Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/748

 724 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

initiative, cited by the author, is the creation of a state board of embalmers by act of the state board of health, after the legislature had refused to create such a body. Some interesting anomalies in Iowa's experience are pointed out, such as the state board of education of 1857, and the despotic reign of the county judge under the authority granted by the code of 1851. The unfortunate experience of the state in its attempt to segregate state and local sources of income is clearly traced, and the deplorable results indicated. In discussing the subject of taxation the author might well have referred to the famous " tax ferret" law of 1900, which allows the county board of supervisors to contract with private firms for the discovery of taxable property not reported by the assessor. The "ferrets" are allowed 15 per cent, of the taxes on the property unearthed.

On the whole, Dr. Bowman might almost as well have used the title "A Study in Decentralization," for Iowa is still far from anything like an administrative unity. Urban and industrial conditions such as accompany the administrative changes in Massachusetts and New York do not obtain there, and the old system of local self-government has been allowed to take its own leisurely way. The author has undoubt- edly demonstrated, however, that the prevailing tendency is in the direction of administrative centralization.

The volume is written in an interesting style, with a good sense of the relative importance of facts, and is an excellent example of the kind of a study that might profitably be made of the other states yet unde- scribed. C. E. MERRIAM.

Industrial and Social History Series. By KATHERINE ELIZABETH DOPP, PH.D. Book I, "The Tree-Dwellers the Age of Fear." Chicago:' Rand, McNally & Co. Pp. 160, I2mo. A NORMAL SCHOOL teacher some years ago sent out the inquiry to school directors : " With what kinds of apparatus do you wish your teachers to be familiar when they leave the training school ?" One answer was significant : " What we want most is teachers who can get along without any apparatus. We have no money to spend." There is no questioning the prime importance of the personality of the teacher, but the demands within the school today require better train- ing, more leisure, more expenditure of money than ever before ; and the objection is not valid that such work as is outlined by Dr. Dopp may do for schools with abundant resources, but has no place in those maintained at public expense. If this type of material is valuable for