Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/294

 28o THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

the able-bodied and unemployed poor, shall the authority dealing with them be local or national? — John E. Garst, Sociological Review, July, 1909. F. F.

Some Impediments to Woman Suffrage. — One would suppose the claims of the suffragist stirring enough to rouse the most indifferent, so what have really been the impediments to granting the suffrage to woman? The thorough reform in the laws regarding women is unquestionably one, the great respect which the American man has for the American woman, another. The American woman of today, the average woman is farther in advance of the average woman of other countries than in any other class of our population, and all this without the ballot. The tendency to ally with socialism, the emptiness of the promises to the wage-earner, the groundlessness of the cry, "Taxation without representation is tyranny," the fundamental truth that government is the work of the man because it depends on him alone for its very existence, the failure of suffrage in the four suffrage states — these are some of the impediments in the way of the woman suffragists. But the most important of all lies in the long- continued indifference of the great mass of the people. The American man feels that he is and must be the "protector" of his "women folk." He dimly feels that the demand of women for the ballot to "protect themselves" is incon- sistent with this protectorate. When men come to feel that they are no longer women's protectors, and when women look to the ballot rather than to men for protection, then woman-suffrage will be a necessity and public opinion will be clamoring for it. Until then the American public will be indifferent. — Mrs. Gilbert E. Jones, No. Am, Rev., August, 1909. F. F.

Domestic Science in the Schools and Colleges! — There is a large class of careless, apathetic, ambitionless women, who are satisfied with the treadmill way in which they manage their homes. There is another class of women — those who have studied the subject of housekeeping and realize that the health, energy, morals, habits, manners, appearance, success, and happiness of the members of the family depend on the home and deplore that so few women receive any training to fit themselves for the position of home-makers. The ill effects of ignorance of household art and science are found everywhere, in homes, boarding-houses, restaurants, and hotels. The effects of teaching house- hold art and science in the public schools and of inspiring high ideals of home- making, are incalcuable. The improvement of the home is one of the greatest moral reforms and the greatest social reform to be brought about. — Helen Sayr Gray, No. Am. Rev., August, 1909.

F. F.

Helpless Youths and Useless Men. — There are gross errors in the educa- tion of boys, such as the idea that all boys are alike mentally, physically, etc., and likewise that they should be trained along the same lines as girls, that they may be trained by ignorant women teachers with no knowledge of their special problems. These errors coming out in our educational curriculum, involving unsuitable subjects, taught by inefficient people, result in a large class of useless, because ill-taught, men. — William Lee Howard, Md., American Magazine, No- vember, 1908. F. F.

German Social Policy. — A system of social care has grown up in Germany which challenges the admiration of the world. Arising in a sense of national duty and of a mission to mankind, German idealism realized the dependence of it on economizing and augmenting the resources of soil, mines, and men. This they set to work at in a scientifically guided way. Thus the social policy of the German Empire means a system of regulations and positive legislation aiming at direct improvement in the physical, economic and cultural conditions of the masses ot the people. — C. R. Henderson, Chatauquan, November, 1908. F. F.

The Social Application of Eugenics. — Eugenics has two aims, the pro- duction of the best and the rearing of the best types, and each of these has a social as well as an individual aspect, and involves a study of environing con-