Evening star., 1914-07-18


making dents in the matrimonial ana
financial hopes of the noble asprants
that surround the girl.
Under this clever comedy of breaking
up the matrimonial exchange OF Europe
and the United States there runs
fresh and enjoyable story that is sup
ported by sturdy plot sustained by sterl-
ing characters and most interesting ac-
ZION. Socrates Potter is worth any
mans creation. and MIR. Bacheller is
sure not to go wrong so long as he per-
uiits this droil compound OF New Eng
land Wit and wisdom to manage the mat
ters of which he is the mere chronicler.
THE CHANGING ORDER: ESSAYS on
Government, Monopoly and Educa-
tfon, Written during a Period of Re-
adjustment. BY George w. wicker
sham. sometime Attorney General
OF the United States. New York: u.
z. PutnamS $ Sons.
Written when the author was Attorney
General of the United States. these es-
says stand as a clear and immediate sum-
mary of the important problems of the
Taft administration. These problems
We're vital and imperious ones. such as
wait upOn the change of peoples and ma
tons from the old order to a new one.
1t was at this time that the new conCep-
ton of the relation of government to in
duStry took on positive shape and re-
solved itself into a program of definite
ernment and the trusts was carried on at
this time Important decisions of the Su-
preme Court We're handed down in con-
nection with this. decisions that eStab-
Hshed securely the supremacy of law over
monopoly. Then, too. laws regula ting
the operations of common carriers in in
terState commerce We're radically amend
ed. calling for Supreme Court construc-
ton and exposition on more than one far
reaching question. The admissions of
New Mexico and Arizona to the Union
in this administration led to the exposure
of new views as to the character of state
constitutions in their relation to demo-
cratic government. These are some of the
this volume have to do. Because of the
immense Importance Of these questions
and problems. as well as by reason of the
legal and official standing of the author
the volume has direct usefulness whose
ftl value cannot be overestimated.
OUR DISHONEST CONSTITUTION. By
AAan L. Benson. author of THE
Truth about Socialism," etc New
York: b. w. Huebsch.
Mr.. Benson Is a picturesque writer
He handles facts as If they were con-
crete thingstmuch as IL they were
bricks The persons of his summoning
stand bodily before one. His imagery
Is varied and telling. His sentences are
little hammers. tapping out. or more
that ring with accusation and vituper-
alton. Slang, and all the other YER
nacular means of carrying ideas straight
across so that even the man who is on
like handful of nickels in ones
pocket. Thus armed. Mr.. Benson here
literally pitches into the Constitution of
the United States and into those re-
is literally no good, Its makers were all
rich men. conniving to work out a su-
prene law of the land that should pro-
tect them and other rich men. The
against them And it turns out that
n other respects they were no better
than they should have been-a bad lot.
'he whole Who'll ;, caboodle of them. Some were
Srafters- Some were crooks" All
OF them were meager in mind. scant in
Judgment and utterly naked in morals
With them the national sin of capital
ism began By name and circumstance
Mr.. Benson points out these various
nalefactorS. Washington was tax
dodser- Hamilton was social aristo-
crat.. a political monarchist. THAT we
still honor the name of Hamilton is
because to this day We know almost
nothing of Hamilton" Having laid low
the fathers" and their supreme achieve
rnent, Mr.. Benson modestly proceeds to
create the right sort of constitution to
with tradition as to desire SO useless
an Instrument. Out of whole cloth he
produces congress Of his own. This
Is a congress- that is worth while" 1t
is needless to say that it bears not the
faiptest resemblance to the one with
which We have managed to scrub along
through century and a quarter of
pretty wonderful growth and develop
nent.
In this hit-or-miss diatribe the writer
pays his particular brand of respect
to one and another prominent figure in
both the past and the present. Among
those OF the present he gives lean
tribute TO Mr.. Henry Ford. a tribute
that would have pumped out like a
waterscaked oyster if only Mr.. Ford
had turned the whole of his profits in
stead of an unrighteous and misery
million of them. over to his workmen,
under the pressure of the old half-truth
that these workmen were the sole
creators of the wealth appropriated by
Mr. Ford.
MIR. Benson is the pride of his political
school What he says drives. The thing
that he does is called fearless But it
takes no courage nowadays to revile ex-
istins institutions 1t is a very popular
thing to do And Mr.. Benson is out for
popularity. Some time. We hope, when
this hurly-burly of half-baked reform
has subsidized. there will come the real
popular education of the people in the
great questions of industrial efficiency
of political wisdom and of the proper
relations of these to each other. But
when that desired day dawns Mr.. Ben
son and his class will have given over
the peda-ogue's rod of castigation. will
have stepped down to make way for
those of wiser counsels-
on OLD-wORLD HIGHWAYS. BY
Thomas D. Murphy: author Of In
Unfamiliar England with Motor
car" etc. Illustrated. Boston: L. c.
Page & Co.
Yes, 1t is true-as this writer says-in
half apology-that of the making of travel
books there appears To be no end. And