SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under This leading we notice such Ecoks of the week as bare not been yenned for review in other forms.1 Insurance versus Poverty. By L. G. Chiozza Money, M.P. (Methuen and Co. 6s. net.)—Mr. Chiozza Money, who is wonder- fully prolific in the production of economic books, especially when they offer an opportunity for a free use of statistics, has recently issued a substantial volume dealing with the National Health Insurance Act. He has secured a preface to it from the pen of Mr. Lloyd George, which does not, however, add much to the value of the book. That value lies in the fact that the book is a useful compendium of facts. Mr. Money gives an account of pre- existing systems of voluntary insurance in the United Kingdom, of the German system of compulsory insurance, and of the pro- posals contained in the National Insurance Act. This Act, by the way, is printed in estenso with comments on particular clauses. That Mr. Money is an enthusiastic supporter of the National Insurance Act as of other legislation of that type we hardly need to be told, but one may be permitted to criticize some of the arguments by which he supports his faith. He contends, with considerable justice, that the life of the ordinary man, whether he be city clerk or manual worker, is subject at present to such rigid industrial conditions that there is little private liberty left. To most people that seems an argument for trying to secure a larger measure of liberty for the average English citizen. Mr. Money evidently regards it as a conclusive argu- ment for taking away from him what little liberty he still has left, and in an outburst of enthusiasm he describes the National Insurance Act as "the knell of laissez-faire."
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