3 SEPTEMBER 1904, Page 23

The Duke of Cameron Avenue. By Henry Kitchell Webster. (Macmillan

and Co. 2s.)—The "Duke" of this little book is an American "Boss," not a British nobleman, and the story is con- cerned with the efforts of the Warden of what in England would be a " Settlement " to obtain the improvement of housing con- ditions in his district by defeating the " Boss " in a municipal election. The book will furnish interesting reading to any one who wishes to know how American affairs of this sort are managed, and the workings of the " machine " are described clearly enough to be comprehensible by English readers. But it is not nearly so amusing as the author's former stories, "The Short Line War" or "The Banker and the Bear."