Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/1024

988 988 HARVARD LAW REVIEW chronological list of laws, in the United States Revised Statutes, in the Federal Statutes Annotated (Second Edition, 1916), and in the United States Com- piled Statutes (1916). A general index at the end adds to the value of the book. Some win be inclined to regret, however, the omission throughout the body of the book of lists of section headings following each title or chapter heading, — an omission doubtless due to the effort for extreme compactness. Francis Bowes Sayre. The Results of Municipal Lighting in Massachusetts. By Edmond Earle Lincohi, M.A., Ph.D. Being No. XXVII of the Hart, Schaffner, and Marx Prize Essays. Boston and New York: Houghton Miffin Company. 1918. pp. xx, 484. A municipal plant is not expected to earn a profit, therefore it does not; that appears to be the result of this thorough comparative study of Massachusetts municipal electric-lighting plants, and of the same nxunber of private plants comparable in size and general conditions and in extent of territory served. After a scholarly and impartial examination, the author concludes that both partisans and opponents of municipal commercial activities have been extrava- gant in their claims. Municipal plants are conservative; they do not reach out for new business, or seek to develop their own territory to the fullest extent. They are not very expertly managed; but they serve communities which might not be covered by private enterprise. They suffer waste by lack of enterprise, and by mistakes of management — seldom by actual dishonesty; but on the other hand they do not undertake to exploit their patrons for private gain. The work is decidedly interesting to lawyers, since it concerns a controversy about city government in settling which lawyers take an active part. Its only strictly legal chapter is an excellent one on the history of Massachusetts legis- lation on the subject. A full bibliography, a statistical appendix, and many tables and charts make this a work of scholarly value to anyone interested in the thorough and im- partial study of the problem. Legal and Political Status of Women in Iowa. By Ruth A. Gallaher. Iowa State Historical Society. Broken Homes. By Joanna C. Colcord. New York: Russell Sage Foun- dation. American Marriage Laws. By Fred S. Hall and Elisabeth W. Brooke. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.