PHILLIPS, J. S. President's annual address. With special reference to compulsory welfare insurance. Delivered before the national convention of insurance commissioners at St. Paul. (Albany: State Supt. of Ins. 1917. Pp. 17.) STONE, J. T. Problems concerning the accident and health insurance business. (New York: Ins. Soc. of N. Y. 1917. Pp. 14.) WOODBURY, R. M. Social insurance: an economic analysis. Cornell studies in history and economics, vol. 4. (New York: Holt. 1917. Pp. 171. $1.25.) Final report of the departmental committee on approved society finance and administration. Cd. 8451. (London: Wyman. 1917. 8d.) Concerning desirable amendments in the financial scheme of the national insurance acts. Fire Insurance Lectures Delivered before the Insurance Institute of Hartford, Inc., Seasons of 1914-15-16. Based on the Second and Third Years' Program of the Insurance Institute of America. (Hartford: The Insurance Institute of Hartford, Inc. 1917. Pp. 289.) The Insurance Institute of Hartford is composed of "officers and officials of insurance companies and persons engaged in the insurance business." In addition to this volume of lectures it has published from time to time volumes on life insurance, liability and compensation insurance, and accident and health insurance. The present volume consists of two parts. Part I includes lectures on water works, fire departments, woodworkers, fire insurance rating, and the standard policy. Part II is devoted in large part to a discussion of some special hazards in fire insurance such as chemical, tanneries, and metal-workers. This part also includes two lectures on automatic sprinklers, a discussion of the analytic system of fire rating, and agency organization and management. Mr. Edward R. Hardy, in his lecture on "The history and philosophy of fire insurance rating," gives an excellent summary of the development of schedule rating. Mr. W. B. Medlicott, in seven lectures on "The standard policy," discusses the chief clauses in the policy in a pointed manner. Mr. F. C. Moore, who has given much attention to special risks, treats in an equally satisfactory manner "Automatic sprinklers' protection." The lectures are of an expository and informal character, designed primarily for those who are in the fire insurance business. They are, however, free in large part from technicalities and so are well suited for the student of fire insurance. Throughout there is evident the effort to express in as small compass as possible the essential features of the subject under discussion. This is both a merit and a defect. For those who are beginning the study of fire insurance, it will prove very satisfactory, while the more mature student will want a more complete discussion. These lectures were arranged, doubtless, with the first class in mind and they thus will afford a good basis for the more detailed study of the subjects. This volume, as well as the preceding volumes, should be found in the library of every university which gives a course in fire insurance. There is a surprisingly small amount of good literature in English on the subject of fire insurance, if one measures this literature by the amount of the fire insurance business and the number of people who are directly interested in it. Little work of an educational character has been done outside of preparing for the business those who enter it. It is very probable that not a small amount of the difficulty which the fire insurance officials have with state and national legislatures is due to the general ignorance of the public as to the character of the business and its method of transaction. Therefore the work which the Insurance Institute of America is doing, and especially this Insurance Institute of Hartford, should be welcomed. It would be good public as well as good private business if there were in existence more such organizations. W. F. GEPHART. Negligence and compensation cases annotated. With pleadings and forms. Vol. XIII. (Chicago: Callaghan. 1917. Pp. xliii, 1187.) Report of the pension funds of the City of New York. Part II. An actuarial investigation of the mortality and service experience of the special and general service funds for municipal employees. (New York: Commission on Pensions. 1916. Pp. xiv, 422.) This report contains "the fundamental facts which are indispensable to the intelligent consideration of the city's existing pension plans, and upon which alone a sound, properly organized new pension system can be constructed." "It represents the results of a complete actuarial investigation of the nine existing pension systems of the City of New York, and furnishes the first comprehensive data ever available with reference to these funds." "In previous reports it has been made clear that the present pension plans, which have involved already a disbursement of nearly $57,000,000, and which now entail an expenditure of over $5,000,000 a year, were put into operation wholly without forecast or intelligent thought of the future cost which the commitments assumed would involve." A brief introduction signed by Henry Bruère, George W. Perkins, and others admirably reviews the volume. It points out that when the Pension Commission was requested to present a plan for reorganization of the funds, it was impossible to consider the problem intelligibly on account of a lack of facts; that it was necessary to obtain facts as a first step to devising a method for ascertaining the prospective cost of existing plans; that experience is the only basis on which a sound fund can be constructed; and that hence it was necessary to analyze the experience of the City of New York; that expert guidance had been secured; that the experience of England had been drawn upon; and that the work had been in charge of Mr. George B. Buck, an actuary with special training in pension problems. This report is preliminary to future reports in which recommendations will be made dealing concretely with pensions for each class of employees and with methods for financing. The report is adequately supplied with tables, charts, and theoretical formulas necessary to cover the different classes of pensions, and with further data and calculations looking to the necessities of reorganization of the funds. Although the work deals with special systems of pensions, it has a bearing on any system; and a study of the volume will undoubtedly be helpful to any one deeply interested in pensions of any kind. (Chicago: Reports of fire insurance companies, for year EDWIN B. WILSON. ending December 31, Spectator Co. 1917. Workmen's compensation law of the state of Delaware. Effective January 1, 1918. Ibid., New Jersey, revised with supplementary acts of 1917, April, 1917. (New York: G. I. Wilson & Sons. 1917. Pp. 32; 36. 25c. each.) Workmen's compensation law of the state of Kansas, revised with amendments, July, 1917. (New York: Frederick R. Jones. 1917. Pp. 32. 25c.) Workmen's compensation law of the state of South Dakota, effective July 1, 1917. Ibid., Texas, revised with amendments, April, 1917. Ibid., Utah. (New York: Feruss Press, 1917. Pp. 40, 39, 36. 25c. each.) Pauperism and Charities NEW BOOKS LANSBURY, G. Your part in poverty. (London: The Herald. 1917. Pp. 126. 1s.) SCHMID, C. A., and WILD, A. L'assistance des indigents, légale et volontaire-organisée, en Suisse. Two volumes. (Paris: Fisch bacher. 1917. Pp. 376; 301. 16 fr.) Thirty-eighth annual report of the state board of charity of Massachusetts for the year ending November 30, 1916. (Boston: The Board. 1917. Pp. 760.) Socialism and Co-operative Enterprises NEW BOOKS BUBNOFF, J. V. The coöperative movement in Russia. (Manchester, Eng. Coöperative Soc. Prtg. Co. 1917. Pp. 162.) CALVERT, H. The law and principles of coöperation in India, being the Coöperative Societies act, no. 11 (1912). With introduction, notes and appendix. (London: Thacker. 1917. 6s.) MONTEITH, D. M. Socialism unmasked. (San Bernardino, Cal.: The author. 1917. Pp. 270.) REYNAERT, J. H. The Eldorado of socialism, communism and anarchism. (Orlando, Fla.: Reporter-Star Pub. Co. 1917. Pp. 86.) SCUDDER, V. D. The church and the hour. Papers by a socialist churchwoman. (New York: Dutton. 1917. Pp. 188. $1.10.) TRACHTENBERG, A., editor. The American socialists and the war. (New York: Rand School of Soc. Sci. 1917. Pp. 49. 15c.) A compilation of official declarations on war and militarism by the Socialist party since the beginning of the European war. WALLING, W. E. and LAIDLER, H. W., editors. State socialism. (New York: Holt. 1917. Pp. 649. $2.) WOODAN, J. B. Municipal ownership fails in U. S. A. (Chicago: H. J. Gonden, Peoples Gas Bldg. 1917. Pp. 32. 25c.) Coöperative Union Limited. Proceedings of the forty-eighth annual congress, 1916. (Manchester, Eng.: Coöperative Union. 1917. Pp. 855.) Statistics and Its Methods NEW BOOKS COPELAND, M. T. Business statistics. Harvard business studies, vol. III. (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press. 1917. Pp. xii, 696. $3.75.) To be reviewed. GILMAN, S. Graphic charts for the business man. (Chicago: LaSalle Exten. Univ. 1917. Pp. 62.) rmanc PINTNER, R. and PATTERSON, D. G. A scale of performance tests. (New York: Appleton. 1917. Pp. ix, 217. $2.) RUGG, H. O. Statistical methods applied to educational problems. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1917. $2.) WEST, C. J. Introduction to mathematical statistics. (Columbus, Ohio: R. G. Adams & Co. 1917. $2.50.) Commonwealth demography, 1916 and previous years [Australia]. Population and vital statistics bulletin no. 84. (Melbourne: Bureau of Census and Statistics. 1917. Pp. 274.) DOCUMENTS, REPORTS, AND LEGISLATION Industries and Commerce REPORT ON ANTHRACITE AND BITUMINOUS COAL. In response to Senate resolutions adopted June 22, 1916, and April 30, 1917, the Federal Trade Commission transmitted to the Senate in June, 1917, a report on Anthracite and Bituminous Coal (Sen. Doc. No. 50, 1 Sess., 65 Cong., Washington, 1917, pp. 420). The report describes fully the anthracite coal situation during the winter of 1916-17. As is well known, there developed during last winter a buying panic on the part of consumers, which proved more serious than any since the anthracite strike of 1902 (in which year mining operations were actually suspended for four months). This abnormal demand, the report brings out, was largely the result of artificial and psychological conditions. The imminence of a nationwide railroad strike in the fall created an intense demand for coal; the dealers naturally found themselves unable to supply this demand promptly; "scare" articles in the newspapers predicted a coal famine; and the outcome was a buyer's panic. The railroad coal companies during this crisis exercised on the whole a stabilizing influence by adhering rather faithfully to circular prices, but many of the independent operators took advantage of the situation and charged exorbitant prices, often $1, $3, and in some cases $5 per ton higher than their normal figures. In fact, some of the independent producers practically auctioned off their coal to the highest bidder, the price changing from day to day, and even from hour to hour. The most striking feature of the market, however, was the speculative activity of the jobbers, who in the anthracite industry buy largely from the independent operators. The jobbers, it should be noted, perform no physical service; they do not unload or store coal or deliver to retailers' wagons from a storage pocket as do the wholesalers. As a class the jobbers took full advantage of the abnormal demand. The majority of them realized double or treble their normal gross margins; and in the eastern markets individual sales were frequently made upon which gross margins of $4 to $6 a ton were realized, instead of the usual margins for eastern jobbers of 10 to 15 cents per ton. Moreover, coal was often sold by one jobber to another. a random selection of 142 high premium purchases by retailers, 56 were found to have passed through the hands of more than one jobber. A number of these orders passed through as many as three or four hands, each jobber generally taking a large profit; and in a few in On |