Book Reviews and Notices : The Canadian Bureaucracy: A Study of Canadian Civil Servants and Other Public Employees, 1939-1947. BY TAYLOR COLE. (Durham, N. C.: Duke University Press. 1949. Pp. ix, 279. $5.00.)

• Author: Dwight Waldo
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Date: 01 December 1949
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591294900200450
• Subject Matter: Articles

666

Understanding

the

Constitution.

BY

E.

S.

CORWIN

AND

JACK

PELTASON.

(New

York:

Wm.

Sloane

Associates.

1949.

Pp.

vii,

147.

$1.35.)

The

authors

of

Understanding

the

Constitution

explain

that

their

purpose

will

have

been

fulfilled

if

the

volume

&dquo;succeeds

in

giving

its

readers

a

clear

understanding

of

the

document

itself

and

an

appreciation

of

the

important

role

which

constitutional

interpretation

plays

in

the

conduct

of

our

government.... &dquo;

It

probably

will,

for

it

is

simply

and,

at

appropriate

times,

humorously

written.

Moreover,

the

same

method

of

expounding

the

same

subject

matter

has

already

been

employed

with

marked

success

by

the

senior

of

the

two

collaborators.

True,

the

present

effort

is

on

a

somewhat

re-

duced

scale,

being

only

about

half

the

heft

of

the

9th

edition

of

The

Constitution

and

What

It

Means

Today.

Yet

both

are

relatively

short

section

by

section

glosses

on

the

document,

likely

to

be

of

special

value

in

the

teaching

of

introductory

courses

on

the

Constitution,

or

as

sup-

plementary

reading

in

connection

with

case

book

presentation.

Aside,

therefore,

from

a

few

references

to

late

civil

rights

cases

(which,

incidentally,

are

particularly

well

done)

there

would

seem

to

be

little

point

in

turning

to

the

present

volume

in

preference

to

the

older

one.

It

seems

unlikely

that

Corwin

and

Peltason

are

trying

to

compete

with

Corwin,

but

if

they

are

they

would

seem

to

have

underestimated

the

iob.

KENNETH

C.

COLE.

University

of

Washington.

KENNETH

C.

COLE.

The

Canadian

Bureaucracy:

A

Study

of

Canadian

Civil

Servants

and

Other

Public

Employees,

1939-1947.

BY

TAYLOR

COLE.

(Durham,

N.

C.:

Duke

University

Press.

1949.

Pp.

ix,

279.

$5.00.)

Professor

Cole’s

study

of

the

Canadian

bureaucracy,

made

possible

by

Guggenheim

funds,

was

conceived

and

begun

before

Pearl

Harbor.

After

the

war

Professor

Cole

enlarged

the

scope

of

the

study

and,

following

a

generous

period

of

travel

and

research

in

Canada,

completed

it

in

1948.

The

title

and

sub-title

are

precisely

indicative

of

the

purpose

and

scope

of

the

work:

it

is

an

account

of

the

major

aspects

and

developments

of

Canadian

public

employment

in

the

period

1939-1947.

It

moves

swiftly

from

an

explanation

of

the

scope

and

method

of

the

work,

through

a

brief

narration

of

civil

service

history

and

recent

Canadian

economic,

social,

and

political

affairs,

to

a

treatment

of

civil

service

matters

at

both

Dominion

and

provincial

levels.

It

treats

control

agencies,

employment

conditions,

civil

service

associations.

Special

chapters

are

given

to

em~

ployees

of

crown

corporations

and

companies,

employees

of

provincial

commercial

enterprises,

and

public

school

teachers.