LABOR PROBLEMS FROM BOTH SIDES,
Malcolm Keir. New York,Ronald Ronald Press, 1938. pp. xviii, 381. $3.50.
Malcolm Keir, with his Scotch name and ancestry, reminds one of that greatest of Scotch thinkers, David Hume. Like him, Keir abounds in bright wit, notwithstanding the disavowal in the dedication of this book. Hume wrote a series of Dialogues onReligion in which opposing arguments are so effectively presented by two of the speakers, that commentators have never been able to agree which of the two is stating Hume's own views, while it has sometimes been suspected that Hume had really not made up his own mind, and that he chose the dialogue form of exposition in order that he might think aloud without committing himself. In this book, Keir does not use the dialogue, but he employs an equally effective device to set forth his own reflections without disclosing his conclusions. Twenty different labor problems are put in the form of questions, and in answer to each the arguments in the affirmative and those in the negative are successively stated in separate chapters or sections, with equal clarity and effectiveness.
From a pedagogical standpoint, a great deal can be said in favor of this method of presentation, especially in the case of a highly controversial subject regarding which few definitive conclusions are probably possible at the present time. The student gets the facts and arguments on both sides of each question, and becomes well informed, open minded and tolerant. Since he is given the facts and current arguments, not only those that are solid and significant, but also occasionally ones that are flimsy and fallacious although popular, he learns to discriminate between them, and he receives excellent training in applied logic. He is forced to think for himself and arrive at his own conclusions. It would not be desirable that every subject in college be taught in this way, but probably too many rather than too few professors and courses are dogmatic. Students universally testify to the valuable and stimulating character of Professor Keir's courses in Labor Problems.
The general reader will find the book of interest and value. To indicate its scope it is only necessary to mention the questions discussed. If I were a judge in a debate, and the arguments here stated were advanced by the respective sides, I should say that the affirmative had rather the better of it on each of the following questions: Should Employers Bear the Cost of Industrial Accidents? Can the Hours of Work Be Reduced? Should Women Become Wage Earners? Should the Child Labor Amendment Be Ratified? Do We Pay Our Executives Too Much? Is a Labor Political Party Probable? Should the Powers of the Supreme Court Be Curbed? Should Doctors Be Public Officers? On the remainder of the questions, the negative side seems to me to be given the stronger case, viz.: Is There a Labor Market? Can Unemployment Be Abolished (in a capitalistic system)? Are Wages Paid to Workers a Fair Share of Production? Are Unions Justified in Restrictions on Output? Do Company Unions Serve Labor Interests? Are Craft Unions Better than Industrial Unions? Should Strikes Be Outlawed? Is the Sit Down Strike a Lawful Weapon? Is It Practicable for Unions to Act as Insurers? Should Unions Be Made Legally Responsible? Are the Interests of Capital and Labor Identical? Is Consumers' Cooperation Practicable for American Workers? But this is the impression that the book has made upon only one reader. I should not venture to impute these answers to the author. Probably he believes that there is much to be said on both sides of each question, and that a really constructive soluby
would require either a compromise, or, better, an approach to the whole problem in some larger way.
WILLIAM KELLEY WRIGHT.
Professor George M. Robertson is the author of Anaspida from the Ludlow ofOesel, reprinted from the April, 1937, issue of the Journal of Paleontology, and TheTremataspidae, parts I and II reprinted from the April issue of the AmericanJournal of Science, and A New Cephalaspisfrom the Upper Devonian of Canada, which has been reprinted from the December issue of the Proceedings of the NewEngland Zoological Club.
Mr. Charles H. Volker is the author of An Investigation of Articulatory Occurrences in Formal American Pronunciation,
reprinted from the Archives Neerlandaisesde Phonetique Experimentale.
The Wayward Pilgrims, a story with a Vermont setting, by Mr. Gerald Brace, former instructor of English, has been published by G. P. Putnams Sons.
LET ME SHOW YOU NEW HAMPSHIRE, by Ella Shannon Bowles, with an Introduction by Kenneth Roberts. Alfred A. Knopf, p. 368 xxxiii. $3.50.
Although it is customary to review books in this column only by graduates of the College and members of the Faculty, LetMe Show You New Hampshire has so much of general interest to Dartmouth men that it may not be amiss to mention briefly this interesting and well written book which bears a brief introduction by Kenneth Roberts. He says in part "And I am grateful beyond expression to a New Hampshire College, Dartmouth, for encouraging me with an honorary degree at a time when my labors as a novelist seemed doomed to bring me nothing but discouragement."
The author in her brief note says "This book is not a history nor a guide book of New Hampshire, but is simply a series of my own impressions supplemented by historical research and historical background by information furnished by certain state directors, and by items contributed by my friends both old and new." Although not a history nor a guide book, there is brought together in this volume probably more information of current interest and value about New Hampshire than can be found in any other single publication.
Especially interesting to Dartmouth men will be the chapters Daniel Webster—Sonof New Hampshire, Robert Frost in Franconia, and Our Present-Day Writers. In this last chapter the author devotes considerable space to Eric P. Kelly '06, mentioning also the work of former Professor Curtis Hidden Page, and the work of Alice van Leer Carrick (Mrs. P. O. Skinner). There is no special chapter referring to the College, but there are many references to the College and its graduates scattered throughout the book. Hanover is mentioned in the chapter "Tripping" throughthe Coos Country. In the chapter on Booksin Circulation the author mentions the Baker Library stating "There is no more lovely sight anywhere in the state than that first glimpse of the Baker Memorial Library tower against the sky as you motor south toward Hanover. Hundreds of people visit the Library each year. It is one of New Hampshire's greatest treasures." Other extremely interesting chapters in the book are those dealing with the Indian Stream Republic, and the City of Portsmouth, together with the chapters entitled Whittier's New Hampshire, and WhenNew Hampshire Made Glass—the author is an authority on antiques
The reviewer found one or two slightly misleading statements in the book but in a book full of so many facts it is remarkable that no more mistakes have been found. The book is profusely illustrated, two of the views being of Dartmouth College.
