grows out of economic pressure he cites the fact that domestic servants at good wages cannot be obtained; he challenges the spirit of socialism in an effort to show that it is born of greed and of ambition; he challenges the ideal of socialism in his claim that it would result in inefficiency and tyranny; and he challenges the methods of socialism in his attempt to prove that they are essentially revolutionary and violent. The little book discloses its author as a wide reader and, on the whole, a not unfair critic.

The third edition of books iii and iv of Böhm-Bawerk's Positive Theorie des Kapitales (Innsbruck, Wagner'sche Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1912; ix, 212-652, 173-477 pp.) is noteworthy for the numerous critical "Exkurse," which aggregate three hundred pages. In these the author treats a number of topics which his critics have raised. Professors Clark, Carver, Davenport and Fisher, among Americans, are mentioned and extensively discussed, and detailed attention is paid to his European critics as well. Sixty-eight pages are given to Professor Fisher's criticism of the author's "third cause" of interest. In the course of this polemic, the author discusses Professor Fisher's use of the method of simultaneous equations in economic theory, and holds that this method has significance only as a method of calculating quantities, such as the rate of interest, and that it gives no answer at all to the more fundamental question as to the causes governing these quantities. There are discussions of technical psychological questions, which show that the author is little disposed to mcdify his hedonism, despite his disclaimer of that doctrine, and an interesting criticism of Bentham (Exkurs XI) for putting the objective fact of a rate of interest behind his psychological doctrine that we esteem future pleasures less than present pleasures. The point discussed dces not appear to suggest to Professor Böhm-Bawerk the possibility that both Bentham and he have been constructing psychological mythologies modeled on objective price phenomena.

The Laws of Supply and Demand, with special reference to their influence on over-production and unemployment (Bcston, Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1912; xxvi, 289 pp.) by G. B. Dibblee, formerly a fellow of Oxford, is an effort to reconstruct economic theory from the standpoint of the practical man. The preface states that the author's reading in the field to be reconstructed is scanty, and the text gives abundant evidence of the correctness of the statement. There is a very considerable waste of intellectual effort in making distinctions and developing concepts which a little more reading would have put into the author's hands in much more usable form. The book is badly con

fused in its general scheme, and there is much irrelevant matter. It is, however, readable, and contains many acute criticisms and keen observations on human nature and on the facts of business. The author is in revolt against the doctrines which put human minds into mechanical schemata, and finds plenty of facts which refuse to conform. As an insurgent protest it is worth while; its constructive doctrine is vague and of little value.

In addition to his Outlines of Political Economy, reviewed above, page 149, Professor S. J. Chapman of the University of Manchester has just published, in the Home University Library series, a compressed, popular treatise on Political Economy (New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1912; 256 pp.). There are only nine chapters in the book, including the Introduction, which deals with "scope and method." The other chapters take up demand and supply in their relation to price, monopoly, money, international trade, the shares in and the problems of distribution. At the end Professor Chapman gives also a short note on books. The style is popular and the theories expanded are in general those made familiar by Professor Marshall.

Owing to its seductive title and to some undeniable merits, F. C. Laycock's Political Economy in a Nutshell has recently been translated into French by a Mlle. Didier. The title in French, L'Économie politique dans une coque de noix (Paris, Félix Alcan, 1912; xvi, 232 pp.) is, if anything, more alluring than the English original. Moreover to the French edition Yves Guyot has contributed an interesting introduction.

In his new book entitled Auditing, Theory and Practice (New York, The Ronald Press Company, 1912; xxix, 673 pp.), Mr. Robert H. Montgomery has for the first time approached the subject of auditing from the standpoint of broad construction. To his mind, auditing is the science, not of discovering fraud for the purpose of prosecuting the perpetrator, but of disentangling from accounts the truth, for the purpose of assisting the business man to improve the management of his business and to increase its profits. The beginner as well as the old practitioner will find the chapter entitled "How to Begin an Audit" especially suggestive. The author opens his treatment of the balancesheet audit with a discussion of the principles upon which such an audit should rest. His chapter on depreciation is illuminated by a number of tables. High praise must be given to the part of the work which deals with the methods of auditing different kinds of concerns. In his discussion of some of the special audits, however, his directions are somewhat vague. His suggestion as to the audit of educational insti

tutions could be improved; he neglects a great group, for example, universities sustained by the state; he fails to point out weaknesses in the organization of university accounts in general and to suggest methods for overcoming the difficulties in such accounts. The style of the book throughout is pleasing. On the whole it is, without question, the best book on auditing that has thus far appeared.

Five new volumes of the Modern Business series, Volumes VII-XI (New York, The Alexander Hamilton Institute, 1911; xxix, 443, xxv, 505, xxiii, 651, xvii, 468, xx, 512 pp.), together with one additional volume which will be noted later, complete a set of books which has in view a very commendable purpose. The editors of this series have selected as their target the "man in the street," a personage who has been under a hot fire in the recent past from exponents of applied economics of varying degrees of ability as marksmen. The purpose throughout has been avowedly not to extend the boundaries of knowledge, but rather to organize and present that which is already known in such a manner as to bring it within the comprehension of an intelligent reader who has missed the advantage of special preliminary training and who must forego the benefit of thorough class-room discussion. Books of this type are likely to weary the professional economist by their continued emphasis upon how the details of business are carried on and by their studied neglect of the why of the particular type of business activity under discussion. In regard to treatment, uniform excellence is not to be expected in a series which constitutes the joint product of numerous individuals; some of the volumes seem to be much better done than others. But taking them all together they measurably attain the object the editors set before themselves.

Volume VII of this series, by Thomas Conway, jr., and A. W. Atwood, deals with Investment and Speculation. So far as it goes it is a good, workable treatise, the subject-matter being set forth in a clear and interesting way. But it is written purely from the "market" point of view, the general economic function of speculation being quite neglected. Speculation in produce is hardly referred to. The treatment of Fire Insurance by E. R. Hardy in Part I of Volume VIII, is full, but it is so technical that only an expert can tell whether it is accurate and complete. Part II, Real Estate, is written by Walter Lindner. The treatment throughout is descriptive rather than interpretative. Moreover, many of the topics discussed in detail are legal in their nature and it is a safe assertion that not one real-estate man in a hundred is informed about them. They are things for which he naturally depends upon his lawyer, and it is questionable whether such technical legal matters,

however ably discussed, ought to be included in a book intended for innocent laymen.

Volume IX consists of three parts. The first, on Advertising, by Lee Galloway and G. H. Harmon, is a very interesting book; particularly so are the chapters on the history and psychology of advertising and on the construction of advertisements. Part II, by R. S. Butler discusses Buying and Selling. For the business man much of the material included is of practical value. If the author is to be believed, only paragons of virtue and capacity can qualify for the salesman's calling (chapter xiii). Hardly less exacting are the requirements for successful buying: the buyer must have good judgment and system, coupled with intelligence, tact and understanding. Part III of this volume, by Lee Galloway, concerns itself with Credit and the Credit Man. The author sketches rather briefly the development of credit and the outlines of the credit system in modern economic society and then turns to the purely business aspects of credit. Some of his material is suggestive but it is not presented in the most stimulating

manner.

The last two volumes under review deal with concrete problems of accounting and thus supplement Volume III, which was concerned with the general theory and practice of accounting. Volume X, Accounting Systems, by E. P. Moxey, jr., is in the nature of a source book, in which are described the systems appropriate to different lines of business. Volume XI, by Seymour Walton and S. W. Gilman, treats of Auditing and Cost Accounts. Many questions of fundamental importance in classification and definition are noted in the discussion of the first of these topics; and the presentation of the second gives valuable insight into the difficulty of accurately determining "costs.'

In view of the part that Wall Street has played and still plays in the history of the United States, it is strange that the work done there has found no such interpretation as that of Lombard Street has received in the writings of Bagehot and Withers. The best book on the subject is still Sereno S. Pratt's The Work of Wall Street, of which a new and enlarged edition has now appeared (New York, D. Appleton and Company, 1912; xxiii, 440 pp.). The new edition resembles the earlier one in structure and in general point of view, but a considerable amount of descriptive and illustrative material has been added. the appendix is included the report of the Hughes commission. While the vagaries of the stock market and the peculiar mental processes of speculators are often the subject of comment, no serious attempt has heretofore been made to analyze carefully the influence of

In

changing mental attitudes on the drift of market prices. A very interesting and suggestive beginning of such an inquiry is to be found in G. C. Selden's Psychology of the Stock Market (New York, Ticker Publishing Company, 1912; 120 pp.). Mr. Selden, breaking ground in a new field, considers naturally only the more striking phenomena. He interprets psychologically the speculative cycle, the panic and the boom. He discusses most entertainingly the peculiar inverted reasoning that so often characterizes the speculator and the general tendency to interpret conditions in the light of desire rather than in that of reason. Throughout the discussion the author shows that, while the broad and general movements in prices are due to economic conditions, the smaller movements are largely the result of psychological changes. At the end of the book he gives a few rules intended to assist the "regular" in keeping his mental processes in a state of disentanglement. He overlooks, however, the most important rule for the newcomer, namely, "stay out."

A field that has been strangely neglected by scientific students is that of the determination of prices on the speculative exchanges. We have numerous studies of speculation and speculative markets, but very few careful analyses of the forces that come to a focus in these markets— forces that, taken as a whole, are responsible for prices. A very interesting and valuable study in this field is Dr. W. Prion's Die Preisbildung an der Wertpapierbörse (Leipzig, Duncker and Humblot, 1910; xii, 216 pp.). Dr. Prion confines himself for the most part to industrial stocks on the Berlin exchange; but in this relatively narrow field he brings out one fact of importance, namely, that each market and each class of securities is peculiar, and must be independently studied if the actual process of price determination is to be understood. It is to be hoped that Dr. Prion will find it possible to give us the results of studies in the produce markets also. Students will be grateful to him for valuable suggestions relating to method.

A most readable description and discussion of the various forms of business enterprise in Germany is found in Dr. R. Liefmann's Die Unternehmungsformen (Stuttgart, E. H. Moritz, 1912; 216 pp.). This little book is evidently intended for popular consumption, as the style is simple and direct and notes are relegated to the end of the chapters. The most suggestive portions of the bock are those dealing with the "Volkswirthschaftliche Bedeutung der Kapitalgesellschaften,” and the last section of the last chapter, " Die Grenzen der öffentlichen Unternehmungen."

Senator Theodore E. Burton's Corporations and the State (New