MEZERIK, A. G. The Pursuit of Plenty: The Story of Man's Expanding Domain. Pp. xi, 209. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950. $2.50

• Published date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625127400162
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Author: Norman Wengert
• Subject Matter: Articles

234

topics

as

fall

under

the

heading

of

eco-

nomic

geography.

The

reviewer’s

stric-

tures

are

not

meant

to

discourage

a

reader

from

using

this

book;

it

is

a

challenge

and

is

packed

with

information

college

students

should

know

something

about.

C.

LANGDON

WHITE

Stanford

University

MEZERIK,

A.

G.

The

Pursuit

of

Plenty:

The

Story

of

Man’s

Expanding

Domain.

Pp.

xi,

209.

New

York:

Harper

&

Brothers,

1950.

$2.50.

This

book

deals

with

a

topic

of

great

im-

portance

to

the

nation.

It

was

written

by

a

journalist

of

considerable

repute

and

was

sponsored

by

a

group

of

organizations,

in-

cluding

the

Public

Affairs

Institute

and

the

National

Farmers

Union.

But

despite

this

fortunate

combination

of

circumstances,

the

book

is

not

a

good

one.

The

author

states

that

his

major

purpose

is

to

answer

the

neo-Malthusian

Cassandras

who

prophecy

dire

consequences

for

the

human

race

because

there

are

not

resources

enough.

Unfortunately,

the

book

never

really

grapples

with

the

problem

it

has

set

for

itself.

It

is

possible

not

only

to

pursue

plenty

but

to

achieve

it,

according

to

Mr.

Mezerik,

if

we

merely

liquidate

the

&dquo;old

fashioned

men,&dquo;

which

is

the

label

he

hangs

on

a

host

of

industrial

and

business

leaders

who

make

their

living

from

exploit-

ing

resources.

The

&dquo;enlightened&dquo;

men

are,

of

course,

those

who

support

the

Tennessee

Valley

Authority

and

Conservation.

The

book

is

superficial

in

the

extreme,

paying

slight

attention

to

the

complex

so-

cial,

political,

and

psychological

factors

which have

influenced

the

development

of

American

exploitative

industry.

To

ex-

plain

the

whole

process

in

Faustian

terms

of

a

struggle

between

the

evil men

and

the

good

men

is

not

even

acceptable

propa-

ganda.

It

is

certainly

bad

writing,

made

worse

by

the

liberal

use

of

cliches

and

stereotypes.

’

That

our

society

is

still

largely

domi-

nated

by

cost

economics

seems

never

to

have

occurred

to

the

author,

for

he

urges

the

indiscriminate

development

of

all

re-

sources,

of

whatever

quality

they

may

be

and

wherever

they

may

be

located.

It

would

not

have

taken

much

research

for

the

author

to

have

discovered,

for

example,

that

the

lack

of

development

of

Western

phosphate

is

as

much

a

result

of

cost

and

market

factors

as

it is

of

the

plottings

of

profit-hungry

capitalists.

Other

misrepresentations~

abound.

For

example,

in

accusing

the

&dquo;robber

timber

barons&dquo;

of

being

responsible

for

the

silt

load

of

the

Missouri

River

the

author

im-

plies

that

their

&dquo;cut

and

get

out&dquo;

policy

has

left

the

upper

parts

of

the

region

bare.

Such

allegations

are

not

supported

by

For-

est

Service

data

which

indicate

that

two-

thirds

of

the

nonfarm

forest

of

the

Mis-

souri

Valley

is

and

has

been

in

public

ownership,

that

these

public

forests

are

concentrated

in

the

upper

reaches

of

the

valley,

and

that

the

cut

from

them

could

safely

be

increased

100

per

cent.

The

author’s

overenthusiastic

claims

for

TVA,

such

as

the

sweeping

generalizations

with

respect

to

the

relationship

of

water

control

on

the

land

to

water

quality

and

quantity

in

the

channel,

are

not

supported

by

TVA

itself

and

embarrass

those

whose

support

of

the ,

regional

agency

idea

is

grounded

more

securely

on

facts.

Despite

the

pretensions

of

this

book,

students

of

resource

policy

must

look

else-

where

for

a

measured

appraisal

of

neo-

Malthusian

thought

and

the

problems

of

resource

development.

NORMAN

WENGERT

The

City

College

of

New

York

BLACK,

JOHN

D.

The

Rural

Economy

of

New

England. Pp.

xxiv,

796.

Cam-

bridge,

Mass.:

Harvard

University

Press,

1950.

$7.50.

This

is

the

sort

of

book

for

which

agri-

cultural

economists

have

been

waiting

four

at

least

one

generation,

namely

a

thorough

synoptic

analysis

of

the

rural

economy

of

the

United

States.

At

long

last

Professor

John

D.

Black

of

Harvard

University

has

presented

the

professional

community

and

the

general

public

with

such

a

book.

It

does

not

deal

with

the

rural

economy

of

all

the

states

but

with

the

oldest

agricultural

region

of

the

country,

the

six

New

England

states.

This

is,

to

be

sure,

a

relatively

small

chunk

of

the

nation’s

rural

economy,

which

produces

less

than

3

per

cent

of

the

value

of

&dquo;tangible&dquo;

farm

products.

Yet

the