industry. Brief mention is made of the effects of the European War on ocean rates, tonnage and shipbuilding, of the ship purchase bill, the free shipping clause of the Panama Canal Act of 1912, the registry Act of 1914, and the La Follette Seaman's Act of 1915. The text of the book, aside from the introductory chapter, contains a series of stories rather than a connected story of the American merchant marine. It is written in popular style and contains numerous interesting accounts of specified American vessels, captains and shipping enterprises. It does not contain a complete, well organized history of the merchant marine, but gives many accounts of early shipping history which are of interest both to the general reader and to those who wish to make a more detailed study. G. G. H. ACCOUNTING, BUSINESS METHODS, INVESTMENT AND THE GUENTHER, Louis. Investment and Speculation (New and Revised Edition). In chapter 6 it is intimated to the reader that the classification of bonds will be according to (1) security, (2) purpose of issue, (3) manner of payment, (4) conditions of redemption, and (5) nature of the issuing company. This manner : of treatment, probably first adequately worked out in Chamberlain's Principles of Bond Investment, is very satisfactory in results, but after having mentioned the plan the author proceeds to discuss government bonds, railroad bonds, public service corporation bonds, miscellaneous bonds, etc., which is certainly a departure from the above idea. The nature of the bond itself, its security, is the primary factor, generally speaking; the others are secondary. In the chapter on government bonds it is stated, regarding the high interest rates on bonds of certain governments, "This does not at all reflect upon them; it merely fixes the position of their credit in the money capitals of the world." An opinion could hardly be more significantly expressed than by "fixing the position of their credit." No description of the position of a stockholder and the characteristics of a share of stock is given; the chapter dealing with guaranteed stocks contains seven pages devoted to enumerating examples of guaranteed stocks, full descriptions of which are contained in manuals, and which enumeration conveys no principles to the student; no description is given of the various types of preferred stocks. When chapter 14 is reached all plans of treatment are seemingly thrown aside and chapters on amortization and sinking funds, bonds for women and estates, valuation of bonds, character of an enterprise, science of speculation, efforts to prevent speculation, mystery of a balance sheet, the nature of exchanges, etc., follow each other without any attempt at arrangement. In brief, this volume seems to suffer from three great defects (1) lack of arrangement of topics, (2) carelessness regarding details and (3) too much attempted in the available space. It would be unfair not to mention some characteristics worthy of praise. It has the advantage often lacking in books on financial subjects of being capable of comprehension by the average reader. The greater part also has the very good feature of being quite interesting reading, likewise not very common in financial books. The portions treating of the dealings on exchanges are perhaps the best, although here also inaccuracy of statement is sometimes apparent. For instance, in describing contract trading on produce exchanges it is stated (p. 221), “All deliveries must be made on the last day of the month," whereas what is intended to be said is "All deliveries must be made on or before the last day of the month." The statement as it stands conveys the idea that the seller has no option as regards the time of delivery. Each chapter is accompanied by from four to fourteen questions for the student, generally designed to test his memory and comprehension of the material in the chapter and the book closes with a satisfactory index of seven pages. University of Pennsylvania. ROBERT RIEGEL. MONTGOMERY, R. H. Auditing: Theory and Practice. (Second edition, revised and enlarged.) Pp. xxvi, 889. Price, $5.00. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1916. The Annals of May 1913 contained a review of the first edition of this work. The revised edition eliminates some portions of the material contained in the first edition, notably reference to English cases and chapters on the Corporation Excise Tax Law, as being non-essential or out of date. The English decisions have been replaced by a number of American decisions which are more clearly representative of Accounting matters in this country, while the discussion of the Corporation Excise Tax Law has been superseded by about one hundred pages on the Federal Income Tax Law of October 3, 1913, in its application to individuals as well as to corporations. In this revised edition Mr. Montgomery, by keeping his material "down to the minute," still retains his preeminence as an authority on the subject of Auditing in this country. The mechanical make up of the book is worthy of comment, it being printed on thin paper and bound in flexible leather, whereby its use as a ready reference work is greatly enhanced. E. P. M. RAYMOND, W. L. American and Foreign Investment Bonds. Pp. x, 324. Price, $3.00. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1916. The number of texts dealing with American bond issues and the principles of bond investment is still so small that any worthy accession should receive a welcome. William L. Raymond of Boston has just issued through the Houghton, Mifflin Company a valuable contribution under the title American and Foreign Investment Bonds. The general structure of this book follows the natural divisions of the material already established by Raymond's predecessors, except that, as the title implies, considerable attention is given to the history of foreign debt and to foreign bonds. Since the broad outlines of the relatively new "applied science" of bond investment have been established and a critical analysis of the principles of investment and of the leading types has been made, the next logical development is this we now have-a presentation of historical material and concrete cases. The difficulty of approaching a relatively new science by the case method is that writer and reader, by surfeit of fact, are liable to mental indigestion. One is inclined to nod over oft-repeated pages of tables in fine print, and lose the perspective. If, to quote our friend Life, it is a case of "Aut Scissors Aut Nullus," let us have the clippings; but it is a real task to compress them into their proper place in a book covering world bond finance in 300 pages, especially when the index is inadequate. Nevertheless the fact remains that there is in this book a fulness of detail, not otherwise accessible under one cover, regarding government, municipal and corporation obligors and issues, which will suggest reference to this work by students, dealers, and investors. LABOR PROBLEMS L. C. MOTE, CARL H. Industrial Arbitration. Pp. 351, xlv. Price, $1.50. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1916. As the sub-title suggests, this book is a world-wide survey of agencies for the promotion of social justice and industrial peace. The first half of the chapters deals with English, German, French and Australasian experiments, the remaining half with a more detailed discussion of problems and attempted solutions in the United States. The following conclusion is suggestive of the author's viewpoint: "Neither voluntary nor compulsory arbitration will work with any conspicuous degree of success in this country until the worker has been set free economically; until he is given a compelling voice against his employer as to his wages, hours and working conditions." R. C. McC. NEARING, SCort. Anthracite. Pp. 251. Price, $1.00. Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company, 1915. Nearing's latest volume is not likely to receive an especially sympathetic treatment from many reviewers. In the first place the viewpoint of the author is not always understood and few people are inclined to sympathize with his radical social views. Nearing is interested in labor, the low standard of living of the labor force and also in the general social well being. In consequence Anthracite is primarily a treatment of the coal problem from the standpoint of both labor and the general social effect of monopoly. Nearing's general social theory is equality of opportunity. He therefore resents not only the monopoly of natural resources with the enormous profits of a few thereunder, but also the low wages paid in the industry which prevent the attainment of more than a comparatively low standard of living and deprive many of the opportunity for individual development. Anthracite must therefore be considered bearing these two points in mind. The line of argument which is pursued by the author may be outlined somewhat as follows: The system of private ownership of natural resources has placed the most valuable of them in the hands of a small number of individuals who collect returns from the balance of the community. The fate of this system depends in the long run on how it will affect the general social well being. Anthracite is a particularly good example of natural resource monopoly and the people are compelled to pay a price for this commodity representing "all that the traffic will bear." In spite of the large returns obtained in this industry, the anthracite workers are no better paid than those in any other industry requiring a similar grade of labor, while the owners are reaping enormous profits. The increased burden of the monopoly upon consumers and the unsatisfactory position of the worker thereunder represents with some degree of accuracy the results of monopoly in general. So long as monopoly exists the consumers will pay the bill, while the worker can expect no better treatment than he receives in the most highly competitive occupation. Among the three classes, i.e., the monopolists, the workers and the general public, the monopolists alone will benefit by the continuation of this system. All persons believing in the sacredness of private property will naturally resent this viewpoint. On the other hand nearly every one with any appreciable social bias is likely to have at least some sympathy with Nearing's attitude. No one nowadays, least of all Nearing himself, believes that all men are equal, but the desirability of equality in opportunity has many advocates. At least must it not be admitted that Nearing's view is sound to the extent that he sets up the general social well being as the final test of monopoly? W. H, S, STEVENS, Tulane University, ROBINSON, MAURICE H. Organizing a Business. Pp. vi, 269. Price, $2.00. Chicago: LaSalle Extension University, 1915. This book deals primarily with the corporation inasmuch as more than half its pages treat that subject. Dr. Robinson tells what a corporation is and how it is formed; the main features of charters and by-laws; the rights and obligations of bondholders, stockholders and creditors; and the number, names and duties of officers. The leading forms used in corporate management are set forth in minute detail and at great length. In addition to the corporation, the author devotes a small fraction of his space to other forms of organization; for example, three pages-constituting one chapter-are given over to a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of Individual Proprietorship, and another chapter similarly concise, treats the subject of Partnership. Business combinations and Trusts and the comparative efficiency of various types of organization are also touched upon. Since Dr. Robinson did not see fit to preface his work with a statement of his purposes, we must base our opinion of the object he hoped to attain from the text itself. We would think the work was intended for a treatise on business law if it were not for the fact that the series of which this work constitutes one member, already contains two volumes under the title Business Law, so we suspect that Organizing a Business was intended for the guidance of (very) young men living in rural communities, and about to enter business for the first time. We must admit, however, that the book has an attractive cover. MONEY, BANKING AND FINANCE R. M. K. PRATO, GIUSEPPE. Documenti Finanziari degli Stati della Monarchia. Pp. xiii, 315. Price, L. 20. Torino: Societa Tipografico, 1916. SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS BAR, CARL LUDWIG VON. A History of Continental Criminal Law. Pp. lvi, 561. Price, $4.00. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1916. The science of Criminology cannot stop with a study of crime and the criminal. Criminal law and procedure as well as penology must be considered. In the reconstruction now going on in these fields new light must be sought from historical sources in order to avoid the repetition of error on the one hand and to determine methods of effectiveness on the other. Hence the value of such historical study as von Bar has made in his History of Continental Criminal Law. Roman and Germanic sources are particularly rich in their influence on later codes. After a study of these sources, the author adds chapters dealing with France before the revolution, Scandinavia, Switzerland and The Netherlands. Then follows several chapters dealing with the period of the French Revolution and the changes produced in France, Germany and other countries. A division of the work is devoted to the modern period comprising chiefly the nineteenth century. The last division, Part II, comprises a history of the theories of criminal law. "To disentangle and trace all the aspects and details of modern criminal |