REVIEWS 407
greatest danger with which this land is threatened comes from the ignorant and persistent zeal of some of its women. They abuse the freedom under which they live, and to gain an impossible power would fain destroy the government that alone can protect them." In return for man's brute advantage in point of force, and protected by the sys- tem of order in which this force expresses itself, woman is at an advan- tage in her more intimate connection with the reproduction of life, and and her superior moral and psychic opportunity in connection with off- spring and with the race. Woman's position is, therefore, really the enviable one, since the content of life is more precious than the forms regulating life.
In twelve well written and outspoken chapters the author asserts that woman's suffrage is not in accord with true democratic principles, and has historically been allied with despotism, monarchy, and ecclesi- astical oppression ; that it was in no wise an aid, but rather a hindrance to the movements of anti-slavery and temperance ; that it was not instru- mental in opening the trades to women ; that it has extended its sym- pathy to socialistic and unsound-money agitations ; that it has agitated not for education but for coeducation, and that woman's access to edu- cational opportunity was wrought through the influence of women opposed to the woman suffrage idea; that in relation to the church and the ministry, woman has exhibited qualities rendering her pecu- liarly dangerous as a public leader ; that woman is unable to meet the necessary duties of the voting citizen in connection with jury duty, police duty, and office holding and that this has been demonstrated in the Western states; and that the movement strikes a blow squarely at marriage and the home.
Aside from its polemical interest and the merits of the doctrines espoused, this book is a valuable contribution to the history of thought in America. WILLIAM I. THOMAS.
Outlines of Elementary Economics. By HERBERT J. DAVENPORT.
New York: The Macmillan Co., 1897. Pp. 280. THE author has succeeded in making an elementary text-book readable and attractive. An interesting pedagogical device is that of placing questions at the beginning of the chapter to provoke curiosity as well as at the end for review and reflection. The text itself is compact and well reasoned, written by one who looks straight at the
