CHARLES P. LARROWE. Shape-Up and Hiring Hall. Pp. ix, 250. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1955. $4.50

• Published date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625630400139
• Author: Frederick L. Ryan
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

162

creasing

occupational

rigidity

made

by

Taussig

and

Jocelyn

and

numerous

others

since

that

time.

The

writers

find

that

the

extent

of

movement

to

the

top

of

the

&dquo;occupational

ladder&dquo;

was

as

good

or

bet-

ter

in

1952

than

it

was

a

generation

ago.

Moreover,

the

patterns

of

sequence

in

oc-

cupational

&dquo;succession&dquo;

are

much

the

same

for

the

two

periods..

What

one

might

call

direct

occupational

&dquo;inheritance,&dquo;

representing

an

extreme

of

social

exclusion

in

American

business,

was

most

evident

among

leaders

of

brokerage

and

investment

firms.

There

was

more

vertical

mobility

in

other

types

of

business

and

in

large

rather

than

in

moderate-sized

enterprises.

The

evidence

was

inconclusive

with

respect

to

the

relationship

of

vertical

mobility

to

the

rate

of

expansion

in

the

firm

or

industry

with

which

the

leader

was

connected.

The

writers

conclude

that

&dquo;since

1928

there

has

been

a

strong

trend

away

from

the

influence

of

the

family

and

an

increasing

emphasis

upon

competitive

achievement....

Education

is

now

the

royal

road

to

success

and

to

the

positions

of

power

and

prestige

at

the

higher

rungs

of

big

business.&dquo;

In

1952

the

average

business

leader

was

more

likely

to

have

been

born

in

the

North

than

in

the

South

and

to

have

come

from

a

city

rather

than

a

rural

area.

At

the

time

of

study,

he

was

about

54

years

of

age

and

it

had

taken

him

21

years

to

reach

a

&dquo;top

management&dquo;

position.

For

the

most

part,

he

was

a

college

graduate

and

had

started

his

business

career

in

a

mana-

gerial

or

professional

occupation.

In

two

cases

out

of

three,

his

father

was

also

a

business

or

professional

man

but

in

only

half

the

cases

had

he

married

the

daughter

of

a

business

or

professional

man.

During

the

course

of

his

business

career

he

had

typically

been

employed

by

two

or

more

concerns

and

had

been

spatially

mobile.

One

could

wish

that

more

detailed

rec-

ords

of

the

experience

of

business

leaders

were

available

so

that

the

turning

points

in

their

career

patterns

could

be

identified

and

accompanying

circumstances

con-

sidered.

Moreover,

the

attitudes

of

ex-

ecutives

as

to

the

factors

they

think

con-

tributed

most

to

their

success

might

be

enlightening.

Nevertheless,

this

is

a

care-

fully

documented

report

for

the

student;

the

writers

expect

to

interpret

the

signifi-

cance

of

their

findings,

together

with

the

results

of

some

interviews,

in

a

later

publication.

GLADYS

L.

PALMER

University

of

Pennsylvania

CHARLES

P.

LARROWE.

Shape-Up

and

Hir-

ing

Hall.

Pp.

ix,

250.

Berkeley,

Los

Angeles:

University

of

California

Press,

1955.

$4.50.

This

is

an

excellent

study

of

the

long-

shoring

industry

in

New

York

City

and

Seattle;

two

widely

separated

areas

both

in

distance

and

in

the

basic

principles

of

industrial

relations.

In

the

former,

with

its

record

throughout

the

years

of

thuggery,

gangsterism,

and

extortion,

is

the

shape-up

and

casual

employment;

in

the

latter,

with

twenty

years

of

democratic

union

action

in

co-operation

with

the

employers,

is

the

hir-

ing

hall

with

regular

employment

and

earn-

ings,

and

a

complete

absence

of

gangsters

and

&dquo;finks&dquo;.

One

is

a

system

of

law

and

order;

the

other

of

violence

and

turbulence.

The

book

should

be

widely

read

and

studied;

the

basis

in

satisfactory

industrial

relations

for

community

welfare,

industrial

efficiency,

and

human

benefits

is

heavily

documented.

Noteworthy,

also,

has

been

the

consistent

support

of

the

regime

of

lawlessness

in

New

York

City

by

public

authorities,

federal,

state

and

local,

and

at

the

same

time,

the

harassment

of

the

union

on

the

West

Coast

that

was

attempting

to

bring

into

existence

a

workable

system

of

industrial

relations.

Perhaps

this

book

will

help

to

clear

the

vision of

those

in

au-

thority.

This

study

is

also

a

record

of

the

Inter-

national

Longshoremen’s

Union

in

New

York

City

and

of

its

President

Emeritus,

Joseph

P.

Ryan,

and

of

the

International

Longshoremen’s

and

Warehousemen’s

Union

on

the

West

Coast

and

its

president,

Harry

Bridges.

But

more

than

that,

it is

a

de-

tailed

description

of

how

a

hiring

hall

can

be

run

efficiently

and

in

the

public

interest.

Seattle

made

the choice

for

the

hiring

hall in

1920;

in

that

year

Frank

P.

Foisie,

then

on

the

staff

of

the

waterfront

employ-

ers,

set

up

the

system

which

in

its

basic

features

continues

today;

that

is,

one

cen-