THE HISTORICAL CONFERENCE.
The historical congress arranged for through the cooperation of the Oregon Historical Society and the Pacific Coast branch of the American Historical Association with the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Committee on Congresses held sessions at Portland on August 21, 22, and 23. As a Pacific Coast meeting it had the great good fortune to secure the presence and participation in its deliberations of Professor E. G. Bourne of Yale University, Dr. R. G. Thwaites of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Professor Benjamin F. Shambaugh of Iowa University, and Mr. James K. Hosmer of Minneapolis. Principal William I. Marshall of Chicago was also in attendance and participated in the discussions.
The first session was held on the evening of the 21st in the First Presbyterian Church. The Honorable William D. Fenton, acting-president of the Oregon Historical Society, presided. In a paper on "The Unity of History," Honorable H. W. Scott, editor of the Morning Oregonian, discussed the meaning and use of history. These he held to consist in the relation of cause and effect between events. The two main factors that determine the ordered course of evolution in the history of mankind are "characteristics of race and variation of physical circumstances." While "every great man is a product of his time and of times preceding his own" and "works in conditions and upon materials that he finds round about him," yet he is capable of starting "great changes," accelerating "every movement about him," giving "force and direction to unorganized activities" and hurrying "forward to results tendencies of the age or time." Using these ideas the author gave char-
