Book Reviews : Problems of Labor. By GLENN W. MILLER. (New York: The Macmillan Company. 1951. Pp. 560. $5.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400440
• Published date: 01 December 1951
• Date: 01 December 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

682

This

whole

field

of

political

theory

and

practice

has

not

before

been

so

clearly

portrayed

or

so

thoroughly

explored.

The

volume

is

a

distinct

addition

to

the

general,

as

well

as

the

specialized,

literature of

political

science.

The

author’s

&dquo;proposed

principles&dquo;

for

governmental

policy

on

labor-management

relations

may

well

point

the

way

toward

correlating

the

policy

more

nearly

with

the

principles

which

government

requires

in

private

relations.

It

is

regrettable

that

the

analysis

of

the

literature

was

not

carried

much

bevond

the

mid

1940’s.

r

-

PHILLIPS

BRADLEY.

Syracuse

University.

Problems

of

Labor.

By

GLENN

W.

MILLER.

(New

York:

The

Macmillan

Company.

1951.

Pp.

560.

$5.00.)

A

collegiate

textbook

on

the

&dquo;problems

of

labor&dquo;

would

presuppose

that

an

introductory

semester

had

already

been

devoted

to

studying

the

&dquo;economics

of

labor.&dquo;

Mr.

Miller’s

book

contains

brief

notations

on

the

size

and

composition

of

the

labor

force,

labor

productivity,

some

wage

theories,

and

two

chapters

on

the

history

of

the

American

union

move-

ment ;

but

a

more

detailed

study

of

these

topics

along

with

others

such

as

hours,

labor

mobility

and

turnover,

the

conditions

of

the

labor

market,

labor

classification

and

skills,

and

even

the

dimensions

of

the

labor

factor

is

probably

a

desirable

prerequisite

to

the

consideration

of

labor’s

problems

as

presented

in

this

book.

Mr.

Miller’s

innovation

may

be

in

the

organization

of

material.

He

juxtaposes

treatments

of

problems

and

solutions-for

example,

a

chapter

entitled

&dquo;Old

Age

Dependency:

The

Problem&dquo;

is

followed

by

another

on

&dquo;Old

Age

Dependency:

Attempted

Solutions.&dquo;

No

major

labor

prob-

lems

have

been

omitted,

and

certainly

the

discussions

of

possible

solutions

are

complete.

The

emphasis

placed

upon

the

role

of

government

in

labor

problems

is

undoubtedly

proper,

for

the

increasingly

greater

part

taken

by

government

in

the

labor-management

tangle

deserves

extended

treat-

ment.

At

least

one

recent

textbook

is

devoted

exclusively

to

this

develop-

ment

(Witney,

Fred,

Government

and

Collective

Bargaining

[New

York:

J.

B.

Lippincott

Company,

1951]).

The

author,

through

his

explanations

of

the

various

theories

of

wages,

identifies

himself

with

the

modern

&dquo;collective

bargaining&dquo;

school

of

labor

economists

so

excellently

typified

by

Richard

Lester

of

Princeton

in

his

controversy

with

Fritz

Machlup

of

Johns

Hopkins

in

the

economic

journals

concerning

the

validity

of

the

entire

&dquo;marginal

productivity&dquo;

analysis.

As

such

the

book

should

gain

favor

with

many

labor

economists,

while

some

of

the

more

traditional

theorists

will

find

in

it

useful

information

to

sup-

plement

their

more

ordered

framework.