The English Factory Legislation. By Ernst Edler von Planer. Translated
by F. L. Weinmann. (Chapman and HalL)—It is somewhat strange that we should be indebted to a German for a complete and systematic account of an important branch of recent legislation. The question is not yet closed, for the tradition of the early free-traders still, it would seem, survives among some who claim to be their representa- tives. It is now complicated with questions which had not become prominent or were not even mooted when legislation was first attempted, such as is the question of competition for employment between the sexes. Difficulties of no slight character are even now waiting for solution. But, in any case, so intelligent and complete a survey of the case as is that of Horr von Plener is of the greatest value, and the hands of those who wish this legislation supported and completed are strengthened by the earnest approval expressed by an observer of so high a character. "May an exact knowledge," he says in his preface, of the English factory legislation remove the still prevalent disinclina- tion existing on the Continent against legislative action with regard to working hours, and Governments and Legislatures understand that a well-meant and moderate interference by the State in favour of the working-classes does not essentially contain the germs of Socialism, but that it is rather apt to lead them to feel an interest in the stability and preservation of the established social order, and thus remove the danger of a social revolution."
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