Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/125

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NOTES AND ABSTRACTS
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publish a " white list " of retail mercantile houses which should be patronized by members. The league has a definite standard of wages, hours, and conditions of a "fair house." This standard has not been altered, but the number of names on the list has increased from eight in 1891 to forty in 1898. The work has been taken up by many other cities in New York. In 1897 consumers' leagues began work in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Chicago, and in January, 1898, the Massachusetts League was established. Although consumers' leagues are necessary, yet improvements in the conditions of wage-earners should, where possible, be secured by their own associated action, " ecause such action develops the moral and intellectual nature of these who take part in it, and because advantages gained by self-effort are better appreciated and more lasting than those conferred in consequence of the exertions of others." The Retail Clerks' Protective Association attempts this, and should therefore be encouraged. — Mrs. Charles Russell Lowell, Publications of the Christian Social Union, No. 46.

The Real Causes of the Indastrial and Colonial Development of England. — At the beginning of the last century- Latin peoples exhibited more enterprise than the Anglo-Saxon. The supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon today is not to be exclusively explained by the constitution of society, particularly that of the family. The beginnings of England's greatness are to be traced in the rapid series of mechanical inventions of the last century in textile and iron industries. England's geographical position, moreover, protected her from continental troubles ; her coal mines furnished magnificent forces to work the steam engine, newly invented, and her situation forced her attention upon ocean commerce. Most of all, the principle of private initiative, "self-help," has made England great. The meddling of government and over-centralization, the refusal of proper authority to local colonial representatives, have mined France's imperial ambitions. She must follow the principles that have made England great, including the right of free testamentary bequest. — Urban Guerin, " Des causes réelles du d[éveloppement industriel," La Réforms socialle, May 28, 1899.

Anglo-Saxon Methods à propos of the Spanish-American War. — It is too often assumed that the Anglo-Saxons are a superior race. Latin peoples, however, discovered, or first explored, America, India, Australia, and the Cape of Good Hope. The Anglo-Saxons have won their way by a continuous course of perfidy, greed, and rapine ; violating treaties, and imposing upon weaker cations, America has done the same in her actions toward the Indians and Mexico, and now toward Spain. The Latin peoples are a brave and energetic people ; but there is an element of nobility and generosity in their natures that prevents the highest success. We must acknowledge the energy, perseverance, and practical sense of the Anglo-Saxons. We admire their spirit of self-reliance and the greatness of their success : but we must not forget that, in spite of the grandeur of the spectacle, their successes have been obtained by means which a just and Christian people cannot approve, far less follow as an example. — {{sc|Hubert-Vallerorx, "Procédés anglo-saxons à propos de la gurre hispano-americaine."

Oversaving and the Unemployed. — Underconsumption is not the only cause of unemployment. Sometimes it is the absence of one requisite of production, as a result of war or drought, for example, which causes a cessation of industry. Moreover. any catastrophe which affects the prosperity and purchasing power of a foreign country may render useless some part of the producing power. "No doubt the evil effects of unemployment may be intensified by bad social arrangements, but unemployment is not necessarily a mark of disease in a community. And, on the other hand, though full employment maybe an index of full consumption, that consumption may be badly distributed." A community in which one class were slaves, or had only their labor. "might be in a thoroughly unsatisfactory condition, and yet there might be in it full employment, and full, though badly distributed, consumption." Though inequalities of wealth are not necessarily a direct cause of under-consumption, they are likely to bring about unemployment indirectly by facilitating saying. If the requirements of consumption are satisfied and consumption stands still, it is useless to save in order to increase production. Moreover, the attempt to make useless savings