The Establishment of the State Government in California, 1846-1850. By Cardinal Goodwin, M. A. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1914. Pp. 359. $2.00.)
This book covers the period of California history from 1846 to 1850, dividing the period into three parts. It deals first with the period from the American acquisition of the territory to the meeting of the constitutional convention; then follows the history of the constitutional convention; and the last part deals with the organization of the State government.
Much new material has been used and consequently many accepted facts and interpretations have been proven fallacious. One of these errors was the great influence of New York on the constitution; but Goodwin finds that Iowa contributed about seventy of the hundred and thirty-six articles and New York only twenty. He also has found new material which explains the entrance of the slavery question into the State: a Texan using his slaves for mining claim registry.
The book is well written; it is, however, a bit broken and irregular in its story through following carefully the chronology of events. The conclusion is very disappointing as a resume of the whole book, of the valuation of the new material and of the events.
J. N. Bowman.
Proceedings of the Washington Bankers' Association. Nineteenth Annual Convention, 1914. (Spokane, Shaw & Borden, 1914., Pp. 232.)
This volume, compiled by W. H. Martin, the Secretary of the Association, gives the Proceedings of the 1914 Convention, held in Walla Walla. All similar records of the proceedings of Washington associations become a part of the institutional history of the state. Of special interest in the present volume is an article on the History of the Walla Walla Valley by Allen H. Reynolds.