Cornell University Library 
 HN 80.N5E6 
 
 Problems of community life; an outline of 
 
 3 1924 013 896 661 
 
 Hutt (ffoUegc of AgncuUute 
 
 J^t (Cornell UniUErBity 
 aittjata. N. g. 
 
 Htbrarg 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013896661 
 
PROBLEMS 
 
 OF 
 
 COMMUNITY LIFE 
 
 Mn Outline of Bpplieb ^ociologp 
 
 BY 
 
 SEBA ELDRIDGE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
Copyright, 1915, 
 By THQMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The analysis of community life here pre- 
 sented was undertaken in the belief that work- 
 ing and living conditions in New York had 
 not received the systematic study requisite to 
 relatively complete knowledge and control of 
 them; and in the hope that it would serve as 
 an introduction to scientific, comprehensive 
 treatment of this character. 
 
 The outlines are primarily descriptive, but 
 they are to a degree critical and constructive 
 as well, while in some instances, as for exam- 
 ple in the study of "The Educational Aim," a 
 development of underlying theory has been of- 
 fered. Much in the outlines has little or no 
 value as suggestion or criticism, being no more 
 than enumeration of aspects of the subjects 
 dealt with that merit attention. It is believed, 
 however, that the study as a whole traces the 
 lines which our social, industrial and political 
 institutions are in their next phase of devel- 
 
iv Preface 
 
 opment destined to take. At any rate, if truly- 
 descriptive, it furnishes criteria by which to 
 appraise our community life, and carries very 
 definite implications for investigation, if not 
 for reform. The author has ventured to offer 
 suggestions for reforms only when the need 
 for such seemed clear. These, however, are 
 urged as demanded by the logic of the situa- 
 tions under analysis and not in any spirit of 
 pedantry or partisanship. 
 
 The ideal implied in this program of inves- 
 tigation and reform is that of humaneness 
 rather than of justice in social relationships. 
 The study is concerned with the life of the 
 present and not that of the far-off future, and 
 since the establishment of a just society in- 
 volves a more fundamental reconstruction 
 than that of a humane society, and social jus- 
 tice not being the sine qua non of life and op- 
 portunity to the individual that social humane- 
 ness is, social organization having this latter 
 aim is the goal set up. 
 
 The analysis has special reference to New 
 York, but it applies in its general principles to 
 other communities as well. The same sort of 
 treatment that is proposed for New York's so- 
 
Preface v 
 
 cial problems ought to be undertaken by every 
 industrial community in the land. 
 
 No attempt has been made to show in detaQ 
 what is being done to improve conditions in the 
 fields covered although it is recognized that 
 such effort in many fields is great and the re- 
 sults thereof most valuable and encouraging. 
 Attention is called, however, to the introduc- 
 tory outline "Social Reform in New York," 
 which attempts to classify New York's social 
 problems according to the attention given them 
 by reformers and the general public, and to the 
 outlines "Philanthropy and Social Reform" 
 and "Organization of the Municipal Govern- 
 ment," which together offer a program for the 
 better organization of reform activities in the 
 city. 
 
 Owing to the desirability of elaborating on 
 special problems, or of treatment from the lo- 
 cal standpoint, the grouping of topics is not 
 always strictly logical. This is particularly 
 true of the section "Reformation and Correc- 
 tion in New York" where "Vagrancy and 
 Mendicancy" and other special topics are 
 given individual outlines, and of the section 
 "Politics and Government in New York," 
 
vi Preface 
 
 where only topics of interest to New York 
 City are included. 
 
 Acknowledgment is made of obligations to 
 the large number of sociological workers in 
 New York and elsewhere who have con- 
 tributed in one way or another to our knowl- 
 edge and understanding of the problems of 
 community life. The author is especially in- 
 debted to Mr. James Jenkins, Jr., of Brook- 
 lyn, for assistance that has made it possible to 
 issue this work at the present time. 
 
 Seba Eldridqe. 
 
 New York, N. Y. 
 September, 1914. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION: 
 SOCIAL REFORM IN NEW YORK 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Social Reform in New York 1 
 
 I 
 
 LABOR CONDITIONS IN NEW YORK 
 
 The Standard of Living — The Cost of Living — Woman's 
 Economic Status — Unemployment — Provision for Sick- 
 ness — Compensation for Accidents — Economic Provi- 
 sion for Death — Provision for Old Age — Hours of 
 Labor — Protection of Life and Health of Industrial 
 Workers — Child Labor — Labor Conflicts — Idleness of 
 the Wealthy 9 
 
 II 
 
 THE HOUSING SITUATION IN NEW YORK 
 Housing Standards — Congestion of Population — Rents . . 37 
 
 III 
 
 A HEALTH PROGRAM FOR NEW YORK 
 
 Disease Prevention — The Application of Eugenics — Com- 
 municable Disease — The Inspection of Foods and 
 Other Articles of Consumption — Care of the Sick — 
 Education in Hygiene — Preventive Medicine — ^Medical 
 Research 47 
 
 vii 
 
viii Contents 
 
 IV 
 
 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE 
 EDUCATION IN NEW YORK 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Educational Aim — Ethical Culture — Vocational Train- 
 ing — Private Schools 66 
 
 LEISURE TIME EXPENDITURE IN 
 NEW YORK 
 
 The Leisure Time Problem — The Wage-Earner's Oppor- 
 tunities for Self-Improvement — Social Intercourse — 
 Outdoor Recreation — Commercial Amusements ... 77 
 
 VI 
 
 REFORMATION AND CORRECTION IN 
 NEW YORK 
 
 Eradication of the Causes of Crime and Vice — The Liquor 
 Problem — Vagrancy and Mendicancy — The Social 
 Evil — The Correctional System — Criminal Procedure 89 
 
 VII 
 
 PHILANTHROPY AND THE SOCIAL 
 PROBLEM IN NEW YORK 
 
 The Relief of Destitution — Care of Dependent Children — 
 Care and Training of the Handicapped — Care and 
 Prevention of Insanity and Feeble-Mindedness — 
 Philanthropy and Social Reform — Supervision of 
 Charitable Institutions Ill 
 
 VIII 
 
 THE PLANNING OF NEW YORK 
 
 The Street System— The Distribution of Traffic— The 
 Control of Public Utilities — Community Beautification 
 Through Public Regulation .... ... 133 
 
Contents ix 
 
 IX 
 
 SOCIAL FORCES IN NEW YORK 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Formation of Public Opinion — Civic Activity of the 
 Churches — The Local Immigration Policy .... 145 
 
 X 
 
 POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT IN NEW YORK 
 
 State Constitutional Law — State Law-Making Methods — 
 The State Administrative System — The Selection and 
 Control of Public Officials — Organization of the 
 Municipal Government — Political Parties — Neighbor- 
 hood Organization — The Revenue System — State Regu- 
 lation of Corporate Enterprises ....... 155 
 
INTRODUCTION: 
 SOCIAL REFORM IN NEW YORK 
 
Social Reform in New York 
 
 SOCIAL REFORM IN NEW YORK 
 
 Problems of community life receiving a fair 
 measure of consideration: 
 
 Low wages of working women ; 
 
 Reduction of unemployment; 
 
 Compensation for industrial accidents; 
 
 Economic provision for widowhood; 
 
 Physical conditions of labor, or protec- 
 tion of life and health of industrial 
 workers ; 
 
 Child labor; 
 
 Standards of tenement-house construction 
 and sanitation; 
 
 Congestion of population; 
 
 Prevention of procreation by the feeble- 
 minded, epileptic and degenerate; 
 
 Control of communicable disease; 
 
 Care of the sick in hospital and home; 
 
 Popular instruction in hygiene; 
 
 Pedagogical, administrative and fiscal as- 
 pects of public education; 
 
 Improvement of commercial amusements; 
 
 Treatment of inebriety; 
 
! Problems or Community Life 
 
 Suppression of vagrancy and mendi- 
 cancy; 
 
 Suppression of vice; 
 
 Outdoor relief; 
 
 Care of dependent children; 
 
 Care and prevention of insanity; 
 
 Transit provision; 
 
 Protection and assimilation of the immi- 
 grant ; 
 
 Organization of the church for social ser- 
 vice ; 
 
 Revision of the State constitution; 
 
 Improvement of the system of selection 
 and control of public officials and em- 
 ployees ; 
 
 Better organization of the municipal gov- 
 ernment ; 
 
 Readjustment of relations between State 
 and municipal governments ; 
 
 Neighborhood organization for social and 
 civic purposes ; 
 
 Taxation reform. 
 
 Problems receiving insufficient attention: 
 
 The low family income, or standard of 
 living; 
 
Social Reform in New York 5 
 
 High prices, or the cost of living ; 
 
 Excessive hours of labor ; 
 
 Labor conflicts, or relations between em- 
 ployer and employee; 
 
 High rents; 
 
 Sanitary inspection of foods and other 
 articles of consumption; 
 
 Medical research imder municipal aus- 
 pices ; 
 
 Vocational guidance and training of boys 
 and girls ; 
 
 Better provision and utilization of parks 
 and playgrounds; 
 
 Provision of good music and drama at 
 moderate prices; 
 
 Experiment in, and provision of facilities 
 for, new forms of social intercourse; 
 
 Improvement of penal institutions; 
 
 Reorganization of philanthropic and re- 
 form activities ; 
 
 Reconstruction of sections of the city un- 
 economical in layout; 
 
 Better organization of the law-making 
 power of the State; 
 
 Reconstruction of the State administra- 
 tive system; 
 
Problems or Community Life 
 
 Emancipation of State and municipal af- 
 fairs from the domination of national 
 politics. 
 
 Needs or problems comparatively neglected : 
 
 Economic provision for sickness, old age 
 and unemployment ; 
 
 Certain possibilities in prevention of pro- 
 creation by the unfit ; 
 
 Special training and employment of the 
 handicapped ; 
 
 Provision of substitutes for the saloon; 
 
 Reform of criminal procedure; 
 
 Supervision by outside authority of be- 
 nevolent institutions not in receipt of 
 public fxinds; 
 
 Reorganization of regular medical service 
 to shift emphasis from the treatment to 
 the prevention of disease ; 
 
 Systematic education of adults; 
 
 Systematic study and eradication of the 
 causes of crime and vice ; 
 
 Reservation of space in outlying sections 
 of the city for parks, playgrounds and 
 other public purposes ; 
 
Social Reform in New York 7 
 
 Regulation of the location of buildings of 
 the several classes ; 
 
 Regulation, for sesthetic considerations, of 
 the outward aspects of the environ- 
 ment. 
 
 Subjects requiring study for the definition 
 of needs and problems relating thereto : 
 
 Educational standards in private elemen- 
 tary schools; 
 
 Ethical training in the public schools ; 
 
 Corporate enterprise within the State; 
 
 Philanthropic foxmdations and endow- 
 ments ; 
 
 Mimicipal franchise policies. 
 
LABOR CONDITIONS IN NEW 
 YORK 
 
The Standard of Living 11 
 
 THE STANDARD OF LIVING 
 
 The "standard of living" — the scale of val- 
 ues in individual life effective under imposed 
 limitations. 
 
 Racial, religious, economic, social and indi- 
 vidual factors determining the standard. 
 
 Conditions influencing standards of living 
 in New York: 
 
 Wages and incomes; 
 Contingencies causing irregularity of in- 
 come; 
 Prices ; 
 
 Hours and conditions of labor; 
 Housing conditions; 
 The educational system ; 
 Facilities for the employment of leisure; 
 Marriage institutions ; 
 Social, class and individual ideals. 
 
 Deficiencies in New York standards : 
 Idleness and luxury among the rich; 
 Undernourishment, overcrowding, im- 
 proper recreation and inadequate edu- 
 cation of the poor; 
 
12 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Preventable disease; 
 Poor cultural development; 
 Abnormal sex life; 
 Unsatisfactory social relations. 
 
 Methods of elevating the low standards : 
 
 Increase of wealth production through a 
 better organization of industry; 
 
 Insistent preaching of the gospel of work, 
 for the benefit of the rich, supplemented 
 by the equalization of economic oppor- 
 tunity ; 
 
 Payment of a living wage to all industrial 
 workers and inclusive provision for un- 
 employment, sickness, accidents, old 
 age and death ; 
 
 Regulation of prices ; 
 
 Standardization of working conditions in 
 accordance with moral and sanitary de- 
 mands ; 
 
 Progressive elevation of standards of 
 tenement-house construction and sani- 
 tation ; 
 
 Improvement of commercial amusements 
 and more extensive recreational provis- 
 ion by the municipality; 
 
The Standard of Living 13 
 
 Reform of marriage institutions in con- 
 formity with sex demands and eugenic 
 principles ; 
 
 More general application of medical and 
 hygienic knowledge in the conservation 
 of physical vitality; 
 
 Changes in educational system requisite 
 to functional efficiency — direct and sys- 
 tematic moral instruction, vocational 
 guidance and training, etc. 
 
14 Problems of Community Life 
 
 THE COST OF LIVING 
 
 The increase or curtailment of production 
 relative to growth of population. 
 
 Changes in the proportion of the proceeds 
 of industry going to labor, capital and con- 
 sumer respectively. 
 
 Influence of the increased gold output on 
 these changes. 
 
 Influence of the protective tariff and other 
 trade restrictions. 
 
 Possibilities in greater output of wealth 
 through more efiicient organization of indus- 
 try — ^more economical marketing systems, vo- 
 cational training, reduction of unemployment, 
 inducement to useful service of those not 
 forced by economic necessity to labor, etc. 
 
 Possibilities in training for a better con- 
 sumption of wealth. 
 
 Methods of controlling prices : 
 
 Stabilization of the standard of value ; 
 
 The restoration of competition where mo- 
 nopolies have been established, or reg- 
 ulation of prices ; 
 
 Organization of the consumer. 
 
The Cost of Living 15 
 
 Phases of control coming within the sphere 
 of (a) private initiative, (b) State or muni- 
 cipal action, (c) the national government and 
 (d) international agreement. 
 
16 Problems of Community Life 
 
 WOMAN'S ECONOMIC STATUS 
 
 Factors differentiating the labor of woman 
 from that of the man : 
 
 Differences in the parental function; 
 
 Differences in mental and physical char- 
 acteristics ; 
 
 Woman's imperfect adaptation to mod- 
 ern industry, due to man's predomi- 
 nance in economic evolution; 
 
 Differences in status in family as an eco- 
 nomic unit. 
 
 Men's and women's wages in the United 
 States in the light of this analysis. 
 
 Industries employing and wages paid 
 women in New York. 
 
 Fluctuations in income caused by unem- 
 ployment and seasonal work. 
 
 Comparison of wages paid with the mini- 
 mum income required for maintenance of nor- 
 mal standards of living. 
 
 Deficiencies in the standard of living caused 
 by low wages: 
 
Woman's Economic Status 17 
 
 Undernourishment, inadequate clothing, 
 poor lodging, want of proper recrea- 
 tion, etc.; 
 
 Prostitution, as a means of supplement- 
 ing income; 
 
 Partial dependence on relatives. 
 
 Methods of elevating women's wages : 
 
 Increase of industrial efficiency through 
 vocational training and improvement 
 of the hours and conditions of labor; 
 
 Organization of women workers into pro- 
 tective unions; 
 
 Enforced payment of a living wage ; 
 
 Creation of public sentiment in favor of 
 the voluntary payment of living wages 
 by employers. 
 
 The more fundamental changes essential: 
 
 Equalization of economic advantages and 
 
 disadvantages due to differences in sex 
 
 function ; 
 Reorganization of and differentiation in 
 
 industry demanded by the new bi-sex- 
 
 ual basis thereof. 
 
18 Peobuems of Community Life 
 
 UNEMPLOYMENT 
 
 Nature and extent of unemployment. 
 
 Effect of unemployment on the standard of 
 living. 
 
 Present provision for this contingency in 
 the form of savings, benefit funds of labor 
 unions, insurance, etc. 
 
 Causes of unemployment: 
 
 Cyclical fluctuations in industry, financial 
 panics and business depressions; 
 
 Seasonal nature of industries; 
 
 Changes in trade processes and industrial 
 organization, e.g., introduction of new 
 machines, entrance of women into in- 
 dustry, etc.; 
 
 Strikes and lockouts ; 
 
 The immobility of labor. 
 
 Attempts at solving the problem of unem- 
 ployment : 
 
 The establishment of public works as re- 
 lief measures : the light on the present- 
 day problem afforded by these experi- 
 ments ; 
 
Unemployment 19 
 
 Work of commercial and philanthropic 
 agencies: their demonstrated inability 
 to cope with the problem; 
 
 State labor exchanges. 
 
 Outline of program for treatment of the 
 problem: 
 
 Stabilization of industrial development 
 through state regulation — guarantee of 
 currency and credits, co-ordination of 
 industries in respect of season, utiliza- 
 tion of the surplusage of labor through 
 the establishment of public works, etc. ; 
 
 Vocational guidance and training; 
 
 Mobilization of labor through interna- 
 tional control of immigration, the ad- 
 vertisement of industrial opportunities, 
 facilitation of transportation of labor 
 from section to section, etc.; 
 
 Establishment of local, national and inter- 
 national exchanges of labor; 
 
 Social insurance against unemployment; 
 
 Provision of special educational and rec- 
 reational advantages for the unem- 
 ployed. 
 
20 Problems of Community Life 
 
 PROVISION FOR SICKNESS 
 
 Nature and extent of illness among people 
 of different ages, sexes, occupations, etc., and 
 its pecuniary demands. Cost of medical and 
 nursing care, extra outlay for food and deli- 
 cacies, etc. 
 
 Present provision for this contingency: 
 
 Sick benefits of labor unions and other 
 organizations, commercial insurance, 
 etc.; 
 
 Continued payment of wages to sick em- 
 ployees ; 
 
 Free medical and nursing care in hos- 
 pital and home ; 
 
 Care of poor families in which there is 
 illness by hospital social service depart- 
 ments and relief societies. 
 
 Insufficiency of provision of the kinds men- 
 tioned and its results in family privation, in- 
 ferior medical care, exposure of the well to 
 communicable diseases, labor during the initial 
 stages of and before full recovery from illness, 
 etc. 
 
Provision foe Sickness 21 
 
 Methods of systematizing and extending 
 economic provision for sickness: 
 
 Extension "of social service work in hos- 
 pitals ; 
 
 Stimulation of public sentiment in opposi- 
 tion to the cessation of wages when em- 
 ployees become ill ; 
 
 Encouragement of greater provision by 
 wage-earners and others through exist- 
 ing facilities for the purpose ; 
 
 Compulsory state insurance ; 
 
 Provision of free medical care by the 
 state. 
 
22 Problems of Community Life 
 
 COMPENSATION FOR ACCIDENTS 
 
 Accidents causing death and disability in 
 New York classified according to (a) indus- 
 trial or non-industrial nature and (b) econ- 
 omic handicap caused. 
 
 Provision for the contingency of accident: 
 
 Indemnity under compensation and liabil- 
 ity laws ; 
 Accident insurance by the individual; 
 Savings, special employment, etc.; 
 Relief by charitable societies. 
 
 Comparison, for the various classes of acci- 
 dents, of provision made in these ways with 
 the loss of earning or income power. 
 
 Methods of eliminating or lessening the dis- 
 crepancy: 
 
 Inclusion within the operation of compen- 
 sation and liability laws of aU trades 
 hazardous to their members ; 
 
 Increase of rates of compensation to pro- 
 vide fully for handicaps recognized; 
 
 Better legal definition of responsibility 
 
Compensation for Accidents 23 
 
 and liability for non-industrial acci- 
 dents ; 
 Social insurance against accidents for 
 which the individual is responsible. 
 
 The possibilities in accident prevention 
 through preventive features of compensation 
 and liability laws. 
 
24 Problems of Community Life 
 
 ECONOMIC PROVISION FOR 
 DEATH 
 
 Effect on family of death of father, mother 
 or other member making economic contribu- 
 tion to family life ; the resulting hardship when 
 provision for this contingency is lacking. 
 
 Differences in situation corresponding to 
 dissimilar relation to family of the deceased 
 member, e.g., father, mother, child wage- 
 earner, etc. Desire of the widowed mother to 
 prevent break-up of her family and the diffi- 
 culty of success when the burden of support 
 falls upon her. 
 
 Provision for this contingency: 
 
 Savings, insurance, compensation for in- 
 dustrial accidents, charitable relief, 
 etc.; 
 
 Institutions and foster-homes for or- 
 phaned children and homes for the aged 
 and infirm; 
 
 Remarriage of the widowed parent. 
 
Economic Provision for Death 25 
 
 Effect on standard of living when the fam- 
 ily remains intact: 
 
 Quality of food, clothing, living quarters, 
 
 etc.; 
 Education of children; 
 Ethical relations in family. 
 
 Methods of improving and extending this 
 provision : 
 
 Encouragement of more satisfactory pro- 
 vision by those liable to bereavement, 
 through existing facilities for the pur- 
 pose; 
 
 Pension of widowed mothers by state or 
 philanthropy; 
 
 Substitution of placing-out for institu- 
 tional care of orphaned children ; 
 
 Establishment of old-age pensions. 
 
26 Problems of Community Life 
 
 PROVISION FOR OLD AGE 
 
 Number of aged people in New York and 
 their classification according to age, economic 
 class and family relations. 
 
 Support of the aged 
 
 On their own savings, or property income; 
 By relatives; 
 In institutions. 
 
 Possibility of affording the aged occupation 
 and means of partial self-support through the 
 provision of special employment. 
 
 Feasibility of greater provision for old age 
 during the wage-earning period. 
 
 Institutional care and its defects; regard in 
 which it is held by the aged themselves; ways 
 of making it more satisfactory. 
 
 Burdens of supporting the aged by children 
 or other relatives. 
 
 Old age pensions and their applicability to 
 New York. 
 
Hours of Labor 27 
 
 HOURS OF LABOR 
 
 Nature of industries with respect to period 
 of operation through day, week and year. 
 
 (a) Length of working day, (b) night work 
 and (c) hour irregularity of employees. 
 Weekly and yearly vacations ; rest during pe- 
 riods of unemployment. 
 
 The hour fatigue limit in the different kinds 
 of labor ; value of rest periods during the day, 
 week, month (for women) and year. 
 
 Night work and the different physiological 
 effect from that of day work; possible short- 
 ening of working period demanded by it ; dan- 
 gers it offers to women and children workers. 
 
 Changes demanded in hours of labor in New 
 York: 
 
 Standardization of the working day and 
 week for the discontinuous and sea- 
 sonal industries; 
 
 Fixing of working day or uninterrupted- 
 working-period, and working-week 
 maxinrams ; 
 
28 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Prescription of daily, weekly, monthly 
 (for women) and yearly rest periods; 
 
 Restriction of night work by women and 
 children. 
 
Protection of Industrial Workers 29 
 
 PROTECTION OF LIFE AND 
 HEALTH OF INDUS- 
 TRIAL WORKERS 
 
 Specific safeguards necessary, in the vari- 
 ous classes of industrial establishments, to pro- 
 tection against fire. 
 
 Relation of heat and ventilation to health, 
 and heating and ventilating standards de- 
 manded in the interest of health. 
 
 Relation of light and illimiination to the 
 conservation of vision and character of natural 
 and artificial lighting requisite thereto. 
 
 Wash, toilet and rest facilities desirable. 
 
 Standards of accident prevention as deter- 
 mined by the moral and economic demand for 
 prevention and the cost of applying preventive 
 measures. Machinery safeguards, safety ap- 
 pliances on railways, and other preventive 
 measures requisite to the application of these 
 standards. 
 
 Occupational diseases: 
 
 Nature and extent; 
 
 Causes — dust, industrial poisons, gases 
 
30 Problems of Community Life 
 
 and fumes, infectious materials, and 
 speeding-up of machine and other oper- 
 ative processes; 
 Methods of prevention and minimization. 
 
 Factors requiring difference in standards of 
 protection for working women : 
 
 Mental and physical differences; 
 The child-bearing function and the neces- 
 sity of guarding it. 
 
 The special protection demanded: 
 
 Prohibition of employment in certain in- 
 dustries ; 
 
 Prohibition of employment before and 
 after childbirth ; 
 
 Provision of seats and rest-rooms in stores, 
 factories and other places of employ- 
 ment; 
 
 Prescription of monthly rest periods ; 
 
 Restriction of night work; 
 
 Higher age limit and other safeguards for 
 girl workers. 
 
 Reforms required in New York labor condi- 
 tions for the application of these measures. 
 
Child Laboe 31 
 
 CHILD LABOR 
 
 Nurture and environment upon which 
 health, industrial efficiency and good citizen- 
 ship are conditioned. 
 
 Propulsion toward early employment by 
 economic exigencies in the family, and by 
 short-sighted thrift on the part of parents due 
 to ignorance or disregard of children's claims. 
 
 Occupations of child workers in New York 
 and the moral and physical conditions sur- 
 rounding them; hours of labor; work in tene- 
 ment homes; street trades; night employment; 
 labor on farms and in industrial establish- 
 ments in rural sections of the State. 
 
 ChUd labor and compulsory education laws 
 of the State and their enforcement; scholar- 
 ships and other provision alleviate the econ- 
 omic hardships caused by the laws' operation. 
 
 Further protective legislation and relief pro- 
 vision needed: 
 
 Raising of minimum of education re- 
 quired before working papers can be se- 
 cured; 
 
32 Problems or Community Life 
 
 Readjustment of age limits; 
 
 Prohibitive and restrictive legislation for 
 occupations not covered by existing 
 laws, and redefinition of standards in 
 those now regulated; 
 
 Additional scholarship provision; 
 
 Instruction of parents in the physical and 
 educational needs of the child in their 
 relation to early employment. 
 
Labor Conflicts 33 
 
 LABOR CONFLICTS 
 
 Organization of labor and capital in New 
 York, by trades and industries : 
 
 Types of organization found and relation 
 thereof to national and international 
 organization ; 
 
 Trades and industries that are unor- 
 ganized. 
 
 Issues between capital and labor: 
 Union recognition; 
 Wages ; 
 Length of working day, and restriction 
 
 of and compensation for overtime; 
 Sanitary conditions. 
 
 Methods used by labor to enforce its de- 
 mands : 
 
 Amicable negotiations ; 
 
 Strikes ; 
 
 Boycotts. 
 
 Methods employed in strikes: 
 
 Picketing and intimidation of strike- 
 breakers ; 
 
34 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Violence to persons and property in the 
 
 service of the employer ; 
 Sympathetic strikes. 
 
 Methods used by employers in resisting 
 strikers' demands: 
 
 Use of police and militia in protecting 
 strikebreakers and maintaining order; 
 Prolonged resistance and reduction of 
 strikers to physical want. 
 
 Interest of the public in labor conflicts, both 
 in its capacity of consumer and as arbitrator. 
 
 The formation of public opinion on strike 
 issues. 
 
 Attempts on the part of state and of pub- 
 lic-spirited citizens to adjust differences be- 
 tween strike contestants. 
 
 Public policy with respect to strikes of State 
 and municipal employees. 
 
 Strikes in New York and their effect on 
 prices, wages, profits, working conditions, and 
 relations between employers and employees. 
 
 The present experiment in industrial man- 
 agement by joint boards of control. 
 
Idleness of the Wealthy 35 
 
 IDLENESS OF THE WEALTHY 
 
 Manner of employment of the wealthy in 
 New York; difference in the attitude of the 
 men and women toward useful labor; extent 
 of idleness among the wealthy of the two sexes. 
 
 The duty of work by all mentally and phys- 
 ically able adults. 
 
 Possibilities in elevating the general stand- 
 ard of life through the useful employment of 
 the idle and under-employed. 
 
 Engagement of the wealthy in business, 
 professional work, social service, etc., at the 
 present time. 
 
 Methods of inducing the idle to take their 
 part in the world's work: 
 
 Insistent preaching of the gospel of 
 work; 
 
 Provision of interesting and useful em- 
 ployment and exposition of the oppor- 
 tunities already existing; 
 
 Equalization of economic opportunity. 
 
II 
 
 THE HOUSING SITUATION IN 
 NEW YORK 
 
Housing Standards 39 
 
 HOUSING STANDARDS 
 
 Essentials of good housing: 
 
 Safety against fire; 
 
 Ample water supply and bathing and 
 
 toilet facilities; 
 Proper lighting, heating and ventilation; 
 Moral and eesthetic surroundings. 
 
 The regulation of tenement houses in New 
 York: 
 
 Requirements as to protection against 
 fire — provision of direct access from 
 apartments to fire escapes, and of 
 egress from hall to the roof; fireproof 
 encasement of bakeries in cellars; fire- 
 proof construction of tenements over 
 four stories in height with more than 
 two families to the floor; fireproof en- 
 casement of dumb-waiters; 
 
 Requirements as to water supply and 
 bathing and toilet facilities — provision 
 of toUets in each apartment in new 
 buildings and for each two families in 
 
40 Problems of Community Life 
 
 old buildings, and requirement that 
 they be kept clean; provision of run- 
 ning water in each apartment in new 
 buildings and on each floor in old build- 
 ings; requirement that plumbing be 
 exposed ; 
 
 Requirements as to lighting, heating and 
 ventilation — provision of window to 
 outer air in each room in new buildings 
 and of windows to lighted rooms, for 
 inadequately lighted, interior rooms in 
 old buildings ; minimum requirement of 
 air space per room occupant; specifica- 
 tion of minimum dimensions for courts 
 and yards furnishing light and air ; 
 
 Regulation of moral and aesthetic condi- 
 tions — ^imposition of heavy penalties 
 for prostitution in tenements; safe- 
 guard of privacy in the use of toilets, 
 etc. 
 
 Needed improvements in the regulation of 
 tenement houses: 
 
 Abolition of yard toilets for old buildings ; 
 
 Raise in minimum requirement of air 
 
 space for occupants of tenement quar- 
 
Housing Standards 41 
 
 ters; definition of the apartment, in- 
 stead of the room, as the unit of 
 occupancy, and other correlative meas- 
 ures to prevent overcrowding; require- 
 ment of larger window space in inade- 
 quately lighted, interior rooms in old 
 buildings; requirement of yards at the 
 rear of factory and loft buildings; 
 
 Prohibition of manufacturing in tene- 
 ments; creation of authority for regu- 
 lating on aesthetic grounds the design 
 of tenement houses; 
 
 Creation of authority for the vacation or 
 demolition of unsanitary buildings or 
 sections not improvable under technical 
 provisions of the law; 
 
 Establishment of co-operation between 
 builders and the Tenement House De- 
 partment in the development of build- 
 ing design enhancing of housing values ; 
 
 Education and placement of responsibil- 
 ity on tenement dwellers for the proper 
 care of facilities common to or affecting 
 other tenants ; 
 
 Extension of the scope of the tenement 
 
42 Problems of Community Life 
 
 house law to cover two-family and 
 rooming houses. 
 
 Other measures needed: 
 
 Provision of cheap rapid transit to out- 
 lying section of the city, in order to 
 make available a larger area for dwell- 
 ings; 
 
 Encouragement of erection of new and 
 improvement of old dwellings by light- 
 ening tax burdens on buildings ; 
 
 Establishment, through a zoning system, 
 of better geographical relations be- 
 tween dwellings and places of employ- 
 ment; 
 
 Promotion by the municipality of better 
 and cheaper housing through purchase 
 of cheap land and engagement in build- 
 ing enterprises; 
 
 Determination, through scientific inquiry, 
 of effects on health and character of 
 various types of housing, and establish- 
 ment therefrom of approvable types. 
 
Congestion of Population 43 
 
 CONGESTION OF POPULATION 
 
 Densities of population in the various resi- 
 dential and business sections of New York. 
 
 Exigencies caused by these densities in re- 
 spect of: 
 
 Vehicular and pedestrian use of streets; 
 Transit facilities; 
 Cleaning and repair of streets ; 
 Outdoor breathing spaces and play facili- 
 ties ; 
 Police protection; 
 Sanitation and hygiene. 
 
 Methods of relieving and preventing con- 
 gestion : 
 
 Stimulation of building on vacant lots 
 and in outlying sections of the city by 
 making it unprofitable to hold land out 
 of use ; 
 
 Limitation of height of buildings ; 
 
 •Prevention of room and apartment over- 
 crowding; 
 
44 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Provision of additional parks and play- 
 grounds ; 
 
 Transit development; 
 
 Distribution of traffic through establish- 
 ment of zones for buildings of the sev- 
 eral classes. 
 
Rents 45 
 
 RENTS 
 
 Rent as an item in family and individual 
 budgets, and as a factor in prices of commodi- 
 ties other than dwellings. 
 
 Influences determining the values of real 
 estate and the scale of rents : 
 
 Area and topography of available land; 
 Size and growth of population; 
 Transit provision ; 
 Nature and extensity of the speculation in 
 
 land ; 
 Types of building construction. 
 
 Ways of regulating rents : 
 
 Distribution of population and traffic 
 
 over a larger area; 
 Transit development; 
 Restraint of land speculation within 
 
 legitimate dimensions through an 
 
 adapted use of the taxing power; 
 Adoption of less expensive types of 
 
 building construction; 
 Organization of rentpayers for purposes 
 
 of protection. 
 
Ill 
 
 A HEALTH PROGRAM FOR 
 NEW YORK 
 
Disease Prevention 49 
 
 DISEASE PREVENTION 
 
 The prolongation of human life practicable 
 through a wider application of medicine and 
 hygiene. Decrease of suffering and elevation 
 of standard of living which would result there- 
 from. 
 
 Preventable diseases and premature deaths 
 due thereto; their classification according to 
 victim's age and earning capacity. 
 
 Methods of preventing disease and conserv- 
 ing physical vitality : 
 
 Prevention of reproduction by the men- 
 tally and physically unfit — feeble- 
 minded, epileptic, certain classes of 
 criminals, syphilitic, etc.; 
 
 Better control of communicable diseases 
 by public health authorities ; 
 
 Inspection of foods, drinks and drugs to 
 prevent adulteration and unsanitary 
 preparation ; 
 
 Improvement of labor and housing condi- 
 tions, including payment of living 
 wages ; 
 
50 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Proper care of the sick in hospital and 
 home, including frequent medical ex- 
 aminations for the detection and cor- 
 rection of tendencies toward disease; 
 
 Universal education in hygiene. 
 
 The application of these measures in New 
 York. 
 
The Application of Eugenics 51 
 
 THE APPLICATION OF 
 EUGENICS 
 
 Subnormal mental and physical characteris- 
 tics hereditable or transmissible by infection 
 through intercourse. 
 
 Results of such transmission in disease, de- 
 generacy and crime. 
 
 Prevention of reproduction by the unfit in 
 New York State: 
 
 Custodial care of feeble-minded women 
 during the child-bearing period; 
 
 Sterilization of certain classes of crim- 
 inals. 
 
 Additional measures proposed: 
 
 Requirement of health certificates as a 
 condition of marriage; 
 
 Prohibition of marriage of deaf-mute cou- 
 ples ; 
 
 Segregation or sterilization of all feeble- 
 minded adults during the procreative 
 period ; 
 
52 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Special protection of working women to 
 safeguard the child-bearing function; 
 
 A more extensive education in sex hy- 
 giene. 
 
Communicable Disease 53 
 
 COMMUNICABLE DISEASE 
 
 Cases of and fatalities from the several com- 
 municable diseases in New York. 
 
 The agencies of communication and ways of 
 making them inoperative. 
 
 Elements in the public control of com- 
 municable diseases: 
 
 Prohibition of entry of cases of contagion 
 by way of the port ; 
 
 Required reporting of communicable dis- 
 eases to health authorities ; 
 
 Enforced quarantine of cases of contagion 
 and disinfection of premises after their 
 cure or removal; 
 
 Maintenance of hospitals for commu- 
 nicable diseases and instruction as to 
 care in the home; 
 
 Enforcement or encouragement of vacci- 
 nation as a means of immunity ; 
 
 The preparation and dispensation of anti- 
 toxins ; 
 
 The safeguarding of water, milk and food 
 supplies ; 
 
54 Problems of Community Lite 
 
 Extermination of disease-carrying ani- 
 mals; 
 
 Sanitary control of the general environ- 
 ment. 
 
 Improvements needed in the methods and 
 machinery of control : 
 
 Consolidation of State and federal quar- 
 antine services at the port; 
 
 Extension of hospital control of conta- 
 gious diseases ; 
 
 More thorough inspection of milk and 
 food preparation and sale; 
 
 Stricter control of syphilis and certain 
 other diseases; 
 
 Wider education in means of prevention 
 and cure of communicable disease. 
 
 Importance of the campaigns against infant 
 paralysis, spinal meningitis, tuberculosis and 
 venereal diseases. 
 
The Inspection of Foods 55 
 
 THE INSPECTION OF FOODS AND 
 OTHER ARTICLES OF CON- 
 SUMPTION 
 
 Dangers of filth and adulteration in manu- 
 facture and sale of foodstuffs and other arti- 
 cles of consumption. Opportunities for these 
 evils in factories, markets, slaughter-houses, 
 etc.; in bakery, restaurant, delicatessen store, 
 saloon, pharmacy and other retail establish- 
 ments. The possibilities of disease transmis- 
 sion through the manufacture and laundering 
 of clothing. 
 
 Need of a comprehensive system of inspec- 
 tion of the production, manufacture, prepara- 
 tion and sale of foods and other articles of 
 consumption. 
 
 Development of federal. State and city in- 
 spection services necessary for the establish- 
 ment of such a system. The respective juris- 
 dictions in this field of city, State and nation. 
 
56 Problems of Community Life 
 
 CARE OF THE SICK 
 
 Steps in the proper care of the sick : 
 
 Periodical physical examinations for the 
 detection and correction of tendencies 
 toward disease; 
 
 Competent medical and nursing care of 
 acute and chronic illnesses. 
 
 Examinations, under present conditions, in 
 safeguarding against disease: 
 
 Examinations on the individual's own 
 initiative ; 
 
 Examinations of tenement babies and ad- 
 vice to their mothers by physicians and 
 nurses of the Department of Health ; 
 
 The medical inspection of school children ; 
 
 Gap in the Health Department's exami- 
 nations between the first months of in- 
 fancy (for tenement babies) and kin- 
 dergarten or school age; 
 
 Nature of the care of infants (especially 
 of untrained mothers) not under the 
 oversight of the Health Department; 
 
Cabe of the Sick 57 
 
 Private schools in which medical inspec- 
 tion is absent ; 
 
 FaUure of adults and of children beyond 
 school age to undergo desirable physical 
 examinations, due to ignorance of their 
 value or to the expense ; 
 
 Bad results of this insufficiency of pre- 
 ventive care. 
 
 Treatment of the sick: fields occupied by 
 (a) private medical practice, (b) hospitals 
 and (c) district medical service. 
 
 Hospital and dispensary administration in 
 New York: 
 
 Division of fimction between general and 
 special hospitals ; 
 
 Limitations of medical care in special hos- 
 pitals ; 
 
 Defects in the organization of hospital 
 medical staffs; 
 
 The standard of equipment; 
 
 Bed capacities as compared with units es- 
 sential to efficient functioning; 
 
 Quality of nursing education afforded; 
 
 Part of the hospital in medical education 
 and research; 
 
58 Pkobuems of Community Life 
 
 Standards of dispensary treatment; 
 
 Nature of co-operation among hospitals 
 in promoting the best use of their facili- 
 ties; 
 
 The supply of hospital facilities as com- 
 pared with the demand. 
 
 Essentials of a hospital system aimed at the 
 efficient organization of medical knowledge 
 for the treatment of disease and for the best 
 co-operation in medical research and edu- 
 cation. 
 
 Private medical practice : 
 
 Its social importance ; 
 Its imorganized nature ; 
 Its efficiency as compared with hospital 
 treatment. 
 
 Possible methods of improving private medi- 
 cal practice : 
 
 Elevation of standards of medical educa- 
 tion; 
 
 Organization of private physicians along 
 hospital lines in order to make avail- 
 able to patients in the home the full 
 resources of medical knowledge; 
 
Care of the Sick 59 
 
 Periodical re-examination of medical 
 practitioners according to an equitable 
 standard of knowledge and skill ; 
 
 Supervision of private physicians by the 
 State. 
 
 Needed extension of district medical service. 
 Feasibility of public medical care for all. 
 
60 Problems of Community Life 
 
 EDUCATION IN HYGIENE 
 
 Possibilities in prevention of disease and 
 conservation of physical vitality through a bet- 
 ter observance of the laws of hygiene. Equiva- 
 lents in prolongation and enrichment of life 
 and in increase of productive capacity. 
 
 Obstacles to hygienic living imposed by pov- 
 erty and unsanitary working and housing con- 
 ditions. 
 
 Opportunities for instruction in hygiene: 
 
 In the school ; 
 
 In conjunction with medical and nursing 
 
 care of the sick; 
 In extension classes for adults ; 
 Through newspaper, magazine and book; 
 By means of lecture and exhibit ; 
 Through the stage and motion-picture 
 
 show. 
 
 The necessity of a greater use of these op- 
 portunities. Responsibility of the public 
 health authority for the prosecution of a cam- 
 paign therefor. 
 
Preventive Medicine 61 
 
 PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 
 
 Value to the individual of periodical medical 
 examinations, of expert advice in matters of 
 hygiene and of prompt medical care in iUness. 
 
 The system of charging for medical services 
 in New York and elsewhere, and its discour- 
 agement of preventive work of this character. 
 Results in lowered vitality and acute and 
 chronic illnesses. 
 
 Need of shifting the emphasis in medical 
 work from the treatment of disease to preven- 
 tion of disease and the conservation of physical 
 vitality. 
 
 Possible methods of effecting such reorgan- 
 ization : 
 
 Provision of medical care at equitable 
 rates through mutual benefit associa- 
 tions ; 
 
 State sickness insurance with medical 
 care as a benefit; 
 
 Evolution in present free hospital, dis- 
 trict medical and public health service. 
 
62 Problems of Community Life 
 
 MEDICAL RESEARCH 
 
 The organization of medical research; part 
 taken in this and other countries by private 
 physician, hospital, medical school, lay health 
 organization and government ; the interchange 
 of information among medical investigators. 
 
 Diseases not under preventative and cura- 
 tive control; need of improved methods of 
 dealing with preventable and curable diseases. 
 
 Diseases upon which the attention of medi- 
 cal investigators is concentrated at the present 
 time; diseases that are relatively neglected. 
 
 Medical research in New York: 
 
 By the City; 
 
 By hospitals, medical schools and special 
 research organizations ; 
 
 By private physicians ; 
 
 Into health conditions of special local im- 
 portance. 
 
 Opportunities for a more efficient organiza- 
 tion of medical research; possibilities in ac- 
 celerating progress in the control of disease 
 through more extensive research. 
 
Medical Research 63 
 
 Part which governmental agencies might 
 take in this service. 
 
 Need of a program of research for New 
 York. 
 
IV 
 
 SOCIAL ASPECTS OF PUBLIC 
 AND PRIVATE EDUCATION 
 IN NEW YORK 
 
The Educational Aim 67 
 
 THE EDUCATIONAL AIM 
 
 Education as a primary function of life: 
 educational import of productive processes, 
 consumption standards, social intercourse 
 modes, and other institutional forms, and of 
 individual acts independent of institutional 
 guidance. Function of the educational author- 
 ity as critic and organizer of life and its insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 Education as a process in the application of 
 knowledge and intelligence in the production 
 of human values; as a process in the adapta- 
 tion of man to his environment. 
 
 Specific aims of education as a process in 
 production : 
 
 Guidance of workers into the specialized 
 productive activities and their equip- 
 ment therefor; 
 
 Training of consumers, and directors of 
 consumption, in efficient methods of 
 consumption ; 
 
 Instruction of the individual in superior 
 modes of action having no specific 
 economic character. 
 
68 Problems of Community Life 
 
 The growth of knowledge and intelligence 
 and the consequent demand for a system of 
 instruction bringing to all classes of persons 
 new knowledge properly applicable by them. 
 
 Co-operation with the educational system, 
 of industrial management and other phases of 
 social control, in the performance of this edu- 
 cational function. The part of individual 
 initiative as determined by the demand for per- 
 sonal liberty and the necessity of effective re- 
 sponse to educational effort. 
 
 Age psychologies, occupational exigencies, 
 and life's functional demands — ^the pedagog- 
 ical bases for a system of continuous instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 The economic aspects of education in New 
 York, in the light of these ideals. The lack of 
 vocational guidance and training of boys and 
 girls. The unsystematic nature of adult in- 
 struction. 
 
 Characteristics, adapting man to the en- 
 vironment, which education should be designed 
 to develop: 
 
 Health and physical normality; 
 Desire for service of others; 
 
The Educationai. Aim 69 
 
 Delight in social intercourse; 
 
 Talent for creative work; 
 
 Interest in nature and environment; 
 
 Love of beauty; 
 
 Pleasure in purposeful effort ; 
 
 Personal power — power of concentration, 
 ability to analyze a problem or situa- 
 tion, resourcefulness in action, capacity 
 for auto-suggestion and control. 
 
 Education in New York as judged by its re- 
 sults in development of these characteristics : 
 
 The insufficient emphasis on ethical cul- 
 ture, training for social intercourse, 
 stimulation of interest in nature and en- 
 vironment, cultivation of aesthetic sense. 
 
 Abortive pedagogical methods employed in 
 disciplinary exercises. 
 
 Limitations imposed by over-sized and part- 
 time classes, the curriculum and the system of 
 grading. 
 
 Administrative obstacles to functional effi- 
 ciency. 
 
70 Problems of Community Life 
 
 ETHICAL CULTURE 
 
 Social value of the ethical motive in mod- 
 ern life. Its uplifting influence on the indi- 
 vidual. Its consequent exalted position in the 
 scale of human values. 
 
 Opportunities for the ethical training of 
 children in home, school, church and other 
 groups. 
 
 The equipment of parents for child-training. 
 Need of better preparation for this duty. Spe- 
 cial difficulties in the home training of immi- 
 grant children owing to differences between 
 parent and child in facility of adaptation to 
 American life. Moral aspects of the life and 
 training of dependent children in institutions 
 and foster-homes. 
 
 Opportunities for character training in the 
 administration of school and class. Ethical 
 values in literature, history, geography and 
 other studies. Advantage taken of these op- 
 portunities at the present time. The civic as- 
 pects of moral and religious training in church 
 schools. 
 
 Attention given to the discussion of ethical 
 
Ethical Culture 71 
 
 problems in church and Sabbath school. Need 
 for increased emphasis thereon. 
 
 The ethical value of club work and of or- 
 ganized play. Need of extension of activities 
 of this class. 
 
 Feasibility of direct and systematic ethical 
 training. Need of a more general training of 
 this nature. 
 
 Pedagogical principles which should underly 
 systematic moral instruction. 
 
72 Problems of Community Life 
 
 VOCATIONAL TRAINING 
 
 Vocational instruction, the phase of educa- 
 tion concerned with the application of knowl- 
 edge and intelligence in the production of hu- 
 man values. 
 
 Importance to the individual of being suited 
 to and equipped for his vocation. 
 
 The necessity of vocational guidance based 
 on study of workers' capacities and knowledge 
 of occupational opportunities. 
 
 The various vocations and the training re- 
 quisite to successful engagement therein. 
 
 Essentials of a system of instruction calcu- 
 lated to meet these needs and its correlation 
 with the general educational system. Need of 
 elements of general training to permit of 
 transfer of workers from one vocation to an- 
 other. Limitations on the age and period of 
 training of prospective workers, imposed by 
 economic exigencies. 
 
 Need of continuation instruction for work- 
 ers in the various vocations, in order to bring 
 to their use improved methods or new knowl- 
 edge. 
 
Vocational Training 73 
 
 The means of providing such instruction: 
 
 Through co-operation of industrial estab- 
 lishments ; 
 
 Through the publication of vocational 
 journals for the dissemination of new 
 knowledge ; 
 
 By means of extension classes for unor- 
 ganized vocations; 
 
 Through use of the licensing power in 
 stimulating self-instruction by physi- 
 cians, teachers and other classes of 
 workers. 
 
 Vocational instruction in New York accord- 
 ing to these criteria : 
 
 The haphazard fashion of choosing voca- 
 tions and consequent ill-adaptedness of 
 many workers to the vocations chosen 
 and poor distribution of workers among 
 the various vocations; 
 
 Meagreness and unstandardized nature of 
 vocational training offered by public 
 and private schools and consequent poor 
 equipment of many workers for their 
 vocations ; 
 
74 Problems of Community Life 
 
 The limited facilities for continuation vo- 
 cational instruction and absence or fee- 
 bleness of social pressure to self-in- 
 struction by workers themselves. 
 
Private Schools 75 
 
 PRIVATE SCHOOLS 
 
 The various classes of private schools in New 
 York and their place in the city's educational 
 system. 
 
 Private elementary schools — pay, charit- 
 able, parochial — and the number of children 
 attending them. 
 
 Comparison of these schools with the public 
 schools in 
 
 Class of children; 
 
 Length of daily and yearly sessions ; 
 
 Qualifications of teachers ; 
 
 Curricula ; 
 
 Size of classes; 
 
 Pedagogical methods ; 
 
 Special attention to abnormal children; 
 
 Educational results. 
 
 Social and civic aspects of the religious 
 training given. 
 
 Supervision of private schools by city and 
 State departments of education and need for 
 improvement and extension thereof. 
 
LEISURE TIME EXPENDITURE 
 IN NEW YORK 
 
The Leisure Time Peoblem 79 
 
 THE LEISURE TIME PROBLEM 
 
 Importance of leisure time expenditure to 
 the individual and the comimunity. Its moral 
 and political significance. 
 
 Leisure time of the various classes of peo- 
 ple in New York: 
 
 Children ; 
 
 Industrial workers — ^manual laborers and 
 business and professional men and 
 women ; 
 
 Housewives ; 
 
 Adults not engaged in the regular voca- 
 tions ; 
 
 Aged and infirm. 
 
 Ways in which leisure in New York is em- 
 ployed and nature and extent of facilities 
 therefor : 
 
 Mental and physical improvement ; 
 Social intercourse; 
 Innocent and recreative pleasures ; 
 Destructive amusements and pastimes; 
 Various forms of productive activity. 
 
80 Peobi^ems of Community Life 
 
 Means of improving leisure time expendi- 
 ture: 
 
 Provision of better educational opportu- 
 nities for wage-earners ; 
 
 Provision of good music and drama at 
 moderate prices; 
 
 Provision of substitutes for the saloon; 
 
 Increase of outdoor play facilities ; 
 
 Wider use of the school-plant for recrea- 
 tional purposes; 
 
 Provision of suitable employment and 
 other means of occupation for the aged 
 and infirm; 
 
 Discovery of new ways of expending leis- 
 ure time in the home; 
 
 Initiation of interesting forms of produc- 
 tive activity for the benefit of those not 
 following the regular callings; 
 
 Ofilcial supervision of commercial amuse- 
 ments ; 
 
 Improvement of labor and housing condi- 
 tions as related to recreational needs. 
 
Opportunities foe Self-Improvement 81 
 
 THE WAGE-EARNER'S OPPORTU- 
 NITIES FOR SELF-IMPROVE- 
 MENT 
 
 The intellectual and material status of New 
 York wage-earners and possibilities for im- 
 provement therein. 
 
 The fatigue of daily work and the demand 
 for recreation it creates; leisure time at the 
 wage-earner's disposal; proportion thereof 
 which could be spent with advantage in study 
 and physical training. 
 
 Facilities for the employment of leisure in 
 this way: 
 
 Evening schools, study clubs and lecture 
 
 courses ; 
 Public libraries; 
 Gymnasiums ; 
 Educational advantages available to night 
 
 workers. 
 
 Need for extension of these facilities, espe- 
 cially of trade and technical classes and gym- 
 
82 Problems of Community Life 
 
 nasiums, and for better adaptation of library- 
 service. 
 
 Possibility of stimulating greater interest 
 among wage-earners in opportunities for self- 
 improvement. 
 
Social Intebcourse 83 
 
 SOCIAL INTERCOURSE 
 
 Home life as a mode of social intercourse in 
 the modern city; effect thereon of larger so- 
 cial groups, urban amusements and pastimes, 
 housing and labor conditions and the general 
 environment of city life. 
 
 Features of the urban status of home life : 
 
 Loosening of family ties, increase in num- 
 ber of divorces, and defective training 
 of children; 
 
 Postponement or avoidance of marriage; 
 
 Decrease in birth-rate; 
 
 Sexual irregularity. 
 
 Facilities for social intercourse outside the 
 home: 
 
 Clubs; 
 Saloons ; 
 Dance-halls ; 
 Parks and streets ; 
 Other public places ; 
 
 Social functions under auspices of school, 
 church and philanthropic agency. 
 
84 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Ways of strengthening home life : 
 
 Payment of a living wage to all classes of 
 industrial workers, thus permitting 
 early marriage and the maintenance of 
 a proper standard of living; 
 
 Redefinition of housing standards to meet 
 the functional demands of the home; 
 
 Adjustment of tangled domestic relations 
 without recourse to divorce ; 
 
 Better discussion of family problems. 
 
 Improvements needed in other facilities for 
 social intercourse : 
 
 Provision of substitutes for the saloon; 
 Improvement of dance-halls. 
 
 Need of new modes of social intercourse and 
 the development of organization therefor. 
 
Outdoor Recreation 85 
 
 OUTDOOR RECREATION 
 
 The population of New York and its re- 
 quirements in outdoor play facilities and 
 breathing spaces; area and location of parks 
 and playgrounds essential to the fulfillment 
 thereof. 
 
 Nature and extent of present facilities: 
 
 Parks and playgrounds; 
 Streets ; 
 
 Outdoor games and other events to which 
 admission is charged. 
 
 Discrepancy between present and needed 
 provision and its bad social results. 
 
 The immediate practicable extension of 
 present facilities: 
 
 Utilization of vacant lots for play pur- 
 poses ; 
 
 Greater use of school yards after school 
 hours and on school holidays ; 
 
 Use of private grounds through arrange- 
 ment with the owners ; 
 
 More intensive use of present parks and 
 
86 Problems of Community Life 
 
 playgrounds, through advertisement of 
 their advantages, arrangement of inex- 
 pensive transportation to and from 
 them, increase of play apparatus and 
 facilities, and development of organized 
 play. 
 
 Substitutes for outdoor play in recreational 
 activities of schools, churches and other agen- 
 cies. 
 
 Cost of establishing and maintaining the 
 additional parks and playgrounds needed. 
 
 Importance of reserving space for park and 
 playground purposes in outlying sections of 
 the city. 
 
Commercial Amusements. 87 
 
 COMMERCIAL AMUSEMENTS 
 
 The recreational and sesthetic needs sup- 
 plied by commercial enterprise. 
 
 Classes of commercial amusements: 
 
 Opera ; 
 
 Recitals and concerts; 
 
 Drama — regular and motion-picture; 
 
 Dance-halls ; 
 
 Games, races and other sporting events to 
 
 which admission is charged ; 
 Amusement parks and excursions; 
 Pool rooms. 
 
 Motives actuating these enterprises and 
 their militancy against artistic standards. 
 
 Phases of provision offered having features 
 injurious to health and morals, e.g., the pro- 
 motion of sale of liquor and traffic in vice in 
 connection with certain forms of amusement. 
 
 Prohibitive and restrictive regulation neces- 
 sary to the elimination of objectionable fea- 
 tures. The need with respect to motion-pic- 
 ture shows, dance-halls, amusement parks and 
 pool rooms. 
 
88 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Feasibility of good music, drama and other 
 forms of recreational activity under municipal 
 auspices, for the purpose of elevating stand- 
 ards of commercial provision and promoting 
 its greater democratization. 
 
VI 
 
 REFORMATION AND CORRECTION 
 IN NEW YORK 
 
Causes of Crime and Vice 91 
 
 ERADICATION OF THE CAUSES 
 OF CRIME AND VICE 
 
 The ethical conception of crime and vice as 
 modes of action injurious to the pursuers 
 thereof or to others, and calling for correc- 
 tional action by the state. 
 
 The legal definition of crime and vice as acts 
 violating statutory penal laws. 
 
 The social and individual causes of crime 
 and vice. The co-operation of the two classes 
 in criminal and vicious action. 
 
 The social causes of crime and vice: 
 
 Geographical and seasonal conditions — 
 fertility and disposition of the soil, in- 
 tensity of temperature and humidity, 
 proportions of fair and cloudy weather, 
 relative length of day and night, etc.; 
 
 Outward or sensuous aspects of the envi- 
 ronment ; 
 
 Density of the population; 
 
 Customs and standards of racial, religious 
 and other groups imperfectly assimi- 
 lated to the social and legal order; 
 
92 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Marriage ideals and institutions inhibitive 
 of normal sex expression ; 
 
 Economic and industrial conditions — in- 
 sufficiencies in production of wealth, in- 
 justices and inhumanities in the system 
 of distribution, hours and conditions of 
 labor detrimental to health and charac- 
 ter, etc.; 
 
 Housing conditions defeating normaliz- 
 ing and elevating possibilities of home 
 life; 
 
 Facilities for leisure-time expenditure 
 with features destructive to health and 
 morals ; 
 
 Deficient ethical and general education; 
 
 Unscientific treatment of offenders 
 against the law; 
 
 Uncertainty and delay in the apprehen- 
 sion and trial of persons suspected of 
 crime. 
 
 Individual causes of crime and vice: 
 
 Mental alienation, or insanity; 
 Congenital physical and moral defects 
 
 necessitating criminal adaptations to 
 
 the environment; 
 
Causes of Crime and Vice 93 
 
 Incorrigibility induced by vitiated envi- 
 ronment acting on weak organic and 
 psychic constitutions ; 
 
 Normal (in the biological sense) anti- 
 social qualities — avarice, jealousy, lust, 
 temper, selfishness, etc. — combined 
 with the incapacity, under a powerful 
 stimulus of opportunity or excitement, 
 of subordinating them to legal or ethi- 
 cal considerations; 
 
 Excessive consumption of spirituous liq- 
 uors, habit-forming drugs, etc.; 
 
 Impulsion to conflict with penal laws in- 
 terfering with the satisfaction of nor- 
 mal biological demands; 
 
 Conscientious opposition to and disre- 
 gard of penal laws; 
 
 Ignorance of provisions and penalties of 
 the law. 
 Methods of preventing crime and vice: 
 
 Reconstruction of the category of crime 
 and vice by harmonizing the legal and 
 ethical concepts thereof; 
 
 Adaptation of the outward aspects of the 
 environment — assthetic planning of 
 highways, buildings, etc.; proper illu- 
 
Problems of Community Life 
 
 mination of streets, hallways and other 
 places of passage; suppression of irri- 
 tating noises and odors, etc. ; 
 
 Distribution of the population according 
 to social standards of density; 
 
 Increase of wealth production, equaliza- 
 tion of economic opportunity and re- 
 wards, and standardization of working 
 hours and conditions ; 
 
 Standardization of housing conditions in 
 conformity with the moral and hygienic 
 demands of the home; 
 
 Elimination of objectionable features 
 from facilities for leisure time expendi- 
 ture; 
 
 Liberalization of marriage customs and 
 laws in furtherance of a more normal 
 sex and family life ; 
 
 Systematic ethical and general education 
 having the aim of reconciling the indi- 
 vidual to the social and legal order and 
 of developing in him the power of re- 
 sistance to stimuli to illegal or anti- 
 social action ; 
 
 Provision of state care for children suf- 
 fering from improper guardianship; 
 
Causes of Crime and Vice 95 
 
 Permanent segregation of the insane and 
 the incorrigible; 
 
 Treatment of incipient or correctible de- 
 linquency according to the best medical 
 and pedagogical methods; 
 
 Improvement of the system of detection 
 of crime and apprehension and trial of 
 offenders ; 
 
 Reduction of the consumption of alcoholic 
 beverages and habit-forming drugs; 
 
 Prevention of reproduction by those suf- 
 fering from hereditable defects predis- 
 posing to crime and vice. 
 
 Need of a program in New York for the 
 realization of these preventive possibilities. 
 The study of causes requisite to the formula- 
 tion of such a program. Necessity of fuller 
 and more reliable statistics of crime for a sci- 
 entific determination of causes. 
 
 Phases of the program of prevention com- 
 ing within the purview of systematic correc- 
 tional effort. Phases coming under the direc- 
 tion of other departments of control. 
 
 Need for the creation of authority charged 
 with the exploitation of these possibilities. 
 
96 Problems of Community Life 
 
 THE LIQUOR PROBLEM 
 
 The consumption of spirituous liquors in 
 New York and its results. Economic waste, 
 lowering of standard of living, industrial ineffi- 
 ciency, vice and crime, and other bad results. 
 Aid to sociability and relaxation and other 
 good effects. 
 
 Relation of excessive consumption of spirit- 
 uous liquors to the fatigue and nervous strain 
 of daily work, unattractive home surroundings, 
 social features of the saloon, etc. Encourage- 
 ment of drinking through sale of liquor at 
 places of amusement. 
 
 Ways of reducing consumption : 
 
 Better use of the licensing power in re- 
 stricting traffic in liquor to legitimate 
 dimensions ; 
 
 Substitution of light for the stronger bev- 
 erages ; 
 
 Prohibition of sale of liquor at places of 
 amusement ; 
 
 Provision of substitutes for the saloon as 
 a place of social intercourse ; 
 
The Liquor Problem 97 
 
 Treatment of inebriety; 
 
 Improvement of working and living con- 
 ditions creating an abnormal craving 
 for stimulants; 
 
 Instruction in the proper use of alcoholic 
 beverages based on scientific determina- 
 tion of their physiological and moral ef- 
 fects. 
 
 Need of a campaign in New York in fur- 
 therance of these measures. 
 
98 Problems of Community Life 
 
 VAGRANCY AND MENDICANCY 
 
 Vagrancy and mendicancy in New York 
 State: expense to the community; vicious in- 
 fluence on the young and unsteady; encour- 
 agement of crime. 
 
 Causes of the evU : 
 
 Untoward working conditions — severity 
 of labor, unemployment, etc.; 
 
 Comparative ease of gaining a livelihood 
 by following mendicancy as a career; 
 
 Alms-giving without sufficient inquiry as 
 to the merit of appeals for aid ; 
 
 Lack of proper provision for the handi- 
 capped. 
 
 Unscientific methods of dealing with va- 
 grancy and mendicancy at the present time : the 
 small percentage of offenders apprehended and 
 brought to trial ; the futility of the short work- 
 house sentence as a corrective. 
 
 Forced employment in the industrial colony 
 as a method of reclamation. Results secured 
 in such institutions in this and other countries. 
 
Vagrancy and Mendicancy 99 
 
 Projected establishment of an institution of 
 this character in New York State; capacity 
 required for the State's needs. 
 
 Need of occupational provision for the han- 
 dicapped now securing their livelihood by the 
 solicitation of alms. Economy of drafting 
 them into the street trades. Possible need of 
 public workshops for this class. 
 
 Necessity of better provision for unemploy- 
 ment and of the improvement of working con- 
 ditions as bearing on the problem of vagrancy. 
 
 Need for popular agitation against indis- 
 criminate giving of alms. 
 
100 Problems of Community Life 
 
 THE SOCIAL EVIL 
 
 The primary causes of prostitution : 
 
 The double standard of sex expression for 
 men and women; 
 
 Mental and physical abnormalities in 
 women; 
 
 Comparative ease with which women can 
 gain a livelihood by following prostitu- 
 tion as a career. 
 
 Secondary causes, as operative in New 
 York: 
 
 Rigidity of the marriage institution, and 
 abnormal inhibition, under social stimu- 
 lus, of the sex impulse ; 
 
 Postponement of marriage by young men 
 because of inability to support families ; 
 
 Economic exploitation of working 
 women ; 
 
 Systematic encouragement of -prostitution 
 by commercial enterprise ; 
 
 Degrading amusements and pastimes ; 
 
 Bad excise laws. 
 
The Social Evil 101 
 
 The social results of prostitution as seen in 
 New York : 
 
 Number and manner of life of women en- 
 gaged in the calling; 
 
 Effect in weakening the propulsion of 
 men toward the assumption of family 
 responsibilities and in denying sex satis- 
 factions to women. 
 
 Part in the spread of venereal disease. 
 
 System of dealing with the evil in New 
 York: 
 
 Attempts at reformation of new recruits 
 to the trade by means of probationary 
 oversight and reformatory treatment; 
 
 Punishment of old offenders by short 
 workhouse sentences; 
 
 Punishment of procurers and keepers of 
 disorderly houses by substantial prison 
 terms ; 
 
 Penalization of the use of property for 
 disorderly purposes. 
 
 Reforms needed in the system: 
 
 Treatment and, when necessary, perma- 
 nent segregation of prostitutes who are 
 
102 Problems of Community Life 
 
 irresponsible because of mental or 
 physical defects; 
 
 Treatment and segregation, until cured, 
 of prostitutes suffering from venereal 
 disease ; 
 
 Punishment of men, equally with women, 
 for soliciting on streets ; 
 
 Legal abolition of the Raines Law Hotel ; 
 
 Grading of sentences for convicted pros- 
 titutes according to the number of 
 previous offenses; 
 
 Better selection of cases for probationary 
 and reformatory treatment; 
 
 Provision of employment and other edu- 
 cational and disciplinary activities for 
 prostitutes in prison. 
 
 The more fundamental changes needful : 
 
 Adaptation of marriage forms to varying 
 
 sex demands, and normalization of sex 
 
 functioning through the breaking down 
 
 of inhibitions artificially imposed; 
 
 Establishment of a harmonious ideal of 
 
 sex life for men and women; 
 Census and continuous oversight of defec- 
 tive children by the state; 
 
The Social Evil 103 
 
 Payment of a living wage to all industrial 
 
 workers ; 
 Elevation of the standards of commercial 
 
 amusements ; 
 General education in sex hygiene ; 
 Sanitary control of venereal diseases. 
 
104 Problems of Community Life 
 
 THE CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM 
 
 Objects of the correctional system: 
 
 Protection of society; 
 Reformation of the offender ; 
 Progressive elimination of the causes of 
 crime and vice. 
 
 Conditions to the accomplishment of these 
 objects: 
 
 Segregation of the irresponsible or crim- 
 inally addicted; 
 
 Treatment of the offender according to 
 the best medical and educational prin- 
 ciples ; 
 
 Compensation of the victims of crime for 
 injury suffered: 
 
 Indemnification of accused persons 
 wrongfully prosecuted or convicted; 
 
 Co-operation of the correctional authority 
 with other divisions of social control in 
 the study and elimination of the causes 
 of crime and vice. 
 
The Corkectional System 105 
 
 The correctional system in New York 
 viewed in the light of these principles: 
 
 The grading of punishment, or prescrip- 
 tion of treatment, according to the na- 
 ture of the offense rather than in rela- 
 tion to the character of the offender ; 
 
 Employment of archaic and unscientific 
 methods of treatment in prison and 
 reformatory ; 
 
 Imposition of capital punishment for cer- 
 tain offenses; 
 
 Release from custodial care of offenders 
 who are unfit for life in a normal so- 
 ciety; 
 
 Failure to list and oversee the criminally 
 addicted before the commitment of of- 
 fenses ; 
 
 Absence of restitution to the victims of 
 crime and to persons wrongfully prose- 
 cuted or convicted; 
 
 Lack of systematic study and eradication 
 of the causes of crime and vice ; 
 
 Probation, parole, the indeterminate sen- 
 tence, better use of the pardoning 
 power, sterilization of certain classes of 
 
106 Problems of Community Life 
 
 criminals, inquiry into the antecedents 
 of offenders, psychiatric examinations 
 of juvenile delinquents, modernization 
 of methods of treatment in certain in- 
 stitutions, and other beginnings in an 
 intelligent treatment of crime and vice. 
 
 Need of reconstructing the correctional sys- 
 tem in accordance with these principles and 
 criticisms. Divorce between the authority 
 charged with the determination of the facts 
 of offense and that prescribing treatment of 
 the offender, implied in the theory of individ- 
 ualized treatment. The modifications of con- 
 stitutional guarantees requisite to the over- 
 sight or custodial care by the state of all the 
 criminally addicted. 
 
 Need of a legislative inquiry into correc- 
 tional needs and methods, for the planning of 
 a scientific, articulated system of correction. 
 
Criminal Peocedure 107 
 
 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE 
 
 Objects of criminal procedure: 
 
 Detection of crimes, or violations of law, 
 and apprehension of supposed offend- 
 ers; 
 
 Determination of the facts and circum- 
 stances of crime committed and eviden- 
 tial identification of the offender ; 
 
 Disposition of the offender in accordance 
 with the provisions of the penal law. 
 
 Conditions to the accomplishment of these 
 objects: 
 
 Popular co-operation with police authori- 
 ties in the discovery of crime and ap- 
 prehension of criminals ; 
 
 Functionally capable police systems; 
 
 Pursuance of scientific methods in the col- 
 lection and interpretation of evidence; 
 
 Intelligent use of discretionary powers by 
 judicial officers in the disposition of 
 criminals convicted. 
 
108 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Elements of a system of procedure fulfilling 
 the foregoing conditions : 
 
 Systematic encouragement and facilita- 
 tion of co-operation by private individ- 
 uals in the apprehension and trial of 
 supposed criminals ; 
 
 Examination of all sources of evidence as 
 to the facts, circumstances and author- 
 ship of crimes under official determina- 
 tion; 
 
 Collection and critical construction of evi- 
 dence according to correct principles of 
 inference and with the aid of expert 
 knowledge on special subjects involved; 
 
 Balance in accentuation of points of view 
 of defense and prosecution respectively, 
 in the collection and interpretation of 
 evidence ; 
 
 Direction and adjudication of criminal 
 proceedings by experts in rules of evi- 
 dence and criminal sociology; 
 
 Retrial of criminal cases when original de- 
 terminations are vitiated by judicial 
 errors or new evidence. 
 
Criminal Procedure 109 
 
 Reforms in criminal procedure in New 
 York suggested by these principles : 
 
 Requirement that the defendant testify 
 as to his guilt; 
 
 Employment of psychologists and other 
 experts for assistance in conducting ex- 
 aminations of defendant and witness ; 
 
 Engagement of expert witnesses by the 
 trial court only; 
 
 Equalization of the service of counsel to 
 prosecution and defense through the 
 provision of public defenders ; 
 
 Grant of right of appeal to the state ; 
 
 Creation of authority to re-open criminal 
 proceedings on the discovery of new evi- 
 dence of a material nature; 
 
 Grant of authority to courts of appellate 
 jurisdiction to increase as well as di- 
 minish penalties in cases on appeal; 
 
 Selection of trial judges on the basis of 
 analytical ability, legal training and 
 knowledge of criminal sociology; 
 
 Modification of the functions of the trial 
 jury to that of review of the court's 
 decision, or grant of greater latitude to 
 
110 Problems of Community Life 
 
 courts in the interpretation of evidence 
 to the jury; 
 Establishment of a department of justice 
 to facilitate the administration of crimi- 
 nal law according to these principles. 
 
 Modification of constitutional guarantees 
 requisite to the introduction of these reforms. 
 Transitional or expedient measures that are 
 possible in the meantime.' 
 
VII 
 
 PHILANTHROPY AND THE SO- 
 CIAL PROBLEM IN NEW YORK 
 
The Relief of Destitution 113 
 
 THE RELIEF OF DESTITUTION 
 
 The causes of destitution: 
 
 Low wages ; 
 
 Sickness ; 
 
 Unemployment ; 
 
 Death or incapacitation of family wage- 
 earners ; 
 
 Desertion or non-support of family; 
 
 Incarceration of family wage-earners for 
 crime; 
 
 Industrial inefficiency; 
 
 Old age and invalidism. 
 
 Provision against destitution in the form of 
 savings, insurance, etc. 
 
 Relief of destitution in New York: 
 
 The "invisible relief fund" of relatives 
 and friends; 
 
 Aid by private relief societies and institu- 
 tions ; 
 
 Outdoor and institutional relief by the 
 state. 
 
114 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Classes of relief agencies: 
 
 Societies for relief of needy families in 
 their homes ; 
 
 Homes and workshops for homeless men ; 
 
 Day nurseries; 
 
 Fresh-air charities ; 
 
 Legal aid societies ; 
 
 Milk stations; 
 
 Free burial associations; 
 
 Homes and placing-out agencies for chil- 
 dren; 
 
 Homes for the aged and infirm; 
 
 Working girls' homes; 
 
 Medical dispensaries and free hospital de- 
 partments ; 
 
 Visiting nurses' societies ; 
 
 Institutions and societies for the blind, 
 deaf-mute, crippled and mentally de- 
 fective ; 
 
 Prisoners' aid associations; 
 
 Churches and settlements. 
 
 Co-ordination of the work of these agen- 
 cies through the central registration of cases. 
 Methods of discovering and referring cases 
 
The Relief of Destitution 115 
 
 of destitution ; proportion of cases needing re- 
 lief that receive attention. 
 
 Procedure in investigating applications for 
 aid ; criteria by which aid is given or refused. 
 
 Character of relief afforded with respect to 
 certainty of support, uniformity of rates, and 
 adequacy for normal standards of living. 
 
 Possibilities in family rehabilitation through 
 the administration of service and relief. 
 
 Effect of relief as provided and adminis- 
 tered, on the spirit of thrift and independence 
 among working people. 
 
 Proposals for greater prevention and better 
 relief of destitution: 
 
 Payment of a living wage to industrial 
 workers and insurance against unem- 
 ployment, accident, sickness, old age 
 and death; 
 
 Establishment of effective machinery for 
 holding deserting or non-supporting 
 husbands to their responsibility; 
 
 Compensation of families for the incar- 
 ceration of supporting members ; 
 
 Establishment of special industrial estab- 
 
116 Problems of Community Life 
 
 lishments for the handicapped and in- 
 efficient ; 
 
 Standardization and better co-ordination 
 of relief activities ; 
 
 State subsidy of private relief societies in 
 order to provide sufficient funds. 
 
Care of Dependent Children 117 
 
 CARE OF DEPENDENT CHILDREN 
 
 Causes of child dependency: 
 
 Orphanage ; 
 Destitution ; 
 Desertion ; 
 Improper guardianship. 
 
 Care of dependent children in institutions 
 and foster-homes. 
 Care in institutions: 
 
 Cottage and congregate plans, and their 
 differences ; 
 
 Qualty of food, clothing and lodging; 
 
 Medical and hygienic care; 
 
 Elementary and vocational training; 
 
 Moral and religious instruction; 
 
 Recreational facilities ; 
 
 Character development through influ- 
 ences peculiar to institutional life. 
 
 Care in foster-homes : 
 
 General physical care, and elementary, 
 vocational and ethical training; 
 
118 Peoblems of Community Life 
 
 Cviltural development through the influ- 
 ences of home life. 
 
 Advantages of the foster-home over the in- 
 stitution as a child-caring agency. 
 
 The careers of children raised in institutions 
 and foster-homes as compared with those of 
 children of normal nurture and education. 
 
 Desirability of reducing the proportions of 
 child dependency requiring care outside the 
 natural home. Ways of accomplishing this re- 
 sult: 
 
 Compensation for the death of father or 
 mother to enable the surviving parent 
 to keep the family intact; 
 
 Establishment of wage, insurance and re- 
 lief systems designed to eliminate des- 
 titution as a cause of child dependency; 
 
 Adoption of more effective methods of 
 holding deserting and shirking parents 
 to their responsibility; 
 
 Rehabilitation, through the efforts of 
 properly constituted agencies, of homes 
 not providing proper guardianship of 
 children. 
 
Care or Dependent Children 119 
 
 Improvements needed in the care of chil- 
 dren outside the natural home :" 
 
 Determination of the classes of dependent 
 children suitable for care in foster- 
 homes and institutions respectively, and 
 redistribution of work between them ac- 
 cording thereto; 
 
 Closer supervision of foster-homes by the 
 placing-out agency, 
 
 Determination of the best type of institu- 
 tion for dependent children and gen- 
 eral adoption thereof; 
 
 Standardization, through state regula- 
 tion, of the institutional care of children 
 and of placing-out supervision by pri- 
 vate agencies. 
 
120 Pkoblems of Community Life 
 
 CARE AND TRAINING OF THE 
 HANDICAPPED 
 
 Blind, deaf-mute, crippled, mentally defec- 
 tive, chronic invalid and other classes suffering 
 industrial handicap or disability because of 
 mental or physical infirmity. 
 
 Proportion of these classes capable, with 
 suitable training and employment, of entire or 
 partial self-support. Service to the handi- 
 capped and saving to the community possible 
 through such provision. 
 
 Opportunities for industrial training and 
 employment now open to these classes. Addi- 
 tional opportunities which could be afforded 
 under the existing industrial and educational 
 systems. 
 
 Feasibility of providing additional educa- 
 tional and vocational opportimities for the 
 handicapped. Specific kinds of employment 
 adapted to the various classes of the handi- 
 capped and the training requisite to successful 
 engagement therein. 
 
 Necessity of adapting the general education 
 
Care of the Handicapped 121 
 
 of the handicapped to their abnormal habits of 
 living. 
 
 Need of providing the handicapped special 
 facilities for the employment of leisure. 
 
 Preventability and curability of defects 
 causing handicap and preventive and curative 
 treatment given at the present time. 
 
122 Peoblems of Community Life 
 
 CARE AND PREVENTION OF 
 INSANITY AND FEEBLE- 
 MINDEDNESS 
 
 Biological and social causes of insanity and 
 feeble-mindedness. 
 
 Necessity of custodial care of those suffer- 
 ing from these ills: liability of feeble-minded 
 adults to reproduce their kind; unfitness of the 
 insane for association with normal persons. 
 
 Institutional care of these classes in New 
 York: 
 
 Capacities of institutions as compared 
 with the demand for accommodations ; 
 
 Medical treatment and its efficacy in 
 realizing curative possibilities ; 
 
 Physical care, treatment by caretakers 
 and occupational activities as viewed 
 from the himianitarian standpoint; 
 
 Employment of those capable of produc- 
 tive labor. 
 
 The cost of providing additional institu- 
 tional facilities required and of elevating 
 standards of care in accordance with humani- 
 tarian demands. 
 
Insanity and Feeble-mindedness 123 
 
 Changes in laws relating to commitment and 
 retention of insane and feeble-minded, re- 
 quisite to effective state control. 
 
 Possibilities in the elimination of causes of 
 insanity and feeble-mindedness. Study and 
 research required for the discovery of these 
 possibilities and formulation of a program for 
 their realization. 
 
 Measures present knowledge shows to be 
 needed : 
 
 Reform of labor conditions to eliminate 
 excessive and improper work as causes 
 of nervous strain; 
 
 Provision of recreational facilities adapted 
 to the needs of various classes ; 
 
 Improvement of domestic relations 
 through the elevation of housing stand- 
 ards and the readjustment of mar- 
 riage and correlate economic institu- 
 tions ; 
 
 Prevention of procreation by the feeble- 
 minded and insane through their reten- 
 tion in institutions; 
 
 Sanitary control of syphilis; 
 
 Treatment of alcoholism. 
 
124 Problems or Community Life 
 
 PHILANTHROPY AND SOCIAL 
 REFORM 
 
 Undemocratic and inhumane conditions in 
 the social, economic and pohtical life of New 
 York. 
 
 Effort necessary to the alleviation and cor- 
 rection of these conditions and comparison 
 thereof with the accepted program of philan- 
 thropic enterprise. 
 
 Shortcomings of philanthropy in New 
 York: 
 
 Placement of emphasis on the relief rather 
 than the constructive phases; 
 
 Lack of proportion in the program of 
 constructive work and incidental neg- 
 lect of particular problems; 
 
 Poor co-operation between the forces 
 making for improvement. 
 
 Causes of these shortcomings : 
 
 Unsound theories of social improvement : 
 Unintelligent giving on the part of 
 philanthropists ; 
 
Philanthropy and Social Reform 125 
 
 Lack of comprehensive study of the so- 
 cial problem and imperfect co-ordina- 
 tion of specializing activities dealing 
 with it. 
 
 Scheme for the reorganization of construc- 
 tive philanthropy in New York: 
 
 Establishment of a clearing house of in- 
 formation on city life and philanthropic 
 activity providing for (a) continuous 
 general study, comprehensive in scope 
 and critical in character, of social, eco- 
 nomic and political conditions and of ef- 
 forts at improvement; (b) compilation 
 of critical bibliographies of these con- 
 ditions, including (1) digests of data 
 available in printed publications, (2) 
 complete lists of investigations in prog- 
 ress or projected and (3) outlines of 
 additional investigations needed; (c) 
 co-operation with authoritative sources 
 of information on particular subjects in 
 making available the best advice on all 
 phases of city life. 
 
 Specific functions devolving on a clearing 
 house of information: 
 
126 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Arrangement of needed investigations of 
 social, economic and political conditions 
 and of reform campaigns based thereon, 
 under the auspices of (a) established 
 agencies, (b) new organizations formed 
 on occasion to deal with particular 
 problems, (c) the clearing house itself; 
 
 Systematic discussion of city life and its 
 problems (a) by means of lectures, in- 
 stitutes, conferences and mass meetings 
 in co-operation with established forums, 
 and (b) through the party platforms of 
 state and municipal campaigns ; 
 
 Development, through co-operation with 
 essayists, novelists, playwrights, jour- 
 nalists, publishers, theatrical managers, 
 etc., of a multiform literary discussion 
 of city life. 
 
Charitable Institutions 127 
 
 SUPERVISION OF CHARITABLE 
 INSTITUTIONS 
 
 Classes of charitable agencies ministering to 
 dependent persons : 
 
 Relief societies ; 
 
 Day nurseries ; 
 
 Fresh air and convalescent homes; 
 
 Societies and homes for immigrants ; 
 
 District nursing agencies; 
 
 Milk dispensaries; 
 
 Children's aid societies; 
 
 Free and cheap boarding and lodging 
 houses for adults; 
 
 Medical dispensaries; 
 
 Free hospitals and hospital departments ; 
 
 Asylums, homes and placing-out agencies 
 for children ; 
 
 Homes for the aged and infirm; 
 
 Societies and institutions for the blind, 
 deaf-mute, crippled, insane, feeble- 
 minded and epileptic ; 
 
 Reformatories. 
 
 Classes of agencies providing partial or spe- 
 
128 Peobuems of Community Life 
 
 cial relief or engaged in civic or educational 
 activity: 
 
 Employment agencies (philanthropic) ; 
 
 Kindergartens (privately endowed) ; 
 
 Legal aid societies ; 
 
 Free burial societies ; 
 
 Institutional visiting and aid societies ; 
 
 Savings and loan associations (philan- 
 thropic) ; 
 
 Institutions providing vocational or spe- 
 cial training; 
 
 Societies for the improvement of social 
 and political conditions; 
 
 Settlements ; 
 
 Clubs; 
 
 Agencies providing free and inexpensive 
 recreation ; 
 
 Conferences on charities, correction and 
 social welfare; 
 
 Training schools for social workers; 
 
 Missions not responsible to denomina- 
 tional conferences or associations; 
 
 Missionary and tract societies ; 
 
 Religious societies, orders, sisterhoods, 
 deaconesses and training schools ; 
 
Charitable Institutions 129 
 
 Societies for the prevention of crime and 
 vice ; 
 
 Societies for the promotion of temperance, 
 religious toleration, social purity, hu- 
 mane treatment of animals, etc. 
 
 Factors other than supervision by official 
 or semi-official agencies, promoting efficiency 
 and economy of service: 
 
 Influence of the contributor ; 
 Criticism by beneficiaries ; 
 Supervision by boards of managers ; 
 Interest and capacity of executive heads. 
 
 Failure of these factors to insure good and 
 competent service and consequent need of out- 
 side supervision. 
 
 The nature of the supervision necessary : 
 
 Inspection or investigation by a properly 
 constituted authority with power to 
 recommend and enforce needed im- 
 provements ; 
 
 Disbandment of fraudulent and inefficient 
 agencies ; 
 
 Supply of information to interested per- 
 
130 Problems of Community Life 
 
 sons as to the nature and quality of 
 service rendered. 
 
 The differentiation of supervisory control 
 for (1) agencies ministering to dependent per- 
 sons and (2) agencies providing partial or spe- 
 cial relief or engaged in civic or educational 
 activity. Necessity of standardization, under 
 state regulation, of service of agencies of the 
 first class; and desirability of freedom in ex- 
 periments and extensions for agencies of the 
 second class. 
 
 Measures necessary to the provision of this 
 supervisory service: 
 
 Requirement that all agencies of a char- 
 itable nature incorporate through the 
 State Board of Charities ; 
 
 Requirement that agencies so incorpo- 
 rated and others operating in the State 
 make annual reports to the Board con- 
 taining complete financial statements 
 and statistical information; 
 
 Extension of the jurisdiction of the State 
 Board of Charities and other supervis- 
 ory bodies to cover all agencies of a 
 charitable nature, and specification of 
 
Charitable Institutions 131 
 
 supervision for the several classes de- 
 signed to guard the interests of bene- 
 ficiaries, contributors and the general 
 public; 
 
 Vesting in these official bodies the power, 
 subject to proper restrictions, of dis- 
 banding useless and unworthy agen- 
 cies ; 
 
 Improvement of directories and reporting 
 methods of the charity organization so- 
 cities to bring within easy access of 
 contributors and others reliable in- 
 formation regarding the service of char- 
 itable agencies 
 
VIII 
 THE PLANNING OF NEW YORK 
 
The Street System 135 
 
 THE STREET SYSTEM 
 
 The movement of traffic from section to sec- 
 tion in Greater New York. 
 
 Unit cost of the several classes of vehicular 
 and street-car traffic. 
 
 Length of haul under the present street sys- 
 tem as compared with that in a hypothetical 
 scientific system. Reduction of traffic units 
 which a scientific system would effect. The 
 cost of establishing such a system. 
 
 Street rearrangements which comparison of 
 cost of establishment with the resulting reduc- 
 tion of expense in transporting traffic would 
 show to be needed. Need of providing open 
 spaces in such a rearrangement of the street 
 plan. Sections which, according to these con- 
 siderations, should be reconstructed altogether. 
 
 Value of the city's property in park and 
 other public lands; possibilities in the better 
 utilization of these resources through sale of 
 present property and purchase and develop- 
 ment for public purposes of land in other sec- 
 tions of the city. 
 
 Desirability of co-ordinating a scheme of im- 
 
136 Problems of Community Life 
 
 provements of this character with a scheme for 
 the economical distribution of traffic. 
 
 Scope and nature of the investigations upon 
 which this reconstruction must be planned. 
 
 Necessity of a greater liberalization of laws 
 relating to the right of eminent domain in or- 
 der to provide ways of financing and facilitat- 
 ing thoroughgoing reconstruction of this na- 
 ture. 
 
 Wisdom of laying out efficient street sys- 
 tems in outlying sections of the city in advance 
 of their settlement. 
 
The Distribution of Traffic 137 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION OF TRAFFIC 
 
 Nature of traffic in New York: 
 
 Journey to and from factories, stores, of- 
 fices and other places of employment; 
 
 Trips to markets and stores for shopping 
 purposes ; 
 
 Social and business calls; 
 
 Trips to theatres and other places of 
 amusement ; 
 
 Transport of raw material to factories 
 and other industrial establishments; 
 
 Drayage of goods and material from 
 trains and steamers to wholesaler or 
 other dealer and from wholesaler to re- 
 tailer ; 
 
 Carriage of freight from terminal to 
 terminal. 
 
 Geographical relation of dwellings, facto- 
 ries, stores, terminals, etc., to each other and 
 its importance as a factor in costs and prob- 
 lems of transportation. 
 
 Possibilities in reducing the volume of traffic 
 
138 Pkoblems of Community Life 
 
 and costs of transportation by better relation 
 of the several classes of buildings to each other. 
 Measures essential to this economy: 
 
 Establishment of zones for buildings and 
 structures of the several classes; 
 
 Improvement of port and terminal facili- 
 ties ; 
 
 Requisite changes in the transit system. 
 
 Scope and nature of investigations upon 
 which a scientific system of traffic distribution 
 must be planned. 
 
 Constitutional and legislative authorization 
 necessary to the establishment of such a sys- 
 tem by the municipality. 
 
Control of Public Utilities 139 
 
 THE CONTROL OF PUBLIC 
 UTILITIES 
 
 Service rendered by transportation, lighting 
 and telephone companies and its vital relation 
 to community welfare. Consequent necessity 
 of public control of this service. 
 
 Capitalization of public utilities corpora- 
 tions in comparison with the value of property 
 equipment. Speculation, artificial inflation of 
 values, unsound methods of finance, and other 
 causes of this discrepancy. 
 
 Amount and distribution of ownership of 
 capital invested in public utilities. Rates of in- 
 terest paid stock and bond holders. Percent- 
 age of consumers' rates applied to this purpose. 
 Retardation of economic enterprise due to this 
 factor. This factor as an element in the cost 
 of living. 
 
 Forces operating against improvements and 
 extensions of service, under a system of private 
 ownership and operation. Results thereof in 
 poor service, congestion of population, arrest- 
 ment of community growth, etc. 
 
140 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Nature and scope of government control of 
 public utilities : 
 
 Regulation of capitalization; 
 
 Protection of minority stockholders ; 
 
 Fixation of rates and standards of ser- 
 vice; 
 
 Promotion of extensions and improve- 
 ments ; 
 
 Control of franchises. 
 
 The need of wise distribution and coordina- 
 tion of regulative functions of city. State and 
 federal governments. 
 
 Provision for amortization of bonded in- 
 debtedness, renewal of equipment by means of 
 depreciation funds, limitation of franchise 
 privileges and other steps to the social owner- 
 ship of public utilities. 
 
Community Beautification 141 
 
 COMMUNITY BEAUTIFICATION 
 THROUGH PUBLIC REGU- 
 LATION 
 
 Effects of the visible environment on life 
 and character. Consequent interest of the in- 
 dividual in the outward aspect of community 
 environment and right of the community to 
 regtdate it. 
 
 The visible environment in the modern city: 
 
 Exterior design of buildings and struct- 
 ures ; 
 
 Interior design, equipment and decora- 
 tion of dwellings, stores, factories and 
 other places of congregation and em- 
 ployment ; 
 
 Advertising displays in shop windows and 
 entrances ; 
 
 Use made of rear courts, areaways, and 
 vacant lots ; 
 
 Appearance of streets and highways — de- 
 sign and surface of roadway; fences, 
 guide posts and other accessory struc- 
 
142 Problems of Community Life 
 
 tures; signs, billboards and other en- 
 cumbrances on abutting territory ; 
 
 Cars and vehicles along drives and thor- 
 oughfares ; 
 
 Scenic effects of parks and driveways. 
 
 Influences determining aesthetic values in 
 matters of environment: 
 
 Taste of those shaping the environment; 
 Commercial value of beauty in buildings, 
 decorations, displays, etc. 
 
 Individualistic operation of these influences ; 
 general subordination of sesthetic to commer- 
 cial considerations ; and consequent lack of em- 
 phasis on the importance of artistic planning. 
 
 Desirability of general social regulation of 
 the outward aspects of the environment. The 
 scope of such regulation as defined by the pub- 
 lic interest in the subject and the right of in- 
 dividual liberty in matters of personal concern. 
 
 Principles which should guide in sesthetic 
 regulation : 
 
 Education in sesthetic principles of those 
 
 shaping the environment; 
 Formulation of schemes of architectural 
 
Community Beautification 143 
 
 treatment for the various sections of the 
 community, and of types of artistic 
 treatment for other phases of the vis- 
 ible environment than the exterior de- 
 sign of buildings ; 
 
 Encouragement of originality in design 
 through the disapproval of designs not 
 harmonizing with general schemes of 
 treatment adopted rather than requir- 
 ing conformity to particular styles; 
 
 Adoption of styles or schemes of artistic 
 treatment not adding unduly to ex- 
 pense of construction. 
 
 The machinery required for this regulative 
 function and its co-ordination with existing 
 regulative machinery. 
 
 The constitutional authorization requisite to 
 this regulation. 
 
IX 
 SOCIAL FORCES IN NEW YORK 
 
Formation of Public Opinion 147 
 
 THE FORMATION OF PUBLIC 
 OPINION 
 
 The agencies of public opinion in New 
 York: 
 
 Newspapers and periodicals ; 
 Books and pamphlets; 
 Pulpit, platform, stage and forum ; 
 Private citizens' associations. 
 
 Character of the daily newspaper with re- 
 spect to accuracy of news, proportion between 
 the various subjects of interest and fairness of 
 editorial interpretations. The influence of 
 financial and advertising interests on news and 
 editorial policies. 
 
 The national scope of periodical publications 
 and consequent inadequacy of their discussion 
 of local issues. 
 
 Incompleteness and inferior quality of book 
 and pamphlet literature on New York life. 
 
 Limited audiences of pulpit, platform, stage 
 and forum and difficulty of organizing them 
 for effective discussion. 
 
148 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Paucity of funds of private organizations 
 and its limitation of their propaganda. Influ- 
 ence on the aims of this propaganda of the 
 ideas of philanthropists supporting it. 
 
 Undemocratic nature of the power exercised 
 by these several classes of agencies. 
 
 Ways of improving and re-enforcing the 
 formation of public opinion in New York : 
 
 Provision for full publicity on the meth- 
 ods, management and control of news- 
 papers and periodicals ; 
 
 Establishment of municipally owned 
 newspapers ; 
 
 Establishment of periodical publications 
 devoted to local conditions and affairs; 
 
 Development by regular publishing en- 
 terprise of a good book literature on 
 city life and its problems ; 
 
 Development of closer co-operation be- 
 tween authorities on social and political 
 problems and writing and publishing 
 enterprise ; 
 
 Wider criticism of the purposes and poli- 
 cies of philanthropic foundations and 
 endowments. 
 
Formation of Public Opinion 149 
 
 Practicable lines of transition toward a com- 
 plete democratization of the agencies of public 
 opinion. 
 
150 Problems of Community Life 
 
 CIVIC ACTIVITY OF THE 
 CHURCHES 
 
 The prestige and equipment of church and 
 synagogue and their potentialities for commu- 
 nity uplift. 
 
 Forms of social service engaged in by New 
 York churches: 
 
 Discussion of social problems and defini- 
 tion of ethical standards with respect 
 thereto ; 
 
 Support of practical reform movements; 
 
 Moral instruction of the young ; 
 
 Provision of general educational advan- 
 tages ; 
 
 Relief of destitution, maintenance of be- 
 nevolent institutions, and other char- 
 itable activities ; 
 
 Improvement of neighborhood conditions. 
 
 Ways of promoting greater activity in social 
 service on the part of church and synagogue: 
 
 Interstimulation of ministers and laymen 
 on social issues : 
 
Civic Activity of the Churches 151 
 
 Emphasis of the social phases of minis- 
 terial training; 
 
 Democratization of the support and con- 
 trol of church activities ; 
 
 The reorganization and development of 
 social service activities to provide more 
 opportunities for participation by lay 
 workers. 
 
 Need of clearer definition of the specific 
 functions of the church in the field of social 
 service. Need of establishing better inter- 
 denominational organization for community 
 service and of closer co-operative relations be- 
 tween church organizations and social move- 
 ments. 
 
152 Problems of Community Life 
 
 THE LOCAL IMMIGRATION 
 POLICY 
 
 Federal control of immigration: 
 
 Exclusion of undesirable classes ; 
 
 Deportation of pauper and criminal 
 aliens ; 
 
 Supply of information regarding indus- 
 trial opportunities. 
 
 Sharp practices which immigrants are liable 
 to encounter upon and after arrival; their 
 massing in overcrowded centres of population 
 and ills due thereto; their voluntary segrega- 
 tion in colonies and the difficulties it offers to 
 assimilative processes. 
 
 Responsibility of city and State for the pro- 
 tection and assimilation of alien residents. 
 
 The care and protection needed : 
 
 Protection from dishonest runners, em- 
 ployment agents, procurers, steamship 
 agents, private bankers, notaries pub- 
 lic, etc. ; 
 
The Local Immigration Policy 153 
 
 Distribution in sections where labor is 
 
 needed ; 
 Instruction in language, customs and laws 
 
 and encouragement and facilitation of 
 
 naturalization. 
 
 Work of public and private agency in meet- 
 ing these needs. Necessity of co-ordinating 
 and extending their efforts. Special need of 
 strengthening and systematizing assimilative 
 processes and of providing better facilities for 
 naturalization. 
 
 Importance, from the local standpoint, of a 
 proper distribution of immigrants by the fed- 
 eral government. 
 
X 
 
 POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT IN 
 NEW YORK 
 
State Constitutional Law 157 
 
 STATE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 
 
 Circumscription of the State's powers by- 
 federal constitution and Congressional enact- 
 ments. 
 
 Relation of the State constitution and ju- 
 dicial construction thereof to the social, eco- 
 nomic and political institutions of the State. 
 
 The bill of rights — religious liberty, trial by 
 jury, freedom of speech and assemblage, non- 
 deprivation of life, liberty or property without 
 due process of law, etc. Judicial interpreta- 
 tions of these provisions and their restriction 
 of legislative powers. Harmful effects of 
 those relating to "due process," etc. 
 
 Constitutional qualifications of voters as 
 viewed from the democratic standpoint; ex- 
 clusion of women from the suffrage. 
 
 Constitutional organization of the law-mak- 
 ing power. Absence of the privilege of initiat- 
 ing and passing on legislation by the electorate. 
 The bi-cameral legislature. Prescribed forms 
 of legislative procedure. Subjects exempted 
 from the jurisdiction of the legislature. 
 
 Constitutional specifications as to the State 
 
158 Problems of Community Life 
 
 administrative system. Powers over the sys- 
 tem delegated to the legislature. 
 
 The constitutional organization of State 
 courts. Interpretative powers of the Court of 
 Appeals. 
 
 The constitutional definition of legislative 
 powers with respect to counties and cities. 
 
 Methods of amending the constitution. Im- 
 portance of the convention system of drafting 
 and proposing amendments. 
 Needed constitutional revision : 
 
 Assignment of subjects not definitely un- 
 der State or federal control to one or 
 the other jurisdictions in so far as pos- 
 sible through explicit constitutional 
 definition of the State's powers; 
 Grant of suffrage to women, and modifi- 
 cation of residence requirements for 
 voting and holding office; 
 Adoption of the initiative, the referendum 
 and the recall. Possible adoption of the 
 uni-cameral form of legislative assem- 
 bly. Requirement of full publicity of 
 proceedings of legislative committees, 
 and other improvements in legislative 
 procedure ; 
 
State Constitutionai. Law 159 
 
 Establishment of a "short-ballot" admin- 
 istrative system; 
 
 Grant of autonomy to political sub-divis- 
 ions of the State in matters affecting 
 only themselves ; 
 
 Recognition of political parties and adop- 
 tion of rules for their administration ; 
 
 Definition of "due process" as relating to 
 deprivation of life, liberty or property, 
 to include legislative acts as well as 
 court and jury trials; 
 
 Provision for the recall or reversal of ju- 
 dicial decisions. 
 
160 Problems of Community Life 
 
 STATE LAW-MAKING METHODS 
 
 Constitutional organization of the law-mak- 
 ing power of the State : 
 
 Powers granted the legislature; 
 Functions of the Governor in recommend- 
 ing and disapproving legislative acts; 
 Veto powers of the mayors of cities ; 
 Powers reserved to legislative bodies of 
 counties and cities. 
 
 Functions, organization and procedure of 
 the State legislature: 
 
 General subjects of legislation coming 
 within the purview of the legislature; 
 
 Grant and amendment of city charters 
 and enactment of general and special 
 laws affecting cities and other local 
 units ; 
 
 Creation, investigation, abolition and 
 budgetary control of administrative de- 
 partments ; 
 
 Confirmation, impeachment and removal 
 of public officers ; 
 
State Law-Making Methods 161 
 
 The legislature's bi-cameral form of or- 
 ganization and its advantages and dis- 
 advantages ; 
 
 Procedure, constitutional and self-pre- 
 scribed, as to quorums, roll-calls, com- 
 mittee proceedings, etc. 
 
 Proposals for the better distribution and ex- 
 ercise of the law-making power : 
 
 Democratization of the suffrage ; 
 
 Adoption of the initiative and referen- 
 dum; 
 
 Grant of autonomy to counties and cities 
 in matters of local concern ; 
 
 Delegation of all administrative functions 
 to the executive branch of the govern- 
 ment; 
 
 Better control of legislative representa- 
 tives through improved methods of 
 selection and removal; 
 
 Possible adoption of the uni-cameral form 
 of legislative organization ; 
 
 Changes in legislative procedure requir- 
 ing greater deliberation and fuller rec- 
 ord of action of individual members ; 
 
162 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Better organization of work of legislative 
 
 committees ; 
 Better methods of investigating bills ; 
 Adoption of the budget form of planning 
 
 public expenditures. 
 
The State Administrative System 163 
 
 THE STATE ADMINISTRATIVE 
 SYSTEM 
 
 Constitutional organization of the executive 
 branch of the State government. Control of 
 the legislature over administrative depart- 
 ments through its powers of creation, disestab- 
 lishment, confirmation of appointments, and 
 grant of appropriations. 
 
 The correlation of State with county and 
 city administrations. 
 
 Commissions, boards, departments and offi- 
 cers charged with State administrative func- 
 tions. The imperfect co-ordination of their 
 activities. 
 
 Methods of selection and control of adminis- 
 trative ofiicers. Divorce between the appoint- 
 ing and removing power for certain officers. 
 The lack of effective executive control of ad- 
 ministrative officers and departments. 
 
 The selection of employees on the basis of 
 ratings in competitive examinations. 
 
 Proposals for improvement of the State ad- 
 ministrative system: 
 
164 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Reduction of the number of elective offi- 
 cers, or adoption of the "short ballot"; 
 
 Better methods of nominating and con- 
 trolling elective officers; 
 
 Placement of executive responsibility 
 through unification of the appointing 
 and corresponding removing power ; 
 
 Extension of the merit system in the se- 
 lection of employees ; ■ 
 
 Organization and co-ordination of admin- 
 istrative activities according to princi- 
 ples of scientific management — effect- 
 ive auditing and budgetary control, effi- 
 ciency tests of departmental adminis- 
 tration, etc.; 
 
 Readjustment of relations between State 
 and local administrations. 
 
Public Officials 165 
 
 THE SELECTION AND CONTROL 
 OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS 
 
 Nature and magnitude of public enterprises 
 in New York and their need of capable plan- 
 ners and directors. The need of continuity in 
 the policy and management of these enter- 
 prises. 
 
 Methods of selection, terms of office, com- 
 pensation and nature of electoral control of 
 public officials in New York and their relation 
 to the character and ability of the men seeking 
 and holding office. Their bearing on the for- 
 mation of public policy and character of pub- 
 lic administration. 
 
 Proposed reforms in the system: 
 
 Complete separation of national and in- 
 tra- State, and of State and municipal 
 elections ; 
 
 Separation of national, State and city 
 politics through the organization of in- 
 dependent State and municipal parties ; 
 
 Reduction of the number of elective offi- 
 cials, or adoption of the "short ballot" ; 
 
166 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Perfection and complete application of 
 the primary method of selecting party 
 candidates for public office ; 
 
 Abolition of party columns on election 
 ballots, or adoption of the "Massachu- 
 setts ballot" ; 
 
 Increase in length of terms of elective offi- 
 cials ; 
 
 Fixation of salaries of public officials and 
 employees according to an equitable 
 standard ; 
 
 Wider application of the merit system in 
 the selection, promotion and discharge 
 of appointive officers ; 
 
 Adoption of the recall for elective offi- 
 cials ; 
 
 Elevation of the standards of public 
 service through application of the prin- 
 ciples of scientific management, expo- 
 sition of the opportimities for the 
 employment of talent and ability, etc. 
 
Municipal Goternment 167 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE MUNI- 
 CIPAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Nature and scope of municipal functions ac- 
 cording to accepted theories of the sphere of 
 city government. Failure of the New York 
 City government to assume and perform these 
 functions in their totality. 
 
 Reasons for this failure : 
 
 Lack of complete autondmy in matters of 
 local concern; 
 
 Imperfect control of commercial and in- 
 dustrial activity; 
 
 Poor sense of proportion in planning 
 municipal enterprises ; 
 
 Insufficiency of revenue for the equip- 
 ment and maintenance of activities rec- 
 ognized to be desirable; 
 
 Unsound methods of finance ; 
 
 Waste and inefficiency in the expenditure 
 of moneys appropriated to public pur- 
 poses ; 
 
 Imperfect organization of the law-making 
 
168 Problems of Community Life 
 
 and appropriating powers of the miini- 
 cipality; 
 Defective organization of administrative 
 departments and executive control. 
 
 Program for reorganization of the muni- 
 cipal government : 
 
 Constitutional grant of complete auton- 
 omy to municipalities in matters of local 
 concern, including the power to fix 
 debt-limits ; 
 
 Adoption of the convention system, as- 
 suming the grant of such power, of for- 
 mulating and proposing charter amend- 
 ments ; 
 
 Determination, by means of scientific 
 study and experiment, of the nature 
 and scope of municipal functions ; 
 
 Adoption of the long-term budget type of 
 municipal planning: formulation of a 
 comprehensive scheme of growth or im- 
 provement, extending over a number of 
 years, and reconstruction of the revenue 
 system in accordance therewith ; 
 
 Reform in methods of financing municipal 
 enterprises — gradual transition from 
 
Municipal Government 169 
 
 debt to cash basis, engagement of the 
 municipality in profitable enterprises, 
 higher charges, where feasible, for 
 municipal services, etc.; 
 
 Liberalization of laws relating to the 
 right of eminent domain; 
 
 Wider and better application of the prin- 
 ciples of scientific management in the 
 direction and performance of public 
 work; 
 
 More responsible organization of the law- 
 making and appropriating power: bet- 
 ter co-ordination of functions of Board 
 of Estimate and Apportionment, Board 
 of Aldermen and Mayor, or establish- 
 ment of a uni-cameral legislature; per- 
 fection of the committee system of the 
 Board of Estimate and Apportion- 
 ment; adoption of the initiative and 
 referendum; improvement of budget- 
 making procedure, etc; 
 
 Organization and co-ordination of admin- 
 istrative departments according to 
 function ; 
 
 Development of executive control — estab- 
 lishment of a department of adminis- 
 
170 Problems of Community Life 
 
 tration, appraisal of departmental 
 work, more effective auditing control, 
 etc.; 
 Organization of municipal parties, com- 
 plete application of the primary- 
 method in selecting party candidates 
 and officials, reduction of the number 
 of elective officials, adoption of the 
 "Massachusetts ballot" for elections, in- 
 stitution of the recall for elective offi- 
 cials, wider application of the merit sys- 
 tem in the selection, promotion and dis- 
 charge of appointive officers and em- 
 ployees, development of popular educa- 
 tion on municipal affairs, etc. 
 
Political Paeties 171 
 
 POLITICAL PARTIES 
 
 Necessity and value of organizations for the 
 promotion of harmonious bodies of govern- 
 mental principles. 
 
 The differentiation of governmental func- 
 tions as between city. State and federal juris- 
 diction and consequent independence of prin- 
 ciples upon which they are postulated. 
 
 Desirability of specialization, by political 
 organizations, according to this division. 
 
 Political parties as organic parts of the 
 structure of government and demand for con- 
 trol thereof by the people. 
 
 The importance of democratic control 
 within the parties themselves. 
 
 Changes demanded in party organization in 
 New York for conformity to these principles : 
 
 Recognition of parties in the organic law 
 of the State and incorporation of pro- 
 visions guaranteeing democratic control 
 thereof; 
 
 Reduction of the number of elective 
 
172 Problems of Community Life 
 
 party officials, or adoption of a party 
 "short ballot"; 
 
 Complete application of the primary 
 method in selecting party officials, in- 
 cluding the prohibition of organization 
 columns on party ballots; 
 
 Application of the initiative, the referen- 
 dum and the recall to party administra- 
 tion; 
 
 Organization of independent State and 
 municipal parties to deal with local 
 issues ; 
 
 Separation of State and municipal issues 
 through grant of municipal autonomy. 
 
 The influence exerted on public affairs by 
 miQority parties and semi-political organiza- 
 tions and tendency toward greater specializa- 
 tion in politics which they exemplify. Desira- 
 bility of encouraging this development. 
 
Neighborhood Oeganixation 173 
 
 NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATION 
 
 The importance of citizen co-operation in 
 local and general government: 
 
 Importance of citizen responsibility for 
 the discovery of violations of law and of 
 deficiencies in law enforcement, and the 
 reporting thereof to the proper authori- 
 ties; 
 
 Value of citizen initiative in supplying in- 
 formation of local conditions as bearing 
 on needs for new or improved legisla- 
 tion; 
 
 Possibilities in political education through 
 voluntary citizen co-operation; 
 
 The effect of such activity in developing 
 the political capacity of individual and 
 community. 
 
 Necessity of system and organization in 
 making the citizen a direct factor in gov- 
 ernment. Beginnings in such organization in 
 local improvement and school boards, settle- 
 ments, neighborhood associations, social cen- 
 
174 Problems of Community Life 
 
 tres, etc. Desirability of making neighbor- 
 hood organization an organic part of the 
 machinery of government. Advantages of 
 making the elementary school district the unit 
 of organization. The necessity of democratic 
 and non-partisan control. 
 
 Functions of neighborhood organization : 
 
 Systematic study of law enforcement and 
 the promotion of administrative re- 
 forms based thereon ; 
 
 Stimulation of neighborhood sentiment in 
 favor of law observance ; 
 
 Investigation of unsatisfactory working 
 and living conditions for neighborhood 
 expression on legislative matters ; 
 
 Provision of media for the discussion of 
 social and political topics of interest to 
 the neighborhood; 
 
 Co-operation in efforts for community 
 welfare of an unofficial character. 
 
The Revenue System 175 
 
 THE REVENUE SYSTEM 
 
 Primary aims and principles of public 
 finance: 
 
 Derivation of revenue for the perform- 
 ance of governmental functions ; 
 
 Incidence of taxation where least burden- 
 some; 
 
 Strengthening, through the use of the tax- 
 ing power, of social and combating of 
 anti-social tendencies. 
 
 Plan for causing the revenue system com- 
 pletely to serve public needs : 
 
 Definition, by means of study and expe- 
 riment, of the field of governmental ac- 
 tion and estimate of capital and income 
 required to cover it ; 
 
 Finding of new and better use of exist- 
 ing sources of revenue, transfer of pri- 
 vate ownership to public and vice versa, 
 and discovery of other means of redis- 
 tributing the community's capital and 
 income in accordance with this need; 
 
176 Problems of Community Life 
 
 Fixation of a rate of growth into this pro- 
 gram that will obviate transitional dis- 
 turbances. 
 
 Principles for determining the incidence of 
 taxation and constructive uses of the taxing 
 power in the field of municipal finance : 
 
 Assessment of the cost of improvements 
 upon the property benefited ; 
 
 Appropriation for public uses of the in- 
 crement of values due to growth of 
 population and general improvements; 
 
 Exemption of business and industrial en- 
 terprises dealing in living necessities ; 
 
 Imposition of taxes on illegitimate or 
 questionable enterprises not amenable 
 to other forms of regulation or control. 
 
 Relation of methods of financing municipal 
 undertakings to demands on the revenue sys- 
 tem. Relation thereto of the form of planning 
 and character of administration of such under- 
 takings. 
 
 Feasibility of engagement by the municipal- 
 ity in profitable enterprises and of other means 
 of gaining revenue. 
 
The Revenue System 177 
 
 Need of reconstructing the revenue system 
 according to these principles. The advantage 
 of classifying and grading the sources of 
 revenue according to (a) preference in use 
 and (b) amounts of revenue derivable. 
 
178 Problems of Community Life 
 
 STATE REGULATION OF CORPO- 
 RATE ENTERPRISES 
 
 Classes of corporations exempt, under pro- 
 visions of the federal constitution, from na- 
 tional regulation. 
 
 Relation of the activities of these corpora- 
 tions to community and individual welfare 
 and consequent right of the community to 
 regulate them. 
 
 Beginnings in local regulation of corpora- 
 tions : 
 
 Regulation of transportation, lighting 
 
 and telephone companies by the public 
 
 service commissions; 
 Of insurance companies and State and 
 
 private banks by State Banking and 
 
 Insurance Departments; 
 Supervision of certain classes of charitable 
 
 institutions by the State Board of 
 
 Charities ; 
 Regulation in special matters by State 
 
 and city health departments, State La- 
 
Corporate Enterprises 179 
 
 bor Department, Workmen's Compen- 
 sation Commission, Fire Department, 
 Tenement House Department, etc. 
 
 The partial and unco-ordinated nature of 
 this regulation. Monopoly, price-fixing, un- 
 standardized service, unsatisfactory working 
 conditions, and other evils fostered by absence 
 or inadequacy of regulation. 
 
 Nature and scope of the regulation needed: 
 
 Break-up of local monopolies where com- 
 petition is feasible and desirable ; 
 
 Regulation of prices and services to con- 
 sumers where competition as a regula- 
 tive factor is inoperative ; 
 
 Control of capitalization ; 
 
 Protection of minority stockholders ; 
 
 Regulation of wages, hours and working 
 conditions of employees; 
 
 Co-ordination of regulative departments 
 in order to attain efficiency and econ- 
 omy in the performance of regulative 
 functions. 
 
 Desirablity of an investigation of corpo- 
 rate activities in the State to discover the spe- 
 
180 Problems or Community Life 
 
 cific needs for regulation and to plan the ex- 
 tension and co-ordination of regulative organi- 
 zation. 
 
 Constitutional and charter changes required 
 to permit of regulation according to this pro- 
 gram and of the distribution of regulative 
 functions between State and municipal gov- 
 ernments.