But in that which concerns the correctionnelle recidivist, this measure of qualified clemency, of intelligent indulgence, has produced in France the most happy results. In 1892, in the cases of 17,881 persons receiving the benefit of the conditional reprieve, there were 665 revocations; or, to express it otherwise, the relapses into crime amounted to 3.6 per cent. In 1899, in the cases of 28,497 persons receiving the conditional reprieve, there were 1,831 revocations. The percentage of relapses had fallen to 1.4 per cent. Formerly the juvenile offenders were sent to prison for a short term and returned only to augment crime.

The collective conscience is generally scandalized by the impunity of the culpables, but how does it happen that it accepts with manifest sympathy these halfacquittals which in reality enable 98 or 99 per cent. of the persons concerned to remain unpunished? It is because, if materially these half-acquittals do not differ from real acquittals, they nevertheless are spiritual condemnations, and that is the essential fact. "The true penalty, as the true government, being public opinion, that which is important, from the point of view of social defense, is much less the execution of the penalty than the judicial announcement." The social need to which criminal justice responds is not to render blow for blow, evil for evil, but to pronounce official condemnation upon the offender. The number of months in prison or amount of fine serves above all to measure the gravity of the censure. In case the penalty is never executed it would still conserve its metric value, that would not be indifferent. "But in case of the conditional reprieve it is something more. It is a writ of execution under condition, and this penalty upon paper is like fiduciary money which loses nothing of its exchange value when it is convertible into gold. Let us add that tribunals elevate to a much higher level the penalties that they pronounce with the help of the reprieve than they would be able to do without it. The law of 1892 has therefore effectively remedied the abuse of the short terms and at the same time has placed in fuller light the whole subjective nature and moral foundation of penal repression."-G. TARDE, "La loi du sursis conditionnel et ses effets en France," in Bulletin de l'Union Internationale de Droit Pénal, Vol. X, No. 2, p. 299.

J. D.

The Importance to be Attributed in the Criminal Law to the Psychic Elements of Crime in Comparison with its Material Consequences. It is important to distinguish between the different ends the penal law proposes. In the first place to defend society against the hurtful activity of a delinquent is the question. For this end it is necessary to apply the most appropriate measures, to paralyze the delinquent's anti-social activity, or better, to transform it into a social activity. The determination of proper measures to secure this result will depend evidently on an exact knowledge of the psychical constitution of the delinquent.

M. Garraud insisted that the criminal should be punished for what he had done and not for what he was. If the punishment should be determined by the character of the criminal, he must be treated for what he is, and not for what he had done.

Nevertheless, the psychic factor to be taken into consideration cannot be of one exclusive kind. Account must be taken, on the one hand, of the fact that the social defense is not carried on solely for repressive ends and only against the delinquent, and, on the other hand, of the fact that criminal justice is executed in all peculiarities of social conditions.

The social defense should be not only repressive, but also preventive. In regard to the defensive function, the measures applied to the delinquent will have an intimidating character. One certain thing cannot be mistaken; that in our day societies are defended against crime only by intimidation.

Penal law in order to obtain its entire efficacy must in its application obtain the complete adhesion of public opinion, or, if one wishes, the social conscience. If the masses do not adhere to the penalties proposed by the penal law, the law will be used to deprive the delinquents of a chastisement which is repugnant. Inversely, if society, moved by a crime, does not obtain satisfaction, it will make an application of private justice. There should be a complete concord between the decisions of criminal justice and social conscience.-M. GAUCHLER, in Bulletin de l'Union Internationale de Droit Pénal, Vol. X. A. B.

Suicides in the United States.-Statistics of suicides obtained from newspaper reports for the period 1897-1901, embracing 29,344 cases, mostly in the New England states, show results in part as follows: The ratio of male to female suicides is 31⁄2 to I. The most popular age for suicide is from thirty to forty. Slightly more married than single people of both sexes commit suicide. Single, widowed, and divorced women commit more suicide than men in like situations.

As to method, shooting comes first and poison second. Most women prefer poison. Usually women employ methods which do not mutilate the body. At the age of seventy they prefer drowning.

The cause of suicide in most cases is said to be despondency, but often other causes lie hidden behind this word. Next to despondency come, in order, business loss, ill-health, insanity, disappointed love, domestic trouble, etc. Women are more likely to commit suicide from grief, disappointed love, domestic trouble, or ill-health than men. Few women commit suicide from business loss. Females commit suicide at an earlier age than males, this is because the former develop earlier. Sufferers from business loss, mostly males, prefer shooting; boys disappointed in love also prefer this method as more dramatic. The despondent prefer poison. Those who have lost friends or relatives expire by gas or hanging. Most suicides happen on Monday: Sunday comes in for second choice. From 9 P. M. to 12 P.M. is the favorite time of the day. Shooting is pretty evenly distributed throughout the day, but suicides from ill-health and insanity usually come early in the morning, while those from disappointed love and family trouble come late in the evening. Drowning and hanging are most common in the afternoon.-WILLIAM B. BAILEY, in Yale Review, May, 1903. J. D.

Anthropology and the History of Religion.-That religion has come to be studied historically, that the study of it has been made a part of a philosophic discipline, that it is considered a chapter in universal history-these are new and significant facts for religion itself and indicate a marked change in attitude toward that field of thought and activity. Religion is now subjected to a scientific method of study. One result of this new method is the modification of the so-called Comtean classification of religion into fetishism, or animism, or naturalism, and polytheism, and monotheism. These three-fetishism, polytheism, and monotheism-do not represent, according to our view, successive stages in the organization of cults and the construction of dogma; they do not express types of practice and belief nicely separated and distinct, but forms of religion in which a given element receives one value in one form and another value in another form; for example, the doctrine of the Trinity is historically derive from polytheism. Another result of this method is that not one form of religion, bud elements from all religions—in fact, elements common to all-command our assent.t This study has been made along three great lines: (1) by way of archeology and philology: (2) by way of a critical examination of the sacred literatures, documents, and monuments of the great religions; (3) by way of anthropology. The third division takes account of the ethnographic and the prehistoric archæological body of facts, that is, the reconstruction of primitive societies which preceded the age of written or inscribed monuments. The contributions by these several ways of approach promise to be confirmatory and indicate a great gain in rationality for religious activity, and give added significance to the fact of religion.— MAURICE VERNES, "Histoire des religions et anthropologie" in Revue de l'école d'anthropologie de Paris, May, 1903.

T. J. R.

The Victory of Protectionism in Switzerland.-The federal chambers had adopted, according to the law passed October 10, 1902, a new customs tariff which was the triumph of the protectionist school. But as, in accordance with the federal constitution, it sufficed that 30,000 electors demand the referendum in order that the law be submitted to popular vote, they divined that the free-traders would look well after their interest in the campaign. They had very little trouble in securing the 30,000 signatures, and January 10 they announced triumphantly that they had received 110,564 adherents. At the head of the movement were the signatures of the towns of Basel, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Glarus, and Zurich. The free-traders had good reason to combat the new tariff, as may be seen from a comparison of the tariff of 1891 with

that of 1902. The referendum was fixed for March 15, and on that day the people decided in favor of the new tariff by a vote of 330,366 against 222,668. The day after the vote a deputy wrote us from Berne: "The protectionists have persuaded the citizens that the new tariff was a necessary measure to safeguard our exports. For my part, I do not believe it, as, for the most part, protectionism is an economic and political principle. But others voted for the tariff because Switzerald could not remain free-trade when all the states of Europe were protectionist. And you, dear economist, what did you do?" I replied: "The new tariff will increase the price of living; it will prevent strangers from taking up their residence in Switzerland; it is doubtful that it favors exportation, but it is certain that it will prevent useful importations. It is a prohibitive rather than a protective tariff. I voted against it."—A. BÉCHAUX, "La victoire du protectionisme en Suisse," in La réforme sociale.

Betting and Gambling.—If betting and gambling (which may be considered as equivalent to a series of bets) have these two elements in them: (1) the issue upon which one stakes is uncertain; (2) one backs one's opinion, stands to win or lose as one's opinion proves correct or false - if these are the elements in betting, life, strife, and play may all be considered in a measure betting. The uncertainty in the great decisions of life, and the impossibility of escaping the consequences of the choice, need but to be mentioned to be seen as possessing the essentials of the bet. Likewise competition, whether in the academy, in politics, in business, or in civil service, as clearly contains the common elements mentioned above.

But it is in what we have called play that betting and gambling are most commonly thought to be practiced, and it is in this activity, the narrower use of the term, that it is most often cried against. It is impossible to separate sport from business or business from sport in our complex systems. Stock exchanges and ball games are not purely business or purely sport. The ethical quality of betting can be judged only by estimating its effect upon character and upon society. Here, too, the result is difficult of determination. It may not be too radical to say, however, that gambling in business is not legitimate business; it is only a parasite, it leads to no increase in utility, is anti-economic and anti-social. Again, in aiming at his own success, a man when betting for the purpose of making money is always aiming at another's failure; and this attitude is certainly immoral. It certainly is difficult to pronounce off hand upon the morality of betting when the desire of gain is not the leading motive. But an amusement which requires an extraneous stimulus of a small stake to keep it alive is apt to tend more and more to rely on this adventitious issue, and thus to pass by insensible degrees into the "gamble," in which gain is, if not the sole, at any rate a dominating, motive.-W. R. SORLEY, "Betting and Gambling," in International Journal of Ethics, July, 1903.

T. J. R.

Reform Program of German Dwellings and Settlements. A general improvement of dwellings and settlement relations is a pressing necessity for the great mass of the people of Germany, as well among the well-to-do as among the poorer classes, but especially among the latter. This necessity is not confined to those who dwell in the cities, but includes also those who dwell in the country, and not only in the case of the industries, trades, and related callings, but also those on farms, in the forests, and engaged in related activities. The reform concerns itself not only with the improvement of dwellings, but also, and principally, with the improvement of the relations of settlements. This comprehensive reform has to deal with the entire range of local questions, especially the premises of dwellings and the causes of grievance arising in local politics, and these not only here and there, but everywhere. It has to deal with the great manifold of misunderstandings and their causes, to apply a great mass of different rules, and presents itself to its task as to a great whole intrinsically united, but made up of diverse parts.-- DR. K. v. MANGOLDT, "Ein Reformprogramm für die Wohnungs- und Ansiedlungsfrage in Deutschland,” in Archiv für soziale Gesetzgebung und Statistik, Vol. XVIII, 1903. A. D. S.

THE AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

VOLUME IX

NOVEMBER, 1903

NUMBER 3

THE SWEAT-SHOP IN SUMMER.'

THE exploration of fields of industrial labor by those who from circumstances belong outside of the manual laboring class has become so common that one feels constrained to apologize to the long-suffering public for thrusting upon it still another "experience." The only excuse for this, as for many another, is the hope that it may rouse to thought and action some people who have heretofore been apathetic or listless, and this time in regard to a vigorous relic of an earlier industrial system-the sweat-shop.

From the time of Paul Göhre and Frau Dr. Minna WettsteinAdelt3 to Walter Wycoff, many educated people have been actively interested in the hardships of some phases of industry, and from time to time have thrown light upon actual conditions by experiencing the toil. Others again, in a dilettante fashion, have gone down and mixed with the so-called dregs of society long enough to focus a figurative kodak on little groups of workers here and there, for the purpose of ekeing out "copy." To the serious student of society such work is valueless, to the general reader it may have a morbid sort of interest, and to the toiler it is an insult; whereas an honest portrayal of the conditions under which the people work may be of inestimable value Photographs of Chicago sweaters furnished by courtesy of the Chicago Ameri

can.

2 Three Months in a Workshop (1895). 332 Monate Fabrik-Arbeiterin (1897).

The Workers (1898).

to all. To the student, the philanthropist, and the legislator it suggests a rational ground for constructive action; to the general public it may serve to awaken a sense of personal responsibility; while to the toiler himself it may mean hope in the future.

It is inevitable that the mighty changes constantly taking place in modern industry should push to oppression some who can but poorly stand the strain. The responsibility is not theirs; circumstances and the consumer are to blame. Then let us, as consumers, accept the dictum of fate and conduct ourselves accordingly. Duty may lead me to endure the hardships of the worker in the interests of amelioration; she just as surely leads others to assist in lifting the burden when once it has been pointed out.

The field of investigation included in my present task is difficult of delimitation, owing to the widely differing conceptions in men's minds; but in this study I use the term "sweat-shop" as synonymous with "tenement-house workshop," the same in which it is used by factory inspectors in their reports. The term itself appeared in England during the troublous times of 1847-48, when the working people were in the direst straits and commenced taking work home for a mere pittance rather than sit quietly awaiting starvation. "In England and America alike. the sweater is simply a sub-contractor who, at home or in small workshops, undertakes to do work which he in turn sublets to other contractors, or has done under his own eyes." An inquiry into the sweating system conducted by a committee of the House of Lords in 1888-90 defined sweating as "no particular method of remuneration, no particular form of industrial organization, but certain conditions of employment, viz., unusually low rates of wages, excessive hours of labor, and unsanitary work-places."

I

The work of which I am to speak was undertaken in all seriousness with the hope that it might throw some light upon the evolution of the ready-made clothing industry, and thus incidentally aid the Consumers' League in its crusade against sweated garments, and in this way to awaken in the minds of buyers an appreciation of the danger lurking near them, when they unthinkHELEN CAMPBELL, Prisoners of Poverty Abroad, p. 34.