readily have discovered that but one ton of freight is carried by waterway to six tons by railway (the ton-mileage figures, however, are somewhat more favorable to the waterways). A reference to the report of the Commissioner of Corporations upon Transportation by Water would have convinced him that the internal waterways of this country do not carry a very materially less proportion of freight. The increase of the average tonmile rate by the inclusion of express-gut is made much of, though such traffic accounts for not more than one two-hundredth part of the total revenue ton-mileage. The ton-mile averages of the French State system are quoted as evidences of the efficiency of government operation, but nowhere are we told that the State system has failed to earn two per cent upon capital investment during the past decade, nor, again, that the average ton-mile receipt has been almost stationary on that system for the last twenty years, whereas, in the case of the private companies, it has fallen twenty-five per cent. Belgian state railway management is reviewed without a reference to the damning evidence arrayed against it by M. Marcel Reschaud in the pages of the Revue Politique et Parlementaire (1906).

In the chapter on safety in railway travel, Mr. Vrooman gives a table of railway accidents in the United States, covering the years 1895, 1904, and 1905, upon which he bases an opinion that, in another ten years, at the present rate of increase, the number of victims would be more than 215,000. As a matter of fact, there has been an almost uninterrupted improvement since 1905, the number of passengers killed per million passengers carried being but one third of that of the year just named. He insists that government railways are always superior in safety to private ones, but fails to explain away the English record, nor does he try to reconcile with his dictum the contradiction afforded by the Belgian private companies. The fact of national temperament is not even hinted at.

Mr. Vrooman's main evidence as to the corruption of English railway management is an article by Mr. Herbert Spencer, published sixty-six years ago, based upon the well-known history of Francis, and referring to episodes of the railroad mania of the

'forties'.

His chapters on regulation are marked by as many defects as the rest of the book. For instance, in paying tribute to the Wisconsin Commission, he tells us, as others have done, how great

a feat that Commission has accomplished in working out a method for an accurate and practical approximation of the cost of any given railway service, but passes on without any indication as to how it is done. He condemns, in a sentence, the Sherman Act and the anti-pooling clause of the Interstate Commerce Act, but forgets to justify his condemnation. His evidence in favor of national control of capitalization is condensed into four and a half lines of the most general of statements concerning the effects of fictitious capitalization.

In conclusion, Mr. Vrooman's treatment of his subject is uncritical and unconvincing. Not only has he failed to make an adequate examination of the relative efficiencies of government and private operation, but also has entirely overlooked that important phase of the question which refers to the influence of state management of industrial enterprises upon the general efficiency of state government.

The University of Illinois.

ERNEST RITSON DEWSNUP.

Our Inland Seas. Their Shipping and Commerce for Three Centuries. By JAMES COOKE MILLS. (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company. 1910. Pp. xiv, 380. $1.75.)

In spite of the wide-spread public interest in our various problems of railway transportation, there has developed within recent years a notable concern respecting our inland waterways as well. This has been marked by various phenomena of which the appearance of an abundance of literature, governmental and otherwise, dealing with numerous aspects of the inland waterways problem is one of the most important. At the very time when traffic on the interior rivers has been declining, the commerce of the Great Lakes has been increasing until both its enormous volume and the highly organized transportation system which effects its rapid and economical movement have attracted the attention of the civilized world. This whole matter has been the object of comment by various writers, but the number of readable publications dealing with the question in a broad and comprehensive manner is rather limited. It is because the writer of the present volume has attempted to fashion his book in the manner just indicated, and has succeeded so well, that his work may be regarded as a valuable contribution. In his own language, the purpose is "to show the development of the Great Lakes

marine, from the Indian canoe to the great modern leviathans, and the intimate relation it bears to the prosperity of the whole country and the contentment of millions of people."

As an appropriate setting for his story, the writer has outlined in the first chapter the geography of the Great Lakes region, the origin of these "inland seas," and the circumstances connected with their discovery. The greater portion of the book is given over to a consideration of two main periods in the history of shipping on the Great Lakes. The first may be said to have ended shortly after the middle of the nineteenth century, when railroad competition was becoming a factor to be reckoned with; the second was characterized by the competitive influences of several railway lines and extends to the present time. In the first period, among the leading topics considered are the evolution of the wooden water vehicles used for commercial purposes on the Great Lakes, from the birch-bark canoe to the schooner and the steamboat; the interesting story of the building, equipping, and of the voyage of the Griffin; the introduction of the steamboat, and its earlier and subsequent uses; and the settlement and exploitation of the Middle West. The second period is doubtless of greater interest to students of modern transportation conditions, since the great volume of present-day commerce on the Great Lakes is largely a growth of the last half century. Here are included, among other interesting topics, an account of the effects of railway building upon the trade of the "inland seas"; the story of the evolution of the iron and steel vessels; a pictorial description of the building of a huge lake freighter; and interesting descriptions of various unique types of present-day lake steamers, each admirably adapted to its particular kind of traffic. A single chapter of less than twenty pages, exclusive of illustrations, is devoted to a consideration of Canadian shipping interests on the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, so that, necessarily, the treatment is incomplete and inadequate from almost every point of view. The concluding chapter contains a short summary of the economics of lake navigation, notably its volume and importance at the present day, the principles which govern freight rates, and governmental improvements for facilitating shipping.

As a whole, the book is a highly interesting, accurate, and fascinating story which should appeal primarily to the general reader. However, the student of transportation is likely to find

here new and valuable information. The volume contains seventy illustrations and is carefully indexed. It is to be regretted that the author has not included a bibliography, and that more references to sources have not been noted in the text.

AVARD L. BISHOP.

Yale University.

Transportation in Europe. By LOGAN G. MCPHERSON. With Map. (New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1910. Pp. iv, 285.)

The author has compressed into this volume a discussion of land roads and interior waterways, the development of the railways, railway passenger and freight tariffs, certain phases of governmental control, and the comparative usefulness of inland waterways and railways on the Continent of Europe. The object is frankly stated, to give a broad outline. The last quarter of the volume comprises a chapter on transportation in England. The phases of governmental control, concerning which salient facts may be found in this volume are: general administration, effect on rates, and financial results. The truth is that Mr. McPherson's immediate object is not the broad problem indicated by his title, but the narrower question of waterways vs. railways. His material was gathered under the auspices of the National Waterways Commission, and, as the author candidly states in his preface, "so much travel and research were crowded into a short time that it was not possible, in all cases, to collect material in as full detail as it was desired." The volume must be judged as a presentation of "the salient facts only."

To the economic specialist the salient facts are tolerably familiar. It is to the general reader that the book is addressed, and the interest of the general reader in this country in waterways is confined to the Mississippi river and its possible improvement. To such readers the chapter on transportation in England is superfluous, since "the political and economic conditions in general and the various elements in particular are so different that the problem of interior transportation in England and that in the United States are practically without parallel” (p. 271). Likewise the waterways conditions on the Continent of Europe are for the most part practically without parallel to those in the United States. With regard to conditions on the European waterways which are least open to that objection, the Seine, the

Elbe, and especially the Rhine, the only salient facts set forth are these: (1) nearly 96 per cent of the interior waterways traffic of France is carried on the Seine between Le Havre and Paris, and on certain canals around Paris, especially those carrying coal from the North (p. 20); (2) the Elbe carries 24 per cent; and (3) the Rhine 43 per cent of the interior waterway traffic of Germany (p. 25). Unfortunately, in Mr. McPherson's chapters on waterways, transportation on the natural waterways is regularly confused with that on the inland canals which are of minor importance to the American reader. For an adequate treatment of transportation on the rivers the general reader must seek elsewhere.

Mr. McPherson's treatment of passenger tariffs in Europe is such as might be founded by a hasty traveler in the current Baedekers. His treatment of freight tariffs is more extended. The peculiar traffic conditions in Europe are pointed out, but the author fails to make sufficiently clear the important part played in state railway management by quasi-public commercial, industrial, and agricultural organizations. Conclusions on controversial topics are not accompanied with sufficient evidence to warrant their acceptance by an open-minded reader without the labor of independent verification. For example, on page 207 Mr. McPherson cites the plight of the Swiss state railways as a horrible example for the people of the United States who contemplate government ownership. Mr. Vrooman, on the other hand, in his book elsewhere reviewed in the Review (p. 167, footnote), finds that "the Swiss Federal Railway Administration is to be highly commended for its energetic and successful handling of an intensely difficult situation." Now Mr. McPherson may be right and Mr. Vrooman may be wrong, but there is not sufficient evidence in Mr. McPherson's book to prove that such is the case.

Since the European trip of the National Waterways Commission, the status and procedure of the railways of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Italy, and France have been set forth in detail in reports published by the British Board of Trade. The reader who desires to pursue the subject is referred by Mr. McPherson to those publications. (Preface, p. iv.) If his book will lead readers to search for a more generous diet of thoroughly authenticated economic facts in such sources of information as the British blue-books, it will have fulfilled its mission. A. N. HOLCOMBE.

Harvard University.