REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 213 



hands. How will this affect the course of events? It is an undoubted 

 fact that the commercial, the farming and the industrial classes are 

 wresting slowly some of the power. In time possibly the House of 

 Commons will more and more tend to imitate the British Institution. 



Another suggestive question confronts the students of history. In 

 feudal times the shogunate bore the brunt of popular movements ; 

 and when the samurai began the agitation that ended in the great 

 cleaveage of 1867 the shogunate's power was broken. The Emperor 

 was the only one to fill the gap produced by their downfall. It 

 is a principle in British Constitution that the monarchy should not 

 interfere in affairs and therefore be free from popular administration. 

 The responsibility of ministers is the cushion and buffer between 

 the throne and the nation. It works well in England. But in Japan 

 as long as the emperor was in seclusion the shogunate carried the 

 brunt of politics but now the emperor himself is placed in the fore- 

 front. Whether it will render his position more insecure as democracy 

 advances is a matter of doubt. 



The space at our disposal forbids further treatment of this 

 excellent work which. -gives a lucid account of the political conflicts 

 of 1867-1920. It is a most useful volume. 



Volume XC of the same series deals with India's Demand for Trans- 

 portation. Demand is to be understood in the sense of need. The 

 chapters deal with : The Economics of Transportation : Historical 

 Sketch of the Means of Transportation : Some Effects of Past 

 Development upon the Economic Life of the People : India's Need : 

 Methods of Meeting the Need. 



To sum up the conclusions we find that India's economic weakness 

 lies in the. inadequacy of productive enterprise ; progress cannot be 

 made without facilities of transport ; in particular the needs of the 

 villages must be met. Therefore it is urgent that a special department 

 should be established to deal with the whole question. Motor 

 transport should simplify the whole problem. 



This is a carefully prepared case, and if the University could 

 prepare a similar book on the needs of China it would be good. In 

 the meantime students of Chinese economics would do well to study 

 this work and apply it to the case of the country. The difficulties 

 of India are like those of China, particularly in the exploitation of 

 Native Capital. The author says, "The factories that have been 

 started by Indians with Indian Capital and under Indian Management 

 have usually failed. Some of them have been reorganized and have 

 failed a second time." True there are some conspicuous exceptions. 



M. 



