it was in 1870. Another interesting and suggestive fact brought out was that in all three townships there was a definitely larger proportion of males than females in the population. This excess of males was particularly striking in the statistics of minors in one township, which showed 168 males to 118 females. Quite as interesting was the predominance of males among the residents over forty-five years of age. This was characteristic of each township, the total being 247 males for 189 females. These statistics are still more interesting when considered in connection with the statistics of some of our larger cities, which show just the opposite condition, namely, an excess of females over males between the ages of sixteen to twenty-one.

It has become proverbial with us that the young man goes out into the world to seek his fortune, leaving his sister behind. In the twentieth century, perhaps it is the young man who stays at home, while the girl leaves in search of adventure and opportunity. The rural church is now a center of interest with students of rural life. In the three townships, with an aggregate population of 2,078 in 1914, eighteen sects are represented. Of this population 44 per cent in C. Township, 39 per cent in L., and 22 per cent in M. were church members. The townships having the largest number of church organizations had the fewest church members. The causes for this, as the survey points out, are not simple or easy to find. They are the most decisive evidences, perhaps, of the decline in the rural regions of the communal sentiment.

The second edition of the Chicago Social Service Directory, prepared by Valeria D. McDermott, Annie E. Trotter, and Commissioner Louise Osborne Rowe, is a decided improvement upon the first in several points, notably in the more careful classification of agencies, the more complete and detailed directory, and the general appearance. In many respects this little volume is a model of its kind and will be interesting as such to students and welfare workers outside the city of Chicago.

ROBERT E. PARK

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

American City Progress and the Law. By HoWARD LEE MCBAIN. New York: Columbia University Press, 1918. Pp. 268. $1.50.

A most valuable contribution to the literature on the affairs of cities has been made by Professor McBain in this book. The work consists primarily of an examination of the existing legal principles and the

extent to which they facilitate or obstruct the application of any policy involving a change in the handling of municipal problems.

In an effective manner the direction which municipal legislation may take most successfully with least opposition by the courts, as well as the types of laws and policies which would most probably be unsuccessful, are indicated. This however is not the chief purpose of the study.

The book is divided into nine chapters of which the first two deal with the powers of constitutional and statutory origin and of the interpretation of those powers by the courts. The remaining chapters of the book deal with the power of cities to control nuisances, city planning— including building regulations and excess condemnation-public utilities, living costs, recreation, and commerce and industry.

There is no attempt made to present the different points of view regarding the various topics dealt with. The purpose is rather to present the law as it stands, and in this the author has made an important contribution to the study of municipal affairs. The book includes a valuable table of cases bearing on the subject and is adequately indexed. It should prove of great value to city officials, to the layman who is interested in making his city a better place in which to live, as well as to the student of municipal problems.

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

MANUEL C. ELMER

Disasters and the American Red Cross in Disaster Relief.

By

J. BYRON DEACON. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1918. Pp. 230. $0.75.

This little book is the first of several which the Russell Sage Foundation has in preparation under the general title of "Social Work Series." It is directed to two groups-the professional social workers who are likely to be called upon for service at a time of disaster and the laymen who, as citizens, are interested in the "social" handling of community problems. To the former, what Mr. Deacon offers is a handbook-a suggestive compilation of fact and principle. To the latter, the whole disaster relief problem is opened up in a very readable way. Each chapter, such as that on "Disasters at Sea," "Coal-Mine Disasters," "Floods, Fires, Tornadoes," is made complete in itself-with a presentation of the problem, an outline of the methods used in dealing with it, well-chosen "case stories" as illustrative matter, and a summary of the principle applied or evolved. Though the reiteration of these principles may seem unduly insistent to the professional workers, it serves

to fix them in the mind of the layman and suggests rather adroitly the wisdom of calling upon the Red Cross with its wealth of experience, trained workers, and ability to offer expert advice, rather than attempting to meet a great emergency with local organizations, alone, however willing and devoted they may be.

NEW YORK CITY

ETHEL BIRD

Over There and Back. By LIEUT. J. S. SMITH, U.S.A. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1918. Pp. 244. $1.50. This book will be of interest to the sociologist who is collecting materials upon the study of the war from the standpoint of mental attitudes. The crude actuality but real insight of the narration may best perhaps be indicated by the following two excerpts on the human nature of killing in war:

I kept wondering how it would feel to stick a Boche. It wasn't exactly like killing another man, but I wondered if I could do it, and tried to imagine it. I couldn't, so I stopped thinking about it. One fellow expressed the feelings of us all.

"I'm glad it's going to be dark, fellows. I hate those devils, but they look like human beings, even if they ain't," he said.

With that we passed the whole thing out of our minds and sang "Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you," to relieve our feelings. And we went blithely on our way.

Don't ask me what I thought as we jumped in. I don't know. The whole thing was a blaze of color, a crash of shells and German S.O.S. signals in the air, as I made for the trench mortar. My mind centered on that one thing in front of me, somewhere in that trench. I merely felt the presence of those two trench walls. Dimly, vaguely, I knew I was in the German lines, and believe me or not, a great feeling of joy surged over me. Mad excitement possessed me and all around the roar and crash of artillery added to it when, Heavens! There was a German, right at the corner of a traverse. He was helmetless and without a rifle, but worse yet he was carrying one of their stick bombs.

It flashed into my mind, "You or he. Not you!" and I jumped for him. Before he could spring the string on that bomb we went to the bottom of that trench together. It was rotten, but the instinct of self-preservation is always uppermost in the human mind.

Before I could get up, the other fellows rushed over me, headed for the trench mortar, and then I ran after them.

Don't think I forgot that German. I never have, and I never will. A memory is one of the curses on those who indulge in war.

The Introduction to the book is an illuminating analysis of the motives which induced an American cowboy on a ranch in the interior of British Columbia to enlist in the Canadian army at the outbreak of the Great War.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

E. W. BURGESS

The Real Front. By ARTHUR HUNT CHUTE. New York: Harper & Bros., 1918. Pp. 309. $1.50.

This book is by an American who served in the first Canadian contingent, and who, according to his publishers "was not only an actual combatant but had already been trained as a war correspondent in the Balkan and Mexican campaigns." In the volume are a number of passages which throw light on "the hidden things within the hearts of the men who were his comrades." The book is also characterized by a not unsuccessful attempt to achieve dramatic and ethical effects. The chapter entitled "Serving Our Soldiers" should have a value to those engaged in recreation programs for soldiers and sailors at the front or within and without training camps.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

E. W. BURGESS

Socialism and Feminism, with an Introduction on the Climax of Civilization. By CORREA MOYLAN WALSH. New York: Sturgis & Walton, 1917. 3 vols. $4.50.

In the preparation of these three volumes, entitled respectively, I, "The Climax of Civilization"; II, "Socialism"; and III, "Feminism," the author has evidently made a wide survey of the literature of social science, ancient and modern, the results of which are presented in an interesting and popular way. The scientific value of the volumes, however, is vitiated by the author's initial assumption of the cyclical theory of history, and by his limited faith in the perfectibility of human institutions. Not only does he think that the present epoch has reached its maturity and is about to enter its decline, but we "have nearly reached the highest point of material civilization of which our society, on the earth it inhabits, is capable." The best that we can hope to accomplish is to retard this decline.

Tales of Wartime France. Translated by WILLIAM L. MCPHERSON. Dodd, Mead & Co., 1918. Pp. xviii+200. $1.50.

A well-selected collection of French war stories by short-story writers of the day.

The Escape of a Princess Pat. By GEORGE PEARSON. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1917. Pp. 228. $1.40.

An authentic account in autobiographical form of the experiences of Corporal Edwards, who was for eighteen months a prisoner of war in Germany. "The more personal details are based on the recollections of Corporal Edwards' retentive mind, aided by his very unusual powers of observation and the rough diary which he managed to retain possession of during his later adventures." Blown In by the Draft. By FRAZIER HUNT. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1918. Pp. 372. $1.25.

Interesting stories of camp life; not sociologically significant.

A Prophecy of the War (1913-1914). By LEWIS EINSTEIN. New York: Columbia University Press, 1918. Pp. 94.

A republication in book form of two essays published first in January, 1913, and November, 1914, which predicted the Great War and forecast the entry of the United States on the side of the Allies.

The Confessions of a Thug. By COLONEL MEADOWS TAYLOR. London: Oxford University Press. First published in "World's Classics," 1916.

IS.

This is a novel based on the life of Ameer Ali with whom the author was intimately acquainted. "The thugs were an hereditary guild of murderers, who, acting under the supposed patronage of the goddess Kalee, strangled and robbed their victims in every part of India." The book was first published in 1839.

Tuberculosis: Its Cause, Cure, and Prevention. By EDWARD O. OTIS,

M.D. Rev. ed. New York: Crowell, 1918. Pp. 328. $1.50.. The value of this little book, which first appeared in 1909 under the title The Great White Plague, for popular propaganda and education will not be questioned. The appearance of the third edition however, gives rise to the question of the difference between a reprint and a revision. The revised edition of 1914 contained only negligible verbal changes and the addition of an appendix of five pages. The third edition makes no changes aside from the introduction of three new paragraphs on pages 288-89, 306.

Helping the Helpless in Lower New York. By LUCY S. BAINBRIDGE. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1917. Pp. 172. $1.00.

The author was formerly superintendent of the woman's branch of the New York City Mission society. The atmosphere of the stories of her experiences is sufficiently indicated in the following excerpt from Rev. A. F. Schauffler, D.D.: "Mere 'social uplift' does not change man's character, and in this world of temptation and sin our aim should be predominately that change of character which, if it really takes place, governs the whole life for all time."