By C. RUFUS ROREM, PH.D., C.P.A. Accounting as the science of measuring and interpreting business transactions. A tool for the administrative and social control of economic enterprises. The material in this book was tested for seven quarters before publication, in Professor Rorem's classes and in those of six other professors of the University of Chicago. Its divisions deal with (1) the rôle of accounting in modern life, (2) double-entry accounting, (3) accounting valuation, (4) interpretation of accounting. "A book from competent hands, both expert and practical." "Aimed at improving business methods at the source."-Commercial and Financial Chronicle. $4.50, postpaid $4.65 Packinghouse Accounting Prepared by the Committee on Accounting of the Institute of Revised and edited by HOWARD C. GREER The accounting principles and methods followed in a large and complex industry, the unique and ingenious devices which have been developed for obtaining and presenting managerial information, are now documented with something approaching completeness for the first time. The book's three sections discuss (1) general accounting problems peculiarly associated with the packing industry, (2) the industrial operations of packing, and (3) expenses and financial statements, viewed functionally. $4.00, postpaid $4.15 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS By LEON CARROLL MARSHALL This new edition, like the well-known original edition, deals with economics as a study of the structure and functioning of industrial society. The economic order is presented not as some separate and distinct entity but as a special aspect of the general cultural scheme. Used together, the three parts of the new edition constitute a comprehensive body of materials for the introductory course in economics. Part I may be used independently for courses in economic history, Part II may be used independently for courses in production economics, and Part III for courses in value and distribution. Part I. The Emergence of the Modern Order: The fundamental necessity for economic organization; comparative types of economic organization; the emergence of the existing order; change in the developing economic order. $2.50, postpaid $2.60 Part II. Production in the Modern Order: The natural background of production; cultural background; power and the machine; labor, enterprise, and management. $3.50, postpaid $3.65 Part III. The Co-ordination of Specialists: The determination of value and price; coordination through the market for consumers' goods, for funds, for labor, for enterprise and management. $4.00 Professor Marshall's one-volume Readings in Industrial Society is still a standard text for shorter courses. $4.50, postpaid $4.65 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS A Textbook on Law and Business By WILLIAM H. SPENCER Dean of the School of Commerce and Administration How far may one use another's trade mark on non-competing goods? To what extent is a mercantile agency answerable for false statements in the financial ratings which it sends out concerning traders? How far may a manufacturer by contract or other practices control the resale price of nationally advertised articles? What is the liability of the manufacturer for defects in his goods when they pass through the hands of middlemen to the ultimate consumer? Dean Spencer's TEXTBOOK ON LAW AND BUSINESS introduces the business student to such questions as these the law that the business student will encounter, and not the law that the lawyers talk about. The TEXTBOOK will be ready for inspection this summer. $6.00, postpaid $6.25 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS By REGINALD CHARLES MCGRANE A comprehensive study of one of the most disastrous financial crises this nation has ever known. It takes up the causes of the panic, its industrial and financial aspects as it ran its course from 1837 to 1844, and its industrial and political results. Sidelights are cast on that most interesting political development of the period-"locofocoism." ¶The discussion centers largely about the struggle over the United States Bank. This involves such famous men as Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and Nicholas Biddle, the financier, whose personal papers Mr. McGrane uses with such good effect as a part of his authentic source material. ¶ Mr. Valgren has demonstrated convincingly that it is possible for farmers' mutual fire insurance companies in all parts of the country greatly to reduce their loss rate. He has had much practical experience in the fire insurance field, and writes interestingly about these widespread companies and their special problems. This book offers constructive suggestions for a state law to govern organization and operation of farmers' mutuals, for a model system of records, and for organization and management plans. Mr. Valgren has virtually solved the problem of applying the best means for minimizing the burden of fire loss among farmers. $1.90, postpaid $2.00 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO ILLINOIS THE COURSE OF PAUPERISM BEFORE THE WAR Before discussing the statistics of pauperism during the war, it is important to examine the pauper returns for the period preceding the war in order to determine whether a new tendency set in as a result of war conditions or whether a tendency already present was continued, retarded, or accelerated. Table I, which gives the ratio of paupers to population for five-year periods from 1885 to 1914, will illustrate the general tendency of the pre-war period. This table shows that the ratio of indoor pauperism to population had remained almost stationary for the quarter of a century preceding the war and that only a very slight decrease in the outdoor-relief ratios had occurred until the period of the old-age pension acts, 1908-11. The marked decline in outdoor pauperism in 1910 and in the years following was due to the old-age pension legislation. The removal of the pauper disqualification and the extension of old-age pensions, after December 31, 1910, to old persons who had been in receipt of poor relief, explains the decline in the number of outdoor paupers from 513,242 in 1910 to 392,596 in 1911, a decrease of more than 120,000 in a single year. This de 1907* and the recently published results for 1924.5 Consequently, this information has been surprisingly deficient. Since the publication of the 1924 census reports, there has been a new opportunity for studying the question, and one index of 1924 production has been made by the Balfour Committee on Industry and Trade. As will be shown, however, this estimate leaves much to be desired. Its result is far out of line with previous estimates,' and its method is both highly questionable standing by itself and is unsuitable for securing the details by industry which are essential to a full knowledge of the situation.R It seems appropriate, therefore, to construct the best index possible for general purposes from this new information, to compare this with previous estimates, and to examine the chief findings laid open by such an index. Such is the purpose of this article. First, however, it is necessary to examine what is meant by an index of production and to set up the formula that will be used for measurement. II. FORMULA In many cases of indexing, it may be assumed that any approximation to the concept to be measured will give results quantitatively near the truth. Unfortunately, this is not true for the problem in hand. Information is available for but two years, and 4 * Great Britain, Parliament, "Final Report of the First Census of Production of the United Kingdom (1907)," Accounts and Papers (1911-13), Vol. CIX, Cmd. 6320. "Published originally in preliminary reports, Nos. 1 to 30, issued as supplements to the Board of Trade Journal between February 24, 1927, and January 5, 1928, entitled, "Third Census of Production, 1924." We shall not be concerned with the similar reports on Northern Ireland which appeared subsequently. All these preliminary reports are obtainable as separate reprints from H. M. Stationery Office. "Great Britain, Committee on Industry, Trade, Further Factors in Industrial and Commercial Efficiency (1928), pp. 52–67. 8 'Although corroborated by this study (cf. Table II, p. 13). Cf. p. 10, infra. 'Our problem would not be quite so difficult if we had data on the intervening periods between the first and last years. As the number of divisions of our total period increased, those disturbing changes which are a function of time would be negligible, since the lapse of time during each period of comparison would approach zero. We might in such a case link these intermediate comparisons so as to cumulate the changes in production which we wished to measure, while not doing so for the disturbing factors. |