Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-06
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE NEW PACIFIC by Hubert Howe Bancroft.
New York: The Bancroft Company.

free ready swing Of an assured student
Mr. Bancroft has made formal study of
the Pacific areas. His previous works. re-
Iating To the history of the western states,
revealed his power to grasp large groups
of facts and to form deductions TO the
future from them in the present work he
has approached a subject of the most vital
consequence. which affords fun play for
lis capacity to understand the western
spirit and to measure The western oppor-
tunty. N2turaIiy. the book begins with
an account Oh tnc with SPAN, wnlch
caused the worla To marvel. ooth because
of its Immediate events and because OF its
results The nited States had become
power of the nEst magnitude Its horizon
had eXplnutd Ueyvna Cd4Cui&tlUn- IL had
been brought tacc to Iace WEN chances ana
duties winch Al Lad heretofore neglected
or had accepted IEtiIiferentiy. Tnc year
ninety-ciShJ, therefore says Mr. bancroft,
witnessed tne discovery oil new America
and the cNp4ui at.Un Oi new Pdclhc.
The story u tnc ~dr - perhaps little
prolonged. IL forms part Of the account
of this awaAenng 10 be sure, yet 1t might
readily be comp t~s>ed IN volume, especial
ly as the doom IS an Itself OF somewhat
formidable proportions. After narFaung
the various C4Icums tanCes which brought
the United States INTO diIect contact with
its new responsibilities, MIR. Bancroft pre-
sents. in separate chapters, the arguments
of the anti-eApansioniats and OF the expan-
SioniSts. giving SreateI space To the latter
and appearing to accord TO them the
greater weight in his own mind. He leaves
his reader. however free to choose for him
self. Then he proceeds to point to oppJr-
tunities for material advancement which
are perhaps most keenly appreciated in the
Light of the expanSiOnist chapter.
The chapters devoted to description of
the Pacific and the countries which border
that great sea are filled with valuable in
formation and inspiring confidence. The
author looks to Asia for great World-stir-
ring changes. He analyses the eastern
character. discusses European motives in
the enterprises of the powers in China.
compares American and Asiatic resources,
and reaches the conclusion that this coun-
try is destined by nature to become the
purveyor-perh aps nnore-of the great
world west of our shores.
Mr.. Bancroft ~ not SO dazzled by his sur
Vey of the riches of the far east that he
cannot realize those of America Indeed. his
measurement of the resources of Pacific
states is eXuberant and might be deemed
extravagant We're it not justified by sta
tistics and experience. Yet it must not be
considered thai the work is merely col
lection of figures and tables. The author
sketches the resources and wealth of the
countries bordering upon the Pacific with
a light yet steady touch. He infuses ro-
nance into his descriptions With charac-
teriStic devotion to the traditions of the
scene of his researches he closes his book
with chapters on Notable Voyages into
the Pacific, "Cruspe Island" Leaves
From the Log-Books of the Pirates, The
Terrestrial Paradise" and THE Story of
Calafia, Queen Of California.
Mr.. Bancroft urEenti- insists that the
government must aid the natural process
of western commercial dominance over the
Pacific. He suggests certain essentials,
such as the construction of a trans-conti-
mental railroad. Independent of the systems
now in operation, and maintained by the
government; the completion of a trans
iSthmian canal; the laying OF a Pacific ca
Die. the grant of tonnage bouDtieS In en-
cOuragement of the shipbuild;ng industry
of both coasts; the holding of trade EXPOSE
tons in the principal cities of the Pacific
nj a 81 fIt1N of for sicrr1 Il
mandS in order to adjust the American
supply To its opportunity. The only serious
objection to be raised to Mr.. Bancroft's
mode OF presentation is that he has evil
IDENTIFY written in too great hurry evil
denced by some minor mistakes of fact and
reference.
IAEkNESS IN, ANn DWIGHT; Lights aud shad-
Thomas ". Knox. Thomas Byrnes With Intro
dactisn by Rev. Lyman Abbott. DID. Hartford:
The Hartford Publishing Company.
The story of the poor is never valuable
unless ii is helpful of the poor. instructive
to those who are able and willing TO work
in the slums and suggestive to the general
public in its attitude toward the sub
merged" portion of humanity, thus con-
Structively contributing to the new sociol-
ogy. This is often diSagreeable research.
1t carries the reader and investigator into
contact with some dreadful facts. But the
truth is never unwholesome if told in a
spirit of true reform Darkness and Day.
light contains many pictures reproduced
from photographs of actual scenes, thus Civ
ing the volume an unm.st akabie air of real
ism The three authors write from different
viewpoints Helen Campbell, well known in
philanthropic work in the metropolis dis
cUsSes mission work and practical help
Thomas W. Knox, as author and journalist
writes of the sluTuS in picturesque, in
structive manner dealing with modes of
life. Ex-Poliee Superintendent Byrnes con-
tributes section dealing with the criminal
aspect of the lower life and gives some of
his entertaining personal experiences. The
book Is srueSome in places, but 1t is sug-
geStive OF the great need of reformatory
work by volunteers and officials in the by
ways of every great city.
AMERICAN LANDS AND LETTERS; Leather
stocking 10 Poe's Raven By Donald G.
Mitchell New York; Charles Scribners Sons.
Wash Egtoa: Brcntan"'s.
These literary "reveries'' are in no sense
biographies even biographical sketches
Neither they critical essays Rather
they casual memoranda by one
who has personally met with most of
the characters of whom he writes and
whose capacity to judge them is as large
that of any living American. Mr.. Mitch
ell has performed service to the student
of western literature by thus preserving
some Of the direct impressions of contact
with the men who made American letters
world famous during the early part and
the middle Of the c'osing century. Haw-
thorne. Emerson, Longfellow, Holmes Ban
croft. Whittier. Thoreau. Willis and Poe
wrote and succeeded in his own time He
can look back now through perspective
OF years upon them all. He Is vertically q
last leaf One Of the most charming fea-
lures Of the volume is the profusion Of old
prints with which il is embellished giving
an AR of cOntemporaneous truth TO the
pages and affording a g impse of the men
OF whom he writes as their companions saw
II, in yrfr1r
FIRST BoOK IN ORtiANIC EVOLUTION pv
u heFfoat Shute, ABB, NJ D.. ophthalmir s,-
gen 70 The University Hospital Columbian
professor OF anatomy in the Columbian Tnivar,,
shy- chicago: The Open Court Publishing
Company. '"s
Dr. Shute has prepared this book for the
immediate purposes of the students of the
Columbian medical DEF artment feeling that
there was need for text book which
should collate the latest theories and die
coveries of the science Of organic eyolu-
uon- IRIS purpose is sharpened by a reau-
nf he faRr