The Electrical Industry of Great Britain, prepared by the Economic
and Statistical Department of the British Electrical and Allied Industries Association Inc. (Beama, £2 8s.), is something of a new departure in this country. It is designed principally to encourage the process now known as rationaliz- ation by giving, both the public and every member of the
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industry a concise and definite idea of the lines of development which have been pursued hitherto, and of what is likely to happen in the future. As the introduction very rightly says. " the very act of thinking along definite lines is of value for the comprehension of the economic motive and economic strength within the industry." The survey has been made with great thoroughness. Successive chapters deal with : " The Economic Configuration of the Industry " ; " Electrical Manufacture : Manufacturing, Financial; Competitive and Labour Conditions`" ; "Export Trade : World Competitive Position " ; " Organization and Growth of the Horne Market," eke. The only apparent defects are a certain amount of overlapping, possibly unavoidable, between the chapters, and the lack of an index. The authors, however, say that the question of an index has been considered and rejected, and we must therefore presume that they had good reason.
(Continued on page 298.) • (Continued from page 2)0.1 Detailed criticism is impossible here, but the book should be of value to anyone interested in the industry either from within or from the point of view of a national power policy. The essentials of such a policy are described in Chapter 6 and extend from the rationalization of the basic industries and the establishment of new local craft schools to (a very inter- esting conclusion) the adoption of a selective principle in the flotation of new capital issues in London. The publication of a series of such surveys for each of the basic industries would have the utmost possible value for the increase of our economic efficiency. ' Unfortunately, in industries of older standing there arc factors which both render such a survey far more difficult than in this case, and also render some members of the industry reluctant to have any such survey made. We cannot omit a note of pleasure at the excellent format of the book, which is a pleasure both to look at and to handle.
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