these things about, the specific means of so doing are suggested under
the title, The Control of the Land—A Dream. By the public possession or
control of the land and by taxing out of existence all inheritance above
$500,000, the way is open for the dream of the endowment of every one at
the age of majority with inalienable possession free from tax and rent,
the assurance of employment and provision for old age. But all depends,
at last as at first, upon our anchor to the “new” question, “Can you
convert brains to go in the way of religion?” This is said to be the
biggest problem of religion, as it is the newest, for “it is only lately
that man has been able even to formulate the true significance of
religion in terms at once rational for the intellect and practical for
the conduct of the daily life.”
“People will be happy as fast as they learn to face these questions and
to say _yes_ to them. Only men of good will really know what they want
in this world; can meet and make and control conditions in life; can
handle successfully the new and tremendous powers of nature and science.
Only they can establish thorough democracy. Only their ideas can
preserve the nations from the worst of all poverty—starvation of the
soul, from the worst of all tyranny—the fear of man.”
* * * * *
In his Kingdom of God and American Life Bishop Brewster seeks to adjust
the Christian ideal and ethic with the earlier idealism and standards of
American democracy. He identifies them at the very points at which both
are at a crisis—liberty, justice, opportunity, loyalty, law, civic
courage, the value of human life and the sanctity of the family.
Differentiating between “the kingdom of God” which consists in part of
such values, and the church whose witness to these ideals is needed
alike by religion and democracy, he denies that Christianity is either
individualistic or socialistic. “The social character it is impossible
to overestimate, because there the social never gets away from the
personal.” From this vantage he repudiates individualism since
“Christianity while never individualistic is always personal”; and he
disputes socialism since “in nature and purpose that scheme is economic”
and “the church is spiritual and personal”, socialism “aims at the
economic transformation of environment” and “the church’s aim is the
spiritual transformation of the persons that make up society”,
“socialism aims at reconstruction through revolution” and “the church at
progressive reform through evolution.”
While the author’s readiness to stand for the consequences of democracy
leads him to claim that “this diversity in aim and operation does not
necessitate antagonism in spirit”, yet his work would have been more
positively and practically effective if it had been less of an
argumentative special pleading against socialism and more constructively
aimed to build up American democratic institutions. Pointing his
emphasis upon the essential value of democracy with the most concrete
arguments from our industrial and civic life, his reasoning rings true
to this fundamental keynote of Christianity all the way through from
preface to conclusion.
“If it be true that Christianity in principle means not individualism
but solidarity; if Christianity, while not ignoring personality, yet
has, as its ideal, personality fulfilled in social relations; then, in a
time like this, of transition, from individualistic principles and
ideals, the church of Christ has plainly before it a task in the world.
It is no time to yield to that old besetting temptation to hold aloof
from contact with the world. The sociological trend of thought and life
today is a realization of essential characteristics of Christianity and
makes rightful demands upon Christians. Certainly the church is to
refrain from seeking to allay the restlessness and fever of social
discontent by administering any anodynes that superinduce social
lethargy. Its plain task is to heal, tone up and invigorate the social
system, to quicken and guide those social promptings and aspirations,
and make men know assuredly that Democracy means the wider opportunity
and the larger obligation with respect to social service. It should be
evident beyond question that the church is bringing the spirit of Jesus
Christ to the ferment of social discontent and strife. That would
require that it be itself thoroughly possessed by that spirit. The
problem that immediately confronts the church is not to Christianize
socialism, but first to socialize Christians, until their ideal
principles shall be real and ruling principles, until they obey the rule
of principle and not contentedly rest in sentiment.”
* * * * *
What the boy does for the minister is as well emphasized in Professor
Hoben’s suggestive little volume The Minister and the Boy, as what the
minister may do for the boy. Basing his whole discussion upon a frank
acceptance of the biological order and psychological development of boy
life, Professor Hoben in a scholarly, yet very practical way, turns our
newest knowledge and experience in dealing with boys to the right and
feasible use of the ministers and church workers. Not the least valuable
parts of the book are those which account for some of the defects and
defaults of the boy, characteristic of certain periods of his
development, on grounds which reasonably explain them and suggest ways
of counteracting and correcting them. Self-knowledge and control are
shown as failing to keep pace with the sense impressions and unorganized
experiences of adolescence. The psychological analogy between play and
worship is another interesting and original point developed. The
instincts rooted in the sense of solidarity are treated as the basis of
training for the family and communal relationships and responsibilities.
“Self-centering the experience of the boy short-circuits the religious
life.” “Sex instruction should anticipate sex consciousness.” “The
normal boy will not deliberately choose to sponge upon the world. He
intends to do the fair thing and to amount to something. He dreams of
making his life an actual contribution to the welfare and glory of
humanity. When it is put before him rightly he will scorn a selfish
misappropriation of his life and will enter the crusade for the city
that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God.”
These sentences indicate the author’s abiding faith in boyhood and his
epigrammatic, suggestive style. At the end of each chapter that deals
with the more fundamental principles their most practical applications
are given. Whole chapters are devoted to practical suggestions on such
topics as The Boy in Village and Country; The Modern City and the Normal
Boy; The Ethical Value of Organized Play; The Boy’s Choice of a
Vocation; Training for Citizenship; The Church Boys’ Club. References to
readily accessible books also add to the value of the volume.
* * * * *
The best supplement to Professor Hoben’s book is the interesting and
useful handbook entitled Boy Life and Self-Government, which Professor
George Walter Fiske of Oberlin Theological Seminary prepared for the
International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Associations, for the
use of those in charge of their boys’ departments and other boys’ club
workers. With these two small volumes in hand and in use, the work of
every church and minister for the boys of their parish and community
cannot fail to be more effective.
* * * * *
As a fresh, original and well-balanced study of the boy, inspired by
unusual insight and large experience, Kirtley’s That Boy of Yours is
valuable for teachers, social workers, and above all for parents, to
whom by its title it is addressed.
* * * * *
Thwing’s The Family has been for a generation so exclusively the one
book combining for the general reader historical and social data,
scholarly and practical purpose, that this revised and enlarged edition
renders a public service. Unlike the more technical manuals on the
family it takes for granted no special acquaintanceship with the history
and literature of the subject, though it is introductory to and
interpretative of both. The additional material includes the statistical
and bibliographical data appearing since the first edition was
published, and a new concluding chapter, significantly bearing the
title, The Family Under a Socialized Society.
GRAHAM TAYLOR.
THE TEACHER’S HEALTH
By LEWIS M. TERMAN. Houghton, Mifflin Co. 136 pp. Price $.60; by mail
of THE SURVEY $.66.
“Teaching as a Dangerous Trade” might have been the title of this book.
Eighty-four per cent of 159 teachers in Springfield, Mass., testified
that in their opinion the teacher of average physical constitution
suffers distinct impairment of health within five to ten years after
beginning service. Between 1906 and 1909 over a quarter of the
elementary teachers of Sweden were absent one year or more on account of
illness.
But it is not as a matter of mere personal concern to the profession
that the teacher’s health is here considered; rather as a factor in
school efficiency. Medical inspection of schools is partial so long as
it takes no notice of teachers, for “the health of the child is
intricately related to that of its teacher.” There is a subtler way in
which weak lungs and neurasthenia among the half million teachers who
are molding the intellect and character of twenty million children in
this country may affect the development of those children. As the
editor’s introduction puts it: “If the teacher’s conscious pedagogical
method transmits truth, it is the unconscious influence of his
personality that gives it that bias of meaning which the fact will
forever after have for the pupil.” And nowadays we are coming to know
how much personality is shaped by physical and mental health.
WINTHROP D. LANE.
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF MENTAL DEFECTIVES
By J. E. WALLACE WALLIN, Ph. D. Warwick and York, Inc., Baltimore. 155
pp. Price $1.25; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.32.
This is one of the educational psychology monographs edited by Guy
Montrose Whipple. The book consists of the results of a series of tests
made upon the epileptics at Skillman Village, N. J., by the Binet-Simon
scale and by some other tests which are designed to supplement the
Binet.
The Binet-Simon test is the nearest approach to a scientific and
accurate scale for measuring intelligence that has yet been devised. It
is now being used extensively in many parts of the world, particularly
in the United States. The work of Dr. Wallin with the epileptics at
Skillman is of value in several directions, not the least being its
value in testing the Binet scale itself, which has been used repeatedly,
at intervals of a year, upon the inmates of the Vineland school, with
results which show remarkable accuracy.
It will be readily seen that an accurate test of feeble-mindedness which
can be applied by a careful and intelligent observer who has not been
specially trained in psychology would be of the greatest possible value.
Realizing as we do the absolute necessity of segregating, or in some way
controlling, the feeble-minded of every class, the question of how to
tell who is feeble-minded is one that is continually recurring.
The scale has been tested quite widely both on normal and defective
children, the most important test on normals being that of Goddard who
tried it on nearly 2,000 public school children.
Dr. Wallin found at Skillman that either the Binet scale was not
accurate or else that the conditions surrounding epilepsy make the scale
less applicable to that class than to normals or feeble-minded. This
observation confirms similar facts disclosed at Vineland and elsewhere
in connection with epilepsy and insanity; that is to say, both of these
conditions produce eccentricities which the scale does not exactly meet.
While the Binet scale is an extremely useful device and one which will
be more used, it is only reasonable to suppose that it will be modified,
in the future, as it has been in the past, by Goddard and others. But no
matter how carefully modified, it is not claimed to be, and will not be
claimed to be, an all-sufficient test on such questions as
sterilization, final segregation and other very important things.
Physical tests of various kinds will also be used.
Dr. Wallin’s book concludes with a copy of the Binet scale with
directions for its use, all of which are very valuable. On the whole the
book is a distinct contribution to the literature of the subject and it
is to be hoped that the author’s example in testing out large numbers of
abnormals of different kinds and then publishing the results will be
followed. We know qualitatively a great deal about the feeble-minded and
epileptic, but our quantitative knowledge is still far from complete.
ALEXANDER JOHNSON.
PATHFINDERS IN MEDICINE
By VICTOR ROBINSON. Medical Review of Reviews. 317 pp. Price $2.50; by
mail of THE SURVEY $2.67.
This book contains a series of papers most of which have already
appeared in the _Medical Review of Reviews_, the _Medical Record_, and
other magazines. It is dedicated to Ernst Haeckel. Dr. Abraham Jacobi
wrote the preface.
The Pathfinders include famous men whose names are familiar to every
one, such as Galen, Paracelsus, Servetus, Paré, Hunter, Jenner and
Darwin, and also some who are only vaguely known to most of us. Among
these are Aretaeus, Scheele, Laennec, Semmelweiss. We are not told what
prompted the selection of these particular Pathfinders, or why such
names as Boerhaave, Sydenham, Pasteur and Virchow were omitted, but one
cannot demand that such a book be all-inclusive.
Mr. Robinson has lived with the characters of whom he writes until he
has formed a vivid picture of the personality of each, a picture he
manages to convey to his audience with great success. Naturally it is
the earlier Pathfinders who are most interesting to the ordinary reader
and the chapter on Galen holds many surprises for those who have been
accustomed to think of the medical skill of the ancients very much as we
think of Chinese medicine of today. Galen knew that consumption was
communicable, and his disquisitions on dietetics and hygiene are almost
incredibly modern.
The chapter on Paracelsus is especially vivid and delightful, while the
description of Aretaeus, “the forgotten physician” gives us a picture of
a man full of insight and sympathy. Of the later chapters the most
interesting are the one on the many-sided Hunter and that which tells of
the heroic and tragic struggle of Semmelweiss against the blind
conservatism of his own profession.
In the course of one chapter Mr. Robinson remarks that “all writing is
autobiographical” and that “prejudices ... will become apparent, ...
where you least expect.” This is true of his own book. No one can read a
chapter without discovering the author’s antipathy to the Christian
religion, and the monarchical system of government. This prejudice
against what he regards as superstition and sycophancy, leads him into
some extreme statements and mars to a certain extent what would
otherwise be delightful reading. If Calvin had been nothing more than
the man Mr. Robinson describes, he could hardly have held sway over the
minds of several generations as he did. Mr. Robinson will also find that
the Bretons opposed the French Revolution not from blind devotion to
monarchical tyrants, but because it meant the breakdown of a system of
local self-government and common lands to which their Celtic natures
clung.
ALICE HAMILTON, M.D.
CIVICS FOR FOREIGNERS
By ANNA A. PLASS, Teacher of English to Foreigners. Rochester, N. Y.
D. C. Heath & Company. 186 pp. Price $.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $.57.
To meet the demand for a book of simple lessons for foreigners which,
while aiding them to learn English, should at the same time give
information concerning the principles of our government, has been the
aim of the author. A very limited vocabulary has been used in presenting
the subject. Topics have been limited for the most part to a single
page, so that each subject may be treated in as concise a manner as
possible. This also makes the book more adaptable for pupils whose
attendance is likely to be irregular. The volume, which is well
illustrated, gives the elementary facts about the different city
departments and officials, about the state government and state law
makers, the courts and the national government. Occasionally realistic
and practical lessons are included such as a telephone call for the
doctor and a petition for naturalization.
At the close of the book is a vocabulary in Italian, German, Swedish,
Polish, French, Greek and Yiddish.
JAMES P. HEATON.
ANNUAL REPORT ENGLISH PRISON COMMISSION
For the year ending March 31, 1912. Wyman & Sons, 32 Abingdon St., S.
W., London. Price 8d.
Partly because English prison and crime statistics are better and more
centralized than ours the annual reports of the English Prison
Commission are always well worth reading. In the year ending March 31,
1912, the proportion of persons committed to prisons in England was the
lowest within statistical record, 439.2 per 100,000 of the population of
England and Wales. The commitments for serious crimes particularly show
a decrease. The bane of the English prison system is still the short
sentence for misdemeanants, 81 per cent of all prisoners having been
sentenced for one month or less. Over 50 per cent of those committed to
prison are sent in default of paying a fine. This is considered by the
Prison Commission one of the most urgent social problems demanding the
attention of Parliament.
The commission still regrets that the committing magistrates do not take
advantage of the chance to classify prisoners when sentencing them. The
Borstal Institution (the English Elmira) continues to satisfy; it has
now a population of over 400. The Borstal Association, a released
prisoner’s aid society for Borstal, has placed 250 out of 270 lads
received. Of these about seventy-five out of one hundred cases turn out
well. The “Borstal girl” from the girl’s reformatory has proved
satisfactory in conduct after prison in twenty-nine out of fifty-four
cases.
An interesting feature is the development of a modified Borstal (or
reformatory) system in the local prisons for the younger prisoners, just
as though in New York state we introduced into the county jails and
penitentiaries a modified Elmira system. The problem of payment to
prisoners is engaging the commission.
The Preventive Detention Prison on the Isle of Wight had been running
but a few months when the report was prepared. Little can be said about
it as yet. The idea is not novel, but “advanced.” Following the serving
of a sentence for a specific crime, the more professional or habitual
criminal may be sentenced to from five to ten years of subsequent
preventive detention in a prison with privileges of limited association
with other prisoners: in short, a custodial treatment of the criminal
who is dangerous to society because of his profession or his nature.
Many other interesting features are dealt with in this report of Sir
Evelyn Ruggles-Brise and his colleagues; much that our American prison
boards and wardens cannot afford to miss.
O. F. LEWIS.
ADMISSION TO AMERICAN TRADE UNIONS
By F. WOLFE, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins Press. 181 pp. $1.00 paper, $1.25
cloth; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.08 and $1.33.
SOCIAL PROGRESS IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE
By FREDERICK A. OGG. The Macmillan Company. 384 pp. Price $1.50; by
mail of THE SURVEY $1.61.
Admission to American Trade Unions is a retrospective study brought up
to the present of the methods by which American trade unions control the
number and quality of their membership, through their regulations in
regard to apprenticeship, competency, admission of women, aliens and
Negroes, and the expulsion of members. The conclusions which the writer
draws from his study are colorless, but the book presents a wealth of
facts, particularly in the footnote references and quotations from
primary sources.
* * * * *
Professor Ogg’s review of the movements, which almost within the memory
of men now living have transformed the social aspect of Europe, is not
profound nor original and does not undertake to interpret these
movements. It is, however, a useful reference book of facts, the more so
since the author supplements his short accounts of the various movements
by bibliographies of the matter covered in each chapter. The subject
matter, which is carried practically up-to-date, covers political and
industrial changes, the condition of the agricultural population and of
the wage-earner, labor organization and politics, and the efforts of
governments to improve the condition of the lower classes.
MARY BROWN SUMNER.
BOOKS RECEIVED IN MARCH
PSYCHOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY. By Hugo Munsterberg. Houghton
Mifflin Co. 320 pp. Price $1.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.62.
COMRADE YETTA. By Albert Edwards. The Macmillan Co. 448 pp. Price
$1.35; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.47.
THE MORAL EDUCATION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN. By Charles Keen Taylor, M.A.
Charles K. Taylor, Publ. 77 pp. Price by mail of THE SURVEY $.75.
THE OLD LAW AND THE NEW ORDER. By George W. Alger. Houghton Mifflin
Co. 295 pp. Price $1.25; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.35.
THE ECONOMIC UTILIZATION OF HISTORY. By Henry W. Farnum, M.A., R.P.D.
Yale University Press. 220 pp. Price $1.25; by mail of THE SURVEY
$1.35.
THE CHILDREN IN THE SHADOW. By Ernest K. Coulter. McBride, Nast & Co.
277 pp. Price $1.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.62.
A CATECHISM OF LIFE. By Alice Mary Buckton. E. P. Dutton & Co. 67 pp.
Price $.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $.54.
THE MAKING OF MODERN ENGLAND. By Gilbert Slater. Houghton Mifflin Co.
308 pp. Price $2.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $2.64.
BEDROCK: EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT, THE FOUNDATION OF THE REPUBLIC. By
Annie L. Diggs. The Social Center Publishing Co. 70 pp. Price $.25;
by mail of THE SURVEY $.30.
SMITH AND THE CHURCH. By Rev. Harry H. Beattys. Frederick A. Stokes.
118 pp. Price $.60; by mail of THE SURVEY $.66.
THE ETERNAL MAIDEN. By T. Everett Harré. Mitchell Kennerley. 279 pp.
Price $1.20; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.28.
A GUIDE TO THE MONTESSORI METHOD. By Ellen Yale Stevens. Frederick A.
Stokes. 240 pp. Price $1.00; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.08.
THE UPHOLSTERED CAGE. By Josephine P. Knowles. Hodder and Stoughton.
420 pp. Price $1.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.60.
THE AMERICAN CHILD. By Elizabeth McCracken. Houghton Mifflin Co. 191
pp. Price $1.25; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.35.
SYNDICALISM AND THE GENERAL STRIKE. By Arthur D. Lewis. Small, Maynard
& Co. 291 pp. Price $2.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $2.70.
THE IMMIGRANT INVASION. By Frank Julian Warne, Ph.D. Dodd, Mead & Co.
336 pp. Price $2.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $2.70.
AMERICAN SYNDICALISM. The I. W. W. By John Graham Brooks. The
Macmillan Co. 264 pp. Price $1.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.60.
SWEDISH SONG GAMES. By Valborg Kastman and Greta Köhler. Ginn and Co.
95 pp. Price $.75; by mail of THE SURVEY $.83.
SCHOOL FEEDING—ITS HISTORY AND PRACTICE AT HOME AND ABROAD. By Louise
Stevens Bryant. J. B. Lippincott Co. 345 pp. Price $1.50; by mail of
THE SURVEY $1.62.
THE CASE OF OSCAR SLATER. By A. Conan Doyle. Geo. H. Doran Co. 103 pp.
Price $.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $.57.
THE NATURE OF WOMAN. By J. Lionel Taylor. E. P. Dutton & Co. 186 pp.
Price $1.25; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.32.
ESSAYS IN TAXATION. By Edwin Seligman. Macmillan Co. 707 pp. Price
$4.00; by mail of THE SURVEY $4.23.
THE SOCIAL CENTER. By Edw. J. Ward. D. Appleton & Co. 359 pp. Price
$1.50; by mail of THE SURVEY $1.64.
HANDBOOK OF MUNICIPAL ACCOUNTING. By Bureau of Municipal Research. D.
Appleton & Co. 318 pp. Price $2.00; by mail of THE SURVEY $2.14.
A NEW LOGIC. By Charles Mercier. Open Court Publishing Co. 422 pp.
Price $3.00; by mail of THE SURVEY $3.17.
COMMUNICATIONS
WAGES FIXED BY LAW
TO THE EDITOR:
Your San Pedro correspondent[2] has got his figures on wages wrong and
he leaves the expenses of business out of account. The 1910 Census
bulletin of manufactures gives the figures thus, stated in thousands of
dollars:
Footnote 2:
See THE SURVEY of February 8, 1913, p. 653.