THE RADCLIFFE CHAUTAUQUA SYSTEM DEPARTMENT OF Attention is being attracted to the work of the Radcliffe Chautauqua System in Applied Sociology. It is realized that the next few years will see the crisis of the Chautauqua Institution because all available territory will have been explored and the test of Chautauquas will be their ability to stay in a town, not for a few years until the novelty dissipates, but for an indefinite period. Such permanence only may be attained by developing more fundamental relations with the towns than most bureaus now maintain. Among its various services to meet this need the Radcliffe Chautauqua System has established a Department of Community Research which has the following purposes: I. To conduct a survey in its sixteen hundred towns. A Chautauqua necessitates co-operation of teachers, ministers, business men, club women, and every phase of human activity. Questionnaires and charts are used which secure valuable information from these various sources. The report for the past season covered several hundred towns, and it is expected the published report of next season will cover a thousand. An institution which so intimately reaches sixteen hundred towns could make a contribution of facts to the rural and small towns situation. 2. To give the material so collected to the Chautauqua representatives and lecturers, that they might have a more accurate knowledge of the field, and thus be more definite and practical in their messages to the people. This plan fits well with the Radcliffe idea to preclude the old "barnstorming" lectures, by having the lecturers meet in democratic conference and there choose timely subjects for the coming season. 3. To promote community consciousness, and give expert assistance to the Chautauqua towns. A series of exhibits, one of which is a score chart for grading towns, are effectively used during the chautauqua. These are sometimes the subject of discussion at a community council which is called by the chautauqua people some of whom are experts in community affairs. The system desires that in addition to its lectures being the inspiration of a happier community life, its departments may be of expert assistance in realizing the programs, playgrounds, etc., which come as the practical result of the inspiration. The towns are encouraged to write the Community Department for advice and assistance on their problems. The Community Department will be glad to send its reports and exhibit charts to any Departments of Sociology that are interested. Address communications to C. M. Eichelberger, The Ratcliffe Chautauqua System, 907 16th St., NW., Washington, D.C. COOK COUNTY JAIL SURVEY BY CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST Dean George W. Kirchwey, of New York, has been engaged by the Chicago Community Trust to direct a careful inquiry into the needs of a new Cook County Jail. The action of the Community Trust in undertaking a jail survey is in compliance with a unanimous resolution of the Board of County Commissioners. "The question of building a new jail and Criminal Court Building has been before the people of Cook County for many years," said Clifford W. Barnes, the chairman of the Community Trust, in announcing the plan for a survey. "The present jail," he said, "has long been regarded as unsafe and insanitary and it has been condemned by local officers and by visiting criminologists as a disgraceful school for crime rather than an instrument for justice. The proposal for a bond issue of several million dollars with which to erect a new building, however, has been presented to the voters four different times in the last seven years and has been defeated each time because the issue has not been made clear and no definite plan has been presented. It is hoped that the present survey, which has been urged by many civic organizations, will clear up the issue and lead to substantial improvements in our machinery for justice." Dean Kirchwey, was for many years professor of law and Dean of the Law School at Columbia University, having formerly served in the same capacity at the Albany Law School. He was Commissioner of Prison Reform, state of New York, in 1913 and 1914 and Warden of Sing Sing Prison, New York, 1915 and 1916. Dean Kirchwey will be assisted by Winthrop D. Lane, a specialist in surveys of the county jails, who attracted particular attention in this field by his survey of the county jail system in Kansas and by Mrs. Adena Miller Rich, the director, and other members of the staff, of the Community Trust Bureau of Survey and Exhibits. Frank D. Loomis, secretary of the Community Trust, states that work on the survey will begin in the very near future and that at least two months' time will be required to complete the study. A BIOGRAPHY OF LESTER F. WARD "Lester F. Ward: A Personal Sketch" is the subject of a biography of the great American sociologist by Emily Palmer Cape, the coeditor of Dr. Ward's last work, Glimpses of the Cosmos. The author writes the Journal: "It gives a side of his nature that seldom was shown to the world at large. It brings a new vision of the man who longed to help humanity onward to greater wisdom and finer happiness. It contains letters from men who knew him closely and admired him. All of his students and friends will be glad to welcome this book." Professor James Q. Dealey writes: "The book will be a delightful addition to one's knowledge of Dr. Ward's personality." The volume is now in press. Putman is the publisher. BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Considerable feeling recently has been aroused among Texas Baptists by charges that Baylor University, their institution of higher learning, and particularly Professor Dow, head of the department of Sociology, are teaching heresy and infidelity. These charges have been pressed by the pastor of a Baptist church in Fort Worth. They are based on statements alleged to appear in Professor Dow's book Introduction to the Principles of Sociology. The charges have been published in The Searchlight, a publication which claims to be the organ of the church referred to above. Analysis of the statements made by the clergyman in the publication mentioned indicates that their author either is ignorant of the true significance of the criticized passages in Professor Dow's book or is attempting to use the ignorance of his readers as an opportunity for attracting attention to himself as a self-asserted adherent to Baptist orthodoxy. He misquotes Professor Dow's text in such a way as seriously to misrepresent not only Professor Dow, but also sociology and sociologists in general. An illustration is found in one of the published statements which refers to the text in question as saying "that men came from apes." At a recent convention of the Baptists of the state, it was confidently expected by many that some action would be taken which would vindicate Professor Dow and his book. It apparently was considered best, however, to avoid open conflict in the convention; so a committee was appointed to investigate the situation. As a result of the widespread influence in religious circles which the false charges have exerted, and the failure of the convention to clear his position, Professor Dow has decided that the best interests of the denomination, and of Baylor University in particular, as well as the value of his future work as a sociologist, will best be fostered and protected by his resignation as a member of the university faculty. This action has brought forth expressions of deepest regret from faculty, president, trustees, and students of the institution, all of whom appear to hold their fellow-worker in high esteem. BOSTON UNIVERSITY Professor Ernest R. Groves is giving the two extension courses, one in Contemporary Sociology and the other in Social Behavior and Human Progress in the second semester. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Professor Albion W. Small has just been elected president of the Institut International de Sociologie. The same honor has been conferred upon two earlier ex-presidents of the American Sociological Society Professors Lester F. Ward and Franklin H. Giddings. GOUCHER COLLEGE Goucher College has been developing in the department of social science two branches: one, the training for social work under Dr. Mollie R. Carroll, the other the beginnings of a business course under Mr. Donald S. Gates, who is from the Harvard School of Business Administration. In the training for social work, several types of effort have been developed. On the academic side the course Methods and Resources in Social Work is required of all who are interested in doing field work. There are two sorts of field work, that involving college credit and that for which no credit is given. The latter type may be begun in the Sophomore year and includes settlement clubs and classes. The credit work cannot be started until the beginning of the Junior year, when it may be taken parallel with the course on Methods and Resources. The precredit field work allows the sorting the students somewhat on the basis of ability and interest so that an idea as to their stability and interest is already secured when they are sent for credit field work, to he family case-working agencies of Baltimore. The whole emphasis is on continuance of university work after the receiving of a Baccalaureate degree. It has been interesting to see how emphasis on the professional side of social work is stimulating the undergraduate to further study after the four years of college are completed. The more strongly vocational become the Junior and Senior years, seemingly the more importance the student attaches to advanced training. Hand in hand with this development has come the enlargement of the Appointments Bureau, formerly one of the functions of the busy dean, and now handled by Dr. Iva L. Peters, of our department, who has a full-time assistant to take care of the mechanical side of the Bureau. Her placement work is not limited to social-science students, but is of immense value in building up the morale of the department. Dr. Peters has also worked out a bibliography for her course in Social Origins in which she tries to supplement, by bringing up to date, the bibliography in Dr. William I. Thomas' Source Book. INDIANA UNIVERSITY Professor U. G. Weatherly, head of the department of economics and sociology in Indiana University, has recently been elected an honorary Associé of the Institut International de Sociologie. Mr. Shelley D. Watts, formerly with the American Red Cross in this state, has been made an assistant professor of sociology. Mr. Robert E. Neff has been appointed director of the courses in Indianapolis for the training of social workers. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Mr. Frank J. Bruno, executive secretary of the Associated Charities of Minneapolis and professorial lecturer in the department of sociology, is again acting chairman of the department this year. This is the third year which he has served in this capacity. Professor Bernard is on leave of absence this year doing a piece of research on a grant from Amherst College. Associate Professor Elmer taught in the summer school of the University of Washington the past summer. Mr. Charles E. Lively, instructor in sociology, accepted an assistant professorship in rural sociology at Ohio State University at the beginning of the academic year. The following new instructors were added to the staff of the department of sociology this year: Mr. George Roussow, of the University of Chicago, Mr. L. O. Lantis, of Ohio State University, and Mr. C. L. Hoffer, of Iowa State College. Mrs. Lorna B. Chambers and Mr. Hugh S. Carter were appointed teaching fellows. The total enrolment in sociology, in all divisions of the university in Minneapolis and St. Paul, was slightly in excess of 3,500 last year, including the summer school. The corresponding enrolment for the beginning course totaled over 1,300 for the same period. Rural sociology had an enrolment of approximately 300, and the advanced theory courses enrolled a total of 380 students. UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI Professor C. A. Ellwood, of the University of Missouri, has recently received the first copies of the Japanese translation of his Introduction to |