844 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
Since we cannot reproduce or discuss a tithe of the vital problems presented, we may select a few of the most important conclusions, typ- ical of all. "This competitive wage we Socialists seek to replace by an allowance for maintenance deliberately settled according to the needs of the occupation and the means at the nation's command. We already see official salaries regulated, not according to the state of the labor market, but by consideration of the cost of living. This principle we seek to extend to the whole industrial world." And as to ground rents : "A socialist state or municipality will charge the full economic rent for the use of its land and dwellings, and apply that rent to the com- mon purposes of the community."
The discussion of poor-law reform and pensions for the aged ought to be thoroughly discussed in the United States. It will soon be for us, as it is in England, a theme of practical politics.
C. R. Henderson.
Tfie Federal Census: Critical Essays by Members of the Ameri- can Economic Association. Collected and edited by a Special Committee. (Publications of the American Eco- nomic Association, New Series, No. 2, March, 1899.) New York: The Macmillan Co. Pp. 4 + 516, 8vo. %2.
It is a well-known fact that the United States government spends more money for the collection and compiling of census statistics than any other nation. The cost of the previous censuses has been in round numbers, according to official figures, as follows : 1790, §44,000; 1800, $67,000; 1810, $178,500; 1820, $208,500; 1830, $378,500; 1840, $833,500; 1850, $1,329,000; i860, $2,000,000; 1870, $3,500,000; 1880, $6,000,000; 1890, $11,000,000.
That the accuracy of the 1890 census and of previous censuses is not all that could be desired, those who have followed the articles by Mr. Bliss in this and the previous volume of the Journal will be convinced.
In view of the enormous and increasing cost and the undoubted shortcomings of our census work, all will agree that the American Eco- nomic Association has done excellent service in arranging for and publishing this volume of papers by authorities on the department of statistics of which they treat.
