New-York tribune., 1900-08-19

can schools open to the children of the rich and
lhe Door without distinction" The movement
mus oegun, however was continued with more
OF less energy and intelligence in New-York
ana elsewhere, and the establishment of the
working class" a distinct political entity was
accomplished. Naturally the new party (or
rather parties, for the habit OF auarrelling
among then selves promptly formed be-
came the prey OF the cranks and extremists of
al kinds, and TO these Professor McMaster de
votes good deal of space, particularly to the
owens and Francis Wright For an account of
the vagaries of these people and Of the de-
mands Of the workingmen. developed more or
less under their influence we must refer the
reader to his pages. We can only remark that
then as now the reforms which labor Organiza-
tons advocated were tumble of sense and nom
sense Of justice and injustice, Of the practicable
and the impractcable; and that the proportions
OF the various ingredients have not been much
changed from that day to this.
In the second chapter, above mentioned, that
on the state of the country, Professor Nc
Master discourses most entertainingIy on a vast
variety Of topics from the beginnings of rail
roading to the methods Of the frontier judge
A severe critic might, indeed, hint that its style
Is little too near that of the raconteur to be
quite that Of the historian; but shall sUg-
gest nothing captious BY all means let
US nave interesting history when the historian
rare bird that he Isl is found who write it
For example the following apropos of the judge
we think is more deserving of record than many
an act Of Congress:
Mr. Green" said a judge somewhere in the
then rudimentary Westl to the prisoner, the
jury in their verdict say you are guilty of
der, and the law says you are to be hung. Now,
l want you and all your friends down in Indian
Creek TO know that it is not I who condemns
hut ha rr7vr h. Ion NJ Craa fhn
law allows you time for preparation, and the
Court wants TO know what time you would like
to be hung" After the date had been fixed to
the satisfaction Of the two at that day four
weeks and the judge had been satisfied that
four weeks from that day not Sunday, the
prosecuting attorney asked the Court to pro-
nounce formal sentence and exhOrt the prison.
er to repentance. To this the judge answered:
'Oh. Mr.. Turney, Mr. Green understands the
matter as well as if I had preached to him for
a month. He knows that he has got to be hung
this day four weeks. You understand it in that
way, Mr. Green, don't yOu?"
Yes" said the prisoner, and so ended the
discussion.
An anecdote like that gives a more vivid i'm
preston Of the free and easy quality of frontier
life than could be conveyed by any formal state
ment Of the facts
Chapters Of much greater historical merit than
this one-though rot so readable-are devoted to
the most important Of all the results of the in
dustriaI revolution. namely the increasing de-
Hand for protection by the Northern manu-
facturers at the expense of the Southern cotton
growers, and the sudden sharpening of the diff
ference between the Industrial conditions of the
North and South. which placed the slavery
question in the forefront of National politics and
led TO the Civil War. Others of equal interest
deal with early literature British criticism of
the United States. the common school, early po-
iticaI ideas and so on. OF the numberless quot
able passages which they contain We have space
only for one. Il is a very sound comment upon
the charge. frequently brought against Ameri-
cans then and since, Of subserviency TO Great
Britain in literary and intellectual matters.
That our countrymen in 1875 should prefer
"Marmi0n.' The Lay Of the Last Minstrel"
The Lady of the Lake" "LaIla ROOkh,' The
COrsair." "Mariqo FalIerO.' The Lyrical Bal
ads" The Excursion, "Waverley' and Guy
Of Trumbuu and Dwight. and the odes and la
nents that abound in the reviews museums
and repositories Of the time was right We do
so to-day Their preference not sub
-erviency bat sound literary Judgment Never
in the course of Two centuries had Great Britain
men Of letters. Jane Austen and Maria Edge
worth Mrs Hemans. Burns. Byron, HaIlam
C0Ieridge Keats. Moore, Wordsworth, Scott
were authors with whom our coUntrymen could
not l3muete Their novels and poems went
everywhere. not because the Americans We're
without literary 7udEneut but because they
possessed il in the highest degree That a ma
ton which produced such writer's should be de-
ferred TO in literary matters was to be expected
This gathering Of men and women was phenom-
email and the influence of English literary Opin-
ion was phenomenal our countrymen deferred