afford an interpretation of one great national labor movement from the point of view of a "participant observer." Four of the six chapters, however, consist briefly of the author's rationalizations of what he understands to be the official position of the British Labor Party on certain outstanding issues.

Mr. Hoopingarner has written a textbook designed for use in college courses in personnel administration. It affords a comprehensive presentation of the latest thought in the field in clear but elementary form. The book embodies a sociological point of view to a marked extent, particularly in the chapters "The Psychology of the Worker" and "The General Problem of Control." There is an extensive classified bibliography.

The report of the Governor's Advisory Commission on the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry of New York City consists of an excellent selection and interpretation of factual material. Not the least valuable feature of this report is a summary of the purposes of the investigation and the methods used in gathering the data, written by Mr. Rogers, secretary of the Commission.

Mr. Reeves's State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand is a survey of social and industrial legislation in the states named since 1881. The treatment of the subject-matter appears to be reasonably comprehensive and authoritative. There are chapters dealing with women's franchise, preferential voting, the land question, the labor question, old-age pensions, liquor laws, and the exclusion of aliens and undesirables.

FLOYD N. HOUSE

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Social Pathology. Crowell's Social Science Series; edited by Seba Eldridge, Department of Sociology, University of Kansas. By STUART ALFRED QUEEN and DELBERT MARTIN MANN. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1925. Pp. xxi+690. $3.50 plus postage.

The writer on any field of social problems has the difficult task of selecting subjects and methods of treatment. When the book is intended as a text for classes in colleges or universities the task is even more difficult. One cannot do everything in a book of seven hundred pages. As a consequence of the selection necessary, a number of phases of social pathology have been omitted, the most important being the whole subject of crime, except as it is discussed in the chapter on the difficult child. One is led to wonder, since the phases of social pathology considered in the book are

chiefly concerned with dependency growing out of personal demoralization, social disorganization, economic maladjustment, and natural catastrophes, if the chapter on the difficult child does not belong rather to the delinquency aspect of social pathology. Practically no reference is made to the historical origin of institutions for the abnormal members of society. Doubtless the omission was due to the fact that one of the authors already had a book entitled Social Work in the Light of History.

The authors have taken a decided step forward in one method of presentation of their subject. Chapters are opened with cases in which the problems are seen in the flesh and blood of actual persons or families. This is an excellent way of presenting a problem to the student concretely and interestingly. Then follow statistics on the causes of the problem, so far as statistics are available. Next follows a brief discussion of methods of prevention, and at the end of each chapter is a list of projects for further study. The chapter concludes with a bibliography, from which in a few instances the writer has noticed serious omissions. For example, the absence in the bibliography of the chapter on unemployment, of Lescohier's important little book, The Labor Market.

The style of the authors is simple and clear; the method of presentation marks a step forward, in bringing under scientific control the great body of information on social problems, especially in introducing discussion with cases.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

J.L. GILLIN

The Scientific Study of Human Society. BY FRANKLIN HENRY GIDDINGS. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1924. Pp. vi+247. $2.00.

The nature of this book is indicated by the opening paragraph of the author's Preface: "My purpose in this book has been to indicate wherein and to what extent Sociology is indubitably a scientific study of Human Society. To this end I have undertaken to describe strict methods that sociology can avail itself of, and to point out precautions and limits which must be observed in the use of each.

In carrying out this purpose, Giddings has written chapters on "Societal Patterns," "Societal Variables," "The Scientific Scrutiny of Societal Facts," "The Pluralistic Field and the Sample," "The Study of Cases," "The Validity of Inference from Societal Experimentation," "Exploration and Survey," and "The Measurement of Societal Trends

and Energies," together with three other chapters of less obvious methodological significance. One of the most interesting and original features of the book is a "categorical scheme of societal genesis," intended to be a rigidly logical, and, to a certain degree of subdivision, exhaustive outline for the classification of social facts. As would be expected by those familiar with Giddings' earlier writings, considerable emphasis is placed upon statistical procedure; there is, however, a careful analysis of the respective methodological rôles of case study, classification, and statistical method.

The author's presentation of his fundamental propositions is somewhat impaired by the tendency he displays toward the elaboration of some of those propositions through the use of sweeping generalizations of a factual and ethical character. This tendency is especially marked in the chapter "Societal Telesis." It may also be remarked that many contemporary sociologists and social psychologists will refuse to accept the author's distinction between social psychology as a discipline concerned with the behavioristic interaction of intimates, and sociology or societal psychology as a discipline concerned with interaction in larger groups.

This book is a contribution to a phase of sociology in which further research has been urgently needed, and as such it will be studied with interest by both disciples and critics of the Giddings school of sociological theory. The author has presented illuminating though elementary illustrations of most of the particular methods of investigation which he recommends.

FLOYD N. HOUSE

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

An Introduction to Modern Social Problems. By PHILIP ARCHIBALD PARSONS, PH.D. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1924. Pp. xiv+288. $2.50.

This book is designed for use as a text for college classes and is essentially an introduction, general and elementary, treating in Part I of barbaric foundations, migrations, the beginnings of civilization, historic "elements in the modern social problem," conflicting aims in modern society due to conflict in inherited ideals, aspects of the social problem, and acute manifestations of social maladjustments. Part II outlines remote causes of social problems in (1) new knowledge about man and the world, (2) the discovery of new worlds, and the industrial revolution; as more immediate causes: (1) shifts in the population, (2) transformed means of

livelihood, (3) concentration of wealth in industry, and (4) great intellectual transformations. In two concluding chapters of the second part there is a brief review of political and economic forms of unrest, including anarchism, socialism, etc., and an account of the modern movement for social betterment.

The first sentence strikes a chord that is sounded often throughout the book: "Among careful students of Western civilization there is a growing apprehension of impending disaster." The causes are bound up in historic and prehistoric developments, but particularly in the social changes, mentioned above, of the last few hundred years. Society has lost its old controls in the rapidity of modern change, especially the control of morals. The remedy hoped for is the re-establishment of religious organization, ideals, and influences; all of the broadest and the most scientific kind, but strictly religious. The treatment is that of armchair philosophy, of appreciation of the needs of the ordinary individual, rather than of the scholar.

Each of the thirteen chapters is followed by a bibliography of thirty or more references, and there are footnote references, not to page citations, but to the general argument of the books in question.

This work is not rigidly scientific. Too great reliance is placed upon the efficacy of intellect as a social force, too much of disaster read into social change, but perhaps, too, the experiences in the course for which this material was prepared led to an overemphasis on these points because they aroused interest in the students.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

LEROY E. BOWMAN

The Conflict between Liberty and Equality. By ARTHUR TWINING HADLEY. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1925. Pp. vii+135. $1.50.

This is a series of three lectures delivered as the Raymond F. West Memorial Lectures, at Stanford University.

The main thesis is that liberty and equality are often opposed to one another; that liberty in one field may lead to such inequality as practically to take away the liberty of the lower class. Liberty is defined as the freedom to use intelligence in the solution of problems. Primitive people were great conformists, and therefore had no liberty in this sense. In Colonial America people had both liberty and equality. But with the development of industry, industrial liberty brought economic inequality.

Many groups have been so subordinated that they now have little liberty, i.e., little opportunity to solve their problems through the exercise of intelligence. This condition can be corrected through our representative government. We now need a new political party with "liberty" as the fundamental plank in its platform.

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

JAMES ALFRED QUINN

Changes in the Size of American Families in One Generation. By RAY E. BABER and EDWARD ALSWORTH ROSS. "University of Wisconsin Studies in the Social Sciences and History." University of Wisconsin Press, Madison: 1924. Pp. 99. $1.00. This study of the size of families of native stock living in the Middle West shows that there has been a shrinkage of 381⁄2 per cent in fertility between the past and present generations. In contrast with this is the finding of Miss Jeanette Halverson, whose study occupies the last chapter, that one hundred dependent families (unselected) in the same area averaged families twice as large.

The families were reached through questionnaires sent home by students of the University of Wisconsin. The "past generation" (the students' grandparents) averaged 5.44 children per family; the "present generation" (the students' parents), 3.35 children.

While many of the conclusions are not new, there are occasional surprises. The size of the family was studied in relation to age of marriage, occupation, education, dependency, and the mortality of children in the two generations.

Although this is one of the best studies of its type in recent years, it is not without defect. Statistically it is satisfactory; inductively and deductively it is incomplete and at times erroneous. When causation is discussed it is confused with correlation. Higher education is assumed to cause a lower birth-rate. All we know is that they go together. The discussion of the causative factors of the decline is inadequate; the causative factors of childless marriages receive some attention, but this is irrelevant, since there had to be at least one child in the family to have a son or daughter in college through whom the families were reached. The motives for the practice of birth control reflect poor analysis. Fecundity is at times confused with fertility.

There are unhappy applications of the observations and conclusions of others. The authors seem to agree with Popenoe and Johnson that late