ByRe^SSwSbj '' ""  '
 

THE problem of the great city is the problem of modern
civilization. It was brought to the attention of the
thoughtful in 1851 by Henry Mayhew's "London and the
London Poor" ; interest in it was revived a few years ago by
the brief but suggestive little monograph " The Bitter Cry of
Outcast London"; reawakened in 1890 by Gen. Booth's " In
Darkest England and the Way Out" ; and further invaluable
material for its study is furnished by Charles Booth's " Labor
and Life of the People," still in course of publication; and on
this side of the water by Jacob Eiis's life-like study entitled
" How the Other Half Lives." The present volume is in a
noble succession and worthy of the literary class to which it
belongs. Though not the first, it is the most comprehensive
picture of New York city with which I am acquainted; it is
furnished by experts who Know whereof they write, and who
verify their graphic accounts by the indisputable evidence of
the photograph. I am glad to be permitted to recommend it
to American readers. For over a third of a century the sub¬
ject of this book has been one of the subjects of my study—
sometimes in literature, sometimes in life. The realism of this
volume needs no endorsement. If there were such need it
should certainly have mine.

Mr. Loomis, in his admirable monograph, "Modern Cities
and  their Eeliffious Problems,"' has brought together com-
 

' Modern Cities and their Religious Problems, by Samuel Lane Loomis,
see Chapter I.

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