Of the myriad end products of the steel industry, none played a more strategic role in the evolution of the modern, vertically integrated enterprise than barbed wire. A unique solution to America's unique agricultural problem, the product attracted numerous manufacturers in the 1870s and 1880s. Profit margins, despite efforts to limit production and fix prices by means of pools, declined steadily, and firms that were not integrated backward into the production of rods (from which wire is drawn) had difficulty competing. Excess capacity and depressed prices convinced industry leaders like John W. Gates, Isaac L. Ellwood, and Charles F. Washburn that what was needed was a modern, fully integrated corporate holding company embracing every barbed wire manufacturer of consequence. The result was the formation of American Steel & Wire Co. in 1899 which, two years later, became an important component of the U.S. Steel Corporation.

Introduction of the multidivisional enterprise, which has generally replaced the functional or departmental form of organization in the twentieth century, required management accounting techniques that provided both divisional and top management with data with which to evaluate individual managers' performance, company-wide performance, and future company policy. Professor Johnson discusses the development of these controls at General Motors, the results obtained with them in practice, and their alleged shortcomings, especially in respect to division managers' attitudes towards constructive decisions that might tend to limit in the short run the rate of return on the investment entrusted to them. He concludes with some observations on the influence that organization has had on corporate goals.

The American city, following a half-century of rapid and choatic growth, was the subject of much attention after 1900. Efforts to reform its political structure and to improve and expand its service facilities demanded improvements in municipal accounting procedures as well. Professor Potts discusses the relative merits of commercial accounting, as applied to cities, and of new philosophies of accounting advanced in the light of the city's unique place in society. He explains how cities have oscillated between the two approaches, and concludes that the problem may be more adaptable to accounting philosophies designed for profit-making enterprises than has been generally supposed.

As the careers of men like J. P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie illustrate so well, one of the most important elements of entrepreneurship is the ability to select talented lieutenants. This aspect of John D. Rockefeller's career is less well known, particularly in respect to his private investments. Dr. Fell takes one of Rockefeller's minor projects and demonstrates that the sagacity and perseverance of a lieutenant, Frederick T. Gates, meant the difference between a near-total loss and a remarkably profitable investment.