Out of the West. By Elizabeth Higgins. (Harper and Brothers.
6s.)—Mrs. Higgins appears to write in the interests sf the Populist party. American politics are somewhat obscure to all but a few specially informed observers on this side What we have heard of the Populists has not recommended them to our favourable judgment. Mrs. Higgins puts, or at least does her best to put, a different colour on their action. Frank Field, who has wasted time and money in New York, is sent out by his father, a millionaire, to take charge of a property, two grain elevators and surroundings, in the Far West. The'region is visited with a drought; poverty follows it, and in the winter, starvation, both of hunger and cold. Banks fail, and the whole place is reduced to despair. Then the real Frank comes out, the development being quickened by his love for a woman lecturer who takes up her parable against the greedy capitalism of the East. We must own that the story does not always explain itself. But it is easy to see that it is a powerful bit of work, and inspired by a strong conviction. And what things American writers will venture to say of their own institutions !
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