C CIRRENT LITERATURE.
METHODS OF SOCIAL ADVANCE.
Methods of Social Advance. Edited by C. S. Loch. (Macmillan and Co. 3s. 6d. net.)—This book consists of a set of papers by various authors, four of which, to our mind the most interesting, are by the editor himself, Mr. C. S. Loch, the secretary of the Charity Organisation Society. In the chapter headed "Distress and its Prevention" Mr. Loch makes many practical suggestions for the amelioration of the condition of the London poor. Suggestions from such a source are worthy of the most serious consideration. The object of such social reforms as he would like to see is to "make and keep the people competent." One source, he says, of lifelong weakness, physical and moral, is incompetence in rearing children. " At children's hospitals by far the larger part of the disease and sickness for which aid is sought is avoidable." A poor London mother often does not know "the simple facts that above all in a crowded town are necessary to the rearing of children." If we ought to educate the people according to their real needs, " should not education in social habit form a chief part of our school teaching ? " The next thing Mr. Loch desires is " play- grounds for both boys and girls." To obtain such in London is, of course, more than difficult, but "municipal authorities not in- frequently make clearances in central districts under ' Dwellings Acts. " Could not the cleared spaces be used " in part as open spaces and playgrounds," instead of being immediately built over ? and " in the ever increasing suburbs of our large towns why should not at least two acres be provided as playground for every new school ? " Physical and military drill is, Mr. Loch declares, a powerful means of preventing distress, and he urges the Government to put before the country some well-considered proposal for the disciplining of the people as citizen soldiers. "This would check hooliganism, and it would do more. It would give men and boys a larger conception of duty and new ideas as to the use of means, would harden them physi- cally, and make them cleaner and more temperate, more adaptive and self-reliant." Mr. Loch would like also to see a reform in the Poor Law, and speaks of a period of ",laborious and wholesome detention" for those loafers who live at present alternately in and out of the workhouse. Finally, he asks "whether a State Board of Charities modelled to suit English needs would not help us in the better supervision of charities, and possibly in such problems as the treatment of inebriates, the permanent care of the feeble-minded, and in other ways." Space forbids us to do more than mention some of the other articles in this volume. Mr. Rider Haggard contributes a striking paper on "Agriculture and the Unemployed Question"; "Charitable Action in Phthisical Cases," by E. E. Mudd, Almoner of St. George's Hospital, is full of useful practical advice; and Mr. Urwick's "A School of Sociology " is well calculated to arouse interest in " a new science."
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