Book Reviews and Notices : American State Government. By W. BROOKE GRAVES. (Boston: D. C. Heath and Company. Third Edition. 1946. Pp. x, 1104. $5.00. )

• Author: Boyd A. Martin
• Published date: 01 September 1948
• Date: 01 September 1948
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591294800100354
• Subject Matter: Articles

361

The

work

is

well

documented,

containing

an

excellent

list

of

refer-

ences,

particularly

Federal

Government

regulations,

reports,

hearings,

and

releases,

as

well

as

newspaper

and

magazine

articles.

Dr.

Cook’s

approach

throughout

the

study

is

analytical

and

descriptive;

he

makes

no

attempt

either

to

&dquo;whitewash&dquo;

or

to

crucify

the

W.A.A.-Part

I,

containing

six

chap-

ters,

discusses

the

magnitude

and

complexities

of

the

marketing

problem

in

disposing

of

infinitely

variegated

property

originally

costing

between

$35

and

$40

billions.

Part

II

deals

with

general

government

policies,

including

the

World

War

I

foundations,

and

carrying

the

chronicle

up

through

the

features

of

the

Surplus

Property

Act.

Part

III

describes

the

administrative

and

structural

setup

of

the

marketing

organization.

Part

IV

summarizes

the

general

results

of

the

World

War

II

liquidation

program,

up

through

the

early

part

of

1947.

Unfortunately,

the

author

has

inserted

a

Preface

at

the

beginning

of

the

work

which

carries

the

study

through

the

fourth

quarter

of

1947,

thus

needlessly

breaking

the

chronology.

This

material

should

pro-

perly

be

incorporated

in

the

main

study

in

order

to

give

it

cohesiveness.

Many

items

in

the

story

are

of

general

interest-the

well-meant

but

usually

unsatisfactory

priorities

system

of

the

W.A.A.,

the

question

of

the

role

of

private

brokers

and

dealers,

the

inflexibilities

surrounding

a

public

agency’s

efforts

to

dispose

of

property

contrasted

with

a

similar

effort

by

pri-

vate

industry,

the

inevitable

confusions

and

inefficiencies

arising

within

a

rapidly

recruited

organization

which

suffered

also

from

high

personnel

turn-

over,

including

its

top

management.

The

author

concludes

that

the

general

outlook

for

disposing

of

remaining

surpluses

appears

favorable,

as

long

as

the

national

income

and

consumption

remain

extraordinarily

high,

but

he

also

points

out

the

trend

of

declining

recoveries

and

rising

selling

costs,

along

with

the

problem

of

preventing

further

industrial

concentration

caused

by

the

fact

that

some

of

the

large,

highly

integrated

facilities

have

proven

un-

adaptable

to

small

&dquo;independent&dquo;

operation.

ELLIOTT

W.

GUILD.

University

of

Southern

California.

American

State

Government.

By

W.

BROOKE

GRAVES.

(Boston:

D.

C.

Heath

and

Company.

Third

Edition.

1946.

Pp.

x,

1104.

$5.00. )

Teachers

of

American,

state,

and

local

government,

and

especially

those

of

state

government,

will

welcome

the

Third

Edition

of

this

recognized

text

which

is

divided

into

seven

parts:

Constitutional

Bases

of

State

Govern-

ment,

Political

Parties

and

Popular

Control,

The

Process

of

Lawmaking,

Executive

and

Administrative

Problems,

Financial

Problems,

Judicial

and

Legal

Problems,

and

Intergovernmental

Relations.

As

with

the

previous

editions,

1936

and

1941,

each

chapter

of

each

part

retains

a

remarkable

balanced

presentation

of

the

subject.

Except

for

two

new

chapters,

the

organization

of

the

book

has

not

changed.

The

new

chapters,

&dquo;State

Admin-