Labor Management Relations Act, 1947

Balancing the Books on T-H. (In Modern Industry, New York, October 15, 1948, pp. 54-56, et seq., charts.) After a year's operations under the Taft-Hartley Act, management finds labor relations little affected, according to the article. In support of this conclusion, earnings data of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, trade-union membership and activities, and management opinions are cited. Our New National Labor Policy: The Taft-Hartley Act and

the Next Steps. By Fred A. Hartley, Jr. New York, Funk & Wagnalls Co. and Modern Industry Magazine, 1948. 240 pp. $2.85.

This book, by one of the author's of the Taft-Hartley Act, contains an account of the steps taken by Congress leading up to passage of the Act; an evaluation of its terms as they affect labor, management, and the public; a discussion of developments under the law; and statements on both short-term and long-term goals of the new national labor policy.

Recent Decisions under the Labor Management Relations Act. (In N. A. M. Law Digest, National Association of Manufacturers, Washington, September 1948, pp. 65-70.)

Discussion of National Labor Relations Board decisions relating to union activities as well as those having broader application. The article was intended to supplement and to bring up to date analyses of decisions contained in the June 1947 and March 1948 issues of the same journal.

Labor Organizations and Activities

American Labor Looks at the World, No. II. New York, Free Trade Union Committee, AFL, 1948. 48 pp. 50 cents.

Includes policy declarations of the AFL International Labor Relations Committee and information on the major activities of the AFL Free Trade Union Committee and the Labor League for Human Rights.

Sidney Hillman: Labor Statesman. New York, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, 1948. 99 pp., illus.

The story of Sidney Hillman and of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (CIO), told in text and pictures.

The Organized Musicians: I. By Vern Countryman. (In

University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, Chicago, Autumn 1948, pp. 56-85. $1.35.) Outlines the history of the American Federation of Musicians (AFL), with emphasis on those phases which would be of interest to lawyers.

Restrictive Practices of Unionism. By C. Wilson Randle. (In Southern Economic Journal, Chapel Hill, N. C., October 1948, pp. 171–183. $1.)

Trade Unions in Canada, Their Development and Functioning. By H. A. Logan. Toronto, Macmillan Co. of Canada, Ltd., 1948. 639 pp., charts. $5. Emphasis in this book is placed on the story of union structure and accomplishment, rather than on underlying

motivations and doctrines. The author outlines the growth of certain unions in the United States in interpreting the pattern of development in the Canadian unions. The fact that most international unions have their headquarters and hold their conventions in the United States tends to limit the availability of data relating to the activities of their Canadian locals.

After tracing the historical development of the tradeunion movement in Canada, study of the unions in specific fields of industry is taken up. These fields include building construction, printing, pulp and paper manufacture, the metal trades, maritime and rail transportation, mining, and clothing and textile manufacture; and the newer industrial unions engaged in the production of automobiles, iron and steel, rubber, meat, electrical apparatus, and lumber.

"Revolutionary" unionism is discussed in a separate chapter, which describes the IWW, the One Big Union movement, and Communist activity as it has appeared in the various organizations in Canada.

Medical Care

An Annotated Bibliography of Group [Medical] Practice, 1927-47. Chicago, American Medical Association, Bureau of Medical Economic Research, 1948. 41 pp.; processed. 25 cents.

Cooperation for Rural Health. By Helen L. Johnston. Washington, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Credit Administration, Cooperative Research and Service Division, 1948. 55 pp., chart, illus.; processed. (Miscellaneous Report No. 123.)

Describes three types of health services on the prepayment plan: Hospital service plans (including detailed description of Blue Cross plan); insurance plans (particularly of Group Health Mutual and Group Health Association, St. Paul, Minn.); and nonprofit cooperative hospitals. Practical suggestions for rural health-improvement programs are given.

Medical Care Plans for Industrial Workers and Their Relationship to Public Health Programs. By Lee Janis, M.D., and Milton I. Roemer, M.D. (In American Journal of Public Health and the Nation's Health, New York, September 1948, pp. 1245-1253, bibliography. 70 cents.)

The Maryland Medical Care Program. By Howard M. Kline and others. New York, American Public Health Association, 1948. 151 pp., map, charts; processed.

Evaluation by a committee of the American Public Health Association of the program of medical care for the medically indigent which was established in the counties of Maryland under an act of 1945. The program is referred to as a "significant development in the administration of medical care by an official health agency for a small segment of the total population."

Medical Care Problems in the Administration of Workmen's Compensation in New York State as Seen by Management. (In The Monitor, Buffalo, N. Y., November 1948, pp. 1-4, 6.)

Old-Age Pensions

Productivity of Labor

289 Retirement Plans. New York, Bankers Trust Co., 1948. 105 pp.

Summary data for a group of recent pension trust plans covering about 1,120,000 industrial employees, and a tabulation of principal provisions of individual plans, showing also type of company business and number of employees affected.

Management and Labor Look at Retirement Plans. (In Journal of Commerce, New York, September 23, 1948, second section; 28 pp.)

Collection of articles by different writers on various aspects of retirement plans, including new developments and cost factors.

Pensions: The Coming Issue in Labor Relations—An Interview with John L. Lewis. (In U. S. News & World Report, Washington, November 19, 1948, pp. 34-41; also reprinted.)

In discussing recent industrial relations in the coal-mining industry and the large health and welfare funds financed by employers by a levy on output, the president of the United Mine Workers held that "the proper care of the human element in the mining industry or any other major industry should properly be charged to the cost of production and not assessed against the taxpayers as a whole

and the commodity should bear the cost of it." Annual Report of the Railroad Retirement Board-Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1947. Washington, U. S. Railroad Retirement Board, 1948. 132 pp., charts. 35 cents, Superintendent of Documents, Washington. Details of operations under the Federal Railroad Retirement and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Acts. Selected Bibliography on Pension Plans. Washington, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 20, 1948. 3 pp.; processed. Free.

Productivity in Agriculture, [United States], 1909-47. Washington, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1948. 27 pp.; processed. Free.

International Comparisons of Productivity. By L. Rostas. (In International Labor Review, Geneva, September 1948, pp. 283-305. 50 cents. Distributed in United States by Washington Branch of ILO.)

The author notes that real income per head in different countries may be compared on the basis of (1) per capita income converted to the same currency at the appropriate `rate of exchange, (2) relative consumption levels, and (3) productivity of labor. He attempts comparisons for prewar years of productivity and real income in the United States and the United Kingdom. On the basis of various qualifying factors, such as the proportion of the population at work and differences in foreign investments, he concludes that real average income in the United Kingdom much more closely approached the average in the United States before the war than would be indicated by differences in output per man-hour.

Productivity, Prices, and Distribution in Selected British Industries. By L. Rostas. Cambridge, University Press, 1948. 199 pp., charts. (Occasional Paper XI, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.) 16s. net.

Report of an investigation of variations in prices, costs, and efficiency in different-sized British firms in 1935, supplemented by information concerning structure, organization, and costs in the trades analyzed in the years 1907 to 1937.

Conclusions tentatively reached through the study included the following: Earnings per worker are not closely correlated to size of firm, but there is a close relationship between earnings per worker and efficiency. In a number of trades, earnings per worker and labor productivity are "positively correlated." Variations in unit prices of different firms do not appear to have much effect on the variations in the share of wages. Neither is there any relation between earnings per head and share of wages, i. e., high share of wages (in value of net output) is not caused by high earnings of the workers, but by other factors. Equipment and Labor Utilization in the [British] Cotton Industry. Manchester, England, Cotton Board Labor Department, [1947?]. 208 pp., plans, illus. 6s. Papers and discussion at a conference on productivity held at Buxton, England, in October 1947. Productivité de la Main-d'Oeuvre en France en 1946-47

Comparée a Celle d'Avant-Guerre. (In Etudes et Conjoncture, Union Française, Ministère des Affaires Économiques, Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques, Paris, March-May 1948, pp. 11-18, chart.)

Comparison of output per man-hour in French industry in 1946-47 with prewar levels. According to these

data, which are based on employment, scheduled hours of work, and production statistics, output per man-hour in French industry in 1946-47 was 15 to 20 percent below the 1938 level. Lack of supplies and the condition of industrial equipment are listed as factors in the reduced postwar output. Absenteeism can be regarded as another factor, inasmuch as hours data employed in computing statistics of output per man-hour referred only to scheduled hours of work and did not take into account absenteeism, which has been relatively greater in the postwar period.

Social Security

Economic Security Among the States. Chicago, Research Council for Economic Security, 1948. 13 pp., maps, charts. (Publication No. 50.)

An attempt to estimate average conditions of personal economic security among the people of the country, by State.

Social Security and the Economics of Saving. By William J. Shultz. New York, National Industrial Conference Board, Inc., 1948. 72 pp., charts. (Studies in Individual and Collective Security, No. 5.)

Public Assistance. A report to the Senate Committee on Finance from the Advisory Council on Social Security. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1948. 43 pp., charts. (Senate Doc. No. 204, 80th Cong., 2d Sess.)

Summarized in this issue of the Monthly Labor Review (p. 53).

Development of Public Assistance Programs in Wisconsin

and their Administration, 1848–1948. Madison, State Department of Public Welfare, Division of Public Assistance, 1948. 81 pp., maps, charts; processed. Social Insurance in Postwar Germany. By Max Bloch. (In International Labor Review, Geneva, September 1948, pp. 306-344. 50 cents. Distributed in United States by Washington Branch of ILO.)

Wages, Salaries, and Hours of Labor

32 pp.

Salaries of Office Workers in Selected Large Cities. Washington, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1948. (Bull. No. 943; reprinted, with additional data, from Monthly Labor Review, September 1948.) 20 cents, Superintendent of Documents, Washington. Data for 23 occupations, December 1947-February 1948.

Wage Structure, Series 2, No. 66: Fertilizer, 1948. Washington, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1948. 22 pp.; processed. Free.

Cotton Textile Wages in the United States and Great Britain. By Roland Gibson. New York, King's Crown Press, 1948. 137 pp., bibliography, charts; processed. $2.50 (paper cover).

Traces wages in the two countries from 1860 to 1945 and

examines relative productivity in order to explain the i creasing disparity favoring cotton textile workers in th United States. Compares purchasing power of wages the United States and Great Britain for the same perio A critical analysis of the role of trade-unions in both cour tries is included.

Employment, Payrolls, Earnings, Hours in Sample Grou of Illinois Establishments, 1922–47. (In Illinois Lab Bulletin, Illinois Department of Labor, Chicag July-August 1948, pp. 20-35, chart. (Historic Series, No. 1.)

Wages and Hours in the Restaurant Industry, New Yor State, 1947. New York, State Department of Labo Division of Research and Statistics, 1948. 34 PP processed. (Publication No. B-5.)

Prevailing Wages and Hours of Employees in Power Laur dries and Dry Cleaning Establishments, Honolulu Hawaii, April 1948. Honolulu, Department of Labo and Industrial Relations, Bureau of Research and Statistics, 1948. 19 pp.; processed. (Bull. No. 24. A similar report (Bull. No. 23) was recently published fo eating and drinking establishments in Honolulu. Statistics of Wages and Working Hours in Egypt, Jul

1947. Cairo, Ministry of Finance, Statistical De partment, 1948. 95 pp. 150 mills.

Contains data from a census of all industrial establish ments and their workers, June 1942 and June 1945; and average wages, hours, and employment in July 1947, by industry, based on sample studies.

Chronique des Salaires: Le Mouvement des Salaires e France Depuis October 1945. By J. Lehoulier. (I Journal de la Société de Statistique de Paris, May June 1948, pp. 186-212, charts.)

Review of wage trends in France, particularly from October 1945 to early 1948 but with some data going back to 1938. Considerable space is devoted to discussion of legislation concerning wages and family allowances. Average Earnings and Working Hours in the Principal industries, [Great Britain], at April 1948. (In Min istry of Labor Gazette, London, October 1948, pp. 331-340. 6d. net, H. M. Stationery Office, London.) Verdiende Lonen in de Nijverheid, 1946. Utrecht, Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 1948. 47 pp. Report on earnings of industrial workers in the Netherlands in 1946.

Estadística de Remuneraciones Basicas del Trabajo, [Spain]. (In Suplemento al Boletín de Estadística, [Vol. 10, 2d edition], Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Madrid, 1948, pp. 1-27.) Minimum wages

First of a statistical series on wages. as of January 1948 are shown for mining (coal, iron, copper, zinc, lead, salt), construction and public works, and manufacture of iron, steel, and wood products. Footnotes to the tables provide information concerning supplementary wage payments.

General Reports

The American Economy, Its Problems and Prospects. By Sumner H. Slichter. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1948. 214 pp. $2.75.

Revision and expansion of lectures given at Sixth Business Conference at Stanford University in July 1947. Sections of special labor interest are those dealing with "Cooperation or Conflict in American Industry" and "The Problem of Economic Stability." The author emphasizes what he terms the transformation of the American economy "from a capitalistic to a laboristic society," and he states that "the new laboristic society that is emerging in the United States has an opportunity to build far better economic institutions than the world has ever seen."

Income, Employment, and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Alvin H. Hansen. New York, W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1948. 379 pp. $4.

Essays by 16 associates or former students of Professor Hansen. Most of the essays deal with phases of economic theory and policy in which Professor Hansen has been primarily interested. These interests are indicated broadly by the three main subjects with which the essays deal: "Determinants of Income," the "Social Setting," and "Economic Policy" in such fields as debt, taxation, wages, and international finance. Chapters with special labor interest include those dealing with "Dynamic Elements in

a Full Employment Program" and "Productivity and the Wage Structure."

The Sixth International Conference of Labor Statisticians, Montreal, August 4-12, 1947. Geneva, International Labor Office, 1948. 78 pp. (Studies and Reports, New Series, No. 7, Part 4.) 50 cents. Distributed in United States by Washington Branch of ILO.

Report of the New Zealand Department of Labor and Employment for the Year Ended March 31, 1948. Wellington, 1948. 80 pp. 1s. 6d.

Statistisk Årbok for Norge, 1946-48.

Sentralbyrå, 1948. 34*, 476 pp.

Oslo, Statistisk