A similar difficulty is always presented when one attempts a cross-section of any history, for periods are even more artificial than state lines. Economically the “Decade” of the Civil War does not have those distinguishing features which are generally used to mark off, for convenience of study, one set of years from another. Doubtless the consideration which determined the selection was again artificial, the United States system of decennial censuses. Mr. Merk, however, allows himself more latitude in this case, and his work actually covers the real economic period, 1857 to 1873.
The chronological difficulty is intensified by the rapid changes of a new community. Wheat growing reaches its apex and declines, lumbering waxes, but neither begins nor culminates, movements feebly originate that are later of absorbing interest. The adjustment of proportions between these conflicting interests is delicately handled. The picture is that of the time, but the stage in the development of each industry is clearly indicated, and the origins of later movements given in some detail. The volume will afford a base for histories of the earlier and later periods, but has not skimmed their cream.
The technical character of the work is high. Newspapers and statistics were not only used, but are analyzed. The great resources of the State Historical Society were supplemented by personal interviews. The volume contains ample footnotes, illustrations, a map, index, but no bibliography. Its make-up is in the new, and more satisfactory, form recently adopted by the Society.
The title indicates that the center of interest is the effect of war on the Wisconsin community. This problem runs throughout, and is of especial interest today. Mr. Merk emphasizes the relative facility of adjustment in an agricultural community. Another general feature is the tendency toward coöperation in industry, particularly agriculture, for the purposes of education and general improvement, which later became so characteristic of Wisconsin.
Agriculture properly opens the volume with its vital but somewhat monotonous progress enlivened by the lively episode of hops. Lumbering receives fewer pages, but two chapters; the first, on the industry, the second, on the lumber wars. Railroads receive five chapters and almost as many pages as both, including two picturesque fights, which formed, in large measure, the basis of state politics during the period. Banking and trade about equal agriculture, and reveal a
state youthful but less reckless than many others. A chapter on labor is chiefly concerned with the beginnings of the labor movement, labor in industry being largely discussed in connection with the various fields. There are other chapters on mining, manufacturing, the commerce of the Upper Mississippi, and the commerce of the Great Lakes. No one reading of the lumber wars or the Anti-Monopoly Revolt can complain that economic history is dry.
The most unique contribution is doubtless that on the history of lumbering. Nevertheless the study of railroading reveals the advantages in taking up so vast a subject by localities. Generalizations become vivid by the detail that is given them. One sees how the railroads were unscrupulous, how the voters were unreasonable. The handling of such questions on a scale that involves personalities is a searching test of historical poise, and Mr. Merk shows a candor and a fair-mindedness that are impeccable; he sometimes criticizes action, but never impugns the motive.
The reviewer hesitates to close without adverse criticism, for fear that the review may be considered perfunctory. He could not, with honesty, do otherwise than express his conviction that the work is unusual in the degree and the well-rounded proportion of its excellence. If anything more could be desired, it seems to be a concluding chapter, not to add new facts, but to give a greater sense of development. Each chapter moves, but the topical method brings its inevitable result; one cannot entirely escape the impression of a street corner rather than a river bank.
Carl Russell Fish.
Two of the four leading articles in the October number of the American Historical Review are by Wisconsin men. Prof. Herbert E. Bolton, now of California, discusses “The Mission as a Frontier Institution in the Spanish-American Colonies.” Prof. W. T. Root, of the University of Wisconsin, writes of “The Lords of Trade and Plantations.” Other leading articles in the magazine are “A Case of Witchcraft” by George L. Kittredge, and “The History of German Socialism Reconsidered” by Prof. C. J. H. Hayes.