710 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
institution outside the family itself. Mr. ami .V : have done much to supply
this need. In the association of boys ami girls not one instance of improper conduct has been observed. The c cm is being adopted as rapidly as possible, and
two buildings are provided for. (8) Another woman of refinement, who would teach the children to set a higher value upon neat clothing, etc., would have a fuither ele- vating effect upon their cha . acters. (9) The evils of the republic, while at times serious, are to be ascribed in part to lack of funds ; in part to the fact that Mr. George himself, in looking chiefly at the more important matters of the inner life of the chil- dren, has at tunes neglected things that seemed to him of minor importance. Hut some so-called evils are no ev'ls at all simply appearances made necessary by the method. (10) That Mr. George's plan is pedagogically sound and should receive a fair trial.
The Place of the Political and Social Sciences in Modern Education.-
The function of education has been rapidly passing in this century from private to state management, and as a result education has necessarily undergone a change both in methods, in spirit, and in point of view. How has this affected the relationship of the social sciences to education and the training for citizenship in the modern free states ? 1 propose this thesis in answer : That the political and social sciences must be used for purposes of education in all its stages, from the university to the kindergarten.
Both the natural and the social sciences have had a hard fight to gain a footing beside the aristocracy of the classics, but it is now being recognized that the study of the external world about us is not only valuable as a means of intellectual discipline, but that no education can be well rounded, complete, or in harmony with actual life conditions which does not, from the beginning, systematically study the world about us. This is especially necessary in a political society such as the United States. Ancient Greece, modern England, and Germany, though constitutionally governed, yet act upon the general theory that there is a certain class in the communities set apart by heredity, wealth, or social position to hold the controlling influence in the political acts of the society.
\Ve have thrown that theory overboard entirely. We act on the theory that every man perhaps soon every woman is not only honest and patriotic, but capable of forming an opinion upon the complex political problems of today. This government cannot succeed unless the individual has some training for his destiny. It must be done also to create an interest in public affairs. It must be done in the lower grades and high schools, as well as the colleges, for few of the masses enter the high school even, very few the college ; yet they are voters. These studies also will, perhaps, be found equal or superior to mathematics and the classics as mental discipline ; and they are vastly superior to the classics in fitting men to understand and adjust themselves to the world they live in. It is a hopeful sign that some of the universities are planning departments of politics and of commerce, placing them at last upon an equality with law and medicine. E. J. JAMES, Annals American Academy of Political and Social Science, January, 1898.
The Bearing; of the Doctrine of Selection upon the Social Problem. Adam Smith felt in 1776 that it was necessary, in view of the feeling among the upper classes, to adduce arguments to show that the improvement in circumstances of the lower ranks of the people need not be regarded as a disadvantage or an inconven- ience to society. It is unnecessary to point out the great contrast which ihis incident illustrates in the public sentiment of the two centuries, the eighteenth and nineteenth. The "fellow feeling" now existing among men does much to substantiate the claim that the problem of well-being is one which belongs peculiarly to the present time. The discontent of the masses with their lot, whether well or ill-founded, it is not our purpose to inquire; but it is receiving sympathy and attention by the intellectual and better-to-do classes as never before; and it may be worth while to ask what consid- erations should determine our attitude towards the social problem. The law of selec- tion is not indeed the only, nor even the main, determinant of one's attitude towards God or man. The application of the principles of the " survival of the fittest " is per-
