ALUMNI PUBLICATIONS

Advertising as a Vocation, by FREDERICK J. ALLEN '89, A.M. The Macmillan Company, 1919.

In these days of reckless advertising expenditure, when corporations are lured by the siren advertising agencies and solicitors to spend money for advertising instead of paying income taxes with it, when modest firms who have hitherto hidden their heads under the shadow of their own obscurity, suddenly dash into full pages—to tell the world that perhaps after all, their recapitalization plan might possibly be a good investment for the public, it is indeed a pleasure to get hold of a book like Mr. Allen's and find that there are some real advertising fundamentals after all. To be sure, there is nothing particularly new in the book in so far as it discusses the mechanics, mediums and methods of advertising, but there is a sincerity of treatment, a definiteness in statement that should do much to clear away some of the popular misconceptions regarding the advertising business. Mr. Allen's real contribution to advertising literature, is his ability to analyze so* complex a subject and to arouse an intelligent interest in the business of advertising is a calling. Here for the first time is a clear, concise statement of the requirements of the profession and the business opportunities it offers. He has entirely cleared away the "temperamental haze," the "artistic lure" of advertising and placed the fundamentals before the reader as one would describe any basic business principles. The "mystery" has departed and in its place we find a real business based upon real business principles and offering opportunities for financial advancement. If there is one point of criticism, it lies in the fact that Mr. Allen has perhaps not sufficiently emphasized the general relation of sales to advertising. One writer has said that no man who hasn't sold merchandise on the roa, can write a real book on advertising. After all, advertising that does not sell, is not advertising. Therefore, it might perhaps have been an improvement, had the selling phase been a little more developed when discussing the qualifications and opportunities of an advertising manager. Taken as a whole, however, Mr. Allen's book has performed a very real service in defining the field of advertising opportunity, and for the better development of advertising as a real business force.

H. R. W.

Education in Ancient Israel to 70 A.D. FLETCHER HARPER SWIFT '98, PH.D., Professor of Education, University of Minnesota. The Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago, 1919.

When one comes to review the long array of books which have been written on the interpretation and exegesis of the Old Testament and on Jewish history in general, and endeavors to find in them any adequate treatment of the education of the Jews, he is amazed to find that there has been none! True enough, there have been some sketches of the educational system of the Hebrews included in various cyclopedias, and some magazine articles have been written on the subject, but these have either been so sketchy as to be quite inadequate, or they have been quite out of date in the light of modern investigation, or they have been largely expressions of personal opinion not based upon scientific evidence. Accordingly, Dartmouth men will feel pride that Professor Swift has felt this need keenly enough to meet it with a very adequate and scholarly study of the two great periods of Hebrew history ending with 70 A.D. His work has meant the sifting out, from a great mass of material, of those facts which have to do with the development of a system of education which finally made possible the cultivation and preservation of the remarkable national characteristics that have preserved the character of the Hebrews through all the centuries to the present time. When one comes to consider the effect of this educational system, not only upon these Hebrews themselves, but upon the rest of the world, in the background which it laid for our entire conception of God, it is remarkable that more attention has not been paid to it by scholars in the history of education. This omission has given Professor Swift his opportunity, and he has grasped it with full understanding and consequent success.

Hebrew education involves three periods, the Native or Pre-Exilic, from early nomadism to the Babylonian exile, 586 B.C.; the Scribal, from 586 to the dispersion, 70 A.D.; and the Talmudic, from 70 A.D. to the final redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, 550 A. D. Of these, the last has been adequately treated by Hebrew writers, and so the author has concerned himself with the first two. In working out material which is subject to considerable lapses of time, there is always a temptation on the part of the historian to interpolate subjective explanations of these omissions, and to employ ingenious theories unfounded on scientific fact, to supply missing data. The author has done admirably in refraining from any of these temptations; yet he comments upon such portions of his material as seem to need interpretation, in such a way as to indicate his objective point of view, and yet to follow logical lines of thought as suggested by his interpretations. The result is that there is very little of the text which is subject to controversy, a fact which makes the book especially valuable to the student of education who is looking for facts, rather than theories. To the casual reader, who is at all familiar with his Bible, the book carries intrinsic interest and makes an informing commentary upon many phases of Bible record which have not been heretofore considered in connection with education. The excerpts from older historians have been extremely well chosen, and the selection from Edersheim at the close of the study of the educative influence of the temple is a remarkable piece of literature.

The picture of the position of the Jewish teacher in the days of the scribes as given by the author is well worthy of being translated into our own practice with regard to the place of the teacher in America: "The greatest reward of the teachers of every rank was the love, gratitude, esteem and veneration in which they were held by the community. In public and in private they were treated with a marked and particular respect, and no man in a Jewish community occupied a more esteemed or a more enviable position.

The volume is copiously annotated, and is in every way scholarly. It is sure to interest the general reader as well as the student of education or of the Bible.

R. H. J.

"The Formation and Adoption of the Fed- eral Constitution" by Charles M. Stevens '78 has been reprinted in pamphlet form from the Eugene: (Oregon) Daily Guard.

The Macmillan Co. are announcing a new and revised edition of "History of Economic Thought" by Lewis A. Haney '03.

The Saturday Evening Post for Feb. 21 contains a story, "Evered," by Ben Ames Williams '10. His novel, "All the Brothers Were Valiant," is running serially in the issues of the Boston Post.

"With Cowardly Cunning," a story by Gene Markey '18 appears in the January number of The Parisienne.