The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-19
ANTHRACITEv

!" ANTHRACITE'
 By Scott Nearing. The John c. Winston Co.,, publishers, Philadelphia.
 In preface to Anthracite" the au- thor, Scott Nearing, gives keen insight into the book by saying:
 During these years of spectacular mill itary conflict it is easy to forget the in- creasing economic turmoil that is inter- woven with present-day existence Eco homie issues arise on every hand. Capital and labor, wages, the cost of living un- emplOyment-these things are a source of endless social disruption.
 Economic issues may be considered in the large. They possess equal potency in individual cases, just as the drop of water contains the qualities of the ocean. Furthermore, the individual instance is more easily studied, it's characteristics are more readily comprehended, and the proper method of treatment more safely prescribed. Moreover, it is highly prob able that the deductions which may be drawn from the economic conditions sur- rounding one specific problem are in large measure applicable to the similar prob lems elsewhere.
 Some satisfactory method of studying economic problems must be devised Dog ma will not stand the test of experiment
 
 wayside. Meanwhile the world must know.
 Knowledge is the only weapon that will ever overcome the host of difficult ties arising out of the stress of modern life. Knowledge must therefore be the keynote of social endeavor.
 Knowledge must be spread through the land. At one time it will be propa- gated by means of broad hypothesis like that of Darwin or Marx At an- other, many persons, work each in his own field will produce atoms of informa- ton which aggregated will constitute the basis of still further advance
 Anthracite is not a general study; it aims to explain some of the important phases of modern economic life as they apply to one industry localized in one corner of one state.'
 VICTOR VICTORIOUS" By Cecil Starr Johns; the John Lane company, publishers, New York
 Victor Victorious" will probably be classified by reviewers at once as a Ruritanian romance, and in so far as it deals with the adventures of the King of a mythical European state they will be right. But Victor victorious'' is some thing more than mere book of adven- ture. though there is no. lack of adven- lures in it. Through all the exciting in- cidents of Victor's life runs a definite idea-the building up of the character of a king of a government, and yet these ideas are developed quite naturally through the story, and give it human and intellectual interest in that the reader almost unconsciously applies them to our own times and circumstances.
 FELICITY CROFTON." By Marguerite Bryant (Mrs. Philip
 Munn). Duffield and Company, Pub
 fishers. No. 211 West 3srd Street,
 New York.
 Felicity Crofton,'' is a new novel by Marguerite Bryant author of Chris topher Hibbalt: Roadmaker," is al- ready in it's second edition. and bids fair to more than meet the success of the earlier book. The publication of Felicity Crofton' was announced by Duffield and Company some months ago, but the author. Mrs. Philip Mum, has been seriously i'll during the past year, and the completion of the book was long delayed. 1t is story that has nothing to do with the war, or any of it's happenings, the scene being laid