and other public service corporations. While Dr. Van Hise has said little that is new, his volume co-ordinates the whole subject in a useful manner, and should be in the hands of every person interested in the solution of the trust problem.

In a brief volume entitled Neutralization (Oxford University Press, 1911, pp. 91), Mr. C. F. Wicker analyzes the elements contained in the condition of permanent neutrality, collects the principal instances of neutralization, narrating the salient facts of each, and discusses the effects of neutralization with regard to fortifications, the right of a neutralized state to form alliances, the maintenance of permanent neutrality, the possession of colonies, and the formation of tariff unions. With respect to the Panama Canal, the author holds that its condition is a compromise between neutralization and complete American control. The main proposition of the book, however, is found in the last chapter on "The United States and Neutralization," reprinted from the Atlantic Monthly, in which the author suggests further neutralization as a means towards disarmament. He advocates the neutralization of the Philippines as the best solution of the question as to the proper disposition of the islands, although he admits that such a solution would compel the United States to forego whatever special commercial advantages in the islands she now enjoys. This plan undoubtedly contains some attractive features, but it is to be feared that the author is too sanguine in supposing that the neutralization of the Philippines would insure the permanent peace of the Pacific, and in suggesting neutralization as a panacea for the disturbances of South America.

A more extended discussion of the subject of neutralization is contained in Emmanual Descamp's L'État neutre á titre permanent. Étude de droit international comparé (Paris, 1912, Libraire du Recueil Sirey). The author, whose work on the neutrality of Belgium is already wellknown, gives an historical account of the several cases of neutralization, and discusses the position of permanent neutralization in international law.

In L'Annexion du Congo à la Belgique et le droit international, (Brussels, Van Fleteren, 1911) Dr. Roger Brunet gives an historical account of the movement for annexation, and discusses fully the international aspects of the question. The relations between Belgium and the Congo state before annexation are also discussed.

Social Evolution and Political Theory is the title of a volume containing the eight lectures delivered on the Beer Foundation at Columbia University, in April, 1911, by Leonard T. Hobhouse, Professor of Sociology in the University of London (The Columbia University Press, New York, 1911, pp. 218). For the most part the lectures fall within the domain of sociology, and deal with such subjects as the meaning and evolution of progress, eugenics, social harmony and the social mind, and social morphology. There are several essays, however, of more immediate interest to students of political theory. One of these traces the growth of the state from its beginning as a primitive group. In another, entitled "Social Philosophy and Modern Problems" the author reviews in a very general way the controversy regarding the sphere of the state and the limits of state action. It is generally recognised, he says, that the sphere of public responsibility has been enlarged, and has to be still further enlarged. And, he also adds, the old reluctance to assign new functions to the state is a diminishing quantity as is shown by the numerous recent examples of socialistic legislation in England. In a chapter entitled "The individual and the state" he develops the theory that the ideal society is one of co-operation, and that the best organized society will be that in which the co-operation is most perfect and complete. A pronounced adversary of the laissez faire doctrine, he characterizes as false the antithesis between liberty and restraint and asserts, what is obvious to every thinking man, that the greater the freedom of the strong man, the less the freedom of the weaker.

Sir Roland K. Wilson in a book entitled The Province of the State (London, P. S. King and Son, 1911, pp. xvii, 321) attempts to define the limits of legitimate state action. He conceives the state merely as a "justice enforcing association," and condemns all activities of a socialistic character. He defends the theories of the laissez faire writers like Spencer and the other Victorian radicals, and maintains that their ideas never had a fair trial. The assertion of the socialist writers, on the contrary, that those views were once given a fair trial and found unsatisfactory, he pronounces a veritable myth. The only legitimate state, we are told, is the libertarian state, that is, one reduced to its lowest terms, and the only valid reason for maintaining it is the certainty of continued strife and triumphant injustice, if every man were a judge in his own case. Many of the activities undertaken by modern states should be left to private enterprise. Concerning public educa

tion he remarks, "of all the policies, the most indefensible is that of forcing everybody to pay for, and forcing all children into, schools in which all debatable topics are tabooed" (108). State provision for elementary education he says is bad for morals and liberty, and state provision for secondary education is several degrees worse (103). Education of children is the business of their parents, not of the state. Nevertheless, he admits that it is the business of the state to see that the parental duty is properly discharged, to protect every child against both parental tyranny and parental neglect, and if necessary, to appoint a guardian to watch over him (264).

He condemns state support of religious worship (119), state aid to science and art (122), state appropriations for museums and libraries (127), pensions for authors (128), the granting of titles and honors except to those in the service of the state, liquor prohibition laws (157), state aid to public health (174), compulsory vaccination laws (though he justifies compulsory notification and isolation in the case of contagious disease), public medical assistance (187), medical inspection of school children (190), favors the abolition of the postal monopoly (200), and the separation of church and state in England and Scotland (202), and condemns old age pensions, state poor relief, workingmen's insurance and all the other more or less socialistic undertakings of modern states.

Fifty million pounds annually could be saved by the state on four or five of these items (198). The proper and indispensable work of the state, he adds, is now being carried on under the heavy disadvantage of our ever growing financial drain for extraneous objects, and immense possibilities of further national progress now open to us will be largely missed unless something is done to check the growing superstition in regard to the mere omnipotence of the state (310). On the whole, the case for the laissez faire theorists is well stated but it is far from convincing in this day when universal experience points in the other direction.

Second Chambers in Practice is the title of a small volume containing the papers of the Rainbow Circle of London for the year 1910-1911 (P. S. King and Son, 1911, pp. 164). There are nine essays in all, by various writers, dealing with the upper legislative chambers of the principal American and European States, and the English self-governing colonies. The opinions expressed are, in general, unfavorable to the bicameral system. Second chambers, we are told, are "a late efflores

cence of civilization." Where there is a federation the utility of an upper chamber is admitted, but in a unitary state it is declared to be the reverse of useful, and many colonial states are finding this out. Second chambers are in practice constant sources of friction and delay, and they rarely serve as safeguards, since they tend to become a "reflex" of the lower house. The French Senate is described as a "manufactured article" a lusus naturae and "it is almost impossible to find any theoretical justification of it." The Swiss Council of States, however, has more raison d'être, since Switzerland is a federal state. The German Bundesrath is characterized as the strongest upper chamber in the world, and the United States Senate as an anomaly, and the "worst element in the American Constitution." Its supremacy over the House of Representatives is declared to be "illogical, and injurious." The British House of Lords in its present form, we are told, should be abolished, and reconstructed on the Norwegian principle.1

In the preparation of book notes assistance has been received from Mr. E. M. Borchard and from Professors Jesse S. Reeves, J. W. Garner, and J. M. Mathews.

CURRENT MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS

W. B. MUNRO

The voters of New Orleans at a recent special election adopted by an overwhelming majority the new commission charter which passed the Louisiana legislature at its last session. The vote in favor of adoption was 23,900 to 2,119. The new charter provides for government by a mayor and four commissioners elected at large for a four-year term and makes provision for the use of the initiative and referendum. At the regular November election the voters of the state will be asked to pass upon a constitutional amendment which will render possible the use of the recall with reference to elective city officials. New Orleans, with a population of about 340,000, is now the largest city governed under the commission plan. The next largest is St. Paul, and the third in point of importance is Oakland, Cal.

The system of commission government adopted by St. Paul a few months ago differs somewhat from the New Orleans plan. In St. Paul a mayor, six commissioners, and a city comptroller are elected every two years. The comptroller, however, is not a member of the council. A striking feature of the St. Paul system is that the comptroller prepares the annual budget for submission to the council. A relic of the old municipal system is retained in the provision giving the mayor the veto power over the council's acts. The mayor, however, presides at the council's meetings and is a member of it, thus making the commission a body of seven members, instead of the customary five. An interesting feature of the new charter is the provision enabling five of the seven commissioners to remove any elective or appointive official of city administration.

Among important books on city government published during the last few months, one of the most striking is Henry Bruère's The New City Government. This volume represents the results of a detailed survey made under Mr. Bruère's supervision, of ten American cities which have been operating under the commission type of government. Data from all of these cities appears to have been gathered with considerable care and an endeavor has been made to discover the extent to which the new frame of government has increased the efficiency