"Medieval Origins" are not worthy of the rest. He seems to overestimate the influence of the Saxon kingship and of the Witenagemot on the English constitution. Professor Haskins and Professor George Burton Adams have shown very clearly that the Norman central government thoroughly supplanted the Saxon. Nor does Mr. Ogg agree with Professor Adams in stating the influence of the Great Charter of 1215 on the English constitution. The paragraph on Magna Charta (pp. 167-68) emphasizes the detailed provisions of law set forth in the various clauses. Professor Adams says:

It is, therefore, not in details of form and law that the permanent influence of the Great Charter is to be sought. These almost wholly disappeared, or where they became permanent features of Anglo-Saxon public law it is in a meaning greatly broadened by later experience. To repeat what has been already said, the controlling and molding power of the Charter in English history is to be found in two things: First of all in the principle upon which it rests, that there is a definite body of law by which the King's action is based, and, second, that, if he insists upon violating it, he may be compelled by force to desist.'

Neither in the chapters on the governments of the Allied nations nor in those on the government of the Teutonic nations does there seem to be any mention of the influence of Roman law and Roman political theory. The difference between German autocracy and the degrees of democracy attained by the various allied nations has a very important relation to the extent to which the different peoples accepted Roman ideas of law and government.

The chapter on Italy is perhaps the most inadequate in the book. Yet we need some understanding of the government of Italy and the spirit in which it is administered. There is no mention of anything that would explain why Italy has been the cause of some of the most difficult problems at the Peace Conference.

The chapters on the Central Powers deal chiefly with the growth of the power of the autocracy in Germany and the failure of liberalism to recover from the "political tragedy" of 1848. It is shown that autocracy was the price the German people paid for their economic and social advantages and that they were beginning to realize, in 1914, that the price was too great for what they were receiving.

Part IV, the last section of the book, treats of the war and political reconstruction. It is chiefly a series of quotations from President Wilson showing why the United States came into the war and that its aims were unselfish. Wilson is represented as the official spokesman of many 'Origin of the English Constitution, p. 250.

obscure currents of opinion on revolutionary concepts of national life, of government, and of international relations. The last chapter gives an interesting review of the past efforts to establish schemes of worldfederation and of the peace movements. The British Empire is shown to be a living example of a League of Nations, "a great league of selfgoverning states after which a world-league might easily be patterned."

The title of the book is perhaps a bit misleading as there is really very little devoted to the effects of the war on government. The fact that the immense extension of governmental authority and functions presents the most difficult problem of the future is recognized, but very few suggestions are made as to the probable permanent effects of the war on national governments. What the volume does give us is a concise and clear statement of the governments of the chief European countries and of the United States up to the armistice, with some account of the development of these governments and particularly of the growth of the democratic ideal. There is a need for such statements as introductions to a more detailed study of governments. The reading references to the better recent books on the various countries should be most useful to those who may wish to pursue any particular phase in which they have found an interest.

SMITH COLLEGE

CHASE GOING WOODHOUSE

Italian Women in Industry: A Study of Conditions in New York City. By LOUISE C. ODENCRANTZ. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1919. 8vo, pp. v+345

This investigation was completed in the period between September, 1911, and June, 1913, by the Russell Sage Foundation Committee on Women's Work,' of which Miss Mary Van Kleeck was director. It was undertaken because of the widespread charges that immigration from Southern Europe was a menace to American life and institutions, and especially because the influence of the Italian wage-earning woman, whether she worked in her home or in the factory, was thought to be a demoralizing factor in industry; it deals with Italians living in the lower end of Manhattan.

The material consists of: (1) Interviews with 1,095 women wageearners; (2) a scrutiny of the living conditions of 544 families; (3) a record of the annual income and expenditure of 48 of the families;

'Later known as the Division on Industrial Studies. Miss Van Kleeck has recently been in charge of the Women's Branch, Industrial Service Section, Ordnance Department, Washington, D.C.

(4) records of the working conditions of 271 out of the 734 manufacturing establishments employing these women; (5) a study of the weekly budgets of 147 women not living at home.

The Italian population in New York in 1910 numbered, counting the foreign-born and the children of foreign-born, over half a million, and constituted a community more numerous than Naples, the largest of Italian cities. As with the other foreign-born groups, the Italians form segregated colonies, "Little Italies," following perhaps the customs and ways of their forefathers, at any rate customs and ways quite different from those followed in adjacent non-Italian communities. There are found Italian-speaking institutions, churches, banks, shops, theaters, and newspapers. Old-country standards and family relationships persist. Authority over mother and daughters, for example, lies with the father and older brother, who must also furnish protection, though not necessarily support.

The women studied were young women, two-thirds being under twenty-one years of age, and, since they lived in lower New York, over three-fourths on the lower West Side, they lived under housing conditions characteristic of lower New York City. The dark stairway, the dilapidated tenement, the toilet used in common by several families, and above all the crowding in the room (three or more persons to every room in one-tenth of the dwellings) constituted the physical background of their living.

The industries studied were those commonly dependent on women workers the clothing trades, paper goods, flowers, feathers, fur, rubber and leather goods, millinery, tobacco, and food stuffs. These are the trades which in the past have been characterized by long hours, sweated home work, considerable seasonal changes, and low wages. And in this investigation establishments were found in which girls under sixteen as well as older workers were working after eight o'clock and young as well as older women working at night. Violations were found of all the laws supposedly regulating the work of young persons between fourteen and sixteen.

An interesting chapter is devoted to the subject of the expenditures of 48 family groups in which there were women wage-earners. Among the facts enumerated is the challenging statement that among 36 fathers who were with their families, II could speak no English and 23 had made no effort toward naturalization.

The common situation was for the mother and the daughters to contribute to the income; 35 out of 46 mothers' and 87 out of 92 1 Page 169.

daughters in the families studied did contribute to the support of these family groups. Ninety per cent of all members in the family of working age contributed to the support of their group. The family income shows great fluctuations even when drawn from so many sources. The men's earnings are often interrupted by considerable periods of unemployment, but the earnings of the sons were both higher in rate and more regular than those of the fathers. They contribute less, however, to the family than the girls who handed over their pay envelopes unopened.

The mothers in 26 of the 48 homes did home work, and in 9 cases took in lodgers. As to the amounts of the family income, they varied from $457 to $3,716. The discussion of the different classes of expenditures is slight but suggests adequate expenditures for food, inadequate allowance for rent and heat and light, and calls attention particularly to the demoralizing influences and the great difficulty arising from the irregularity with which the income is received. It is surprising to note that a very small number of the families were insured.'

A chapter is devoted to a group of workers who did not live with their own families. And there is a chapter on "Education and Training." The chapter on readjustment, however, points out that as these Italian workers constitute only a small portion of the employees in the establishments in which they work, so far as working conditions, opportunity to learn English, and vocational training go, the principles applicable to the treatment of those girls would be applicable to the entire group of women workers. Housing conditions and prices would affect all. Interesting facts with reference to the family discipline indicate a resource in the loyalty and patience of these Italian girls when once a loyalty has been built up and a goal pointed out, from which may be developed a very rich contribution to the life of our American communities. S. P. BRECKINRIDGE

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

The Results of Municipal Electric Lighting in Massachusetts. By EDMOND EARLE LINCOLN. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1918. Pp. xx+484.

This volume is a Hart, Schaffner & Marx prize essay. It was submitted in Class A during the year ending June, 1917, and was awarded first prize in that class. Like most previous Hart, Schaffner

'Page 206.

& Marx prize essays it is an excellent piece of work. From the very beginning the reader is impressed with the author's familiarity with and mastery of his subject. That impression deepens as one goes through chapter after chapter, follows the detailed analysis of the copious statistical data presented, and finally reaches the logical conclusions which the author draws. As a consequence one feels that all of the customary arguments which have been presented in support of public ownership certainly need to be revised in the light of the results set forth by this study. Unquestionably the volume is a valuable contribution to public-utility literature.

However, "the aim of this book is to suggest and exemplify those methods of approach and investigation which may most profitably be followed in future studies of the problems of municipal or state ownership rather than to make any startling contribution to an already overworked field." In following such methods of approach and investigation the writer is "wholly impartial," assumes "an attitude of mental neutrality," and does justice to both sides of the question. To begin with, he investigates the thirty-nine municipal electric-light plants in Massachusetts, of which eighteen are generating plants and twenty-one are purchasing plants, i.e., plants which purchase their current instead of generating it. With these public plants, thirty-three private plants similar in size are compared. Of these private plants, seventeen are generating and sixteen are purchasing plants. All of them are practically the worst managed in the state, which gives the benefit of the doubt in case of the results worked out to the public plants. The comparison, covering only a small portion of the whole public-utility field, is intensive rather than extensive, is made over a five-year period from 1910 to 1915 by a comprehensive analysis of the annual returns of the Massachusetts Board of Gas and Electric Light Commissioners, and takes into consideration not only the usual financial factors such as balance sheets, operating expense, income accounts, and rates, but also the historical, developmental, and technical factors. The problem is "viewed not merely from one or two angles, but from all angles." In addition, the conclusions drawn from this statistical comparison are checked up, tested, and verified by a local personal survey of both public and private plants. This makes the results all the more significant, because they are tested by practical as well as academic standards.

The first three chapters are essentially introductory. They begin with a survey and criticism of the literature on the subject of municipal electric lighting in the United States. The literature is