Book reviews;

              22 HASKINS & SELLS March
Reed, Harold L . Principles of Corpora­tion
Finance. (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin
Company, 1925. 412 p.)
A somewhat critical examination of this
volume causes the reviewer to conclude
that it is a book which should interest the
general reader on financial and accounting
subjects as well as provide knowledge for
aspiring students. The observations to be
made concerning the book are, in the main,
commendatory in character. Its worst
fault lies in the fact that it is spotted occa­sionally
with "high-brow" language which
tends to annoy the general reader, particu­larly
if he has not had the advantages of
association with modern economists, who
have a phraseology of their own. The
average reader is likely to work fairly hard
before he gets much sense out of such titles
as "Criteria of successful forethought."
Having said the worst, the fact remains
that the author has produced a volume in
which the subject is logically developed,
the ideas are good, and the exposition
generally is clear. The plan follows the
economic life of a typical business enter­prise,
tracing through the stages of organ­ization,
operation, expansion, failure, and
reorganization. This, obviously, is the
same old story, but it is told by the author
with a good deal of crispness and with
particular consideration of current condi­tions
in their relation to enterprise. Reiter­ating
what the reviewer has repeatedly
said on the subject of books dealing with
corporation finance, this book would serve
admirably the purpose of any one con­cerned
with laying a firm foundation for an
understanding of accounting. Further, it
contains an excellent chapter on the inter­pretation
of an income statement, not­withstanding
the fact that the discussion
deals with the income statements of rail­roads.
A parting word of praise which may be
said in behalf of the book is that it is con­cise
as well as comprehensive. Concise­ness
is an important consideration to the
general reader.
Hodge, Albert C. Retail Accounting and
Book Reviews