Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/493

 NOTXS AND ABSTRACTS 479

le&i dependent on women for their home needs, and women have resources and interests which the simple life of the country denies them. Then, too, attachments formed on slight acquaintance of underlying traits of character are less likely to prove lasting. The number of marriages among women of higher education is less than among the uneducated. Of 1486 ex-students of the chief women's colleges of England only 208 married. The new economic opportunities for women of the middle class rival the domestic and social life which marriage offers, and also bring into the indus- trial market a class of competitors with whom the standard of wages is simply what is sufficient to support the individual. Among the working class marriages are not less frequent ; but the home is apt to be less comfortable on account of the tendency of women to go out to work. In the light of these facts it is held by many that the mono- gamic family is a relic of a decaying form of civilization. The foundations on which it was based are sapped. Against this, it may be said that woman was not free in monogamous and poly and rous families; that in the early monogamic family the husband belonged as much to the family as the family did to him ; and that the same is true today. There are ethical functions which the family performs for the children which cannot be taken over by the public nurse without loss. There is also a social advantage in making the parent responsible for the support of his own children. Under modern conditions this is more important than under primitive. The changes that are proceeding in the structure of society are capable of another interpretation than that given by the socialists. They are preparing the way for the reconstruction of the family on a higher plane of national and individual life. The fact that man's condition changed from status to contract rendered woman's subjection worse than it was before. It is this condition which is now being attacked. The claims of women are now for liberty personal and economical, equality political and legal, and intellectual, social, and aesthetic fraternity. Will the family i>e able to adapt itself to these demands ? Married women will doubtless be excluded from factories. The higher education of women will raise the standard of families. The enfranchisement of women will have the same effect, since it renders them less dependent upon marriage for social consideration. It is doubtful whether the education of women causes them to object to the responsibility of children, except in unlimited numbers. Thus the new family will be higher than the old. But it is not yet possible to state what general form the new structure will take. It may be taken for granted that the form will be monogamic. All the evidence indicates that the organism is able to transform itself to suit the new environment. J. H. MUIRHEAD, International Journal of Ethics, October 1896.

Latest Results of Workers' Accident Insurance in Austria. The Austrian compulsory insurance law passed in 1887 applies "to all employe's in factories, smelt- ing works, quarries, shipyards, places manufacturing or using explosives, establish- ments for carrying out building works, and all places where machinery is regularly used." In 1894 this law was extended to railway employes and other persons employed in internal transport. In 1894, 1,598,404 employe's came under the law. In case of permanent disablement the employe* receives 60 per cent, of his wages; in case of temporary disablement, 50 per cent. In case of death the widow gets 20 per cent., the children from 10 to 15 percent., of the annual wage; 1 2,267 persons were receiving annuities at the end of 1894, and the amount ^>rnt during that year was about 400,- ooo (,80,066). The insurance fund is borne nine-tenths l>y the employers and one- tenth by the employe's. It is in the hands of commissions (one for each of the seven ti into which the country is divided) composed of eighteen members, six repre- senting the employers, six the employe's, and six hcing appointed by the government. - The iMbor Gatette, September 1896.

The Standard Rate. Trade unions insist on payment according to some definite standard, which is always a minimum, never a maximum. There is never an objection to payment above union rates. Yet the existence of a minimum tends to produce a greater equality of rates. The r< >f a standard rate is only m

.it l.v I'.-ir^.ni M i:. with concessions on both sides. The workmen who could individu-