NESSRS. ANTIPHILOI S, EG IOLIL, He is easily duped 1y a Lake religi
A n dAND WHiIFFLE ous sect, which drains hian of most of
~U W 1 u h i e~b )S) with the member ver an n trp reta-
__ ismnedoAuthorsh ts qel.
A garrulous satyr, with an eye for tion of the text, and finally leaves their
"TILE ENGINEERS AND THE PRICE System" represents a well-warranted' feminine comeliness and an aversion society, practically penniless. While
SYSTEM" criticism of certain weak spots in the to pitchforks, makes a sojourn in mod- his wife and children are almost starv-
By Thorstein Veblen modern industrial system. Unem- ern civilization and, finding it not alto- lg, he spends his time trying to ma-
(A Review by H.L . C ployment of "industrial plant and gether to his liking, returns to ancient terialize the fancies of his cracked
ew . .)workmen," fai-lure to correlate fully Greece. Such is tbe substance of "Mr. brain. He tries to makce soap out of
During teps w rtreyasjlyfs and medicine out of carots
the production of goods with the needs Antiphilos, Satyr (Lieber and Lewis), Telly fish
we have been repeatedly startled by and sand His magnum opus, how-
ehof the community, these are outstand- recently translated by John Howard
the loud discovery of some pessimistic ing evils The separation of owner- from the F'rech of Remy ever, is to be a reversible steam tur-
observer that-from an economicinevl.Tesprtoofo e-fomheFncofR y de Gour-
ship and management in the modern Ont bine. The account of the completiont
standpoint-all is not quite right with o . n. of his invention and its test are too
the world. -Economic conditions, corporation is by no means an unmix- Mr. Antiphilos is a lustful but genial good to spoil by retelling. The last
abroad and at home, have been paint- ed advantage. In calling general at- god, totally unmoral and pleasure chapter, especially, is a superb piece
tention to such matters with striking loving in the unrestrained pagan man- of irony.
ed for us in the. blackest of ink. The-o'iny
impending collapse of business, of phrases, the author is doing no small ner. His observations and 'reflections Carl Van Vechten's 'Peter Whitfle"
credit, f the production system, of service. It is only the more unfortu- upon his mortal amours are a novel (Knopf) is even more unusual than
our whoe economicj organization, nate, therefore, that he deems it neces- combination of worldliness and nai- "Egholm." Van Vechten has quite out-
have rot lacked their prophets. The sary to drive i these observations by vet. The story somewhat resembles done himself in writing this, one of
thing has been almost overdone. In- exaggerating their generaltiy, by "A Night in the Luxumbourg" in its the strangest and most fascinating
deed, we have been so abundantly pressing his argument to unjustified cold emotional qualities and its imper- cumbinations of fiction and fact yet
warned; that the danger now is of not nclns, y blurrin t force sonal intellectual appeal conceived by an American writer. It
taking the warnings seriously' enough, anaysi witheiale impth- Egholm and His God" (Knopf), has been compared to George Moore's
rations, herein lie the faults of the Ehl n i o
But even in the midst of so much work.;written by Johannes Buchholtz and "Confessions of a Young Man," Hune-
pother, we must not overlook the translated from the Danish by W. W. ker's "Painted Veils," Wilde's "Dorian
latest contribution, "The Engineers A single example will have to suf- Worster, is as unusual and entertain; Gray," Cabell's "Beyond, Life," and
and the Price System," (Huebsch) by fice. Early in the book Mr. Veblen ing a book as one will run across in probably to many, others. The com-
Mr. Veblen, perhaps the arch discover- writes: "In the recent past corporate many a month. Egholm is an erratic, parisons are all justified and yet
er of them all. For, in the pres earnings have been large; these large fanatical old chap who is firmly con- "Peter Whiffle" differs from all of
book (as hisapublisher informs us) earnings (free inome) have been cap- vinced that God has endowed him with them. Ostensibly it is a pseudo-bio-
"with arrow-like swiftness of exposi- italized; their capitalized value has the power of a genius. graphy of an impulsive young esthete.
tion, Mr. Veblen goes to the heart of been added to the corporate capital
present-day industry." and covered with securities bearing a
Just what is.it that Mr. Veben finds fixed income-charge; this income-
to be wrong with this important or- charge, representing free income, has
gan? In the first place, that "in any thereby become a liability on the earn-
community that is organized on the ings of the corporation; this liability
price system, with investment and cannot be met in case the concern's
business enterprise, habitual unem- net aggregate earnings fall off in any
ploynent of the available industrial degree; therefore prices must be kept
plant and workmen, in whole or in up to such a figure as will bring the
part, appears to be the indispensable largest net aggregate return, and the
condition without which tolerable con- only means of keeping up prices is
ditions of life cannot be maintained." conscientious withdrawal of efficiency
Consequently the chief function of the in these staple industries on which
business man (in his modern incarna- the commesrity depends for a supply
tion of corporate financier) is not, as of the necessaries of life."
we hve been brought up to believe, But when "earnings are capitalized"
,the producing of commoditics, but the it is normally because they have been
restriction of their production; while reinvested in productive plant, while
the chief usefulness of the corporation the issue of securities against them
as a form of industrial organization is bearing a fixed income-charge (e. g.
to facilitate this restriction. Accord- bonds) would be very unusual to say
Ingly, the "captains of industry" are the least. Moreover the proposition
found to he, on the whole, a rather that the ordinary corporation, in an IF YOU HAVE BOBBED HAIR
useless and high-priced lot, who do industrial system in the main competi-
not understand the real technique of tive, can or does succeed in profitably =
the system,.of production they at- maintaining prices by restricting its
tempt to regulate (i. e. restrict), but output requires little comment. Such
devote their expensive time to the I a practice would require a unanimity
manipulation of the legal "make-be- of policy among all business concerns
lieve" of corporate securities. Mean- which cannot be realized. This naive -
while it is the technicians, the engin- explaiation of the disaster of business -
eers, who have come to "constitute the depression, which dlies at the root of
general staff of industry, whose work the whole argument, is both faulty and
is to control the strategy of production misleading.
at large and to keep an oversight of As a stimulating and effective cor-
the tactics of production in detail." sive of the undue complacency of those
Why should these engineers, Mr. who can see no flaws and no
Veblen asks in conclusion, not take weakness in the current system of pro-
over the whole management of the duction and distribution, Mr. Veblens _ t
system, whose details they now adin- book may be warmly recommended.
ister,-as a "Soviet of Technicians"- As a dispassionate scientific explan-
after eliminating the "absentee own- ption of the workings of the "price
ership" of the investing classes by a system," unfortunately, so much can
simple "cancelment of all corporation scarcely be said for it. You Need an Electric Curler!
securities" and other legal evidences
of ownership? Mr. Veblen answers According to A. H. Orage, i his
this last question himself, however, book "Readers and Writers," (Knopf),
with the ironic reassurance that noth- the so-called "Irish Literary Renais-
ing of the sort is going to occur, "just sance" exists onlyy In the imaginationEE R
yet."of Mr. Ernest Boyd. "As the reader
Suhwolesett:e h da-SEE OU R DISPLAY
h sd turns the pages of Mr. Boyd's faithful
noSh and the cure, as well at any record," he says, "he cannot but be
rate as they can be compressed into aware of a gradual obscuration. One
a paragraph. The argument is selab- by one the lamps lit by Martyn, Moore,
orated with the keen flashes of ob- and others, in the earlier pages, go out.
servation and the plausible analysis The vision dies down to a twilight and
to be expected in Mr. Veblen's writ- finally to black night."
ings,. and presented in a style whose A book which fits into no conven- THE DETROIT EDISON CO.
clarity and simplicity are rather tional literary category is Maurice =
greater than would have been ex- Rostand's first published book, "The COR. MAIN AND WILLIAM STs.
pected. Crystal Coffin," which McBride's will
But in books of this character it is issue in May. The author, who is the PHONE 2300
not style or readability that must son of Edmond Rostand, has long
count in the long run, but content. At been regarded as a your g man of bril-
bottom "The Engineers and the Price liant promise. :I1I1111 11111