Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/635

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS

621

" First and universal comes improved housing of the poor ; in quick succession follow the organization of labor, the eight-hour movement, play grounds and parks, improved schools and school laws, municipal reforms, persuasion of the poor to have smaller families, trade schools, public baths, the introduction of poetry into the lives of the poor, income tax, coffee houses, cooking and sewing obligatory in public schools, regeneration of the upper classes, consumers' league, the inculcation of thrift, free silver, municipalization of railways, lighting, etc.; temperance reform, very low in the list; sweat-shop regulations, and, finally, mentioned by one writer only direct religious work." Publications of the Church Social Union, September 15, 1896.

M.

The Concentration of Wealth. In this article the author shows the distribu- tion of wealth in Great Britain by the following statistics. They are based upon the returns given under the inheritance tax law for five years, beginning with 1890.

Class

Average wealth

Number

Population percentage

Aggregate wealth

Wealth percentage

I. No propertv. .

459.6Q4

C6.723

2. Under $500

$270. SO

03.369

11.521

$26,090,000

617

3. Under $1,500 4. $1,500 to $5,000. . . 5. $5,000 to $50,000. . 6. $50,000, $1,250,000. 7. Over $1,250,000

964.00 2,46l.OO 16,251.50 167,433.50 2,475.727.00

9M75 87,936 64,307 13,706 227

11.250 10.852

7-935 1.691 .028

87,900,000 216,400,000 1,045,070,000 2,294,845,000 561,990,000

2.077

5-"3 24.693 54.223 13.277

Totals and averages

$5,222.50

810,414

IOC.OOO

$4,232,295.000

100.000

To quote : " Over 56 percent, own nothing ; and if we add the first three classes together we have nearly 80 per cent, owning less than 3 per cent., and then a little over 20 per cent, owning over 97 per cent.; if we add the first four classes together, we have over 90 per cent, of the people owning less than 8 per cent, of the wealth of the country, and under 10 percent, owning 92 per cent.; and if we take the last t\\o classes, we find that less than one-fiftieth of the people own over two-thirds of the wealth ; and then look at that last class of millionaires, numbering less than three one-hundredths of I per cent., and yet owning over 13 per cent, of the wealth ! "

The statistics for Massachusetts (taken from the Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics) show that from 1879 to 1881, .08 of I per cent, of those who died during that period owned 24.17 per cent, of the wealth involved in the estates; .50 of I per cent., 26.48; 1.74 per cent., 21. 33; 6.80 per cent., 18.73 ; 12.76 per cent., 8.21 ; 9.12 per cent., 1.08 ; and that the remaining 69 per cent, owned nothing at all. Comparing these figures with those of 1829 to 1831 and 1859 to 1861, we find that the very poor are increasing in number, while their small posses- sions are growing smaller; that the very rich are increasing in number, and that their wealth is increasing still faster; and that the middle class is decreasing in number and decreasing still faster in its aggregate wealth. EI.TWKI ! l'"Mi KY, in .-/;<//, December 1896. M.

Postal Savings Banks. Kaith in the absolute solvency of the general govern- ment has created a demand for a postal savings department. Since there is about $700,000,000 hoarded, its deposit and circulation would be of general advantage. Within two years at least $1,000,000,000 would be deposited, enabling the government to bring the national i of citizens. Government would he made

morestable by the number of citizens who would make deposits in it^ own batiks. Postal my, and Switzerland, and in Germany there are many municipal savings banks.
 * -s banks have been introduced in all the leading countries except the United S