o the State, but one laden
with many of the characteristics of a liability. "The managers of the
corporate body to which he (the Negro) belonged," says the writer,
"would have been relieved, could they have written him as an item off
their accounts. Nevertheless the sympathetic personal attachment of
many whites to individual negro servants, whether slave or free, was
permanent." Thus ends an informing book with several misconceptions,
but nevertheless fraught with valuable facts.

_Batouala._ By RENE MARAN. Albin Michel, Editor. Paris, 1921. Pp.
189.

This is a novel which was awarded the Goncourt prize in 1921. Inasmuch
as it is socially historical, it contains many facts throwing light on
the conditions of Africa. Born on the Island of Martinique where the
conditions of colonial rule were different from those obtaining in
Africa, the scenes of which inspired this indictment of the white
man's civilization, Rene Maran doubtless found the situation there so
revolting that it evoked from him this work. Without concealing the
faults of the natives, Maran discusses the robber concession companies
in Africa, forced labor, high taxes and exorbitant prices for goods
sold to the natives. Inasmuch as there were no railroads or "pack
animals," the Negroes themselves were impressed into a "pack-man
system" which together with the Tsetse fly has worked havoc in Africa.
The author maintains that this "pack carrying" has caused the death of
more than one million Negroes and cites as evidence that in one town
the blacks rebelled against this portage service because it was
considered better to die than to undergo such a hardship. The book is
intended to emphasize the importance of remedying these abuses and
suggests as the proper reform that the concessions granted these
private companies should be withdrawn and that nature should be given
the opportunity to repair the damage done by white men.

This is a stirring note from a man of African blood speaking for
Africa from the point of view of the native himself. It is a distinct
contribution in that we have a different view from that appearing in
the works of white men who have travelled through that continent,
seeing it from the outside and then only "through a glass darkly." The
cause of truth in that quarter is now fortunate in having there a
number of intelligent Africans who, after having been trained in the
mission schools and in the best universities of Europe an