Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/588

 574 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Mental Inheritance. — Galton estimates that England at her best falls two grades below the highest intellect of Athens and produces but one man of supreme eminence where the older culture produced 200. No principle of selec- tion for a long time has been sufficiently active to raise the level of mental endowment ; and social heritage has outstripped hereditary growth of mind. As regards mental endowment, we begin very much as our ancestors began. The way to approach the problem of mental endowment is through an analytical treatment of traits by a science of individual differences. Man will do well to examine and estimate the hereditary factor in his own mental development and seek to combine for his improvement the forces of nature and of nurture. — I. M. Bentley, Pop. Set. Month., November, 1909. E. S. B.

Sensational Journalism and the Remedy. — The public journal, no longer the advocate of truth, so furbishes its news as to make it a feeder to the more profitable feature — advertisements. It destroys (i) the artistic sense; (2) leads young people to think marriage a mere experiment; (3) destroys confidence in those vested in authority; (4) perverts the processes of thought and ascer- tainment of facts. Remedy: Subject the press to the same law of state which governs the other relations of men ; legally suppress scandal and falsehood in the newspaper in the way that adulteration in food is suppressed. — S. W. Penny- packer, No. Amer, Rev., November, 1909. E. S. B.

Local Option and After. — The "bare majority" principle is not capable of enforcement and must be rejected notwithstanding the efforts of the fanatical section of the temperance party. The lines of least resistance must be followed. License or no-license should be decided by a substantial majority. The bar should be abolished by law ; the number of licensed houses limited to one for every thousand inhabitants. A bare majority should decide on reducing the number of licensed houses and the daily period of selling hours. The licensed houses should be under disinterested management, the shareholders should be limited to s per cent, profits, the surplus should be disposed of so as to remove from the municipality all motives for encouraging the traffic. — R. E, MacNaughten, No. Amer. Rev., November, 1909. E. S. B.

Empires and Races. — Today the isolation of any race is impossible; the development of mechanical skill has brought about the interpenetration of nations. This contact results, within certain limits, in national fusion; but humanity is being organized on the basis of imperialisms, which tend to be racial. The future is likely to be marked by crises along the rough edges of racial difference, repugnance, and rivalry. In America, for instance, there is a permanently veiled hostility toward the blacks. But a hopeful movement is in progress to undermine racial differences and to do away with armaments — the effort to substitute reason and conciliation for passion and hatred. — N. H. Marshall, Contemporary Rev., September, 1909. E. S. B.

The American Ne^o and Race-blending. — The negro has contributed to the ancestry of the nations inhabiting the Mediterranean shores of Europe ; he can contribute to the American race in the following ways: (i) physical integ- rity on the whole; (2) good humor and altruistic tendencies; (3) musical voice; (4) mental abiHty if given a fair chance; (s) patriotism and an essen- tially American feeling. He doesn't ask for intermarriage, but for removal of all humiliating and injurious restrictions, a regime of justice and equal law, which so far has been denied him. — Frances Hoggan, Sociol. Rev., October, 1909- E. S. B.

Darwinism and Politics.— Side by side with the struggle for existence is co-operation for existence. Competition allows but a comparatively low level for all forms of life which are successful in surviving. The state will not defy natural laws, but will use them for the benefit of all, not simply of the fittest to exist. The newer politics will try to control the social forces through the collective mind of society in order to provide a fair opportunity for all mem-