DAWES, CHARLES G. Journal of the Mc-Kinley Years. Pp. xxiv, 458. Chicago: The Lakeside Press, 1950. $3.00
| Author | Kenneth W. Hechler |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625127400151 |
| Published date | 01 March 1951 |
| Date | 01 March 1951 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
224
book
is
remedial
reading
for
those
who
would
govern
rather
than
represent,
for
the
intolerant
majorities,
and
for
those
who
would
debate
rather
than
seek
objectivity.
The
Pollards
offer
much
to
those
who
meet
in
small
groups
and
town
meetings
just
as
a
contemplative
rereading
of
The
Federal-
ist,
No.
10,
by
Madison,
would
offer
much
to
the
contending
parliamentary
captains
of
our
time.
ALFRED
HAINES
COPE
Syracuse
University
WAGER,
PAUL
W.
(Ed.).
County
Govern-
ment
Across
the
Nation.
Pp.
xiii,
817.
Chapel
Hill:
University
of
North
Car-
olina
Press,
1950.
$7.50.
All
teachers
of
local
government
should
find
this
book
useful.
It
contains
more
material,
and
more
representative
material,
on
American
counties,
townships,
and
school
districts
than has
ever
been
as-
sembled
in
any
volume.
One
town
in
each
New
England
state,
and
one
county
in
every
other
state,
is
discussed
in
some
detail.
Professor
Wager,
who
served
as
general
editor
of
this
book,
wrote
ten
of
these
chapters
on
the
individual
towns
or
counties;
in
addition,
he
wrote
a
41-page
general
introduction
and
four
chapters
on
the
principal
types
of
local
government.
The
remainder
of
the
fifty-three
chapters
were
written
by
professors
of
political
science
in
various
colleges
or
universities
and
by
public
officials.
Some
of
the
studies
of
particular
counties
aie
very
good
indeed;
others,
however,
seem
overcautious
and
uncritical;
still
others
read
like
summaries
from
the
guide-
books
of
the
WPA
writers’
project.
They
do
present,
nevertheless,
a
fair
sampling
from
the
great
variety
of
local
government
forms
in
use
in
the
United
States.
In
our
preoccupation
with
national
and
international
problems
of
government
and
administration
we
have
neglected
local
government,
especially
the
American
county.
&dquo;Taking
the
country
as,
a
whole,&dquo;
writes
Professor
Wager
on
page
31,
&dquo;it
is
apparent
that
the
structure
of
county
gov-
ernment
is
not
well
suited
to
the
tasks
which
it
has
to
perform.
In
many
instances
it
does
not
conform
in
area
with
a
social
and
economic
area ...
it
has
too
limited
a
tax
base....
In.
a
third
of
the
states,
the
presence
of
townships
prevents
even
a
county-wide
attack
on
its
problems....
Moreover,
the
counties
lack
the
powers
which
they
need
to
meet
present
day
prob-
lems.&dquo;
Probably
few
students
of
local
gov-
ernment
will
disagree
with
these
or
the
other
criticisms
that
Professor
Wager
makes.
There
certainly
was
a
need
for
such
a
book
as
this,
but
it
is
most
regrettable
that
the
costs
of
publishing
have
increased
so
much
that
a
basic
study
such
as
this
must
sell
for
$7.50.
Many
students
in
courses
in
local
government
will
have
to
read
it
in
their
libraries
when
they
should
buy
and
keep
it.
DAYTON
D.
McKEAN
Dartmouth
College
DAWES,
CHARLES
G.
Journal
of
the
Mc-
Kinley
Years.
Pp.
xxiv,
458.
Chicago:
The
Lakeside
Press,
1950.
$3.00.
This
book
takes
us
back
to
a
remarkable
period
in
the
life
of
Charles
G.
Dawes,
1893-1913.
Few
people
now
recall
that
Dawes
at
the
age
of
31
was
second
in
com-
mand
of
the
Republican
national
campaign
in
1896,
and
that
he
was
a
close
personal
confidant
of
President
McKinley.
The
Dawes
Journal
has
been
edited
by
Bascom
N.
Timmons,
who
supplies
a
very
good
15-page
&dquo;Foreword&dquo;
to
single
out
the
high
spots
and
lay
the
background
for
the
Journal.
Dawes
states
in
his
Journal
that
he
is
writing
his
account
of
daily
events
for
his
children.
He
deals
with
so
many
public
figures
and
events
that
there
is
something
here
also
for
the
political
historians.
The
Journal
contains
some
interesting
sidelights
on
the
bitterness
between
Mark
Hanna
and
Theodore
Roosevelt,
how
Hanna
worked
strenuously
to
prevent
Roosevelt’s
nomination
as
Vice-President,
and
how
much
Roosevelt
distrusted
Hanna’s
inten-
tions
after
McKinley’s
assassination.
Here
and
there
one
runs
across
a
few
nuggets
of
character
appraisal
when
Dawes
lets
down
his
hair.
Unfortunately,
these
nug-
gets
are
difficult
to
find,
and
the
book
is
cluttered
up
with
irrelevant,
minor,
and
family
observations.
The
book
gets
better
as
it
proceeds.
In
the
early
years
Dawes
tried
to
make
an
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