The Economic Aspects of State Socialism. By Hubert Llewellyn Smith.
(Blackwell, Oxford.)—This is an interesting essay, even though, after the manner of prize-essays, it contains little that is new in the way of facts, criticisms, or ideas. On the historical side, its chief deficiency is that it wants real insight into the economic condition of the Middle Ages. Nor does it give the space due to the German Socialism, whether of the chair or of the street. Generally the writer vexes us by his want of enthusiasm.
He balances himself on the top of the fence, till, heartily tired of his gymnastics, we wish he would topple down on one side or the other. On the population question he is obscure, and seems (pp. 46-56) to have left out of account the influence of cheap foreign labour. But he does not want courage. He does not think that
Free-trade has divine right, and admits that Marx's criticisms "constitute a formidable indictment against our modern system of production."
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