members who are really typical of the electors, and are really trusted by them to express their common judgment, ever existed under England's system of representation? Lord Hugh Cecil admits that in its perfection it has neither existed nor is likely to exist. But there was a period from 1832 to 1868 in which, restricted as it was with regard to the wage earning classes, it came somewhere near the ideal.

A greater independence of character among Members of Parliament can only be obtained by giving them a better security of tenure in their constituencies.

I dwell upon the hope that proportional representation might restore a healthy element of patriotic independence to the House of Commons because it is an argument in favour of the plan which is often overlooked. But the mere remedying of the present gross disproportion between the numbers of the representatives of a particular party in the House of Commons and the number of electors who send them there would be by itself a sufficient gain to justify the reform. The abolition of "landslides" would be an enormous benefit and would by itself restore the House of Commons, not indeed to the authority which it held before 1868, but to that modified reputation which it enjoyed in the closing years of Queen Victoria's reign.

Lord Hugh boldly challenges the objection that proportional representation would enlarge constituencies unduly; for enlargement would, he says, do good. True, the system could not well be applied to by elections.

But this, after all, is the familiar objection that because you cannot have perfection you are not to have improvement. It certainly would not secure the objects of proportional representation for a single candidate to be returned at a byelection either by the whole constituency which voted at the General Election or by a particular section created solely for the purpose of returning members to fill casual vacancies. But it is at a General Election that the advantages of proportional representation are really important. It is then that we have the gross misrepresentation of the electorate by landslides; it is then that the members of the dissolved Parliament return their constituencies to seek re-election. By-elections spoil the symmetry of the proportional system, but they do not detract from the great benefits which it promises. And except to the most pedantic of political theorists, the circumstance that a system is not absolutely symmetrical will not outweigh the certain benefit of having the representative body duly proportioned to the electoral body, and the probable benefit of restoring an element of reasonable independence to the deliberations of the House of Commons.

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S to the best method for the re-education of those who have lost their sight in the war, Signor Augusto Romagnoli, in Nuova Antologia (Rome), expresses the view that it is one which steers a middle course between two tendencies equally dangerous and equally hard to avoid, because they are closely connected with strong sentimental prejudices.

The principal difficulty in the education of the blind is that we do not understand them well enough; we are inevitably either too compassionate or too laudatory. This is a main reason for the lack of progress in this branch of instruction, which has not advanced as it should have done, because the sentiment of pity has weakened the necessary confidence in the result, and has produced teachers who were gifted and loving, indeed, but who

graduated incapable pupils. On the other hand, the admiration excited by an educated blind person, an admiration from which even the intelligent members of the blind man's family are unable to escape, is apt to beget an undue sense of self-satisfaction and a lack of the will to persevere.

Those who are unduly optimistic probably do the most harm to the blind, because they create in the latter delusions and vanity. Among these must be included the persons who, following a false analogy, have confused the question of the re-education of the blind with that of the other war cripples, and have therefore been chiefly occupied with their professional adaptation. The propagandists are perhaps blameworthy for this, since in their efforts to have the blind person accepted in daily life and common labor, they

HE questions of a fair wage, a fair day's

duction are on the lips of every business man to-day as well as in the mouth of labor. The conference of fourteen societies of industrial engineers at New York in the middle of December was particularly engrossed in attempting to find a cure for labor unrest, and Mr. J. W. Harrington in the Sun (New York) goes over the ground in a way to arouse interest. The discussion seemed to hinge upon the question of wages, and the solution was said to depend upon a satisfactory adjustment of this factor in industry. Production has fallen off 60 per cent., with an increase in wages of 110 per cent.; resulting in a ratio of 210 per cent. wages to 60 per cent. production, based on the 1914 norm. Stephen de Csesznak makes this comment:

Behind the bare statement of underproduction, however, lie causes intricate and complex in their nature. They are partially the fault of the workmen, and partially due to the present uncertain conditions of world affairs. There is no doubt that the per capita production of workmen during the past year has fallen below normal, but it is a question as to whether the per capita output during working hours has decreased.

Strikes in basic industries affect every allied industry, and weeks of time and production are irretrievably lost. Some manufacturers have artificially boosted prices, rightly or wrongly. But normal programs cannot be planned when sufficient material cannot be had; and unsettlement of costs and labor unrest make it unsafe to purchase raw material heavily even when possible.

When the expected efficiency of a great plant falls from 70 to 80 per cent. to 35 per cent., the condition calls for action. The trouble is, we have been measuring wages by the clock instead of by the extent and quality of the output. Mr. I. A. Berndt contributes these illuminating comments:

Industrial effort has been recognized by engineers of industry as an excellent basis for the payment of wages. The wages for the time spent are considered as a retainer, the real pay being based on production. We were not all created in the same mould. There is no way of using the same method for determining the value of a man. Men are not equal in any sense except as to their civil rights, and it is only through artificial means that any such equality can be maintained.

.

The cost of living is not uniform. A wage cannot be paid sufficient to gratify extravagant desires to men who produce comparatively little. Although there is profiteering, Americans also

have elevated the costs of commodities by their

own acts.

There should be a basic rate covering wages to labor and salaries to management sufficient to meet the cost of living, with additional amounts paid to both in proportion to individual effort expended in securing results.

Mr. A. L. deLeeuw would grade employees from zero to ten on essential qualifications for the job, and multiply such numbers for wage or salary valuation basis. His example of the stenographer (who was perfect in everything but spelling, zero in that qualification, and hence of no value as an employee because 10X10X10X10X0=0) is equally pertinent to shopmen. On the other hand, Mr. deLeeuw says that a large portion of work is a combination of time, physical presence, labor, skill, knowledge, judgment, and other factors which are hard to define, such as reliability, steadiness, enthusiasm, and ambition. Difficult as it would be to make up a formula embodying all these elements, from which a man's value could be calculated, there is no possibility of avoiding differences of opinion between employer and employee as to the value of a man's labor until some such formula is arrived at. Incidentally, going back to the stenographer, it might have been remarked that, while worth zero in that capacity, her high qualifications in other directions might have fitted her for a better paying job in some other capacity. The same is true of the shopman.

Collective bargaining, as sometimes carried out on the one side by threat of strikes and on the other by that of lockouts, holds a very low place in the estimation of these experts. The labor unions, originally fighting organizations, should modify their activities to conform to the times, and conduct their affairs as legitimate businesses. A proposal is made to have employer and labor union pay jointly for the cost of factory improvements to increase production, thereby diverting funds formerly used for destructive strikes to investment for development along constructive lines. When employees realize that the visiting expert is not trying to speed them up, but to make their work more effective, they will meet employers half way, coöperate, and institute a new and better system of wage payment, based on extent and quality of production.

History of the World War.

By Frank H. Simonds. Published for the REVIEW OF REVIEWS Company by Doubleday, Page & Co. Vol. IV. 414 pp. Ill.

The fourth volume of Mr Simonds' "History of the World War" is concerned with the crucial developments of the year 1917-the German retreat to the Hindenburg line, the entry of America into the war, the Russian Revolution and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the French and British offensives and reverses on the Western Front, the Italian defeat, and the aggressive submarine campaign on the part of Germany. Perhaps no other twelve months of the entire war were so crowded with thrilling and significant events on all fronts. Mr. Simonds duly chronicles all these in the perspective that has been gained during the year that has elapsed since the Armistice, but beyond the faithful and accurate historical record, the author's running comment and interpretation are most illuminating and instructive. A fifth volume of the history, covering the last year of fighting, will complete this valuable series.

The Story of the Great War. By Roland G. Usher. Macmillan. 350 pp. Ill.

Professor Usher is far from pretending that an adequate history of the war can be written at this time within the compass of 350 pages, but he represents a large number of participants in the war who are unwilling to wait for the truly scientific historians, so-called to complete their labors. He assumes that we of this generation should be provided with accounts of the war which will at least furnish fairly accurate information, while the more detailed studies of scholars are in course of preparation. The volume is attractively illustrated.

Our Greatest Battle. By Frederick Palmer. Dodd, Mead & Company. 629 pp. Ill.

Colonel Frederick Palmer is one of the very few Americans who can be said to have observed the great Battle of the Meuse-Argonne as a whole. As a member of General Pershing's staff, he had unusual opportunities, and because of his expe

rience as an observer in former wars, every sort of facility was freely afforded him. It is most fortunate that this was so, for probably in no other way could the true story of the greatest battle in which Americans ever fought have been handed down to posterity. We shall always have accounts of the battle from individual regimental and division commanders, but Colonel Palmer was the one man who, as he himself puts it, "had the key to the different compartments." He saw all the divisions in action, and was familiar with the history of every organization that took part in the battle. Next to the commander-in-chief himself Colonel Palmer was in a position to take the most comprehensive view.

America's Race to Victory. By Lt. Col. E Réquin. Frederick A. Stokes. 211 pp. Ill.

Interesting and instructive as an official French estimate of America's war effort. Colonel Réquin came to the United States with Marshal Joffre in the spring of 1917, saw at once the difficulties that confronted our defective organization, and watched our military weakness gradually develop into strength. His collaboration with our General Staff contributed not a little to our ultimate success. General Peyton C. March writes an introduction to the volume.

The American Army in the European Conflict. By Colonel de Chambrun and Captain de Marenches. Macmillan. 436 pp. Ill.

Another account of the American military activities from a French source. The two French officers who were the authors of this work were attached to General Pershing's staff. The French edition of their book has been made required reading in the public schools of France.

My Memoirs. By Grand Admiral von Tirpitz. Dodd, Mead & Company. Vol. I. 377 pp. Vol. II. 428 pp.

The memoirs of the retired German admiral will be read in this country chiefly because of their author's responsibility for the submarine campaign during the war. His com. nt on this and other features of the German naval campaign is to be found in the second volume. The first volume covers that portion of the author's life that preceded the outbreak of the Great War, and contains several chapters on the origin and growth of the German fleet, together with the author's reminiscences of Bismarck and other German statesmen. On pages 202-3 of this REVIEW appears a German estimate of the Admiral as one of the three leading exponents of Prussian militarism.