Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/706

 690 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The American reader may possibly be impressed with the many source-references and figures cited by Professor Meyer. One would think him, in consequence of this, uncommonly well read and an expert of a high order. But this appearance is deceiving. In the illustrations which have been given above I have been able to show how superficially Professor Meyer has done his reading. Here I may add a few further examples, picked up at random. On pp. 26 and 27 he states that the Society of German Railway Administra- tions is a union of officials of the various German state railways! Everybody knows that this society embraces all German, Austria- Hungarian, and several neighboring state railways as well as private railways. On p. 148 he asserts that Posen is a port situated on the Oder near the Galician border. The statement, on p. 358, that a Prussian minister, angered over certain transportation difficulties, had recently uttered the words, "Commerce be hanged," is simply a fabrication of the author.

In closing this review, I will take up the following example, which is especially characteristic of the method of work of this author. On p. 158 Professor Meyer states:

And within the city limits of Berlin one can count, and smell, upward of 14,000 cows, kept there to supply the population with milk that the railways are not allowed to bring from a distance.

The assertion is repeated in the following words on p. 387, after the author has described how the railways supply New York with milk and cream:

And in the year of our Lord 1902 the firm of Von Bolle was stabling within the city of Berlin 14,000 milch cows, which supplied milk to 50,000 families. In addition, there were in the suburbs of Berlin hundreds of dairies, each one stabling a considerable number of milch cows.

In the last citation the source from which Meyer claims to have taken his statement is given. It is the Zeitung des Vereins deutscher Eisenbahnvenvaltungen of October 29, 1902. Now let us see what that paper says :

It is reported that the well-known dairy of Bolle in Berlin has a supply of 14,000 cows, which furnish daily about 85,000 liters of fresh milk to meet the demand of 50,000 households. Besides this, there are in the suburbs several hundred larger dairies which send their milk wagons into Berlin.

Up to this point Professor Meyer has copied with tolerable accuracy, except that he states as a fact that which his reference merely states as a report. But his reference continues :