RECENT LITERATURE

NOTES AND ABSTRACTS

The Analysis of Anthropometric Series, with Remarks on the Significance of the Instability of Human Types.-The criticisms of my paper on the body-forms of descendants of immigrants in America in comparison with those of the parents born in Europe rest, in general, upon the common method of dividing anthropometric series into a small number of arbitrarily chosen groups and indicating the percentage of all the individuals in each of these groups. This method can furnish merely descriptive numerical information of facts and gives no clue as to the causes of the facts. It sets up a "constant something" as a measure for an exhaustively defined group. The measures should be the "variables" of all individuals of an inexhaustively defined class. Only if we knew all the influences of the conditions of life upon the "body-forms," and only if we made those conditions the same for every individual, could we expect to have a constant measure. Variability is therefore no biological problem, but only an expression of this-that the forms of all the individuals constituting a class are determined by unknown influences. The class cannot be cut up into arbitrary groups and studied, but it must be treated as a whole, and any attempt at analysis must consider the influence of any factors upon the whole series. Recent studies seem to indicate that nourishment and state of health in youth have marked influences on the instability of human types.-Franz Boaz, "Die Analyse anthropometrischer Serien, nebst Bemerkungen über die Deutung der Instabilität menschlicher Typen," Archiv fur Rassen-u. Gesellschafts-Biologie, December, 1913. V. W. B.

Our Poles.-Unbiased study convinces one that the propaganda against the Poles within our borders is not political wisdom. Guaranteed their rights of speech and nationality, they have proved their loyalty by refraining from European revolutions and fighting against even fellow-Poles for the sake of Prussia. But this propaganda calls for their immediate Germanization. This would necessitate a remodeling of the psychical and physical natures and even the government has no agency for that. Infringement upon speech rights has been followed by infringement upon land rights and the whole policy has effectually halted the steady assimilation that was going on. The government's excuse is that the Polish provinces must be Germanized for the protection of the eastern border; but the safety of a nation's borders depends not on the border provinces but on the tone of the whole populace.-K. Jentsch, “Unsere Polen," Zukunft, October, 1913. F. P. G.

The Second Austrian Convention for Child-Protection. The convention of 1907 gave a stimulus to reform in the treatment of children, but the second convention, in 1913, was notable for the advanced thought presented. The twofold deliberation was along practical lines: first, for the suppression of child labor, and second, for the establishment of trustee-education, especially for the children of the needy. The country child was represented in the discussions as forming a problem different from the urban. It was agreed to urge that child labor be sufficiently restricted to give the child opportunity for education and that the trustee-system should guarantee the possibility of his making use of this allowance of time.-H. Goldbaum, "Der II. österreichische Kinderschutzkongress," Zeitschrift für Kinderforschung, November, 1913. F. P. G.

Proceedings of the Third Convention for Child-Study and Child-Development.This convention, held in Breslau, October 4-6, considered psychological investigation in sexual differentiation and its pedagogic significance. Reports and discussions brought forth fruits of much research. Lipman found from experiments that boys

show a greater intra-variation and that more boys are supernormal, while more girls are subnormal. Frau Hirsch advanced data indicating that among both boys and girls of the school ages the ideal of the mother predominates overwhelmingly. Stern showed the very dissimilarity in speech and play habits to be suggestive of essential differences; boys are usually more positive, girls more imitative. Cohn's data, gathered concerning children actually in school, prove that the feminine spirit, normally, is more interested in the intuitive and emotional than in logical processes or abstract reasoning. Feeling was not unanimous as to the pedagogic application. Wychgram favored separate schools of domestic vocations for girls, corresponding to professional schools for boys; others were for coeducational throughout. Three mistakes were made in the nature of the discussions: (1) the physical differences were insufficiently accented; (2) disproportionate emphasis was laid on the psychic composition of the female; (3) the folk-school was kept too much in the background while attention was riveted on the higher branches.-O. Scheibner, "Die Verhandlungen des III. Kongresses fur Jugendbildung und Jugendkunde," Zeitschrift für päd. psychology, November, 1913. F. P. G.

The Minimum-Wage Law in England. The trade boards, which set the minimum wage law in action, were created by an act of Parliament in 1909. They are composed of: (1) representatives of the employers, (2) an equal number of representatives from the working class, (3) and appointed members, the number of whom must be less than half of all representative members. The representative members may be chosen by the parties or named by the board of trade upon the suggestion of the parties. The authority of a particular board of trade is limited to a certain industry, which its members represent. Its duties are to establish the minimum wage and to insure its enforcement. Further, it is the duty of boards of trade to specify a minimum wage for part-time workers and piecework, for a given district or for the whole industry. Seven inspectors are employed to detect violations of the law. An employer paying less than the minimum wage is liable to a fine of not more than twenty pounds sterling and is obliged to pay the employee the full wage deficiency. The Anti-Sweating League works to educate all employees to know their rights and powers.-Dr. Werner Picht, "Das gesetzliche Lohnminimum in England," Zeitschrift für Volksw. Sozialpol. u Verw. H. A. J.

Punishment in the Curriculum of Charitable Institutions.-Spencer's theory was that a child in being punished should be brought to realize as vividly as possible that the punishment was a natural result of bad conduct. With the majority of children and especially the psychopathic children, this theory would prove confusing and impracticable. It is quite difficult to draw a line between the normal and psychopathic children that are received in charitable institutions. Bad conduct, opposition, cruelty, deceit, and sexual offenses are symptoms of mental ailment. This class of children are incapable of judging and following right modes of conduct. They are continually violating the rules of good discipline. The first and most important step is to study the mental attitude and ability of the child, before any punishment is administered. -Dr. Monkermöller, "Die Strafe in der Fürsorgeerziehung," Zeitschrift für Kinderforschung, November-December, 1913. H. A. J.

Child Labor in Austria.-Investigations made in 1911 for the Juvenile Protective League found the following facts to be true. Out of 418,391 children in Austria, 148,368 have to work. Twenty per cent of these are from six to eight years old. Forty-five per cent have not reached their eleventh year. Seventy-four per cent began work before the age of nine. Forty per cent began work between the ages of six and and seven. Seventy-seven per cent work more than six hours per day, 54 per cent more than eight hours per day, and 24 per cent more than ten hours per day. In 22 per cent of the boys and 23.5 per cent of the girls, health was already found to be undermined; and that children in factories as a whole have poor blood, hollow chests, curvature of the spine, tendency to tuberculosis, and in life come to early invalidity.-Popp Adelheid, "Die Kinderarbeit in Oesterreich," Die Neue Zeit, XXXI, No. 52. H. A. J.

A New Presentation of the History of Economic Doctrine.-A fruitful history of national economic theory can be written only when viewed from a definite theoretical aspect; and this history must be interpreted and reviewed in terms of this aspect found in its earlier presentations. In order to secure such a history of economic doctrine we must, as in the case of economic theory and economic sociology, make a distinction between economic politics and economic science. Although the history of a science contains the records of false theories as well as the true, only the facts which tally with experience become a living part of its own age. Therefore, to understand economic doctrine it must be interpreted in terms of the history of its contemporary life.-L. Pohle, "Neue Darstellungen der Geschichte der Volkswirtschaftslehre," Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft, January, 1914.

J. E. E.

Sociology and Psychology.-The fundamental notion in religion, according to Durkheim, is not divinity but sacredness. Sacred objects are those resulting from tradition and are social, in contrast to profane things which are individual. Religious phenomena are those consisting of obligatory beliefs connected with definite practices about certain sacred objects. Magic consists of rites that exercise a direct or automatic action; religion has rites that possess ideas, sentiments, and volitions. Magic is individual, while religion, the use of gods, is social, of the tribe. Conscience and the actions of the individual are modified by those of the group. All ideas, desires, and habits appear first in the individual conscience. In studying society it is necessary to study the physical environment; then the mental activities of the group, the psychological environment; then the reaction of the individual toward that environment. In the last analysis, social phenomena must be studied psychologically as well as objectively.-J. Leuba, "Sociologie et psychologie," Revue philosophique, October, P. E. C.

1913.

Sexuality and Prostitution.—In the writings of Dr. Iwan Bloch on the subject of sexuality we have a valuable contribution to the literature of the subject. The author traces the evolution of sexual attraction through the periods of civilization, showing its development until it has become the noblest emotion of the human spirit. He defines a prostitute as "the individual who abases self, apart from the bonds of marriage, to any sexual act whatever, without discrimination, in a manner, continuous and notorious, with an indefinite number of persons, generally in exchange for a price, usually in a commercial manner. Some defects may be found in this definition, in fact he does not refer at all to the matter of enticement, which is an essential characteristic of prostitution; but in many respects it is excellent. On the whole, Dr. Bloch has carried into a vast and little-explored field a true critical spirit, and has endeavored to direct a systematic investigation.-P. E. Morhardt, "Sexualité et prostitution," Revue anth., October, 1913. E. E. E.

The English Social Insurance Law of 1911; Payment of Premiums. For insur ance against loss of health the English law requires the employer to pay both his own and his employee's assessment. The former is then authorized to deduct from the worker's wages an amount equal to the latter's assessment. Although the employer is forbidden to make the laborer pay the employer's assessment, there is nothing to keep the latter from discharging the worker and hiring in his stead another worker at a wage reduced by the amount of that assessment. The assured is not required to pay his own assessment when out of work or when his employer fails to pay his. The sole obligation of the worker is to reimburse the employer for having paid the worker's assessment.-Maurice Bellom, "La loi anglaise d'assurance sociale de 1911; payement des cotisations," Journal des économistes, March, 1913.

R. H. L.

The First Results of the New Social Insurance Law of England.-Tables for mortality, morbidity, invalidism, and maternity had to be worked out anew, because the tables in use by private insurance societies had been rendered obsolete by the advance in sanitary engineering recently, or because these tables were not in the precise form necessary for administering the law. The new mortality tables are based on the total population by age groups on June 30, 1909, and on the number of deaths at each age during 1908-10. The new tables of morbidity and invalidism are based on

the experience of the best private companies as furnishing data for the necessary mathematical calculations. These were checked also by the experience of such companies. Maurice Bellom, "Les premiers résultats de la nouvelle loi anglaise d'assurance sociale," Journal des économistes, August, 1913. R. H. L.

The English Social Insurance Law of 1911; Payment of Premiums.-For insurance against unemployment, the English law provides that each laborer in the occupations covered by it is made equally responsible with the employer for the payment of assessments. Default in payment by either is punishable by the same amount of fine, viz., not over fifty pounds and not more than three times the unpaid assessment. In fact, however, the employer is held for the payment of the worker's assessment at the same time with his own. In this the law resembles the corresponding provision under sickness insurance.-Maurice Bellom, "La loi anglaise d'assurance sociale de 1911; payement des cotisations," Journal des économistes, June, 1913. R. H. L.

The First Results of the New Social Insurance Law of England; Unemployment Insurance. Insurance against unemployment is administered by the minister of commerce through a special division that serves also as an employment bureau. As a result of agreements with working-men's associations the number of those insured against unemployment has greatly increased since the passage of the act. Voluntary insurance is not paid out of the unemployment insurance funds, but by the state. Those obtaining this form of insurance are not limited to workers in the insured occupations. Associations may get the benefit of this arrangement by complying with certain conditions. And by July, 1913, over six hundred had either been admitted or had applied for the privilege.-Maurice Bellom, "Les premiers résultats de la nouvelle loi anglaise d'assurance sociale: assurance contre le chômage, Journal des économistes, September, 1913. R. H. L.

The Evolution of Work-Accident Laws in Europe and America.-Today the greater number of nations have adopted the principle of risk as inherent in the industry and consequently the principle that indemnity for accident should be an item of general expense borne by the industry. Compulsory insurance goes hand in hand with the adoption of these principles. Even yet, however, certain countries and states require proof of neglect by the employer in order to establish his liability. These are Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Japan, the republics of Central and South America, and some thirty states in the American Union. Within the recent past, eighteen other states have passed work-accident laws. These have gone through an evolution from the first, limited chiefly to definition of employers' liability and the correction of obvious defects in judicial procedure, to the New York law of 1910 concerning accidents in dangerous occupations. This law recognizes the principle of risk inherent in the industry; and the employer cannot escape liability, unless inexcusable negligence of the victim can be shown. American public opinion strongly favors the rapid spread of similar legislation in other states.-P. L. Pic, "L'évolution des lois européoamericanés en matière d'accidents du travail," Revue économiste internationale, August, 1913. R. H. L.

Scientific Choice of Vocations.-A rational study in the choice of occupations is absolutely imperative. No longer can the young man or woman just out of school rely on a personal inclination or an artificial environment to determine one's vocation. A scientific understanding of the market for various kinds of labor together with constant co-operation between public, industrial, and professional schools on the one hand and the industries and the professions on the other, can make it possible for every person to find his highest efficiency.-A. Høyer, "Organiseret Valg af Livsstilling," Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, September-October, 1913. J. E. E.

Rural Land Reforms.-An urgent need in Denmark is a scientific redistribution of agricultural lands. The economic independence of the proletariat is less than it was twenty years ago. Though manufactures have increased, the production of agriculture for home consumption is not sufficient to keep the growing population. The landowners are reaping large unearned increments while a poor peasantry and

the high cost of living are direct results. The ever-expanding political power of an increasing proleteriat is inconsistent with a delimitation of its economic independence. As a consequence the modern laws of social amelioration which are superficial and make unjust demands upon an already over-burdened state will foster a continuous emigration.-H. Waage, "Landboreformer," Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, May-June, 1913. J. E. E.

The Lowering Birth-Rate.-There is no dispute as to a conscious limiting of the number of births in all civilized countries, but the interpretations of the underlying motives differ widely. One fundamental motive has its simultaneous growth with the economic considerations for an improved standard of life for the coming children. This lowering birth-rate is not peculiar to the upper classes, but affects the laboring classes as well. Even educational regulation restricting the remunerative power of child labor has its specific influence. Apart from economic motives the general emancipation of woman, politically and socially, has undoubtedly complicated the interpretation of this problem, which is at present resting on hypothetical grounds.Adolph Jensen, "Den af Sagende Fødselshyppighed,” Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift, September-October, 1913.

J. E. E.

The Negro and Labor Unions.-Negroes in industry generally come from the country where laborers are scarce. They have never had to look for work, hence they do not feel the need for unions. Black laborers are prejudiced against unions because these have sometimes excluded Negroes. For these reasons Negroes act as strikebreakers. This increases unionists' prejudice against the Blacks. But competition generally forces the unions to admit the Negroes, who usually become good union men.-Booker T. Washington, Atlantic Monthly, June, 1913. V. W. B.

The Development of Syndicalism in America.-Syndicalist ideas appeared simultaneously in America and in France. But these tendencies in America can be understood only by examining them in the light of economic and political developments. In fact, the term syndicalism can be applied to American industrial unionists only with the understanding that it is generic and includes variant species. It is therefore both logical and convenient to consider its development in connection with the evolution of the I.W.W. In 1905, the industrial unionists of America met in Chicago and laid the foundations of the now famous Industrial Workers of the World. In the western states, where the field had already been ploughed by the American Labor Union, it succeeded in maintaining a considerable influence over the more or less migratory laborers engaged in railroad construction and in the lumber and fruit industries, while in the East the I.W.W. had to break ground for itself. The Lawrence strike in 1912 revealed two things: (1) That what has come to be known as "direct action" is especially effective in the case of unorganized and unskilled workers, and (2) that the needs of these workers are best subserved by a new type of labor leader, who is inspired by revolutionary ideals.-Louis Levine, Political Science Quarterly, September, 1913. J. E. E.

Survival in Sociology.-Psychology stands in a relation to sociology almost exactly as physics and chemistry stand in relation to geology; and just as nothing but confusion could have resulted if the early geologists had endeavored to find physical and chemical explanations of conditions which they had not yet arranged in their proper sequence, so does confusion reign in the sociology of social phenomena before we have determined the course of the historical development of the phenomena with which we have to do. If this be so, it will be evident on how misleading a path have those entered who reject the social process of survival on the ground that it does not seem to them to provide an adequate psychological explanation of social phenomena. There must, of course, be psychological processes of some kind underlying the continuity of human activity shown in survivals; and chief among these is that mental disposition which we call conservatism. However, in the present condition of the science of sociology we only confuse the issue by trying to explain social facts and processes in psychological terms.-W. H. R. Rivers, Sociological Review, October, 1913.

J. E. E.