Haw They Lived in Hampton. By Edward Everett Hale, D.D.
(J. S. Smith, Boston, U.S.A.)—We do not quite clearly see from Dr. Hale's preface whether this "study of practical Christianity applied in the manufacture of woollens" is founded on fact. "The details bearing on the business of manufacture have the authority of a well-known and successful manufacturer of woollens." So much we are told ; but was a co-operative mill started under such conditions as are here described, and did it realise such profits as are here given ? For the profits are quite amazing. A half-year's balance-sheet is given, and we find in it that the profit on working amounted to £7,705, after paying 4 per cent, on the capital, 15,000. This, according to Cocker, gives more than a hundred per cent. profit. It makes one feel a certain regret that, with Dr. Hale, one has "not been trained to the woollen manufacture." Why, the trade must be even better than " watering " railway stock, or making "corners " in wheat and cotton, besides having the advantage of being honest. Apart from this, the book is full of things worth noting on the relations between classes as brought out in a co-operative enterprise. One blot Dr. Hale hits :—" The failure of most co-operative enterprises has resulted from the bad- ness of the general management." That is a very common experience on this side of the water.
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