Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/412

 402 Reviezus of Books of a national constitutional convention to prepare the amendment; no less than twent}' states having made application to Congress. If, as a result of the Interstate Convention at Des Moines previously referred to, the necessary two-thirds majority of the state legislatures shall be secured — as now seems probable — what will follow? Will the Senate still attempt to block the way, or will it permit recourse to the hitherto untried method of proposing amendments? Will it raise technical ob- jections of procedure? For example, what are the time limits within which the application of two-thirds of the states must be received to make the calling of the convention obligatory? This is not discussed by Dr. Haynes, but it was under consideration by the Senate Committee on Elections in 1902. Some of the members held that the memorials must be passed during the life of the Congress to which they were ad- dressed. By others it was urged that the applications needed only to be reasonably contemporaneous. The uncertainty of this point as well as other questions of interpretation that have arisen in the past sug- gests the desirability of regulating by law the whole matter of procedure under the provisions of Article V. What are the advantages of the proposed change? After a full and sympathetic marshalling of the arguments for and against, the author attempts to forecast the probable effectiveness of popular election. He believes that it would improve the character of the Senate, although this belief does not amount to a conviction ; " it is best," he warns us (p. 267), "not to entertain too optimistic anticipations." "The lower- ing of the tone in the Senate " cannot " be attributed solely to the method of election . . . but to general influences which have lowered and commerciaHzed American politics" {ibid.). On the other hand, he believes that " the decisive advantages of the change . . . would be found in its effects . . . upon the individual States " (pp. 268-269). This work may be commended as a scholarly, impartial, and rational discussion of a great national problem. Herman V. Ames. The Legislative History of Naturalization in the United States From the Revolutionary War to 1861. By Frank George Franklin, Ph.D., Professor of History and Political Science in the Uni- versity of the Pacific. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1906. Pp. ix, 308.) Since 1861 there have been about a dozen laws passed on the sub- ject of naturalization, beginning with the act of July 17, 1862, which permitted the naturalization of honorably discharged soldiers after a residence in the United States of one year, and ending with the moment- ous act of June 29, 1906, which for the first time put supervision of naturalization in the hands of the federal government. Mr. Franklin's book was written before this act was passed, but it ought to have been brought up to date. The interesting chapter on " Expatriation ", for !