The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 10, 1907, Page 13

The San Francisco Sunday Call Robert P. Porter. The Life of Dr. Samuel Nettie Mudd. For Your Sweet Sake, by McCirt. Labriola. This Was a Man, by Louthan. The Process of Capitalist Karl Marx. Freeman. e Dangers of Municipal Own- ership munieipal ownership 1e slogans of the Soclai- er of thoughtful con- more conservative new book. ipal Ownership,” valuable addition of the subject. Fur- 1 pe classed its au- t may pendable w P ng k in a position to ana- tions of trade, taxa- r and labor. His long e newspaper world has m the ab to do this analy- has gnabled him and events their This keen, question- alanced mental attitude was in Mr. Porter's other books, ently and to rcumstances zed ce and Industry of Japan” and *Industrial Cuba” His accuracy in pre- ng facts has brought him recog- of & practical character. . He had e eleventh United States President McKinley sent Porto Rico as the negotiate ar- e late General Max- ez for the disbandment of the With this background nce, “The Dangers of Mu- has significant for the average of t mmissioner to nately Porter has been happy in tion of the subject, stating s in an entertaining fash- Fort reade Mr e be is frankly agalest munici- Mr. Porter almost always sides of this question. wnershiy s book is practically the first exten- sive coneideration of the opposition. As San Francisco came near having s trial of municjpal ownership in the Gea street raiiroad, and as this ex- may ¢ome st any time, this a r more than passing here Mr. Porter gives nsight into his attitude when he calls municipal own- ershir inicipal trading,” after its Eu ificance. He places his nder three general head- e as an undesirable ele- and ocal government progress and to so- ts financial unsoundness, a £ examination of specifie rtakings supports the gen- ment makes extensive ta n of municipal ownership con- ed in Great Brit- he empha- taking English American cities, ood example the failure in ownership itways bringing ago of Mr. Dairymple of Scot- land, already committed te municipal ow is cited as proof of the con- tention. Mr. Dalrymple, after trying 1o put his methods into operation, went home to Gl saying that it was in Chicago what he Glasgow. Speak- Mr. Porter says: the question of municipal ewnership undoubtedly ripening in the public mind In the United States, a true kmowledge and understanding of $ts merits are cavefully concealed from the electorate.’ The bBlame will surely not rest with My. Porter for this ignorance, as he goes into the minutize of the problem. Spectfic consideration is given to the éefest of William R. Hearst for Mayor of New York, but Porter is fair enough to say that while he was the munieipal ownership candidate his de- feat must be regarded as personal and not = repudiation of what he steod for. The entire book bristles with as 787 cases “In point” as a modern law- yer's brief. Many of these show that the interest paid by municipalities for the purchase of utilities is so great that administration is Immediately erippled. He says, after”showing that an spplication of municipal ownership principles in the United States would of a < n the Continent - » sides for municipal The nership sgow. tmpossible to do had accomplished in ing of this countr “While en Increased indebtedness of 600,732: “Wheat body of public men without knowledge of the economic princi- spon ates and cities are - founded can view such an acces- of civic liabilities and respon ties without alarm, and would leave stone unturned to prevent the over- elming accumulgtion of municipal sts which it indicates? The pres- E ity of the ownership party in United States warrants the fear 1at the movement may yet extend to se proportions; but surely no sane yublic body would suffer itself for long dragged by the heels of the so- ) dreamers and opportunists 1f %0 doing it becomes a party to the bringing of financial chaos and ‘ruin upor the community. Yet this is what Mr. Bryan in his speech in Madison Square Garden proposed to de, and ich wh BOOKS REVIEWED The Dangers of Municipal Ownership, by Socialism and Philosophy, by Antom’o’ The Call of the Blood, by Robert Hichens. The Light of the Soul, by Mary E. Wilkins Letters of a Business Woman to Her Nicce, by Caroline A. Huling. ‘came to Paul Lawrence Dunbar. A. Mudd, by James Ephraim Hattie Horner Production, by what may be part of the platform of a Breat political party in 1908. Nay, more, he includes the trunk gailways for the National Government and the railweys within the States of the Union for ous State governments to own and operate. It will be seen that the pu it of argument, especially as appiied to the United States, be- comes 2 mere reductio ad absurdum.” London, which Porter calls “the greatest spendthrift.” affords of astonishing statistics. Out of and a resume of public opinion Porter calls municipal ownership in London a failure, one which by the very nature of things will not soon be corrected. Apropos of San Francisco's complications, Thé Street Rajlway read th interest. street the chapter on Tangle” will be Among otifér things against municipal ownership of street railways Porter says: Experience seems to indicate clearly in the majority of cases that the mu- nicipal control of a tramway system is an obstacle to fts development and to its becoming a part of an extensive Interurban system.” A Porter deals quite comprehensively with gas, water and telephone interests as they appear in “municipal trading.” The last chapter of “The Dangers of Munictpal Ownership” will be of more interest in London than in San Fran- cisco. 5 (The Century Company, New York. Price $1.80.) railway wi e R Book That Vividly Recalls the Lincoln Tragedy If it be true that generations must pass after events of stirring political significance before their history ‘can be written in falrness and honesty, then the life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, just from the press, is opportune. It is edit- ed by his daughter, Nettie Mudd, who has lived until an aimost judiciously cool-headed public is ready to read and consider her vindication of -her father, who, charged with conspiracy in bring- ing about the assassination of President Lincoln, was confined in Fort Jefferson, on the Dry Tortugas Island, where he served four years of a life sentence be- fore being pardoned by President John- son. This publication emphasizes again the tremendous political significance of the death of Lincoin. Other Presidents bave been assassinated since that fate- ful April day in 1865 and every detail of the tragedies has been told and the sorrowful chapters closed, but there has hardly been a year since Lincoln's death without the publication of something direct or collateral relating to it. This book really presents for the first time a lot of documentary evidence, mostly in the form of letters exchanged by Mudd and his wife, that has genuine historical value. The preface by D. Bi- dridge Monroe of the Baltimore bar is at once.a sympathetic appreciation of Dr. Mudd and an appeal for an unblased consideration of the documents present. ed. Mr. Monroe’s appeal is the more convineing because apparently he does nol write from personal acquaintance with Dr. Mudd. He emphasizes the fact that the letters were not written for publication; that the family, with the exception of the daughter editing the volume and born after the assassina- tion, has passed away. The publication of the letters at this time (forty-one years ago they were written) is born of 2 desire to clear her father's name. While love and loyalty to her father's memory actuated Nettie Mudd In com- piling this volume, she has unwittingly given to histery a significant chapter ofs the most trying years the United Sta: has It is 2 book that may well added to the Linceln biblio- graphy, now numbering several hun- dred volumes. Tt is not amiss at this time to recall that it was to Dr. Samuel Mudd's house in Maryland that John Wilkes Booth was carried by his frlend to have his broken leg set, the injury he received when he jumped to the stage of Ford's Theater after shooting Lincoln. It is told in this book that every member of the Mpdd family swore under oath that the identity of Booth was unknown to them, but the fact that Dr. Mudd knew that he was aiding and abetting some fugitive told against him. Dr. Mudd had to suffer, as did all 6thers who had anything to do with Boeth. There seems to have been no one to resent his release from prison, and the simple narrative in which the daughter tells ou her father's homecoming is one of the most affecting bits in this story of a life's tragedy. She closes her book with a short, account of her father's death (thirteen years after his release from prison) in the fiftieth year of his age. Added interest is given to this volume because it contains the diary ef Booth, which, although In the hands of the Secretary of War at the time of the trial of the conspirators, was not used. It is regarded by Nettie Mudd as con- tributing something to her father's vindication. This publication is a striking example of good printing and bookmaking. (Neale Publishing Company. Price $3.) 2P e, A New Sable Singer to Take the Place of Dunbar In a little book of verse, “For. Your Sweet Sake,” appears a negro poet, who seems reasonably sure of at least as much eminence in American letur;_h as is new sable singer-is James Ephraim McGirt, a North Carolinan of 28, He attended Bennett College at Greens- boro, taught school for a year, and for the last six years has been editing a magazine which he founded in Phila- delphia. He writes both in straight English and in dialect, and while he is T e s == S . RGP LETIRE ” 5 ox- RS E RS IITI " good in both there i{s a simplicity and pathos about the dialect poems that is particularly appealing. Of his more ambitious verse, “The Century's Prayer” is typical, thus: Lord God of Hosts. incline thine ear To this, thy humble servant’s prayer; May. war and strife and d! cease. This century, Lord God, give us peace. The thoughts of strife, the curse of war, Henceforth, dear Lord, may be abbor. One blessing more, our store increase. This is our prayer: Lord, give us peace. McGirt is tuneful, with all the melo- dic instinct of his race. He ought-to o far. (John C. Winston phia.) & Co., Philadel. Lgiels Posthumous Letters From the Pen of Labriola Antonio Labriola published in 1903 some “Essays on the Materialistic Con- ception of History.” He was a professor in the University of Rome and his work attracted much attention. He died early in 1804, leaving a book on “So- clallsm and Philosophy,” .which ap- peared first in Itallan and French and has now been translated into English by Ernest Untermann. It is a serfes of femiliar letters addressed to G. Sorel, letters which were never answered. As the author says ‘in ithe closing. letter, “The dialogue was only a monologue.” But the form is s0 simple and direct that the student of sociallsm will have no difficulty i understanding this and * will even enjoy the reading. Mr. Unter- mann has written an appendix, entitled “Antonio Labriola and Joseph Dietzgen A comparison of historical materialism and monist materialism.” Some time ago Dietzgen and his work, “The Posi- tive Qutcome of Philosophy,” were re- viewed in these columns. It is the one comprehensive, logical and satisfactory treatise on the relation of international soclalism and of its philosophy to the | whole of modern science as interpreted by evolution. The closing paragraphs of his appendix are worth quoting: “Antonio Labriola and Joseph Dietzgen have made lasting contributions to socialist thought by bringing these facts home to our understanding. La- briola’s special merit is to have clearly shown that we must study the social conditions which were the cradle of historical materialism if we would un~ derstand its full meaning. He has demonstrated to us that we must fa- miliarize ourselves also with the in- dividual growth of the founders of scientific socialism, of interpreters, its present day elabora- tore. ‘nless we do this we cannot test the extent to which these men realized the implications of their own theorles, their historical position in the general development of human consciousness, nor the extent to which they themselves were consistent in the application of their theories. Only by doing this can we ascertain how much still remains for us to do in the workshop of historie materialism. “Dietzgen’s crowning merit is to have cured historical materialism of its dia- lectic weakness, to have freed it from the last vestiges of metaphysics and to have placed Marx's revolutionary theory on the solid foundation -of an impreg- nable theory of cognition which no re- actionary assauit of metaphysical dual- ism can ever. shatter. “It Temains for us to use diligently and faithfully the instruments which these two workers have added to the arsenal of Marx and Enge (Charles H. Kerr & Ci Chicago. Price $1.) R “Call of the Blood” Not Hichens at His Best The same conscientious study that preceded “The Garden of Allah” went into the preparation of Robert Hichens’ latest novel, “The Call of the Blood. For the atmosphere and color of h album of rarely beautiful and effective desert pictures Hichens lived long in the wide, hot silences of the Sahara; for this later story he spent some months in Bicily, living the life of its people. And yet recently the author met in an Ttallan railway car a man who, having no suspicion of Hichens’ identity, spoke of his Sicilian novel with admiration; but added: “And you know this Hichens never sees these places he writes about. He just stays at home and imagines it all.” There can be no question about the place of “The Call of the Blood” among “best sellers,” but “best selling” is not dependent wholly or at all on actual literary worth. This belongs to the Hterature of atavism. The hero, De- larey, is Bnglish, with a Sicilian strain. The story of his downfall is weak and s0 ill put together that one feels: the situation to have been created merely to meet the eéxigencles of the story— and this not because Englishmen with Sicilian blood sheuld or should not drop back into original conditions when ex- posed suddenly to Sicillan environment, but because of Delarey’s almost pusil- lanimous character all through the story before the Sicilian days. Nothing much was to have been expected of his kind of a2 man under any conditions. And then the girl, “Miss ‘Lester,” was a its prominent™ OB Z‘Z‘éfi‘; BT O O, woman of 34 (alas for the innocent heroines 6f 181), five feet ten in height (and oh for the old-time petite objects of our adoration!) “flat, thin, but strongly built, with a large waist and limbs . which, though vigorous, were rather unwieldy. Her face was plain, rather square and harsh in outline, with blunt, almost coarse features, but a good complexion, clear and healthy, and large, interesting and slightly promi- nent brown eyes, full of kindness, sym- pathy and brightness, full, too, of eager intelligence ‘and of energy, eyes of a ‘woman who was intensely alive both in bedy and in mind.” A candid and yet kindly judgment is that “The Call of the Blood” is not Hichens at Hichens' best. - Grant that it has fine scenes, vivid descriptions and passages of real beauty, and yet it is but a morbid tale of degeneracy and not literature—at least,. not romance literature, It is far from being worthy- of the esthete who wrote “The Green Carnation” or of the artlst who con- ceived ‘The Garden of Allah.” (Harpers, New York. Price $1.50.) e Woman Writer Who Draws Men as Men See Them Mre. Hattie Horner Louthan has writ- ten in *“This Was a Man" a romance worth more than passing mention. The scene is laid in Colorado, of whose places and people Mrs. Louthan's long resfdence there has enabled her to present some vivid picturing. While the story is a romance—one had almost said. pure and simple—it is handled in the strong, vigorous way that fs ecalled “man-fashion.” Her hero, whom men will envy and women adore, has every- thing against him, but wins his way from doubtful -birth and poverty to wealth and honorable position. It is seldom that a woman writer is found drawing the characters of men as men see them. Mrs. Louthan’s hero and her villains, father and son, are remark- able portrayals. As for the high-born lady and gentleman characters in the story they are admirably drawn. The strength of the style is what im- presses the reader. The plot is far from ordinary and most consistently worked out, The story will make a strong bid for a place among the popular noveis of the year. (C. M. Clark Publishing Company, Boston. Price $1.50.) e, Tears and Emotional Stress in Mary Wilkins’ Latest Mary E. Wilkins Freeman is at her best when she turns her pen to such portrayal of character #s is found in her new story, “The Light of the Soul.” She knows the New England nature ag few writers have known it, and writes' of it with the keenest appreciation an understanding. - ” This story s based upon an. acci- dental rriage which Is mnever re- vealed but leads td a number of power- ful situations, It might well be called. the “tragedy” of a soul, rather than “light.” * There is very little light in the story af any kind: The heroine, Maria, i 3 beautiful girl who, through love and acute ‘mental s ng, de- velops a strength - of ch ‘and " CONDUCTED BY UNA i . XS . Bt % > rMeGTrmY, TrIMoR L OF “FOR YOUR SHWEET SHAE sacrifices merself with & courage al- ginners In the study of soclalism. It most superhuman. Further suggestion of the ‘plot would detract from the reader’'s enjoyment. - There i8 too much heart-break in it. One cannot but won- der why one poor girl, leading a pure, blameless life, devoting herself unself-- ishly to other: situation so course, well written. an has lost none of her charm, but with a world so full of pleasant things to think and to te upon, why could not she choose a theme less painful? The very incident about which the whole story turns is unconvincing, at least in this day and age, when young people are only too sophisticated. The book is bound to have many friends, especially those who enjoy cry- ing over a novel; for thers be many ‘who revel in tears and the tragic emo- tions. (Harpers, New York. Price $1.50.) T American, Edition of Karl Marx’s Last and Greatest Work Karl Marx was, without doubt, the greatest writer of his times on social- ism, and “Capital: A Critique of Polit- ical Economy” is the greatest of his writings. He lived only to finish the first volume of this, -his magnum opus, “The Process of Capitalist Pro- duction.” This volume, which was pub- lished in England nearly a guarter of a century ago, has just come to its first American printing. It is a key to the understanding of the social system ‘under which the world of teday is liv- 4ng, and yet it is not a book for be- ¥ % will be found of great benefit to those who wish to discuss socialism intelli- gently, either as friend or enemy. . Marx was broad and fair minded, a constant student of the masters of so- ciology and economics, such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill. He accepted the principles of po- litical economy lald down by them and applied them to the new and revolu- tionary , facts Involved in the devel- opment ‘of machine production, which has separated the laborér from the ownership and control of his tools and materials. This is pot a collection of generalities, but pages. on pages, and chapters on chapters. is crowded with accurate details of conditions as they are today. He polnts out the faults in the sodlal and political sys- tems 'and tells why, in the course of time, they must spell disaster. Realizing that his i1l health would preclude all possibllity of completing. the tremendous work he had laid out for himself, he confided his plans to his intimate friend, Frederick Engels, who continued the task and published the second and third volumes, “The Process of Capitalist Circulation” and “Capital- 1ist Process of Production s a Whole.” Then he, too, di leaving the task to be taken up by Xarl Kautsky. Kautsky, however, found that the material intended for the fourth vol- ume was too voluminous, so e issued it as a se te work un “the title of “Theories of Surplus Value.” None of the.writers of these days takes the pains of Marx and his colaborers. This volume was written~in German, and H. H. COOL E2 2 B SRTEZ e MUDD. FLEOI “ ANE TIFE S DOR> SHATUEL = PTDLD o oo has been translated into both French and English. (Charles H. Kerr & Co., Price $2.) & Advice for Young Women Who Are in Business Of the Making of books of good ad- vice there is no end. The newest of them is “Letters of a Business Woman to Her Niece,” by Caroline A. Huling, herself a husiness woman. she avows, of twenty years” experience. The nicce of this correspondence is real, bu' of tender years—of the cradle age. in- deed—but may stand, as the authoi as it, “for the many who may elect to call me ‘Al Carrie.”” Girls Who are earning their own liv- ing—or thinking about it—caa take many useful suggestions from these I« ters. They touch on every possible ficld of work for women and the subjects are handled with intelligence and =vod sense. (R. ¥. Fenno & Co., New York. Frics ) Qossip of Books and People Who Make Them *“The American Book Prices Curren {ssued by Dodd, Mead & Co., for 1 1908 (the twelfth year) states that 139,- 488 books were sold at auction for that yearly period. Of these the prices are stated at $14,600. A rare edition of the Poe “Al Aasraat” brought $1500. - e Tle Chicago. Miss Jane Addams, known throug out the country for her excellent work at the head of Hull House, in Chicago, is bringing out through the Macmiilan Company a study of the various moral substitutes for war which have Ween developed by. social and economic in- fluences. The title of the book will be ‘“Newer Ideals of Peace.” CFEI T The would-be eccentrics who declare that Byron is an overrated and far from immortal versifier must look with despair, says the New York Tribune, at the succession of new books about the poet. The latest volume is a re- print of Trelawney’'s “Recollections™ of the last days of Byron and Shelley, with an introduction by Professor Dowden. A forthcoming volume is a new “Life of Byron,” by Ernest Coleridge. ‘Who is the poet who, in popular editions, finds the greatest sale? Mr. Shorter assures us that it Is Longfellow and that Byron comes next. . . . Apparently the campaign of London Times' Book Club, which has so deeply stirred the English publishing world, has begun to influence the practical conditions of the market. Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co. are Introduc- ing in London, in modified form, the newspaper system of sale or return. According to their new arrangenfent, the bookseller is to be allowed to re- turn at the end of sixty days one unsold copy out of three coples of a work pur- chased from this house. . . . Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, British Embassador, has written a new novel. Its title and general character are known as yet to a few personal friends of the Embassador, but it will scon be published. The Embassador already has a novel of English life, “Marion Preveryn,” to his credit as an author. It is his purpose following his ap- proaching retirement from public life to devote his life to literary pursuits. . . . Not in water is writ the name of John Keats, but in gold. No less a sum than $2800 was paid in a London auc- tion room the other day for his will, two locks of his hair, and a letter. . . . Grace Gallatin Thompson Seton, wifs of the well known naturalist and au- thor, has written a companion to her “Woman Tenderfoot,” which' will ap- pear in April, through Dubleday, Page & Co., entitled “Nimrod's Wife.” It pur poses to describe the author's travels with her husband and to furnish the modern female traveler with a guide. There are descriptions of places in the Sferras, the Rockies, along the Ottawa River, and in Norway. The full-page pictures and decorations have been , made by Walter ning Sl.onc. . . Miss Constance A. Barnicoot has made some Investigations as to the sort of books girls read. Here is a list of their favorite authors, in order: 1, Ed- na Lyall; 2, H S. Merriman: 3, R. L. Stevenson; 4, Stanley Weyman: 5, An- thony Hope; 6, Marion Crawford; 7, Mrs. Gaskell; 8, Lytton; 9, Marie Co- relli; 10, “Allen Raine.” The Hst ix_ rather curious, and‘one from whieh it would be extremely difficuit to draw any broad deduction as to what par- ticular style of book was most pleas~ ing t° girl readers. X