cause "the materials are such as do not yield themselves easily to casual research"? Such confessions, indeed, are extremely frank, but at once rob the work of any pretensions to scientific value. Evidences of the "casual research" abound in almost every chapter. There is, of course, no objection to making use of the results of other writers, but Mr. Taylor draws only from books written in English, and often utterly fails to distinguish between the relative merits of his authorities, an inevitable result of not testing doctrines by independent investigation. To take only one example, his account of the English craft-guilds and mediaval municipal life is borrowed from Brentano (and his slavish imitator Howells), who has done more to confuse the subject than any other historian. Almost one-half of the Introduction is devoted to an account of ancient industry, three further chapters treat of medieval conditions, and the book closes with a brief account of the great inventions in the third quarter of the last century. Mr. Taylor has certainly succeeded in collecting from current books a vast amount of interesting details with reference to the separate industries, and has presented them in a very palatable form. His book will certainly be interesting to the general reader. It modestly professes to be nothing more than a crude, hasty, and fragmentary sketch, but it might seem as if the subject deserved a more earnest treatment and a more thorough investigation. The scholar will find in it nothing new or striking. Of a diametrically opposite character is Geering's Handel und Industrie der Stadt Basel. This belongs to a class of work characteristic of the German mind, minute, laborious, painstaking. For five years the author delved among the municipal archives of Basel, which is especially fortunate in possessing an almost uninterrupted series of guild regulations and proceedings from the memorable earthquake of 1356 onwards. Geering has not reached positive conclusions as to any single origin of the craft-guilds, but is content with ascribing the formation of the chief associations partly to the influence of the episcopal manors through the officia and the gratia, partly to the exigencies of the early municipal trade in the "open" or independent crafts. The guild system in Basel differed from that of many other German towns principally in its peaceful development and in the large degree of autonomy which it acquired, both facts being due to the rupture with the patricians in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Geering gives a detailed account of the movement, and enters minutely into the provisions and fortunes of certain selected crafts, affording on the whole the fullest account that has yet been published. Perhaps the most important point in his description is the stress laid on the guild merchant, or the influence of mediæval trade on the prosperity of the crafts. Their varying fortunes are reproduced with an unswerving accuracy, but, as the author himself confesses, not a few fundamental questions are still left unanswered. The account is brought down to the beginnings of the factory system in the eighteenth century, with a promise on the part of the author to work up this latter period more fully at some future time. Geering's book cannot claim to be of importance commensurate with Schmoller's great works on the Strassburg guilds, but the student will find in it much valuable material with which to revise his opinions on mediæval industry. E. R. A. S. Co-operation in a Western City. By ALBERT SHAW, Ph.D., Associate Editor of the Minneapolis Daily Tribune. American Economic Association. Vol. I, No. 4. 1886. — 8vo, 106 pp. Les Artèles et le mouvement co-opératif en Russie. Par W. 1886. - 8vo, 148 pp. In contrast with the many works that have of late recounted with a weary iteration the oft-told story of Rochdale, Guise, and Leclaire, the present monograph of Dr. Shaw on Co-operation in a Western City must be accorded a hearty welcome. It is the detailed description of a remarkable experiment, of which only vague rumors had hitherto reached the outside world. We see, traced in a clear and spirited manner, the phenomenal success of less than twenty Minneapolis coopers, banding together with an investment of $15 apiece, and growing into a society of ninety members, with a capital of well-nigh $60,000. Such a brilliant showing could not but result in the initiation of similar enterprises, whose methods and results Dr. Shaw expounds with an admirable breadth of view and mastery of principle. It is gratifying to read that "the coopers themselves are emphatic in saying that the moral effects of their co-operative movement constitute its highest success." But it is evident that the founders were also keen business men. One distinguishing and unique feature of the chief society is the provision that all ordinary gains or losses are to be apportioned pro rata upon the wages received by each member, i.e., in proportion to the work he has done; while other losses and gains, like those resulting from the work of hired help, or change in the value of real estate, or losses by fire or failure of business firms, are to be apportioned equally among the members, all of whom must be equal shareholders. This, as Dr. Shaw points out, distinguishes between the men as capitalists and as laborers, and possesses a great practical value. It might with advantage be imitated in similar enterprises. The remaining chapters are devoted to an equally lucid and interesting account of the other forms of co-operative undertakings, such as agricultural colonies, mercantile companies, and build ing associations, while a special chapter treats of the huge profit-sharing scheme of the Pillsbury mills. Of course, in viewing the success of the Minneapolis attempts, the unparalleled growth of the city and all connected with it must be borne in mind; the almost fabulous appreciation in values has materially advanced the interests of the co-operators, as well as of all others. But too much stress cannot be laid upon the fact that the movement originated with the workmen themselves. As Dr. Shaw says: "It had no literary or philanthropic or doctrinaire beginnings. It received no coddling or advertising. Its advent was attended with no speech-making or enthusiasm." The plain, business-like, matterof-fact character of the whole movement is the one that most thoroughly recommends it, and its success cannot but have a proselytizing effect. One of the cheering signs of the time is the prodigious impulse given to all such schemes throughout the country in the last twelve months, and the record of a success like that told in Dr. Shaw's admirable essay can only push on the good work. That the movement, moreover, is not confined to America or the western states of Europe is shown by Louguinine's Les Artèles et le mouvement co-opératif en Russie. It is a matter for regret that the books of Kalatschoff and Isaieff have not yet been translated; the only source of general knowledge of the Russian artels or co-operative institutions having hitherto been the résumé of Isaieff's work by Dr. Stieda in Conrad's Fahrbücher some years ago. The co-operative spirit has always been a marked feature of the Russian character, as is shown by the permanence of the village community idea in the mir system. Some of the artels date back for centuries. Mr. Louguinine, who has himself been instrumental in introducing the co-operative banks into Russia, classes the artels into the old Russian unions dating from the fourteenth century, the mercantile societies dating from Peter the Great, and the modern productive, consumptive, banking, and insurance associations on the co-operative plan. Here again it appears that the productive associations which were inaugurated in the past few decades by governmental authority and assistance have all failed, while those dependant on private initiative and self-help have succeeded. The zemstvo of Tver, e.g., started, in 1870, twenty-seven societies of nailmakers, shoemakers, and others, giving and lending them large sums of money, a method which was followed by the local governments in Pavlovo, Kazan, and other places. Although at one time these societies were forced into artificial prosperity, they have now all disappeared. On the other hand, the associations formed by the workmen themselves in several of the factories in Ural and elsewhere, as, e.g., in Nijni-Tourino and Ekaterinbourg, seem to have prospered. Mr. Louguinine then shows that of all societies the credit-banks have been the most successful. While he has but faint hopes of the continued existence or vitality of the artels, he believes that a bright future is reserved for the modifications of the old idea introduced by occidental Europe. The industrial system of Russia is certainly by no means a model at present. E. R. A. S. The Official History of the Great Strike of 1886 on the Southwestern Railway System. By OSCAR KOCHTITSKY. Jefferson City, 1886. 8vo, 117 pp. Mr. Kochtitsky stands at the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Inspection of Missouri, and has therefore had excellent facilities for obtaining the "inside" view of the Southwestern strike. He himself, in his official capacity, took a prominent part in the movement, and has now undertaken to compile a report based on authentic documents and sources for the National Bureau of Labor. The scope of the work may be gleaned from the statement in the introduction that the history "is simply a compilation of historical facts, official correspondence, and important data obtained from the most trustworthy sources. It is intended to be perfectly fair and impartial. As to the merits of the con- test, the reader must form his own opinion." for criticism, nor for any comments beyond the statement that a complete survey of the movement is now first authoritatively given. This compilation, together with the testimony taken by the Congressional committee, will remain the chief source of our information as to the most important strike of modern times. E. R. A. S. POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY. I THE STUDY OF ADMINISTRATION. SUPPOSE that no practical science is ever studied where there is no need to know it. The very fact, therefore, that the eminently practical science of administration is finding its way into college courses in this country would prove that this country needs to know more about administration, were such proof of the fact required to make out a case. It need not be said, however, that we do not look into college programmes for proof of this fact. It is a thing almost taken for granted among us, that the present movement called civil service reform must, after the accomplishment of its first purpose, expand into efforts to improve, not the personnel only, but also the organization and < methods of our government offices: because it is plain that their organization and methods need improvement only less than their personnel. It is the object of administrative study to discover, first, what government can properly and successfully do, and, secondly, how it can do these proper things with the utmost possible efficiency and at the least possible cost either of money or of energy. On both these points there is obviously much need of light among us; and only careful study can supply that light. Before entering on that study, however, it is needful : I. To take some account of what others have done in the same line; that is to say, of the history of the study. II. To ascertain just what is its subject-matter. III. To determine just what are the best methods by which to develop it, and the most clarifying political conceptions to carry with us into it. |