Book Reviews and Notices : The Marketing of Surplus War Property: A Comprehensive Study of Government Liquidation Policies and Programs. By JAMES ALLAN COOK. (Washington, D. C.: Public Affairs Press. 1948. Pp. vii, 211. $3.25. )

• Date: 01 September 1948
• Published date: 01 September 1948
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294800100353
• Author: Elliott W. Guild
• Subject Matter: Articles

360

by

the

average

college

student

or

the

American

public

that

frequent

use

of

the

dictionary

may

be

necessary

in

order

to

fully

understand

the

material.

University

of

Utah.

E.

E.

MILLER.

Citizen

Participation

in

Government:

A

Study

of

County

Welfare

Boards.

By

HELEN

E.

MARTZ.

( Washington,

D.

C. :

Public

Affairs

Press.

1948.

Pp. 63.

$1.00. )

In

this

booklet

Dr.

Martz

examines

in

detail

the

day-to-day

workings

of

a

number

of

citizen

administrative

boards

responsible

for

the

management

of

a

public

aid

program

on

the

local

level.

These

are

chiefly

county

boards,

and

particular

attention

is

paid

to

their

responsibilities

in

the

fields

of

per-

sonnel,

case

review,

policy

formulation,

interpretation

and

coordination,

and

their

relationships

to

the

state

agency.

The

reader

is

made

keenly

aware

of

the

need

for

continued

sound

evalu-

ation

of

the

legislation

creating

boards

of

this

type,

for

criteria

for

the

com-

position

of

boards,

and

for

analyzing

the

nature

of

responsibilities

assigned

to

boards.

Further,

such

problems

are

pointed

out

as

the

political

nature

of

board

appointments

leading

to

poor

representation

from

the

community,

the

unwillingness

of

some

board

members

to

delegate

responsibilities

to

the

county

director

and

staff,

and

the

proper

limits

of

board

discretion.

The

author

tries

to

give

objective

answers

to

some

central

questions

such

as:

Do

board

members

&dquo;get

in

the

hair&dquo;

of

professional

experts?

Do

they

deal

too

much

in

personalities?

Do

board

members

tend

to

their

business?

In

general

Dr.

Martz

has

a

good

word

to

say

for

the

board

idea

and

the

sincerity

and

efficiency

of

board

members.

This

reviewer

regrets,

however,

that

instances

deserving

either

praise

or

blame

were

not

made

more

specific,

and

more

of

the

local

color

added.

The

material

for

such

analysis

should

be

ample,

since

the

study

embraces

a

total

of

451

meetings

held

by

seventeen

boards

over

an

eighteen

month

period.

University

of

Southern

California.

ELLIOTT

W.

GUILD.

The

Marketing

of

Surplus

War

Property:

A

Comprehensive

Study

of

Gov-

ernment

Liquidation

Policies

and

Programs

.

By

JAMES

ALLAN

COOK.

(Washington,

D.

C.:

Public

Affairs

Press.

1948.

Pp.

vii,

211.

$3.25. )

The

author

presents

this

work

as

having

three

major

purposes:

(1)

to

provide

a

comprehensive,

descriptive

analysis

of

the

operating

policies

and

procedures

of

the

War

Assets

Administration

and

its

predecessors;

(2)

to

determine

whether

there

have

been

valid

reasons

for

revisions

of

the

Sur-

plus

Property

Act

of

1944;

and

(3)

to

appraise

past

procedures

of

Govern-

ment

disposal

agencies

with

a

view

to

finding

more

productive

disposal

methods.