698
The Green Bag
protection of the interests of creditors, has
not received frequent application by American courts. The authors show their appreciation of the confusion that has surrounded the subject by going back to the statute of James and presenting a historical account of the growth of the doctrines they are considering, in English as well as in American jurispru dence. The discussion is lucid and able. The distinction between the doctrine of reputed ownership and that of fraudulent conveyances is pointed out, the former being designed for the protection of subsequent creditors, the latter for that of existing ones, and the foundation of the reputed ownership doctrine in estoppel is made clear. Authorities from American courts which have considered the question of secret liens serve to illustrate the propositions advanced, the topics of cases under recording acts, floating charges in mortgages, consignment arrangements, and
trust receipts being discussed.
The treat
ment is scholarly, logical, and thorough.
THE SCIENCE OF POLITICS Human Nature in Politics. By Graham Wallas. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. Pp. xvi, 296, index. ($1.50 net.) The Development of the State: Its Govern mental Organization and Its Activities. By James Quayle Dealey, Ph.D., Professor of Social and Political Science at Brown University. Silver, Burdett & Co., New York, Boston and Chicago
Pp. 326+index 18.
($1.50.)
HE author of "Human Nature in Poli tics" is one of the best-known members of the English "Fabian
Society," noted for
its dissemination of socialistic theories, and is of long experience as a politi cal and social worker among London work ing men. In view of these antecedents the American reader who is unfamiliar with the value of Mr. Wallas's real contributions to the science of politics is likely to assume that this is a radical book. It is therefore with pleasure that one finds oneself on reading it forced to change this impression. Mr. Wallas's opinions are distinctively conserva tive. He treats his subject in a scientific spirit, and while he declares that it is incon ceivable that men will long continue to live side by side in huge cities without growing more sensitive to the anomaly of too marked a contrast between the lot of more and less favored classes, and will come to demand more and more of social equality, he clearly sees the folly of discarded types of political
thought, and eloquently pleads for a theory of democracy based upon the facts of the Social order and cognizant of the actual inequalities of human nature. Mr. Wallas seeks to apply a psychological method in his discussion, and the book is essentially a not particularly formal or tech nical monograph on the psychology of poli tics, written by an intelligent observer in sympathy with the spirit of modern scientific investigation, who is also able to enliven his arguments by countless illustrations drawn from an unusually rich and varied experience as a political canvasser and practical politician. It is not often that the political theorist is also versed in practical politics, and much of the value of a distinctly serviceable if not elaborate work is derived from this fact. Neither the methods nor the conclusions of the book, in the main, challenge criticism. If the inquiry is not exhaustive enough to set up a noteworthy theory of the state, it is well conducted so far as it goes, and its author deserves gratitude for many illuminat ing observations and suggestive deductions. In his remarks about the prospect of some such progress in politics from qualitative to quantitative methods as has taken place in economics, and in his conjectures as to whither the abandonment of the intellectua list position of the early nineteenth century writers will eventually lead, he is particularly stimulating. His unfavorable comments on proportional representation, which he con siders a phase of outworn dogmatism, are worth reading, and his discussions of popular elections and of the relation of the govern ment to the electorate are sensible and useful. The literary style of the book is marked at all times by clearness and directness, and often by eloquence or humor. Such a com bination of seriousness of matter with light ness of form is rare, and it is hard to say whether the book will be prized the more for its soundness or for its readableness. A work of less merit, whether judged with .reference to keenness of thought or charm of literary style, is Professor Dealey‘s general survey of what he somewhat vaguely regards “The Development of the State." The book has certain good qualities, as a convenient collection of general information on the principal topics of political science. and as an introduction and guide to the more pro found study of subjects that have elsewhere been more ably handled.
It is, however,
