Editorialana. 95
ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA.
The latest and one of the best
encyclopedias to appear is that known
as the Encyclopedia Americana, published
under the auspices of the
Scientific American Company and edited
by Frederick Converse Beach
and a corps of competent assistants. It
comprises sixteen large volumes
and is produced in the best mechanical
and typographical form with
copious illustrations, maps, tables,
etc. One of its excellent features is
that the articles on leading subjects
are written by well-known and
acknowledged authorities over their
subscribed names. This gives the
topics thus treated an unusual
attraction and value. The article on Ohio
is contributed by the Honorable Daniel
J. Ryan, Ex-Secretary of State
and trustee of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society. It
goes without saying that Mr. Ryan has
produced a most scholarly, read-
able and comprehensive chapter. The
article would occupy some fifty
pages of an ordinary 12 mo. book and
treats tersely of the typography,
hydrography, and geology of the State,
its natural resources; material,
industrial, agricultural and other
productions, its educational and charit-
able institutions; its development and
government. The portion devoted
to the history of the Buckeye State from
earliest pre-state times to the
present is a recital particularly
satisfactory and interesting. Few, if any,
students are better versed in the
history of Ohio than is Mr. Ryan and
in the compass of a few thousand words
he has given in clear and logical
sequence the brief events in the
remarkable and romantic narrative of
the emerging of the great and powerful
Ohio Commonwealth from the
early days when La Salle (1669) on his
journey of adventure discovered
the Ohio River and ascended its waters
from the Mississippi to the site
of Louisville. Mr. Ryan's chapter is the
best sketch of Ohio "in a nut
shell" we have yet seen in any
publication.
GOVERNMENT OF OHIO.
The Government of Ohio, its history and
administration is a new
volume just issued from the press of the
Macmillan Company of New
York and written by Wilbur H. Siebert,
professor of European History
at the Ohio State University; author of
the Underground Railroad from
Slavery to Freedom. This little volume
is an admirable and reliable
compendium of the history of the State
and the structure and machinery
of its government. It deals with the
growth of the government, begin-
ning with Ohio as a part of the Northwest
Territory and following the
events that led to the organization of
Ohio as a state. Chapters follow
in logical order concerning the
character of the state constitution, citizen-
ship, suffrage, local governments of the
state, the administration of jus-
tice, control of economic interests,
management of public finances and