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corresponds with one of the four sections of the Congress, a division followed in the program and discussions of that body. This purpose also determines the method of treatment in detail, especial care being taken to explain those things which might present difficulty, and to emphasize those which might be of special interest, to foreigners. The order of arrangement is thus in many respects different from that which in all probability would have been chosen if the purpose had been to present the subject in the most logical and scientific form as a permanent record for the use of American students in the future.

A further condition modifying the form, materials, and methods of treatment was that the whole undertaking had to be planned, executed and published within little more than a year after the appropriation for the purpose was made available by the Russell Sage Foundation. It was thus impossible to have the whole work undertaken by one person or even to have each volume treated in a unified way. The work was done mainly as a public service by busy men in the midst of many other duties. When the untimely death of Dr. Samuel J. Barrows, the President of the Congress, left the organization for a time without leadership, his place was nobly taken by his friend, Charles R. Henderson, who took also the burden of editing this great collection of materials.

One of the four volumes (the third), that dealing with Preventive Agencies and Methods, Professor Henderson himself prepared. This in itself was a notable achievement under the conditions, and this volume is the most unified, being the only one of the four volumes which is a systematic treatise from the hand of one man. Beginning with the problem of heredity, it discusses the improvement of physical conditions in homes, streets, and factories, economic reform in such a wide field as unemployment, industrial insurance, control of corporations, etc., the reduction of drink and other social evils, the reform of courts, the improvement of education, and the development of the cultural influences in recreation, in social intercourse, and in religion. The claim is well justified that "the field to be covered was large, but it has been well tilled, and the book contains a great fund of suggestive material besides possessing deep inspiration toward this most important work of prevention." While evidencing here and there the haste of preparation, this volume is broad, tolerant and optimistic, and is in literary and sociological regards the masterpiece of the collection.

Though different in nature, the fourth volume on Neglected Children, by H. H. Hart, noted authority on this subject, is perhaps more immediately usable as a handbook of reform than is the preceding volume. It deals with a more circumscribed subject, but it is less unified and more eclectic in its choice and arrangement of material. Besides the chief author, ten others make signed contributions dealing with delinquent children, dependent children, cottage and congregate institutions, child helping societies, placing out work, the juvenile court, and miscellaneous preventive agencies. The other two volumes (first and second of the set), taken together, deal broadly with the history and development of prisons and reformatories for adults in the United States.

Cornell University.

FRANK A. FETTER.

Action Populaire-Année Social Internationale. (Reims: Action Populaire. 1910. Pp. 963.)

This large publication is a comprehensive review of the main movements toward social welfare in France and in some of the other countries of Europe during 1910. The statistical data concerning such movements and the conditions upon which they bear are well chosen and clearly presented. The bibliographical notes, however, show the careful selection of a Catholic mind, this being due to the fact that the editors are Catholics and the publication is intended as an interpreter of the work and activity of that church for social betterment.

The problems of the family, as would be expected of a publication of this character are given considerable space and the discussion is by no means dispassionate. The labor problems are handled with much more freedom and from a more liberal point of view. Labor legislation, the syndicates and socialism are the aspects of industrial movements which take a prominent place in the book, but other phases of welfare work, particularly as related to children and women's work receive a fair share of space.

Action Populaire is on the whole a very valuable compilation which is worthy of imitation in this country. It brings together facts which if more broadly selected would present an inspiring record of the continent's doings towards the promotion of social progress.

CAROL ARONOVICI.

Bureau of Social Research, Providence, R. I.

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L'Apprentissage et l'Enseignement Technique. By Fernand DuBIEF. (Paris: Giard and Brière. 1910. Pp. 501.)

This volume on apprenticeship and technical instruction, by the vice-president of the French Chamber of Deputies, forms a part of the Encyclopédie Internationale d'Assistance, Prévoyance Hygiène Sociale et Démographie, edited by A. Marie. The author notes the decline of the old system of training apprentices, and since no other adequate method has been devised to take its place, he states that "one hears it said on all sides in the world of commerce and industry that there are no good workmen."

The book describes at length the French system of technical training, which includes primary, secondary and advanced instruction, also professional maritime schools. Some courses in domestic science for girls are provided. The rise of Germany in the industrial world is attributed in no small part to her methods of technical instruction. France is warned that she must enlarge and perfect her system of l'enseignement technique. A rapid sketch is made of the schools for technical training in the leading industrial nations of Europe and of the United States, but the information is scanty, even for the general reader. The volume concludes with a series of appendices, in which are considered important decrees of the French law with regard to the equipment of industrial workers, proposed educational reforms, and other similar topics. The book contains much material of interest to the economist, as well as to those who are interested primarily in educational problems.

Brown University.

JAMES M. MOTLEY.

Insurance and Pensions

NEW BOOKS

CAMPBELL, L. C. Industrial accidents and their compensation. Hart, Schaffner and Marx prize essays in economics. (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Co. 1910. $1.00.)

To be reviewed.

GOTZE, H. Die Rechtsverhältnisse der Fabrikpensions-und Unterstützungskassen. (Berlin: Puttkammer und Mühlbrecht. 1911. 3 m.) HARDY, E. R. Fire insurance. Part I. LINDNER, W. Real estate. Part II. Modern business; the principles and practice of commerce, accounts and finance, vol. viii, edited by J. F. Johnson. (New York: Alexander Hamilton Institute. 1911. Pp. xxv, 505. $3.50.) To be reviewed.

KORKISCH, H. Kommentar zum Pensionsversicherungsgests samt allen Verordnungen Verwaltungsgerichtshoferkenntnissen und dem neuen Statute der Pensionsanstalt. (Vienna: Manz. 1911. Pp. viii,

281. 3.45 m.)

KROSTA, B. Uber den Begriff Versicherung und zu den Möglichkeiten der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungsformen des privaten Versicherungswesens in Deutschland. (Berlin: Puttkammer und Mühlbrecht. 1911. Pp. vii, 141. 2.60 m.)

LANDIS, A. Life insurance problems confronting fraternal benefit societies in reference to valuation and readjustment and their relation to proposed legislation, with lessons from English friendly societies. (Nashville, Tenn.: A. Landis. 1911. Pp. 124. $1.50.) LAPORTE, W. Das Problem der Arbeiterpensionskassen und seine rechtlichen und sozialen Konsequenzen. (Jena: Fischer. 1910. Pp. viii, 89.)

LOEWENFELD, P. Pensionskassen und Arbeitsvertrag. Pt. 1. (Munich: Schweitzer. 1911. Pp. vii, 104. 2.80 m.)

MICHY, H. L'assurance pour compte d'autrui et l'assurance complémentaire de responsabilité contre les risques d'incendie: étude théorique et pratique. Preface by Ch. Lyon-Caen. (Paris: Larose et Tenin. 1911. 6 fr.)

OLIVER, T. and BELGER, H. Workmen's insurance in Germany. Its rise, progress and prospect. (London: W. H. Smith. 1910. 3d.) Reprinted from the Yorkshire Post.

Pauperism and Charities

English Poor Law Policy. By BEATRICE and SIDNEY WEbb. (London: Longmans, Green and Company. 1910. Pp. xiii, 379. 7s. 6d.)

This book is another testimonial to the remarkable industry of Mr. and Mrs. Webb. The first five chapters, over two thirds of it, are practically the report made in 1907 to the Royal Commission on the Poor Law, of which Mrs. Webb was a member. The purpose is to gather together the leading data from a mass of poor law orders, circulars and reports, to show how the poor law of 1834, with its amending acts of note, has really been administered. The poor law left much to the discretion of the central authorities, the Poor Law Commissioners and their successors, the Poor Law Board and the Local Government Board. Only a small part of the history is to be found in legislation. That administration has varied much is brought out in this book. A very interesting example, touching the type of need which was especially before

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the commission of 1834, that of the able-bodied laborer, is the difference between the orders, applied notably in different parts of England, which on the one hand prohibited out-door relief generally, and which, on the other hand, allowed it with a labor test. Also, in orders of the central poor authorities, are noted some departures from the intent of 1834. Because of such variations and changes of policy within the field of poor law, beside tendencies to meet distress outside that law, the Webbs say that any poor law, or law of destitution, is hopeless.

The three quarters of a century since 1834, a time of revolution in many ways of human thought and action, has brought plain modifications in the treatment of the needy by public aid, some of which seem a radical departure from 1834. These changes are to be reckoned with. Differences of opinion arise as to their significance. The Webbs see plainly that all point to a continuous process toward a radically new basis of public aid, when relief, quickly obtainable, will make not only for cure but for prevention of need. The last third of this book summarizes clearly and interestingly that new basis, from the minority report of the Royal Commission, and compares it with the majority report. Readers who wish to compare those reports will obviously go direct to the majority for their say. English students and workers in the field of public aid, as the signers of the majority report, who do not agree with Mrs. Webb, the minority leader, freely grant that conditions and remedies of 1909 are not identical with conditions and remedies of 1834; but they believe that reasonable order and a progressive policy can be brought into even such a complicated matter as public relief of need, without letting the pendulum of public opinion swing to what seems to them a dangerous extreme. The contest in England is on; it is of dramatic interest to persons concerned in poor relief, the world over.

JEFFREY R. BRACKETT.

Socialism and Co-operative Enterprises

The Nation as a Business Firm: An Attempt to Cut a Path Through Jungle. By W. H. MALLOCK. (New York: The Macmillan Company. 1910. Pp. xi, 268. $1.00.)

In this volume Mr. Mallock gives the results of a study of the distribution of incomes in the United Kingdom, based chiefly upon

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