Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-14
BOOK REVIEWS.
BUSINESS: The Heart of the Nation.
BY Charles Edward Russell. New
York John Lane Company.

of public instruction. General
4 surveys such as Miss Hughan' s
recent admirable american So
,isIism of the Present Day." and special
views such as the one in hand. are the
Instruments of this system. The hour OF
the mere social iconoclast. swollen with
haif-baked theories and overdone meas
ures of abuse has struck. The stable
advocate of socialism today possesses
the scientific habit of research and rec
ord He forecasts the socialized state
from its .antecedent OF economic condi-
ton alone. The present study. by
Charles Edward Russell is model text
book in this course of general education
Its marks of distinction are straight
thinking. direct speech, restraint and de-
votion to facts with a comprehensive
grasp of these in their logical relations
and projections. The book is. moreover
an unsurpassed example of brawny
writing. Here is the authors funda-
mental proposition: Observation-Disclosures
plus exchange-is the quintessence of the
present age. Out of this essence both
politics and law must take their shape.
This double statement constitutes another
count for the MARKHAM theory that every
civilization is defined and directed by the
economic conditions out of which 1t in
evitahiy springs With exceeding clarity
the author spreads out and sources this
dominant business force. He outlines its
purpose. it's nature and methods. He
shows its progress to be an evolution
whose onward march is marked, exactly
as is the course of biological evolution,
With parts lost or atrophied from disuse,
and with new structures developed in re-
Spouse to the demand of enlarged func-
TONS According to this view the present
character of business, expressed chiefly
In gigantic combinations, is but an inevi-
table stage of its advance Not wicked
and interruptions men, but its own in
heFeney projects business toward still
greater combinations, in obedience to its
invfncible laws. To illuminate against its
course. TO regulate. to indict, to prosecute
are but futile whistIings against the wind
The great inequalities of condition that
so stfgmatize modern life are due to the
fact that its controlling force business,
is but half socialized. Production is now
a social process. The other part of busi-
ness. exchange, remains individualistic
permitting. in fact creating a small class
or the rich and powerful set off against
the poor and feeble multitude. Democra-
TIE eotn production and exchange, So
eialize the whole of business. Then So
elalisnl. as political and legal agent
vii have arrived, and, according to this
writer, the next stage of Civilizations
stage not to be side-stepped-will have
beep reached This study is a stunningly
arrestins summary Of political and Leg
isIatiNe experiment in the United States
IN the effort to adjust these national in
strunients to the Irresistible force of
economic condition expressed in terms of
dominating industrialism
THE SCIENCE OF WEALTH. Bv j A.
Hobson, NJ. a. author of The In
Gustrial system, etc. New York:
Henry Holt & Co.
Having in mind the general reader
aiene-the one unframed to a knowledge
% economic facts and principIes-this
author lifts out from the mass of sur
rounding deliberations and details a free,
broadly artieuiated outline of the modern
business world in its relation to wealth
Upon this basis he builds graphic de-
scriptions. explanations, conclusions-all
in untechnical phrase. The structure
and the workings of the business world
are The topics of discussion The author
names labor, ability. land. capital, society,
as the sources OF wealth He groups
these under trades, arts. professions-the
instruments of production. The pro-
cesses or conversion. the methods and
regulation of payments are briefly
sketched. What the author calls IAN
unproductive surplus is carefully ex-
dmined IN It's bearing upon trade and
labor movements State socialism is
forecast as a larger and larger factor in
the economic scheme, as the manager or
regulator OF the sources of wealth. and
as participation in the income which it
Yields. The study sums with an aItruis.
tic estimate of human values in relation
20 industry and the more human art
of wealth." Like all the volumes of the
tiome University Library. this is an
authoritative. timely, interesting and in
SFuctiye study.
THAN PRONE. BY Edith Wharton.
y author of The House of Mirth"
etc New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons Washington: Brentano's
y bleak New England landscape. A
Patch of frozen soil sheeted in snow
and blanketed in gray storm clouds
\ man, youthful and yearning. tethered
20 this spot. first by old and helpless
parents, then by an old and sapless
wife. cousin-young. gentle. sweet
in the double cast of poor relation and
New England hired girl" This is the
situation. What can one expect? Lit
tie by little and without any ones
reckoning. the lean years of Ethan
Frome begin to fill to curves of con-
tentment. to take on mild colors of
happiness. Then. calamity-and three
people are housed together for twenty
=
physical wreckage and a perfect hell
of spiritual anguish. n grim story of
black shadows and bottomless pits
Not one time does the author smile
Not one time does she lax her hand to
gentle lines. Within the first half hour
OF II the reader finds himself walking
warily through an impenetrable gloom.
hands outstretched and feet pushing
cautiously ahead for the edge of the
abyss, of whose proximity every atom
OF the heavy atmosphere gives Fremont
ton piece of splendid art fine
story OF its kind. Poor kind
THE LIFE EVERLASTING. n Reality
- Of Romance. BY Marie Corelli.
author of Romance of Two
Worlds" etc. New York: Holder q,
Stoughton.
Because the life of the body is go sur-
passingly dear, the theme spread out in
this romance casts a spell upon us. That
We go away, and then come back: that
our souls. now in one guise and now IN
another. return again and again to go TO
school TO life for some Of the worlds for
gotten or neglected lessons; that we NAV
consciously achieve bodily perfection and
moreover. hold IL. fer the better tutoring
of the spirit; that love. the love OF two
nortais. transcends the limitations OF
time and space-these are among the
hot