 George Rae, with an American Preface by Brayton Ives. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 320. Price, $1.50.
This work, eminently practical in its teachings, presents the results of forty years' experience in banking. Its purpose "is not to formulate afresh the fundamental principles of banking, but rather to show those principles in operation; to exhibit, so to speak, the machinery of banking in motion;. . . less to advance special views of my own, than to exemplify, from fresh points of observation, the accustomed lines and recognized limits of prudent banking." The epistolary form is used—the author taking the position of a person writing instructions to the manager of the bank—because it gives scope to a more familiar treatment of the subject, with such success that Mr. Ives is able to say, in his preface to the American edition, that the book is a notable exception to the admitted rule that the average writer on financial subjects lacks the ability to treat them in an attractive manner. "Without being pedantic, or too technical, the author has written a book which is so admirable in style that it presents strong claims to public attention, viewed solely from a literary standpoint. . . . The author's experience of thirty-five years in a bank did not convert him into a machine, nor make him unmindful of everything except money-getting. Out of banking hours he must have read many good books, and thought carefully over their contents. We find everywhere signs of his keen knowledge of human nature. He recognizes and demonstrates the fact that successful bankers must have some, at least, of the cardinal virtues; that they must be courteous, honorable, prudent, and industrious."
Industrial and High Art Education in the United States. By I. Edwards Clarke. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 1100.
This volume is part of a report on the subject described in the title made by the author to the United States Commissioner of Education. The report complete will include four volumes. The particular branch of the subject here discussed is "Drawing in Public Schools." The object sought in the preparation of the report, as stated by the author, has been to place in the hands of educators and educational officers "the material not only for forming an intelligent judgment upon the advisability of introducing the study of drawing into the public schools, but also, as well, to furnish the facts needed for a like consideration of the questions arising in regard to establishing special schools of technical industrial art training, high art academies, public art museums, art libraries, and of making occasional public loan exhibitions." The volume is in two parts; the report and the appendices, besides an introductory chapter. The report also is in two parts. The first part consists of fourteen "original preliminary papers," occupying 258 pages, "suggesting the direct and indirect relations of art to education, to industry, and to national prosperity," which are grouped under the general heading of "The Democracy of Art." In the second part, of 411 pages, the subject is considered, historically, with respect to England and America (particularly Massachusetts), to the present position of drawing in several States of the Union, and to concurrent contemporary testimony concerning drawing in the public schools. The appendices contain papers relating to early efforts to introduce drawing as a branch of popular education, in the United States and in England; to the origin, development, and purpose of industrial art education; to the management of the Massachusetts State Normal Art School; to the Industrial Art-training Exhibits in the Centennial Exhibition; to Governmental Aid to Education in the Industrial and Fine Arts in Great Britain; to Industrial Education; and to the International Conference on Education, held in London, in August, 1884. The preparation of the report was begun in 1877, or of a part of it, as indicated in one of the statements, as far back as 1874. The work has since been added to several times, but not, apparen