On the whole, this book can be highly commended for the purpose for which it is intended, that of a college textbook. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO FLOYD N. HOUSE Economic Liberalism. BY JACOB HOLLANDER. Six lectures on the Bennett Foundation, Wesleyan University. New York: The Abingdon Press, 1925. Pp. 197. $1.50. Following Hobhouse, Professor Hollander describes rather than defines liberalism as an attitude of protest against authoritarian rule, whether in religion, politics, social relations, or economic affairs. "Beginning with the negative service of removing the obstructions of tradition and privilege, it has developed as a positive effort to better man's estate by constructive action." The first lecture, on "The Meaning of Economic Liberalism," is virtually an expansion, in terms of economic relations, of the proposition, "It follows that liberalism as a practice conforms to the principle of historical relativity" (p. 14). The next four lectures amplify the general interpretation by showing how the liberalizing tendency has operated in dealing with four outstanding issues: (1) the price level; (2) taxation; (3) trade-unionism; (4) social reform. The closing lecture returns to the broader outlook of the introduction, and discusses "Economic Liberalism and the American Spirit." The book will be an effective tonic for every pessimistically inclined reader. Of course, as Professor Hollander fully realizes, the pervasive fact of relativity makes it certain that the opinion of any one man will rouse the opposition of many. There is nothing extreme or exaggerated in the author's judgments, however. He has presented a case for the beneficent workings of American liberalism, past and present, which it will be difficult to confute. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ALBION W. SMALL The Roman Colonate: Theories of Its Origin. BY ROTH CLAUSING. Introduction by VLADIMIR G. SIMKHOVITCH. New York: Longmans, Green. "University Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law," Vol. CXVII, No. 1, Whole No. 260, 1925. Pp. 333. $3.50. The problem of the origin of the Roman colonate is a puzzle which many historians have tried to work out. Professor Clausing offers another solution. He has made a careful survey of the materials bearing upon the origin of this peculiar institution, including some new inscriptions not previously taken into account. On the basis of this material he discusses previous theories which he rejects as unsatisfactory. He then develops the idea, which he holds in common with Mr. Simkhovitch, that the origin of the colonate was closely connected with factors in the decline of the Roman Empire. More specifically, the thesis is that "the coloni were bound to the soil to enforce the cultivation of the fields, which did not yield a large enough profit to induce cultivation for the sake of individual profit and which would otherwise have been deserted—a disaster of such serious consequences that it threatened the continued existence of the Roman Empire." The treatment of the subject is historical rather than sociological. The author's aim is rather to reconstruct the series of steps in the origin of this unique institution than to search for generalizations regarding human behavior. JAMES ALFRED QUINN UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI The Ao Naga Tribe of Assam. BY WILLIAM CARLSON SMITH. London: Macmillan & Co., 1925. Pp. 224. (In America the book may be secured only from the author, at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.) $5.00. This interesting volume might appropriately bear the subtitle "The Conversion of a Missionary." The author, sent to a mission training school in the Naga Hills of Assam, finds it necessary to learn the language; but, unlike many in a similar position, is not content with the ability merely to join words together. He realizes that words do not carry their real import until one understands the customs, traditions, superstitions, and beliefs of a people; and when he begins this study he quickly finds that he has gained an invaluable approach to the people, and he learns that his interest in them has quickened their interest in him. As he analyzes their culture he finds that many of the old customs, religious and moral ideas, and methods of control are breaking down due to contact with a higher civilization, and that not the least factor in this disintegration is the missionary himself. He frankly admits many mistakes and seeks the remedy. First he finds that it is necessary to know the group, that one must study people as the modern sociologist and anthropologist studies them, without any attempt to force them into an artificial grouping, and then apply the remedy appropriate for that particular classification. He finds that there has been too much negation, too much stress laid on doing away with the old, without giving an adequate outlet for suppressed energies. This leads to many valuable suggestions, drawn partly from his own experience and partly from that of others. The volume is a real contribution to our knowledge of this interesting tribe, and the student of Malayan ethnology will find here much in common with certain tribes in Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines. FAY-COOPER COLE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Country Life in South China: The Sociology of Familism. Vol. I. BY DANIEL HARRISON KULP, II, Phenix Village, Kwantung, China. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1925. Pp. xxx+366. $3.50. In a well-arranged and well-printed volume, Dr. Kulp has made a valuable contribution to the science of sociology. As the title indicates, the work is limited to an intensive study of one community-Phenix Village, South China-as a unit in the social organization of China. It is, however, intended to be the first step in larger studies along the same lines, and with this end in mind the author has given the most careful attention to technique. In fact, it is to a great extent this technique which gives the work its peculiar value. An effort has been made to present statistics in a form which makes them useful to students carrying on similar studies of other communities. For example, in order to facilitate comparisons, the birth-and-death-rate charts are corrected to population per thousand, though Phenix Village numbers only a few hundred. The organic method of analysis is used consistently. Dr. Kulp drew up a series of questions under headings such as economic phenomena, cultural aspects, ethnic phenomena, etc., and with this outline his trained field investigator proceeded. The final result is a well organized, concise piece of work that may well be used as a model in many respects for the muchneeded researches not only in China but in America and elsewhere. Dr. Kulp is himself well acquainted with China and the Chinese. He was for some years a professor in Shanghai College, and has seen and studied village life in China extensively. His assistant also had unusual qualifications, being a member of Phenix Village and at the same time experienced in sociological observation. This study gives one the satisfying feeling that here is a work readable as well as technical; sympathetic as well as scientific. ISABELLA MCLAUGHLIN CHICAGO The Education of Negro Ministers. By W. A. DANIEL. Based upon a survey of theological schools for Negroes in the United States made by Robert L. Kelly and W. A. Daniel, for the Institute of Social and Religious Research. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1925. Pp. 187. $1.50. This survey was undertaken "at the earnest request of every important denominational and interdenominational agency, Negro and white, interested in the development of the Negro ministry!" Dr. Daniel's analysis includes the sociological as well as historical background of the fiftytwo institutions visited (thirty-four founded by Negroes)—the total number offering theological courses in 1923-24. Early efforts in Negro education were directed especially to the training of ministers. The old-school preacher was a unique product of the primary-group situation. A new type of leadership is arising, with increasing secondary contacts in urban areas; but the ministry has suffered a lowering of status, relatively to other professions, in which standards are more clearly defined. "Although the theological departments are improving, they are, and are considered, the tag-ends of the institutions." Of 1,011 students for the ministry, 38 were college graduates. Problems of administrative and educational organization closely parallel those found in a preliminary survey of white theological seminaries. A significant chapter, "The Student Factor," sums up life-histories revealing attitudes, religious conceptions, and questions of personal adjustment growing out of the transition from a home to a school community. Recommendations drafted by Dr. Kelly, and a considerable part of the source material in condensed form, appear in the appendexes. RUTH R. PEARSON CHICAGO The Chartist Movement. By MARK HOVELL. Manchester, England: The Manchester University Press, and New York: Longmans, Green. 2d ed., with corrections, 1925. Pp. xxxvii +326. $2.25. This edition of Mark Hovell's The Chartist Movement, which was first published in 1918, is designated on the publisher's jacket as a "new and cheaper edition." If the first edition was much more expensive than this one, a considerable company of scholars should be grateful for the appearance of this moderately priced one, which is very attractive and handy as to format, although the paper on which it is printed is poor. To sociologists this book is valuable particularly as a convenient, apparently authentic, and reasonably complete body of material which can be used as a "case" for use in connection with researches on the concept, "social movements." The author has presented and interpreted his material in such a way as to render it especially available for such research; possibilities of sociological analysis and comparison abound in every chapter. Sociologists are at present none too well provided with raw material which is as well quarried as this is, and any new contribution is likely to be much appreciated. The book has as Introduction a memoir of the author, who was killed in action in the Great War, written by Professor T. F. Tout, who is also responsible for editing the author's manuscript, completed shortly before his death. FLOYD N. HOUSE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Prometheus or Biology and the Advancement of Man. By H. S. JENNINGS. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1925. Pp. vii+ 86. $1.00. The importance of this little volume is out of all proportion to its size. In it Professor Jennings shows the inadequacy of the genetic conceptions at the basis of the eugenic programs and other schemes of racial improvement. Particularly valuable at this time are his exposition of the relation of heredity and environment and his exposé of the fallacy of generalizing in regard to human heredity and human behavior on the basis of data gained from the study of other organisms. The only points to which the reviewer takes exception are those where Professor Jennings lays himself open to the accusation of being guilty of the very errors that he warns against: the incidental assumption (p. 70) that criminality is a biological phenomenon and (p. 71) that the troubles of humanity are due to the presence of individuals possessing an unfortunate combination of genes. E. B. REUTER UNIVERSITY OF IOWA Workers' Education in England and The United States. BY MARGARET T. HOGDEN. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1925. Pp. xiii+312. $5.00. Probably no more adequate account of educational enterprises intended to serve the wage-working class, including those originated and |