Both of these books are strong, and both are materialistic; and materialism, it must be granted, is a very important factor in the world just now.  Somewhat different in outlook, however, is the book that labors under an economic subject, Empire and Commerce in Africa.  In general the inquiry is concerned with the question, What do we desire to attain, particularly economically, in Africa, and how far is it attainable through policy?  The discussion is mainly confined to the three powers:  England, France, and Germany; and special merit attaches to the chapter on Abyssinia, probably the best brief account of this country ever written.  Mr. Woolf announces such fundamental principles as that the land in Africa should be reserved for the natives; that there should be systematic education of the natives with a view to training them to take part in, and eventually control, the government of the country; that there should be a gradual expatriation of all Europeans and their capitalistic enterprises; that all revenue raised in Africa should be applied to the development of the country and the education and health of the inhabitants; that alcohol should be absolutely prohibited; and that Africa should be completely neutralized, that is, in no case should any military operations between European states be allowed.  The difficulties of the enforcement of such a program are of course apparent to the author; but with other such volumes as this to guide and mold opinion, the time may indeed come at no distant date when Africa will cease to exist solely for exploitation and no longer be the rebuke of Christendom.

These four books then express fairly well the different opinions and hopes with which Africa and the world problem that the continent raises have recently been regarded.  It remains simply to mention a conception that after the close of the war found many adherents in the United States and elsewhere, and whose operation was on a scale that forced recognition.  This was the idea of the Provisional Republic of Africa, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League of the World, the Black Star Line of steamships, and the Negro Factories Corporation, all of which activities were centered in New York, had as their organ the Negro World, and as their president and leading spirit Marcus Garvey, who was originally from Jamaica.  The central thought that appealed to great crowds of people and won their support was that of freedom for the race in every sense of the word.  Such freedom, it was declared, transcended the mere demand for the enforcement of certain political and social rights and could finally be realised only under a vast super-government guiding the destinies of the race in Africa, the United States, the West Indies, and everywhere else in the world.  This was to control its people “just as the Pope and the Catholic Church control its millions in every land.”  The related ideas and activities were sometimes termed grandiose and they awakened much opposition on the part of the old leaders, the clergy, while conservative business stood aloof.  At the same time the conception is one that deserves to be considered on its merits.