The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-18

CANT insanity of these latter days, but he
looks back to the more comfortable and
less hectic America of his Doyhood-ano
lie looks back with regret. And the il
Illustrations! Well, some of Us may recog
niZe ouselveS.
causes AND CURES OF CRIME"
BY Thomas Speed Mosby, illustrated; c.
! v. Mosby company, publishers, St.
| Louis.
| Thomas Speed Mosby, in his book,
Causes and Cures Of Crime" has writ
ten a very thorough and comprehensive
york on a subject which he has studied
assiduously, and knows what he is talk
/ ing about
| In the preface to his book the author
says:
1.-The cost of crime IN the United States
now amounts to one-third the total cost
| OF the government, and the burden is
yearly increasing. Crime is seven times
more prevalent in this country now, in
| proportion to population, than it was
| 50 years ago. According to PROFESSOR
| Keilicott of Goucher college. one in every
| 80 persons in the United States is now
| defective or dependant, or both defective
| and dependent. These facts constitute
tho authors apology for this attempt to
! engage the public tattetion at this time,
|
when Blackstone write his commen-
tsries upon the common law of. England.
he gave as one of his erasons for so
doing desire to eptomize. in a manner.
and to popularize. an intricate but i'm
portant branch of learning, and at the
sa me time he expressed the belief that
every gentleman ought to be familiar
with the common law. For a much
greater reason, at this day, every man
and woman who feels an interest in civ
ilizat:on, who prefers racial improvement
to racial deterioration and degeneracy,
anc who would foster the upward growth
of society rather than witness its disin-
tegraton, must aspire to a degree Of
familiarity with the comparatively new
science of criminology.
Throughout the volume, the author has
sought to discover and portray the pres
ent status of scientific investigation upon
the various topics treated, and has quoted
freely fro mthe leading authorities, some
times with approval sometimes for the
purpose of recording firm dissent, but
always with profound respect for the
great minds who have preceded him in
this field of important research.
| The suppression of crime is not at all
a legal question 1t is rather a problem
for physicians and economists. This, II
is believed, will be fairly evident to all
> who peruse these pages We shall find
too, that the habits of life and thought
which makes 70 rhealt hof mind and
, body likewise initiate against crime; that
!, physical, social and moral diseases abide
in the same diathesis; that there is a
physical basis of morals. as we'll as a
, spiritual basi sof life; and that in the
, study of normal and abnormal man, we
. can no more consider him as an animal
without soul than as a purely mental
phenomenon without physiological
ba sis.
!. But the volume, perhaps, were best left
| to speak for itself. At least ii may In
terest, If it fail to instruct; and If i,
shall in anywise tend to promote the
advancement of learning by stimulating
!, a public interest in the all important
(, problems herein presented and discussed
: the authors task will not have been es
,, sayed in vain."
THE HUSBAND IN TEXAS"
By Ella Harley. Illustrated by Pauline
Harley. The Neale Publishing Company
Publishers New York.
You are invited to come and meet Son
ny. He Is adorable in fact, SO adorable
that not to know him is to miss TIL,
. NEST charming man-child that has eve
been introduced into literature. 1t II
safe to say that such a delectable littl
boy as Sonny. though his creation ha
, often been attempted. has never unit
now been put between the covers of ;
book.
Not that the reader of Miss Harley
1.-The Husband in Texas Is to imagin
: that Sonny is at all obtrusive. after tn,
fashion of the usual impossible child o
fiction. To the contrary. he simply fill
his place, which is to beautify life ant
; relieve the tenseness OF too deep grown
. up feeling This child, thanks to hi
. creators almost uncanny insight an,
I sympathy in the matter OF character
: ization, becomes as bewitching and De