Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/497

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NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 483

very name were transformed. Stocker, like Godt, desired a popular movement, guided by the upper classes. This was a fatal defect. Fischer, a miner of Westphalia, suc- ceeded much better in his Association of Protestant Workmen. At first rather religious than political, it turned in 1888 to practical social reforms. Weber, a pastor, much increased its membership but showed later a conservative tendency which divided the party. Naumann became leader of the other division. The great social-evangelical congress in 1890 brought together Stocker and these men, with their adherents. The elements in the congress were too diverse for political action, but much was done in collecting information and planning work. At the present moment the movement Is in a grave crisis. Each branch has internal divisions, all are opposed by the great political parties, the ecclesiastic and official world. The opposition has become active persecution which is frightening away timid adherents. The leaders of the movement believe that the ranks will close before the enemy, and that success is possible if they become a fully organized, hard-working party with journals, and representatives in the state assemblies. The party has now a journal, " Die Hilfe." It will soon have a rep- resentative in the Reichstag, Naumann. J. PHILIP DE BARJEAU, Revue du Christian- isme Social, September 1 896.

Immigration and Crime. The criminal influence of the alien with its steady increase can be traced hack in the history of the United States for the last sixty years. From as early as 1820, when large immigration had just begun, shocking revelations of pauperism and crime were made, but belief in the cheap labor of the immigrant was so strong that the evil was not checked. It was shown before 1850 that the foreign population, comprising only one-eighth of the whole, furnished two thousand more paupers and a thousand more criminals than all the remaining seven-eighths of the people. The census of 1880, summarizing the relative proportions of the foreign population which were paupers and criminals as far back as 1850, shows that the foreigner in proportion to his numbers furnishes by far the greater part of pauperism and crime. The national census of 1890 shows the following proportions of prisoners among natives and foreigners :

Prisoners Ratio per 1,000,000 Native white, - 882

Foreign white, - 1,747 Negro, 3,250

Increase in the crime of homicide under the influence of foreigners is particularly apparent. The native white element of the population is 73.24 per cent, but it pro- duces only 44 per cent, of the homicides. SIDNKY G. FISHER, Appleton's Popular Science Monthly, September 1896.

The 111 and the Old in the Rural Mutual Aid Societies. For forty years mutual aid societies have operated in France with more or less success in caring for members when ill, pensioning the old, and defraying funeral expenses. Their field has become particularly broad in the rural communities because of depopulation of the middle-aged, industrially effective people by removal to cities or by emigration, leaving an abnormal proportion of the old and young. The most feasible plan of operating pensions has been found to be the payment of five francs annually between the ages of twenty-five and sixty-five years, which then yields a pension of seventy-five francs or of 146 francs at the age of seventy years, which with the usual amount of work that the old still do is sufficient for their subsistence. The sinking funds of these associa- tions have grown to considerable size, and thus assure their success against the strain of exceptional temporary demands. The reduction of expenses by large contracts is urged, especially permanent agreements with physicians for the care of the .-> Louis DE GoY, Revue Politique et Parliamfntairf, September 1896.

The Ethical Side of Socialism.- Sympath, | only motive of society.

The individual who finds it useful to join his efforts with those of others develops in himself sympathy. United action becomes regular in proportion to its utility, and it>