systematic and comprehensive way in which railways are discussed. The whole book is full of material which students of industrial and social life cannot afford to neglect.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.

B. H. MEYER.

Associations industrielles et commerciales: Fédérations - Ententes partielles Syndicats Cartels Comptoirs- Affiliations Trusts. By JULES GERNAERT and Vte DE HERBAIS DE THUN. Bruxelles, 1901. 8vo, pp. vi+99.

THE Volume gives in concise and systematic form a conspectus of the various kinds of business coalitions in vogue, with a special view to the Belgian and French situation and practice. It deals with the manner of formation and control of such coalitions, the scope of competence of each, and the conditions which decide what particular form and measure of coalition best serves the purpose in a given case or a given line of business. The several forms or types of coalition are taken up in the order named in the subtitle, which is also the sequence of progressive closeness of combination observable in the several kinds of coalition. The distinctive forms or types of coalition are carefully defined and described, in the most succinct manner, this work of definition and "application" occupying the first sixty-one pages, and the remainder of the volume is occupied with illustrative examples designed to enforce the authors' views of the limits of competence and availability for each type, but more especially of the last four named in the list. There is nothing more of historical or descriptive matter than what is immediately useful for illustrating the authors' definitions and. supporting their theoretical conclusions.

As regards these conclusions, they are cast in the form of general formulas. The federation is an initial move in coalition, likely to lead to closer combination, and largely useful for this purpose. Of the definitive forms of coalition the affiliation and the trust are the most practical, the former having the advantage of flexibility, the latter of ready and effectual central control. The general attitude of the authors toward business coalition may be summed up in their own words as "cette vérité absolue que nous ne cessons pas de proclamer et que nous finirons par faire admettre: La nécessité des ASSOCIATIONS INDUSTRIELLES ET COMMERCIALES reconnues, approuvées et patronnées par les pouvoirs publics, dans l'intérêt général." But "in order that any

coalition be effective it is indispensable: (1) that it be of duly legal form, and (2) that it be concluded for a long term" (p. 98) for American, and probably also for many European purposes, proposition (1) might perhaps better read: "Any effective coalition will turn out to be legal;" and possibly (2) might also be revised to read: "An efficient coalition will last as long as it proves itself a business success." There is, elsewhere as well as in these formal concluding propositions, a certain naïve apprehension of the phenomena treated, which, no doubt, adds materially to the sure touch and lucid manner of presentation that characterize the volume. This degree of naïveté is perhaps due to the fact that the authors have seen their subject-matter from the somewhat old-fashioned business situation that prevails in Europe, as contrasted with what confronts a student of similar phenomena in America. A close contact with the maturer business situation of America might have altered the point of view and given a wider and more enduring serviceability to the discussion, at the same time that it would probably have increased the difficulty of the undertaking, and have resulted in a less succinct and definitive formulation.

V.

The Mastery of the Pacific. By A. R. COLQUHOUN. London: The Macmillan Co., 1902. 8vo, pp. xvi+440.

TO THOSE who are acquainted with the literature on the countries and peoples of the Pacific Mr. Colquhoun's book will bring but little fresh. information. This fact is disappointing, the more as among living men there is perhaps no one who is better acquainted with the East, and especially with the farther East, than Mr. Colquhoun. He has had the advantage of being an administrator as well as a traveler, and has shown, especially in his shorter articles, to what good account he can put his opportunities of observation.

The Mastery of the Pacific is a review of the possessions and aspirations of the Pacific powers. Mr. Colquhoun is convinced that the Pacific is to be in the near future the scene of great issues. "That the future of more than one great power will be decided in this arena, where will occur the great struggle of the twentieth century, was the conviction borne in on the writer by many events that cast their shadows before."

Half of the book is devoted, in about equal proportions, to the study of the United States and of Great Britain in the Pacific. Of the

chapters on the Philippines - which are among the best in the bookthe most valuable is the last, "The Future of the Philippines." It is so, not because it presents new data, but because it embodies the frank criticism of one who is well fitted to judge. Mr. Colquhoun believes in the men to whom the government of the Philippines has been entrusted. He believes that if they are given sufficient independence and sufficient support, the future of the islands is assured. He is emphatic that what is wanted is not more commissions, but men who will set themselves to understand the people, their languages and habits, who will be conservative of custom while liberal in outlook, who will not expect too much, but will wait patiently for results. Mr. Colquhoun's advice is, in a word, "go slowly."

The section dealing with Great Britain in the Pacific calls for but brief notice. The greater part of it is devoted to Canada and Australia. Stress is laid on the importance of British Columbia, and on the energetic rôle, in internal and external politics, which Australia is bent on playing. Great Britain's position in the Straits Settlement, Hong Kong, and British North Borneo are reviewed, but little attention is given to the highly interesting and important developments which are being carried on in the Malay Federated States, in British New Guinea and in other British Pacific possessions. As a whole, the presentation of the enormous actual and potential strength of Great Britain in the Pacific seems inadequately made.

In passing it may be added that this section especially suffers from what is throughout the chief weakness of the book. It is too much a rechauffé of geographical generalia and social idiosyncracies. The analysis of the existing and potential economic and political situation is too slight and too general.

The same

The third portion deals with the Dutch in the Pacific. defects of diffuse treatment are again in evidence. Mr. Colquhoun has a keen sense of color. The contrast of Java and Japan from the artistic standpoint is a very interesting one, but it does not contribute to the understanding of the mastery of the Pacific. And since opinions differ in regard to Dutch rule in the Pacific about as much as they do with regard to British rule in India, it is to be regretted that so little fresh light is thrown on a matter of so great importance. Mr. Colquhoun, it may be said, takes a somewhat pessimistic view of the Dutch position in the Indies, and contemplates the possibility, and difficulty, of their being swallowed by the colonially-aspiring German cousin.

Two chapters are devoted to Japan and her colony Formosa.

The first of these presents some interesting considerations on the relation of Japan to her western rivals in the Pacific; the other and a larger chapter is mainly descriptive of geographical conditions and

social characteristics.

A short chapter of less than twenty pages is devoted to Germany, France, Russia, and China. French Indo-China, with its recent developments, would merit, in a book on the mastery of the Pacific, as much space to itself alone.

He

In a concluding chapter Mr. Colquhoun reviews the situation. regards the interests of Japan, Great Britain, and the United States as largely common, and hopes that in consequence a firm common policy will be pursued by these powers. The position of the United States makes her, in his opinion, the dominant factor in the mastery of the Pacific. But to succeed she must adapt herself to her new rôle.

To the student of the economic and political situation in the East, Mr. Colquhoun's book brings little that is new. But it presents the ever-interesting features of the East vividly. We get not only sharp, bright pictures, but a sense of the atmosphere itself in which things lie. Further, it affords some excellent analysis of the mental stuff of the Malay and the Chinaman. There are, too, always in Mr. Colquhoun's writings suggestions which stimulate. These and other good. qualities belong to the book, but they do not make up for the disappointing analysis of the economic and political mastery of the Pacific. W. G. S. ADAMS.

Traité général théorique et pratique des assurances mutuelles. By PHILIPPE ASTRESSE. Paris Albert Fontemoing, 1902. 8vo, pp. xiv + 335.

UNDER the title of Assurances Mutuelles the author discusses French assessment societies. These do not correspond to "mutual" insurance societies in the United States, but they are closely analogous to our assessment societies. While assessment societies constitute his chief theme, by means of comparisons the author throws many side-lights on other forms of insurance, especially stock companies, and all other classes of fixed-premium organizations. The treatise is in a measure a protest against publicists who exploit the field of insurance through stock companies without indicating the numerous distinctions which result from the application of the principle of mutuality.

In France insurance is regulated more by administrative orders and

common law than by statutes. The author gives up the first part of the volume to a compilation of statutes and decrees applicable to insurance, from the orders in council of April 1, 1809, relating to the organization of tontine societies, to the law of July 4, 1900, governing agricultural mutuals. Parts of statutes and decrees governing stock companies are sometimes omitted. Several of these documents are supplemented by extracts of speeches made while they were under consideration in the Assembly. Similar extracts from ministerial comments or speeches are introduced occasionally in the text.

In his method of treatment the author subordinates the social to the legal. The volume is essentially legal in its character. Different forms of organizations are discussed with reference to obligations, rights, and privileges under the various statutes and decrees applicable to them, especially the important laws of 1867 and 1868, and the legislation of the last decade of the nineteenth century. The law of 1867 subjected tontine and life-insurance companies to government supervision, while other forms of insurance, including fire and marine, could be formed without special authorization, in accordance with the regulation of public administration for the constitution of insurance associations, promulgated in 1868.

The rise of mutual insurance in France dates back to 1802, when a "reciprocal" society was founded at Toulouse covering losses due to fire, hail, and mortality among cattle. Its progress was slow, the reaction against excessive speculation having been one of the chief factors promoting mutuality. From another point of view French mutuality may be regarded as a "moralization of the tontines." Tontine societies accumulated funds, the benefits from which accrued to survivors, and the amount of the benefit increased as the number of survivors decreased. They did not recognize the element of risk as such, later defined by mortality tables, and which, together with the association of individuals, constitutes one of the bases of mutuality. The essence of mutuality is "variability," either in the size of the assessments or in the amount of the indemnity. This is at variance with the requirements of the laws of most of the American states, where variability in assessments for a fixed indemnity is generally characteristic of assessment societies, while a fixed premium per week, with a variable amount of indemnity, depending upon the kind of policy, is a common feature of industrial insurance. The author dwells considerably on the speculative element in other forms of insurance, while the desire to avoid "old line" terms, such as premium, reserve, etc., is shown in the adoption of expressions like fonds de prévoyance.