Banking in the Early Stages of Industrialization

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 307 all too likely to be perpetuated by quotation in future publications where a casual author may not do any primary research of his own. The sources relied on are listed at the conclusion of the text. There is a nine-page index, which, in addition to usual features of an index, indicates by heavy type those pages on which there are text illustra­ tions and also notes wherever the subject appears on a plate. There is, however, a separate seven-page list of the plates at the front of the text. The author has written several other books in the engineering field. In the course of acquiring a formal engineering education, Steeds served a five-year apprenticeship with the Carriage Department of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. Before retiring in 1963, he was professor of me­ chanical engineering at the Royal Military College of Science at Strivenham . With this background he is better equipped than many to under­ stand such a relatively specialized topic as machine tools. The book has great overall depth and contains a mine of reference material, particu­ larly in its plates, but it does not rise above the limited number of sources on which it is based. It forms, however, a valuable addition to the meager list of titles available in this field and in a well-selected cross section of presently available sources. Edwin A. Battison* Banking in the Early Stages of Industrialization: A Study in Compara­ tive Economic History. By Rondo Cameron, with the collaboration of Olga Crisp, Hugh T. Patrick, and Richard Tilly. New York: Ox­ ford University Press, 1967. Pp. xv+349. $6.50. What was the nature and what was the role of banking in the early development of industrialization? These were the questions to which the authors of this book addressed themselves. They sought their an­ swers by considering the cases of England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Germany, Russia, and Japan. They regret the omission, and their read­ ers will too, of the United States, the Scandinavian countries, AustroHungary , Italy, and Spain. Their procedure was to write from existing studies short histories of banking in the countries under scrutiny and then to compare their find­ ings. They found a high correlation of monetary density, that is, money in circulation, especially bank notes, per capita and banking density, that is, the number of bank offices per capita. Then they discovered a high correlation of these densities with industrialization; the authors beg the question of which came first, although they were necessary concomitants. The actual innovative role of banks varied considerably from case to case. In Belgium and in Germany it was very large, for there banks actually founded and directed companies. In England banks played sup- • Mr. Battison is associate curator of the Division of Mechanical and Civil En­ gineering of the Smithsonian Institution. 308 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE porting roles; in France their part was minor. In places with no indus­ trialization, banks failed to mobilize savings for investment in industrial plants. The authors also discovered that banks made innovations to meet various local needs and conditions. They also flourished most where private initiative and competition had free play. Restrictive legislation could be disastrous. Shepard B. Clough* South Kensington to Robbins. By Michael Argles. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1964. Pp. xiii+178. 21s. The Development of Technical Education in France, 1500-1850. By Frederick B. Artz. Cambridge, Mass.: SHOT and M.I.T. Press, 1966. Pp. x+274. $7.95; price to members of SHOT, $6.00. There is a curious tendency for books on the history of technical education to be dull. Even though the subject is one that is deeply in­ volved in the exciting processes of social transformation which have characterized the emergence of modern industrial societies, scholars who have approached the subject have failed to reproduce its fascina­ tion. Whatever the reasons for this failure, it is exemplified in the two works under review. Both are disappointing, despite the considerable erudition displayed in them. The two authors write about different societies in different periods of time, but both of them have produced dull and prosaic histories. Artz investigates the development of technical

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