and is an element in the utility of our immediate conduct. It shows that our industrial policy, our political policy, our personal conduct, are right or wrong, moral or immoral, in proportion as they contribute to the ultimate welfare of all. It does not set up a utility standard of right and wrong in the concrete. To do so would be unphilosophical and unscientific, because the influence of individual conduct and collective policy depends very largely upon existing conditions. At one time it may in the very broadest sense be moral, because helpful to human welfare, to engage in war. Yet no one can doubt that the time is fast coming when war will be only immoral because it will do naught but retard human welfare.

Nothing better shows the broadening effect upon the human mind of the industrial development of the last century than the history of the doctrine of utilitarianism in England. It has put a new complexion on moral standards of economic duty and responsibility, political justice and human rights. It has transformed, in fact, the ethical interpretation of human relations.

The present work is a complete and well-nigh invaluable contribution to the literature of ethical philosophy. It supplies what was so greatly needed,-a conservative, impartial, historic representation of utilitarianism.

THE AMERICAN FEDERAL STATE. A Text Book in Civics for High Schools and Academies. By Roscoe Louis Ashley, A. M. The Macmillan Company, New York and London. 599 pages; cloth, gilt top.

This is one of the best books of its kind that has been published in years. Its scope is much wider than its title would indicate. It is admirably adapted for high school and academic students. The style is lucid and direct, everything of importance connected with the civil and political institutions of the country being mentioned in concise, brief and intelligible form. It abounds in marginal notes, which aid the reader by references to other parts of the book and to other books.

It is really a history as well as an explanation of our civil and political institutions. It throws a clear light on all the great questions that have agitated the country from its formation. Besides explaining the actual status of the institutions, like the United States senate, house of representatives, etc., the author briefly gives an account of the discussion of the reasons urged for and against the adoption of the particular forms that prevailed. Not the least attractive feature of the book is its copious, analytical contents, and an elaborate, well-arranged index; also, extensive references to other authors at the opening of each chapter.

While the book is prepared especially for high schools and academic students, it would serve equally well for a handbook for individual reference. Its style and arrangement makes it an excellent book for civil and political historic study by the individual student without instruction or classroom aid.

NEW BOOKS OF INTEREST

Government and the State. By Frederic Wood. Price, $2.50. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

The Loyalists in the American Revolution. By Claude Halstead Van Tyne. Ph.D. Cloth. The Macmillan Company, New York and London.

English Thought in the Eighteenth Century. By Leslie Stephen. 2 vols., 246-469 pages. Price, $8.00. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

The Life of William Ewart Gladstone. By the Rt. Hon. John Morley, M.P., D.C.L., LL.D. Cloth; 3 vols. The Macmillan Company, New York and London.

The Economic Interpretation of History. By Edwin R. A. Seligman, Ph.D., Columbia University. Cloth, 166 pages; price, $1.50. The Macmillan Company, New York and London.

A Short History of Germany. By Ernest F. Henderson, A. B. (Trinity), M. A. (Harvard), Ph.D. (Berlin). 2 vols.; cloth. Price, $4.00. The Macmillan Company, New York and London.

Settlement of the Coal Strike

CURRENT COMMENT

"The coal companies realize that the urgent public need of coal and the apprehension of an inadequate supply for the approaching winter call for an earnest effort to reach a practical conclusion which will result in an increased supply, and the presidents of the companies desire to make effort to that end which does not involve the abandonment of the interests committed to their care and of the men who are working and seeking to work in their mines. This responsibility they must bear and meet as best they can.

"They therefore restate their position: That they are not discriminating against the United Mine Workers, but they insist that the miners' union shall not discriminate against or refuse to work with non-union men; that there shall be no restriction or deterioration in quantity or quality of work, and that, owing to the varying physical conditions of the anthracite mines, each colliery is a problem by itself.

"We suggest a commission to be appointed by the president of the United States (if he is willing to perform that public service), to whom shall be referred all questions at issue between the respective companies and their own employees, whether they belong to a union or not, and the decision of that commission shall be accepted by us.

"It being the understanding that immediately upon the constitution of such commission, in order that idleness and non-production may cease instantly, the miners will return to work and cease all interference with and persecution of any non-union men who are working or shall hereafter work. The findings of this commission shall fix the date. when the same shall be effective, and shall govern the conditions of employment between the respective companies and their employees for a term of at least three years."From statement of the operators to the public, conveyed to President Roosevelt by J. P. Morgan, and published Oct. 14.

"We feel grateful to you, Mr. President, for the pa

triotic efforts which you have made to bring about an honorable settlement of the strike; efforts which you continued, despite the remarkable spirit and conduct which you at first found in the company managers. We were in a position to sympathize with you, inasmuch as we had long been forced to endure arrogance, insult and false witness from the same source. Our gratitude is due to you and to the American people and the press, who have supported you and us in the long struggle which we hope is now about to close. During all these long months in which our motives have been impugned and our characters maliciously assailed we have refrained from saying any word or taking any action which would tend to render reconciliation more difficult; but now it becomes a duty to defend ourselves against the slanders which have been heaped upon us and to proclaim that we have from the first favored practically the method which is now employed to break the deadlock."-From reply of President John Mitchell, of the United Mine Workers, to President Roosevelt's notification of the operators' proposal.

"The real triumph and success of this settlement rests with the American people. Public opinion has conquered The needs of millions have forced action. Where each party possessed legal power which each had the lawful right to push to an extreme, the consciousness of public rights and demands, which are more powerful than the claims of labor or mere corporate and property rights, have forced concession and compromise from men who would have yielded to nothing else. The empty coal scuttle has been a more weighty plea for adjustment than even the president of the United States or the press of the land.”—Philadelphia "Press."

"Thus ends one of the stiffest industrial fights ever waged. It has been marked by mistakes which are pardonable and by many crimes which cannot be excused. As the controversy peacefully passes into the control of the president's commission it is desirable to drop all unnecessary resentments and quietly await the settlement of the

questions at issue, but it is not the part of good citizenship to forget or slur over the systematic lawlessness which prevailed for months in the mining region. . . . No one questions the rectitude of the commission's purposes, and if its wisdom equals its sincerity it may succeed in devising a settlement which those immediately concerned will unite to make permanent. In the meantime it is not indecorous to say that acceptance by the union of full legal responsibilities through incorporation would seem to be an essential condition of future tranquillity."-"New York Tribune."

"No more cruel punishment could be inflicted upon the operators now than to reprint the long list of foolish prophecies and of utterly mistaken statements which have come from their lips during these last five months. Even their demand for more troops as the one thing necessary to end the strike was shown to have been largely mistaken. Had the operators not made their appeal for a commission, and still more troops been sent in, it is altogether likely that the strikers could have held out for months to come, or at least could have kept the output of coal down to the minimum. All this is, of course, quite aside from the just and vital demand of the operators and of all reflective men that the right of a non-union man to work, and to work unharmed, be upheld at all hazards. Allowing for all the strong points on their side, it is none the less true that their whole case has been mismanaged in a way that might easily lead indignant stockholders to demand new men and a new policy in the future management of the coal roads." -New York "Evening Post."

"The right of labor organizations to exist has received a new and national recognition. The remedy for the evils that attend labor unions is to be found, not in the disorganization of labor, but in its more perfect and orderly organization. This appears to us absolutely demonstrated by the contrasting history of the bituminous and the anthracite coal regions. Employers of labor should seek, not to disrupt and disorganize labor unions, but to secure their better organization. By fighting them they increase the