Book Reviews and Notices : The Economic Munich: The I. T. O. Charter, Inflation or Liberty, The 1929 Lesson. BY PHILIP CORTNEY. (New York: Philosophical Library. 1949. Pp. xx, 262. $3.75.)

• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Date: 01 December 1949
• Author: Carl McGuire
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200435
• Subject Matter: Articles

651

The

truncated

tone,

which

is

characteristic

of

most

symposiums,

is

to

be

recognized

in

this

compilation

of

papers.

There

is,

nonetheless,

a

note

of

uniformity

which

tends

to

bind

the

topics

together.

The

editors

have

selected

those

papers

which

focus

attention

upon

areas

and

prob-

lems

which

have

become

or

may

become

cradles

of

conflict.

The

book

should

be

considered

an

indispensable

reference

for

collateral

reading

in

any

course

dealing

with

current

political,

social,

economic,

and

geographic

problems.

The

articles

selected

are

well

written

and

the

messages

pre-

sented

are

timelv

and

orovocative.

H.

BOWMAN

HAWKES.

University

of

Utah.

The

Economic

Munich:

The

I.

T.

O.

Charter,

Inflation

or

Liberty,

The

1929

Lesson.

BY

PHILIP

CORTNEY.

(New

York:

Philosophical

Lib-

rary.

1949.

Pp.

xx,

262.

$3.75.)

Philip

Cortney,

president

of

Coty,

Inc.,

and

Coty

International,

de-

velops

in

this

book

his

case

against

the

International

Trade

Organization.

Articles

3

(1)

and

21

(4b)

of

the

Havana

Charter

are

attacked

on

the

grounds

that

they

encourage

isolationist,

nationalistic

full

employment

policies

&dquo;without

regard

to

consequences

such

as

inflation,

balance

of

pay-

ments

deficits,

exchange

control,

and

restrictions

of

international

trade,&dquo;

which

in

turn

inevitably

destroy

the

individual

competitive

system

and

personal

freedom.

Particular

concern

is

shown

with

the

relationship

between

human

rights

and

exchange

control,

the

latter

being

character-

ized

as

&dquo;the

diabolic

instrument

of

nationalism

and

the

archfiend

of

hu-

man

liberty.&dquo;

The

ideas

of

Keynes

(and

their

distortion

by

befuddled

zealots)

are

held

responsible

for

the

&dquo;dangerous&dquo;

full

employment

clauses

in

the

Charter.

The

second

half

of

the

book

is

therefore

devoted

to

a

&dquo;correct&dquo;

diagnosis

of

the

1929

depression.

Notwithstanding

his

criticisms,

it

is

ap-

parent

Mr.

Cortney

looks

upon

Keynes

with

admiration

and

awe.

The

reviewer

is

in

sympathy

with

many

of

the

views

of

Mr.

Cortney

on

such

subjects

as

the

evils

of

exchange

control,

the

power

of

ideas,

and

the

restrictive

nationalism

induced

by

centrally

directed

economies.

Nevertheless

a

more

comprehensive

examination

not

limited

to

two

of

the

many

paragraphs

in

the

Charter

is

necessary

to

a

demonstration

that

the

Havana

agreement

is

&dquo;The

Economic

Munich.&dquo;

Nor

are

the

Charter

changes

recommended

by

the

author

convincing.

Mr.

Cortney

appears

to

be

merely

quibbling

over

words

when

he

states

that

the

Charter

would

be

acceptable

provided

the

phrase

&dquo;consistent

with

the

preservation

of&dquo;

were

substituted

for

the

words

&dquo;appropriate

to&dquo;

in

the

clause

which

re-

quires

each

member

nation

to

attempt

to

achieve

full

employment