NOTES 471 



Impressions of the New Germany 



A meeting of the Sociological Society was held on Tuesday, October 26, 

 at Leplay House, 65, Belgrave Road, the offices of the Society, at which, 

 under title of " Impressions of the New Germany," Mr. Raymond Unwin 

 and Mr. A. G. Gardiner (who was in the chair) spoke on the post-war condition 

 of Germany, and two papers on the same subject by Mr. Huntly Carter and 

 Dr. Marcel Hardy (head of the Agricultural Department of the Reparation 

 Commission in Germany) were read. Summaries of papers by Mr. William 

 Mann (late organising secretary to the Society, and now assistant to Dr. Hardy 

 in Berlin) and Professor Foerster (of Munich) were also read. There was a 

 general consensus of opinion amongst both speakers and contributors of 

 papers that the militarist outlook in Germany was no longer dominant. 

 Mr. Unwin and Mr. Gardiner both spoke of the friendly feeling towards 

 England now shown by the Germans. Dr. Hardy dealt in his paper with 

 the good agricultural and economic conditions prevailing in Germany, and 

 particularly in Brandenburg. The latter point was criticised by Mr. Gardiner 

 in his subsequent speech. Both Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Huntley Carter (in 

 his paper) laid stress on the suffering caused, especially to the professional 

 and lower middle classes by the present economic pressure. The bad physical 

 condition of the children, as a result of under-feeding, and the excellent work 

 of the various relief organisations, American and British, were dwelt on by 

 Mr. Gardiner, and were brought up in the subsequent discussion, to which 

 contributions were made by workers in relief organisations. Mr. Unwin 

 suggested that valuable work might be done by the Sociological Society if 

 it could impartially examine the reactions evoked by the war and the Peace 

 Treaty in the late belligerents, with a view to lessening existing bitterness 

 caused by ignorance and prejudice, and thereby assisting the formation of 

 a lasting peace. 



The American National Research Council 



The Carnegie Corporation of New York some time ago made a gift of 

 $5,000,000 to the American National Research Council and National Academy 

 of Sciences, of which about one million dollars is to be devoted to the erection 

 of a building in Washington to serve as the home of these two closely related 

 scientific organisations. The remainder of the total sum is to serve as an 

 endowment for the maintenance of the Council. 



A site for the building, comprising an entire block of land near the present 

 Lincoln Memorial in Potomac Park, has just been obtained at a cost of 

 about $200,000 through gifts from about a score of generous individuals, 

 most of whom are business men associated with great industrial concerns 

 or generally interested in the promotion of American science. 



The National Research Council, which was organised during the war to 

 aid the Government in mobilising the scientific resources of America, both 

 in personnel and material, for attack on scientific problems connected with 

 America's war-time activities, has now been reorganised on a peace-time 

 basis as a permanent institution for the promotion of scientific research and 

 the dissemination of scientific information. It is not a government depart- 

 ment or bureau, but is privately supported and is wholly controlled by the 

 co-operating scientific men of the country. The major part of its membership 

 is composed of appointed representatives of about forty American major 

 scientific and technical societies. Dr. George E. Hale, director of the Mount 

 Wilson Solar Observatory, is the honorary chairman, and Dr. H. A. Bumstead, 

 Professor of Physics at Yale University, is the active chairman for the 

 present year. Dr. Vernon Kellogg, formerly of Stanford University, is the 

 permanent secretary. 



