Semi Weekly South Kentuckian

With all her other troubles—in Egypt, and Ireland, and Asia—old England has also been passing through a serious agricultural crisis, in which the ancient proverbial expression, "as good as wheat," lost its force, for the price of that commodity touched the lowest point it has reached in the life of this generation. What brought on the crisis, what were its effects, and what remedies have been proposed, are questions that concern the American almost as much as the Englishman, whether he be a producer or a consumer of wheat; and they are very ably and clearly discussed in an article by William E. Bear, editor of the Mark Lane Express, in the North American Review for April. In the same number, Charles Dudley Warner presents an interesting "Study of Prison Management," while Robt Buchanan, the English poet, discusses "Free Thought in America," T. V. Powderly "The Army of the Discontented," and Prof. Hunt "How to Reform English Spelling." The other articles are: "The Law's Delay," by Chief-Justice Thomas F. Hargis, and "Characteristics of Poetry," by A. R. Spofford. But what will probably attract the most immediate attention in this number is the new department of "Comments," consisting of brief criticisms of articles that have appeared in the Review. Murat Halstead's political article in the March number is here discussed by three writers—a Democrat, a straight Republican, and an Independent Republican, Richard H. Stoddard comments with a good deal of feeling on Max Muller's "Buddhist Charity," and other correspondents take this pleasant opportunity to offer a single thought where an extended article would perhaps find neither room nor readers.