SCHMIDT, EMERSON P. Industrial Rela tions in Urban Transportation. Pp. xii, 264. Minneapolis: University of Minne sota Press, 1937

• Author: Paul F. Brissenden
• DOI: 10.1177/000271623819600142
• Published date: 01 March 1938
• Date: 01 March 1938
• Subject Matter: Articles

240

sections

of

the

case

studies

(I

approve

heartily

of

the

chapters

on

public

utility

valuation,

including

the

author’s

&dquo;reforma-

tion&dquo;

on

the

matter

of

depreciation,

but

I

must

confess,

none

the

less,

to

an

&dquo;unsatis-

fied&dquo;

feeling) .

But

the

section

on

methods

of

valuation

is

excellent,

and

the

case

stud-

ies

as

a

whole

are

splendidly

done.

This

work

was

really

a

daring

venture

for

Bonbright

and

his

associates;

it

was

thought

through

and

constructed

painstak-

ingly,

realistically,

and

with

imagination.

Bonbright

on

Valuation

is

a

thoroughly

workmanlike

job.

It

will

remain

a

classic-

a

useful

classic-for

many

years.

BEN

W.

LEWIS

Oberlin

College

KURTZ,

EDWIN

B.

The

Science

of

Valua-

tion

and

Depreciation.

Pp.

xiv,

221.

New

York:

Ronald

Press

Company,

1937.

$4.50.

Professor

Kurtz

deals

with

the

average

life

and

life

expectancy

of

various

types

of

physical

property.

He

treats

such

prob-

lems

as

how

to

determine

the

loss

of

&dquo;serv-

ice

life&dquo;

of

an

average

unit

of

property,

like

a

telephone

pole;

the

total

annual

re-

newals

that

must

be

made;

and

the

amount

to be

set

aside

annually

during

the

life

of

such

a

unit

to

make

possible

its

replace-

ment.

The

value

of

the

book

is

enhanced

by

an

unusually

large

number

of

charts,

used

to

clarify

the

text.

The

book

by

Professor

Kurtz

is

of

more

than

average

interest

because

of

the

rela-

tive

scarcity

of

objective

data

concerning

the

life

of

factories

and

machinery.

Since

the

author

deals

with

the

method

of

han-

dling

physical

property

which

is

more

likely

to

wear

out

than

to

suffer

extinction

through

fire

or

accident,

a

reader

may

wish

to

compare

his

treatment

with

the

more

general

study

of

Solomon

Fabricant,

en-

titled

Measures

o

Capital

Consumption,

1919-1933.

(National

Bureau

of

Eco-

nomic

Research,

Bulletin

60,

June,

1936.)

Fabricant’s

study

concluded,

with

refer-

ence

to

the

relative

importance

of

the

sev-

eral

types

of

capital

consumption,

that:

&dquo;(1)

An

increasing

proportion

of

business

capital

consumption

is

being

recorded

in

the

form

of

depreciation

charges

rather

than

charges

for

repairs

and

maintenance,

chiefly

as

a

consequence

of

the

decline

in

the

relative

importance

of

steam

railroads.

(2)

Recorded

depletion

charges

and

costs

of

development

of

our

national

resources

declined

in

relative

importance

during

the

fifteen

years

under

review.

(3)

Despite

a

large

increase

in

the

nation’s

capital

stock,

losses

by

fire

showed

no

appreciable

upward

trend.&dquo;

Despite

the

paucity

of

economic

litera-

ture

on

this

subject,

Charles

Babbage,

the

mathematician,

displayed

a

lively

interest

in

it

over

a

century

ago.

In

his

book,

On

the

Economy

of

Machinery

and

Manuf ac-

tures

(London:

Charles

Knight,

1833),

he

devotes

a

chapter

to

the

&dquo;duration

of

ma-

chinery.&dquo;

He

reported

what

happened

to

150

Mississippi

River

steamboats

that

were

lost

or

worn

out

between

1811

and

1831,

and

cited

the

cause

of

the

demise

of

each

(i.e.,

fire,

wreck,

and

so

forth) .

Only

63

actually

wore

out.

Professor

Kurtz’s

study

would

have

de-

lighted

Babbage,

were

the

latter

still

alive,

because

it

combines

the

theoretical

and

the

practical

approaches

to

the

problem.

After

showing

various

types

of

life-experience

ta-

bles,

he

devotes

a

chapter

to

the

computa-

tion

of

Life

Expectancy

and

Probable

Life.

Then

he

takes

up

&dquo;remainder

service

life,&dquo;

and

annual

renewals.

He

next

explains

the

calculation

of

&dquo;composite

remainder

service

life,&dquo;

and

turns

finally

to

a

dis-

cussion

of

replacement

insurance.

Not

the

least

interesting

part

of

the

book

is

the

Appendix,

which

contains

&dquo;life

characteristic&dquo;

charts

for

water

works,

water

works

pumps,

steam

engines,

boilers,

central

office

equipment,

telephone

poles,

aerial

cable,

submarine

cable,

underground

cable,

incandescent

lamps,

and

automo-

biles.

C.

CANBY

BALDERSTON

University

of

Pennsylvania

SCHMIDT,

EMERSON

P.

Industrial

Rela-

tions

in

Urban

Transportation.

Pp.

xii,

264.

Minneapolis:

University

of

Minne-

sota

Press,

1937.

This

is

a

study,

for

one

important

in-

dustry,

of

those

problems

of

unionism,

la-

bor

policy,

and

collective

bargaining,

which

are

more

and

more

insistently

chal-

lenging

the

ingenuity-and

the

statesman-

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