Les Abonnements d'Ouvriers sur les Lignes de Chemins de Fer Belges et leurs Effets Sociaux. Instituts Solvay, Notes et Memoires, No. 11. By ERNEST MAHAIM. (Brussels: Misch et Thron. 1910. Pp. xv, 259.)

The arrangements for laborers to travel at special rates on the Belgian railways is not altogether a new subject of study. The author of this work has undertaken, however, to add a contribution of statistical information that will increase greatly the store of reliable knowledge of the subject. With evidently considerable difficulty these statistics have been brought together and embodied in the work to such an extent that they constitute a very considerable portion of the book. Beginning with a very brief account of the history of the law and a description of its provisions, there follows the more elaborate statistical study. Between one fourth and one fifth of the entire labor population of the country are commuters, and nearly one-half of the daily travel is made up of workingmen. In that portion devoted to the social effects, the most important part, are considered the effects of these conditions on concentration of population, the labor market, the health of the laborer, his family life, housing conditions, rent, intellectual and moral influences, and the broader social effects in the life of the national community. Many of these conclusions are of unusual interest, based as they are upon the large array of facts contained in the several tables.

The use of workmen's tickets has done much to check the depopulation of the country districts. Yet there is an influence exercised through the knowledge of city life and easy travel that may ultimately increase urban concentration. It seems especially easy for the industries to recruit their labor force. Particularly is this true of the great industries. The plan tends to make of all Belgium one labor market, to the elimination of local monopolies and to the advantage of consumers.

From the point of view of the laborer himself there appear to be gains in improvement of housing conditions, conveniences of life and ownership of homes. It prevents the bidding up of rents and keeps the family within the hygienic environs of the country. The intellectual advantages are in a certain measure attended by moral disadvantages. The conditions prevailing in the coaches are not good; overcrowding, poor seating accommodations, and bad ventilation characterize these workingmen's trains. The time to and from the station, the time on the train, added to

the actual working hours, make such a long day as to leave insufficient time for physical rest and for recreation and enjoyment of family associations.

In a large way there is evident in the milieu social a greater homogeneity or social density. In short, the advantages of the system are evident and of great importance. Yet it is by no means perfect, being accompanied by inconveniences that are both serious and pernicious. These, in the opinion of the author, both can and must be eliminated. Hours of labor must be shortened especially for those who avail themselves of the special rates of travel; speed of trains increased so as to lessen the time on the road; conditions of travel improved in respect both of comfort and of health; temptations now common must be controlled or eliminated. These are largely matters of technique, and the great importance of the system in its main points demands that they receive careful attention. Reforms in these matters must be undertaken only after careful study. It is a beginning of such a study that the author has undertaken.

The book is characterized by a carefulness and temperateness of statement and by an unfailing habit to look upon all sides of these important questions that commends it as a reliable piece of work.

Ohio Wesleyan University.

G. G. GROAT.

Die Lohnämter in Victoria. By ROBERT BOEHRINGER. Statts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungen Herausgegeben, von Gustav Schmoller und Max Sering. No. 154. (Leipzig: Duncker and Humblot. 1911. Pp. viii, 197. 5 m.)

This is a very thorough and systematic study of the wageboards of Victoria, based upon statutes, factory reports, and other state documents, and upon the investigations of Clark and Aves. There are practically no references to the reports of employers' and workers' associations nor to public opinion expressed in newspapers. In the introductory chapters a useful historical sketch is given of the factory acts and other labor laws of Australia and New Zealand, particularly those providing for conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes. The New Zealand system, with the arbitration court as its characteristic feature, was established in 1894; the wages-boards of Victoria were created by the law of 1896. In both countries the legislation was passed

in a time of industrial depression chiefly for the purpose of preventing sweating and strikes, and, although some years have elapsed, has not yet passed beyond the experimental stage.

In the year 1909 there were 59 wage-boards, with jurisdiction over as many manufacturing industries, in which 67,000 persons were employed, being over 60 per cent of all persons employed in manufacturing in the state. A wages-board can be created only by vote of both houses of Parliament. The members of the board representing the employers and the employees are usually partisans, so that the decision rests with the chairmen who are usually members of the civil service. Frequently the same person is chairman of several boards. The boards are very painstaking in their work and frequently spend many months in investigation and deliberation before arriving at a "determination." The determinations are usually fairly satisfactory and there are few appeals. In this regard the Victorian system is superior to that of New Zealand, where, before the amendments of 1908, the arbitration court was much overworked. The boards have not tried to establish ideal wages, but minimum wages based upon the average wages paid by "reputable" employers.

The author gives a careful review of the work done by the principal wages-boards, particularly in the baking, furniture, clothing, shoe-making, shirt-making, and underclothing industries. The difficulty of arriving at a workable determination is well illustrated in the furniture trade which is now largely in the hands of Chinese. The board established minimum time wages, forbidding piece wages, and the factory inspectors were unable to discover any infringement of the regulations on the part of the Chinese although they were convinced that both employers and laborers were conspiring to evade the law. The chief factory inspector said in his report for 1899, "This clearly proves how ineffective laws are to establish minimum wages when contrary to the interests of both employers and laborers." Various devices were adopted in order to compel the Chinese to obey the rules of the board, but without avail, and the industry passed more and more into the hands of the Chinese because they could produce more cheaply than the European manufacturers. This is an exceptional case, for as a rule, the boards have done little or no harm to the industries under their control.

It has been often said that the wages-boards would drive capital away from the state, but there is no evidence to show that they

have done so. On the contrary there has been a great expansion of manufacturing industries since the year 1897. Possibly there might have been more improvement if there had been no regulation, but this is a theoretical question which cannot be decided by appeal to statistics. Anyway the boards have not raised wages very much nor enforced unreasonable regulations, and there can be no reason why manufacturers should move to New South Wales or other states where similar regulations prevail.

In general, regulation by the boards has had the effect of raising average money wages and making them more stable, and it is probable that real wages also have been increased, though to a less extent. Strikes are not forbidden by law, as in New Zealand, and occasionally take place, but for the most part industrial peace prevails. To what extent this is due to the wages-boards cannot be determined until the country again passes through a time of industrial depression.

The author is in substantial agreement with the conclusions of Clark and Aves, and like them, is careful not to express any definite opinions as to the success or failure of state regulation of industry.

University of Nebraska.

J. E. LEROSSIGNOL.

Les Fonctionnaires: Leur Action Corporative. By GEORGESCAHEN. (Paris: Librairie Armand Colin. 1911. Pp. vii, 394. 3.50 fr.)

The organization of trade-unions of public employees has proceeded farther in France than in any other country. But in practically all countries where trade-unions are well established there are indications that the same tendencies are present. In the United States, for example, the organization of public employees, notably in the postal service, has gone forward rapidly in the past ten years. M. Georges-Cahen's book has, therefore, a wide interest although it deals only with the French organizations of public employees.

The chief value of the work to the foreign reader is that it contains the most comprehensive account of the French movement yet written. The author considers the history of the French associations as properly divisible into four periods. The first extends from 1855 to 1898. Very few associations, however, were formed prior to 1890. Until 1898, the associations were entire

ly local; they had attracted into membership only a small part of the total number of public employees, and their aims were illdefined. For the most part, the government ignored their existence. During the second period, extending from 1898 to 1905, the associations grew rapidly and found encouragement at the hands of the administration. They began to make specific demands; the local groups were welded into national or departmental associations, and in 1905 the Fédération générale des Associations de Fonctionnaires was formed. This powerful body was a federation of national unions of public employees with an aggregate membership of upwards of 200,000. The third period, from 1905 to 1909, was marked by the display on the part of the associations of increasing vigor in pressing their demands. Part of the associations allied themselves with the Confédération générale du Travail and embraced the doctrines of syndicalism. Strikes occurred in various branches of the public service, culminating with the general strikes in the postal service in March and April, 1909. The government strongly opposed the conversion of the associations into syndicates and their federation with the C. G. T. The unsuccessful outcome of the strikes and the vigorous measures taken by the administration greatly discouraged the associations and curbed, for the time at least, the movement to syndicalism. The fourth period, from 1909 to 1910, was, therefore, one of quiescence and hesitation. The history of the movement thus briefly outlined has been written in great detail by the author.

In the remaining parts of his book M. Georges-Cahen discusses the causes of the movement. He finds the fundamental reason for the unrest of the public employees in their dissatisfaction with the absolutism of the French administration. The struggle has not been so much for better working conditions as to make the appointment, the discipline, and the dismissal of public employees dependent not on the mere will of the administration but on recognized principles. To gain this end the public employees have persistently demanded that Parliament should enact laws governing their status.

The author is frankly of the opinion that French public administration must be democratized. He regards an administration uncontrolled by definite legislation and extra-administrative bodies as incompatible with the functions of the modern state. This incompatibility displays itself not only in the relations of the administration with the public employees, but also in its re