more interested in real people and their life-problems, than in academic abstractions. Comte's propositions affected them as more of the head than of the heart. Especially his summum bonum, a "religion of humanity," did not seem to them to ring true. It looked to them more like a synthetic diamond than like a spark of life.

A third clue is less obvious but perhaps more searching, viz: To the serious French positivist the term positivism was the algebraic sign for the same candid attitude toward reality for which others have used the symbol "objectivity." To every one in England, Germany, and America with a reserve of religious or ethical tradition, however, positivism meant at first simply the blatant atheism of the Robespierre cult of "reason," with slightly bettered manners. To this day the scientific substance of positivism has been heavily discounted because of this association of ideas. If Comte had carried none of this handicap he might have been more convincing.

So far as it is visible today, the precise truth is, first, that Comte anticipated by more than a half-century an effective demand for a sociology; second, that when the demand came it was actuated by impulses among which the Comtean tradition was not the most powerful.

NEWS AND NOTES

Notes of interest to the readers of the Journal should be in the hands of the editor of "News and Notes" not later than the tenth of the month preceding publication.

THE AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIETY

The sixteenth annual meeting of the American Sociological Society held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Chamber of Commerce Auditorium, December 27-30, was characterized by distinct departures from the programs of former sessions. President Edward Cary Hayes in his report to the members of the Society spoke of three innovations: (1) the organization of a program around the systematic report of research in special fields rather than around the preparation of papers upon a selected central subject, (2) the adoption of the committee system in the preparation of the program, and (3) the utilization of round tables for the presentation and discussion of practical problems. General approval of these new features was manifested by those in attendance.

Two outstanding centers of interest developed at the meeting. The first of these was concerned with points of view and methods of research in sociology, particularly with reference to the materials of history, anthropology, and psychology. President Hayes introduced at the first session this dominant aspect of the program in his presidential address "The Sociological Point of View." Later papers, notably "The Development of Historical Sociology" by Harry E. Barnes, "The Historical Method in the Analysis of Social Phenomena" by William E. Ogburn, "The Significance of Environment as a Social Factor" by L. L. Bernard, and "Ethnological Light on Psychological Problems" by Ellsworth Faris, brought out the significance for sociology of the latest research in these fields.

The interest in research was also manifest in the reports of the Committee on Social Research by John L. Gillin, giving a bird's-eye-view of the field of social investigations actual and prospective, and of the Committee on Social Abstracts by Robert E. Park proposing the funding of social intelligence through a central bureau for the accumulation of research materials of sociological value. This bureau would serve not only to co-ordinate and correlate existing studies, but as a clearing

house of information in regard to social investigation. Included in this proposal was a recommendation for the establishment of a "Sociological Index," an annual survey of sociological literature and research and a classified index of sociological publications embracing books, pamphlets, and periodicals.

The second center of interest was the question of the relation of sociology to the solution of practical problems and to the technique of the social worker. It became epitomized in the slogan "How to Get Mrs. Jones to the Clinic," as F. E. Lumley pointed out in a brilliant paper upon "Slogans as a Means of Social Control." The question what value, if any, sociology has for social work ran through three different meetings on three successive days although it reached its climax in a round table discussion of the subject where Thomas D. Eliot presented the replies to a questionaire sent out to 463 prominent social workers. Although it cannot be said that this question was finally settled at the meetings, the fact that it was raised and ardently discussed is significant.

The round table on "The Delinquent Girl" organized by Mrs. W. F. Dummer presented the points of view and the findings of highly important investigation. The papers read by Jessie Taft, Marion Kenworthy, Emma O. Lundberg, and Miriam Van Waters exhibited the present state of progress achieved in studies of this problem from the medical, psychiatric, psychological, and social points of view.

The Executive Committee, acting upon a statement by representatives of the groups on Rural Sociology and Social Research, voted to invite these groups to form sections within the American Sociological Society.

Professor James P. Lichtenberger, University of Pennsylvania, was elected president at the annual meeting of the Society. The other officers for 1922 are first vice-president, U. G. Weatherly, Indiana University; second vice-president, Charles A. Ellwood, University of Missouri; secretary-treasurer, Ernest W. Burgess, University of Chicago; members of the executive committee in addition to past presidents: A. B. Wolfe, University of Texas; Susan Kingsbury, Bryn Mawr College; Emory S. Bogardus, University of Southern California; John O'Grady, Catholic University; Lucile Eaves, Woman's Educational and Industrial Union; Charles J. Galpin, Federal Department of Agriculture; the last two are the newly elected members.

Among the social events of the meetings were the reception of the Society under the direction of the Committee on Fellowship of which

Professor L. P. Edwards was chairman, the smoker given to all the social science associations meeting in Pittsburgh by the University of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and the three subscription dinners for those interested in rural sociology, social research, and the training of social workers. Over one hundred guests were in attendance at the dinner of the Society on Thursday evening when the sociologists relaxed and the speeches were in lighter vein.

The attendance at all sessions was unusually large. The total registration, 267, was the highest in the history of the Society. Of this total number 122 were members of the Society. Of those registered 179 came from a distance. Members were present from points as remote as California, Texas, and North Dakota.

GROUP ON RURAL SOCIOLOGY

Tuesday afternoon, December 27, at Pittsburgh, the rural sociologists held a session on "The Rural Community and the Rural Neighborhood as Social Units." The discussion was based on rural studies in three states carried on in co-operation with C. J. Galpin, of the Federal Department of Agriculture, by C. C. Taylor, North Carolina Agricultural College, J. H. Kolb, University of Wisconsin, and Dwight Sanderson, Cornell University. A feature of this meeting was the exhibit of maps showing the plotting of rural neighborhoods and communities.

The round table of the American Sociological Society on "Community Problems" in charge of Dwight S. Sanderson stressed the subject of rural community organization. John M. Gillette, University of North Carolina, spoke on the subject "Points of Contact between Rural and Urban Communities" and William C. Hunt, Director of Rural Organization, Lake Division, American Red Cross, introduced the topic "What the Red Cross is Doing in Rural Organization."

GROUP ON SOCIAL RESEARCH

Two group meetings on social research were held in connection with the meeting of the American Sociological Society at Pittsburgh. At the first session the following reports were given: "Social Tests and Surveys of the Iowa Child Welfare Research Station" by Hornell Hart, Iowa State University; "Research Based on Case Records," Lucile Eaves, Women's Educational and Industrial Union; "Cleveland Foundation Survey of the Administration of Criminal Justice in Cleveland," Raymond Moley, of the Cleveland Foundation; "The Research Work of Tuskegee Institute," by Monroe N. Work, Tuskegee Institute. At the second meeting on "Methods of Social Investigation," the subject

"Social and Economic Conditions in Relation to Child Welfare" was presented by Robert M. Woodbury, Director, Statistical Research, Federal Children's Bureau, and the report on "Some Farm Population Studies" was given by C. J. Galpin, Economist in Charge, Rural Life Studies, United States Department of Agriculture.

TRAINING SCHOOL WORKERS

A lively interest was evinced by those present at the morning and afternoon sessions of the Association of Training Schools for Professional Social Work, held in Pittsburgh, December 30. A paper on "The Curriculum of the Training School" by Stuart Queen, Boston School of Social Work, brought out many different points of view. James E. Cutler gave a paper on "The Correlation of the Profession of Social Work and the University in the Control of Training Schools" based largely on his organization of the Graduate School of Social Science of Western Reserve University. Graham R. Taylor, the American Association of Social Workers, stressed the necessity of high standards of training as a basis of the organization of social workers to secure professional status.

EDUCATIONAL SOCIOLOGY

Under the title, "Education in Recent Sociology," Professor J. T. Williams, of Drury College, has completed a series of seven articles in Education on the significance for education of the sociological writings of Lester F. Ward, Charles H. Cooley, Arthur J. Todd, Charles A. Ellwood, Edward A. Ross, and Edward Cary Hayes.

THE CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST

"The Housing of Non-Family Women in Chicago" is the title of a report recently published by the Chicago Community Trust. The text of the report was prepared by Ann E. Trotter who was director of the survey of the special housing problems of non-family women under the auspices of this organization. This is the second survey made by the Chicago Community Trust, an earlier study of Americanization having been made by its secretary, Frank D. Loomis. The newly established Bureau of Surveys and Exhibits of which Mrs. Kenneth F. Rich is director is indicative of a policy to make investigation a permanent part of the activities of the Chicago Community Trust. Communications should be addressed to Frank D. Loomis, secretary, Chicago Community Trust, 10 S. La Salle Street, Chicago.