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History in Schools, The Study of (Report of Committee of Seven)

House of a Hundred Lights, The (Torrence's)

97

W. N. Guthrie,

495

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Scripture, General Introduction to the Study of Holy (Briggs's)
Slavery in the United States, A Political History of (Keifer's)

92

378

Soteriology of the New Testament, The (Du Bose's) Bishop Gailor, 234
Taliesin, A Masque (Hovey's)

246

NOTES ON BOOKS.

Americans, Historic (Brooks), 119; Appleton & Co., 251; Atlantic Monthly
(Bliss Perry), 251; Awkward Age, The (Henry James), 112.
Biblica, Encyclopedia (Cheyne), 111; Biographies, Beacon, 120, 256; Blind's,
Mathilde, Poems, 510; Boethius's Consolations of Philosophy (Sedgefield),
511; Bringing Up Boys (Clark), 126; Brontës, Haworth edition of the
Life and Works of, 509; Byron's Letters (Prothero), 510.

Canal Project, Early Development of the C. and O. (Ward), 248; Chaucer

Canon, The (Skeat), 511; Chaucer's "Prologue," etc. (Mather), 124;

Child, Physical Nature of the (Rowe), 115; Children of the Mist, The

(Phillpott's), 117; Church, English (Spence), 507; Columbia University

Studies in Literature, 122; Confident To-Morrow, A (Brander Mat-

thews), 121; Contemporaries (Higginson), 506.

Democracy and Empire (Giddings), 383; Differences (Hervey White), 119;

Diplomatic Relation of the United States and Spanish America (Latané),
384.
Editorial Change, 384, 512; Editor's Table, 128, 256, 511; England, A Histo-

ry of (Conan and Kendall), 123; English Classics, Library of, 510; Eng-
lish Synonyms, Dictionary of (Soule), 255.

Forestry, Primer of (Pinchot), 116; Froissart, Stories from (Newbolt), 119.

Hopkins, Johns, University Studies in Historical and Political Science

(Adams), 248.

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ONE of the most encouraging symptoms in connection with mob law is the growing conviction that it must be suppressed if civilization is to continue in those regions where this backward tendency is most persistent. And of these signs of a better order of things, one of the most cheering is the tone of the local press on the subject. Decent journals of all shades of opinion throughout the country now join in the general demand that is being made for the recovery of the law. In other words, this most menacing evil of the times is no longer looked upon as a mere neighborhood affair with which the rest of the world ought not to busy itself. On the contrary, it is at last being recognized that the evil is one that involves the good name of the whole country. And there is yet another encouraging indication. While it is universally conceded that mob law of every description is to be put down with a stern hand, there is a growing disposition to view the subject in a less sectional and partisan spirit than formerly-that is to say, the people of the Southern States are becoming less and less hostile to external denunciations of a species of anarchy that strikes at the very foundation of organized society, whilst in other portions of the Union there is a perceptible recognition of the fact that there are conditions in some parts of the South not wholly unlike those prevailing in the English colonies in India and South Africa. And while, of course, there can never be any extenuation of "lynching," a keener appreciation of the difficulties of the situation is everywhere apparrent. To what extent this change of sentiment may be at

tributed to our experiences with the denizens of the islands so recently dropped into the lap of the country it is difficult to tell.

So long as men believed, or professed to believe, that there was a natural and deadly war of races going on in the South, no amount of argument could convince them that not only was there never such a conflict, but that even to expect such a struggle would be to expect the impossible. No less hopeful is the somewhat altered view of the subject now everywhere noticeable in the Southern States, for it must be borne in mind that not a very great while ago not only could there be found newspapers of considerable influence that advocated the putting to death by mob law of persons accused of certain crimes, but even political leaders and ecclesiastical dignitaries not unseldom advocated the same sort of procedure. Now the question is no longer a sectional one, and men of intelligence and patriotism everywhere join in the demand that this relic of barbarism should be extirpated speedily.

The first step to be taken in the study of this form of anarchy is to get at the cause of it. Hence it is necessary to describe some of the social and political conditions prevailing in those portions of the South where "lynchings" are most frequent, for it must be borne in mind that these illegal executions are more frequent in some portions of the South than in others. It may also be desirable to get at the excuses offered for these lawless acts, to see how far they correspond with facts, to trace the influence of "lynchings," and so far as possible to discover whether there may not be a substitute for them. We are not discussing the prevalence of crime elsewhere. It is unfortunately too true that infractions of the law exist everywhere. At the same time it should be added that it is rarely the case for law-abiding citizens in any portion of the world to defend crimes of any description, least of all the crime of murder.

The cause originally assigned for lynching was the assault by black men upon white women. In some sparsely settled regions of the South, where the negroes far outnum

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