Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 13, No. 1. (Dec., 1904), pp. 115-117.
Book Review by: A[gnes]. M. Wergeland.
The Theory of Business Enterprise. By THORSTEIN VEBLEN. New 
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904. 8vo, pp. vii + 400.
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[115] Like its precursor, The Theory of the Leisure Class, Dr. Veblen's new 
volume is a peculiarly "cool" book of remorseless thinking, on a 
difficult and intricate subject much trifled with of late. People will 
perhaps be repelled by this lack of sympathy with and propaganda for 
anything but the naked and often unlovely truth. The work deals rather 
with the methods of modern financiering and the quest of profit than 
with other less prominent commercial data.
If we have to choose between the ten chapters of which the volume 
consists, we should particularly recommend the last five as appealing 
more generally to the unbiased reader, who will upon reflection 
doubtless subscibe to most of the statements made. The first five 
seem rather to lead up to the others, and to be an attempt at more 
technical and erudite writing. Much is new of what the author says 
about crises, and probably also what he offers about the unforeseen 
influence of suggestion and personal hypnotism upon the mood of the 
buying and selling. The "Theory of Modern Welfare" seems far more 
the theory of modern warfare, alias piracy, and even Dr. Veblen's 
clever presentation cannot redeem it from being a dismal [116] 
science. What he says (p. 212) about the significance for the business 
world at large of the advance in workingmen's wages must strike 
dismay into the heart of every Republican who has read with glee the 
Republican campaign textbook and noted the high wages paid in 1903 
as compared with 1896. On the other hand, the theory of wasteful 
expenditure (pp. 255 ff.), as compared with the statements on p. 296, 
n. 1, will carry relief to all those who question the wisdom of keeping 
the Philippines and the other booty from the Spanish-American War. 
The author's speculations upon the coalition problem fairly downs 
one's hopes in regard to a chance for the small producer, since he is 
evidently a promoter and an intensifier of "cut-throat" competition. It 
may be pertinent to ask what shall become of the individual consumer 
when prices are regulated by a monopoly, which, as experience 
shows, does not tend to lower prices, even if it does help to cheapen 
production. But this problem is evidently outside the plan of the book. 
The excellent remarks (pp. 319, 320) about business thinking, and the 
equally keen observation about the absence of thrift among the 
modern industrial workmen and its causes (pp. 325-27) are among the 
most timely in the book. In the discussion of the policy of the trade 
unions most people will perhaps not side with the demands of trade 
unionism, although this does away with competition; and it is not clear 
even from the author's reasoning why the formation of trusts with 
monopoly on production should be permissible in the light of natural 
rights, while the trades-union schedule with its monopoly on work 
should not be permissible (p. 331). The points of interest are many, 
and it is to be regretted that we cannot here call attention to all of 
them.
Our objection to this work, and others of its kind, is still the old one: 
the constant use of terms which to the lay mind seem unnecessarily 
studied and anachronistic. One is forcibly reminded of the condition of 
the French language during the sixteenth-century mania for 
importation of Greek and Latin words in their natural state. The 
English language in its efforts to specialize appears steadily to 
become more verknöchert, as the Germans call it, and causes the 
ordinary (not always the unenlightened) reader to recoil from its 
oddities. May heaven preserve us from many more new words that 
make the brain reel in a vain attempt to explain them by commonplace 
English! It should be stated, however, that the Theory of Business 
Enterprise is vastly less burdened with these adornments than was 
the Theory of the Leisure Class, but there is also no doubt [117] that 
many readers will lament their absence as withdrawing a peculiar 
technical flavor from the text.
In many respects this volume must be counted a work of larger scope 
than was its predecessor, but it is fair to say its subject is neither so 
entertaining nor its persiflage so spirited and witty - a persiflage, we 
hasten to say, of singularly abstract and fairly remote character, or, as 
the author himself would say, without disrespect to anyone (or 
anything). The reader will confess, however, that there is evidence 
that the author is conversant with the main phases of the comédie 
humaine.
To read the book, we think, is to object to some things, but agree to 
many more, and above all to compliment the author upon his courage 
and his penetration. The result will be a more thorough probing of the 
questions discussed. The excellent qualities of scholarly reasoning 
and scientific demonstration which characterize this book, besides the 
author's wide acquaintance with the existing economic literature, will 
become more conspicuous upon closer investigation of its pages.
A.M. WERGELAND.