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154 Revieivs of Books general reader until the time when a more thorough and comprehensive study of this subject shall appear. The Electoral System of the United States. By J. Hampden Dougherty. (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1906. Pp. iv, 425.) Mr. Dougherty's volume belongs to the class of books with a pur- pose. Its object is to show, by means of a detailed study of the work- ings, from the beginning, of the provisions of the Federal Constitution in regard to the election of President and Vice-president, the imperative need of amending those provisions ; the author's views regarding the needed changes, indicated from time to time as the discussion proceeds, being embodied at the end in a carefully drawn and elaborate proposition of amendment. The work falls, accordingly, into two parts : one, a criti- cal survey of the history of the electoral system, important for the student of politics and constitutional law ; the other, a proposal of change which, however sensible or practicable, has primary interest for the statesman or political scientist rather than for the historian. While we cannot but think that Mr. Dougherty's work would have profited by condensation, particularly in its summaries of the opinions of members of Congress, its historical merits are both sound and consider- able. So far as he has gone, his work is not likely to need doing over again. Although the primary authorities are seldom directly cited, the text shows that the main reliance has been upon the journals and debates of Congress, with the occasional addition of the statutes and court deci- sions. Secondary authorities, save now and then a magazine article, are rarely referred to. After a brief introduction setting forth the need of amending the electoral system, Mr. Dougherty proceeds at once to examine the elec- toral provisions of the Constitution, with the debates attending them, and the law of 1792 fixing the time and place for the meeting of the electors and providing for the presidential succession. Two succeeding chapters survey the problems which developed from 1793 to 1857 in connection with the electoral count — problems which showed an irreconcilable dififer- ence of opinion in Congress as to the seat of final authority in counting, but which were to wait yet thirty years for statutory treatment. The elections from i860 to 1872 emphasized the danger involved in disputed or defective returns, and demonstrated that " either the Constitution had proven faulty or Congress had for years shirked its duty in failing to pass any general law to regulate the count" (p. 85). The great contest of 1876-1877 and the electoral count act of 1887 are treated at much length, more than a third of the volume being allotted to this part of the subject. Mr. Dougherty pronounces the much-praised act of 1887 a "quagmire" (p. 246), and the term is not too strong; for not only does the act assume to give to Congress an unwarranted power over the count, but it also fails to provide for the settlement of some of the