New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-01-06
A Study of the Defects OF Human
Society.

of Minnesota: former Presloehs -rauo an
al Conference of Charities ana CorreC-
lion. Vice President National Prison As
sociation: Commissioner TO VISIT Euro,
pean Institutions; Member Ml nnesS;oya
B BGs5,asn Of GnaTts state Board Of
Visitors! Founder and President ST
pani Associated Charities. vo., PIP
viii SSN The Macmillan Company
yyo arc all economists nowadays ana
sociologists Al we'll. The amount OF our
knowledge and understanding OF the
rroh,ems confronting us may vary vast
" We may be vague as 10 the proper
means to our ends-as 70 the ends them
solves even-but OF our seriousness Vi
rurrose there can he no doubt we al
realize our personal as we'll as our COZ
lectivo responsibility for the Ills ana
,,orsa If the society into which we nave
hoen horn. and which we aspire 10
change and improve so largely for the
benefit Of future generations. a most Oh
friends, philosophers and guides are at
our service in the press, In perloolcal
literature. and in books. other agencies
ere at work-the pulpit not the least or
the last of them-and II there be among
these many leaders enthusiasts whose
conviction is far greater than the meas
IRE Of their reliability or fitness; If there
he confusion Of counsels. Of theories and
"isrns" We are at least all inspired by
the same aspiration. the same hope, the
same confidence Of ultimate success
The next generation will find life far
more we'll worth living than we have
found it: there can he no doubt OF that.
Controlled evolution in the individual,
the family and the state has become our
finn expectation.
MIR. Smith'c hook is welcome contri-
button to the literature of this our pur-
pose. The subject is so large, so com
plicatcd. 50 far reaching in its ramifca-
tons that, no doubt, he has been forced
10 deal with II only in its general out
lines to make mere reference to much.
and 20 omit more. but. taken all In all,
the work is an admirably clear, cOmpre-
hensive and we'll balanced introduction
IL its chief features as they are to-day.
rs they have grown out of the past, and
as they clamor for solution. How that
consideration is given to present-day
methods Of amelioration-of social thera-
IeutiCs as il has evolved-with a con-
slant look ahead toward promised So
Cial prophylactcs. Mr.. Smith, thorough
j. equipped for the task by wide, prac-
tical experience and even wider reading.
IS sane op mist He doubts the cure
ais Of the moment, especially in the
field Of eugcnics; he would restrain the
hastv carrying into practice many I'M
stable theories. but he. too is certain OF
ultimate success.
The history of nature. he begins. has
been an unbroken series Of successes
from star dust TO civilized man, but at
tremendous cost. The waste of evolu-
ton has been appalling:
We do not know what wrecks of primer
dial worlds were hazarded before the solar
system found its place. Nor can any com
putation reckon the enormous cost of the
life that now covers the earth. 81. Through
the thousands of years Of history the hu
man race has developed from savage mer
iu small groups to the steady and cult
waited nations that are now entering int
possession Of the earth. OF the children
horn into the world since the beginning o
the race much more than half have dice
in infancy. Even nations have been bOrT
into history and have run their career
with apparently no 0ther final object thar
10 fertilize the soil upon which some new
social structure might be erected. This
would he gloomy enough were it not fol-
the fact that the higher We ascend II
lie the less extravasant IS the process
and the larger the number OF successes
The struggle Of the race toward civilization
has been painful and expensive, but thu
outstanding fact IS that the Ills Of life %
not increase while Hemedies for them ar
being continually discovered and applied
Social pathology. then, is the study o.
the failures, the defeats, the appalling
waste that have accompanied and re-
tarded and impaired social progress, and
II is the search for their causes. cure
and prevention hereafter. In setting
about his task, Mr.. Smith takes as hii
point Of departure the central doctrine
that both society and the individual are
dominated by psychiCal influences, thai
civilized man is bound together by those
processes which distinguish him from
the animal world. The importance o.
the individual depends upon the eff
fciency Of society. The individual il
successful to the extent that he is con
trOlled by social forces In this state
ment there is no denial of a certain
range Of individual responsibility. bu
the question Of personal responsibility I:
largely academic"
The social defeats dealt with here that
have retarded our social rise, ant
still retard us, are, first and foremost
the problems OF poverty-the book Is
written around civilizations depart.
ments of charities and correction. Mr.
Smith calls these problems the "pathol-
Ogy Of condition" Then follow the
problems Of crime, or the pathology OF
conduct" in their economic, psychology.
cal and curative aspects; the pathology
Of mind the insane and feeble-minded
the pathology Of the Senses" blindness
deafness; and other social diseases
drunkenness, suicide, the lOosening Of
family ties, immortality, illegitimacy-
which the author sharply distinguishes
from loose morals-immigrat alton and the
like. He then takes up social thera-
peutics, the cure and the prevention OF
social evils, Of crime and poverty; public
health and "ocial sanitation the condi-
tions Of maternity and childhood, the
eradication Of intemperance, the proven
ton Of insanity proper methods of edu-
cation, reform Of labor conditions etc.
u is impossible in general review OF
book so closely packed with facts and
deductions, the authors own and those
Of the leading authorities American and