Students of the origins and accomplishments of government regulation of economic activity have open suspected that the laws on which regulation is based were addressed to problems and conditions of the past that no longer prevailed, or — what is worse — assumptions about the “real world” that are highly unrealistic. This is Professor West's main conclusion about the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, especially as regards its discount rate and international exchange policies.

Ambrose Heal published in 1925 a book entitled London Tradesmen's Cards of the Eighteenth Century, and in the preface to this very fine volume he made the comment that “it is perhaps remarkable that no book has hitherto been published dealing with tradesmen's cards. … Not only has no book ever been published on the subject, but references in archaeological journals and collectors' magazines are of the scantiest nature and hard to track.” What Mr. Heal said six years ago is equally true today of American material, with one important exception. In 1927 a volume entitled Early American Trade Cards, from the collection of Bella C. Landauer, with critical notes by Adele Jenny, was published in New York. In this volume there are forty-four illustrations, taking us into the history of American trade cards from about 1730 to 1877. Recently Mrs. Bella C. Landauer made a generous gift to the George F. Baker Library of several hundred trade cards of the latter part of the nineteenth century. These cards supplemented two previous gifts, for there were some trade cards in the Trotter Collection, and Mr. Charles H. Taylor has given a number of such cards to the Business Historical Society.

Emmett Jay Scott was private secretary to Booker T. Washington and later became secretary treasurer of Howard University. He was involved in numerous business activities, ranging from the establishment of the National Negro Business League to the founding of an investment clearing-house, an insurance company, and an overseas trading firm. Scott also promoted the black township of Mound Bayou and backed African American entertainment enterprises. His business activities were largely unheralded, and the frustrations he encountered illustrate both the obstacles and the opportunities for black entrepreneurs in the first half of the twentieth century.

Following World War II, the American Civil Aeronautics Board was able to develop the highly uncertain air-cargo market at little risk to itself or to the Federal government. Professor Schary suggests this was because it delayed its regulatory action until after the pattern of competition in the industry had been naturally established.

Among the close associates of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici and his illustrious son, Lorenzo de' Medici, no one was more trusted by both father and son than Francesco Sassetti, their business partner and general manager. Yet Sassetti is virtually unknown to English readers. Like the Medici, he belonged to a noble Florentine family whose wealth originated in trade and was later re-invested in landed property in the city of Florence and the surrounding country.

Professor Scott illustrates how railroads came to undertake the furtherance of agricultural education as a part of their business activities and, in some instances, pioneered projects that subsequently became widely copied models in the field.

Merely by existing, the United States and the Western world as a whole bring to bear … a constant cultural pressure. But even though the idea of industrialization, expanded consumption, and political egalitarianism may pour forth equally for all … countries, what is absorbed varies widely from one to another. How and why and toward what ends each nation moves is conditioned by its own traditions and appreciations as well as by the historical course of its particular set of involvements with the industrially advanced nations.

In a sketch of the activities of a Genoese public notary of the late twelfth century, which appeared in this Bulletin some time ago, it was pointed out that his records included a considerable number of partnership contracts. Such contracts were almost always concluded for the purpose of trading overseas. As we know, the Genoese merchants of the twelfth century were chiefly engaged in the trade with North Africa, Romania (the Byzantine Empire), the Levant, and also Spain, southern France, Sicily, and Sardinia.

The difficult reconciliation of individualism with economic and social pressures toward cooperation is the focus of this study of French businessmen.

In the late 1840's, under the leadership of the Boston and Maine management, the seven steam railroads in Boston promoted the development of suburbs by lowering fares and providing frequent commuter trains. By 1855 the volume of commuter traffic was of sufficient magnitude and the fares so low as to depress the earning power of the seven roads. When the managements attempted to offset increases in wages and material costs with higher commuter fares, the commuters on one line dramatically and successfully staged a revolt. The policy of deliberately developing commuter service as a by-product not only stimulated the urban development of Greater Boston but also influenced the philosophy of railroad management itself.

This issue of Business History Review is devoted to financial crisis, business failure, and scandal. As readers of this journal know, white-collar fraud is not a new phenomenon. Public and private authorities have confronted the problem for a long time, looking for ways to deal with it that will not stifle economic growth.