Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/491

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS.

CONDUCTED BY J. D. FORREST, A. T. FREEMAN, AND H. A. MILLIS.

Growth of the French Canadian Race in America. The hypothesis of Malthus was not justified by the facts at his disposal. He was unable to discover a standard rate of increase of population. The French Canadians present all the con- ditions necessary for accurate observation. Regular enumerations of the people have been made ever since the English conquest, and before that time sixteen enumerations were made and parish registers were carefully kept. Since 1759 the French Canadians have lived in isolation, yet in a country where the largest expansion was possible. The Canadian censuses enumerate the French Canadians separately, whether found in Quebec or in the other provinces; and also differentiate them from the Acadian French. The United States census of 1890 gives the French Canadians and those whose parents were of that race now in the States. Allowing for Acadian French, we find in 1890 about 500,000 French Canadians in the United States. In 1891 there were 1,304,745 in Canada, making a total of 1,804,795. In 1765 there were 69,810 French in Canada. The resulting rate of increase per cent, per decade from 1765 to 1890-1 is 29.7, which gives the result that the French Canadian population has doubled itself every 27 years. Malthus accepted as his standard a doubling every 25 years. But the coincidence is purely accidental. The number of children born in a French Canadian family averages twelve, but the average size of a family in 1891 was 5.5, which was but little above the average for all Canada. The excessive death rate is due to neglect because of the large number of children, to excess of food, improper food, etc., but not to the counteracting causes given by Malthus vice and poverty. The period covered by these statistics is 125 years of uninterrupted growth in peace and prosperity. The population studied is homogeneous and does not tend to mix with others. All the conditions necessary for securing the standard rate of increase are found in them as in no other race. JOHN DAVIDSON, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, September 1896.

Primitive Democracy in British Trade-Unionism. Trade unionists had to construct an administration able to perform its functions, yet fundamentally dependent on the continuous assent of the bulk of its members. Democracy was the only possible basis of association. In the early unions there was rapid rotation in office, and all mat- ters were decided by vote of the members. The exigencies of warfare with employers caused the direction of affairs to pass into the hands of a responsible committee, self- constituted or representative. When the unions expanded, instead of a representative assembly, the referendum was used, and officers were elected by direct vote of the whole body. When national organizations were formed, the members in one town were charged with responsibility of conducting the current business of the whole society. When the secretary became a salaried officer, he was chosen by the whole organization, and soon became the only connecting link between the scattered branches. He soon became a very important and relatively permanent officer ; and as he became better qualified for his place, the manual workers who composed the executive com- mittee could exercise little control over his actions. The only check upon the salaried officials was by written constitution. When delegate meetings were held the delegates were simply to express the instructions of their unions, and were in no sense repre- sentatives. Later, for economy, the referendum superseded the delegate mer Along with the referendum, the initiative of unions was developed. The result was a wild rush of propositions and a tendency towards the disintegration of the societies.

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