Minor Notices 413 great interest to teachers both of political science and of history. From the results of examinations given in a number of representative uni- versities Professor Schaper shows conclusively that the average college student is grossly ignorant of the essential features of the American government. Students ignorant of the principles of American govern- ment are incapable of getting proper results from college work in Ameri- can history. Every teacher of historical subjects will agree with Pro- fessor Schaper's conclusion (p. 227) that " every candidate for a college degree [should] be required to have attained a certain proficiency in American Government and American History." During the last ten years the colleges and universities have made much progress in the scientific instruction in political science, but little has yet been done in the secondary schools. It is almost a platitude to say that students should be taught the duties of American citizenship, but few realize how little is being done in this direction. Dc I'Esprit dtt Gouvcnicmcnt Dcinocratiquc : Essai dc Science Poli- tique. Par Adolphe Prins. (Bruxelles. Misch et Thron, 1905, pp. ix, 294.) This is the second volume of the Etudes Socialcs of the Institut de Sociologie (Institut Solvay) of Brussels. M. Prins is a pronounced critic of modern democratic institutions; he rejects the theoretical prin- ciples of Rousseau, upon which he finds modern democracy to be based. Rousseau's fundamental idea was that of the sovereignty of the people, and he found the popular will to be expressed by the vote of a numerical majority. Universal suffrage has been the one remedy which liberal statesmen have sought to apply to all political ills. In the opinion of the author universal suffrage and government by a majority have proved to be failures. The majority does not represent all the interests of society, and the tyranny of numbers must be prevented by checks and balances in the organized government. To him a government is demo- cratic only when it represents the numerous social groups of which the state is composed ; representation of interests must be substituted for the representation of members. He finds much of good in the estates, orders, and gilds of medieval states and cities ; his ideal is the solidarity of interests which Gneist thought to be the essential feature of the Eng- lish government before the reform measures of the nineteenth century. The state is only a series of groups or associations, each of which has its passions and its opinions ; society is not homogeneous, and universal suffrage does not secure unity of opinion. There is no stability in national political life because the permanent interests of the various social groups are not represented therein. As a remedy for existing evils our author proposes a greater de- centralization of local government, and representation in national parlia- ments based upon relative worth and education of the various social classes. He speaks approvingly of the three-class electoral system of Prussia, and of proportional representation, but his programme would require a much more extensive reform of representative institutions.
