Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-20

JOURNALS OF RALPH WALDO
EMERSON. Volumes and =. Eoitea
by Edward Waldo Emerson ano
waldo Emerson Forbes. boston:
Houghton Miffiin Company.
HESE two volumes Of the Elmer
son Journals take on special
Importance from the fact that
they cover the early prime OF
the philosopher of Concord IN
Guided here is the day-by-day life OF MT
Emerson from the age of twenty-five on
to that of forty-one-a period OF certituoe
and poise wherein the genius or the man
assumes its ultimate form and feature
promising for the future no more than
mellow seasoning Of the powers already
attained.
A journal. of all forms of record, Is the
one least fitted for the beginnings OF an
acquaintance. It's variants from the es-
sential man are too many. too diverse.
And so 1t is here. Only those familiar
with the Emerson thought as 1t stands
organized for public use will place the
true golden value upon these intimate
sef-revealings. Yet. the whole of Elmer
sons philosophy lies In these scattered
journal portrays . figure Of curious de-
tachment, one in no material way q part
Of the lusty, aggressive republic that
houses him. While standing outside of
one knows that Mr.. Emerson was i'm
mersed in the supreme affair OF living
among the impregnable things Of human
existence. This fact gives inestimable
value to every page Of these intimate
STATESMEN OF THE OLD SOUTH,
or, From Radicalism to Conserva-
Z
Phi. d.. professor of American his
tory in the University Of Chicago.
author OF 'The Life Of Jefferson
Davis" etc. New York: The Mac
milan Company. Washington:
Jefferson would have been a popuIist
in 1892. or an insurgent in 1910" Cal
houn prepared the way for secession and
war. dying the greatest reactionary Of
his time" Jefferson Davis was to COM
plete the work of Calhoun and convert
the old and radical democracy of JEFF
ferson into armies cOntending on the field
OF battle for ideals and purposes absolute
ly foreign to the mind Of the great found
err"
Around these three-Jefferson, Calhoun,
Davis-is gathered an admirably clear and
pointed study of the waves of insurgency
that rose in the old south under their
leadership. Jefferson in revolt against the
"
governors: Calhoun, his disciple. passing
from q broad democratic nationalism into
a particularist attitude, with slavery the
basis Of his system; Davis, the pupil of
Calhoun, inviting civil war in behalf of
slavery, the property interest of the south
1t Is long and devious way from JEFF
ferson to DAVIS, but 1.-THE south travelled
1t and called it the kings highway. Just
as the great republican party travelled
from Lincoln to Mckinley, thinking the
way perfectly plain and easy he way
from liberty and equality to privilege and
property" Reaction. one of the repeated
lessons OF history, Is again in full prog
ress- This fact gives the present mastery
exposition Of the great Insurgency of the
south an incalculable value to the student
OF events. to the one who measures the
issue by the character Of the source. An
exceptional study Of economic political
and personal conditions.
SOCIAL FORCES IN AMERICAN HIS
TORY. BY A. N. Simons. New York:
The Macmillan Company.
Assuming what everybody nowadays
comedies to be true. namely. that eco
nomic conditions and interests outline po-
litical movements and shape political
struggles. Mr.. Simons. in application Of
this fact. examines the social stages of
our national progress in evidence that
each crystallizes into an institution
through the triumph Of one set Of in
terests' over another set of Interests
In marshaling proofs thereof the author
goes over the well worn historic Ameri-
can road Of discovery, colonization the
revolution, the formation of the govern
ment and SO on and SO on, up to the
present. But the highway under this in
spection Is wholly new and strange to
readers OF the common history Of conven-
ton and platitude. The angles Of OBJ
servation are different from the usual
ones-more natural and SO better. Ac-
cording to this writer. the dynamics of
our social progress lie in the improved
and improving technique Of production
inventions, new processes, combinations,
better methods OF distribution. These
changes In our Industrial basis create
new classes to represent them. Then
old and the new. followed by new insti-
tutions. or modified old ones, to mark the
triumph of the rising class over the de-
cadent one. And this Is social progress.
One reads the whole in the midst of fall
ing idols, but he accepts II. with the
breeze and brine upon It, Why7 Be-
cause il Is rooted in human nature work
ing out through the laws OF social evo-
luton: Moreover, the Intelligent scrut-
my Of any political struggle-the history
Of the tariff for example-bears this au-
thor out in his evaluation of men under
the stress OF events. Some will deny the
issue and point to missing I'LL links kin In tn, the
manner as too journalistic to go between
covers. Every one. however. will seize
the new viewpoint. the sturdy logic, the
fearless statement of recorded fact One
wonders, after all. IL the suave tissues of
semi-religious tone that go into the max
ing Of histories. say textbook histories.
would not serve a fuller purpose if tine
tured little more with the sturdy treat
nent shown in the best Of this uncom-
mon book.
THE COMMON PEOPLE OF ANCIENT
ROME; studies Of R0nan Life and
Literature. BY Frank Frost Abbott
Kennedy, professor of the Latin
language and literature In Prince
ton University. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons. Washington: Wood
ward IL Lothrop.
In the grandeur that was Rome one
is more than likely to lose sight of the
fact that the foundations of this great
empire We're. like those of all nations,
the mass of its people. Mr.. Kennedy recalls
this fact to readers through a most in
teresting and careful study of the COM
mon people of ROme-the traders, farm
ers, soldiers of the distant PROVINCES, and
the bakers and builders of the city Of
Rome itself. In this volume the average
readers attention fixes upon certain
phases of Roman industrial life. These
through complete similarity to some Of
our own economic circumstances, move