Book Reviews and Notices : Comparative Economic Systems. BY RALPH H. BLODGETT. (New York: The Macmillan Company. 1949. Revised Edition. Pp. x, 892. $5.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200442
• Author: Melvin Anshen
• Date: 01 December 1949
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Subject Matter: Articles

658

New

Guinea,

however,

&dquo;whatever

criticisms

may

be

made

of

Australian

administration,

the

charge

of

ruthlessness

in

extending

control

is

not

one

that

could

be

sustained.&dquo;

It

has

recently

been

reported

that

during

the

debates

in

the

Eco-

nomic

and

Social

Council

the

Soviet

delegate

criticized

British

adminis-

tration

in

colonial

territories

on

the

ground

of

forced

labor

in

those

areas.

Dr.

Mair

provides

a

full

account

of

the

working

of

the

system

of

inden-

tured

labor

which

is

the

object

of

the

Soviet

attack.

In

Papua

the

system

is

disappearing,

and

in

New

Guinea

it

is

now

being

subjected

to

closer

and

more

careful

governmental

control.

But

it

is

obvious

from

Australia

in

New

Guinea

that

many

of

the

improvements

that

are

necessary

if

the

ideal

of

native

development

and

eventual

self-government

is

to

be

achieved

will

never

be

effected

until

a

larger

number

of

experienced

and

sympathetic

administrative

officers

is

available.

In

its

report

in

July

of

1949

the

Trusteeship

Council

made

the

same

criticism

and

advised

the

administration

to

consider

whether

the

conditions

of

service

were

suffi-

ciently

attractive.

Readers

of

Australia

in

New

Guinea

may

well

feel

that

there

is

much

still

to

be

done

in

this

connection.

Dr.

Mair

is,

perhaps

justifiably,

critical

of

the

Australian

administra-

tion,

particularly

in

the

trust

territory.

But

it is

submitted

that

she

is

a

little

too

hard

in

her

comments

concerning

the

period

immediately

follow-

ing

the

expulsion

of

the

Japanese.

She

takes

too

limited

a

conception

of

military

necessity.

At

this

time

there

were

a

number

of

treason

trials

of

natives.

It

is

perhaps

here

that

Dr.

Mair

provides

the

most

telling

criti,

cism

of

the

Australian

administration:

&dquo;In

the

absence

of

the

concep,

tion

of

a

regime

to

which

loyalty

was

due,

there

could

be

no

question

of

disloyalty,

or

of

cooperation

with

one

side

or

the

other.&dquo;

University

College,

London.

LESLIE

C.

GREEN.

Comparative

Economic

Systems.

BY

RALPH

H.

BLODGETT.

(New

York:

The

Macmillan

Company.

1949.

Revised

Edition.

Pp.

x,

892.

$5.00.)

This

is

a

revision

of

the

textbook

which

Professor

Blodgett

first

pub-

lished

in

1944.

The

major

changes

reflect

developments

in

world

history

in

the

intervening

years,

with

special

emphasis

on

the

economic

exper-

ience

of

Russia

in

the

war

and

after,

the

partial

socialization

of

the

Bri-

tish

economy,

the

collapse

of

the

dominant

fascist

systems,

and

the

con-

tinuing

if

slow

trend

toward

a

welfare

economy

in

the

United

States.

The

basic

structure

of

the

first

edition

is

maintained.

The

book

is

organized

in

terms

of

economic

subjects,

and

economic

systems

are

compared

under

such

topic

headings

as

economic

institutions,

the

making

of

fundamental

economic

decisions,

production,

the

exchange

system,

credit

and

banking,

distribution

of

income,

labor,

international

trade,

and

public

finance.

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