New-York tribune., 1900-04-28

Bushnell
favo, pp. XIV iSL Longmans, Green co.
This hook the first in the American Citizen
Series gives good ground for expecting from
the series important contributions TO the sub
iects of which il is to treat The volumes are,
as the editor says. to give systematic outline
in which general divisions and relations shall
be studied and the criteria for solving them
shall be pointed out" But even more valuable
is the service they expected TO perform in
stimulating further inquiry. They are indeed
to he used apparently textbooks. and as a
basis for such study. rather than as furnishing
in themselves complete discussions This sug-
gestive quality is everywhere apparent In the
present volume 1t is, in fact, what the author
calls it, outline" TO be filled in by the stu
dents whose course it will direct, and is so COM
posed as 10 lend itself easily to classroom use.
DR.. Wright is well known from his work
United States Commissioner of Labor and pre-
viousy Commissioner in the State of Massa-
chusetts. He has shown himself be a scien-
tihc. accurate and impartial student of the
actual conditions of human society. This is the
line in which economic and sociological studies
being pursued more and more as the vast
complexity and difficulty of the subject bet
ter understood The human element that
tiers into the various problems confronting the
latter day student is that must be under
stood from study and observation 1t is not
that can be generazed about and theoriZed
upon from priori deductions the way the
closet philosopher supposes humanity might,
could would should behave under set of
imagined conditions. Real conditions and the
actual facts Of human conduct under them
the present subjects of study. Hence statistics,
the proper use of them, and the careful observa-
ton, recording and comparison of what is actu-
ally going on in the world, the material
with which the sociologist has to do Dr.
Wright introduces his readers to the most ap-
proved methods of working in them. Most of
the book may be described as a guide to show
the student what of facts he needs to COM
mand, where TO get them, and in general the
most useful methods Of employing them. 1t is
divided into sections THE Basis of Practical
Sociology" Units of Social Organism" "Ques-
nons Of Population Questions of Family"
''The Labor System" Social Well Being 1.-THE
Defence Of Society and Remedies" At the
head Of each Of the several chapters under these
divisions is photography of the most accessi-
bic and useful books and articles on the sub
ject to be discussed, in which perhaps may be
found one Of the most vauabl features Of the
whole work Most of DR.. Wright's discussions
being in outline. he seldom touches upon con-
uoVerslal questions He gets nearest them in
ms discussions of the various problems of city
life, such rapid transit and the municipaliza-
tion Of street railways; also his remarks upon
strikes and lockouts. AS to the congestion of
cities, speaking of New-York, he says:
i study Of the statistics throws great light
upon the supposed congestion of nopuIation in
the slums. In New-York the increase in the
conSested wards fand for this purpose all the
wards south of Fourteenth-st have been taken1
was in the twenty years from 1870 TO 1890 but
6l,lIs. or less than a tenth. while the increase
Tor the whole city for the twenty years was
oio.to9, or over six-tenths. Certainly during
the twenty year; there has been no perceptible
increase of population in the congested terri
tory described
similar examination of the conditions in
Philadelphia and Boston leads to the conclusion
that
These facts certainly remove all apprehension
as TO the increase of the slum population 1t is
perfectly reasonable conclusion that the popll-
latlon OF such districts cannot increase, and
that while there is great setting OF people
toward cities, they are found as rule
among the suburban population, in healthy san
itary districts; and that whatever influx there
lis to the slum localities is entirely offset by the
people outgoing from such districts.
The conditions of slum life in his opinion are
not so appalling as they often painted; their
inhabitants are quite free from sickness as
those of other localities while as wage receivers
their earnings equal to those of persons liv-
ing in better condition. The best advice he can
give in the premises is for "an arbitrary con-
version Of alleys and slum districts into broad
business avenues though the difficulty lies in
the fact that lin the slum districts of great
cities there are residents of the highest respecta-
biity living in their houses who don't want
10 move. In the main, Dr. Wright speaks with
authority, Yet with tolerance and a breadth of
view that are truly scientific. The book has
moreover. a certain upft in its tendency that
the most vigorously scientific in this depart
ment Of human inquiry would be sorry to do
without.
THE WIDE ITOPJ