and Tacitus on the institutions of the Teutonic tribes to the decision of the Supreme Court in the income-tax case. Extensive quotations from historical documents, such as Magna Charta and the other great monuments of English political history, the arguments and decisions in such notable cases as those of John Hampden and the trial of the seven bishops, and the most important judgments of our own courts, the early American constitutions, and, generally, the primary sources out of which constitutional history and law have grown, combined with the author's own explanations and illuminating comments, furnish a valuable compendium for any one who wishes to study the growth of liberty under the protection of constitutions and courts in its historical entirety, or the origin and development of a particular principle. To take but a single example, the principle that the power of imposing taxation resides solely in the representatives of the people, we find our author tracing this doctrine from its faintest beginning to its ultimate triumph by an elaborate study of English history from the introduction of the feudal system under William the Conqueror, through the charter of Henry I, the great charter of King John and its numerous confirmations, the struggles between Parliament and the Stuart kings, the petition of right, the Ship-Money case, the constitutional documents of the commonwealth and the protectorate, to the bill of rights of 1689.

With the respect for the written law which is naturally engendered by such traditions, such study, and such a course of teaching, Mr. Baker is con

servative in his views. Radicals who would advocate eviscerating the constitutions to get rid of their inconvenient limitations will take little aid and comfort from his book. On the other hand, those who believe that all that is worth preserving in American life depends on the maintenance of constitutional and representative government will find much in it to encourage and arm them. Of direct popular legislation, for instance, he has this to say: "The initiative and referendum has not one redeeming feature; it is one of the hysterical movements of the present time. Governors are prohibited from interposing their veto, and it is seriously proposed to provide in addition for the recall of judges and judicial decisions on constitutional questions. Our expectation is that this kind of government will be short lived, that the experiment will be found wanting in merit, that it will prove obnoxious to sane and sound government, and that desuetude will be its grave."

CITIZENSHIP; AN INTRODUCTION TO

SOCIAL ETHICS. By Milton Bennion,
Dean of the School of Education,
University of Utah. Yonkers-on-
Hudson: World Book Company,
1917. Pp. 181.

This book differs from many others of the same general kind in that the author looks at government not as a regimen necessary to restrain the waywardness of man, nor as an aggregate of cunning contrivances, but as the outcome and flower of civilization; and citizenship, not as status or a privilege,

but as the source of numerous duties. Hence the emphasis is laid upon the solidarity of society on the one hand and on the prime requisite of service on the other hand. It is not true that the state exists for the individual, nor that the individual exists for the state, but in some measure each exists for the other and for both; and all institutions are good or bad according as they are "social" or "anti-social." The forms and functions of government, national, state, and municipal, are passed under review, and attention is given to the theories of public economics and administration and the relation of the state to social institutions, labor, the conservation of natural resources, vocational training, the electoral privilege, and international law. But in all cases the outlook is not historical or political, but ethical. The book, in fact, is not meant to take the place of works on "civics" or "government," but to serve as an introduction to them. It is, as the sub-title indicates, an introduction to social ethics. It is from this angle that the author registers his approval of the single tax, national prohibition, and suffrage for womenthree important subjects which are susceptible of a wider discussion than he is able to give them within the limits of a small volume, and which, it may be thought, are proper for the consideration of more mature minds than those of high-school pupils.

Dean Bennion is unquestionably right in thinking that instruction in the elements of political science, as a preparation for intelligent and effective citizenship, should begin at least as early as the third year of the highschool course. His work has merit

and will no doubt serve a useful purpose. But it fails in that point which should be the very beginning of all instruction in these subjects, that is, a textual and historical study of the written constitutions. The institutions of government cannot be understood by merely watching them in action; the pupil must be taught how and why they came to exist. Without minimizing social ethics and the duty of service, equal stress should be laid upon the American citizen's magnificent heritage of rights and liberties; and these must be looked for in the constitutions. The student who may be moved to inquire: "What is a constitution for? How does it differ from any other kind of law? Is it important for me to know anything about it? Does it concern me practically in any way?"-will get no help from the book under review. Half a page is all the author requires in which to say what he thinks necessary in regard to the Constitution of the United States and those of the several States.

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND MAJORITY RULE. A Study in American Political Development. By Edward Elliott, Ph. D. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J., 1916. Pp. 175. $1.25 net.

It is the belief of the author of this interesting work that "the people of the United States have been hindered in the attainment of democracy, or the rule of the majority, by the form of government through which they have been compelled to act. The framers of the Constitution of the United States and of the States sought to pre

vent the immediate and direct rule of the numerical majority upon the theory that all government was by nature evil and that the people might become as tyrannical as any king." The republican form of government has been popular and has been universally accepted as the ideal system, but this fact has prevented us from realizing the true condition. Many attempts, all unsuccessful, have been made to restore the government to the people. Nor is this all. Far from regarding government as a necessary evil, "we are eager to have it undertake a wide field of ac

tivity in behalf of the social well being," but find that "government is neither equipped with the necessary authority nor fashioned for efficiency in performing these new tasks." It is Professor Elliott's task to develop this thesis by an historical and critical study of the development of American political institutions, and then offer suggestions for the solution of the problem of efficient and beneficent government by the people.

In late years "new agencies for the expression of the popular will have been created-some co-ordinate with, some superior to, the old ones. These new institutions of democracy are the commission form of government in municipalities, the initiative, the referendum, and the recall." As to the first-named the author considers it as "a distinct step toward the possibility of real majority rule." As to the others, he rightly observes that "in the initiative and the referendum, violent hands are laid upon the old theory, and ciple that the rule of the majority a new principle is introduced, the prin

should be made easy, not difficult. To this extent the fundamentally illogical theory of a government by the people in which it was extremely difficult for the people to govern has been removed." But these agencies of democracy also he is constrained to dismiss (though with evident regret) as failing to accomplish their intended purpose, and as already passing into the penumbra of at least a partial eclipse.

So that, if the people are really to rule, and the plans for making the will of the majority invariably and promptly effective have all more or less completely broken down, Professor Elliott sees no remedy except in the decided simplification of government, but in this he does find hope. "If democracy means the rule of the majority, and if it be admitted that the present problem is to find a form of government which shall be efficient for the increased burden constantly placed upon it, and easily and quickly responsive to the popular will and truly responsible to the people for its acts, then a simplification either of life or of government is necessary. It is beyond the reach of possibility that life will grow more simple; on the contrary we may anticipate a constantly increasing complexity which will steadily enlarge the field of government action.