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ECKHARDT, H. M. P.

A rational banking system; a comprehensive study of the advantages of the branch system. (New York: Harper. 1911. Pp. 328. $1.50.)

To be reviewed.

FISHER, I. and BROWN, H. G. The purchasing power of money; its determination and relation to credit, interest and crises. (New York: Macmillan. 1911. Pp. xxii, 505. $3.)

To be reviewed.

GIBSON, A. H. Bank rate:

The bankers' vade mecum. (London:

Simpkin. 1911. Pp. 84. 2s. 6d.)

GOODWIN, W. P. Money, credit currency, and a currency plan for a new circulating currency in place of the national bank and United States treasury notes now in use. (Providence, R. I.: W. P. Goodwin. 1910. Pp. 45. $1.00.)

HAUSMANN, W. L. Der Goldwahn. Die Bedeutung der Goldzentralisation für das Wirtschaftsleben. (Berlin: Puttkammer & Mühlbrecht. 1911. Pp. v, 536. 8 m.)

KEMMERER, E. W. Seasonal variations in relative demand for money and capital in United States. (Nat. Mon. Com., Sen. Doc. No. 588; 61 Cong. 2 Sess. 1910. Pp. 517.)

To be reviewed.

LEVY, R. G. Banques d'émission et trésors publics. (Paris: Hachette et Cie. 1911. 7.50 fr.)

To be reviewed.

MARIN, P. Arbitrage argentin. (Paris: Giard et Brière. 1911. 1 fr.)

MEYNEN, W. Das belgische Bankwesen. (Berlin: Siemenroth. 1910. Pp. viii, 180.)

MEHRENS, B. Die Entstehung und Entwicklung der grossen französischen Kreditinstitute mit Berücksichtigung ihres Einflusses auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Frankreichs. Stuttgart: Cotta. 1911. Pp. ix, 360. 8 m.)

To be reviewed.

PLUCER-SARNA. Die Concentration im schweizerischen Bankwesen. (Zürich: E. Speidel. 1911. 3 m.)

SCHWABACHER, W. D. Die Hypothekarkredit in Argentinien, seine Grundlagen, sein gegenwärtiger Stand, und seine Zukunft. (Berlin: Springer. 1910. Pp. 60. 2 m.)

1911.

MILES, H. D. The science of currency and centralized banking; a study of publications recently issued by the National Monetary Commission. (Chicago: Rand-McNally Press. Pp. 47. $.50.) SINGER, K. Die Motive der indischen Geldreform. (Strassburg in E.: Karl J. Trübner. 1910. Pp. vi, 114. 8 m.)

SPRAGUE, O. M. W. Banking reform in the United States: a series of proposals, including a central bank of limited scope. (Cambridge, Harvard University. 1911. Pp. 176. $1.00.)

Mass.:

To be reviewed.

THOMSON, W. Dictionary of banking; a concise encyclopedia of banking law and practice. (New York: Pitman. 1911. Pp. vii, 554. $8.50.)

Favorably reviewed in Journal of the Institute of Bankers, and the Bankers' Magazine (London).

TROSIEN, R. Der landwirtschaftliche Kredit und seine durchgreifende Verbesserung. (Berlin: Springer. 1911. Pp. vii, 84. 2.80 m.)

Public Finance, Taxation, and Tariff

The Cost of Our National Government. A Study in Political Pathology. By HENRY JONES FORD, Professor of Politics in Princeton University. (New York: The Columbia University Press. 1910. Pp. xv, 147.)

Professor Ford's book is the outgrowth of lectures delivered by him, on the George Blumenthal Foundation, at Columbia University in 1909. Its main title hardly gives a correct idea of its scope. It is devoted to a consideration of the short-comings of our system of congressional control of appropriations and of the essentials of an adequate remedy. Aside from the emphasis on the evident fact that present practices encourage extravagance, the author has little to say in regard to the cost of government and that little constitutes the least well considered and valuable portion of the book. "A revelation of economic depravity in American government” is a rather extravagant characterization of the concurrent increase in the expenditures of federal, state and local governments. The author's idea seems to be that the increase of the expenditures of the national government being due in part to a transfer to it of functions formerly discharged by state and local governments, the expenditures of these branches of the government should show a decrease. As a matter of fact, the functions of all branches of government have shown a tendency to increase during recent years and the increase in the case of state and local governments has certainly more than offset any decrease due to the transfer of functions to the federal government. On page 8 it is stated that "the ratio of" (per capita?) "expense on account of pensions has declined from $4.32 to $1.92 since 1869." Reference to the compilation by the Census Bureau, re

printed in Appendix A, shows that the figures refer to pensions and interest.

Professor Ford's analysis of the well-known weakness of our national budgetary system and of the causes which have given to the Senate a dominant position in financial matters is clear and suggestive. The restoration to the House of the position contemplated in the Constitution and actually occupied by it during the early years of our government, as well as the replacement of the present system of "log-rolling" by a well-considered legislative program, can be accomplished, in the author's view, only by placing the responsibility for this program on the executive branch of the government, which must be afforded adequate means for explaining and defending its policies in Congress. As a first step in this direction, great importance is attached to Section 7 of the Sundry Civil Appropriation Act of 1909, by which the President is directed, in case appropriations as estimated by the departments exceed the estimated revenues, to advise Congress as to how in his judgment the appropriations may be reduced or revenues increased.

Brown University.

HENRY B. GARDNER.

State and Local Taxation. Addresses and Proceedings. Fourth International Conference, under the Auspices of the International Tax Association, held at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 30 to September 2, 1910. (Columbus, Ohio: International Tax Association. 1911. Pp. 432.)

Interest in the present volume centers in the papers and discussions relating to the taxation of personal property under the general property tax and administrative problems, and in the reports of committees on uniform state taxation of inheritances and life insurance companies, and on uniform classification of real estate.

Professor Bullock's study of the general property tax in Switzerland dissipates the notion, more or less current, that the tax works well there. He finds that only in the cantons where the rates are moderate and the administrative machinery efficient is the tax a tolerable success in reaching personal property. Other papers dealing with the operation of the tax in the United States repeat the old story that the tax is a complete failure. The committee appointed in 1909 to investigate whether the failure is

due to "inherent defects in the system itself or to weakness in the administration" concluded that it was the former, and this conclusion was given official endorsement by a resolution of the conference.

While there is an abundance of criticism of the usual American method of taxing personal property, there is only one paper that deals specifically with the question of what should be substituted. Lack of space will not permit a presentation of the main points of Professor T. S. Adams' proposal of a state income tax, but it is noteworthy that he advocates such a tax as a substitute, and, as would be expected, the discussion is vigorous and exhibits decided disagreement. In this and in other papers and discussions there is agreement, however, in an emphasis upon the need of administrative reforms, and particularly in the direction of centralization of administration.

The model laws proposed by committees approved at previous conferences have as their object the avoidance of double taxation and the promotion of interstate comity. The inheritance tax law endorsed by the conference for adoption by the states has gradations according to relationship and rates progressing from one to fifteen per cent. The method, also endorsed, of taxing life insurance companies is a license fee measured by domestic premium receipts. The committee on the uniform classification of real estate was continued, and its work, although already of much value, promises to be of still greater service.

University of Texas.

E. T. MILLer.

Canadian National Economy. By JAMES J. HARPELL. (Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada. 1911. Pp. 182. 50 cents.)

Revolt against the New Feudalism in Canada. By EDWARD PorRITT. (London and Toronto: Published for the Cobden Club by Cassels and Company. 1911. 35 cents.)

These vigorous if partisan discussions of existing industrial conditions in Canada are a valuable contribution to the scanty literature in this field. Both in much detail describe the grip the protected interests have secured on the consumer and the small producer. To the average Canadian, aware of the rapid progress his country has made in the past decade and not aware how the gains have been sluiced into a few channels, these books will come

as a healthy shock. Porritt, who has made industrious use of parliamentary Hansard and newspaper files, goes into much more detail in his study of the tariff-fostered mergers and price agreements which honeycomb Canadian industry. His book is a continuation of his Sixty Years of Protection in Canada, covering the period since 1906. Harpell's work reveals the business man's closer touch with the concrete situation. Both writers fail to appreciate the strength of the national argument for protection in Canada; so long as the ninety million Americans kept up their tariff barriers against the eight million people of the Dominion, Canadians who desired both political independence and economic diversity had no choice but to follow their neighbor's example. They present, however, one important side of the truth with clearness and convincing force.

Queen's University, Kingston.

O. D. SKELTON.

National and Local Finance. A Review of the Relations between the Central and Local Authorities in England, France, Belgium and Prussia, during the Nineteenth Century. By J. WATSON GRICE. Preface by SIDNEY WEBB. (London: P. S. King and Son. 1910. Pp. xxiv, 404.)

One of the characteristic features of the recent history of English public finance has been the rapid growth of grants in aid by the national government to the local authorities, the guiding motives of which have been "in the first place a desire to encourage more efficient administration and strengthen central control; and secondly, to give relief to the rate payers either by transferring charges for certain services from the rates to the exchequer, or by payment to local bodies of grants in aid of local expenditure."

Originating in the fourth decade of the last century, and made at first in aid of specific local services, these grants, as a result of Mr. Goschen's reforms of twenty years ago were in large measure supplanted by the assignment of the proceeds of certain national revenues to the use of local authorities, and became, to a considerable extent, a general contribution to local expenditure. In 1905-6, including a contribution of nearly £11,000,000 for elementary education (slightly in excess of the amount raised by rates for the same purpose) these payments amounted to approximately £20,000,000, one third as much as was raised by

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