if properly elaborated, may surely be rightly called a scientific presentation of the facts of our present industrial society.

The author's attitude toward the living issues of our social and industrial system seems to be, if I rightly interpret it, that our present society is simply one form or type of social organization which, on the one hand, is not by any means an ideal one, but, on the other, can only become ideal by a continued, though possibly slow, process of evolution, in which process the conscious interference of society itself, in the direction of improvement through its organized representatives, the state, the church, and associations of various kinds, is absolutely necessary in order to insure a happy result.

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Such a view is in my opinion truly conservative, and the only one from which our present society has much to hope. It is equally removed from that which holds our present system to be as nearly ideal as any general system can be, and from that which regards the existing form of social organization as a hopelessly bad one, with no prospect of improvement. We have little or nothing to hope from socialism, and quite as little from the extreme form of laissez-faire-ism; for if the former would abolish all existing industrial institutions and put unworkable ones in their place, the latter would resist all healthy change and reform, until the forces of progress, bursting all bounds, might sweep away not only all barriers to change, but even society itself. The golden mean is fairly represented by Professor Adams, if I rightly understand his views.

EDMUND J. JAMES.

The Social Problem in its Economical, Moral, and Political Aspects. By WILLIAM GRAHAM, M.A., Professor of Political Economy and Jurisprudence, Queen's College, Belfast. London, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1886.- Large 8vo, xx, 479 pp.

Poverty and the State, or Work for the Unemployed. By HERBERT V. MILLS. London, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1886. — 8vo, 382 pp.

The Labor Movement, the Problem of To-day. Edited by GEORGE E. MCNEILL [and associate authors]. Boston, A. M. Bridgman & Co., 1887. Large 8vo, xx, 615 pp.

In Professor Graham's Social Problem we have the first serious attempt of an English economist to treat the labor question in all its aspects. Chalmers, Senior, McCulloch, and even Fawcett, have indeed written small works on special phases of the theory, but the meeting of the Industrial Remuneration Conference in 1885 has given an impetus to

the investigation, one result of which is apparent in the volume before us. The work is divided into four books: one on the statement of the problem and its history, another on the existing distribution of wealth and work, a third on property and inequality of wealth, and a final book on special remedies. Professor Graham starts from the assumption that the general desire of the laboring classes to raise their condition is natural and inevitable, and proposes to discuss whether their aims are also just and realizable. A survey of the history of the problem, — which we must confess is superficial and rather unsatisfactory, — together with an account of the actual condition of these classes, leads him to the conclusion that their efforts, in so far as they are not in contravention of law, are just. There remain then the means and methods, which are taken up in succession. In the economic analysis of the influence of trades-unions on the rate of wages we have perhaps the best chapters of the work. The influence of Thornton is plainly perceptible, but Professor Graham reaches some independent conclusions. He contrasts the systems of combination and non-combination in the three usual cycles of industrial activity, — expansion, depression, and the neutral state,— and concludes that Ricardo's law of natural wages is true only of the system of non-combination, and even then inapplicable to periods of expansion. In a régime of trade combinations, on the other hand, the laborer can effect a rise of wages in certain trades where there is a kind of local monopoly, in manufactures where the home producers have a considerable advantage over foreign competitors, and in home-produced luxuries of all sorts, but in each case at the cost of the consumer. On the other hand, whenever there is a rise of profits above the customary rate, whether temporary or lasting, the laborer may hope to procure a share without increasing the cost to the consumer, and without diminishing the interests of the employer; increased wages, in such cases, often meaning decreased cost of production and increased profits.

When he leaves the field of purely economic discussion, Professor Graham's footing became less stable; and he must be declared guilty of occasional obscurity and undue generalization. He is of course an opponent of laissez-faire. Laissez-faire while it lasted in its purity helped to heap up masters' fortunes, and had it long continued, would at last have resulted in a materialized plutocracy and a degraded proletariat." (Page 450.) But he has no faith in the drastic remedies of state socialism or land nationalization. Profit-sharing, like tradesunionism, tends, he thinks, to keep up wages among the élite of the artisans, and this new distribution of wealth is not an unmixed good. Co-operation presents a better outlook, but co-operation based on selfhelp alone seems of dubious promise. The only way out of the difficulty is the comprehensive one of a change in our conception of life, and as

a consequence in our conception of property. There must be a moral regeneration," and, as a result, the defining lines of law must be drawn afresh with respect to the grand topics of Property and Contract." (Page 350.) It will thus be seen that while Professor Graham escapes the dangers of the one-eyed social reformers, his own remedies are unduly vague and unsatisfactory. The scientific portions of his book are ably written; but when a scientist begins to speculate on the great generalizations of universal social reform, his results are not apt to be of much exact value. To preach an ethical awakening is the duty of the moralist, not of the economist.

The same criticism, but with far more emphasis, may be made in the case of Mr. Mills' Poverty and the State. The first requisite for a successful elucidation of social phenomena is a clear head; a kind heart is a very useful adjunct, but in this particular case of somewhat subordinate importance. Too many modern authors unfortunately possess a superabundance of the latter, coupled with a deficiency of the former attribute; and Mr. Mills, we are compelled to say, deserves in many respects to be put into this category. So he says, in one place: "I honestly confess I hate competition"; and again: "It is this compulsory competition which is the root cause of our poverty and pauperism"; while in another passage he tells us: "I believe with all my strength in liberty." He declares Carlyle and Ruskin to be the leaders of the new political economy. Poverty, he maintains, is due to speculations of the stock exchange, bank monopolies, usury, private ownership of land, and the introduction of machinery-for he agrees with Marx in believing that machinery never creates any new value. The one great remedy is to replace the pauper workshops by "co-operative estates," where four hours' work would be ample to provide the necessaries of a comfortable life. Mr. Mills' panacea, however, has not even the merits of novelty; a similar plan was advocated by John Bellers in the eighteenth century. Mr. Mills' book contains some redeeming features. It gives graphic pictures of the effects of parish relief, and includes a good sketch of the poor-law as well as an interesting account of the beggar colonies of the Netherlands. But the really sound opinions in the book are mere extracts from standard economists; the independent investigations of the author reveal a warm heart and burning sympathy, but very little critical acumen.

In the bulky volume on The Labor Movement, Mr. McNeill of the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor has collected a number of essays written chiefly by active participants in the movement itself. The work thus possesses unusual interest as disclosing to us the actual trend of thought among the American labor leaders; but the individual contributions are, as may be surmised, of exceedingly unequal value.

Professor E. J. James leads off with three admirably written chapters on the history of labor and recent legislation in Europe, and is followed by the editor, who attempts to give a similar survey of the general movement in the United States. Comparisons as to style and method of presentation would naturally be invidious; Professor James is a trained economist, and knows how to retain a just proportion for the various periods, while Mr. McNeill gives an unvarnished and somewhat desultory description of such facts as he has succeeded in collecting. About two-thirds of the volume is devoted to the history of the organizations among the laborers, written by representatives of the leading trades. In chapter xiv a brief survey of the progress in the miscellaneous trades is given by the editor. A striking feature of the various contributions is the generally moderatc tone and the unqualified condemnation of violence. The separate historical sketches all contain some interesting facts, but differ widely in permanent value. The chapters on the printers by J. F. Farquahr, on the railroad organization by Chief Arthur, and on the building trades by E. H. Rogers, are simple, often disconnected, statements of facts, that on the printers being especially weak. The story of the textile trades by Robert Howard, as well as that of the coal miners by John McBride, and of the iron workers by John Jarrett, seem to be written on the whole from a broader point of view, although Mr. McBride goes out of his way to make a violent attack on Pinkerton's detectives in the Molly Maguire difficulties. Mr. Jarrett calls attention to the singular fact that the amalgamated association thoroughly favors conciliation, but opposes arbitration. The chapters on the shoemakers by Frank K. Foster is perhaps the best of the series, for it attempts to go beneath the facts and discover the spirit of the movement. Especially good is the account of the rise and downfall of the order of St. Crispin. Among the most disappointing portions of the work is the chapter on the history of the Knights of Labor as told by the six surviving founders. The editor apologizes for this by saying that its history is largely secret, and that the time has not yet come for exposing it to public view. This of course is much to be regretted.

The remainder of the work is occupied with a discussion of the more general phases of the movement. We have three further chapters by the editor on the "Problem of To-day," the "Hours of Labor," and the "Principles of the Knights of Labor." Mr. McNeill's ardor often leads him to picturesque utterances like the following: "The virgin soil of the South was outraged by Mammon" (the reference is to chattel slavery); the laborer out of work is "the pariah of society"; "philanthropy is the maudlin moan over the needs of the beasts, and a scoffer at the woes of humanity," etc., etc. But on the whole his utterances are conservative and well-intentioned.

Rev. Heber Newton gives a

clear and interesting account of industrial education, while Congressman O'Neill discusses arbitration, and Congressman Morrow the Chinese question. A concise and able study on the various forms of co-operative enterprise is contributed by F. H. Giddings, the editor of Work and Wages. Mr. Powderly's article on the army of the unemployed is exceedingly short and disappointing; and Henry George gives evidence of the hold that he has acquired on the laborers of to-day by repeating his economic heresies in the accustomed form.

From this glimpse of the contents, some idea of the scope of the work may be formed. It disarms criticism from the outset, owing to the declaration of the editor that no claim for a scientific presentation of the subject is made. Only the laborer's side of the question is stated. But this method possesses some advantages. From the standpoint of economics, the volume furnishes us with an arsenal of facts which may be turned to good use in future; from the standpoint of practical politics, it will serve to clear up many misapprehensions and partially pave the way to a reconciliation of rival interests. Regarded in this light, it is a valuable contribution to the literature of the subject.

E. R. A. S.

Introduction to a History of the Factory System. By R. WHATLEY COOKE TAYLOR. London, Richard Bentley & Son, 1886.-Large 8vo, xviii, 441 pp.

Handel und Industrie der Stadt Basel: Zunftwesen und Wirthschaftsgeschichte bis zum Ende des XVII Fahrhunderts. Aus dem Archiven dargestellt von TRAUGOTT GEERING. Basel, Felix Schneider, 1886. 8vo, xxvi, 678 pp.

Mr. Taylor, in his Introduction to a History of the Factory System, has undertaken a great task. No one question of economic history is of more importance than the transition from mediæval society to the complicated mechanism of modern industrial life. Of English authors, Toynbee alone has given us an idea of how such a history should be written, but his attempt is simply a sketch, so that Mr. Taylor's statement that "there is absolutely no independent source of information in English literature dealing with the whole of this subject" remains true. This he declares to be little less than a scandal to industrial literature. It is unfortunate, therefore, that we cannot characterize Mr. Taylor's volume as having successfully or adequately silenced this scandal. What shall we say of an author who confesses in his preface that his "reading has generally been compelled to be of a very superficial kind," and that "much of this book is a compilation from others," inevitably so, be