des, of the younger, led the way through history to an
understanding of American conditions. Economics, sociology, and
government were beginning to have a literature of their own, the last
receiving its strongest impulse from the thoughtful _American
Commonwealth_ of James Bryce.

In the field of periodical literature the rising American taste was
supporting a wider range of magazines. The old and dignified _North
American Review_ was still an arena for political discussion. During
1890 it printed an important interchange of views between William E.
Gladstone and James G. Blaine, on the merits of a protective tariff.
_Harper's Monthly_ and the _Atlantic_ had given employment to the
leading men of letters since before the Civil War. _Leslie's_ and
_Harper's Weeklies_ had added illustration to news, making their place
during the sixties, while the _Independent_ held its own as the leading
religious newspaper and the _Nation_ appeared as a journal of criticism.
_Scribner's_ and the _Century_ had been added more recently to the list
of monthlies, the latter running its great series of reminiscences of
the battles and leaders of the Civil War and its life of Lincoln by
Nicolay and Hay. Improvements in typography and illustration, combined
with greater ease in collecting the news and distributing the product,
made all the periodicals more nearly national.

The periodicals, in a measure, took the place as national leaders that
the newspapers had before. The newspaper as a personal expression was
passing away, as the great editors of Horace Greeley's generation died.
The younger editors were making investments rather than journalistic
tools out of their papers. Trade and advertisement used this vehicle to
approach their customers. News collecting became more prompt and
adequate, but the opinion of the papers dwindled. They bought their
news from syndicates or associations, as they bought paper or ink. The
counting-house was coming to outrank the editorial room in their
management.

Through the new literature the changing nature of American life was
portrayed, and as the life reshaped itself under nationalizing
influences theology lost much of its old narrowness. Among religious
novels _Robert Elsmere_ was perhaps most widely read. The struggle
between orthodoxy and the new criticism had got out of the control of
the professional theologians and had permeated the laity. A revised
version of the Old and New Testaments gave new