Welsh Journals

kicking the economic bottom out of the case for a minimum wage at a summer School convened for the ultimate purpose of estab- lishing one. The main contention is that, theoretically, when Trade Unions have done their work, economic conditions secure to the labourer the wage he is worth at that time and place. To establish a minimum above that wage is to throw the worker and his fellows similarly situated out of work. Mr. Wicksteed quotes the Mines Minimum Wage Act as an instance. His solution is to follow the method already indicated by such a measure as the Old Age Pensions Act and to use vigorously a cumulative income tax. When the employer has paid the economic wage, he has done his part. It remains for the citizen to do his," where citizen for this purpose means tax-payer "The Rural Problem." By Henry D. Harben. M.A. Constable & Co. 2/6 net. Up to a few years ago, the students of the rural problem had to deplore the fact that, for a satisfactory discussion of his subject, it was necessary to consult a volume by a Professor in a German University. Happily this reproach is being removed by the growing number of British contributions which cannot fail, at the beginning of a land Campaign," to be of real service in the discussion of the problem of the countryside. This latest, by Mr. H. D. Harben, is one of them. While one may differ from some of the author's conclusions, his clear presentation of facts and figures on the different aspects of the question, collected from Blue Books and Investigators' Reports, make this a fitting companion to Mr. Rowntree's s volume How the Labourer Lives. The first part of the book deals with recom- mendations (a) for levelling up the standard of rural life, and (b) for securing for the country power over the land itself and, in the remaining chapters, the author outlines a policy of develop- ment by which the countryside would inherit a double measure of its lost prosperity." He rightly emphasises what Royal Commissions and Select Committees have long since placed beyond controversy viz the insufficiency of cottages and this, together with the tyranny of the tied cottage system, is the saddest symptom of the poverty of the labourers. In a subsequent chapter, Mr. Harben offers some practicable suggestions for the solution of this knotty problem. The case for a minimum wage is clearly, though briefly, stated, and this is followed by a descrip- tion of the machinery by which it can be administered. But the author is not quite so convincing when he comes to discuss the effects of the proposal on the farmer and on the landlord. We would single out for special mention the chapters dealing with (I) Small Holdings (which shows an intimate knowledge of the difficulties as well as of the conditions of success), and (2) The Organisation of production and distribution. It is not, however, the purport of this review to condense or even enumerate all the subjects treated in this book. Its object will be served if it succeeds in inducing those interested in the question to read Mr. Harben's book, were it only for the sake of its concise presen- tation of the various aspects of the rural problem. And the student will find the lists it contains of well-sifted facts and figures invaluable in throwing light upon a subject of the gravest im- portance, and one which demands the serious attention of the voter and legislator. Trusts in South Wales. The Tendency towards ndustrial Combination." By George R. Carter, MA., Economics Department, Huddersfield. Constable, London. Pp. 391, index and appendices. Price 6/- net. A very interesting and scholarly book has reached us from the pen of a young Welshman who has been known as a teacher and lecturer amongst us for some years. It deals with the set of tendencies which is driving our captains of industry into the building of combines, trusts, cartels and other forms of industrial combination, to the end that they may forestall the disastrous results of competition." The inquiry is followed in the cool spirit of our time no rhetoric, no indignation, no special pleading: it is as ordered as sums in the rule of three with the answers printed in the text. Mr. Carter distinguishes two forms of development the vertical and horizontal: to the former belong the great combinations in the iron and steel industry, the urgent cause being the foreign competition of Germany and America. To meet this menace the industry goes upwards and downwards. The Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron & Coal Co., Ltd., for instance was forced by modem conditions into a determined policy of self development it controls materials and processes, quarries its own coal, limestone and clay, possesses estate rights, and has secured ore supplies in Spain and Norway John Lysaght, Ltd., Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds, and Baldwins, Ltd., are further Welsh instances of the self-sufficient firm whose whole organisation is based upon privileged supplies of raw materials. The tendency is specially strong in the Tin plate industry. At one time tin plate works were invariably pure," but since 1900 the open-hearth process has enabled vertical combination to make great progress steel producers acquire an interest in tin- plate firms, and in some cases set up tin-plate and galvanised steel works of their own. The main current of the trust movement, however, is that which sets towards horizontal combination, and it is herein that public interest particularly is centred. Plants and firms have rapidly increased in size, and markets have not expanded everywhere in proportion. There is, therefore, normally an excess of productive capacity over the industry as a whole. All the plants cannot run full, but all try, and internecine competition ensues. Competition at first acts as a selective agent and weeds out the inefficient firms, but when the competitors are much alike in resources competition only serves to produce general depression. Here the trust-maker finds his opportunity the market must be controlled organisa- tion must replace competition agreements and selling rings must supplant cut throat prices. A minimum wage for capital is the modern demand. Mr. D. A. Thomas from 1906 onwards has progressed far in the organisation of the steam coal market. He has secured controlling interests in coal company after coal company, and, pari passu. has attached to the Trust those coal selling agencies most likely to forward his dominant aim. A few more steps and the regulation of the steam coal trade becomes practicable. This domination of the market can be seen at a still higher stage of development in Brunner, Mond & Co. It is largely the result of the absorption or amalgamation of a number of firms into one dominant resultant unit, and occupies a remarkably strong position on account of the various differential advantages" which it posesses e.g. the control over the supplies of raw mate- rial, its patent processes, command of exceptional skill and business organisation." Potential competition fails because of the enormous initial difficulties a new firm would have to encounter. The problem raised by the whole tendency is a problem of public control and Mr. Carter does not enter into it. He has been dominated by his subject and his final chapter is the least con- vincing: he indicates the checks upon monopoly, potential competition and substitution, but neglects his own instances where the one is non existent and the other falls under the trust domination. Standard Oil controls gas companies and would, if necessary, corner tallow candles. The trust movement and the labour movement are one, and the public will be called upon eventually to assert its right as a community of consumers to avoid being ground between the upper and nether millstones. Mr. Carter's book is useful it is too large for its material, however, and the repetition in the first 50 pages is somewhat wearisome. But no student of economic conditions in Wales can afford to neglect it.