10 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



conclusions. Thus, more than half of the house- 

 holds studied were making savings ; the majority 

 of them had comfortable homes, substantial food, 

 and decent attire ; in hardly a single instance was 

 the mother of the family employed in any work 

 outside of her house; while, on the contrary, the 

 labor of the younger members contributed largely 

 to the receipts. 



Geography is not less interested than statis- 

 tics in developing the method of social research. 

 Nothing could show more clearly than does the 

 monograph the preponderant influence on the 

 social constitution of a race of the extent of wild 

 land at its disposal, and the amount of spontane- 

 ous products offered by its territory. For the 

 author of " Les Ouvriers Europeens " these two 

 elements, the importance of which is shown by 

 figures in the family budgets, are decisive with 

 respect to the organization of the family, the in- 

 stitution of property, the labor-market, and emi- 

 gration. Hence it is to be desired that the at- 

 tention of travelers be directed toward a method- 

 ical observation of social facts, so as constantly 

 to test and to apply to new territories the results 

 of prior researches; we thus meet one of the 

 most urgent needs of our time. In England, and 

 also in the United States, vigorous social-science 

 associations are already concerning themselves 

 with important researches, and by their publica- 

 tions and annual meetings are making the people 

 familiar with economic questions. In France, 

 the Societe d'Ecoiiomie Politique and the Societe 

 d'Economie Sociale combine their efforts for a 

 common object, but they enjoy neither the same 

 means nor the same publicity as similar bodies 

 in England and the United States. 



IV. Application of this Metiiod to the 

 Study op Oriental Workmen. — Inasmuch as the 

 new edition of Le Play's work offers for criticism 

 only monographies of Eastern countries, it were 

 as yet premature to discuss the general conclu- 

 sions to which the author of " Les Ouvriers Eu- 

 ropeens " has been led by his long-continued 

 studies. The scheme of social reform with which 

 Le Play's name is identified, though, according 

 to him, it is firmly based on strict observation 

 of facts, gives rise to considerable difference of 

 opinion among the best minds. Hence to defend 

 or to attack its principles would necessitate a 

 thoro'i I -ion. This task we cannot 



undertake, and must confine ourselves to a con- 

 sideration of the actual developments of the 

 method from the special point of view adopted 

 by the Academy of Sciences when it labored to 

 encourage the application of this system of in- 



vestigation. " Are the researches original ? Is 

 their object an important one ? Have facts been 

 carefully observed ; are they set forth methodi- 

 cally ; and, above all, are they stated fairly?" 

 These are the only considerations which we have 

 to take into account. If the method of investi- 

 gation is rigorous, and employed with scientific 

 impartiality, then the facts set down will carry 

 their own logical conclusions. Still, in order to 

 give a better idea of the value and interest of 

 these family monographies, it will be well to in- 

 dicate a few of the principal facts brought into 

 relief by the methodical study of the workmen 

 of the East. 



There exists, as one might say, a "home 

 (patrie) of virtue," or, in other words, an ensem- 

 ble of natural conditions, which make it easier 

 for a man to discharge his duty ; whereas, in 

 other regions, on the contrary, the manner of life 

 increases the difficulty of well-doing, and requires 

 of a man a higher and, in so far, a rarer degree 

 of virtue. For M. Le Play this " native land of 

 virtue " is the great steppe — the vast region of 

 grassy plains which constitutes Southern Russia, 

 and which extends far into Asia. Devoid of 

 trees, intersected by few streams, and they deep- 

 ly embanked ; exposed to all meteorological in- 

 fluences, this grassy region is hardly inhabitable 

 during the droughts of summer or the colds of 

 winter, with the exception of some few sheltered 

 districts lying at the foot of hills. In spring, 

 however, grasses and flowers grow there in 

 abundance, and horses and oxen, camels and 

 tents, disappear, buried in an ocean of verdure. 

 From time immemorial this has been the home 

 of nomads; the patriarchal life still subsists here 

 in Biblical majesty, and with a serene moral ele- 

 vation. The results yielded by the study of sun- 

 dry families living on the Siberian slope of the 

 Ural Mountains have been confirmed by inde- 

 pendent and competent authors, as by the Abbe 

 Hue in Mongolia, and by General Ylangaly in 

 Peking. The simplicity of manners, the cor- 

 rectness of relations, the haughtiness of charac- 

 ter, which characterize the nomads, have been 

 lauded by all the writers of ancient times — by 

 poets, geographers, and historians, from Homer to 

 Horace, from Herodotus to Strabo and Justin. 



"When we leave the grassy plains and travel 

 toward Europe through Paissia, we observe the 

 various phases of social transformation which 

 have been brought about in the "West by the 

 clearing of woodland and the development of sed- 

 entary life. M. Le Play selects for publication 

 five monographies of Russian families. First, we 



