vital At is equally boundless. He finds that Wisconsin has become " a political agency", "the most efficient commonwealth in the Union"; that "scientific thoroughness characterizes its policies as in no other place in America"; that it "has bred a spirit of service that is unique "; that it "has carried democracy farther than any state save Oregon etc. But he attributes these phenomena, not to German traditions, but to the leadership assumed by "La Follette, the Builder," and particularly to La Follette's mandatory state-wide Direct Primary Act, which brought political freedom in its train and produced a psychological change "not in Wisconsin alone, but in the nation as well.” the same time full justice is done to the remarkable rôle which the state university has played. Not the least instructive part of the book are the four chapters which show, not only how education has been brought to the masses and science applied to agriculture, but also how the university has been a center of social thought and of political inspiration. Dr. Howe is a radical thinker. As is natural with one who served under Tom L. Johnson in Cleveland, he believes that public ownership of utilities is essential to the carrying-out of a social program. He also believes that our rigid written constitutions have increased the apathy of the people and thus have tended to perpetuate political abuses. E. M. SAIT. Abstract, Thirteenth Census of the United States. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1912.-643 pp. This volume is the first general publication covering all the branches of inquiry in the census of 1910, population, agriculture, manufactures, and mines and quarries. The chief omission is statistics of occupation, which have not yet been fully tabulated. There will be eleven other bulky volumes, in which details for the smaller geographic units of the country will be presented: four volumes devoted to population, three each to agriculture and to manufactures, and one to mines. and quarries. For one who desires the statistics of his own state, county, or city in detail, it is not convenient to search through the large volumes; and one of the chief merits claimed for the present Abstract is that it attempts to assemble for use in each state and territory, not only all the general results of the census but also the detailed statistics of that particular state or territory. This is accomplished by providing different supplements: a special edition of the Abstract is printed for each of the states and territories, the only difference being in the text of this special supplement. This plan is based on the assumption that the interest of any one person in local details does not usually extend outside of the state of his residence; and it is hoped that a wide distribution of the single volume will save the expense and inconvenience of printing and distributing a large edition of all the detailed reports. In another respect the present Abstract is superior to those of previous censuses. Instead of giving statistical tables only, with a very limited amount of comparative material and without text or diagrams, it presents the explanatory text and general conclusions together with the tables and comparative material as a unit on any topic. This method is an advantage for anyone studying a particular subject. Maps and diagrams, which have usually been printed in a statistical atlas, are here employed to explain the tables and to emphasize the inferences found in the text. This method will increase the utility of the graphic devices. There are no very radical changes in the population census of 1910, as compared with 1900. A question was added to the schedule, calling for mother-tongue statistics of the foreign-born population and of the parents of the native population of foreign or mixed parentage. The full statistics will appear in a special report. The results that are especially significant relate to the natives of five countries: Germany, Austria, Hungary, Russia and Canada; and these are presented in the Abstract. Hitherto, information concerning the origin of the foreignborn and their immediate descendants has been based exclusively on the country of birth. The wide differences in the characteristics of the several nationalities or races which come from a single foreign country, notably from such a country as Austria or Russia, make it desirable to distinguish by mother-tongue as well as by country of birth. The statistics of immigration have been kept for some time on this basis. It is a matter of regret that the occupation statistics could not have been summarized in the Abstract, since this portion of the data regarding population is of wide interest to social workers, legislators, students and business men. It would have been a great convenience to be able to consult the facts regarding occupation in relation to other facts contained in the Abstract and its local supplement. Occupation statistics are to be presented in a separate volume. A new question was added to the 1910 schedule, requiring a statement both of the specific trade or profession and of the industry within which it is pursued. This will elicit information of great value concerning the number employed in different industries. Another new question distinguishes between em ployer, employee and a person working on his own account; and the returns will throw light on the true industrial status of the population. In an article published in the Survey, April 9, 1910, the director of the census declared that special emphasis would be placed on statistics of the family. "The agitation with regard to so-called race suicide makes a statistical study of the family imperative at this time." To furnish a more satisfactory basis for such statistics, the enumerators distinguished between those women married only once and those married two or more times. The number of years of the present marriage was asked for and the number of children born by each woman. It was hoped that information would be obtained concerning the tendencies of different classes of the population to maintain or lower the birth-rate. So far as the Abstract indicates, this hope is still unfulfilled. Only the usual facts as to the number of dwellings and families and the average number of persons per dwelling and per family are presented. "Dwelling" may mean a hut or an apartment house. These statistics are of very limited value. The average size of family, in the meaning given to the term by the census, is not significant for scientific or social purposes. What we wish to learn, from some authoritative source, is the facts concerning the fecundity of the women of various nationalities, of different social conditions, and at specific ages. It is a matter of regret that the Census Bureau has not presented more complete and scientific data concerning the family. It is indeed time for a scientific statistical study. The reviewer has not been able to learn exactly in what form the supplements included in the copies of the Abstract sent to the states containing large cities, such as New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, will be presented. It is, therefore, necessary to postpone criticism on this feature of the plan. The statistics of large city communities are very important, because the problems of the city, social and economic, have a vital relation to the entire country. Accurate and detailed statistical knowledge concerning them is no longer a matter of local concern. The census authorities are entitled to thanks for having contrived to reduce the weight of this book, as compared with that of preceding census volumes-a reform which not only makes the book easier to handle but increases its durability. ROBERT E. CHADDOCK. BOOK NOTES Dr. Delos F. Wilcox comes forward as a frank partisan of the initiative, referendum and recall in a volume entitled Government by All the People (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1912; xi, 324 pp.). He acknowledges, in the preface, his obligations to "the nameless pioneers who have spent their strength and haply lost their lives struggling to roll away the stone from the sepulchre of democracy; to William S. U'Ren and John R. Haynes, annunciators and provers on the other edge of the continent of the resurrection of the body politic; to William J. Bryan, Robert M. LaFollette, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, the great apostles to the gentiles; and last but not least to Joseph G. Cannon, James R. Day, James W. Bailey, William Barnes, jr., and Nicholas Murray Butler, intrepid rearguards of retreating paganism." The issue, he says, has been squarely placed before the country as to whether government is a private industry or a public enterprise; and he therefore believes that a realignment of parties is "presently inevitable." Formidable as is the mass of literature on the subject, the appearance of this new contribution may be justified by its argumentative vigor and by the novel method of presentation. No attempt is made to discuss the specific forms of direct legislation which have been adopted or to measure their efficacy in the light of an experience which is so recent and so incomplete. Wilcox prefers to rest his case upon the abuses which have developed under the old system of checks and balances and upon the theoretical grounds for believing that the new system will correct them. The initiative, referendum and recall are considered separately and then in combination as an instrument of majority rule; and each of the fortyodd chapters is devoted either to pulverizing an objection or to developing a favorable argument. Although this may suggest the banality of a debaters' manual, never, as a matter of fact, is Dr. Wilcox prevented by his seriousness of purpose or his systematic method from writing with liveliness and humor. Nor will "retreating paganism" find it safe to turn upon the new champion without discarding some of the weapons which he has so obviously blunted. Dr. City Government by Commission (New York, D. Appleton and Company, 1911; x, 381 pp.) gives an accurate and unbiased description of the movement which has spread so rapidly through our smaller cities during the last decade. All phases of the subject are considered, even to the point of presenting, in two chapters, the popular arguments for and against commission government. Like other volumes in the National Municipal League Series (noted in volume xxvii of this Quarterly, pages 554, 555), this one includes several papers read before recent conferences of the league. But more than half the book, including the historical chapters and an examination of the results achieved, has been written by the editor, Clinton Rogers Woodruff, whose familiarity with the conditions of municipal government in all parts of the country should give his conclusions unusual weight. To his mind structural simplicity and the ease of fixing responsibility are the most conspicuous merits of commission government; the general satisfaction expressed wherever it has been adopted is prima facie evidence of success; and a superficial review of conditions prevailing under the new system shows, almost invariably, an improvement over those which prevailed before. Nevertheless, as its adoption took place coincidently with the awakening of civic spirit in the United States, care must be taken not to give too much credit to the influence of structural changes. Good citizens make good government, whatever machinery they may use. "City government, in its current operation," says Henry Bruère in his New City Government (New York, D. Appleton and Company, 1912; xxii, 438 pp.), "consists not of a series of momentous questions involving popular liberties, but of humble routine services which demand less of patriotism than they do of good business management." Naturally, holding this position, he has not approached the study of commission government quite in the spirit of Bradford or Woodruff or Hamilton. A single chapter of thirty pages (supplemented with instructive charts) suffices to describe the process by which the Galveston experiment spread, within a decade, to more than two hundred cities and to analyze charter provisions so as to show points of accord and divergence. The book is really occupied with an exposition of the new efficiency standards of city government and with an attempt to measure the success of commission-governed cities by applying these standards as a test. The exact methods of conducting the investigation are indicated. Information was gathered from ten cities, chosen in such a way as to be fairly typical; its character may be gathered from the chapter headings: "Accounting and Reporting Methods," "Purchasing and Storekeeping," "Budget-Making" etc. Under such a penetrating scrutiny some of the extravagant claims that have been made for the new system fare badly indeed. "Commission government, as a plan, |