passions of the less
educated whites--rise to curtail freedom of thought and act."

Out of this mass of material examined one would expect a more unbiased
treatment. The work suffers from some of the defects of most Reconstruction
writers, although the author has endeavored to write with restraint and
care. One man is made almost a hero while another is found wanting. The
white Southerner could not but be a Democrat but no excuse is made for the
Negro who had no alternative but to ally himself with those who claimed to
represent his emancipator. The State was at one time bordering on economic
ruin because the Negroes became migratory and would not comply with their
labor contracts. Little is said, however, about the evils arising from the
attitude of Southern white men who have never liked to work and that of
those who during this period, according to the author, formed roving bands
for plundering and stealing. But we are too close to the history of
Reconstruction to expect better treatment. We are just now reaching the
period when we can tell the truth about the American Revolution. We must
yet wait a century before we shall find ourselves far enough removed from
the misfortunes and crimes of Reconstruction to set forth in an unbiased
way the actual deeds of those who figured conspicuously in that awful
drama.

NOTES

"That the idea of a 'Secretary of Peace' for the United States is no new
thing was brought out in the course of a paper by P. Lee Phillips, read by
President Allen C. Clark before the Columbia Historical Society, which met
at the Shoreham Hotel last night.

"In the course of the paper, entitled 'The Negro, Benjamin Banneker,
Astronomer and Mathematician,' it was brought out that Banneker, who was a
free Negro, friend of Washington and Jefferson, published a series of
almanacs, unique in that they were his own work throughout. In the almanac
for 1793 one of the articles from Banneker's pen was 'A Plan of Peace
Office for the United States,' for promoting and preserving perpetual
peace. This article was concise and well written, and contains most of the
ideas set forth today by advocates of peace. Banneker took a 'crack' at
European military ideas, and advocated the abolishment in the United States
of military dress and titles and all militia laws. He laid down laws for
the construction of a great temple of peace in which hymns were to be sung
each day.

"Mr. Phillips's paper brought out that Ba