argument of Rodbertus admits of fairly simple summary. Society is treated as consisting of two classes, those who labour and those who receive rent or unearned income or revenue, these terms being for the present purpose convertible. Owing to the superior competitive strength of possession in the conditions of production over labour the proportion in which the total produce is divided is continually changing, to the detriment it need hardly be said of the working class in other words the share of labour is ever diminishing. Lastly the direction of production lies in the hands of irresponsible individuals whose only guide to what they should produce is the experience of the past. The result according to Rodbertus is obvious and inevitable. Any improvement in productive power naturally leads to an increase in the production of what may be termed revenue goods and working class goods in the same proportions which these originally held. But during this very time labour has been exploited and subjected to a decrease in its proportionate though not its absolute share, so that the goods when finally in the market exist in wrong proportions to the power of purchase then resident in the two classes. Owing further to the recurrent or rather continuous nature of this change adjustment never has time to take effect before a new depression occurs with a demand for a new adjustment. The cause of over-production then is not inequality but increasing inequality. This feature must be emphasised here because it is on it that the argument turns. Despite its importance, it receives far too little notice on many criticisms on Rodbertus. Thus, though not overlooked by Professor Clark, its particular conditions and consequences are insufficiently taken into account in the somewhat summary conclusion at which he arrives.

The true importance of Rodbertus, however, lies not so much in his treatment of this or that particular point as in the extraordinary suggestiveness of his writings and the central conceptions set forth as to the growth of society and the relationship of economic and social life. E. C. K. GONNER

Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of Riches, by Turgot, 1770. Translated and Edited by Prof. W. J. ASHLEY. (New York: Macmillan. Pp. xxii, 112. 1898. Price 38. net.)

THIS volume, in the series of Prof. Ashley's Economic Classes, deserves more notice from the reviewer than could be given to some of its predecessors, like the reprints of chapters from the writings of Malthus and Richard Jones. Turgot's sketch first appeared in the form of articles in the Éphémérides, 1770, then edited by Du Pont de Nemours. As is well known, Du Pont revised the articles before they were published, and this led to a passing tiff with Turgot. The alterations made by Du Pont were, if an editor of an Economic Journal can judge, small and unimportant compared with the fuss

which has been made over them; but, in a critical edition, attention must necessarily be called to them. Prof. Ashley has hardly attempted a critical edition. He suggests that the task should be left to the modern French school, but it is permissible to express regret that he has not himself undertaken it. Any one who attempts the task will not perform it satisfactorily without carefully collating Turgot's Reflections and Cantillon's Essai.

In a short but interesting preface the editor gives us the main facts of Turgot's life. He incidentally expresses the opinion that Du Pont was in chronic want of copy for the Éphémèrides. After reading, perhaps, more of Du Pont's writings, published and unpublished, than I am ever likely to find useful, I feel very doubtful upon this subject. Too prone to write in his own journal, too dilatory and unpunctual to be ever up to time, Du Pont can hardly ever have been really short of matter for publication; and any reader of the Ephémérides must be struck even now with the small amount of padding which they contain. And the strong sectarian spirit of the Économistes have caused the rejection of a great number of manuscripts which an editor, if hard up, would not have hesitated to accept.

The only previous English translation of the Reflections, reprinted by McCulloch, was, as Prof. Ashley points out, a miserable performance. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Harvard professor for his very careful and close rendering of the latest text.

HENRY HIGGS

Bilanci di Trenta Famiglie di Contadini in Provincia di Treviso. BY FELICE MANTOVANI. Pp. 60, 8vo. (Torino: Roux Frassati e Co.

1898.)

SIGNOR MANTOVANI gives us an excellent study of thirty Metayers' families in the North of Italy. Coming after the late Prof. Rabbeno's Metayers' Budgets in the ECONOMIC JOURNAL (vol. iv., pp. 545 et seq.), and the earlier budgets of the Comtessa Pasolini, they add much to our exact knowledge of peasant life in Italy. The statistics of expenses of cultivation, of the ages, cost of living, receipts, &c., are minute in themselves, and are completed by particulars about the members of each family, which make the portraits live and throw light upon the figures themselves, e.g., how many members of the family can read and write, how many go to the inn, how much capital has been saved, and-for nothing is unimportant in the family budgetsuch details as the mention of a mother and daughter who take it in turns to go to mass, because they have only one pair of boots between them, and wear slippers in the house. Those who have attempted to compile a workman's budget, and few others are competent judges, will warmly appreciate the industry and ability which Signor Mantovani has lavished upon his interesting work. HENRY HIGGS

NOTES AND MEMORANDA

THE TRADE UNIONS CONGRESS AND FEDERATION

THE special meeting of the Trade Unions Congress, to consider the question of federation, was held in Manchester at the end of January. An attempt was made at the outset to widen the scope of the discussion by introducing other systems, as well as the one drawn up by the special committee; but the attempt proved abortive, and the two days and a half were entirely devoted to an examination of the official recommendations and of suggested amendments. The scheine of federation, as it now stands, is roughly as follows.

Structure.

The governing bodies are a general council, a management committee, and district committees.

The general council, which will be much like the Trade Union Congress, will meet annually, and also on special occasions when required by the management committee or by twenty members of the general council.

The management committee will consist of fifteen members, no two of whom must be of the same trade. In this body voting is to be by show of hands. Any society dissatisfied with the ruling of the committee may appeal to the general council, and, if it pleases, from the general council to the constituents. Should the executive prove itself strong in vetoing disputes, this right of appeal might easily render the scheme unworkable without some modification. The rules are silent upon the point as to whether the committee, when over-ruled on appeal to the council, also has the right to demand the referendum. Members of the management committee will receive salaries settled by the general council. If the federation attains any size the management committee may be so loaded with work as to necessitate its sitting permanently. In such case it would be difficult in the extreme -in any case it will be difficult-to find fifteen prominent trade unionists, whose decision would enforce respect, to constitute it.

District committees are to be appointed when and where the council may decide. They will contain two delegates from each society in the district. There is no rule as to voting at the meetings of the district committees. There is no rule as to officers, except that their remuneration shall be fixed by the whole body of delegates. There is no rule as to meetings. The district committee will obviously be too large to be called very frequently, and nothing is said of an executive, like the central managing committee, although the work to be done will necessitate a board sitting once or twice a week at least. The district committee may appeal from the decision of the managing committee to the general council, but the constitution is silent as to a further appeal to the individual members.

Funds.

All payments by societies are to be reckoned on ninety per cent. of their membership. There is an entrance fee of one penny per member. Contributions, which must be paid quarterly, are on two scales. The higher is sixpence per quarter per member, the lower threepence per quarter per member. The management committee has the power to increase subscriptions, but not the entrance fee, up to double the above amounts. If further increase is necessary the general council must submit a proposal to the members through the executives of the Unions.

Let us now attempt to form some rough estimate of the probable income of the federation. If all the Unions in the country, with their one million and a half members, gave in their adhesion, the receipts would be-

We have assumed that half will join on the higher scale and half on the lower.

It may be taken as quite beyond question that not more than half the unionists in the Kingdom, at the very most, will enter the feder ation. Very likely not more than a quarter of them will join. A delegate at the Congress estimated the membership at 600,000. The building trades, excepting only the stonemasons, did not even send delegates, and they are 180,000 strong. The northern miners were not represented; and it is hinted that none of the miners' unions, which contain more than a quarter of a million members, will join. It is moreover very doubtful whether the textile operatives, of whom there are about 100,000, will commit themselves. In general No. 33.-VOL. IX

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we may say that the Unions which spend the least per head on strike-pay will be chary about taking part in a scheme which means. to them buying sixpences at a shilling apiece. And the differences between the expenditures per head on dispute benefit by different Unions are considerable, as witness the figures given below. When we consider further that less than one million members were represented at the Congress, it becomes obvious that the probable income of the federation ought not to be stated at more than £50,000 as the upper limit. How much strength such an income implies may be gauged by comparing it with the following average amounts spent in disputes by certain groups of the hundred principal Unions from 1892 to 1896.

We may now pass on to consider the manner in which the funds are to be disbursed. All societies engaged in a trade dispute will have. a claim on the funds, provided that their action is approved by the management committee, or, on appeal, by the general council or the constituents. "Trade dispute" is left undefined; but an amendment proposed by the power-loom overlookers, and strongly supported by the Labour Unions, that "benefit shall be paid to any society having members locked out through a dispute the same as though such members were parties in the dispute," was lost after a heated discussion, in which it was pointed out on the one side that it is possible to trace back the causes of most out-of-work cases to a dispute somewhere; and, on the other side, that it would be unfair for the members of one Union, locked out through the action of another Union, not to receive strike-pay if the strikers did. Rule III., clause 2, as amended, now declares that the management committee "shall have power to grant benefit under the federation scale to the extent of one per cent. of the aggregate number of members of the societies federated; but when a greater number is involved the general council must be called together by the management committee to decide as to the best course to pursue." The rule as drafted by the special committee read, "one per cent. of the members paid for by any society." This obviously would have borne heavily on the small Unions without branches.

It is therefore within the rights of the management committee to