allow it to terrorize us. And the fact is that the ethical or historical judgment which we must pass upon the creation of a proletarian class depends upon information which Mr. Hourwich does not give us. Whether "proletarians or no, are the masses of the rural population in Russia better fed, clothed, housed, than they were a hundred years ago ? I confess I do not know; but I should greatly like to know. Mr. Hourwich notices that large farming is more productive than peasant farming (though he speaks of the increase, which his figures show, of 38 per cent. in rye, and 26 per cent. in oats, as “slight,” p. 143); he shows that, on the large farms, wheat is taking the place of rye, implements are being improved, and manuring extended. Most of the gain may have gone to the proprietors; but there is at least the chance that some of it may have filtered through to the labourers.

The plan of Mr. Hourwich's dissertation did not lead him to touch, save in a general introductory fashion, upon the vexed question of the origin of Russian serfdom; and, indeed, he would seem to have given little attention to the historical aspects of his subject. But he mentions some facts which are significant, whatever may be thought of his explanation of them. In the districts he has treated of there are a large number of "State peasants." These would seem to have been settled there by the Russian rulers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and to have enjoyed originally an hereditary possession of their arable lots. "It is a well-established fact that the actual agrarian communism among the majority of the State peasants of the region in question is a phenomenon of very recent date, and has evolved from hereditary possession," partly, as it would seem, under pressure of the Government enforcing joint responsibility for taxation; and this process has gone on down to the present day (pp. 39-41). It may, of course, be argued that this movement is only a "fresh proof of the vitality of the communistic spirit among the peasantry." But the fact is in line with many other instances where agrarian communism, or what looks like it, has been shown to be a comparatively recent growth, and the very reverse of a "primitive" institution. Another fact of significance appears in these words of Mr. Hourwich's: "The Kalmyks, a semi-nomadic tribe of 150,000 men, in south-eastern Russia, remained serfs of their chiefs, until the ukase issued on the 8th of May, 1892, whereby bond serfdom of the common Kalmyks was at last abolished." It is becoming increasingly difficult to find space for the imaginary freeman of the self-governing and communistic village community between the tribal and the feudal stages.

Mr. Hourwich's essay is hard reading. It implies more knowledge than most readers possess; the author has but little gift of exposition;

and the obscurity is increased by his imperfect command of English. But, nevertheless, the book is worth grappling with. In his future writings, the author will do well to avoid even such a scanty use as he makes here of partisan or ironical epithets which disturb the calm proper to science.

W. J. ASHLEY.

PROFIT-SHARING AND THE LABOUR QUESTION.

By

T. W. BUSHILL, a Profit-sharing Employer. [262 pp. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. Methuen. London, 1893.]

It is a hopeful sign of the present day that not a few of those who, as employers, are engaged in the competitive struggle of business life. are awakening to the new social spirit. Teachings like those of Carlyle and Ruskin, scouted twenty years ago as mere noise and wind, are being adopted as working principles by industrial leaders to-day. This is one's first thought on turning over the pages of the little book in which Mr. Bushill-the pioneer of the new development of Profitsharing in England-enlarges the evidence which in December last he gave before the Labour Commission, on the new method, which for several years his firm has successfully practised. The author is qualified to speak with authority on the difficulties of business life, having been left, along with a younger brother, at the age of only nineteen, with the whole responsibility of a considerable business, comprising the manufacture of stationery and lithographic printing. He thus describes the motives that led him to alter the methods of his business :

"Under the influences of a virile Christian ministry, and of Ruskin's economic teaching, I began to doubt whether the wage system, as generally practised, was altogether justifiable, for I did not see how the average workman could have a fair chance of a man's share in life. About five years ago, during a talk at a men's Bible-class, which is attended by several of our own workmen, a remark was made by a thoughtful mechanic to the following effect: He did not believe in the applauded munificence of employers who built churches, or endowed large charities, out of a fortune which they had got together while paying their men practically only a subsistence wage.'"

The scheme of Profit-sharing, which he expounds in detail, was introduced in September, 1888. Every year since that time, in spite of close competition and falling prices, and without touching in any way on wages, a substantial bonus has been declared. The firm express themselves as entirely satisfied with the result; and, to obtain the bona fide opinion of their work people, sent out printed questions to all who were twenty-one years old and upwards, asking for written but

unsigned replies. Sixty-nine answers were received, and are printed almost in extenso-all, with one trifling exception, speaking of the new system in the highest terms.

An essential feature of the scheme, as worked by Messrs. Bushill, is the retention of two-thirds of the bonus to form a Provident Fund for each employee. This sum, as it accumulates, is invested with the firm at four per cent. interest, and security is given for it in the form of a mortgage on the business premises. It cannot be forfeited for any other reason than felony or embezzlement. When the author was before the Labour Commission, he was severely heckled by Mr. Livesey, of the South Metropolitan Gas Company, in regard to this practice; but he strongly maintained that some such system of semi-compulsory thrift was, in the majority of cases, needed by the workers as an education. At the same time he declares quite as strongly against any attempt being made to use the Provident Fund to weaken the employees' unions or lessen their independence. This is the rock on which sundry schemes of Profit-sharing, some, perhaps, more well-intentioned than wise, have gone to pieces; and it is this that more than anything has given the system an evil name among workmen.

Mr. Bushill makes no attempt to meet the theoretic objections to Profitsharing urged with much ability by Mr. D. F. Schloss and others; but he is able to urge the very practical argument of success. Perhaps he hardly realizes the full force of the argument that schemes of this sort, worked by particular firms, tend to sectionalize workmen, and draw them out of line with their fellows; perhaps his outlook, as befits a disciple of Carlyle and Ruskin, is more patriarchal than fully democratic. But at least he shows his insight in not assuming either that the present wage system is eternal, or that Profit-sharing is a final panacea for its ills. His style is lucid and pleasing; and, while he modestly disclaims the name of an Economist, his remarks on labour and the social outlook generally manifest a firm and steady grasp of fundamental economic truth. Above all, a high ideal and a noble spirit of practical Christianity breathe through all he writes.

EDWARD GRUBB.

STEPHEN REMARX. The Story of a Venture in Ethics. By JAMES ADDERLEY. [150 pp. 3s. 6d. Arnold. London, 1893.] The grave pages of the Economic Review seem hardly the place in which to notice a novel, even though it be a novel with a purpose; but Mr. Adderley is so well known as one of those who endeavour to put into practice the principles of the Christian Social Union, that the readers of this journal will naturally turn with interest and

sympathy to a little book, in which the writer has evidently made good use of his personal experience, and in which he appears to express his own ideal.

Those who remember the enormous influence of Alton Locke and Yeast in stirring the conscience of the comfortable classes and leading them "to consider the poor and needy," will not find fault with Mr. Adderley for using a weapon, or rather a goad, which Charles Kingsley found so efficient.

The reader is caught at once by the humour of the book and the dramatic skill with which the writer introduces his minor characters. One need only instance the scene in which Stephen's mother "explains" the catechism, or the description of the company assembled at Lundy Towers. The story is so short and so well worth reading that one must not spoil it by attempting to analyze its contents.

The book is not free from exaggeration, and one would be sorry to think that the life of an average English country house is quite fairly represented by the scenes so forcibly described. Yet I fear there are too many persons living in the same aimless and essentially vicious way. One can but hope that Mr. Adderley's polished shafts may reach consciences that are proof against all ordinary efforts to enforce religious and social duties.

CYRIL BICKERSTETH.

SHORT NOTICES.

CHARLES KINGSLEY, Christian Socialist and Social Reformer. By the Rev. M. KAUFMANN. [251 pp. Crown 8vo. 5s. Methuen. London, 1892.]

In the Life and Letters of Charles Kingsley, edited by his wife, we have an admirable biography which is not likely to be superseded, and is indispensable to any student who wishes to know what Kingsley was, and what he did to teach men the social message of the Gospel. However, there is ample room for another and briefer account of Charles Kingsley as a Social Reformer, and Mr. Kaufmann brings to his task the necessary qualifications of sympathy with the man and knowledge of the subject. He gives a readable account of Charles Kingsley's early life and education; of his work at Eversley, Westminster, and Cambridge; of his relations with Maurice and

Carlyle; and of his three best-known books, Yeast, Alton Locke, The Saint's Tragedy.

On the whole, Mr. Kaufmann may be followed as a judicious and impartial guide to the movement of which Charles Kingsley was the most popular representative. It is important to remind a younger generation that Alton Locke and Yeast are not out of date. In spite of Royal Commissions and increased inspection of factories and workshops, facts still come to light about the horrors of the sweating system, which rival the most terrible scenes in Kingsley's novels, and there are still counties in England where labourers are endeavouring to maintain a wife and family on ten shillings a week. It is not surprising that our villages are losing their best workmen, and that neglected farms cry out for more and more efficient labour.

THE BETTER WAY OF ASSISTING SCHOOL CHILDREN. [152 pp. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. Sonnenschein. London, 1893.] All who have the wise administration of charity at heart will welcome this volume of the Charity Organization Series. It is, in fact, the report of a Committee of the Charity Organization Society, which dealt especially and mainly with the subject of Children's Dinners. There is perhaps no way in which charity tends to become more hysterical and mischievous than in this matter of dinners. The case for such meals is admirably stated and summarized on pp. 32, 33; and of the five points put forward, the last is no doubt the strongest argument of the so-called Children's Friend. "We have to satisfy a natural craving, not only on the part of the rich and leisurely, but also on the part of the tolerably well-to-do, who have no leisure, to relieve want, especially hunger, under whatever circumstances it may arise, and even though the need be not so great as outsiders assume it to be."

That is to say that subscribing to children's dinners is a luxury which the philanthropist will not deny himself. This solid and temperate report will show such a philanthropist some of the evil ways in which this luxury affects and degrades the very people whom he flatters himself he is helping: it proves conclusively that the dinner system is rarely helpful, never thorough, and often merely mischievous. Will our philanthropist learn? Probably not: but at any rate the Charity Organization Society will not be to blame. The report gives interesting details of the experiments and inquiries on which the decisions of the committee rest, and some admirable suggestions for a really efficient way of meeting the disease of which hungry children are only one symptom. These ought to be studied by all who have to do with Elementary Schools.