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him who does not read the book, for the adjective is so often misused by the careless that at first sight it suggests the silly, impracticable, impossible, almost anything rather than a land where life is love and light, as the members of the Utopian Club, the writers of the papers, strive to make their England. The club lives in Chelsea, the Chelsea of Thomas Carlyle and Sir Thomas More, and among its members are the Headmaster of Harrow and Dr. Patrick Geddes, both of whom are represented in the volume. The "Papers" were written to be read before the club with intent to clarify and broaden the view of the hearers and writers, and to aid in their endeavors to make the world brighter and better. Their plan includes study, innocent and refined amusement, and ministry to others. "Chelsea Past and Present"; "Utopias Past and Present"; "Utopian Imagination and Social Progress"; "St. Columba"; and "Comte's View of the Future of Socialism" are some of the titles. Miss Hollins prefaces the papers with some blank verse entitled "Thomas More Redivivus," and accompanied by portraits of Sir Thomas and of Mr. W. B. Kingsford who strikingly resembles the unlucky minister of Henry Eighth. Members of Neighborhood Improvement clubs, Social Settlements and similar enterprises will find many useful thoughts and suggestions in some of the essays, and will perceive that their English brethren think no thought or feeling too fine or good to be used in the service of their fellow man. Masters & Co. Limited, London.

Mr. Logan G. McPherson has now followed his "The Working of the Railroads" by "Railroad Freight Rates in Relation to the Industry and Commerce of the United States," a composite subject including every factor entering into the railway question. from the in

itial producer to the final consumer, from the least important citizen to the Chief Executive. Mr. McPherson is Johns Hopkins lecturer on Transportation and has had experience in railway service; he has travelled through the United States seeking information from shippers, from the representatives of commercial organizations, and railway officials in charge of traffic, and thus he has learned as much of the history of the development of freight rate structures, as can now be obtained, as the records of the discussions by which that development was attained have disappeared, along with the correspondence on the same subject, and therefore this book is the last word on some parts of its topic. On other parts, the last word seems likely to be preceded by many, and the better the history of the matter is understood, the fewer they will be. The chapters on the preparation and distribution of foodstuffs, and on the distribution of raw material and merchandise, if widely read, will serve to dispel the general bewilderment with which both the small producer and the small consumer contemplate the manner in which their fate is determined both by railways and legislators, but the work will be chiefly valued by young men intending to play a part in the large affairs of trade, and old men who find the world outspreading their ability to keep pace with its complex changes. As a manual of reference it is necessary to all law makers and economists. Henry Holt & Co.

The trials of the horticulturist who seeks to extract definite information from the mountain of garden books are many, and the sole reason why they are not tragic is that they are voluntary. inasmuch as serious works on botany are neither scarce nor dear. Their number is now increased by Dr. George Lincoln Walton's "Practical

Guide to Wild Flowers and Fruits." In this work plants with yellow, white, green, red, pink and rose-colored, lavender to purple, blue, brownish and variegated flowers are so charted that each may be traced by obvious characteristics to a small group, and this is done for some four hundred species, and for about one hundred sorts of fruit, at least as many as a fairly eager observer may expect to encounter in his rambles. Eighty-six carefully drawn illustrations in line, and two colored plates so presented as to be very useful to the observer desirous of sketching or painting flowers accompany the text, which, being limited to the simplest definition occupies so little space that the book has but little over 200 pages, and is easily portable. The frontispiece is a portrait of Dioscorides from Theuet's "Hommes Illustres," published in Paris in 1584, and described, in the legend, as the picture of "the successor of Hippocrates, prince of physicians, an excellent botanist, a distinguished personage and the intimate and familiar friend of Mark Antony and Cleopatra his wife." wife," be it observed, set down as a matter of course three centuries and a quarter before Signore Ferrero explained the serpent of old Nile! The picture. a fine bit of wood engraving, adds to the value of the book, but was not needed to make it superior to the great mass of its kind. J. B. Lippincott Co.

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much as she does not neglect dates, writes clearly and attractively and so arranges her matter as to provide the dullest and least systematic reader with an outline conveniently arranged to be invested with whatsoever knowledge of the peninsula he may have or may acquire. In the brief introduction, she notes the curious homogeneity of the Spanish race and the likeness between Spanish art and that of Siam, Central America and certain islands of Oceanica and parts of Southern India, thus opening a pleasant field of conjecture for the amateur of two or three of the sciences in which everybody dabbles to-day, to the huge delight of those really well read in their mysteries. The purely historical work begins with four chapters successively devoted to the invasions of the Romans, the Visigoths, the Arabs and Moors, and to the Moslem occupation. Five more cover the history of the kingdom to the present moment, and complete the outline. The five great cities, Toledo, Cordova, Seville, Granada and Madrid, occupy eight chapters and in four more, Santiago, Leon, Burgos, Valladolid, Saragossa, Aragon, Barcelona and Valencia are described in turn, the history of each so mingled with the enumeration of its present beauties and the sites of its past glories that the history is unconsciously reviewed. It will be seen that this is an instructive work although it is as remote from the entity suggested by the phrase as the work of Motley from that of Robertson. The illustrations are admirably chosen, including ten of the wonderful series of royal portraits painted by Titian, Moro, Velazquez and Goya, the inevitable Alhambra views and some fifty architectural views. This species of book has grown common since Miss Perkins first essayed it, but none has accomplished it any better than she has performed it in this work. Henry Holt & Co.

SEVENTH SERIES
VOLUME XLIV.

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No. 3393 July 17, 1909.

CONTENTS

FROM BEGINNING
VOL. CCLXII.

The Balance of Naval Power and the Triple Alliance. By Archi-
bald S. Hurd
NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER 131
Leaves from the Diary of a Tramp. By J. A. H. .

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Saleh: A Sequel. Chapters XIX and XX. By Hugh Clifford.

(To be continued.) Swinburne Letters.

An Experience. By Gertrude Bone.

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CORNHILL MAGAZINE 143

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE

ENGLISH REVIEW

149 TIMES 154 165

The Lord of the Pigeons. By Howard Ashton. (To be continued.)
Chapters I, II and III. PALL MALL MAGAZINE 170
BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE

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176 PUNCH 186

With My Salamanders.
"Words, Words, Words." By Owen Seaman .
Sensational Journalism. By Edward H. Cooper SATURDAY REVIEW 187

A PAGE OF VERSE

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By Rosamund Marriott Watson
PALL MALL MAGAZINE

130

XI.

XII.

Lines on a Bullfinch, Freed. By Pamela Tennant . SPECTATOR 130
Starlight on the Hill. By W. K. Fleming

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FOR SIX DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, THE LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage, to any part of the United States. To Canada the postage is 50 cents per annum.

Remittances should be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office or express money order if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks, express and money orders should be made payable to the order of THE LIVING AGE Co.

Single Copies of THE LIVING AGE, 15 cents.

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THE BALANCE OF NAVAL POWER AND THE
TRIPLE ALLIANCE.

In the last few weeks there has been a remarkable development of the naval situation in Europe. We have become familiar with the rapid progress of the German Fleet. Now AustriaHungary, hitherto possessing a fleet of insignificant proportions, has prepared a programme of naval expansion, and Italy, the least prominent and possibly the least enamored of the signatories to the Triple Alliance, has decided to follow the Austrian lead. The Triple Alliance has had the breath of life breathed into it. Hitherto even at its period of greatest strength, it has been a combination of military strength; in future, if opportunity occurs it will manoeuvre great fleets with a common purpose. If the new naval ambitions are realized, the balance of naval power in Europe will be seriously disturbed, and not to our advantage. The facts and fears of the moment merit the closest examination in order that the British people may understand the present standing of the British Fleet, and the responsibilities which the new factors in the situation may cast upon them.

Naval warfare is a matter of foresight, intelligence, organization, and, lastly, money. Six months ago the Prime Minister stated that the Government accepted the Two-Power Standard and interpreted it as meaning a preponderance of 10 per cent. over the combined strength in capital ships of the next two strongest Powers. This was a pledge-definite as a pledge can be--as to the provision of one type of ship, but as to what that type is no two authorities are agreed. But the main point is that this formula is based purely on things seen— on ships-and these alone do not constitute naval power. Ability to go in

and win a naval war does not mainly depend on the possession of war matériel in proportions corresponding to such a formula. This method of comparison did well enough ten or twenty years ago, and is a rough and ready--very rough and ready-rule for to-day. Times have changed, and it is essential to look deeper into the problem. The principles upon which Germany fought and won the war of 1870 are now being interpreted in naval terms, and Austria-Hungary is about to assist in this task. This is the dominating factor in the naval situation. Naval strength is not simply a matter of mathematical calculation: it is a question of organization, of the application of the old proverb-si vis pacem, para bellum.

A cursory study of the history of the modern British Fleet shows that it has been created as a result of a series of panics, wasteful, undignified, and illogical, but apparently as essential to the maintenance of our naval supremacy as the explosions of a gas engine for supplying power. These agitations have always been concerned with ships, and especially battleships. The cry is always for battleships and yet more battleships. For instance, during the past few weeks the nation has had Dreadnoughts on the brain. It has suddenly realized that Germany is building a large number of vessels of this type, and that if we are to hold our own in this respect large sums of money must be devoted in the course of the next ten years to what has been described as the rebuilding of the British Fleet. It might be imagined that this is an entirely new experience. The fact is that the British Fleet has been in process of rebuilding over and over again ever since iron replaced

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