Abstract

Books in Brief

The article provides information about various books. "The Modern Development of City Government in the United Kingdom and the United States," by Ernest S. Griffith is a study of comparative municipal government. He traces historically and analytically city government in the United States and in Great Britain. Griffith's main conclusion is that the government of cities should be comparatively free from central control and that local taxation of real property should be based on its capital value rather than on the annual income. On both of these features American cities excel the British. "Samuel Butler and His Family Relations," by R. S. Garnett is a curiously informal addition to the information about Samuel Butler. Garnett, whose mother was a cousin of Butler's mother, started out to rescue Butler's parents and sisters from the terrible life beyond life that he had conferred upon them in "The Way of All Flesh."