The Factory System and the Factory Acts. By R. W.
Cooke. Taylor. (Methuen,)—Mr. Cooke-Taylor, who speaks with the high authority of an Inspector of Factories, gives, by way of in- troduction, an account of various cognate matters, describes the "factory agitation," the Parliamentary inquiries, the Factory Acts passed during the two periods 1839-67 and 1867-91; he goes into details about various occupations and trades which have been made liable to Government interference, and speculates on what will ultimately happen in the case of others Which are as yet untouched. There are, as he points out, some obvious defects in the present system, which is most capricious in what it does and what it fails to do. Letterpress printing, for instance, is a carefully inspected industry, while typewriting, in which the competition is apt to be severe and the labour sometimes exces- sive, is wholly neglected. This book, one of the "Social Questions of To-day" series, is full of valuable information.—With this we may mention, as belonging to the somewhat similar series the " Social Science Series " (Swan Sonnenchein and Co.)— which has now attained very considerable proportions — The Labour Question, by T. G. Spycer, B.A. (Mr. Spycer, who acted as " Pr6cis-writer " to the Commission, describes his book as "An Epitome of the Evidence and the Report of the Royal Commission on Labour "), and Population and the Social system, by Francesco S. Nitti, a searching inquiry into the Malthusian and cognate theories, the criticism of which will be best left to experts.—At the same time we may mention The Evolution of Modern Capitalism, by John A. Hobson (Walter Scott), a volume in the " Contemporary Science Series." A peculiarly interesting chapter is that which deals with the subjee, of "Women in Modern Industry." It was reported that Mr. Hazell, when candidate for Leicester, promised to cease as soon as possible the employment of female compositors in his printing works. This would be done to conciliate the Labour party What would happen if female franchise were to be established ? We should have candidates promising to discharge male com- positors.—We may mention another volume belonging to this series, Man and Woman, by Havelock Ellis. Here, again, we have a work, valuable doubtless, but appealing to a strictly scientific circle of readers.
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