John Nixon, Pioneer of the Steam Coal Trade in South Wales. A Memoir. By JAMES EDMUND VINCENT. With a Portrait. (London: Murray. 1899.)

IT was John Nixon who first discerned the merits of the "steam coal" of South Wales, its relative smokelessness, and greater heating power, and who, by taking out at his own risk a cargo to Nantes and convincing the sugar refiners of that place and the French Minister of Marine of its superiority for their purposes, created the foreign demand which has done so much to transform the neighbourhood of Merthyr and Cardiff. This is a story which, well told, would be worth telling; especially now that the English public is beginning seriously to consider whether it is wise to allow "individual enterprise" to freely supply the rivals of England with what are in fact munitions of war. The present eulogy, by dint of heavy paper, large type and wide margins, has been given the outward semblance of a substantial volume: but when the unnecessary verbiage and reflections of the author are omitted, all the facts which it contains could easily have been set forth in a dozen ordinary pages. To judge from internal evidence, the narrative is really composed of Mr. Nixon's own reminiscences, and it has not even occurred to Mr. Vincent to supply the dates which his hero forgot to mention. Readers conversant with the coal mining industry will understand what was involved in Mr. Nixon's introduction of the "long wall system" instead of the "pillar and stall system," but certainly the author does not make it clear to those who are not. And it need hardly be added that the whole account is pitched in the key of admiration. In all his conflicts with other business men or with his own miners, Mr. Nixon was always in the right. As to the more recent events in his career which we should be glad to know about,his efforts to bring about some control of the output, his scheme for an association among coal owners to fix a minimum price for coal, and finally his support, as Chairman of the Coal Owners' Association, of the Sliding Scale for wages-the information is exceedingly meagre and vague. The book will gratify Mr. Nixon's personal friends; but it is not the contribution to the industrial and commercial history of South Wales which its title would seem to promise. W. J. ASHLEY

L'Evolution Économique et Sociale de l'Industrie de la Laine en

Angleterre. By LAURENT DECHESNE. (Paris: Librairie de la Société des Receuil Général des Lois. 1900. Pp. 282.) Die staatliche Regelung der englischen Wollindustrie vom xv. bis zum xviii. Jahrhundert. By Dr. FRIEDRICH LOHMANN. In Schmoller's Forschungen. xviii, heft 1. (Leipzig: Duncker und Humblot. 1900. Pp. x, 100.)

THE Contemporaneous appearance of these two monographs on the history of the English woollen industry shows that foreign economists

are beginning to realise the quite unique position of that manufacture in the social development of Great Britain, and to give it the attention that it deserves. One is by a Belgian scholar, and was presented as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor in Political Economy at the University of Liége: the other has been prepared for the purpose of facilitating one of those general surveys which it is the wise policy of the editors of the Acta Borussica to prefix to the several volumes of the legislation of Frederick II. It is understood that a young American economist has in hand an even more complete history of the industry. That an Englishman should be moved to do anything of the kind is perhaps beyond praying for; but it is some comfort to learn that all three have received encouragement and assistance in their work from the Director of the London School of Economics.

The two treatises now before us are very different in their character, and supplement one another; and both together can be regarded as furnishing no more than a preliminary survey of the external history of the manufacture. Dr. Lohmann limits himself in the main to a review of the legislation upon the subject down to the middle of the eighteenth century and, of course, without penetrating beneath the legislation into the life of the industry itself, it is quite impossible to answer the question, to which he more than once refers, as to whether governmental action forwarded or retarded industrial progress. But he has also looked into the State Papers for certain parts of his period, and he has been able on two or three points to make real additions to our knowledge of the subject, especially during the seventeenth century. I would call attention especially to the information now furnished us as to the proceedings of the various Commissions and Commissioners of Enquiry in the early Stuart reigns. And of the legislation itself Dr. Lohmann's survey is carefully done; it helps to bridge the gulf between the Revolution and the Great Inventions; and it will be very handy for any student of the subject.

Dr. Dechesne's work is more complete; it reaches down to our own time, although the earlier historical part is thin and based on a few modern treatises; and it has called for more protracted labour on the part of its author. Its value is increased by its careful analysis of the various processes involved in the manufacture: by the clear distinction which it maintains between the woollen and the worsted branches of the trade; and by the convenient arrangement of the statistical tables interspersed through its pages. Thanks to his German training, Dr. Dechesne does not limit himself to generalities about manufacturing enterprise, but tells us something of the internal organisation of the Yorkshire business world, though not so much as we could desire; and, thanks to the French influences he has been under, especially that of the school of Le Play, he gives a good deal of attention to the workman's standard of comfort, and furnishes us with an interesting "budget." He notices, without adequately explaining, the weakness of trade unionism in the Yorkshire woollen industry, which is

the more remarkable when contrasted with the complete organisation of the workpeople in the sister textile industry of Lancashire a few miles off; and he could doubtless have obtained more information, had he sought for it, concerning the Wages Scale drawn up by the Bradford Chamber of Commerce in 1895. As far as it goes, Dr. Dechesne's is a very helpful book. W. J. ASHLEY

Die öffentlichen Glückspiele.

(Vienna. Manz. 1899.)

By Dr.

RUDOLF SIEGHART.

DR. SEIGHART has spared himself no pains in order to compile a work upon State lotteries which shall be learned and interesting. Those who wish to know what are the different kinds of state lotteries which have existed and which now exist in the various States of Europe can gratify their desire by turning to the pages of this book. To the economist the first chapter will be the most interesting. In this chapter the development of State lotteries in Austria as a result of the Mercantile Theory is traced. The lotteries would draw gold into the country and would prevent the inhabitants from sending the gold out, if they bought lottery tickets instead of foreign goods. The story as told by Dr. Seighart is extremely interesting. The need for a new source of State revenue added an additional reason for the development or the encouragement of lotteries by the State. The variety of their forms is amazing. The evils which resulted from them were great; yet they continued to flourish, and still to this day continue to flourish, in many countries. What is the reason for this? Why do persons gamble in this way? If not in this way then will they in some other? Have we in England done well to prohibit lotteries? The matter is doubtful. In our author's view hope does not spring eternal in the human breast, but the need for hope does. The main functions of many, if not most, forms of gambling is to satisfy this need. If we prohibit lotteries is there not a probability that this need will be satisfied in a less satisfactory way? Dr. Seighart's judgment is interesting-"Frankreich hat die kleine Lotterie beseitigt, aber nur um auf dem Umwege über Panama lose und ähnliche Werte ein viel verderblicheres Spiel ins Volksleben einzuführen. Und ebenso hat England das Zahlenlotto aufgehoben, aber nur um auf der andern Seite durch bookmakers und booms manchen viel gefährlichern Hoffnungsrausch in umso grösserer Ausdehnung um sich greifen zu sehen."

This book illus

It is dangerous to encourage lotteries, they are uneconomic and tend to destroy the impulse to save; yet it may be wise to afford a regular means of satisfying the desire for gambling. trates both these propositions in every variety of way. The general reader who has not time or inclination to read over 400 pages in a foreign tongue, may yet derive considerable advantage from reading the earlier portion of this book.

C. P. SANGER

Geschichte der russischen Fabrik. By M. TUGAN-BARANOWSKY. Translated into German by Dr. B. MINZÈS. (Berlin: Emil Felber. 1900. London: Williams & Norgate. Pp. vi. and 626. Price 12s.)

PROFESSOR TUGAN-BARANOWSKY's History of the Russian Factory, recently published in St. Petersburg, has been made accessible to a wider circle of readers by a translation into German, the Russian author taking advantage of this opportunity to revise certain portions of the original, in which it had not been possible to express his views as freely as the change of language now permits. A second volume is promised, which will deal with the actual circumstances of factory industry in Russia. In the present work the author traces the growth of the factory system from the days of Peter the Great, who erected numerous factories at the cost of the State, handing them over, when completed, to private entrepreneurs; while in other cases persons, who built factories, were assisted by the Government by the grant of large loans, free of interest, and in other ways. Highly skilled foremen were sent for from abroad. Important privileges were conferred both upon manufacturers and upon their workpeople. The result was that, while before Peter's time Russia possessed no factories, at his death. the country could boast of 233, some of them fairly large concerns. The total number of the workpeople at present employed in Russian factories and smelting works and on Russian railways is estimated at not less than 3,000,000.

While it is impossible within present limits to attempt an analysis of this bulky volume, a few points of interest may be indicated. The details given in relation to the growth of the cotton manufacturing industry in the first part of the present century are very striking. Comparing the imports of raw cotton and cotton yarn in 1812-15 with those in 1856-60, we find these to have increased nearly seventeenfold in this period. At first foreign (mainly English) yarn was used. In 1812-15 the weight of raw cotton as compared with that of cotton yarn imported was as 5 to 12, but in 1856-60 as 262 to 21. Thus, already in 1860, the Russian cotton manufacturers had, to a great extent, emancipated themselves from their previous dependence upon the spinning mills of Lancashire.

Taking together all factories of every kind in European Russia, with the exclusion of Poland and Finland, we learn that, while in 1815 there were in operation 4,189 factories with 172,882 employees, in 1861 there were at work 14,148 factories, employing altogether 522,500 workpeople. In 1861 a new era in Russian industry opened with the abolition of serfdom. The effects of this measure were severely felt. In numerous places the emancipated serfs deserted their employment, and a marked decrease in production ensued, from which it took nearly ten years before the industry of Russia completely recovered. With regard to the extraordinary development of Russian manufactures in

more recent years, some figures of a remarkable character are given. Thus, we learn that the output of pig-iron in Russia rose from 514,286 tons in 1886 to 1,430,357 tons in 1895, and the weight of coal raised rose from 3,230,357 tons in 1880 to 8,919,643 tons in 1895.

Not the least interesting pages of Professor Tugan-Baranowsky's book are those which deal with the history of factory legislation in Russia. Already in 1845 a Decree was made forbidding the employment of children under 12 in night-work in factories; but this regulation never had any practical effect; and it was not until 1882 that the first actually operative law for the regulation of children's labour in factories was enacted. By this statute the employment of children under 12 years of age was prohibited, while the working-day of children of 12 to 15 years was restricted to eight hours, and employment at night and on Sundays and holidays was forbidden for juvenile workers. The employers were required to make such arrangements as would permit children, whose elementary education had not been completed, to attend school. A staff of factory inspectors was created in order to secure compliance with the law. This Factory Act was followed, in 1884-86, by further efforts to regulate the labour of children, young persons and women, an Act passed in 1885 prohibiting (experimentally for three years) all night work in the case of women and of young persons of either sex, under the age of 17, in cotton, flax, and wool factories, while a law of 1886 contained important provisions in the nature of our Truck Acts, invested the factory inspectors with increased authority, and at the same time imposed severe penalties upon persons promoting or taking part in strikes, quitting work before the termination of their engagement, or wilfully damaging machinery, &c.

In consequence of the vigorous opposition directed against this novel legislation by the factory owners, a new ław was passed in 1890, which weakened in material respects the protection afforded to factory operatives by the previous enactments. The employment of children of 12 to 15 years in glass works was again permitted, and provisions were made enabling exemptions to be granted in relation to the employment of juvenile workers on Sundays and holidays, and in regard to night work by women and young persons of 15 to 17 years. Power was also conferred upon the Minister of Finance, acting in concert with the Ministry of the Interior, to permit in certain cases the employment of children of 10 to 12 years. Thus it lies in the power of the administrative authorities to make the protection afforded to children, young persons, and women by the factory laws to a great extent illusory. But in what manner these authorities have exercised the very wide discretion accorded to them cannot be stated. "With regard to the practical results of the law of 1890, as also with respect to the laws of 1885 and 1886, we are unable," says our author, "to give any information, since the last reports of the factory inspectors relate to the year 1885." The author, however, tells us that the law of 1886 certainly did something to improve the position of factory