PROBLEMS IN INCOME TAX FUNDAMENTALS.

By Orton Wells Boyd and Frederick Leon Pearce '15. Chicago, The Foundation Press, Inc., 1937. pp. iv+107.

This book and the associated problem material (separately published) is intended primarily to be used as a text in law, accounting, and business schools. Because of the importance of the subject discussed, the book will prove of interest not only to students but to investors and business men generally, and to practicing lawyers and accountants. Mr. Pearce is both an attor- ney-at-law and a certified public accountant, and has brought the technique and point of view of these professions to bear upon the analysis and exposition of this difficult and elaborate subject.

The purpose of the book is to present a "broad picture of the fundamental structure of the federal income tax," and to "define the basic elements and show the place of each in the structural whole." Consistent with this objective, the author recognizes two factors of importance to an understanding of the present law: that various major concepts, and some detailed provisions of the current revenue act have appeared continuously in all the revenue acts since 1909; and that behind this succession of statutes and in interpretation thereof, there has grown up a great body of administrative rulings and court decisions bearing upon basic questions involved in ascertaining income itself. These fundamental concepts, and the growth of a body of interpretative opinion, provide a degree of continuity in federal income taxation, despite frequent changes in the statutes.

The unfolding of the subject centers principally around the provisions of the current (1936) revenue act—the origin and history of these provisions, and the decisions interpreting identical or similar terms and concepts in antecedent statutes. Frequent citations are made to regulations and rulings, and decisions of the Board of Tax Appeals and the courts. Tables of cited rulings and cases are provided.

The book consists of an Introduction and twenty-seven chapters. After consideration of the background of federal income taxation (Chapter I) and the classification of taxpayers and net income (Chapter II), the succeeding seven chapters are devoted to a discussion of the elements in the basic formula for computing net income and tax: gross income, inclusions and exclusions; deductions from gross income; items not deductible from gross income; credits and computation of tax. Accounting periods \and methods are explained in Chapters X, XI, and XII. Other major topics developed in succeeding chapters include: organizations exempt and specially taxed; amount and recognition of gain or loss; reorganizations; development and meaning of the basis concept; tax-deferring exchanges and other transactions; distributions by corporations; estates, trusts, and partnerships; insurance companies; returns and payment of tax; deficiencies, and overpayment of tax.

Interesting and adequate problem material, adaptable to the various types of college courses, is provided in a separate pamphlet.

"The text is not expected to produce experts in income tax litigation nor to answer all questions which might be propounded upon minute details of the federal income tax statutes or their interpretation."

Mr. Pearce is to be congratulated upon having produced an expert and understandable presentation of federal income tax fundamentals as they appear from a study of the provisions and the background of the 1936 act.

The Little Imp by Clifton Blake '24 appears in the June issue of The Vermonter. The September issue of Yankee contains another article by Mr. Blake entitled Idyll (So you Tink).

Five Capitals of Switzerland by Sydney A. Clark 'l2 appears in the June issue of Travel.

Daniel Webster and the Hay-Fever by Dr. Creighton Barker 'l3 has been reprinted from the May issue of The YaleJournal of Biology and Medicine.

George H. Tripp Fine Yankee Gentleman by Henry H. Piper '76 has been reprinted from the Massachusetts LibraryAssociation Bulletin.

Dr. Jason A. Russell '20 is the author of RU A Yankee-Six Tests which appears in the Yankee for August.

Dr. Russell also had an article in the June issue of Yankee entitled Are You aYankee Schoolma'am.

The fourth revised edition of Modern European History by Charles D. Hazen '89 has just been published by the Henry Holt Company. This is an enlarged edition bringing the history up to the year 1937. The section on the History of the World War has been revised for this edition.

The Practical Application of the Spectrophotemetric Method for Assay of Vitaman A by Arthur D. Holmes 'O6 at al has been reprinted from the Journal of theAmerican Pharmaceutical Association for June.

Johnny Appleseed Was a Yankee by Henry Bailey Stevens 'l2 appears in the May issue of the New Hampshire Troubadour.

Factors Affecting Yearly Abundance ofPasserine Birds by S. Charles Kendeigh and S. Prentiss Baldwin '92 has been reprinted from the January issue of Ecological Monographs.

George H. Moses '9O has an article in the April issue of the Phillips Exeter Bulletin entitled Fifty Years Ago.

The Pennsylvania Bounty System, a detailed study of its history, operation, cost and effects, together with a discussion of the advisability of its continuance, Research Bulletin No. 1 of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, by Richard Gerstell '33, Chief of the Division of Game Research and Distribution, published by the Commission has been published as a monograph of 28 pages.

Rehearsal Against Time a group of four poems by Samuel French Morse '36 appears in the June issue of Poetry.

The Catalytic Hydrogenation and Esterification of C<- Saccharinic Acid Lactonesand the Hydrogenation of Butyl Erythronate by J. W. E. Glattfeld 'O7 and Anne M. Stack has been reprinted from the Journalof the American Chemical Society.

Volume 1 number 1 of the Journal ofthe Connecticut State Medical Society appeared in August 1936. This magazine is edited by Dr. Stanley B. Weld 'l2. Beginning with 1938 this quarterly magazine will become a monthly.

Gabriel Farrell 'll has an article in Current History entitled Pensions for theBlind which appeared in the January issue.

Harold Wright Holt 'l7 is the author of The Federal Interpleader Act and Conflict of Laws in Garnishment which appears in the April number of the University of Chicago Law Review.

Warren A. Cook '23 is the author of Chemical Procedures in Air AnalysisMethods for Determination of PoisonousAtmospheric Contaminants which has been reprinted from the 1935-1936 Annual Year Book of the American Public HealthAssociation.

The June issue of School and Home contains an article by Herbert A. Wolff 'lO entitled The World Looks to Its Teachers.

Psalms of the Modern Life by Walter Taylor Field '33 has been published by the Christopher Publishing House of Boston.

The Boom Mystery by Judge Sherman Roberts Moulton '98 has been published by The Vermont Historical Society. This will be reviewed in a later issue.

A Sermon to Graduates by Richard P. McClintock '26 the baccalaureate address to the class of 1937, Lancaster Academy, Lancaster, New Hampshire, has been published in pamphlet form.

William W. Prescott '77 has two articles which appear in the February and March issues of The Ministry respectively entitled The Confessed Failure of Modernism, and Principles, Problems, and Policies.

The Road from Santa Ines by W. A. Breyfogle '2B appears in the August issue of Esquire.