2 88 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



irLhuman situation which often develops therefrom have been prohibited 

 in Washington, Oregon and California. Washington and Oregon in 

 1912 and in 1914, respectively, abolished the death penalty. 



It was long ago realized that public schools are foundation stones 

 of efficient democracy. Their maintenace was one of the first exten- 

 sions of the government's functions. All the states now have them. 

 The modern social movement is concerned with perfecting the already 

 accepted system. The efficiency of the public school systems of the 

 forty-eight states was recently investigated by the Eussell Sage Founda- 

 tion and a comparative study published in 1912. The measurements of 

 efficiency were based on the following features; children in school, 

 school plant, expense per child, school days per child, school year, at- 

 tendance, expenditure and wealth, daily cost, high schools, salaries. 

 Eanked according to these standards, Washington stood first of all the 

 states, California fourth and Oregon fifteenth. California and Wash- 

 ington furnish free text-books to the public school children. 



In the new science of eugenics, California is one of six states to 

 require the sterilization of such unfit as the confirmed criminals, insane 

 and feeble-minded, who are in institutions. Unfortunately, there are 

 only a few of the feeble-minded confined to institutions. The Oregon 

 legislature passed in 1913 a sterilization measure which was, however, 

 referred to the people and defeated. The sterilization laws are similar 

 to the Indiana law, which provides for a rather novel and simple opera- 

 tion which prevents the conception of offspring and thus safeguards so- 

 ciety against the transmission of socially undesirable hereditary traits. 

 These laws have sometimes fared badly with the courts and the chang- 

 ing governors. Oregon requires that the applicant for a marriage li- 

 cense shall present a certificate from a physician stating that he is free 

 from- venereal disease. 



Oregon and Washington in 1914 voted in favor of prohibiting the 

 sale and manufacture of liquor, making the total number of prohibition 

 states fourteen. In the same year California voted on prohibition, but 

 the measure failed to carry. California, however, has local option. 



Immigration is a very serious matter for the Pacific coast states at 

 the present time. Yet little has been done to receive the possibly large 

 number of immigrants who may come and to prevent them from break- 

 ing wage scales, from congesting the cities and from developing bad 

 housing conditions. The trade unions of the Pacific coast have held a 

 convention on the subject. The most important step has been taken by 

 California in creating a commission on immigration and housing, with a 

 paid secretary and an annual budget. This commission has made a 

 survey showing the status of housing, the living conditions of labor 

 camps, and the methods of the various exploiters of immigrants. As a 

 result of this survey, it is recommended that the state tenement house 

 Act of 1911 be more strictly enforced, that the commission be given the 



