Of particular significance and originality is the arrangement of topics by years in such a manner that the student receives something new in each grade. Even although all the work centers about the history of the United States, yet there is no deadening repetition year after year. The topics are carefully selected for each grade with a view to increasing difficulty with the advancing years of the student. Perhaps no one feature of the report marks a more distinct advance than this arrangement. Not only should the report have a strong influence upon the arrangement of the elementary history course, but it should also lead to a great improvement in the instruction of history. Not every teacher can meet the requirements set by the committee; the result will be a wider adoption of the “group” or “department” system, by which the teacher is given charge of one subject or of a group of allied topics, such as English and history, or geography and nature study. Such a division of labor is in accord with the tendencies of the day; it is in the interests of superior work in all subjects; and it means increased mental development not for the child alone, but for the teacher as well. The report would deserve a hearty welcome if it did no more than advance the cause of the departmental or group teacher. It will do much more than this. It will add dignity to the work in history; it will give school administrators an ideal of work in the subject; and best of all, it will give the children of the nation a course in history which will be stimulating and of definite cultural value. Teachers of history and school administrators should unite to see that the new plan is given a fair test under the best possible circumstances. High school and college teachers should join with elementary teachers in endorsing this plan for raising the standard of history teaching in America. Readings in Government and Politics PROFESSOR BEARD’S WORK REVIEWED BY JOHN HAYNES, PH.D., DORCHESTER HIGH SCHOOL, BOSTON, MASS.