Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/581

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 565

these short terms of imprisonment ; that is, to blunt the feelings concerning prisons. On the other hand, one must admit that many of the terms of imprison- ment are too long for educational results. If punishment works no improvement in three or four years, it will not, generally speaking, do so in a longer period. The only result of the lengthened terms of imprisonment is to make the criminal not dangerous to public safety. On the first offense many criminals are pushed deeper and deeper into crime by a brief period of confinement in company with criminals by heredity and profession. Therefore too short imprisonments at the beginnings of their careers cause too long imprisonments later. It is contrary to sound poli- tics to let loose criminals by birth. Here punishment must be completed by subse- quent measures of safety. Colonies for obligatory work should be established.

There is enough danger of contagion in our penitentiaries. There should be less use of imprisonment. Probation, the parole, and conditional pardon should, in the cases of those not criminal by birth, be used much more than heretofore.

Adults held for investigation, and children on all arrests, should be kept under separate roofs from those sheltering confirmed criminals. For the attention of recidivists and defectives there should be a specially trained staff.

Finally, in Prussia there is a mistake in the dualism of administration. The division between the ministry of justice and the ministry of the interior brings untoward results. The prisons are too large. The number of prisoners in each should be limited to five hundred, so that the director can become acquainted with each individual.

In conclusion, however, we should say that Krohne is right in declaring that too much is expected from punishment. VON ROHDEN, Zeitschrift fur Social- u-issenschaft, October, 1904. H. E. F.

American Charities in German Eyes. Dr. Emil Munsterberg, president of the department of public charities of Berlin, has given an account of his impres- sions of American methods to the readers of Charities, preliminary to a report in his own magazine, Zeitschrift fur das Armenwesen.

Dr. Munsterberg did not cease during his visit to speak with wonder of the emulsion of charity and politics which he found in every city under the name of public relief administration. " You must work earnestly against this," he said. " I cannot believe that such a condition of affairs can stand against public opinion, and it is for you to create this public opinion and take the departments of charities, tenements, and health as much out of politics as you have the department of education." Some difficulty was experienced in understanding why the men who devote not only money, but knowledge and devotion as well, to charitable and social work are not the heads of the different departments of the public administration.

The accurate and accessible records kept by co-operating organized charities in this country were warmly commended, as were also the knowledge and devotion of the officers of these societies, which, although often almost without formal affiliation, nevertheless co-operate effectively through the personal agreement and understanding of their leaders.

The sums spent for outdoor relief by the public organization of charity seem very small compared with the sums distributed by German poor-boards. Private charitable organizations supplement the failing public work, and in many cases distribute large sums annually. The total expenditure for public and private charities in the United States seems insufficient, when compared with the total for Germany. But several widely varying conditions must affect this impression. The people of Germany are more accustomed to receiving help of varying kinds than are Americans, and, furthermore, the preventive measures taken by private societies in the United States and their effort to give work to all who need it (a thing more possible in America than in older countries) are leading factors which must be considered in making a comparison. The spirit of self-support is stimulated also by the work of the social settlements in America.

Dr. Munsterberg expresses himself as having " formed a strong impression that the charge of utilitarianism, which is so frequently applied to American insti- tutions, must be withheld in the field of charities and social work ; indeed, that, on the other hand, we are discussing a work and a spirit of unlimited idealism." Charities, November 12, 1904. E. B. W.