SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in -other forms.] Bulletin of the Bureau of Labour, May, 1906. (Government Printing Office, Washington, U.S.A.)—This, as will be seen, is an American publication, but its contents have much interest for readers on this side. Indeed, the larger part of the volume is occupied with a paper on the "Benefit Features of British Trade Unions." Dr. Weyl, the writer, has evidently studied the subject with much care, and treats it with a detachment which here it would not be easy to maintain. The subject is too large to be dealt with in these columns, but we may notice the change which has taken place in the attitude of Trade-Unionism within the last sixty years. There was a time, not very- long since, when the Unions encouraged emigration. This phase has wholly passed away. And the new Trade-Unionism, as typified by Mr. John Burns, is adverse to the benefit system. The sick or prematurely aged working man, says Mr. ' Burns, has a right to "make sick, superannuation, and un- employed relief come by graduated income tax from the middle and upper classes." There are some statistics of working-class income and expenditure, illustrated by balance-sheets, &c., of nineteen families in the district of Columbia. Perhaps the most notable thing hero is the condition of the houses. Of the nineteen, two only are described as "sanitary." "Barely sanitary" is the description of four more, while " insanitary " is the epithet applied to the remaining thirteen, an epithet emphasised in some cases by such words as "altogether," "thoroughly," "in all respects," "so as to be a disgrace," and "in every particular." The average expenditure for food (for adult males) was about 4s. 6d. weekly, the highest being about 8s. 6d., and the lowest 32. 8d. The highest rent was 13s. 6d. a week. We must not forget to mention an item in the "Decisions of Courts Affecting Labour." The "Cooks' and Waiters' Alliance " boycotted a certain restaurant in Eureka, Cal. They claimed, on the principle of free speech and free writing, to be allowed to parade in front of the restaurant with a placard : "Declared an unfair restaurant by Cooks' and Waiters' Alliance. The public is asked not to patronize the place." The Court would not sanction the claim.
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