The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955 Page: 304

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

bloody and destructive war of the revolution. During the entire
period of the Republic of Texas Refugio was a frontier county,
with the Nueces River as its western boundary.
With the advent of statehood and the security incident thereto,
many of Refugio's colonists who had expatriated themselves dur-
ing the Revolution or the soul-trying years which followed began
to return home. The census of 1850 showed Refugio County to
have a population of 288, practically all white. In 1856 the pop-
ulation was 959 whites and 185 slaves. The census for 186o gave
the county a total population of 1600, of which less than 2oo were
.slaves. The decade 1850-186o marked shifting of the reins of
county government from the old colonial families to newcomers.
The author has rather skillfully woven into his fabric several
threads of local history which doubtless appeal to residents of the
area included. Many long lists of settlers, officials, scholastics, and
local heroes, though, are not analyzed in this present review. As
it stands, the book is incomplete. A reviewer perhaps should with-
hold critical comment until the entire project is laid before him.
OHLAND MORTON
Edinburg, Texas
Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 191o-1917. By Arthur
S. Link. New York (Harper &c Brothers) , 1954. Pp. xvii+331.
$5.00.
If, like some reviewers, I wanted to cavil, I could, for instance,
point out a typographical error in a footnote (page 148), and I
could ask whether it is the reviewer who is obtuse or the author
who is guilty of careless mathematics when (page 249) he says
that a Senate of 54 Democrats and 42 Republicans contained a
Democratic majority of eight. But to point out these things would
be just that-caviling over minutiae in the face of a mountainous
achievement. For that is what Professor Link's Woodrow Wilson
and the Progressive Era is, a truly impressive piece of interpreta-
tion based on a solid rock of research.
For a decade now Link's reputation as the foremost Wilson
scholar has been burgeoning, and this volume will most certainly
enhance that reputation. He has examined just about all the
Wilson evidence extant, he knows the period probably better
than anyone except the top-level practitioners in the Wilson ad-

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