Book Reviews : Agricultural Policy, Farm Programs and National Policy. By RANIER SCHICKELE. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 1954. Pp. x, 453. $6.50.)

• Author: Reed L. Frischknecht
• Date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900153
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

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The virtues of this book stem from its wealth and precision of factual
detail. For the most part, Rawley has let the facts speak for themselves.
Only on the last pages does he raise directly the perplexing question of the
causative importance of Morgan in the history of which he was a part.
The book as a whole would be more stimulating, even if more speculative,
if facts had been followed more often by analysis.
The other limitation, and for it Morgan himself shares a large part of
the responsibility, is the comparative lack of material concerning Morgan’s
personality and private life. This seems to derive from three circumstances:
the undramatic, austere nature of the man, the lack of appropriate records,
and an indisposition on the author’s part to venture beyond the explicit.
The result is a cold portrait.
Yet one has no hesitation in concluding that this is a carefully done
and highly useful work. Morgan is important both as a representative figure
and as an outstanding leader in a crucial epoch in American life. Rawley
has deepened our understanding of both the man and his times.
DONALD SHEEHAN.
Smith College.
Agricultural Policy, Farm Programs and National Policy. By RANIER
SCHICKELE. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 1954. Pp. x,
453. $6.50.)
The author’s central purpose was &dquo;to explore how agricultural policies
can improve living conditions for farm families and serve the economic
welfare of the community at large.&dquo; By comparing the results of specific
agricultural policies in achieving their objectives against meaningful and
well-developed &dquo;performance tests,&dquo; applied with scholarly objectivity,
Professor Schikele has very admirably accomplished his central purpose.
This is not to say that the book does not contain deficiencies; it does.
Poor organization within his major groupings results in considerable repe-
tition and impairment to continuity of analysis. Also a considerable num-
ber of small factual errors serves to detract from the otherwise very fine
presentation. For example, there appears to be no excuse for an economist’s
designating the Employment Act of 1946 as the &dquo;Full Employment Act of
1946.&dquo;
Of particular significance and interest to political scientists will be
Professor Schickele’s methodology. This is to apply a combined social sci-
ences approach to an analysis of a specific public policy. The success with
which he accomplishes his central purpose by this method has served to
confirm this reviewer’s long-standing conviction that better understanding
and analysis of public policies, the role of government in their formation

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and execution, the response of specific clientele groups benefited, and their
effect upon the general body politic, will be...