The record-union., 1891-07-17
NEW PUBLICATIONS

From the Craig. press, Chicago, we
have the book entitled, "Chicago's Dark
Places" We have read it with interest,
not that it has told US what we did not
already know, but that it has put into
form fit to be read important expositions
OF low social conditions of q great Ameri-
can city that all the people ought TO
know about, i'll the hope that correctives
may 10 some extent be applied for fear
ful evils Every line in the book will fit
any city of large size in the nation
"ChicagO's Dark Places reflect their
counterpars III San Francisco, New
! York, Boston and Philadelphia. Per-
haps the evils III some directions
may be more gross IN Chicago than in
any other city, but we doubt If any phase
of vice is more pronounced there than in
New York or San Francisco. The
book is one that should not
he allowed to lie about where children
could all get hold Of it, since it is written
for adults and there is that in it which
youth viii not fully understand and may
be falsely impressed by. However, it
can do no harm TO any person capable of
appreclatlng its earueStneSS and the high
purpose with which it has been prepared.
No authorship is disclosed by it. We are
told that ii is the result Of investigations
by commissioners, and that it has been
edited by the ''chlef commissioner -
Commissioners of what body we are not
told. But that is not essential since il is
perfectly clear that whoever origi-
! mated and carried ont the idea, was
pure OF purpose and lofty in his aim.
| Evidently 1t cmanates from Christian
| source, for in the chapter on Suggested
| Remedies there are Indications pointing
to religious tervor as the source and
| spring Of the work. Some of the reme-
| dies proposed do not meet our rea-
son or command our approval, but
that they are the suggestions of a sin
cere soul there can be no question what
| ever. The book makes revelations of the
social evil, massage low theaters, dives.
the low saloon, obscene literature, and
! similar evils that are so phrased as to con-
| vince the reader of tie pure -mindedness
! of the writers of the work. 1t also dis
closes the fact that vice is more rapidly
! increasing in populous centers than the
mass Of the people realize, and that its
| tide is now SO swift and strong that the
! law cannot alone stem the current: that il
is necessary that the better clements in
our cities must be aroused to a sense OF
Iduty III this matter of warfare upon vice,
| and that the sooner this is done the
greater the blessing to flow from the
| effort.
Parts /, 2 and of volume Of ''The
/ Papers of the American Historical
! ASSOCIATION" are at hand from G.. p.
I uliletIiA toOllS, NcN 1OIh anu LOnuOn,
The papers are issued quarterly. The
| first and second parts of volume five are
for January and April, and contain the
| Secretary's report; Hon. John Jaws
| paper on THE Demand for Education in
American History; THE Theory OF the
| Village Community by Charles NJ.
Andrews; Karl Follen and the Liberal
Movement" by Kuno Francke; "Bis-
marck as the Typical German" by Viii
liam G.. Taylor; Estate Activities and
Politics." by w. f. Willoughby; Mira
beau's Speech of May 20, $780," by Fred
erick NJ. Fling; Organization of His
torical Material" by w. II. Mace, and
"Origin of American Institutions,n by
Douglas Campbell. Part two is the issue
for July, and the papers it contains are
The Fate of Dietrich Flade," by George
L. Burr; THE Philosophic Aspect OF
History" by William L. Harris; "Briei
| Notes on the Present Condition of His
torical Studies in Canada" by George
Stewart; us History a Science?'' by X.
| ii. Dabney; Canada and the United
States: An Historical Retrospect by
John George Bourinot.