The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-03
NEW BOOKS

DEsPoT1sM AND DEMOCRACY. A STUDY IN
WAsHINGToM SOCIETY AND POLITICS.
apolis N. Mccarthy. Price $3.50.
The title Of this book Is somewhat mis-
leading. It is not the man on horse
back In the White House who figures in
campaigns as despot, to whom the
.'Despotism'' relates, but the bosses who
run the state conventions and make or
unmake men Of ambition, and De-
mocracy" refers illogically to the ambi-
tious element. struggling to get to the
top OF the ladder, but are kept down by
the bosses. The two congressman who
figure In the book are types. Thorndyke
and Crane each had his boss. Thorn
dykes boss, "a senator, fixed him as
chairman OF the foreign affairs commit
tee Of the house, and told him he could
have his seat In congress and a chairman
ship OF q good committee as long as he
kept out of state politics and did not
make himself extensively prominent at
national conventions. Crane was more
aggressive. When the new house came
in, his boss got him Thorndyke's excel
lent craftsmanship. and war coming on he
made q brilliant speech as represent
Ing the committee on foreign affairs,
which captured the house and the country
and increased the possibility of his fur
Their advancement. When his senator
"boss'' offered to fix the governor SO that
unexpired term Of q senator who had
been killed in an accident, he had the
courage to decline, as he was expected to
contemplate this brief uplift as the end
Of his political career. The boss was not
in the habit of helping men up the lad
der, II he thought they might become
dangerous to him. Crane, however, by
some sharp maneuvering, secured from his
home legislature his election to the long
senatorial term. Thorndyke discovered
the beautiful Constance Maitland, an old
charmer Of his younger days, was in
Washington. He still loved her In spite
Of a remote misunderstanding Constance
is the, woman In the case" and she
proves to be a very interesting one.
Thorndyke's love for her violently re-
vived and II the reader will follow the
| trail he will find this love episode the
brightest and most satisfactory in the
book. Crane, altho he had pretty
wife and some children, was somewhat be-
wttched by the lady and Thorndyke did
nearly the best work OF his life In per-
suading Crane to bring his wife from the
| distant west and have a home In Wash
| ington to strengthen his hold on all the
essential snoralities, son netting which
many congressman who leave their wives
! at home do not adhere too s,, Is s=
PRUDENCE, PRATT. By Mrs. Dore Lyon. Illus.
i trated. New York: George V. Blackburne.
/ The author shows no perceptible orig
1nality Of plot but she makes the most
i out Of the situation. Mrs. Prudence Pratt
whose name is the title to the story, is
a genial widow Of means, at whose coun-
try home Olive Sherman enjoys herself
I This young person had been told by her
wealthy and fashionable mother to marry
/ Blair Maxwe ll-Forbes, to whom she had
no inclination whatever. At Mrs. Pratt's
she meets that lady's fascinating bust
ness agent, Robert Elton, and. after
many romantic episodes the two fall
strenuously in love with each other
Mother Sherman RACES and denounces the
/ engagement which is promoted by Pru-
dence Pratt, who engineers the couple tx
the marriage altar with her blessing. She
is represented, after her experience II
match making as feeling a longing 70,
some one to love her. The author Nigh
have wound her book up more sensation
ally by marrying her to Olives rejected
Ilover--Blair MAXWELL Forbes.