England on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution. by Louis W. MoffitReview by: Mildred HartsoughSocial Forces, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Jun., 1926), pp. 840-841Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3004478 .

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840 SOCIAL FORCES

nality; but-whatever the cover jacket may say-the author makes no claim to any. It is probable, however, that his sympathetic attitude will give his criti- cisms more weight with the average reader than the sweeping diatribes of many more profound critics.

ELISABETH ANTHONY DEXTER.

Skidmore College.

ENGLAND ON THE EVE OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLU-

TION. By Louis W. Moffit. New York: Inter- national Publishers, i9z5. XXi, 3I2. pp. $3.50.

It is perhaps because so much of our economic history has been written by economists rather than by historians that the predominant field of interest has always been the period since the Indus- trial Revolution. The historian, often with more or less of an antiquarian's interest, dips into all periods of history; the economist in many cases turns to economic history to secure an explana- tion of the present economic organization. Undoubtedly, the transformation that oc- curred in England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries laid the basis of our present material culture. Still, its effects are apt to be exaggerated, or only imperfectly understood, in pro- portion as we fail to make ourselves fa- miliar with the characteristics of the period immediately preceding it. With the history of that period as a background, the Industrial Revolution becomes the culmination of a series of changes that began many years before, with the devel- opment of commerce, the growth of a surplus agriculture, and the rise of such urban centers as London.

The present book is a study of the back- ground of the Industrial Revolution, con- cerned particularly with the period 1740-1760, its main purpose being to sug- gest the way in which the economic or- ganization of England was being prepared

for the revolutionary changes of the latter part of the century. That aim has been, on the whole, very successfully fulfilled.

The full title warns the reader that there is "special reference to Lancashire;" this narrowing of the field is most noticeable in the first half of the book, which deals with agricultural and agrarian changes. The only two maps included are restricted to Lancashire, which seems a bit unfor- tunate. The book is almost equally di- vided between agriculture and industry; it deals not only with economic technique, but with the questions of social organiza- tion, such as the tenure of land, the con- trol of industry, the conditions of labor, the problem of poverty. Marketing proc- esses, of both agricultural and industrial products, are discussed. From this sum- mary of the topics covered, it will be understood that in less thani z8o pages of text, many things must be only suggested, and brevity must be a constant rule.

Facts are presented in compact form, though not so as to destroy the readability of the book. The topic of finance is left all but untouched; and transporation is very summarily dealt with. Perhaps that is the clearest way of indicating the minor importance of those phases of economic life before the appearance of large-scale production. That the dynamic character of the period is constantly kept before the reader is the surest evidence of the author's success.

A bibliography is included, suggestive rather than complete, which would have been made more valuable by the addition of critical comment. Criticismn might be made of minor points; there are a few places where errors in the manuscript have not been checked; and a few quotations to which no citationis are attached (as, for instance, in pages 77, 87, and i6o). Much more significant is the failure to stress regional differences in the methods

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LIBRARY AND WORK SHOP 841

by which the cloth industry was carried on. A sharper differentiation might well have been made between the independent domestic system, where the small master owned his raw materials and tools and earned a profit; and the dependent domes- tic system (growing in relative impor- tance in the years preceding the Industrial Revolution), in which the worker received his raw materials and sometimes his tools from the merchant employer, who paid him a piece-wage for his labor.

On the whole, the book furnishes a very welcome addition to the library of the economic historian, in a field as yet but little exploited. It will be especially useful, as the author hopes, in furnishing the student a foundation for the study of the Industrial Revolution.

MILDRED HARTSOUGH.

Smith College.

AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF RUSSIA. By Jamnes Mavor.

2mnd edition. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, i9z5. Two volumes, xxxv, 6I4 PP., and xxii, 630 pp. $I5.00.

RUSSIA TODAY. New York: International Publishers, I9Z5. 284 pp. $I-75.

It is a source of satisfaction that the new edition of Professor Mavor's Eco- nomic History of Russia had appeared before his untimely death last October. First published eleven years ago, this book will probably remain for some time the outstanding work in its field for those students who do not read the Russian language. The emphasis in Professor Mavor's work lies upon agrarian history, quite properly so, since the Russian popu- lation is even now go per cent agricultural. The second volume is divided between the development of industry and the course of the revolutionary movement in Russia, with the stress upon the latter.

Very few changes have been made in the new edition. The Introduction has been rewritten and enlarged; notes and

text have been modified in a few places in view of the changed situation resulting from the recent war; and the Epilogue has been expanded. No attempt was made, however, to deal with the Russia of 1917 and following. If was Professor Mavor's intention to write a separate volume on the Russian Revolution; it is to be deeply regretted that this plan was interrupted by death.

"Russia Today" is an attempt to supply the information needed for such a volume. It is the official report of the British Trade Union Delegation which spent something over a month in Russia in the early winter of 19z4. The assertion of the delegation is that the tour was under- taken in order to secure such information as should be, but has not been, collected and published by the British government. Obviously one purpose was to secure data concerning the Russian commercial situa- tion that might lead to a revival of trade with that nation, and thus (so the dele- gation hopes) reduce British unem- ployment.

The delegation concerned itself with the organization and operation of the Soviet government, the financial, com- mercial and industrial situation, and the condition of labor. The thesis of the report is that, although the War Com- munism of 1917-1920 caused a more or less complete breakdown of the Russian economic system, the N. E. P. (New Eco- nomic Policy) inaugurated in i921i, and carried into operation by the Communist Party, is gradually establishing a new economic order out of the chaos. The report does not minimize the extent of the break in policy marked by the in- troduction of the N. E. P. It is pointed out that in agriculture the peasant has now a hold on his land that is "defined in a manner entirely satisfactory to him" (p. 94). Further, the N. E. P. restored

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