Thorstein Veblen Review author of: 'Associations industrielles et commerciales: Fédérations - Ententes partielles - Syndicats - Carttels - Comptoirs - Affiliations - Trusts'. By JULES GERNAERT and Vte DE HERBAIS DE THUN. Bruxelles, 1901. 8vo, pp. vi + 99. The Journal of Political Economy, vol. 11, No. 1 (Dec., 1902), pp. 130-131. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The volume gives in concise and systematic form a conspectus of the various kinds of business coalitions in vogue, with a special view to the Belgian and French situation and practice. It deals with the manner of formation and control of such coalitions, the scope of competence of each, and the conditions which decide what particular form and measure of coalition best serves the purpose in a given case or a given line of business The several forms or types of coalition are taken up in the order named in the subtitle, which is also the sequence of progressive closeness of combination observable in the several kinds of coalition. The distinctive forms or types of coalition are carefully defined and described, in the most succinct manner, this work of definition and "application" occupying the first sixty-one pages, and the remainder of the volume is occupied with illustrative examples designed to enforce the authors' views of the limits of competence and availability for each type, but more especially of the last four named in the list. There is nothing more of historical or descriptive matter than what is immediately useful for illustrating the authors' definitions and supporting their theoretical conclusions. As regards these conclusions, they are cast in the form of general formulas. The federation is an initial move in coalition, likely to lead to closer combination, and largely useful for this purpose. Of the definitive forms of coalition the affiliation and the trust are the most practical, the former having the advantage of flexibility, the latter of ready and effectual central control. The general attitude of the authors toward business coalition may be summed up in their own words as "cette vérité absolue que nous ne cessons pas de proclamer et que nous finirons par faire admettre: La nécessité des ASSOCIATIONS INDUSTRIELLES ET COMMERCIALES reconnes, approuvées et patronnées par les pouvoirs publics, dans l' intéret général." But "in order that any [131] coalition be effective it is indispensable: (1) that it be of duly legal form, and (2) that it be concluded for a long term" (p. 98) for American, and probably also for many European purposes, proposition (1) might perhaps better read: "Any effective coalition will turn out to be legal;" and possibly (2) might also be revised to read: "An efficient coalition will last as long as it proves itself a business success". There is, elsewhere as well as in these formal concluding propositions, a certain naive apprehension of the phenomena treated, which, no doubt, adds materially to the sure touch and lucid manner of presentation that characterize the volume. This degree of naiveté is perhaps due to the fact that the authors have seen their subject-matter front the somewhat old- fashioned business situation that prevails in Europe, as contrasted with what confronts a student of similar phenomena in America. A close contact with the maturer business situation of America might have altered the point of view and given a wider and more enduring serviceability to the discussion, at the same time that it would probably have increased the difficulty of the undertaking, and have resulted in a less succinct and definitive formulation. V.