The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-08

preachers but whatever its motive there
is good, sound common sense in II. Mr..
Coler says:
The individual who holds that the Church has
no place in politics would conane within narrow
and selfish bounds the greatest civilzins force in
the world. The Church must be broad enough 20
work for humanity, to civlize. 10 educate to
strive for better civic and material conditions to
save men as well as souls, else it falls short OF
the proper exercise Of its power for good Let
the churches begin at the bottom and work up
lhey must get closer to the masses OF the people
Wien they condemn social or political cond..
ucn, they must be able TO lead the way to
something better. Abuse and deuunciation alone
viii not improve the moral condition Of a man
T or a community. Municipal government is what
the people OF a city make Il. Il cannot long re-
main better or worse than the majority that
created It, and city politics viii be pure cor
rupt according 10 the controlling influence .
Deuuncistion from the pulpit may expose to
the public gaze a sore spot on the body polite
but it viii not eradicate the disease. 4 sermon
on politics reaches very few voters.
Mr. Coler also has some rather start
ling statements to make regarding the pri
vate charities which receive city money
He does not believe in this system. He
says among other things:
One small society was found to have expended
practically all Of the money received from the
city in the payment Of the living expenses OF the
person who had the entire management of the
organization. The charitable work Of year con
sisted in the distribution Of small quantity
Of cast-of clothing and a few bushels Of potatoes.
One private institution, abolished,
boarded committed children and received 81 a
week from the city for each child The children
were fed FISH and potatoes at cost Of ~
cents each per week. After these facts were dis
covered the city authoIiJies could not remove the
children until the board OF health condemned
and closed the building under the provisions OF
the sanitary code.
These extracts will show the straightfor
ward and forcible style in which the book
is written. 1t is worth reading, whether
one agrees with the authors views or not;
and with many of his ideas no intelligent
person can fail to agree. (New York: ID.
Appleton Co. $1,000
Woman and Artist" by Max O'Rell, is
one more instance of the risk which a
moderately clever man runs in stepping of
the beaten track on which he made his rep
utation. AS a writer OF books of travel
light. sparkling, and half satirical in style,
Max ORell became a popular author. II
he had published nothing but this novel
it is certain that he would never have been
heard Of. In fact, the novel itself would
probably never have seen the light of day
had il not been hoated on the buoy Of the
authors previous work
1t might have been expected that.
whatever its shortcomings in the way Of
plot and character drawing any romance
by this author would be entertaining and
amusing in its conversational passages.
But it is nothing Of the kind. 1t is as fiat
as stale champagne. The sentiment re-
minds one OF Laura Jean Libbey, and the
character drawing somewhat resembles
that Of The Duchess or the unspeakable
Corelli. There are all kinds Of badness
in this book except the "Sapho" kind. and
therefore nothing can save it from obliv-
ion. People may read a weak book for
the sake of its vicious sentiment. but they
will certainly not read a yiciously written
book for the sake Of its emotionalism.
(New York Harper & Brothers. 81 25.)