The June number of the _Mississippi Valley Historical Review_ contains as a leading article a valuable account of the Doukhobors in Canada. Other articles worthy of note are Professor Robertson’s “Sectionalism in Kentucky from 1855 to 1865,” and the annual survey of historical activities in the Old Northwest for the preceding year. Our Wisconsin readers will be gratified by the opening sentence of the survey: “The State Historical Society of Wisconsin continues to maintain its leading position among historical agencies of this region.” To those of our readers who are as yet unacquainted with the _Review_ we are glad to commend it as the livest and best historical periodical in America, saving only the _American Historical Review_. Because it belongs to our own section of the country its contents are probably of greater interest and value to most middle-western readers than are those even of the _American Historical Review_. Membership in the association is open to all; members receive the quarterly _Review_ together with the annual volume of _Proceedings_ of the association.
The leading articles in the July number of the _American Historical Review_ possess an unusual degree of timeliness. Prof. S. B. Fay writes on “The Beginnings of the Standing Army in Prussia.” Two Civil War articles are “The Northern Railroads, April, 1861,” and “The Confederate Government and the Railroads.” The former of these is by Prof. Carl R. Fish of the University of Wisconsin. Finally, James A. Robertson, who went from Wisconsin to the librarianship of the Manila Public Library, gives an account of “The Philippines since the Inauguration of the Philippine Assembly.” Included in the book reviews are full-page notices of the two recently issued volumes of this Society’s _Collections_, No. XXII and No. XXIII.
Of military history and principles most Americans are woefully ignorant. Those who would improve their knowledge of these things can hardly do better than to become readers of _The Military Historian and Economist_ edited jointly by Capt. Arthur L. Conger, U. S. A., and Prof. R. M. Johnston of Harvard. Timely and stimulating articles in the July number of the magazine are Émile Laloy’s discussion of “French Military Theory” and an anonymous contributor’s “Estimate of the Situation.” The writer believes that the most effective military course for the United States to take is to keep at home the larger part of the army now in process of creation, and by so doing enable our navy to be sent into the Pacific to establish there a secure Anglo-American predominance. The considerations which lead to these conclusions cannot, of course, be set forth in this brief note.