in close relation to the Commercial Code are translated in the Appendix; the Custody of Negotiable Instruments Act, 1896, and the Private Limited Companies Act, 1898. Book four of the Commercial Code, which deals exclusively with maritime law, has been omitted from the translation, as it generally is from the commentaries and treatises on the Code. Mr. Wendt has, indeed, already translated into English that portion of the Code. The work is well indexed. It should prove a welcome addition to the English literature on German legal institutions, rendered more necessary from year to year by the constantly increasing intercourse with Germany.

E. M. B.

The Territorial Basis of Government under the State Constitutions. By A. Z. REED. (New York, Longmans, Green & Co., 1911. pp. 250.)

This recent number of the Columbia Studies does not deal with the whole subject of the territorial basis of state government, but with the somewhat more restricted field of the constitutional limitations which rest upon the state legislatures in creating local subdivisions for purposes of local government and of legislative apportionment. The work constitutes a very thorough comparative study of all the state constitutions both in their earlier and present forms, including those of Arizona and New Mexico, upon a matter of prime importance for the determination of the relations between state central and local government. There is no evidence in the work, however, that any sources of information have been used other than the bare texts of the Constitutions, and it is to be regretted that little or no reference is made to actual practice under the constitutional provisions.

The special weaknesses of our state system of political subdivisions, the author points out, are "their complexity and the manner in which they discriminate against urban centers" (page 240). When this discrimination against cities is made in the legislative apportionment for representation in one house but not in the other, a system of checks and balances is created between urban house and rural house which would be disastrous were it not for the fact that the interests of parties prevent the deadlock from taking an extreme form. The power of the legislature in making apportionments and in determining its own composition should, the author thinks, be reduced; and, to

this end, he recommends a change from a centralized state government to a system of broad local charters for both rural and urban territory. Other recommendations made are greater proportionate representation for cities and the abolition of all distinction between the two branches of the legislature, except a longer term for the members of one house. The usefulness of the book is increased by the addition of a bibliographical note containing citations of state constitutions and amendments thereto.

J. M. MATHEWS.

France and the American Revolution. By JAMES BRECK PERKINS. (Houghton, Mifflin. Boston, 1911.)

This posthumous volume was practically completed at the time of Mr. Perkins' death. Such changes as were necessary have been made by his wife who was able to perform this duty of love with due appreciation of her husband's intention and habits of thought. She has consulted, during the process of preparing the volume for the press, eminent authors in the field; and the book is approximately such as Mr. Perkins would have wished it. The author, from his wide knowledge of continental and particularly French history, was eminently prepared to write a sympathetic account of the participation of France in the American Revolution, and this he has effectively done. Past historians have been too prone to take at their face value the suspicions of John Jay and John Adams, commissioners to France at the time of the treaty of peace, and to discount the better informed statements of Benjamin Franklin, whose intimate knowledge of French life and habits of thought and the complications of European diplomacy, should have given to his opinion greater weight than that of his companions. The whole tone of the book is one of hearty commendation for French action during the War. Mr. Perkins gives due appreciation to the character and work of Vergennes, who was more responsible than any one else for the assistance given by his country to the revolting colonies.

The work is largely based, as far as the French events are concerned, upon the printed sources in Doniol's Histoire de la Participation de France, and Durand's New Materials. Besides what was available in these volumes, there is a large mass of unprinted material in the French archives, to which Mr. Perkins makes no reference and which

might in places have changed his opinion. It is also to be regretted that he has not seen occasion to make greater use of footnotes, so that there are times when it is almost impossible to discover the sources upon which the facts narrated are based.. The book, on the whole, is an extremely good one, and will be an antidote for that anti-Gallican sentiment that has been so frequently expressed by our historians, but which fortunately has been slowly dying out.

C. W. ALVORD.

Obscene Literature and Constitutional Law. By THEODORE SCHROEDER. (New York, 1911.)

Our selfishly commercial era rarely witnesses the production of a law-book "not published to sell, but for missionary work among leaders of thought." This is such a book. It is, accordingly, a cause for lament that Mr. Schroeder should have seen fit in it to defend such an indefensible thesis as "uncensored mails and express." He insists that the Federal and State obscenity statutes are not only inexpedient and undesirable, but unconstitutional as well. Few sane, sensible citizens would agree with the first contention, and a still smaller proportion of lawyers or jurists with the latter.

The work exhibits considerable erudition. The grains of wheat, however, are hidden only too frequently amid the bushels of chaff, and the recurrent rhetorical flourishes far more often disgust than convince the reader. The discussion of the various standards of modesty, psychological, anthropological, legal, etc., is excellent. Valuable, also, is the exhaustive table of cases arising out of 'obscenity' and kindred statutes. Even the divers illustrations of official stupidity in administration, despite the obvious bias of the author's manner of exposition, serve a quite useful purpose and are well collected. It is, therefore, the more regrettable that Mr. Schroeder should have wasted his time, his energies and his not inconsiderable talent on a not merely hopeless, but hopelessly mistaken, cause.

I. MAURICE WORMSER.

RECENT GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS OF

POLITICAL INTEREST

BY CARL HOOKSTADT

Library of Congress

UNITED STATES 1

Address of Hon. Nelson W. Aldrich. Chairman of the National Monetary Commission, before the annual convention of the American Bankers' Association, at New Orleans, Nov. 21, 1911. 1911. 30p. 8°. National Monetary Commission. Discussion of the "National Reserve Association."

Alsop Claim, Award pronounced by H. M. King George V as "amiable compositeur" between the United States of America and the Republic of Chile in the matter of London, July 5, 1911. 1911. 32p. 8°. State dept.

Printed also as cd. 5739 of the British Parliamentary papers: v. Nov. 1911 issue of the Review.

American Sugar Refining Co. and others, Report from the Special Committee (House) to investigate the. 1912. 32p. 8°. House. Special Committee to Investigate the American Sugar Refining Co. (H. rpt. 331)

Arbitration treaties and Conventions submitted to and acted upon by the United States Senate, List of. 1912. 7p. 8°. Congress. Senate. (S. doc. 373). Attorney General of the United States, Annual report of for the year 1911. v, 408p. 8°. Dept. of Justice. (H. doc. 117).

A Bureau of Markets. Hearings before the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the House of Representatives (H. R. 19069 and H. R. 19132) to establish in the Dept. of Commerce and Labor, Feb. 6, 1912. 1912. 20p. 8°. House. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

Children's Bureau. Hearing before the Committee on Labor of the House of Representatives, 62d Cong., 1st session, on H. R. 4694, May 12, 1911. 1911. 50p. 8°. House. Committee on Labor.

Children's Bureau. Report from the House Committee on Labor to accompany H. R. 4694. (to establish in the Dept. of Labor a bureau to be known as the Children's Bureau.) 1912. 5p. 8°. House. Committee on Labor. (H. rpt. 235.)

Civil Government in the Philippine Islands. Report from the House Committee on Insular Affairs (to accompany H. R. 17837). 1912. 6p. 8°. House. Committee on Insular Affairs. (H.rpt. 301.)

Civil Government, Philippine Islands. Minority Report from the House Committee on Insular Affairs (to accompany H. R. 17756). 1912. 6p. 8°. House. Committee on Insular Affairs. (H. rpt. 280, pt. 2.)

Congratulating the People of China. Report from the House Committee on For1 All numbered documents refer to 62d Congress unless otherwise specified.

eign Affairs (to accompany H. J. Res. 254). 1912. 7p. 8°. House: Committee on Foreign Affairs. (H. rpt. 368.)

Constitution, Jefferson's Manual and Rules of the House of Representatives of the United States, with a digest of the practice, 62d Congress, 2d session, by Charles R. Crisp. 1912. viii, 648p. 8°. Congress. House. (H. doc. 314.)

Constitution of the United States of America. 1912. 132p. 8°. Contains text of the Constitution with citations to court decisions and index to constitution and amendments thereto.

Court of Claims of the United States, Rules of. Rules of the Supreme Court of the United States relating to appeals from the Court of Claims and appendix (judicial Code). Dec. 4, 1911. 1911. 64p. 8°.

Decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court, in the corporation tax cases and income tax cases (Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co.) with dissenting opinions. 1912. 260p. 8°. Supreme Court. (H. doc. 601.)

The Declaration of Independence, 1776 (with historical note). A literal print. 1911. 11p. 8°. State dept.

A Digest of the Laws and Regulations of the various states relating to the reporting of cases of sickness, by John W. Trask. 1911. 191p. 8°. Treasury dept. Public Health and Marine- Hospital Service. (Public Health Bulletin No. 45, July, 1911.)

Distribution of Admitted Aliens and other residents. Proceedings of the Conference of state immigration, land and labor officials with representatives of the Division of information, Bureau of immigration and naturalization, Department of Commerce and Labor, held in Washington, Nov. 16–17, 1911. 1912. 115p. 8°. Dept. of Commerce and Labor. Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. Division of Information.

Duties Levied on Wood Pulp, Paper, etc., Message from the President of the United States transmitting information relative to. 1912. 7p. 8°. (H. doc. 416.)

Economy and Efficiency in the Government Service, Message of the President of the United States on. 2 v, 1912. 8°. Commission on Economy and Efficiency. (H. doc. 458.)

Appendix to v. 1: Report to the President on the organization of the government of the United States as it existed July 1, 1911, shown by an outline of organization with recommendations regarding its use in the administration of public affairs, submitted by the Commission on Economy and Efficiency.

Election of Isaac Stephenson, Charges relative to. Report from the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections (to accompany S. Res. 136). 1912. 31p. 8°. Senate. Committee on Privileges and Elections. (S. rpt. 349.)

Views of the minority issued as Senate report 349, pt. 2. 20p.

Election of Isaac Stephenson. Report of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, U. S. Senate, together with the hearing held before the subcommittee. 2 v. (Digest index in each vol.) 1912. 8°. Senate. Committee on Privileges and Elections. (S. doc. 312.)

Employers' Liability and Workmen's Compensation Commission, Message of the President of the United States transmitting the report of . . . pursuant to J. Res. No 41. (approved June 25, 1910.) together with the hearings held before the commission. 2 v. 1912. 8°. Employers' Liability and Workmen's Compensation Commission. (S. doc. 338.)