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RECENT LITERATURE

NOTES AND ABSTRACTS

The Scientific Spirit. The scientific spirit is necessary to social work. Social work should be done in the scientific spirit (1) because it is a dangerous, if not to say extra-hazardous, trade from the standpoint of the worker himself; (2) it is a delicate and even perilous adventure from the standpoint of those whom social workers would serve. The scientific spirit does away with obtrusive personality. It lessens the hazards in charity by developing the rigorous determination to see clearly. To see the problem clearly means to get away from mere impressions. Science is both an attitude and a technique. The attitude can be cultivated without teachers, books, or colleges. Technique may be had from the literature of economics, political science, and sociology in their applied aspects.-Arthur J. Todd, Survey, February 2, 1918. F. O. D.

Political Economy and the Social Process.-Science and philosophy are striving to see everything as a part of a social process. There is a need of an adequate economic doctrine which would take an account of the economic movement with a view to rational social action for economic welfare. The market process is studied from the side of demand. This demand is being considered as an expression of the economic power determined by all existing conditions. The evils of the economic system are implicit in demand and are transmitted to production and distribution. Demand is a class phenomenon determined by the economic power which is concentrated in a small fraction of the people. On account of this concentration of power we have the waste and misdirection of social resources. It results, furthermore, in degeneracy and vices in our social system. The fallacy of economists consists in taking productivity as the basis of distribution and economic justice. Political economy of the present has scarcely the rudiments of economic organization in a large social sense. Competition is not a static phenomenon but is changing and exists only so long as it remains an object of the public will. The attitude of economists toward ethics must change from the optional and personal to a rational one. We should not separate the economic from the ethical aspects in the social process and should not regard the economic process as non-evolutionary or pre-Darwinian.-Charles H. Cooley, Journal of Political Economy, April, 1918.

J. H.

The Problem of Democracy.-The modern idea of democracy differs from the Greek conception, which was based on the doctrine of natural inequality, in that it rests on the revolutionary doctrine of equal rights. Democracy is sovereignty resting in the whole people and was first formulated in the American Declaration of Independence, namely, that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. Democracy has no existence in its rigorous purity. The ultimate power may be in those who are governed, but the authority arises from the opinion of those who govern, who are few. Contrast between theory and practice of democracy is evident in America. Democratic order is not the outcome of any theory at all, but the struggle for self-assertion of group interests grown conscious of their power and determined to assert it. A balance of power between the various groups is necessary to the stability of the state. The result of the progress of democracy since the great revolution is not government by the people for the people, but government of groups "engaged in perpetual struggle for ascendancy." The problem of democracy does not depend on devising machinery, but enabling the people to select and obey those who can govern them well, in attaining the “capacity to recognize capacity."-Walter Alison Phillips, Edinburgh Review, April, 1918. J. H.

The Bases of Democracy in China.-Institutions which have favored the organization of a democratic government in China and which favor its future growth are: (1) Social: (a) the family. The whole family is responsible for the civil and criminal liabilities of each member and for the welfare of the unfortunate members. Although the father is the nominal property holder, he can dispose of none without the consent of the other members; (b) the greater family, where families of the same origin occupy a village of their own with headquarters in the ancestral hall, directed by a board of elders, chosen by popular vote; (c) the village, made up of district groups other than the greater family; (d) the classes, the occupations: scholar, farmer, artisan, merchant, the degree of honor being in the order named. (2) Economic and industrial institutions: (a) the mutual loan associations, which perform the function of an emergency organization and a savings club; (b) the guilds: (i) the merchant guilds and (ii) the artisan guilds. (3) Political institutions: (a) the central government, which exacts only payment of taxes. (4) Popular aspects of the Chinese philosophy of government. The Confucian school is the most prominent. Its principles are: (a) government by the consent of the governed; (b) employment of moral v. physical agencies; (c) the employment of the ablest, wisest, most experienced, and most virtuous in government; (d) the right of the people to depose any ruler whose conduct they do not approve. (5) The influence of Western civilization: (a) in replacing superstitions by new meanings of worship; (b) by bringing in individualism; (c) by intensifying the feeling of nationality.-Kia-Lok Yen, International Journal of Ethics, January, 1918.

F. O. D.

The Psychology of Conviction.-The Great European War calls our attention to the study of conviction as a motive power to world-action. The psychology of conviction studies and analyzes the beliefs which have been handed over to us by tradition and interprets them into the motives of convictions. Conviction determines human conduct; hence the latter is used as a criterion for the psychology of conviction. The "case" method is adequate for its study. There is the psychology of the conviction as an objective belief and the psychology of the convinced as a subjective issue. A study of the personal aspect of conviction is especially valuable. Conviction functions as a means of removal of doubt as well as that of the support of conduct; it results, therefore, in the contented feeling of adjustment. The Freudian psychology throws more light upon our problem. It reveals to us the fact that the unfulfilled wish is the true motive of conviction. Rationalization is another Freudian mechanism which explains the justification of belief to reason. The problem arising out of conflicts of convictions may be solved, not alone by the discovery of truth, but by controlling the means of securing its acceptance. "The world-war is a war of convictions, tragically consigned to the ordeal of a scientific armament of destruction; and the decision, however reached, will establish one set of convictions in the minds of men and depose its rivals."-Joseph Jastrow, Scientific Monthly, December, 1917. J. P.

The Influence of Wars upon the Psychology of Our Times. In times of peace people tend to become sordid. They pursue pleasure and run after Mammon. A tendency to degeneration arises. War serves as an excitement stimulating the heroic virtues of the people. This may be seen if we compare France as she was before the war with the heroic France after three years of endurance and achievement. "The emotions and sentiments of the people at one period of conflict become more or less crystallized in their psychology and later under the influence of a variety of solvents are set free, again to become active." The "psychological inheritance" left with the people after a conflict serves as a determining force for future peace or war. Thus the struggle of the people against the tyrrany of the King of Great Britain during the English Commonwealth (1649–53) was carried over to the American continent, where it found its expression in the French and Indian War (1756-63). Later "the same spirit was handed down to the American Revolution, and, somewhat more remotely but none the less certainly, to the great French Revolution." The Russian revolution is considered to be the immediate consequence of the European War. "The present German spirit has its main roots and development in Germany's conflict with the Danes in 1864; with Austria, her present ally, in 1866; and with France in 1870-71." It is also evident that this war has exerted an awakening effect upon Great Britain as well as upon the United States.-Charles K. Mills, American Journal o Insanity, April, 1918. S. P.

The Sociological Principle Determining the Elementary Curriculum.-"The function of elementary education is to create the community of interest without which social organization is impossible; to impart the common culture which is fundamental to our complex social life. Such is the thesis of this paper." Because of a lack of common culture we are at considerable disadvantage in religious matters. Even the science of hygiene "cannot be applied everywhere unless the people all understand at least a modicum of its fundamental principles." The economists and sociologists "know the solutions to most of our problems. But the people do not; and there's the rub." "If a democratic people's conduct is to be dependable and harmonious" there must be "a wide popular distribution of all the inherited possessions of the race." This includes all the economic, scientific, and cultural achievements, for "the sanest, safest, and surest way to redistribute wealth is to redistribute culture," and "the more complex and cultured the civilization the larger and more liberally distributed must be the common-to-all." There are three tendencies in modern educational systems that tend to divert the schools "from their fundamental sociological task of producing a like-minded citizenry.' The first is the excessive individualism in current pedagogy which is largely a result of the prevalent theory of democracy and the special emphasis psychologists have given to the individuality of the child. The second diverting tendency is that of specialization, especially in the lower grades. The third tendency is the fitting of the schools to the class or community. To have much specialization, especially in the lower grades, is a sure method of fixing class status. "What each and every local community needs is the rich cultural heritage of the race," though the present school curriculum should be adjusted to meet the present needs. "There is only one thing sadder than the undeveloped resources latent among the common people; and that is the blindness to those resources of even our educational philosophers."-Ross L. Finney, School and Society, March 23, 1918. A. G.

A Municipal Program for Educating Immigrants in Citizenship.-The existence of a large number of immigrants of voting age in our cities is not only a social but also a political problem. They should be educated in the principles of American citizenship, for only in this way will they make the proper transition from the ideals and the government of their native country to the ideals and the government of their adopted country. Over two and a half million foreigners over twenty-one years of age in 1910 could not speak English, and only 35,614 foreign-born adults were in school. This shows that they are making no systematic effort to acquire the English language. The larger cities should have a special director of the schools for the immigrants, while in the smaller communities one of the teachers of immigrants could also do the directing work. Teachers should have special training. Nationality and knowledge of the English language are the primary bases for organization of the schools. Then age, sex, and previous education should be used as bases for further classification. The federal court in Los Angeles has agreed to receive the certificate of evening school work as sufficient evidence of educational qualification for citizenship. Libraries have taken the lead in educating foreigners for citizenship, but they do it with publications in the foreigners' own languages. The social centers are attempting to make it possible for the foreigner to come into contact with American customs, and thus pass the transition from the foreign customs to the American.-John M. Gaus, National Municipal Review, May, 1918. A. G.

The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh. The purpose of the study was to ascertain the facts relative to the recent migration of negroes to the North, with particular reference to Pittsburgh and the problems that the community must face in the amelioration of present evils and the prevention of future ones. More than 75 per cent of these newcomers to Pittsburgh are between the ages of eighteen and forty and the unmarried men greatly predominate in this group. The recent influx has been due to the increased demand for labor in the North caused by the war. The great mass of workers get higher wages in Pittsburgh than they received in the South, the average wage here being $2.85, while in the South it was $2.15. Of four hundred and eightynine questioned as to their religious affiliations, 76 per cent are either church members or attendants, while 24 per cent do not attend any church. The percentage of men

bringing their families with them is greater than is the case with our foreign immigration.

Negroes have entered the trades organized by the whites in increasing numbers within the last two years. They show a disproportionate increase of arrests for petty offenses over the increase of arrests for graver crimes. There is a decided increase in drunkenness and the visitation of disorderly houses. The majority of arrests are from the age group of twenty to forty years. The infant mortality rate among the negroes is very high in Pittsburgh. During the first seven months of 1917 the death-rate among negroes in the city was 48 per cent greater than the birth-rate. The negroes are more exposed to disease than the whites because of their lower social, industrial, educational, and moral status. The existence of a community problem is manifest and calls for a better social and economic adjustment of the life of the negro to northern industrial centers. Abraham Epstein, Publication of School of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, 1918. G. E. H.

A Comprehensive Immigration Policy and Program. The large immigration of peoples which is expected after the war to this country will cause an extremely difficult problem of Americanization. Therefore it will be necessary to check the inflow of vast numbers who maintain allegiance to foreign governments and to promote education of aliens residing permanently in America in order that they may acquire American ideas and ideals and speedily become American citizens. A comprehensive immigration legislation is needed in order to conserve American institutions, labor, and friendly relations with other nations. The basis for it will be: regulation of immigration according to the capacity of each race already in the United States; protection of the American standard of living, institutions, and national unity; protection of the aliens by the federal government. This policy should be based on justice, good-will, and economic and political considerations. The proposals involved are: (1) regulation of the rate of immigration; (2) a federal bureau for registration of aliens; (3) a federal distribution bureau; (4) a federal bureau for the education of aliens; (5) congressional legislation for adequate protection of aliens; (6) amendment of naturalization laws.Sidney L. Gulick, The Scientific Monthly, March, 1918.

J. H.

The Real Effects of Civilization upon the Negro.-The attitude of the negro toward the laws, the moral and health standards of civilized society, enables us to see the progress he has made from the most primitive ideas and practices through contact with the most advanced of present-day civilizations. In fundamental character little modification has taken place in the negro by his change in habitat from the African forests to that of the more enlightened environment of America. The fundamental and more primitive animal feelings and characteristics have become little sublimated. His moral conceptions have not been raised above the primitive level. In "the District of Columbia, in 1912 and 1913, there were four times as many illegitimate births of colored as of white children, altho the colored population was only about one-half as large as the white." As a general rule his family ties are weak, seldom reaching the fine relations existing in the white world. "A large and increasing amount of negro criminality is manifested all over the country." It does not seem that education is lowering the death-rate of the negro, or else the education that he is receiving is fundamentally faulty. The birth-rate as compared with the death-rate is decreasing more rapidly so that the total increase of negro population is relatively lessening. The negro has made little progress if measured by the degree to which he has overcome his primitive tendencies and concepts. He is still dominated by sexual lusts, superstition, suspiciousness, and distrust, and has in no field reached the level of efficiency attained by the white man.-Robert Wilson, Journal of Sociologic Medicine, February, 1918. G. E. H.

Some Considerations Affecting the Replacement of Men by Women Workers.One of the most urgent problems of industry in war time is that of the replacement of men by women workers. Among the benefits resulting from the widening of women's employment the most striking is the breaking down of prejudices. Women have quickly responded to their opportunities and have proved their ability in work hitherto closed to them. Throughout the world women are entering new fields of technical

pursuits. In England 1,250,000 women are directly replacing men. "In Germany the number of women employed in metal trades alone in July, 1916, are reported to have been over 3,000,000.'" In France and in Italy the tendencies to replace men by women workers are growing with the same rapidity. In this country many promising fields are opening for women. Also their wages are rising. However, many evils result out of this new situation. Many occupations serve as a source of injury for women, such as lifting excessive weights, the manufacture of high explosives causing industrial poisoning; also night work and overwork causing overfatigue. Three essential safeguards are needed for girls and women entering upon men's occupations, namely: equal wages, additional legislation, and adequate medical supervision.— Josephine Goldmark, American Journal of Public Health, April, 1918.

S. P.

The Cripple and His Place in the Community.-For many generations the cripple has occupied a rather obscure place in the community and has not had sufficient chance to share equally in all opportunities offered to normal children and adults. Medical care has been given, but the individual behind the handicap has not been interpreted. Industrial accidents and infantile paralysis have increased the number, but now, because of the war, the care of the returned crippled soldier forces the community to immediate action. The question confronting us is what methods are applicable in his education. A recent survey in Cleveland gives us a different attitude concerning the possibilities. The industries and occupations were classified as a basis for suggestion as to what a handicapped person may do. The survey also demonstrated what the successful, normal cripples themselves want: (1) not to be confused with the begging type of cripple; (2) not to be forced into a special class; (3) an opportunity to be judged by what is left and not by what is gone; (4) to share equally in all chances offered to normal individuals.-Amy M. Hamburger, American Academy of Political and Social Science, May, 1918. F. O. D.

Juvenile Delinquency. During 1916 there were 1,161 children under sixteen years of age brought before the city justices of Manchester. This was an increase of 458 since 1913, the last complete pre-war year. One cause for delinquency is an emulation of "heroes" who have committed many offenses. Some have been made leaders of gangs just because they have been before the magistrates. The condition of tense suspense and anxiety that prevails in the homes whose fathers or elder sons are in the war finds its outlet on the part of the children by grouping themselves together for some action which often is unlawful. It is not "fair to attribute to any one amusement the cause for child delinquency. We should rather look to a multiple of causes. This combination may be summed up as follows, each factor serving as a contributing cause: the war spirit, the absence of father, the mother engaged in war work, uncertain conditions at home, the influence of cinemas, pernicious literature, lack of home instruction, want of protection and recreation, absence of religious essentials, and absence of suitable parental control." The cinema should be made beneficial. Organizations of various kinds, as the Boy Scouts, should serve to guide the boy's desire for an adequate outlet of his feeling and activity. Early marriages should be prohibited, for they only result in still more untrained children. Legislation will not solve the problem unless a good parental influence is developed which will give the child in the home a religious, social, and industrial training.-Robert Peacock, The Child, March, 1918. A. G.

The Newsboy's Morals. Most writers think that the service of a newsboy subjects him to bad moral influences. From one-half to three-fourths of the boys brought to the courts as delinquents come from among the newsboys, so some authorities say. It is doubtful whether newsboys are more delinquent than other boys, and this is especially true of the newsboys that attend school. They are prone to gamble, but usually are too busy to do so. Many smoke. "Forty-eight per cent of the boys do not use profanity, 12.5 per cent use it habitually, 33 per cent use it occasionally, and 6.3 per cent only under great provocation." Only four or five out of more than a thousand admitted the use of liquor. Begging is not a common practice among the newsboys of Seattle. Other forms of dishonesty, as "no change," 'short change," etc., prevail to some extent. "The juvenile police department affirms

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