as an effective instrument of day-to-day control over the expert in the public service is reliance upon a bent reed." Perhaps the truth of the matter is that, almost of necessity, most of those who write on the subject of municipal administration write with nothing like a complete knowledge of facts that are so difficult to obtain. Many lay boards, for example, have been utterly destructive of expert service; others have been very effective instruments of day-by-day control. On the whole, however, this volume of essays is well worth the attention of students and general readers. It is somewhat informing, nearly always interesting and occasionally even illuminating. Any one who has attempted historical work can realize the problem that must have confronted Mr. James Melvin Lee when he came to marshal the material for his History of American Journalism (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1917; x, 462 pp.). He had to choose between a presentation of it according to topic and a chronological treatment. He chose the second alternative and divided the history into nineteen periods, beginning with the precursors of American newspapers and ending with the journalism of today. The obvious disadvantage of his plan is that it gives his book an appearance of scrappiness and in some of the chapters involves for the reader quick jumping from one aspect of the history of journalism to another. Moreover, it gives the book, in some places, the appearance of an anecdotal history of journalism. Nevertheless, the material is arranged in excellent order; and somewhere within these 462 pages can be found a treatment of almost every aspect of American journalism from the days of pioneer newspapers to the advent of headlines in twenty-fourem wood type and the coming of the sob-sisters' school of American reporters. Mr. Lee's book is the first attempt at a sustained and scholarly history of American journalism. It is comparable with, and in some respects superior to, Fox Bourne's English Newspapers, which was published in 1887. It is so comprehensive and many-sided that it meets the needs at once of printers and journalists who are interested in the history of their craft and of students of political history and political science who are interested in the part that newspapers have played as organs of political parties or of leaders of political parties, or in the relations of newspapers with the government. A volume entitled Russian Realities and Problems (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1917; vi, 229 pp.) by Paul Milyoukov, Peter Struve, A. Lappo-Danilevsky, Roman Dmourki and Harold Williams, contains six essays on various phases of Russian and Polish history, originally delivered as lectures before the Summer Meeting of Cambridge University in 1916. The first two essays deal respectively with the diplomatic aspects of the war and the development of the representative system in Russia. The last essay on "The Development of Science and Learning in Russia" by A. S. Lappo-Danilevsky is the most scholarly. The writer traces the struggle between extraneous and internal influences in the evolution of Russian thought and analyzes its growth from the early religious to the later secular phases. The volume is, on the whole, well edited, although a few typographical errors have been noted. It contains a careful and conservative estimate of the more evident aspects of Russian development before the war. But for the underground forces which the writers of these essays were unable publicly to discuss and which have changed the whole aspect of things in Russia, one must go elsewhere. Finances of the Federal District of Mexico (Mexico, Comision de Reorganizacion Administrativa y Financiera, 1918; 71 pp.) is a report rendered by Dr. Arthur N. Young to the Commission of Administrative and Financial Reorganization of the United Mexican States, which conducted an elaborate work of fiscal investigation in 1917 and 1918. It describes and criticizes the existing methods of raising revenue and offers a variety of suggestions for reform along financial and political lines. As an illustration of the way in which the present Mexican government is endeavoring to establish its finances on a scientific basis, the study affords encouragement to all who believe that real progress is being made in Mexico toward repairing the ravages caused by years of civil warfare. L'Allemagne et l'Amérique latine (Paris, Librairie Félix Alcan, 1918; xxi, 323 pp.) by Emile R. Wagner is a volume in the Bibliothèque France-Amérique issued under the auspices of the Comité France-Amérique. It contains the recollections of a journey made by a French naturalist nearly twenty years ago in two states of southern Brazil. The object of its publication is to reveal the imperialistic designs of Germany in southern South America at the time. These the author deduces from his own observations and from conversations with Germans whom he happened to meet. From them in turn he concludes that the ultimate causes of the Great War are traceable to German ambitions in America. POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY EDITED FOR THE ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE The Expansion of Europe III. WILLIAM R. SHEPHERD 392 How Women Vote. WILLIAM F. OGBURN AND INEZ GOLTRA 413 Price Fixing in the United States during the War III LEWIS H. HANEY 434 Initiative and Referendum in Massachusetts. GEORGE H. HAYNES 454 Reviews: Anderson's The Value of Money (493)-Gompers' American Labor and the War (499) Angell's The British Revolution and American Democracy, Friedman's Labor and Reconstruction in Europe and Lippincott's Problems of Reconstruction (501)-Marshall's Readings in Industrial Society (503) Dunn's Regulation of Railways (505)-Cooley's Social Process (508)-Fitzpatrick's Budget Making in a Democracy (510)-Clemenceau's France Facing Germany (512) "Polybius'" Greece before the Conference (516)-Seton-Watson's The Rise of Nationality in the Balkans (518) ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK GINN & COMPANY, 70 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK Entered at the Post-Office, Lancaster, Pa., as Second-Class Mail Matter. Copyright 1919, by the Editors of the Political Science Quarterly. THE POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY The Quarterly is published by the Academy and edited by the Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University. It is devoted to the historical, statistical and comparative study of politics, economics and public law. Its list of contributors includes university and college teachers, politicians, lawyers, journalists and business men in all parts of the United States and European professors and publicists. It follows the most important movements of foreign politics but gives chief attention to questions of present interest in the United States. On such questions its attitude is nonpartisan. Every article is signed; and every article, including those of the editors, expresses simply the personal view of the writer. Each issue contains careful book reviews by specialists, and in March, June and December large numbers of recent publications are characterized in brief book notes. A valuable record of political events throughout the world is printed as a supplement to the September issue. Communications in reference to articles, book reviews and exchanges should be addressed: Managing Editor, Political Science Quarterly, Columbia University, New York City. Intending contributors are requested to retain copies of articles submitted, as the editors disclaim responsibility for the safety of manuscripts. If accompanied by stamps, articles not found available will be returned. The Quarterly is sent, together with the Proceedings, as part of the membership privileges, to all members and subscribing members (libraries, institutions etc.), who pay five dollars annual dues. Single numbers, not including supplement, one dollar. Supplement containing Record of Political Events, one dollar. Back numbers and bound volumes can be obtained at prices quoted upon request. All business communications should be addressed to THE ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Kent Hall, Columbia University, N. Y. POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY O THE REVENUE ACT OF 1918 N May 27, 1918, the day the first news of the renewed son suddenly appeared before Congress to urge the enactment of a new revenue law. By this action he put an end to the controversy which had arisen between Congress and the Treasury regarding the deficiencies of the War Revenue Act of 1917 and the necessity for additional revenues. Bowing to his dictum with regard to the urgency of the situation,' the Committee on Ways and Means resigned itself to the prospect of spending a Washington summer in the conference room and addressed itself without delay to the task of framing a tax bill which would produce the enormous total of $8,000,000,000. Hearings were inaugurated June 6, but it was not until September 3 that the committee found itself able to introduce the first draft of the Revenue Act of 1918 into the House of Representatives. After a debate of the most perfunctory character the House passed the bill on September 20. 1 Mr. Kitchen, the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, at first declined to consider the situation urgent and attributed the agitation for a new revenue law to the evil machinations of the publishers who desired a repeal of the postal zone laws. The publishers, he charged, had been able to bring pressure to bear upon the advisors of the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. McAdoo's indignant denial needs no further support but it may be well in the interests of historical accuracy to record here that, so far as the original initiation of the movement for a new law is concerned, the postal rates had no influence whatsoever. A number of factors, of course, entered into the situation, no one of which, perhaps, was of so great weight as the reluctance of the Treasury to attempt to collect the excess-profits tax another year without legislative sanction for some of the courageous administrative rulings which had been necessary in order to make the bungling law workable at all. |