Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/734

 7i8 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Ex-Prisoners' Rescue Home. We have received from Mr. Taneaki Hara the Eighth Annual Report of his work done in the way of protecting and assisting criminals who have completed their terms of service in prison. He began his labors in this line of work in 1897, when so many prisoners, released on account of the death of the empress dowager, were wandering about Tokyo without work or friends. Something of what has been accomplished may be seen from the following statistics taken out of his report :

Total number of prisoners taken in: 653 (613 men and 40 women). Crimes committed :

Burglary 528

Killing or wounding 44

Incendiarism 34

Counterfeiting 4

Gambling 8

Prostitution 35

Degree of offense :

First offense 203

Second offense 163

Third to fifth offense 160

Fifth to tenth offense 50

Tenth to twentieth offense 64

Scores of offenses (women) 12

More than hundredth offense (women) i

Results of protection :

Men Women Total

1. Under watch-care 38 9 47

2. Living in Tokyo 153 7 160

3. Living in the country 177 6 183

4- Dead 55 ... 55

5. Whereabouts unknown 103 5 108

6. Ran away 34 7 41

7. Committed crimes after leaving the home .... 53 6 59

Total 613 40 653

If Nos. 5, 6, 7 be considered failures, they amount to only 30 per cent., so that 70 per cent, are saved. Among those who are living either in Tokyo or in country districts, 235 are married and have 121 children.

The main office of Mr. Hara's establishment has been removed to govern- ment land in Moto Yanagiwara Machi, Kanda District, Tokyo, and here the women are kept. The men have been put into temporary quarters in Izumi Cho, Kanda District, though some of them are boarding with their employers. The main building was erected by men who had been protected in the establishment and are now engaged in lawful employments in Tokyo. They included carpenters, bricklayers and many other kinds of workmen, who contributed gratuitously either materials or labor. In this way they showed, with great pleasure, their apprecia- tion of what had been done for them in their great need. FJ7 W. CLEMENT, in the Japan Evangelist, January, 1905.

The Heart of Mr. Spencer's Ethics. Many readers of his Autobiography must have asked : Was Spencer's mind supremely interested in evolution, in the mystery of creative power, or in the problem of human conduct conceived as man's conscious adaptation to the conditions of his existence? The answer here offered is that he regarded the formulation of a system of scientific ethics as the crown- ing achievement of intellectual effort. His Autobiography shows he was ready to make any sacrifice to square his acts with his system.

In a conversation I had with him in the summer of 1896, he expressed keen regret that he had misled readers with his term " the Unknowable." But he expressed a keener regret over the revival of militarism throughout the civilized world.

I am now satisfied that there was a conflict between his philosophy and his