Die Soziale Frage in Australien und Neuseeland. Bd. II., Von DR. 1911.) Der Kampf zwischen Kapital und Arbeit. Von DR. ADOLF WEBER. (Tübingen, Mohr. 1910.) Grundzüge der Volkswirtschaftslehre, Ein Studienbehelf für Hochschüler. Von DR. HERMANN RITTER VON SCHULLERN. (Wien und Leipzig. 1911.) Die Erschütterung der Industrieherrschaft und des Industriesozialismus. Von GERHARD HILDEBRAND. (Jena: Gustav-Fischer. 1910.) IF the nineteenth century was the age when attention was principally paid to the question of the production of wealth, the twentieth may be said to be the age when the question of its distribution occupies the foremost place. The first three books in our list, showing as they do the line of inquiry on which scholars in Germany are engaged, offer some proof of the truth of our assertion. Professor Schachner's excellent descriptive study of the industrial condition in Australia has the merit of being comprehensive, and fortified at every step with reliable figures. Australia, as we know, has long offered the best object-lesson in the carrying out of social legislation, and both economists and politicians have turned their attention to the southern hemisphere in order to learn by its experience. It is curious that up to the present German scholars have written some of the best books on the subject, and among them, perhaps, Professor Schachner's stands first. He begins with the labour market and ends with wages and the conditions of labour. The field, therefore, is not large, but in this book it is well filled. The picture we see is unique in the industrial annals of mankind. Here is a land where infant mortality is exceedingly low, where the "industrial diseases" claim but few victims, where prisons are not full and workhouses are empty. And how is all this brought about? By the influence of powerful trade unions, and extended State action to protect the labourer-to regulate his wages, to guard him against accidents, to fix limits to his working day, and more besides. Readers will find a full account of these things in Schachner's book, as also of the history of the trade union movement in Australia. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the work is the discussion of anti-strike legislation and its results. Despite the good intentions of legislators, Australia, it seems, is not altogether rid of strikes. This seems a remarkable conclusion, and Professor Weber, in what will prove to be a first-rate book on the struggle between labour and capital, tells the same tale. "The actual number of strikes will in the near future," he says, "probably be less than hitherto; but when strikes do come about, the struggle will be much more intense and widespread." Professor Weber's work is a systematic study of the whole labour question, and it offers very full information on pretty well every side of it. Thus, he carefully analyses the different forms which strikes may take. There is, first, the ordinary method of a general refusal to work. Then there may be the method of "passive resistance "--what has been called the "ca'canny system." The labourers come to their work but do not produce the usual amount. There is yet a third method. A group of workers gives notice to leave. They are succeeded by a second group. These work for a while and also give notice to leave-and so on, until the employer is exasperated. Everywhere Dr. Weber makes use of the best authorities. Indeed, a praiseworthy feature of his book is the full lists of sources, especially in learned journals, on different aspects of this most important question. Of course, he is chiefly concerned with German conditions, and it is interesting to find the statement, supported by the authority of many observers, that the German working classes are not worse off, and possibly better off, than their English confrères. On the theoretical side Dr. Weber is clear and full. He considers the part played in the labour question by the advance of technical science and by the growth of revolutionary ideas in ethics, in politics, in religion. Interesting, too, is his picture of the capitalist undertaker-a term which, according to our author, has not been sufficiently discussed in text-books on economics. It is true, of course (as Dr. Weber admits), that it is no easy task to obtain a well-defined notion of the work of the capitalist undertaker. But he makes an attempt nevertheless, and with useful results. The past and the present of trade unions in Germany is carefully examined, and there is a good chapter on the international organisations connected with the labour movement. Very properly, too, Weber also deals with employers' unions. And in both cases-in the trade unions and in the masters' syndicates-he delves beneath the surface for the causes which keep the units together, and he has one or two capital chapters on "the soul of the masses," their common interests, and their intellectual ideals. Altogether the book is a solid piece of work well worthy of attention. If we were to find fault with it it would be that the book is overloaded with the opinions of others in support of the author. On the other hand, it is sometimes useful to have a collection of opinions on burning questions of the day. One thing stands out in conclusion: Labour and capital are opposed to each other; class war is not yet a thing of the past. So Dr. Weber thinks. Can anything be done, he asks, to lessen differences and bring about a better understanding? His concluding words are worth quoting: "I know one means, and one only, by which it may be possible to find a common ground and prepare the way for social peace. That means is a clear and unprejudiced knowledge of economic progress and its value." That leads us at once to Professor von Schullern's book on the Elements of Economics. It is not to be compared with the treatises of Wagner or Schmoller or Philippovitch; it is just a text-book for students, covering the two courses usually given at German-speaking universities--on theoretical and practical political economy. Whether there was any real call for the book or not, we cannot say. On the whole, it seems desirable that students should go direct to the authorities themselves, and not to text-books about them. But this view must not be pressed. It is of some use to the student to have the several doctrines of recognised writers collected together. From this point of view Conrad's well-known handbooks have served their purpose. But they are, no doubt, too German for Austrian students, and we do not know of any good text-book of the Austrian school of economists. This must be the excuse of Professor von Schullern, and, indeed, he has done his work very well. His plan, of course, made it impossible for him to deal at any length with all sides of his subjects. But he does ample justice to fundamentals. The theory of value, the question of price, capital and wealth, rent and credit-all are made clear to the beginner. Everywhere the author endeavours to engage the attention of his reader by a good deal of descriptive matter. The chapter on Crises is good; so is the account of banks and their activities; and the theory of wages is carefully analysed. We need hardly add that throughout it is the method and teaching of the Austrian school that is followed. The fourth book in the list is different from the others. They are concerned-the first two entirely, the third to a great extent -with questions of industry. Hildebrand is anxious to point out that Western Europe is too much industrialised, and that the growing neglect of agriculture may have dire consequences. Hitherto Europe has to a large extent been dependent on new lands for the products of the soil. The new lands, however, are themselves learning the mechanical arts, and are able to manufacture for their own needs. He instances the awakening of Japan and China in this direction. And what is the burden of his message? That each State shall see to it that a balance is maintained between agriculture and industry. "For," says our author, "the whole possibility of the continued growth of a sound social life rests on an agricultural basis." But this is not all. The United States of Western Europe must combine for the work if it is to be successful. This interesting thesis is discussed and illustrated in some two hundred and forty pages, which contain but little of economic theory. But many a problem of importance is touched upon, though the conclusion is of the nature of a prophecy. The notion of a United States of Western Europe seems ever so far away as yet. Nevertheless, at a time when every new census shows that industrial pursuits are attracting more and more people, it is good to call a halt in order to consider whither we are drifting. This Hildebrand's book attempts to do. Of his success every reader will judge for himself. M. EPSTEIN Die Juden und das Wirtschaftsleben. Von WERNER SOMBART. (Leipzig: Duncker and Humblot. 1911.) FOR several years past Professor Sombart has been at work on a thorough revision of his Modern Capitalism. When the book appears in its new form it will differ in many respects from the last edition, both as to facts and opinions. In the course of his researches Sombart was led more and more to the conclusion that the Jews have contributed very largely to the growth and development of the modern capitalistic system. So important did the problem seem to him that he laid aside his principal theme for a year or two and devoted himself to this secondary issue. The book before us is the result of his labours. At the outset it must be remarked that Sombart has shown a marvellous skill in mastering the literature which bears on the question. He has gone not only to the thousand and one books that deal with aspects of Jewish history and anthropology, but he has also dipped into the original sources. Bible, Talmud, and the later codes-he has made use of them all. And he has produced a book which throws new light on an old problem. All his results may not be generally accepted, but we believe that the manner in which he presents them will find favour everywhere. Sombart starts out with the economic decline of the South, and the commercial and financial rise of the North in the fifteenth century. The reasons for the change adduced by economic historians do not satisfy him. It is not enough to say, he maintains, that the discovery of America was responsible for the shifting of the economic centres of Europe. Nor may the cause be found in the rise of well-knit nations in France, England, and Holland. In his view, the most important factor in the change was the wanderings of the Jews. They were expelled from Spain in 1492; from Portugal in 1497; from the German commercial cities in the same century-from Cologne in 1424; from Augsburg in 1440; from Erfurt in 1488; from Nuremberg in 1498. The same applies to the Italian States. They were driven from Sicily in 1492; from Naples in 1540; from Genoa and Venice in 1550. Where did the Jews go to? To England, to Holland, to Frankfort, to Hamburg, to the South of France. That accounts in large measure-in larger measure, at any rate, than has hitherto been held for the rise of these places. Sombart deals with the question very fully, and bases his views on reliable authorities. He shows, furthermore, how Jews participated in the beginning of colonial expansion-in America, North and South; in the West Indies, and elsewhere. Indeed, "a large proportion of the English colonial shipping trade was for a considerable time in the hands of the Jews." It would only be natural to expect that Jewish influence was important in finance. Sombart goes into this question very thoroughly, dealing with the Jews as among the earliest stockbrokers, their use of credit instruments, and their contribution to what he calls "the commercialisation of industry." What Sombart understands by this term readers will find clearly set forth and illustrated by the growth of the modern electrical industry. Perhaps the most interesting portion of the book is the attempt to show that the Jew has certain well-marked characteristics which make him essentially fitted for planting and extending modern capitalism. In the first place, the Jews are scattered pretty well everywhere. Sombart quotes the Spectator (No. 495) in support of this view. (Incidentally, we get a |