Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/574

 56o THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Social Engineering. A Record of Things Done by American Industrialists Employing Upward of One and One-Half Million People. By William H. Tolman, Ph.D., Social Engineer. With an introduction by Andrew Carnegie. New York: McGraw Publishing Co., 1909. Pp. viii+384. $2.00 net.

It is a comment upon the unsettled terminology of the applied social sciences that this work on industrial betterment should be en- titled "Social Engineering ;" and that Dr. Tolman, its author, should sign himself "Social Engineer." Had someone else written the book it might have been entitled "Social Economics" and the author have described himself as a "Social Economist." Words, however, matter little except from the standpoint of abstract science. The facts which the work deals with are what is of vital importance.

The work is a most interesting and encouraging one. As its subtitle announces, it is a record of things done by leaders in American industry who employ upwards of a million and a half of people. Our industrialism is frequently called anything but compli- mentary names. This book shows the other side of the picture. It shows what many employers scattered all over the territory of the United States are doing to improve the hygienic, economic, and social conditions under which their employees labor. One who has studied only the darker aspects of modern industrialism could scarcely believe that so much has already been accomplished. The book is valuable, therefore, as a record of work actually done to- ward transforming our industrial system from an inhuman machine into something like a humane organization. The things which have already been accomplished by employers and employees working in co-operation make one believe that the present system is capable of even higher things.

Moreover, as Dr. Tolman points out, all of this improvement in industrial conditions has its basis, not so much in philanthropy, as in what he terms "mutuality," that is, the benefiting of both em- ployer and employee. The astounding results which have been secured in many cases through the betterment of the conditions of the employees in their increased efficiency and the increased output of their labor show conclusively that industrial betterment work, when carried on rightly, pays even financially. Of course, as Dr. Tolman insists, the financial end ought not to be the principal one