1 10 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
is not only futile, but positively injurious in causing congestion in the market for the saved goods and consequent unemployment, except in the case of the saved goods being wholly useless, in which case they are practically only a mode of consumption. " If, then, the amount of useful employment depends upon and is limited by the require- ments of the community for consumption, for the community permanently to reduce its consumption in order to permanently increase its power of production is a process of self-stultification certainly useless and probably harmful. The use of saving is to increase production ; the object of increasing production is to supply an increased consumption." In a country where production tends to outstrip consumption, and where there is a danger that oversaving may cause unemployment, the wasteful con- sumption of the rich may really benefit the poor — not because it is wasteful, but because it is consumption. Wasteful consumption is, however, not the rich man's only alternative to useless saving. Surplus wealth could be largely drawn upon for public purposes without much danger of checking production by trenching on the capital needed for the assistance of labor, by expenditure in improving the dwellings of the poor, in the provision of public baths and libraries, in the maintenance of an efficient system of public education, and in the erection of public buildings. — F. C. Channing, Economic Review, April, 1898.
A Summary of the Treaties, Laws, and Ordinances of the Year 1897. — A
few of the acts cited are as follows ; Of treaties by Germany with other nations : A treaty with Italy for the establishment of accredited bills of exchange in their mutual commerce. With Russia, freeing the citizens of each nation from the obligation of paying taxes or serving in the national defense in the land of the other nation. With France, recognizing French authority in Tunis, and receiving the same com- mercial and other rights in Tunis as at present in France proper under existing treaties. With Holland, an extradition treaty concerning offenders of the respective nations, in the country and colonies of the other. With Japan, a commercial and juridical treaty, giving each in the matter of tariffs the " right of the most favored nation." Citizens of each nation have full right to travel and settle in any part of the territory of the other, with full protection of life and property assured. In Japan, however, foreigners must obtain consular passes good for a year, in order to travel or reside outside of incorporated municipalities. The extra-territorial jurisdiction of consuls over citizens of their nationality in Japan is abolished. Foreigners are now under the jurisdiction of the local Japanese courts.
Between Prussia and Hesse an agreement was reached uniting the state railroads of Prussia and Hesse in operation and finances. — "Uebersicht iiber die Vertrage, Gesetze u. Verordnungen des Jahres 1897," Zeitschrift fiir die gesammte Staatswissenschaft.
Conclusions from a Study of Profit-Sharing. — (i) The name must be reserved for those contracts by which the workman receives, above his salary, a share in the profits of the enterprise. This definition excludes mere gratuities, also agree- ments by which the workman receives a supplement to his salary other than a share of the profits, such as a premium for sales, assiduity, long service, etc. It excludes cases in which this share is not an addition to the salary, but is the sole pay, as in farming on shares. (2) Profit-sharing is an agreement. Without this agreement the workman has no right, no claim to such a share of the profits. He has no right, because by his salary he has had in advance his share. If he has preferred security of the present to uncertainty of the future, how can he claim a share in profits ? He has had his share, a share fixed in advance and often consumed before the profits exist. Besides, in most cases, it is not the workmen who make the profits, any more than it is an editor's cook who makes his articles. They merely contribute to bring them about. (3) Profit-sharing is really a favor granted by the employer, and not always advisable. For instance, to use extraordinary profits to secure wholesome dwellings and permanent institutions for the workingman's benefit is often wiser and kinder. Profit-sharing can give good results only when the profits to be distributed are considerable, and when the workmen are intelligent enough to comprehend it. (4) It can thrive only in an atmosphere of libertv. If a workman prefers a salary pure and simple, the state has no right to impose on him a different form of pay. Besides, if imposed on employers, unless the laws at the same time fix an obligatory tariff of
