particular case there were special reasons for predicting a better result than usual. There was a universal feeling as to the need of such action as would put our business interests on a sound basis. This, it was admitted, could only be secured by permanent provision for the safety of the currency, and by tariff legislation moderate enough not to provoke sudden and sweeping change. Our history in the immediate past has been such as to bring these necessities home to business men and statesWe had seen the violent reaction provoked by the McKinley Act of 1890; a reaction no less harmful to the party which was responsible for the law than to the over-protected interests themselves. We had passed through a commercial crisis of the severest kind, whose beginning and whose continuance directly connected themselves with an unusual currency. The real needs of the country were emphasized in the platform of the winning party. That party won, because these emphatic statements in its platform attracted a very large number of votes from the opposing party; and the election was sufficiently close to make public men recognize the fact that the election had been decided by these votes. More than all this, those

men.