494 



The Review of Reviews 



June 1, 1906. 



MORAL PROGRESS AND MORAL PERTURBATION. 



Xo less than three articles in the Mouthly Rcviav 

 iltal with the transition stage through which, in 

 some ways, we are passing. Mr. F. Carrel's " The 

 Moral Crisis," a plea for the study of " progressive 

 morals,'' and an appeal to the strong to deal wisely 

 and gently with the weak ; Dr. Saleeby's " Essential 

 Factor of Progress," and Mrs. Steel's contrast of the 

 Western and Eastern ideals of marriage. Dr. 

 Saleeby rules out of court the possibility of directly 

 improving the human stock by improving environ- 

 ment. Heredity alone must be reckoned with. I 

 believe I am not wrong in saying that Lombroso 

 believed that environment cojld and often did over- 

 ride heredity ; and that Dr. Bamardo — surely an ex- 

 cellent judge — inclined to the same view. Dr. 

 Saleeby's essential factor in progress is wise applica- 

 tion of what Mr. Francis Galton called '" stirpicul- 

 turCj" and what is oftener called " engenics " — good 

 breeding. He would preserve and care for the unfit, 

 and would nevertheless meet nature's requirements 

 by preventing them from reproducing their unfitness. 

 He is not very explicit, but I gather that he would 

 do this by interning them in asylums and hospitals. 

 For the benefit of the race he would also put certain 

 restrictions on marriage. Mrs. Steel's artic'.e, which 

 is very interesting, is really a plea, I think, for chil- 

 dren being more considered in Western marriages 

 than at present is often the case. In plain English, 

 It means more self-sacrifice on the part of women. 



WOMEN AS ELECTORS IN NEW ZEALAND. 



Writing from personal knowledge in the Empire 

 Reviau on " Woman Suffrage in New Zealand," Mrs. 

 Grossmann says no great experiment has ever passed 

 off more quietly or created less of an upheaval. On 

 the whole, the article is very correct, though many 

 might think the writer attributes too much to the 

 influence of women politicians. She rightly insists 

 on the fact that the ICew Zealand women never found 

 it necessary to interrupt speakers or to pay forced 

 visits to private houses. Men, moreover, were 

 the chief champions of their cause on pmblic plat- 

 forms. 



The pith of the article is contained in the closing 

 paragraph : — 



So far the franchise has not hroueht ahout anv revolu- 

 tion. It has helped to raise the position of women in New 

 Zealand, hut not to any remarkahle extent. It has in- 

 creased their interest in politics, and certainly promoted 

 the introduction of humanitarian legislation into the 

 House. It has not affected home-life perceptihly. and it 

 has not altered the character of women, ifany prophecies 

 of evil have proved false and many hopes have heen 

 disappointed. 



Politics have not heen raised to a hieher standard. But 

 the people are mor*^ effectually represented than ther had 

 .ever heen before. 'Women, without clian^ine tl'eir domestic 

 character, have become citizens equallv with men. and life 

 already has a lars-er outlook for them. But still in New 

 Zealand, as elsewhere, it is only the rarer excer'tional 

 women who devote themselves to rtolitics. Tlie great out- 

 standins: result of the enfranchisement has been the 

 strengthening of the popular party. 



LIFE IN A LABOUR COLLEGE. 



In the Independent Rn'ieiu Mr. E. Bruce Forrest, 

 a former resident of Ruskin Hall, now Ruskin Col- 

 lege, Oxford, describes his experience while there. 

 He took up his residence just before the public open- 

 ing of the hall in February, 1899. Somehow or 

 other the first three weeks were muddled through, 

 with strong emphasis on " muddled." Fifteen to 

 twenty-five inexperienced working men, in a rambling 

 old house, to keep that house in order — well, it 

 simply meant that it was not kept in order. 



After three weeks a Council of War was held, 

 which drew up a Constitution destined gradually to 

 evolve some sort of Order out of Chaos. To this 

 end it w-as ordained that household work should be 

 done, as much as possible, before breakfast and 

 after six o'clock dinner, thus leaving the middle of 

 every day free. After this, matters went on very 

 well. The house duties were divided into a maxi- 

 mum of twenty-five tasks, taken by all students in 

 ti:rn; and it was found that the three chief duties 

 of the daily " sweep and dust," " wash up," and the 

 weekly " scrub," when divided among a houseful, 

 and relegated to the early morning and evening, 

 need not seriously interfere with .st. dy. Many hand- 

 fuls of hard sense, however, seem to have been 1 

 •' cotched," as, for instance, that cooks are born, not ' 

 made. But on the whole the writer thinks that such 

 an experiment in communal housekeeping has much 

 vale. It gave a useful training, and much under- 

 standing, in many directions, of many problems, and 

 there was great charm attached to the free and easy, 

 somewhat Bohemian style of existence with a very 

 interesting, and at that time also very cosmopolitan, 

 bodv of men. 



Child of Villa and Child of Tenement. 



A curious result of what might be called con- 

 tradictoriness in a statistical inquiry is reported in 

 the ■' Review of Reviews for Australasia.'' The writer 

 says : — 



Some little time ago the Melbourne Board of Health insti- 

 gated an investi?3tion with the idea of discovering whether 

 children in industrial suburbs were handicapi^ed physically 

 in comparison with children in residential suhnrhs. Typical 

 groups were taken in different parts of Jfelbourne. the ages 

 being between 9 and 10 years, and between 12 and 13. In 

 each group, twelve of each sex were selected. Kight schools 

 were v'sited. and 384 children examined, and it was found 

 without doubt that boys in residential suburbs were 

 superior to industrial bovs of industrial suburbs, but that 

 the reverse condition obtained with girls. 



It is interesting to note that, comparing Great Britain 

 with Melbourne residential suburbs, the weight of the 

 boys between 12 and 13 vears of aee is 78.0 lbs., as ocmnared 

 with 76.7 in the Old Country: while tlie heieht in inches 

 is 56.2 in Me'b"urne as compared with 55.0 at Home. In the 

 indnstrial suburbs in Melbourne the weieht was 73 8 lbs. 

 and the height 52.2 inches. In the girls' class the indnstrial 

 suburbs of Melbourne showed 77.1 lbs. as against 76 4 in 

 Great Britain, and 56.1 inches as against 55.7 in Great 

 Britain, while the residential suburbs gave 75,1 lbs. and 55.8 

 inches. 



It will be observed that both in weight and in 

 height the Australian beat.s the Britisher. 



