and in harmony expressing the truths and laws, the wisdom and love which are eternal in the absolute Reason in which the universe is grounded and which we call God.

LAND AND LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES.*-This is an attempt to investigate the relations of capital and labor, and to show how the situation of laborers and mechanics may be ameliorated.

The author in the first place gives a very interesting account of the improvements in agricultural machinery and of the large farms, some of them containing thousands of acres, which the improved machinery makes it possible to cultivate. He claims that by the use of machinery the number of laborers is reduced to a small portion of the number which would be employed if machinery was not used, and consequently a large part of farm laborers are thrown out of employment, while by the absorption of land in large masses by single proprietors and by railroad grants of land, the available acreage is much reduced. He does not distinctly state it, but he implies that this vast army of laborers are out of employment.

He next takes up the subject of manufactures and shows in a similar way that a large proportion of the mechanics are thrown out of employment by the introduction of improved machinery. He claims that the country was never so prosperous as during the late civil war, because then every man able to work was employed, and that after the conclusion of the war this large army of men was left without employment. The problem he proposes for solution is how to provide work for these masses.

He argues in the first place that land should only be sold in moderate quantities to actual settlers, and that the lands which have been granted to railroads and are still unsold should be brought under the provisions of the homestead laws, excepting that the price might be fixed at $2.50 per acre. He would also have the government build railroads through all the unoccupied lands, so as to open them up to actual settlers.

Secondly, that the hours of labor of mechanics should be reduced to six hours a day. This would allow manufacturers to employ two sets of hands in each twelve hours. He does not tell us what the compensation should be for a day's work of six hours in length. If the employer is compelled to pay double compensation for every day of twelve hours, either the prices of all com

* Land and Labor in the United States. By Wм. GOODWIN MOODY. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1883.

modities must be largely increased or business must be done at a loss.

The author tells us that foreign commerce is not only no benefit, but a positive loss to the country, and he thinks by his proposals he has provided a home market for all productions.

It is hardly worth while to show the fallacy of these arguments. The book, however, contains much that is interesting and instructive in regard to the improvements in agricultural and mechanical machinery and the large farms in the Western States and California.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.*-Prof. Perry has been long known as a teacher of Political Economy, and his writings have been widely read. He says in his preface that this is the same book that was first published in 1865, but it has been carefully revised, and in large parts rewritten, so that there are probably not three consecutive pages standing just as they stood in the first edition.

While recognizing his obligations to Bastiat, he claims that the book is his own in its scheme and the development of the subject. The most of what is original is the result of absolutely dropping the use of the word "wealth" as a technical term.

The first chapter on the history of the science is an interesting one. Commencing with Aristotle, he traces the history through the Greeks, the Romans, the Middle Ages, to modern times.

The first school of Political Economy he calls the "Agricultural," because it regarded all labor put upon land "productive," and all other labor "unproductive." The second school widened the view and extended the idea of production to labor bestowed on material and tangible commodities. This school he calls the "Commodities" school. The third school which he regards as the school of the future extends the view still farther and holds that all rights and claims and personal services constitute property. The definition given of "value" is the key to the argument of the book. Value he defines to be "the relation of mutual purchase established between two services." Nothing has "value" in Prof. Perry's view until it is exchanged for something else and then its "value" is known. This is true of every thing which is the subject of exchanges, of land, of money, of commodities, of professional services, of stocks and bonds and promissory notes.

*Political Economy. By ARTHUR LATHAM PERRY, LL.D., Orrin Sage Professor of History and Political Economy in Williams College. 18th edition. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

The object of this definition is, of course, to include immaterial rights with material things as subject to the law of exchanges.

His definition is distinguished from that of those who regard the cost of production as entering into the idea of "value." The distinction made between value and utility is very clearly and ably drawn. What many writers call value he calls utility. We will not follow him as he carries this idea of value through the various subjects discussed. So far as we have observed he is consistent with himself, and it is interesting to notice how fearlessly he carries his theory to whatever conclusions. The chapters on labor and capital are especially interesting. The chapter on land is one which has evidently cost him much thought. At considerable length he shows that land is not only a physical thing, but also a commodity made such by human efforts, and its sale, its produce, and its rent come under the laws of value. The chapters on money and on credit are interesting and valuable.

We have been struck with the precision and clearness with which Prof. Perry states and explains his views, and the fullness of illustration with which he enlivens an abstruse and abstract argument.

The chapter on Foreign Trade brings him to the discussion of the Tariff. The principle of absolute freedom in trade seems to follow as a corollary from the previous arguments; there is no need of further argument, and in this chapter his indignation sometimes gets the better of his reason. He explains and illustrates his theories of free trade, not perhaps so fully as he has explained his views on other subjects, but when he takes up in order the objections made by protectionists, he has hardly the patience to answer them by arguments, but uses such language as this: "This wretched system." "The system is as full of deceit as an egg is full of meat. The so-called arguments, by which men seek to support it, are every one of them logically fallacious." "The deviltry of it is revealed." "The damning mischief of the system," etc. The historical chapter on United States Tariffs is very valuable and instructive.

The book closes with the subject of "Taxation," which he says does not belong to the science of Political Economy, and is treated somewhat negligently. The stress of his previously explained theories leads him to the opinion that unimproved land should not be taxed, because it has no "value," and so personal property when it ceases to be productive should not be taxed. In accord55

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ance with his theory he considers an income tax the most equitable and most easily collectible tax that can be laid, and his theories about property lead to the conclusion that it is of no consequence from what source the income is derived, whether from invested funds or wages or annuities. Prof. Perry with his theories of property and value could come to no other consistent conclusion on this subject, but few practical men will agree with him.

WEALTH CREATION.*-This well-known author has written this book in the interest of free trade, and the introduction by Mr. Sterne aims to strengthen and enforce the arguments of the treatise. The more wealth there is the more there will be to be distributed, and thus and thereby the poorer classes will be benefited and brought into a condition of comparative ease. Everything which promotes the creation of wealth should be encouraged; everything which interferes with it or impedes it should be discouraged. Among those things which tend to increase wealth are mentioned the division of labor, free commercial intercourse, improved machinery, facilities of inter-communication, scientific discoveries, education and morality.

The impediments are insecurity of persons and property, superfluity of unproductive consumers, wars, national debts, commercial isolation, protective duties. The arguments are not new but they are put strongly and are placed in new relations.

The leading article in the September MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY is by Gen. John Cochrane, entitled "The Centennial of the Cincinnati," and is illustrated with portraits of several of the founders and all of the President-Generals of the Society since its foundation; the frontispiece of the magazine is an excellent portrait of the present President-General, Hon. Hamilton Fish.

The October number opens with a portrait of Sir Henry Clinton, suggestive of the Private Intelligence furnished that notable, by Americans, at Washington's elbow, in the dark days of the Revolution, and now first given to the public. These records are contributed by Dr. T. A. Emmet, with an Introduction by E. F. De Lancey. Publication office, 30 Lafayette Place, N. Y.

The title of the large full page frontispiece of the September number of the MAGAZINE OF ART is "At the Golden Gate," from the picture of Val Prinsep. "La Manzanilla" is the name of another

* Wealth Creation. By AUGUSTUS MONGREDIEN, with introduction by Simon Sterne. Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., New York, London and Paris.

full page engraving from the picture of Emilio Sala. The contents of the number are "Dorchester House," with six engravings by Eustace Balfour; a sketch of the life of Val Prinsep, painter and dramatist, with a portrait and three engravings; "Craven and the Dales," by R. St. J. Tyrwhitt, and seven engravings; "News from the War," from the picture of Carl Hoff's, and full page engraving; "A Bristol Figure," by Cosmo Monkhouse, with one engraving; "Exhibition Popularity," by J. Arthur Blaikie; "Later Gothic Glass in England," by Lewis F. Day, with four engravings; "A Painter's Friendship," by Julia Cartwright; "Current Art," with six engravings from recent pictures by living artists; "Raphael at Urbino," by Mary Robinson, with two engravings; "Irish Lace;" "The Ferry on the Fiord," by A. Askevald; "The Chronicle of Art;" "American Art Notes." The MAGAZINE OF ART presents every month engraved copies of the best of the recent works of art in Europe at a price which is unprecedentedly low. Published by Cassell & Co., 739 and 741 Broadway, New York. Yearly subscription, $3.50; single number 35 cents.

THE ART AMATEUR for September contains forty rosette designs for wood carving by Benn Pitman of Cincinnati, a profusion of monograms and jewelry designs, several flower and figure designs for china painting, and two handsome designs for South Kensington embroidery. Fourteen notable pictures in the Munich and Amsterdam exhibitions are illustrated, and some striking illustrations accompany a long and valuable account of the “Processes of Sculpture." An article on "Firing," by Miss Louise McLaughlin, should be read by every amateur china painter. There are also articles on "French Picture Counterfeiters," "Errors and Anachronisms in Art," "Painted Woodwork," "Haunts of Collectors," "Antique Ivory Carvings," and a great variety of other topics.

The designs in the October number include three for china painters (primroses for a vase, harebells for a plate, and poppies for plaque), three for embroidery-a letter case, a photograph frame and a bellows; a charming hawthorn panel for wood-carving, a dozen pleasing figures for sketching on linen, and a multiplicity of monograms and jewelry designs. There are articles on etching, drawing in red, and other art topics, with some good examples of crayon work; the Munich and Boston art exhibitions are reviewed and illustrated; there are some excellent pictures of Boule work,