REVIEWS.
A Dividend to Labor. By N. P. OILMAN. New York : Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 480.
WITH renewed industrial activity and prosperity comes greater effort on the part of employe's to increase their portion of the product of industry and greater desire for the betterment of their condition ; and at the same time there comes an increased ability on the part of employers to grant the one and a greater opportunity to assist in secur- ing the other. For both reasons the appearance of Mr. N. P. Oil- man's A Dividend to Labor is timely. As with the previous works of this investigator, the contents of this book fall into two groups : there is, first, the presentation of facts gleaned by a careful, if not exhaustive, study of industrial life ; and, second, the exposition of a theory or plan of betterment to which the author has given allegiance. The value of the work along the first line has given prestige to the contention of the second. But each piece of work should be judged on its own merits.
The greater portion of the Dividend to Labor is devoted to the description of the " welfare" institutions of well-known firms in vari- ous countries. Types of these are the Krupp firm in Germany, the Van Macken in Holland, the Cadbury's in England, the Orleans Rail- way in France, the Pullman and the National Cash Register works in the United States. It is to be regretted that Mr. Oilman has adopted the middle course, and has given neither a complete description of any one institution or firm, nor, on the other hand, a complete list of the firms adopting such plans for the betterment of the relations between themselves and their employes. It is the latter work that would have been of greater value to the student of industrial conditions, though a task that is probably impossible of accomplishment. The full descrip- tion of a few such plans that are in successful operation would be of more general use, and would be the best means of popularizing such efforts. However, Mr. Oilman has the power, abundantly illustrated in preceding works as well as in the one now under consideration, of presenting clearly and attractively the salient features of such institu- tions in a brief form. While few of the instances are new to the pub- lic, and none to those who have given any attention to the subject, the
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